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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.