For Automated Testing, Better Alternatives To DOS Batch Files? 426
An anonymous reader writes "I am working on a project that would allow our customers to test out sending different PCL commands to LAN printers. My initial thought was that a DOS batch file will allow users to select some simple options, send the tests to printers, and even generate a small web page which, when launched from the batch file, will provide email feedback on the tool. This all worked. To spice it up I added some ANSI color commands to the menus, though the implementation of that may prove tricky without resorting to .COM files or forcing the load of the ansi.sys via the command.com shortcut. And this implementation goes against my initial idea that I want the entire thing to be contained in a standalone batch file. My questions are: Is there a better option for this? Are DOS Batch files too 1990s to be taken seriously in 2010? The application needs to (1) be simple (2) be easy to update (3) be able to send PCL commands to LAN-attached printers and (4) allow email feedback. I don't know what other programming language would allow this and be as simple. I tend to think that I have found the best tool for the job but if you have another idea let me know. Call me crazy but I love DOS."
DOS Is dead use visual basic (Score:5, Funny)
DOS Is dead use visual basic
Re:DOS Is dead use visual basic (Score:5, Funny)
DOS is dead, and no-one cares
If there is a shell, I'll see you there
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
4.3
A master was explaining the nature of Tao of to one of his novices. “The Tao is embodied in all software – regardless of how insignificant,” said the master.
“Is the Tao in a hand-held calculator?” asked the novice.
“It is,” came the reply.
“Is the Tao in a video game?” continued the novice.
“It is even in a video game,” said the master.
“And is the Tao in the DOS for a personal computer?”
The master coughed and shifted his position
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
***I would say that whatever method that works for you is fine.***
Absolutely. Provided that the numerous peculiarities of Microsoft's command language aren't an issue (will the users ever see the inards?), and you don't have to support Unix, why would anyone not use a scripting tool that requires no additional run time be installed?
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Yeah. VB, C++, Java, they all do PCL commands.
Easiest way is to Build yourself a Win32 GUI, since thats what your users probably use already.
Re:DOS Is dead use visual basic (Score:5, Insightful)
They're also all a thousand times more complex than DOS.
Even simple VB Script is significantly more complicated than DOS batch files.
My advice? If it's internal to the company and only a few users are going to use it, a batch file is fine. If you're selling it, or a lot of people are going to be using it frequently, take the time to write a simple VB app to do the job. Something like this is so easy it would only take you an afternoon to do even if you've never used VB before, and it will look a much more professional.
If you want to just make a more professional looking wrapper for it, you can use shell commands in a VB app and not waste any of your work in the DOS script.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Have you looked at VB.net or C#.net?
It's not simple anymore. VB6 was the last "simple" vb.
Honestly, he should just jump to a real language as it will take the same amount of effort to get up to speed in C++ as it does to get up to speed in a inferior language like VB.net
Actually for rapid development right now Delphi is the new king in Rapid and easy design for simple apps like this. I was a VB6 guru, when VB.net and C#.net came out I started learning it and started dabbling in delphi. I was up to speed
Re:DOS Is dead use visual basic (Score:5, Insightful)
Hardly a cardinal sin. I've made a few in my day with loops and multiple choices using labels and gotos and such. Declare all important variables upfront, comment reasonably, and give it the same amount of testing as you would in a "real" language. The fact that batch files have no dependencies is a pretty good advantage, and the interpreter is backwards compatible.
Shell scripts under *nix may be more functional, but batch files are perfectly serviceable, as long as you don't go on insane writing sprees with them.
size matters (Score:4, Funny)
Yeah. VB, C++, Java, they all do PCL commands.
..but will it fit on a floppy ??
Re:DOS Is dead use visual basic (Score:4, Insightful)
There's nothing wrong with cmd files. Some very advanced things are built using them.
HFslip [hfslip.org] - hotfix slipstreamer.
BATCH is a good quick&dirty tool, for quick&dirty jobs. Right now I'm using cmd files to manage cmdline folding clients. They're installed as services, but they start up faster than everything else, and then slow down other stuff loading. Now, thanks to my quick and dirty batch scripting, they get started after everything else. (on XP) With a single command I can toggle them off so they don't come on after a reboot, which is handy if I was rebooting to play a game.
I considered using Java, but it's just not worth the time. It took 2 minutes to write the first script in batch, and less than 20 minutes to refine it.
