HI Paul,

following up a message from Richard Webb to Paul Quinn:

<big snip>

Is that what you had in mind, mate?

Maybe, but what happens to ifnumber I wonder if the bonehead that
invokes it types something which is an alpha string as
the command line parm? Have to try that and see what kind
of choke we get.
ONce I know how it chokes, I"m golden.

Yup, we figured out how it chokes. Returns errorlevel 255,
which means syntax fubar. So, if a bonehead types in a non
numeric command line parm ifnumber's going to give us some
argument about bad syntax. Can use that.

Was working on another batch project, my vessels
reconciliation file we talked about in this echo, cleaning
up the reports it generates and was testing some code I
intended to use for it, and in so doing crash tested what I
wanted to crash test for this project as well.

THe other code was critical, as it runs in automation while
I"m in bed or absent, so it's important to get right the
first time <g>.


Regards,
Richard
--- timEd 1.10.y2k+
* Origin: Radio REscue net operations BBS (1:116/901)

Hi! Richard,

On 31 Jan 10 19:43, you wrote to me:

Maybe, but what happens to ifnumber I wonder if the bonehead that

[ ...trimmed... ]

Yup, we figured out how it chokes. Returns errorlevel 255,
which means syntax fubar. So, if a bonehead types in a non
numeric command line parm ifnumber's going to give us some
argument about bad syntax. Can use that.

Man, I could have told you that. In fact I did mean to, though it is in the dox for ifnumber. The way I used it in range testing I wasn't interested in if's, but's or maybe's, or shades of grey/gray. Where anything in the range proves okay then the errorlevel is zero (0); anything else is errorlevel 1 or greater (like the 255) and is an actual error. Oh well.

Was working on another batch project, my vessels
reconciliation file we talked about in this echo, cleaning
up the reports it generates and was testing some code I
intended to use for it, and in so doing crash tested what I
wanted to crash test for this project as well.

This is good. Yes, I like to hear stories like this. At least someone else is
still doing BATch stuff. Sometimes I get an itch to do a reality check when I'm doing the stuff I do here. :) No one else sees it... luckily.

I did have a 'win' with my ISP last week after I found out that our homepage hadn't been working for over a year, and had them fix the glitch. (It's mentioned in the NLSS.bat dox.)

THe other code was critical, as it runs in automation while
I"m in bed or absent, so it's important to get right the
first time <g>.

Cool.

Cheers,
Paul.

... Me erur corectyng modim is malphunctinyng...
--- GoldED+/W32 1.1.5-31012
* Origin: Quinn's Post - Maryborough, Queensland, OZ (3:640/384)

HI Paul,

On Mon 2038-Feb-01 15:32, Paul Quinn (3:640/384) wrote to Richard Webb:

<snip>

Man, I could have told you that. In fact I did mean to, though it
is in the dox for ifnumber. The way I used it in range testing I
wasn't interested in if's, but's or maybe's, or shades of grey/gray.
Where anything in the range proves okay then the errorlevel is zero
(0); anything else is errorlevel 1 or greater (like the 255) and is
an actual error. Oh well.

Figured it might, but wanted to see how it acted with a text instead of numeric
string, figured it'd be a syntax error
type thing, i.e. 255. But, wanted to make sure. I usually
use that in my descending just to make sure I"ve done the
command line syntax for it correct in my batches, then we
don't even bother to test for it. I.e. once the thing is
corrected we remove that one and just test for lower
errorlevels.

Was working on another batch project, my vessels
reconciliation file we talked about in this echo, cleaning
up the reports it generates and was testing some code I
intended to use for it, and in so doing crash tested what I
wanted to crash test for this project as well.

This is good. Yes, I like to hear stories like this. At least
someone else is still doing BATch stuff. Sometimes I get an itch to
do a reality check when I'm doing the stuff I do here. :) No one
else sees it... luckily.

NObody else sees it, but here they see the results. LIke
sausage and laws, you don't wanna se it being made <g>.
COpious amounts of cigarettes and coffee.

I did have a 'win' with my ISP last week after I found out that our homepage hadn't been working for over a year, and had them fix the
glitch. (It's mentioned in the NLSS.bat dox.)

