gbadev.org forum archive

TxtWriter ... I just finished the 0.1 release of my first fully functioning DS application. It still needs more work, but it is working. It's a text writing application, using a virtual keyboard for primary text entry, with the directional and A/B/X/Y buttons for supplementary input (for space, return, shift, and backspace, respectively; paralleled on both sides). You can save the text files to a CF card, and even type in a filename for it.

Any input would be appreciated. It's only been tested on a GBAMP, so I'm curious to find out if it works on the SC and M3.

UPDATE 11/6/05
v0.2
- file browser to open, edit, and delete previously saved text files in the TXT folder. And alphabetized.
- rewritten text engine to support scrolling for long text files, and word wrapping.
- file overwrite confirmation.

UPDATE 11/6/05
v0.2.1
- fixed delete menu display bug
- should now work with M3

UPDATE 11/11/05
v0.3
- text console background
- new font
- new extended keyboard
- key highlighting
- home/end/pgup/pgdn & arrow keys navigate text
- cursor
- dialog boxes
- F-keys for opening & saving files.
- Clear button
- internal editing

UPDATE 3/20/06
v0.3.1
- Sektor fixed the M3 issue and updated it with the newest FAT library for me since I haven't had the time to do it. Big ups to him.

[ website | download | image ]
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Last edited by alangerow on Mon Mar 20, 2006 4:51 pm; edited 8 times in total

I tested it on my GBAMP and it works, but the graphics for the keyboard are shown on the top screen, not the bottom, but you can still type by touching the bottom screen.

rmco2003 wrote:

I tested it on my GBAMP and it works, but the graphics for the keyboard are shown on the top screen, not the bottom, but you can still type by touching the bottom screen.

That's ... interesting. Does the splash screen appear on the bottom or top screen?

I testet it on flash cart and the keyboard is on the touchscreen.
But of course the DS freezes when I try to save ;)
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Ilomoga wrote:

I testet it on flash cart and the keyboard is on the touchscreen.
But of course the DS freezes when I try to save ;)

Good to see that the interface works properly on more than just my DS. :)

This reminds me that once I sent a demo to a friend using the G6, and the graphics were upside down to ! I put a condition in the init to check if the screens were switched, and unswitch them if it was the case, and it was good again
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Mollusk wrote:

This reminds me that once I sent a demo to a friend using the G6, and the graphics were upside down to ! I put a condition in the init to check if the screens were switched, and unswitch them if it was the case, and it was good again

How would you check that? Do you a code sample? And this program, they're supposed to be switched. Now that I think about it, they don't need to be, so I might be able to change it and take out the lcdswap.

Here's the code I used :

Code:

POWER_CR |= SWITCH_SCREENS;
POWER_CR ^= SWITCH_SCREENS; // on s'assure que l'?cran est bien

Basically, sets the switch to 1, and then removes it :)

Edit :
I guess that's pretty stupid, would be better to do

Code:

POWER_CR &= ~SWITCH_SCREENS;

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alangerow wrote:

Ilomoga wrote:

I testet it on flash cart and the keyboard is on the touchscreen.
But of course the DS freezes when I try to save ;)

Good to see that the interface works properly on more than just my DS. :)

Works perfectly here too, on a regular flashcart with a FlashMe'd DS. Maybe you could add saving to GBA SRAM?

Thomas wrote:

alangerow wrote:

Ilomoga wrote:

I testet it on flash cart and the keyboard is on the touchscreen.
But of course the DS freezes when I try to save ;)

Good to see that the interface works properly on more than just my DS. :)

Works perfectly here too, on a regular flashcart with a FlashMe'd DS. Maybe you could add saving to GBA SRAM?

I was thinking about that ... but as it is, this is all new ground for me. :) When I tidy up the code a little bit and make it a little more logical (in a rush to get a working version done last night, my saving routines got kinda sloppy and hacked together), maybe someone else who understands GBA SRAM a little more than I (which would be anyone who knows anything about it) can take a look.

on m3 it sdoesnt work

This is what i get on gbamp2 (it works ;)

http://img499.imageshack.us/img499/375/cimg00913fc.jpg

falcon!!! wrote:

on m3 it sdoesnt work

This is what i get on gbamp2 (it works ;)

http://img499.imageshack.us/img499/375/cimg00913fc.jpg

I wonder why it didn't work on the M3. Was it a general problem running or a saving problem?

I'm using Chishm's latest drivers, and I assumed it worked with the GBAMP and M3. :/ Looks like SC support has to be added in, but M3 should work.

Thomas wrote:

Maybe you could add saving to GBA SRAM?

Yeah, would be cool. But after thinking about it - it's not really useful, I think because backing up SRAM and so on - saving it as a TXT file makes more sense. But that's only my opinion ^^
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rmco2003 wrote:

I tested it on my GBAMP and it works, but the graphics for the keyboard are shown on the top screen, not the bottom, but you can still type by touching the bottom screen.

I get this exact same problem with the Folairum/Homebrew Polarium nds rom.

Dunno if it helps here.

