Shareware Grab Bag

home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search

/ Shareware Grab Bag / Shareware Grab Bag.iso / 011 / scout29.arc / SCOUT.DOC < prev

Wrap

Text File | 1987-07-03 | 80KB | 1,536 lines

SCOUT A Memory Resident File Manager by John J. Newlin Copyright 1986, 1987 All Rights Reserved SCOUT is a Shareware product. A Shareware product is one that is distributed through public access channels in order that prospective buyers may evaluate the product before making a decision to buy. Shareware software is not public domain software and is not free. It is fully protected by State and Federal copyright laws, is offered for sale, and is fully supported by its author. Unlike any other commercial distribution method, Shareware permits you, the user, to try out the product on your machine so that you can better decide whether the product meets your needs and expectations. If you try SCOUT and decide for any reason that it does not meet your needs and that you will not use it, then you don't have to face the inconvenience of calling or writing for a refund. Don't use it, don't buy it. But if you do like SCOUT and you use it then you are obligated to pay for it. How much do you pay? Level 1 registration $30.00 Level 2 registration $35.00 Level 3 registration $40.00 Level 1 registration is the basic price for SCOUT and entitles you to use the program. Level 2 registration entitles you to a printed manual and a diskette containing the latest version. It also entitles you to one free major upgrade. Level 3 registration buys you the expanded memory version of SCOUT. More about that later. All registered users recieve as much technical support as necessary to ensure that SCOUT works properly in their system. To register, please send a check or money order to: John J. Newlin 4060-228 Rosenda Court San Diego, CA 92122 California residents must include 6% state sales tax. For technical support and/or questions, you can reach me via Compuserve (EASYPLEX/IBMSW forum - 71535,665) or by phone at (619) 455-6225. License ------- Copyright 1986,1987 by John J. Newlin. All Rights Reserved. You are free to copy and distribute SCOUT for noncommercial use IF: NO FEE IS CHARGED FOR USE, COPYING OR DISTRIBUTION. IT IS NOT MODIFIED IN ANY WAY. Volume discounts, site licenses, commercial licenses are available. This program is provided AS IS without any warranty, expressed or implied, including but not limited to fitness for a particular purpose. The author is a member of the Association of Shareware Professionals (ASP). A version of SCOUT that runs in expanded memory is also available directly from me. This version runs in conjunction with the Lotus, Intel, Microsoft (LIM) standard for Expanded Memory (EMS), version 3.2. It requires less than 1k of normal RAM and is known to be compatible with AST RAMPage, Intel Above Board, and Tall Tree JRAM 3 EMS boards and drivers. I. INTRODUCTION SCOUT is a memory resident disk/directory/file manager and DOS shell that may be invoked from the DOS level or from within an active applications program. Memory resident means that when SCOUT is executed, a portion remains active in memory waiting to be called via the keyboard. The rest of SCOUT (the majority of its code, in fact) resides in a file called an overlay file. This file is named SCOUT.000 and contains approximately two-thirds of SCOUT's run-time code. When SCOUT needs a function imbedded in the overlay file, it needs to know its location so that it can access that file and load the required code. SCOUT has been designed to with two primary goals in mind. The first design goal is that it must be accessible from any applications program as well as from the DOS level. That is why it is a memory resident program. The second design goal is to limit the keystrokes required to perform a specific disk/directory/file management function to the absolute minimum. The achievement of these two goals means that a user can be busy at work in an applications program and quickly call SCOUT into action to perform some disk housekeeping chore and return to productive work with a minimal interruption. Housekeeping includes copying, moving, renaming, and deleting files and a whole host of other functions. A third design goal was to make SCOUT as compatible as possible with the tremendous range of applications programs available for the IBM PC (and clones) as well as a number of other memory resident programs. While it cannot be guaranteed that SCOUT will operate perfectly with every program, it is safe to say that it works with the vast majority of applications and memory resident utilities available today. The following is a summary of SCOUT's major features: + Execute programs + Move, copy, delete individual files + Move, copy, delete tagged files + Rename files, directories, volume labels + Create, remove directories, volume labels + Change file attributes + Sort files in five different ways + Specify ascending or descending sorts + User defined activation ("hot") keys + Format 360KB and 1.2MB 5.25 inch diskettes + Search entire disk for files + Print directory listing of files + Send printer control codes to printer + Print a text file (formatted or unformatted) + View a text file + Search a text file for a specified string + Change directory with single keystroke + Change drives + List unused space on all drives + View monthly calendar + View ASCII table + Automatically tag files for move, copy, delete + Print Graphics screen image (CGA only) + Save screen image to text file + View system memory allocation + Reset file archive bits + Copy (backup) updated files + Set system date/time + Set file date/time + Strip Wordstar files during copy + Remove from memory All of the above features except for the first (execute program) and the last (remove from RAM) are available by calling SCOUT while running an applications program. II. CONFIGURING AND INSTALLING SCOUT SCOUT is capable of being executed right from the floppy diskette it was delivered on. In fact it is suggested that the user place the SCOUT disk in drive A: (it must be drive A, not B), go to drive A by typing A: and entering command SCOUT from the DOS command line. SCOUT will load and be ready to be called whenever the keystroke combination of Alt-F10 is pressed. Don't worry, if this combination is not satisfactory, it can be changed. SCOUT can now be "test driven". Press the Alt key and the F10 key simultaneously and the main SCOUT display will replace the current screen. Press the Esc key and the main SCOUT screen will be replaced by the screen it replaced. Try pressing the " " (backward prime) key. This is the secondary method to bring up SCOUT. Try changing to another drive in the system by pressing the "d" key with the main window displayed. SCOUT will ask "Which drive?". Simply press the letter key of the desired drive. SCOUT will change to the active directory of the specified drive and display the files (up to 350 max) in that directory. Press Esc and notice that SCOUT exited back to the drive and directory it was intially activated from. Now bring up SCOUT again and remove it from memory by pressing the Ctrl and End keys simultaneously. Installing and customizing SCOUT for a particulary PC system is accomplished by executing the CONFIG.COM program. First, copy the SCOUT files to one of the permanent drives in your system. It is recommended, but not required, that this be the drive you boot up from. You may wish to create a subdirectory named SCOUT and place all SCOUT files in that directory or you can place them in any directory you desire. IMPORTANT!! It is mandatory that the program named RUNFILE.COM be placed in the ROOT directory of the drive from which you intend to initially load SCOUT. You will not be able to run