SPACE 2/SPACE - Library 2 - Volume 1.iso/apps/609/whatis61/whatis61.doc

Text File | 1992-06-13 | 23KB | 536 lines

                      WHATIS File Identifier v6.1
                  Copyright (c)1989-92 by Bill Aycock


WHATIS is a simple program that will identify over 125 different types of
files. It is mouse-driven and is easy to use; everything is done from a single
dialog box.  Whatis runs in any resolution on any ST or TT, and uses around 15K
of your system's RAM.  This version will work as either a standalone program or
as a desk accessory (just rename the program file to .PRG or .ACC for whichever
you prefer).  When run as a desk accessory (a normal ACC, or a MultiDesk
resident _or non-resident_ accessory), versions 5.2 and up of Whatis can act as
a "Whatis server" - specially-written programs can use Whatis to identify file
types for them!  (See the Whatis Server appendix for details.)  Starting with
version 5.3, you may also pass a filespec to Whatis on the command line to run
it as a TTP-like program.


Why use Whatis?  Let's say you're on your favorite BBS, and download a file
called SUPERPRG.ARC.  You fire up your Arc Shell to extract the file, and it
says "I don't know how to handle this file!".  Whip out Whatis and take a look,
and you find out the file is really an LHarc archive - the uploader used the
wrong extender!  Just rename the file and you're all set.

Another, darker scenario... a virus sneaks into your system and erases your
hard drive's directory.  Fortunately, you have a program that can recover your
files - unfortunately, it names all the files FILE0001, FILE0002, and so on!
Spend a little time with Whatis, and you may not figure out each file's
original name, but at least you'll know which are programs, which are .PI1s,
which are Calamus docs... a real help if you need it.



      Using Whatis
      ------------


Either run Whatis as a GEM program or choose Whatis from the Desk menu, and
the Whatis dialog box will appear.  Under the title bar you'll see three boxes
for a filename and file type, a file's header bytes, and the header byte
display mode. At the bottom of the dialog are three action buttons, marked
"Choose a file", "Next file", and "Exit".

To use Whatis, either click on "Choose a file" or just press C or Return or
the down arrow. You'll be presented with the GEM file selector; use the file
selector to choose your mystery file.  Whatis will read the first few bytes of
the file in question and check if these bytes match a known "signature" of a
specific type of file.  (Note: Whatis needs at least eight bytes to make a
reasonable guess of the file type; if your file is too small, you'll see an
error message and you'll get a chance to choose another file.)

Then you'll return to the Whatis box.  The first box under the title bar will
show you the name of the file you chose, its size (in small numbers on the
upper right), and the type of file it is.  If Whatis doesn't recognize the file
type, it will show up as "text or data".  The center box, labeled "header
bytes", displays the first 11 bytes of your file in hex.  (If you prefer, you
can see the first 34 bytes of the file in ASCII form.  To switch between modes,
click the "ASCII" or "HEX" buttons in the small box under the header byte
display, or press the left or right arrow keys.  Any zeros in the file header
will show up as periods in an ASCII display.)

If you used any wildcards when you selected your mystery file, the "Next
file" button at the bottom of the screen will be enabled (not grayed out), and
it will be the default button (signified by a thicker border).  To check the
next file that matches the filename pattern you chose, simply click this button
or press Return, or the space bar or down arrow.  (Note: files matching the
pattern are NOT displayed in alphabetical order; they appear in the same order
as they are on disk.)

From the main dialog you can identify another file, or return to whatever you
were doing by clicking the EXIT button or pressing UNDO or ESCape.  Simple!


New in version 5.5: you can reposition the Whatis dialog anywhere on screen.
Click on the title area in the dialog, hold the mouse button down, and drag the
outline wherever you wish.  When you release the button, the Whatis dialog
appears in the new location.  If Whatis is running as a resident accessory, the
new position is saved between calls.


A complete list of the file types Whatis can recognize is included at the end
of this document, but note that it _is_ possible to fool Whatis.  If a data
file happens to start with the same sequence of bytes as some other file type,
it will be identified incorrectly.  It is also difficult to distinguish between
certain types of files - for example, the signatures of low-rez TINY pics,
resource files, Neochrome pictures, and 8-bit Scrunch files look the same, so
the ID box lists all of those types.  Low-rez TINY pics produced with Vidi-ST
sometimes look identical to SAVEd BASIC (8-bit) files, so both types are listed
in that box.



