Set Paths Menu in QB 4.50 Finds $INCLUDE and Library Files (45051)

SUMMARY

The Set Paths menu item in the Options menu is a feature new to the QuickBasic Version 4.50 environment. (Earlier versions of the QuickBasic editor do not have an Options menu or a Set Paths option.) QBX.EXE for Microsoft Basic PDS Version 7.00 also has this feature.

The Set Paths option lets you establish the search path that the QB.EXE environment will use for finding executable (.EXE, .COM) files, $INCLUDE files, library files (.LIB, .QLB), and the help file (.HLP). The search paths specified in Set Paths work in addition to any paths that were SET with MS-DOS environment variables (such as SET PATH=, SET INCLUDE=, and SET LIB=).

Note that QuickBasic Versions 1.00, 1.01, 1.02, 2.00, 2.01, 3.00, 4.00, and 4.00b for MS-DOS and Microsoft Basic Compiler Versions 6.00 and 6.00b for MS-DOS do NOT support the MS-DOS SET INCLUDE search path (for QB.EXE or BC.EXE). The support for SET INCLUDE is added for QuickBasic Version 4.50 and Basic PDS 7.00.

MORE INFORMATION

More information about the Set Paths menu is on Pages 220-221 and 271-272 of the "Microsoft QuickBasic: Learning to Use" manual for QuickBasic Version 4.50.

The SET command in MS-DOS can also specify a subdirectory path with the INCLUDE environment variable to search for $INCLUDE files. Both QB.EXE and BC.EXE (in QuickBasic Versions 4.00, 4.00b, and 4.50 and in Basic PDS 7.00) find $INCLUDE files along the path specified by the INCLUDE environment variable.

The following is an example of the MS-DOS SET command that specifies the INCLUDE file path. It can be invoked in an AUTOEXEC.BAT batch file or typed at the DOS prompt.

SET INCLUDE=D:\QB45\INCLUDE

The Set Paths menu item is an additional method for finding $INCLUDE files when compiling in the QB.EXE Version 4.50 environment and in the QBX.EXE Version 7.00 environment.