ALINE

Syntax

ALINE x1,y1 TO x2,y2, Colour

Location

Shape Toolkit

This command quickly draws a line between the specified absolute, window independent co-ordinates, (x1,y1) and (x2,y2), on the screen. ALINE uses XOR mode, which means that the line can be removed without destroying the contents of the screen by drawing exactly the same line again. - This does however mean that the colour of the line as it appears on screen may not be the same as the specified parameter (see OVER -1).

Example

The procedure HAIRCROSS x,y allows you to move a cross wire around the screen with the cursor keys, to alter the values of x and y. Press <SPACE> to make x and y equal the new values, or press <ESC> to keep the old values.

100 DEFine PROCedure HAIRCROSS (px,py)
110  LOCal Size,Key,Stepp,old_px,old_py
120  Size=31 : old_px=px : old_py=py
140  REPeat Move_it
150    CROSS px,py
160    REPeat Wait_for_key
170      Key=KEYROW(1): Stepp=4*(KEYROW(7))+1
180      IF Key THEN EXIT Wait_for_key
190    END REPeat Wait_for_key
200    CROSS px,py
210    IF Key&&2 THEN px=px-Stepp
220    IF Key&&16 THEN px=px+Stepp
230    IF Key&&4 THEN py=py-Stepp
240    IF Key&&128 THEN py=py+Stepp
250    IF px<Size THEN px=Size
260    IF px>511-Size THEN px=511-Size
270    IF py<Size THEN py=Size
280    IF py>255-Size THEN py=Size
290    SELect ON Key
300      =64: EXIT Move_it
310      =8: px=old_px: py=old_py
320          EXIT Move_it
330    END SELect
340  END REPeat Move_it
350 END DEFine HAIRCROSS
360 :
370 DEFine PROCedure CROSS (ax,ay)
380  ALINE ax-Size,ay-Size TO ax+Size,ay+Size ,7
390  ALINE ax+Size,ay-Size TO ax-Size,ay+Size ,7
400 END DEFine CROSS

NOTE 1

ALINE assumes that the screen starts at $20000 and will therefore not work on Minerva’s / Amiga QDOS’s / QDOS Classic’s second screen or on higher resolution displays.

NOTE 2

ALINE also assumes that the screen measures 512x256 pixels and cannot therefore work on higher resolution screens.

NOTE 3

ALINE only works in MODE 4.

CROSS-REFERENCE

DRAW has the same syntax as ALINE but does not work in XOR mode.DRAW is also able to draw lines on screens stored in memory.

LINE and LINE_R are much more flexible.