Re: Versions of Xy2pdf

["Robert Holmgren" holmgren@xxxxxxxx]

** Reply to message from "Patricia M. Godfrey"  on Sat, 22
Jul 2006 14:31:37 -0400


>> No "d:[\path\]" is allowed! The
>> result file is written in the same directory as the source file.
>> If you have source SAMPLE.XY in E:\DOCS, then result
>> SAMPLE.PDF will be written in E:\DOCS.

> Well, sorry, but it isn't... the resulting PDF is in
> Editor's directory..., to which I have CD'd
> and logged in before running Xy by way of a batch file...
> I just looked closely at the code of XY2PDf, and ... I see
> ...+"\">

We're both wrong. The resulting PDF is in the current directory, whatever it
happens to be (VA$PA).

>> Note also that the "d:filename" format you often
>> mention in your messages, while legal in many
>> circumstances (and frequently cited in XyWrite
>> manuals), is a risky one. If you're going to
>> mention a disk "d:" then you should usually
>> also mention the fully-qualified "\path\"...

> Except that Xy "knows" and I know which are the
> current directories of all drives.

And in that case, it makes sense. But, speaking for myself, I have hundreds of
directories on each of 15 drives, and I seldom have a clue which dir is
XyWrite's "current dir" on any one drive. I'm merely suggesting here that
there's a difference between private habits and public info. As an advisable
general practice, and certainly for public consumption, it is surely best to
illustrate examples with fully-qualified "d:\path\filename" (or, alternatively,
simply "filename" for the current dir). A lot of people, I think, are going to
get very unexpected and potentially confusing results if they argue d:filename.
That's what I meant by "risky"; unquestionably, it is legal in native commands
and in DOS too. But N.B.: some U2 commands won't interpret that correctly.
If they see a ":" in the argument, they want to see a "\" as well
(specifically, they want to see ":\" contained in the argument, otherwise they
will assume it is current dir on current drive).

-----------------------------
Robert Holmgren
holmgren@xxxxxxxx
-----------------------------