GOod to hear that one too! Mine here is the big monolith
phone company, and you might call 'em for weeks to get them
to straighten out a problem. WE had phone line difficulties here for quite awhile last October and NOvember, finally got them to actually send somebody out here to sniff around.

THe other code was critical, as it runs in automation while
I"m in bed or absent, so it's important to get right the
first time <g>.

Cool.

I"m almost satisfied with the reports it generates now. A
few minor tweaks. YOu might recall, or can refer to earlier in this echo. WE create a batch which looks at the entries
on my system to see if they're the same entries I received
via email from the other source. IF not then't those that
aren't are posted to my data. Trouble is, often at the end
of the process the file which should contain data was a zero byte file, because
there was no data that my system didn't
have.
So, we use good old ms dos find to look, note 0 spaces, i.e. 0 lines in file, as in

type filename.ext | find " " /i /c << somefile.txt


use nset to make an environment variable out of that figure, ifnumber to test against a value of 1 or greater.

Been snowed in here all weekend, and one of my primary
antennas went down with a limb from big pin oak, so have
been spending a lot of time cleaning up bits of code here
and there.



Regards,
Richard
--- timEd 1.10.y2k+
* Origin: Radio REscue net operations BBS (1:116/901)

Hi! Richard,

On 01 Feb 10 10:45, you wrote to me:

Been snowed in here all weekend, and one of my primary
antennas went down with a limb from big pin oak, so have
been spending a lot of time cleaning up bits of code here
and there.

We're experiencing cyclonic conditions, though it's just termed as a tropical 'low' with the current temp at about +84F with 72% humidity and wind gusts at about 30mph. About 30 miles downriver at Hervey Bay they experienced some dramatic tidal surges over the weekend, with one appearing on the front page of
the local newspaper showing a 'boardwalk' under water which is normally about 20 feet above the mean sea level.

Cheers,
Paul.

... Should I or shouldn't I? ... Too late, I did!
--- GoldED+/LNX 1.1.4.7
* Origin: Quinn's Post - Maryborough, Queensland, OZ (3:640/384)

Hi Paul,

On Tue 2038-Feb-02 10:29, Paul Quinn (3:640/384) wrote to Richard Webb:

Been snowed in here all weekend, and one of my primary
antennas went down with a limb from big pin oak, so have
been spending a lot of time cleaning up bits of code here
and there.

We're experiencing cyclonic conditions, though it's just termed as a tropical 'low' with the current temp at about +84F with 72% humidity
and wind gusts at about 30mph. About 30 miles downriver at Hervey
Bay they experienced some dramatic tidal surges over the weekend,
with one appearing on the front page of the local newspaper showing
a 'boardwalk' under water which is normally about 20 feet above the
mean sea level.

SOunds like NEw ORleans in the summer. I could handle that
84f anyway.

Wife left the vhf ham radio in the van on the other day when she came back from
the mechanic's, so last night we had to
have her daughter bring the truck over, and I had to teach
her how to jumpstart a battery.

The good thing about this project that I was mainly working
on over the weekend which made it suitable for a snowed in
weekend was its complexity. I use an interactive menu for
beginning of the synchronization of data process, so we have two versions, one which runs "right now" when selected, the
other that runs from the bbs maintenance event about 1200
utc. So, we write the code in the "do it right now"
version, and when it's to our liking port it to the delaayed version.

AT least that white stuff's melting now. I keep telling
folks I didn't move south to see white stuff out my window
<g>>

Regards,
Richard
--- timEd 1.10.y2k+
* Origin: Radio REscue net operations BBS (1:116/901)

Hello all!


Alright, another one for the batch gurus in here.

FIrst, some background. My braille embosser uses heavy
fanfold tractor feed paper. This come in boxes of 1000
sheets each. Because they must be ordered from elsewhere
and shipped turnaround time is about 3 weeks from the time I send the folks a bank draft or other financial instrument
until paper arrives on my doorstep.

So, to alert me when I ought to start thinking about
ordering more most batches that I write which will generate
hardcopy braille use the statistics file of the braille
translator program to give me the total number of sheets
I"ve used from a box of paper, in most cases counting the
waste sheet which must be accounted for due to the tractor
feed mechanism.