Re:DOS Is dead use visual basic (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:DOS Is dead use visual basic (Score:5, Funny)
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*whoosh*
He's right. (Score:3, Informative)
For Windows platforms, there's nothing better for rapid prototyping than VB.NET - or really any of the .NET languages. Plus, you can get a version of Visual Studio from Microsoft for free that will do everything you want. Plus, you definitely won't regret having VS as a debugging environment.
Think of how happy your customers will be to interact with a modern-looking app that only took you a few hours to put together!
Re:He's right. (Score:4, Informative)
AutoHotKey or AutoIt are better and they are free unlike Visual Basic.
Re:He's right. (Score:5, Informative)
AutoHotKey or AutoIt are better and they are free unlike Visual Basic.
Mod this up. I've used C++, Java, Perl, Ruby, vbscript, batch, and likely a few more to do this kind of thing in Windows over the years. For something this small I haven't found anything that beats AutoIt. It's so easy to learn and is fantastic for creating small, standalone executables with a GUI on Windows. This task is a perfect fit.
Re:He's right. (Score:5, Informative)
AutoIt is nice -- the first time. That's how they hook you.
Then, a year later, you decide to update your program. And hey, why not update to the latest version of AutoIt while you're at it? There was this one bug that always annoyed you, and you hope the devs fixed it.
Well, guess what? While you had your back turned, all the APIs for the GUI changed. All those calls you made to AwesomeFunction() now require 4 arguments instead of 3. Oh, and one of them is now an object instead of string.
That was my personal experience, anyway. After wroting a GUI program with perhaps 3000 lines of code, I updated to the new version of AutoIt. It seemed I had to practically rewrite the entire thing. Since then, I haven't recommended AutoIt to anyone that I like.
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I still used the command shell fairly extensively when it was needed and I used C# when it was called for. Right tool for right job a
Re:DOS Is dead use visual basic (Score:5, Informative)
+1 agree. VB is RAD (rapid application development), is very flexible, and is easy to use to make standalone apps. if you like programming in dos, you will love VB. For the use you are suggesting, it sounds ideal. you can basically have it be the gui front end for things you need to be done in dos (via vb, you don't need a folder full of com files for it to use)
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
No but now your folder of com files will require a butt load of runtime files on every single workstation. Now personally I would smack it out as a stand alone executable in delphi, but that is just me.
Re:DOS Is dead use visual basic (Score:4, Funny)
I agree, if you are stuck on ms stuff then VB becomes your "shell scripting" language of quickness.
This being /. though, I'll have to mention a small customized LiveCD (think DSL sized) with a (perl script | python script | brainfuck implementation | emacs extension | vi/vim script | whatever) with i/o to the user being prettified by some shell/exec stuff with zenity or by developing a graphical app using qt/gtk/whatever. Distribute as a business card cd or a bootable usb key. Have the marketing dept come up with some video, etc. to put on it, make it a bigger CD.
Re:DOS Is dead use visual basic (Score:5, Funny)
Rebooting your computer into another OS to test a printer?
Do you meatbags SEE why you're not commercially viable as developers?
If you do use VB... (Score:5, Informative)
Did some quick research on it and it does look like it would work. But I did find this information:
http://www.tek-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?qid=655463&page=6 [tek-tips.com]
Re:If you do use VB... (Don't do that!) (Score:3, Insightful)
Ouch! Last thing needed when distributing printer test code is another wrapper layer that could interfere with printing.
Except maybe an additional patch to turn off the additional wrapper layer, assuming it actually does that completely, every time no matter what... maybe that is really the last thing needed.
If .bat files won't do it for you, then you could look into the Windows implementation of Perl, coupled with the Tcl/Tk module, which gives you basic GUI support so you can fancy it up with buttons
Re:DOS Is dead use visual basic (Score:5, Insightful)
It is important to know your alternatives (e.g. you have many scripting options through cygwin, python, perl), but:
Use whatever works for you, and don't be ashamed just because it is not the current trend. You know your requirements (easy to maintain). Don't believe the people that say you have to rewrite everything.
Re:DOS Is dead use visual basic (Score:5, Insightful)
It sounds to me like the current implementation is not only effective and clever, but is (Windows) version-independent, and doesn't require any installation of third-party tools or utilities.
