CSS - The SIMPLE Language PreProcessor for Telix

Version 1.1 Date: April 7th, 1991

Copyright 1991, by Host Software Products











Host Software Products
15837 Windrose Way
San Diego, CA 92127-2066


Daniel E. Horn - President

Page: 1

WHAT IS CSS?


CSS is a full scale PreProcessor for the SALT (Script Application
Language for Telix) and provides an easy to use and understand
language called SIMPLE. CSS compiles directly into SALT and then
automatically compiles the SALT script by running the CS program
provided with the Telix (C) communications program. CSS allows
the user to write scripts using the SIMPLE language, which are
fully compatible and executable under the Telix program, but are
easy to write and are completely understandable.

The SIMPLE language was written with the base user in mind. It
is a language based upon the English sentence structure, and
functions named according to their operations. This provides a
language easily remembered, and simple to work with.

Page: 2

This program is distributed under the Shareware concept.
Non-Registered users of CSS are granted a limited license to use
it for a 4 week trial period, to determine its usefulness to you.
ANY other use of CSS after that period is strictly prohibited.

WHY REGISTER?

* Registration allows you to use CSS on a regular basis.

* Registered users will receive mailed notification of updates
to the program.

* Registered users also will receive top priority in any help
or comments they have/need.

* Registered users receive copies of the program that have
the register comment removed.

* The registered version also contains the ability to save the
resulting SALT file to disk to view its contents. As well,
resulting SIMPLE scripts compiled will no longer have the
notification delay in running.

* Registered users can join the beta test process, and can
receive previous of any new software

Registration is US$20.00 plus US$2.50 (US$3.50 overseas) for
shipping and handling and covers all the above features.


To order, make check or money order payable:

Host Software Products
15837 Windrose Way
San Diego, CA 92127-2066 USA

Page: 3

Host Software Products
15837 Windrose Way
San Diego, CA 92127-2066 USA

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Comments: _______________________________________________________

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Computer Type:___________________________________________________

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Where did you hear about (and/or receive a copy of) CSS?

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_________________________________________________________________

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This program evolved from an idea from talking to and
hearing complaints from people who felt that the SALT language
was too difficult to use, too hard to remember, and to "Big" for
those tiny little scripts. It was written originally as a
project to test out a theory of mine and eventually was expanded
to its current abilities. CSS is an ongoing project and will
continue to be worked and expanded as time goes by.


DISCLAIMER

This program is provided as is, and is to be run at your own
risk. There is NO warranty of any kind or form covering this
program. Exis, Inc., Colin Sampaleanu, Host Software Products,
and the author, are not in any way responsible, or liable for any
damages of any kind that may arise from the usage of this
program, or that of any program or files that are associated, or
included with it.

TELIX.EXE, CS.EXE, and SALT are copyright 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989,
1990, 1991, by Exis Inc., and Colin Sampaleanu.
Used with permission.

Page: 5


USING CSS

Before you can run a SIMPLE script file you must first compile
the script using CSS. CSS accepts a single filename on the

command line with a default extension of 'SIM', and will then
process the file into the SALT language. If there are any errors
encountered during the compilation, CSS will report them and halt
the process. Following is an example of how to invoke CSS with
the filename of LOGON.

CSS logon

CSS will attempt to compile the SIMPLE script and if successful
will automatically run CS.EXE. If CS.EXE cannot be found, or
there was not enough memory to run CS.EXE then CSS will abort the
process with the appropriate error. CS.EXE should be placed
someplace in your PATH statement so that CSS can find it.
Optionally the use of the Environment variable CS can be placed
in the environment as follows:

CS=C:\TELIX\SCRIPTS

Where "C:\TELIX\SCRIPTS" is the full path where CS.EXE resides.
This is useful if you keep CS.EXE in a directory that is not in
your path.

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THE SIMPLE LANGUAGE

The SIMPLE (Salt Implementation) language is an easy to use
language made up of functions named according to their
operations. The SIMPLE language is compiled directly into SALT
via CSS and then compiled into a script using CS (run
automatically by CSS). The language was written with the novice
user in mind and is easy to use. Following is a list of
functions currently supported by CSS, the SIMPLE specifications,
and a description of each function. The SIMPLE language script
is designed to have a single function on each line of the file.
In certain cases, as with WAITFOR or WHENEVER, there are multiple
functions on a single line.


