Mon Feb 1 1999 dL4 Runtime 3.2 Release All Rights Reserved. Copyright (c) 1994 - 1999 by: Dynamic Concepts, Inc. Aliso Viejo, CA 92656 USA Email address: support@dynamic.com Information: www.dynamic.com Downloads: ftp.dynamic.com Pre-installation instructions ============================= o This release requires an SSN authorized for release 3 of dL4. Without such an SSN, dL4 can only be used in single user demo mode. o Problem reports should be emailed to support@dynamic.com. All problem reports should contain a description of the problem, the operating system name/revision, and, if at all possible, a reproducible sequence to duplicate the problem. Installation instructions ========================= 1. Ensure that you have Passport version 3.1 or greater installed on your system. For common platforms, the latest Passport software can be obtained from www.dynamic.com, ftp.dynamic.com, or anonymous UUCP from DCI. 2. Login as 'root'. 3. Copy the distribution files to any temporary directory on your system, i.e. "/tmp". 4. Type "./install". File list ========= install Installation script /usr/bin/ loadsave dL4 compile-and-save program run dL4 BASIC interpreter scope dL4 IRIS-style command interpreter pfilter dL4 printer filter /usr/lib/dl4/ readme.txt This file license.txt Runtime license terms and conditions term/ Terminal description files ansi ANSI, SCO ansi-43 ANSI, SCO 43-line mode tvi925 Televideo 925 vt100 DEC VT-100 wyse50 Wyse 50 wyse60 Wyse 60 wyse60-43 Wyse 60 43-line mode Highlights of This Release ========================== o A new intrinsic function, ForcePortDump(), simplifies debugging by generating a program status listing for a program running on a specified port. o PORT mode 5 returns the current line number and library of the program running on a specified port. o Sixteen new intrinsic CALLs, such as VerifyDate(), have been added to support converted UniBasic programs. o A new driver, "Serial Terminal", has been added to allow serial devices to be opened and used with standard terminal input and output processing such as carriage return detection. New in This Release ================================================================================ Feb 1 1999 (Release 3.2) o The new ForcePortDump() intrinsic CALL causes a target port to abort execution of the current dL4 program, produce a dump listing file, and then exit from dL4. For debugging purposes, it is also possible to trigger a dump listing without causing the program to exit. The dump output is identical to that of the ProgramDump() intrinsic CALL and lists the current execution location of the target program, the CALL stack, current variable values, the status of open channels, and various other values. The caller of ForcePortDump() must either be the same user as that of the target port or be a privileged user such as root. BASIC syntax: Call ForcePortDump(Mode, PortNumber, Status) where: "Mode" is a numeric variable or expression that controls the type of dump produced. If "Mode" is zero, the target port will be requested to produce a dump and then exit. If "Mode" is equal to one, the port will be requested to produce a dump and then continue (this should only be used for debugging because it will interrupt any I/O in progress). "PortNumber" is a numeric variable or expression containing the port number of the target dL4 program. "Status" is a numeric variable that receives the status of call. The value of "Status" will be set as follows by any call that doesn't generate an error 38: 0 Successful, the selected port exists and a dump command was sent to the port. This status does not guarantee that the port actually aborted or generated a dump file. 1 Error, the specified port does not exist. All parameters are required. Error 38, "Error detected by CALLed subroutine", will be generated if an incorrect number of parameters, parameter type, or parameter value is passed to ForcePortDump. To limit attacks on system security, the dump output is controlled by the DL4PORTDUMP runtime parameter. If DL4PORTDUMP is not defined for the target port, then ForcePortDump() will not generate a dump. On Unix, DL4PORTDUMP is an environment variable that must be set in each users environment (perhaps set by the .profile script). DL4PORTDUMP is the filename to which the dump will be written. DL4PORTDUMP must be an absolute path; for example, DL4PORTDUMP might be defined as "/usr/appdumps/DumpFile.txt". The following macro values can be used in a DL4PORTDUMP path string: %PORT% Port number of target port %DATE% Current date ("YYMMDD") %TIME% Current time ("HHMMSS") %name% Value of environment variable "name" These macro values, if used in the DL4PORTDUMP path, will be replaced by their current values. For example, if DL4PORTDUMP was defined with the value "/usr/appdumps/%PORT%.txt" and a dump was triggered on port 15, then the dump would be written to the file "/usr/appdumps/15.txt". o The ProgramDump() intrinsic CALL has been enhanced to use the DL4PORTDUMP runtime parameter, as described above, if the filename parameter is not specified. o A new command has been added to the BASIC mode of SCOPE. The command "PDUMP filename" outputs a ProgramDump() style listing of the current program status to "filename". o A new mode has been added to the PORT statement. PORT mode 5 returns the current line number and library name executing on a specified port. For example, the statement: PORT P,5,S,L$ will return in L$ the current line number of the program running on port P. If the program is executing a line in a library, then L$ will have the format "library:line#" where "library" is the name of the library. As with PORT mode 3, a status is returned in S indicating success (zero) or failure (one, port not attached). o Two new channel functions, CHF(1200+c) and CHF(1300+c), have been defined to return the current column and row positions. o A new driver, "Serial Terminal", has been added to allow programs to open serial communication devices to a Window class driver. Using this driver, input and output to a serial device will follow the same rules as screen and keyboard I/O. By default, end of line characters will terminate input, input edit characters such as backspace will be processed, and data characters will be echoed. The standard 'IOxx' mnemonics can be used to control input characteristics. Similarly, cursor positioning can be used on output if mnemonics are defined in a terminal definition file. The "Serial Terminal" driver accepts the options listed below when opened: Option Argument Use TERM Filename or path Specify terminal definition file to be used with device SPEED Numeric ("9600") Set device dependent line speed DATA String ("8n1", "7e1") Set device dependent data format XONFLOW Boolean ("T" or "F") Enable XOFF/XON output flow control If not specified, all options except TERM use the current system default value of the device. If the TERM option is not specified, the driver uses a simple default terminal definition in which carriage return is recognized as an input terminator. Example: F$ = "(speed=38400,data=8n1,term=/usr/lib/dl4/term/vt100)/dev/tty1a" Open #1,F$ As "Serial Terminal" o The following intrinsic calls have been added: Call AvPort(PORTNUM {,MINPORT {,MAXPORT}}) Call CheckDigits(STRING$) Call CheckNumber(STRING$) Call ConvertCase(MODE, STRING$ {,START}) Call DateToJulian({MODE,} DATE$ {,CONVERTED_DATE$ {,STATUS}}) Call DecToOct(NUMBER, OUTPUT_NUMBER_OR_STRING_VARIABLE) Call Echo(MODE) Call FindF(PATH$, STATUS) Call FormatDate(DATE$ {,CONVERTED_DATE$ {,STATUS {,MODE}}}) Call JulianToDate({MODE,} JULIAN$ {,CONVERTED_DATE$ {,STATUS}}) Call MiscStr({M,}S${,...