CatCIS (id=256)
CatCIS

Welcome to CatCIS and thanks for your support!

CatCIS(TM) is a Windows program to be used with TAPCIS(TM) or WinCIS catalog files which contain Data Library Catalogs from CompuServe's forums.  It provides a convenient way to maintain catalog files and write download scripts for TAPCIS or WinCIS.  Includes the following features:

-- a flexible search capability, enabling you to search for a search string on any or all of the CIS ID, File, Title, Keywords, or description sections of the catalog objects.

-- clipboard support to clip a catalog description to the clipboard

-- Mark functions to mark items for deletion from the catalog or for download, or both

-- Sort features to sort the catalog in various ways

-- MSL support.  The Microsoft Software Library does not conform to the normal CIS forum standards.  If you are using TAPCIS, CatCIS will write a download script to retrieve files from MSL.

Please send me any comments or suggestions!

File

Edit

Search

Mark

View

Options

Help

Procedures


File

File|Open

File|Save

File|Save As

File|Write D/L File

File|MRU

File|Exit


Edit

Edit|Copy


Mark

Mark|Download

Mark|Delete


Search

Search|Find

Search|Search again


View

View|Sort


Options

Options|Configure


Help

Help|Keyboard

Help|Commands


File|Open

This menu selection displays a dialog box for selection of a file to open.


File|Save

This menu selection saves the file being viewed to disk, deleting any catalog items marked for deletion.

A backup of the original file is saved with an extension of .~?? in the directory from which the original file was read, unless the Configuration Option Retain Backups is not selected.  The '??' are the last 2 characters of the original extension.


File|Save As

This menu selection displays a dialog box requesting file name information for the new file to which the currently viewed catalog will be saved.

If successful, the file will be saved under the new name and the currently viewed catalog will thereafter be working on the new filename.

If there is already a file of the same name in the new location during a Saveas, a backup file will be created with an extension of .~??, unless the Configuration Option Retain Backups is not selected, where ?? are the last 2 characters of the existing file.


File|Write D/L File

This menu selection is only available when catalog items have been selected for download.  Selecting it causes the Download File Selections dialog to be displayed.

Files may be moved to the Reject list box to preclude them from being included in the download script that will be written to the directory specified in Options as the "*.CAT; *.LBR" Directory.  The created file has the same file name as the catalog file and an extension of '.dow'.  Any files moved to the Reject list box will retain their marked status after the download script has been written.

If a download file of the same name already exists in that directory, a backup file will be created with the same file name, unless the Configuration Option Retain Backups is not selected, and an extension of .~ow.  The newly marked download requests will be appended to the existing set of requests in the new .dow file.

MSL Options:

The MSL Format options are currently only available for TAPCIS users.  If you are viewing a catalog created by capturing the the library list of the MSL forum, check the MSL Format box to generate a TAPCIS script file for download of the marked files.  This script file will be placed in the *.SEC directory as specified in the Options|Configure dialog box.

If the MSL Format option is selected, the logoff selection may also be selected.  This will cause the script file to logoff CIS after downloading the marked files.

Note:  The MSL Format options do NOT allow appending different download requests to the file as is possible for normal forums.  Instead, each time you select this option, a new file is created, and you lose any previous script information.


File|MRU

Initially, this area of the menu contains the inactive selection 'File List'.  After viewing catalog files, a Most Recently Used file list is built, and quick access to the last few files you viewed is enabled.


File|Exit

This menu selection closes CatCIS after checking to determine that no pending marked information exists.


    Edit|Copy

This menu selection copies the currently displayed catalog object to the Windows clipboard.


Search|Find

The Find menu selection will display a dialog box to get the required search information from you.  These items are:

Find What:  Enter the text you want to find in this edit box.

Search What:  Check the boxes of the items you want searched for the search text.  Any or all may be selected.

Each catalog object contains the following items that may be searched:

Compuserve Information System Identification line.  Checking this box causes a search of the first catalog object line, including the CIS ID and the library number.

