You may wish to consult the notes on hot-keys, missing defaults, and expanded memory use at the very end of this file (Ctrl-PgDn).
Filer! has a complete, context-sensitive online help system which is activated at nearly any point in the program by pressing F1. Alternatively, you can obtain context-sensitive help by selecting the Help menu option from any of the main program windows, or from the menu bar itself. In addition, the menu reference of this manual provides detailed information about each program option.
The Help Window (activated with F1 or the Help menu) can be scrolled using the cursor keys, PageUp and PageDn, and by clicking the left mouse button on the up and down arrows on the right edge of the window. You exit from a Help Window by hitting ESCAPE or clicking the RIGHT mouse button.
Technical Support:
If you need further assistance, please call Trinity Software technical support at 703-791-2576. Our FAX number is 703-791-4250. Our shipping address is 13550 Frost Drive, Nokesville, VA 22123 (or for correspondence, use P. O. Box 3610, Manassas, VA 22110).
OVERVIEW
The Filer! Display
Filer!'s display consists of three windows under a menu bar. At different times there will also be various option windows or help windows. A proper understanding of these windows--and their conventions for keyboard and mouse use--is vital. Please read this overview below before running Filer! for the first time.
1. The Main Directory Window:
Running vertically along the left edge of the display is the main directory window. By default, this window displays a list of the Ventura publications and chapters which Filer! has found on your disk. Only the file names are displayed, and they are sorted in alphabetical order. Publications appear first, with any chapters associated with each publication listed in proper chapter order under each publication file's name. After the last publication, the directory lists all chapters which are not part of publications, again in alphabetical order. The main directory list may be sorted with the SORT menu options.
The main directory is used as the starting point for Filer! operations. As you cursor through the main directory, the displays in the other windows change, depending upon which publication or chapter you have highlighted. You select chapters or publications for specific menu operations by toggling the space-bar key or clicking twice with the left mouse button. A check mark appears to indicate selection. You can use the scroll bar, cursor keys, or PageUp/PageDn keys to scroll through the main directory.
Further information can be gained about each file in the main directory window--including its complete pathname--by using the INFO menu option.
Use the [tab] key to move from the main directory window to the File Structure directory window, or click on the destination window with the left mouse button.
2. The File Structure Window:
The window occupying the lower right portion of the screen displays pertinent information about all of the files associated with a highlighted chapter, or all of the chapters associated with a highlighted publication. If all of the files do not fit in the window, you can scroll with the usual keys or the scroll bar. You can also select files for menu operations from this directory, using the space bar or mouse.
Information in the file structure window is displayed in the following order: Name; Date; Size; whether the file is missing (!!), present (OK), or referenced to a diskette (A or B); Attribute; and a message about a file if its is missing. Further information can be gained with the INFO menu option, including the complete pathname of each file.
Here is a sample display:
Name Date Size Present? Attr. Used by
FILER.TXT 03/25/91 27152 !! A File missing!
The title of the file structure window is the pathname of the chapter whose files are displayed in the window.
Use the [tab] key to move from the file structure window to the file display window, or click on the destination window with the left mouse button.
3. The File Display Window:
The window occupying the upper right portion of the screen displays the contents of whichever file is highlighted in the File Structure directory window. By default, Filer! selects the most likely text file for display, in the following order of precedence:
For chapters, the first choice is the largest text file associated with the chapter, if any. The second choice is the .CAP file (which includes all text typed directly into frames). After that, the largest non-text file is selected, but this will rarely be useful.
For publications, the first display choice is a table of contents file; second, an index; third, the largest .CHP file in the publication.
Various viewers control the quality of the display in the file display window. You can override Filer!'s default viewer choices in the VIEWERS option of the PREFerences menu.
In Ventura display mode, you can display any file except a .PUB file simply by highlighting that file when its name is displayed in the file structure window. When you have tabbed into the file display window, you can scroll through the displayed file by using the cursor keys or the PageUp/PageDn keys. You can also use the mouse as a PageUp/PageDn key by left-clicking on the up and down arrows along the right edge of the window.
The title of the file display window is the pathname of the file whose contents are displayed in the window.
Use the [tab] key to move from the file display window back to the main directory window, or click on the destination window with the left mouse button.
Dialogue Boxes:
When dialogue boxes pop up in Filer!, you can move from option to option by clicking new options with the left mouse button, or by using the [tab] or SHIFT-[tab] keys. For string entry fields, you must click twice, once to move to the end of the field (confirming its contents), and once to move to the new option. (Both clicks may be done on the new option.) Hit ESC or click the right button to reject the contents of a string entry field.
Buttons are toggled on or off with the space bar. They can also be turned on by hitting [enter] or by left-clicking (once to move to the button, and once to change its status). A second [enter] or mouse click on the CANCEL or OK buttons causes the dialogue box to exit, either cancelling or confirming the current operation. For other buttons, repeated use of [enter] or a left mouse click toggles the status on or off.
To move immediately to the CANCEL button (and in the process cancel any string you may have been entering in a string field), hit the ESC key or click the right mouse button.
Menu Options:
To move to the menu bar, hit either F10 or ESC, or click the right mouse button anywhere, or click with the left button on the menu bar itself. To open a specific menu option when not in the menu bar, use the option's hot-key: ALT plus the first letter of that option. For example, hold down the ALT key and press T to obtain the total disk space used by a set of selected files.
Once in the menu system, you can activate any sub-choice by using the cursor and enter keys, left-clicking with the mouse, or typing the first letter of that option. To exit from a submenu or from the main menu bar, hit ESC or click the right mouse button.