      Whatis and the Command Line
      ---------------------------


Versions 5.3 and later of Whatis will accept a file spec on the command line
in case you wish to run it as a TTP-like program.  If you pass Whatis a command
line, it will display a list of the file name and type for all matching files.
Your command line can contain a full filespec, or just a path or filename
(which may include wildcards).  If you don't include a filename, all files in
the path you specify are checked; if you leave out the path, Whatis will check
all the files in your current directory that match the filename.

Leading and trailing blanks on the command line are ignored, and if you pass
more than one filespec only the last is used.  If you end the command line with
a plus sign ("+"), Whatis will pause after every 23 files and after all files
have been displayed, and wait for you to press a key before continuing.

This feature can be useful if you wish to run Whatis from a CLI (command-line
interface), or from within a terminal program such as Flash.  To run Whatis
from within Flash, enter a command like this on the command line:

            Command> exec whatis e:\today\*.*

This command will make Whatis check every file in your E:\TODAY\ folder and
display a line showing the filename and file type.  From a real CLI, enter

            whatis e:\today\*.* +

and Whatis will show you the same display, then wait for you to press a key.


NOTE: If the command line you pass is empty, or contains all blanks or just a
plus sign, Whatis will display its dialog box just as if you had run it as a
standard GEM program.  If you've run Whatis as a real TTP program, the mouse
may be turned off when the dialog appears.  If this happens, you may be able to
run Whatis using the keyboard equivalents instead of the mouse (UNDO to exit,
RETURN to select a file, etc.).  This is different from the behaviour of a real
TTP-only program, which is the reason for the term "TTP-like".



      Whatis and Data Diet
      --------------------


Data Diet is Double Click Software's excellent program for saving huge gobs
of space on your hard disk.  Although Whatis can recognize DD 'dietized' files,
there's a catch- you can't have DD active in your system to find one!!  The
reason is simple... Data Diet acts behind the scenes.  When a program (e.g.,
Whatis) reads a file, DD quickly and silently decodes the file to its original
form before the program gets the data.  That means there's no DD identifier to
find, so Whatis reports the actual file type.



      Setting a Default Path
      ----------------------


When you run Whatis, the file selector normally comes up preset to the root
directory of the drive Whatis loaded from.  But if you normally download files
to a particular folder, it would be more convenient for the file selector to
start out in that folder.  Starting in version 4.7, you can do this by setting
a default path for Whatis to check.

You'll need to use an editor that can edit program files.  CodeHead's Lookit!
is great for this, and other programs like MemFile or TinyTool will work too.
Load Whatis into the editor and look near offset $25 from the beginning of the
program (or $3A9 if you've run Whatis through DC-Squish).  You'll see the
phrase "path=?:" followed by a bunch of zeros.  Simply change the ? to the
drive of your choice, add a valid path if you wish, and save the file.  Next
time you load Whatis, that will be the starting path for the file selector.  If
the path doesn't exist, Whatis will start out in the root directory of that
drive; if the drive itself isn't present in your system, Whatis will just start
out as if you hadn't set up a default path.



      Credits
      -------


Whatis was based on Roy Goldman's Compactor Detector, an 8-bit BASIC program
which identifies files and allows renaming them to have a "standard" extender.
Versions 3.2 and up of Whatis were written in 100% assembler code using HiSoft
DevpacST, and the resource was created using WERCS.  The 8-bit version of
Whatis was written in Action!, from the folks at ICD.

I'm always looking for more file types to support in Whatis.  If you know of
a particular type of file that always start with the same few bytes, leave me a
message.  And, of course, if you have any problems, questions, comments, or
suggestions, PLEASE let me know!

I hope you find this program useful!  If you use it, please send a card (or
donation! :-) to me at:

            Bill Aycock
            2310 North Elm Street
            Greensboro, NC 27408-5120

            June 14, 1992
            CompuServe UserID: 76703,4061
            Internet: [e-mail]



