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WinCat/PRO - Windows Disk/CD Catalog & Disk Manager
===================================================
Version 3.2.0, June 1993
Created by Mart Heubel, Heerlen, The Netherlands
TABLE OF CONTENTS
-----------------
* General Information
* WinCat Features
* System Requirements
* Installing WinCat
* Using WinCat
* Volume List Window
- Cataloging disks
- Cataloging archive contents
- Cataloging CD-ROM'S
* File List Window
- Defining Associations
- Restoring Files
* File Menu
* Options Menu
* Utilities Menu
* Help Menu
* Hints and Tips
* WinCat 3.2.0 Summary of Changes
* WinCat 3.0 Summary of Changes
* Things to Come
* Registering WinCat
* IMPORTANT NOTICE
* Where to get WinCat
* Your Comments Please
* Distribution
* Small Print
GENERAL INFORMATION
-------------------
WinCat is a tool that helps you organize your floppydisks and CD-Rom's,
and enables you to quickly find and restore the files they hide.
Although there are various disk catalog programs around, none of them
really suited my needs or taste. Therefore I decided to write my own
(always a guarantee for quality software !), and the result of a few weeks
fooling around with Visual Basic and Turbo Pascal was WinCat 1.0.
In little then a year this initial release evolved into a rather useful
tool (WinCat 2.5), but it also became clear that -due to the Visual Basic
programming language- further improvements like CD-ROM support were almost
impossible to realise without slowing down the program to a snail's speed.
That's why I wrote an entirely new version of WinCat using Borland's
Turbo Pascal for Windows. This new WinCat/PRO is the successor to
WinCat 2.5, but although it looks a lot like the old WinCat 2.5, there's
one big difference : it's very, VERY fast !
Because of all it's features and it's speed I humbly consider WinCat/PRO
to be the best floppydisk/CD-Rom manager available for Windows today (with
WinCat 2.5 being a good second best...).
So here's the 'bad' news :
WinCat/PRO is distributed as AidWare and is NOT free (but at $15 still a
give-away...).
'AidWare' means that I'll donate all received registration-fees to an
organisation that supports developmentprograms in 3rd-world countries.
I hope many of you support this AidWare concept by registering WinCat.
Please read the IMPORTANT NOTICE in the 'Registering WinCat' section
(see below), file AIDWARE.DOC and file ORDERFRM.DOC for more details !
FEATURES OF WINCAT/PRO 3.x :
----------------------------
- It's easy to use
- It's FAST !
- Ability to restore files or extract files from archives
WinCat interfaces to all DOS and Windows unarchive utilities
(like ARJ, LHA, PKUNZIP, WUNA, WINZIP etc.) and other programs
using user-defined associations
- Kingsize comment fields on both file- and volume-entries
- Supports sub-directories up to 4 levels deep
- Supports various disktypes (floppydisk, CD-ROM, harddisk, networkdisk)
- Extensive file search & sort capabilities
- ClipBoard interface for easy editing file-descriptions
- Includes an import/conversion tool that extracts file-descriptions from
BBS Allfiles-listings or listings from other disk catalog programs
- Automaticly copies file-descriptions from (4DOS) descript.ion files
to it's catalog
- Reports : Volume Summary, Volume Contents, Files sorted by Filename
and Duplicate Files
- Allows you to create easy-to-work-with groups of volumes
- Expensive looking '3D metallic' windows
- Ability to catalog the contents of ARJ, ZIP, LZH, ZOO, PAK and ARC archives
- Ability to export the catalog to a dBase compatible databasefile.
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
-------------------
In order to run properly, WinCat/PRO requires
- MicroSoft Windows 3.1
- VGA display mode
- at least 2 MB memory
- at least 1 MB space on your harddisk
- at least 1 diskdrive, harddisk or CD-ROM drive
INSTALLING WINCAT
-----------------
If you're currently using WinCat 2.x, and want to install the new WinCat
3.2, please read file CONVERT.DOC instead of the following instructions.
To install WinCat, create directory C:\WINDOWS\WINCAT on your harddisk
and extract WINCAT32.ARJ into that directory.
The following files will be created :
WINCAT.EXE - The WinCat program
WINCAT.INI - Default settings & associations
WINCAT.DOC - WinCat user guide
WINCAT.WNT - Overview of WinCat's features
WINCATAR.DLL - WinCat's Archive Scan routines
WINCATRS.PIF - PIF that WinCat uses to launch WINCATRS.BAT.
WINCATRS.BAT - BAT that WinCat uses to execute DOS unarchive
utilities (like ARJ, LHA, PKUNZIP etc.)
SAMPLE.CAT - A sample catalog
CONVERT.EXE - Catalog conversion program
CONVERT.DOC - Explains how to use CONVERT.EXE
AIDWARE.DOC - Explains the AidWare concept (read this !)
ORDERFRM.DOC - How to order your WinCat/PRO license (read this too !)
ORDERFRM.WRI - The orderform in Windows Write format
README.DOC - For turbo-installers who never read DOC files
QUEST.DOC - WinCat Questionaire
QUEST.WRI - Questionaire in Windows Write format
BUGSFIXD.DOC - Summary of bugs that have been eliminated
(*)BWCC.DLL - Runtime library needed by Turbo Pascal programs
(*) BWCC.DLL is copyrighted by Borland International, but may be freely
distributed.
You'll have to move 2 of these files (WINCAT.INI and BWCC.DLL) to another
directory :
File WINCAT.INI is a default set of settings and associations used
by WinCat. Move it to the C:\WINDOWS directory.
File BWCC.DLL is a runtime library that's needed by all programs
that were developed using Borland's Turbo Pascal for Windows
compiler.
This file must be moved to the C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory.
However, it's possible that there is already a BWCC.DLL present in
this directory (put there by other programs that use it).
If this is the case, replace that copy of BWCC.DLL ONLY if the one
supplied with WinCat is from a more recent date.
Files CONVERT.EXE and CONVERT.DOC are used only when converting
an already existing WinCat 2.x catalog to the new format required
by WinCat/PRO.
So, if you didn't use a previous version of WinCat you can delete
these files.
