INSTRUCTIONS FOR USING CMDBLD.EXE

PURPOSE
This program concatenates a list of file or directory names contained
in an ASCII text file to a call to a batch file of commands.  The
resultant batch output file will execute the command set in the
called batch file against each file or directory in the input list.
Each entry in the output file is of the form:
   @CALL <command file name> <dir/filename>, where:
	<command file name> is the name of the batch file containing
			    the commands to be executed
	     <dir/filename> is the currently processed directory
		     	    or filename from the list of directory
			    or file names. 

PROGRAM
The executable program set consists of two files: CMDBLD.EXE and
CMDBLD.OBJ.  These two files must remain in the same directory, but
their root names can be changed to any valid DOS rootname so long as
both files are renamed.

REQUIREMENTS
DOS 4.01 or later is required to run the output batch file due to its
use of the CALL command.

USE
The program can be executed from the command line or from within a
batch file by typing CMDBLD. (Be sure to include the path to this
file if it is not in your current directory or on your PATH).

The program will then ask you for:
  1)    The name of the ASCII text file containing the list of file
	or directory names to be processed.  Be sure to include the
	path to this file.  Its existence will be verified by the
	program.
  2)    The name of the batch command file containing the command(s)
	to be executed against each file or directory in the above
	list.
  3)    The filename you wish to assign to the output file created
	by this program.  This batch output file will contain a
	series of @CALL commands as described above.

INPUT FILES
In addition to the CMDBLD.EXE and CMDBLD.OBJ files, two additional
files are needed.  These are:

   1)   The ASCII text file list of files or directory names to be
	processed.  I have found that using DOS 5.0's enhanced dir
	command with its various switches and redirecting the output
	to an ASCII text file is the easiest way to create this file.
	For instance, in order to create an alphabetical listing of
	sub-directories off of the current directory and save them as
	an ASCII text file named 'FILELIST.TXT', enter the command:
			 DIR /B/ON/AD > FILELIST.TXT

	2)  The batch file of commands to be executed against the
	    files or directories in the above list.  The replaceable
	    parameter %1 should be inserted in the command strings
            wherever a file or directory name is to be substituted.
            For instance, the batch command to delete all the "BAK"
            files in the sub-directories contained in the above list
            would be:
			 DEL %1\*.*

	The batch file of commands can be created as you would any
	batch file.

OUTPUT FILE
The user-named output file is a simple batch file that can be
executed stand-alone or from within another batch file.

SOURCE CODE
The executable files were compiled in QuickBasic 4.5.  The source
code in ASCII format is included as CMDBLD.BAS.

NOTICE
This program is freeware and can be distributed freely.  The author
makes no warranties, implied or otherwise, as to the contents or
capabilities of this program, or as to its fitness for use.  



Many thanks to Mark Beyder for his ideas and suggestions regarding
this program.

Please contact Don Kulle on CompuServe @ 70410,1516 should you have
any questions, comments, or suggestions.