NOTATION

Throughout the following pages, certain words in the text are
notated by or [expression]. Any words in standard
brackets are entirely optional statements and are not required by
CSS to be included in the statement for compilation. Expressions
such as are to be replaced with an actual integer (from
-32,000 to +32,000) in the code and should not be placed in the
actual script. Words such as are string expressions and
should be replaced with either a string constant (ie group of
words in quotations, such as "This is a string") or a string
variable. String variables consist of the word STRING followed
by an integer as in STRINGxx, where 'xx' is a number from 1 to
16. An example of a valid string variable would be STRING3, while
STRING17 is invalid.

_________________________________________________________________
ALARM

Causes an alarm to ring of up to seconds.

Example:

ALARM 2

_________________________________________________________________
WAIT

Causes the script to wait for up to seconds.

Example:

WAIT 10

Page: 7

_________________________________________________________________
SEND [HITENTER]

Sends the string to the remote system, optional HITENTER can
be placed following the string and SEND will add a Carriage
Return (ie as if you pressed ENTER) after the string. Note that
you can omit and just do SEND HITENTER and only a Carriage
Return will be sent.

Example:

SEND "John Smith" HITENTER

_________________________________________________________________
SHELL

Do a Shell to DOS (Same thing as pressing ALT-J from within
Telix).

Example:

SHELL

_________________________________________________________________
SOUND ,

Causes a sound of frequency, for a duration of
tenths of seconds.

Example:

SOUND 200, 30

_________________________________________________________________
HANGUP

Causes Telix to hangup the phone. (Same as pressing ALT-H from
within Telix).

Example:

HANGUP

_________________________________________________________________
MESSAGE

Prints the string on the screen surrounded by a box for 30
seconds.

Example:

MESSAGE "Connected to BBS"

Page: 8

_________________________________________________________________
PRINTER (ON/OFF)

Turns the Printer capture ON or OFF depending on which switch is
used. (Same as pressing [email protected] from within Telix).

_________________________________________________________________
TIME

Places the current time into the string variable . Note that
*MUST* be a string variable of STRING1 - STRING16.

Example:

TIME STRING2

_________________________________________________________________
DATE

Places the current date into the string variable . Note that
*MUST* be a string variable of STRING1 - STRING16.

Example:

DATE STRING11

_________________________________________________________________
INPUT ,

Gets up to characters from the keyboard and places them
into the string variable . Note that *MUST* be a string
variable of STRING1 - STRING16.

Example:

INPUT STRING7, 20

_________________________________________________________________
SHOW [HITENTER]

Prints the string to the screen. Optional HITENTER can be
placed following the string and SHOW will add a Carriage Return
(ie as if you pressed ENTER) after the string. Note that you can
leave out and just do SHOW HITENTER and only a Carriage
Return will be printed.

Example:

SHOW "Hello" HITENTER

Page: 9

_________________________________________________________________
ASSIGN ,

Assign the string to the string variable . Note that
*MUST* be a string variable of STRING1 - STRING16.

Example:

ASSIGN STRING1, "John Smith"

_________________________________________________________________
UPLOAD [WITH ]

Uploads string filename to the remote system (note that
must be a valid filename), optional WITH can be added
to the end and the upload will be made with the defined
. Note that *MUST* be a valid protocol
name. If it is not, Telix will prompt you for the protocol when
you attempt the upload.

Examples:

UPLOAD "TEST.ZIP"
UPLOAD "FILELIST.ZIP" WITH Zmodem

_________________________________________________________________
DOWNLOAD [WITH ]

Downloads string filename from the remote system, optional
WITH can be added to the end and the download will be
made with the defined . Note that *MUST* be
a valid protocol name. If it is not, Telix will prompt you for
the protocol when you attempt the download.