}) Call ReadRef(CHAN, MODE) Call Rename(LU, OLDNAME$, NEWNAME$, CHANNEL, STATUS) Call String(MODE,...) Call StringSearch({F,}A${,S},T$,P{,N{,S1{,T1}}}) Call Time(T$) Call VerifyDate(DATE$ {,CONVERTED_DATE$ {,STATUS {,MODE}}}) These calls are UniBasic compatible and replace all of the functions in the oldcalls.bas and depcalls.bas libraries of dl4.samples except for CALL DYNWIND(). The date oriented CALLs, like all other dL4 date functions, use "OPTION DATE FORMAT NATIVE" and the native operating system locale configuration (such as the LANG environment variable) instead of the UniBasic "EUROPEAN" and "DATESEP" environment variables. In all programs that use oldcalls.lib or depcalls.lib, each occurrence of "DECLARE EXTERNAL SUB" must be changed to "DECLARE INTRINSIC SUB" for the new calls. In addition, any "EXTERNAL LIB" statement for oldcalls.lib or depcalls.lib should be removed, or, if CALL DYNWIND() is needed, all of the new intrinsic calls should be deleted in oldcalls.lib. For example, in a program that used the DATETOJULIAN and JULIANTODATE calls, the lines: Declare External Sub DateToJulian,JulianToDate External Lib "OLDCALLS.LIB" would be changed to: Declare Intrinsic Sub DateToJulian,JulianToDate Programs that are not changed will run, but they will continue to use the procedures in oldcalls.lib or depcalls.lib. Conversion profiles such as "convert.prf" should be changed to use the new intrinsic calls. A conversion profile defining all of the new intrinsics can be obtained by downloading version 1.4 of the "dL4 Samples & Utilities Kit" from www.dynamic.com. o By default, the pipe driver processes all PRINT statement TAB functions and "comma" alignment before sending text to the printer script. This pre-formatting simplifies printer scripts, but it can not adjust for different font sizes. For example, the TAB function will generate the same number of spaces even if expanded print ('BX') is being used. A new script option, "FORMAT=false", disables the pre-formatting and passes all mnemonics on to the printer script. The printer script can then implement the TAB function ("@x;" mnemonic) and "comma" alignment ('#ALIGN' mnemonic) as required for the varying font sizes. For example, the printer script and printer definition file shown below implement expanded print mnemonics ('BX' and 'EX') on a PCL compatible printer with TAB(x) alignment based on a fixed 10 characters per inch column width. Printer script: # dL4opts=charset=utf-8,format=false,lock=/tmp/lpt1.lk TERMDIR=/usr/lib/dl4/printers export TERMDIR pfilter -c utf-8 pclprinter >/dev/lp00 Printer definition file: [Macros] ; Variable usage ; X current column ; W character width in 10 CPI characters ; a = Increment column counter by current character width ; e = Clear column counter a=%GX%GW%+%SX e=%{0}%SX ; h = Position to specified column at 10 CPI h=%SX\e&a%GX%{72}%*%dH [OutputMacros] ; Initialize to 10 CPI, 6 LPI Init=%{0}%SX%{1}%SW\e(s10H\e&l6D Default=%@%c%Ma Close=\f 'FF'=^L%Me 'LF'=^M^J%Me ; Set to expanded print as 5 CPI, 3 LPI 'BX'=\e(s5H\e&l3D%{2}%SW ; End expanded print and return to 10 CPI, 6 LPI 'EX'=\e(s10H\e&l6D%{1}%SW ; Position to specified column ("@x;") @#=%p1%Mh ; Align to specified column boundary ("PRINT comma") '#ALIGN'=%p1%GW%*%Sw%Gw%GX%Gw%m%-%GX%+%Mh [OutputUnicodeMapping] ; This mapping is set up for 8-bit output on a printer ; using the ISO 8859-1 (i.e. ANSI Latin 1) character set. Set0= 0x0000-0x00ff=0x00 o The pipe driver has been extended to allow redirection of I/O to a specified driver. "OPENAS=name" or "BUILDAS=name" options can be placed in the script "dl4opts" line to specify that an open of the script should cause an OPEN or BUILD using the driver "name". The options "PATH=string" and "OPTIONS=string" can be used to specify the path or options value to be used by the OPEN or BUILD. For example, the statement 'OPEN #2,"$printer"' opens the script "printer" for output on channel 2. If "printer" begins with the line: # dl4opts=buildas=text,path=/usr/printers/printer.out! then output to channel 2 would be directed to the text file driver and written to the file "/usr/printers/printer.out". o The record number -4 has been defined in the text file driver to position to the end of the file. A program can append to a text file with a statement such as this: PRINT #1,-4;"message" o The SCOPE DUMP command has been extended to support output to the pipe driver. The command "DUMP $name" will list the current program to the pipe device "$name". o A new terminal definition file setting "ProtectedNotDim" has been added to control whether protected characters are displayed with the "DIMmed" attribute. Disabling the "DIMmed" attribute makes it possible to fully control the color of protected characters using the normal color mnemonics such as 'BL' or 'FONTCOLOR'. To use this feature, define the value "ProtectedNotDim" in the "[Settings]" section of the terminal definition file: [Settings] ProtectedNotDim=True A value of "True" will disable use of the "DIMmed" attribute for protected characters. o Three open options have been added to the RAW driver for use with serial devices as shown below: Option Argument Use SPEED Numeric ("9600") Set device dependent line speed DATA String ("8n1", "7e1") Set device dependent data format XONFLOW Boolean ("T" or "F") Enable XOFF/XON output flow control For example, the statement OPEN #1,"[1:1](speed=19200,data=8o1,xonflow=t)/dev/tty1a" As "Raw" would open the /dev/tty1a serial port at 19200 baud with 8 bit characters, odd parity, 1 stop bit, and XON/XOFF output flow control. o MSC(43) has been defined and implemented as returning the current screen row. o SPC(19) now returns a license value as a 32-bit number instead of -1. In the current implementation, the license value is the license number. o A new mode has been added to the ProgramCache() intrinsic CALL. Mode 3, as shown below, returns the error message, if any, that was associated with a failure of the program cache