Power-Programmierung

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

/ Power-Programmierung / CD1.mdf / 4dos / updat50.doc < prev next >

Wrap

Text File | 1993-12-16 | 24.6 KB | 639 lines

JP Software 4DOS Update Documentation Version 5.0 -- November 23, 1993 Copyright 1988 - 1993, JP Software Inc., All Rights Reserved. Published by JP Software Inc., P.O. Box 1470, E. Arlington, MA 02174 USA, (617) 646-3975. There are dozens of new features in this latest release of 4DOS! Check through this file for a comprehensive list of what's changed since version 4. This file does not explain how to use the new features. Be sure to check the Reference Manual or online help for complete details on each feature. Some of the descriptions below may be more detailed than you need; if you aren't using a feature, feel free to skip to the next item. If you are new to 4DOS with version 5.0, you can skip this file entirely, and begin with the 4DOS Introduction and Installation Guide. This file is divided into the following sections: General Features and Enhancements Startup, Initialization, and 4DOS.INI Command Line Editing and History Aliases Command Changes and Enhancements Variables and Variable Functions Bug Fixes Major new features and those which affect most users are marked with "**" in the lists below. Other items discuss smaller or more technical changes. This file is formatted at 58 lines per page, and contains form feeds and page footers. It can be viewed with a file viewer such as the 4DOS LIST command, or printed on most PC printers using the command: copy updat50.doc prn Printing it with a program that formats the pages is not likely to work due to the formatting included in the file. (12/93-5.0C) 4DOS 5.0 [11-23-93] UPDAT50.DOC page 1 4DOS 5.0 Change List General Features and Enhancements --------------------------------- => ** Date, time, and size ranges are now available for all file processing commands: ATTRIB, COPY, DEL, DESCRIBE, DIR, FOR, LIST, MOVE, RD, REN, SELECT, and TYPE. Ranges allow you to select files for processing based the date or date and time a file was last modified (a date range); the modification time only (a time range); the file size (a size range); or a combination of these. This is a powerful feature which substantially expands your file selection capabilities. => ** 4DOS now supports global alias and history lists, so that you can share aliases and / or the command history between multiple shells. To enable this feature use LocalAliases = No and / or LocalHistory = No in 4DOS.INI. Storage for the lists will be reserved in low memory; to put it in a UMB instead use UMBAlias or UMBHistory in 4DOS.INI. You can set up a global list in any shell and a local list in any shell. 4DOS should properly handle inheritance between shells regardless of the local / global settings. In OS/2 DOS sessions global lists are for one session only, you can NOT share them across multiple sessions! => ** .BTM files can now be compressed (and thereby "encrypted") with the new BATCOMP utility. 4DOS reads and processes compressed .BTM files just as it they were normal (uncompressed) files. This makes it easy for PC and network managers to distribute batch files whose contents cannot readily be altered by the end user. (The compression algorithm used is designed for fast, simple decompression, not extraordinarily efficient compression ratios. Therefore its primary value is for batch file distribution, not reduced disk usage.) => ** The maximum file description length has been increased to 200 characters, and the entire description is now displayed in the DIR output. => ** The prompt options for COPY, DEL, GLOBAL, MOVE, and REN have a third option now: 'R' (Remainder) turns off the Y/N/R prompt and performs the operation on the remainder of the matching files. => Commands that take a /P to pause output at the end of each page (ALIAS, DIR, SET, etc.) now accept an Esc as a "quit" character. 4DOS 5.0 [11-23-93] UPDAT50.DOC page 2 => Popup windows for the history lists, @SELECT, and filename completion now support horizontal scrolling. A left or right arrow will move the window 4 columns. => 4DOS now supports nested pipes (in command groups and batch files), and simultaneous pipes (in different 4DOS sessions). => Executable extensions can now call aliases as well as internal and external commands. => The 4DOS "prefix" commands (EXCEPT, FOR, GLOBAL, IF, and SELECT) parse their arguments slightly differently. This should help simplify batch files, and improve compatibility with COMMAND.COM. As a general rule, the need for multiple % signs and escape characters on the line after such commands has been dramatically reduced. If you have complex prefix commands with multiple % signs, back-quotes, or escape characters in the command to be executed you may have to edit them slightly to accommodate this