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PowerBatch Version 1.4 COMPUTING SYSTEMS DESIGN, INC. P.O. Box 566484 Atlanta, Georgia 30356-6009 _______ ____|__ | (tm) --| | |------------------- | ____|__ | Association of | | |_| Shareware |__| o | Professionals -----| | |--------------------- |___|___| MEMBER CSD, Inc. is a member of The Association of Shareware Professionals and subscribes to all the policies and standards of this organization. Copyright (c) 1989,1990 by CSD, Inc. All Rights Reserved Worldwide This documentation was produced on September 19, 1990 Table Of Contents Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Registration Fees And What You Get . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Software Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Concept Of Operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Constructing A PowerBatch Source File . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 PowerBatch Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Command Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Compilation Errors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Removing PowerBatch From Your System . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 Examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 DEMO1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 MOVE1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 MOVE2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 MENU1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 BOXDEMO2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 Page 1 PowerBatch Page 1 Introduction PowerBatch is a Shareware product. Shareware is a distribution method, not a type of software. With Shareware you get the ultimate money-back guarantee...if you don't use the product, you don't pay for it. Shareware is not free software. Copyright laws apply to both Shareware and commercial software, and the copyright holder retains all rights, with a few specific exceptions as stated in this document. Shareware authors are accomplished programmers, just like commercial authors, and the programs are of comparable quality. (In both cases, you will find 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 EVALUATION VERSION of the software to anyone as long as no remuneration is received for the distribution of the software unless permission is granted in writing by the author. 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 the software with the author. With registration, you will receive the latest version of the software without the evaluation titles and messages. With shareware you are able to try the software on your computer with your own set of peripherals, the only way to know if it will function in your own environment. After deciding that PowerBatch is a software product that you will use, then and only then do you pay for it. The ultimate trust from the author! When you do pay for the software, you pay only for the software, not for advertisement for the software which can cost many times what the software actually costs. CSD, Inc. is 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 P.O. Box 5786, Bellevue, WA 98006 or send a Compuserve message via easyplex to ASP Ombudsman 70007,3536. While CSD has no immediate plans to move, businesses do move from time to time. Since shareware tends to remain on some bulletin boards without update for many years, if the shareware author does move, you may experience a problem in contacting the author. You may also contact ASP to learn of the current address of any ASP member if you experience this problem. Page 2 PowerBatch Page 2 Trademarks ---------- PowerBatch is a trademark of Computing Systems Design, Inc. MS-DOS is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation. IBM and PC-DOS are trademarks of IBM Corporation. ASP, Association of Shareware Professionals, and the ASP logo are registered trademarks of the Association of Shareware Professionals. Liscense Agreement ------------------ By installing PowerBatch on your system, you indicate your agreement to the following terms and conditions. If you do not agree to these conditions, you should not install and use the PowerBatch System. POWERMAK, SMLMODEL, and the accompanying supporting programs and documentation will be collectively referred to as PowerBatch. Users of PowerBatch must accept this disclaimer of warranty: "PowerBatch is supplied as is. The author disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, including, without limitation, the warranties of merchantability and of fitness for any purpose. The author assumes no liability for damages, direct or consequential, which may result from the use of PowerBatch." PowerBatch is a "shareware program" and is provided at no charge to the user for evaluation. Feel free to share the EVALUATION COPY 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 PowerBatch and continue to use PowerBatch after a 30 day trial period, you must make a registration payment to Computing Systems Design, Inc. (CSD, Inc.). 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. Commercial users (every user except personal users) of PowerBatch must register and pay for their copies of PowerBatch within 30 days of first use or their license is withdrawn. Site-License arrangements may be made by contacting Computing Systems Design, Inc. (CSD, Inc.). Page 3 PowerBatch Page 3 Anyone distributing PowerBatch for any kind of remuneration must first contact Computing Systems Design, Inc. (CSD, Inc.) at the address on the title page for authorization. This authorization will be automatically granted to distributors recognized by the (ASP) as adhering to its guidelines for shareware distributors, and such distributors may begin offering PowerBatch immediately (However Computing Systems Design, Inc. (CSD, Inc.) must still be advised so that the distributor can be kept up-to-date with the latest version of PowerBatch.). You are encouraged to pass an EVALUATION COPY of PowerBatch 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 PowerBatch. Distribution of registered copies of PowerBatch is a violation of copyright laws. To register your copy of PowerBatch, print the file REGISTER.FRM, complete this form, and send along with your registration fee to CSD, Inc. You will receive the latest version of the program along with the latest documentation. The fully registered version of the program removes all references to evaluation. Registered users will receive notice of all updates made to the program and these updates will be supplied to registered users for a nominal charge. Every effort will be made to supply updates to registered users at the lowest possible cost. If you need to submit an invoice to your accounts payable department, print the form INVOICE.FRM and fill in the appropriate blanks. Registration Fees And What You Get The evaluation version of PowerBatch contains 100% of the capabilities of the registered version. Those who register PowerBatch will receive the latest release of the software and documentation and will receive update offers in the mail at a minimal cost as they become available. CSD maintains copies of innovative batch files submitted by users and will include the best of these batch files along with the registered software. The registration fee for PowerBatch is US $30. Price is subject to change without notice but will be guaranteed through December 1990. If payment is by check, these funds must be drawn on a US bank. Unfortunately the processing of non-US checks can be as much as $20 and we cannot afford this type of transaction. We are continually looking for innovative ways to serve non-US customers. Page 4 PowerBatch Page 4 Software Support ---------------- Support for PowerBatch may be obtained by contacting CSD,Inc. on Compuserve using Compuserve Mail (EasyPlex). Address inquiries to Compuserve ID 72701,155. If you are not a Compuserve member, you may obtain support by writing to: Computing Systems Design, Inc. P.O. Box 566484 Atlanta, Georgia 30356-6009 If you feel you have a question that needs immediate attention and you are a registered user, CSD's office hours are 8AM until 5PM CST. We will be happy to discuss any problems or suggestions for PowerBatch but time does not permit us to help you debug your PowerBatch source problems. Page 5 PowerBatch Page 5 Concept Of Operation PowerBatch is a compiler for batch file "type" commands. At the present time there are 35 PowerBatch commands which will work only in a PowerBatch source file (they will not execute in a standard DOS batch file). Any valid executable command (.EXE & .COM) as well as any of the DOS intrinsic commands are valid within a PowerBatch source file and will be "compiled". These .EXE, .COM and DOS intrinsic commands will be executed via a shell and the PowerBatch .EXE program will continue execution with the next compiled statement following the shelled command. There are two main modules supplied with PowerBatch; 1)POWERMAK.EXE and 2)SMLMODEL.MDL. PowerMak reads, parses the source file, and compiles the source extracting routines from SmlModel. The result is a completely standalone .EXE file that executes without SmlModel or PowerMak. The increase in speed comes from the use of the PowerBatch commands as the DOS and executable modules will not be executed any faster. Most notable is the increase in speed dealing with screen writes. Many capabilities are provided in PowerBatch commands that simply are not available with standard DOS commands. Why Use PowerBatch There are four major reasons for using a compiled PowerBatch program: 1) The resulting program will almost certainly execute considerably faster. While it might be possible to construct a compiled PowerBatch program that does not execute faster, it would have to consist entirely of pre- existing executable modules. 