If you want to let WinCat catalog the contents of archive files you
must also create subdirectory C:\WINDOWS\WINCAT\ARCHIVES\
(See also 'Cataloging Archive Contents').
Edit WINCATRS.BAT and change the 'CD\SHEZ' statement to your directory
that contains the DOS un-archivers you use, like ARJ.EXE, LHA.EXE and
PKUNZIP.EXE .
If these files are accessable through your default PATH, or if you
prefer to include the path on the 'association' definitions, simply
delete this statement.
You can let WinCat's 'restore file' function call WUNA (a shareware
Windows UnArchive tool by James N. Hughes that handles ZIP and ARJ files)
or WINZIP (a shareware Windows unarchive tool by Nico Mak that handles
ARJ,ZIP,LZH and ARC files).
As a default, WinCat doesn't specify a path when calling WUNA.EXE or
WINZIP.EXE, so if you want to use WUNA and/or WINZIP make sure these files
are in your \WINDOWS directory, or specify their location in WINCAT.INI.
You can download WUNA and WINZIP from any WINNET BBS.
Now, all that's left to do is to add WINCAT.EXE to a Windows program
group.
Make sure you specify C:\WINDOWS\WINCAT as the 'working directory' !
Else WinCat can't find the WINCATRS.PIF, WINCATAR.DLL etc. files.
Now start WinCat by clicking it's icon.
Click the FILE menu on WinCat's primary window, and then select
'Open Catalog...'.
The 'Open' dialog will show 1 catalog file, SAMPLE.CAT.
Select file SAMPLE.CAT and click OK. After WinCat has read this file
you can have a first look at WinCat/PRO 3.2 !
Once you've tried WinCat you can delete the SAMPLE.CAT, and create your
own catalog : click the FILE menu, select 'Open Catalog...' and, on the
'Open Catalog' dialog enter the name of the catalog you want to create,
for instance WINDOWS.CAT. Note that the filename-extension must be '.CAT'.
USING WINCAT
------------
WinCat has two main windows : the 'Volume List' window, which displays
all disks in the catalog, and the 'File List' window, which is used to
display selected files.
VOLUME LIST WINDOW
------------------
When you start WinCat you'll see the Volume List window, which shows all
the disks in the catalog, and a few actions buttons.
For each volume that was cataloged, WinCat displays (from left to right) :
- the volume-ID : this is the label that's on the disk.
- the amount of free space on the disk (in KBytes, where K = 1000)
- the number of files on the disk
- an 'A' flag if the contents of archive-files on this disk are cataloged
- the volume-group the disk belongs to
- a description of the disk's contents
Initially, the group and description fields will be blank ; you must
define them yourself using the 'Volume Information' window.
Explanation of the buttons (from left to right) :
[ EXIT ]
Clicking this button will end WinCat.
[ VOLUME INFORMATION ]
Displays the 'Volume Information' window, which shows the :
- volume ID
- date the disk was cataloged
- name of the associated archive contents (.ACT) file
- free and used diskspace in bytes
- a bar that graphically shows free and used diskspace
- number of files on the disk
- disk type (physical size and capacity)
- drive ID
- group ID, location and owner you defined
- any comment you entered.
On this window you can define to which group, location and/or owner a
disk belongs. Each of these fields may be 1 to 8 characters long.
You can also enter or update the volume's description on this window.
To make it easier to enter a series of descriptions that are almost
the same (e.g. Windows disk 1 of 6, disk 2 of 6 etc.) you can let WinCat
memorize descriptions (by entering a description in the edit field and
clicking on the 'Mem' key).
You can then simply select descriptions from the drop-down list.
Clicking the OK button will save these fields in the catalog, and end
the Volume Information window. The Volume List window will show the
updated Group and Description fields.
Another way to save these fields is to scroll to another volume, using
the scrollbar at the left. If you do this, all updates will be saved
automaticly, i.e. you don't have to click OK.
If you click Cancel the changes you made will be discarded.
[ FILES ]
Shows the contents (all files) of the selected volume.
You can also do this by double-clicking a volume-entry.
See explanation of the 'File List' window below.
[ DIRECTORY ]
Displays the 'Directory List' window, which shows the directories
on the selected disk. This window also shows the number of files
and used diskspace per directory.
Select a directory and click [FILES] to see all files in it.
The same function can also be accomplished by double-clicking a
directory entry.
You can limit the entries displayed on the 'Directory List' window by
entering a (partial) directory-name on the edit-field and clicking the OK
button ; WinCat will then show only the matching directories.
Clicking the Cancel button will display all directories again.
See also 'File List' window.
[ UNCATALOG ]
This function will delete the selected volume (and all files cataloged
on it) from the catalog.
If there is a corresponding archive contents (.ACT) file this will be
deleted as well.
Of course you'll receive the inevitable prompt 'are you sure ?'.
[ CHANGE ID ]
This function can be used to change the ID of a volume in the catalog.
The new ID you enter must be unique ; if there is already a volume
cataloged with the new ID, a messagebox appears prompting you to enter
a different ID.
Note that WinCat only changes the volume-id in the catalog ; it does
NOT change the disklabel on the disk.
[ CATALOG ]
This function will scan a disk and add it's volume- and file-information
to the catalog.
WinCat first displays the drive-select window, which shows a button
for each floppydisk, harddisk or CD-ROM-drive installed on your PC.
On this window you can specify whether or not you want a confirmation
window displayed when you're recataloging a volume, and whether or not
you want WinCat to catalog the contents of archive files on the disk.
(you can pre-define these options on the Configure window).
Select the desired options, insert a disk in a drive and then select
this drive by clicking the appropriate drive-button.
After scanning the directory of the disk WinCat displays the 'Catalog Disk'
window, which shows the contents of the disk.
On the 'Catalog Disk' window you must enter a volume-ID for the disk
to be cataloged. This ID may be 1 to 11 characters long.
If the disk was labeled, the ID-field will show the label. You're free
to change it : WinCat doesn't require that disklabel and (external)
volume-ID are equal.
The ID you enter will only be used to identify the volume in the catalog ;
WinCat does NOT write the ID as a label on the disk.
(But : the easiest way to work with WinCat is to you give every disk a
unique label, and then let WinCat use these labels as volume-ID's).
