The Arsenal Files 8/The Arsenal Files Collection #8 (Arsenal Computer) (1996).ISO/pcboard/pcbfv40.zip/FEATURES.NEW

Text File | 1996-11-14 | 12KB | 208 lines

         PCBFV  (C) Copyright 1990-1996  Yandell Custom Software

      This file describes the new features in recent PCBFV releases.

        Please refer to PCBFV.DOC for a basic description of PCBFV.


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  [ PCBFV 4.0 New Features 11/14/96 ] --------------------------------------
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* REGISTERED USERS of PCBFV 3.85 and earlier:  PCBFV 4.0 will require a  new
  registration number. If you registered PCBFV more than 1 year prior to the
  release of PCBFV 4.0, an upgrade fee is required. See the UPGRADE.DOC file
  for instructions and additional information.

* UPGRADE.DOC contains step-by-step instructions for upgrading to ver. 4.0.

* Callers may now "mark" files to (R)ead with the (SPACE) bar while  listing
  the  contents of a compressed file.  This has been designed to  work  much
  like the PCBoard FLAG.PPE work with file directories. This feature is "on"
  by default either upon initial installation or upgrading to this  version.
  It may be turned off if desired by using FVSETUP.EXE.

* PCBFV now contains INTERNAL ZIP extraction routines, compatible with files
  made by PKZIP 1.10 through 2.04g. PCBFV no longer shells to PKUNZIP.EXE to
  (R)ead  or (F)lag from ZIP files made by these versions!  This results  in
  much  FASTER operation and requires LESS MEMORY!  See PCBFV.DOC  for  more
  information on how PCBFV handles older and future ZIP compression methods.

* PCBFV now contains internal ZIP (F)lagging routines when flagging from one
  ZIP file to a ZIP FLAG-File (FLAG.ZIP).  PCBFV does not shell to PKZIP.EXE
  to  flag from ZIP files to a ZIP FLAG-File.  This results in  much  FASTER
  response time and requires much LESS MEMORY!  See PCBFV.DOC for more  info
  on flagging from ZIP files to a different type (FLAG.ARJ) or flagging from
  NON-ZIP files to a ZIP FLAG-File (FLAG.ZIP).

- Note:  PCBFV's (L)ist contents, (E)xtra info, (B)rief list and  (C)RC list
  commands are and always have been "internal" for all compression types.

* Almost all text in PCBFV that is displayed to the caller has been moved to
  Sysop  configurable  language files.  The default file is "FVTEXT".  These
  are edited with FVSETUP option #2.  If a version exists with an  extension
  for the language in use, it will be used instead of FVTEXT. Basically this
  works the same as PCBoard with regard to PCBTEXT and language versions  of
  PCBTEXT.  If the language in use is .FRE, FVTEXT.FRE is used if it exists.
  NOTE: Do not edit FVTEXT files with anything other than FVSETUP.EXE!

* "RAR" support has been added.  Files made by the archiver "RAR" may now be
  viewed with PCBFV, including RAR SFX (self-extracting .EXE) files.

  - The  (R)ead command will need UNRAR.EXE from RAR version 2.00 or  later.
    UNRAR.EXE from versions of RAR earlier than 2.0 WILL-NOT-WORK. UNRAR.EXE
    needs to be with the other compression utilities in the location defined
    in the FVSETUP "Path to compression utilities" parameter.

  - The PCBFV (E)xtra-info command also supports the RAR format (in addition
    to  ZIP and ARJ).  The "Type" field will contain different data for  RAR
    files than ZIP and ARJ.  With ZIP and ARJ files this field indicates  if
    the archiver determined if the file was text or binary (while making the
    archive).  With RAR files PCBFV will display if the RAR file is "Locked"
    or not (RAR does not store a binary/text designation).

  - Creating  FLAG.RAR files with PCBFV's (F)lag command is not possible  on
    many  systems because of the tremendous amount of memory  RAR.EXE  needs
    to make an .RAR file.  This capability is included in PCBFV 4.0, however
    this capability is expressly excluded from PCBFV's guarantee.

* New  (V)iew command allows callers to view compressed files inside of  the
  compressed file they are currently viewing.  The embedded files must  have
  a  recognizable extension of ZIP, ARJ, RAR, etc. in order for them  to  be
  viewed.  When "V" is entered while viewing an embedded archive, the caller
  will  be given the opportunity to return to the original compressed  file!
  Callers  may  perform any PCBFV function on the embedded  compressed  file
  that they can perform on any other compressed file.

  - The  enclosed new MENU and HELP files (formerly FVMNU and FVHLP) reflect
    this new (V)iew command and should be used.

  - If a caller (F)lags a file from an embedded compressed file, PCBFV  will
    add  the  extra details to the FLAG.INF information file  included  with
    the caller's flagged file.  For example:
        FV2.TXT        Extracted from INSIDE.ZIP      Located in MAIN.ZIP

  - Likewise, PCBFV will make an entry in the node's CALLER log so the Sysop
    can see exactly what the caller has done.  For example:
        View executed on file (INSIDE.ZIP) from (MAIN.ZIP)

* PCBFV detects if it is running in an OS/2  or Windows environment.  If so,
  time slices will be returned to the multi-tasker while PCBFV is idling  at
  an input prompt.  If desired, you may disable PCBFV's "time-slice" return.
  Access this setting by pressing PageDown at the first screen of parameters
  in FVSETUP.EXE.

  Note: A FOSSIL driver is required if using PCBFV with "PCBoard for OS/2".