programs from SCOUT if this is not accomplished! Execute the configuration program by entering the following from the DOS command line: CONFIG SCOUT. The configuration program will load and display the following main menu: [A] Assign overlay file directory [B] Assign SCOUT activation key [C] Assign default file mask keys [D] Assign directories to function keys [E] Assign printer codes [F] Assign default sort [G] File copy date/time setting [H] Set printer margins [I] Assign favorite programs [J] Set prime key [ESC] Quit The most important item on this menu is item A. In order for SCOUT to function properly, it must know the location of the supporting overlay file. It will not load into memory unless it can locate the overlay file. Selecting item A will result in a prompt to enter the DOS full path name where the overlay file SCOUT.000 will reside. Be sure to enter the FULL path name as in the following examples: C:\UTILITIES D:\ When you have finished configuring SCOUT, be sure to place SCOUT.000 in the directory you specified here. Item B on the main menu allows user selection of the "hot" key combination that is used to activate SCOUT. The default is Alt-F10 but that can be permanently changed to any one of the following key combinations: Alt F1 thru F10 Alt Q,W,A,S,Z, or X Ctrl F1 thru F10 Shift F1 thru F10 The key combination that most appeals to you may be the same key combination that is used in one of your application programs. Don't worry about it, SCOUT provides the ability to temporarily disable the hot key as long as the prime key is not disabled (more about this later). Item C on the main menu permits assigning DOS file mask strings to the ten numbered keys at the top of the PC keyboard. DOS file masks may include wild card characters such as "?" and "*". For example, assigning the string "*.BAS" to the number 2 key will provide you with a means of viewing all the files in the current directory with an extension of ".BAS" with just one keystroke. Or assigning the string "AB??.*" to number 7 will result in SCOUT showing just those files starting with "AB" with names 4 characters long and having any extension, when the 7 key is pressed. Item D on the main menu brings up another menu that permits assigning macros to the ten function keys on the PC keyboard. The macros are strings that will be entered for you in response to various SCOUT prompts for drive/directory path names. For example, suppose the string "C:\WORDSTAR" is assigned to the F5 function key. Then any time SCOUT prompts for a destination directory (such as in copying or moving files), simply pressing the F5 key saves the effort of typing in the entire path string and hitting the enter key. Note that the drive specifier may or may not be included in the macro strings. If it is, SCOUT will automatically change to the drive specifier for you. Thus, assigning "A:" to F10 provides a single keystroke method of logging on to drive A any time the F10 key is pressed. Main menu item E lets you assign printer codes that can be sent to the printer from a menu in SCOUT. It is highly recommended that unless you have and Epson FX-80/85 and are satisfied with the default settings, that you have your printer user's manual handy when you enter the desire codes. Codes can be assigned to function keys F2 thru F9. F1 is reserved as a means of initializing any parallel printer and F10 is used to send a test string to the printer. Codes are entered in DECIMAL. Suppose you wish to assign the code that places your printer in the letter quality mode. Your printer manual tells you that sending the DECIMAL sequence 27, 120, and 1 will place the printer in the letter quality mode. Select the function key you wish to assign this code to and press it. You will be first be prompted to enter a descriptive name (10 characters maximum) for the code sequence. In this case you might enter "LTR QUAL". Next, you are prompted for the code sequence. Enter the decimal numbers (five maximum) as follows: 27/120/01 In this manner you can set up SCOUT to configure your printer directly from an application program. Item F on the main menu permits you to assign a default sort that SCOUT will use each time it is activated. Six choices are available: [A] Sort by file name [B] Sort by file extension [C] Sort by file date [D] Sort by file size [E] Sort by file name/extension [F] ASCENDING SCOUT will employ whichever sort you select as a default, but the sorting method can be changed on the fly when SCOUT is active. The last choice is a nested sort that first sorts by file name and then sorts by extension within the filename groups so that files with common names will be listed in alphabetical order of their extensions. In addition to selecting the type of sort desired, the default sort direction can be toggled with item F on the menu. Each time the key is pressed the direction indicator changes from ASCENDING to DESCENDING or vice versa. Menu item G provides a rather unique capability. When a file is copied by DOS, the new file is given the same date/time stamp as the copied file. If desired, SCOUT will update the date/time of a new copy of a file to the current date and time. This feature can be toggled on or off as desired. Item H on the menu provides the facility for setting up parameters for printing text files. The following default parameters can be set from this menu: [L] Left margin [T] Top margin [B] Bottom margin [P] Lines per page [N] Page numbering [D] Today's date The lines per page needs some explaining. Normally, this would be set to 66 but if it is desired to set the printer to print 88 lines per page, then this parameter must be set in synchronization in order for SCOUT to page probably. These are default settings and are quickly reset on the fly from SCOUT, so 66 would be the most appropriate setting. Page numbering is a toggle that sets the default to on or off as desired. If set to on, SCOUT will place a page number at the bottom of each printed page when printing a file using the SCOUT format settings. Today's date is also a toggle that if turned on will place a one line header containing the current date at the top of the first printed page. Main Menu item I permits setting up a menu of the most commonly used programs that will be executed from SCOUT. There are three elements to respond to for each of the 10 menu items (associated with function keys). The first is the full program name such as ZAPCIS.EXE. The second is the path name where the program file is located. This is a full DOS path name that may include the drive specifier. An example is C:\COMMUTIL. If the drive specifier (e.g., C:) is omitted, SCOUT will use the currently active drive. The third element is whether you desire to be prompted for a command line entry before executing the program. Some programs accept command line entries such as the following: QEDIT myfile.txt Where QEDIT loads and reads the file myfile.txt. If you desire to be prompted for a command line entry for a specific program, SCOUT will flag that item on the menu with an asterisk ("*") and any time you press that associated function key from the program menu, SCOUT will stop and prompt you for an entry before executing the program. Then the program will be executed just as if you had typed the entire string from the DOS command line. Item J on the main menu permits enabling or disabling the prime key as a means of calling SCOUT. This key is so rarely used that it is an ideal one-key alternative to the dual keystroke combination. The prime key must be enabled if you plan to disable the main dual keystroke combination on the fly from within SCOUT. Upon completion of establishing your SCOUT configuration, press the Esc key from the main menu. You will be asked if you wish to make all changes