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R E C O N C Y L
The DOS Directory Reconciler
June 1993
Version 1.4h
Silver Wolf Software
2686 Nido Way
Laguna Beach, CA 92651
(714) 376-9220
Product License
This software and associated documentation are distributed as "shareware."
The idea behind shareware is simple; you are given a chance to use the
software for a limited time to decide if it meets your needs. By "limited
time," we mean the amount of time you need to determine of this product
fits your needs. This may be a week, a day, or an hour; but, at some point
you will know if this software can be useful to you.
This software, however, is not free. If you use it you should pay for it.
The registration fee is not that much but, it allows us to continue
developing new features and products. The future direction of this
software will depend upon the support and suggestions/comments from
registered users.
Use the registration form found in this document to register your copy
today!
For personal use, you only have to register one copy per household. For
commercial/business use, however, each copy should be registered. If you
have too many computers to make this feasible, call us and we will arrange
a site license.
Distributors are welcome. We do require any distributor to register one
copy of the software as a condition of the distribution license.
CAUTION: THIS PRODUCT HAS THE CAPABILITY OF CHANGING, COPYING, AND/OR
REMOVING FILES FROM THE USER'S COMPUTER DISKS.
SILVER WOLF SOFTWARE SHALL NOT BE HELP LIABLE FOR THE USE OR
MISUSE OF THIS PRODUCT BY THE USER. AS SUCH, IT IS PROVIDED
"AS IS."
Support
When you register your copy of this software you will receive free
unlimited telephone support for a period of 30 days. After this period,
telephone support is limited to 30 minutes per month.
Support by mail or compuserve, however, is not limited in any way. Our
primary compuserve id is 76470,245; internet 76470.245@compuserve.com.
Just what do we mean by 'support?' If you find a problem with this
software or the documentation, suggest some enhancements, ask a technical
or usage question, or simply let us know how you use the software we
definitely would like to hear from you. If you report a problem or suggest
a new feature, you will receive a copy of the software containing your
requested change automatically.
Copyright
This product (software and documentation) is the property of Silver Wolf
Software. It is not free or "public domain" software.
You may make extra copies of the software to pass it along to friends as
long as you include all files and copyright notices. You may not charge
any fee for copying or distributing this product without express written
permission from Silver Wolf Software.
Copyright (c) 1993 Silver Wolf, Inc. dba Silver Wolf Software
All rights reserved.
Trademarks
RECONCYL is a trademark of Silver Wolf, Inc.
MS-DOS is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation.
QEdit and SemWare are trademarks of Applied Systems Technology, Inc.
Any other trademarks or registered trademarks are used for identification
purposes only.
Related Software Ownership
Although RECONCYL is initially configured to utilize the QEdit, LIST, and
FC programs, this should not be construed as an endorsement by their
respective owners/authors. These program have been chosen as examples of
how you can define and use your own favorite text editor, file lister, and
file comparison programs.
QEdit (Q.EXE) is the property of Applied Systems Technology,
Inc., dba SemWare.
LIST.COM is the property of Vernon D. Buerg.
FC.EXE and MORE.COM are the property of Microsoft Corporation.
Silver Wolf Software does not distribute any of these tools with this
software package. If you do not already have one or more of these
programs, you should contact their respective owners. Or, you may
choose to use another program. The choice is yours.
These programs are very popular and are readily available from a large
number of Bulletin Board Systems (BBSs). If you are having difficulty
locating them, contact us and we will assist you.
RECONCYL Registration Form Date: ____/____/____
Register your copy of RECONCYL today! When you register your copy of
RECONCYL, we will - at your direction - add your name and address to our
mailing list for future update notices. RECONCYL registration fee is $45
(US) for each copy. For personal use, you need only register one copy per
household. For commercial use, each computer where RECONCYL has been
installed should be registered; if this is not feasible, contact us and we
will arrange a site license. Failure to register your commercial-use
copies properly are a violation of the US Copyright laws.
