Ada + MSDOS + User Interface Code?

Ada + MSDOS + User Interface Code?

[Ashley Collins]

Hi

I'm running GNAT Ada under MSDOS.  I'd like to build a very simple
'graphical' user interface for my application.  The type of interface should
support the ANSI character set so that I can display non-movable windows,
scrollers etc.

Does anyone know of any good user interface library code that works under
MSDOS?  Anyone care to make a recommendation?  Where can I find it?

Ashley

Re: Ada + MSDOS + User Interface Code?

[Randy Brukardt]

Ashley Collins wrote in message
<983180961.119586@ernani.logica.co.uk>...
>I'm running GNAT Ada under MSDOS.  I'd like to build a very simple
>'graphical' user interface for my application.  The type of interface
should
>support the ANSI character set so that I can display non-movable
windows,
>scrollers etc.
>
>Does anyone know of any good user interface library code that works
under
>MSDOS?  Anyone care to make a recommendation?  Where can I find it?


The MS-DOS version of Janus/Ada contains such a thing (called
"JWindows"). But it has to write directly to the VGA hardware, and thus
was not designed to work with another compiler.

The MS-DOS versions of Janus/Ada are still available (16-bit Ada 83,
32-bit Ada 83 & Ada 95). See www.rrsoftware.com.

(There are different versions of JWindows for Ada 83 and Ada 95; the Ada
95 was the inspriation for Claw.)

            Randy Brukardt.


>Ashley
>
>

Re: Ada + MSDOS + User Interface Code?

[Al Christians]

There is a way to access the MSDOS video buffer from the GNAT version
of DOS.  So, if you want to write your own library to put things on the
screen, it is not too impossibly hard, just a little work.  The problem
nowadays with a simple text-mode GUI like that is that it is not mouse
aware, and almost all computers have mouses, and almost all users want
to use them.  That motivated me to abandon a similar effort about seven
years ago just a little beyond the proof-of-concept stage.  Even the
more successful (non-Ada) DOS text-mode GUI's that could use the mouse 
were often user-unpleasant.

Al

Ashley Collins wrote:
> 
> Hi
> 
> I'm running GNAT Ada under MSDOS.  I'd like to build a very simple
> 'graphical' user interface for my application.  The type of interface should
> support the ANSI character set so that I can display non-movable windows,
> scrollers etc.
> 
> Does anyone know of any good user interface library code that works under
> MSDOS?  Anyone care to make a recommendation?  Where can I find it?
> 
> Ashley

Re: Ada + MSDOS + User Interface Code?

[tmoran]

>nowadays with a simple text-mode GUI like that is that it is not mouse aware
  You can use the mouse in text, as well as graphic, modes.  It's just uglier.

Re: Ada + MSDOS + User Interface Code?

[Al Christians]

tmoran@acm.org wrote:
> 
> >nowadays with a simple text-mode GUI like that is that it is not mouse aware
>   You can use the mouse in text, as well as graphic, modes.  It's just uglier.

Yes.  But writing a UI framework for DOS that is mouse aware is much 
less simple than writing one that isn't.  If you just use the keyboard,
you have just one stream of input to handle, and you can easily track
where you are.  And I've used some of the text mode commercial user
interfaces that could get mouse input, and the mouse was no fun.  It 
doesn't move smoothly, it  has to jump annoyingly from rectangle to 
rectangle  in the text grid.  I suppose that there might be some apps 
that can make good use of DOS on dedicated hardware,  but most of the 
world has had GUI apps for more than five years, and it would be 
unpleasant for most to go back.

I recall that there was a little trouble addressing the video buffer
with GNAT.  Because GNAT for DOS runs in protected mode, you've got an
address that's bigger than the 32-bit of segment and offset of the 
DOS real mode video buffer, and no way I could find to force any Ada 
variable to locate itself at the real address of the video buffer.  
But there were C language interface routines that came with djgpp 
that could be called from Ada to clobber the buffer indirectly.  I
think I also got this working with RR's Ada 95 for DOS. Did it have
some easier way to convert to DOS addresses?  

Back then, we used to worry about how long it took for screens to 
update, but computers are 15 times faster now, so it probably doesn't
matter much if you do any of this the fast way or the slow way.  If
the DOS machine is one that will be dedicated to just this Ada app, or 
at least not too much else will be run on the machine,  then Ansi.Sys
may be a pretty good alternative.  Ansi.Sys was comparatively slow, but
that probably doesn't matter much anymore, and it was very bad to have 
it installed if any programs were run that could possible ever send
escape characters to stdout that weren't part of a well-formed escape
sequence.  But on a dedicated machine you could possibly prevent that,
and Ansi.Sys gives some help for someone who wants to write a text mode
GUI. 

 
Al

Re: Ada + MSDOS + User Interface Code?

[Ashley Collins]

Thanks for all the various suggestions.

My requirement can best be summed up as follows:

    - runs under GNAT Ada for DOS (just DOS on the machine, nothing else!)
    - no requirement whatsoever for any pointing device e.g. mouse
    - simple windowing, coloured text, menus would be nice
    - free?

Further threads welcome.

Ashley

"Randy Brukardt" <randy@rrsoftware.com> wrote in message
news:eJym6.3356$7e6.1361379@homer.alpha.net...
>
> Ashley Collins wrote in message
> <983180961.119586@ernani.logica.co.uk>...
> >I'm running GNAT Ada under MSDOS.  I'd like to build a very simple
> >'graphical' user interface for my application.  The type of interface
> should
> >support the ANSI character set so that I can display non-movable
> windows,
> >scrollers etc.
> >
> >Does anyone know of any good user interface library code that works
> under
> >MSDOS?  Anyone care to make a recommendation?  Where can I find it?
>
>
> The MS-DOS version of Janus/Ada contains such a thing (called
> "JWindows"). But it has to write directly to the VGA hardware, and thus
> was not designed to work with another compiler.
>
> The MS-DOS versions of Janus/Ada are still available (16-bit Ada 83,
> 32-bit Ada 83 & Ada 95). See www.rrsoftware.com.
>
> (There are different versions of JWindows for Ada 83 and Ada 95; the Ada
> 95 was the inspriation for Claw.)
>
>             Randy Brukardt.
>
>
> >Ashley
> >
> >
>
>

Re: Ada + MSDOS + User Interface Code?

[gressett]

"Ashley Collins" <collinsa@logica.com> wrote:

>Hi
>
>I'm running GNAT Ada under MSDOS.  I'd like to build a very simple
>'graphical' user interface for my application.  The type of interface should
>support the ANSI character set so that I can display non-movable windows,
>scrollers etc.
>
>Does anyone know of any good user interface library code that works under
>MSDOS?  Anyone care to make a recommendation?  Where can I find it?
>
>Ashley
>
There is one written in C available from Mix Software.
<http://www.mixsoftware.com>

It is the C/Windows Toolchest. It is not Open Source, but source is
available. It's not free, but it is cheap. You would need the source,
as the binary object libraries probably wouldn't link with
GNAT-generated code.

Re: Ada + MSDOS + User Interface Code?

[Gautier de Montmollin]

gressett@iglobal.net:

> It is the C/Windows Toolchest. It is not Open Source, but source is
> available. It's not free, but it is cheap. You would need the source,
> as the binary object libraries probably wouldn't link with
> GNAT-generated code.

For that a binding to Free Vision, a clone
of Borland's Turbo Vision, would fit, since
it has been made for DJGPP (same wood as GNAT/DOS).

__________________________________________
Gautier  --  http://www.diax.ch/users/gdm/