initialization. Call ProgramCache(3, errorcode, initialization_error$) Cache errors are not reported when dL4 performs its initialization: any errors are silently ignored and the cache is not used. o Behavior change: when writing strings with the raw file driver, any 'ALIGN' or 'MOVETO' mnemonics are now expanded before performing the write. This supports the use of TAB and comma field separation in PRINT statements to the raw file driver. o Bug fixed: the LET command in the debugger ignored string subscripts if the first subscript was one. Thus, the command 'LET A$[1,1]="X"' was treated as 'LET A$="X"' replacing the string value rather than just the first character. o Beta bug fixed: the argument order of the intrinsic CALL READREF was reversed. o Beta bug fixed: PORT mode 5 sometimes returned a very large line number if the program on the selected port had exited. o Beta bug fixed: intrinsic CALL STRINGSEARCH would fail to find a match if the match occurred at the very end of the dimensioned size of the source string. Sep 9 1998 (Release 3.1.1.1) o Two new standard intrinsic functions, MD5? and ADDMD5?, have been added to dL4. MD5?() returns the MD5 checksum of the first argument. The argument must be either a binary or a string value. An optional second binary argument can be used to pass an intermediate value from a previous call to ADDMD5?(). This allows a combined checksum of multiple values to be calculated. Checksums are calculated against the DIMed size of strings so that zero characters can be included in the checksum. To avoid this, simply pass strings with subscripts. So that string values will produce the same checksums on all platforms, each UNICODE character of a string is forced into a most-significant-byte first ordering for calculation. BASIC syntax: Dim chksum?[16], intermediate?[128] chksum? = MD5?(var) chksum? = MD5?(var,intermediate?) intermediate? = AddMD5?(var) intermediate? = AddMD5?(var,intermediate?) o The mnemonic 'IOTE' is now supported in dL4 windows. o Bug fixed: if a SYSTEM "command" statement failed due to insufficient system resources, the terminal line was left in an undefined state causing the next input to "hang". o Bug fixed: typing the ESCAPE or INTERRUPT character rapidly on a heavily loaded system could cause the terminal line to be left in an undefined state causing the next input to "hang". o Bug fixed: if record zero was deallocated in a Portable indexed contiguous file, that record was never reused. o Bug fixed: deallocating a non-existent record could disable the count-in-use feature of a Portable indexed contiguous file. o Bug fixed: file lock resources were consumed if a file was open on one channel while it was repeatedly re-opened on another channel. This could eventually cause the system lock resources to be exhausted. o Bug fixed: a sequential read immediately after opening a UniBasic contiguous file returned record 1 instead of record 0. o Bug fixed: ":" was not recognized as a separator during LUMAP translation. As a result, the path "2:file" was not translated to the same value as the path "2/file". o Bug fixed: an address violation could occur if an error occurred while evaluating a single line function (DEF = ). Mar 16 1998 (Release 3.1) o The SAVE file revision has been changed from to 2.8 in order to support new features of dL4 3.1. A new program file format also significantly lowers program load overhead. Full upward compatibility is provided, so program files created by earlier versions of dL4 can still be used (programs saved by dL4 2.3.1 and earlier will not, however, be placed in the program cache). Programs created by this release of dL4 cannot be used by earlier releases of dL4. o This release requires an SSN authorized for release 3 of dL4. Without such an SSN, dL4 can only be used in single user demo mode. o An OSN (OEM Security Number) based form of program protection has been added to dL4. This protection mechanism is very similar to the PSAVE method in UniBasic. A program saved with the PSAVE command can be loaded only on systems that have been authorized with a developer supplied OSN. Any attempt to run protected programs on an unauthorized system will cause an error 265, "Not licensed to load or create this program". PSAVE protected programs can be modified and re-SAVED on any authorized system, but they can be listed only on systems which have been authorized with a master OSN. The ProgramDump intrinsic can be used in protected programs and any errors that occur while attempting to list a source line will be ignored (variables names can always be listed) The dl4 PSAVE mechanism differs from UniBasic in two ways: 1. There is no "-o" startup option to add new OSNs. Instead, OSNs are added by creating and/or editing the text file /etc/DCI/osn. 2. There is no "-t" startup option to add a temporary OSN. A temporary OSN is instead added by using the SCOPE "OEM TEMP" command which will prompt for an OSN that will be used only by the current SCOPE session. OSNs are created with the makeosn utility that is supplied as part of Passport version 3.6. A PDN (Product Description Number) is required to use makeosn. Please contact the DCI Sales department for information on how to obtain a PDN. To support this protection method, two new commands have been added to SCOPE: OEM and PSAVE. The OEM command lists the currently authorized OSNs. If the TEMP option is used ("OEM TEMP"), the OEM command will first prompt for a temporary OSN to be used only by the current SCOPE session. The OEM command can be used in the SCOPE command, BASIC, and debug modes. The PSAVE command is used to create OSN protected programs. The PSAVE command is identical to the SAVE command except for an optional OSN number that can precede the SAVE filename. For example, the command "PSAVE 2,menu" would save the current program as "menu" after protecting it to require the second OSN listed by the OEM command. Protected programs can be created only if the specified OSN is a master OSN. The PSAVE command is available in the SCOPE command and BASIC modes. A new option, "-l n", has been added to the SCOPE SAVE command and to the LOADSAVE utility to create OSN protected programs. The value "n" is the number of a master OSN as listed by the SCOPE OSN command. o The new runtime parameter LUMAP adds a mechanism to map relative file paths. The LUMAP value consists of one or more space separated value pairs. Each pair consists of a logical directory name, an equals sign ("=") character, and an absolute path. Whenever a relative filename is used, the LUMAP will be searched for a logical directory name that matches one or more leading directory names of the relative filename. If a match is found, the matched portion of the relative filename will be replaced with the absolute path from LUMAP. For