2) PowerBatch commands provide a considerable increase in flexibility and power over conventional batch files. 3) PowerBatch programs cannot be changed without making machine code modifications. This means additional security for distributed batch files. 4) PowerBatch programs can be created quickly for the PowerBatch command set is a very high level language. PowerBatch commands fall into 5 classes of commands; 1) Commands which provide systems information. These commands provide the current color settings, the current date, the current time, check for the existance of a valid drive letter, and commands which check for the existance of a directory or a file. 2) Commands which control the flow of the batch program. Execute different portions of the batch program based on existance or non-existance of directories or files. Compare the contents of one variable with the contents of another variable or a constant and execute different portions of the batch program based on the results of the compare. Page 6 PowerBatch Page 6 3) Commands which control the way text is printed on the screen. Change any portion of the screen to any valid screen color, cause a message to blink on the screen, or highlight a message in reverse video. 4) Commands which provide string manipulation. Change a string to all upper case characters, or all lower case characters. Extract a portion of a string such as the first three characters or the last four characters. Build a new string from two existing strings by concatenation of the two strings. 5) Commands which deal with screen writing and input from the keyboard. These commands are the main power in the PowerBatch system. Directly address any position on the screen and move the cursor to that position to read or write text. Automatically center a message or title on any line. Draw boxes around portions of the screen to enhance screen appearance. Read a single key from the keyboard, read the response to a query that only accepts a yes or no response, read a string of characters from the keyboard with a specified maximum length, and read keys from the keyboard automatically changing the characters to upper case. Page 7 PowerBatch Page 7 Installation Installation is accomplished by executing the PBInstal program. It seemed only fitting that this install program be a compiled PowerBatch program. I believe this to be the epitome of self- installing software. The two main modules POWERMAK.EXE and SMLMODEL.MDL must be located in the DOS path to allow you to compile PowerBatch programs from any directory on your system. PowerBatch may be run on a system as small as a single floppy drive system with 128K. There will be some limit to the number of source statements that may be compiled on a system this small as memory is dynamically allocated as compilation progresses. A source file of several hundred statements can be compiled on a small machine. PowerBatch may be installed from either drive A, B, or a hard drive. If the PowerBatch source is on a floppy disk, you may execute the install procedure by: 1) If your current drive is the A: (or B:) drive then enter PBInstal <enter>. 2) If you current drive is other than A: (or B:) then enter A:PBInstal <enter> (or B:PBInstal <enter>). If you are installing PowerBatch from a fixed disk drive such as C:, then make the directory which contains the PowerBatch source the current default directory. For example if you have the PowerBatch source in a directory named C:\TEMP, then at a DOS prompt enter CD \TEMP <enter> PBInstal <enter> You will first be asked to enter the directory name which contains the PowerBatch source. Next you will be asked to enter a directory name on your DOS path where the PowerBatch compiler will be placed. POWERMAK.EXE and SMLMODEL.MDL will be placed in this directory. Before you begin the installation process, know the name of a directory which is on the DOS search path where you will place these two files. The install program will not allow you to place the compiler in a directory that is not on the search path. Now you will be asked to enter a directory name where you would like the documentation, informational, and example files to be placed. This directory does not have to be on your DOS path. If this directory does not exist, PowerBatch will create this directory for you if you desire. The documentation and information files will be placed in this directory. Page 8 PowerBatch Page 8 The first time that you run the PowerBatch compiler, it will customize itself for the computer on which you are running. This process takes about a minute and will not run again. Take this opportunity to learn about the shareware distribution process and how to register PowerBatch if after taking it for a test drive, you feel you would like to add it to your collection of utilities. We at CSD would like to share innovative batch file creations with our customer base. If you have created such a PowerBatch program and would like to share it with other PowerBatch users, send it to us and if we agree with you we will include it on our registration disk to our customers. You may mail us a disk containing the PowerBatch source or you may send it via CompuServe EasyPlex. Our address is: CSD, Inc. P.O. Box 566484 Atlanta, Georgia 30356-6009 Our CompuServe ID is 72701,155. Page 9 PowerBatch Page 9 Constructing A PowerBatch Source File Use your favorite text editor to create a printable ascii file containing PowerBatch source commands and DOS executable commands. A printable ascii file is one that may be typed to the screen (ie type myfile.pwr <enter>) and the results printed on the screen contain only the file contents. Most files created with a word processor are not printable ascii files unless you specify an ascii file output option. Compile your source statements to create a .EXE executable module. This is done using the POWERMAK compiler. The syntax is: POWERMAK MyFile [OutFile] [+M] PowerMake assumes the extension of the input file to be .PWR (ie MYFILE.PWR) and will create an output file of MYFILE.EXE if no OutFile parameter is specified. The input source file may be any DOS name of your choice(including the extension). You may also specify an output file name of your choice but the extension will always be .EXE. If you do not enter the input file name on the command line, the program will prompt you for the name. You must at this time enter the complete name including the extension. If you wish to generate a list of all literals, variables, and labels used in your PowerBatch program, add +M to the end of the command line. This variable map will be written to the POWERBAT.ERR file. If the compiler finds no compilation errors, the compiled version of your source file will be generated. For an explanation of compilation errors, see the section entitled "Compilation Errors". Compilation errors appear on your screen as they are encountered and they are written to a file named POWERBAT.ERR. The entire source code is scanned each time you compile a PowerBatch program (ie the compiler does not stop when an error is found, but attempts to identify all errors on each pass). This means that some errors will be the result of previous errors found in the source. Page 10 PowerBatch Page 10 PowerBatch Commands Commands, Variable Names, and Labels are not case sensitive. Everything on the command source line is converted to upper case except a literal which is enclosed within quotes. Either single quotes(') or double quotes(") may be used to denote a literal. Literals which are numeric such as color values, variable lengths, etc. should not be enclosed in quotes. The compiler does evaluate each literal (both alpha and numeric) in the same manner. The evaluation process is 1) remove leading and trailing quotes if any, 2) attempt to convert literal to numeric, 3) if numeric conversion is successful, consider it a number, 4) if numeric conversion is unsuccessful, consider it alpha numeric. This means that internally an operand of 3 and "3" will both be numeric. A semicolon which is not enclosed within quotes or a part of a command is used to denote a comment. Semicolons which are part of a command must not be preceded by a space. A comment begins with a semicolon which follows a space not within quotes. Comments may appear anywhere on the command line, but everything after a semicolon on a command line is ignored. A comment may begin in column 1 by placing the semicolon in column 1. The following are NOT comments: path=d:\;c:\util;c:\wp path "d:\;c:\util;c:\wp" WriteLine "Punctuation may be used within quotes;" These ARE comments: Variable ColorSave,3 ;save the original color SetVar Msg, ErrMsg ;set Msg to "Invalid input; re-enter" The starting location on the command line of the command and the operands is not important and tabs and spaces may be freely used for readability. Variable names and command labels may be any length in the source