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BatchStudios is a simple studio to develop Batch programs. It has a syntax highlighter, can debug your code, and compile them to executables (.EXE).

I also put shortcut keys on this one, like F5 will debug your project and F9 will build it.

If you want to open a .BAT file with BatchStudios, just drag the BAT file onto the executable or the shortcut and it will open it.

This is great for anyone looking to learn Batch (Batch may not seem useful, but it comes in handy occasionally).

-img removed because there is a newer version-

Here is the download for BatchStudios, and below that is the download for the compiled code (.EXE) file that is written in the screenshot above:

Download BatchStudios
Download CALL Example

Please report any errors or suggestions to me.

Nice little VB tool.
I had not enough time to test all features. You should change the highlighter a bit. Something like %datetime% is fully highlighted. Don't check words enclosed in percent signs for key words - those cannot be commands.
Compare the entire word. E.g. date is a command and time as well, but datetime is nothing.
You could ignore expressions followed after echo ( except there are signs like &<>| ).

Regards
aGerman

aGerman wrote:Nice little VB tool.
I had not enough time to test all features. You should change the highlighter a bit. Something like %datetime% is fully highlighted. Don't check words enclosed in percent signs for key words - those cannot be commands.
Compare the entire word. E.g. date is a command and time as well, but datetime is nothing.
You could ignore expressions followed after echo ( except there are signs like &<>| ).

Regards
aGerman

Thanks. :3

But I'm not really that advanced in VB. Mostly because I like to use C# and other languages, and I only return to VB if I want to do a difficult but short project.

I honestly have no clue how to highlight words in between the "%"'s in VB. All the highlighter does is search for certain words/characters, and if it find it it highlights it.

Also, I may come back and try and update this. But I'm mostly working on FreEzey software (FreEzey is a programming language I have created, with the words "Free" (free as in, free to editing, it's meant to be edited for every software, and "Easy", because it's based on a basic tag system). I've already made a compiler.

BatchStudios does need more work, but if you guys want I'll post the source code.

It need NetFramework 2.0 to run. well, I am not very much interested in VB but, still i love the programs made in it.
Theres another application, you can use it for making batch files... I think you already know that application., its Notepad++. Its a simple and amazing application. You can get it from here... http://www.filehippo.com/download_notepad/

shajanjp wrote:It need NetFramework 2.0 to run. well, I am not very much interested in VB but, still i love the programs made in it.
Theres another application, you can use it for making batch files... I think you already know that application., its Notepad++. Its a simple and amazing application. You can get it from here... http://www.filehippo.com/download_notepad/

The whole point of this is that you can compile your batch files into executables.

And .NET Framework I'm quite sure comes with like SP2 and also comes with like, half the software on the internet. How can you not have it?

Also, I use Notepad2. I just like it better. It also has a Batch syntax highlighter.

nitt wrote:The whole point of this is that you can compile your batch files into executables.

I guess in case of batch it's a disadvantage to create an .exe file and definitely you cannot compile it!
All bat2exe tools create nothing but an installer-like self extracting archive. If you double click it the origin source code will be extracted to the %temp% directory and executed there.
That means:
- Some antivir software will detect it because it creates and executes files like malware does.
- It's not true that you can hide the source code because it is visible during the run time. Have a look at the %temp% dir.
- Because the code is executed in %temp% (or one of its sub directories) a lot of such files cannot process other files placed relative to the .exe files.
- For the same reason often parameters will not work or they will result in a wrong value (like %0)
- You lose the advantage of easy editing.

nitt wrote:Also, I use Notepad2. I just like it better. It also has a Batch syntax highlighter.

For sure there are a lot of good editors with syntax highlighting. Notepad++ is one of the most common. I often use PSPad or PROTON. Finally I guess it's a matter of taste or habit which of them one prefer.

Regards
aGerman

aGerman wrote:

nitt wrote:The whole point of this is that you can compile your batch files into executables.

I guess in case of batch it's a disadvantage to create an .exe file and definitely you cannot compile it!
All bat2exe tools create nothing but an installer-like self extracting archive. If you double click it the origin source code will be extracted to the %temp% directory and executed there.
That means:
- Some antivir software will detect it because it creates and executes files like malware does.
- It's not true that you can hide the source code because it is visible during the run time. Have a look at the %temp% dir.
- Because the code is executed in %temp% (or one of its sub directories) a lot of such files cannot process other files placed relative to the .exe files.
- For the same reason often parameters will not work or they will result in a wrong value (like %0)
- You lose the advantage of easy editing.

nitt wrote:Also, I use Notepad2. I just like it better. It also has a Batch syntax highlighter.

For sure there are a lot of good editors with syntax highlighting. Notepad++ is one of the most common. I often use PSPad or PROTON. Finally I guess it's a matter of taste or habit which of them one prefer.

Regards
aGerman

That's what BatchStudio does. When you debug it, it creates a .bat file and runs that. But when you "compile"/build it, it creates an executable that just temporarily extracts the .BAT from the .EXE, and deletes it when it's done running. So it's like it compiles it.

This is also the method I used for my programming language, FreEzey. It converts the language into something that the computer can read, and the creates an executable for it. Except with FreEzey you can actually make full applications.

This is actually a very simple method. All it requires is writing an SED file, then using the command prompt and IExpress to compile that SED file.

But with it you can "compile" any file format on your computer. Even HTML or TXT files. You just need ResHack to change the icons.

I fully understood what your tool does.
When I wrote that you cannot compile a batch code I had in mind what happens if you create an executable. Finally its a container with the origin source file inside. Real compiling means that the source code it parsed. Simplyfied a compiler "understands" what the source code does and it creates machine code which is able to do exactly the same.

How ever. There are two bugs you should try to fix:
- Run the extracted batch code in the same environment like the executable.
Test: %cd% and %~dp0 should definitly contain the the directory where the .exe file is placed.
- Enable arguments.

Regards
aGerman

aGerman wrote:I fully understood what your tool does.
When I wrote that you cannot compile a batch code I had in mind what happens if you create an executable. Finally its a container with the origin source file inside. Real compiling means that the source code it parsed. Simplyfied a compiler "understands" what the source code does and it creates machine code which is able to do exactly the same.

How ever. There are two bugs you should try to fix:
- Run the extracted batch code in the same environment like the executable.
Test: %cd% and %~dp0 should definitly contain the the directory where the .exe file is placed.
- Enable arguments.

Regards
aGerman

I'm not sure about running it in the executable. But I thought that a TEMP envoriment wouldn't be such a bad idea. And enabling arguments is actually harder than it sounds.

I did, however, make a HUGE update.

Now you have a Resource Manager. This allows you to make your executable hold more than one file.
So like, if you make one named "d.bat" and add it to your resources, when coding the other batch file you can call on "d.bat".
You can add any file you want, and call on it later. Not just Batch files, but ANY file.

I also added "Build Type" under the "Debug / Build" thing. This allows you to switch between building an EXE, COM, CAB, or PIF file. I'm not sure if there are really any other application files like these, so I probably won't add any more.

You can also now save .CMD file instead of just .BAT and .TXT. You can compile all of them, included the TXT file. But if you compile the TXT, it just ads it to the resources and sets it to launch first.

Just redownload it, because it's now V 1.5. And enjoy! :3

I will try and figure out the stuff you have suggested.