Dude, you've created the Holy Grail of software. Why are you looking for alternatives?
Powershell or VB Script w/ hta (Score:5, Informative)
I would also look to Powershell to solve his issue.
Before Powershell, I would have went with VB Script.
Because he was wanting a bit more of a GUI, HTA (HTML Application) would be a simple option. It is a local web page named .hta instead of .html and it runs with application security on the local computer. Any script you can put in a .vbs file, you can also put into a script block of a .hta. This is one of those little tricks that not to many people know about.
I use hta when I want to keep the flexibility of html/script as an alternative to a compiled vb.net app.
Re:DOS Is dead use visual basic (Score:5, Informative)
I often write stuff like this using javascript or vbscript, and run it with "cscript". Its included in WinXP and later, so there's no installation required -- just a js or vbs script file. So, it would function much like your Batch file but you'd have a more descriptive language to work with.
I do think vbscript is da debbil. However, it does have its uses when it comes to interacting with Office documents.
perl? (Score:4, Informative)
Re:perl? (Score:5, Interesting)
Even better Strawberry Perl [strawberryperl.com]
Re:perl? (Score:5, Insightful)
So far, I've gotten Strawberry perl to print to all of the printers on my network, run some old fortran programs successfully, update an in-house wiki automatically, automate e-mails to my co workers, and crash our entire network (that last one wasn't so much a feature, but hey, it shows just how powerful perl is). That said, I think with a bit of time and research you could probably get Strawberry perl to do exactly what you needed pretty easily. But I will warn you, when it comes to perl, I find that user experiences vary greatly.
Re:perl? (Score:5, Informative)
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You can cut the bloat by making the executables dependent on an external perl5lib.dll file. You can also factor out common libraries into separate PAR packages to be used by your executables. But this blows the whole point of bound exes in my opinion, and disk is cheap.
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I'll second this one. The place that I work runs almost all of its commands via bat jobs that run from simple to complex. When I started here, I installed Strawberry Perl on my win32 system. I have, since, replaced every functionality that the bat jobs used to do with perl scripts (primarily for my own purposes, but most of my coworkers don't mind them either). The primary reason I did this was readability.
That's the first time I've heard Perl and better readability together.
Re: (Score:2, Interesting)
Which pretty much blows a hole in the "single file" concept, since you'd need to include the Perl installations, and update same from time to time.
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Nope, http://search.cpan.org/~rschupp/PAR-Packer-1.004/lib/pp.pm [cpan.org]
Re:perl? (Score:4, Insightful)
Probably the simplest solution would be to make a Win32 executable based on the Qt toolkit and statically linked. You get a single executable, a professional looking UI that took minutes or hours to build, and the advantage of a much more powerful and flexible language versus DOS batch files or even powershell scripts.
Qt also provides a dead simple class framework for accessing the network, so that will save you time. You can get Qt, including a really slick IDE for free from Nokia.
If It Works, It Works But Remember Your Customers (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:If It Works, It Works But Remember Your Custome (Score:4, Insightful)
Give them the documentation you have and do not say a word
If your product requires a manual than your user interface sucks.
Add a wizard for common scenarios... anything but documentation that no one will read.
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Wizard????
Did you see the freaking subject, much less the summary?
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Wizard? Pfft!
He needs to re-implement Clippy!
Think of how helpful this would be :)
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A wizard?
are you out of your fucking mind?
Powershell (Score:5, Interesting)
The modern way of doing shell scripting in Windows is now powershell, and most things are quickly moving toward that. Its not as integrated in the OS, but its damn close, and in many ways its better than alternative scripting languages (object piping instead of text piping, for example).
Now if its the best thing for your requirement? I don't know. But if you're planning to stick to shell scripting, do yourself a favor and upgrade.
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It is integrated in the OS. I mean, it's part of Win7 and Win2008 R2.
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Python would be my first choice. (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Python would be my first choice. (Score:4, Insightful)
nobody cares what you think.
I dunno. At least one guy cared enough to respond.
Python (Score:3, Informative)
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Python is my scripting language of choice because it's easy to use and it has it's own "os" module that you can use to launch commands and the like, not to mention the "glob" module, which can grab all file names in a given directory into an array. I highly recommend it. (2.6)
Python also has a built-in "unittest" module that might make it a lot easier to manage your various test cases. I'd say if you can't count all of your test cases on one hand, you should take a serious look at that module.
