Chip 1994 February

home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search

/ Chip 1994 February / CHIP0294.ISO / digital / dfue / terminal / commo / history < prev next >

Wrap

Text File | 1994-04-09 | 16.8 KB | 423 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} 6.0 April 9, 1994 ----------- ------------- ATTENTION REGISTERED USERS: You must obtain a NEW PASSKEY to create your registered copy of {COMMO} 6.0. See sections 8 and 9 in READ.ME for instructions and special offers. IMPORTANT! Certain new features work only in the registered version of the program. These include: 1) Loading a new Dialing Directory within the program. 2) User-defined key labels. 3) Automatic entry to and exit from Doorway Mode. Bugs fixed ---------- Setting the DOS time from Shell to DOS or EXECute would sometimes cause {COMMO}'s internal timers to become disabled (this would affect dialing count down, PAUSe, etc.). Using IRQ's higher than 7 didn't work. The NOOP function brought up the Setup File. Setup File Additions -------------------- IMPORTANT! The following item is now REQUIRED if you use external protocols. See UPGRADE.DOC for additional information. "protodir" must be set to the path where your external protocol programs are located (they must all be in one directory). Example: *{set protodir,c:\commo} Path to find external protocols "sel_up" can be used to configure how files are selected for uploading. Set it to "yes" to go directly to the picklist. "dcn=" defines the method used to cancel dialing (when you press Esc or time out). The default is to send a carriage return, but you can have {COMMO} drop DTR or send a string that you specify. "mky=" lets you assign a key-label to virtually any key combination on the keyboard. See the revised Appendix H for details on user-defined key-labels. ** Registered version of {COMMO} only! The key used to enter and exit Doorway Mode is now fully configurable (default is Alt-=). You can redefine the key in COMMO.SET and you MUST have a macro to support it in COMMO.MAC. Enter the scan code in the new Setup File item: {dmk=8300} Scan code for Doorway Mode key (see COMMO.DOC) Then enter a macro in COMMO.MAC as follows: {:al=} {doorway} {} "slt=" lets you place the Status Line at the top or bottom of the Terminal Screen. "esf=" sets the amount of edit space for files that can be edited (see Appendix K for new support file information). "kes=" defines the colors used when editing the Setup File. See "Alt-G Edit Setup File" in COMMO.DOC for details on these items. Macro File Changes ------------------ Execution of large macros will be much faster now (in most cases). {COMMO} will "remember" where the most recently used labels are located and will not have to search for them each time. You can now load a second Macro File (the "auxiliary") while the original file remains in memory (the "resident"). When an auxiliary is loaded, the two files behave as one Macro File. Note that the auxiliary is logically positioned AHEAD of the resident, allowing macros in the resident to be overridden if necessary. You can CALL and GOTO between files (but you can not execute sequentially off the end of the auxiliary). The auxiliary is loaded (or replaced) using a CALL or GOTO, which can now specify an auxiliary Macro File. Thus you can CALL a subroutine in a different file and simply RETUrn to the macro in the original file. Or you can GOTO a macro in another file when you don't want to return. A new function, UNLOad, has been provided to release the auxiliary Macro File from memory. The MACLoad function has been eliminated. Please update your macros to use CALL or GOTO (see UPGRADE.DOC). A new macro function FONFile may be used to load a new Dialing Directory. For example: {fonf other.fon}. ** Registered version of {COMMO} only! The protocol macros have been generalized and placed in a special section of COMMO.MAC so that they can be CALLed from other macros, including the MOSTHOST and mailrun macros. Special labels are used that indicate the protocol type and direction. For example, the macro for Zmodem send has the label "z_send", while the macro for HSLink receive is "h_recv". The macros used by the protocol menus CALL these (the menu macros still have the same labels as before). Special variables must be set for the directory (upload or download), for the filespec (upload) and for the alarm. These are "pr_up", "pr_down", "pr_file" and "pr_alarm" respectively. See the macros themselves for which variables need to be set. You must also have "protodir" defined in your