Announcement

**Eric Pearson** · 10 Jun 2000, 04:47 AM

<img src="http://perfectsync.com/PERFECT_SYNC_LOGO_diamond.GIF" width="114" height="132"> <a NAME="top"></a>http://perfectsync.comPerfect Sync Software</a>is pleased to announce thatDOSBox
Version 1.00is currently in Beta Testing
and will be released very soon!

DOSBox is Perfect Sync Software's new Development Tool for programmers who work with DOS and Console Applications, including legacy programs.

DOSBox makes it possible to: <ul>[*]"Ghost Control" DOS and Console Applications from other applications </li>[*]Add Windows-oriented functions to DOS and Console Applications </li>[*]Tightly integrate existing DOS/Console Applications with Windows Applications </li>[/list]

DOSBox is a "wrapper" program that can link itself to virtually any DOS or Console Application -- even if you didn't write it -- through a "Control File".  By placing commands in the Control File, a DOS or Console Application can tell DOSBox to do things like: <ul>[*]Change the title bar text and icon </li>[*]Maximize, Minimize, Restore, Hide, or Show the application </li>[*]Switch to the fullscreen or window mode </li>[*]Play WAV Sound Files </li>[*]Display Windows "message boxes" </li>[/list]

...and MUCH, MUCH MORE! 


Perhaps even more importantly, any program can open the Control File and tell DOSBox what to do! <ul>[*]Read the console screen </li>[*]Simulate keystrokes, including extended and Alt-key combinations </li>[/list]

For example, you could use the DOSBox package with any PowerBASIC language -- PB/DOS, PB/DLL, PB/CC, or even FirstBASIC! -- to write a program that can launch any DOS or console application and "ghost control" it by reading its screen (in real time) and sending simulated keystrokes to it.

Imagine being able to take that old DOS program and write a Windows program to "drive" it the way it needs to be driven today!  Or take an existing DOS program that somebody else wrote, and write a new DOS program to "fly" it!

DOSBox can also add professional features to any DOS or Console Application.  Programmers that have used Perfect Sync's popular http://perfectsync.com/ConsoleTools.htmConsole Tools</a> package have told us how valuable features like these are: <ul>[*]Remove items from the Window Menu (to keep a user from doing things like Closing your program with Alt-F4 or the "x" button) </li>[*]Center the console on the Desktop, or move it off the screen </li>[*]Obtain complete Windows Version information </li>[*]Obtain console window State and Mode information </li>[*]Place your program in the Windows Foreground (even on Windows 98 and 2000 systems where this is usually not allowed) </li>[*]Hide and Show the Windows 95/98 Toolbar </li>[*]Give your program "topmost" status </li>[/list]

DOSBox can do all of those things, and more! (By the way, http://perfectsync.com/ConsoleTools.htmConsole Tools</a> provides an even larger set of functions, but it can’t be used with DOS programs. DOSBox can be used with DOS and console applications.)

Imagine a DOS program that can do things like these: <ul>[*]Use Long File Names </li>[*]Place text in, and remove text from, the Windows clipboard </li>[*]Display context-sensitive Windows Help Files </li>[*]SHELL to any DOS, console, or Windows program asynchronously ("in the background&quot

while your DOS program continues running. You can even shell-to and control other DOS and Console Applications, using a second instance of DOSBox. </li>[/list]

DOSBox even provides "Instance Control" features so your users can't start two copies of your program at the same time (unless you want them to).

And DOSBox works as a command line utility, so your batch files can do things like...

    DOSBOX /USERYN  Do you want to Continue?
    DOSBOX /FULLSCRN

...to display a message box or switch the console to the fullscreen mode!
Best of all, DOSBox is

FREE!

DOSBox will be available in a 95%-functional Shareware Version, or you will be able to register the DOSBox software for just $35 and receive a 100%-functional version, a printable (PDF) version of the Help File, free DOSBox updates for a year, and a $15 credit toward the purchase of Console Tools if you decide to upgrade.  (The Shareware Version also displays copyright messages and is slower than the Registered Version, so it is not appropriate for "professional" applications.)

Even though the Shareware Version of DOSBox will be available at no charge, the entire DOSBox package is Copyright © 2000 Perfect Sync, Inc., All Rights Reserved.  The use of DOSBox is limited by a Software License Agreement which is available for review before the package is downloaded.

