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- BRUCE605.DOC 1 Revised: 05/30/96
-
- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- Contact information
-
- For the following routines: AV, BFIND, COPSINCE, DATES, DIRCOMP, DIRTOTAL,
- EUMAIL, FILL, FIXTEXT, FORTUNE, HTMSTRIP, PAGINATE, READINIT, READMAKE-created
- files, and TXTABLE:
-
- Bruce Guthrie
- Wayne Software
- 113 Sheffield St.
- Silver Spring, MD 20910
-
- fax: (301) 588-8986
- e-mail: bguthrie@nmaa.org
- http://hjs.geol.uib.no/guthrie/
-
- For the following routines: CHANGE, CONVERT, FILUPDAT, READ, and READY:
-
- Bruce Guthrie
- Room H-4885
- U.S. Dept of Commerce/ESA/STAT-USA
- Washington, DC 20230
-
- fax: (202) 482-2164
- voice: (202) 482-3234
-
- e-mail: bguthrie@doc.gov
-
- Foreign users: Please provide an Internet-reachable e-mail address in all
- correspondence if you have any hope of getting a reply! Internet e-mail is the
- preferred method of contact for all other users as well. America On-Line,
- CompuServe, and Prodigy all offer Internet e-mail access so get with it!
-
- Since these programs are typically "freeware" (with the exception of people
- trying to make money from them instead of me), they generate maybe $100/year in
- revenue for me. As such, my ability to afford wonderful customer support is
- somewhat restricted. Please do not leave messages saying "Call me long
- distance". Also, please be specific about what problems you encounter and
- include command-line inputs as well as any control or INI files that you're
- using.
-
- Standard disclaimer in this society: Wayne Software disclaims all warranties as
- to this software, whether express or implied, including without limitation any
- implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose,
- functionality, data integrity or protection.
-
-
- BRUCE605.DOC 2 Revised: 05/30/96
-
- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- Introduction
-
- This documentation provides some overview information on a number of utilities.
- All programs described herein were written by Bruce Guthrie. Most are
- distributed with a Wayne Software copyright. Others were written for the U.S.
- Department of Commerce. All are free for use provided relevant documentation is
- kept with the programs, no changes are made to the programs or documentation,
- and they are not bundled with commercial programs or charged for separately.
-
- CHANGE, CONVERT, FILUPDAT, READ, and READY are excluded from the
- commercial-packaging restriction. These programs are owned by the U.S.
- Department of Commerce and may be re-distributed without restriction.
-
- People who need to bundle AV, BFIND, COPSINCE, DATES, DIRCOMP, DIRTOTAL, EUMAIL,
- FILL, FIXTEXT, FORTUNE, HTMSTRIP, PAGINATE, READINIT, or TXTABLE in commercial
- packages other than shareware/freeware collections must pay a $50 registration
- fee to "Wayne Software" at the following address. READMAKE-created files are
- also subject to this limitation. I don't expect to make any money from these
- utilities but I don't want others to sell them instead.
-
- This collection of utilities were compiled using Microsoft's Visual BASIC for
- DOS 1.0 compiler. Thomas G. Hanlin III's excellent PBClone routines, release
- 2.3, provided additional functionality. Since Tom has dropped support for his
- PBClone routines, some things will are simply not possible for me to do so don't
- push! The basic routines should be able to be maintained indefinitely as long
- as DOS continues to exist; we'll see. Keep in mind that they are DOS-based
- routines so forget long Win95 file names and such. I keep thinking that I
- should be doing Windows programming but it's hard to get psyched up for that
- when you think of Windows as a computer virus.
-
- Documentation provided in appropriate ZIP files:
- * routine.DOC: Each utility is separately described in a like-named *.DOC file.
- * FILE_ID.DIZ: Standard Description In Zip file.
- * BRUCEymm.DOC: This file serves to summarize all of the various utilities.
- The "ymm" indicates the release date in year/month format. "601" means
- 1996, first month (Jan 1996).
- * BRUCEINI.DOC: Most of the routines have defaults that can altered by using
- initialization files (inifiles). These are referenced in the regular
- documentation and further described here. (One thing about *.INI files; if
- you don't have one, it's in your interests to specify the "/-I" parameter.
