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      ³  If loaded with READ.COM, PRESS <Esc> when you wish to END   ³
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                       Mon  12-06-1993  18:15:41

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                        ³     SHADOWBX.BAS    º
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One of the little and elusive programming problems in QuickBASIC is how
to make a "true" shadowed box. You know... where you can see the printed
text in the "shadow" in muted colors. The first Norton Utilities I
bought did that and also had a batch program called BE.EXE which would
make text box looks "3-D."

It's only taken me three (3) years to figure how how to do this. Sure
it's not too hard to make a black line to put on the bottom of the box
and figure out how to put one on the right; I did that with the program
DRAWIT.EXE posted here on CompuServe. But that is kludgy and doesn't
have that three dimensional effect you get by seeing PRINT -through- the
shadow.

According to my guruish friends, you need assembly to "paint over" the
color on a screen without disturbing the text... and they are right. But
how's about using PEEK and POKE to find what's on the screen as far as
the character, then change the color of the character, then print the
character back to the screen.  That's what SHADOWBX.BAS does.

The code is actually pretty simple. Most of the information and code is
from "Microsoft QuickBASIC Bible," page 714-21.

The executable file SHADOWBX.COM is very tiny, like the program
SHADOWBX.BAS. It is included so that you will believe me when I tell you
can really make a shadowed box with this program.

When you press <Esc> to leave this help text, the batch file
FROMJOHN.BAT will load SHADOWBX.COM and run that for you.


Have fun,

John De Palma on CompuServe 76076,571