Software Vault: The Gold Collection/Software Vault - The Gold Collection (American Databankers) (1993).ISO/cdr18/pwzmod11.zip/PWZMOD.DOC

Text File | 1993-05-21 | 19KB | 428 lines

                                 PWZMOD
                         A Batch Upload Builder
                        For ProComm+ For Windows

            Copyright (c) 1993 by Creative Systems Software
                       Written by Shawn Fessenden


































         The author can be reached in the U'NI-net PROCOMM echo
          or the DOS-TIPS or CHIT-CHAT echos. The address is:

                            Shawn Fessenden
                       320.5 North Avenue, Lower
                            Aurora, IL 60505

          The phone number is [phone]. Weekdays between
   7:15 a.m. and 6:15 p.m. you'll reach The Abyss BBS at this number.



1. WHAT IT IS
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        PWZMOD is a PC+/Win Aspect script that allows building batch
uploads conveniently and quickly in the PC+/Win environment. PWZMOD
features easy point & shoot selection of file names to upload and a
"smart" directory pick list. Checkbox controls allow keeping the upload
list intact after upload completion, deleting uploaded files and saving
configuration on exit. Pushbutton controls add and remove file names
from the upload list as well as directory names to and from the
directory pick list. A comprehensive .ini file is read upon startup for
configuration parameters, and can be edited to enable or change features
not included in the user interface. After the upload batch is built,
PWZMOD calls Omen Technology's DSZ (TM) Zmodem protocol via an included
.pif file to upload the listed files. The .pif file allows calling any
protocol driver if you do not have or do not wish to use DSZ (TM).

        Because the script was originally intended to use a Zmodem
protocol, the .pif file is called PWZMOD.PIF. If you choose to use a
protocol than Omen's DSZ (TM), the .pif can be modified to call whatever
protocol driver you wish. You must change a line in the PWZMOD.INI file
also, to tell the script what command line to pass to the protocol.


2. WHAT YOU NEED
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        Windows 3.1, PC+/Win ver. 1.01 (PWZMOD has not been tested with
ver. 1) and Omen Technology's DSZ (TM) or other DOS protocol driver.
PWZMOD takes less than 6K alltogether. A 386 running in Windows Enhanced
mode is the minimum recommended for maximum utility, but any machine
running at least Standard mode will do. If not running 386 Enh mode, you
will not be able to switch away from the protocol once it starts.


3. QUICK START
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        Copy PWZMOD.PIF to your .pif subdirectory, then copy PWZMOD.WAX to
your aspect script subdirectory and run it. Keep the icon in the same
directory as the .wax file. You can replace it if you want with one of
your own. Just name the icon PWZMOD.ICO. When you run PWZMOD the first
time, It will create a default .ini file in your Windows subdirectory,
check out your system and set itself up accordingly. You will get a
message stating that PWZMOD is assuming its .pif file is in your path.
If this is not so, move the .pif file to a directory that is in the
path, or see "5. THE .INI FILE" for further information.

        You may get a message stating that "ComX AutoAssign" (where X is
the com port number of your modem) either doesn't exist in the [386 Enh]
section of your system.ini, or is set to "Always Warn" or "Idle". While
not a problem, Windows will inform you that two applications are trying
to access the same com port at the same time when PWZMOD calls your DOS
protocol. To avoid these warnings, open the 386 Enhanced icon in Control
Panel and set your modem's com port to "Never Warn".

       If you are not running in 386 Enhanced mode, none of this applies
to you because you will not be able to switch away from the DOS protocol



once it starts. I realize these warnings are bothersome if you need
things set up the way you have them and PWZMOD always pops these
warnings up at you. Ver. 1.1 of the script will allow disabling these
messages. When you set up the script this way, PWZMOD will call Omen's
DSZ (TM) when you press OK. If you need it set up for another protocol,
read "5. THE .INI FILE".


4. USING THE SCRIPT.
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

        On the left of the window are (from top to bottom) the current
directory, a box for entering a new directory name or a name to be
searched for, the directory pick list, the Save Config button, and the
configuration checkboxes. In the middle is the current directory file
list box, and on the right is the current upload list with the total
number of files and total number of bytes to upload on top. The command
buttons Add, Remove, Cancel and OK are on the bottom.

        To select files from the current directory to place in the
upload list, select them from the current directory box (middle) and
press Add. Multiple file selections are allowed (Shift-Click to select a
range, Ctrl-Click to toggle a selection or select multiple files out of
the listed order). Alternatively, you can double-click on a file name to
add it to the Upload List. Your directory tree can also be navigated by
double-clicking on the parent directory (..) or subdirectory names (in
brackets). You can change drives by double-clicking on the drive
letters.

        When you press Add, the files will appear in the Upload List box
and the total number of files listed and total bytes of all files will
be displayed above the Upload List.

        To remove files from the upload list, select them from the
Upload List and press Remove. Multiple selections are allowed.