Example:

DOWNLOAD "TELIX1.ZIP" WITH Xmodem

_________________________________________________________________
WAITFOR [MAXOF ] THENDO

Waits for the string from the com port for an optional
number of seconds (If no MAXOF is given a
default of 30 seconds is used). If the string is received
then the (following THENDO) is processed. Note that
can be any of the command functions in SIMPLE.

Examples:

WAITFOR "First Name: " THENDO SEND "John" HITENTER
WAITFOR "Download: " MAXOF 50 THENDO SEND "NEWFILES.ZIP" HITENTER

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_________________________________________________________________
DIAL [FROM ] [MAXOF ]

Dials the numbers in the string (format of number space
number etc., ie "1 2 3"), optional FROM allows you to
specify the phone directory (string ) to dial from. If FROM
is not given then it will dial from the current dialing
directory. Optional MAXOF allows you to specify the
total number of dialing attempts before quitting. If MAXOF
is not given then it will dial until a connection is
established.

Examples:

DIAL "1 5 2" MAXOF 30
DIAL "6 13" FROM "INSTATE.FON"

_________________________________________________________________
BBSPASSWORD

This constant contains (When a connection is established) the
password defined for the dialing directory entry. It can be used
with the functions SHOW, SEND, MESSAGE, and ASSIGN. The most
common use would be with SEND to send your password to the remote
system.

Example:

WAITFOR "Password: " THENDO SEND BBSPASSWORD HITENTER

_________________________________________________________________
RUNSCRIPT

This will run the script name , note that the string
must contain a valid script name.

Example:

RUNSCRIPT "LOGON.SLC"

_________________________________________________________________
DOS [PAUSESCREEN]

Runs the command given in the string in DOS, optional
PAUSESCREEN will cause the screen to pause once the command has
been run and will wait for a key to be pressed.

Example:

DOS "DIR /W" PAUSESCREEN

Page: 11

_________________________________________________________________
STARTWHEN

Starts a WHENEVER loop. All commands following STARTWHEN must be
WHENEVER commands until a following ENDWHEN command is given.

Example:

STARTWHEN
WHENEVER "First" THENDO SEND STRING2 HITENTER
ENDWHEN

_________________________________________________________________
WHENEVER THENDO /

Continues to wait for the string . Once the string has
been received then the command is executed. The
can be any of the SIMPLE functions. If the
is QUITWHEN then the STARTWHEN loop is aborted and process is
continued after the ENDWHEN. Note that if none of the WHENEVER's
within a STARTWHEN loop have the command of QUITWHEN then the
*LAST* WHENEVER is assumed to be the final one and the loop will
finish after that string has been processed. Note that you can
use the BLOCKSTART/BLOCKEND commands to do multiple commands for
a single WHENEVER statement.

Example:

STARTWHEN
WHENEVER "First" THENDO SEND "John" HITENTER
WHENEVER "Last" THENDO SEND "Smith" HITENTER
ENDWHEN

_________________________________________________________________
ENDWHEN

Ends the WHENEVER loop, must be placed after a STARTWHEN and only
WHENEVER statements (Up to 12) can be placed between STARTWHEN
and ENDWHEN.

_________________________________________________________________
CLEARSCREEN

Clears the screen (just as if you pressed ALT-C).

_________________________________________________________________
USAGELOG (ON/OFF)

Turns the Telix Usagelog on or off (depending on which switch is
used. (Same as pressing ALT-U from within Telix).

Page: 12

_________________________________________________________________
EXITTELIX

Causes the current script to terminate and exit Telix. (Just as
if you pressed ALT-X from within Telix).

_________________________________________________________________
ERASEFILE

Erases the file whose name is specified in the string .

Example:

ERASEFILE "TEMP.DAT"

_________________________________________________________________
CHANGEDIR []

Changes the current directory to the directory specified in the
string . Note that is not required and if left out
Telix will prompt you for the directory you wish to change to.

Example:

CHANGEDIR "C:\UPLOADS"
CHANGEDIR

_________________________________________________________________
BLOCKSTART

This command is used to specify a block of commands (between
BLOCKSTART and BLOCKEND) that should be executed. For use only
with the WHENEVER and WAITFOR commands, specifically in cases
where you wish to do more then one command per case.

