 WHATSNEW in the PCBoard Programming Language (PPL) version 3.10:
 ----------------------------------------------------------------

 - Added FINDFIRST() and FINDNEXT() functions.

   Syntax:

     FINDFIRST(FILESPEC)
     FINDNEXT()

   EXAMPLE 1:

     STRING str
     PRINTLN "Directory listing of *.*"

     LET str = FINDFIRST("*.*")
     WHILE (str != "") DO
       PRINTLN str
       LET str = FINDNEXT()
     ENDWHILE
     PRINTLN "Done!"

   EXAMPLE 2:

     STRING str
     PRINTLN "Deleting *.*"

     LET str = FINDFIRST("*.*")
     WHILE (str != "") DO
       DELETE str
       LET str = FINDNEXT()
     ENDWHILE
     PRINTLN "Done!"

   Both functions only return the filename.  Any other information normally
   returned in a findfirst/findnext implementation, such as file size, data
   time attributes, can be obtained through the fileinf function.  This way
   the string will not need to be parsed in PPL and execution will be much
   faster.

 - Added COMMAND statement.

     COMMAND ViaCmdLst,CommandLine

       ViaCmdLst
         A boolean value indicating whether or not to try to find the command
         in CMD.LST (TRUE means search CMD.LST, FALSE means do not; if TRUE
         and the command is not in CMD.LST, it will try the standard commands
         automatically, failing if the command does not exist)

       CommandLine
         A string value with the command and parameters to execute
         (like "R A Y O S")

   What does this mean?  It means, simply, that you can have a PPE do some
   setup processing, then run the message editor like this:

     COMMAND FALSE,"E"

   Then *regain* control at the statement *after* COMMAND and continue!  No
   more messy state files and keyboard stuffing just to run other commands!
   That's not to say that keyboard stuffing doesn't have it's place (it will
   continue to be very useful), but for certain types of processing, COMMAND
   can't be beat.  An example PPS file:

     CLS
     PRINTLN "You are about to enter a message..."
     WAIT
     COMMAND FALSE,"E SCOTT ROBISON"
     CLS
     PRINTLN "You are about to read a message..."
     WAIT
     COMMAND FALSE,"R O L"
     CLS

   As you can see, this allows you flexibility that wasn't possible before
   now.

   NOTES!!!  Not all portions of PCBoard are re-entrant.  For example, you
   should not try to have two message editor processes active at the same time
   (in other words, you shouldn't launch the message editor from within a MNU
   and then launch a PPE from a shifted function key that tries to enter
   another message).  So you'll need to be careful about *nested* COMMAND (or
   equivalent) calls.  But sequential processing shouldn't be a problem at
   all.

   If it is determined at some point in the future that allowing this
   flexibility causes more problems than it solves, the COMMAND statement will
   be scaled back to ensure that attempts are not made to re-enter code.  So
   use it well and wisely!

 - Due to a possible overflow in DATE values, the valid range of dates has
   been changed from 1/1/1900-12/31/79 to 1/1/1900-12/31/78.

   Dates from mm/dd/79 to mm/dd/99 will be considered 1900's, while dates from
   mm/dd/00 to mm/dd/00 to mm/dd/78 will be considered 2000's.

   NOTE:  Processing has also been changed to allow you to convert dates from
   the string form "mm/dd/yyyy" as well as the "mm/dd/yy" format.  In other
   words, you can now set DATE = "01/01/1936" and it will properly convert the
   date value.  However, conversion back (date back to a string) will still
   result in a 2- uia a l   d  a   bac  m
er,) drTbeabou yyyy"    ,                    a l            bac l   dln aammE0a(n  mm/dd a l   d  a