AutoIt? (Score:5, Informative)
Its a great tool thats free, and has good GUI and has good scripting capabilities too:
http://www.autoitscript.com/autoit3/index.shtml [autoitscript.com]
Try Windows PowerShell (Score:3, Interesting)
DOS batch files has too many limitations when compared to other scripting languages. It's frozen in time. I consider Windows PowerShell to be the batch file successor.
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/scriptcenter/powershell.aspx [microsoft.com]
Okay (Score:4, Funny)
You're crazy.
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Still, it did what I needed it to do, after everything. So I would probably do it again if I had to.
Execute Shell commands with Ant (Score:3, Interesting)
Not sure why batch is such a bitch, but you can execute shell commands with Ant. [java2s.com]
15 minutes could save you... (Score:4, Funny)
Is Ed "Too-Tall" Jones too tall?
Re:15 minutes could save you... (Score:4, Funny)
Does Charlie Daniels play a mean fiddle?
dig your boldness (Score:3, Informative)
must be nostalgic for you or something...
If it were me, I would put together what you need to work with Cygwin, then it could be cross platform. You could even ship a copy of cygwin.dll and any binaries you need, like bash, netcat, or what have you. I prefer Unix apparently.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
You could even ship a copy of cygwin.dll and any binaries you need, like bash, netcat, or what have you. I prefer Unix apparently.
Be careful [cygwin.com] about that.
I use Cygwin myself, but copying the .dll for use with your app is fraught with peril.
Sensible Suggestion... (Score:2, Funny)
I believe the only sensible and practical idea here is to have 1000 monkeys at 1000 consoles doing these automated tasks for you. Of course you'd need to feed these monkeys, so you'd need more monkeys. Thus, 1000 monkeys at 1000 banana plantations.
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Well, your idea is a little bit complex to implement, but certainly more logical than using windows and batch files.
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Seems like a decent idea, though you'd also need a system for replacing failed monkeys, motivating monkeys that are slacking, etc. Fortunately, there's an RFC that covers all of this [ietf.org].
Hate to say it... how about vbs? (Score:5, Informative)
Python is much easier to write and much more maintainable than a batch script. Unfortunately it can be unfeasible to require this dependency on Windows machines.
Good dependency-free (albeit platform-specific) alternatives are .vbs (visual basic script) and .js. Both allow access to more modern dialog boxes etc. Either script should be executed under wscript.exe (windows scripting host) but I believe there is an automatic file association by default (at least for .vbs files).
For a more modern alternative, try Powershell, however it is only present by default on Windows 7.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
I second VBS - asking a customer to install Perl is just asking for trouble unless you're in Unix land. The reason Bourne shell is popular isn't because it's particularly good, but because you know it (or a close variant) will always be available on any *nix.
VBS isn't particularly nice to program in, but if you know what you're doing you can call most windows functions and even do database queries if that floats your boat. Networking stuff is a breeze and you can do a dialog based GUI if necessary.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
The biggest advantage of VBScript is its easy exposure of practically all COM API's on the machine. This lets you run a ridiculous amount of automation tasks from VBScript, but you are horribly limited in the sense that it's really not an object oriented language. It lacks ability to do pointers and even structs (C-style structs that is) making any kind of advanced data structures cumbersome to implement. But for scripting it's leaps and bounds above batch files *shudder* so I have to give it a nod for t
Re:Hate to say it... how about vbs? (Score:5, Informative)
Indeed, Active Scripting with VBscript or JScript is the only alternative if it has to run without any extra dependencies. It's available as a stock component from at least Win2K (I believe it's actually Win98, but can't be bothered to check; and I'm certain about Win2K). And while VBScript is ugly, JScript is a rather decent interpreted implementation of Ecma-262, and has enough hooks to do the stuff that is required here. And it's infinitely better than DOS batch files, that's for sure.
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
You can just make an exe out of a python script which collects the runtime and all dependencies into a single file. I'd want to do that before resorting to invoking VB. I guess if it is an all-MS shop locked in some sort of hellish time vortex (which is consistent with the OP asking about batch files) then they may keep enough Eye of Newt and pen
I have a saying (Score:5, Insightful)
"If it's stupid and it works, it's not stupid."