Examples:

STARTWHEN
WHENEVER "Command:" THENDO BLOCKSTART
SEND "U TEST.ZIP" HITENTER
UPLOAD "TEST.ZIP" WITH ZMODEM
BLOCKEND
WHENEVER "Download" THENDO DOWNLOAD "TEST.ZIP"
ENDWHEN

WAITFOR "Command" THENDO BLOCKSTART
SEND "D TEMP.DAT" HITENTER
DOWNLOAD "TEMP.DAT"
BLOCKEND

Page: 13

_________________________________________________________________
BLOCKEND

Used with the BLOCKSTART command to specify a block of commands
to be processed. Used in WAITFOR and WHENEVER statements.

_________________________________________________________________
CAPTURELOG (/OFF/PAUSE/UNPAUSE)

Used to control the Telix capture log, following is a list of the
toggles and their use:

CAPTURELOG - Open capture log with the string containing
the name of the file.
CAPTURELOG OFF - Close/stop capture log currently opened.
CAPTURELOG PAUSE - Pauses the currently opened capture log.
CAPTURELOG UNPAUSE - Unpauses a previously paused capture log.

The capturelog function follows the use of the ALT-L capture
function in Telix.

Page: 14


WHAT'S AHEAD IN THE FUTURE?

o Addition of IF THENDO command control statements.

o Support for up to 32 STRING variables.

o Addition of GOTO statements.



THANKS AND APPRECIATION


Much of my thanks and appreciation goes to Jeff Woods who
has helped me with the layout and format of the SIMPLE language,
and provided encouragement and lots of good ideas. The original
idea started out as an off the wall discussion between Jeff and
myself.

I can't thank you enough Jeff!

Special thanks to Ben Hoffman for his work on the
documentation. He pointed out a few grammatical errors and it
made the docs look much better!

Thanks Ben!


Of course, as always, thanks goes to Colin Sampaleanu.
Without all the hard work and effort he has put into Telix and
SALT, this work would be worthless!

Thanks again Colin!

Page: 15


WHAT'S NEW IN CSS 1.1?

o Added BLOCKSTART/BLOCKEND commands to allow processing of
multiple commands in single WHENEVER/WAITFOR commands.

o Added ERASEFILE command to allow the erasing of files.

o Added CHANGEDIR command to allow the changing of the
current directory.

o Added EXITTELIX command that allows the script to exit
Telix.

o Added USAGELOG command to allow access to the Telix usage
log.

o Added CLEARSCREEN command, to allow scripts to clear the
screen.

o Added CAPTURELOG command to allow full access to Telix's
capture ability.

o Fixed the track renumbering bug that caused CSS to
incorrectly number tracks when doing more then 12 tracks
in more then one WHENEVER loop.

o Fixed bug that caused CSS not report internal compile
error's which may occur due to other bugs.

o Increased CSS (but not CS!) compiling time, CSS 1.1 can
now compile from 50 to 200 lines of code into SALT code
per second. (Actual speed varies due to processor speed
and type).

Page: 16


REGARDING DOCS

We are always looking for people who are good at writing
documentation. If you feel you can do a better job, then please
do so and give us the end result. We will take all applications
and choose the one we feel is best. If yours is the one chosen
you will receive a free registration to CSS (or upgrade if you're
already registered), and mention in our docs!


TECHNICAL SUPPORT

If you have any bugs, comments, or suggestions for us on CSS
please let us know. You can reach us in the following ways:


BEST WAY!-> PCRelay (RIME), HOST-BBS Conference

If your PCRelay Board does not carry our support
conference ask them to! Ask for:

HOST-BBS - RelayNet Master Number #203


Telix Support BBS: (416) 439-9399

PCRelay (RIME), Telix Conference
FIDO Net, Telix Conference
InterLink, Telix Conference

BEST WAY!-> Call our Tech Support BBS at: (619) 674-1548

Or call us voice at: (619) 674-1549
Business Hours: Mon-Fri 11am-5pm Pacific Time

Or write us at:

Host Software Products
15837 Windrose Way
San Diego, CA 92127-2066 USA