JP Software 4DOS v. 6.02 4OS2 v. 3.02 4NT v. 3.02 Take Command/16 v. 2.02 Take Command/32 v. 2.02 Take Command for OS/2 v. 2.02 WHATSNEW.TXT -- March 29, 1999 This maintenance release includes bug fixes and compatibility enhancements developed since our last major release. It does not include any significant new features or functions. For details on what changed in our last major release see the product history information on our web site, or the online help for any product. Some changes apply only to certain products; the list of products affected is included in square brackets at the end of the paragraph describing such changes (e.g. "[4NT, TC32]"). If there is no indication of a specific product, the change applies to all products. Feature Changes --------------- >> The maximum length of a typed or batch file command line has been increased from 255 to 511 characters. (The internal limit on command line length after expansion of variables etc. remains at 511 characters as well.) [4DOS] >> Added new .INI settings: > PathExt = NO | Yes: If set to No (the default), the PATHEXT environment variable is ignored. If set to Yes, the PATHEXT environment variable will be used to determine extensions to look for when searching the PATH for an executable file. To set PATHEXT use a command like this: set pathext=.com;.exe;.btm;.bat If PATHEXT is enabled the standard search for .PIF, .COM, .EXE, .BTM, .BAT,and .REX / .REXX files is replaced by a search for files with the extensions listed in PATHEXT, in the order listed there. Enabling this option affects ONLY the standard path search, it does not affect the subsequent searches for files with executable extensions or Windows file associations. CAUTION: If you set PathExt = Yes and then fail to set the PATHEXT environment variable, path searches will fail as there will be no extensions for which to search! PATHEXT is supported for compatibility reasons but should not generally be used as a substitute for the more flexible executable extensions feature. > UnixPaths = NO | Yes: If set to Yes, enables forward slashes as a path separator in the command name (the first item on the command line). This allows you to enter a command like: c:\> /bin/programs/foo.exe without having the forward slashes would be interpreted as switch characters. Note that setting UnixPaths to Yes does NOT change the command processor or operating system switch character, it's still '/'. It simply allows you to put forward slashes in the command name without problems. > ListRowStart=1|0: specifies whether LIST considers the first line in the file line "1" or line "0". The new default is "1". >> Take Command/32 now supports the "mouse wheel" on newer mice The wheel will scroll the display in the main window and in the LIST command. [TC32] >> CD / CDD: Added a /N switch to disable fuzzy searching and the change directory popup window (intended primarily for unattended batch files). >> Extended wildcards (i.e., "[xx]") are now supported inside file exclusion ranges. For example, to copy *.TXT from C:\TEST to D:\TEST but exclude those files whose names begin with "X" or "Y": c:\test> copy /[![xy]*.*] *.txt d:\test\ >> START: There is a /FS (fullscreen) switch -- it was previously left out of the documentation. [4NT, TC32] Bug Fixes --------- >> Fixed a crash when attempting to write/read > 64K to/from the clipboard. [4DOS] >> Fixed some problems with directory and file names with non- English characters. [4NT] >> Fixed a problem at startup with truncating passed command lines over 126 characters long, and with not always picking up the full line from the CMDLINE variable. [4DOS] >> Fixed a problem in the Caveman dialog when the .INI file was missing. [TC32] >> Fixed a problem where piping to Windows NT's MORE utility would not capture all output lines. [4NT, TC32] >> Fixed a problem which prevented filename completion from returning hidden and system files when these files were enabled in the FILECOMPLETION variable. Note that the default filename completion search does not display hidden and system files, but nowif you use FILECOMPLETION to enable those files for a specific command, they will be shown as you cycle through files with . >> Fixed a problem which prevented the commercial version of IBM's Object REXX from working properly with 4NT / Take Command/32, but allowed Object REXX support to work properly with the version of Object REXX included in IBM's book of the same name. Both versions should now work properly. [4NT, TC32] >> Fixed a problem with finding and/or listing files larger than 4GB (affected primarily DIR and FFIND). [4NT, TC32] >> Fixed a problem with multiple redirections to CON:. [4NT] >> Improved handling of commands using both * (disable alias) and @ (don't add to command history) at the start. >> Fixed a problem with date sequencing in DIR /OT and SELECT /OT (in most cases this bug only affected years after about 2050). [4DOS] >> START: Fixed a problem with specifying the