Subroutine Summary(v5.0)

Given the number and variety of routines available in INTERACTER, they have been organised into six sections. Each category is sub-divided into groups, which are identified by two-character codes, e.g. CU for cursor control, MN for menus and so on. The following sections provide a general summary of types of facilities provided by each of these subroutine groups.

1. Text Screen Output

Broadly, INTERACTER treats text and graphics output separately, though both can co-exist on the same screen. The subroutine groups in this category deal with various aspects of text screen output.

Text Output Routines
Cursor Control Routines
Clearing Routines
Text Attribute Routines
Character Graphics Routines
Window Management Routines
Menu Output Routines

2. Input Handling

This category provides a set of functions which handle various types of text and option input, plus routines which allow the user to 'point' to positions or areas on the screen.

Keyboard/Mouse Event Handling Routines
Fixed Field Input Handling Routines
Menu Handling Routines
Input/Menu Handling Parameter Selection Routines
Interactive Option Identification (Predefined menus/forms)
Text Position Input Routines
Mouse Cursor Control
Grid Management

3. Forms Manager

These routines allow the creation of interactive data entry forms to which values can be assigned or retrieved. Multi-part tabbed forms are also supported.

General Form Creation & Editing
Field-specific Characteristics
Assign/Retrieve Field Contents
Display Form/Field Boxes

4. High Resolution Graphics

These routines provide a substantial range of high resolution graphics output facilities, including all the basic graphics primitives upon which the separate Presentation Graphics routines are built. Graphics positional input is also grouped under this heading.

General Graphics Routines
Graphics Area/Units
Graphics Style Selection
Graphics Drawing/Movement Primitives
Graphics Character Output Routines
Graphics Hardcopy/Export
Graphics File Import
Graphics Input Routines
Graphics Proximity Checks

5. Presentation Graphics

To enable data to be presented simply and quickly, a set of routines are provided which draw bar-charts, line graphs, etc. These routines are built on the lower-level high resolution graphics facilities. Many graphical requirements can be satisfied just by using these routines, but calls to all the high-res graphics groups can be freely mixed for more specialised data presentation.

Housekeeping/Option Selection
Axes Plotting/Annotation
Chart/Graph Plotting
Contour/Surface Plotting

6. General Functions

The remaining routines provide a variety of functions which are likely to be required in interactive applications.

Screen Manipulation Routines
Information Routines
Operating System Interface
Binary File Handling
Hardware Identification Routines
Debugging
Miscellaneous Routines
Character Manipulation Routines
Maximum/Minimum Calculations
Bit Manipulation Functions