There are plenty of doges you can use, perl, python, bash, and lots more. But all of them add a level of complexity to this that the batch file doesn't have. Which leads me to my second saying:
"If it's simple and it works, it's elegant."
Sounds like you've found an elegant solution to a problem. I'd stick with it if it works for you.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
There are plenty of doges you can use, perl, python, bash, and lots more. But all of them add a level of complexity to this that the batch file doesn't have.
What complexity does python add (for instance)? From the user's standpoint, if the .py file is associated with python (and it will be), double-clicking on the icon will run just like a batch file. And as pointed out, python can execute system commands too.
I can see wanting to avoid cygwin, but python's a breeze.
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I can see wanting to avoid cygwin, but python's a breeze.
Except for the fact that python run-time libraries aren't included with Windows, yeah, great.
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BTW, your quote:
If it's stupid and it works, it's not stupid.
... is pretty much the opposite of how professional programmers feel. My philosophy is that any idiot can keep banging on the keyboard until it works. It takes a reasonably competent programmer to make it
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Batch scripts are for very simple operations - it's literally just command line commands all at once (rather in order, as though they were one command). All of the methods implemented in batch are actually implemented in the DOS command prompt, the script just executes it as though you had punched it into a command prompt.
What this means is, if you've been using DOS for a very long time, and know the commands and syntax backwards and forwards, there is no simpler tool on the planet for a job a batch scrip
If .bat will do it, stick with .bat! (Score:5, Insightful)
PowerShell is the new Batch File Scripting, so if you need more power, learn PowerShell and use that. (I am assuming you're in a Windows environment where change of OS isn't an option.)
But DOS batch files still work just fine. In my last job at $major-hardware-vendor, we used DOS batch file-based menus all the time; because they were simple, they got the job done, and all the people who had any need to maintain them knew all about them. Some were particularly large/gnarly batch files, too. (Think 3 KB of one single .bat file menuing to do a few dozen tasks.) When choice is used liberally, along with variables, you can make it very simple to maintain, too. (We used it for updating various things, and the very first section was where all the variables were set, all you had to do when it came time to update was throw the updated file in the right place, and change a number in the batch file.)
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
But DOS batch files still work just fine.
I've found that UAC in Vista and Windows 7 hate batch files. Some of my old processes that are still batch file based fail silently on new operating systems. Suck it up and move into the 1990's at least.
Use 'real' shells (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Or just the distributed version of DOS. I think it is called DDOS.
Assuming nobody is whining... (Score:5, Insightful)
Your description suggests that, for anybody who doesn't really want to get their hands dirty, there is an adequate if rather retro menu driven interface. Great. A little reading never hurt anybody important.
Even better, if your application is written within the limitations of CMD batch files, it'll be trivial for any admin who cares and has a copy of notepad to pick it apart, if needed.
I, for one, fucking hate shiny-but-opaque vendor tools("Oh, great, you made it so easy that a trained monkey could do it, once. I need to do it 10,000 times, I see that your only officially supported method is '10,000 trained monkeys'. Would it have killed you to include some useful command-line options?". If your application is "send PCL test commands to networked printers" you ain't selling to grandma and cousin jim-bob. You may well be dealing with somebody who might need to programmatically test dozens or hundreds of printers. He will appreciate being able to rework your tool.
CMD sucks; but it ships with every version of Windows since ever, and(since you've already written your application) apparently its limitations didn't cripple you. Why mess with it?
More Details (Score:2)
I don't think you will get good feedback unless you explain the following:
(1) be simple - To your users? Is your current UI simple enough for them? Tip: If you know your user's names, you're the real interface.
(2) be easy to update - Over a network or sneakernet? Do you have Admin rights? A central server?
(3) be able to send PCL commands to LAN-attached printers - Seems detailed enough. Firewall might be a problem.
(4) allow email feedback - Again, What's your firewall situation? POP/etc gets blocked a
Re: (Score:2)
(3) be able to send PCL commands to LAN-attached printers - Seems detailed enough. Firewall might be a problem.
I don't see why it would be, since PCL is what is typically sent to those printers normally.
Perl, Python, or Ruby... (Score:2)
You *could* keep using batch files, but you're missing out on the ability to really structure your code, you're missing out on nice libraries that can handle some stuff you'd otherwise need to write yourself, and you lose the ability to easily do reasonable data manipulation. I was initially inclined to just suggest Perl (it's what I use), but really any of the three would be just fine. Batch file programming is too limiting - I'm sure you have at least some inclinations towards this as you're asking /.
