When you finish entering the BARR/SPOOL configuration parameters, select Exit and Save Changes from the Installation Description menu. This option is used to write your configuration changes to the program file or to a separate configuration file. The installation changes will be lost unless you use this option.
When you select Exit and Save Changes, the following screen displays:
After you enable one of the options on this screen and press ENTER, your changes to the Installation Description are saved. The options on this screen are described below.
Save changes to C:\BARR\SPOOL.EXE file?
Select whether to save your configuration changes to the program file. Your changes must be saved either to the program file or to a configuration file, or they will be lost. Note that the option displays the directory path where the program file is located.
Yes
No
Save parameters to a configuration file?
Select whether to save the configuration parameters to a separate file.
No
Yes
When you start the BARR/SPOOL program, you may specify the name of a configuration file which contains the desired installation parameters. The program will use the parameters in the configuration file instead of any parameters you saved to the program file. Additional information about configuration files is given in section 10.4, Using Configuration Files.
Configuration files have several possible applications:
A configuration file may be used to move your configuration settings to a new version of the program.
Configuration files can be used to change the way the software functions during different times of the day. For example, you may want the software to operate differently during the day shift than it does during the night shift.
Configuration file:
Specify the name for the configuration file. BARR.CFG is the default name for the file. We suggest you use .CFG as the file extension for your configuration files to make the files easy to identify. If you are not using configuration files, leave this field blank.
After you complete the parameters on the Exit and Save Changes screen and press ENTER, the Exit Options menu displays.
Choose one of the three options.
Begin communication at Operation screen
Start the program. Refer to Chapter 12, Startup Instructions, for a discussion of program startup.
Exit to DOS
Exit the software and return to the DOS prompt.
Return to Installation Description
Go back to the Installation Description screens to make additional changes.
When you have finished saving your configuration changes, it is advisable to make a backup copy of the configured software to a diskette, a directory on the network, or a directory on another PC. In the event that your PC hard disk fails or becomes corrupted, it will be faster to put a configured copy of software into production than it will be to re-install and re-configure the software from scratch.
To distinguish the configured backup copy from an unconfigured backup copy, you may want to rename the file. For example, from the DOS prompt type:
COPY C:\BARR\SPOOL.EXE A:\BARRSAVE.EXE
Note where you have stored the backup copy so it can be located in the future.
Configuration files may be used at program startup. Instructions for using the configuration files you have created are given below. Program startup is discussed in Chapter 12.
To use a configuration file at program startup, at the DOS prompt specify the startup command followed by an @ character and the configuration file name. For example:
SPOOL @DAILY.CFG
If you are using the default configuration file name, BARR.CFG, include just the @ in the startup command — the file name can be omitted. For example, these two commands produce the same results:
SPOOL
@BARR.CFG
SPOOL @
To modify a configuration file you created earlier, at the DOS prompt specify the installation startup command followed by the @ character and the configuration file name. For example:
SPOOL i @DAILY.CFG
When you select Exit and Save Changes, remember to set Save parameters to a configuration file? to Yes.
Parameters stored in the configuration file can be saved to the program file at a later time. You accomplish this by loading the configuration parameters into the Installation Description then saving your changes to the program file.
First, specify the installation startup command, including the configuration file name. For example:
SPOOL i @DAILY.CFG
Next, from the Installation Description menu, select Exit and Save Changes. The default for Save Changes to C:\BARR\SPOOL.EXE file? is Yes, so you simply need to press ENTER. The configuration parameters are written to the SPOOL.EXE program file.