command but are significant only through the first eight positions. Variables, Literals, and Labels A variable is a location in memory that you allocate and give a name and a maximum length. Anytime you refer to the "name" of the variable, you are referencing the memory locations set aside for this variable. Variable names give you an easy way to manipulate data internally within the computer. The following are examples of variables: Variable CharIn,1 This variable gives the name "CharIn" to one memory Page 11 PowerBatch Page 11 position. It will be used to hold one character responses from the keyboard by the user. Variable PBDir,79 This variable appears in the PBInstal program and holds the name of the directory where the PowerBatch compiler will be placed. It is composed of the drive letter and directory entered by the user in response to two questions during the installation process. Variable CompName,35,"The ABC Company" This variable reserves 35 positions in memory and gives these locations the name CompName. The PowerBatch compiler also places the initial value "The ABC Company" in the first 15 positions of the variable. The value of this variable may be changed by later processing in the program. Variable MsgClear,20," " This variable contains 20 spaces and is named MsgClear. It will be used to "clear" or overwrite with spaces an error message in your program. Once you have displayed a message to the user, it should be cleared as you continue with the program. This is done by overwriting with spaces. Having a variable with the correct number of spaces makes this task easier. There are two predefined variables in each PowerBatch program; ERRORLEVEL and DOSERROR. The ErrorLevel variable and the DOSError variable are updated each time an external command is executed. If you execute a program which sets an error code on exit, this error code will be in ERRORLEVEL. The use of ERRORLEVEL in PowerBatch is equivalent to the use of ERRORLEVEL in a standard DOS batch file. If you execute an external command(program) and that command does not terminate normally, the variable DOSERROR will be set to the DOS error code assigned by the operating system. It is good practice to examine the DOSERROR variable after executing an external command. Literals are very much like variables which have a value but no name. Literals are used in PowerBatch commands when you wish to pass an actual value to the command instead of a variable. Note in the following examples that literals containing numbers only are not enclosed in quotes and literals containing any non- numeric characters are enclosed in quotes. If you specify a number as a literal either convention is acceptable (3 or "3"). If you specify alphabetic characters, the quotes are required. For readability, and ease of entry, numeric literals usually do not contains quotes. Examine the following examples of literals: Center "Installation Program",1 This command will center the literal "Installation Page 12 PowerBatch Page 12 Program" on line 1 of the screen. The text "Installation Program" must appear somewhere in the program and it appears as a literal. It will occupy memory positions and will have a value but you may not reference this value by name. By instructing the compiler to write this literal, the compiler automatically creates the memory locations and initial value but gives it no name. The 1 is also a literal in this command. WriteAt 12,3,Msg1 There are two literals in this command. The numbers 12 and 3 are both created as literals. In this command they specify the column and row location where the string Msg1 will be written. Again, the compiler creates the memory locations and values for these literals, but no names. If you were to write another command such as the Beep command which specifies that the system speaker will beep at a certain frequency for 3 times, the compiler will find the previously defined literal "3" and use this value instead of creating another literal. Beep ErrTone,8,3 This is the Beep command referenced in the previous example. The beep command will cause the speaker to sound at a frequency of ErrTone for .8 second and repeat 3 times. The "3" literal will use the same memory location reference as the WriteAt command used in the previous command (ie another literal will not be created). Labels are names of a particular place in your PowerBatch program that you will go to without executing the previous command. You go directly to this location in the program from another location in the program based on a decision you have made in the program. Examples will help explain: ReadYN "Do you wish to continue [Y/N] ",InChar Compare InChar,"Y",,,GetDrive Halt 999 ;end the program if user enters "N" Label GetDrive This group of commands writes the message on the screen and asks the user to input either Y or N (the command will only accept these two characters). A comparision is then made to a literal "Y" and the compare command will jump to the location in the program named GetDrive if a "Y" was entered or will execute the next command if "N" was entered. GoTo NextCmd . . . Page 13 PowerBatch Page 13 Label NextCmd In this most straightforward use of the label, the user simply uses the GoTo command and jumps unconditionally to another point in the program. External commands are entered just as PowerBatch commands are entered. If you enter an external command and this command uses command line parameters, these parameters may be passed as either variables or literals. Remember that if the parameter is not numeric, it must be enclosed in quotes or it will be treated as a variable. Examples: Variable InChar,1 ReadYN "Do you wish a directory ",InChar Compare InChar,"Y",NextSec,NextSec DIR "/W" Variable PgmName,12 Write "Enter the name of the program to compile " ReadStr PgmName TPC PgmName, "/ddebug" This third example of external commands show the use of the two predefined variables, ERRORLEVEL and DOSERROR. After the execution of "TestPgm", we examine DOSError to find if the program executed OK (Possibly there was not enough memory or the program could not be found on the DOS path). After determining that the program executed OK, we examine the exit code set by "TestPgm" to determine the flow of the remainder of our batch file. This exit code will be found in the variable ERRORLEVEL. Variable MsgLine,80 . . TestPgm "Parm1 Parm2" Compare DOSError,0,,,RanOK WriteLine "TestPgm did not execute properly...terminating" Halt DOSError Label RanOK Compare ErrorLevel,1,Chk2,,Option1 Concat MsgLine,"Unexpected return code of ",ErrorLevel Halt Label Option1 Note: PowerBatch programs may be executed by other PowerBatch programs as external commands. An option of the PowerBatch Halt command is to set the DOS errorlevel. You could then "pass parameters" from one PowerBatch program to another via the ERRORLEVEL variable. Page 14 PowerBatch Page 14 Command line parameters may be passed to a compiled PowerBatch program. These command line parameters must be defined at compile time and have special variable names. Up to 16 parameters may be passed to a PowerBatch program and their names are CLP%1 - CLP%16. If you wish to pass parameters on the command line to your PowerBatch program, define the variables in your source and when you run the compiled program, any parameters entered on the command line will be in the defined variable. Example: Source for SMARTCPY.PWR Variable CLP%1,79 ;source file Variable CLP%2,79 ;target file Variable InChar,1 ReadYN "Shall I copy the files for you [Y/N] ",InChar Compare InChar,"Y",NoCopy,NoCopy COPY CLP%1, CLP%2 SMARTCPY FILE1 FILE2 will execute the DOS copy command and copy FILE1 to FILE2 if the user responds Y to the question. Changes To Your Computer's Environment Area Your computer memory contains a special area of memory called the "Environment Area". This special area of memory contains the values assigned to variables that are available to the DOS operating system or to any application program running in your computer. These values remain unchanged until DOS or an application program changes them as long as the power is on to your computer. DOS maintains special values in this area which the operating system uses. Your current path and current prompt configuration are two of these values. These values are normally set with the DOS PROMPT or PATH command. If an application program like a compiled PowerBatch program executes a DOS command, it is done via a "shell" or another copy of your command processor (normally COMMAND.COM) which is started to handle the execution of these DOS commands. When a shell is started, DOS creates a copy of the environment area for this new shell and makes the environment values available to the shell. Unfortunately, when the shell is terminated (when the DOS command is complete) this copy of the environment is erased from memory. If you execute a PROMPT, PATH or SET [Variable] command, the copy of the environment created for the shell to run the PROMPT, PATH, or SET command is updated and immediately erased when the command is finished. PowerBatch provides you a means to update the permanent copy of the environment area with the commands SETPATH, SETENV, PROMPT. Command Notation In the description of the commands which follow, that which appears within brackets [ ] is optional and all other operands are required. Any time a screen color may be