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- Tessler's Nifty Tools (tm) (TNT) Release 3.8
-
- <<< SHAREWARE >>>
-
- Copyright (c) 1986-1994
-
- All Rights Reserved.
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- TNT is a collection of over 30 useful SHAREWARE MS-DOS and Windows programs.
- Many TNT programs are featured in COMPUTE, INFOWORLD, and COMPUTER and PC
- Computing magazines. The latest versions of TNT programs are posted in
- Compuserve's IBMSYS, IBMCOM, IBMHW, and WINSHARE areas under the common
- keyword of TNT. Registered users of any program will receive the complete
- collection for review.
-
- Most programs are individually priced at $19. Several programs are $29 each.
- Bring up each program's help screen for specific pricing information. Special
- prices with substantial savings exist for partial and complete collection
- purchases. Contact me for more information. Monetary contributions and any
- ideas for enhancements may be sent to:
-
-
- Tessler's Nifty Tools (TNT) Release 3.8
- 430 Canyon Woods Place Suite A
- San Ramon, Ca. 94583
-
- CompuServe: 71044,542
-
-
-
- **************************************
- ** Summary of programs: **
- **************************************
-
-
- CAPSTAT.EXE Sets DOS ERRORLEVEL to 0 if your local printer is NOT being
- captured to a Novell printer. Sets it to 1 if it IS being
- captured.
-
- CHEK4DUP.EXE Generates a list of files that exist in both .EXE and .COM
- form. This usually occurs when software is upgraded from a COM
- format to an EXE format and the old COM version is
- accidentally left on the system when the new EXE form is put
- onto the system. DOS will always invoke the COM form before
- the EXE form program so you should delete the older COM program
- if required. Useful to avoid having old versions of software on
- your system.
-
- CFGCNTRL.EXE (Config-Controller) is a intelligent text (ascii) file
- controller. Just what does this mean? Well a bit of history is
- required to explain this new type of software utility...
- Experienced PC users may want to skip to the section titled
- 'CFGCNTRL Syntax' for actual program syntax, etc...
-
- I created CFGCNTRL because my office had MS-DOS laptop PCs
- running Windows software and LanManager LAN software that had
- to have specific LAN device drivers and video drivers installed
- and activated when the laptop was plugged into its desktop
- docking station with a LAN card and external video monitor, and
- a different set of device drivers installed and activated when
- the laptop was out in the field running remote LAN access
- software with its internal LCD display which required custom
- video drivers. We were managing this mess by keeping two
-
-
-
-
-
-
- copies of Window's configuration files -WIN.INI and SYSTEM.INI
- files and LanManager PROTOCOL.INI files present on each PC -one
- set for the docking station mode and one set for remote access
- mode. This didn't work well, for every time the user
- added/deleted or moved a group on his/her desktop, these
- changes were never saved to the other set of configuration
- files. Installing software that modified these configuration
- files had to manually be added to the other set of
- configuration files. Maintenance became a total nightmare.
- Similarly having two separate LanManager PROTOCOL.INI files was
- just as difficult to maintain.
-
- Out of this need was born CFGCNTRL...
-
- CFGCNTRL does away with multiple configuration file sets. You
- only have your single set of standard Window's configuration
- files and LanManager files to deal with. As you will see,
- together, CFGCNTRL and DOS' batch file capabilities allow you
- to control all aspects of your configuration files. Before
- describing CFGCNTRL's features further, a little bit on
- terminology...
-
- When dealing with Window's INI files and similarly structured
- LanManager PROTOCOL.INI/LANMAN.INI and DOS 6.n CONFIG.SYS
- files, we can describe these formatted files as a series of
- sections that each contain several action entries. For example
- a portion of a typical Windows WIN.INI file might contain:
-
- 1) [windows] <= section name is '[windows]'
- 2) spooler=no <= action_entry is 'spooler=no'
- 3) load= <= action_entry is 'load='
- 4) run=
- 5) Beep=No
- 6)
- 7) [Desktop] <= section name is '[Desktop]'
- 8) Pattern=(None)
- 9) TileWallpaper=0 22 130
- 10) GridGranularity=3
- 11) IconSpacing=65 <= action_entry is 'IconSpacing=65'
- 12) wallpaper=(None)
- 13)
- 14) [Extensions] <= section name is '[Extensions]'
- 15) cal=calendar.exe ^.cal
- 16) crd=cardfile.exe ^.crd
- 17) trm=terminal.exe ^.trm
-
-
- Some structured configuration files (such as an AUTOEXEC.BAT)
- have no sections. They consist of one long section that has no
- name. For example, below is a typical mini AUTOEXEC.BAT file.
