Softdisk PC 94/sofd94.zip/DOSMAN.DOC

Softdisk Text Compressor Document | 1994-06-21 | 23KB | 876 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 floppy disks;
copy, rename, move, and delete files; and examine graphic,
text, database, spreadsheet and other common types of files.
Small text files can be edited with DOS Manager. You can even
run other programs from within DOS Manager.


^C^IGetting Started

To run DOS MANAGER from the DOS prompt, go to the  and 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  and name "DOSMAN" with any of the  and 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 /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 /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  and 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 include the  and command switch /EDIT and specify a
filename, you will go straight into the  and built-in text editor
to edit the file you have selected:

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

Finally, if you include the  and 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  and 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  and 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  and 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  and arrow keys
and pressing Enter when the desired menu item is selected, or
by pressing the first letter of the  and desired menu item.

Many of the  and 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  and bottom of
the screen, you can click on the name of the  and 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  and upper left
corner of a screen window, clicking on it works like ESC to
close the  and 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  and scroll bar and
above the pointer acts like PgUp; clicking below the  and pointer
acts like PgDn; and "dragging" the  and pointer moves to a
different point of the  and file or directory.  Also, the
arrowheads above and below the  and 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  and main
command screen.  The current directory is displayed, including
file names, the dates they were last modified, and their size.

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

You may see some unfamiliar files in the directory, since all
hidden and system files are shown.  For instance, the root
directory of the  and disk you boot will include files such as
"IO.SYS" and "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  and 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  and <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  and file.

The "+" (or "=") key will mark all files in the current
directory (including subdirectories); the  and "-" 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  and marked files is
shown at the  and bottom of the  and 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  and normal 1 KB
allocation for floppies and 2 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  and 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  and indicated
file or press the exclamation point <!> key at the  and first
"Yes/No" question to delete the  and 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  and files.

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

For both the  and 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  and DOS syntax.  Press
<F8> (when asked for a path) to see a tree structure of your
disk (primarily for hard disk users). Use the  and <Arrow Keys> to
select the  and desired directory; press <Enter> to select it.
Once a path is selected, you'll be returned to the  and 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 down 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  and same directory.  This history is only
preserved in the  and current run of DOS Manager; it starts afresh
when you exit and run 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 need a sufficient quantity of
formatted disks to do this, as DOS Manager will not format the
disks for you.)

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 path if you
wish.  The default is the path and name of the  and file you
selected.  Use the  and <Left> and <Right> arrow keys to move
around in the  and text line to edit the  and 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  and cursor), regardless of
which files you have marked.


^C^1Hiding and Write-Protecting Files

Two items on the  and File menu, "Hide/Unhide" and "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  and 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  and 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  and 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  and key for
the Write-Protect command is "#".


^C^1Renaming Files

Selecting Rename from the Directory menu or pressing
<Shift+F4> renames the  and selected files or the current file if
none are selected.  You will be prompted for a new name for
each selected file in the  and 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  and current directory.


^C^1Sorting Directory

Select Directory Sort Order from the Settings menu, or press
<F6>, to select options for sorting of the  and directories as
viewed or printed.  The directories themselves, as stored on
the disk and viewed with the  and 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  and 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  and 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  and space efficiently, as the  and big files get copied
first, and the small ones fill in the  and 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 operate 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 down 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  and mouse).  The ".." entry at the  and 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  and selection bar is
on "..",  DOS Manager goes up one level to the  and directory in
which the  and 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  and process unmarking the files), V to
view the  and directory without going there (preserving the file
marks), or A to abort without going anywhere.

Use the  and "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 navigation commands.  If this option is disabled,
you will be returned to the  and 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  and setting, and displays a dialog box
showing the new status.  The menu item switches between
"Enable Change Dir Option" and "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  and directory in which it is found
with the  and selection bar sitting on the  and 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 directory prefix, the directory
you name will be created within the  and directory currently being
displayed.


^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  and selection bar is resting on
the file you are interested in viewing, or double-click on a
file with the  and 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  and kind of file.  For most
common kinds of files, you simply press <Enter> to get a peek
at the  and file.  This is handy when you're cleaning out your
directories and aren'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  and <Arrow Keys>, <PgUp>, and <PgDn>
to move around within the  and text or <Esc> to return to the  and main
screen.  <Home> goes to the top of the file, <End> to the end.