change. => The way 4DOS detects ANSI.SYS and compatible drivers has been changed. The new method is more reliable and is much less likely to detect an ANSI driver that isn't there. However as a result 4DOS will no longer automatically detect ANSI drivers which do not use the "standard" (interrupt 2F) detection method provided with the DOS ANSI.SYS driver. Therefore some drivers which were previously detected automatically will now be missed. If you find that 4DOS does not detect your ANSI driver properly (for example, if the CLS and COLOR commands do not appear to work as you expect), use an ANSI=Yes directive in 4DOS.INI to tell 4DOS explicitly that you are using an ANSI driver (or an ANSI=No directive if you are not). See the Reference Manual or online help for more information on the ANSI directive in 4DOS.INI. Startup, Initialization, and 4DOS.INI ------------------------------------- => There are several changes to the startup switches: /P: Can be followed by a filename to be executed in place of AUTOEXEC (for example, /P:C:\STARTUP\STARTUP.BAT). If you want to pass parameters to AUTOEXEC, you can do so with quotes: /P:"C:\STARTUP\STARTUP.BAT JOB1 37". /Y: Forces 4START and AUTOEXEC into single-step mode. => AUTOEXEC.BAT now supports batch arguments. You can pass arguments in the AutoExecPath directive in 4DOS.INI (below), in the AutoExecParms directive (below), or via the /P: switch (above). 4DOS 5.0 [11-23-93] UPDAT50.DOC page 3 => 4START is now passed the startup command line as batch file arguments. This allows you to determine what parameters an application is passing to a secondary shell. => There are many new or changed 4DOS.INI directives: AutoExecPath = path: Sets the path and (optionally) filename for AUTOEXEC.BAT. AutoExecParms = string: Parameters to be passed to AUTOEXEC.BAT. ** BrightBG = Yes | NO: (Introduced in 4DOS 4.02.) Set to Yes to enable bright background displays rather than blinking text on EGA and VGA systems. See the section on Colors and Color Names in the manual or online help before using BrightBG. Descriptions = YES | No: Enables or disables processing of file descriptions in COPY, DEL, MOVE, and REN. HistCopy = Yes | NO: If set to YES, 4DOS will copy a command recalled from the history back to the end of the history list. HistLogName = filename: Specifies the default name for the history log file. INIQuery = Yes | NO: If set to Yes, 4DOS will display a prompt after each subsequent line in the current INI file. ** InputColors = Color: 4DOS will display your command line input in the specified color. ** LocalAliases = YES | No: If set to No, 4DOS will create a common alias list for all copies of the command processor. ** LocalHistory = YES | No: If set to No, 4DOS will create a common history list for all copies of the command processor. ListStatBarColors = Color: Sets the LIST status bar colors. OutputBIOS = Yes | NO: If YES, 4DOS will use the BIOS routines for screen I/O in those commands which normally write directly to the screen. Required only for DOS/V (Japan) and some very unusual video cards. ScreenColumns = nnnn: This is primarily for use with OutputBIOS. It specifies the number of columns to use rather than using the value in the ROM BIOS data area. SelectColors = Color: Sets the SELECT screen colors. 4DOS 5.0 [11-23-93] UPDAT50.DOC page 4 SelectStatBarColors = Color: Sets the SELECT status bar colors. ** UMBAlias = Yes | NO | 1 ... 8: Load global aliases into a UMB or a specific UMB region, rather than into low memory. ** UMBHistory = Yes | NO | 1 ... 8: Load global history into a UMB or a specific UMB region, rather than into low memory. ** UMBLoad = Yes | NO | 1 ... 8: Now allows loading 4DOS into a single, specific UMB region. ** UMBEnvironment = Yes | NO | 1 ... 8: Now allows loading the environment into a single, specific UMB region. => 4DOS now allows non-4DOS section names (names other than [Primary] or [Secondary] in 4DOS.INI. Directives in such sections are ignored. Command Line Editing and History -------------------------------- => ** There is a new popup directory history window which shows recent directories you've used. To pop up the window, press Ctrl-PgUp. Select a line and press Enter to return to the highlighted directory. => ** There is a new filename completion window. F7 or Ctrl-Tab will pop up a pick-list window of all the matching files, and Enter will insert the selected filename into the command line. => ** You can set the colors for input you type at the prompt with the new InputColors directive in 4DOS.INI. => You can control whether recalled history lines are copied to the end of the history with the new HistCopy directive in 4DOS.INI. => History saves are now case-sensitive. Aliases ------- => ** There is a new kind of keystroke alias. If you preface the key name with two @ symbols, 4DOS will execute the command immediately, without echoing the alias. => ** If you enter an unknown command, 4DOS will now look for an alias "UNKNOWN_CMD", and will execute that alias after appending the command line. WARNING: If the UNKNOWN_CMD alias contains an unknown command, your system will loop forever! 