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WinBatch 1.0 User's Manual For IBM (R) PC/XT (R), PC/AT (R), PS/2 (R) and compatibles Wilson WindowWare 2701 California Ave SW ste 212 Seattle, WA 98116 Orders:(800) 762-8383 Support: (206) 937-9335 Fax: (206) 935-7129 Copyright 1988-1991 by Morrie Wilson. All rights reserved. No part of this manual may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, for any purpose without the express written permission of Wilson WindowWare. Information in this document is subject to change without notice and does not represent a commitment by Wilson WindowWare. The software described herein is furnished under a license agreement. It is against the law to copy this software under any circumstances except as provided by the license agreement. U.S. Government Restricted Rights Use, duplication, or disclosure by the Government is subject to restrictions as set forth in subdivision (b)(3)(ii) of the Rights in Technical Data and Computer Software clause at 252.227-7013. Contractor/manufacturer is Wilson WindowWare/2701 California Ave SW /ste 212/Seattle, WA 98116 Trademarks IBM, PC/XT, PC/AT, and PS/2 are registered trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation. Microsoft and MS-DOS are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. Windows, Word for Windows, and Excel are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. Scramble is a trademark of Diana Gruber. Command Post, WinBatch, and WinEdit are trademarks of Wilson WindowWare. ii CONTENTS CONTENTS CONTENTS iii INTRODUCTION vii System Requirements vii About This Manual vii Notational Conventions viii Acknowledgements viii GETTING STARTED 1 TUTORIAL 2 WinBatch Basics 2 What is a Batch File? 2 Our First WinBatch File 2 Functions and Parameters 3 Displaying Text 4 Getting Input 5 Using Variables 6 Making Decisions 7 Branching 9 Exploring WinBatch 11 Running Programs 11 Display and Input 12 Manipulating Windows 13 Files and Directories 16 Handling Errors 18 Selection Menus 19 Nicer Dialog Boxes 22 Running DOS Programs 24 Sending Keystrokes to Programs 24 Our Completed WinBatch File 25 WINBATCH LANGUAGE 27 Language Components 27 Constants 27 Identifiers 28 Variables 28 Keywords Are Reserved 28 Operators 28 Precedence and evaluation order 29 Comments 30 Statements 30 Substitution 30 Function Parameters 31 Error Handling 31 The Functions & Statements 32 Inputting Information 32 Displaying Information 32 File Management 32 Directory Management 33 iii CONTENTS Disk Drive Management 33 Window Management 34 Program Management 34 String Handling 35 Arithmetic Functions 36 Clipboard Handling 36 System Control 36 WBL FUNCTION REFERENCE 39 Introduction 39 Abs 40 AskLine 40 AskYesNo 41 Average 41 Beep 42 Call 42 CallExt 42 Char2Num 43 ClipAppend 43 ClipGet 44 ClipPut 45 DateTime 45 Debug 46 Delay 47 DialogBox 47 DirChange 47 DirGet 48 DirHome 48 DirItemize 49 DirMake 49 DirRemove 50 DiskFree 50 Display 51 DOSVersion 51 Drop 52 EndSession 52 Environment 53 ErrorMode 53 Execute 54 Exit 54 Exclusive 55 FileClose 55 FileCopy 56 FileDelete 56 FileExist 57 FileExtension 58 FileItemize 58 FileLocate 59 FileMove 60 FileOpen 60 FilePath 61 FileRead 61 FileRename 62 FileRoot 63 iv CONTENTS FileSize 63 FileWrite 64 Goto 64 If_Then 64 IgnoreInput 65 IniRead 65 IniReadPvt 66 IniWrite 66 IniWritePvt 67 IsDefined 67 IsKeyDown 68 IsLicensed 68 IsNumber 69 ItemSelect 69 LastError 70 LogDisk 71 Max 71 Message 72 Min 72 Num2Char 73 ParseData 73 Pause 74 Random 74 Return 74 Run 75 RunHide 75 RunIcon 76 RunZoom 77 SendKey 78 SKDebug 79 StrCat 80 StrCmp 80 StrFill 81 StrFix 81 StriCmp 82 StrIndex 83 StrLen 83 StrLower 84 StrReplace 84 StrScan 85 StrSub 86 StrTrim 86 StrUpper 87 TextBox 87 Version 88 WinActivate 88 WinArrange 89 WinClose 89 WinCloseNot 90 WinConfig 91 WinExist 91 WinGetActive 92 WinHide 92 WinIconize 93 v CONTENTS WinItemize 93 WinPlace 94 WinPosition 95 WinShow 96 WinTitle 96 WinVersion 97 WinWaitClose 97 WinZoom 98 Yield 99 APPENDIX A Predefined Constants 100 APPENDIX B Errors 101 Minor Errors 101 Moderate Errors 101 Fatal Errors 102 Index 107 vi INTRODUCTION INTRODUCTION WinBatch is a new batch language interpreter which brings the power of batch language programming to the Windows environment. WinBatch files can do pretty much everything the old DOS batch files could do, but WinBatch goes far beyond the capabilities of the DOS batch language. WinBatch files can: * Run Windows and DOS programs. * Resize and rearrange windows. * Send keystrokes directly to applications. * Display information to the user in various formats. * Prompt the user for input. * Present scrollable file and directory lists. * Copy, move, delete, and rename files. * Read and write files directly. * Perform string and arithmetic operations. * Make branching decisions based upon numerous factors. And much, much more. Whether you are creating batch files for others, or looking for a way to automate your own work and eliminate the drudgery of repetitive tasks, you will find WinBatch to be a powerful, versatile, and easy-to-use tool. System Requirements WinBatch 1.0 requires an IBM PC or compatible with a minimum of 640K memory running Microsoft Windows version 3.0 or higher. About This Manual This manual is divided into four sections: First is Getting Started (pg. 1), where we tell you how to install the program. Then we offer an extensive Tutorial, to get both beginning and advanced users quickly up to speed with creating WinBatch files (pg. 21). Then we describe the different elements of the WinBatch Language (WBL) (pg. 27). Finally, there is a comprehensive WBL Function Reference (pg. 39), which contains vii INTRODUCTION detailed information on each of the WinBatch functions and statements. Notational Conventions Throughout this manual, we use the following conventions to distinguish elements of text: ALL-CAPS Used for filenames. Boldface Used for important points, programs, function names, and parts of syntax that must appear as shown. system Used for menu items as they appear to the user. Small fixed-width Used for batch file sample code. Acknowledgements WinBatch 1.0 designed & written by Morrie Wilson. User's Manual designed by Richard Merit. Written by Richard Merit & Morrie Wilson. Our thanks to the many beta-testers for their invaluable comments & suggestions. viii GETTING STARTED GETTING STARTED WinBatch is quite easy to install. You will find an appropriate diskette in your WinBatch package. Take the diskette and insert it into your floppy drive. The WinBatch installation program is itself a Windows application, so make sure Windows is running. From the Program Manager, doubleclick on the File Manager icon to run it. When File Manager starts, click on the A: or B: drive icon, depending on which floppy drive you used. A directory tree will appear for the WinBatch diskette. You should see a root directory icon. Doubleclick on this icon and a list of filenames will appear. Find the filename SETUP.EXE and doubleclick on it. Follow whatever instructions Setup gives you. Setup will create the necessary files and place them into a directory it will prompt you for. As the installation program finishes it will display the README.TXT file. You should take the time to read this file as it contains any late-breaking information about your copy of WinBatch. 1 TUTORIAL TUTORIAL WinBatch Basics What is a Batch File? A batch file, whether a DOS batch file or a WinBatch file, is simply a list of commands for the computer to process. Any task which will be run more than once, or which requires entering many commands or even a single complicated command, is a candidate for a batch file. For example, suppose you regularly enter the following commands to start Windows: First: cd\windows then: win and then: cd\ Here, you are changing to the Windows directory, running Windows, and then returning to the root directory. Instead of having to type these three commands every time you run Windows, you can create a DOS batch file, called WI.BAT, which contains those exact same commands: cd\windows win cd\ Now, to start Windows, you merely need to type the single command WI, which starts the WI.BAT batch file, which runs your three commands. WinBatch files work the same way. Our First WinBatch File Our first Winbatch file will simply start up our favorite Windows application: Solitaire. First, start up Notepad, or any other editor which is capable of saving text in pure ASCII format (may we suggest WinEdit, from Wilson WindowWare). Next, enter the following line: Run("sol.exe","") Save the file as SOLITARE.WBT. Now, run SOLITARE.WBT by starting or switching to the File Manager, and either moving the cursor to 2 TUTORIAL the file name and pressing Enter, or double-clicking on the file name with your mouse. Presto! It's Solitaire. Okay, that wasn't very impressive. But it did serve to illustrate several important WinBatch points. They are: 1. WinBatch files must be edited and saved in ASCII format. 2. WinBatch files should be created with a WBT extension. When WinBatch is first installed, it creates an entry in your WIN.INI file which causes files with a WBT extension to be associated with WinBatch. As long as WINBATCH.EXE is located in your DOS path, you can place WBT files in any directory and run them by simply selecting them. 3. After you have created a WBT file, you run it by cursoring to it and pressing Enter, or double-clicking on it with your mouse (you can also add a WBT file to a program group and run it using the Program Manager; see your Windows manual for further information). Whatever method you use, we'll use the term Run to refer to selecting and running the file. Functions and Parameters Now, let's look more closely at the line we entered: Run("sol.exe", "") The first part, Run, is a WinBatch function. As you might have guessed, its purpose is to run a Windows program. There are over a hundred functions and statements in WinBatch, and each has a certain syntax which must be used. The syntax for all WinBatch functions may be found in the WBL Function Reference (pg. 39). The entry for Run starts off as follows: Syntax: Run (program-name, parameters) Parameters: "program-name" = the name of the desired .EXE, .COM, .PIF, .BAT file, or a data file. "parameters" = optional parameters as required by the application. Like all WinBatch functions, Run is followed by a number of parameters, enclosed in parentheses. Parameters are simply additional information which are provided when a particular function is used; they made either be required or optional. Optional parameters are indicated by being enclosed in brackets. In this case, Run has two required parameters: the program name, and the parameters which get passed to the application. There are several types of parameters which you can use. Multiple parameters are separated by commas. In the example Run("sol.exe", "") 3 TUTORIAL "sol.exe" and "" are both string constants. String constants can be identified by the quote marks which delimit (surround) them (you may use either double ("), single forward (') or single back (`) quote marks as string delimiters; the examples in this manual will use double quotes). You may have noticed how we said earlier that the two parameters for the Run function are required, and yet the entry for Run in the WBL Function Reference describes the second parameter -- "parameters" -- as being optional. Which is correct? Well, from a language standpoint, the second parameter is required. That is, if you omit it, you will get a syntax error, and your batch file will not run properly. However, the program that you are running may not need any parameters. Solitaire, for example, does not take any parameters. The way we handle this in our batch file is to specify an empty string -- two quote marks with nothing in between -- as the second parameter, as we have done in our example above. To illustrate this further, let's create a WinBatch file called EDIT.WBT, containing the following line: Run("notepad.exe", "") This is just like our previous file, with only the name of the program changed. Save the file, and run it. You should now be in Notepad. Now edit the EDIT.WBT file as follows: Run("notepad.exe", "solitare.wbt") Save the file, exit Notepad, and run EDIT.WBT again. You should now be in Notepad, with SOLITARE.WBT loaded. As we've just demonstrated, Notepad is an example of a program which can be run with or without a file name parameter passed to it by WinBatch. Before you leave Notepad, modify EDIT.WBT as follows: ; This is an example of the Run function in WinBatch Run("notepad.exe", "solitare.wbt") The semicolon at the beginning of the first line signifies a comment, and causes that line to be ignored. You can place comment lines, and/or blank lines anywhere in your WinBatch files. In addition, you can place a comment on the same line as a function by preceding the comment with a semicolon. For example: Run("sol.exe", "") ;this is a very useful function Everything to the right of a semicolon is ignored. However, if a semicolon appears in a string delimited by quotes, it is considered part of the string. Displaying Text Now, let's modify our SOLITARE.WBT file as follows. You might as well use the EDIT.WBT batch file you created earlier to start up Notepad: 4 TUTORIAL ; solitare.wbt Display(5, "Good Luck!", "Remember ... it's only a game.") Run("sol.exe", "") And run it. Notice the message box which pops up on the screen with words of encouragement. That's done by the Display function in the second line above. Here's the reference for the Display function: Syntax: Display (seconds, title, text) Parameters: seconds = integer seconds to display the message (1-15). "title" = Title of the window to be displayed. "text" = Text of the window to be displayed. Note that the Display function has three parameters. The first parameter -- in our example, 5 -- is the number of seconds which the message box will remain on the screen (you can also make the box disappear by pressing a key or mouse button). This is a numeric constant, and -- unlike a string constants -- it does not need to be enclosed in quotes (although it can be, if you wish, as WinBatch will automatically try to convert string variables to numeric variables when necessary, and vice versa). The second parameter is the title of the message box, and the third parameter is the actual text displayed in the box. Now, exit Solitaire (if you haven't already done so), and edit SOLITARE.WBT by placing a semicolon at the beginning of the line with the Run function. This is a handy way to disable, or "comment out," lines in your WinBatch files when you want to modify and test only selected segments. Your SOLITARE.WBT file should look like this: ; solitare.wbt Display(5, "Good Luck!", "Remember ... it's only a game.") ;Run("sol.exe", "") Now, experiment with modifying the parameters in the Display function. Try adjusting the value of the first parameter. If you look up Display in the WBL reference section, you will notice that the acceptable values for this parameter are 1-15. If you try to use a value outside this range, WinBatch will adjust it to "make it fit"; that is, it will treat numbers less than 1 as 1, and numbers greater than 15 as 15. Try it. Also, try giving it a non-integer, such as 2.5, and see what happens. Play around with the text in the two string parameters; try making one, or both, empty strings (""). Getting Input Now, let's look at ways of getting input from a user and making decisions based on that input. The most basic form of input is a simple Yes/No response, and, indeed, there is a WinBatch function called AskYesNo: 5 TUTORIAL Syntax: AskYesNo (title, question) Parameters "title" = title of the question box. "question" = question to be put to the user. Returns: (integer) @YES or @NO, depending on the button pressed. You should be familiar with the standard syntax format by now; it shows us that AskYesNo has two required parameters. The Parameters section tells us that these parameters both take strings (indicated by the quote marks), and tells us what each of the parameters means. You will notice that there is also a new section here, titled Returns. This selection shows you the possible values that may be returned by this function. All functions return values. In the case of Run and Display, we weren't concerned with the values that those functions returned. But with AskYesNo, the returned value is very important, because we will need that information to decide how to proceed. We see that AskYesNo returns an integer value. An integer is simply a non-decimal number, such as 0, 1, or 2. The number 1.5 is not an integer. We see further that the integer value returned by AskYesNo is either @YES or @NO. @YES and @NO are predefined constants in WinBatch. All predefined constants begin with an @ symbol, and we will distinguish them further by typing them in all caps. You will find a list of all predefined constants in Appendix A (pg. 100). Even though the words "Yes" and "No" are strings, it is important to remember that the predefined constants @YES and @NO are not string variables (in fact, they are integers). Now, let's modify our SOLITARE.WBT file as follows: AskYesNo("Really?", "Do you really want to play Solitaire now?") Run("sol.exe", "") and run it. You should have gotten a nice dialog box which asked if you wanted to play Solitaire, but no matter what you answered, it started Solitaire anyway. This isn't good. We need a way to use the Yes/No response to determine further processing. First, we need to explore the concept and use of variables. Using Variables A variable is simply a placeholder for a value. The value that the variable stands for can be either a text string (string variable) or a number (numeric variable). If you remember Algebra 101, you know that if X=3, then X+X=6. X is simply a numeric variable, which stands here for the number 3. If we change the value of X to 4 (X=4), then the expression X+X is now equal to 8. By the same token, we can say that if Y="morning", then "good"+Y="good morning". If we change the value of Y to 6 TUTORIAL "afternoon", then the result of our expression is now "good afternoon". Clear so far? Now, we know that the AskYesNo function returns a value of either @YES or @NO. What we need to do is create a variable to store the value that AskYesNo returns, so