Amiga Plus 1996 #6

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080fe9d0-0 Version 2.10 Joseph Thomas 1995 Generated with Heddley v1.1 Heddley v1.1 (C) Edd Dumbill 1994 - Page 1 - 1. Welcome to Fitter Welcome to __________________________________________ / \ / ____ \ | ( __) _ _ _ | | ( (__ (_) _( )_ _( )_ _____ ____ | | ( __) _ (__ __) (__ __) ( ___ ) ( ___) | | ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ___) ( ) | | ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )___ ( ) | | (_) (_) (_) (_) (_____) (_) | \ / \__________________________________________/ Version 2.1 by Joe Thomas See History for features/fixes new in this version ! Introduction What is Fitter, and why do I need it? Shareware notice Installation Getting help while online Getting Started Using Fitter HOW TO: Access all of Fitter's functions. . . . . . . .The Main window Set your Fitter preferences . . . . . . . . . .Preferences Copy (move) new files to disks. . . . . . . . .Add Files Put your disks (with files already on them) in the catalog. . . . . . . . . . . . . .Add Disks View your catalog, find files in it, and make deletions to it. . . . . . . . . . . .Search & Deletion Other stuff History Bugs and contacting the author 2. What is Fitter, and why do I need it? WHAT IS FITTER? Fitter is a program that copies files from one source, most likely your hard drive, to disks, in most likely, your floppy drives. Fitter does this in an automated, optimizing fashion. It also maintains a catalog of the copying you've done, automatically. The rest is fluff (but really good, improved fluff) WELL, WHY DO I NEED IT? Do you browse the net, and in your travels collect loads of music files, pictures, programs, etc., on a regular basis? Do you save FAQs, ASCII - Page 2 - 2. What is Fitter, and why do I need it? manuals, and other textual goodies? If the answer is yes to any of these, you'll need a place to keep them, and unless you have gigs of hard drive space kicking around, eventually you'll need to move the files to disks, where they can be stored for easy, quick retrieval. That's what Fitter will do for you. Why not just use a directory utility, like Directory Opus to accomplish this task? Well, at one time, that's what I was doing, and it was getting monotonous, because: - Copying files one by one to disks never quite worked; there was always wasted space at the end of each disk. - "Now which of these 11 disks did I put that great GIF on? ... Grrr" - It doesn't make sense to use a backup program, because the backup software has to be loaded to extract the file desired from a disk. Also, if the disks are being shared with other users, as in a user group, it can't be assumed that everyone has the same backup software. 3. Shareware Notice SHAREWARE NOTICE COPYRIGHT Copyright "Fitter" and this manual are copyright 1993, 1995 by Joe Thomas. All Rights Reserved. As part of the Fitter V2.1 release, this manual may be used in electronic or printed form along with the Fitter program. Fitter is shareware; you may use, copy, and distribute this archive as you wish as long as the archive remains intact and unchanged. It may not be sold in any form, though a reasonable copying and handling charge is acceptable. SHAREWARE INFO This distribution of Fitter is complete and uncrippled. This means that you may continue to use the same distribuition if you decide to send the required shareware fee. Many, many hours of work were put into developing, fixing, and enhancing Fitter. If you find Fitter useful, and continue to use it, please show your support and appreciation by registering; send $7 (US) to: Joe Thomas 512 Adams St. Apt. 3N Hoboken, NJ 07030 USA Postal money order, cash, or cashier's check is fine (no personal checks, please). Of course, I certainly wouldn't object to a larger fee if you think it's worth it. I beleive this is a more than reasonable fee, considering the current costs of most shareware programs coming out these days, and the conveniences, features and practicality built into Fitter. I'm sure you'll agree that this fee is more than modest after using Fitter a few times. You will also be inspiring me to further enhance Fitter. I simply won't put any effort into improving Fitter if I don't receive any registration fees. Your input of course, is also welcome, good or bad. Besides, now that the Amiga Bankruptcy saga is over, perhaps Escom will give you an incentive to continue using your Amiga, getting more software from the net, and hence need a storage mechanism for it :) - Page 3 - 3. Shareware Notice CREDITS GUI sources done using GadToolsBox 2.0 GadToolsBox 2.0 is copyright © 1991-93 Jaba Development Fitter icon taken from the MagicWB 2.0 distribution. MagicWB is copyright © 1992-94 Martin Huttenloher. Fitter documentation was written using Heddley. Heddley is copyright © 1992-94 Edd Dumbill. DISCLAIMER The information and the Fitter program are provided "as is" without warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied. Use this program at your own risk. Joe Thomas does not warrant, guarantee, or make any representations regarding the use of, or the results of the use of, the information or the Fitter program in terms of correctness, accuracy, reliability, currentness, or otherwise. In no event will Joe Thomas be liable for direct, indirect, incidental, or consequential damages resulting from any defect in the information or the Fitter program even if he has been advised of the possibility of such damages. 