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Inside GEM

Mark Wherry investigates the latest developments in the GEMScript world...

New GEMScript Interpreter

Harald Becker has programmed a new GEMScript interpreter called GSExec which has been released as fairware. Like Scripter, GSExec is based upon a C-like syntax and supports many powerful features such as variables, macros and an include directive. Although the package is German, the program itself is pretty much language independent, although you may struggle with the comprehensive German hypertext - come in TransAction!

** GSHYP.GIF here **
** ELIZA.GIF here **

Several example scripts are included to show what is possible, including a version of the popular Eliza computer psychiatrist. If you have a bit of programming experience, you should have no problem in getting to grips with the syntax whether you speak German or not! Harald can be contacted at:

hbecker@atari-computer.de

GS CLI

MetaDOS guru Julian Reschke recently released a beta version of a command line utility called GSC which enables GEMScript aware programs to be controlled from within a command line shell such as Mupfel. Both GSC and Mupfel can be downloaded from Julian's web pages at:

http://www.muenster.de/~reschke.

Simple Script News

I'm embarrassed to admit the German release of one of my own projects, Simple Script v1.3, has been available for some time while the English release languished on my hard disk! To try to make amends I've posted an English beta of Simple Script v2 on my webpages at:

http://www.rvmp.co.uk/ss2/

Simple Script, as the name suggests, is a simple GEMScript interpreter made available as freeware. Previous releases featured a C-like scripting language but, because there are now two other similar programs available, I've adapted Simple Script so it features a BASIC-like syntax. Simple Script has also been re-programmed for development using Pure Pascal and I've also switched GEMTrade development to Pure Pascal - which happily fixed a long-standing bug.

** GT3.GIF here **

Simple Script v2 also includes some useful built-in commands for the AV protocol so that non-GS aware applications can still be controlled, to a degree. Other commands include support for a text feedback window via the standard BASIC "print" command.

ENCHANTing

Paul Jones is considering adding GEMScript support to the ENCHANT project he jointly developed with Matthew Bacon for HiSoft BASIC programmers. This would be a great step forward in the acceptance of the protocol, so if you'd like to make encouraging noises email Paul at:

paul.jones31@virgin.net

Macro Madness

Arguably one of the most fascinating features of the GEMScript protocol is the macro support. In the past, we've talked about how you can write scripts containing a list of instructions that via a GEMScript interpreter can control applications. All very well but I can bet there are some people reading this who break out into a sweat just thinking about writing a script [Ed: You don't say]! What we need is a way to generate scripts semi-automatically - ideally just by using the program as normal...

Word 97 (or later) users may have noticed it (and some other applications) can record a set of user actions and replay it subsequently to carry out repetitive tasks. And before I get flamed, I know there are a few Atari applications which offer this capability, so why did I mention Word?

In Word recorded actions are stored in a user-editable format - a set of instructions written in the Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) language. The resulting script can then be edited by the user or stored away for later use.

What we need is something similar on the Atari platform I'm pleased to report Scripter and a utility called GS-Record can record instructions in a script format that can be replayed through Scripter. However, in order for this to work, the application has to be able to send the user's actions to the macro recording program. For the programmer of an application, this is easy to implement - essentially, when a user does something, all the programmer has to do is tell the recording program what has happened. When Scripter (or similar package) replays the recorded macro, your application merely handles GS commands in the normal way and no additional coding is needed.

** SSMR.GIF here **


I'll be adding this to the next release of GEMTrade, coupled with a little utility called the Simple Script Macro Recorder - I'll leave you to figure out what that does! In the meantime it would be great if other application developers joined the fun. Finally, if you have any comments or questions please do get in touch with me at:

** BC **
mark@ataricomputing.com
http://www.rvmp.co.uk/igem/
** /BC **