BASICO/S interoperability commands and functions

O/S interoperability commands and functions

Execute Windows programs and/or access files using the O/S interoperability commands and functions.

Functioning occurs at the Windows O/S level, which imposes its own rules and constraints, such as:
  • The uopen command and ucreate command return a Windows file-handle. These are a limited resource and must be released explicitly.
  • The variable returned by the uexecute command, and used by the uwaitfor command or the umessage command, is also a Windows file-handle. Changing the variable, and then feeding the result to the uwaitfor command or the umessage command could cause unpredictable results.
  • uclose command
    The uclose command closes a file variable previously opened with the uopen command.
  • ucreate command
    The ucreate command creates and opens a specified file on the host system.
  • udelete command
    The udelete command removes the directory entry named by the path name.
  • uerror() function
    The uerror() function returns the error number that resulted from the previous inter-operating system command.
  • uexecute command
    The uexecute command allows users to execute various Windows programs from within mvBASIC.
  • ulock command
    The ulock command locks or unlocks a file specified by a file variable.
  • ulseek() function
    The ulseek() function moves the file pointer in an open file and returns the position of the file pointer, which is the number of bytes from the beginning of the file.
  • umessage command
    The umessage command sends a Windows-style message to the Client linked to the process executing the command. If the optional TO clause is used, the umessage command sends a Windows application launched by the uexecute command.
  • uopen command
    The uopen command opens a given file name to a file variable.
  • uread command
    The uread command reads data from a previously opened file on the host system.
  • ureadline() function
    The ureadline() function reads data from a previously opened file on the host system.
  • usystem() function
    The usystem() function is used to obtain information from the underlying operating system environment.
  • uwaitfor command
    The uwaitfor command causes the process to wait until the Windows application, identified by the var variable, terminates or the time specified by the expr variable elapses.
  • uwrite command
    The uwrite command writes data to a previously opened file on the host system.

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