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- DISK CATALOG SYSTEM (CATDISK)
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- USER'S GUIDE
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- Version 6.35
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- Jan 28, 1993
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- Copyright (C) 1986, 1993 By Rick Hillier
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- All Rights Reserved.
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- _______
- ____|__ | (tm)
- --| | |-------------------
- | ____|__ | Association of
- | | |_| Shareware
- |__| o | Professionals
- -----| | |---------------------
- |___|___| MEMBER
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- T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S
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- 1. INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
- Dedication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
- Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
- Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
- Licensing And Distribution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
- ASP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
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- 2. GETTING STARTED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
- What You Should Have Received . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
- System Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
- Initial Note On Archive Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
- Configuring CATDISK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
- Excluding Certain Files From Being Cataloged . . . . . . . . . 11
- Color Customization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
- Default Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
- Upgrading From V3.61 or Later . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
- Saving Your Configuration Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
- General Considerations When Configuring CATDISK . . . . . . . 14
- Sample Configurations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
- IMPORTANT NOTE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
- Starting CATDISK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
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- 3. USING CATDISK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
- Using The Menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
- Selecting A Volume ID From A List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
- Option 1 - Set Drive For Cataloging . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
- Option 2 - Set Current Catalog File . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
- Option 3 - Settings And Toggles Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
- 1 - Set Drive For Cataloging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
- 2 - Pauses On/Off . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
- 3 - Change Printer Report Type . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
- 4 - Report Totals On/Off . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
- 5 - File Comments On The Fly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
- F1 - Main Archive Comment Copy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
- F2 - Extract 4DOS/NDOS Comments . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
- 6 - Set Current Report Destination . . . . . . . . . . . 28
- 7 - Activating/Deactivating Two Sided Printer Reports . . 28
- 8 - Archive Extract Setting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
- 9 - Comments When ZIPS Not Extracted . . . . . . . . . . 29
- 0 - Aliases On/Off . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
- F3 - Suggest Volume Label On/Off . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
- ESC - Return To Main Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
- Option 4 - Labeling A Disk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
- Option 5 - Cataloging/Re-cataloging A Disk . . . . . . . . . 32
- Option F1 - UnCataloging A Disk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
- Option 6 - Change Comments By Volume ID . . . . . . . . . . . 36
- Option 7 - Change Comments By Filespec . . . . . . . . . . . 38
- Option 8 - Comment Files By Comment . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
- Option 9 - Import Comments From A Text File . . . . . . . . . 38
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- Disk Catalog System (CATDISK) V6.35 Copr (C) 1986, 1993 by Rick Hillier
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- Page 1
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- Option 0 - Reports And Inquiries Menu . . . . . . . . . . . 41
- Screen Based Reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
- Printer Based Reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
- Disk Based Reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
- 1 - Show Disk Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
- 2 - Files For A Volume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
- 3 - Files For An Archive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
- 4 - Files By Filespec . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
- 5 - Files By Comment Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
- F1 - Files By Comment Keywords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
- 6 - Files By Comment/Filename Text . . . . . . . . . . . 52
- 7 - Sorted Full File Listings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
- 8 - Unique Files Only . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
- 9 - Duplicate Files Only . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
- 0 - Volume Summary/Contents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
- Option <F2> - Shell To DOS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
- Option <drive_letter> - Show Disk Directory . . . . . . . . 56
- Option ESC - Exit To DOS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
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- Appendix A - The Scroll Bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
- Appendix B - Archive Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
- Appendix C - CATLOOK Command Line Lookup Utility . . . . . . . . 60
- Appendix D - CATMGR - CATDISK Catalog Manager . . . . . . . . . . 61
- Appendix E - DISKFILL - Optimal Disk Fill Utility . . . . . . . . 65
- Appendix F - Support And Updates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
- Attention Out of Town CATDISK Users . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
- Appendix G - Questions And Answers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
- Appendix H - CATDISK Companion Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
- Appendix I - CATDISK PLUS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
- Appendix J - Other Products Available . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
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- Disk Catalog System (CATDISK) V6.35 Copr (C) 1986, 1993 by Rick Hillier
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- Page 2
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- 1. I N T R O D U C T I O N
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- DEDICATION
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- This program is dedicated to the memory of my Grandfather, Earl Hillier
- (Jan 1, 1909 - May 2, 1989).
-
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- OVERVIEW
-
- Overheard: "I know I have that file in an archive on a disk SOMEWHERE!
- If only I could FIND it!"
-
- Sound familiar? Many people I know are in this predicament.
-
- Enter CATDISK, the disk cataloging system. CATDISK can help you
- organize your disks in such a way that it is easy to find a file from
- within a large collection by creating a collective directory of all the
- files contained in your collection. See the FEATURES section below for
- a listing of CATDISK's capabilities.
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- Disk Catalog System (CATDISK) V6.35 Copr (C) 1986, 1993 by Rick Hillier
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- Page 3
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- FEATURES - CATDISK PROGRAM
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- - Completely menu-driven and very easy to use.
- - Configuration utility allows customization of the main features.
- - All screen colors may be customized to your liking.
- - Command line options can be stored in the DOS environment area
- negating the need to memorize them.
- - Cataloging/Uncataloging/Re-cataloging functions are fully automated.
- - A disk volume label can be changed from within CATDISK.
- - CATDISK can suggest sequential volume labels for you to use.
- - You can catalog a disk under an alias instead of the volume label.
- - Supports up to 32,767 files or 2,000 disks per catalog, which can be.
- reduced through the config program to better optimize memory usage.
- - Supports multiple catalog files.
- - Supports up to 512 sub-directories PER DISK being cataloged.
- - Able to read the directory contents of ARC, ARJ, DWC, HYP, LBR, LZH,
- LZS,PAK, ZIP, and ZOO archive files. See the appendix on ARCHIVE
- SUPPORT in this user manual for further details.
- - Archive extraction is optional and can be set while in the program.
- - You can attach a 43 character comment to each file in the catalog,
- which can be done either while cataloging a disk, or at a later time.
- - Can import comments from an ASCII text file, such as a BBS listing.
- - Can read comments from ZIP, ZOO and DWC files.
- - Can extract resolution/color information from GIF (Graphics
- Interchange Format) files and include it as the default comment.
- - Can read 4DOS/NDOS directory comments and add them to your catalog.
- - Summary report shows disk capacity, space used and space free on
- each disk in the catalog to aid in optimization of disk usage.
- - Files can be viewed by DOS wildcards, Volume ID, ARCHIVE ID, or by
- keywords or phrases in the file comments.
- - Reports can be sent to screen, printer, or disk file.
- - Printer reports can be printed in a two-sided format to conserve
- paper (this is, quite possibly, the first environmentally friendly
- software product in terms of built-in reporting facilities).
-
- FEATURES - "CATLOOK" UTILITY
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- - small size allows it to be used when available memory is restricted.
- - command line parameters allow any of CATDISK's reports to be created.
- - output may be re-directed to a file or printer.
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- FEATURES - "CATMGR" UTILITY
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- - can be used to split/merge complete or partial catalog files.
- - menu driven for ease of use.
- - point and shoot selection of individual cataloged volumes to move,
- copy or delete
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- FEATURES - "DISKFILL" UTILITY
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- - CATDISK's Optimal Disk Fill Utility automates offloading of files to
- floppies using point and shoot file selection, and uses a "best-fit"
- arrangement to minimize wasted disk space. As disks are filled with
- files, those disks can be cataloged as you go. This program can also
- recommend disks to use that have already been cataloged for
- "backfilling" of free space.
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- - DISKFILL fully supports 4DOS/NDOS file descriptions.
-
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- Disk Catalog System (CATDISK) V6.35 Copr (C) 1986, 1993 by Rick Hillier
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- Page 4
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- LICENSING AND DISTRIBUTION
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- CATDISK is copyright and has been released for distribution as
- SHAREWARE. Please note that a great deal of time and effort has been
- invested in the development of this program. You are granted a license
- to try CATDISK for a reasonable trial period without risk. If, after
- this time, you find the program useful and intend to use it in managing
- your disk collection, you are expected to register.
-
- The base registration fee is $25. This will entitle you to continue to
- use CATDISK beyond a reasonable trial period as well as entitle you to
- program support. The registration form, which should be included in
- the distribution package that you received outlines the procedures for
- registering your copy of the program. Should you decide that you would
- like the latest release (or a pending release if you already have the
- latest) appropriate information is contained on the same form.
-
- Please keep in mind that I must have a registration form on file for
- you before I can offer product support.
-
- Operators of electronic bulletin boards (Sysops) are encouraged to post
- CATDISK for downloading by their users.
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- CATDISK may be uploaded to and downloaded from commercial systems such
- as CompuServe, the Source, and BIX, so long as the only charge paid by
- the subscriber is for on-line time and there is no charge for the
- program. Those copying, sharing, and/or electronically transmitting
- the program are required not to delete or modify the copyright notice
- and restrictive notices from the program or documentation; anyone doing
- so will be treated as a contributory copyright violator.
-
- If you are passing this program on to others, uploading it to a
- bulletin board system, or including it in a users group library, do not
- separate the files contained in the distribution archive - pass the
- entire archive on to the intended party. This ensures that those who
- receive the program will have all the correct configuration utilities
- and documentation necessary to get CATDISK up and running quickly. A
- listing of what files you should have and the purpose of each is listed
- later in this manual.
-
- The CATDISK documentation may not be modified by users. The program may
- not be separated from the documentation when distributed. Printed or
- Photocopies ("Xeroxed") copies of the CATDISK documentation (i.e., this
- manual) may not be distributed or sold without the written permission
- of the author.
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- No other person other than the author, Rick Hillier, may accept payment
- or royalties for this program.
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- This license to use CATDISK does NOT include the right to distribute or
- sell CATDISK. Distribution terms are detailed in the file VENDOR.DOC
- which is included with this package.
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- Disk Catalog System (CATDISK) V6.35 Copr (C) 1986, 1993 by Rick Hillier
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- Page 5
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- ASP
-
- This program is produced by 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 CompuServe mail to ASP Ombudsman 70007,3536
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- Disk Catalog System (CATDISK) V6.35 Copr (C) 1986, 1993 by Rick Hillier
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- Page 6
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- 2. G E T T I N G S T A R T E D
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- WHAT YOU SHOULD HAVE RECEIVED
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- CATDISK is distributed in the form of a self-extracting executable file
- created with Haruyasu Yokizaki's LHA utility. This file should
- contain three files which are as follows:
-
- README.1ST - Urgent program notes - IMPORTANT -- READ THIS FILE!
-
- CATPROGS.EXE - A self-extracting archive containing the CATDISK program
- files as follows:
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- CATDISK.EXE - The CATDISK program file.
- CATLOOK.EXE - The CATDISK command line utility (lookup program).
- CATMGR.EXE - The CATDISK catalog file manager (split/merge/delete/
- copy utility).
- DISKFILL.EXE - An optimal disk fill utility.
- CDISKCFG.EXE - The CATDISK configuration program.
- CDISKCVT.EXE - Conversion utility for converting old CATDISK files
- to the newest format - See the README.1ST file before
- running.
- CLEANCAT.EXE - Cleanup utility for catalog entries containing volume
- labels containing null characters - See the
- README.1ST file before running.
-
- CATDOCS.EXE - A self-extracting archive containing the CATDISK
- documentation files as follows:
-
- PRINTDOC.EXE - A utility program to print the various CATDISK
- documentation files. See README.1ST for details.
- CATDISK.DOC - The manual you are now reading.
- CATDISK.HST - Revision history for CATDISK since its initial
- release in October 1986.
- REGISTER.FRM - The registration form for this product.
- SITE.LIC - The site license registration form for this product.
- VENDOR.DOC - Vendors must read this agreement and use the attached
- form for obtaining permission to distribute CATDISK.
-
- To extract the files, just run CATPROGS.EXE and/or CATDOCS.EXE and the
- files will be automatically extracted to the current directory.
-
- SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
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- . IBM PC/XT/AT or PS/2 or true compatible computer.
- . DOS V2.00 or above.
- . At least one floppy disk drive (Hard Drive Highly Recommended).
- . 320K RAM - if more is available, CATDISK will have greater internal
- capacity for reading new files off of the disks being
- cataloged and will run more efficiently.
-
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- INITIAL NOTE ON ARCHIVE FILES
-
- At various points in this user manual, references to ARCHIVE files are
- made. This is a collective term describing a file that actually
- contains more than one file. The contained files may or may not be
- compressed. Currently, this refers to ARC, ARJ, DWC, HYP, LBR, LZH,
- LZS, PAK, ZIP and ZOO files.
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- Disk Catalog System (CATDISK) V6.35 Copr (C) 1986, 1993 by Rick Hillier
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- Page 7
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- CONFIGURING CATDISK
-
- Many features of CATDISK may be permanently set from the configuration
- program, CDISKCFG.EXE. When you start this program, please make sure
- that the correct versions of the program files CATDISK.EXE, and
- CATLOOK.EXE are in the current drive and directory, otherwise you will
- get an error message.
-
- There are several utilities available that allow you to compress an
- executable file such that it remains executable, but takes up less room
- on your disk. Examples of such programs are PKLITE and LZEXE. If you
- use such programs on CATDISK.EXE and CATLOOK.EXE, CDISKCFG will not be
- able to find the configuration information in those two files. Once
- you've configured CATDISK to your liking, it's okay to compress the two
- files after making copies of the originals.
-
- Upon startup, the configuration program will read the current settings
- defined in "CATDISK.EXE", after which, the configuration screen will be
- presented. You may change any given item on this screen by using the
- <Cursor UP> and <Cursor DOWN> keys to highlight the title of the
- desired field. The bottom portion of the screen will contain any
- additional information as well as any instructions on how to change the
- selected item.
-
- A discussion of the 10 items on this list follows:
-
- 1) SCREEN UPDATE METHOD
-
- You may choose between having your screen updated by using your
- computer's built in BIOS routines, or by using a faster DIRECT
- screen update method. Using the BIOS is much slower than using
- direct access, but maintains compatibility with such operating
- environments as TopView, Desqview, and DoubleDOS.
- Choosing DIRECT screen access is much quicker, but will be
- incompatible with most multitasking programs such as the above
- mentioned due to the fact that they cannot handle "ill-behaved"
- programs that write directly to the screen.
-
- If you chose DIRECT screen access, a second test is made if you
- have a GRAPHICS display connected in your system. Some video
- adapters have the nasty side effect of producing static, or "snow"
- when the video memory is accessed directly. This test will do
- multiple direct access to the video ram on your graphics adapter.
- When you hit a key to stop the test, you will be asked if you saw
- static on the screen.
-
- If you answer "Y" to the prompt, CATDISK will check for horizontal
- retrace before writing to the display. This will result in a
- slightly slower screen response than normal, but it is almost
- negligible.
-
- If you are not running under a multitasking system, or are using
- DoubleDos in dual screen mode, I would recommend that you use
- DIRECT screen access, as it's much quicker.
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- 2) COLOR OR B & W
-
- This option is self-explanatory. The appearance of the setup
- screen will depend on the setting of this field.
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- Disk Catalog System (CATDISK) V6.35 Copr (C) 1986, 1993 by Rick Hillier
-
- Page 8
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- 3) DISK CACHE SIZE
-
- This field will enable you to set the DISK CACHE size. Setting it
- to zero will disable the cache (i.e. turn the feature off).
-
- Setting it to a number greater then zero will turn it on and will
- enable CATDISK to keep the most recently read sectors of the
- CATALOG FILES in memory, resulting in much faster scans through the
- catalog file when looking for a group of files.
-
- Some hard disks use their own device driver, and are incompatible
- with this caching method. If this is the case, CATDISK will warn
- you of this condition if caching is enabled, but is incompatible
- with your hard disk. Under these circumstances, the caching
- feature will be turned off during that program run... use this
- configuration option to permanently disable the cache and eliminate
- the warning at each startup.
-
- If you already have a resident disk cache loaded in your system, DO
- NOT USE CATDISK'S BUILT IN CACHE!!! The two systems will conflict
- with each other and will probably cause damage to your catalog
- files.
-
- 4) NUMBER OF LINES PER PAGE
-
- The number of lines per page field will enable you to tell CATDISK
- the number of lines of data (EXCLUDING headings) that it should
- place on each page of printer or disk output. This may be any
- number between 0 and 255. Entering zero will disable page breaking
- and the output will be presented in a continuous stream with one
- title at the top.
-
- 5) PRINTER STARTUP STRING
-
- The printer start up string is a series of ASCII codes (entered
- here as their ASCII VALUES) that will tailor your reports to the
- format you desire. For example, I use an Epson printer and like to
- set it to 1/8" spacing and get 80 report lines per page. To do
- this, I send a startup string of "<Esc> <0>" to set this print
- mode. To enter this string in the configuration program, I would
- enter it as "027 048" without the quotes. The numbers are simply
- the ASCII values of the characters I wish to send. If you have a
- setup string entered here and wish to clear it, simply hit <Return>
- in response to the prompt in the bottom area of the screen.
-
- 6) PRINTER FINISHING STRING
-
- The printer finishing string is commonly used to reverse the
- startup string entered above and is entered in exactly the same
- way. In the example above, I would use "<Esc> <2>", which would be
- entered as "027 050" without the quotes. If you have a setup
- string entered here and wish to clear it, simple hit <Return> in
- response to the prompt in the bottom area of the screen.
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- Disk Catalog System (CATDISK) V6.35 Copr (C) 1986, 1993 by Rick Hillier
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- Page 9
-
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- 7) DEFAULT ARCHIVE EXTRACT STATE
-
- This will control the way CATDISK handles any ARCHIVE files that
- it might encounter when cataloging your disks.
-
- If you set it to OFF, CATDISK will NOT extract any archive files
- that it finds on your disks.
-
- If you set it to ON, CATDISK will expand EVERY ARCHIVE file that it
- finds on your disks.
-
- If you set it to QUERY, CATDISK will ask you for permission to
- expand an ARCHIVE file each time it encounters one.
-
- This can be changed temporarily while running CATDISK.
-
- 8) DEFAULT CATALOG DRIVE
-
- The default catalog drive is the drive that CATDISK will assume you
- wish to use for labeling disks and reading them for cataloging
- purposes. This drive may still be changed at startup time (see
- STARTING CATDISK), or from the menu when catdisk is running.
-
- If you are running on single floppy based system, I would recommend
- that you set this drive to the same drive ID that CATDISK will be
- run from. CATDISK will prompt you to enter the appropriate disks
- at the appropriate time, and will eliminate potential problems with
- the disk caching feature if enabled (See the file README.1ST).
-
- 9) CATALOG FILE DIRECTORY
-
- The catalog file directory is the location in your system that
- CATDISK will look for and create its catalog files. This path may
- contain a drive designator, so that the catalog files may reside on
- a different drive than CATDISK itself, such as a ramdisk (in this
- case don't forget to copy the files to a real disk before you turn
- off or reboot your machine).
-
- If this field is blank, the default drive and directory will be
- used.
-
- 10) DISKS/FILES PER CATALOG
-
- The maximum number of disks and files per catalog is simply that.
- When CATDISK starts, it allocates its work space according to this
- setting. There are currently four possible settings; which one you
- pick is largely dependent upon the environment in which CATDISK is
- to be run.
-
- These settings are: DISKS # FILES
-
- 2000 32767 (32K)
- 1500 24576 (24K)
- 1000 16384 (16K)
- 500 8192 ( 8K)
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- Disk Catalog System (CATDISK) V6.35 Copr (C) 1986, 1993 by Rick Hillier
-
- Page 10
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- EXCLUDING CERTAIN FILES FROM BEING CATALOGED
-
- There are circumstances where it is desirable to have CATDISK skip over
- certain files while reading in directory information for cataloging
- purposes. A good example of this may be a situation where the utility
- FILEINFO (from The Norton Utilities) may be used to maintain lists of
- file comments. This information is stored in each directory in a file
- called FILEINFO.FI, and, if you catalog many diskettes containing this
- file, you will end up with the same filename listed in your catalog
- many times.
-
- Another example would be many DOS system diskettes that contain IO.SYS,
- MSDOS.SYS, COMMAND.COM and AUTOEXEC.BAT.
-
- There is a place in the configuration program where you can give
- CATDISK a list of up to 20 wildcard specifications for files that you
- do not want included in cataloging operations. When CATDISK scans a
- disk to be cataloged, any files matching one of the specifications in
- the list will be ignored.
-
- One thing to note, though. If you instruct CATDISK to skip archive
- files, the directory information of those archives will still be
- examined and included in the cataloging operation if appropriate.
-
- The uses for this feature are quite broad.
-
- You can change the list of filespecs to skip over by pressing <F7> from
- the main configuration screen. You will then see a screen where you
- can fill in up to 20 filespecs that CATDISK should ignore when
- performing cataloging operations. To change a filespec, simply use the
- cursor keys to move to the desired filespec and type in the new
- information for that area.
-
- To clear out an existing spec, just fill the area with spaces.
-
- When you are finished modifying the list, press <Esc> to return to the
- main configuration screen.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- Disk Catalog System (CATDISK) V6.35 Copr (C) 1986, 1993 by Rick Hillier
-
- Page 11
-
-
-
- COLOR CUSTOMIZATION
-
- If you would prefer a color scheme other than the default ones supplied
- with CATDISK, you may set your own from within the configuration
- program. To do so, simply hit <F9> from the configuration screen and
- follow the menus. Once you have selected this option, you will see a
- menu that will allow you to select some general colors such as screen
- background and border color (CGA type displays only - EGA and VGA have
- no effect), as well as an option to reset the author's (that's me!)
