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- Scripit -- The Intuition Script Language
- ==========================================
-
-
- By: Khalid Aldoseri
- -------------------
-
- NOTE:
-
- You should read the 'Reference.DOC' file and the 'Examples' file for more
- information about Scripit. This doc file only tells you how to run the
- script runner, recorder and lister. It does NOT help you at all in
- writing scripts. All the details of each command, Scripit's language
- structure and examples are in the files mentioned above.
-
-
-
- Scripit: The script executor:
- ------------------------------
-
- 'Scripit' is the program that runs Scripit scripts. Its operation is very
- simple.
-
- To use Scripit just issue the following command from CLI:
-
- Scripit scriptfilename
-
- The format of the Scripit scriptfile should be normal text lines ending with
- a carriage return.
-
- Format: Scripit [flags] [scriptfile] [arg1] [arg2] ... [arg9]
-
- Flags: -v Turns on Verbose mode.
- -d Turns on Debug mode.
- -x Loads Scripit Resident Arexx mode.
- Format: Scripit -x [portname]
- Where PortName is the portname Scripit will be referenced
- by from ARexx.
- -c Compile Script.
- Format: Scripit -c [input file] [output file]
- -w Disable Warnings.
-
- Scripit's commands control other programs by manipulating their menus, gadgets
- windows, and screens. The programs being controlled do not need any special
- ports as all the messages they receive are simulated Intuition messages. In
- fact, the programs don't even recognize that it isn't Intuition talking to
- them!
-
- You can also run Scripit from WB by clicking on its icon and then selecting
- the script file from the file requester. (The file requester will first
- search for a directory called Scripit:. If it doesn't find it, it will
- use the current directory.)
-
- The arguments entered after the script name are accessible via the system
- variables $arg[1] to $arg[9]. (see Reference.DOC)
-
- Once a script has started running you can abort it at any time by pressing
- the control key and the left mouse button at the same time. You can also
- pause the script by using the left shift+left mouse button, and to resume
- execution, use right shift+left mouse button. More details in Reference.DOC.
-
-
- Compiling Scripts:
- ------------------
-
- Scripit can compile scripts into a special format that is usually around
- 30%-50% smaller in size than the original file and runs a lot quicker.
- These files are automatically identified by Scripit.
-
- To compile a script:
- Scripit -c [inputfile] [outputfile]
-
- e.g. Scripit -s Access Acc
- This creates a compiled file called 'Acc'.
-
- To run a compiled script:
-
- Scripit Acc
- OR Xit Acc
-
- 'Xit' is a special version of Scripit that _only_ runs compiled files.
- It is a lot smaller in size than Scripit, which allows it to load a lot
- faster. If you try to execute a non-compiled script with 'Xit' it will
- just quit.
-
- Note: Compiled Scripit files can be identified by the first four bytes
- in the file. They are 'X' 'I' 'T' '2'.
-
-
- When you specify a non-compiled script file name to Scripit, it will
- automatically compile it and then run it. However, if Scripit cannot
- read in the whole file at once, (like when using '*' as a file name or
- through pipes or if it cannot allocate enough memory to load in the
- whole file at once) it will compile and execute it line by line.
- Using 'Scripit *' will allow you to enter the 'live mode' where you
- can enter commands directly from the console and each command will be
- executed one by one as you type them in.
-
-
- Using Scripit from Workbench:
- -----------------------------
-
- To use Scripit from the Workbench just double-click on its icon. The
- file requester will come up allowing you to select a script file to
- execute. You can also auto-invoke a script by double-clicking on
- the script file's icon. Both 'Scripit' and 'Xit' can execute
- scripts this way, however 'Xit' doesn't have a file-requester.
- You can use any icon file as the script icon as long as it is
- a project icon can be used. Just make sure that the tool name points
- to either Scripit (for normal scripts) or Xit (for compiled scripts.)
-
-
- Supporting Programs:
- --------------------
-
- 1. Recorder:
-
- This is a general Intuition event recorder that records what the user is
- doing and saves it to a file you select. This saved file is totally
- compatible with Scripit and when run from Scripit it will recreate the
- original user activities as closely as possible.
-
- This is _not_ a keyboard and mouse macro recorder. It actually records all
- messages going from Intuition to the currently active window. It will also
- monitor what the active window is, and if it changes Recorder will add the
- necessary commands to change the active window in the script as well.
-
- The concept behind Recorder is that of a utility that helps you in writing
- scripts. The script files generated by Recorder are normally long-winded
- since Recorder has no way of finding out which actions are necessary and
- which aren't. It is best to use the scripts generated by Recorder as the
- first step in writing a script, then editing them to make them smaller,
- faster, and maybe even add variables or flow and logic control to them.