Quote:

Yeah, would be cool. But after thinking about it - it's not really useful, I think because backing up SRAM and so on - saving it as a TXT file makes more sense. But that's only my opinion ^^

You can save as a text file in SRAM... I mean, I did it, and when you bakup your save, you can just read it with notepad
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Mollusk wrote:

Quote:

Yeah, would be cool. But after thinking about it - it's not really useful, I think because backing up SRAM and so on - saving it as a TXT file makes more sense. But that's only my opinion ^^

You can save as a text file in SRAM... I mean, I did it, and when you bakup your save, you can just read it with notepad

Yeah, true. Ok, converting it for use on PC would give it a sense ^^
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I am using it with the gbamp 2 and works great. I like the idea of saving it as a txt file. ty

Didnt work on my supercard CF
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so far so good for me (gbamp) keyboard shows on the bottom screen, text appears on the top. no problems with the backspace or enter key
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Hallo,

i tested it on my M3 with moonshell 0.6+1 and it dosent works, both screens are black.

Works with SC SD, crashes when it saves though. For those guys getting white or black screens make sure u've appeneded ndsloader.bin otherwise it wont work im pretty sure.

how can i appended the ndsloader.bin and txtwriter????
(for M3 with passkey)

how can i appended the ndsloader.bin and txtwriter????
(for M3 with passkey)

alangerow wrote:

rmco2003 wrote:

I tested it on my GBAMP and it works, but the graphics for the keyboard are shown on the top screen, not the bottom, but you can still type by touching the bottom screen.

That's ... interesting. Does the splash screen appear on the bottom or top screen?

It appears on the top screen, I'm using moonshell to execute the NDS roms, but it works perfectly for all of the other homebrew I've tried, including stuff like DSLinux, so that's not the cause.

rmco2003 wrote:

It appears on the top screen, I'm using moonshell to execute the NDS roms, but it works perfectly for all of the other homebrew I've tried, including stuff like DSLinux, so that's not the cause.

I have yet to figure out why it's doing this. But, I'm trying something with the 0.2 release, which should hopefully be ready in a day or two. I have a couple more things I wanna get done with it.

I was basing the initial set-up off of Headspin's keyboard example which did an LCDSWAP, but I realized it wasn't entirely necessary, so I've redone the screen set-ups to do away with that, so the keyboard is set to the sub screen. Hopefully this will take care of the problem.

Got to a point I felt it is worth releasing another version.

New to this version:
- file browser to open, edit, and delete previously saved text files in the TXT folder. And alphabetized.
- rewritten text engine to support scrolling for long text files, and word wrapping.
- file overwrite confirmation.

Swapped the displays to get rid of the lcdswap(), so hopefully anyone having inverted screens won't anymore.

Haven't added any pretty graphics yet. I'm getting a little burnt on programming this thing, so I may take some time and play around in Photoshop and work the right side of my brain a little while giving my left side some well deserved rest.

Let me know of any issues, suggestions, questions.

[ webpage | download ]

very nice work. i think the startup screen is switched (should the prompt be on the touch screen? i'm running GBAMP V2 with V2 firmware + passme)
probably the only thing i noticed was that if i deleted the second file in the list (of only two files) the prompt would stay on the screen after the rest of the text was updated. and the asterisk would also disappear until i pressed up
i don't know why, but i kept looking down expecting to see a flashing light to indicate the card was being accessed...maybe i too used to seeing the light on the drives of my computer, but it would b kinda cool if you could get the power light to blink as sectors (or maybe a larger block of memory) are written to
oh, and maybe adding directory trees as a next/later step
keep up the good work
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Still doesn't work with M3 + Flashme

using gbamp 2 and is working great. Would it be hard to add supercard sd support, the source for supercard is out. just thinking

job well done :o)

Sebbo wrote:

very nice work. i think the startup screen is switched (should the prompt be on the touch screen? i'm running GBAMP V2 with V2 firmware + passme)
probably the only thing i noticed was that if i deleted the second file in the list (of only two files) the prompt would stay on the screen after the rest of the text was updated. and the asterisk would also disappear until i pressed up
i don't know why, but i kept looking down expecting to see a flashing light to indicate the card was being accessed...maybe i too used to seeing the light on the drives of my computer, but it would b kinda cool if you could get the power light to blink as sectors (or maybe a larger block of memory) are written to
oh, and maybe adding directory trees as a next/later step
keep up the good work

No, the screens are right. The title screen is on the top. I threw it together last minute and felt that people wouldn't be too confused for the time being.

Hmmmm, I thought I fixed that file issue, but I didn't test it with only two files. I'll check into that. I know why it's doing that, so it should be easy to fix. I hope.

I think someone released the code to make the light blink. I'll see if I can find that.

And a directory tree is part of the plan, but just keeping things simple for now.

GragonSon wrote:

Still doesn't work with M3 + Flashme

Does it not work at all, or just the saving and file opening portion?

pg65 wrote:

using gbamp 2 and is working great. Would it be hard to add supercard sd support, the source for supercard is out. just thinking

job well done :o)

Well, I'm focusing on the actual program right now, and hoping someone writes a combined FAT driver for all the various cards. :) I'm still new to C and programming for the DS, so just getting the GBAMP card to work was a bit of a challenge, let alone supporting multiple types.

If someone else hasn't solved the problem by the time I get a pretty interface created, I'll give it a shot.

it doesn't work with M3+Flashme at all. All i got was two black screens.

It works now, I had to boot it normally instead of through moonshell/multiboot.

rmco2003 wrote:

It works now, I had to boot it normally instead of through moonshell/multiboot.

Which version of Moonshell are you using? I boot mine through Moonshell 0.6.

GragonSon wrote:

it doesn't work with M3+Flashme at all. All i got was two black screens.

