Re: AE* expand*

[cld@xxxxxxxx]

Fred:

> I don't understand what "N.B.  Space characters must separate
> "frame argument[COarg,...]NO"" means.

You need to read this line of the Help screen in the context of the lines that follow it. What we're
saying, basically, is that a framename must separated from its argument(s) by a space *character*
(f,r,a,m,e, ,a,r,g,...), whereas multiple arguments (arg1,arg2,arg3) must be separated from each
other by the comma *function* (not the comma character):
f,r,a,m,e, ,a,r,g,1,COa,r,g,2,COa,r,g,3....

> As well, I don't seem to be able to use, as a second argument, a BX...Q2 series.
> ...
> but
>
> 20=NOXHJM2,.,P,r,s,K,b,d,A,r,g,Q2,a,e, ,c,o,p,y, ,f,o,.,t,m,p, ,c,:,\,
> d,e,s,k,t,o,p,\,',v,a,$,f,I,',.,p,s,Q2,CO,BX,d,e,l, ,f,o,.,t,m,p,Q2,NO
>
> which attempts to add the command to delete FO.TMP, locks XyWrite and
> forces a shut down with ctrl-alt-del.

That's an inherently flawed KBD macro for several reasons. *One*, you have an extraneous func Q2
(after ,.,p,s,) in the AE statement (which is probably what is locking up Xy). *Two*, you can't
force 2-byte func mnemonics into an AE command. AE's syntax doesn't support it, nor would you ever
want or need to do it. I can't conceive of any situation in which you'd want to use 2-byte func
mnemonics on the CMline, except in an XMACRO command, a special situation not encompassed by your
example (although your example could be translated into an XMACRO KBD-file program).

To do what your command purports to do, you'd have to take the DEL command out of the AE statement
and execute it afterwards (disregard the line break below):

20=NOXHJM2,.,P,r,s,K,b,d,A,r,g,Q2,a,e, ,c,o,p,y, ,f,o,.,t,m,p, ,c,:,\,
d,e,s,k,t,o,p,\,',v,a,$,f,i,',.,p,s,Q2,NOBX,d,e,l, ,f,o,.,t,m,p,Q2

But -- *Three* -- this will NOT work as intended, because the AE statement merely puts a COPY command on the CMline without executing it, while the DEL command is executed *immediately*, so by the time you hit  to execute the COPY command, FO.TMP will have been deleted.

The solution, however, is simple: Use the AE/X switch to execute the COPY command immediately. Once
the COPY command is finished, DEL FO.TMP makes sense. As a matter of caution, I'd insert a
one-second pause, BX pQ2 , between the two commands, to ensure that COPY FO.TMP... is finished
before DEL FO.TMP starts. So the KBD statement would be (again, disregard the internal line break):

20=NOXHJM2,.,P,r,s,K,b,d,A,r,g,Q2,a,e,/,x, ,c,o,p,y, ,f,o,.,t,m,p, ,c,:,\,
d,e,s,k,t,o,p,\,',v,a,$,f,i,',.,p,s,NOBX,p,Q2BX,d,e,l, ,f,o,.,t,m,p,Q2

Let us know if that works.

--
Carl Distefano
cld@xxxxxxxx