-
- 1) path=c:\\;c:\\dos
- 2) set temp=c:\\
- 3) prompt $p$g
- 4) smartdrv a b c
-
-
-
-
-
-
- 5) rem This is last line of the file....
-
- In this case, there are 5 action_entry lines with no leading
- section name. In this case the missing (null) section name is
- referenced as [].
-
-
- Another variation on the above structured configuration file is
- one with a leading null section followed by standard sections
- (such as a DOS 6.n CONFIG.SYS file. For example, below is a
- typical mini CONFIG.SYS file.
-
- 1) rem Sample CFGCNTRL CONFIG.SYS file
- 2) rem version 2.99
- 3) rem by GST
- 4)
- 5) [menu]
- 6) menuitem=standard, STANDARD Setup
- 7) menuitem=minimal, MINIMAL Setup
- 8)
- 9) [common]
- 10) shell=c:\\dos\\command.com c:\\dos\\ /e:2000 /p
- 11) break=on
- 12) dos=high,umb
- 13) files=50
- 14) buffers=5
- 15)
- 16) [standard]
- 17) device=c:\\dos\\himem.sys
- 18) device=c:\\dos\\emm386.exe
- 19)
- 20) [minimal]
- 21) rem don't load anything here...
-
- In this case, the leading null section reference by '[]'
- consists of lines 1-4. The [menu] section consists of lines 5-
- 8, etc...
-
-
- Now that we have our terminology and file structures explained,
- more on CFGCNTRL. CFGCNTRL can run in three distinct modes...
-
- The first mode is the 'Existence mode (/Me mode)'. In this
- mode, you ask CFGCNTRL to check if a file (like WIN.INI)
- contains a specific action entry (or several of them). The
- result of the search is returned via DOS' ERRORLEVEL
- capability. These mode is useful if you (or a batch file)
- wants to determine if a specific section and action entry
- exists in the file. For example, using the above WIN.INI file,
- issuing a CFGCNTRL command of:
-
- CFGCNTRL /Me c:\\windows\\win.ini /A[windows]Beep=No
-
- will return a DOS ERRORLEVEL of 0 since this line of data DOES
- exist in the file. You can test for the presence of several
-
-
-
-
-
-
- action entries on the same command line too.
-
- Now that you know how to test for presence of lines in files,
- the remaining two modes allow you to modify your file. The
- remaining two modes are very similar -differing only in the way
- actions/commands are presented to CFGCNTRL. Once these
- actions/commands are presented to CFGCNTRL, they are handled
- identically by the program. The 'Instruction-file mode (/Mi
- mode)' receives your desired actions/commands from a text
- (ascii) disk file. The 'Command line mode (/Mc mode)' receives
- your desired actions/commands from the command line. If you
- have a few actions/commands to apply to your file, the 'Command
- line mode (/Mc mode)' may be for you. If you have many
- actions/commands, you can avoid the DOS command line limit of
- 127 characters by using the 'Instruction-file mode (/Mi mode)'
- and saving your actions/commands in a disk file.
-
- These actions or commands are very similar to the formatted
- file structure as explained above. The only difference is the
- addition of 'prefix' commands that may preface sections or
- action entry lines.
-
- The prefix commands are:
- * <= indicates a comment line.
- + <= create or append this line which may be a complete
- section or action entry line.
- - <= delete this line which may be a complete section
- or action entry line.
-
- The characters *,+,- may be replaced with characters of your
- own choosing via the '/P' command (see below).
-
-
- Some examples of configuration file manipulation are in order.
- We will experiment with the sample WIN.INI file from above
- using the 'Command line mode (/Mc mode)' syntax.
-
- To delete a complete section and all of its action_entry lines,
- you enter a command of the form '/A-[section-name]'. For
- example, to delete the complete Desktop section you would enter
- '/A-[Desktop]'. To delete a complete null section you would
- enter '/A-[]'.
-
- To delete a specific action_entry line from your file, you
- enter a command of the form '/A[section-name]-action_entry'.
- If there are spaces within your action_entry line, enclose the
- complete command with double-quotes (this is a DOS standard).
