Alessandro Levi Montalcini
C.so Re Umberto 10
10121 Torino
Italy
e-mail: lmontalcini@pmn.it

List Files 2.4 documentation - September 1994

• Shareware - $5 - cash only
◊  This utility is distributed as shareware: if you like it please honor the shareware system by sending $5 to the author at the address above. Since cashing international cheques is very expensive, please send cash only (U.S. dollars are best, but any European currency is fine). Use the “Save Registration Form…” button below to generate a ready-to-print text file with all the data I need, then print it with SimpleText or with your word processor (don’t worry about formatting the text). If you don’t like printed stuff just write down a note with your name, your address and the name and version of the program you’re registering.
◊  If you work on the Macintosh, there are many things you can send me instead of the money. Here are some suggestions: original software (but don’t send any shareware/freeware unless you’re the author), books or computer-related magazines (any free issue or subscription is welcome), CD-ROMs, any piece of new or used hardware, or anything else you’ve created.
◊  There’s still another thing you could do: I’ll finish my physics studies sometime in 1996 and I’m looking for a one-year job as a programmer (or maybe a scientist?) outside of Italy. Write to me if you have anything to offer.
◊  If you can’t afford any of the above, an e-mail, a postcard or a letter will be welcome. I speak English, French and Italian. Please forgive me if I don’t answer to all of your letters - I am often overloaded with my school work.

• Introduction
◊  List Files is a handy utility that creates a text catalog of anything you drop on it. You can format the text in many ways and set up file filters to look for specific files. You may create different worksets that can be recalled either from a menu or by holding down some keys when you drop things on List Files’ icon, so you can switch between cataloging your floppies and searching for big text files in a flash. List Files can save your catalogs automatically to different destination folders, so you don’t have to save them manually for every disk or cartridge you want to list. It can also search entire folders very quickly to find a specific file inside one of your catalogs.
◊  List Files lets you edit your file lists, even though it can only display 32K of text in its windows (this is a limitation of TextEdit, the part of the Mac OS that handles text). The size of the lists, however, is only limited by the memory you assign to the application in the Finder’s “Get Info” window. You’ll probably have to increase the standard 256K partition if you plan to catalog CD-ROMs or very large hard disks. Long lists can be saved to disk and viewed with a true text editor or with a word processor.
◊  I worked very hard to make List Files as compatible as possible; it takes full advantage of System 7’s new features, yet runs on any older system starting from System 4.2. It also handles system errors and low-memory situations gracefully, and has been tested on a very wide range of system configurations.
◊  List Files adheres as closely as possible to Apple’s human interface guidelines. I didn’t stuff it with color pictures, weird sounds and fancy buttons so you’ll have a shorter download time and less wasted space on crowded disks. If you open List Files with ResEdit and take a look at its resources, you’ll notice that 50 out of its 84K are plain code and most of the rest is taken by this text.
◊  List Files is a commercial-quality application at the price of a magazine. I don’t like passwords, annoying messages and time limitations in my programs so I didn’t use any of them to enforce the shareware fee. Also, I’m asking very little because I feel that many small contributions are better than a few big ones; by keeping the price so low, I hope that many of you will take the time to fill the registration form and mail it with some spare change. If you feel this application is worth more than $5 or if you want to register more than one copy, I won’t complain…

• Instructions
◊  File menu:
  - New List: lets you select a disk, a folder or a file and build its catalog. The current scanning, formatting and saving options are used along with the chosen file filters. This is the same as dropping stuff on top of List Files’ icon under System 7.
  - Open Text: lets you open a text file and display it in a text window. Only the first 32K of text are shown if the file is larger than 32K.
  - Close: closes the frontmost window.
  - Save: saves the text of the frontmost window to disk.
  - Save As…: same as Save, but you can save the text under a different name.
  - Quit: closes all windows after checking for unsaved text and quits.
◊  Edit menu:
  - Cut, Copy, Paste, Clear and Select All behave as usual.
  - Undo works in all text windows.
◊  Options menu:
  - Folder Scanning…: brings up a dialog where you can edit some scanning and listing options. “List dropped disks and folders in a single file” is useful under System 7 if you want to drop many items together on List Files’ icon and have them all listed in the same window.
  - List Formatting…: lets you edit some text formatting options. “Header for listed files/folders” means that each file/folder dropped on List Files’ icon will have a small header showing the used and free space on the file’s disk, a full pathname to the file and the number and size of files and folders that matched the chosen filters. Full pathnames are useful if you’re searching for specific files and don’t want to see the whole hierarchy of folders listed (you may also want to disable the “Show Folders” check box in the list filters dialog). Pathnames in reversed form can be sorted (with a sorting capable text editor) and make it easy to find duplicate files.
  - File Saving…: lets you change the destination folder for the auto-save option, the text file creator (i.e. the text editor or word processor you’ll use to open the catalogs) and other useful file naming and file saving preferences.
  - Prefix / Suffix…: lets you enter smart prefix and suffix strings to use for each file and folder listed.
  - Edit List Filters…: lets you specify some conditions for the files to be shown in the list. You can force conditions on the file kind, size, visibility, type and creator. All filters can be saved in a workset together with the other options, so you can easily build different setups for each of your file scanning needs.
  - Clear List Filters…: clears the current file filters; all files and folders will be included in the next list.
◊  Worksets menu:
  - Save Current Setup To…: saves the current setup (i.e. all of the settings you can change from the Options menu) to one of the user-defined worksets. You will be prompted for a new workset name before the setup is written to the workset.
  - Define Modifier Keys…: List Files checks the Command, Option and Control keys when you drop something on its icon and when you start a new list; every combination of these keys can be assigned to a specific workset. The “default” assignment is only used when no keys are held down at launch time: you can choose a default workset or tell the application to keep using the setup it was using when the previous session ended.
  - Worksets (names defined by user): selecting a workset name from the menu will immediately change the current setup to the chosen workset. All the options, including destination folders and file filters, will be modified to match those saved into the workset.
◊  Text menu:
  - Font: changes the text font in the frontmost window.
  - Size: changes the text size in the frontmost window.
  - Wrap: toggles text wrapping in the frontmost window.
  - Set Default: saves the text font, text size and wrap mode of the frontmost window as default settings to be used when new text windows are created.
◊  Find menu:
  - Find…: finds a string in the frontmost window.
  - Find Again: repeats the search for a previously entered string.
  - Enter Selection: uses the text currently selected in the frontmost window as the search string.
  - Find in Folder…: searches all text files in a given folder (the folder to search is saved in the worksets).
  - Folder to Search…: lets you change the folder to search without actually searching a string.
  - Display Selected File: quickly opens the text file whose pathname is selected in the front window.

