functions and arrays

here ya go..

I used 'notify' here.. 'print' caused some crashes here.. I guess you know what to do if you don't have B+ .. it's all fairly obvious.

bnk=CreateTextBank(10,40) ; 10:elements, 40:stringwidth

For t=0 To 9
	SetTextbankText(bnk,t,"BlitzMax - we're waiting "+t+" months")
Next


; lousy test function
test(bnk)

FreeBank bnk ; <-- rather don't forget this! always clean-up your mess :)

End

Function test(blah)

	For t=0 To TextbankElements(blah)-1
		Notify TextbankText(blah,t)
	Next
	
	Notify TextbankElements(blah)
	Notify TextbankWidth(blah)
	
End Function


; ---------------------------------------------------------------------
;
; Textbank - by CS^TBL
;
; bank=CreateTextBank(elements,width)
; SetTextbankText(bank,element,txt$)
; a$=TextbankText(bank,element(,cut))
; width=TextbankWidth(bank)
; elements=TextbankElements(bank)
;
; bank: (b=byte, s=short)
;
; [b:B][b:T][b:X][b:T][s:ELEMENTS][s:WIDTH][text .....][text .....][ ... ][ ... ]
;
; ---------------------------------------------------------------------

Function TextbankElements(bank)
	If Not bank End
	If BankSize(bank)<8 End
	For t=0 To 3
		a$=a$+Chr$(PeekByte(bank,t))
	Next
	If a$<>"BTXT" End
	
	Return PeekShort(bank,4)
End Function

Function TextbankWidth(bank)
	If Not bank End
	If BankSize(bank)<8 End
	For t=0 To 3
		a$=a$+Chr$(PeekByte(bank,t))
	Next
	If a$<>"BTXT" End
	
	Return PeekShort(bank,6)
End Function

Function TextbankText$(bank,element,cut=True)
	If Not bank End
	If BankSize(bank)<8 End
	For t=0 To 3
		a$=a$+Chr$(PeekByte(bank,t))
	Next
	If a$<>"BTXT" End
	
	elements=PeekShort(bank,4)
	width=PeekShort(bank,6)

	If element>elements End

	a$=""
	For t=0 To width-1
		a$=a$+Chr$(PeekByte(bank,8+element*width+t))
	Next

	If cut
		a$=Trim$(a$)
	EndIf
	
	Return a$

End Function

Function SetTextbankText(bank,element,s$)
	If Not bank End
	If BankSize(bank)<8 End
	For t=0 To 3
		a$=a$+Chr$(PeekByte(bank,t))
	Next
	If a$<>"BTXT" End
	
	elements=PeekShort(bank,4)
	width=PeekShort(bank,6)
	
	If element>=elements End
	If element<0 End

	l=Len(s$)
	If Len(s$)>width End
	
	For t=0 To Len(s$)-1
		PokeByte bank,8+(element*width)+t,Asc(Mid$(s$,t+1,1))
	Next
	
End Function

Function CreateTextbank(elements,width)

	; checks
	If elements<=0
		error=True
	EndIf
	If width<=0
		error=True
	EndIf
	If error End
	
	bank=CreateBank(8+elements*width)

	; header
	PokeByte bank,0,66 ; B
	PokeByte bank,1,84 ; T
	PokeByte bank,2,88 ; X
	PokeByte bank,3,84 ; T
	
	PokeShort bank,4,elements ; 4
	PokeShort bank,6,width    ; 6
	; texts                   ; 8 ...
	
	Return bank	
End Function