Shareware Supreme Volume 6 #1

home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search

/ Shareware Supreme Volume 6 #1 / swsii.zip / swsii / 114 / CMDX200.ZIP / COMMANDX.DOC < prev next >

Wrap

Text File | 1993-10-16 | 44.7 KB | 1,321 lines

COMMANDX.DOC The COMMAND EXTRA program and related software and documentation are all Copyright 1993 by David Denker. All rights reserved. You may copy the authenticated CMDX200.ZIP file and give it to anyone who accepts the following terms. The copies must be complete and unmodified and all program files must be included. The files are compressed using PKZIP 2 from PKWARE Inc. and when unziped must state -AV after each file. (Authenticity Verification) If you do not get this verification notice, please obtain a good copy from a different source. Sysops or operators of electronic bulletin board systems may post these files in archive form or as a group for downloading by their users only as long as the above conditions are met. Please support my products by honoring this restriction. Please remember the good spirit of free-distribution software. If you find this software good enough too use, I trust that you will pay for it. Only then can I improve on it and continue to offer it to you and other users. If you are a registered user, Thank-you for your support. The COMMANDX program has been thoroughly debugged but if you find bugs in this program, please contact me. I will fix them! It is very frustrating to hear someone tell other people about a bug that I have not been told about. My address is: David Denker P. O. Box 115 Isanti, Mn. 55040 My phone number is: 612-444-4916 (evenings and weekends) On CompuServe: user ID No. 72060,2434 CompuServe is a registered trademark of CompuServe, Inc. Windows is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation. The following is a list of COMMAND EXTRA files you should have in the CMDX.ZIP file. COMMANDX.COM The main COMMAND EXTRA program. COMMANDX.DOC This document file. CMDX-C.BAT Drive C batch file. CMDX-D.BAT Drive D batch file. CMDX.DFT The defaults program setup file. CMDX.SET The color and parameter storage file. CMDX.HLP The COMMAND EXTRA help file. CMDX.PIF The PIF file for Microsoft WINDOWS. CMDX.ICO The COMMANDX icon for Microsoft WINDOWS. CMDX.PVC The saved previous commands file. ORDER.DOC The order form for COMMAND EXTRA. READ-ME.DOC A short summary of COMMAND EXTRA. INSTALL.BAT COMMAND EXTRA install program. CONVERT.UTL A utility program. MOVE.UTL A utility program. DIR-DEL.UTL A utility program. DIR-MAKE.UTL A utility program. ELEMENT.UTL A utility program. READ-ME.UTL A utility program. FINDFILE.UTL A utility program. FIND-DEL.UTL A utility program. DIR.CXA Example application file. EDIT.CXA Example application file. EDIT-UTL.CXA Example application file. UPDATE-A.CXA Example application file. UPDATE-B.CXA Example application file. UN-ZIP.CXA Example application file. ZIP.CXA Example application file. NOTE: COMMAND EXTRA is just one of the programs I have released. If you like the features of this program, you may want to look at two other programs I have available. MATH EXTRA (MATHX) and MATH EXTRA RESIDENT (MATHXR). Both of these are general purpose programmable math programs. All should be available from the better BBS or distribution houses. What did you buy? If you bought this software from a distribution house, you have bought a disk that has great software on it but you have not bought the software yet. I have no relationship with any of the distribution houses and I do not get a penny of the fee you paid for the disk containing COMMAND EXTRA. Many distribution houses do a poor job of revealing the true nature of the shareware system of distributing software. If you thought you purchased this software free and clear, you might be a little angry with them for misleading you. But I hope you will not feel that you have been cheated out of anything. The distribution houses do a good job of distributing software for programmers like me who have spent all of their time programming and no time learning marketing and distribution techniques. These programs are distributed at almost no cost to me and that is why I can sell them for a lot less than "commercial" software. As a result, this is great for you the customer, because you are getting great software for a lot less and also good for me the programmer, because I don't have to spend a lot of money on distribution. The distribution houses must charge something for the disks because they pay for the advertising and do all the work. I hope you will be happy with this form of software promoting and actively support it. This way you will encourage the best programmers in the world to keep programming for you, and not for the big corporations. Why register? For the most part this is a question you must answer. If you find this software useful, and I think you will, it is a matter of honesty that you will pay for it. You are on your honor. This is something you must decide for yourself. Also many users procrastinate in registering. They simply have not got around to it yet. To help you with this process I am giving some incentives for registering. A printed REFERENCE MANUAL is now sent to all new registered users and