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The HardDisk Accomplice
Version 1.65
Copyright July 1992 - August 1994
All Rights Reserved
Table Of Contents:
_______________________Subject_____________________ PAGE
Legal Information .................................. 1
Description and System Requirements ................ 1
Package Contents ................................... 2
Installation Process ............................... 3
Instructions:
Menu Section .................................. 3
Edit Section .................................. 4
Setup Section ................................. 5
Password Options .............................. 5
Advanced Topics:
Disk Caches ................................... 6
Macros ........................................ 6
TroubleShooting:
Command-Line Options .......................... 7
Running Applications .......................... 7
Video Problems ................................ 7
Mouse Problems ................................ 8
Disk Cache Problems ........................... 8
Garbage ....................................... 8
Miscellaneous Information .......................... 9
Registration ....................................... 9
Contacting Author .................................. 9
Acknowledgments .................................... 10
Beta-Testers ....................................... 10
The HardDisk Accomplice is distributed under the
Shareware concept and it is not free. The program(s) may be
used for a Trial Period of thirty days. At the end of this
trial period you must do one of the following:
■ Send in the required registration fee OR
■ Delete all programs from your use.
Copying of this program in welcomed and encouraged provided
the following guide lines are followed:
■ The program package or archive is not copied or
distributed after January 15, 1995.
■ All of the files contained in this package remain
intact and unaltered.
■ None of the files are altered or modified without
prior written permission of the Author(s).
■ No fees are charged to anyone except for the
following:
1. Disk Duplication/Costs.
2. Shipping.
3. Downloading fees.
4. Membership fees
This program package may be placed on ANY BBS granted the
above conditions are met.
DISCLAIMER: "The HardDisk Accomplice" is offered to the
Public without warranty and is offered as-is. The author
takes no responsibility implied or otherwise to the
loss/damage of data or information. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
This program package contains another Shareware package that
is separate and not included in the registration fees.
Registering for this package does not mean that you have
registered YOUR copy of explosiv junior. Explosiv JR is
included here by permission from Reidar Gresseth and Chris
Hook. Please refer to the file EXPLOSJR.DOC in EXPLOSJR.ZIP
for information about registering the explosiv junior screen
saver.
What is "The HardDisk Accomplice"?
The HardDisk Accomplice is a menu program to aid the
user in executing his/her programs without using ANY of the
computer's memory. The program is very flexible and easy to
use because it was designed initially to be this way!
The program supports many of today's advanced features. The
menu will automatically detect and setup the following
features:
1
■ Disk Cache Support.
■ 43/50 line text modes for the EGA/VGA cards of today.
■ Mouse Control.
■ 4 pages of 26 executable programs.
■ An online Help facility.
■ A Macro facility.
■ Uses no memory when not in the menu.
■ Features a configurable Screen Blanker that by default
uses Explosiv Junior.
■ Allows selection of screen colors.
■ Added security of Password protection.
■ Takes advantage of CALL and @ commands in batch files.
■ A simple easy to use Editing feature.
The Accomplice was designed for a hard drive but it can be
used on systems without a hard drive. The program must,
however, be placed in a directory in which the PATH
environment variable points to. The minimum requirements for
the Accomplice are:
■ MS-DOS 2.0 or Higher.
■ 200k of free memory.
■ 80 column graphics card: Hercules, CGA, EGA mono, EGA,
VGA or higher.
■ At least 300k of free disk space.
The Recommended requirements are:
■ MS-DOS 3.31 or higher.
■ EGA or higher graphics card.
■ A MicroSoft (TM) Compatible mouse.
■ +250k of free RAM.
■ A REGISTERED version of Explosiv JR.
■ SmartDrive 4.0 or greater by MicroSoft.
What is in "The HardDisk Accomplice" package?
The package should contain the following files:
MENU.BAT - The batch file needed to run the Accomplice.
HD_ACC.EXE - The main menu program.
HD_ACC.HLP - The menu's online help data.
SCRCHECK.EXE - 43/50 line changer program.
CTRLDC.EXE - Cache option set.
INSTALL.EXE - Installation program.