that we can use it later on. First, we need to give this variable a name. In WinBatch, variable names must begin with a letter, may contain any combination of letters or numbers, and may be from 1 to 30 characters long. So, let's use a variable called 'response' (we will distinguish variable names in this text by typing them in all lowercase letters; we will type function and statement names starting with a capital letter. However, in WinBatch, the case is irrelevant, so you can use all lowercase, or all uppercase, or whatever combination you prefer). We assign the value returned by the AskYesNo function to the variable called 'response' as follows: response = AskYesNo("Really?", "Do you really want to play Solitaire now?") Notice the syntax. The way that WinBatch process this line is to first evaluate the result of the AskYesNo function. The function returns a value of either @YES or @NO. Then, WinBatch assigns this returned value to 'response'. Therefore, 'response' is now equal to @YES or @NO. Now, all we need is a way to make a decision based upon this variable. Making Decisions WinBatch provides a way to conditionally execute a statement. The way this is done is with the If ... Then statement. Actually, there are two parts to this construct: If and Then (naturally). The format is: If condition Then function The use of If ... Then can be illustrated easily by going back to our SOLITARE.WBT file, and making these modifications: response = AskYesNo("Really?", "Do you really want to play Solitaire now?") If response == @YES Then Run("sol.exe", "") As you can see, we are using If ... Then to test whether the response to the question posed in AskYesNo is @YES. If it is @YES, then we start Solitaire. If it's not @YES, then we don't start Solitaire. The rule is: if the condition following the If keyword is true, then the function following the Then keyword is performed. If the condition following the If keyword is false, then anything following the Then keyword is ignored There is something extremely important that you should note about the condition following the If keyword: the double equal signs (==). In WinBatch, a single equal sign (=) is an assignment 7 TUTORIAL operator -- it assigns the value on the right of the equal sign to the variable on the left of the equal sign. As in: response = AskYesNo("Really?", "Do you really want to play Solitaire now?") This is saying, in English: "Assign the value returned by the AskYesNo function to the variable called 'response'." But in the statement: If response == @YES Then Run("sol.exe", "") we do not want to assign a new value to response, we merely want to test whether it is equal to @YES. Therefore, we use the double equal sign (==), which is the equality operator in WinBatch. The statement above is saying, in English: "If the value of the variable called 'response' is equal to @YES, then run the program SOL.EXE." What would happen if we used a single equal sign (=) here instead? Well, since the single equal sign (=) is the assignment operator, Winbatch would first assign the value @YES to the variable 'response'. Then, it would perform the If function by testing the condition following the keyword If. Since an assignment operation always results in a true condition, the condition following the If keyword would always be true, and the function following the Then keyword would always be performed, regardless of the value of AskYesNo. If you've become confused now, just remember that a single equal sign (=) is an assignment operator, used to assign a value to a variable. A double equal sign (==) is an equality operator, used to test whether the values on both sides of the operator are the same. If you ever have a problem with one of your WinBatch files, the first thing you check should be whether you've used '=' instead of '=='. We cannot emphasize this too strongly! We've seen what happens when the condition following the Then keyword is true. But what happens when it is false? Remember we said that when the If condition is false, the Then function is ignored. There will be times, however when we want to perform an alternate action in this event. For example, suppose we want to display a message if the user decides he or she doesn't want to play Solitaire. We could say: response = AskYesNo("Really?", "Do you really want to play Solitaire now?") If response == @YES Then Run("sol.exe", "") If response == @NO Then Display(5, "Game Canceled", "Smart move ... I think the boss is standing behind you.") In this case there are two If statements being evaluated, with one and only one of them possibly being true (unless the user selected the Cancel button, which would abort the batch file entirely). However, this is not very efficient from a processing point of view. Furthermore, what would happen if you had several functions you wanted to perform if the user answered 'Yes'? You would end up with something unwieldy, like: 8 TUTORIAL response = AskYesNo("Really?", "Do you really want to play Solitaire now?") If response == @YES Then Display(5, "", "On your mark ...") If response == @YES Then Display(5, "", "Get set ...") If response == @YES Then Display(5, "", "Go!") If response == @YES Then Run("sol.exe", "") Clearly, there must be a better way of handling this. Branching Enter the Goto function. Goto, in combination with If ... Then, gives you complete control over the flow of control in your WinBatch files. Goto does exactly what it says -- it causes the flow of control to go to another point in the batch file. You must specify where you want the flow of control to be transferred, and you must mark this point with a label. A label is simply a destination address. The form of the Goto function is: Goto label where label is an identifier that you specify. The same rules apply to label names as to variable names (the first character must be a letter, the label name may consist of any combination of letters and numbers, and the label name may be from 1 to 30 characters long). In addition, the label is preceded by a colon at the point where it is being used as a destination address. Here's an example: response = AskYesNo("Really?", "Do you really want to play Solitaire now?") If response == @NO Then Goto quit Display(5, "", "On your mark ...") Display(5, "", "Get set ...") Display(5, "", "Go!") Run("sol.exe", "") :quit If the If condition is true (that is, the user answered 'No'), then the Goto function is performed. The Goto statement is saying, in English "go to the line marked ':quit' and continue processing from there." Notice how the label 'quit' is preceded by colon on the last line, but not on the line with the Goto function. This is important. Although you can have multiple lines in your batch file which say 'Goto quit', you can have only one line marked ':quit'. Of course, you can use many different labels in a batch file, just as you can use many different variables, as long as each has a unique name. For example: response = AskYesNo("Really?", "Do you really want to play Solitaire now?") If response == @NO Then Goto quit Display(5, "", "On your mark ...") Display(5, "", "Get set ...") Display(5, "", "Go!") 9 TUTORIAL Run("sol.exe", "") Goto done :quit Display(5, "Game Canceled", "Smart move ... I think the boss is standing behind you.") :done This is a little more complicated. It uses two labels, 'quit' and 'done'. If the user answers 'No', then the If condition is true, control passes to the line marked ':quit', and a message is displayed. If, on the other hand, the user answers 'Yes', then the If condition is false, and the 'Goto quit' line is ignored. Instead, the next four lines are processed, and then the 'Goto done' line is unconditionally performed. The purpose of this line is to bypass the Display line which follows by transferring control to the end of the batch file. There is another way to keep your batch file processing from "falling through" to unwanted lines at the end of a program, and that is with the Exit function. Exit causes a batch file to end immediately. So, for example, we could rewrite the above batch file as follows: response = AskYesNo("Really?", "Do you really want to play Solitaire now?") If response == @NO Then Goto quit Display(5, "", "On your mark ...") Display(5, "", "Get set ...") Display(5, "", "Go!") Run("sol.exe", "") Exit :quit Display(5, "Game Canceled", "Smart move ... I think the boss is standing behind you.") Since the Run function is the last thing we want to do if the user answers 'Yes', the Exit function simply ends the program at that point. Note that we could put an Exit function at the end of the program as well, but it isn't necessary. An Exit is implied at the end of a WinBatch program. This concludes the first part of our tutorial. You now have the building blocks you need to create useful WinBatch files. In the second part, which follows, we will look at a some of the WinBatch functions which are available for your use. 10 TUTORIAL Exploring WinBatch What follows is just a sample of the functions and statements available in WinBatch. These should be sufficient to begin creating versatile and powerful batch files. For complete information on these and all WinBatch functions and statements, refer to the WBL Function Reference (pg. 39). Running Programs There are three functions which you can use to start an application, each of which shares a common syntax: Run (program-name, parameters) We've already seen the Run function. This function starts a program in a "normal" window. Windows decides where to place the application's window on the screen. Example: Run("Notepad.exe", "myfile.txt") If the program has an EXE extension, its extension may be omitted: Run("Notepad", "myfile.txt") Also, you can "run" data files if they have an extension in WIN.INI which is associated with a program. So, if TXT files are associated with Notepad: Run("myfile.txt", "") would start Notepad, using the file MYFILE.TXT. When you specify a file to run, WinBatch looks first in the current directory, and then in the directories on your DOS Path. If the file is not found, WinBatch will return an error. You can also specify a full path name for WinBatch to use, as in: Run("c:\windows\apps\winedit.exe", "") RunZoom (program-name, parameters) RunZoom is like Run, but it starts a program as a full-screen window. Example: RunZoom("excel", "bigsheet.xls") RunIcon (program-name, parameters) RunIcon starts a program as an icon at the bottom of the screen. Example: RunIcon("clock", "") 11 TUTORIAL Display and Input Here we have functions which display information to the user and prompt the user for information, plus a couple of relevant system functions. Display (seconds, title, text) Displays a message to the user for a specified time. The message will disappear after the time expires, or after any keypress or mouse click. Example: Display(2, "", "Loading Solitaire now") Message (title, text) This command displays a message box with a title and text you specify, until the user presses the OK button. Example: Message("Sorry", "That file cannot be found") Pause (title, text) This command is similar to Message, except an exclamation-point icon appears in the message box, and the user can press OK or Cancel. If the user presses Cancel, the batch file exits. Example: Pause("Delete Backups", "Last chance to stop!") ;if batch file gets this far, the user pressed OK FileDelete("*.bak") AskYesNo (title, question) Displays a dialog box with a given title, which presents the user with three buttons: Yes, No, and Cancel. If the user selects the Cancel button, the batch file is terminated. Example: response = AskYesNo("End Session", "Are you sure you want to leave Windows?" AskLine (title, prompt, default) Displays a dialog box with a given title, which prompts the user for a line of input. Returns the default if the user just presses the OK button. Example: yourfile = AskLine("Edit File", "Filename:", "newfile.txt") Run("notepad", yourfile) If you specify a default entry (in this case, NEWFILE.TXT), it will appear in the response box, and will be replaced with whatever the user types. Beep Beeps once. 12 TUTORIAL Beep And if one beep isn't enough for you: Beep Beep Beep Delay (seconds) Pauses batch file execution. The Delay function lets you suspend batch file processing for 1 to 15 seconds. Again, you can use multiple occurrences for a longer delay: Delay(15) Delay(15) Will insert a 30-second pause. Manipulating Windows There are a large number of functions which allow you to manage the windows on your desktop. Here are some of them: WinZoom (partial-windowname) Maximizes an application window to full-screen. WinIconize (partial-windowname) Turns an application window into an icon. WinShow (partial-windowname) Shows a window in its "normal" state. These three functions are used to modify the size of an already- running window. WinZoom is the equivalent of selecting Maximize from a window's control (space-bar) menu, WinIconize is the same as selecting Minimize, and WinShow has the same effect as selecting Restore. The window that you are performing any of these functions on does not have to be the active window. If the specified window is in the background, and the WinZoom or WinShow function causes the size of the window to change, then the window will be brought to the foreground. The WinZoom function has no effect on a window which is already maximized, and WinShow has no effect on an already-"normal" window. Each of these functions takes a partial windowname as a parameter. The "windowname" is the name which appears in the title bar at the top of the window. You can specify the full name if you wish, but it may often be advantageous not to have to 13 TUTORIAL do so. For example, if you are editing the file SOLITARE.WBT in a Notepad window open, the windowname will be Notepad - SOLITARE.WBT You probably don't want to have to hard-code this name into your batch file: WinZoom("Notepad - SOLITARE.WBT") Instead, you can specify the partial windowname 'Notepad': WinZoom("Notepad") If you have more than one Notepad window open, WinBatch will use the first one it finds. Note that WinBatch matches the partial windowname starting with the first character, so that while WinZoom("Note") would be correct, WinZoom("pad") would not result in a match. Also, be aware that the case of the title (upper or lower) is significant, so: WinZoom("notepad") would be invalid. WinActivate (partial-windowname) Makes an application window the active window. This function makes a currently-open window the active window. If the specified window is an icon, it will be restored to normal size; otherwise, its size will not be changed. WinClose (partial-windowname) Closes an application window. WinCloseNot (partial-windowname [, partial-windowname]...) Closes all application windows except those specified. This function lets you close all windows except the one(s) you specify. For example: WinCloseNot("Program Man") would leave only the Program Manager open, and: WinCloseNot("Program Man, Solit") 14 TUTORIAL would leave the Program Manager and Solitaire windows open. WinWaitClose (partial-windowname) Waits until an application window is closed. This function causes your WinBatch file to pause until you have manually closed a specified window. This is a very convenient way to have a WinBatch file open several windows sequentially, without having unnecessary windows open all over your desktop. For example: RunZoom("invoices.xls", "") ;balance the books WinWaitClose("Microsoft Ex") ;wait till Excel closed RunZoom("sol", "") ;you deserve a break WinWaitClose("Solitaire") ;wait until Sol closed Run("winword", "agenda.doc") ;more paperwork WinWaitClose("Microsoft Wor") ;wait until W4W closed Run("clock","") ;lunchtime yet? During the time that the batch file is suspended, the WinBatch icon will remain at the bottom of your screen. You can cancel the batch file at any time by selecting the icon and then selecting "Terminate" from the menu. WinExist (partial-windowname) Tells if Window exists. This function returns @TRUE or @FALSE, depending on whether a matching window can be found. This gives you a very handy method of insuring that only one copy of a given window will be open at a time. If you've been following this tutorial faithfully from the beginning, you probably have several copies of Solitaire running at the moment. You can check by pressing Ctrl-Esc now. You say you've got 5 Solitaire windows open? Okay, close them all. Now, let's modify our SOLITARE.WBT file. First, trim out the excess lines so that it looks like this: Run("sol.exe", "") Now, let's use the WinExist function to make sure that WinBatch only starts Solitaire if it isn't already running: If WinExist("Solitaire") == @FALSE Then Run("sol.exe", "") And this should work fine. Run SOLITARE.WBT twice now, and see what happens. The first time you run it, it should start Solitaire; the second (and subsequent) time, it should not do anything. However, it's quite likely that you want the batch file to do something if Solitaire is already running -- namely, bring the Solitaire window to the foreground. This can be accomplished 15 TUTORIAL easily by using the WinActivate function, along with a couple of Goto statements, as follows: If WinExist("Solitaire") == @FALSE Then Goto open WinActivate("Solitaire") Goto loaded :open Run("sol.exe", "") :loaded Note that we can change this to have WinExist check for a 'True' value instead, by modifying the structure of the batch file, as follows: If WinExist("Solitaire") == @TRUE Then Goto activate Run("sol.exe", "") Goto loaded :activate WinActivate("Solitaire") :loaded Either format is perfectly correct, and the choice of which to use is merely a matter of personal style. The result is exactly the same. EndSession ( ) Ends the current Windows session. This does exactly what it says. It will not ask any questions, so you may want to build in a little safety net: Sure = AskYesNo("End Session", "Are you sure you want to exit Windows?") If Sure == @YES Then EndSession() Files and Directories DirChange (pathname) Changes the directory to the pathname specified. Use this function when you want to run a program which must be started from its own directory. 