Help:
This is a single menu choice which brings up general information about the Help system (although you can also scroll through the entire Help file if you wish). Use this to refresh your memory on how to use Help. Generally, to get help on a specific topic, press F1 in any window or dialogue box.
Info:
This is a single menu choice which displays any additional information which Filer! has about the file which is currently highlighted in either the main directory window or the file structure window, whichever is active (the active window is wherever the cursor or mouse moves the highlight bar). Note that a file does not have to be selected with a check mark in order to use INFO. The highlight bar is sufficient.
For files in the main directory window, where only file names are visible, INFO reports all additional information, such as file size, date, attribute, file type, full drive and pathname, etc. For files in the file structure window, INFO may or may not have additional information to report. It is most useful when a file is used in more than one chapter or publication. Only two instances of such use are listed in the file structure window. Up to 17 instances of such use are displayed by INFO.
Erase:
This single menu option controls chapter and publication deletion. It operates on any chapters or publications, singly or in groups, that you select with check marks in either of the two file windows. ERASE removes publications, chapters and their related files from your disk permanently, except for any classes of files you have marked as preserved in the PREF DELETES menu.
When you select ERASE, the file display window is replaced by a dialogue box which enables you to Cancel the ERASE operation, exit to Modify your file selections, change the Defaults (Deletes settings) for the current operation, or proceed directly to Delete the files.
If you choose Defaults, a temporary Deletes dialogue box appears which has the same choices as the default DELETES dialogue box in the PREF menu. Any settings you make here affect only the current ERASE operation. You can still CANCEL at this point. If you click OK, Filer! proceeds to the ERASE operation.
Once ERASE begins, Filer! applies the latest Deletes information to its work of deleting the specified publications and chapters.
WARNING: If you selected only individual files from the file structure window (rather than chapters or publications), these files are deleted whether they are protected or not--since you specifically selected them.
In all cases, Filer! updates its own file information and displays the affected files as deleted, without rescanning the disk.
Note that as an exception to its rule about updating Ventura's internal file references, Filer! does NOT delete the names of erased files from other publications or chapters that may use them. Although this is easy to do for .PUB files, it is very difficult in .CHP files, since Ventura has a good deal of special coding in those files which is affected by the number and type (but not the location) of the files which make up the chapter.
To be consistent, therefore, names are not removed from either .PUB or .CHP files. This means that when you load a chapter into Ventura which uses deleted files, you will get the familiar File Not Found message. However, the chapter will still open properly, and the first time you save that chapter Ventura will delete the names of the erased files, and the .CHP file will be updated accordingly.
In the non-Ventura mode activated by the VIEW SPECIAL menu, ERASE works just like it does in DOS. If you select a file with a check mark and then choose ERASE, the file is deleted without any special deference to its role in the Ventura file system.
MOVE:
MOVE is both the name of a main menu option and the name of a choice within that menu. The four MOVE options are at the heart of Filer!'s file management capability, and it is vital to understand what the five options do and how they differ. It is best to start, however, with what they have in common. Also, please note that when moving files from a diskette to a hard disk in VIEW DISKETTE, you should use MOVE COPY, MOVE ARCHIVE, or MOVE BACKUP. Do not use MOVE MOVE.
In VIEW NORMAL, when you place checkmarks by certain chapters and publications and then select BACKUP, COPY, ARCHIVE, MOVE or DEARCHIVE from the main MOVE menu, the same thing happens as with ERASE. That is, the file display window is replaced by a preliminary dialogue box giving you four options: Cancel, exit to Modify your file selections, view and/or change the Defaults, or proceed directly to the file movement operation (the generic choice here is called Move/Copy, but applies to all four operations).
If you select Defaults, a temporary Paths dialogue box appears which allows you to override the default paths you selected in the permanent PATHS option of the PREF menu. The choices are all the same: you can specify separate destinations for housekeeping files, text files, line art files, bit map art files, style sheets and width tables; and you can turn movement on or off for stylesheets and width tables.
The settings you make in this dialogue box affect the current operation only. If you Cancel at this point, the file movement operation will abort.
Upon selecting Copy/Move in the preliminary dialogue box or OK in the temporary paths dialogue box, the file movement operation commences. As with ERASE, all file movement commands operate on chapters or publications, either singly or in groups. Remember that in all movement operations, style sheets and width tables are moved only if their buttons are turned on in the default or temporary path dialogue boxes.
If you do not select chapters or publications, but only individual files from the file structure window, file movement operations affect only those files--and not any files related to them in their chapters. Similarly, if you use any file movement options while in non-Ventura mode (VIEW SPECIAL), the operations affect only the checked files without regard for the other files in any chapters or publications of which they may (or may not) be a part.
One significant exception to the rule about selecting individual files from the file structure window is that when you use the MOVE option with such files, Filer! will update the internal references of any chapters which use those files.
Also, note that if you select chapters from the file structure window when a publication is highlighted in the main directory window, then the usual rules of chapter movement apply.
(Destination Dialogue Box:
Whenever you use the file movement options in a non-Ventura mode, either with VIEW SPECIAL, or by selecting only files from the file structure window, a Destination dialogue box appears to ask you to specify the destination for that particular operation. Obviously, in these cases the default paths for publications and chapters cannot apply.
For additional notes on how the file movement options work with Filer!'s internal compression system, refer to the discussion under the REDUCE menu heading.
In Ventura display mode, depending upon which MOVE operation you select, different things will take place, as explained below:
Move Backup:
The BACKUP option creates an exact replica of the selected chapters or publications, including all related files, on the directory or directories you specified. Ordinarily, BACKUP is used to protect files by storing exact copies in a single backup directory, preferably on another disk drive or a diskette. The original files remain in place, and no updating of internal references is performed.
