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1993-01-02
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Bugs and enhancements in previous versions of WSSINDEX
Enhancements are listed under the first version in which they
appear, bugs (hopefully) under the last. Version numbers should
be interpreted as decimal numbers, i.e. 3.1 and 3.10 are identi-
cal. If the first digit of the version number changes, it means
a major upgrade; if the second digit changes, it is a significant
upgrade; and if the third digit changes, it means a bug correc-
tion. However, if there are enhancements ready when a bug
correction release becomes necessary, they will also be included.
If you discover a program bug, don't assume that someone else
will report it. This is especially true for the non-standard
versions since they receive more limited testing. Your comments
are also welcome on program features (or lack thereof) and the
quality of the documentation.
The various utility routines will usually be updated with each
release because they share subroutines with WSSINDEX. There may
not be any obvious change in function, and in this case I some-
times forget to change the version number.
Pre-4.0 buglist available on request.
Version 4.0 enhancements
1. A major change with this release is that the shareware
version is a limited demo; full version is only available to
purchasers. [returned to uncrippled demo at version 5.1]
2. Combined most of the DOC files into a single manual with
page numbers and a table of contents.
3. Added support for other library formats: LBR, ZIP, ZOO, PAK,
PKA, ARK and the ability to extract comments from libraries.
4. Added option to page backward and forward when listing files
or volumes to the screen.
5. Made the response to some input errors more forgiving -
prompt for re-input rather than dropping back to the main
menu.
6. Added new option ^G to get configuration file and matching
database, and command line specification of = for database
name to perform similar function on startup.
7. Added new option ^R to erase in-memory database.
8. Made default database and configuration file names indepen-
dent of any change of current directory which might be done
when pushed to DOS with the S option. Also changed the user
prompt while in a DOS shell to remind user how to get back
to WSSINDEX or CUSTPRNT.
9. Added option to quote all fields when exporting (required by
Lotus 1-2-3 and possibly other database programs).
10.Added command line parameters to most of the utility rou-
tines.
11.When checking for backups, subdirectory selection now ap-
plies only to the disk being checked for backup so that it
is easy to check part of a hard disk for backups.
12.Added new environment variable WSSDISP which specifies the
default screen output method.
13.First release of utility SPLIT which divides a WSSINDEX-
format database into two smaller databases.
14.New "zippy" search option which looks for character strings
anywhere in file name, extension, comment or category.
Available as a substitute for find from main menu or as
another selection option.
15.Output routines now properly handle line counting when a
subdirectory name is long enough to cause line wrap.
16.Printer definition files now accept ascii, octal, decimal or
hexadecimal values.
17.Added option to select sort order when printing disk covers.
Version 4.0 bugs, fixed in 4.01 (Rainbow only except for SPLIT)
1. The database splitting utility (version 1.0) would fail if
the first disk in the input database had any subdirectories,
and also often if there were comments or categories. Fixed
in version 1.01.
2. The Rainbow version of the configuration routine always set
DOS-calls video mode after reading a configuration file so
fast video could only be used by resetting the configuration
each time the program was invoked.
Version 4.01 enhancements: none, bug correction release only
Version 4.0,4.01 bugs, fixed in 4.02
1. Paging backwards through a volume listing didn't work right.
2. If an ARC file had garbage appended to it, such as might
happen if it were padded to a multiple of 512 bytes when
transferred by modem, and if some but not all files had
comments in the archive, Wssindex could interpret the ap-
pended garbage as comments. If the garbage included a
newline character, the database would no longer be readable.
I can easily repair any databases damaged this way.
3. The B-option could be confused if backups had equal or later
dates but earlier times, and would report files as not being
backed up, when actually they were backed up.
4. When exporting with all strings quoted, library file names
and missing comments and categories were not quoted.
Version 4.02 enhancements
1. Added code to demo version to check for a user password set
by an environment variable so that registered users can
"unlock" demo releases obtained from other sources.
2. Added support for the LHarc file compression utility.
Version 4.02 bugs, fixed in 4.03
1. Multiple-page volume listings directed to printer or disk
lacked form feeds between pages. When printing volume
lists, it was necessary to hit return twice to tell the
program that the printer was ready.
