** 1 page inside GEM regular feature / words ** Inside GEM Mark Wherry turns GEMScript and OLGA theory into practice... On other platforms the Microsoft Office suite of programs is popular because the component applications work together to provide an integrated solution. OLGA and GEMScript makes it possible for stand-alone Atari applications to work together. All you need is a multi-tasking environment (Magic, MiNT, Geneva, N.AES etc.), so more than one application can be running at the same time, along with a copy of OLGA. A GEMScript interpreter such as Scripter or Simple Script is also desirable. ArtWorx and Texel With Texel v2.x and ArtWorx v1.6 and above, it's possible to add graphs within your spreadsheet. To do this, check these three entries exist in your OLGA.INF file. ** NP ** [Extensions] .TAD=$ARTWORX .CWG=$ARTWORX [Applications] ARTWORX=ARTWORX=D:\ARTWORX\ARTWORX.APP ** /NP ** Edit the Artworx path entry so it points to the location of your copy of Artworx and that's all there is to it - now for some fun! Load Texel with an existing spreadsheet, select a range of values, then click the graph button towards the right of the top toolbar. Texel now launches ArtWorx and creates the graph in ArtWorx by sending commands via the GEMScript protocol. ArtWorx then draws that graph within the Texel spreadsheet by using the OLGA inplace drawing features - neat eh? ** IG_TXL1.GIF ** ** Caption ** A graph based on a simple spreadsheet generated by Texel and drawn by ArtWorx. This object can be resized within Texel with no loss of quality because ArtWorx creates vector graphics ** /caption ** To customise the graph simply double-click on it to open the file within ArtWorx and edit it as desired. On saving the file any changes are automatically updated within Texel. Although Microsoft's Excel spreadsheet can create graphs independently the ability to edit graphs within ArtWorx gives you total control over the finished result. ArtWorx and Scripter Texel utilises the drawing power of ArtWorx by controlling it using the GEMScript protocol. As we have explained in previous columns it's possible to create your own commands and, using a GEMScript interpreter, send them to GEMScript aware applications. ArtWorx includes some example scripts which can be used with Scripter, the commercial GEMScript interpreter, which is based on a C-like syntax. Scripter has recently been translated into English by Peter West (TransAction) and, hopefully, an English release will be made available shortly. Using this combination ArtWorx can be used to plot scientific graphs, create mathematical images, or anything else you can dream up. ** IG_AW1.GIF ** ** IG_AW2.GIF ** ** caption ** A tiny snippit of code can create all these colours - if only you could see them! ** /caption ** ArtWorx and CAB Since CAB v2.0 the HTML tag has been supported and can be used to embed objects within web pages. Objects can include movies and pictures, and on other platforms it's possible to embed interactive movies such as Shockwave files. For example, entering would draw my favourite tiger file at a width and height of 400 pixels. When CAB interprets this tag, it asks the OLGA manager what program handles CWG files, in this case ArtWorx because OLGA.INF includes the .CWG=ARTWORX entry. ArtWorx draws the tiger within the CAB browser window using OLGA's inplace drawing abilities. ** IG_CAB1.GIF ** ** caption ** An HTML file created in Everest and displayed in CAB. ArtWorx draws the tiger within the CAB browser using the OLGA protocol ** /caption ** Conclusion Hopefully these examples have given you an idea of the power GEMScript and OLGA bring to the Atari platform. If enough programmers add support for these features the possibilities are endless. Finally, if you have any comments or questions please do get in touch with me at: ** BC ** mark@ataricomputing.com http://www.rvmp.co.uk ** /BC ** ** Boxout ** Contacts Texel, ArtWorx and Scripter UK distributor: System Solutions Tel: +44 (0)181 693 3355 Fax: +44 (0)181 693 6936 info-software@system-solutions.co.uk www.system-solutions.co.uk/cafe Please note English versions of ArtWorx and Scripter are not currently available. German demo versions can be downloaded from: http://ash.sww.net ** /boxout **