'Pathname' may optionally include a drive letter. Example: DirChange("c:\windows\winword") Run("winword.exe", "") DirGet ( ) Gets the Current Working Directory. This function is especially useful when used in conjunction with DirChange, to save and then return to the current directory. 16 TUTORIAL Example: origdir = DirGet() DirChange("c:\windows\winword") Run("winword.exe", "") DirChange(origdir) FileExist (filename) Determines if a file exists. This function will return @TRUE if the specified file exists, and @FALSE if it doesn't exist. Example: If FileExist("win.bak") == @FALSE Then FileCopy("win.ini", "win.bak") Run("notepad.exe", "win.ini") FileCopy (from-list, to-file, warning) Copies files. If warning is @TRUE, WinEdit will pop up a dialog box warning you if you are about to overwrite an existing file, and giving you an opportunity to change your mind. If warning is @FALSE, it won't. Example: FileCopy("cmdpost.cpm", "*.sav", @TRUE) Run("notepad.exe", "cmdpost.cpm") The wildcard (*) will cause cmdpost.cpm to be copied as cmdpost.sav. FileDelete (file-list) Deletes files. Example: If FileExist("win.bak") == @TRUE Then FileDelete("win.bak") FileRename (from-list, to-file) Renames files to another set of names. We can illustrate the use of the WinBatch file functions with a typical batch file application. Our word processor saves a backup copy of each document with a BAK extension, but we want a larger safety net when editing important files. We want to keep the five most recent versions of the Winbatch manual. Here is our batch file: 17 TUTORIAL If FileExist("winbatch.bak") == @TRUE Then Goto backup :edit Run("winword.exe", "winbatch.doc") Exit :backup FileDelete("winbatch.bk5") FileRename("winbatch.bk4", "winbatch.bk5) FileRename("winbatch.bk3", "winbatch.bk4) FileRename("winbatch.bk2", "winbatch.bk3) FileRename("winbatch.bk1", "winbatch.bk2) FileRename("winbatch.bak", "winbatch.bk1) Goto edit If the file WINBATCH.BAK exists, it means that we have made a change to WINBATCH.DOC. So, before we start editing, we delete the oldest backup copy, and perform several FileRename functions, until eventually WINBATCH.BAK becomes WINBATCH.BK1. Notice how the flow of control moves to the line labeled ':backup', and then back to the line labeled ':edit', and how we terminate processing with the Exit statement. If we did not include the Exit statement, the batch file would continue in an endless loop. However, this batch file still isn't quite right. What would happen if the file WINBATCH.BK5 didn't exist? In the DOS batch language, the command would return an error and processing would continue. But in WinBatch, the error would be fatal, and cause the batch file to abort. There are two ways that we can handle this. We could use an If FileExist test before every file operation, and test the returned value for a @TRUE before proceeding. But this would be very clumsy, even with such a small batch file. Handling Errors Luckily, there is a WinBatch system function to help us here: ErrorMode. The ErrorMode function determines what happens if an error occurs during batch file processing. Here's the syntax: ErrorMode (mode) Specifies how to handle errors. Parameters: "mode" = @CANCEL, @NOTIFY, or @OFF. Returns: (integer) previous error setting. Use this command to control the effects of runtime errors. The default is @CANCEL, meaning the execution of the batch file will be canceled for any error. @CANCEL: All runtime errors will cause execution to be canceled. The user will be notified which error occurred. 18 TUTORIAL @NOTIFY: All runtime errors will be reported to the user, and they can choose to continue if it isn't fatal. @OFF: Minor runtime errors will be suppressed. Moderate and fatal errors will be reported to the user. User has the option of continuing if the error is not fatal. As you can see, the default mode is @CANCEL, and it's a good idea to leave it like this. However, it is quite reasonable to change the mode for sections of your batch files where you anticipate errors occurring. This is just what we've done in our modified batch file: If FileExist("winbatch.bak") == @TRUE Then Goto backup :edit Run("winword.exe", "winbatch.doc") Exit :backup ErrorMode(@OFF) FileDelete("winbatch.bk5") FileRename("winbatch.bk4", "winbatch.bk5) FileRename("winbatch.bk3", "winbatch.bk4) FileRename("winbatch.bk2", "winbatch.bk3) FileRename("winbatch.bk1", "winbatch.bk2) FileRename("winbatch.bak", "winbatch.bk1) ErrorMode(@CANCEL) Goto edit Notice how we've used ErrorMode(@OFF) to prevent errors from aborting the batch file, and then used ErrorMode(@CANCEL) at the end of the backup section to change back to the default mode. This is good practice. Selection Menus So far, whenever we have needed to use a file name, we have hard- coded it into our batch files. For example: Run("notepad.exe", "agenda.txt") Naturally, there should be a way to get this information from the user "on the fly", so that we wouldn't have to write hundreds of different batch files. And there is a way. Two ways, actually. Consider, first, a function that we have already seen, the AskLine function: file = AskLine("", "Enter Filename to edit?", "") Run("notepad.exe", file) This will prompt the user for a filename, and start Notepad using that file. There are only three problems with this approach. First, the user might not remember the name of the file. Second, the user might enter the name incorrectly. And finally, modern software 19 TUTORIAL is supposed to be sophisticated enough to handle these things the right way. And WinBatch certainly can. There are two new functions we need to use for our file selection routine: FileItemize and ItemSelect. FileItemize (file-list) Returns a space-delimited list of files. This function compiles a list of filenames and separates the names with spaces. There are several variations we can use: FileItemize("*.doc") would give us a list of all files in the current directory with a DOC extension, FileItemize("*.com *.exe") would give us a list of all files in the current directory with a COM or EXE extension, and FileItemize("*.*") would give us a list of all files in the current directory. Of course, we need to be able to use this file list, and for that we use: ItemSelect (title, list, delimiter) Displays a listbox filled with items from a list you specify in a string. The items are separated in your string by a delimiter character. This function actually displays the list box. Remember that FileItemize returns a file list delimited by spaces, which would look something like this: file1.doc file2.doc file3.doc When we use ItemSelect, we need to tell it that the delimiter is a space. We do this as follows: textfiles = FileItemize("*.doc *.txt") yourfile = ItemSelect("Select a file to edit", textfiles, "") run("notepad.exe", yourfile) First, we use FileItemize to build a list of filenames with DOC and TXT extensions. We assign this list to the variable 'textfiles'. Then, we use the ItemSelect function to build a list box, passing it the variable 'textfiles' as its second parameter. The third parameter we use for ItemSelect is simply a space with quote marks around it; this tells ItemSelect that the variable 'textfiles' is delimited by spaces. Note that this is different from the empty string that we've spoken about earlier - 20 TUTORIAL - you must include a space between the quote marks. Finally, we assign the value returned by the ItemSelect function to the variable 'yourfile', and run Notepad using that file. How does ItemSelect get a file name? As we said, it pops up a list box with all the files returned by the FileSelect function. Then, you highlight a file, using either the cursor keys or a mouse, and select it by pressing Enter, double-clicking on the file, or clicking on the OK button. If you run the above example, you'll see it more easily than we can explain it in words. If the user presses Enter or clicks on the OK button without a file being highlighted, ItemSelect returns an empty string. If you want, you can test for this condition: textfiles = FileItemize("*.doc *.txt") :retry yourfile = ItemSelect("Select a file to edit", textfiles, "") if yourfile == "" Then Goto retry run("notepad.exe", yourfile) DirItemize (dir-list) Returns a space-delimited list of directories. This function works like FileItemize, but instead of returning a list of files, it returns a list of directories. Remember that we said FileItemize only lists files in the current directory. Often, we want to be able to use files in other directories as well. We can do this by first selecting the appropriate directory, using DirItemize and ItemSelect: DirChange("\") subdirs = DirItemize("*") targdir = ItemSelect("Select dir", subdirs, " ") DirChange(targdir) files = FileItemize("*.*") file = ItemSelect("Select file", files, " ") Run("notepad.exe", file) First we change to the root directory. Then we use the DirItemize function to get a list of all the subdirectories off of root. Next, we use ItemSelect to give us a list box of directories to select from. Finally, we change to the selected directory, and use FileItemize and ItemSelect to pick a file. This batch file works, but needs to be polished up a bit. What happens if the file we want is in the \WIN\BATCH directory? Our batch file doesn't go more than one level deep from root. We want to continue down the directory tree, but we also need a way of telling when we're at the end of a branch. As it happens, there is such a way: DirItemize will return an empty string if there are no directories to process. Given this knowledge, we can set up a loop to test when we are at the lowest level: 21 TUTORIAL DirChange("\") :getdir subdirs = DirItemize("*") If subdirs == "" Then Goto getfile targdir = ItemSelect("Select dir (OK for current)", subdirs, "") If targdir == "" Then Goto getfile DirChange(targdir) Goto getdir :getfile files = FileItemize("*.*") file = ItemSelect("Select file", files, " ") if file == "" then goto getfile Run("notepad.exe", file) After we use the DirItemize function, we test the returned value for a blank string. If we have a blank string, then we know that the current directory has no subdirectories, and so we proceed to select the filename from the current directory (Goto getfile) . If, however, DirItemize returns a non-blank list, then we know that there is, in fact, at least one directory. In that case, we use ItemSelect to bring up a list box. Then, we test the value returned by ItemSelect. If the returned value is a blank string, it means that the user did not select a directory from the list, and presumably wants a file in the current directory. We happily oblige (Goto getfile). On the other hand, a non-blank value returned from ItemSelect indicates that the user has selected a subdirectory from the list box. In that case, we change to the selected directory, and loop back to the beginning of the directory selection routine (Goto getdir). We continue this until either (a) the user selects a directory, or (b) there are no directories left to select. Eventually, we get down to the file selection section of the batch file. Nicer Dialog Boxes Have you tried displaying long messages, and found that WinBatch didn't wrap the lines quite the way you wanted? Here are a couple of tricks. Num2Char (integer) Converts a number to its character equivalent. We want to be able to insert carriage return/line feed combinations in our output, and the Num2Char function will let us do that. A carriage return has an ASCII value of 13, and a line feed has an ASCII value of 10 (don't worry if you don't understand what that means). To be able to use these values, we must convert them to characters, as follows: cr = num2char(13) lf = num2char(10) 22 TUTORIAL Now, we need to be able to place the variables 'cr' and 'lf' in our message. For example, let's say we want to do this: Message("", "This is line one This is line two") If we just inserted the variables into the string, as in: Message("", "This is line one cr lf This is line two") we would not get the desired effect (try it and see). WinBatch would treat them as ordinary text. However, WinBatch does provide us with a method of performing variable substitution such as this, and that is by enclosing the variables in percentage signs (%%). If we do this: Message("", "This is line one %cr% %lf%This is line two") we get what we want. Note that there is no space after '%lf%'; this is so the second line will be aligned with the first line (every space inside the quote marks is significant). Now, wouldn't it be convenient if we could combine cr and lf into a single variable? We can. StrCat (string[, string]...) Concatenates strings together. The StrCat function lets us combine any number of string constants and/or string variables. Here's how we combine the variables 'cr' and 'lf' into the single variable 'crlf': crlf = StrCat(cr, lf) Note that the strings to be concatenated are separated by commas, within the parentheses. Now, we can rewrite our example, as follows: cr = num2char(13) lf = num2char(10) crlf = StrCat(cr, lf) Message("", "This is line one %crlf%This is line two") If we wanted to re-use this message a number of times, it would be quite convenient to use the StrCat function to make a single variable out of it: cr = num2char(13) lf = num2char(10) crlf = StrCat(cr, lf) line1 = "This is line one" line2 = "This is line two" mytext = StrCat(line1, crlf, line2) Message("", mytext) 23 TUTORIAL Running DOS Programs WinBatch can run DOS programs, just like it runs Windows programs: dirchange("c:\game") run("scramble.exe", "") If you want to use an internal DOS command, such as DIR or TYPE, you can do so by running the DOS command interpreter, COMMAND.COM, with the '/c' program parameter, as follows: run("command.com", "/c type readme.txt") Everything that you would normally type on the DOS command line goes after the '/c' in the second parameter. Here's another example: run("command.com", "/c type readme.txt | more") These examples assume that COMMAND.COM is in a directory on your DOS path. If it isn't, you could specify a full path name for it: run("c:\command.com", "/c type readme.txt | more") Or, better still, you could use the WinBatch Environment function. Environment (env-variable) Gets a DOS environment variable. Since DOS always stores the full path and filename of the command processor in the environmental variable COMSPEC, it is an easy matter to retrieve this information: coms = environment("comspec") and use it in our batch file: coms = environment("comspec") run(coms, "/c type readme.txt") To get a DOS window, just run COMMAND.COM with no parameters: coms = environment("comspec") run(coms, "") Sending Keystrokes to Programs Here we come to one of the most useful and powerful features of WinBatch: the ability to send keystrokes to Windows programs, just as if you were typing them directly from the keyboard. SendKey (character-codes) Sends Keystrokes to the active application. 24 TUTORIAL This is an ideal way to automatically program the keys that you enter every time you start a certain program. For example, to start up Notepad and have it prompt you for a file to open, you would use: Run("notepad.exe", "") SendKey("!FO") The parameter for SendKey is a string to send to the program. This string consists of standard characters, as well as some special characters which you will find listed under the entry for SendKey in the WBL Function Reference (pg. 78). In the example above, the exclamation mark stands for the Alt key, so '!F' is the equivalent of pressing and holding down the Alt key while simultaneously pressing the 'F' key. The 'O' in the example above is simply the letter 'O', and is the same as pressing the 'O' key. As you may know, 'Alt-F' brings up the 'File' menu in Notepad, and 'O' selects 'Open' from the 'File' menu. Here's another example: RunZoom("sol.exe", "") SendKey("!GC{RIGHT}{SP}~") This starts up Solitaire, brings up the 'Game' menu (!G), selects 'Deck' (C), moves the cursor to the next card back style on the right ({RIGHT}), selects that card back ({SP}), and then selects 'OK' (~). And voila! A different card design every time you play! Our Completed WinBatch File Here is the final version of the SOLITARE.WBT file that we've been building throughout this tutorial: 25 TUTORIAL ; solitare.wbt mins = AskLine("Solitaire", "How many minutes do you want to play?", "") If WinExist("Solitaire") == @TRUE Then Goto activate RunZoom("sol.exe", "") Goto loaded :activate WinActivate("Solitaire") WinZoom("Solitaire") :loaded SendKey("!GC{RIGHT}{SP}~") goal = mins * 60 timer = 0 :moretime remain = goal - timer WinTitle("Solitaire", "Solitaire (%remain% seconds left)") delay(10) timer = timer + 10 If WinExist("Solitaire") == @FALSE Then Exit If timer < goal Then Goto moretime Beep WinClose("Solitaire") Message("Time's up", "Get back to work!") It incorporates many of the concepts that we've discussed in this tutorial, as well as using some arithmetic (*, -, +) and relational (<) operators that are covered in the following section on the WinBatch language. If you can understand and follow the structures and processes illustrated in this sample file, and can incorporate them into your own WinBatch files, you are well on your way to becoming a WinBatch guru! 26 WINBATCH LANGUAGE WINBATCH LANGUAGE Language Components The statements you write to execute the batch files are constructed from constants, variables, operators, functions, commands, and comments. Constants The programming language supports both integer and string constants. Integer Constants Integer constants are built from the digits 0 through 9. They can range in magnitude from negative to positive 231 -1 (approximately two billion). Constants larger than these permissible magnitudes will produce unpredictable results. Examples of integer constants: 1 -45 377849 -1999999999 String Constants String constants are comprised of displayable characters bounded by quote marks. You can use double quotes ("), single quotes ('), or back quotes (`) to enclose a string constant, as long as the same type of quote is used to both start and end it. If you need to embed the delimiting quote mark inside the string constant, use the delimiting quote mark twice. Examples of string constants: "a" `Betty Boop` "This constant has an embedded "" mark" 'This constant also has an embedded " mark' Predefined Constants The programming language has a number of built-in integer constants that can be used for various purposes. These