Softdisk PC 141/sdpc141.zip/SDPC141/DOSMAN/DOSMAN.DOC

Softdisk Text Compressor Document | 1998-03-09 | 32KB | 1,223 lines

DOS Manager is a program designed to help you perform many
useful operations with your disks, files, and directories. A
user-friendly menu structure makes DOS Manager easy to use.
You can view directories on your hard disk and SDPCfloppy disks;
copy, rename, move, and delete files; and SDPCexamine graphic,
text, database, spreadsheet and SDPCother common types of files.
Small text files can be edited with DOS Manager. You can even
run other programs from within DOS Manager.  You can format
floppy disks, too.


^C^IGetting Started

To run DOS MANAGER from the DOS prompt, go to the drive and
path in which DOS MANAGER is installed, and type DOSMAN.  It
is strongly suggested that you install DOS Manager to a hard
disk, in a directory that is somewhere in your DOS PATH (as
set in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file), so that you can run it at any
time without first changing directories.


^C^IAdvanced Command-Line Options

You can follow the name "DOSMAN" with any of the following
command switches for special options:

     DOSMAN /M          runs in monochrome mode.
                        [e.g., for LCD screens on which
                        the normal colors are hard to read]

     DOSMAN /25         These commands select between 25-line
     DOSMAN /43         and 43 (or 50) line mode.  EGA cards
     DOSMAN /50         support 43 line mode, VGA cards
                        support 50 lines, and all cards
                        support 25 line mode.  Normally, the
                        default is to use the highest mode
                        your display adapter supports, but
                        this can be overridden with these
                        command line switches.  There are
                        also menu items within the program
                        to change video mode, or to make the
                        current mode the default for future
                        sessions.

     DOSMAN /0          Causes DOS Manager to start up in
                        whatever text mode (25, 43, or 50
                        lines) you are already in when you
                        run it, without changing the mode.

     DOSMAN /NOMOUSE    Disables the mouse.  Use if you
                        are having compatibility problems
                        due to your system's mouse driver,
                        or if you just don't want to use
                        your mouse for whatever reason.

     DOSMAN /NOSVGA     Disables use of SVGA graphics modes
                        for graphic display.  This may be
                        necessary if you have a non-SVGA
                        monitor with an SVGA adapter, to
                        stop DOS Manager from trying to use
                        modes that won't work for you.

     DOSMAN /NOGFX      Disables all graphics; used to stop
                        program from hanging on a few
                        old graphic cards that aren't
                        compatible with the current
                        FastGraph library used by DOSMAN.

     DOSMAN /NOSB       Disables use of SoundBlaster card
                        to play sound files.  Do this if
                        attempting to play .WAV or .VOC
                        files causes system problems.
                        With this option set, these sounds
                        won't play at all, since DOS
                        Manager doesn't support playing
                        sound files without a SoundBlaster.

     DOSMAN /NOEMS      Disables use of extended memory
                        when swapping out to run a program
                        or the DOS command line.

     DOSMAN /Q          "Quick Run": Skips the opening
                        title/warranty info.

     DOSMAN /?          See all possible command switches.

In addition, you can specify a particular directory to start
at by typing its name in the command line:

^1     DOSMAN C:\FILES\

If you specify a filename, you will go straight into file-
viewing mode with that particular file.  This lets DOS
Manager be used as a command-line-accessible file lister:

^1     DOSMAN C:\FILES\TEST.TXT

If you specify a file mask (a name with the DOS wildcard
characters * and SDPC?), file listings will be limited to
those matching the mask (plus all subdirectories) until
you change the mask using the Ctrl-M command:

^1     DOSMAN *.TXT

If you include the command switch /EDIT and SDPCspecify a
filename, you will go straight into the built-in text editor
to edit the file you have selected:

^1     DOSMAN /EDIT C:\FILES\TEST2.DOC

Finally, if you include the switch /EXIT along with a
filename (with or without the /EDIT parameter), then DOS
Manager will exit to DOS after completing the viewing or
editing of the specified file.

Of course, you do not need to use any of these advanced
parameter options; all functions, including file viewing and
editing, are accessible in a menu-driven way within DOS
Manager.  These options merely provide another means by which
advanced users may make use of the power of DOS Manager.
For instance, you may want to create a batch file VIEW.BAT
containing the following line:

^1     DOSMAN %1 /EXIT

Then, when you type "VIEW filename", the specified file will
be viewed in DOS Manager, then you will be returned to the
DOS prompt.  Add "/EDIT" to the above line, and the specified
file will be edited instead of viewed.

For technical support on this and other Softdisk Publishing
programs, call 1-318-221-8311.


^C^IThe Basics

DOS Manager uses pull-down menus at the top of the screen.
Mouse users can pull them down by clicking on the menu names,
like "File", "Directory", etc.  You can also pull down a menu
by pressing Alt and its first letter (Alt-F for File, etc.).
Select a menu item by clicking on it (or releasing your mouse
button while on it), or by moving around with the arrow keys
and pressing Enter when the desired menu item is selected, or
by pressing the first letter of the desired menu item.

Many of the functions of this program are also tied to "hot
keys" (such as function keys or combinations of Ctrl, Alt,
Shift, and a function or letter key) which can be pressed from
the main screen in place of pulling down a menu item.

In addition, when function keys are itemized on the bottom of
the screen, you can click on the name of the key (the part
that is in yellow on blue on color monitors) to access the
function as if you have pressed that key.

Other mouse features:  The right mouse button acts like the
ESC key, to get you out of whatever you are in.  Also, when
there is a little square within brackets in the upper left
corner of a screen window, clicking on it works like ESC to
close the window.

