lang="en-US"> Allegro Tutorial: Alternative Text Input (not using Allegro GUI) –  Design1online.com, LLC

Allegro Tutorial: Alternative Text Input (not using Allegro GUI)

Okay, I didn’t program this, I actually got it from a friend. I’m not sure who wrote it (my friend didn’t) but he said it was freeware.

#include allegro.h
#include winalleg.h
#include string
using namespace std;

#define WHITE makecol(255, 255, 255)

void init();
void deinit();

int main()
{
   // typical Allegro initialization
   allegro_init();
   install_keyboard();
   set_gfx_mode(GFX_AUTODETECT, 320, 240, 0, 0);

   // all variables are here
   BITMAP* buffer = create_bitmap(320, 240); // initialize the double buffer
   string  edittext;                         // an empty string for editting
   string::iterator iter = edittext.begin(); // string iterator
   int     caret  = 0;                       // tracks the text caret
   bool    insert = true;                    // true if text should be inserted

   // the game loop
   do
   {
      while(keypressed())
      {
         int  newkey   = readkey();
         char ASCII    = newkey & 0xff;
         char scancode = newkey >> 8;

         // a character key was pressed; add it to the string
         if(ASCII >= 32 && ASCII <= 126)
         {
            // add the new char, inserting or replacing as need be
            if(insert || iter == edittext.end())
               iter = edittext.insert(iter, ASCII);
            else
               edittext.replace(caret, 1, 1, ASCII);

            // increment both the caret and the iterator
            caret++;
            iter++;
         }
         // some other, "special" key was pressed; handle it here
         else
            switch(scancode)
            {
               case KEY_DEL:
                  if(iter != edittext.end()) iter = edittext.erase(iter);
               break;

               case KEY_BACKSPACE:
                  if(iter != edittext.begin())
                  {
                     caret--;
                     iter--;
                     iter = edittext.erase(iter);
                  }
               break;

               case KEY_RIGHT:
                  if(iter != edittext.end())   caret++, iter++;
               break;

               case KEY_LEFT:
                  if(iter != edittext.begin()) caret--, iter--;
               break;

               case KEY_INSERT:
                  insert = !insert;
               break;

               default:

               break;
            }
      }

      // clear screen
      clear(buffer);

      // output the string to the screen
      textout(buffer, font, edittext.c_str(), 0, 10, WHITE);

      // output some stats using Allegro's printf functions
      textprintf(buffer, font,  0, 20, WHITE, "length:   %d", edittext.length());
      textprintf(buffer, font,  0, 30, WHITE, "capacity: %d", edittext.capacity());
      textprintf(buffer, font,  0, 40, WHITE, "empty?:   %d", edittext.empty());
      if(insert)
         textout(buffer, font, "Inserting", 0, 50, WHITE);
      else
         textout(buffer, font, "Replacing", 0, 50, WHITE);

      // draw the caret
      vline(buffer, caret * 8, 8, 18, WHITE);

      // blit to screen
      blit(buffer, screen, 0, 0, 0, 0, 320, 240);

   }while(!key[KEY_ESC]); // end of game loop

   // clean up
   destroy_bitmap(buffer);
   set_gfx_mode(GFX_TEXT, 0, 0, 0, 0);

   return 0;
}
END_OF_MAIN()

void init() {
	int depth, res;
	allegro_init();
	depth = desktop_color_depth();
	if (depth == 0) depth = 32;
	set_color_depth(depth);
	res = set_gfx_mode(GFX_AUTODETECT_WINDOWED, 640, 480, 0, 0);
	if (res != 0) {
		allegro_message(allegro_error);
		exit(-1);
	}

	install_timer();
	install_keyboard();
	install_mouse();
	/* add other initializations here */
}

void deinit() {
	clear_keybuf();
	/* add other deinitializations here */
}

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4 Responses

  1. Israel says:

    The code works pretty well, but do you have any idea to use it to make some kind of login in my game? I have tried to call the code as a function and write the user then destroy the bitmap and call the funcion again but the text input remains in the same place and modifying the same variable.

    • Jade says:

      Are you re-drawing the screen each time? If you don’t refresh what’s being drawn to the screen it would look like the name isn’t changing even if it really is.

  2. Israel says:

    Yes I do. I made a cycle that reads mouse click’s position, then if the values are in a certain area I used a goto to go to another cycle the write the name press enter and then goto the first cycle where the screen is re-drawn.

  3. Israel says:

    Actually the main problem here is that the code does not modify another variable, if it run the program and modify “name” variable i.e. when it returns to the first cycle and click the “Last name” variable it continues modifying the “name” variable

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