File Line. Checking this box causes a search of the second catalog object line, including the file name, byte count, download count, and original upload date, last upload date, and last download date in it.

Title Line.  Checking this box causes a search of the uploader's title description.

Keywords.  Checking this box causes a search of the uploader's keywords.

Description.  Checking this box causes a search of the description of the catalog object.

Direction:  Select the appropriate radio button to search Up, which will search catalog objects prior to the one on display; or Down, which will search catalog objects after the one on display.

Match Case:  Check this check box to limit the search to matching the text you entered exactly.  Uncheck it to search for the text irrespective of case.

Highlight Hits:  Check this check box to cause visual highlighting of any matches found in a catalog object.

Save Default.  This button will write the current state of the Find dialog box to the CatCIS.INI file.  This will maintain your selections from session to session with CatCIS.  CatCIS will keep your Find dialog box selections throughout the current session when you do not use the Save Defaults button, but those selections will be lost the next time you run CatCIS, or if you run a second instance of the program.

Search.  This button closes the dialog and begins searching the catalog objects for your search text.

Cancel.  This button will cancel the search, and will cause any changes you made to the dialog to be lost.


Search|Search again

The Search again menu selection will use the search criterion from the Find dialog box to search for the next occurrence of the target text.

The shortcut for this action is F3.


Mark|Download

The Download menu selection will mark the catalog item for download.  Once marked, a download script file (.DOW) can be written.


Mark|Delete

The Delete menu selection will mark the catalog item for deletion.  Catalog items marked for deletion will not be written to the file when the catalog file is rewritten to disk via File|Save or File|Save As.


View|Sort

The Sort menu selection displays a submenu allowing selection of different sorts on the library catalog.

Standard:

This is the original sort order from reading the file.

Date:

This selection reorders the display in descending order based on the upload date.  The secondary sort order is ascending filename order.

Filename:

This selection reorders the display in ascending filename order.  The secondary sort order is descending upload date.

Library:

This selection reorders the display in ascending library number order.  The secondary sort order is descending upload date.  The tertiary sort order is ascending filename.


Options|Configure

The Configure menu selection displays a dialog box for setting the various configuration options in CatCIS.

Catalog Type:

CatCIS can handle the catalog formats of TAPCIS and WinCIS.  Select the appropriate one for your catalogs.  Since the two applications handle downloading of files and reading of catalog files differently, this selection is important.  Additionally, the actual format of the catalog files is different, so correct selection insures that the catalog integrity is maintained.

*.CAT, *.LBR:

Usually, *.CAT files are maintained in the STORE subdirectory of the TAPCIS directory, so your entry might look like this:

c:\tapcis\store

The *.LBR files are maintained by WinCIS in the WINCIS\CONTROL directory, so your entry might look like this:

c:\wincis\control

TAPCIS usually maintains the *.SEC files in the TAPCIS directory, where the TAPCIS.EXE file resides, so your entry might look like this:

c:\tapcis

WinCIS maintains the *.SEC files in the WINCIS\CONTROL directory, so your entry might look like this:

c:\wincis\control

CatCIS will verify that the directories exist prior to closing.

Download Information:

The Download Information section allows customization of the parameters used to determine the time and cost of downloading selected files.  Estimate Char/Sec based on download performance on your system; you can get information on rates from Compuserve by using GO RATES.

Options:

CatCIS creates backup files while executing any file activities.  These files will be in the same directory as the original and have the same file name.  The extension of backup files substitutes the tilde (~) for the first character of the extension.  Unchecking the Retain Backups checkbox will cause all *.~?? files created by CatCIS to be deleted upon successful completion of file activities.


Help|Keyboard

Page Up

The Page Up key will display the previous video page of information on the displayed catalog item, or, if you are viewing the top of the displayed catalog item, it will display the previous catalog item.  This action can also be completed using the action bar button '<'.

Shift Page Up

The Shift Page Up key sequence (hold the shift key and press Page Up) will display the first item in the previous session.  TapCIS tracks each session you have in a given library, and this keyboard accelerator uses that information to provide a 'fast reverse' capability.This action can also be completed using the action bar button '<<'.