But, every now and then I do braille output from dos itself, and I have a nice little batch which lets me enter the
number of pages used when capturing a screen or other dos
output.

My batches use the braille translator's statistics file, an
all pages master file, and of course HOrst's nset, and in
some cases listmod along with TImo from FInland's command
line calculator to derive a new value of allpages.txt
whenever anything happens that generates hardcopy.
We also want to storee the statistics file for the braille
translator in a master file which gets recreated whenever a
new box of paper arrives.

So, now for the question. The batch I use to increment my
page counts of course accepts a command line parameter which is the number of pages used but where the braille translator was not used.

Is there any way that you gurus know of to limit the scope
of acceptable parameters such as is provided in dbase? I.e. the command line parm given must be numeric or the program
branches to a block of code that generates an appropriate
message then ends?

Just curious.



Regards,
Richard
--- timEd 1.10.y2k+
* Origin: Radio REscue net operations BBS (1:116/901)

Hi! Richard,

On 21 Jan 10 01:44, you wrote to all:

Is there any way that you gurus know of to limit the scope
of acceptable parameters such as is provided in dbase?

Ooh, another dBASE fan! (I used it recently... ermm, nearly 4 years ago... to 'join' two tables together when I created the basis for a JamNNTPd "groups" file. :-)

I.e. the command line parm given must be numeric or the program
branches to a block of code that generates an appropriate message then ends?
Just curious.

Mmm. You still have that NLSS.bat and the required utils? I used a thingy called 'IFNUMBER" to do range checking on command-line input...

-----8<-----C-U-T--H-E-R-E----->8-----
:: Test the elements for reasonableness...
:: Zones #s between 1-5, thanks...
IFNUMBER %ZONE% smallerthan 1
IF ERRORLEVEL 1 GOTO ERRMSG_2
IFNUMBER %ZONE% biggerthan 5
IF ERRORLEVEL 1 GOTO ERRMSG_2

:: Net/Region #s between 1-7211, only...
IFNUMBER %NETREGON% smallerthan 1
IF ERRORLEVEL 1 GOTO ERRMSG_2
IFNUMBER %NETREGON% biggerthan 7211
IF ERRORLEVEL 1 GOTO ERRMSG_2

:: Node #s between 0-9999 (0=clerical entry)...
IFNUMBER %NODENUM% smallerthan 0
IF ERRORLEVEL 1 GOTO ERRMSG_2
IFNUMBER %NODENUM% biggerthan 9999
IF ERRORLEVEL 1 GOTO ERRMSG_2
-----8<-----C-U-T--H-E-R-E----->8-----

Is that what you had in mind, mate?

Cheers,
Paul.

... A closed mouth gathers no feet...
--- GoldED+/W32 1.1.5-31012
* Origin: Quinn's Post - Maryborough, Queensland, OZ (3:640/384)

HI Paul,

On Thu 2038-Jan-21 14:45, Paul Quinn (3:640/384) wrote to Richard Webb:

On 21 Jan 10 01:44, you wrote to all:

Is there any way that you gurus know of to limit the scope
of acceptable parameters such as is provided in dbase?

Ooh, another dBASE fan! (I used it recently... ermm, nearly 4 years
ago... to 'join' two tables together when I created the basis for a JamNNTPd "groups" file. :-)

Yah bummer, I lost Dbase IV and III both in the hurricane
and the aftermath fire, didn't yet have it on this machine,
which had been midi automation driver until I took it to
University hospital New ORleans to be ham station logger
temporarily. I'd never had a need for dBase on it, so
hadn't done it yet <bummer>> Wish I had.
Wish I knew a place I could get it either as a zip archive
or even on floppies <g>.
NO cd drive in this puppy.

I.e. the command line parm given must be numeric or the program
branches to a block of code that generates an appropriate message then ends?
Just curious.

Mmm. You still have that NLSS.bat and the required utils? I used a
thingy called 'IFNUMBER" to do range checking on command-line
input...

THere we go!!! WE're usually talking about single digit
numbers, so we're not talking a whole lot of parsing to do.