- Otherwise, the program searches your entire DOS path looking for the file.)
- * BRUCEHEX.DOC: Many of the routines allow you to enter parameters as either
- hexadecimal or decimal strings. This is referenced in the regular
- documentation and further described here.
-
- All program documentation was created using a text editor (PE2). The
- PAGINATE command (see below) was used to justify the text and create
- titles, page breaks, and (where provided) indexes.
-
- Beta testers and suggestions are always appreciated. Contact me at
- bguthrie@nmaa.org Note that all beta releases are done via e-mail so if your
- gateway can't handle some pretty big mail attachments, you definitely do NOT
- want to be a beta tester for me! Modifications that are not of mainstream use
- can be contracted for.
-
-
- BRUCE605.DOC 3 Revised: 05/30/96
-
- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- Finding the programs
-
- The utilities are uploaded with a ZIP name that includes the year and month of
- the release in a "ymm" format ("605" is the May 1996 version). The files are
- posted directly by the author to two places. The following Web site, provided
- by Hans Schrader, has the current versions of *all* programs:
-
- http://hjs.geol.uib.no/guthrie/
-
- Major revisions are directly posted by the author to the following:
- * Simtel (Coast-To-Coast): ftp.coast.net (http://www.coast.net/Simtel)
- * Simtel (Keith Petersen): ftp.simtel.net (http://www.simtel.net/simtel.net)
- * ZDI Software Library: No idea where that is!
-
- Simtel locations and versions
-
- This listing is current as of the April 1996 (604) release.
-
- http://www.coast.net/SimTel/msdos/ ftp://ftp.simtel.net/simtelnet/msdos/
- ..arcutil/ ..arcutils/
- av605.zip Archive View: Free ZIP etc directory viewer
- ..batutil/ ..batchutl/
- dates605.zip Warns you in advance of birthdays etc
- fortn605.zip Fine-tunes DOS FOR command w/options
- ..dirutil/ ..dirutl/
- cops605.zip Copies files modified since given date
- dirco605.zip Updates files based on source directory
- dirto604.zip Directory lister and totaller
- filup605.zip Copy updated files based on a control list
- ..diskutil/ ..diskutil/
- fill605.zip Stuffs as many files as possible on disk
- ..offline/ ..mailnews/
- eumal605.zip Eudora utility for nicknames, boxes
- ..spredsht/ ..spredsht/
- convr605.zip Convert dBase, ASCII-delim, fixed, 1-2-3
- ..textutil/ ..txtutl/
- bfind605.zip Boolean FIND command (BFIND BEGIN & END)
- chang604.zip Change strings in text files
- fixtx605.zip Translate text file characters en masse
- htmst605.zip Reprocesses HTML pages for humans to read
- pagin605.zip Paginates text (indexes, sorts, tables)
- read605.zip Free viewer, also make any text self-viewing
- txtab605.zip Generates text tables
-
- If you're using a version of the programs that's more than a year old, it's
- almost always the case that there's a newer version. Please check for an
- update. If you can receive binary attachments, contact me at bguthrie@nmaa.org
- for free updates. Alternatively, send $10 made out to "Wayne Software" to the
- Wayne Software address above and I'll send you everything on diskette. (If you
- need anything other than 3.5" high density, specify that too please.)
-
- The versions of each program posted on SimTel are documented below along with
- the directory information for this site. The *current* versions of *all*
- programs are posted on the Web site in Norway.
-
-
- BRUCE605.DOC 4 Revised: 05/30/96
-
- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- Short program descriptions
-
- AV.EXE: Archive directory viewer. Presents list of files in archive (ZIP,
- ARC, etc) and lets you sort as desired. Also allows resetting of the file
- date based on the archive's contents.
-
- BFIND.EXE: Allows Boolean-type FIND requests. For example, find any line
- with one string AND another one, or any line with one string OR another.
- Also allows wildcarded input file names.
