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1991-09-29
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******* CONTROL 3 *******
Version 6.2
Programmed by Kevin Solway
September, 1991
THE NEW VERSION (6.2)
* Improved handling when there three directories from the same
drive on the screen. If all three directories are different,
then when you copy or move files to a destination on the same
drive you are given choice between the other two directories,
rather than the right adjacent window automatically being chosen.
* Fixed display bug when recovering from renaming error.
* Improved error messages when executing a file.
VERSION 6.1
* Execute any DOS command as you would from the DOS command line.
When typing the DOS command you can pull-down the text under the
highlight bar by hitting Ctrl-Enter to vastly speed up typing.
Use the up arrow key to recall previously typed DOS commands.
* Automatically treat files with certain extensions in specified
ways. For example, if the highlight bar is on a file with a
'.ZIP' extension (ie, a file compressed with pkzip), you can
simply press the return key and automatically run a pkzip -v
command on it, to view the contents of the archive. Or, if the
file is a .DOC or .TXT file, you can configure CONTROL3 to
automatically run your favourite editor (or text viewing program
like "list") with the highlighted file as a parameter. A sample
.CFG file, which lists a few common file extensions and commands,
is included in the package.
* Pressing the backspace key will take you immediately to the
root directory of the currently logged drive.
FEATURES:
* Lists directories of THREE drives/directories on screen
simultaneously.
* Colour coded directory lists (optional).
* Execute ANY DOS command, as you would from the normal DOS command
line.
* Immediately updates directories after changes ON SCREEN.
* Lets you execute, copy, delete, rename and sort files, make and
remove directories, view and print text files, shell to Dos,
touch-up file dates and times, change file attributes.
* Change disk volume labels.
* DELETE AND COPY WHOLE DIRECTORIES complete with any files and
directories nested within them.
* Mini-Editor, ideal for composing or modifying batch files or
small text files.
* File encryption.
* Search and find strings within both text files AND executable files.
* Lets you move effortlessly through directories and between drives.
* Proportional disk space indicator;
* Fast file and directory find.
* Not copy protected.
REGISTRATION
This program is being released under the shareware concept, if you
find this program useful you are required to send a registration fee
of $20 to me at the address below. Include an extra $5 if you want
information about updates.
Remit to: Kevin Solway
P.O Box 207
St Lucia 4067
Queensland
Australia
OVERVIEW:
"Control 3" is a relatively short and fast program that performs all
commonly used file management operations with a minimum of bother and
from the convenience multi-menu environment.
USING "CONTROL 3":
Proportional disk space indicator:
On the left hand border of each directory listing you see a bar
indicating the proportion of space used on that drive.
Listing a second directory on the screen:
Press F1 to list the directory of Drive A on the screen, F2 for Drive B,
F3 for Drive C or Alt - (any letter) to list the directory of that drive on
the adjacent part of the screen.
Log a new disk:
Press "L" to "L"og a new disk in the same drive indicated by the
highlight bar.
Selecting file types:
Press "E" to list executable files, or press "A" to list all files.
Use the "S" option to type in a "S"earch pattern. For example, the
search pattern "*.doc" will list all the document files on your disk.
Sorting the file listing:
To locate files more quickly Press "S" (for "S"ort) and you will
be asked if you wish to sort the files by name, extension, size or by
the time/date the file was last written. Press the appropriate letter.
Once you have sorted the files from a particular drive all files from
that drive will be sorted in subsequent operations until you press Ctrl-S
to re-log the disk and unsort the files.
Moving about in the directory listing:
Use the up and down arrow keys to move up and down a single line in
the list. "End" takes you to the end of the window, "Home" takes you to the
top. PgUp and PgDn moves one whole window up or down, Ctrl-PgDn takes you
to the last entry in the list and Ctrl-PgUp takes you to the first entry.
Fast name finding: Pressing the F9 key will prompt you for a letter
to use in a directory search. Press F10 to search for a file. The
highlight bar will locate at the next directory or filename that starts
with the indicated letter. This method is much faster than paging
through files when you wish to find a particular name amongst hundreds.
Moving into a directory:
Position the highlight bar over the directory name and press the return
key.