-----8<-----C-U-T--H-E-R-E----->8-----
:: Test the elements for reasonableness...
:: Zones #s between 1-5, thanks...
IFNUMBER %ZONE% smallerthan 1
IF ERRORLEVEL 1 GOTO ERRMSG_2
IFNUMBER %ZONE% biggerthan 5
IF ERRORLEVEL 1 GOTO ERRMSG_2

:: Net/Region #s between 1-7211, only...
IFNUMBER %NETREGON% smallerthan 1

<snip>

Is that what you had in mind, mate?

Maybe, but what happens to ifnumber I wonder if the bonehead that invokes it types something which is an alpha string as
the command line parm? Have to try that and see what kind
of choke we get.
ONce I know how it chokes, I"m golden.
Could be kludged to force what I want I think. with dBase
it was always the "picture" statement in a program which
forced the user to provide an acceptable string for input,
so that one could write programs allowing the minimally
trained to interact with dBase. i.e.
getvalue picture 1234567890
or something like that. Been so long since I actually did
any program writing for dBase as I mostly used it from the
dot prompt, believe it or not <g>.


Regards,
Richard
--- timEd 1.10.y2k+
* Origin: Radio REscue net operations BBS (1:116/901)

Hi! Richard,

On 21 Jan 10 06:51, you wrote to me:

Yah bummer, I lost Dbase IV and III both in the hurricane

On its way to you tonight (my time) is a belated CARE package. Check your insecure inbound files... fingers crossed...

Mmm. You still have that NLSS.bat and the required utils? I used
a thingy called 'IFNUMBER" to do range checking on command-line
input...

THere we go!!! WE're usually talking about single digit
numbers, so we're not talking a whole lot of parsing to do.

Is that what you had in mind, mate?

Maybe, but what happens to ifnumber I wonder if the bonehead that
invokes it types something which is an alpha string as the command
line parm?

Not sure. There might be some cr*p on the local screen as IFNUMBER drops its guts, though the errorlevel check(s) should catch the logic flow.

Have to try that and see what kind of choke we get. ONce I
know how it chokes, I"m golden. Could be kludged to force what I want
I think. with dBase it was always the "picture" statement in a
program which forced the user to provide an acceptable string for
input, so that one could write programs allowing the minimally trained
to interact with dBase.

In 'the package' is a cute little doover I only just got the hang of back in the day, called: Form Gen, -aka- FORm GEn (-aka- FORGE) that does *that* either
for Turbo Pascal or dBASE.

There's also a util called: dBMENU, but I don't remember doing much with it though I have an inkling in my waters that I may have used it at work back in the middle-90s. You're welcome to throw it. :)

Also included is a BBS door program by Harvey Parisien called: RADPLUS, that may be useful; it's designed to manipulate .DBF files remotely, and to run from
a RA-style BBS but might be shoe-horned to your needs. That particular copy is
the one I used to run prior to 1998 and had some interaction with *one* user during initial testing. (I don't have the original archive, dammit.)

Cheers,
Paul.

... I gotta get a new computer. This one makes too many mistakes.
--- GoldED+/W32 1.1.5-31012
* Origin: Quinn's Post - Maryborough, Queensland, OZ (3:640/384)

Hi Paul,

On Sat 2038-Jan-23 17:51, Paul Quinn (3:640/384) wrote to Richard Webb:

On 21 Jan 10 06:51, you wrote to me:

Yah bummer, I lost Dbase IV and III both in the hurricane

On its way to you tonight (my time) is a belated CARE package.
Check your insecure inbound files... fingers crossed...

Got it, thanks!!!

Mmm. You still have that NLSS.bat and the required utils? I used
a thingy called 'IFNUMBER" to do range checking on command-line
input...

THere we go!!! WE're usually talking about single digit
numbers, so we're not talking a whole lot of parsing to do.

Is that what you had in mind, mate?

Maybe, but what happens to ifnumber I wonder if the bonehead that
invokes it types something which is an alpha string as the command
line parm?

Not sure. There might be some cr*p on the local screen as IFNUMBER
drops its guts, though the errorlevel check(s) should catch the
logic flow.

That's as I'd think, and if any bonehead types an alpha
string it would be this bonehead <g>. Want to trap it good
though as TImo's batch compatible calculator spills its guts to the file to be written to I note.

