Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!usc!snorkelwacker!bloom-beacon!eru!luth!sunic!sics.se!bula!bjornk
From: bjornk@bula.se (Bjorn Knutsson)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: ARexx and mg3 questions
Message-ID: <9094@bula.se>
Date: 9 Jul 90 13:07:24 GMT
References: <9007061951.AA00834@human-torch.lockheed.com>
Sender: rnews@bula.se
Reply-To: Bjorn Knutsson <bjornk@bula.se>
Distribution: comp
Organization: Bjorn's Amiga, Sweden
Lines: 62

In article <9007061951.AA00834@human-torch.lockheed.com> kosma%human-torch@STC.LOCKHEED.COM (Monty Kosma) writes:
>I don't know if this should be in c.s.a or c.s.a.tech, so I figure I'll
>post it to c.s.a since the c.s.a.tech people tend to react more viciously
>to stuff incorrectly posted there :-)

I think this counts as .tech-stuff, at least that's my opinion.

[stuff deleted]
>1.  In an Arexx script file, typing 
>address 'mg'
>    works fine, but typing
>address mg
>    does not.  

Well, you just ran into one of the most popular gotchas with ARexx. Compare
these two examples...

1> rx "say hello"
HELLO
1> rx "say 'hello'"
hello

...I think you realize what happens. MG3a wants a lower case "mg" as its
address. Not putting quotes around the name will convert the string to
uppercase, since ARexx will try to interpret it as a variable and an
undefined variable always returns its name converted to upper case.
If the variable hello in the example above had been set to anything,
it would have returned whatever the variable contained.

>2.  Also, in an Arexx script file, typing 
>'rexx-insert "hello"'
>    works (inserts hello into the current mg buffer), but 
>say 'rexx-insert "hello"'
>    does not work; it merely echos 'rexx-insert "hello"' to the shell.

Of course. What did you expect? Only the functions of function libraries
and the internal functions of ARexx returns data in that fashion. Function
hosts are limited to the 'rc' and 'result' strings. And if you want the
stuff in the 'result' string, you must remember to set options results
in the beginning of your program.

What you did in your example was to send a string to the say-function.

[more stuff deleted]
>6.  finally, doing a 
>M-x rexx-do-region
>    on a region which includes the line
>"address 'mg'"
>    gives a code 3 return error (mg port locked).  I have a clue but
>    would appreciate some more explanation.

I guess MG3a locks its port whil doing a rexx-do-region. That makes sense
since you probably don't want anyone to interfere.

>monty
>kosma@human-torch.lasc-research.lockheed.com

---
Bjorn Knutsson        / USENET: bjornk@bula.se or sunic!sics!bula!bjornk
Stangholmsbacken 44  /  Phone : +46-8-710 7223
S-127 40 SKARHOLMEN /     "Oh dear, I think you'll find reality's on the
S W E D E N        /       blink again."  -- Marvin The Paranoid Android