Basics
------

DFA (i.e. the DFA-Server) usually accepts AREXX commands at any time,
even if the DFA-Editor and/or the DFA-Preferences program is running at
the same time.  It is possible however that the execution of an AREXX
command will be delayed, if someone for example is just editing an
address within the Edit window of the DFA-Editor. The reason for this
savety protocol can be explained easily: As the addresses are kept in
memory only once, all DFA related programs have access to the same
address list. By the protocol described above I want to make sure that
no part of the DFA package tries to use addresses that another part of
DFA has already deleted (this would sooner or later cause the machine
to crash).

When I talk about executing AREXX commands, the execution of an AREXX
script that contains DFA specific AREXX commands, is meant.

The basics of the AREXX programming language can be found in the AREXX
manual that comes along with AMIGA-OS 2.0 or better or in the "AREXX
User's Reference Manual"(1).

The AREXX port, that has to be used to address DFA is DFA, as long as
you did not change this name by the tooltype PORTNAME, as described in
Tooltypes.  This should only be done, if you have another program
running that uses the portname DFA as well and you don't want to use
DFA's feature to choose a clear portname.

A further remark on the Load, Append, and Save as commands:

If you give a filename, you should always use the complete pathname, as
otherwise it is very likely that the file can't be found or is written
to a place you don't expect. Refering to the home directory of DFA
doesn't make much sense, as DFA is often placed in another drawer than
the address files and furthermore as DFA remembers the recently loaded
filename and uses it for loading and saving.

Beyond the item Syntax the possible parameters are listed.  The
description of the parameters follows the known style given by
Commodore, here is its meaning:

/S - Switch
     This is considered a boolean variable.  If this option is present,
     the corresponding option is enabled, otherwise it keeps disabled.

/K - Keyword.
     This parameter must be given in the format keyword=<setting>; e.g.
     the PRINT command can get FORM/K either as FORM=ALL or
     FORM=SELECTED or FORM=ACTIVE.  The equal sign = may be left out.

/N - Number.
     This means the parameter is considered a decimal integer,

/T - Toggle.
     This is similar to the switch (/S) modifier, but one of the
     keywords yes, on, no or off is expected (not case sensitive).
     According to the keyword you provide, the option is switched on or
     off respectively.

     Please notice that you may not use the equal sign (=) between the
     parameter and the modifier.

     The following examples may give you an idea, how this switch can be
     used:

     Examples:

              gui input off output on
          
              gui input yes output ON
          
              gui input NO output off

     Important:

     Starting with version 2.2 of DFA the behaviour of this /T switch
     changed a bit, so please adopt your Arexx scripts accordingly.

/A - Always.
     This modifier means that this option is required. It must appear in
     the command line.

The exact syntax for every AREXX command can be found below, see
Arexx commands, for details.

Important:

The AREXX interface of DFA gives you a powerful instrument to manage
the stored addresses. A wider range of functionality however implements
more ways of loosing your data! This could happen not only by a
malfunction of DFA but also by an inproper used function or parameter.
Therefore I encourage you to make regular copies of your databases to
keep the potential damage as small as possible.


---------- Footnotes ----------

(1)  AREXX User's Reference Manual, William S. Hawes, P.O. Box 308,
Maynard, MA 01754