- The action_entry data must EXACTLY match the line in your
- configuration file that you are modifying n order to be
- deleted. For example, to delete the line 'Pattern=(None)' from
- section [Desktop], you would enter '/A[Desktop]-
- Pattern=(None)'. To delete the line 'TileWallpaper=0 22 130'
- from section [Desktop], you would enter \"/A[Desktop]-
- TileWallpaper=0 22 130\" including the double quotes. To
- delete an action_entry line from a null section, use the form
-
-
-
-
-
-
- /A'[]-action_entry'.
-
- To add a specific action_entry line to your file, you enter a
- command of the form '/A[section-name]action_entry',
- '/A[section-name]+action_entry', '/A+[section-
- name]action_entry', or '/A+[section-name]+action_entry'.
- Essentially, the '+' is implied and therefore is optional in
- front of the section name and action_entry. If there are
- spaces within your action_entry line, enclose the complete
- command with double-quotes (this is a DOS standard). If the
- section doesn't exist, it will be created for you. For
- example, to add the line 'Addme=data1' to section [Desktop],
- you would enter '/A[Desktop]Addme=data1'. To add the line
- 'Addme=data1 OK' to section [Desktop], you would enter
- \"/A[Desktop]Addme=data1 OK\" including the double quotes. To
- add an action_entry line to a null section, use the form
- '/A[]action_entry'.
-
- To comment your instruction files (see discussion of
- instruction files below), you may want to include comments.
- Comment commands are simply lines prefaced by the default
- character '*'. Comment commands are ignored by CFGCNTRL.
-
-
- The 'Instruction-file mode (/Mi mode)' syntax is better
- explained with a full blown example that will further
- demonstrate the power of CFGCNTRL. The /Mi mode syntax is
- similar to the /Mc mode syntax except that section names must
- NOT precede every action_entry line. Lets apply the following
- instruction action file to the WIN.INI file from above. So
- given the commands below:
-
- [windows]
- *delete the line below from the WIN.INI file [windows] section.
- -Beep=No
- *add these next two lines to the WIN.INI file [windows]
- section.
- device=Addme please 1
- +device=Addme please 2
-
- *remove the complete [Extensions] section from the WIN.INI
- file.
- -[Extensions]
-
- [MyNewSection]
- *create this new section [MyNewSection] with the two new lines
- below.
- device=MyNewLine1
- device=MyNewLine2
- <eof>
-
- After CFGCNTRL processes this command file, it will result in a
- new WIN.INI with the following contents:
-
- 1) [windows]
-
-
-
-
-
-
- 2) spooler=no
- 3) load=
- 4) run=
- 5) device=Addme please 1
- 6) device=Addme please 2
- 7)
- 8) [Desktop]
- 9) Pattern=(None)
- 10) TileWallpaper=0 22 130
- 11) GridGranularity=3
- 12) IconSpacing=65
- 13) wallpaper=(None)
- 14)
- 15) [MyNewSection]
- 16) device=MyNewLine1
- 17) device=MyNewLine2
- <eof>
-
-
- So you can see that within a batch file, you can use CFGCNTRL's
- 'Existence' mode to check on the configuration of your file and
- then apply specific actions to the file.
-
- Remember that the above functionality is applicable to any text
- (ascii) file including DOS 6.n CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT
- files, your BATCH files, and LAN protocol files. The
- possibilities are endless....
-
- CONTROLP.EXE Allows the user to turn on screen to printer echoing as if the
- user had pressed Ctrl-P or Ctrl-PrtSc. DesqView compatible.
- Status mode too. Great for use within batch files.
-
- COMSPEED.EXE Returns the actual baud rate that a COM (serial) port is set
- to. With today's high speed modems that can adjust their phone
- line and data rate (speed) automatically, it is often very
- difficult to determine if your line is operating at the proper
- rate. Use COMSPEED to check your COM port's data rate after
- establishing a data connection.
-
- COPYWA.EXE Copies files while preserving the source file's read-only
- attribute. Does it the way XCOPY should have done it.
-
- CRTDUMP.EXE Copies the contents of either a color or monochrome monitor to
- a specified file.
-
- DELTREE.BAT A batch file that runs TNT's CHK4ROOT to protect you from
- accidentally deleting every file on your hard disk. DON'T try
- the following example! I created DELTREE/CHK4ROOT when one day
- I thought I was logged to my A: floppy when in actuality I was
- logged to my C:\ drive and I typed "DELTREE /Y \" and DOS'
- DELTREE proceeded to delete EVERY file including my hidden
- operating system files from my hard disk. Now with
- DELTREE/CHK4ROOT, you will not be allowed to do what I did. You
- will only be allowed to automatically (/Y) delete files from
- floppies (or whatever drives you consider valid).
