Folder Organizer

Version 1.01

July 1998

Juan M. Aguirregabiria 
E-mail: wtpagagj@lg.ehu.es
WWW: http://tp.lc.ehu.es/jma.html

Copyright
The programs Folders.exe and FoldersExe.exe the help files Folders.cnt and Folders.hlp, the sample definition files included with the packages and the documentation file Folders.rtf are copyrighted:
Copyright © Juan M. Aguirregabiria 1997
All rights reserved
Other brand and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.
Folder Organizer is FreeWare; there is no charge for using it and it may be distributed freely so long as the files are kept together and unaltered. You may neither sell nor profit from distribution of Folder Organizer in any way.

Disclaimer
In no event will the Author be liable to users for any damages, including but not limited to any lost profits, lost savings or other incidental or consequential damages arising out of the use or the inability to use this program, even if the Author has been advised of the possibility of such damages, or for any claim by other party. 

Hardware and software requirements
Folder Organizer runs under Microsoft Windows 95.

Other free programs by the same author
To get the last version of Folder Organizer and of following free programs contact the Author.

TeX Organizer is the natural complement for LaTeX Macros, DVIPS Shell and Folder Organizer: a simple utility to organize the use under Windows 95 of a group of DOS and/or Windows programs that are to be applied to a single file or to a group or related files. The best example (but not the only) is provided by TeX. Let us assume that you have a DOS (or even Windows) version of TeX. Typically you have to use:
•	your favorite editor to write and modify (in Plain TeX, LaTeX or another format) the source file, say Sample.TeX.
•	the typesetting program to create the Sample.DVI file.
•	a DVI viewer to check the results.
•	a DVI to PostScript translator to generate the Sample.PS file.
•	a program to send the PostScript file to the printer.
•	a file viewer to check the Sample.log file for errors.
•	a batch file to erase the intermediate Sample.aux, Sample.log and Sample.PS files.
You may also use some utilities to manage references, to draw figures, to view the PostScript output on the screen, etc. Another (simpler) example would be the writing of Windows help files which implies using a RTF editor, the help compiler and, maybe, a program to view the log file containing the errors.
All this mess may be easily handled by using TeX Organizer: You only have to select the main file (Sample.TeX in our example) from a standard open dialog box or by dragging it from the Explorer and then press the buttons corresponding to each or the programs and utilities that you want to apply to the main file or to related files.
For Windows 95.

LaTeX Macros is the natural complement for TeX Organizer, DVIPS Shell and Folder Organizer
Tired to write once and again the \begin{equation} \end{equation} pair each time you have to write a numbered displayed mathematical expression? 
Do you have trouble remembering which is the LaTeX command for the large arrow? 
LaTeX Macros is a utility to send to your editor LaTeX commands. It also helps you writing the document template (with options and packages) and create for you the skeleton of an array, a table or complex environments. You only have to select the corresponding button in a toolbar.
For Windows 95.

DVIPS Shell is the natural complement for LaTeX Macros, TeX organizer and Folder Organizer.
Tired to remember the options to be used with the excellent dvips when you want to print only some pages, or use an unusual magnification? 
DVIPS Shell is a utility to prepare the command line and launch the dvips program included, for instance, in the excellent free implementation of TeX by Christian Schenk: MiKTeX 1.07, which is available from CTAN mirrors (ftp://ftp.tex.ac.uk/tex-archive/systems/win32/miktex/ and ftp://ftp.dante.de/tex-archive/systems/win32/miktex).
For Windows 95.

Cmd Line Shell is designed to be a shell for any command line program. 
•	It provides a common, easily configurable, GUI look to any program which takes its options from the command line.
•	It will help you to prepare the command line and launch the external program. (You may also copy the command line to use it, say, form a batch file.)
•	You do not have to remember the syntax: the available options and their use are displayed. 
•	You may easily search through your system for the input and output files.
•	Your favorite options may be set as new default.
This program is designed to be used, for instance, with
•	the Console utilities by the same author,
•	the PostScript utilities included, for instance, in the excellent free implementation of TeX by Christian Schenk: MiKTeX 1.07, which is available from CTAN mirrors (ftp://ftp.tex.ac.uk/tex-archive/systems/win32/miktex/ and ftp://ftp.dante.de/tex-archive/systems/win32/miktex),
•	the epstool which comes with the last release of Ghostscript and GSview (http://www.cs.wisc.edu/~ghost/),
•	many GNU utilities.
The Definition Files (where the interface is defined) for many of these programs are provided (though you might need to change a line to specify the directory where your copy of each program is located).
For Windows 95.