specified in a Page 15 PowerBatch Page 15 command such as CLEARLINE LineNumber,ForegroundColor,BackgroundColor the single attribute which is used in many color conventions may be substituted for the pair of color attributes. For example, foreground color 4 (red), background color 1 (blue), is identical to color attribute 20 and the CLEARLINE command may be specified EITHER as CLEARLINE 14,4,1 or CLEARLINE 14,20 to clear line 14 on the screen to red foreground on blue background. For this reason anytime that the operand pair of foreground color, background color is required, the single color attribute may be substituted for the pair. The compiler will not detect missing background color attributes but will assume that the foreground is the composite value. Command Syntax The number which is immediately under the command name is the line number in the DEMO1 file (printed in the examples section) which uses this command. ?COLOR VarName1, VarName2, VarName3 (25) Retrieve the current color attributes from the system and place the current foreground color in VarName1, the current background color in VarName2, and the composite attribute in VarName3. Ex: Variable ForeColor,3 Variable BackColor,3 Variable ColorAttr,3 ?Color ForeColor,BackColor,ColorAttr Retrieve the current foreground, background and composite color values and place in the variables ForeColor, BackColor, and ColorAttr repectively. ?CURRDIR VarName1, VarName2 Retrieve the current drive and directory from the system and place the current drive in VarName1 and the current directory in VarName2. The contents of VarName1 prior to execution of this command control which currently logged drive is searched for the currently logged directory. If ?CurrDir finds a valid drive letter in the first position of VarName1, then the contents of VarName2 will be the currently logged directory of that drive. If the first position of VarName1 does not contain a valid drive letter, then VarName2 will contain the currently logged Page 16 PowerBatch Page 16 directory of the current drive. In either case VarName1 will contain the drive and VarName2 will contain the directory. Ex: Variable CurrDrive,2 Variable CurrDir,79 Set CurrDrive,"A" ?CurrDir CurrDrive,CurrDir Set CurrDrive,"" ?CurrDir CurrDrive,CurrDir In the first usage of ?CurrDir, assuming that the currently logged directory on the A drive is the root directory, CurrDrive will contain "A" and CurrDir will contain "\" after the execution of ?CurrDir. In the second usage, assuming that the currently logged drive is D: and the currently logged directory on the D: drive is "\UTIL\EXEC", CurrDrive will contain "D" and CurrDir will contain "\UTIL\EXEC" after the execution of ?CurrDir. ?DATE VarName1, VarName2, VarName3, VarName4 (26) Retrieve the current date from the system and place the day of the week in VarName1, the month in VarName2, the day in VarName3, and the year in VarName4. VarName1 should be defined as 9 long, VarName2 and VarName3 as 2 long, and VarName4 as 4 long. Ex: Variable DOW,9 Variable Mo,2 Variable Da,2 Variable Yr,4 ?Date DOW,Mo,Da,Yr Retrieve the current date and place the component parts in their respective variables. Place the day of the week in DOW (ie Saturday), the month number in Mo (ie 06), the day of the month in Da (ie 29), and the year in Yr (ie 1990). Page 17 PowerBatch Page 17 ?DIREXIST VarName1, Label1 [,Label2] (159) Literal1,Label1 [,Label2] Check the system for the existance of the directory whose name appears in VarName1 or in Literal1. If the directory exists jump to the command immediately following Label1, if the directory does not exist, jump to the command immediately following Label2. Ex: ?DirExist InpStr,DirOk,BadDir ?DirExist "C:\",DirOK,BadDir ?DirExist InpStr,,BadDir (next command if exists) ?DirExist InpStr,DirOk (next command if not exist) In the first example if the contents of the variable InpStr exists then goto label DirOK, if it does not exist go to the label BadDir. In the second example we check for the existance of a literal with a value of "C:\". In the third example, if the contents of InpStr exist we "fall through" to the next instruction, if the directory does not exist we jump to the label BadDir. In the fourth example, if the directory name in InpStr exists, we jump to the label DirOK, if it does not exist we fall through to the next command. ?DISKSPACE VarName1, VarName2, VarName3 (184) Literal1, VarName1, VarName2 Query the disk Drive specified by the first character of Varname1 and place the total disk capacity in bytes in VarName2 and the unused bytes in VarName3. Since the command looks at only the first character of VarName1 (or Literal1), VarName1 may contains strings such as "C:\UTIL". Ex: Variable DirName,79 ReadStr DirName (user enters "c:\util") Upper DirName (changes to "C:\UTIL") ?DiskSpace DirName,TotSpace,FreSpace ?DiskSpace "A",TotSpace,FreSpace ?DRIVEEXIST VarName1, Label1 [,Label2] (145) Literal1, Label1 [,Label2] Check the system for VarName1 as a valid drive letter. If the drive is valid, jump to the command immediately following Label1, if the drive is not valid jump to the command immediately following Label2. Ex: ?DriveExist DrvNum,GoodDrv,BadDrv ?DriveExist "A",GoodDrv,BadDrv ?DriveExist DrvNum,,BadDrv ?DriveExist DrvNum,GoodDrv Page 18 PowerBatch Page 18 ?ENVSTR VarName1, VarName2 Literal1, VarName2 Retrieve the contents of any environment variable from the system environment area. The name of the environment variable is placed in VarName1 or entered as a literal and the contents of the environment variable will be placed in VarName2. Ensure that VarName2 has been defined sufficiently long enough to contain the contents of the environment variable. If VarName2 is not long enough, the environment variable will be truncated. Ex: Variable EnvValue,255 Variable EnvName,4,"path" ?EnvStr "prompt", EnvValue ?EnvStr EnvName, EnvValue ?FILEEXIST VarName1, Label1 [,Label2] (172) Literal, Label1 [,Label2] Check the system for the specified file name. If the file exists, jump to the command immediately following Label1, if the file does not exist, jump to the command immediately following Label2. Ex: ?FileExist FileName, Label1, Label2 ?FileExist "C:\AUTOEXEC.BAT",StartOK,NoStart ?FileExist FileName,,Label2 ?FileExist FileName,Label1 ?INPATH VarName1, Label1 [,Label2] Literal1, Label2 [,Label2] Compare the contents of VarName1 to the system search path. If VarName1 is contained within the path jump to the command immediately following Label1, if the file does not exist jump to the command immediately following Label2. Use this command to determine if a directory is specified in the DOS search path. Ex: DOS search path contains "C:\UTIL;C:\WORDPROC;D:\" Variable InString,79 Write "Enter your directory name " ReadStr InString (user enters "c:\wordproc") Upper InString (change to "C:\WORDPROC") ?InPath InString,PathOK,BadPath ?InPath "C:\UTIL",,BadPath (compare literal) ?TIME VarName1 (27) Retrieve the current time from the system and place in VarName1. The format of the time is hh:mm:ss xm. VarName1 should be defined as 11 long. Ex: Variable CurrTime,11 ?Time CurrTime (now contains 11:24:14 am) Page 19 PowerBatch Page 19 BEEP VarName1, VarName2, VarName3 (149) Literal1, Literal2, Literal3 Sound the system speaker with a tone of VarName1 frequency, for a length of VarName2 tenths of a second, and repeat VarName3 times. Ex: Beep 800,5,3 Beep ErrFreq,BeepLen,ErrTimes The first example sound the system speaker at a frequency of 800 hz for half a second (.5) and repeats twice for a total of 3 times. The second example will sound the system speaker at a frequency equal to the contents of the variable ErrFreq for BeepLen tenths of a second(s) for a total of ErrTimes. BLINK (82) Cause all text that is written to the screen to blink using the current color attributes last defined in the processing of the batch program. This command in "undone" by using NORMAL. Ex: Variable MsgClear,25." " Blink WriteAt 15,4,"Not a valid entry" Normal Wait 35 WriteAt 15,4,MsgClear Write the message "Not a valid entry" at column 15 on row 4 using the current color definition. Reset the text color to the value it contained before specifying blinking text. Wait 3.5 seconds and clear the message. BOX1 VarNm1, VarNm2, VarNm3, VarNm4, VarNm5 [,VarNm6] (36) Lit1, Lit2, Lit3, Lit4, Lit5 [,Lit6] Draw a box (frame) on the screen whose upper left co- ordinates (X,Y) are VarNm1, VarNm2, and whose lower right co_ordinates (X,Y) are VarNm3, VarNm4. Draw the box using a line in foreground color VarNm5 on background color VarNm6. Ex: Variable ULX,2,5 ;upper left col value Variable ULY,2,3 ;upper left row value Variable LRX,2,75 ;lower right col value Variable LRY,2,20 ;lower right row value Variable BoxFore,2,4 ;foreground color red Variable BoxBack,2,0 ;background color black Box1 ULX, ULY, LRX, LRY, BoxFore, BoxBack Box1 5,3,75,20,7,0 Box1 5,3,75,20,112 Page 20 PowerBatch Page 20 The first example draws a box whose upper left co- ordinates are the contents of the variables ULX and ULY and whose lower left co-ordinates are the contents of the variables LRX and LRY. The box border will be the contents of BoxFore (red) on a background of BoxBack (black). The interior of the box will be unchanged (ie it is not cleared nor is the color changed). The second example draws a box whose upper left co-ordinates are 5,3 and whose lower right