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Text File | 1990-09-24 | 17.4 KB | 359 lines

WHAT - Batch file enhancer Documentation and enhancements by Tom Peters, Glendale, WI 53209 Revision History: October 1989 V1.3 Tom Peters Many new functions January 1990 V1.4 Tom Peters Extended P (printer) function to return a character string. Also allowed checking printer status for LPT1 thru LPT4. March 1990 V1.45 Tom Peters Fix bug under DR-DOS that made K function return 0 for directory, instead of 255. Note: It is likely that other functions will also exhibit anomalous behavior under DR-DOS. Only the most rudimentary testing has been done. If you find other bugs, please report them to me. April 3, 1990 V1.47 Tom Peters Fix bug in T function that caused wrong values from 12:00 to 12:59 in both AM & PM. September 1990 V1.5 Tom Peters Add G option- timed wait for character input. WHAT came undocumented, uncopyrighted, and unsupported, with my assembler. After making extensive modifications, I have decided to make it available to the rest of the computer community. WHAT has become an almost indispensable part of my suite of DOS enhancement programs, and I'm sure that anyone who has to write batch files will also come to find it so. In brief, WHAT allows you to ask questions during the execution of a batch file and take specific action based on the reply. But WHAT is NOT limited to just asking the user for input via the keyboard. It can also ask DOS questions, like "is printer 2 online and ready?" or "is there a math coprocessor available?" or "how big is file XYZZY.ZIP?" etc. Command format: WHAT x[E] [parms][parms] In the format above, "x" is a single option letter from the list below. The "E" parameter, if given, alters the operation of a given option slightly, e.g. WHAT C gets a character from the keyboard, WHAT CE does the same with no echo of the character. Follow the command WHAT with one of the option letters, as below. The result is that the environment variable %WHAT% is created with the value listed under the "Environ" column below. Follow the option letter with an E for the result in the "Extended" column. Do NOT enter a space between the option letter and the E for extended functions,if used, IE WHAT SE is correct, WHAT S E is not. BUT, DO enter a space after the option letter and the "E" if any, to separate any arguments from the option letter and "E". This is best seen in the C option (below) when used with the optional prompt. Example: WHAT CE "Install now? (Y or N)" YN In this example, the particular option is "C", the "get a character" option, the extended function is specified with the "E", a prompt is used (the text in quotes) and only the "Y" and "N" keys are accepted. One could allow the user to enter "Y", "N", or ENTER by using a "~" to represent the ENTER e.g. WHAT CE "Install now? " YN~ WHAT also sets the DOS errorlevel to the value in the "Exit" column, for most options. If you enter some invalid data, like asking for the size of a file (F option) using a filename with wildcards, the number reported will be zero. Note: Options that have an option for Echo seem to be influenced by the setting of the DOS batch switch ECHO, e.g. ECHO OFF. Brief options list: WHAT V1.50- Batch file enhancer Command Purpose Argument Environ Exit Extended --------- ------- -------- ------- ---- -------- C[E] ["prompt"] [chars] Get Allowable Character Character Echo character characters Accept a single char from keyboard. Returns tilde ("~") if ENTER is struck. Echoes the char unless E used. Prompt in quotes is given if present. If an allowable chars list is used, WHAT beeps and refuses to proceed until one of those chars is entered. Do not press ENTER after the character entered. Options C and G do not allow extended keys, like arrow or function keys. Command Purpose Argument Environ Exit Extended --------- ------- -------- ------- ---- -------- G[E] ["prompt"] [chars] Get Allowable Character Character Echo character characters Accept a single char from keyboard. Returns tilde ("~") if ENTER is struck. Echoes the char unless E used. Prompt in quotes is given if present. If an allowable chars list is used, WHAT beeps and refuses to proceed until one of those chars is entered. Do not press ENTER after the character entered. The G option differs from the C option in that it gives up after 65535 passes thru a loop if no key is ever struck. If this occurs, WHAT return "TO" for "time out" to the environment. It