"README.DOC" File
Release Notes for the MICROSOFT QuickBASIC Compiler
(Version 2.01) for IBM(R) Personal Computers
and Compatibles
(C) Copyright Microsoft Corporation, 1986, 1987
THIS FILE CONTAINS IMPORTANT INFORMATION CONCERNING VERSION 2.01 OF
THE MICROSOFT(R) QUICKBASIC COMPILER. PLEASE READ THE ENTIRE FILE
VERY CAREFULLY BEFORE USING YOUR QUICKBASIC PRODUCT.
This file is divided into three parts, as follows:
PART CONTENTS
1 Information on three NEW features added to the
Version 2.01 release:
- Descriptive error messages when you compile
using the separate compilation method.
- Installable keyboard drivers for better
support of the Tandy(R) 1000 and the IBM
Advanced 101-Key Keyboards.
- The ENTER key may now be used to select
command buttons other than the default.
2 Information about additions and changes to QuickBASIC
made after the manual was printed.
3 Additions and corrections to the QuickBASIC Version 2.0
manual.
For information on corrections to the software from version 2.00 to
2.01, please refer to the UPDATE.DOC file on this disk.
===<Part 1: QuickBASIC V2.01 Enhancements>=========================
1. Error Listings
New to Version 2.01 are descriptive error messages that may appear
when you compile with the separate compilation method (see Appendix D
of the QuickBASIC Manual for more information on using the separate
compilation method). You can redirect these error messages to a file
or device to get a printed copy of the errors encountered during
compilation.
EXAMPLES
COMMAND LINE ACTION
------------ ------
QB TEST.BAS; compile TEST.BAS and display any errors
encountered on the screen.
QB TEST.BAS; > TEST.LST Compile TEST.BAS and redirect any error
messages generated to the file TEST.LST.
2. Machine-specific keyboards
QuickBASIC Version 2.01 has been enhanced to allow installation of
machine-specific keyboards.
When invoked, QuickBASIC searches the entire path, beginning in the
current directory, for a file named KEYBOARD.QBK. If found, it is
used as the keyboard definition; if not found, the default IBM
keyboard is used.
Since QuickBASIC Version 2.01 comes already installed for the
standard IBM and IBM Advanced 101-Key Keyboard, most owners of
IBM PCs and close compatibles need not worry about keyboard
compatibility.
However, owners of Tandy 1000s should rename the file TANDY.QBK
(located on Disk 1) to KEYBOARD.QBK.
Note that this keyboard installation only affects the QuickBASIC
editor, and has no effect at runtime.
3. Executing Command Buttons in Dialogs
In QuickBASIC Version 2.00, pressing ENTER always executed the default
command button, regardless of which button was highlighted. This
feature has been enhanced in QuickBASIC Version 2.01. Pressing ENTER
now executes the default button ONLY if another command button is not
highlighted. For example, if the highlight is on the CANCEL button then
pressing ENTER will execute CANCEL. However, if the input focus
(highlight) is an edit field or a checkbox then ENTER causes the default
command button to be executed.
===<Part 2: Additional Information>===================================
1. The QB.INI Initialization File
QB.INI is an initialization file that QuickBASIC uses to set both the
Options settings in the View menu and the Autosave command settings
in the File menu. Upon exiting QuickBASIC, if you have modified
any of the Options settings or the state of the File menu Autosave
command, these changes are written to QB.INI. Note that QB.INI is
not supplied on any of the product disks. It is created only when
you change the Options or Autosave settings. If you use only the
default settings, QB.INI is never created.
When QB.INI is created, it is placed in the current directory. When
QuickBASIC starts, it looks for QB.INI in the current directory, then
in the locations specified by the PATH environment variable.
2. Source-File Line Termination
QuickBASIC 2.0 requires a CR-LF (carriage return-line feed) sequence at
the end of each line. If only carriage returns are present, QuickBASIC
reads the first 255 characters only, and continues without producing an error
message. If only line feeds are present, QuickBASIC will appear to
read the file correctly, but the last character of each line will be
missing. If you use an editor that places only a CR or an LF at the
end of a line, you need to modify your source files so they have
the correct sequence at the end of each line. The following program
examines the end of each line in a file and inserts a carriage return,
line feed, or both, if needed.
