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Text File | 1985-07-27 | 12.3 KB | 289 lines

≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡ E R R A T A ≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡ (8/27/84) Program updates are made more often than the updates to the user's guide can keep up with. In order to keep you better informed, this file contains information related to corrections or updates to the user's guide as well as notification of what problems were identified and fixed for the version of the program that is on this diskette. Please refer to the users guide and the BATDOC.BAT file for information about Extended Batch Language commands and operation. For an example of the capabilities of 'EBL', execute the BATDEMO.BAT file by just typing "BATDEMO" at the DOS prompt. USER'S GUIDE CORRECTIONS........ #1. Page 34 - 2nd paragraph. If the INKEY command senses a key pressed in the range of "!" to "z" (decimal 33 to 122) then a key will be saved in the optional variable as that single character. It WILL NOT be echoed to the display. If you wish it to be displayed, you must specifically use the TYPE command. #2. Page 46 - STATEOF command STATEOF [filename] [drive.list] The [drive.list] option is new. This token is a list of diskette drive letters which are to be searched for the specified [filename]. For example, a [drive.list] of ACD will search disk drives A:, C:, and D: in that order. If a diskette is not in drive A:, DOS will request that the user insert one and say "Abort, Retry, Ignore". That is, only the drive letters listed in [drive.list] will be searched and ALL MUST BE INSERTED AND READY. If the [drive.list] option is not used, the old method of searching drives A:, B:, C:, and D: will be used and if a diskette is not inserted or ready, it will be ignored. Do not omit this option if you are using the STATEOF command with the DOS 'ASSIGN' statement or in a network environment. All errors and return codes for the STATEOF command are the same. Note that now the STATEOF command can also search expanded drive lettering (E:, F:, etc...) by using the [drive.list] option with these respective letters. ==================================================================== The following list of program corrections are for reference only. The fundamental operation of the program has not changed. Please refer to the manual for examples of how Extended Batch Language can be used. ==================================================================== =='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='== PROGRAM CORRECTIONS/CHANGES (for version 2.00b of EBL) =='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='== 1. TO REDUCE THE SIZE OF THE INITIAL LOGO: If the special SIZE option is used when BAT is first invoked, it will also signal the initial logo screen to be reduced in size. This initial logo screen is used to present the user supported concept. In addition, it will not wait for a key-press to continue. The SIZE option is created by making the first executed BAT statement: BAT * [decimal size] [comment] The [decimal size] is a number representing the amount of space to reserve for a keyboard stack area. The default is 512 bytes. This is described further in section 4.1 on page 8 of the users guide. For example use: BAT * 512 = stack size & reduces logo size. 2. The initial logo screen describing the user supported concept had a 'Press any key to continue...'. If a key was pressed to advance past this screen, the key was sensed only and not actually read in. Therefore, the key remained in the keyboard buffer and sometimes interfered with programs following BAT in an AUTOEXEC.BAT file. If a key is pressed, it is actually removed from the keyboard buffer now. 3. The stack status variable %Q gave incorrect information as to the source of the next character. Previously, information was said to come from the stack if the stack was not empty. No attention was paid however to see if the stack was enabled (STACK.ON). Now, information is said to come from the stack if both the stack is not empty and the stack is enabled. This will now correctly represent the status of the SOURCE of the next keyboard character. 4. The READ function did not echo the keyboard characters to the screen if the stack was not empty and the STACK.OFF command was used. This is no longer the case. In all cases when the READ command reads characters from the keyboard, they will be echoed to the display. Note that the echo will still be suppressed if characters are read from the keyboard stack instead. =='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='== PROGRAM CORRECTIONS/CHANGES (for version 2.01 of EBL) =='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='== 1. Added code to speed up CALL/GOTO for large files. 2. Changed stack interface to BIOS to fix bug with multimate/filecmd. 3. Fixed CLS so won't erase background color with ANSI.SYS installed. 4. Made character I/O go to directly to BIOS (not DOS) to allow attributes in spite of the way ANSI.SYS device driver traps and removes prewritten screen attributes. 5. 'Eagle' DOS 1.25 compatible now. 6. Pressing Ctrl-break will now make the stack pointer for CALL and RETURN commands into an empty stack condition. 7. Added attributes to help messages. 8. Fixed bug in CALL commands immediately after a DOS command in order to properly save the code location for a RETURN command. 9. When in TRACE.ON mode, the trace messages on a color display are green. Messages from program are white. Users with a monochrome monitor will not see any difference. 10. Message space has been optimized so that overall code size is smaller. 11. Fixed bug in stacking an F1 key by itself. 12. Protected stack further from invalid function key codes or time delay codes. 