- colors should you really make a mess of the color scheme and wish to
- start over.
-
- The other options will bring up menus that pertain to the various
- screens that you might encounter in your usage of CATDISK. When you
- reach these, there will be an option available for each item that will
- change its foreground or background color. Selecting an option will
- step you through the possible color range for that particular item.
-
- On monochrome or black & white systems, you may have to press an option
- key several times to cycle through the available colors, as many of
- these colors may appear the same on these systems.
-
- Does this sound confusing? Try it for yourself... it's really quite
- easy. For starters, try setting everything to green on cyan <grin> (if
- you don't have a strong stomach, don't bother).
-
- Once you have set all the fields to your desired settings, you may
- instruct CDISKCFG to save the current settings by pressing <F10>.
- CATDISK will save the appropriate information in the CATDISK.EXE and
- CATLOOK.EXE program files and return to DOS.
-
- If you do not wish to save the changes you made, simply hit <Esc>, and
- you will be returned to DOS, while the previous configuration will
- remain unscathed.
-
-
- DEFAULT SETTINGS
-
- CATDISK is shipped with the following default settings:
-
- 1) Screen Update Method: BIOS
- 2) Color or B & W: B & W
- 3) Disk Caching: 0 K (Disabled)
- 4) Output Lines Per Page: 58
- 5) Printer Startup String: Nothing
- 6) Printer Finishing String: Nothing
- 7) Default ARCHIVE Extract State: ON
- 8) Catalog Drive: A:
- 9) Catalog File Directory: Default Drive and Directory
- 10) Maximum Disks/Files per Catalog: 1000/16384
-
- 11) Color Scheme: Authors Colors
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- Disk Catalog System (CATDISK) V6.35 Copr (C) 1986, 1993 by Rick Hillier
-
- Page 12
-
-
-
- UPGRADING FROM V3.61 OR LATER
-
- Before copying the new program files to your work disk, you might want
- to rename the executable file from the previous installation
- (CATDISK.COM or CATDISK.EXE) to another name. The configuration
- utility, CDISKCFG.EXE has the ability to read the configuration
- information from the release that you were using for easy installation
- into this release. This can save you some time in setting the program
- up for your preferences, particularly if you've customized all the
- screen colors.
-
- Example - Upgrading from V4.50 to this release:
-
- Procedure:
-
- 1) Rename your old CATDISK.EXE to CAT450.EXE (this file holds the
- configuration information from the last installation.
-
- 2) Run the configuration utility, CDISKCFG.EXE.
-
- 3) Hit <F8>. CDISKCFG will ask you for the file name of the old
- program file. Answer "CAT450.EXE" (without the quotes). CDISKCFG
- will search the given file for the appropriate configuration
- information. If successful, this information will be reflected in
- the configuration options as displayed on the screen. If you've
- selected the wrong file, you will get an error message, and the old
- settings will remain intact on the screen.
-
- 4) If successful, press <F10>, and the settings will be saved in the
- current CATDISK release.
-
- 5) Delete CAT450.EXE - it's no longer needed.
-
-
- SAVING YOUR CONFIGURATION SETTINGS
-
- When you have all of the configuration options set the way you want
- them, simply press <F10> to save those changes to the various CATDISK
- program files.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- Disk Catalog System (CATDISK) V6.35 Copr (C) 1986, 1993 by Rick Hillier
-
- Page 13
-
-
-
- GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS WHEN CONFIGURING CATDISK
-
- When setting CATDISK up, there are a few things you should consider:
-
- If you have a hard disk, you should use it for maintaining your catalog
- files (i.e. set your catalog file directory to somewhere on your hard
- drive).
-
- If possible, set your video update method to DIRECT. CATDISK runs
- faster in this mode.
-
- If you are using a hard drive or a ram disk to hold your catalog files,
- you should NOT use CATDISK's caching feature. The cache built into
- CATDISK is meant to aid those with floppy disk based systems when doing
- multiple searches through the catalog file. Using the cache while
- updating a catalog files imposes additional overhead on the operation.
- It is negligible on floppy based systems, as the bottleneck in the
- operation is the disk itself - on hard drives, it is noticeable. If
- possible, using one of the commercially available disk caching systems
- is recommended, as they incorporate features into their programs such
- as being able to use extended and expanded memory and the like that are
- not feasible to include in CATDISK.
-
- When setting your printer up for printing reports, try to set the
- printer startup string such that the complete catalog listing (i.e.
- files, stats and comments) can be printed.
-
- The best setting for the default ARCHIVE extract state is QUERY. Many
- archives do not need to be fully extracted as the name of the archive
- filename itself is all that is necessary in order to identify what is
- on that particular disk. By using some discretion in deciding which
- archive files need be extracted, you can dramatically reduce the size
- of your catalog files (as well as the time needed to update and search
- them). Some however, need to be extracted (for example, MISC.ARC).
- This setting gives you the best of both worlds.
-
- When setting the default drive and directory for your catalog files, be
- sure and include it in your DOS PATH as well. Although this is not
- necessary, it will enable you to run CATDISK from anywhere in your
- system without having to change to that directory before running
- CATDISK. Setting the PATH for this is only beneficial to those using
- hard drives.
-
- When setting the maximum number of disks and files that can be
- maintained in a catalog file, the best setting should be the LOWEST one
- that will contain your largest catalog file. This will maximize the
- amount of free memory left over that CATDISK can use to store file
- information being read from disks being cataloged, sorting information,
- caching information, and the like.
-
- Keep in mind that, if you should have a catalog file grow to your set
- maximum, you can always re-configure CATDISK (memory permitting, of
- course) to accommodate a larger configuration, unless you are already
- at the highest setting. When you next run CATDISK after making these
- changes, your catalog file will then be able to grow to the new
- setting.
-
- If you are running on floppy drives, use the 8K setting for disks/files
- per catalog. Your files will never exceed this limitation.
-
- Disk Catalog System (CATDISK) V6.35 Copr (C) 1986, 1993 by Rick Hillier
-
- Page 14
-
-
-
- SAMPLE CONFIGURATIONS
-
- Scenario: One Hard Disk (C:) and a floppy drive:
-
- Make a directory "C:\CATDISK" and copy the files CATDISK.EXE
- and CDISKCFG.EXE to it. Set the configuration to:
-
- 1) Screen Update Method: <your option>
- 2) Color or B & W: <your option>
- 3) Disk Caching: 0 K (Disabled)
- 4) Output Lines Per Page: <your option>
- 5) Printer Startup String: <your option>
- 6) Printer Finishing String: <your option>
- 7) Default ARCHIVE Extract State: <your option>
- 8) Catalog Drive: A:
- 9) Catalog File Directory: C:\CATDISK
- 10) Maximum Disks/Files per Catalog: <your option>
- 11) Color Scheme: <your option>
-
- Add C:\CATDISK to the DOS PATH and you will be able to call
- up CATDISK or CATLOOK from anywhere in your system.
-
- Scenario: Two floppy drives:
-
- Take a blank disk and copy the files CATDISK.EXE and
- CDISKCFG.EXE to it. This will be your CATDISK program disk.
- Set the configuration to:
-
- 1) Screen Update Method: <your option>
- 2) Color or B & W: <your option>
- 3) Disk Caching: <your option>
- 4) Output Lines Per Page: <your option>
- 5) Printer Startup String: <your option>
- 6) Printer Finishing String: <your option>
- 7) Default ARCHIVE Extract State: <your option>
- 8) Catalog Drive: A:
- 9) Catalog File Directory: B:\
- 10) Maximum Disks/Files per Catalog: 500/8192
- 11) Color Scheme: <your option>
-
- When starting CATDISK for the first time, insert the
- program disk in drive A: and take a blank formatted disk and
- insert it in drive B:. This will be your data disk. When
- CATDISK has loaded and has displayed the title screen, you
- may remove the CATDISK program disk from the A: drive. This
- will now be the drive from which disks being cataloged will
- be read.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- Disk Catalog System (CATDISK) V6.35 Copr (C) 1986, 1993 by Rick Hillier
-
- Page 15
-
-
-
- Scenario: One floppy drive:
-
- Take a blank disk and copy the files CATDISK.EXE and
- CDISKCFG.EXE to it. This will be your CATDISK program disk.
- Set the configuration to:
-
- 1) Screen Update Method: <your option>
- 2) Color or B & W: <your option>
- 3) Disk Caching: <your option>
- 4) Output Lines Per Page: <your option>
- 5) Printer Startup String: <your option>
- 6) Printer Finishing String: <your option>
- 7) Default ARCHIVE Extract State: <your option>
- 8) Catalog Drive: A:
- 9) Catalog File Directory: A:\
- 10) Maximum Disks/Files per Catalog: 500/8192
- 11) Color Scheme: <your option>
-
- When starting CATDISK for the first time, insert the
- program disk in drive A: and start CATDISK. You will need to
- add the command line option /IP (initial pause - see later
- in this manual).
-
- Once CATDISK has loaded, it will pause and ask you to insert
- your data disk. If this is the first time you are running
- CATDISK, use a blank formatted disk.
- When you catalog a disk, you must first remove the data disk
- and insert the disk to be cataloged BEFORE activating the
- catalog function. When CATDISK is done reading the disk, it
- will ask you to re-insert the data disk.
-
-
- IMPORTANT NOTE
-
- If you are running CATDISK on a single drive system, I would recommend
- the above configuration for two reasons, even though DOS can make the
- one drive act like A: and B:.
-
- 1) Perhaps the most important reason; if you've activated the disk
- caching feature, is that failure to do so may cause a loss of data
- on disks other than your data disk, particularly when you label a
- disk. The reason being that the cache built into CATDISK references
- the PHYSICAL hardware, not the logical drive that DOS creates (i.e.
- A: and B: use the SAME piece of equipment).
-
- By setting CATDISK to the above configuration, it will be aware that
- the above situation exists and take the correct action when carrying
- out critical functions.
-
- 2) This will allow CATDISK to prompt you for the appropriate disks,
- thus avoiding the DOS prompt "Insert disk for drive B:" and the
- like.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- Disk Catalog System (CATDISK) V6.35 Copr (C) 1986, 1993 by Rick Hillier
-
- Page 16
-
-
-
- STARTING CATDISK
-
- CATDISK is started from the DOS command line by issuing the following:
-
- CATDISK parameters
-
- - where parameters may include any of the following:
-
- /NP - Specifying this command line option will cause
- CATDISK to eliminate the pause after cataloging/
- un-cataloging a disk. It will also eliminate the
- "Insert a disk in drive X:" prompt unless it is
- absolutely necessary.
-
- /NW - Under normal circumstances, when you catalog a
- disk containing a Volume ID that already exists
- in the current catalog, CATDISK will issue a
- warning to that effect, and will ask you for
- verification before proceeding to catalog that disk
- The reason behind this is that there is always the
- possibility of two different disks having the same
- Volume ID. Cataloging one would mean that the files
- from the other would be un-cataloged in the same
- process.
-
- If you specify the /NW option on the command line,
- this warning will be suppressed, and the disk will
- be cataloged without further delay.
-
- This option will also disable CATDISK's warning
- before creating any new catalog files when the
- current catalog file is changed via CATDISK's menus
- to a catalog set that does not exist.
-
- /NT - Suppress totals that CATDISK normally shows at the
- end of screen-based and printed reports.
-
- /NS - Suppress status indicators during processing. This
- speeds up processing time. Status indicators are
- there simply to indicate that the computer is
- actually doing something useful. Try it either way
- and set it to your liking.
-
- /AC - Turn the auto comment feature ON at startup.
- Normally, CATDISK, upon completion of cataloging a
- group of files from a disk will immediately
- return to the menu. Activating this feature from
- the command line (or from the menu) will cause
- CATDISK to proceed to the section where you may
- add/modify the file comments for the volume that
- you just cataloged.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- Disk Catalog System (CATDISK) V6.35 Copr (C) 1986, 1993 by Rick Hillier
-
- Page 17
-
-
-
- /SD - CATDISK can display screen information for your
- catalog in four different formats. The default is
- to show the Filename, Volume ID, Arcive ID, size,
- date, time and attributes for each record. The
- second display format omits the file attributes, but
- shows the sub-directory that the file occupies on its
- disk. Setting this option will make the second
- format the starting report type.
-
- /CO - similar to above, but activates the third display
- format that shows Filename, Volume ID, Archive ID and
- file comments will be the starting report type.
-
- /SDCO - similar to above, but activates the fourth display
- format that shows a the Subdirectory, Filename,
- Volume ID, Archive ID and a slightly truncated
- variation of the file comments.
-
- - *** NOTE: If you specify multiple options of /SD, /CO and /SDCO at
- startup, the LAST one that you specified on the command
- line will take effect.
-
- /Ffilename - The default filename that CATDISK uses is "CATDISK"
- which may be overridden with this parameter.
- Note that there is no space between the /F and the
- filename.
-
- If you specify /F? on the command line, CATDISK will
- bring up a point and shoot selection menu of all of
- the catalogs it detected in your catalog file
- directory. If none are found, an error message will
- be displayed and you will be returned to DOS.
- Hitting the <Esc> key from within this list will also
- cause you to be returned immediately to DOS.
-
- /SF - this will set the default screen format of the disk
- summary report to be set to show the entries sorted
- in descending order of free disk space, rather than
- the default, which is sorted by volume id. While in
- the summary report screen, you can toggle between the
- two sort methods by pressing the <Tab> key.
-
- /Rx - this will allow you to set the initial location that
- CATDISK will send a report. This location can
- still be changed from within the settings and toggles
- menu. x can be any of the following:
-
- 1 - Screen 2 - LPT1 3 - LPT2 4 - Disk File
- 5 - ASK (Prompt for location before each report)
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- Disk Catalog System (CATDISK) V6.35 Copr (C) 1986, 1993 by Rick Hillier
-
- Page 18
-
-
-
- /Px - Set printer output format to report type x, where x
- is in the range (0-3).
-
- x Value Report Type
- ------- -----------
-
- 0 Show regular file statistics
- 1 Show file comments
- 2 Show subdirectory info and comments
- 3 Show file statistics and comments
- (selecting this report style assumes that
- your printer is set to produce 132 column
- reports)
-
- /2 - Turn on CATDISK's two-sided printer reports to cut
- down on paper consumption. See the Settings &
- Toggles menu for further details.
-
- /D: - Catalog files from drive D: where D: is one of
- [A - {last drive in your system}].
-
- /IP - Initial Pause. This parameter will cause CATDISK
- to pause after it is loaded so that you may remove
- the program disk (not needed during the session) and
- insert the data disk. This option is only needed if
- you are running on a single drive system.
-
- /ALIAS - Adding this option to the command line will activate
- the "ALIAS" feature whereby you will be able to
- override the name under which a disk will be
- cataloged. Normally, CATDISK will catalog a disk
- under the volume label. This will enable you to
- optionally catalog the disk under a different name
- without changing the volume label on the disk being
- cataloged.
-
- /SV - Have CATDISK suggest sequential volume labels for you
- to use when adding a NEW volume label to a disk.
-
- /NC - Normally, when not instructed to read the directory
- contents of ZIP or ARJ files, CATDISK will attempt to
- read in the main comment from any ZIP or ARJ file
- that it encounters. Adding this option to the
- command line will allow you to turn this feature off
- at startup.
-
- Additionally, when CATDISK encounters a GIF file, it
- will attempt to read in the resolution/color
- information from it and place it in the comment
- field. This option will also disable this feature.
-
- /NCC - normally, at startup, CATDISK will enable a feature
- whereby any ZIP or ARJ files containing a main
- comment that get expanded will have that main comment
- inserted into the comment area of any file entry
- extracted from that ZIP/ARJ file that does not
- already have a comment. By adding this option to the
- command line, this feature will be turned off at
- program startup.
-
- Disk Catalog System (CATDISK) V6.35 Copr (C) 1986, 1993 by Rick Hillier
-
- Page 19
-
-
-
- /N4 - Normally, support for this feature should be left on.
- 4DOs and Norton DOS (NDOS), command interpreter (i.e.
- COMMAND.COM) replacements which greatly enhance the
- functionality of DOS. One feature that is
- particularly handy is their ability to add comments
- to your directory entries at the DOS level using a
- command called DESCRIBE. If you copy or move a file
- from the command prompt, that comment goes right
- along with the file (the DISKFILL utility, discussed
- later in this user manual, can also do this). These
- comments are stored in a hidden file, DESCRIPT.ION in
- each subdirectory where file comments are contained.
-
- When CATDISK encounters such a file, the comments are
- automatically read into your catalog where applicable
- and the hidden file is cataloged with the comment
- "4DOS/NDOS File Descriptions." If you do not want
- this file cataloged at all, you can do so from the
- configuration utility, CDISKCFG.
-
- By adding this option to the command line when you
- start CATDISK, you can disable this feature if it is
- causing you any problems (such as having a file
- called DESCRIPT.ION from another application).
-
- /ND - shows dates in numeric format as YYYY-MM-DD.
-
- /DISKCOM - during normal re-cataloging operations, CATDISK will
- not override a file comment that already exists in
- the catalog file with one found on disk (eg. in a ZIP
- file, or in a 4DOS description). This is to protect
- any comment "massaging" that you may have done when
- that disk was previously cataloged. Overriding that
- comment would undo any editing that you may have
- done. By adding this option to the command line, you
- can cause CATDISK to override existing comments with
- those found on disk. This option may only be set at
- program startup - there is no option in the settings
- & toggles menu to change it. This option should be
- used with caution.
-
- /CATALOG - If this option is added to your command line, CATDISK
- will perform a catalog operation on the catalog drive
- (the setting from the CDISKCFG program may be
- overridden on the command line) and return to DOS
- when done. If you have the autocomments feature in
- CATDISK turned on, you will be taken to the comment
- entry screen first. When you exit from this screen,
- you will then be returned to DOS.
-
- This option makes it possible to catalog a disk from
- a batch file, or from within another application by
- shelling out to CATDISK with the correct parameters.
- When CATDISK exits, you will be returned to your
- application.
-
- NOTE: It is not advisable to put this option in the
- CATDISK environment variable, as it will make it
- impossible to get into CATDISK's other functions.
-
- Disk Catalog System (CATDISK) V6.35 Copr (C) 1986, 1993 by Rick Hillier
-
- Page 20
-
-
-
- /QUIET - Silent operation. Supresses sound in CATDISK.
-
- /NOSHELL - disables the "Shell To Dos" function from all menus.
- This may be desirable when allowing others access to
- CATDISK from a menu system and you do not wish the
- user to be able to access the DOS prompt. If the
- user selects the option to shell out to DOS, and this
- option was present, a short beep will sound (unless
- you also added /QUIET to the command line) and no
- further action will take place.
-
- /EXITV - Normally, when you press the <Esc> key from the main
- menu, CATDISK will promptly exit to DOS. Under
- certain circumstances, you may find it beneficial to
- have CATDISK verify that you really want to exit from
- the program. By adding this option to the command
- line, CATDISK will give you a YES/NO prompt asking
- you if you really want to leave the program.
-
-
- The slash "/" may be substituted by either a dash "-" or a space " ".
-
- Examples: CATDISK /FGAMES/NS/AC/CO/P3/R5/ALIAS/B: or CATDISK A:
-
- - entering CATDISK ? will bring up a help message indicating the above.
-
- NOTE: You may also put the command line options in a CATDISK
- environment variable using the DOS "SET" command. This command (see
- examples below), may be placed in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file so that you
- will not need to remember which command line options to use to obtain
- your favorite setup, or for that matter, to type them!
-
- - example: SET CATDISK=/FGAMES/NS/AC/CO/P2/ALIAS/B:
-
- When you start CATDISK under these circumstances, simply type "CATDISK"
- <Enter> and the above options will automatically be invoked.
-
- Any options entered on the command line will be added to those
- specified in the CATDISK environment variable. This makes it possible
- to have a base set of options set in the DOS environment and have an
- optional set that you can specify at the time you run CATDISK.
-
- It is also possible to override some of the options as well (for
- example, the printed report format, the screen report format, the
- catalog file, and the catalog drive), as CATDISK will pay attention to
- the last option of a given type.
-
-
- For example, using the above environment example, entering the command
-
- CATDISK /A:/P1
-
- will cause CATDISK to set the catalog drive to A: (overrides the B:
- option), and the printer report format to show comments (format #1)
- instead of statistics and comments (format #2).
-
- Once CATDISK has been successfully started, a title screen will appear.
- Hit any key to proceed to the main menu.
-
-
- Disk Catalog System (CATDISK) V6.35 Copr (C) 1986, 1993 by Rick Hillier
-
- Page 21
-
-
-
- 3. U S I N G C A T D I S K
-
- USING THE MENUS
-
- The major options available from CATDISK such as the main functions
- that you see in the opening menu after the title page disappears can be
- selected in two different ways.
-
- The first, and easiest is just to hit the indicated key beside the
- desired option.
-
- In response to a requests from registered users, we have also
- implemented a "point and shoot" method of selecting items from a menu.
-
- Simply use the cursor keys to position the flashing arrows in the
- inverse box that indicates the keystroke required to activate the
- desired option and hit <Return> or <Enter>. This will carry out the
- same function as if you had struck the key in the inverse box.
-
- One advantage that the second approach has to the first is that those
- of you who do not touch type numbers very well (or have a tendency to
- hit the key beside the one you are after) have another method to use to
- navigate through the menus of CATDISK.