DEFINT A-Z
cr = 13 : lf = 10
More:
CLS
INPUT "File (.BAS) ", inpfile$
ON ERROR GOTO NoFile
NAME inpfile$ + ".BAS" AS inpfile$ + ".BAK"
OPEN inpfile$ + ".BAK" FOR INPUT AS #1
ON ERROR GOTO 0
OPEN inpfile$ + ".BAS" FOR OUTPUT AS #2
prevcr = 0
WHILE NOT EOF(1)
filechar$ = INPUT$(1, #1)
IF ASC(filechar$) = cr THEN
prevcr = 1
ELSEIF ASC(filechar$) = lf AND prevcr THEN
prevcr = 0
ELSEIF ASC(filechar$) = lf AND NOT prevcr THEN
PRINT #2, CHR$(cr);
ELSEIF prevcr THEN
prevcr = 0
PRINT #2, CHR$(lf);
END IF
PRINT #2, filechar$;
WEND
CLOSE
PRINT "Another file (Y/N)?"
more$ = INPUT$(1)
IF more$ = "y" OR more$ = "Y" THEN
GOTO More
ELSE
SYSTEM
END IF
NoFile:
number = ERR
IF number = 53 THEN
CLS
PRINT "No such file. Press any key to continue."
z$ = INPUT$(1)
RESUME More
ELSE
ON ERROR GOTO 0
ERROR number
END IF
3. Compilation Errors
When an error is detected during compilation, code generation stops. This
allows for faster compilation, but has the side effect that some errors may
be reported that are not errors. When the original error is corrected,
these side-effect errors go away. For example, the statements
FOR I = 1
.
.
.
NEXT I
generate two errors, "Missing TO" and "NEXT without FOR". When
the FOR statement is changed to read "FOR I = 1 to 10", both errors
are corrected.
4. COMMAND.COM, the SHELL Statement and the Shell Command
QuickBASIC requires COMMAND.COM before it can execute either a SHELL
statement or the Shell command from the File menu. QuickBASIC first
looks for COMMAND.COM in the directory specified in the COMSPEC
environment variable, then in the current directory.
5. Using SHELL in a Subroutine
The SHELL statement does not compress memory. If not enough contiguous
memory is available, (for example, if many CHAIN statements have been
executed, or several dynamic arrays were allocated then erased), a SHELL
statement may fail with an "Out of memory" memory error.
6. Using the SHELL Statement with DOS 2.X
If you are using a 2.X version of DOS, programs that contain SHELL
statements may not exit correctly. This is due to a known problem in DOS
2.X. The problem occurs when DOS reloads the transient portion of the
command processor into high memory.
To exit QuickBASIC after executing an in-memory program that contains
SHELL statements, when the program finishes running, choose Shell from the
File menu, then type "exit" at the DOS prompt.
When standalone executable programs exit, the message "Invalid COMMAND.COM"
may appear. If so, you must restart your system. If you compile using
BRUN20.EXE the program, in most cases, exits properly.
Another solution is to upgrade your DOS version to 3.X.
7. Running Terminate-and-Stay-Resident Programs from the File menu Shell
Do not run terminate-and-stay-resident programs while executing the Shell
command from the File menu. When a Shell command is executed, QuickBASIC
is compressed into the smallest memory possible. The terminate-and-stay-
resident program occupies memory required by QuickBASIC, making it
impossible to compile or run a program, or do anything that allocates
memory.
8. Changing directories from the File menu Shell Command
If you change directories after executing the Shell command from the File
menu, this directory is the current directory when you return to QuickBASIC.
Subsequent Load commands will use this as the default directory, and
when you quit QuickBASIC, you will be in this directory.
9. Notes on using User Libraries
The run-time module BRUN20.EXE obtains the user library using the name the
program module was compiled with. All independently compiled program modules
that will be linked together must have been compiled with the same user
library using the same name, or an error occurs at run time.
CHAINing from a program that has a user library loaded REQUIRES that
the CHAINed-to program is compiled with the same user library.
10. Using /l with Nonreferenced Libraries
User libraries specified with the /l option are pulled into the
executable file regardless of whether the program requires them.
