L/P Dos is another attempt at making DOS CommandLiners feel more comfortable in the Windows 3.0 enviroment. This version is a Beta release of a future ShareWare product, it is free for distribution so long as all the files in the archive are kept intact and not modified in any way, shape or form. I am releasing this version for the sole purpose of testing, so please give it all you've got and try your best to crash it. (I may regret that statement!) My address is listed at the bottom of this introduction and I will gladly welcome all reports on L/P Dos, I want to make this something everyone NEEDS, not just puts on their system as another pretty. In return for helping me with L/P Dos I will register those people who contact me with reports of bugs or suggestions that will better the program, for absolutely nothing. Also, if someone wants to volunteer to help me out with the documentation, I will make it worth the effort.
To give you some background about L/P Dos... L/P Dos was developed using Microsoft's Visual Basic. For the most part all the standard DOS commands are supported and work the way they do from the command line except as noted below. Batch files are supported and must be named with an ".LPB" extension. Some examples are included in the Archive. The Batch file LPBATCH.LPB, contains working examples of a good many of the commands, try running it for a good demo. To stop any command that has scrolling output press the ESC key. You can start L/P Dos with a Batch file name on the command line and L/P Dos will run the Batch file before returning control to you. As an alternative, if there is a Batch file named LPDOS.LPB in the startup directory L/P Dos will immediately run the file upon startup. Some other points of interest are; Don't name a Batch file with the same name as a command, wierd things will happen (I'm still working on that one...) The command syntax is pretty unforgiving, but for the most part the interpreter in L/P Dos will catch a lot of the syntactical errors. For some reason with Visual Basic I can't always detect keyboard input from certain applications to reset the Saver so it won't activate if you're typing at the keyboard (Windows Write is a good example, I'm pretty sure it has to do with not using the Caret correctly, any suggestions are welcome.), so if the saver starts up when you are not expecting it set the saver delay time to a longer period of time. Mouse input always resets the Saver time. Make sure the .DLL files contained in the archive are in a directory in your DOS search Path, don't use L/P Dos to copy them there. (I tried on a friends machine...Windows wigs out big-time.. Although it is interesting to see a system error dialog scroll.. :D )
Starting applications is pretty straight-forward, just type the name of the application. If you type a full file specification, Drive:Path\FileName.Extension, L/P Dos will attempt to find the extension in WIN.INI, if it does the Application associated with the file will be started and the filename you typed on the command line passed to the application as part of its command line. Both DOS and Windows applications can be started with L/P Dos. While I'm on the subject, anything L/P Dos doesn't recognize as an internal command, Alias or Batch file (*.LPB) it will attempt to run, so the most often seen error dialog will probably be "FILE NOT FOUND."
Aliases may be something new to some users, basically they are just a way of implementing synonyms for lenghtly commands or a way to give a more meaningful name to a command. Sometime in the near future, deleting aliases will be implemented. For now you'll have to manually edit WIN.INI to remove any aliases, REMEMBER to backup your WIN.INI beforehand, also any changes made to WIN.INI will probably not be recognized until you exit Windows and restart it.
Don't know what else to tell you, more can be learned from playing with it than reading about it, so enjoy!
I can be contacted at:
Craig Morrison
3036 Chaffee Ct.
Lafayette, IN 47905-2814
LEGAL STUFF
THERE IS NO WARRANTY EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED IN CONJUNCTION WITH THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE PRODUCT, THEREFORE YOU ARE ASSUMING ALL LIABILITY FROM THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE PRODUCT. USE IT AT YOUR OWN RISK. I, THE AUTHOR, HAVE MADE EVERY EFFORT TO PRODUCE A WORKING SOFTWARE PRODUCT, THIS SOFTWARE PRODUCT TO THE BEST OF MY KNOWLEDGE AND TESTING WORKS AS DOCUMENTED BELOW. I, THE AUTHOR, ASSUME NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANY DAMAGE EITHER CONSEQUENTIAL OR INCONSEQUENTIAL, WHETHER CAUSED OR ALLEDGED TO BE CAUSED FROM THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE PRODUCT. I, THE AUTHOR, MAKE NO CLAIMS AS TO THE USEABILITY OR SUITABILITY FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR FITNESS TO A TASK OF THIS SOFTWARE PRODUCT.
(Getting off soapbox... I hate that part!)
L/P Dos Window Command List
File Commands.
EDIT
Syntax: EDIT filename
Purpose: Starts the Windows Notepad application with the specified file. If the file doesn't exist a message box will appear asking if the file should be created.
Purpose: Copies files from the Source FileSpec to the Destination Path. Please note that the DestinationPath should not contain a filename. WildCards are supported in the SourceFileSpecification.
REN or RENAME
Syntax: RENAME OldName NewName
Purpose: Renames a file.
DEL or ERASE
Syntax: DEL FileSpecification
Purpose: Deletes files. WIldCards are supported.
TYPE
Syntax: TYPE FileSpecification
Purpose: Types or Displays ASCII based files to the console. WIldCards are supported for showing multiple files.
CD or CHDIR
Syntax: CD DirectoryPath
Purpose: Changes the default directory.
MD or MKDIR
Syntax: MD DirectoryPath
Purpose: Creates a directory.
RD or RMDIR
Syntax: RD DirectoryPath
Purpose: Removes a directory.