-
- The file created by Recorder can be edited as it is a normal script file.
-
- To use Recorder, just run it from CLI: Recorder scriptfilename
-
- After that do all the 'actions' you want, and when you want to stop the
- recording, send it a Control-C by either clicking into the CLI window and
- pressing Control-C or by using the 'break' command, or by closing its
- window. (Note: the power LED will flicker as long as it is recording.)
-
- To execute the saved script just use: Scripit scriptfilename
-
- Recorder has several options. (Use Recorder ? to see the options.)
-
- Format: Recorder [-flags] [scriptfile]
-
- Flags: -c Adds comments to script.
- -w Do not open display window.
- -l Disable power LED activity meter.
- -n Use menu & gadget numbers instead of text.
- -t Disable time recording.
- -m Disable MouseMoves recording.
- -i Disable Intuiticks recording.
-
-
- 2. Lister
-
- This is a general screen, window, menu and gadget listing facility that
- will help in identifying the correct names or numbers of the items to be
- controlled.
-
- To use Lister, just run it. You will get a list of screens in the system.
- You can then see the windows in a specific screen by typing the first few
- letters of the screen name as Lister's first argument. You can go on to
- specify window, menu, menuitem, subitem, or gadget. The format is:
-
- Format: Lister [screen] [window] [menu] [item] [subitem]
- or: Lister [screen] [window] -g [gadget]
-
-
-
- 3. XitLoadWB
-
- This program allows Scripit to control the WorkBench. Read the doc file
- 'Reference.DOC' for details on its usage.
-
-
-
- 4. AutoScript: The Script AutoScript Maker:
-
- This will take a normal Scripit script file and make it into an auto-
- running script. i.e. Instead of typing 'Scripit scriptname' you only
- have to type 'scriptname'.
-
- Command format:
-
- Format: AutoScript <scriptname> [<destination directory>]
-
- Example:
-
- You have a script file in the current directory called 'Shrink'.
-
- Contents of File 'Shrink':
-
- BEGIN
- SELECT ACTIVE
- MOVETO 0,0
- MINSIZE
-
- Using AutoScript, we make it into an auto executing script in S: by the
- following command:
-
- AutoScript Shrink s:
-
- This generates the following script as "s:Shrink" :
-
- .key arg1,arg2,arg3,arg4,arg5,arg6,arg7,arg8,arg9
- Scripit -w s:Shrink "<arg1>" "<arg2>" "<arg3>" "<arg4>"
- "<arg5>" "<arg6>" "<arg7>" "<arg8>" "<arg9>"
- ;BEGIN
- ;SELECT ACTIVE
- ;MOVETO 0,0
- ;MINSIZE
-
- AutoScript will also set the 's' protect bit on S:Shrink.
-
- The first line gets all the arguments passed to s:Shrink which are
- then passed over to Scripit in the second line.
-
- After doing this, type 'Shrink' from the CLI will automatically
- load Scripit, and then load and execute the script file.
- (When Scripit executes a file, it will ignore the semi-colon
- if its the first character in the line.) The default destination
- directory is RAM:. Make sure that the CLI's search path is
- set to the directory that the script file is in.
-
- This example script doesn't use user arguments, but they are still
- handled correctly by AutoScript.
-
- The -w flag is used so that Scripit won't complain on unknown commands.
- (i.e. the first 2 lines of s:Shrink)
-
- NOTES:
-
- - This only works with text script files, not with compiled scripts.
-
- - You need Workbench 1.3 or higher in order to use this facility.
-
- - There is only one known problem with this technique: #argcount is
- always 9 no matter how many arguments you provide via this method.
-
-
- Notes on file requester:
-
- The file requester has two hidden features:
-
- 1. click on the right mouse button to get a list of the volume names of
- devices currently in the system. Click on it again to get the list
- of 'logical' devices, i.e. assigns;
- 2. you can resize the file requester, the resize gadget is at the bottom
- of the requester, all across the bottom border.
-
-
- All comments, suggestions, bug reports, etc. should be sent to:
-
- Khalid Aldoseri, CIS 75166,2531.
-
-
-
- Many thanks to Vic Wagner for his help with the script language,
- Larry Phillips for coming up with the name 'Scripit', and mostly
- to Brian J. Bartlett for countless hours in conference testing Scripit
- and for lots of great suggestions.
-
- Official support for Scripit is provided on Compuserve in the
- AmigaTech forum, under Section 12: Other Languages.
-
-
-
- Copyright 1989 Khalid Aldoseri.
-