The World of Computer Software/World_Of_Computer_Software-02-387-Vol-3of3.iso/z/zscan202.zip/Z.DOC

Text File | 1993-03-03 | 15KB | 427 lines

                               Z  Version 2.02
                       Copyright (C) 1993  Henry Gerlach



                                   Z.DOC

                              By Henry Gerlach

Please see ZREGISTR.DOC for info on registration, It only costs
$3.00 and will get rid of the annoying beg screen at the beginning of
the program.

Zscan, whether registered or not, comes with no warranty, Express or
Implied, and the author of this program will not be liable
for any damages.

Welcome to the easiest and most full featured files scanner going.

Before using Z.EXE you will need to download the file directories for your
BBS.

Z.EXE works for the most part like a Z command online on PCBoard.

When running Z.EXE the first time you will be sent to the configure
section., There, you must enter the path that
the directories can be found at, the base name of the files without
any numbers, and the highest and lowest directory
number used. (the directories must have numbers in their names,
I/E DIR1, DIR2, etc.) In the case of a single .LST file,
you can rename it to end with a number 1, like:

BBSFILES.LS1     instead of BBSFILES.LST

Config allows 10 different sets to be defined in this way. From the main
menu, just enter a digit (0-9) the default set is set 0. when you run
Z to scan for some thing, you may use any or all of these sets. That
will be explained later.

Config

This is what you will see in config:

         0 : Info for directory set 0
         1 : Info for directory set 1
         2 : Info for directory set 2
         3 : Info for directory set 3
         4 : Info for directory set 4
         5 : Info for directory set 5
         6 : Info for directory set 6
         7 : Info for directory set 7
         8 : Info for directory set 8
         9 : Info for directory set 9
         U : Info for Unarchiving
         D : Defaults for options
         R : Enter registation code
         Q : Quit Config

         0 : Info for directory set 0 - 9

            This is what you will see when you enter a digit (0-9)

                    Directory set 0

Key       Function                                          Current

P : Path to directory files:                             C:\BBS
N : Base name of directory files:                        DIR
A : Path and base name of ZIP file:                      C:\BBS\BBSDIR.ZIP
H : Highest numbered file                                199
L : lowest numbered file                                 1
Z : Dir 1 - 9  have leading zero ie    DIR01,DIR02, etc  on
U : Use directory headers                                off
Q : Done with this set


    P : Path to directory files:

    for the path, you enter the full path name where the files are at.
    Including the last backlash '\'. If you have the directories in C:\BBS
    you would enter   C:\BBS\

    N : Base name of directory files:

    For the name, enter the name of the files without the numbers. if the
    directory names are DIR1, DIR2, etc. You would enter DIR

    A : Path and base name of ZIP file:

    If you plan to use the auto-unzip feature, you will need to enter the
    full path and file name where the zip file is. If that file is in
    C:\BBS and is named BBSFILES.ZIP you would enter C:\BBSFILES.ZIP

    (If you use the unzip feature, you will also have to enter the path
    and name of your unarchiving program. (see U from main menu))

    (You will also have to tell Z you want to use the feature by entering U
    in the defaults section.) (see defaults section)

    H : Highest numbered file

    for the high directory number just enter the highest number of directory
    you have.

    L : lowest numbered file

    for the low directory number just enter the lowest number of directory
    you have. (usually 1)

    Z : Dir 1 - 9  have leading zero ie    DIR01,DIR02, etc

    Sometimes the files will be named with leading zeros in the names, like:
    DIR01,DIR02, etc. if they are, turn this on.

    U : Use directory headers

    some files have the first line identify the subject of that directory
    with a line like this:
    ==========[BBS DIR1 MISCELLANEOUS]===================
    if they do, you may use this feature to show, when a file is opened,
    this line, This will only work if this line has === before the info,
    and ] as the last charachter, as in the example.
    if the program crashes when you try to scan, try turning this off.

    Q : Done with this set

Return to main config menu.

Config allows 10 different sets to be defined in this way. From the main
menu, just enter a digit (0-9) the default set is set 0. when you run
Z to scan for some thing, you may use any or all of these sets. That
will be explained later.