co- ordinates are 75,20. The box border is drawn in white on black. The third example draws a box with the same co-ordinates and uses the composite color attribute of 112 (white on black). See ClearBox command. BREAKON Provides a capability to exit from a PowerBatch program by pressing the combination of keys (Ctrl - Break) or (Ctrl - C). The default value set at the beginning of any PowerBatch program is BreakON. To keep a user from exiting a running PowerBatch program, execute the BreakOFF command. If sections of the program are to be protected and other sections not, surround the sections with pairs of BreakON...BreakOFF commands. BREAKOFF Disables the ability to stop a PowerBatch program by pressing the (Ctrl - Break) or (Ctrl - C) key combinations. The default value set at the beginning of any PowerBatch program is BreakON. CENTER VarName1, VarName2 (42) Literal1, Literal2 Center the text in VarName1 on line VarName2. Ex: Variable InpStr,25,"PowerBatch" Center "PowerBatch",2 Center InpStr,2 Both versions of this example will center the name "PowerBatch" on line 2 of the screen. CLEAR VarName1 [,VarName2] (28) Literal1 [,Literal2] Clear the entire screen to foreground color VarName1 and background color VarName2. Ex: Variable ColorAttr,3,112 ;define white on black Clear 4,1 Clear 112 Clear ColorAttr The first example clears the screen to red on blue. The second and third examples clear the screen to white on Page 21 PowerBatch Page 21 black. CLEARBOX VarNm1, VarNm2, VarNm3, VarNm4, VarNm5 [,VarNm6] (37) Lit1, Lit2, Lit3, Lit4, Lit5 [,Lit6] Clear the interior of the box whose upper left co-ordinates (X,Y) are VarNm1, VarNm2 and whose lower right co- ordinates (X,Y) are VarNm3, VarNm4. Clear the interior of the box to foreground color VarNm5 and background color VarNm6. This command clears the "inside" of the box, not the lines which describe the box. Ex: Variable ULX,2,5 ;upper left col value Variable ULY,2,3 ;upper left row value Variable LRX,2,75 ;lower right col value Variable LRY,2,20 ;lower right row value Variable BoxFore,2,4 ;foreground color red Variable BoxBack,2,0 ;background color black Box1 ULX, ULY, LRX, LRY, BoxFore, BoxBack ClearBox 5,3,75,20,112 In this example we define the upper right and lower left co-ordinates of the box as well as the colors BoxFore and BoxBack. We draw the box with a red line on a black background. The ClearBox command clears the interior of the box to white on black. CLEARLINE VarName1, VarName2 [,VarName3] Literal1, literal2 [,Literal3] Clear the line number specified by VarName1 to a foreground color of VarName2 and a background color of VarName3. Ex: Variable Red,1,4 Variable Blue,1,1 Variable RedOnBlue,2,20 Variable CurrLine,2,12 ClearLine 12,Red,Blue ClearLine CurrLine,RedOnBlue Both examples of the ClearLine command clear line 12 on the screen to red foreground color and blue background color. COLOR VarName1 [,VarName2] (38) Literal1 [,Literal2] Set the default color to foreground color VarName1 and background color VarName2 or optionally set the default color attribute to VarName1. Ex: Variable RedOnBlue,2,20 Color 4,1 Color MenuClr Both examples set the default color to red on blue for any text written to the screen without specific color Page 22 PowerBatch Page 22 instructions. COMPARE VarName1, VarName2, Label1 [,Label2] [,Label3] (30) Literal1, Literal2, Label1 [,Label2] [,Label3] Compare the contents of VarName1 to the contents of VarName2. If VarName1 greater than VarName2 jump to the statement following Label1. If VarName1 less than VarName2 jump to the statement following Label2. If VarName1 equal VarName2 jump to the statement following Label3. If the contents of the first two operands (VarName1, VarName2, Literal1, or Literal2) are numeric then a numeric compare is performed otherwise an alphabetic compare is made. (If 19 is compared alphabetically to 2, then 2 is greater than 19; if it is compared numerically, 19 is greater than 2.) Ex: Variable InChar,1 Variable Yes,1,"Y" Variable No,1,"N" GoToXY 4,23 ReadYN "Incorrect entry...Continue [Y/N] " Compare InChar,"Y",NoIn,NoIn,YesIn Compare InChar,Yes,,,YesIn (Not Y falls thru) Compare InChar,"Y",NoIn,NoIn (Y falls thru) In the first example of the Compare command, variable InChar is compared to literal "Y". If InChar is greater than "Y" then the program will jump to the label NoIn; if InChar is less than "Y", the program also jumps to the label NoIn; if InChar is equal to "Y", the program will continue processing at the label named YesIn. In the second compare command, the variable InChar is compared to the variable Yes which has an assigned value of "Y". If the variable InChar contains anything but "Y", the program continues with the next instruction after the compare command (it is said to fall through); if InChar contains "Y", the program will jump to the label YesIn. In the third compare command, variable InChar is compared to the literal "Y". If the variable InChar contains "N" (ReadYN prevents any entry but Y or N) the program jumps to the label NoIn otherwise it continues with the instruction after the compare command. Page 23 PowerBatch Page 23 CONCAT VarName1, VarName2 [,VarName3] (116) VarName1, Literal1 [,Literal2] Concatenate the string in VarName2 with the string in VarName3 and place the result in VarName1. If VarName3 is not present then concatenate the string in VarName1 with the string in VarName2 and place the result in VarName1. Ex: Variable OutMsg,78 Variable ErrMsg," is not a valid Drive letter." Variable DriveLtr,1 WriteAt 6,17,"Enter your source drive letter " ReadUpKey DriveLtr ?DriveExist DriveLtr,DriveOK Concat OutMsg, "[19] ", DriveLtr Concat OutMsg, " is not a valid Drive letter." WriteAt 5,23,OutMsg In this example we ask the user to input a valid drive letter and verify this drive with the ?DriveExist command. If the drive is not valid we concatenate "[19]" (the error number) plus the drive letter entered by the user into the variable OutMsg. We then concatenate the error message (" is not a valid Drive letter.") onto the contents of OutMsg. The result would be something like "[19] L is not a valid Drive letter." GOTO Label1 (152) Jump to the statement identified as command label Label1. Ex: GoTo Error GoTo EndOfPgm GOTOXY VarName1, VarName2 (57) Literal1, Literal2 Move the cursor to the column (X) specified in VarName1 and row (Y) specified in VarName2. Ex: Variable CurrX,2 Variable CurrY,2 GoToXY CurrX, CurrY GoToXY 12,6 In the first example the cursor is moved to the location specified by the contents of variable CurrX and CurrY. In the second example, the cursor is moved to the location specified by two literals "12" and "6". Page 24 PowerBatch Page 24 HALT VarName1 Literal1 Halt the batch file processing and set DOS errorlevel to VarName1. Ex: Variable Error14,2,14 ;define Error14 as "14" Halt 99 Halt Error14 In the first usage of the Halt command, the PowerBatch program is halted and the DOS errorlevel is set to 99. In the second usage the program is halted and the DOS errorlevel is set to the contents of variable Error14 ("14"). LABEL LabelName (34) Define a location in the list of commands that will enable execution to begin immediately following this command without necessarily having executed the command immediately prior to the Label. Jump immediately to this location in the command stream. See the discussion on labels at the beginning of this section. Ex: Label MatchErr Label EndOfPgm LENGTH VarName1, VarName2 (129) VarName1, Literal1 Calculate the length of the string in variable VarName2 and place the result in VarName1. Ex: Variable InString Variable StrLen WriteAt 12,14,"Enter your current directory " ReadStr InString (user enters c:\util) Length StrLen, InString (StrLen will contain 7) LOWER VarName1 (104) Change the alphabetic characters in VarName1 to lower case. Ex: Variable InString,25 ReadStr InString (user enters C:\UTIL) Lower InString (now contains c:\util) MIDSTRING VarName1, VarName2, VarName3, VarName4 (114) VarName1, Literal1, Literal2, Literal3 Extract a substring of VarName2 beginning at offset VarName3 into VarName2 for a length of VarName4 and place this substring in VarName1. Ex: Variable Path,79 WriteAt 1,2,"Enter Drive and Directory name " ReadStr Path (user enters C:\UTIL) MidString Drive,Path,1,2 (extract C: from C:\UTIL) Page 25 PowerBatch Page 25 NORMAL (84) Change the current color attribute(s) back to the definition prior to the execution of a BLINK or REVERSE command. Ex: Color 20 ;set default color to red on blue Blink ;changes to blinking red on blue (148) WriteAt 2,24,"Incorrect...re-enter!" Normal ;resets color to 20 Beep 800,8 Wait 35 ;pause 3.5 seconds WriteAt 2,24," " ;clear error msg This is an example of a typical error routine. The color attribute is changed to blinking with the Blink command. The error message is written and the color attribute is changed back to its original value with the Normal command. The speaker is "beeped" and after a wait of 3.5 seconds, the error message is removed from the screen. PROMPT VarName1 Literal1 Change the current value of the prompt to the value specified in VarName1 or in Literal1. Ex: Prompt "$p$g" READKEY VarName1 (59) Read a single key from the keyboard and place the result in VarName1. Ex: Variable CharIn,1 GoToXY 1,14 Write "Enter the drive letter for output ",4,1 ReadKey CharIn READSTR VarName1 (109) Read a string of characters