home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
Simtel MSDOS 1992 June
/
SIMTEL_0692.cdr
/
msdos
/
dirutl
/
cmtd_d19.arc
/
HOW2CDIR.TXT
< prev
Wrap
Text File
|
1988-11-17
|
22KB
|
465 lines
********************************************************************
* CDIR *
* The Commented Directory Program *
* Copyright, 1988, by C. Kenneth Curtis *
* Box 539 RD 2 Woodland Drive, Califon, NJ 07830 *
********************************************************************
CDIR is a valuable information program for IBM PC or compatible
computers. Users can read and write comments about files and
sub-directories eliminating the uncertainty of cryptic names
reported by the DOS DIR command.
CDIR also contains powerful features to view, print, copy,
change attributes, rename or delete files.
CDIR has a maximum capacity of 256 files per directory. The
program will work with directories containing more than 256;
however, the additional files can not be commented or manipulated
using CDIR.
*******************************************************************
* PUBLIC NOTIFICATION *
*******************************************************************
CDIR.EXE, CDIR_CLR.EXE and HOW2CDIR.TXT files MUST be
distributed as a set in their original unmodified form. Compacting
for up/down-loading to/from bulletin board services is permissible
if the uncompacting process produces the files in their original
unmodified form.
Feel free to share CDIR with others and to use it where you
work. I have made CDIR available as a public service without any
charge for its use. In return I would appreciate your sending a
postcard to me at the above address with the following information:
Write "CDIR" at the top of the card.
Where you obtained CDIR - bulletin board, friend, work,
software-distribution company, etc. Be specific about
bulletin board and company names.
City, State or Province, and Country where you live.
Your name, address and comments are optional.
Selling or modification of the CDIR.EXE, CDIR_CLR.EXE or
HOW2CDIR.TXT files is strictly prohibited without my expressed
written permission.
C. Kenneth Curtis
********************************************************************
* Before using CDIR you should know *
********************************************************************
CDIR can open several files at the same time; therefore, it may
be necessary to have a FILES = 7 ( more are ok ) statement in a
CONFIG.SYS file. See your DOS manual for information on creating or
changing this file.
CDIR will be called frequently. If you have a hard disk, it is
recommended to keep CDIR.EXE in a directory referenced by your PATH
chain. For example, if you have a directory of utilities and a path
similar to C:\;C:\UTILITY;C:\WORDPROC, put the CDIR.EXE file in the
C:\UTILITY subdirectory.
CDIR will maintain a file's comment when the file is renamed by
CDIR to be within the same directory, but be warned that comments
will be lost by renaming files with the DOS REN command or other
programs. Moving a file to another directory with any program
including CDIR will lose the comment; however, CDIR does have a
means to transfer comments from one directory to another.
CDIR colors can be changed from within the program or for those
individuals with other preferences, by executing the CDIR_CLR
program explained at the end of this document.
********************************************************************
* How to use CDIR *
********************************************************************
Start the program by typing "CDIR" followed by [Return]. The
default directory will be displayed first. You can tell the program
to start and display any directory by typing "CDIR", space, the name
of a directory and then [Return]. In this case the drive letter,
colon, a backslash and path portions of the directory must be
specified.
The following are examples of starting commands:
CDIR[Return]
CDIR A:\[Return]
CDIR c:\123files\checks[Return]
A moment after starting, CDIR will display the files and
sub-directories, their size, creation dates and times and comments.
Sub-directories are denoted by the letter S in the left-hand column.
Quit the program with [^Q] or [^X]. (See control keys below.)
To write or edit a comment, just use the cursor movement keys
to position the highlighted bar over the desired file and begin
typing. Press [Return] to enter the comment. If you start to type,
and then realize that the characters are going into the wrong row,
press [Esc], and the original comment will be restored.
The control keys are used for various functions. They are
activated by holding down the [Ctrl] key and depressing one of the
other keys; this is denoted in the text by a caret followed by a
letter or word. Examples: [^N] or [^Home] .
The cursor movement keys move the highlighted bar or scroll the
screen as follows:
[Cur Up] and [Cur Dn] keys:
Moves the highlighted bar up or down 1 row.
[Page Up] or [Page Dn] keys:
Scrolls 8 files.
[^Page Up] or [^Page Dn] keys:
Scrolls 32 files.
[Home] or [End] keys:
Moves to top or bottom of screen.
[^Home] or [^End] keys:
Moves to begining or end of file.
The control key functions are:
[^A] ( Attribute ) key:
Displays the file attribute on the third screen row. The
attributes displayed are interpreted
"R/O" means it is a read-only file. It can not be written
or erased until its attribute is changed to remove the
read-only restriction.
"Arc" means the file has been modified since it was last
backed up (via the DOS backup command).
"Sub-directory" means the file is a sub-directory.
The read-only attribute status, of non-sub-directory files, can
be toggled to the opposite state by pressing the [R] key when
asked; otherwise [Esc] allows you to continue.