EH is a simple reminder utility. So, if you sometimes forget your wedding anniversary, of your children's birthday or to pay your taxes, EH might help you to be a good husband, wife, father, mother or citizen.
EH is designed to be run, every time you start a Windows session, from the STARTUP group of Program Manager in order to remind you to do something. So, you will be reminded each time Windows starts and, optionally, at the latter time you select.
Many options are available. For instance, you might get a reminder warning in a fixed date, or every day in a month, or ever Tuesday of December. You can also choose to get the reminder from several days before a given date to some days after it. After sending the Christmas greetings to your mother, you may skip all messages till next year, for instance.
For Windows 3.1+ and Windows 95.

Directory Compare is a utility to help you keeping copies of your important directories (documents, programs under development and so on) in a backup hard disk or any other storage system (like 100Mb diskettes). I always have two or more copies of my important documents and I refresh them very often. I prefer to save exact copies of my working directories (rather than using some backup program, because it is faster and makes easier to open the old copy to recover some element or part that was better in the previous version. To make this process easier I wrote many years ago the first version of the program cpy which is included with my Console Utilities. It is a command line program, which makes it very convenient to use from a desktop shortcut that after a single click copies to my backup hard disk all modified elements in my working directories. Users that do not want to remember command lines options may use Cmd Line Shell to have a more user-friendly interface. Directory Compare is a kind or GUI version of cpy: it has far less options but its visual interface makes easier selective copies. For instance, modern compilers generate an incredible amount of auxiliary data, which speeds up compilation, but takes a lot of storage space.  (For instance, the source files of Directory Compare are less than100 Kb, but the auxiliary files generated by the compiler occupy 7,500 Kb!) Usually you do not want this kind of auxiliary files in your backup disk: they are very large and can be easily recreated by running the compiler. cpy may be instructed to ask you for confirmation before copying each file, but this is a boring and error prone process. My strategy is to have cpy copy everything during program development and when a version is released, I delete from my main and backup disks auxiliary files. To improve this approach I have written Directory Compare: it will show you side by side the source and backup directories so that you can easily select the files to by copied (from the source to the target or in both directories) and even delete from both directories auxiliary files.
For Windows 95.

Pentominoes are a generalization of dominoes: all the possible plane configurations formed by five contiguous squares. It is possible to construct all kind of figures containing 60 = 12x5 (or more) squares. Since Solomon W. Golomb introduced them in 1954, it has become a very popular puzzle and thousand of solutions and problems have been published. Pentominoes may solve any problem which can be selected from an extensible library or directly drawn on the screen by the user.
For Windows 95.

Touch is a simple utility to update the different date and time stamps of a single file or of a group of files. You may drag the files from the Explorer and drop them over the Touch window, or select them in a standard dialog box or even indicate them in the command line used to start Touch. You might even install Touch in the Windows\SendTo directory to have the opportunity to send files by using the Send To entry of the context menu that opens when using the right button in a folder or Explorer window.
It is possible to update any combination of the three times Windows 95 saves with each file: creation time, last-access time and modified time. The new time stamp may be the current date and time, or any other you may easily select.
For Windows 95.

Console utilities Microsoft has been advertising the new user interface (we could say the Mac-like interface) in Windows 95 and every effort has been made to suggest that Windows 95 no longer runs under DOS, but is a new operating system on is own. Schulman and other authors have conclusively proved that this claim is not completely correct (and also that 16-bit code has still a central role in Windows 95).
So DOS is not gone... BUT THIS IS VERY GOOD NEWS!
To start with, many file maintenance jobs are far easier when using command line utilities and batch files. The "user-friendly" way to do many simple tasks (comparing two directories or copying to the disk the relevant modified files of you current programming task, for instance) is boring and error prone. 
On the other hand, Unix-like filters are still very useful, but the task to provide them a good looking user-friendly interface is probably not worth; after all they will be used only by advanced users that are not afraid of the command line (and even acknowledge its advantages in some cases).
Finally, DOS is still there with Windows 95, but it's a much better DOS! Many previous limitations are gone or lessened, because one may now easily write the so-called "console" mode applications that 
•	look like old DOS programs:
•	if they are run form the command line, their output is sent to the DOS box,
•	redirection and pipes are supported as usual.
•	but are true Windows 95 programs with many of the Win32 advantages:
•	long filenames
•	direct access to all available physical and virtual memory (no more need of those often mutually incompatible DOS extenders).
•	version information
•	threads
•	memory mapped files
•	structured exception handling
•	mouse
•	etc.
I couldn't stand being completely deprived of the command line. After all I do know writing (well, at least in my native language, which obviously is not English). I sometimes think that all these icons and "user-friendly" interfaces are a step back to the caves where icons were used because nobody knew writing. For instance, by using one of the utilities included with this package you can simply write:
  cpy -md . a:\backup
to copy all the files in the current directory (and its subdirectories) that are newer than the same files in the a:\backup directory. How many steps are necessary to do the same thing by using the Explorer? Not to speak about the possibility of errors.
In this package I include new compilation for Windows 95 of some DOS utilities which I have been using from years. I hope you find some of them useful.
They are more productive if used with Folder Organizer.
For Windows 95.