When scrolling text is presented, and while a directory is
displayed, you will see a "scroll bar" at the right edge of
the window.  The pointer within it shows how far into the file
or directory you are.  Clicking within the scroll bar and
above the pointer acts like PgUp; clicking below the pointer
acts like PgDn; and SDPC"dragging" the pointer moves to a
different point of the file or directory.  Also, the
arrowheads above and SDPCbelow the scroll bar act like the up and
down arrow keys, and will repeat if you hold the mouse button
down while pointing to them.

Online help is available at most parts of DOS Manager. Bring
it up by pressing the <F1> key.  Pressing <F1> twice in a row
brings up this text.  <Shift+F1> brings up a list of hot keys.


^C^IUsing DOS Manager

After a title screen, DOS Manager goes straight to the main
command screen.  The current directory is displayed, including
file names, the dates they were last modified, and their size.

If you chose a file mask using the command-line option or the
Ctrl-M command (or the "Mask" choice on the Settings menu),
then file listing is limited to matching files.  Otherwise,
all files in the current directory are shown.

Use the arrow keys, <PgUp>, and <PgDn> to move around in the
directory.  Also, you can click the mouse on a directory entry
to go to it.  Clicking on the entry that is already
highlighted is equivalent to pressing ENTER to view that file.
(See information on file viewing below.)

You can also move around within the current directory by
typing the beginning of the name of the file you are looking
for.  The cursor will be moved to a matching file, if there
is one.  The backspace key removes the last character from
the string being searched for.  The backslash key (\) goes
to the next file matching the same thing you've typed.
If you type a period (.), the search will be for a file
extension rather than the beginning of the filename;
typing '.TXT' goes to the first .TXT file, for instance.

You may see some unfamiliar files in the directory, since all
hidden and system files are shown.  For instance, the root
directory of the disk you boot will include files such as
"IO.SYS" and SDPC"MSDOS.SYS".  Don't delete, move, or rename these
files; this might make your disk fail to boot correctly.  You
will be given a warning if you try to delete these or other
read-only or system files.


^C^1Selecting Files

The highlight bar indicates the current file which will be
operated on by various commands.  Some commands can act on
more than one file at once, if you mark a set of files as
described here.

Use the <Space Bar> to flag the currently highlighted file. A
"check mark" is shown next to it to indicate that it is
marked.  Pressing the <Space Bar> on a "marked" file will
unmark the file.

The "+" (or "=") key will mark all files in the current
directory (including subdirectories); the "-" key will unmark
all marked files.  The "~" (or "`") key will toggle (invert)
the status of all marked files, making the marked ones
unmarked and vice versa.

These file-marking commands are also accessible as items in
the Directory menu.

NOTE:  If you have a three-button mouse, you can use the
middle mouse button to click on a file for the purpose of
marking or unmarking it.

If any files are marked, the total size of the marked files is
shown at the bottom of the screen.  The amount of space needed
for copying these files to a floppy or a hard disk is also
shown.  This measurement is based on the normal 1 KB
allocation for floppies and SDPC2 KB for hard disks. If your
destination drive does not have the indicated amount of free
space, you will not have room to copy all files you selected.

All marked files are automatically unmarked when you change to
a different drive or directory.  Otherwise, marks stay in
place until you unmark them, allowing you to do multiple
operations on a set of files.


^C^1Erasing (Deleting) Files

Selecting Erase from the File menu or pressing <Del> will
delete all marked files or the current file at the highlight
bar if no files are marked.  Because deletion can be
dangerous, you are first asked if you really want to delete
each file. Answer "Yes" every time to delete the indicated
file or press the exclamation point <!> key at the first
"Yes/No" question to delete the indicated file and all
subsequent files without further questions. Answering "No" to
each question or pressing <Esc> gets you out without losing
any files.  Answer "No" if you decide you really don't want to
delete the files.

If one of the selected files is a subdirectory, all files
within the subdirectory and any subordinate subdirectories
within it will be deleted.  Also, the subdirectory will be
removed.  In other words, this procedure will get rid of the
entire tree of subdirectories that are "below" the one you
selected.

WARNING:  The RD command from the MS-DOS command line won't
let you remove a directory until you have deleted everything
within it, from the lowest level upward.  DOS Manager is more
powerful; it will remove a whole subdirectory tree with all of
its contents in one stroke.  This is a useful feature for
"spring cleaning" of your hard drive, but it can also be
dangerous.  Large amounts of important data can be deleted if
you are not careful.  For this reason, a special warning
message is given when DOS Manager is about to delete a
directory.  You must press <Y>es to go on, even if you have
already used the <!> option on an earlier Yes-No question in
the same delete command.  Of course, if you back up your hard
drive regularly, don't worry about losing too much important
data.  You HAVE backed up your system recently, haven't you?


^C^1Copying and Moving Files

Selecting Copy from the File menu or pressing <F3> copies
files to another drive or directory.

Selecting Move from the File menu or pressing <F4> moves
files.

There is a difference: Copy leaves the original files alone
and creates copies of them elsewhere; Move moves the files to
another place, either on the same or a different drive, and
removes them from their original location.  Moving within the
same drive is very fast since only the directory entries need
be moved.  Moving to a different drive is accomplished by
copying the file and then deleting it.

For both the copy and move commands, you are asked to name the
destination drive and/or path.  Type a path specification such
as "C:\STUFF\" or "A:" according to the DOS syntax.  Press
<F8> (when asked for a path) to see a tree structure of your
disk (primarily for hard disk users). Use the <Arrow Keys> to
select the desired directory; press <Enter> to select it.
Once a path is selected, you'll be returned to the input field
with that path entered; pressing <Enter> at that point starts
the copy or move.

While in the path input field, the up and SDPCdown arrows will
move through a "history" of the most recent directories which
you have entered, if any, to make it easy for you to copy
several things to the same directory.  This history is only
preserved in the current run of DOS Manager; it starts afresh
when you exit and SDPCrun it again later.  The last ten
directories you have input in the Copy, Move, or Go To
Directory commands are accessible in this manner.  Just press
<Enter> when the desired directory is shown.

