Re: Lines in Startup.Int

[Wolfgang Bechstein wolfie@xxxxxxxx]

Steve Hayes  wrote:

> Something I have done, and still do, is to have different directories, each
> with its own startup.int file. I have a lot of batchfiles which go to those
> directories and start XyWrite from there.

There's an easier way for what you're doing there. In Xy4 DOS, the
STARTUP.INT file doesn't have to be called that, and you can specify
the file in the batch file you use to start the program. It doesn't
even have to have the .INT extension. Thus

 editor ,LEAN

will start XyWrite with the startup commands in the file LEAN, while

 editor ,WHOLEHOG

will run the startup commands in the file WHOLEHOG. These different
startup files may all be located in the XyWrite directory, but you
can also specify the full path. Unlike in the fictitious examples
I gave above, using the name STARTUP with different extensions makes
it easier to keep track of them. I use that approach to start Xy with
spell checkers for different languages, for example.

But I didn't know what Carl Distefano reports:

> The comment symbol is ;*; (semi-colon, star, semi-colon)

To me this symbolizes once again how utterly irrational software (and
even software as good as XyWrite) can be. Is there any reason why the
comment symbol for the startup file should *not* be a simple
semicolon as in the keyboard file or the printer file, thus allowing
users to deduce the fact for themselves? Is it to discourage
experimentation by mere mortals? (Since I don't think anybody would
chance upon ;*; unless their name is Robert or Carl or maybe Annie.)

Wolfgang Bechstein
wolfie@xxxxxxxx