SYSTEM: Calls to the Windows Operating System

Many types of file listings. Directory commands. Copy, Delete. Wait. Window sizes. Fonts. Shell calls: browser, mail client, explorer, CMD, etc..

• The keyword sequence is insignificant for the SYSTEM function.
• files_and_folders
  :
  • nfiles = SYSTEM( DIR=files_select, FIle=dir_List [, SORt=sort_cntl])
  • Keywords DIR and FIle are both required to get a
    file-list
    of some or all of the files in a directory. Optional column type selection and sorting is with the SORt keyword..
  • DIR=filter is a filter argument to select all (*.*) or part (eg a*, ??b, etc) of the filenames.
  • FIle=dirList is the file name to get the resulting list, eg dirlist.txt.
  • SORt="0123456789+":
    • "0" is a sort-specifier: It stands for any character out of
      • "p" (fullpath)
      • "d" (directory)
      • "n" (name)
      • "x" (extension)
      • "s" (size)
      • "a" (attribute)
      • "c" (created)
      • "w" (written)
      • "l" (lastaccessed)
    • Lower case "0" sorts increasing, upper case "0" sorts decreasing.
    • The digits stand for any property out of "pdnxsacwl" to be included in this order.
      • nfiles = SYSTEM(DIR="*.txt", FIle=dirList, SORt="N ns") ! lists names and sizes, sorted decreasing along Name
  • Without the SORt keyword:
    • nfiles = SYSTEM(DIR='*.txt', FIle=dirList) ! write filenames with extension "txt" in current folder to dirList, see directory_list_edit
    writes a
    csv
    (Comma Separated Variables) sequential file with nfiles lines. Its name is the current value of dirList. The 6 columns are:
    • Name, Size Attr CreateDate, LastWriteDate LastAccessDate
    • "ALFA.txt", 7545, 32, 39259.688970, 39264.560139, 39259.688970
    • "BETA.txt", 7307, 32, 39259.684641, 39273.733403, 39259.684641
    • The dates are days.fractional_days since Dec 31, 1899, see TIME()
    • LastAccess time is only correct for non-FAT file systems.

    • file_attributes are the bit sum of:	dec	hex
      READONLY	1	#1
      HIDDEN	2	#2
      SYSTEM	4	#4
      DIRECTORY	16	#10
      ARCHIVE	32	#20
      DEVICE	64	#40
      NORMAL	128	#80
      TEMPORARY	256	#100
      SPARSE_FILE	512	#200
      REPARSE_POINT	1024	#400
      COMPRESSED	2048	#800
      OFFLINE	4096	#1000
      NOT_CONTENT_INDEXED	8192	#2000

  • To
    directory_list_edit
    open the file dirList (1st (name-)column isolated by quotes, following 5 numerical columns separated by commas)
    • OPEN(FIle=dirList, Format='"",5F,') ! see File Dialog">
    • to display dirList:
    • DLG(Edit=dirList, Format='A8, i12,z4, 3UWWW YY-MM-DD HH:mm')
    In MatrixExplorer this CSV file can be edited, sorted, filtered, etc. Exported to a formatted file will look like:
    • ALFA.txt 284 32 Mon 07-04-23 11:06 Sat 07-06-16 14:52 Tue 07-05-15 16:30
    • BETA.txt 284 32 Thu 07-07-19 17:34 Sat 07-06-16 14:52 Thu 07-07-19 17:34
  • directory_elements_read
    with the above OPEN statement is easy:
    • name3 = dirList(3,1) ! reads name (column 1) of row 3, see File Dialog">
    • created8 = dirList(8,4) ! reads creation time of file in row 8
  • APPend to
    directory_append
    if multiple listings are to be concatenated. Without APPend an existing dirList is replaced.
    • nfiles = SYSTEM(DIR='*.lst', FIle=dirList, APPend)
    • ! append lst files of current folder to dirList

• directory_commands	FIle= and APPend= keywords cannot be used in this context SYSTEM(DIR=txt)
  DIR	directory_get : set txt to current folder name CHARACTER txt*260 SYSTEM(DIR = txt)
  SETDIR	directory_set : change to folder "xyz" if it exists. directory_create : if "xyz" does not exist SYSTEM(SETDIR = "xyz")

