EXECUTE Version 1.5 MAH Software Services 29 Beech Court Babbitt, MN 55706 Copyright (c) 1992 by MAH Software Services All Rights Reserved TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction.........................................................1 License Agreement.................................................1 Registration Fees and What You Get................................1 Beginning with EXECUTE...............................................3 Who is EXECUTE For................................................3 What is EXECUTE...................................................3 System Requirements...............................................3 Installation......................................................3 Running the Program...............................................3 Using EXECUTE........................................................4 Starting the Program..............................................4 Command-Line Mode.................................................4 Interactive Mode..................................................5 Appendix A - Files Included With EXECUTE.............................7 Appendix B - EXECUTE Error messages..................................8 INTRODUCTION EXECUTE is a Shareware product. Shareware is a distribution method, not a type of software. With Shareware you get the ultimate money-back guarantee...if you don't use the product, you don't pay for it. Shareware is not free software. Copyright laws apply to both Shareware and commercial software, and the copyright holder retains all rights, with a few specific exceptions as stated in this document. The main difference is the method of distribution. The author specifically grants the right to copy and distribute the EVALUATION VERSION of the software to anyone as long as no remuneration is received for the distribution of the software unless permission is granted in writing by the author. Shareware distribution gives users a chance to try software before buying it. If you try a Shareware program and continue using it, you are expected to register the software with the author. With registration, you will receive the latest version of the software without the evaluation titles and messages. With shareware you are able to try the software on your computer with your own set of peripherals, the only way to know if it will function in your own environment. Only after deciding that EXECUTE is a software product that you will use do you pay for it. When you do pay for the software, you pay only for the software itself, not for the cost of advertising the software, which can be many times what the software actually costs. License Agreement ----------------- By using EXECUTE on your system, you indicate your agreement to the following terms and conditions. If you do not agree to these conditions, you should not use MEMORY. Users of MEMORY must accept this disclaimer of warranty: "EXECUTE is supplied as is. The author disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, including, without limitation, the warranties of merchantability and of fitness for any purpose. The author assumes no liability for damages, direct or consequential, which may result from the use of MEMORY." EXECUTE is a "shareware program" and is provided at no charge to the user for evaluation. Feel free to share the EVALUATION COPY with your friends, but please do not give it away altered or as part of another system. The essence of "user-supported" software is to provide personal computer users with quality software without high prices, and yet to provide incentive for programmers to continue to develop new products. If you find this program useful and find that you are using it and continue to use it after a 30 day trial period, you must make a registration payment to MAH Software Services. The registration fee will license one copy for use on any one computer at any one time. You must treat this software just like a book. An example is that this software may be used by any number of people and Page 1 may be freely moved from one computer location to another, so long as there is no possibility of it being used at one location while it's being used at another. Just as a book cannot be read by two different persons at the same time. Users of EXECUTE must register and pay for their copies of EXECUTE within 30 days of first use or their license is withdrawn. You are encouraged to pass an EVALUATION COPY of EXECUTE along to your friends for evaluation. Please encourage them to register their copy if they find that they can use it. All registered users will receive a copy of the latest version of EXECUTE. DISTRIBUTION OF REGISTERED COPIES OF MEMORY IS A VIOLATION OF COPYRIGHT LAWS. To register your copy of EXECUTE, print the file REGISTER.FRM, complete the form, and send it along with your registration fee to: MAH Software Services 29 Beech Court Babbitt, MN 55706 Registration Fees And What You Get ---------------------------------- The evaluation version