<snip>

In 'the package' is a cute little doover I only just got the hang of
back in the day, called: Form Gen, -aka- FORm GEn (-aka- FORGE) that
does *that* either for Turbo Pascal or dBASE.

Yep, think I got that from a friend of mine back in the day
too, roomate who was systems analyst for the state of IOWa
showed it too me iirc. HE was a clipper guy too, and taught me how to write programs in dbase for the average folks. My first foray into dBase programming, a food vending machine
inventory control prg. Quite an adventure.

There's also a util called: dBMENU, but I don't remember doing much
with it though I have an inkling in my waters that I may have used
it at work back in the middle-90s. You're welcome to throw it. :)

Also included is a BBS door program by Harvey Parisien called:
RADPLUS, that may be useful; it's designed to manipulate .DBF files remotely, and to run from a RA-style BBS but might be shoe-horned to
your needs. That particular copy is the one I used to run prior to
1998 and had some interaction with *one* user during initial
testing. (I don't have the original archive, dammit.)

Betcha my uplink does, or might know something about it. IF it uses door.sys or doorinfoxx then it should be usable.


Thanks!!!
Watch for email, which should reach you before this does.

Regards,
Richard
--- timEd 1.10.y2k+
* Origin: Radio REscue net operations BBS (1:116/901)

HEllo Paul,

Paul Quinn (3:640/384) wrote to Richard Webb:

<big snip>

Was working on another batch project, my vessels
reconciliation file we talked about in this echo, cleaning
up the reports it generates and ...

This is good. Yes, I like to hear stories like this. At least
someone else is still doing BATch stuff. Sometimes I get an itch to
do a reality check when I'm doing the stuff I do here. :) No one
else sees it... luckily.

But it's so darned useful. Even if you can get it into
comma delimited you can then get it into a database manager, and thence to about anything else.

since then, no doubt over a year ago I've pretty much
stabilized what I'm doing with all that stuff. Since then
I've rolled a pretty good little routine for checking out
*.tic files that nef choked on for whatever reason and
telling me more about them. I know these days you're using
your tic file processor written in batch. I still have
other links though, and coordinate a small fdn so I'm still
using a full blown tic processor.

My latest project is some msg area analysis stuff. I'll
drop in in a couple weeks if you're interested and give you
a look see at some of it.
Hmmm, for that matter might be back with some questions for
the gurus around here.

Btw did you ever get that routine you were working on for
busting email digests to post as fido msgs working the way
you wanted?

Regards,
Richard
--- timEd 1.10.y2k+
* Origin: (1:116/901)

Hi! Richard,

Oh man, your ears must have been burning as I recently started browsing some nodelist search software (but haven't tried any yet).

On Sat, 19 Mar 11, you wrote to me:

I know these days you're using your tic file processor written
in batch. I still have other links though, and coordinate a small
fdn so I'm still using a full blown tic processor.

It looks like you're keeping tabs on my batch file website doo-hickey. :) Yeah, I had to rewvert to using my Tic2Dir batch file when the old TICK 2.10 dropped dead, after I cloned the whole Fido PC to a VirtualBox 'appliance'. (TICK didn't like the new CPU driving the host Ubuntu system.) I don't have any downlinks and only have a handful of file areas to worry about in any case,
so Tic2Dir seemed ideal.

I'm also half-heartedly hunting down a replacement for Qnode as it dropped dead
following the cloning. It's not an absolute requirement as I no longer run BinkleyTerm but I do like to keep things 'as they were'... because.

My latest project is some msg area analysis stuff. I'll
drop in in a couple weeks if you're interested and give you
a look see at some of it. Hmmm, for that matter might be back with
some questions for the gurus around here.

Okay. So long as it's simple stuff I might be able to help but I'm always on the lookout for a guru too, as I really really prefer to lurk.

Btw did you ever get that routine you were working on for
busting email digests to post as fido msgs working the way
you wanted?

Ermm, I shelved the whole idea. My head hurt too much trying to fathom the problem. The traffic is like about 1-2 messages per night and most of those are solved by hitting [Next] anyhow. Really 'must read' newsgroup garbage.

