QLIST procedure

Gets the user to select a response interactively from a list (R.W. Payne).

Option

HELP = text

Help information for the QUESTION

Parameters

ALTERNATIVES = texts

Alternatives from which each choice is to be made

CODES = texts

Codes to use to represent each set of alternatives

PREAMBLE = texts

Preamble for the question used to select from each set of alternatives

CHOICE = texts

Alternative chosen from each set

NCHOICE = scalars

Numbers of the chosen alternatives (0 if exit has been chosen instead)

Description

The QUESTION directive provides a convenient way of getting the user to choose a response from a short list. However, the size constraints of the standard computer screen mean that this does not work effectively for lists of more than about 16 items. QLIST overcomes this limitation by repeated calls of QUESTION. Each call displays 16 choices, together with the option of exiting without making a selection or, after all the choices have been displayed, of repeating the list.

Option: HELP.

Parameters: ALTERNATIVES, CODES, PREAMBLE, CHOICE, NCHOICE.

Method

QLIST makes repeated use of the QUESTION directive until a response is obtained.