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The QuickBASIC Compiler/Linker Assistant Version 1.2 (C) Copyright 1990 by Robin Duffy and Sequential Software Limited. All rights reserved. QuickBASIC is a registered trademark of Microsoft Inc. SECTION ONE: Introduction to L.EXE 1.1 Program Overview L.EXE is a utility designed to help compile and link stand alone programs from QuickBASIC 4.0+ source code. It operates much like the compile options from within the environment but allows you total control over the compiling and linking process. After setting the options YOU want, simply press one key and let L.EXE do the work for you! Why compile and link away from QuickBASIC? Good question. By compiling away from the environment you can create smaller programs that execute faster. For example, if your program does not require use of the COM port, the code is STILL ADDED anyway. Linking your program with NOCOM.OBJ (as supplied with QB 4) will eliminate the extra code - if you link from the command line. Another good example is using ON ERROR. ON ERROR has two different sets of code, but both are added even if you only use one of them. By setting your own options you can eliminate a lot of useless code and gain speed as a benefit. Compiling and linking from the DOS command line is fairly simple if you are compiling only one module and linking with only one library. Start adding modules and the process gets more involved, fast. Worse yet, most "toolboxes" come as libraries you must add, and there are stub files to add as well. Almost a hopeless situation - until L.EXE. Tell L.EXE what compiler options you want. Set your own link options as well. Specify three (or more) libraries and throw in a couple of stub files to boot. Give it the name of your source file and press a key. L.EXE will give all the necessary commands to compile your source code. Multiple modules? No problem. L.EXE will find your MAKE file and add the needed modules automatic- ally. Compiling and linking away from the QB environment need not be difficult - if you have the right tool. 1.2 Requirements for L.EXE L.EXE requires DOS 3.0 or later and at least 256K system memory in order to operate. You may use L.EXE with one disk drive although a hard disk is strongly recommended for best operation. This program is intended to be used with BC.EXE and LINK.EXE as provided with QuickBASIC 4.0 + 4.5 and has not been tested with other compilers. COMMAND.COM must be available to L.EXE through the COMSPEC environment variable. Usually this poses no problem - COMSPEC is set by DOS to the drive you booted from. In single drive systems, however, this could become a problem. See the section called "Compiling and Linking Your Program" for information concerning this problem and a possible solution. In addition to all this you will need your own source files and your own libraries. L.EXE is meant as an interface for QB only and does not provide the programs necessary for compiling and linking source files. This is left up to you to provide. 1.3 Support Files for L.EXE In the course of normal operation L.EXE uses and creates several files. Listed below are some of these files and their respective notes. L.HLP - This file contains the help screens for L.EXE. It should be placed in the same directory as L.EXE for proper operation. L.EXE can function without this file but then help will not be available. *.LNK - These files are created by the program when you push the F2 key (see "Program Operation" for more info). These files are created in the directory where L.EXE is located regardless of the current directory. BC.EXE - The QuickBASIC compiler program versions 4.0 or 4.5. L.EXE has not been tested with earlier versions. LINK.EXE - As supplied with QuickBASIC. *.OBJ - These are the compiled source object files and stub files. BC will create these in the current directory. Link will then use these to create the finished program. *.LIB - The various library files. One is BCOM45.LIB, which is generally used for stand-alone EXE files. Toolbox kits often come in the form of libraries which can also be added. *.BAS - Your BASIC source files. *.MAK - If you use multiple modules QB will create a file with a .MAK extension containing a list of all modules included with your code. If it exists, L.EXE will read this file and add the specified modules to your program automatically. There is quite a bit to keep track of while compiling and linking programs. You can see that without a utility such as this creating stand-alones can be a grueling process. L.EXE can allow you to benefit from separate compiling and linking while shielding you from the rigors of such a process. The next section tells you how. SECTION TWO: Program Operation 2.1 Getting Started To start the program type "L" (without quotes) from the DOS prompt. This will start the program and display the main screen. You may also use the command line switches to alter the operation of the program. The command line options are: /Q - Select quiet mode. This will turn off the alarms present in L.EXE. Please note this will not silence the beeps given by BC.EXE should errors occur. /R Filename - will read a data file at start up. See the section on multiple data files for more information. /C Filename - will compile a data file in batch mode. See the section on command line operation for more information. The main screen is divided into three main sections of information that you will need to enter. Some fields are optional while others are required. To enter information just type it in. You can use the up/down arrow keys to move from field to field. Please note the text in the current field is in high intensity - this will help you distinguish the field you are in. While entering information you may use the insert/del keys as well as the left/right arrows. Let's now look at the top section of information. The top section consists of path information concerning your computer set up. It is necessary for L.EXE to know where you keep certain items. Please enter the path to your source file directory, the directory where you keep BC and LINK, your library directory, and where you keep stub files. When specifying paths the drive parameter is optional. For hard disk use both of the following examples are valid: c:\qb\basfiles \qb\library If you leave a path blank L.EXE will use the current directory. L.EXE is set up to allow maximum organization of your hard disk. If you are using a one or two drive system please