4. Installation INSTALLATION Although I'm a big advocate for installation standards, like Commodore's Installer program, it's overkill for Fitter. To install, just copy the program, and it's documentation to the directory you wish to run it from. Do this by using the COPY command for each of the files in this archive, or dragging the program and documentation icons to the desired drawer. When you start using Fitter, it will create certain files as they're needed (all in ASCII format): - The Fitter Preferences file - Fitter catalog files. There can be as many of these as you desire; you specify a specific one for use by changing the catalog file preferences setting. A Fitter catalog contains the contents (files) of the disks in your catalog, as added using Fitter. Although a Fitter catalog is in an easily readable ASCII format, it is highly recommended that you do not manually modify this file, as Fitter depends on its format. - Add Files session log - Delete Files session log 5. Getting Started GETTING STARTED TO RUN FITTER FROM THE SHELL: Just go to the directory you copied it to, and run it by typing "Fitter" <enter>. Fitter does not accept any command line arguments. TO RUN FITTER FROM WORKBENCH: Just double click its icon. Fitter currently uses no ToolTypes. - Page 4 - 5. Getting Started ONLINE AMIGAGUIDE HELP: Fitter's amigaguide documentation is now available on line, from the main window, Add Files window, Preferences window, and Search and Deletion window. To use it, you must have Commodore's amiagauide library installed on your machine. To get help on a particular gadget or button, just position the mouse pointer over it, and hit the Help key. 6. MAIN WINDOW This is the window that comes up when you first run Fitter. All of Fitter's major functions are initiated from the main window. The main window contains the following gadgets: Source directory path Prefs List box Comment box Add Files buttons Add Disks buttons Search & Deletion 7. Source directory path gadget Source directory path gadget This gadget is located above the upper left corner of the large list box in the center of the window. Click this gadget to open a file requester, from which you will select the source directory for the files to be "fitted" to disks during an Add Files session. The initial directory the requester starts with is the one specified by the "Default source dir:" setting in your preferences. Once this is done, the file list box fills up with a list of the files in that directory. The blank box to the right of the path gadget gets filled in with the path to the directory you selected. 8. Prefs Prefs The Prefs button opens the Fitter preferences window, where you can customize your setup, and enable or disable different features of Fitter. You can customize settings for the following preferences in Fitter: Catalog name Default source directory Devices File system format File deletion Disk usage options Copy program Catalog dump options 9. List Box List box This is the large box in the main window. It contains the filenames of the files within the source directory you selected with the source directory path - Page 5 - 9. List Box gadget. Note that you can use the cursor keys to scroll through the list box, in addition to using the mouse. The up arrow and down arrow keys scroll the list up and down, respectively. If you hold down right shift key while using the up and down arrow keys, the list will jump up or down a few items at a time. Note that you must use only the right shift key to do this, because the left shift key, along with just about all other keys on the keyboard, will activate the comment box. 10. Comment Box Comment box This is the text entry box below the list box. As you scroll through the files in the list box, each file's AmigaDOS comment appears in the comment box. If you'd like to change the comment for a file, or add a new one, simply make sure the file is selected within the list box, and either click in the Comment box, or hit any key except the cursor keys, right shift key, or help. Press return to permanently make the change to the file. The comment box accepts all cursor movement and text modification keys available at an AmigaDOS prompt (i.e. Ctrl-K=erase to end of line, Ctrl-E=move to end of line, etc.) 11. Add Files buttons Add Files and Add Files (new) Starts the Fitter Add Files function. This is the part of Fitter that does the file "fitting". The files in the directory you selected in the list box will be copied to the disks in your catalog, and to any new disks needed. Add Files (new) performs the same function as Add Files, except that it will create a new Fitter catalog if it's the first time you're using Fitter, or overwrite the current catalog (with your confirmation) if you already have a catalog. Neither of these buttons are available until a directory containing files has been selected with the source directory path gadget, and the Add Files button isn't avaliable unless you already have a catalog. If you opt to use disks already existing in your catalog to copy new files to, The Add Files procedure will only use disks that are currently marked as writeable (see documentation on the Write enable flag in the Files & Deletion window). 