If you type a path representing a directory that does not
exist, you will be asked if you'd like to create it.

If the files you have selected include subdirectories, they
will be copied along with all of their contents.  This means
that directories of the same name will be created at the
destination path and all files within each selected directory
(and any subdirectories nested beneath it) will be copied to
the destination directories.  Hence, you can copy or move an
entire tree of subdirectories from one place to another.  This
can be handy for copying disks that include subdirectories or
rearranging your hard disk's tree structure.  For your own
safety, DOS Manager will not allow you to move a directory
tree structure to a position where a directory would become
its own ancestor.  This procedure is not allowed because it
would create a messy situation.

If the files won't all fit on a floppy disk you are copying
to, DOS Manager will copy as many as it can, then prompt you
to insert another disk.  In this way, you can copy the files
to a set of disks.  You even get an option to format the
disks you insert, so you can continue copying even if you
run out of blank, formatted disks.

The Copy command lets you copy multiple files to a different
path while preserving their filenames.  There is also another
command, Duplicate, to copy a single file to a different file,
possibly in the same directory.  To do this, select Duplicate
from the File menu or press <Shift+F3>. You will be prompted
for a new filename which may include a drive and SDPCpath if you
wish.  The default is the path and name of the file you
selected.  Use the <Left> and SDPC<Right> arrow keys to move
around in the text line to edit the filename.  For example,
copy "C:\STUFF\TEST.TXT" to the file "C:\STUFF\TEST.BAK" in
order to make a backup copy.  Note that, unlike the Copy and
Move commands, the Duplicate command acts only on the
currently selected file (the one at the cursor), regardless of
which files you have marked.


^C^1Hiding and Write-Protecting Files

Two items on the File menu, "Hide/Unhide" and SDPC"Write-Protect",
allow you to modify the attributes of files, which tell DOS
how to deal with them.  Most normal files are neither hidden
nor write-protected, but there are occasions when you might
wish to add or remove these attributes to a file.

A Hidden file won't show when you list the directory of the
disk with the DIR command (though they still show in DOS
Manager).  This may be helpful in concealing something from
other users of your PC.  A Read-Only (write-protected) file
cannot be deleted or changed; this can be useful to protect
your valuable data from being accidentally overwritten.

These commands act on all marked files, or on the currently-
selected file if none is marked.  You are prompted for each
file on whether you wish to modify its attribute.  These
commands work as "toggles", meaning that if the file is
already hidden when you select the Hide command, it will be
unhidden.  The prompt for each file will tell you whether you
are hiding, unhiding, protecting, or unprotecting it.

Be careful using these commands; some other programs may not
be able to deal with hidden or read-only files, so you could
end up putting your data files out of reach of the
applications for which you use them.  But don't worry; you can
always reverse the hiding or write-protection by using the
appropriate DOS Manager commands again.

The "hot-key" for the Hide command is "@", while the key for
the Write-Protect command is "#".


^C^1Renaming Files

Selecting Rename from the Directory menu or pressing
<Shift+F4> renames the selected files or the current file if
none are selected.  You will be prompted for a new name for
each selected file in the standard DOS syntax of up to eight
characters, plus an optional extension of up to three
characters preceded by a period.  You can rename
subdirectories just like regular files.


^C^1Printing Directory

Select Print Directory from the Directory menu, or press <F5>,
to print out a listing of the current directory.


^C^1Sorting Directory

Select Directory Sort Order from the Settings menu, or press
<F6>, to select options for sorting of the directories as
viewed or printed.  The directories themselves, as stored on
the disk and SDPCviewed with the DIR command in DOS, are not
altered in their order by this sorting.  You can sort by
filename, extension, size, date/time, or numerically.

The numeric sort extracts numbers found within filenames and
arranges them in order.  For instance, "MEMO.001" has the
number 1 in it while "23SKIDOO.TXT" has the number 23.  Such
files will be arranged in numeric order with "ties" broken
alphabetically.  This sorting order is useful when you have a
series of files with consecutive numbers without leading
zeroes.  For example, if you have "FILE1.DAT" through
"FILE10.DAT", the tenth file will alphabetize after 1 rather
than after 9 but the numeric sort will put them in their
proper numeric order.

Sorting by size proceeds from largest down to smallest. This
is the ideal order to copy files to multiple disks; it will
usually use the space efficiently, as the big files get copied
first, and the small ones fill in the extra space on each
disk.

Once you have selected a sorting type, all directories
displayed within DOS Manager will be sorted in this manner
until you change it by pressing <F6> again.  There is an
"Unsorted" option which you may select in order to return to
displaying directories in their actual order on your disk
rather than any sorted order.


^C^1Changing Directories

Press <F10>, or select Go To Drive/Path from the Directory
menu, to change directories so as to view and SDPCoperate on files
at other places on your disks.  You may type in a path to go
to this location or press <F8> to see the tree structure just
like the copy and move commands.  Also, the history feature
works using the up and SDPCdown arrows just as with the copy and
move commands.

Another way to move around is to press <Enter> while the
selection bar is sitting on a subdirectory (or double-click on
a subdirectory with the mouse).  The ".." entry at the top of
a subdirectory is a special directory entry created
automatically by DOS, standing for the parent directory.
Therefore, when you press <Enter> while the selection bar is
on "..",  DOS Manager goes up one level to the directory in
which the current subdirectory is contained.

NOTE:  Because changing directories while files are marked
causes these marks to be undone, you are given a special
warning if you press <Enter> on a subdirectory entry while
files are marked.  From this dialog box, press C to change to
the new directory (in the process unmarking the files), V to
view the directory without going there (preserving the file
marks), or A to abort without going anywhere.