-
- Another is that once you have activated a function such as cataloging a
- disk, you need only type <Return> to re-activate that function as
- CATDISK will remember the last option you activated (quite handy if you
- are cataloging multiple disks, as the <Return> key is larger than
- most... you aren't as apt to miss it).
-
- The menus in CATDISK currently consist of a main menu controlling the
- main functions of catalog maintenance, a settings & toggles menu
- containing functions that affect how CATDISK responds to certain
- situations, and a reports & inquiries menu from which all reports are
- accessed.
-
- Normally, to access the options available in the Settings & Toggles
- Menu, you have to go to that menu of options from the main menu in
- order to change any of the settings. We have provided shortcuts to the
- options in the Settings & Toggles Menus that are accessible from both
- the Main Menu and from the Reports & Inquiries Menu.
-
- To change any of the settings available in the settings and toggles
- menu directly from the either the main menu or the reports & inquiries
- menu, simply hold down the <Alt> key and press the number key (from the
- top row only, not the numeric keypad) or function key that you would
- normally hit if you were in the settings and toggles menu. CATDISK
- will act on that keystroke as if you had selected that option directly
- from the settings and toggles appropriate menu.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- Disk Catalog System (CATDISK) V6.35 Copr (C) 1986, 1993 by Rick Hillier
-
- Page 22
-
-
-
- SELECTING A VOLUME NAME FROM A LIST
-
- Other than actually labeling a disk, there are three other locations in
- CATDISK where you will be prompted for a volume label: un-cataloging a
- disk; generating a report by volume id; and adding file comments by
- volume. If you know what volume label is desired at the prompt, you
- may enter it verbatim. Leaving it blank, however, will cause CATDISK
- to come up with a point-and-shoot list of all the volume names in the
- current catalog file. When this list first appears, you will notice
- that the first volume is highlighted. Selecting a volume from this
- list is merely a matter of moving the highlight bar to the desired
- volume and pressing <Enter>.
-
- The following options are available:
-
- <Cursor UP> - move up one line in the list. If you are already at
- the top of a column, the highlight bar will move to
- the bottom of the previous column if available.
-
- <Cursor DOWN> - move down one line in the list. If you are already
- at the bottom of a column, the highlight bar will
- move to the top of the next column if available.
-
- <PgUp> - move back 96 lines in the list.
-
- <PgDn> - move ahead 96 lines in the list.
-
- <Home> - move to the beginning of the list.
-
- <End> - move to the end of the list.
-
- <Grey Plus> - move forward in the list 1/15th of the total length
- of the list (see the appendix regarding the SCROLL
- BAR later in this manual).
-
- <Grey Minus> - move back in the list 1/15th of the total length of
- the list (see the appendix regarding the SCROLL BAR
- later in this manual).
-
- <Enter> - Select the highlighted volume for the prompt from the
- previous screen.
-
- <Esc> - return to the menu with no further action taken.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
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-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- Disk Catalog System (CATDISK) V6.35 Copr (C) 1986, 1993 by Rick Hillier
-
- Page 23
-
-
-
- OPTION 1 - SET DRIVE FOR CATALOGING
-
- This function allows you to set the drive from which the files to be
- cataloged will be read. Simply select letter from (A - x) to select
- the drive with that DOS letter designation, where x is the last drive
- that CATDISK detected in your system configuration. The change will be
- noted immediately in the status area at the top of the screen.
-
- *** NOTE: If you are running with one floppy drive only and have
- turned the caching option on from the configuration utility,
- do not set this option to a drive other than the one on
- which the catalog files reside (probably A:). Failure to do
- so could cause loss of data on your disks.
- See the SAMPLE CONFIGURATIONS section covered earlier in
- this section. You have been warned!
-
- Users with a hard-disk, single floppy configuration, who are running
- CATDISK from the hard disk will NOT experience this problem and may
- proceed as normal. It's ONLY if the same PHYSICAL drive is being used
- for the CATDISK work files AND the disk to be cataloged that the
- above precautions must be taken.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
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-
- Disk Catalog System (CATDISK) V6.35 Copr (C) 1986, 1993 by Rick Hillier
-
- Page 24
-
-
-
- OPTION 2 - SET CURRENT CATALOG FILE
-
- Although the catalog filename may be set upon starting up CATDISK, it
- may also be convenient to be able to change the current file from
- within a CATDISK session. Select option #3 from the main menu, and you
- will be prompted for a new catalog file to use. Any valid DOS filename
- will do. Be sure to specify the NAME portion only; do not include the
- file extension portion. If the name you specify is valid, it will then
- be used for all subsequent catalog updates and queries (This is
- reflected at the top of the screen). If not, an error message will be
- issued and no change will be made to the current catalog file name.
-
- If the catalog file set that you specify does not exist, CATDISK will
- automatically create a new catalog for you. Before doing so, however,
- CATDISK will indicate that the summary or catalog file does not exist
- and request your permission to create it before proceeding. If you
- specified /NW on the command line, this warning will not appear -
- CATDISK will simply proceed to create any necessary files for the
- specified catalog set.
-
- If you don't enter anything for the catalog filename, a list of all
- current catalog files in the catalog directory will be displayed on the
- screen. If the desired catalog is on a removable disk (i.e. floppy
- disks or removable hard drives), be sure and have that disk in the
- appropriate drive BEFORE you enter nothing to the prompt so the desired
- files will appear in the list. This method can be handy when you are
- not sure of exactly what you called a particular catalog file.
-
- To select a file from the list, simply move the highlight bar around
- the list of filenames with the cursor keys so that it rests on the
- desired catalog file. At this point, hit the <Enter> key, and that
- file will be selected as if you had typed it at the prompt. Hitting
- <Esc> in this screen will abort the operation as if you had pressed
- <Esc> at the prompt.
-
- If you are switching to a catalog that already exists, and it will not
- fit into the configuration you defined in the configuration program
- (maximum disks/files per catalog), you will get an error message and
- the catalog file setting will be left unchanged.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- Disk Catalog System (CATDISK) V6.35 Copr (C) 1986, 1993 by Rick Hillier
-
- Page 25
-
-
-
- OPTION 3: SETTINGS AND TOGGLES MENU
-
- The options available in this sub-menu will allow you to control the
- behavior of some of the features of CATDISK. You can get to this menu
- by selecting option #2 from the main menu.
-
- The options available on this menu are:
-
-
- Sub-option 1 - Set Drive For Cataloging
- ---------------------------------------
-
- This is exactly the same for main menu option #1 and is included on the
- settings and toggles menu for convenience.
-
-
- Sub-option 2 - Pauses On/Off
- ----------------------------
-
- Under normal circumstances, CATDISK will pause at strategic places,
- either to allow you to view what has just happened (cataloging and
- un-cataloging), or to prompt you to insert a disk in drive X:
- (labeling or reading directories, etc). If you turn this toggle off,
- CATDISK will only prompt you for a disk when absolutely necessary. In
- addition, there will be no pause at the end of a catalog update; you
- will immediately be returned to the main menu, or to the comment entry
- screen if you have the AUTO COMMENT feature turned on.
-
-
- Sub-option 3 - Change Printer Report Type
- -----------------------------------------
-
- CATDISK currently supports three printer report styles, which are
- detailed here. The particular report style that you desire may be set
-
- with this toggle, and will be reflected in the toggles portion of the
- menu screen.
-
- STATISTICS: This is the default report style (unless overridden on the
- command line), which is to show the path, filename, volume
- id, archive id, as well as the size, date, time and DOS
- directory attributes of each file listed.
-
- This report style corresponds to the command line option
- /P0, and will fit on an 80 column printer.
-
- COMMENTS: This report style will show the filename, volume id,
- archive id and full comment for each file listed.
-
- This report style corresponds to the command line option
- /P1, and will fit on an 80 column printer.
-
- SUBDIRS: This report style will show the subdirectory, filename,
- volume id, archive id and a shortened comment for each
- file listed.
-
- This report style corresponds to the command line option
- /P1, and will fit on an 80 column printer.
-
-
- Disk Catalog System (CATDISK) V6.35 Copr (C) 1986, 1993 by Rick Hillier
-
- Page 26
-
-
-
- ALL INFO: This report style will show all of the fields from the two
- above reports. Please note that it assumes that you
- either have a 132 column printer, or an 80 column printer
- set to compressed mode. It corresponds to the command
- line option /P3.
-
-
- Sub-option 4 - Report Totals On/Off
- -----------------------------------
-
- When this setting is turned ON, CATDISK will display a line at the
- bottom of the screen-based reports showing the totals for the given
- report showing on the screen. In printed or disk-based reports, these
- totals will be shown at the end of a report.
-
- One consideration in paginated reports... if your last report page is
- quite full, there is a possibility that the total line may "bleed" over
- to the next page on your printer.
-
- The presence of a "/T" beside the printer report type in the status
- area of CATDISK's main screen indicates that this feature is currently
- turned on.
-
-
- Sub-option 5 - File Comments On The Fly
- ---------------------------------------
-
- If this toggle is turned OFF, CATDISK will proceed back to the main
- menu upon completion of the process of cataloging a disk. If you wish
- to add comments for some/all of the files that you have just
- cataloged, you may turn this toggle ON. When this is the case,
- CATDISK will catalog files in the normal manner, but upon completion,
- you will be taken to another screen that will allow you to scroll
- through the files you just cataloged and add/update the comments for
- each file shown. See Option F1 - Add/Change File Comments for details
- on how this section of the program works.
-
-
- Sub-option F1 - Main Archive Comment Copy
- -----------------------------------------
-
- If this feature is turned on, CATDISK will take special action when
- expanding ZIP and ARJ files. If a main ZIP/ARJ file comment is found,
- any file entries extracted that do not have comments will have the main
- ZIP/ARJ file comment entry inserted instead. The presence of a "C"
- beside the Auto Comments setting in the status information at the top
- of the screen indicates that this feature is turned on.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- Disk Catalog System (CATDISK) V6.35 Copr (C) 1986, 1993 by Rick Hillier
-
- Page 27
-
-
-
- Sub-option F2 - Extract 4DOS/NDOS Comments
- ------------------------------------------
-
- This setting controls whether or not CATDISK will process directory
- comments created by JP Software's 4DOS or Symantec Software's Norton
- DOS (NDOS). If on, CATDISK, during a cataloging operation, will look
- for a hidden file in each subdirectory called "DESCRIPT.ION", which
- contains the text for these comments. Where applicable, these comments
- will be included in your catalog file automatically. If off, CATDISK
- will ignore these comments. The presence of a "4" beside the Auto
- Comments setting in the status information at the top of the screen
- indicates that this feature is turned on.
-
- Although not tested, Norton DOS (NDOS) is largely based on JP
- Software's 4DOS program, and should work in a similar manner to that
- product.
-
-
- Sub-option 6 - Set Current Report Destination
- ----------------------------------------------
-
- Selecting this option will affect the report destination and whether or
- not CATDISK will ask you where the report should go. Each time you
- select option 1, CATDISK will run through a sequence of five possible
- locations (SCRN (Screen), LPT1, LPT2, Disk, or ASK).
-
- Selecting one of the first four will cause CATDISK to immediately
- generate a report to the selected destination IMMEDIATELY upon
- selecting it. You will not be prompted any further, unless you have
- selected DISK, in which case, you will be asked for a filename in which
- to place the report.
-
- If you select ASK, CATDISK will prompt you for a report location (one
- of the first four in the list) each time you ask it to generate a
- report.
-
- I usually leave this setting set to SCREEN as, most of the time, I
- browse through my catalog files on the screen. You, however, may find
- it handy to set this to ASK, especially if you jump to report locations
- frequently. If this is the case, you may, if you haven't already, add
- the command line option /ASK to your current list of options. This
- will override the default location of SCREEN at startup, negating the
- need to set it manually each time you start CATDISK.
-
-
- Sub-option 7 - Print On Both Sides of Page
- ------------------------------------------
-
- Normally, CATDISK will print its hardcopy reports in a continuous
- stream to the printer. By turning this feature on, CATDISK will print
- your reports in a format such that the odd numbered pages will be
- printed first. CATDISK will then pause and ask you to re-insert the
- paper in your printer so that the even numbered pages will print on the
- back side of the odd numbered pages. This will cut paper consumption
- on your reports in half.
-
- You will know when this feature is activated when you see a "/2" beside
- the report location in the information at the top of the screen.
-
-
- Disk Catalog System (CATDISK) V6.35 Copr (C) 1986, 1993 by Rick Hillier
-
- Page 28
-
-
-
- IMPORTANT NOTE: Re-inserting paper previously printed on back into
- some types of laser printers can cause damage to the
- internal mechanisms of those printers. Consult your
- printer manual or check with the manufacturer before
- using this option with your laser printer.
-
-
- Sub-option 8 - ARCHIVE Extract Setting
- --------------------------------------
-
- Although this setting is permanently set from the CDISKCFG utility, it
- is sometimes be convenient to be able to change it during a CATDISK
- session. Selecting option 2 will run the Auto ARCHIVE Extract setting
- through three possibilities, OFF, ON, or QUERY. The current setting is
- shown near the top of the screen in the status area.
-
- If this feature is turned OFF, any file searches through the catalog,
- with the exception of OPTION #0 - Show All Files, will NOT show any
- files that reside in an archive file. The archive file's presence will
- still be shown in the listing.
-
- If this feature is turned ON, CATDISK will extract the archive
- directory of any archive it encounters in its search.
-
- If it is set to QUERY, CATDISK will prompt you as to whether it should
- extract the archive directory of any archive that it encounters in its
- search before proceeding to do so. Reports generated will act as if
- the feature is turned ON.
-
-
- Sub-option 9 - Comments When Arcs Not Extracted
- -----------------------------------------------
-
- In the course of its normal operation, CATDISK, when not extracting the
- directory information from ZIP or ARJ files, will search each one it
- encounters for the comment of the ZIP/ARJ file itself. Under some
- circumstances, such as those where your particular collection of
- ZIP/ARJ files do not contain comments, or where the vast majority of
- them contain BBS advertisements (not really what they were intended
- for), this search can be both time consuming and meaningless. This
- toggle will turn this feature on or off. The presence of a "C" beside
- the Archive Extract setting in the status information at the top of the
- screen indicates that this feature is turned on.
-
- Although not related to ZIP/ARJ files, this feature will also control
- whether or not the graphic resolution and color information will be
- extracted from a GIF file to be included as the default comment for
- that particular file.
-
-
- Sub-option 0 - Aliases On/Off
- -----------------------------
-
- Activating this option will enable you to override the name under which
- a disk will be cataloged. Normally, CATDISK will catalog a disk under
- the volume label. This will allow you to optionally catalog the disk
- under a different name without changing the volume label on the disk
- being cataloged. Keep in mind that if you re-catalog the disk at a
- later time, you must remember the new name that you gave to the disk in
-
- Disk Catalog System (CATDISK) V6.35 Copr (C) 1986, 1993 by Rick Hillier
-
- Page 29
-
-
-
- your catalog, otherwise, duplication will occur in your catalog.
-
- The presence of a "ALS" beside the "VolLab:" setting in the status area
- of the screen indicates that this feature is turned on.
-
-
- Sub-option F3 - Suggest Volume Label On/Off
- -------------------------------------------
-
- When this setting is turned ON, CATDISK will suggest a volume label to
- use when labeling a disk. You may, of course, change that label at the
- prompt if you wish. Depending on what has been done in CATDISK with
- regard to previous labeling operations, CATDISK will use the following
- criteria:
-
- 1) If the disk already has a volume label, CATDISK will suggest that
- label.
-
- If the disk does not have a volume label:
-
- 2) If you have previously labeled a disk during the current CATDISK
- session (i.e. you have not exited from the CATDISK program and have
- returned to it), CATDISK will examine the last entered volume label
- (entered at the prompt) to see if there is a numeric part of that
- volume label. A numeric sequence is considered by CATDISK to be a
- series of two or more digits in a row. That numeric part is then
- incremented by one and that new label becomes the suggested label.
-
- Examples: DISK001 would become DISK002
- DISK001A would become DISK002A
-
- If two or more separate numerical sequences are present in the
- volume label, CATDISK will increment the rightmost one.
-
- Example: A001B002 would become A001B003
-
- If there is no numerical part in the previous volume label, the
- volume label will be suggested verbatim.
-
- 3) If you have not previously labeled a disk during the current CATDISK
- session, CATDISK will examine your summary file. If you have
- previously cataloged disks with CATDISK, the last alphabetical entry
- in the summary file will be taken and treated as the suggestion in
- option 2.
-
- 4) If you have not previously labeled a disk during the current CATDISK
- session and have not previously cataloged any disks with CATDISK,
- nothing will be suggested.
-
- If this feature is activated, you will see an "SV" to the right of the
- slash in the "VolLab:" section of the status area of the screen.
-
-
- Sub-option <Esc> - Exit To Main Menu
- ------------------------------------
-
- Exactly what it says.
-
-
-
- Disk Catalog System (CATDISK) V6.35 Copr (C) 1986, 1993 by Rick Hillier
-
- Page 30
-
-
-
- OPTION 4: LABELING A DISK
-
- Selection of option #4 on the main menu will allow the VOLUME LABEL of
- a disk to be set or changed. Upon selection, CATDISK will attempt to
- read the current label of the disk. If none is present, you will be
- notified of this, and will be given the opportunity to create a volume
- label for that disk. See the DOS manual on volume labels for more
- information. If a label already exists on the disk, its name will be
- shown as a reminder, and you will be given an opportunity to change the
- label name. Just enter the new label name and hit <CR>.
-
- Note that if you have the volume label suggestion facility turned on,
- CATDISK will recommend a sequential volume label for any new disks
- being labeled. See the section of this manual dealing with "Suggest
- Volume Label" setting in the Settings & Toggles chapter for details on
- what CATDISK will recommend for a volume label under various
- circumstances.
-
- If the label name was valid, the change will be made, otherwise, an
- error message indicating such will be issued and you will return to the
- main menu.
-
- If you do not wish to enter or change the disk label, simply hit <ESC>
- at the volume label prompt and you will immediately return to the main
- menu with no changed made to the disk label.
-
- When the volume label has been successfully changed or created, CATDISK
- will check to see if the old label, if any was present, exists in the
- current catalog file. If so, you will be given an opportunity to have
- CATDISK automatically change the old volume id references to the newly
- entered one. If the disk that you re-labeled is one that actually is
- in the catalog, answer <Y>es to the prompt. CATDISK will take care of
- the rest. This feature can be a great time saver, as it eliminates the
- need to uncatalog the disk under the old volume id, and re-catalog it
- under the new name.
-
- If the disk is not in the catalog, answer <N>o to the prompt. Answering
- <Y>es under these circumstances will not damage the catalog file, but
- will cause confusion as to what disk the altered catalog records reside
- on.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- Disk Catalog System (CATDISK) V6.35 Copr (C) 1986, 1993 by Rick Hillier
-
- Page 31
-
-
-
- OPTION 5: CATALOGING/RE-CATALOGING A DISK
-
- This selection will initiate cataloging or re-cataloging of the files
- on the selected catalog disk as shown in the status area at the top of
- the screen. The volume label will be read, and if it doesn't exist,
- you will be given an opportunity to enter a volume label for the disk.
- If you hit <ESC> at the label prompt, the operation will be aborted and
- you will be returned to the main menu without cataloging your disk.
- After entering the label name for that disk, you will be asked if you
- wish to write that label to disk. If you answer <Y>es, the disk will
- be labeled and cataloging will continue. If you answer <N>o, the label
- will not be written, but the disk will be cataloged under the name that
- you gave it. This will allow easy cataloging of write-protected disks.
-
- Please note that volume labels created by Peter Norton's "Volabel"
- utility may contain lower case characters. CATDISK will convert the
- labels to upper case before adding them to the catalog. This will
- enable you to manipulate and uncatalog any of these disks. The
- physical volume label on the disk will be left unchanged.
-
- There are volume label utilities on the market that allow the entry of
- illegal characters into the volume label. CATDISK will change these
- offending characters into spaces when it encounters them. This will
- not affect the physical label on the disk, but rather the way CATDISK
- stores them in its catalog files.
-
- If the label on the disk to be cataloged already exists in the
- catalog, you will be notified of this situation, and will be given an
- opportunity to abort the operation. This feature has been added as a
- safeguard against a situation where two disks of the same volume id may
- be overriding each other and clobbering the catalog contents of the
- other disk. If you specified the "/NW" option on at startup, this
- warning will not be issued.
-
- If you specified /ALIAS in your startup options, a screen will appear
- showing you what the current volume label is on the disk you are about
- to catalog. A prompt will appear below this asking you for a name
- under which you would like the disk to be cataloged. The current
- volume label will be displayed in this area, and you will be allowed to
- change it before the cataloging process takes place. This can be very
- handy in certain situations such as vendor disks that insist that the
- volume label remain unchanged, as the software uses the volume label to
- identify the disk. The volume label on the disk may not mean anything
- to you, and using an alias may be desirable in this case.
-
- As flexible as the ability to catalog under an alias can be, there are
- a couple of drawbacks that should be considered before you decide to
- make the name in the catalog different from the volume label on the
- disk. Firstly, if you go to re-catalog the disk at a later time and
- don't provide exactly the same alias that was used initially, you can
- wind up with duplicate entries in the catalog file, as CATDISK
- currently has no way of knowing that the disk has already been
- cataloged. Secondly, if at a later date, you use option #3 in CATDISK
- to change the volume label on a disk that has already been cataloged,
- CATDISK will have no way of knowing that it should give you the
- opportunity to change the entries in the catalog to reflect the new
- volume label, as the entries are not cataloged under the old volume
- label.