[^C] ( Copy ) key:
Copies tagged or highlighted file(s).
After pressing [^C] you are asked to press [T], [O] or [Esc].
If you press [T] all of the tagged files will be copied, but if
[O] is depressed, only the highlighted file will be copied.
[Esc] is used to abort the operation.
Next, you will be asked to where the file(s) should be copied.
In general, use the same format for the destination as you
would if you were using the DOS Copy command. You may give a
directory only, in which case the files will be copied with the
same name and extension to that directory. You may specify
filename(s) or extension(s) for the new file(s), or the wild
card characters * and ? described by DOS may be used.
If files are to be copied to another disk, a typical response
might be B:\ . If you tag all the files with an extension of
.ABC , and want them copied to the same directory, but with
the extension of .XYZ , then your response should be *.XYZ .
If the [Esc] key is pressed while tagged files are being
copied, the process will be aborted as soon as CDIR is finished
with the file it was copying when the key was pushed.
[^D] ( Delete ) key:
Deletes tagged or highlighted file(s).
After pressing [^D] you are asked to press [T], [O] or [Esc].
If you press [T] all of the tagged files will be deleted, but
if [O] is depressed, only the highlighted file will be erased.
[Esc] is used to abort the operation.
Sub-directories ( other than the "single-dot" and "double-dot"
directories ) can be removed using the [O] option but only if
they contain no files.
[^K] ( Color ) key:
Provides better contrast for color systems which use a
monochrome monitor. This function does not operate in a
monochrome system. See the description of CDIR_CLR at the end
of this document for reconfiguring the standard colors.
Press [^K], and you will be asked to press [D], [T] or [Esc].
If you press [D] the colors presently on the screen will be
those which will be the default colors the next time the
program starts. The current directory must contain the
CDIR.EXE program. If [T] is pressed, then the colors are
changed temporarily until you quit the program. [Esc] is used
to abort the operation.
[^L] ( Locate ) key:
Moves the highlighted bar to the requested file if it exists in
the directory.
After pressing [^L] you are asked to enter which file to find.
Enter the filename and extension. Do not use a drive or path
specifier. Example: MYFILE.DOC .
[^N] ( New directory ) key:
Changes the current directory.
The current directory is always displayed at the top of the
screen. Press [^N] to change it. You will be asked to enter
the new directory. Enter a drive letter, colon, backslash and
path. Examples: are A:\ or C:\MEMOS\SALES . [Esc] is
used to abort the operation.
There is an alternative which will save typing if the new
directory appears with the letter S in the left column of the
currently displayed directory. Prior to entering [^N], move
the highlighted bar over that sub-directory. When asked to
type the sub-directory name, instead just press [Return].
Selecting either the single-dot or double-dot
sub-directory with the highlighted bar and pressing
[Return] causes CDIR to go to the parent ( moves back
towards the root directory ). Selecting any other
sub-directory tells CDIR to go to a child ( moves away
from the root directory ).
Pressing [^N] automatically saves the comments in a file named
CMTD-DIR.-%- to be located in the current directory. The size
of CMTD-DIR.-%- will depend upon the number of files in that
directory.
After you have entered the new directory, the program will
change to it. First, CDIR will load the file information data
( 256 files maximum ) and then look for a CMTD-DIR.-%- file in
that directory. If it is found, the comments will be matched
to the file names just loaded.
It is perfectly acceptable for new files to have been written
into the new directory, or old ones to have been changed or
deleted since the last time CDIR accessed the directory. These
actions do not affect CDIR's operation.
[^P] ( Print ) key:
Prints either the commented directory or the contents of tagged
or highlighted file(s).
After pressing [^P] you will be asked to press [T], [O], [D] or
[Esc]. If your answer is [D] then a listing of all the files
in the current directory, along with their comments, will be
printed. If your answer is [O], only the highlighted file will
be printed, but if you press [T], then the contents of all the
tagged files will be printed.
Printing can be aborted before selecting [T], [O] or [D] or
while it is in process by pressing the [Esc] key.
[^Q] ( Quit ) key:
Causes the CDIR program to quit and return to DOS.
The comments of the current directory are saved before
terminating. See the discussion about CMTD-DIR,-%- under the
[^N] key. Also see the [^X] key description.
[^R] ( Rename ) key:
Allows files to be renamed and/or moved to another directory.
After depressing [^R] you will be asked for the new name. The
wild card characters * and ? may be used to simplify typing.
The file name and extension must be specified.
Typing an optional drive and path will move the file to that
directory. If it is different than the current directory, the
comments will be lost. ( See [^Y] for suggestions. )
[Esc] is used to abort the operation.
[^S] ( Sub-directory ) key:
Creates a new sub-directory.
When this option is selected, you will be asked to enter a
sub-directory name. If a name is entered without a Drive:\
Path prefix, the sub-directory will be placed in the current
directory as shown at the top of the screen.
[^T] ( Tag toggle ) key:
Toggles the tag mark on and off.