11. The User-Library Search Path
If path information is provided with the qb command's /l option, as in
qb progname /l \src\lib\mylib.exe
no path search is performed. If the library is not in the specified location
an error occurs. If no path information is provided, the current directory
is searched, then the directory specified in the LIB environment variable.
12. Graphics-Mode Statements
A graphics-adapter card is required if you are using any of the following
statements:
CIRCLE PMAP
COLOR (screen modes 1-10) POINT
DRAW PRESET
GET (graphics) PSET
LINE PUT (graphics)
PAINT VIEW
PALETTE WINDOW
PCOPY
13. EGA-Card Restrictions
The EGA card does not support the COLOR statement's border parameter. Using
the border parameter causes unpredictable results.
QuickBASIC does not support 43-line mode.
14. Program Capacity
Because the Debug option generates extra code, extremely large programs
that are compiled with the Debug option may exceed the memory limits of
your computer.
15. Object-File Size
Programs compiled with the Debug option (the default) create larger
object files than programs compiled without the Debug option.
16. Using the PEN Function when a Mouse Driver is Present
The mouse driver intercepts the PEN function's BIOS calls and redirects
them to the mouse. If you don't want to use the mouse as a lightpen, call
mouse function 14 to disable the mouse's lightpen emulation flag, which is
on by default. Mouse function 13 turns lightpen emulation back on. For
example, the following code turns mouse lightpen emulation off:
CALL MOUSE(14,0,0,0)
See your mouse manual for more information.
17. Editing Responses to the INPUT Statement
The input editor supplied with QuickBASIC is a line editor only. This
means you can move and edit only horizontally. Attempts to use the
UP, DOWN, PGUP and PGDN cursor keys produce a beep.
18. Disk-Error Messages
Whenever you get a disk-error message, such as "Write protect violation",
DO NOT change to a different disk before selecting "RETRY". If you want
to retry with a different disk, select the "Cancel" button, replace the
disk, and compile again.
19. INT86.ASM, INT86.OBJ, ABSOLUTE.ASM, ABSOLUTE.OBJ
In QuickBASIC Version 2.00 there was USERLIB.ASM and the
assembled object, USERLIB.OBJ. USERLIB.ASM has been split into two
files, INT86.ASM and ABSOLUTE.ASM. If you are using LINK.EXE to link
user libraries to BRUN20.LIB, you should use only INT86.OBJ (the
symbol "ABSOLUTE" is already contained in BRUN20.LIB).
CALL ABSOLUTE is considered an external subroutine by the QuickBASIC
compiler.
If you are creating a new user library to incorporate your own
assembly language routines, you will need to use both INT86.OBJ
and ABSOLUTE.OBJ when creating the new user library.
===<Part 3: Corrections to the Manual>======================================
Page Correction
---- ----------
65 In the top paragraph, you should use ALT-F8 to exit animate
mode, as you are in animate mode when you enter the example.
71 In the syntax line at the bottom of the page, the "c:buffersize"
option should be preceded by a forward slash, as follows:
/c:buffersize
76 In the first paragraph after Figure 4.2, the sentence "If you
are in a subdirectory..." should state that the entry ".."
appears in the "upper-left corner", not the "upper-right".
78 Binary files cannot be loaded into QuickBASIC. The note in the
middle of the page should read:
QuickBASIC accepts only ASCII files. If you attempt to load a
binary file, you will get an error.
93 In section 4.4.3.11, "Exe," it should be noted that the executable
files created using this method require the support of the BRUN20
run-time module in order to execute.
120 The first line of this example (DEFINT I-L) should be changed
to DEFINT I-S so as to execute correctly.
152 The stack is preset to 768 bytes, not 512.
161 In the example under Section 9.2.2, there should not be an underscore
character (_) following the FIELD variable D$.
162 String constants can be ASCII characters in the range 32 to 126.
(127 is the DEL character)
172 The discussion of overflow and division by zero is misleading. If you
are running from the QuickBASIC user interface (editor), and the DEBUG
option is on, when the error occurs the application terminates and you
are returned to the editor, with the cursor positioned on the line where
the division by zero occurred. If you do not have the DEBUG option
selected, the application is terminated; however, when returned to the
editor, the cursor is not positioned on the offending line.