Use the "Change Dir" option from the Settings menu to tell DOS
Manager what directory to place you in upon quitting to DOS.
If the Change Dir option is enabled, you will be left in the
directory you have changed to via the above-noted directory
change and SDPCnavigation commands.  If this option is disabled,
you will be returned to the directory you were in when you ran
DOS Manager.

This option is a "toggle"; each time you select it from the
menu, it reverses the setting, and displays a dialog box
showing the new status.  The menu item switches between
"Enable Change Dir Option" and SDPC"Disable Change Dir Option" to
show which action it will perform.


^C^1Searching for Files

Select Find File from the Directory menu or press <F8> to
search for a file.  With this feature, DOS Manager looks
through the entire drive for a particular file.  You are
prompted for the filename.  The filename may include wildcards
in standard DOS syntax.  If a matching file is found, you are
given an option to go to the directory in which it is found
with the selection bar sitting on the particular file you
want.

You can resume your search where you left off by pressing
<Shift+F8> to find the next matching file.


^C^1Creating Directories

Select Create Subdirectory from the Directory menu or press
<Ins> to create a new subdirectory.  This is similar to the
"MD" command in DOS.  You are prompted for the pathname.  If
you don't include a drive and SDPCdirectory prefix, the directory
you name will be created within the directory currently being
displayed.


^C^1Formatting Disks

Select "Format disk in drive A" or "Format disk in drive B"
from the Misc. menu to format a floppy disk.  You will be
asked to select the appropriate format for the disk you have
inserted (the choices will vary depending on what type of
drive you have), and then the disk will be formatted.  This
process prepares a disk to be used for storing data, and it
wipes out any data that might already be on the disk.  Use
it on all new disks if they're not purchased pre-formatted,
as well as old disks that you'd like to clear off all data
from and start over with.

You also get a chance to format disks whenever you are
copying files to a floppy disk and SDPCrun out of space.  This
lets you continue the copy even if you don't have enough
formatted disks handy.

Ctrl-A and SDPCCtrl-B are the hot keys for formatting a disk in
drive A or drive B respectively.  From the format-selection
screen, Ctrl-V lets you type a volume label for the new disk
(this appears at the top of the disk's directory).


^C^1Viewing Files

One of the most powerful and easy-to-use features of DOS
Manager is the built-in file viewing feature.  To look at any
file, just press <Enter> while the selection bar is resting on
the file you are interested in viewing, or double-click on a
file with the mouse.  (Selecting the View File item in the
File menu is equivalent.)  The file will be displayed.  There
are a number of different ways of viewing files.  The method
is selected automatically based on the kind of file.  For most
common kinds of files, you simply press <Enter> to get a peek
at the file.  This is handy when you're cleaning out your
directories and SDPCaren't sure what is contained in a particular
file.

Ordinary ASCII text files will be displayed as plain text with
a text presenter similar to the scrolling text viewers in
various programs we have published.  In fact, you are in this
presenter right now.  Use the <Arrow Keys>, <PgUp>, and <PgDn>
to move around within the text or <Esc> to return to the main
screen.  <Home> goes to the top of the file, <End> to the end.

When a line is longer than 75 characters, it will be word-
wrapped onto the next line.  This feature is denoted by a
right-pointing arrowhead indicating that this is really part
of the previous line.

If you'd like to use the full 80-character width of the text
screen to display text files, press <Shift-F6> while viewing a
text file.  This will toggle the width between 75 characters
(with a scroll bar) and SDPC80 characters (without a scroll bar).
The setting of this toggle remains in place until you change
it, even if you leave the viewer and go to a different file,
so you can leave the mode the way you prefer.  This setting
will be saved to DOS Manager's configuration file so it
remains in place in future sessions.

Another "toggle" feature is to enable or disable "fast
paging," a mode where Page Up and SDPCPage Down go immediately
to the next or previous page instead of scrolling to it one
line at a time.  Use <F3> to toggle this feature.  It is also
saved in the configuration file, and this setting is used
in both the text viewer and the text editor.

TECHIE NOTE:  Line breaks are recognized whether they consist
of the usual carriage-return followed by linefeed; just a CR
or LF by itself; either or both CR/LF with its high-bit set;
or several other possibilities. Therefore, files from just
about any word processor will display in a readable manner
despite their individual quirks.

While viewing text, <CTRL-R> "rotates" the alphabetic
characters by 13 positions -- turning "a" to "n", etc.  This
provides a method of viewing the "ROT13" text that's
sometimes used in Internet newsgroups to hide the content
of messages, such as "spoilers" to movie plots, that the
author wants to be sure you don't see unintentionally when
you don't want to.  While in rotation mode, + and SDPC- change
the rotation number up and SDPCdown, and <CTRL-R> returns to
normal text display.

To search for particular text within a file, press <F8> and
type in the text you are looking for.  Use either upper or
lower case.  The search starts at the current file position
(the first line on the screen at the time you press <F8>). It
continues until the end of the file or the desired text is
found.  If the text is found, it is highlighted.

Most word processors use embedded commands.  There are too
many different programs for DOS Manager to provide specific
support for each; however, DOS Manager can read most text
files, although some may be accompanied by some "funny-
looking" characters.

WordPerfect is given special support by DOS Manager.  Its
special embedded commands are automatically stripped so you
can view the text without all the embedded commands.  The text
won't look exactly as it does within the word processor
because most of the special commands are ignored rather than
interpreted, but the text will be readable.

Softdisk's own compressed file format, used for text files
on Softdisk PC (VGA edition), is supported by DOS Manager.
These files will be viewed as ASCII text, with the compression
completely transparent to the user.  These files usually have
a .CTX extension, but they will be recognized and properly
viewed no matter what extension they have.