EXPLOSJR.ZIP - The Explosiv archive that contains:
EXPLOSJR.COM - Explosiv junior for DOS executable
WXJ.EXE - Explosiv junior for Windows executable
WXJ.DLL - Windows dynamic link library
WXJ.INI - Configuration file for wxj.exe
EXPLOSJR.DOC - Documentation for explosiv junior
REGISTER.FRM - Registration/Order form for the Accomplice.
HD_ACC.DOC - Documentation for the Accomplice.
2
How do I install "The HardDisk Accomplice"?
For the most part the installation of the program is
fairly automatic. Whether your installing from a previous
version of the Accomplice or from scratch, run the
installation program INSTALL.EXE from the Accomplice's
Directory. INSTALL will detect your previous version of the
Accomplice and convert it to this newer version. INSTALL will
also help to "customize" a few aspects of your environment.
Simply type INSTALL at the OS prompt and follow the
instructions, nothing could be easier.
How do I use "The HardDisk Accomplice"?
First, To successfully run this program you MUST use the
batch file: MENU.BAT. This is done by typing MENU at the DOS
prompt. Certain information contained below is duplicated in
the online help facility under the F1 key. An example of the
regular 25 line mode text is given on the next page as Figure
1. This also includes some suggestions of how to separate
your applications into groups.
╔═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗
║ ║
║ The HardDisk Accomplice ║
║ Version 1.6 ║
║ Copyright November 1992 by John David Zitterkopf ║
║ All Rights Reserved ║
║ UNREGISTERED Evaluation Copy! ║
╟──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╢ 1/ 1/93 02:13:04p║
║ ║
║ «A» ---> Languages «N» ----> Compression Programs ║
║ «B» «O» ║
║ «C» «P» ║
║ «D» «Q» ║
║ «E» «R» ║
║ «F» «S» ║
║ «G» «T» --> HardDisk Accomplice ║
║ «H» «U» ║
║ «I» «V» ║
║ «J» ----> Communications «W» ║
║ «K» «X» ║
║ «L» «Y» ║
║ «M» MACRO: «Z» ║
║ ║
╙──────────╢Esc Exit╟──────────╢F1 Help ╟──────────╢F2 Edit ╟─────────╢Page 2 ╜
Figure 1. An Example of the 25 line Main Menu Screen.
3
The list of keys below show the available keys used in the
main screen of the menu.
Keyboard:
A-Z : Automatically selects and executes the
specified menu Item.
Enter : Executes the highlighted item.
Escape : Exits the program to DOS.
Home : Resets highlighted item to «A».
End : Sets highlighted item to «Z».
PageUp : Jump to previous page.
PageDown : Jump to next page.
UpArrow : Highlight previous menu item.
DownArrow : Highlight next menu item.
RightArrow : Jump to previous column.
LeftArrow : Jump to next column.
F1 : Online Help System.
F2 : Edit the highlighted item.
F3 : Setup for 'The HardDisk Accomplice'.
CTRL-Y : Clears the currently highlighted item.
The mouse is also available if the appropriate driver is
loaded upon starting the program. See below.
Mouse:
LeftButton : Select an item.
RightButton : Goto next page.
BothButtons : Executes the highlighted item.
BothButtons means that both the left and right buttons are
used simultaneously. For best results, position the mouse
cursor over the desired menu item and press the left button.
Once the item is highlighted, press and hold the left button
again and then press the right button. Then release both
buttons at the same time to make the item execute. This is
difficult to do at this time, but I hope one day to change it
to a double-click of the left mouse button. If you have a
three button mouse with the proper driver, you can use the
middle button to run the highlighted menu item.
The mouse can be used to run the bottom menu, too. If
you use the left button to select Exit, Help, or Edit the
appropriate action will be taken. If a mouse is detected the
mouse cursor position is saved when exiting the menu, whether
by ESC, exit, or running the appropriate application/menu
item. This was done to save your position in the menu
program.
The Edit screen is provided to configure the menu to run
your applications. This part of the screen is shown below as
Figure 2 and it is brought up by the F2 key.