13. When putting screen attributes within the text under a BEGTYPE command, the use of ESC characters (used with ANSI.SYS) in the text are exclusive of the built in \0F style attribute codes! Do not mix, use only one. 14. Changed values of extended INT16 (kbd) functions so won't interfere with PROKEY. Prokey will now coexist with Extended Batch Language as long as the following patch is applied to Prokey. The following text describes the necessary changes. =='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='== PROKEY PATCH for versions 2.12 or 2.13 of PROKEY. =='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='== IF YOU ARE USING PROKEY *BEFORE* VERSION 3.0, it must be patched to work with Extended Batch Language. Prokey verion 3.0 and higher DO NOT need patching and will co-exist with EBL without modification. Early versions of Prokey were written without regard for allowing other software to access the keyboard interrupt chain (INT16). EBL uses it for the stack, and Prokey uses it to simulate keystrokes. The following patch will trick Prokey into thinking that no other software is using the interrupt chain. As always, keep a copy of the original before patching. If you don't understand how to use Debug, find a friend (maybe someone at your local PC Club) who does. <<<For PROKEY Version 2.12>>> <<<For PROKEY Version 2.13>>> A>RENAME PROKEY.EXE PROKEY.E A>RENAME PROKEY.EXE PROKEY.E A>DEBUG PROKEY.E A>DEBUG PROKEY.E -E 2A60 -E 2DC0 xxxx:2A60 5A.26 xxxx:2DC0 5A.26 -W -W Writing 3280 bytes Writing 3600 bytes -q -q A>RENAME PROKEY.E PROKEY.EXE A>RENAME PROKEY.E PROKEY.EXE A> A> PLEASE NOTE: You must also use EBL version 2.01 or better. Also, initially as your system starts up, you MUST have EBL loaded FIRST and Prokey loaded SECOND in your AUTOEXEC.BAT. The following is OK: BAT * 512 PROKEY /I =='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='== PROGRAM CORRECTIONS/CHANGES (for version 2.02 and 2.03 of EBL) =='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='== 1. A bug was found in the interface between EBL and DOS. When EBL transfers control back to DOS, it also passes any variables that have been modified (%0 to %9). The problem found with this interface is seen only on certain configurations of systems. The symptoms seen in the system are completely unrelated to EBL and may even show up as random errors with OTHER programs! If you suspect problems with another program, you may wish to switch to this new 2.03 version of EBL which removes this rare and random problem with DOS. 2. Because of problems with INT25 in DOS (disk read) which will not work in some networks and when the DOS 'ASSIGN' command is used, there is now a way to avoid this interrupt. This interrupt is only used in the STATEOF command. The new format for this command is: STATEOF [filename] [drive.list] The [drive.list] option is new. This token is a list of diskette drive letters which are to be searched for the specified [filename]. For example, a [drive.list] of ACD will search disk drives A:, C:, and D: in that order. If a diskette is not in drive A:, DOS will request that the user insert one and say "Abort, Retry, Ignore". That is, only the drive letters listed in [drive.list] will be searched and ALL MUST BE INSERTED AND READY. If the [drive.list] option is not used, the old method of searching drives A:, B:, C:, and D: will be used and if a diskette is not inserted or ready, it will be ignored. Do not omit this option if you are using the STATEOF command with the DOS 'ASSIGN' statement or in a network environment. All errors and return codes for the STATEOF command are the same. Note that now the STATEOF command can also search expanded drive lettering (E:, F:, etc...) by using the [drive.list] option with these respective letters. 3. The new version of DOS 3.0 is also supported with this and all future levels of EBL (ver 2.02 and higher). Please note that this early version of EBL does not support nested batch files under DOS 3.0 as it is in 2.0. In other words, a second level of command processor cannot be loaded to run another (nested) level of batch files. I am currently looking at ways to fix this limitation within DOS 3.0 and will notify everyone when I have a version which allows nesting under DOS 3.0. 4. The version 2.03 of EBL contains all the changes that were in effect for earlier versions with one exception. The keystrokes that are emitted during a stacking operation are now much more complete. Specifically, the scan codes for all ASCII characters are included with the keystroke. This change was made because some programs were found to be looking for specific scan code values from the IBM-PC instead of true ASCII values. The effect of this change is to allow STACK and BEGSTACK statements to be used with a wider range of programs. Multi-mate is an example of a program that will now work properly with these EBL statements. It is expected that there may be other programs which will now work with the keyboard stack within EBL. =='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='== GENERAL INFORMATION ......... =='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='=='== A bug in DOS version 2.0 and 2.1 has been identified which can cause problems if you try to use the variables %0 to %9 in an AUTOEXEC.BAT The following AUTOEXEC.BAT file will give bad results or bomb: BAT * 512 BAT %1 = ABC REM ABC CHARACTERS COME OUT LIKE %1 By restarting the file by hand, there won't be a problem. As a fix, you can have EBL restart it automatically by doing the following: BAT * 512 BAT IF %Q = K STACK AUTOEXEC | STACK | EXIT BAT STACK.PURGE BAT %1 = ABC REM ABC CHARACTERS COME OUT LIKE %1 It turns out that DOS version 2 supplies invalid pointers to EBL for the %0-%9 variables only during an AUTOEXEC. The locations DOS supplies get overwritten by DOS during it's execution. In some systems, it will hang. Hopefully, next versions of DOS won't have this problem.