VDIALOG
function: assign or read an Interface string
Vdialog(channel number,variable number)=value
value=Vdialog(channel number,variable number)
This function can be used to either read or change the variables in any active Interface program. The active channel number is selected, followed by the number of the variable you are interested in. The value refers to the new integer value that has been selected for this variable.
VDIALOG$
function: assign or read an Interface value
Vdialog$(channel number,variable number)=string$
string$=Vdialog$(channel number,variable number)
The VDIALOG$ function is exactly the same as the previous function, except that it works with strings rather than numbers.
Specify the channel number and the variable number, and then string$ holds a new AMOS Professional string to be stored in the Interface variable array.
Advanced Control Panels
There now follows a detailed examination of some of the additional zone commands which
make the AMOS Professional Interface so special!
Editing zones
The AMOS Professional Interface allows for both text and numbers to be input into screen zones.
EDit
Interface instruction: create a text edit zone
ED zone number,x,y,width,max,'string',paper,pen;
The EDit instruction opens a zone for text input on the screen. This zone can be selected with the mouse, and then a string of characters may be typed in using all the normal line-editing functions. The text cursor may also be positioned directly, by clicking the mouse pointer on the required new position.
The EDit parameters begin with the zone number, from 1 upwards. The x,y coordinates set the position of the text input line relative to the coordinate base, and will be added to the BAse setting to give the actual position of the line. If the resulting x-coordinate is not an exact multiple of 16, it will be rounded down to the nearest 16 pixels.
The width parameter sets the width of the text edit window, and is specified in the number of characters to be accommodated, rounded up to the nearest even number. Next, the maximum length of the text string must be given in characters, and an area of this size will be reserved in the channel buffer.