[ ] YES! Add my name to your mailing list for notice about future
changes in RECONCYL and other Silver wolf Software products.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I would like to register ____ copies of RECONCYL @ $45 (US) each. I
understand I will receive the next upgrade of RECONCYL automatically plus
notification about any updates as they become available. My address is:
My Name: _______________________________________________________
(please print & sign name as it appears on credit card)
Telephone #: _____________________________ (optional)
[ ] Home [ ] Office
Street
Address: _______________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________
Payment
Method Credit Card #: ________________________________________
[ ] Check [ ] VISA
[ ] MASTERCARD [ ] Money Order
Expiration Date: ____/____/____
Name of Bank: ________________________________________
Format: [ ] 3.5" DD [ ] 3.5" HD [ ] 5.25" DD [ ] 5.25" HD
Version: ___________ (tell us which RECONCYL you're using)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you have ideas on how RECONCYL can be improved, let us know. We are
always looking for ways to improve our products and the best way is through
you suggestions. If we incorporate your suggestion into RECONCYL, you will
receive a free upgrade to the version containing your idea!
Phone: (714) 376-9220 Mail to: Silver Wolf Software
CompuServe: 76470,245 2686 Nido Way
InterNet: 76470.245@compuserve.com Laguna Beach, CA 92651
Changes Since v1.3
*** FUNCTION KEY ASSIGNMENTS HAVE CHANGED DRASTICALLY SINCE v1.3
*** PRESS ALT-F1 FOR THE FULL LIST
1.4f, 1.4g, 1.4h contained minor cosmetic changes only.
1.4e
* Add the ability to specify a new directory to examine. By pressing
the F7 key you can change the "left" directory while pressing F8
changes the "right" directory. You will be asked to type in the
actual name of the new directory.
Shift-F7 and Shift-F8 will return to the directory names entered on
the command line when you started RECONCYL. Sort of a "home"
directory.
1.4d
* Change color option selection. Previously, you would need to enter
the two byte background/foreground color attribute code. Now, you
need only select the Options menu (F2), choose the Change Colors
line (press return on it) and use the "F" key to change the
foreground or "B" to change the background.
* When copying or moving a file from one directory to another, and
a file by that same name already exists in the destination
directory, RECONCYL could encounter a "disk full" or "not enough
room" condition. Previously, RECONCYL would simply refuse to
perform the requested action.
Now, RECONCYL can, based on the "ON DISK FULL" option (see the
options menu) ask if you want to remove the file in the destination
directory first.
1.4c
* Add ability to traverse directories by pressing RETURN on a
directory name. If the directory name is ".." then the current
directory will move "up" one level (just like the DOS "CD.."
command).
1.4b
* Add some new options:
SHOW HIDDEN = Show/hide DOS Hidden files.
SHOW READONLY = Show/hide DOS Read Only files.
SHOW SYSTEM = Show/hide DOS System files.
* Change the option menus about to make room. The external programs
and the configuration file path options have been moved into their
own menu (with help).
* Simplfy the online help. There is no external help file now; we
found only brief online help was needed.
F1 = Commands Keys
Shift F1 = Program Overview
Ctrl F1 = Command Line Options
1.4a
* File Tagging!
You can now "tag" a group of files in either directory to be copied
or deleted with one key stroke. Press the SPACE BAR to select or
de-select the file(s) and a check mark (√) will appear before the
filename to indicate the file is tagged.
* Move some function keys around to make more effecient use of the
keys. There was no sense to how the keys were layed out. Press F1
from the main screen to see the new layout.
* Change the main screen footer line to show more clearly what will
happen when one of the SMART COPY options is chosen. The key to
change the option has also been changed from "A" to "S" (for Smart
copy). Choosing this option will show how files will be copied
(eg: OLD->NEW means older files from either directory will be
copied over any newer files).
* Add a new option QUICK EXIT which, if set, will allow you to end
RECONCYL without ANY questions being asked. We got this request
from a few people.
* Add file exclusions (-x option).
Now you can reconcile two directories and exclude any files you
don't want as part of the comparision. For example, you are trying
to copy your database to floppy but the software's program files
are present too.
RECONCYL \db a:\ -x*.exe
RECONCYL will exclude all files in BOTH directories which match the
file specification "*.EXE".
Pressing F5 will show you the existing file exclusions and SHIFT F5
will enable or disable the file exclusions.
