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MICROSOFT
QuickBASIC Compiler
README.DOC
July 18, 1985
The following file contains information in addition to the
Microsoft QuickBASIC Manual.
The following files are on your QuickBASIC diskette:
Compiler Files:
BASCOM EXE The QuickBASIC Compiler
BCOM10 LIB The QuickBASIC Compiler Library
BRUN10 EXE The QuickBASIC Runtime
BRUN10 LIB The QuickBASIC Runtime Library
LINK EXE The Microsoft Linker
GWCASS OBJ Object module for cassette support
GWCOM OBJ Object module for communications support
SMALLERR OBJ Object module for producing small error
messages, and therefore, a smaller EXE file
README DOC This information file
Demonstration Files: The following examples have been
placed on the disk for your convenience. These examples are
identical to the examples in chapter 9 of the manual, under
the sections headed by the statement/function noted.
CALL BAS This demonstrates the use of the CALL
statement
COMMAND BAS This shows the use of the COMMAND$ function
DEFFN BAS This shows the use of DEF FN in multi-line
functions
MAIN BAS This example, combined with DIGIT.BAS and
DEC.BAS show the use of the CHAIN statement
as well as COMMON variables
DIGIT BAS See MAIN.BAS
DEC BAS See MAIN.BAS
SUB BAS This shows the use of SUB..SUB END/SUB EXIT
to create named subroutines
DRAW BAS This shows the use of the DRAW statement
PLAY BAS This shows the use of the PLAY statement
REDIM BAS This shows the use of the REDIM statement
with dynamic arrays and ERASE
SHARED BAS This shows the use of SHARE statement in
named subroutines with shared variables
REMLINE BAS This program is designed to take programs
written for a Microsoft BASIC Interpreter
and remove the unreferenced line numbers
for use with QuickBASIC. REMLINE assumes
that the program is syntactically correct.
GENERAL NOTES:
- QuickBASIC can read Microsoft Word formatted files. For
those users of QuickBASIC who own Microsoft Word,
you can use Word to edit your programs. There is no need to
save the file non-formatted, as QuickBASIC will disreguard
any formatting information and compile the program.
- if you are using the runtime library and either cassette or
communications support, you must link in either
GWCASS.OBJ (for cassette support) or GWCOM.OBJ (for
communications support).
- If you are using the LOCK or UNLOCK statements, or the
LOCK type clause in the OPEN statement , you should
be aware that they will only function at runtime if you are
using MS-DOS 3.00 or higher. The code will be compiled,
however, if you are using a DOS below 3.00 you will receive
an ADVANCED FEATURE runtime ERROR if either a LOCK or an
UNLOCK is performed.
If you are using MS-DOS 3.00 you must run the SHARE
program to perform any locking operation.
ADDITIONS TO THE MANUAL:
OPEN STATEMENT:
The compiler fully supports the syntax of the IBM BASICA 3.00
interpreter OPEN statement. The functionality of the OPEN statement
has been enhanced to control access to opened files in a
network environment. The new, expanded syntax is:
OPEN "<filespec>" [FOR <mode>][ACCESS <access>]
[<locktype>] AS [#] <filenum> [LEN=<record length>]
<mode> specifications may now include the RANDOM keyword.
When no <mode> is specified, RANDOM file mode is assumed.
In RANDOM mode, if no ACCESS clause is present, three
attempts are made to open the file when the OPEN
statement is executed. Access is attempted in the
following order:
1. Read/write
2. Write-only
3. Read-only
The ACCESS clause specifies the type of operation to be
performed on the opened file. If the file is already opened
by another process and access of the type specified is
not allowed, the OPEN will fail and a "Permission Denied"
error message is generated.
The ACCESS types are:
READ Opens the file for reading only.
WRITE Opens the file for writing only.
READ WRITE Opens the file for both reading and
writing. This mode is invalid for all
except RANDOM files and files opened for APPEND.
The <locktype> clause restricts access by other processes
to an open file. The locktypes are
default If <locktype> is not specified, the file
may be opened for reading and
writing any number of times by this process,
but other processes are
denied access to the file while it is opened.
SHARED Any process on any machine may read from or write
to this file.
LOCK READ No other process is granted read access to this file.
This access is granted only if no other process has
a previous LOCK READ access to the file.
LOCK WRITE No other process is granted write access to this
file. This also is granted only if no other process
has a previous access
of this kind to the file.
LOCK READ WRITE No other process is granted either read or write
access to this file. This access is
granted only if LOCK READ WRITE
has not already been granted to another process.
OPEN now generates error 70 "Permission Denied", when the
OPEN is restricted by a previous process. Error 70 was
previously "Disk Write Protect." A write protected disk will
still give you an error 70.
SEGMENT MAPS: Section 8.5
The following entry showed be added to the Segment Maps
found in both tables 8.1 and 8.2. If you use named
COMMON, the named COMMON segment will be in the segment
table.
In the Low DS section of the tables, after the entry which
looks like:
BC_DATA BC_VARS
If named COMMONs are used there will be one entry for each
named COMMON which looks like:
FOO BC_VARS
where "FOO" is the name of the COMMON.
