Hello. I'm attempting to figure out how to create a selector to load upon the insertion of a disc into a drive.

I could use batch, or command, files to accomplish what I want, but they look too primitive.

Would it be possible to have some type of portableGUI executable including that works as a frontend to some batch files, making it look much better?

I need it to select from the options of running some original DOS executable, and advanced modern Windows executable, open a folder on the disc, or launch a URL address.

I can do that with bat/cmd files, but as an alternative to a FE, is there some type of program that would allow me to create a custom 'exe' capable of doing this by itself?

Why not a hta?

Under WHAT OS is this thingy supposed to "autorun"?

Wouldn't something like PSTART do?

Or you can use The Wizard's Apprentice:
http://wizapp.sourceforge.net/
if you already are familiar with batches it should be a breeze to write your own.

jaclaz

Would this work under DOS?


A DOS executable if selected, or a Windows executable if selected. Also, it needs to open a folder on the disc, or launch a URL.


Not sure what this is, so I'll look into it.


Does this follow, or is compatible with, a DOS/Win9X syntax for batch files?

This all needs to be done with portability in mind, I need to be able to share this, with the user not needing something installed locally.

Here a disambiguation is needed.

This question:

is aimed to understand which (graphical) OS is booted in the machine where the autorun when you insert the CD is triggered.

HTA's are dependent on Internet Explorer, but they do run under both the 9x family and the NT one.


Yep (meaning Win9x) NO (meaning DOS). (See unanswered question before).
The point is that there are more or less three "families" of MS OS:

1. DOS (NO GUI family)
2. Win 9x/Me (9x family)
3. Windows NT/2K/XP/2003/2008/Vista /7 (NT family)

And Win9x/Me Command prompt (in GUI) is NOT properly "DOS".
And NT based systems Command prompt is DEFINITELY NOT "DOS".

For "pure" DOS you need something else.

jaclaz

Oops... I see what you mean. There is no 'autorun.inf' feature for discs under DOS, sorry for the brain-slip. The installer will have to be started manually from DOS.

About that HTA... does it require the user have software pre-installed on their system ahead of time?

For instance, would someone be able to run HTA if they did NOT have Internet Explorer, Javascript, or Visual Basic installed?

That looks like an interesting app but doesn't the command prompt window need to open to run the script that displays the GUI windows?

Yes/No.

The actual batch commands that "drive" wizapp are not shown, but a (blank) command prompt is opened, you can hide it with any of the several tools available to this aim.
Some are listed here:
http://www.boot-land.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=3155




Is there a diffult part in:

that I overlooked?

Yes, you need IE and vbscript and Javascript (I am not sure if you can get away with just IE+vbscript or IE+javascript ).

jaclaz

... nope, I did.

So....anyways, HTA is out. Not to mention attempting to run a executable through HTA creates a save prompt.


If this is portable, could someone (you?) show me an example of a simple window with 3 selection buttons/links? Preferably one that opens an 'exe', one that opens a 'folder', and one that launches an 'URL'.

-Edit-
Would anyone know of a program that could just create a Win32 executable to do this? A Cd launcher software...?

Sure it is possible .
You can use the same example that is included in download of the Wizapp or peruse any of the VDK/Virtual Drive Manager or MbrFix PseudoGUI's:
http://jaclaz.altervista.org/
Launching an "url" is NOT possible (you need to invoke a browser - or whatever - with the URL address)


Sure, there are quite a bit of them, a couple "oldish" ones:
http://ec2000.net/index.php?id=software
http://www.reocities.com/SoHo/1826/antrocd.html
A page with links to many (it must be tough living with a broken google ):
http://www.thefreecountry.com/utilities/au...nu-makers.shtml
and :
http://cdinterface.sourceforge.net/
and:
http://www.softpedia.com/get/CD-DVD-Tools/...u-for-CDs.shtml

jaclaz

I couldn't sort through the example, which is why I asked if someone could give me a simple one with three option selections.

For example, how would I implement this?



All I could find were HTA/HTML launchers, thanks for the links.

