ÉÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ» º º º ÜÛÛÜ ÜÛÛÜ ÜÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÜ ÜÜÛÛÛÛÜÜ ÛÛÛÜ ÜÛÛÛÛ ÜÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÜ ÜÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÜ º º ÛÛÛÛÛ ÛÛÛÛÛ ÛÛÛÛ ÛÛÛÛ ÜÛÛÛÛßßßÛÛÛÜ ßÛÛÛÛÜÛÛÛÛß ÛÛÛß ßßß ÛÛÛÛÛÜ ßÛÛÛ º º ÛÛÛÛÛ ÛÛÛÛÛ ÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛß ÛÛÛÛ ÛÛÛ ßÛÛÛÛÛß ÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÜ ÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÜÜ º º ÛÛÛÛÛÜ ÜÛÛÛÛÛ ÛÛÛÛßßßÛÛÛÜ ÛÛÛÛ v1.0ÛÛÛ ÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÜ ÛÛÛßßßß ßßßÛÛÛÛÛÜ º º ÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛ ÛÛÛÛÜÜÜÛÛÛÛÛ ßÛÛÛÛÜÜÜÛÛÛß ÜÛÛÛÛßßÛÛÛÛÜ ÛÛÛÜ ÜÛß ÛÛÛÛÜÜÜÛÛÛÛÛ º º ßÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛß ßÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛß ßßÛÛÛÛßß ÛÛÛß ßÛÛÛ ßÛÛÛÛÛÛß ßÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛß º º º º Colorful Underwear message BOXES º º ßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßß º ÈÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍͼ Supposedly most people like colorful boxed batch messages and still run echoed lines in grey on black. For good reasons, too. It's a pain in the ANSI to create them with ANSI codes and even without them but with a variable in the message... ECHO ÉÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ» ECHO º This is directory %1 º ECHO ÈÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍͼ you will wind up with a display like this... ÉÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ» º This is directory C:\DOS\UTIL º ÈÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍͼ That's when the tiny UBOXES (only 500 bytes) come in. For a 4 color boxed centered display of above message you would need to write only UBOX1 This is directory %1 ÉÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ» º UBOX types º ÈÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍͼ UBOX1 = standard double framed colored box UBOX2 = standard box clearing the screen before message display UBOX3 = box with built-in background filler and color UBOX4 = like UBOX1 but waiting for a keystroke after display UBOX5 = like UBOX2 but waiting for a keystroke after display UBOX6 = like UBOX3 but waiting for a keystroke after display Usage: UBOX1 (message) [Enter] Calling an UBOX from the command line without anything will come up with the request úType and Enterú meaning exactly what it says. The maximum length for the message is 76 characters. You could try e.g. UBOX3 Long live the Freedom of the command line! [Enter] Since UBOXES disable blinking colors for box frames and messages they can take extended colors instead. Run one of the UBOXES with an úEú as a last letter to see what I mean. Reading and running UB-DEMO.BAT will give you the general idea, how UBOXES could be used. Replacing some ECHO commands with UBOX lines in your ALREADY EXISTING BATCH FILES will help you to find out, which types of UBOXES suit best your needs. UBOXES work in any text mode and can be emphasized with screen fonts like provided DUKE-M.COM and ROMA-R.COM. DUKE-M belongs to the UMFONT series úMildly Magnifiedú and displays in 21 rows mode, whereas ROMA-R úReasonably reducedú comes along with 28 rows. Type DUKE-M ? for some help lines. For resetting the fonts when loaded in non-resident mode use RFP.COM. RFP will reenable blinking colors, too. For short descriptions of UMFONT types and styles as well as related archives refer to UMF-SUPP.LST. ÉÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ» º Creating UBOXES of your own º ÈÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍͼ All other than extended color UBOXES (with an úEú) display box frames in bright yellow on black and messages in black on cyan or bright cyan on black plus bright cyan on magenta. Since I'm not all that enthusiastic about the idea to produce a color changing 20 Kb .EXE for 500 bytes .COM files, I converted each UBOX1-6.COM into a corresponding DEBUG listing BTYPE1-6.SCR, which can be easily modified for creating UBOXES with colors and fillers of your choice. Thus the modified BTYPE1.SCR will generate a BTYPE1.COM in UBOX1.COM style and so on. All you need for this is a text editor with a find and replace feature (even DOS' awkward EDIT.COM will do­) and DEBUG.EXE in your DOS command path. You'll find instructions at the end of each .SCR file. Let's take for example listing BTYPE1.SCR ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ N BTYPE1.COM E 0100 B4 02 32 FF BA 00 0B CD 10 EB 5F 90 55 42 4F 58 E 0110 31 20 76 31 2E 30 20 2D 20 55 4E 44 45 52 57 45 E 0120 41 52 20 62 6F 78 20 2D 20 74 79 70 65 20 31 00 E 0130 0D 0A 55 42 4F 58 31 20 CD CD 10 20 20 54 79 70 E 0140 65 20 61 6E 64 20 45 6E 74 65 72 20 20 20 24 1A E 0150 00 00 42 6F 78 61 6E 66 61 6E 67 C9 CD BB BA BA E 0160 C8 CD BC 42 6F 78 65 6E 64 65 A0 80 00 3C 00 75 E 0170 03 E9 A3 00 32 ED 8A C8 A2 50 01 D0 E8 B3 26 2A E 0180 D8 88 1E 51 01 E8 A0 00 A0 5B 01 B3 0E E8 C2 00 E 0190 33 C9 8A 0E 50 01 FE C1 33 F6 A0 5C 01 B3 0E E8 E 01A0 B0 00 46 E2 F5 A0 5D 01 B3 0E E8 A5 00 E8 78 00 E 01B0 A0 5E 01 B3 0E E8 9A 00 33 C9 8A 0E 50 01 33 F6 E 01C0 8A 84 81 00 E8 84 00 46 49 8A 84 81 00 B3 30 E8 E 01D0 80 00 46 E2 F4 B0 20 E8 71 00 A0 5F 01 B3 0E E8 E 01E0 70 00 E8 43 00 A0 60 01 B3 0E E8 65 00 33 C9 8A E 01F0 0E 50 01 FE C1 33 F6 A0 61 01 B3 0E E8 53 00 46 E 0200 E2 F5 A0 62 01 B3 0E E8 48 00 B0 0D E8 3C 00 B0 E 0210 0A E8 37 00 EB 0A 90 BA 2F 01 B4 09 32 C0 CD 21 E 0220 B8 03 10 CD 10 C3 CD 20 B0 0D E8 1E 00 B0 0A E8 E 0230 19 00 33 C0 33 DB 33 C9 33 D2 B4 03 CD 10 33 DB E 0240 33 C0 8A 16 51 01 B4 02 CD 10 C3 33 DB B4 0E CD E 0250 10 C3 51 B9 01 00 32 FF B4 09 CD 10 B4 03 CD 10 E 0260 B4 02 FE C2 CD 10 59 C3 RCX 0168 W Q Current colors are: BOX bright yellow on black = hex 0E Search for 0E E8 - replace with ## E8 TEXT black on cyan = hex 30 Search for 30 E8 - replace with ## E8 where ## is hex value of new color picked from HEXCOLOR chart. When done type to the command line: DEBUG