GRASP 3.5 Readme File - February 12, 1990 This file contains three sections: New features in Grasp 3.5 Updating applications from Grasp 3.1 Additions to the manual There are two additional Readme files, for Inset and for the High-Level Language examples. Inset's Readme is in the INSET directory. The HLL Readme in is the HLL directory. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- New features in Grasp 3.5 Grasp now sports 102 commands, greatly improved performance, and many new features which give Grasp all the capabilities of other third-generation languages like C and Pascal. Here are some of the highlights: Grasp Video modes Grasp now supports most of the enhanced VGA modes, including 16-color 1024x768 and 256-color 800x600. As always, the modes available to you depend on your video card. Page 6-4 in the Grasp manual lists all of the modes. Differential animation The utility GDFF creates differential animation files which Grasp can play back. This technique saves the changes from one frame to another in a sequence of images, resulting in much smaller and faster animations. See page 2-13 for an introduction to the concept. DOS commands, CDs, and other devices Grasp now has full multimedia capability. The INT command calls interrupts, which allows Grasp programs to control CD players and other devices and to issue DOS commands such as Make Directory. See the files DOSIO.TXT and CDCMD.TXT for examples. Conditional execution Grasp now features conditional execution in If-Else-Endif constructs, which can be built around value comparisons, user keystrokes, mouse clicks, and other testable conditions. See pages 3-34 through 3-37. Variables, operators, and functions Grasp now allows variables and can perform string and math operations. See pages 3-28 and 3-29 for an introduction to variables, and pages 6-18 through 6-20 for lists of operators and functions. Subroutines You can now pass parameters to subroutines, including variables. See pages 3-37 through 3-41 for details. Typographic controls The Text command now wraps text within windows automatically, and you can choose left, center, or right alignment of text. Letter and word spacing can also be controlled. See page 4-88. Picture/clipping command use All Grasp commands can now work with clippings or pictures. To use a clipping with a command designed for pictures such as Pfade, preface the buffer number with a C. To use a picture with a clipping command such as Putup, preface the buffer number with a P. Pictor Quick keys The quick-key feature has been expanded to include more menu options and to allow you to select all of the drawing tools. See section six of the Pictor manual for a complete list. Also note that it's no longer necessary to use the Alt key with a letter key to select menu options or tools, unless you're using the Text tool. VGA color cycling In VGA modes you can cycle a range of colors on screen by pressing Tab. All colors from the left to the right mouse button color will begin shifting positions as they do in Grasp with the Cycle command. Tab again to speed up shifting; use Shift-Tab to slow it down and stop it. Press the Backspace key to reverse cycling direction. VGA color range adjustment The range of colors from the left to the right mouse button color can be adjusted in hue, brightness, and contrast, using the Ctrl key with the function keys. These are listed in section six of the Pictor manual. Press the Asterisk key to restore the original palette, or save the image to make the adjustments permanent. Note that until you save the image and reload it, any adjustments you make with this feature affect the underlying palette. Edit menu and Change Colors dialog box When the Change Colors dialog box is displayed, you can use the Edit menu functions Cut, Copy, Paste, and Invert Colors. They will operate on the selected range of colors (from left to right button color). Copy and Paste make it easy to move ranges of colors in 256-color mode. To use this feature, just click on Edit on the menu bar or press the quick key for the function you want (C for Copy, for example). Artools Artools is now bundled with Grasp. If you're familiar with the previous version of Artools, you'll notice two program changes: TXTCLP (for converting text-mode images to graphics modes) has been added, and TGAPIC/PICTGA are no longer included. The Artools program has also been eliminated: each of the programs now has its own interactive screen. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Updating existing applications Applications written in Grasp 3.1 will run under version 3.5 with four exceptions. We're confident that Grasp's enhanced capabilities and performance will make converting your applications worthwhile. 1 The TOUCH command has been eliminated. Touchscreen users should rely on the software provided with their screens, which can be used to simulate keystrokes in response to touches. Grasp programs can then test for keystrokes instead. 2 The FLOAT command has been enhanced with ENDFLOAT. Float still leaves a clipping displayed at its last location, but now it saves the background under that clipping in a buffer. The next Float command restores the background from that buffer before starting its Float. This new feature allows you to put together a sequence of Floats to create complex movement. However, the Endfloat command must now be issued after the last Float in a series. Existing applications that use Float may need Endfloats to work correctly. 3 The new math operators include the dash (subtraction and negation). Unfortunately, this means that filenames in Grasp programs cannot use dashes unless they're enclosed in quotes. For example, PLOAD T-12,1 will cause an error, but PLOAD "T-12",1 will work. If you've used dashes in filenames, add quotes or rename the files. 4 Since text can now span multiple lines, it's imperative that all quotes be balanced. This was not true in version 3.1: you could leave off the closing quote from a Text command without causing an error. In version 3.5 the interpreter will scan lines, treating them as text, until it finds the next quote.