-
-
- Disk Catalog System (CATDISK) V6.35 Copr (C) 1986, 1993 by Rick Hillier
-
- Page 32
-
-
-
- The best advice would be that if you never intend to re-catalog a disk
- in the future, then it would be ok to use an alias, otherwise, it's
- best to stick with a meaningful volume label.
-
- Once the name of the disk has been established for cataloging purposes,
- the directory and any archive or library entries (if the ARCHIVE auto
- extract feature option is turned on - it is by default) will be read
- (if the ARCHIVE auto extract is set to QUERY, you will be asked for
- verification before a given archive or Library will be read). This
- process will be repeated for each sub-directory on the disk as well.
- All existing levels of sub-directories will be searched.
-
- If the archive comment extract feature is turned on (see sub-option #0
- in the settings & toggles menu), CATDISK will extract the graphic
- resolution and color information of any GIF files that it encounters
- during its operation and place this information in the comment field
- (if it is a new file, or an existing entry in the catalog file that is
- blank) as the default comment. For example, a picture contained in a
- GIF file that has a resolution of 640 by 480 pixels and contains 256
- colors will appear as "640x480x256".
-
- If CATDISK encounters a ZIP, ARJ, ZOO or DWC file, any comments that
- may be stored in that file will be read and included in the catalog
- file, if that archive is expanded. If the operation is a re-cataloging
- operation and any extracted filenames already exist in the catalog file
- with comments attached, the comment from the archive file will be
- ignored.
-
- ZIP and ARJ files, in addition to supporting comment entries for each
- file contained, can also have a main comment for the ZIP/ARJ file
- itself. When CATDISK reads ZIP/ARJ files and finds a main comment, it
- will insert that main comment in the catalog file for any entries in
- the ZIP/ARJ file that do not already have comments. This feature of
- copying the main ZIP/ARJ file comment can be turned on and off via the
- settings and toggles menu as desired.
-
- If the 4DOS/NDOS comment extract feature is turned on (it is by
- default), CATDISK will attempt to find a file (that may be hidden) in
- each subdirectoy called "DESCRIPT.ION". This file will be present if
- you have used the 4DOS/NDOS "Describe" command to add file descriptions
- to your directory entries. If CATDISK is able to locate this file, it
- will automatically add any matching comments to your catalog entries
- where appropriate.
-
- Upon completion of this, the catalog summary file and master catalog
- will be updated to reflect the current directory/directories of the
- disk. If any files have been added, they will be added to the catalog;
- if any files have been changed, they will be updated; if any files
- have been deleted, they will be removed from the catalog.
-
- If, while reading the disk, CATDISK cannot find any files there, it
- will ask you if you would like to add that disk to the catalog anyway.
- Why would you want to add such a disk to the catalog? The answer to
- this question can best be explained by an example.
-
-
-
-
-
-
- Disk Catalog System (CATDISK) V6.35 Copr (C) 1986, 1993 by Rick Hillier
-
- Page 33
-
-
-
- You're maintaining a collection of disks for a computer users group.
- One day, you decide to clean up your collection, eliminating any
- duplicates that may have crept into the collection. While you're
- eliminating the duplicates, several of the disks in the sequence become
- completely empty. In this case, it is desirable to have the disk
- showing in the summary file as having its capacity completely available
- to accept new files. Additionally, all the files that were eliminated
- from that disk will be un-cataloged by CATDISK through its normal
- function. If the disk has never been cataloged before, this method
- represents a way to "pre-allocate" the disks to the collection and
- initialize their entries in the catalog file.
-
- If you would like to have the blank disk included in the catalog,
- answer YES to the prompt, otherwise, answer NO. If you elect not to
- include the disk in the catalog file, and it has already been cataloged
- before, it would be advisable to remove that volume listing from the
- catalog file using option #5.
-
- Keep in mind, that deletion of an archive file will cause any files
- existing within that archive file to be uncataloged. Also, turning the
- Auto Archive Extraction feature OFF, or answering <No> to a Extract
- Archive prompt to a cataloged Archive will cause any files in an
- Archive file on that disk to be uncataloged as well.
-
- Should the disk become full when the cataloging process is underway,
- the process will be aborted with an error message. The old catalog
- file will remain intact (i.e. no changes made), but the summary file
- will reflect either the presence of the new disk, or the current status
- of that disk if it already existed in the catalog. This means that the
- catalog file will not be accurate as to what's on the disk that you
- attempted to catalog. If this error is encountered, you should either
- try to free up some space on disk on which the catalog file exists, or
- move the .DTA and .SUM files to another disk (see CONFIGURING CATDISK
- for details on how to access catalog files on other drives and
- directories) and retry the operation.
-
- The cataloging operation is completely automatic and does not require
- any further input from the operator once started, unless, of course,
- the ARCHIVE extract state is set to QUERY.
-
- If you have turned on the auto-comment feature either from the
- command line or from the toggles menu, you will be taken to a section
- of the program that will allow you to add/update file comments for the
- group of files that CATDISK just added to or updated in your catalog.
-
- See the discussion on "OPTION 7 - CHANGE COMMENTS BY VOLUME ID" for a
- discussion on how the comment editor works.
-
- Please keep in mind that CATDISK has an internal limitation of being
- able to read in only the first 5000 files of the disk being cataloged,
- if available memory permits.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- Disk Catalog System (CATDISK) V6.35 Copr (C) 1986, 1993 by Rick Hillier
-
- Page 34
-
-
-
- OPTION F1: UNCATALOGING A DISK
-
- There may be times when you will wish to remove a disk's files from the
- catalog. Select option <F1> from the main menu, and you will be asked
- to enter the VOLUME NAME of the disk to be uncataloged. Enter it and
- hit <Enter>. If the volume label doesn't exist in the catalog, then
- you will be notified and returned to the main menu.
-
- Optionally, you can leave the volume ID blank at the prompt. CATDISK
- will bring up a point-and-shoot menu from which you can select a volume
- id from those in your current catalog. See the section entitled
- "Selecting A Volume Name From A List" previously discussed in this user
- manual.
-
- If the volume label is found in the catalog, its entry will be deleted
- along with all the file names under it.
-
- If you do not wish to carry out this operation, hit <Esc> at the volume
- label prompt and no action will be taken.
-
- Should the disk become full during the catalog update process, the
- process will be aborted with an error message, and the old catalog file
- will remain intact. Typically, this error should not occur, unless you
- have added more files to the disk, or another program has used up more
- disk space (such as a database expanding a file). Should this error
- occur, the summary file will no longer contain a reference to the
- diskette that was uncataloged, but the catalog file will still contain
- references to that diskette.
-
- Should this be the case, you should either free up some space on the
- disk, or copy the .SUM and .DTA files to another disk (see CONFIGURING
- CATDISK for details on accessing catalog files on other drives and
- directories), catalog the diskette in question, and uncatalog it again.
- This will remove any references to that disk from the catalog file.
-
- If you do not have access to that disk any more (you may have erased
- it), simply take a blank diskette, add one file to it, and label it the
- same as the diskette you wish to uncatalog. Carry out the above
- procedure, and you will obtain the same results.
-
- In practice, this should not happen, as you would have needed
- sufficient disk space to create the catalog file in the first place.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
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-
- Disk Catalog System (CATDISK) V6.35 Copr (C) 1986, 1993 by Rick Hillier
-
- Page 35
-
-
-
- OPTION 6: CHANGE COMMENTS BY VOLUME ID
-
- There are two basic places from where CATDISK's comment editor may be
- invoked: 1) At the end of a cataloging operation when AUTOCOMMENTS is
- turned on; and 2) As a result of option #6, option #7, option #8 or
- option #9 from the main menu.
-
- The actual functionality of the comment editor will be discussed later
- on in this section.
-
- If you select this option #7 from the main menu, you will be asked to
- specify a disk volume. Upon entry of such, CATDISK will go through the
- catalog and bring a group of files into the comment editor that
- currently reside on that disk volume.
-
- Optionally, you can leave the volume ID blank at the prompt. CATDISK
- will bring up a point-and-shoot menu from which you can select a volume
- id from those in your current catalog. See the section entitled
- "Selecting A Volume Name From A List" previously discussed in this user
- manual.
-
- Here's how the comment editor works:
-
- Once CATDISK has found a group of files for commenting, they will
- appear on the screen in a format similar to the "COMMENT" screen output
- format, the main difference being that one of the comments (or blanks)
- are highlighted in an inverse field.
-
- To change a comment, simply move the highlight to the file that you
- wish to comment, and start typing. When you are done, hit the <Return>
- key.
-
- Other editing keys are as follows:
-
- <Left Arrow> - move cursor one character to the left.
- <Right Arrow> - move cursor one key to the right.
- <Home> - move cursor to the beginning of the line
- (once you have started typing).
- <End> - move cursor to the end of the line
- (once you have started typing).
- <Ctrl>-<End> - erase from the cursor to the end of the line.
- <Del> - delete the character at the cursor and shift the
- characters on the right to the left.
- <Backspace> - delete the character before the cursor and shift the
- characters on the right to the left.
- <Ins> - toggle insert/overstrike mode
- - in insert mode the cursor will be slightly fatter
- than the one in overstrike mode.
-
- <Esc> - cancel the changes and restore the line to its
- original contents.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- Disk Catalog System (CATDISK) V6.35 Copr (C) 1986, 1993 by Rick Hillier
-
- Page 36
-
-
-
- In some (and probably most) cases, the file list will be too large to
- fit on the screen. The list may be browsed through by using the keys
- on the cursor keypad. Their functions:
-
- <UP> & <DOWN> will move the highlight bar up or down one file. If
- you at a screen margin, and there are still more
- files to be browsed, the listing on the screen will
- scroll in the appropriate direction. If you can't move
- any more, you will hear a short beep.
-
- <PgUp> & <PgDn> will move you 15 files forward or backward in the list
- If you can't move any more, you will hear a short beep.
-
- <Home> & <End> will move you to the beginning or end of the group of
- files respectively.
-
- <F2> will repeat the comment on which the highlight bar
- currently rests to all entries in the list of files.
- If the currently highlighted comment is blank, a short
- beep will sound and no further action will be taken.
- This option provides a quick way to enter a single
- comment for all files on an entire disk... just enter
- the first one, re-highlight it and press <F5> to
- duplicate it to each entry for that disk. This option
- is not shown at the bottom of the screen due to lack of
- room on the instruction line.
-
- <F9> will repeat the Last Entered Comment. This is handy if
- you want to repeat a single comment at different places
- in the list where <F10> (see below) won't suffice, as
- the comment desired is not directly above the current
- position. If no comment was previously entered, or
- the last entered comment was blank, no action will be
- taken.
-
- <F10> will "Ditto": Pressing this key will copy the comment
- from the entry above. It is handy if you want to copy
- a comment down a consecutive list of files, or one that
- was already previously entered at an earlier time, if
- it is directly above the current position. If the
- comment above is blank, or you are at the top of the
- list, no action will be taken.
-
- <Grey Plus> move down through the list 1/15th of the total length
- of the list (see the appendix regarding the SCROLL BAR
- later in this manual).
-
- <Grey Minus> move up through the list 1/15th of the total length of
- the list (see the appendix regarding the SCROLL BAR
- later in this manual).
-
- <Tab> This will toggle the information shown on the left of
- the comment area between three different formats, each
- of which show different file information that may be
- necessary to derive the desired comment. This option
- is not shown at the bottom of the screen due to lack of
- room on the instruction line.
-
- <Esc> Return to the main menu when you are done.
-
- Disk Catalog System (CATDISK) V6.35 Copr (C) 1986, 1993 by Rick Hillier
-
- Page 37
-
-
-
- OPTION 7: ADD/UPDATE COMMENTS BY FILESPEC
-
- If you select option #7 from the main menu, you will be asked for a
- filespec on which to base the search. This filespec can be a based on
- CATDISK's enhancements to the DOS wildcard specifications (See option
- #0 (Reports And Inquiries), sub-option #4 (Show Files By Filespec) for
- a discussion of wildcard searching. Once the catalog records are
- loaded into the comment editor according to your criteria, the same
- options that apply to option #6 apply here (see it for details).
-
-
- OPTION 8: SEARCH/EDIT FILES BY COMMENT
-
- If you select option #8 from the main menu, CATDISK will ask you for a
- comment spec on which to base the search. Simply enter the sub-string
- for which you wish to search. A discussion on how CATDISK matches
- comments can be found in the discussion on option #0 (Reports And
- Inquiries), sub-option #5 (Files by comment). Once the catalog records
- are loaded into the comment editor according to your criteria, the same
- options that apply to option #6 apply here (see it for details).
-
-
- OPTION 9: IMPORT COMMENTS FROM A TEXT FILE
-
- Option #9, "Import Comments From A Text File", will allow you to bring
- in file comments from an external source, be it a BBS listing that
- you've either downloaded or captured with your communications package,
- or any file that contains plain text. This file can contain anything:
- filesizes, dates, times, etc. The only limitations are that the file
- contain no tabs, and that each line be no longer than 255 characters.
-
- Many utilities such as Norton's fileinfo (FI) utility can re-direct
- their output to a text file simply by appending ">TEXTFILE" (without
- the quotes) to the command. Using Norton's FI utility as an example,
- you could use "FI A: /C/L >TEXTFILE" to produce a file called TEXTFILE
- that would contain comments for many of the files on a floppy disk.
- Please refer to your Norton Utilities manual for details on how to
- maintain those comments with FI.
-
- Once you select option #9, a screen containing the controlling settings
- for the expected text file will appear. These settings can be stored
- in a setup file (profile) for later retrieval. To avoid disk clutter,
- profiles are stored in the same directory as your catalog files. This
- eliminates the need for having to remember the settings for, say, the
- file dump from Norton's FI as described earlier on. You can enter the
- settings once, save them to a profile and be able to recall them later
- on. The first item on the screen indicates what file the current
- settings came from.
-
- The second item is the filename of the textfile from which the comments
- will be read. The next 8 settings will depend on the characteristics
- of the file being read. The pre-filled numbers assume that you are
- reading comments from CATDISK's own report printed to disk showing both
- statistics and comments.
-
-
-
-
-
-
- Disk Catalog System (CATDISK) V6.35 Copr (C) 1986, 1993 by Rick Hillier
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- Page 38
-
-
-
- The first setting is the beginning and ending character positions of
- the filename as it appears on each line. These settings are critical
- for CATDISK to be able to identify where to put each comment, and must
- contain a value greater than zero.
-
- The second setting is the beginning and ending character positions of
- the subdirectory, if it exists in the text file. If the text file
- contains the subdirectory in which each file resides, you may include
- it with these settings, or if either the file does not contain
- subdirectory information, or you do not wish to use it, you may set the
- beginning and ending positions to zero. CATDISK will then ignore them.
-
- The third setting is the beginning and ending character positions of
- the volume id, if it exists in the text file. If the text file
- contains the volume id for the disk on which each file resides, you may
- include it with these settings, or if either the file does not contain
- this information, or you do not wish to use it, you may set the
- beginning and ending positions to zero. CATDISK will then ignore them.
- Finally, the last setting is the starting and ending character
- positions of the file comment. These values must also be set to
- something that is greater than zero, as CATDISK needs a comment to
- insert for each file that it finds in your catalog file.
-
- The easiest way to determine the appropriate settings for the text file
- you will be importing is to first load it into your favorite text
- editor. Place the cursor on the beginning and ending characters of the
- various items discussed above, and note what column the editor
- indicates that the current cursor position is. These will be the
- values that you will fill in to the control screen.
-
- Here are a few important notes regarding the text file. There is
- really no need to edit blank lines and headings out of the file before
- processing, as the chances of CATDISK matching a filename, subdirectory
- and volume id found in the appropriate character positions in a heading
- with a file entry in the catalog file are quite slim. It is important
- that each data line (not the headings) in the file be structured the
- same way (i.e. all the columns line up as in a report). If this is not
- the case, chaos in the comments fields in the affected files will
- result. Lastly, CATDISK has an internal limitation of being able to
- read in only the first 32,767 non-blank lines in the file. The rest
- will be ignored.
-
- All this said, changing the settings is a matter of using the <Up> and
- <Down> arrow keys to highlight the desired setting, typing the new
- information for that setting and hitting <Enter>. Pressing <Esc> when
- not editing a setting will return you to the menu with no further
- action taken.
-
- Retrieving and saving profiles is a simple matter of typing in the
- desired filename on the first line of the screen. When you do so, you
- will be asked if you would like to read settings in from that file, or
- save the current ones to that file. If you attempt to read in a
- profile that does not exist, you will be given an error message and no
- settings will be changed. If, however, the file does exist and either
- a disk read error occurs or it is determined that the file is not a
- valid profile, the default settings (that which were supplied the first
- time you used this feature) will be brought in.
-
-
-
- Disk Catalog System (CATDISK) V6.35 Copr (C) 1986, 1993 by Rick Hillier
-
- Page 39
-
-
-
- If you wish to save the current settings to disk, CATDISK will first
- check to see if the file already exists. If so, you will be given a
- warning to enable you to abandon the operation before you accidentally
- over-write a valuable program or data file.
-
- Any changes made in the settings during an import session will
- automatically be saved to the current profile on exit from the settings
- modification screen (via <Esc> or <F10>). Again, if the file named in
- the first line exists, you will be given an overwrite warning in case
- you don't actually want to overwrite the current saved settings with
- the new ones (i.e. the import operation is a one-time shot in this
- case).
-
- Once you have all the desired settings ready, press <F10> to initiate
- the insertion of comments in the catalog file. Here's what CATDISK
- does to accomplish this. First, it will read and sort all the entries
- in the text file. If CATDISK cannot find the text file, if there is an
- error in reading the text file, or there is an error in sorting the
- entries, the process will be aborted. If the sort is successful,
- CATDISK will scan your current catalog file for matching entries from
- the text file.
-
- For each match that CATDISK finds, it will determine if the comment
- field from the catalog file is blank (CATDISK will not overwrite
- previously entered comments for the sake of integrity). If so, the
- first 30 characters of the comment from the text file will be inserted
- into the comment field for that file in the catalog file.
-
- Once this process has completed, a list of the modified entries will be
- brought into the comment editor for "massaging" if you would like to
- clean up any entries. It is highly recommended that you at least go
- through the list just to make sure that everything went ok. See the
- discussion for option #7 - ADD/UPDATE COMMENTS BY FILESPEC for details
- on how the comment editor works.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
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- Disk Catalog System (CATDISK) V6.35 Copr (C) 1986, 1993 by Rick Hillier
-
- Page 40
-
-
-
- OPTION 0: REPORTS & INQUIRIES MENU
-
- This menu outlines the complete range of screen or printer-based
- reports that CATDISK is capable of generating. Selection of an option
- from this menu is by conventional means as outlined in the section
- "Using The Menus" earlier on in this user manual.
-
- Note that if you have the Report Totals setting turned on, CATDISK will
- show totals for various items on screen reports, and at the end of
- disk-based and printer-based reports.
-
-
- Screen-based reports
- --------------------
-
- When viewing a report on your screen, there will be several options
- available to you. The following are available in ALL screen based
- reports:
-
- <Cursor UP> - move up one line in the report. The screen contents
- will scroll down to make room for the new line
- appearing at the top.
-
- <Cursor DOWN> - move down one line in the report. The screen
- contents will scroll up to make room for the new line
- appearing at the bottom.
-
- <PgUp> - move up one page (15 lines) in the report.
- <PgDn> - move down one page (15 lines) in the report.
- <Home> - move to the beginning of the report.
- <End> - move to the end of the report.
-
- <Grey Plus> - move down through the report 1/15th of the total
- length of the report (see the appendix regarding the
- SCROLL BAR later in this manual).
-
- <Grey Minus> - move up through the report 1/15th of the total length
- of the report (see the appendix regarding the SCROLL
- BAR later in this manual).
-
- <Esc> - return to the menu.
-
- <Tab> - switch between four different screen report formats
- as follows:
-
- 1) The default format shows Filename, Volume ID,
- Arcive ID, Size, Date, Time and Dos File
- Attributes.
-
- 2) Shows Subdirectory, Filename, Volume ID,
- Arcive ID, Size, Date, and Time. This corresponds
- to the /SD option when starting CATDISK.
-
- 3) Shows Filename, Volume ID, Archive ID and File
- comments. This corresponds to the /CO option.
-
- 4) Shows Subdirectory, Filename, Volume ID, Archive
- ID and a slightly truncated file comment. This
- corresponds to the /SDCO option.
-
- Disk Catalog System (CATDISK) V6.35 Copr (C) 1986, 1993 by Rick Hillier
-
- Page 41
-
-
-
- Printer-Based Reports
- ---------------------
-
- If your report is going to a printer (LPT1 or LPT2), and you have
- activated the two-sided report feature of CATDISK, the odd numbered
- pages will be printed first, followed by a pause enabling you to reload
- the paper such that the even numbered pages will print on the back side
- of the odd numbered pages, followed by the even numbered pages.
-
- As the report is printed, the filenames or disk volumes (as appropriate
- to the report) will be echoed to your screen to keep you informed as to
- CATDISK's progress.
-
- While a report is being printed, you may press <Esc> to abandon the
- report and return you to the previous menu.
-
-
- Disk-Based Reports
- ------------------
-
- Disk reports are treated the same as printer reports, with the
- exception that the two-sided report feature does not apply.
