Maintaining PWB Display While Running a Program

ID: Q81321

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Programmer's Workbench for MS-DOS, versions 1.0, 1.1, 2.0
Microsoft Programmer's Workbench for OS/2, versions 1.0, 1.1

SUMMARY

This article discusses how to run a program in the background with the Programmer's WorkBench (PWB) versions 1.0 and 1.1, much like NMAKE and other utilities do. Although this method also works for version 2.0 of PWB, we recommend that you use the newer callback, DoSpawn(), instead.

MORE INFORMATION

The best way to do this is to use PWB's compile command. First build a string of the form:

"arg arg \"progname.exe arguments for exe \" compile"

Then pass the string to fExecute(). To demonstrate this, without having to write an extension, do the following in PWB:

Press ALT+A ALT+A.

Type in the name of the program or command you want to execute. For the purposes of this article, type in set.

Press CTRL+F3. This is the compile command.

PWB will appear to be doing a build of your program. The box that comes up will show the command that you passed to it, in this case, set.

A dialog box will give you the options to View Results or Cancel. Choose View Results.

In the Compile Results window, you will see the environment variables that you have set.

Note that the PROGNAME.EXE can also be an MS-DOS or OS/2 command. The following sample code shows how to incorporate this into a simple program. Note that the results, if any, of your program will appear in the compile results window. Add the following lines to the TOOLS.INI file to make the function, funcname, accessible in PWB by using the ALT+Z keystroke:

load:[extension].mxt funcname:alt+z

If you are working under OS/2 rather than MS-DOS, you should use .PXT instead of .MXT as the file extension. It is important to note that you must force PWB to load your extension before you assign a keystroke to your function. PWB will recognize your function only after the extension is loaded, and since extensions are loaded after the TOOLS.INI, you cannot rely on PWB's automatic loading of extensions. MORE information about PWB extensions can be found in Chapter 8 of the "Microsoft C Advanced Programming Techniques" manual, the online help, and in Chapter 9 of the C versions 6.x "Developers Toolkit Reference."

Sample Code


/* Compile and link options needed:
   cl /c /ACw /Gs [extension].c
      To link for MS-DOS:
   link /NOI exthdr.obj [extension].obj, [extension].mxt;
      To link for OS/2:
   link /NOI exthdrp.obj [extension].obj, [extension].pxt,,, ext.def;
*/ 

#include "ext.h"

/* function prototype */ 
PWBFUNC funcname (
    unsigned argData,
    ARG _far *pArg,
    flagType fMeta);

/* Switch description table (required for an extension) */ 
struct swiDesc swiTable[] = { { NULL,NULL,0}};

/* Command description table ( required for a PWB extension) */ 
struct cmdDesc cmdTable[] ={
    { "funcname", funcname, 0 , NOARG},
    { NULL, NULL, 0, 0}};

/* Function that PWB calls when loading the extension */ 
void EXTERNAL WhenLoaded(void)
{
    DoMessage("Loading funcname extension");
}

PWBFUNC funcname (
    unsigned argData,
    ARG _far *pArg,
    flagType fMeta)
{
    char c[] = "arg arg \"set\" compile";
    fExecute(c);
}

Additional query words: kbinf extension 1.00 1.10 2.00 PWBIss

Keywords : kb16bitonly
Version : MS-DOS:1.0,1.1,2.0; OS/2:1.0,1.1
Platform : MS-DOS OS/2
Issue type :