Need to print a Special Character to console screen

[MARY GIRARDOT]

Hi,
I have a program written in PBCC 5.0. The font properties of the shortcut
that start the program is set to Raster/Terminal 10x18.

I am trying to display on the console screen a character that is not one of the 255 characters available in the raster/terminal font. Is there any way I can make this special character and imbed it in a resource file or something and then be able to display it on the console screen at a specific row and column using Locate.

For Example Locate 25,30:PRINT SPECIALCHAR$

Thanks my Friends in advance for your help and suggestions.
Mary

[Fred Harris]

Hi Mary!

That's a tough one! I gave this a try and was able to use some of the Windows Graphics Device Interface Functions to output text to the console screen...

#Compile Exe
#Dim All
#Include "Win32Api.inc"
Declare Function GetConsoleWindow Lib "Kernel32.dll" Alias "GetConsoleWindow" () As Dword
                                                                                                   
Function PBMain() As Long
  Local lpPaint As PAINTSTRUCT
  Local strText As String
  Local hWnd As Dword
  Local hDC As Long
  
  hWnd=GetConsoleWindow()
  hDC=GetDC(hWnd)
  strText="Mary Needs To Print Something Unusual To The Console."
  Call TextOut(hDC,0,0,Byval Strptr(strText),Len(strText))
  strText="Can Probably Use Low Level Graphics Primitives In"
  Call TextOut(hDC,0,16,Byval Strptr(strText),Len(strText))
  strText="Windows Graphics Device Interface."
  Call TextOut(hDC,0,32,Byval Strptr(strText),Len(strText))
  ReleaseDC(hWnd,hDC)
  Waitkey$

  PBMain=0
End Function

Maybe I'm way off base, but I'm thinking it could possibly be done by creating the special character as a bit map, then using the GDI functions to draw it to the screen as I did above with the text. Hopefully somebody can come up with an easier way?

[Fred Harris]

Wow! Just dawned on me that's a natural for all the new wiz-bang graphics available with the newer compilers. I see there are a plethora of graphics statements. Of course, you would have to use graphics windows. Since I've never used any, I'm not the right one to help!

[Eric Pearson]

Mary --

Is there any way I can make this special character and imbed it in a resource file or something and then be able to display it on the console screen at a specific row and column using Locate.

As far as I know, the only way to do that would be to create a custom font that includes the special character. Raster fonts are relatively easy to create but there are a number of complications. If it seems like a viable option for you, I'll elaborate.

-- Eric

[Guest]

Here is a solution that is not so pretty but it works.

It displays a Courier character on the console screen at the specified row, column. Hit any key to display a different random character. Hit ESC to quit the program.

Works for 10x18 raster font.

Need to include Gert Volands "GRBUTTONS.INC".

Basically creating a graphic window of size 10x18 pixels at the required location and using graphic print to put any graphic character there. You can drag the console screen around but it has a funny look as the graphic screen catches up with the console.

#COMPILE EXE
#DIM ALL

%WINDOW_CHAR = 12
#INCLUDE "GrButtons.inc"                    'From Gert Voland

FUNCTION PBMAIN () AS LONG

    LOCAL wGW, hGW, xGW, yGW AS LONG
    LOCAL x0, y0 AS LONG
    LOCAL row,col AS LONG
    LOCAL retbutton AS LONG
    LOCAL specialchar AS STRING
    LOCAL ikey AS STRING

    GLOBAL courier18 AS LONG
    FONT NEW "Courier New", 12 TO courier18

    row = 2
    col = 30

    'For Example Locate 25,30:PRINT SPECIALCHAR$  locate row,col

    CONSOLE GET LOC TO x0, y0
    wGW = 10                                              'width and height of GW   10x18 font
    hGW = 18
    xGW = col*wGW                                              'relative position of GW to Console
    yGW = row*hGW

    CONSOLE GET LOC TO x0, y0        'need to set console position again.
    CALL charwindow(x0 + xGW-5, y0 + yGW+13, wGW, hGW, specialchar) 'open the character window

    PRINT "12345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890"
    PRINT "12345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890"
    PRINT "12345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890"
    PRINT "12345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890"
    PRINT "12345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890"
    CONSOLE SET FOCUS
    GRAPHIC SET FONT courier18

    DO
        CALL GraphicGetEvents(retButton)
        SLEEP 1  'release the processor
        
        GRAPHIC SET POS (0,0)
        GRAPHIC PRINT CHR$(RND*100+100)     'display random courier character with key hit
        GRAPHIC REDRAW
                                    'release processor
        ikey = WAITKEY$
        IF ikey = $ESC THEN EXIT DO         'quit on esc
    LOOP

END FUNCTION

'----------------------------------------------------------------------------

SUB charwindow(BYVAL xpos AS LONG, ypos AS LONG, BYVAL w AS LONG, BYVAL h AS LONG, BYVAL char AS STRING)

    'Create the control window
    CALL GraphicCreateWindow(%WINDOW_CHAR, "", xpos, ypos, w, h)
    GRAPHIC COLOR %WHITE, %BLACK
    GRAPHIC REDRAW

END SUB 'MainWindow