permanent. If the answer is affirmative, SCOUT.COM will be modified accordingly and all the changes made during this session will be active the next time SCOUT is loaded. If a Color Graphics Adaptor (CGA) and color monitor are active, you will be asked if your monitor "flickers". SCOUT writes directly to the video screen and some CGA boards will display snow or sparkle whenever the screen is updated. Other boards are impervious to this. Answering no will result in faster display updates but might cause sparkle and snow on certain monitors. If you're not sure, try it both ways and then configure SCOUT as desired. III. LOADING SCOUT Like any other executable program, SCOUT.COM can be loaded directly from the DOS command line or from a batch file. Many PC users have several other memory resident utilities that are loaded each time the system is booted. SCOUT is well-behaved and should work in conjunction with most Terminate and Stay Resident (TSR) software. For example, in the case of Borland's Sidekick, it is recommended that SCOUT be loaded prior to Sidekick. In that configuration, Sidekick can be called when SCOUT is active and SCOUT can be called when Sidekick is active. In case of conflicts with other TSR's, experimentation with the order the TSR's are loaded will usually solve the problem. SCOUT provides a way to adjust the amount of Random Access Memory (RAM) it occupies. As delivered, SCOUT is set to support up to 350 files per directory and up to 100 directories per drive. Naturally, there must be enough RAM available to contain the data associated with each file and each directory. But if your system is such that you don't require support for 350 files/directory and 100 directories, these parameters can be adjusted downward to conserve RAM. For example, suppose you decide that 200 files/directory and 25 directories are sufficient for your system. Just place the number for the maximum number of files and the number for the maximum number of directories on the command line when loading scout as follows: SCOUT f200 d25 Be sure to place an "f" immediately in front of the desired value for maximum files and a "d" (upper or lower case) in front of the directories value. Since SCOUT uses 23 bytes for each file and 39 bytes for each directory, a memory savings of (200 * 23) + (25 * 39) = 5575 bytes will be realized. Just remember that, in this case, if SCOUT is displaying a directory with more than 200 files, you will only see the first 200 files found by SCOUT when it is called up. And similarly, if SCOUT is called while logged onto a disk with more than the specified 25 directories, the catalog will only show the first 25 directories located. Another means of saving memory is afforded to owners of Hercules (and compatible) Graphics Cards (HGC). Entering a single "h" anywhere on the command line will cause SCOUT to use some of the abundant HGC memory for storage of file and saved screen data. This will result in saving a not so trivial 15.6k of RAM. Two caveats are in order here. The first is that this will not work with Hercules Plus cards while a Hercules ramfont is loaded. The second is that some so-called Hercules compatible boards are not really so compatible and may cause SCOUT to behave strangely. Color users also may be able to significantly reduce SCOUT's image in RAM if they own an advance technology CGA that doesn't show flicker or snow. Entering a single C on the command line will also save 15.6 k of RAM. Color users get a bonus in RAM saved because SCOUT is able to use some of the available board memory for storage of screens saved. SCOUT uses a buffer for operations such as file copying, text file viewing, etc. The size of this buffer is normally 4096 bytes, but it may be increased up to a maximum of 12,228 bytes. The only practical reason for doing so is to increase the speed at which SCOUT copies files. Using the default of 4096 bytes, SCOUT copies just about the same speed as DOS. If desired, set the file buffer size by entering a "b" followed by any number between 2048 and 12228 as a parameter on the command line when loading SCOUT as follows: SCOUT b8192 By the way, maximum copying efficiency will be realized if the buffer size is set to a multiple of 512 bytes. In summary, SCOUT can be configured on the fly by entering values for maximum files, maximum directories, and buffer size on the command line. Here are some examples of how SCOUT can be loaded: SCOUT f150 d20 150 files, 20 directories, 4096 buffer SCOUT d40 f200 b8192 200 files, 40 directories, 8192 buffer SCOUT b6000 d175 175 files, 100 directories, 6000 buffer SCOUT 350 files, 100 directories, 4096 buffer IV. SCOUT HELP Once loaded, SCOUT can be called from anywhere. Just press the defined hot key combination or the prime key (if not disabled) and SCOUT will pop up, saving the screen that was present when it was activated. To return to normal operations just press the Esc key and the SCOUT main display will be replaced by the screen that was present when SCOUT was called. A two page help display may be activated from the main SCOUT display by pressing either ^H or the backspace key. This display contains a list of all available SCOUT command keys and short descriptions of what each key accomplishes. The two pages of the help display are toggled back and forth by pressing any key. Remove the help display by pressing the Esc key. V. THE SCOUT DIRECTORY CATALOG SCOUT maintains a directory catalog for each disk on which it is used. The catalog is kept in a file name SCOUT.LOG located in the root directory of each drive execept floppy drives A and B (these are dynamically stored in memory). When SCOUT initially logs onto a drive it will check to see if SCOUT.LOG exists in the root directory of that drive. If so, it reads the catalog. If not, it scans the drive, locates all directories, creates SCOUT.LOG, and stores the directory names in this file. Any time a new directory is created or a directory is deleted through SCOUT commands, the catalog file is updated. But if the user deletes or creates a directory outside of SCOUT, the catalog will not be accurate. For this reason there is a SCOUT command that will scan the current disk and update the catalog. Press "s" with the main SCOUT display up and the scan and update will be effected. Using a catalog file strategy greatly speeds up searches for files and permits very rapid verification of a user entered directory name. VI. THE MAIN SCOUT DISPLAY The main SCOUT display contains a wealth of information. The top line of the display shows the date and time in a very readable format followed by the version of DOS in use. The main part of the display is divided into 5 columns that hold up to 14 file names each. Thus, up to 80 file names can be displayed at one time. If there are more than 80 files in the current directory, the PgUp and PgDn keys can be used to display the different pages (up to a maximum of 5). Initially, a solid cursor bar appears that is highlighting the first file displayed. File names are displayed in the order determined by the current sort method. The cursor can be moved with the up, down, right, and left arrow keys. The solid bar under the file display shows the current directory path name. Below that, there are three blocks of information. The first block on the left displays information about the file or directory name currently being highlighted by the cursor bar. An example is: Date: 16 December 1986 Time: 01:00 p.m. Size: 15,172 Attr: Normal-A The date and time entries are self-explanatory. The size entry is from the DOS report of the actual file size to the byte. This will be a zero if the entry being highlighted is a directory or volume label. The attribute entry shows status of the file attribute byte. In this case the file is a normal file that has the archive bit set. More about attribute bytes will be explained later. Attribute status may be any of the following: Normal Read-only Hidden System Read-only & Hidden Read-only & System Hidden & System Read-only & System & Hidden Names of hidden files will appear on a monochrome monitor in low intensity video and underlined. In a color system, they appear as a bright cyan. Directory names in a mono system are in low intensity video and have arrow heads appended at each end of the entry. In color, they are yellow. Volume labels appear in low intensity with vertical bars at each end in a mono system and are light red in a color system. The middle box of the lower part of the main display shows the following information: Disk = MYDISK-1 Mask = *.