FANSI
Harry E. Barnett
In my opinion, the $55 I spent for FANSI-Console from Hersey
Microconsulting gave the the most quality for the cost of ANY micro
software I have purchased. Documentation excellent, performance
exactly as documented, no bugs encountered. I recommend it without
reservation, if you want ANSI 3.64 terminal features on your PC or
clone.
--
________________________________________________________________________
Harry E. Barnett {hplsla,uw-beaver}!tikal!slovax!harryb
har...@slovax.uucp
> Someone e-mailed me this weekend (was it you?) that they had FANSI
> 1.17 and spoke of in similarly glowing terms. Further, version 2.0
> is scheduled for imminent release, I heard.
No, it wasn't me. But the day I posted this I received a flyer announcing
the release of FANSI-CONSOLE 2.00 with shipments as of 10/22. Price has
gone up to $75 list (still a bargain) and $25 for updates. It is produced by
Hersey Micro Consulting, Inc.
POB 8276
Ann Arbor, MI 48107
(313) 994-3259 Voice
(313) 994-3946 Bulletin Board (Mon-Sun 24 hrs, 300/1200)
They accept MC/VISA, prepaid orders no shipping charge (UPS ground or
USnail), give 'em a call for other shipping rates.
FANSI-CONSOLE is jam-packed with features too numerous to mention here,
but one I find particularly useful is the capability to rapidly
redefine the keyboard, inside or outside a program. Another is the
complete implementation of the ANSI X3.64 standard "Additional Controls
for Use With ANS Code for Information Interchange" (ISO 6429). This
driver is very flexible, very compatible with practically every
PC/Clone, and extremely well documented.
Hersey is very clearly of the "Excellence can Stand Improvement" school
rather than the "Adequate is Good Enough" school. It is superb
engineering resulting in a fine product.
I implement the ANSI 3.64 controls by defining them all in an
'#include fansi.h' and then calling the ones I want from the program, e.g.:
...
#include "fansi.h"
...
CUP(xcoord,ycoord); /* CUrsor Position to x,y */
...
'CUP' was defined in fansi.h as:
#define CUP(x,y) printf("^[[%d;%dH",x,y)
I find it very easy to implement screen control and display features this way.
Anybody got any tips on how to exploit all the features?
___________________________
Disclaimer: I am not connected with Hersey Micro Consulting in any way
other than as a satisfied customer. And I'll disregard any flames about
this posting anyway, so you needn't bother...
Tim Iverson
> [stuff about FANSI-CONSOLE, an ANSI 3.64 console emulator for MS-DOS]
>
>I implement the ANSI 3.64 controls by defining them all in an
>'#include fansi.h' and then calling the ones I want from the program, e.g.:
> ...
> #include "fansi.h"
> ...
> CUP(xcoord,ycoord); /* CUrsor Position to x,y */
> ...
>
>'CUP' was defined in fansi.h as:
> #define CUP(x,y) printf("^[[%d;%dH",x,y)
>
>I find it very easy to implement screen control and display features this way.
>
>Anybody got any tips on how to exploit all the features?
I have one comment about your use of macros in this way: its not very
portable. What do you do when you want to move it to UNIX? Force everyone
who runs your program to use an ANSI terminal?
A much better approach is to use curses or if you do not have a
curses package, you could use the low level TERMCAP(3X) routines (tgetent,
tgetnum, tgetflag, tgetstr, tgoto, and tputs), most of which are available
in public domain versions such as the routines distributed with the MS-DOS
version of LARN.
All that would be necessary to use these routines effectively on a
PC with FANSI would be to set up tgetstr to return the proper control strings
for FANSI. There are, of course, some disadvantages to this method. The
major one is that an MS-DOS user would have to be using FANSI or some other
full 3.64 emulator (such as the public domain NANSI.SYS) to use your program.
This is no worse than your method with the include file, but still
remains portable to UNIX systems. The second major disadvantage is that the
TERMCAP(3X) routines probably do not support some of the more esoteric
control sequences that FANSI supports.
If you never plan on 'sharing' your efforts with the outside world,
portability is not an issue. Either way, if you're interested in using these
routines, I have tgetent, tgetstr, tgoto, and tputs set up for minimal use
of the ANSI 3.64 standard and I would be willing to send them to anyone
interested. Please respond via e-mail and if the volume warrants, I will
post to net.sources, otherwise I will mail them.
Tim Iverson
ive...@cory.Berkeley.EDU
...!ucbvax!cory!iverson