12. Add Disks buttons Add Disks and Add Disks (new) Starts the Fitter disk adding function. Use this when you have disks that contained files prior to your using Fitter, and you'd like to make them part of your Fitter catalog. Add Disks (new) performs the same function as Add Disks, except that it will create a new Fitter catalog if it's the first time you're using Fitter, or overwrite the current catalog (with your confirmation) if you already have a catalog. 13. Search & Deletion Search & Deletion This opens the Search & Deletion window. From here you can: - Interactively scan the contents of your catalog - Page 6 - 13. Search & Deletion - Use the search function to find out which disks certain files are on - Delete files and/or disks from your catalog - Scan the contents of your disks, and automatically verify whether or not the contents are consistent with your catalog. 14. Catalog name Catalog name Specify here the name of your Fitter catalog. What you enter here is also used as a prefix for: - The Add Files progress log filename - The Delete Files progress log filename - The volume labels written to disks you add to your catalog The catalog file and progress log files are created and accessed in the same directory Fitter was run from. The path gadget to the right of this text box can optionally be used to select an existing Fitter catalog by opening a file requester. 15. Default source directory Default source dir Click here and enter the full path to the directory you'd like to specify as the initial directory in the file requester that pops up by using the Source dir path gadget in the Main window. If you have one directory that you will be fitting files from on a regular basis, here's where you specify it. Mine, for instance, is "Work:downloads". 16. Fitter devices Drive devices It's possible for you to specify up to four devices you'd like Fitter to use for its disk functionality. These default to DF0: through DF3:. A check in the box next to them indicates that Fitter is allowed to use the device. To change the device names, click in the device boxes, and edit in the name of a different device. 17. Disk usage preferences Disk Usage Options The disk usage gadget is used to tell Fitter how you want the Add Files procedure to ask for disks: No new disks This setting tells Fitter that Add Files should only try to use the space available on the disks currently in your catlog. Since this space may be very limited, it's very likely that the Add Files session will end without having copied all files from the source directory. The most obvious use for - Page 7 - 17. Disk usage preferences this setting is when you don't have any spare disks handy to format and copy new files to. New disks only This setting tells Fitter that Add Files should not ask you to insert any disks already in your catalog, to copy more files to. This option is useful in a situation where you don't have your catalog disks handy, but do have new disks you can format. Old & New disks If this option is being used, Add Files will try utilizing all space available on writeable disks in your catalog, and when no more space is available, you will be prompted for new disks to format and copy files to as needed. This is the most common disk usage setting. 18. Catalog Dump Options Dump Catalog / Dump preferences Fitter has a catalog dumping feature, which allows you to generate an ASCII dump of your catalog contents. To use this feature, you must select the Dump option from the Project menu, available only from the Fitter Main window. A requester will pop up, asking you to give the path and name of the file you want to dump to. That's all there is to it. The dump will be appear different, depending on how your catalog dump options are set, in your preferences. You may select a dump sorted by name (alphabetical), disk (similar to but simpler than your catalog file), or file size (size order). You can control whether or not each file's comment is displayed along with the file by checking or unchecking comment flag. NOTE: This option is selectable only via the main menu. 19. Use, save, or cancel Use / Save / Cancel As with standard Amiga Prefs programs, these buttons imply that you wish to Use your current preferences for this Fitter session, Save your preferences to disk while also using them for this Fitter session, or Cancel any changes you made to your preferences while in the preferences window. 