Playing Back Demonstrations

  1. Restore any files your demonstration updates to their initial state

  2. On the operating system command line, load the Redirect utility with this command:

    RED<x> -READ <drive:path:filename> <program name>

    For <x>, enter the identifying character for your operating system (2 for MS-DOS, 3 for UNIX, 5 for FlexOS, 7 for OS/2 and w for Windows)

    For example: REDW -READ custenq.red DP4 loads Redirect and the DP4 Menu system into memory. The keystrokes are read from the file CUSTENQ.RED in the current directory.

  3. Use the following keystrokes to control the demonstration:

    Key Action

    <Esc>

    Exit the Redirect playback at any time. With 4.520/4.616 or later, if you specify the command tail −safemode when you start the redirect program, a menu appears with options to:

    1. Ignore <Esc> and continue demonstration
    2. Ignore rest of file and continue running program manually
    3. Exit program
    <−> Reduce pause time

    <+>

    Increase pause time

    <Enter>

    Delay for one minute within a pause

    <Space bar>

    Delay as long as the key is held down within a pause

    You can hit the Escape key at any time, but the other keys mentioned above only work when the program is waiting at a pause.

  4. If there is a difference between the maps, fields and options referenced in the Redirect file and the program to which the file is played back, the Input redirection error popup is displayed:

    Input redirection file error at line n
Expected map   10200 field      1
Found    map       6 field      1

Select corrective action

1   Enter data from screen
2   Try next entry in file
3   Ignore rest of file

Enter option required

    This message usually highlights the difference between two systems (for example, where an option or field has been added).

  5. Enter 1 to select the next option manually or 2 to try the next option in the file (usually you should only do this immediately after using option 1 to correct the previous input)- if the redirect program encouters a wrong input field input it will not move onto the next input until you choose to do so. This caters for the situation where an additional input field has been added to a screen since the demonstration was created. If the keystrokes in the Redirect file are re-synchronised with the options and fields in the application, the demonstration continues.

    Playing back demonstrations can be a useful means of testing a new release of a DP4 system. If nothing else it is a good way of identifying parts of the system that have changed. If you use REDn for this purpose you will sometimes not want to know anything except which files can be played back. You can use the −testmode command tail to suppress the Input redirection error popup. With this command tail, if an redirection error occurs the program is terminated with System Error 162 and REDn exits with an error code of 3.

  6. The Redirect playback completes and you are returned to the command line.