Optionally you can also enter a description of the disk's contents.
To make it easier to enter a series of descriptions that are almost
the same (e.g. Windows disk 1 of 6, disk 2 of 6 etc.) you can let WinCat
memorize descriptions (by entering a description in the edit field and
clicking on the 'Mem' key).
You can then simply select descriptions from the drop-down list.
When you click OK, WinCat will scan the catalog to see if the volume-ID
you entered is already in use.
If it isn't, the volume- and file-information will be added to the catalog.
If there IS a volume with the same ID in the catalog, WinCat compares the
information in the catalog with the actual contents of the disk and
shows the 'confirm recatalog' window which displays :
- files that are on the disk, but not yet cataloged
- files that are cataloged, but can't be found on the disk
- files on the disk that are newer than the ones cataloged
- files on the disk that are older than the ones cataloged
If you click the OK button, WinCat will delete the old volume
(and it's files) from the catalog and add the new volume- and file-
information to the catalog. Volume- and file-comments will be copied
from the old to the new volume- and file-records.
If you click the Cancel button, WinCat will return to the 'Catalog Disk'
window, where you can either enter a different volume-id, or cancel
the catalog function.
Remember that this window doesn't appear if you have turned the 'confirm
recatalog' option (on the drive-select window) off. In this case WinCat
automaticly recatalogs the volume.
After WinCat has added or replaced the volume in it's catalog, he will
optionally continue with :
- reading the DESCRIPT.ION file on the disk
- scanning the archive-files on the disk
note : when recataloging a disk, WinCat will first examine the old
.ACT file that was associated with that disk. By doing so, WinCat
doesn't have to scan archive-files that were examined previously
and haven't been changed since : he simply copies their contents-
information to the new .ACT file, and only scans those archive-files
that are new or updated.
Whether or not WinCat performs these actions depends on the 'Catalog
options' settings on the 'Configure' and 'Drive Select' windows.
4DOS users
----------
One of the nice features of 4DOS is that you can assign descriptions
to your files. 4DOS saves these descriptions in a -hidden- file called
'DESCRIPT.ION'.
This is a 'plain' ASCII text file, i.e. it's contents might look like
this :
afile.exe just one of my files
wincat30.arj SPLENDID program : I'm gonna mail the orderform today !
descript.ion This comment describes the volume contents
somefile.arj This is another file
When cataloging a disk, WinCat scans the root-directory of this disk for
a 'DESCRIPT.ION' file and, if found, copies the file-descriptions in this
file to it's catalog.
If there is an entry 'descript.ion' in the descript.ion file, WinCat
will use it's description as a volume-description (get my point ?).
If you don't want WinCat to read the DESCRIPT.ION file, disable the
appropriate option on the Settings window.
Cataloging Archive Contents
---------------------------
You can optionally let WinCat catalog the contents of ARJ,ZIP,LZH,ZOO,
PAK and ARC archive files.
When WinCat scans the archive files on a disk, he saves the information
in a special directory in a file named Fxxxxxxx.ACT, where xxxxxxx
is some generated (timestamp) string.
So, for every volume that WinCat scanned there is a .ACT file in this
directory.
On the 'Volume Information' window you can see which .ACT file (if any)
belongs to a volume.
Note that there is a one-to-one relationship between a volume and it's
associated .ACT file ; therefore you shouldn't rename or delete .ACT
files yourself, because then WinCat looses track and instead of the
contents of an archive file will show you the message 'Can't find
file Fxxxxxxx.ACT'.
If you request WinCat to show the contents of a particular archive file,
WinCat locates the .ACT file that's associated with the volume that
contains the archive file and extracts the requested information from it.
So, to activate the cataloging of archive contents you must do 2 things :
1: Create the subdirectory where WinCat can store it's .ACT files.
As a default, WinCat uses directory C:\WINDOWS\WINCAT\ARCHIVES.
If you want to use another directory you must specify it's full name
on the Configure window (option 'Archive Directory'), e.g. 'D:\USERDATA\'
or 'C:\WINDOWS\WINCAT\'
2: Turn on the 'Catalog Archive Contents' option on either the Configure
window or the Drive Select window.
If an error (CRC check, I/O error or whatever) occurs while scanning an
archive file then WinCat aborts processing the current archive and
proceeds with the next one.
Cataloging CD-ROM disks
-----------------------
If you have a CD-ROM drive and the appropriate device-drivers installed
on your system you can let WinCat also catalog the contents of your CD-ROM
disks.
This isn't any different from cataloging floppy-disks ; WinCat will enable
a drive-button on the 'Catalog Disk' window, and all you have to do is
to click this button.
[ SEARCH ]
Allows you to search for files in the catalog (click FILES) or for files
in archives (click ARCHIVES).
You can search for files in the catalog by specifying any combination of
filename, extension, directory, comment, creation date and/or size.
Files in archives can be searched for by filename, extension, date and/or
size.
WinCat will compare the strings you enter with the corresponding fields
of all file-entries in the catalog, and show the files that match.
So, if you specify ICO for filename and EDIT for comment, WinCat will
show all(*) files that have the string ICO somewhere in the filename AND
that have the string EDIT somewhere in the comment field.
(*) Unless you've selected a volume-group, in which case WinCat will
search for files only on volumes belonging to that group.
Clicking the [Clear] button clears all search-fields.
See also 'File List Window'.
[ FILE MANAGER ]
[ PROGRAM MANAGER ]
[ TASK MANAGER ]
Click one of these to switch to the Windows Program-Manager, File-Manager
or Task-Manager.
As a default, WinCat runs the standard Windows managers PROGMAN,WINFILE
and TASKMAN.
You can customise which program to run when clicking one of these buttons
by overriding the default in WINCAT.INI. The defaults are :
ProgMan=PROGMAN.EXE
WinFile=WINFILE.EXE
TaskMan=TASKMAN.EXE
FILE LIST WINDOW
----------------
This window is used to display all files on a volume, files in a
particular directory or files that were found by the search function.
The buttons explained (from left to rigth) :
[ EXIT ]
Hides the 'File List' window.