U : Info for Unarchiving

Use this to enter the path and name of your unarchiving program
if you plan to use the auto-unzip feature.
If the program is PKUNZIP and is in C:\PKWARE, yuo would enter:
C:\PKWARE\PKUNZIP

D : Defaults for options

There are several options you may want to turn on to use by default
this is what you will see when you enter D.

                                       Defaults section
    Key       Function                          Current
    U : Unarchive before scanning?           :   off
    C : Continuous (nonstop) mode?           :   off
    P : Output to printer?                   :   off
    L : 1 line output to printer, file?      :   off
    N : Name scan only?                      :   off
    T : Normal text color?                   :   White
    H : Highlighted text color?              :   Green
    Q : Quit Defaults section

    Note: All these defaults (except colors) can be overridden on the
    command line, or in the enter options section in prompt mode

    U : Unarchive before scanning?           :   off

    This is where you turn on the unarchive feature. when it is turned on,
    Z will try to open the file, and if it fails, it will unarchive it
    (using the info from other sections) and try again.

    C : continuous mode

    When file descriptions are displayed, normally they will stop every 25
    lines to let you see them. continuous mode turns this off and text
    will scroll continuously (maybe faster than you can read it)
    This can be stopped by hitting any key.

    P : Output to printer?                   :   off

    when this is on, file descriptions will be sent to your printer as
    well as the screen. (this doesn't support special printer setups
    such as networks, serial printers etc.)

    1 : 1 line output to printer, file?      :   off

    when this is on, only the first line of file descriptions will be
    printed or sent to a file. (saves ribbon, paper, print heads, etc.)

    O : Name only output to file, printer    :   off

    When this is turned on, only the file names will be output to the
    printer or file. (When you turn name output on, line output
    will be forced on so it can work properly)

    N : Name scan only?                      :   off

    When this is on, Z will scan only the file names, not the whole
    description, for the text you entered to search for.

    T : Normal text color?                   :   White

    when you hit T, you will be given a menu of colors to choose from for
    the color of regular text to be displayed. Choose one you like.

    H : Highlighted text color?              :   Green

    when Z displays descriptions, it will highlight the text it found in the
    color you choose here. (just like T, above)

    Q : Quit Defaults section

When you are done entering defaults, hit Q to return to the main menu.

R : Enter registation code

If you have registered Z, you may enter the code you recieved here.
this will turn of the beg screen at the beginning of the program.
There are no extra features for registered users, I don't believe in
'crippleware'


These values will be written to a file Z2.CFG in the current directory.
If you change something you want to add to the configuration, you may
run config by entering Z /CONFIG from the command line. Or, from
prompt mode, when asked to enter the text to search for, enter /config


                    Running Z.EXE

You will be prompted for the parameters by just entering:

Z

Or You may enter the parameters on the command line

Z DESQVIEW A   Etc. Etc.

First parameter:

The first parameter is the text to search for, enter what you want to find.
Z will look for that text in the file names, dates, sizes, and descriptions.

ANDing and ORing of text:

You can look for up to 15 'words' at one time by using the OR
and AND functions.


GO|HELP    as the text entered will look for 'GO' or 'HELP' at the same time.
         (if you are entering this on the DOS command line, You would
         have to enclose it in quotes  "GO|HELP" or DOS will think "|"
         is a pipe symbol and do really strange things. (like die)).
         In prompt mode, do NOT use quotes.

You can look for file descriptions containing both of two 'words'
using the AND function:

GO&HELP    would find only file descritions containing BOTH the words
         GO and HELP.

You may use parentheses to clarify what you want so:

(PCBOARD&HELP) | (FORM&FILE)
Would work fine and search for descriptions containing both PCBOARD
and HELP, or both FILE and FORM.

spaces may be used to make things more readable, BUT if they are next to
text, they will be considered part of the text. This can be useful.
If you were looking for a tax program by searching for TAX , and
kept seeing files with synTAX in them, you could search for ( TAX )
this would look for TAX with a space before and after, eliminating
the word synTAX. (this exact situation actually came in handy for me)

Spaces between ),&,|,( will be ignored. two spaces there will cause
a problem, don't do that.

For every ( , there must be a ) , and vice versa.

