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Documentation for DIREDIT V3.04 Copyright 1990, P. R. Fletcher ________________________________ _______________________________ DIREDIT - Directory Editor __________________________ Copyright (1985-1990), P. R. Fletcher _____________________________________ All Rights Reserved ___________________ Distributed by: P. R. Fletcher (Software) 1515 West Montgomery Avenue Rosemont PA 19010 _______ ____|__ | (tm) --| | |------------------- | ____|__ | Association of | | |_| Shareware |__| o | Professionals -----| | |--------------------- |___|___| MEMBER Documentation for DIREDIT V3.04 Copyright 1990, P. R. Fletcher ________________________________ _______________________________ TABLE OF CONTENTS _________________ User-Supported Software 1 Introduction 2 Hardware and Software Requirements 4 Running DIREDIT 5 The Screen Display 7 Editing the Directory 7 Sorting the Directory 9 Limitations and Restrictions 10 Bugs and Other Unpleasant Subjects 10 Changes from Previous Versions 12 APPENDICES 14 A - Summary of Single-Key Commands 14 B - Known Hardware Incompatibilities 15 C - Using DIREDIT with RAMdisks 16 Registration Form 17 Documentation for DIREDIT V3.04 Copyright 1990, P. R. Fletcher ________________________________ _______________________________ USER-SUPPORTED SOFTWARE _______________________ Much of the software which is available for your computer has, in the past, been produced and sold on the assumption that you are a crook and that you will take any available opportunity to cheat software writers and vendors out of their rightful reward. Such software was copy-protected within an inch of its (and your computer's) life and was priced at a level which still guaranteed its producers a profit even if four or five illegal copies were made for each one sold. Thankfully, prices of commercial software have (for the most part) come down somewhat, and copy-protection is becoming much less prevalent, but buying such software remains something of a lottery - you often cannot be sure that the software does what you want in the way you want it done until you have paid for it. User-supported software is different. You may have got a copy of this program free from a friend or a bulletin board or (for a nominal fee) from a users' group or software library. In any case, you have a perfectly legal working copy of DIREDIT. You are encouraged to make as many copies of the package as you like and to distribute them to all your friends. If, after trying the program out, you find that it is useful and want to continue to keep and use it, you must register your copy by sending the registration fee ($20.00, unless you are already a registered user of HDTEST, in which case it is $10.00) together with the completed registration form, to the address on the form. Only your conscience can make you do this (although you are probably breaking the law if ____ you don't), but bear in mind that the distributors of "user-supported" software are making the assumption that you are honest and willing to pay a reasonable price for a useful program, many commercial software vendors, on the other hand, would still apparently rather believe you are a crook. You can decide who you would rather prove right. Registered users will be entitled to support, upgrades, and help with DIREDIT-related problems (including telephone support) for a year from the date of registration. The author of this program is a member of the Association of Shareware Professionals (ASP). ASP wants to make sure that the shareware principle works for you. If you are unable to resolve a shareware- related problem with an ASP member by contacting the member directly, ASP may be able to help. The ASP Ombudsman can help you resolve a dispute or problem with an ASP member, but does not provide technical support for members' products. Please write to the ASP Ombudsman at P.O. Box 5786, Bellevue, WA 98006 or send a Compuserve message via easyplex to ASP Ombudsman 70007,3536" Page 1 Documentation for DIREDIT V3.04 Copyright 1990, P. R. Fletcher ________________________________ _______________________________ INTRODUCTION ____________ DIREDIT is a program which allows you to "edit" DOS directories. There are a large number of programs, some in the public domain, others available as components of commercial utility packages (e.g. the Norton Utilities (TM)), which allow directories to be sorted in ______ various ways (by filename, by file type ("extension"), by modification date, by size), but DIREDIT was initially one of the very few which also allowed the user to specify an arbitrary order and/or to move individual directory entries around at will. Although this capability has now become more common, I believe (and users have told me) that DIREDIT's "pick it up and move it" implementation is more convenient than the approaches used by others. DIREDIT also displays the directory in a very compact manner, with