Re: Readkey in VAX Ada 83

[kilgallen@eisner.decus.org (Larry Kilgallen, LJK Software)]

In article <1995Jan27.172515.1@clstcs>, amlombardi@vms4.sci.csupomona.edu writes:

> I posted earlier about getting a character from the keyboard buffer but left
> out a vital part... I'm using VAX Ada... I've had a few responses and one
> person mentioned the file STARLET.... does anyone know if the answer lies in
> here because the file is 2500 blocks long ... thanks.. e-mail me with response

Package STARLET describes the common programmer interfaces to the VMS
operating system, and is available both on VAX and the newer Alpha VMS
systems (when VAX Ada or DEC Ada are available).

I do not recall your previous post, but if you are trying to read
characters from the keyboard before a carriage return has been entered,
the procedure you want is STARLET.QIO or STARLET.QIOW.  It is not practical
to explain the use of QIO online.  You should consult the VMS manual
called the I/O User's Guide, looking at the chapter about Terminal IO.

Perhaps you hoped for a routine which would be portable across operating
systems, but I tend to think it would be impossible to specify one which
was sufficiently general to cover all operating systems.  Your particular
need is to avoid waiting for the end of line, but someone else might want
to prefill the input buffer with particular text (available on VMS) or
specify the color in which characters will be echoed (not available on VMS,
but surely available on some other operating system).  Specifying the
unification of all operating system features would be a daunting task for
the designers of Ada, and one which would be outdated immediately by the
provision of new features in some operating system.

Larry Kilgallen
using Ada without being mandated