You should also use BACKUP when your intention is to move a copy of a chapter or publication to a computer with an identical directory structure (such as from an office machine to a home machine configured in the same way).
In the non-Ventura modes (VIEW SPECIAL), BACKUP copies duplicates of specified files to new locations, and leaves the originals in place. It does not read publication or chapter files to find related files, but confines itself to the files actually selected with the checkmark. In non-Ventura modes, BACKUP and COPY perform exactly the same task. A Destination dialogue box appears when these options are selected in the non-Ventura modes.
Move Copy:
The COPY option creates a duplicate of the selected chapters or publications, including all related files, but it also makes any internal changes necessary to make the publication and chapter files consistent with their new location. That is, COPY updates the internal references of the duplicate .CHP and .PUB files so that you can load the copies into Ventura from the new location, and Ventura will be able to find every related file. Meanwhile, the original set of files remains completely unchanged.
Use COPY when you want to move a chapter or publication to a new location from which it will be loaded directly into Ventura, such as in copying to a different workstation on a network, or in copying to a diskette for printing on another computer. With two copy operations (both done with Filer!), you can first copy the desired documents to a diskette and then to any location on another computer, with the result that the documents are fully accessible by Ventura at every stage of the transition.
COPY has one more benefit. It actually allows you to prepare chapters or publications for use on another system even when you cannot use Filer! to copy the files to that system. If you choose Defaults in the preliminary dialogue box, you'll notice an extra button in COPY's version of the temporary Paths' dialogue box. This is the Reference Non-Existent Paths option.
After setting the Copy path defaults as you want them, turn on Reference Non-Existent Paths and click on OK. A Non-Existent Paths Paths dialogue box now appears, which lets you set pathnames for the internal file references which are different from the pathnames to which you are actually copying the files. Suppose, for example, you need to send a chapter to a service bureau which keeps all its files for your projects on a drive called E: and in a directory called \BIGDEAL\. You plan to send a floppy disk to the service bureau.
Simply set the temporary (or permanent) paths to A:\ and the Non-Existent Paths to E:\BIGDEAL\. COPY will copy the files to the diskette in drive A: on your computer, but it will reference them internally to D:\BIGDEAL\. The service bureau can use DOS to copy the files to D:\BIGDEAL\, and they will be ready for Ventura to use.
In VIEW DISKETTE, the COPY option is used to copy publications and/or chapters from a diskette to the Ventura directories on the hard disk. Be sure to set the defaults or temporary defaults to the correct target paths on your hard disk before executing the COPY command. (Note also that in VIEW DISKETTE, the locations of the files on the diskette as reported by Filer! are not necessarily the locations referenced in the .CHP or .PUB files on the diskette. Filer! ignores internal references when locating files on a diskette, since they are often purposely incorrect. Do not worry about the locations on the diskette; simply set the correct default or temporary default paths for copying to the hard disk.)
In the non-Ventura modes (Views Special), COPY copies duplicates of specified files to new locations, and leaves the originals in place. It does not read publication or chapter files to find related files, but confines itself to the files actually selected with the check mark. In non-Ventura modes, BACKUP and COPY perform exactly the same task. A Destination dialogue box appears when these options are selected in the non-Ventura modes.
Move Archive:
The ARCHIVE option creates an exact replica of the selected publications and chapters in the specified new location, and deletes the originals. These deletions are governed by the DELETES defaults in the PREF menu, so that if you have elected to preserve certain classes of files when using the ERASE option, these files will also be preserved when using ARCHIVE. This also explains a special feature of the ARCHIVE option: if you select Defaults, then after you finish with the temporary Paths dialogue box, a temporary Deletes dialogue box appears. You can override the normal DELETES defaults at the time of the ARCHIVE.
Filer! updates its file information following ARCHIVE to show archived files as deleted. It also stores complete drive and path information along with the archived files in an .FCB file. This file is used by DEARCHIVE to restore archived files automatically to their original locations so that they can be brought back and used quickly if need arises. (Because the internal references remain unchanged, you can also restore them without the use of Filer!.)
In the non-Ventura modes (VIEW SPECIAL), ARCHIVE copies the checked files to the new location, and deletes the originals, without benefit of any internal referencing, finding related files, or protecting files from deletion. In the non-Ventura modes, ARCHIVE and MOVE perform exactly the same task. A Destination dialogue box appears when these options are selected in the non-Ventura modes.
Move Move:
The submenu MOVE option is the answer to one of the biggest Ventura file management problems: how to reorganize your disk as your workload grows or your conception of your work with Ventura changes. MOVE creates a copy of your chapters or publications in the new specified location, deletes the originals in the old location, and updates the internal file references of the copies to make them consistent with their new home.
Since the purpose of MOVE is to reorganize your chapters and publications on your own computer system, MOVE ignores the DELETES defaults when it deletes the original files. This causes absolutely no problem, because Filer! always updates the internal references not only for the moved files, but also for any other chapters or publications which may use them. After using MOVE, every Ventura chapter and publication in your default Ventura directories will still know where every file it uses is, and Ventura can still load any chapter without confusion.
As stated earlier, if you use MOVE with only individual files selected in the file structure window (no chapters or publications selected), MOVE will move and delete them as individual files, but it will also update any references to these files in any chapters or publications that use them.
In the non-Ventura modes (VIEW SPECIAL), MOVE copies the checked files to the new location, and deletes the originals, without benefit of any internal referencing, finding related files, or protecting files from deletion. In the non-Ventura modes, ARCHIVE and MOVE perform exactly the same task. A Destination dialogue box appears when these options are selected in the non-Ventura modes.
