CP/M/CPM_CDROM.iso/cpminfo/cpm-cc25.art

Text File | 1994-07-13 | 10KB | 169 lines

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[ THE KAY*FOG RBBS | Filename=CPM-CC25.ART | posted 07/05/86 | 200 lines 11k ]

          The CP/M Connection                   Originally published in
                  by                               Computer Currents
             Ted Silveira                         5720 Hollis Street
  (copyright and all rights reserved)            Emeryville, CA  94608

                                April 22, 1986
                            Z:  THE SAGA CONTINUES

     Last issue, I covered the basics of ZCPR3, a replacement for all or
part of your CP/M operating system.  This time, I'm going to cover some
of the major utilities and other treats that come with it.

     There are over 70 utilities available that have been specifically
written to work with ZCPR3.  Some of these are just standalone
counterparts of memory-resident commands such as DIR and ERA.  Others do
simple but useful things--DIFF compares two files, FINDF searches disks
for a particular file, PATH changes the default search path that ZCPR3
uses.  And some of these utilities turn out to be especially important:

     [Alias]  Alias (as well as its variants, Valias and Balias) is a
very simple program.  It takes a series of commands that you specify and
then creates a small program (usually 1-2K) whose only function is to
deliver that series of commands to ZCPR3.  When you run this little
program, it stuffs the commands into ZCPR3's multiple-command buffer,
and ZCPR3 then executes the whole series just as if you'd entered them
at the keyboard, like an instant batch file.  The command line can
contain anything you could normally enter at the A> prompt, including
the flow commands (IF/THEN/ELSE) I mentioned last issue.

     For example, because I use The Word Plus spelling checker, I
created one of these programs (called an "alias") named CHECK.COM
containing the commands [A:;ERA A:ERRWORDS.TXT;SPELL B:$1
$$SCF;REVIEW;IF EXIST A:ERRWORDS.TXT;MARKFIX B:$1;WS B:$1;FI].  Quite a
mouthful, but now when I give a command like [CHECK CLIENT.LTR], the
file name CLIENT.LTR is substituted for every occurrence of $1, and the
alias goes to work.

     First, it logs into drive A:.  Second, it erases the file
A:ERRWORDS.TXT, if it exists (ERRWORDS.TXT is created in the course of
the spelling check).  Third, it runs the SPELL program on the file
B:CLIENT.LTR, with the trailing parameters $SCF.  Fourth, it runs the
REVIEW program, which lets me check the unmatched words SPELL has found.
Fifth, it checks to see if A:ERRWORDS.TXT exists--since I erased it at
the beginning of this command, ERRWORDS.TXT only exists if it has been
recreated because of spelling errors in the file.  Sixth, if
ERRWORDS.TXT exists, the alias runs the MARKFIX program on B:CLIENT.LTR
to make corrections and then loads WordStar and opens CLIENT.LTR so that
I can clean up afterwards.  Seventh, the FI command simply marks the end
of the series that started with IF EXIST.  If the command [IF EXIST
A:ERRWORDS.TXT] had been false (if there had been no file ERRWORDS.TXT,
in other words), it would indicate that there were no spelling errors in
the file CLIENT.LTR and all the commands between IF EXIST and FI would
have been skipped.

     Aliases can be even longer than the sample one above and are very
useful for automating any awkward or repetitive task.

     [Vfiler]  Vfiler is a file-maintenance program something like
NewSweep.  It can copy delete, rename, and unsqueeze files, either
singly or in groups, and can send files either to the screen for viewing
or to the printer.  But Vfiler differs from NewSweep and similar
programs in three ways.

     First, instead of listing the files on a disk in a single column,
Vfiler show them in four columns of 18 rows each, so you can see many
more files at once.  And you can use your cursor keys or the WordStar
cursor-diamond keys to move around this list in any direction--up, down,
right, or left--so that it usually takes fewer keystrokes to get to the
file you want.

     Second, Vfiler runs as a _shell_.  A shell program is one that
allows you to execute a second program from within it--when the second
program is finished, you're automatically returned to the shell program
without giving any commands or going through the A> prompt.  So, from
inside Vfiler, you can issue any ZCPR3 command (or string of commands)
that you would enter at the A> prompt.  Vfiler will surrender control
while the commands are executed and then reload itself.  You could even
run WordStar from inside Vfiler if you wanted to.