from the keyboard until the user presses the enter key. Any number of characters may be read up to the maximum length specified for VarName1 in the Variable statement. Ex: Variable InString,12 ReadStr InString (12 chars max will be read) Page 26 PowerBatch Page 26 READUPKEY VarName1 (144) Read a single character from the keyboard, changing the case of any alphabetic character to upper case and place this upper case character in VarName1. Ex: ReadUpKey CharIn READYN VarName1, VarName2 (29) Literal1, VarName2 Write the message found in VarName1 at the current cursor location and wait for a single key to be entered from the keyboard. Force the user to enter either a "Y" or "N" and place the upper case "Y" or "N" in VarName2. Ex: Variable Msg4,35,"Invalid filename...Continue [Y/N] " ReadYN "Invalid filename...Continue [Y/N] ",CharIn ReadYN Msg4,CharIn In both usages of the ReadYN command, the message "Invalid filename...Continue [Y/N] " will be displayed and the program will wait for a response from the user. If the user enters any characters other than "Y", "y", "N", or "n" the system speaker will sound and the user is prompted again for input. At the completion of this command, the variable CharIn will contain either "Y" or "N" (always upper case). REVERSE Change the text attributes to "reverse video". This is accomplished by swapping the foreground and background attributes. This command is "undone" by using NORMAL. Ex: Color 20 ;red on black Reverse ;color is changed to black on red WriteAt 1,15,"Press Escape To Continue" Normal ;color is now red on black SETENV VarName1, VarName2 Literal1, Literal2 Set the value of the environment variable specified in VarName1 or Literal1 to the value specified in VarName2 or Literal2. Ex: Variable VarName,7,"MONITOR" Variable VarValue,5,"color" SetEnv VarName, VarValue SetEnv "Monitor","color" Page 27 PowerBatch Page 27 SETPATH VarName1 Literal1 Set the current path to the value specified in VarName1 or the value specified in Literal1. Ex: Variable NewPath,40,"d:\;c:\util\exec;c:\dos" SetPath NewPath SetPath "d:\;c:\;" SETVAR VarName1, VarName2 (31) VarName1, Literal1 Set the value of VarName1 to the contents of VarName2. Ex: Variable ErrCode,3 Variable FileName,79 SetVar ErrCode,99 SetVar FileName,"C:\CONFIG.SYS" In the first usage of the SetVar command, the variable ErrCode is set to "99" and the second usage sets the variable FileName to "C:\CONFIG.SYS" UPPER VarName1 (101) Change the alphabetic characters in VarName1 to upper case. Ex: Variable InString,25 WriteAt 14,25,"Enter your directory name " ReadStr InString (user enters c:\util) Upper InString (changed to C:\UTIL) ?InPath InString,GoodDir (path is always upper case) In this example, the user is prompted for a path name to be entered. The path name is to be compared to the system path for validity. Since the contents of the system path are always in upper case, we change the InString variable to upper case prior to comparision. VARIABLE VariableName, MaxLength [,InitialValue] (1) Define a variable to PowerBatch. All variables used in a PowerBatch program must have been defined with a VARIABLE command. VariableName is the name which you give to this variable and the means by which you refer to the variable in other PowerBatch statements. This variable may contain any number of characters up to MaxLength and is set to the initial value of InitialValue. See the discussion on variables at the beginning of this section. Command line parameters passed to a compiled PowerBatch program must be defined as variables. Up to 16 command line variables may be passed to a compiled PowerBatch program and they are defined as CLP%1..CLP%16. See the example MOVE1 or MOVE2. Page 28 PowerBatch Page 28 Ex: Variable DayOfWeek,9 Variable ErrMsg1,25,"Invalid directory name." Variable InString,80,"" Variable PauseTime,2,50 Variable CLP%1,12 (command line parameter %1) WAIT VarName1 (119) Literal1 Cause the execution of a PowerBatch program to pause for VarName1 tenths of a second(s). Ex: Wait 5 (pause half a second) Wait PauseTime (pause 5 seconds) WRITE VarName1, VarName2 [,VarName3] (58) Literal1, Literal2 [,Literal3] Write the string contained in VarName1 at the current cursor location using color attributes foreground VarName2 and background VarName3. In the absence of VarName2 and VarName3 use the current color attributes. The string is not followed by a carriage return, line feed pair (ie the cursor is not moved to the first position of the next line). Ex: Write "Enter your password ",0,7 Variable ErrMsg1,25,"Invalid directory name." Variable ErrClr,3,112 Write ErrMsg1,ErrClr WRITEAT VarName1, VarName2, VarName3 [,VarName4] [,VarName5] (46) Literal1, Literal2, Literal3 [,Literal4] [,Literal5] Write the string contained in VarName3 at column (X) contained in VarName1 and row (Y) contained in VarName2 using the foreground color attribute contained in VarName4 and the background color attribute contained in VarName5. In the absence of VarName4 and VarName5, use the current color attributes. The string is not followed by a carriage return, line feed pair (ie the cursor is not moved to the first position of the next line). Ex: Variable TitleClr,3,112 Variable CurrX,2 Variable CurrY,2 Variable CompName,25,"The ABC Company" WriteAt 15,3,"The ABC Company",TitleClr WriteAt CurrX,CurrY,CompName In the first usage of the WriteAt command the literal "The ABC Company" is written at column 15, row 3. In the second usage, the contents of the variable CompName ("The ABC Company") is written at the column location specified by the contents of variable CurrX Page 29 PowerBatch Page 29 and at the row location specified by the contents of variable CurrY. WRITELINE VarName1 [,VarName2] (195) Write the string contained in VarName1 beginning in location 1 of the line number specified in VarName2. Follow the string with a carriage return line feed pair (ie move the cursor to the first position of the next line). In the absence of VarName2 write the string at the current cursor location. Ex: WriteLine "Please read these instructions ",7 WriteLine Msg5 In the first usage of WriteLine the message "Please read these instructions " is written beginning in column 1 of row 7. In the second usage the contents of the variable Msg5 is written beginning at the current cursor location. In both cases a carriage return, line feed (position cursor at the first position of the next line) is written. Page 30 PowerBatch Page 30 Command Summary ?COLOR Var1, Var2, Var3 ?CURRDIR Var1, Var2 ?DATE Var1, Var2, Var3, Var4 ?DIREXIST Var1, Lab1 [,Lab2] or Lit1, Lab1 [,Lab2] ?DISKSPACE Var1, Var2, Var3 ?DRIVEEXIST Var1, Lab1 [,Lab2] or Lit1, Lab1 [,Lab2] ?ENVSTR Var1, Var2 or Lit1, Var2 ?FILEEXIST Var1, Lab1 [,Lab2] or Lit1, Lab1 [,Lab2] ?INPATH Var1, Lab1 [,Lab2] or Lit1, Lab1 [,Lab2] ?TIME Var1 BEEP Var1, Var2, Var3 or Lit1, Lit2, Lit3 BLINK BOX1 Var1, Var2, Var3, Var4, Var5 [,V6] or Lit1, Lit2, Lit3, Lit4, Lit5, [,Lit6] BREAKON BREAKOFF CENTER Var1, Var2 or Lit1, Lit2 CLEAR Var1 [,Var2] or Lit1 [,Lit2] CLEARBOX Var1, Var2, Var3, Var4, Var5 [,V6] or Lit1, Lit2, Lit3, Lit4, Lit5 [,Lit6] CLEARLINE Var1, Var2 [,Var3] or Lit1, Lit2, Lit3 COLOR Var1 [,Var2] or Lit1 [,Lit2] COMPARE Var1, Var2, Lab1 [,Lab2] [,Lab3] or Lit1, Lit2, Lab1 [,Lab2] [,Lab3] CONCAT Var1, Var2 [,Var3] or Var1, Lit2 [,Lit3] GOTO Lab1 LENGTH Var1, Var2 or Var1, Lit1 LOWER Var1 MIDSTRING Var1, Var2, Var3, Var4 or Var1, Var2, Lit1, Lit2 NORMAL PROMPT Var1 or Lit1 READKEY Var1 READSTR Var1 READUPKEY Var1 READYN Var1, Var2 or Lit1, Var1 REVERSE SETENV Var1, Var2 or Lit1, Lit2 SETPATH Var1 or Lit1 SETVAR Var1, Var2 or Var1, Lit1 UPPER Var1 VARIABLE VariableName, MaxLength [,InitialValue] WAIT Var1 or Lit1 WRITE Var1, Var2 [,Var3] or Lit1, Lit2 [,Lit2] WRITEAT Var1, Var2, Var3 [,Var4] [,Var5] or Lit1, Lit2, Lit3, [,Lit4] [,Lit5] WRITELINE Var1 [,Var2] or Lit1 [,Lit2] Page 31 PowerBatch Page 31 ERRORLEVEL Predefined variable containing the value of the exit code set by the previous program or command. DOSERROR Predefined variable containing the last set value of the operating system error code. Page 32 PowerBatch Page 32 Compilation Errors Compilation errors are printed on the screen and also written in a file named POWERBAT.ERR (If you have a split screen editor, view the source in one screen part and the errors in the other part). If the source line is available, the source line is printed above the error preceded by the line number count. Source lines are not available during the second pass of the compiler which may generate "Label not defined" and "Variable not defined" errors. "Not a valid command" - This error is generated when the first word on the command line is not a PowerBatch command and contains more than 8 characters. Example: 13 Directory name checked here. [DIRECTORY] Not a valid command Probably should be ;Directory name checked here "Missing variable" - A command contains less than the required number of operands. Example: 21 ?Color ForeColor,BackColor [] Missing variable Variable for the composite color byte is missing. "Expected a variable Name" - A string was found in an operand that may contain only a variable name. Example: 10 ?Time "Current Time" [Current Time] Expected a variable name The current time may only be placed in a variable. "Quoted literal not terminated" - A single quote was encountered within a source line. Example: 9 Center "Move