Here is a list of ASPECT resources that I have found on the web. If you are aware of additional ASPECT-related material that should be listed here, please send me an email with the URL.
First, AspectScripting.com hosts a mailing list for Procomm Plus users to discuss any ASPECT issues they may encounter. You may subscribe to this list by sending an email to tips-request@aspectscripting.com with the word subscribe in the body of the message. Additionally, I send an email to the list when I add new content to the site.
If you browse the "orphaned support files" here, you will find some tech bulletins that contain further information on the ASPECT language, as well as many example scripts.
Tek-Tips offers an Aspect (Procomm) Forum that sees quite a bit of use. Most of the users posting here are using ASPECT to interface with various telecom equipment. There is quite a bit of sample code contained within the messages.
For a time after Symantec purchased Quarterdeck, no Procomm Plus support was offered. Another Procomm Plus user created a couple Usenet groups on DejaNews that were somewhat frequented by other Procomm Plus users. I do not believe these groups are active anymore (they are not listed on my ISP's news server), but you can read the archives at Google. The two group names are dejanews.comm.procomm and dejanews.comm.procomm.aspect.
TextPad is a text editor that has two
user-provided add-ons that enable ASPECT syntax highlighting. The original
syntax definition can be found
here and
the newer definition can be found
here. I
found the original syntax file to be more complete. After I found this site, I
played with TextPad for a short time, but did not thoroughly investigate it.
Gilbert Hale, another ASPECT programmer,
took interest in TextPad after reading the above information. Working together,
we were able to create a more complete syntax file
for TextPad. We also put together a
document describing the
customizations that can be made to TextPad to mimic all the functionality of
Procomm's ASPECT Editor, and then some. If you do any amount of ASPECT
programming, you owe it to yourself to look into switching your development
environment to TextPad. Don't forget to support the makers of TextPad by
licensing their
application!
There are two additional modifications to make to TextPad that are not covered by the above document. The first is to select the Configure | Preferences menu item, scroll to Document Classes, select the name you gave the ASPECT class, then choose Syntax in the tree control. Add the # character to the Other characters in words field. This will allow you to double click on ASPECT preprocessor commands and view the discussion of those commands in the ASPECT help file. The second change allows you to compile debug ASPECT scripts without having to open the ASPECT Editor to toggle the debug flag in the Tools | Compiler Options dialog. To make this alteration, follow the steps in the document for adding a button to run the ASPECT compiler, but change the value of the Parameters field from $File (the default value) to /Z $File. The addition of the /Z flag tells the ASPECT compiler to create a debug script.
A fellow ASPECT user
pointed me to EditPlus, another editor
that can be configured to display ASPECT syntax. He took the TextPad syntax
file above, modified it for EditPlus, and I have made it available at this
link.
Steve Arnold made me aware of another editor, ConTEXT, that can be used to edit ASPECT
files. He also provided this highlighter file to use with
the editor.
If you would like Procomm Plus to be able to accept incoming TCP/IP connections, you can use COM/IP. I have tested an earlier version of this software with version 4.8 of Procomm Plus and it appeared to work well. You will need to use modem command mode in Procomm Plus as you must issue AT commands to the "modem" to configure it.
This script illustrates how to automate tasks on a Meridian PBX by mail merging a Word document and Excel spreadsheet, with the merged file being a script to perform updates to the switch.
John Williams has several useful scripts for Meridian users here, as well as a nifty implementation of the MD5 hash algorithm in ASPECT.
Another Tek-Tips user has some scripts for interfacing with Lucent equipment at this link.
Gregg Hommel wrote several ASPECT scripts in the early days of the Windows
version of Procomm Plus, and also posted several lessons on the ASPECT language
to various BBS networks. You can find a compilation of those articles
here. He later published an expanded ASPECT tutorial
series in WindoWatch, an online computer magazine. While mostly geared toward
version 2.x of the Windows product, most of Gregg's commentary still holds true
to the latest versions of Procomm Plus. You can download the various issues
with his articles by following the links below:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7
Part 8
Part 9
Part 10
Part 11
Part 12
Part 13
There are several scripts I was able to find on the web. I have only briefly looked them over, so I cannot guarantee proper operation of these scripts, but they may prove useful to you to further your understanding of ASPECT.
Two scripts used to control ham radio repeaters can be found here and here.
Two scripts to interface with Ericsson mobile phones can be found here.
Two example scripts to control a Sine Systems RFC-1/B transmitter remote control system can be found at this link. These scripts are for version 2.x of both the DOS and Windows releases of Procomm Plus.
A couple scripts (for both versions 2.x and 3.x of the Windows version of Procomm Plus) to control a Monterey 100c satellite receiver can be found in this compressed executable. You can read a little more information on the purpose of the scripts here.
This document maintained by
John Schultz. Material
Copyright © 2002-2017
Procomm Plus and ASPECT are registered trademarks of
Symantec Corporation