Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cornell!rochester!udel!princeton!phoenix!bskendig
From: bskendig@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Brian Kendig)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.programmer
Subject: Re: Wanted: Code for simple text interface
Message-ID: <9676@phoenix.Princeton.EDU>
Date: 31 Jul 89 17:30:44 GMT
References: <9674@phoenix.Princeton.EDU> <43528@bbn.COM>
Reply-To: bskendig@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Brian Kendig)
Organization: Systems Engineering, NASA Space Station Freedom Project
Lines: 62

In article <43528@bbn.COM> levin@BBN.COM (Joel B Levin) writes:
>In article <9674@phoenix.Princeton.EDU> bskendig@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Brian Kendig) writes:
>|A simpler way would be to ignore TextEdit.  I can listen for characters and
>|echo them to the screen when I get them, and when I get a return or enter, I
>|can parse the line.  Scrolling is a tad difficult and unwieldy, but that can
>|be overcome.  The problem here is that when the user types delete, the delete
>|appears as a *character* on the screen - one of those little white rectangles.
>
>So don't just echo the characters, look at them.  If you get a delete,
>don't echo it, erase the previous character.  If you get a word-delete
>character (whatever you choose), don't echo it, erase the previous
>word, etc.  terminal interfaces have been doing this for years!

Sounds simple enough, doesn't it?  But: how do I erase the previous character?
If I send a 'delete' to the window, it appears as a gremlin (the 'technical'
name for those little white rectangles).  Methinks I'd have to do some pretty
snappy QuickDraw manipulations to manually erase the graphic shape of the
last character I sent to the screen; think for a moment about the sheer number
of calculations involved in such a move and you'll see why I don't care to
try it.

If I could figure out how to erase the last character I sent to the screen
(and ones before that, then, if the user types delete more than once), I would
be a happy puppy.  (Then, what about a flashing cursor...?  Ugh.)  Barring
that, if that ain't possible, I'd have to mess with TextEdit somehow.  How?
I don't know.  I'd have to disable moving the cursor with mouse clicks, at
the very least.  TE would take care of the delete key.  If I could trap for
a carriage return (and I think I know how to), how can I get back into the
TE record and extract all the text between this CR and the last one?

I know this stuff is possible.  The terminal program I'm using is doing it
(well, kind of) right now.

>| ... I want to have an IBM-style interface (hold your cries;
>|there's a method to my madness) in a window.  There's got to be an easy way!
>
>I'll leave the flames to others, I sense them coming...

Actually, the reason I want to do this is to attract the attention of those
poor souls who think that COMPLEXITY=POWER.  They think that if they have to
learn how to type all sorts of convoluted commands, they can do more than
pointing-and-clicking could ever get them.  With a little work, I could easily
(?!) get this thing to recognize commands from Unix, MS-D*S, CP/M... you name
it.  Ain't resources great?

Besides, I'd use this interface myself.  Typing "cd HD:Applications:Word proc:
MacWrite files" is *much* faster than digging through four cluttered windows
and looking for specific folder icons.  (Well, maybe not *much* faster... but
you get the general idea.)

Hm.  Imagine what people would think of HyperCard if you were to run it on an
IBM text-only system!

>	/JBL
>UUCP:     levin@bbn.com (new) or {backbone}!bbn!levin (old)
>INTERNET: levin@bbn.com       		POTS: (617) 873-3463

-- 
| Brian S. Kendig       |  I feel more like I   | bskendig                   |
| Computer Engineering  |  did when I got here  | @phoenix.Princeton.EDU     |
| Princeton University  |       than I do now.  | @PUCC.BITNET               |
| Systems Engineering, NASA Space Station Freedom / General Electric WP3     |