Introduction
Welcome to Builder Lite
The Main Event! Builder Lite Versus Batch Files
Roadmap To The Book
Examples
A Note About Rules
Your Right To Use The Example Scripts
Hardware
Book Defaults
About the Author
Note to Readers
About The Book
Disclaimer
Part 1: The Basics
Chapter 1: Creating Builder Lite Programs
What Is Builder Lite? And Why Should I Use It?
Saving Keystrokes
Reducing Confusion
Standardizing Procedures
Protecting Against Dangerous
Commands
Builder Lite Is Better
Builder Lite Scripts
Getting Started
Creating A Simple Program
Editor Tour
File
Help!
Other Editors
Summary
Chapter 2: Anatomy Of A Builder Lite Program
Too Much Documentation Is Never Enough!
Self Documentation
Adding Internal Documentation
Starting Off Right
Speaking Of Capitalization
Spacing
Indenting Sections
Message Length
Summary
Chapter 3: Starting With A Clean Slate
A Short But Useful Program
Summary
Chapter 4: Communicating With The User
Command Echoing
Very Basic Communication
Advanced Communications With Say
Used Alone
Positioning The Cursor
Other Ways To Position The
Cursor
Finding The Cursor
Displaying Text
Displaying Numbers
To Start A New Line Or Not To
Start A New Line That Is The Question
Calling Attention To Your
Text
Printing Literals
More On Drawing Attention With The Box Command
More Text Formatting
Stop! Wait!
Stop! Wait A Minute!
Sleep #
WAIT #
Non-Visual Communication
A Big Example
Summary
Chapter 5: Running Other Programs
Call
Run
System
Technical Notes
Conclusion
Summary
Chapter 6: Applying What You Have Learned So Far
Problem 1
Problem 2
Problem 3
Answers
Part II: The Environment and Program Flow
Chapter 7: Replaceable Parameters
Shift
Unshift
Something To Watch Out For
More On %0 Differences
How Many?
Summary
Chapter 8: The Environment
Using The Environment
Builder Lite And The Environment
Using An Environmental Variable In A Program
Technical Notes
Summary
Chapter 9: The Errorlevel
More On Builder Lite And Errorlevel
Easier Errorlevel Access
Quitting Is Easy!
Technical Note
Summary
Chapter 10: Introduction to Logic Testing
If
Multiple If-Tests
Else
Combining If-Tests In Another Fashion
If-Test Uses
EXIST
An Example
HELP!!!
Summary
Chapter 11: Batch Style Looping And Program Flow
Goto In Batch Files
Goto In Builder Lite
For In Batch Files
For In Builder Lite
An Example
Summary
Chapter 12: Applying What You Have Learned So Far
Problem 4
Problem 5
Answers
Part III: Advanced Builder Lite Commands
Chapter 13: Working With Variables
Creating Variables
Assigning Values To Variables
Hardwire Variable Value Into
Script
Negative Number Bug
Take Variable Value From The
Command Line
Take Information From Another
Variable
Ask The User For Information
Perform A Mathematical
Calculation
Mathematical Calculation
Limitation
Perform A String Manipulation
Case Conversion
Substrings
Out Darn Space!
String Addition
ASCII Conversions
Converting Integers To Strings
Converting Strings To Integers
String Length
Examples
Summary
Chapter 14: Advanced Logic Testing
Builder Lite Statements
Case-Sensitive Lexical Ordering
Example
In That Case
Summary
Chapter 15: Getting Input From The User
Why Ask Why?
Long Questions
Long Answers
Short Answers
GetYN
GetKey
I Did Not Mean That!
Summary
Chapter 16: Menus
DropDown And Select Me Some Time
Menu Formatting
Hey Buddy, Can You Spare A Light?
Scattered To The Far Corners Of The Screen
Conclusion
Summary
Chapter 17: Applying What You Have Learned So Far
Problem 6
Problem 7
Problem 8
Answers
Part IV: More Advanced Builder Lite Commands
Chapter 18: Advanced Looping
Keep Repeating It
Several Words About Nesting
Just For You
While I'm Gone...
Conclusion
Summary
Chapter 19: Subroutines
DOS Batch Files And Subroutines
Builder Lite Subroutines
Internal Subroutines
A Simple Example
Variable Management In
Internal Subroutines
Restricted Goto
Leaving
Summary Of Internal
Subroutine Rules
An Example
Let's Get Organized
External Subroutines
A Warning
Compiling
Information Passing To The
External Subroutine
Taking That Information In
The External Subroutine
Passing Information Back To
The Main Program
A Simple Example
Passing A Single String
String Modification In The
External Subroutine
Two Or More Strings
Passing Numbers
Passing A Single Number Back
Some Tricks!
