DAY 21. The VAT


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About The VAT

VAT is an acronym for Variable Allocation Table. What it actually is is a large chunk of RAM holding the attributes of every variable on the calculator. The VAT's size is constantly in flux: when you create a variable, the VAT's size is instantly increased to accomodate the new entry. When variables are deleted, the VAT shrinks as the entries for those variables are removed.

The VAT starts immediately before the end of the hardware stack and is divided into two parts. The first part holds the names of real, complex, matrix, picture, GDB, and equation type variables. This region starts immediately after the Hardware Stack at the fixed address SymTable.
The second part holds programs, lists, groups, and AppVars. The beginning is stored in the variable (ProgPtr) and ends at (PTemp)+1.

Structure Of VAT Entries

Each VAT entry is a structure of several elements, but there is a twist: the entries are written backwards!

Program, AppVar, and Group

-14 -13 -12 -11 -10 -9 -8 -7 -6 -5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0
Variable name — Eight tokens maximum NL Page DAH DAL Ver T2 T

List

-13 -12 -11 -10 -9 -8 -7 -6 -5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0
F# List name — 5 tokens max tVarLst NL Page DAH DAL Ver T2 T

Real, Complex, Matrix, Equation, GDB, and Picture

-8 -7 -6 -5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0
$00 Second name
token
First name
token
Page DAH DAL Ver T2 T
Key:
T The object type and system effects:
Bit Meaning
0-4 Object type
5 If a graph equation, then it's active if set.
6 Variable is used during graphing if set.
7 Variable is designated for link transfer if set.
T2 Reserved for future use
Ver Version number. If a future TI-83 Plus version introduces a new variable format, this is used to prevent sending that variable to an older version.
DAL
DAH
Pointer to the data. DAL is the least-significant byte, and DAH is the most-significant.
Page The ROM page the variable is archived on. If the variable is in RAM, then 0.
NL The length of the name. For lists, tVarLst is included in this value.
F# Number of a formula attached to a list, or 0 if no formula

The structure of a list formula is
-8 -7 -6 -5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0
$00 F# $3F Page DAH DAL Ver T2 EquObj

Searching The VAT

To scan the VAT, step through each entry from SymTable to (PTemp)+1 with HL or IX linearly.

Program 20-1

Search for and display all programs. Try modifying it to account for archived programs.
    RES    AppTextSave, (IY + AppFlags)
    b_call(_ClrLCDFull)
    LD     HL, (ProgPtr)    ; Start of Symbol Table for programs

MainLoop:
    LD     DE, 0
    LD     (CurRow), DE
    LD     C, 7             ; Counter. We can display 7 variables per screen
FindLoop:
    LD     DE, (PTemp)      ; Check to see if we're at the end of the symbol table
    OR     A
    SBC    HL, DE
    JR     Z, Done
    JR     C, Done
    ADD    HL, DE           ; Restore HL

    LD     A, (HL)          ; Check the [T] of entry, take appropriate action
    AND    $1F             ; Bitmask off bits 7-5 to get type only.
    CP     ProgObj
    JR     Z, IsNormalProg
    CP     ProtProgObj
    JR     NZ, Skip

    LD     A, '#'           ; We'll use a hash to signify a protected program...
    JR     DispStatus

IsNormalProg:
    LD     A, ' '           ; ...or space padding for a normal program

DispStatus:
    b_call(_PutC)          ; Display protection status

    ; At this point, HL -> [T], so we'll move back six bytes to [NL]
    LD     DE, -6
    ADD    HL, DE
    LD     B, (HL)          ; Store number of characters in name for DJNZ

DispNameLoop:
    DEC    HL
    LD     A, (HL)
    b_call(_PutC)
    DJNZ   DispNameLoop

    DEC    HL              ; Move back one byte so HL -> [T] of next entry

    b_call(_NewLine)

    DEC    C               ; Subtract counter
    JR     NZ, FindLoop

    PUSH   HL
    b_call(_GetKey)        ; Press any key...
    b_call(_ClrLCDFull)
    POP    HL

    JR     MainLoop

Skip:
    ; Skip an entry
    OR     A
    LD     DE, 6
    SBC    HL, DE
    LD     E, (HL)         ; Put name length in E to skip
    INC    E              ; Add 1 to go to [T] of next entry
    SBC    HL, DE
    JR     FindLoop

Done:
    b_call(_GetKey)
    SET    AppTextSave, (IY + AppFlags)
    RET                   ; That's all folks!


This is part of Learn TI-83 Plus Assembly In 28 Days
Copyright (c) 2002, 2003, 2004 Sean McLaughlin
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