Second parameter:

The second parameter is the directories to search. you may enter a directory
number. example:

56          will search directory 56 only

A           will search all directories to the highest number as you
              entered in config.

OR, I went one better than PCBoard, you can enter a range of numbers.

23-156      will search directories 23 thru 156.
                 (no spaces, as shown)

All these examples will work on set 0 by default. here is how you use
the other sets:

The @ symbol will select another set like this:

1-10@3      would scan dirs. 1 thru 10 of set 3

A@2         would scan all dirs. of set 2

A@A         would scan all dirs of all sets which have been configured.

Multiple commands can be strung together with commas , between them:

1-2@A,36,43@2   would scan dirs. 1 and 2 of all sets, dir 36 of set 0,
                and dir 43 of set 2.

There is a limit of 10 commands.

Options use:
This is what you will see in the enter options section:

        letter   function                          current   parameter
          C      Continuous (non stop) mode        :  off
          U      Case sensitive search             :  off
          A      Newer files only                  :  off   01-01-80
          B      Older files only                  :  off   12-31-99
          S      Smaller files only                :  off   99999999
          L      Larger files only                 :  off   0
          P      Printer Output                    :  off
          F      File Output                       :  off   ZSCAN.TXT
          N      Name scan only                    :  off
          1      One line output to file, printer  :  off
          O      Name only output to file, printer :  off
                  (line output will be turned on)
          Q      Quit options


C :  displays text without stopping to allow you to catch up.

From command line, use   NS

U :  When searching, Will match upper and lowercase to the text you entered.

From command line, use   CS

A :  search for newer files. you will be prompted for the date you
     want files to be newer than.

From command line, use   N (date) that is, if you wanted files to be newer
than 01-01-92, you would enter something like this:
Z FILE 1 D 1-1-92
You may use a / or a - to separate month, day, year. leading zeros are
optional.

B :  search for older files. similar to above.

From command line, use   O (date)

A :  search for smaller files. you will be prompted for the size you
     want files to be smaller than.

From command line, use   S (size)

A :  search for larger files. you will be prompted for the size you
     want files to be larger than.

From command line, use   B (size)

P :  outputs to printer as well as screen.

From command line, use   P

F :  outputs to (filename) as well as screen. You will be prompted for
     the file name to output to.

From command line, use   F (filename)

N :  scans the names of files only, rather than the whole description.

From command line, use   NAME

1 :  when output to file or printer is selected, this will only
     output the first line of the description, rather than all of them.

From command line, use   1

O :  Similar to 1, above but will output the filenames only, not the
     whole first line.

From command line, use   NO

Squeezing your files:

I reccomend that you use the 'squeeze' feature to compress your files
before using Z on them. It will save disk space, and Z will run
faster.
All Squeeze does is take files of the following format:

FILENAME.ZIP   10000   01-01-91   | Description................
                            | More Description..........
                            | More Description..........

And remove all those spaces before the 'more description' lines.
making them like this:

FILENAME.ZIP   10000   01-01-91   | Description................
| More Description..........
| More Description..........

The command to Squeeze files is:
/SQZ

entered as the text to search for,
or as the first parameter on the command line. In either case, you
will need to enter the directories to squeeze, just as you would enter
the directories to search.
The original filenames must not have an extension. Files named like:
DIR.23 , DIR32.LST , etc. can't be converted, Sorry.
The squeezed files will have the extension  .SQZ ,  Z will not be able
to use the files with that name, so, after each set, you will be asked
whether you want to delete the originals, and rename the squeezed files
to the original names. Go ahead and do this now.

Z will run fine whether you squeeze the files or not, but as I said before,
It will run about 20% faster, and the files will be about 30%
smaller if they are squeezed. DO NOT use the squeeze on anything but
directory files. loss of data may occur.
You should keep a backup copy of the unsqueezed files just in case,
though there is also an unsqueeze feature which will TRY to put the
files back to their original state. This will not always be perfect,
but Z will still be able to use them, and they will still be readable
with your favorite text editor.
The command to unsqueeze files is:
/USQZ

This works in similar fashion to the aforementioned squeeze command

Well that's it, enjoy.