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Text File | 1993-02-03 | 25KB | 513 lines

ARCTOOL Version 7.6A Copyright (c) 1993 GDSOFT MAJOR CHANGES IN THIS VERSION : ------------------------------- With Version 7.01, ARCTOOL has undergone some MAJOR revisions for the first time in over a year. After LOTS of requests from users, ARCTOOL will NOW handle those pesky self-extracting files that are everywhere on BBS's around the country. The changes made to ARCTOOL for this version include : ... NEW Graphical Interface !! ... ARCTOOL now unpacks archives found in other archives. You can go up to 4 LEVELS deep. ... Supports ARJ format. ... Copy, Rename or Delete Archives from within ARCTOOL. ... Virus SCAN option using your favorite virus control program. ... Directory pruning and creation inside ARCTOOL. ... Recognition of MOST SFX headers in 'COM' and 'EXE' files. ... Use Of Configuration file for archive paths. Makes startup FAST !! ... Command line switches /N ( Do NOT use configuration file ) and /S ( create configuration file from archive paths. ) ... UNLIMITED (only by available memory) number of archives. Previous versions limited the user to 250 archives. ... Bug fixes for GOOFY machine BIOS (PS2, Zenith, Tandy) !! ... Network, NetBIOS, DeskView and WINDOWS COMPATIBLE !!! ... FASTER, Tighter code. ... NO CHANGE to the 'LOOK' and 'FEEL' so previous users won't be freaked out. This is one of MY PET PEEVES when programmers update their software. "I just got used to it, and they changed the whole darn thing" GETTING STARTED : ----------------- ARCTOOL is a shell to the many of the most popular archive (compression) programs available. ARCTOOL will support files compressed with PKZIP, ARC (SEA), PKARC, LHARC, LHA, LHS, ARJ, ZOO, SQUEEZE, and PAK (Nogate). With Version 7.0, ARCTOOL can now support SFX files made with PAK, ARC, LHARC, and PKZIP. These files are self-extracting, and have file extensions of 'COM' or 'EXE'. ARCTOOL will try to determine if a file is an SFX file and include it for your review if it is. Since ARCTOOL is a shell, you obviously must have a version of the de-arcing software that you want to use somewhere on the same drive as ARCTOOL. ARCTOOL is executed for the DOS command line by entering AT. First, the program will search your entire disk for files ending in the extension 'ARC','PAK','LZH','LBR','ZOO','ARJ','ZIP' and 'COM' and 'EXE' (SFX files). THE MAIN SCREEN : ----------------- ┌────────────────────────── ARCTOOL 7.5 ─────────────────────────┐ │ ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ Files : 24 Volume : GDSOFT2 │ │ │ │ Space Used : 3951905 Memory : 310928 │ │ │ │ Free Space : 87719936 Need : 0 │ │ │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ AR702 ZIP D:\ZIP\ 19043 10/27/91 01:17Pm │ │ │ │ BILLING ZIP D:\BILLING\ 96617 08/29/91 10:31Am │ │ │ │ BONUS ZIP D:\TURBO\ARCS\ 105465 09/24/91 11:20Pm │ │ │ │ BONUS2 ZIP D:\TURBO\ARCS\ 220388 10/18/91 12:05Pm │ │ │ │ DP4PRT LZH D:\ZIP\ 32838 10/30/91 08:58Am │ │ │ │ DS ZIP D:\DS\ 125966 08/27/91 01:29Am │ │ │ │ FM ZIP D:\FILEMAIN\ 652777 08/29/91 10:50Am │ │ │ │ FV138 ZIP D:\ZIP\ 9068 09/23/91 07:53Am │ │ │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ │ │ ┌────────┐┌────────┐┌────────┐┌────────┐┌────────┐┌────────┐ │ │ │ -Up ││ -Dn ││ PgUp ││ PgDn ││ Home ││ End │ │ │ └────────┘└────────┘└────────┘└────────┘└────────┘└────────┘ │ │ ┌────────┐┌────────┐┌────────┐┌────────┐┌────────┐┌─────────┐ │ │ │ Copy ││ Del ││ Rename ││ Sort ││ SeTup ││ ┘-View │ │ │ └────────┘└────────┘└────────┘└────────┘└────────┘└─────────┘ │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ The first time into the program, you will need to tell ARCTOOL what program and format you want to use for each of the file extensions supported. You can access this setup for the SETUP icon on the main screen. You will be presented with a menu of choices. Select ARCHIVER LOCATIONS. The