JP Software 4DOS for Windows NT Update Documentation Version 2.52 -- April 17, 1996 [Copyright 1988 - 1996, JP Software Inc., All Rights Reserved. Published by JP Software Inc., P.O. Box 1470, E. Arlington, MA 02174 USA, (617) 646-3975. 4DOS is a registered trademark of JP Software Inc. Windows NT is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation. Other product and company names are trademarks of their respective owners.] [PLEASE NOTE: This product is named "4DOS", and this version is more fully described as "4DOS for the Windows NT Operating System". For brevity, in this file and throughout our documentation we refer to "4DOS for Windows NT", to "4DOS/NT", or to the program file name, 4NT.EXE or 4NT. When "4DOS" is used by itself the reference is to our DOS product. See ORDERINF.DOC for information on 4DOS, 4OS2, and all JP Software products.] Check through this file for a comprehensive list of what's changed since version 2.51. Additional documentation on new features is in the online help. Information about product changes before version 2.51 may be viewed at our web page (http://www.jpsoft.com) by selecting 4DOS for Windows NT and then Product History. Many product history files are also available in our Compuserve forum (GO PCVENB or GO JPSOFT, library 10 / JP Software, look for files named UPxxxxxx.ZIP). Some of the descriptions below may be more detailed than you need; if you aren't using a feature, feel free to skip to the next item. If you are new to 4OS2 with version 2.52, you can skip this file entirely, and begin with the 4OS2 Introduction and Installation Guide. This file is divided into the following sections: General Features Variables and Variable Functions Startup / Initialization Command Changes Command Line Editing Technical, Compatibility, Bug Fixes Major new features and those which affect most users are marked with "**" in the lists below. Other items discuss smaller or more technical changes. This file is formatted at 58 lines per page, and contains form feeds and page footers. It can be viewed with a file viewer such as the 4DOS/NT LIST command, or printed on most PC printers using the command: copy updat252.doc prn Printing it with a program that formats the pages is not likely to work due to the formatting included in the file. (04/96-2.52) 4DOS/NT 2.52 [04-17-96] UPDAT252.DOC page 1 4DOS/NT 2.52 Change List General Features ---------------- ==> ** File searches on FAT drives now look for long filenames and then short filenames. For example, suppose you have two files on your system: Long Name Short Name ------------------ ------------------ My Letter.DAT MYLETT~1.DAT Files.DAT MYFILES.DAT A search for MY*.DAT will now find both files; previously it would find only the first file. This was done to improve compatibility with CMD.EXE and to make the results more intuitive. CAUTION: Extra care should be taken performing certain commands on long filenames (e.g. using wildcards to delete or move files), as they may now affect files with short names as well. For example, DEL *1 will delete all files whose names end in "1". Because short filenames generated by Windows NT end in "~1", such a command would delete all of those files -- probably not the result you wanted. ==> ** Increased the maximum history size from 8K to 32K. Startup and Initialization Changes ---------------------------------- ==> Added a new .INI directive: AppendToDir = [Yes | NO]: If set to "Yes", TCMD will append a trailing \ to directory names when doing filename completion. Command Line Editing Changes ---------------------------- ==> ** A Ctrl-A on the command line during filename expansion on FAT 4DOS/NT 2.52 [04-17-96] UPDAT252.DOC page 2 drives will toggle the returned filename between long filename (LFN) and the traditional short name (SFN) format. The default is LFN format; if you switch to SFN format the change will only remain in effect for the current filename expansion. Any new expansion sequence later on the command line will start in LFN format, and can be toggled to SFN format with another Ctrl-A. Internal Variables and Variable Functions ----------------------------------------- ==> @ALTNAME: Now returns a shortened pathname if you provide a path (and you're running NT 3.51+). If you only give a filename, or if you're running NT 3.5, @ALTNAME will return just the shortened filename part. ==> @EXT: Increased the maximum length returned to 64 characters. Command Changes --------------- ==> ** SHRALIAS: Rewritten as a mixed internal/external command, rather than just an external program. You must now run the internal command, not the external program, and make sure that SHRALIAS.EXE is in the 4DOS/NT directory or in your path. To convert from the previous version of SHRALIAS, remove the extension and path from any SHRALIAS reference, so that the internal command is used (you can no longer run the external SHRALIAS.EXE directly). The internal SHRALIAS /U command may be used to unload SHRALIAS.EXE. ==> FOR: Enabled extended parent directory names. Technical, Compatibility, and Bug Fixes --------------------------------------- ==> Added a check for escaped characters in a redirected filename. ==> Added support for drives over 2GB in DIR, FREE, %@DISKFREE, etc. ==> DESCRIPT.ION now allows either a space, tab, or comma as the delimiter between the filename and the description (for compatibility with some third-party description files). ==> Fixed a rare problem when piping from an internal command that didn't support command grouping, to an internal or external command that ended with a '('. 4DOS/NT 2.52 [04-17-96] UPDAT252.DOC page 3 ==> Fixed a problem with multiple pipes where the first command being piped to was an external console-mode application (e.g. DIR | SORT | TEE FILE.DAT). ==> Fixed a minor problem with pipes of the form "prog1 | *prog2". ==> Fixed a problem with NUL characters in batch files. ==> Fixed a problem with files executed via executable extensions. Double quotes are now added if the name contains whitespace. ==> The PATH search routine now queries if the specified drive is ready before attempting to find the external command, to avoid a critical error message. ==> Worked around a Windows NT bug that was causing 4DOS/NT's memory usage to sporadically (but continually) increase during a session. ==> Worked around a Windows NT bug that would occasionally cause 4DOS/NT to crash after an ENDLOCAL. ==> DO: Now allows embedded equal signs in a test condition. ==> FOR: Fixed a problem with include lists in the FOR arguments. ==> IF: Added a work-around for constructs like: if 1 == 0 echo foo && echo bar to emulate CMD.EXE's (undocumented) behavior of basing the && condition on the result of the IF test. ==> INPUT: Fixed a problem with using INPUT /E in a transient shell and solved a problem with INPUT /W /E which prevented the existing value from being displayed unless you pressed a key. ==> LIST: Fixed a sporadic problem with Find with wrapping on. Also improved LIST's ability to find the end of each line properly in files with unusual line terminations (e.g. CR or LF alone, LF/CR, CR/CR/LF, etc.). ==> MD: Fixed a problem with /S and UNC names. 4DOS/NT 2.52 [04-17-96] UPDAT252.DOC page 4