[ INFO ]
Displays the 'File Information' window, which shows :
- filename
- ID of the disk the file is on
- file creation date and time
- file size in bytes
- directory the file is in
- an [archive info] button
- any description you entered
You can use this window to update the file's description.
If you click OK, WinCat will save the updated description in it's
catalog.
The scrollbar at the left can be used to quickly scroll to other files.
If you do this any updates will be automaticly saved, so then there's
no need to click OK.
Click the [archive info] button to see the contents of an archive file.
[ ASSOCIATE ]
Associations are used by the Restore File function to determine which
command to generate, depending on the selected file's filename-extension.
Main purpose in WinCat is to associate archive files (like ARJ)
with their unarchive utilities, but if you like you can use them
for lots of other purposes.
Unlike the Windows File Manager, where you can associate only one
application with an extension, WinCat lets you define up to three
different associations, which can be used to :
- extract files from an archive
- view the contents of an archive
- some other function defined by you
To define an association, you must enter one or more commands, like
DOS ARJ E < > (extract .ARJ files)
DOS C:\TOOLS\PKUNZIP.EXE < > (extract .ZIP files)
DOS PKUNZIP -v < (view contents of .ZIP files)
NOTEPAD < (edit .DOC files)
C:\WINDOWS\WRITE.EXE < (edit .WRI files)
COPY < > (copy a file from floppy to harddisk)
The Restore function will replace the '<' with the name of the
selected file, and '>' with the selected target directory.
If a command begins with 'DOS ' it will be executed as DOS command
in a DOS window, else it will be executed as a true Windows
application.
Click OK to save the defined command(s) in file WINCAT.INI and end
the 'Associate' window.
Clicking Cancel will end the 'Associate' window.
[ RESTORE ]
This function can be used to restore files from floppy- to harddisk.
The 'Restore File' window shows at the top the command that WinCat will
execute if you click OK (you may edit this line).
The command that WinCat generates depends on the combination of
(filename-)extension (i.e. the associations you defined for that
particular extension), the selected option in the 'action'-box,
the selected target directory and the selected source drive.
The 'action'-box has 8 buttons :
- Copy file to harddisk - Active for all files
- Edit file - Active for all files
- Run application - Active for EXE, BAT and PIF files
- Run WUNA - Only active for ARJ and ZIP files
- Run WINZIP - Only active for ARJ,ZIP,LZH and ARC files
The other buttons are visible only if there is an association defined
for the filename-extension of the selected file ( see 'Associate' ) :
- Extract files from archive
- View contents of archive
- User defined function
If the generated command begins with 'DOS ' WinCat opens a DOS window
to execute the (DOS) command through WINCATRS.BAT, else it will be
launched as a Windows application.
[ TAG ]
Click this button to put a 'tag' on a particular file.
This can be usefull when you're searching for a couple of files ;
first use the 'Search' function to find the files one by one and tag
them. After you've found what you were looking for click 'Display
tagged files' on the 'Options' menu et voila, there they are.
[ ARCHIVE CONTENTS ]
Show the contents of an archive file.
Of course the volume that contains this file must have been cataloged
with the 'catalog archive contents' option turned on.
[ ALTERNATE DISPLAY ]
Clicking this button wil alternately display the files with their comment
field only, or with volume, creationdate and directory fields.
[ COPY TO CLIPBOARD ]
Copies the filenames and their descriptions to the ClipBoard.
[ EDIT ]
Runs NotePad (or the editor you specified on the 'Editor=' statement on
the 'Configure' window), where you can paste in and edit the data you put
on the ClipBoard with [COPY].
When you have completed editing, use the editor to copy the data back
to the ClipBoard.
[ PASTE FROM CLIPBOARD ]
Retrieves file-descriptions from the ClipBoard and stores them in
the catalog.
The ClipBoard records must have the format 'Filename.Ext Text'.
The filename may be in upper- or lowercase.
[ PRINT ]
Copies the contents of the 'File List' window to WINCAT.LST, and then
shows a message asking if you want to run the editor to edit or print
this file (WINCAT.LST).
[ SORT ]
Select how you want the displayed files to be sorted : in filename,
extension, directory, volume, date or size order.
[ VIEW ]
With the 'View' option you can limit the files displayed to those
belonging to a certain 'function class', e.g. programs, documents,
sourcefiles etc.
Each class represents one or more filename-extensions. For instance,
to class 'Programs' belong all files that have extension EXE,COM,BAT
or PIF.
WinCat can use up to 9 classes ; 8 of them have been pre-defined :
1: Archives ARJ,ZIP,LZH,PAK,ARC,ZOO
2: Programs EXE,PIF,BAT,COM
3: Documents DOC,TXT,WRI,INI,RTF
4: Sources PAS,RES,RC,H,C,ASM,BAS,DLG,FRM
5: Graphics BMP,GIF,PCX,TGA,RLE,ICO,FLI
6: Soundfiles WAV,ROL,VOC,MDI,MOD,SND
7: Drivers/DLL DLL,DRV,SYS
8: Fonts FON,FOT,TTF,ATM,PFB,PFM
You can customize these classes by defining them in WINCAT.INI.
Some examples :
- You want to add extension 'TEX' to class 3, Documents :
Class_3=Documents,DOC,TXT,WRI,INI,RTF,TEX
- You want to define class 9 as 'Excel', using extensions XLC,XLS,XLM
XLA and CHT :
Class_9=Excel,XLC,XLS,XLM,XLA,CHT
Note : the extensions you define MUST be separated with ','. Don't enter
any other characters inbetween.
For each class you can define up to 10 extensions.
FILE MENU
---------
- Catalog Statistics
Displays the total number of volumes and files in your catalog, the
total amount of used and free space on your disks, some catalog
information and the amount of memory Windows has available for
applications.
- Open Catalog
Displays the 'Open or Create Catalog' dialog, where you can select the
catalog you want to use.
To create a new catalog, enter the name of a non-existent catalog
(with extension .CAT) and click OK. WinCat then asks if you want
to create a new catalog.
As a default, the 'Open Catalog' dialog initially displays the directory
you defined as 'Working Directory' on the Programmanagers' 'Program Item
Properties' window.
