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From: doerschu@rex.cs.tulane.edu (Dave Doerschuk)
Newsgroups: comp.os.msdos.misc,comp.os.msdos.apps
Subject: Re: PATH Statement
Message-ID: <6330@rex.cs.tulane.edu>
Date: 26 Feb 91 06:39:34 GMT
References: <26883@uflorida.cis.ufl.EDU>
Organization: Computer Science Dept., Tulane Univ., New Orleans, LA
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In article <26883@uflorida.cis.ufl.EDU> jdb@reef.cis.ufl.edu (Brian K. W. Hook) writes:
>Thanks for all the replies for lengthening my path, and here is a summary
>and why none of them work. :)

Brian, I'd like to comment on a few of these solutions, in hopes of making
them work for your situation:

>1. "Make BAT directory, set your path to it, and run it that way!"
>
>A lot of my applications work off of my current directory, for example, I
>have about 8 different document directories that I got to to use WP 5.1
>with, so I CD to them then type WP....a BAT file that takes me to the WP
>directory won't help.

Most "quality" (whatever that means! :-) modern software is capable of
determining what directory it was executed from, so rather than actually
change directory in your batch file, simply call the program with a
complete pathname (in the batch file).  A quick one-liner batch program
to run wordperfect, located in c:\wp51, might be:

c:\wp51\wp

The idea is that you're logged into the directory containing the DATA
files, and calling the executable with a full path specification.  I
absolutely guarantee this works for wordperfect, and many other packages
as well.

>Other programs are ones like DS (Directory Sort), FF (File Find), etc.   I
>know I could make a DS.BAT:
>
>C:\UTILS\NORTON50\FF %1 %2 %3
>
>But remember, under DOS the minimum amount of space that file will take up
>on an AT is 2048 bytes.  So each 45 byte file is actually 2K, and I can't
>afford the space!

Right, so don't use batch files.  Instead, get any of the command-line
enhancers, such as Anarkey, that have an aliasing facility.  These will
allow you to store the aliases, using only the amount of memory needed
for the actual character strings.  You generally set the aliases up in
a file, and your autoexec.bat loads them at boot time.  An example of
an alias might be:

DS  C:\UTILS\NORTON50\DS

Now, if you enter the command:  DS /ne   and hit return, what actually
gets handed to command.com after the alias is expanded is:
C:\UTILS\NORTON50\DS /ne
Unlike a batch file, there's no need to specify %1, %2, %3, etc. in the
alias specification unless the arguments are not just "trailing" at the
end of the line.  This is the most basic type of aliasing example I could
think of, there are lots more tricks'n'stuff available!  Anarkey does
some other great things for you, like filename expansion, but if you
only need the aliasing feature you can save some memory by using one
of the older command line enhancers, such as ndosedit.


>5.  "Use 4DOS"
>
>I HAVE to stay with DOS as much as I hate it since I am a DOS developer.  I
>can't even have the SMALLEST incompatibilites with something.

Brian, 4DOS only replaces command.com.  It does not replace any of the
bios or the dos function software.  It will have absolutely zero effect
on any software you develop/compile, other than making it a heck of a
lot easier to do!  By replacing the command line interpreter, you replace
things like "how does my 'copy' command work" and "how does my 'del'
command work?"  It doesn't do things like replace how the user's INT21
works.  It isn't possible for someone to find a difference between code
compiled/developed on a machine using 4dos versus one using command.com.

>6.  "Switch to UNIX/VMS/APPLE/AMIGA/SOMETHING ELSE"
Yeah, well, a little sparcstation running openwindows WOULD be nice!

One last thing, there are utility packages out there for changing
your path on the fly.  Cpath is one such package, available from
simtel20 & the mirrors.

>PS Thanks for the help anyway....this is highly annoying.

I'm sorry you're having problems; finding an optimal disk organization
for a large DOS development system can be a pain.

Good luck!
Dave Doerschuk
doerschu@rex.cs.tulane.edu