It took me a little while to discover why several icons I had previously used to start the program with different data files were not working properly after installing version 7. The procedure below fixed my problem.
It appears the Alpha folks may have omitted a useful feature from their new "a4.bat" used to start the program in Version 7. I edited that new a4.bat batch file and added the replaceable parameters %1 %2 %3 %4 %5 %6 %7 %8 %9 to the end of the line that begins "a4v7.exe". This allowed sending up to nine startup parameters to Alpha Four upon executing the program. For example, if you edit the line to read:
a4v7.exe -2 %1 %2 %3 %4 %5 %6 %7 %8 %9
it will then behave like the former a4.bat under version 6 and below, allowing you to start the program with different databases or applications and other startup instructions. You just add the desired parameters to your command line in an icon's properties. For example, if the program is installed in the directory (or folder) "a4v7", the command line
C:a4v7a4.bat C:companyinventory -d#c:company
would load Alpha Four with the C:companyinventory.dbf file loaded, and set the default script directory to "C:company".
You probably don't need to add all 9 of these replaceable parameters to the batch file, but it won't hurt to include them all. I presume that modifying the new a4.bat file in this manner will have no adverse impact. I haven't noticed any problems. Maybe the Alpha Four folks will let us know if any cautions are in order.
Larry
It appears the Alpha folks may have omitted a useful feature from their new "a4.bat" used to start the program in Version 7. I edited that new a4.bat batch file and added the replaceable parameters %1 %2 %3 %4 %5 %6 %7 %8 %9 to the end of the line that begins "a4v7.exe". This allowed sending up to nine startup parameters to Alpha Four upon executing the program. For example, if you edit the line to read:
a4v7.exe -2 %1 %2 %3 %4 %5 %6 %7 %8 %9
it will then behave like the former a4.bat under version 6 and below, allowing you to start the program with different databases or applications and other startup instructions. You just add the desired parameters to your command line in an icon's properties. For example, if the program is installed in the directory (or folder) "a4v7", the command line
C:a4v7a4.bat C:companyinventory -d#c:company
would load Alpha Four with the C:companyinventory.dbf file loaded, and set the default script directory to "C:company".
You probably don't need to add all 9 of these replaceable parameters to the batch file, but it won't hurt to include them all. I presume that modifying the new a4.bat file in this manner will have no adverse impact. I haven't noticed any problems. Maybe the Alpha Four folks will let us know if any cautions are in order.
Larry
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