875.1
(Windows) The background color parameter in MIAMEX,119 or TAB(-10,20) for static text controls now functions more like other color-related functions. Previously, the background color parameter was mostly ignored, and you always got the "system" (aka dialog/button) color for normal text controls and the "window" color for those with the MBF'SUNKEN option. This remains true for DPRINT, and whenever you specify -1 as the background color in MIAMEX,119 or TAB(-10,20) commands. But TPRINT will now display text controls using the current background color (as determined by the last TAB(-3,x) command). And MIAMEX,119 and TAB(-10,20) allow you to specify any of the A-Shell background palette colors 0-7.
(Windows) PCKLST.SBR now uses the TBCLR field from the MMOCLR parameter to determine the background color of the listbox.
INFLD TYPE i: now silences the bevelling so that the field remains totally invisible (no cursor, no indication of field position or size, no echoing of characters).
875.2
(Windows) Fix a problem in which static text controls, particularly those created by INFLD, would only partially display until the Window was refreshed.
(Windows) Some of the special key exits from PCKLST.SBR were not working in the Windows version
875.3
Add OPTIONS=GUI_IND_SPC to help overcome a common problem with alignment when converting to proportional font controls. The problem can be illustrated as follows:
TPRINT TAB(10,5);" 1. Name:"
TPRINT TAB(11,5);" Addr:"
TPRINT TAB(12,5);"12. ";CITY$
TPRINT TAB(13,9);PHONE$
With fixed pitch text, "Name", "Addr", CITY$, and PHONE$ will all start in column 9 and thus be vertically aligned. But with proportional fonts (which TPRINT will use), all but the last two will start in different columns, due to the differing amount of physical space used up by the spaces and numbers preceding them.
You could fix this problem by make sure you never use spaces to position text. For example, here are two solutions:
TPRINT TAB(10,5);" 1. ";TAB(10,9);"Name:"
TPRINT TAB(11,9);"Addr:"
TPRINT TAB(12,5);"12. ";TAB(12,9);CITY$
TPRINT TAB(13,9);PHONE$
or
TPRINT TAB(10,5);" 1. ";"Name:"
TPRINT TAB(11,5);" ";"Addr:"
TPRINT TAB(12,5);"12. ";CITY$
TPRINT TAB(13,5);" ";PHONE$
The second solution works, even without explicit positioning of the second field on each line, because TPRINT will automatically start each new output in the position where it would have started had we been using regular fixed pitch fonts. (Each argument to the TPRINT statement is treated as a new print object.)
But if going through all your programs to clean this kind of problem up is too much work, try setting OPTIONS=GUI_SPC_IND in the MIAME.INI. This causes any string which contains leading spaces, or a combination of leading spaces, numeric, digits, a period, and one or more spaces, as if it was a separate print object from the rest of the string. This will generally result in the kind of alignment you were probably hoping for. (However, unless you know you have this problem, we don’t recommend just turning on this switch as a precautionary measure, because it increases screen complexity which may lead to some other undesirable side-effect.)
875.4a
The MIAMEX functions to retrieve and set OPTIONS values have been enhanced to support a second OPTIONS parameter (since we have run out of space to fit all the OPTIONS into one variable.) The new syntax:
Retrieve options:
XCALL MIAMEX,59, OPTIONS {,OPTIONS2}
Set options:
XCALL MIAMEX,60, OPTIONS {,OPTIONS2}
Note that when setting OPTIONS2 values, you can't avoid also setting the OPTIONS values. So you should always first retrieve the current options with MIAMEX,59, then set or clear the desired flags in the OPTIONS and OPTIONS2 variables, then use them to update the options in MIAMEX,60. The current options flags are defined in ASHELL.BSI as GOP'xxxxx and GOP2'xxxxx.
You can use this technique to turn the GUI_SPC_IND option on and off within a program:
MAP1 GOP2'GUI'SPC'IND,B,4,8 ! OPTIONS=GUI_SPC_IND
XCALL MIAMEX,59,OPTIONS,OPTIONS2 ! retrieve settings
OPTIONS2 = OPTIONS2 OR GOP2'GUI'SPC'IND ! set GUI_SPC_IND
XCALL MIAMEX,60,OPTIONS,OPTIONS2
875.4
ATE 3.0.130 fixes a problem in which it would abort with a "text property read-only" error message if you selected the "defined configurations option" from the defaults.
