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Text File | 1993-10-14 | 18.2 KB | 456 lines

Recent Revision History ----------------------- This file contains a list of changes to the current release and also to several recent releases. If you have used {COMMO} before, please make sure you are caught up on all the changes and improvements. See the file READ.ME for important announcements and {COMMO} product information. ------------ ---------------- {COMMO} 5.52 October 14, 1993 ------------ ---------------- For users who desire a printed manual, a very attractive new manual is now available to those who register (see the order form in REGISTER.FRM, COMMO.DOC or MACRO.DOC). The printed manual is ring-bound and has a multi-font, easy to read format. It is fully indexed and is a handy 7" by 8.5" size. Bugs fixed ---------- Time slice management in multi-tasking environments has been adjusted once again. Performance in other windows should now be improved (with little, if any, sacrifice to performance in the {COMMO} window). If the INPUt macro function was used without a second argument (the prompt), {COMMO} would behave unpredictably (sometimes crashing the system). The cursor in the INPUt window would be in the wrong place when returning from the SETEsc prompt. The "gfnu" and "gfnu_x" macros have been updated once again. These now do additional checking for the case when there are no files to upload. Some timing adjustments have been made to the internal Xmodem and Ymodem protocols. Improvements/Changes -------------------- There is an "auto" option for Hardware Flow Control (now the default). Observe the following changes: If you set {hfc=auto} in your Setup File, {COMMO} will automatically enable or disable Hardware Flow Control based on the state of the CTS signal. A new Status Line indicator (≈) in the Modem Lights shows that HFC is on. IMPORTANT! The HFLOw and SFLOw macro functions have been eliminated. Please check your macros! The Enter key is now a valid selection in the MENU system. A separate variable, "_menter", is used to supply a label to GOTO when Enter is pressed. The "_msn" built-in variable is set to 0 when Enter is pressed. Trailing spaces (as well as leading ones) will now be trimmed from the "_nam" built-in variable. The variable is still limited to 40 characters in length. The PAUSe function can now be set for clock ticks (18 per second) as well as seconds, using the "T" switch: {pause-t 9} will pause for one half second. The "D0" switch is no longer necessary on Xmodem and Ymodem internal protocol transfers. This switch was needed when there was no carrier detect signal in a null modem cable. Now {COMMO} will ignore carrier detect if it is off when the transfer is started. The default size of String Variable Space has been increased to 3072. Macro processing has been speeded up by about 15%. ------------ -------------- {COMMO} 5.51 August 7, 1993 ------------ -------------- Bugs fixed ---------- HS/Link downloads didn't work if there were no files to upload. COMMO.MAC and SELECT.MAC have been revised to correct this (and to work better in other ways). If you customized COMMO.MAC, make sure you cut and paste the protocol macros into your Macro File. Time slice management in multi-tasking environments was causing some macros to run slow. Performance should now be improved. ----------- ------------- {COMMO} 5.5 July 24, 1993 ----------- ------------- The documentation files (COMMO.DOC and MACRO.DOC) have a new format. Bugs fixed ---------- If carrier detect dropped during a Ymodem-G transmit, the transfer was not cancelled promptly. Zero byte files could not be received in Xmodem or Ymodem. ASCII Uploads and SENDs will now be faster in DESQview (and other mult-tasking environments) when a program is running in another window. The macros for OZBEXT had the wrong program name. New Macro Functions ------------------- See MACRO.DOC for details on new macro functions: FILE is used to get information about disk directory entries. This information can be used to display directory information, pick lists for uploading, etc. The macros for uploading (internal and external protocols) now use the macro file SELECT.MAC which makes use of this feature. The WINDow function will prevent the Terminal Screen from being restored after a window (file or pop-up) is exited. It is used primarily to smooth transitions between windows. INFOrm provides several ways of displaying a message from a macro to the local user via a pop-up box: 1) You can wait for the user to "Press Esc." 2) You can query the user for a yes/no response and test the result with IFCOndition. 3) You can display the message for a fixed length of time, then continue. New Built-in Variables ---------------------- "_nam" and "_num" contain the System Name and Phone Number fields (from the Dialing Directory). These are set whenever a number is dialed. "_dsk" has the current disk (e.g., C:) "_dir" has the current directory (e.g., \COMMO). "_ffn", "ffs", "ffd" and "fft" have directory information after executing the FILE function. "_msn" has the number of the selection after a MENU function is executed. F1=1, Z=26, etc. Other New Features ------------------ There is a new command line switch to override the "ddp=" parameters in the Setup File. Just place a parms string after a "/". Missing parameters will default to the values in "ddp=". For example: /{19200,7e1,4,V,10} A new function switch "C" may be used on all "IF" functions. This will tell {COMMO} to CALL the label instead of doing a GOTO. Control will return to the function following the IF when RETUrn is executed. Improvements ------------ It is now easier to control the Color Mode of the video display using the new Setup File item: {clm=auto} Color Mode (auto/color/mono) This is especially handy for users of laptops with LCD displays. Note that the item {ema=...