Setup File. This removes any ambiguity as to where the external protocols are located and allows them to be EXECuted with the "D" switch, which improves performance. The MOSTHOST has been updated to use the new protocol macros. SELECT.MAC is now contained in COMMO.MAC and also uses the new protocol macros. Macros have been added to the protocol section for MSKERMIT 3.0 or later. This is the Columbia University Kermit terminal program. {COMMO} will use it as an external protocol. You need only obtain this program from your favorite BBS and place the executable (KERMIT.EXE) in your protocol directory. A new function SFICtrl controls the Speech Friendly Interface (for users with speech sythesizer equipment). SFI can now be turned on or off during program operation. See MACRO.DOC for details. Three predefined key-labels have been added: Alt-Return (not keypad) [art], Alt-Keypad(-) [ak-], Alt-Keypad(+) [ak+]. A new built-in variable "_aux" has the name of the current auxiliary Macro File. "_mac" has the name of the resident file. A new built-in variable "_ent" represents the code(s) sent when the Enter key is pressed. Usually it's just "^m", but if New Line Mode is set in ANSI or VT102 emulation it will be "^m^j". This variable is primarily for use in the VT102/VT220 keyboard files. Other Improvements/Changes -------------------------- A new command line switch "/b" will turn on the Speech Friendly Interface for the current session. The feature to execute a macro when carrier detect is lost now operates at all times (except in the Swap to Disk). If a macro is running, it will be terminated, then the carrier lost macro will run. If a window is open, the macro will run when the window is exited. The macro field in the Dialing Directory can now specify both a label and a Macro File to load when a connection is made. See "Alt-D Dialing Directory" in COMMO.DOC for details. Press "L" in the Dialing Directory window to load a new directory file. ** Registered version of {COMMO} only! Press "L" in either the resident or auxiliary Macro File windows to load a new auxiliary. Press "T" or Alt-M in either window to toggle between the two files. {COMMO} will now switch to and restore the 80x50 (VGA) and 80x43 (EGA) display modes. Use the "avm" setup item and the VIDEo macro function to define and switch modes. Each file window (Dialing Directory, Macro File, etc.) will now maintain its own horizontal position and cursor position (in the editor) between openings. The Setup File now has its own edit window (and colors, add the "kes" item) and will also save its positions. The sizes of the Dialing Directory, resident Macro File and auxiliary Macro File may now be up to 64k in size each. {COMMO} will now automatically switch to Doorway Mode when the Doorway program (version 2.22 or later) is run on the host system. It will switch back when Doorway exits. ** Registered version of {COMMO} only! The Usage Log will now show the phone number field with variables expanded, instead of showing the variable names (override prefix and suffix will be included, if present). A keyboard file, VT220.MAC, has been provided for VT220 emulation. Note that {COMMO} does NOT support the enhanced display functions of the VT220 terminal. Therefore the results may not be satisfactory in all cases. The keyboard file for VT102 emulation, VT102.MAC, has been improved. See Appendix E for more information and a new way to use these files. Emulation parameters (colors, modes, etc.) are now reset when a connection is made after dialing. This ensures a clean initial display. The Alt-P (Terminal Parameters) window now comes up with the Dialing Defaults displayed first (instead of the Current Settings). You still press F2 to toggle between the two sets. The string search function in the file windows has been enhanced. The "find" line is now partway down the screen (instead of always at the top). And the blinking cursor is used to show the found string, even in Scrollback, Online Help, etc. The file windows now have only one "help" line at the bottom of the screen. Just press [F1] to see all of the keys available in the window. You may now set a third color combination for all file windows: highlight colors, used for bottom line inputs and messages as well as the Selector Bar. The Spacebar can now be used to scroll down in the Help, Scrollback and Variable Space windows (same as down arrow). ------------ ---------------- {COMMO} 5.52 October 14, 1993 ------------ ---------------- 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. -end-