Well, Critical_Impact suggested "For those guys getting white or black screens make sure u've appeneded ndsloader.bin otherwise it wont work im pretty sure." Have you done that? I don't know anything about the M3, so I'm not sure why it wouldn't work with it.

the m3 can load both types of nds file.

have you set the power control register?
i think the line
powerON(POWER_ALL);
should do it this is required for the m3/g6 but not for others it seems

El Hobito wrote:

the m3 can load both types of nds file.

have you set the power control register?
i think the line
powerON(POWER_ALL);
should do it this is required for the m3/g6 but not for others it seems

I had not done that. Will add that in.

problem solved then, i've only just tried it myself and the fact that theres no power to the system is a give away.

El Hobito wrote:

problem solved then, i've only just tried it myself and the fact that theres no power to the system is a give away.

Well, adding "powerON(POWER_ALL);" inverted my displays.

ignore this post i was getting confused with mollusk's post

Last edited by El Hobito on Mon Nov 07, 2005 2:59 am; edited 2 times in total

El Hobito wrote:

lol, hang on a mo i'll have a look its probably overriding this

POWER_CR &= ~SWITCH_SCREENS;

I'm confused. I don't have that in my code. Instead of doing that, I just made the text the main screen, and the keyboard the sub screen and took out the lcdswap(). So, right now, there is no screen swapping.

Well, there wasn't until I added "powerON(POWER_ALL);".

Code:

//-------------------------------------------------------------
int main(void) {
//-------------------------------------------------------------

powerON(POWER_ALL);

irqInit();
irqSet(IRQ_VBLANK, Vblank);
irqEnable(IRQ_VBLANK);

//*****************************
// VIDEO SET-UP
//*****************************

videoSetMode(MODE_0_2D | DISPLAY_BG0_ACTIVE);
videoSetModeSub(MODE_0_2D | DISPLAY_BG0_ACTIVE);
vramSetMainBanks(VRAM_A_MAIN_BG_0x6000000, VRAM_B_MAIN_BG_0x6020000,
VRAM_C_SUB_BG_0x6200000, VRAM_D_LCD);

// ** BACKGROUND TEXT **
BG0_CR = BG_MAP_BASE(31);
BG_PALETTE[255] = RGB15(31,31,31);
consoleInitDefault((u16*)SCREEN_BASE_BLOCK(31), (u16*)CHAR_BASE_BLOCK(0), 16);

// ** KEYBOARD TILES **
uint16 * kb_map = (uint16 *) SCREEN_BASE_BLOCK_SUB(29);
SUB_BG0_CR = BG_COLOR_16 | BG_32x32 | (29 << SCREEN_SHIFT) | (1 << CHAR_SHIFT);

// lcdSwap();

This results in the text being on the bottom screen and the keyboard being on the top screen.

If I take the powerOn(POWER_ALL) line back out, the screens are shown properly. If I uncomment the lcdswap(), then the screens are shown properly; but they shouldn't be inverting in the first place.

If anyone with an M3 wants to see if adding the powerOn code even allows my program to work with the M3, please download this and let me know (remember to put a TXT folder in the root, too) ... and let me know if the screens are inverted (all text should be on the top screen, and all graphics on the bottom).

[ download ]

I'm using GBAMP and superpass and I get the keyboard on the top screen and the text on the bottom screen. But when I touch the bottom screen the letters appear on it.

The two inicial screens appear to be in the correct places, being the camuflaged DS on the top screen.

Last edited by tuLL on Mon Nov 07, 2005 2:52 am; edited 1 time in total

0.2 just results in two black screens
0.2.1 works when started using M3's "A" button mode to launch txtwriter. The keyboard is on the top screen.

Last edited by Sektor on Mon Nov 07, 2005 3:10 am; edited 4 times in total

yep it works now (on the m3) but the screens are swapped so maye put lcdswap in then if it doesnt cause any probs

M3 (+ flashme) user here. the new 0.2.1 M3 version loads fine (MS usage aside: hung when loaded with START, worked when loaded with A), however as above poster - screens are swapped but can enter text on lower screen where keyboard should be displaying.

saving + opening from CF worked tho, so all thats wrong is the screen output (for M3 anyway).

nice app btw, very much looking forward to when I can run it properly :)

(slightly OT suggestion/request: would it be possible to perhaps make it (or a special version) with black thinner text on a white BG? instead of the DOS/nix style thick white text on black.... just a preference opinion... )

Sektor wrote:

On M3 CF with FlashMe, the text is on the bottom screen - "touch screen or press A". Doing either of those actions results in no response.

I got this when loading Txtwriter.nds by pressing start, it worked fine when loaded by pressing A (for me)

Sektor wrote:

On M3 CF with FlashMe, the text is on the bottom screen - "touch screen or press A". Doing either of those actions results in no response. Same thing happens if I start it with WMB with or without the M3 plugged in.

try it again it works fine on my m3

Yes it works, you guys just replied while I was editing my post. Just need to swap the screens.

Thanks everyone for the feedback. I'm really glad it now works for the M3. Now, I guess SC is next to get working.

I'm slightly annoyed that I have to LCD swap the screens. It just feels wrong because it shouldn't be happening that way. :/ Aw well. I guess it's more important for you M3 people to use my program than my code to feel right. :)

Here's the updated program with the screens swapped, and I went ahead and fixed the delete menu display bug that was reported. I was going to throw in the LED blinking when saving and opening, but that would take a little too much effort right now. That project will be saved for 0.3.

