The C64 Sensations 2/The C-64 Sensations - Volume 2.iso/c/xicon.doc

Text File | 1979-02-07 | 22KB | 461 lines

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%  December 1989


             XICON  --   Execute Command File from an Icon

                            Release 2.5


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   Copyright (c) 1986, 1987 , 1989 by Pete Goodeve -- All Rights Reserved

   Permission is granted to distribute this program freely, provided that
   no charge is made for its use. For any commercial purposes, please
   contact the author:

                  Pete Goodeve
                  3012 Deakin Street #D
                  Berkeley, Calif. 94705

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With this program you can execute a file of AmigaDOS CLI commands
directly from a WorkBench window, rather than from the CLI, simply by
double-clicking an associated icon in the window.  A  window will be
opened to display the output of the commands.  It is similar to
Commodore's IconX, but has been around about two years longer and
has a number of facilities that the other lacks.

This is release 2.5 of XICON.  In addition to all the features of the
previous version, it now changes to the current directory automatically
before running the script, and can now invoke the "EXECUTE" DOS command to
run it (giving you the use of IF, THEN, and ELSE) if necessary.  You can
pass other icons as parameters to EXECUTE scripts by multiple selection.



Basic Concepts:     The straightforward use of XICON is to have a 'project'
===============     type icon, with XICON as the Default Tool, associated
                    with a file of CLI commands (a "script"): when you
double-click on the icon the commands in the file will be executed.  A
full-screen window is opened to display their output.  The window will
remain open when the script is finished until you either click on the Close
gadget or type a control-C (or -D).  The current directory when the script
is entered is the same as that containing the icon.

Many changes can be rung on this basic behavior by adding "Tool Types"
to the icon's info. (These ToolTypes are all treated more extensively in
their own sections later.)  For example, the window can be configured to
close automatically by setting the ToolType 'MODE=closewindow' in the icon.
If none of the commands have any output that you need to see, set it to
"'MODE=nowindow' and the program will not bother to open a window at all
(any output is just thrown away).

To set the size of the window that will be opened, use the Tool
Type 'WINDOW=...'.  To change its title at any point in the sequence,
use 'TITLE=...'.  (These options and all the others are described in
detail in their own sections below.)

You also have the option of executing commands from the ToolTypes lines
of the icon itself, if you specify them with the 'CMD=...' ToolType.
(There are advantages and disadvantages to this.)  You can specify
additional command scripts (which will be executed before the one
associated with the icon) with 'SCRIPT=...'.  This ToolType always
executes the specified script directly (it doesn't invoke the DOS
'EXECUTE' command); if your script has conditional commands in it,
you will need to use 'EXECUTE=...' instead.  The script attached to
the icon itself will be run via EXECUTE automatically if the first
character is a period.

You can include a remark to be displayed in the window with 'REM=...', or a
text file with 'TEXT=...'.  You can include as many instances of these
particular Tool Types as you like (unlike configuration settings such as
'MODE' or 'WINDOW'); they are processed in sequence.  The sequence may
include a wait for a signal from the user with 'PAUSE'.

For some applications it may be of more use to have some file other than a
script attached to the icon -- under WorkBench 1.3, in fact, an icon
doesn't need any associated file at all.  If you set 'MODE=noscript' the
attached file can be any type of data -- even a directory; you can operate
on it if you want with commands in the ToolTypes list.  If you set
'MODE=text' it will be treated as a simple text file to be displayed
a page at a time in the window.

You can take special action if the sequence has been aborted (except
when you cut a test display short) -- see the description of the
'ABORT-...' Tool Types below.  You can also use the 'EXISTS=...'
ToolType to see if a file exists, and abort if it doesn't.



Multiple Icons:     You can select more than one icon at a time if you
==============      like, by holding down the Shift key as you click on
                    each. Only DOUBLE-click on the LAST selection (or use
the "Open" item in the WorkBench Menu -- see "Introduction to Amiga").

The behavior in shift-select mode has changed somewhat in this version: the
icons are processed in sequence from first to last, and as long as none of
the attached scripts begins with a period (i.e. requires 'EXECUTE') all the
ToolTypes and scripts are processed in sequence as well (and as in earlier
versions); however, if any attached script DOES begin with a period, ALL
the remaining icons are just taken as parameters to the script, without any
further processing -- i.e. the icon names (minus the '.info' suffix of
course) are passed as command line parameters to the script.  The
'EXECUTE=...' ToolType, on the other hand, does not work this way; it can
never be passed parameters, though they can be included in the ToolType
itself (see the section on this ToolType below).