* Files tagged = 0 Bytes tagged = 0 The first line shows the name (if any) of the current disk. It will appear as NOT LABELED if that is the case. The next line shows the current file mask. The file mask consists of a valid DOS file name that may contain DOS wild card characters ("*","?"). All displayed entries will match this mask. The last two lines are used for information when batch tagging files, which will be discussed later. The box on the far right of the lower part of the main display contains more information on the current directory. It displays: Dirs = 2 Files = 134 Used = 1,024,000 Free = 7,665,424 Dirs refers to the number of subdirectory contained in this directory. Files is the number of files in the current directory, based upon the file mask. If the file mask is "*.*" then all files in the directory will be displayed. Used is the total sum number of bytes occupied by files matching the current file mask. Free is the number of bytes currently available for DOS assignment on the active drive. The bottom line shows the SCOUT default directory, which is the directory active at the time SCOUT is called. VII. SCOUT NAVIGATION COMMANDS SCOUT provides a number of commands that facilitate navigation around the system. Each is invoked from the main SCOUT display and is described in the following subparagraphs. A. Changing drives. Pressing the "d" key will pop up a small window that prompts for entry of a single character that denotes the desired drive. In DOS, drives are designated by A,B,C... etc. Pressing the appropriate letter key will cause SCOUT to change to the drive indicated and display whatever the default directory on that drive happens to be. If a letter is pressed that is outside the range of drives in the system or if the target drive is not ready (i.e., door is open), then an error window will be displayed. A drive change may also be effected by assigning one of the function keys to a string such as "A:" and then pressing that function key. B. Changing the SCOUT base or default directory. When initially called, SCOUT will record the current drive and active directory as the default directory. This is done so that SCOUT will not trick the current application program by changing drives and/or directories. This can be changed by pressing the "b" key. The SCOUT directory catalog will appear and the SCOUT default directory can be changed to any directory in the catalog by pressing the associated letter key. The catalog is divided into pages of 20 directories each and the directory names are alphabetically sorted. Page through the catalog by using the PgUp and PgDn keys. Note that the SCOUT default directory is always displayed on the bottom line of the main SCOUT display. The End key will effect a change to the SCOUT default directory. C. Changing to a Directory. A change of directory can be accomplished by moving the cursor over the name of a subdirectory and pressing return. A directory change can also be accomplished in several other ways. One is through the SCOUT catalog (described later) and the other is through the function keys. Recall that function keys could be assigned valid directory path names via the configuration program (CONFIG.COM). Simply pressing a function key assigned a directory name will cause SCOUT to change to that directory and display it's files. Pressing the Home key will change to the root directory of the current drive and pressing the End key will change to the SCOUT default directory. Pressing Ctrl and PgUp will change to the parent directory of the current directory. For example, if SCOUT is displaying files in \ONE\TWO\THREE and the Ctrl PgUp combination is pressed, SCOUT will change to and display files in \ONE\TWO. VIII. SCOUT DIRECTORY COMMANDS A number of various commands are available that make it much easier to manage the directory structure of a large disk. A. Creating a directory. Pressing the "i" key will bring up a window that prompts for the name of the directory you wish to create. If you desire that the directory you are creating become a subdirectory of the current directory, then type in a valid DOS name with NO PATH SPECIFIER. For example, suppose SCOUT is displaying the files in C:\ONE and you wish to create the subdirectory C:\ONE\TEST, which is a child of the directory \ONE. Type TEST, press return, and SCOUT will create the directory and update the catalog. When the screen is refreshed, the new directory name will appear on the display. If you desire to create a directory that is NOT a child of the current directory, then type in the full DOS path name of the new directory. For example, suppose you wish to create the directory \ABC. Type in the string "\ABC", press return, and SCOUT will create the directory "\ABC". Note that any time an invalid path specifier is entered, SCOUT will display an error box with the message "Invalid Directory". This might occur if an attempt is made to create a directory with a name that is already in use as a directory name. B. Removing a Directory. A directory is deleted by changing to the parent directory of the directory to be removed, placing the cursor bar over its name, and pressing the Del key. If the directory contains files it cannot be deleted and SCOUT will notify you by showing the error box and the message "Directory has files." C. Directory Listing. A printed copy of the current directory file list may be obtained by pressing the combination of Ctrl P from the main SCOUT display. A window will pop up offering two choices. A listing of only the current directory or a listing of all directories on the current drive may be selected. If your printer is not ready, an error box will pop up informing you of this fact. D. Volume Labels. SCOUT permits the creation, renaming, and deletion of disk volume labels. A label may be created by pressing the "l" key. If no label exists, you will be prompted for the new label name. Be sure to enter a valid DOS name. If a label already exists, an error box will pop up so informing you. To rename or remove a label, move SCOUT to the root directory of the desired drive and place the cursor over the current label. To rename it, press the Ins key. To remove it, press the Del key. If renaming a label, you will be prompted for the new label name. If deleting a label, the label name under the cursor bar will be replaced by the string "[ DELETED ]". E. Refreshing the Main Display. As you will see later, it is sometimes desirable to update the SCOUT display. Pressing the "x" key will refresh the display and move the display to the first page of files. IX. FILE OPERATIONS The following subparagraphs describe SCOUT's ability to manage the files on your disks. A. Copy a File. To copy an individual file, use the arrow keys to move the cursor to the file name you wish to copy and press the "c" key. SCOUT will respond with a window that prompts you for the new file name. This can be a simple file name, in which case SCOUT will copy file under the cursor to a