Getting Started With AREXX

[Karlos]

ARexx is a scripting language and although you can use it to launch applications, you're better off using a regular AmigaDOS script for that, if it's required.

ARexx is far more powerful than AmigaDOS, but isn't really intended as a replacement. ARexx's principal strength is that it allows you to write scripts that can talk to "hosts"; that is, any application that has an ARexx port. This allows ARexx to control the application (within the limits of what features it exposes to ARexx). As a single script can communicate with multiple hosts, it can coordinate activity between applications. Any command it doesn't understand, it forwards to the currently selected host. By default, the host is the shell itself.

If you want to start with ARexx, the manuals are included on the OS3.5 / 3.9 CD. One of the features of Workbench in those versions are that it too has an ARexx port. I have several scripts that are launched at startup that I use to make my WB more accessible from the keyboard.

It's actually possible to write applications in ARexx but it isn't particularly quick (though considerably faster than AmigaDOS itself).

[Karlos]

To do it in amigados, just create a text file and put into it exactly what you'd normally type in the shell to start it up with your desired settings.

Next, create an icon (.info file) for the file (copy a project icon for this purpose). Set the default tool of the icon to be "C:IconX" and save the changes*.

Job done. You can now double-click on the icon to launch the game as if you'd done it from the shell.


*Alternatively, in OS3.5+, you can just choose "Start from shell" in the icon properties.

[Karlos]

Which IIRC is just a fancy way of putting "CLI" and "DONOTPROMPT" in as tooltype on OS3.0/OS3.1.

Dunno, always used IconX to run scripts from workbench. Were these tooltypes available in 2.x?

[Karlos]

No idea, I started with 3.0 and moved onto 3.1, 3.5 and finally 3.9, never really used OS2.x

Ah you missed out, in a way. My first was 2.04, which made 3.0 seem a reasonable update. I never owned a 1.2/1.3 machine though, I imagine the change between that and 2.x was even more pronounced.

[Karlos]

It didn't even have the ability to switch off/on the low pass audio filter

The biggest problem with the audio filter on the Amiga is that it's a single frequency across all channels and set too low (IMO).

Imagine the fun if each of the 4 channels had it's own analogue LPF with digitally selectable cutoff frequency and resonance? That would have been so awesome; Protracker with resonant filters...

Anyhow, what were we talking about, again?

ARexx or summat?