-
- CHANGE.EXE: Processes change commands in files. Files can be of any size
- and type (e.g. binary or text) and are processed quickly. Up to thirty
- change commands can be processed in a single pass. Also provides ability to
- remove trailing spaces from text files.
-
- CONVERT.EXE: Converts between data formats: FROM dBase, ASCII-delimited
- (typically commas between fields and quotes around strings), and fixed field
- TO Lotus WKS, ASCII-delimited, dBase, and fixed field.
-
- COPSINCE.EXE: Copies all files modified since a given date. Primarily used
- for making sure you have a back-up of files and also to copy updated programs
- to another place. Lets you define your own groupings of files if desired.
-
- DATES.EXE: Program that warns you in advance when an event like a birthday,
- anniversary, or holiday is coming up. The idea is to give you advance
- warning so you can send a card or get out of town in time.
-
- DIRCOMP.EXE: Similar in some ways to DOS's REPLACE command but adds ability
- to delete extra files in the destination subdirectory, copy hidden and system
- files, and prepare a report showing inconsistencies. Is frequently used by
- network administrators to update workstation files.
-
- DIRTOTAL.EXE: Prepares report showing files in subdirectory or drive.
- Allows restricting search based on date, size, attributes, etc. Works on
- networked and CD-ROM drives. Produces more formalized report than some
- utilities do. Also allows you to look for duplicate file names.
-
- EUMAIL.EXE: Eudora mail summarizer. Dumps your Qualcomm Eudora mailbook as
- well as summarizing the contents of all of your Eudora boxes and folders.
-
- FILL.EXE: Program designed to move files off to floppy diskettes, taking the
- biggest files first and skipping those that won't fit. Also provides option
- of splitting large files up, creating a status report, and other features.
-
- FILUPDAT.EXE: Program which compares a selected list of files in a source
- path against those in another path and copies those that have been updated.
- Similar to DOS' REPLACE command but works from a stored list of files
- (controlled updates) and can handle any number of directories.
-
- FIXTEXT.EXE: Program which applies a user-definable character-translation
- table to a text file. Can allow you to convert graphics characters to their
- text equivalents, lowercase letters to uppercase letter, etc. Can also be
- used to translate DOS text files to Mac or Unix text files and vice versa.
- Can also expand tabs, remove trailing spaces, and remove backspaces.
-
-
- BRUCE605.DOC 5 Revised: 05/30/96
-
- FORTUNE.EXE: A tuner-upper for the DOS FOR command. Generates a batch file
- which does all those wildcard things you wished FOR could do (like "FORTUNE
- IN (*.BAS) DO RENAME %A %2*.*" to remove parts of file names). Lets you do
- all sorts of things including distinguishing file name roots from their
- extensions as well as incrementing file names by specified values.
-
- HTMSTRIP.EXE: Goes through downloaded pages from the Web and removes
- embedded HTML commands. Reflows paragraphs and tries to make it basically
- readable.
-
- PAGINATE.EXE: Reformats text files with embedded formatting codes. Handles
- things like titles, footers, indexes, alignment, justification, multicolumn
- listings, etc. Also provides support for embedding tabular data in
- ASCII-delimited or dBase formats which can be embedded and/or sorted in your
- reports.
-
- READ.EXE, READY.EXE, READINIT.EXE, and READMAKE.EXE: Text file browsing
- utilities. READ--Supports marking, copying text, reading Unix and Mac text
- files, etc. Handles files of 16,000 lines or less (approx 800,000 bytes).
- READY--truncates or wraps lines over 255 characters in length but handles
- files of an unlimited number of lines. READMAKE--Takes an ASCII-text file
- and makes it self-viewable (using a READ clone).
-
- TXTABLE.EXE: Program to generate text tables. Includes quickie utility that
- dumps WordPerfect file into something this can read so you can try to convert
- WordPerfect tables to text.
-
-
- BRUCE605.DOC 6 Revised: 05/30/96
-
- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- Revision history
-
- Detailed revision histories for the programs are only maintained for the last
- three releases. After that, you get the major revision summaries only for the
- next three releases or so. In any case, if your version of any of these
- programs is more than a year old, your version is definitely obsolete. Hop onto
- the Web or e-mail me or something and get the new version!