Move Dearchive:
DEARCHIVE allows you to return archived and/or backed up files to active use automatically. When you invoke ARCHIVE or BACKUP in Normal Ventura mode, Filer! archives or backs up the files, and also creates an .FCB file for each publication (or for each chapter for which there is no .PUB file). The .FCB file stores the original drive and path names of all files backedup or archived. DEARCHIVE reads the .FCB files to restore the files to their original locations. (If there is no .FCB file, Filer! warns you, and you must use MOVE COPY or DOS to restore the files.) DEARCHIVE may be used in Normal Ventura or Diskette views.
REDUCE
The REDUCE menu is used for file compression and decompression, with the assistance of PKZIP shareware. This shareware has been bundled with Filer! to ensure that users have access to a common compression standard which they can use with or without Filer!. If you elect to use Filer!'s compression and decompression options, you should register the PKZIP shareware for $25.00 with PKWARE, Inc. See the files in the self-extracting PKZ110.EXE file for details (extraction instructions are in the Filer! manual under installation).
Filer! needs only the PKZIP.EXE and PKUNZIP.EXE files extracted from PKZ110.EXE. The other files are important for PKZIP documentation and registration, but need not be placed on your hard disk for Filer! to use.
Note that width tables are never included in the .ZIP file when you use Reduce Compress on a publication or chapter.
Compression can be especially useful when you are trying to archive a large chapter to a floppy disk. If Move Archive cannot fit the chapter on a single floppy, you will not be able to use Dearchive to restore it. Use Reduce Compress to "zip" a chapter to a floppy disk, and then use Reduce Decompress to restore it.
The alternate automatic compression system which was also available in Filer! prior to version 1.9 has been eliminated.
The REDUCE menu has two options. To use them, you must have the ZIP option turned on in the PREF MEMORY dialogue box; and you must enter the complete path name where you have placed the shareware zip files, entered in the PREF SWAPINFO dialogue box.
Reduce Compress:
If you select .PUB or .CHP files from the Main Directory Window, all of the files related to those publications and chapters (including the .PUB and .CHP files themselves) are compressed into one target .ZIP file that you name when prompted. The original files are left intact, so if you want to delete them, reselect them and run ERASE.
For non-Ventura files in non-Ventura mode (VIEW SPECIAL), COMPRESS may be used to zip just those files which have been selected with the check mark. In such cases, a dialogue box appears to request the name of the .ZIP file you want to use to store the compressed files. COMPRESS does not delete the originals. If you want to delete the originals, follow COMPRESS with ERASE.
By default, COMPRESS speeds subsequent compression operations by recompressing files only if they are of a later date than those already in the .ZIP file. This is achieved by use of the PKZIP command line option -U.
Reduce Decompress:
Use VIEW SPECIAL to display the .ZIP file or files you need, select the file(s) with the check mark, and then run DECOMPRESS. All files will be restored to their original locations on your disk. The original .ZIP files are not deleted, so if you want to delete them, follow DECOMPRESS with ERASE.
By default DECOMPRESS decompresses only compressed files which are newer than any decompressed versions of the same files which might already be on the disk. It also automatically overwrites these older files. This is done through the PKUNZIP command line options -N and -O.
If you wish to use the PKZIP and PKUNZIP programs in ways different from the way they are used by COMPRESS and DECOMPRESS, you can do so by adding PKZIP and PKUNZIP, complete with any desired command line parameters, to your list of External applications. Thereafter, you can use PKZIP and PKUNZIP from within Filer! to manage file compression and decompression manually through the VIEW PROGRAMS option.
FIX
The FIX menu is used to locate files which Filer! reports as missing (!!) in the file structure window. Filer! reports a file as missing when it is not in the location referenced in its parent .CHP or .PUB. The FIX menu offers two options for solving the problem of missing files. As of version 1.9, Filer! also makes every effort to correct faulty style sheet references to width tables during FIX operations.
Fix Adjust-Find:
If you select the ADJUST-FIND option, Filer! searches for the missing file, displays its path and name if it finds it, and, when you confirm its decision, changes the .CHP or .PUB internal references to reflect the real location of the file.
Fix Find-Move:
If you select FIND-MOVE, Filer! searches for the missing file, displays its path and name if it finds it, and, when you confirm its decision, moves the file to the location specified in the .CHP or .PUB file, and deletes it from the original location.
Note that special care is required in using FIX if more than one chapter references a file, some correctly and some incorrectly.
Dialogue boxes guide you through both FIX operations.
Load
This single menu option enables you to load Ventura with a selected chapter active. Simply place a check mark next to the chapter of your choice, and then choose LOAD.
In the non-Ventura VIEW PROGRAMS mode, LOAD is used to run any listed application which you select with a check mark.
Sort
The sort options are straightforward and easy to use. SORT controls the order of files in the main directory window. There are six possible sort orders, as follows:
Sort Filename:
This is the default sort order for both Ventura and non-Ventura display modes. Files are sorted in ascending alphabetical order by name. In Ventura-mode, publications are listed first, followed by chapters which are not part of publications. A list of the chapters in each publication appears in chapter order under the publication's name.
Sort New-to-Old:
This option displays the file list in order by file date, with the newest files at the top, and the oldest at the bottom of the list.
Sort Old-to-New is the opposite of New-to-Old.
Sort Extension:
This displays the file list in order by file extension. This option has no meaning in Ventura-mode and is available only in the non-Ventura modes.
Sort Down Size:
This displays the file list in order by file size, with the largest files first and the smallest last. This option has little meaning in Ventura-mode since chapters and publications include large numbers of related files. Therefore it is available only in the non-Ventura modes.
