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1987-10-03
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Inkey 1.1
Copyright (c) 1985 by
Unique Software
P.O. Box 26613
Fort Worth, Texas 76126
CompuServe 70130,330
American People Link OKS688
MCI MAIL 252-8689
What is INKEY?
INKEY is a handy tool for your BATch files. With INKEY you can
allow a user to press not only "Y" and "N", like several utilities you
may have seen, but also any other KEYS you may choose. Therefore you
could even build a menu in a BATch file. INKEY can also simulate the
ECHO command and send ANSI sequences for making INKEY colorful. INKEY
can simulate the PAUSE statement, allowing you to press any key.
INKEY format
INKEY [options] [[\|/]prompt] [;]
[options]
! any keypress is acceptable
@ no keypress is needed (behave like ECHO)
^(A-Z) keypress may be CTRL (A-Z)
characters = keypress must be one of these or above
[all letter keypresses are upper-cased]
[[\|/]prompt]
~ translated to ESCape, ASCII 27
/prompt - prompt is flush left
\prompt - prompt is centered
[;] no ending CR LF sequence
examples:
INKEY !/Press any key to continue... (simulate PAUSE)
INKEY !\Press a key to proceed ... (centered on screen)
INKEY !/Press any key to FORMAT disk in drive A:
The "!" makes any key pressed valid.
INKEY @ (generate a blank line)
INKEY @/Option Menu:
The "@" makes INKEY perform like ECHO.
INKEY ^U/Press CTRL-U to continue
INKEY ^F\Press CTRL-F to continue (centered)
The "^" preceding any alpha character makes the valid
keypress a control-key combination.
INKEY DKI/[D]elete, [K]eep, or more [I]nformation
INKEY YN/Would you like to continue [Y?N]
INKEY 12/Format 1 or 2 drives?
Any other alphanumeric keys are the valid keypresses for
INKEY.
INKEY @/This message will be on one line;
INKEY @/with ~[34mBlue and ~[31mRed.
A terminating ";" on the prompt prevents a new line
from being generated at the end of a prompt.
And if you have an ANSI.SYS driver loaded the tilde, "~" is
translated into an ESCape so that you can send ANSI
sequences.
What good does the keypress do?
INKEY returns the ASCII value of the keypress as an DOS error
code. This error code can be determined within a BATch file with the
ERRORLEVEL command and then branch with the GOTO command. For example:
INKEY DKI/[D]elete, [K]eep, or more [I]nformation
IF ERRORLEVEL=75 GOTO keep
IF ERRORLEVEL=73 GOTO info
IF ERRORLEVEL=4 GOTO delete
WARNING: ERRORLEVEL checks should be done from the HIGHEST ASCII
value to the LOWEST. If we tested 'ERRORLEVEL=4' first in the above
example, the BATch file would ALWAYS branch to the label ':delete'
Replaceable paramters in BATch files
INKEY is compatible with the BATch handler in DOS. That is to say,
you can include the replaceable parameters, e.g. %4, within the INKEY
prompt string and they will be printed out as within any batch file.
For example:
INKEY @/%1 should not be run until later.
in a BATch file called RUN.BAT and the user types:
RUN PROGRAM
then INKEY will display
PROGRAM should not be run until later.
For more information on BATch files and ANSI sequences see your
DOS manual.
Quick Reference
For quick reference just type "INKEY" at your DOS prompt.
Shareware and Unique Software
The files contained herein are distributed on two concepts.
The first concept, the Shareware concept, provides that this
software is to be freely distributed in an un-modified state. You are
encouraged to copy, give, upload any of our un-modified software to
any person, bulletin board or entity. The second concept, we
call "Aware", is that Unique Software should provide valuable,
useful, and/or entertaining software, programming techniques, and/or
information.
The first concept works only if the second concept is fulfilled by
us. We do not require or set a "donation." We do not distribute
software and expect "charity" in return. Instead, we only want
payment from those who feel that our software, programming techniques,
and/or information is valuable, useful, and/or entertaining. The
amount? How valuable, useful, and/or entertaining is it to you?
We only ask two things from our users. First, that you foward
your name and address with any payment you might make. (This will
enable us to inform you of any upgrade or bugs found.) Along with
any suggestions or comments on the program. Second, Enjoy!