═══ 1. About 4OS2/32 Help ═══ 4OS2/32 Update Documentation (Version 1.1, 12/30/92) Text by Rex Conn and Tom Rawson. This online help system for 4OS2/32 covers only those features which are different from the 16-bit version of 4OS2. See 4OS2.INF and the printed 4OS2 and 4DOS manuals for full details on all 4OS2 features and commands. 4OS2/32 version 1.1 is currently organized as an update to the 16-bit 4OS2 version 1.0. A few weeks after initial release of 4OS2/32, version 1.1 of the 16-bit 4OS2 will be released. At that time the two products will be merged and a combined help file will be available. Copyright 1992, Rex Conn and JP Software Inc., All Rights Reserved. 4OS2 and 4OS2/32 are trademarks and 4DOS is a registered trademark of JP Software Inc. OS/2 is a registered trademark of IBM Corporation. Other product and company names are trademarks of their respective owners. 12/92-1.1A ═══ 2. 4OS2/32 features and enhancements ═══ 4OS2 comes in two versions: 32-bit and 16-bit. The 16-bit version runs under OS/2 1.2, 1.3, or 2.0. The 32-bit version ("4OS2/32") runs only under OS/2 2.0. The primary change in 4OS2/32 compared to the 16-bit version of 4OS2 is that 4OS2/32 has been rewritten to take full advantage of the 32-bit flat memory model in IBM's OS/2 2.0. This provides improved performance, better integration with OS/2 2.0, and better handling of some internal functions (e.g. Ctrl-C / Ctrl-Break handling). For information on installing 4OS2/32 if you are currently using the 16-bit version, see the 4OS2-32.DOC file which came with your copy of 4OS2/32. 4OS2/32 supports all of the same features, functions, and commands as the 16-bit version of 4OS2. The standard 4OS2 documentation and online help can be used as a reference for virtually all 4OS2/32 capabilities. For details on new features in 4OS2/32 see the following sections in this file: New internal variables (%= and %+) 4DOS.INI changes DEL command (/F switch) DIR command (/T switch) KEYS command changes MEMORY command changes START command (/DOS switch) WINDOW command (new) ═══ 2.1. New internal variables (%= and %+) ═══ 4OS2/32 offers two new internal variables designed to aid advanced users in creating portable batch files and aliases: %+ returns the current command separator. See the CommandSep directive in 4OS2.INI or the SETDOS /C command for more details. %= returns the current 4OS2 escape character. See the EscapeChar directive in 4OS2.INI or the SETDOS /E command for more details. In most cases you will not need these variables to set up batch files or aliases, and they can make your commands harder to read. Therefore, we recommend that you use them only when you are using the same batch file or alias in multiple environments, all of which support this feature, and / or when you cannot be sure of the values of the 4OS2 command separator or escape character. ═══ 2.2. 4DOS.INI changes ═══ 4OS2/32 offers one additional directive for 4OS2.INI: AmPm= YES | No: Sets the time display mode. Yes displays times in 12-hour format (e.g. in DIR and SELECT). The default of No gives 24-hour time displays. In addition, the LogName directive has been changed slightly. In the 16-bit version of 4OS2 the path specified in LogName must exist when 4OS2 is loaded, or an error message is displayed and the directive is ignored. In 4OS2/32, the LogName path need not exist when 4OS2 is loaded. Instead, the path is checked only when logging is started with a LOG ON command. If the path does not exist at that time, an error message is generated and logging is not turned on. These comments apply only to the path (drive and directory) used in LogName, not to the log file name itself. ═══ 2.3. DEL command (/F switch) ═══ In 4OS2/32 the DEL command includes one new option: /F Delete the specified file(s) without making copies in the DELDIR directory. Caution: Using DEL /F will make the deleted files unrecoverable! ═══ 2.4. DIR command (/T switch) ═══ In 4OS2/32, the new DIR /T:acw switch can be used to specify whether to display the date and time of last access, file creation, or last write, for files on HPFS drives. The full syntax for /T is now: /T Display the filenames and attributes only, in the format RHSA, where: R Read only H Hidden S System A Archive /T:acw Select the date and time used for file date / time displays and date / time sorts (using /O:d) on HPFS