• copy_delete	(faster execution than using CoMmanD:
  COPY	SYSTEM(COPY = "SourceFileName TargetFileName") ! or
  	SYSTEM(COPY = SourceFileName && TargetFileName) ! or
  COPYTO	SYSTEM(COPY = FileName, COPYTO = TargetFileName) ! same effect
  DELETE	SYSTEM(DELETE = FileName) ! (see also write+delete)

• error_handling
  with ERror=label_nr will suppress an error message. Control is transferred to the statement with label label_nr:
  • SYSTEM(CoMmand = " something illegal ", ERror=999)
  • ! ...
  • 999 ! WRITE(Message) 'start error handling'
• command_interpreter
  with the CoMmanD option:
  • SYSTEM(cmd = "MOVE original_file target_file") ! (see also write+rename)
• start_programs
  with SHell
  • shell commands are case sensitive
  • the shell command never waits for termination
  • to wait for termination of the called program use the RUN command
  • e-mail
    • SYSTEM(SHell='mailto:name@xyz.com?subject=Hi&BODY=text')
  • browser
    • SYSTEM(sh='http://www. HicEst.com')
  • explorer
    • SYSTEM(shell='c:\MyFolder')
  • CoMmanD
    • SYSTEM(SHell='Excel.exe', cmd='myfile')
  • #DIR to set the working directory for the called program
    • SYSTEM(SH='Excel.exe', CMD='abc.XLS', DIR='d:\Test\')
  • Mode allowed modes are " ", "edit", "print", "open"
    • SYSTEM(shell="test.txt", mode="edit")
• program_start_wait
  with the RUN command
  • SYSTEM(RUN='c:\Windows\Notepad.exe mytext.txt')
• script_execution
  • SYSTEM(RUN) as the first statement of a script starts the script in
    autorun_mode
    . This is the same as SYSTEM(RUN=mode) with mode /= 0.
  • • SYSTEM(RUN=num)
    with num= 0: stop autorun. num/=0: start auto run
  • CHain to start SomeOtherHicEstScript in RUN mode:
    • SYSTEM(CHain='SomeOtherHicEstScript.hic')
  • WAIT
    wait_msec
    :
    • SYSTEM(wait=sleep_in_milliseconds)
    see ALARM how to program a delayed call to F2...F9 subroutines

• window_parameters	type	SYSTEM(WIN=wh, ...)
  WINdowhandle	NUM	win=handle. If handle is 0 on input it will return the main window handle (useful mainly in DLL).
  getWidth	NUM	W=character_columns
  getHeight	NUM	H=character_rows
  getXPixels	NUM	XP=window_pixel_rows
  getYPixels	NUM	YP=window_pixel_columns

• font_commands	type	Font=" "or PoinT=0 will call the windows font manager
  FoNtnr	num	fn=1 (default, std), 2=script, 3=dialog, 4=fixed, 5=graphics, 6=temp
  FONt	txt	fon=' ' to prompt, or fon='Lucida Console' to set only
  PoinT	num	pts=10 + 10*(big==1) to set the font size
  BOld	log	bo=1
  UnderLine	log	underl=0
  ITalic	log	it=1
  STYle	num	style = 32: scalable (default for FontNr=1, 3, 5, 6) style = 8: fixed (default for FontNr=2, 4) style = 1 for screen output style = 3 for printer or screen style = 4 for scripts style = 64 is true type

• environment	type	get or set the value of a variable in your program's environment
  GEteNV	TXT	string = 'PATH=' ! to get the value of PATH SYSTEM(getenv=string) ! returns PATH=... in string
  setENV	txt	SYSTEM(setEnv = "PATH=.;.\test;c:\TEMP")
  FT	TXT	SYSTEM(FIle='test.hic', ft=string) to read the time_stamp of a file if string is blank else: set the time stamp time format is e.g. 20070726155409.912, see TIME().
  HDNR	NUM	SYSTEM(HDNR=number) ! read hard_disk_serial_number