Another kind of file displayed in a different manner is a
spreadsheet.  DOS Manager recognizes spreadsheets created with
the popular Lotus 1-2-3, Symphony, and Quattro programs, as
well as Softdisk's Personal Calc, and also any other
programs which create files that are compatible with any of
these. These spreadsheets will be displayed in a simulation
of the spreadsheet screen.  Not all of the formatting
options are implemented.  The columns are all the same width
regardless of what is set in the template.  Many other
special features are not recognized, but you will usually be
able to interpret the data in the spreadsheet.

Press the <Arrow Keys>, <PgUp>, and <PgDn> to move around the
spreadsheet.  Every time you move, the entire spreadsheet must
be loaded again, because all the data is not saved in memory.
You needn't wait for the load to be completed before pressing
another key because all keystrokes will automatically
terminate the load and execute the next command.  Generally,
the upper-left portion of the spreadsheet is at the beginning
of the file.  This part of the file will load and display
quickly after which time you can exit or move about the
spreadsheet without waiting for the rest of the spreadsheet to
load.

Database files, such as those in the dBASE III format, can
also be displayed.  These are files with a ".DBF" extension.
Foxbase, dBASE III, Clipper, and many other programs use
database files of this standardized format.  These files
contain lists of field names and SDPCvalues for each of the
database's records.  Press <Enter> at the end of each page to
continue or press <F5> to print the entire contents of the
database.  (Warning: this may be a very long printout in some
cases, since databases can have an almost unlimited amount of
data.)

Another file type supported by DOS Manager is the archive file
such as .ARC, .ARJ, .LZH., .PAK, .ZIP, or .ZOO.  These files,
familiar to computer bulletin board system users, consist of a
number of files compressed into one smaller archive file. DOS
Manager will not extract files from an archive.  You need the
ARC, ARJ, LHARC, PAK, PKUNZIP, and ZOO programs to accomplish
this.  DOS Manager will display a listing of the files
contained within each archive.  For ZIP files, DOS Manager
tells you what version of the archiver was used to create the
file; which operating system was used (compatible archiver
programs exist on many non-MS-DOS machines); and SDPCwhat version
is needed to extract it.

Most varieties of self-extracting archives (archive files
which have been converted into .EXE files so they can be run
directly to extract their contents) are also supported, and
their archive directories will be shown in the same manner as
with regular archive files.  This includes Softdisk
Publishing's own "SOFTLIB format" self-installing files (used
on various Softdisk products including Shareware Spotlight and
the files on the Download Superstore); their contents can be
previewed using DOS Manager before you install them.

NOTE:  While some archivers are capable of splitting archives
across multiple files, DOS Manager will not always be able to
show the contents of parts beyond the first, since DOS Manager
won't "chain" automatically to succeeding files, and the other
parts may not have the header information needed for DOS
Manager to view them separately.

Yet another file type which can be displayed within DOS
Manager is graphic files of the GIF, PCX, BMP, LBM/IFF, JPEG,
Print Shop, and PrintMaster formats.  These formats come in
many varieties, with lots of different display modes and color
combinations, so we can't guarantee that all of them will
display correctly, but most common graphic files are
displayable.  Your display adapter will determine the range of
modes you can display.  VGA systems can display the full range
of graphics (and if yours is an SVGA, you'll get even better
resolution on graphic files where this is appropriate), but
EGA systems can display most graphic files (though some may
look funny if they're set up for VGA modes).  CGA and SDPCHercules
Mono systems don't have much graphic support in this program,
but certain types of graphics will display even on these.  In
all cases, if a graphic file is of a type unsupported by DOS
Manager or your display adapter, it will be shown as a binary
file listing (as described below).

While a graphic is displayed, pressing F6 will switch to a raw
hexadecimal/ASCII listing of the file, and another key or
mouse click returns to the main DOS Manager screen. Print Shop
or PrintMaster images will display on multiple pages so you
can see all images in a file; for these, use PgUp and SDPCPgDn to
page, or ESC to exit.

NOTE:  If, after attempting to view a graphic file, your
screen clears and nothing seems to be happening, first look at
your disk drive light; if it is on, then it is probably still
loading or decompressing the graphic file; some graphic files
can be very large, and may take a while to load.  If the light
is off, try pressing a key or clicking the mouse.  The graphic
may simply appear as a blank screen because its color palette
settings have all been mapped to "black" in the graphic mode
you are in.  This sometimes happens when the graphic was
designed for a graphic mode which is not supported by your
display adapter.  Pressing a key should return you to the main
DOS Manager screen.

FLI and SDPCFLC animation files can also be viewed.  They will
display once, and remain on the last frame until you press
a key.  You can abort the animation by pressing ESC.

Another file type that can be "viewed" (or, actually, heard)
is sound files of the WAV and SDPCVOC formats.  This feature
requires that you have a Sound Blaster or compatible sound
card.  Since there are a number of kinds of sound files, some
might not be playable under DOS Manager, but most common
WAV and SDPCVOC files should work.  You can stop a sound from
playing by pressing a key, or wait for it to finish by
itself.  Pressing F6 while a sound is playing gives a binary
listing of the sound file.

When you press <Enter> on executable files (.EXE, .COM), other
than self-extracting archives (dealt with above), you are
given a choice of pressing the slash (/) to run them, or <F6>
to view them as binary files.  (If the .EXE file is a Windows
application, no run option is given, as you must run it from
Windows.  Also, you are not given an option to run DOSMAN.EXE
itself, to prevent multiple copies of this program from being
loaded in memory.)

When all else fails, DOS Manager will display files as
straight binary data, in hexadecimal bytes, along with their
ASCII equivalents.  If you're not a "techie", you probably
won't be able to interpret this display.  You can press <Esc>
to get out of it.  A binary display is selected for files that
are unsupported for display.  You can also get a raw binary
display of any other type of file by pressing <F6> during the
normal display of a file.  Pressing <F6> while a binary dump
is displayed switches the mode to text-file display.  This
display will usually look like garbage unless the file
actually IS a text file.  You can also find text strings
within an .EXE program file this way.  A display of a binary
dump can be viewed just like a text file.