Sort Up Size is the opposite of Down Size, and is likewise available only in the non-Ventura modes.
Total:
This single menu option is convenient for determining how much space your publications and chapters are taking, as an aid to cleaning up and reorganizing your disk space. Select any combination of chapters and publications with check marks and then choose TOTAL. Filer! will calculate the total number of bytes in the files which are part of the selected chapters or publications, and also the total space required to store those files.
The figures are different because the space required to store any file is determined by the sector size of your disk. DOS allots space in sectors, so that a very small file such as a .PUB file (say, 500 bytes) on a disk with a large sector size (say 2,048 bytes) will use 2,048 bytes of disk space for storage. Similarly, all file storage amounts are rounded to the nearest higher sector value.
This option can also be used for files in the non-Ventura modes, in which case it totals only those files actually marked with checks.
PREF: SETTING FILER'S DEFAULTS
Filer!'s default system is extensive and powerful. It is critical to set the defaults to suit your preferences. Use the PREF menu to do so, following the advice and information presented in this section.
Pref Deletes:
The Deletes window is the first defaults area under the PREFerences menu. These defaults govern how much of your work Filer! deletes when using the ERASE or ARCHIVE menu options. Many users like to delete everything except style sheets, or everything except graphics files, etc. Each button you turn on in this window protects a certain class of files in your Ventura chapters: style sheets, files used by more than one chapter, graphics files, and text files. If you use ERASE or ARCHIVE while some files are protected, Filer! will not delete those files. Note that such files can be deleted in the non-Ventura modes, to which none of these defaults apply. (Tip: If you want to delete just a .CHP file without deleting its component files, you can set each button to preserve all classes of files. If you then select a chapter and run ERASE, only the Ventura house-keeping files will be deleted: .CHP, .CAP, .CIF, and .VGR.)
Pref Viewers:
Filer! attempts to determine the type of each file it must display, and chooses an appropriate file viewer. Version 1.0 contains a Raw viewer (a byte dump of the file, most useful for examining non-text files), an ASCII Single Viewer (which displays ASCII files which have only one carriage return at the end of each paragraph), an ASCII Double Viewer (which displays ASCII files having double carriage returns after each paragraph and single carriage returns after each line), a Microsoft Word viewer (for DOS Word), and a WordPerfect viewer (5.0 and up).
For graphics files, Filer! defaults to the Raw viewer, which may be incorrect for some graphics files stored in ASCII form. For unidentified text files, the default is the ASCII Single viewer.
You can override Filer!'s choices by typing in the file extension(s) of any files you wish to be displayed by a particular viewer. To change the overall default for all text files, put a period followed by ??? next to the viewer you want to serve as the default. Always enter multiple extensions in a continuous string, preceding each by a period.
If a viewed file overwrite most or all of the entire screen (and hangs your system), change the defaults to use the RAW viewer for files with the extension of the offending file.
Pref Paths:
(Note: If you need to know how to enter more than three paths for your default Ventura directories, scroll down to the More Paths heading at the end of the Paths section, or turn on the More Paths button, then click OK to open the More Paths screen, and then hit F1 to bring up More Paths Help.)
Filer! needs a good deal of path information. The opening screen for this menu option provides a brief introduction, noting that your path defaults should be selected to reflect the most commonly used paths for each situation. All path choices affecting the movement of files may be overridden by setting temporary paths at the time of any file MOVE operation.
The first PATHS screen allows you to turn on and off an option that controls whether Filer! waits for you to respond when it discovers missing files in MOVE operations. Since missing files are normal from time to time, you may wish to turn this option off so that Filer! will go on to the next file without user intervention.
The second PATHS screen asks you to begin by specifying which directories you want Filer! to regard as Ventura's home ground. These are the directories that Filer! will search to display Ventura file information. The smaller the collection of directories, the shorter Filer!'s searching time will be. The greater the collection, the more comprehensive Filer!'s information will be.
You can list up to three separate directories in the paths window which Filer! displays by default. You include subdirectories of these directories by turning on the Subs? button in front of each path name. For example, if you keep your publications and chapters in three different subdirectories of the Ventura directory, you can enter each one separately, instead of entering the Ventura directory and all its subdirectories. This will achieve a modest speed-up in file operations.
Alternatively, you can enter one parent directory and all its subdirectories, and use only one line to cover all possibilities. If your disk is small enough, Trinity recommends that you let Filer! search the entire disk. In this case, turn Subs? ON next to line 1, and enter the drive name and root directory on line 1, such as: C:\.
In this and all path dialogue boxes, the proper form of the path includes the complete drive and path name, omitting filenames, and ending each path with a backslash.
The last line of this dialogue box requests information about where to search for files which are not where the .CHP or .PUB files say they are. In other words, it wants to know what paths are open to it when you use the FIX menu option to find files which Filer! reports as missing. Filer! will either restrict its search to the Ventura directories you specified above (if you turn on that button), or else it will search one or more entire disks on your system. In the latter case, turn the FIX button OFF, and then list in a continuous line the disks you want to use for searches. If you want to search just the C: drive, simply type C. If you want to search both C: and D:, type CD, and so on.
The third PATHS screen asks for information about where you usually like to copy or move chapters and publications when you have need to do so. For many users, the default choice of copying to the A drive will be the most common choice, and is a suitable default. But you can set these paths to any legitimate values.
Note that you can turn on the Make all paths same as first one button if you want to enter a path on the first line and have it automatically replicated on the remaining lines, similar to the option found in Ventura itself. Note also that you have considerable control over which files you put where. You can break destinations down by Housekeeping Files (PUB, CHP, CAP, CIF, VGR), Text Files, Line Art (drawing files), Bit-Map Art (paint files), Style Sheets, and Width Tables.