Cruise Control and continuous build systems (Score:2, Offtopic)
For automated development tasks I would go with "continuous build systems", such as Cruise Control (I mention it since I use this). Cruise Control comes in both Java and .Net varieties. The best thing to do is to decide what sort of development environment you have and choose the best tools to support them. I can't say how well Cruise will fit into an environment where C/C++ is the intended language, so if anyone has alternatives to suggest please mention them.
While I do mention these are target for buildin
Consider WSH if you want a simple web GUI (Score:3, Interesting)
You could consider VB Script and HTML wrapped into a WSH file if you want a simple web GUI and being locked to IE isn't a problem.
Dont take my stappler. (Score:3, Funny)
I will be looking forward to the first error is encountered by a user. You will hear someone in the cubical farm say, "PCL PC Load letter? What the fuck is PCL PC Load letter?!?"
Others have already said it (Score:2)
But yeah, go buy yourself a good Powershell book. Assuming your environment is running XP at least, pushing out support for it is pretty much just an MSI install. Week or two playing around with it, and chances are you'll have a script that runs circles around your old one.
.Net and Silverlight (Score:2, Funny)
As you seem to be a MS fan, I can't believe you didn't consider dotNet languages and Silverlight.
My personal favorite is VB.Net.
Massive executables are the best way to show that your tool is of professional quality.
Silverlight is of course necessary for any kind of interface.
If you want to avoid a Web interface, use XAML.
Hey, we are in 2010 !
Autohotkey (Score:3, Interesting)
I guess everyone has their favorite scripting language and I'm sure Powershell is awesome, but it came 10 years too late. I'm personally fond of Autohotkey. Its a decent scripting language, has lots of handy built in functions, and is easy to pick up, especially for those of us who don't code everyday. I'm always a little surprised at how much it can do. I've used it to manipulate installers with no command line options by using the built in functions to grab the GUI window, press buttons, etc. Most everything it can't do I can do in Windows by putting the unixutils on a share and just calling them via the script. Granted, its a work-around but it works for me.
DOS vs PERL (Score:2)
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Batch files are the lowest common denominator for a fairly large percentage of computers out there. The reason I often stick with them and VBScript is not because they're any damned good (they're not, batch files and VBScript are both crap for different reasons) but simply because I can pretty much guarantee they'll run on any Windows machine built in the last decade. I'm working on a network that has a mix of XP, Vista, Server 2003 and yes, one Windows 2000 machine, and despite their obvious limitations,
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Ruby + WxRuby + rubyscript2exe (Score:2)
You can whip up a quick GUI with Ruby and WxRuby, and when you're happy with it, create a single executable file with rubyscript2exe. I see two problems: files tend to be large (~10MB) and thus a bit slow to run, but once running they're quite snappy. Ruby is a very easy language and WxRuby is also quite easy to use (not to mention cross-platform but I guess that's not high on your wish list).
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Re: (Score:3, Funny)
woorsh?
Re:Is it pronounced DOHS or DAHS? (Score:4, Informative)
DOS sounds like "Boss" not like "dose".
Re:Is it pronounced DOHS or DAHS? (Score:4, Funny)
The other posters are correct. You only say "DAHS" if you're from Boston, as in: "Oh My Gawhd, some retahd on slashdaht is still writing DAHS bahtch files. Why don't we just fihre up Windows fah Workgroups while we're aht it."
Seriously though - I think nmap can send PCL commands via the nmap scripting engine, which is written in LUA. How about wrapping that with what some of the other posters are suggesting?
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
I never heard anyone say it.
Ugh. Now I feel old. Screw you, AC.
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It doesn't, but you can download it.
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isn't Python the Visual Basic of the FOSS world?
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That's me Perl hardcore programmer saying.
If your Perl code is anything like your sentences...oh, who am I kidding, it would still make more sense than MY Perl code.
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
I write Perl largely like I learned to write C, so its very readable, though perhaps not particularly idiomatic.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
http://search.cpan.org/~karasik/Win32-GuiTest-1.56/lib/Win32/GuiTest.pm [cpan.org]
Perl has plenty of Windows-specific modules made for this type of application.