home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
ftp.barnyard.co.uk
/
2015.02.ftp.barnyard.co.uk.tar
/
ftp.barnyard.co.uk
/
cpm
/
walnut-creek-CDROM
/
BEEHIVE
/
ZSUS
/
Z3HELP-3.LBR
/
M.LBR
/
MCAT.HZP
/
MCAT.HLP
Wrap
Text File
|
2000-06-30
|
12KB
|
218 lines
;
MCAT.COM
Size (recs) CRC Version Author/Latest Issue Disk
13k (97) 0E2A 6.0g Hal Bower 2/89 Z3COM6
1- Syntax 2- Operation 3- Configuration 4- Notes 5- Examples of Use
MCAT and its companion program, XCAT, form a powerful system for cataloging
and accessing a data base of files and disks. With the addition of a single
file name on a disk, the entire contents of the disk directory, and members of
Library files, may be captured for later retrieval. MCAT builds and modifies
the data base while XCAT permits customized queries of the contents.
Version 6 expands date support to include ZSDOS and CP/M Plus type of Date/
Time stamps, as well as providing automatic support for ZCPR3 environment
features such as screen addressing and attributes, and named directory
support. No installation is necessary under any ZCPR version 3.0 or later.
:1
Syntax MCAT<cr> <-- Enter interactive mode
MCAT [options] <-- Immediate execution
Options $[d] <-- add dates[d]
<[d] <-- catalog drive D:
>[d][u] <-- MAST.CAT on DU:
:2
MCAT Operation
MCAT can operate in either an interactive mode for repetitive operations,
or in a command line driven mode for a single catalog operation. If errors
are detected during execution, operation will revert to the interactive mode
for correction and optional re-execution. This "expert" mode is automatically
set if command line arguments are detected. When executed from either mode,
the screen will be cleared if running under ZCPR3 and a header will be
displayed on the upper few lines of the display. If no ZCPR3 Termcap is
detected, the information will be scrolled up the screen from the present
cursor position.
Following is a sample of the initial screen information. Note that the
lines listed on the screen before the prompt line concerning alternately
placing disks on the drive will only be shown if the drive being cataloged and
the drive declared as holding the catalog are the same. This will rarely be
the case in multi-drive systems, but the added warning and prompts are handy
when needed to reduce the chance of errors.
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|MCAT Cataloger V6.0f (ZSDOS/DateStamper) 05 Feb 1989 08:59:29 |
| ^Log MAST.CAT : C8 ^Drive to Add : C |
| ^Format : Users Dates ^Remove Volume |
| ^Initialize Catalog |
| ^Z - Redraw Screen |
|==============================================================================|
|For Help, reboot then type: MCAT // |
| Scratch Disk Must Remain In Drive A: |
| |
|The DISK TO BE CATALOGED and the CATALOG SYSTEM DISK |
|will alternately be placed in Drive C: |
| |
|Catalog Drive C: (NO = Exit) Ready? (Y/N) : _ |
| |
| |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
If no recognizable clock driver is found (Plu*Perfect Systems' DateStamper
(tm), ZSDOS or CP/M Plus), you will be prompted to enter the current month,
day and year. When a catalog including Date information is updated with MCAT,
the current date is then added to the pseudo file '+++nnnk.FRE' which shows
the number of free kilobytes on the disk. By examining this entry in the
Master Catalog, the date of cataloging is then known. With XCAT, this
current date is presented in printed and file output listings. As a side
effect, if a disk is cataloged on different days with no intervening changes,
that one file is deleted, and one added in the second operation.
Commands - 1/3
Five commands are available at any point from the main prompt (the last one on
the screen shown above). These commands are:
^D (Control-D) - Define the disk drive to catalog. A command prompt
(beginning with '==>') is issued, and a single character is accepted with
no carriage return. If a space, carriage return, or other control
character is entered, no change is made to the current drive.
^L (Control-L) - Log the drive and user area which contains (or should
contain) the MAST.CAT Master Catalog file. The expected response i s a
letter followed by one or more numbers. If only a letter is entered, the
user ares is unchanged. If only a number is entered, then the currently
selected drive is retained, and the user area is changed. The entry is
terminated when a non-numeric character is detected. NO EDITING of the
entry is supported (e.g. backspace). If the first character entered is
a space or carriage return, the current selection is unchanged.
Commands - 2/3
^I (Control-I) - Initialize a MAST.CAT file on the currently selected disk
and user area. To avoid inadvertant erasure of an existing Master
catalog, two levels of protection are provided; First, a confirmation
prompt is given, and secondly, MCAT renames any existing MAST.CAT to
MAST.BAK.
