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- JP Software
-
- 4DOS for Windows NT Update Documentation
-
- Version 2.52 -- April 17, 1996
-
- [Copyright 1988 - 1996, JP Software Inc., All Rights Reserved.
- Published by JP Software Inc., P.O. Box 1470, E. Arlington, MA 02174
- USA, (617) 646-3975. 4DOS is a registered trademark of JP Software Inc.
- Windows NT is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation. Other product and
- company names are trademarks of their respective owners.]
-
- [PLEASE NOTE: This product is named "4DOS", and this version is more
- fully described as "4DOS for the Windows NT Operating System". For
- brevity, in this file and throughout our documentation we refer to "4DOS
- for Windows NT", to "4DOS/NT", or to the program file name, 4NT.EXE or
- 4NT. When "4DOS" is used by itself the reference is to our DOS product.
- See ORDERINF.DOC for information on 4DOS, 4OS2, and all JP Software
- products.]
-
- Check through this file for a comprehensive list of what's changed since
- version 2.51. Additional documentation on new features is in the online
- help. Information about product changes before version 2.51 may be
- viewed at our web page (http://www.jpsoft.com) by selecting 4DOS for
- Windows NT and then Product History. Many product history files are
- also available in our Compuserve forum (GO PCVENB or GO JPSOFT, library
- 10 / JP Software, look for files named UPxxxxxx.ZIP).
-
- Some of the descriptions below may be more detailed than you need; if
- you aren't using a feature, feel free to skip to the next item. If you
- are new to 4OS2 with version 2.52, you can skip this file entirely, and
- begin with the 4OS2 Introduction and Installation Guide.
-
- This file is divided into the following sections:
-
- General Features Variables and Variable Functions
- Startup / Initialization Command Changes
- Command Line Editing Technical, Compatibility, Bug Fixes
-
- Major new features and those which affect most users are marked with
- "**" in the lists below. Other items discuss smaller or more technical
- changes.
-
- This file is formatted at 58 lines per page, and contains form feeds and
- page footers. It can be viewed with a file viewer such as the 4DOS/NT
- LIST command, or printed on most PC printers using the command:
-
- copy updat252.doc prn
-
- Printing it with a program that formats the pages is not likely to work
- due to the formatting included in the file.
- (04/96-2.52)
-
-
-
- 4DOS/NT 2.52 [04-17-96] UPDAT252.DOC page 1
-
-
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- 4DOS/NT 2.52 Change List
-
-
- General Features
- ----------------
-
- ==> ** File searches on FAT drives now look for long filenames and then
- short filenames. For example, suppose you have two files on your
- system:
-
- Long Name Short Name
- ------------------ ------------------
- My Letter.DAT MYLETT~1.DAT
- Files.DAT MYFILES.DAT
-
- A search for MY*.DAT will now find both files; previously it
- would find only the first file. This was done to improve
- compatibility with CMD.EXE and to make the results more
- intuitive.
-
- CAUTION: Extra care should be taken performing certain commands
- on long filenames (e.g. using wildcards to delete or move files),
- as they may now affect files with short names as well. For
- example, DEL *1 will delete all files whose names end in "1".
- Because short filenames generated by Windows NT end in "~1", such
- a command would delete all of those files -- probably not the
- result you wanted.
-
- ==> ** Increased the maximum history size from 8K to 32K.
-
-
- Startup and Initialization Changes
- ----------------------------------
-
- ==> Added a new .INI directive:
-
- AppendToDir = [Yes | NO]: If set to "Yes", TCMD will append
- a trailing \ to directory names when doing filename
- completion.
-
-
- Command Line Editing Changes
- ----------------------------
-
- ==> ** A Ctrl-A on the command line during filename expansion on FAT
-
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- 4DOS/NT 2.52 [04-17-96] UPDAT252.DOC page 2
-
-
- drives will toggle the returned filename between long filename
- (LFN) and the traditional short name (SFN) format. The default
- is LFN format; if you switch to SFN format the change will only
- remain in effect for the current filename expansion. Any new
- expansion sequence later on the command line will start in LFN
- format, and can be toggled to SFN format with another Ctrl-A.
-
-
- Internal Variables and Variable Functions
- -----------------------------------------
-
- ==> @ALTNAME: Now returns a shortened pathname if you provide a path
- (and you're running NT 3.51+). If you only give a filename, or
- if you're running NT 3.5, @ALTNAME will return just the shortened
- filename part.
-
- ==> @EXT: Increased the maximum length returned to 64 characters.
-
-
- Command Changes
- ---------------
-
- ==> ** SHRALIAS: Rewritten as a mixed internal/external command, rather
- than just an external program. You must now run the internal
- command, not the external program, and make sure that
- SHRALIAS.EXE is in the 4DOS/NT directory or in your path. To
- convert from the previous version of SHRALIAS, remove the
- extension and path from any SHRALIAS reference, so that the
- internal command is used (you can no longer run the external
- SHRALIAS.EXE directly). The internal SHRALIAS /U command may be
- used to unload SHRALIAS.EXE.
-
- ==> FOR: Enabled extended parent directory names.
-
-
- Technical, Compatibility, and Bug Fixes
- ---------------------------------------
-
- ==> Added a check for escaped characters in a redirected filename.
-
- ==> Added support for drives over 2GB in DIR, FREE, %@DISKFREE, etc.
-
- ==> DESCRIPT.ION now allows either a space, tab, or comma as the
- delimiter between the filename and the description (for
- compatibility with some third-party description files).
-
- ==> Fixed a rare problem when piping from an internal command that
- didn't support command grouping, to an internal or external
- command that ended with a '('.
-
-
-
-
-
-
- 4DOS/NT 2.52 [04-17-96] UPDAT252.DOC page 3
-
-
- ==> Fixed a problem with multiple pipes where the first command being
- piped to was an external console-mode application (e.g. DIR |
- SORT | TEE FILE.DAT).
-
- ==> Fixed a minor problem with pipes of the form "prog1 | *prog2".
-
- ==> Fixed a problem with NUL characters in batch files.
-
- ==> Fixed a problem with files executed via executable extensions.
- Double quotes are now added if the name contains whitespace.
-
- ==> The PATH search routine now queries if the specified drive is
- ready before attempting to find the external command, to avoid a
- critical error message.
-
- ==> Worked around a Windows NT bug that was causing 4DOS/NT's memory
- usage to sporadically (but continually) increase during a
- session.
-
- ==> Worked around a Windows NT bug that would occasionally cause
- 4DOS/NT to crash after an ENDLOCAL.
-
- ==> DO: Now allows embedded equal signs in a test condition.
-
- ==> FOR: Fixed a problem with include lists in the FOR arguments.
-
- ==> IF: Added a work-around for constructs like:
-
- if 1 == 0 echo foo && echo bar
-
- to emulate CMD.EXE's (undocumented) behavior of basing the &&
- condition on the result of the IF test.
-
- ==> INPUT: Fixed a problem with using INPUT /E in a transient shell
- and solved a problem with INPUT /W /E which prevented the
- existing value from being displayed unless you pressed a key.
-
- ==> LIST: Fixed a sporadic problem with Find with wrapping on. Also
- improved LIST's ability to find the end of each line properly in
- files with unusual line terminations (e.g. CR or LF alone, LF/CR,
- CR/CR/LF, etc.).
-
- ==> MD: Fixed a problem with /S and UNC names.
-
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- 4DOS/NT 2.52 [04-17-96] UPDAT252.DOC page 4
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