Sound Sensations!/sound_sensations.iso/jukebox/trkmt19/trakmast.doc

Text File | 1991-09-08 | 20KB | 428 lines

*----------------------------------------------------------------------------*

Quick Reference for TRAKMaster


This program will look in ZIP or LZH files (depending on your config
file) for MOD (or other extension) files, and play them from the
archive.  It also allows the tagging of MOD (or other extension) files
for longer playing...

F10, ESC, Ctrl-Q - Quits
[SPACE BAR] - Tags selection
[Return] - Plays selection or all selections
Arrow Keys - Move cursor
Ctrl-Left-Arrow - go to the beginning of the current row
Ctrl-Right-Arrow - go to the end of the current row
PgUp / PgDn - goes up or down a page respectively.
Home / End - goes to the first file or last file respectively

"A" - "Z" - Go to the first file with that letter as the first letter

F1 - Utilities / Help
F2 - Change Directory
F3 - New Extension
F4 - Delete file (from LZH or uncompressed)
F5 - Sort file listing

Mouse Users :

Use the mouse pointer to move, and press the left button to play, and
right button to tag.  Press both buttons to quit.  If you have a three
button mouse, press the middle button to enter the utilities menu.  You can
also move the pointer down to the words "Utilities / Help" or "Quit" to
enter the utilities menu or quit, respectively.

*----------------------------------------------------------------------------*

Quick starting for TRAKMaster

Change the CFG file to reflect the directory where you store PKZIP, PKUNZIP,
LHArc, and ARJ.  Change the included batch files to coorespond to the
directories where you store each type of file.  Type TRAKMAST to run...

*----------------------------------------------------------------------------*



               TRAKMaster - Front End for TRAKBlaster v1.9
                             by Joy Mukherjee

    This front end for TRAKBlaster has been tested with version 1.4 and
version 2.0 of TRAK.EXE.  I don't guarantee this program to work, but it
does on my system...

---> Update info :

v1.9 - Not case sensitive in the config file any longer.  Added the
        ability to play the files in a random order.  Fixed bug where
        sort the listing after tagging erased tags on screen.  Added the
        ability to just hit the first letter of a filename to go there.
        Fixed problem with the END key not working when you have only
        five files, or exactly 80 files.  Fixed bug where mouse didn't
        always work.  Allows you to abort while playing tagged files.
        Allows you to have multiple batch files for playing each file
        extension type.

v1.8 - Added support for ARJ, a increasingly popular compressor.  First
        SHAREWARE release.

v1.7 - Added support for swapping to disk or EMS.  Also fixed a few bugs
        when you had a list that was evenly divisible by 5.  PgDn was
        updated so when you hit PgDn onto an empty slot, it will take
        you to the last entry.

v1.6 - Added support for deleting from ZIP files.  Consolidated the CFG
        files into one big TRAKMAST.CFG.

v1.5 - Added support for over 2000 files!  Takes up alot of memory.
        Added "delete" file, and "sort" the listing options.

v1.4 - Fixed a couple bugs, not really released.  Added utilities menu.

v1.3 - Made support for all formats, not just MODS.  Has been tested
        with VOC and MOD and FLI.  Added "Switch CFG file command".

v1.2 - Added support for LZH files for those who prefer that format.
        Also updated the mouse to change directories and/or quit.
        Renamed program.

v1.1 - Aggh!  Included the wrong EXE file with the previous version.
        This one should work a lot better.  Apparently, it was having
        problems redirecting the output to a file.  Also fixed the mouse
        problem when using both the keyboard and the mouse.

v1.0 - Initial release.  Really messed up...


--->  What is it???

    TRAKMaster is made for use with a Sound Blaster by Creative Labs, and
the program TRAKBlaster (TRAK.EXE).  TRAKBlaster allows you to play the
AMIGA MOD files on your PC-AT equipped with a Sound Blaster card.
TRAK.EXE is not included with this package but is available worldwide
including the boards at the bottom of this list.  TRAKBlaster, although
great, leaves a great deal to be desired when it comes to user
friendliness.  If you type in TRAK.EXE without any parameters, your
computer will freeze.  If you spell the MOD file wrong, it lets you know
in German that it can't find the file.  This program will avoid any of
these headaches, and add a few new features as well...  With this
program, playing a MOD file is a click of a mouse button away, or the
click of a few arrow keys and the almighty [RETURN] key.

---> What it does...

