Using PC-DOS 3.00 and QBX.EXE Will Give SHELL Problems (62774)

SYMPTOMS

When using QuickBasic Extended (QBX.EXE) version 7.00 or 7.10 under PC-DOS version 3.00, if you first generate a PC-DOS "Bad command or file name" error on a SHELL statement, then any subsequent uses of the SHELL statement with any parameter will result in the "Bad command or file name" error until you restart QBX.EXE. To work around this problem, you can either use QuickBasic version 4.50, or upgrade to either MS-DOS or a newer version of PC-DOS, or compile the program and run it outside of the environment with the near strings option (without /Fs).

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a bug in Microsoft Basic Professional Development System (PDS) versions 7.00 and 7.10 under PC-DOS 3.00. We are researching this problem and will post new information here as it becomes available.

This problem does not occur in Microsoft QuickBasic versions 4.00, 4.00b, or 4.50, or in Microsoft Basic Compiler versions 6.00 or 6.00b under PC-DOS.

The following code example demonstrates the problem:

Code Example

   SHELL "Errorxyz"      ' This will cause the first "Bad command or
                         ' file name" error.
   SHELL "CLS"           ' This is supposed to work but it gives a "bad

                         ' command or file name" error