Introducing NuInput!

[Ivan Drucker <ivan@ivanx.com>]

KansasFest was very exciting for me this year -- in addition to all the fun,
I was pleased to introduce two new tools for Applesoft programmers.
(Attendees received a KansasFest 2010 limited edition 5.25" floppy disk!)
Both tools are available (for free, of course) at
http://www.ivanx.com/appleii/.

NUINPUT

NuInput is an easy-to-use replacement for Applesoft's INPUT; it gives you,
the programmer, a ton of control over the user's entry. On a prompt by
prompt basis, you can control which keys can be typed (for menus, Y/N,
numeric input, etc); auto-convert lowercase to uppercase; set the maximum
entry length; provide a default entry; accept comma, colon, and quote; honor
the DELETE key on a //e or //c; let the user ESCape out; prohibit blank
entry; and plenty more.

And because you can have so much control over what the user can type, you
need much less error checking after entry than you do with INPUT. For
example, you can prompt for a ProDOS file name by setting a max length of
15, allowing only letters/numbers/period to be typed, auto-converting
lowercase to uppercase, and prohibiting blank entry. The only thing you have
to check for after entry is if the first character is a period; aside from
that, there's no way the user can enter anything but a valid ProDOS name.

NuInput occupies only 766 bytes and is relocatable, so you can stash it
anywhere that makes sense for you. When used with Slammer, you don't even
have to think about it. The disk includes NUINPUT.DEMO, which has both
documentation and a simple way for you to try out all of NuInput's
capabilities. I hope you enjoy it!


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