• Notes
◊  The Command, Option and/or Control keys should be held down until the “Building file list” dialog comes out (holding them down when you drop something on List Files’ icon and releasing them right away won’t work).
◊ The total size shown in headers and folder subtotals is a physical size (space used on disk), whereas the size shown for each file is a logical size (actual size of the file).
◊  All total sizes (except the disk’s used and free space in the header) are based on found files, not on the actual files on disk. If you’re listing invisible files only with no nested folders scanning, the total size in a folder subtotal is the size of all and only the invisible files inside that folder, but not inside any nested folders.

• Compatibility notes
◊  System 7: You can use List Files as a drop box under System 7. Just drop one or more folders and/or files on its icon to have them listed or searched. List Files takes full advantage of Apple Events and the new file routines when used under System 7.
◊  System 6: List Files is fully compatible with System 6. You’ll have to build your lists by using the “New List” menu command since drag&drop is not available, but everything else works as expected.
◊  System 4: You won’t believe this one. You can even use List Files on a floppy-based Mac running System 4.2 or later, and you’ll get the same cool lists you’d get with System 7 Pro.

• Distribution
◊  List Files can be freely distributed as long as it was not modified and there’s no charge for it. It may not be included in any commercial package without my consent. 
◊  All online services and bulletin boards may make it available to their users at no charge other than the normal connection fees.
◊  All non-profit user groups may distribute it at no charge.
◊  All magazines may publish it on floppy disk without asking me first, as long as I get a copy of the issue containing my software.
◊  All CD-ROM shareware collections and CD-ROM magazines may include it without my prior consent, as long as I get either a copy of the CD-ROM or an offer to buy the CD-ROM at a discounted price.
◊  All redistribution companies such as Educorp may distribute it, as long as I get a copy of each media containing my software and a catalog of the company’s offerings (where applicable).

• Version history
◊  2.4 - List Files can now read file versions in both short and long formats and display them as part of a file prefix or suffix. Using prefixes and suffixes should also be slightly faster. Full pathnames don’t disable indenting any more.
◊  2.3 - Added the Prefix/Suffix options for greater flexibility, as requested by Leroy Chen. The text windows now support the extended keyboard’s scrolling keys.
◊  2.2 - Fat version, includes both 68000 and native PowerPC code. Accepts "open file" commands from AppleScript for disk and folder scanning. Only lists invisible folders when scanning for invisible files. Saves this documentation as styled text.
◊  2.1 - Added Find commands and fast folder search. Tracking files is now easier than ever!
◊  2.0 - Faster, better, and a lot more useful. Tens of options added, lots of code rewritten.
◊  1.1 - New auto-save option added (never released because 2.0 was on the way).
◊  1.01 - Recompiled with Symantec’s THINK C 6.0.
◊  1.0 - First public release.

• Thanks to…
◊  Valentina Pavia, who waited patiently until late at night;
◊  Alberto Ricci, for his beta-testing and suggestions;
◊  Fabrizio Oddone, for the text searching code and for his help;
◊  David Salzman, who had many of the ideas that gave birth to version 2.0;
◊  Leroy Chen, who didn’t stop using List Files 1.1 even though it only provided a “pretty pathetic way” to generate volume lists;
◊  All those who registered for List Files and for my other shareware; they are now way too many to be listed, but this program wouldn’t be here without them.

• Disclaimer
◊  List Files should never cause any damage, but you’re using it at your own risk. As an independent software developer, I can make no warranties whatsoever on it.

• Have fun!
◊  And don’t forget to register your copy of List Files, so that more cool utilities will see the light in the future at the low costs of shareware.