includes the UTILITY FILE PROGRAMMING REFERENCE MANUAL. The words "UNREGISTERED COPY" will no longer be displayed at the top of the programs main screen. The time, day and date will be put in its place. Additional utilities are also sent with registered copies. Also you will be on my mailing list and low cost updated versions will be available to registered users. Finally, you will know that you have done the right thing. I will know that you appreciate the work that I have done and that software distributed this way can succeed. O R D E R F O R M Denker Software P. O. Box 115 Isanti, Mn. 55040 COMMAND EXTRA, (COMMANDX) program and one printed copy of the program and utility file manual. (includes COMMANDX registration) . . . _____ @ $35.00 ea. $_______ Minnesota residents add 6.5% sales tax $_________ If outside the U.S. and Canada, add $5.00 for handling $_________ Total $___________ Check disk type. (720K) 3 1/2"_____ (360K) 5 1/4"_____ Name __________________________________________________________ Company _______________________________________________________ Address _______________________________________________________ City _______________________________State_______Zip____________ or Country_______________________ Phone No. _ _ _ - _ _ _ - _ _ _ _ Sorry, no C.O.D. orders will be accepted. Orders from outside of the UNITED STATES please send a check drawn on a U.S. bank in U.S. dollars. DENKER SOFTWARE COMMAND EXTRA (COMMANDX) Version 2.00 (Unregistered copy) R E F E R E N C E M A N U A L Copyright (c) 1993 David Denker P.O. Box 115 Isanti, Mn. 55040 Phone 612-444-4916 (Evenings & Weekends) All rights reserved. TABLE OF CONTENTS LICENSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 WARRANTY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 INSTALLATION HARD DRIVE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 WINDOWS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 THE COMMAND EXTRA PROGRAM RUNNING COMMANDX.COM . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 COMMANDX PRECAUTIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 ENVIRONMENT SIZE . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 LCD MODE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 THE COMMAND LINE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 THE POP-DOWN MENU OPERATING SYSTEM THE HEADER LINE AND THE POP-DOWN MENUS . . . . . . 7 DIRECTORY AND FILE MENUS . . . . . . . . . . . 8 THE POP DOWN MENUS COMMANDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 DISK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 FILES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 INFORMATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 SETUP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 UTILITIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 APPLICATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . 11-12 DEFAULTS FILE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 ERROR MESSAGES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 LICENSE All versions of COMMANDX are not public domain software, nor is it free software. Non-registered users are granted a limited license to use the COMMANDX program on a trial basis for the purpose of determining whether COMMANDX is suitable for their needs. The use of this program except for this purpose, requires registration by the purchase of the COMMANDX software program. Other then determining suitability of this software, use of non-registered copies of the COMMANDX software by any person, business, corporation, governmental agency or other group or institution is strictly forbidden. No user may modify COMMANDX in any way, including but not limited to decompiling, disassembling or otherwise reverse engineering this program. Registration permits you the right to use one copy of the purchased software on a single computer. You may not rent or lease the COMMANDX software program, but you may transfer the software and accompanying written materials on a permanent basis provided you do not retain any copies and the recipient agrees to the terms of this license. LIMITED WARRANTY ONLY SOFTWARE PURCHASED DIRECTLY FROM Denker Software IS COVERED BY THIS WARRANTY! Denker Software warrants that the COMMANDX software program will perform substantially in accordance with the accompanying written materials for a period of 90 days from the date of receipt. Any implied warranties on the COMMANDX software program are limited to 90 days. Denker Software's entire liability and your exclusive remedy shall be, at Denker Software's option, either (a) return of the purchase price or (b) replacement of the software that does not meet Denker Software's Limited Warranty and which is returned to Denker Software within 90 days from the date of receipt. Denker Software makes no other warranty of any kind on the COMMANDX program or any software used by this program, express or implied, including but not limited to implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose, with respect to the software and accompanying written materials. The user is responsible to determine the fitness of this software for the users needs. Denker Software shall not be liable for any damages, whether indirect or direct, whether special or