file of the name you entered in the same directory, or it can be a path name, in which case SCOUT will make a copy of the file of the same or new name in the directory specified. In any case, SCOUT will show you the full path name (including the target file name) and ask for permission to proceed with the copy. If no path name is shown, then it indicates that SCOUT intends to copy the source file to the target file in the current directory. SCOUT makes several checks to insure that it doesn't attempt to copy a file to itself and will bring up the error box if that is the case. Upon completion of the copy operation, SCOUT will display the number of bytes actually copied. When copying to another drive, SCOUT will invoke the error box if it detects that the target drive is write protected or that the it is not ready (open door). It will also check the validity of the target directory, if one is specified, and abort the copy if the target directory path is not valid. B. Strip and Copy a File. This function will copy a file in the exact same manner as described above except that it will strip the high bit from all characters as it copies. In other words, Wordstar files may be copied in a way that removes special control codes and characters. The resulting copy will be a straight ASCII file. C. Move a File. SCOUT will move a file from one directory to another on the same drive. It will not move files across drives. Highlight the target file with the cursor and press the "v" key. A window will open that prompts for the path name of the destination directory. Entery the desired directory path name and press return. If the entered destination path name is valid, SCOUT will move the file from the current directory to the destination directory. If the path name was not valid, an error box will appear. When the move window disappears, the name [ MOVED ] will appear in the place of the target file name. Moving a file from on directory to another is faster than copying it because no data is actually moved. Instead, the target file name is moved from its original directory to the new directory. D. Rename a File. A file can be renamed by moving the cursor over the file name and pressing the Ins key. A window will appear that prompts for the new file name. Enter any valid DOS name and press enter. The name of the file will be changed to the newly entered name. It is permissable to use the "*" wild card when renaming a file. For example, suppose you desire to rename the file named LONGFILE.TXT to LONGFILE.DAT. When prompted for the new name, enter *.DAT and SCOUT will rename LONGFILE.TXT to LONGFILE.DAT. E. Alter a File Attribute. Each file created and maintained by DOS has what is called an attribute byte. This byte contains coding information that describes certain of the file's properties. It is through coding of the attribute byte that a file is marked as hidden, read-only, or archived. In the case of archive status, each time a file is opened for updating, DOS sets the archive bit (a member of the attribute byte) to indicate that the file has been updated. Many back-up programs re-set the arhive bit to show that the file has been backed up and hasn't been changed since. The attribute byte of any file on your disk can be altered by SCOUT by highlighting the target file with the cursor and pressing the "a" key. A menu type window will appear that allows you set the file's attribute to any of the DOS legal settings. This is useful for deleting files marked read-only by some applications programs. First change the attribute to normal and then the file may be safely deleted. Neither DOS nor SCOUT will delete a file marked as read-only, so it is one method of protecting valuable file from inadvertant erasure. F. Delete a File. To delete a file, move the cursor over the target file and press the Del key. If the file is marked as read- only, an error box will appear and SCOUT will not delete the file. SCOUT will ask if you are sure that you wish to delete the file. If you are sure, press the "y" key and SCOUT will delete the file. If not, press any other key and the window will disappear and the file will remain as before. If you attempt to delete a file on a write-protected drive, SCOUT will inform you with an error box. G. Purging a Directory of Files. SCOUT offers a fast way of purging (deleting) all the files in a directory. Move SCOUT to the desired directory and press the left-shift tab key combination. A window will appear that asks if you are ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN. Be careful, because answering to the affirmative will delete ALL files in the active directory. All files, that is, except any marked as read-only (of course). H. Setting a File Time/Date. A file's time and/or date may be changed by moving the cursor bar over the name of the file and pressing the Ctrl "f" combination. A window will appear that offers three choices. A new time may be entered, a new date may be entered, or the file's time/date can be set to the current system time/date. The date is entered in the format MM-DD-YY. Be sure to enter two digits each for the month, day, and year fields. The separator between fields may be the hyphen (-) or any character desired. The time is similarly entered using the format HH:MM:SS. The seperator may be the colon or any desired character. An error message will inform you if you enter an invalid time or date. The file's time and date may both be updated to system time automatically by selecting that choice from the window menu. I. Printing a File. If the printer is ready and available, pressing Ctrl "z' with the cursor highlighting a printable file (not a .COM or .EXE file) will bring up the SCOUT print menu. If the printer is not ready, an error box will appear informing you of that fact. Three choices are available. The file can be printed using SCOUT formatting parameters or it can be printed with no added formatting. The third window menu choice leads to an auxilliary menu that allows you to set the printing parameters. If you know that the file you wish to print already contains form-feeds and other printer control codes, then use menu item B to print the file. If you desire to use SCOUT formatting commands, you may change the parameters you defined via the configuration program from the auxilliary menu. It looks like this: [L] Left margin 0 [T] Top margin 0 [B] Bottom margin 10 [P] Lines per page 66 [N] Page numbering NO [D] Today's date YES [S] Start page 1 [E] End page 99 The page numbering and date selections are toggle that will change from YES to NO (or NO to YES) each time the associated key is pressed. All other selections result in a prompt for the desired values. The start and end page settings permit you to print a selected portion of a document. If the start and end page values are set so that the start page is greater than the end page, SCOUT will "simulate" printing the file and you can discover the number of lines and pages in a file based upon the type of formatting selected. Note that the Left margin parameter is in effect even when a file is printed with no SCOUT formatting. This was done so that you might have some control over the left margin of a document even though it it pre- formatted. After selection of print parameters is complete, press the Esc key to return to the main print menu and select the type of formatting desire. SCOUT will then cause the file to be printed and will keep you informed of its progress by dynamically updating the number of lines and pages printed as well as the per cent of completion. X. SCOUT BATCH FILE OPERATIONS Batch file operations make quick, easy work out dealing with the requirement to move, copy, or delete a group of files. It saves many, many keystrokes and lowers the