183 In Table 10.1, in the column "May Require Modifying Interpreter
Programs," you should add the statements PEEK, POKE, and DEFSEG,
since the memory maps of the interpreter and the compiler are different.
For example, programs that read from or write to memory locations in
the RAM-resident portion of the interpreter do not work in the
compiler environment since the interpreter is not present.
188 In Section 10.3.2, the $INCLUDE metacommand, restriction 2) is in
error. Included files may contain END statements.
193 In Table 10.6, you should add the statements PEEK, POKE,
and DEFSEG, since the memory maps of the interpreter and the compiler
are different. For example, programs that read from or write to memory
locations in the RAM-resident portion of the interpreter do not work in
the compiler environment since the interpreter is not present.
200 In the Action section for the BLOAD command, it states that
BLOAD can take input from "any input device." This is not true,
as the BLOAD command does not take input from the "KYBD:" device.
222 The EGA card does not support the COLOR statement's border parameter.
If you have an EGA card installed on your system, using the border
parameter causes unpredictable results.
229 The list of nonexecutable statements should also include the
DATA statement.
232 The "VO1" variable in the third line from the bottom should be changed
to read as follows:
DENS=W/VOL
235 The last line in the example should be "LOCATE Y,X" not
"LOCATE X,Y".
265 The syntax for the ERASE statement should have a comma between
the array names, as shown here:
ERASE arrayname [,arrayname...]
275 In the FIELD statement's Example 2, the order of arguments is reversed
for all string-manipulation functions. The affected section of the
program should read as follows:
.
.
.
IF (ZCHECK$ > "85699" AND ZCHECK$ < "85801") THEN
INFO$ = PLIST$
PRINT LEFT$(INFO$,25)
PRINT MID$(INFO$,16,25)
PRINT RIGHT$(INFO$,17)
END IF
The FIELD statements in the two examples shown under Example 4 should
be changed to read as follows:
FIELD #1, RECLENGTH% AS OFFSET$, SIZE% AS A$(I%)
and
FIELD #1, 15 AS A$(1), 10 AS A$(2),..., 8 AS A$(14)
283 In the FRE function example, the first line of the example should be
a $DYNAMIC metacommand, as follows:
' $DYNAMIC
PRINT "Before dimensioning arrays: " FRE(""),FRE(0),FRE(-1)
.
.
.
286 There is a missing parenthesis in the formula for computing the GET
graphics statement's array size. There should be three left parentheses
after the INT keyword, as follows:
4 + INT(((x2 - x1 +1) * bits-per-pixel + 7)/8) * ((y2 - y1) +1)
297 The two examples comparing the single-line and block forms of the
IF...THEN...ELSE statement should read as follows:
Example 1:
INPUT "Price = ",x
IF (x >= 10000) THEN DISC! = x * .25! ELSE _
IF (x < 10000) AND (x >= 5000) THEN DISC! = x * .2! ELSE _
IF (x < 5000) AND (x >= 1000) THEN DISC! = x * .1! ELSE _
DISC! = 0
IF DISC! = 0 THEN PRINT "No discount" ELSE _
PRINT "Discounted price = "; : PRINT USING "$$####.##";x - DISC!
Example 2:
INPUT "Price = ",x
IF (x >= 10000) THEN
DISC! = x * .25!
ELSEIF (x < 10000) AND (x >= 5000) THEN
DISC! = x * .2!
ELSEIF (x < 5000) AND (x >= 1000) THEN
DISC! = x * .1!
ELSE DISC! = 0
END IF
IF DISC! = 0 THEN
PRINT "No discount"
ELSE
PRINT "Discounted price = ";
PRINT USING "$$####.##";x - DISC!
END IF
299 The SUB/END SUB syntax is missing from the example. The
following line should be added to the beginning of the example:
SUB KeyboardAction(Timelimit%, Timeout%) STATIC
The RETURN statement should be replaced by END SUB.
313 The last sentence of the description of Example 2, after
the semicolon, should read: "The last line displays the new
soft-key values."
314 The last entry in the table for the values of N, should be
15 - 20, rather than 15 - 25.
315 The table listed on this page is incomplete. In addition to
the values listed, you must also take into account the state
of the NUM LOCK and CAPS LOCK keys. For NUM LOCK active you
should add the value &H20, and for CAPS LOCK active you should
add the value &H40 to the keyboard flag.
