AMOS Interface

In fact, the traditional system may well be useful, but it has many limitations. The SET ZONE command creates a rectangular testing zone around any area of the screen, and this area can be identified if it comes under the mouse pointer, via the MOUSE ZONE function. This is a powerful system, as demonstrated by the Disc Manager and Object editor, but these are massive programs involving huge amounts of work, even for the most experienced of programmers. If you need to generate similar features in your own programs, much time and effort would have to be expended.

Up to now, most AMOS programmers have restricted themselves to simple, two-dimensional displays, using basic graphics. The results compared favorably to Workbench 1.3, but are not acceptable to the AMOS Professional programmer.

With the AMOS Professional Interface, the situation has been completely transformed ! Interactive three-dimensional buttons can be created anywhere on the screen, and made to perform in the most startling way! Control panels are ridiculously easy to create, and they can be handled automatically by AMOS Professional using a powerful interrupt system. Your program only needs to read these buttons and panels at regular intervals and the AMOS Professional Interface takes care of everything else.

Scroll bars are as smooth as silk, and can be dragged directly by the mouse. The improvement over the original VSLIDER and HSLIDER commands is astounding. Selectors can now be generated by a few lines of code, and they can be tailored to any programming need.

The only problem created by the AMOS Professional Interface is the fact that there is so much to absorb! With over one hundred powerful instructions on board, embarking on the Interface can seem a daunting prospect, but fear not, once the fundamental principles have been mastered, everything will fall into place. You will be creating amazing dialogue boxes worthy of a true AMOS Professional!

Introducing the AMOS Professional Interface
The Interface is a complete language in its own right, dedicated to the single task of generating attractive dialogue boxes, buttons and control panels. It works in a similar manner to the AMOS Professional AMAL and MENU languages. Here are the rules of use:

• All Interface programs are entered into strings.
• These strings are brought to life with the standard AMOS Professional functions DIALOG BOX or DIALOG OPEN.
• Each Interface instruction consists of a pair of capital letters. Similarly to AMAL, anything in lower case letters is completely ignored, allowing commands to be expanded and customised for readability and recognition. REM comments can be freely included in Interface listings, as long as no capital letters are used.
• Each command is terminated by a semi-colon character. A colon can also be used for this purpose. Each command must be isolated from its neighbours in this way. Spaces are not enough.

Here is a simple example of an Interface command:

X> EXit;