                                  Input
                             By: Bill Barge


INSTALLATION:
     To install the Input program just copy input.exe to a directory of
     your choice.

BACKGROUND:
     This program started out as a thing that a friend of mine needed.  He
was big into batch files at the time for creating optional ways of setting
up his machine and storing programs in a zipped format.  As it turned out
this program was more than he needed and then Windows 95 came out and he no
longer needed his batch files.  I put the program in the drawer.  Until the
other day when I was going though some of my old back-ups of code I had
written.  I found this program and realized that people whom were into
networking still were still writing batch files and this might be of some
use to them.  So I recompiled it and here it is!

USAGE:
     Input was designed to be used in a batch file.  It allows you to
get information from a user.  The form of calling the program is as follows:

          input [variable name] <batch file name>

variable name:  This argument is mandatory.  It is the name of the
environmental variable that will store what ever information the user
types in.

batch file name:  This argument is optional.  It is the name of the batch
file that the input program will write.

WORKINGS:
     The input program works on a simple bases.  You tell the user that you
want a piece of information with a echo statement then you call the input
program and give it the name of the variable to store the information in
(just like in a programming language).  The input program will then bring
up a dialog and prompt the user to enter in the data now.  After which it
writes a batch file which you call.  The default name is setin.bat but you
can change that.  Note that on the second argument you do not need to put
the .bat extension just the name of the file, and the eight character limit
is in effect.  The maximum size of data that the input program will retrieve
is 255 characters.  When you call the batch file that the Input program
writes, a Batch file missing error will occur.  This is normal and nothing
to worry about.  It is just a side effect of the program.  After you
call the batch file that the input program writes all you have to do is
check the contains of the variable that you named.

NORMAL STUFF:
      If you like this program please send $10 to
          Bill Barge
          RT 2 Box 99
          Rusk, Tx
          75785

This software is shareware is protected under copy right laws.  Feel free
to give your friends a copy of the zip file to your friends.  However do
not alter the contents of the zip file.  Also if you have any requests
or ideas on ways to improve this thing let me know and I will see what I
can do.  I can be reached at:
   rogerz@e-tex.com

And yes even Microsoft probably writes a better manual than this one so
if you have any questions send me some e-mail and I will try to make it
more clear for you.