up to 80 file-names visible on the screen at once, but allows you to see the full file description for any entry simply by moving a cursor to the name. You may reasonably ask why you should care how your directories are arranged - one answer to this question depends on the fact that the order in which subdirectories and files are listed in the order in which DOS searches through them (when asked to find a data file or executable program). It follows from this that programs and data files will be accessed fastest if they appear at the top of the directory listing of the subdirectory in which they are found, and also that subdirectories (especially those which are specified in your PATH command) should, for fast access, be at the top of the root directory listing. On the other hand, many people find it easier to find a file that they are searching for if the directory is sorted in some other way. The advantages (in this context) of alphabetical sorts by name and/or type are obvious, but sorting by size or date/time (most recently modified files at the bottom or top) can also sometimes be useful. You can use DIREDIT for both purposes - arranging your directories on disk for efficient access and then resorting them temporarily on the screen when searching for a file without (necessarily) saving the resorted directory to disk. Although a small number of people have Registered earlier versions of DIREDIT, and most of these have been very enthusiastic about the program, it has been much less popular than HDTEST, my other Shareware offering. Part of the reason for this may have been that the Shareware version of the program, while fully functional, would only work on a restricted range of (IBM BIOS compatible) devices. To investigate this possibility, I have decided to change the way I distribute DIREDIT. This version of DIREDIT is (at the time of its release) the most recent version - the previous absolute distinction between Shareware and Registered versions has been abandoned, and any substantial future ___________ upgrades will result in new Shareware releases. The DIREDIT distribution "package" is "User-supported Software", and may be copied and distributed freely for evaluation under the normal "Shareware" conditions. Registration as a user of DIREDIT entitles you to receive the next major upgrade on disk, to be notified of the availability of future upgrades, bug fixes, newly discovered incompatibilities, etc., and to ask for (and get) necessary help in adapting the program to work on your hardware. I cannot guarantee to make DIREDIT work with every possible combination of hardware and operating system software, but I will promise to try to solve problems as they come up, and I Page 2 Documentation for DIREDIT V3.04 Copyright 1990, P. R. Fletcher ________________________________ _______________________________ will return your registration fee if I cannot support the program on your system. Support is available to registered users only by mail to ________________________ me at 1515 West Montgomery Avenue, Rosemont, PA 19010, by BIXmail (to pfletcher), and by Compuserve EMail (to 72255,305). Please bear in mind that my willingness and ability to continue to support and enhance these programs will be (to some extent) inversely dependent on the number of questions I get that could be answered by reading the documentation(!). Telephone support is also available to Registered Users. DIREDIT was written principally in C, compiled by the Microsoft C compiler (Version 5.10) using its "small" memory model, and linked with code from the distributed Microsoft C object libraries using the Microsoft LINK program (Version 4.06). Additional assembly language routines were assembled by the Microsoft MASM Macro Assembler (Version 5.10). Portions of the distributed program are consequently Copyright (C) by Microsoft Corp., 1985 - 1988. All rights reserved. These portions are used under the terms of a license from Microsoft Corp. DIREDIT was written with care and has been tested on a number of different systems. I cannot, however, give any guarantee as to their performance on a specific system, nor can I accept liability for any actual or consequential loss resulting from their use. The program may only be used and/or copied in its original form. Unauthorised modifications and/or the use of all or part of the program in other software, commercial or otherwise, are strictly prohibited. Page 3 Documentation for DIREDIT V3.04 Copyright 1990, P. R. Fletcher ________________________________ _______________________________ HARDWARE & SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS ________________________________ DIREDIT makes a number of assumptions about the environment in which it is operating. The program will, generally speaking, abort with an informative error message if it finds one of these assumptions to be untrue! It requires MS/PC-DOS 2.0 or above and at least 96 Kb of free