While developing new programs, I include code to show various registers on the screen; for instance, with a four-word numerical array I will include a short routine to load BX with the four array elements and then display the four BX values sequentially on the screen followed by a carriage return and a line feed. As the program moves on, the screen shows me the successive values appearing in the array; (for each BX value, the routine converts the data to ASCII, one character at a time, and then uses the following code:
mov DL,AL ;character to DL
mov AH,02 ;write to screen
int 21h
Alas, I have lost this feature; my program goes to completion as expected, but nothing at all appears on the screen. I fear that I have inadvertently changed a parameter in TextPad. I have deleted TextPad and reloaded it from a CD, but the problem remains.
As a related issue, perhaps, I am used to seeing the Edit menu permanently located to the left of my workspace, but it is now accessible only when requested.
I hope someone will offer some advice.
Thanks,
Michael
Missing screen display
Moderators: AmigoJack, bbadmin, helios, Bob Hansen, MudGuard
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carlottagp
- Posts: 16
- Joined: Mon Feb 20, 2006 4:45 pm
- Location: Shoreham, Vermont
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carlottagp
- Posts: 16
- Joined: Mon Feb 20, 2006 4:45 pm
- Location: Shoreham, Vermont
In response to Mudguard:
I have added the various Tool commands, following the instructions in
"Using TextPad." :
Build 16-bit MASM
Debug 16-bit MASM
Run MASM
The various programs I have written in the last five years have always run perfectly, so I have to assume that the "Run MASM" tool is configured
properly; also, the debug feature, using CodeView, works well.
Would you suggest repeating the procedures for adding these tools?
I have added the various Tool commands, following the instructions in
"Using TextPad." :
Build 16-bit MASM
Debug 16-bit MASM
Run MASM
The various programs I have written in the last five years have always run perfectly, so I have to assume that the "Run MASM" tool is configured
properly; also, the debug feature, using CodeView, works well.
Would you suggest repeating the procedures for adding these tools?
And now you expect us to know which instructions you are speaking about?carlottagp wrote:In response to Mudguard:
I have added the various Tool commands, following the instructions in
"Using TextPad." :
Build 16-bit MASM
Debug 16-bit MASM
Run MASM
My crystal ball is at the manufacturer for an overhauling, therefore my clairvoyance is not the best at the moment ...
Sorry, but if you are not able or not willing to tell us what settings you have configured for your 'Run MASM' tool, then it is very unlikely that you get any help.
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carlottagp
- Posts: 16
- Joined: Mon Feb 20, 2006 4:45 pm
- Location: Shoreham, Vermont
Hello, everyone,
I believe I owe it to anyone who might have been following this thread to post a response to a recent comment.
I am not a professional programmer; I am an electrical engineer, retired twenty years ago. About five years ago I started to learn assembly language, with the aid of TextPad and an elementary textbook on the Intel microprocessor family. The principal motive was to indulge my long-standing interest in the factorization of very large numbers into their prime factors.
The “configuring� of the tools was done by my TextPad software, not by me, and I suppose I used the same dialogues from the Preferences menu - without understanding any of them - in setting up Assemble, Debug and Run as everyone else. I don’t know what “configure� means in this context, and I wouldn’t know what “settings� are in place, or how to find out. What I do know is that my finished programs run exactly as expected. My problem, as stated originally, is that the MS-DOS window appears during the assemble procedure, and when I invoke CodeView, but not during the execution of a program when I am making changes and need to follow the execution in real time . I was hoping that someone out there might have encountered this problem and found a solution to it.
Thanks for your understanding.
Michael
I believe I owe it to anyone who might have been following this thread to post a response to a recent comment.
I am not a professional programmer; I am an electrical engineer, retired twenty years ago. About five years ago I started to learn assembly language, with the aid of TextPad and an elementary textbook on the Intel microprocessor family. The principal motive was to indulge my long-standing interest in the factorization of very large numbers into their prime factors.
