DispMod is one of the series of ROBBS modules. ROBBS stands for

   Rexx Object Building Block System

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All parts of this distribution are Copyright Larry Phillips 1988,
1989, and 1990. All rights reserved.

You may distribute DispMod sources, executables, documentation,
and ARexx examples and utilities via online systems, including BBS
systems and commercial telecommunication services, including, but
not limited to Compuserve, Bix, People Link, and GEnie, provided no
specific charge is made for this distribution, other than normal
connect charges. It may be distributed by User Groups and 'freely
distributable disk collections', exemplified by the Fred Fish disks.
(Thanks Fred!)

You may not sell any part of this distribution.

If you wish to provide all or part of DispMod in any commercial
product, please contact the author for permission.

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See the accompanying file 'ROBBS.doc' for a discussion of the ROBBS
system of application building.

DispMod is a display module that only understands ARexx messages.
It allows, under program control (ARexx programs or binary executables),
the display of text and the acceptance of keyboard data.

It is very limited at this time, because it was intended as part of a
series of articles in Transactor for the Amiga, and was kept simple, in the
hope that those who like the concept would undertake to make their own
improvements. It opens a full 320*200, borderless window on the WorkBench
screen, and awaits ARexx messages.

Please refer to the following summary, the accompanying detailed command
documentation, and the example script (data_entry.rexx) for programming
information.

------------------------------------------------------------------
Command           Purpose                        Arguments
------------------------------------------------------------------
  TEXT     Place characters on the display        STRING
  LTEXT    TEXT, with appended linefeed           STRING
  HTEXT    Highlighted text (different colour)    STRING
  LHTEXT   HTEXT with appended linefeed           STRING
  CRSR     Position the cursor on display         <row, column>
  GETLINE  Get a line of text from the keyboard   [STRING]
  TITLE    Place a title on the window.           STRING
  STATUS   Return info about display              -NONE-
  CONNECT  Attach attach keyboard to port         PORTNAME COMMAND
  CTRL     Attach display to a control port       PORTNAME
  DIE      Unload display module                  -NONE-

  REALLY_DIE    Special - see note below
----------------------------------------------------------------------
STATUS -- returned from display module as a single string in RESULT

   Connected port name - where keyboard data will go.
   Control port name   - where all other messages are sent
   Window              - address of display window
   Console write       - address of display console write IO struct

See the STATUS documentation for more details.

*********************************************************************/

REALLY_DIE:

  This command is only recognized after the DIE command has been
  issued.  Its purpose is to save the day when, due to some programming
  error in the script or another program, one or more messages from the
  display has not been replied to.  In this case, it is necessary either
  to await the reply (or replies) before exiting.  If you know that the
  replies will never come, you can issue the REALLY_DIE command to the
  display, and it will exit.

  You will know when you need to issue this command because the display
  window will not go away when you think it should, and the CLI you
  started the script from will have a message telling you that there
  are outstanding commands. Upon receiving the REALLY_DIE command, dispmod
  will assume you know what you are doing, and will free up the outstanding
  messages.

*************************************************************************

  The display module will open a port called 'ROBBS_disp', to which all
commands must be sent.  This can be accomplished in the normal ARexx
manner by using the ADDRESS command in its various forms.

  By default, the display module will send all 'CTRL' messages to a port
called 'ROBBS_ctrl', which must be opened in the ARexx script that
controls the display. If you wish to have another port used as the
controlling port, you must use the 'CTRL <portname>' command.

Please feel free to ask any questions, and to make any suggestions.

The following are some possible enhancements to dispmod you might want to try
if you are a programmer.:

  The ability of DispMod to run in multiple incarnations. In particular,
  the public ports need to have unique names.

  Commands to allow easy text manipulation, such as erase to EOL,
  erase to EOS, colour control, etc.

  The ability to specify numeric fields, aplhanumeric fields, and
  fields that only accept an arbitrarily limited set of characters under
  program control.

  Protected fields. These fields could not be typed into, which would
  make it easier to create forms for data entry.

***********************************************************************

Contents of distribution:

     Docs (dir)
       CONNECT.doc                    CRSR.doc
       CTRL.doc                       DIE.doc
       DispMod.doc                    GETLINE.doc
       STATUS.doc                     TEXT.doc
       TITLE.doc

     source (dir)
       cli_parse.c                    consoleio.c
       consoleio.h                    defs.h
       dispmod.c                      Glue.asm
       makefile                       rexxglue.o
       wb_parse.c

     rexx (dir)
       data_entry.rexx                killdisp.rexx
       killrobbs.rexx

  dispmod

***********************************************************************

Enjoy!
- larry