^C^1Viewing Multiple Files

Ctrl-Enter will cause all currently selected (marked) files to
be displayed, in the manner described above, one at a time.
Press Space to go on to the next file, or Esc to end the
display and return to the main screen.  This feature is useful
for presenting slide shows of multiple graphics, or for
getting a quick look at the contents of a whole bunch of
files.

If you interrupt a multiple-file display in the middle using
the Esc key, the cursor will be left at the file you last
viewed.  Press Ctrl-Z to continue viewing the files where you
left off.  (In general, Ctrl-Z will view all marked files on
or below the cursor.)  Pressing Ctrl-Enter will go back and
view all the marked files starting with the first one.


^C^1File Information

If you want to see some brief information about a file without
viewing the entire file, press the asterisk (*) while the
desired file is highlighted, or select the "File Information"
item in the File menu.  This causes a small dialog box to pop
up telling you what type the current file is.  All the file
types that are specially detected (as discussed above in the
file viewing command) will be identified, and some additional
information may be shown for some of these file types, like
the dimensions and number of colors of a graphic file, the
number of records in a database file, and the version of the
PKUNZIP program needed to extract a ZIP file.

To see information on all marked files, press Ctrl-I or select
the "Info on Marked Files" item from the menu.  You can print
this report by pressing F5 while the information is displayed.


^C^1Editing Files

In addition to viewing text files, you can also edit them. You
can only edit text files.  Spreadsheet, database, archive,
graphic and SDPCbinary files can be viewed but not changed.  To
edit a file, select the Alter (Edit) File item from the File
menu, or press <F7> from the main screen, when the desired
file is highlighted.  (You can also press <F7> from the text
viewer screen to edit the file being viewed.)

To create and edit a new file, press <Shift+F7>, and type the
name of the file when prompted.  The file will be created and
you will be placed in the editor to edit it.

Only text files can be edited, and there is a limit to the
size of files you can edit.  If you try to edit a file which
cannot be edited, you will be told so.  The built-in DOS
Manager editor may not work for massive documents or for
documents that need embedded word-processor commands; however,
it is ideal for creating and modifying the simple text files
needed by DOS such as CONFIG.SYS, AUTOEXEC.BAT, other batch
files, and configuration files.  The current version of
DOS Manager has improved memory management in the editor
which may permit editing of larger files than was previously
possible in earlier versions, but this will vary based on
the amount of free conventional system memory you have.

The one non-ASCII format which can be edited is Softdisk
format (.CTX) compressed files.  These can be edited just
like ASCII files.  A "C" will be shown in the upper right
corner when a compressed file is being edited.  The text will
be re-compressed when you save it, so that the resulting file
is still in the Softdisk compressed format.

The editor screen is similar to the text viewer used when
pressing <Enter> on text files; however, this feature allows
you to change as well as view the text.  Move around with the
arrow keys; type characters to insert them; press <Ins> to
toggle between overwriting the character at the cursor and
inserting new characters before it; and SDPCpress <Del> to delete
the character at the cursor.  Also, <F7> deletes a line and
<F6> inserts a line.  <F1> gives you a help screen for the
editing commands.  <F8> searches for a particular text string.
DOS Manager starts the search at the point of the cursor.  The
cursor is moved to the start of the desired string if it is
found or to the end of the file if it is not found.  <Home>
and <End> go to the beginning of the current line, and
<Ctrl-Home> and SDPC<Ctrl-End> go to the top and SDPCbottom of the
file.  <Ctrl-Right> and SDPC<Ctrl-Left> move forward and backward
one word at a time.

<F3> toggles between a fast Page Up and SDPCPage Down, and a
slower page which scrolls one line at a time.

When you reach the end of a line, words will wrap just like in
the text display mode.  This includes the use of a rightward
arrowpoint at the start of the next line indicating it is a
continuation from the previous line. This feature allows you
to create and modify text files with lines longer than 80
characters.  This is often necessary with batch files.
Carriage returns will not be inserted except where you
explicitly press <Enter>.

When you're finished editing, press <F10> to save the file and
return to the directory screen.  The file will be saved as
straight ASCII. This includes the carriage returns and
linefeeds indicated by pressing <Enter>.  The file may differ
from the way it was originally stored if it was created on a
word processor with different conventions.

When a file is loaded to be edited, the same processing is
done to it as in the text display portion of the program. This
means that various line-breaks are recognized and some word-
processor commands, WordPerfect for example, are stripped.
These commands are NOT added back into the file before it is
saved; therefore, they will be lost.  Do not use the DOS
Manager editor to edit a file created under a different word
processor using its special commands unless you don't care if
these commands are stripped when the file is returned to
straight ASCII.  This may be what you want to do.  For
instance, if the file is going to be used as a batch file or
transferred to another user with a different word processor,
it SHOULD be a straight ASCII file because the embedded
command codes will only confuse matters.

Within the editor, <Alt-S> saves the file without exiting.
Do this often if you are doing a lengthy edit, so that your
work isn't lost if there is a power outage.

To "Save As" a different file name, press <Alt-A>.  You will
be prompted for the new name to use.  If the extension is
.CTX, the file will be compressed (using Softdisk's Compressed
Text Format); other extensions will be saved as plain text.

There are also some commands for moving blocks of text around.
Move the cursor to the beginning of the block you wish to mark
and press <Alt-B>.  Then, move to the end of the block and
press <Alt-B> again.  The block you have marked will be
highlighted.  At this point, <Alt-C> "cuts" the block (deletes
it from the file and places it in a "cut buffer" to be pasted
elsewhere), <Alt-O> copies it into the cut buffer without
deleting it, and <Alt-R> resets (un-highlights) the block.
Once a block is in the cut buffer, <Alt-P> pastes it at the
current cursor position (you can do this repeatedly with the
same buffer to duplicate a piece of text), and <Alt-E> exports
the contents of the cut buffer to another file.