Archiver setup screen looks like this : ┌───────────────────── ARCHIVE Setup ─────────────────────┐ │ ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ UNARC Program : D:\UTILITY\ARC.EXE │ │ │ │ UNPAK Program : D:\UTILITY\PAK.EXE │ │ │ │ UNZIP Program : D:\UTILITY\PKUNZIP.EXE │ │ │ │ UNLBR Program : D:\UTILITY\LUE.COM │ │ │ │ UNZOO Program : D:\UTILITY\ZOO.EXE │ │ │ │ UNLZH Program : D:\UTILITY\LHA.EXE │ │ │ │ UNARJ Program : D:\UTILITY\ARJ.EXE │ │ │ │ │ │ │ └─────── ,-Up/Down ┘-Select Esc-Exit ───────┘ │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Enter the name of the program to use for each extension (i.e. PKXARC.EXE), and if it is on the disk, ARCTOOL will find it. Of course, you can enter the full path along with the filename (i.e. C:\UTILITY\PKXARC.EXE). Next you will be asked to select a decompression format. The different programs available have different command line switches that must be used. The selection window looks like this : ┌───────────── Select An Archive Format ────────────┐ │SEA : ARC {xepv}[ow] <ARCHIVE> [filename] │ │PKWARE : PK[xarc,unpak] {epc}[r] <ARCHIVE> [filen │ │PKWARE : PKUNZIP {epc} [o] <ARCHIVE> [filename] │ │NOGATE : PAK {ep}[wa] <ARCHIVE> [filename] │ │V.BUERG : LUE <ARCHIVE> [filename] │ │R.DHESI : ZOO {ep}[o] <ARCHIVE> [filename] │ │YOSHI : LHA[rc] {xepv}[n] <ARCHIVE> [filename] │ │R.JUNG : ARJ {xepv}[o] <ARCHIVE> [filename] │ └───────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Select the appropriate format, and press 'RETURN'. You will then be asked if you want to OVERWRITE existing files on extraction. Answer 'Y' or 'N'. Proceed with this process until you have entered a program name for each file extension. If you do not want to use a particular format, leave the slot blank. ARCTOOL will fill in NOT USED in the slot for you. ┌───────────────────── ARCHIVE Setup ─────────────────────┐ │ ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ UNARC Program : D:\UTILITY\ARC.EXE │ │ │ │ UNPAK Program : D:\UTILITY\PAK.EXE │ │ │ │ UNZIP Program : D:\UTILITY\PKUNZIP.EXE │ │ │ │ UNLBR Program : D:\UTILITY\LUE.COM │ │ │ │ UNZOO Program : D:\UTILITY\ZOO.EXE │ │ │ │ UNLZH Program : D:\UTILITY\LHA.EXE │ │ │ │ UNARJ Program : D:\UTILITY\ARJ.EXE │ │ │ │ │ │ │ └─────── ,-Up/Down ┘-Select Esc-Exit ───────┘ │ │ │ │ │ │ ┌─────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ Overwrite Files ?? (Y/N) Y │ │ │ └─────────────────────────────┘ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Press ESCAPE when you have finished this process. All of your choices will be written out to disk, and may be changed again at anytime. See the SETUP command below for more information. ARCTOOL will bring you back to main screen filled with archive files. ┌────────────────────────── ARCTOOL 7.5 ─────────────────────────┐ │ ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ Files : 24 Volume : GDSOFT2 │ │ │ │ Space Used : 3951905 Memory : 310928 │ │ │ │ Free Space : 87719936 Need : 0 │ │ │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ AR702 ZIP D:\ZIP\ 19043 10/27/91 01:17Pm │ │ │ │ BILLING ZIP D:\BILLING\ 96617 08/29/91 10:31Am │ │ │ │ BONUS ZIP D:\TURBO\ARCS\ 105465 09/24/91 11:20Pm │ │ │ │ BONUS2 ZIP D:\TURBO\ARCS\ 220388 10/18/91 12:05Pm │ │ │ │ DP4PRT LZH D:\ZIP\ 32838 10/30/91 08:58Am │ │ │ │ DS ZIP D:\DS\ 125966 08/27/91 01:29Am │ │ │ │ FM ZIP D:\FILEMAIN\ 652777 08/29/91 10:50Am │ │ │ │ FV138 ZIP D:\ZIP\ 9068 09/23/91 07:53Am │ │ │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ │ │ ┌────────┐┌────────┐┌────────┐┌────────┐┌────────┐┌────────┐ │ │ │ -Up ││ -Dn ││ PgUp ││ PgDn ││ Home ││ End │ │ │ └────────┘└────────┘└────────┘└────────┘└────────┘└────────┘ │ │ ┌────────┐┌────────┐┌────────┐┌────────┐┌────────┐┌─────────┐ │ │ │ Copy ││ Del ││ Rename ││ Sort ││ SeTup ││ ┘-View │ │ │ └────────┘└────────┘└────────┘└────────┘└────────┘└─────────┘ │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Simply use the