    This program is meant to be put in the directory with the majority
of your MOD files.  From there it will allow you to select a MOD file to
play by the use of a menu.  The highlighted name shows what file the
cursor is on.  Move the cursor around with the arrow keys (Up Arrow,
Left Arrow, Right Arrow, Down Arrow, Home, End, Ctrl-Left-Arrow, and
Ctrl-Right-Arrow or the letters 'A' through 'Z'), or use the Mouse to
move the small cursor over to a name.  When you are on the MOD file you
wish to play, press [RETURN] or click the Left Mouse Button to play the
file.  When you are done playing the files you wish to play, simply
press ESC (or F10, or CTRL-Q) to quit.  Mouse users can press both
buttons if they wish to quit.  If you wish to enter the utilities menu,
press F1.  From there, you can press any of the function keys to do
their respective functions.  Note : One does not have to be in the
utilities menu for the functions to work.  If you have three buttons on
your mouse, such as Logitech's, you can use the middle button to enter
the utilities menu.

---> The beauty of the program...

    MOD files include their own instruments, as well as a great musical
piece; however, these files are very large.  PKZIP'ing these files
usually cuts down the size of the files by 30%.  LZH'ing them reduces
them even further.  ARJ might even be able to beat that!  TRAKMaster
will search all the ZIP (ARJ or LZH) files in the current directory, and
allow you to play a file directly from the archive. No longer will you
have to leave all your MOD (or other extension) files unarchived in the
directory to play them.  Just compress each one seperately, or put them
all in one big archvive to make them work. My MOD collection is one big
two meg ZIP, and it works perfectly.  You can tell if a file is
compressed if the filename is in green. If it is, the file is
compressed, otherwise, it isn't... Furthermore, you no longer have to
play the files one at a time, you can tag each selection you wish to
play by pressing the SPACE BAR.  A red star will appear by the name.
All the selections will be played by their order on the screen.
Pressing the SPACE BAR again will untag a file.  For mouse users, the
right mouse button will also enable you to tag/untag a file.

---> How it does it...

    The program uses PKUNZIP (ARJ or LHA) to extract the files, and then
plays them with the use of TRAK.EXE.  When you are finished, it deletes
them.  On a fast computer, extracting doesn't take a great deal of time,
and is done before you know it.  It is your responsibility to zip them
up however...

---> Using TRAKMaster

    You MUST create a TRAKMAST.CFG with your own text editor.  A sample
TRAKMAST.CFG is included.  Making one is simple, though!  Just create a
small text file which has the place where TRAKMAST can find PKZIP.EXE,
PKUNZIP.EXE, LHA.EXE and ARJ.EXE.   You must also supply the path and
the name of the program! Even if you don't use one of these program,
supply something (a VALID filename, however).  The first line is the
location of PKZIP, and the second line is for PKUNZIP, and the next line
has any parameters which you may wish to use for PKUNZIP. The fourth
line is the location of LHA.EXE, and the fifth line has the parameters
for LHA. Next, put the location of ARJ.EXE on the sixth line, and on the
seventh, place any parameters (such as e) you might need.  Normally,
PKUNZIP does not require any, but LHA.EXE does (an 'e' or an 'x').  The
next line has the file extension you wish to look for in the ZIP or LZH
files.  You can use anything depending on what kind of file you wish to
use.  If you are using this program for MOD files only, type MOD on this
line.  If you are unsure, type MOD anyway.  For further uses of this
line, see the end of this document. The next line is the default
directory where those files are kept.  In other words, you might keep
all your MODS in a directory called \TRAK, and all your VOCS in a
directory called \VOCS. Put the directory in which most of your MODS (or
whatever extension) are kept.

You can create a .CFG file with DOS using the "copy con" command.  Do
this as follows :

        copy con TRAKMAST.CFG   [return]
        \DOS\PKZIP.EXE          [return]
        \DOS\PKUNZIP.EXE        [return]
        <blank line>            [return]
        \DOS\LHA.EXE            [return]
        e                       [return]
        \DOS\ARJ.EXE            [return]
        e                       [return]
        MOD                     [return]
        C:\TRAK
        ^Z (or F6 or Ctrl-Z)    [return]

Replace the "\DOS" with your own directory where you keep the files
PKUNZIP.EXE, and LHA.EXE.  When you have done this, it should say "1 file
copied."  That's relatively painless, eh?  Next, you must edit the
MODPLAY.BAT file. MODPLAY.BAT has simply the following : where it can find
TRAK.EXE and a %1.  An example one is included.  Just put the path of
the file in front of the name and then put a space, and a "%1" after it,
and the MODPLAY.BAT is finished.  When you have done that, make sure the
following files are in the same directory :

        TRAKMAST.EXE
        TRAKMAST.CFG
        MODPLAY.BAT

All those will enable the smooth operation of this program.  When you
have completed all these steps, just type TRAKMAST to run the program, and
start playing away...