You can override this default by specifying the directory to display
on the 'Catalog Directory' option on the 'Configure' window.
- Save Catalog
Saves all updates you made to the currently open catalog.
WinCat first renames the original catalog to *.BCK, and then creates
a new catalog with extension .CAT.
- Save Catalog As
Saves all updates you made to the currently open catalog in a new
catalog with a different name.
Enter the name of a not already existing catalog (with extension
.CAT) on the 'Save Catalog As' dialog.
- Save Group As
With this function you can create a new catalog that contains only
the volumes that you've selected with the 'Select Group' function.
Enter the name of a not already existing catalog (with extension
.CAT) on the 'Save Group As' dialog.
- Exit
Ends WinCat.
- 1..5
WinCat displays the 5 last catalogs you used on the 'File' menu ; so
you can simply select the catalog you want to open.
OPTIONS MENU
------------
- Configure...
Displays a window where you can specify the following options :
- select foreground color
- select background color
- select font
Only select 'non-proportional' fonts (i.e. fonts where each character
takes up the same width in pixels on the screen), like TERMINAL,
FIXEDSYS or COURIER.
If you select a proportional font like ARIAL WinCat's displays will
become very hard to read.
The default is TERMINAL.
- Editor to use
Specify which editor you want WinCat to use, for instance when
displaying the output of the Print function.
Enter a full path/filename, like C:\WINDOWS\PROGRAMS\MEGAEDIT.EXE
or D:\EDITOR.EXE.
The default is C:\WINDOWS\NOTEPAD.EXE
- Archive Contents Directory
Specify where you want WinCat to save it's .ACT files when cataloging
the contents of archive-files on a disk.
Enter a full pathname, like C:\WINDOWS\MYDATA or D:\BACKUP\DATA\.
The default is C:\WINDOWS\WINCAT\ARCHIVES
- Default Catalog Directory
This is the directory WinCat will initially display on the 'Open Catalog'
window.
The default is the 'working directory' you specify on the Program-
managers 'Program Item Properties' window.
- Initial Restore Directory
This is the target directory that WinCat will initially select for
restoring files (see Files window, Restore).
Specify the name of an existing directory, like C:\RESTORE or
D:\TRASH\.
The default is C:\
- Date format
Specify which data format you want WinCat to use when displaying
dates.
You can chose between the formats 'DD-MM-YY' (also known as the
normal format...) or 'MM-DD-YY' (the American way).
The default is DD-MM-YY.
- Scan 4DOS descript.ion file when cataloging a disk
Specify whether or not you want WinCat to copy file-comments from
a 4DOS descript.ion file (if present) when cataloging a disk.
The default is YES
- Replace existing description with those from the descript.ion file
Specify whether or not you want WinCat to replace existing file-
comments with those that are in the descript.ion file.
The default is NO
- Catalog contents of ARJ, ZIP, LZH, ZOO, ARC and PAK archives.
Specify whether or not you want WinCat to catalog the contents
of archive-files when cataloging a disk.
The default is NO
- Display Recatalog window when recataloging a disk.
When you catalog a disk that's already present in the catalog,
you can let WinCat display a window that shows the differences
between the information in the catalog, and the actual contents
of the disk by enabling this option.
The default is YES
Click the OK button to activate the selected options, and to
save them in file WINCAT.INI.
The sample WINCAT.INI looks like this :
[WINCAT]
* General options and defaults
Use_4DOS=YES
Rep_4DOS=NO
Editor=notepad.exe
Archive_Directory=c:\windows\wincat\archives
Confirm_Recatalog=YES
Scan_Archives=YES
Date_Format=DDMMYY
Restore_Directory=c:\
DBF_Fields=YYNNY
W30_ForeColor=0
W30_BackColor=8421376
* Commands used to launch unarchive tools, used by Restore File
Wuna=WUNA < -p>
Winzip=WINZIP <
* Associations used by Restore File
EXTR_ARJ=DOS arj e < >
VIEW_ARJ=DOS arj v <
USER_ARJ=
EXTR_ZIP=DOS pkunzip < >
VIEW_ZIP=DOS pkunzip -v <
USER_ZIP=
EXTR_LZH=DOS lha e < >
VIEW_LZH=DOS lha v <
USER_LZH=
EXTR_LHA=DOS lha e < >
VIEW_LHA=DOS lha v <
USER_LHA=
USER_WRI=write.exe <
USER_BMP=pbrush.exe <
USER_WAV=soundrec.exe <
* Function-classes used by View
Class_1=Archives,ARJ,ZIP,LZH,PAK,ARC,ZOO
Class_2=Programs,EXE,PIF,BAT,COM
Class_3=Documents,DOC,TXT,WRI,INI,RTF
Class_4=Sources,PAS,RES,RC,H,C,ASM,BAS,DLG,FRM
Class_5=Graphics,BMP,GIF,PCX,TGA,RLE,ICO,FLI
Class_6=Soundfiles,WAV,ROL,VOC,MDI,MOD,SND
Class_7=Drivers/DLL,DLL,DRV,SYS
Class_8=Fonts,FON,FOT,TTF,ATM,PFB,PFM
* Programs to run when clicking Program-,File- or Task-manager button
ProgMan=PROGMAN.EXE
WinFile=WINFILE.EXE
TaskMan=TASKMAN.EXE
- Select Group...
With the 'Select Group' function you can limit the volumes displayed
on the Volume List window to those belonging to the selected group,
location or owner. You can also select a group of volumes with a
minimum amount of free space, volumes of a certain disktype (e.g. all
3.5" 1.44 MB disks) or volumes that have a certain string in their
description field.
When you select a group, ALL WinCat functions (like search, print,
import, export etc.) will operate only on (files on) volumes belonging
to that group.
Only exception : the 'Save Catalog (As)' function ignores groups.
- Display Tagged Files...
Displays the File List window, showing all files you tagged with the
'TAG' function.
- Reset File Tags...
Clears all tags.
- Sort Volumes By...
Allows the volumes displayed on the Volume List window to be sorted in
volume-ID, free space or group order.
UTILITIES MENU
--------------
- Compare...
You can use this function to let WinCat compare the contents of a
directory on your harddisk, or the contents of a floppy disk, with
the information in the catalog.
