                           MAKEBAT.EXE
                           

                          

                    MAKEBAT.EXE is SUGGESTION WARE
                    
This program is supplied at no cost, but if you find it useful, please offer
suggestions as to how it can be improved.  This program is provided without
warranties of any kind and any user should be aware that they use it at their
own risk.

                            John Deweerd
                        Compuserve: 76360,3216
                     Internet: johnrd@axionet.com

                    

For best results: place MENU.BAT and MAKEBAT.EXE in a directory in your PATH.

MAKEBAT is a utility for getting user input and creating batch files.
It can also be used for positioning text on the DOS screen.

     The -d switch is used for Displaying text.
     The -f switch is used to get user input and write Files.

MAKEBAT -d 10 20 "File To Edit"

will write the words 'File To Edit' 10 lines down and 20 lines over on the
screen.

MAKEBAT -f 10 22 run_edit.bat "edit %s"

will print a colon on the screen at 10, 22, followed by the cursor.  The
user types, then presses <ENTER>.  The user input replaces the '%s' in the
"edit %s" and the resulting text string is written into a file called
'run_edit.bat'.

Typing in both lines above will result in the text:

          File To Edit:_

on the screen.  (The underscore represents the flashing cursor).  The user
would type in a file name, say "\autoexec.bat" (without quotes), and press
<ENTER>.  MAKEBAT will create file called 'RUN_EDIT.BAT' containing the line:

edit \AUTOEXEC.BAT

Running RUN_EDIT.BAT will start the EDIT.COM program and load \AUTOEXEC.BAT
into it.

See the sample batch file 'MENU.BAT' for an actual example of usage.

Notes:
- if used in a  batch file remember to use '%%s' rather than '%s'
- the display text string must be in quotes
- the command line text to be written into a file must be in quotes
- the user inputted text is capitalized before being written into the file
- remember to put MAKEBAT in a directory in your PATH