possibility of inadvertant errors caused by mistyping. A. Tagging Files. The purpose of tagging files is mark a selected group of files for moving, copying, or deleting. Files are tagged by using the plus (+) key. When the plus key is pressed, a "+" symbol appears next to the file name under the cursor and the cursor advances to the next file name. Up to 80 files may be tagged at one time. An individual file may be tagged by moving the cursor to that file and pressing the minus key. As files are tagged, the lower center and right information boxes are updated. A running tally of the number of files tagged and bytes tagged is kept in the center lower box. The last line of the lower right box changes to "Flex = ". This provides the user with a running tally of bytes tagged based on the cluster size of a floppy disk. For a more technical explanation, see the technical notes section of this manual. Files may also be tagged automatically by pressing the Ctrl "t" combination. Auto tagging will commence at the current location of the cursor and tag all files until the 80th file or the end of the listed files is reached. This operation can span SCOUT's directory pages. Another method of automatically tagging files is to press the Ctrl "w" combination. A window will appear that prompts for entry of a file mask. When the file mask is entered (e.g., "AB??DC.*LM"), SCOUT will tag all files matching the mask specification up to 80 files or the end of the listed files. A tagged file may be untagged by moving the cursor to it and pressing the minus "-" key. All tagged files can be untagged with just one keypress. Press the "u" key and SCOUT will remove all active tags. B. Batch Copying. All tagged files may be copied in one operation by pressing the "g" key. A window will appear that shows the names of all tagged files and asking for a destination. If no files are tagged, a message to that effect appears in the window. Entry of a valid destination string will cause all the tagged files to be copied to that destination. The destination string can be a directory on the current drive, a directory on a different drive, or the default directory of a different drive. To copy to the default directory of another drive, just enter the drive designator and a colon (i.e., "A:") and SCOUT will do the rest. To minimize entry errors resulting in copying to the wrong destination, SCOUT responds to entry of the destination string by displaying the intended destination in full DOS path name format and requesting confirmation for the copy. Pressing Esc at any time during this operation will abort the copy. As each file is copied, the string [ COPIED ] replaces the file name on the displayed list of tagged files. Upon completion of the batch copy operation, SCOUT will display the total number of bytes copied. When copying to another drive, SCOUT will check the space available on that drive and if it is smaller than the amount of tagged bytes the copy operation will be aborted. At the completion of the batch copy operation, all tagged files will now have a pound sign ("#") in place of the plus ("+") sign. Pressing the "t" key at this point will result in re-tagging all the files just copied. This saves having to manually tag those files again in case it is desire to copy the same group of files to several different destinations. C. Batch Moving. The batch move operation operates exactly as the batch copy operation except that files may not be moved to another drive. Again, window appears that displays all tagged file names and prompt for the destination directory. If the entered directory name is invalid, an error box will appear informing you of that fact. As each file is moved, the string [ MOVED ] replaces the moved file. If the destination directory contains any files with the same name as one of those tagged, the [ MOVED ] indicator will not replace the name and at the end of the operation an error box will inform you of the error. At the end of the operation, SCOUT will display the total number of bytes moved. D. Batch Deletion. The batch delete operation works just like the batch copy and move operations except that of course there is no destination to enter. The same window will appear displaying the names of the tagged files and SCOUT will ask for confirmation to delete. Be careful, because once an affirmative response is given, the operation proceeds non-stop unti all tagged files are deleted. The string [ DELETED ] will replace each file as it is deleted. If any tagged files are marked as read-only, they will not be deleted and their names will remain visible on the display. At the end of the batch delete operation, SCOUT will show an error box saying that an illegal operation was attempted on a read-only file. As with the batch copy and move operations, SCOUT will display the total number of bytes deleted at the end of the operation. E. Batch Archive Bit Reset. SCOUT provides a very fast and convenient way to continually back up data files while working in an application program that is continually updating those files. It works like this. Pressing the key combination Ctrl "a" will bring up a window asking if you desire to reset all archive bits. If you answer yes, SCOUT will reset the archive bits of every file in the directory. Now, as you work in your application program and valuable data files are updated by your program, the archive bits are set by DOS. So as you work, SCOUT can readily detect which files have been updated since resetting the bits or since the last update. To effect backup, press the Ctrl "b" combination at any time. A window similar to the batch copy window will appear and all files that have been changed will be listed by name. Enter a valid destination string and SCOUT will copy the marked files to that destination and reset the archive bits again. This cycle can be repeated over and over as you work and you never have to leave your application program to back up your files! By the way, once you have entered a destination string and the copy operation has completed, the next time you invoke the copy mode and are prompted for the destination name simply press Ctrl "r" and the previously entered name will automatically be inserted for you. XI. SCOUT INFORMATION COMMANDS SCOUT offers a number of commands that provide valuable information to the user. A. Disk Information. Pressing the "q" key from the main display will bring up a window that shows a number parameters applicable to the active disk, including total bytes available, bytes used and bytes free both in numbers and percentages. C. Disk Space Available Pressing Alt-d will result in a window that displays the bytes of disk space available for each drive in the system that is lettered C and above (including RAM disks). Drives A and B are ignored since they are usually floppy drives and don't contribute that much to the overall system. C. Version Information. The "n" key will bring up a window showing the SCOUT version number, maximum number of files, maximum number of directories, file buffer size, and the current setting of the copy mode. D. File Mask Settings. In order to see what the current file mask settings are or to change them, press the "j" key. A window will appear displaying the file mask string assignments to the ten number keys. Any one or more of these can be changed for the duration of the current session. To permanently change a file mask setting, use the configuration program. E. Function Key Settings. Function key macro settings can be viewed or changed in exactly the same manner as the file masks. Pressing the "k" key will bring up a menu showing the current function key assignments. Changes can be made for the duration of the session only. F. SCOUT Calendar. Pressing the combination Ctrl "l" will