-
- A listing in the same format as the hardcopy report will be produced in
- a diskette file. The default name for this file is one with the same
- name as the current catalog filename with an extension of ".LST". This
- may be overridden at the time that the report is generated. Hitting
- <Esc> at any time during the generation of the report will abort it and
- return to the previous menu.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
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- Disk Catalog System (CATDISK) V6.35 Copr (C) 1986, 1993 by Rick Hillier
-
- Page 42
-
-
-
- Sub-Option #1: Disk Summary
- ---------------------------
-
- Selection of sub-option #1 from the reports menu will cause CATDISK to
- display an alphabetical list of VOLUME NAMES and some pertinent
- statistical information for each. This option is handy if, say, you
- have a bunch of utility disks and want to add a 14K utility program to
- one of them. This report can be quite useful in making efficient use
- of existing working diskettes.
-
- All the statistical items shown should be self-explanatory, except one;
- that is, the Slack % factor. The disks on which DOS stores it files
- are divided into allocation units called clusters. The size of each
- cluster varies with the type and size of disk. When DOS allocates
- space on a disk for a file, it is allotted in one cluster units to the
- file. Some common cluster sizes are 512 bytes on 160-180K diskettes,
- and 1024 bytes on 320-360K diskettes. Some hard disks have larger
- cluster sizes.
-
- Anyway, let's say, for example, that you have a file of 256 bytes. On
- a 360K diskette, DOS will allocate 1024 bytes to the file, even though
- it is only 256 bytes long. This means that three-quarters of that
- cluster is unused, or that you have 75% slack for that file. The
- figure that you see on the summary report is the overall slack
- percentage of all the files on the disk.
-
- Depending on where you have set your output destination, the following
- options are applicable:
-
- NOTE: If you select a printer or disk-based report from CATDISK,
- you will be asked if you would like the report to be sorted on
- volume ID or by descending free disk space. Simply hit <V> for
- the volume ID sort, or hit <F> for the descending free disk
- space report. Hitting <Esc> at this prompt will cause the
- report to be aborted.
-
- NOTE: The <Tab> key has a slightly different function in this report
- than in the others. By pressing <Tab> key, you can switch
- the sorted order of the report between alphabetical volume ID
- and descending free disk space. The starting order in which
- the report will appear can be controlled with the /SF command
- line option at startup.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- Disk Catalog System (CATDISK) V6.35 Copr (C) 1986, 1993 by Rick Hillier
-
- Page 43
-
-
-
- Sub-option #2: Files For A Volume
- ---------------------------------
-
- Selecting sub-option #2 will cause CATDISK to display an alphabetical
- list of files for a particular disk. If you have the report
- destination set to "ASK", you will be asked for a report location.
- After the report destination is established, you will be asked for a
- volume ID. Simply enter it and hit <Return>, or hit <Esc> to return to
- the menu without producing a report.
-
- Once the report location has been determined, CATDISK will ask you for
- the volume name to match for the report. You can either enter the
- exact volume name to match, or a wild-card entry to match for the
- report. If you enter an exact entry, CATDISK will first find it in the
- summary file. If it does not exist, you will be notified, and the
- catalog scan will not even take place. If you want to obtain a report
- for a group of volumes, here's how the wildcard matching works:
-
- As CATDISK scans your catalog for matches, it does a character by
- character comparison of the pattern that you specified and the volume
- name for each entry in your catalog. As soon as a mismatch occurs, the
- catalog entry is not included in the report. Two characters have a
- special meaning in these comparisons. The question mark (?) will match
- any character in the position which the question mark occupies. The
- asterisk (*) will match any characters to either the end of the volume
- name, or the next non-asterisk character in the pattern, if there are
- any. As a result of this logic, any characters between two asterisks
- that may occur in the search pattern are ignored.
-
- One special case with the asterisk feature is when a pattern is placed
- in between two asterisks. CATDISK will then match any volume that
- contains the pattern anywhere in the name.
-
- To better illustrate, here are some examples:
-
- Pattern Volume ID Match?
- ----------- ----------- ------
-
- VOLUME 1 VOLUME 1 YES
- VOLUME 1 VOLUME 2 NO - not an exact match
- VOL????? VOLUME 1 YES - any 8 char name beginning with "VOL"
- VOL????2 VOLUME 2 YES - any 8 char name beginning with "VOL"
- that ends with "2"
- VOL*1 VOLUME 1 YES - any name beginning with "VOL" and
- ending in "1" (any number of chars)
- VOL*1 VOLUME 2 NO - doesn't end in "1"
- *1 VOLUME 1 YES - any name ending in "1" (any number of
- chars)
- *1 VOLUME 2 NO - doesn't end in "1"
- ???????? VOLUME 1 YES - any 8 char volume name
- ????????? VOLUME 2 NO - volume ID is not 9 characters long
- * ANYVOLUME YES - any volume ID, any number of chars
- AB*CD*EF ABEF YES - "CD" in the middle ignored
- *MISC* CATMISC1 YES - Contains "MISC" in the volume name.
-
-
-
-
-
-
- Disk Catalog System (CATDISK) V6.35 Copr (C) 1986, 1993 by Rick Hillier
-
- Page 44
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-
- Note that in the last example, the presence of a leading and trailing
- asterisk will cause CATDISK to search for the characters enclosed
- between them as they appear literally. Wildcard characters must not
- appear between these delimiters, as they cannot exist in a valid DOS
- filename (i.e. the volume id) and therefore will not be matched. For
- example," *DI?K*" will cause CATDISK to search for "DI?K" in the volume
- id. The question mark is not a valid character in a DOS filename,
- therefore no matches will be found.
-
- Optionally, you can leave the volume ID blank. CATDISK will bring up a
- point-and-shoot menu from which you can select a volume id from those
- in your current catalog. See the section entitled "Selecting A Volume
- Name From A List" previously discussed in this user manual.
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- Disk Catalog System (CATDISK) V6.35 Copr (C) 1986, 1993 by Rick Hillier
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- Page 45
-
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- Sub-option #3: Files For An Archive
- -----------------------------------
-
- Selecting sub-option #3 will cause CATDISK to display an alphabetical
- list of files for a particular archive. If you have the report
- destination set to "ASK", you will be asked for a report location.
- After the report destination is established, you will be asked for a
- Archive to list. Simply enter it and hit <Return>, or hit <Esc> to
- return to the menu without producing a report. If you wish to obtain a
- report for a group of similarly named archives, you may use wildcards
- in your search spec. Here's how they work:
-
- As CATDISK scans your catalog for matches, it does a character by
- character comparison of the pattern that you specified and the volume
- name for each entry in your catalog. As soon as a mismatch occurs, the
- catalog entry is not included in the report. Two characters have a
- special meaning in these comparisons. The question mark (?) will match
- any character in the position which the question mark occupies. The
- asterisk (*) will match any characters to either the end of the volume
- name, or the next non-asterisk character in the pattern, if there are
- any. As a result of this logic, any characters between two asterisks
- that may occur in the search pattern are ignored.
-
- One special case with the asterisk feature is when a pattern is placed
- in between two asterisks. CATDISK will then match any archive that
- contains the pattern anywhere in the name.
-
- Under normal circumstances, any files that are not contained in archive
- files will not appear in this report. You must specifically ask for
- "........" (without the quotes) to get a listing of files that did not
- come from archives (i.e. Archive ID is "........" in the listing).
-
- To better illustrate, here are some examples:
-
- Pattern Archive ID Match?
- -------- ---------- ------
- MISC1 MISC1 YES
- MISC1 MISC2 NO - not an exact match
- MI??? MISC1 YES - any 5 char name beginning with "MI"
- MI??2 MISC2 YES - any 5 char name beginning with "MI"
- that ends with "1"
- MI*1 MISC1 YES - any name beginning with "MI" and ending
- in "1" (any number of chars)
- MI*1 MISC2 NO - doesn't end in "1"
- *1 MISC1 YES - any name ending in "1" (any # of chars)
- *1 MISC2 NO - doesn't end in "1"
- ????? MISC1 YES - any 5 char volume name
- ???????? MISC2 NO - archive ID is not 8 characters long
- * ANYARCH YES - any archive ID, any number of chars
- AB*CD*EF ABEF YES - "CD" in the middle ignored
- *GAME* AGAME001 YES - Contains "GAME" in the archive name
-
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- Disk Catalog System (CATDISK) V6.35 Copr (C) 1986, 1993 by Rick Hillier
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- Page 46
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-
-
- Note that in the last example, the presence of a leading and trailing
- asterisk will cause CATDISK to search for the characters enclosed
- between them as they appear literally. Wildcard characters must not
- appear between these delimiters, as they cannot exist in a valid DOS
- filename (i.e. the archive id) and therefore will not be matched. For
- example," *DI?K*" will cause CATDISK to search for "DI?K" in the
- archive id. The question mark is not a valid character in a DOS
- filename, therefore no matches will be found.
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- Disk Catalog System (CATDISK) V6.35 Copr (C) 1986, 1993 by Rick Hillier
-
- Page 47
-
-
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- Sub-option #4: Files By Filespec
- --------------------------------
-
- Selecting sub-option #4 will cause CATDISK to display an alphabetical
- list of files for a DOS or a CATDISK enhanced wildcard spec. If you
- have the report destination set to "ASK", you will be asked for a
- report location. After the report destination is established, you will
- be asked for a filespec. This filespec follows the conventional DOS
- filespec search conventions including wildcard searches. Hit <Esc> to
- return to the menus without generating a report.
-
- Examples:
-
- *.* - search for everything
- * - same as *.*
- *. - search for files with no extension
- CATDISK*.* - search for files starting with CATDISK and having
- any file extension
- CATDISK* - same as CATDISK*.*
- CATDISK*. - search for files starting with CATDISK and having
- no file extension
- *.COM - search for files ending in .COM
- A*.EXE - search for files starting with A and ending in .EXE
- CATDISK.EXE - search specifically for CATDISK.EXE
- *.?Q? - search for files with an extension containing Q as
- its second character
- ??.DOC - search for files with two letters as it filename
- and .DOC as its extension
-
- Please refer to the DOS manual for further information on file
- searching patterns.
-
- In addition to the standard DOS wildcard matching specifications,
- CATDISK adds capabilities similar to the pattern matching discussed
- earlier in the manual under volume name matching and archive id
- matching. To apply it to a filename, simply split the filename into
- its two sections (the part before the period is referred to as the
- name, and the part after the period is the extension), and apply the
- principals to each part. A couple of examples would be:
-
- *D.* - match any filename whose name ends in "D" and has any
- extension.
- C?T*.EXE - match any filename whose name has a "C" in the first
- position, any character in the second position, a "T" in
- the third position, and has an extension of ".EXE".
- *.*M - match any file with any extension that ends in "M".
- C*K.* - match any file with any extension whose name starts with
- "C" and ends with "K".
- *DISK*.* - match any file whose name contains the characters "DISK".
-
- Note that in the last example, the presence of a leading and trailing
- asterisk will cause CATDISK to search for the characters enclosed
- between them as they appear literally. Wildcard characters must not
- appear between these delimiters, as they cannot exist in a valid DOS
- filename and therefore will not be matched. For example," *DI?K*.*"
- will cause CATDISK to search for "DI?K" in the files name. The
- question mark is not a valid character in a DOS filename, therefore no
- matches will be found.
-
-
- Disk Catalog System (CATDISK) V6.35 Copr (C) 1986, 1993 by Rick Hillier
-
- Page 48
-
-
-
- Although this is a slight departure from the DOS standard for file
- pattern matching, I'm sure that you will find that these extensions add
- a little more flexibility and power to CATDISK's reporting
- capabilities.
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- Disk Catalog System (CATDISK) V6.35 Copr (C) 1986, 1993 by Rick Hillier
-
- Page 49
-
-
-
- Sub-option #5: Files By Comment Text
- ------------------------------------
-
- Selecting sub-option #5 will cause CATDISK to display a list of files
- in accordance with a comment search spec that you supply. Although
- CATDISK supports comments of 43 characters in length, the search spec
- is currently limited to 35 characters, which should suffice for all
- options. After selecting a report destination, you will be asked for a
- comment search spec that you wish the report to be based on.
-
- Just enter the string that you want to search for in the catalog's
- comments section and hit <Enter>, or hit <Esc> to abort the process
- without generating a report.
-
- Here's how the comments are sourced for your search spec. You enter a
- "phrase" or "substring" that you want to search for in the file
- comments.
-
- The "phrase" may be an entire comment that you want, it can be just one
- word, or even just one letter. When catdisk compares your "phrase" to
- a comment, it checks to see if that "phrase" is contained anywhere in
- that comment. If it does, that file will appear in your report.
-
- Example: "SOURCE" would match: CATDISK V4.13 source code
- CATDISK V4.13 Source code
- CATDISK V4.13 SOURCE CODE
- Source
- ... etc ...
-
- Leaving the comment entry blank will produce a report containing only
- the catalog entries that have no comment.
-
- Please note: Several users have asked for wild cards in the comment
- search (eg. they might not know whether they had "Word Processor" or
- "Word Proc" for a comment). This is not really necessary in this case,
- as, in the above case, entering "PROC" would match both comments.
-
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- Disk Catalog System (CATDISK) V6.35 Copr (C) 1986, 1993 by Rick Hillier
-
- Page 50
-
-
-
- Sub-option F1: Files By Comment Keywords
- -----------------------------------------
-
- Upon selecting <F1> from the reports menu, CATDISK will ask you for one
- or more keywords to match when generating the report. All keywords are
- entered on one line, each separated by a space. The maximum length of
- this line is 35 characters.
-
- Unlike the "Files By Comment Text" report mentioned earlier in this
- manual, the keyword report will scan through your file comments and
- look for whole words instead of looking for the text anywhere in the
- comment.
-
- For example, entering "PROCESS" for a keyword would cause a match in
- the comment "PROCESS CONTROL", but would not cause a match in the
- comment "WORD PROCESSOR" due to the fact that the "PROCESS" in
- "PROCESSOR" is not a stand alone word.
-
- You can have CATDISK perform the matching operations on multiple
- keywords by entering them all on the specification line, each separated
- by a space. If CATDISK detects that you are looking for more than one
- keyword, you have two choices on how those keywords will be processed
- when evaluating a match with a file comment.
-
- You will see the prompt:
-
- Match Just <O>ne of These Keywords or <A>ll of Them? <O/A>
-
- By answering:
-
- O) You can have CATDISK assume a match if any one of the keywords are
- found in the comment. You may also press the <1> key (instead of
- the first letter of the word ONE).
-
- eg. Keywords: CATDISK SUMMARY
- Comment : CATDISK Summary File For Games - Match!
- Comment : Summary of Monthly Sales - Match!
- Comment : 3.. 2.. 1.. Blastoff! - No Match
-
- A) You can tell CATDISK to include a file in the report only if ALL
- keywords are found in the comment. If one or more keywords are not
- present in the comment, the file will not appear in the report.
-
- Using the examples from the previous choice will show the
- difference in how the comments are evaluated.
-
- eg. Keywords: CATDISK SUMMARY
- Comment : CATDISK Summary File For Games - Match!
- Comment : Summary of Monthly Sales - No Match
- Comment : 3.. 2.. 1.. Blastoff! - No Match
-
- The second comment does not match under the second criteria due to
- the fact that the word Summary is present, but the word CATDISK is
- not.
-
-
- Having both a comment text report and a separate keyword-based report
- gives you full flexibility in searching for files by comment.
-
-
- Disk Catalog System (CATDISK) V6.35 Copr (C) 1986, 1993 by Rick Hillier
-
- Page 51
-
-
-
- Sub-option #6: Files By Comment/Filename Text
- ----------------------------------------------
-
- This report is very similar to the Files By Comment Text report except
- that the filename is also searched for any occurrences of the search
- spec. See details on the "Files By Comment Text" report in this user
- manual for details on how text is compared to determine whether or not
- a given file should appear in the report.
-
-
- Sub-option #7: Sorted Full File Listings
- -----------------------------------------
-
- This option, if viewed on the screen will product a report in the same
- manner as sub-option #4, except that ALL files in the catalog will be
- included in the list. It is similar to choosing sub-option #4 and
- searching for "*.*".
-
- If you have the report destination set to "ASK", you will be asked for
- a report location before any further action takes place.
-
- You may sort the full list on various criteria. Currently, you can
- sort by filename, file extension, subdirectory, volume id, archive id,
- comment, file date/time (descending order), or file size (descending or
- ascending order).
-
- To select a criteria, simply hit the number beside it, or select it
- from the menu using CATDISK's menu selection methods. The rest is
- automatic.
-
- If, during the sorting phase, which occurs for each option, with the
- exception of option #1, an error occurs, the process will be aborted
- and no report will be generated.
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- Disk Catalog System (CATDISK) V6.35 Copr (C) 1986, 1993 by Rick Hillier
-
- Page 52
-
-
-
- Sub-option #8: Unique Files Only & Sub-option #9: Duplicate Files Only
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- Selecting sub-option #8 will cause CATDISK to display a listing of
- files in your catalog that exist only once. Selecting sub-option #9
- will cause CATDISK to display a listing of files that occur more than
- once in your catalog.
-
- The criteria for these two reports is based solely on the filename, and
- optionally, on the file size (you will be asked whether or not you want
- it to be included before the catalog scan takes place), and not other
- items such as subdirectory, file date or file size. you will be given
- the option to include or not to include the file size as a criteria in
- determining a file's uniqueness when you initiate one of these two
- sub-options.
-
- When either of these reports is generated, a full scan will be made
- through the catalog file to determine which files should be included in
- the report. The reason for this is due to the method that CATDISK uses
- in comparing filenames to determine whether they are duplicate or
- unique.
-
- If, during the scanning process, CATDISK runs into a disk problem, the
- report will be aborted.
-
- Due to the method by which CATDISK scans the catalog, there is a
- possibility that duplicate files may appear in the unique file reports
- and vice versa when file size is used as a criteria if the given
- entries being compared are not right together in the catalog file. An
- example may make this clearer:
-
- Filename.Ext Volume ID File Size
-
- TEST .GIF GIF0001 123,456
- TEST .GIF GIF0002 123,789
- TEST .GIF GIF0003 123,456
-
- In the unique file report, for example, if the file size is omitted
- from the search criteria, the report will show none of the above three
- files, which would be correct.
-
- If, however, the file size is included, all three of the files will
- show up due to the fact that the second entry in the file list has a
- different file size. The first file is compared to the second one, and
- the second one is compared to the third during the sequential search of
- the catalog. Due to the possibility that there can be many files of
- the same name occurring in the catalog file, this cannot be currently
- circumvented.
-
- A similar situation can happen in the duplicate files report. Leaving
- the file size out of the criteria will yield the correct results.
- Including it may cause all three files to be left out of the report for
- the same reasons as in the unique file report.
-
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- Disk Catalog System (CATDISK) V6.35 Copr (C) 1986, 1993 by Rick Hillier
-
- Page 53
-
-
-
- Sub-option #0: Volume Summary/Contents
- --------------------------------------
-
- This report is like combining the summary report with a full file
- listing. CATDISK will print each line from your summary report,
- followed by a complete listing of files contained on that disk.
-
- Due to the nature of this report and the methodology that CATDISK uses
- to generate it, it is not possible to view this report on your screen.
- A printer location or a disk file must be selected in order to produce
- this report.
-
- If you instruct CATDISK to send this report to the screen, you will get
- an error message informing you of the above requirements.
-
-
- Sub-option <Esc>: Return To Main Menu
- -------------------------------------
-
- Hitting <Esc> will return you to CATDISK's main menu.
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- Disk Catalog System (CATDISK) V6.35 Copr (C) 1986, 1993 by Rick Hillier
-
- Page 54
-
-
-
- OPTION <F4> - TEMPORARILY EXIT TO DOS
- -------------------------------------
-
- This option, although not really necessary, has been added in response
- to the numerous requests that I have had for this feature (shows that I
- am really paying attention to those suggestions, eh?). By selecting
- this option, CATDISK will be temporarily suspended and you will be
- returned to the DOS prompt. You may carry out any normal function that
- you would ordinarily be able to carry out from DOS, provided that there
- is enough memory remaining in which to run your desired program.
-
- Please note that if you have the disk cache active at the time you use
- this function, the contents of the cache will be flushed and cleared
- before calling DOS. This will not affect any data already on disk.
-
- When you are finished with DOS, and wish to return to CATDISK, simply
- type "EXIT" and hit <Return> to return to CATDISK. Please be sure and
- replace any disks that you had in your drives before returning to
- CATDISK.
-
- Note that although the <F4> option does not appear on any of CATDISK's
- other menus (settings & toggles, reports & inquiries, or the report
- destination selection menu), you may press <F4> from any of these menus
- to temporarily exit to DOS. When you return from DOS, you will be
- returned to the particular menu from which you shelled out to DOS.
-
- Possible errors that you may encounter when you use can vary greatly.
-
- Possibilities are: 1) There is not enough memory to load a second copy
- of the command interpreter (usually
- COMMAND.COM), or that memory has been corrupted
- by a resident program.
-
- 2) If you get an error after returning from DOS, it
- usually means that you've loaded a resident
- program while out in DOS. You should refrain
- from doing so.
-
- 3) Generally, this means that CATDISK was unable to
- find COMMAND.COM on the drive and directory
- defined by the SET COMSPEC= environment string
- (see the DOS manual for details on the SET
- command). This is usually set to the location
- from which COMMAND.COM was loaded when the
- system was booted. If COMMAND.COM was not found
- at the boot location, the root directory of the
- current drive is attempted.