Cheers,
Paul.

---
* Origin: I admit I wrote in COBOL once, but I never compiled. (3:640/384)

Hi Paul,

On Mon 2039-Mar-21 20:04, Paul Quinn (3:640/384) wrote to Richard Webb:

Oh man, your ears must have been burning as I recently started
browsing some nodelist search software (but haven't tried any yet).

Nope, but glad to hear it. I've been using your little
creation quite a bit for that application in fact. I've got one version of it that just displays results to the screen,
another that dumps results to a text file, which can then be sent as a message,
etc.

It looks like you're keeping tabs on my batch file website
doo-hickey. :) Yeah, I had to rewvert to using my Tic2Dir batch
file when the old TICK 2.10 dropped dead, after I cloned the whole
Fido PC to a VirtualBox 'appliance'. (TICK didn't like the new CPU
driving the host Ubuntu system.) I don't have any downlinks and
only have a handful of file areas to worry about in any case, so
Tic2Dir seemed ideal.

Nope, hadn't been lookin' at your web, but looked at tic2dir when I first joined fido again, and some of your code in it
for another application.

I'm also half-heartedly hunting down a replacement for Qnode as it
dropped dead following the cloning. It's not an absolute
requirement as I no longer run BinkleyTerm but I do like to keep
things 'as they were'... because.

Iirc qnode does v7 nodelist. I use tbbsnc for that,
essentially xlaxnode without the cripple, written for tbbs
sysops.
I've also got fastlist around here but never really set it
up, thought about it a couple of times, but tbbsnc works,
and found something else to do that break what was already
working. I should have tried fastlst back in the day though but never did.

My latest project is some msg area analysis stuff. I'll
drop in in a couple weeks if you're interested and give you
a look see at some of it. Hmmm, for that matter might be back with
some questions for the gurus around here.

Okay. So long as it's simple stuff I might be able to help but I'm
always on the lookout for a guru too, as I really really prefer to
lurk.

DItto here, I learn more that way. sUre miss seeing some of the old guys around here, Vernon, etc.

Btw did you ever get that routine you were working on for
busting email digests to post as fido msgs working the way
you wanted?

Ermm, I shelved the whole idea. My head hurt too much trying to
fathom the problem. The traffic is like about 1-2 messages per
night and most of those are solved by hitting [Next] anyhow. Really
'must read' newsgroup garbage.

Understand that. Still think it was a doable thing though.
I sort of played with something similar for a little
project, related to my work with the boats. WHen my system
does its little weekly journals detailing who's been using
our communications services a buddy sends me all the dope
from other databanks on vessels that I don't have any info
for but the call sign, maybe the radio op's name as well.
HE gives me the vessel's description, how many people
aboard, vessel's marine call sign, comms capabilities,
whether or not the cruisers have their own web site or are
doing position spots via other means to the internet.
Often there are more than one of these per message he sends
me.

So what I did is rigged up a way to let the automation do
its thing after an edit.
I want the amateur call sign of each on every line of the
output, so that a search for that call sign returns *all*
the data we have.

So, the first line of each entry he sends me gets the
keyword "callsign:" then the amateur call sign. tHen we
have keywords "operator:" "vessel:" and "heardlist"
THose lines get special treatment.

Each entry is marked by "endboat" on a line by itself.

So, after I see one of Rex's messages to me with such info I save it as rexboats.txt from timed, which is then brought up in my text editor, along with
another text file which jogs
my memory as to the keywords.

WHen the editing of the file is done, (automation removes a
lot of the mime junk) We then let automation run again. IF, for example, Rex sent me info on 5 different vessels there
should be 5 "callsign:" entries in the text file, and five
"endboat" markers. IF not , processing aborts and it sends
me a message.

If all's copacetic, 5 apparent records, 5 end of record
marks, we stuff "callsign:" into an environment variable
with HOrst's nset, dump all lines through next "endboat" to
a file with the call sign on each line with listmod, dump
that remaining file to be processed out to another file
which is renamed to the master input filename, lather rinse
repeat. Was thinking you could probably do something
similar with your digest buster.


Regards,
Richard
--- timEd 1.10.y2k+
* Origin: (1:116/901)