Moving back to the previous directory:
To move back one directory level you can either position the highlight bar
over the two dots ("..") and press the return key, or simply press "B"
(for "B"ack a directory);
Pressing the backspace key will take you immediately to the root
directory of the currently logged drive.
Make a directory:
Press "M" and type the name of no longer than eight characters. Then
press the return key.
Delete a directory:
Position the highlight bar over the directory you wish to remove and
press "D" (same as for deleting files). If the directory is not empty you
will be asked to verify that you wish to delete any files and directories
contained within that directory.
Before using this operation be sure that you really want to delete
ALL the files in the directory. If you make a mistake and delete files you
wish to keep you will only be able to recover the files if you are in
possession of a good file undelete program.
Executing normal DOS commands:
Press the "N" key to be prompted for a normal DOS command argument.
(any instruction to DOS, including execution of programs etc). Using this
feature you can execute any program on the DOS path with ease. That is,
you don't have to position the highlight bar on it and then press enter.
You may wish to use the file name currently indicated by the highlight
bar as a parameter for the program you wish to execute. You can speed your
typing by firstly typing the name of the program you want to execute (which
can be anywhere on the DOS path), then pressing Ctrl-Enter to pull down the
text currently under the highlight bar.
Press the up arrow key to bring up previously used DOS commands. You
don't have to type the same command again and again.
Execute a file:
Press the return key to execute the file indicated by the highlight bar.
"Control 3" uses about 110 kb of memory (which includes a 60 kb copying
buffer), so don't expect to be able to run enormous programs from within
"Control 3". If you do try to run a program that is too large to fit in the
memory of your computer you will be greeted with a "not enough memory"
message.
If you try to execute programs from within "CONTROL 3" whilst you
have memory resident programs or large virtual disks resident in memory you
may have problems. In this situation it is safer to execute these programs
from DOS.
You will be prompted for any parameters you wish to pass to the program.
The instructions you give here are the command line parameters you would
normally type after the filename from the Dos prompt.
Control 3 saves the previous ten parameters used and these can be called
up by pressing the up-arrow key.
If you wish to pause after having executed the file and before returning
to "Control 3" then enter a single space as a command line parameter as you
execute the desired program. This is useful if you wish to view possible
Dos errors for example.
Auto-execution
You can treat files with certain extensions in specified ways. For
example, if the highlight bar is on a file with a '.ZIP' extension (a file
compressed with pkzip), you can simply press the return key and automatically
run a pkzip -v command on it, to view the contents of the archive. Or, if
the file is a .DOC or .TXT file, you can automatically run your favourite
editor with the highlighted file as a parameter. A sample .CFG file, which
lists a few common file extensions and commands, is included in the package.
You can have up to twelve extension-command pairs in the file.
Use any ascii text editor, or control3's mini-editor to create a
configuration file, containing the file extensions and commands you would
like associated with them. The file must be called C3.CFG and must be
located on the DOS path so CONTROL3 can find it when it starts up.
For example,
DOC LIST.EXE
PAS TURBO.EXE
Type the extension first (3 letters) followed by the
command you desire. The two lines above, when placed in
the C3.CFG file will enable you to select .DOC files from
within CONTROL3 and you will automatically be able to view
them with the program LIST (provided you have a copy of the
popular program LIST, and the path is set up correctly).
Also, selecting a file with a .PAS extension from within
CONTROL3 will call up the TURBO editor, with the highlighted
file as the work file.
Move a file:
Use the "O" command (m"O"ve) to move files from one directory to another
on the same drive. The destination directory must be listed on the screen
with the source directory. This process is much faster than copying the
files across and then deleting the originals.
Directories cannot be moved with this command. Use the directory copy
and delete functions instead.
Copying files:
Position the highlight bar over the file you wish to copy and press "C"
(for "C"opy). You will be prompted for the destination drive letter. If the
default is correct then press the return key to go ahead with the copy.
If files have been tagged these will be copied also.
If you wish to copy to a different directory on the same drive then
you need to bring that directory up on the same screen with the source
directory. To do this, list the source directory on the screen a second time
and move into the desired destination directory. Then move back to the source
directory and perform the copy.
You will see the files displayed in their new location as soon as the
copy is complete.
Copying directories:
The process is the same as for copying files. This function will
copy ALL the files and directories within the chosen directory across
to the current directory in the chosen target drive (which may be the
same drive).
