MDA Normal, Blinking, Underlined Text Example

MS-DOS                      | OS/2            | WINDOWS

The information in this article applies to:

• The C Run-time (CRT), included with:

      - Microsoft C for MS-DOS, versions 5.1, 6.0, 6.0a, and 6.0ax
      - Microsoft C for OS/2, versions 5.1, 6.0, and 6.0a
      - Microsoft C/C++ for MS-DOS, versions 7.0
      - Microsoft Visual C++ for Windows, versions 1.0 and 1.5
  

SUMMARY

When programming with Microsoft C for a monochrome display adapter, there is no way to display colors. However, you can display normal text, bright text, inverse video, underline, and blinking.

MORE INFORMATION

The following program shows how to display blinking and underlined text on a monochrome display adapter:

Sample Code:

/* Compile options needed: none
*/

#include <graph.h>

int     oldcolor;
long    oldbkcolor;

void main( )

   _clearscreen( _GCLEARSCREEN );
   oldcolor = _gettextcolor( );
   oldbkcolor = _getbkcolor( );
   _settextposition( 12, 0 );
   _settextcolor( 17 );           /* foreground color Blue + 16 */
   _setbkcolor( 0L );             /* background color Black */
   _outtext( "Blinking Normal Underlined Text, on MDA.\n" );
   _settextcolor( oldcolor );
   _setbkcolor( oldbkcolor );

There are many books that explain how monochrome text attributes are set. One such book is called "Programmer's Guide to PC & PS/2 Video Systems" (Microsoft Press, ISBN 1-55615-103-9).