bring up a calendar with the current date blinking. Advance the month by pressing up arrow key and retard the month by pressing the down arrow key. The entire year may be advanced/retarded by pressing the righ/left arrow keys respectively. Pressing the Home key will re-display the current month and year. The year will not retard below 1980 (the DOS minimum). G. SCOUT ASCII Table. SCOUT will display an ASCII table if the right square bracket key ("]") is pressed. Pressing the down arrow key will scroll the table up and pressing the up arrow key will scroll the table up. PgDn will scroll up a full page and PgUp will scroll down a full page. Home will return to the beginning of the table and End will display the last page of the table. H. Memory Allocation. SCOUT will display a list of all programs currently in RAM and the number of bytes each is occupying. Press the "w" key to bring up a window displaying this data. Please note that for DOS 3.X actual program names will be displayed but in the case of DOS 2.X that information is not readily available, so SCOUT enumerates the programs by labeling them program1, program2, etc. I. Catalog Information. SCOUT keeps all of the directory names from the currently active disk in a catalog. The catalog is accessable via the "z" key. The catalog is displayed in up to 5 pages of 20 directory names in each page. Page up or down through the catalog with PgUp and PgDn keys. Each directory name is indexed by an alphabetic character from "A" through "T". Pressing Ctrl "p" while viewing the catalog will result in a formatted listing of all directories in the catalog to the printer. Pressing a letter key that is associated with a directory name will result in SCOUT changing to that directory. The "b" key will bring up exactly the same display of the catalog as the "z" key except that pressing a letter key associated with a directory name will change the SCOUT default directory. The SCOUT default directory is the directory that SCOUT will make active when the Esc key is pressed from the main display to return control to your application program. J. Text File Viewing. A text file may be browsed by placing the cursor over the desired file name and pressing the "r" key. SCOUT will display 23 lines of the file at a time. You can page back and forth through the file using the PgUp and PgDn keys. The Home key will show the first page of the file. The End key will take you to the end of the file. Note that if the file is a long one, there will be some delay while SCOUT indexes the pages on the way through to the end of file marker. Once this has occurred, pressing the End key from anywhere in the file will instantly take you to the end of the file. Any page of the file may be printed by pressing Ctrl "p". Use the Esc key to exit the file browse mode. SCOUT will search the text file being viewed for a specified string. Press the "F" key while a text file is being browsed. A box will pop up prompting for a search string. The search is case sensitive. Typing in a string and pressing return will start a search (forward only) through the file for the specified string. If the string is not found then a message to that effect is displayed in the box. If found, the page containing the target string is displayed and all occurrences of the string will be blinking. In fact, you can continue to browse back and forth through the file from this point and every occurrence of the string will blink. To stop the blinking, press "F" and just enter a carriage return in response to the prompt. If the "C" key is pressed following a search and location of a string, SCOUT will continue the search to the end of the file. K. ARC File Directory Listing. ARC files are files that have been compressed by commonly available utilities like ARC and PKARC. Any such file with an .ARC extension that is a valid ARC file may accessed to display its directory of file entries. Just place the cursor of an ARC file and press the "r" key. If SCOUT finds that it is indeed a valid ARC file, a window will appear that shows the directory listing in pages of pages of 18 entries each. Each entry displayed has the ARCed file name, the date, the time, the uncompressed file size, the compressed file size, and the method used in compression. The method is coded as follows: CR - Crunched PA - Packed ST - Stored SQ - Squeezed SU - Squashed (PKARC only) UN - Unknown To get a printed listing of the ARC file directory, press Ctrl "p" at any time while displaying the file names. L. Search for a File. SCOUT will search an entire disk for a file name and report all directories where the target file was found. Press the "y" key and a window will appear requesting entry of a file name or file mask. Any legal DOS file name and/or wild cards ("*","?") are acceptable. If you desire to search a disk other than the disk that is currently active, just immediately preceed the file specification string with the drive letter and a colon. For example, suppose you are on drive C and wish to search drive D for all files with an extension of .PAS. At the prompt, enter D:*.PAS and SCOUT will change to drive D before conducting the search. As SCOUT finds files matching the entered specification, they will be listed in the window along with their parent directory name. If more than 16 matches are found, SCOUT will pause at the 16th match. Thus SCOUT will display finds in groups of 16. Pressing the escape key at any pause aborts the search. A listing of the current screen can be obtained by pressing Ctrl "p" at any pause. If no match is found, SCOUT will display a blinking message to that effect. M. Scan the Disk. If any directories are renamed, deleted, or created other than through SCOUT commands, it will be necessary to update the catalog. Press the "s" key and window will appear informing you that the scan is in progress. SCOUT will scan the entire disk and enter all directory names found in its catalog. On most hard disks the scan only takes a minute or so, but the time required is dependent upon how many directories are present, how deep they are nested, and the performance of the disk itself. Note: DO NOT nest directories over five levels (including the root directory) deep. This slows DOS performance and can cause SCOUT to malfunction during a scan. XII. EXECUTING PROGRAMS FROM SCOUT SCOUT is the only memory resident program known to have the capability to execute programs. A. Run a Program. First, remember that you MUST have placed RUNFILE.COM in the root directory of the disk drive from which SCOUT is to be initially loaded into memory in order for you to successfully run a program from SCOUT. The easiest and most direct method of running a program from SCOUT is to move the cursor to a .COM, .EXE, or .BAT file and press return. SCOUT will execute the program. When you exit the program, a prompt will appear asking if you wish to return to SCOUT. If so, pressing "y" will activate SCOUT again in the same directory from which you ran the program. If not, pressing "n" will leave you at the DOS level. Note: YOU CANNOT RUN A PROGRAM FROM SCOUT UNLESS YOU CALLED SCOUT FROM THE DOS LEVEL! But you may activate SCOUT from the program you executed from SCOUT. Just be sure to terminate the program before attempting to run another program. In many cases it may be desirable to pass the program you desire to run parameters via the command line. Just press the slash ("/") key with the cursor over the name of the program you desire to run. A window will appear prompting you for the command line string. Enter it and press return. SCOUT will pass the entered string to the executed program just as if you had invoked the program from the DOS command line. B. The Program Menu. The configuration program permittied you to enter up