AG> You said that if we needed help with threads, we should ask...

Here you go.  This was not a great sample for threads,  because I didn't
need to use any semaphores (come up with a more complicated problem next
time ),  although I could have.

I'm not sure which compiler you're using -- I used both IBM and Watcom on this:


 // note -- columns & rows are reversed in your program; I didn't fix it.
 // note2 -- you do not need a VioSetCurPos() before a vio call that
 //          takes row, col as parameters.

 #define INCL_VIO
 #define INCL_DOS
 #define INCL_NOPMAPI
 #include 
 #include 
 #include 
 #include 
 #include 


 int pick_colour(void);
 unsigned char contents[2];

 #define ROW 5
 #define COLUMN 5


 static SHORT row = 0, column = 0;

 void SpinThread(void *vpDie)
 {
     unsigned i=0;
     BYTE attr = 7;
     char c[4] = "-\\|/";
     int * volatile pDie = (int *)vpDie;

     while(*pDie == FALSE){
         attr = column | ((row + 7) << 4);
         attr &= 0x7f;   /*PLF Tue  95-06-13 10:58:18*/
         VioWrtCharStrAtt(c+i, 1, column + COLUMN, row + ROW, &attr, 0);
         i++;
         if(i == sizeof(c))
             i = 0;
         DosSleep(50L);
     }
     printf("bye!\n");
 }

 int main(void)
 {
     int value;
     VIOMODEINFO ModeData;

     ModeData.cb = sizeof(ModeData);
     VioGetMode( &ModeData, 0 );

     value = pick_colour();
     printf("\nColour picked was: %d", value);
     return 0;
 }

 unsigned int getkey(void)
 {
     unsigned int c = getch();
     if(c == 0 || c == 0xe0)
         c = getch() << 8;
     return c;
 }


 int pick_colour()
 {
     VIOCURSORINFO CursorData;
     unsigned int input = 0;
     int die;

     VioScrollUp(0, 0, -1, -1, -1, " \x7", 0); // cls
     VioGetCurType( &CursorData, 0 );
 /*    for(row = 0; row < 8; row++) */
     for(row = 0; row < 16; row++)
     {
         for(column = 0; column < 16; column++)
         {
 /*            contents[0] = 7; */
             contents[0] = 254;
             contents[1] = column;
             contents[1] |= row << 4;
             VioWrtNCell((PBYTE)&contents, 1, column + COLUMN, row + ROW, 0);
         }
     }

     row = 0;
     column = 0;

     CursorData.attr = -1;
     VioSetCurType( &CursorData, 0 );

     die = FALSE;
     _beginthread(SpinThread, NULL, 0x4000, &die);

     for(;;)
     {
         input = getkey();
         contents[0] = 254;
         contents[1] = column;
         contents[1] |= row << 4;
         VioWrtNCell((PBYTE)&contents, 1, column + COLUMN, row + ROW, 0);
         switch(input)
         {
             case 0x4800:        // up
                     column --;
                 break;

             case 0x4b00:        // left
                     row--;
                 break;

             case 0x4d00:        // right
                     row ++;
                 break;

             case 0x5000:        // down
                     column ++;
                 break;
         }
         if (input == 27 || input == 13) break;
         if(row > 15) row = 0;
         else if(row < 0) row = 15;
         if(column > 15) column = 0;
         else if(column < 0) column = 15;

     }
     VioSetCurPos( 23, 0, 0 );
     die = TRUE;     // Ask thread to die;  we could have used an EventSem
                     // for this.
     DosSleep(101L); // Give enough time to see the "bye" message, else the
                     // program might end before we see it.  Not really
                     // important.

     CursorData.attr = 1;
     VioSetCurType( &CursorData, 0 );

     if(input == 27)
         return -1;
     else
         return ((row << 4) + column);
 }



--- Maximus/2 2.02p1