Back to playing around with graphics ideas. :)

[ website | download ]

And iganokage, when I start making it look pretty, I'll probably end up changing how the text is displayed, so it's definitely a possibility to change it from the white on black, and changing the font.

I'm using the latest version of moonshell, it works fine with the latest version of the program now.

rmco2003 wrote:

I'm using the latest version of moonshell, it works fine with the latest version of the program now.

Excellent, I'm glad to hear that. :)

Yay! working fine on my M3 now, wrote a couple of test docs n all.

alangerow wrote:

And iganokage, when I start making it look pretty, I'll probably end up changing how the text is displayed, so it's definitely a possibility to change it from the white on black, and changing the font.

Excellent, that would be really nice if you could add that functionality.

For a quick laugh, why not check out the lil tiny webpage I wrote entirely in your app: http://pixelist.net/DSPAGE.html :) (only had to change the extension on pc, another possible feature to allow for custom extensions perhaps?)

iganokage wrote:

For a quick laugh, why not check out the lil tiny webpage I wrote entirely in your app: http://pixelist.net/DSPAGE.html :) (only had to change the extension on pc, another possible feature to allow for custom extensions perhaps?)

For simplicity in writing file names, I made it automatically add the file extension. Now that I understand how C strings work a little better now, I can do some string testing to add .TXT if no file extension is given. So, custom file extensions will definitely be added.

I'm tickled that you made a webpage with my app. :) And in response to what you wrote in the page, I am intending to add the ability to move around and edit within a document, and not just editing the end. I have all the text management done in an array in v0.2, so now I just have to work on the code to move text around in it. That's on the plate for v0.3. I've already upgraded to the keyboard from Headspin's example 4 in my dev code, since that has the home/end/pg up/pg down and 4 arrow buttons. :)

This is all excelent :)

You know, this "simple" app could well become the most usefull and widely used ds homebrew program.

Darkflame wrote:

This is all excelent :)

You know, this "simple" app could well become the most usefull and widely used ds homebrew program.

I dunno, Moonshell is pretty essential. But my ego thanks you. :)

Well, you could say Moonshell acts like an OS and thus dosnt count :p

I use Moonshell to use your txt program :p

how is SC compatibility?
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Dudu.exe wrote:

how is SC compatibility?

As of right now, non existent. It'll be coming, but I haven't gotten around to it yet. Right now I'm trying to learn how to do sprites.

I just wanted to post to say that this is some good stuff...I'll probably get some good use out of this. :) It seems like I'm always thinking of something and not having any way to jot down a small note about it so that I remember what this thought was...now I can just tap it into my DS with the stylus.
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The 9th Sage wrote:

I just wanted to post to say that this is some good stuff...I'll probably get some good use out of this. :) It seems like I'm always thinking of something and not having any way to jot down a small note about it so that I remember what this thought was...now I can just tap it into my DS with the stylus.

That's exactly why I'm writing this app. I always have that problem. I usually carry around a bag with a notebook at pen in it, but it'll be much easier to just carry around my DS in my pocket. And then easily transfer them to my PC.

And the next version is looking very snazzy, if I do say so myself.

Don't worry about trying to add SuperCard support, as I should have it ready in the next version of the FAT lib (which now supports SC CF and should hopefully support SC SD too).
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I use the M3 with moonshell 0.6+1 and txtwriter 0.2.1 and it dosent works, both screens are black.

chishm wrote:

Don't worry about trying to add SuperCard support, as I should have it ready in the next version of the FAT lib (which now supports SC CF and should hopefully support SC SD too).

That's exactly what I was hoping for. :) You rock. \m/,

panda wrote:

I use the M3 with moonshell 0.6+1 and txtwriter 0.2.1 and it dosent works, both screens are black.

Are you loading it with the A button? I don't know much about the M3, but some people had to do that.

now, when i press "start":

the text is on the bottom screen - "touch screen or press A". Doing either of those actions results in no response. With the "A"-Button i have two black screens.

panda wrote:

I use the M3 with moonshell 0.6+1 and txtwriter 0.2.1 and it dosent works, both screens are black.

whats moonshell got to do with it? you shouldnt try and boot it through there.

El Hobito wrote:

panda wrote:

I use the M3 with moonshell 0.6+1 and txtwriter 0.2.1 and it dosent works, both screens are black.

whats moonshell got to do with it? you shouldnt try and boot it through there.

Does the M3 have a multiloader built-in or something? And would using Moonshell on an M3 to load homebrew programs cause problems? (just wondering so I'll know how to better handle error reports)
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alangerow wrote:

El Hobito wrote:

panda wrote:

I use the M3 with moonshell 0.6+1 and txtwriter 0.2.1 and it dosent works, both screens are black.

whats moonshell got to do with it? you shouldnt try and boot it through there.

Does the M3 have a multiloader built-in or something? And would using Moonshell on an M3 to load homebrew programs cause problems? (just wondering so I'll know how to better handle error reports)

Yes, the M3 have a multiloader built-in and without starting the moonshell by pressing the START-Button on the top screen is "touch lower screen or press A" and on lower screen is: "ds.spacemonkeymafia.com" and a picture from the DS on the left site.

panda wrote:

Yes, the M3 have a multiloader built-in and without starting the moonshell by pressing the START-Button on the top screen is "touch lower screen or press A" and on lower screen is: "ds.spacemonkeymafia.com" and a picture from the DS on the left site.

