At 12:20 AM 12/3/98 -0000, Andy Leates wrote:
>Does anyone know how to label a DLT Tape, or any other removable media for
>that matter?

One specifies the tape label information in the parameters to the FOPEN()
or HPFOPEN() intrinsic call or on a file equation used to access the tape
drive.
MPE will write the appropriate label on the tape as part of that operation.

If one simply wants to write a label on a tape without writing any data or
writing a simple program, use FCOPY to write to the tape with a FILE equation.
For example:

:FILE mytape;DEV=tape;LABEL=dlt123,ANS,12/25/98
:FCOPY FROM=$NULL;TO=*mytape
:EOD

From the HP LaserROM (26Feb97), the pertinent options on the FILE command are:

[;NOLABEL                                  ]
[;LABEL=[[volid][,[IBM][,[expdate][,seq]]]]]
[       [       [ [ANS]                  ]]]

where

NOLABEL or LABEL   Indicates if this tape is labeled or unlabeled.
                   NOLABEL specifies an unlabeled tape.  LABEL
                   specifies a labeled tape.  Default is NOLABEL.

volid              Up to six alphanumeric characters identifying a
                   labeled magnetic tape volume.  If a special
                   character, such as # is specified, volid must be
                   surrounded by quotation marks (for example, FILE
                   LT;DEV=TAPE; LABEL="#12345",ANS).

ANS or IBM         Type of standard label.  ANS is ANSI-standard
                   label.  IBM is IBM-standard label.  Default is ANS.

expdate            Month, day, year, written in the format mm/dd/yy.
                   This specifies the expiration date of the file, or
                   the date after which information contained in the
                   file is no longer useful.  The file can be
                   overwritten without operator reconfirmation after
                   this date.  Default is 00/00/00; the file can be
                   overwritten immediately.

seq                Either an absolute file number between 1 and 9999
                   (inclusive), or one of the following, which
                   specifies the position of the file relative to
                   other files on the tape:

                   0        Causes a search of all volumes
                            until the file is found.

                   ADDF     ADDF positions the tape to
                            add a new file on the end of
                            the volume (or last volume in
                            a multivolume set).  Note
                            that ADDF should not be used
                            to add to a new labeled tape
                            volume.

                   NEXT     NEXT positions the tape at
                            the next file on the tape.
                            If this is the first FOPEN or
                            HPFOPEN, then NEXT causes the
                            tape to be positioned to the
                            first file on the tape.  If
                            the previous FCLOSE specified
                            REWIND, the tape backspaces
                            to the last file, and the
                            position is as it was on the
                            previous file.  This is the
                            default.
--
Jeff Woods
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