for Windows10,Windows8,Windows7,VISTA,
XP,NT,Server 2000,Server 2003,Server 2008
DOS Batch -
Solid Framework
1 Creating
a new DOS batch file
3 Preparing
the DOS batch file for the good stuff
4 SETLOCAL
ENABLEDELAYEDEXPANSION
6 Updating
the Version History
11 Closing
the Application after 5 seconds automatically
1
Creating a new DOS
batch file
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|
|
Description |
Right click in an empty space on
your desktop and choose "New - Text Document" from the context menu. Rename the new created file from
"New Text Document.txt" to "dostips.bat" |
2
Editing a DOS batch
file
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|
|
Description |
Right click on the DOS batch
file and chose "Edit" from the context menu. |
3
Preparing the DOS
batch file for the good stuff
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|
|
Description |
The command processor needs to
be prepared for the good stuff following below. Add the following to the beginning of the
DOS file: |
|
Code |
@echo off REM.-- Prepare the Command Processor
-- SETLOCAL ENABLEEXTENSIONS SETLOCAL ENABLEDELAYEDEXPANSION |
4
SETLOCAL
ENABLEDELAYEDEXPANSION
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|
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Description |
Adding delayed expansion was a
great enhancement for the command processor as it is an enabler for powerful
DOS batch coding. Here a simple
example that shows the effect. See the
also the help for the SET command. The takeaway is: If you want to process a variable within a
block like a loop then turn delayed expansions on. |
|
Test Code |
@echo off SETLOCAL DISABLEDELAYEDEXPANSION echo.DELAYEDEXPANSION are now DISABLED set v1=bogus set v2=bogus for /l %%a in (1,1,4) do (
set v1=%%a
set v2=%%a
echo.a=%%a, v1=%v1%, v2=!v2! ) echo Percent sign 1: '%%' echo Exclamation sign 1: '!' echo Exclamation sign 2: '^!' echo. SETLOCAL ENABLEDELAYEDEXPANSION echo.DELAYEDEXPANSION are now ENABLED set v1=bogus set v2=bogus for /l %%a in (1,1,4) do (
set v1=%%a
set v2=%%a
echo.a=%%a, v1=%v1%, v2=!v2! ) echo Percent sign 1: '%%' echo Exclamation sign 2: '^^!' ECHO.&PAUSE&GOTO:EOF |
|
Test Code Output |
DELAYEDEXPANSION are now DISABLED a=1, v1=bogus, v2=!v2! a=2, v1=bogus, v2=!v2! a=3, v1=bogus, v2=!v2! a=4, v1=bogus, v2=!v2! Percent sign 1: '%' Exclamation sign 1: '!' Exclamation sign 2: '!' DELAYEDEXPANSION are now ENABLED a=1, v1=bogus, v2=1 a=2, v1=bogus, v2=2 a=3, v1=bogus, v2=3 a=4, v1=bogus, v2=4 Percent sign 1: '%' Exclamation sign 2: '!' Press any key to continue . . . |
5
Adding a Version
History
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|
|
Description |
Adding and maintaining a version
history within you batch file is good practice in order to keep track of when
changed what. Add the following code
block to you batch file to implement a
nicely formatted version history: |
|
Code |
REM.-- Version History REM XX.XXX YYYYMMDD Author Description REM !! For a new version entry, copy the last entry down and
modify Date, Author and Description |
6
Updating the Version
History
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|
|
Description |
The version history can be
updated by copying the last entry and modifying Date, Author, and Description
appropriately, i.e.: |
|
Code |
REM.-- Version History REM XX.XXX YYYYMMDD Author Description |
7
Adding a Window
Title
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|
|
Description |
Application name and version
seems to be just the right title for the application. Using a variable for the title string will
help adding additional information to the title later. Append the following
code block to the file: |
|
Code |
REM.-- Set the title |
8
Doing something
useful
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|
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Description |
For now lets show some text to
demonstrate the frame work: |
|
Code |
REM.-- Do something
useful |
9
Ending the
Application
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|
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Description |
Adding a 'pause' at the end will
allow the user to inspect screen outputs before closing the application
window: |
|
Code |
REM.-- End of application |
10
Summary and Testing
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|
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Description |
If you copied all code properly
into a batch file then your batch file should look like this: |
|
Code |
@echo off REM.-- Prepare the Command Processor
-- SETLOCAL ENABLEEXTENSIONS SETLOCAL ENABLEDELAYEDEXPANSION REM.-- Version History REM XX.XXX YYYYMMDD Author Description REM !! For a new version entry, copy the last entry down and
modify Date, Author and Description REM.-- Set the title REM.-- Do
something useful REM.-- End of application |
|
|
This is a good point to run the
application. Double click dostips.bat on your desktop. |
|
Output |
So far so good.
|
11
Closing the
Application after 5 seconds automatically
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|
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Description |
As you develop DOS batch files
you may find it annoying to have to hit a key when the application finished
just to close the window. You may want
to have it close automatically but still being able to briefly scan over the
execution result shown in the window. A way to create a delay in a DOS
batch program is to ping the localhost or
127.0.0.1. Sending 2 pings (ping -n 2 ...)
will cause a delay of very close to one second. Invoking multiple pings as needed gives
control about the delay time. Showing
the remaining delay time in the window title will even let the user know
what's going on. Below the updated code. Note the changed "-- End of application" section. When running the application the
title will show a countdown of 5 seconds before the application closes. Changing the number 5 to 10 in the FOR /l statement would result in a 10
second countdown. The user can optionally
press pause to keep the window open. |
|
Code |
@echo off REM.-- Prepare the Command Processor
-- SETLOCAL ENABLEEXTENSIONS SETLOCAL ENABLEDELAYEDEXPANSION REM.-- Version History REM XX.XXX YYYYMMDD Author Description REM !! For a new version entry, copy the last entry down and
modify Date, Author and Description REM.-- Set the title REM.-- Do
something useful REM.-- End of application FOR /l %%a in (5,-1,1) do (TITLE
%title% -- closing in %%as&ping -n 2 -w 1
127.0.0.1>NUL) TITLE Press any key to close the application&ECHO.&GOTO:EOF |
|
What it's good for: |
·
Closing an
application without user interaction ·
Leave enough time to
view execution results ·
User can hit Pause
on the keyboard to keep the window open. |