ELFTREE (TM) (C) Copyright 1988-1994 By Alan J. Avery ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Alan Avery (developer) Elvish Consulting 1408 Noble Avenue Springfield, Illinois 62704 (800)-728-6815 (8 a.m. to 9 p.m. CDT only, please) (217)-698-8600 (from outside of US mainland) (217)-698-8601 (FAX - 24 hours a day) DISCLAIMER The Author specifically disclaims all other warranties, expressed or implied, including but not limited to, implied warranties of merchantibility and fitness for a particular purpose with respect to defects in the diskette and documenta- tion, and the program license granted herein. In particular, and without limiting operation of the program license with respect to any particular application, use, or purpose, in no event shall the Author be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damage, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential or other damages. Your use of this program constitutes acceptance of these terms. Thank You! Many people have told us that ELFTREE is vastly more powerful than any commercial product sold as a `DOS shell'. We've been praised for making ELFTREE simple to use (it hasn't been easy!), fast (it's written in Borland's C and Turbo Assembler), and intuitive. We thank all of you who have used ELFTREE and have helped, with your ideas, to make it such a helpful product. No programmer has the skill to think of all the wonderful ideas blended together in this version of ELFTREE. Thank you all! Cheap Upgrades! To upgrade to the latest version, send $6 (through December 31, 1994) to the address above. Page -1- Introduction ELFTREE is designed to simplify your goal of getting the most out of your computer. The heart of the program is a powerful, intuitive and marvelously integrated file, directory and application manager. With it, you can install software in record time, move files from one place to another (even across a network!) with ease, and locate files fast on even the largest hard disk, regardless of whether you use DOS or 4DOS! You won't believe how easy it is to run a program from within ELFTREE, or to customize it to suit your tastes. You will see in all of ELFTREE's features that great care was taken to marry great power with extreme convenience. The result is a delightful product that can help you be more effective in how you use your computer. What Makes ELFTREE Special? Power - For the full story, print the file ELFTREE.HLP. Notes - Attach short notes to files in any directory. If you use 4DOS, ELFTREE can read/write 4DOS note files! Brains - When you choose an option, ELFTREE anticipates your next need, where possible. For example, when you: a. Rename a directory, the tree is adjusted automatically. b. Attempt to use an unformatted floppy disk, ELFTREE will let you format it (even if you are in the middle of copying files). c. Create a directory in the middle of specifying where to copy or move files, ELFTREE will highlight the new directory for you. d. Select a menu option that has a submenu, ELFTREE will highlight the most likely submenu option for you. e. Rename an item with spaces in the name, the spaces are conveniently removed for you. Convenience - Integrated customization; associate file extensions with programs for quick launching. Menus - 13 main menus, 10 levels of submenus, 100 selections per menu. Programmable symbols to integrate your commands with your files or ELFTREE actions. The file SAMPLE.ETU is included to get you started. Trim - Either 0 or 2K is used when running a program, and you determine how much. Strong Editing - Edit many files at once, cut/paste between them, speedy search/replace, and tiny! Viewing - Many customizable settings plus a host of block operations for cleaning up files and FAST text searching! Video - Full support for standard EGA/VGA display modes, plus accommodation of non-standard ones. Flexibility - You tell ELFTREE how much memory to use for files, directories and notes. Page -2- Go use it! Type: ET and tap [ENTER]. Enjoy using all of ELFTREE's features. Environment Variables ELFTREE recognizes the following optional environment variables: ELFTREEPATH - For DOS 2.X, specifies where ELFTREE files are stored. ETCONFIG - Specifies