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- DIR2BAT.EXE Will write a listing of drive_path_file specs matching the
- user's entered file specification to the file DIR2.BAT. Each
- file specification found may be prefixed and suffixed by
- user provided strings. This batch file will then be able to
- perform actions to the files.....
-
- For example, if your C: disk contains the following files:
- README.DOC TESTME.DOC LIST.DOC PRINTER.DOC
-
- Then the command:
- DIR2BAT C:*.DOC /S /A "ATTRIB -R ! /S" "DEL !"
-
- will append the following lines to an existing DIR2.BAT file:
-
- ATTRIB -R C:\README.DOC /S
- DEL C:\README.DOC
- ATTRIB -R C:\TESTME.DOC /S
- DEL C:\TESTME.DOC
- ATTRIB -R C:\LIST.DOC /S
- DEL C:\LIST.DOC
- ATTRIB -R C:\PRINTER.DOC /S
- DEL C:\PRINTER.DOC
- <eof>
-
- DVCPU.EXE is a DesqView utility program that is meant to be run right
- before running a program that requires full usage of the CPU's
- computing power. It pops up the DesqView window and sets
- 'Share CPU when in Foreground' to 'Y' or 'N' depending on the
- parameter entered. It useful for programs that insist on
- running in a non-multitasking environment such as voice
- sampling and digitization programs.
-
- DVPROMPT.EXE Facilitates naming of DOS windows under DesqView. For example,
- upon opening and using several DOS windows with command line
- programs, the user often finds it difficult to remember
- which window he/she was doing what task in. Since each window
- has the same DOS prompt, DOS gives him/her no visual clue to
- the identification of the current window.
-
- This program will change each DOS window's DOS prompt into the
- typical form of:
-
- 1 C:\>
- 2 C:\>
- 3 C:\> etc.
-
- PROMPT n <user_string>
-
- where n is the counter value of this DesqView window in
- DesqView's 'switch' window and the user_string is a PROMPT
- string (typically $P$G). If the user_string contains spaces,
- enclose it with double quotes.
-
- A useful example is as follows: Assume that DesqView invokes
-
-
-
-
-
-
- AUTOEXEC.BAT as "AUTOEXEC X" whenever it opens a DOS
- command shell. Let AUTOEXEC.BAT contain:
-
- VERIFY OFF
- PATH = C:\;C:\DOS;C:\WPROC
- IF %1Y==Y GOTO NOT_UNDER_DV
- REM INVOKED BY DESQVIEW
- DVPROMPT $P$G
- TEMP <- DOS jumps to this batch file to set the prompt
- :NOT_UNDER_DV
- REM INVOKED BY PC UPON POWER-UP
- DEL DVPROMPT.DAT <- reset the counter to 1.
- PROMPT $P$G
-
-
- DVRUN.EXE A DesqView utility program that returns ERRORLEVEL = 0 if
- DesqView is running or 1 if it is not.
-
- EXPNDTAB.EXE Copies the file matching the source filespec to the
- destination filespec with any source file <tab> characters
- expanded into space characters into the destination file.
- Great for printers that can't handle tabs but you still want
- the formatting/alignment preserved.
-
- FEEFIFO.EXE Enables the FIFO of a 16550A serial UART chip at the COM port
- specified by the user. Also sets the FIFO depth to 1,4,8, or
- 14. Use in status mode to determine what type of serial chip
- you have.
-
- GROWP.COM Unique TSR gives visual indication of shelled process via C:>
- prompt to avoid turning off PC when a program is suspended and
- is shelled to DOS. Any time you have a master program
- (including Windows) running in the background, GROWP changes
- your prompt. Only program of its kind in industry. Avoids DOS 6
- disk corruption. This resident program requires about 1400
- bytes of resident RAM to add a default '>' or user
- entered growth character to the environment's 'PROMPT'
- string each time another copy of COMMAND.COM is shelled
- and to remove the growth character when the copy
- of COMMAND.COM is terminated. GROWP requires DOS version
- 3.0 or higher. Each growth character represents a
- suspended program in RAM and gives you a visual warning
- that you should not turn-off your PC before returning to
- the suspended program and gracefully exiting it.