Chapter 1
Introduction
The more you use your computer the more information you want to store on
your hard disk. After a time, you may have found you must move whole
directories of files from the hard disk to floppies. The files of any
given directory may appear on several disks; and, you may have made changes
to one or more of the files in these directories.
Which files are the most up to date? Which files are different?
Without a great deal of time and patience you will never know. That
is, until now.
RECONCYL is a program which will compare two directories and show you
the differences and similarities. Using single key-stroke commands, you
can then 'reconcile' these directories by copying files from one directory
to another and/or deleting files from either directory. RECONCYL also
allows you the ability to compare two files as well as edit any file.
External Commands
Several of these capabilities are available through the use of external
programs. You can configure RECONCYL to use your favorite
1) text editor,
2) file lister/viewer, and
3) file comparison utility.
Initially, RECONCYL is configured to use three widely available programs:
1) QEdit by SemWare
2) LIST by Vernon Buerg
3) FC by Microsoft
Note: FC is available on the MS-DOS 3.x boot disk.
These are just examples; you can choose your own programs.
Installing RECONCYL
Setting up RECONCYL is fairly easy. The file RECONCYL.ZIP (or
RECONCYL.ARC, on some BBSes), is an archive file which contains several
files, including this one. Use the appropriate utility to extract them.
The other files you will find important include:
RECONCYL.EXE The program itself. It reads the files below.
RECONCYL.CFG The saved configuration file. This is a text file
which may be edited. It is described later in more
detail.
RECONCYL.DOC This documentation.
READ_ME.RYL A change history log. All new features and revisions
will be documented by release level identifier.
REGISTER.RYL A registration form you can print and send to us
(hint, hint).
RECONCYL can find the location of the .CFG file through the use of an
MS-DOS variable called, curiously enough, RECONCYL. Therefore, if you
set this variable using the following command:
C:> SET RECONCYL=C:\BIN
RECONCYL will look in the C:\BIN directory for the configuration (.CFG)
file. Using this method you can choose any location for this file.
Otherwise, RECONCYL will look for them in your current search PATH. If the
files are not found in the search PATH, RECONCYL will finally look in the
same directory where RECONCYL.EXE file is located.
WARNING MESSAGE - CONFIGURATION FILE
A warning message may appear about the configuration file not being the
correct version. Simply press any key to continue; RECONCYL is telling
you that some changes have occurred to the options file layout. Your
previous option settings will be carried forward and any new options
will be given default values. You might want to check out the Options
Menu (press F2) to see what's new.
Starting RECONCYL
RECONCYL requires several parameters; if you simply type "RECONCYL" and
press enter from the DOS prompt, a brief discussion about what RECONCYL
can do for you will appear.
If you enter "RECONCYL /?" you will be presented with a list of the
command line options available to you when starting up RECONCYL.
Starting RECONCYL is fairly easy:
RECONCYL directory1 directory2 options...
where 'directory1' and 'directory2' are the names of the disk directories
you wish to examine. The 'options...' indicates options which you can
specify when RECONCYL starts up. For example,
RECONCYL a:\ c:\batch -nc -nd
If you only provide on directory name, RECONCYL assumes you wish to compare
that directory against your current directory.
Command Line Options
RECONCYL allows you to temporarily override some of the options found in
the configuration file, RECONCYL.CFG. These options begin with a dash (or
hyphen) followed by one or two characters. Each option must be separated
from the other options by a blank space.
-a Add only.
Only add files from one directory to the other. Do not
allow a file to be copied over an existing one. This
option overrides the -c option (below). Turned off by -na.
-c Safe Copy.
Ask permission before copying a file, whether another file
by the same name exists in the other directory or not.
Turned off by -nc.
-d Safe Delete.
Ask permission before removing (deleting) a file. Turned
off by -nd.
-re Indicates the RETURN key, when pressed, should edit the
file. See -rv.
-rv Indicates the RETURN key, when pressed, should view the
file. See -re.
-v Verbose.
Tells RECONCYL to display numerous status messages to give
an indication of progress. These messages include reading
the disk directories, sorting the names, etc. This feature
is very useful on slower computers. Turned off by -nv.
-x s Exclude any files in BOTH directories which match the file
specification "s". This could be "*.EXE" or "R*.*", etc.
