Some DOS text questions :)

Hello, I'm a newbie C++ programmer, but I have much programming experience.

Well I've heard in the Include-file DOS.H there should be some setxy() thing where you can set where you want to write (eeh my english is not that good ;))

Anyways, it doesn't function. How do I:

1. Clear screen
2. Set the X and Y postioon
3. Change text colour?

This was very easy stuff in the QB language I used before, but seems pretty hard here. Can someone show me? I'm gonig to make a little Text-RPG to practice C++.

Best regards, Dan

I suggest doing a search of the board (use the search button in the upper right part of the screen) using the keywords:

1) gotoxy()
2) text color
3) clear screen or clrscr();

You could also look in the FAQ board for the topics of interest.

You mean gotoxy(x,y) and clrscr() are the functions? THanks!

clrscr() is a non-std function. It will clear the screen. But your compiler may not have it available. It can be used as a search parameter if you want.

I don't use gotoxy(). It may be goto() instead of gotoxy(), I'm not sure, but it should be searchable as well. You might use cursor position as a different search term, too.

Try this:

Code:

---

void dcs(string szText, int X, int Y, WORD color)
{       
        HANDLE OutputH;                                                                                // This will be used for our handle to the output (basically, holds permission to change the output settings)
        COORD position = {X, Y};                                                        // Create a COORD and set it's x and y to the X and Y passed in.

        OutputH = GetStdHandle(STD_OUTPUT_HANDLE);                        // Get a OUTPUT handle to our screen.

        SetConsoleTextAttribute(OutputH, color);                        // Set the text attribute to what ever color that was passed in.
                                                                                                                // The function SetConsoleTextAttribute takes (the handle to the output, and the color);
        SetConsoleCursorPosition(OutputH, position);                // Set the cursor position to the desire position passed in.

        cout << szText;                                                                                // Now print out what we wanted to at the position that was passed in.
}

---

Then use:

Code:

---

        dcs("Red",  0, 0, FOREGROUND_RED);                // Draw "Red" in the color RED.  Draw "White" in the color WHITE.  If we OR ("|") the colors together, it becomes white.
        dcs("White",10, 1, FOREGROUND_RED | FOREGROUND_GREEN | FOREGROUND_BLUE);
        dcs("Blue", 20, 2, FOREGROUND_BLUE);        // Draw "Blue" in the color BLUE.

        dcs("Red",  0, 4, BACKGROUND_RED);                // Draw "Red" with a background of RED.  Draw "White" with a background of WHITE.
        dcs("White",10, 5, BACKGROUND_RED | BACKGROUND_GREEN | BACKGROUND_BLUE);
        dcs("Blue", 20, 6, BACKGROUND_BLUE);        // Draw "Blue" with a background of BLUE.
                                                                                                                // Draw a Red text color with a green background.
        dcs("Color Text!", 0, 8, FOREGROUND_RED | BACKGROUND_GREEN);
                                                                                                                // This puts the "Press any key to continue..." on the next line.
        dcs("", 0, 9, FOREGROUND_RED | FOREGROUND_GREEN | FOREGROUND_BLUE);
system("pause");

---

This places color text anywhere you want it to go, in the int X and int Y area.

You can do it with character placement as well.

Just switch the DCS to DCC, and switch string szText to char szChar. Then manipulate it

Code:

---

int player_x = 5;
int player_y = 10;

dcc(2,  player_x, player_y, FOREGROUND_RED);

---

that draws a solid smiley face, with the color red at the players location.

Good luck!

I did this:

Code:

---

#include <iostream.h>


int main()
{
    HANDLE OutputH;                                                                       
        COORD position = {5, 5};                                       

        OutputH = GetStdHandle(STD_OUTPUT_HANDLE);               

        SetConsoleTextAttribute(OutputH, 5);       
                                                                                                       
        SetConsoleCursorPosition(OutputH, position);       

        cout << "Hello World";                                               
}

---

And it worked, thanks a lot :) Now i just need to learn how to clear the screen :D

oh, sorry, theres an easier way for drawing single characters!

Code:

---


int player_x = 5;
int player_y = 10;
COORD playercoord = {player_x, player_y};

void dcc(char szChar, int loc, WORD color)
{
 HANDLE OutputH;
COORD position = loc;

OutputH = GetStdHandle(STD_OUTPUT_HANDLE);

SetConsoleTextAttribute(OutputH, color);

SetConsoleCursorPosition(OutputH, position);

cout << szChar;
}

dcc(2, playercoord, FOREGROUND_RED);

---

peice o' cake

system("cls");

or:

void cs()
{
system("cls");

^^ don't forget to include <stdlib.h>

and <string>

Quote:

---

Originally posted by Jamsan
^^ don't forget to include <stdlib.h>

---

New C++ headers? yep, use: #include <cstdlib>

I didn't include any of them, and it still worked, why?

Most probably because the headers you included already included inside of them the ones you need. Be a good programmer and make sure you have the headers you want. #include them in your code.

Yea, don't include anything but what you need. It clutters the program, and takes more time to compile. Good eye, Speedy.

Stop being so smart guys :P

Which files should I include?

Dan

if it does what you want it too, then you have already included all the files you need.

none of the functions used to clear the screen are std. system calls are OS specific. clrscr() is in a non std header file called conio.h, I believe. You could always use a loop which outputs a blank line 20 to 30 times to maintain standard C++ code if you don't want to use non standard code, although you have already used non standard code if you use SetConsoleCursorPosition(). Nor are you using true DOS code if you are using a console program (the console code mimics DOS but isn't DOS)

Hold up, elad. clrscr(), gotoxy(), goto(), and other conio.h things aren't always there. the only thing in my conio.h is getch(), and thats it. I have to make my own gotoxy, and make them much much better, like, void gotoxy(string szText, int X, int Y);
so its much easier to use.

And also, Dan, some compilers and systems don't need to include, it includes everything for you. For example:

My systems need to inlude <iostream>, but cannot use <iostream.h>, while my friends systems needs <iostream.h> but cannot use <iostream>, And somesystems don't even NEED iostream files.

For my gotoxys and write a sentence, i need to include <iostream>, <string> and i need to have using namespace std; on it.

Just mess with it to see what your compiler needs.

conio.h is a non-std file with non-std functions. I know that some versions of conio.h (in my compiler for example) have more than just getch(), but some apparently just have getch(), and others may be different yet. That's the nature of non-std files.

I don't know for sure, but I suspect strongly that all compilers need some file to be included before a file/program can be compiled. The compiler may be set up to include some files for you as a default, but something is still needed. I use IDEs rather than command line compiler only, so I don't have to use all the flags and switches for linking etc., my IDE does it for me by default. I don't doubt that some IDEs/compilers may include some version of iostream or stdio by default, too.

Well I use blodshed dev :) Seem to be a good compiler. I should try make a program without any includes.

Anyways thanks for the help, especially blizzarddog for that code you sent :) I will try make it a function myself, I haven't really learnt functions yet :D I'm such a noob..

Dan

ne time, dan