Text Display:       When XICON is in the text display mode ('MODE=text' or
============        'TEXT=...') the file is displayed a window-full at a
                    time, assuming a full screen window.  It will also
pause if a form-feed character is encountered.  To continue, type any key
or click in the bottom border of the window.  You can abort display of that
file by either clicking in the Close gadget or typing control-C; it will
immediately proceed to the next operation if any.  You will have to repeat
the action to exit XICON if there are no more operations.  Note that this
is different from the immediate exit that follows a click on the Close
gadget in reponse to a PAUSE Tool Type.



Setup:              You can install Xicon itself in any convenient
=====               directory: best is to use the 'C:' directory of your
                    Workbench disk; or you could install it in a directory
on the same disk as the icons.  (It doesn't need an icon of its own.  The
one supplied is just for "introductory" purposes.)  Whichever directory you
use, the icons that are going to invoke it must have a matching pathname as
their DEFAULT TOOL (see below).

You can put an icon and its associated file in any directory ("drawer")
that you can open under WorkBench.  The file must of course have the same
name as the icon (without the '.info' extension the icon has tacked on).
Each icon must be of type 'PROJECT' with a DEFAULT TOOL string specifying
a path to the Xicon program.  If it is in the same directory, 'xicon' will
suffice, otherwise you must use the complete pathname.  A full pathname
always begins with the "device name", which is either an actual device
(e.g. DF0: or RAM:) or an assigned name (e.g. SYS: or C:). (See the DOS
manual.)  If the icons are on the same disk as Xicon, the device can be
simply ":" (the colon character alone); for example, if the program
'xicon' is in the directory 'xicon' on the same disk as the icon,
the default tool pathname would be:

                    :XICON/XICON

If it is in your system "C:" directory, set the entry to:

                    C:XICON



Command Scripts:          There are many ways to generate Command Script
===============           files with their icons.  One simple approach is
                          to duplicate an already existing Xicon icon/file
pair and rename it (using WorkBench Menu operations), then go to the CLI
and modify the text file using whatever editor you are comfortable with. If
Xicon is not in the appropriate directory, you will also have to change the
Default Tool in the icon to the correct pathname (see below for how to do
this).

Alternatively you can create the text file first (let's call it 'myscript'),
then use the CLI to copy a suitable project icon to 'myscript.info' and
modify it as necessary.



Modifying an icon:       All the changes you should need to make to an icon
=================        (except change its appearance! -- there are a
                         number of ways of doing that these days) can be
done with the 'Info' item in the WorkBench Menu. Select the icon you want
to modify by clicking on it, depress the right mouse button to bring up the
menu, and select 'Info' from the 'WorkBench' section.  This should bring up
an information window for that icon.

To set the DEFAULT TOOL, click in that gadget and type in (or edit) the
string.

To enter a new TOOL TYPE, click first on the ADD gadget, then click in the
string gadget and type it in.  If you want to insert it into an existing
set, use the arrow gadgets on the left to move to the desired point first.
You can of course edit the strings in the usual way.  Use the DEL gadget
to remove a line completely.

When you are done, click in the SAVE box to preserve the changes.
Note that there is a highly annoying bug in all the releases of WorkBench,
until the very latest (1.3.2) where it has been finally fixed: very often
the set of Tool Types you enter into the icon gets screwed up -- apparently
the string terminator gets lost on some entries, causing the next string to
be tagged on.  The only fix seems to be to go back to the Info, re-edit all
your clobbered Tool Types, and try saving again. Eventually this should
work.



Scripts with Conditional Commands and Parameters:   It is possible to
================================================    invoke scripts that
                                                    contain conditional
DOS commands (IF, ELSE, etc). To do this, Xicon needs to have the EXECUTE
command available in the C: directory (as well as the RUN command, which it
has always needed).  The FIRST character of a script that contains
conditional commands (at least if it is the file directly attached to the
icon), must be a period ".".  This may be the first character of a
".KEY..." script directive (see EXECUTE in the DOS Manual) or sometimes you
can simply use a period by itself on the line.

If you intend to use EXECUTE, and don't actually have any .KEY parameters,
it will probably still save you a lot of grief to simply use a dummy
directive of the form:
                        .K ""

where the "" supplies a null parameter that EXECUTE will ignore.  Otherwise
a "<" character occurring ANYWHERE in your script (even in a comment!) will
cause EXECUTE to complain "No .K directive".  [Just one more of the Amazing
features of DOS...]

