Magnum One/Magnum One (Mid-American Digital) (Disc Manufacturing).iso/d8/tum100.arc/TUM100.DOC

Text File | 1990-10-13 | 24KB | 583 lines

                             TELIX UPLOAD MANAGER (TUM).
                             ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



                                    by David Crisp




                             Version  1.00 - August 1990

























                                 TELIX UPLOAD MANAGER
                                 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~






            Introduction:
            ~~~~~~~~~~~~~


            TUM is intended to make the uploading of files easier, by
            removing the need for typing the filename - and possibly the
            full path - for each file to be sent. This can often be a
            tedious business, especially when the names are complicated
            or you wish to upload many files in one go.

            TUM provides a quick and easy method of searching around the
            directories on any drive and then "tagging" the file names
            that you wish to upload as you go. You are initially shown a
            display of the contents of your selected drive, listing the
            sub-directories and files (including hidden ones).

            By placing the moving bar against a file name and pressing
            <ENTER>, that file is then placed in the list for transfer.
            By placing the moving bar against a sub-directory name (shown
            with a down arrow), the screen is then changed to display the
            contents of that directory.

            TUM can be used with the normal file transfer protocols that
            are within TELIX, or with "external" ones that have been
            configured in the Protocol Options menu.  The external
            protocols on the whole are a very useful addition to Telix,
            because they provide the ability to transfer an almost
            unlimited number of files in one go. This is often referred
            to as Batch transfer. Once the file transfer procedure has
            commenced, all the files are sent sequentially without the
            need for any user intervention. The internal batch modes in
            Telix, such as ZModem and YModem only allow a limited number
            of files to be uploaded in a single session. This number is
            limited to the number of file names (plus paths if they are
            not in the upload directory) which can be concatenated into a
            64-character string. This can at times be a severe
            limitation.

            TUM also has the ability to work with Bimodem, by writing the
            list of selected file names directly to the BIMODEM.PTH
            file. Obviously, Bimodem must be one of the protocols
            configured in the Protocol Options menu of TELIX. Use
            <ALT-O> to select this function.

            For purely informational purposes, TUM provides a counter
            showing the number of files selected for transfer.




            Installation:
            ~~~~~~~~~~~~~


            The TUM100 archive should contain the following files:

                 TUM.SLC      Upload Manager (main program) - Compiled
                 STARTUP.SLC  Installation/setup program - Compiled
                 TUM100.DOC   This document.


            1)   Copy the above files into your Telix Script Directory.

            2)   To make TUM quick and easy to run on my system, I have
                 used the keyboard macro facility of TELIX to assign TUM
                 to the "PgUp" key.

                 To do this from within TELIX:-

                 a)  Press <ALT-K>.
                     You will see a display giving the option:

                     Regular or Terminal

                 b)  Place selector bar over Regular and press <ENTER>.
                     You will see another display with the options:

                     "Load  Save  Clear  Display  Displaykey  Edit  Exit"

                 c)  Place cursor bar over EDIT and press <ENTER>.
                     You will see another display saying:

                     "Press key to edit or Space bar to exit"

                 d)  Press the <PgUp> key.
                     You will be prompted to enter the keyboard macro, so
                     type:

                     @TUM

                     and then press <ENTER>.

                 e)  Press the Space bar to quit.

                 f)  Select the Save option, and then press <ENTER> to
                     save it to TELIX.KEY.

                 g)  Press "X" to Exit the keyboard definition menu.





            Telix Upload Manager - Background Information:
            ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


            Telix Upload Manager (TUM) needs to be able to know some of
            the contents of the TELIX config file  (TELIX.CNF). It
            requires details such as :-


                 a)  What external protocols the user has set up,
                     including the names of the script/batch files needed
                     to run them, and the "Key" letters used.

                 b)  The default screen size (ie 25, 43 or 50 lines).

                 c)  The drive and path that TUM will show the contents
                     of at startup.

                 d)  The user defined screen colours.

