************ PS4DOS v.1.3 ************ * PS for DOS - DOS Tools * * (c) 1996 Pablo Ayllon * ************************************** 1.INTRODUCTION. PS4DOS v.1.3 is a set of tools designed to improve DOS command line features. This pack contains following DOS commands: BEEP v.1.2 Beeps the speaker. CDD v.1.2 Changes current drive and directory. DIRS v.1.1 Displays the current directory stack. DRAWBOX v.1.2 Draws a box or a window on the screen. DRAWHLN v.1.1 Draws a horizontal line on the screen. DRAWVLN v.1.1 Draws a vertical line on the screen. FREE v.1.1 Reports disk space status. POPD v.1.2 Recovers a directory from the stack and makes it default. PUSHD v.1.2 Stores current drive and directory into the stack. PWD v.1.2 Displays current drive and directory. SCREEN v.1.2 Locates the cursor on the screen. STRIKE v.1.3 Stops a batch process for a lapse of time. These above commands are mainly 4DOS style. I intend to give traditional DOS users some of the great features of that cool command processor. Although not equal they behave similar with minor differences. Probably native 4DOS commands will be faster and some options or flags may differ or may be omitted, check it out with the command-line help. 2.DESCRIPTION. All commands accepts /? or /h for command-line help. Values between brackets [] are optional. 2.1 BEEP. Beeps the internal PC speaker. If during the beeps the user presses any key the program stops and reports and ERRORLEVEL equal to one (1), otherwise the ERRORLEVEL should be zero (0). Command line options: [/Fnn] Beeps a tone of nn hertz of frequency. [/Lnn] Length of beep in nn/18 second intervals. [/Tnn] Repites the beep nn times. [/Wnn] Waits nn/18 second intervals between beeps. Frequency can be in a range of 1-20000 hz. The beep can be repeated no more than 600 times, while the length of the beep and the pause between beeps can be a maximun of 1080/18 second intervals, this is, 60 seconds. Use a non audible beep of 1 hertz to insert a short delay in a batch process. Default frequency is 440 hz for an only beep of 1/18 seconds. Example: BEEP /F800 /L9 /T3 /W5 2.2 CDD. Changes current drive and directory. This command behaves like CD standard DOS command but it can change the working drive as well. Also you can make use of a CDPATH environment variable the same way you use the PATH enviroment variable. CDPATH cannot be longer than 255 characters. Example: SET CDPATH=c:\;c:\programs;c:\windows If under PROGRAMS directory there is another directory called AUDIO, you can type wherever you are CDD AUDIO to go there. Search priority in CDPATH is equal as in PATH, the first to find, the first to go. Command line options: [pathname] The name of the new default drive and directory. Example: CDD A:\WORK 2.3 DIRS. Displays the current directory lifo stack (Last In First Out) where PUSHD command stores the pathnames that will be used by POPD to return to previous directories. Uppest value in directory stack is last entry, lowest value is first entry. Command line options: (none). Refer to POPD (2.8) and PUSHD (2.9) below in this document for further information. Example: DIRS 2.4 DRAWBOX. Draws a box or a window on the screen. The difference between a box and a windows is that a box only draws the borders while a window erases the contents inside the box. Command line options: ulrop Row for upper left corner. ulcol Column for upper left corner. lrrow Row for lower rigth corner. lrcol Column for lower right corner. [/B] Draws a bold box. [/D] Draws a double line style box. [/W] Draws a window instead of a box. Corners values must be between ulrop=1, ulcol=1 for upper left corner and lrrow=25, lrcol=80 for lower right corner. Example: DRAWBOX 5 10 15 45 /B /D 2.5 DRAWHLN. Draws a horizontal line on the screen. Command line options: row Starting row. column Starting column. length Length of line. [/B] Draws a bold line. [/D] Draws a double style line. Starting row must between 1 and 25, starting column must be between 1 and 80 and, of course, length must be at least 1 but length plus starting column cannnot be higher than 80. Example: DRAWHLN 10 15 20 /B /D 2.6 DRAWVLN. Draws a vertical line on the screen. Command line options: row Starting row. column Starting column. length Length of line. [/B] Draws a bold line. [/D] Draws a double style line. Starting row must between 1 and 25, starting column must be between 1 and 80 and, of course, length must be at least 1 but length plus starting row cannot be higher than 25. Example: DRAWHLN 5 50 15 /B /D 2.7 FREE. Reports disk space status. This command reports the same information as CHKDSK DOS command but without the wait since it does not check disk structure and integrity. Multiples disk drives can be especified at one time. Command line options: [drive(s)] One or more drives to include in the report. Example: FREE C: D: 2.8 POPD. Recovers a directory from the stack and makes it default. PUSHD creates a directory stack where it stores pathnames in a file named PUSHD.DAT, these