If you would like to apply to become a DOSBox beta tester, please contact mailto:[email protected][email protected]</a>.  At the end of the test cycle, active beta testers will receive the Registered Version of DOSBox at no charge. (Perfect Sync reserves the right to define "active".)    Be sure to let us know which language(s) you use to write programs, and your experience level, because we will only be accepting a limited number of beta testers and we want to have a well-balanced team.  Programmers of all types are welcome to apply!
And Coming Soon...

An all-new Shareware version of Perfect Sync's popular CWC package.  Finally your DOS and console applications can truly take control of the console window! 
Stay tuned for details!


Technical Notes

DOSBox.EXE is a fully self-contained 32-bit Windows executable file (approx. 64k bytes).  No additional runtime modules are required.

DOSBox does not reduce the amount of memory or other resources that are available to DOS and Console Applications.

DOSBox is a 32-bit Windows application, so it can be used only on Microsoft Windows systems.  DOSBox cannot add Windows features to DOS programs that are run on DOS systems.  DOSBox works with all currently-available 32-bit versions of Microsoft Windows, including 95, 95b, 98, 98SE, ME, NT4, and 2000.

When two programs occupy the same console window, such as when a DOS or Console Application is "ghost controlling" another DOS or Console Application,  only the program that is being controlled can  1) PRINT or otherwise access the screen, and  2) access the keyboard. The controlling program can do those things before the controlled program has started,  and after it has stopped, but while the controlled program is running the controller program cannot access the console (except via DOSBox). If necessary, this limitation can be bypassed by running the two programs in separate console windows.

In order for DOS and Console Applications to receive simulated keyboard input from DOSBox, they must be given the Windows "foreground".   DOSBox can reliably give the foreground to DOS and Console Applications on all versions of Windows (including 98 and 2000) so this is not usually a problem.  But it does mean that a controlled program cannot be run "in the background" during the time that keystrokes are being simulated. It can, however, be located "off the screen" so that it is not visible to the user.

DOSBox compensates for the runtime settings of "lock" keys such as Caps Lock, but simulated keystrokes cannot be sent while the user is physically holding down a Shift, Ctrl, or Alt key. (Doing so would change the way the keystrokes were interpreted.)

While DOSBox can allow DOS programs to use Long File Names, the Universal Naming Convention (UNC) is not supported.  Windows cannot reliably convert UNC names to 8.3-format names that can be used by DOS programs.  This means that DOSBox can only be used on local drives, and on "mapped" network drives.
http://perfectsync.com/DevelopmentTools.htmPerfect Sync Development Tools</a>

[This message has been edited by Eric Pearson (edited June 10, 2000).]

**Fred Buffington** · 10 Jun 2000, 07:53 AM

Eric, I'll be glad to beta test it. since i am getting familiar with contools pro and now contools + graphics and have both
pbcc20 and pbdll60.

[email protected]

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**Eric Pearson** · 10 Jun 2000, 08:55 AM

Fred --

Thanks! The emails are starting to come in already!

Everybody --

If you send email to [email protected], don't be surprised if you don't hear from us right away. If the response to this Beta is typical, it will take us until mid-week or so to assemble the beta team.

-- Eric

------------------
Perfect Sync: Perfect Sync Development Tools
Email: mailto:[email protected][email protected]</A>

**Jeffrey Morris** · 11 Jun 2000, 01:11 PM

Eric, What's the difference between DOSBox and Console Tools? Jeffrey.

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**Eric Pearson** · 11 Jun 2000, 03:14 PM

Jeffrey --

Thanks for asking!

Console Tools and DOSBox both have individual strengths, and both contain features that the other does not. (For reasons that will become clear, it wasn't possible to write a single "do everything" add-on.)

Console Tools is a "library" of individual functions that PB/CC programs can call. For example, your program might use the Console Tools "ConsoleWindow" function like this...

Code:

ConsoleWindow %FULLSCREEN

...to switch the program's console window to the fullscreen mode. Or it might do this...

Code:

ConsoleWindow %MINIMIZE

...to minimize the console window. Console Tools, as a Windows Dynamically Linked Library (DLL), actually becomes part of your PB/CC program at runtime, when Windows links the DLL to your EXE, and you call individual functions directly. It's almost as if the source code had been compiled directly into your program.

DOSBox, on the other hand, is a stand-alone application called DOSBox.EXE. It runs "in the background" at the same time as your DOS or PB/CC program, and it waits for your program to tell it what to do. You send messages to DOSBox (via a Control File) to ask DOSBox to do things for your program. For example, with DOSBox you would put the keyword "FULLSCRN" in the Control File, and DOSBox would switch the console to the fullscreen mode for you. Or you'd use MINIMIZE, MAXIMIZE, HIDE, SHOW... you get the idea.

