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Manual for Disk Navigator (DNAV) Version 1.4 Copyright 1989 Stanley C. Peters All Rights Reserved From: Stanley C. Peters P. O. Box 2028 Fairfield, Iowa 52556 TABLE OF CONTENTS. Page: OVERVIEW WHATS NEW WITH VERSION 1.4 ........ 1 TUTORIAL. STARTING OUT ..................... 3 COPY ............................. 4 ADDING SUBDIRECTORIES ............ 4 KEYBOARD USAGE ................... 4 VIEW ............................. 5 MACROS and Line 2 (Submit Line) ... 6 EXAMPLE USAGE .................... 9 REFERENCE SECTION. STARTING FROM THE DOS PROMPT. ....11 COMMAND LINE MACROS ..............12 KEYBOARD USAGE .................. 13 MEANING OF THE LINES DISPLAYED ...15 THE FUNCTIONS. ...................17 MAXFILL COPY MODE ................20 DNAV CHARACTERISTICS .............21 ERROR MESSAGES. ..................22 PATCHING COLORS. .................23 WARRANTY .........................24 HOW TO PAY .......................24 CONDITIONS FOR DISTRIBUTION. .....25 ORDER FORM .......................26 Page - 01 OVERVIEW The directory aids that come with DOS are pretty feeble. And many Shell programs draw lots of pretty boxes when all you want to do is SEE your files in an appropriate level of detail. Network compatible Disk Navigator shows the files on the disk(s) in several full screen formats, even multiple drives/directories at one time. It allows you to copy, move, and erase files on a group or individual basis. Individual files can be browsed or renamed. Context sensitive help screens and popup windows ease use. You can specify your own ONE-key Point and Shoot macros. The documented list of these macros ia a keystroke away (the F2 key). Or, file names can be simply transferred to a command line which can then be passed to DOS. The benefit: no misspellings! When Disk Navigator is started from the DOS prompt, selectivity options are available. DNAV makes an excellent multi-drive "where-is", even if on a NETWORK. Or just see the files that need back-up. Macros are available for the versitle startup options. To show only the current directory (CWD) type 'dnav' at the DOS prompt. For a "help" screen on the startup options type 'dnav ?' at the DOS prompt. Page - 02 WHATS NEW WITH VERSION 1.4 - Point and shoot macros via user defined alt keys (see dnav.mac) - Now network compatible - and very handy there! - The F2 key displays the active macro file (using view). - The tab and shift-tab keys now move you down (or up) one directory at a time. - After "shelling" the directories on the screen are refreshed (except floppy disks or when files tagged). The current drive and working directory shown on the left edge of Line 2 are also updated. - Actions of F7 and F8 keys are reversed: F8 now refreshes the directories on the screen. F7 toggles the display of active subdirectories with their index number on the screen. - View now works as intended and pressing 'h' toggles a hex display - The file tag function ( t ) now acts as a toggle, untagging files that are tagged. The space bar is an alternate way to tag. The space bar advances to the next file automatically. - A few things are available only in the registered version: Hex view in registered version only. 40 DOS line macros - 6 in shareware version. Best-fit when copying to multiple floppies. WHATS NEW WITH VERSION 1.3 Macros - Shorthand! Shortened keystroke sequences. Some previous manual operations are done automatically. FILES DISTRIBUTED Six files are included in the distribution of DNAV: DNAV.EXE the program DNAV.DOC this file (has form feeds, set your printer) DNAV.MAC Sample macro file DNAV84.KEY Template for 84 key keyboard (print compressed) DNAV101.KEY Template for 101 key keyboard (print compressed). DNAV-HI.BAT Sample file used in the tutorial. The two KEY files can be printed to make function key templates. If you registered and received a disk, it will contain a seventh file, DNAV-SHR.EXE. This contains the above six files for the Shareware version. If someone asks you for a copy of the program PLEASE give them this file so that they will have a complete set including an unmodified DNAV.MAC. DNAV-SHR.EXE is a "self unpacking" file, just run it. MACHINE REQUIREMENTS DNAV will run in 98 K, but gains if more memory is available. It is designed to aid hard disk users, but has some appeal to those with floppy disk systems. DOS 2 or higher is required. LIMITS 26 Drives, 140 Directories Files - none; up to 1450 will be saved for non-directory order display Six or 40 Point and Shoot and Submit type macros, no limit on Start Up macros Page - 03 TUTORIAL. STARTING OUT. Even if you are an "old hand" with DOS, please go through the first page or so of this tutorial. To illustrate the capabilities, place the six DNAV files (see above) on a floppy disk. Then make that the default drive (enter A: <CR> at the DOS prompt). It should **REMAIN** the default THROUGHOUT this tutorial. (Features can be shown quickly if I know what is displayed on your screen.) Then enter 'dnav' <CR> (press the enter key). In this tutorial, single quotes are used to highlight keystrokes, don't enter the single quote character. DNAV will load and give you a full screen presentation of the files on the A: drive. The lower right part of the screen will have a Help screen including a product information popup box, press any key to clear the screen. Now notice the bottom line on the screen. This prompt line is context sensitive, it indicates what functions are effective for the current position of the cursor. (Functions are called by pressing the first letter of the function.) Press the down arrow on the cursor pad. Notice that the bottom line has changed. Press the F1 function key. A full screen of help information, one line per function! Press the space bar to get back to the main screen. Press the up arrow to put the cursor back in its initial position and press F1. Press 'n' to add a drive. In the popup window enter the drive letter for your hard disk and press Enter. Then press PgUp. We now have files for two disks on the screen. Now press the 'f' key. This Popup will appear: ╒═══════════════════════════════════════════════╕ │ Change the display format: │ │ Select from: │ │ Files