start with the @-sign, and are case-insensitive (although we prefer to use ALL CAPS). Some predefined constants: @FALSE @TILE @NO @TRUE @STACK @YES 27 WINBATCH LANGUAGE A list of all the predefined constants can be found in Appendix A: Predefined Constants. Identifiers Identifiers are the names supplied for variables, functions, and commands in your program. An identifier is a sequence of one or more letters or digits that begins with a letter. Identifiers may have up to 30 characters. All identifiers are case insensitive. Upper- and lowercase char- acters may be mixed at will inside variable names, commands or functions. For example these statements all mean the same thing: AskLine(MyTitle, Prompt, Default) ASKLINE(MYTITLE, PROMPT, DEFAULT) aSkLiNe(MyTiTlE, pRoMpT, dEfAuLt) Variables A variable may contain an integer, a string, or a string representing an integer. Automatic conversions between integers and strings are performed as a matter of course during execution. If a function requires a string parameter and an integer parameter is supplied, the variable will be automatically modified to include the representative string. If a function requires an integer parameter and a string parameter is supplied, an attempt will be made to convert the string to an integer. If it does not convert successfully, an error will result. Keywords Are Reserved "Keywords" are the predefined identifiers that have special meaning to the programming language. These cannot be used as variable names. WBL keywords consist of the functions, commands, and predefined constants. Some examples of reserved keywords: beep dirchange @Yes filecopy Operators The programming language operators take one operand ("unary operators") or two operands ("binary operators"). Unary operators (integers only): - Arithmetic Negation (Two's complement) 28 WINBATCH LANGUAGE + Identity (Unary plus) ~ Bitwise Not. Changes each 0 bit to 1, and vice-versa. ! Logical Not. Produces 0 (@FALSE) if the operand is nonzero, else 1 (@TRUE) if the operand is zero. Binary arithmetic operators (integers only): * Multiplication / Division mod Modulo + Addition - Subtraction << Left Shift >> Right Shift & Bitwise And | Bitwise Or ^ Bitwise Exclusive Or (XOR) && Logical And | | Logical Or Binary relational operators (integers and strings): > Greater-than >= Greater-than or equal < Less-than <= Less-than or equal == Equality != or <>Inequality Assignment operator (integers and strings): = Assigns evaluated result of an expression to a variable Precedence and evaluation order The precedence of the operators affect the evaluation of operands in expressions. Operands associated with higher-precedence operators are evaluated before the lower-precedence operators. The table below shows the precedence of the operators. Where operators have the same precedence, they are evaluated from left to right. Operator Description ( ) Parenthetical grouping ~ ! - + Unary operators * / mod Multiplication & Division + - Addition & Subtraction << >> Shift operators < <= == >= > != <> Relational operators & ^ | Bit manipulation operators && | | Logical operators 29 WINBATCH LANGUAGE Comments A comment is a sequence of characters that are ignored when processing a command. A semicolon (not otherwise part of a string constant) indicates the beginning of a comment. All characters to the right of the semicolon are considered comments and are ignored. Blank lines are also ignored. Examples of comments: ; This is a comment abc = 5 ;This is also a comment Statements Assignment Statements Assignment statements are used to set variables to specific or computed values. Variables may be set to integers or strings. Examples: a = 5 value = Average(a, 10, 15) location = "Northern Hemisphere" World = strcat(location, " ", "Southern Hemisphere") Control Statements Control statements are generally used to execute system management functions and consist of a call to a command without assigning any return values. Examples: run("clock.exe", "") delay(5) winclose("Clock") Exit Substitution The batch language has a powerful substitution feature which inserts the contents of a string variable into a statement before the line is parsed. To substitute the contents of a variable in the statement, simply put a percent-sign (%) on both sides of the variable name. Examples: MyCmd = "DirChange('C:\')" ;set MyCmd to a command %MyCmd% ;execute the command ...or consider this one: IniWrite("PC", "Owner", "Jenny") ... Owner = IniRead("PC", "Owner", "somebody") message("", "This is %Owner%'s PC") 30 WINBATCH LANGUAGE will produce the output: This is Jenny's PC To put a single percent-sign (%) on a source line, specify a double percent sign(%%). This is required even inside quoted strings. Function Parameters Most of the functions and commands in the language require parameters. These come in three types: Integer String Variable name WinBatch performs automatic conversions between strings and integers, so in general you can use them interchangeably. Integer parameters may be any of the following: An integer (i.e. 23) A string representing an integer (i.e. "23") A variable containing an integer A variable containing a string representing an integer String parameters may be any of the following: A string An integer A variable containing a string A variable containing an integer Error Handling There are three types of errors that can occur while processing a batch file: Minor, Moderate, and Fatal. What happens when an error occurs depends on the current error mode, which is set with the ErrorMode function. There are three possible modes you can specify: @CANCEL User is notified when any error occurs, and then the batch file is canceled. This is the default. @NOTIFY User is notified when any error occurs, and has option to continue unless the error is fatal. @OFF User is only notified if the error is moderate or fatal. User has option to continue unless the error is fatal. 31 WINBATCH LANGUAGE The function LastError returns the code of the most-recent error encountered during the current batch file. Minor errors are numbered from 1000 to 1999. Moderate errors are numbered from 2000 to 2999. Fatal errors are numbered from 3000 to 3999. Error handling is reset to @CANCEL at the start of each batch file. The Functions & Statements Inputting Information AskLine (title, prompt, default) Lets user enter a line of information. AskYesNo (title, question) Lets user choose from Yes, No, or Cancel. ItemSelect (title, list, delimiter) Chooses an item from a listbox. TextBox (title, filename) Fills a listbox from text strings in a file. Displaying Information Beep Beeps at the user. DialogBox (title, WBD file) Pops up a Windows dialog box defined by the WBD template file. Display (seconds, title, text) Momentarily displays a string. Message (title, text) Displays text in a message box. Pause (title, text) Displays text in a message box. File Management FileClose (filehandle) Closes a file. FileCopy (from-list, to-file, warning) Copies files. FileDelete (file-list) Deletes files. FileExist (filename) Determines if a file exists. 32 WINBATCH LANGUAGE FileExtension (filename) Returns extension of file. FileItemize (file-list) Builds a list of files. FileLocate (filename) Finds a file within the current DOS path. FileMove (from-list, to-file, warning) Moves files to another set of pathnames. FileOpen (filename, open-type) Opens a STANDARD ASCII (only) file for reading or writing. FilePath (filename) Returns path of file. FileRead (filehandle) Reads data from a file. FileRename (from-list, to-file) Renames files to another set of names. FileRoot (filename) Returns root of file. FileSize (file-list) Adds up the total size of a set of files. FileWrite (filehandle,output-data) Writes data to a file. Directory Management DirChange ([d:]path) Changes the current directory. DirGet ( ) Returns the current directory path. DirHome ( ) Returns the initial directory path. DirItemize (dir-list) Builds a list of directories. DirMake ([d:]path) Creates a new directory. DirRemove ([d:]path) Removes an existing directory. Disk Drive Management DiskFree (drive-list) Returns the amount of free space on a set of drives. LogDisk (drive) Changes the logged disk drive. 33 WINBATCH LANGUAGE Window Management WinActivate (partial-windowname) Makes an application window the active window. WinArrange (style) Arranges all running application windows on the screen. WinClose (partial-windowname) Closes an application window. WinCloseNot (partial-windowname [, partial-windowname]...) Closes all application windows except those specified. WinConfig ( ) Returns WIN3 mode flags. WinExist (partialwindowname) Tells if Window exists. WinGetActive ( ) Gets the title of the active window. WinHide (partial-windowname) Hides an application window. WinIconize (partial-windowname) Turns an application window into an icon. WinItemize ( ) Lists all the main windows currently running. WinPlace (x-ul, y-ul, x-br, y-br, partial-windowname) Changes the size and position of an application window on the screen. WinPosition (partialwindowname) Returns Window position. WinShow (partial-windowname) Shows a currently-hidden application window. WinTitle (partial-windowname, new-windowname) Changes the title of an application window. WinWaitClose (partial-windowname) Waits until an application window is closed. WinZoom (partial-windowname) Maximizes an application window to full-screen. Program Management Run (program-name, parameters) Runs a program as a normal window. RunHide (program-name, parameters) Runs a program in a hidden window. RunIcon (program-name, parameters) Runs a program as an icon. 34 WINBATCH LANGUAGE RunZoom (program-name, parameters) Runs a program in a maximized window. String Handling Char2Num (string) Returns the ANSI code of a string's first character. IsNumber (string) Determines if a string represents a valid number. Num2Char (number) Converts a number to the ANSI character it represents. ParseData (string) Parses the passed string, just like passed parameters are parsed. StrCat (string[, string]...) Concatenates strings together. StrCmp (string1, string2) Compares two strings. StrFill (string, string-length) Builds a string from a repeated smaller string. StrFix (base-string, padding-string, length) Pads or truncates a string to a fixed length. StrICmp (string1, string2) Compares two strings, ignoring their case. StrIndex (main-str, sub-str, start, direction) Locates a string within a larger string. StrLen (string) Returns the length of a string StrLower (string) Converts a string to all lower-case characters. StrReplace (string,old,new) Replaces all occurrences of a substring with another. StrScan (main-str, delims, start, direction) Finds an occurrence of one or more delimiter characters in a string. StrSub (string, start, length) Returns a substring from within a string. StrTrim (string) Trims leading and trailing blanks from a string. StrUpper (string) Converts a string to all upper-case characters. 35 WINBATCH LANGUAGE Arithmetic Functions Abs (number) Returns the absolute value of a number. Average (num [, num]...) Returns the average of a list of integers. Max (num [, num]...) Determines the highest number in a list. Min (num [, num]...) Determines the lowest number in a list. Random (max) Generates a positive random number. Clipboard Handling ClipAppend (string) Appends a string to the end of the Clipboard. ClipGet ( ) Returns the Clipboard contents into a string. ClipPut (string) Replaces the Clipboard contents with a string. System Control Call (filename.wbt, parameters) Calls another WBT file as a subroutine. CallExt (filename.wbt, parameters) Calls another WBT file as a separate subprogram. DateTime ( ) Returns the current date and time. Debug (mode) Turns Debug mode on or off. Delay (seconds) Pauses batch file execution. DOSVersion (level) Returns the version numbers of the current version of DOS. Drop (var [, var]...) Deletes variables to recover their memory. EndSession ( ) Ends the current Windows session. Environment (env-variable) Returns the value of a DOS environment variable. ErrorMode (mode) Sets what happens in the event of an error. 36 WINBATCH LANGUAGE Exclusive (mode) Controls whether or not other Windows program will get any time to execute. Execute statement Directly executes a WinBatch statement. Exit Exits the current batch file's operation. Goto label Changes the flow of control in a batch file. If ... Then Conditionally performs a function. IgnoreInput (mode) Turns off hardware input to windows. IniRead (section, keyname, default) Reads a string from the win.ini file. IniReadPvt (section, keyname, default, filename) For reading private ini files. IniWrite (section, keyname, string) Writes a string to the win.ini file. IniWritePvt (section, keyname, data, filename) For writing private ini files. IsDefined (variable) Determines if a variable is currently defined. IsKeyDown (key-codes) Tells about keys/mouse. IsLicensed ( ) Tells if WinBatch is licensed. LastError ( ) Returns the last error encountered. Return ( ) Used to return from a Call or a CallExt to the calling program. SendKey (character-codes) Sends Keystrokes to the active application. SKDebug (mode) Controls how SendKey works Version ( ) Returns the version of WinBatch currently running. WinVersion (level) Gets the version of Windows that is currently running. Yield Pauses batch file processing so other applications can process some messages. 37 WBL FUNCTION REFERENCE WBL FUNCTION REFERENCE Introduction WinBatch gives you almost a hundred functions and control statements, which we describe in detail in this section. We use a shorthand notation to indicate the syntax of the functions. Function names and other actual characters you type are in boldface. Optional parameters are enclosed in square brackets "[ ]". When a function takes a variable number of parameters, the variable parts will be followed by ellipses ("..."). Take for example string concatenation: StrCat (string[, string]...) This says that the StrCat function takes at least one string parameter. Optionally you can specify more strings to concatenate. If you do, you must separate the strings with commas. For each function and control statement, we show you the Syntax, describe the Parameters (if any), the value it Returns (if any), a description of the function, any nonfatal Errors specific to the function, Example code (shown in courier type), and related functions you may want to See Also. 39 WBL FUNCTION REFERENCE Abs Returns the magnitude of the argument. Syntax: Abs (integer) Parameters: integer = integer whose absolute value is desired. Returns: (integer) absolute value of argument. Example: DY = abs(y1 - y2) Message("Years", "There are %DY% years 'twixt %y1% and %y2%") See Also: Average, Max, Min AskLine Prompts the user for one line of input. Syntax: AskLine (title, prompt, default) Parameters: "title" = title of the dialog box. "prompt" = question to be put to the user. "default" = default answer. Returns: (string) user response. Use this command to query the user for a line of data. The entire user response will be returned if the user presses the OK button or the Enter key. If they press Cancel, the batch file processing is canceled. Example: Name = AskLine("Dessert", "Please enter your name", "") Dsrt = AskLine("Dessert", "Favorite dessert?", "Ice Cream") message(strcat(Name,"'s dessert is "), Dsrt) See Also: AskYesNo, Display, ItemSelect, Message, Pause, TextBox 40 WBL FUNCTION REFERENCE AskYesNo Prompts the user for a YES or NO answer. Syntax: AskYesNo (title, question) Parameters "title" = title of the question box. "question" = question to be put to the user. Returns: (integer) @YES or @NO, depending on the button pressed. This command displays a message box with three pushbuttons - Yes, No, and Cancel. If the user presses Cancel, the current batch file is ended so there is no return value. Example: q = AskYesNo('Testing', 'Please press "YES"') If q == @YES Then Exit Display(3, 'ERROR', 'I said press "YES"') See Also: AskLine, Display, ItemSelect, Message, Pause, TextBox Average Provides the integer average of the arguments. Syntax: Average (integer [, integer]...) Parameters: integer = integers to get the average of. Returns: (integer) average of the arguments. Use this command to compute the average of a series of numbers. This function returns an integer value, so there can be some rounding error involved. Errors: 2060 "Average function syntax error" Example: Ave = Average(1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12) Message("The average is", Ave) See Also: Abs, Max, Min 41 WBL FUNCTION REFERENCE Beep Beeps once. Syntax: Beep Use this command to produce a short beep, generally to alert the user to an error situation. Example: Beep Pause("WARNING!!!", "You are about to destroy data!") Call Calls another WBT file as a subroutine. Syntax: Call (filename.wbt, parameters) Parameters: "filename.wbt" = the WBT file you are calling. The extension is required. "parameters" = the parameters to pass to the file, if any, in the form "p1 p2 p3 ... pn". Returns: (integer) always @FALSE. Can pass parameters. All variables are common (global) between the calling and the callee WBT file. Example: Call("chk-nam.wbt", "Susie") See Also: CallExt CallExt Calls another WBT file as a separate subprogram. Syntax: Callext (filename.wbt, parameters) Parameters: "filename.wbt" = the WBT file you are calling. The extension is required. "parameters" = the parameters to pass to the file, if any, in the form "p1 p2 p3 ... pn". 42 WBL FUNCTION REFERENCE Returns: (integer) always @FALSE. Can pass parameters to the file. No return value possible. All variables are different. Example: CallExt("Chk-Num.wbt", "987 234 929") See Also: Call Char2Num Converts the first character of a string to its numeric equivalent. Syntax: Char2Num (string) Parameters: "string" = any text string. Only the first character will be converted. Returns: (integer) ANSI character code. This function returns the 8-bit ANSI code corresponding to the first character of the string parameter. Note: For the commonly-used characters (with codes below 128), ANSI and ASCII characters are identical. Example: ; Show the hex equivalent of entered character InpChar = AskLine("ANSI Equivalents", "Char:", "") Ansi = strsub(InpChar, 1, 1) AnsiEquiv = Char2Num(InpChar) Message("ANSI Codes", "%Ansi% => %AnsiEquiv%") See Also: Num2Char ClipAppend Appends a string to the Clipboard. Syntax: ClipAppend (string) Parameters: "string" = text string to add to Clipboard. 