VDMSERVE (VDM Server Utility)

VDMSERVE, DOSCMD VDM Server Utility, version 1.10 Manual Copyright 1993, 1994 by David G. Fisher. All rights reserved. Introduction What is VDMSERVE?.....................................3 Disclaimer............................................4 Using VDMSERVE The Basic Philosophy..................................5 Description of Syntax.................................6 Examples..............................................8 VDMSERVE Users Manual Page 3 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- What is VDMSERVE? VDMSERVE is a program which will continuously run in a background session and execute DOS (VDM) commands when requested. Why? Because as of the writing of this program (for OS/2 2.1), it is not possible to run a DOS session/program under OS/2 in a "detached" background state. The DOS program must be invoked from a session which has associated with it a screen (i.e., STDIN/STDOUT) group. This presented a problem since I still use a couple of DOS programs with my BBS. All of my mail processing is "detached" and executed in the background. This is fine until I try to invoke a DOS program from this detached batch file. The DOS session simply does not execute. OS/2 does not even report a problem--it simply does not create the VDM session to execute the DOS program. Thus, I wrote this server to create VDM sessions in which to execute DOS programs. It is in this way that a detached batch file can request the VDM server to execute a DOS program and, since the VDM server is a wholly independent session of it's own, has the full ability to create a VDM session (or multiple ones simultaneously if the server receives many requests at the same time). PLEASE NOTE! This program is being sent out into the public domain "as is". I will probably not be able to make modifications to the program due to lack of time, although you are welcome to send bug reports none-the- less. I am making it available with this minimal documentation primarily at the request of a couple of people who desired to use it. VDMSERVE Users Manual Page 4 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Disclaimer This program is shareware. There is absolutely no warranty for this program or guarantee it will work. The user of this program assumes all risk. While I feel confident this program will not harm your system in any way, by using this program, you agree to assume full responsibility for any adverse effect to your system. Where applicable, all trademarks referred to here are the property of their owners. VDMSERVE Users Manual Page 5 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Basic Philosophy Starting and using VDMSERVE is easy. There are two .CMD files included with VDMSERVE which control the initiation of VDMSERVE and communication to VDMSERVE once it is running. RUNSERVE.CMD This batch file initiates VDMSERVE. I have the following line in my REXX STARTUP.CMD file: call RunServe Or, if you are simply testing VDMSERVE, you can execute RunServe from a Full Screen OS/2 session. RUNDOS.CMD This batch file will request VDMSERVE to execute the indicated DOS command. That's it! VDMSERVE Users Manual Page 6 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Description of Syntax VDMSERVE /Config = <path+file name> default: None /[no]Log default: NoLog /LogFile = <path+file name> default: None /LogLevel = <1..4> default: 4 /[no]Quiet default: NoQuiet /Debug=<0..5> default: 0 (no debug) DOSCMD ["DOS command line"] /[no]Log default: NoLog /LogFile = <path+file name> default: None /LogLevel = <1..4> default: 4 /[no]Quiet default: NoQuiet /Debug=<0..5> default: 0 (no debug) /KillServer default: NoKillServer /WaitMode default: NoWaitMode /WaitTimeout = <1..n> default: 120 seconds /Title="Task List Title" default: None Notes on the syntax: Qualifiers can appear in any order, in any case, and are only significant to four characters. /TossLogFile, for instance, is the same as /toss. Qualifiers /Config = <path+file name> This is the name of the configuration file. The default is VDMSERVE.CFG in the current directory. If you prefer, you can define an environment variable using the DOS SET command instead, with the following syntax: Set VDMSERVE_CONFIG=<path+filename> /[no]Log This qualifier will turn the logging function on and off. Default is NoLog. /LogFile = <path+file name> This qualifier defines the name of the log file. /LogLevel = <1..4> This qualifier defines the level of log file detail. Level 1 is the least detailed, while Level 4 is the most verbose. The levels indicate the 'importance' of a message, where Level 1 is the most important (usually error messages). /[no]Quiet This qualifier controls whether the program should print detailed output to the "standard output device", which is normally the screen. Set it to /Quiet and all you see are the program copyright line and any error messages. The default is /NoQuiet. VDMSERVE Users Manual Page 7 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- /Debug=<0..5> This qualifier will instruct the program to print internal processing information to STDOUT. This qualifier is useful when submitting bug reports, or trying to solve a problem in the configuration. At the highest debug level (5), quite a bit of information will displayed. /KillServer This qualifier is for DOSCMD only. When used with the EXIT command (explained below), it will destroy the actual OS/2 session which the server was running in. /WaitMode This qualifier is for DOSCMD only. This instructs DOSCMD to wait for confirmation from the server that the DOS command is finished executing. /WaitTimeout = <1..n> This qualifier is for DOSCMD only. This tells DOSCMD how long to wait before "giving up" on waiting for a "DOS command completion response" from the server. /Title="Task List Title" This qualifier is for DOSCMD only. When the DOS command is executing, it will appear in the Task List on the OS/2 Desktop (i.e., Alt-Esc). Normally, this will simply be "DOS Session" unless you use this qualifier to specify differently. "DOS command line" This parameter is for DOSCMD only. It is the actual DOS command which would normally be typed in at a DOS prompt. There are two special commands which will be interpreted by VDMSERVE, and NOT executed as DOS commands: EXIT This command will cause VDMSERVE to terminate gracefully. If combined with /KillServer, then the actual OS/2 session which was running the server will also be destroyed. REFRESHLOG This command will cause VDMSERVE to close it's log file, rename it to <filename>.BAK, and open a new log file. This is to facilitate easy back up of the log file. PLEASE NOTE! There are some monitoring qualifiers that I have purposely left out of the documentation, but which are mentioned in VDMSERVE.CFG and the help screen from DOSCMD (when DOSCMD is entered without any parameters). These routines may not work on your machine (or cause your machine to hang!), or later versions of OS/2. VDMSERVE Users Manual Page 8 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Examples The following examples are pulled directly from REXX .CMD files on my BBS. call RunDOS RefreshLog '/Wait /WaitTimeout=10' call RunDOS 'runseal.bat' '/Wait /WaitTimeout=120' where RUNSEAL.BAT contains several DOS commands: rem Scan netmail area for remote requests SEAL SCAN -cc:\bbs\squish\squish.cfg rem Scan bad message area to check for newly created areas SEAL BAD -cc:\bbs\squish\squish.cfg rem Add any descriptions for newly added areas, if necessary SEAL DESCRIBE ECHO FIDONET.LST -cc:\bbs\squish\squish.cfg