4DOS 5.0 [11-23-93] UPDAT50.DOC page 5 => ALIAS /R files can have lines continued if the line ends in an escape character. Command Changes and Enhancements -------------------------------- => ATTRIB will now append a "\*.*" to a directory name, unless you specified the /D option. => COPY, DEL, MOVE, and REN have a new switch: /T(otal) to display file counts only. This disables the display of file names (like /Q), but still displays the totals. => DEL now supports the /F(orce delete) option in OS/2 2.1 DOS sessions. A /F will delete the file without saving it to the "undelete" directory. => DEL displays the disk space freed in the summary line. => ** DIR has several changes: * Colorization is fully supported without ANSI.SYS. * Descriptions can be up to 200 characters long. Those which are too long to fit on the screen will be word-wrapped at the right edge of the screen. * New switches and switch changes: /C: (Compression) You can now use /CP or /CHP to return the compression value as a percentage instead of a ratio. If you use /CHP, the P must follow the H -- /CPH will NOT work. Also, SuperStor drives are now supported (see APPNOTES.DOC for details on compression support). /H: (New) Do not display "." and "..". /I: (New) Display only those files whose descriptions match the specified text. The text can include any of the 4DOS extended wildcards; the search is case insensitive. /R: (New) Disable long description wrapping. If /R is used for on-screen display the description is truncated with a right arrow. In redirected output the entire description is sent to the output device as one long line. => ** DO is a new loop control command for batch files. You can use several methods to control the loop: 4DOS 5.0 [11-23-93] UPDAT50.DOC page 6 DO n: Repeat the loop n times. DO FOREVER: Repeat the loop until you exit with LEAVE or GOTO. DO var = start TO end [BY n]: Repeat the loop until the variable passes the end value. DO WHILE condition: Repeat the loop while the condition is true (the condition can be any of those available in the IF and IFF commands). DO UNTIL condition: Repeat the loop until the condition becomes true. A loop terminates with an ENDDO. You can use ITERATE to return to the start of a loop, and LEAVE to exit a loop. => DRAWBOX has a new ZOOM option. => IF and IFF now support decimals in numeric tests. => INKEY has two new switches: /C: Clears the keyboard buffer before accepting input. /P: Does not echo your input (for passwords). => INPUT has four new switches: /C: Clears the keyboard buffer before accepting input. /E: Displays and allows you to edit an existing value. /L: Sets the maximum input length. /P: Displays asterisks for your input (for passwords). => ** KEYBD is a new command to toggle the state of the Caps Lock, Num Lock, and Scroll Lock keys. => ** LIST has been completely rewritten and offers many new features: * Line and column numbers are displayed, and you can go to a specific line. * Hexadecimal display, print, and search are now supported. * You can pop up a window with the current fully expanded filename, size, date and time. * LIST is significantly faster. => LOG now supports a "history" log, which is independent from the regular command log. The history log saves the original commands entered into the history list, without the date and time 4DOS 5.0 [11-23-93] UPDAT50.DOC page 7 information stored in the normal log file, and before alias and variable expansion. You can use it as an aid in writing batch files or creating a history file which can be reloaded later. => ** MD has a new switch: /S builds all necessary intermediate directories. For example, MD /S \DIR1\DIR2\DIR3 will create all three directories if necessary. => MOVE will now display the space freed (if any), like DEL, and supports the /F(orce delete) option in OS/2 2.1 DOS sessions. A /F will delete the file without saving it to the "undelete" directory. => ** ON is a new error-handling command for batch files: ON BREAK command: Execute the command when a ^C or ^Break is detected. ON ERROR command: Execute the command after a DOS or 4DOS error. => SCREEN, SCRPUT, and VSCRPUT now accept row and column offsets relative to the current cursor position. To specify a relative offset, rather than an absolute row or column, use a + or - before the argument. => SELECT now supports the /CP and /CHP compression switches, and the /I switch to select files by description (see DIR for details). => ** SETDOS has four new options: /B: Sets your EGA or VGA board for blinking text (/B0, the default) or bright background colors (/B1). See the section on colors and color names in the manual for details before using this option. Also see the BrightBG directive in 4DOS.INI. /D: Enables (/D1, the default) or disables (/D0) description processing for COPY, DEL, MOVE, and REN. Also see the Descriptions directive in 4DOS.INI. /X: Controls command parsing. You can enable or disable alias and variable expansion, multiple and conditional commands, redirection and pipes, command grouping, quoting, and the escape character. For use in batch files to avoid problems with special characters in text strings. /Y: Enables (/Y1) or disables (/Y0) single-step operation in batch files. Use this option for batch file debugging. 