Windows Shell Commands

[Denny]

Can someone give me some insight into the new feature in LOR on Windows Shell Commands? I understand what the LOR manual is saying below, but I don’t understand what I have to enter in the Command Window. Do I just put a link to the program that I want to start? How do I stop the program at the end of the sequence so it doesn't continue running in any subsequenct sequences.? I believe someone mentioned that a batch file is required. If the program that I want to run is named “XYZ,” what would a batch file look like and how do I get it into Windows so that LOR can execute it? Sounds like I might need to learn some type of computer programming.

This looks like a very useful feature if I can figure out how to implement it.

4.1.10 Windows Shell Commands

When a sequence is started, Light-O-Rama can optionally also execute an arbitrary Windows

command, running any program that you specify.

For example, some people broadcast the songs that play during their shows over radio, and would like the name of the song to be broadcast along with it, using the RDS ("Radio Data System") protocol, allowing people with RDS-enabled radios to see the name of the song that they are listening to. RDS is not directly supported by Light-O-Rama, but you could set up your musical sequences so that, whenever one of them is played, Light-O-Rama will tell Windows to tell your RDS program to broadcast the name of the song for that sequence. To set up a sequence to execute a Windows command, select "Windows Command" from the Sequence Editor's Edit menu. After that, whenever that sequence is played (either by the Sequence Editor or the Show Player), the command will be executed.

[michael.farney]

Denny wrote:

Can someone give me some insight into the new feature in LOR on Windows Shell Commands? [snip].

Denis,

It will execute whatever command you type in the box. For example, if you put in "C:WINDOWSsystem32calc.exe", it will open up that program (the XP calculator). Most of us use batch files so we can execute more than on command at a time. Let's say you wanted to open both a word document and the calculator when Jingle Bells plays. Then you would write a batch file similiar to this:

start "c:documents and settingsUSERNAMEMy DocumentsMyWordDocument.doc"
start "C:WINDOWSsystem32calc.exe"

So you write a text file with those two lines, save it, and change the extension to .BAT. Then on your jingle bells song, you call that one batch like this: "C:YOUR PATH HEREyour_batch_file_name.bat" The end result? When jingle bells plays, the calculator and your word document will open.

That is the simple answer. So what do you actually use it for? You can write batch files to create logs, update LED signs, update RDS, update your website, etc. The possibilities are endless. I run some very complex batch files with my show. But, it all depends on what you want to accomplish. A simple LED sign update can be 1 line of a batch file. Well, I took that concept and made it do more. I update a log with the song and time it played, I update the website audio feed, I then read a couple static text files to get the show hours, show name, radio station info, etc. and feed all that information into an LED sign update. It doesn't need to be that complicated. But if I have 10 songs and the FM frequency changes, I don't have to update 10 batch files. I just change one text file.

Denny wrote:

[snip]I understand what the LOR manual is saying below, but I don’t understand what I have to enter in the Command Window. Do I just put a link to the program that I want to start?

Yes. Just put in a link to the file or batch file you wish to run.

Denny wrote:

[snip] How do I stop the program at the end of the sequence so it doesn't continue running in any subsequenct sequences.?

There is no "stop." We run applications like updating RDS or an LED sign. Once the sign is updated, it's done. If you truly ran a program like word, the only way to exit word when the sequence is done is to end task it. Using a batch file, there is a TASKKILL command which lets you do the equivalent of an "end task." However, it gets tricky because the batch file command only runs when the sequence starts playing. So to truly stop something, the NEXT song that plays would have to have the taskkill command to stop what the previous sequence did. In short, I don't think you're gonna run into this -- what application are you planning on using that will require a stop?

Denny wrote:

[snip] I believe someone mentioned that a batch file is required. If the program that I want to run is named “XYZ,” what would a batch file look like and how do I get it into Windows so that LOR can execute it? Sounds like I might need to learn some type of computer programming.

Your batch file would look like this:

start "c:YOURpathxyz"


A batch file is not required if you want to open a program. Instead of the batch file above, just put in a direct link to the program right into the windows shell command box in LOR:

"c:YOURpathxyz"

To launch a batch file using windows shell command box in LOR, just type the link to the file: "C:myBatchFile.bat"

As far as programming, yes a batch file is programming. However, you will be able to use google to get the code for most things that you want to do. I really wasn't that familiar with batch code at all. I just used google and put a whole bunch of code snippets together to do what I wanted. I'll make a second post with a more complicated example.