per row - (2), (3), (4), (6) │ │ Sort By Directory - (y)es, (n)o │ │ Sort sequence: │ │ (f)ile, (e)xtension, (d)ate, (s)ize │ │ >_ │ ╘═══════════════════════════════════════════════╛ Key in a '2' and press enter. The files are now shown two per line with more information. Press 'f' again and enter '3e'. Now we have three files per line with a major sort on extension. Press 'f', then '4f' to get back to the initial display format. (Whenever a sort is requested, the file that was in the upper left corner remains there, so you may have to press PgUp (or shift-TAB) to get the first files of the directory. An inverse "<cont>" appears to the right of the fifth line to indicate more files "above".) Page - 04 COPY. Now lets use the copy function. Move the cursor to Dnav101.key and press 'c'. A popup will appear asking you for the target directory to receive the file. Enter an 'a' and press Enter. Another popup! This time informing you that the directory doesn't exist. Respond 'y' and DNAV will make the directory and the copy the file. Press Home twice to move to the A:\ line. Press 'i'. to call the INCLUDE function. It refreshes the directory at the cursor and any subdirectories "beneath" it. This semi-automatic refresh is the consequence of two desirable features, making directories on the fly and reading everything only at the user request. Now move to the file dnav.mac and enter a 't'. Move to Dnav101.key and press the space bar. We have just "tagged" two files. Press 'g' to call the group action popup, and enter a 'c'. Again you will get the target popup - enter an 'a' and <CR>. The first file will be copied and then you will get a popup asking if you want to overwrite a file with one with the same size and time. Respond 'n'. To the "Remove Tags" popup, respond 'y'. Now press function key F8, it refreshes the directories that are on the screen. ADDING SUBDIRECTORIES. Now move the cursor down to one of your hard disk subdirectories. Press 'a' to bring that directory to the screen. Now call the TREE function by pressing 'j'. The first layer of subdirectories are shown. Directories already read will show number of files and size. (Those not read will have a double ?? indicating that they havn't been scanned.) Press ESC. Now use the Home or End key to move to the C:\ hard drive line (has "Label:") and press 'i'. This will include all the files on your hard disk. There is a simpler way to acquire all the files on the C: drive. At the Dos prompt, you could have entered: 'dnav c:\ -i'. The penalty here, is that you have to wait for the disk tree structure to be read. With DNAV that wait is at your option. (Also see below for Command Line Macros that save keystrokes, e.g. 'DNAV 1' ). Once we have the files, there are several ways to scroll: The simplest is PgUp and PgDn on the cursor pad. TAB moves you down a directory. Shift-TAB moves up a directory. If you want a partial screen scroll, move the cursor to the file you want in the upper left corner and press 's'. Use the Jump function (press 'j') to call the graphic directory screen. Then you can enter the number of the subdirectory of interest to go directly to that subdirectory. If the root directory is on the screen, you can move the cursor to a detail line subdirectory (it has a '<DIR>'). and press 'a' to go to that directory, adding files if needed. This Add function is also available as a group function, so you can tag subdirectories and press 'g'. Page - 05 Five keys have extended programming to make it easier to move around the screen quickly. Try them: Enter - press repeatedly, and see that it wraps around and stays within a directory. Home and End - press repeatedly to move between directories. ESC - toggle quickly between the Submit line and the body of the screen. DNAV remembers where you were last. When you are in a popup or the View or Jump screens, ESC returns you to the main screen without performing actions. TAB - the TAB key will advance to the next directory. shift-TAB backs up to the prior directory. VIEW. Now lets try the View function. Using the cursor pad, move to Dnav.doc. Press 'v', and the file shown. (Press F1 for help). The cursor pad works as labeled. Home and End move to the top and bottom of the file. PgUp, PgDn, up and down arrows move by screen or line. Pressing 'h' in the registered version will toggle a hexidecimal display of the file. View also has two variations of Find, both ignore case. Press 'f', then in the popup window, enter 'dnav' and press <CR>. Now press 'f' again. The program remembered your last search string, so you can just press <CR> to find the next occurrence. (If you move the cursor, only characters to the left of the cursor are retained.) The second variation, Scan, shows only the lines that contain the string. To illustrate, press 'Home' to get to the top of file, then 's', enter 'dnav', then <CR>. View works best with ASCII files, it also works with some word processing files. And the hex display mode is of use with database and other files. Page - 06 MACROS and Line 2 (Submit Line). For this part, we will use a small file ( DNAV-HI.BAT ) repeatedly. So, copy it to your hard disk (put cursor on the file, press c, respond c:\, then press F8 if c: is on the screen or home,home,n,c.) These steps illustrate using macros and Submit: First, put the cursor bar on DNAV-HI.BAT and press 'v'. This simply lists the file on the screen. Next, press F5 to move the file name to the second line and press F4. (See the Tech Note below if this step doesn't work.) Here we have actually executed the batch file, just as if we had keyed it in at the DOS prompt. Notice that you had to press a key to return to DNAV after the batch file had executed. Press F5 and then press ENTER. Automatic return! Often, as when editing, we want to return to DNAV without the pause. With the cursor still on DNAV-HI.BAT, press F6. This moves the file name to the middle of Line 2 and puts the cursor on the left edge of the line. Type in the word 'type' and use the spacebar to edit the line so that it reads 'type c:\Dnav-hi.bat'. Then press F4. This time we have called a program 'type' and let is display our little batch file. Tech Note: Macros and Submit use a DOS facility that