     Third, Vfiler can store up to ten macros, each of which can be any
series of ZCPR3 commands.  What's more, because Vfiler keeps track of
which file your cursor is pointing to, you can build macros that will
automatically act on this file (called the _pointer file_).  As with
aliases and regular command lines, you can use flow commands in these
macros to make "smart" commands.

     [Menu and Vmenu]  Menu and Vmenu are programs that run menu systems
you create with simple text files.  The menu options can execute any
legal ZCPR3 command sequences (just as with aliases and Vfiler macros)
including flow commands and pauses for user input from the keyboard.
Both these programs are fast, so there's no speed penalty for using
menus--in fact, there's really a speed _gain_ because a single keystroke
in the menu can execute a long series of commands quickly and accurately
(no typing errors!).  Menu and Vmenu are both shell programs so that you
can build a menu system in which novice users never need to deal with
the A> prompt.

     The difference between the two program is that Vmenu is screen-
oriented in the same way that Vfiler is.  It displays 16 files (four
rows of four) above the menu choices.  You can move the cursor around
just as in Vfiler and have the menu choices automatically act on the
file the cursor is pointing to.  In fact, you could probably create
Vfiler out of Vmenu if you wanted to.

     As with aliases, the key to Menu and Vmenu is automation.  They
make your work simpler and your computer faster by automatically
executing complicated "smart" command sequences without any mistakes or
pauses.

     [Zex]  Zex is a fancy version of CP/M's SUBMIT and XSUB combined, a
complete batch file processor.  Zex can use all the usual ZCPR3
commands, including flow commands, plus several other programs.  GOTO
will cause Zex to jump to a certain location in the batch file (just
like BASIC's GOTO) and can be used to create loops in a batch file.  And
REG lets you check, set, increment and decrement several counters in
memory so that you can, for example, keep track of how many times Zex
has gone through a particular loop.  By combining GOTO and REG with the
flow commands, you have what amounts to a simple programming language
and can build Zex batch files that are smart enough to handle almost any
occurrence.

     [Poke&Go]  Poke&Go isn't a program--it's a technique cooked up by
Bruce Morgen that shows just how much you can do with ZCPR3.  In
Poke&Go, you combine three ZCPR3 commands--GET, which loads a program
into memory but doesn't actually run it; POKE, which lets you patch any
location in memory you want; and GO, which runs the program currently
residing in memory.  The most common use of Poke&Go is to patch WordStar
on the fly.  For example, instead of having a separate copy of WS.COM
patched especially for working on manuscripts, I can have a little 2K
alias called WS-MS.COM that contains the commands [GET 100 A:WS.COM;
POKE 0366 00 0C 0A 00 40; POKE 0376 02; POKE 3CF1 C3 27 3D; GO $1].
This alias first loads the main WordStar file WS.COM into memory at
location 100 (GET 100).  Then it patches (POKE) a series of values into
memory to set WordStar the way I want it--double-spaced, no
justification, right margin 65, 10 characters per inch printing, and so
on.  And finally it runs (GO $1) the patched WordStar from memory,
substituting whatever filename I give it for the variable $1.

     Poke&Go is a very simple but powerful technique that works on any
program amenable to patching and can be used in aliases, menus, and
batch files.  The value is tremendous--if I want three differently-
patched versions of WordStar, for example, I only need one copy of
WordStar and three little aliases (or menu command lines) instead of
three separate copies of WordStar.

     [More To Come]  So far, I've only told you bits and pieces about
what ZCPR3 can do.  Next time, I'll give you a tour of part of my ZCPR3
system and try to give you a feel for what it's like to use it.

Information on ZCPR3 and accompanying programs:

Echelon, Inc.                    Main Echelon/ZCPR3 bulletin board:
855 N. San Antonio Road          Z-Node Central - 415/489-9005
Los Altos, CA  94022
415/948-3820

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
      Ted Silveira is a freelance writer and contributing editor to several
   computer-oriented publications.  He appreciates suggestions or feedback
   and can be reached through the KAY*FOG RBBS [phone] and CompuServe
   (72135,1447) or by mail to 2756 Mattison Lane, Santa Cruz, CA 95065.

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