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                        Falcon Shell 2.0
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You should now have the following files:

                FSHELL2.TXT  - This file                
                FSHELL2.BAT  - The main program           
                GETKEY.EXE   - keystrokes utility needed to run

In the beginning...

After going back and forth between Falcon 3.0, Falconer, and DOS
(to either manually backup my squadron files or restore the ones
that Falcon trashed!) I got a little tired of it and decided to
write this shell to make things easier. What I wanted to be able
to do was start the shell and by pressing *one* key either start
Falcon, start the Falconer editor, backup or restore one
squadron, or backup or restore all squadrons. I also wanted to
use only *one* batch file rather than a kludge of several (I
hate having a zillion little files on my drive labeled "1.BAT,
2.BAT, etc.). I also didn't want it to be too ugly so I added
color (that slowed it down a little, but what the hell...).
Anyway, I wrote the program as a DOS batch file but by making
use of a utility called "SniffIt" I was able to assign error
levels to keystrokes so I could keep it down to one batch file.
It wasn't really fancy but it worked. That was Falcon Shell 1.0.


Introducing Falcon Shell 2.0...


What's new is a menu selection for Greg Prete's great utility, 
"Falcon Mapper" (otherwise known as "F3Maps") and a slicker, 
3-D screen. There is also a new option to backup/restore the 
"FALCON3.DEF" file. The new screen design, apart from being more 
appealing to look at (in my opinion anyway), results in a moderate 
speed increase over the old screen. I believe it is also a bit easier 
to navigate. This version uses a new file called "GETKEY.EXE" instead
of the "SNIFFIT.COM" program to read keystrokes. This speeds it up
a little without excessive errorlevel checking. FShell 2 can also read 
the "0" key. This allows the intuitive use of the numbers "0" through 
"5" on the backup and restore menus rather than the old "B" through
"G" approach. 


Using Falcon Shell...


The main menu of Falcon Shell 2.0 looks a little like this:

               
        ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿               
        ³               Falcon Shell 2.0                ³               
        ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ               
        ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿    ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿               
        ³ Falcon 3 ³³  F3Maps  ³³ FalconEr  ³    ³ Quit ³               
        ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ    ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ               
        ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿               
        ³   Backup Squadrons   ³³   Restore Squadrons   ³               
        ³                      ³³                       ³               
        ³                      ³³                       ³               
        ³                      ³³                       ³               
        ³                      ³³                       ³               
        ³                      ³³                       ³               
        ³                      ³³                       ³               
        ³                      ³³                       ³               
        ³                      ³³                       ³               
        ³                      ³³                       ³               
        ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ

Each area of the screen, except for the title, is a "button". By
typing the highlighted letter in each button you invoke that
particular function. The first three invoke Falcon, F3Maps, and
Falconer. After exiting any one of these you will be returned to
the Falcon Shell menu. Typing "Q", for quit, will immediately
exit Falcon Shell. The "Backup Squadrons" and "Restore
Squadrons" buttons function a little differently. If you press
one of these a menu appears underneath it like this:

               
        ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿               
        ³               Falcon Shell 2.0                ³               
        ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ               
        ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿    ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿               
        ³ Falcon 3 ³³  F3Maps  ³³ FalconEr  ³    ³ Quit ³               
        ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ    ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ               
        ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿               
        ³   Backup Squadrons   ³³   Restore Squadrons   ³               
        ³                      ³³                       ³               
        ³    All Squadrons     ³³                       ³               
        ³    Squadron 0        ³³                       ³               
        ³    Squadron 1        ³³                       ³               
        ³    Squadron 2        ³³                       ³               
        ³    Squadron 3        ³³                       ³               
        ³    Squadron 4        ³³                       ³               
        ³    Squadron 5        ³³                       ³               
        ³    FALCON3.DEF       ³³                       ³               
        ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ

By pressing the highlighted letter you will perform the desired
function. Once you have pressed a letter, the function will be
carried out, and you will be returned to the original menu. If
you accidently press "B" instead of "R" or vice versa, or after
pressing one you decide you don't want to perform any of the
listed actions, you may press "Q" to return to the main menu.


And in the end...


Anyway, to run the program, you must place all files in the same
directory as Falcon. If you want them somewhere else then you
will have to add some lines to the batch file. The program also
assumes that the files "FALCNR.EXE"  and "F3MAPS.EXE" reside
with the Falcon 3 files. If they are called something  else on
your system, you will have to edit these lines. The first time
you run  the program it checks for a directory called "F3BACKUP"
in the Falcon directory. If there isn't one it will create it.
This is where FShell places the backed up squadron files.

That's about it. Of course, you are free to edit the program and
make any changes you like. If you do anything you feel really
improves it then let me know.

Michael "Stick" Williams 70363,2235