has been described elsewhere as a DOS gateway, as SHELLing, or as SYSTEM. For this function to operate, two lines should be in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file on your normal boot drive. I have these: set comspec=c:\command.com path=c:\;c:\bin The first line tells DOS (and DNAV) where to find the Command processor. The second line tells DOS where to find the programs you want to use. Move the cursor to the Autoexec.bat file on the C drive and press 'v'. The first line and probably the second will be present in the file. The terms after the = sign need not be the same as above. Also, sufficient memory - 120k plus room for called programs. If you don't have DNAV-HI.BAT, please make it with these 3 lines: rem rem Hi, I'm a little BAT file. rem If you don't have DNAV.MAC, please make it with these 2 lines: alt-t type ^ ^4; Type file under the cursor alt-x ^ ^4; Execute file under the cursor Page - 07 Now, lets do the same operation the easy way, using point and shoot. Put the cursor on DNAV-HI.BAT. Press the Alt key and the 't' key at the same time. That's Point and Shoot - we just used the DOS 'type' to display our file. Now press alt with x (alt-x). This time we executed the batch file. Press F2 - this lists the macro file (DNAV.MAC) that defines the macros. This macro system has been designed to let you easily customize it for you own needs. DNAV.MAC is a plain ASCII file, you can modify it with an ASCII editor, or use non-document mode with your word processor. Select whatever alt key combinations that make sense to you. Please do yourself a favor and add comments (after a semicolon) about what each macro does. This Line 2 is very handy. If a function such a FORMAT isn't built into DNAV, you can use Line 2 ( e.g., "format a:") and not lose your place in DNAV. You can use any program that accepts a file name as an additional parameter. Compiler? Sure! Word processor? Probably. Anything can be entered on Line 2 that would be legal at the DOS prompt. *** ONE CAUTION! *** You SHOULD NOT RUN any programs that remain resident (TSRs such as Sidekick) from within DNAV. The DOS PRINT function (only on the first request for a Print) is one such program. If you run a TSR, the memory occupied by DNAV can not be released - then you must re-boot with CNTL-ALT-DEL to get the memory back. When you use the F4 or Enter keys to "Shell", DNAV remains resident. It reserves about 120K bytes. If you need that memory, or you a through using DNAV, you can use the F3 key. This ends DNAV, executing your request after releasing the memory. When you use the Submit function and return to DNAV, the tables DNAV keeps may be obsolete. The refresh function (press F8) will update the directories on the screen. You can also Jump ('j') to the root directory and use the Include ('i') to refresh all directories. (See example below using the ARC program). When DNAV loads, it look for DNAV.MAC in the current directory. If it doesn't find it there, it searches for it in those directories specified in the PATH statement. Page - 08 So, in DNAV.MAC, Point and Shoot macros have 'alt-' in the first 4 columns, followed by a letter or function key (e.g. F10). Other macros for the Submit line start with a letter in the left term and may be one to four characters in length. The balance of the line (up to the ; ) is the macro definition. Anything after the ; is considered a comment and not processed. If there is a '^' before the semicolon, the file name under the cursor (or the one you selected with the F6 key) is inserted at that point. The definition can also contain '^3' or '^4' - these simulate the F3 and F4 function keys, allowing you to Exit DNAV or pause before return (see DNAV.MAC for examples). You can have up to 40 of these macros, in the registered version. Six in the shareware version. If this pinches, most other shells lack this capability or have a few "wired-in" functions. Since DNAV looks first in the default directory, you could have different copies of DNAV.MAC for different applications. To use a non "alt-" macro, select a file (or directory) by pressing F6. The cursor will be placed at the left edge of the Line 2. Then enter a macro name and press Enter. The potential command line is expanded with the terms from the macro definition. You can then Submit the line as shown (via F3, F4, or Enter). Or you can edit the line before Submitting. See Example 6 below. If the ^ is immediately followed by an UPPER CASE D or P or N or E, selected parts of the the name will be extracted (drive, path, name, and extension respectively). So that ^DPNE is equivalent to just the ^. Below are some examples: f find "P-A-T" ^ ; DOS find, user keys over P-A-T aa arca indx-all ^ ; Add a file to INDX-ALL.ARC su sort | uniq <^ >^F.srt ;drop dup lines, output in .srt extention cl1 cl -F4000 -Zi ^ ;Microsoft 'C' - CL with debug alt-w swap wp ^ ; Page - 09 EXAMPLE USAGE. 1. Compare two files. - put the cursor on the first file and press F5 - put the cursor on the second file and press F6 - press INS (insert) and key in 'comp ' - press F4 or press END and add '>dif' to redirect the differences to a file 2. Compare two directories. - Start DNAV with the names of just the two directories (for example: DNAV c:\tmp d:\tmp ) - The directories will be shown one below the other - To view intermixed, press 'f', then 'n2' to show size and dates 3. Most of the directory shells, on exit, will leave you in the subdirectory that you last inspected. This can be useful at times. To do this: - move the cursor to the subdirectory header line, Press F6. - on the left edge of Line 2, key in 'cd' and press F3 to exit DNAV. or with a macro: "alt-c cd ^DP ^3; Change to dir, exit" 4. Reduce DNAV memory to 2K when Shelling by using SWAP.COM. - When a program is called, do it "second hand" by passing through this program. Macro alt-w (see above) uses this to call Word Perfect. Swap was written by Niko Mak and is on Compuserve and BBS's as SWAP12. It writes DNAV to disk (or EMS memory) and restores DNAV when the called program is done. 5. Delete subdirectory a:a - move the cursor to the "a:a" subdirectory header line. - enter a 't', then 'a' to tag all files - enter a 'g' to do a group action