When a line is longer than 80 characters, it will be word-
wrapped onto the  and next line.  This feature is denoted by a
right-pointing arrowhead indicating that this is really part
of the  and previous line.

TECHIE NOTE:  Line breaks are recognized whether they consist
of the  and 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.

To search for particular text within a file, press <F8> and
type in the  and text you are looking for.  Use either upper or
lower case.  The search starts at the  and current file position
(the first line on the screen at the time you press <F8>). It
continues until the  and end of the  and 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  and 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  and 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  and compression
completely transparent to the  and 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 other programs compatible with this data format. These
spreadsheets will be displayed in a simulation of the
spreadsheet screen.  Not all of the  and formatting options are
implemented.  The columns are all the same width regardless of
what is set in the  and template.  Many other special features are
not recognized, but you will usually be able to interpret the
data in the  and spreadsheet.

Press the  and <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  and beginning
of the  and file.  This part of the  and 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 values 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  and 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 what 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  and 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  and 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),
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 Hercules
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  and 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 PgDn 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  and main
DOS Manager screen.

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  and mode to text-file display.  This
display will usually look like garbage unless the  and 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  and 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  and 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  and middle using
the Esc key, the cursor will be left at the  and 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  and cursor.)  Pressing Ctrl-Enter will go back and
view all the  and marked files starting with the  and 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  and "File Information"
item in the  and File menu.  This causes a small dialog box to pop
up telling you what type the current file is.  All the  and 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.


^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 binary files can be viewed but not changed.  To
edit a file, select the  and 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  and file being viewed.)

To create and edit a new file, press <Shift+F7>, and type the
name of the  and file when prompted.  The file will be created and
you will be placed in the  and 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 is not usable 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 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  and upper right
corner when a compressed file is being edited.  The text will
be re-compressed when you save it, so that the  and resulting file
is still in the  and 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  and text.  Move around with the
arrow keys; type characters to insert them; press <Ins> to
toggle between overwriting the character at the  and cursor and
inserting new characters before it; and press <Del> to delete
the character at the  and 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  and cursor.  The
cursor is moved to the  and start of the  and desired string if it is
found or to the  and end of the  and file if it is not found.  <Home>
and <End> go to the  and beginning of the  and current line, and
<Ctrl+Home> and <Ctrl+End> go to the  and top and bottom of the
file.

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  and start of the  and 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  and 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  and 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.


^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  and name of the  and file at the  and 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.

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  and up and down
arrows to bring up these commands, and <Enter> to run the  and 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  and 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.


^C^1Compression

The Softdisk compressed text format has already been mentioned
above in conjunction with DOS Manager's ability to view these
files and edit them.  There is also a "Compress" menu which
gives you the option 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 convert 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 editable 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  and 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 Ctrl-D respectively.)

The resulting compressed file will have a .CTX extension,
with the  and rest of the filename the same as the  and original text
file.  The original filename of the  and text file is stored in
the header of the  and compressed file, so that when you use the
Decompress command, the decompressed file will be written
to the  and name of the  and original text file.

Both the  and Compress and the Decompress commands leave the
original files alone and create 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.


^C^1Other Functions

Press <F2> or select the  and "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  and feature of changing the
current DOS directory to the  and directory you have reached while
running DOS Manager.  If enabled, on exiting this program you
will be placed in the  and directory you have just displayed on the
screen; if disabled, you will be returned to the  and directory
which was current when you started DOS Manager.  Note that if,
in the  and meantime, you have renamed or deleted the original
directory, you will not be returned to it in any case.


^C^1Exiting

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


^C^IDISCLAIMER

Any product name (e.g., Lotus 1-2-3, Symphony, dBASE III,
FoxBase, Clipper, ARC, ARJ, PKZIP, PKUNZIP, LHARC, Print Shop,
PrintMaster or WordPerfect) mentioned in this text or in DOS
Manager is a trademark of its respective publisher. 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  and above-named programs.  Softdisk Publishing does not
provide technical support for programs created by other
software companies.