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STEENBURGH'S STUFF Mildly Useful Utilities For Batch Files Version 3.01 Copyright 1991-1994 Chuck Steenburgh & Tay-Jee Software _______ ____|__ | (TM) --| | |------------------- | ____|__ | Association of | | |_| Shareware |__| o | Professionals -----| | |--------------------- |___|___| MEMBER Page 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Definition of Shareware . . . . . . . . . . 6 Disclaimer - Agreement . . . . . . . . . . 6 ASP Ombudsman . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 BATBOX. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 BOX. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 CHKDRV. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 CHKPRN. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 CHKSYS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 CLK. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 CURSOR. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 DOSVER. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 INPUT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 KLS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 LAUNCHER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 MUSIC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 RAND . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 SIFT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 SKIP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 SOUNDER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 SPACE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 WAITFOR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 WHENISIT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 Page 2 WRITE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 XD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 Page 3 INTRODUCTION Practically everyone who owns a PC has written a batch file at one time or another. Batch files can give even the novice user powerful tools to manage and control his or her computer. While the capabilities of batch files have slow- ly improved through successive releases of MS-DOS, there are real limits on what you are capable of with batch files. Some of the biggest complaints about batch files: - Lack of interactive features - Poor screen/speaker output capabilities - SLOW! - Inability to to access certain types of system info Over the years, many batch file "compiler" languages have appeared on the scene. Interested in greater speed and power for my batch files, I evaluated several of the shareware versions of these utilities. Unfortunately, they only seemed to be as hard (if not harder) than learn- ing a completely new programming language. Sometimes, these systems wouldn't even compile "plain" batch files that I was using without any special commands! Having struck out with the batch file compilers, I then started collecting miscellaneous utilities to try to expand my batch file capability piecemeal. While there are many excellent programs available, they generally have drawbacks of one kind or another. Some programs are tiny (less than 1K) .COM files that are speedy but don't do enough and have very limited options. There are other programs that are more capable, but bigger and slower and usually involving several zillion command line switches to get anything useful out of the program. Frustrated, I decided to start writing my own set of utilities. Over several months' time, these utilities de- veloped into the collection I call "STEENBURGH's STUFF: Mildly Useful Utilities." These programs are listed below: BATBOX: Simple menu creation/input system BOX: Place boxes on the screen CHKDRV: Drive status reporting utility Page 4 CHKPRN: Check parallel printer status CHKSYS: Report device driver/TSR status CLK: Displays time/date on screen CURSOR: Change cursor shape DOSVER: Checks for DOS version INPUT: Advanced prompt/input system KLS: Colorful screen-clearing utility LAUNCHER: File selection/execution system MUSIC: Plays transcribed sheet music on the PC RAND: Random number generator SIFT: Multi-purpose DOS filter SKIP: Prints blank lines from batch files SOUNDER: Wide range of noise making options SPACE: File/disk space reporting utility WAITFOR: Timed pauses WHENISIT: Date/time telling utility WRITE: Colorful output anywhere on screen XD: Create/switch directories at the same time As much as possible, I have tried to compromise between program size on the one hand (keeping them small and fast) and features on the other. As you will see, many of the programs are under 15K, and none is over 45K. While this is considerably larger than some assembly language programs (I have a program that prints individual blank lines from batch files that is only 12 bytes!), the entire collection takes up very little disk space. This is less than just the documentation for some larger utilities. The size of these programs is due to their being compiled in 'C'. However, these programs are FAST, for several rea- sons. First, they were compiled with the Power C compiler from Mix Software. Power C may not be the most capable of compilers, but it is probably the fastest DOS compiler around overall. Second, these programs leave out some of the "cute" features that other programs include that slow them down con- siderably. For example, when you run "MUSIC" you'll hear sounds all right, but no animated cherubs will perform aero- batics while the music plays. When you run SPACE, you will not see an aquarium filled with swimming fish representing the number of occupied bytes of disk space. And, (I can't resist), NO FLYING TOASTERS. Instead, you will get concise, neat information on the screen, in most cases accompanied by an errorlevel which can be evaluated by your batch files. Page 5 DEFINITION OF SHAREWARE Shareware distribution gives users a chance to try software before buying it. If you try a Shareware program and continue using it, you are expected to register. Individual programs differ on details -- some request registration while others require it, some specify a maximum trial period. With registration, you get anything from the simple right to continue using the software to an updated program with printed manual. Copyright laws apply to both Shareware and commercial software, and the copyright holder retains all rights, with a few specific exceptions as stated below. Shareware authors are accomplished programmers, just like commercial authors, and the programs are of comparable quality. (In both cases, there are good programs and bad ones!) The main difference is in the method of distribution. The author specifically grants the right to copy and distribute the software, either to all and sundry or to a specific group. For example, some authors require written permission before a commercial disk vendor may copy their Shareware. Shareware is a distribution method, not a type of software. You should find software that suits your needs and pocketbook, whether it's commercial or Shareware. The Shareware system makes fitting your needs easier, because you can try before you buy. And because the overhead is low, prices are low also. Shareware has the ultimate money-back guarantee -- if you don't use the product, you don't pay for it. DISCLAIMER - AGREEMENT Users of STEENBURGH's STUFF must accept this disclaimer of war- ranty: "STEENBURGH's STUFF is supplied as is. The author disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, including, without limitation, the warranties of merchantability and of fitness for any pur- pose. The author assumes no liability for damages, direct or consequential, which may result from the use of STEENBURGH'S STUFF." However, Tay-Jee Software will replace a DEFECTIVE diskette at ANY time. Simply return the original, DEFECTIVE diskette and we'll send you a new one for a nominal replacement fee (currently $2) to cover the cost of replacement. STEENBURGH's STUFF is a "shareware program" and is provided at no charge to the user for evaluation. Feel free to share it Page 6 with your friends, but please do not give it away altered or as part of another system. The essence of "user-supported" software is to provide personal computer users with quality software without high prices, and yet to provide incentive for programmers to continue to develop new products. If you find this program useful and find that you are using STEEN- BURGH'S STUFF and continue to use STEENBURGH's STUFF after a reasonable trial period, you must make a registration payment of $19.95/$29.95 to Tay-Jee Software. The registration fee will license one copy for use on any one computer at any one time. You must treat this software just like a book. An example is that this software may be used by any number of people and may be freely moved from one computer location to another, so long as there is no possibility of it being used at one location while it's being used at another. Just as a book cannot be read by two different persons at the same time. Users have two registration