Software Vault: The Gold Collection/Software Vault - The Gold Collection (American Databankers) (1993).ISO/cdr38/pock30.zip/README.D

Text File | 1993-06-05 | 12KB | 263 lines

   **************************************************************************
   *                    POCKETD PLUS v3.0 Readme File                       *
   **************************************************************************

   The older PocketD v1.67 has been in circulation since January '92, and has
   registered  users in the  US, Britain, France, Germany, Belgium,  Holland,
   Israel, Dubai and Australia. During the last 12 months it received:

      * The "BEST NEW UTILITY 1992" award by the top US Shareware catalog PsL

      * 6 Excellent reviews in magazines, totalling over 5000 words of review
    text and earning 5 stars out of 5 in most assessment categories.


   >>>>>>>> WHAT IS IT ?

    PocketD Plus is first and foremost a small command-line file manager,
    with a separate and optional menu-driven interface. However it can be
    many  things, depending on what you want. It has been designed to  be
    small enough for anyone to want it on their PC, even if they only use
    2% of its facilities.


   >>>>>>>> WHAT FACILITIES DOES IT OFFER ?

   PocketD Plus comes as 2 key programs:

   D.EXE      This  is small flexible color directory listing program and  an
          exceptionally  powerful  DOS  utility.  It allows the  user  to
          quickly  and  easily carry  out automated tasks that  would  be
          either  too difficult or impossible by other means. D.EXE has a
          staggering  220+ options  and sub-options, including  filename,
          string  and archive searching  (supporting ZIP, ARC, PAK,  PKA,
          ZOO, ARJ, LZH & even SFX), analyse EXE/COM files, file viewing,
          advanced copy (23 options),   execution and display template(s)
          (50 parameters),  sorting,  color user menus,   support for all
          screen sizes, advanced wildcards, user-defined parameters (37),
          many display formats,  barchart summary,  directory and archive
          browse,  recursive disk analysis, environment variable analysis
          &  much  much more. The  executable D.EXE is only 31k  in  size
          (registered  version 29.6k), with  an optional 107k of  indexed
          on-line help.

   MENUD.EXE  This  is the new (37k) front-end to D.EXE introduced with v3.0,
          allowing users to gain access to D.EXE's extensive command-line
          power through the comfort of a menu-driven system. D.EXE was an
          innovative  DOS  tool,  MENUD.EXE is an innovative  menu-driven
          system!  MenuD's 60 menus and  over 400 options not only  allow
          the  user  to  build  D.EXE command-lines, but also  provide  a
          compound description of the operation in English! MenuD fulfils
          the following roles:

          (1) Menu-driven File Management
          For  users  who  want  to gain access to  D.EXE  facilities
          without learning the command-line syntax.

          (2) A Tutorial For PocketD
          For users who want a fast way to learn D.EXE's command-line
          syntax.  MenuD  demonstrates  which  options  can  be  used
          together.

          (3) A Utility Factory
          No  need to search for that special utility that you  want.
          MenuD  lets you create it! The BAT files created by  MenuD
          are also automatically commented.


   >>>>>>>> WHY MIGHT I NEED POCKETD PLUS?

     1. Use it as a color-coded directory listing program.

    If  you  are frustrated  by  DOS 6.0's failure to allow files  to  be
    differentiated  by  color,  then  this  is for you.  PocketD  (D.EXE)
    provides  more  power to  control  color and far more  tailoring  and
    display  format options than any other program. Combine this with the
    extensive options for choosing files (such as non-executable, today's
    and hidden etc..), and PocketD becomes indispensable.

     2. Use it as a tool for managing your hard disk.

    PocketD  provides  exceptional  power  for  performing  both   simple
    operations,  such  as daily backups,  and complex tasks such as  disk
    cataloguing.  PocketD will replace almost any file utility you  might
    already have and, in most cases, will do a much better job.

     3. Use it for managing a network.

    PocketD was designed for a network environment! It can perform such a
    wide  range  of useful tasks that  you should not be without it,  and
    provides   many  facilities  for  monitoring  disk  usage,   removing
    temporary   files,  managing  backups,  manipulating  accounts  etc..
    PocketD's generality of design really comes into its own with network
    management. (See the file NETWORK.DOC).

     4. Use it on your laptop.

    At 29k in size (registered version, minimum installation), PocketD is
    a laptop user's dream. It is small enough to fit on anyone's machine,
    and  will allow you to  dispose of many other utilities, leaving  you
    with  a  single  consistent  utility  for all tasks,  rather  than  a
    hotch-potch of cumbersome and incompatible programs.


   >>>>>>>> I ALREADY HAVE A BUNCH OF UTILITIES. WHY BOTHER WITH POCKETD?

      Are you nervous about your BACKUPs?

    Programs  such  as NORTON,  PC-TOOLS and FLEXIBAC will  irresponsibly
    backup  a corrupted 4k file  over an uncorrupt 100k previous  version
    without a squeak. PocketD will let you fine-tune exactly how cautious
    your  backup should be. It will  also tell you exactly what is  going
    on,  and warn you if the system clock is wrong! If you want a secure,
    fast and convenient tool for backing up your daily work, then PocketD
    is ideal.

      Are you sure that your existing utilities can do all that you need?

    Have you ever needed to do any of the following?

    Copy and optimally pack files to multiple disks?
    Look for a file containing a particular piece of text?
    Reverse an accidental copy into the wrong subdirectory?
    Move a subdirectory tree to another part of the disk?
    Search for a file in any disk or archive using multiple criteria?
    Look at the contents of an SFX archive before running it?
    Have your machine remind you when your next backup is due?
    Have a program that could tell you how big your subdirectories are?
    Test whether the correct disk is in a drive?
    Automate commonly carried out operations?
    Add questions to your AUTOEXEC.BAT or batch files?
    Create a formatted audit file for all your machines?
    Scan your hard disk to check that every byte is readable?