-
- -------------- (full detail; revisions made 1 to 3 months ago)
- Release 96/05:
-
- AV: Fixed up an error in paging through files which include non-archive
- files. Added ability to delete the archive as well as use the mouse to escape
- out of the program. [Replaces av602.zip]
-
- BFIND: Found a bug with retrieving some records at the end of 12000-byte
- blocks. Fixed this. May have also affected CONVERT, FIXTEXT, HTMSTRIP, and
- READY but no one reported any problems so maybe not! [Replaces bfind604.zip]
-
- CONVERT: Fixed a bug relating to empty input fields when a field definition
- file was requested. Allowed fixed-field input files to exceed 1000 characters
- in length (new limit is 4000 characters). Program did not guess input format
- if a non-text document as fed in (the /SCAN function); fixed this. Program
- skipped the first record in DBF files; fixed this. [Replaces convr604.zip]
-
- COPSINCE: Maintenance release. Dropped the bat logo from the /? screen.
- [Replaces cops601.zip]
-
- DATES: Added the ability to do weekly reminders. Reorganized the
- documentation a bit. Dropped bat logo from the /? screen. [Replaces
- dates601.zip]
-
- DIRCOMP: Maintenance release. [Replaces dirco601.zip]
-
- EUMAIL: Added /SPLIT and /SCAN options. [Replaces eumal604.zip]
-
- FILL: Fixed up weird error messages. Added a trap for write-protected disks.
- [Replaces fill603.zip]
-
- FILUPDAT: Maintenance release. [Replaces filup601.zip]
-
- FIXTEXT: Maintenance release. [Replaces fixtx602.zip]
-
- FORTUNE: Added %* and %? options. [Replaces fortn604.zip]
-
- HTMSTRIP: Reworked how <A...> and <IMG...> references were handled by
- introducing /A=spec, /IMG=spec, and /IMGALT=spec parameters. Allows you more
- choices including whether to show the full url address or not. Also kills off
- /ALT, /SITE, /FSITE, and /-SITE parameters. Fixed a bug related to incredibly
- long cells; people are using tables to get around all sorts of problems with
- HTML formatting and the tables were getting maxed out; if HTMSTRIP finds it's
- being hit with the condition, it now turns off table processing for this table
- and just dumps it out as text. Not a perfect solution but the best I could
- do. Added /BORDER=DV, /BORDER=SV, and /BORDER=TV parameters. More debugging
- for weird tables. Switched numeric columns to align left instead of right.
- Now skips Java script blocks on output. [Replaces htmst604.zip]
-
-
- BRUCE605.DOC 7 Revised: 05/30/96
-
- PAGINATE: Maintenance release. [Replaces pagin601.zip]
-
- READ: Maintenance release. [Replaces read602.zip]
-
- TXTABLE: Added /BORDER=DV, /BORDER=SV, and /BORDER=TV parameters. [Replaces
- txtab604.zip]
-
- Release 96/04:
-
- This release comes up as Secretary of Commerce Ron Brown gets buried at
- Arlington. I work at the Department of Commerce and had the chance to meet him
- a couple of times. I thought he was a very special person. I'll miss him!
-
- Major updates are now being posted directly on both Simtel sites (ftp.coast.net
- and ftp.simtel.net). I'm not going to pass judgment on this feud but it's
- certainly tougher on authors now.
