CompuServe Thread

The scripting abilities I envision are a little different than what you would normally see. Most script methods require waiting for one string at a time, with a few of them having the nice feature of being able to set a time limit in order to let the script dile "break out" of a hang condition. The best way to describe what I would like to see is to ask you to envision a SWITCH (CASE) statement that does not necessarily take a branch right away. It basically sets up a condition for a future time, and is then free to set up another condition, and another (to a maximum of course). The idea would be to set up a search for incoming strings. In a kind of a psudo code, this is what you would do on a hypothetical system… on a="read mail?":reply "y": on b="no mail"?:reply "r messages": These two statement would remain in effect until they were "activated", at which time they could be reactivated or not, as you see fit. The statement might also contain a GOTO. In any case, the terminal program would not "wait" for either condition. It would be continuously monitoring the input stream for these occurrences, triggering the action as the strings are received. A script language should also be able to use a counter, a timer, a clock time, and user input for branching and control, as well a having the ability to be able to instigate almost any action that you can perform from the keyboard. In case anyone out there is finding this familiar… yes, it is exactly how Sixth Sense works (the example pseudo code is not a real example) on the 64 and 128. I don't know how to clear a spurious Xoff condition, but will be investigating it. Meanwhile, use Xon/Off if you need it, but be aware that a spurious burst of noise may cause a hang, since if the host did not send the Xoff, it will not know enough to send the Xon.