If the first character of an attached script is NOT a period, Xicon runs
the sequence of commands directly, just as it always has.



MODE Setting:         You can alter the assumptions made by Xicon by
============          setting the Tool Type 'MODE'.

      'MODE=closewindow' avoids having to use control-C or the Close
      gadget to terminate the program.  The window will close as soon
      as all the commands have completed.

      'MODE=nowindow' tells XICON not to open any window at all.  Any
      output from executing commands is simply thrown away (sent to NIL:).

      'MODE=noscript' prevents Xicon from trying to read commands from
      its associated file, so this can be of any type.  This option only
      makes sense if some ToolType such as 'SCRIPT=...', 'TEXT=...' or
      'CMD=...' is used to supply the commands.

      'MODE=text' indicates that the associated file is text, and should
      be displayed a window-full at a time.

Only one MODE entry will be recognized in the Tool Types array, so if you
want more than one of the above options, you must specify them separated
by the vertical-bar character, for example: 'MODE=noscript|closewindow'.



Modifying the Window:       You can specify the size, position and title of
====================        the window that XICON opens by setting the Tool
                            Type 'WINDOW=xxx/yyy/www/hhh/Title', where xxx
and yyy are the co-ordinates of the top left corner, www and hhh are width
and height, and Title is the desired name for the window.  In other words
this is just the string you would use to specify a 'CON:' window from the
CLI, WITHOUT the 'CON:' prefix itself.

      You can't change the size or position of the window once it has
been opened, but you can change its title.  Just include the Tool Type
'TITLE=title string'.  You can use this more than once in a sequence
(of Tool Type commands -- see below) if you want.



Commands in the Icon:       Instead of a script file, you can specify
====================        commands directly in the Tool Types array of
                            the icon, with the 'CMD=command string' format.
(For example: 'CMD=list df1:work'.)

Include as many of these as you like.  They will be executed in sequence,
but each by a separate CLI process, so you can't use a command to set
parameters like stack size or current directory for the ones that follow.
A Command Script file on the other hand is executed completely by one
process, so settings are inherited.  Before each 'CMD=...' is executed, the
current directory is set to that of the icon.

If you want to execute additional command script files before the one
associated with the icon (if any), use 'SCRIPT=filename'.  As usual,
'filename' may either be the name of a script file in the same directory
as the icon, or it may be the complete pathname of such a file.  These
lines may be interspersed with 'CMD=..' lines (or others) and will be
taken in their turn.  Again, each 'SCRIPT=..' is handled by a separate
CLI process, and the current directory is set.

You can also invoke the DOS EXECUTE on any script through a ToolType entry:

        EXECUTE=scriptname arg1 arg2....

where 'scriptname' is the script file you wish to run , and 'arg1' etc
are optional arguments (parameters) to pass to the script -- if it has a
suitable '.KEY' directive to accept them (see your DOS manual under
'EXECUTE').

Note that -- unlike the automatic decision as to whether to use EXECUTE on
an attached script (according to whether or not it begins with a period) --
'EXECUTE=...' always uses EXECUTE, while 'SCRIPT=...' never does.  (An
initial period is not even required for the former, which may help some DOS
shell scripts to run without modification.)



Console Interaction:        Any script run via EXECUTE is also run in
===================         "interactive" mode.  In other words a command
                            in it that expects input from the console will
wait for it properly. This was hard to arrange in earlier versions of
Xicon: you had to resort to tricks like opening a special input window.

Actually a new CLI is being created for this, and terminated when done. If
the script fails, it can dump you into this CLI (and you will see a
standard prompt).  If this happens, simply type "endcli" to get out; you'll
have to click on the close gadget as well, of course, if the icon doesn't
have 'MODE=closewindow'.

Unfortunately nothing ever seems to be entirely free. If any program
invoked by the script accesses the console for input, this also diverts
access away (permanently) from Xicon, meaning that you can no longer
close the window with control-C.  You still have the Close gadget, of
course, or you can set MODE=closewindow to terminate automatically.

In some cases also it seems possible that programs run in this mode may not
pick up a control-C abort themselves , so you STILL may have to use special
tricks. Sorry.



Other Tool Types:       You have various other actions that you can
================        request with Tool Type strings.  They may be
                        intermixed with the previous types.

       'TEXT=filename' displays the specified file in the window, in
       the same way that 'MODE=text' does for the main file.

