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1991-11-23
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3KB
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66 lines
Matt Roberts
3 Cedar St., # 8
Montpelier, Vt 05602-3006
07-07-91
NOTES ON GETPAUSE.COM
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
This command is nothing more than a replacement for the internal DOS command
PAUSE. The only difference is that you can specify a message. For instance,
if you want your batch file to print the phrase
"Press any key to see the main menu."
and then wait for a key to be pressed, you would include the following line in
your batch file:
getpause Press any key to see the main menu.
Because this is an external command, it works slower than PAUSE. A similar
effect can be obtained by the following lines:
echo Press any key to see the main menu.
pause > nul
This prints the message, then pauses without sending the "Strike a key when
ready" message to the screen. However, I've been writing rather large batch
files lately, and GETPAUSE.COM reduces the amount of typing to some extent.
Since some of my batch files can get over 10K, any eliminated typing is a
plus. In addition, with GETPAUSE, the cursor is placed after the message.
Using the PAUSE method, the cursor winds up at the far left of the screen, on
the next line. For some reason, this looked a bit sloppy to me.
You can also use GETA9.COM, written by Robert Wallace, for the same purpose.
The batch line would be
geta9 Press any key to see the main menu.
The advantage here is that you don't have to deal with quite so many
utilities, which reduces disk clutter. The disadvantages are, first, that the
key you type will be printed on the screen. This was important to me,
although it's entirely possible that I'm being overly fussy. The second
disadvantage is that if you press the space bar, GETA9.COM ignores it. Since
the space bar is my favorite when "Press any key" is specified, I decided
against using this utility.
Again, GETPAUSE.COM runs slower than internal commands, and I've begun
experimenting with converting my batch files to ASIC 3.01, a BASIC compiler.
This has had some excellent results, although there are some limitations to
the compiler, which makes thorough testing a must.
GETPAUSE.COM was written in ASIC 3.01. The source is included, in the file
GETPAUSE.ASI.
ASIC 3.01 is a registered trademark of David Visti. This is a shareware BASIC
compiler, which I recommend very highly. Registration is currently only
$10.00; I suggest you get a registered copy before he comes to his senses and
2
starts charging what it's worth. He can be reached at P.O. Box 2952, Raleigh,
NC 27602-2952.
DOS is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation.