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Text File | 1990-02-24 | 31.4 KB | 587 lines

┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ CHANGES.DOC │ ├────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤ │ This file documents the changes, enhancements, or corrections made to dCOM │ │ since the distribution users manual was published. │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Version 3.42 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1. Macro lines following a GOSUBMF command are now executed upon return to the gosub'd macro file. Since the state of many of the internal macro variables can easily be misconstrued across gosub'd macro files, using a GOSUBMF inside a DO block should be avoided. Use of a GOSUBMF command inside any other type of loop or block (such as IF blocks, LOOPs, etc...) should also be used with caution and at your own risk. This now allows a macro to automatically "clean-up" after certain conditional actions are performed. For example, the login macro (associated with the activity log) can now be written as follows to support automatically logging the user out: [F1] Log On :LOG1 GET %1 Enter Your Name: IF %1<=@ THEN BEEP GOTO LOG1 ENDIF ECHO %DT %TI %1 Logged In>>C:\DCOM\DCOM.LOG SET DUSER=%1 GOSUBMF MAIN ECHO %DT %TI %DUSER% Logged Out>>C:\DCOM\DCOM.LOG SET DUSER= 2. Using quotation marks around the second operand in a macro IF comparison now allows comparing against text with embedded spaces. If quotes are used to surround the second operand, DO NOT follow suite and enclose the first operand with quotes as well. Use of the quotation marks is optional if the second operand does not contain any spaces. For example: :LOG1 GET %1 Enter Your Full Name: IF %1="John Doe" GOTO LOG2 IF %1="Jim Smith" GOTO LOG2 IF %1=Ronald_McDonald GOTO LOG2 ECHO You Are Not Authorized Access to This System BEEP GOTO LOG1 :LOG2 ECHO Welcome Aboard 3. A technical hint. You can test on the extension of a selected file, or tagged file, in a macro key by comparing the appropriate variable that produces both the filename and its extension against the variable that only produces the filename plus a manually specified extension. For example: IF %FE<>%FN.ZIP ECHO File is not a .ZIP File. - or - IF %FE=%FN.ZIP ECHO File is a .ZIP File. 4. Any form of copying or moving when the source is the name of a sub- directory now also recurses down through all subdirectories in the source subdirectory. You can force dCOM to copy the entire contents of a disk by using the visual tree and selecting the root directory as your source for a copy (or move) command. The "feel" for how copying or moving subdirectories by name has changed in that its now automatically implied that the source directory name will be made in and after the destination directory used. 5. The free disk space is now constantly updated when using the Visual Tree to log different drives. 6. The free disk space on the target drive of a copy action is now shown and updated with each file copied. It will return to reflecting the logged drive when the copy action is completed. 7. Selecting from any of the pop-up menu's (including the filename menu's like the macro SELECT command) can now be expedited by pressing the first letter of the selection desired. This will then locate the cursor on the next instance of a option starting with that character. Subsequent key- presses of the same character will then advance through any more options also starting with that character. Pressing the Return key would then use the option selected. This could save a lot of time when dealing with a large number of selections (usually file select windows) instead of having to use the cursor keys to locate and select the filename desired (if you don't have a mouse). 8. Additional error checking has been added to the macro keys to detect attempts to change to an invalid drive. Also, some macro commands which used to require a space between the command and its parameters no longer do (i.e. "DIR/W" will now work where before it had to be expressed as "DIR /W"). 9. A new macro command, GOSUB, has been added which works much in the same context as GOTO does to jump to a label within the current macro key, except that it saves return information on a gosub stack. Returning from the gosubed procedure is accomplished using the same RETURN command which returns from GOSUBMF. dCOM will automatically differentiate between mixed uses of the RETURN command. Logically the best place to build common procedures would be on the end of a macro key, in which case, you must ensure that the normal execution of the macro does not fall through and begin executing the procedures, by using a EXIT command. For Example: [F1] EXAMPLE OF GOSUB GOSUB TEST ;;GOSUB TEST PROCEDURE ECHO Returned From TEST ;;ECHO WE'RE BACK PAUSE ;;PAUSE EXIT ;;FORCE EXIT FROM MACRO :TEST ;;TEST PROCEDURE ECHO In TEST Procedure ;;ECHO WE'RE IN TEST GOSUB TEST1 ;;GOSUB TEST1 PROCEDURE ECHO Returned From Test1 ;;ECHO WE'RE BACK RETURN ;;RETURN TO CALLER :TEST1 ;;TEST1 PROCEDURE ECHO In TEST1 Procedure ;;ECHO WE'RE IN TEST1 RETURN ;;RETURN TO CALLER 10. You can now use tabs to indent macro lines in the same manner that spaces are allowed (mainly for increasing readability within a IF, DO, or LOOP block). One possible use of this would be to tab in the start of all macro lines except the title line, to help set-off the start of each key. 11. Macro GOSUB or GOTO commands can now call or jump to labels in other macro keys by prefixing the target label's name with the name of the macro key that contains the label, separated with a colon. For instance, using "GOTO F1:TEST" would jump to a label called "TEST", defined in the F1 key. Previously, the scope of a search for a target label of one of these two commands was limited to just the macro key being executed. Allowing GOTO or GOSUB commands to jump or call labels in other macro keys allows macro keys to share significant portions of macro code. 12. ELSE and ELSEIF commands have been added for macro IF blocks. For example: [F1] EXAMPLE OF ELSE IF 1>3 THEN ECHO IF Block is True ELSE ECHO IF Block is False ENDIF - or - [F1] EXAMPLE OF ELSEIF IF 1>2 THEN ECHO 1st IF Block is True ELSEIF 2>2 THEN ECHO 2nd IF Block is True ELSEIF 3>2 THEN ECHO 3rd IF Block is True ELSE ECHO No IF Blocks are True ENDIF 13. The text editor now supports a 43 line mode for EGA monitors (50 for VGA), which can be enabled in the text editor's configuration menu. 14. When subdirectories are deleted by name, it will now EVEN delete files with the read-only attribute set. Additionally, if the system password is set (using Alt-A), it will be required before allowing a subdirectory and all of its contents to be deleted in this fashion. Version 3.43 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 15. The memory scheme has been modified to include another new overlay which contains some of the resident portion's code. Current benefit is a 10k reduction in dCOM's core size (now approx. 40k). Further integration may improve this, further enhancements to the low-level handlers will detract from it. The new overlay's memory is deallocated just prior to executing another program, and immediately after returning. The same technique is used as with the transient (utility mode) overlay; if expanded (EMS) memory is present, the overlay is stored there (occupying a 32k block unless it grows), if EMS is not present, the overlay is deallocated and placed in high memory and checksumed upon return from an EXEC call, if intact is then just shifted down, otherwise its reloaded from disk. With this addition of yet another overlay, now might be a good time to mention that using a disk cache such as Microsoft's Smartdrive (SMARTDRV.SYS) or Golden Bow's VCACHE, can make a nice improvement in the performance of your computer, both with dCOM and with other disk-intensive applications. In the author's opinion, a disk cache is about the best thing you can do with that extra 384k of extended memory found in a lot of 1 meg 286 machines. 16. All of dCOM's overlay files are now integrated into one master overlay file, DCOM.OVL, and complemented with a new internal overlay manager. No special reason for doing this, just thought it would be "neat"... 17. Using the Tab key to type MS-Dos commands is now processed almost entirely by dCOM. If dCOM can locate the command typed, it will load and run it directly (quicker stuff), or if the command matches an internal Dos command or batch file, dCOM will automatically used COMMAND.COM to run it. Furthermore, the text entered also has the same variable expansion options that are available in the macro keys. For example, This could help save a lot of typing when needing to temporarily modify the path, by typing something like: "SET PATH=%PATH%;C:\DOS", which would add C:\DOS to the existing path. The other macro variables are also available (for what its worth), and you could type something like PKUNZIP %FE to unzip the currently selected file. 18. dCOM no longer gives up the mouse interrupt (33h) when the screen saver is not set to activate outside of dCOM. This was just causing too many intermittent problems with the mouse. It's mouse handler however, has been modified to appear as the Logitech driver - refer to #26 below. 19. Another new command has been added to the macro keys, EDIT, and guess what it does... Allows access to dCOM's editor from the macro keys. The calling syntax is: "EDIT [d:][\path\]filename". If a complete path is not provided, the editor will resolve it so that the editor can be exited with Alt-Q, directories changed, and a return to the editor with a sub- sequent save command won't loose track of where the file was originally read from. 20. And yet another macro command (the capabilities of this new memory scheme are working out nicely), SPOOL, allows you to control the size of the print spooler before running certain applications. The calling syntax is: "SPOOL nnnn", where nnnn represents the desired size in thousands. Requests to change the spooler's size are ignored however, if its buffer contains any data waiting to be spooled to the printer. 21. dCOM now automatically picks up on when the pipe character ("|") is used in a macro command, and uses COMMAND.COM to execute the command. This eliminates the previous requirement of having to use the ">" macro operator to start a macro line when using the pipe character. 22. Shift-F1 through Shift-F4 now provide a quick method for assigning buffers to windows in the text editor. For instance, if you wanted to assign buf- fer 4 to window 2, you can now press F2 (to select window 2), and then press sF4 (to assign buffer 4 to it). 23. Shift-F5 now provides a quick method to toggle the current state of the 43/50 line mode in the text editor. The initial state upon entering the editor is determined by the current setting in the text editor's confi- guration menu. 24. The macro keys no longer abort during their normal execution if the Escape key is pressed. A Ctrl-C however, will. This was implemented so that the %KB variable can be used to test for Escape and provide a better-behaved method for exiting a macro. For Example: ECHO Press Return To Continue With Backup or Escape To Quit :KEYWAIT SET %9=%KB IF %9=%(27) GOTO EXIT IF %9<>%(13) GOTO KEYWAIT ECHO Echo Backing up Data Files XCOPY C:\DATA\*.* A: :EXIT CDDO 25. A new command line switch, /B, has been added which is provided only for users encountering problems with their cursor shape (usually because of a not so compatible video card). This switch tells dCOM to use BIOS calls to change the cursor shape (from underline to block), instead of directly addressing the 6845 CRT controller (more efficient). Try using it only if you are not getting a cursor at all, or if the shape of the cursor is not behaving properly. 26. dCOM's mouse interrupt handler has been modified to fool Logitech's LOGIMENU and CLICK programs into thinking it is the actual Logitech mouse driver. This now allows these two programs to work properly even though dCOM may be sandwiched between the mouse driver and the menu programs. BE SURE HOWEVER, that you initially load LOGIMENU on the same side of dCOM that you load the mouse driver - if you load the mouse driver before you run dCOM, then you must also initially load LOGIMENU before you run dCOM. More calls to LOGIMENU (from within a batch or macro file) after dCOM is loaded, to load a new menu, will work properly and not load another copy of LOGIMENU. If you don't follow this rule, your computer will lock-up if you try to remove LOGIMENU as a TSR. (The two of them get into bed somehow...) This testing was performed using version 4.0 of both LOGIMENU and CLICK. Additionally, if both LOGIMENU and CLICK are loaded before dCOM, it may be necessary to briefly run LOGIMENU again before running a program that you wish to use it with, to re-enable it (running it a second time will not reload it as a TSR, it just reacti- vates it because dCOM issues a reset to the mouse driver every time it returns from running a program). 27. dCOM no longer automatically creates a null (empty) macro file when first run if the default macro file doesn't exist. It will however, insert the name of the current macro file into the list when using Alt-K to edit macro files, even if it doesn't exist. There were just too many incidents of people copying the entire dCOM directory to a floppy disk, and then copying that disk into their working dCOM directory and covering a valid macro file with the empty one. If this doesn't make sense - don't worry about it. 28. A technical tidbit: Users who are not running dCOM with expanded memory (EMS) using the /EMM switch (which tells dCOM to run the transient portion in expanded memory), can gain about 44K more of editing space by invoking the editor from a macro key, at the expense of some possible additional disk I/O activity after exiting the editor (to reload the transient portion). For example: [F1] EDIT SELECTED FILE EDIT %FE 29. A new command line switch, /BW, has been added for users with a color video card and a monochrome display. Using this switch limits the use of color to black, white, and bright white - regardless of what may be in the configuration menu. This can be useful on laptop computers with LCD displays, or any other video setup where you end up with shades of green, etc... 30. The rename command ("R"), no longer attempts to rename and produce an error if the filename (or directory name) wasn't changed. 31. The make directory command (Alt-M), now expands the full command line for editing and allows specifing paths outside of the current drive and/or directory. Additionally, it will also create multiple directories several layers deep, even if part of the path doesn't already exist (unlike its MS-Dos counterpart). For example: "MD \test\test1" will bomb under MS-Dos if "test" doesn't exist in the root directory, where now, dCOM will make both "test" and then "test1". Lastly, the text entered is now also saved in the community text buffer for later recall with the up and down arrow keys. 32. A new macro command, MENU, has been added which allows you to write your own pop-up, point-n-shoot, mouse-sensitive, menus. Its syntax is: MENU [title],selection[,selection][,selection] To go along with it, two new macro variables have been added which then allow you to test on which selection was picked (If the Escape or Ctrl-C keys are pressed the macro will be aborted, same as the SELECT command), which are: %MS = Numeric value of line selected (1=1st, 2=2nd...). %MT = Text of line selected. An example of using the MENU command would be: [F1] Delete A: MENU Are You Sure?,Yes,No IF %MS=1 DEL A:*.* - or - [F1] Delete A: MENU Are You Sure?,Yes,No IF %MT=YES DEL A:*.* Remember, if a macro command happens to coincide with the name of another program you are actually trying to run - then you have to prefix the line with a ">" to tell dCOM to use Dos to execute the line. This is brought up again here because MENU also happens to be the name of the older mouse utility by Logitech (they have since renamed it LOGIMENU), and, is also the name of Novell's network menuing utility. If you intend to use one of these two programs, and not the macro MENU command, then you would use ">MENU" instead of "MENU". Version 3.44 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 33. Using the Goto Macro File command (activated with the period key) no longer automatically displays the menu of macro key titles after selecting the new macro file. In doing this before, it was inconsistent with how the macro command equivalent, GOTOMF, worked, and it also seemed to be more in the way than not. (Let me know if this is adversely received.) 34. Command Line Switches and Macro Switches are now indifferent to whether a colon or a equal sign is used (i.e. /E:300, /E300, or /E=300 are all acceptable syntaxes for telling dCOM to use a 300 byte environment). 35. An entirely new login system complete with user rights, and user groups has been implemented. This affects the entire method with which dCOM handles password security. Support will soon be added for remote logins over a network via a network's login script. Refer to the newly enclosed doc file, LOGIN.DOC, for more information. Even if you don't have an interest in using the new login system, you should still read the first few sections of this file to understand areas of dCOM that are affected when the login system isn't active. 36. When deleting a subdirectory entry (and all directories and files below it), the password is no longer prompted for because this capability must first be available in the user's rights (under the login system) - but now, dCOM will display a warning message if the directory contains files with the Read-Only attribute set which, will allow you to abort or continue and delete the files. It should be noted though that this message only displays after a wildcard delete has already been attempted on the directory. Don't be deleting with the frame of mind that this message will save you before anything is deleted - a lot of files without the read-only attribute will probably have already been deleted before the new message displays. The only thing you are assured of is that you will always have the option to abort before read-only files are deleted. 37. For what its worth, dCOM now reacts a little differently when logging on to a new drive. It will first load the directory's contents and then display them immediately, then it will call Dos to calculate the amount of free disk space on the default drive. This call to Dos to calculate the free disk space sometimes results in a minor pause (just so we know who's at fault here...). Previously you had to wait for both tasks to finish before the screen would update and you could continue. Now, you can see the files a little quicker, but the free disk space call must be completed before you can continue and use the directory. Additionally, when the macro menu mode is active (/M command line switch), neither of these tasks are now performed before the menu is displayed, which will get the menu up a little quicker - but, if you escape the menu to drop down to the utility mode, these two tasks will now have to be performed. 38. Change #33 above has been modified somewhat. When you goto a new macro file using the period key, dCOM will now pop-up the macro titles only if the new macro file is not the default macro file (like it used to do before, all the time). If you are using the goto macro file command to return to the default macro file, the macro titles will not be displayed automatically. 39. The login system has received two changes: 1) If GUEST is not present in the Access Control Menu, dCOM will now not automatically use GUEST with no rights or groups if a login attempt fails. 2) If a user does not have the Modify Files right, they will not be allowed to overwrite files as a result of a copy or move (regardless of whether overwrite warnings are enabled). 40. dCOM will now automatically park the heads on any internal hard disks when a logout occurs in the login system (automatically or manually). 41. Even if the login system is not used, Alt-L will now ship the heads on all hard disks present. This means no matter what, immediately after pressing Alt-L, the hard disks will be in a shipped state at which you can power down the computer. If the login system is not active, however, the heads can become unshipped rather quickly by subsequently asking dCOM to do something (which is ok as long as you are aware the heads are now no longer shipped). 42. The new shipping feature is now also available as a macro command, SHIP, which will ship all internal hard disks present. You do however, have to provide your own pause message to the user to power down the computer. Hint: You can almost lock up the computer after using the SHIP command in a macro, by GOTOing a label immediately before the GOTO. Only a Ctrl-C is capable of breaking this loop. For Example: [F1] SHIP HARD DISK SHIP ;;SHIP THE HARD DISK(S) MENU Hard Disks Shipped,Shut Down,Abort ;;MENU A RESPONSE IF %MS=1 THEN ;;IF RESPONSE IS SHUTDOWN THEN CLS ;; CLEAR THE SCREEN ECHO Turn Power Off Now; ;; TELL USER TO TURN OFF POWER :LOCKCITY ;; LABEL TO LOCK COMPUTER WITH GOTO LOCKCITY ;; ENDLESS LOOP ENDIF ;;OTHERWISE DROP OUT 43. The Escape key will now work to also answer the "Press Return to Resume dCOM" prompt. 44. A "Quick Format" feature has been implemented and is now used when you select the "Delete and Continue" response from the insufficient disk space message (which displays appropriately when copying files). This means that files and directories will be deleted, where before only files in the root directory would have been deleted before copying continued. The same "Quick Format" feature can also be accessed through a new utility mode command, Alt-F, which will display a pop-up menu asking which floppy drive to format. As its name implies, "Quick Formatting" doesn't waste any time in totally erasing all files and subdirectories from a floppy disk - however, the disk must already be capable of use under MS-Dos. Quick Formatting will not work to originally format a brand new diskette. 