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- Disk Catalog System (CATDISK) V6.35 Copr (C) 1986, 1993 by Rick Hillier
-
- Page 55
-
-
-
- OPTION <drive_letter>: SHOW DISK DIRECTORY
-
- To activate this feature, simply type the drive letter of the disk
- whose directory you wish to view. If you haven't included the /NW
- option in your command line when you started CATDISK,you will be
- prompted to insert a disk for drive D where D is the drive letter that
- you typed.
-
- You will then be asked for a filespec to match. This is the same as
- the filespec prompt in OPTION #0, Sub-option #4 - SHOW SELECTED FILES.
- Upon doing this, the label and directory contents will be read just
- like they would if they were about to be cataloged, but instead of
- adding them to your catalog, they will be shown directly on the screen
- in the same format as option #0, Sub-option #2 - Show Files For A
- Volume. The archive scanning feature functions as normal throughout
- the program.
-
- Upon entering the search spec, scanning of the catalog will
- commence. If you have status indicators turned on, a counter will
- increment each time a matching file is found. If at the and of the
- search, no files were found, an error message will be issued and you
- will be returned to the main menu.
-
- When the search has completed successfully, the file names will be
- shown alphabetically, along with the volume name, archive name, and
- other directory information for that file.
-
- For a list of options available, please see the section entitled
- "SCREEN REPORT OPTIONS AVAILABLE" in this manual.
-
-
-
- OPTION ESC: EXIT TO DOS
-
- Select this option when you are finished with CATDISK to terminate its
- operation. Upon exit, you will be returned to the DOS prompt.
-
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- Disk Catalog System (CATDISK) V6.35 Copr (C) 1986, 1993 by Rick Hillier
-
- Page 56
-
-
-
- APPENDIX A - THE SCROLL BAR
-
- When bringing up a screen report, you may have noticed a hatched bar on
- the left border of the screen with an inverse 'T' at the top of it and
- an inverse 'B' at the bottom. This is a scroll bar, which indicates
- roughly where you are located along the full length of the current
- report. Additionally, this feature will allow you to roughly position
- yourself in the report by hitting the <Grey Plus> and <Grey Minus>
- keys. These keys will move you forward and backward respectively along
- this scroll bar. These moves correspond to a move of one fifteenth of
- the total length of the report in the selected direction, as will be
- reflected in the page number which will be automatically set.
-
- The scroll bar position will also wrap from the top to the bottom if
- you are at the top and hit the <Grey Minus> key. The reverse is also
- true for the <Grey Plus> key.
-
- In a long report, this represents a much nicer way of getting to, say,
- the files beginning with "R" without having to hit the <PgDn> key a
- hundred times. Remember... the scroll bar is used to ROUGHLY position
- yourself among a group of files in a screen report.
-
- This scroll bar will appear in the point-and-shoot volume id selection
- screen as well. Its functionality is much the same as that discussed
- above for reports.
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- Disk Catalog System (CATDISK) V6.35 Copr (C) 1986, 1993 by Rick Hillier
-
- Page 57
-
-
-
- APPENDIX B - ARCHIVE SUPPORT
-
- This version of CATDISK currently supports the archive utilities from
- System Enhancement Associates and PKWare, PAK files (similar to ARC
- files) created by the PAK utility from NoGate Consulting, ZIP files
- created by PKWare's PKZIP utilities, LZH files created by the LHARC
- utility from Haruyasu Yoshizaki, LZS files created by the LARC utility
- from K. Miki, DWC files created by the DWC utility from Dean W. Cooper,
- and the public domain Library Utility (LU).
-
- CATDISK can extract directory information from archives created with
- SEAWARE'S ARC utility, version 5.30 or earlier, PKWare's PKPAK version
- 3.61 or earlier, or any compatible archive generating program. These
- files commonly have a file extension of .ARC, and any files with this
- extension will be examined by CATDISK to see if it is a valid archive.
- If so, the directory information of each file in the archive will be
- extracted and added to the catalog if the Auto Archive Extraction
- feature is turned ON. Files extracted from an ARC file will have a
- file attribute of "*ARC".
-
- Similar to the above, any files with a .PAK extension will be examined,
- and if appropriate, the directory information will be extracted from
- the file in question. Files extracted from a PAK file will have a file
- attribute of "*PAK".
-
- ARC or PAK files created with utilities other than the ones listed
- above should work with CATDISK, but are not guaranteed.
-
- Files created with PKWare's PKZIP family of utilities are fully
- supported. These files usually have an extension of .ZIP, and any file
- found with this extension will be examined by CATDISK to see if it is a
- valid ZIP file. If this is so, and the Auto Archive Extraction Feature
- is turned ON, the directory information of each file in the library
- will be extracted and added to the catalog. Files extracted from a ZIP
- file will have a file attribute of "*ZIP". If the ZIP file contains
- comments, the first 30 characters will be extracted and included in
- your catalog file.
-
- ZIP files, in addition to supporting comment entries for each file
- contained, can also have a main comment for the ZIP file itself. When
- CATDISK reads ZIP files and finds a main comment, it will insert that
- main comment in the catalog file for any entries in the ZIP file that
- do not already have comments.
-
- Although ZIP files can contain subdirectory information, this is not
- the subdirectory that will appear in the catalog listing. The reason
- for this is due to the fact that the primary purpose of CATDISK is to
- be able to locate a given file. In order to be able to do so, the
- subdirectory of the ZIP file itself is shown. The destination of the
- file when being UNZIPPED is not relevant.
-
- Files created by the ARJ utility by Robert K. Jung that have a file
- extension of .ARJ are fully supported in the same manner as ZIP files.
- Such files have a file extension of .ARJ and any catalog entries that
- came from an ARJ file will have a file attribute of "*ARJ".
-
-
-
-
-
- Disk Catalog System (CATDISK) V6.35 Copr (C) 1986, 1993 by Rick Hillier
-
- Page 58
-
-
-
- Files created with Haruyasu Yoshizaki's LHA utility (formerly called
- LHARC) are fully supported. These files commonly end with a .LZH
- extension. Any files with this extension will be examined by CATDISK
- to see if it is a valid LHARC file. If so, and you wish the directory
- contents to be extracted (via the program setting), the process will be
- carried out. Files extracted from a LZH file will have a file
- attribute of "*LZH".
-
- Files created by the LARC utility from K. Miki are supported in the
- same way as those created by the LHARC utility mentioned above. Files
- extracted from these files will have a file attribute of "*LZS".
-
- Files with a .ZOO extension will be examined to determine whether they
- are a valid ZOO file. If so, and Archive extraction is enabled, the
- directory contents of the file will be read and included in the catalog
- file. Files extracted from ZOO files will have the attribute "*ZOO".
- If the ZOO file contains comments, the first 30 characters will be
- extracted and included in your catalog file.
-
- Files with a .DWC extension will be checked to determine whether they
- are a valid DWC file. If so,and archive extraction is enabled, the
- directory contents of the file will be read and included in the catalog
- file. Files extracted from DWC files will have the attribute "*DWC".
- If the DWC file contains comments, the first 30 characters will be
- extracted and included in your catalog file.
-
- Files created by the archive utility HYPER, having a file extension of
- .HYP will be examined. If they are a valid HYPER archive file, the
- directory contents from this file will be included in the catalog file.
- Files extracted from HYPER archives will have the attribute "*HYP".
-
- Files created by the Library Utility (LU) and conform to the fifth
- revision of the formal definition of the library file format are also
- fully supported. These files commonly have a file extension of .LBR,
- and any files with this extension will be examined by CATDISK to see if
- they are valid .LBR files. If this is so, and the Auto ARCHIVE
- Extraction Feature is turned ON, the directory information of each file
- in the library will be extracted and added to the catalog. Files
- extracted from a LBR file will have an attribute of "*LBR".
-
- Although not an archive file in the formal sense of the word, a GIF
- file (stands for Graphics Interchange Format) is a special file format
- that was developed by CompuServe in order to allow many different types
- of computers to be able to view a graphics image without having to
- modify the file itself. GIF viewers are available on a wide variety of
- hardware platforms to allow you to look at the images contained within
- a GIF file. These files can come in a very wide variety of resolutions
- and color combinations. CATDISK can look into a GIF file and extract
- this resolution and color information and include it as a default
- comment for that GIF file. For example, a picture that may be 640 by
- 480 pixels with 256 colors would have a comment entry of
- "1024x768x256".
-
- Currently, the GIF87a and GIF89a are supported.
-
-
-
-
-
-
- Disk Catalog System (CATDISK) V6.35 Copr (C) 1986, 1993 by Rick Hillier
-
- Page 59
-
-
-
- APPENDIX C - CATLOOK - COMMAND LINE LOOKUP UTILITY
-
- CATLOOK is a stand alone reporting utility provided with CATDISK. It
- can come in handy on occasions when you either need to generate a quick
- and dirty report without having to run CATDISK itself, or when you need
- to generate a report after shelling out to DOS from within an
- application and there is not enough free memory left over to run
- CATDISK itself. CATLOOK will run in 64K of free memory.
-
- A summary of the usage of CATLOOK follows:
-
- CATLOOK parameters (each must be separated by a slash or a space)
-
- /Ffilename - Use this file for the catalog (Default is CATDISK).
- NOTE: No space is allowed between the filename and the
- /F.
-
- /Rx - Use report format x, where x is:
- 0 - Filenames+Statistics 1 - Filenames+Comments
- 2 - Subdirs+Filenames+Comments 3 - All Catalog Info.
- /S - Show a summary report.
- /Vvolume - Show files for a volume report for the volume label
- specified.
- /Aarchive - Show files for an archive report for the archive
- specified.
- /Wpattern - Show files for a DOS wildcard spec based on the pattern
- given.
- /Ccomment - Show files containing the comment substring specified.
- /U - Show all files that are unique in the catalog file.
- /D - Show all files that have duplicates in the catalog
- file.
- /SIZE - Use file size as an additional criteria in generating
- the unique/duplicate file reports.
- /NT - supress the totals that are normally printed at the end
- of CATLOOK's reports.
-
- /Ex - Show everything sorted by x, where x is:
- 0 - File Name 1 - File Extension 2 - Subdirectory
- 3 - Volume Name 4 - Archive ID 5 - Comment
- 6 - Date/Time
-
- Due to the simplicity of this utility, the reports generated by CATLOOK
- are not paginated, but rather produced with one heading at the top of
- the report followed by the appropriate listings (equivalent to setting
- the number of lines per page equal to 0 in the configuration utility).
-
- If you are using report format 3 and are directing output to the
- printer, you must first have your printer set to compressed mode and
- that this mode must support at least 132 columns of output.
-
- The output from CATLOOK can be redirected to a printer or disk file by
- using the standard DOS method if I/O redirection. For example:
-
- "CATLOOK /S >PRN" (without the quotes) - this will send a summary
- report to your printer.
-
- "CATLOOK /S >LISTING.TXT" - this will send the summary report to a
- disk file called "LISTING.TXT".
-
-
- Disk Catalog System (CATDISK) V6.35 Copr (C) 1986, 1993 by Rick Hillier
-
- Page 60
-
-
-
- APPENDIX D - CATMGR: CATDISK CATALOG MANAGER
-
- Before we even get into discussing this utility, we would like to
- stress that there is a possibility that a catalog file could get out of
- synch with the summary file under certain circumstances, particularly
- if a disk error or a disk-full condition occurs during certain
- operations.
-
- IF YOU USE THIS UTILITY, IT IS A GOOD IDEA TO MAKE A COPY OF YOUR DATA
- FILES BEFORE PROCEEDING.
-
- In response to requests from the many users of CATDISK, we have
- developed a simple utility that will allow you to manipulate catalog
- entries among your various catalog files without having to uncatalog
- disks from one catalog and re-catalog them in another. With CATMGR,
- you can copy records from one catalog to another (including a brand new
- catalog), move records from one catalog to another, delete multiple
- disks from a catalog in one pass and to change a disks volume id in the
- catalog file without affecting the volume label on the disk.
-
- CATMGR can have two catalog files loaded at one time. The startup
- command for CATMGR is as follows:
-
- CATMGR CatalogFile1 CatalogFile2
-
- - where CatalogFile1 is the catalog file that you wish to be loaded on
- on the left side of the screen and CatalogFile2 is the catalog file
- that you wish to be loaded on the right side of the screen. Both of
- these parameters are optional and you can specify one, both or none
- of them on the command line.
-
- The CATMGR screen is divided into three regions. The upper left and
- right portions show information from the summary files from the two
- active catalog files, and the lower area makes up the instruction and
- message area.
-
- The general strategy with this utility is to tag the entries that you
- wish to copy, move or delete and then select the appropriate operation
- to perform. For copying or moving catalog entries, the side of the
- screen on which the highlight bar resides is considered the source
- side, while the other side is considered the destination side.
-
- You can tag entries in one of two ways. The first way is to highlight
- the desired entries by using the cursor keys and by pressing the
- <Space Bar>. CATMGR will indicate that an entry is tagged when there
- is an arrow to the left of its volume name on the screen.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- Disk Catalog System (CATDISK) V6.35 Copr (C) 1986, 1993 by Rick Hillier
-
- Page 61
-
-
-
- You can move the highlight bar around the screen by using the following
- keys:
-
- <Up Arrow> - Moves the highlight bar up one line if possible.
- <Down Arrow> - Moves the highlight bar down one line if possible.
- <Left Arrow> - Moves the highlight bar over to the last position on
- the left side of the screen.
- <Right Arrow> - Moves the highlight bar over to the last position on
- the right side of the screen.
- <PgUp> - Moves the highlight bar up one screenful (16 lines) if
- possible.
- <PgDn> - Moves the highlight bar down one screenful (16 lines)
- if possible.
- <Home> - Moves the highlight bar to the top of the list.
- <End> - Moves the highlight bar to the end of the list.
-
- The other way to tag entries is to do so in groups. To bring up a list
- of tagging functions available, hit the <T> key at the main menu.
- CATMGR will bring up a list with the following functions that will
- operate on the side of the screen where the highlight bar currently
- resides:
-
- <A> - This will tag ALL of the entries.
-
- <C> - This will clear the tags of ALL of the entries.
-
- <S> - You will be prompted for a wildcard specification for all of
- the entries that you would like to be tagged.
-
- <U> - You will be prompted for a wildcard specification for all of
- the entries that you would like tags cleared.
-
- <I> - This will "flip" the tagged status of all entries. This is
- useful if, for example, you wish to copy all but five of the
- entries of a large catalog file to be copied to a new one.
- Simply tag the five that you do not wish to copy and then
- select this option to quickly tag the entries that you do wish
- to copy.
-
- <Esc> - Will return you to the main menu with no further action taken.
-
- Please note that for any of the tagging operations in any method, you
- cannot tag a volume name that exists on the other side of the screen
- because a copy or move operation will result in a duplicate volume
- showing in the target catalog. When tagging an individual entry with
- the <Space Bar>, CATMGR will warn you of this. When performing a group
- tagging function with the <T> options, all appropriate entries will be
- tagged with duplicates ignored. There is no warning issued in this
- case. Given this, it is advisable to load only one catalog file into
- memory if the only operations to be performed are deletions.
-
- To load a different or new catalog file into either half of the screen,
- just move the highlight bar to the desired side and press the <L> (Load
- New File) key. CATMGR will ask you for the catalog file to be loaded,
- at which point you may enter the name portion of the catalog file only.
- Do not specify a file extension in this name; CATMGR will supply the
- necessary information at the appropriate time. By hitting the <Esc>
- key, CATMGR will return you to the main menu with no further action
- taken.
-
- Disk Catalog System (CATDISK) V6.35 Copr (C) 1986, 1993 by Rick Hillier
-
- Page 62
-
-
-
- Upon successful entry of a catalog name, CATMGR will attempt to load
- the summary file for that catalog into memory. If successful, those
- entries will immediately be displayed on your screen, and the catalog
- name will appear in the title area on its particular side of the
- screen. Any previous tags that may have been set on that side of the
- screen will be cleared.
-
- If CATMGR is unable to find the catalog file, that side of the screen
- will be cleared, and it will be indicated that a new catalog file will
- be created in the event of a copy or move operation with that side as
- the destination side. If you do not perform a copy or move operation
- into that catalog file, no catalog will be created for that name.
-
- Once you have a grouping of catalog entries tagged for an operation,
- here are the three that you can perform:
-
- <C>opy - hit the <C> key to activate this function. All tagged
- catalog entries will be copied from the source catalog to
- the destination catalog. If an error occurs during this
- phase, you will get an error message and the operation will
- be aborted.
-
- By far, the most common error will occur when your disk
- becomes full. During the copy process, CATMGR will read
- information from both catalog files and merge them together
- in a temporary new file. At the end of the process, all
- three files will exist at the same time, after which the old
- file is deleted and the new one renamed. The net result of
- this is that you need free disk space equal to the size of
- the target catalog file plus the cumulative size of the
- number of records that will be copied from the source
- catalog.
-
- Once this operation is successful, the summary entries from
- the source catalog will be copied into the destination
- summary file. This operation is done in memory, after which
- the new summary file is written to disk. As a general rule,
- if there was enough room to update the catalog file, there
- will certainly be enough room to create a new summary file.
-
- If an error does occur, it was probably due to a physical
- disk error. If this does happen, your summary file will be
- out of synch with its catalog file, and it is probably best
- that you exit from CATMGR and restore a backup copy of the
- target catalog set.
-
- <D>elete - This operation will delete tagged entries from the source
- catalog file in a bulk operation, enabling you to perform an
- efficient cleanup operation on your catalog file in one
- pass, rather than the un-cataloging the entries one at a
- time in the CATDISK program itself.
-
- To perform the deletion(s), CATMGR will read through the
- source file and build a new catalog file, minus the tagged
- entries, of course. If an error occurs while the new
- catalog file is being built, CATMGR will abandon the
- deletion operation and leave the original catalog file
- intact.
-
-
- Disk Catalog System (CATDISK) V6.35 Copr (C) 1986, 1993 by Rick Hillier
-
- Page 63
-
-
-
- As in the copy operation, the most common error will be a
- disk full error for the similar reasons as the copy
- operation.
-
- Once the deletion operation on the catalog file is complete,
- the summary file will be updated to reflect the deletions.
- Again, the same considerations to a summary file update
- apply to the summary update operation for deletions.
-
- If you get an error while the summary file is being updated,
- it is advisable that you restore a backup copy of that
- catalog file.
-
- <M>ove - this operation will move the entries from the source catalog
- to the destination catalog. It basically combines a copy
- operation from source to destination, followed by a deletion
- of the entries from the source. The move operation is the
- most convenient way to "split" a large catalog file into two
- smaller ones, or to "merge" two smaller catalogs into one
- large one.
-
-
- The last two options available are:
-
- <V> - The <V> option on the main screen will allow you to change the
- volume id of the highlighted entry to one that you specify
- without having to insert that disk in a drive and re-catalog it
- under a different name.
-
- Due to the way that the disk list is maintained in CATMGR, you
- may only perform this operation if none of the files on the
- current side of the screen have been tagged. If you have any
- entries tagged, you will get an error message.
-
- Once you have activated this operation, you will be prompted for
- a new volume id for the current entry. If you enter a name that
- already exists in the current catalog file, you will get an
- error message. If you enter the same name for the volume id as
- it had before, no action will take place.
-
- Once a valid volume id has been entered, the rest is automatic.
-
- If you inadvertantly activated this option and do not wish to
- carry out any operation, hit <Esc> at the prompt and you will be
- returned to the main menu with no action taken.
-
- <Esc> - Finally, the last option available to you from the main menu is
- to exit from CATMGR to DOS. This is done by pressing the <Esc>
- key.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- Disk Catalog System (CATDISK) V6.35 Copr (C) 1986, 1993 by Rick Hillier
-
- Page 64
-
-
-
- APPENDIX E - DISKFILL: CATDISK'S OPTIMAL DISK FILL UTILITY
-
- While CATDISK provides a way to manage the information that you have
- stored in a disk library, that still doesn't give us the excuse to
- waste disk space. Unfortunately, copying files one at a time to a
- floppy and using our eyes to read the amount of free space left on the
- target disk and using our minds to scan the list of files to be
- offloaded and find the best file to fit that "hole" is tedious at best,
- especially if the list of files to be offloaded is large.
-
- We have developed a companion program to CATDISK called DISKFILL, which
- is included with CATDISK that addresses this problem.
-
- In a nutshell, DISKFILL has the ability to offload selected files from
- a single subdirectory at a time to a collection of disks (DISKFILL is
- primarily meant for use with floppies), and copying the files to them
- in such an order that the least amount of target disk space is wasted.
-
- DISKFILL also has the ability to move files (as opposed to copy files),
- and to delete groups of files as well. Details on all three operations
- are discussed in their own sections in this appendix.
-
- As each disk is filled with files, DISKFILL can optionally call upon
- the CATDISK program to automatically catalog your disks as you go.
-
- DISKFILL can compare the files in your directory to those in an
- existing catalog to facilitate weeding out duplicate files BEFORE they
- get copied into your collection of files.
-
- 4DOS/NDOS file descriptions are copied to the target disk with the
- files. We strongly recommend that you use either 4DOS or NDOS to
- maintain comments right in the directory itself when you create or
- obtain the files that make up that directory. That way, when you
- offload the files to diskettes and catalog them, there will be no
- guesswork in entering the file comments, as CATDISK will read them in
- as the disk gets cataloged.
-
- DISKFILL can also compare the list of files to be offloaded against a
- CATDISK catalog to allow intelligent recommendations of previously
- cataloged disks so that you may fill up those empty "holes" that may
- exist in your disk collection.
