home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
The World of Computer Software
/
World_Of_Computer_Software-02-387-Vol-3of3.iso
/
r
/
rfm102.zip
/
RFM.DOC
< prev
next >
Wrap
Text File
|
1992-08-24
|
16KB
|
287 lines
RFM
version 1.00
by
RH-Software
Manual
What is RFM ?
-------------
RFM is a very extensive file manager for VGA and mouse. It is based on
the program PUP (Paul's Utility Program) by Paul van der Linden, also
available as shareware. PUP uses text mode, whereas RFM uses 640 x 480
VGA mode, so, if you don't have VGA try to acquire PUP (latest version
is 3.31 (today is August 9 1992)). RFM can do almost anything you want
just with a click of the mouse.
It can :
- Move, Rename, Del etc. files and directories
- Execute programs just by clicking on them
- Archive files with any archiver you like
- View archive files, GIF, PCX, you name it , you can view it, thanks to
the use of V.COM, a great program written by Paul van der Linden
- Define a program to be executed when clicking on a file with a certain
extension
- much, much more ( To find out what exactly, just read on )
IMPORTANT !!
Before you run RFM, first run RFMCFG, to configure RFM. You should at
least specify the directory where RFM plus Accompanying files will be
copied. (you have to copy them there yourself)
It is best to also configure VIEW (V.COM)
Once you have configured RFM you can start the program by typing RFM at
the DOS prompt. A listing of all files and directories in the current
directory will be shown, along with some windows and buttons.
RFM can hold as many as 256 files per directory. If this is not enough,
register RFM and let me know. It will then be enlarged.
RFM uses all three buttons of the mouse, but if you have only two buttons,
that's no problem.
With the left button you can change directories or execute COM, EXE or BAT
files. Click on a directory and you will change to that directory, click
on an executable file and it will be executed after first asking you whether
the program needs arguments.
The middle button is used to mark files. Click on a file or directory with
the middle button and it will be marked. Marked files can be copied, moved,
archived etc.
If you have only two buttons, you can mark files by pressing CTRL or ALT or
SHIFT, and at the same time clicking any button (try it). I did not use
both left and right button to be pressed together because the processor checks
the button state of the mouse so fast that when you press one button a
thousandth of a second later than the other, it will be interpreted as only
one button being pressed.
The right mouse button is used to view files or execute a program when
clicked on a file with a certain extension. The program V.COM is used with
this action. To learn more about V.COM read it's documentation.
When not all files in a directory fit on the screen, a button PgUp and/or
PgDn will apear on top left of the screen. Click on one of them and the
list of files will move 39 files up or down. When no PgDn if present, you
can't go down, when no PgUp is present, you can't go up.
If you configured RFM to display a window on screen containing the date and
time, it will be displayed on the bottom right of the screen. If you click
any button on the date, a window will pop up allowing you to set a new date.
Because you have to type someting on your keyboard here, such a window will
be called a Keyboard-Input-Window from now on. If you click any button on the
Time, a Keyboard-Input-Window will pop up allowing you to set a new time.
For the keys you can use in a Keyboard-Input-Window, look at the Chapter
"Keyboard-Input-Window" further on in this manual.
THE BUTTONS :
-------------
The buttons are on the right of the screen. I'll explain them from
top to bottom.
NOTE : Whenever a window pops up, clicking outside it closes it without
anything happening
Quit : Ends the program and returns you immediately to DOS, WITHOUT asking
"Are you sure?" (I hate that line when quitting to DOS)
?: : Click on it to change the current drive. A window will pop up with
the possible drives. Click on the drive letter you want.
The last drive letter shown is equal to the letter of your
"LASTDRIVE=" parameter in the CONFIG.SYS-file (If LASTDRIVE is not
specified, default is "E")
Read : Rereads the drive or directory, use it for instance after you
have changed a diskette in drive A: or B:.
Mdir : Allows you to create a new directory. A Keyboard-Input-Window will
pop up asking you to type the name of the directory to be created.
Typing in for instance "GIFDIR" will create a directory GIFDIR in
the current directory, typing "C:\PICS\GIFDIR" will create the
appropriate directory on drive C:.
For the keys you can use in a Keyboard-Input-Window, look at the
Chapter "Keyboard-Input-Window" further on in this manual.
Copy : Allows you to copy all marked files and directories to elsewhere.
After you have clicked this button, a listing of only directories
contained in the current directory will appear.