If you don't want to copy style sheets or width tables when you copy or move chapters, set their buttons to OFF. If you do, turn them ON.
Note that these paths affect all file movement operations in Ventura mode: COPY, BACKUP, MOVE, and ARCHIVE. On the other hand, these defaults have absolutely no effect when operating in the non-Ventura modes.
(More Paths:)
If you have a large disk and many separate Ventura directories, or if your files are spread out over several logical or real disk drives, three discrete path settings may not be sufficient for your needs. In this case, turn ON the More than 3 Paths button. Then fill out the last button and line of the same screen (FIX paths). Turn the FIX button ON if FIX searches will be confined to the same areas as you will specify for default Ventura paths. Otherwise, turn the FIX button OFF, and list the letter-names of the drives you wish to use for FIX. Then click OK.
A new screen will appear which will allow you to enter a virtually unlimited number of separate drive/path combinations. (Make every effort not to duplicate paths by referencing the same path two different ways (such as one entry for D:\VENTURA\ with subdirectories turned on, and another for D:\VENTURA\GRAPHICS\ with subdirectories turned off.) This new dialogue box operates differently from most (it is like the dialogue box in the EXTERNAL option). For each drive/path, turn subdirectories ON or OFF, then type in the drive/path name and hit [enter]. Then click OK to accept that drive/path combination. Repeat this process until you have accepted the last entry you wish to make. Then click Cancel to exit from this dialogue box and save all of your choices.
To edit your choices in this screen, exit from the screen and re-enter it. Your first choice will appear, and you can edit it as you see fit. Then click OK. Alternatively, you can blank a line (then click OK) to delete it, or click OK without editing to retain a line and move to the next one. If you click Cancel when the first drive/path is displayed, all of your drive/paths will be deleted. Toggle through all those you wish to preserve. Blank out all those you wish to delete. Then click Cancel.
Pref Times:
The best way to keep your file information up to date is to allow Filer! to rescan the disk every time it loads, and to use the VIEW menu's REGENERATE option whenever necessary during Filer! sessions. However, this is time-consuming, and your particular needs may not require it.
During Filer! sessions, Filer! attempts to keep up with changes to your Ventura files in two ways. First, any operations you perform with Filer! are noted, logged and displayed. Second, if you run Ventura from within Filer! (and if you have the appropriate default turned on), Filer! examines your disk when you exit Ventura. It looks for any chapter or publication files that have time stamps after the time Filer! logged when it loaded Ventura, and it regenerates its data for those files.
Between sessions, Filer! saves its data to disk, and loads it from disk when you start the program. This takes considerably less time than rescanning and regenerating information for the disk. Still, sometimes you will use Ventura outside of Filer!, and you may make changes to your files with ordinary DOS commands as well. Further if, you use REDUCE DECOMPRESS to unzip chapters or publications, the related files will not appear in the file lists until you regenerate file information from the disk. Finally, the more changes Filer! tracks, the more memory it needs. Accordingly, there is an advantage to regularly rescanning your disk and regenerating the file information from scratch.
You control the frequency of such regneration by selecting ONE button in each category. The first category is for directories. You need to regenerate directory information each time you change your directory structure by adding or removing directories, or whenever you change the directories you want to have accessible to Filer! in the first PATHS dialogue box.
Note that every time you choose the manual REGENERATE option from the VIEW menu, either files alone or both directories and files can be scanned. To achieve regular automatic scanning of directories, choose one of the first three options: every time, once each day, or once each week.
File scanning is more critical. If you are an active Ventura user, you may wish to scan your files at least once a day, with manual Regeneration as needed during heavy file transfer work. In any case, choose the option which works best for you: every time, once a day, once a week, or on command only (REGENERATE).
Most users seem to prefer the "on command only" settings, so these are used as the defaults.
Pref Swap Info:
When you run another program from within Filer!, Filer! will ordinarily activate that program through the Full DOS Shell. To free the needed memory, Filer! swaps itself to expanded memory, extended memory or disk. You need about 700K of free expanded or extended memory or 1.2 megabytes of free disk space for swapping to take place.
The most important external application which Filer! runs, of course, is Ventura itself. In this dialogue box, type in the complete drive, path and name of the batch file you use to run Ventura (by default, Ventura names this file either VP.BAT or VPPROF.BAT, but you may have made your own batch file). Ordinarily, the file is in the root directory.
Be sure to type the complete drive, path, name and extension, for example: C:\VPPROF.BAT. Also, please enter the name of your Ventura batch file even if you don't intend to run Ventura from within Filer!. Filer! uses this information for other purposes as well, most notably file compression.
Filer! also needs the drive and path (not the file name) denoting the directory where you stored the PKZIP shareware. The proper form of the entry is: C:\THISDIRECTORY\.
Next, indicate what memory Filer! should attempt to use for swapping. You can select either extended memory or expanded memory, both, or neither. If you select both, Filer! will first attempt to use expanded memory, and then use extended memory if not enough expanded memory is available. If you select neither, Filer! will always swap itself to your hard disk. If you choose to swap to memory, but Filer! can't get enough of it, Filer! will swap itself to disk so that operations can continue.
Pref Memory:
This dialogue box controls certain special functions which require slightly greater system resources. You can increase the speed of Filer!'s operation (at the expense of accuracy) by turning off Post-Ventura File Checking. This only affects the speed with which Filer! redisplays file information after exiting from Ventura.