-
- DISKFILL can take one or more optional parameters as follows:
-
- DISKFILL parameters pattern
-
- where parameters may be one or more of the following:
-
- /Ffilename - filename is the name of the catalog file that you wish
- DISKFILL to use for recommendations of previously
- cataloged disks when offloading files to another media.
-
- NOTE that there is no space between the /F and the
- filename. When specifying the filename, do NOT include a
- path or file extension - DISKFILL will know where to look.
-
-
-
-
-
- Disk Catalog System (CATDISK) V6.35 Copr (C) 1986, 1993 by Rick Hillier
-
- Page 65
-
-
-
- /NOTAGALL - Normally, DISKFILL automatically tags all files when
- reading in a new subdirectory, as offloading all files is
- the most common operation to perform. By adding this
- parameter to your command line when you start DISKFILL,
- you can supress this feature.
-
- /QUIET - Silent operation. Supresses sound in DISKFILL.
-
- /NO4DOS - Disables support for 4DOS's file descriptions. If this
- option is NOT specified, DISKFILL will copy the 4DOS file
- description over to the target diskette for each file that
- has one, and any file called DESCRIPT.ION will not be
- processed.
-
- /NONDOS - same as the /NO4DOS option outlined above. 4DOS and NDOS
- file comments are handled in the same manner.
-
- NOTE that with these parameters shown above that, unlike the CATDISK
- program itself, they MUST be preceded by a slash. This is due to the
- fact that the pattern mentioned below may contain a dash in its
- specification.
-
- pattern - you may specify a wildcard filespec that you wish to be
- included in a directory scan. This filespec may be a
- CATDISK enhanced filespec as documented in sub-option #4
- of the reports and inquiries section of this user manual.
- If no filespec is included on the command line, the
- default, "*.*" is used.
-
- NOTE that there is no slash or dash preceding the pattern.
-
- You may also put commonly used command line options in a DISKFILL
- environment variable using the DOS "SET" command. This command (see
- examples below), may be placed in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file so that you
- will not need to remember which command line options to use to obtain
- your favorite setup, or for that matter, to type them!
-
- - example: SET DISKFILL=/FCATDISK/NOTAGALL/QUIET
-
- You may run DISKFILL from any directory on your system. That directory
- will be the initial subdirectory scanned on startup. The subdirectory
- and filespec to match may be changed from within the program.
-
- DISKFILL has a capacity to hold 8000 files from a subdirectory.
- Once DISKFILL has loaded, it will scan the current directory and
- present a list of files that match the filespec given. The procedure
- here is to tag the files that you wish to be manipulated and select an
- operation to perform on them. As the initial or new directory is
- scanned, DISKFILL automatically selects ALL files for manipulation,
- unless you specified /NOTAGALL when you started DISKFILL, as this
- selection will undoubtedly be the most common.
-
- You can tag files in one of two ways. The first way is to highlight
- the desired file by using the cursor keys and by pressing the
- <Space Bar>. DISKFILL will indicate that a file is tagged when there
- is an arrow to the left of its filename name on the screen.
-
-
-
-
- Disk Catalog System (CATDISK) V6.35 Copr (C) 1986, 1993 by Rick Hillier
-
- Page 66
-
-
-
- You can move the highlight bar around the screen by using the following
- keys:
-
- <Up Arrow> - Moves the highlight bar up one line if possible.
- <Down Arrow> - Moves the highlight bar down one line if possible.
- <PgUp> - Moves the highlight bar up one screenful (14 lines) if
- possible.
- <PgDn> - Moves the highlight bar down one screenful (14 lines)
- if possible.
- <Home> - Moves the highlight bar to the top of the list.
- <End> - Moves the highlight bar to the end of the list.
-
-
- The other way to tag entries is to do so in groups. To bring up a list
- of tagging functions available, hit the <T> key at the main menu.
- DISKFILL will bring up a list with the following functions:
-
- <A> - This will tag ALL of the files.
-
- <C> - This will clear the tags of ALL of the files.
-
- <S> - You will be prompted for a wildcard specification for all of
- the files that you would like to be tagged.
-
- <U> - You will be prompted for a wildcard specification for all of
- the files that you would like the tags cleared.
-
- <I> - This will "flip" the tagged status of all files. This is
- useful if, for example, you wish to copy all but five of the
- files if a long list to be offloaded. Simply tag the five that
- you do not wish to copy and then select this option to quickly
- tag the entries that you do wish to copy.
-
- <F> - This will flip the tagged status of any files that DISKFILL
- finds as duplicates in the selected catalog file. Normally,
- when offloading files to floppies and then cataloging them, you
- run a good risk of having duplicate files in your collection.
- Although CATDISK itself can point them out to you, it is still
- best to eliminate them before they get into your collection.
-
- Here are two strategies that you can use to "pre-process" a
- directory before offloading files "<M>ove" or "<C>opy":
-
- 1) By activating this option with NO FILES FLAGGED, you can
- then see which files are indeed duplicates, upon which you
- can activate the <D>elete files option from the main menu.
- Presto! No more duplicate files.
-
- 2) By activating this option with the files that you intend to
- offload already flagged, you can have DISKFILL "un-tag" the
- duplicate files that it finds. You may then offload the
- remaining files and examine the duplicate files left over.
-
- In order to use this option, you must have selected a catalog
- file to use either from the command line when you started
- DISKFILL, or from the main menu by using "<N>ew Catalog File".
-
-
-
-
- Disk Catalog System (CATDISK) V6.35 Copr (C) 1986, 1993 by Rick Hillier
-
- Page 67
-
-
-
- In order to determine whether or not a file is a duplicate,
- DISKFILL will use the filename and filesize. When you hit <F>
- to activate this feature, DISKFILL will ask you if it should
- use the file date as an additional criteria. You may answer
- <Y>es or <N>o to the prompt, or you may press <Esc> to abandon
- the operation.
-
- Once you have determined the criteria for DISKFILL to use, it
- will make a pass through your catalog file and compare the
- contents of the catalog file to the contents of the currently
- selected directory. Each file that it finds as duplicate will
- have its flagged status flipped. When the operation is
- complete, you will be returned to the file list.
-
- <Esc> - Will return you to the main menu with no further action taken.
-
-
- Other options available from the main menu are:
-
- <P> - Change Pattern: DISKFILL will prompt you for a new filespec
- to match when scanning the directory. This is handy if you
- only wish to have a grouping of files from the current
- subdirectory to be included in the point and shoot list.
- Note that after the directory has been re-scanned, ALL files
- will be tagged for manipulation.
-
- <S> - Change Subdirectory: DISKFILL will prompt you for a new
- subdirectory to be scanned (the current pattern as noted at
- the top of the screen will be used). Note that after the
- directory has been scanned, ALL files will be tagged for
- manipulation.
-
- <N> - New Catalog File: DISKFILL will prompt you for a new catalog
- to be used in recommending disks from an existing catalog for
- backfilling of files. Do not specify a path or file
- extension - DISKFILL will know where to look. Hit <Esc> at
- the prompt to leave the existing (or lack of) catalog
- unchanged. If you do enter a name, DISKFILL will attempt to
- load that catalog. If a problem occurs (eg. file not found
- or error reading it), the setting will be cleared (i.e. no
- catalog will be used). If successful, that catalog will be
- used in all recommendations and cataloging operations.
-
- <Enter> - If the highlight bar is currently pointing to a subdirectory
- accessible directly from the current directory, you may press
- <Enter> to switch to that subdirectory. If you are pointing
- to <PARENT DIR> and hit <Enter>, you will move down one level
- in the disk's subdirectory tree.
-
- By traversing the directory tree in this manner, it is
- possible to quickly move from one directory to another in a
- point and shoot manner. It may be quicker to use the <S>
- option to move directly to a subdirectory that you enter at a
- prompt in some circumstances. If you wish to switch to
- another disk drive, you must use the <S> option.
-
-
-
-
-
- Disk Catalog System (CATDISK) V6.35 Copr (C) 1986, 1993 by Rick Hillier
-
- Page 68
-
-
-
- DISKFILL currently has three operations that you can perform on the
- tagged files:
-
- <C> - Copy: When this option is selected, DISKFILL will ask you for
- the drive of the target disk(s) that will received the
- tagged files. Typically, this will be drive A: or drive
- B:, but we have allowed any available drive letter in your
- system due to the fact that there may be an external
- floppy disk using a device driver that is available. Hit
- <Esc> to abandon the operation.
-
- Once you have selected the target drive, DISKFILL will ask
- you if you would like to catalog each disk after it has
- received more files. This prompt requires a simple YES or
- NO answer, which can be indicated by pressing "Y" for YES
- or "N" for NO. You may press <Esc> at this prompt to
- abandon the operation.
-
- DISKFILL will then prompt you to insert a disk in the
- target drive. If you do not wish to continue with the
- operation, hit <Esc> to return to the main menu.
-
- You may also press the <S> key at the prompt to shell out
- to DOS. This is handy if you need to check something
- outside of the DISKFILL program before proceeding.
-
- If you have instructed DISKFILL to use a catalog file for
- the purposes of recommending disks for "backfilling"
- previously cataloged disks, you may press <R> at this
- prompt.
-
- DISKFILL will then compare the list of files that need to
- be copied or moved with the entries in the selected
- catalog and will recommend a disk to use for accepting
- more files. The program will attempt to recommend disks
- such that the ones with the least amount of free space
- (those are the most difficult to fill later) are used
- first.
-
- If you have a catalog containing mixed media (hard drives,
- two different floppy drive sizes on the A: and B: drives,
- etc.), DISKFILL is currently not able to differentiate
- between them, so it may be possible for it to suggest a
- 5-1/4" diskette when you are copying to 3.5" diskettes, or
- even you hard drive. You may also have cataloged program
- disks that you have purchased, to which you do not
- necessarily want to copy files. If DISKFILL recommends
- such a disk, sit the <S> key at the recommendation prompt
- to "Squelch" that disk and not use it for any further
- recommendations. DISKFILL will then recommend another
- disk for use.
-
- NOTE: If you need to "re-activate" those disks that have
- been "squelched" for another copy process, simply load
- that summary file from the main menu before performing any
- other copy or move operations.
-
-
-
-
- Disk Catalog System (CATDISK) V6.35 Copr (C) 1986, 1993 by Rick Hillier
-
- Page 69
-
-
-
- Once you have the desired disk inserted, and are ready to
- copy files to it, hit any other key to proceed.
- The prompt containing all the above mentioned options
- will appear before each disk necessary to complete the
- operation is to be inserted.
-
- Before DISKFILL begins to copy files to each disk, it will
- examine the disk to determine capacity and to check to see
- if any files or sub-directories are present on the disk.
- If a disk error occurs at this stage, DISKFILL will assume
- that the disk is not formatted and will bring up a message
- indicating that it thinks that the disk is not formatted.
-
- You have three options at this point:
-
- 1) You may hit <S> to shell out to DOS to either examine
- the disk, or to invoke your favorite program to
- facilitate formatting that diskette. We have not built
- in the facility to load any particular disk formatting
- software, as there are many alternatives to the DOS
- format command, and the selection of a given program is
- a matter of personal preference. This also leaves open
- the possibility of using a disk formatting program that
- has the ability to format more capacity on a disk than
- normal.
-
- When you are ready to continue with the copy operation
- after shelling out to DOS, type "EXIT" and hit <Enter>
- to return back to the prompt.
-
- 2) You may hit <Esc> to abort the copy operation and
- return to the main menu.
-
- 3) You may hit any other key to try a new diskette, at
- which time the disk determination will be repeated.
-
- If the target disk has files on it, you will be presented
- with another set of options that will allow you to make a
- decision on what to do next:
-
- 1) You may hit <V> to view the directory of the target
- disk to verify that it is the one that you intended to
- insert in the drive. The DOS "DIR/P" command will be
- issued.
-
- 2) You may hit <S> to shell to DOS. This option is
- available to allow you to examine the situation more
- closely, perhaps to examine the directory of the disk
- and see if you have inserted the correct diskette.
- When you return from the DOS shell, you will be left at
- this prompt from which you may take appropriate action.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- Disk Catalog System (CATDISK) V6.35 Copr (C) 1986, 1993 by Rick Hillier
-
- Page 70
-
-
-
- 3) You may press <E> to have DISKFILL erase all visible
- files and subdirectories from that disk before
- proceeding with the copy operation.
-
- IF YOU ARE USING A TARGET DRIVE OTHER THAN A: or B:,
- EXERCISE THIS OPTION WITH EXTREME CAUTION. IF THE
- TARGET DRIVE HAPPENS TO BE A HARD DISK, ALL VISIBLE
- FILES AND SUBDIRECTORIES WILL BE ERASED. YOU HAVE BEEN
- WARNED!
-
- 4) You may press <T> to try another diskette. You will
- then be returned to the disk insertion prompt.
-
- 5) You may press <Esc> to Abort the copy operation
- altogether and return to the main menu.
-
- 6) You may press any other key to continue on with the
- copy operation. DISKFILL will then add files to those
- that already exist on the target diskette as available
- space allows.
-
- Once all is ready, DISKFILL will proceed to copy files to
- the target diskette. As each file is copied, it will be
- highlighted in the list and a progress indicator will
- appear in the instruction area of the screen keeping you
- informed of the progress of the copy. DISKFILL will
- buffer as much of the source file into memory as it can
- before writing it out to the target diskette in order to
- facilitate speed.
-
- As DISKFILL copies files, an indicator at the bottom of
- the screen will indicate how much of the read and write
- operations are complete. The indicator beside each status
- indicator that is flashing will indicate what DISKFILL is
- currently doing.
-
- If you added the /4DOS or /NDOS command line option when
- you started DISKFILL, it will, upon copying each file to
- the target disk, check to see if the file just copied has
- a 4DOS/NDOS file description. If so, that file
- description will be copied over to the target disk if
- there is enough room to accomodate it. It is possible
- that disk space may be completely filled and the hidden
- file that 4DOS or NDOS maintains cannot be expanded. If
- this occurs, the description will not appear in the
- directory of the target disk, even though the file was
- successfully copied. This behavior is consistent with
- that of 4DOS and NDOS.
-
- As each file is successfully copied to the target, it will
- be "un-tagged" in the file list. This way, if the copy
- process is interrupted or aborted for any reason, you can
- effectively pick up where you left off, as the tagged
- files will be those that were not copied.
-
- The capacity left over on the target disk will be updated
- as each file is copied to it. Additionally, the
- statistics on the right side of the screen will indicate
- how many files have yet to be copied.
-
- Disk Catalog System (CATDISK) V6.35 Copr (C) 1986, 1993 by Rick Hillier
-
- Page 71
-
-
-
- If a disk error occurs when copying a file to the target,
- that copy will be aborted. DISKFILL will make an attempt
- to remove that file from the target disk, although this
- cannot be guaranteed. The file that was being copied at
- the time of the error will remain in the "hit list" to be
- copied to a subsequent disk. You will then be returned to
- the prompt for a new disk with which to continue the copy
- operation.
-
- It may be advisable to shell out to DOS at this point with
- the <S> command to check the disk and perhaps run a
- diagnostic program on the target disk in order to map out
- any bad areas of the disk. If this proves to be the cause
- of the error, you may be able to continue the copy
- operation with that disk.
-
- When DISKFILL has determined that no more files from the
- selected list will fit on the target disk, it will do one
- of two things:
-
- 1) If you indicated that you would like each disk to be
- cataloged, DISKFILL will attempt to load CATDISK and
- tell it to catalog the disk.
-
- Any command line parameters in the CATDISK environment
- variable (see the section on starting CATDISK for
- details) will also be in effect for this operation.
- When the operation is complete, you will be returned to
- the disk insertion prompt where you may continue on
- with a new diskette, or abort the operation right
- there.
-
- The catalog used in the operation will be determined in
- the following order of priority:
-
- i) If you specified a catalog to be used for
- recommendations for backfilling disks, that
- catalog will be used in the catalog operation.
-
- ii) If the above is not the case, any catalog name
- specified in the CATDISK environment variable (see
- STARTING CATDISK in this manual) will be used.
-
- iii) If neither of the above two are true, the default
- catalog name "CATDISK" will be used.
-
-
- In order for this operation to be successful, two
- criteria must be met:
-
- i) The program CATDISK.EXE must be present in either
- the current directory or in a subdirectory
- specified in your DOS PATH and
-
- ii) There must be enough memory available (DISKFILL
- remains in memory while CATDISK does its thing) to
- load CATDISK and complete the function.
-
-
-
- Disk Catalog System (CATDISK) V6.35 Copr (C) 1986, 1993 by Rick Hillier
-
- Page 72
-
-
-
- If one or both of these criteria are not met, the
- cataloging operation will not take place, and you will
- be notified of the error.
-
- 2) If you indicated that you would NOT like each disk to
- be cataloged, you will be returned to the disk
- insertion prompt where you may continue on with a new
- diskette, or abort the operation right there.
-
- When all selected files have been copied to the target
- directory, you will automatically be returned to the main
- menu where the updated file list will be displayed. If
- all went well, there should be no more files tagged.
-
-
-
- IMPORTANT NOTES
-
- DISKFILL will work best when there is a mix of large and
- small files available for copying to the target disk(s),
- as DISKFILL will be able to use the smaller files to fill
- in the holes left over by the larger files.
-
- It is not necessary to use disks of the same capacity
- throughout an entire copy operation. For example, in a
- high capacity 3.5" drive, you could use a mix of 1.44Mb
- and 720K floppies. DISKFILL will copy files to it as the
- capacity of each inserted disk allows.
-
- If you have one or several files that are too big to fit
- on a target drive, the insert disk prompt will simply be
- repeated over and over again until you abort, as DISKFILL
- is a very patient program and will wait until a suitable
- disk is inserted in the drive.
-
- If you have been using low density media, you may need to
- switch to a higher capacity disk format in order to
- accommodate the file.
-
- If you have a file that will not fit on a disk of any
- capacity, DISKFILL will not be able to offload it. If the
- file is not compressed, you may wish to use one of the
- many archive utilities supported by CATDISK to compress
- the file to a size that may fit on a target disk, or
- alternatively, you may wish to use a file split/merge
- utility to break the file down into smaller, more
- manageable sub-files.
-
- <M> - Move: The MOVE operation works exactly like the copy operation
- except that each file being offloaded is erased after the
- copy operation is complete. If a disk error occurs during
- the copying part of the operation, the file involved is
- left intact in the source directory where an attempt can
- be made to move it to another disk later on in the
- operation.
-
-
-
-
-
- Disk Catalog System (CATDISK) V6.35 Copr (C) 1986, 1993 by Rick Hillier
-
- Page 73
-
-
-
- THE MOVE OPERATION IS THE PREFERRED METHOD OF OFFLOADING
- FILES TO FLOPPIES. It is also safe due to the fact that
- the only time that the source file is erased is when it
- has been successfully copied to the target disk.
-
- <D> - Delete: This operation will quickly delete all selected files
- from the source directory. Once a file has been
- deleted, DISKFILL cannot recover it, although it is
- possible to use one of the many file unerase utilities
- on the market to get the file back.
-
- Due to the potential severity of using this function,
- you will be asked for verification before continuing.
-
- NOTE: With the move and delete operations, DISKFILL will not be able
- to erase a file marked "READ-ONLY".
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- Disk Catalog System (CATDISK) V6.35 Copr (C) 1986, 1993 by Rick Hillier
-
- Page 74
-
-
-
- APPENDIX F - SUPPORT AND UPDATES
-
- As said in the introduction, we will only offer advice and technical
- support to those who are registered CATDISK users. Users who do
- contribute will be notified when updates and new products are
- available. Anyone wishing to offer advice and suggestions are most
- welcome to do so.
-
- The author may be reached on CompuServe at I.D. # 73307,333, or on our
- support BBS "The Shareware Connection" in WATERLOO, Ontario, Canada,
- under my name, Rick Hillier. For information on obtaining upgrades via
- this bbs, please see "ATTENTION OUT OF TOWN CATDISK USERS" later on in
- this appendix.
-
- You may also correspond via your FAX machine, if you have access to
- one. Our FAX number is (519)-884-4887.
-
- Telephone support available to registered users only. Our voice line
- is (519)-888-6763. If you get our answering machine, leave a detailed
- message regarding your question and/or problem, and we will return your
- call.
-
- PLEASE NOTE THAT IN THE EVENT THAT NO ONE IS AVAILABLE TO TAKE A
- SUPPORT CALL, IT IS OUR POLICY TO RETURN CALLS FROM NON-REGISTERED
- USERS COLLECT ON AN AS-AVAILABLE BASIS.
-
- If you are not a registered user and do have questions, the best place
- to leave them is in an E-mail message on either on The Shareware
- Connection or on CompuServe.
-
- The base registration fee is $25.00. When you register your copy of
- CATDISK, you will receive written confirmation that we have received
- your registration fee, as well as instructions on how to eliminate the
- shareware introductory screens and their accompanying random function
- key presses. If you would like to receive CATDISK from us on disk or
- via our support BBS, please read on.
-
- Those of you who register your copy of CATDISK and wish to receive an
- update to the latest version (from me and not the support BBS), please
- be sure and use the registration form to indicate that you wish to
- receive the latest version on diskette. If you do not have the
- registration form, you can download it from "The Shareware Connection"
- if you have a modem. If not, please send a note with your registration
- fee indicating the CATDISK version that you are currently using.
-
- Current prices (in addition to the base registration fee of $25.00) are
- $10.00 for a 360K 5.25" disk and $12.50 for 720K 3.5" disk.