The highlighted file may be tagged in preparation for the other
control key functions. A heart-shaped figure appears in the
left column on the screen for each tagged file. Press [^T] to
turn the heart on or off.
[^U] ( Untag ) key:
Untags all files.
When [^U] is pressed, every tagged file is untagged, and its
heart symbol turned off.
[^V] ( View ) key:
Allows the highlighted file to be viewed.
Pressing [^V] causes the contents of the highlighted file to be
displayed a page at-a-time on the screen. Carriage-return
characters ( ASCII 13 ) are ignored, and Line-feed characters
( ASCII 10 ) cause a jump to the next line on the screen but
are also not displayed. Other print control characters such as
Page-eject or tab cause no action; their symbol is displayed on
the screen.
Pressing [Page Dn] displays the next screen. [Esc] removes the
display and returns you to normal operation.
[^W] ( 2nd directory ) key:
Lets the contents of another directory be displayed without
leaving the current directory. This useful feature allows you
to preview the second directory for determining whether a file
already exists or if it has the same date and time as a file in
the current directory.
After pressing [^W], you will be asked to enter the second
directory. Enter a drive letter, colon, backslash and path.
Examples: are B:\ or C:\DOCS\STATUS . [Esc] is used to
abort the operation.
There is an alternative which will save typing if the second
directory appears with the letter S in the left column of the
currently displayed directory. Prior to entering [^W], move
the highlighted bar over that sub-directory. When asked to
type the sub-directory name, instead just press [Return].
Selecting either the single-dot or double-dot
sub-directory with the highlighted bar and pressing
[Return] causes CDIR to go to the parent ( moves back
towards the root directory ). Selecting any other
sub-directory tells CDIR to go to a child ( moves away
from the root directory ).
The [Page Up] and [Page Dn] keys cause the display to scroll 8
files at a time. The [Esc] key removes the second directory
display.
[^X] ( Exit ) key:
Causes the CDIR program to quit and immediately return to DOS
without saving the comments ( CMTD-DIR.-%- file is not saved ).
See [^Q] description.
[^Y] ( Copy comments ) key:
Copies tagged or highlighted comments(s) to another directory.
This is useful, for example, to transfer the comments about
files which have just been copied to a floppy disk.
A prerequisite is having a CMTD-DIR.-%- file already in the
other directory to where the comments will be copied.
After pressing [^Y] you are asked to press [T], [O] or [Esc].
If you press [T] all of the tagged comments will be copied, but
if [O] is depressed, only the highlighted comment will be
copied. [Esc] is used to abort the operation.
Next, you will be asked to where the comment(s) should be
copied. Enter a drive letter, colon, backslash and path.
Examples: are A:\ or C:\BUYERS . [Esc] is used to abort
the operation.
The following steps are suggested for moving the comments about
files which you intend to rename ( move ) to another directory:
1. Make sure there is a CMTD-DIR.-%- file in the other
directory. If one is not there already, change to it with
the [^N] key and then change back with [^N] key.
2. If the filenames or extensions will be changed when
they are moved, use the [^R] key and rename the files in
the current directory; do not rename ( move ) them to the
other directory yet.
3. Copy the comments to the other directory with the [^Y]
key.
4. Use the [^R] to rename ( move ) the file(s) to the
other directory.
********************************************************************
* How to use CDIR_CLR *
********************************************************************
Users with color systems can easily change the screen colors
used in CDIR from the standard colors to monochrome with CDIR's [^K]
key option. However, you may have a preference for another set of
colors. The CDIR_CLR program can be used to alter the standard
colors in both color and monochrome systems.
To use CDIR_CLR make sure that both the CDIR.EXE and the
CDIR_CLR.EXE files are in the default directory. At the DOS prompt
type CDIR_CLR [Return] and then follow the directions in the top box
on the screen. The bottom box contains information explaining how
the color pairs are used in the CDIR program.
Each color has two attributes, the foreground color (such as
the letters you are currently reading) and a background color, which
is as the name suggests, the area behind the characters. These two
attributes are called color pairs. A color sample is displayed for
each color pair.
The foreground attribute can have one of sixteen different
values identified 0 thru 9 and A thru F. The background can have
one of eight values numbered 0 thru 7. Depressing the [F5] or [F6]
keys changes the foreground or background attribute of the boxed
color pair. The attribute numbers are displayed in the center of
the screen. Pressing the left and right cursor movement keys, moves
the box to another color pair.
Finally, the [F1] and [F2] keys are used to save the new colors
or leave them unchanged.
The pre-chosen standard colors are listed in the table below.
Pair Color System Mono System
No. Fgnd Bgnd Fgnd Bgnd
---- ----- ------ ---- ------
1 1 7 7 0
2 F 2 F 0
3 E 1 0 7
4 D 0 F 0
5 B 5 7 0
6 4 7 0 7
7 F 4 F 0
8 E 0 F 0
9 B 1 7 0
