From: stern@mble.philips.be
Newsgroups: comp.os.msdos.programmer
Subject: Re: Batch File Question . . . HELP
Date: 15 Apr 92 13:47:02 GMT
Organization: MBLE , Brussels, Belgium

In article <1992Apr14.132544.1@hmivax.humgen.upenn.edu>, nussbaum@hmivax.humgen.upenn.edu (Nussbaum Lab, Univ. of Pa.) writes:
> I have a very simple problem for anyone who happens to program.  I have MS-DOS
> 5.0 and I want to write a simple menu program to run all of my applications
> from.  I.e., I want to put the file into my AUTOEXEC.BAT.  However, I can't
> seem to figure out how to run a batch file with a prompth in it so that you can
> type a character (1 - n . . .) and have a specific application run.
> 
> I don't want the program to simply generate a menu and then have each
> application run by starting a file called, for example, 1.bat, etc.
> 
> Can anyone provide me with the information required to do this?  Thank you.
> 
> Jeffrey Perkel
> 
> 
> Jeffrey Perkel				"eh boss, ya want we should
> perkel_j@a1.mscf.upenn.edu		 disresemble da joint . . . "
> 					-_Who Framed Roger Rabbit?_



Here is THE solution to enhance your batch files.
I used to work on systems owning a very much powerful shell language
(UNIX, VMS,...) and I had to write a lot of batch files for automating
PC use. Due to the limitation of COMMAND.COM I write a very general program
that manipulate the environment variables. I now couldn't live without it.

Try XSET (version 2.12), it is available
   at SIMTEL20 PD1:<MSDOS.BATUTL>XSET212.ZIP
or at GARBO.UWASA.FI:/PC/BATCHUTIL/XSET212.ZIP


	XSET allows you to put EVERYTHING you want in a variable of
 the current environment and use it as if you gave it the value with
 the standard DOS command 'SET'. You will be able to write very efficient
 batch files including string manipulation, calculation,...

	XSET is the more powerful environment variable manipulation
 program you never saw. It also has the easiest and most intuitive
 user interface it is possible to write (very closed to the DOS 'SET'
 command).


 XSET is fully compatible with MS-DOS 5.0, DR-DOS 6.0, NDOS & 4DOS 4.0.


 XSET has five major features:
 ============================

  - XSET permits to catch the output of any command (internal or external)
    or program and put it into an environment variable.

  - XSET has several built-in commands to modify the output of a program
    or a string given on the command-line (extract a part of a string,...)

  - XSET has a built-in full floating-point calculation functionalitie:
                        -------------------------------

    You can make incremental loops, input a calculation string and
    output a number,...

  - XSET can manage variable contents of more than 128 characters
    (your path can now be as long as you want)

  - XSET has some other built-in commands to give you access to some
    system datas (date, time, ...)

                                                       M. Stern
  More than 40 commands to let you do all what you need.
                                          


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
       Marc Stern  <stern@mble.philips.be>

  ***  Theory is when we know everything but nothing goes right.      ***
  ***  Practice is when everything goes right but nobody knows why.   ***
  ***  Here, we have an harmonious mix between theory and practice:   ***
  ***        nothing goes right and nobody knows why.                 ***
Newsgroups: comp.os.msdos.programmer