20. The Add Files Window ADD FILES The Add Files function is the heart of Fitter. All "fitting" of new files to disks in your Fitter catalog is done here. Before the Add Files window appears, you will get a warning requester, alerting you to remove any disks that might be in the drives you selected in your preferences for use, as a precaution to prevent against erasing information on a disk that may be in one of these drives. All you need to do at this point is follow the instructions that Fitter gives you. All progress during an Add Files session is recorded in a file called <your catalog name>.log, in the directory that Fitter is being run from. It's a good idea to be familiar with how Fitter copies files to new disks, and disks already in your catalog. This procedure has been greatly enhanced - Page 8 - 20. The Add Files Window from earlier versions of Fitter. Following is a description of the way that Fitter uses the disks in your selected drives (your selected drives are the drives you have specified to be used in your preferences, i.e. DF0: - DF3:). For each disk, whether being formatted new, or already part of your catalog, Fitter uses your selected drives in the order that they exist in your preference settings, for up to four drives. A "cycle" consists of each selected drive being used in turn, until the last drive is used. Then a new cycle begins. For example, if your selected drives are DF0:, DF2:, and DF3:, a cycle consists of using DF0:, then DF2:, then DF3:. Depending on which of the three disk usage options you have selected in your preferences, Fitter will ask you to either insert disks already in your catalog for the new files, ask for new disks to format, or end the Add Files session without having copied all files from the source directory. See the section on disk usage options in preferences for an explanation. As of V2.1, Fitter allows you to give your disks any volume label you wish, after disk added to your catalog. Since a disk that is about to be formatted usually doesn't have a meaningful label, Add Files always gives the disk a default label when formatting a new disk, in the form <catalog name><catalog disk number>. For instance, the 43rd disk to be formatted for the catalog named my_catalog would be given the disk label my_catalog43. Fitter will always try to copy as many files as possible to a disk already in one of your drives before going to another one. As a convenience, Fitter will use the disks in each drive in a cycle automatically, when formatting new disks. In the example, this would allow you to insert new disks in drives DF0:, DF2:, and DF3:. Fitter would automatically format each disk and copy files to it, without needing your interaction, for the whole cycle. While this is a convenience, it is potentially dangerous if you did not heed the instructions given before the Add Files session started (remove disks from selected drives); Fitter will indiscriminantly format a disk in the current drive, unless the disk in the drive is a member of your catalog. The Add Files procedure in Fitter has undergone a complete overhaul from V1.1, and works much more conveniently and efficiently now. Fitter will always try to use catalog disks that are already in a drive when trying to fit files, to eliminate needless disk swapping. NOTE: During a file copy, if an error occurs, you have the option of Formatting a new disk, or aborting the Add Files session. If you choose to format a new disk, the files copied to the disk up until the error occured will be re-copied to the next disk, unless the Delete files when finished flag is set, in which case the files will already have been deleted from the source directory. This is an important shortcoming to keep in mind if you choose to utilize the convenience of automatic file deletetion. Currently, there is no safegaurd against this; Fitter will try to copy files that were on the error disk again, and complain that it can't find them in the source directory. 21. Add Files Drive selection Drive Enabled checkboxes Use these checkboxes to enable or disable a drive within the Add Files drive cycle. A checked box means the corresponding drive can be used by Fitter during the AddFiles session. As with all usable gadgets in the Add Files window, this checkbox can be toggled on the fly, but it will not come into effect until Fitter is done with the current disk. - Page 9 - 21. Add Files Drive selection This enabling/disabling of drives can be a great convenience if you're running Fitter while using another application that needs to use one or more of your floppy drives. Just toggle those drive(s) off in Fitter while the other app needs them, and then back on when the app is done. 22. Add Files Disk number boxes The boxes to the right of the boxes containing the drives to be used by Fitter contain the number of the catalog disk each drive. If no catalog disk or a non Fitter catalog disk is in a drive, the number box for that drive will be blank. These boxes are strictly informational. 