317 The second comment in the example program should read:
' DOWN key will now be trapped
325 The STEP option example requires a hyphen before the STEP keyword, as
follows:
LINE -STEP (10,5)
The phrase following the example should read:
"draws a line from (10,10) to the point with x-coordinate
10+10 and y-coordinate 10+5, or (20,15)."
327 The Action for LINE INPUT should read:
Inputs an entire line (up to 255 characters) to a string variable...
338 The Remark for LOF should read:
When a file is opened in any mode, LOF returns the size of the file in
bytes.
348 In the description of the example it should be noted that
line 100 converts the single-precision variable AMT to a
4-byte string, then left justifies that string in an eight-byte
field.
353 Delete the last sentence on this page.
369 Add the following note concerning the ACCESS clause:
The ACCESS clause works in an OPEN statement only if you are using
versions of DOS that support networking (3.0 or later). In addition,
you must run the SHARE.EXE program (or the network startup program must
run it) to perform any locking operation. Earlier versions of DOS will
return an "Advanced Feature" error if ACCESS is used with OPEN.
375 The second sentence under the Action heading for the LF option should be
changed to read:
When LF is specified, a line-feed character (0AH) is automatically sent
after each carriage-return character (0DH).
388 The last sentence in the REMARKS section should be deleted. The
argument to the PEEK statement should be a single-precision
variable in the range 0-1,048,575.
396 The variable in the first line of PLAY statement's Example 1 should be
SCALE$, not SCALES$:
SCALE$ = "CDEFGAB"
410 In the example, all references to the file STORINVENT should be changed
to INVENT.DAT. The file argument to both OPEN statements should be
the same file, INVENT.DAT.
418 The first entry in the "Arguments" column should be (x,y), not
(x1,y1).
420 Images cannot be scaled with the PUT graphics statement. Only one set
of x,y coordinates can be specified as arguments to PUT. All text
after "Because you can specify..." in the second paragraph, and all of
the following paragraph, should be ignored.
424 The second sentence in the Remarks section for the READ statement should
be changed to read as follows:
READ statements assign DATA-statement values to variables on a
one-to-one basis.
448 In the description of the SCREEN statement's arguments, the first line
under the SCREEN 2 heading should refer to high-resolution graphics
instead of medium-resolution graphics, as follows:
* 640 x 200 pixel high-resolution graphics
In addition, the text format for SCREEN 1 should be 40 X 25, and
the text format for SCREEN 2 should be 80 X 25.
474 The example for the STR$ function should read as follows:
DEF FNNUM$(X)
X$ = STR$(X)
LENGTH = LEN(X$)
IF LEFT$(X$,1) <> "-" THEN LENGTH = LENGTH - 1
FNNUM$ = RIGHT$(X$,LENGTH)
END DEF
PRINT "Enter 0 to end." : NUM = -1 'Corrected line
WHILE NUM
INPUT "Find cosine of: ",NUM
IF NUM THEN PRINT "COS(" FNNUM$(NUM) ") = " COS(NUM)
WEND
482 In the example, the input to the prompt "Pattern to be searched
for?" must be SUB (not "sub") in order to get the output shown.
525 Add DEBUG, OFF, and RANDOM to the list of reserved words.
Delete the dollar-sign ($) character at the end of GOTO.
535 Batch files created for versions of QuickBASIC before 2.0 require
modification. In older batch files, "bascom" should be "qb".
536 If you are using a version of DOS earlier than 3.0, use the PATH command
instead of the SET command to define the PATH variable. Using SET under
earlier versions of DOS can cause the PATH variable to work incorrectly
for some path specifications that contain lowercase letters.
546 & The stack is preset to 768 bytes, not 512.
547
566 The third bulleted remark ("A USR function...") should be deleted.
570 The explanation for the error message "Too many files" should read:
This error most commonly occurs when an attempt is made to open a
number of files that exceeds the limit set by the FILES= parameter in
the CONFIG.SYS file. It also occurs when the per-directory file limit
is exceeded by an attempt to create a new file with the SAVE or OPEN
statement. Refer to your DOS manual for the number of files permitted
in a directory.