2. Exit from the add-comments menu was a little awkward when
files were selected by name only. You had to hit escape if
you didn't want to enter another file spec, but the message
didn't tell you this.
3. When printing disk covers, CUSTPRNT would ask for the number
of blank lines to insert when the first sort key changed,
but this key is always the volume name, and when this chang-
es a new cover is started. Changed to look at the first
user-entered key after the two required keys.
Version 4.03 enhancements
1. Changed the name "predefined categories" to "keyboard mac-
ros" to more accurately reflect their function. No change
in how they work.
2. Changed the way wildcard specifications are interpreted when
searching for files. FOO* is now equivalent to FOO*.*; to
match only files with no extension, use FOO*. instead.
3. File and volume lists to the screen now recognize HOME (PF1
for Rainbow) as meaning go to beginning.
4. Added support for the LARC file compression utility.
Version 4.03R bugs, fixed in 4.04R (Rainbow only)
1. Hitting Q to get out of a file or volume listing failed.
2. It was possible to completely mess up the screen display,
either by using the push to DOS option and doing anything
which scrolled the screen, or by hitting control-c in some
places.
Version 4.04R enhancements: none, bug correction release only
Version 4.03, 4.04R bugs, fixed in 4.05
1. Due to a bug in the Turbo C compiler, the N (rename) option
was broken in the demo version only: if the new disk name
was less than 11 characters long, it would be padded with a
few hundred characters from the opening screen, starting
with a blank, rather than just with blanks. All routines in
the package have been recompiled with the "merge duplicate
strings" compiler option disabled in case there were other
unnoticed problems caused by the same compiler bug.
Version 4.05 enhancements: none, bug correction release only
Version 4.05 bugs, fixed in 5.0
1. Selection of archive files and members didn't select the
archive files.
2. High-bit ascii characters in comments and categories were
not handled well in any of the routines; loading a database
would strip them off.
3. Comments could not be extracted from ARC files written by
PAK.
Version 5.0 enhancements
1. The user interface was completely rewritten. Multiple menus
were added, along with mouse support. Many new configura-
tion options were added. Unfortunately, this overflowed the
expansion space which had been allowed in the configuration
file format, so the format had to be changed and old con-
figuration files cannot be used. The new format is designed
to allow further expansion.
2. Not exactly an enhancement, but there will be a price in-
crease effective Nov. 1, 1990.
3. Printer page specifications by width, length, and left, top,
and bottom margins. Option to use form feeds or line ad-
vance at end of page.
4. Indexing options to control whether to make .ID entries, ask
before replacing a disk, add auto-comments, add auto-catego-
ries, ask before extracting archive information, include
hidden files, or include subdirectory tree in dummy entries.
5. Checksum disk image to verify program integrity.
6. Configurable default selection and sorting options.
7. Listings have configurable number of blank lines between and
after headings, file names may be in FN.EXT format, field
width used for subdirectory name, archive file name and
comments or categories may be limited, comments may be
printed before or after categories, delimiters around ar-
chive file name and category may be changed.
8. When entering file names for database, configuration file,
etc., the prompt gives the complete default drive and path;
these may be edited. Filling in of defaults values is only
done when the program first starts up. There is no longer
any problem with using extensions on subdirectory names.
9. File specs for database searching and configured exceptions
may be entered and edited in full-screen mode. The last-
entered set of specifications is remembered the next time
the full-screen editor is entered.
10.Disk volume sorts may be by the numeric part of the volume
name, regardless of where the number appears.
11.File selection may now start from a previously selected
subset.
12.Selection by date range now defaults to no limit, and day,
month, and year are entered in the same order as used for
date printing.
13.Added internal key buffering so that control-s and control-c
will be recognized even if an unprocessed keystroke has been
made.
14.Indexing of ZIP files was speeded up by reading the central
directories at the end of each ZIP file rather than the
local directories scattered throughout the files. Text
prepended to a ZIP file, which PKZIP ignores, is now also
ignored by Wssindex.
Version 5.0 bugs, fixed in 5.01
1. The auto-commenting option only worked when a disk was re-
indexed.
2. The trigger letter C was used twice in the indexing menu.
3. The comment import routine did not recognize escape when
prompting for a comment file name.