--->  New cool features

    If you hit F1, you will get into the utilities menu.  From there,
you have six options.  Pressing F1 (or moving the cursor there) will
give you the help screen if you get confused.  F2 (from the utilities
menu, or the main screen) will enable you to change directories.  When
you change directories, it will switch to that directory and clear all
the current files.  F3 will load a new config file.  Two are provided
with this program.  Be sure they are correct, i.e. the file names and
path names are correct or else this program will never work.  F4 must be
used with care.  It will delete the file the cursor is currently on.  Be
careful, if the file is in an LZH or a ZIP, it is completely
unrecoverable.  It will prompt you before deleting however.  This
feature is useful when you get a bogus file or you have a duplicate.  F5
sorts the listing. The sort is in alphabetical order, and this feature
can be very useful when trying to eliminate duplicates or when trying to
find a particular file.  F6 lets you switch which batch file is used for
playing the particular file.

-  Also, as per someone's suggestion on the Adlib Echo, the "Play Tagged
Files" option has been changed to allow people to play the tagged files
back in a random order.

-  Furthermore, if you have trouble finding a certain file, just press
the first letter of the file name and it will take you to the first one
it finds from the cursor position.  Nothing happens if it does not find
anything.  Keep pressing the same letter to go on to the next one.  Very
useful if you choose not to sort the files...

-  Eli Mcilveen on the Adlib Echo suggested the ability to have multiple
batch files for playing each extension type which is useful if you wish
to use seperate programs for playing each music file.  The naming
conventions have changed, so be sure to check out that section of this
file.


--->  Contacting me...

    Hopefully, you found this program of use and bug free, but if not,
or you have a suggestion, please contact me on one of the following
BBS's, or write to me at the address given at the end of this document :


Nul BBS - 512-615-NUL1 or 512-615-NUL2 - 1.2 gigs running RBBS.
    Excellent board, with a large file base, and a quarter of a million
    echos.  Absolutely free! File Requests allowed - 387/255. Sysop -
    Jan Maaskant

Picture Express - 512-666-4842 - PC-BOARD 14.3 beta - Specializes in
    Graphics and anything having to do with them.  He also has an Adlib
    conference which is the best place to get ahold of me.  Join
    conference #2 to get in, and you can also check out his hundreds of
    ROL files.  All sound cards are supported here as well.
    Sysop - David Steward


---> Tech Notes

    This program was written on a 386/25 with a Sound Blaster Card, and
a fairly fast hard drive.  The program didn't seem too slow on my
computer, but then again, 25 mhz isn't too bad.  I programmed this in
Turbo Pascal 5.5 and utilized quite extensively the Turbo Technojocks
Toolbox v5.0.  Its really a great package, I recommend it highly.  All
the windowing, inputting, screen writing was written using it.  I also
used something by Turbo Power Software which allowed me to swap to EMS
or disk inside a window.  The reason for the .BAT file is TRAKBlaster is
somewhat unorthodox on what it does to the memory, so DOS is needed to
run the program.

---> Kudos, Legal BS...

    I wish to thank all the people who helped with this program, namely
Fred Hewit, Chris Tio, Greg Collins and all the people who release
source code into the public domain, including many of the people in the
Pascal Echo whose names escape me...  I also wish to thank the sysops of
the their above boards for their very lenient ratios.  :-)  They are
really good boards, call them now.  All are in San Antonio, TX.

Lawyers, take note :

    Sound Blaster is a registered trademark of Creative Labs, Inc.
    Turbo Techonojocks Toolkit is copyright by Technojock Software.
    Turbo Pascal is copyright by Borland Intl.

    This program here is essentially public domain, and is offered as
is, without warranties of any kind.  By using this program, you agree
that the author is in no way responsible for any damage done by this
program.  Simple.  Anything that happens isn't my fault.

                                                Enjoy!

---> Notes on why the ZIP and MOD are now configurable

    More people now prefer the LHA205 or the ARJ210 format as the
compression is indeed tighter.  Furthermore, the extraction is just as
fast (or maybe a little slower) as PKUNZIP.  The MOD is configurable in
case you wish to use this program with VOC's, ROL's, CMF's, STM's, or
anything else you can think of.  Although this program was made for
MOD's, it should work with anything.  You may continue adding extensions
until you run out of room.  No guarantees though...

