braner@batcomputer.tn.cornell.edu (braner) (05/13/87)
[] This may be naive (or heretical) but is there any area in the ST RAM space that is "unused" and could be used for temporary communication between utilities, etc? I know that you can Ptermres() and so on, and that you should not put utilities into "free" areas (like $300 on the good ol' Apple II) since the moment you overlay _two_ utilities you're in trouble. But it would still be handy to have a few bytes at a known absolute location for end-user use... Are there? (Yeah, I know, there are "environment variables" -can somebody explain those? Is there any real standard on how they are used?) - Moshe Braner
minow@decvax.UUCP (Martin Minow) (05/14/87)
In article <993@batcomputer.tn.cornell.edu>, Moshe Braner, asks for
a way to communicate information between utilities. There are
two methods that come to mind:
The AES functions scrp_read and scrp_write allow you to pass the name
of a directory (which contains "scrap" files) between two applications.
They are described in the MWC V2.0 documentation.
There are undocumented AES functions to read and write a buffer
that appears to contain the contents of desktop.inf. I discovered
them by decompiling the VT52 desk accessory. They are called
as follows:
shel_get(buffer, sizeof buffer);
shel_put(buffer, sizeof buffer);
I *suppose* you could tack your information onto the end of the data
you get, but I wouldn't want to have to discuss this with your lawyer.
(I.e., it's free advice, and worth what you paid for it.) The VT52
accessory uses a 128 byte buffer.
Martin Minow
decvax!minow