example, given an LUMAP value of "5=/usr/accounting Mail=/disk2/Mail", the following filenames would be translated as shown: 5/filename -> /usr/accounting/filename Mail/filename -> /disk2/Mail/filename x/5/filename -> x/5/filename (unchanged because "x" isn't in LUMAP) Functions such as CHF$(800+c) reverse this mapping to return the logical filename. Using the LUMAP shown above, if "5/abc" was opened on channel 2, the actual file opened would be "/usr/accounting/abc", but CHF$(802) would return "5/abc". If more than one logical directory is mapped to the same actual directory ("5=/usr/acct 6=/usr/acct"), then the reverse mapping will map all occurrences of the actual directory to just one of the logical directories. CHF$(800+c) and similar functions perform reverse mapping on all filenames even if the original filename used an actual rather than a logical directory name. Filename mapping is applied to both data and program filenames. Mapping is applied to program filenames before the LIBSTRING directory list is searched. If a program filename contains a mapped logical directory, the filename will be converted to an absolute path and LIBSTRING will not be used. While the intended use of LUMAP is to support logical unit numbers and logical directory names, it is also possible to map multiple leading directories ("Mail/Fred=/disk2/Mail/Barney") or entire filenames. Such usage is not recommended, but it is legal and supported. o The ROPEN statement has been redefined to open files with locking disabled in addition to the previous read-only access. ROPEN is thus equivalent to 'OPEN "filename"'. This new feature permits an application to read records that are currently locked by other processes. This form of open is supported by the Portable Formatted, Portable Indexed Contiguous, UniBasic Formatted, UniBasic Indexed Contiguous, and FoxPro Full-ISAM drivers. Note: reading records that are currently locked may return partially updated or inconsistent data. o The Portable Formatted and Portable Indexed Contiguous drivers have been modified to support reading through locked records on both Unix and Windows. The required changes to the locking protocol are incompatible with previous versions of dL4. Older versions of dL4 should not be used to access files at the same time as this or later release of dL4. o The Portable Formatted, Portable Contiguous, and Portable Indexed Contiguous drivers now support exclusive opens via the "E" access mode ('OPEN #c,"file"') or the EOPEN statement. An exclusive open will succeed only if the file isn't currently open by another dL4 3.1 user. An error 76 will be returned if another user has the file open in either shared or exclusive mode. Once opened in exclusive mode, a file cannot be opened by other dL4 users. To open a file in exclusive mode, the user must have write access to the file. An attempt to open the same file in exclusive mode on two different channels will succeed, but exclusive access will be lost when either channel is closed (this is a UNIX system limitation). o A single memory image of a program or library can now be shared between different processes and users by using a shared program cache. This feature can greatly reduce the amount of memory needed to support multiple users accessing large dL4 programs. Using the cache is largely transparent to both users and applications. Cached program files are accessed using normal program paths and obey the normal rules for lookup and access permission. Programs can be modified and re-SAVEd while the cache is active without disrupting other users. Any users executing the older version of the program from the cache will continue to execute that older version while new users will invoke the most current version. Using the program cache does not require any programming changes in applications. Programs must, however, be reSAVEd (or LOADSAVEd) to use the new program file format. Programs in the pre-3.1 program file format can be executed, but they will not be placed in the program cache or shared between users. The program cache is enabled and configured using the new environment variable DL4CACHE. The value of DL4CACHE is a file specification of the form: " [size] name" where: "" is a standard dL4 file access option such as "<644>" or "". "" is an optional value. "[size]" specifies the size of the program cache as a number of records and a record length in bytes similar to that used for contiguous files. For example, "[256:1024]" specifies a 256 kb cache. Note that a large cache will only consume virtual memory and does not reserve physical memory. If a "[size]" value is specified, the cache will be created if it does not exist. If "[size]" is not specified and the cache does not exist, then no cache will be used. "name" is the name of the Unix semaphore and shared memory resources used by the program cache. Any decimal ("nnn"), octal ("0nnn"), or hexadecimal ("0xnnnn") format name will directly converted to a Unix resource id value (as displayed by the Unix "ipcs" utility). Any other name will be used as a seed to generate a pseudo-random resource name. The standard cache name of "0xdddc0500" should be used unless this value conflicts with other applications or it is desired to maintain several different caches for different groups of users. "name" is a required value. Example: DL4CACHE="<666> [2048:4096] 0xdddc0500" export DL4CACHE If the value of DL4CACHE is illegal or if the cache cannot be accessed, caching will be disabled. The status of the cache can be determined by using mode 0 of the ProgramCache() intrinsic as shown in the "List entries in cache" example shown in the ProgramCache() description later in this document. In order to use a shared program cache, the operating system must be configured to support both shared memory and semaphores. On many Unix systems, the default maximum size for shared memory will need to be increased. Please see your operating system documentation for instructions on how to configure shared memory and semaphores. A program cache is created by the first user that enters dL4 with a DL4CACHE value that specifies a cache size and specifies a cache name that doesn't exist. Once created, a program cache persists until deleted by the ProgramCache() intrinsic (described later in the document) or the operating system is reloaded. The program cache can also be deleted manually by using the Unix "ipcrm" utility to remove the shared memory and semaphore ids used by the cache. Each user accesses the program cache in either the dynamic or the static mode. The cache mode is dynamic if a user has write access to the program cache and static if the user has read-only access to the program cache. Read and write access is controlled by the access permissions specified in the DL4CACHE environment variable (see