XyShell (Rexx interface for XyWrite)

[Robert Holmgren holmgren@xxxxxxxx]

** Reply to message from "Morris Krok"  on Thu, 25 Jul
2002 09:43:49 -0700


> What I wish to know when will the latest version be ready
> which contains reference to or use of the Rexx programming language.

XyShell, a XyWrite-REXX programming interface, exists now (Win32 and OS/2), for
those who wish to try it (it's been working happily under OS/2 for six years,
and experimentally under Windows 9x|NT+ for about two years). Download:

http://holmgren.home.acedsl.com/NEWSHELL.ZIP

unZIP it in a new, empty directory of your choice (preserve the ZIP's internal
directory tree), and consult .\DOCS\README.1ST to get started. If you run
Windows (NOT Win3.x, only 9x or NT/2K/XP), README.1ST and the more detailed
README.WIN will tell you how to download a *free* runtime module to make
everything work. Apart from the capacity to launch/control any program in your
computer from a XyWrite cockpit, there's also a fair amount of dedicated
programming under XyShell's hood, including for example a "Search through recent
files only" utility (XYGREP.CMD) of precisely the sort recently discussed or
requested here, which is quite fast (with AND|OR|NOT wildcards), a weather
report fetcher (NWS), GETHTTP files, XYFTP get/put ftp files, get NNTP files,
GETMAIL, SENDMAIL, SETTIME, a directory PRUNEr, a DELTREE (delete a directory
tree), XFF (XyWrite FileFinder), and whatever else you care to invent or run.

Apart from these dedicated facilities, there are dozens of frames in U2 that
utilize XyShell (ALARMs, RexXPL, etc), and we are gradually adjusting them to
work under Win32 (as well as OS/2, where the XyShell concept originated).

Any day now, U2 v113 will be out, which will add (in conjunction with XyShell)
the ability to control network shares directly (without assigning them to drive
letters), e.g. edit or dir network files:
 ca2 \\REMOTEBOXNAME\C\XY4\MY.TXT
 dir2 \\THINKPAD\D\WINNT\SYSTEM32
which is mighty handy if you are part of a Peer ("File and Print") network,
whether LAN or WAN.

BUT: here's the rub. Or the rubs. Under Win32, XyShell really is somewhat
experimental. It works well for me (under heavy use) -- but I know what I'm
doing, and I can adjust the code if I need to; if you have the runtime version
of Rexx, you won't be able to do that, you can only run tokenized (=compiled,
more or less) versions of the Rexx scripts (which are provided). Documentation
is impoverished, and some things aren't documented at all. There's enough I
think to get people going, but the only real manual of XyShell is the old
(fairly thorough) OS/2 manual, and that will have to suffice for the nonce.
Testing under 9x has not been extensive, and WinME has never been tested (these
are really very poor in their control of virtual DOS machines, Win98SE has been
particularly troublesome, because of bizarre quirks in the design of the VDM --
plus there are so many incompatibilities between the various OpSys versions, it
makes you pull your hair out!); OTOH, NT/2K/XP work quite well (I have available
to me at present only 2K and XP). I won't be near machines running the runtime
version of Rexx until September, and hence can't even check if that works
properly, although it worked fine last time I tried (maybe six months ago). It
is essentially untested under XyWin (because I don't use XyWin) and very little
under NBWin -- mainly it's designed for Xy4-DOS. I won't have time to properly
support users until October (and really rather dread doing it at any time -- I
barely have time to read this mail list -- gotta get 1900 bales of hay into the
barn before it rains, otherwise my animals won't eat next winter), etc etc
excuses excuses.

Note that I refresh and update NEWSHELL.ZIP very frequently, unannounced. It
is always available. When you get a new version, unZIP it over the old one,
always preserving the ZIPfile's directory tree.

So that's the situation. Anybody who wishes to play around with XyShell is
welcome to do so; if I have time to help, I'll try, but I can't promise, and
really hope not to get into a bunch of hand-holding situations. If you get it
installed, & get basic functionality, but then have trouble with certain
commands, or trouble getting external programs to launch, or trouble formulating
proper aliases (shortcuts), I'm quite interested in overcoming those kinds of
problems. I'll also give general troubleshooting tips for installation (all
questions should mention the specific operating system!). Ciao

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