So you can easily see whether or not files are cataloged, and if so
on which volume(s) they reside.
- Import...
Use this function to import file-descriptions from BBS AllFiles
listings, listings from other (???!) disk catalog programs, 4DOS
descript.ion files etc.
This is the way to do it :
1) Select the text file to import descriptions from.
This must be a 'normal' ASCII text file, that is each line must end
with a hex '0D0A' line delimiter.
The lines in this file must have the format 'Filename.Ext Text'.
The filename may be in upper- or lowercase, and may be preceeded by
spaces.
WinCat ignores lines that don't adhere to this syntax.
2) Specify whether you want WinCat to replace existing file-descriptions
with the imported ones by clicking the appropriate checkbox.
3) Specify whether or not you want WinCat to take filename-extensions
into account when comparing filenames from the textfile with those
from the catalog.
If you set this option to 'YES', WinCat will ignore extensions and
so will consider file 'SAMPLE.ARJ' to be the same as file 'SAMPLE.ZIP'.
4) Specify the number of words to drop between filename and description.
A typical line in an AllFiles listing may look like this :
WINCAT30.ARJ 134200 01-04-93 [899] SPLENDID Disk Catalog for Windows
Obviously, only the text 'SPLENDID Disk Catalog for Windows' should be
taken as the description for WINCAT30.ARJ.
To do this, you must tell WinCat how many words to drop from the text
following the filename WINCAT30.ARJ. In this example, the first 3 words
(strings delimited by one or more spaces) after WINCAT30.ARJ should be
dropped, so the number to specify is 3.
When you click OK, WinCat will first sort the files in the catalog
(or in the current active group), and then scan the selected textfile.
For each filename found in the textfile WinCat will check whether a file
with this name exists in the catalog. If so, WinCat will copy the
description that follows the filename (in the textfile) to the
corresponding file in the catalog, and set that file's TAG.
After WinCat has finished reading the textfile he'll display the 'Files'
window, showing all (TAGged) files that were updated.
If you're not completely happy with the result you can use [COPY], [EDIT]
and [PASTE] to change things.
- Export
Exports the information in the catalog (or in the current active group)
to a file in DBF format. The .DBF file can be used with database products
like dBase, FoxPro etc.
WinCat will create a record in the .DBF file for each file in the
catalog or group. Apart from the name of each file (which is always part
of a record) you can select additional fields you want included in
each record : volume id, directory, date, size and/or comment.
- Print Volume Summary
Creates a summary listing of all volumes, and then shows a message
asking if you want to use the editor to edit or print this file
(WINCAT.LST).
- Print Volume Contents
Creates a listing of all volumes and their contents.
- Print Files sorted by Filename
Creates a sorted listing of all files in the catalog.
- Print Duplicate Files
Creates a listing of files that occur more than once in the catalog.
HELP MENU
---------
- Help
Shows WINCAT.DOC
- More Help
Shows the AidWare notice
- About AidWare
Displays file AIDWARE.DOC
- How to Order
Displays file ORDERFRM.DOC (my favorite...)
- Register
When you send me WinCat's orderform (plus the money of course...),
you'll receive a registration-number that disables the AidWare window
that appears when opening a catalog.
This unique registration-number was generated by a fractal generator
that takes your name as input and, after 3 minutes calculating, spits
out an 8 to 10 digit number (believe me, even I don't know how this
actually works).
So, to register WinCat you must enter your name and the registration-
number EXACTLY as stated on the license-agreement, because WinCat will
check the number against the name (surprisingly, this takes almost no
time at all... but then, I don't know how this works either).
If WinCat detects that the name and number don't match, registration
will fail.
If you enter the correct name and number, WinCat will say 'thanks !',
and your name will appear on the WHOF window.
WinCat saves your name and the registration-number in file WINCAT.INI.
If, for some reason, this file gets accidently erased you must re-enter
your registration. So don't throw away the license-agreement once you've
registered, as you might need it in the future.
- About WinCat
See for yourself...
HINTS AND TIPS
--------------
[1 - disk caching]
WinCat's archive-scan functions result in quite a bit of I/O on your
disks. Use a disk caching utility like SmartDrive or (even better)
HyperDisk, this will improve WinCat's (and any other application's)
performance considerably.
[2 - catalog backups]
When you save a catalog, WinCat first renames the original catalog file
to *.BCK, and then creates a new *.CAT file that contains all updates.
Please note that, according to Murphy's Law, a backup is something you'll
never need unless you don't have it. So never erase the *.BCK files...
If something happens to the *.CAT file, you can simply rename the *.BCK
file to *.CAT and continue using that catalog.
[3- catalog size limits ]
WinCat must be able to read an entire catalog into your PC's memory.
This theoretically limits the size of the biggest catalog WinCat can
handle to the amount of memory your system has available (you can check
that on WinCat's Statistics window). However, WinCat will never be able
to use ALL available memory for it's catalog, as some memory must remain
available for displaying windows, the Window's system routines, applica-
tions you want to run at the same time as WinCat etc.
My rule of thumb : don't create a catalog that's bigger than half the
amount of memory that's available.
WinCat needs approximately 900 KB memory for every 10,000 files in a
catalog, so, if your system has 4 MB memory available under Windows,
you can let WinCat use 2 MB of it, and create catalogs that contain up to
20,000 files.
You'll notice that, when you're pushing WinCat to the limits, the entire
Windows system will slow down because Windows has to perform a lot
of memory management (i.e. swapping memory to and from it's swapfile),
and that you might get messages like 'Insufficient memory to run applica-
tion' when starting another program while running WinCat.
Another thing to take into consideration : the bigger a catalog, the
longer the reading,saving,searching and especially sorting will take.
The time necessary to read,save or search a catalog increases linear
with the size of the catalog.
However, the time that WinCat needs to sort it's catalog increases almost
exponentially with the number of entries to sort. Sorting is being
performed by the 'Import', 'Compare', 'Print files sorted' and 'Print
duplicate file' functions.
If you have a rather big catalog, and want to execute one of these
functions, consider selecting a group of volumes first ; this limits the
number of entries to sort, and therefore speeds up things.