consequential, arising from failure of this program to operate in the manner or the expectations of the user. Denker Software shall not be liable for any damage to data or property which may be caused, whether directly or indirectly, by the use of this program. Denker Software will in no way be liable to anyone, or any group or organization, for any damages, including any lost profits, lost savings or other incidental or consequential damages arising out of the use or inability to use this program. INTRODUCTION COMMAND EXTRA (COMMANDX) is a general purpose command line editor and shell designed for the everyday computer user and especially the DOS command line power user. As a programmer I find myself using the DOS command line all the time because for me windows is too slow and restrictive for the many file level commands I have to make. This program was designed to make my programming life easy by giving me an abundance of short cuts to do just about everything. There are many MS-DOS shell programs in circulation today but not many with the features of COMMANDX at the price of COMMANDX. It you do use MS Windows it is a great replacement for the DOS command line prompt. The COMMANDX program gives you an ideal way to browse through directories and files. If you are not sure where the file is you want, this will help greatly. COMMANDX is structured much like windows. You can select what you want to do and then what file you want to do it to. COMMANDX normally uses only the top line of the display and leaves the rest of the display for DOS commands and the resulting DOS messages. If you don't want to use the pop-down menus, you can type it on the command line. The command lines are saved (20 max.) so if you need to use that command again, you can select it from the previous commands menu and that menu is just a mouse click or PgUp key away. COMMANDX was written using assembly language for the smallest, fastest code possible and is highly optimized. Power, ease of use and greatly minimized repetitive inputs are its main features. It has the ability to load and run very powerful programmed utility files and can also be programmed to load and run most programs as an application. COMMANDX has a pop-down menu system that cannot be simpler to use and gives the user outstanding control over disk, directory and file management. Multiple files can be copied and deleted using the pop-down menus. If you have DOS 6 or above, you can also move multiple files. The most commonly used DOS functions are available from these menus. The COMMANDX command line editor and shell is a great tool for both the experienced and casual computer user. MS-DOS is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation. WINDOWS is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation. INSTALLATION HARD DRIVE: The COMMAND EXTRA install batch program makes a directory on your hard disk drive called CMDX. All COMMAND EXTRA files are then copied to this directory. Next a COMMANDX.BAT file is put onto the hard drive root directory. Only hard drives C and D will be accepted by the install program. To install the program, insert the COMMAND EXTRA disk into drive A or B and then go to that drive. (If it is in drive A type A: and press enter.) If you are installing COMMAND EXTRA on the "C" hard drive, type INSTALL C: and press the enter key. When the installation is done, remove the disk from the floppy drive and store in a safe place. To run COMMAND EXTRA, type COMMANDX and press enter. WINDOWS: Install COMMAND EXTRA on the hard disk drive first. Now from the windows Program Manager and from the progrom group you want to put the COMMANDX icon, pull down the FILE menu. Select New. Select Program Item and then select OK. If you installed COMMAND EXTRA on the "C" drive, setup the Program Item Properties as follows: Description: COMMANDX Command Line: C:\CMDX\CMDX.PIF Working Directory: C:\CMDX Shortcut Key: None (optional) Next select the Change Icon button and enter the following for the file name: File Name: C:\CMDX\CMDX.ICO Select the OK button, and the select the OK button in the Program Item Properties window. The COMMANDX icon should now be in your program group. HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS: COMMANDX requires a minimum 128K of available RAM to run but the command line and application operations use only about 61K when running a program. This is in addition to any memory resident programs and the memory the operating system uses. The program require MS-DOS version 3.3 or higher and an IBM PC, XT, AT, or a very close compatible to run. COMMANDX will work with Monochrome, LCD or Color monitors. Note! COMMANDX may not work in display modes other then the standard 80 columns by 25 lines text mode. IBM is a registered trademark of International Business Machines Corporation. THE COMMAND EXTRA PROGRAM RUNNING COMMANDX.COM: For normal operation the COMMAND EXTRA program, just type COMMANDX on the DOS command line. You must have the COMMANDX.BAT file in a directory that is included in the DOS path. COMMANDX has been tested on MS-DOS and WINDOWS. It may not work on other operating systems or shells. COMMANDX PRECAUTIONS: COMMAND EXTRA is a great program for every day DOS command line and WINDOWS use and has many nice features that make DOS easier. But, because COMMANDX is a DOS shell, it cannot allow for everything! Here are some precautions you must take to prevent having to reboot your computer. 