should also return 0 to the DOS errorlevel but this is not tested. The timed-wait is done by a crude loop and therefore will run for various amounts of time on various machines. It waited 20 seconds on my 12 mHz 80286, and roughly 65 seconds on an 9.54 mHz V20 (8088) machine. Command Purpose Argument Environ Exit Extended --------- ------- -------- ------- ---- -------- S[E] ["prompt"] Get string None String Length Echo Get a string from keyboard. Prompt is optional. Extended option suppresses echo. Command Purpose Argument Environ Exit Extended --------- ------- -------- ------- ---- -------- D[E] Check DOS None Major (Major*10) Minor version +Minor version Get DOS version running. WHAT D returns portion of DOS version left of the decimal point. WHAT DE returns the other part. Command Purpose Argument Environ Exit Extended --------- ------- -------- ------- ---- -------- E[E] Get environ None Bytes Bytes/10 10 bytes bytes left bytes in exit Get number of bytes available in the environment, or number of bytes divided by 10 (extended). Command Purpose Argument Environ Exit Extended --------- ------- -------- ------- ---- -------- F[E] filespec Get file Filespec Kilobytes Ks/10Ks 10Ks in size (255=directory) exit Get size of file "filespec" in kb. If Extended, get Kb/10. If the file is a directory, returns 255. If file nonexistent or exists but is zero length, returns 0. Command Purpose Argument Environ Exit Extended --------- ------- -------- ------- ---- -------- K[E] [driveletter] Get disk Drive Kilobytes Ks/10Ks 10Ks in space exit Get space on disk in kbytes. Returns kbytes free, or tens of kbytes if extended. If file nonexistent, returns 0. Command Purpose Argument Environ Exit Extended --------- ------- -------- ------- ---- -------- M[E] Check None Kilobytes Ks/10Ks 10Ks in memory exit Report kbytes free in main RAM memory. This is installed memory - DOS overhead - buffers & file space - TSR's - environment, i.e. what is free for a program to use. If extended, value shown is kbytes / 10. Command Purpose Argument Environ Exit Extended --------- ------- -------- ------- ---- ------ P Check for None 1=yes,0=no 1=yes,0=no None printer Modified March 1990, Tom Peters, See below. Returns 1 if printer is online and ready, 0 if not. Command Purpose Argument Environ Exit Extended --------- ------- -------- ------- ---- -------- V [number] Get/Set New mode Current or Current or None video mode last mode last mode Get current video mode. If you card supports multiple modes, this option will report the mode number or change the current mode. Mode 7 is monochrome. If the mode is changed, the value output reports what mode was in effect BEFORE the change. This option uses interrupt 10h, functions 00 and 0Fh. Command Purpose Argument Environ Exit Extended --------- ------- -------- ------- ---- -------- 7 Check for None 1=yes,0=no 1=yes,0=no None coprocessor Checks the BIOS installed equipment list to see if a math coprocessor (8087, 80287, 80387, etc) is available. Uses INT 11h. Command Purpose Argument Environ Exit Extended --------- ------- -------- ------- ---- -------- A Check for None 1=yes,0=no 1=yes,0=no None ANSI driver Check if the computer was booted with DEVICE=ANSI.SYS or some equivalent in the CONFIG.SYS file. This option writes the ANSI command string "Return Cursor Position" to the display, and if ANSI.SYS was installed, it will respond and WHAT will report the fact. Command Purpose Argument Environ Exit Extended --------- ------- -------- ------- ---- -------- Y[E] Get current None Directory Level/Drive Drive directory Return name of current directory in the form of "\DOCS\LETTERS". If extended, returns only drive letter, e.g. "C". The value returned to the ERRORLEVEL is the number of directories deep the current directory is. Command Purpose Argument Environ Exit Extended --------- ------- -------- ------- ---- -------- T[E] Get Time None HH:MM Nothing 12 hour of day format Return current time of day as 24-hour clock, hours and minutes only. If extended, time is returned as 12-hour clock with "AM" or "PM" appended. Lead zeros are used to pad to 2 digits each. Function added March 1990, Tom Peters. Command Purpose Argument Environ Exit Extended --------- ------- -------- ------- ---- -------- X[E] Get Date None mm-dd-yy Nothing yy-mm-dd Returns today's date, e.g. "03-29-90". Since this is difficult to sort on, the extended version of this option returns the date year first, then month, then date, e.g. "90-03-29". Command