==========Example==========


Let's consider a simple two line example. While you may not know the code, I think the example will make some sense. In this example, when we play the sequence named "reboot.las", the LED sign will give the guests a message, and then the computer will reboot after 10 seconds. This example will run batch file "XYZ" which is located on the root of the C:. The batch file XYZ.bat looks like this when opened in a text editor:

"C:Program FilesBetacomBetacom.exe" com4 {red}PC Rebooting. {green}Show Resumes in 4 Minutes.
"C:WINDOWSsystem32shutdown.exe" -r -t 10 

Let's break it down. The LED sign updates with a program called betacom. This betacom program require 2 items: you must tell it what port to use and the message for the sign. "C:Program FilesBetacomBetacom.exe" tells it run the program betacom. com4 tells it the LED sign is located on com4. {red}PC Rebooting. {green}Show Resumes in 4 Minutes. This will display in red text "PC Rebooting." on the sign. Next, it will display "Show Resumes in 4 Minutes" in green text.

Next, let's take the second command: "C:WINDOWSsystem32shutdown.exe -r -t 10" This command tells the computer to run the file shutdown.exe. This program shutdown.exe has optional parameters you can use. -r tells it to reboot. (as opposed to -s which is shutdown.) -t 10 tells it wait 10 seconds, then reboot. (Your program may not have any parameters. I picked this example to show how to use two different kinds of parameters.)

Now, let's move on to LOR. You have a sequence in LOR that is named reboot.las. The windows shell command for this reboot.las LOR file is "c:xyz.bat". Now, anytime you run the LOR file reboot.las, batch file xyz will run. As explained above, batch file xyz.bat will cause the LED sign to get updated with the rebooting message, and the computer will reboot after 10 seconds.

[michael.farney]

Here is an ugly batch file I use while the show is running. I'll walk you through it piece by piece. Most of this code I do not understand myself. I just pulled snippets off google and pieced it together to make it work.

@echo off
echo.
echo.
echo.
echo ==--Running Update Sign Current LOR--==
REM ---------------------
REM Must get value of season to move Currentsong.txt
REM -------------------------

setlocal
set season=
set year=
echo Reading Season.txt
for /f "tokens=*" %%a in ('type "Z:betacomvariablesseason.txt" 2^>NUL') do set season=%%a
Echo Done.
echo Reading year.txt
for /f "tokens=*" %%a in ('type "Z:betacomvariablesyear.txt" 2^>NUL') do set year=%%a
Echo Done.

Rem -------------------------------------------------------
REM - Request line Batch file already prepped CurrentSong.txt in TEMP.  Now that song actually started, move file to reflect name.
Rem -------------------------------------------------------
echo Moving currentSong.txt
move "Z:LOR%year%%season%BATSign UpdateTEMPCurrentSong.txt" "C:Program FilesZaraSoftZaraRadioCurrentSong.txt"

REM ------------------------
REM Get Variable Information
REM ------------------------
setlocal
set value=
set season=
set freq=
set hours=
set callLine=
echo Reading value of currentSong.txt to write to Zara Log
for /f "tokens=*" %%a in ('type "C:Program FilesZaraSoftZaraRadioCurrentSong.txt" 2^>NUL') do set value=%%a
Echo Done.
echo Reading Radio Frequency.txt
for /f "tokens=*" %%a in ('type "Z:betacomvariablesRadio Frequency.txt" 2^>NUL') do set freq=%%a
Echo Done.
echo Reading Season.txt
for /f "tokens=*" %%a in ('type "Z:betacomvariablesseason.txt" 2^>NUL') do set season=%%a
Echo Done.
echo Reading hours.txt
for /f "tokens=*" %%a in ('type "Z:betacomvariableshours.txt" 2^>NUL') do set hours=%%a
Echo Done.
echo Reading call line.txt
for /f "tokens=*" %%a in ('type "Z:betacomvariablescall line.txt" 2^>NUL') do set callLine=%%a
Echo Done.
echo Send update to LED Sign


Rem -------------------------------------------------------
REM - Check if request line is busy.  Do no update if busy.  ELSE update LED sign.
Rem -------------------------------------------------------
IF NOT EXIST "Z:betacomRequest LineBusy.txt" "C:Program FilesBetacombetacom.exe" COM4 {wipedown}{green}%hours% {yellow}Visit us online: FarneyLights.com {red}Current Song:{Green} %value% {RED}Request Line: Request Line: {Green}%callLine% %callLine% %callLine% %callLine%{Orange} Tune to %freq% Tune to %freq% {red}Current Song:{green} %value%
IF NOT EXIST "Z:betacomRequest LineBusy.txt" echo Done.
IF EXIST "Z:betacomRequest LineBusy.txt" echo NO UPDATE! CALL LINE IS BUSY!