23. Add Files Copy program Copy Method Use the Copy Method preferences setting, or the Copy Method gadget in the Add Files window on the fly to choose between using AmigaDOS' COPY command to copy files to disks, or the copying routine built into Fitter. Fitter is set to use Fitter's copy by default. There is no significant advantage using AmigaDOS copy, but this option was left in for the sake of any compatibility issue that may arise for different devices, which couldn't be tested by the author. Here are the advantages for using Fitter's copy: - A copy progress indicatior, in the form of % completed. - The ability to abort at any time; using AmigaDOS copy, you must wait until the current copy is finished. - Add Files settings can be changed on the fly during a copy - Amigaguide online help is always available (via the Help key), rather than only being available when an entire file copy is finished. - During testing, AmigaDOS copy occasionally encountered errors during copying, which oddly gave a meaningless AmigaDOS error code of 20. Such have never occured when testing with Fitter's copy. 24. File system format File System (FFS/OFS) This setting, whose default you can specify in preferences, or on the fly during an Add Files session simply specifies what kind of file system Fitter should expect to see when a catalog disk is inserted, and what kind of file system to format a new disk with. 25. Delete files when finished setting File Deletion This setting appears as File deletion in preferences, and as and as Delete files when finished during an Add Files session. If the box is checked for this setting, Fitter will delete each file from the source directory after it has been successfully copied to a disk. When enabled, this feature eliminates the manual task of having to keep track of and manually delete files you've fitted to disks. The overall effect is "moving" files to disks. - Page 10 - 25. Delete files when finished setting 26. Disk number box Disk box The AddFiles disk box simply contains the number of the disk it is currently formatting or copying files to. 27. Progress status line System status line This status line reports what's currently going on in the Add Files session. The status line also contains the % completed progress indicator, when the Fitter copy setting is being used. 28. Abort Add Files Abort Add Files As the name implies, you can use this button to interrupt an Add Files session, and abort it. When aborting, you have three options: 1. Update and abort: This option implies that Fitter should rewrite your catalog, reflecting all the new files that were copied so far during the Add Files session, keeping the catalog in sync with your disks. 2. Pretend this session didn't happen: As it implies, this instructs Fitter to leave your catalog alone, acting as if any files copied to disks never happened. If you decide later that you want these changes reflected in your catalog, you can do this by using the Add Disks function for new disks, and Rescan (in the Files & Deletion window) for disks in your catalog that had new files copied to them. 3. Cancel Abort: Continue as if you didn't hit the Abort button. 29. The Add Disks WIndow The Add Disks Window The Add Disks window appears simply for disk labeling purposes. In the "Last" section, for each drive, is displayed the volume label given to the disk in that drive, AFTER the disk was read and added to your catalog. When you remove a disk from a drive, look at the entry for that drive in the "Last" section to determine what to label to physically write on the disk. In the "Next" section, for each drive, is what the disk's label will be changed to once you have inserted a disk, and the disk's directory is read. 30. The Add Disks Procedure THE ADD DISKS WINDOW General operation When either of the two Add Disks options are selected from the Main window, the Add Disks window will open, along with the Add Disks requester. This is the part of Fitter that adds the contents (file list) of disks you have that have not yet been introduced to Fitter. Your interaction during the Add Disks function is strictly using one requester, with three options: Finished: Select this button when you are finished adding disks to the catalog. Upon selecting this button, the current catalog will be updated with all the disks you have added. OK: Select this button when the disk you wish to be catalogued is in the drive that the requester specifies. You will not likely need to use this - Page 11 - 30. The Add Disks Procedure button, because Fitter will detect when you have inserted the disk to catalog, and immediately start reading it. As of V2.1, Fitter no longer needs to relabel your disks as you add them. You may leave them write protected. Fitter will record the volume name on the disk, and refer to it when asks you to insert it in other parts of Fitter. Abort: Use this button if you decide that you would like to cancel all the disks you have added since selecting the Add Disks function from the Main window. The catalog will not be updated with the new disks. Use of floppy drives during the Add Disks function The drives that are used during the Add Disks function are those that are selected in preferences. The floppy drives you wish to use must be set in the Preferences window before using Add Disks (select either Use or Save from the Preferences Window). As a convenience, the ability to use multiple drives is provided. This means that for every "cycle" of disks to be catalogued, the disks may be inserted in the drives in sequence so