Appendix 1: Version History
---------------------------
v6.1: adds Scanner Manager (thanks to Gordon Meyer!) and LDW Power, Gnu .OLB,
      TADS save files, several TeX files (thanks to Christopher Browne!)
v6.0: adds Revolver 'rollout' files (thanks to Tim Patrick!) and WARP9.DAT
v5.9: adds over a dozen new types (thanks mostly to Gordon Meyer!)
v5.8: adds Squeezed and ARJ files, notes GIF version in the ID msg
v5.7: adds Timeworks DTP files (thanks to Ira Brickman!), STalker3 .INF
v5.6: adds Superzap files, notes LZH version in the ID msg
v5.5: adds Joppa Fax files (thanks to Charles Smeton!), larger stack to
      correct TTP operation, allows repositioning the dialog
v5.4: adds MWC .RSD files, AS/X files (thanks to Chris Sorensen again!),
      allows plus-sign pause character in TTP mode
v5.3: adds command-line TTP-like operation
v5.2: first Whatis Server version; adds Newdesk icons, Software Development
      Systems DeskJet and Printer Utility Pak setup files (thanks to Scott
      Sanders!), PFX-packed and AFX-compressed files (thanks to Mark Spacek!)
      and MSDOS .EXE and .COM files (thanks to Ron Luks!)
v5.1: adds FSM-GDOS OTL, QFM, WID files
v5.0: adds these file types (thanks to Chris Herborth!): Unix compressed,
      CG fonts, CPXes, SoftLogik screen bitmaps, several PostScript types
v4.9: adds MIDI (thanks again to Chris Sorensen!) and MasterTracks .MTS
      files, size display; logic change for more reliable results w/wildcards
v4.8: adds PGC (thanks to Chris Sorensen!), Cal, Data Diet files
v4.7: adds ZOO and MultiDesk Deluxe files; allows default drive/path
v4.6: adds Opus spreadsheet files, 3 kinds of Wordflair II files;
      adds command keys; makes Next button default if valid
v4.5: adds DC Squish files (thanks to Mike Vederman!), Neodesk icon files;
      allows wildcards to check a number of files at once
v4.4: adds two Notator file types (thanks to Brian Campbell!)
v4.3: adds DCDesktop icon files (thanks to Jim Ness!); some logic changes
v4.2: adds A-CHART, Seurat, WP macro, HotWire ledgers (thanks Gordon Meyer!)
v4.1: adds PKZIP files, new NEO types, 7 Prism-Paint file types
v4.0: first revision without separate resource file
v3.7: adds IFF files (thanks to Ron Hunt!), QFL files, PageStream fonts
v3.6: adds CAD-3D (thanks to David Ramsden!) and Blink data files
v3.5: adds WordUp & WWST files (thanks to Terry May again!), fsel title,
      Calamus .CFN and .CDK files
v3.4: adds IMG, GEM, MCL, and BBS Express ST files (thanks to Terry May!)
      and more TNY pic varieties (thanks to Jim Ness!), fixes .SPS
v3.3: single version for PRG or ACC, adds hex/ascii display + 3 file types
v3.2: PRG and ACC versions converted into assembler
v3.1: adds Spectrum Sequence files
v3.0: first dialog box version, adds Magic Shadow Archives
v2.2: adds Super Bootdisk disks (thanks to Harold Brewer!)
v2.1: adds TIFF, .PC?, TINY, and Neo animations (thanks to David Ramsden!)
v2.0: first desk accessory version
v1.5: adds WordPerfect document files
v1.4: adds PageStream documents (thanks to James Parry!)
v1.3: corrects Regent Word files, adds *.* for the standard file selector
v1.2: adds one new file type and some error handling
v1.0: first ST version



Appendix 2: The Whatis Server
-----------------------------


When Whatis is installed as an accessory, specially-written programs can
communicate with Whatis to identify file types.  Whatis uses the standard GEM
message-passing routines to provide this service.


First your application must determine if Whatis is present.  Use the GEM
appl_find call for this.  NOTE: I recommend using "WHATIS  " as the string for
the search; this means Whatis must be named WHATIS.ACC when it is installed,
or the appl_find won't be able to find it!  Whatis will be distributed as
WHATIS.ACC from now on to help ensure that it has the proper name, but you
should warn users in your documentation about the naming requirement.

Once you've determined Whatis's appl_id, your application should send a GEM
message to Whatis with some information about the file.  This is the format for
the 16-byte message your application sends to Whatis:

      Offset      Size      Meaning
      ------      ----      -------
         0        word      message type, must be 'W?' ($573f)
         2        word      the appl_id of your application
         4        word      number of extra bytes (must be zero!!)
         6        long      address of your data buffer (see notes)
        10        long      the size of the file in question (see notes)
        14        word      currently unused; must be zero!

