home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
Collection of Tools & Utilities
/
Collection of Tools and Utilities.iso
/
system
/
critt130.zip
/
CRITTER.TXT
< prev
next >
Wrap
Text File
|
1992-03-26
|
23KB
|
521 lines
CRITTER
A TSR replacement Critical Error Handler
Copyright 1990-1992 by TANSTAAFL Software
Version 1.30 March 26, 1992
CRITTER is a full-featured replacement for the DOS critical error
handler. CRITTER uses a pop-up window that does not change the
displayed program, and provides many options that DOS does not
have. All errors can be logged to a printer. CRITTER can use
automatic responses to an error, with a variable time delay. With
this version of CRITTER, a "response pattern" can be used to behave
in a predictable manner, such as "retry three times then fail".
CRITTER was originally written to handle normal critical errors
with more aplomb than DOS. It seemed that most programs back then
did not have their own critical error handlers, so any error would
ruin some of the application's display. To this day, many
commercial applications ignore critical errors.
According to user feedback, CRITTER really shines on systems
that are unattended. Several users use CRITTER on their bulletin
board systems to ensure round-the-clock operations. One user has
CRITTER running on a remote packet radio repeater. Another user
has integrated CRITTER into a robotic manufacturing system.
CRITTER should be installed in your autoexec.bat file, so it
can be loaded every time you boot the system. CRITTER is not
sensitive to the order in which it is loaded with other TSR's, so
can be placed anywhere in the autoexec.bat file.
Command Line Options
--------------------
CRITTER [/U] [/M] [/S] [/Bcolors] [/Tcolors] [/Ncolors]
[/Aresponse] [/Otimeout] [/Lprinter] [/Rresponses]
[/Etimeticks]
Regular Options:
/U Unloads the TSR. Like all TSR's that allow themselves
to be unloaded, this feature only works if this TSR was
the last one loaded. This TSR will unload correctly
from high DOS RAM (above 640K).
/M Monochrome switch. Allows correct display on systems
with monochrome monitors connected to color display
adapters.
/S Sound switch. Turns off the beep when an error is
detected. Normally a beep is generated to signal
an error.
/B Used to set border colors (see Color Options).
/T Used to set title colors (see Color Options).
/N Used to set normal text colors (see Color Options).
Advanced Options:
/A Enables automatic response to an error (see Automatic
Response). Response can be one of the following:
Response Action Response Action
--------------- ---------------
A Abort R Retry
I Ignore F Fail
S Soft reboot H Hard reboot
/O Allows user to specify the number of seconds to wait
for a user response before triggering the automatic
response specified by the /A option (see Automatic
Response).
/L Printer log. Allows user to specify a printer
number to log errors to. Valid printer numbers are 1, 2,
or 3 and correspond to printers on LPT1, LPT2, or LPT3.
/R Response pattern. Allows the user to specify a pattern
of responses. The normal response characters
(A, R, I, F, S, H) can be used (see Response Patterns).
/E Error timer ticks. Allows the user to specify how many
timer ticks should pass between errors before the
response pattern starts over (see Response Patterns).
Color Options
-------------
Each color command is followed by characters that determine the
color to use. Each color is designated by a single character, as
shown in the chart below. If the character is in upper case,
it sets the background color. A lower case character sets the
foreground color. Adding a [+] to the string makes the fore-
ground color bright, while adding a [*] makes it blink. Color
commands may be used in any order.
Color Character Color Character
---------------------------------------------------------
Black K, k Blue B, b
Green G, g Cyan C, c
Red R, r Magenta M, m
Yellow Y, y White W, w
Bright + Blink *
Examples:
/bwK border is dim white on black
/ty+*R title is blinking bright yellow on red
/ncB text is cyan on blue
Automatic Response
------------------
The automatic response feature allows the user to specify a
default action and timeout duration. If a critical error occurs
and the timeout value is specified, CRITTER shows the error
window and waits for a key to be pressed as usual (A-abort,
R-retry, etc). The window will now contain an extra countdown
timer line. If the user does not respond before this count
reaches zero, then the automatic response is triggered. All
four possible responses to the error are supported (Abort, Retry,
Ignore, and Fail). Not all errors support all responses, however,
Abort is always enabled, as is Fail on DOS versions 3.x, 4.x & 5.x.
Retry also appears to be always enabled.
If the automatic response is enabled but the delay is not,
no error screen will be displayed and the response will take
place immediately.
The automatic response unit can also reboot the computer as a
default response. Either a hard (reset) or soft (Ctrl-Alt-Del)
reboot can be triggered. This is useful for network or BBS
systems that must run unattended.
The soft reboot feature does not work consistently on some PCs.
This seems to be caused by minor BIOS incompatibilities. Before
relying on a soft reboot, test it once to ensure it works on
your computer.
Examples:
/af /o10 Wait 10 seconds for response, then fail.
/ar /o30 Wait 30 seconds for response, then retry.
Printer Logging
---------------
With the printer logging feature, errors detected by CRITTER may
be logged to your printer. This is particularly handy when used
in conjunction with the automatic response feature. The error log
contains the same three error lines displayed when CRITTER pops up,
preceded by a header line and followed by a blank line...
Critical Error Report from CRITTER follows:
Drive not ready
Read error on Drive A:
Located in File Allocation Table
CRITTER only supports parallel printers. If you have a serial
printer, try using the MODE command to route it to LPT1. If
you try this, let us know the results.
Response Patterns
-----------------
Response patterns were designed for the user who wants to retry
a fixed number of times and then do something else. This feature
allows the user to specify up to 16 responses for an error. Any
of the normal responses may be used. A timeout duration (/O)
may be specified to allow a user to break out of the pattern.
How does CRITTER know that the error it just got is the same
error it just retrie