Help with my command prompt style thing?

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hotron

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Posted: 16th Mar 2008 07:10 Edited at: 16th Mar 2008 11:33

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Ok, I'm making a command prompt style program and it doesn't seem to work properly. You have to enter the commands in several times for them to work

.

Things I need help with:

Fixing it so you only need to enter the commands once.

Scrollbar. (Working on)

This is the complete source code so far:
(Very very early in prototype stage)

+ Code Snippet

Set window on
set window title "Hotool"
set display mode 1000, 700, 16

ink RGB(0,255,0),1
Print "Welcome to the Hotool prototype. Version 00.000.002"
Print "There are lots of bugs and not much to do. Have fun!"
Print "Enter cls to clear the screen. It is your friend" 

Hotool:
Input "<Hotool>  ", Hot$
return

do
If Hot$="StartPrint" then gosub Print else gosub Hotool
If Hot$="Quit" then gosub exit else gosub Hotool
If Hot$="Dir" then Dir else gosub Hotool
If Hot$="Path" then gosub Path else gosub Hotool
If Hot$="cls" then cls else gosub Hotool
loop

Print:
Input "<Print>  ", Print$
Print "<Print>  " + Print$ + ""
If Print$="Hotool" then gosub Hotool else gosub Print
If Print$="cls" then cls else gosub Print
return

Path:
Input "<Path>  ", Path$
CD Path$
return

do
If Path$="Hotool" then gosub Hotool else gosub Path
If Path$="Dir" then Dir else gosub Hotool
loop

exit:
exit prompt "Bye!", "Are you sure you want to exit?"
end
return

Thanks in advance
Hotron

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BN2 Productions

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Posted: 16th Mar 2008 08:14 Edited at: 16th Mar 2008 08:35

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ok, I would suggest a few things

1. Indent your loops
2. Don't make your subroutines the same as REAL commands (make them do_command or something like that)
3. Take out the return after hotool and make all of the "gosub hotool" lines "goto hotool"
4. Even though your end command is in a subroutine, put another in. This should separate your subroutines from your main code, this stops the program from accidentally running into subroutines and executing them when they aren't supposed to

*NOTE: You may want to consider using functions rather than subroutines for your different commands.

ok now for your if commands
what the first one in every set says basically if the input is THIS then do that but if it isn't THIS then go back.

this begins to contradict itself with other if's structured the same way (it will always go back to hotool if it isn't the first one)
try using the select command. This is like a multi-if then statement. Not sure of the syntax I think it is:

+ Code Snippet

select VARIABLE
    case VALUE1:COMMAND:endcase
    case VALUE2:COMMAND:endcase
    case VALUE3:COMMAND:endcase
endselect

the variable in this case would be the input string
the value1,2,and 3, would be the different commands "print" "exit" etc. the command section is where you put all the things that should be done if the variable equals the value.

now to answer your question of why you had to type the same thing multiple times, I will follow your programs logic starting from hotool and assuming that the command is cls.

+ Code Snippet

input hot$
gosub hotool

input hot$
return=>returns to the line AFTER the gosub was called
gosub hotool

input hot$
return to the next case
gosub hotool

input hot$
return to the next case
gosub hotool

input hot$
return to the next line
hot$ IS "cls" so cls

As you can see, because of the use of gosubs, rather than goto, you are constantly jumping back and forth.

You could even probably put the input command into your do loop and omit the gosub/goto hotool altogether, then at the end of your command subroutines just return.

Hope these tips help!

Ever notice how in Microsoft word, the word "microsoft" is auto corrected to be "Microsoft" but "macintosh" just gets the dumb red underline?

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hotron

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Posted: 16th Mar 2008 09:16 Edited at: 16th Mar 2008 09:25

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Most of the stuff you said I don't understand. The stuff that I could understand made it worse.

(none of the commands work AT ALL now)

but thanks anyway

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TDK

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Posted: 16th Mar 2008 10:34 Edited at: 16th Mar 2008 12:41

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Quote: "make all of the "gosub hotool" lines "goto hotool""

Bad advice - the only bit though, as the rest is good. You should never suggest that a newcomer to programming use Goto rather than Gosub.

@hotron

You're on the right track, but not quite there yet. You just need to get used to how subroutines work. There's a tutorial which covers the subject here:

http://forum.thegamecreators.com/?m=forum_view&t=99497&b=10

Tutorial 2 is the one you want, but numbers 1 to 4 you might find very useful also.

BN2 Productions is correct about indenting. Learn about it earlier rather than later. It's important as it makes your programs easier to read and follow - especially if you post them on here and expect others to help you solve problems.

I won't look at an unindented code snippet more than a few lines long and I know others won't either so if you don't indent, you could be losing out on help from a lot of other users.