memory (the exact amount required depends on the size of the target device and directory) to run. The device on which the target directory is found must be recognizable by DOS as a standard "block" device, addressed by one of the normal device names ("A:" through "Z:"). Versions of DIREDIT before V2.00 used BIOS calls to read and write the directory information, restricting its use to floppy disks and those hard disks (the majority, in fact) whose BIOSes were capable of handling (at least) normal disk reads and writes in a way that was compatible with that documented for the XT and AT disk adapters in IBM's technical documentation. This version of DIREDIT uses only DOS calls, and should, therefore, also be usable on those hard disks and other storage devices which are not BIOS compatible with XT/AT disks and/or require special drivers to be installed. RAMdisks present special problems, because their device drivers may not obey all the rules laid down by Microsoft for block-replaceable devices (particularly with regard to the structure and/or presence of a "boot sector" at the lowest numbered sector on the device). If you have problems running DIREDIT on a RAMdisk, you should read Appendix C for a more detailed discussion of likely problems and their solution. Users of non IBM-compatible MS-DOS systems should scan Appendix B before proceeding, to check that no special considerations apply to the running of the program on their systems. Owners of 99.99% IBM-compatible "clones" should not have any problems. DIREDIT will not run in the DOS compatibility box under OS/2 (OS/2 does not support ___ the DOS INT 25/26 disk read/write interrupts), and should be used only with great caution under other DOS-compatible multi-user and/or multi- tasking OSes. Page 4 Documentation for DIREDIT V3.04 Copyright 1990, P. R. Fletcher ________________________________ _______________________________ RUNNING DIREDIT _______________ Although DIREDIT will, in practice, coexist happily with most resident ____ software ("Pop-ups", desk utilities, resident spelling checkers, etc.), the total impossibility of my checking every one of the hundreds of commercial, shareware, and PD resident utilities for compatibility forces me to suggest that you remove such software from memory before running DIREDIT. You should never use any resident _____ software that may read or write to the device you are "editing" from ____ within DIREDIT. Similarly, you should not run DIREDIT under a DOS- ______________ compatible multi-user or multi-tasking operating system unless you are absolutely sure that no other tasks and/or users are accessing the device that it is working on. The program is invoked with the command: DIREDIT [pathname] If a pathname is not specified on the command line, the program will default to the current directory. Otherwise, any valid DOS path specification may be used (some examples are: A:\; A:\SUB1\SUB2; \SUB1\SUB2 {referred to the root directory of the current device}; SUB3\SUB4 {starting from the current directory}). Note that there is one difference between the way DIREDIT interprets path specifications and the way DOS normally does. DIREDIT will interpret a specification which contains a drive but no path (e.g. A:) as referring to the root ____ directory on the specified drive, rather than the default directory on _______ that drive (if one has been named in a "CD" command). DIREDIT will display its copyright screen and pause until you press a key - it will then read in the directory to be edited and check to see whether the first file or files in the directory have the "System" attribute. If they do (typically true for the files that contain the normally resident component of the operating system, which are to be found in the root directory of a bootable disk), DIREDIT asks whether you wish to exclude these files from directory sort operations. You should not override the default ("Y") answer to this question unless you are sure you know what you are doing (!) - if the operating system boot files are not first in the directory, the disk will cease to be ___ bootable. After you have responded to this question (assuming that it was necessary for DIREDIT to ask it) the program will switch to its normal display mode. On the upper 20 lines of the terminal screen are displayed up to 80 "identifier blocks", each comprising an ID number (which initially corresponds to the position of the directory entry in the directory) and a file name. An inverse video box cursor, initially positioned over the first (top lefthand) block, indicates the current entry. This box can be moved to highlight any visible block by using the arrow keys. The "Cursor->" display line at the bottom of the screen shows the full description of the file or directory whose name is in the current block. In addition to "normal" directory information (name, creation date and time, size) this line shows whether any of the DOS Page 5 