} is no longer supported. See COMMO.DOC for details. The MACLoad function will no longer reset the Macro Stack. This means that a new Macro File can now be "called" (by setting a variable to the return label) and the current nesting sequence will be preserved. See the TIPS section under MACLoad in COMMO.MAC for additional information. The default size of String Variable Space has been changed from 1536 bytes to 2048 bytes. The Usage Log and the built-in variable "_ela" will now show minutes and seconds for the elapsed time (instead of just minutes). The arithmetic functions can now handle much larger numbers (4,294,967,295). The multiplier in the MULTiply function and the divisor in the DIVIde function (the second arguments) are still limited to 65535. You can now have up to 16 Auto Receive Strings active at any one time (instead of 8). A switch "N" has been added to the CAPTure function. This switch means "nowait" if the disk fills up while capturing (the "disk full" message will display for up to 3 seconds instead of waiting for Esc to be pressed). The Screen Image Save feature will no longer compress blank lines, allowing for accurate extraction of data from the screen dump (SCREEN Capture, Scrollback and Print Log will still compress blank lines). The Ctrl-Right-Arrow and Ctrl-Left-Arrow keys (next/previous field) in the Internal Editor will now align the cursor with the center of the screen (instead of near the left edge). The Tab key in the Internal Editor will now insert spaces as it moves to the next tab stop if insert mode is on. ------------ ----------------- {COMMO} 5.41 February 13, 1993 ------------ ----------------- Bugs fixed ---------- The SSLOok would not work if a built-in variable was specified (such as "_pas"). Now you can also send a carriage return after the variable by using the "R" switch (see below). The colors were not being fully restored when returning from Online Help to the editor (if they were different). The cancellation logic in the internal Xmodem/Ymodem protocols has been improved. When sending, the cancel was not always being seen by the remote. Improvements ------------ There are two new keys in the Dialing Directory window. [T] will tag (mark) the entry under the Selector Bar. [R] will untag (unmark) the entry. In either case the Bar will not be moved. These keys are primarily for speech synthesizer users who will also hear the mark/unmark sounds if the state of the entry has changed. The SSLOok function now has a switch "R" that tells {COMMO} to send a carriage return after sending the variable string. This is very useful if you don't have carriage returns on your passwords in the Dialing Directory, or for variables that are read from files. There are two changes to the READ function: When attempting to read past the end of file, the file will be closed and the variable specified will be set to NULL. Control will continue in sequence if no label was specified on the ROPEn. The Exit Code will be set to 1 whenever the end of file is reached, 0 otherwise. The Exit Code is stored in the built-in variable "_err" and may be tested with IFERrorlevel. {COMMO} should work better with OS/2 and Windows now. After being pointed in the right direction by Bob Juge, I added the necessary auto-detection and multi-tasking calls. Ray Gwinn's SIO/VSIO replacement serial drivers in OS/2 may also make a difference in speed. Reports from anyone running under OS/2 or Windows would be appreciated. All file saves within {COMMO} are now first written to a temporary filename. This will ensure that the updated file can be saved before the old file is deleted. The speed of macro processing has been increased. This increase will be especially noticed in macros that are "compute bound." The Macro File now has Zmodem macros for several popular driver programs. The proper driver is selected with a new item in the Setup File: {set z_prog,DSZC} Zmodem driver program (DSZC/DSZE/GSZ/TXZM) If you will be using a driver other than DSZ.COM, just change this item to one of the selections listed. Macro functions whose last argument is a string can now have a "," as the first (or only) character of the string. Some examples are: {instring abc_var,,} {display 12,40,17,,and then} {sslook xyz_var,,prompt} {input in_var,,Title} You can now look behind the pop-up menu window (press PgUp). Online Help will now return to the same place if the same topic is brought up on successive calls. This is especially useful when working on macros. ----------- ----------------- {COMMO} 5.4 December 19, 1992 ----------- ----------------- Bugs fixed ---------- Pressing Alt-N in the Dialing Directory when no systems were marked caused an erroneous display. While waiting for send or receive protocols to start, no check was being made for loss of carrier detect. The default Terminal Screen colors were being used to clear the screen during EXECute or Shell to DOS. The colors should be set to white on black. ASCII Upload operated very slowly when Line Pacing and Local Echo were both turned on. In rare situations the Scrollback Buffer would only display the current screen. This was related to the location of the buffer in memory. The cursor position will now be properly restored after bottom-line messages in the file windows. This caused problems with tracking in DESQview windows and also for SFI users. When SETEsc was in effect, Ctrl-Break could not be used to advance to the next macro function. New Features ------------ See COMMO.DOC and MACRO.DOC for more details on all new features. 