Command Line Parameters

PCBSetup has two command line parameters that you can use when executing PCBFiler to determine how it should behave. To use a command line switch you must execute PCBSetup from the DOS command prompt and you need to specify the command line parameter after you enter PCBSETUP at the command prompt as shown in the following example:

PCBSETUP /CNAMES

If you need to enter more than one command line parameter, separate each parameter with a space.

PCBSETUP /FILE:H:\TEMP\PCBOARD.DAT /CNAMES

Previous versions of PCBoard wrote conference information to a text file called CNAMES while the current version of PCBoard writes this information to CNAMES.@@@ and CNAMES.ADD. These two files are binary data and consequently are not as easy to edit manually as the older CNAMES file. When this command line switch is used, PCBSetup will reread the CNAMES file instead of using the information stored in CNAMES.@@@ and CNAMES.ADD.

There are advantages and disadvantages to using this switch. First, the advantages:

Files that are in text file format are easier to edit with a wide range of editors.

If you are adding a lot of conferences, you can easily pattern the new conferences after an existing conferences by cutting and pasting text.

The following are the disadvantages to using this switch:

The CNAMES is not updated by PCBSetup unless you do a full save when exiting. If a quick save is used, the CNAMES file will not be updated. If you are not careful, you could use a CNAMES file that is not up-to-date and consequently alter your system configuration in an undesirable manner.

The CNAMES file does not contain all of the information that the combination of CNAMES.@@@ and CNAMES.ADD does. In fact, nearly all of the fields listed in the second conference setup screen are not stored in the CNAMES file. This means that if you have PCBSetup re-read the CNAMES file, the default values will be used for all fields that are not written to the CNAMES file.

This command line switch is not designed for use by novice SysOps. If you do not have a good knowledge of text file editing, you can really foul up your system configuration by using this switch.

If you use this command line switch, begin by making backups of your CNAMES.@@@ and CNAMES.ADD files. Next, load PCBSetup without the /CNAMES switch and then immediately exit answering Y when asked if you want to save configuration files. This will insure that the CNAMES file is up-to-date. Once you have done these steps, you may proceed to make the changes you need to make to the CNAMES file.

/FILE:[filename]

Normally, PCBSetup requires that a PCBOARD.DAT file exists in the subdirectory where you load it. If you want to use a PCBOARD.DAT in a location other than the current subdirectory, use this command line switch.

To use the /FILE parameter, you need to specify the location of the PCBOARD.DAT after you enter /FILE:. For example, if you want to use a PCBOARD.DAT that is stored in C:\PCB\NODE1\, enter the following to have PCBSetup use that DAT file:

PCBSETUP /FILE:C:\PCB\NODE1\PCBOARD.DAT