43 WBL FUNCTION REFERENCE Returns: (integer) @TRUE if string was appended; @FALSE if Clipboard ran out of memory. Use this command to append a string to the Windows Clipboard. The Clipboard must either contain text data or be empty for this command to succeed. Example: ; The code below will append 2 copies of the ; Clipboard contents back to the Clipboard, resulting ; in 3 copies of the original contents with a CR/LF ; between each copy. a = clipget() crlf = strcat(num2char(13), num2char(10)) clipappend(crlf) clipappend(a) clipappend(crlf) clipappend(a) See Also: ClipGet, ClipPut ClipGet Returns the contents of the Clipboard. Syntax: ClipGet ( ) Returns: (string) clipboard contents. Use this command to copy text from the Windows Clipboard into a string variable. Note: If the Clipboard contains an excessively large string a (fatal) out of memory error may occur. Example: ; The code below will convert Clipboard contents to ; uppercase clipput(strupper(clipget())) a = clipget() message("UPPERCASE Clipboard Contents", a) See Also: ClipAppend, ClipPut 44 WBL FUNCTION REFERENCE ClipPut Copies a string to the clipboard. Syntax: ClipPut (string) Parameters: "string" = any text string. Returns: (integer) @TRUE if string was copied; @FALSE if clipboard ran out of memory. Use this command to copy a string to the Windows Clipboard. The previous Clipboard contents will be lost. Example: ; The code below will convert Clipboard contents to ; lowercase clipput(strlower(clipget())) a = clipget () message("lowercase Clipboard Contents", a) See Also: ClipAppend, ClipGet DateTime Provides the current Date and time. Syntax: DateTime ( ) Returns: (string) Today's Date and time This function will return the current date and time in a pre- formatted string. The format it is returned in depends on how it is set up in the international section of the WIN.INI file: ddd mm:dd:yy hh:mm:ss XX ddd dd:mm:yy hh:mm:ss XX ddd yy:mm:dd hh:mm:ss XX Where ddd is day of the week (e.g. Mon) mm is the month (e.g. 10) dd is the day of the month (e.g. 23) yy is the year (e.g. 90) hh is the hours mm is the minutes ss is the seconds XX is the Day/Night code (e.g. AM or PM) Note: Windows provides even more formatting options than this. 45 WBL FUNCTION REFERENCE The WIN.INI file will be examined to determine which format to use. You can adjust the WIN.INI file via the International section of the Control Panel if the format isn't what you prefer. Example: ; assuming the current standard is U.S. ; (i.e. day dd/mm/yy hh:mm:ss AM): Message("Current Date & Time", DateTime()) Debug Controls the debug mode. Syntax: Debug (mode) Parameters: mode = @ON or @OFF Returns: (integer) Previous Debug mode Use this command to turn the debug mode on or off. The default is @OFF. When Debug mode is on, WinBatch will display the command just executed, its result (if any), any error conditions, and the next command to execute. The commands are displayed in a special dialog box. As you can see in the Example section following, the dialog box gives the user four options: Next, Run, Cancel and Show Var. Next executes the next statement and remains in debug mode. Run exits debug mode and runs the rest of the program normally. Cancel terminates the current batch file. Show Var displays the contents of a variable whose name the user entered in the edit box. Example: ; Debug example Debug(@ON) a = 6 q = AskYesNo("Testing Debug Mode", "Is the Pope Catholic") Debug(@OFF) b = a + 4 See Also: ErrorMode, LastError 46 WBL FUNCTION REFERENCE Delay Pauses execution a specified amount of time. Syntax: Delay (seconds) Parameters: seconds = number of seconds to delay (2 - 15) Returns: (integer) always @TRUE Seconds must be between 2 and 15. Smaller or larger numbers will be adjusted accordingly. Example: Message("Wait", "About 15 seconds") Delay(15) Message("Hi", "I'm Baaaaaaack") See Also: Yield DialogBox Pops up a Windows dialog box defined by the WBD template file. Syntax: DialogBox ("title", "WBD file") Parameters: "title" = the title of the dialog box. "WBD file" = the name of the WBD template file. DirChange Changes the current directory. Can also log a new drive. Syntax: DirChange ([d:]path) Parameters: "[d:]" = an optional disk drive to log onto. "path" = the desired path. Returns: (integer) @TRUE if directory was changed; @FALSE if the path could not be found. Use this command to change the current working directory to another directory, either on the same or a different disk drive. 47 WBL FUNCTION REFERENCE Errors: 1031 "DirChange: Dir not found/changed" Example: DirChange("c:\") textbox("This is your CONFIG.SYS file", "config.sys") See Also: DirGet, DirHome, LogDisk DirGet Gets the Current Working Directory. Syntax: DirGet ( ) Returns: (string) = Current Working Directory. Use this command to determine which directory we are currently in. It's especially useful when changing drives or directories temporarily. Example: ; Get, then restore current working directory OrigDir = DirGet() DirChange("c:\") FileCopy("config.sys", "%OrigDir%xxxtemp.xyz", @FALSE) DirChange(OrigDir) See Also: DirHome DirHome Returns directory containing the WinBatch executable files. Syntax: DirHome ( ) Returns: (string) pathname of the home directory. Use this command to determine the location of WINBATCH.EXE. Example: a = DirHome() Message("WinBatch Executable is in ", a) 48 WBL FUNCTION REFERENCE See Also: DirGet DirItemize Returns a space-delimited list of directories. Syntax: DirItemize (dir-list) Parameters: "dir-list" = a string containing a set of subdirectory names, which may be wildcarded. Returns: (string) list of directories. This function compiles a list of subdirectories and separates the names with spaces. This is especially useful in conjunction with the ItemSelect function, which enables the user to choose an item from such a space-delimited list. DirItemize("*.*") returns all dirs Example: ;Verify directory selection: a = DirItemize("") ItemSelect("Directories", a, " ") See Also: FileItemize, WinItemize, ItemSelect DirMake Creates a new directory. Syntax: DirMake ([d:]path) Parameters: "[d:]" = the desired disk drive. "path" = the path to create. Returns: (integer) @TRUE if the directory was successfully created; @FALSE if it wasn't. Use this command to create a new directory. 49 WBL FUNCTION REFERENCE Errors: 1029 "DirMake: Dir not created" Example: DirMake("c:\XXXSTUFF") See Also: DirRemove DirRemove Removes a directory. Syntax: DirRemove (dir-list) Parameters: "dir-list" = a space-delimited list of directory pathnames. Returns: (integer) @TRUE if the directory was successfully removed; @FALSE if it wasn't. Use this command to delete directories. You can delete one or more at a time by separating directory names with spaces. You cannot, however, use wildcards. Errors: 1030 "DirRemove: Dir not removed" Examples: DirRemove("c:\XXXSTUFF") DirRemove("tempdir1 tempdir2 tempdir3") See Also: DirMake DiskFree Finds the total space available on a group of drives. Syntax: DiskFree (drive-list) Parameters: "drive-list" = at least one drive letter, separated by spaces. Returns: (integer) the number of bytes available on all the specified drives. This function takes a string consisting of drive letters, separated by spaces. Only the first character of each non-blank 50 WBL FUNCTION REFERENCE group of characters is used to determine the drives, so you can use just the drive letters, or add a colon (":"), or add a backslash ("\"), or even a whole pathname and still get a perfectly valid result. Example: Size = DiskFree("c d") Message("Space Available on C: & D:", Size) See Also: FileSize Display Displays a message to the user for a specified time. Syntax: Display (seconds, title, text) Parameters: seconds = integer seconds to display the message (1-15). "title" = Title of the window to be displayed. "text" = Text of the window to be displayed. Returns: (integer) always @TRUE. Seconds must be between 1 and 15. Smaller or larger numbers will be adjusted accordingly. Use this command to display a message for a few seconds, and then continue with processing without user input. The display box may be prematurely canceled by the user by clicking it with a mouse, or hitting any character. Example: name = askline("Desserts", "Please enter your name", "") dsrt = askline("Desserts", "Favorite dessert?", "Ice Cream") display(3, "%name%'s Dessert", dsrt) See Also: Pause, Message DOSVersion Returns the version numbers of the current version of DOS. Syntax: DOSVersion (level) Parameters: level = @MAJOR or @MINOR. 51 WBL FUNCTION REFERENCE @MAJOR returns the integer part (to the left of the decimal). @MINOR returns the decimal part (to the right of the decimal). Example: r = DOSVersion(@MAJOR) v = DOSVersion(@MINOR) Message("DOS Version", "%r%.%v%") Drop Removes variables from memory. Syntax: Drop (var, [var]...) Parameters: var = variable names to remove. Returns: (integer) @TRUE. This function removes variables from the language processor's variable list, and recovers the memory associated with the variable (and possibly related string storage). Example: A = "A variable" B = "Another one" Drop(A, B) ; This removes A and B from memory EndSession Ends the Windows session. Syntax: EndSession ( ) Use this command to end the Windows session. This command is equivalent to closing the Program Manager window. Example: Sure = AskYesNo ("End Session", "You SURE you want to exit Windows?") If Sure == @No Then Goto Cancel EndSession() :Cancel Message("", "Exit Windows canceled") See Also: Exit, WinClose, WinCloseNot 52 WBL FUNCTION REFERENCE Environment Gets a DOS environment variable. Syntax: Environment (env-variable) Parameters: "env-variable" = any defined environment variable. Returns: (string) environment variable contents. Use this command to query the DOS environment. Example: ; Display the PATH for this DOS session CurrPath = Environment("PATH") Message("Current DOS Path", CurrPath) See Also: IniRead, Version, WinVersion ErrorMode Specifies how to handle errors. Syntax: ErrorMode (mode) Parameters: mode = @CANCEL or @NOTIFY or @OFF. Returns: (integer) previous error setting. Use this command to control the effects of runtime errors. The default is @CANCEL, meaning the execution of the batch file will be canceled for any error. @CANCEL: All runtime errors will cause execution to be canceled. The user will be notified which error occurred. @NOTIFY: All runtime errors will be reported to the user, and they can choose to continue if it isn't fatal. @OFF: Minor runtime errors will be suppressed. Moderate and fatal errors will be reported to the user. User has the option of continuing if the error is not fatal. In general we suggest the normal state of the program should be ErrorMode(@CANCEL), especially if you are writing a batch file for others to use. You can always suppress errors you expect will occur and then re-enable ErrorMode (@CANCEL). 53 WBL FUNCTION REFERENCE Example: ; Delete xxxtest.xyz. ; If file doesn't exist, continue execution; don't stop prevmode = ErrorMode(@OFF) FileDelete("c:\xxxtest.xyz") ErrorMode(prevmode) See Also: Debug, LastError Execute Executes a statement in a protected environment. Any errors encountered are recoverable. Syntax: Execute statement Parameters: "statement" = is (hopefully) an executable statement. Use this command to execute computed or user-entered statements. Due to the built-in error recovery associated with the Execute statement, it is ideal for interactive execution of user-entered commands. Note the Execute statement doesn't operate on a string per se, but rather on a direct statement. If you want to put a code segment into a string variable you must use the substitution feature of the language, as in the example below. Example: cmd = "" cmd = AskLine("WBL Interactive", "Command:", cmd) execute %cmd% Exit Terminates the batch file being interpreted. Syntax: Exit Use this command to prematurely exit a batch file process. An exit is implied at the end of each batch file. Example: a = 100 message("The value of a is", a) exit 54 WBL FUNCTION REFERENCE See Also: Pause Exclusive Controls whether or not other Windows program will get any time to execute. Syntax: Exclusive (mode) Parameters: mode = @ON or @OFF. Returns: (integer) previous Exclusive mode. Exclusive(@ON) runs the fastest but does not allow other Windows applications to get much time. Exclusive(@OFF) runs just a tad slower, is the default, and is nicely mannered to other applications. Example: ; We want Excel to get top processing priority RunZoom("excel.exe, "") Exclusive(@ON) ; When we're done with Excel, return to default mode WinWaitClose ("Microsoft Excel") Exclusive(@OFF) FileClose Closes a file. Syntax: Fileclose (filehandle) Parameters: filehandle = same integer that was returned by FileOpen. Returns: (integer) always 0. Example: ; the hard way to copy an ascii file old = FileOpen("config.sys", "READ") new = FileOpen("sample.txt", "WRITE") :top x = FileRead(old) If x != "*EOF*" Then FileWrite(new, x) If x != "*EOF*" Then Goto top 55 WBL FUNCTION REFERENCE FileClose(new) FileClose(old) FileCopy Copies files. Syntax: FileCopy (source-list, destination, warning) Parameters: "source-list" = a string containing one or more filenames, which may be wildcarded. "destination" = target file name. warning = @TRUE if you want a warning before overwriting existing files; @FALSE if no warning desired. Returns: (integer) @TRUE if all files were copied successfully; @FALSE if at least one file wasn't copied. Use this command to copy an individual file, a group of files using wildcards, or several groups of files by separating the names with spaces. You can also copy files to any COM or LPT device. "Source-list" may contain * and ? wildcards. "Destination" may contain the * wildcard only. Errors: 1006 "File Copy/Move: No matching files found" 2002 "File Copy/Move: 'From' file illegal" 2003 "File Copy/Move: 'To' file illegal" 2004 "File Copy/Move: Cannot copy/move wildcards into fixed root" 2005 "File Copy/Move: Cannot copy/move wildcards into fixed extension" 3118 "FileCopyMove: Destination file same as source" Examples: FileCopy("c:\config.sys", "d:", @FALSE) FileCopy("c:\*.sys", "d:devices\*.sys", @TRUE) FileCopy("c:\config.sys", "LPT1:", @FALSE) See Also: FileDelete, FileExist, FileLocate, FileMove, FileRename FileDelete Deletes files. 56 WBL FUNCTION REFERENCE Syntax: FileDelete (file-list) Parameters: "file-list" = a string containing one or more filenames, which may be wildcarded. Returns: (integer) @TRUE if all the files were deleted; @FALSE if a file didn't exist or is marked with the READ-ONLY attribute. Use this command to delete an individual file, a group of files using wildcards, or several groups of files by separating the names with spaces. Errors: 1017 "File Delete: No matching files found" 1018 "File Delete: Delete Failed" 2016 "File Delete: File name illegal" Example: WasDeleted = FileDelete("badfile") See Also: FileExist, FileLocate, FileMove, FileRename FileExist Tests for the existence of files. Syntax: FileExist (filename) Parameters: "filename" = either a fully qualified filename with drive and path, or just a filename and extension. Returns: (integer) @TRUE if the file exists; @FALSE if it doesn't or if the pathname is invalid. This statement is used to test whether or not a specified file exists. If a fully qualified file name is used only the specified drive and directory will be checked for the desired file. If only the root and extension are specified, then all the directories in the DOS PATH statement will be searched for the desired file. 57 WBL FUNCTION REFERENCE Example: ; check for file in current directory fex = FileExist(StrCat(DirGet(), "myfile.txt")) tex = StrSub("NOT", 1, StrLen("NOT") * fex) Message("MyFile.Txt"," Is %tex%in the current directory") ; check for file in someplace along path fex = FileExist("myfile.txt") tex = StrSub("NOT", 1, StrLen("NOT") * fex) Message("MyFile.Txt", " Is %tex% in the DOS path") See Also: FileLocate FileExtension Returns extension of file. Syntax: FileExtension (filename) Parameters: "filename" = [optional path]complete file name, with extension. FileExtension parses the passed filename and returns the extension part of the filename. Example: ; prevent the user from editing a COM or EXE file allfiles = FileItemize("*.*") editfile = ItemSelect("Select a file to edit", allfiles, " ") ext = FileExtension(editfile) If (ext == "com") || (ext == "exe") Then Goto noedit run("notepad.exe", editfile) exit :noedit Message ("Sorry", "You may not edit a program file") FileItemize Returns a space-delimited list of files. Syntax: FileItemize (file-list) Parameters: "file-list" = a string containing a list of filenames, which may be wildcarded. Returns: (string) space-delimited list of files. 