1) A new macro function, MENU, can be used to create true pop-up menus. You can use function keys F1 to F12, letter keys A to Z or number keys 1 to 9 to make selections. Take a look at the new menus in COMMO.MAC for some examples. 2) You can now set separate colors for each of the command windows. All of the old color keywords in the Setup File have been replaced with new keywords, one for each window. See the included COMMO.SET and the description of Setup File items in COMMO.DOC. 3) There is now a macro function, KEYStuff, to place key codes into the keyboard buffer. One or more codes may be listed using the 4-digit hexadecimal key codes (2 digit hex codes may be used for ASCII characters). Press Alt-K in the Internal Editor to display any key code. This function may be used prior to EXECute to automate the operation of a program (or DOS command) that would otherwise require manual keypresses. 4) A new function, SSLOok, in the LOOKfor family, will Send a String variable whenever a certain string is received. The syntax is: {sslook name,string} The variable "name" must be defined prior to using this function. I define mine in the Setup File. These simplify macros by replacing CALOoks in many cases. Some examples are shown in SAMPLES.MAC. 5) Another new function, OFFLog, will make an {Off} entry in the Usage Log. It is provided for systems that do not support the carrier detect signal. 6) VT102 emulation (and ANSI-BBS) will now support auto-switching (triggered by the host) between 80 column and 132 column modes. To use this feature you must specify the hardware video mode number (in hex), as well as the exact number of rows and columns. Consult your display manual or call the manufacturer to get this information. Example: In the Setup File put {avm=23,25,132} for ATI video boards. Modes can also be switched with the new macro function VIDEo. {video-m1} will set the alternate mode, {video-m0} will set the normal mode. Normal mode is the mode that was in effect when {COMMO} was started. 7) Some new built-in variables have been added: _pad current serial port address (03F8, 02E8, etc.) _irq current IRQ number (4, 3, etc.) These can now be used to pass non-standard serial port configurations to external programs such as DSZ and HS/Link. The macros in COMMO.MAC have been updated to reflect this. Now you only need to change the COM= item in the Setup File. _fmt current serial port data format (8n1, 7e1, etc.). _dfc disk full on capture, 0=no, 1=yes This can be tested anytime after opening a Capture File (it is set to 0 at the open). It will indicate if the disk filled while writing to the file. Improvements ------------ Dialing marks are now saved at all times when the Dialing Directory is written to disk. {cdm=yes} in the Setup File will cause the marks to be cleared when you start {COMMO} (this is equivalent to clearing the marks when saving the file to disk). Use {cdm=no} if you want to retain the marks from session to session. Most users will not have to change the "cdm" item. If the telephone number field in the Dialing Directory is null {}, the password and variables will be defined and the Linked Macro will be started. This is convenient for systems that are sometimes dialed and sometimes accessed on direct connections, such as mainframes. Remember that "null" means NO characters between the braces. Pressing Alt-X from the Dialing Directory, Macro File or Scrollback will now execute a macro if the label {:alx} exists in the Macro File. Pressing Alt-N in the Dialing Directory will execute a macro at the label {:aln}. These keys may not be reassigned. You can now scroll horizontally in all file windows (Dialing Directory, Variable Space, etc.) without starting the editor. Use the right and left arrow keys or F5 and F6. An alternate Online Help file can now be specified on the command line with the "/h" switch. Example: /hhelp.txt. The Swap to Disk filename will now be automatically changed if a file already exists with the same name. This will prevent swap problems when running {COMMO} in a Shell to DOS or from multiple DESQview windows. The duration of the BREAk function can now be set as a number of system clock ticks (18.2 ticks per second). For example, to change the break signal from the default of one second to one half second, enter this macro in your Macro File: {:alb} {break-t9} {} You can now edit the DOS command prior to execution in the EXECute Preview window. Speech Friendly Interface (if SFI=yes in the Setup File): Speech synthesizer users will hear the System Name spoken when a connection is established. Sounds will be made when marking/unmarking entries in the Dialing Directory. The screen background will be cleared while any pop-up window is on the screen. This prevents Terminal Screen data from being spoken while reviewing any lines in the pop-up window. In the Internal Editor: Ctrl-Right-Arrow / Ctrl-Left-Arrow will now move to the next/previous curly brace field and will align the field near the left edge of the screen. You can now use Ctrl-N (or Alt-I) to insert a line and Ctrl-Y (or Alt-Y) to delete a line. Ctrl-Y (or Alt-Y) also clears input fields. There is now a Setup File item to start the Internal Editor in insert mode: {edi=yes} Startup editor in insert mode (yes/no) Xmodem and Ymodem receive timing has been relaxed a bit to allow for longer delays on public networks and slow hosts. The READ macro function will now truncate lines longer than 240 characters, instead of getting the rest of the characters on the next READ. -end-