What about without Moonshell and starting it with pressing A? or is that when you get the black screens?
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alangerow wrote:

What about without Moonshell and starting it with pressing A? or is that when you get the black screens?

without moonshell and pressing A - i get the black screens
without moonshell and pressing START - on the top screen is "touch lower screen or press A"

with moonshell and pressing A - on the top screen is "Please wait for a while" - but i can not press any button - only the power button

did you update your M3 to E10. It works perfectly for me. Update your M3 and us M3 Game Manager to load the Textwriter.nds into your CF card

my M3 is updatet to E10. i load the textwriter with M3 game manager in all kinds of choise - nothing

when i turn on the DS the m3 movie player is started. then i press GAME, then txtwriter.

what are you doing in the M3 game manager( V1.8)?
Trim Rom or No trim rom
Fast boot format or Normal
1x DMA or 4x DMA

panda wrote:

my M3 is updatet to E10. i load the textwriter with M3 game manager in all kinds of choise - nothing

when i turn on the DS the m3 movie player is started. then i press GAME, then txtwriter.

what are you doing in the M3 game manager( V1.8)?
Trim Rom or No trim rom
Fast boot format or Normal
1x DMA or 4x DMA

lol well theres your problem right there... the game manager is for patching comercial roms for the purpose of piracy, it is not meant for homebrew roms.

Why not? I used it, and it worked perfectly. It also created a sive file for Textwriter in the NDS save folder.
No trim rom
Fast-boot
4xDMA

its still the same

probably the problem is your CF card. what brand?

I use a 1GB CF Kingston (50x) ELITE PRO

and now i tested the LEXAR 128MB (16x) - the same

i have 2GB Kingston Elite Pro, and it worked perfect..Have you ever tried running other homebrews?

yes, but most of them dont work.

nibbles, stupid golf or 3d Pool works fine par example.

I dont have FLASHME, i have only passkey. perhaps thats the reason why txtwriter dont work?

I think that's what it is panda. I was just trying to run txtwriter with passkey, but I just got two black screens. But then I just did flashme and it works fine.

gatr wrote:

I think that's what it is panda. I was just trying to run txtwriter with passkey, but I just got two black screens. But then I just did flashme and it works fine.

That's interesting. I wonder what it is about PassKey that is causing it to not work.
_________________
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Passkey would be the problem. I couldn't get Ticklegirl and various other homebrew to work properly until I installed FlashMe.

I have finally gotten to a point where I am comfortable releasing v0.3 of TxtWriter. This version has intra-document editing, so you can edit and make changes at other points in the document other than the end. It also has a much spiffier user interface, and dialog boxes for confirmations and alerts. It has an updated extended keyboard and more use of the keys. The F1 key now saves a file and F2 opens the file menu so that all operations, except for delete, can be done via the touch screen.

[ website | download | image ]

Version Changes
v0.3 (November 11, 2005)
- text console background
- new font
- new extended keyboard
- key highlighting
- home/end/pgup/pgdn & arrow keys navigate text
- cursor
- dialog boxes
- F-keys for opening & saving files
- Clear button
- internal editing
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Fantastic :)
*downloads*

good job

This is odd... version 0.2.1 worked perfectly on my M3, but version 0.3 just loads up with two screens of garbled characters.

luke314pi wrote:

This is odd... version 0.2.1 worked perfectly on my M3, but version 0.3 just loads up with two screens of garbled characters.

As in instead of the splash/title screen? It just goes straight to garbled characters? Can you still touch the screen / press A to get past that?

Or does it get to garbled characters after the splash screen?
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ds.spacemonkeymafia.com

I get garbled characters on top of the splash screen. When I touch the screen, I can just barely make out the keyboard underneath the mess of characters. The top screen has less characters on it.

P.S. I don't think I posted this before, but this program rocks and I am glad you are doing such frequent updates!

luke314pi wrote:

I get garbled characters on top of the splash screen. When I touch the screen, I can just barely make out the keyboard underneath the mess of characters. The top screen has less characters on it.

P.S. I don't think I posted this before, but this program rocks and I am glad you are doing such frequent updates!

Is there any way you can take a picture of what it looks like. That might help in figuring out what's going on.

And thank you. I just really want this to be fully working, because then that means I can use it. And the sooner I get it done, the sooner I can move on to another project. Plus, learning to program all this is fun. :)
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I will try to take a few pictures tonight when I get home.

Upon loading it again, it is more like jagged gray lines than characters.

luke314pi wrote:

Upon loading it again, it is more like jagged gray lines than characters.

That's ... weird. I'm definitely interested in seeing a picture of it. I'm obviously not getting any of that with my GBAMP, else I wouldn't have put this out.

Is anyone else with an M3 getting this issue?
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Ya...

M3 + FlashMe here...
When I had like 1MB free on my CF, I got the garbled text on both screens like so: [Images not permitted - Click here to view it]

But When I freed up some space, like 50megs I got this, the bottom screen cleared:[Images not permitted - Click here to view it]

gatr wrote:

Ya...

