COMMAND! Windowed Command Line Interpreter demo version 1.2 Introduction: Thank you for downloading the COMMAND! demo version 1.2. We hope that you find it useful and easy to use. The complete version is available directly from us, or from your dealer. The suggested list price is only $19.95 US or $24.95 Canadian. Of course, your dealer may sell it for less. COMMAND! is a full function Command Line Interpreter (CLI). For the inexperienced, a CLI is what is used in most MS-DOS and Unix environments to enter commands to the operating system. These commands can include such things as the display of directory information, the renaming of files, or execution of other programs. COMMAND! differs from other CLIs in that it works within a GEM window. This gives you the ability to scroll back and view the results of previous commands. It can be run as either an accessory or a program. When run as an accessory, it is immediately available within any program that supports the GEM menu bar. Features: Running COMMAND! can be a life saver when used with many programs. Ever been trying to save some work within a word processor and found that your target disk was full? Did the word processor support such things as rename, delete, or format? If it didn't, did you have to scrap all the changes to your work? Well, no more with COMMAND!. As long as the program that you are using is GEM driven, then you can use COMMAND! to delete unwanted files, rename important work, or format a new diskette. Ever found yourself searching for a filename to include in your programming source code? Use COMMAND! to do a directory search, or even have it to pull up the file selector for your search. A place where COMMAND! is really useful is in copying, deleting, or renaming a large number of files. If you wanted to copy 80 files from drive C: to drive A: that all have the extension of .C, all you would have to do is type COPY C:\*.C A:. If you wanted to copy all of those files with the desktop, you would probably have to select about 10 at a time. This would take a series of eight actions with the desktop, each one looping the appropriate files, dragging them to the destination, then scrolling down to get the next group. When run as an accessory, COMMAND! allows you to execute other programs as long as they do not use the GEM menu bar. This can be very handy for uncompressing archived files. When run as a program, COMMAND! allows you to execute ANY program. You can even use COMMAND! as a replacement for the GEM desktop. In addition to all the standard CLI features, COMMAND! allows you to have a configuration file. This file can be used to choose the opening location of the COMMAND! window, as well as its min/max size. You can even set the PF keys to whatever you want. Most of the PF keys already have a default that you can use for scrolling up/down, and left/right pages, retrieving the last command entered, or fulling the window. But wait, there's more: For all you memory hogs out there, COMMAND! allows you to specify the number of rows and columns that your window will store. When the window is closed, the memory is freed! No need to worry about memory utilization, even on a 520ST. We have done our best to make the program as small and as fast as possible, and we will continue to add features as long as we can maintain this goal. COMMAND! does not format floppy disks itself. While writing the program we came upon DC Formatter from Double Click Software. This is a shareware program that does everything that we have ever wanted (and more) in a format program. Since COMMAND! can execute this program, you can now format floppies from within any GEM program! As with any program that uses the VDI call v_gtext, COMMAND! can be sped up by a screen accelerator. We recommend Quick ST II by Branch Always Software. We are currently working on improving COMMAND! so that it runs even faster than it does now. System Requirements: COMMAND! will run on any ST, with either colour or monochrome monitors. It has been tested on an STe running TOS 1.6. Upgrades: As they become available, upgrades can be obtained by mailing in the original disk plus $3.00. Anouncements will be made on the major online services. Contents: Your COMMAND! archive contains three files: CMDDEMO.ACC, COMMAND.INF, and this file CMDDEMO.TXT. Installation: Copy CMDDEMO.ACC and optionally COMMAND.INF into the root directory of your boot disk. Reboot your machine. Select COMMAND! Demo under the desk accessory column of your menu. The file COMMAND.INF contains optional startup parameters. Below is the sample that comes with the demo. line_space=1 number of scan lines between rows of text max_width=75 maximum width of window max_height=18 maximum height of window max_rows=60 maximum # of rows in window's buffer max_cols=120 maximum # of columns in window's buffer x_coord=20 x coordinate of window upon opening y_coord=5 y coordinate of window upon opening init_width=40 initial width of window init_height=12 initial height of window min_width=30 smallest width that window may have min_height=8 smallest height that window may have pfkey05=dir set PF key 5 to issue the directory command Features supported in the demo version: drives A: B: C: D: E: F: G: H: I: J: K: L: M: N: O: P: (if installed) CD -- change directory CLS -- clear screen DFREE -- display disk free space DIR -- directory FREE -- display free memory FSEL -- pull up file selector HELP -- list of available commands KEYS -- display PF key settings PRINT -- direct output to printer QUIT -- quit COMMAND! RD -- remove directory RENAME -- rename file(s) SCREEN -- direct output to screen SVER -- show TOS and GEM versions TIME -- set system clock TYPE -- dump contents of file UPDATE -- update files time and date stamps VER -- display version of COMMAND! execute .TOS or .TTP programs and (optionally) use redirection Differences between the demo and retail versions of COMMAND!: The following additional commands are supported; ATTR -- change files attributes (eg. read only, hidden) COPY -- copy file(s) DATE -- set system date DELETE -- delete file(s) ERASE -- erase file(s) MD -- make subdirectories