options: BASIC ($19.95) and DELUXE ($29.95). BASIC registration includes a copy of the latest, registered versions of the utilities on disk. DELUXE registra- tion also includes the latest versions, plus laser printed documentation on mylar-reinforced sheets enclosed in a plastic binder. DELUXE registration also incldues free documentation upgrades when the user upgrades to a later version of STEEN- BURGH's STUFF. To register, print out the file REGISTER.FRM, fill it out, and mail to the address on the form. If the form is missing, send your name & address, name of the program being registered, preferred disk size, and check in U.S. funds for the appropriate amount to: Tay-Jee Software, P.O. Box 835, Lexington, VA 24450. (VA residents must add 4.5(null)ales tax and customers outside North America must add $5 for shipping.) You may also register on-line on CompuServe by typing GO SWREG and registering under ID# 1170 (Basic) or #1217 (Deluxe). Finally, you may send credit card info via Email to CompuServe 72330,1776, INTERNET TayJeeSoft@aol.com, America On-Line TayJeeSoft, or by calling (800)378-3966 or (703)261-7023. Commercial users of STEENBURGH's STUFF must register and pay for their copies of STEENBURGH's STUFF within 30 days of first use or their license is withdrawn. Site-License arrangements may be made by contacting Tay-Jee Software. Anyone distributing STEENBURGH's STUFF for any kind of remun- eration should refer to the file VENDOR.DOC in the accompany- ing package/archive for further information. Page 7 You are encouraged to pass a copy of STEENBURGH's STUFF along to your friends for evaluation. Please encourage them to register their copy if they find that they can use it. All registered users will receive a copy of the latest version of the STEENBURGH's STUFF system. ASP OMBUDSMAN This program is produced by a member of the Association of Shareware Professionals (ASP). ASP wants to make sure that the shareware principle works for you. If you are unable to resolve a shareware-related problem with an ASP member by contacting the member directly, ASP may be able to help. The ASP Ombudsman can help you resolve a dispute or problem with an ASP member, but does not provide technical support for members' products. Please write to the ASP Ombudsman at 545 Grover Road, Muskegon, MI 49442 or send a CompuServe message via CompuServe Mail to ASP Ombudsman, 70007,3536. Page 8 INDIVIDUAL PROGRAM DESCRIPTIONS ========== ======= ============ BATBOX.EXE 2.7 | Copyright 1991-1993 by Chuck Steenburgh and Tay-Jee Software People have been creating menus with batch files for years. Some of these are quite elaborate, others very crude. BATBOX is something in between. BATBOX will allow you to display an attractive, colorful menu and will wait for the user to make a selection. It will then set an appro- priate ERRORLEVEL value which can be used to determine sub- sequent actions in your batch file. Usage: BATBOX menufile [/C] [/Dn] [/Tn] [/M] [/Wn] [/H] | [/O] [/Q] [/Pn] menufile is the name of an ASCII text file which you create. This will contain the menu's title and a list of options. /C Normally, the longest menu item is centered in the menu box and subsequent items are left-aligned below it. This switch will cause each menu item to be centered in the menu box. /Dn Date format. Current valid values for n are: 1 YY.MM.DD 2 Short month (DD Mmm YY) 3 Weekday (Www MM DD) - Turn off date display /Tn Time format. Valid values for n are: 1 Display time using 12-hour clock with AM/PM 2 24-hour clock, no seconds 3 12-hour clock, no seconds /M Set BATBOX master environment variable| equal to menu item selected. | Page 9 /Wn Exit menu if no keys are pressed with- in n seconds and return errorlevel of 255. /H Generates help screen. /O Ordinal menu selection. Instead of returning an errorlevel based on the hotkey, returns an error- level based on the ordinal pos- ition of the selected menu item. /Q Quiet mode suppresses all sounds. /Pn Select predefined color palettes: 1 - Ice Blue 2 - Fire Red 3 - Pastel 4 - Monochrome 5 - LCD 1 (B/W) | 6 - LCD 2 (W/B) | To create a menufile, use a text editor, word processor that can save ASCII files, or EDLIN.COM or EDIT.COM that come with DOS. In a pinch, you can use the "copy con" command but this doesn't give you much in the way of an editing capability. The structure of the menufile is simple. The first line contains your menu's title, up to 60 characters. If you don't want a title, leave the line blank, without any spaces. (Hint: press RETURN immediately without doing anything else when you first begin editing your document.) Each succes- sive line contains a menu item, exactly as you want it to ap- pear on the screen. Do NOT include any blank lines here or you will end up with blank lines in your menu! A few limitations: each line can contain no more than 60 characters (if you need more than this to describe your menu choices, maybe you need Microsoft Windows, a Macintosh, or something else with lots of pictures!). In addition, your menu items (but NOT the menu title) should each begin with a dis- tinct letter in order for the selection function to work pro- perly. The selection function for BATBOX is case-insensitive, so if you begin one line with the letter 's' and the other with the letter 'S', these are considered the same. Up to 10 menu items are permitted in any one file. Page 10 By default, BATBOX treats the first letter of each menu item | as a "hot key" which can be used to select that item. If for | some reason you prefer to use a letter other than the first as | a "hot key," insert the "@" character immediately before the | desired hot key. The "@" character will NOT appear on the menu.| When you type BATBOX on the command line followed by the name of your menufile (they must both be in the current dir- ectory), you will see a menu pop up in the middle of the screen. The title will appear at the top, with each of your menu items (up to ten) appearing at double spaced-intervals inside the menu box. Each item will also be numbered from 1 to 0 (the 10th item being numbered "0"). At the bottom of the menu you will see a the message "Enter your menu choice: ". If you have a color monitor, you will notice that the first letter (the "hot key") of each menu item appears in a different | color than the rest of the text (unless you have specified a | different letter as the "hot key"; see above). The time and | date will also be displayed at the top of the menu. | There are now three separate methods of selecting a menu item. The first is by pressing the hotkey described above. The second is by pressing the item number displayed to the left of each menu item (1-0, with 0 representing item 10). The third method, new since Version 2.5, is by positioning the cur- sor bar over the appropriate menu item and pressing ENTER. Use the up/down cursor arrow keys to move the bar up and down. You may also use the PgUp key to position the bar over the first menu item and the PgDn key to position it over the last menu item. PRESSING ANY OTHER KEY will produce an error tone (un- less the /Q switch is specified) but otherwise do nothing. After selecting a menu item in one of the ways above, BATBOX will then exit, and return an errorlevel based on the hotkey. See Appendix 1 for a list of legal first letters and the error- levels that are returned by BATBOX. If you select the /O op- tion, BATBOX will return the position of the selected menu item via the errorlevel. For example, if you select the 1st item on the list and have specified /O, the errorlevel will be set to 1. If you select the 5th item, the errorlevel will be 5, and so on. You can use the errorlevel value that is returned to branch to different parts of your batch file or to execute commands. See the DEMO.BAT file for an example of one way to do this. (DEMO.BAT is part of the STUF??.ZIP archive which contains demonstration files for all of the STEENBURGH'S STUFF utilities). If you do not wish to select a menu item, simply press the | Page 11 ESC (escape) key. You will exit the menu and BATBOX will re- | turn an errorlevel of 254. | The errorlevel that is returned is affected only by the /O switch, and NOT by whether the item is selected via the hotkey, the item number, or the cursor bar. The /M (master environment) switch provides an alternate | method of communicating the menu selection. If this switch | is used, a master environment variable named BATBOX will be | set equal to the text of the menu item selected. For an exam- | ple of the utility of this feature, see the enclosed batch file | SCD.BAT. | If you enter BATBOX alone on the command line without any parameters, the help screen will be displayed. Time/Date Formats | By default, BATBOX will read country information from your | system and format the time and date displays accordingly. You | may override the default display settings by using the /D or /T | switches on the command line. | Customizing Colors Beginning with version 2.1, BATBOX