see the sections dealing will those situations under "Compiling and Linking Your Program" elsewhere in this text. The middle section is where you specify your options for BC and LINK, what libraries you want to link with, and any stub files you may want to add to your program. The options for BC and LINK are in the form of command line switches. Specify these switches as though you were giving them on the command line (ie: /o /s /t for BC.EXE) There is one field for compiler options and two for link options. There are up to 27 different options you can specify for LINK, so the extra field has been added. You may use either of the link option fields or a combination of both. Next specify which libraries you wish to link with. Multiple libraries can be specified by separating each library in this field by a space. The libraries are presented to LINK in the order you give them. Giving a path with a library will override the path given in the top section. Stub files are any special purpose object files you may want to add to your program. These are object files such as NOCOM.OBJ, NOEM.OBJ, and SMALLERR.OBJ. By using object files such as these you can shrink the size of your code dramatically. If you plan to use multiple stub files be sure to separate each name in the field by a space. Giving a path with a stub file will override the path given in the top section. You can fit more names in each field by not giving an extension. Extensions are not necessary for any of the information you enter. L.EXE, BC, and LINK know what the extensions are and will add them for you. The final section is where you tell L.EXE what source file you wish to compile and the name you want to give it. The source name field is designed to accept only ONE file name. If your program consists of several separate modules QB will create a make file in your source directory containing all the modules to your program. L.EXE will read this file if it exists and add all the modules in the make file to your program. The compiler options you specify will be applied to all modules so they are all compiled the same. Consult your QB manual for more information about .MAK files. In the last field place the name you wish to give your program. If you desire the same name as your source file just leave this field blank. The extension .EXE is assumed. You may also enter a path to create the file in a different directory. 2.2 Multiple Data Files L.EXE can save the information you have entered into a data file. You may store a virtually unlimited number of different data files. After entering data press the F2 key. L.EXE will save the data into a file with the same name as your source file with the extension of ".LNK" in the same directory as L.EXE. You may then load this file at any time if you desire to recompile your program. If the source data field is blank, the program will create a data file called LINKER.LNK (the default data file). You can load a data file into the program in one of two ways. You may read a data file from the DOS command line using the command line switch /R like this: L /r datafile where datafile is name of the data file to read. The extension is not necessary. You may read a data file once the program is running by pressing the F3 key. This will produce a menu of the available data files. Use the arrow keys to highlight a data file to load and press ENTER. If you have more data files than will fit on the menu, scroll the menu by running the highlight bar off the menu. Press ESC if you decide not to read a data file. 2.3 Help Pressing the F1 key will activate L.EXE's help system. A small menu will appear in the middle of the screen listing the help topics available to you. Highlight the topic you want help on and press the ENTER key to see it. The help system is recursive so you may bring up the help menu while in help to view other subjects. At the bottom of each help screen are listed all your available options. Pressing ESC at any time will exit help and return you to the main screen. Please be sure that L.HLP is in the same directory as L.EXE or help will not be available! 2.4 Quiet Mode Operation Start the program with the /Q command line switch if you do not want to hear all the beeps and whistles from the program. This will silence everything with the exception of BC. BC.EXE is a separate program and cannot be silenced. 2.5 Color Configuration You may set your own color combinations by pressing F4. This will present a menu of the configurable options and two sample windows. Use the arrow keys to highlight the item you wish to change and press ENTER. This will produce a chart of the available color combinations. Use the arrow keys to select the color combination of your choice and press ENTER. You may exit the color chart without selecting a color by pressing ESC. After setting the colors you have three exiting options. Choose "Exit with old colors" to ignore all the changes you have made. If you select "Exit with new colors", the new colors will be in effect until you exit the program. "Write colors to disk" will create a file named L.CFG in the same directory as L.EXE. Doing this will set new default colors that will be read by L.EXE every time it starts. Use this to permanently set your new colors. 2.6 Text Editor Operation You may run a text editor directly from L.EXE by pressing ALT-E while at the main screen. This will invoke your text editor directly. There are no parameters passed to the editor. After exiting the editor you will be returned to the main screen. Press Ctrl-E to specify a different editor for use. This will allow you to use your favorite editor to work directly with your source code. Your default editor choice is saved when you save your color configuration (see the above section). 