With the mouse, you can also mark blocks by clicking on the
start of the block and SDPCholding the button down and "dragging"
the mouse to the end of the block.  After this, the same
commands as above copy, cut, and paste the block.

While a block is in the cut buffer, you can view the buffer's
contents by pressing <Alt-V>.

<F4> imports text from another file (either an ASCII text file
or a Softdisk compressed text file) and SDPCplaces it at the
current cursor position.

One more neat feature in the editor: <Alt-M> converts all
Macintosh extended characters in the document you're editing
to their equivalent in PC extended ASCII.  Use this when
you've just "ported over" a file from a Macintosh disk and
you find it's got all those goofy characters where there's
supposed to be an apostrophe, a quote mark, or a foreign
character.  This happens because the Mac has special symbols
for these purposes that don't agree with the PC characters.
The <Alt-M> function will convert them.  (Don't use this
feature if your file already has PC-style extended characters
such as foreign symbols, line-drawing characters, etc., since
they will get converted in an unpredictable manner.)

In a similar vein, <Alt-W> will convert extended characters
from Windows fonts, which have their own set of "goofy"
characters that aren't compatible with either the Macintosh
or the standard text-mode PC ASCII set (which DOS Manager
uses).

In these conversions, not all characters in the respective
fonts have a PC ASCII equivalent, so some are simply changed
to a space, or to the ASCII character that looks the most
like the given character.

More conversions available:  <Alt-H> strips out HTML embedded
tags (in World Wide Web pages), removing everything between
angle brackets <> except for the "ALT text" for graphics.

<Alt-I> strips out Softdisk PC issue text embedded commands,
to convert articles from our issues into plain ASCII text.


^C^1Running Programs

You can also run external programs from DOS Manager.  Do this
by selecting Execute Command from the Run menu or by pressing
the forward slash </>.  You are asked what command to use,
defaulting to the name of the file at the directory selection
bar when you press this command key.  If the file is an .EXE,
.COM, or .BAT file, you can run it immediately by pressing
<Enter>.  You can also type any other DOS command, such as
FORMAT A:, and it will be executed.  Enter a null string (by
pressing <Del> repeatedly to remove the default filename, or
pressing the <Space Bar> followed by the <Backspace Key>) to
"shell" to a DOS prompt to perform whatever other commands you
wish.  Type "EXIT" to get back to DOS Manager.

NOTE: You can't run Windows programs from DOS Manager, even if
you are running DOS Manager from Windows.

You can also "shell" directly to a DOS prompt by pressing
Shift-F5, either from the main screen or from within the text
viewer or text editor.

If you wish to add parameters to a command, press the <End>
key, then press the space bar to separate the first parameter
from the command itself and then type the parameters as you
would from a DOS command line.

There is a history feature, similar to that in the Copy, Move,
and Go To Directory commands, to let you re-enter any of the
last ten commands you have executed.  Use the up and SDPCdown
arrows to bring up these commands, and <Enter> to run the one
that is currently visible.

Note that there is a slight delay before a command is
executed.  This is because DOS Manager and all related data
stored in your PC's memory must be swapped out to free this
memory space for the other program you are running.  If you
have expanded memory available, this will be used to hold DOS
Manager temporarily; otherwise, it will be swapped to disk.
This function may fail if you lack sufficient space on the
current default drive.  All temporary swap files will be
deleted once you return to the menu; they will not take up
space on your disk drive permanently. If, due to a system
crash or some such problem, a temporary file does not get
deleted, you can delete it yourself later.  These files will
show up in the root directory of your current drive, and are
"read-only", with cryptic eight-letter names with no
extension.  They can be deleted using DOS Manager.

Note that some programs with large memory needs, such as
Windows, may not be runnable from DOS Manager.  If you wish to
run such a program, you'll need to quit DOS Manager first.

You can set up 10 "hotkeys" to run programs or commands you
use frequently.  They are Alt-F1 through Alt-F10.  Use the
"Set up hotkeys" item on the Settings menu to bring up a
screen where you can designate a path to go to and SDPCa program
to run for each of these keys.  If you designate a path but
no program, DOS Manager won't run anything but will go to the
indicated directory.  If you designate a program but no
path, DOS Manager will run the program in the current
directory.  If you want to go to a DOS command line prompt,
use an asterisk (*) as the "run" item.

In command lines (for running a command or on the hotkey
screen), you can use several "macro" character sequences to
represent highlighted or marked files:

  %f   represents the currently highlighted file
  %p   represents the current directory path
  %m   represents all marked files

Thus, a command line "COPY %m B:" will cause all marked
files to be copied to drive B.  "COPY %f B:" will only
copy the file that is currently highlighted.
"EDIT %p%f" will edit the currently highlighted file
using the DOS editor, preceding its name with the full
path of the current directory.

The "%m" macro is very powerful, as it causes the command to
be executed in turn on each of the files you have marked.
This is done by creating a temporary batch file.


^C^1Compression

The Softdisk compressed text format has already been mentioned
above in conjunction with DOS Manager's ability to view these
files and SDPCedit them.  There are also items on the "Misc." menu
which allow you to to compress a text file into a Softdisk
format compressed file, or conversely decompress a compressed
file into a text file.

The way compression works is to find certain common groups
of letters and SDPCconvert them to single binary characters, as
well as converting long sequences of a single character
(such as dashed lines) to a shorter sequence that tells how
many times the character is repeated.  Various high-ASCII
characters, not normally found in text, are used to encode
these special things.  In cases where these characters
actually do appear in text (e.g., as graphic characters),
special coding sequences are used to represent them.  This
compression system is designed for English-language text,
and may not work well with other languages which have
different common letter sequences and use many accented
characters.