A Big Example
Conclusion
Summary
Chapter 20: System Variables
System Variables Already Covered
Did The User Press Escape
What Is The Errorlevel
What Was The Last Key Pressed
New System Variables
General Information
What Type of Display
How Much Power Is Available
Is There A Mouse
Operating System Information
Disk Information
What Is The Current Subdirectory
What Is The Current Drive
Does That Subdirectory Already Exist
How Much Free Space Is There
How Much Total Space Is There
What Is The Volume Label
Is That Drive Ready
File Information
What Is The File Date
What Time Was A File Created
Date and Time Conversions
System Date And Time
How Large Is A File
Conventional Memory
How Much Regular Memory Is Installed
How Much Regular Memory Is Free
Environmental Space
EMS Memory
Is EMS Memory Installed
What Version Is Installed
How Much EMS Memory Is Installed
How Much EMS Memory Is Available
Others
What Is The Screen Size
What Does The Path Have On It
An Example
Summary
Chapter 21: Configuring Your Scripts
To Mouse Or Not To Mouse That Is The Question
To BIOS Or To DOS That Is Another Question
To Comma Or Not To Comma Yet Another Question
To Curse Her Or Not To Curse Her Still More Questions
I'll Bet You Can't Read This And I Don't Need To Ask
An Example
Summary
Chapter 22: Miscellaneous
Did You Press A Key
Moving A File
Rebooting
Passwords
Renaming Subdirectories
Stuffing The Keyboard Buffer
An Example
Summary
Chapter 23: Final Exam
Problem 9
Problem 10
Answers
Part V: Reference
Chapter 24: Program Documentation
Chapter 25: Builder Lite Encyclopedia
'
*
+
-
/
Technical Notes
:=
Technical Notes
<
<=
<>
==
>
>=
Adaptor
Beep
Box
Possible colors
Technical Notes
Call
Canceled
Technical Note
Case
Technical note
CharToNum
Cls
Cls On
Permissible Colors
CPU
CurrentDir
CurrentDrive
DirExists
DiskFree
DiskLabel
Technical Note
DiskReady
DiskSize
DOSErrorLevel
DOSInstalled
DOSRAM
DropDown
Technical Notes
Echo
Technical Notes
Echo Off
Technical Notes
EMSAvail
Technical Note
EMSInstalled
EMSMajor
EMSMinor
EMSTotal
EMSVersion
ENVAvail
ENVTotal
Exit
External
Technical notes
FileChangedDateToLong
FileChangedTimeToLong
FileSize
For
Technical Notes
For (Loop Structure)
Technical Notes
GetKey
Technical Notes
GetYN
Goto
Technical Notes
GotoXY
Technical note
If
Not Notes
Input
Integer
Technical Notes
IntToStr
Item
KeyPressed
LastKey
Technical Notes
Length
LightBar
Technical Notes
LongInt
Technical Notes
LongToDateStr
LongToTimeStr
What it does
LongToStr
LowerCase
LTrim
MaxCols
MaxRows
Menu Style
MidStr
MouseHideCursor
MouseInstalled
MouseShowCursor
Move
Not
Technical Notes
NumToChar
Technical Notes
OnPath
OSMajor
OSMinor
OSVersion
ParamCount
Password
Pause
Technical Notes
PopUp
Technical Notes
PrinterReady
Technical Note
Reboot
Rem
RenSub
Technical Note
Repeat
Return
RowCol
Technical notes
RTrim
Run
Technical Notes
Say
Technical Notes
String Constants
Color Control
Technical Notes
Set
Technical Notes
Shift
Sleep
Technical Notes
String
Technical Notes
StrDateToLong
StrTimeToLong
StrToNum
Stuff
What it does
Sub
Technical Notes
System
Notes
SysDateToLong
SysTimeToLong
Text On
Permissible colors
Trim
UpperCase
Unshift
Use BIOS
Use Commas
Use Cursor
Use DOS
Technical Note
Use Encryption
Technical Note
VideoMode
Wait
Technical Notes
WhereX
WhereY
What it's for
While
Chapter 26: Converting Existing Batch Files
How To Convert
What Happens To A Converted Batch File
Summary
Appendix A: Problem Solutions
Problem 1
Problem 2
Problem 3
Problem 4
Problem 5
Problem 6
Problem 7
Problem 8
Problem 9
Problem 10
Appendix B: Builder Lite Error Messages
Could not run
Could not find BLDLITE.EXE
Errors During Compilation
Not enough memory for this operation
Error reading file
Error creating file
Could not find BLHELP.EXE
Could not find BLHELP.HLP
Could not create EDITLITE.CFG
Could not find desktop file EDITLITE.CFG
Could not open config file
Error reading config file
Appendix C: Builder Lite Reserve Words
Appendix D: Keystroke Constants
The information for this book was taken from the last draft I submitted to the publisher. Since the publisher performed minor editing, the version you purchase in the store will be slightly different.
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© 2002 by Ronny Richardson, All Rights Reserved