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GETTING ACQUAINTED
EXERCISE 4: CREATING GRAPHICS
Normally,
you
'
ll create graphics using a host application program
,
but in this
exercise you will create graphics from the keyboard while in Setup
.
These graphics
will then be used in Exercises 5 and 6. (If you are doing this exercise out of
sequence,
do Exercise 1 first.)
In Exercises 2 and 3 you entered commands in the dialog area and saw the results
of your commands in the dialog
area. Now,
you will enter commands in the dialog
area that create color images in the graphics area
.
Remember,
the graphics area
lies
"
beh ind
"
the dialog area.
PREPARING THE SCREEN FOR GRAPHICS
You
'
ll need to see your commands as you enter them in the dialog
area;
at the
same time
,
you 'll want to see the graphics you are creating in the graphics
area.
You can see both by decreasing the size of the dialog area so it covers only a small
part of the screen
.
You can also change the colors of the dialog area to make a more pleasing contrast
with the graphics you 're going to create
.
To accomplish these tasks
,
enter the following commands
:
DALINES 5
DAINDEX 0,3,3
The DALINES command reduces the dialog area to five lines
,
so it now covers less
of the graphics
area.
The DAIN DEX command causes the dialog area to display black text on a green
background (you
'
ll learn more about changing dialog area colors in Exercise 5)
.
UNDERSTANDING PANELS AND SEGMENTS
In working with graph
ics,
you
'
ll see the terms panel and
segment.
•
A
panel
is a closed polygon
,
like a triangle or rectangle
,
that can be filled with a
color or a pattern
.
A panel normally is used to represent a single
unit,
such as a
piece of furniture or a circuit board element, that is part of a larger graphics
display.
You will create several panels in this exercise
.
•
A segment is a collection of panels and other elements (including
lines,
curves
,
and text) that can be treated as a single object. For
example,
you could draw a
picture of a car's piston as a segment
,
or you could draw the entire car as a
segment.
2-8
Even though a segment consists of several distinct elements
,
you can
manipulate it as a complete unit - that is
,
you can move
,
copy,
rotate
,
or scale
the segment as a whole
.
4106/4107/4109 OPERATORS
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