Stopping RECONCYL
The escape (ESC) key asks RECONCYL to 'back out' of each menu. Since the
main display is simply a menu, the escape key tells RECONYL you want to
quit.
RECONCYL will ask you if this is what you really want to do. You can
avoid this message by setting the QUICK EXIT option from the Options
Menu. With the QUICK EXIT option set, NO questions will be asked as
RECONCYL ends.
If the 'manual configuration save' option is turned on, you may be asked
for permission to save any changed options (if you changed any). If this
option is changed to 'auto-save' you won't see this message (the setting of
this option is saved in the configuration file also).
Chapter 2
The RECONCYL Display
The RECONCYL display is divided into two separate areas: the left-hand file
list for the first directory specified and the right-hand file list for the
second directory specified. The last line of the display shows some of the
valid commands.
When RECONCYL is run, you must provide the names of the two directories to
reconcile. The first directory will be displayed on the left side of the
screen while the second directory is displayed on the right.
If a file is found in the first directory but not in the second, the
file will only be displayed on the left side. If the file is found in
the second directory only, it is displayed on the right side only. When
the file name is found in both directories but the file size, date
and/or time is different, the file will be displayed on both sides of
the screen. If the file name and attributes match, a 'match indicator'
will be displayed just to the left of the center column. This indicator is
a double headed left/right arrow.
Example:
a:\ c:\batch
═════════════════════════════════════╦═══════════════════════════════════════
√ ED.BAT 2341 08/01/90 2:28p ║
║ FDUMP.BAT 1200 01/01/89 12:12p
GDAYM.ATE 86437 08/02/90 4:32a ║ GDAYM.ATE 86436 07/31/90 1:19p
ZZ.TOP 200 10/10/90 1:00p ║ ZZ.TOP 200 10/10/90 1:00p
The check (√) character indicates the file has been tagged for group
copies or deletes.
The Highlight Bar
A large gray bar will appear on one of the files; this is the currently
selected file. You may select other files by using the up and down arrow
keys. You may change the highlight bar through the Color options menu
(described later).
The HOME and END keys may be used to move the first or last file in the
list of files. The PGUP and PGDN keys may be used to move through the file
list one full screen at a time.
The left and right arrow keys select further; either the left or right file
on a 'two-file line' - a line with two versions of the same file on it.
The chosen file will change color based on the colors you have set through
the Color options menu.
After one or the other has been selected, it may be copied, deleted, and so
forth (see list below).
Chapter 3
RECONCYL Commands
RECONCYL provides a number of single keystroke commands. These commands
are started by pressing the capitalized letter in the list found below:
BAK Delete any *.BAK files found in the directories.
Copy Copy the selected file from one directory to
the other.
Delete Delete the file.
Move Copy the file to the other directory and remove
it from it's original directory.
Edit Edit one or both files by the same name, as
specified by entry in configuration file.
File compare Compare two files by the same name, using the
compare utility specified in the configuration
file.
Smart Change the 'smart copy' option.
View View/list a file, using viewer specified in
the configuration file.
eXit to DOS Shell out to MS-DOS (F9 also).
ESC The escape key indicates you want to stop
RECONCYL.
HOME Move to the first file in the directory list.
END Move to the last file in the directory list.
PGUP Display the previous screen of files.
PGDN Display the next screen of files.
up arrow Select the previous file.
down arrow Select the next file.
left arrow When a file appears in both directories, the
right arrow left and right arrow keys 'choose' which file
you wish to select.
RECONCYL also provides for some function key commands; these include:
F1 Command Keys Help.
Shift F1 Program Overview.
Ctrl F1 Command Line Help.
Alt F1 Function Key Help.
F2 Change options.
Alt F2 Load configuration from disk.
Ctrl F2 Save current configuration to disk.
F3 Toggle between fixed column display for filenames.
Shift F3 Show/Hide directories.
Alt F3 Toggle between displaying file attributes and
the file size.
F4 Display ALL, MATCHED or UNMATCHED files.
F5 Show file exlusion list.
Shift F5 Toggle file exclusions on/off.
F6 Switch (toggle) between showing valid command
keys or available number of bytes on each disk.
F7 Specify the name of the directory to which the
LEFT side of the display should be changed to.
Shift F7 Return the LEFT directory to the original
specification.