respond 'e' for erase, then 's' to stop prompting on each file - move the cursor to the 'A' subdirectory line (has an <DIR>) press F6 to move the name to the SUBMIT line - type in rmdir on the left part of the SUBMIT line - press F4, asking DOS to remove the directory (F4 pauses before returning to DNAV, so that you can read any DOS messages that may appear) Page - 10 6. De-archive a file from directory PD to a TEMP directory. - at the DOS prompt (c:\) enter 'md temp <CR>' then 'cd temp <CR>'. This makes TEMP the target for the de-arced files. - at the DOS prompt enter 'dnav pd temp <cr>' - select your file by moving the cursor and pressing F6. - on the left hand side of Line 2, enter 'pkxarc' (or whatever you call your favorite de-arc program) and press Enter. - the process will occur and return you to a DNAV screen. - if the TEMP directory is not on the screen, move to it. - Press F7 to refresh TEMP, showing you the new files. 7. Lets use the DOS FIND command to illustrate editing Line 2. FIND requires that the string to search for be in quotes, so I define this macro 'f find "" ^ ; Find'. - Select the file under the cursor with F6 - Type an 'f' at the left edge of Line 2 deleting any "left over" characters. - Press ENTER - this will expand the macro - Press INS (insert mode) and position the cursor over the right double quote - Enter the word you want to search for (within the " "). - Press F4 to pause before returning to DNAV. 8. Backup new files from c:dnav and e:mf to floppy in A: drive: - At the DOS prompt enter: "dnav a: c:dnav e:mf -b3d" - This will show you the three directories including files that havn't been backed up, in date sequence, 3 per line. - Tag the files to be backed up - enter a 'g' to do a group action respond 'b' for back-up, then 's' to stop prompting on each file that will overwrite older version on the A: drive. 9. Backup hard disk c: to a: - at the DOS prompt >dnav c:\ -bi (-b to show those needing backup, -i for all subdirectories) - put an formatted, empty floppy in the A drive. - move the cursor to the first directory line. - enter a 't', then 'a' to tag its files if you have the shareware version, does the total tagged exceed the space on the floppy? (shown on the right part of the Title line) an empty 360k floppy will hold 354k (remember - 1024 byte blocks) - repeat the above step for other directories, if tagged is less than 354k. - press 'g' for a group command, then 'b' to backup tagged files - type 'a:/v' when it asks for the target directory - your files will be copied to the A drive and the archive bit will be turned off on the C: drive files. - if you get an Overwrite file? popup, you have tagged the same filename in two directories. respond 'n' and resolve the problem later. You should devise a consistent backup strategy. If you use another backup system you should AVOID using DNAV for any backups (use copy, not backup). The other system needs control of that archive bit. Page - 11 REFERENCE SECTION. STARTING FROM THE DOS PROMPT. COMMAND LINE OPTIONS: When you enter DNAV from the DOS prompt, you can add several parameters. Options are listed by entering 'dnav ?' at the DOS prompt. These options allow you to be selective as to what files, subdirectories, and drives are included in DNAV internal tables. Four types of terms may appear after the 'DNAV': - Options which are indicated by a leading / or - character. You can use either / or -, they work identically. - Filename type. These contain a '?' or a '*'. For example 'ws.c?m'. In the DOS vocabulary, these are known as ambiguous file names (afn's) or wildcards. - Directory (or drive) names. No '*' or '?', and no leading '/' or '-'. - A number as the first term after ' DNAV '. This indicates a command line macro. (See below). Except for macro numbers, these terms may be in any sequence. Options: b - show files that need backup (archiving) Using this option saves just the files that need to be backed up. That is, those with the archive bit turned on. (If your are confused, welcome to the crowd - think of it as the "activity" bit). This acts like a wildcard afn. If you also have afn's when you call DNAV, you will get a mixture. The two and three column screen forms show the archive bit. i - include subdirectories This option controls whether DNAV should search all subdirectories beneath the directory(s) that you specify. n - sort files on name (this is the default) x - sort files on extension t - sort files on time/date, newest first s - sort files on size, largest first 2,3,4,6 - number of files listed per line Controls the number of columns on the screen. Page - 12 Some interesting (with C:\ as the DEFAULT) examples: dnav \ -i all directories on C:, include all files dnav . It you add any terms when you start DNAV, the opening Popup is suppressed. To DOS a period means the current directory. So this is the simplest way to aviod that screen. dnav /i ? All directories, but few files, shows you a tree, Allows you to add directory files selectively dnav a: b: d: All files in the root directories for three drives dnav scrn2dsk.* procom*.* list*.* /i3 Acts like a "whereis", searching all directories for the three file families. Show in a 3 files per line mode. COMMAND LINE MACROS With the command line options, you can get quite surgical as to what you want shown. And you will probably find this too much of a nuisance to use often. A macro capability has been added so that you can use this power without all those keystrokes. These macros are stored in DNAV.MAC with the Submit macros. The left term of these macros must be a number less than 32000. You may have a many of these macros as you need. At the DOS prompt, enter, for example, 'DNAV 3'. DNAV uses the corresponding entry from the macro file, in this case, show all files on the C: and D: drives. 