The Background (B) switch enables background mode, which sends all error messages to the file <srcfile>.lst instead of the screen. The format of each message is:
<filename>, <line#>, <error message>, <source line>
Background mode is mainly useful for integrating program compilation into an editor.
In COMPIL (1.4) and COMPLP (BASICplus) modes, the ISAM ( I ) switch causes ISAM 1.x statements to be accepted (and in the case of ambiguous open statements, for ISAM 1.x to be assumed). Otherwise, old ISAM statements are only accepted in OCMPIL mode. New file type open specifiers ISAM’INDEXED{‘EXCLUSIVE} and ISAMP’INDEXED{‘EXCLUSIVE} can be use to avoid ambiguity and to allow both ISAM 1.x and ISAM-A to coexist in the same program.
The Unmapped Variable List (MX) switch acts like /M except that it reports every line in which an unmapped variable appears, even if that variable has already been reported. Note that, as with other errors, typically only the first error on a line is reported. Otherwise you might get dozens of errors on each line due to the cascading effect.
History
2004 September, A-Shell 4.9.902: Switch added to A-Shell. See the Update note for edit 1177 related to List File (/LF) for an approach to getting a large number of unmapped variables under control.
The Silent (S) switch turns off the display of ++INCLUDE file names. This conflicts with the BASICplus compiler which uses /S for .SBR instead of .XBR subroutine extensions. Under A-Shell, subroutine name extensions are irrelevant, since subroutines are part of the A-Shell program and don't exist as separate files. Note that since eliminating the ++INCLUDE messages makes it difficult to determine which include file an error occurs in, the error message format is modified by this switch to include the file name and line number.
The Trace (T) switch displays source code as it is being processed. This sometimes makes it easier to track down errors, although the error messages always include the line numbers. You may want to use the PAGE.LIT utility to manage the speed of the display (e.g. PAGE COMPIL ABC/T).
