returning var back to calling batch file - variables

Question

i start a batch file to process some code, at a time it calls another batchfile and should get returned a variable, but the methods explained in man pages about local/endlocal seem not to work here, what am i doin wrong please?
first batch file:
#ECHO OFF
setlocal
call secondbatchfile.bat xyz
echo. [%val1%]
second batch file:
#if (#a==#b) #end /* <== btw what does this code do ???
#echo off
setlocal enabledelayedexpansion
set "URL=%~1"
set bla bla ...
do bla bla ...
for /f "delims=" %%I in ('cscript /nologo /e:jscript "%~f0" "%URL%"') do (
rem trim whitespace from beginning and end of line
for /f "tokens=*" %%x in ("%%~I") do set "line=%%x"
rem test that trimmed line matches "variable=number"
echo !line! | findstr /i "^to[a-z]*=[0-9]*" >NUL && (
rem test was successful. Scrape number.
for /f "tokens=2 delims==" %%x in ("%%I") do set "val1=%%x"
echo !val1! <== this works
ENDLOCAL & SET top=%val1% <== this not
)
)
this results in:
c:\test>firstbatchfile.bat
123456789 <== this works
[] <== this not
i tried different syntax of return var like !val1! or %%val1 - none worked. what am i missing?
UPDATE:
regarding to other example here on site i tried:
call seconbatchfile.bat xyz ret1
echo. [%2%] [%ret1%]
and in secon file changed:
rem ENDLOCAL & SET %2=!val1!
does not work either?
SOLUTION:
second batch file can be origin script from rojo reading out the whole website, i did leave the trim and match syntax lines to only return relevant matches:
for /f "delims=" %%I in ('cscript /nologo /e:jscript "%~f0" "%URL%"') do (
rem trim whitespace from beginning and end of line
for /f "tokens=*" %%x in ("%%~I") do set "line=%%x"
rem test that trimmed line matches "variable=number"
echo !line! | findstr /i "^[a-z]*=[0-9]*" >NUL && (
echo(%%I
)
)
and the first batch file calling it will do the search for two needed parameters like this:
#ECHO OFF
setlocal
for /f "delims=" %%I in ('secondbatchfile.bat "http://xyz"') do (
echo %%I | findstr /i "top" >NUL && (
for /f "tokens=2 delims==" %%x in ("%%I") do (
set "updir=%%x"
)
)
echo %%I | findstr /i "low" >NUL && (
for /f "tokens=2 delims==" %%x in ("%%I") do (
set "lowdir=%%x"
)
)
)
echo.[%updir%]
echo.[%lowdir%]
many thanks to rojo for fantastic code

Answer 1

The easiest solution is to have your second batch file echo its result, and capture it using a for loop in the first batch file. Cancelling your setlocal to pass an environment variable back to the calling script is a messy affair.
first.bat:
#echo off
setlocal
for %%x in (
"http://10.0.0.1/foo/vars.txt"
"http://10.0.0.1/bar/vars.txt"
"http://10.0.0.1/baz/vars.txt"
"http://10.0.0.1/qux/vars.txt"
"http://10.0.0.1/corge/vars.txt"
) do (
for /f "delims=" %%I in ('fetchvalue.bat "%%~x"') do (
set "val1=%%I"
)
echo.[%val1%]
)
fetchvalue.bat:
#if (#a==#b) #end /*
:: fetchvalue.bat <url>
:: output the "value" part of variable=value from a text file served by http
#echo off
setlocal
if "%~1"=="" goto usage
echo "%~1" | findstr /i "https*://" >NUL || goto usage
set "URL=%~1"
for /f "delims=" %%I in ('cscript /nologo /e:jscript "%~f0" "%URL%"') do (
rem trim whitespace from beginning and end of line
for /f "tokens=*" %%x in ("%%~I") do set "line=%%x"
rem test that trimmed line matches "variable=number"
echo !line! | findstr /i "^to[a-z]*=[0-9]*" >NUL && (
rem test was successful. Scrape number.
for /f "tokens=2 delims==" %%x in ("%%I") do echo(%%x
)
)
goto :EOF
:usage
echo Usage: %~nx0 URL
echo for example: %~nx0 http://www.google.com/
echo;
echo The URL must be fully qualified, including the http:// or https://
goto :EOF
JScript */
var x=new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");
x.open("GET",WSH.Arguments(0),true);
x.setRequestHeader('User-Agent','XMLHTTP/1.0');
x.send('');
while (x.readyState!=4) {WSH.Sleep(50)};
WSH.Echo(x.responseText);
Here's an example first.bat that will sort the fetched values, set low to the lowest value, and set high to the highest.
#echo off
setlocal enabledelayedexpansion
for %%x in (
"http://10.0.0.1/foo/vars.txt"
"http://10.0.0.1/bar/vars.txt"
"http://10.0.0.1/baz/vars.txt"
"http://10.0.0.1/qux/vars.txt"
"http://10.0.0.1/corge/vars.txt"
) do (
set low=
for /f "delims=" %%I in ('fetchvalue.bat "%%~x" ^| sort') do (
if not defined low set "low=%%I"
set "high=%%I"
)
echo low: !low!
echo high: !high!
)

Answer 2

Your inner batch file is ending by setting an environment variable named top: set top=%val1%. You'll need to change that to set val1=%val1%.
...
echo !val1!
ENDLOCAL & SET val1=%val1%