Cannot Open MASM 6.00 Sample Programs from PWB Online Help

ID Number: Q72391

1.00 1.10

MS-DOS

buglist1.00 buglist1.10

Summary:

Attempting to access the Microsoft Macro Assembler (MASM) version 6.00

sample help programs through the Programmer's WorkBench (PWB) version

1.00 or 1.10 online help system will generate an error. For example,

the following message results from trying to view the file C.ASM:

Cannot open [$ASMEX:MIXED\C.ASM]: Not found

Selecting any one of the sample programs should cause a copy of the

program to be loaded into the help window, but the DOS version of PWB

generates the above message instead.

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in PWB versions 1.00 and

1.10. We are researching this problem and will post new information

here as it becomes available.

More Information:

To reproduce this error, follow these steps:

1. Choose Contents on the PWB Help menu.

2. Choose Assembly in the "Languages" section of the main "Microsoft

Advisor Help System" screen.

3. Choose Example Code in the "Related Programs" section of the "MASM

6.00 Contents" help screen.

4. Choose Mixed Languages from the "Example Code" selection screen.

5. Choose a file, such as C.ASM, and the above error will be

displayed.

The following three methods may be used to work around this problem:

1. Change directories to the MASM 6.00 samples subdirectory (by

default, this is C:\MASM\SAMPLES). This can be easily accomplished

if the ASMEX environment variable has been correctly set to point

to your samples directory. Choose Open on the File menu and type in

"$ASMEX:" (without the quotation marks) and press ENTER. Next,

choose Cancel to return to the editor. Attempts to access sample

program files from the online help will now be successful as long

as you do not change the current directory.

- or -

2. Load the file directly into the editor. The programs will be in one

of four subdirectories under the MASM 6.00 samples directory:

\DEMOS, \TSR, \MIXED, or \SHOW. Choose Open on the File menu, and

then there are three ways to open the sample files:

a. Switch to the directory of the desired example file by using the

dialog box controls and then select the desired file.

b. Enter the full path name of the file and press ENTER, for

example:

C:\MASM\SAMPLES\MIXED\C.ASM

c. Use the ASMEX environment variable to specify the path to the

file, for example:

$ASMEX:MIXED\C.ASM

- or -

3. Access the online help through the QuickHelp utility. The sample

help files are correctly located by QuickHelp.