Updated May 2015; see History

SEND applies to both Windows and UNIX, and although it operates differently in each case, the general idea is pretty much just like the AMOS equivalent.

SEND {switches} <target name> <message>

The two optional switches are /T and /B, which cause the message to appear on the top or bottom status line, respectively, of the target terminal, rather than at the current cursor location. This assumes that the target terminal supports status line operations; otherwise the switch is ignored.

The <target name> may be either the job name or the login user name of the person you want to send a message to, or "ALL", "TODOS", or "TOUS" for everyone. (You can use the SYSTAT command to help you determine which job and user names are available.)

Under UNIX, SEND is implemented via the operating system’s signal delivery system. If the target is running PolyShell, then the message will appear in a pop-up window. Otherwise, the message will simply appear at the current screen cursor location, overwriting whatever was there previously.

Because of UNIX security rules, it is impossible for one user to send signals to another unless the first user has superuser privileges, or unless they are both sharing the same effective user ID. See File Ownership and Privileges for instructions on achieving this.

Under Windows, SEND is implemented using the "Inter Job Communication" (IJC) system, which was introduced in A-Shell 4.6. Unless the /T or /B switch is specified, the message is displayed in an independent pop-up window using the AWMSG.EXE utility which is distributed with A-Shell. The message window initially appears on top of all other windows, and does not interfere with the target A-Shell window in any way.

History

2015 May, A-Shell 6.1.1408, SEND.LIT 2.2B(123):  Updated routine to recognize and preserve a new unique identifer field in the JOBTBL. The new version is backward compatible with earlier versions of A-Shell and has a "B" in the version number to help easily identify it.

2011 September, A-Shell 5.1.1235:  Minor adjustment to drop the sending job name from the message (in order to allow more space for the message itself, since part of that space was taken over for the new expanded program name.)