users can customize their menu's colors by using a small text file called BATBOX.CFG. Using the color codes from Appendix 3 of STEENBURGH'S STUFF documentation, enter a color value into a text file for the following items, one entry per line: Line # Controls Valid Values ====== ======== ============ 1 Menu color 1-127 2 Menu border type 1-4 3 Menu shadow pattern 1-3 4 Menu title color 1-255 5 Menu interior color 1-127 6 Menu item color 1-255 7 Hot key color 1-255 8 Cursor bar color 1-255 9 Prompt message color 1-255 10 Date/time color 1-255 See the enclosed file BATBOX.CFG for an example. The 5 pre- defined color palettes (one default and four selectable with the /P switch) are shown below. The registered version of BAT- | Page 12 BOX includes the program BATCOLOR, a color configuration util- | ity which can help you create the BATBOX.CFG file. | PREDEFINED COLOR PALETTES 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 ===== ===== ===== ===== ===== ===== ===== Menu color 79 27 78 53 112 96 32 Menu border 2 1 1 1 1 3 3 Menu shadow 2 3 2 3 2 1 1 Menu title 79 27 116 95 14 95 96 Menu interior 31 27 64 48 0 111 47 Menu item 79 27 116 53 7 111 32 Hot key 30 31 79 63 14 14 14 Cursor bar 14 49 78 95 112 14 14 Prompts 31 27 116 61 7 96 47 Date/time 113 27 124 53 7 96 47 Page 13 BOX Version 1.21 Copyright 1992 by Chuck Steenburgh & Tay-Jee Software BOX helps to bridge a gap between the BATBOX and WRITE/INPUT components of STEENBURGH's STUFF. People have often expressed a desire to create "dialog boxes" from within batch files, using a shadowed box similar to that used by BATBOX. BOX now provides this capability of creating a box on the screen, which can subsequently be filled with text via a WRITE or INPUT call. Usage: BOX /Ln /Tn [/Hn /Wn /Yn /Cn /In /S[-|n] /?] | or BOX textfile [/Cn] [/In] [/Xn] [/S-|/Sn] [/?] | /Ln Column location for leftmost edge of box. /Tn Row location for topmost edge of box. /Hn Height of box in rows. /Wn Width of box in rows. /Yn Style of box (one of nine styles shown below) /Bn Background color of box border /Fn Foreground color of box border | /In Interior color of box /Xn Text display color | /S- Disable drop shadow /Sn Style of shadow (one of three styles shown below) /? Displays brief help screen Examples: BOX /T5 /L20 Displays a single-line box, centered on screen, with top left corner located in row 5, column 20, in white on black. BOX /T10 /L30 /H4 /C79 /I4 /Y2 | Page 14 Displays a double-line box 4 rows high, centered horizontally on the screen, located in row 10, column 30. Box is bright white on red with a red interior. BOX /L60 /T15 /H3 /W10 /S- Displays a 3 row-by-10-column single-line box, with top left corner located in row 15, column 60. Box is white on black with no drop shadow. BOX hello.txt /X79 | Displays up to 20 lines of text from the file HELLO.TXT in a | box centered on the screen. Text is bright white on red. | The leftmost column (/Ln) must be at least 1, and no greater than 78. The topmost row (/Tn) must be at least 1, and no greater than 22 for a 25-line screen, 40 for a 43-line EGA | screen, or 47 for a 50-line VGA screen. (These limits are im- | posed to make room for a drop shadow.) The box must also be at | least two rows "tall" (/Hn) and at least two columns "wide" | (/Wn). | The nine box styles are listed below: 1 - Single edge box 2 - Double edge box 3 - Double horizontal/single vertical edge box 4 - Single horizontal/double vertical edge box 5 - Thick edge box 6 - Medium edge box 7 - Shaded thick box (ASCII 176) 8 - Shaded thick box (ASCII 177) 9 - Shaded thick box (ASCII 178) Styles 7, 8, and 9 correspond to the three shadow styles. /S1 produces a shadow using ASCII 176, /S2 using ASCII 177, and /S3 using ASCII 178. The default is /S2. Use the following guide for foreground and background colors: Value for n Foreground Background =========== ========== ========== 0 Black Black 1 Blue Blue 2 Green Green 3 Cyan Cyan Page 15 4 Red Red 5 Magenta Magenta 6 Brown Brown 7 White White 8 Grey Black* 9 Light blue Blue* 10 Light green Green* 11 Light cyan Cyan* 12 Light red Red* 13 Light magenta Magenta* 14 Yellow Brown* 15 Bright white White* * indicates "blinking" foreground colors. To calculate the color value for the /C switch, multiply the | background value by 16 and add the foregrond value. Use the | same values for text colors (/X). | Additionally, n values of 0 to 7 are valid for interior colors (/In). The box will be filled with spaces (ASCII 32) with a background color corresponding to that of the attribute selected from the chart above. The following errorlevel values are returned: 0 - Normal exit, no errors 1 - Invalid left column (/Ln) | 2 - Invalid top row (/Tn) | 3 - Invalid box height (/Hn) | 4 - Invalid box width (/Wn) | 5 - Invalid box color (/Cn) | 6 - Invalid text color (/Tn) | 7 - Invalid shadow style (/Sn) | 8 - Invalid fill color (/In) | 9 - Invalid text file name | 255 - Help screen displayed/no parameters entered Page 16 CHKDRV Version 2.0 | Copyright 1992-1993 Chuck Steenburgh & Tay-Jee Software | CHKDRV will report all existing, valid disk drive letters, or check the validity of a specific drive. Syntax: CHKDRV [d:] [/D] [/K] [/Q] [/V] [/Xtypelist] [/H | /?] d: Optional drive letter to check /D Detailed errorlevel report | /K disable drive types Key | /Q Quiet mode (driver letters only, no key or symbols)| /V Verify drive status (physical check) | /Xtypelist eXclude certain types of drives. Include one or | of the following codes in typelist: | f - floppy drives | h - hard drvies | n - networked (remote) drives | l - networked (local) drives | d - device-driven drives | r - RAM disks | s - SUBSTed drives | /H | /? brief Help screen Used alone on the command line, CHKDRV will print a listing of all valid disk drive letters, including "ghost" drives, RAM disks, networked, or SUBSTed drives. CHKDRV will set the DOS errorlevel equal to the total number of drives installed. Unless the /Q switch is used, each drive letter will be follow- | ed by one or more symbols indicating its characteristics. A | key explaining these symbols appears below the dirve list unless| disabled by the /K switch. Normally, upper-case drive letters are used to indicate all | fixed disks, while removable (floppy) devices are indicated by | lower case letters. | If an optional drive letter (with ot without colon) is spec- Page 17 ified, CHKDRV will determine if that letter is assigned to a valid disk drive. CHKDRV will inform you of the drive's status via a screen message and errorlevel return. An errorlevel of 0 indicates that the specified drive exists, while an errorlevel of 255 indicates an invalid drive. When the /D switch is used, | a more detailed errorlevel report wil be given, indicating the | size of the drive. | In the event of an error, or if the /H parameter is speci- fied, a brief help screen is displayed, and the errorlevel is set to 254. Errorlevel return table for /D switch: Errorlevel Drive type: 1 5¼" (360k) | 2 5¼" (1.2M) | 3 3½" (720k) | 4 3½" (1.4M) | 5 3½" (2.8M) | 6 Floptical | 7 Fixed disk | 8 Tape drive | 9 8" drive | 19 Write protected disk (/V switch) | 21 No disk in drive (/V switch) | 31 Unformatted disk (/V switch) | 100 Unknown | 255 Does not exist | Page 18 CHKPRN Version 1.0 Copyright 1992 by Chuck Steenburgh & Tay-Jee Software CHKPRN will check the status of a printer attached to ports 1, 2, or 3 (LPT1-LPT3). Usage: CHKPRN [LPTn] LPTn Optional parameter specifying port to check. Valid values for n: 1-3 Examples: CHKPRN Checks status of LPT1 CHKPRN LPT3 Checks status of LPT3 CHKPRN will display a message indicating the status of the printer. If the printer is ready, the errorlevel will be set to 0. If the printer is not ready, a tone will sound and the errorlevel will be set to 1. The included file SAFEPRN.BAT will check if the printer is ready before copying a file to it. Use SAFEPRN.BAT to print text files from the DOS command line. The syntax for SAFEPRN is as follows: SAFEPRN filename LPTn: filename Name of the file you wish to print. LPTn Printer port destination (n=1,2, or 3) Errorlevel report table: Errorlevel Condition 0 Printer is ready 1 Printer not switched on 2 Printer out of paper 3 Printer not connected 4 Printer off line 5 No parallel port installed 100 Unknown printer error Page 19 CHKSYS Version 1.0 Copyright 1993 Chuck Steenburgh & Tay-Jee Software CHKSYS will report the installed state of several device drivers and TSRs, as well as other useful system information. Syntax: CHKSYS [operation] [/E] [/H | /?] [operation] Device driver/information to check. One or more of the following: ANSI - ANSI.SYS driver APPEND - Check for installation of APPEND ASSIGN - Check for installation of ASSIGN DOSKEY - Check for installation of DOSKEY EMM386 - Check for installation of EMM386.EXE FILES - Check for FILES= setting GRAFTABL - Check for installation of GRAFTABL HIMEM - Check for installation of HIMEM.SYS KEYB - Check for installation of KEYB NLSFUNC - Check for installation