cursor keys to select one of the archives. Press <ENTER> and the archive contents will be displayed. THE BASIC ARCHIVE COMMAND WINDOW : ---------------------------------- After selecting an archive, its contents will be read, and all of its files will be presented. The command window at the bottom of the screen displays all of the features of ARCTOOL. ┌────────────── Archive : D:\TURBO\ARCS\BONUS2.ZIP ──────────────┐ │ ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ Files : 9 OutPath : D:\TURBO\ARCS │ │ │ │ Byte Total : 236338 Memory : 306008 │ │ │ │ Free Space : 87719936 Need : 0 │ │ │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ BROWSE EXE LZCrunch 39008 12/05/90 05:54Am │ │ │ │ CASE EXE Stored 9124 10/18/91 12:04Pm │ │ │ │ ER EXE Stored 32045 10/18/91 12:04Pm │ │ │ │ FIND EXE Stored 20841 10/18/91 12:05Pm │ │ │ │ LAB EXE Stored 18682 10/18/91 12:03Pm │ │ │ │ TR EXE Stored 31544 10/18/91 12:04Pm │ │ │ │ VF EXE Stored 23785 10/18/91 12:04Pm │ │ │ │ ZAPDIR EXE Stored 22662 10/18/91 12:04Pm │ │ │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ │ │ ┌──────────┐┌──────────┐┌──────────┐┌──────────┐┌──────────┐ │ │ │ Extract ││ Delete ││ Print ││ View ││ Find │ │ │ └──────────┘└──────────┘└──────────┘└──────────┘└──────────┘ │ │ ┌──────────┐┌──────────┐┌──────────┐┌──────────┐┌──────────┐ │ │ │ Convert ││ Sort ││ Tag ││ UnTag ││ Alt-More │ │ │ └──────────┘└──────────┘└──────────┘└──────────┘└──────────┘ │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ The 'D' key allows files within the archive to be deleted, so be careful, you'll only get one chance. The 'Q' key quits ARCTOOL. Files can be Tagged (T) or UnTagged (U). Files can be Extracted (E) to any Outpath (L). Files can also be Viewed (V) on the CRT or Printed (P) on the printer. File can be sorted in any order, and ARCTOOL will save the sort switch for future use. A new feature with version 7 of ARCTOOL is the FIND function. The currently highlighted file will be search for on the current disk drive. The NEW command let's you look at another archive. It can be any archive on any drive. Just press 'N' and enter the archive name including the path. NEW !!! MULTIPLE LEVEL ARCHIVE EXTRACTION : ------------------------------------------- ARCTOOL now provide the means to look at files in archives even if the archive in question is in another archive. For example, lets say the you have an archive called FOUR.ZIP which contains the file THREE.ZIP. Inside THREE.ZIP is the file TWO.ZIP and so on. Press the VIEW key, on the first archive, and it will open up the next one. You will notice that the screen shifts right 2 columns with each level the you go to. You can do this up to 4 levels. Use the ALT key to see the alternate commands available : ┌────────────── Archive : D:\TURBO\ARCS\BONUS2.ZIP ──────────────┐ │ ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ Files : 9 OutPath : D:\TURBO\ARCS │ │ │ │ Byte Total : 236338 Memory : 306008 │ │ │ │ Free Space : 87719936 Need : 0 │ │ │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ BROWSE EXE LZCrunch 39008 12/05/90 05:54Am │ │ │ │ CASE EXE Stored 9124 10/18/91 12:04Pm │ │ │ │ ER EXE Stored 32045 10/18/91 12:04Pm │ │ │ │ FIND EXE Stored 20841 10/18/91 12:05Pm │ │ │ │ LAB EXE Stored 18682 10/18/91 12:03Pm │ │ │ │ TR EXE Stored 31544 10/18/91 12:04Pm │ │ │ │ VF EXE Stored 23785 10/18/91 12:04Pm │ │ │ │ ZAPDIR EXE Stored 22662 10/18/91 12:04Pm │ │ │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ │ │ ┌────────────┐ ┌────────────┐ ┌────────────┐ ┌────────────┐ │ │ │ VirusScan │ │ TagExtract │ │ TagDelete │ │ LogDrive │ │ │ └────────────┘ └────────────┘ └────────────┘ └────────────┘ │ │ ┌────────────┐ ┌────────────┐ ┌────────────┐ ┌────────────┐ │ │ │ TagAll │ │ UnTagAll │ │ Dirs │ │ Setup │ │ │ └────────────┘ └────────────┘ └────────────┘ └────────────┘ │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ The 'ALT T' key tags all of the