to 10 program names, parent directories, and flags indicating whether or not to pause for command line parameters. This menu may be invoked by pressing the backslash key ("\"). A window will appear that displays the program names you defined, the directory names they are located in, and stars ("*") for any you marked to pause for command line parameters. Each program is indexed by a function key. Press the function key associated with program that you desire to execute. If that program is flagged with a star, the command line parameter window will appear and request entry of the parameter string before the program is executed. The power of using the menu is that you can define programs that reside on disks other than the default drive and SCOUT will effect both appropriate drive and directory change so that the program can be executed from its parent directory. Just be sure to enter the full proper path specification in the configuration program. XIII. MISCELLANEOUS COMMANDS A. Saving the Screen to a File. Pressing Ctrl-V with with the main SCOUT display up will cause SCOUT to save the screen image that was present before SCOUT was activated. The screen image will be converted to ASCII text and saved to a disk file. The file name is SCREEN.DAT and it will be written to the default directory. If SCREEN.DAT exists, SCOUT will append the screen data to it otherwise it will create the file. B. Printing a Graphic Screen Image. If SCOUT was loaded with the "g" parameter on the command line and a Color Graphics Adaptor (CGA) or Enhanced Graphics Adaptor (EGA) emulating the CGA in use, SCOUT will save a graphics screen image when activated. Pressing Ctrl-G will cause SCOUT to send the saved graphics image to the printer. This will only work properly on IBM graphics printers or printers capable of operating in the IBM graphics mode like the Epson FX series. A menu will pop up offering a selection of either the IBM graphics or Epson printer. The printed image will be rotated 90 degrees so that the screen image perspective is preserved in the printing. C. Format a Floppy Disk. SCOUT will even let you format a floppy disk (5.25" only). Pressing the "f" key at the main display will pop up a window asking whether to format drive A or B. Press the appropriate drive letter. If you are using SCOUT on an AT, SCOUT will then ask if you want to format a high density drive. PC AT's and compatibles have drives that can use both regular (40 track, 9 sector, 360 KB) and high density (80 track, 15 sector, 1.2 MB) disks. When ready to format, press Return. If the drive has been previously formatted, it may contain files you don't wish to destroy. SCOUT will issue a warning in this case and give you the option of aborting the format. Otherwise SCOUT will go ahead and format the disk and show you (track by track) its progress as it does. SCOUT will also warn you if the disk is write-protected. If the drive door happens to be open and you don't close it before formatting begins, SCOUT will rush through the formatting and then bring up the error box informing you that there was an error in formatting. XIV. EXPANDED MEMORY VERSION There is a version of SCOUT (not included in the regular distribution package) that runs in Expanded Memory (EM). This version can be used with any EM board and software drivers that conform to the Lotus, Intel, Microsoft (LIM) Expanded Memory Specification (EMS) version 3.2. If you have the EM version of SCOUT, then you should have the following files: SCOUT-EM.COM SCOUT-EM.000 RUNSCOUT.COM REMOVE.COM CONFIG.COM RUNFILE.COM CALLSCT.COM SCOUT-EM is configured and installed exactly the same as SCOUT but it is loaded differently. The only command line parameter recognized by SCOUT-EM is the "m" parameter for composite video monitors. When SCOUT-EM loads, it first determines that an EMS driver is present and requests eight 16k pages from the Expanded Memory Manager (EMM). If the EMM is not present or is unable to allocate 8 pages to SCOUT-EM, then SCOUT-EM aborts with an appropriate error message. If everything is ok, SCOUT-EM loads itself into the allocated EMS pages and is ready to be called by the regular RAM-resident driver, RUNSCOUT.COM. RUNSCOUT.COM should be loaded immediately after running SCOUT-EM. This driver contains keyboard interrupt handler code and the code that will map SCOUT-EM code into the active EM page frame when SCOUT-EM is called. RUNSCOUT.COM will occupy approximately 2K bytes of normal RAM. Operationally, SCOUT-EM will perform exactly as the regular version of SCOUT, except since it is running in EM, it takes up a lot less memory in normal RAM. SCOUT-EM is removed from EM and regular RAM by running the program REMOVE.COM. The default operational parameters for SCOUT-EM are: files/directory 420 directorys/disk 150 file buffer size 12,288 bytes SCOUT-EM has been tested in conjunction with other software that utilizes EM such as Software Carousal and Lightning and Vcache, two hard disk cache programs. AT users may have problems with some configurations if the system you are running under is using a combination of expanded and extended memory and the RAM disk resides in expanded memory. This is the case with the AST Premium/286 computer. XV. Compatibility SCOUT is compatible with the IBM PC/XT and PC AT. It should operate on any truly compatible computer with no problems. It has been tested with PC DOS 2.1, PC DOS 3.1, MS DOS 2.1, and MSDOS 3.1. Some lap top portables have display screens that are supported by a graphics card but do not show actual colors. Loading SCOUT with an "m" on the command line should solve an display problems with these machines. XVI. SCOUT Command Key Summary The following is a list of all the SCOUT command keys with a brief summary statement of the function of each. A - Change file attribute. ^A - Reset archive bits for all files in current directory. B - Show catalog - change default directory. ^B - Batch copy files changed since last backup. C - Copy file under the cursor bar. D - Change drive. Alt-D - Show unused for each disk drive in system. ^D - Change system time/date. E - Erase tagged files. F - Format a floppy disk. ^F - Change file time/date. G - Batch copy tagged files. ^G - Print saved graphics screen image. ^H - Command summary window. I - Create new directory. J - View/set file mask settings. K - View/set function key macro settings. ^K - Disable/enable primary hot key combination. L - Create new volume label. ^L - Calendar display. M - Batch move tagged files. N - Version window. O - View/change sort option. P - Printer control code menu. ^P - Print listing of current or all directories. Q - Disk information. R - Read text file or read ARC file directory. ^R - Recall last entered path name. S - Perform scan and update directory catalog. ^S - Strip and copy file. T - Retag copied files. ^T - Initiate auto-tag from present cursor postion. U - Untag all tagged files. V - Move individual file. ^V - Save text screen image to text file. W - Show system memory allocation. X - Refresh the main display. Y - Search for one or more files. Z - Display catalog - change directory. ^Z - Print file. Del - Delete highlighted file/directory/label. Ins - Rename highlighted file/directory/label. ^PgUp - Change to parent directory. Home - Change to root directory. End - Return to default directory. ^End - Remove from memory. PgUp - Show previous page of files. PgDn - Show next page of files. + - Tag a file. - - Untag a file. ] - Show ASCII table. \ - Display executable program menu. / - Run program with command line parameters. Pressing F1 - F10 at the main SCOUT display will change directory to the assigned macro string. Pressing 0 - 9 at the main SCOUT display will show only those files matching the assigned file mask. Page 28