Similarly, you can decrease Filer!'s memory demands slightly by turning off External Programs, ZIP file compression, and Special Views. However, since Filer! supports expanded memory, the best way to increase Filer!'s ability to track large number of files is to add expanded memory.
Here is what each of these options does:
(External Programs:
With this button ON, you can load any application from within Filer! which you log in the separate EXTERNAL option of the PREF menu.
(Special Displays:
With this option turned on, you can use Filer! for non-Ventura file management. This allows you to use the VIEW SPECIAL option to generate a listing of any files from any directories you choose, and then to use Filer!'s ERASE or MOVE options on these files. In such cases, Ventura mode is disabled, and no internal file reference checking is done. In other words, if you delete a chapter or publication in one of the non-Ventura Special Display modes, Filer! will not update any internal references, and will not do anything to any files referenced in the .CHP or .PUB files. It will operate only on the actual .CHP and .PUB (or any other) files you select.
(Post-Ventura File Checking:
With this option turned on, Filer! will do a brief scan of your files each time it swaps back in after you've used Ventura. It will check for any .CHP or .PUB files which have time stamps later than the time Filer! logged when swapping out to load Ventura. It will read the contents of any such chapters or publications and update its file information accordingly. In combination with Filer!'s internal file compression system, this means that if you add files to a compressed chapter during a Filer!-based editing session in Ventura, Filer! will find out about those files when you swap back in, and will add them to the compressed file (if appropriate) according to whatever compression defaults are in effect at that time. The only drawback to this option is that it takes Filer! longer to swap back in after running Ventura.
(ZIP File Compression:
You should turn this option on if you wish to use the REDUCE menu to compress or decompress your chapters and publications. Using ZIP file compression in this way allows you to select any number of .PUB and .CHP files from the Main Directory Window, and then run REDUCE COMPRESS. Filer! asks you for the name of the .ZIP file you wish to create, and then it compresses all files which are part of the selected publications and chapters into the named .ZIP file. No files are deleted, however, so if you wish to delete your originals, you should reselect them and run ERASE. To decompress one of these .ZIP files, use VIEW SPECIAL to put the desired .ZIP file in the Main Directory Window, select it, and run DECOMPRESS. All files will be restored to their original locations. If you wish to delete the .ZIP file, reselect it and run ERASE.
Pref External:
In this dialogue box, you log the drive, path, name, extension and command line paramters (if any) of any external application program you wish to be able to run from within Filer! (provided you have the proper PREF MEMORY option turned on). Be sure to enter the complete drive, path and filename, including the file extension. This is required for running the programs through the DOS shell. You can also enter any command line parameters which you want to use with your programs, just as you would on the DOS command line (such as a file name when loading your word processor, for example).
Note that if you wish to use the ZIP file compression utilities in a way different from the internal Filer! system, you can do so by entering the appropriate command lines in this option, and performing manual file compression from the VIEW PROGRAMS menu.
You can enter as many programs as you want, including multiple copies of applications with different command lines. When you choose VIEW PROGRAMS, all of your logged applications will appear. Select the one you want, and load it with the LOAD menu option.
To enter a complete command line, type in the drive, path, name, extension and command line parameters (if any) for a particular program. Then click OK to log that program. If you accidentally log a blank line, it will be ignored. When you log a program, a new blank line will appear for the next program. When you are finished, choose CANCEL to exit.
Note that this is different from other dialogue boxes (except for the More Paths option in PREF PATHS). CANCEL exits, but does not erase your applications log. OK is used only to add new applications. If you make a mistake, or want to change earlier applications, simply open the dialogue box again. Your first application will appear. Type over it to change it (or blank the line completely to delete it), then click OK. Or, to move through the list, click OK on unchanged items. They will be preserved and the next application will appear.
As with DOS, the Filer! command line is limited to 128 characters, but with a difference. In DOS, you don't need to enter a complete path or file extension. Filer! gives you more than 128 characters to allow for the extra space taken by the drive and path. Filer! uses this information to load an external program properly, but does not pass it along on the DOS command line. This feature unfortuantely also makes it possible to enter too long a line, so exercise caution. Your version of DOS may actually allow slightly fewer than 128 characters. The rule is that, excluding path information in the executable file name, the Filer! command line cannot exceed what DOS allows.
As the External window notes, it is probably easier to enter and edit your command line list as a standard ASCII file with a single carriage return after each command line. This is how Filer! stores the information. If you would like to create such a file, be sure it is in pure ASCII form, that it is in the same directory as the FILER.EXE file, and that it has the name FILRAPPS.DAT. Filer! will automatically read it when you activate the VIEW PROGRAMS menu option.
Once all of your defaults are set, you are ready to make active use of Filer!. Please pay particular attention to the MOVE menu. It comprises five related file movement choices, each of which does something slightly different with your Ventura chapters and publications. Complete information on this and the other menu options is found in under the appropriate menu reference for each option.
VIEW:
In addition to the default Ventura-mode display, Filer! offers several other ways to view and manage files. These View methods are described below:
View Diskette:
This option enables you to view a diskette in drive A or B from Ventura's point of view. The diskette is scanned for publications and chapters, and the default Ventura-mode display is used for anything that is found. It is then a simple matter to copy chapters and publications to the Ventura directories on your hard disk. Use MOVE COPY for this purpose.
In one respect, Filer! handles Ventura-mode viewing of diskettes differently than hard disks. Since diskette files are often internally referenced to locations other than where they actually are, Filer! does not report incorrectly-referenced diskette files as missing. Rather, if the internal reference is incorrect, Filer! searches the entire diskette. It then displays the real location of the file (and reports it missing only if it is not on the diskette at all). This enables you to copy chapters and publications from a diskette to a hard disk without running FIX to find files whose actual locations differ from Ventura's internal references.