Command,5 [] Quoted literal not terminated Closing quote should precede comma. Page 33 PowerBatch Page 33 "Invalid max length specified" - The second operand of a variable definition should specify the maximum length of the variable. The value found was not numeric. Example: 3 Variable CompName,"The ABC Company" [The ABC Company] Invalid max length specified "Variable not defined" - A reference to a variable was made in the source file but the variable was not defined with the Variable command. Example: [CURRDATE] Variable not defined "Duplicate variable" - The same variable name has appeared 2 or more times in a Variable definition statement. Example: 7 Variable CompName,25 [COMPNAME] Duplicate variable "Duplicate label" - The same label name has appeared 2 or more times in a Label definition statement. Example: 16 Label Step2 [STEP2] Duplicate label "External command >" - This is not an error message, but is a check to alert you to each command found in a PowerBatch source file that will be treated as an external command. External commands are DOS intrinsic commands, .COM, and .EXE commands or programs (even PowerBatch compiled programs) and .BAT (standard DOS batch files) that are to be executed by PowerBatch. Example: External command > 12 DIR (DOS directory command) External command > 29 MYPROG (Executable module MYPROG) Page 34 PowerBatch Page 34 Removing PowerBatch From Your System While we believe that PowerBatch is a batch compiler that everyone should own, we recognize that there are some who feel it is not a program they will use on a regular basis. For those of you in that minority, we have provided a program to easily remove all PowerBatch modules from your system. To remove all modules from your system that were supplied on the PowerBatch install disk, enter DELETEPB <enter> You will be asked if you wish to remove all PowerBatch modules from the currently logged disk. If this is the correct disk, enter Y. If it is not the correct disk, enter N and the program will terminate. (You should move to the disk containing the PowerBatch modules.) You will next be asked if you wish to confirm each deletion. If you reply (Y)es, each time a PowerBatch module is found, you will be asked if you wish to delete this module. If you reply (N)o, the modules will be deleted as they are found without your intervention. Page 35 PowerBatch Page 35 Examples The source for these examples is contained on your installation disk. These examples may be compiled using the POWERMAK command. Example: POWERMAK DEMO1 <enter> DEMO1 This listing for DEMO1 contains line numbers preceding the PowerBatch command. These line numbers are for reference purposes within the documentation and are not contained in the source. Line numbers are in fact not allowed in any PowerBat source file. 1 Variable Fore,1 ;save area for initial colors 2 Variable Back,1 3 Variable ColorAttr,1 4 Variable CharIn,1 ;for user responses 5 Variable RedOnGray,3,116 6 Variable RedOnBlack,3,4 7 Variable YelOnBlue,3,30 8 Variable YelOnGray,3,126 9 Variable BlueOnGray,3,113 10 Variable DOW,9 ;for date command 11 Variable Mo,2 12 Variable Da,2 13 Variable Yr,4 14 Variable CurrTime,11 ;for current time 15 Variable DirName,78 ;for user entered dir name 16 Variable FileName,78 ;for user entered file name 17 Variable Space35,35," " 18 Variable Space76,76," " 19 Variable TotSpace,10 20 Variable AvailSpace,10 21 Variable Msg,78 22 Variable Msg2,78 23 Variable FName,35 24 Variable LName,35 25 ?Color Fore,Back,ColorAttr ;initial color 26 ?Date DOW,Mo,Da,Yr ;get system date 27 ?Time CurrTime ;get system time 28 Clear 29 ReadYN "Do you have a color monitor? [Y/N] ",CharIn 30 Compare CharIn,"Y",,,ColorMon 31 SetVar RedOnGray,112 32 SetVar YelOnBlue,7 33 SetVar BlueOnGray,7 34 Label ColorMon Page 36 PowerBatch Page 36 35 Clear BlueOnGray ;clear to my color 36 Box1 2,10,79,25,YelOnGray ;info box border 37 ClearBox 2,10,79,25,YelOnBlue ; interior 38 Color RedOnGray 39 Box1 24,1,56,5,RedOnGray ;title box 40 ClearBox 24,1,56,5,RedOnBlack 41 Color RedOnBlack 42 Center "POWERBATCH",2 43 Center "By",3 44 Center "Computing Systems Design, Inc.",4 45 Color YelOnBlue 46 WriteAt 3,11,"PowerBatch is a power batch utility that produces COMPILED batch files." 47 WriteAt 3,12,"With PowerBatch you can perform all standard DOS batch functions, plus" 48 WriteAt 3,13,"use the 35 additional PowerBatch commands to create batch files with POWER." 49 WriteAt 3,15,"PowerBatch compiles your batch commands and produces a standalone .EXE" 50 WriteAt 3,16,"module that executes at the top speed of your computer. This information" 51 WriteAt 3,17,"and demonstration program you are now running is a compiled PowerBatch" 52 WriteAt 3,18,"program (the included source is DEMO1.PWR). PowerBatch is especially" 53 WriteAt 3,19,"powerful for screen related functions. Draw boxes, write to the screen with" 54 WriteAt 3,20,"blazing speed, control text colors with ease, get input from the user, make" 55 WriteAt 3,21,"data comparisions and logic branches, and access system information with" 56 WriteAt 3,22,"single commands. Follow this tour of the power in PowerBatch." 57 GoToXY 26,24 58 Write "Press any key to continue...",RedOnGray 59 ReadKey CharIn 60 ClearBox 2,10,79,25,YelOnBlue 61 WriteAt 3,11,"PowerBatch gives you access to the system date and time and makes these" 62 WriteAt 3,12,"available as variables for your use in screen writes." 63 WriteAt 3,14,"The system date is returned in four variables of your choice. In these" 64 GoToXY 3,15 65 Write "variables are placed Day of the week (" 66 Write DOW 67 Write ") Month number (" 68 Write Mo 69 Write ")," 70 GoToXY 3,16 71 Write "Day number (" 72 Write Da Page 37 PowerBatch Page 37 73 Write "), and Year number (" 74 Write Yr 75 Write ")." 76 WriteAt 3,18,"In a like manner the current time may be retrieved into a variable of your" 77 WriteAt 3,19,"choice, and used any way you wish." 78 WriteAt 3,21,"Current time is " 79 WriteAt 19,21,CurrTime 80 GoToXY 26,24 81 Color YelOnBlue 82 Blink 83 Write "Press any key to continue..." 84 Normal 85 ReadKey CharIn 86 ClearBox 2,10,79,25,YelOnBlue 87 WriteAt 3,11,"PowerBatch also provides you with several input commands to retrieve both" 88 WriteAt 3,12,"data and question responses from the user. Commands are provided to retrieve" 89 WriteAt 3,13,"one key (and one key only), read one key in upper case, read either Y or N" 90 WriteAt 3,14,"for Yes/No responses, and to read a string of a specified length." 91 GoToXY 3,15 92 Write "Enter one character in lower case [ ]" 93 GoToXY 38,15 94 ReadKey CharIn 95 GoToXY 41,15 96 Write "You can manipulate the case " 97 GoToXY 3,16 98 Write "of the data entered changing from lower [" 99 Write CharIn 100 Write "] to upper [" 101 Upper CharIn 102 Write CharIn 103 Write "] to lower [" 104 Lower CharIn 105 Write CharIn 106 Write "]." 107 WriteAt 3,18,"PowerBatch also contains strong string manipulation commands." 108 WriteAt 3,19,"Enter your last name " 109 ReadStr LName 110 WriteAt 14,19,Space35 111 WriteAt 14,19,"first name " 112 ReadStr FName 113 WriteAt 3,19,Space35 114 Midstring Msg,FName,1,3 115 Midstring Msg2,LName,1,3 116 Concat Msg," " 117 Concat Msg,Msg2 Page 38 PowerBatch Page 38 118 WriteAt 3,20,Msg 119 Wait 10 120 Midstring Msg,FName,1,6 121 Midstring Msg2,LName,1,6 122 Concat Msg," " 123 Concat Msg,Msg2 124 WriteAt 3,20,Msg 125 Wait 10 126 Concat Msg,FName," " 127 Concat Msg,LName 128 WriteAt 3,20,Msg 129 Length Msg2,Msg 130 Concat Msg,"The length of this name field is ",Msg2 131 WriteAt 3,21,Msg 132 GoToXY 26,24 133 Write "Press any key to continue...",RedOnGray 134 ReadKey CharIn 135 ClearBox 2,10,79,25,YelOnBlue 136 WriteAt 3,11,"PowerBatch gives you the capability to verify drives, directories, or file" 137 WriteAt 3,12,"names entered by the user. You may execute selected portions of the batch" 138 WriteAt 3,13,"file based on the existance or non-existance of these entries." 139 Label ChekDrive 140 GoToXY 3,15 141 Write "Enter a drive letter to be verified" 142 Write Space35 143 GoToXY 39,15 144 ReadUpKey CharIn 145 ?DriveExist CharIn,GoodDrive 146 Blink 147 WriteAt 3,24,"That is not a valid drive in your system. Please re-enter." 148 Normal 149 Beep 750,8 150 Wait 30 151 WriteAt 3,24,Space76 152 GoTo ChekDrive 153 Label GoodDrive 154 GoToXY 3,16 155 Write "Enter a directory name to be verified" 156 Write Space35 157 GoToXY 41,16 158 ReadStr DirName 159 ?DirExist DirName,GoodDir 160 Blink 161 WriteAt 3,24,"That is not a valid directory in your system. Please re-enter." 162 Normal 163 Wait 30 Page 39 PowerBatch Page 39 164 WriteAt 3,24,Space76 165 GoTo GoodDrive 166 Label GoodDir 167 GoToXY 3,17 168 Write "Enter a file name to be verified" 169 Write Space35 170 GoToXY 36,17 171 ReadStr FileName 172 ?FileExist FileName,GoodFile 173 Blink 174 WriteAt 3,24,"That is not a valid filename in your system. Please re-enter." 175 Normal 176 Wait 30 177 WriteAt 3,24,Space76 178 GoTo GoodDir 179 Label GoodFile 180 WriteAt 3,18,"PowerBatch can query your disk for total space and available space" 181 WriteAt 3,19,"Drive [ ] capacities are (enter drive letter)" 182 GoToXy 10,19 183 ReadUpKey CharIn 184 ?DiskSpace CharIn,TotSpace,AvailSpace 185 Concat Msg,CharIn," has " 186 Concat Msg,AvailSpace 187 Concat Msg," bytes available of the total " 188 Concat Msg,TotSpace 189 Concat Msg," bytes" 190 WriteAt 9,19,Msg 191 GoToXY 26,24 192 Write "Press any key to continue...",RedOnGray 193 ReadKey CharIn 194 Clear 195 WriteLine "PowerBatch can run any valid DOS command that may be inserted in a batch file." 196 WriteLine "For example, here is a listing of your current directory..." 