-
- IFONSCRN.EXE IFONSCRN will examine the video screen for the appearance of up
- to three case-sensitive trigger (search) character strings.
- Great for programs that don't return errorlevel (like
- compilers) but you need to know if they terminated with an
- error condition. Also runs as TSR with sound/beep/dialog box
- alert modes. Can control parallel port devices too. IFONSCRN
- may be run as a TSR (RAM-resident) or as a non-TSR program
- (CL mode). If IFONSCRN is running in the command line (CL
- -non-resident) mode, and it finds one of the trigger strings,
- it sets the DOS ERRORLEVEL to 0 (zero) , else if it is not
-
-
-
-
-
-
- found, it will be set to 1 (one).
-
- In either TSR or CL mode, after finding the trigger string, an
- optional window may pop up with the user's message. Different
- types of beeps may be associated with the window, including
- the ability to control an external parallel port device.
- After pressing any key to clear the window, optional keystrokes
- may be automatically sent to the foreground program (TSR mode
- only).
-
- IFWAIT.EXE Controls a speaker and/or parallel port device including the
- TNT IFBUZZ buzzer device. Makes the speaker and/or device buzz
- or beep so that you can add buzzer indications to your batch
- files. Great for batch files that need loud buzzing noises to
- attract your attention back to the PC.
-
- PARKHEAD.EXE Parks up to 2 hard (fixed) disk's heads over the disk's
- shipping area where user data doesn't reside. Runs on IBM
- PC/286/386/486/pentium and most compatible clones. One of the
- first head parkers ever written.
-
- PDEL.EXE PERMANENTLY deletes with verification, your specified filename.
- You will be prompted to press 'Y'<cr> to delete the specific
- file. The deleted file can not be recovered.
-
- PLAYER.EXE Plays a WAVE or VOC formatted sound file on a Sound Blaster or
- Sound Blaster Pro or Pro or Audio 16 card.
-
- PRTSCRFF.EXE Appends a form-feed (paper eject) command to your printer
- whenever you press the PrintScreen key. Very useful to
- keep your printer always at its top-of-form position. For
- laser printers, this saves you from taking the printer
- off-line, and pressing the PageEject button.
-
- RLIST.EXE Prints a range of lines from a file to the console or printer.
- Useful to view a portion of a file's contents.
-
- RWDIR.EXE Generates a list of non-read-only files. Useful to keep track
- of the few files on your system that are read-writable since
- the cautious user will have the majority of his/her files
- marked as read-only. Certain applications require their files
- to read-writable so not every file may be set to read-only.
-
- SETBEEP.COM Installs itself as a RAM-resident program that will set the
- beep character's (ASCII decimal 7 or control-G) duration to a
- user specified value. The default beep tone duration is 1
- second which is too long and annoying for many people. The
- beep can even be disabled to provide for a truly silent PC.
- This program intercepts BIOS interrupt 10h WRITE_TTY.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- TUNE4DAY.EXE Plays a voice file(s) upon invocation. TUNE4DAY uses
- TUNE4DAY.INI to control its operation. It maintains a pointer
- in this file to control which file(s) it will act upon
- during its next invocation. It runs a command on this
- file(s). Even though TUNE4DAY is meant to traverse down a
- directory of sound files and play the next sequential
- file(s), it can be used to perform any command on a directory
- of any type of files. Displays a random saying each time it is
- run. User can add his/her own 'sayings' to the data file.
- Package includes pseudo-Murphy's computer laws. Uses TNT's
- PLAYER program.
-
- VDEL.EXE Will delete with verification, files that match your filename
- specification. You will be prompted to press 'Y' to delete the
- specific file. 'Read-only' files will prompt you for an
- additional 'Y' to be deleted.
-
- VERS.COM Installs itself as a RAM-resident program that will set the DOS
- versions to a user specified value. This is useful when running
- programs that require a specific DOS version for no useful
- reason. (Many DOS supplemental programs require specific
- versions for no reason. For example, if you are running DOS 3.1
- but like DOS 3.2's ATTRIB.EXE '/S' sub-directory search option,
- you could set VERS to 3.2, then run ATTRIB and then reset it
- back to 3.1). TSR lets you set DOS' two versions - the TRUE and
- FAKE versions that applications may ask for... Works better
- then SETVER. Fool programs on what version they're running
- under. You read about this in INFOWORLD!
-
- ZDIR.EXE Reports the sizes of files specified in a format appropriate
- for managing large disks.
-
-
- <eof>
-
-
-
-