Unimplemented And Deprecated Commands
Several typescript commands in Analytica are left over from a bygone era. Analytica was once called Demos, and in the 1980s didn't even have a graphical user interface -- everything was done from a typescript window. Some commands have become obsolete over the years, some where not re-implemented during codebase ports to new operating systems, and some are still functional to some extent but are considered deprecated -- long since replaced by superior alternatives. Some commands were introduced long ago for experimental purposes, but were never documented or supported.
All these deprecated and unimplemented commands are subject to removal from Analytica and ADE in future releases. None are officially supported. Nevertheless, if you are poking around in the internal namespace, you may encounter some of these and wonder why that are or were. They are documented here so you can avoid wasting your time trying to figure out if they do something you need.
Unimplemented Commands
These simply print "Sorry, not implemented", or in some cases do nothing.
- Append
- CloseGraph
- The command to use is Close Graph v
- GetURL, ReadURL
- Despite the intriguing names, these do nothing, and apparently never have.
- Graph
- Map
- Repeat
- Scatter
- Scribe
Deprecated
- Activate
- At one time, perhaps on the Mac, it activated another named application. I'm not quite sure what that means In Windows, it prints a message that it is activating the app, takes about 2 seconds, but nothing visible happens. Synonymous with the SetPath command.
- Append
- Now prints: ? Sorry, this command is no longer supported
- AskPause
- Brings up a message box, "Do you want to keep reading from «file»?" The «file» filler will be blank if you execute this from typescript, but if you were to place this in a model file, you might see something.
- Color
- Now prints: ? Sorry, this command is no longer supported
- Comment
- Now prints: ? Sorry, this command is no longer supported
- DdeExecute, DdeInitiate
- These do nothing. These were an experimental version in an early Mac version of Analytica, have never done anything in the Windows edition.
- EditTable
- Now prints: ? Sorry, this command is no longer supported
- Use can, however, use: Open Definition x
- GetResource
- This is a left-over from the Macintosh version of Analytica. The Mac filesystem has a resource fork, and this command was used for reading from that fork. Not used in Windows.
- Help, MoreHelp
- Now prints: ? Sorry, this command is no longer supported
- Laser
- Now prints: ? Sorry, this command is no longer supported
- MacScribe
- Now prints: ? Sorry, this command is no longer supported
- Manual
- Now prints: ? Sorry, this command is no longer supported
- You can open the user guide using: ShowPdfFile(GetRegistryValue("HKLM", "ANAVER", "UserGuide"))
- Need
- OpenFile
- This one displays a false error message about there not being enough memory. At some point in the distant past, it has something to do with reading in image files (pictures). Was never officially supported.
- Send
- I think this was used in the Mac world for apple event processing. It sends a script to a named program. Syntax:
- Send [<object-name> | '<script>'] [to] <app-name>
- In Windows, I believe this is obsolete. I have no idea if it actually works or does anything.
- SetPath
- This seems to be synonymous with the Activate command. See Activate.
- Slide
- Now prints: ? Sorry, this command is no longer supported
- Tutorial
- Now prints: ? Sorry, this command is no longer supported
- You can open the tutorial manual using: ShowPdfFile(GetRegistryValue("HKLM", "ANAVER", "Tutorial"))
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