Locating input or prompt after an output command

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Locating input or prompt after an output command

nattybumper 23 May 2008 14:53

My question is whether there is a (straightforward) work around to control where an input (or prompt) command shows up on the screen.

For example
:Clrhome
:Output(1,1, "ENTER THE MEASURE OF ANGLE A IN DEGREES")
:Prompt A

The problem is that the Prompt command overwrites the start of the question and shows like this
A=?ER THE MEASUR
E OF ANGLE A IN
DEGREES

While I could use Disp instead, Output seems better because of text wrapping. Specifically, I want to teach students to program and complicated work arounds (or tedious counting of character spacing) are not a teacher's friend. Any suggestions?

Re: Locating input or prompt after an output command

Jonathan King 23 May 2008 17:24

you could emulate the prompt command by using the input command, like this

Clrhome
Disp "ENTER THE MEASURE","OF ANGLE A IN
Input "DEGREES",A

or

Disp "ENTER THE MEASURE","OF ANGLE A IN","DEGREES
Input "A=?",A

is that what you want?

Re: Locating input or prompt after an output command

burr 23 May 2008 23:26

Since the Prompt and Input commands only respect the Disp command's newlines, a possible workaround is to use Disp:

:ClrHome
:Disp "","","
:Output(1,1,"ENTER THE MEASURE OF ANGLE A IN DEGREES
:Prompt A

The main problem with this approach, however, is that you have to manually change how many newlines you will need whenever you change the text. Here is a simple fix to this problem:

:ClrHome
:"ENTER THE MEASURE OF ANGLE A IN DEGREES
:For(A,1,1+int(length(Ans)/16
:Disp "
:End
:Output(1,1,Ans
:Prompt A

Before I forget, Welcome to TI-Basic Developer!

Re: Locating input or prompt after an output command

Jonathan King 23 May 2008 17:48

half the challenge of learning ti basic is discovering what it can't do

Re: Locating input or prompt after an output command

nattybumper 29 May 2008 16:29

Thanks for the responses. I was afraid that I was missing something and now I know how that my approach is the necessary one.

Re: Locating input or prompt after an output command

burr 29 May 2008 19:14

Out of curiosity, what subject and grade do you teach?