SYSTEM: Calls to the Windows operating system (H)

• The keyword sequence is insignificant for the SYSTEM function.

• file_commands

  : DIR and

  FIle

  commands in the same statement: create a

  directory listing

  :
  • Keywords DIR and FIle are both required to get a listing of some or all of the files in a directory.
  • DIR=txt is a filter argument to select all or only part of the filenames.
  • FIle=txt is the file name to get the resulting list.
    • nfiles = SYSTEM(DIR="*.txt", FIle=dirList) ! txt files of current folder to dirList, ⇒ edit dirList
    writes a CSV (Comma Separated Variables) sequential file with nfiles lines. Its name is the current value of dirList. The 6 columns are:

     Name,      Size Attr CreateDate,   LastWriteDate LastAccessDate
    "ALFA.txt", 7545, 32, 39259.688970, 39264.560139, 39259.688970
    "BETA.txt", 7307, 32, 39259.684641, 39273.733403, 39259.684641

    • The dates are days.fractional_days since Dec 31, 1899, see TIME()
    • LastAccess time is only correct for non-FAT file systems.

    • file_attributes are the bit sum of:	dec	hex
      READONLY	1	#1
      HIDDEN	2	#2
      SYSTEM	4	#4
      DIRECTORY	16	#10
      ARCHIVE	32	#20
      DEVICE	64	#40
      NORMAL	128	#80
      TEMPORARY	256	#100
      SPARSE_FILE	512	#200
      REPARSE_POINT	1024	#400
      COMPRESSED	2048	#800
      OFFLINE	4096	#1000
      NOT_CONTENT_INDEXED	8192	#2000

  • To

    edit directory list

    open dirList (1 column isolated by quotes, 5 columns by commas)
    • OPEN(FIle=dirList, Format='"",5F,') ! see MatrixExplorer
    • DLG(Edit=dirList, Format="A8, i12,z4, 3UWWW YY-MM-DD HH:mm")
    In MatrixExplorer this CSV file can be edited, sorted, filtered, etc. Exported to a formatted file will look like:

    ALFA.txt 284   32 Mon 07-04-23 11:06 Sat 07-06-16 14:52 Tue 07-05-15 16:30 
    BETA.txt 284   32 Thu 07-07-19 17:34 Sat 07-06-16 14:52 Thu 07-07-19 17:34 

  • read selected directory elements

    with the above OPEN statement is easy:
    • name3 = dirList(3,1) ! see MatrixExplorer
    • created8 = dirList(8,4)

  • APPend

    to

    append_to directory listing

    if multiple listings are to be concatenated. Without APPend an existing dirList is replaced.
    • nfiles = SYSTEM(DIR="*.lst", FIle=dirList, APPend)
    • ! append lst files of current folder to dirList

• folder and directory commands

  with DIR

  CHARACTER txt*200 SYSTEM(DIR=txt)	FIle= and APPend= keywords cannot be used in this context
  get current directory	write current folder name to the string variable txt if txt is blank
  set current directory	set current folder to txt if txt is the name of an existing directory
  create directory	if txt is not an existing directory

• copy and delete file commands

  (faster execution than using CoMmanD:

  COPY	SYSTEM(COPY="SourceFileName TargetFileName")
  DELETE	SYSTEM(DELETE=FileName) ! see also WRITE

• error handling

  with ERror=label_nr will suppress an error message. Control is transferred to the statement with label label_nr:
  • SYSTEM(CoMmand = " something illegal ", ERror=999)
  • ! ...
  • 999 ! WRITE(Message) "start error handling"
• "command via command interpreter" with the CoMmanD option:
  • SYSTEM(CoMmanD = "MOVE original_file moved_file") ! see also WRITE

• start other programs

  with

  SHell

  • shell commands are case sensitive
  • the shell command never waits for termination
  • to wait for termination of the called program use the RUN command

  • e-mail client open

    • SYSTEM(SHell="mailto:name@xyz.com?subject=Hi&BODY=text")

  • browser open

    • SYSTEM(sh="http://www.HicEst.com")

  • windows explorer open

    • SYSTEM(shell="c:\MyFolder")

  • CoMmanD

    • SYSTEM(SHell="Excel.exe", cmd="myfile")

  • DIR

    to set the working directory for the called program
    • SYSTEM(SH="Excel.exe", CMD="abc.XLS", DIR="d:\Test\")

  • Mode

    allowed modes are " ", "edit", "print", "open")
    • SYSTEM(shell="file:///c:/hicest/web/system.htm", Mode="edit")

• other program start and wait

  with the

  RUN

  command
  • SYSTEM(RUN="c:\Windows\Notepad.exe mytext.txt")

• script execution

  • SYSTEM(RUN) as the first statement of a script starts the script in

    autorun mode

    . This is the same as SYSTEM(RUN=mode) with mode /= 0.
  • • SYSTEM(RUN=num)
    with num= 0: stop autorun. num/=0: start auto run

  • CHain

    to start SomeOtherHicEstScript in RUN mode:
    • SYSTEM(CHain="SomeOtherHicEstScript.hic")

  • WAIT

    msec wait

    :
    • SYSTEM(wait=sleep_in_milliseconds)
    ⇒ how to program a delayed call to an ALARM subroutine

• window size and location

  option	type	SYSTEM(WIN=wh, W=character_columns, H=character_rows, XP=window_pixel_rows, YP=window_pixel_columns)
  WINdowhandle	NUM	win=ChildHandle, default is main window.
  getWidth	NUM	W=character_columns
  getHeight	NUM	H=character_rows
  getXPixels	NUM	XP=window_pixel_rows
  getYPixels	NUM	YP=window_pixel_columns
  font_commands		Font=" " or PoinT=0 will call the windows font manager
  FoNtnr	num	fn=1 (default, std), 2=script, 3=dialog, 4=fixed, 5=graphics, 6=temp
  FONt	txt	fon=" " to prompt, or fon="Lucida Console" to set only
  PoinT	num	pts=10 + 10*(big==1) to set the font size
  BOld	log	bo=1
  UnderLine	log	underl=0
  ITalic	log	it=1
  STYle	num	style = 32: scalable (default for FontNr=1, 3, 5, 6) style = 8: fixed (default for FontNr=2, 4) style = 1 for screen output style = 3 for printer or screen style = 4 for scripts style = 64 is true type
  environment		get or set the value of a variable in your program"s environment
  GEteNV	TXT	string = "PATH=" ! to get the value of PATH SYSTEM(getenv=string) ! returns PATH=... in string
  setENV	txt	SYSTEM(setEnv = "PATH=.;.\test;c:\TEMP")
  FT	TXT	SYSTEM(FIle="test.hic", ft=string) to read the time stamp of a file if string is blank else: set the time stamp time format is e.g. 20070726155409.912, see TIME().
  HDNR	NUM	SYSTEM(HDNR=number) ! read hard disk serial number

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