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Screen Saver Macros
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Assign one of these macros to a hotkey and protect your screen from prying eyes!
Plus, a screen saver can help protect some monitors from image burn-in.
If you run WP51 in Windows 3.x, 9x, NT, or ME, you probably already have a screen saver available to you. If, however, you run WP51 from DOS or a DOS-only mode, then you may not have access to a screen saver.
Even if you have a screen saver, you may find these to be convenient and easy to customize.
As usual, a collection of screen saver macros is available here, instead of just one. Why? Well, each
macro behaves just a little differently, and each difference illustrates a useful macro language feature. All the macros are
available in the download link at the bottom of the page, and each is summarized in the table appearing below. The password for
all password-protected screen savers is "password." Obviously, you'll want to change that if you put the macro to use. Just edit the
macro, look at the bottom of the macro, and change the text in this code:
{TEXT}password~What·is·the·secret·code?··~
{IF}"{VARIABLE}password~"="password"~
About those passwords: [F1] cancels the screen saver, but if you enter the wrong password, it just starts up again and keeps running and running and running, until you get the password right!
Final Thoughts: As always, we'd be interested to see what kind of cool changes you make to the macros. If you create a screen saver with a circling marquee, where ours is a stepping marquee, we'd like to see it! Please share your creations with us, and we'll post them here with your permission.
| Macro Name | Features | Password Protected? | How to Exit | Notes |
| ssaver.wpm | draws large blocks of color on screen in different positions, clears screen between each block | no | [F1] | Lots of code in this one (and the next two) - may be too large to edit in WP51's macro editor. If so, you'll be able to run it but not edit it. Use a standalone editor, instead. |
| ssaver2.wpm | draws a series of large blocks of color, only clears screen at end of series | no | [F1] | The first three lines of action code in this one turns off reveal codes, if on. |
| ssaver3.wpm | draws large blocks of color, never clears them | no | [F1] | You can use the same display technique to stack option menus in your macros. |
| ssaver4.wpm | steps a message down the screen, then repeats | no | [F1] | When positioning displays, you must either use a control character or an equivalent ASCII value. To accomplish the repositioning in this macro would require a great amount of code (as in the previous three examples). This macro makes use of the NTOK and KTON functions to perform math on positioning characters. |
| ssaver5.wpm | same as ssaver4, but adds password protection | yes | [F1] + password | [CTRL][BREAK] will also cause macro to prompt you for password. [BREAK] alone will pause macro execution, any subsequent keystroke will resume. |
| ssaver6.wpm | same as ssaver5, but adds positioning codes within the marquee message | yes | [F1] + password | This one reads better with the message entered backwards. |
| ssaver7.wpm | same as ssaver4, but adds color changes to message | yes | [F1] + password | We use the same positioning character math technique as in ssaver4, but this time we apply it to attribute on/off codes for message display. |
| ssaver8.wpm | same as ssaver7, but progress of the message halts near bottom of the screen | yes | [F1] + password | In this one, we use a set of {IF}{THEN} statements to let the stepping down message "bottom out" and stay near the bottom of the screen. However, the attributes continue to cycle through 17 settings, so the message appears to bounce up and down and change color. |
| ssaver9.wpm | same as ssaver7, but the message goes up instead of down | yes | [F1] + password | This one goes up instead of down, and that just goes to show that with a little imagination, math, and planning, you could make a screen saver image move on the screen just about anyway you'd like! |