[GEM Development] Batch File Programming for GEM.BAT

[Shane M. Coughlan]

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Peter Green wrote:
> I had a few questions at the time about how messy it might turn out to
> be, trying to write a batchfile to automate the process; but Ben is
> right about the further ramifications. You could use IF EXIST and really
> get a slew of "Invalid drive..." commands; IF NOT EXIST merely staves
> off the problem by one or two steps.
> A CHOICE-like option would make it much more workable, allowing the user
> to select a drive name to SUBST. The old Norton's BE.EXE (which I think
> was written in BASIC and compiled into an executable) wouldn't be a bad
> solution if it could be liberated from its current owners, probably
> Symantec. I think I still have a copy of DOS World magazine somewhere
> which has a method for taking input by using the TIME or DATE command,
> so you can do it without actually using CHOICE. I'll see what I can find.

A choice-like option sounds like it might be better, especially from a
usability perspective.  I guess the question is "what method will mean
the least work and knowledge from end users?"  It would be nice to have
a really simple system that has a good chance of just working
automatically on most systems.  We have a design issue more than
anything else here.

The current OpenGEM 6 Development 2 is using the O: drive (O for
OpenGEM, geddit?).  It's an imperfect method of passing the technology
out to a lot of people to see what happens when SUBST is used in the
wild.  I have no reports yet.

Shane

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Shane Martin Coughlan
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