of NLSFUNC PRINT - Check for installation of PRINT SHARE - Check for installation of SHARE WINDOWS - Check for presence of Windows ALL - Check for all of the above [/E] Store installed status in an environment variable [/H | /?] Display help screen If a single operation is specified, CHKSYS will set the errorlevel to 1 if the driver/TSR is currently installed, or return a value of 0 if it is not installed. The FILES oper- ation is an exception to this general rule; instead, it returns an errorlevel equal to the FILES setting currently being used. If more than one operation is specified, the errorlevel is always set to 0. A brief message is displayed for each operation indicating installation status. When the /E switch is set, an environment variable is created indicating installation status. Page 20 When specifying operations, only the first two characters are necessary. Examples: CHKSYS PRINT Determines if resident portion of PRINT.COM (or PRINT.EXE) is loaded. CHKSYS DO /E Determines if DOSKEY is installed, and sets the environment variable DOSKEY to YES or NO depending on installed state. Page 21 CLK 2.51 | Copyright 1991-1993 by Chuck Steenburgh & Tay-Jee Software DOS offers the TIME and DATE commands which allow to display, then set, the time and date. Unfortunately, these commands "hang up" your system in that they prompt you for a new time and/or date when entered by themselves on the command line. CLK allows you to display the time and date and then immediately terminate. Usage: CLK [/T] [/W] [/M] [/D] [/C] [/Rnn] [/Lnn] [nnn] [/E]| or CLK "Format" [/C] [/Rnn] [/Lnn] [nnn] [/E] | /T displays the time in 24-hour format /W displays three-letter abbreviation for the day of the week /M displays three-letter abbreviation for the month /D displays the date /C centers the displayed string on the current line. /Rnn displays string on row nn, where nn is a number between 0 and 24. /Lnn displays string starting in column nn, where nn is a number between 0 and 79. nnn displays output in color nnn, where nnn is a number between 0 and 255. See Appendix 3 for color information. /E set result to environment variable CLK | "Format" displays special time elements as part of a formatted string. Must be enclos- ed in quotes. See below for details. Examples: (assuming run at 11:45am Sunday 6 October 1991) CLK displays the current time and date in the form: Sun Oct 06 11:45:00 1991 Page 22 CLK /t displays time: 11:45:00 CLK /w displays day of the week: Sun CLK /m displays month: Oct CLK /d displays date: 06 CLK /t /m /d /w displays: 11:45:00 Sun Oct 06 CLK /c /w /t displays: 11:45:00 Sun (centered on current line) CLK /c /t /r10 79 displays 11:45:00 centered on line 10 in bright white on a red background CLK "Time: 0" displays: Time: 11:45:00 CLK /t /e displays 11:45:00, sets environment | variable CLK equal to the string | "11:45:00" | Command-line parameters may be entered in any order. Dif- ferent elements of the date/time, however, will always be dis- played in the following order: time, day of the week, month, and date. The format string combines text with special replaceable parameters to produce customized output. The text, which should be enclosed in quotes, can be a message which includes elements of the time. Use replaceable parameters, prefixed by the percent () sign, to represent the following data: a Abbreviated weekday (i.e., Sun, Mon, etc.) A Full weekday b Abbreviated month (i.e., Jan, Feb, etc.) B Full month 0 Day of the month (01-31) H Hour (24-hour clock 00-23) I Hour (12-hour clock 00-11) j Julian date (0-366) m Month (01-12) M Minute (00-59) 0000 Meridian (am or pm) S Second (00-59) U Week of the year (00-52), Sundays first W Week of the year (00-52), Mondays first w Day of the week (0-6), Sunday first Page 23 0 Date (MM/DD/YY) 0 Time (HH:MM:SS) Year (00-99) Y Year (0000-9999) Z Timezone Special note: when using CLK with a custom format string in a batch file, you must use the double percent sign (%) when prefixing the special replaceable parameters. Examples: From the command line: CLK "The time is now: 0. You have thirty minutes." produces the string: The time is now: 11:45:00. You have thirty minutes. From a batch file: CLK "Today is %d %B, %Y." produces the string: Today is 06 October, 1991. For additional options in setting elements of the time to an | environment variable, see the program WHENISIT (also part of | STEENBURGH's STUFF. | Page 24 CURSOR 1.0 Copyright 1992 by Chuck Steenburgh & Tay-Jee Software CURSOR will change the DOS cursor from an "underscore" into a block shape and back again. Usage: CURSOR +|- + Changes cursor into a block shape - Changes cursor into an underscore Examples: CURSOR + Turns the cursor into a block shape (blinking ASCII 219 character) CURSOR - Turns the cursor into an underscore (blinking ASCII 95 character) CURSOR will return an errorlevel of 1 if the cursor was changed to block shape, 0 if changed to underscore, or 2 if an error occurred. Page 25 DOSVER.EXE Version 1.1 Copyright 1991 by Chuck Steenburgh & Tay-Jee Software Use this program to determine what version of DOS is currently running on the system. Usage: DOSVER [n.n] [n.n] optional version to check for Examples: DOSVER returns an errorlevel based on version of DOS currently loaded DOSVER 3.3 checks to see if DOS version 3.3, or higher, is loaded DOSVER returns two possible errorlevels, based on whether it is reporting the DOS version or checking for a specific version number. When entered without parameters, DOSVER returns an error- level according to the chart below: DOS Version Errorlevel Returned =========== =================== 5.00 50 4.01 40 3.3 33 3.21 32 . . . . 2.0 20 etc. When entered with a version number on the command line, DOSVER returns the following errorlevels: Errorlevel Meaning ========== ======= 2 Loaded DOS higher version 1 Loaded DOS same version 0 Loaded DOS lower version DOSVER also prints a brief screen message stating the DOS | version in use. | Page 26 Page 27 INPUT v3.2 | Copyright 1991-1993 Chuck Steenburgh & Tay-Jee Software If you use batch files very often, you've probably acquired a program called ASK.COM or QUERY.COM or something similar that allows you to ask questions and receive simple responses. Usually, this involves typing an ECHO command with your question, followed by ASK.COM or whatever. If you do this a lot, you will probably appreciate the fact the INPUT.EXE will accomplish the jobs of both the ECHO and ASK commands. Add to this the greater flexibility that INPUT.EXE offers in presenting your prompt to the user and in receiving input, and you'll be sold. Usage: INPUT ["prompt"] [nnn] [Options] "prompt" Enter the text you would like to appear to prompt the user for input. This can be up to 59 char- acters and must be enclosed in quotation marks. nnn Enter a number representing the color in which you want your mes- sage to appear. You must, of course, have a color monitor and card. See Appendix 3. Options: /a|A[+|-] color Attribute selection. When the lower-case "a" is used, input is re- stricted to the eight "normal" color attributes (0-7). When the upper-case "A" is used, input is restricted to color attributes 0-16. Including the "+" or "-" signs after the switch will display the available colors above or below the prompt, respectively. /B[+|-] fix trailing Backslash. /B+ concat- enates a trailing backslash to the end of the input string if not al- ready present. /B- removes any trail- ing backslash present. Page 28 /C Center output. Include this switch if you want your prompt message cen- tered on the current line. /D display list of available Disk drives on current system and restrict input to one of these letters. /Exxxxxx Execute command. Instead of returning errorlevel, accept text input which is supplied to command "xxxxxx." /F[nn] Fixed input field of length nn. INPUT will display a fixed, editable input field of length nn for accepting data. Cursor arrow, insert/delete, home/end, and TAB keys are active in this field. If used in conjunction with the /M switch, the current value for the en- vironment variable (if any) is dis- played in the field as a default. When this switch is used, TWO color | values may be specified. If more than| one is used, the FIRST is the color of| the prompt, and the second is the | color of the input field. | /H or /? display brief Help screen. /I use this for a case-Insensitive error level return. If this switch is included on the command line, pressing a letter a-z (lower case) will return the same value as if the corresponding key A-Z (upper case) were pressed. /Kxxxx restrict Keypress. When followed by a list of characters, INPUT will only accept those characters, issuing a warning tone when any other key (ex- cept ESC) is pressed. The errorlevel value returned will equal the ordinal position of the selected character in the list. /Ln Leftmost column in which prompt should appear. Page 29 /Mxxxxxx receive text input and set Master en- vironment variable xxxxxx with data