  Note: An  OS/2 communications driver often used by PCB-OS2 Sysops is  SIO.
        Many people incorrectly assume SIO itself is a FOSSIL driver, but it
        is not. The SIO package -contains- a FOSSIL driver called VX00 which
        must also be installed with SIO.

* When searching for text in text files, the (R)epeat command now  functions
  "across" text files.  In other words when a (F)ind is performed on a file,
  then  another text file is extracted and (R)ead during the same  file_view
  session,  PCBFV will remember the search criteria from the  previous  text
  search and enable the (R)epeat command immediately.

* PCBFV  now places the file name in the first column (on the left) during a
  (L)ist.  Since PCBFV's initial release in 1990, it had imitated PKUNZIP -V
  by placing the file name in the last column (just prior to PCBFV's  "Other
  Information" column).

* While  (L)isting the contents of compressed files, PCBFV keeps the  header
  (Filename, Length, Method etc.) at the top of each screen  (when there  is
  more than one screen of compressed file names).  Rather than clearing  the
  screen  and printing the list header each time, PCBFV clears  the  current
  screen of file names from the bottom up.  This leaves the header in  place
  for the next screen of file names and produces a nice visual effect.  This
  was also implemented for the (B)rief list command.

* The (E)xtra-info function now places "Possible" in the " ZIP -AV" field if
  an ARJ or RAR file is being viewed which contains a security envelope.

* PCBFV now places "Password is needed" in the "Other Information" column if
  the  caller is viewing a ZIP, ARJ or RAR file containing encrypted  files.
  Attempts to (R)ead or (F)lag an encrypted file will result in the  message
  "Password is needed".

* To facilitate more RIP capabilities, PCBFV's menu and help files  are  now
  called MENU and HELP respectively. The previous file names FVMNU and FVHLP
  would not permit adding "R" to the file name when security levels  greater
  than 99 are encountered (the file name would not be legal under DOS).

* PCBFV will now look for a menu file called MENUR when the caller is in RIP
  mode.  Naturally all security and language conventions are permitted  with
  the file (MENUR##.xxx, where ## is security and xxx is the language).

   - When a caller is in RIP mode and (R)eading files from inside compressed
     files,  PCBFV  will display a file called READR.  While the  caller  is
     (L)isting  the  contents of a compressed file in RIP mode,  PCBFV  will
     display a file called SPACR at the "More?" prompt. These files give the
     caller the ability to use buttons for PageUp,  Top of file,  SPACE etc.
     When the caller is finished reading or listing and returns to the PCBFV
     main  menu, the appropriate MENUR file is shown. READR and SPACR  files
     may be security or language specific, but are used in RIP form (xxxxR).

* PCBFV  now permits (R)eading and (F)lagging of files in ZIP and ARJ  files
  which contain path information as part of the file name.

* The  routines for (L)isting the contents of a ZIP file have  been  heavily
  optimized, and now display ZIP contents extremely fast.  This optimization
  was unfortunately not possible with compression methods other than ZIP.

* FVSETUP now contains a second screen of parameters.  Access it by pressing
  PageDown  while viewing the first screen of parameters.  The second screen
  contains lessor needed configuration options.  Some of them were  command-
  line or environment variable switches in prior versions as follows:

     - The command-line switches /NOCALLER, NOBEEP and /NOLPT from  previous
       versions of PCBFV are now on the second screen of options in FVSETUP.

     - The  environment  variables FVUNZIP and FVZIP are now on  the  second
       screen of options of FVSETUP.

* PCBFV  now allows the Sysop to disable the drive size check (on  the  work
  directory drive).  Some operating systems permit the use of huge drives to
  be defined.  These OS' do not store the "free-size" like DOS and  in  some
  circumstances PCBFV will think there is not enough room to extract a small
  file, when several gigabytes are actually free.  If PCBFV tells  you there
  is  not enough room to extract a file, and you know there are  "gigabytes"
  free,  answer the setting with a "Y".  This setting is found  by  pressing
  PageDown at the first screen of parameters in FVSETUP.

* Support for the command line switch /OLDZIP has been removed. The problems
  it  solved for some folks (when PKZIP 2.0 was released in 1992) should not
  be  an issue today (business systems with very inexperienced callers  very
  slow to upgrade to PKZIP 2.0).

* The file FVZRO is no longer used.  It is replaced by record #25 in the new
  FVTEXT language file.  This is used to inform callers they are  attempting
  to view a zero-byte file, which means the Sysop keeps the file off-line or
  is blocking the file name from uploading.

* Previous versions of PCBFV's setup included a Sysop configurable  keyboard
  time-out parameter. PCBFV now simply uses the same value the Sysop sets in
  PCBoard's setup. The need for a separate parameter was rooted in antiquity
  from PCBFV's original release in 1990.



      FVMM (File View Maintenance Manager) Enhancements (in PCBFV 4.0):
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* FVMM and related files are now distributed in the PCBFV package as a self-
  extracting  file called MAKEFVMM.EXE.  Execute MAKEFVMM.EXE to create  the
  files, taking care not to over-write an existing FVMM.CNF file.

* Support was added for RAR files by routing them to PCBFV for viewing.

* FVMM  detects if it is running in an OS/2  or Windows environment.  If so,
  time slices  will be returned to the multi-tasker while FVMM is idling  at
  an input prompt.  If desired, you may disable FVMM's "time-slice"  return.
  Disable this by placing a "Y" in line #8 of FVMM.CNF.