I am writing a MASM program using the Irvine32 Library from my textbook. I want to line up my printed columns, but I couldn't finds anything on how to terminate a string with a tab-stop, /t for C/C++, so I made a procedure that determines how many decimal places the number has and assigns the spacer string variable accordingly.
My issue is when trying to assign spacer a new string, I get assembling errors. I have tried
mov spacer, "New String",0
and
mov spacer, "New String"
as well as assigning "New String" to a variable and assigning spacer that variable as well as that variables OFFSET. I now have it where the variables OFFSET is moved into edx but I can't move edx into the other variable.
I would greatly appreciate the help and any information to help be better understand why this doesn't work in assembly or MASM in particular. Thanks
Procedure in question:
; Define the spacer based on the places in x
spacer_choice proc
cmp x, 10
JB SC1
cmp x, 100
JB SC2
mov edx, OFFSET hundo_spacer
JMP SC3
SC1:
mov edx, OFFSET one_spacer
JMP SC3
SC2:
mov edx, OFFSET ten_spacer
JMP SC3
SC3:
mov spacer, OFFSET edx
RET
spacer_choice endp
Output:
1>------ Build started: Project: MASM4, Configuration: Debug Win32 ------
1> Assembling composite.asm...
1>composite.asm(209): error A2032: invalid use of register
1>C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\Microsoft.Cpp\v4.0\V140\BuildCustomizations\masm.targets(50,5): error MSB3721: The command "ml.exe /c /nologo /Sg /Zi /Fo"Debug\composite.obj" /Fl"MASM4.lst" /I "c:\Irvine" /W3 /errorReport:prompt /Tacomposite.asm" exited with code 1.
========== Build: 0 succeeded, 1 failed, 0 up-to-date, 0 skipped ==========
Full Code:
INCLUDE Irvine32.inc
.data
; ----- GLOBALS
n_comps DWORD ?
; ----- INTRO VALUES
; Greeting the User
title_prompt BYTE "Welcome to Prog. 4, my name is Zach", 10, 13, 0
name_prompt BYTE "What should I call you?: ", 0
username BYTE 21 DUP(0)
user_greet BYTE "Hello, ", 0
; Instructing the User
one_instruct BYTE "We are going to calculate all the composite numbers from 1 to n.", 10, 13, 0
two_instruct BYTE "N is the number you enter. That number has to be an integer,", 10, 13, 0
three_instruct BYTE "and in the range of 1 to 400.", 10, 13, 0
; ----- INPUT VALUES
; Prompts
int_prompt BYTE "How many composite numbers do you want to display? 1 to 400: ", 0
bad_prompt BYTE "Your Input was bad, try again", 10, 13, 0
; Constants
MAX_VAL = 400
MIN_VAL = 1
; ----- CALCULATE
x DWORD ?
spacer BYTE ?
count DWORD ?
; ----- SPACER_CHOICE
one_spacer BYTE ", ", 0
ten_spacer BYTE ", ", 0
hundo_spacer BYTE ", ", 0
; ----- OUTRO
farewell BYTE "Hope you've had fun printing composites! Goodbye, ", 0
.code
main proc
call intro
call input
call calculate
call outro
invoke ExitProcess, 0
main endp
; Greet the User and get their name
intro proc
; Greet
mov edx, OFFSET title_prompt
call WriteString
; Prompt for username
mov edx, OFFSET name_prompt
call WriteString
mov edx, OFFSET username
mov ecx, SIZEOF username
call ReadString
mov edx, OFFSET user_greet
call WriteString
mov edx, OFFSET username
call WriteString
call Crlf
; Intruct the User
mov edx, OFFSET one_instruct
call WriteString
mov edx, OFFSET two_instruct
call WriteString
mov edx, OFFSET three_instruct
call WriteString
intro endp
; Get User's Input. Validate if Between Min and Max
input proc
; Prompt for user input
I1:
mov edx, OFFSET int_prompt
call WriteString
mov eax, 0
call ReadInt
call Crlf
; Check if less than MAX_VAL
cmp eax, MAX_VAL
JA I4
JMP I3
I3:
; Check if greater than MIN_VAL
cmp eax, MIN_VAL
JB I4
JMP I2
I4:
; EAX is incorrect
; Loop
mov edx, OFFSET bad_prompt
call WriteString
loop I1
; Good Input
; Set n_comps to eax
I2:
mov n_comps, eax
mov eax, 0
RET
input endp
; X is not divisible by 2 or 3, is prime
calculate proc
mov ecx, 400
mov x, 1
C1:
; Check if X is less than, or equal to, 3
cmp x, 3
JBE C2
C4:
; Check if X is divisible by 2
mov edx, 0
mov eax, x
mov ebx, 2
div ebx
cmp edx, 0
JE C3
; Check if X is divisible by 3
mov edx, 0
mov eax, x
mov ebx, 3
div ebx
cmp edx, 0
JNE C2
C3:
; Is composite, Print number
mov eax, x
cmp count, 10
JNE C5
call Crlf
mov count, 0
C5:
call WriteInt
call spacer_choice
mov edx, OFFSET spacer
call WriteString
add count, 1
C2:
; RET if X == N
mov eax, n_comps
cmp x, eax
JNE C6
RET
C6:
; Increment and LOOP
add x, 1
LOOP C1
calculate endp
; Define the spacer based on the places in x
spacer_choice proc
cmp x, 10
JB SC1
cmp x, 100
JB SC2
mov edx, OFFSET hundo_spacer
JMP SC3
SC1:
mov edx, OFFSET one_spacer
JMP SC3
SC2:
mov edx, OFFSET ten_spacer
JMP SC3
SC3:
mov spacer, OFFSET edx
RET
spacer_choice endp
; Say Goodbye
outro proc
mov edx, OFFSET farewell
call WriteString
mov edx, OFFSET username
call WriteString
call Crlf
outro endp
end main