received. Defaults to variable name of INPUT if no name is provided. /Oxxxxx cOncatenate "xxxxxx" to end of data entered. Valid only for string input options /M and /F. Adds the specified characters to the end of the value en- tered by the user. If you must in- clude spaces, enclose the whole switch in quotes. /Pd Pause 10 seconds for user input, then default to "d" (where "d" is any char- acter. INPUT will wait up 10 seconds for user input. If no key is pressed within 10 seconds, INPUT will act as if the key specified by the key rep- resented by the single character "d" was pressed. Note that all other switches (case insensitivity, yes/no answer, etc.) remain active if time expires and the default key is used. INPUT adds a warning that it will de- fault to the specified value after 10 seconds, and will display a succession of ten dots to indicate elapsed time. /Q Quiet mode. Suppresses the audible alarm prompt. /Rn Row in which prompt should appear. /S Show keypress. Adding this switch will cause INPUT to display the errorlevel value returned. Use this for quick "debugging" of your use of INPUT /V instead of a single keypress, causes INPUT to read a numeric Value (con- cluded with a carriage return) between 0 and 255 from the keyboard. Values less than 0 will return 0 and values greater than 255 will return 255. /Wn when used in conjunction with the /P Page 30 switch, changes the default Wait time to n seconds, where n is no greater than 999 seconds. /X When used in conjunction with the /W and/or /P switches will suppress dis- play of the default value and timer "ticks." /Y use this for a Yes-no only response. If the "n" key is pressed, errorlevel of "0" is returned; pressing any other key returns an errorlevel of 1. The prompt "(Y/n)" is appended to the nor- mal prompt specified by the user. /N Use this for a yes-No only response. If the "y" key is pressed, errorlevel of "1" is returned; pressing any other key returns an errorlevel of 0. The prompt "(y/N)" is appended to the nor- mal prompt specified by the user. This switch takes precedence over the /y switch. The command line parameters may be entered in any order, may be in any case, and may be preceded by either the "/" or "-" character. Examples: INPUT "Select a number from one to 10" This prints the text "Select on number from one to 10" on the current line and waits for a keypress. INPUT "Press any key to continue" 79 This prints the text "Press any key to continue" on the current line in bright white on a red background and waits for a keypress. INPUT "Press the space bar to exit" 143 /c This prints the text "Press the space bar to exit" cen- tered on the current line in flashing bright white on a black background. Page 31 INPUT /s /i "Press any key..." /c 14 Prompts user with "Press any key..." in yellow on black. Returns a case-insensitive errorlevel and displays it on the screen before terminating. INPUT "Do you wish to continue?" /s 79 /y Prompts user with "Do you wish to continue? (Y/n)" in white on red. Returns errorlevel of 1 unless the "n" key is pressed. Displays errorlevel on screen. INPUT "Press any key..." /pf Prompts user with "Press any key... (defaults to f after 10 seconds)" in black on white. Returns errorlevel of 102 if no key is pressed within 10 seconds, otherwise returns value of key pressed. INPUT "Press any key..." /c /pf Prompts user with "Press any key... (defaults to f after 10 seconds)" in black on white. Returns errorlevel of 70 if no key is pressed within 10 seconds, otherwise returns the upper case ASCII value of the key pressed. INPUT "Enter data:" /p1 /w15 /q 30 Prompts user with "Enter data: (defaults to 1 after 15 seconds)" in yellow on blue. Returns errorlevel of 49 if no key is pressed after 15 seconds, otherwise returns the error- level of the key pressed. The alarm does NOT sound. INPUT "How many copies should be printed? " /v /c Prompts user with "How many copies should be printed?" centered on the current line. A number can be entered by the user and INPUT will return an errorlevel equal to the number entered (between 0 and 255). If the /V switch is used, the data entered by the user will appear on screen, and can be changed using backspace before pressing <Return>. INPUT "Press any key to continue..." /p /x Displays the familiar DOS PAUSE message, but exits after a 10 second delay if no key is pressed. An errorlevel of 0 is returned. Page 32 INPUT "Switch to which drive?" /D Displays prompt "Switch to which drive?" followed by a list of all valid drives on the system. Will not exit until one of these drive letters is pressed. INPUT "Enter a directory mask " /Edir /C Centers prompt "Enter a directory mask " on screen. Exe- cutes DOS "dir" command, using any text entered in response to prompt as arguments. For example, if user typed "*.exe /p" the command "dir *.exe /p" will be executed by INPUT. This allows INPUT to be used to enter limited string data. INPUT "Enter a file name: " /MFILENAME Accepts text data from keyboard and places value entered in the master environment in a variable named "filename." This value can later be accessed within a batch file or via other programs. INPUT "New PATH: " /MPATH /F60 Displays the current PATH setting in a fixed-length field 60 characters wide. It may then be edited and saved by pressing ENTER. INPUT "Select an option: " /KABC Returns an errorlevel of 1 if A is pressed, 2 if B, and 3 if C is pressed. Sounds a beep if any other key is pressed and waits for valid keypress or ESC. CD | INPUT /MDIR /Q In this redirection example, the output of the "CD" command is "piped" into INPUT, which stores in information in an envir- onment variable called DIR. (The CD command entered by ltself displays the current drive and directory name.) The output of virtually any command can be stored in the environment using INPUT in this manner. INPUT will also sound an alarm to let the user know that a response is expected (unless /Q switch specified). When a key is pressed, INPUT will set the errorlevel equal to the ASCII value of the key pressed. This is slightly dif- ferent from BATBOX in that in normal operation INPUT is case Page 33 sensitive and will allow you to distinguish between upper and lower case letters. If you want a case-insensitive return, use the /i switch. See Appendix 2 for a complete list of the ASCII characters theoretically supported by INPUT. If the /H or /? parameter was specified, the errorlevel returned will be 255. If the ESC key is pressed, an errorlevel of 254 will be re- turned. When using the /E parameter to execute a batch file, be sure to include the extension ".BAT" as part of the switch. When using the /M switch to set an environment variable, the variable name you supply will be converted to upper case. DOS will only recognize upper case variables within batch files. When using the /M switch in conjunction with /Y or /N, the variable will be assigned a value of YES or NO as appropriate. SPECIAL NOTE TO 4DOS* and NDOS USERS INPUT.EXE conflicts with 4DOS' INPUT internal command. To remedy this situation, create a batch file containing the two lines below (or add them to your AUTOEXEC.BAT file) and execute once each time your computer is turned on: alias input d:\path\input.exe alias inp4 *input The first line creates an alias of "input" for the program INPUT.EXE. The second line creates an alias of "inp4" for the internal 4DOS INPUT command. Make sure the "d:\path\" part of the first line is replaced with the actual drive/path in which INPUT.EXE is located on your system. Since INPUT performs many more functions than the 4DOS command, it is desirable to avoid any confusion and simply replace 4DOS' INPUT command. * 4DOS is a registered trademark of JP Software Inc. Page 34 KLS 3.0 | Copyright 1991-1994 Chuck Steenburgh & Tay-Jee Software KLS is a simple replacement for the DOS screen-clearing function (CLS). Usage: KLS [color] [/Bn] [/M] [/V] [/X | /N] [/H] | color A number from the list below: 0 - Black 1 - Blue 2 - Green 3 - Cyan 4 - Red 5 - Magenta 6 - Brown 7 - White /Bn Change border to color n, where n: 0 - Black 1 - Blue 2 - Green 3 - Cyan 4 - Red 5 - Magenta 6 - Brown 7 - White 8 - Grey 9 - Bright blue 10 - Light green 11 - Light cyan 12 - Light red 13 - Light magenta 14 - Yellow 15 - Bright white /H | /? Display brief help screen. /M Report EGA/VGA memory installed. | /N Return to normal 25-line mode. /V Verbose report /X Enter extended video mode (43 lines for EGA, 50 lines for VGA). Page 35 Examples: KLS 4 Clears the screen & paints it red. KLS 6 Clears the screen & paints it brown. KLS /B4 Turns border magenta. KLS /B1 6 Clears screen & paints it brown with a blue border. KLS /4 /B4 /E Clears screen, sets screen to 43- or 50-line mode, and paints screen and border red. KLS /N Clears screen, returning it to 25- line mode and default color. KLS /V /M Clears screen, reports amount of | EGA/SVGA memory (if applicable), and | reports findings to screen in detail. | When the screen is cleared, it will be