Rem -------------------------------------------------------
Rem Read value in currentsong.txt and write value to zara Radio Log
Rem -------------------------------------------------------

Echo Writing to Zara Log
echo %time:~0,8%  Start Z:LOR%year%%season%LMS%value%.lms >> "Z:LogsZara Radio%date:~10,4%-%date:~4,2%-%date:~7,2%.log"
echo Done.

echo.
echo.
echo.
echo Current Song:
IF NOT EXIST "Z:betacomRequest LineBusy.txt" echo .------------------------------------------.
IF EXIST "Z:betacomRequest LineBusy.txt" echo NO UPDATE! CALL LINE IS BUSY!
echo %value%
IF NOT EXIST "Z:betacomRequest LineBusy.txt" echo .------------------------------------------.
IF EXIST "Z:betacomRequest LineBusy.txt" echo NO UPDATE! CALL LINE IS BUSY!

z:betacomothersleeper 15000

[michael.farney]

@echo off
echo.
echo.
echo.
echo ==--Running Update Sign Current LOR--==
REM ---------------------
REM Must get value of season to move Currentsong.txt
REM -------------------------

The above code is purely cosmetic.  When you run batch code, all these lines of ugly code will execute on the screen.  To prevent this, you can turn the display off, so you get a nice black screen on your window instead.  @echo off turns off the display.  Then, the echo command will display text on the screen.   REM is a comment.  It does not actually do anything. REM comments are just notes to myself.   The above code puts in 3 blank lines.  (echo.)  Then it displays "Running Update Sign Current LOR" on the screen.

setlocal
set season=
set year=
echo Reading Season.txt
for /f "tokens=*" %%a in ('type "Z:betacomvariablesseason.txt" 2^>NUL') do set season=%%a
Echo Done.
echo Reading year.txt
for /f "tokens=*" %%a in ('type "Z:betacomvariablesyear.txt" 2^>NUL') do set year=%%a
Echo Done.

Because I don't want to update tons of batch files everytime there is a change, I modified the code to read variables from text files.  Now instead of manually changing all the batch file paths from Halloween to Christmas or from 2008 to 2009, I can change that in one text file.   And the code will read it as a variable, and now this batch file never needs updating.  I just keep the text file current, and this batch file knows exactly what to do.  So it sets two local variables:  "season" and "year".   I didn't know how to do this, this is just a copy and paste from google.  Next, the For /f "tokens" reads the text file at the path later in the line.  I have no clue how this code works.  It was another find in google where I could just put in the path for my particular file.  So, it reads season.txt and year.txt and stores the contents of those files in the variable season and year, respectively.  If you're curious about the files, season.txt has one word "Halloween" and year.txt says "2009".  Finally, on the screen I print Done.  This is just for comestics and troubleshooting when I was putting all this code together

Rem -------------------------------------------------------
REM - Request line Batch file already prepped CurrentSong.txt in TEMP. Now that song actually started, move file to reflect name.
Rem -------------------------------------------------------
echo Moving currentSong.txt
move "Z:LOR%year%%season%BATSign UpdateTEMPCurrentSong.txt" "C:Program FilesZaraSoftZaraRadioCurrentSong.txt"

Remember, REM is commend, so those lines don't do anything.  They are just notes to myself.  Echo just prints that to the screen so I know where the batch file is in execution.  A batch file previous to this loaded the name of the current song into currentSong.txt.   The MOVE command just moves a file from one location on the computer to another.  You'll see I use the variables here.  It moves the file from drive Z:LOR2009HalloweenBatSign UpdateTempCurrentSong.txt to it's actual location on the C:.  This C: location is what my online audio streaming uses to know the current song.  This file move overwrites the file on the C:, and now the current song magically shows up on the web! 

