Changing screens

[pathios]

I am almost done my text based game. The other day our teacher showed us a game from a few years ago.

In the game if you chose an option and a new .cpp loaded it basically switched to a different screen.

This made it so that the game wasn't just scrolling down as it went on. However in true teacher fashion he told me to look online when i asked how he did it. Since i am not sure what exactly i should be using in my search to find it... i was wondering if anyone here would know to what he was referring to?

Even if it is to give me direction in my search, any help will be most appreciated.

[Kyon]

Google: Curses C++

[chrisname]

What do you mean by switching screens? It cleared the screen inbetween pages of output?

[pathios]

The example game had a title screen, if you chose to do something nothing of the title output remained.

you could only see the output of the next cpp file

[pathios]

i forgot to mention that this is a win 32 console application using just cout's to display the game.

[pathios]

what i would like it to do is when i go, for example, from bridge.cpp

bool bridge()
{
	

	int choice =0;

	while  (choice != 10)
	{
		cout<< "You find your self in a room filled with electronics..\nRight away you realise that your on an alien spaceship..alone..\n\n";

		wait();

		cout<<"What will you do "<< player.GetName()<<"?\n\n";

		
		cout<< "1: Look at 'damage console'\n";
		cout<< "2: Look at 'navigational console' \n";
		cout<< "3: Grab Triphasic Control Chips\n";
		cout<< "4: Grab Isolinar Control Rod\n";
		cout<< "5: Use Maitenance tube to Astormetrics\n";
	
		cout<< "9: Check Current Inventory\n";
		
		cout<< "10: Exit Game\n";
		cout << "->";

		cin>> choice;
		cin.ignore(10,'\n');

		cout<< endl;

		switch(choice)
		{
		
		case 1:
			{
				cout<< "you look at the console...\n";
				cout<< "It shows the current damage to the ship...\n\n";	
					break;
			
			}
		case 2:
			{
				cout<<"You see the a discription of the course your ship is taking...\nHowever it is fuzzy and non-discriptive...\n\n";
					
				break;
			}
		case 3:
			{
				cout<<"You collected the Transphasic Control Chips!\n\n";
				inventory.push_back("Chips");
				break;
				
			}
		case 4:
			{
				cout<<"You collected the Isolinar Control Rod!\n\n";
				inventory.push_back("Rod");
				break;
				
			}
		case 5:
			{
				astrometrics();
				break;
			}
		case 9:
			{
				cout<<"Your current inventory has:\n\n";
				for (int i=0; i < inventory.size(); i++)
				{
					cout<<inventory[i]<<" ";
				}
			cout<<"\n\n";
			}
		default:break;
		}
	}
	return true;
}

to say engine core.cpp

bool enginecore()
{

	int choice = 0;

	while(choice != 10)
	{	

		cout<< "You find yourself inside what seems to be a navigations area...\nIt looks severly damaged and parts sem to be missing from areas\n\n";

		wait();
		
		cout<<"What will you do "<< player.GetName()<<"?\n\n";

		cout<< "1: Insert Palladium Core\n";
		cout<< "2: Insert Plutonium Core \n";
		cout<< "3: insert Unubtainium Core\n";
		cout<< "4: Grab Crystaline Refractor\n";
		cout<< "5: Grab Memory Core Gamma\n";
		cout<< "6: Return to the Transfer Tube\n";

		cout<< "9: Check Current Inventory\n";
		cout<< "10: Exit Game\n";
		cout<< "->";

		cin>> choice;
		cin.ignore(10,'\n');

		cout<< endl;

		switch(choice)
		{
		case 1:
			{
				if (!plucomplete && !uncomplete)
				{
					if(Check_Inv("PalCore"))
					{
						cout<<"You have inserted the Palladium Core!\n\n";
						palcomplete = true;
					}
					else
					{
						cout<<"The Palladium Core is not in your inventory!\n\n";
					}
				}
				else 
				{
					cout<<"There is already a core in the Engine!\n\n";
				}
				break;
			}
		case 2:
			{
				if (!palcomplete && !uncomplete)
				{
					if(Check_Inv("PluCore"))
					{
						cout<<"You have inserted the Plutonium Core!\n\n";
						plucomplete = true;
					}