       'REM=text' displays the text line as a remark at that point.

       'PAUSE'  (Note -- no "="!) pauses the sequence at that point,
       as if a form-feed had been encountered in a text file.
       Continue by clicking in the bottom border of the window or
       typing any key.  If you click in the Close gadget instead,
       or type control-C, all remaining Tool Type commands will be
       skipped except 'RESTORE' and those with the 'ABORT-' prefix.

       'RESTORE' is only relevant if the sequence has been aborted.
       If it is is encountered it removes the abort condition;
       Tool Type commands following it and the file associated
       with the icon will then be executed as normal.

       'EXISTS=filename' will set the abort condition (as if the Close
       gadget had been clicked or control-C typed) if the specified
       file doesn't exist.



The 'abort' condition:    If the Close gadget is clicked or control-C
=====================     typed in response to a PAUSE, or if an
                          'EXISTS=...' Tool Type fails, the abort
condition will be set; all further normal Tool Type commands, and
execution or display of the file associated with the icon, will be
suppressed.  If the 'RESTORE' Tool Type is encountered, however,
normal operation will be restored.

There are a set of alternative Tool Type commands, corresponding to
the normal ones but prefixed with 'ABORT-', that will ONLY be executed
if the abort condition has been set.  The set is:

                ABORT-REM=...
                ABORT-CMD=...
                ABORT-TEXT=...
                ABORT-SCRIPT=...
                ABORT-EXECUTE...
                ABORT-PAUSE

Note that the last one behaves JUST like normal PAUSE -- in other words
if you click in the Continue gadget or type a key other than control-C
the abort condition is REMOVED.



Sequence of Tool Types:     Remember the difference between the Tool Types
======================      that control the environment ('MODE=...',
                            'WINDOW=...', etc.) and those that are scanned
in sequence. The first appearance of each of the former will be recognized
at startup -- and at startup only -- so they won't for example be affected
by an abort condition. They may actually be placed anywhere in the set of
Tool Types, in any order, and they will still be recognized.

The Tool Types processed at startup are:

              MODE=
              WINDOW=
              LOCDIR=

Those processed in sequence are:

              CMD=
              REM=
              SCRIPT=
              EXECUTE=
              TEXT=
              TITLE=
              PAUSE
              RESTORE
              EXISTS=
              ABORT-...

If you misspell a Tool Type name, it will simply be ignored.



Finding the Directory:    Previous to version 2.5, Xicon couldn't set the
=====================     current directory automatically before running a
                          script, so the ToolType 'LOCDIR=filename' was
provided. This is now as far as I can tell totally redundant, but it has
been left available so that earlier scripts will still work.

If you include this ToolType in the icon, the specified file will be
created and filled with a text string giving the complete path name of the
directory containing the icon. Commands in the script can refer to this
file -- which should be in a known place such as RAM: -- to take
appropriate action.  The string is always enclosed in quotes, and has a
newline character at the end.  DOS commands such as CD or DIR can read this
string simply by redirecting their input and prompting with '?' (for
commands like CD which don't have any needed output you can suppress the
prompt by redirecting output to NIL:).



Caveats:
=======

    Remember that the DOS command file "RUN" must be available in the "C:"
    directory for Xicon to operate, and so must the "EXECUTE" command if
    you want to run that type of script file.

    Because Xicon's method of direct script execution sets up the command
    file as the input stream, the output window cannot be used as a console
    unless the file is run via EXECUTE.  If a command in a direct script
    needs keyboard input it must open up its own console window using I/O
    redirection, e.g.:

               mycommand <CON:0/100/150/50/input


    The initial stack size is always 4000 bytes.  You can change this in
    your command script with a suitable STACK command.  Note that the STACK
    gadget in the icon Info window does not have any effect.  (Except on
    the stack used by Xicon itself!  I haven't investigated how much it
    needs.)

    Remember that DOS won't let you use IF, SKIP, QUIT, and so on in direct
    command script files.  Use the EXECUTE mode for these.

    You can use the RUN command from a command script, of course, but there
    are problems with output in this situation.  In some cases, RUNning
    multiple commands can result in a Guru -- apparently from output stream
    "collision".  For safety, ALWAYS direct the output of RUN itself to
    'NIL:', and the output of the commands RUN either to their own window
    or to 'NIL:' also.  E.g.:

            RUN >NIL: mycommand > "CON:100/50/200/100/mycommand output"


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