June 2011
Monthly Tip #1 - Batch Debugger Tooltips
Take Command 12.0 introduced many new features in the batch debugger (BDEBUGGER). Last month we talked about conditional breakpoints; this month we'll showcase tooltips.
A tooltip is a little window that pops up next to the mouse cursor when you pause ("hover") the mouse over a word in the tabbed editing windows. The batch debugger supports four types of tooltips:
If you hover the mouse over a variable name, the debugger will display a tooltip with the current value. The variable can be an environment variable or a TCC internal variable. (You cannot display a variable function value in a tooltip, as they are not evaluated until the line is parsed.)
If you hover the mouse over an array variable (1-dimensional only!), the debugger will display a tooltip with the values of up to the first 20 elements of the array.
If you hover the mouse over an internal TCC command, the debugger will display a tooltip with the command syntax.
If you hover the mouse over an alias, the debugger will display the alias definition.
The batch debugger will display tooltips both when editing a batch file and when debugging it.
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Monthly Tip #2 - Wildcards in Pathnames
Users have been asking for years for the ability to use wildcards in directory names as well as in the filenames. For example, to copy files whose name matches "foo*" and whose parent directory name matches "a*z":
copy c:\myfiles\a*z\foo* d:\foo
Or to copy files whose name matches "foo*" in any subdirectory of c:\myfiles:
copy c:\myfiles\**\foo* d:\foo
These types of wildcards are common in Linux, but the dearth of Windows apps that support this syntax implies that Windows is not especially welcoming (OK, implacably hostile!) to filenames with wildcards in the pathname component. But after way too much pain and trial-and-error, we were able to implement directory wildcards in TCC 12.0 (for internal commands and functions only).
You can control the subdirectory recursion by specifying * or ** in the path. A * (or a partial name with a * and/or one or more ?'s) will match a single subdirectory level; a ** will match any all subdirectory levels for that pathname. You can also use regular expressions as directory wildcards.
Directory wildcards cannot be used with the /O:... option (which sorts entries before executing the command). And think very carefully before using directory wildcards with a /S (recurse subdirectories) option, as this will almost certainly return unexpected results!
There are a few commands and functions which do not support directory wildcards, as they would be meaningless or destructive (for example, TREE, @FILEOPEN, @FILEDATE, etc.).
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Take Command 12.10 Upgrades
Take Command v12.10.67 is the current release. See the full list of new features on the “What’s New” page in the v12 online help.
Upgrading from any prior version of Take Command, TCC, 4NT or 4DOS is only $49.95. (Upgrading from v12.0 to v12.10 is free for registered v12.0 users. If you haven't received your 12.10 key, please contact us.)
Download the v12.10 30 Day Trial Version
Buy Take Command v12.10 at Our Web Store
Offer 1 -- As an added inducement, we are allowing current users of Take Command or TCC / 4NT to purchase additional licenses at the upgrade price, including volume discounts. That's right. Instead of $99.95 for additional licenses, you can get them for $49.95 or less. So, if you want to add some additional licenses, now is the time. For example, if you have 5 licenses and want to add an additional 5, just order 10 upgrades and get them for the volume discount price of $37 per copy.
Offer 2 -- We are also offering a "Friends and Family" $30 discount on new copy prices using discount code "FandF30". The price is only $69.95 after discount. Feel free to forward this email to friends you think might benefit from the power of Take Command.
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