Take Command : Java Glossary

2008-07-23 by Roedy Green ©1996-2008 Canadian Mind Products
index page for letter ⇒ punctuation 0-9 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z (all)

Take Command

A replacement for Windows W2K/XP/W2K3/Vista command.com/cmd.exe that adds many extra features to BAT file processing. It includes 4NT for console batch files and a GUI equivalent. Even the familiar 4NT.exe is still there, so you don’t have to change anything but the name of the install directory. You can upgrade from 4NT for the same price as an upgrade from an earlier version of Take Command. I have only limited experience with the GUI component, (which does not apear to do much), though I bought a copy of Take Command on 2008-03-04 so everything following is about the 4NT console batch component.

Redirection	COMSPEC
File Timestamps	Configuring
4NT Pet Tricks	Links
Caveats

Redirection

It is initially of interest to Java programmers because it lets you redirect both STDOUT and STDERR to files, pipes or tees. The feature allows you to redirect the output of javac.exe, i.e. the error messages, which appear on STDERR, to a file, or to both a file and the console. Why is that important? Capturing the error messages from javac.exe can be a hassle since they scroll off the screen faster than you can read them. Ordinary > redirection won’t capture them to a file because they are going to STDERR, not STDOUT.

Once you have 4NT installed you can redirect output:

or pipe output to another utility:

rem pipe stdout to more utility
javac.exe *.java | more

rem pipe output of stdout and stderr to more utility
javac.exe *.java |& more

or pipe with a tee to both redirect to a file and pipe:

When using tee with a pipe under 4NT, the programs on the two ends of the pipe run simultaneously, not sequentially as in 4DOS. This means more starts producing output right away. It does not need to wait until the compile finishes.

Programs don’t have to be on the path to start them with 4NT. They just need an Registry App Paths entry so there is no need to put a directory on the path unless it contains several programs. This keeps your path short, simple and fast.

File Timestamps

You can play with timestamps (improperly called ages) like this:

REM if myfile.java is newer than myfile.exe,
REM i.e. has a bigger timestamp,
REM then recompile.
REM note the the [] around parms and lack of () around the if expression.
if %@FILEAGE[myfile.java] GT %@FILEAGE[myfile.exe] call recompile myfile

4NT Pet Tricks

Here are some of the sorts of tricks I use with 4NT.

Here an example of recursively descending a directory tree and processing each directory it finds.

Here is an example that compares two directories, looking for mismatches, missing, older, newer, or extra files.

Caveats

The biggest problem with 4NT is you may not distribute it to you customers in any way. If they want to run your bat files they must buy and install 4NT for themselves. There is no such thing an a 4NT runtime.
There is a version of 4NT for Windows W95/W98/Me called 4DOS.
I have encountered only one bug: CDD /S DE will not work unless a C: drive exists. You can work around that by providing it with a dummy one with SUBST C: D:\
I think this is now fixed but in version 4.01, wildcards on long file names will be performed on both long and short filenames, so often you get two matches on the same file! The result in you often notice 4NT running a utility twice when you use wildcards.
You can install it as your official command processor, replacing cmd.exe with by setting the COMSPEC environment variable to:
With Vista, the registration key can mysteriously disappear. Use the inikey version to keep it in a file instead of the flaky registry.
With Vista, the defender will keep asking you for permission to run 4NT. Change the short cut you use to invoke 4NT in the for all users option to tell it not to run as administrator.

COMSPEC

You can set up 4NT as your default command processor by setting the SET environment COMSPEC parameter to:

"F:\Program Files\JPSoft\4NT8\4NT.EXE" /E:2500 /C

Configuring

Use the OPTION command to set the following parameters:

register, where you put your registration key. Be careful not to hit the remove registration button, placed where you would expect to find an OK button.
misc: extended directory search: 2. This makes CDD a very useful command to jump to a directory on any drive just by typing a few letters of its name. It creates an auxiliary list of all directories in C:\jpstree.idx or in C:\users\ user\AppData\Local\JPSoft\jpstree.idx in Vista.
misc: ntsc descriptions off
for colours try:
use background foreground

output bright cyan #96ffff black #000000

input bright cyan #96ffff blue #0000ff

list white #ffffff green #00ff00

select white #ffffff red #ff0000

use	background	foreground
output	bright cyan	#96ffff	black	#000000
input	bright cyan	#96ffff	blue	#0000ff
list	white	#ffffff	green	#00ff00
select	white	#ffffff	red	#ff0000

Each window controlled by 4NT can override the OPTION properties independently. In the upper left corner of each window, click properties:

shortcut : start in : your usual working directory.
14 point font
screen buffer: 80x5000
Window size: 80x40
Edit options: insert mode and quickedit mode
Screen background: 200-255-255 : pale cyan.

4DOS
javac.exe
pipe
redirection
Take Command manual
tee
xcopy

	Please email your feedback for publication, errors, omissions, broken/redirected link reports and suggestions to improve this page to Roedy Green :
	Canadian Mind Products
	mindprod.com IP:[65.110.21.43]
	Your face IP:[38.103.63.61]	The information on this page is for non-military use only.
	You are visitor number 11.	Military use includes use by defence contractors.
	You can get a fresh copy of this page from:	or possibly from your local J: drive (Java virtual drive/mindprod.com website mirror)
	http://mindprod.com/jgloss/takecommand.html	J:\mindprod\jgloss\takecommand.html