        To add directory names to the directory pick list, change to the
directory you wish to add (either navigate there using the current
directory file list or enter a name in the Other Directories edit box
and click once in the current directory file list box) and press Add. As
long as no files are selected in the current directory file list, the
current directory is added to the directory pick list (DPL). If the
directory already exists in the DPL then it is not added again.

        To remove directory names from the DPL, change to the directory
you wish to remove and press Remove. As long as no files are selected in
the Upload List, the current directory is removed from the DPL.

        To use the DPL, drop the list with the little arrow to the right
of the box and click on a directory. To use the "smart" feature, enter a
few characters of the directory you want to change to in the Other
Directories text box and click in the current directory file list box.
Note that the script will only search directories in the DPL. The
directory tree is not searched. If the script can't find a decent match
in the DPL, it'll switch to the root directory of the current drive.

        The script saves the current configuration when exiting by
default. The current configuration consists of all the check boxes and



the DPL itself, as well as some parameters not currently accessable via
the user interface. If you wish to save the current configuration
without exiting press the Save Configuration pushbutton. Notice that the
Save button is disabled when you start the script. This was done to
prevent accidentally changing the configuration. To enable the Save
Configuration pushbutton, toggle the Save Config on Exit checkbox. Once
the button is enabled, it remains enabled until you use it.


4.1 SCRIPT USE NOTES
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

        The Add pushbutton is the default button. If you press the
Enter key at any time while interacting with the script window the add
button will be pushed.

        For those of you who hate mousing around, press Alt-T (oTher
directories), type a few characters of the directory you want to change
to (that is already in the DPL) and press Enter. As long as no files are
selected in the current directory list box, the script will simply
change to that directory. Since the directory already exists in the DPL,
it will not be added.

        To change through directories in the DPL, press Alt-T, Tab
(highlights DPL box but does not drop) and press the Up or Down arrows.

        Press Alt-F (Files) to move into the current directory file list
box. Press the first letter of the name of the group of files you wish
to move to (they are listed in alphabetical order) and the highlight
will jump there. Unfortunately, there is no way I know of to make
multiple selections via Aspect scripts with the keyboard. You can still
move the highlight with the arrow keys and press enter to add them to
the upload list.

        Press Alt-U (Upload list) to move into the Upload List. To
remove a highlighted file, press Alt-R. Since the full pathname of files
in the Upload list is displayed, first-character filename jumping simply
will not fly here. You're stuck with the mouse or multiple Up and Down
Arrow keys.

        The entire script is accessable with hot-keys, but experiment
before depending on keystrokes: apparently the Aspect language does not
require an Alt press with a hot-key for that hot-key to take effect in
all situations. Particularly if nothing is highlighted when a key is
pressed.

        You don't need to be on-line to build an Upload List. Build the
Upload List, turn on Keep Upload List and press Cancel or go ahead and
dial a BBS (although the PWZMOD window is kinda obnoxious). If you opt
to press Cancel with Keep Upload List turned on, the next time you start
the script your list will be intact.

        If you double-click a file name in the Upload List, the current
directory gets added to the DPL. I know its strange, but remember that
the Add button is the default here, and a double-click selects what you
clicked on and then presses the default button. Since you can't Add to
anything from the Upload List, the script assumes you meant to Add the



current directory to the DPL. A future version of the script will check
for and correct this odd behavior (a double-click in the Upload List
should, IMHO, Remove a file from the list).


        More operation notes are available in "6. SCRIPT PROGRAMMING
NOTES". In particular, forcing ver 1.0 to use a different protocol (the
mechanism I had planned for doing this did not make it into ver. 1.0,
but its still possible because PWZMOD uses a .pif file to control the
DOS session that the protocol runs in), forcing a temporary directory
and forcing the script to use a ramdrive for a temporary directory (that
is not defined as the DOS env. vars. TEMP or TMP). Yes siree Bob! All
sortsa stuff is possible, and you even get the source and 1 year of free
upgrades for $10! Um -- I should mention that you don't need to get the
source to do any of these useful things. Just read section 6.


5. THE .INI FILE
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        The .ini file for PWZMOD looks like this:

[Configuration]
KeepList=1
DelIfSuccessful=0
SaveConfig=0
LastDir=c:\install
ForceTemp=

[Zmod]
ZmodPath=c:\windows\pif
ZmodCmdLine=sz -m

[DirPickList]
1DPL=c:\install
2DPL=c:\sw\pw\ul
3DPL=c:\usr\shawn\text
4DPL=c:\sw\games\new_stuf

        Values of 1 and 0 mean true and false, respectively. There are
others you can use. True values are: 1, affirmative, excellent, on,
true, way or any string that is equal to or contains "yes". False values
are: 0, bogus, false, negative, off or any string that is equal to or
contains "no". String searches are not case sensitive. Like, WAY means
true and NO WAY means false.


5.1 THE [Configuration] SECTION
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

        KeepList        - Use same Upload List next time?