The “configuring� of the tools was done by my TextPad software, not by me, and I suppose I used the same dialogues from the Preferences menu - without understanding any of them - in setting up Assemble, Debug and Run as everyone else. I don’t know what “configure� means in this context, and I wouldn’t know what “settings� are in place, or how to find out. What I do know is that my finished programs run exactly as expected. My problem, as stated originally, is that the MS-DOS window appears during the assemble procedure, and when I invoke CodeView, but not during the execution of a program when I am making changes and need to follow the execution in real time . I was hoping that someone out there might have encountered this problem and found a solution to it.
Thanks for your understanding.
Michael
Hi Michael
Just an idea.
(NOTE: the PC in front of which I'm sitting right now has no Textpad installed and usually I use the German version)
Apparently you have already set up Textpad to call your programming tools successfully.
You did that with Preferences/Configuration (not 100% sure about the wording - see NOTE abouve) menu
When you go there you'll find an entry 'tools' (wording ?) and when you click on it you will find 3 entries with your tools. when you click on one of them, on the right side you see the 'configuration' of this tool:
a) which external program is called
b) which parameters are used for the call
c) several check boxes
Now finally the idea:
one of the checkboxes should be 'capture window output' or so.
when you check this (and then leave the preferences/configuration menu with OK)
your tool ('Run MASM') should write the output in a new TextPad Page called 'Output window' ('Program output' ?) instead of a Windows Commandshell window ('MS-DOS' window as you write).
This TextPad Page you will pertain contrary to the Commandshell window that will vanish after execution and you can use it like an ordinary textdocument (read only)
Hope you don't have to input anything during execution because that does not work with the 'output window' and I also hope I didn't confuse you with my unsave wording.
Congratulations for learning assembler in retirement (I'm happy not to have to deal with it..)
a fellow electric engineer to whom's retirement it is about the same time - but from the other direction
Just an idea.
(NOTE: the PC in front of which I'm sitting right now has no Textpad installed and usually I use the German version)
Apparently you have already set up Textpad to call your programming tools successfully.
You did that with Preferences/Configuration (not 100% sure about the wording - see NOTE abouve) menu
When you go there you'll find an entry 'tools' (wording ?) and when you click on it you will find 3 entries with your tools. when you click on one of them, on the right side you see the 'configuration' of this tool:
a) which external program is called
b) which parameters are used for the call
c) several check boxes
Now finally the idea:
one of the checkboxes should be 'capture window output' or so.
when you check this (and then leave the preferences/configuration menu with OK)
your tool ('Run MASM') should write the output in a new TextPad Page called 'Output window' ('Program output' ?) instead of a Windows Commandshell window ('MS-DOS' window as you write).
This TextPad Page you will pertain contrary to the Commandshell window that will vanish after execution and you can use it like an ordinary textdocument (read only)
Hope you don't have to input anything during execution because that does not work with the 'output window' and I also hope I didn't confuse you with my unsave wording.
Congratulations for learning assembler in retirement (I'm happy not to have to deal with it..)
a fellow electric engineer to whom's retirement it is about the same time - but from the other direction
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carlottagp
- Posts: 16
- Joined: Mon Feb 20, 2006 4:45 pm
- Location: Shoreham, Vermont
missing screen display
Thanks so much for the May 7 reply to my posts, only looked at today,
a week after its posting; I had basically given up, after the previous
(unfriendly) reply, not expecting any more.
Your proposal makes a lot of sense, and I should have thought of doing
something like this earlier. Unfortunately, it didn't work, and I seem to
have lost something else meanwhile, since the assembly and debugging tools don't work at all now. At this point I believe that the computer has been infected with something unpleasant, and I shall get some professional help; naturally, there is virus protection installed, but I'm told that these things are not 100 percent effective.
In case I can't fix the problem, could you suggest a reference for basic assembling, debugging and running in DOS? Clearly, I have MASM.exe and CodeView code, but I don't know how to write a batch program. (My
impression is that there is nothing out there as user-friendly as TextPad.)
Thanks for any advice anyone might offer.
Michael
a week after its posting; I had basically given up, after the previous
(unfriendly) reply, not expecting any more.