title for a 4NT session. [4NT] >> @FILES: Fixed a problem which caused this function to leave a file handle open, which could cause subsequent "access denied" errors. [4NT, TC32] >> @REPLACE: Fixed a problem with replacing commas. >> @SELECT: Fixed a problem with files over 64K. [4OS2, 4NT, TC32, TCOS2] >> CDD: Fixed a problem if TREE was disabled (CDD /S uses TREE to build the directory index). >> CDD: Fixed an erratic problem with CDD /S not always including the short directory name. [4DOS, 4NT, TC32] >> COPY: Fixed a problem with concatenating to files with /Z. [4NT, TC32] >> FFIND: Fixed a problem with /C and bracketed wildcards. >> INKEY: Fixed a problem with not accepting input if a /W is specified. [TC32] >> INPUT: Fixed a problem with line input (SETDOS /L1) and the /Ln switch. (It was allowing a maximum of "n-1" rather than "n" characters.) [4DOS, 4OS2] >> INPUT: Fixed a problem with the input variable length being restricted to 3 characters if SETDOS /L1 (LineInput) is set, and no length is specified for INPUT. [4DOS] >> LIST: Fixed a problem with highlighting the offsets as well as the actual found text when in hex mode. >> ON ERRORMSG: Fixed a problem with freeing memory when the batch file exited. [4DOS] >> START: Fixed a problem with setting the title on a new 4NT session. [4NT] >> START: Fixed a problem with the program arguments being ignored on a START /CM, and another problem with setting the title on a new TCMD/32 session. [TC32] >> SWITCH: Fixed minor problems with nested SWITCH statements. >> TEE: Fixed a problem with TEE'ing to CLIP:. >> TOUCH: Fixed a problem with failing to display a usage message when there were no parameters after a /C, and another problem with properly detecting invalid times. >> UNALIAS: Fixed a problem with /R. Technical and Compatibility Changes ----------------------------------- >> Added more seamless support for Regina REXX, including adding ".rexx" as a default executable extension. [4NT, TC32] >> Added support for the (apparently undocumented) CMD.EXE behavior of disabling all output if first argument to CMD.EXE is "NUL" (i.e., "CMD NUL copy file1 file2"). [4NT] >> Added support for the CMD.EXE %* variable, which returns all of the arguments on the line, like the %$ default, but without the additional ability to specify where to start (i.e. there is no %n*). [4NT, TC32] >> Caveman apps no longer overwrite the default console buffer (i.e., the one visible via Alt-V where non-Caveman apps are executed). [TC32] >> Fixed a problem when specifying a directory name as the first argument on the startup command line (i.e., a "set COMSPEC" request). [4NT, TC32] >> Fixed a problem with recognizing and executing Pharlap extended DOS apps. [4NT, TC32] >> Improved the performance of Caveman apps and fixed a couple of minor glitches, including one which sometimes kept the old "caret" (text cursor) from being cleared when scrolling. [TC32] >> Worked around a Win32 API bug that would occasionally cause the free space on a UNC volume to return "0". [4NT, TC32] >> Worked around several NT and Win9x bugs with piping to/from 16- bit DOS apps. [4NT, TC32] >> Made a change to allow displaying directories which have an embedded semicolon in the directory name. >> Worked around a couple of bugs (one in NT and one in Win95/ Win98) that (erratically) caused a very slow shutdown when Take Command was active. [TC32] >> Worked around an NT API bug which could cause a crash with filenames with embedded left square brackets ('['). [4NT, TC32] >> @UNIQUE: Worked around an OS/2 bug that caused trouble if @UNIQUE was called repeatedly on a fast machine. [4OS2, TCOS2] >> CALL: Added support for the (undocumented) CMD.EXE "call :label [args]" syntax, which calls a new copy of the shell and starts execution at the specified label. [4NT, TC32] >> FOR: Added support for the CMD.EXE %~.. syntax. For further documentation see CMD.EXE documentation -- the same things can be done in a much better way with variable functions. [4NT, TC32] >> IF: Added EQU to the IF tests (same as EQL) -- CMD.EXE in Windows NT uses EQU, but the documentation says EQL, so now both are supported. >> MOVE: Will now restore the original attributes if the move failed (previously it would remove the read-only attribute, as this is required under Netware to rename files, but this attribute was not restored if the MOVE failed). >> SET: If you use SET to display the value of an environment variable, e.g: set var and the specified environment variable doesn't exist, SET will now display all the variables whose name begins with the specified string. In the example above, if there is a variable named "abc" it will be displayed. If not, but there are variables whose names start with "abc", then they will be displayed. (This change is for basic compatibility with CMD.EXE, though CMD.EXE will also display additional variables even when it finds an exact match.) [4NT, TC32] >> START: Now accepts /W as well as /WAIT. [4NT, TC32]