Toolbar is intended to provide some features that I found lacking in the Program Manager and File Manager of the retail Windows 3.1. To start with, while working in File Manager, you can drag an item and drop it over some running programs. But if one of these programs is not running and you drop the item over its icon, the program is not started. Instead, the dropped item is added to the corresponding group of Program manager. Of course, sometimes this is just what you wanted. One could say that the groups in Program manager were meant more for organization of programs than for running them. On the other hand, most programs still lack the ability to accept dropped files and you cannot use with them this drag and drop feature. 
Since my screen tends to be cluttered with windows, I also wanted the ability to place (in a permanent and compact way) at a corner of the screen the utilities I used most often. Program Manager groups are nice but big and I do not need to see the names of my favorite utilities: I can easily recognize them by their icons. The utilities should always be at hand - ready to be started by double-clicking them (as in Program Manager) or by dropping an item on them. For instance, this is a nice way to provide the most important facility missing in File Manager: a file viewer. 
Toolbar is the answer to these wishes. It provides an alternative to the groups of Program Manager with the following distinctive characteristics:
It can be used either as a substitute for Program Manager (which, in turn, can be run from Toolbar), or as a normal application installed in Program Manager (or in the current shell program). 
It is better suited for running programs: there are multiple ways of running programs and advanced settings can be used. 
All programs in a toolbar are always visible (as long as the whole window is on the screen). They are held together in a very compact way, to be as unobtrusive as possible. Optionally, you can force a toolbar to be always visible on top of other windows. In order to save space, the title bar can be suppressed (or displayed to have useful information at hand).
Items from File Manager can be dropped on any program installed as a tool. It only needs to be able to accept file names on the command line. Most MS-DOS and Windows programs have this ability. A program can also be started by double-clicking (or single clicking the right button), or by using the enter key, or a user selected accelerator key.
You can choose between running an instance of the program for each dropped file, or running a single instance of the program for all of the dropped files.
Programs can be easily added, removed and reordered. The corresponding caption, command line, working directory, icon and other options can be easily changed.
You can implement a full tree of nested toolbars.
You can drag files to and from Toolbar. Program Manager does not allow dragging of its elements outside of its windows.
Utilities (small utility programs that use a toolbar button as its display window) make Toolbar more compact and extensible. A few are provided with Toolbar: trashcan, alarm clock, menu, memory, resources, information and blank icon. Additionally, new utilities can be added by the user (the programmatic interface is fully documented and sample source code is included).
Toolbar supports most of the same user interface as Program Manager.
Toolbar is able to transparently use (and to translate to its own format) group files from Program Manager.
And more!
For Windows 3.1+.

Sinfo is designed to help Windows programmers by providing information on many aspects of Windows. It can display full information on current classes, windows, modules and tasks. There are some advanced (though highly risky) commands to unload modules and libraries and to free leaked memory. You can also examine and save to a file the contents (or the hex dump) of any global or local heap block. It is possible to see (and terminate) hidden tasks.
It can also be used as an advanced substitute for the Task Manager (in this way it can be accessed very quickly). Hidden tasks can be optionally listed and you can hide (and shown again) windows and make them a top most window (or delete this property).
For instance, some DLL libraries cannot be simultaneously used for more than one program. If the program crashes, the library may be left in memory and cannot be reused without restarting Windows. The knowledgeable user can use Sinfo to free it. This possibility is especially useful when developing programs, but it has also helped us with a very known commercial package which crashes repeatedly leaving a library in memory.
When developing programs (or testing other people's applications) it is not difficult to get the cursor lost. Sinfo can recover it for you.
For Windows 3.1+.