set to the color indi- cated on the command line. Entering KLS without parameters is the same as issuing CLS (i.e., clear screen without color). "KLS 0" is useful if you have used ANSI or some other method to set your screen to a color other than black, but you want a black screen temporarily. The /B switch, by itself, does NOT clear the screen. Some- times you will want to reset the border color without erasing what is on the screen (such as when a "misbehaved" program changes the color of your screen border and does not reset it). KLS also detects the type of video display card installed and returns errorlevel codes as shown below: 0 - monochrome display adapter (MDA) 1 - color graphic adapter (CGA) 2 - extended graphics adapter (EGA) 3 - video graphics array (VGA) 4 - multi-color graphics adapter (MCGA) 5 - Hercules graphics adapter SVGA cards: 6 - VESA-compatible SVGA card | 7 - AHEAD-A chipset | 8 - AHEAD-B chipset | Page 36 9 - ATI 18800 chipset | 10 - ATI 18800-1 chipset | 11 - ATI 28800 chipset | 12 - C&T 82c451 chipset | 13 - C&T 82c452 chipset | 14 - C&T 82c453 chipset | 15 - Genoa 6000 chipset | 16 - Oak OTI-067 chipset | 17 - Paradise PVGA1a chipset | 18 - Paradise WD90C00 chipset | 19 - Paradise WD90C11 chipset | 20 - Trident 8800 chipset | 21 - Trident 8900 chipset | 22 - Tseng ET3000 chipset | 23 - Tseng ET4000 chipset | 24 - Video7 chipset | 25 - Cirrus Logic 54xx chipset | 26 - S3 chipset | 27 - Trident 8900B/C chipset | When using the /V switch, a brief screen message describing the installed video card is displayed. When using the /M switch, the errorlevel is set too indicate | the type of card and amount of video memory as follows: | Errorlevel Video card & memory | ========== =================== | 41 EGA w/64k | 42 EGA w/128k | 43 EGA w/192k | 44 EGA w/256k | 51 SVGA w/512k | 52 SVGA w/1024k | 53 SVGA w/1536k | 54 SVGA w/2048k | etc... | If you make an error (specify an invalid color value), KLS will sound a tone return an errorlevel of 255. Page 37 LAUNCHER.EXE 2.61 Copyright 1991,1992 Chuck Steenburgh & Tay-Jee Software Do some of your programs require you to load a data file once you start the program? Are these data files located in a different directory, or do you have to enter several cryptic commands to get your program to load a data file? LAUNCHER is designed to work with any program that can accept the name of a data file on the command line. LAUNCHER will display a menu of your data files, and then start your application with the name of the file you select on the command line to be loaded immediately. LAUNCHER uses a rather novel method of automatically de- termining the name of the application you are going to use it with. Rather than needing a configuration file or compli- cated command line switches, LAUNCHER reads the application name from its own file name. Rename the LAUNCHER.EXE file after the application you want to run, PLUS ANY ONE ADDITIONAL CHARACTER. Put this renamed version of launcher in the same directory as your application, and you're ready to LAUNCH! Optionally, LAUNCHER will use a more traditional means of of specifying the name of your application program through the use of the /E switch described below. Usage: NEWNAME [path:\]filespec [/B] [/Cnnn] [/E:filename] [/F] [/H | /?] [/N] [\parms] | NEWNAME This is the new name which you have given to LAUNCHER.EXE, based on the name of your application. (It is not required for you to rename the LAUNCHER.EXE file if you use the /E switch). path:\ Optional drive and/or path for data files. filespec This filespec designates what files are to be displayed by LAUNCHER. You may include a drive and/or dir- ectory name, and wildcards (? *). /B Write command generated to a file named LAUNCHME.BAT rather than exec- uting immediately. This method MUST be used when launching batch file app- lications. Page 38 /Cnnn Specify color. Normally, LAUNCHER uses a bright white on black display scheme. Specify a color to use with the numeric value nnn, where nnn is between 0 and 127. See Appendix 3 color calculation. /E:filename Optional parameter to specify the name of your application. You may include your application's complete path if necessary. /F Include only file names on command line. Normally, LAUNCHER will in- clude any path you have specified on the command line string built. Use this switch if your application does not require the path name. /H or /? Displays help screen. /N Use 25-line display mode (EGA/VGA) | \parms Enter any additional command line parameters you would like to use with your application program, prefaced with a backslash. ALL parameters that come AFTER the backslash will be pas- sed to your application (and ignored by LAUNCHER). Examples: WPI b:\wp\*.doc This will LAUNCH Word Perfect (WP.EXE) after displaying all files in the B:\WP subdirectory with the extension .DOC. This assumes that you have renamed LAUNCHER.EXE as WPI.EXE and that this file is in the same directory as Word Perfect. WSI c:\ws\*.doc /f LAUNCHES WordStar (WS.EXE) from data files in directory c:\ws\docs. DOES NOT include the path when LAUNCHING WordStar. (Assumes that c:\ws is set up as your default files directory in WSCHANGE.) Page 39 WSI *.doc /n LAUNCHES WordStar using a data file selected from those in the current directory matching the filespec *.doc. It includes the "/n" param- eter (nondocument mode) when starting WordStar. WP1 *.txt /C30 LAUNCHES WordPerfect using a data selected from those meeting file spec *.txt. Displays menu in yellow on a blue background. LAUNCHER *.WKS /e:C:\123\123.BAT Writes a batch file named LAUNCHME.BAT which will load Lotus 1-2-3 with the selected .WKS as a data file. LAUNCHER *.* /e:C:\DOS\EDIT.COM \/b /h | Writes a LAUNCHME.BAT file which will | load the selected file into DOS' EDIT | program, using the /b and /H switches | for EDIT. | After running LAUNCHER, you will see a display of files meeting the filespec you have supplied appear on the screen. Files will be listed alphabetically from left to right and top to bottom. The first file will be highlighted in reverse video. Use the four cursor movement keys (arrow keys), position the highlight bar over the name of the file you would like loaded into your application, then press enter. LAUNCHER will then build a command line which includes the file just selected. If you press the ESC key instead of enter, your application will be started WITHOUT a data file. If no files were found that matched the filespec, LAUNCHER will terminate without loading the application and set the DOS errorlevel to 1. Some programs that require very large amounts of memory, such as Quattro Pro by Borland, will not work properly when LAUNCHED. If at all possible, when using LAUNCHER, configure your applications so that they use as little memory as pos- sible. Most word processing programs do not need special con- figuration, as they can run in 512K or less of memory. The reason for this limitation is that LAUNCHER remains in memory when your application is LAUNCHED, taking up about 30k of memory. Use of the /B switch makes it possible for much larger Page 40 programs to be LAUNCHED. Version 2.6 now correctly runs batch file applications. To ensure proper performance, you should only run batch file app- lications using both the /E and /B switches. See the demo file SAMPLE.BAT for an example of how to "automatically" LAUNCH pro- grams using the /B switch. Page 41 MUSIC.EXE 2.01 Copyright 1991 by Chuck Steenburgh & Tay-Jee Software For some time now I have wanted an inexpensive way to play short tunes on my PC. While there are many music pro- grams available, they usually require expensive hardware, large memory overhead, too much musical knowledge, or custom- made musical files that you had to buy from somebody. Des- perate, I finally decided to write my own program! Usage: MUSIC [file[.CM1]] [/d] [/r] [/s] [/v] | file The name of a music file with extension .CM1 which contains the transcribed music to be played. Extension is optional. /d Optional parameter specifying "debug" mode. The line number of each note in the .CM1 file will be displayed as it is played. This is useful in lo- cating errors in the music file. /r When used alone on the command line, indicates random play mode. MUSIC will search the current directory for all music files present, and will select one to be played at random. /s Singalong mode. Displays musical | scale and "bouncing note" in time | with music. For files with lyrics, | the words will be displayed in time | with the music also. Cannot be used | in conjunction with /v switch. | /v Vidoe display mode. Shows flashing | musical notes randomly scattered | across the screen, in time with the | music. Cannot be used in conjunction | with the /s switch. | Examples: MUSIC dixie2.cm1 Plays the song "Dixie" encoded in the file DIXIE2.CM1 (this file included with the STUFF). Page 42 MUSIC dixie2 /d Plays "Dixie" and displays the line number of each note as it is played. MUSIC /r Plays at random one of the