of EXECUTE is in no way crippled, and contains 100% of the capabilities of the registered version as it existed at the time of distribution. When you register, you will receive the latest version of the program, along with the latest documentation. The fully registered version of the program removes all references to evaluation. Registered users will receive notice of all updates made to the program and these updates will be supplied to registered users for a nominal charge. Every effort will be made to supply updates to registered users at the lowest possible cost. In addition, you will receive evaluation copies of other MAH Software Services programs, and support by mail and phone. The registration fee for EXECUTE is US $10. Price is subject to change without notice, but will be guaranteed through December 1992. If payment is by check, these funds MUST be drawn on a US bank. Unfortunately the processing of non-US checks can be as much as $20, and we cannot afford this type of transaction. We are continually looking for innovative ways to serve non-US customers. Page 2 BEGINNING WITH EXECUTE Who is EXECUTE for? ------------------- EXECUTE is program for persons who want or need to be able to run multiple DOS commands, programs, and/or batch files, or need to have programs run or commands execute at or within a certain time. What is EXECUTE? ---------------- EXECUTE is a program designed to run other programs. With it, you can run up to 50 programs (.COM and .EXE files), batch files (/BAT), and/or internal MS-DOS commands. You can also specify that execution begin after a certain amount of time has elapsed, or at a specified time. System Requirements ------------------- - any monitor - At least 512k of memory - Supports both hard & floppy disks - EXECUTE requires approximately 78k for it's own operation Installation ------------ No installation is required, since the program can be run from the floppy disk. If you plan to run "EXECUTE" from a floppy disk, it is STRONGLY suggested that you make a copy of the disk and place the original in a safe place. See your DOS manual for details on using DISKCOPY to make a copy of a disk. If you want to run the program from a hard drive, simply copy all the files to your hard drive using the COPY or XCOPY command. Running the Program ------------------- To start the program, simply change to the drive that has the program on it, and the subdirectory, if necessary, type EXECUTE and press ENTER. Page 3 USING EXECUTE Starting the Program -------------------- EXECUTE can be used in one of two modes - command-line mode and interactive mode. Regardless of the mode being used, first change to the drive that has the program on it, and the subdirectory, if necessary. What you do next depends on the mode. We'll begin with command line mode. Command-Line Mode ----------------- To use the command-line mode, begin by typing EXECUTE Do NOT press ENTER yet. Once you've typed the program name, you may type one of five command-line switches: /D - instructs EXECUTE to display commands as they are executed /S - instructs EXECUTE to wait X number of seconds before beginning execution of any of the programs, commands, or batch files /W - instructs EXECUTE to wait until a specified time before beginning execution of any of the programs, commands, or batch files; the time must appear after the switch in the 24-hour format HH:MM:SS /T - instructs EXECUTE to display the time while waiting for the specified time before execution begins; used in conjunction with the /W switch /? - instructs EXECUTE to display a help screen, then exit the program You can't use the /? switch if you want to EXECUTE to run any programs; it's there strictly to provide a quick reference on EXECUTE's use. You can combine any of the other switches, although there are some you wouldn't want to. For example, there's little reason to use the /S switch to wait for a certain number of seconds to pass with the /W switch to wait for a certain time. And the /T switch will only work with the /W switch. If you use it without the /T switch, no error will occur, but the time won't be displayed, either. Once you've entered what ever command-line switches you desire, enter the commands you want executed, separated by a semicolon if there is more than one command. Let's look at some examples to better see how the command-line mode works. Example 1: EXECUTE /S 3600 DIR Execute the DOS command DIR after 3600 seconds (1 hour). Page 4 EXAMPLE 2: EXECUTE /W 01:00:00 XMP Execute the program XMP at 1:00 AM. EXAMPLE 3: EXECUTE CHKDSK;DIR /P Execute the DOS command CHKDSK, the execute the DOS command DIR with the /P command-line switch. Note here that you can execute programs with their own command-line switches; this is why you must specify any of EXECUTE's command-line switches BEFORE specifying the programs to execute. There is one limitation with the command-line mode, and that's the length of the command-line itself. You can only have a maximum of 128 