					else
					{
						cout<<"The Plutonium Core is not in your inventory!\n\n";
					}
				}
				else
				{
					cout<<"There is already a core in the engine!\n\n";
					break;
				}
			}
		case 3:
			{
				if (!palcomplete && !plucomplete)
				{
					if(Check_Inv("UnCore"))
					{
					 cout<<"You have inserted the Unubtainium Core!\n\n";
					 end5();
					}
					else
					{
						cout<<"The Unubtainium Core is not in your inventory!\n\n";
					}
				}
					break;
				}
		case 4:
			{
				inventory.push_back("Refractor");
				break;
			}
		case 5:
			{
				inventory.push_back("Gamma");
				break;
			}
		case 6:
			{
				transittube();
				break;
			}

		case 9:
			{
				cout<<"Your current inventory has:\n\n";
				for (int i=0; i < inventory.size(); i++)
				{
					cout<<inventory[i]<<" ";
				}
			cout<<"\n\n";
			}
		default:break;
			}
			}
			return true;
		}

i instead of showing the new cpp file under the last one, i want only the cpp being currently displayed to be on screen. Replaceing as it were so that it isn't just adding and adding and scrolling down every time something happens.

[chrisname]

Just clear the screen before output: http://cplusplus.com/forum/articles/10515/#msg49080

Personally I like to use both of Duoas' examples in a single function:

#ifdef _WIN32
# include <windows.h>
#else
# include <unistd.h>
# include <term.h>
#endif

int clearscreen()
{
#ifdef _WIN32
	HANDLE				hstdout;
	CONSOLE_SCREEN_BUFFER_INFO	csbi;
	DWORD				count;
	DWORD				cellcount;
	COORD				homecoords = { 0, 0 };

	if ((hstdout = GetStdHandle(STD_OUTPUT_HANDLE)) == INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE)
		return -1;

	/*
	 * Get buffer cell count
	 */
	if (!(GetConsoleScreenBufferInfo(hstdout, &csbi))
		return -1;
	cellcount = (csbi.dwSize.X * csbi.dwSize.Y);

	/* 
	 * Fill the buffer with spaces
	 */
	if (!(FillConsoleOutputCharacter(hstdout, (TCHAR)' ', cellcount,
					 homecoords, &count)))
		return -1;

	/*
	 * Set buffer attributes
	 */
	if (!(FillConsoleOutputAttribute(hstdout, csbi.wAttributes, cellcount,
					homecoords, &count)))
		return -1;

	/*
	 * Set cursor position home
	 */
	SetConsoleCursorPosition(hstdout, homecoords);
#else
	/*
	 * Create a terminal if none exists
	 */
	if (!(cur_term)) {
		int result = 0;
		setupterm(NULL, STDOUT_FILENO, &result);
		if (result < 0) {
			return -1;
		}
	}

	/*
	 * Clear the screen
	 */
	putp(tigetstr("clear"));
#endif
	return 0;
}

On UNIX systems, add -lcurses to the command-line to link the curses library, you'll need it for those functions. On Windows you need to link the Windows API which I think will be done automatically for you.

[pathios]

Does it also then print the cout of the next cpp in its place? and is this applicable to visual studio 2008

[pathios]

idealy i want everything that i do on the cabin screen to remain till i access another area of my game which is in a separate cpp file. That way it doesn't just add and add causing it to just become one longer and longer output.

[sohguanh]

To build GUI using C++ really depend on the environment.

For Linux/Unix Curses are not "beautiful" enough. I would go for X Windows/Motif.

For Windows, it is simply .NET C# or the earlier version called MFC or even earlier Windows SDK :(

[Duthomhas]

For a text-based game, use NCurses. You may already have it installed, actually.
Some reading to get started: http://tldp.org/HOWTO/NCURSES-Programming-HOWTO/

[chrisname]

@soghuanh,

sohguanh wrote:

For Linux/Unix Curses are not "beautiful" enough. I would go for X Windows/Motif.

I strongly disagree. [N,PD]Curses is excellent, and cross-platform. Why use Xlibs or Motif? They're not cross-platform and he's not writing a GUI.

sohguanh wrote:

For Windows, it is simply .NET C# or the earlier version called MFC or even earlier Windows S

Why? You can just use a cross-platform library like Qt, GTK+ or wxWidgets.

[sohguanh]

Why? You can just use a cross-platform library like Qt, GTK+ or wxWidgets.

Thanks for providing me additional information on Windows GUI. Qt, GTK+ and wxWidgets are new sources of information for me.

[chrisname]

Fair enough.