M3 + FlashMe here...
When I had like 1MB free on my CF, I got the garbled text on both screens like so: [Images not permitted - Click here to view it]

But When I freed up some space, like 50megs I got this, the bottom screen cleared:[Images not permitted - Click here to view it]

Wow. That's ... yeah. I have no idea what's causing that. If anyone wants to dig around my source code and take a look, download v0.3 source. I'm starting a new job tonight, so I'm not sure when I'll be able to really play around with it, and without an M3, I'm not even sure if I would be able to pinpoint the problem. And my code is far from perfect. I have been slowly cleaning it up as I go along, but there are lots of things that can be done better and some stuff was just hacked together to get it working quickly.

If anyone has any suggestions, I'm all ears.

ps: download v0.2.1 source if you want to compare changes from when it worked with the M3 to when it didn't.
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Last edited by alangerow on Sat Nov 12, 2005 11:38 pm; edited 1 time in total

Has anyone been able to download the source?

nope i cant download it. Clearly your cf card isnt working correctly, the garbled ness is probably due to the fact that all the assets (graphics and stuff) are loaded off the cf card on load but in your case its ending up being corrupted. Maybe try run a chkdsk on it or do a complete format

I didn't get to take pictures, but that is exactly what my screens look like, and my CF card has been just fine otherwise.

mine doesn't work either, and it looks exactly like that
don't tell me it due to my CF card 'cause it worked perfectly in the previous version

It would probably help if I didn't post a link to my local dev web server, and instead linked to my actual web server that you people can access:

v0.3 source
v0.2.1 source

I guess my next question is, has anyone with an M3 gotten v0.3 to work?!?
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GragonSon wrote:

mine doesn't work either, and it looks exactly like that
don't tell me it due to my CF card 'cause it worked perfectly in the previous version

whether it worked in the previous version doesnt rule out that its the cf card. In this case though i was thinking of another project and thought that the graphics were loaded off the cf card which they arent they're in the nds file so in this case its got nothing to do with the cf. i'll have a look at the source and report back.

initial speculation:
well due to the fact that the touchscreen isnt functioning, its clearly arm7 related somthings causing it to fail since it hasnt crashed as the buttons still work.

alangerow wrote:

I guess my next question is, has anyone with an M3 gotten v0.3 to work?!?

My M3 / Passkey / txtwriter V 0.3 the pictures are:

TOP SCREEN
[Images not permitted - Click here to view it]

BOTTON SCREEN
[Images not permitted - Click here to view it]

do not work on Supercard CF.. when i touch the first letter apears strange chars all over the txt field!!!

and afteher that i cant do anything more =[
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El Hobito wrote:

GragonSon wrote:

mine doesn't work either, and it looks exactly like that
don't tell me it due to my CF card 'cause it worked perfectly in the previous version

whether it worked in the previous version doesnt rule out that its the cf card. In this case though i was thinking of another project and thought that the graphics were loaded off the cf card which they arent they're in the nds file so in this case its got nothing to do with the cf. i'll have a look at the source and report back.

initial speculation:
well due to the fact that the touchscreen isnt functioning, its clearly arm7 related somthings causing it to fail since it hasnt crashed as the buttons still work.

Maybe it is something like that...I don't think it's folk's CF cards since I have both an M3 and a GBAMP, it works as you'd expect in the GBAMP but with the M3 I get the same problem described above (this is off of the same compact flash card).
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this is very similar to the incompatabilities the gbamp had with some homebrew. Somethings overwriting some part of memory it shouldnt. Anyone tried making it a ds.gba file?

I know this has gone into the vital task of compatibility and bug-testing...but I thought Id tose in another thing I think this excelent little app should be able to do:

Read Ebooks.

:)
Basicaly support for large text files, with some sort of bookmarking system.
I was thinking in another thread it was a shame moonshell couldnt handel ebooks very well, then i suddenly thought how wonderfull it would be for this program to be an all-around text machine thingy!

Obviously, this would probably take a fair bit of work, its just something to consider.

Darkflame wrote:

I know this has gone into the vital task of compatibility and bug-testing...but I thought Id tose in another thing I think this excelent little app should be able to do:

Read Ebooks.

:)
Basicaly support for large text files, with some sort of bookmarking system.
I was thinking in another thread it was a shame moonshell couldnt handel ebooks very well, then i suddenly thought how wonderfull it would be for this program to be an all-around text machine thingy!

Obviously, this would probably take a fair bit of work, its just something to consider.

I'm running into what I think are memory issues. For text manipulation I have two variables. A multidimensional array to account for such things as text display with word wrapping. Then, there's a Really Long String that acts as the file in and out buffer. If I make these too big, then stuff goes wrong and doesn't work.

I would like to see it fixed, but there's a higher list of priorities, like the To Do list on my site, and getting it to work with the M3 again. And, personally, the way I think about it is that TxtWriter isn't an eBook reader. It's a note writing program. Jot down some ideas, make a shopping list, that kinda thing. If you wanna read a book on your DS, there are other programs out there that are far better suited.

But we'll see. :)
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alangerow wrote:

And, personally, the way I think about it is that TxtWriter isn't an eBook reader. It's a note writing program. Jot down some ideas, make a shopping list, that kinda thing.

In other words, a notepad. People read PG etexts and make web pages using Microsoft Notepad.
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tepples wrote:

In other words, a notepad. People read PG etexts and make web pages using Microsoft Notepad.