Documentation for DIREDIT V3.04 Copyright 1990, P. R. Fletcher ________________________________ _______________________________ file attribute bits are set. Set bits are indicated by the appearance of one or more upper-case letters at the end of the line. The possibilities are: [A]rchive - this indicates that the file has been modified since it was last backed up by the DOS BACKUP utility. Under DOS 3.2, this bit can also be set or reset by using the ATTRIB command. [H]idden - this indicates that the file has been made invisible to normal directory searches. The system files on a bootable disk will always be labelled as "hidden" (as well as "system"), as will some files created by software copy-protection systems. [R]eadonly - this indicates that the file can be "seen" and read but not written to or deleted. Under DOS 3.x, this bit can be set or reset using the ATTRIB command. [S]ystem - this indicates that the file is a "system" file. DOS does not currently make any special use of this bit, which was inherited from CP/M, but this may change in future revisions. "System" files are always also labelled "hidden" to make them invisible to normal directory searches. If there are less than 81 active directory entries (the normal case!), all will be displayed at once, otherwise only the first 80 will (initially) be visible. Page 6 Documentation for DIREDIT V3.04 Copyright 1990, P. R. Fletcher ________________________________ _______________________________ THE SCREEN DISPLAY __________________ The names and ID numbers of up to 80 files and/or subdirectories are displayed on the top 20 lines of the screen. If the directory being edited contains more than this number of entries, DIREDIT allows you to "page" up and down within it so that you can inspect or operate on any entry. In this case (more than 80 files in the directory), the screen is divisible into two windows through an imaginary line drawn vertically down its center. The left-hand window will always contain 40 blocks; the right-hand one will contain up to 40 more. Each window may be positioned (using the <PgUp>, <PgDn>, <Home>, and <End> keys) anywhere within the directory, except that the two windows may never overlap and that the left hand window must always remain "below" the right hand one in the directory. When the program starts up, the two windows are "locked", so that they move together. Pressing the "L" key toggles the lock so that they can move independently. <PgUp> (or <F3>) moves the current window (i.e. the one which contains the block cursor) up by twenty entries. <PgDn> (or <F4>) moves the current window down by twenty entries. <Home> moves the current window as far towards the beginning of the directory as possible (so that the first 40 (or 80) entries are shown). <End> moves the current window as far towards the bottom of the directory as possible (so that the screen shows the last 21 to 40 (or 61 to 80) entries). If the windows are not "locked" together and an attempted window move would otherwise cause them to overlap (i.e. the inactive window is immediately adjacent to the current one in the direction of the attempted move) OR the windows are "locked" together (which is the default case), both windows are moved. If an attempted window move would cause either window to go off the top or bottom of the file, it does not take place and the command is simply ignored (no error message is generated). Note that window moves do not normally affect the position of the cursor within the window. _________________ The lower part of the screen display shows additional details of the directory entry on which the cursor is positioned, similar details of the entry that is being "moved" (if any), and other information. The bottom line shows the full pathname of the directory being edited. The last character on this line, which is normally blank, is changed to an asterisk (*) if any changes have been made to the directory being edited. EDITING THE DIRECTORY _____________________ The simplest way of making small changes to the order of files in the directory is by moving individual entries. An individual entry is moved by positioning the cursor on the identifier block, "picking it up" by pressing the <Del> key, positioning the cursor at the point to which the entry is to be moved, and "inserting" it there by pressing the <Ins> key. The full description of the entry that is in the process of being moved is shown on the "Moving->" display at the bottom of the screen. You may not exit (which causes the disk Page 7 Documentation for DIREDIT V3.04 Copyright 1990, P. R. Fletcher ________________________________ _______________________________ directory to be updated, and would, in this case, cause the "moving" entry to be lost) while an entry is being moved - you must replace it somewhere first. An entry which is being moved is also automatically put back (at the current cursor position) before a sort operation is carried out. Note