characters on the command-line, which limits the number of programs you can execute at one time. The limit depends on the command-line switches used and the length of the commands being executed. This can be overcome with the interactive mode. Interactive Mode ---------------- To use the interactive mode, begin by typing EXECUTE and press ENTER. EXECUTE will now present you with a list of questions for you to answer, in the following order: Display commands being executed (Y/N)? If you want to have the commands displayed on the screen when they are executed, press Y. Press any other key if you DON'T want them displayed. Execute commands at a certain time (Y/N)? If you want the commands to begin executing at a certain time, press Y. Press any other key if you DON'T want them executed at a specific time. If you answer 'Y' to this question, the following two questions will be displayed: Time to begin execution (HH:MM:SS): Enter the time you want execution of the programs to begin in the 24-hour format HH:MM:SS, and press ENTER. Display time while waiting (Y/N)? If you want the time to be displayed on the screen while waiting for the specified time before execution begins, press Y. Press any other key if you DON'T want the time displayed. Execute commands after waiting X number of seconds (Y/N)? If you want the commands to begin executing after a specific number of Page 5 seconds, press Y. Press any other key if you DON'T want them to be executed after a specific number of questions. This question will only be displayed if you did not answer 'Y' when asked if you wanted to execute commands at a certain time. If you answer 'Y' to this question, the following question will be displayed: Number of seconds to wait before execution: Enter the number of seconds you want to wait before execution of the programs begins. There are 3600 seconds in an hour. Command or Program to Execute (RETURN to Quit): Now begin entering the DOS commands, programs, and/or batch files you want executed. Commands MUST be entered exactly as they would be if you were typing them from the DOS command line. For example, if you wanted a directory listing of all the files in the current subdirectory, with the display paused every time the screen fills, you would enter DIR /P then press ENTER. This question will be repeated until you simply press ENTER. At that time, execution of the commands will begin (or will begin at the time specified if one was, or after the specified number of seconds has elapsed, if a number of seconds to wait was entered). Page 6 APPENDIX A Files included with EXECUTE: MANUAL.TXT This file! PRINTMAN.BAT A batch file to print the manual. README.TXT A file with important information. README.BAT A batch file which displays README.TXT. EXECUTE.EXE The program itself. REGISTER.FRM The order form to register. REGISTER.BAT A batch file which prints the order form. VENDOR.DOC A text file with information for shareware distributors. Page 7 APPENDIX B EXECUTE Error Messages ERROR MESSAGE: Must enter an execution time! PROBLEM: The /W switch was used, but no execution time was entered. ERROR MESSAGE: Invalid time entered! PROBLEM: When using the /W switch, or in response to the program prompt, you entered an invalid time. Any of the following is interpreted as an invalid time: - you entered an hours number less than 0 or greater than 24 - you entered a minutes number less than 0 or greater than 59 - you entered a seconds figure less than 0 or greater than 59 - you separated the hours, minutes, and seconds using something other than a colon (:) - you did not enter the time, usually skipping the seconds ERROR MESSAGE: Must enter the number of seconds to wait! PROBLEM: The /S switch was used, but the number of seconds to wait was not entered. ERROR MESSAGE: ERROR! COMSPEC= not set in environment, unable to execute! PROBLEM: COMSPEC is the environment variable which indicates where COMMAND.COM is to be found. This is set automatically when you boot your system, and indicates where COMMAND.COM was when the system was booted. This error will most likely occur for one of two reasons: 1) COMSPEC was changed for some reason, and is either no longer there (someone entered SET COMSPEC=) or made a mistake when indicating where COMMAND.COM is to be found. 2) The system was booted from a floppy disk and the disk with COMMAND.COM is no longer in drive A. ERROR MESSAGE: ERROR! Not enough memory to continue. PROBLEM: EXECUTE ran out of memory. This could happen for Page 8 several reasons: 1) The program that EXECUTE is trying to execute will not run in the memory available. 2) There are too many TSR's (terminate-and-stay- resident) programs loaded too allow EXECUTE enough memory for itself and the programs it's executing. 3) EXECUTE is being run while "shelling" out to DOS. "Shelling" is when you are in a program, and that program allows you access to DOS from within the program. When this is done, there is normally too little memory left to run EXECUTE. Page 9