Look I don't want to seem picky (actually pickier than I actually am ), but if you go here:
http://wizapp.sourceforge.net/manual.html
and tell me in WHAT THE HECK is this different from your question :


And in WHAT THE HECK one of the dialogs in (say) mbrfix.cmd is also different :


I would really be grateful....

RB (as you might have learned means "Radio Buttons"):
http://wizapp.sourceforge.net/manual.html#cmdref


jaclaz

Another thing I missed, because I was in a hurry...

Thanks.

Unfortunately, learning how to convert a basic batch into a 3 button option window would take to long. A don't have a lot of time to devote to this.

As you may know, time is precious, so thank you for yours.

No prob , but really it doesn't take that much, look:




jaclaz

I'm slowly whittling away at my lack of understanding the syntax.



Any ideas why this isn't working?

It runs 'all' of the options from the top down, regardless of what is check-marked, one or all...

What the heck is "1strun"?

Wizapp renamed?

If you do not call "wabat" how do you expect that the variable waoutnum is set?

http://wizapp.sourceforge.net/manual.html


and:




jaclaz

Yes.

Okay I changed the entry to reflect this...


But it still doesn't work.


I don't understand, what does this mean? I have to write another '.bat'?

It doesn't show an example...


[Edit]
Short of adding the 'hta' file for the links, here's my original batch:


It's all contained in one batch file, the way I prefer it. I'd rather not go putting a dozen files on there.
[/Edit]

Let's try again.
DO NOT rename anything for the moment.

1. Create a new folder, on a hard disk, say c:\test_wizapp.
2. Copy to it Wizapp.exe.
3. Create in it a new notepad file, save it as choices.cmd
4. Copy the following:
   
   
   CODE
   @echo off
   set watext=Launch the Menu?~~
   start /w wizapp.exe MB QUES
   if errorlevel 2 goto :cancel
   if errorlevel 1 goto :page1
   :page1
   set watitle=Main Menu
   set watext=~Welcome to the Disc Menu:~~~~What would you like to do?
   set wainput= ^&0. Run Advanced Installer: Windows 2K/XP/Vista; ^&1. Run Original Installer: DOS, Windows 95/98/ME; ^&2. Run Revised Installer: DOS, Windows 95/98/ME; ^&3.
   
   Open 'Utility' Folder; ^&4. Open Must Read Links; ^&5. Keep this 'Menu' open
   set waoutnum=5
   IF NOT DEFINED TEMP (set wabat=wabat.bat) ELSE (set wabat=%TEMP%\wabat.bat)
   start /w wizapp.exe NOBACK RB
   if errorlevel 2 goto :cancel
   call %wabat%
   if "%waoutnum%"=="0" echo Run Advanced Installer: Windows 2K/XP/Vista& ECHO Start /W "" advance.exe&PAUSE
   if "%waoutnum%"=="1" echo Run Original Installer: DOS, Windows 95/98/ME& ECHO Start /W "" install.exe&PAUSE
   if "%waoutnum%"=="2" echo Run Revised Installer: DOS, Windows 95/98/ME& ECHO Start /W "" installt.exe&PAUSE
   if "%waoutnum%"=="3" echo Open 'Utility' Folder & ECHO Start /W "" UTILITY&PAUSE
   if "%waoutnum%"=="4" echo Open Must Read Links &ECHO  Start /W "" Links.hta&PAUSE
   if "%waoutnum%"=="5" echo Keep this 'Menu' open&ECHO this makes NO SENSE&PAUSE
   GOTO :EOF
   GOTO :END
   :cancel
   ECHO You canceled all actions!&PAUSE
   :END
   
   to it and save.
5. Double click on choices.cmd

What happens?

jaclaz

This is valid code?? I've used IF NOT EXIST before but never this.


Son Of A Gun!! It is indeed valid and can be quite useful.

The thing with DP / IT is it is a constant learning process. An amazing field of interest.

I wonder how you checked if a variable was defined before this sensational discovery...

Of course:

might give the same result (actually likely "better" in the sense that checks for the existence of the actual directory) BUT it's NOT that easy to verify the existence of a directory, JFYI:
http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=105969
http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=98853&st=9

BOTH are of course "wrong" or incomplete as they only do partial checks, it was only a quick workaround in the case that for any reason the problem was a non defined temporary directory, but if for any reason there is somewhere a
SET TEMP=A suffusion of yellow
or even:
SET TEMP=Z:\A suffusion of yellow
the batch may fail nonetheless.