music files in the current directory. MUSIC /r /s Plays a random song, displaying | musical scale and lyrics. | When MUSIC is entered alone on the command line with no parameters, a brief help screen is displayed. MUSIC returns errorlevel values as shown below: 0 Normal termination 1 Invalid music file 2 Other error (invalid note, no files present, help) 3 No .CM1 files found (with /r switch) | 4 /S and /V switches used together | For information on how to create your own music files, see Appendix 4 and use the sample files as a guide. Page 43 RAND 2.0 Copyright 1991-1993 Chuck Steenburgh & Tay-Jee Software RAND provides simple random number generating capabilities for batch files. RAND returns a random number in the form of the DOS errorlevel, which you can then evaluate in your batch files. Usage: RAND [max value] | [/f] max value Upper limit of random number range. RAND will generate an errorlevel between 1 and this number. The de- fault is 100. The maximum is 255. /f Rand will generate a unique file name | and display it. This name can be re- | directed via DOS as input to another | command or program. | Examples: RAND Generates a random errorlevel be- tween 1-100. RAND 10 Generates a random errorlevel be- tween 1-10. RAND /F Generates a unique file name | If the max value specified is greater than 255 or less than 1, RAND sets the errorlevel to 0. SIFT Version 1.0 Page 44 Copyright 1993 Chuck Steenburgh & Tay-Jee Software The three filters that come with DOS, MORE, FIND, and SORT, are indispensable batch file programming tools. Unfortunately, as useful as they are, they are still fairly limited in what they can do. SIFT is a multi-purpose DOS filter that greatly expands on the capabilities of FIND. Syntax: SIFT [options] < source source | SIFT [options]\n"); [options] one or more of the following:\n"); /a Non-numeric output only. Strips all numbers from output. /b Backwards (reverse) output. Reverses each line of filtered text. /c Display occurence of find only (iden- tical to FIND). /d Numeric output only. Strips all non- numeric characters from output. /e[nnn] Convert to non-graphic characters. SIFT will normally substitute the "*" (ASCII 42) character unless an alter- nate ASCII value is specified as nnn. /fxxxxxx Output (find) lines containing string xxxxxx only. /i case-insensitive find (/f or /v) (identical to FIND). /l convert output to lowercase /n display line numbers of output (iden- tical to FIND). /pnn inverse truncate after nn characters (print output, skipping first nn char- acters). Page 45 /r display number of occurence of output (relative position of find) /tnn truncate output to nn characters /u convert output to uppercase /vxxxxxx display lines NOT containing string xxxxxx /2 Two-column output. Successive lines of less than 40 characters are com- bined on the same output line. /h or /? Display help screen SIFT is essentially a superset of the FIND filter, providing many more functions. It uses the basic syntax of the FIND com- mand. Examples: PATH | SIFT /P5 Displays the PATH setting, excluding the first 5 characters (i.e., "PATH="). SIFT /FTay-Jee /I /D < PHONE.LST Searches the file PHONE.LST for the string "Tay-Jee" (any case) and outputs all NUMERIC values on that line. Useful, for example, in finding/displaying phone numbers or other values. Page 46 SKIP.EXE Copyright 1991 by Chuck Steenburgh & Tay-Jee Software ECHO does not permit you to enter blank lines in batch files. While there are various tricks to accomplish this, and a number of small .COM programs to accomplish this task, you must still enter a separate command for each blank line. Usage: SKIP [lines] lines The number of lines you would like to skip; the default is one. Examples: SKIP Skips a single line SKIP 5 Skips five lines. SKIP sets the errorlevel equal to the number of lines skipped. Page 47 SOUNDER.EXE 3.1 | Copyright 1991-1993 Chuck Steenburgh & Tay-Jee Software | SOUNDER is an advanced replacement for any number of util- ities (with names like BEEP.COM or MUSIC.COM). Most of these programs make a simple noise or maybe play a short melody. Most restrict you to the same monotonous tones over and over again. SOUNDER presents you with a virtually unlimited range of options which you can control, with ZILLIONS (up to 10 to the 400th power!) of possible tone sequences. Usage: SOUNDER [note] [dur] or SOUNDER [/Ln] [/Rn] [/Tn [+] or SOUNDER [/En] [/F] | note A musical note (A,B,C,D,E,F,G). dur Duration of tone or note in seconds. | Must be a whole number between 1-9. | /Ln Base length for random play. Spec- ify the base length of the series of random tones desired in tenths of a second, where "n" is the desired tone length. 0 < n <= 300. /Rn Repeat random tone sequences "n" num- ber of times. 0 < n <= 20. /Tn Specify range of random number of tones. 1 to n random tones will be generated per cycle. 0 < n <= 10. + Make number of tones specified by /T switch absolute. /En Use special sound effect number n, | where n is one the following four | types of sound effects: | 1 - increasing pitch | 2 - decreasing pitch | 3 - up-down wail | 4 - down-up wail | /F Use in conjunction with /E on very | fast PCs to slow down the sounds. | Page 48 The default is for SOUNDER to generate 1-3 random tones with an overall tone length of approximately 2/3 second. Examples: sounder Produces 1-3 random tones for a total length of approximately 2/3 second. sounder C 2 Produces a 'C' note for two seconds. sounder /T5 Produces 1-5 random tones for a total length of approximately 2/3 second. sounder /T5 /L20 Produces 1-5 random tones for a total length of 2 seconds. sounder /T5 /L20 + Produces 5 random tones with a length of 0.4 second each. sounder /T10 /R3 Produces 3 separate sequences of 1-10 random tones, each of approximately 2/3 second length. sounder /T10 /R10 + Produces 100 random tones lasting a total of approximately 6.7 seconds. sounder /E1 Produces increasing pitch sound. | sounder /E3 /F Produces up-down wailing sound on a | very fast computer (386 or better). | SOUNDER returns the following errorlevel codes: 0 Musical note sounded 1-10 Number of random tones sounded (last cycle only) 255 Error in note specification/help screen requested | Page 49 SPACE Version 1.11 Copyright 1992-1993 by Chuck Steenburgh & Tay-Jee Software SPACE combines the functions of the old utilities FREEDISK and HOWMUCH. Use SPACE to: - report the amount of free and total space available on a disk - report the total size of a group of files - check to see if there is enough space for a group of files on a particular disk Usage: SPACE [filespec] [d:] [/sk | /sb] [/c] [/h | /?] filespec Specification (including path if de- sired) of group of files whose size you want to report. d: Target disk drive /sk Report size in kilobytes (screen re- ports only) /sb Report size in bytes (screen reports only) /c Center screen output lines /h or /? Display help screen Examples: SPACE *.* Reports the size (in megabytes) of all files in the current directory. SPACE C: /sb Reports the amount of total and avail- able disk space (in kilobytes) on drive C. SPACE *.exe b: /sb Reports the size (in bytes) of all .EXE files in the current directory; the to- tal and available space on drive B; and the amount of space on drive B needed to hold the specified files. Page 50 The default is to display all file and space sizes in mega- bytes. SPACE is most useful in automating file copying tasks. If you are using a RAM disk to copy program files and overlays to for faster execution, use SPACE to make sure there is sufficient room on the disk before copying. The batch file SAFECOPY.BAT uses the DOS XCOPY command to safely copy files to a new disk, making sure enough room is available. DOS allocates disk space in fixed units known as "clusters" whose size is dependent upon the version of DOS used and the size and type of the disk. For example, most floppy disks use a cluster size of 1,024 bytes (1 kilobyte). A file that is only 100 bytes long will still occupy 1,024 bytes of space (1 full cluster) on a floppy disk. A file that is 1,025 bytes long will occupy TWO 1,024-byte clusters. This unused space at the end of a file is known as "slack space." When both a filespec and a target drive are specified for SPACE, the actual amount of space needed by the specified files on the target drive will be displayed, as well as the percentage of slack space. SPACE returns one of three distinct errorlevel ranges, de- pending on what combination of switches was chosen. If only a filespec was included on the command line, the errorlevel is set equal to the total size of the specified files, in 10k increments. If only a target drive was specified, the amount of free space (again in 10k increments) is returned via the errorlevel. Finally, if both a filespec and a target drive are specified, an errorlevel of 1 indicates that not enough disk space is available, whereas an errorlevel of 0 indicates sufficient space is available. An errorlevel of 255 indicates that the