Example :  (to make the program use VOC files)

    Edit your TRAKMAST.CFG file and at the end of the document add the
EXTENSION you wish to use.  In this case, "VOC".  Next, add the
directory where all the VOC files are kept.  For example, 'C:\VOCS'.

    Your VOCPLAY.BAT file will look like this :

        VPLAY %1


That's it!!  Everything else should work as planned...

--->  Naming conventions

    To make a new extension work with this program, you must make a
batch file with the name ???PLAY?.BAT.  Needless to say, replace the ???
with your own extension.  The last ? after the play is the number of the
batch file.  You may have up to nine of them.  Number your batch files
one through nine.  If you only want one batch file, call it
???PLAY1.BAT.  You will not be prompted unless you have two or more
batch files.  This is very useful if you get a new player and want to
try it out with out wasting your current batch file player.
Furthermore, you may describe each batch file!  Make the first line of
each batch file start with the word "rem" and enter up to a forty
character description after that.  When prompted, the description will
come up.  If you elect not to describe the batch file, it will come up
as "Batch file #?".  Consult your DOS manual on the making of batch
files. If you do not understand this feature, feel free to contact me or
not use it.


--->  Added helpful feature

    If you wish TRAKMaster to look in a specific directory for the CFG
files, and BAT files, you can make TRAKMaster do it by specifying the
directory on the command line.  For example :

        TRAKMAST \UTIL

    This will instruct TRAKMaster to look into the \UTIL directory for
any CFG files and it will give me a list to choose from that directory.
I made a batch file called TM.BAT and put it in my path along with all
my CFG file, BAT files and TRAKMAST.EXE, so I can just type TM from
anywhere and play all the stuff I want.  Give it a shot, it seems to
work...

--->  Tested extensions

    These are but a few of the many extensions possible with this
program.  The Command Line Player is given for those who might be
interested, including the latest version that I have.  Feel free to tell
me any other you can get or make work with this program.


    MOD - Duh!  Amiga Modules for Sound Blaster
            Command line player => TRAK.EXE  (v2.0)
    VOC - Sound Blaster Voice Files
            Command line player => VPLAY.EXE (v1.5)
    STM - Scream Tracker Module player
            Command line player => STM.EXE (v2.2)
    FLI - Autodesk Animator animation files
            Command line player => AAPLAY.EXE
    ROL - AdLib music files
            Command line player => PLAYROL.EXE (v1.2)
    CMS - Game Blaster music files
            Command line player => PLAYCMF.EXE (v1.01)
    CMF - Sound Blaster music files
            Command line player => PLAYCMF.EXE (v1.01)
    GL  - GRASP movies
            Command line player => GRASPRT.EXE


--->  CONVERT.EXE usage

    CONVERT.EXE is a simple little utility that I wrote to convert all
the other small TM*.CFG files into the one TRAKMAST.CFG file.  Just copy
it into the directory with all the other TM*.CFG and type CONVERT.  It
will ask you for the NAME and PATH of PKZIP.EXE.  You must specify an
actual filename.  For example : C:\UTIL\ZIP.EXE is a valid name.  After
that, it should go O.K.  Good luck...  This is only good if you are
moving from versions 1.6 or lower to one of the newer versions.
CONVERT.EXE is no longer included with this package, obtain it from the
author, or download an older version.


--->  Shareware!

    SHAREWARE means you try the program before you buy it.  If you like
and use the program, you are asked to pay for it.  No one is forcing
your hand at paying for it, but your conscious will bother you for the
rest of your life if you choose not to....  I am not a rich person, and
enjoy programming, but in order to pay the bills, a monetary
contribution of $20.00 or more would be most appreciated.  $20 is not a
great deal of money to pay for a program, and if you use it as often as
I do, it should be well worth the money.  Send your contribution to :

                Mr. Joy Mukherjee
                202 Vanderheck
                San Antonio, TX, 78209

    Any correspondance as well can be forwarded to this address, and
would appreciate any bug reports or innovative uses of this program.
Thank you for your support...  Incidently, in no way is your copy of
this program crippled in any way.  Your version of the program is
exactly the same as mine, and all the versions before this were
completely free, but I have spent a great deal of time on this program,
so I felt compelled to see if I could get some return back on it.

--END--