Programming Question
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Who (apart from my good self) still writes .bat files? Are they common or am I one of the old fogies that still employs his DOS knowledge?
--------------------------------- I will never again mention that I was the poster of the One Millionth Lounge Post, nor that it was complete drivel. Dalek Dave CCC Link[^] English League Tables - Live
At my internship, I was recently tasked with automating backups for a 2003 server. The goal was to do it preferably for free, of course ;) I hadn't a need to create a batch file in years, but knew I could get it done. The first batch file uses ntbackup for regular data. The second one does a backup of SQL data by calling TSQL files (.sql) generated in MS SQL Server Management Studio. This allows the SQL server to not have to be shut down to do backups. The third one date-stamps and copies the backup files to other locations. Each batch file is scheduled to run using the built-in Task Scheduler. Free and fun!
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Who (apart from my good self) still writes .bat files? Are they common or am I one of the old fogies that still employs his DOS knowledge?
--------------------------------- I will never again mention that I was the poster of the One Millionth Lounge Post, nor that it was complete drivel. Dalek Dave CCC Link[^] English League Tables - Live
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Like Pete, I use some bat files, but power shell is the way to go.
Panic, Chaos, Destruction. My work here is done. Drink. Get drunk. Fall over - P O'H OK, I will win to day or my name isn't Ethel Crudacre! - DD Ethel Crudacre I cannot live by bread alone. Bacon and ketchup are needed as well. - Trollslayer Have a bit more patience with newbies. Of course some of them act dumb - they're often *students*, for heaven's sake - Terry Pratchett
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Who (apart from my good self) still writes .bat files? Are they common or am I one of the old fogies that still employs his DOS knowledge?
--------------------------------- I will never again mention that I was the poster of the One Millionth Lounge Post, nor that it was complete drivel. Dalek Dave CCC Link[^] English League Tables - Live
We use bat files for many applications right now. You are not alone. We have gotten away from the complex bat files we used to have, and now mostly we use them to call exe's and handle a bad return code by sending an email from a vbscript. We have a scheduling tool, but it has many bugs so we are thinking of going back to windows scheduler where the scheduled task is a call to a bat file.
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A makefile is nothing more than a batch file with a command line to call the compiler for each source file, then one or more command lines calling the linker and perhaps some commands to deploy or copy the results. An IDE usually lets you edit all kinds of compiler and linker options and then generates the makefile from the contents of your project and those options. Or you can simply write the makefile yourself with any simple editor like wordpad. You just have to know how to call the compiler and linker and what options and parameters your compiler needs or supports. It's just like writing command lines in the console. The makefile only saves you from typing all this every time you want to build your project. I guess, all this should be documented in the compiler's and linker's documentation. Edit: Usually the compiler includes some tool to process the makefile. My simple C compiler for old 8 bit machines does not, so I use plain vanilla .BAT files, which does not really make much of a difference. Whenever I want to build my project, I simply call something like 'make.bat' at the command line and look what kind of results I get in the in the console. Edit^2: I just dug this[^] out in MSDN. It describes how to build from the command line with makefiles and NMAKE. NMAKE is a little more powerful than a simple batch and the commands are not simple command lines anymore, but it's still very much the same idea.
I'm invincible, I can't be vinced
NMake can be downloaded from the MSDN directly if you have a 32bit OS. If you have 64bit, then that 16bit NMake download will not run! You have to install the Express Edition or higher of Visual C++ and find it in C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 10.0\VC\bin there is another file called nmakeui.dll at C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 10.0\VC\bin\1033 but I didn't use it. Why would I go to the trouble? Perl scripts, not wholelly related to .BAT, but a script nonetheless - mine tend to be 20K to 200K per file! On a 64bit Windows OS with no 16bit support like Win7: to install CPAN modules (type cpan at a dos prompt after installing ActiveState Perl), you need Perl, MingW and MSys for the compiler, and NMake. This was fine till we upgraded - well, downgraded my laptop since this $3k Elitebook crashes constantly - to 64bit. I was stuck without the modules and had to figure out a way to get NMake. My Macbook Pro will be here today I hope, btw. Can't wait to get Windows 7 installed on it! Not an Apple fanboi, but I doubt I am going to freeze, BSOD or put up with random sticking letter or key of the day issues...
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Who (apart from my good self) still writes .bat files? Are they common or am I one of the old fogies that still employs his DOS knowledge?
