Documentation FRequest Version 1.55 written 1993 ® 1992/93 by H.P.G FREEWARE Index: Overview Changes History Legal Stuff Features Start Parameters Installation Tutorial Technical Overview: FRequest runs only under OS >= 2.xx. FRequest is a powerful tool which enables you, to select a file by using the ASL filerequester and then execute almost every program with the selected file or dir name. FRequest (FR) uses a lot of OS 2.xx features so it is not able to run under 1.3 or 1.2. The requester is full user definable. That means you CAN specify a lot of the settings but you don`t HAVE to do this. There are a lot of PARAMETERS you can specify. Look below for further details (Section PARAMETERS). FR has the ability to start a given command line as if it has been typed directly in a shell window. The command line has the same syntax as an alias for the AMIGAShell. All '[]' are replaced by the selection(s) if there is one. You can use FR also to start programs on its own without any arguments or parameters. Changes: from Version 1.5 to 1.55: Three new command line options has been added. HEIGHT=G/K/N specifies the height of the requester. MULTI=M/S starts the requester in multiples file mode to give you the ability to chose more than one files at the same time. SAVE=S/S starts the filerequester in save mode. Also I removed some enforcer hits. That`s why I got a new A4000 and a new enforcer version which runs an those systems. History: Version 1.5 First general release. Version 1.51 Removed some enforcer hits. Version 1.52 Added new Save option. Removed some enforcer hits. Version 1.53 Added new Multiples option. Added the ability to specify the height of the filerequester. Version 1.55 Removed some Enforcer hits and fixed some little bugs. Second general release. Legal Stuff: This program and all files come with it also the doc files are released as FREEWARE. this means: everybody may use FRequest, everybody may copy FRequest, if: 1. you copy all included files see list below 2. no changes are made , this means the program amd all included files must stay in the original form. Exception: you may archive it ; but in this way you must also archive the whole package. 3. if you decompile it, you have to include a notice to the original author. if you also want to (re)distribute this program in the new form you have to send me a copy. 4. you may not sell FRequest Exception: you`re allowed to take a small copy fee which may not extend 5$. 5. if you want to include FRequest or one of the included files as a part of a commercial package, you must have written permission of the author (address see below) I take no warranty or guaranty for the function of this program. The whole risk of using it stays by the user. Features: You can  specify  the directory displayed in the dir string gadget  of  the  requester.  If  you do not the current work directory is inserted. You can specify the file displayed in the file string gadget. If you do not it stays empty You  can  specify  patterns  displayed in the pattern string gadget. If you do not '#?' is inserted. You can specify the positive and the negative gadget text of the requester. If you do not they contain 'OKAY' and 'CANCEL'. You can chose a hail string for the title of the requester if you do not 'Please Select a File' will be used. You can specify the height of the filerequester. You can use FRequest in multiselect mode, that means you may chose multiples files at the same time with shift left mouse- button. The selection can be done which double clicking on the last file. You can use the save option. This opens the filerequester in a different color and the double click selection is disabled, for security. You can specify a commandline that will be sent to the shell by replacing the '[]'s with the selection. If you do not inlude a '[]' then the selection will be simply added to the end of the specified commandline. If you do not specify a command line the selection will be sent to STOUT e.g. the SHELL window but the command line will not be executed (this is very useful for testing the settings or the commandline without executing anything). You can also call FR to start a cli program without any commandline. You can switch on the QUIET flag. No information about the selection will then be putted to STOUT. Start Parameters: FR has the following CLI SYNTAX: ( look at the AmigaDOS doc for more details about flags) Syntax: Frequest [HAIL/K][OK/K][CANCEL/K][DIR/K][FILE/K][PAT/K][HeiGht=G/K/N] [SAVE=S/S][MULTI=M/S][QUIET/S][EXE/S|COM/K] Description: HAIL: this