View Orphans:
This option enables you to select a directory and ask Filer! to display a list of all of the files in that directory which are not referenced by any .PUB or .CHP file. You can use check marks to select any files you want for moving or erasing. The ORPHANS option is perhaps the single most powerful aid to cleaning up pre-Filer! directories which may contain many old files which no one has dared to delete for fear they belonged to some little-used publication or chapter. When you run ORPHANS, if the screen does not display an incremental count of the orphan files it finds (and so the computer appears to be doing nothing), this just means that there are no orphans in the directory which is being searched. It still takes time to examine all the files.
View Special:
The SPECIAL display option allows you to specify any directory/file mask in order to display a list of specific files in the main directory window. You can then use Filer!'s various file management options in DOS mode on these files.
View Programs:
If you select PROGRAMS, all of the external applications which you have logged will be displayed in the main directory window. You can then select one of them with a checkmark and use LOAD to run it from within Filer!.
View Normal:
This option restores the main, default Ventura-mode display of your publications and chapters after you have been using one of the other VIEW modes. The change is instantaneous, because all of the file information is kept in memory even when you are not using it on the screen.
View Regenerate:
Use REGENERATE when you have made substantial changes to your Ventura files and you want to scan the disk again to be sure all of your information is up-to-date, and to reduce Filer!'s problems (and memory consumption) in tracking changes. REGENERATE also forces a rescan of your disk for any possible directory changes. You should use it after active work in Filer!, or after active work in DOS or Ventura when you don't have Filer! set to rescan the disk on startup.
Finally, if Filer! ever reports faulty information, becomes confused, or cannot find files because of any changes to your Ventura chapters, publications or related files, the best solution is to use REGENERATE to force Filer! to remake its file information databases from scratch.
DOS
Filer! provides two DOS shells for your convenience. Use of either shell leaves all of your current work in Filer! unchanged and undisturbed.
DOS Quick:
The QUICK Shell simply uses any conventional memory which remains on your system after Filer! has used all the memory it needs for file management. Using the QUICK DOS shell is instantaneous, but the shell may have very little memory, and it will never have sufficient memory to run major applications. You can find out how much memory Filer! is using at any given moment by checking available memory with a memory utility before loading Filer!, and then checking it again from the QUICK Shell.
DOS Full:
The FULL Shell swaps Filer! to expanded memory, extended memory, or disk (see the discussion under the MEMORY option in the PREF menu), and then makes available to you all but about 8K of the conventional memory you had before you ran Filer!. You can run virtually any application from the FULL Shell, but it may take a few seconds to swap in and out. Filer! uses the FULL Shell to run Ventura, perform file compression, and run any of the programs you log under the External option. Note, however, that if Ventura just barely fits in available memory without Filer! running (which is not uncommon), it may not have enough memory to run even in the FULL Shell, which sacrifices 8K.
QUIT:
Use QUIT to exit from Filer! or from a Filer! task, or to access the standard ABOUT menu. The three options are:
Quit:
The subsidiary QUIT option exits from Filer! and returns you to DOS.
Task:
The TASK option allows you to quit the current Filer! task and return to the Task Choice dialogue box. In other words, use TASK to switch from Filer!'s full-featured complete file tracking mode to the single project mode, or vice versa.
About:
The ABOUT menu displays version, copyright and authorial information about Filer!.
The Task Choice Dialogue Box:
New in Version 1.5, the Task Choice dialogue box appears every time you run Filer!. It allows you to save time by choosing to work with just a single chapter or publication quickly, without the overhead of tracking all of your Ventura files. Alternatively, you can select the full file tracking mode of operation. In this case, Filer! will use as its universe the paths you have currently set in PREF PATHS. After completing an operation in any task mode, you can use the QUIT TASK menu to return to the Task Choice dialogue box to choose a new task--such as for successive operations on a series of individual files.
NOTE ON MISSING DEFAULTS: The first time you run Filer!, you should choose to proceed directly to the Menu Bar to set the program defaults in the PREF menu. Set ALL defaults. Filer! does not perform properly without the defaults set. If you ever get the first-time screen when starting Filer! even after setting defaults, it means that your FILER.DEF file has been deleted or moved. In such cases, reset the defaults at once.
NOTE ON HOT-KEYS: Filer! supports a number of short-cut keys, especially for selecting and deselecting files. Consult the appropriate appendix in the Manual.
NOTE ON EXPANDED MEMORY USE AND CONTROL: Filer! also supports expanded memory. Filer! checks for available expanded memory on start-up, and allocates a portion to itself. It attempts to leave sufficient expanded memory for Ventura to use when run from within Filer!. If you have 512K of AVAILABLE expanded memory or less, Filer! takes it all. If you have 513 to 1024K, Filer! takes all but 256K. If you have 1025 to 1536K, it takes all but 512K. For 1537 to 2048K, it takes all but 756K. For more than 2048K, it takes all but 1 megabyte.
You can control how much expanded memory Filer! takes on the command line. Simply type the number of kilobytes you wish Filer! to use. Thus, to allocate 3 megabytes of expanded memory to Filer!, you would start the program with FILER 3072 [enter]. Similarly, to exclude use of expanded memory altogother, start the program with FILER 0 [enter].
For large Ventura installations (more than about 1,000 files or so), Filer! needs expanded memory to track all of the files on your system. You may not need it, of course, if you track only certain directories at a time. With a megabyte of expanded memory, Filer! can track approximately 15,000 files.
However, Filer! runs faster when only conventional memory is used, so for small Ventura installations, you may wish to use the FILER 0 command line option.