above). Note that the mode is specific to the user and different users can be setup to use the cache in different modes. If the user's cache mode is dynamic, all programs and libraries are entered automatically into the cache when they are used. If a new program or library is invoked and the cache is full, programs and libraries that have no current users will be deleted from the cache until sufficient space is available. If sufficient space cannot be freed, the new program or library will be loaded into the user's private memory. A typical DL4CACHE value for dynamic mode use is "<666> [16384:1024] 0xdddc0500". This provides a 16 megabyte cache with write access permitted to everyone. A larger or smaller cache can be used depending on the number and size of frequently used programs. The cache is used in a static mode whenever a user lacks write access to the cache. In static mode, the user never enters programs or libraries into the cache. Programs and libraries are loaded into the user's private memory unless a copy of the program file has been loaded permanently into the program cache by a user in dynamic mode via the ProgramCache() intrinsic (described in a later section of this document). Static mode has two very important advantages: it avoids thrashing and offers higher security. A cache used in static mode cannot be corrupted either accidentally or deliberately by a user. Using a cache in static mode is more secure, but it is also more complex. The cache must be created and initialized in dynamic mode before the static mode users enter dL4. For example, suppose a system has two megabytes of frequently used dL4 libraries. At system startup time, a dL4 process would be run with a DL4CACHE value of "<644> [2500:1024] 0xdddc0500". The process would use the new ProgramCache() intrinsic (see below) to add each of the frequently used dL4 library programs to the cache. Other users would then be started in dL4 with a DL4CACHE value of " 0xdddc0500" which provides read-only (static) access. o A new standard intrinsic CALL, ProgramCache(), has been added to dL4. The intrinsic procedure ProgramCache() is used to read the current shared program cache status and to manipulate the cache. An error will be generated if improper arguments or argument values are passed to ProgramCache(). Any error that occurs while processing the operation will be reported by setting the error code argument to a non-zero dL4 error code. BASIC syntax: Mode 0 - Read next entry in cache. Call ProgramCache(0, errorcode, position, filename, usagecount) Mode 1 - Load program into cache as a permanent entry. Call ProgramCache(1, errorcode, filename) Mode 2 - Delete cache when the current process exits. Call ProgramCache(2, errorcode) Where: errorcode - a numeric variable that will be set to 0 if the operation is successful or to a standard dL4 error code if not. For example, if the cache is not available, the statement Call ProgramCache(0,e,p,f$,c) will set the variable "e" to 42 (file not found). position - a numeric variable that determines which cache entry is read. "position" should be set to zero to read the first entry. Each mode 0 call will update the value of "position" so that the next call will read the next cache entry. The precision of "position" must be such that it can contain any value between 0 and 2^32-1 without any loss of precision (a 3% variable is adequate). The caller should only pass "position" values of zero or those returned by the previous mode 0 call to ProgramCache(). filename - a string variable or expression that will receive a program file path (mode 0) or supply a program file path (mode 1). usagecount - a numeric variable set to the number of users of the program. A usage count of -1 indicates that the program has been added to the cache as a permanent entry. Example: Adding a program to the cache as a permanent entry Declare Intrinsic Sub ProgramCache Dim 1%, ErrorCode Call ProgramCache(1, ErrorCode, "MenuLibrary.lib") Users in static cache mode can only use cached programs and libraries that have been added as permanent entries. These permanent entries must be created by a user in dynamic cache mode using mode 1 of ProgramCache(). Once made, permanent entries cannot be individually deleted because there is no way to determine whether or not a static mode user is currently executing the program or library. See the program cache description above for more information on dynamic and static cache modes. Example: List entries in cache Declare Intrinsic Sub ProgramCache Dim 1%, ErrorCode, 3%, CachePos, File$[200], Usage CachePos = 0 Do Call ProgramCache(0, ErrorCode, CachePos, File$, Usage) If ErrorCode Exit Do If Usage < 0 Print "Permanent "; Else Print Using "######### ";Usage; End If Print File$ Loop If ErrorCode = 73 Print "The program cache is not enabled" Example: Deleting the program cache Declare Intrinsic Sub ProgramCache Dim 1%, ErrorCode Call ProgramCache(2, ErrorCode) This example will delete the program cache when the current user exits dL4. The program cache should be deleted if it is desired to increase the size of the cache or if the cache has become corrupted. The cache can be deleted only by the owner of the cache or by the root user. Since the cache cannot be deleted until the user exits, no error is returned if the caller lacks delete permission. All other users should exit dL4 before the cache is deleted. o CALL-by-filename ('CALL "filename'), CHAIN, and SWAP will reuse any library or program files that are shared with the parent program. For example, if a parent program uses "oldcalls.lib" and CALLs a subprogram that also uses "oldcalls.lib", then a single copy of "oldcalls.lib" will be shared between the parent program and the subprogram. This sharing mechanism is not dependent on the shared program cache and is used even if the shared program cache is not enabled. Library and program files will NOT be shared unless the files have been SAVEd (or LOADSAVEd) in the new program file format. o The SCOPE command line now uses LIBSTRING to find BASIC program files. o The SPAWN statement now uses LIBSTRING to find BASIC program files unless an OPTION statement with "CHAIN ALTERNATE DIRECTORIES OFF" is used. An error 206 ("subprogram file not found") will be returned if the specified program cannot be located. o A new optional section, "[Header]", is supported by the conversion profile files used by the CONVERT command and the LOADSAVE "-c" option. This section can be used as shown below to add standard OPTION statements to programs as they are converted: [Header] Line=OPTION STRING SUBSCRIPTS IRIS Line=OPTION BASE YEAR 1988 Lines from the header section are added using the first unused line number and so they may be inserted after the first converted line. o A new mode has been added to the PORT