58 WBL FUNCTION REFERENCE This function compiles a list of filenames and separates the names with spaces. FileItemize("*.BAK") ;returns all BAK's FileItemize("*.ARC *.ZIP *.LZH") ;returns list of compressed files This is especially useful in conjunction with the ItemSelect function, which enables the user to choose an item from such a space-delimited list. Examples: ; Get which .INI file to edit ifiles = FileItemize("c:\windows\*.ini") ifile = ItemSelect(".INI Files", ifiles, " ") RunZoom("notepad", ifile) Drop(ifiles, ifile) See Also: DirItemize, WinItemize, ItemSelect FileLocate Finds file in current directory or along the DOS PATH. Syntax: FileLocate (filename) Parameters: "filename" = root name, ".", and an extension. Returns: (string) fully qualified path name. This function is used to obtain the fully qualified path name of a file. The current directory is checked first, and if the file is not found the DOS path is searched. This function returns the first occurrence of the file. Example: ; Edit WIN.INI winini = FileLocate("win.ini") If winini == "" Then Goto notfound Run("notepad.exe", winini) Exit :notfound Message("???", "WIN.INI not found") See Also: FileExist 59 WBL FUNCTION REFERENCE FileMove Moves files. Syntax: FileMove (source-list, destination, warning) Parameters: "source-list" = one or more filenames separated by spaces. "destination" = target filename. warning = @TRUE if you want a warning before overwriting existing files; @FALSE if no warning desired. Returns: (integer) @TRUE if the file was moved; @FALSE if the source file was not found or had the READ-ONLY attribute, or the target filename is invalid. Use this command to move an individual file, a group of files using wildcards, or several groups of files by separating the names with spaces. You can also move files to another drive, or to any COM or LPT device. "Source-list" may contain * and ? wildcards. "Destination" may contain the * wildcard only. Errors: 1006 "File Copy/Move: No matching files found" 2002 "File Copy/Move: 'From' file illegal" 2003 "File Copy/Move: 'To' file illegal" 2004 "File Copy/Move: Cannot copy/move wildcards into fixed root" 2005 "File Copy/Move: Cannot copy/move wildcards into fixed extension" 2007 "File Move: Unable to rename source file" 2015 "File Move: Unable to remove source file" Example: FileMove("c:\config.sys", "d:", @FALSE) FileMove("c:\*.sys", "d:*.sys", @TRUE) See Also: FileCopy, FileDelete, FileExist, FileLocate, FileRename FileOpen Opens a STANDARD ASCII (only) file for reading or writing. Syntax: Fileopen ( filename, open-type) 60 WBL FUNCTION REFERENCE Parameters: "filename" = name of the file to open. open-type = READ or WRITE. Returns: (special integer) filehandle The filehandle returned by the FileOpen function is subsequently used by the FileRead,FileWrite and FileClose functions. Examples: To open for reading: FileOpen("stuff.txt", "READ") To open for writing: FileOpen("stuff.txt", "WRITE") FilePath Returns path of file. Syntax: FilePath (filename) Parameters: "filename" = fully qualified file name, including path. FilePath parses the passed filename and returns the drive and path of the file specification, if any. Example: coms = environment("comspec") compath = FilePath(coms) Message("", "Your command processor is located in the %compath% directory") FileRead Reads data from a file. Syntax: Fileread(filehandle) Parameters: filehandle = same integer that was returned by FileOpen. Returns: (string) line of data read from file. At EOF the string *EOF* will be returned. Example: handle = FileOpen("autoexec.bat", "READ") 61 WBL FUNCTION REFERENCE :top line = FileRead(handle) Display(4, "AUTOEXEC DATA", line) If line != "*EOF*" Then Goto top FileClose(handle) FileRename Renames files. Syntax: FileRename (source-list, destination) Parameters: "source-list" = one or more filenames separated by spaces. "destination" = target filename. Returns: (integer) @TRUE if the file was renamed; @FALSE if the source file was not found or had the READ-ONLY attribute, or the target filename is invalid. Use this command to rename an individual file, a group of files using wildcards, or several groups of files by separating the names with spaces. Note: Unlike FileMove, you cannot make a file change its resident disk drive with FileRename. "Source-list" may contain * and ? wildcards. "Destination" may contain the * wildcard only. Errors: 1024 "File Rename: No matching files found" 1025 "File Rename: Rename failed" 2019 "File Rename: 'From' file illegal" 2020 "File Rename: 'To' file illegal" 2021 "File Rename: Attempt to rename across drive boundary. - Use MOVE instead." 2022 "File Rename: Cannot rename wildcards into a fixed filename root" 2023 "File Rename: Cannot rename wildcards into a fixed filename extension" Example: FileRename("c:\config.sys", "config.old") FileRename("c:\*.txt", "*.bak") See Also: FileCopy, FileExist, FileLocate, FileMove 62 WBL FUNCTION REFERENCE FileRoot Returns root of file. Syntax: FileRoot (filename) Parameters: "filename" = [optional path]complete file name, with extension. FileRoot parses the passed filename and returns the root part of the filename. Example: allfiles = FileItemize("*.*") editfile = ItemSelect("Select a file to edit", allfiles, " ") root = FileRoot(editfile) ext = FileExtension(editfile) lowerext = StrLower(ext) nicefile = StrCat(root, ".", lowerext) Message("", "You are about to edit %nicefile%.") run("notepad.exe", editfile) FileSize Finds the total size of a group of files. Syntax: FileSize (file-list) Parameters: "file-list" = zero or more filenames, separated by spaces. Returns: (integer) total bytes taken up by the specified files. This function returns the total size of the specified files. Note it doesn't handle wildcarded filenames. You can, however, use FileItemize on a wildcarded filename and use the resulting string with as a FileSize parameter. Errors: 3112 "FileSize: File Not Found" Example: size = FileSize(FileItemize("")) Message("Size of Highlighted Files", size) See Also: DiskFree 63 WBL FUNCTION REFERENCE FileWrite Writes data to a file. Syntax: Filewrite(filehandle,output-data) Parameters: filehandle = same integer that was returned by FileOpen. "output-data" = data to write to file. Returns: (integer) always 0. Example: handle = FileOpen("stuff.txt", "WRITE") FileWrite(handle, "Gobbledygook") FileClose(handle) Goto Changes the flow of control in a batch file. Syntax: Goto label Parameters: "label" = user-defined identifier. Note: labels begin with a colon (:) Example: a = 0 :loop If A > 5 Then Goto next Message("A is now", a) a = a + 1 Goto loop :next Message("DONE", "Loop Exited") If_Then Conditionally performs a function. Syntax: If condition Then statement If the condition following the If keyword is true, the statement following the Then keyword is executed. If the condition following the If keyword is false, the statement following the Then keyword is ignored. 64 WBL FUNCTION REFERENCE Example: If a > 5 Then Message("Hello", "A GT 5") IgnoreInput Turns off hardware input to windows. Syntax: IgnoreInput(mode) Parameters: mode = @TRUE or @FALSE. Returns: (integer) previous IgnoreInput mode. IgnoreInput causes mouse movements, clicks and keyboard entry to be completely ignored. Good for self-running demos. Warning: If you are not careful with the use of IgnoreInput, you can hang your machine. Example: username = AskLine("Hello", "Please enter your name","") IgnoreInput(@TRUE) Call("demo.wbt", "username") IgnoreInput(@FALSE) IniRead Reads data from the WIN.INI file. Syntax: IniRead (section, keyname, default) Parameters: "section" = the major heading to read the data from. "keyname = the name of the item to read. "default" = string to return if the desired item is not found. Returns: (string) data from WIN.INI file. This command allows a program to read data from the WIN.INI file. The WIN.INI file has the form: [section] keyname=settings Most of the entries in WIN.INI are set from the Windows Control Panel program, but individual applications can also use it to store option settings in their own sections. 65 WBL FUNCTION REFERENCE Example: ; Find the default output device: a = IniRead("windows", "device", "No Default") Message("Default Output Device", a) See Also: Environment, IniWrite IniReadPvt For reading private ini files. Syntax: IniReadPvt (section, keyname, default,filename) Parameters: "section" = the major heading to read the data from. "keyname = the name of the item to read. "default" = string to return if the desired item is not found. "filename" = name of the INI file. Returns: (string) data from the INI file. Looks up a value in the "filename" ini file. If the value is not found, the "default" will be returned. Example: Given the following segment from WB.INI [Main] Lang=German The statement: IniReadPvt("Main", "Lang", "English", "WB.INI") would return "German" IniWrite Writes data to the WIN.INI file. Syntax: IniWrite (section, keyname, data) Parameters: "section" = major heading to write the data to. "keyname = name of the data item to write. "data" = string to write to the WIN.INI file. Returns: (integer) always @TRUE. 66 WBL FUNCTION REFERENCE This command allows a program to write data to the WIN.INI file. The "section" is added to the file if it doesn't already exist. Example: ; Change the list of pgms to load upon Windows startup: loadprogs = IniRead("windows", "load", "") newprogs = AskLine("Add Pgm To LOAD= Line", "Add:", loadprogs) IniWrite("windows", "load", newprogs) See Also: IniRead IniWritePvt For writing private ini files. Syntax: IniWritePvt (section, keyname, data, filename) Parameters: "section" = major heading to write the data to. "keyname = name of the data item to write. "data" = string to write to the INI file. "filename" = name of the INI file. Writes a value in the "filename" ini file. Example: The statement: IniWritePvt("Main", "Lang", "French, "WB.INI") would create the following entry in WB.INI: [Main] Lang=French IsDefined Determines if a variable name is currently defined. Syntax: IsDefined (var) Parameters: "var" = a variable name. Returns: (integer) @YES if the variable is currently defined; @NO if it was never defined or has been dropped. 67 WBL FUNCTION REFERENCE A variable is defined the first time it appears at the left of an equal sign in a statement. It stays defined until it is explicitly Dropped. Example: def = IsDefined(thisvar) If def == @FALSE Then Message("ERROR!", "Variable not defined") See Also: Drop IsKeyDown Tells about keys/mouse. Syntax: IsKeyDown(keycodes) Parameters: keycodes = @SHIFT and/or @CTRL Returns: (integer) @YES if the key is down. @NO if the key is not down. Determines if the SHIFT key or the CTRL key is currently down. Note: Right mouse button is the same as SHIFT, and Middle mouse button is the same as CTRL. Examples: IsKeyDown(@SHIFT) IsKeyDown(@CTRL) IsKeyDown(@CTRL | @SHIFT) IsKeyDown(@CTRL & @SHIFT) IsLicensed Tells if WinBatch is licensed. Syntax: IsLicensed() Returns: (integer) @YES if current version of WinBatch is licensed. @NO if current version of WinBatch is not licensed. Returns whether or not the current version of WinBatch is a licensed copy or not. 68 WBL FUNCTION REFERENCE Example: IsLicensed() IsNumber Determines whether a variable contains a valid number. Syntax: IsNumber (string) Parameters: "string" = string to test to see if it represents a valid number. Returns: (integer) @YES if it contains a valid number; @NO if it doesn't. This function determines if a string variable contains a valid integer. Useful for checking user input prior to using it in computations. Example: a = AskLine("ISNUMBER", "Enter a number", "0") If IsNumber(a) == @NO Then Message("", "You didn't enter a number") See Also: Abs, Char2Num ItemSelect Allows the user to choose an item from a listbox. Syntax: ItemSelect (title, list, delimiter) Parameters: "title" = the title of dialog box to display. "list" = a string containing a list of items to choose from. "delimiter" = a string containing the character to act as delimiter between items in the list. Returns: (string) the selected item. This function displays a dialog box with a listbox inside. This listbox is filled with a list of items taken from a string you provide to the function. Each item in the string must be separated ("delimited") by a character, which you also pass to the function. 69 WBL FUNCTION REFERENCE The user selects one of the items by either doubleclicking on it, or single-clicking and pressing OK. The item is returned as a string. If you create the list with the FileItemize or DirItemize functions you will be using a space-delimited list. WinItemize, however, creates a tab-delimited list of window titles since titles can have embedded blanks. Example: Files = FileItemize("*.bmp") thefile = ItemSelect("Bitmap Files", Files, " ") Run("pbrush.exe", thefile) See Also: AskYesNo, Display, DirItemize, FileItemize, WinItemize, Message, Pause, TextBox LastError Returns the most-recent error encountered during the current batch file. Syntax: LastError ( ) Returns: (integer) most-recent WBL error code encountered. WBL errors are numbered according to their severity. "Minor" errors go from 1000 through 1999. Moderate errors are 2000 through 2999. Fatal errors are numbered 3000 to 3999. Depending on which error mode is active when an error occurs, you may not get a chance to check the error code. See ErrorMode for a discussion of default error handling. Don't bother checking for "fatal" error codes. When a fatal error occurs, the batch file is canceled before the next WBL statement gets to execute (regardless of which error mode is active). Calling LastError itself resets the last error indicator back to zero. A full listing of possible errors you can encounter in processing a batch file is in Appendix B - Errors. Example: ErrorMode(@OFF) FileCopy("data.dat", "c:\backups", @FALSE) ErrorMode(@CANCEL) If LastError() == 1006 Then Message("Error", "Please call Tech Support at 555-9999.") 70 WBL FUNCTION REFERENCE See Also: Debug, ErrorMode LogDisk Logs (activates) a disk drive. Syntax: LogDisk (drive-letter) Parameters: "drive-letter" = is the disk drive to log into. Returns: (integer) @TRUE if the current drive was changed; @FALSE if the drive doesn't exist. Use this command to change the logged disk drive. This command produces the same effect as if you typed the drive name from the DOS command prompt. Errors: 1028 "LogDisk: Requested drive not online" Example: logdisk("c:") See Also: DirChange Max Returns largest number in a list of numbers. Syntax: Max (integer [, integer]...) Parameters: integer = number. Returns: (integer) largest parameter. Use this function to determine the largest of a set of numbers. Example: a = Max(5, -37, 125, 34, 2345, -32767) Message("Largest number is", a) See Also: Abs, Average, Min 71 WBL FUNCTION REFERENCE Message Displays a message to the user. Syntax: Message (title, text) Parameters: "title" = title of the message box. "text" = text to display in the message box. Returns: (integer) always @TRUE. Use this command to display a message to the user. The user must respond by selecting the OK button before processing will continue. Example: Message("GUESSIT", "Pick a number between 1 and 100") Message("GUESSIT", "Multiply your number by 2") Message("GUESSIT", "Add 34") Message("GUESSIT", "Divide by 2") Message("GUESSIT", "Subtract your original number") Message("GUESSIT", "Your answer is 17") See Also: Display, Pause Min Returns lowest number in a list of numbers. Syntax: Min (integer [, integer]...) Parameters: integer = any integer number. Returns: (integer) lowest parameter. Use this function to determine the lowest of a set of integers. Example: a = Min( 5, -37, 125, 34, 2345, -32767) Message("Smallest number is", a) See Also: Abs, Average, Max 72 WBL FUNCTION REFERENCE Num2Char Converts a number to its character equivalent. Syntax: Num2Char (integer) Parameters: number = any number from 0 to 255. Returns: (string) one-byte string containing the character the number represents. Use this command to convert a number to its ASCII equivalent. Example: ; Build a variable containing a CRLF combo crlf = StrCat(Num2Char(13), Num2Char(10)) Message("NUM2CHAR", StrCat("line1", crlf, "line2")) See Also: Char2Num ParseData Parses the passed string, just like passed parameters are parsed. Syntax: Parsedata (string) Parameters: "string" = string to be parsed. Variables show up as param1, param2, etc. Param0 is the count of the number of parameters. Example: username = AskLine("Hello", "Please enter your name","") ParseData(username) If the user entered Joe Q. User ParseData would create the following variables: param0 == 3 param1 == "Joe" param2 == "Q." param3 == "User" 73 WBL FUNCTION REFERENCE Pause Provides a message to user. User may cancel processing. Syntax: Pause (title, text) Parameters: "title" = title of pause box. "text" = text of the message to be displayed. Returns: (integer) always @TRUE. This command displays a message to the user with an exclamation point icon. The user may respond by selecting the OK button, or they may cancel the processing by selecting CANCEL. The Pause command is similar to the Message command except for the addition of the CANCEL button and icon. Example: Pause("Change Disks", "Insert new disk into Drive A:") See Also: Display, Message Random Computes a pseudo-random number. Syntax: Random (max) Parameters: max = largest desired number. Returns: (integer) unpredictable positive number. This function will return a random integer between 0 and "max". Example: a = Random(79) Message("Random number between 0 and 79", a) Return Used to return from a Call or a CallExt to the calling program. Syntax: Return 74 WBL FUNCTION REFERENCE If the program was not called, then an EXIT is assumed. Example: Display(2, "End of subroutine", "Returning to MAIN.WBT") Return Run Runs a program as a normal window. Syntax: Run (program-name, parameters) Parameters: "program-name" =the name of the desired .EXE, .COM, .PIF, .BAT file, or a data file. "parameters" = optional parameters as required by the applica- tion. Returns: (integer) @TRUE if the program was found; @FALSE if it wasn't. Use this command to run an application. If the drive and path are not part of the program name, the current directory will be examined first and then the DOS path will be searched to find the desired executable file. If the "program-name" doesn't have an extension of .EXE, .COM, .PIF, or .BAT, it will be run in accordance with whatever is in the [extensions] section of the WIN.INI file. When this happens, any "parameters" you specified are ignored. Examples: Run("notepad.exe", "abc.txt") Run("clock.exe", "") Run("paint.exe", "pict.msp") See Also: RunHide, RunIcon, RunZoom, WinClose, WinWaitClose RunHide Runs a program as a hidden window. Syntax: RunHide (program-name, parameters) Parameters: "program-name" =the name of the desired .EXE, .COM, .PIF, .BAT file, or a data file. "parameters" = optional parameters as required by the application. 