        DelIfSuccessful - Delete files after upload?  (At some point,
                          I plan to have PWZMOD read the status file
                          generated by DSZ (TM) and decide which files
                          were actually sent. Only those would be
                          deleted. At the moment, all files in the
                          Upload List are deleted.)

        SaveConfig      - Save configuration when script terminates?




        LastDir         - The last directory used by PWZMOD. The dir
                          shown is for illustration only.

        ForceTemp       - Directory to use as a temporary directory.
                          If you don't want PWZMOD to use the env. vars.
                          RAMDSK, TEMP or TMP you can name a directory
                          here to store temporary files in. All of these
                          are deleted except the Upload List when Keep
                          Upload List is checked.


5.2 THE [Zmod] SECTION
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        ZmodPath        - Path to the .pif file that controls the
                          external protocol. If this line is not
                          present, you get a warning stating that
                          PWZMOD.PIF is assumed to be in the command
                          search path. The path shown is for
                          illustration only.

        ZmodCmdLine     - Switches to add to the command line used to
                          invoke PWZMOD.PIF. This is where you can add
                          your own goodies.

        Note: To have the script ready by the 5/10 promised release
date, ForceCmd=(forced command line) has not been included in ver. 1.0.
It has not been proven reliable yet. This is the mechanism used to call
another protocol instead of DSZ (TM). However, you CAN have the .pif
call a batch file that calls the protocol of your choice with all the
necessary switches you like to use. See "6. SCRIPT PROGRAMMING NOTES"
for further info.


5.3 THE [DirPickList] SECTION
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        This is where the DPL is stored. You can enter directories here
by hand if you wish. Shown are a few from my drive so you can get the
idea. Be careful about typing them in though; they are checked for
validity before the script attempts to switch to them, but if they're
not valid there's no way of getting rid of them short of editing them
out of the .ini file. Please note that this also means you'll have to
edit a directory out of the .ini that was in the DPL when it existed but
that directory has since been deleted. For simplicity's sake, remove it
from the DPL before you delete it, or once one is there go back and
create it again and remove it from the DPL, then delete it.


6. SCRIPT PROGRAMMING NOTES
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

        Currently, the script uses files to do all its stuff. On some
systems, this can get excrucatingly slow. The files are no big deal
though, so any decent cache will take care of your drive speed. One of
the major improvements will be to use arrays instead.



6.1 TEMPORARY FILE DIRECTORY AND RAMDRIVES
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        The script looks for temporary directories in this order: The
env. vars. RAMDSK, TEMP and TMP. If it doesn't find any of those it uses
the default Aspect directory. If you do use a TEMP or TMP and don't want
PWZMOD putting its temporary files there, use the ForceTemp= line in
PWZMOD.INI to tell the script where to put temporary files. If you have
a ram drive available you can create the env. var. RAMDSK to point to
that drive (set ramdsk=d:). If you don't want to clutter up your
environment then use the ForceTemp= line. This will speed things up as
much as possible until the arrays go in. Any temporary directory found,
be it defined with an env. var., in the .ini file or the default Aspect
directory, are verified before use. If a potential temporary directory
is invalid, the root of the default drive will be used.



6.2 USING A DIFFERENT PROTOCOL
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        If you don't want to use Omen's DSZ (TM) as your upload
protocol, you're kinda stuck writing a batch file to start whatever
protocol you want to use. Change the application name in PWZMOD.PIF to
the name of your batch file. When the batch executes, the command line
parameters will be in this order:

%0 = [drive:\directory\]dsz.com
%1 = portx
%2 = (com port base address),(irq #)
%3 = speed
%4 = (serial port speed)
%5 = handshake
%6 = on
%7 = sz (First parameter in ZmodCmdLine)
%8 = -m (Second parameter in ZmodCmdLine)
%9 = (drive, path and filename of the list of files to upload)

        What you'll mainly be interested in is the filename and
location, assuming you already know what port address and irq you're
using and what speed your serial port is at. The name of the file is
always ULIST.TXT, and presumably you'll also know where it is if you set
up any of the env. vars. that PWZMOD looks for. At any rate, if you add
any parameters to the ZmodCmdLine= line in PWZMOD.INI then you'll have
to shift the parameters to get the filename to %9 if you need it.
Everything will be constant up to %6. Any modifications to the
ZmodCmdLine show up at %7 & beyond.

        Just have your batch file call the protocol as you normally
would from your old DOS comm program or from the DOS command line and
pick up whatever parameters you need. Needless to say, the protocol must
be able to accept a file of filenames to upload or the whole idea is
useless <G>.

        If you have any problems trying to make any particular protocol
work, just give me a holler on the U'NI-net PROCOMM echo, or at (708)
892-4967 & I'll do my best to help out. If when you call my house you
get an answer tone instead of me, log on and leave me a note. If you get
a FAX answer tone try to fax me a note. The latest version of PWZMOD
will always be available for download if you're lucky enough to get my
computer.