should be a string. If more than one word is given, the string must be embedded in "". This is the title of the requester. The default title is 'Please Select A File' OK: this should be a string with at maximum 8 characters length. This is the text of the positive gadget. The default text is 'OKAY'. CANCEL: this should be a string with at maximum 8 characters length. This is the text of the negative gadget. The default text is 'CANCEL'. DIR: this is also a string. If you specify this option the requester opens with displaying the specified directory. The default directory is the current work directory. FILE: this is also a string. If you specify this option the requester opens with displaying the specified filename in the file string gadget. The default Filename is '' PAT: this is also a string. If you specify this option the requester opens with the specified patterns in the pattern string gadget. If you do not specify PAT no pattern gadget will be displayed. The default pattern is '#?'. HEIGHT: This is the height of the filerequester in pixel. The maximum height depends on your viewmode and your wbench screensize. The default is not to specify any height. MULTI: This is also a new option. If you specify this, you may chose more than one file. You can hold down the shift button and chose other files with the left mousebutton. To end the selection and leave the requester just doubleclick on the last chosen file. The default: not enabled. SAVE: Specifying this will bring up the filerequester in a different color. This should show you that the doubleclick selection is now disabled. This should be used for security by saving operations. The default: not enabled. QUIET: this is a BOOLEAN flag. FR usually displayes the command line before execution. If you do not want this, you can specify QUIET. ( this is useful e.g in batchfiles with an AUTO shell window ). The default is FALSE EXE: this is a BOOLEAN flag. If you do not specify COM (see below) and not EXE then FR only displays the selection in the Shell window. If you specify EXE then FR executes the selection without any arguments as a program. COM: this is a string. The length should not extend 255 chars. This is the command line that FR tries to  execute. You  must embed the commandline with "" s.  If this line includes some '[]', then these will be exchanged with the selection(s). If you do`nt specify any '[]' then the selection will simply be added to the end of the given command line. OTHERS: In general if you canceled the requester, no command will be executed and no output will be made. If you just want to test the settings you`ve made, you can call FRequest without specifying EXE and COM. If you specify COM and EXE, FR just terminates and displayes a short help text. This is also if you put any incorrect commandline to FRequest. Installation: Very simple. Just copy FRequest to your C: directory or any other directory in your AmigaDOS search path. done. Tutorial: 1. Here is the simplest example of calling FR SHELL 1.> FRequest - FR openes the requester with the title 'Please Select File' and displayes the contents of the current directory. The gadget texts are 'OKAY' and 'CANCEL'. if you do a selection the result will be prompted to the Cli window. e.g. Testing: Df0:system/setmap ... 2. To use FR in an alias to reassign the fonts dir. SHELL 1.> alias FAss FRequest HAIL "Please Select the New FONTS: DIR" OK "ASSIGN" CANCEL "STOP" COM "assign fonts:" SHELL 1.> FAss - FR opens the requester with the title 'Please Select the New FONTS: DIR' and displays the contents of the current directory. The gadget texts are 'ASSIGN' and 'STOP'. If you do a selection the result will be added to the commandline and be executed as: assign fonts: 3. Specifying almast all what is to specify. This is an example to copy one or more files or a whole directory to Ram:. Therefor we use the new Multiple option. SHELL 1.> Frequest HAIL "What File(s) should I copy ?" OK "COPY" M PAT "#?.(c|h)" COM "copy [] to RAM:" Technical: FR is written in MANX Aztec C Compiler Version 5.2a. Its size is relatively small ( unlike other programs of this kind ). This is because of using a lot of system library calls instead of using C.lib functions. Address: Hans-Peter Guenther Gruener Weg 5 3501 Fuldatal 2 Germany List of files: (If you miss any of the files below your release is incomplete) FRequest : The english binary FRequest.info FRequest_D : The german binary FRequest_D.info FRequest.doc : The english manual FRequest.doc.info FRequest.dok : The german manual FRequest.dok.info --End