Changing windows/drives:
When you have more than one directory listed on the screen pushing the
left or right arrow key will move you into an adjacent listing.
Rename a file:
Position the highlight bar over the name you wish to change (which can
be a directory name), then press "N" (for re"N"ame). Type the new name and
press the Return key to see your changes updated on the screen.
It is possible to move a file into a different directory using this
command. To do this, include the destination directory name in the
filename.
Delete a file:
Position the highlight bar over the file to be deleted and press "D"
(for "D"elete). You will be asked to verify the deletion with a yes/no or all.
"All" will delete all tagged files.
View a text file:
Position the highlight bar over the text file you wish to view (these
normally have an extension of either ".DOC", ".TXT" or ".ASC"). Press the
spacebar to pause the scrolling or press the escape key to return to the
control screen.
Press 1..9 to change the speed of the scrolling.
Print a text file:
Position the highlight bar over the text file to print and press the
"P" key. You will then be asked to verify that the printer is ready.
Make sure that the printer is both on and on-line.
Tagging files:
If you wish to delete or copy more than one file you can tag as many as
you like by pressing "Ctrl-T" to tag all the files in the current directory,
or by pressing the space bar to tag and untag individual files. Beware ...
the file beneath the highlight bar when you do the deletion or copy will be
treated as though it were tagged even if you do not specifically tag the file.
Encrypting and de-crypting files:
This encryption program modified from "PC magazine" pp 376-383 Jan 12th
1988. This is just the thing you need to make sure that no un-authorized
person can use your programs and read your personal documents (should you
have something to hide!).
To encrypt a file, position the highlight bar over the file you wish to
encrypt, then press Ctrl-E. Enter a password - and remember it ! The file
will then be written out over the original in encrypted form, and will be
rendered unusable and unreadable.
To de-crypt go through exactly the same procedure, using the same password.
When you enter your password you will be asked to verify with a "Y" or
"N" whether the password is correct. Should you make a mistake, the file
will be de-crypted incorrectly. To recover from this mistake you must
run the encryption program again with the faulty password to get the
file back to its previous state, and then use the correct password.
The "Touch" facility:
Select any number of files and press "T" to touch-up the time and
date recorded on each selected file to the current time and date. If
you have the information window displayed you can see this happening.
The "Find string" command:
This is a very useful function for when you want to locate a particular
series of characters (called a "string"). For example, you may have a whole
diskette full of source code files for your programs, and wish to locate a
single variable name. In this case, tag all the files on the disk and then
press Ctrl-F. Type in the series of characters you wish to locate. If the
string is found, the line of text containing it will be printed along with
the line number.
Use the spacebar to pause scrolling.
If you select '.COM' or '.EXE' files, all printable strings greater
than or equal to five characters will be listed onto the screen. Look
through the error messages of a file to discover its limitations. This
feature can also be useful in getting a better idea of what an unknown
program actually does, and can even detect the possibility of "viruses"
or "bombs" (though this doesn't always work). If you see suspect strings
printed onto the screen, such as "gotcha..." then think twice before
running the program! With executable files ALL strings will be returned,
regardless of the search string you typed in.
Changing the attributes of a file:
Ctrl-A will enable you to type in changes you wish to make to the
attributes of a file.
For example, if you were to type in
sha
the attributes would be changed to system file + hidden + archive.
Shell to DOS:
Press Ctrl-O. You can then perform any Dos command as you normally
would from Dos. Type "EXIT" from the Dos prompt at any time to return to
the program where you left it.
File information:
Position the highlight bar over the file and press "I". You can now
use the arrows to move about between files while viewing the time the
file was last written and its attributes. Press the escape key to exit
"file information".
Maximum files in any one directory:
"Control 3" will truncate the directory listing at 500 files,
following a warning. You can have as many files on any one disk as you
like, as long as there are no more than 500 in any one subdirectory.
If you use a hard disk with many files you may want to create subdirectories
and move some files into them.
Changing the system time and date::
Ctrl-D will prompt you to enter a new date and then the time.
Examples:
Times Dates
2:05 20-1-88
14:45:30 2-11-88
22:11 4-5-88
If you do not see the correct changes made on the screen immediately
then you have entered the time or date incorrectly. Try again.