statement. PORT mode 4 returns the name of the current program of a specified port. For example, the statement: PORT P,4,S,F$ will return in F$ the name of the program running on port P. As with PORT mode 3, a status is returned in S indicating success (zero) or failure (one, port not attached). Only the root account should use PORT mode 4 to examine ports that belong to different user ids. o The MSC$() function has been extended to provide a MSC$(7) value which is the hot-key character, if any, that invoked execution of the current SWAP level. The value of MSC$(7) is an empty string ("") if the current program isn't in a hot-key initiated SWAP level. This new value can be used to perform different functions in a hot-key SWAP program based on which hot-key character was entered. o The 'IOBI' and 'IOEI' binary input mnemonics can now be used in dL4 windows. The meaning of binary input is dependent on the operating system environment and so the use of 'IOBI' should be avoided in portable programs ('IOBC' and activate-on-control-character mode may be a suitable replacement). In all environments, binary input disables special treatment of editing keys such as backspace. In the Unix character terminal environment, binary input disables special character recognition, disables multicharacter key translation, and treats all characters as data. Echo should be disabled when using binary input to avoid echoing illegal characters. o The EXAMINE, BREAK, and NOBREAK debugger commands now recognize the filename of the main program in addition to its path (as displayed by the STATUS command). o Two new commands, "WB" and "WT", have been added to the SCOPE debugger to move the debugger window to the bottom ("WB") or the top ("WT") of the screen. Note that a debugger window is only used if dL4 windows are open. o Three new commands, "WF", "WH", and "WS", have been added to the SCOPE debugger to resize the height of the debugger window. The commands set the debugger window to the full ("WF") height, one half ("WH") height, or a quarter ("WS") height of the full screen, The debugger WINDOW command has been extended to accept a single numeric parameter to set the number of lines in the window (the command "WINDOW 6" or "W6" would select a height of 6 lines). o The SCOPE DISPLAY command and the ProgramDump intrinsic CALL have been modified to print repeated array values in a single line using an array slice notation. For example, if the array V had 10 elements and all of the elements were zero except for V[4]=7 and V[8]=9, then the command "DISPLAY V" would produce the following output: * V[0;3],%13 = 0 V[4],%13 = 7 * V[5;7],%13 = 0 V[8],%13 = 9 V[9],%13 = 0 Note that all lines with repeated data are prefixed with an asterisk. o The size and position of the debugger window is retained between debugging sessions until SCOPE exits. o The EXIT command has been added to the debugger so that the user can exit directly to SCOPE command mode. o The BASIC/Debug command SIZE has been extended to accept a "-l" option which causes the sizes and names of all linked libraries to be displayed. o The SCOPE DRIVERS command now accepts a search string to select which drivers are displayed. Example: "drivers isam". o A new standard intrinsic CALL, DupChannel, has been added to dL4. This call allows dL4 programs to duplicate existing open channels onto closed user channel numbers. These duplicate channels can be used to perform I/O in the same way as the original channels. The primary use of DupChannel is to duplicate the standard input and output channels that are used by INPUT and PRINT when a channel isn't specified. By duplicating the standard input or output channel onto a user channel number, a program can apply channel oriented statements such as SET to a standard channel. Because DupChannel duplicates the base standard input and output channels, it can also be used to avoid window tracking when Dynamic Windows are active. Closing the duplicate or original channel has no effect other than freeing the channel number unless all copies of the original channel are closed. BASIC syntax: Call DupChannel(newchannel, oldchannel) Where: newchannel - a numeric variable or expression specifying the closed user channel (0 - 99) onto which the standard channel will be duplicated. An error will be generated if newchannel specifies a channel that is already open. oldchannel - a numeric variable or expression with a value of an open user channel (0 - 99), standard input channel (-1) or standard output channel (-2) to duplicate. The standard input and output channels are the original base channels and not the window channels used by Dynamic Windows. An error will be generated if oldchannel specifies a channel that is not open. o A new standard intrinsic function, CRC32, has been added to dL4. CRC32() returns a 32-bit CRC checksum code of the first argument which must be either a binary or string variable. An optional second numeric argument can be used to pass the CRC value from a previous call and calculate a combined CRC of several variables. CRCs are calculated against the DIMed size of strings so that zero characters can be included in the CRC. Subscripts can be used to limit the number of characters included in the CRC. So that string values will produce the same CRC values on all platforms, each UNICODE character of a string is forced into a most-significant-byte -first ordering for CRC calculation. An error will be generated if an illegal number of parameters, parameter type, or parameter value is used. BASIC syntax: x = CRC32(var) x = CRC32(var, oldcrc) o A new standard intrinsic function, FindChannel, has been added to dL4. FindChannel() returns the first closed channel number in a specified range. If no range is specified, the first channel between 99 and 0 (note descending order) is returned. An error will be generated if an illegal number of parameters, parameter type, or parameter value is used. BASIC syntax: x = FindChannel() x = FindChannel(startchan,endchan) o The Env and SortInString (CALL 65) intrinsic CALLs are now standard intrinsic CALLs. In previous releases, the sources for these CALLs were included in the development kit, but they were not linked into SCOPE or RUN. The effect of using Env to change the value of dL4 runtime parameters is undefined for the running process: the change may or may not effect the value used by the running process. Applications must not depend on the current treatment of environment variables by dL4 because that behavior may change in future releases. Applications should only change environment variables defined by the application itself. o A new option, "NUMMAP", has been added to the Portable Contiguous and Portable Indexed Contiguous file drivers to support converting from UniBasic to Portable Contiguous files. The "NUMMAP" option has two possible values: "IEEE" (the default) and "IRIS" (to use IRIS BCD number formats). This option can be used as shown below with the "CHARSET" option to create a Portable Contiguous file that uses the IRIS BCD number formats and the IRIS character set: BUILD #c,"(nummap=Iris,charset=Iris)[n:l]filename" If a file is built this way, records can be copied directly from a UniBasic contiguous file by reading and then writing the entire record using a binary variable. The UniBasic file must contain only IRIS character and IRIS BCD numeric data. This conversion does NOT support copying packed fields because they contain inherently untranslatable binary data. A file created with the "NUMMAP=IRIS" and "CHARSET=IRIS" options will be compatible with UniBasic 6.1 portable files. o The FoxPro Full-ISAM driver now supports the memo (.fpt) portion of a FoxPro file when deleting, MODIFYing, or DUPLICATEing FoxPro Full-ISAM files. Note: the driver supports reading and writing to memo fields, but it does not use the memo type when creating a file. Memo fields are supported for compatibility with files created using third party tools. o The FoxPro Full-ISAM driver now tries both the normalized and literal names when mapping fields and indices. This allows the MAP statement to support a wider range of field or index names. o String to date conversion ("D# = S$") now uses operating system locale information to determine the most common year, month, and day ordering if "Option Date Format Native" is set in the current program. The operating system locale features and environment variables (such as "LANG") must be configured to use this feature. o The default value of ISAMFILES has been increased from 40 to 50. o A DCC_SYNC command has been implemented in the Portable Index Contiguous driver to flush the record buffer without releasing the current record lock. A DCC_SYNC command can be issued by a user program via the CHANNEL statement ("Channel 20,#c;"). o The maximum parameter value for the PRINT TAB function and the COMMA SPACING option has been increased from 255 to 65535. o The following new TIM functions have been added to return 4-digit years: TIM(14) Current date in the from MMDDYYYY, MM = 1-12, DD = 1-31 TIM(15) Current date in the form YYYYDDD, DDD = 1 to 366 TIM(16) Current year in the form YYYY These functions correspond to the two digit year functions TIM(4), TIM(5), and TIM(8). o A new channel function, CHF#(), has been added to return the last access or last modification date/time of a file. The last access date/time is returned by CHF#(200+c) where 'c' is a channel number. Similarly, the last modification date/time is returned by CHF#(300+c). Note that opening a file will change the last access date/time unless the "Raw" file driver is used. o Linker speed has been improved for programs that use an extremely large number of libraries (> 50). o Behavior change: The first record number of a Portable Indexed Contiguous file can now be set to zero using a mode 1, index 0 SEARCH statement with a status value of 6. The statement must be executed prior to freezing the index definitions. In previous versions of dL4, an attempt to set a first record number of zero was ignored. o Behavior change: the linker has been modified to allow user defined procedures to overload intrinsic procedures. For example, a user program that defines a function called FindChannel will use that function rather than the new intrinsic FindChannel function. o Behavior change: the MODIFY statement can now move files between file systems if required when changing a file path. o Behavior change: Portable Indexed Contiguous and UniBasic Indexed Contiguous files now flush the data record buffer whenever a key is inserted or deleted. This avoids a situation in which, when a new record was inserted, a separate program reading the file and ignoring record locks would receive a "Record not found" error when accessing the new record. Note that a "Record not found" error can still occur if the new record is not written until after the key is inserted. Writing the new record after inserting the key is an application error which must be corrected in the application program (otherwise there is an unavoidable period between the SEARCH and the WRITE in which the key exists, but the data record does not). o Behavior change: the file type autoselection mechanism for UniBasic files has been improved to make it less likely that text files beginning with the strings "CONT", "DATA", "INDX", "ITEM", "SAVE", or "SYST" will be treated as UniBasic files. o Behavior change: PORT modes 3 and 4 will timeout with an error 155, "No messages waiting", if the target port does not return its status information within 10 seconds. Such timeouts most often occur when a program lacks sufficient privilege to send a query to the target port. Previous versions of dL4 waited forever for a response requiring the user to interrupt the program. Note: PORT modes 1, 2, 3, and 4 should not be used if the target port belongs to a different user id and the current user is not "root". o Input timeout ("INPUT TIM") is now supported on phantom ports. o Input characters following a "hot key" (SWAP input action) character are now always left in the input queue and can be read by the SWAPped to program. o Bug fix: To increase compatibility with BITS programs, the Portable Contiguous and Portable Indexed Contiguous drivers have been changed to follow BITS alignment rules when OPTION FILE ACCESS RAW is used. Using FILE ACCESS RAW, the current file position will no longer be rounded up to an even byte boundary when reading or writing numeric variables or when executing MAT READ or MAT WRITE statements. The new behavior matches that of the UniBasic Contiguous and Indexed Contiguous drivers. If desired, the Portable Contiguous driver (pcontig.c) in the dL4 development kit can be modified to restore pre-3.1 behavior. o Bug fixed: an address violation or memory corruption could occur if an 'EG' (End Graphics) mnemonic was the first character in an output string when using either the UniBasic or IRIS character set. This would most commonly occur when printing to an output pipe using the default character set. o Bug fixed: SCOPE or RUN would "hang" (enter an infinite loop) when attempting to run or link a program that contained a duplicate procedure definition in a library. o Bug fixed: screen output was garbled if 'BP' was used in a dL4 window on a terminal in which the DIM attribute occupied a screen position ("magic cookie" terminals such as the Wyse 50). o Bug fixed: an "Internal error in driver" error was reported when searching a FoxPro Full-ISAM file that had been opened in read/write mode if the file permissions allowed only read-only access. o Bug fixed: a FoxPro Full-ISAM file