A-Shell Reference

xcall INMEMO, opcode, text, channel, strow, stcol, endrow, endcol, link, xpos, vspec, mmoclr, extctl

INMEMO.SBR was originally developed in the 1980s for use under AMOS. Its purpose is to provide an easy way for programmers to store and manipulate variable-length text structures. Although these structures may include light-bar menus, help screens and lookup tables, the most common and traditional use is to include free form, expandable memo pads within file maintenance programs. A-Shell contains a runtime implementation of INMEMOxs (and XFRMMOxs) which is about 95% compatible with the AMOS version.

Full documentation for INMEMO is provided in a separate document called the INMEMO Reference, which see for detailed information (available on the main A-Shell documentation page). The abbreviated notes provided here are intended for programmers who are familiar with the routine but just need a quick reference to the parameter list.

Note that XTEXT offers similar basic functionality with a GUI interface.

Comments

PCKLST acts as a front-end to INMEMO to create pop-up pick-list boxes.

The A-Shell version of INMEMO is slightly more advanced than the AMOS version in the implementation of free-form menus, in that it supports hidden text associated with an option (following a backslash as with regular vertical menus). For example, assuming the menu item delimiters were brackets, the text "[Mystery Option\secret]" would display as "Mystery Option", but if selected, would return the full "Mystery Option\secret".

Parameters

opcode  (Num)

specifies a combination of flags from the following table.

 

text  (String)

has various uses, from titles to preloaded key sequences, retrieved lines, menu selections, and even entire memo or menu contents.

channel (Num)

is generally the file channel that the memo file is open on. If the CHANNEL parameter is a string, it will be interpreted as the name of the memo file, in which case the memo file will be automatically opened, closed, and even created, if necessary.

strow, stcol, endrow, endcol (Num)  [in]

specify the dimensions of the memo box, around which the border, if applicable, will be drawn.  

link  (B,2 or B,4)

is the link to the memo record.

xpos

is a control variable, which should be mapped as follows

MAP1 XPOS

  MAP2 POS,B,4

  MAP2 POS2,B,2

 

vspec

controls the maximum scrollable width and height of the memo, and must be mapped as:

MAP1 VSPEC

MAP2 VWIDTH,B,2

MAP2 VROW,B,2

 

mmoclr  (B,1)

if specified, controls the colors for various parts of the memo display, and must be mapped as follows:

 

extctl

may optionally be specified for extended control parameters, mapped as follows:

MAP1 EXTCTL

  MAP2 EXTCOD,B,2  ! exit code

  MAP2 EXTERR,B,2  ! exit error status

  MAP2 EXTMAP,B,4  ! exit code enable bitmap

  MAP2 EXTROW,B,2  ! cursor row

  MAP2 EXTCOL,B,2  ! cursor column

  MAP2 EXTBYT,B,4  ! # bytes in memo

  MAP2 EXTHIT,B,2  ! # rows

  MAP2 EXTWID,B,2  ! longest row length

  MAP2 EXTPRW,B,2  ! # protected rows

  MAP2 EXTSMI,S,1  ! start menu item char

  MAP2 EXTEMI,S,1  ! end menu item char

  MAP2 EXTMRW,B,2  ! error message row

  MAP2 EXTTOP,B,2  ! top window offset

  MAP2 EXTLFT,B,2  ! left window offset

  MAP2 EXTPCL,B,2  ! # protected columns

  MAP2 EXTTIM,B,2  ! max inter-character timeout

  MAP2 EXTOTH,B,2  ! other menu exit keys:

                   ! 02 = left arrow (EXITCODE -40)

                   ! 04 = right arrow (EXITCODE -41)

                   ! 08 = up arrow (EXITCODE -42

                   ! 16 = down arrow (EXITCODE -43)

                   ! 32 = tab key (EXITCODE -44)

  MAP2 EXTJNK,X,14 ! for expansion

 

Of the above parameters, perhaps the most important are extcod and exterr, whose values are shown in the tables below. The former is similar to the exitcode parameter in INFLD, receiving a code indicating how the memo was exited. The latter indicates various other error conditions. The variable/symbol names in the first column of the tables below are defined in mmosym.bsi.