1. DO NOT load memory resident programs from within COMMANDX. Exit COMMANDX if you want to load or unload a resident program! Any resident programs that change the way the DOS command line is used or define the function keys for DOS may not work within COMMANDX. If a programs batch file loads a memory resident driver, the driver must be removed by the batch file before returning to COMMANDX. 2. Some software install programs do some strange things to the DOS environment. To be on the safe side, exit COMMANDX before installing a new software program. 3. If a DOS program gives you problems or does not work when using it in WINDOWS, do not try to run it from within COMMANDX when in WINDOWS. You will most likely still have the problems. ENVIRONMENT SIZE: COMMANDX uses an environment size of 512 bytes. If your DOS environment is larger then 512 bytes or if you are getting an OUT OF ENVIRONMENT MEMORY error when using COMMANDX, you may want to increase the COMMANDX environment size. This is done the same way the DOS environment size is changed. Use the environment setting format /E:xxxx on the DOS command line or batch file line when entering COMMANDX. The allowed size values are 160 to 9999. This can be done by changing a line in the COMMANDX.BAT file. Example: COMMANDX /E:1024 LCD MODE: COMMANDX has a liquid crystal display mode for lap top computers. To put COMMANDX in LCD mode, use /L on the DOS command line or batch file line when entering COMMANDX. This can be done by changing a line in the COMMANDX.BAT file. Example: COMMANDX /L THE COMMAND LINE: The COMMANDX command line allows for 115 characters and utilizes enhanced editing features. The mouse or keyboard can be used to move within and edit the command line. Cursor keys: Moves the cursor around the command line within the data that has been entered. HOME key: Moves the cursor to the start of the command line. END key: Moves the cursor to the end of the command line. INSERT key: Toggles between INSERT edit mode and OVERTYPE edit mode. Insert mode has a small underline cursor and overtype mode has a large block cursor. DELETE key: Deletes the character the cursor is on. Back Space key: (<--) Deletes the character left of the cursor. F1 to F9 and Shift+F1 to Shift+f9 keys: Inserts information as defined by the CMDX.DFT file FKEY statements on the command line. F10 key: Recalls the previous command line for editing if no new data is placed on the command line yet. CTRL+X keys: Clear all characters from the command line. ESC key: Quit COMMANDX. (Display quit menu.) Page Up key: (or middle mouse button) (or both left and right mouse buttons.) Display the PREVIOUS COMMANDS window if any previous commands are present. Page Down key: (or right mouse button) Display the FUNCTION KEY INFORMATION window. TAB key: Pop-down application selection menu. The Left Mouse Button: Move cursor to new location on the command line. THE POP-DOWN MENU OPERATING SYSTEM: HEADER LINE & POP-DOWN MENUS: The COMMANDX header line at the top of the screen will display a menu name heading if the left mouse button is clicked with the cursor on the line. Pressing the ALT key down will do the same thing. These menus can then be accessed in three ways. 1. With the mouse cursor on the name of the pop-down menu desired, click the left mouse button. Then move the cursor down to the line you want to select and click the left mouse button again. 2. With the mouse cursor on the name of the pop-down menu desired, push the left mouse button down and hold it down, then move down to the line you want to select and let up on the mouse button. 3. If you are holding down the ALT key, enter the first letter of the desired menu then use the cursor keys to go to the item line you want selected and press the ENTER key. If the menu items have pick letters, enter that letter on the keyboard to pick the desired item. The pick letter will be of a different color or will be highlighted and/or underlined. DIRECTORY AND FILE MENUS: Most operations will display a drive, directory and files selection menu for drive, directory or file selection. The drives and directories will be displayed in brackets "[ ]" and each will be displayed in alphabetical order with the drives displayed first then the directories. If you want to go to a different drive or directory, just select that drive or directory or select [..] to go back one directory. To go to the root directory select [\]. This menu can be used to select from up to 2000 drives, directories and files. If more then 2000 items are in the menu, a !OVER2000! error message will be displayed on the top line of the file selections part of the menu. All file selection menus have enhanced control and selection features. The Page Up, Page Down, Home, End, cursor up, cursor down keys and the mouse can be used to control the menu. If more then one selection is allowed, the TAB key, the CTRL key and the left mouse button or if available the middle mouse button can be used to select the files. The selected files will have a "#" sign to