REM ------------------------
REM Get Variable Information
REM ------------------------
setlocal
set value=
set season=
set freq=
set hours=
set callLine=
echo Reading value of currentSong.txt to write to Zara Log
for /f "tokens=*" %%a in ('type "C:Program FilesZaraSoftZaraRadioCurrentSong.txt" 2^>NUL') do set value=%%a
Echo Done.
echo Reading Radio Frequency.txt
for /f "tokens=*" %%a in ('type "Z:betacomvariablesRadio Frequency.txt" 2^>NUL') do set freq=%%a
Echo Done.
echo Reading Season.txt
for /f "tokens=*" %%a in ('type "Z:betacomvariablesseason.txt" 2^>NUL') do set season=%%a
Echo Done.
echo Reading hours.txt
for /f "tokens=*" %%a in ('type "Z:betacomvariableshours.txt" 2^>NUL') do set hours=%%a
Echo Done.
echo Reading call line.txt
for /f "tokens=*" %%a in ('type "Z:betacomvariablescall line.txt" 2^>NUL') do set callLine=%%a
Echo Done.
echo Send update to LED Sign

You're seen this before.  Here I gather the rest of the variables I need.  It just prints to the screen periodically so I can tell where the batch file is in execution.  It reads each file, and it loads that value into the appropriate variable.  Again, I don't really know how to do this.  This is just a copy a paste from a google where I looked up how to read a text file and store it as a variable in a batch file. 

Rem -------------------------------------------------------
REM - Check if request line is busy. Do no update if busy. ELSE update LED sign.
Rem -------------------------------------------------------
IF NOT EXIST "Z:betacomRequest LineBusy.txt" "C:Program FilesBetacombetacom.exe" COM4 {wipedown}{green}%hours% {yellow}Visit us online: FarneyLights.com {red}Current Song: {Green} %value% {RED}Request Line: Request Line: {Green}%callLine% %callLine% %callLine% %callLine%{Orange} Tune to %freq% Tune to %freq% {red}Current Song: {green} %value%

IF NOT EXIST "Z:betacomRequest LineBusy.txt" echo Done.
IF EXIST "Z:betacomRequest LineBusy.txt" echo NO UPDATE! CALL LINE IS BUSY!

Using the wonders of S2 and a supplimentary phone program, I have the display setup so you can call in and request a song.  Then, LOR plays that song next!   This bit of odd code here checks if someone is current on the phone with the request system.  I made a decision that the LED sign should say "Call Line Busy" if someone was on the line.  Thus, if someone is on the line, I do NOT want to update the LED sign.  Using batch files as a part of a different process, the file Z:betacomRequest LineBusy.txt is created on my computer when the phone software answers the phone.  When the phone software hangs up, it deletes that file.  This code checks if that file exists.  If the file does not exist, here you see it update the LED sign.  If the file does exist, then the betacom command is not exected, and the sign does not update.  I just googled using IF statements in batch files to get this code. 

Rem -------------------------------------------------------
Rem Read value in currentsong.txt and write value to zara Radio Log
Rem -------------------------------------------------------

Echo Writing to Zara Log
echo %time:~0,8% Start Z:LOR%year%%season%LMS%value%.lms >> "Z:LogsZara Radio%date:~10,4%-%date:~4,2%-%date:~7,2%.log"
echo Done.

Here, you see me write my log file.  I use zara radio for before and after the show music.  Zara radio already logs everything it plays.  So i just open up the same log file and add all the necessarly LOR entries.  I used google to look up the time command to make the format identical to what zara radio used.  "Start" is just a word that is typed right into the logfile.  Then that path is just typed right into the log file.  Note the variables so it actually gets the path correct.  >> tells it to write to a file instead of to the screen.  (Otherwise, all that information would display on the screen.)   And the remainder is just the file path.  Zara radio files are named 2009-06-30.log, so you can see i had to do some crazy date stuff to get the filename right.  But again, I just did a google on the date command for batch files and read until I know how to manipulate it to create the correct filename. 

echo.
echo.
echo.
echo Current Song:
IF NOT EXIST "Z:betacomRequest LineBusy.txt" echo .------------------------------------------.
IF EXIST "Z:betacomRequest LineBusy.txt" echo NO UPDATE! CALL LINE IS BUSY!
echo %value%
IF NOT EXIST "Z:betacomRequest LineBusy.txt" echo .------------------------------------------.
IF EXIST "Z:betacomRequest LineBusy.txt" echo NO UPDATE! CALL LINE IS BUSY!