the configuration file to use. ETDRIVES - Specifies a default selection of drives to search ETFIND - Specifies where to store menus, tree maps, etc. ETIDENT - Specifies a session identifier. ETMAP - Specifies where to store tree maps for removable drives (such as Bernoulli cartridges, optical media and floppy disks). ETMAPCDR - Helps control CDROM tree map management. when using the FIND command. ETVALTREE - Specifies what drives to limit the Validate Tree customize option to. Note: These variables are explained fully in the file AUTOEXEC.DOC, which should have been included in this package. These files should have been included on the ELFTREE product disk. If any are missing, please call us at (800) 728-6815 to correct it. AUTOEXEC.DOC - tips on modifying AUTOEXEC.BAT file ASKET.EXE - used when repeating commands in 0K RAM. ET.EXE - ELFTREE loader ETT.BAT - used when ELFTREE runs a program in 0K RAM. ELFEDIT.EXE - editor ELFTREE.CHL - ELFTREE features ELFTREE.HLP - ELFTREE help file *ETSORT.EXE - flat-file database sort program FEATURES.ET - Brief description of ELFTREE features. INSTALL.BAT - installation program README.DOC - this file. REGISTER.DOC - registration file SAMPLE.ETU - Sample menu file SITELICE.DOC - Site license agreement. SNOOZE.ELF - File of messages active during screen blanking. UPGRADE.DOC - Form for requesting latest upgrade to ELFTREE. VIEWDBF.EXE - dBase DBF viewer VIEWMW.EXE - MicroSoft Word document viewer *VIEWWK.EXE - Quattro/1-2-3 spreadsheet viewer WHATSNEW.ET - List of recent enhancements to ELFTREE. ELFTREE.NTE - File of notes (ELFTREE format) DESCRIPT.ION - File of notes (4DOS format) ELFTREE.NTE - File of notes (ProFinder format) * - Indicates file is on 3.5" diskette only. Page -3- ELFTREE Command-Line Switches __________________________________________________________________________ In addition to the customize menu, you can configure ELFTREE with certain command-line switches that you type after the ET that gets ELFTREE up and running. Here are the switches that may be used, and what they represent: /#=- If you prefer not to use '#' as the symbol that identifies a macro symbol (for example, you may have files with '#' in their names), use this to select another symbol. For example, to make '+' the symbol, use /#=+ /4 - Use 4DOS-style note files (file name DESCRIPT.ION). /5 - Use ET-style note files (file name ELFTREE.NTE). /6 - Use ProFinder-style note files (file name TITLES.PF). /C - if you have a composite monitor. /D=#### - Set maximum # of directories to handle. Each uses 16 bytes. (max is 3,999; default is 1000) /F=#### - Set maximum # of files to handle. Each uses 22 bytes. (max is 16384; default is 5000) /G=#### - Set maximum # of directories that Find can handle. Each uses 64 bytes. (max is 999; default is 50) /H=# - If # is 1, this activates high-speed disk scanning routines for non-networked drives. (default is 1, or ON; /H=0 turns it off) Note: A separate logical variable is maintained for high-speed scanning in the OS/2 Compatibility Box. This switch affects only that variable's setting. /K=#### - If # is at least 10, this refers to the number of internal macro keys to allow. (max is 5000; default is 100) /L=Z - Sets last drive accessible to user. (default is Z) /N=#### - Set maximum number of notes to handle. Each one uses 64 bytes; the space is shared with /G=####. (max is 1,000; default is 50) /R=### - ASCII code of `retag' character to use (1-255). (default is 9, which looks like a hollow circle) /T=### - ASCII code of `tag' character to use (1-255). (default is 4, which looks like a solid diamond) /U=#### - if #### is at least 500, this sets the maximum allowable length of a menu command line. (max is 10,000; default is 500) /Y=# - If you do not have an enhanced keyboard, but you want ELFTREE to think that you do (this will let you use [Ctrl-Del] and other nonstandard keys), use 1 for #. Use 0 for # if you do not want ELFTREE to use any of the enhanced keyboard facilities, even if you have such a keyboard. (default is 1 if an enhanced keyboard is detected, and 0 if not) Here is an example of how to set up ELFTREE to use 2,000 files, 300 directories and 500 notes per directory: ET /F=2000 /D=300 /N=500