DIRS
Syntax: DIRS DirectoryPath
Purpose: Displays a list of directories.
DIR
Syntax: DIR FileSpecification
Purpose: Displays a list of files. WildCards are supported.
Window Commands.
SHUTDOWN
Syntax: SHUTDOWN
Purpose: Performs an immediate exit from Windows providing all running applications agree to terminate.
GRABWIN
Syntax: GRABWIN
Purpose: Restores the input focus to the L/P Dos Window, primarily for use in batch file processing.
PM
Syntax: PM
Purpose: Restores the Windows Program Manager.
DOS
Syntax: DOS
Purpose: Start a session based on the DOS COMSPEC Enviroment variable.
EXIT
Syntax: EXIT
Purpose: Terminates the current L/P Dos session.
BEEP
Syntax: BEEP
Purpose: Beeps the console speaker.
MAX
Syntax: MAX
Purpose: Maximizes the L/P Dos Window.
MIN
Syntax: MIN
Purpose: Minimizes the L/P Dos Window.
NORM
Syntax: NORM
Purpose: Restores the L/P Dos Window from either a minimized or maximized state.
SAVER
Syntax: SAVER
Purpose: Starts one of two built in screen savers.
Syntax: SAVER ?
Purpose: Displays the current inactivity delay before the saver starts.
Syntax: SAVER DelayTime
Purpose: Sets the inactivity delay time before saver activation. DelayTime should be the number of seconds of inactivity before activation. SAVER 0 disables the screen saver.
Display Commands.
COLOR
Syntax: COLOR ForegroundColor BackgroundColor
Purpose: Changes the display colors for the L/P Dos Window. Color values range from 0 to 15.
CLS
Syntax: CLS
Purpose: Clears the L/P Dos window console display.
ECHO
Syntax: ECHO Message
Purpose: Displays the supplied message on the console.
PAUSE
Syntax: PAUSE [[Message][|Title]]
Purpose: Displays a pause dialog box. If the Title parameter is omitted, "L/P Dos" is displayed in the caption bar of the dialog box. If Message and Title are omitted, the default message "Click OK to continue." is displayed. Message must be present if Title is used.
YESNO
Syntax: YESNO Message|Title|Command
Purpose: Displays a dialog box with Yes and No command buttons. All parameters must be present. Command is any valid L/P Dos command or any valid filename. If the user chooses Yes the command is performed, otherwise the L/P Dos prompt returns, or the next line in a batch file is executed.
MSGBOX
Syntax: MSGBOX Message|Buttons|Title|%%Var
Purpose: Displays a custom dialog box.
INPUT
Syntax: INPUT Message|Title|%%Var
Purpose: Displays an input box to get input from the user.
Help Window Commands.
HELP
Syntax: HELP
Purpose: Displays the Help Window.
-HELP
Syntax: -HELP
Purpose: Hides the Help Window.
Picture Commands.
SPIC
Syntax: SPIC Filename
Purpose: Displays a bitmap in a seperate display window.
HPIC
Syntax: HPIC
Purpose: Hides the display window for a picture.
PICSIZE
Syntax: PICSIZE Height Width
Purpose: Resizes the display window for a picture.
PICPOS
Syntax: PICPOS Left Top
Purpose: Positions the display window for a picture on the desktop.
Odds and Ends.
FOR
Syntax: FOR %%Var (set) Command [%%Var]
Purpose: Provides multiple executions of a command based on the contents of (set). Note the variable names must have two "%" percent signs in front of them, unless you want normal variable substitution to be performed.
SET
Syntax: Set Var String
Purpose: Sets the global variable to String.
CLEAR
Syntax: CLEAR
Purpose: Clears all global variables.
DATE
Syntax: DATE
Purpose: Displays the current date on the console.
Syntax: DATE MM-DD-[YY]YY
Purpose: Sets the system date.
TIME
Syntax: TIME
Purpose: Displays the current time on the console.
Syntax: TIME HH:MM[:SS]
Purpose: Sets the system time.
?ALIAS
Syntax: ?ALIAS
Purpose: Lists all defined aliases on the console.
ALIAS
Syntax: ALIAS Name=Definition
Purpose: Defines an alias command and stores it in WIN.INI. Alias command names can be used to rename commands or give a shorter name to a lengthly program starting procedure.
VER
Syntax: VER
Purpose: Displays the current L/P Dos version and Windows information on the console.
SHOW
Syntax: SHOW ApplicationCaptionText
Purpose: Sets the input focus to a running Windows application, please note that the ApplicationCaptionText must EXACTLY match the text in a windows' Caption (Title) bar.
Batch File Commands.
IF EXISTS
Syntax: IF EXISTS Filename Command
Purpose: Performs Command if Filename exists.
IF NOT EXISTS
Syntax: IF NOT EXISTS Filename Command
Purpose: Performs Command if Filename does not exist.
IF
Syntax: IF ^expression^^expression^ Command
Purpose: Performs an equality test of the expressions enclosed in Carets "^". If the expressions match, Command is performed. Please note that you can place an equals "=" sign between the expressions for clarity if you wish. (I.E., IF ^expression^=^expression^ Command)
GOTO Label
Syntax: GOTO LabelName
Purpose: Redirects execution in a batch file. LabelName must be defined elsewhere in the batch file. Labels are defined by placing them on a line by themselves and beginning them with a colon ":".