      PocketD's flexible design will do these things and countless other tasks.


   >>>>>>>> WHAT MAKES POCKETD SPECIAL?

    The  key feature that makes  PocketD exceptional is its power to  mix
    and  match its enormous range of features to perform almost any task.
    Many  utility  packages  provide  "set-piece" facilities  to  perform
    particular  tasks.  PocketD will often  be able to provide  the  same
    functionality  by combining options in appropriate combinations,  but
    with  the added advantage that  PocketD can go further and provide  a
    much  larger superset of facilities, which can be exactly tailored to
    the user's needs.

     For example: PocketD provides ARCHIVE support

    Since  PocketD  can see a  file  inside an archive, the rest  of  its
    general purpose facilities can be brought to bear.

    How many other archive handlers could do the following?

    (a)  Take  all ZIP archives on drive A: and uncompress each into  its
         own  subdirectory on the current drive. (e.g. DIET14.ZIP becomes
         DIET14\*.*)

         D A:.ZIP [md $n//PKUNZIP $w $n\]R

    (b)  Delete  all the files in the current subdirectory that are  also
         present  within an archive  in the current directory  (including
         ZIP,  ARJ,  LZH,  ARJ,  ZOO, ARC, PAK, PKA  and  Self-extracting
         archives created by PKZIP, ARJ, LHA or LHARC).

         D [D $f/hzz]ZRAZ              reporting each deletion, or...

         D [D $f/hzz:=$d=$s]ZRAZ       checking first that date & size of
                       file is the same before deletion.

    (c)  Search  the current drive  looking inside all .ZIP archives  for
         files  with  the extension .DOC  or with a name  containing  the
         string  "READ",  that were modified  during the last 5 days  and
         uncompress them into the current directory.

         D /WZ[zp]:-5 *READ* .DOC [PKUNZIP $p$B $f]R

    (d)  Show how much space would be needed to uncompress the archive in
         the  current  directory which  uncompresses to the largest  size
         (not  necessarily the biggest archive, after taking into account
         the cluster size of the current drive!), also reporting how much
         space is actually available.

         D /ZDUKss [$s bytes needed ($Rk available)]

         (option  "Z" scans archives,  "D" shows only archives/dirs,  "U"
         actual  space  used, "ss"  sort  by size, "K" shows  only  first
         sorted item.)

    From this it can be seen that almost anything might be possible, e.g.
    automatic  VIRUS checking of files in SFX and other archives, on-line
    viewing  or running of files  in archives, checking whether files  in
    one  archive  are  present  in  another, etc... See  ARCVIEW.BAT  and
    UNARC.BAT on the release disk for further good archive examples.


   >>>>>>>> WHAT ABOUT THE SIMPLER DAY-TO-DAY UTILITIES?

    PocketD  can also enrich even simple utilities, providing that  extra
    functionality to make them that much more useful. For example:

    Take  the  simple utility  WHEREIS.  The PocketD release disk  has  a
    pre-prepared batch file to do this.

    WHEREIS filename         is   available   in  most   users'   utility
                 repertoires, but PocketD will let you expand
                 this, for example:

    WHEREIS *A*=D* /c A:     "Search  for filenames with an 'A'  followed
                 later  by a digit and copy them to drive  A:
                 (giving  the  user  the chance to view  each
                 file, and warning if the file already exists
                 on A:, whether it is bigger, smaller, older,
                 newer, MUCH older etc..)"

    WHEREIS /TQ              "Search  for all  the files I created  today
                 and  provide a  scrolling list from which  I
                 can choose files to view"


   >>>>>>>> JACK OF ALL TRADES, MASTER OF NONE?

    NO!...  PocketD, almost  without exception, provides facilities  that
    are  individually  superior  to  those  provided by  other  dedicated
    programs.  For example, only 10% of PocketD's options are devoted  to
    file copy/move, but there is no program (at the time of writing) that
    comes   close   to  PocketD's  copy  power.  Even  heavyweight   copy
    specialists, with over three times the code size, do not come near.

    Finally, PocketD gains substantially from its use of templates, which
    allows the user to construct exotic combinations of nested calls that
    make almost any operation possible.

    This  flexibility  makes PocketD  one  of the few programs  that  can
    provide a viable substitute for a command line programming language.


   >>>>>>>> WHAT IS THE EASIEST WAY TO LEARN HOW TO USE POCKETD?

    PocketD  is  primarily  a  command-line  tool,  but  the  menu-driven
    MENUD.EXE  provides  the  easiest  way  to  explore  its  facilities.
    MENUD.EXE  allows  the user to  pick options from menus and  see  the
    equivalent  command line constructed, with a full description of  the
    command  in  English. The user can  then run it using the F3 key,  or
    save it as a fully commented BAT file using F2.

    The user can also run "DEMO" for a quick demonstration of D.EXE.

    Having  grasped the basic rules for constructing D.EXE command-lines,
    the next step is to use the on-line guide for examples of using D.EXE
    to perform particular tasks. This is accessed by typing:

         D /??

    from  the DOS prompt. The user can also examine the pre-prepared  BAT
    utilities provided on the release disk for extra inspiration.

    Finally  the user can always register PocketD or PocketD Plus(!), and
    receive  the 100-page mini-manual, jam packed with many detailed  and
    instructive   worked   examples   not   provided   in   the   on-disk
    documentation.