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TSBAT.NWS
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1991-12-07
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432 lines
University of Vaasa, Finland, MIPS 2030 workstation garbo.uwasa.fi
has a large collection of PD and shareware PC programs available by
anonymous ftp or mail server. The file /pc/ts/0news-ts contains news
about the TS-programs in the /pc/ts directory (in reverse order).
This text, which you now have, is an edited extract from the
0news-ts file, and the feedback fback028.arc file.
...................................................................
Prof. Timo Salmi
Moderating at garbo.uwasa.fi anonymous ftp archives 128.214.87.1
School of Business Studies, University of Vaasa, SF-65101, Finland
Internet: ts@chyde.uwasa.fi Funet: gado::salmi Bitnet: salmi@finfun
...................................................................
Sat 7-Dec-91: I have updated my collection of useful batch files. It
is now garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/ts/tsbat30.zip.
Alan Clark (clark@odie.ee.wits.ac.za) suggested that the screen
blanking batches could well do with a method to totally hide the
cursor while blanked. I have looked into this and noticed that this
can be easily achieved without extra programs by using ansi escape
sequences. BLK.BAT shows how to do it. (You'll have to activate
cursor hiding by editing three rems away).
Added LC.BAT line count for text files.
Added TEST33.BAT Test for MsDos 3.3 or later, batch demo
Sat 9-Nov-91: I have updated my collection of useful batch files to
be garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/ts/tsbat29.arc. It includes PUSHDIRE.BAT,
SETPUSHD.EXE, and POPDIRE.BAT for pushing and poppoing the current
directory (utilizing environment variables). I have added a /q
switch for quiet operation (no echoing of the environment variables)
at a suggestion from Doug Tooley, djtooley@lotus.uwaterloo.ca.
I have added a TESTANSI.BAT batch (with accompanying ISANSI.EXE)
which can be used to test whether any ansi-type screen driver is
installed and thus available.
There are also some minor adjustments in a couple of the old
batches.
Get this package even if you do not need the individual batches.
There is much to learn from them about MsDos and batch usages. Many
Frequenly Asked Questions (FAQs) are implicitly answered by looking
at these files.
Sun 20-Oct-91: I have a collection of useful batch files which I
have updated to be garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/ts/tsbat28.arc.
I have added a LEVEL.BAT testbench batch for testing the error
level returned by programs.
I have updated the ASK.EXE batch file enhancer. It now has the
option to of returning with a timeout errorlevel. The usage of
this enhancer is:
ASK [Prompt] [/b] [/d] [/l] [/t##] [/u]
! ! ! ! +- convert to Upper case
! ! ! +- Time-out parameter (0 = forever)
! ! +- convert to Lower case
! +- Direct read (no <-+ needed)
+- Batch mode (needed only if no prompt)
I have added an ASKENV.EXE batch file enhancer to the collection.
It is similar to ASK.EXE, but instead of returning an errorlevel
value, it sets the (parent's) environment variable ASKENV value
equal to the user's response.
Mon 9-Sep-91: I have updated my collection of useful batch files. It
is now /pc/ts/tsbat27.arc.
Four of the batches in the package has been updated. Of these
DAILY.BAT for running a program no more than one a day (eg from
autoexec.bat) utilized ENTER.TXT to simulate pressing the enter key.
This is no longer necessary but has been rewritten (with a trick
with the echo command) in a way that no longer needs this separate
file. My thanks to Ran Cheremsh CHERMESH%BGUVM.BITNET for reporting
the problem.
SCANZ for scanning .ZIP files for viruses had a bug in the
routine for scanning embedded .ZIPs.
Tue 9-Jul-91: I have updated my collection of useful batch files. It
is now /pc/ts/tsbat26.arc.
Note that even if you don't perhaps need the same batches as I
do, these batches may teach you many useful batch programming
tricks which I have accumulated during my PC years.
Made a number of minor stylistic corrections.
Since someone cracked the pkzip 1.10 authenticity (-av) code some
BBSes have been putting in their own ads as the authenticity labels.
A new batch rezip.bat removes these labels, which may give the users
a false sense of security.
Added a simple batch ruler.bat which shows the screen columns
using ansi codes to avoid excessive scrolling.
I have my ramdisk on currently on drive R on my PCs which I use
at home and at office. For whatever it is worth I have updated the
batches to reflect this change. Some of the batches require anyway
that you edit the paths in them to reflect yours, so no added
problem arise because of this. And, if you have your own ramdisk,
say, on d:, you can put the statement subst r: d:\ eg in your
autoexec.bat file to avoid the need of editing just because we may
happen to have ramdisks on different drives. (To be accurate there
is no absolute need of your d: physically being a ramdisk. But it
makes things a bit faster.)
Sun 12-May-91: I have updated my collection of useful batch files to
be /pc/ts/tsbat25.arc.
One of the constant worries of downloaders of archived packages
is the threat of viruses. (Games from shady BBSes are particularly
susceptibe, but even commercial products have been known to be
infected). Fortunately there are good virus checkers like McAfee's
/pc/virus/scanv77.zip and Fridrik Skulason's /pc/virus/fp-115a.zip
available to check for infections. There are, however, two dilemmas
in checking archived packages on a routine basis. (Since the format
garbo.uwasa.fi archives mostly uses is .zip let's speak of zipped
files). The first problem is that there are so many executable
compressors in use currently (such as lzexe, pklite, diet, tinyprog,
etc). This means that unless the virus checking programs can observe
all these variations, a virus can be hiding in an execompressed
form. Therefore it is advisable to expand the executables for the
check. A second problem is that .zip files occasionally contain
embedded .zip files (eg PC-Magazine's collections often do). These
embedded .zip files must be unzipped for a closer examination.
The earlier versions of the tsbat collection included a batch
called scanzip.bat. I have completely rewritten this batch to take
care of the two eventualities discussed above. I have renamed the
rewritten batch scanz.bat. Note that before using this new batch,
you have to go through scanz.bat and edit all the directory path
references to correspond to your own configuration. This is, of
course, an inconvenience, but it is the best way of guaranteeing
that a batch complicated as this stays reasonably efficient.
Wed 13-Mar-91: I have written a menu based ansi.sys driven advanced
batch for sending command codes to the printer to make printer
initialization and setting easy. It is called setprn.bat. It is for
Diconix Inkjet Parallel Printer Model 150, which is an Espon
compatible printer. Thus the batch is suitable for various different
printer makes, and easily configurable. I have added this batch to
my collection of (hopefully) useful and instructive batch files
/pc/ts/tsbat24.arc best available by anonymous ftp from
garbo.uwasa.fi archives. There is a program-based alternative to
setprn.bat, that is setdico.exe which can be found in
/pc/ts/tsprn##.arc. The difference is that in setprn.bat you are
able to configure the printer codes if you wish.
Sat 29-Dec-90: I have programmed a fair number of MsDos batch files
to make up a batch file collection of hopefully both useful and
instructive batches. I have updated the collection to be version
/pc/ts/tsbat23.arc by adding some new batches.
...
FU.BAT is a poor man's function evaluator utilizing gwbasic that
(usually) belongs automatically to the MsDos delivery. The basic
idea (pardon the pun) of combining batch and gwbasic programming is
not really mine. I got it from the PC-Magazine. The code of this
batch, however, is entirely due to yours truly.
...
ASK.EXE is a common batch file enhancer returning as err