You can call it whatever you want. I call it TxtWriter. Not TxtReader or eBookReader.
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ok, I thought there might be problems oh well. :)

There isnt anything better actualy out there...not that i could find :-/

The best ebook reader is the still the one built into the GBAMP, I dont know a full-res DS one. (Moonhshell only deals with small files)

try nDoS's text reader ;)

it can manage huge files (doesn't copy the file to ram, tested Harry Potter 6, a 1Meg file, it worked :p), rotate screens, choose the text size...
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chears
*goes to look for it*

Only for Neo Flash

~sigh~

nDos works on the supercard sd. you can use a save file and rename it nDos.sav after using you nDos rom, boot right back up go to save menu and save to memory card.

wouldn't http://nintendo-ds.dcemu.co.uk/textviewer.shtml work fine for simply viewing text files?

You could also use one of the several GBA text viewers, such as the GBA Book Reader at http://www.mqp.com/fun/index.html or another one found here: http://members.optushome.com.au/dancotter/

alangerow: What I'd like to see:

- saving with custom extension (for example, editing ScummVM.ini)
- deleting .txt files
- saving anywhere not only root

Thanks! Tt's a great app nonetheless.

MaHe wrote:

alangerow: What I'd like to see:

- saving with custom extension (for example, editing ScummVM.ini)
- deleting .txt files
- saving anywhere not only root

Thanks! Tt's a great app nonetheless.

#s 1 & 3 are on my To Do list.
#2 is already in there.
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When i try to save it says "saving..." and never saves, it just seems to freeze like that. i was wondering if there is a known fix?

panda wrote:

alangerow wrote:

I guess my next question is, has anyone with an M3 gotten v0.3 to work?!?

My M3 / Passkey / txtwriter V 0.3 the pictures are:

TOP SCREEN
[Images not permitted - Click here to view it]

BOTTON SCREEN
[Images not permitted - Click here to view it]

I have flashcart (U-Disk, like M3) and v0.3 is not working properly. It starts directly to the scrambled screen.
I love the idea of a text writer, but I only can look the ss in our homepage and have a dream of it working, ohh well. :(

I have tried run it like a game.. to run it like a rom... with loader... without loader.. nothing seems to work.

Any ideas how could I try to get it working?

I can take a pic when I get back to home. Those screens are like "srambled" and nothing happens if I press any key or touch the screen. It does not look like those above M3 pics.
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Unfortunately I don't think this project is under development anymore. Shame, it's a real nice program but has some nasty bugs (try typing in the middle of a large file). Using the D-pad/ABXY as shortcuts for Shift, Space, Backspace and Enter is genius. I always find myself hitting them when typing on any other DS app's keyboard.

Maybe I have found the solution for the M3-problems, please check following topic :
http://forum.gbadev.org/viewtopic.php?t=8956

I tried to fix TXTWriter, but can't get it to work with the newest LIBNDS (TXTWriter was developped with an older release)....

If anybody can succesfully compile TXTWriter, try to include those fixes from the thread above (clear the complete VRAM prior to loading the tile-graphics)

Nice find qw3rty, that fixed it. Splash screen isn't displayed but the rest of the program works fine on M3CF E16 with flashme6. Run the .ds.gba version with button A.

It's now using a newer FAT lib gba_nds_fat_2006-03-03, so it should work on a few more devices. It was compiled with libnds 20060201, so the touch screen accuracy may be improved for some and made worse for a few others.
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Last edited by Sektor on Mon Mar 20, 2006 11:41 pm; edited 4 times in total

Sektor wrote:

That fixed it. Splash screen isn't displayed but the rest of the program works fine on M3CF E16 with flashme6. Run the .ds.gba version with button A.

txtwriter_0.3.1.zip
txtwriter_0.3.1_src.zip

I also updated the old fat lib it was using to gba_nds_fat_2006-03-03

Thanks! I'm glad a solution was found. Unfortunately, since my last update of the program, I've been way to busy with other things to do much with this (working a shitty job 40+ hours a week overnight shift really takes the drive to program outta ya). I'll update the stuff on my website at some point today and give you credit for fixing it. :)

I'm sad that I wasn't able to get the program where I wanted it, but atleast it's usable to more people now. I've also noticed other people making their own text editing programs, so my little program isn't filling as much of a void anymore.

In a couple weeks, I'm leaving the job and moving, so either I'll have more time to get back into DS programming (either with this program, or maybe a game) ... or I'll have even less time. I'm hoping on the former. :)
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Splash screen works again. It was never broken in your code. I must have added the M3 fix to a source I messed up long ago. Tried it with your original 3.0 source and it worked fine.

Just source code:
txtwriter_0.3.2_src.zip.

The title screen graphic says v0.3 so that will need updating. Fixed splash screen is the only difference from v0.3.1, so no point releasing a binary.

