You can resize the Take Command window at any time by dragging a corner with the mouse. Resizing the window changes the number of rows and columns of text which will fit in the command window (the actual number of rows and columns for any given window size depends on the font you are using). Take Command reacts to these changes using two sets of rules: one for the height and one for the width.

 

When the height of the command window changes, future commands simply use the new height as you see it on the screen. For example, if you reduce the window to three rows high and do a DIR /P (display a directory of files and pause at the bottom of each visual "page"), DIR will display two lines of output, a prompt ("Press any key to continue ..."), and then pause. If you expand the window to 40 lines high and repeat the same command, DIR will display 39 lines, a prompt, and then pause.

 

However, when the width of the window changes, Take Command must check the current virtual screen width. The virtual width is the maximum number of characters on each line in Take Command's internal screen buffer. You can think of it as the width of the data which can be displayed in the Take Command window, including an invisible portion to the right of the window's right-hand edge. When the virtual width is larger than the actual width, a standard horizontal scroll bar is displayed to allow you to see any hidden output.

 

The _ROWS internal variable can be used to determine the current screen height.

 

The virtual screen width starts at 80 columns or the number of columns which fit into the startup Take Command window, whichever is larger. The _COLUMNS internal variable can be used to determine the current virtual screen width.

 

If you expand the Take Command window beyond its previous virtual width, the virtual width is automatically increased. This ensures that the internal buffer can hold lines which will fill the newly enlarged window. If you shrink the window, the virtual width is not reduced because this might require removing output already on the screen or in the scrollback buffer.

 

As a result, widening the window will make future commands use the new enlarged size (for example, as the window is widened DIR /W, which displays a "wide" directory listing, will display additional columns of file names). However, if the window is narrowed future commands will still remember the enlarged virtual width, and display data to the right of the window edge. Use the horizontal scroll bar to make this data visible.

 

When the font is changed, Take Command will recalculate the virtual screen width.