F8 Specify the name of the directory to which the
RIGHT side of the display should be changed to.
Shift F8 Return the RIGHT directory to the original
specification.
F9 Exit (shell out) to DOS.
F10 Refresh screen.
Shift F10 Reread information from disk.
Deleting .BAK Files
The BAK command allows you to quickly remove any files ending with ".BAK".
Pressing the letter 'B' will result in RECONCYL asking you if you want to
delete the .BAK files in LEFT/RIGHT/BOTH directories. If you press 'L'
then only the left-hand directory will be searched. If you press 'R' then
only the right-hand directory will be searched. If you press 'B' then both
directories will be searched.
Whichever directory or directories you choose, RECONCYL will temporarily
turn off the 'safe delete' option, remove all files with the .BAK extension
(also called a suffix), and restore the 'safe delete' option.
During the process, a screen will be displayed which shows the number of
files being examined in each directory.
Chapter 4
Configuring RECONCYL
The RECONCYL configuration is saved in a file called RECONCYL.CFG.
Different copies of this file may exist in different directories to allow
you the flexibility of unqiue configurations. Or, you may choose to
maintain only one configuration.
If the MS-DOS variable, RECONCYL, is set RECONCYL will look for the
configuration file in the directory specified. For example,
SET RECONCYL = D:\
will tell RECONCYL to look for the RECONCYL.CFG file in the D: root root
directory.
If you don't set the RECONCYL environment variable, we will look in the
current search PATH and then try to find out where the RECONCYL.EXE file is
located (MS-DOS 3.3+ only).
Configuration File Layout
The configuration file is a simple ASCII text file which you can change
using a text editor or through the RECONCYL "Options" menu (described
later). Each line in the configuration file represents a command to
RECONCYL. These commands are as follows:
verbose on The "verbose" option tells RECONCYL to
verbose off display a number of textual messages
during the execution of regular commands.
Normally, this option will be "off."
It may be turned on on slower XT clones to
show the progress made as directories are
read, for example.
delete safe If "safe" then RECONCYL will ask you
delete immediate for permission before removing the
file. "Immediate" will, naturally
remove the file immediately.
copy safe If "safe" then RECONCYL will ask you
copy immediate for permission before copying the
file. "Immediate" will copy the
file immediately.
add on If "add" is "on" then a file will
add off only be copied to the other directory
if it does not already exist in the
destination directory. That is, it
will be added to the other directory.
fixed on If "fixed" is "on" then RECONCYL will display
fixed off file names in a fixed-column format; otherwise
files will be displayed free-form.
defattr NONE This option allows you to specify
defattr SMALL which file attribute should be used
defattr BIGGER to determine the direction of a
defattr OLD 'smart copy.' See "Smart Copies"
defattr NEW for more details. OLDER and NEWER are
synonyms for OLD and NEW.
return EDIT If "EDIT" then the 'return' or 'enter'
return VIEW key will tell RECONCYL to edit the
file. Otherwise, the file will only
be listed.
view format This option sets the 'viewer' program.
The 'format' is the actual command -
described in more detail later.
comp format This option sets the 'file comparison'
program. The 'format' is the actual
command - described in more detail
later.
edit format This option sets the 'editor' program.
The 'format' is the actual command -
described in more detail later.
startmsg on If this option is on, a "Starting ..."
startmsg off message will appear before the editor,
viewer, or file comparison external
programs is run. This is useful on
slower machines.
waitatend on If this option is on, you will be asked
waitatend off to press any key before returning to
RECONCYL after running the editor,
viewer, or removing .BAK files.
You always have to press a key to return
from the file comparison program.
showattr on Show the Read Only (R), Archive (A),
showattr off System (S) and Hidden (H) file attributes
instead of the file size if on.
hidden on Include HIDDEN file in the display if on.
hidden off
readonly on Include READ ONLY files in the display
readonly off if on.
sysfiles on Include SYSTEM files in the display if on.
sysfiles off Note: RECONCYL can not delete system
files.
quickend on If "on", this option will tell RECONCYL
quickend off to skip any questions about "are you
sure" or "do you want to save..." when
ending the program. The configuration
file will be saved if autosave is set;
otherwise it is not.
dirs on When "on" include directories in the
dirs off display.
hidden on When "on" include HIDDEN files in the
hidden off display.
readonly on When "on" include READ ONLY files in the
readonly off display.
sysfiles on When "on" include SYSTEM files in the
sysfiles off display; otherwise, hide them. RECONCYL
will not remove SYSTEM files.
matchfatal on Ends RECONCYL when the directories match.
matchfatal off Works on startup as well.
makeavail on When "on" and there is no room to copy or
makeavail off move the file, ask if it is ok to remove
the file found in the destination directory
before preceeding.