Version 5.01 enhancements: none, bug correction release only
Version 5.01 bugs, fixed in 5.02
1. Cursor positioning and text display were wrong for new
categories on the add-comments screen created by copying old
categories or when keyboard macros were used.
Version 5.02 enhancements: none, bug correction release only
Version 5.02 bugs, fixed in 5.03
1. Indexing ignored files for which the archive bit was not
set. Typically backup programs clear this bit, so some
users will have many files which would not be indexed.
2. The date-indexed stored in a database had 1900 subtracted
from the year twice. After converting to standard date
format, this turns 1990 into 2010.
3. The flag controlling whether to include hidden files was not
included in the configuration file; the default was to not
include these files. The utility routines can write config-
uration files, so they have all been updated.
4. The database splitting utility sometimes mis-handled subdi-
rectory entries. This might lead to later problems when
disks were re-indexed, or SPLIT might crash with no useful
error message.
Version 5.03 enhancements:
1. The database read routine now checks for consistency in the
subdirectory information and warns if any errors are found.
2. First Rainbow release in the 5.0x series. The keyboard is
now read at a low level which allows control-arrow keys to
be detected and used for word-tabbing.
Version 5.03 bugs, fixed in 5.04
1. The database splitting utility which was supposedly fixed in
the last release still sometimes produced corrupt databases
when processing subdirectories. Damaged databases can
usually be repaired, but it isn't easy.
Version 5.04 enhancements.
1. Screen sizes other than 80x25 are now supported. Border
color can be set for EGA and VGA cards.
2. Archive file comments can now be extracted without also
extracting directory information.
3. Viewfile now recognizes the HOME key.
4. Keyboard can now be read by the BIOS so that ANSI.SYS key
redefinitions are not seen.
5. Files can be required to be the same size before they are
considered duplicates.
6. Escape key now acts the same as Q from a file listing.
7. The comment import utility can now also import categories.
Version 5.04 bugs, fixed in 5.05
1. "Extract only comments" (from archive files) was interpreted
as "don't extract any information" when a saved configura-
tion file was reloaded.
2. Lists of files, such as are entered for a ^F search, are
remembered for possible reuse even when changing the config-
ured database size limits. The memory allocated for these
could fragment memory, limiting the maximum size which could
be configured. These are now relocated to avoid fragmenta-
tion.
Version 5.05 enhancements: none, bug correction release only
Version 5.05 bugs, fixed in 5.06
1. If the configured size limits were changed by loading a
configuration file from the primary configuration menu, the
changes did not take effect unless you entered the size
configuration menu.
2. Some debugging code got left in which caused an ungraceful
exit if you attempted to push to DOS with the COMSPEC envi-
ronment variable undefined.
3. Loading an old configuration file could cause indexing to
fail in some cases.
4. Several of the utility routines had unused code linked in.
This increased their size, but was otherwise harmless.
Version 5.06 enhancements: none, bug correction release only
Version 5.06 bugs, fixed in 5.1
1. The code which was supposed to allow upward and downward
compatibility of configuration files often failed.
2. When exporting file names, the .ID records for volumes and
subdirectories were excluded even if they met the selection
criteria.
3. When exporting volume names, comments and categories were
output before other information; they should have been last.
4. Some valid LBR format files were reported to be corrupt.
Version 5.1 enhancements:
1. First release of the extended version for 286/386/486 ma-
chines. First availability of printed manuals. Number of
files limit removed from shareware (DOS) release. User
password scheme suppresses opening commercial screen.
2. Added option to extract information from ARJ and GIF files.
Also recognize new header format written by LHArc 2.0.
3. The custom print functions were moved into WSSINDEX;
CUSTPRNT is obsolete.
4. The comment import function was moved into WSSINDEX;
WSIMPORT is obsolete.
5. Get disk menu selection can now merge databases; the sepa-
rate merging utility is mostly obsolete.
6. Registered DOS version now includes an optional overlaid EXE
file. Although the disk file is considerably larger than
previous releases, there is actually more memory available
for database storage than there was in version 5.06.
7. Disk read errors during indexing are now intercepted and
handled nicely.