that you can move "System" entries from the ___ beginning of the root directory manually, but you will be prompted for ________ confirmation before you are allowed to "pick them up". A number of other single-key commands are implemented, as described below. Many of them trigger short dialogues, and the commands with potentially far-reaching effects usually require confirmation before you are allowed to do something you might regret. Note that, although the editor commands do not require that the <Return> key be pressed also, responses to prompts always do. "D" - change the date stamp on the current file. The program prompts with the current date stamp - the new date should be entered in the same format. Invalid dates will be rejected but any valid date between January 1, 1980 and December 31, 2099 may be entered. <CR> retains the current date stamp. "L" - toggle the "lock" which (by default) forces both windows to move together. This has no perceptible effect unless there are more than 80 entries in the directory. "M" - display the next of a series of single-line "aides-memoire" to available commands which appear on the 23rd line of the screen. Repeatedly pressing this key will cycle through lines describing all valid commands. "N" - edit a new directory (you are automatically given the option of writing the one currently being edited to disk first, if changes have been made to it). "Q" - quit the program without updating the current directory. If you _______ have made any changes during the current session, the program will prompt for confirmation before actually quitting. "R" - rename the current file. The program will prompt you to enter the new name. Invalid names (too long, containing illegal characters, etc.) will be rejected, as will a name that is the same as one of another file entry in the current directory. <CR> retains the current name. "S" - sort the directory (see below). "X" - exit and (if any changes have been made) update the current directory. "?" or <F1> - display help text. Page 8 Documentation for DIREDIT V3.04 Copyright 1990, P. R. Fletcher ________________________________ _______________________________ SORTING THE DIRECTORY _____________________ The directory display (and, ultimately, the directory on disk) may be sorted by date, filename, extension, or file size, in ascending or descending order. It may also be rearranged in any other arbitrary order you care to specify. When you press "S", the program will pause for two seconds to give you time to press another key, indicating the type of sort required. If you do not type anything within the time allowed, or if the key you press does not indicate a valid choice, the program will determine your choice by asking you a series of questions. The choices (in the order in which they are presented) are: "[O]ptimal" order - This sorts the directory for greatest efficiency (under normal circumstances). Subdirectories are put first, in alphabetical order by name, then come executable files (those with .BAT, .COM, and .EXE extensions) sorted in alphabetical order by extension and name. Finally come the rest of the files in the directory, sorted alphabetically by name. [U]ser-Specified Order - this option allows you to rearrange the file entries in an arbitrary order. You will be prompted to enter two lists of file numbers (the numbers displayed next to the filenames on the screen). The first list should contain the numbers of files which you would like to move to the top of the directory (in the order in which you want them to appear there) - the second should contain the numbers of files which you want to move to the bottom, also in the order in which they are to appear. Either list may be empty (just press <Return>). The lists should contain only the file numbers, as decimal integers, separated by one or more spaces and/or tabs. Sort by [F]ilename - sorts alphabetically by name and extension. Sort by [E]xtension - sorts by extension first, then by filename (for files with the same extension). Sort by [D]ate/Time - sorts by file modification date, then by modification time. Sort by file [S]ize - does what it says (!) For all of these options except "user-specified order", the program ______ also prompts you to specify whether you want the directory sorted in [A]scending or [D]escending order before it completes the sort. Ascending order is from A to Z for alpha sorts, from past to future for the date/time sort, and from small to big for the size sort. Descending order is, of course, the reverse in each case. "System" files at the beginning of a directory will be excluded from all sorts unless specifically included (by a "N" response when the __ program asks you whether you want them excluded). In fact, if you have moved such a file manually to some other position, any sort will result in its being put back where it came from. Page 9 Documentation for DIREDIT V3.04 Copyright 1990, P. R. Fletcher ________________________________ _______________________________ IMPORTANT NOTE ______________ You should review the directory you have been editing (e.g. by using the DOS DIR command) after exiting from DIREDIT, in order to check that it looks the way it should. If it doesn't look right, before ______ doing anything else, run CHKDSK or reboot the system and then check it ___________________ again - if it still doesn't look right, you will have to DIREDIT it again. These precautions are advised because DOS keeps a number of sectors worth of data (including directory data) from your disks in memory (the actual number of sectors held in this way is set by the "BUFFERS=..." line in CONFIG.SYS. If you use DIREDIT (which reads and writes the directory sectors using low-level DOS functions) to change a directory that DOS is holding in memory, the BUFFERed image of the directory is not automatically updated. This deficiency in DOS ___ presents a potential problem because, if you were then to do something that changed the directory (write a new file, change an old file, etc.) from within DOS, DOS would make the appropriate changes to its copy of the (old) directory and write it back over the new directory. ___ ____ Because there appears to be no way of telling DOS that the contents of its sector buffers may be invalid, DIREDIT attempts to flush them (before exiting) by performing a number of manoeuvres which result in multiple DOS disk read operations. It is possible (though not very ____ likely) that there are circumstances under which DIREDIT will fail to flush the DOS sector buffers when it terminates - running CHKDSK always seems to flush them successfully, and rebooting is guaranteed to do so. Because other disk cache programs intercept all DOS level ___ disk read and write calls, they should present no problems to DIREDIT. __ LIMITATIONS AND RESTRICTIONS ____________________________ The current version of DIREDIT has a few theoretical limitations, which result from the way data is stored internally by the program. None of them is likely to be encountered in normal use of the program on any but the most bizarre hardware. The program's memory usage depends more on the size of the target device than on that of the ______ target directory, but it should operate happily with any conceivable _________ device and directory size on any system with at least 256 Kb of free memory (over and above that occupied by DOS), and will usually require much less free memory than this. BUGS AND OTHER UNPLEASANT SUBJECTS __________________________________ Although, like all programmers, I would like to think that my program was perfect, it is possible that there are a few bugs lurking in its depths, and quite likely that there exists some combination of software and hardware which DIREDIT cannot figure out and/or cope with. If you think you have found a bug and/or if you cannot get the program to work on your system, proceed as follows: 1) Reread this documentation! Make sure that you are doing exactly what the documentation and/or program prompts tell you to do. Make sure (if you are trying to edit a directory on a drive with removable media) that the media is not write-protected. 2) Boot your system from a "virgin" DOS disk - preferably a copy of your DOS distribution disk - and try to run DIREDIT again. If the program runs in this limited environment, but not in your normal DOS Page 10 Documentation for DIREDIT V3.04 Copyright 1990, P. R. Fletcher ________________________________ _______________________________ environment, try reconstructing the system under which it failed (by adding things one by one until the problem recurs) and let me know about the incompatibility. 3) If the above approaches do not help, or if they appear to confirm an undocumented incompatibility, send me as detailed a description of the problem as possible and I will do my best to diagnose and fix it. A bug/incompatibility report should always include a full description ______ ____ of the system (software and hardware) on which the program is being run. Send reports/questions by mail to the address given on the first page of this documentation, by BIXmail (to pfletcher), by Compuserve EMail (to 72255,305) or, for Registered Users with urgent problems, ________________ ______ call me on the telephone (the number is to be found on the card or letter which you should have received acknowledging your Registration). Please bear in mind that my willingness and ability to continue to support and enhance these programs will be dependent on the number of Registrations I receive, and (to some extent) inversely dependent on the number of questions I get that could be answered by reading the documentation(!). Page 11 Documentation for DIREDIT V3.04 Copyright 1990, P. R. Fletcher ________________________________ _______________________________ CHANGES FROM PREVIOUS VERSIONS ______________________________ The first version of DIREDIT that was generally released was V1.20. The following only shows changes incorporated at each of the subsequent significant "watersheds" in the program's development prior to V3.00. Intermediate versions will have contained some but not all of the changes shown as included in the releases listed here. The V2.xx releases were only sent to Registered Users. V3.04 (this version) _____ 1) Fix for bug causing problem with program finding .HLP file in PATH (last directory path in PATH was not being parsed correctly). V3.02 _____ 1) Minor changes to termination code (to ensure that user-selected DOS screen colors are restored after exit). 