files in the archive, and the 'ALT U' key untags all tagged files. ALT S ( SETUP ) See the description of the SETUP process above. --------------------------------------------------------------- NEW !!! VIRUSCAN COMMAND ------------------------ This works in conjunction with you favorite virus scan program. I use SCAN.EXE by McAfee, which can be found on any bulletin board. The files will be unpacked to a temporary directory and you will be asked for the scan program. Include any command line switches that you might need. The files will be scan and virus's if any will be reported. NEW !!! DIR COMMAND ------------------- This command will display a tree of all of the directories on the current drive. Directories can be added or DELETED, (BE CAREFUL .. ALL FILES INCLUDING SUBDIRS WILL BE DELETED TOO !!!) The path selected will become the new OUTPATH for the archives that you might extract. NEW !!! CONVERT COMMAND ----------------------- NEW for version 7.6 is the ability to convert archives from one format to another. Simple press the 'C' key and you will be allowed to select the new format. The archive will be created in the same directory as the original, and THE ORIGINAL WILL NOT BE DELETED. You may do that back in the main program window. Now back to the MAIN SCREEN : TURNING SFX LOOKUP OFF ( ALT O Also On Setup MENU ) ----------------------------------------------------- ARCTOOL by default looks at EVERY 'EXE' and 'COM' file to determine if the file is an 'SFX' format file. If you have a directory with a LOT of these files, this can take a while, sometimes, A LONG WHILE !!. Especially on floppy disks, this can seem to take FOREVER !!!. You can turn this feature off by using the 'ALT O' switch once inside of ARCTOOL. You will be given a message the the SFX feature is now ON (or OFF) depending on the previous state. Since this feature is a toggle, you will be changing it to the OPPOSITE of what it now is. If it seems that ARCTOOL is slow on directories that have a LOT of COM and EXE files, try pressing ALT O and see if this speeds things up. You WILL however LOOSE the ability to identify SFX "COM" and "EXE' files. CONFIGURATION FILE : (Also see SETUP on MAIN SCREEN) ----------------------------------------------------- If you desire, you can create a configuration file which MUST be named 'AT.CFG', which can contain the pathnames where you want 'ARCTOOL' to search for archives. In this case, ARCTOOL WILL NOT search EVERY drive on your disk for the presence of archives. This can make the startup process VERY fast if you are only placing archives in one or two directories but have a LOT of paths on your hard drive. Additionally, you can tell ARCTOOL where to find the appropiate archive programs that you will use. The configuration file must be an ASCII text file, and can be created with any text editor. Items must be ONE PER LINE, and can be any path on your disk. Blank lines are ignored. EXAMPLE : C:\ D:\ARCHIVES\ \ZIPFILES\ Z:\PAHTNAME\ You can include ANY path on any physical drive, as long as the physical drive exists. You can define the archiver for each file extension that ARCTOOL can handle by entering one per line as follows : ARC=c:\WHATEVER\ARC.EXE PAK=c:\SOMEPATH\PAK.EXE ZIP=c:\UTILITY\PKUNZIP.EXE LBR=c:\ARCHIVES\LUE.COM ZOO=d:\UTILITY\ZOO.EXE LZH=e:\ANYPATH\LHA.EXE ARJ=c:\UTILITY\ARJ.EXE PKA=d:\PKWARE\PKXARC.EXE COMMAND LINE SWITCHES : ----------------------- There are two command line switches that can be used with ARCTOOL to control the configuration file. /N - DO NOT USE CONFIGURATION FILE. If you have created a configuration file, then ARCTOOL will use it as a default. This switch will cause ARCTOOL to ignore the configuration file, and ALL paths on the current disk will be searched for archives. /S - CREATE CONFIGURATION FILE. Using this switch causes ARCTOOL to create a configuration file from the pathnames were it finds archive files. Any previous