TSE needs built-in help menu, -v version switch

[Eric Pement]

I think TSE (e32 and g32) should have a built-in help menu that is automatically invoked by appending "--help" or "-?" or "/?" on the command-line .  I know that TSE supports several command-line option switches.

Yet another suggestion: add a new -v option switch to print the version of TSE and exit.

I am a very long-time user of Take Command and TCC (formerly 4DOS), so I wrote a TCC batch file to remind me of the option switches I can pass to TSE on the command line. I hope someone else can use this or modify it. TCC batch files end in *.btm (short for "batch file in memory") with better features for displaying menus and such.

> type tse.btm
@echo off
:: filename: tse.btm
:: requires: Take Command interpreter TCC.exe

if "%1" eq "-?" .or. "%1" eq "/?" .or. "%1" eq "--help" goto help

:: modify the path to g32 as needed
c:\tools\TSEPro\g32.exe %*
goto end

:help
TEXT
TSE Professional v4.50, The SemWare Editor

  Programmer's editor distributed free of charge from https://semware.com
  Compiled for the Windows console (e32.exe) and as a GUI application (g32.exe).
  This script invokes the GUI application as "tse".

Usage:
  tse [files] [-options] [files]     # hyphen switches precede the files they affect
       or
  tse //                             # emits version, date, default settings

Options:
  -a WILDCARD.SPEC     Load by OS wildcard, not LoadWildFromDOS variable
  -a- WILDCARD.SPEC    Use TDE picklist to manage wildcard specifications
  -b[LineLength]       Load in binary mode with integer LineLength (default 64)*
  -e MacroFilename     Load and Execute compiled macros
  -h                   Load in hex mode
  -iDirectoryPath      Include this dir in the Editor Load Directory list*
  -k KeyMacroFilename  Load key macros from file
  -l MacroFilename     Load compiled macros from file
  -n Line[,Column]     Move cursor to Line (and optional Column)
  -r                   Restore editing environment from last session
  -s FILES             Search subdirectories to find filespecs
  -y                   Load in Browse mode (Read-Only)
  -1                   Permit only one (1) instance of the editor
  -1-                  Start editor in a separate, non-shared instance

Option switches may appear anywhere on the command line, but they only affect
files after the switch. Files on the command line before the switch are
unaffected.

* Switches -b and -i require a parameter which must immediately follow without
a space character between them.
ENDTEXT

:end

[S.E. Mitchell]

I will certainly consider this.
Thanks for the suggestion!

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[Tom Collins]

This is a great idea!

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/semware/CA%2BgEvkaqAKFMZTZwX6Q2KTPcfVv4DuHvFbwjsDvR1Htv9%3D%2BUTA%40mail.gmail.com.

[S.E. Mitchell]

I just noticed:

>>> -a- WILDCARD.SPEC Use TDE picklist to manage wildcard specifications

What is the TDE stuff? :)
(Yes, I know what TDE is!)

On Tue, Dec 16, 2025 at 4:10 AM Eric Pement <eric....@gmail.com> wrote:
>

[Eric Pement]

About that TDE picklist . . . It could be a typo, because D and S are next to each other on the keyboard.

Or it could be a subconscious confusion (a Freudian slip?), since I use both TDE and TSE very frequently. And in my case, they're both mapped to the WordStar command set, which only confounds the problem!

(BTW, good catch!)

Eric