M3SD and SCSD are disabled by default in Chishm's source and I didn't enable them because writing doesn't work and may corrupt the FAT.
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gbadev.org forum archive

DS Misc > TxtWriter 0.3.1

#59523 - alangerow - Wed Nov 02, 2005 12:56 pm

#59534 - rmco2003 - Wed Nov 02, 2005 2:19 pm

#59556 - alangerow - Wed Nov 02, 2005 5:36 pm

#59564 - Ilomoga - Wed Nov 02, 2005 6:36 pm

#59574 - alangerow - Wed Nov 02, 2005 7:25 pm

#59581 - Mollusk - Wed Nov 02, 2005 7:55 pm

#59584 - alangerow - Wed Nov 02, 2005 8:06 pm

#59586 - Mollusk - Wed Nov 02, 2005 8:09 pm

#59587 - Thomas - Wed Nov 02, 2005 8:18 pm

#59589 - alangerow - Wed Nov 02, 2005 8:23 pm

#59601 - falcon!!! - Wed Nov 02, 2005 9:06 pm

#59604 - alangerow - Wed Nov 02, 2005 9:31 pm

#59630 - Ilomoga - Wed Nov 02, 2005 10:58 pm

#59633 - Darkflame - Wed Nov 02, 2005 11:04 pm

#59635 - Mollusk - Wed Nov 02, 2005 11:09 pm

#59645 - Ilomoga - Wed Nov 02, 2005 11:44 pm

#59652 - pg65 - Thu Nov 03, 2005 1:04 am

#59653 - Dudu.exe - Thu Nov 03, 2005 1:32 am

#59659 - Sebbo - Thu Nov 03, 2005 3:26 am

#59908 - panda - Sat Nov 05, 2005 11:07 am

#59912 - Critical_Impact - Sat Nov 05, 2005 1:07 pm

#59913 - panda - Sat Nov 05, 2005 1:36 pm

#59914 - panda - Sat Nov 05, 2005 1:45 pm

#59921 - rmco2003 - Sat Nov 05, 2005 4:06 pm

#59932 - alangerow - Sat Nov 05, 2005 7:28 pm

#60022 - alangerow - Sun Nov 06, 2005 10:36 am

#60028 - Sebbo - Sun Nov 06, 2005 11:36 am

#60037 - GragonSon - Sun Nov 06, 2005 4:21 pm

#60041 - pg65 - Sun Nov 06, 2005 5:13 pm

#60046 - alangerow - Sun Nov 06, 2005 6:24 pm

#60050 - alangerow - Sun Nov 06, 2005 6:34 pm

#60067 - GragonSon - Sun Nov 06, 2005 11:18 pm

#60071 - rmco2003 - Mon Nov 07, 2005 12:00 am

#60076 - alangerow - Mon Nov 07, 2005 12:50 am

#60078 - El Hobito - Mon Nov 07, 2005 1:23 am

#60079 - alangerow - Mon Nov 07, 2005 1:25 am

#60080 - El Hobito - Mon Nov 07, 2005 1:29 am

#60081 - alangerow - Mon Nov 07, 2005 1:32 am

#60083 - El Hobito - Mon Nov 07, 2005 1:45 am

#60086 - alangerow - Mon Nov 07, 2005 2:11 am

#60087 - alangerow - Mon Nov 07, 2005 2:19 am

#60089 - tuLL - Mon Nov 07, 2005 2:40 am

#60092 - Sektor - Mon Nov 07, 2005 2:50 am

#60093 - El Hobito - Mon Nov 07, 2005 2:53 am

#60094 - iganokage - Mon Nov 07, 2005 2:53 am

#60095 - iganokage - Mon Nov 07, 2005 2:54 am

#60096 - El Hobito - Mon Nov 07, 2005 2:54 am

#60098 - Sektor - Mon Nov 07, 2005 3:18 am

#60103 - alangerow - Mon Nov 07, 2005 3:42 am

#60127 - rmco2003 - Mon Nov 07, 2005 10:17 am

#60161 - alangerow - Mon Nov 07, 2005 8:31 pm

#60183 - iganokage - Mon Nov 07, 2005 10:32 pm

#60191 - alangerow - Mon Nov 07, 2005 11:35 pm

#60220 - Darkflame - Tue Nov 08, 2005 4:38 am

#60224 - alangerow - Tue Nov 08, 2005 5:03 am

#60264 - Darkflame - Tue Nov 08, 2005 3:04 pm

#60310 - Dudu.exe - Tue Nov 08, 2005 11:02 pm

#60311 - alangerow - Tue Nov 08, 2005 11:08 pm

#60335 - The 9th Sage - Wed Nov 09, 2005 7:02 am

#60340 - alangerow - Wed Nov 09, 2005 9:14 am

#60344 - chishm - Wed Nov 09, 2005 10:43 am

#60351 - panda - Wed Nov 09, 2005 1:31 pm

#60366 - alangerow - Wed Nov 09, 2005 6:00 pm

#60379 - alangerow - Wed Nov 09, 2005 7:46 pm

#60394 - panda - Wed Nov 09, 2005 11:03 pm

#60418 - El Hobito - Thu Nov 10, 2005 2:33 am

#60431 - alangerow - Thu Nov 10, 2005 4:17 am

#60447 - panda - Thu Nov 10, 2005 1:40 pm

#60455 - alangerow - Thu Nov 10, 2005 3:05 pm

#60456 - panda - Thu Nov 10, 2005 3:18 pm

#60457 - GragonSon - Thu Nov 10, 2005 3:22 pm

#60467 - panda - Thu Nov 10, 2005 6:23 pm

#60469 - El Hobito - Thu Nov 10, 2005 7:20 pm

#60470 - GragonSon - Thu Nov 10, 2005 7:27 pm

#60471 - panda - Thu Nov 10, 2005 7:53 pm

#60474 - GragonSon - Thu Nov 10, 2005 8:30 pm

#60477 - panda - Thu Nov 10, 2005 9:10 pm

#60481 - GragonSon - Thu Nov 10, 2005 9:46 pm