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The Catalog ToolBox (CATBOX) Copyright 1992, 1993 by Parity Solutions Gary C. Crider Parity Solutions 1105 Burgess Court Arlington, TX 76015 TABLE OF CONTENTS TOPIC SECTION WHAT IS CATBOX? ................................................. 1.0 INSTALLING CATBOX ............................................... 2.0 RUNNING CATBOX .................................................. 3.0 CONFIGURING CATBOX .............................................. 4.0 THE CATBOX MENU STRUCTURE ....................................... 5.0 FILE MENU ..................................................... 5.1 VIEW MENU ..................................................... 5.2 SORT .......................................................... 5.3 DELETE MENU ................................................... 5.4 EXTRACT MENU .................................................. 5.5 MOVE MENU ..................................................... 5.6 USING CATBOX .................................................... 6.0 MENU AND DATA ENTRY BASICS .................................... 6.1.1 SHORTCUT KEYS ................................................. 6.1.2 USING A MOUSE ................................................. 6.1.3 FILE FUNCTIONS ................................................ 6.2 OPENING A CATALOG ........................................... 6.2.1 SAVING A CATALOG ............................................ 6.2.2 SAVING A NONSTANDARD CATALOG IN STANDARD CIS FORMAT ......... 6.2.3 LOADING A TEMPLATE .......................................... 6.2.4 PRINTING A CATALOG .......................................... 6.2.5 PRINTING A CATALOG USING AN EXTERNAL PRINT UTILITY .......... 6.2.6 TEMPORARILY EXIT TO DOS ..................................... 6.2.7 VIEW CATBOX VERSION AND COPYRIGHT INFORMATION ............... 6.2.8 EXIT CATBOX ................................................. 6.2.9 VIEW FUNCTIONS ................................................ 6.3 BROWSE THE CATALOG .......................................... 6.3.1 SEARCH THE CATALOG .......................................... 6.3.2 VIEW NEWER .................................................. 6.3.3 VIEW LATER .................................................. 6.3.4 SORT FUNCTION ................................................. 6.4 SORT THE CATALOG ............................................ 6.4.1 DELETE FUNCTIONS .............................................. 6.5 SELECTING ENTRIES TO DELETE ................................. 6.5.1 DELETE ENTRIES MATCHING A SEARCH STRING ..................... 6.5.2 DELETE ENTRIES NOT MATCHING A SEARCH STRING ................. 6.5.3 DELETE ENTRIES NEWER THAN A GIVEN DATE ...................... 6.5.4 DELETE ENTRIES OLDER THAN A GIVEN DATE ...................... 6.5.5 DELETE DUPLICATE ENTRIES .................................... 6.5.6 EXTRACT FUNCTIONS ............................................. 6.6 SELECTING ENTRIES TO EXTRACT ................................ 6.6.1 EXTRACT ENTRIES MATCHING A SEARCH STRING .................... 6.6.2 EXTRACT ENTRIES NOT MATCHING A SEARCH STRING ................ 6.6.3 EXTRACT ENTRIES NEWER THAN A GIVEN DATE ..................... 6.6.4 EXTRACT ENTRIES OLDER THAN A GIVEN DATE ..................... 6.6.5 MOVE FUNCTIONS ................................................ 6.7 SELECTING ENTRIES TO MOVE ................................... 6.7.1 MOVE ENTRIES MATCHING A SEARCH STRING ....................... 6.7.2 MOVE ENTRIES NOT MATCHING A SEARCH STRING ................... 6.7.3 MOVE ENTRIES NEWER THAN A GIVEN DATE ........................ 6.7.4 MOVE ENTRIES OLDER THAN A GIVEN DATE ........................ 6.7.5 A NOTE ABOUT DATES ............................................ 6.8 GREEN WINDOWS ................................................. 6.9 TEMPLATES ....................................................... 7.0 SUPPLIED TEMPLATES ............................................ 7.1 EXAMPLE TEMPLATE .............................................. 7.2 CREATING TEMPLATES ............................................ 7.3 CREATING DOWNLOAD SCRIPTS (CAT2DL.EXE) .......................... 8.0 FSORT.EXE ....................................................... 9.0 FILETIME.EXE .................................................... 10.0 PERFORMANCE AND PROBLEMS ........................................ 11.0 DISCLAIMER ...................................................... 12.0 SUPPORT ......................................................... 13.0 REGISTRATION .................................................... 14.0 CREDITS ......................................................... 15.0 1.0 WHAT IS CATBOX? If you do a lot of downloading from any or many CompuServe (CIS) forums, the Catalog ToolBox (CATBOX) is a necessary tool for managing the long listings of the library contents, also known as a catalog or index. This is the list of files that are available for downloading with complete textual descriptions. Although you can get short index listings, I, for one, certainly do not want to invest my money and time downloading a file based on the short descriptions available in a short index. The long list catalogs are often quite large and cumbersome. It can be quite difficult to locate the programs you want to download. They usually are not sorted in the order you like, and most CIS managers only let you search on the keyword field. Some uploaders are real klutzes when it comes to composing and spelling on the keyword list and naturally, they do not include the word you would logically use for a search. Even using a program that allows text search to scan the entire body of the library entries will usually not find the phrase you are looking for due to the fact that the phrase may be split across two lines. CATBOX offers the following features to let you get a grip on the library contents: SORTING - You can sort the catalog by up to four keys in ascending or descending order by key. The allowable sort keys are: File name File extension Upload date Uploader ID Library number File type Download count File size Each logical entry is kept intact. The result looks like your original catalog in a different order. I like to keep catalogs in library, date, file name order so that I can see the latest uploads first in each library. VIEWING - Display one entry at a time on the screen with the ability to page down and back, return to the top or go to the bottom by pressing a single key. SEARCHING - Search for any string of characters up to 40 characters long with leading or embedded spaces. The entire entry is searched including the headings, title, keywords and text body. The lines are strung together in such a way during the search that if the phrase is split across lines, it will still be located. The search is insensitive to case so that weird capitalization combinations do not effect the search. DATE CRITERIA - If you wish, view, delete, extract or move entries that are either older or newer than a given date. REMOVAL OF DUPLICATES - Many library listings contain multiple entries for the same file. Merging multiple libraries into one often results in even more duplicates. CATBOX lets you remove these duplicates. SELECTIVE DELETION - You can choose entries to be deleted from the catalog by browsing, inclusive searching, non-inclusive searching or by date. You can delete the records automatically or with prompting for each selected entry. SELECTIVE EXTRACTION - Copy selected entries to another existing or new catalog. You can use all of the same selection criteria available for deleting entries. Extraction of an entry may be prompted or automatic. SELECTIVE MOVE - Move entries to another catalog. This incorporates the extraction function followed by deleting the entries from the current catalog. NON-DESTRUCTIVE - All of the above can be done without ever modifying your original catalog. None of the changes to the catalog are saved permanently until you tell CATBOX to save the file. Even then you can specify a different name for the saved catalog, keeping your original intact. PRINT FUNCTIONS - You can print (to any port) the modified catalog without ever having to save a permanent copy. You can even use your favorite file print utility to format the output! Print only those entries you want to see. FORMAT CONVERSION - Any catalog can be saved in standard CIS format if you have a template describing the source catalog's format. See TEMPLATES below. TEMPLATES - You will discover that the format of a catalog entry can vary. The NOVLIB forum, for example, has a listing of all files in the forum called FORUM.ZIP. They preprocess and rearrange the order and format of the entries before they build the file and post it for downloading. Also, there is no guarantee that CIS will always use the same format. Templates give you the ability to handle modified and changing formats. Templates are small files that, in a very simple but flexible manner, define the structure of a catalog's entries. You merely load the appropriate template to process the catalog that you will open. I supply some templates, but you can easily construct your own. CONTEXT-SENSITIVE HELP - No matter what you are doing inside CATBOX, pressing F1 pops up a USEFUL help screen that pertains to what you are trying to do. From any help screen, you can access the help index of all topics. Nearly all of the information in this document is available in help screens. DOS SHELL - Shell out to DOS to execute external commands and return to CATBOX by typing EXIT. All of your unsaved work remains as it was when you went to DOS. My typical usage of CATBOX might be the following scenario: I have a catalog for XYZ forum, but it is not very current. It is about a month old. I capture a long library listing of all new files that have been updated in the last 40 days. I the use the DOS COPY command to append the new listings to my old catalog. I then crank up CATBOX and open the merged catalog. Since there is probably some overlap in the entries I just captured and what I already had, I first delete duplicate entries. Then I sort the catalog by library, date (descending), name and extension. This is my preferred arrangement, so I save the catalog at this point. After using CATBOX's extensive search and viewing features, I now know what files I want to download, and have moved these entries to another XYZ catalog that I print in library/date/name order. The target for the move is a catalog in which I keep entries that I have already downloaded. Since the catalog already exists, the entries I move to it are just added to its current contents. Now I can go online and download them. My original catalog no longer contains entries for the downloaded files since I don't like to browse through catalog entries for files which I have already downloaded. I now have a catalog of files that I may someday want to download and another for those that I have already downloaded-- two excellent references for the files available on XYZ forum. There are many other uses for CATBOX limited only by your imagination and sense of organization. Have a ball with it and send me a mail message if you discover some new and exciting blockbuster application for CATBOX. We'll let all the CATBOX users in on it. There are many ways to obtain long library listings. You can capture them with your favorite communications program's CAPTURE or LOG feature, or you may find, as I do, that many CIS managers such as OZCIS, TAPCIS and AUTOSIG will capture them for you very easily. OZCIS even has the capability of updating existing catalogs, capturing only the newer uploads. Most forums also keep a ZIPed catalog available for downloading. This is much faster than capturing the entries as they roll down your screen. 2.0 INSTALLING CATBOX CATBOX is distributed in a ZIP file called CATBOX.ZIP. It contains the following files: CATBOX.EXE The executable file for CATBOX. CATBOX.DOC The documentation file CATBOX.HLP The context-sensitive help text for CATBOX's help function. CBOXSTD.TPL The standard CIS long library listing format template. DO NOT RENAME THIS FILE! CBOXNOV.TPL Template for NOVLIB's preprocessed library listings. FSORT.EXE Standalone sort utility invoked by CATBOX. FILETIME.EXE Standalone utility to change a file's date/time stamp. CAT2DL.EXE Create download file/script from extracted catalog. CATBOX.HST History of corrections and enhancements to CATBOX. CATBOX.Vnn Text file of version information for changes that were made to the previous version in creating the current version (nn). PRDOUCTS.DOC This is a description of other Parity Solutions products available on CopuServe and ZiffNet. For best results, unzip the file into a directory on your PATH. If you don't use a directory in your path, you will have to change to the directory containing CATBOX.EXE before running the program. CATBOX searches the current directory and PATH directories to find where CATBOX.EXE is located. CATBOX expects the CATBOX.HLP file to be in the same directory and saves configuration information in a CATBOX.CFG file in that directory. If you have a utility directory that is on your PATH, this is an excellent location for CATBOX. An example installation would be: C: CD \UTIL COPY [path]CATBOX.ZIP PKUNZIP CATBOX DEL CATBOX.ZIP The PKUNZIP program is by PKWARE, Inc. and is available in many CompuServe forums under the file name of PKZ110.EXE. Since you are reading this doc files, you have obviously already managed to unZIP the distribution file. If it is not currently in your path, simply copy all of the files to a directory in your path. Keep the CATBOX.ZIP file anywhere you like, but give plenty of copies, as is, to your friends. If you register CATBOX, you are not licensed to give your serial number to anybody without first removing the serialization from your copy. 3.0 RUNNING CATBOX If you installed CATBOX.EXE in a directory on your path, simply type CATBOX at a DOS command line. If you installed it in a directory that is not on your path, change to that drive and directory before typing CATBOX. If you have problems with the menuing system displaying properly, or a blank screen, try loading CATBOX with the /B switch. This tells CATBOX to perform all video functions through the BIOS rather than directly manipulating video memory. Although screen writes are slower, it is a safer approach that may be required for some large, nonstandard video modes. Add a /M switch to the command line to remap colors for easier viewing on monochrome monitors. 4.0 CONFIGURING CATBOX The first time you run CATBOX, a configuration file is created called CATBOX.CFG in the same directory as CATBOX.EXE. It is first created with some default information that may or may not be satisfactory to you. Exit CATBOX and load CATBOX.CFG into any text (ASCII) file editor such as DOS 5.0's EDIT. If you like the defaults, all you have to do is exit, otherwise edit the defaults to anything you want. A sample config file (mine) is: PATH=E:\OZCIS\NOVLIB\NOVLIB.L10 TEMP=G:\WORK\ TPL=C:\UTIL\CBOXSTD.TPL LINES=66 PORT=LPT1 USING=2PR %s PATH= This is the path and filename of the last catalog you opened. It is updated each time you open a new catalog using CATBOX. TEMP= This is a directory where temporary files created by CATBOX such as indexes, will be created. It defaults to any directory specified with the TEMP= environment variable. FSORT.EXE, which is used for sorting, does not use the config file, but it will use the TEMP= environment variable. See the section on FSORT.EXE for more information. Change this parameter to point anywhere you would like the temp files kept. Specification here overrides the TEMP= variable. TPL= This is the file name and path of the last template you loaded. It is updated each time you load a new template. It defaults to CBOXSTD.TPL in the directory where CATBOX.EXE is located. LINES= This is the number of lines per page for your printer. The default is 60. This parameter can be modified from the PRINT menu. It is updated each time you print a catalog. PORT= This is the printer port to which print output will be sent. It defaults to LPT1. This parameter can be modified from the PRINT menu. It is updated each time you print a catalog. USING= This is the print utility command used by the PRINT USING function. See the section on PRINT USING for format details. It defaults to TYPE %s >PRN. This parameter can be changed from the PRINT USING dialogue box. DEST= This is the last destination path/filename specified for a MOVE or EXTRACT function. It is updated during execution of these functions. 5.0 THE CATBOX MENU STRUCTURE 5.1 FILE MENU The file menu lets you perform the following functions: OPEN Read a library catalog file and build an index of the entries. SAVE Read the index and catalog while writing a new catalog or replacing the existing catalog. All sorts and deletes per- formed on the index are now saved in the new/replacement catalog. CONVERT Save a nonstandard format catalog in CIS standard format. TEMPLATE Load a new template to be used on subsequent loads. PRINT Print the catalog as it will look when saved. PRINT USING Print the catalog as it will look when saved. Use your favorite file print utility to format the print. DOS SHELL Exit to DOS to execute DOS commands. Return to CATBOX with EXIT. ABOUT... Display copyright and version information. EXIT Exit CATBOX and return to DOS. 5.2 VIEW MENU The view menu lets you perform the following functions: BROWSE Display the catalog, one entry at a time allowing forward and backward movement. SEARCH Display entries which contain a specified string. The entire entry is searched disregarding case. VIEW NEWER Browse only those files that have an upload date more recent than a date you specify. VIEW OLDER Browse only those files that have an upload date older than a date you specify. 5.3 SORT The SORT menu item lets you sort the index by up to four keys. When you SAVE, the resulting catalog will be in the sorted order. 5.4 DELETE MENU The delete menu lets you select records to delete by using the following functions: SELECT Step through catalog entries one at a time speci- fying whether or not the record will be deleted. DELETE MATCHING Specify a search string. All matching entries will be displayed to let you select them for deletion. DELETE NON-MATCHING Specify a search string. All entries NOT con- taining the string will be displayed to let you select them for deletion. DELETE NEWER Specify a date. All records with an upload date more recent than the specified date will be dis- played to let you select them for deletion. DELETE OLDER Specify a date. All records with an upload date older than the specified date will be displayed to let you select them for deletion. DELETE DUPLICATES Delete duplicate index entries. When you SAVE, the resulting catalog will not contain the duplicate entries. 5.5 EXTRACT MENU The extract menu lets you select records to extract to another file by using the following functions: SELECT Step through catalog entries one at a time speci- fying whether or not the record will be extracted. EXTRACT MATCHING Specify a search string. All matching entries will be displayed to let you select them for extraction. EXTRACT NON-MATCHING Specify a search string. All entries NOT con- taining the string will be displayed to let you select them for extraction. EXTRACT NEWER Specify a date. All records with an upload date more recent than the specified date will be dis- played to let you select them for extraction. EXTRACT OLDER Specify a date. All records with an upload date older than the specified date will be displayed to let you select them for extraction. 5.6 MOVE MENU The move menu lets you select records to move to another file by using the following functions: SELECT Step through catalog entries one at a time speci- fying whether or not the record will be moved. MOVE MATCHING Specify a search string. All matching entries will be displayed to let you select them to be moved. MOVE NON-MATCHING Specify a search string. All entries NOT con- taining the string will be displayed to let you select them to be moved. MOVE NEWER Specify a date. All records with an upload date more recent than the specified date will be dis- played to let you select them to be moved. MOVE OLDER Specify a date. All records with an upload date older than the specified date will be displayed to let you select them to be moved. 6.0 USING CATBOX 6.1.1 MENU AND DATA ENTRY BASICS When you first enter CATBOX you are on a menu bar that contains the items FILE, VIEW, SORT, DELETE, EXTRACT and MOVE. You can move the red selection bar between items by using the left and right arrow keys. Pressing ENTER while the selection bar is on an item invokes that function. Most of the functions will then display a pull-down menu with additional selection items. In pull down menus, you move the red selection bar by using the up and down arrow keys. Again, you select an item by pressing ENTER. Some functions require input from you. In this case, a data entry window (dialogue box) will appear. The current data entry field will appear with white letters on a blue background. This is where you can type information. To move between data entry fields, use the TAB key. Pressing ENTER will also move to the next field unless you are currently on the last data entry field in the dialogue box. In this case, data entry is terminated and all data (if it passes audits) is accepted and the function proceeds. Before you are allowed to move to another data entry field, sometimes audits are performed on the data entered in the current field. If the data is invalid, you will not be able to proceed to the next field until good data is entered in the current field. Within a data entry field, certain keys can be used with the following effects: KEY ACTION Left arrow Cursor moves left Right arrow Cursor moves right Up arrow Cursor up (on multiline fields) Down arrow Cursor down (on multiline fields) CTRL-Left arrow Move cursor one word left CTRL-Right arrow Move cursor one word right TAB Next field BACK TAB Previous field ENTER Process field (on last field- process all fields) CTRL-ENTER Process all fields HOME Cursor to beginning of field END Cursor to end of data on current line CTRL-HOME Cursor to start of first field CTRL-END Cursor to end of data on last field INSERT Toggle insert mode on/off DELETE Delete character at cursor BACKSPACE Delete character to left of cursor CTRL-BACKSPACE Delete word to left of cursor CTRL-R Restore field to original contents CTRL-T Delete word to right of cursor CTRL-U Delete from cursor to end of field CTRL-Y Delete from cursor to end of last field ESCAPE Abort data entry 6.1.2 SHORTCUT KEYS The following shortcut keys may be accessed from anywhere in the menu structure to invoke the function as if the menu had been entered and the function selected: ALT-O - File/Open ALT-S - File/Save ALT-P - File/Print ALT-U - File/Print using ALT-X - File/Exit CTL-S - Sort The shortcut keys may not be invoked from within dialog boxes or while viewing/selecting entries. 6.1.3 USING A MOUSE Limited mouse support has been added if you have a mouse driver loaded. The mouse works in the following circumstances: You may select any menu item from the current menu with the mouse. If you are in a pull-down menu you must close the menu with the right mouse button before you can select another item from the main menu bar. While in dialog boxes, you can move the input cursor between fields by moving the mouse. Pressing the left button is the same as pressing ENTER with the cursor in that field. Pressing the right button is the same as pressing ESCAPE. 6.2 FILE FUNCTIONS 6.2.1 OPENING A CATALOG In order to perform any operation on a library catalog you must first open it. Opening a file creates an index in the work directory that will be used to determine the order of all operations performed by CATBOX. Opening a file closes any file that has already been opened. If the current file has not been saved, you will be prompted and given a chance to save or discard it before the new file is opened. A data entry window will appear that allows you to enter a path and file name. In the data entry areas will appear the path and file name of the last file you opened. Press CTRL_ENTER to accept the current contents. To change the path simply type over or modify the contents of the field. Press CTRL-U to clear the field before typing if so desired. Once you press ENTER or TAB to move the cursor to the name field, a pick list of file names in the specified path appears. You can select the file you want to open by moving the selection bar with the arrow keys and pressing ENTER. If you prefer to type the file name, just press ESCAPE and the pick list will disappear. Pressing ENTER on the name field accepts the data as entered. Pressing TAB returns you to the path field. If there are entries which obviously do not fit the template, they are copied to a file in the same directory as CATBOX.EXE called CATBOX.REJ. This file is a continuous log of rejected entries. Each entry in the log is pre- ceeded by a date and time stamp (when logged) and the catalog name of the catalog that was being opened. CATBOX continues to add rejects to the log file until you clear it by deleteing, renaming or moving the CATBOX.REJ file. A new reject log will be started the next time an entry is rejected. 6.2.2 SAVING A CATALOG To store a copy of the new library catalog incorporating any changes you have made to the content or order, you must save the file. Saving a file reads the index to determine the order of records and the location of the text in the original catalog. The text is read from the original catalog and a new catalog is built. A data entry window will appear that allows you to enter a path and file name. In the data entry areas will appear the path and file name of the last file you opened. Press CTRL_ENTER to accept the current contents. To change the path simply type over or modify the contents of the field. Press CTRL-U to clear the field before typing if so desired. If you save the file to the same path and file name as was originally opened, the original contents are replaced with the new catalog. You can specify a different path and/or file name so that your original catalog remains intact. "Use same file time?" lets you decide whether or not you wish to copy the date/time stamp from the last opened catalog to the output catalog. This is handy for users who use the update feature of OZCIS, since OZCIS begins cap- turing new entries based on the file date/time stamp. Enter Y to copy the date/time stamp or N to use the current date and time. Pressing ENTER on the last field accepts the data as entered. Pressing TAB returns you to the path field. 6.2.3 SAVING A NONSTANDARD CATALOG IN STANDARD CIS FORMAT If you have opened a catalog using a template other than CBOXSTD.TPL, you can convert it to standard CIS format. Selecting CONVERT performs in the same manner as SAVE except that CATBOX uses the CBOXSTD.TPL template to determine the output format. Once the catalog has been saved, CBOXSTD.TPL becomes the loaded template for further processing. As with the SAVE function, you will be able to specify a different path and/or file name or you can overwrite the original catalog. There will be one difference (besides format) in the header information of the output file. Sometimes there are two dates specified in a header, the initial upload date and a last updated date. The new output catalog will only contain the last updated date, which I consider the only date of real importance to the potential downloader. 6.2.4 LOADING A TEMPLATE Templates are used to describe the location of information in catalog entries. This allows you to open and process non-standard catalog formats. Templates must be named with a file extension of .TPL. See the section on TEMPLATES for instructions on constructing custom templates. If the template selected does not match the format of the catalog entries, you will experience problems opening, viewing and sorting files. The primary cause of data errors in CATBOX will be caused by mismatched catalogs and templates. A data entry window will appear that allows you to enter a path and file name. In the data entry areas will appear the path and file name of the last template you opened. Press CTRL_ENTER to accept the current contents. To change the path simply type over or modify the contents of the field. Press CTRL-U to clear the field before typing if so desired. Once you press ENTER or TAB to move the cursor to the name field, a pick list of template file names in the specified path appears. You can select the template you want to open by moving the selection bar with the arrow keys and pressing ENTER. If you prefer to type the template name, just press ESCAPE and the pick list will disappear. Pressing ENTER on the name field accepts the data as entered. Pressing TAB returns you to the path field. 6.2.5 PRINTING A CATALOG Selecting the PRINT option will allow you to print the currently opened catalog as it has been processed by CATBOX. The catalog need not have been previously saved. A data entry window will appear that allows you to enter the number of lines per page and the printer port. In the data entry areas will appear the values you last used. Press CTRL_ENTER to accept the current contents. To change the lines per page simply type over or modify the contents of the field. Press CTRL-U to clear the field before typing if so desired. Once you press ENTER or TAB to move the cursor to the printer port field, a pick list of allowable ports appears. You can select the port you want to use by moving the selection bar with the arrow keys and pressing ENTER. If you prefer to type the port name, just press ESCAPE and the pick list will disappear. Pressing ENTER on the printer port field accepts the data as entered. Pressing TAB returns you to the lines per page field. 6.2.6 PRINTING A CATALOG USING AN EXTERNAL PRINT UTILITY The PRINT USING option allows you to enter a command line just as you would at the DOS command prompt to invoke your favorite file print utility to format the printed output and direct it to the proper port. The only difference in entering the command here and at the DOS prompt is that you use the characters %s (lower case s) in the command line spot where you would normally type the file name of the file to be printed. Batch files (.BAT) may be executed with PRINT USING. Do not invoke Terminate-and-stay-resident (TSR) programs with the PRINT USING command. DOS has a PRINT command that buffers and prints files. It is a TSR, so DO NOT use it. The catalog does not have to be saved before you use PRINT USING. CATBOX will use the current index and create a temporary file that will be printed by the print utility. 6.2.7 TEMPORARILY EXIT TO DOS By selecting DOS SHELL you will be taken to the DOS prompt on a clear screen. You can execute almost any DOS command or program while in the DOS shell. Do not load any terminate-and-stay-resident (TSR) program while in the DOS shell unless you can remove it from memory before returning to CATBOX. To return to CATBOX from the DOS shell, simply type EXIT at any DOS prompt. 6.2.8 VIEW CATBOX VERSION AND COPYRIGHT INFORMATION Selecting ABOUT... will display a pop-up window with version, serialization and copyright information about CATBOX. Pressing any key removes the window and returns you to the CATBOX menu bar. 6.2.9 EXIT CATBOX Selecting EXIT will leave CATBOX and return to DOS. You can also exit via the ALT-X shortcut key combination. If you have made changes to the current catalog that have not been saved, you will be asked if you want to save the catalog before exiting. Pressing ESCAPE in this prompt window aborts the exit process and returns you to the main menu bar. 6.3 VIEW FUNCTIONS 6.3.1 BROWSE THE CATALOG Browsing lets you display entries on the screen moving forward and backward through the catalog. Selecting BROWSE displays the first catalog entry on the screen. Pressing PageDown will display the next entry. Pressing PageUp will display the previous entry. If the entry does not change when you press PageDown or PageUp you are viewing the last or first entry in the catalog, respectively. The entry number that you are viewing appears in the upper right corner of the screen on the menu bar line. Pressing ESC terminates the browse function and you are returned to the menu bar. There are seven keys available that do not appear in the prompt on the bottom line of the screen. Pressing HOME, CTRL-PageUp or T will position the display at the top, or first entry, of the catalog. Pressing END, CTRL- PageDown or B will position the display at the bottom, or last entry, of the catalog. Pressing P prints the entry you are viewing. 6.3.2 SEARCH THE CATALOG Searching lets you display only those entries on the screen that contain a given word, phrase or other string of characters. You can then move the display forward and backward through the matching entries. A search on a new string always begins by testing the first entry and proceeds forward until a match is found or all entries have been searched. The search is case- insensitive (small letters are treated the same as capitals). The entire entry is searched from the start of the heading to the last of the text. If the search string exists starting at the end of one line of the entry text and continues at the beginning of the next line, the search will still find the match. When you select SEARCH a dialogue box appears that lets you input the string that you want located. The data entry field will contain the last search string that you entered during this session. You may type over, edit or delete (CTRL-U) the current contents of the field. Pressing ENTER accepts the string as entered and begins the search. The first matching catalog entry will be displayed on the screen. Pressing PageDown will display the next matching entry. Pressing PageUp will display the previous matching entry. If the entry does not change when you press PageDown or PageUp you are viewing the last or first matching entry in the catalog, respectively. The current entry number is displayed on the right side of the menu bar. Searching backward (PageUp) is much slower than searching forward due to the fact that DOS files were not designed to be read backwards. If any search appears to be taking too long, you may press ESC to terminate the search. Pressing ESC terminates the browse function and you are returned to the menu bar. There are seven keys available that do not appear in the prompt on the bottom line of the screen. Pressing HOME, CTRL-PageUp or T will position the display at the top, or first entry, of the catalog. Pressing END, CTRL- PageDown or B will position the display at the bottom, or last entry, of the catalog. When you go to the top or bottom, the search is aborted and you revert to BROWSE mode. Pressing P prints the entry you are viewing. 6.3.3 VIEW ENTRIES NEWER THAN A GIVEN DATE Choosing VIEW NEWER begins a variation of the BROWSE function where you are only shown entries in which the upload date is more recent than a given date. When you select VIEW NEWER, a dialogue box appears that lets you input the cut-off date that you want to use. The data entry field will contain the last date that you entered during this session. You may type over, edit or delete (CTRL-U) the current contents of the field. Pressing ENTER accepts the date as entered and begins the search. It searches the file and displays the first entry more recent than the specified date. Pressing PageDown will display the next entry. Pressing PageUp will display the previous entry. If the entry does not change when you press PageDown or PageUp you are viewing the last or first entry in the catalog, respectively. The entry number that you are viewing appears in the upper right corner of the screen on the menu bar line. Pressing ESC terminates the browse function and you are returned to the menu bar. There are seven keys available that do not appear in the prompt on the bottom line of the screen. Pressing HOME, CTRL-PageUp or T will position the display at the top, or first entry, of the catalog. Pressing END, CTRL- PageDown or B will position the display at the bottom, or last entry, of the catalog. When you go to the top or bottom, the date search is aborted and you revert to BROWSE mode. Pressing P prints the entry you are viewing. 6.3.4 VIEW ENTRIES OLDER THAN A GIVEN DATE Choosing VIEW OLDER begins a variation of the BROWSE function where you are only shown entries in which the upload date is older than a given date. When you select VIEW OLDER, a dialogue box appears that lets you input the cut-off date that you want to use. The data entry field will contain the last date that you entered during this session. You may type over, edit or delete (CTRL-U) the current contents of the field. Pressing ENTER accepts the date as entered and begins the search. It searches the file and displays the first entry older than the specified date. Pressing PageDown will display the next matching entry. Pressing PageUp will display the previous matching entry. If the entry does not change when you press PageDown or PageUp you are viewing the last or first entry in the catalog, respectively. The entry number that you are viewing appears in the upper right corner of the screen on the menu bar line. Pressing ESC terminates the browse function and you are returned to the menu bar. There are seven keys available that do not appear in the prompt on the bottom line of the screen. Pressing HOME, CTRL-PageUp or T will position the display at the top, or first entry, of the catalog. Pressing END, CTRL- PageDown or B will position the display at the bottom, or last entry, of the catalog. When you go to the top or bottom, the date search is aborted and you revert to BROWSE mode. Pressing P prints the entry you are viewing. 6.4 SORT FUNCTION 6.4.1 SORT THE CATALOG Selecting SORT will allow you to sort the index of catalog entries. Once the index has been sorted, subsequent actions will treat the catalog as if it is in the sorted order. Only SAVE will actually store the file on disk in the sorted order, even though functions such as VIEW and PRINT make it appear that the order of the catalog has been changed. When SORT is selected, a dialogue box appears that looks like this: ┌─────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Select up to four sort keys followed by │ │ A (Ascending) or D (Descending): │ │ │ │ N - File name │ │ E - File extension │ │ D - Upload date │ │ I - Uploader ID │ │ L - Library number │ │ F - File type │ │ C - Download count │ │ S - File size │ │ │ │ LA DD NA EA │ └─────────────────────────────────────────┘ There are four data entry fields at the bottom of the screen. This is where you determine the order in which the index will be sorted. The list shows the fields by which you can sort. Enter the letter for the field followed by an A or D. The A or D determines whether that field will be sorted ascendingly or descendingly. The order of priority of the sort field is from left to right. For example, as the keys are entered in the figure above, the catalog is primarily sorted in ascending library order (i.e. LIB 1, LIB 2, ... LIB n). Within each library grouping, the entries will be sorted in descending date order, in other words, the newest will appear first down to the oldest. If more than one entry exist for a given date, those entries appear in file name and extension order. This is my favorite sort order because I can easily see the newest entries in each library without having to look though the entire catalog. Pressing CTRL-ENTER at any time or ENTER on the last field, accepts the keys as entered and begins the sort. Naturally, in most cases, the more entries that are in a catalog, the longer it takes to sort. The QuickSort algorithm is used for the sort by invoking the FSORT.EXE program. For more information about the sort program, see the section on FSORT.EXE. You can also use it as a stand alone sort utility to sort almost any text file of almost any size by invoking FSORT on the DOS command line. 6.5 DELETE FUNCTIONS NOTE- Pressing P while an entry is displayed and awaiting a Y/N response for deletion, will print the entry. 6.5.1 SELECTING ENTRIES TO DELETE Choosing SELECT begins a process very similar to the VIEW/BROWSE function. It displays one entry at a time from the start of the catalog to the end asking if you want to delete the entry. To delete the entry, press Y. To retain the entry, press N. This function only moves forward through the catalog. Once an entry is selected for deletion by pressing Y, it cannot be recovered except by pressing ESC. Pressing ESC terminates the selection/deletion process, returns the index to its condition before the selection pass began, and returns you to the menu bar. END also terminates selection, but any selected entries are deleted. When you reach the end of the catalog you are returned to the menu bar. A new index has been created that no longer contains those entries that you selected for deletion. 6.5.2 DELETE ENTRIES MATCHING A SEARCH STRING Choosing DELETE MATCHING begins a process very similar to the VIEW/SEARCH function. It searches the file and displays one matching entry at a time from the start of the catalog to the end asking if you want to delete the entry. To delete the entry, press Y. To retain the entry, press N. The search is case-insensitive (small letters are treated the same as capitals). The entire entry is searched from the start of the heading to the last of the text. If the search string exists starting at the end of one line of the entry text and continues at the beginning of the next line, the search will still find the match. When you select DELETE MATCHING a dialogue box appears that lets you input the string that you want located. The data entry field will contain the last search string that you entered during this session. You may type over, edit or delete (CTRL-U) the current contents of the field. Pressing ENTER accepts the string as entered and begins the search. This function only moves forward through the catalog. Once an entry is selected for deletion by pressing Y, it cannot be recovered except by pressing ESC. Pressing ESC terminates the selection/deletion process, returns the index to its condition before the selection pass began, and returns you to the menu bar. END also terminates selection, but any selected entries are deleted. When you reach the end of the catalog you are returned to the menu bar. A new index has been created that no longer contains those entries that you selected for deletion. Non-matching entries are not displayed and are always retained. At any time that a matching entry is being displayed, you may press A to stop displaying the matches and prompting for deletion. CATBOX will continue through the file deleting all matching entries and keeping those that do not match. 6.5.3 DELETE RECORDS NOT MATCHING A SEARCH STRING Choosing DELETE NON-MATCHING begins a process very similar to the DELETE MATCHING function except that you are prompted to delete records which DO NOT contain the search string. It searches the file and displays one non-matching entry at a time from the start of the catalog to the end asking if you want to delete the entry. To delete the entry, press Y. To retain the entry, press N. The search is case-insensitive (small letters are treated the same as capitals). The entire entry is searched from the start of the heading to the last of the text. If the search string exists starting at the end of one line of the entry text and continues at the beginning of the next line, the search will still find the match. When you select DELETE NON-MATCHING a dialogue box appears that lets you input the string that you want located. The data entry field will contain the last search string that you entered during this session. You may type over, edit or delete (CTRL-U) the current contents of the field. Pressing ENTER accepts the string as entered and begins the search. This function only moves forward through the catalog. Once an entry is selected for deletion by pressing Y, it cannot be recovered except by pressing ESC. Pressing ESC terminates the selection/deletion process, returns the index to its condition before the selection pass began, and returns you to the menu bar. END also terminates selection, but any selected entries are deleted. When you reach the end of the catalog you are returned to the menu bar. A new index has been created that no longer contains those entries that you selected for deletion. Matching entries are not displayed and are always retained. At any time that a non-matching entry is being displayed, you may press A to stop displaying the entries and prompting for deletion. CATBOX will continue through the file deleting all non-matching entries and keeping those that match. 6.5.4 DELETE ENTRIES NEWER THAN A GIVEN DATE Choosing DELETE NEWER begins a process very similar to the DELETE MATCHING function except that you are prompted to delete records in which the upload date is more recent than a given date. It searches the file and displays one newer entry at a time from the start of the catalog to the end asking if you want to delete the entry. To delete the entry, press Y. To retain the entry, press N. When you select DELETE NEWER, a dialogue box appears that lets you input the cutoff date that you want to specify. The data entry field will contain the last date that you entered during this session. You may type over, edit or delete (CTRL-U) the current contents of the field. Pressing ENTER accepts the date as entered and begins the search. This function only moves forward through the catalog. Once an entry is selected for deletion by pressing Y, it cannot be recovered except by pressing ESC. Pressing ESC terminates the selection/deletion process, returns the index to its condition before the selection pass began, and returns you to the menu bar. END also terminates selection, but any selected entries are deleted. When you reach the end of the catalog you are returned to the menu bar. A new index has been created that no longer contains those entries that you selected for deletion. Entries with upload dates equal to or older than the specified date are not displayed and are always retained. At any time that an entry is being displayed, you may press A to stop displaying the entries and prompting for deletion. CATBOX will continue through the file deleting all newer entries and keeping the older entries. 6.5.5 DELETE ENTRIES OLDER THAN A GIVEN DATE Choosing DELETE OLDER begins a process very similar to the DELETE MATCHING function except that you are prompted to delete records in which the upload date is older than a given date. It searches the file and displays one older entry at a time from the start of the catalog to the end asking if you want to delete the entry. To delete the entry, press Y. To retain the entry, press N. When you select DELETE OLDER a dialogue box appears that lets you input the earliest date that you want retained. The data entry field will contain the last date that you entered during this session. You may type over, edit or delete (CTRL-U) the current contents of the field. Pressing ENTER accepts the date as entered and begins the search. This function only moves forward through the catalog. Once an entry is selected for deletion by pressing Y, it cannot be recovered except by pressing ESC. Pressing ESC terminates the selection/deletion process, returns the index to its condition before the selection pass began, and returns you to the menu bar. END also terminates selection, but any selected entries are deleted. When you reach the end of the catalog you are returned to the menu bar. A new index has been created that no longer contains those entries that you selected for deletion. Entries with upload dates equal to or later than the specified date are not displayed and are always retained. At any time that an entry is being displayed, you may press A to stop displaying the entries and prompting for deletion. CATBOX will continue through the file deleting all older entries and keeping the newer entries. 6.5.6 DELETING DUPLICATE ENTRIES Selecting DELETE DUPLICATES allows you to delete any entries that exist more than once. This can happen if you combine multiple catalogs into one. Sometimes downloaded catalogs also contain duplicate entries. An entry is considered a duplicate if the name, extension, uploader ID and size are identical. In order to determine if duplicates exist, CATBOX sorts the index by name, extension, uploader ID and size. If you had previously sorted the index in a different order, you will need to sort it again after the duplicates are deleted. You are not prompted for deletion of individual entries once the process begins. They are automatically deleted when encountered. If you are processing a catalog that contains entries for more than one library and the same entry is present in more than one library, the entry will be deleted from all but the highest numbered library. 6.6 EXTRACT FUNCTIONS The extract functions allow you to select a subset of entries and copy them to another catalog. If the target catalog does not exist, a new catalog is created. If the target catalog exists, the entries are added to the end of the catalog. NOTE- Pressing P while an entry is displayed and awaiting a Y/N response for extraction, will print the entry. 6.6.1 SELECTING ENTRIES TO EXTRACT Choosing SELECT begins a process very similar to the VIEW/BROWSE function. It displays one entry at a time from the start of the catalog to the end asking if you want to extract the entry. To extract the entry, press Y, otherwise press N. When you choose SELECT, a dialogue box appears to let you enter the name of the destination, or target catalog. This field will contain the last desti- nation that you specified. You may type over, edit or delete (CTRL-U) the current contents of the field. Pressing ENTER accepts the path as entered and begins processing. This function only moves forward through the catalog. Once an entry is selected for extraction by pressing Y, it is immediately copied and cannot be deselected. Pressing ESC terminates the selection/extraction process at that point and returns you to the menu bar. Any entries previously selected for extraction have already been copied to the target file. END also terminates selection, with the same results as ESC. When you reach the end of the catalog you are returned to the menu bar. The new catalog has been created that contains those entries that you selected for extraction. 6.6.2 EXTRACTING ENTRIES MATCHING A SEARCH STRING Choosing EXTRACT MATCHING begins a process very similar to the VIEW/SEARCH function. It searches the file and displays one matching entry at a time from the start of the catalog to the end asking if you want to extract the entry. To extract the entry, press Y, otherwise press N. The search is case-insensitive (small letters are treated the same as capitals). The entire entry is searched from the start of the heading to the last of the text. If the search string exists starting at the end of one line of the entry text and continues at the beginning of the next line, the search will still find the match. When you choose EXTRACT MATCHING, a dialogue box appears to let you enter the name of the destination, or target catalog. This field will contain the last destination that you specified. You may type over, edit or delete (CTRL- U) the current contents of the field. Pressing ENTER accepts the path as entered. Next a dialogue box appears that lets you input the string that you want located. The data entry field will contain the last search string that you entered during this session. You may type over, edit or delete (CTRL-U) the current contents of the field. Pressing ENTER accepts the string as entered and begins the search. This function only moves forward through the catalog. Once an entry is selected for extraction by pressing Y, it is immediately copied and cannot be deselected. Pressing ESC terminates the selection/extraction process at that point and returns you to the menu bar. Any entries previously selected for extraction have already been copied to the target file. END also terminates selection, with the same results as ESC. When you reach the end of the catalog you are returned to the menu bar. The new catalog has been created that contains those entries that you selected for extraction. Non-matching entries are not displayed and are never extracted. At any time that a matching entry is being displayed, you may press A to stop displaying the matches and prompting for extraction. CATBOX will continue through the file extracting all matching entries and ignoring those that do not match. 6.6.3 EXTRACT RECORDS NOT MATCHING A SEARCH STRING Choosing EXTRACT NON-MATCHING begins a process very similar to the EXTRACT MATCHING function except that you are prompted to extract records which DO NOT contain the search string. It searches the file and displays one non-matching entry at a time from the start of the catalog to the end asking if you want to extract the entry. To extract the entry, press Y, otherwise press N. The search is case-insensitive (small letters are treated the same as capitals). The entire entry is searched from the start of the heading to the last of the text. If the search string exists starting at the end of one line of the entry text and continues at the beginning of the next line, the search will still find the match. When you choose EXTRACT NON-MATCHING, a dialogue box appears to let you enter the name of the destination, or target catalog. This field will contain the last destination that you specified. You may type over, edit or delete (CTRL-U) the current contents of the field. Pressing ENTER accepts the path as entered. Next a dialogue box appears that lets you input the string that you want located. The data entry field will contain the last search string that you entered during this session. You may type over, edit or delete (CTRL-U) the current contents of the field. Pressing ENTER accepts the string as entered and begins the search. This function only moves forward through the catalog. Once an entry is selected for extraction by pressing Y, it is immediately copied and cannot be deselected. Pressing ESC terminates the selection/extraction process at that point and returns you to the menu bar. Any entries previously selected for extraction have already been copied to the target file. END also terminates selection, with the same results as ESC. When you reach the end of the catalog you are returned to the menu bar. The new catalog has been created that contains those entries that you selected for extraction. Matching entries are not displayed and are never extracted. At any time that a non-matching entry is being displayed, you may press A to stop displaying the entries and prompting for extraction. CATBOX will continue through the file extracting all non-matching entries and ignoring those that match. 6.6.4 EXTRACT ENTRIES NEWER THAN A GIVEN DATE Choosing EXTRACT NEWER begins a process very similar to the EXTRACT MATCHING function except that you are prompted to extract records in which the upload date is more recent than a given date. It searches the file and displays one newer entry at a time from the start of the catalog to the end, asking if you want to extract the entry. To extract the entry, press Y, otherwise press N. When you select EXTRACT NEWER, a dialogue box appears to let you enter the name of the destination, or target catalog. This field will contain the last destination that you specified. You may type over, edit or delete (CTRL-U) the current contents of the field. Pressing ENTER accepts the path as entered. Next, a dialogue box appears that lets you input the cutoff date that you want to use. The data entry field will contain the last date that you entered during this session. You may type over, edit or delete (CTRL-U) the current contents of the field. Pressing ENTER accepts the date as entered and begins the search. This function only moves forward through the catalog. Once an entry is selected for extraction by pressing Y, it is immediately copied and cannot be deselected. Pressing ESC terminates the selection/extraction process at that point and returns you to the menu bar. Any entries previously selected for extraction have already been copied to the target file. END also terminates selection, with the same results as ESC. When you reach the end of the catalog you are returned to the menu bar. The new catalog has been created that contains those entries that you selected for extraction. Entries with upload dates equal to or older than the specified date are not displayed and are never extracted. At any time that an entry is being displayed, you may press A to stop displaying the entries and prompting for extraction. CATBOX will continue through the file extracting all newer entries and ignoring the older entries. 6.6.5 EXTRACT ENTRIES OLDER THAN A GIVEN DATE Choosing EXTRACT OLDER begins a process very similar to the EXTRACT MATCHING function except that you are prompted to extract records in which the upload date is older than a given date. It searches the file and displays one older entry at a time from the start of the catalog to the end, asking if you want to extract the entry. To extract the entry, press Y, otherwise press N. When you select EXTRACT OLDER, a dialogue box appears to let you enter the name of the destination, or target catalog. This field will contain the last destination that you specified. You may type over, edit or delete (CTRL-U) the current contents of the field. Pressing ENTER accepts the path as entered. Next, a dialogue box appears that lets you input the cutoff date that you want to use. The data entry field will contain the last date that you entered during this session. You may type over, edit or delete (CTRL-U) the current contents of the field. Pressing ENTER accepts the date as entered and begins the search. This function only moves forward through the catalog. Once an entry is selected for extraction by pressing Y, it is immediately copied and cannot be deselected. Pressing ESC terminates the selection/extraction process at that point and returns you to the menu bar. Any entries previously selected for extraction have already been copied to the target file. END also terminates selection, with the same results as ESC. When you reach the end of the catalog you are returned to the menu bar. The new catalog has been created that contains those entries that you selected for extraction. Entries with upload dates equal to or newer than the specified date are not displayed and are never extracted. At any time that an entry is being displayed, you may press A to stop displaying the entries and prompting for extraction. CATBOX will continue through the file extracting all older entries and ignoring the newer entries. 6.7 MOVE FUNCTIONS The move functions allow you to select a subset of entries and move them to another catalog. If the target catalog does not exist, a new catalog is created. If the target catalog exists, the entries are added to the end of the catalog. The entries are removed from the index being processed. NOTE- Pressing P while an entry is displayed and awaiting a Y/N response for moving, will print the entry. 6.7.1 SELECTING ENTRIES TO MOVE Choosing SELECT begins a process very similar to the VIEW/BROWSE function. It displays one entry at a time from the start of the catalog to the end asking if you want to move the entry. To move the entry, press Y, otherwise press N. When you choose SELECT, a dialogue box appears to let you enter the name of the destination, or target catalog. This field will contain the last desti- nation that you specified. You may type over, edit or delete (CTRL-U) the current contents of the field. Pressing ENTER accepts the string as entered and begins processing. This function only moves forward through the catalog. Once an entry is selected for extraction by pressing Y, it is immediately moved and cannot be deselected. Pressing ESC terminates the selection/move process at that point and returns you to the menu bar. Any entries previously selected to be moved have already been copied to the target file, but will not be deleted from the catalog. END also terminates selection, but any selected entries are moved to the destination and deleted from the source. When you reach the end of the catalog you are returned to the menu bar. The new catalog has been created that contains those entries that you moved. 6.7.2 MOVE ENTRIES MATCHING A SEARCH STRING Choosing MOVE MATCHING begins a process very similar to the VIEW/SEARCH function. It searches the file and displays one matching entry at a time from the start of the catalog to the end asking if you want to move the entry. To move the entry, press Y, otherwise press N. The search is case-insensitive (small letters are treated the same as capitals). The entire entry is searched from the start of the heading to the last of the text. If the search string exists starting at the end of one line of the entry text and continues at the beginning of the next line, the search will still find the match. When you choose MOVE MATCHING, a dialogue box appears to let you enter the name of the destination, or target catalog. This field will contain the last destination that you specified. You may type over, edit or delete (CTRL-U) the current contents of the field. Pressing ENTER accepts the string as entered. Next a dialogue box appears that lets you input the string that you want located. The data entry field will contain the last search string that you entered during this session. You may type over, edit or delete (CTRL-U) the current contents of the field. Pressing ENTER accepts the string as entered and begins the search. This function only moves forward through the catalog. Once an entry is selected for moving by pressing Y, it is immediately moved and cannot be deselected. Pressing ESC terminates the selection/move process at that point and returns you to the menu bar. Any entries previously selected to be moved have already been copied to the target file, but will not be deleted from the catalog. END also terminates selection, but any selected entries are moved to the destination and deleted from the source. When you reach the end of the catalog you are returned to the menu bar. The new catalog has been created that contains those entries that you moved. Non-matching entries are not displayed and are never moved. At any time that a matching entry is being displayed, you may press A to stop displaying the matches and prompting for move. CATBOX will continue through the file moving all matching entries and retaining those that do not match. 6.7.3 MOVE RECORDS NOT MATCHING A SEARCH STRING Choosing MOVE NON-MATCHING begins a process very similar to the MOVE MATCHING function except that you are prompted to move records which DO NOT contain the search string. It searches the file and displays one non-matching entry at a time from the start of the catalog to the end asking if you want to move the entry. To move the entry, press Y, otherwise press N. The search is case-insensitive (small letters are treated the same as capitals). The entire entry is searched from the start of the heading to the last of the text. If the search string exists starting at the end of one line of the entry text and continues at the beginning of the next line, the search will still find the match. When you choose MOVE NON-MATCHING, a dialogue box appears to let you enter the name of the destination, or target catalog. This field will contain the last destination that you specified. You may type over, edit or delete (CTRL- U) the current contents of the field. Pressing ENTER accepts the string as entered. Next a dialogue box appears that lets you input the string that you want located. The data entry field will contain the last search string that you entered during this session. You may type over, edit or delete (CTRL-U) the current contents of the field. Pressing ENTER accepts the string as entered and begins the search. This function only moves forward through the catalog. Once an entry is selected for moving by pressing Y, it is immediately moved and cannot be deselected. Pressing ESC terminates the selection/move process at that point and returns you to the menu bar. Any entries previously selected to be moved have already been copied to the target file, but will not be deleted from the catalog. END also terminates selection, but any selected entries are moved to the destination and deleted from the source. When you reach the end of the catalog you are returned to the menu bar. The new catalog has been created that contains those entries that you moved. Matching entries are not displayed and are never moved. At any time that a non-matching entry is being displayed, you may press A to stop displaying the entries and prompting for move. CATBOX will continue through the file moving all non-matching entries and retaining those that match. 6.7.4 MOVE ENTRIES NEWER THAN A GIVEN DATE Choosing MOVE NEWER begins a process very similar to the MOVE MATCHING function except that you are prompted to move records in which the upload date is more recent than a given date. It searches the file and displays one newer entry at a time from the start of the catalog to the end asking if you want to extract the entry. To extract the entry, press Y, otherwise press N. When you select MOVE NEWER, a dialogue box appears to let you enter the name of the destination, or target catalog. This field will contain the last destination that you specified. You may type over, edit or delete (CTRL-U) the current contents of the field. Pressing ENTER accepts the path as entered. Next, a dialogue box appears that lets you input the cutoff date that you want to use. The data entry field will contain the last date that you entered during this session. You may type over, edit or delete (CTRL-U) the current contents of the field. Pressing ENTER accepts the string as entered and begins the search. This function only moves forward through the catalog. Once an entry is selected for moving by pressing Y, it is immediately moved and cannot be deselected. Pressing ESC terminates the selection/move process at that point and returns you to the menu bar. Any entries previously selected to be moved have already been copied to the target file, but will not be deleted from the catalog. END also terminates selection, but any selected entries are moved to the destination and deleted from the source. When you reach the end of the catalog you are returned to the menu bar. The new catalog has been created that contains those entries that you moved. Entries with upload dates equal to or older than the specified date are not displayed and are never moved. At any time that an entry is being displayed, you may press A to stop displaying the entries and prompting for move. CATBOX will continue through the file moving all newer entries and retaining the older entries. 6.7.5 MOVE ENTRIES OLDER THAN A GIVEN DATE Choosing MOVE OLDER begins a process very similar to the MOVE MATCHING function except that you are prompted to move records in which the upload date is older than a given date. It searches the file and displays one older entry at a time from the start of the catalog to the end asking if you want to extract the entry. To extract the entry, press Y, otherwise press N. When you select MOVE OLDER, a dialogue box appears to let you enter the name of the destination, or target catalog. This field will contain the last destination that you specified. You may type over, edit or delete (CTRL-U) the current contents of the field. Pressing ENTER accepts the path as entered. Next, a dialogue box appears that lets you input the cutoff date that you want to use. The data entry field will contain the last date that you entered during this session. You may type over, edit or delete (CTRL-U) the current contents of the field. Pressing ENTER accepts the string as entered and begins the search. This function only moves forward through the catalog. Once an entry is selected for moving by pressing Y, it is immediately moved and cannot be deselected. Pressing ESC terminates the selection/move process at that point and returns you to the menu bar. Any entries previously selected to be moved have already been copied to the target file, but will not be deleted from the catalog. END also terminates selection, but any selected entries are moved to the destination and deleted from the source. When you reach the end of the catalog you are returned to the menu bar. The new catalog has been created that contains those entries that you moved. Entries with upload dates equal to or newer than the specified date are not displayed and are never moved. At any time that an entry is being displayed, you may press A to stop displaying the entries and prompting for move. CATBOX will continue through the file moving all older entries and retaining the newer entries. 6.8 A NOTE ABOUT DATES In most forum catalogs, the original upload date is preserved if a new version of the file replaces the original file. An update date is the appended to the original date and bracketed by parentheses as follows: 01-Jan-91(27-Sep-92) CATBOX uses the second (update) date when sorting or selecting entries by date. In defining the date field for templates, you must allow for the area containing both dates and the parentheses (See CREATING TEMPLATES). 6.9 GREEN WINDOWS Sometimes white text will appear in a green window and then go away. These windows are status windows and are informative only. They tell you what CATBOX is doing during long operations. If you have a very fast computer or are processing a very small catalog, the window may appear to just flash on the screen and vanish before you have a chance to read it. If so, do not be con- cerned. It is not important that you read these messages. Any informative messages that I think you need to read will not be removed from the screen until a key is pressed. 7.0 TEMPLATES You will discover that the format of a catalog entry can vary. The NOVLIB forum, for example, has a listing of all files in the forum called FORUM.ZIP. They preprocess and rearrange the order and format of the entries before they build the file and post it for downloading. Also, there is no guarantee that CIS will always use the same format. Templates give you the ability to handle modified and changing formats. Templates are small files that, in a very simple but flexible manner define the structure of a catalog's entries. You merely load the appropriate template to process the catalog that you will open. I supply some templates, but you can easily construct your own. Templates must reside in the same directory as CATBOX.EXE. 7.1 SUPPLIED TEMPLATES CBOXSTD.TPL - This is a template for the standard CIS format for long listings. This format is also used by OZCIS, TAPCIS and AUTOSIG when catalogs are captured using these programs. This is the default template that is assigned when the config file is first constructed. So that the CONVERT function will perform properly, DO NOT RENAME THIS FILE. CBOXNOV.TPL - This template may be used to process NOVLIB's FORUM.ZIP file described above. NOVLIB also has a listing of files in standard format call TAPLIB.ZIP. When I last looked, it was in LIB 17. Downloading TAPLIB.ZIP is preferable to downloading FORUM.ZIP if you use a CIS manager. If you do download FORUM.ZIP and decide it's not the format you wanted, you can use CONVERT on the FILE menu to save the catalog in standard CIS format. 7.2 EXAMPLE TEMPLATE The following template is CBOXNOV.TPL: NOVLIB FORUM.ZIP (FORUM.DOS) format template. -NOVLIB,S -Bytes:,S ID=2,2,11 LIB=1,72,3 NAME=1,1,16 BYTES=1,23,7 COUNT=1,38,5 DATE=1,45,20 CBOXNOV.TPL processes an entry format that looks like this: 12REQ1.ZIP /Bin Bytes: 302205, Count: 172, 21-Aug-92 NOVLIB 5 [76702,414] Title : NetWare Requester for OS/2 v1.2 Keywords: OS OS2 2 REQUESTER NETWARE 12REQ1.ZIP UTILITIES This file contains part of the NetWare Requester for OS/2 v1.2. The files in this ZIP file include the .SYS drivers and .DLL data link libraries. The files should be placed on a diskette labeled REQUESTER. This file is the updated file for NetWare Requester for OS/2 v1.2. The two files that have been updated are NWREQ.SYS and NWIFS.IFS. (Novell Upload!) ----|---10----|---20----|---30----|---40----|---50----|---60----|---70----|--- 7.3 CREATING TEMPLATES Use any ASCII file text editor to create the template and make sure you name it with a .TPL file extension. The following describes the contents of template records according to the character(s) at the beginning of the line: space Comment line. Any line beginning with a space is ignored by the template processor. - Start of entry identifier. There must be at least one. Two are allowed. This is used to tell CATBOX how to identify the first line of a new catalog entry. An entry includes two lines of header information, a "Title:" line and a "Keywords:" line followed by the body of text describing the file. A start of entry identifier is made up of two parameters following a dash in column 1 and separated by a comma. The first parameter is a string (or character) that exists on line 1 of a new entry. Do not enclose it in quotes. The second is either a number or the letter S. The number indicates the starting column on the line where the character or string can be found. If you use S instead of the number, you tell CATBOX to scan for the existence of the string any- where on the line. Each line of the library listing is scanned for the existence of these fields. If two are specified, they must BOTH be present before CATBOX will recognize the line as the starting line of a new entry. When they are both found on the same line, CATBOX begins processing a new entry. XXX= The remainder of the lines in the template describe the location and length of fields CATBOX needs to identify in order to process. After the equal sign, 3 parameters are specified. These are: 1. Line number within the record where the field can be found. 2. Starting column of the field on the line. 3. Length of the field in columns. All of the field descriptors are required. They are: ID= The CIS ID number of the uploader. CIS uses ID numbers from 9 to 11 bytes long. Specify at least 11 to cover the max. CATBOX will take care of deleting the trailing "]". LIB= This is the library number in which the file resides. NAME= This is a field that is made up of the file name, extension and type. An example: NWL11F.ZIP/Bin. In the CIS standard format it is currently the starting field on the second line. CATBOX will break it down into it's individual components. BYTES= This is the file size. COUNT= This is the number of downloads for the file. DATE= This is the date the file was uploaded or placed in the library. Its usual format is 16-Oct-92 but sometimes an update date is supplied in parentheses following the original upload date. Please allow enough space for this type date because CATBOX uses the second date if it exits. An example is: 04-Jan-91(15-Nov-92). Leading and trailing blanks will be deleted by CATBOX. This cuts down on the precision required to build a template. When you are not sure exactly how big a field can get, you can be liberal. 8.0 CREATING DOWNLOAD SCRIPTS (CAT2DL.EXE) One of the most-used applications of CATBOX is to use the EXTRACT (or MOVE) function to select files to be downloaded. You can print the extracted file and use it to select files from within your information manager. The CAT2DL program automates this process further by creating download file/scripts from the extracted catalog. Then, all you have to do is log in to CIS, go to the forum and execute your script. With OZCIS, its even simpler, just start OZCIS and begin an automated second pass. Format: CAT2DL [path]catalog [[path]downloadfile] The "catalog" is the extracted input catalog (or any catalog) that is in standard CIS format. The "downloadfile" is the output download file.script name. If it is not specified, the output file will be name the same as the catalog file with a .DL extension and be placed in the same directory as the catalog. If "path" is not specified, the current directory is assumed. CAT2DL requires that CBOXSTD.TPL be located in the current directory or in a directory included in yout PATH evironment variable. Currently, only the OZCIS download file format is supported, but it is intended that CAT2DL will let you specify the format for most major infor- mation managers and comm programs (TAPCIS, CIM, AUTOSIG, PCPLUS, etc.). Currently, OZCIS is the only information manager we have at Parity Solutions. If you would like to supply a file format and/or sample for your favorite program, send it in or CIS mail it to us. 9.0 FSORT.EXE When CATBOX sorts an index, it calls a general file sort utility I wrote several years ago. It can be used from the DOS prompt to sort almost any text file. When FSORT expends available memory for sorting, it uses disk space. Thus, you can sort a file of almost any size. Work files used by FSORT are created in the current directory unless a TEMP= environment variable exists that specifies another directory. To use the TEMP= environment variable, create a line such as the following in your autoexec.bat file and reboot: SET TEMP=C:\WORK\ Specify the directory you want to use. Make sure the directory exists. Typing FSORT with no parameters will display a help screen that tells you how to use it. 10.0 FILETIME.EXE I wrote a simple program called FILETIME.EXE that will allow you to reset the last update date/time for any file. This is the timestamp that appears when DOS's DIR command is executed. Format: FILETIME [d:][path]filename A window will appear with the file name and current date/time stamp. Modify the date and time as desired. The edit keys are the same as used by CATBOX. If you enter wildcards in the filename, each matching file is displayed and you may enter the same or a different time for each file. If you press ESCAPE when an entry is displayed, that file's timestamp is not modified. The default drive and path is the current drive and directory. The reason I am including this program with CATBOX is that OZCIS uses the file date stamp to determine when a catalog was last updated with new entries. When you go online and ask OZCIS to update the catalog, it captures only those entries from the file date onward. Thus, if you have modified a catalog, with or without using CATBOX, the new modification date cause OZCIS to think it has already captured entries up to that date, thus some entries can be skipped. Use FILETIME to reset the date to whatever date you wish to resume capturing catalog entries. You can use CATBOX's sort feature to sort the catalog by date and see the date on the latest entry you captured. If you back up the date far enough that duplicate entries are captured, use the Delete Duplicates function in CATBOX to remove the duplicates. 11.0 PERFORMANCE AND PROBLEMS I only have a 50 mhz 486 with 16 meg of RAM and a 650 meg SCSI drive at home and a 25 mhz PS/2 model 90 486 with 16 meg of RAM at work to test with. The 50 mhz machine will only slow down to a creeping 45 mhz when you take it off turbo. So you can see that what I may judge as good performance, you might dispute on a 286 or 386 machine. If some processes take too long, let me know and I'll see if I can tune them up. The three slowest operations in CATBOX are sorting, saving (or converting) and searching (especially backwards searching). Sorting is a slow process that gets exponentially slower as the size of the catalog increases. FSORT uses the QuickSort algorithm that is usually pretty fast, but as a quirk, actually gets slower the closer the original file is to the sorted order. Since FSORT will use disk if it exceeds low memory capacity, larger files can get even slower. I do not think that a catalog of a single library is going to cause much problem, but if you sort the 1 meg full forum catalog of NOVLIB, for instance, it takes a good five to ten seconds on my system. If I use a RAM disk and disk cache as suggested below, I can trim it to 3-4 seconds. I/O is one of the slowest processes on any system. Since saving or con- verting a catalog entails reading each index entry, positioning the heads in the old catalog to locate the text of each entry, reading the text and writing it to a work file, possibly deleting the old catalog (if overwriting) and renaming the work file, you can see that a whole lot of I/O will take place. Searching involves almost as much I/O as saving and searching backward is absolutely the slowest process in CATBOX. To optimize performance, break your huge catalogs up by library number or other criteria. Use the MOVE feature to accomplish this. Working on smaller catalogs is always faster. Another thing you can do is to use a RAM disk for the work files. To do this, point the TEMP= parameter in the CATBOX.CFG file to a directory on your RAM disk. Make sure that you have enough room on your RAM disk. You need about as much space as the size of the largest catalog you plan to process. I/Os to RAM are very much faster than I/Os to disk. Using a disk cache with both cached reads and writes will speed up all of the processes. If you use Microsoft's SMARTDRV, use the SMARTDRV.EXE program from Windows 3.1 instead of the SMARTDRV.SYS program that comes with DOS 5. It is a much better cache. If you have problems with the menuing system displaying properly try loading CATBOX with the /B switch. This tells CATBOX to perform all video functions through the BIOS rather than directly manipulating video memory. Although screen writes are slower, it is a safer approach. If you try to load a catalog and 0 records get loaded, or the data in the header appears mixed up when viewing or printing, you probably do not have the right template loaded for the format of the catalog you are trying to process. This has the potential of being the biggest single cause of problems with CATBOX although it is also one of its most powerful features. Be sure you load the right template. If none seem to work properly, you may have to create a new one. The instructions in this document should allow you to accomplish this easily. NOTE TO NETWORK USERS - CATBOX does not lock a file after it has been loaded. This could cause problems if two or more users are working on the same catalog listing. 12.0 DISCLAIMER BECAUSE OF THE DIVERSE NATURE OF COMPUTER EQUIPMENT AND EXPERTISE OF USERS, PARITY SOLUTIONS AND GARY C. CRIDER MAKE NO WARRANTY ON THE CATALOG TOOLBOX, FILETIME OR FSORT WHATSOEVER, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED. THE USER ASSUMES ALL RISK OF DAMAGE TO DATA OR EQUIPMENT RESULTING DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY FROM THE USE OR MISUSE OF THESE PROGRAM PRODUCTS. USERS ARE ADVISED TO TEST THESE PROGRAMS THOROUGHLY ON DATA FOR WHICH A BACKUP EXITS. ANY LIABILITY OF THE AUTHOR OR PARITY SOLUTIONS IS LIMITED TO REPLACEMENT OR REFUND OF THE REGISTRATION FEE. 13.0 SUPPORT I have tried to test the programs to the fullest, but I am limited as to systems and configurations with which to test. I have been programming for 18 years and the one thing I know for sure is that bug free programs are very few and far between. I can only promise to support the program to the best of my ability and provide fixes as expeditiously as possible. Anyone can report problems and suggest changes. Registered users get top priority in resolving their problems. There are three ways you can report problems. The preferred method is to contact me through CIS mail (not forum messages). My CIS ID is 71760,3413. You can also write me at: Gary C. Crider Parity Solutions 1105 Burgess Court Arlington, TX 76015 After 10/31/93 we move to: 1903 Pavia Court Arlington, TX 76006 The last method is to phone (817) 467-7818. Since I am the sole technical support and the line is also used for my network consulting business, it is often hard to get through to me. Please call and leave a message between 7:30 am and 5:30 pm Central time. No matter which method you use, please give a brief description of your problem, your registration serial number if you are registered, and your phone number. If I need more information, I will contact you as soon as I can. When I have a solution, I will contact you however you prefer. Do not post serial numbers on forum messages, they are not private. I don't have time to read forum messages, so be sure to use CIS mail to cpntact me. I work full time, have a consulting business to run in my spare time and write programs instead of sleeping. So please be a little patient with me. Program updates are available on CompuServe or can be requested from us for a $5 shipping and handling charge. Add $1 for international shipping outside the North American continent. A distribution disk of all Parity Solutions products will be sent to you. Specify disk size and format. 14.0 REGISTRATION I begin with an apology. I hate programs that in any way inhibit func- tionality or performance for the shareware version. But when it came down to feeding the family and paying the bills, I had a change of heart and inserted a pesky window that pops up every now and then and gets on your nerves. I chose this approach above that of limited functionality. The program's full capabilities are available for you to evaluate before you invest your hard- earned money. Registered users will receive a unique serial number and instructions on how to serialize the program. Serialization can be re-applied to updated versions and in no way hinders your use of the program. You can compress or decompress the program with no effect (LZEXE or PKLITE). I use Fabrice Bellard's LZEXE program on the programs before distribution. As a registered user, you will be able to update without re-registration or additional fees. You will also be kept on my PRIVATE mailing list to receive additional information on other Parity Solutions products or perhaps a Windows version of CATBOX if I can get around to writing one. To register your copy, please send $30 check or money order (sorry, no credit cards yet) to: Gary C. Crider Parity Solutions 1105 Burgess Court Arlington, TX 76015 After 10/31/93 use: 1903 Pavia Court Arlington, TX 76006 You can also register online quickly and easily in CompuServe. Simply GO SWREG and register ID #752. Your registration will be added to your CompuServe bill. International exchange was never easier. If you send your CIS id or register via SWREG, your registration will be sent to you via CIS mail, along with instructions on how to serialize your copy of CATBOX. This usually involves less than one day turnaround. Program diskettes are not normally shipped. Normal distribution is via CompuServe. If you need a diskette, please see the instructions under Support above. You will receive a serial number and instructions for serializing your copy of the program. Each license gives you or your company a single use permit for the Catalog Toolbox and FSORT. It is not restricted to a single machine as long as no two users can be simultaneously using the program. As Borland says, "treat it like a book." As an example, if you register CATBOX for your home computer, but during the day you use a portable or a computer at work, you may keep CATBOX on both machines as long as no one is at home using it on your home computer. You may install it on a LAN or WAN as long as there is one license for each possible concurrent user. License limiter program control is acceptable. If no license limiter is used, you must purchase a license for each user or workstation that has privileges to access CATBOX. You may freely distribute the original CATBOX.ZIP file in any way you see fit other than selling it. Users' groups and shareware distribution services may charge a reasonable fee for the medium and duplication costs. Bulletin boards may not charge additional fees for downloading this specific program, other than normal connect-time and/or membership charges. You are NOT licensed to give anyone your serial number unless you first remove all serialization from your computer. You may then no longer use that serial number. Only Parity Solutions has the authority to issue serial numbers. 15.0 CREDITS The following are trademarks or copyrights of: BORLAND, BORLAND C++ Borland International, Inc. CXL Mike Smedley and/or Innovative Data Concepts OZCIS Steve Sneed TAPCIS Support Group, Inc. AUTOSIG Vernon D. Buerg PKUNZIP, PKLITE PKWARE, Inc. LZEXE Fabrice Bellard COMPUSERVE, CIS H&R Block SMARTDRV, WINDOWS Microsoft Corporation