Microsoft KB Archive/37475

= User-Defined Character Fonts for Hercules Graphics Mode =

Article ID: 37475

Article Last Modified on 11/21/2006

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft QuickBasic 4.0, when used with:
 * Microsoft MS-DOS 6.22 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft QuickBASIC 4.0b, when used with:
 * Microsoft MS-DOS 6.22 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft QuickBasic 4.5 for MS-DOS, when used with:
 * Microsoft MS-DOS 6.22 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft BASIC Compiler 6.0
 * Microsoft BASIC Compiler 6.0b
 * Microsoft BASIC Professional Development System 7.0

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This article was previously published under Q37475



SUMMARY
The method described in this article will allow you to display a user-defined character set of up to 256 characters in Hercules graphics mode. Note that this method works only in Hercules graphics mode (SCREEN 3) and does not work under MS OS/2.

This information applies to Microsoft QuickBasic Versions 4.00, 4.00b, and 4.50, to Microsoft Basic Compiler Versions 6.00 and 6.00b for MS-DOS, and to Microsoft Basic PDS Version 7.00 for MS-DOS.



MORE INFORMATION
It is possible to modify two assembly-language programs available in &quot;Programmer's Guide to PC & PS/2 Video Systems,&quot; by Richard Wilton (Microsoft Press), to display user-defined character fonts in the graphics mode.

The first program, PixelAddrHGC, is Listing 4-3. This program computes the starting address of the first pixel for the data to be displayed. The main assembly program, DisplayCharHGC, is shown in Listing 9-4.

As written, these programs are meant to interface with Microsoft C. To change them to work with Basic, do the following:
 * 1) Change all near references to far (use medium memory model).
 * 2) Remove the underscore in the public name.
 * 3) Create storage space for VARmask, VARtoggle, and VAR9bits in DGROUP.
 * 4) Reverse the input order of the arguments. Instead of using interrupt vector 43 hex to point to the first 128 characters, and 1F hex to point to the font table containing the rest of the characters, use an unused interrupt vector to point to a single table containing 256 characters.
 * 5) Set DS == ES.

The Basic program below calls a modified form of DisplayCharHGC to print a user-defined font to the screen. This program works correctly in the QuickBasic environment and in stand-alone executable form.

The following is a code example: ' $INCLUDE: 'q:qb.bi' REM for Basic PDS 7.00 include QBX.BI instead DECLARE SUB DisplayCharHGC (BYVAL A%, BYVAL x%, BYVAL y%,_            BYVAL f%, BYVAL b%) DEFINT A-Z DIM RegX AS RegtypeX

' set table large enough to hold the character set DIM table(2048) ' 256 * 8

' table is common to put it in the DGROUP COMMON table

DATA 2,6,14,30,62,126,254,0 DATA 254,64,32,16,32,64,254,0 DATA 132,136,158,162,70,130,14,0

CLS SCREEN 3 DEF SEG = VARSEG(table(0)) FOR i = 1 TO 24 READ A%  'Place the created characters into the new POKE VARPTR(table(0)) + i, A%   'graphics table NEXT i DEF SEG

'get the initial value at interrupt 50 hex RegX.Ax = &H3550 RegX.Ds = -1 RegX.Es = -1 CALL interruptX(&H21, RegX, RegX) PRINT &quot;Vector 50H was &quot;; RegX.Es, RegX.Bx  oldoff& = RegX.Es   oldPtr& = RegX.Bx

' reset interrupt 50 hex to point to table of characters RegX.Ax = &H2550 RegX.Ds = VARSEG(table(0)) RegX.Dx = VARPTR(table(0)) CALL interruptX(&H21, RegX, RegX)

' verify the reset took RegX.Ax = &H3550 RegX.Ds = -1 RegX.Es = -1 CALL interruptX(&H21, RegX, RegX) PRINT &quot;New vector &quot;; RegX.Es, RegX.Bx  A% = 10

' print characters FOR i = 0 TO 2 A% = A% + 1 CALL DisplayCharHGC(i, 20, 20 * A%, 0, 7) NEXT

'restore original vector RegX.Ds = oldoff& RegX.Dx = oldPtr& RegX.Ax = &H2550 CALL interruptX(&H21, RegX, RegX)

'verify restoration RegX.Ax = &H3550 RegX.Ds = -1 RegX.Es = -1 CALL interruptX(&H21, RegX, RegX) PRINT &quot;Vector 50H reset to &quot;; RegX.Es, RegX.Bx

' pause SLEEP

Additional query words: QuickBas BasicCom

Keywords: KB37475

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