pathnames will be read by POPD and then it will change the current drive and directory. Command line options: [*] Clears the directory stack. Whenever you want to clean the directory stack use POPD with * flag, otherwise use POPD alone to change current drive and directory to last entry (uppest) in PUSHD.DAT Refer to DIRS (2.3) above and PUSHD (2.9) below in this document for further information. Example: POPD * 2.9 PUSHD. Stores current drive and directory into the stack. This way it is extremily easy to return to a directory by simply typing POPD after several commands. PUSHD, POPD and DIRS make use of a file named PUSHD.DAT where the directory stack is stored, the location of this file can be set with a PUSHD environment variable. Example: SET PUSHD=C:\TEMP Otherwise, if no SET PUSHD sentence is typed, this three programs will used the directory from where they are executed to write and read PUSHD.DAT, so keep in mind to place them in the same directory if you don't want unpredictible behaviour. The file PUSHD.DAT will be created by PUSHD if it doesn't exist. Command line options: [pathname] The name of the new default drive and directory. Optionally PUSHD can change the current drive and directory prior to store pathnames in the stack file, this way you can save a CD or CDD instruction. Refer to DIRS (2.3) and POPD (2.8) above in this document for further information. Example: PUSHD d:\document Follow this complete example to see how works the directory stack: Let's start supossing you are in TEMP dir. C:\TEMP>POPD * (To clean the directory stack, this is optional) C:\TEMP>PUSHD C:\PROGRAMS C:\PROGRAMS>DIRS c:\temp C:\PROGRAMS>PUSHD D:\TEMP\WORK D:\TEMP\WORK>DIRS c:\programs c:\temp D:\TEMP\WORK>PUSHD } A command can be saved by typing } PUSHD A:\WORK\TEXT D:\TEMP\WORK>CDD A:\DOCS } instead of these two commands A:\DOCS>DIRS d:\temp\work c:\programs c:\temp A:\DOCS>POPD D:\TEMP\WORK>POPD C:\PROGRAMS>DIRS c:\temp C:\PROGRAMS>POPD C:\TEMP> (directory stack is empty) 2.10 PWD. Displays current drive and directory. Command line options: (none). Example: PWD 2.11 SCREEN. Locates the cursor on the screen. Command line options: row Row location for the cursor. column Column location for the cursor. [text] Text to display at the new cursor location. [/B] Displays bold text. Row must be between 1 and 25 while columm must be between 1 and 80. Example: SCREEN 10 40 /B Hi World! 2.12 STRIKE. Stops a batch process for a lapse of time. If the count reaches end time the command reports and ERRORLEVEL equal to zero (0), while if the user presses a key while counting it returns an ERRORLEVEL equal to one (1). Command line options: [text] Text to display. [/B] Displays bold text. [/Lnn] Waits nn seconds to continue with batch process if no key is pressed. [/Rnn] Row location for the text to display. [/Cnn] Column location for the text to display. Row values can be from 1 to 25 and column values from 1 to 80. Maximun time to wait is 60 seconds, especify no time value for an unlimited waiting. Example: STRIKE Please press a key to continue /B /L15 /R5 /C10 3.WHAT'S NEW. Some little fixes has been done to previous version. In this version the restriction of needing an 80286 processor as minimun has been disabled, now they run in every 80x86 processor or compatible. 4.COPYRIGHT. All tools included in this package (Beep, Dirs, Cdd, Drawbox, Drawhln, Drawvln, Free, Popd, Pushd, Pwd, Screen and Strike) are programs written by the author. The propierty of these programs belong to the author. No modifications are allowed. Mention of other products are only for informational purposes. 4DOS is published by JP Software Inc. 5.DISCLAIMER. The author of this software DOES NOT ACCEPT ANY RESPONSIBILITIES for damages resulting from the use of the program and make NO WARRANTY or representation, either express or implied, including but not limited to, any implied warranty of merchantability of fitness for a particular purpose. The software and related documentation are provided "AS IS" and the users assume all risks when using it. 6.DISTRIBUTION. PS4DOS v.1.3 with all the tools included (Beep, Dirs, Cdd, Drawbox, Drawhln, Drawvln, Free, Popd, Pushd, Pwd, Screen and Strike) is FREEWARE. PS4DOS v.1.3 may be freely distribute, so long no modifications are made and no money is ever charged for the package or it's components. It can be uploaded to BBS, FTP or WWW sites, Usenet newsgroups, or distribute in CD-ROM disks, diskettes or any other media provided you distribute them in their original form with all files intact and give the author credit. Please, distribute only the full package. 7.HOW TO CONTACT. If you like these programs or have any suggestion or comment, please let me know by sending me an e-mail or a netmail to: ayllonp@mundivia.es netmail 2:344/31.14 Pablo Ayllon, December, 1996 Member of ACCE (Cantabrian Electronic Mail Association) Homepage http://personales.mundivia.es/personales/ayllonp/ Made in Spain. A splendid time is guaranteed for all.