75 WBL FUNCTION REFERENCE Returns: (integer) @TRUE if the program was found; @FALSE if it wasn't. Use this command to run an application as a hidden window. If the drive and path are not part of the program name, the current directory will be examined first and then the DOS path will be searched to find the desired executable file. If the "program-name" doesn't have an extension of .EXE, .COM, .PIF, or .BAT, it will be run in accordance with whatever is in the [extensions] section of the WIN.INI file. When this happens, any "parameters" you specified are ignored. Note: When this command launches an application it informs it that you want it to run as a hidden window. Whether or not the application honors your wish is beyond RunHide's control. Examples: RunHide("notepad.exe", "abc.txt") RunHide("clock.exe", "") RunHide("paint.exe", "pict.msp") See Also: Run, RunIcon, RunZoom, WinHide, WinClose, WinWaitClose RunIcon Runs a program as an iconic (minimized) window. Syntax: RunIcon (program-name, parameters) Parameters: "program-name" =the name of the desired .EXE, .COM, .PIF, .BAT file, or a data file. "parameters" = optional parameters as required by the application. Returns: (integer) @TRUE if the program was found; @FALSE if it wasn't. Use this command to run an application as an icon. If the drive and path are not part of the program name, the current directory will be examined first and then the DOS path will be searched to find the desired executable file. If the "program-name" doesn't have an extension of .EXE, .COM, .PIF, or .BAT, it will be run in accordance with whatever is in the [extensions] section of the WIN.INI file. When this happens, any "parameters" you specified are ignored. 76 WBL FUNCTION REFERENCE Note: When this command launches an application it merely informs it that you want it to begin as an icon. Whether or not the application honors your wish is beyond RunIcon's control. Examples: RunIcon("notepad.exe", "abc.txt") RunIcon("clock.exe", "") RunIcon("paint.exe", "pict.msp") See Also: Run, RunHide, RunZoom, WinIconize, WinClose, WinWaitClose RunZoom Runs a program as a full-screen (maximized) window. Syntax: RunZoom (program-name, parameters) Parameters: "program-name" =the name of the desired .EXE, .COM, .PIF, .BAT file, or a data file. "parameters" = optional parameters as required by the application. Returns: (integer) @TRUE if the program was found; @FALSE if it wasn't. Use this command to run an application as a full-screen window. If the drive and path are not part of the program name, the current directory will be examined first and then the DOS path will be searched to find the desired executable file. If the "program-name" doesn't have an extension of .EXE, .COM, .PIF, or .BAT, it will be run in accordance with whatever is in the [extensions] section of the WIN.INI file. When this happens, any "parameters" you specified are ignored. Note: When this command launches an application it merely informs it that you want it to be maximized to full-screen. Whether or not the application honors your wish is beyond RunZoom's control. Examples: RunZoom("notepad.exe", "abc.txt") RunZoom("clock.exe", "") RunZoom("paint.exe", "pict.msp") See Also: Run, RunHide, RunIcon, WinZoom, WinClose, WinWaitClose 77 WBL FUNCTION REFERENCE SendKey Sends keystrokes to the active application. Syntax: Sendkey (character-codes) Parameters: "character-codes" = string of regular and special characters (see below). Returns: (integer) always 0 SendKey is used to send keystrokes to the current window, just as if they had been entered from the keyboard. Any alphanumeric character may be sent by simply placing the character in the string. In addition, the following special characters may be used: Backspace {BACKSPACE} or {BS} Break {BREAK} Clear {CLEAR} Delete {DELETE} or {DEL} Down Arrow {DOWN} End {END} ENTER {ENTER} or ~ Escape {ESCAPE} or {ESC} F1 through F12 {F1} through {F12} Help {HELP} Home {HOME} Insert {INSERT} Left Arrow {LEFT} Page Down {PGDN} Page Up {PGUP} Print Screen {PRTSC} Right Arrow {RIGHT} Space {SPACE} or {SP} Tab {TAB} Up Arrow {UP} To enter an Alt, Control, or Shift key combination, precede the desired key with one of the following symbols: Alt ! Control ^ Shift + For example, to enter Alt-S: SendKey("!S"). You may also repeat a key by following it with a space and then the total number of repetitions desired. For example, to move the cursor down 8 lines: SendKey("{DOWN} 8") 78 WBL FUNCTION REFERENCE Example: ; Start Notepad. Use *.* for filenames Run("Notepad.exe", "") SendKey("!FO*.*~") It is possible to use SendKey to send keystrokes to a DOS application, but only if you are running Windows in 386 Enhanced mode. You transfer the keystrokes to the DOS application via the clipboard. For example: ; run batch file which starts our editor run("edit.bat", "") ; wait 15 seconds for editor to load Delay(15) ; send Alt-F N to the clipboard ClipPut("!FN") ; paste contents of clipboard to DOS window SendKey("!{SP}EP") See Also: SKDebug SKDebug Controls how SendKey works Syntax: Skdebug(mode) Parameters: mode = @OFF Keystrokes sent to application. No debug file written. Default mode. @ON Keystrokes sent to application. Debug file written. @PARSEONLY Keystrokes not sent to application. Debug file written. Returns: (integer) previous SKDebug mode. Note: File C:\SKDEBUG.TXT contains parsed keystrokes Example: Run("notepad.exe", "") SKDebug(@ON) SendKey("!FO*.*~") SKDebug(@OFF) See Also: SendKey 79 WBL FUNCTION REFERENCE StrCat Concatenates two or more strings. Syntax: StrCat (string1, string2[, stringN]...) Parameters: "string1", etc = at least two strings you want to "string" together (so to speak). Returns: (string) concatenation of the entire list of input strings. Use this command to stick character strings together, or to format display messages. Errors: 2058 "StrCat function syntax error" Example: user = AskLine("Login", "Your Name:", "") Message("Login", StrCat("Hi, ", user)) ; note that this will do the same: Message("Login", "Hi, %user%") See Also: StrFill, StrFix, StrTrim StrCmp Compares two strings. Syntax: StrCmp (string1, string2) Parameters: "string1", "string2" = strings to compare. Returns: (integer) -1, 0, or 1; depending on whether string1 is less than, equal to, or greater than string2, respectively. Use this command to determine whether two strings are equal, or which precedes the other in an ASCII sorting sequence. Note: This command has been included for semantic completeness. The relational operators >, >=, ==, !=, <=, and < provide the same capability. 80 WBL FUNCTION REFERENCE Example: a = AskLine("STRCMP", "Enter a test line", "") b = AskLine("STRCMP", "Enter another test line", "") c = StrCmp(a, b) c = c + 1 d = StrSub("less than equal to greater than", c * 12, 12) ; Note that above string is grouped into 12-character chunks. ; Desired chunk is removed with the StrSub statement. Message("STRCMP", "%a% is %d% %b%") See Also: StrICmp, StrIndex, StrLen, StrScan, StrSub StrFill Creates a string filled with a series of characters. Syntax: StrFill (filler, length) Parameters: "filler" = a string to be repeated to create the return string. If the filler string is null, spaces will be used instead. length = the length of the desired string. Returns: (string) character string. Use this function to create a string consisting of multiple copies of the filler string concatenated together. Example: Message("My Stars", StrFill("*", 30)) See Also: StrCat, StrFix, StrLen, StrTrim StrFix Pads or truncates a string to a fixed length. Syntax: StrFix (base-string, pad-string, length) Parameters: "base-string" = string to be adjusted to a fixed length. "pad-string" = appended to "base-string" if needed to fill out the desired length. If "pad-string" is null, spaces are used instead. 81 WBL FUNCTION REFERENCE length = length of the desired string. Returns: (string) fixed size string. This function "fixes" the length of a string, either by truncating it on the right, or by appending enough copies of pad- string to achieve the desired length. Example: a = StrFix("Henry", " ", 15) b = StrFix("Betty", " ", 15) c = StrFix("George", " ", 15) Message("Spaced Names", StrCat(a, b, c)) See Also: StrFill, StrLen, StrTrim StriCmp Compares two strings without regard to case. Syntax: StrICmp (string1, string2) Parameters: "string1", "string2" = strings to compare. Returns: (integer) -1, 0, or 1; depending on whether string1 is less than, equal to, or greater than string2, respectively. Use this command to determine whether two strings are equal, or which precedes the other in an ACSII sorting sequence, when case is ignored. Example: a = AskLine("STRICMP", "Enter a test line", "") b = AskLine("STRICMP", "Enter another test line", "") c = StriCmp(a, b) c = c + 1 d = StrSub("less than equal to greater than", c * 12, 12) ; Note that above string is grouped into 12-character chunks. ; Desired chunk is removed with the StrSub statement. Message("STRICMP", "%a% is %d% %b%") See Also: StrCmp, StrIndex, StrLen, StrScan, StrSub 82 WBL FUNCTION REFERENCE StrIndex Searches a string for a substring. Syntax: StrIndex (string, sub-string, start, direction) Parameters: "string" = the string to be searched for a substring. "substring" = the string to look for within the main string. start = the position in the main string to begin the search. The first character of a string is position 1. direction = the search direction. @FWDSCAN searches forward, while @BACKSCAN searches backwards. Returns: (integer) position of "sub-string" within "string"; 0 if not found. This function searches for a substring within a "target" string. Starting at the "start" position, it goes forward or backward depending on the value of the "direction" parameter. It stops when it finds the "substring" within the "target" string, and returns its position. A start position of 0 has special meaning depending on which direction you are scanning. For forward searches zero indicates the search should start at the beginning of the string. For reverse searches zero causes it to start at the end of the string. Errors: 3100 "StrIndex/StrScan 3rd parameter out of bounds" Example: instr = AskLine("STRINDEX", "Type a sentence:", "") start = 1 end = StrIndex(InStr, " ", start, @FWDSCAN) If end == 0 Then Goto error Message("STRINDEX", StrCat("The first word is: ", StrSub(instr, start, end - 1)) Exit :error Message("Sorry...", "No spaces found") See Also: StrLen, StrScan, StrSub StrLen Provides the length of a string. Syntax: StrLen (string) 83 WBL FUNCTION REFERENCE Parameters: "string" = any text string. Returns: (integer) length of string. Use this command to determine the length of a string variable or expression. Example: myfile = AskLine("Filename", "File to process:", "") namlen = StrLen(myfile) If namlen > 13 Then Message("", "Filename too long!") See Also: StrFill, StrFix, StrIndex, StrScan, StrTrim StrLower Converts a string to lowercase. Syntax: StrLower (string) Parameters: "string" = any text string. Returns: (string) lowercase string. Use this command to convert a text string to lower case. Example: a = AskLine("STRLOWER", "Enter text", "") b = strlower(a) message(a, b) See Also: StrICmp, StrUpper StrReplace Replaces all occurances of a substring with another. Syntax: StrReplace (string, old, new) Parameters: "string" = string in which to search. "old" = target substring. "new" = replacement substring. 84 WBL FUNCTION REFERENCE StrReplace scans the 'string', searching for occurrences of 'old' and replacing each occurrence with 'new'. 'String' is modified directly. Example: ; Copy highlighted files to clipboard a = FileItemize("") crlf = StrCat(Num2Char(13), Num2Char(10)) StrReplace(a, " ", crlf) ClipPut(a) StrScan Searches string for occurrence of delimiters. Syntax: StrScan (string, delimiters, start, direction) Parameters: "string" = the string that is to be searched. "delimiters" = a string of delimiters to search for within "string". start = the position in the main string to begin the search. The first character of a string is position 1. direction = the search direction. @FWDSCAN searches forward, while @BACKSCAN searches backwards. Returns: (integer) position of delimiter in string, or 0 if not found. This function searches for delimiters within a target "string". Starting at the "start" position, it goes forward or backward depending on the value of the "direction" parameter. It stops when it finds any one of the characters in the "delimiters" string within the target "string". Errors: 3100 "StrIndex/StrScan 3rd parameter out of bounds" Example: thestr = "123,456.789:abc" start = 1 end = StrScan(thestr, ",.:", start, @FWDSCAN) If end == 0 Then Goto error Message("The first parameter", StrSub(thestr, start, end - start + 1)) Exit :error Message("Sorry...", "No delimiters found") See Also: StrLen, StrSub 85 WBL FUNCTION REFERENCE StrSub Extracts a substring out of an existing string. Syntax: StrSub (string, start, length) Parameters: "string" = the string from which the substring is to be extracted. start = character position within "string" where the sub- string starts. (The first character of the string is at position 1). length = length of desired substring. If you specify a length of zero it will return a null string. Returns: (string) substring of parameter string. This function extracts a substring from within a "target" string. Starting at the "start" position, it copies up to "length" characters into the substring. Errors: 3059 "Illegal Bounds for STRSUB function" Example: a = "My dog has fleas" animal = StrSub(a, 4, 3) Message("STRSUB", "My animal is a %animal%") See Also: StrLen, StrScan StrTrim Removes leading and trailing spaces from a character string. Syntax: StrTrim (string) Parameters: "string" = a string with unwanted spaces at the beginning and/or the end. Returns: (string) string devoid of leading and trailing spaces. Use this function to remove unwanted spaces from the beginning and end of text data. 86 WBL FUNCTION REFERENCE Example: thefile = AskLine("STRTRIM", "Filename ('exit' cancels)", "") tstexit = StrTrim(StrLower(thefile)) If tstexit == "exit" Then Goto cancel ; processing of thefile continues... : cancel Message("Canceled", "...by user request") See Also: StrFill, StrFix, StrLen StrUpper Converts a string to uppercase. Syntax: StrUpper (string) Parameters: "string" = any text string. Returns: (string) uppercase string. Use this function to convert a text string to upper case. Example: a = AskLine("STRUPPER", "Enter text","") b = StrUpper(a) message(a, b) See Also: StrICmp, StrLower TextBox Displays a file in a listbox on the screen and returns selected line, if any. Syntax: TextBox (title, filename) Parameters: "title" = listbox title. "filename" = file containing contents of listbox. Returns: (string) = highlighted string, if any. The TextBox command loads a file into a Windows listbox and displays the listbox to the user. The command has two primary uses: First off, it can be used to display multi-line messages 87 WBL FUNCTION REFERENCE to the user. In addition, because of its ability to return a selected line, it may be used as a multiple choice question box. The line highlighted by the user (if any) will be returned to the program. If disk drive and path not are part of the filename, the current directory will be examined first, and then the DOS path will be searched to find the desired file. Example: ; Display config.sys a = TextBox("Choose a line", "C:\CONFIG.SYS") Display(3, "Chosen line", a) See Also: ItemSelect Version Returns the version number of the currently-running WinBatch language processor. Syntax: Version ( ) Returns: (string) = WinBatch version number. Use this function to determine the version of WinBatch that is running. It is useful to verify that a batch file generated with the latest version of the language will operate properly on what may be a different machine with a different version of WinBatch installed. Example: a = Version() See Also: Environment, WinVersion WinActivate Activates a previously running window. Syntax: WinActivate (partial-windowname) Parameters: "partial-windowname" = either an initial portion of, or an entire window name. The most-recently used window whose title matches the name will be activated. 88 WBL FUNCTION REFERENCE Returns: (integer) @TRUE if a window was found to activate; @FALSE if no windows were found. Use this command to activate windows for user input. Errors: 1045 "WinActivate: Window not found" Example: Run("notepad.exe", "") Run("clock.exe", "") WinActivate("Notepad") See Also: WinCloseNot, WinGetActive, WinShow WinArrange Arranges, tiles, and/or stacks application windows. Syntax: WinArrange (style) Parameters: style = one of the following: @STACK, @TILE (or @ARRANGE), @ROWS, or @COLUMNS. Returns: (integer) always @TRUE. Use this command to rearrange the open windows on the screen. (Any iconized programs are unaffected.) When you specify @ROWS and you have more than four open windows, or if you specify @COLUMNS and you have more than three open windows, WinBatch will revert to @TILE. Example: ; Reveal all windows WinArrange(@TILE) See Also: WinItemize, WinHide, WinIconize, WinPlace, WinShow, WinZoom WinClose Closes an open window. Syntax: WinClose (partial-windowname) 89 WBL FUNCTION REFERENCE Parameters: "partial-windowname" = either an initial portion of, or an entire window name. The most-recently used window whose title matches the name will be closed. Returns: (integer) @TRUE if a window was found to close; @FALSE if no windows were found. Use this command to close windows. This command will not close the current WinBatch window. You can, however, call EndSession to end the current Windows session. Errors: 1039 "WinClose: Window not found" Example: Run("notepad.exe", "") WinClose("Notepad") See Also: WinCloseNot, WinHide, WinIconize, WinWaitClose WinCloseNot Closes all windows, except those provided as parameters:. Syntax: WinCloseNot (partial-windowname [, partial-windowname]...) Parameters: "partial-windowname" = either an initial portion of, or an entire window name. Any windows whose titles match the partial names will stay open. Returns: (integer) always @TRUE. Use this command to close all windows except those specifically listed in the parameter strings. At least one partial windowname must be given. A null-string parameter would match all windows, or in other words close nothing. 90 WBL FUNCTION REFERENCE Errors: 2038 "WinCloseNot Function Syntax error" Example: ; The statement below will close all windows except: ; 1) MS-DOS Executive (starts with 'MS-D') ; 2) Clock (starts with 'Clo' ) WinCloseNot("MS-D", "Clo") See Also: WinItemize, WinClose, WinHide, WinIconize, WinWaitClose WinConfig Returns WIN3 mode flags. Syntax: WinConfig () Returns the Windows configuration information as a number. Bits are defined as follows: 1 Protected Mode 2 80286 CPU 4 80386 CPU 8 80486 CPU 16 Standard Mode 32 Enhanced Mode 64 8086 CPU 128 80186 CPU 256 Large PageFrame 512 Small PageFrame 1024 80x87 Installed WinExist Tells if Window exists. Syntax: WinExist (partialwindowname) Parameters: "partial-windowname" = either an initial portion of, or an entire window name. Returns: (integer) @TRUE if a matching window is found. @FALSE if a matching window is not found. Note: The partial window name you give must match the initial portion of the window name (as appears in the title bar) exactly, including proper case (upper or lower) and punctuation. 