I am a novice programmer/IT guy at my family owned real estate finance business. Long story short, we created a dBASE III based application system to track all customer accounts about 25-30 years ago. The cost to change to a modern system would be astronomical and since I can code with some reasonable efficiency we keep it. It does all right, but everyone is using a single user version on separate workstations. I want to install dBASE administrator and change things over to a networked environment. I figured going into it I would be a little out of my depth but would be able to work through it. I am currently running this on a Windows XP system, no internet connection, all simply LANd together.
I got the install disk image from vetusware. I mounted the image via Virtual Floppy. In the command prompt I navigate to the disk and follow the instructions from the manual:
- Insert System Disk #1 in drive A.
- Change the default drive to A by typing A:[return]
So far so good...I have an A prompt.
Then type: A> INSTALL C: DBA
I type the "INSTALL C: DBA", it launched the "INSTALL.BAT" found on the disk, but quickly reports back "goto was unexpected at this time." and returns me to the A prompt.
I will post the batch file text below. Upon execution it displays the top bit of "echoed" text finishing with "...previous version of dBASE." But then the next line is the "goto was unexpected..."
It seems like this is something wrong with the INSTALL batch file and nothing that I am doing... I know that that is a batch file error and not an error from within the program. Also odd, the program mentions this DBA.COM and it is nowhere to be found on any of the disks... Any help or guidance anyone can provide would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks a lot,
Chris
echo off
cls
echo
echo dBASE III PLUS VERSION 1.1
echo HARD DISK INSTALLATION
echo
echo You can copy dBASE III PLUS to your hard disk by following
echo these installation instructions. You can also use these
echo instructions to install dBASE ADMINISTRATOR.
echo
echo If you want to save a previously installed version of dBASE,
echo uninstall it using that version's UNINSTAL program.
echo
echo If you choose not to save a previous version, install dBASE
echo III PLUS Version 1.1 into the same directory. This will auto-
echo matically erase the previous version of dBASE.
echo
if "%1==" goto Helpinst
for %%f in (C:,c:,D:,d:,E:,e:,F:,f:,G:,g:,H:,h:,Y:,y:) do if %1.==%%f. goto START
for %%f in (I:,i:,J:,j:,K:,k:,L:,l:,M:,m:,N:,n:,O:,o:,P:,p:,Z:,z:) do if %1.==%%f. goto START
for %%f in (Q:,q:,R:,r:,S:,s:,T:,t:,U:,u:,V:,v:,W:,w:,X:,x:) do if %1.==%%f. goto START
goto BADDRIVE
:START
if "==%2" goto DBASE
if %2.==DBA. goto DBA
if %2.==dba. goto DBA
goto Helpinst
:DBASE
echo dBASE III PLUS will be installed on drive %1
echo
yn Y N 30 Do you want to continue (Y/N)?
if ERRORLEVEL 1 goto DBASE1
goto END
:DBASE1
if exist dbase.lod goto ID
if exist %1dbase.exe goto ErrExist
if exist %1dba.com goto ERREXT
if not exist id.exe goto MISS
%1
a:id /S
a:
echo Copying files to drive %1 . . .
echo
copy dbase.exe %1
copy dbaseinl.ovl %1
copy dbase.msg %1
if not exist %1config.db copy config.db %1
if not exist %1config.sys copy config.sys %1
:SYS2
echo
echo Insert the dBASE III PLUS System Disk #2 in drive A.
echo
pause
if not exist dbase.ovl goto SYS2
echo
echo Copying files to drive %1 . . .
echo
copy dbase.ovl %1
copy help.dbs %1
copy assist.hlp %1
if not exist %1dbase.ovl goto ErrDbase
if not exist %1dbase.exe goto ErrDbase
if not exist %1dbase.msg goto ErrDbase
if not exist %1dbaseinl.ovl goto ErrDbase
echo
echo dBASE III PLUS has been successfully installed.
goto End
:DBA
echo dBASE ADMINISTRATOR will be installed on drive %1
echo
yn Y N 30 Do you want to continue (Y/N)?
if ERRORLEVEL 1 goto Ad1
goto END
:Ad1
if exist dba.lod goto GETSYS1
if exist %1dba.com goto ERREXT
if exist %1dbase.exe goto ErrExist
if not exist dbaseinl.ovl goto GETSYS1
echo
echo Copying files to drive %1 . . .
echo
copy help.dbs %1
echo
:AD2
echo
echo Insert the Administrator #1 disk in drive A
echo
pause
echo
if not exist dba.lod goto AD2
:AD3
if exist installh.sg3 goto INITDBA
if not exist idlan.exe goto MISS
%1
a:idlan /M
a:
installh p=a t=%1
if ERRORLEVEL 1 goto ErrDBA
echo
copy dba.lod %1\dbnetctl.300
copy dbase.msg %1
copy protect.exe %1
copy assist.hlp %1
echo
:Ad4
echo
echo Insert the Administrator #2 disk in drive A
echo
pause
echo
if not exist dba.ovl goto AD4
echo Copying files to drive %1 . . .
echo
copy dba.ovl %1
copy adduser.com %1
echo
echo dBASE ADMINISTRATOR has been successfully installed
echo
echo One user may now run dBASE ADMINISTRATOR. To add more users,
echo run the ADDUSER program. The ADDUSER program is located in
echo the directory in which dBASE ADMINISTRATOR is installed.
echo
goto END
:Helpinst
echo You entered the command incorrectly. The correct syntax is:
echo
echo "INSTALL <drive:>" To install dBASE III PLUS.
echo
echo "INSTALL <drive:> DBA" To install dBASE ADMINISTRATOR.
echo
echo Install is aborted.
goto End
:ErrExist
echo
echo dBASE III PLUS already exists in the destination drive.
goto ErrUnst
:ERREXT
echo
echo dBASE ADMINISTRATOR already exists in the destination drive.
:ErrUnst
echo
echo Install is aborted.
goto End
:BADDRIVE
echo
echo Invalid drive letter specified. Install is aborted.
goto Helpinst
:ErrDbase
echo
echo dBASE III PLUS is not installed. Install is aborted.
goto END
:MISS
echo
echo Your system disk has missing files. Install is aborted.
echo
goto DELFILE
:ID
echo
echo dBASE III PLUS has not been identified. Please run ID.
echo
goto END
:INITDBA
echo
echo dBASE ADMINISTRATOR has not been identified. Please run IDLAN.
echo
goto DELFILE
:GETSYS1
echo
echo Please use the dBASE III PLUS System Disk #1 to run the installation.
echo Install is aborted.
echo
goto END
:ErrDBA
echo
echo dBASE ADMINISTRATOR installation has been aborted.
echo
:DELFILE
if exist %1help.dbs del %1help.dbs
:End
Your problem is that the install script was written for the MS-DOS command interpreter (COMMAND.COM) and isn't compatible with the Windows XP command interpreter (cmd.exe). The specific problem is that the XP interpreter gives special meaning to double quote characters (") while the MS-DOS interpreter doesn't. This causes the following line to be interpreted differently, as an error, under XP:
if "%1==" goto Helpinst
I don't recommend trying to "fix" the script to be Windows XP compatible. Aside from the fact that there a number of lines like this you would have to fix, there's a much simpler solution. Just use the MS-DOS command interpreter. You can do this by entering command at the command prompt. Then just follow the instructions as normal. For example:
command
a:
install c: dba