I would call this more half a§§ed batches than "DP/IT"....



jaclaz

It doesn't start the files, or folder. What worked was the keep this window open message, and the canceled all message.

The reason I had used the checklist option is because they might need to launch the utility folder, or links. Maybe I should have changed it so it was a close this window option, instead of keep it open option.

But anyways, it doesn't seem to want to come together.

What was the &ECHO Start /W "" Links.hta&PAUSE?

Does this mean I was supposed to put the executable's action on the same line?

Is it supposed to be "&echo", "& echo", or " & echo" (space before &)? Also what are the /W, and the "" for?

Sure , that's a TEST ( or EXAMPLE).
But you should see in the cmd window the ECHOed messages for each option when you select one an press next.


Sure , but we were talking of RB, let's have it working BEFORE introducing a variation, OK?



Yes, this is "lesson #2" in ANY programming or scripting language, the consequences of a conditional check should be INSIDE the conditional check itself.

For all that matters:

or this:


Are two different ways to write the same thing, actions are performed ONLY if given condition is met.

This (let's assume you chose option #0, then the value of waoutnum will be 0):

Will:

1. echo "Run Advanced Installer: Windows 2K/XP/Vista" ONLY IF the value of waoutnum is 0 (it will execute)
2. execute advance.exe NO MATTER the value of waoutnum (it will execute)
3. echo "Run Original Installer: DOS, Windows 95/98/ME" ONLY IF the value of waoutnum is 1 (it will NOT execute)
4. execute install.exe NO MATTER the value of waoutnum (it will execute)

Start COMMAND Syntax:
http://ss64.com/nt/start.html
AGAIN, it depends on the actual OS on which the batch is run, the START "" /WAIT should be the most "compatible" form.

I introduced in the example the "wrong" :

instead of the "right"

to check if you would have spotted it (but I expected for you to spot it as a syntax error, not as a "what is this")



You started the thread implying that you knew how to write a batch script, this seems like NOT the case.

No problem if you don't , but there was this basic misunderstanding, if you know how to write a batch file, wizapp is a nice Pseudo-GUI tool, if you don't you need to learn some basic BATCH before being capable of using it.


It normally does not matter, "&" is simply a conjunction, the only exception is after a SET statement, like:

vs.

or:


the first one is right ad the variable value will be "test1", the other two are "wrong" as the variable value will be "test1 " or test1[SPACE]
There are also other exceptions, but they are quite rare, the "safest" is to use NO spaces before or after.

jaclaz

The batch example from post #16 is about the extent of my knowledge. I've only gone over what I've needed to use, when I need to use it. Pretty much my approach to computers in general.

Well, if the case is learning a whole scripting language, then I'll stop the requests here. That link way back for the 'CD Autorunner' seems to be sufficient enough.

Thanks again. ;-)

You are welcome , sorry if I partially misled you, and yes: for more simple requirements a pre-made specific and more "CD oriented" tool seems like a better choice.

Just for the record, your batch in post #16 uses SET /P and WON'T work under DOS, Windows 9x/Me or NT 4.0:
http://www.robvanderwoude.com/ntset.php
(you need to use choice.com or a similar utility in these early systems, SET /P was introduced in Windows 2000)

A suitable way to write the same batch using the more advanced 2K/XP and later batch features is (example):


Mind you not that the above is "better" than yours, only it uses some of the added possibilities .

jaclaz

Show off.

Sure .

But there is also the not-so-slight difference that UNLIKE the original one if you input anything BUT 1÷6 you go back to the menu (instead of executing :advan/tr1setup.exe)

So, maybe , an USEFUL show-off.

jaclaz

Maybe, but it won't work for the OP's environment which includes DOS & Win 98.

Sure , but not even the original one would (sometimes reading previous posts help ):


This clearly allows me TWO in a row.

jaclaz

So the two of you created scripts that won't work in the stated environments and you think this is an improvement??

If I had more time I would fix the script myself.