91 WBL FUNCTION REFERENCE Example: If WinExist("Clock") == @FALSE Then RunIcon("Clock", "") WinGetActive Gets the title of the active window. Syntax: WinGetActive ( ) Returns: (string) title of active window. Use this command to determine which window is currently active. Example: currentwin = WinGetActive() See Also: WinItemize, WinActivate WinHide Hides a window. Syntax: WinHide (partial-windowname) Parameters: "partial-windowname" = either an initial portion of, or an entire window name. The most-recently used window whose title matches the name will be hidden. Returns: (integer) @TRUE if a window was found to hide; @FALSE if no windows were found. Use this command to hide windows. The programs are still running when they are hidden. A partial-windowname of "" hides the current WinBatch window. Errors: 1040 "WinHide: Window not found" Example: Run("notepad.exe", "") WinHide("Notepad") WinShow("Notepad") See Also: WinClose, WinIconize, WinPlace 92 WBL FUNCTION REFERENCE WinIconize Iconizes a window. Syntax: WinIconize (partial-windowname) Parameters: "partial-windowname" = either an initial portion of, or an entire window name. The most-recently used window whose title matches the name will be iconized. Returns: (integer) @TRUE if a window was found to iconize; @FALSE if no windows were found. Use this command to turn a window into an icon at the bottom of the screen. A partial-windowname of "" iconizes the current WinBatch window. Errors: 1041 "WinIconize: Window not found" Example: Run("clock.exe", "") WinIconize("Clo") ; partial window name used here See Also: WinClose, WinHide, WinPlace, WinShow, WinZoom WinItemize Returns a tab-delimited list of all open windows. Syntax: WinItemize ( ) Returns: (string) list of all open windows' titles. This function compiles a list of all the open application windows' titles and separates the titles by tabs. This is especially useful in conjunction with the ItemSelect function, which enables the user to choose an item from such a tab- delimited list. Note this behaves somewhat differently than FileItemize and DirItemize, which create space-delimited lists. This is because window titles regularly contain embedded spaces. 93 WBL FUNCTION REFERENCE Example: ; Find a window allwins = WinItemize() htab = Num2Char(9) mywind = ItemSelect("Windows", allwins, htab) WinActivate(mywind) See Also: DirItemize, FileItemize, ItemSelect WinPlace Places a window anywhere on the screen. Syntax: WinPlace (x-ulc, y-ulc, x-brc, y-brc, partial-windowname) Parameters: x-ulc = how far from the left of the screen to place the upper-left corner (0-1000). y-ulc = how far from the top of the screen to place the upper-left corner (0-1000). x-brc = how far from the left of the screen to place the bottom-right corner (10-1000) or @NORESIZE. y-brc = how far from the top of the screen to place the bottom-right corner (10-1000) or @NORESIZE or @ABOVEICONS. "partial-windowname" = either an initial portion of, or an entire window name. The most-recently used window whose title matches the name will be moved to the new position. Returns: (integer) @TRUE if a window was found to move; @FALSE if no windows were found. Use this command to move windows on the screen. (You cannot, however, move icons or windows that have been maximized to full screen.) The "x-ulc", "y-ulc", "x-brc", and "y-brc" parameters are based on a logical screen that is 1000 points wide by 1000 points high. You can move the window without changing the width and/or height by specifying @NORESIZE for the "x-brc" and/or "y-brc" parameters, respectively. You can fix the bottom of the window to sit just above the line of icons along the bottom of the screen by specifying a "y-brc" of @ABOVEICONS. Some sample parameters: Upper left quarter of the screen: 0, 0, 500, 500 Upper right quarter: 500, 0, 500, 1000 94 WBL FUNCTION REFERENCE Center quarter: 250, 250, 750, 750 Lower left eighth: 0, 750, 500, 1000 A handy utility program is included with WinBatch, called WinInfo.exe. This program lets you take an open window that is sized and positioned the way you like it, and automatically create the proper WinPlace statement for you. It puts the text into the Clipboard, from which you can paste it into your batch code: You'll need a mouse to use WinInfo. While WinInfo is the active window, place the mouse over the window you wish to create the WinPlace statement for, and press the spacebar. The new statement will be placed into the Clipboard. Then press the Esc key to close WinInfo. Errors: 1044 "WinPlace: Window not found" Example: WinPlace(0, 0, 200, 200, "Clock") See Also: WinArrange, WinHide, WinIconize, WinShow, WinZoom WinPosition Returns Window position. Syntax: WinPosition (partialwindowname) Parameters: "partial-windowname" = either an initial portion of, or an entire window name. Returns: (string) window coordinates, delimited by commas. Returns the current Window position information for the selected Window. It returns 4 comma-separated numbers (see WinPlace for details). Example: a = WinPosition("Clock") A return value for the above function might be "0,0,100,100". See Also: WinPlace 95 WBL FUNCTION REFERENCE WinShow Shows a window in its "normal" state. Syntax: WinShow (partial-windowname) Parameters: "partial-windowname" = either an initial portion of, or an entire window name. The most-recently used window whose title matches the name will be shown. Returns: (integer) @TRUE if a window was found to show; @FALSE if no windows were found. Use this command to restore a window to its "normal" size and position. A partial-windowname of "" restores the current WinBatch window. Errors: 1043 "WinShow: Window not found" Example: RunZoom("notepad.exe", "") ; other processing... WinShow("Notepad") See Also: WinArrange, WinHide, WinIconize, WinZoom WinTitle Changes the title of a window. Syntax: WinTitle (partial-windowname, new-name) Parameters: "partial-windowname" = either an initial portion of, or an entire window name. The most-recently used window whose title matches the name will be shown. "new-name" = the new name of the window. Returns: (integer) @TRUE if a window was found to rename; @FALSE if no windows were found. Use this command to change a window's title. A partial-windowname of "" refers to the current WinBatch window. 96 WBL FUNCTION REFERENCE Note: Some applications may rely upon their window's title staying the same! It should be used with caution and adequate testing. Example: ; Capitalize title of window htab = Num2Char(9) allwinds = WinItemize() MyWin = ItemSelect("Uppercase Windows", allwinds, htab) WinTitle(mywin, StrUpper(mywin)) Drop(htab, allwinds, mywin) See Also: WinItemize WinVersion Provides the version number of the current Windows system. Syntax: WinVersion (level) Parameters: level = either @MAJOR or @MINOR. Returns: (integer) either major or minor part of the Windows version number. Use this command to determine which version of Windows is currently running. @MAJOR returns the integer part of the Windows version number; i.e. 1.0, 2.11, 3.0, etc. @MINOR returns the decimal part of the Windows version number; i.e. 1.0, 2.11, 3.0, etc. Example: minorver = WinVersion(@MINOR) majorver = WinVersion(@MAJOR) Message("Windows Version", StrCat(majorver, ".", minorver)) See Also: Version WinWaitClose Suspends the batch file execution until a specified window has been closed. 97 WBL FUNCTION REFERENCE Syntax: WinWaitClose (partial-windowname) Parameters: "partial-windowname" = either an initial portion of, or an entire window name. WinWaitClose suspends execution until all matching windows have been closed. Returns: (integer) @TRUE if at least one window was found to wait for; @FALSE if no windows were found. Use this command to suspend the batch file's execution until the user has finished using a given window and has manually closed it. Example: Run("clock.exe", "") Display(4, "Note", "Close Clock to continue") WinWaitClose("Clock") Message("Continuing...", "Clock closed") See Also: Delay, Yield WinZoom Maximizes a window to full-screen. Syntax: WinZoom (partial-windowname) Parameters: "partial-windowname" = either an initial portion of, or an entire window name. The most-recently used window whose title matches the name will be shown. Returns: (integer) @TRUE if a window was found to zoom; @FALSE if no windows were found. Use this command to "zoom" windows to full screen size. A partial-windowname of "" zooms the current WinBatch window. Errors: 1042 "WinZoom: Window not found" Example: Run("notepad.exe", "") WinZoom("Notepad") WinShow("Notepad") 98 WBL FUNCTION REFERENCE See Also: WinHide, WinIconize, WinPlace, WinShow Yield Provides time for other windows to do processing. Syntax: Yield Use this command to give other running windows time to process. This command will allow each open window to process 20 or more messages. Example: ;run Excel and give it some time to start up... sheet = AskLine ("Excel", "File to run:", "") run("Excel.exe", sheet) yield yield yield See Also: Delay 99 APPENDIX A Predefined Constants APPENDIX A Predefined Constants WBL provides you with a number of predefined integer constants to help make your batch files more mnemonic: Logical Conditions String Handling @FALSE @FWDSCAN @NO @BACKSCAN @OFF @TRUE Menu Handling @YES @ON @ENABLE @DISABLE Window Arranging @UNCHECK @CHECK @NORESIZE @ABOVEICONS System Control @STACK @ARRANGE @MAJOR @TITLE @MINOR @ROWS @COLUMNS Error Handling @CANCEL @NOTIFY @OFF Keyboard Status @SHIFT @CTRL 100 APPENDIX B Errors APPENDIX B Errors If the current error mode is @CANCEL (the default), any WBL errors encountered while processing a batch file cause the item to be canceled with an error message. Minor Errors Minor errors are ignored if the current error mode has been set to @OFF. If the error mode is @NOTIFY the user has the option of continuing with the batch file or canceling it. 1006 File Copy/Move: No matching files found 1017 File Delete: No matching files found 1018 File Delete: Delete Failed 1024 File Rename: No matching files found 1025 File Rename: Rename failed 1028 LogDisk: Requested drive not online 1029 DirMake: Dir not created 1030 DirRemove: Dir not removed 1031 DirChange: Dir not found/changed 1039 WinClose: Window not found 1040 WinHide: Window not found 1041 WinIconize: Window not found 1042 WinZoom: Window not found 1043 WinShow: Window not found 1044 WinPlace: Window not found 1045 WinActivate: Window not found Moderate Errors If the error mode is @NOTIFY or @OFF, the user has the option of continuing with the batch file or canceling it. 2002 File Copy/Move: 'From' file illegal 2003 File Copy/Move: 'To' file illegal 2004 File Copy/Move: Cannot copy/move wildcards into fixed root 2005 File Copy/Move: Cannot copy/move wildcards into fixed extension 2007 File Move: Unable to rename source file 2015 File Move: Unable to remove source file 2016 File Delete: File name illegal 2019 File Rename: 'From' file illegal 2020 File Rename: 'To' file illegal 2021 File Rename: Attempt to rename across drive boundary. - Use MOVE instead. 2022 File Rename: Cannot rename wildcards into a fixed filename root 2023 File Rename: Cannot rename wildcards into a fixed filename extension 101 APPENDIX B Errors 2038 WinCloseNot Function Syntax error 2058 StrCat function syntax error 2060 Average function syntax error Fatal Errors Fatal errors cause the current batch file to be canceled with an error message, regardless of the error mode in effect. (We show the error codes here for consistency, but in practice you will never be able to call LastError after a fatal error.) 3008 File Copy/Move: 'From' file open error 3011 File Copy/Move: 'From' file length error 3012 File Copy/Move: No room left on disk. Out of space?? 3013 File Copy/Move: 'To' file open error 3014 File Copy/Move: I/O Error 3026 LogDisk: Illegal disk drive 3027 LogDisk: DOS reports no disks!! ??? 3034 Clipboard owned by another app. Cannot open. 3035 Clipboard does not contain text for ClipAppend. 3036 Clipboard cannot hold that much text (>64000 bytes) 3037 Unable to allocate memory for clipboard. Close some applications 3046 Internal Error 3046. Function not defined 3047 Variable name over 30 chars. Too Long 3048 Substitution %Variable% not followed by a % (Use %% for %) 3049 No variables exist??!! 3050 Undefined variable 3051 Undefined variable or function 3052 Uninitialized variable or undefined function 3053 Character string too long (>256 chars??) 3054 Unrecognizable item found on line 3055 Variable name is over 30 chars. Too Long 3056 Variable could not be converted to string 3057 Variable could not be converted to integer 3059 Illegal Bounds for StrSub function 3061 Illegal Syntax 3062 Attempt to divide by zero 3063 Internal Error 3063. Binary op not found 3064 Internal Error 3064. Unary op not found 3065 Unbalanced Parenthesis 3066 Wrong Number of Arguments in Function 3067 Function Syntax. Opening parenthesis missing. 3068 Function Syntax. Illegal delimiter found. 3069 Illegal assignment statement. (Use == for equality testing) 3070 Internal error 3070. Too many arguments defined. 3071 Missing or incomplete statement 3074 Expression continues past expected end. 3081 FileRead: Invalid file handle 3082 FileRead: File not currently open 3084 FileWrite: Invalid file handle 3085 FileWrite: File not currently open 3087 FileRead: File not open for reading 102 APPENDIX B Errors 3088 FileRead: Attempt to read past end of file 3089 FileWrite: File not open for writing 3095 Compare could not be resolved into a integer or string compare 3096 Memory allocation failure. Out of memory for string storage 3097 Memory allocation failure. Out of memory for variable storage 3098 Internal error, NULL pointer passed to xstrxxx subroutines 3100 StrIndex/StrScan 3rd parameter out of bounds 3101 Substituted line too long. (> 256 characters) 3102 Drop: Can only drop variables 3103 IsDefined: Attempting to test non-variables item 3107 Run: Filetype is not COM, EXE, PIF or BAT 3108 FileItemize: Unable to lock file info segment 3109 FileItemize: Unable to unlock file info segment 3110 FileItemize: Unable to lock file index segment 3111 FileItemize: Unable to unlock file index segment 3112 FileSize: File Not Found 3113 FileSize: Filelength I/O Error 3114 FileSize: Buffer Overrun Error 3115 FileDelete: Buffer Overrun Error 3116 FileRename: Buffer Overrun Error 3117 FileCopyMove: Buffer Overrun Error 3118 FileCopyMove: Destination file same as source 103 Index Index minor 101 A moderate 101-102 Abs 36,40 see also Debug, AskLine 12,32,40-41 ErrorMode, LastError AskYesNo 12,32,41 Exclusive 37,55 Average 36,41-42 Execute 37,54 Exit 37,54-55 B batch files F error handling 31-32 File Management statement summary 32-37 in WBL 32-33 statements 37-100 FileClose 32,55-56 WBL language components 27- FileCopy 17,32,55-56 31 FileDelete 17,32,56-57 Beep 12,32,13 FileExist 17,32,57-58 FileExtension 33,58 C FileItemize 20,33,58-59 Call 36,42 FileLocate 33,59-60 CallExt 36,42-43 FileMove 33,60 Char2Num 35,42-43 FileOpen 33,60-61 ClipAppend 36,43-44 FilePath 33,61 ClipGet 36,44-45 FileRead 33,61-62 ClipPut 36,45 FileRename 17,33,60-63 Comments 30 FileRoot 33,63 Constants 27-28 FileSize 33,63-64 predefined 27-28 FileWrite 33,64 D G DateTime 36,45-46 Goto 37,64 Debug 36,46-47 Delay 13,36,47 I DialogBox 32,47 Identifiers 28 DirChange 16,33,47-48 If_Then 37,64-65 Directory Management IgnoreInput 37,65 in WBL 33 IniRead 37,64-66 DirGet 16,33,48 IniReadPvt 37,66 DirHome 33,48-49 IniWrite 37,66-67 DirItemize 21,33,49 IniWritePvt 37,67 DirMake 33,49-50 IsDefined 37,67-68 DirRemove 33,50 IsKeyDown 37,68 DiskFree 33,50-51 IsLicensed 37,68-69 Display 12,32,51 IsNumber 35,68-69 DOSVersion 36,51-52 ItemSelect 20,32,69-70 Drop 36,51-52 K E Keywords 28 EndSession 16,36,52-53 Environment 24,36,53 L ErrorMode 18,36,19 LastError 37,70-71 Errors 31-32,101-107 LogDisk 33,71 fatal 102-107 105 StrIndex 35,83 M StrLen 35,83-84 Max 36,71-72 StrLower 35,84 Message 12,32,72 StrReplace 35,84-85 Microsoft Windows StrScan 35,84-86 date & time formatting 45 StrSub 35,86 determining the version StrTrim 35,86-87 37,97 StrUpper 35,87 ending the session 52 Substitution 30-31 Min 36,72-73 and StrCat 78-80 N T Num2Char 22,35,72-73 TextBox 32,87-88 O V Operators 28-29 Variables 28 Precedence 29 Version 37,88 P W ParseData 35,73-74 WinActivate 14,34,88-89 Pause 12,32,73-74 WinArrange 34,89 WinClose 14,34,89-90 R WinCloseNot 14,34,90-91 Random 36,74 WinConfig 34,91 Registration 109 Window Management Return 37,74-75 in WBL 33-34 Run 11,34,74-75 WinExist 15,34,91-92 RunHide 34,75-76 WinGetActive 34,91-92 RunIcon 11,34,76-77 WinHide 34,92-93 Running programs WinIconize 13,34,93 in WBL 34-35 WinItemize 34,93-94 RunZoom 11,35,77-78 WinPlace 34,94-95 WinPosition 34,95 S WinShow 13,34,95-96 SendKey 24,37,78-79 WinTitle 34,96-97 SKDebug 37,79 WinVersion 37,97 Statements 30 WinWaitClose 15,34,97-98 reference 37-100 WinZoom 13,34,98-99 StrCat 23,35,78-80 StrCmp 35,80-81 Y StrFill 35,81 Yield 37,99 StrFix 35,81-82 StrICmp 35,82-83 106 I want my OWN copy of WinBatch! Please send it to: Company:__________________________________________________________ Name:__________________________________________________________ Address:__________________________________________________________ City:_____________________________St:__________Zip:____________ Phone:(_____)___________________ Country: _____________________ ____WinBatch(es) @$69.95 ea.:____________ Foreign air shipping (except Canada) @$9.50:____________ Total:____________ Please enclose a check payable to Wilson WindowWare; or you may use Visa, Master Card, or EuroCard. For charge cards, please enter the information below: Card number: __ __ __ __-__ __ __ __-__ __ __ __-__ __ __ __ Expiration date: _______/______ Signature:_________________________________________________________ Send to: Wilson WindowWare 2701 California Ave SW #212 Seattle, WA 98116 USA or call: (800) 762-8383 (206) 935-7129 (fax) (Please allow 2 to 4 weeks for delivery)