4DOS 5.0 [11-23-93] UPDAT50.DOC page 8 => ** START is a new command for OS/2 2.1 users only. It starts a DOS, Windows, or OS/2 application from an OS/2 DOS session. Most of the switches supported by the 4OS2 START command are available under 4DOS as well. Variables and Variable Functions -------------------------------- (When using variables and variable functions remember that the name must be preceded by a "%" sign: %+, %_DAY, %@FILEOPEN, etc.): => The _CPU variable now returns "586" for Pentium processors. => ** The new internal variables are: Variable Returns -------- ----------------------------------------------- = the current escape character (can be embedded in commands, but cannot be ECHOed) + the current command separator (can be embedded in commands, but cannot be ECHOed) ?? the reason an external program terminated _APMAC AC status _APMBATT battery status _APMLIFE remaining battery life _BG now includes bright background colors when appropriate _COUNTRY the country code _DAY the day of the month (1 - 31) _DOY the day of the year (1 - 366) _HOUR the hour (0 - 23) _KSTACK 1 if KSTACK.COM is loaded, 0 if not _HLOGFILE the name of the current history log file _LOGFILE the name of the current log file _MINUTE the minute (0 - 59) _MONTH the month of the year (1-12) _SECOND the second (0 - 59) _SWAPPING the swapping type (XMS, EMS, DISK, or OFF) _SYSERR the error code for the most recent DOS error _WINTITLE the title of the current OS/2 2.x DOS session _YEAR the year (1980-2099) => You can now include commas in the result of @EMS, @XMS, @FILESIZE, and other similar functions by following the units character (b|B|k|K|m|M) with a 'c'. For example, "@filesize[4dos.com,bc]" will display the size of 4DOS.COM in bytes, with a comma every three digits. => @FILESIZE will now return the total size of all matching files if you specify wildcards in the filename. 4DOS 5.0 [11-23-93] UPDAT50.DOC page 9 => ** The new variable functions are: (Be sure to read the manual or online help before using the @FILECLOSE, @FILEOPEN, @FILEREAD, @FILESEEK, or @FILEWRITE functions.) @CDROM[d:]: Returns 1 if the drive is a CD-ROM, 0 if not. @DEC[var]: Returns the decremented value of a variable (the same as %@EVAL[var-1]). @FILEAGE[fname]: Returns the date and time as a single numeric value (useful for comparing file dates and times). @FILECLOSE[n]: Close the file whose handle is "n". @FILENAME[fname]: returns the name + extension (no path) @FILEOPEN[filename,read | write | append]: Opens the file in the specified mode and returns the file handle. @FILEREAD[n]: Reads a line from the file whose handle is "n". @FILES[filename]: Returns the number of files matching the filename specification. @FILESEEK[handle,offset,start]: Seeks to the specified offset in the file whose handle is "n". @FILEWRITE[n]: Writes a line to the file whose handle is "n". @FINDFIRST[fname,[nrhsa]]: Find the first matching file and return its name. @FINDNEXT[fname,[nrhsa]]: Find the next matching file. @INC[var]: Returns the incremented value of a variable (the same as %@EVAL[var+1]). @INSTR[start,length,string]: The same as SUBSTR, but puts the start and length at the beginning to avoid problems with commas in the string. @MASTER[varname]: Return a value from the master environment. @NUMERIC[n]: Returns 1 if the variable is composed entirely of numeric digits (0-9), or the thousands or decimal separators. 4DOS 5.0 [11-23-93] UPDAT50.DOC page 10 @RANDOM[min,max]: Returns a random integer value between min and max, inclusive. @REPEAT[c,n]: returns the character repeated 'n' times. @TRIM[string]: Strips leading and trailing whitespace (blanks and tabs) from the string. Bug Fixes --------- => Fixed a bug that prevented /D from disabling AUTOEXEC when using the F8 key under DOS 6 and AutoExecPath was set to an explicit file name. => Fixed NetwareNames so it works properly even if UMBLoad fails. Also NetwareNames is now ignored except in the true primary shell. => In a primary shell, 4DOS.INI is now located on the boot drive, not the current drive at startup time. This should affect OS/2 users only -- boot drive and current drive are the same under DOS. 4DOS 5.0 [11-23-93] UPDAT50.DOC page 11