-
- BFIND: Maintenance release. Been awhile since it came out and some changes
- needed to be made in the documentation. Dropped the little bat logo from the
- /? screens. [Replaces bfind511.zip]
-
- CHANGE: Fixed up a bug with the @filelist parameter. [Replaces chang603.zip]
-
- CONVERT: Fixed up some bugs with /OUTDEF not always working. [Replaces
- convr601.zip]
-
- DIRTOTAL: Fixed up a bug with some directory totalling. Dropped the little
- bat logo from the /? screens. [Replaces dirto603.zip]
-
- EUMAIL: This program was actually introduced last month but I didn't add it
- to BRUCEymm.DOC file since it would have made it too long. I dropped
- ISAMMAKE/ISAMFIND so it fits now! Added /DUMP, /KILLDUMP, /HEADERS, and
- domain parameters which are related to allowing the entire mail file or its
- headers to be dumped as a text file. Added /REPEAT and /-REPEAT options which
- should be useful for people using FIND or BFIND on the resulting nickname
- file. Expanded most of the name and nickname maximum lengths (folks have some
- really amazing names!). [Replaces eumal603.zip]
-
- FORTUNE: Added /WIPE parameter. [Replaces fortn510.zip]
-
- HTMSTRIP: Added /ALT parameter. Fixed up a problem where <BR><BR> couldn't
- generate blank lines. More work on <PRE>...</PRE> blocks. If /SYMBOLS is
- specified, changed default representation for <A> to be "(link)" instead of
- "[Link]", and for <IMG> to be "(image)" instead of "[Image]". <INPUT> is
- still "[Input]" though. Expanded maximum columns per table from 10 to 15.
- [Replaces htmst603.zip]
-
- ISAMMAKE/ISAMFIND: Dropped to make room for EUMAIL.
-
- TXTABLE: Expanded maximum number of columns per table from 10 to 20.
- [Replaces txtab603.zip]
-
- Release 96/03:
-
- CHANGE: Fixed a bug with /BINARY when you crossed line boundaries with the
- change. [Replaces chang510.zip]
-
- DIRTOTAL: Added some recovery handling for some of the weirder Win95
-
- BRUCE605.DOC 8 Revised: 05/30/96
-
- subdirectory structures. Modified the directory totalling section of the
- output report so longer directory names could be shown. [Replaces
- dirto602.zip]
-
- EUMAIL: New program. Didn't document in BRUCE603.DOC though because I didn't
- have room. Gets added in 604 version of the documentation.
-
- FILL: Added /FORCE option. Made /LETTER the default. Fixed up some errors
- in the documentation and reduced the size of the help display a little.
- [Replaced fill602.zip]
-
- HTMSTRIP: Added /SITE, /FSITE, and /-SITE options. Fixed up problem with the
- /RULE=s parameter (didn't work). [Replaces htmst602.zip]
-
- READY: Added /WIDTH=n as a synonym for /n (i.e. /WIDTH=80, /WIDTH=132, and
- /WIDTH=255). Switched documentation and on-screen help to only reference the
- /WIDTH=n variations.
-
- TXTABLE: Bug fixes. Added support for <HR> and some other things in HTML
- mode. Added /RULE=s parameter. [Replaces txtab602.zip]
-
- -------------- (kind of terse; revisions made 4 to 6 months ago)
- Release 96/02:
-
- AV: Added help screen (F1) and the ability to Ctrl-PgUp or Ctrl-PgDn through
- up to 500 archives.
-
- FILL: Added an estimation of the number of diskettes left to go.
-
- HTMSTRIP: Tables are now handled by the program.
-
- READY: Added /FILTER=filename and /TEXT options.
-
- TXTABLE: Added the ability to support imbedded pseudo-HTML code as well in
- addition to the original input format.
-
- Release 96/01:
-
- All routines: Finally dropped support for CONFIGWS.EXE from my programs. I'm
- now at bguthrie@nmaa.org
-
- CONVERT: Added cell filters. Added the ability to read Unix or Mac text
- files.
-
- FIXTEXT: Added a /BINARY option which lets you strip binary codes from things
- like native WordPerfect files.
-
- READ, READMAKE: Tabs are now expanded on display.
-
- READY: Allowed the program to handle files with lines of 132 or 255
- characters. Added the various horizontal scrolling key options.
-
- TXTABLE: New program.
-
- Release 95/12:
-
- CONVERT: Now allows you to read fixed-fixed files which contain lines which
- do not end with CR/LF. Changed the field-definition file to make the decimal
-
- BRUCE605.DOC 9 Revised: 05/30/96
-
- count and output length optional.
-
- FIXTEXT: Added automatic detection of input text format (lines end with
- CR/LF, CR alone, or LF alone).
-
- PAGINATE: New /Linitfile parameter (allows you to replace characters from the
- input file when you write out the file).
-
-