The color options include:
header footer border title
files selected chosen question
notice helphead helpbody helpfoot
These options should be followed by a two digit hexidecimal code which
defines the background and foreground colors used to color the specific
part of the display. Try and experiment. These options can also be
changed through the Color Options menu.
The valid codes are created from the values in the table below:
Background Foreground
----------------------- -----------------------
0 Black 0 Black
1 Blue 1 Blue
2 Green 2 Green
3 Cyan 3 Cyan
4 Red 4 Red
5 Magenta 5 Magenta
6 Brown 6 Brown
7 White 7 White
8 Blink Black 8 Dark Gray
9 Blink Blue 9 Light Blue
A Blink Green A Light Green
B Blink Cyan B Light Cyan
C Blink Red C Light Red
D Blink Magenta D Light Magenta
E Blink Brown E Yellow
F Blink White F Bright White
So, 7B is a white background with a cyan foreground (the text).
Example Configuration File:
version 1.4h
delete safe
copy immediate
verbose off
startmsg on
waitatend off
add off
fixed off
dirs on
quickend on
showattr off
hidden off
readonly on
sysfiles off
autosave on
matchfatal off
makeavail on
match ALL
return EDIT
view L %s
comp FC %s %s
edit q %s %s
header 47
title 07
footer 47
files 07
border 47
selected 0f
chosen 0e
question 4e
notice 71
helphead 47
helpbody 0f
helpfoot 47
Program Formats
The external programs for view, comp, and edit require a command format be
provided to tell RECONCYL how to run the program. In this format, the "%s"
shown in the above example indicates where the file name(s) should be
placed in the command.
The editor does require both "%s" format code be provided even though your
editor does may only allow one file to be edited at a time. This is because
RECONCYL passes both file headers to the editor, even if one is blank.
The FC format may include an option ("/a") for the program as well as the
MS-DOS pipe ("| MORE") to the MORE program. RECONCYL allows you to specify
the MS-DOS command which will be used to start the program. Refer to your
MS-DOS manual for more information about the FC command.
Smart Copies
So called "smart copies" are copies which are controlled by the file
attributes of the files selected on the display. For example, if the file
ED.BAT is found in both directories and the first one is older than the
other...
If defattr is set to NEW or NEWER then pressing C (for copy) will copy
the newer or more recent file over the older one.
If defattr is set to BIGGER then pressing C will copy the larger file
over the smaller one.
If defattr is set to NONE then pressing C will force RECONCYL to ask
you which file you mean, since no file attribute control is in effect.
You should be cautious of using this option since decisions are made for
you. We provided the option for completeness - USE AT YOUR OWN RISK!
The Options Menu
The Options menu is displayed as a response to pressing the F2 key. It
contains a list of the current option settings. By moving the selection
bar over each option, you can select to change the option by pressing
the return (or enter) key.
The change is instantaneous. If its not the change you want to make, press
the return key again and the option will change.
NOTE: When changing the external program command formats, you MUST type in
a command. RECONCYL requires you complete this data entry. Once
done, you can escape out of the change by pressing the escape (ESC)
key.
To leave the Options menu, you should press the escape (ESC) key.
Changing Options
The Options menu is a simple way to change the various options which
control how RECONCYL works. All of these options are described in the
Configuration File Layout section (above).
You can use the up and down arrow keys to select the appropriate option. By
pressing the RETURN (or ENTER) key, you can change the option or ask
RECONCYL to change the text option. These text options include the view,
edit, and file comparison program command line formats as well as the
RECONCYL configuration file location and name.
Once you have changed an option, RECONCYL will mark the configuration as
NOT SAVED. This message will be displayed on the right-hand side of the
last line on the display.