2) Minor changes to startup code and copyright screen, with no functional consequences. V3.00 _____ 1) ANSI driver requirement removed. Major rewrite of low-level screen- handling code to use Microsoft C V5.1 screen support functions. 2) Full DOS 4.0 (and Compaq DOS 3.31) support added. V2.24 _____ 1) Minor deficiencies (stray characters) in lower part of screen display corrected. 2) Minor (and possibly inconsequential) logic error in assembly language code fixed. This error could have been responsible for the rare reports I have received of system crashes and/or "Stack Overflow" errors as the program terminates on some clones, but I have been unable to duplicate the described problems on any of the systems to which I have access. 3) Deficiency preventing a move to the last space in the directory __ corrected. V2.20 _____ 1) Changes to cursor key routines to implement "wrapping" from beginning to end and from side to side of the screen. 2) Bugs and deficiencies in new disk I/O routines fixed. Page 12 Documentation for DIREDIT V3.04 Copyright 1990, P. R. Fletcher ________________________________ _______________________________ V2.00 _____ 1) Added "Optimal" order option to [S]ort command. 2) Added ability to specify type of sort by single additional character appended to [S]ort command. 3) Changes to disk I/O routines to support a greater variety of devices. V1.51 _____ 1) Bugs causing improper operation of the [R]ename option fixed. 2) Copyright screen modified (to show author's new address!). V1.40 _____ 1) Bug causing the program to abort with a "Non-existent or Invalid Directory" error if the program were given a path specification containing only a drive name (e.g. A:) fixed. 2) Memory allocation/deallocation problem causing the program to abort with a "Invalid Device" error after the "N" option was used to edit a (variable) number of directories one after another fixed. 3) ANSI driver reset to normal mode (insert line feed after 80th successive printable character output to screen) when program exits. 4) Changes to program logic to reduce unnecessary screen updating. V1.30 _____ 1) Bug causing sorts by file size to result in incorrect ordering under some circumstances fixed. 2) Ability to use the faster screen output mode provided by certain ANSI enhancers added. Page 13 Documentation for DIREDIT V3.04 Copyright 1990, P. R. Fletcher ________________________________ _______________________________ APPENDIX A - SUMMARY OF SINGLE-KEY COMMANDS ___________________________________________ <PgUp> (or <F3>) - move the current window up by twenty entries. <PgDn> (or <F4>) - move the current window down by twenty entries. <Home> - move the current window as far towards the beginning of the directory as possible. <End> - move the current window as far towards the bottom of the directory as possible. <Del> - "pick up" directory entry for move. <Ins> - "put down" directory entry. "D" - change the date stamp on the current file. "L" - toggle the "lock" which (by default) forces both windows to move together. "M" - display the next of a series of single-line "aides-memoire" to available commands which appear on the 23rd line of the screen. "N" - edit a new directory. "Q" - quit the program without updating the current directory. _______ "R" - rename the current file. "S" - sort the directory - subcommands: "D" - by date/time. "E" - by extension. "F" - by filename. "O" - "optimal" order. "S" - by file size. "U" - user-specified (arbitrary) order. "X" - exit and (if any changes have been made) update the current directory. "?" or <F1> - display help text. Page 14 Documentation for DIREDIT V3.04 Copyright 1990, P. R. Fletcher ________________________________ _______________________________ APPENDIX B - KNOWN HARDWARE INCOMPATIBILITIES _____________________________________________ Tandy 2000 - Earlier versions of DIREDIT would run on this machine but the screen output was badly scrambled, effectively making it useless. The current version of the program uses totally different screen output routines, so the problem may be solved, but this has not yet ___ been confirmed. TI Professional - DIREDIT must be run under the (TI-supplied) EMULATE.COM program. <F3> and <F4> are used instead of PgUp and PgDn (which do not exist on the TI keyboard). Page 15 Documentation for DIREDIT V3.04 