COLORBAR Copyright (c) 1993 by Peter Currenti ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- COLORBAR COLORBAR COLORBAR COLORBAR COLORBAR COLORBAR ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- COLORBAR has been written to bring your DOS command prompt to life. You can now tweak your DOS command prompt to it's ultimate appearance, utilize DOS ANSI escape codes to create any color combination and enjoy learning the many uses of ANSI.SYS. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- COLORBAR COLORBAR COLORBAR COLORBAR COLORBAR COLORBAR ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- STEP I ------ DOS provides a device driver in your C:\DOS directory called ANSI.SYS. If you do not already have this driver installed on your CONFIG.SYS file you should edit your CONFIG.SYS file (using any ASCII text editor) so that ANSI.SYS is installed whenever you turn on your computer. To accomplish this, simply insert the following line into your CONFIG.SYS: DEVICE=C:\DOS\ANSI.SYS When complete, your computer will have the ability to utilize ANSI escape code sequences allowing color to be utilized anywhere in your command prompt. See the following example of a CONFIG.SYS file: DEVICE=C:\DOS\ANSI.SYS FILES=30 BUFFERS=20 STACKS=9,256 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- STEP II ------- Use either one of the following two options for installing your new COLORBAR command prompt: OPTION 1 Use this option to have your new prompt begin it's appearance immediately after booting up your computer and you are at a command prompt: Edit your AUTOEXEC.BAT (using any ASCII text editor) to include the following statement (place this statement immediately following your path statement): PROMPT $e[s$e[K$e[H$e[1;33;41m $p $e[47m$e[K$e[;51f$e[44m $d @ $t$e[K$e[u$e[B$e[37;40m$g IMPORTANT - This statement should by typed out as one continuous line. After the "@" character, continue with the"$t$e[K$e[u$e[B$e[37;40m$g" characters allowing one space between the "@" character in the next "$" character. See the following example of an AUTOEXEC.BAT file: C:\DOS\MOUSE.COM C:\DOS\DOSKEY C:\WINDOWS\SMARTDRV.EXE @ECHO OFF PROMPT $e[s$e[K$e[H$e[1;33;41m $p $e[47m$e[K$e[;51f$e[44m $d @ $t$e...etc...etc. PATH=C:\;C:\UTILS;C:\BATCH;C:\DOS; * The "...etc...etc." was placed in the example prompt statement only for the purpose of allowing you to see it all on one line and is not meant to be used. Also, be sure to remove any other existing PROMPT statement. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- OPTION 2 Use this option to have your new prompt begin it's appearance at the call of a batch file, to use whenever you want it to start appearing: Create a batch file called COLORBAR.BAT composed of the following two lines: @ECHO OFF PROMPT $e[s$e[K$e[H$e[1;33;41m $p $e[47m$e[K$e[;51f$e[44m $d @ $t$e[K$e[u$e[B$e[37;40m$g IMPORTANT - This statement should by typed out as one continuous line. After the "@" character, continue with the"$t$e[K$e[u$e[B$e[37;40m$g" characters allowing one space between the "@" character in the next "$" character. See the following example of COLORBAR.BAT: @ECHO OFF PROMPT $e[s$e[K$e[H$e[1;33;41m $p $e[47m$e[K$e[;51f$e[44m $d @ $t$e...etc...etc. * The "...etc...etc." was placed in the example prompt statement only for the purpose of allowing you to see it all on one line and is not meant to be used. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- GENERAL INFORMATION ------------------- Once you start to use COLORBAR and decide to revert to your original prompt, there is no need to edit your files or reboot. Simply type the following command at the DOS command prompt and your original prompt will be restored: PROMPT $p$g ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- CUSTOMIZE YOUR COLORBAR WITH YOUR FAVORITE COLORS ------------------------------------------------- The following list consists of two digit numbers followed by the color that will be displayed when substituted in the COLORBAR prompt statement. The best way to experiment with the various colors is to create a batch file, as explained earlier, and substitute one of the listed code numbers with a code number in the COLORBAR prompt. Any two digit number in the COLORBAR prompt that is followed by the letter "m" is a color graphics mode number and can be substituted with on of the following numbers. When substitution is complete, call up your new batch file and watch the new COLORBAR. Foreground Colors 30 Black 31 Red 32 Green 33 Yellow 34 Blue 35 Magenta 36 Cyan 37 White Background Colors 40 Black 41 Red 42 Green 43 Yellow 44 Blue 45 Magenta 46 Cyan 47 White