Communication Link Script Commands All of the script files the Communication Link executes automatically are Command Script files. A Command Script is an ASCII file that contains one or more Communication Link Script Commands per file. Each Script Command must be on a line by itself. Comments can appear on any line that does not contain a Script Command. If you should need to edit or write an additional Command Script, the following list of Communication Link Script Commands must be used. A detailed explanation of how each command is used follows the list. Blink Execute a Blink command. Capture Turn on/off Session Capture. Echo Turn on/off echo status. Getc Get a character from the communication port that matches the sample character. Gets Get a string from the communications port that matches the sample string. Puts Print a string of characters to the communications port. Screen Turn on/off, or clear the display of characters in the Communication Link Window. Show Print a string to the Communication Link Window. Silence Wait for so many seconds of silence. Wait Wait for so many seconds. Watch Watch for string before proceeding to next command. The syntax of all Script Commands is: command "action or string" Where "command" is the name of the Script Command (which can be in any case) and "action or string" is an action or string which is always enclosed in double quotes ("). The Script Command string can contain any legal C escape sequence, for instance, to include an ASCII Carriage Return in your string, use the C escape sequence of "\r". The action can be any mixture of case. The Blink Command The Blink command is used to execute any of the following Communication Link commands: Blink Option Command ------------ ------- Messages Conference Messages Mail Mail Memos Up UpBlink Script(s) Down DownBlink Script(s) For example, to Blink all your new messages, you would include the following line in your Command Script file: Blink "MESSAGES" The Capture Command The Capture command is used to turn on and off the Session Capture or to capture the BIX Scratchpad to disk. There are three options for the Capture command and they are "ON", "OFF", or "FILENAME.EXT". For example, to turn on the Session Capture, you would include the following line in your Command Script file: Capture "ON" To Capture the contents of the BIX Scratchpad, you would include a line such as: Capture "C:\JLBLINK\BLNEW\NEWMESS.TXT" The Echo Command The Echo command is used to report to the Communication Link the current echo state of the path. There are two options for the Echo command and they are "ON" which states the path does echo characters and "OFF" which states the path does not echo characters. You should use this command if you change the echo state of the path while executing a Command Script. For example, if you change the echo state of the path so it no longer echoes characters, you must include the following line in your Command Script after the line that changes the echo state: Echo "OFF" The above example tells the Communication Link that the path does not echo characters so it needs to. The Echo Command (Continued) NOTE: "Echo" refers to displaying, on the screen, the characters you type or transmit. The term "path" refers to the complete communications link to BIX. For instance, you will more than likely be accessing BIX through the use of an intelligent modem which can alter the echo state of the path and you may also be accessing BIX through a commercial wide area network which can also alter the echo state of the path. If the echo state of the path changes during the execution of a Command Script or because of something you have done manually, you *must* tell the Communication Link what the current echo state is. The Getc Command The Getc command is used to halt the execution of a Command Script until the Communication Link receives a character that matches the sample character. For example, the following Script Command will halt the execution of the Command Script until the Communication Link receives a question mark or the value of the Setup Parameter "Time Out" is exceeded: Getc "?" The Communication Link will display an annunciator in the bottom status line of the Communication Link Window advising you that it is currently waiting to receive the sample character. You may abort the wait by pressing <^C>. If the Communication Link has to wait longer than the value of the Setup Parameter "Time Out" for activity, it will abort the wait automatically and fail the command. The Gets Command The Gets command is used to halt the execution of a Command Script until the Communication Link receives a string of characters that matches the sample string or the value of the Setup Parameter "Time Out" is exceeded. For example, the following Script Command will halt the execution of a Command Script until it receives the string "Welcome": Gets "Welcome" The Communication Link will display an annunciator in the bottom status line of the Communication Link Window advising you that it is currently waiting to receive a string that matches the sample string. You may abort the wait by pressing <^C>. If the Communication Link has to wait longer than the value of the Setup Parameter "Time Out" for activity, it will abort the wait automatically and fail the command. The Puts Command The Puts command will output, to the communications port, the sample string. For example, the following Script Command outputs, to the communications port, the string "BIX" followed by an ASCII Carriage Return: Puts "BIX\r" The Screen Command The Screen command is used to control the display of characters in the CL Window. There are three options for the Screen command and they are: "Clear", "Off", and "On". Clear will clear the Communication Link Window, Off will turn off the display of characters in the Communication Link Window, and On will turn on the display of characters. For example, the following Script Command clears the Communication Link Window: Screen "CLEAR" The Show Command The Show command is used to display a string of characters in the Communication Link Window. The string is not transmitted. For example, the following Script Command displays the string "Start Of Blink" in the Communication Link Window: Show "Start Of Blink\n" The Silence Command The Silence command is used to halt the execution of a Command Script until the Communication Link detects the indicated number of seconds of silence. For example, the following Script Command will halt execution until the Communication Link detects 6 seconds of silence: Silence "6" The Communication Link will display a prompt in the bottom status line of the Communication Link Window advising you that it is currently waiting for sample seconds of silence. You may abort the wait by pressing <^C>. The Wait Command The Wait command is used to halt the execution of a Command Script for sample number of seconds. For example, the following Script Command will halt the execution of a Command Script for 2 seconds: Wait "2" The Watch Command The Watch command allows the user to tell the Communication Link to perform a series of commands if a particular string is found in the input stream. The syntax of the Watch command is: Watch_Start command ... Watch_00 "String 1 to watch for" command ... Watch_01 "String 2 to watch for" command ... Watch_Del_00 Watch_Del_01 Watch_End The Watch Command (Continued) Where: Watch_Start: Marks the beginning of the watch statement. All commands, such as Gets, Puts, etc., that are encountered between the Watch_Start and the first Watch_xx statement are executed. The Communication Link will, upon encountering the first Watch_xx statement, load all the strings that are to be watched for and immediately start watching the input stream for all the strings. The Watch command will continue to watch the input stream until *ALL* watches have been deleted. The Watch Command (Continued) Watch_00 - Watch_09: Adds a string to the watch list. The Communication Link can handle up to ten strings per watch statement. The string lengths are not limited. The strings can include C escape sequences such as "\r", "\n", and "\xnn". All watches are case-sensitive! If the Communication Link detects a string of characters from the input stream that matches a watch string, all commands between the Watch_xx command that inserted the string into the watch list and the next Watch_xx or Watch_end statements are executed. The Watch Command (Continued) Command: Can be any Comm Link Command Script command with the exception of the Watch command -- Watches can *NOT* be nested. Watch_Del_00 - Watch_Del_09: Removes a string from the watch list. NOTE: *ALL* watches *MUST* be deleted to terminate the Watch command. Watch_End: Marks the end of the Watch command. *ALL* Watch commands *MUST* end with a Watch_End statement.