QL Tinkering

[qbits]

Hi all,
Sems my QLFont Editor has prompted a bit more thought. I’m not by nature a perfectionist but words of my long-departed father still echo around the house. There’s always room for improvement however well you think you may have done.

The heart of the Font Editor is the Bitmap and its design attributes. A little tidy up of the code and additions made.

Flip Horizontally or Vertically,
Pan Left & Right,
Scroll Up and Down
Roll (rotate 90*) Anticlockwise or Clockwise
Change Font INK colour 2-7

Press’#’ and clear the Bit Grid to begin a new design.
Copy in a Character Font from one of the rest of the Fonts displayed.

I apologise for the run around but I think this will be the final version of QBITS QLFont Editor. I think all’s working satisfactorily as best I can cheek.

I’ve done a small revamped of the attached pdf.

QBITS

Note: 20th Nov 2022 Some KEYPad and Bitmap Editor corrections made to code and pdf.

[RalfR]

I haven't found it yet "Copy" to copy an existant char to another, say, to make a "Q" from an "O" or similar. That makes life a lot easier.

[qbits]

Hi Ralf R

When in Bitmap Editor mode use the ‘ < , > .’ Keys < > are displayed. Select lower or higher Character Font, then Enter to Copy across into Bitmap. I guess my screen aids are more wily than I perceived. Although once mastered I hope it will be an obvious reminder.

QBITS

[RalfR]

Ah, ok, thank you!

[qbits]

Hi All,
Here’s my nostalgic give away for Black Friday > QBITS QLFont Eitor SE< with attitude. Only kidding.
This Special Edition come with an added bonus a simplified version of a Classic RETRO ARCADE GAME - Space Invaders - to show off the use of Edited Font Designs.

Download QBITS_FontEdit_BBQLSE (Font Files & QBITS_FontEdit_SE for QPC2 QBITSProgs Menu)
Note: Code Line 1003 to Set Default Device Driver - flp1_ win1_ etc...
Note: Code Line 2003 to Set Pause Delay: 0 for BBQL: between 2 -5 for higher speed platform.

(L)oad SpaceInvader_fnt file and Press (D)emo to action Demo Space Invaders.
There are Four Levels, but watch out for those falling bombs you only have four Lives per Level.
Use Left & Right cursors to move the Space Ship and spacebar to Fire.

QBITS

[Andrew]

(L)oad SpaceInvader_fnt file and Press (D)emo to action Demo Space Invaders.

Hello
I tried to run QBITS_FontEdit_BBQLSE and I have encountered the following issues:
1. When loading fonts if there are N fonts on the specified drive then only the first N-1 will be shown for loading.
I copied only spaceinvader_fnt on win1_ and on (L)oad I only get 'Searching...' and then 'No files found...'
2. It is not possible to load a font from a subdirectory
3. Pressing (D)emo does nothing - 'D' should be processed in the Select on K that starts in line 1056, but it's missing, so InitDemo is never called

QBITS_FontEdit_SE has the same issues.

[qbits]

Hi Andrew

1. BBQLSE is stand alone runs on a basic QL . There is a limit to number of _fnt file to view this can be expnded if memory availabe.
2. Loading font from subdirectory would require the _fnt search to include subdirectories at present it dosn't.
3. (D)emo won't work if SpaceInvader _fnt not present ie loaded into Editor.

I've uploaded the files again now with sounds added, hope your problems will be solved. i've run it with basic Qemulator QK2K and QPC2

QBITS

[Andrew]

Hi Andrew

1. BBQLSE is stand alone runs on a basic QL . There is a limit to number of _fnt file to view this can be expnded if memory availabe.

In win1_ I have only 3 fonts, those that are included with your program.
When I press (L)oad and select win1_ only 2 fonts are presented for loading, but not the third
I had to create another font (xdummy_fnt) to be able to load the third font.
I tested with multiple=N fonts in win1_ and only N-1 are presented for load. The last font is never shown.
If in win1_ is a single font then I get 'Searching...' and then 'No files found...'
The font that is not shown is always the one that is the first one listed in Flist file.

3. (D)emo won't work if SpaceInvader _fnt not present ie loaded into Editor.

Sorted.
Font was loaded, but I use QL Commander as file manager and it converts by default all filenames to lower case. I keep all my file names wrtitten in lower case and directories in upper case. So when I copied SpaceInvader_fnt from dos directory to win1_ it was copied as spaceinvader_fnt
Which caused the IF in line 2008 to return false ...
2008 IF cn2$<>'SpaceInvader_fnt':RETurn

[qbits]

Hi Andrew
The missing Font from those selected. My Error FontLoad entry sf%=0 should be sf%=1:
Upper/Lower case Font Filenames. My fix. 2008 IF cn2$==’SpaceInvader_fnt’:CLS#3:ELSE RETurn

QBITS QLFont Editor v5 added (D)DIR to Set Drive/SubDirectories for Selection with Load & Save.
(E)dit Device string of up to 16 characters including Drive ID.
SAVE uses a further 20 characters which includes the ‘_fnt’ extension for Font filename.
1060 and 1062 for faster QL platforms remove REMark’s

Thankyou Andrew and RalfR for your constructive comments. You have pushed my limited talents to end up with a far more develop product that I first envisage.
I wonder what comes next:

QBITS

[Andrew]

1. The Load Font issue was not fixed.
To fix the Load font I have changed the SelFont procedure to:

Code: Select all

1296 DEFine PROCedure SelFont(act%,Act$)
1297 sf%=0:ft%=ft%-1:BLOCK 200,10,292,32,0:str$=Act$&drv$(dn%)
1298 IF ft%<1:CURSOR 310,32:PRINT 'No Files Found...':PAUSE 30:RETurn
1299 CURSOR 226,32:PRINT FILL$(' ',23-LEN(str$))&str$
1300 REPeat File_lp
1301  CURSOR 364,32:PRINT File$(sf%):CLS 4
1302  CURSOR 351,46:PRINT FILL$('0',2-LEN(sf%+1))&(sf%+1)
1303  K=CODE(INKEY$(-1))
1304  SELect ON K
1305    =208:sf%=sf%-1:IF sf%<0:sf%=ft%
1306    =216:sf%=sf%+1:IF sf%>ft%:sf%=0
1307    =101,69:IF act%=2:EditName 2,364,16,File$(sf%)
1308    =110,78:Lchk=0:EXIT File_lp
1309    =121,89:Lchk=1:EXIT File_lp
1310  END SELect
1311 END REPeat File_lp
1312 END DEFine

2. Exit does not really ends the program.
PROCedure FontExit ends by calling LRUN 'ram2_QBITSProgs_v3'
If ram2_QBITSProgs_v3 is missing then the program will remain in an undefined state and you need to CTRL-SPACE to end it.
I might be wrong but I think you have not published QBITSProgs_v3 in any of your archives.

3. Temporary Flist file is not deleted after it was used .
Should be deleted before PROCedure FntList(act%) ends

Code: Select all

1330 END REPeat dir_lp
.... DELETE drv$(dn%)&'FList'
1331 END DEFine

What would be nice to have:
- the possibility to edit the full 256 chars font set. Currently it is not possible to edit all of Minerva font set with your program.
- the BBQL version that was in your previous archive