2.7 Other Information There are two other keys that have special meaning to L.EXE. Pressing ESC while at the main screen will exit the program. The TAB key will start the compiling/linking process, as covered in the next section. SECTION THREE: Compiling and Linking your Program 3.1 General Operation Now that you have entered all the necessary data to create your program, press the TAB key and let it fly. L.EXE will first locate your source file(s) and then call BC to compile them one at a time. If your program compiles with errors L.EXE will detect this condition and halt the process. You will then be brought back to the main screen where you may be able to correct the problem and then try it again. After a module has compiled without errors, L.EXE will clear the archive bit on the source file. When compiling, L.EXE first checks for the presence of an object file of the same name as the source. If this object file exists, L.EXE then checks the archive bit of the source code. If the archive bit is clear, L.EXE will skip compiling this module and continue with the next. This intelligent selection will really save time on large programs, because it will compile only those modules that need compiling. If everything compiles OK, L.EXE will then call LINK.EXE to link your program. L.EXE will set up the link call using the switches, libraries, and stub files you specified in the information section. Once again L.EXE will supervise the linking process and return you to the main screen if an error occurs. If your program links without errors L.EXE will automatically exit to DOS so you may try out your new program. 3.2 Single 5.25" Drive System: I'm not going to kid you here. Using a single drive system poses some serious limitations to your final program size. You will need three blank floppy disks. Label them A, B, and C, then set them up as follows: DISK A ------ COMMAND.COM L.EXE BC.EXE LINK.EXE Your source file(s) DISK B ------ BCOM40.LIB or BCOM45.LIB or Other run-time library Any toolbox library Any stub files DISK C ------ BLANK Start L.EXE from Disk A. Leave the paths to your source files, BC and LINK blank. Set the library and object file paths to "b:" (without quotes). Set the switches as you desire, but include the /PAU switch for LINK. After the above is done press the TAB key to start. When LINK starts you will be prompted to swap disks in drive a:. When LINK asks for the disk for drive b: insert your B disk. You will need to swap disks a couple of more times before the process is complete. Before LINK writes the final executable program, it will ask you to place a new disk in drive a:. Insert your final blank disk (DISK C) into your drive and push ENTER twice. The third disk will now contain your finished program. You can create an extra 42K of disk space if you start L.EXE from a different disk and eliminate it from DISK A. Once the main screen appears it is safe to remove the program diskette from the drive, although help will not be available. 3.3 Single 3.5" Drive System This configuration will give you much needed breathing room. You can do the entire process from one disk. However, if you follow the procedure for a 5.25" drive system (without the third blank disk) you can create programs of virtually unlimited size. You will still need to swap disks when prompted. 3.4 Dual Drive System (any size drives) The procedure is basically the same as a single drive system. The advantage here is no disk swapping should be needed. Put DISK A in drive a: and DISK B in drive b:. For two 5.25" drives I still recommend using the /PAU link option and a third blank disk. 3.5 Hard Disk System Here is where you will receive the full benefit of L.EXE's services. You are encouraged to separate different type files into their own subdirectories. Doing so will make finding different files much easier as well as cleaning your QB directory up quite nicely. QuickBASIC itself can be set up to use multiple sub directories. I believe this promotes good hard disk organization. Another advantage is the speed. L.EXE can compile and link your program about three times as fast on a hard disk as on floppies. Yet another advantage is in the additions you can make to your program. Some toolbox kits will not fit on a floppy disk along with a run-time library. Using a hard disk means you can use two, three, or more libraries and three or four stub files without fear of the "Disk Full" error. To use L.EXE on a hard disk just enter the path information into the proper areas and use it. L.EXE was designed to be run from a directory in your PATH on an empty directory. You are still free to choose the method that suits you best. 3.6 Command Line Operation L.EXE can operate in batch mode for use in batch files. This requires a data file that contains enough information to compile and link a program. Invoke batch mode by using the /C command line switch like this: L /c datafile where datafile is the name of the data file describing the source code you wish to compile and link. When started in this manner, L.EXE will first examine the file for accuracy, and then immediately compile and link your program. Should any errors occur L.EXE will set the DOS ERRORLEVEL to a value of 50. You may then test for this condition to determine the success of the operation. At no time during batch operation will the main screen be shown. If an error occurs, the process of compiling and linking is halted and the program exits with the ERRORLEVEL set. Any error at all will print an error message and exit. SECTION FOUR: Other Information 4.1 Site License Agreement This program is distributed by the Shareware concept. It is not free. You are granted limited license to use L.EXE on your system to determine its suitability. You are encouraged to give L.EXE to your friends and upload it on your favorite BBS provided you adhere to these terms: You cannot charge a fee for the program. You may charge a distribution fee if you advise users this fee is for distri- bution purposes only and not for the program itself. You must include all the files included with this package in complete and unmodified form. If you find this utility helpful and plan to use it on your system, please register your copy. Registration provides complete support for this program, update notices, and the latest version on disk. The registration form is in the text file REGISTER.DOC included with this package. 4.2 Disclaimer This program is supplied as-is, with no warranty of any kind either written or implied. Sequential Software Ltd. and Robin Duffy can assume no liability for any damages (either real or imagined) resulting from the use of this software. Furthermore, we make no guarantee as to the suitability of this software for any purpose. 4.3 Final Words I would like to thank you for trying this program. BASIC has an undeserved stigma of not being a real language. I, in my own little way, hope to erase this stigma and reveal BASIC as a valid tool to create useful applications. Perhaps a make utility such as this will provide flexibility to programmers, who in turn can get the most from their programs in terms of size and speed. Perhaps you are one of these programmers. SUPPORT SHAREWARE!