Page Down

The Page Down key will display the next video page of information on the displayed catalog item, or, if you are viewing the bottom of the displayed catalog item, it will display the next catalog item.This action can also be completed using the action bar button '>'.

Shift Page Down

The Shift Page Down key sequence (hold the shift key and press Page Down) will display the first item in the next session.  TapCIS tracks each session you have in a given library, and this keyboard accelerator uses that information to provide a 'fast forward' capability.This action can also be completed using the action bar button '>>'.

Home

The Home key will display the left side of the displayed catalog item when the horizontal scrollbar is present and you have scrolled right.

End

The End key will display the right side of the displayed catalog item when the horizontal scrollbar is present and you have scrolled left.

Ctrl-Home

The Ctrl-Home (hold the Ctrl key and press Home) will display the first catalog item in the file.  This action can also be completed using the action bar button '|<'.

Ctrl-End

The Ctrl-End (hold the Ctrl key and press End) will display the last catalog item in the file.  This action can also be completed using the action bar button '>|'.

Arrow Keys

When horizontal and/or vertical scrollbars are present, the arrow keys allow for directional scrolling.

Insert

The Insert key is a short cut that marks a displayed catalog item for download.

Ctrl-Insert

The Ctrl-Insert key is a short cut that copies the current catalog object to the clipboard.

Delete

The Delete key is a short cut that marks the displayed catalog item for deletion from the catalog file.  The Ctrl-X sequence also performs this action.


Help|Commands

File|Open

File|Save

File|Save as

File|Write D/L File

File|MRU

File|Exit

Edit|Copy

Search|Find

Search|Search again

Mark|Download

Mark|Delete

View|Sort

Options|Configure

Help|Keyboard


Procedures

Changing Colors:

To change the various colors used in CatCIS requires editing the CatCIS.INI file located in your Windows directory.

In the colors section there are several variables that you may change to valid colors.  Each of the numbers must be in the range of 0 to 255.  Using the Control Panel's application Color, you can determine the requisite Red, Green, and Blue settings.

WARNING:  CatCIS does not check the validity of your entries, so be careful.

The following defines the variables, where highlight variables refer to the text color and highlight background variables refer to the background color when highlight hits is selected while searching:

[Colors]

Workspace:  Reserved for future use

IDLine:  Color for the displayed ID line

IDHighLight:  Highlight color for the displayed ID line

IDHighlightBackground:  Background color for the displayed ID line

FileLine:  Color for the displayed File line

FileHighLight:  Highlight color for the displayed File line

FileHighlightBackground:  Background color for the displayed File line

TitleLine:  Color for the displayed Title line

TitleHighLight:  Highlight color for the displayed Title line

TitleHighlightBackground:  Background color for the displayed Title line

KeysLine:  Color for the displayed Keywords lines

KeysHighLight:  Highlight color for the displayed Keywords lines

KeysHighlightBackground:  Background color for the displayed Keywords lines

DescriptionLine:  Color for the displayed Description lines

DescriptionHighLight:  Highlight color for the displayed Description lines

DescriptionHighlightBackground:  Background color for the displayed Description lines

MarkDelete:  Color for the displayed Delete marker when an item is marked for deletion

MarkDownload:  Color for the displayed Download marker when an item is marked for download

MarkPrint:  Reserved for future use

MarkGray:  Color for the displayed Download marker when an item is marked for download AND the script file has already been saved to disk

Deleting Catalog Items

Use the Mark menu to mark an item for deletion, or the Delete key as a short cut.  Either way, this is a toggle function allowing you to mark and unmark.

Download Catalog Items

Use the Mark menu to mark an item for download, or the Insert key as a short cut.  Either way, this is a toggle function allowing you to mark and unmark.

Once the download script has been written to disk, any items marked for download can no longer be unmarked.  This is represented by gray text for the '-- Download --' indicator at the top of the catalog item and the Download menu item is disabled.