Please note :
-------------
WinCat has been tested with catalogs that contained up to 20,000 files ;
the author cannot guarantee WinCat's proper operation when using catalogs
that exceed this size. The use of catalogs that exceed this size is
formally not supported, and at the user's own risk.
1-6-93 - WINCAT/PRO 3.2.0 SUMMARY OF CHANGES
----------------------------------------------
WinCat/PRO 3.2.0 is primarily a 'bugfix' release (there proved to be an
error in 25 of the 11,728 lines Pascal poetry that make up WinCat/PRO).
However, a number of new features also have been added :
* General
- In order to reduce the size of catalogs the catalog structure has
been changed.
Note that WinCat 3.2.0 can read 3.0 catalogs, but WinCat 3.0 CANNOT
read catalogs saved by WinCat 3.2.0 !
- You can now let WinCat open a specific catalog immediately upon startup.
Specify the name of the catalog to open on the Program Managers'
'Program Item Properties' window, e.g. like this :
Commandline : C:\WINDOWS\WINCAT\WINCAT.EXE WINDOWS.CAT or
C:\WINDOWS\WINCAT\WINCAT.EXE D:\DATA\WINDOWS.CAT
So, if you have multiple catalogs, you can define a few WinCats to
the Program Manager, and let each of them use a different catalog.
- WinCat now displays the 5 last catalogs you used on the 'File' menu,
so you can simply select the catalog you want to open.
* Volume List window
- When double-clicking a volume, WinCat now also updates the 'Directory
List' window if it's visible.
- A new 'Sort' menu allows you to sort the volumes displayed on the
Volume List window in Volume-ID, free space or group order.
- You can now customize which program to run when clicking the Program-
manager, Filemanager or Taskmanager button by specifying them in
WINCAT.INI.
* File List window
- Menu added
- Files can now be sorted in filename, extension, directory, volume,
date or size order.
- With the 'View' option you can limit the files displayed to those
belonging to a certain 'function class', e.g. programs, documents,
sourcefiles etc.
Each class represents one or more filename-extensions. For instance,
to class 'Programs' belong all files that have extension EXE,COM,BAT
or PIF.
You can customize the pre-defined classes by overriding them in
WINCAT.INI ; see File List window [ VIEW ].
* Archive File List window
- Menu added
- Files can now be sorted in filename, extension, archive, volume, date
or size order.
- The same 'View' option as on the File List window.
* Restore File window
- Now enables WINZIP button for ARJ,ZIP,LZH and ARC archive files
- You can override the default WUNA and WINZIP commands in file
WINCAT.INI, e.g. like this :
Wuna=c:\windows\tools\wuna.exe < -p>
Winzip=c:\windows\tools\winzip.exe <
* Directory window
- Now modeless ; you don't have to close it to perform other functions
on the Volume List window.
- You can now make a selection out of all directories on a volume by
specifying a 'look-for' character-string.
* Select Drive window
- Now displays a button for every drive on the system (including
harddisk- and network-drives), so the contents of harddisks also
can be cataloged.
- Now also accepts empty disks to be cataloged.
- The level of sub-directories that WinCat checks has been increased
from 3 to 4.
* Catalog Disk window
- Now also scans contents of .ZOO archive files.
* Select Group window
- You can now select all volumes of a certain disk-type, e.g. all
3.5" 1.44 MB disks.
* Configure window
- New option : Default catalog directory.
What about WINCAT/PRO 3.1 ??
----------------------------
Relax, you didn't miss anything ; 3.1 never saw the light of day.
I found out that a file named WINCAT31.ARJ already existed on some Bulletin
Board Systems (it's a tool to use WildCat!, some kind of BBS-software,
with Windows).
1-4-93 - WINCAT/PRO 3.0 SUMMARY OF CHANGES
--------------------------------------------
First release of the Turbo Pascal version.
A summary of changes in WinCat/PRO, compared to (the Visual Basic version)
WinCat 2.5.
* general
- WinCat now supports multiple catalogs.
Related options on the 'File' menu : Open Catalog, Save Catalog,
Save Catalog As and Save Group As
* Volume List and File List windows
- The Volume List and File List windows are now 'modeless' windows ;
this means that you can use functions on the Volume List window
without closing the File List window first.
* Volume Information window
- You can now define two more 'group' fields : location and owner.
- The pie-chart showing free and used space has been replaced by a
a linear 'stuffometer' that also shows the used space in percent.
- Entering a series of descriptions that are (almost) the same (e.g.
Windows disk 1 of 6, disk 2 of 6 etc.) has been made easier ; you can
let WinCat memorize descriptions by entering a description in the edit
field and clicking on the 'Mem' key.
You can then simply select descriptions from the drop-down list.
* Restore File window
- Now has 2 more options : 'Run' and 'Edit'.
This window also shows a (disabled) 'Delete' button, but at the moment
this function is not supported. Wait for 3.1...
- WinCat now uses it's own routines to copy a file from floppy to hard-
disk (instead of calling DOS copy).
* Select Group window
- You can now also select those volumes that have a minimum amount of
free space, or volumes that belong to a specified owner or location.
- When you select a group, ALL WinCat functions (like search, print,
import, export etc.) will operate only on (files on) volumes belonging
to that group.
Only exception : the 'Save Catalog (As)' function ignores groups.
* Catalog Disk window
- You can now enter a volume's description on this window.
Entering a series of (almost) identical descriptions has been made
easier by implementing the same 'Memorize' function as on the Volume
Information window.
- The way WinCat scans archivefiles has been improved :
* by changing the order in which archive-files are processed
(directory-order instead of filename-order) scanning an entire
CD-ROM now takes less then half the time it took with WinCat 2.5.
* when recataloging a disk, WinCat will now first examine the old
.ACT file that was associated with that disk. By doing so, WinCat
doesn't have to scan archive-files that were examined previously
and haven't been changed since : he simply copies their contents-
information to the new .ACT file, and only scans those archive-files
that are new or updated.
- WinCat can now catalog CD-ROMS that contain any number of files.
* Utilities Menu
- 'Export' is a new function you can use to copy WinCat's catalog data
to a file in .DBF format (for use with dBase, FoxPro etc.)
