DOS ain't dead

>
> ;    !!  - !
>
> I agree, and this should probably include the [edit] and [view] section
> also.
>
> In some cases there are no need to add the file to the command line, so
> maybe this should be forced?

Not sure what you mean exactly.

I tried another NC clone called DOS Command Center 5.1 (google 'DCCv51e.zip') with file stamps from 1999. Was impressed at how the panels could be enabled/disabled by clicking their corner. Perhaps another feature you could consider adding? DCC is otherwise far too large a package for my purposes. DOSZip is nice and small :)

---
See nando4 NBR profile

> EDIT: Okay, I guess 1.54 may not be that old (a year?).

The version of the files is the date and time in the .ZIP file:

Version 1.54, 17 Jun 2010, Time 1:54
Version 2.14, 26 Jul 2011, Time 2:14

So the version 0159h was replaced by version 0200h.

> - DC works with text page 0 only. If the current page is 1, DC starts and
> waits for input, but nothing is displayed.

A test is added and page 0 is now set, but I also need to save the init page for Ctrl-B (user screen) - this function mess up the screen..

> - If a "chdir" to a sub-directory fails, DC just remains in the current
> directory and doesn't notify the user that something went wrong. [ Usually
> a "chdir" does fail in DOS because the SFN of the directory path would
> violate the max. size of 64? This also happens if DOSLFN is loaded, because
> internally DOSLFN uses the SFN functions ]

The approach to this seems to be to set the index 0 and reread the current directory. A message should be inserted there.

> - DC works in text page 0 only, but it pollutes the first few (8?)
> attributes of text page 1 when a menu is opened.

I assume this to be the Menus-info-text on the status-line.

Page 0:

Page 1 with one line overlap:

> I have a question about the tools menu: my "tools" are usually just fast
> "switches" to certain directories. However, this may imply to change both
> the current drive and the current directory - which needs 2 commands with
> MS-DOS command.com ( i.e. D: and then CD \MyFavoriteProject ). Can such a
> sequence be entered in DZ.INI? Or do I need a .BAT file for this?

This may help?:
XX=D:|cd\MyFavoriteProject

Not shore if this is in the documentation (or in the default .INI file) but this should work:

[Directory] ; Directories for Ctrl-[0..9] and Alt-P
00=Doszip &Directory          Ctrl-0, %doszip%
01=&Include Directory         Ctrl-1, %doszip%\inc
02=&CLIB Directory            Ctrl-2, %doszip%\src\crtl
03=&Tools Directory           Ctrl-3, %doszip%\src\tools
04=&Project Directory         Ctrl-4, %doszip%\prj
05=&Make Directory            Ctrl-5, %doszip%\src\make
06=&Document Directory        Ctrl-6, %doszip%\doc
07=&Temp Directory            Ctrl-7, %TEMP%

Alt-Left/Right is also useful here.

[Edit]

A more dynamic way to save the current directory and restore it later may be implementet like this:

[Tools]
XX=Save current directory, %doszip%\cdpush
XX=Restore directory, %temp%\cdpop

; CDPUSH.ASM--
; Save current directory to %TEMP%\cdpop.bat

        .186
        .model  tiny
        .code

        org     100h
start:  jmp     around

_psp    dw      0
envlen  dw      0
cdpop   db      'cdpop.bat',0
@echo   db      '@echo off',13,10
drive   db      'A:'
crlf    db      13,10
        db      'CD\'
cd      db      80 dup(0)
temp    db      80 dup(0)

exit:   pop     dx
        push    ax
        mov     ah,9
        int     21h
        pop     ax
terminate:
        mov     ah,4Ch
        int     21h
abort:  mov     al,3
        call    exit
        db      'Abnormal program termination',13,10,'$'

getcwd: push    si
        mov     si,offset cd
        xor     dx,dx
        mov     ah,47h
        int     21h
        mov     ax,0
        jc      getcwd_end
        mov     ax,si
    getcwd_end:
        or      ax,ax
        pop     si
        ret

write:  mov     bx,si
        mov     ax,4000h
        int     21h
        ret

strlen: push    di
        push    ds
        pop     es
        mov     di,ax
        or      ax,ax
        jz      strlen_00
        xor     ax,ax
        cld
        mov     cx,-1
        repnz   scasb
        mov     ax,cx
        not     ax
        dec     ax
    strlen_00:
        pop     di
        ret

around: push    offset abort
        xor     si,si
        mov     dx,ds
        mov     [si+_psp],dx
        mov     bp,[si+02h]
        sub     bp,dx
        mov     es,[si+2Ch]
        xor     ax,ax
        mov     bx,ax
        mov     di,ax
        mov     cx,7FFFh
        cld
    startup_envloop:
        cmp     word ptr es:[di],'ET'
        jne     startup_nextenv
        cmp     word ptr es:[di+2],'PM'
        jne     startup_nextenv
        cmp     byte ptr es:[di+4],'='
        je      startup_found
    startup_nextenv:
        repne   scasb
        inc     bx
        cmp     es:[di],al
        je      startup_fail
        or      cx,cx
        jnz     startup_envloop
    startup_fail:
        mov     ds,dx
        ret
    startup_found:
        push    es
        pop     ds
        mov     es,dx
        mov     si,di
        add     si,5
        mov     di,offset cd
    startup_loop:
        lodsb
        or      al,al
        jz      startup_break
        stosb
        jmp     startup_loop
    startup_break:
        mov     ds,dx
        mov     si,offset cdpop
        mov     al,'\'
        stosb
    startup_loop2:
        lodsb
        stosb
        or      al,al
        jnz     startup_loop2
        mov     dx,offset cd
        mov     ah,3Ch
        xor     cx,cx
        int     21h
        mov     si,ax
        jc      startup_fail
        mov     ah,19h
        int     21h
        add     drive,al
        mov     dx,offset @echo
        mov     cx,18
        call    write
        jc      oswrite_error
        call    getcwd
        mov     ax,offset cd
        call    strlen
        mov     cx,ax
        mov     dx,offset cd
        call    write
        jc      oswrite_error
        mov     dx,offset crlf
        mov     cx,2
        call    write
        jc      oswrite_error
        mov     bx,si
        mov     ah,3Eh
        int     21h
        xor     ax,ax
        jmp     terminate
    oswrite_error:
        mov     bx,si
        mov     ah,3Eh
        int     21h
        mov     al,1
        jmp     terminate
        end     start