4
╔════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗╗
║ ║▒
║ «Q» ║▒
║ Label : Your Application Title Here! ║▒
║ ║▒
║ Drive : C: Mode 43/50 [N] ║▒
║ Write Back Caching [N] ║▒
║ Directory : Your Path here! ║▒
║ ║▒
║ Command Line : Executables, Command line parameters, and Macros go here║▒
║ ║▒
╚════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝▒
▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒
║ ║
Figure 2. The Edit Screen for 43/50 line Text Modes
The keys available on this screen are:
Keyboard:
Escape : Aborts editing the entire menu item.
Backspace : Deletes the previous character.
CTRL-Y : Clears the current field.
Tab : Accepts the current field.
Enter : Accepts the current field.
DownArrow : Accepts the current field.
UpArrow : Accepts current field & jumps to previous
field.
LeftArrow : Moves the cursor to the previous character.
RightArrow : Moves the cursor to the next character.
Home : Resets the cursor to the first character.
End : Sets the cursor to the last character.
Insert : Toggles between insert and overstrike modes.
Delete : Deletes the next character.
F1 : Brings up the Edit Help Screen.
The mouse is Disabled for this screen. The Label section is
provided for the title of the application. It can be a string
of 29 printable characters. The Label defaults to an empty
string. Next is the Drive on which this application resides.
This area only responds to one character, F1, ESC, Enter,
UpArrow, and DownArrow. The Drive defaults to C:. The
Directory is the next configurable area in the edit section.
It is used to tell the program where this application resides
on the disk. The Directory specification defaults to an
empty string and is limited to 79 printable characters.
Command Line is the application's filename with only the
name, extension, and parameters needed for the application.
There is a limit of 30 character in this section, any more
will be truncated. The Macro is also allowed in this area.
More on this later! If arguments can change, you can place a
%A in the command line area. This will cause an argument
window to pop up requesting the necessary arguments when the
item is executed. NOTE: If you have a DOS version above 3.31
4
the CALL directive will be used to execute batch files with
the extension .BAT. You must use a .BAT extension on batch files
in this area in order to return to the menu! The next section
Mode 43/50 [ ] will only appear if you have an EGA or VGA card
in your system. This section only accepts a 'y', 'n', ESC,
Enter, F1, or the Up/Down arrows. Mode 43/50 [ ] defaults to
No. The last section, Write Back Caching [ ], will only appear
if you have a compatible cache driver installed. See ADVANCED
TOPICS below for more information. Write Back Caching [ ]
defaults to No.
Figure 3 shows the Setup Screen used for the screen
blanker option. The default values are shown there.
╔════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗╗
║ ║▒
║ Screen Saver: ║▒
║ ║▒
║ Time (Min) : 5 Password : ║▒
║ Filename : C:\EXPLOSJR.COM ║▒
║ Command line : Fonts ║▒
║ ║▒
║ Colors: ║▒
║ Background, Foreground, (╬)Border, (2)Page/Clock, Inverse ║▒
║ ║▒
╚════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝▒
▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒
║ ║
Figure 3. Setup Screen for the Screen Blanker
Time is used to determine how long Accomplice should wait
after the last key or mouse button action before executing
the NON-TSR screen saver program shown in the Filename area.
Time is accepted in whole minutes from 1 minute to 59
minutes. To disable the screen saver altogether, set Time to
0. Filename is the full pathname of the non-TSR screen saver
you wish to use. Command line is included to send in
parameters to the program listed in Filename.
NOTE: Accomplice attempts to find the file you list in
Filename. If it cannot find the filename where you specify
it, You will have to enter the correct name or an empty
string to be allowed to go on. The same keys used here are
the same used in the Edit section.
The Password area is left by default as an empty string.
If a person wishes to enable the password option, they must
enter a case-sensitive, password of a length no longer than
eight, alpha-numeric characters. Enabling the password will
ask the user for the entered password at critical times.
These times are when entering the menu, Exiting to DOS,
entering edit, or running an application. Please use a
password that you will remember. The only way to reset the
password when it's forgotten is to delete the HD_ACC.CFG file
5
and start over. To clear a password, simply use CTRL-Y when
at the password, setup area. NOTE: All characters except
ENTER are considered when a password is requested.