01 c:\ -i ;Comment area - show all files on c: drive 2 c:\ d:\ ; Show root directories of C: and D: 3 c:\ d:\ -i ; C: and D:, all files 4 c:dnav d:dnav ; Show just two directories 5 c:\ -i *.txt *.doc ; Show all 'txt' and 'doc' files on C: 9 c:\ -ib3 ; Show c: drive files that need backup You can add terms after the number used to select a macro. For example, given the above definitions, ' dnav 1 *.txt *.doc ' will produce the same result as ' dnav 5 '. Page - 13 KEYBOARD USAGE ON THE MAIN SCREEN The keyboard is customized to ease maneuvering around the screen: arrow keys - move around the screen. Home - Move to the left side. Successively, it will move up the screen. End - Move to the right side. Successively, it will move down the screen. Enter - Acts as a somewhat smarter down-arrow key. When it gets to the bottom of a column, it goes to the top of the next column, staying in the subdirectory. ESC - Toggle the cursor between Line 2 and the body of the screen. Generally remembers where you were last. The <ESC> key will 'quit' from popup menus. It will also abort a copy and, when in the View function, it will abort a search. PgUp,PgDn - Go up (or down) a page of information. The 's' key will allow you to shift in finer increments. PgDn will overlap a few files. PgUp overlaps more files. The jump ('j') allows larger increments. TAB - The TAB key will advance to the next directory. shift-TAB backs up to the prior directory. alpha keys- The ones effective at any time are shown on the PROMPT line at the bottom of the screen. Also use F1 for help. Defined "alt-" keys are shown by pressing the F2 function key. F1 - Function key 1 gives context sensitive help. F5 - This key copies the file name at the cursor to the left part of Line 2. This line is used to built up DOS commands to be submitted. (See below). F6 - This key copies the name at the cursor to the center of Line 2, adding the appropriate path. Saves spelling it out. This name is used in macro expansions. F7 - Function key 7 shows the directories known to DNAV along with an index number. This number can be entered when you are asked for a target directory (for copy or move). Pressing F7 twice will refresh the screen without loosing tags. Page - 14 F8 - Function key 8 refreshes the the directories that are currently on the screen by rereading the disk. F10 - Quit, return to DOS. ON Line 2 - THE SUBMIT LINE On this line, editing may be needed, so editing capability as per IBM's suggestions is supplied. Left and right arrows, INSert and DELete, and the backspace key are operational. HOME and END work. CNTL-left (and right) arrows move a word at a time. The down arrow or ESC take you out of the field. Three Submit variations are controlled by function keys and the Enter key: ENTER When you press this key, the contents of Line 2 is handed to a called copy of DOS which executes the command. Just like an entry at the DOS prompt. At the completion of the called program, control is returned to DNAV. F4 - At times, you may want to see what the called program wrote to the screen. This key works like Enter, but causes a pause before DNAV refills the screen. F3 - The 'magic' of the above has its price. DNAV remains resident and available memory drops by about 120 K bytes. Often this will be unacceptable, so this function is provided. F3 calls DOS with the contents of Line 2, but DNAV does not remain resident and the memory is released. Page - 15 MEANING OF THE LINES DISPLAYED TOP LINE The top line looks like this: Disk Navigator 1.4 Copyright 1989 S. Peters SORT: File A field on this line show how the file information is sorted. This may be changed with the Form function by pressing 'f' to get the Form popup. The computer date and time also appear on this line. It is updated whenever the screen is painted. A symbol - INS - will appear in edit Insert mode (for Line 2 and popups). SECOND (SUBMIT) LINE. This line is blank when DNAV first comes up. Here you can build a DOS command as you would if you were at the DOS prompt. This can then be submitted to DOS which will execute the command. This line may also occasionally contain an message. THIRD LINE. This line contains column headers for the lines in the body of the screen. It may look like this: Filename Ext Sz-K Filename Ext Sz-K Filename Ext Sz-K or this: Filename Ext Date Time Size Filename Ext Date Time Size or this: Dir Filename Ext Sz-K Dir Filename Ext Sz-K Dir Filename Ext Sz-K Sz-K expresses the size in number of 1024 byte blocks. Date often appears in five characters . If the file has today's date, the time will appear with a colon - 14:23. If the file was last modified this year, the date will be shown with a slash - 11/22. If for a prior year, there are three letters for month, two numbers for the year - Feb84. If you want to see the full date and time select the 2 up, directory sequence with the Form popup function. If you have tagged some files, the right side of this line will be replaced with the accumulation of the number of files tagged and size (in 1024 byte blocks). Expressed in 1024 blocks, the size of a 360k disk is 354k. Handy if you want to copy a group of files to a floppy disk. Page - 16 FOURTH OR DIRECTORY LINE. This line will appear whenever the files are sorted in directory sequence and identifies the files below it. It may look like this: D:\ 11 of 91 Files 69857 Bytes, Label: , 716K free or this: D:\SNAPPER 2 of 2 Files 4237 Bytes The first is for the root directory and the second is for a subdirectory. Common to both is the 'nn of nn Files'. With the DOS command line options available, only some of the files may have been included. The first number shows the number selected, the second shows the number of files actually on the disk. The second number will, at times, contain a "??". This indicates that the scan of the directory was incomplete. Use the Add 'a' function for that directory. Bytes refers to the size of the shown files. If the line is for a root directory, two more fields appear. The first is the label on the disk (in the above, the disk was unlabeled). The last is the number of bytes free (in 1024 byte blocks). For an empty 360k diskette, 354K will be shown as this is the number of 1024 byte sectors. DETAIL LINES 5 - 24. These are the recurring data lines for the files. They contain entries for the files and may also contain sub-directories. When it's a sub_directory, the name is preceded with a '\' and <DIR> appears on the right. The '.' may also be replaced by a '\' for subdirectories. In the 2 and 3 column forms, an 'a' may precede the filename. This indicates that the archive bit is set (i.e., file