8. Added option to not indexed backed up files, i.e., files
with the archive bit clear.
9. Added option to remove duplicate volume names created by
merging databases.
Version 5.10 bugs, fixed in 5.11
1. The database splitting utility could fail when splitting a
small format database. Usually, it would give an error
message "write error".
2. When indexing a ZIP file which had another, uncompressed ZIP
file as the last member, the directory of this file would
sometimes be found rather than the proper directory.
3. The extraction option for GIF files could be set to "Com-
ments only", should have been restricted to YES or NO.
4. The category delimiter actually surrounds whichever of
comment or category is printed first. Neither the menus nor
the documentation stated this.
Version 5.11 enhancements: none, bug correction release only
Version 5.11 bugs, fixed in 5.12
1. The code for handling the various exception lists had a
problem which would sometimes corrupt the list, possibly
turning file names past the first to just ".". In the
extended version, this bug could cause GP (general protec-
tion) faults.
Version 5.12 enhancements: none, bug correction release only
Version 5.12 bugs, fixed in 5.13
1. Selection of files looks like it would fail in the extended
version for a database of more than 64K files. (No reports
yet of anyone creating a database that large.)
2. If the extended version was configured to print the dupli-
cate file flag, print options from the right side of the
print menu could crash with a GP fault. DOS version was ok.
3. If one of the input databases was small format, and the
output database was large format, the stand-alone merging
utility could create a database with entries for archive
members indicating that they were not on the same disk as
the containing archive. Operations on this database tended
to produce GP fault crashes. Wssindex now checks for this
problem when a database is read and attempts to correct the
problem. If disks have been reindexed since the faulty
merge, they may be flagged as requiring reindexing. Merging
done by Wssindex proper did not have this problem.
4. Suppress snow option on video board configuration menu had
"W" highlighted, but was actually selected by "U".
5. IDADD did not recognize large-format databases.
6. Disk covers did not use the margin allowance in the printer
DEF file for the header lines, so if a margin was specified,
these lines and the box border would be shifted left rela-
tive to the rest of the cover.
7. If there was a comment applying to an entire disk, it was
supposed to be printed at the top of the corresponding disk
cover, but it was sometimes skipped.
8. Each page of the ascii documentation files included two
carriage returns without matching line feeds. These were
harmless if sent directly to most printers, but some methods
of printing would make each page appear to have 68 lines
rather than 66. Fixed by editing the Word Perfect standard
printer driver.
Version 5.13 enhancements
1. Added option to specify BX value for video mode setting;
required for Vega VGA and possibly other cards.
Version 5.13 bugs, fixed in 5.2
1. If the date printing style was changed, the change didn't
take effect until the configuration was saved and restored.
2. If auto-category was YES, but there was no auto-category
string, zero-length categories would be assigned to files as
disks were indexed. This made databases larger than they
needed to be, and prevented copy category from working on
the add-comments menu unless the null comment was first
deleted. These null categories will be silently removed
when a database is loaded.
3. If configured to ask before extracting archive information
from ARJ files, the question would be asked about any file
with an extension beginning with A rather than only exten-
sions of the form Ann where n is a digit.
4. Setting option to ignore backed up files prevented indexing
of files in subdirectories.
5. Information could not be extracted from some valid ARJ
files. The files in question had a flag setting which ARJ
itself never produces, so I suspect they were produced by
some other utility.
6. Column heading in multi-column listings might be mis-cen-
tered depending on which fields were selected for printing.
7. Label printing code did not properly handle multi-column
labels when the information printed exceeded the label
width.
8. In the Rainbow version, hitting Next or Previous Screen
before screen painting was completed would behave as if
escape had been hit, terminating the current listing. Long
lines, particularly in multi-column listings, could clobber
the display. Cursor and screen display could get out of
sync when the screen scrolled.
Version 5.2 enhancements
1. Period during which registered version is warranted to
function substantially as documented increased from 30 to 90
days.
2. Maximum comment and category length are now configurable; up
to 1023 characters for comment, 64 for category. To
accommodate long comments, the printing routines now do word
wrap for long lines. Configuration now specifies the maxi-
mum number of line wraps allowed and the indentation for
wrapped lines.