Finally, we are nearing the end!  This just writes out the screen.  If I'm currently on the christmas computer, I want to know what has happened if something happend.  This just says the name of the current song playing if it updated the LED sign.  Or if the call line is busy, it just tells me the call line is busy and no update is made. 

z:betacomothersleeper 15000

Batch files close the instant they complete, which means I can't read any of the messages I outputted to the screen.  I solved this issue by adding a 15 second delay.  The sleeper program I downloaded online and it just pauses for the amount of miliseconds you specify. 

Whew! Well, congrats if you made it this far. Feel free to ask questions. I did all this crazy stuff so I would never have to manually update any of my batch files. I wanted to just update a few TXT files each season or year change and have everything work. So this was the solution. This was my first crack at it, so I'm sure over time I may find something simplier or something that works better.

So I think I probably managed to answer a few questions and muddy the waters more. But you can see there is some powerful stuff you can do with S2 now. Your imagination and programming skills are the limit!

[Denny]

Michael,

Boy, that's more information than I ever expected! Thanks. I am printing this out so I can sit down and digest it! I think you just made my life much easier.

Here is what I am trying to do. I am experimenting with audioanimatronics this year; probably just one figure this year. I did a lot of reading on line and almost everyone recommended a program called Visual Show Automation (VSA) from Brookshire Software (http://brookshiresoftware.com/vsa_overview.htm). The software reminds me a lot of LOR, but it makes synchronizing the mouth movements very easy. The software can also control lighting, etc., but I want to keep that under the control of LOR since I am more familiar with it's capabilities and don't want to intermix two different systems to control the lighting. That is why I would like LOR to trigger the VSA for any animatronic movements. Since LOR had not released their servo controller yet, I bought a DMX512 servo controller to use for experimentation from Northlight Systems here in Tempe, AZ. Once the LOR servo controller is released, I believe that I might be able to use VSA to control that servo board also, but that will probably be an experiment that will be worked on for 2010. So, I am hoping that I can use the Windows Command in LOR to simultaneously launch VSA. Time will tell. Thanks again, you have really helped me out more than you will know with your detailed explanations!

[Ponddude]

Michael that was absolutely amazing!! I am actually standing and applauding. It truly answered a HUGE amount of questions I had. Let me explain what I want to do and see if you could help me out a little bit.

I was going to use the LEDTriks to display messages to the guests, however I am having a tough time integrating Vixen and S2....rightfully so. Also, the LEDTriks is a HUGE resource hog and I think my show computer won't be able to handle running the two programs. However, if I could use a standard LED sign, life would be much easier. My first question is what sign are you using?

Next, I just want the song name, artist and some sort of corny Christmas message to display with each song. Now when I create the .txt files, do they constantly scroll until the song ends or do they go through once and stop? If they do stop, is there a way to make the batch file play continuously until the song ends?

Next, where do I actually put the batch file in S2? Is there a special windows command section of S2? I was a beta tester and never experimented at all with it.

Next, I have this idea for a security plan that will involve trip strings. I wanted a way have an email sent as a text message to my phone when a particular security sequence starts. Would I be able to have a windows command send an email when a particular sequence starts?

I'm sorry for throwing out all these questions but you are a great wealth of information and I am so happy someone is willing to help out with this!!

[michael.farney]

Denny wrote:

Michael,

Boy, that's more information than I ever expected! Thanks. I am printing this out so I can sit down and digest it! I think you just made my life much easier.

Here is what I am trying to do. I am experimenting with audioanimatronics this year; probably just one figure this year. I did a lot of reading on line and almost everyone recommended a program called Visual Show Automation (VSA) from Brookshire Software (http://brookshiresoftware.com/vsa_overview.htm). The software reminds me a lot of LOR, but it makes synchronizing the mouth movements very easy. The software can also control lighting, etc., but I want to keep that under the control of LOR since I am more familiar with it's capabilities and don't want to intermix two different systems to control the lighting. That is why I would like LOR to trigger the VSA for any animatronic movements. Since LOR had not released their servo controller yet, I bought a DMX512 servo controller to use for experimentation from Northlight Systems here in Tempe, AZ. Once the LOR servo controller is released, I believe that I might be able to use VSA to control that servo board also, but that will probably be an experiment that will be worked on for 2010. So, I am hoping that I can use the Windows Command in LOR to simultaneously launch VSA. Time will tell. Thanks again, you have really helped me out more than you will know with your detailed explanations!