            For speed of operation it was considered too slow to read
            the configuration file each time TUM is run, so included
            with this package is a separate script called "STARTUP".
            This will read the configuration file and then store the
            information into the Keyboard Table. The advantage of this
            is that information held in the keyboard table is held in
            memory, so it can be accessed faster.

            The required information is stored in locations used by the
            <CTRL-Left Arrow>, <CTRL-Right Arrow> and <CTRL-HOME>
            keys. It is unlikely that any user will be using these key
            combinations for other purposes.

            Each time TUM is run, it looks at these locations. If this
            script is being run for the first time these locations will
            be empty, so "STARTUP" will be run automatically for you.

            The <PgUp> key (along with the <ALT-S> key) originally
            displayed the upload protocols and <PgDn> (together with
            <ALT-R>) displayed the download protocols. The redefinition
            of the "PgUp" key now overrides the previous action of this
            key but leaves the other keys performing their original
            task.

            I would suggest that if it is necessary to upload more than
            two or three files in one session, you should contemplate
            using one of the advanced external protocols such as DSZ
            Zmodem, Bimodem, Puma, Lynx etc, since these allow many
            files to be transferred in one large batch. They do this by
            having the ability to read a separate file containing a list
            of the file names (including paths) to be transferred.




            TUM will create a file called FILE.LST in the Telix
            directory, which contains a list of all the files that have
            been selected for upload. These names will contain the full
            path if the file is not in the normal Telix upload
            directory. If the file is in the upload directory, only the
            filename will be in the file.

            If you have configured Telix to work with Bimodem (using the
            external protocols menu within the <ALT-O> menu) it is
            essential that you use the key letter "B".  This is because
            the script treats Bimodem somewhat differently from other
            external protocols. With Bimodem, TUM will write directly to
            a file called BIMODEM.PTH located in the Telix directory. I
            suggest you ensure that Bimodem is configured to look for
            its BIMODEM.PTH file in this directory. This can be done by
            entering the configuration menu of Bimodem by either typing
            "BICONFIG" (from the DOS prompt), or by selecting the
            Configuration option from BIMENU. The essential entry will
            be found under the heading "Filenames and Paths". Ensure
            that the entry looks something like:-

                     c:\telix\BIMODEM.PTH
                     (filename must NOT be renamed)

            The files FILE.LST and BIMODEM.PTH will remain in the TELIX
            directory when the upload has finished and will then be over-
            written on the next occasion that TUM is used, so there is no
            need to delete them unless you are short of space on your
            disk.

            Telix is restricted insofar as if you select one of the
            internal batch type protocols such as Zmodem, Ymodem (batch)
            etc, the number of files which can be transferred in a
            single batch is limited to the number of filenames
            (including drive/path and space characters) which can be
            fitted into a single 64-character string. The only exception
            to this is if the files are located in the user-defined
            Telix upload directory. In this case, only the file names
            need be used. TUM complies with this restriction by
            automatically omitting the path when possible and hence
            providing more space for filenames within the 64-character
            string. Therefore if you have to upload quite a number of
            files using an internal batch protocol, you will benefit by
            placing these files in the Telix upload directory so that
            more files can be sent in a single batch.

            TUM will use the screen colours that you have previously
            defined when initially setting up Telix. This is to ensure
            that TUM will work equally with colour or mono PCs, and so
            blend in with your normal Telix environment.





            PLEASE NOTE:
            ~~~~~~~~~~~~

            It is necessary that each time any further changes are made
            to the entries in the Protocol Options Menu, or the default
            screen size by using <ALT-O>, or the screen colours then
            STARTUP is run to ensure that the Keyboard table entries are
            up to date. Otherwise TUM will try to use the old settings,
            and an error may happen. If you get strange results and you
            cannot remember whether you have run STARTUP since your last
            alterations, run STARTUP anyway. It won't do any harm!!

            For those with EGA and VGA monitors, Telix can be used in 43
            or 50-line mode.  This can be achieved by setting up the
            screen size using the <ALT-O> option and then selecting
            "Screen and Colour settings". One of these options is to set
            the "Default screen size". Using either of these two modes
            can be very useful if you have directories containing large
            numbers of files. For instance, the 50-line setting gives the
            ability to display over 200 filenames.

            If the screen size is changed during the Telix session using
            the <ALT-M> key, TUM will display the wrong window size.
            This is unavoidable since the screen size is not provided by
            Telix, as a System variable.


            External Protocols:
            ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

            This script uses the ability of many external protocols to
            provide "Batch" transfer. Batch transfer implies a process in
            which more than one file can be sent consecutively, with no
            user intervention once the upload procedure has commenced.
            This can only be done by protocols having the ability to pass
            the file name over the link. Protocols such as Xmodem do not
            possess this ability.

            With protocols such as DSZ, PUMA, BIMODEM, LYNX etc, batch
            transfer is achieved by using a file containing a full list
            of the filenames to be transferred. If this file name is
            included in the command line which calls the transfer with a
            preceding "@" symbol, the protocol knows that this is a
            "List" file rather than a file to be transferred. An example
            command line might look like:-



                 puma S @FILE.LST              or

                 dsz port 2 sz @FILE.LST




            TUM will create this file (FILE.LST) in your TELIX directory
            and it will be called by your External protocol script or BAT
            files providing that either:

            1)   the Script file contains the words "_ext_filespec" as
                 part of the command line,  or

            2)   the BAT file contains the "%3" string as part of the
                 command line.

            TUM will then pass the string "@FILE.LST" to your script or
            BAT file instead of the file name which is normally passed
            from the TELIX upload filename window. For further
            information, consult the Appendix to the TELIX manual.

            For BIMODEM, your Script or BAT file need not contain the
            above strings since TUM writes directly to the BIMODEM.PTH
            file in the Telix directory.


            Please Note:
            ~~~~~~~~~~~~

            TUM will only work with external protocols supporting this
            mode of batch transfer (i.e. those which accept the @FILE.LST
            syntax). This may exclude modes such as JModem and CXMODEM.
            However, all the other modes mentioned above support this
            method, so you should have plenty of scope.


            External Protocol Script files:
            ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

            There is a set of script files available for running many of
            the available External Protocols, which I can thoroughly
            recommend; certainly they take a lot of the hassle out of
            installing and running these protocols. They should be
            available on your BBS. They are called:

            TELIX 3.1x External Protocol Scripts

            by  Ross Beresford ( See T3XPLIB2.ZIP)




            Telix Upload Manager - Operation:
            ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

            Initially TUM can be run by either pressing the <PgUp> key,
            or by manually executing the script using the <ALT-G> key
            and then typing:

            TUM <Enter>.

            If this is the first time that TUM has been run, it will call
            the installation script STARTUP and save the configuration
            information to the keyboard table. On future occasions it
            will go straight to the protocol select menu.


            STARTUP program:
            ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

            When the STARTUP program is run, you will initially be shown
            a menu giving you the option of deciding which directory will
            be displayed when TUM is first run.  The options are:


            1)   Telix Upload Directory

                       TUM will always startup displaying the contents of
                       the Telix Upload directory.

            2)   Final directory when TUM last used

                       TUM will startup displaying the contents of the
                       directory used when TUM was last run. This can
                       be quite handy if you often upload from a directory
                       which is not the normal Telix Upload directory.

            3)  The Root directory of selected drive

                       TUM will start by displaying the contents of the
                       root directory of any drive you select.

            If you have configured the Upload directory in Telix without
            entering the drive (i.e.\TELIX\UPLOAD\) TUM will
            automatically sense this and ask you for the associated
            drive.

            Once you have made your selection and confirmed that it is
            correct, the screen will clear to display a message whilst
            all the information is being processed and stored into the
            keyboard table.




            If at any time you wish to change your default
            drive/directory, the screen size or any of the external
            protocols, run STARTUP again. Just go to the script window
            in Telix using <ALT-G>. Doing so will not cause any harm
            since it merely restores your current configuration to the
            keyboard table.

            Protocol Select Menu:
            ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

            When TUM is run, the Protocol Select menu will appear. This
            will be similar to the menu normally seen in Telix except
            that a short description will be given explaining the
            benefits (or otherwise) of each protocol. As in Telix, you
            can either press the appropriate "key letter" for that
            protocol (which is highlighted in white), or use the cursor
            keys to move the red cursor bar to the required protocol and
            then press <ENTER>. The screen will then clear to show a
            display of the files and sub-directories of your selected
            directory. You may quit by pressing the <ESC> key, or by
            selecting the Quit option and pressing <ENTER>


            Main File Select Window:
            ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

            This window shows the total contents of the selected drive or
            directory. The displayed drive and directory is indicated at
            the top of the screen, together with a count of the number of
            files selected for upload.

            The screen shows either:

            1)  Sub-directories (Shown with a down arrow before the
                 name).

            or

            2)  Files in the selected directory.

            In both cases the names of files and directories will be
            displayed even if they are hidden.

            By using the cursor keys (Up, Down, Left, Right) and the
            <HOME> key, the red selector bar can be moved around the
            screen to highlight any name.

            If you highlight a directory name (shown with a down arrow)
            and press <ENTER>, the screen will change to show the
            contents of that directory.




            If you highlight a file name and press <ENTER>, that file
            will be "tagged" as a selected file for upload. You should
            see a symbol appear to the left of the file name. If you wish
            to remove the file name from the transfer list, re-select
            that file with the red bar and press <ENTER> again. The
            "tagged" symbol will disappear.

            If you highlight a sub-directory which is listed as  ".." and
            shown with an up arrow and then press <ENTER>, the display
            will change to show the contents of the directory one level
            up towards the root.  Using this method it is very quick and
            easy to move around the entire disk with the minimum of fuss,
            purely by using the normal cursor keys, the <HOME>, and the
            <ENTER> key.

            To re-select another drive, press the <F2> key and the Drive
            Select window will appear. This can often be a quick way to
            get back the root directory if you are embedded within a
            complex structure of sub-directories; just press <F2>, and
            then re-select the same drive letter. You will always find
            yourself at the root of the selected drive.

            Once you have tagged all the file names which you wish to
            upload, press the <F1> key and the upload procedure will
            commence.

            Should you try to do anything silly, such as selecting Upload
            (by pressing F1) when no files are selected or other similar
            things, TUM will beep and provide a message.

            To Quit without making any selection just press the <ESC>
            key.


            Drive Select Window:
            ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

            The user is given the option to select the Drive to be used.
            You may either enter a letter such as "A", "B", "C" etc, or
            just hit <ENTER> for the default drive which you have
            defined.

            If you wish to select files from more than one drive, don't
            worry; the option of selecting another drive is given later.
            When the drive has been selected, the screen will clear to
            display the contents of the "Root" directory of that drive.





            Acknowledgments:
            ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

            Thanks must be made to Terry Robertson (Golly BBS), John Nelson
            and Paul Coenraats for their comments and time spent beta
            testing this program and documentation, and special thanks to
            Ross Beresford whose expertise with the SALT language saved me
            from pulling my hair out on many occasions.





            Your comments:
            ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

            Below are a few ideas that I have for future versions of TUM:


            1)   Tagging all the files in a directory for Upload by
                 merely pressing one key (e.g F9).

            2)   Un-Tagging all files in a directory by just pressing one
                 key (e.g F10).

            3)   Deleting or renaming the FILE.LST and BIMODEM.PTH files,
                 so that they can be kept for reference purposes.



            If you have any comments, favourable or otherwise, about this
            program or you think of any features which you feel would
            make this program better, please send them to me at:


                David Crisp   (G4OAE)  on

                Golly!  (Netmail 2:252/21)     [phone]