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MODULAR SMART SWITCH 9.6 Sending Default Start-of-Day Destination Ports
At the start of each day, each port will be routed through to port 1. However,
for IBM compatible PCs, individual start-of-day destinations can be set for
each computer. To do this, create a text file containing the desired selection
command (see Section 9.5) and modify your AUTOEXEC.BAT file to send
this command when your computer powers on. For example, by including
the line “TYPE CONNECT2.TXT>COM1:” in your PC’s AUTOEXEC.BAT file
(after copying CONNECT2.TXT from the utility software disk to a suitable
directory on your PC), you can set the start-of-day default port for your
computer to be number 2.
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MODULAR SMART SWITCH
Where {name} is the name of the batch file that you are going to create and
{channel number} is the number of the port that you are going to connect to.
For example:
COPY CON: CONNECT2.TXT [enter]
<PM CONNECT 2>[function key 6][enter]
No spaces should be typed after the close angle bracket and before the
function key 6 is pressed. When function key 6 has been pressed, a ^Z will
appear on the screen at the end of the line. When the enter key is pressed,
the screen will display:
1 File(s) copied
This indicates that a file {name}.TXT has been created that contains the
software command text. It is not normally possible to use a word processor to
create this file, since most word processors insert a line feed and carriage
return at the end of each line. A file created with these extra characters could
upset your printouts by inserting a blank line at the top of your printout page.
This could cause laser printers to output a blank page and label printers to be
offset by one line.
At the DOS prompt, type:
COPY CON: {name}.BAT [enter]
TYPE {name}.TXT > {pc printer port}: [function key 6] [enter]
Where {name} is the name of the batch file that you are going to create and
{pc printer port} is the port that you wish to be routed to the required
printer—COM1, COM2, LPT1, LPT2, or LPT3. For example:
COPY CON: CONNECT2.BAT [enter]
TYPE CONNECT2.TXT>COM1: [function key 6][enter]
As before, the screen will display “1 File(s) copied,” which indicates that a
batch file {name}.BAT has been created containing the text “TYPE
{name}.TXT>{pc printer port}:.”
To send the software command that you have created in {name}.TXT, type
the batch file name at the DOS prompt. The above procedure can be used to
create a batch file to send any software command to any of your PC’s ports.