version of the configuration file WILL BE OVERWRITTEN. Subsequent uses of ARCTOOL will use this newly created configuration file unless you specify the /N switch on the command line. SAMPLE COMMAND LINES : AT /n AT /s AT A: /S AT C: /S Only use ONE of these switch on the command line at a time. ARCTOOL TEMPORARY DIRECTORY AND PKTMP ENVIRONMENT VARIBLE --------------------------------------------------------- ARCTOOL creates a temporary directory that it uses to unpack files for viewing or printing. Normally, this directory is created on the same disk that the program is on. PKZIP also uses a temporary file to do its work. ARCTOOL will use the same temporary disk that you assign for PKZIP. You may have this temporary file created in a different directory by setting the environment variable PKTMP. Set this equal to the drive you wish to use as your temporary file location and ARCTOOL temporary directory. For optimal performance on your local harddrive, the PKTMP could be set equal to a RAM drive if a large enough one is available. This will make EVERYTHING run VERY FAST !!!! The temporary file location must have enough free space to hold ALL the files in their UNCOMPRESSED state. For optimal performance when working with a .ZIP file on a Novell Netware volume, set the PKTMP equal to any drive on the same server. This will achieve the best performance, and is superior to using the local hard drive or the RAM drive. It is best to set this varible in your 'AUTOEXEC.BAT' file so that it will be there when you boot. EXAMPLE C:\>set pktmp=z:\ USING ARCTOOL AS A SINGLE ARCHIVE VIEWER ---------------------------------------- ARCTOOL can be used as a handy command line program to view a single archive by simply entering the archive name and path on the command line. EXAMPLE : AT \SOMEPATH\SOMEARC.ZIP In this case, ARCTOOL will open the indicated archive and you can proceed to do whatever with it. PKUNZIP,PKZIP PKNOFASTCHAR ENVIRONMENT VARIBLE ---------------------------------------------- ARCTOOL wants to control to entire show when running programs such as PKZIP and PKUNZIP, ESPECIALLY where characters are written to screen. With version 2.04E of PKUNZIP, there is an environment varible provided to tell PKUNZIP NOT to write using video BIOS, which is NOW PKUNZIP's default. This varible is set automaticlly by ARCTOOL if it cannot be found. You may set it yourself by using the command SET PKNOFASTCHAR=NO from the DOS command line. So, if you see this environment varible show up in your environment, don't be alarmed. !!! A WARNING !!! PLEASE DO NOT USE PKLITE, DIET or ANY EXE COMPRESSOR ON GDSOFT FILES. I HAVE ALREADY COMPRESSED THEM TO THE LIMIT, and YOU WILL EXPERIENCE PROBLEMS IF YOU COMPRESS THEM AGAIN. Well, that's pretty much it. I think that you will find ARCTOOL easy to use, FAST, and once you get used to using it, indispensable !! If you like ARCTOOL, then please register it. For those who do, I will send my super dooper BONUS archive as well. Believe me there are many goodies on this BONUS disk including the companion programs ARCPLUS Version 7.0, which will allow you create archives in any of the formats, and the FILEMANAGER PLUS, an exciting NEW program which does ALL that you could EVER want a file manager program to do, including everything that ARCTOOL does and MUCH MORE !!! (ARCPLUS and FILEMANAGER PLUS will NOT be uploaded anywhere !! This is the only way you can get it !!). Send a FORMATTED, BLANK diskette to G.D. DAVIS 57280 Osage Drive Goshen, Indiana 46526 Please Include a $30.00 registration fee. Make sure that you include your return address. If you have any comments or questions, I would REALLY love to receive your comments or suggestions. I can be reached by leaving mail on GENIE (G.D.DAVIS) or CompuServe (72067,2726), or write to me at the above address. Thank you for choosing ARCTOOL. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------