197 Wait 30 198 Clear ColorAttr ;clear to default color 199 Dir "/w" 200 Wait 30 201 Color YelOnBlue 202 Clear 203 WriteLine "PowerBatch can also run (and return) other PowerBatch programs, giving you a " 204 WriteLine "subroutine capability. It has the capability to re-boot the system (which I" 205 WriteLine "will NOT demonstrate here." 206 GoToXY 1,5 207 WriteLine "The purpose of this demonstration is to not only show you the capabilities" Page 40 PowerBatch Page 40 208 WriteLine "of PowerBatch, but to let you compare the source with the running version" 209 WriteLine "of this program and aid you in the development of your own PowerBatch" 210 WriteLine "programs." 211 GoToXY 1,10 212 Write "Press any key to continue..." 213 ReadKey CharIn 214 Color ColorAttr ;reset original colors 215 Clear 216 Box1 24,1,56,5,ColorAttr 217 Center "POWERBATCH",2 218 Center "By",3 219 Center "Computing Systems Design, Inc.",4 220 GoToXy 1,24 Page 41 PowerBatch Page 41 MOVE1 Variable CLP%1,79,"a" ;command line parm %1 Variable CLP%2,79,"a" ;%2 Variable InChar,1 ;for keyboard responses Compare CLP%1,"a",,,Syntax ;show syntax Compare CLP%2,"a",,,Syntax Clear ;clear the screen Upper CLP%1 ;make CLP%1 upper case Upper CLP%2 ;make CLP%2 upper case Write "Move " ;build initial msg Write CLP%1 Write " to " WriteLine CLP%2 ?FileExist CLP%1,File1OK ;does source file exist Write CLP%1 ;write error msg WriteLine " not found." GoTo BadCopy Label File1OK ?FileExist CLP%2,,File2OK ;does destination file exist Write CLP%2 ;write error msg WriteLine " exists!" ReadYN "Overwrite? [Y/N] ",InChar WriteLine "" Compare InChar,"N",,,BadCopy Label File2OK Compare CLP%1,CLP%2,,,DupFiles ;cannot copy to itself Copy CLP%1 CLP%2 ;DOS copy command ?FileExist CLP%2,,BadCopy ;did output file make it OK Write "Erasing " ;tell user erasing source WriteLine CLP%1 Erase CLP%1 ;DOS erase command WriteLine "Move successful" ;msg to user Halt Label DupFiles WriteLine "Cannot move a file to itself" Label BadCopy ;unsuccessful comes to here WriteLine "Move unsuccessful" Halt Label Syntax WriteLine "Syntax is Move1 SourceFileName TargetFileName" Page 42 PowerBatch Page 42 MOVE2 Variable CLP%1,79,"a" ;command line parm %1 Variable CLP%2,79,"a" ;%2 Variable InChar,1 ;for keyboard responses Compare CLP%1,"a",,,Syntax ;show syntax Compare CLP%2,"a",,,Syntax Clear ;clear the screen Upper CLP%1 ;make CLP%1 upper case Upper CLP%2 ;make CLP%2 upper case Write "Move " ;build initial msg Write CLP%1 Write " to " WriteLine CLP%2 Label ChkFile1 ?FileExist CLP%1,File1OK ;does source file exist Blink ;if not make screen text blink Write CLP%1 ;write error msg WriteLine " not found." Normal ;set text to normal Write "Enter source file name : " ;prompt user for name ReadStr CLP%1 GoTo ChkFile1 Label File1OK ;check new name for exists ?FileExist CLP%2,,File2OK ;does destination file exist Blink ;if not then text to blink Write CLP%2 ;write error message WriteLine " exists!" Normal ;set text to normal ReadYN "Overwrite? [Y/N] ",InChar ;query user WriteLine "" Compare InChar,"N",,,BadCopy ;if user entered "Y" exit Label File2OK ;come here if all OK Compare CLP%1,CLP%2,,,DupFiles ;cannot copy to itself Copy CLP%1 CLP%2 ;DOS copy command ?FileExist CLP%2,,BadCopy ;is output file OK Reverse ;make text reverse video Write "Erasing " ;write erase message WriteLine CLP%1 Normal ;set text back to normal Erase CLP%1 ;DOS erase command WriteLine "Move successful" ;tell user all is OK Halt Label DupFiles WriteLine "Cannot move a file to itself" Label BadCopy WriteLine "Move unsuccessful" Label Syntax WriteLine "Syntax is Move1 SourceFileName TargetFileName" Page 43 PowerBatch Page 43 MENU1 Variable FColor,1 ;store the current screen colors Variable BColor,1 Variable ColorAttr,1 Variable MenuSel,1 ?Color FColor,BColor,ColorAttr Label ShowMenu Clear 112 ;clear screen to a new color Center "Demonstration Menu",2 ;center on line 2 WriteAt 10,4,"A. Run a directory and return" WriteAt 10,6,"B. Run BoxDemo and return (DOS batch + PowerBatch + return)" WriteAt 10,8,"C. Reboot your system" WriteAt 10,10,"E. Exit this menu and return to DOS" Label GetInp WriteAt 15,13,"Enter your choice :" GoToXY 34,13 ReadUpKey MenuSel ;get users selection Compare MenuSel,"A",ChekB,Error ;compare selection to A Clear 7,0 ;clear screen to fore 7, back 0 dir "/w" ;run DOS dir cmd with /w parm Wait 30 ;wait 3 secs for show GoTo ShowMenu ;redisplay menu Label ChekB Compare MenuSel,"B",ChekC,Error ;compare selection to B Clear 15 ;clear screen to attribute 15 DOSEX1 ;run a DOS batch file & PowerBatch program Wait 30 ;wait 3 secs GoTo ShowMenu ;redisplay menu Label ChekC Compare MenuSel,"C",ChekE,Error ;compare selection to C Boot ;perform a warm boot Label ChekE Compare MenuSel,"E",Error,Error ;compare selection to E Clear ColorAttr ;restore original color Halt ;end the PowerBatch program Label Error ;come here for errors Blink ;reverse the colors WriteAt 5,20,"InCorrect menu selection...Try again." Beep 750,5 ;beep at 750 hz for half sec Wait 30 ;wait 3 secs to see msg Normal ;restore text attributes ClearLine 20 ;clear the message line GoToXY 34,13 ;erase the wrong entry Write " " GoTo GetInp ;get new menu selection Page 44 PowerBatch Page 44 BOXDEMO2 Variable FColor,1 Variable BColor,1 Variable ColorAttr,1 Variable Clr1,3,30 Variable Clr2,3,46 Variable Clr3,3,62 Variable Clr4,3,78 Variable Clr5,3,94 Variable Clr6,3,110 Variable InChar,1 ?Color FColor,BColor,ColorAttr ;save curr colors Clear Clr1 ;clear screen to color 1 Label MonType GoToXY 1,20 ReadYN "Do you have a color monitor? [Y/N] ",InChar Compare InChar,"N",ColorsOK SetVar Clr1,7 ;reset colors for mono SetVar Clr2,112 SetVar Clr3,112 SetVar Clr4,112 SetVar Clr5,112 SetVar Clr6,112 Label ColorsOK Clear Clr1 ;clear screen Box1 15,7,66,18,Clr1 ;draw center box, color 1 WriteAt 16,8,"Drawing boxes (or frames) around screen displays" WriteAt 17,9,"seems to add a finishing touch to menus, messages" WriteAt 17,10,"or any other information conveyed to the user." WriteAt 16,12,"With a batch file, not only is it time consuming," WriteAt 17,13,"but painfully slow. Most of the time it simply" WriteAt 17,14,"is not worth the trouble." WriteAt 16,16,"With PowerBatch, you draw your frame with one" WriteAt 17,17,"command. And it is a little faster..." Box1 2,1,14,6,Clr1 ;draw boxes around perif Box1 2,7,14,12,Clr1 Box1 2,13,14,18,Clr1 Box1 2,19,14,24,Clr1 Box1 15,19,27,24,Clr1 Box1 28,19,40,24,Clr1 Box1 41,19,53,24,Clr1 Box1 54,19,66,24,Clr1 Box1 67,19,79,24,Clr1 Box1 67,13,79,18,Clr1 Box1 67,7,79,12,Clr1 Page 45 PowerBatch Page 45 Box1 67,1,79,6,Clr1 Box1 54,1,66,6,Clr1 Box1 41,1,53,6,Clr1 Box1 28,1,40,6,Clr1 Box1 15,1,27,6,Clr1 wait 30 ;wait 3 secs ClearBox 2,1,14,6,Clr6 ;clear boxes to diff colors ClearBox 2,7,14,12,Clr2 ClearBox 2,13,14,18,Clr3 ClearBox 2,19,14,24,Clr4 ClearBox 15,19,27,24,Clr5 ClearBox 28,19,40,24,Clr6 ClearBox 41,19,53,24,Clr2 ClearBox 54,19,66,24,Clr3 ClearBox 67,19,79,24,Clr4 ClearBox 67,13,79,18,Clr5 ClearBox 67,7,79,12,Clr6 ClearBox 67,1,79,6,Clr2 ClearBox 54,1,66,6,Clr3 ClearBox 41,1,53,6,Clr4 ClearBox 28,1,40,6,Clr5 ClearBox 15,1,27,6,Clr6 Wait 30 ClearBox 28,19,40,24,Clr1 ClearBox 28,1,40,6,Clr1 ClearBox 2,19,14,24,Clr1 ClearBox 54,1,66,6,Clr1 ClearBox 67,1,79,6,Clr1 ClearBox 67,7,79,12,Clr1 ClearBox 67,13,79,18,Clr1 ClearBox 67,19,79,24,Clr1 ClearBox 54,19,66,24,Clr1 ClearBox 15,19,27,24,Clr1 ClearBox 15,1,27,6,Clr1 ClearBox 2,13,14,18,Clr1 ClearBox 2,7,14,12,Clr1 ClearBox 41,1,53,6,Clr1 ClearBox 41,19,53,24,Clr1 ClearBox 2,1,14,6,Clr1 ;clear boxes to diff colors WriteAt 1,25,"Press any key to exit" GoToXY 23,25 ;position cursor after msg ReadKey InChar ;wait for user to press key Clear ColorAttr ;clear screen to orig color Page 46 PowerBatch Page 46 Index ASP 1 ?INPATH 18 Box 19 ?TIME 18 Case BEEP 19 lower 24 BLINK 19 upper 26, 27 BOX 19 Color attribute 15, 25 BREAKOFF 20 Command line parameters 27 BREAKON 20 Command Summary 30 CENTER 20 Command Syntax 15 CLEAR 20 Comments 10 CLEARBOX 21 Compare CLEARLINE 21 alphabetic 22 COLOR 21 numeric 22 COMPARE 22 Compilation Errors 32 CONCAT 23 Concatenate 23 GOTO 23 Concept Of Operation 5 GOTOXY 23 Copyright 1 HALT 24 Ctrl - Break 20 LABEL 24 Current date 16 LENGTH 24 Current time 18 LOWER 24 Cursor 23 MIDSTRING 24 Directory 17 NORMAL 25 Disk capacity 17 PROMPT 25 Disk free space 17 READKEY 25 DOS errorlevel 24 READSTR 25 DOS search path 18 READUPKEY 26 DOSERROR 11, 13 READYN 26 Environment variable 18 REVERSE 26 ERRORLEVEL 11, 13, 24 SETENV 26 External command 13, 33 SETPATH 27 Field length SETVAR 27 maximum 25, 27 UPPER 27 File exists 18 VARIABLE 27 Frame 19 WAIT 28 Installation 7 WRITE 28 Interior of a box 21 WRITEAT 28 Introduction 1 WRITELINE 29 Line numbers 35 POWERMAK 9 Literals 10, 11 Registration 1 Pause 28 Registration Fees 3 POWERBAT.ERR 32 Removing PowerBatch From Your PowerBatch Commands 10 System 34 ?COLOR 15 Screen clear 20 ?CURRDIR 15 Shareware 1 ?DATE 15 Software Support 4 ?DIREXIST 16 String length 24 ?DISKSPACE 17 Substring 24 ?DRIVEEXIST 17 System speaker 19 ?ENVSTR 18 Valid drive 17 ?FILEEXIST 18 Value Page 47 PowerBatch Page 47 initial 27 Variable 10 value 27 Variable map 9 Warranty 2 What You Get 3