MOVE -- move file(s) SET -- set system variables VERIFY -- turn floppy disk verify on or off Execute .PRG or .APP programs. Run batch files. The ability to run COMMAND! as a program. Includes a non-GEM version of COMMAND! (even smaller code size!) The "About COMMAND!" dialog box does not automatically come up when you select COMMAND! from the menu bar. The pricing info is removed from the window, giving you one more line to display. Usage: If you have used a command line interpreter before, you will find COMMAND! to be quite familiar. If you haven't, then not to worry, for it is quite easy to learn. Scrolling, sizing, moving, fulling, and closing the window are the same as all other GEM programs. When you first open the COMMAND! window, you are greeted with the version number information, followed by the command prompt. You will see the currently active disk drive and subdirectory followed by a greater than sign, and an underscore. The underscore is the cursor. As you type characters, they will appear within the window. To change to another disk drive, type its letter, followed by a colon, and press return. eg. B: (return). Valid drive letters are A: through P: (only if installed). Pressing the backspace key, or the left arrow key can be used to delete unwanted characters. Pressing the F3 key repeats the last command. Pressing either the F1 key, or the right arrow, repeats individual keystrokes. CD -- change current directory. usage: CD [folder] (return) The system returns a new prompt show the new directory. note: A leading backslash (\) means the root directory of the current drive. Two dots (..) means the parent directory. CLS -- clears the screen, clears the buffer, and draws the prompt. usage: CLS (return) DIR -- display a directory's contents. usage: DIR [filespec] (return) Filespec is optional, default is all files, and may include the wilcards * and ?. eg. DIR *.PRG (return) DIR (return) DFREE -- display amount of free space on a disk. usage: DFREE [drive] (return) Drive is optional, and defaults to the current drive. eg: DFREE (return) DFREE C (return) FREE -- display the size of the largest block of free RAM. usage: FREE (return) System responds with largest RAM size. FSEL -- call the GEM file selector. usage: FSEL (return) System responds with the selected path and file. HELP -- lists the valid commands. usage: HELP (return) or ? (return) System responds with a list of commands. KEYS -- lists the current PF keys. usage: KEYS (return) System responds with a list of keys. PRINT -- routes output from COMMAND! to the printer. usage: PRINT (return) System sends a message to the printer. QUIT -- quits COMMAND!, and frees its buffer space. usage: QUIT (return) Window closes, and if running as a program, ends. RD -- removes a subdirectory from a disk. usage: RD[subdirectory] (return) System responds with success notification. note: Subdirectories must be free of all files and other sub- directories in order for RD to work. eg: RD\AUTO RENAME -- renames file(s) on a disk. usage: RENAME [filespec1] [filespec2] (return) Both filespecs are mandatory and may include the wilcards * and ? eg: RENAME README.DOC README.TXT (return) RENAME *.C *.B SCREEN -- routes output from COMMAND! to the screen. usage: SCREEN (return) System sends a message to the screen SVER -- reports the version of GEM and TOS. usage: SVER (return) System responds with version information. TIME -- change the ST's internal time. usage: TIME (return) The system states the current time, and prompts you for the new time in the form hh:mm. You must use the colon (:) to separate between hours and minutes. If you do not want to change the time, then just press (return). TYPE -- dumps contents of file to the current output device. usage: TYPE [filespec] (return) Filespec is mandatory. eg: TYPE README.DOC UPDATE -- updates a files time and date stamps to the current values. usage: UPDATE [filespec] (return) Filespec is mandatory. eg: UPDATE README.DOC VER -- displays the current version number of COMMAND!. usage: VER (return) System responds with version number. program name -- runs a .TOS or .TTP program usage: [program name] [parameter list] [outfile] (return) System executes program. eg: ARCX.TTP FILE.ARC Just a note about wildcards: The character (?) means any character, while the character (*) means any characters after this point. For example: TEST?A.PRG will match with TEST1A.PRG, TEST2A.PRG, TESTAA.PRG. However TEST*.PRG will math with TESTABC.PRG, TEST.PRG, as well as all of the above. Summary: So, for only $19.95 US, you get a fast, efficient utility, that can be run either as an accessory or a program. You also get a non-GEM version of COMMAND! which uses even less memory. Updates are only $3.00, and we plan on adding more features in future releases. Included on the disk will be the latest version of Double Click's shareware DC Formatter, and a demo version of Branch Always Software's Quick ST II. If you wish to order from us, send a cheque or money order for the appropriate amount plus $2.00 postage and handling to: Intrinsic Software 15 Gamble Avenue #208 Toronto, Ontario M4K 2H3 ORDER YOURS TODAY!!! We can be contacted by mail at the above address, or by phone or E-mail at: (416) 421-1494 Compuserve 74007,1757 GEnie D.LEWIS19 Disclaimer: Intrinsic Software has tested this product as thoroughly as possible, and has found no problems with it. Due to the nature of the product, and its ability to delete or alter data files, we cannot be responsible for any damages resulting from the use or misuse of this software. It remains the users responsibility to provide backup of important files. Intrinsic Software makes no warranties, either expressed or implied, with respect to fitness for any particular purpose. Copyright: CMDDEMO.ACC, and CMDDEMO.TXT are Copyright (c) 1990 by Intrinsic Software, and are a part of the COMMAND! demo. All Rights Reserved. It may be freely distributed as long as there is no charge for its distribution other than a nominal fee for a disk and mailing charges, or for current download rates. It may not be modified or included as a part of another program.