A question to the 42s programming experts out there:

The multirow annunciator does not appear while running a program I built using a multirow menu built out of KEY XEQ and KEY GTO functions.

I tested this issue on a two known program by using the sample programs "YEAR" (pages 147 and 148 of the Owner's Manual) and "ROW1" (listed on page 35-37 of the Programming Examples and Techniques manual).

Again, my display doesn't display the double arrows that indicate the multirow menu for either program.

However, the annunciator does work for all normal calculator menus (e.g., CLEAR, MATRIX, STAT).

Is this normal and, if not, how can I fix it?

Best Regards,
Dallas

Hi Dallas,

I just keyed in the sample Months of Years example - and you're right - the up/down arrows do not appear on the display. But the Up/Down keys do switch between the menus. I had never noticed that before since I usually use one of the menu keys to switch to the next menu.

So I guess this is normal operation. Unless someone knows otherwise?

Bill

I just checked on a couple of programs I wrote for the 42s and noticed this:

1. On the custom menu (shift 2), I have 3 pages of menu assigned and the annunciator works fine.

2. In a program where I built two custom menus for it, there is no annunciator.

In the program, where I built the menus, there is only one page of menu options, which then gets replaced by another menu of only one page later in the same program - these are two distinct separate menus, not TWO pages of ONE menu.

I believe for the annunciator to work, you need to have two or more pages in the SAME menu. I.E. when you build the menu, instead of assigning to "KEY 3 XEQ WHATEVER" you would assign on 2nd page as "KEY ^3 XEQ SOMETHING" or on 3rd page as "KEY v3 GTO 3RD THING", where ^ is the up arrow key, and v is the down arrow key as part of your assignment. This allows you to have up to 18 different items in one menu, instead of just the six visible at one time.

I could be wrong about this, as I don't have my manual at hand, but I'll check it when I get home and edit this post if necessary.

polarbear Mike

OK - I got home and looked it up. It's a little more complicated than what I said above. In the spiral bound HP42S Owner's Manual PN.0042-90001 (not the HP42S Programming Examples and Techniques Manual PN.00042-90020) on pages 145 thru 148 the function and building of "nested" submenus and multi-page menus is very well explained. Use of the up arrow key, the down arrow key, and the exit key are controlled by keys 7, 8, and 9, respectively. These keys MUST be used to send your program to other pages of your menu, which are then accessed by using the up and down arrows, and the exit key. Too long an explanation to go into here, but if you want to build this type of menu, this manual reference is a MUST have. It's do-able, but might not be worth the effort - your decision. Good luck with it!

polarbear Mike

Edited: 25 Feb 2008, 9:12 p.m. after one or more responses were posted

Mike,
That is a very likely reason; I am going to have to explore this the first quiet moment I get.
I will let you know if I can build true multirows with arrows and all.
Thanks to both your input. At least I know it isn't a fluke with my unit.

Dallas

I looked back at page 34 in the Programming Examples and Techniques manual.

The last paragraph on page 34 states, "KEY GTO and KEY XEQ instructions for menu keys 7 and 8 also automatically turn on the [^v] annunciator in the display." (With menu keys 7 and 8 being the up and down arrow, respectively.)

Unless I am mistaken, this is not true for emulated multirow menus.

I really hope I am mistaken; if this was an error from the beginning, I suspect someone else would have noticed it. There are, however, no questions along these lines that I have found while conducting Internet searches.

Sad.

Thanks for your input,

Dallas