45. The new quick format feature is also available as a new macro command in the following syntax: QFORMAT [drive] If the drive isn't specified, Qformat will prompt for it. Qformat will produce a syntax error if a drive other than A: or B: is specified. The status of a Qformat operation can be tested afterwards using the %EL (error level) macro variable, which will be 0=successful, 1=error. Also note that unlike the utility mode's counterpart, the macro command WILL NOT prompt for confirmation before proceeding. If you want to verbally assualt the user before allowing this command to occur in a macro key, you must provide your own message beforehand. For Example: [F1] ERASE FLOPPY DRIVE MENU Erase Drive,A:,B: ;;PROMPT FOR DRIVE SET %1=%MT ;;%1 = DRIVE TO ERASE BEEP ;;BEEP MENU This Will Completely Erase Drive %1,Proceed,Abort IF %MS=1 THEN ;;IF RESPONSE IS PROCEED THEN QFORMAT %1 ;;ERASE THE DRIVE IF %EL>0 MENU ,Error Formatting %1 ;;IF ERROR DISPLAY ERROR ENDIF ;;END OF IF BLOCK 46. For what its worth, an ANSI music driver has been added to the macro BEEP command, which is accessed by appending the ANSI music text immediately after the BEEP command. If no text follows the BEEP command, the same asynchronous system beep is still sounded. For those not familiar with ANSI music notation, the following is a brief description: A..G The musical notes A thru G. A note may be immediately followed by a modifier ("#" or "+" for sharp, "-" for flat). Next, a note may be followed by a number denoting the note length (1 for a whole note thru 64 for a 64th note). Lastly, a note may be followed by one or more periods ("."), each of which will extend the note by one half of its existing value. Ln Specifies the default length of notes to follow (n is 1 for a whole note thru 64 for a 64th note). The initial default is 4 for a quarter note. On Specifies the octave for notes to follow (n may be 0 thru 7). The initial default octave is 4, the same octave in which middle C is found. P[n] Specifies a pause (no sound). The optional n, may be used to give a different note length from the current default (1 for a whole note thru 64 for a 64th note). One or more periods (".") may follow, each of which will extend the pause by one half of its existing value. Tn Specifies the tempo in beats per minute (32 thru 255). The initial default is 120. For Example: [F1] MUSIC BEEP T240L3ABC#D ;;PLAY NOTES A, B, C#, AND D 47. A browse (list) command has been added both to the utility mode and to the macro command set. From the utility mode, pressing "B" will browse the selected file. In a macro file, the new command is: BROWSE filespec. The browsing utility is basically a stripped-down version of the text editor (which is why it will look suspiciously like it). It will operate using the editor's current configuration (colors, borders, etc...) except for Enhanced Video, which is arbitrarily turned off in browse. The commands which were carried over from the editor are still the same (Alt-X to exit, Alt-S to search, F7 for help, etc...) except that Escape will exit browse, but won't exit the editor. 48. The Ctrl-Left and Ctrl-Right keys now work in browse to shift the screen in the appropriate direction by 8 columns, in order to view text that is wider than what shows on the screen. 49. The Backspace key no longer closes from the right if the insert mode is not on. This change was made to prevent inadvertantly destroying column alignment or overtyping valid characters to the right of the cursor when in overtype mode, because of an almost instinctive use of the Backspace key to correct an accidentally typed character. This is an experimental change so let me know what you think. 50. Optional pathspecs may now be specified for the macro GOTOMF and GOSUBMF commands. If a pathspec is not privided (just a filename is given), the Home Directory is used as it was to load the macro file specified. This capability now allows dCOM to menu or use a common macro file, or a series of macro files defined on a network drive, even the dCOM is initially booted from a local drive. 51. A DELAY command has been added to the macro keys. Its syntax is: DELAY [seconds] If seconds are not provided, a delay of 1 second will be used. If the number of seconds are provided, a window will pop-up and count down the delay period specified. Pressing the Escape key during the count down will abort the delay (not the macro), and execution will continue. Pressing Ctrl-C will however, abort the delay and the macro. Checking for either of these keys does not destroy the type-ahead buffer. 52. Qformat has been corrected to work properly with 8-sectored or single sided disks. It should now work fine with any kind of disk; 1.4's, 1.2's, 720's, 360's, 320's, 180's, 160's and so on.... Even if they were orignally formated in a Z100 computer. Dave Frailey January 1990 DAC Micro Systems 40941 176th St E Lancaster, CA 93535 Voice: 805/264-1700 Data: 805/264-1219