could not opened if any of the directory names in the path of the file contained uppercase characters. Note that the filename of a FoxPro Full-ISAM file must be in lowercase. o Bug fixed: a FoxPro Full-ISAM key size of more than 127 characters caused the index to become corrupted. Please note that while keys of up to 240 characters are supported, key sizes should be limited to 150 characters or less for efficient index operation. o Bug fixed: if LUMAP was defined and the current directory was one of the directories in LUMAP, then a CALL, CHAIN, or SWAP to a program in the current directory would fail if the program filename did not specify a directory ('CALL "PGM"' rather than 'CALL "1/PGM"'). In addition, a SCOPE "CD lu/" resulted in an "illegal filename" error. o Bug fixed: the cursor is moved to the end of input line when an enter key is pressed during input editing. o Bug fixed: SPC(23) returned -1 instead of "n" after the statement "LIB n" had been executed. o Bug fixed: the FoxPro Full-ISAM driver did not correctly concatenate field names for members of sub-structures. When a member of a record structure was itself a structure, all members of that sub-structure were treated as having the same, incorrect name. o Bug fixed: trailing exclamation marks were not recognized by the DUPLICATE or MODIFY statements for Portable or UniBasic Indexed Contiguous files. o Bug fixed: the SYSTEM statement generated a runtime syntax error if a status variable was used with an external system command ('SYSTEM "cmd",S'). o Bug fixed: converting a string to a date caused an error 15 if the date was numeric and a two digit year of zero was used. For example, the statement 'D# = "14-10-00"' would fail and report an error. o Bug fixed: expressions containing 24 string concatenation operations could cause memory violations or corrupt the current program. o Bug fixed: reading the command line ("INPUT (0,X)C$") after using the debugger could cause memory violations. o Bug fixed: input was echoed incorrectly in insert mode. o Bug fixed: including a space in BREAK/NOBREAK search string (such as in "BREAK /CALL PGM/") resulted in a format error. o Bug fixed: if a newly built and structured Portable Indexed Contiguous file was CLEARed (rather than CLOSEd), the index portion of the file wasn't deleted. o Bug fixed: a PAUSE or SIGNAL 3 interval of more than 10 million seconds caused an error on SCO Unix. o Bug fixed: pfilter sometimes delayed output until subsequent output or a CLOSE occurred. o Beta version bug fixed: an attempt to load a program or library saved by an older version (2.3.1 or earlier) of dL4 would result instead in loading a different, but previously loaded, program. o Beta version bug fixed: if two identical programs were loaded consecutively, they were treated as having the same path. o Beta version bug fixed: UniBasic indexed contiguous files couldn't be opened if the filename used LUMAP. Notes ===== o Like DCI's other Unix products, dL4 requires a functioning Passport daemon to license the system, and an SSN specific to that license number to authorize use of the software. In the absence of SSN authorization, a single-user demo mode is invoked. dL4 requires at least version 3.1 of the Passport daemon program in order to run; as of this writing the current version of the Passport software is 3.6.1. Version 3.6.1 is fully upward-compatible with previous Passport versions and with all other DCI products. If you attempt to run dL4 with a daemon older than 3.1, you will see messages such as: Waiting for response from security daemon ... and eventually an exit. The Passport software is now distributed by DCI as a separate installable product. For many platforms, you can download the latest version of the Passport from DCI's web site, www.dynamic.com, or via anonymous UUCP. o In order to run, scope and run must locate a "terminal description file". The name of this file is taken directly from the TERM environment variable, and the following directories are searched, in order: Directory given in TERMDIR variable, if present Current working directory Directory given in HOME variable, if present The use of TERMDIR is the most practical for long-term setup. The stock terminal description files shipped with dL4 can be accessed by setting: TERMDIR=/usr/lib/dl4/term export TERMDIR o Converting UniBasic/IRIS/BITS programs with user CALL statements may require setup via a "conversion profile". Contact DCI regarding the "dL4 Samples & Utilities Kit" for more information on converting existing programs to dL4. o In order to use CALL TRXCO() or the PORT statement, the executable file "scope" must be within one of the directories in your PATH. Otherwise, the environment variable SCOPE must be set to the path of the "scope" executable, e.g.: SCOPE=/usr/bin/scope export SCOPE o In order to use the SPAWN statement, the executable file "run" must be within one of the directories in your PATH. Otherwise, the environment variable RUN must be set to the path of the "run" executable, e.g.: RUN=/usr/bin/run export RUN o The record locking protocols used by the Portable Formatted and Portable Indexed Contiguous drivers are incompatible with pre-3.1 versions of dL4. The protocol was changed to support reading through locked records on both Unix and Windows. If a Portable Formatted, Contiguous, or Indexed Contiguous file is accessed simultaneously by this release and a pre-3.1 release, the file data may be corrupted. o The "OPTION FILE ACCESS RAW" statement is used to select BITS compatible file treatment and data alignment rules. In pre-3.1 versions of dL4, the Portable Contiguous, Portable Indexed Contiguous, and Full-ISAM Bridge drivers did not properly follow BITS alignment rules when OPTION FILE ACCESS RAW was used. In dL4 3.1, these errors have been corrected. If your programs use the FILE ACCESS RAW option, your programs and file layouts should be examined for compatibility with these changes. Using FILE ACCESS RAW, the current file position will no longer be rounded up to an even byte boundary when reading or writing numeric variables or when executing MAT READ or MAT WRITE statements. If desired, the driver sources in the dL4 development kit can be modified to restore pre-3.1 behavior. o The BASIC save file version for this release is 2.8. These files are fully upward-compatible with versions 2.1 through 2.7, therefore dL4 will run any saved programs produced by versions 1.15 through 2.3.x. Future minor changes in the save file version (2.9, 2.10, etc.) will be upward- but not backward-compatible. Platforms ========= Operating system information for dL4 3.2 production: ID Platform "uname -a" ---------------------------------------------------------------- 07 PowerPC 603 AIX AIX sysname 1 4 001C828DE100 99 SCO Unix sysname sysname 3.2 2 i386