--------------------------------- I will never again mention that I was the poster of the One Millionth Lounge Post, nor that it was complete drivel. Dalek Dave CCC Link[^] English League Tables - Live
I do! Although I use the .CMD extension now.
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Right: we young people just write a bunch of shell scripts or awk ones.
Veni, vidi, vici.
I'd consider myself to be in the young 'un category - several months out of university - but I still have uses for .bat files. Most often, I feel the need to have external libraries (Boost, GLFW and SDL being most common) in one place. So to keep them self-contained and properly referenced in my projects, I have .bat files in their respective folders which simply state
setx BOOST_DIR %CD%
or equivalent thereof. Saves me the effort of dealing with changes when migrating to different workstations, and keeps my projects up to date when the libraries are updated. Naturally this only works for systems where I'm allowed to set environment variables in this manner, but in my naive experience it has served me well thus far.
Sometimes a fist in the face says more than a thousand honeyed words.
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Who (apart from my good self) still writes .bat files? Are they common or am I one of the old fogies that still employs his DOS knowledge?
--------------------------------- I will never again mention that I was the poster of the One Millionth Lounge Post, nor that it was complete drivel. Dalek Dave CCC Link[^] English League Tables - Live
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Who (apart from my good self) still writes .bat files? Are they common or am I one of the old fogies that still employs his DOS knowledge?
--------------------------------- I will never again mention that I was the poster of the One Millionth Lounge Post, nor that it was complete drivel. Dalek Dave CCC Link[^] English League Tables - Live
Unless you want the script to be read by the 32 (or even 16) bit interpreter, why wouldn't you write .cmd files instead? Learn bash, and your .cmd skills will improve (and you will start being annoyed at Windows script clumsiness).
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Who (apart from my good self) still writes .bat files? Are they common or am I one of the old fogies that still employs his DOS knowledge?
--------------------------------- I will never again mention that I was the poster of the One Millionth Lounge Post, nor that it was complete drivel. Dalek Dave CCC Link[^] English League Tables - Live
They're useful for calling other programs. For example here if perl is not in the PATH on all PCs - if it is, that's the one to use, but if not, try a known location: perl c:\Offline\Computer\GMobileSubsets\scripts\perl\fetch.pl HNG %1 %2 if ERRORLEVEL 1 goto tryagain exit pause :tryagain C:\perl\bin\perl c:\Offline\Computer\GMobileSubsets\scripts\perl\fetch.pl HNG %1 %2 if ERRORLEVEL 1 goto err exit pause :err pause >nul Perl error! Contact IT. Press any key (I always have pause after exit, so I can quickly add REM in front of exit when testing The same applies in a mixed 32/64 bit environment: C:\Program Files (x86)\ or C:\Program Files\ Also, when calling sequences of taskkill, file copy/delete, etc - you can put a shortcut on the desktop to it. Easier than remembering a long list of services to be restarted in a particular order, etc. Useful for colleagues if your not available - "just log in to the server and click on the shortcut" Also, on Windows 7, some users need local administrator rights to run taskkill, etc, but need their own identity when accessing network files. Create an exe file to run a bat file as admin, but use it only on those batfiles requiring it: C:\Offline\Computer\GMobileSubsets\sw\runaLocalAdmin.exe C:\Offline\Computer\GMobileSubsets\scripts\bat\stopall_reqadmin.bat
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Who (apart from my good self) still writes .bat files? Are they common or am I one of the old fogies that still employs his DOS knowledge?
--------------------------------- I will never again mention that I was the poster of the One Millionth Lounge Post, nor that it was complete drivel. Dalek Dave CCC Link[^] English League Tables - Live
I'm 36 and use .bat files to backup data in certain folders using robo copy commands on a scheduled task. Why pay for backup programs when you can make a quick script for free.
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Who (apart from my good self) still writes .bat files? Are they common or am I one of the old fogies that still employs his DOS knowledge?
--------------------------------- I will never again mention that I was the poster of the One Millionth Lounge Post, nor that it was complete drivel. Dalek Dave CCC Link[^] English League Tables - Live
Do you still use Edlin? ;)
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Who (apart from my good self) still writes .bat files? Are they common or am I one of the old fogies that still employs his DOS knowledge?