drives. This switch is ignored for FAT drives. Use any one of the following options: a Use date and time of last access c Use date and time of creation w Use date and time of last write If /T is used without a date / time type (:acw) after it, 4OS2 will display the file attributes (see /T above). For example, to display the directory and show the time of last access for each file: dir /t:a To display the directory, show file attributes, and display and sort by the time of creation for each file: dir /t /t:a /o:d ═══ 2.5. KEYS command changes ═══ In the 16-bit version of 4OS2, KEYS OFF simply disables the storage of commands in the 4OS2 command history, for compatibility with OS/2's CMD.EXE. In 4OS2/32, KEYS OFF will disable the storage of commands in the command history, disable the recall of commands from the command history (with up-arrow, PgUp, etc.), and will force 4OS2 to read and process input one line at a time (normally input is read and processed one character at a time). This change is intended to improve compatibility with applications which intercept line input intended for the command processor (such applications are very rare). Some of these applications may not work properly unless you use the 4OS2/32 KEYS OFF command to switch to line input mode before starting the application. KEYS ON will reenable the command history and return input to the usual character by character method. ═══ 2.6. MEMORY command changes ═══ In 4OS2/32, MEMORY displays some additional information beyond that displayed by the MEMORY command in the 16-bit version of 4OS2. The new information includes the size of physical and resident RAM, and the size of the OS/2 swap file. Swap file size is displayed only if the swap file is located in the \OS2\SYSTEM directory on the boot drive (this is the default location for the swap file). ═══ 2.7. START command (/DOS switch) ═══ 4OS2/32 adds a new capability to the START /DOS option to allow you to specify settings for any DOS session. The full syntax for /DOS is now: /DOS Start a foreground DOS session. /DOS=filenameStart a foreground DOS session with DOS settings from the specified file. Each line in the file should have a name, an equal sign (=), and a value, for example: DOS_BREAK=ON DOS_LASTDRIVE=N DOS_RMSIZE=640 START will use the default DOS parameters for any options that aren't specified in the settings file. You can add comment lines to the file by beginning each comment line with a colon (:). The names and values to use in the /DOS= file are those shown in OS/2's standard DOS Settings dialog box. The names and values used for DOS settings are generally consistent, but are not documented features of OS/2. The names can change from version to version, and may vary depending on what drivers are loaded in your OS/2 CONFIG.SYS file (for example, if you don't load a communications driver, the communications settings will not appear in the dialog box). In addition, values used in the DOS Settings dialog box may need to be encoded differently in the DOS settings file. For example, a setting shown with values of On and Off in the dialog box may need to be specified with values of 1 and 0 in the DOS settings file. Because no documentation is available on DOS settings names and values, you may need to experiment a bit to find values which work properly on your system. Also, you should not assume that DOS settings files are portable between systems unless you know the systems are running the same device drivers and the same version of OS/2. ═══ 2.8. WINDOW command (new) ═══ SYNTAX (Internal 4OS2) WINDOW ["title"] minimize | maximize | restore PURPOSE Change the title and / or state of the current 4OS2 window. COMMENTS WINDOW is a new command in 4OS2/32. It works only in windowed OS/2 sessions. The parameters are: "title" Change the window title. There are two title modes: setting the title at the command line changes it permanently; setting it in a batch file changes it only for the duration of the batch file. minimize Minimize the 4OS2 window. maximize Maximize the 4OS2 window. restore Restore the 4OS2 window to its "normal" size (the size before it was minimized or maximized). EXAMPLES This batch file fragment minimizes the current window, performs some operations, then restores the window to its original size (not maximized or minimized): window minimize dir memory window restore