Filter Many DOS utilities and programs share a common characteristic: they are command line programs. Once the command line is supplied, they can run unattended, without any further input from the user. Often they are "filters": they receive their input from the standard input, which can be the keyboard, a file redirected with the < operator or another program's output (through the | pipe operator or using a tee or y command). Their output is usually sent to the standard output, which can be the default screen or redirected (with >, >>, |, tee or y). For example, every DOS copy comes with sort and find, and there lots of free or shareware programs that emulate well know Unix filters: awk, cat, cmp, cut, detab, diff, entab, grep, ls, merge, tail, uniq, wc, etc. 
Of course, one can always open a DOS box to take advantage of these programs from Windows, but often it would be nice to use Windows features: multiple windows, clipboard etc. This is especially true when one is trying a new command and want to see how it works. Often rather than using files, it would be nice to be able to enter the input in a window, run the program and see the output in another window.
Filter is a Windows shell that makes easier entering and trying external DOS (or Windows) programs. The input and output (as well as error log and program file) can be external files (which can be selected from the common dialog box used by most Windows programs) or windows. It is easy to specify the starting directory and other options for the external program and it can be run minimized or even hidden. Different configuration files can be used to take advantage of Filter with different external programs: the settings more appropriate to each program will be remembered in the next session.
Another approach to creating a shell for command line commands is provided by Folder Organizer.
For Windows 3.1+.

Introduction
Folder Organizer is a utility for power users that installs an icon in the tray from which you can
•	open or explore the system folders that contain
•	the desktop
•	the Start menu and its Documents, Programs and Start up submenus
•	My (Your) Documents 
•	temporary files
•	Send-to templates
•	Favorite URLs, cache and historial for Internet Explorer
•	fonts
•	the templates for the New menu
•	Net neighborhood
as well as the directories you define.
•	clear at any time, or automatically when then Windows session ends, the full (or selected) contents of
•	the temporary folder
•	the Internet Explorer cache
•	recent Documents
•	Find and Run lists
•	the directories you define
•	change the screen mode
Some of these possibilities can be achieved by defining appropriate menu entries or short-cuts, but Folder Organizer provides a more uniform way and the new ability to clear automatically items when the session ends to save disk space and preserve intimacy. 

Installing Folder Organizer
To install the program run the distribution file and follow the instructions. It will copy to the directory you select the executable file, Folders.exe, the help files Folders.cnt, and Folders.hlp and the documentation file: Folders.rtf.

Uninstalling Folder Organizer
To uninstall Folder Organizer,
1. Use Add or remove programs from the Control panel.
2. If necessary, remove any remaining files in the installation directory (Folders.gid and Folders.fst, if you have used the help system). 
3. Advanced users may want to remove the software/Juan M. Aguirregabiria/Folders key corresponding to each user in HKEY_USERS.

Running Folder Organizer
Folder Organizer may be run in any way used to start a Windows 95 program: from the Start menu, a shortcut in the desktop or a folder or My PC, from the Execute dialog box or from a DOS window. 
It may also be automatically started when the Windows session starts. 
To avoid wasting memory if a copy is already running it will be activated instead of creating a new instance.
If a single t is appended as parameter in the command line after the program specification (as happens when it starts automatically with the Windows session) it will silently start. Otherwise the Options dialog box will appear.
If its icon is displayed in the tray:
•	a single mouse click on the tray icon will open the main menu, and 
•	a left double click will invoke the Options dialog box.
If the program is running silently (by using Options/Run/Hidden until session ends) you may access it by using again the corresponding Start menu entry or short-cut. This is useful if you only want to use the possibility to automatically clear some selected folders when the Windows session ends.

Main Menu
From this menu, which opens when right-clicking on the tray icon or using the Open menu now button of the Run Options dialog sheet, you may access the main functions in Folder Organizer. It is composed by the following menu entries:
Entry		Meaning	
Open		Open the Open Menu 	
Clear		Open the Clear Menu 	
Screen Mode	Open a menu with the available screen resolutions	
Options	Open the Options Dialog Box 	
Help		Open the Help Menu 	
Quit		Exit completely the program whatever Run mode may be	

Open Menu
From this entry of the Main Menu you may open any of the following system folders, as well as any of those you selected in the Open Options dialog sheet.
Entry			Meaning	
Desktop Folder		An alternative view of the desktop	
Start Menu		The folder containing the item in the Start button	
Programs Submenu	Entries in Start/Programs	
Start-up Folder		The entries automatically started with Windows	
Recent Documents	Recently used documents displayed in Start/Documents	
My Documents		The folder containing your documents	
Temporary Folder	Temporary files	
Send-to Folder		Items in the Send to menu	
Favorite URLs		Your favorite addresses of Internet Explorer	
Internet Cache		The last files used by Internet Explorer	
Internet Historial	The last URLs visited by Internet Explorer	
Font Folder		System fonts	
New Templates		Templates for the New menu	
Net Neighborhood	Local network	
My Folders		List of folders selected in the Open Options dialog sheet	