Your proposal makes a lot of sense, and I should have thought of doing
something like this earlier. Unfortunately, it didn't work, and I seem to
have lost something else meanwhile, since the assembly and debugging tools don't work at all now. At this point I believe that the computer has been infected with something unpleasant, and I shall get some professional help; naturally, there is virus protection installed, but I'm told that these things are not 100 percent effective.
In case I can't fix the problem, could you suggest a reference for basic assembling, debugging and running in DOS? Clearly, I have MASM.exe and CodeView code, but I don't know how to write a batch program. (My
impression is that there is nothing out there as user-friendly as TextPad.)
Thanks for any advice anyone might offer.
Michael
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carlottagp
- Posts: 16
- Joined: Mon Feb 20, 2006 4:45 pm
- Location: Shoreham, Vermont
A second reply to woho:
I have taken a fresh approach to your suggestion. First, I downloaded TextPad to a backup computer I have here, and followed your proposal with respect to the Configuration procedure. In the course of doing this, I noticed for the first time a note in the TextPad instructions - for "advanced users" - to the effect that a PAUSE command at the end of the make16.bat file should be removed in order to Capture Output, per your idea.
A simple program I had written was assembled and ran as expected. I noticed that the assembler results now appear in a Tools window, rather than the Windows Commandshell window you mentioned. However, the result that I was waiting for - a simple display of the BX register - did not appear in a "Program Output" window as I was hoping. I did not find any new file in the window where my .asm files are, nor anywhere in the TextPad directory.
Can you supply any further guidance with respect to this output file?
Thanks,
Michael
I have taken a fresh approach to your suggestion. First, I downloaded TextPad to a backup computer I have here, and followed your proposal with respect to the Configuration procedure. In the course of doing this, I noticed for the first time a note in the TextPad instructions - for "advanced users" - to the effect that a PAUSE command at the end of the make16.bat file should be removed in order to Capture Output, per your idea.
A simple program I had written was assembled and ran as expected. I noticed that the assembler results now appear in a Tools window, rather than the Windows Commandshell window you mentioned. However, the result that I was waiting for - a simple display of the BX register - did not appear in a "Program Output" window as I was hoping. I did not find any new file in the window where my .asm files are, nor anywhere in the TextPad directory.
Can you supply any further guidance with respect to this output file?
Thanks,
Michael
Hello Michael
I can help you with Textpad but I do not know about the Masm.exe output ! (display registers or so)
Googling Masm.exe brings me to http://www.masm32.com
=> there is also a forum, I suggest to ask your questions there
I read that there is an Online Help in Masm (masm.chm )
which might help you with configuring the output
Textpad provides a syntax file for Masm
With that you can 'color' your Masm Assembler Code
HowTo: (see also Syntax file in the Textpad Online Help)
Download
http://www.textpad.com/add-ons/files/syntax/masm.zip
unzip the content to the folder indicated in
Textpad/Configure/Preferences/Folder/ Macros
Create a new document class for your assembler source files: Textpad/Configure/New Document Class:
1st dialog: name 'MASM'
2nd dialog: add the source file extensions
3rd dialog choose from the drop down list the *.syn file you unzipped to the Macros folder before
Maybe you have to restart Textpad => your sourcefiles should be colored
Regards
Wolfgang
I can help you with Textpad but I do not know about the Masm.exe output ! (display registers or so)
Googling Masm.exe brings me to http://www.masm32.com
=> there is also a forum, I suggest to ask your questions there
I read that there is an Online Help in Masm (masm.chm )
which might help you with configuring the output
Textpad provides a syntax file for Masm
With that you can 'color' your Masm Assembler Code
HowTo: (see also Syntax file in the Textpad Online Help)
Download
http://www.textpad.com/add-ons/files/syntax/masm.zip
unzip the content to the folder indicated in
Textpad/Configure/Preferences/Folder/ Macros
Create a new document class for your assembler source files: Textpad/Configure/New Document Class:
1st dialog: name 'MASM'
2nd dialog: add the source file extensions
3rd dialog choose from the drop down list the *.syn file you unzipped to the Macros folder before
Maybe you have to restart Textpad => your sourcefiles should be colored
Regards
Wolfgang