--------------------------------- I will never again mention that I was the poster of the One Millionth Lounge Post, nor that it was complete drivel. Dalek Dave CCC Link[^] English League Tables - Live
I do it daily! Good Ole'bats! I hard code all internet pages and have a slick program built in access that creates the bat and ftp to do all of my bidding. Its safer, cleaner, fast and far better than drag and drop or any other method I can find for ftping. The access programs archives and does just about evrything else too. But... in computer years, I too am an "Old fogie." It's sort of odd when you have been programming vb longer than some of young'ns who are programming today have been alive, and that says nothing of having worked the basic "Basic". But hey don't let the gray hair fool you, I can still keep up with the best of them! hmmm... So I hear through the grape vine that you were "the poster of the One Millionth Lounge Post"
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Who (apart from my good self) still writes .bat files? Are they common or am I one of the old fogies that still employs his DOS knowledge?
--------------------------------- I will never again mention that I was the poster of the One Millionth Lounge Post, nor that it was complete drivel. Dalek Dave CCC Link[^] English League Tables - Live
Do not feel alone! we are a bunch of programmers that we use bat files to do daily tasks (stored procedures por instance). And not just in DOS also in UNIX... everything to do the job! Greatings @GI_Giorgio
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Who (apart from my good self) still writes .bat files? Are they common or am I one of the old fogies that still employs his DOS knowledge?
--------------------------------- I will never again mention that I was the poster of the One Millionth Lounge Post, nor that it was complete drivel. Dalek Dave CCC Link[^] English League Tables - Live
Looks like there are a lot of old fogies here:) I don't write as many as I used to, but there are cases where a bat file is quicker/easier to write and anyone can maintain. It also keeps me from having to rewrite all the dos commands that already exist. If microsoft ever gets rid of the command line, I'm switching to Linux.
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Who (apart from my good self) still writes .bat files? Are they common or am I one of the old fogies that still employs his DOS knowledge?
--------------------------------- I will never again mention that I was the poster of the One Millionth Lounge Post, nor that it was complete drivel. Dalek Dave CCC Link[^] English League Tables - Live
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Who (apart from my good self) still writes .bat files? Are they common or am I one of the old fogies that still employs his DOS knowledge?
--------------------------------- I will never again mention that I was the poster of the One Millionth Lounge Post, nor that it was complete drivel. Dalek Dave CCC Link[^] English League Tables - Live
I do write BAT files - and have never gave up on them ever since my IBM PCJr. - once in a while to: - automate repetitive shell commands - setup a path - perform string or repetitive operations on a bunch of files which depends on a search in the current directory. To "kill the snake and show the stick" (a popular saying in Brazil which denotes "to show that you have really done it") here's a simple example: for /D %%i in (*) do dir /s "%%i" >> dirs.txt Julio Cezar
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Who (apart from my good self) still writes .bat files? Are they common or am I one of the old fogies that still employs his DOS knowledge?
--------------------------------- I will never again mention that I was the poster of the One Millionth Lounge Post, nor that it was complete drivel. Dalek Dave CCC Link[^] English League Tables - Live
I still use BAT files as they are straight forward and capable of some useful tricks. One of my recent applications had a GUI front end but the users wanted a batch interface to start / stop / pause / resume it remotely. Simple with batch files: start = single command line to run the application, others = single command line to post a message to the application's input queue (e.g.
ECHO PAUSE >>%TEMP%\_applicationname__StatusChange.txt). Then all I had to do was to create shortcut desktop icons to run the batch files and they think that they have a button controlled interface. -
Heh.. first job at a large computer firm I had was writing job decks and algol programs at Unisys. With punch cards! Cards were on their way out when I did this.. but you could still find folks with large card decks on their desks.
JCL R00lz!
Ship it!
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Who (apart from my good self) still writes .bat files? Are they common or am I one of the old fogies that still employs his DOS knowledge?
--------------------------------- I will never again mention that I was the poster of the One Millionth Lounge Post, nor that it was complete drivel. Dalek Dave CCC Link[^] English League Tables - Live
For several years, I was involved with helping at a programming competition run by one of Europe's foremost national computing organisations (name not disclosed for obvious reasons). We had the brightest and best teams from academia and professional companies competing in it. We never told the teams that our sophisticated testing, scoring, and marking system that compiled, ran, timed, and collated all of their competition entries was a single monolithic BAT file. Admittedly, it grew over the years as more languages and external dependencies were added to the scope of the competition, but it was still a BAT file.