Specifications

SERIES 3/3A PROGRAMMING GUIDE
2-2
The second line in a
.ms
file gives the
default directory
for an application. This can be left blank for non
file-based applications. For example, the
.ms
file for the built-in
Time
application could be
Time
8000
with the second line left blank.
The third line in a
.ms
file gives the
type
of the application (sometimes called the
type number
of the
application).
A
.ms
file can have fourth, fifth, sixth ... lines, but only if
2000
has been added to the application type, so
that the application has
multi-lingual
shell data (see below).
At present, there is no scope for the inclusion of comments in a
.ms
file.
Note that the entire contents of a
.ms
file is case sensitive. Eg an application with first line
RunGame
in its
.ms
file will have public name
RunGame
, whereas an application with first line
Rungame
in its
.ms
file will have the distinct public name
Rungame
. Further, the default extension and default
directory should always be given in upper case (otherwise the file list may fail to display
any
files).
Default extension
The significance of the default extension for a file-based application is as follows:
•
Files will be shown in the file list for the application in the System Screen only if their extension
matches the default (with the exception that files are
always
shown - in bold - if they are
currently the open file of an application)
•
The System Screen will pass the specified default extension to the application as part of its
command line, when it is started
•
Typically, applications will use filename selectors in dialogs which hide extensions matching the
default (eg showing
Tele
rather than
Tele.tel
), and may even omit other files from the initial list
presented.
Public name
The significance of the public name of an application is as follows:
•
This is the name by which the System Screen refers to the application, eg when confirming that
the application be "Removed", or when allowing an application button to be assigned to the
application
•
This name will be displayed in the file list for the application, in the System Screen, in any case
when the list would otherwise be empty.
The contents of
Name[.EXT]
must in all cases be a valid filename, ie
Name
cannot exceed eight characters
in length,
EXT
cannot exceed three characters in length, and there must be no embedded spaces (etc).
Default directory
Files will be shown in the file list for the application in the System Screen only if they are located in a
directory whose name exactly matches the default (with the exception that files are
always
shown - in
bold - if they are currently the open file of an application).
Default directories for applications are usually top level, as in
\TEL\
. However, they can equally well be
subdirectories, as in
\TEL\PRIVATE\
, with the limitation that the total length cannot exceed 20 characters
(this count including a terminating zero at the end of the directory path name).
Application type numbers
The significance of an application's type number is as follows:
•
A type of
0
means that the application a) will have no file list when installed in the system screen
- instead there will be only one entry, giving the public name of the application b) will receive no
Switchfile
commands from the System Screen and c) no filename will be specified in the
command line. Type
0
applications can have only one copy running at any one time.