has not been archived). Also perhaps, s, h, or r for system, hidden, and read only. Only the non-directory, 2 and 3 column forms show the setting of all four attributes (a blank means the bit is off). If in non_directory mode, each file will be prefixed with its owner directory something like this '11>'. The 11 is the index number for the directory. You can see the index to name cross reference by pressing function key F8 or using the Jump function. If you have specified multiple drives, the number will be prefixed with a letter identifying the drive, e.g., 'a 1>' or 'c12>'. PROMPT LINE. This shows the functions available at the current cursor position. Enter the first letter of any of any of the words. Invalid keystrokes are ignored. Page - 17 THE FUNCTIONS. As the cursor is moved around on the screen, it stops at various places. What you can do is indicated by the bottom PROMPT line and by help screens available by pressing function key F1. SECOND LINE. Build a command line to submit to DOS, add names to Line 2 with: F3 - Left side, F6 - Right side when the cursor is on the lower part of the screen. Edit Line 2, if necessary (see above for cursor pad action). Submit to DOS with: ENTER - Execute command and return to DNAV F3 - Chain to DOS removing DNAV from memory F4 - Execute, pause before returning to DNAV. DOS internal commands are supported. The left term is 'remembered' across SUBMITs. Put the name of an editor or list program there, and you can browse files with two keystrokes. LINES 3 - 24. As the prompt line will indicate, the functions that are available depend on where the cursor is located. There are three different groupings: - Directory line (with nn of nn files) - Subdirectory name located within the columnar area - File name. The first two are only available when the files are sorted in directory sequence since only file names appear when files are intermixed. Tag and scroll are not available for the second. DIRECTORY ITEMS These operate on entire directories. Tag - This popup window will appear: ╒══════════════════════════════════════╕ │ Tag files for this directory │ │ A - all files shown │ │ or wildcard pattern │ │ <CR> to accept, ESC to abort │ │ > │ ╘══════════════════════════════════════╛ You can enter just an "a" followed by the enter key - this will cause all the files shown to be selected. Or you can enter an afn to include a subset of those shown. Page - 18 Scroll - Scroll down making this first entry on the screen. Since PgUp and Pgdn scroll a full page, this is provided if you wish to scroll by smaller amounts. The item at the cursor will be made the top item on the screen. Add - Use this to add to or update DNAV's file table for a single directory. This is an alternative to entering directories at the DOS prompt when you start DNAV. If you used wildcards on entry to DNAV, this popup will appear: ╒═════════════════════════════════════════════════╕ │ Add files for this directory │ │ A - all files │ │ C - as per command line (use afn's) │ │ <CR> to accept, ESC to abort │ │ > │ ╘═════════════════════════════════════════════════╛ Enter a 'c' to use the same criteria for including files that you used when you started DNAV. An 'a' includes all the files in the directory. Include - Use this to add to or update DNAV's file table. Include does an ADD for the subdirectory and also gets the subdirectories "beneath" it. The same popup window may appear. New - Add a new drive brings up this popup: ╒════════════════════════════════════════════╕ │ Add a drive │ │ or a NEW floppy │ │ Enter drive letter │ │ <CR> to accept, ESC to abort │ │ > │ ╘════════════════════════════════════════════╛ ****** This IS NEEDED is when you change a floppy (e.g., when using the backup function). Xclude - Remove a dir (and all beneath) from DNAV's tables Use this to remove a directory (and its files) from DNAV tables. It does not affect any files on your disk(s). If there are sub-directories below this one, they will also be dropped. Group - act on tagged files, copy, erase, move, backup, untag A popup will ask which function you want to perform. It acts on all files tagged, those on and off the screen, in all directories. For those functions that would alter an existing file, you will be prompted before the Page - 19 operation is performed. ESC will cancel the group action. This function also works for tagged subdirectories, allowing you to Add, Include, and Xclude groups of directories. A popup will allow you to turn off prompting before each file action. I found this too dangerous for the Erase function - it is easy to overlook how many files you have tagged. So if you have tagged files for erasure in multiple directories, the popup will appear for each directory. Jump - Scroll to a directory The directory screen appears when you press 'j'. It shows the structure, with number of files and size of each subdirectory. If you used afn's on the command line it shows selected files and total files. If files contains a '??', the directory (and its subdirectories) has not been scanned by DNAV. If you see something like '37 of ??' this indicates that the tables were filled while this directory was being scanned. The display also show the free space and the current working directory for each drive. PgDn and PgUp scrolls through the directories known to DNAV. On the top line enter the number of the directory you want shown. FILE ITEMS (line 4-24) Operate on a file: Copy - copy a file, prompt appears for destination (see below) This is a binary copy, for other options of the DOS copy command (such as new name for the resulting file), use the command line (Line 2) feature and modify before submitting. Erase - erase file Move - move to another directory, same drive You will be prompted for the target directory View - browse the file, ASCII style Scroll - scroll down, placing this file at the top Tag - mark this file for group action Untag - remove the mark Backup - copy to another drive, set archived bit If you have another backup scheme, DO NOT USE THIS FUNCTION. The other method need control of the archive bit. Rename - rename a file You will be prompted for the new name. Group - act on tagged files: copy, erase, move, backup, untag For