I just read my post and I called you Denis! LOL. Sorry about that. At any rate, if you can launch your VSA and it will automatically run the servo program you want, then it will work fine with with LOR shell commands. If you have to configure something in VSA or press play or anything like that, then it will not work with shell commands. You're off in a relm I'm not familiar with, so I'm afraid I won't be much help.

[michael.farney]

Ponddude wrote:

[snip]
I was going to use the LEDTriks to display messages to the guests, however I am having a tough time integrating Vixen and S2....rightfully so. Also, the LEDTriks is a HUGE resource hog and I think my show computer won't be able to handle running the two programs. However, if I could use a standard LED sign, life would be much easier. My first question is what sign are you using?

I use a betabrite sign. Hence, the betacom application. For ease, I recommend a betabrite sign either serial connection (betabrite classic) or USB (betabrite prism). Depending on what you get, you should be able to use either the betacom.exe or prismmsg.exe application from industrologic to control your sign from LOR. If you happen to use Zara Radio or Zara Studio for your before/after show music, you can integrate Zara with your LED sign too!


Ponddude wrote:

[snip] Next, I just want the song name, artist and some sort of corny Christmas message to display with each song. Now when I create the .txt files, do they constantly scroll until the song ends or do they go through once and stop? If they do stop, is there a way to make the batch file play continuously until the song ends?

This depends on your sign. This purely a function of your LED sign firmware, not S2, and not your batch file. Betabrites continuously repeat the message you input. I presume most if not all LED would do the same. Your batch file will look like this:
C:pathToBetacom.exe {your com port) {Your message style. Wipe, scroll,etc}{Your color choice} Your Text Here

Or better put, this is what my batch file would look like:
c:program filesbetacombetacom.exe com4 {wipedown} {Green} Wizards in Winter {orange}By: Trans-Siberian Orchestra {red}Merry Christmas from the Ponddude!!

Ponddude wrote:

Next, where do I actually put the batch file in S2? Is there a special windows command section of S2? I was a beta tester and never experimented at all with it.

Any file location on any hard drive or network drive. You'll just put that file path in your windows shell commands section.


Ponddude wrote:

Next, I have this idea for a security plan that will involve trip strings. I wanted a way have an email sent as a text message to my phone when a particular security sequence starts. Would I be able to have a windows command send an email when a particular sequence starts?

I'm sorry for throwing out all these questions but you are a great wealth of information and I am so happy someone is willing to help out with this!!

Err..batch files can't mail. That's the short answer. The long answer is you might be able to find a plugin or 3rd party application to do this. I did a google search on it and it appears some solutions are out there, but I didn't research them.

Just like all the goofy stuff I am doing in batch files, you could accomplish this in a roundabout way. For example, I use a program called PiraSide. This program monitors the audio output of the pc. If either Zara Radio or the LOR show goes down, it will send me a text. It will also take remedial action and try to resolve the issue. It actually disables and re-enables LOR to try to solve the problem. If that doesn't help, it will reboot the entire PC outright. So just off the cuff, here's one silly idea: I'm assuming you're using button triggers attached to your trip strings to get the sequence to play...? If it's during regular hours, you could have a batch file disable shows, and the audio shutting down will trigger the text message. (Plus, the batch file could re-enable shows after say 3 seconds, so your show would only go down for say 8 seconds.) If it's after hours and you're using zara radio, your sequence can play DTMF tones which will stop zara radio dead in its tracks. Then again, piraSide would text message you.

Anyways, that was a little random, but you get the idea. The point is you'll likely have to pull in some 3rd party software to accomplish your goal.

Another thought just hit me. Another easy way to accomplish this is via a website. You could have a webpage coded that the simple action of loading the webpage will text you. Then, just have the windows shell command box open internet explorer. I believe adding a dash and then the website URL will load up that page automatically. A little research would get you the answer for that. So there's two ways to get yourself a text message. :dude:

[SBontempo]

Oh Man, I'm having programming flashbacks!!! I thought this hobby was supposed to be fun, not involve programming!! :-)

[Jack Stevens]

OK, emailing from windows: Look for a program called "blat" - it will take a formatted text file and send it to a mail server. The format of the file is that of a text email. You can probably also do graphics, but I've never pushed it that far. I've used the program to email web forms written in perl.