🚀 go-pugleaf

I have a DOS window from within which I invoke a TCP/IP telnet session to
various hosts where certain text based applications are run.

I need to be able to change the window frame around a DOS window session
and put push-buttons in it. The window frame procedure would accept
a button, translate it to a string sequence and feed that into the
regular DOS window as if the user had typed it in. If the user kills
the window (or does EXIT from DOS) the window and its frame should
go away.

This is roughly what I'm talking about:

          +----------------------------------+
          |   (==) (==) (==) (==) (==) (==)  | <- Row of buttons
          +----------------------------------+    Each generating a string
          | File Edit etc...                 |    sequence that would get
          +----------------------------------+    fed into the
          |                                  | <- DOS window as if someone
          | Regular DOS window running       |    had typed them in...
          |   Telnet...                      |
          |                                  |
          /....                          ..../
          |                                  |
          +----------------------------------+

(NOTE: the buttons can also be placed below the MENU bar if need be...
 Also, the string sequences are ESCAPE sequences that simulate F-Keys.
 These buttons are essentially to be Soft Function keys).


Here are some ideas floating around as to how to do this:

- Get a TCP/IP development toolkit (which I have). Write a custom application
that is essentially telnet in a window with buttons on top. Write a
VT100/ANSI emulator to emulate the way the DOS window behaves.

- Use the MDI mechanism, create a subwindow that has the buttons,
  then try to invoke the DOS session through a DDE message
  to the program manager. (Sort of strange. Not sure if it would work).

- Try to find out how to write a Window definition process (sort of like
the Mac WDEF) that could be patched onto a version of the DOS window
and be responsible for drawing the frame and handling the control buttons.
This would be the ideal solution but I can't find anything that would
show me how to do this.


Any help, ideas, directions, swatches of code, etc... would be appreciated.

Please reply via e-mail. I don't get to read this group daily...
Thanks in advance...


Ramin Firoozye'
rp&A Inc.
San Francisco, CA.

rpa-inc@cup.portal.com