You can now move to the drive or directory you want the files and
directories copied to, and the click the "Go"-button. Notice the
buttons on the right side of the screen after you have clicked "Copy".
The "Quit" button abandons the copy operation, doing nothing, the "?:"
button allows you to change drive, "Read" lets you reread a drive or
directory, and "Mdir" lets you create a new directory (NOTE : if you
want to copy the marked files and directories to a new to be created
directory, you DON'T have to create this directory BEFORE you click
the "Copy" button. You can create it after you have clicked the
"Copy"-button, and, of course, before you click the "Go"-button).
Finally "Go" copies the marked files and directories to the directory
you were in when you pressed the "Go"-button.
If your destination directory is the same as the source directory
(so both destination and source are the current directory), RFM
assumes that you want to copy the marked files and directories to a
new name in the current directory. Therefore a Keyboard-Input-Window
will pop up asking you for the new name to copy the file or directory
to. Type in the new name and press ENTER, or press ESC to
cancel this file or directory. See the chapter "Keyboard-Input-Window"
below to find out what other keys you can use inside such a window.
Move : Same as Copy except that the source files and directories are deleted
after having been copied. When the files are to be moved to a
different directory but on the SAME drive, they are renamed, in order
to save (a lot of) time.
Del : Deletes all marked files and directories. First an "Are you sure?"-
window will appear, and after confirmation all files and directories
will be deleted. NOTE that if you delete a directory, all files and
subdirectories in it will be deleted, so a directory does not have
to be empty in order to be able to delete it.
IMPORTANT : If you delete a directory, EVERYTHING in it will be
removed, whether or not they are Write-protected.
Ren : Renames the marked files and directories. For each file a Keyboard-
Input-Window will appear asking you the name of the new file. You
have a limited way to use wildcard "*", namely if the name or
extension of the file are to be the same as in the old file.
Example : You can rename file AAAAA.BBB to CCCCC.BBB by typing
CCCCC.* in the rename window. Likewise you can rename AAAAA.BBB
to AAAAA.CCC by typing *.CCC. The wildcard handling will not go
beyond that.
Sort : Allows you to display the files and directories in a different sorted
order. A window will pop up with the possible sort orders. These are:
Name : Sort by name.
Extension : Sort by Extension.
Size : Sort by Size, biggest file first.
Time : Sort by date and time, newest file first.
Don't Sort : Display files in the order they are written onto disk
Attr : Change the attributes of the marked files. A window will pop up with
the attribute names. Click on a line and the word after the attribute
name will toggle through "ignore", "on" and "off". Ignore means leave
it as it is, "on" sets the attribute on(oh, really?), and "off" set
it off. Click on "ok" to change the attributes of the marked files.
Disp : A window will pop up with three lines in it. The first line lets
you toggle between one- and two-column display. The second line lets
you toggle the Date-Time window to be present or not. Finally, the
third line lets you blank the screen. This option is to save your
screen if you don't need to look at it for a little while or go away
for some time, but want to leave your monitor and/or computer turned
on. After choosing this option, any button on the mouse or any key on
your keyboard, even ALT, SHIFT, or CTRL, will bring your screen back.
Arch : Gives you the possibility to convert all marked files into an
archive file. You can pick any archiver, you configured for.
A window will pop up containing the possible archivers. After you
picked one, say ARJ (the best) a Keyboard-Input-Window will pop up
asking you the name of the file to archive the marked files to. You
can specify "ARCHIVE", or "ARCHIVE.ARJ", no extension is needed
(instead of the word "ARCHIVE" you type in the filename you want to
give to the file, of course). The commands for archiving files are
contained in the file RFM_ARCH.DAT, about which more in RFMCFG.DOC.
Exec : A Keyboard-Input-Window will pop up asking you for the program plus
arguments. Type anything as you would on the DOS command line, or
Escape to cancel. See the chapter "Keyboard-Input-Window" below to
find out what other keys you can use inside such a window.
Mark : A window will pop up with four options:
All : Mark all files, files that were already marked will be unmarked,
so "All" has the same effect as clicking the middle button
on each file for one time
None : All files will be unmarked
User Specified : The user can enter a pattern to be marked. Wildcards
? and * are allowed, as in "?a?b*.c*"
Write Marks to file : Writes all marked files (name+extension) to the
file MARKED.RFM in the current directory
Util : Allows you to execute programs that are in your PATH just by clicking
on them. A window is opened containing the contents of file
RFM_UTIL.DAT. Click on a line you want executed with the left or
middle mouse button and it is done.