-
- Optionally, you may include a diskette (5.25" or 3.5" disks are fine)
- and diskette mailer with your registration fee plus $5.00 to cover
- shipping and duplication costs, and we will send you the latest version
- of CATDISK.
-
- If there have been no upgrades available since your current release,
- your upgrade will be held until such time as one becomes available,
- unless you specify that you just want the current release on diskette.
-
-
-
-
- Disk Catalog System (CATDISK) V6.35 Copr (C) 1986, 1993 by Rick Hillier
-
- Page 75
-
-
-
- While on the subject of upgrades, once you are a registered CATDISK
- user, you are considered to be registered for all future CATDISK
- releases, whether you receive them from us or download them via your
- favorite bbs when they become available there. If you do obtain
- upgrades in that way, you do NOT have to send any type of upgrade fee
- to us.
-
-
- ATTENTION OUT OF TOWN CATDISK USERS
-
- The most up to date version of CATDISK is always available on The
- Shareware Connection, which may be reached at (519)-888-6924, 24 hrs. a
- day. In order to be able to access a new version of CATDISK, you must
- be a registered user and you must have taken the support BBS option as
- outlined on the registration form. This option will allow you to
- obtain perpetual upgrades to the CATDISK program, or any other
- shareware offering that may be made in the future.
-
- This option involves a $5.00 access fee on the board over and above the
- base registration fee, and will allow you perpetual access to the
- software available in the data libraries of this BBS system, including
- CATDISK itself.
-
- You can connect with The Shareware Connection at speeds up to 14400
- baud, allowing a download of the complete CATDISK package in under 3
- minutes if you connect at that speed. At 2400 baud, the complete
- package can be downloaded in about 19 minutes.
-
- Please note that if you are not a regular member of this BBS, or
- haven't taken advantage of the above upgrade offer, YOU WILL NOT BE
- ABLE TO ACCESS THE PROGRAM.
-
- If you do not wish to have a BBS membership, you can still see
- what changes and revisions have been made to date by going to the
- bulletins section of the board. You do not have to be a registered BBS
- or CATDISK user to use this feature.
-
- All CATDISK documentation, including the revision history, readme file,
- and registration forms are available to the public on this system. If
- you received an incomplete CATDISK package from a vendor or bulletin
- board system, you can supplement missing documentation directly from
- the support BBS.
-
- The electronic mail feature of the board is also fully accessible for
- leaving feedback and/or suggestions.
-
- -----------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- If you do have a question, or a bug report, or whatever, in your
- correspondence, please indicate the following:
-
- 1) The versions of CATDISK and DOS that you are using.
- 2) Your hardware configuration (Model, memory size, printer, etc.)
- 3) Any resident software that you have loaded in memory at the time.
- (i.e. Sidekick, SuperKey, Disk Caches, Print Spoolers, Ramdisks,
- etc.)
-
- This information will help me to track any problems and to suggest
- reasonable solutions to your problems.
-
- Disk Catalog System (CATDISK) V6.35 Copr (C) 1986, 1993 by Rick Hillier
-
- Page 76
-
-
-
- APPENDIX G - QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
-
- As CATDISK has developed over the past while, we have received many
- questions regarding the operation of CATDISK. The most common are
- addressed in this section of the manual.
-
- Q. When I go to catalog a new disk, CATDISK aborts the catalog file
- update with an error message that the disk is full, even though
- there is still room on the disk containing the catalog files.
-
- A. When CATDISK updates a catalog file, it does so by merging the new
- information in with the old, building a new file from the old in the
- process. The catch here is that, at the end of the catalog file
- update, BOTH files actually exist, thereby taking up roughly double
- the size of the original catalog file. At the end of this
- procedure, if successful, CATDISK deletes the old file and renames
- the new temporary file to what the original catalog file was called.
- The reason this is necessary is that, while re-cataloging a disk,
- there is a possibility that files were removed from that disk. This
- method of updating the catalog provides a convenient mechanism for
- removing those files from the catalog.
-
- Q. Is there a way to set the default settings as found in the settings
- and toggles menu, such as the printer report type, double sided
- reports, and the auto comment feature?
-
- A. All settings as found in the settings & toggles menu can be
- initialized the way you would like them by adding command line
- options after the CATDISK command when you start the program.
- Additionally, these options can be conveniently stored in a CATDISK
- environment variable so you don't have to type them in every time
- you start CATDISK. See the section "STARTING CATDISK" in this user
- manual for full details.
-
- Q. CATDISK currently supports archive file comments in ZIP, ZOO, ARJ
- and DWC files. Would it be possible to extract those from ARC files
- as well?
-
- A. ARC file comments were a non-standard extension provided by PKWare's
- PKARC/PKPAK series of archivers, and as such are not supported at
- this time.
-
- Q. Would it be possible for CATDISK to support ARCHIVES within
- ARCHIVES?
-
- A. Unfortunately, the answer is no. In order to read the directory of
- an archive within another archive file, the original one must first
- be expanded into its separate files. Firstly, with the ever
- evolving compression methods employed with new versions of the
- archive utilities, this would be beyond the scope of this program.
- Secondly, there would always be the possibility of overwriting an
- existing file of the same name. It's just not feasible.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- Disk Catalog System (CATDISK) V6.35 Copr (C) 1986, 1993 by Rick Hillier
-
- Page 77
-
-
-
- Q. Is it possible for CATDISK to support file categories?
-
- A. Indirectly, CATDISK already supports file categories. When CATDISK
- searches your catalog by comment via option <F2>, it is really
- performing a keyword search (i.e. any comment that contains the
- search item anywhere in its body will show in the report). In a
- sample scenario, you could come up with a list of three letter
- abbreviations for your category list (eg. WIN for Windows, SPR for
- Spreadsheets, DBS for Database, COM for Communications, etc.) and
- start each comment with these categories. By searching for "WIN",
- you can bring up a list of files in that category. By sorting on
- comment, you can bring up a list of filenames sorted by category.
- Your imagination is the only limiting factor.
-
- Q. In the summary report, I see disk entries for which the amount of
- free space and the amount of space used adds up to more than the
- capacity of the disk itself. The % slack factor is also wrong.
-
- A. You probably have a corrupted file allocation table on that disk,
- and could be in for some serious trouble. Format a fresh disk and
- transfer the files to it, and re-catalog it from that new disk.
-
- Q. After starting the cataloging process on a diskette, I discovered
- that the label on the diskette was wrong. Would it be possible to
- abort the process, change the label and start over?
-
- A. Once the cataloging process is started, it cannot be stopped. If
- you've run into a situation like that above, let CATDISK finish the
- task, and use option #4 to change the label on the diskette.
- CATDISK has a mechanism to automatically change the old volume label
- to the new one throughout the catalog files. It's quick and
- painless.
-
- Q. We have file comments for each file entry in the catalog file.
- Would it be possible to have comments for each disk in the summary
- file?
-
- A. At present, no, although this is not carved in stone. The main
- reason for this is that CATDISK keeps the entire disk summary in
- memory at all times. A comment on each disk would significantly
- increase the memory requirements of CATDISK.
-
- Q. I have some self-booting games. Would it be possible to create a
- dummy entry for that disk in the catalog?
-
- A. Doing this would defeat the purpose for which CATDISK was written.
- Self-booting games (those that CATDISK won't read) do not have a
- directory in the conventional sense. As there are no files per se
- there is nothing to look for on the diskette. You need only locate
- the disk itself in order to use it.
-
- Q. Is it possible for CATDISK to only catalog the disk itself, and not
- the files on it.
-
- A. Doing so would defeat the purpose of using CATDISK. The whole idea
- behind CATDISK is to be able to locate files on your disks. You can
- see the physical label on a disk, but the files themselves are
- invisible until you read it in your disk drive. If all you need is
- to find a known disk, a good filing system is the way to go.
-
- Disk Catalog System (CATDISK) V6.35 Copr (C) 1986, 1993 by Rick Hillier
-
- Page 78
-
-
-
- Q. I have many disks with numerous insignificant files on them such as
- printer drivers, etc. Would it be possible to catalog only selected
- files from these disks?
-
- A. Unfortunately, not at this time. In order to keep the shareware
- version of CATDISK as simple to use as possible, all files get
- cataloged hands free. You can, however, mask out several file
- groups by wildcard specification in the CDISKCFG program. CATDISK
- PLUS, a commercial release of this program with many enhancements
- described in more detail in a later appendix, will handle this type
- of operation with more flexibility.
-
- Q. I've noticed that CATDISK seems to have missed some files on my hard
- disk when I list the catalog entries for that disk.
-
- A. CATDISK presently has an internal limitation of being able to
- remember only the first 5000 files that it sees, either in the
- directories themselves, or in any archive files whose contents are
- included in the catalog. After it reaches this number, it will stop
- and begin cataloging the files read in. The limitation of 5000
- files may, in fact, be lower if you do not have enough memory to
- accomodate them all. If this is the case, you should remove some or
- all of your resident programs to free up valuable system memory for
- CATDISK to use.
-
- Also, adjusting the "disks/files per catalog" setting via the
- CDISKCFG program to the lowest value that will accomodate your
- largest catalog file will also free up some memory.
-
- A. Another reason that this may occur, especially if your disk has less
- than 5000 entries is that the missing files may match a filespec set
- in the EXCLUDE FILES LIST that can be changed in the CDISKCFG
- utility. Check that list out to see if this is the case.
-
- Q. Why does CATDISK slow down as my catalog files grow larger.
-
- A. As CATDISK catalogs each disk, it must make a pass through your data
- file to determine whether or not any files have been deleted or
- changed, so that the catalog file can be updated accordingly. Many
- other disk catalogers on the market that outperform CATDISK in their
- cataloging operation retain the entire catalog in RAM. While this
- is fast, there are two problems with it.
-
- Firstly, this imposes an extreme limitation on their ultimate
- capacity in terms of how many disks and files you can catalog. If
- you are serious at all about maintaining a catalog of all your files
- and that your library will possibly grow to many files, these types
- of catalogers are not at all suitable for your usage.
-
- Secondly, if you should experience a power outage before you've
- saved your work, you can kiss that work good-bye. By manipulating
- data on-disk, CATDISK does catalog your disks at a slower rate than
- the above mentioned type of cataloger, but it guarantees the
- integrity of your work. We have also developed some very fast
- catalog updating routines, so any slowdown will be kept to a minimum
- while guaranteeing the integrity of your catalog file.
-
-
-
-
- Disk Catalog System (CATDISK) V6.35 Copr (C) 1986, 1993 by Rick Hillier
-
- Page 79
-
-
-
- Q. In DISKFILL, I have told it to call upon CATDISK to catalog each
- disk as it is filled, but at the end of each disk, the screen
- quickly blanks and then I am returned to DISKFILL.
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- A. You probably do not have the directory where the program file
- CATDISK.EXE resides included in your DOS PATH. DISKFILL is unable
- to ascertain whether or not CATDISK.EXE could be found and executed
- so that an appropriate error message can be displayed.
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- Disk Catalog System (CATDISK) V6.35 Copr (C) 1986, 1993 by Rick Hillier
-
- Page 80
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- APPENDIX H - CATDISK COMPANION PROGRAMS
-
- Over the past 5-1/2 years, CATDISK has grown steadily in popularity,
- and has become one of the leading cataloging programs available, due
- largely in part that it does not try be an everything-in-one software
- package. The philosophy behind CATDISK has always been and always will
- be to provide a reliable, simple to use cataloging utility that
- performs the essential tasks of identifying the location(s) of
- individual files in a collection of disks.
-
- We will be the first to admit that there are many new functions and
- reports that CATDISK could do and does not due to the above mentioned
- philosophy.
-
- Several enterprising individuals have created companion programs to
- CATDISK that enhance its functionality. They are briefly described
- here, along with the authors' names and addresses.
-
- All of these programs may be obtained from our support board, The
- Shareware Connection. They are located in file area 1 on the main
- board. As a service to the authors of these products, we have made
- them all available to anyone calling in to the system. You do NOT need
- to be registered with us under the support BBS option in order to be
- able to obtain these programs. You may also be able to find these
- programs on your local bulletin board systems as well.
-
- If your program is already listed in this section of the user manual,
- we ask that you keep us up to date on your creation by either uploading
- it to The Shareware Connection, or by sending it to us on disk at our
- regular address for registrations. Many CATDISK users (registered and
- unregistered) call in to the board and check on the latest offerings,
- and do in fact download all of the programs listed. If you have
- created a new program that is not listed here, please feel free to
- submit it. If it's good, we'll "advertise" it for you here and on The
- Shareware Connection.
-
-
- CATCOMP
-
- Catcomp is a handy utility that has the capability of taking a text
- file such as a BBS listing and comparing its contents with a CATDISK
- catalog file and generating a listing of what files you have in your
- catalog that are not listed in the text file. Catcomp can also tell
- you what files are listed in the text file that you do not have, as
- well as tell you what files are duplicated.
-
- This utility is extremely handy when you are dealing with a bulletin
- board system that imposes an upload/download ratio on its members. On
- such systems, it is commonplace for users to rename the same file or
- make a small change to it, and upload the duplicate to the board in
- order to gain more download capability. Such practices are not in the
- best interests of either the bulletin board system or its members.
-
- That's where Catcomp comes in very handy. Its reporting capabilities
- will allow you to determine what files you have that are legitimately
- not on that board. I'm sure that the use of this utility in such
- circumstances will help you develop a good rapport with the sysop(s) of
- those boards.
-
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- Disk Catalog System (CATDISK) V6.35 Copr (C) 1986, 1993 by Rick Hillier
-
- Page 81
-
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- Catcomp is menu-driven and very easy to use.
-
- Author: Wayne A. Davis Catcomp is shareware,
- Address: 17617 N. 9th St., #2076 and a $10 registration
- Phoenix, AZ fee is requested for the
- USA 85022-1943 program if you find it
- Phone: (602) 482-8216 useful.
-
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- CAT-STAT
-
- Cat-stat is a CATDISK-specific program that has two primary functions.
- It can scan your catalog file and generate some handy statistics on the
- data in your catalog file. Ever wondered just how many megabytes worth
- of floppies you have in your collection? This program will tell you
- that. Its primary function, though, is to compare two CATDISK catalog
- files and tell you what files are in catalog file "A" that are not in
- "B" and vice versa. It's great to have if you are trading files with a
- friend.
-
- Again, this program is menu-driven and very easy to use.
-
- Cat-stat is written by George Wilken and Bill Guy, and a $10 shareware
- registration fee is requested if you decide to use it.
-
- Send registrations to: George Wilken
- 702 Deering Drive
- Akron, OH
- USA 44313
-
- Questions or comments may be left for the authors on CompuServe at
- 71450,3172.
-
-
- DISK LABEL SYSTEM (DLS)
-
- One of the many requests that I have received for CATDISK to include is
- a facility to print disk labels. The main reason that CATDISK does not
- currently have this capability is mainly due to our philosophy of
- providing a single-purpose utility that does what it does best.
-
- The good news is that this program is capable of producing disk labels
- directly from your CATDISK catalog file(s). Additionally, it can read
- the directory information directly from a diskette if inserted in the
- floppy drive. DLS can produce labels for 5.25" and 3.5" diskettes, as
- well as disk inserts for 5.25" diskettes.
-
- DLS is quite powerful, but is very easy to use.
-
- Several popular printers are supported.
-
- DLS is shareware, and a $15 registration fee is requested if you find
- the program useful.
-
- Author: James A. Clark
- Address: 2130 Knollshire Road
- Cedar Rapids, IA
- USA 52402
-
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- Disk Catalog System (CATDISK) V6.35 Copr (C) 1986, 1993 by Rick Hillier
-
- Page 82
-
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- THE CATDISK UTILITIES (CDU)
-
- This collection of handy programs expands on some of the functionality
- of CATDISK.
-
- CDC pads the excess characters in the comment field with spaces (newer
- versions of CATDISK, including this release do the same), resulting in
- better compression of the data file when using programs like STACKER or
- other compression programs.
-
- CDR allows a search of the database by up to 50 wildcard specs and
- allows you to delete those files from your diskettes by prompting you
- to mount each disk as appropriate. It will then call on CATDISK to
- update the catalog file when each disk has been cleaned up.
-
- CDF is an enhanced reporting facility.
-
- CDM assists in offloading files to floppies.
-
- CDS assists in finding files on floppies and copies them to a hard disk
- subdirectory.
-
- These utilities are written by:
-
- Robert w. Van Hoeven
- P.O. Box 131
- 1170 AC Badhoevedorp
- Nederland / Holland
-
- Questions or comments may be left to "Rob van.Hoeven" (note the period
- in the last name - it must be there) at NetMail address 2:512/100, or
- better, 2:512/100.5, or in the FidoNet DISP echomail area.
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- Disk Catalog System (CATDISK) V6.35 Copr (C) 1986, 1993 by Rick Hillier
-
- Page 83
-
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-
- APPENDIX I - CATDISK PLUS
-
- Since its initial release in October of 1986, CATDISK has gone through
- many changes and has received tremendous support from the many
- corporations and individuals who have sent in their registration fees.
- CATDISK is currently in use world-wide in more applications than I
- could have possibly dreamed of. Judging from this response, I can
- safely say that the SHAREWARE system is alive and flourishing as a
- viable means of making quality software available at reasonable cost.
-
- Along the way, many individuals have requested features in the program
- that are not feasible in the current design of CATDISK. In creating
- this program, I set out to make the operation as simple and automatic
- as possible. Those requests that melded in with the current design
- have been implemented, and those that will compliment same will be
- implemented in the future.
-
- However, there have been numerous requests for features that would
- complicate the design of the shareware version of CATDISK - good
- requests.
-
- Therefore, it is with great pleasure that we are announcing the
- development of a new commercial program, CATDISK PLUS, which will be
- produced by my software company, The DATAMEN Inc. See the README.1ST
- file from your CATDISK package for details on its availability.
-
- Please keep in mind that this shareware version will continue to be
- enhanced and supported - it's still "my baby"!
-
- Some of the features include:
-
- . A windowed desktop environment with pull down menus for ease of use.
- . Online context-sensitive help.
- . Support for the 43 line EGA and the 50 line VGA screen modes.
- . Full color customization.
- . All the functional features of the current shareware release.
- . The ability to selectively catalog files from your disks via three
- methods, all of which can be used at once: inclusion filespecs,
- exclusion filespecs, and a point and shoot list of files read.
- . A greater variety of reporting features will be available as well
- as a custom report generator where you can design your own reports.
- . Comment entries for each disk in the catalog.
- . Longer file comments.
- . Greater capacity for catalog size (5000 disks, 65000 files).
- . A full blown disk manager supporting all the archive file formats
- that CATDISK currently does.
- . The ability to print user-defined disk labels and jacket inserts.
- . Plus many more!
-
- One major consideration is that CATDISK PLUS will require a hard disk.
- Suggested retail price for this product is $69.95 US + $8.00 for
- shipping and handling. Dealer inquiries are welcome.
-
- Please address all inquiries to:
-
- The Datamen Phone: (519) 570-3523
- 98 Toynbee Crescent FAX: (519) 884-4887
- Kitchener, ONTARIO BBS: (519) 570-4132
- Canada N2N 1R9
-
- Disk Catalog System (CATDISK) V6.35 Copr (C) 1986, 1993 by Rick Hillier
-
- Page 84
-
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- APPENDIX J - OTHER PRODUCTS AVAILABLE
-
- For all you avid golfers out there, I have released a golf handicap
- system, called HANDICAP II, that goes way beyond just calculating a
- simple golf handicap.
-
- Among the many features of this program are:
-
- . Pull down menus for ease of use.
- . On line context sensitive help.
- . Storage capacity for up to 400 different golf courses.
- . Storage capacity for up to 128000 rounds of golf (if you exceed
- this number, I want to meet you!).
- (score and number of putts on each hole can be logged)
- . Instant retrieval of past played games, and the ability to browse
- through them.
- . An expanded handicap card that is more informative than a standard
- handicap card.
- . A report showing your average score on each hole on each course.
- - good for spotting habitual trouble holes.
- . A report showing your average putts on each green on each course.
- - good for spotting habitual troublesome greens.
- . A report showing how often you hit each green in regulation.
- - good for analyzing your tee-to-green game on each hole.
- . Many more statistical reports of interest to you.
- . Full housekeeping routines to correct mistakes (but I'll bet that
- you never make any, right?!?)
-
- . ALL reports may be viewed on the screen or printed on your
- printer.
-
- . Pop up windows are used extensively, adding to the ease of use of
- the program.
-
- We also have a clubhouse version available with all of the above plus:
-
- . A simple date-differential entry system for those who do not wish
- to have all the detail of the enhanced reports.
- . Capacity to maintain handicaps for up to 128000 members (you are
- only limited by disk size).
- . Full system manager functions available only to authorized users.
- . A handicap listing (in alphabetical order by member name) of the
- handicaps of all the members in the system.
-
- Ordering Information
-
- The GOLFERS version of HANDICAP II is available as shareware for $35
- directly from myself (Rick Hillier), and the CLUB HOUSE version is
- available for $295.00 (which includes a bound, printed manual) from the
- address below.
-
- They may be ordered from: The Datamen, Inc.
- 98 Toynbee Crescent
- Kitchener, Ontario
- Canada N2N 1R9
- Phone: (519) 570-3523
- FAX: (519) 884-4887
- BBS: (519) 570-4132
-
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- Disk Catalog System (CATDISK) V6.35 Copr (C) 1986, 1993 by Rick Hillier
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- Page 85
-