the right of the file name. Or, if no files have been selected yet and you want to select all the files, press the SHIFT+TAB keys or the CTRL key and the right mouse button. If any files have been selected, using the SHIFT+TAB keys or the CTRL key and the right mouse button will unselect all files. Only the COPY and DELETE file operations can have more then one file selected. When more then one file is selected for the COPY operation, the files must go to a different directory or disk drive. If more then 20 items are available, a menu control bar will be present on the menu. When the left mouse button is used with the cursor on or within one column of the control bar, a Page Up or Page Down will be entered dependent on the location of the bar position indicator. If it was above the bar position indicator, a Page Up is entered, and if it was below the indicator, a Page Down is entered. If the right button is used, the bar position indicator will be moved to that position if possible. If the mouse cursor is on the bar up or down arrow and the left button is pressed, the menu will move up or down one line and if the right button is pressed, a Page Up or Page Down in entered. When the mouse cursor is not on the menu bar or its up or down arrows, pressing the right mouse button is the same as pressing the ENTER key. Pressing any of the number or letter keys will move the menu to the first file name that starts with that character. THE POP-DOWN MENUS: COMMANDS: The COMMANDS pop-down menu has 4 selections available. Clear the Screen (same as DOS CLS) Clear inst. Line (same as hitting CTRL+X keys) Previous Commands (up to the last 20 are saved) Remove Prev. Commands (remove all previous commands) QUIT COMMANDX (you can change you mind) DISK: The DISK pop-down menu has 3 selections available. Change DR\DIR (drive & dir's menu will pop down) Format data disk (drive A or B) Format system disk (drive A or B, add system files) Note: The change DR/DIR selection brings down a menu of all drives and directories in the present location. (Note the drive you are currently in is not displayed.) The top item will be an OK selection. The rest of the menu will a list of drives and the directories available in the present directory if any. The names will be in brackets []. To change drive or directory, just select the item you want to change to. If you are not in the root directory, you may select [\] to go to the root directory or select [..] to go back one directory. Select OK when done. The present selected path will be displayed on the top line. The format selections will bring up a menu of the standard disk densities to format if available. (5.25 disks 360K or 1.2M, 3.50 disks 720K or 1.44M) THE POP-DOWN MENUS: FILES: The FILES pop-down menu has 5 selections available. Copy *(copy file(s) from a DIR) Delete *(delete file(s) from a DIR) Print (send a file to the printer) ReName (rename a file) Run (run a file, .COM .EXE .BAT only) Move *(available if using DOS 6.00 +) *Multiple files may be selected Note: If copying or moving more then one file, the files must go to a different directory or disk drive. The program will ask for a new file name if a single file is copied to the same directory. The copy selection first asks you to pick the file(s) you want copied, a short beep and then where you want them copied. The run selection will give you a menu of directories and only the files that have the extension .COM .EXE or .BAT to select from. You will then be asked for the run parameters if you want to enter any. All file menus will include the drives and directories available so you can easily move around your system. All drive, directory and file information will be listed in alphabetical order. The maximum number of items allowed is 2000. INFORMATION: The INFORMATION menu has 3 selections available. Function Keys (list all function keys) Help (display the help file) About COMMANDX (display copyright information) Note: The function key information menu can also be displayed by pressing the Page Down key. The function keys F1 through F9 and Shift+F1 through Shift+F9 can be changed using the FKEY statement in the CMDX.DFT file. By pressing one of the function keys, or selecting one from this menu, will put that key information on the command line. The command will not be saved as a previous command though. SETUP: The SETUP pop-down menu has 2 or 4 selections available. Line Edit Mode (OVERTYPE or INSERT) Blinking Mode *(enabled or disabled) Change COLOR setup *(display color selection menu) Done (save) (asks if changes are to be saved) *Displayed on color systems only. THE POP-DOWN MENUS: UTILITIES: This menu will list any COMMAND EXTRA utilities available. The utility files have the extension (.UTL) and are programmed using the utility file language built into COMMAND EXTRA. Utilities can be used for very powerful special purpose programs and are an important part of this programs useful features. The CMDX.HLP file is an example of a special utility program. See the UTILITY FILE PROGRAMMING REFERENCE MANUAL for more information. (Registered users only) APPLICATIONS: The APPLICATIONS menu is used to create, delete, edit or run a DOS program application. When selected, a list of applications (*.CXA) and an EDIT selection will be available. If no application are present then the following message is displayed: No Applications Present! Do You Wish To Create One? If this message is displayed and you wish to create one, type "Y" and press the ENTER key. To run an application, just select it from the menu. To create, delete or edit an application, select the EDIT line. (The first line in the menu.) After selecting the EDIT line you will get the following menu: ADD application DELETE application EDIT application Application Menu If you select delete or edit, you will be given a list of files to choose from. If you select add, you will be asked for the following information: APPLICATION DATA: Save as File name: [ ].CXA Path and name of file to run: [ ] Run Parameters: [ ] Path for program user files: [ ] Select file to run? (Y/N) [ ] Select file filter: [ ] Apply filter to Directoriess too? (Y/N) [ ] Pause before returning? (Y/N) [ ] Is all of the above correct? (Y/N) [ ] THE POP-DOWN MENUS: APPLICATIONS continued: If you are editing an application, all of the above except the file name can be changed. The application file name is what will be displayed in the applications menu. The name of the file to run can be any usable program. Do not include the .EXE .COM or .BAT file extensions. The run parameters can be any file names or switches to run with the program. If you want to be asked for the run parameters at the time the application is run, enter "(ASK)" on the run parameters line. The path for program user files is the startup directory path. If you want to pick a file to run with the program from a menu, enter "Y" for select file to run. The next two items are only used if you entered "Y". The select file filter can be used to filter the files available to select from. If you do not enter anything here, *.* (all files) will be used. Some programs like the DOS DIR internal command may be used on directories and not with specific files. To limit the selection to directories only, enter "(DIR)" as the file filter. If you want to apply the filter to the directories too, enter "Y" on the next line. Normally this is "N". If you want the message "Press any key to continue" after your program is done, enter "Y" for pause before returning. This is normally used only if you want to see any information the program may end with. If all the above is correct, enter "Y". If you enter "N" you will be asked for all of the above information again. DEFAULT FILE The CMDX.DFT file has the information needed to define the function keys for COMMANDX. The FKEY and SFKY statements in that file are used for this purpose. FKEY1 through FKEY9 define F1 through F9 and SFKY1 through SFKY9 define SHIFT+F1 through SHIFT+F9. Function keys F10, F11, F12 and SHIFT+F10, SHIFT+F11 and SHIFT+F12 are not presently programmable. (F10 is used to return the last command line.) Any ASCII file editor can be used to edit the CMDX.DFT file. The formats for the FKEY and SFKY statements are: FKEYn=command SFKYn=command n = number 1 to 9 command = any command that can be used on the DOS command line. If you want a carriage return <enter key> entered after the command, place a « character after the command. (Hold down the ALT key and enter 1 7 4 on the number key pad.) Another line in the CMDX.DFT file has the LODP command. This command loads in any previous command lines saved when you last quit COMMANDX. A file names CMDX.PVC is used to store this information. If you do not want the old commands loaded, just remove this line from the CMDX.DFT file. The last statement in the CMDX.DFT file is a PATH= statement. This statement defines the path to the directory COMMANDX will go to after it is started. COMMANDX.COM must start in the directory that contains all of the other COMMANDX files so it will know where to find these files when it needs to use them. If the PATH= statement is not used, the program would always start with a prompt of the directory that contains the COMMANDX files. Normally you will want to go to the hard drive root directory. The PATH statement format is: PATH=drive:\path If you want to start with the C drive root directory, use: PATH=C:\ There are many other statements that can be used in the CMDX.DFT file. These are just a few of the more common. See the UTILITY FILE PROGRAMMING REFERENCE MANUAL for more information. (registered users) ERROR MESSAGES Most error messages are self explanatory and are usually the result of file errors. All files used by COMMANDX must be in the directory the COMMANDX.COM file is in and that must be the active directory. A syntax or math error is possible if a utility file is being used or if the CMDX.DFT file is bad. See the Utility File Reference Manual for more information on these error messages. If you get a "NOT ENOUGH MEMORY AVAILABLE!" error, you or a batch file has most likely loaded a memory resident program or driver that was not removed before returning to COMMAND EXTRA. If a program requires a driver and that driver cannot be removed, it must be loaded before starting COMMAND EXTRA. The best place to do this is in the AUTOEXEC.BAT file. Failure to do this will most likely mean you will have to reboot your computer or exit COMMAND EXTRA to run the program.