The Mini Editor:
To edit an existing text file (must be less than 25 lines in length)
position the highlight bar over the file, press "E" and then press
the number "1". Alternatively, to create a new file, press "E" followed
by "2". Press F1 for help.
You can edit lines up to 120 characters in length.
Editing keys are:
left and right arrows : move the cursor left and right without
changing the text.
up and down arrows : move the cursor up and down a single row without
changing the text.
backspace : moves the cursor one position to the left and deletes the
character at that position.
Home/End : moves the cursor to the beginning and end of the current
line.
Insert : Press the "Ins" key to toggle the insert mode. A large cursor
indicates that insert mode is on. With insert mode on,
any characters you type in will be inserted into the line
at the current cursor position, with all text to the right
of the cursor being pushed further to the right.
Pressing the return key whilst insert mode is on will insert
a new line into the text.
Ctrl-Y : Press "Y" whilst holding down the control key to delete
a whole line from the text. All lines below will be
moved up one line.
Escape to Dos:
Press "Esc" to escape to Dos and into the original directory you
were in when you first executed "Control 2". Alternatively, press "Q" if
you wish to quit into the current directory shown within "Control 2".
Command line parameters:
... to alter the default settings.
"?" for help eg Control3 ?
"U" to leave files unsorted by default. This will result in faster
operations if you are dealing with many hundreds of files
"E" to sort automatically by extension.
"T" to be prompted to enter the date and time (very useful if you want
your files to have the correct times)
"H" to keep hidden files hidden.
"O" to turn off colour of filenames.
"P" for filenames in capitals.
"D" for filenames with dots.
"M" for mono-system, or "C" for colour only if this program has trouble
detecting what type of system you have (you will be able to tell if
information is not being displayed properly).
For example:
Control2 u s t
when starting up will run the program without
automatic sorting, without snow checking, and
will prompt you for the date and time.
Tricks and tips:
* If you have a whole pile of floppy disks, and you know the file
you are looking for is somewhere amongst those disks, then use the
"file specification" option.
For example, lets say you want to find the file UTILS84.DOC.
Press "F" and then enter the command
uti*.doc
Feed in floppies with one hand and press "L" to log them with
the other. If a file is found with this specification it will
be listed, otherwise you will be told there have been "NONE FOUND".
* This program will automatically sort your files alphabetically by
default. However, if you like to have your files in order on disk
this can be achieved by using the "Move" command. Create a
directory and move all your files into it, then move them back again.
Your files will now be in order on disk!
* If you use the command line options a lot it will save you time to
create batch files, and run these instead.
For example,
Press "E" and then "2" to get into the editor to create a file.
then type
control3 e p d t {or whichever parameters you choose}
and then save it under the name "con3.bat".
You can then run "CONTROL3" with date and time prompting, sorting
by extension, and with filenames in capitals and dots, simply enter
"con3" from the Dos prompt and press return.
You may want to run "CONTROL3" from an autoexec file. In this
case save the file under the name "autoexec.bat".
Use different batch files for different options.
* Print labels for your floppy diskettes by displaying the directory
of the disk on the screen and then printing the screen.
Do this by firstly making sure the printer is ON and ON-LINE and
then pressing Shift-PrtSc.
Cut out the directory list and then slip it inside your diskette
cover. This is rough, but useful.
* If you need to consult documentation to be able to operate one of
your programs, rather than scrolling through the whole document
with the text file viewer save time and effort using the "find"
utility. Use an appropriate key word, such as "copy" if you wish
to locate information on copying. You will often be able find
out what you need from the text displayed.
Help:
Pressing "H" at any time will immediately display the remainder of
the commands available to you.
******************************************************************************
LICENCE:
Copyright (c) 1991 Kevin Solway. All rights reserved.
This program is provided AS IS without warranty, expressed or implied.
Under no circumstances is this program to be sold, except where clubs
distribute programs without profit.
This program is being released under the shareware concept, if you
find this program useful you are required to send a registration fee
of $20 to me at the address below. Include an extra $5 if you want
information about updates.
Remit to: Kevin Solway
P.O Box 207
St Lucia 4067
Queensland
Australia
*******************************************************************************