The next areas in the Setup screen are used to configure
the default colors as you like it. This would be really
useful for LCD laptops. There are really four sections
available to configure. These colors are shown by the B, F,
╬, 2, and INV characters in the words. A person can only
select the Background, Foreground, window, and page/clock
colors on the screen. INVerse colors are not selectable! The
colors are selected by the '+' and '-' keys. The only other
allowable keys are the Up/Down arrows, Enter, ESC, and F1.
Advanced Topics for "The HardDisk Accomplice"
Subtopic: Diskcaches
I was sitting here one day and is dawned on me that I
did not't feel safe with Write-Back Caching. The reason is the
possibility of DATA or FAT corruption. Well, It was then that
I figured that I would incorporate Cache control into the
Accomplice. This turned out to not be an easy task. After
much searching for programming interfaces with the various
disk caches, I found only one that would do what I wanted.
Believe it or not it turned out to be SmartDrive 4.0 from
Microsoft. For this reason, It was the first to be
"controlled." It can also detect HyperDisk, but it did not't
have the interface that Smartdrv does. Therefore, only
SmartDrive 4.0 will bring up the Write-Back Cache option in
the EDIT screen. By setting the option to YES, you are
basicly telling Smartdrv to enable Write-Back Caching. For
safety only disks higher than B: are affected, in other
words, no floppy drives. Since the Accomplice can detect and
control Smartdrv, the program will disable write-back caching
upon entering the menu and flush the contents of the cache to
disk. This means that you can be fairly sure that you garble
your hard disk when you flip the power switch. To be safe I
ALWAYS make sure I am in the menu and then CTRL-ALT-DELETE.
For those who do not have Smartdrv, I have include a HardDisk
Reset function that is automatically called when entering the
menu. Most disk caches recognize this function and will the
proceed to flush it's cache. To disable all cache functions
just add the /NOCACHE option to the command line in MENU.BAT.
Subtopic: Macros
When I was developing ideas for this version of the
Accomplice, I found that I was doing a sequence of menu item
runs before I would run my communication software. Basicly I
was running my CD-ROM player for Audio CDs before the comm
program. From this came the macro function (%M).
6
The macro must appear in the Command-line area of an item and
take on the following form:
%M(P0I0,P1I1,P2I2,...,PxIx)
where P is the Page and I is the Item. For Example, to
execute the following Items in the Table 1, you would create
the following macro: %M(1K,4B,3Z) which would run AppX then
AppY and finally AppZ.
╔═════════════╦══════╤══════╗
║ Application ║ Page │ Item ║
╠═════════════╬══════╪══════╣
║ X ║ 1 │ K ║
║ Y ║ 4 │ B ║
║ Z ║ 3 │ Z ║
╚═════════════╩══════╧══════╝
Table 1. Macro Example
TroubleShooting "The HardDisk Accomplice"
The command line options for HD_ACC.EXE are:
HD_ACC [25lines|43lines] [Mouse=ON|OFF] [sXXXX,YYY]
[/NOCACHE] [/?]
First, Keep these files accessible by not making them
Read-Only, Hidden, or System:
HD_ACC.CFG - Created after the program runs.
HD_ACC.HLP - The help screen data.
BATCH_1.BAT - Created when the application is run.
All Files contained in this package should be located in the
same directory as HD_ACC.EXE.
"The program runs correctly. But when I try to run my
application from HD_ACC.EXE, I get the DOS prompt without
running the application. What is wrong here?"
In order for the Accomplice to run correctly, the batch
file MENU.BAT must be used; Therefore, use MENU at the DOS
prompt to run the Accomplice.
If you know that you have a video card that supports at
least 80x43 text and for some reason the program does not
catch this you can force the program to run in this mode by
first testing HD_ACC.EXE to see if it "likes" your card. To
do this type at the DOS prompt: "HD_ACC 43lines" without the
quotes. If the program runs in 80x43 or 80x50 line text you
can edit MENU.BAT to run this mode by locating the second
line in the batch that should read:
HD_ACC %1
to HD_ACC 43lines %1
7
If for some reason you would like to force the program
to run in an 80x25 mode, you can change the same line to read
"HD_ACC 25LINES %1".