Many of the effects of using Console Tools and DOSBox are quite similar, but the methods that are used to produce those effects are different. If that seems like an unimportant difference, it's not. The most important reason that we created DOSBox is that it can be used by DOS programs -- written in any DOS language! -- to access Windows functions. Windows does not allow DOS programs to use DLLs, but just about any program, no matter what language it was written in, can open a file and put a keyword like FULLSCRN in the file. OPEN and PRINT# are almost universal.

In fact, DOSBox can be used by any DOS or Console Program. So PB/CC programmers can use DOSBox in exactly the same way that a DOS programmer would. The DOSBox Shareware Version will be free, and the Registered Version will be less expensive than Console Tools Standard, so some PB/CC programmers who have avoided Console Tools may decide to try DOSBox.

Another very important difference is that Console Tools is limited to a single program. The DOSBox Control File is "open" to any program that wants to use it, so it is possible to use DOSBox to create a "ghost control" program, as described in the large message above. Console Tools functions can only be called by individual programs that actually link to the DLL at runtime, so it is not possible for one program to control another program using Console Tools.

Unlike Console Tools, DOSBox can even be used with programs that don't "know" that DOSBox exists. For example, as a test I used PB/DOS to write a program that launches the DOS EDIT program, loads a file into EDIT, performs six different search-and-replace operations, and then performs a Save-As operation and exits. The EDIT program "thought" that a human -- a very fast typist! -- used the keyboard to make all of that happen, but it was really the PB/DOS program "ghost". EDIT never knew the difference.

Also, Console Tools contains a large number of "GUI" functions that DOSBox does not. Console Tools can create pulldown and popup menus, list boxes, splash boxes, and many other Windows elements. DOSBox allows programs to display very simple GUI-style "message boxes" but that is the extent of what it can do, GUI-wise. It was simply not possible to make DOSBox do all of those things.

And frankly, most of the functions in Console Tools are more flexible than those in DOSBox. For example, Console Tools allows you to specify which icon will be displayed in a message box, and DOSBox does not. And while both systems can minimize the console window, Console Tools can optionally minimize it to the System Tray, and DOSBox can't.

Finally, we added some "generic" Windows functions to DOSBox. A PB/CC program can use the Windows API to perform simple functions like playing WAV files, displaying Help Files, and using the clipboard, but DOS programs can't do those things, at least not easily. So we added some functions to DOSBox that do not exist in Console Tools.

In summary, DOSBox can perform many of the non-GUI functions that are found in Console Tools, but not all of them. You could call DOSBox "Console Tools Light". But DOSBox can also do some very useful things that Console Tools can't do, such as "ghosting", and it can be used by DOS programs.

-- Eric

P.S. You may have noted that Registered DOSBox users will receive a $15 discount if they decide to purchase Console Tools. The reverse is also true... current Console Tools users will receive a $15 discount toward the DOSBox registration fee, reducing it to just $20.

------------------
Perfect Sync: Perfect Sync Development Tools
Email: mailto:[email protected][email protected]</A>

[This message has been edited by Eric Pearson (edited June 11, 2000).]

**Fred Oxenby** · 11 Jun 2000, 04:46 PM

While DOSBox can allow DOS programs to use Long File Names, the Universal Naming Convention (UNC) is not supported.
Windows cannot reliably convert UNC names to 8.3-format names that can be used by DOS programs.
This means that DOSBox can only be used on local drives, and on "mapped" network drives.

If UNC conforms to 8.3 is it then possible to use it?

------------------
Fred
mailto:[email protected][email protected]</A>
http://www.oxenby.se

**Eric Pearson** · 12 Jun 2000, 02:18 AM

Fred --

> If UNC conforms to 8.3 is it then possible to use it?

No, even if a UNC location has been mapped to a drive letter, Windows will not automatically convert something like this...

Code:

\\MyServer\MyDirectory\MyProgram.EXE

...into something that a DOS program can use. You end up something like with this:

Code:

\\MyServer\MYDIRE~1\MYPROG~1.EXE

...and DOS programs won't understand the first part of that string.

You have to use the mapped-drive version of the path/file name, and Windows does not provide a conversion function for that.

-- Eric

------------------
Perfect Sync: Perfect Sync Development Tools
Email: mailto:[email protected][email protected]</A>

[This message has been edited by Eric Pearson (edited June 12, 2000).]

Announcement

"DOSBox" Beta Testers Needed (all PB languages)

"DOSBox" Beta Testers Needed (all PB languages)

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