copy, move, and backup, you will see this popup: ╒════════════════════════════════════════════╕ │ Enter target drive/directory │ │ (or dir # as per F7) │ │ appending a /v turns verify write on │ │ <CR> to accept, ESC to abort │ │ > │ ╘════════════════════════════════════════════╛ Page - 20 Enter a valid DOS pathname, such as 'A:\P'. DNAV will make sub-directories as needed to satisfy your request. You can also specify the target (for existing directories) by entering the number from the Jump screen or when you press F8. Adding a /v will cause DNAV to copy with verify, i.e., 'A:P/V'. This is recommended for floppies. Particularly if they are new disks used for backup. (Where you will probably never read them until you have a disaster). Hard disks have redundancy (an error correction scheme), so verifying is less important. If you use numbers for directory names, add some non-numeric character, for example '\99' or 'C:99'. MAXFILL COPY MODE With the Registered version of DNAV, the COPY function has been extended, allowing you to tag more files than will fit on a floppy diskette and automatically maximizing diskette fill. It does this by trying to fit the largest file on the disk. If its too big, smaller candidates are copied until the diskette will hold no more of the tagged files. There is no special command to do this. Whenever you ask for a Group Copy and the tagged files exceed the free space on the diskette you will get this popup: ╒══════════════════════════════════════════════╕ │ Multi-floppy mode entered │ │ 494K bytes tagged, 77K free on drive │ │ │ │ M - Max Fill each diskette │ │ S - Sequential │ │ ESC - Exit (Delay until ready) │ │ > │ ╘══════════════════════════════════════════════╛ If you select 'S', the files will be added to the diskettes in the sort order you chose on the FORM popup (shown on the top line). For example, you might want the files stored alphabetically. If you select 'M', DNAV will maximize the space usage on each disk. Generally, you would want to use newly formatted disks, but this is not a requirement of this DNAV function. (Notice on the above popup that there is only 77 K free on the first diskette.) This allows the program to work with all present (and future) capacities and to add files to a disk. But if a version of one of your tagged files already exists on the diskette, you can get the above popup, but when you overwrite the old file, suddenly there is room for the rest of the files and you will never see the continuation popup. Notice that you can press the ESC key if you are not ready to start. You could ESC, then use Line 2 to Format disk(s) without loosing your selected tagged information. Page - 21 DNAV characteristics: - The Macro file is read when DNAV starts. If you make changes to it while within DNAV, the new macros will not be available until you restart DNAV. - DNAV tables are updated only for the directories on the screen whenever there is a return from calling a program. This can save a lot of disk time at the risk of DNAV's tables becoming obsolete. If the tables are obsolete, there is no danger to your disk files, but messages such as "open failure" or "some copy problem" may appear since DNAV's information is obsolete. Use the refresh key (F8) or the ADD function. If a floppy has been changed Use the NEW function. - DNAV's tables are set to accept up to 140 directories and about 1450 files at one time. If the file limit is exceeded, the program continues, automatically eXcluding directories that have not been on the screen and that do not have sub-directories. This is indicated on the Jump screen with ??. If the directory limit is exceeded, DNAV stops accumulating. You can restrict with the command line options at the DOS prompt or use the EXCLUDE function to remove un-needed branches of the disk tree from DNAV's tables. - Copy is fairly fast (about 20% slower than DOS copy), but it can't match specialized backup or copy programs. The disk buffer shares space with the file table. So copies (and View) will perform better if you have less than 1000 files in DNAV tables. - All file operations use DOS level functions. Actions that have a possibility of changing data on your disk show the file name in a popup window before the action is performed. - I have discovered a couple minor problems with DNAV: The View function can get confused by non-ASCI files or when backspacing with a line length exceeding 80 characters. If you have a no-find for a string, the top of the file may be on the screen, but internally a pointer may be elsewhere. Try HOME, then search again. Page - 22 ERROR MESSAGES Target doesn't exist, make directory? This isn't an error message. But you may get it at times when you don't expect it. It is probably a case where you don't know the current working directories of the drives. If you are surprised, press ESC, then 'j' - the Jump screen shows the CWD for known drives. Press ESC and retry. Term unknown: xxxxx This message will appear when DNAV starts if any of terms on the DOS command line are not recognized. The term will be ignored. Not ready error reading drive A Abort, Retry, Fail? This DOS error message can appear right in the middle of the DNAV screen. Ready the drive and respond 'r'. If you removed a diskette, PUT IT BACK, DOS wants to finish its work. If you don't, you can get files of zero length, obsolete data, and other unhappinesses. To remove the message, press F7 twice. File not copied, too large Open failure for Filename Cannot open: File for View These message can appear if you change the floppy disk without informing DNAV (use the NEW function). Make directory failed. Name in use as a file?? The name is probably in use as a file name. Or you may have entered a DOS illegal name. Or the device is full. Tables full, exclude something and retry File table filled, search halted. Directory table filled, search halted. Press 'j' to call the Graphic Tree screen to see what was not included. Use command lines options to be selective about what is accumulated. Path pool EXHAUSTED Another overflow possibility. The aggregate of directory path names and macros exceeds available space. DNAV aborts. Be selective on the command line or shorten your macros. *** Search