"For some reason my mouse cursor will not travel the
entire screen. Is there a way to fix this?"
Yes, there is a command line parameter set up to force
your mouse driver to successfully traverse the screen. To
test to see if this works, you need to determine the normal
resolution of your video card. For example, an EGA card has a
maximum resolution of 640x350 scan lines. Next, at the DOS
prompt type: HD_ACC sXXXX,YYY where XXXX is the maximum
resolution in the X direction and YYY is the resolution in
the y direction. An example for the EGA video card would be:
HD_ACC s640,350
If this solves your problem then you will need to edit
MENU.BAT to include the modified command. This is done by
editing the second line of text that reads,
HD_ACC %1
to HD_ACC sXXXX,YYY %1
This resolution option can be used in combination with any of
the __LINES commands described above. No particular order is
required. In some cases it might be necessary to upgrade your
mouse driver the newest version.
You may also have the need to enable or disable the
mouse. If for some unknown reason the Accomplice does not
detect your mouse, you may include a command line option as
described above that reads MOUSE=ON. Use this option with
care! If you would like to disable the mouse totally, the
option is MOUSE=OFF.
If after some natural disaster like a disk crash you
find HD_ACC.CFG damaged and you get Runtime errors, you will
need to start a new .CFG file. This is done be deleting
HD_ACC.CFG and re-starting the Accomplice by MENU.BAT.
Miscellaneous Information and Contacting Me
As a Full-Time College Student, I hope one day to
graduate and move to a good Electrical Engineering job.
Unfortunately, I see no way around it. My expected graduation
date is now December of 1994. Since this is copyrighted material,
I do not want it to become "Abandoned Shareware". If after
January 1995, you read this Document just after downloading the
package, please contact me for a replacement and ask the
SYSOP of the site or BBS to remove the package. If you
contact me I will attempt to get the SYSOP a new version of
the package with my new address. NOTE: The programs in this
package will cease to function as of February 1995, the SYSOP
will have little choice to remove it. If all else fails, I plan
to keep an America OnLine account for a very long while. You
can contact me there for sure. See REGISTRATION for more
information on how to contact me.
8
REGISTRATION
As stated above this is a Shareware Package. To continue
to use it after the trial period you MUST send me a
registration fee of $20US. A invoice form is included in this
package as REGISTER.FRM. Remember, EXPLOSJR.ZIP is a separate
Shareware package and you must register it separately if you
plan to use it past the trial period. See EXPLOSJR.DOC for
more information. Registered users will get there own
personal access key to change the status of their copies and
other benefits listed in REGISTER.FRM. Site and Network
Licences are available, contact the address below for more
information. The current U.S. address to send this fee is:
ZittWare
c/o John Zitterkopf
940 North Jackson Street
7D RoseHill Place
Starkville, MS 39759
If you have any questions, comments, problems, or just want
to talk, I presently have numerous Electronic Mail, E-Mail,
addresses. If you have access to INTERNET try the following
addresses in the order they appear:
jdz1@Ra.MsState.Edu
jdz1@Isis.MsState.Edu
jdz1@MsState.Bitnet
zitt@aol.com
bo262@freenet-in-a.cwru.edu
If you have an America Online account my USERID is ZITT. If
you have another E-mail accounts like CompuServe, MCImail,
FidoNet, ect. there should be a way to mail out to INTERNET
addresses. I will do my best to answer any mail I get.
9
Acknowledgments
MicroSoft Mouse, MS-DOS, and SmartDrive are of course
trademarks of MicroSoft.
HyperDisk is copyrighted by HyperWare.
Reidar Gresseth and Chris Hook for their help and Software
package.
Melissa Zitterkopf for her help and patience. {You know I
can't leave the wife out 8-)}
Shane Zehnder as one of my better/older friends.
David Calhoun, Rich Holland, Ted Mittelstaedt for their help
and code.
And last but not least, All the Beta Testers:
Jerry Alexandratos Tim Emmerich
Andy Hakim Kevin Heering
Anthony Nardo Steven Poulsen
Neal Rauhauser Sameer Tejami
Rob Ward
10
