AmigaDOS scripting resources

[Photon]

Post your tips, manual links, and above all examples here. It would also be nice with an overview guide regarding how it all hangs together (Thomas? )

[pmc]

I don't know very much about this stuff but there is this manual:

http://amiga-manuals.xiik.net/ebooks...0eBook-ENG.rar

It has a whole chapter (Chapter 5) on Command Sequence Files (scripts) for AmigaDOS.

[Photon]

Looks like a good entry book even for those who don't yet grasp RAD PIPEs!

Thanks pmc

[kolla]

Not much here

I am sometimes asked how one can put user input into a variable, well, this is one way:

Echo noline "What is your name? "
Set >NIL: answer ?
Echo "Hello, $answer"

[daxb]

Is that somewhere documented? The magic with "?".

[thomas]

I am quite sure that one of the very first things explained in the AmigaDOS manual is that you get a template of the command's parameters if you enter a question mark and it then waits for input so you can enter only the missing/wrong arguments and don't have to re-enter the whole command.

Hiding the template and using the input in a script is a nice trick but surely no magic.

[daxb]

I wasn't sure if the "?" does something special in this case or it is "just" the command template thing. Yes, the trick is nice but I would never find this solution by myself without documentation. I don't know if an other way is described in AmigaDOS manual.

[kolla]

Sure there are others ways, like the shell internal "ask" command, which I'm sure is documented...

Ask "What is your name? " string to answer
Echo "Hello, $answer"

but it is either buggy, or at least very quirky, as it doesn't accept multiple words in the answer.

[daxb]

Yes, "Ask" is more or less for Yes/No questions.

I think it is well known but the backtick "trick"/function is sometimes nice:

Set file `RequestFile`
Echo "Your choice: $file"

First, RequestFile is evaluated then "Set file".

The char in front of and after RequestFile must be backticks. I pressed Shift + '`-key then Space. On my german pc keyboard it is the key right of ß key. I don't know if that is correct.

[thomas]

Originally Posted by kolla

but it is either buggy, or at least very quirky, as it doesn't accept multiple words in the answer.

This must be a custom version of the Ask command. The one which comes with the OS does not have these options.

1> ask ?
PROMPT/A:

[kolla]

Originally Posted by thomas

This must be a custom version of the Ask command. The one which comes with the OS does not have these options.

1> ask ?
PROMPT/A:

This is shell 45.39, I always use the latest version from ThoR

[kolla]

Originally Posted by daxb

Yes, "Ask" is more or less for Yes/No questions.

Yes, it is rather primitive, room for improvements (a "HIDDEN/S" option, or "STAR/S" option, for passwords, for example).

I think it is well known but the backtick "trick"/function is sometimes nice:

Set file `RequestFile`
Echo "Your choice: $file"

First, RequestFile is evaluated then "Set file".

The char in front of and after RequestFile must be backticks. I pressed Shift + '`-key then Space. On my german pc keyboard it is the key right of ß key. I don't know if that is correct.

Yup, the Request#? commands are very useful for adding simple GUI to scripts.

[kolla]

Must have shell extension tools from Aminet:

http://aminet.net/package/util/shell/Pipe-1.5
http://aminet.net/package/util/shell/EArg

Makes it possible to, for example, do things like...

List all files p=#?.info lformat "%p%m" | earg "ProcessIcon MWB2CI"

(convert all icons in current directory from magicwb to ColorIcon format (OS3.5+), using ProcessIcon - which also is on aminet)

[jPV]

Originally Posted by kolla

List all files p=#?.info lformat "%p%m" | earg "ProcessIcon MWB2CI"

(convert all icons in current directory from magicwb to ColorIcon format (OS3.5+), using ProcessIcon - which also is on aminet)

This will probably fail with filenames containing spaces, so I'd add quotation marks there in the lformat string (you'll have to escape them with *):

List all files p=#?.info lformat "*"%p%m*""

But all this can be done without any external utils (or two!) with just by standard AmigaDOS commands. Let's first create a script/batch file with the List command and then execute it with the Execute command. This way you can also check the contents of the created script file that it all looks good before executing it for real (you usually make mistakes at first try):

So, here's a modified version using just the standard commands, and I'd prefer doing it this way:

List all files p=#?.info lformat "ProcessIcon MWB2CI *"%p%m*"" > T:MyBatchConvertScript
Execute T:MyBatchConvertScript

The standard List command is just great for doing automated script files! Too bad its powerfulness is ofter overlooked... and in worst case people write custom 3rd party commands just for the same.


About the original question about manuals or resources, I think the best starting point is just read the official Amiga manuals which you either got with the machine or on CD (3.5/9). I've learned all I know about Amiga Shell and its scripts just by reading that single AmigaDOS manual The official OS3.9 HTML manual is just fine to keep open on a browser when writing scripts. You don't practically need anything else to understand what you can do.

[kolla]

Yes, hehe, as expected. I kinda knew using List output as example was a bad choice, since it already does text formatting using LFORMAT, that wasn't really what I wanted to illustrate

[idrougge]

Andy Finkel (ex-Commodore) has made a useful "for each in" command: http://aminet.net/package/util/cli/finkelshelltoo

There is also an alternative here: http://aminet.net/package/util/cli/foreach

[meynaf]

Aside of the fact the above script removes ".info" from the file names, it could be done with standard SPat script present in "S" dir :

s:spat ProcessIcon #?.info MWB2CI

[kolla]

Originally Posted by meynaf

Aside of the fact the above script removes ".info" from the file name

Intentionally

it could be done with standard SPat script present in "S" dir :

s:spat ProcessIcon #?.info MWB2CI

Except that I think ProcessIcon only takes the "mother file", and not the .info file as argument, from what I remember. Anyhow - it was merely a SIMPLE example, next time I will make sure to use an very complicated example.

Here is a challenge - make a commandline that uses processicon _only_ on directories, and _not_ files.

[meynaf]

Originally Posted by kolla

Intentionally

Of course, else i wouldn't have told about it.

Originally Posted by kolla

Except that I think ProcessIcon only takes the "mother file", and not the .info file as argument, from what I remember. Anyhow - it was merely a SIMPLE example, next time I will make sure to use an very complicated example.

I don't think this is the place for complex scripting challenges.
I just told about SPat, specifying the difference would be it does not remove the ".info". Please don't take it as a criticism of what you wrote, it wasn't the intent at all

Originally Posted by kolla

Here is a challenge - make a commandline that uses processicon _only_ on directories, and _not_ files.

Single line command, nope - would do it with a two-liner script.

[kolla]

Originally Posted by meynaf

I don't think this is the place for complex scripting challenges.
I just told about SPat, specifying the difference would be it does not remove the ".info". Please don't take it as a criticism of what you wrote, it wasn't the intent at all

No worries, no offence taken, I just forgot to add a smiley, was on my phone

My idea was to give a hint about a nice tool that can build and run lines from stdin

Single line command, nope - would do it with a two-liner script.

You would think, right? Just a list dirs with lformat, and voila?
Except, there are a few dragons:
- only dirs with corresponding .info files are wanted
- %p expands to a string with trailing /

Thre latter may explain why there sometimes are files named just ".info" here and there