that Fitter reads them automatically without your having to respond when going to the next selected drive. In fact, be aware that this WILL happen for every disk already in a selected drive for each cycle. For example, let's say that you have DF0:, DF2:, and DF3: selected in the Preferences window. When you first start the Add Disks function, Fitter will ask you to insert a disk in drive DF0: to be catalogued. Fitter will wait until you either put a disk in drive DF0: (and only DF0:), or select OK when there is already a disk in that drive. After reading that disk, Fitter will automatically read the disks in drives DF2: and DF3:, in that order, without bringing up the requester, if there are already disks in those drives. If a drive does not have a disk in it, Fitter will ask you to insert one in that drive. The requester will ALWAYS come up for each first drive in the "round", which in this example is DF0:. 31. The Search & Deletion Window Files & Deletion Window From this window, you can: - Interactively examine the contents of your disk catalog. - Search for files in your catalog. - Delete files from your disks. - Delete disks from your catalog. - Rescan individual disks to check for inconsistencies with your catalog. This window contains the following gadgets: Disk navigation gadgets File selection buttons Selection scope Disk contents box Rescan Delete Now Space left Files Find string Search gadgets Mark pattern Volume label - Page 12 - 31. The Search & Deletion Window Disk writaeatble flag 32. File selection gadgets File selection buttons Below the disk navigation gadgets are the file selection buttons. These gadgets are used to select and unselect files on disks to be deleted. Whether or not the buttons affect the current displayed disk, or the whole catalog depends on the selection scope. All - Select all files on the current disk for deletion (thereby deleting the disk itself), or all the files in the whole catalog. None - Unselect all files on the current disk that are selected for deletion or all the files in the whole catalog. Invert - Select all files on the current disk (or the whole catalog) that are currently unselected, and vice versa. 33. Selection scope gadget Selection scope Near the lower left corner of the Files & deletion window is the selection scope gadget. The setting for this gadget affects the scope of the file selection buttons; it causes those buttons to either affect either the current disk displayed, or the whole catalog of disks. 34. The disk navigation gadgets Disk Navigation Gadgets The cluster of gadgets: Number box, + and - buttons, and slider gadget in the upper left corner of the Files & Deletion Window make up the disk navigation gadgets. Use these gadgets to select a disk whose contents will appear in the disk contents box. The number box contains the number of the catalog disk you're looking at, and can be used to change the disk number by clicking in the box, and typing the number in. The + and - buttons increment and decrement the disk number by 1, respectively. These are best used to fine adjust the number. The slider gadget is a coarse adjustment for the disk number. Note that the cursor keys can be used to navigate through the disks and their contents. 35. Delete now button Delete now This button is the "go ahead" button for the files deletion process. When you click it, the disk contents box is filled with all the disks numbers and file names on them that you selected for deletion by clicking in the disk contents box, using the file selection gadgets, or by using the Mark pattern button. After confirming your decision to start the deletion by answering the requester that appears, Fitter prompts you for the disks to insert, after which it will delete the files you selected, both from the disk, and your catalog. Obviously, the disks must be un-write protected. If you selected all the files on any one disk to be deleted, Fitter will not ask you to insert the disk; it will just remove the disk from the catalog. Note that a disk rescanning is done automatically when Fitter is finished - Page 13 - 35. Delete now button deleting all the selected files on a disk, to make sure that what's in your catalog reflects the disk's contents. 36. The disk contents box Disk contents The box in the center of the Files & deletion window is the disk contents box. It is here that the contents of the current disk are displayed. Each file is displayed, along with its last modification date, size in bytes, and file comment, if it exists. You can select files that will be deleted by the Delete now button simply clicking on them. Unselect a file by clicking on it again. A selected file has an asterisk (*) just left of it. Along with the slider at the right side of the box, the cursor keys can be used to navigate through the currently displayed disk in the disk contents box: Cursor Left/Right goes ahead to the next disk in the catalog, or back to the last disk in the catalog. Cursor Up/Down moves the highlight (file selected) within the disk contents box. Holding down the Right Shift key while using cursor Up/Down moves within the disk contents box