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From: cloos@acsu.buffalo.edu (James H. Cloos)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.handhelds
Subject: Re: Putting GROB's into the menu keys
Message-ID: <68657@eerie.acsu.Buffalo.EDU>
Date: 3 Apr 91 21:01:00 GMT
References: <9393@mentor.cc.purdue.edu>
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In article <9393@mentor.cc.purdue.edu> ahernsd@mentor.cc.purdue.edu (Dynastar) writes:
>I heard on this newsgroup that it is possible to create
>an appropriatly sized GROB and place it into the CST
>variable to create incredibly customized menu keys.
>
>Well, when I read this, I had just gotten my 48sx, so
>I had little or no idea what the post was talking about.
>
>Now that I have a need of such a function (I want to put
>gradient of g on a key.  upside-down delta - g ), I wish
>that I had saved the posting.
>
>Can anyone provide insight about this?
>
>Thanks for the help!
>

[I'll attempt to make a tutorial out of this:  it can be edited and added
to the FAQ when it--eventually--gets put together.]

To begin with, familiarize yourself with the sections of chaper 15 of the
Owner's Manual that deal with custom menus.  Note that a string can be used
to lable the key.  For the purposes of the GROB discussion, lets define an
example.  the list  { { "123" { 1 2 3 } } FRED { "WIL" a b c } }
creates a menu with the lables [123], [FRED], and [WIL].  Hitting [123]
puts a 1 on the stack, left-shift-[123] puts a 2, and right-shift[123] puts
a 3 on the stack.  [FRED] executes the ID (aka global name) 'FRED',
(remember that undefined ID's just push themselves onto the stack),
left-shift [FRED] will try to STO level1 into 'FRED', and right-shift
[FRED] will try to RCL 'FRED's contents.  Similarly, [WIL] will evaluate
the ID 'a', left-[WIL] will STO into ID 'a', and right-[WIL] will RCL ID
'a'.  Note that 'b' and 'c' are ignored.  I find the distinction between
the formats of [123] and [WIL] to be a common stumbling block.  (Ie, the
syntax of [WIL]'s entry is used when the syntax (& functionality) of
[123]'s entry is desired.)

Above, we used strings and ID's to lable the key.  A LAM (lambda or local
name) can also be used, as can a GROB.  To work, the GROB must be have
dimentions 21x8.  Anything else is rejected.

As an example, lets make a lable that is more informative than [123] above,
but with the same functionality (ie unshifted is 1, left shifted is 2, and
right shifted is 3).  The GROB below:
GROB 21 8 FFFFF13FFF91DE7F717F3F91BF7F711E7F91FF3EF1FFFFF1
which looks like:
			#####################
			##  #############  ##
			# ## ###### ####### #
			### ######  #####  ##
			## ######## ####### #
			#    ###### #####  ##
			##########   ########
			#####################

gives a better picture (pardon the pun) of what the key does.  So if you
were to use the following as your argument to MENU or TMENU:
{ { GROB 21 8 FFFFF13FFF91DE7F717F3F91BF7F711E7F91FF3EF1FFFFF1 { 1 2 3 }
	} FRED { "WIL" a b c } }
you would have the above GROB (I'll call it [213]) in position a, [FRED] in
b, and [WIL] in c, working just like the [123][FRED][WIL] menu did.

Notice that to have menu lables that are the same size as the built-in
ones, the top row of pixels in the 21x8 GROB should be left blank, unlike
what I did above.  However, if all of your menus are icons, you might as
well use all 8 pixel-rows.

(Also note that in internal menus, the lable object can be anything that
returns a string, GROB, ID, or LAM to the stack; this is how those boxes
are included in the keys and toggled upon keypresses.)

I hope this has been helpful.

-JimC
--
James H. Cloos, Jr.		Phone:  +1 716 673-1250
cloos@ACSU.Buffalo.EDU		Snail:  PersonalZipCode:  14048-0772, USA
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