incomplete *** *** Not searched *** These can occur when DNAV's space is filled. XCLUDE a directory. Call of program failed, see DNAV.DOC COMSPEC must be set and the called program must be within the directories defined in the PATH statement. See the tutorial. There must also be enough RAM free for the called program. Called program returned ERROR LEVEL nnn The concept of programs returning an ERRORLEVEL was not in the early versions of DOS. Some older programs may give a return that has no meaning and may be ignored. On newer programs, look to the documentation of the program. Page - 23 Patching Colors: COLOR preferences are subjective and monitors differ. For this reason, I am providing with this release the following information. It is taken from the source code. It is located in the .exe file at about hex DE10. A hex editor (e.g., HEXED) is the easiest way to make the changes you wish. Search for the constant "switches" and make your changes. When you use a mono monitor (or color in mode BW80), these values are overwritten. In addition to patching for colors, you can choose the default number of columns and whether modifying the attribute byte is allowed. atr: BRGBIRGB | | | | - color for letter, 7 for white | | | - intense if on | | - background, 0 is black | - blink if on char l111[12] = "**switches*"; char sutxtr = 0b; /* submit area of Line 2 */ char popatr = 5e; /* popup windows */ char helpatr = 4e; /* help screens */ char promptatr = 47; /* bottom line, msgs */ char detlatr = 1f; /* detail file names */ char hilatr = 2f; /* directory lines */ char v_detlatr = 79; /* inverse details */ char v_hilatr = 0b; /* inverse directories */ char ul_dirlatr = 01; /* mono underline */ int n_up = 4; /* initial # of columns */ int bk_sw = 1; /* allow backup, arch bit setting */ Page - 24 WARRANTY. DISK NAVIGATOR IS DISTRIBUITED ON AN "AS IS" BASIS WITHOUT WARRANTY, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED. THE USER IS ADVISED TO TEST THE PACKAGE BEFORE RELYING ON IT. THE USER MUST ASSUME FULL RISK AS TO THE RESULTS AND PERFORMANCE OF USING THE PACKAGE. ANY LIABILITY OF THE AUTHOR WILL BE LIMITED EXCLUSIVELY TO PRODUCT REPLACEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES ARISING FROM THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE THIS PACKAGE. LICENSE. Disk Navigator is a copyrighted software that is being distributed as shareware. It is NOT in the public domain. By using or distributing this package, you agree to the conditions presented here. You may use the Disk Navigator for your own personal use; if you find it useful, you are requested to pay a Registration fee as outlined below. You may use the program on multiple machines. Where there is the potential for use on multiple machines at the same time, pay for additional copies. If you are using Disk Navigator in a commercial, professional, educational, or governmental organization, you are granted a limited license, valid for thirty days, to use this package for evaluation purposes; if you continue to use this package, you must pay the registration fee. Operators of bulletin board systems that offer public domain programs are exempted from payment. HOW TO PAY. The price has been made attractive to encourage users of the program to send payment. For each copy in use send: 5 or more 20 or more Commercial and Government $29 $25 $20 Individual and Education $19 $15 $12 Registered users will be notified by letter of updates to the program. Add $6 if you wish to receive a disk with the latest version. Please indicate the version you are using so I can send a refund if you are current. For non-US registrants, I prefer US funds against US sources. I can accept checks on foreign banks in the local currency (please adjust for exchange rate and add 10%). A printed manual will be made available if demand exists. Page - 25 I urge you to support this effort, I have a list of improvements for DNAV which will be forthcoming if I receive support. And I welcome you comments and suggestions, with or without payment. The idea of shareware with its low cost distribution of quality programs is an American Treasure. Individuals with good ideas can afford to implement them. And good, well integrated programs are often the product of a single mind. The authors are talented people that forego a year of salary to implement their ideas. They are making a $40,000+ bet that their efforts will be accepted and that users will respond. A survey has indicated that a very low percentage of users supply support. This is no way to keep the concept alive! If DNAV does not fit your needs, please stop and think about what shareware packages you do find useful. Support those that you use regularly. Send remittance to: Stan Peters P. O. Box 2028 Fairfield, Iowa 52556 DISTRIBUTION. You may freely copy this program for friends so long as the six files (see page 2 of DNAV.DOC) are included unmodified. Non-profit user groups and bulletin boards may also include it in their libraries. If the program is distributed on disk, my program MaxFind must also be on that disk. For-profit organizations may distribute it provided there is a PROMINENT statement urging users to support the user supported concept. This should be in a brief index type (READ.ME?) file that the user accesses to discover the contents of the disk. If in doubt, write me, showing me how you get the point across to the purchaser. In no case may the cost per disk exceed $6.50. Page - 26 REGISTRATION AND ORDER FORM Stan Peters P. O. Box 2028 Fairfield, Iowa 52556 --------------------------------------------------------------- PRICE PRICE PRODUCT QTY EACH EXTENDED ----------------------------- --- ----- -------- Disk Navigator 1.4 Commercial ___ $29.00 $_______ Individual, Educational ___ $19.00 $_______ For Registered users: Disk with current version ___ $6.00 $_______ Purchase Order (not prepaid) $5.00 $ ------- SUBTOTAL $_______ Iowa orders, add sales tax (6%) $ ------- TOTAL $ ------- Name: _________________________________Phone:________________ Address:_____________________________________________________ Address: ____________________________________________________ City, State, Zip: ___________________________________________ Comments: