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1994-01-19
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WildCat File Tools
Version 1.00
Copyright (C) 1994 Daniel A. Gulkis
The Data Center BBS
(305-436-5070), 1:369/121
All Rights Reserved
INTRODUCTION
Thank you for evaluating the WildCat File Tools, a set of
utilities designed to help WildCat system operators manage
their file database. Presently, this package consists of
seven tools. The first four tools are distributed as
shareware; the remaining three are included with your
registration. The shareware tools are:
FILEDESC: A fast and flexible ALLFILES report generator.
Very easy to use. Handles an unlimited number of
files.
FILESUM: Creates a bulletin which shows the number of
files, the total size, and the number of downloads
for each file category.
CDUSAGE: For each CDROM, show the number of files, the
total size, and the number of downloads. Quickly
reveals which disks are contributing the most to
your system.
WCTOUCH: Freshens files in the database by updating their
date, time, and size.
With your registration, you receive the following three
tools:
MASSDEL: Deletes files from the database. Can use a filter
or an explicit list of files. Optionally deletes
the actual files from disk.
MASSMV: Moves all matching files to a specified file
category.
CDL: Changes a CDROM's drive letter in the file
database.
REQUIREMENTS
Each utility will be fully described in the following pages.
You must use WildCat version 3.5 or later for correct
operation. In addition, if you have the single line
version, then you must take your board down before running
any of these tools. For the multiline version, you must
assign a unique node number using the WCNODEID environment
variable. Failure to heed these cautions may cause damage
to WildCat's databases.
If the directory containing MAKEWILD.DAT is in your path,
then these utilities may be run from any directory. Several
of the utilities use the current directory for temporary
files, so don't run them when logged onto a CDROM or a write
protected disk.
2
FILEDESC
FILEDESC creates a list of files available for download on
your BBS; this list is commonly called an ALLFILES report.
Your users can download the list and peruse it at their
leisure, rather than tying up your phone line while they
look for a certain file. Among the programs which create
ALLFILES reports, you will find FILEDESC to be the best!
Why? Well, glad you asked:
Ease of Use:
You create a configuration file using a full screen
form. Simply choose the filtering, formatting, and
output options you want. No more cryptic command line
switches or tempermental ASCII configuration files. If
you desire, FILEDESC will compress your report, move it
to a download directory, and update the corresponding
database entry to reflect the new date and size.
Flexibility:
You have many filtering options that let you specify
which files should appear in a report. You can include
files based on file category, the CDROM they reside on,
their age, the number of accesses, and more.
You also have control over the format of the report.
Choose a single line, double line, or single/double
line report. Sort alphabetically or by age within each
area. Turn subtotals and the grand total on or off.
Include your own report header, report footer, and
section headers.
Speed:
FILEDESC makes use of the file database's index to
process only the file areas you have chosen to include.
The final report is directly generated without
intermediate passes. You will typically see several
hundred files processed per second.
Few Limits:
Your reports can contain a virtually unlimited number
of files, instead of only the number of files which fit
in memory. The file size grand total will accumulate
up to 100 gigabytes without overflowing.
Using FILEDESC
FILEDESC is actually two programs in one. It contains a
configuration file editor and a report generator. You
create a configuration file detailing exactly which files
you want to appear in the report and how the report should
look. You only need to do this step once, even if you
generate the report every day. If you want to print several
different reports, then you will create a configuration file
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for each one. Next, you actually generate the report. The
report generation is fully automatic, and can be started
from your nightly processing batch file if desired.
To edit a configuration file, type:
FILEDESC [filename.cfg]
If the file you specified exists, then it will be loaded
into the configuration editor. Otherwise, the editor will
be initialized with suggested values. If you don't specify
the configuration filename, then a default name of
FILEDESC.CFG is used.
When editing a configuration file, simply enter values into
each field. A short description of the current field is
displayed on the bottom line. To move between fields, use
the Enter key or the arrow keys. When you have finished
making changes, press the Return key to accept changes in
the current field and the Escape key to exit. You will then
be asked if you want to save your changes.
To run reports, type:
FILEDESC /R [report1.cfg] [report2.cfg] ...
You may include one or several configuration files on the
command line. Each report will be generated in turn. If
you don't list any configuration files, the default
FILEDESC.CFG file will be used.
As each report is generated, the file category being
processed is displayed in the top window on the screen and
the actual report being generated shows in the bottom
window. You may press the Pause key to temporarily suspend
output. If you do this, the bottom window may pause while
it is scrolling. This causes a line to appear twice. Don't
be alarmed; the report won't contain the duplicate line. To
resume report generation, press any key.
If you want to halt report generation, press the Escape key.
The current report will be terminate immediately. Any other
reports specified on the command line will be skipped.
Configuration File Editor
The configuration file editor is divided into three major
sections. The first section, Filters, allows you to select
which files will be included on the report. Next, the
Formatting Options section lets you fine tune the look of
your report. Finally, in the Output Options section, you
choose the name for your report, and whether you want the
report freshened in the database. Below, each field is
described:
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Filters:
Include Areas: Enter the file categories that you want
to appear in the report. You may list single
categories or ranges, separated by spaces. Or, leave
this field blank to include all categories.
Example: 1-25 31 36 50-104 45
Exclude Areas: The file categories that you want to
omit from the report. Sometimes it is more convenient
to choose a large range of categories to include and
then just specify a few to exclude. The categories
listed here are removed from the list of included file
categories.
Example: 17 11-14
Drive Letters: This option lets you select the files
from any CDROM or the files which are stored on your
hard drive. The drive letter of a file can be found by
looking at its stored path. If the stored path is
empty, then the file is considered to be on drive 0
(zero). If left blank, all drive letters are included.
Enter individual drive letters or ranges, separated by
spaces.
Example: 0 (Selects files without a stored path)
Example: S-U (Selects files on drives S, T, or U)
Date, From and To: Enter the minimum and maximum age
(in days) of files to include. This option lets you
include only new files or only old files.
Example: 0 to 30 (Select files up to 30 days old)
Example: 365 to 9999 (Select files at least one year old)
Accesses, From and To: Enter the minimum and maximum
access count for files to include. These fields can be
used to show your most popular or least popular files.
Example: 0 to 0 (Select files which have never
been accessed)
Example: 10 to 9999 (Select files accessed at least
10 times)
Normal Files: Choose Y to include typical files--those
which have not failed the virus scan, don't have a
password, and aren't offline. Most of the time, this
option will be Y. But if you want to see just files
which failed the virus scan, for example, then put N
here.
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Failed Scan Files: Enter Y to include files which have
failed the virus scan.
Password Files: Select Y to include password protected
files in the listing.
Offline Files: Pick Y to include any offline files in
the report.
Formatting Options:
Sort Order: Enter 1 to sort alphabetically within each
area or 2 to sort by date within each area.
Show Subtotals: If you want a subtotal showing the
number of files and bytes printed after each file
category, enter Y.
Report Type: Three report types are available. Type 1
is a combined single/dual line report. If the
description doesn't fit on a single line, then it wraps
to the next line and is indented. Type 2 is a single
line report similar to Wildcat's single line format.
Type 3 produces a double line report which resembles
the Wildcat double line format.
Show Total: Entering Y displays a grand total of files
and bytes at the bottom of the report.
Use Headers: This simple yes/no question is perhaps
the most complex configuration item. If you pick N,
then the standard file category headers will be used.
But if you choose Y, then you can use your own report
header, report footer, and file category headers.
These headers are entered into ASCII files which are
located in the directory where FILEDESC is run. There
are two basic strategies: you can create individual
files for each specific area or you can create a single
file which contains the headers for each area. These
methods can be combined.
When processing custom headers, FILEDESC first tries to
get a header from the single, combined file. If that
fails, then it will attempt to get a header from a file
which matches the current area. If that also fails,
then the standard header will be used. This approach
allows you to define custom headers for just a few file
categories, instead of requiring every category to have
one.
The filenames used by the header files consists of the
name of your configuration file with a special
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extension. The filename of the combined header file,
which can contain a header for each area is
cfgfile.HDR. The format of cfgfile.HDR follows:
[HEADER]
This is the report header. Use as many lines as you
need in any section. A section is terminated by a
line which begins with a left bracket.
[1]
This is the header for file category 1. It is
important that each section begins with a left bracket,
the section name, and then a right bracket on a line
by itself.
[]
This is ignored, since the line above terminates
category 1, but the footer doesn't start until after
the line below.
[FOOTER]
Finally, this footer will be printed at the bottom
of the report. This example shows the sections in
order, with the header first and the footer last, but
that isn't important. You can list sections in any
order you want. This last section will be terminated
by the end of the file.
For individual header file, the filenames are:
cfgfile.TOR -- Report Header (Top of Report)
cfgfile.nnn -- Individual file category, nnn is 000,
001, ... , 999. The 000 extension
indicates category 1000.
cfgfile.BOR -- Report Footer (Bottom of Report)
Output Options:
Text Filename: Enter the name of the output file.
This field must be entered. The report will be
generated in the current directory.
Freshen Text File: If you select Y, then the text
filename will be freshened in the Wildcat file
database. For freshening to work, the file must
already exist in the database. The text file will be
moved from the current directory to the primary area
defined by the file category. Then the database date,
time, and file size will be updated.
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Compressed Filename: Enter the name of the compressed
output file. This field is used in conjunction with
the next field to freshen the ALLFILES report in the
Wildcat database.
Freshen Compressed File: If you enter Y and the
compressed filename already exists in the WildCat file
database, then when the report has been generated it
will be moved to the file area specified in the
database. The database date, time, and file size will
be updated.
Compression Command: Enter the command needed to
create the compressed report from the text report.
Leave this field blank if you don't want a compressed
report. To keep the text report, use the archiver's
add option. Use the move option to delete the text
report after it has been compressed.
Example: pkzip -m allfiles.zip allfiles.txt
(Deletes allfiles.txt)
Example: pkzip -a allfiles.zip allfiles.txt
(Keeps allfiles.txt)
8
FILESUM
The FILESUM utility produces a summary report from the file
database. For each file category, the number of files, the
total size of the files, and the total downloads are listed.
A grand total of files, size, and downloads appears at the
bottom of the summary. You don't need to worry about
overflowing the capacity of the total size. Up to 100
gigabytes can be accurately reported.
You can use this information in several ways. It can tell
you which file categories should be split because they are
too cluttered. It also shows you the most popular
categories. Your callers can see what type of files your
board specializes in and can also see just how many files
you have.
FILESUM is an easy utility to run; no parameters are
required. Before generating the reports, the entire file
database must be scanned. While hundreds of files are
scanned per second, it takes a few minutes if you have a
large file database. A bar graph and numerical percentage
count keep you informed on the progress. You may press
Escape to cancel the scan at any time.
When the scan completes (or is cancelled), the program will
create two reports in the current directory: a plain ASCII
text version which is named FILESUM.TXT and a version with
WildCat color codes which is named FILESUM.BBS.
You might want to run FILESUM from a nightly processing
batch file. After it completes, the batch file can copy
FILESUM.BBS to a bulletin for viewing by your users.
9
CDUSAGE
CDUSAGE is an interactive tool used to analyze the
contributions each CDROM makes to your file database. You
can see the number of files, the total size, and the number
of downloads for each CDROM in your system. You can easily
tell the most popular CDROMs from the least popular.
CDUSAGE does not require any command line parameters. You
simply run the program and it will begin generating the
analysis. Since this program has to scan every record in
your file database, it may take a few minutes if your file
database is large. You can press Escape at any time to
abort the scan and exit the program.
When you exit the program, either by pressing Escape or by
waiting until the scan finishes, a report called CDUSAGE.TXT
is created in the current directory. This report contains
the same information found in the on-screen display.
Each file is classified as belonging to a specific CDROM by
looking at the Path field in the file database. If this
field is empty, then the file is assumed to be on your hard
drive. Otherwise, the first character of the Path is taken
to be the drive letter of the CDROM that holds the file.
10
WCTOUCH
WCTOUCH is used to "freshen" files in the WildCat file
database. The term freshen means to update a file entry in
the database to reflect the current date and time and the
file's current size. WCTOUCH will not add a new file entry
to the database; it only updates a pre-existing entry.
To run WCTOUCH, enter the program name followed by the
filenames that you want to freshen. If you have many files
to freshen, a response file can be used. A response file is
just a plain ASCII file which contains the filenames to
freshen, one per line. To use a response file, list it on
the command line preceded by the @ symbol. Wildcards can
not be used either on the command line or in response files.
To update the files A1.ZIP, ALLFILES.ZIP, and REGISTER.TXT,
use the following:
WCTOUCH A1.ZIP ALLFILES.ZIP REGISTER.TXT
Or, assume that NIGHTLY.WCT contains the filenames
WELCOME.ZIP, EMAIL.ZIP, FILES.ZIP, and DOORS.TXT (one per
line). You also want to update REGISTER.TXT and
ALLFILES.ZIP:
WCTOUCH @NIGHTLY.WCT REGISTER.TXT ALLFILES.ZIP
11
MASSDEL
With MASSDEL, you can rapidly delete numerous files from the
WildCat file database. You can specify which files to
delete using one of two methods. Filtering similar to that
provided with FILEDESC can be used. Or, an explicit list of
files to be deleted may be specified on the command line or
in response files.
MASSDEL has many uses. For example, you can delete all
files on hard drive (but not CDROM) that are older than 180
days and haven't had any downloads. Or if you want to
replace a CDROM, you can delete all files on that drive. If
you are changing the focus of your BBS, you can delete whole
file areas with ease.
There are three different ways to invoke MASSDEL. The first
two are exactly like FILEDESC. To edit a filter, use:
MASSDEL [filter.cfg]
To delete files matching a filter (or several filters),
enter:
MASSDEL /R [filter1.cfg] [filter2.cfg] ...
If no file is specified, the default MASSDEL.CFG is used.
Finally, you may delete a list of files, including those in
response files, by typing:
MASSDEL /[I | D] [file | @rspfile] [file | @rspfile] ...
If you use the /I option, then MASSDEL will only delete the
files from WildCat's file database. The actual files on the
disk will be untouched. The /D option deletes the specified
files from the database and the disk.
At any time during the deletions, you may stop the process
by pressing the Escape key. This will not restore any of
the files which have already been deleted.
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MASSMV
MASSMV lets you transfer all the files matching a specified
filter to a new file category. Files on CDROM will just
have their file category updated. Files on your hard disk
will be moved to the path appropriate for the new category.
Before you can move any files, you must first create a
configuration file. The procedure is exactly the same as
FILEDESC. To edit or create a configuration file, enter:
MASSMV [cfgfile.cfg]
After you have created a configuration file, move the files
by typing:
MASSMV /R [cfgfile1.cfg] [cfgfile2.cfg] ...
If no configuration file is specified, the default
MASSMV.CFG will be used.
You can stop moving files at any time by pressing the Escape
key. However, this will not replace files which have
already been moved.
13
CDL
CDL stands for "Change Drive Letter." It searches the
entire WildCat file database, changing the drive letter in
the file path from a source drive to a target drive that you
specify. It ignores files with paths that don't match the
source drive letter.
You will find two major uses for CDL. First, the drive
letter for your CDROM may change due to hardware updates,
such as adding a new disk drive. Now your CDROM is drive E,
but all the files in the database refer to drive D!
CDL will let you fix this problem by changing all the file
database entries to reflect the new drive letter. For
future reference, you can specify a more distant drive
letter (such as drive M) for the CDROM. Just add /L:d to
MSCDEX, where d is the drive letter to use for the CDROM.
This will make your system less sensitive to subsequent
hardware changes.
The second major use is if you want to move a CDROM from one
drive to another. For example, you may have a six disk
CDROM changer and three single disk players. You like to
keep the most popular disks in the single disk players to
minimize disk switching in the changer. You just used
CDUSAGE to find which disks are most popular and now will
use CDL to move the disks around.
WARNING: If you want to swap the files from two CDROM
drives, you must do the following. First, use CDL to change
the first drive letter to a temporary, unused drive letter.
Then change the second drive letter to the first drive
letter. Finally, change the temporary drive letter back to
the second drive letter.
If you had simply changed the first drive letter to the
second drive letter, then CDL would not be able to
differentiate between the files that belonged to the first
CDROM and those on the second CDROM. You would have a big
mess!
Invoking CDL is straightforward. The two parameters are
source and destination drives, in that order. For example,
to change D: to E:, type:
CDL D: E:
You may press Escape to halt the conversion at any time.
However, the files which have already been converted will
not be changed back.
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REGISTRATION
The WildCat File Tools are distributed as shareware. You
are granted a 30 day trial period to evaluate this package.
If you find it useful, then you are obligated to register
it, at a cost of $18. When you register, you will receive
three additional tools -- MASSDEL, MASSMV, and CDL -- which
have already been discussed.
You may register the WildCat File Tools using a check, money
order, Visa, or MasterCard. For credit card orders, please
include the expiration date. Send payment of $18 to:
Daniel A. Gulkis
PO Box 820695
South Florida, FL 33082-0695
If you have any comments on the WildCat File Tools, I can be
reached at the address above, at The Data Center BBS (305-
436-5070), or as Dan Gulkis at 1:369/121.
WARRANTY
The WildCat File Tools are provided without any warranty,
expressed or implied. In no event shall the author be
liable for damages arising out of the use of this program.
While these utilities have been thoroughly tested, it is
impossible to try every combination of hardware and
software. Therefore, it is highly recommended that you back
up your system before using this package.
LICENSE
The shareware WildCat File Tools package may be distributed
to others under the following two conditions. First, no
fee, other than a nominal distribution fee, may be charged.
Second, all related files must be distributed without
modification. The additional tools provided with
registration are not shareware and may not be distributed to
others.
15