help screen was displayed or an error condition. An errorlevel of 254 indicates an overflow (i.e., files total more than 2.53 megabytes or more than 2.53 megabytes are available on the target drive). Page 51 WAITFOR.EXE Copyright 1991 by Chuck Steenburgh & Tay-Jee Software Did you ever notice that if you want a batch file to wait for you, you have to use PAUSE? This requires you to press a key. This may not be convenient at the moment, such as when you're talking on two phones at once and your batch file is patiently waiting for you to tell it to print those files your boss is impatient for. WAITFOR will simply cause your batch file to suspend operation for a designated number of sec- onds and then resume. Usage: WAITFOR seconds seconds Integer representing the number of seconds you would like to pause. WAITFOR sets the errorlevel equal to the number of seconds paused. Page 52 WHENISIT 2.0 | Copyright 1991-1993 by Chuck Steenburgh & Tay-Jee Software WHENISIT is a highly flexible utility to provide control in DOS batch files based on time and date. With its many op- tions, WHENISIT will allow your batch files to determine the year, month, date, day of the week, hour, minute, second, or whether it is morning or afternoon and make intelligent de- cisions based on this information. WHENISIT is also able to perform actions once a day (such as at the first boot-up of the day). For example, you may want certain actions performed at boot time on certain days of the week or month. Adding WHENISIT to your AUTOEXEC.BAT file can allow you to make these sort of decisions. (Or allow your computer to make them for you automatically.) Usage: WHENISIT [option] [/Evarname] | or | WHENISIT [hh:mm] | [dd/mm/yy] | where [option] is one of the following: /? Displays help screen /a Returns errorlevel based on am or pm. /d Returns errorlevel equal to date. /h Returns errorlevel equal to the hour (24-hour clock). /m Returns errorlevel equal to month. /mi Returns errorlevel equal to minute. /s Returns errorlevel equal to second. /w Returns errorlevel based on the day of the week. /y Returns errorlevel equal to the last two digits of the year. /Evarname Set environment variable "varname" | Page 53 with results of date/time check. | hh:mm 24-hour time. mm/dd/yy Date. Entering the time in the form hh:mm will check to see if the current time is equal to, before, or after the time entered. If the current time is later than the time entered, an error- level of 2 is returned. If the current time is entered, an errorlevel of 1 is returned. If the time entered is later than the current time, an errorlevel of 0 is returned. Entering the date in the form mm/dd/yy will check the current date against the value entered, and return an errorlevel as described above. Entering WHENISIT alone on the command line will generate an errorlevel of 1 if WHENISIT has not been executed yet that day. Otherwise, an errorlevel of 0 will be returned. Note that if you maintain multiple copies of WHENISIT.EXE on your system, each copy of WHENISIT will keep track of whether or not it has run separately from any other copies. Be sure you know which copy you are executing! This is useful to put in AUTOEXEC.BAT to indicate actions you want performed only ONCE each day, no matter how many times you re-boot your computer. (Once-a-day mode) Examples: WHENISIT /a Returns errorlevel of 2 if it is pm, or 1 if it is am. WHENISIT /y If your clock is set to the year 1991, returns an errorlevel of 91. WHENISIT /w If your clock indicates that it is Tuesday, returns an errorlevel of 3. WHENISIT 12/25/91 If current date is AFTER 12/25/91, returns errorlevel of 2. If current date is 12/25/91, returns errorlevel of 1. If current date is earlier than 12/25/91, errorlevel of 0 is returned. WHENISIT Returns errorlevel of 0 if WHENISIT has already executed, 1 if not. WHENISIT /w /ETODAY Sets the variable TODAY equal to the | Page 54 day of the week, and returns an appro-| priate errorlevel value. | Errorlevel Chart: Errorlevel Switch: /a /m /w | ---------- -------------------------------------- 1 AM January Sunday 2 PM February Monday 3 na March Tuesday 4 na April Wednesday 5 na May Thursday 6 na June Friday 7 na July Saturday 8 na August na 9 na September na 10 na October na 11 na November na 12 na December na The errorlevels returned through the use of other switches should be self-explanatory. The following errorlevel values indicate a syntax error: | Errorlevel Error | ========== ===== | 250 Invalid day (within entered date) | 251 Invalid month (within entered date) | 252 Invalid year (within entered date) | 253 Invalid minute (within entered time) | 254 Invalid hour (within entered time) | 255 Too many arguments on command line | Page 55 WRITE.EXE 2.5 Copyright 1991-1993 Chuck Steenburgh & Tay-Jee Software We know that ECHO has its limits, don't we? WRITE will let you have full control over the positioning and color of your text messages in batch files. Version 2.0 adds the capability to have write display text files, similar to DOS's TYPE|MORE combination, but in FULL color that you specify. Syntax: WRITE "Text"|@file [ccc] [/C] [/Rn] [/Ln] [/S] [/X|/N] [/H]| "Text" This is the text to be displayed, which must be enclosed in quotes if it consists of more than one word. @file Name of file containing ASCII text to be displayed. Can be specified in lieu of "Text." ccc This is the color in which to print the text. See Appendix 3. /C Centers text on line. /Rn n is the row (0-24, top to bottom) on which the text will appear. The de- fault is to use the current cursor position. /Ln n is the column (0-79, left to right) where the text will begin printing. The default is to use the current cur- sor position. /S Include this switch to utilize slow (BIOS) screen writes. This will suppress "snow" on some CGA displays. /X | /N Places screen in eXtended (43/50 line)| mode or Normal (25 line) mode on EGA | or VGA systems. | /H Displays brief help screen. Examples: Page 56 WRITE "This is my message" Displays "This is my message" on the current line in gray on black background (same as ECHO This is my message, only MUCH faster). WRITE "This is my message." 79 Displays "This is my message." on the current line in bright white on red background. WRITE "Hello, Chuck." /r10 /l25 Displays "Hello, Chuck." on row 10, column 25, in gray on black background. WRITE "Goodbye, Chuck." /r5 /c /s 207 Displays "Goodbye, Chuck." centered on row 5 in flashing bright white on red background. Suppresses snow on old CGA sys- tems. WRITE @write.doc 15 Displays this documentation file on the screen in bright white on black background. If a text file is to be displayed, the /L, /R, and /C switch-| es are ignored. The screen will be cleared, and text will be | displayed a screen at a time. Users will be prompted with the | familiar "Press any key to continue..." message to continue on | to the next screen. | WRITE returns errorlevels as follows: 0 Normal termination 1 Text file displayed 2 Help screen displayed Note to users of WRITE 1.1 or 1.0: Commands written for earlier versions of WRITE are not com- patible with WRITE 2.x. Sorry, but the new features included with WRITE 2.0 demanded a different system of passing parameters to the program. The current switches are similar to those used with the remainder of STEENBURGH'S STUFF utilities. The original two releases of WRITE were little more than executable versions Page 57 of some "C" functions I had written for use in other programs, while version 2.0 is a completely new, much more flexible and capable utility. Page 58 XD Version 2.2 | Copyright 1991-1993 Chuck Steenburgh & Tay-Jee Software XD is included as a directory creation/changing utility. There are better ones available, I suggest you get one if you can. XD does offer advantages over the cd and md commands found in DOS. Usage: XD [drive:][\directory]... drive: Drive letter (with colon) that you want to switch to. \directory Directory (with slash) that you want to change to. If it does not exist, XD will create it and then move you there. Examples: XD D:\DOS Changes to drive D: (if necessary) then changes to the \DOS directory, creating it if necessary. XD QPRO\DATA Changes to subdirectory QPRO, then to subdirectory DATA, creating it if necessary. If you are using XD to create a new directory, you may only create one new level. For example, if you issue the command "XD C:\DOS\UTILITY" and that directory does not exist, XD will create IF C:\DOS already exists. XD sets the errorlevel to 1 if the above condition is en- countered and it is unable to create a new directory. XD also will set the errorlevel to 2 if the specified drive does not exist. Either error condition also results in the sounding of a tone. Entering XD without any parameters will cause a dialog box to appear on screen. Enter the desired drive and/or directory in the dialog box and press <Enter>. If a trailing backslash is included in the path name, it | will be removed befroe further processing. | Page 59