a few items at a time. You can also use the spacebar to toggle the selection of the current file within the disk contents box. Any other key (except the Help key) activates the Find string box. 37. Disk space available box Space left This line tells you how many blocks are left on the disk currently displayed. Blocks are used here, rather than bytes, because the way Fitter determines space availability during an Add Files session is by extracting the blocks available on an inserted disk. 38. The Files Find string Search gadgets With the box at the bottom of the screen, you can specify a search string to find the location of files within your catalog. To do this, simply click in the box (or type any key except the cursor, space, Help and right shift keys), and enter your search string. The setting of the Name, Date, and/or Comment checkboxes, if checked means that a search will include those respective parts of the file information to match against for your search. For instance, if you have the Date and Comment boxes checked, but the Name box unchecked, Fitter will try to match what you typed in the Find box against file comments and date strings, but not file names. Match case, when checked, simply means that the text you typed as a search string must match against file information, and the case of the letters must match too. Unchecked, this box means that every search is case insensitive. When a match is found, the disk containing the matching file becomes the current disk, and it's contents are displayed in the disk contents box, with the matching file highlighted. - Page 14 - 38. The Files Find string When there are at least two matches in the catalog matching your search criterion, you can use the next and previous match buttons (+/-) next to the search string. Use + to go to the next file matching your criterion, and - to a match that is earlier in the catalog. The search will "wrap around" the catalog if there are no more matches until the end, or beginning of the catalog. 39. Mark pattern Mark pattern The Mark pattern button is used in conjunction with the search gadgets, and scope gadget to select files for deletion, if their information matches the pattern given in the Find box. The rules for pattern matching are the same rules used to find a file using the search gadgets. There are no special characters in the Find box that have a special meaning. After clicking the Mark pattern button, all the files on the current disk, or files on any disks in the catalog that have information matching your search criterion are marked for deletion. This feature can be useful to get rid of certain kinds of files on the disks in your catalog. For instance, if you wanted to free a lot of disk space on your disks by getting rid of all the large DMS files on them, you could specify ".dms" in your search string, and have only the Name checkbox gadget checked. A word of caution: Since a search pattern matches against any part of the information it's being compared against, attention must be paid to the pattern specified. In the above example, files ending in .dms would be matched, but filenames containing ".dms" would also be matched, as in something like "my_appication.dmsetting". 40. Catalog descrepancy checking feature Catalog Discrepancy Checking Fitter has a feature that checks the listing of files on one of your catalogued disks against your catalog. This feature is activated by using the Rescan Disk feature in the Files and Deletion window, and it also happens automatically during an Add Files session. In the Files & deletion window, Rescan disk operates on the current disk displayed in the disk contents box. Its purpose is to notify you when the listing of files on a disk, and the list in your catalog do not match. When this happens, Fitter will report both the Files that exist on your disk that are not listed in your catalog, and vice versa. This feature is useful in that it will always let you know if any new files were copied, or files were deleted from a catalog disk, outside of Fitter. After the discrepancy has been reported, your catalog is always updated to reflect the contents of the disk. 41. Make disk writeable flag Disk writeable flag This flag is in the form of a check box, and correlates to the disk currently being displayed in the disk contents box. This means that each disk your catalog will have its own setting for this flag. When the box is checked for any given disk, it signifies that Add Files can use the disk for copying new files to, as it needs. If the box is not checked, Add Files will never ask for this disk. - Page 15 - 41. Make disk writeable flag This flag, new in V2.1, allows you the flexiblity of selecting which disks Fitter can write to. This is most useful when you've added write protected disks in an Add Disks session, just for the sake of recording their contents, and you don't want them touched. 42. Volume label gadget Volume label / Rename Gadget The text box at the top of the Search & Deletion window is the volume label gadget. The name in this box is the disk volume label of the disk currently being displayed in the disk contents box. It changes as the disk in the disk contents box changes. It can also be used to physically rename any given disk's volume label. To do this, simply select the disk desired using the disk navigation gadgets, and click in the volume label gadget. Type in the new label you want to use. You will then be prompted to insert the given disk into any available drive to physically relabel the disk. You may cancel at this point, if you wish. When finished, this change is reflected both on the disk and in your catalog. 43. History / New Features HISTORY Major versions: 5-31-95 : V2.10 NEW FEATURES: -Disk usage options (in Preferences): This controls how fitter decides to use new and existing catalog disks during an Add Files session. -Disk writeable flag (in Files & Deletion): This is a flag that can be toggled for each disk in a catalog. It determines whether a disk can be written to (copied to) or not during an Add Files session. -Menus available from the main window. This gives the user access to all the high level functions available in Fitter, and provides standard menu keyboard shortcuts for these. -Free form disk lableling and disk renaming function. Fitter no longer needs to rename disks in order to add them to the catalog. It will keep an internal disk number, along with a volume label, for each disk. This allows a user to add a write protected disk to the catalog using the Add Disks function. -Catalog dumping to ASCII feature (from Main window menu): An ASCII dump of the current Fitter catalog can be generated, sorting by filename, filesize, or by disk, optionally with each file's comment. -File deletions now happen at the end of each disk, rather than after each copy, thereby eliminating the possibility of deleting files from the source directory before a problem occurs while copying files to a disk. -Informational enhancements BUG FIXES: -Now properly reads V1.X Fitter catalogs. -Amigaguide help request routines rewritten properly. This eliminates the - Page 16 - 43. History / New Features Enforcer hits found in V2.0. -Now handles absolute paths properly (for catalog files, dump files, etc.) 3-4-95 : V2.00 -Add Files routine completely rewritten. Fitting now happens on the fly, instead of creating a fitting list before the session starts. Files "fitted" dynamically. Many aspects of Add Files were enhanced for better usability and reliability. -A copy program was written for Fitter internally. A choice between using this one and AmigaDOS COPY is always available. Fitter's copy has a % completed indicator, and can be interrupted at any time. -An Add Files progress log is maintained for Add Files sessions. -Many parts of the Add Files routine enhanced for better convenience and reliability. -Disk formatting now spawns a CON: window showing the progress of the format. -Fitter preferences modified according to the new changes in Fitter. -Gadgets now properly ghosted where appropriate in the Main window. -Entire new window/feature: the Search and Deletion window (this also replaces the search function). -Disk scanning feature that compares disk contents to catalog contents. -Online Amigaguide help added. 2-20-94 : V1.01 Minor improvements: -Comment gadget now refreshes (clears) after an Add Files session. -Drives not available now ghosted out in Preferences and Add Files windows -Path is now remembered for each subsequent use of the path gadget. -Small (one second) delay is now used between the time between a disk is inserted and when it is accessed during the Add Files session. This *MAY* fix a problem reported by some people wherein Fitter looked at every disk as if it was unformatted. 12-18-93 : V1.00 Fitter V1.0 has been developed on a 68030 based Amiga 1200, and tested mainly on the same machine. Throughout this testing, no Enforcer hits were found. -Since near the beginning of this project, there has been a gadget refresh problem that I suspect happens on WB 3.x based systems. The path text gadget and size information gadget do not get "wiped clean" when new information is displayed in them, like the other gadgets. After much frustration, and questions to many people, an answer could not be found for this problem. The program was developed on an A1200 using D.I.C.E., and so the author is one of those who will be living with this annoyance, until an answer is found. 44. Bug reports BUGS It's simple: I cant fix them if I don't know about them. In the past, I only found out about bugs by explicitly asking users if they'd been seeing any. - Page 17 - 44. Bug reports During the author's testing, no enforcer hits were found. Extra note: Fitter V2.X does not support Amigaguide V39.X on Workbench 2.X machines. If you wish to use Amigaguide help on such a machine (and avoid crashes), you must obtain amigaguide.library V34.X. This is available on Aminet, in the Amigaguide development package archive. If you discover a bug while using Fitter, please contact me via internet email at: benjamin@ritz.mordor.com or via the postal service: Joe Thomas 512 Adams St. Apt. 3N Hoboken, NJ 07030 USA Please feel free to contact me also if you have any suggestions to enhance Fitter further.