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                    John De Palma on CompuServe 76076,571            
    
      

                              ͸
                                READ.EXE  
                              ;


     Caveat Lector (Reader beware!)
     

     If you have downloaded an earlier version of this program and have
     READ.COM on your computer, DELETE IT, leaving only READ.EXE. 'Cause
     if you have both of them in the same directory or READ.COM in a
     part of the PATH ahead of READ.EXE, READ.COM will always load
     first.

     *.COM files always execute instead of *.EXE files when they have
     the same filename (READ.COM will run, not READ.EXE).


     Run the batch file READFIND.BAT, in this file set to search your
     hard drive for READ.COM.

     Introduction
     
     What's that you say? Who needs another "text file loader?" Who
     needs a small, simple minded executable program that will load an
     ASCII file and pop it up on the screen allowing you to scroll up
     and down from beginning to end and then exit with a touch of the
     {Esc} key? Who needs that in the era of Windows, multitasking,
     Pentium chips, and dialog boxes.

     Well partner, we ALL do!

     Many times all you want to do is use a low memory program to look
     at a file -OR- display a text file IN YOUR BATCH FILE.

     This second reason is my reason. I make batch files for myself and
     for the office. Six months later we both wonder what these batch
     files were supposed to do. The people at the office don't even
     bother to wonder, as the normal help file are usually terse "ECHO"
     line statements telling them to do something that they don't
     understand. READ.EXE is a part of an answer to this problem as you
     can display long scrollable text files in your batch files with it.

     READ.EXE is a also a teeny, tiny... QuickBASIC 4.5 program.

     Assuming you don't know zip about QuickBASIC as a programming
     language, let me add that the reduction in size is from compiling
     with Crescent Software's PDQ Library and then squeezing that file
     down with LZEXE.EXE (from Fabrice Bellard, a Freeware program from
     France). If any of you junior propeller hat wearers want to see how
     this is done, in QuickBASIC, please go over to the MSBASIC Forum on
     CompuServe where I uploaded the -original version- (not this
     improved one).

     If you ran GO.BAT when you unarchived this file set, you are
     reading this INSIDE that batch file. You will know that you are
     still inside a batch file as when you press {Esc}, this text file
     will unload, the BATCH FILE will beep and LOAD a second text file.
     When you read then exit that second batch file, you will note my
     "Brag box" pops up to tell you I am the proud papa of this little
     simple son of a code.

     READ.EXE only accepts two parameters on the command line.

                 READ       {FileName.Ext}      /n

                                              
               READ.EXE        File Name      No Brag box switch

    If you run READ.EXE by typing:

    READ  {Enter}

    you will get a "Squawk" sound and the minimalist help file:

    ͸
                 An ASCII File Browser             
                                                   
                TYPE: READ Filename.Ext            
    ;

    If you run READ.EXE with a real file -without- the "no Brag Box
    switch" by typing:

    READ c:\autoexec.bat

    when you press <Esc> to end the file browsing you will see...

    ͸
         John De Palma on CompuServe 76076,571     
    ;



    Some Important Stuff
    

    Ѹ
      IF YOU READ NOTHING ELSE, READ THE PARAGRAPHS IN THIS BOX    
    ;
                                                                     
     If the text file is NOT in the same directory that you execute  
     READ.EXE from, you MUST enter the full path and FileName of the 
     text file or you will get a beep and as very terse help message 
     to do just that.                                                
                                                                     
     Entering a LONG file name as: "E:\QB45\TOOLBOX\README.TXT,"     
     the first line display will read "E:\README.TXT" as the code    
     parses and truncates the full path name so it can be displayed  
     in fifteen (15) characters on line one.                                                           
                                                                     
     READ.EXE will display in text mode (Screen 0) any true ASCII    
     file up to about 32,000 bytes.                                  
                                                                     
     If you attempt to load a larger file, you can view the first    
     and -TRUNCATED- portion of that large file if you wish.         
                                                                     
     If you enter a name of a file that doesn't exist, you will be   
     advised of that and told to try again.                          
                                                                     
    ;

       Ŀ
                 THE AUTHOR           Ĵ
       

     The author is -still- John De Palma. But if you downloaded this
     file set and READ.COM a year or so ago, he was much more cocky then
     about how great this program was.... Yep, he thought it would
     display any ASCII file up to hundreds of Kilobytes long. He even
     said so. But he was wrong....

     As he used READ.EXE's predecessor program, READ.COM, he found that
     if the ASCII file was way over about 32,000 characters (or bytes),
     the computer would lock and a reboot was in order.

     In all fairness to our now humbled author... he wishes to advise
     the reader that he inherited this notion from one of his favorite
     QuickBASIC authors. If you have READ.COM on your computer, delete
     it and use READ.EXE. 'Cause if you have both of them in the same
     directory or READ.COM in a part of the PATH ahead of READ.EXE,
     READ.COM will always load first.

     *.COM files always load preferentially to *.EXE files

     Use the batch file READFIND.BAT, to find READ.COM on your hard
     drive.

     Anyways and anyhow, the Author....
     
     John De Palma, likes computers because he sees them as big toys.
     Computers to him are complicated black boxes that have infinite
     possibilities for causing to the user --at the same time --
     enjoyment and pain. Unlike most computer users he really doesn't
     like to use the computer to do anything important (like write a
     letter to PC Magazine or to your IRS agent) but to tinker with.

     He was one of those kids that took his Dad's watch apart to see how
     it worked, but never figured out how to put it back together again
     (boy was THAT a lesson in "leaving things alone!"). You can usually
     find him on CompuServe --somewhere-- uploading some fairly useless
     program that other "kids" like and download.

     He would welcome any thoughts, comments, criticisms, spelling
     corrections, or QuickBASIC  code  that is understandable  by an
     ordinary  mortal. He looks forward to receiving any kind of
     reader's mail.  He can be reached by dialing CompuServe's E-Mail
     service and leaving a message there.

     His CompuServe number is:  76076,571.
