Software Vault: The Gold Collection/Software Vault - The Gold Collection (American Databankers) (1993).ISO/cdr31/zipcom11.zip/ZIPCOM.DOC

Text File | 1993-05-05 | 7KB | 144 lines

                                ZIPCOM v1.1

                        (c) 1989 Dr. R. B. Hamilton
        Shadowland BBS [phone] 8-N-1 24H 300/1200/2400 Baud
                                No Fee's!!!

Welcome to another of those goofy little utilities that I write from time
to time.  This one started the other night.  Some user uploaded a neat
little package called ARCUP to my BBS.  I unZIPed the file and saw one of
those interesting adds for the BBS where the file was downloaded from.
The trouble was that this was a program that I had written and here it
contained an ad for another BBS!!!  Well something had to be done!  I
poured over my PKZIP manual and discovered the Z command.  With some work
I managed to remove the ad for the other BBS (not that I minded the ad
being there, but after all, this was MY work we were talking about) and
slowly figured a way to add a text file to the ARCUP ZIP.

Whew!  There had to be another way to do this with less bother!  Thus was
born ZIPCOM.  The utility that adds comments to ZIP files with no fuss no
bother and no mess.

I should say that I had nothing to do with the writing of PKZIP but it
just has to be one of the greatest utilities ever.  You should register
it if you haven't already!  If you don't have PKZIP then I guess you
won't be reading this text file since it is ZIPed, but if you need a
copy, you can download PKZIP from Shadowland BBS.  ZIPCOM is designed to
work only with PKZIP version 1 and above.  It does not seem to work with
version 0.9 or other beta versions.  Then again, you must have the newest
version or you couldn't unImplode this file, now could you? MAKE SURE
PKZIP IS IN THE DEFAULT DIRECTORY OR ON THE PATH - THIS PROGRAM CALLS
PKZIP!  (I am talking about PKZIP.EXE not PKUNZIP!)

The basic idea is a simple one.  You write up a simple text file using
either a text editor or if you want to get fancy, an ANSI editor.  Once
you have your text file, you run ZIPCOM and ZIPCOM will add the comment
file to any or all ZIP's in the directory you specify.  When the file
is viewed or unZIPed, the user will see your comments displayed on the
screen.  Perhaps an add for the BBS you got the file from, or whatever.
If you need a good ANSI editor, try ANSI-LA.  It and other ANSI editors
are also available on Shadowland BBS.  If you need a good TEXT editor
give SLED a try.  It's on Shadowland too.

Once you have your ASCII text file, type it to the screen and see how it
is going to look.  Use this command (but substitute your own text file
name for TEXT.TXT).

C:\> TYPE TEXT.TXT

If the text file looks the way you want it, you are set.  If not, go back
to the drawing board.  Most ANSI and text editors can output in ASCII or
in other format's so make sure to use ASCII output.

Enclosed with this ZIP you will find a sample file called SHADOW.TXT.
It was produced with my favorite ANSI editor but I declined to include
color.  The reason is that in order to produce a text file that changes
color you have to send ANSI codes to your screen.  If a person is
running ANSI.SYS he will see wonderful color.  If not, he sees jibberish
and might think he is being struck by a virus or something.  Anyway
color or plain text, it's all up to you.  If you are using color, you
must make sure your users are aware that they will require ANSI.SYS
in order to view the comment.

Place ZIPCOM and your text file in a handy directory.  ZIPCOM must be
in either the default directory or on the path.

You now have the option of running ZIPCOM in interactive mode (ZIPCOM
will prompt you for file names) or in command line mode.

From the command line you would type:

C:\> zipcom filespec.zip filename.ext

Where Filespec.zip is the standard DOS file/path specification for the
ZIP files to which you wish to add text file filename.ext

ZIPCOM will search out and find anything matching filespec.ZIP.  The
inclusion of an extension .ZIP is very important.  For obvious reasons
you can only add ZIP comments to a ZIP file.  Otherwise any normal
file/path name will work perfectly, including wild cards.

Filename.ext is the name of your text file in ASCII which you would
like to add as a comment to the ZIP files.  Here are some examples:

C:\> ZIPCOM *.ZIP SHADOW.TXT
C:\> ZIPCOM C:\DOWNLOAD\E*.ZIP SHADOW.TXT
C:\> ZIPCOM D:\UTIL\*.ZIP C:\TEXT\SHADOW.TXT

If you would rather, ZIPCOM provides a fairly friendly user interface
which will prompt you along.  To run ZIPCOM in interactive mode just
type  ZIPCOM and then press <Enter> (ie run it without command line
arguments).

Once you run ZIPCOM you will be asked the name of your text file.  At
this point, you would type in the full file/path name of your comment
text file.  For example C:\ASCII\SHADOW.TXT.

Next you will be asked for the name of the files you wish to add the
comment to.  For example C:\FILES\*.ZIP  or C:\DOWNLOAD\A??UP.ZIP or just
C:\STUFF\FILE.ZIP.  Any valid file name will work, including wild cards.

For obvious reasons, all files specified must be ZIP files and must have
the ZIP extension.  The ZIP file must already exist so if you have some
EXE files that you want to ZIP and then add a comment, you must ZIP them
first (read your PKZIP manual on how to do this).

Once you have entered the text file and the ZIP files to add the text
file to, you are set.  Sit back and watch.  ZIPCOM will first of all
locate all the files that match your ZIP selections.  It will then
prepare a BATch file to preform the operations needed.  It will then
execute the batch file and then it will delete the batch file so as not
to clutter up your hard drive (or diskette).

That's about it.  When you use PKZIP -V FILE.ZIP you should see the ad
you placed in the ZIP.  You will also see it when you unZIP a file.

I guess I should provide a note of warning or common sense or something
here.  If a program author has included a comment in a ZIP file then if
you remove that comment (which ZIPCOM will do) you may be in violation of
his copywrite.  Worse yet, that comment might contain valuable
information.  Please use your head before you use ZIPCOM and there should
be no problems.

Now for the nasty stuff.  This program is copywrite and modification to
this program, distribution of this ZIP file with any sort of
modification, or inclusion of this file with other programs (like disk
distribution services, commercial software, etc.) constitues a violation
of my copywrite and I will hunt you down and kill you if you try it.
Public Access BBS's are free to post this file for download and use it.
Commercial BBS services must call and beg me in order to use this program
or post it for download.  Everyone else feel free to use this program to
suit your needs.

I don't want your money.  All I ask is that if you use this program and
find it to be of any value to you, please call Shadowland BBS (see above)
and let me know.  If you have written any small utilities or you have
some hard to find utilities, please send them in (PD or ShareWare ONLY
please!).

As a final note, PLEASE don't modify the comment on the ZIPCOM.ZIP file.
I don't think it's unreasonable to ask for a bit of advertizing space in
return for the use of this program.

I hope you enjoy ZIPCOM!