Purpose Argument Environ Exit Extended --------- ------- -------- ------- ---- -------- W[E] Get Day None Day Name 0-7 for Abbrev. of week Sun-Sat Returns day of week as a character string. "Wednesday" is misspelled so that all day names can fit into an 8-character string. Extended: 3-letter abbreviation. See "WHAT Messages" below. Command Purpose Argument Environ Exit Extended --------- ------- -------- ------- ---- ------ P n Check for n = 1-4 1=yes,0=no 1=yes,0=no none printer for LPTn: Return Printer Status. Changed, version 1.4: This option now takes an integer argument for the printer number to check. It still returns 1 if the device is installed, online, and ready. It now returns 255 if a printer number argument falls outside the range of 1 thru 4 inclusive. No argument is considered a request for the status of LPT1:. This option works by getting the printer status via INT 17 and checking that the OnLine bit is set AND the NotBusy bit is set. Command Purpose Argument Environ Exit Extended --------- ------- -------- ------- ---- ------ P[E] n Check for n = 1-4 1=yes,0=no 1=yes,0=no Verbal printer for LPTn: Message Return Printer Status. Changed, version 1.45: Added extended option to return a verbal status message, e.g. "Busy", "Ready", "No Paper" etc. See "WHAT Messages" below. WHAT Examples In a batch file, ECHO OFF ECHO Do you wish to skip running FOOBAR? WHAT C "Please Enter Y or N and do not press ENTER: " IF %WHAT==Y GOTO DONT FOOBAR :DONT WHAT S "Please enter your name and press ENTER: " ECHO Hello %WHAT%, we are now going to switch to your own private directory: CD \%WHAT% ECHO We will now run FRAP if you don't have an 8087 or 80287, ECHO or FRAP87 if you do: WHAT 7 IF %WHAT%==1 FRAP87 IF NOT %WHAT%==1 FRAP WHAT K ECHO The program SNEEP requires 1500k of free disk space, and you have %WHAT%k ECHO free. Do you want to continue? WHAT C "Press Y or N: (do not press ENTER) " IF NOT %WHAT%==Y GOTO QUIT INSTALL SNEEP :QUIT ECHO Goodbye. WHAT messages In most cases, WHAT returns a character string or number depending on the function invoked. Some of them are shown below: (note intentional misspellings) For the W function: For WE For PE Sunday Sun Ready Monday Mon No Paper Tuesday Tue On Line Wednsday Wed IO Error Thursday Thu Time Out Friday Fri Busy Saturday Sat OffLine ?Unknown WHAT Error Messages "Invalid command" The parameter immediately following the word WHAT on the command line is not a valid option. Valid options as of version 1.45 are CSVDMEKFP7AYTX and W. "Out of environment space" There is no more room on the environment to store additional strings. This problem is common when using a "shell to DOS" function from within another program. WordStar's ^KF function will do this. The FOXBASE "!" or "RUN" command probably does too. If you are not running WHAT from within a program and you get this error, shorten or erase some of your environment variables, such as your PATH, etc. You can also expand the space allotted for your environment. Doing so in versions of DOS prior to 3.20 required a patch to COMMAND.COM but later releases provided easier ways. In DOS 3.30, include the line below in your CONFIG.SYS file: SHELL=C:\COMMAND.COM /P /E:320 The /E:320 is the size of the environment in bytes. Use WHAT E to find out how much environment space you really need and tune this value accordingly. Some (older) versions of DOS require you to express the size of the environment space in paragraphs, i.e. 16 byte chunks. There is a problem with certain versions of DOS that seem to pass the current number of bytes used in the environment to a child process. This may cause an "Out of environment space" error even if the DOS environment is big enough, when a "shell to DOS" function is used. This can sometimes be circumvented. Set the symbol WHAT in the environment equal to some long string: SET WHAT=ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ Do this before you start the application you wish to shell out of. WHAT scans the the environment and replaces the value of the symbol "WHAT" if one is found, rather than attempting to add a new string. "Must have DOS Version 2.0 or higher" WHAT doesn't run under old versions of DOS. Upgrade!! Effective Date This document last revised September 1990. If you find this program usefull, please contribute $10 (or whatever) or if you send $25 or more I will send the commented source and the latest version. Tom Peters 4517 N. Oakland Ave Milwaukee, WI 53211