Whatis will determine the file type, and return a message to your application.
This is the format of the message Whatis returns:

      Offset      Size      Meaning
      ------      ----      -------
         0        word      message type, will always be 'W?' ($573f)
         2        word      Whatis's appl_id
         4        word      number of extra bytes (will always be zero)
         6        long      address of your data buffer (see notes)
        10        long      an error code (see notes)
        14        word      file type ID word (see notes)

Notes:

The data buffer whose address is passed in the message serves a dual purpose.
Your application must read the first 50 bytes of the file into this buffer and
pass its address to Whatis.  After identifying the file type, Whatis will use
this same buffer to return a string indicating the file type.  (This is the
same string you would see if you identified the file directly from the Whatis
accessory.)

IMPORTANT: If the file is under 50 bytes long, the buffer area should be
padded with nulls.

NOTE:  Your application should use an fs_first call to determine the size of
the file in question - DO NOT rely on an fs_next call!  In some situations an
fs_next can return the size of a file in compressed form, which may not be
accurate; this may lead to an incorrect identification of the file type. (A
question for anyone using the AFX program included with recent Questor LHARC
utilities:  when AFX is installed, do fs_first and fs_next return the actual
file size as if it were not compressed, or the size of the compressed file?)


The error code returned by Whatis can have these values:

          Code     Meaning
          ----     -------
            0      no error occurred
            1      not used (obsolete error, data buffer odd address)
            2      error: the file is too small to identify

The file type ID returned in the last word of the message is a unique number
corresponding to a particular type of file.  If your program needs to do more
than simply display a file type message, you may find it easier to check this
ID number and take appropriate action.  Whatis ID numbers are guaranteed not to
change in future versions, and new file types will be assigned new ID numbers
when they are added to Whatis.

Whatis ID numbers are divided into several groups; all IDs with a high byte
of 1 indicate MIDI format files, those with a high byte of 2 are other types of
music-related files, a high byte of 3 means a word processing document, and so
on.  An ID number of -1 ($FFFF) indicates that Whatis did not recognize the
type of file.  A current list of all ID numbers and the associated file types
follows this section.


IMPORTANT NOTE:  Whatis is a copyrighted program.  I retain all rights to
Whatis.  However, Whatis may be distributed with any program, commercial or
otherwise, that is written to access the Whatis Server, under the following
conditions:

      1. Both the Whatis executable and this documentation must be
         included with your program.  Neither file may be modified in
         any way, other than compression with ARC, LHARC, or a similar
         program for distribution purposes.

      2. The author or distributor of a program that accesses the Whatis
         Server must send one complete copy of the program, including all
         related files and full documentation, to me at the address listed
         above.



Appendix 3: File ID Word/Type Cross-Reference
---------------------------------------------


$1xx -- MIDI format x files...

    Note, for MIDI format files the low byte is the ASCII value
    corresponding to the format. All $1xx types are reserved.
    Currently I know of these three types, but new MIDI format
    files following the same pattern will automatically show up:

$130    MIDI format 0 file (.MFF/.MID)
$131    MIDI format 1 file (.MFF/.MID)
$132    MIDI format 2 file (.MFF/.MID)

$2xx -- Other music-related file types

$200    Music Studio .SNG file
$201    MasterTracks Pro .MTS file
$202    Notator song file (.SON)
$203    Notator pattern file (.PAT)

$3xx -- Word processing/document file types

$300    Calamus .CDK document
$301    Word Writer ST file
$302    PageStream document
$303    Wordflair II document
$304    ST-Writer file
$305    WordUp file
$306    WordPerfect document
$307    Regent Word file
$308    Timeworks Publish .DTP file

$4xx -- Desktop publishing and font file types

$400    Adobe Font Metrics .AFM file
$401    CompuGraphic font file
$402    SoftLogik Screen Bitmap
$403    PageStream font
$404    encapsulated PostScript (.EPS)
$405    Calamus .CFN font
$406    FSM-GDOS .WID width file
$407    FSM-GDOS .OTL outline font
$408    FSM-GDOS .QFM font metrics file
$409    TeX .dvi device independent file
$40a    TeX .fmt preloaded format file
$40b    TeX .pk font file

