CURSEN

Syntax

CURSEN [#ch]

Location

Toolkit II, THOR XVI, QSOUND

If a program is to multitask without the assistance of the Pointer Interface, it is necessary to give that program an active cursor so that the user can switch to the program using the key <CTRL><C>, which alters the active keyboard queue.

Unless a program has an active cursor, it cannot accept input from the keyboard by the use of commands such as PAUSE, INKEY$ and INPUT.

The command CURSEN enables the cursor in the given channel, which must be either a scr or con channel. If no channel is specified, the default is #1.

Once the cursor is enabled, a red block will appear at the current text cursor position in the given channel. This block will begin to flash when the cursor is ‘active’ (ie. expecting input).

MINERVA NOTE

Minerva’s System Xtensions allow you to alter the attributes of the text cursor, by using the command POKE !124!51,x where x is in the format of: RRRRSCCC, where the top 4 bits of x (RRRR) determine the cursor flash rate, the bottom three bits (CCC) determine the colour of the cursor and the fourth bit (S) determines whether the cursor appears as a solid block or an underline.

You can actually get an invisible cursor by using the command POKE !124!51,0. Unfortunately though, this sets the cursor attributes for all cursors which are enabled, rather than just for the current Job.

CROSS-REFERENCE

KEYROW reads keys without an active cursor. See CURDIS also.