Status line with centered text, the hard way

Example 451

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A status line which has only the name of the location, centered.

Making major changes to display features, such as the construction of the status line, sometimes requires that we rely on Inform 6 in bulk; here is how we might produce the Trinity-style status line, with the location centered at the top center of the screen.

"Corner of No and Where"

No is a room. Where is west of No.

Rule for constructing the status line:

print the location in the center of the status line;

rule succeeds.

To print the location in the center of the status line:

(- PrintCenteredStatus(); -).

Include (-

Array printed_text --> 64;

[ PrintCenteredStatus i j;

@set_cursor 1 0;

i = 0->33;

spaces(i);

@output_stream 3 printed_text;

print (name) location;

@output_stream -3;

j = (i - (printed_text-->0))/2;

@set_cursor 1 j;

print (name) location;

spaces j-1;

];

Test me with "w / e".

In fact, as we've already seen, many extra modifications to the display behavior are possible using Basic Screen Effects.