3. Added support for postscript printers.
4. Printer port can now be configured as PRN, LPT1, LPT2, LPT3
or EPT.
5. Database, configuration and printer definition files can now
be selected from pop-up menus.
6. When printing disk labels, disks can now be selected by
size. 3.5" and 5.25" disks are recognized by total capaci-
ty; odd formats may not be identified correctly.
7. Directory information can now be extracted from SDN and HYP
files. Image sizes can be extracted from BMP, PCX and TIF
files. Selection of which archive and image files to pro-
cess was moved to two new submenus.
8. Menu boxes now have a shadow around them. It's a silly
little thing, but it seems to make the display look nicer.
9. If environment variable WSSDISP is not set, Wssindex will
now auto-detect the video type (may be changed by config
file). This may cause problems on non-IBM compatible ma-
chines such as the Sanyo 555. (Solution is to set WSSDISP.)
10.New indexing option to ignore labels, or more properly, tell
you what the label says but give you the chance to use
something else.
11.Indexing now records the date and time a volume was labeled
and uses it to decide whether a previously known volume
label is likely to be a reindexing or a duplication.
12.More selection options when printing a database.
13.Box forming characters in comments extracted from archive
files are now ignored. Previously, the typical comment
extracted would be the top of a graphics box advertising a
BBS. I hope this doesn't cause too many problems for those
not using the English code page.
14.Option to route messages and prompts through DOS so that
they can be more easily seen by screen readers for the
blind.
15.On first entry to main menu, give a reminder if no database
is loaded.
16.Added an option to only move the cursor manually in menus
rather than attempting to guess whether advancing to the
next item was desired. Rearranged menus to minimize the
number of cases where an item in a two column menu was not
matched with an item in the adjacent column. In the remain-
ing cases, made left/right arrows move to previous or next
item in other column.
17.Support for Wang version officially dropped. This version
was vaporware for a long time, and literally no one ever
ordered a copy. Rainbow and TI Pro versions continue to be
supported. They aren't very popular, but at least I have
hardware to test them on.
18.Discontinued overlaid version of Wssindex. It offered only
a small increase in capacity, and I haven't had any feedback
indicating that anyone is using it. If I get many com-
plaints, I'll put it back in the package.
Version 5.2 bugs, fixed in 5.21
1. ARJ files with a security envelope were flagged as corrupt.
Version 5.21 enhancements: none, bug correction release only
Version 5.21 bugs, fixed in 5.22
1. Index ignoring labels crashed badly when used on disks with
subdirectories.
2. When a disk was reindexed, the test for whether a duplicate
volume name was likely a reindexing or a true duplicate
often failed with a message that the date was not available.
The failure was in looking up the old date in the database;
the date the disk was labeled was stored correctly.
3. A wildcard of 8 characters followed by *, such as XXXXXXXX*,
should have been equivalent to XXXXXXXX.*, but was instead
equivalent to XXXXXXXX. Wildcards of 7 or fewer characters
follwed by a * were handled correctly.
Version 5.22 enhancements: none, bug correction release only
Version 5.22 bugs, fixed in 5.23
1. Export format got broken a few releases back, but no one
noticed until now.
2. An attempt to merge databases using the ^G option would ask
whether to merge, then clear the current database when the
new one was loaded. Merges using the G option worked prop-
erly.
Version 5.23 enhancements: none, bug correction release only
Version 5.23 bugs, fixed in 5.25
1. Multi-column labels didn't work.
Version 5.24 was skipped to avoid confusion with beta copies
which had this release number.
Version 5.25 enhancements
1. Tech support BBS brought one line.
2. Switched to Ergo DPMI-based extender. Extended version will
now run under All Windows 3.x modes and in an OS/2 DOS
window.
3. Added support for 4DOS/NDOS description files.
4. Critical error handler now catches write protected disk and
printer offline errors.
5. If Wssindex was invoked through a batch file, an equal sign
could not be used as an argument because MS-DOS would filter
it out. A minus sign is now recognized as a synonym for =.
6. Ascii versions of documentation files were reformatted with
no left margin. (From the number of order forms I've seen
printed with huge left margins and wrapped lines, these
margins were a problem for some users.)