Copyright 1990, P. R. Fletcher ________________________________ _______________________________ APPENDIX C - USING DIREDIT WITH RAMDISKS ________________________________________ In general, you can most conveniently arrange files on a RAMDisk simply by copying them onto it in the order in which you want them to appear in the directory listing. The following discussion is for those who like to do things the hard way and have some understanding of the ___ hardware (!). RAMDisk drivers go to different lengths to emulate "real" devices, from those (the minority) which create a complete memory image of a floppy or hard disk, including a valid boot sector, to those which rely on the device driver code to interpret sector read and write commands on the basis of its own "understanding" of what may be a very non-standard "disk" format. DIREDIT can and does use more than one approach to deduce the format of a disk (hard, floppy, or RAM!), but the program needs information which is not normally available to programs running under DOS, and usually gets it from the BIOS Parameter Block (BPB) area in the device's boot sector. If there is no boot sector, the only remaining way of getting the needed information requires DOS 3.2 or above and that the device driver supports the generic IOCTL functions which were introduced with DOS 3.2 (few, if any, RAMDisk driverss do support these functions at present). If there is a boot sector and it is valid, DIREDIT should __ _______________ not have any problems. If there is a boot sector but the information in it is incomplete or invalid, you may be able to make it usable by using the VALIDATE program supplied with this package. The command syntax for VALIDATE is "VALIDATE d", where d is replaced by the device name of your RAMDisk (with or without a ":"). The program will also allow modification of the boot sectors on floppy and hard disks, but should be used with care, if at all, on these devices unless you are absolutely sure you know what you are doing. VALIDATE _______________ reads the first logical sector on the device and, if it seems possible that this is a boot sector, displays the contents of what should be its BPB area. You can then (with some help from the program) adjust the contents of the BPB, presumably to reflect reality, and write it back to the RAMDisk. VALIDATE will not allow you to write an obviously incorrect or inconsistent BPB back to the disk, but there are limits to its ability to identify invalid data - you should know what you are doing before you make any changes. For some reason, RAMDisk drivers frequently create boot sectors which do not end with the standard (55AA Hex) boot segment "signature", but are otherwise valid. The "signature" is added automatically by VALIDATE when the sector is rewritten, even if no other changes are made. After you have rewritten the boot sector, DIREDIT should work properly on the disk. I am aware that these instructions are somewhat cursory - if you have a real need to use DIREDIT on a RAMDisk and want more help, contact me directly. Page 16 REGISTRATION FORM - DIREDIT ___________________________ Please complete this form and return it with a check or money order (no cash, please) for $20.00 ($30.00 Canadian, L15.00 Sterling) to: Peter R. Fletcher 1515 West Montgomery Avenue Rosemont PA 19010 U.S.A. None of the information on this form will be passed on to any other individual or commercial organization. Use the back of the form for comments or additional space. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- This information is required to process your Registration: Last Name:____________________________ Other Names:______________________ Address:______________________________ Town/City:________________________ State:_____________ Post Code:____________ Telephone:_________________ (evenings/weekends) DIREDIT Version #:_______________ Serial #:_______________ (see copyright screen) I understand that this software is supplied without warranty, express or implied, and agree not to hold its author liable for any direct or consequential loss arising out of my use of it. Signature:______________________________ ------------------------------------------------------------------------- You are requested, but not required, also to answer the following questions: On What type(s) of computer are you using DIREDIT? ______________________ CPU (8088, 8086, etc.)? __________ Amount of RAM (kB)? ____________ Type & Size of Hard Disk(s)? ____________________________________ Make and Type of Hard Disk Controller(s)? ______________________________ Do you own a Modem? Y N Are you a member of BIX? Y N Compuserve? Y N How did you obtain/hear about this program? Did you think that the $20.00 registration fee for this program was: Very Good Value? About Right? Excessively High? Are there any other utility programs that you would like to see made available as "User Supported Software"? What sort of programs?