Here's your program a little closer to what it should look like.

+ Code Snippet

Set window on
set window title "Hotool"
set display mode 800, 600, 16

ink RGB(0,255,0),1

CLS
Print "Welcome to the Hotool prototype. Version 00.000.002"
Print "There are lots of bugs and not much to do. Have fun!"
Print "Enter cls to clear the screen. It is your friend"
do
  Input "<Hotool>  ", Hot$
  If Hot$="StartPrint" then gosub PrintSub
  If Hot$="Quit" then gosub exitSub
  If Hot$="Dir" then Dir
  If Hot$="Path" then gosub PathSub
  If Hot$="cls" then cls
loop
End

PrintSub:
  Input "<Print>  ", Print$
  Print "<Print>  " + Print$
return

PathSub:
  Input "<Path>: ",Path$
  CD Path$
return

exitSub:
  exit prompt "Bye!", "Are you sure you want to exit?"
  end
return

There are lots of other things wrong with the program - like the ',1' in the ink command, but that's only because as a beginner you don't yet fully know how the commands work. The above tutorials will help you with that and you can then build on your program...

Quote: "Fixing it so you only need to enter the commands once."

How I changed it should work, but don't forget that how you've written it, it's case sensitive. Look up the Upper$() command in the Help (F1).

Quote: "Scrollbar. (not necessary but I would like lots)."

Look on the code snippets board. I wrote a scrolling text box snippet which is on there.

TDK_Man

* TDK's Game Programming Forums - Open To All - DB & Team Request Boards *

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hotron

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Posted: 16th Mar 2008 11:32

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Thank you TDK! You are my hero.
Hmm so thats what the indentation is supposed to look like. Never enough thanks

Hotron

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BN2 Productions

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Posted: 16th Mar 2008 18:59 Edited at: 16th Mar 2008 19:00

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Quote: "Most of the stuff you said I don't understand. "

wrote a quick demo program of the select command, it should keep your if-thens a little neater

+ Code Snippet

do
	Input "<Hi, choose a number 1 through 5!>",number
	rem note that the variable is the number just inputted
	select number
		rem if number=1 then print "you chose 1!"
		case 1 : print "You chose 1!" : endcase

		rem if number=2 then print "you chose 2!"
		case 2 : print "You chose 2!" : endcase

		rem Cases can also be broken up like this
		case 3
			print "You chose 3!" 
		endcase
		case 4 : print "You chose 4!" : endcase

		case 5 : print "You chose 5!" : endcase

		rem This is what it will do if you enter something that isn't covered in
		rem the other cases. For instance, there is no case for 6, so this
		rem would tell the user to enter a number 1 through 5 instead.
		case default : print "I said 1 through 5!!" : endcase
	endselect
loop

and here is how your main loop would look with this

+ Code Snippet

do
   select hot$
      case "StartPrint" : gosub Print : endcase
      case "Quit" : gosub exit : endcase
      case "Dir" : gosub Dir : endcase
      case "Path" : gosub Path : endcase
      case "cls" : cls : endcase
      case default : gosub hotool : endcase
   endselect
loop

Ever notice how in Microsoft word, the word "microsoft" is auto corrected to be "Microsoft" but "macintosh" just gets the dumb red underline?

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hotron

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Location: Australia

Posted: 18th Mar 2008 04:35 Edited at: 18th Mar 2008 04:37

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Ok I have a new problem, I tried putting in an Errorsub (which worked) but i also tried putting in a "Execute file" I exited( after "unrecognized parameter" messages) without saving. But what I was trying to do was execute a file from "EF$" In the Current directory (Whichever the user has chosen). here is what i tried:

+ Code Snippet

  If file exist ( EF$ ) then execute file EF$, ???*, Path$ else Gosub ErrorSub

* What do i do for command line? I tried putting in "none" and completely removing it and I still got the error messages

And the help files didn't explain anything useful or even helpful. Can Some one please help or explain?

Thanks in advance
Hotron

**EF$ is an input for the execute File command

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TDK

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Posted: 18th Mar 2008 07:28 Edited at: 19th Mar 2008 00:15

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The Filename, Commandline and Directory parameters in Execute File are all strings, and no string at all is a NULL string ("").

+ Code Snippet

If file exist (EF$) 
  execute file EF$,"","" 
Else 
  Gosub ErrorSub
Endif

Keep If..Else..Endif lines separated in DBC as per the help files. You can have problems doing it like that as there's no Endif.

TDK_Man

* TDK's Game Programming Forums - Open To All - DB & Team Request Boards *

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hotron

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Location: Australia

Posted: 18th Mar 2008 22:19 Edited at: 18th Mar 2008 22:47

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Edit: Never mind. I fixed it.

Hotron

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