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- List of Changes from Version 2.61 to Version 3.00
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- I. Addition of new functions:
- A. CLEANUP - used at the end of batch files. Its purpose is
- cleaning up the mess left behind by batch routines.
- B. EXTRACT - returns a part of a fully qualified filename.
- C. FLUSH - clears the keyboard buffer.
- D. GETCD - returns the current directory to the batch file.
- E. GETVIDEO - checks what kind of video system is installed
- (eg. CGA, VGA) and return the result to the batch file.
- F. PLAY - produces music from the speaker. BEN PLAY uses the
- same statements that the BASIC PLAY uses.
- G. LIST - a file browser.
- H. MESSAGE - MESSAGE draws a box on the screen and displays
- the specified message.
- I. SAVEPATH - SAVEPATH is a environment-memory conservation
- function.
- J. SHELL - SHELL lets the user jump to DOS in the middle of
- a batch file.
- K. TITLEDBOX - TITLEDBOX displays a filled box with a title
- on the screen.
-
- II. Changes made to old functions:
- A. Renames:
- 1. GOTOXY is now LOCATE.
- 2. COLORNOW is now COLOR.
- 3. ATTRIB is now CLS.
- 4. WAITKEY is now PAUSE.
- 5. INLINE is now GETLINE.
- 6. INLINEU is now GETLINEU.
- 7. INKEY is now GETKEY.
- 8. INKEYU is now GETKEYU.
- B. Splitting of the BOX function into BOX, FILLEDBOX,
- GROWFILLEDBOX, SHADFILLEDBOX, TRANSPARENTBOX.
- C. EGAVGA now returns errorlevels of 1 or 2, insteads of 0
- or 1.
- D. WRITE, WRITEC and WRITEV no longer require you to specify
- the number of words to display.
- E. WRITE and WRITEC can now "not wrap" to the next line when
- finished displaying.
- F. CURSOR now supports four shapes: ON, OFF, FULL, HALF.
- G. DIRDISP gets a new look, and it is now separated to
- DIRDISP and DIRDISPA.
- H. You can now specify colors with descriptive names. For
- example, instead of "BEN COLOR 15 1", you can use "BEN
- COLOR WHITE BLUE". This is not mandatory, but it
- increases the readability of your batch file.
-
- III. Removal of useless functions:
- A. DEBOX
- B. SOUND T
- C. SCROLL T
-
- IV. Other changes in BEN.EXE:
- A. You can now use the ; comment symbol in T data files.
- B. You can now use the separator "/" when you stack BEN
- functions. For example, instead of "BEN BEEP CLS BLUE",
- you can use "BEN BEEP / CLS BLUE". This is not mandatory,
- but it increases the readability of your batch file.
- C. Online help is now placed in BEN.HLP instead of the main
- executable BEN.EXE.
-
- V. BENEdit
- A. BENEdit is a text editor that allows you to edit batch
- files and select BEN features quickly and easily.
-
- VI. Miscellaneous
- A. BENDEMO.BAT is redesigned.
- B. INSTALL.BAT is added.
- C. BEN now uses dynamic memory allocation. This memory
- management method is much better than the static memory
- allocation method in past versions of BEN.
- D. BEN and the associated executables are now dynamically
- compressed.
- E. BEN now runs at a much quicker speed.
-