This feature can be useful for converting text files from
a Softdisk PC issue to standard ASCII format for use in your
favorite word processor, or for converting your own text files
to compressed format to take up less disk space.  Compressed
files are viewable and SDPCeditable within DOS Manager, but they
won't work directly in other word processors until you
decompress them.

Note, however, that because some header information is saved
to the beginning of a compressed text file, a short text file
may actually get larger when compressed.  The text compression
feature is best used on long text files.

Highlight one or more files, just as you would for the Copy
or Delete commands, then choose "Compress" or "Decompress."
(The hot-keys are Ctrl-C and SDPCCtrl-D respectively.)

The resulting compressed file will have a .CTX extension,
with the rest of the filename the same as the original text
file.  The original filename of the text file is stored in
the header of the compressed file, so that when you use the
Decompress command, the decompressed file will be written
to the name of the original text file.  (However, you are
given an option of typing in a different destination filename
when you are compressing or decompressing.)

Both the Compress and the Decompress commands leave the
original files alone and SDPCcreate new files containing the
compressed or decompressed text.  It is your own responsi-
bility to delete or move the original files if you don't
want them taking up space on your disk.  If a file already
exists by the name you are compressing or decompressing to,
you'll be warned that the old file is going to be
overwritten.


^C^1Screen Saver

A text-mode screen saver is built into DOS Manager.  After
a certain number of minutes of inactivity, it activates.
Use the "Inactivity Screen Saver" item in the Settings
menu to set the number of minutes to wait until starting
the screen saver.  Use "0" for the number of minutes if
you want to disable the screen saver.


^C^1Other Functions

Press <F2> or select the "Turn Sound On/Off" item in the
Settings menu to turn the sound on or off.  With sound off,
the "beeps" that sound on occasion will be silenced.

Select the "Enable/Disable Change Dir Option" item in the
Settings menu to enable or disable the feature of changing the
current DOS directory to the directory you have reached while
running DOS Manager.  If enabled, on exiting this program you
will be placed in the directory you have just displayed on the
screen; if disabled, you will be returned to the directory
which was current when you started DOS Manager.  Note that if,
in the meantime, you have renamed or deleted the original
directory, you will not be returned to it in any case.

Select the "Set DOS Time/Date" item in the Settings menu to
modify the DOS date and time (which shows in the lower left
corner of the main DOS Manager box, and is used by DOS to
keep track of the creation dates of files, etc.).  This will
bring up a box with the date and time, where the left and
right arrows move between the different fields and the up
and down arrows change the currently highlighted field.

The "AM/PM - 24 Hour" toggle in the Settings menu changes
the on-screen clock between 24-hour mode (00:00 - 23:59)
and AM/PM mode.

The "Video Mode Toggle" in the Settings menu (also accessible
by pressing <Ctrl-V> from the main screen) switches between
25-line and SDPC50-line mode (43-line mode on EGA adapters).
CGA, MDA, and Hercules adapters only have 25-line mode, so
this option isn't present if you're running DOS Manager on
such a system.  Toggling the mode with this item changes the
video mode, but only in the current session; the next time
you run DOS Manager it will once again come up in the default
mode, unless you use another menu item: "Make video mode
default," which saves the current mode as the default to use
in future sessions.  In all cases, you can override the
default using the /25, /50, and /0 command line switches.

"Concatenate Readmes" (in the File menu, or <Ctrl-R>) finds
all files named "README" (with any extension) in the current
directory or the directories beneath it, and appends them
all into a file named READMES.TXT in the current directory.
Any pre-existing file named READMES.TXT in the current
directory will be overwritten.  The original README files
won't be changed.  This is a useful feature for finding
all the "README" files in a directory structure, which
usually document things that program authors want you to
know.


^C^1Exiting

Select Quit from the File menu or press <Esc> to exit DOS
Manager.


^C^ICREDITS

Programmed by Daniel Tobias.

Uses program code and SDPCroutines from quite a number of sources,
including other Softdisk Publishing programs, public domain
and freeware source code, commercial libraries used under
license, etc.  The following is as complete a list of credits
as I could come up with, and I apologize if I left anyone out.

Swapping to disk or extended memory when shelling to run DOS
commands and external programs is done with SWAP, by Michael
Tischer.

Disk formatting is done using routines taken from Simple
Format, by Bob Falk, published by Softdisk Publishing.

Sound Blaster routines were written by Carlos Hasan, and
adapted by Laurent Bossavit of Periodisk, the French affiliate
of Softdisk.

Graphic display is done using FastGraph 5.0 from Ted Gruber
Software.

Additional graphic-related routines were adapted from program
code written for Softdisk by George Leritte and SDPCMike Chapin.

Programming help, suggestions, bug reports, and other
assistance was provided by many other people, including
Jonathan Bianca, Todd Lewis, Jim Weiler, Vic Phares, Judi
Mangham, David Stallard, Mark Brooks, Kirk Abbott, Steven
Goldsmith, R. "Chats" Feldman, "Dilettante" Pickett, Don
Donaldson, Dave White, and John Zucco.

This program was written in Pascal with some assembly
routines, and was compiled in Borland Pascal 7.0 and SDPCTurbo
Assembler 3.1.


^C^IDISCLAIMER

Any product name (e.g., Lotus 1-2-3, Symphony, dBASE III,
FoxBase, Clipper, ARC, ARJ, PKZIP, PKUNZIP, LHARC, Print Shop,
PrintMaster, WordPerfect, Macintosh or Windows) mentioned in
this text or in DOS Manager is a trademark of its respective
publisher or manufacturer.  DOS Manager provides viewing
capabilities for several of these file formats for the
convenience of its users, but DOS Manager is not officially
endorsed or supported by the manufacturers of the above-named
products.  Softdisk Publishing does not provide technical
support for programs created by other software companies.