$5xx -- Picture, graphics, animation file types

$500    Degas Elite .PC1 pic
$501    Degas .PC2 pic or PostScript .PFB
$502    Degas Elite .PC3 pic
$503    Portfolio .PGC graphics file
$504    Spectrum pic (.SPC or .SPS)
$505    Spectrum Sequence (.SPS) file
$506    compressed KOALA pic
$507    QuickST .QFL file
$508    GIF picture file
$509    TIFF tag image file
$50a    Degas .PI1 pic
$50b    TINY medium-rez pic
$50c    TINY high-rez pic
$50d    TINY low-rez pic
$50e    Spectrum .SPU pic
$50f    256-color NEO pic
$510    1280x960 NEO pic
$511    640x480 NEO pic
$512    Degas .PI3 pic
$513    Degas .PI2 pic
$514    image file (.IMG)
$515    CAD-3D v1 (.3D) file
$516    CAD-3D v2 (.3D2) file
$517    CAD-3D v3 (.3D3) file
$518    Prism-Paint .BRU brush file
$519    Prism-Paint .CFL fill file
$51a    Prism-Paint .MFL fill file
$51b    Prism-Paint .PAL palette
$51c    Prism-Paint .PNT picture
$51d    IFF or DeluxePaint file
$51e    NEOCHROME animation
$51f    Cyber .SEQ animation
$520    .GEM Metafile

$6xx -- Compressed disk and file types

$600    Super Bootdisk file
$601    SHRINKed disk
$602    DISKCOMMed disk
$603    PKZIP .ZIP file
$604    MASHed file
$605    Magic Shadow Archive (.MSA)
$606    .PAK archive file
$607    ALFCRUNCHed archive
$608    ARCed file
$609    Unix 'compress'ed file
$60a    LHarc archive (.LZH)
$60b    ZOO archive file
$60c    CRUSHed file
$60d    AFX compressed file
$60e    ARJ compresmsed file
$60f    Squeezed file (.?Q?)

$7xx -- Executable file types

$700    ST program or desk accessory
$701    DC Squished program or ACC
$702    Control Panel Extension (.CPX)
$703    PFX-packed program file
$704    MS-DOS .EXE program file
$705    MS-DOS .COM program file

$8xx -- Miscellaneous data file types

$800    BLINK .LIB library file
$801    BLINK .PAL palette file
$802    BBS Express ST .COM script
$803    Opus .OPS spreadsheet file
$804    .BTK compiled BackTalk script
$805    DaisyDot .NLQ font
$806    DC DataDiet dietized file
$807    NeoDesk Icon file (.NIC)
$808    HotWire .HOT file
$809    HotWire .LGR ledger file
$80a    MichTron BBS .MCL file
$80b    MultiDesk Deluxe .MLT file
$80c    MultiDesk .MLT file
$80d    PINHEAD.DAT file
$80e    Kuma/Antic A-CHART data file
$80f    Wordflair II record key file
$810    Wordflair II record file
$811    Cal v6 data file
$812    WordPerfect macro file
$813    DC Desktop .ICE icon file
$814    SAVEd BASIC/XE file
$815    SAVEd MAC/65 code
$816    SDX external command
$817    Seurat fill or an 8-bit program
$818    Newdesk Icon Spec (.XIC) file
$819    SDS Deskjet Utils setup file
$81a    SDS Printer Utils setup file
$81b    MWC RCS .RSD resource definition file
$81c    AS/X data file
$81d    Joppa FAX! Normal Rez file
$81e    Joppa FAX! Fine Rez file
$81f    Superzap .ZAP file
$820    STalker 3 .INF file
$821    Hot!Stat configuration file
$822    DESKTOP.INF or NEWDESK.INF file
$823    MugShot .MUG or .INF file
$824    MugShot .MGS data file
$825    .PAC picture file
$826    GEMLABEL .LAB label file
$827    MaxiFile III .CMT comment file
$828    Shredr+ .INF file
$829    Son of SAAS .CFG file
$82a    DNS SAAS .CFG file
$82b    HotWire .WRK work file list
$82c    HotWire .HBL menu block
$82d    FastBase .FB database file
$82e    CodeKeys .KEY macro file
$82f    CodeKeys .LNK link file
$830    CodeKeys .CNF config file
$831    DATADIET.INF file
$832    WARP9.DAT file
$833    Revolver partition 'rollout' file
$834    Scanner Manager data file
$835    LDW Power spreadsheet
$836    GNU C .OLB library file
$837    TADS save file

$9xx -- File types that are hard to distinguish

$900    .RSC, .TNY, .NEO, or SCRUNCH
$901    .TNY or hi-rez .NEO pic
$902    SAVEd BASIC, or a .NEO or .TNY pic

$ffff   Any unknown type (presumed to be text or data)

======================================================