7.0 "ADVANCED" FEATURES 7.1 Launching other programs BlueBook can launch any DOS program, including batch files, Windows and itself -- a feature that makes it much more powerful than a simple card file. Let your imagination loose! To launch a program, click Exec or type E. A pop-up window appears, with five buttons: Edit, Check, Locate, Accept, and Run. EDIT lets you enter/update program and parameter details. CHECK reports if a file exists ("OK") or not ("X") that answers to the "[drive:\path\]filename[.ext]" you specified. LOCATE searches for a file by name, and if found, fills in the details for you. It looks first in the current directory, then scans those listed in your PATH statement. ACCEPT. Equals "Exit" - you can't Cancel, only Accept. RUN. Run the program. WARNING: If you are RUNning from a database on a removable ------- volume, do NOT change the database disk while BlueBook is still active. (The open database won't be closed properly, and will likely be corrupted.) The same applies to dOs shelling, too, of course. You only HAVE to Edit once, to specify a program and any parameters required. Details are saved with the record. To quit editing, click the button area, hit F2, or Esc. ---------------------------------------------------------- A parameter is information that is fed into a program as it starts. Normally, it's typed on the command line, after the program's name. In Bluebook, program details are typed in one line and parameters are typed in a second separate line, each one separated by a space. (For examples, see section 4.3 and 4.4) ---------------------------------------------------------- AFTER editing, click Check. If you only know a program's name, not its full path, use Locate instead of Check. Enter just the Name, or Name.Ext (eg, "BlueBook" or "BlueBook.Exe"). Then click Locate. If you didn't give an extension, BlueBook (like DOS) will look firstly for a matching .COM file, then .EXE, and finally a .BAT batch file. Locate stops at the first match. ---------------------------------------------------------- Any record that has a program associated is marked by an "*" under the Key line, just right of the word "Key". While executing another program or shelled to DOS, BlueBook's memory usage reduces to around 18k. ---------------------------------------------------------- 7.2 Shelling to DOS If you need access to DOS while running BlueBook, click the "dOs" button (or type O) twice. This closes the current database and starts a "child" DOS session. BBMain.Exe ends, releasing most of your memory. To return to the program, and the place you left off, type the DOS command "exit". BBMain.Exe restarts. While shelled, or executing an external program, your previous status is recorded in two temporary files in the current database's directory: ".THL" and ".Tmp". These are deleted automatically when you "exit". If they aren't (because you didn't), they can be erased later manually without any problems. BlueBook is NOT a TSR program. ---------------------------------------------------------- TECHNICAL NOTE: There is also a transient file, "\BlueBook.$$$" that exists briefly in the root directory as control passes from BBMain.Exe back to BlueBook.Exe. WHICH root directory (ie, on which drive) is determined by the "TransientFileOnDrive=" line in the BLUEBOOK.INI file. Default is C (or C:). Obviously, whichever drive it is, you must have write-access to it. A CDROM or controlled network drive is no good. ----------------------------------------------------------