^F (Control-F) - Change the Format to be used for the MAST.CAT. Two Command
prompts (beginning with ==>) are given which expect Yes or No (Y/N)
responses. These define whether or not to include USER and DATE entries
in the Master Catalog.
^R (Control-R) - Remove references to a specified disk. The user is
prompted to enter a disk name. This should match the name of a disk (the
leading dash is shown in the prompt) to be deleted. To insure that this
is OK, a confirmation prompt is issued which expects a 'Y/N' response.
All MAST.CAT entries containing this name as a disk ID will be removed
from the catalog. Editing (backspace) is supported during name entry.
Commands - 3/3
^Z (Control-Z) - The terminal screen is cleared and redrawn. This is to
support programs that may be activated from within your system and
destroy the screen.
At any point in the program where Yes or No responses are expected, the
following conventions apply:
NO = 'N', 'n', Control-C, or Control-X.
YES = 'Y', 'y', Carriage Return (Control-M), Space, all other characters
not covered by NO.
To exit MCAT, simply respond with a NO answer to the main command prompt
that asks if the disk to be cataloged is installed in the correct drive. A
warm boot will then be performed back to CP/M.
Interactive Mode
Interactive mode is initiated by adding arguments to the command line.
Each option is preceeded with a special character. Any or all of the three
parameters may be added in any order. These parameters are:
< - indicates that the following character designates the disk drive to be
be cataloged. Can be followed by an optional colon for clarity.
> - indicates that the following parameters designate the driver/user area
where the desired MAST.CAT file is to be found. A letter indicating a
drive, a number in the range of 0-31, or both may follow this symbol.
$ - specifies the format of the MAST.CAT entries. When detected, both USER
and DATE capabilities are turned off, and must be explicitly reset.
Follow this symbol with a "D" for Dates to be included, and "U" for user
areas to be included. Either one or both characters are accepted.
If any of these parameters are missing from the command line, default
parameters are assumed. These defaults can be changed using ZCNFG.
:3
Configuration
MCAT is configured using ZCNFG vs 1.3 or later. Options and default
settings are contained in MCAT6.CFG. Configuration should be relatively
self-explanatory for each program, and Help is available for each program from
within ZCNFG.
For those who desire a graphics string to generate a horizontal line
instead of a single character, a method of defining a character string of up
to 16 characters by using the file CAT6GPH.Z80. This file defines a flag
value and the user-supplied string at the needed address in the header section
of both MCAT6 and XCAT6. It should be assembled to a HEX file and overlayed
on the programs with MLOAD or a debugger such as DDT.
:4
MCAT Notes - 1/3
a. Version 6 updates:
- cataloging of date-stamped disks by DateStamper(tm), CP/M Plus, or any
flavor of ZSDOS.
- addition of Library (file type LBR) members to the catalog.
- ability to retrieve files based on Date specifications with XCAT.
- operation under CP/M 2.x, ZRDOS 1.x, ZSDOS and CP/M Plus.
- automatic screen installation under ZCPR 3.x.
- named directory support under ZCPR 3.x.
- retention of original Catalog Creation Date if stamping used.
- backward compatability with Version 5 catalogs with automatic
conversions as necessary.
- enhanced user feedback, particularly under ZCPR 3.
MCAT Notes - 2/3
b. To indicate that a file in the data base is contained in a library, the
Most Significant Bit is set in the last character of the File Type, and
the Disk Name field of the record entry (normally blank) contains the
name of the parent LBR file. If user data is included in the catalog,
it will be set to that of the parent library file. If date information
is included, it will be extracted from the library, or set to a null
field if no dates are present.
c. Previous MCAT versions used a fixed size for the subject disk directory,
and permitted up to 2048 directory entries on larger systems. Since a
priori knowledge of the exact size cannot be known with library files, a
dynamic scheme was developed which should permit slightly more than 2100
names to exist for a single disk with a system size in excess of 53k. A
warning is issued if all files cannot be added, and users are given the
option of cataloging just the primary files, or aborting the operation.
MCAT Notes - 3/3
d. Some deficiencies in previous versions have been corrected in Version 6.
The most significant include the possibility for Catalog corruption by
commas in file names, and the failure to properly add valid files
beginning with a dash to the data base. Neither of these weaknesses
exist in Version 6.
:5
Examples of Use
a. MCAT6 <A >B10 $U <-- Catalog the 'A' drive, Look for MAST.CAT on drive
MCAT6 <A: $U >B10: 'B' User area 10, Catalog only file names and
User areas.
b. MCAT6 <C $DU <-- Catalog the 'C' drive, Look for MAST.CAT on the
MCAT6 <C $UD default drive in default area, Catalog names
MCAT6 $DU <C: w/Date and User areas
c. MCAT6 $ <-- Catalog default drive, Look for MAST.CAT on the
default drive in default area, Catalog only Names