THINGS TO COME : WinCat/PRO 3.3
---------------------------------
New features will include :
- immediate printing of reports
- printing disklabels (text plus a user-defined BMP graphic)
- user-selected fonts
- improved 'Presentation Graphics'
- and of course the occasional (?) bugfix...
Planned General Availability : August/September '93
On the drawing board :
- intelligent disk shuffler
REGISTERING WINCAT
------------------
You are permitted to evaluate this product for 21 days. After that time
you must either register, or discontinue using the program.
The use of unregistered copies of WinCat/PRO, beyond the evaluation period,
by any person, business, corporation, government agency or any other entity
is strictly prohibited.
When using and/or registering WinCat/PRO you acknowledge and consent to
the 'DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY' as stated at the end of this document.
** IMPORTANT NOTICE **
Each catalog you create has it's own evaluation period of 21 days.
When this standard evaluation period has ended WinCat allows you to
use that catalog for another 14 days, but you'll receive an
'Evaluation period expiring !' message each time you open that catalog.
This message also tells you when the evaluation period definitely ends ;
by then WinCat will refuse to load that catalog anymore, unless you
register WinCat.
After entering your registration-number on WinCat's 'Register...' window,
you won't be bothered with expiring evaluation-periods ever again.
I'm sorry if this 'aggressive' approach causes any inconvenience to users
who want to register, but it seems to be the only way to prevent that some
users simply ignore the fact that WinCat isn't free and just keep
'evaluating' or 'waiting for that new function' forever...
Look at it this way : if a charming old lady comes at your door selling
tickets for a charity-lottery, everybody considers it normal that you pay
the lady before you get a ticket. And no matter how nice that old lady is,
if you don't pay, you simply won't get a ticket.
Basicly I offer you the same deal with WinCat : if you pay the registration-
fee you may use WinCat for as long as you like. If you don't pay, well, no
hard feelings, but don't expect me to let you use WinCat.
For details on why and how to register : please read AIDWARE.DOC and
ORDERFRM.DOC !
WHERE TO GET WINCAT
-------------------
WinCat is distributed through the international WIN*NET network, and
so should be available on every local Windows BBS that has a connection
to WIN*NET.
You can always find the latest version of WinCat/PRO on the dutch
CLIPBOARD BBS : the biggest Windows BBS in the Netherlands, specialized
in providing the newest Windows ShareWare and Public
Domain software.
Network node of :
- Digital Net 15:1000/102
- TechNet 111:313/114
- Fido 2:285/821
- WIN*NET
Founder of ClipNet(tm)
SysOp : Mr. Peter Jansen
You can reach ClipBoard BBS at : +(31)-(0)10-4820737
YOUR COMMENTS PLEASE
--------------------
If you discover serious bugs in WinCat, or if you have any "wouldn't it
be nice if WinCat ..." ideas, feel free to drop a message in my mailbox
at CompuServe Mail 72066,2116, or send a message to me at ClipBoard
BBS.
Please keep in mind that WinCat isn't a product of a multimillion dollar
revenue company that employs an impressive technical staff ; WinCat is
just a product of some poor sod (me) who, during times other (normal)
people like to go out, eat, have sex, sleep and/or in any other way have
a jolly good time, likes (?) to spend his scarce spare time gazing at his
PC-screen in order to develop and promote and support and debug and push
and market and test and improve and sell and document something that LOOKS
like it has been developed by a multimillion dollar revenue company that
employs an impressive technical staff...
In other words : WinCat already takes up a lot of my time, so please
don't be offended if I don't answer a message, or if it takes a while
before you receive an answer.
DISTRIBUTION
------------
The evaluation-copy of WinCat/PRO may be freely copied and distributed,
as long as the following conditions are met :
[1] No fee is charged other than a normal time usage fee required
by some Bulletin Board Services, or a fee for media- and distri-
bution-costs for shareware disks or CD-ROM's.
[2] The program and it's associated files are distributed in their
original, unmodified form.
[3] All document files are included with the executable file without
modification.
This program may not be bundled with, or transferred as part of, any
package which is sold or for which any licensing fee is charged without
the prior written permission of the author.
Copies of this program or any of it's associated files remain property
of the author.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
---------------
WinCat's 'Reading Catalog' speedometer is an adapted version of a nifty
little program called METER.PAS, which was published by the godfather
of Windows programming, the one and only Mr.
Doug Overmyer
Code for determining the contents of ZIP, PAK and ARC archives is based
on sourcecode from the program PIBCAT, which was created by :
Phil Burns
Code for determining the contents of ARJ archives is based on sourcecode
from the program ARJDATE, which was created by :
Darren Lyon
Code for determining the contents of LZH archives is based on sourcecode
from the program LZHTV10, which was created by :
Samuel H. Smith
Phoenix, AZ
The little cat with the slight weight-problem and the serious attitude-
problem bears a striking resemblence with Garfield, who was created by :
Jim Davis (copyright United Features Syndicate, Inc.)
For making it possible to create WinCat/PRO and to build up a body like
Arnold Schwarzenegger (by giving me the Turbo Pascal for Windows Bible,
which is about 1000 pages or 25 kg Windows techtalk), the author wishes
to thank the Supreme SysOp of ClipBoard BBS, renowned for his *slik*
AAAARRGHH! -hehehehe...- toontalk and his 'briljant' brainwaves, the
one and only (thank God for that...)
Peter -The ClipDude- Jansen ;-)
SMALL PRINT
-----------
By using and/or registering WinCat/PRO you acknowledge and consent to
the following DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY :
WinCat/PRO, including all related programs, texts, and files, is supplied
"as is". The author disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied,
including, without limitation, the warranties of merchantability,
compatibility now or in the future with any configuration of computing
equipment or software, or of fitness for any purpose. The author assumes
no liability for damages, direct or consequential, which may result from
the normal use or abuse of WinCat/PRO and related programs. The author
specifically and categorially disclaims responsibility for damages, direct
or consequential, resulting from installation or use of WinCat/PRO or
related programs or files which have been distributed after any
modification - either deliberate or unwitting - by any party other than the
author, or distributed in any fashion that would otherwise violate the
terms of this license.