Clear Menu
In this entry of the Main Menu you may find
Entry			Meaning	
Temporary Folder	Temporary files	
Internet Cache		The last files used by Internet Explorer	
Recent Documents	Recently used documents displayed in Start/Documents	
Find list		Specifications used in the Find command	
Run List		Specifications used from the Run menu entry	

Help Menu
In this entry of the Main Menu you may find
Entry			Meaning	
Help Contents		Contents of the help system	
Search Help Topic	Search for keywords in the help system	
Help on Help		Using the help system	
About Folder Organizer	The ego box	

Options Dialog Box
This dialog, which opens if the program is started in the usual way, the tray icon is double-clicked, or the Options menu entry is selected, allows customizing the program, as well as using its Main Menu. It is composed by four sheets:
Run Options 	
Open Options 	
Clear Options 	
On Exit Options 	

Run Options
From this sheet of the Options Dialog Box you may select the way the program runs, as well as using its Main Menu	and exiting completely the program.
Item			Meaning	
Open menu now	Use Main Menu directly, instead of right-clicking on the tray icon	
Help contents		Open the contents of the help system	
Quit			Save options and exit completely the program whatever Run mode may be 	
Start automatically with the Windows session	Start the program each times a Windows session starts	
Run mode:		How to run Folder Organizer once ends by using OK or Cancel:	
  In tray until session ends	Keep an icon in the tray while the session runs (or until Quit is used)	
  Hidden until session ends	Keep running silently while the session runs (or until Quit is used)	
  Exit when this dialog closes	Quit completely when the Options dialog ends	

Open Options
From this sheet of the Options Dialog Box you may select the way the program opens folders. You may also add your own folders to the Open/My Folders menu.
Item	Meaning	
Two panel view	Open folders in two-panel views. Use Shift to switch between one and two panels	
CTRL command	Program to use with Ctrl+Open, instead of the current command processor	
My Folders:		Select here the folders you want in the Open/My Folders menu:	
  Add	Select a folder in your system	
  Modify		Modify the highlighted entry	
  Remove		Remove from the list the highlighted entry	
  Up			Exchange the highlighted item with the one just above it	
  Down			Exchange the highlighted item with the one just below it	

Clear Options
From this sheet of the Options Dialog Box you may select the way the program deletes folders. You may also add your own folders (or more restricted file specifications) to the Clear/My Folders menu.
Item	Meaning	
Mode:	Select the way files will be deleted:	
  Use recycle bin	This is the usual way, which allows easy undelete	
  Confirm deletion	Confirmation will be asked, but the files are completely deleted	
  Silent			Files will be completely erased with no warning	
Delete also those from the list below:	List of folders (or more restricted specifications) in the Clear/My Folders menu:	
  Add	Select a folder in your system (the \*.* wildcards will be appended)	
  Modify		Modify the highlighted entry, maybe to select a more restricted file specification
  Remove		Remove from the list the highlighted entry	
  Up			Exchange the highlighted item with the one just above it	
  Down			Exchange the highlighted item with the one just below it	

On Exit Options
From this sheet of the Options Dialog Box you may select the way the program opens folders. You may also add your own folders to the Clear/My Folders menu.
Item			Meaning	
When Windows session ends clear:	Select below the folders/lists that will be automatically emptied when Windows exits:	
  Temporary files	Usually those in c:\windows\temp	
  Internet cache		Temporary files of Internet Explorer	
  Recent documents	Items displayed in the Start/Documents menu	
  Find list		Specifications used in the Find command	
  Run list		Specifications used from the Run menu entry	
And also those from the list below:	List of folders (or restricted specifications) that will also be deleted when Windows ends:	
  Add			Select a folder in your system (the \*.* wildcards will be appended)	
  Modify		Modify the highlighted entry, maybe to select a more restricted file specification	
  Remove		Remove from the list the highlighted entry	
  Up			Exchange the highlighted item with the one just above it	
  Down			Exchange the highlighted item with the one just below it	
Clear them now!	Do not wait for the session end and go!	

Modify Dialog Box
In this dialog, which opens when using a Modify button, you may edit a user-defined entry (maybe to use a more restricted file specification or to change the capitalization). Press then OK to accept the changes or ESC top discard them.

Suggestions, bugs and help
The Author would highly appreciate receiving information about any bug or problem found in the program. Suggestions to improve Folder Organizer in future versions are also welcome. 
I would especially appreciate help to correct the English version of the help and documentation files.