This is handy for often used commands. You type them once in the
file RFM_UTIL.DAT, and you don't have to type them in the "Exec"-
window anymore. NOTE that in RFM_UTIL.DAT the extension of the
program to be executed (COM,EXE,BAT) MUST be specified!!!
To add or delete or change an entry in RFM_UTIL.DAT you have to
edit the file yourself with a plain ascii-editor.
If the file RFM_UTIL.DAT contains more than 31 lines, a blue "PgDn"-
button will be present at the top left of the screen. If you click
on this button, the next 31 lines from RFM_UTIL.DAT will be presented
to you.
You can also mark files and then pass these as arguments to the
program you want executed. All you have to do then in RFM_UTIL.DAT
is specify the word "FILE" (!!ALL CAPITALS!!) on the place in the
line where you want the marked file to be placed. You can specify
as many words "FILE" on this line as you like. RFM keeps on passing
the marked files to this command line until either there are no more
marked files to be passed, or there are no more words "FILE" in the
line.
VERY HANDY is the following feature: If you click on a line in the
"Util"-window with the RIGHT mouse button, this line, with all marked
files substituted for the words "FILE" (if appropriate), will be
passed to the "Exec"-window, so that you can edit this line .
This has the same effect as when you would type the entire command
in the "Exec"-window in the first place. See the chapter "Keyboard-
Input-Window" below to find out what keys you can use inside a
Keyboard-Input-Window.
Examples for the use of the word "FILE" in RFM_UTIL.DAT :
If you want to execute Wordperfect with a file you mark in RFM,
you put this in RFM_UTIL.DAT :
wp.exe FILE
or (if wp.exe is not in your PATH)
C:\WORDPERF\wp.exe FILE
, assuming C:\WORDPERF\ is your wordperfect directory.
Inside RFM you mark the file you want to load into WP (e.g.
MY_TEXT.WP), click on the "Util"-button, and then click on the
line "wp.exe FILE". WP will now be started with file MY_TEXT.WP.
(If you marked more than one file, only the marked file closest
to the top of the directory will be passed, because there is only
one word "FILE" on the line in RFM_UTIL.DAT)
If you want to compare two marked files put this in RFM_UTIL.DAT:
comp.exe FILE FILE
Inside RFM you mark the two files you want to compare and click
on this line from the Util-window. The two files will now be
compared.
If you want your editor (mine is q.exe) to start with as much as
six marked files put this in RFM_UTIL.DAT :
q.exe FILE FILE FILE FILE FILE FILE
You can mark up to six files now and start q.exe with all six files
loaded. If you mark less than six files, q.exe will be started with
as many files loaded as you have marked.
VERY NICE EXAMPLE:
To create a slide show of GIF-, PCX-, and so on files using
VPIC.EXE (Great program) do the following :
Mark all the GIF-files, PCX-files, etc you want to be in your
slide show. Click the "Mark"-button and select "Write marks to file".
(This results in a file named MARKED.RFM in the current directory)
Next mark this file MARKED.RFM and click the "Util"-button. Choose
the line "vpic.exe /a /@FILE". The file MARKED.RFM will now be sub-
stituted for the word FILE and you will have a slide show on your
screen.
NOTE: THE "UTIL"-FEATURE ONLY WORKS IN THE REGISTERED VERSION OF
RFM (SEE ORDERFORM FOR REGISTERING RFM)
THE KEYBOARD-INPUT-WINDOW
-------------------------
A Keyboard-Input-Window is a window where you have to type something from
your keyboard.
The following keys can be used inside it :
ESCAPE : Close the window, do nothing
ENTER : OK, Go, Do It, Execute, whatever
HOME : Puts the cursor at the beginning of the line
END : Puts the cursor at the end of the line
CURSOR LEFT : Move the cursor one place left
CURSOR RIGHT : Move the cursor one place right
CONTROL-CURSOR LEFT : Move the cursor 10 places left
CONTROL-CURSOR RIGHT : Move the cursor 10 places right
BACKSPACE : Delete the character on the left side of the cursor
DELETE : Delete the character above the cursor
INSERT : Toggle between INSERT MODE and OVERWRITE MODE
CONTROL-END : Delete everything from the cursor position to the end of the line
THE FILE RFM_ARCH.DAT :
-----------------------
See the file RFMCFG.DOC for explanation about this file.