Re: Workaround for DIR in VBox

["Carl Distefano" cld@xxxxxxxx]

Reply to note from J R FOX  Mon, 4 Aug 2014 16:03:48
-0700

Jordan:

> I believe there has been a U2 frame for calling long filename
> files (Windows style, perhaps also having non-lower-ASCII
> characters as part of the name), which could not otherwise
> normally be displayed or accessed. What about those ?

There are frames in U2 that address some aspects of handling long
filenames (LFNs) in XyWrite (particularly Xy4); see XYWWWEB.INF for
further info. Robert also wrote an invaluable Win-32 executable,
LFNSFN.EXE, which I don't believe has been published, that enables a
seamless LFN interface between Xy4 and 32-bit Windows. Some years ago I
wrote a U2 routine for myself that exploits LFNSFN.EXE to enable
CAlling, SAving, DELeting, etc. LFNs on the CMline. Since you express an
interest, you may as well have it.

Go to http://users.datarealm.com/xywwweb/LFN.ZIP and download the
file. Unzip it into the directory that contains EDITOR.EXE. In XyWrite,
CAll LFN.FRM (preferably in eXPanded view), DeFine the entire file, and
issue ADD2U2 to add all the included frames to your loaded U2
file.

My frame enables the following commands (use double quotes around LFNs
with spaces):

LCA[/display_type] "Your long file name.txt" CAll a LFN
LSA[/NV] "Your long file name.txt" SAve as LFN
LDEL[/NV] You_Rotten_Bastid_Worm.EXE DELete a LFN
LNE "You gotta be kidding. This is long!.xy4.txt" NEw LFN
LMD "My ridiculously long DIRname" Make a new long DIR
LRD "My erstwhile ridiculously long DIRname" Remove a long DIR

These commands worked flawlessly in Xy4 running under WinXP. Needless to
say, I've not had much opportunity to test them in Xy4 running in a
Win-32 VM. Initial indications are good; however, you may occasionally
get a Desktop error message stating that LFNSFN.EXE is "Not operable
outside XyWrite IV". If you do, go back to XyWrite and try the command
again; it usually works the second time (at least, it does for me). I'll
be interested to hear how this works for you.

--
Carl Distefano
cld@xxxxxxxx