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- +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
- | Atree v1.1 Copyright 1989 (pending) |
- +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
- | A directory utility by Don Schmidt |
- +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
-
- To print Atree.Doc, enter "type > prt: atree.doc" <CR>.
-
- Atree v1.1
-
- Atree is "freeware" at this time. It may be freely distributed, but not sold, by
- anyone. If you acquire the program and like it, please support the
- author and become a registered user by sending $10 to:
-
- Don Schmidt
- 9425 Stanfield Ct.
- Stockton, Calif.
- 95209
-
- The author may be contacted via the Stockton-Modesto Amiga Users Group
- (SMAUG) BBS (209) 462-0417, or via Compuserve, ID#: 73520,314.
-
- Atree is a disk utility which imitates similar utilities widely available
- on IBM compatibles (PC Tools, XTree, QuickDos, etc.). The intent is to allow
- the user a graphic representation of the entire (or any portion of the
- entire) directory structure on a disk device, including the files in each
- directory, and the capability of moving quickly through the "tree" to a
- directory to access its files for purposes of copying, deleting, moving,
- viewing, editing, etc.
-
- Atree currently supports and will read into memory a directory tree that
- has a maximum depth of 65536 directories and no more than 65536 subdirectories
- total for the entire tree. (This is because Atree currently supports a
- spreadsheet type matrix of 65536 columns, each column representing the
- subdirectories of a parent directory and 65536 rows representing a directory
- with the first of its children directly to the right of it,
- and only a total of 65536 rows currently supported). It is not known how the
- program will behave if the total number of directories in a tree exceeds
- 65536 or if the depth of the tree exceeds 65536 generations.
-
-
-
- Instructions:
-
- NOTE: If you are a first time user of Atree and do not have a file called
- "Atree.Config" in your s: directory, then running Atree will result in
- a requester indicating "Failed: Object not found" -- select "CONTINUE"
- and Atree will continue to load and intialize without problem. You
- should set up your config file during your first session; see instructions
- for the CONFIG menu below.
-
- *********************************************
- Running the program.
- *********************************************
-
- Atree Operates only from the CLI. The general format of the command should be:
-
- "run atree pathname pathname pathname ......".
-
- Examples:
-
- run atree df0: df1: dh0: ram: df1:utilities df1:pictures/flowers
-
- The above reads into memory six trees. The first four will be read from
- the ROOT directory of the indicated devices, and the last two will be
- trees read from the indicated subdirectories of the indicated devices.
-
- run atree dh1: dh1:c_sources dh1:c_objects
-
- The above reads into memory the three trees from the same device, dh1:
- The first tree will be the entire tree starting with the ROOT directory,
- and the second and third will be the subtrees starting with the c_sources
- and c_objects directories respectively.
-
- run atree df0: df0: df0:
-
- The above reads into memory the entire tree of df0: three times -- no good
- reason for doing it, but it can be done.
-
- run atree volume_1: volume_2: volume_3:
-
- The above reads the entire tree starting from the ROOT directory of three
- disks whose volume names are as indicated. The system will prompt you to
- insert the volume in any drive if not already inserted. A two drive system
- can thus be used to read into memory the directory trees of more than two
- disks and as many as the system's memory will support.
-
- run atree
-
- The above command line has no arguments and therefore atree will read into
- memory the entire subtree starting from the current directory specified for
- the operating system.
-
- Reading into memory only the parts or sections of a directory tree may be the
- desirable course if you are using a hard disk that has extensive directories
- and you only intend to use two or more small portions of the entire tree.
-
- As many pathnames may be entered as the command line will support (Total of
- 255 characters).
-
- ***********************************************
- Moving around in the directory and files:
- ***********************************************
-
- The currently selected directory tree is shown in a large box at the left
- of the screen under the word "DIRECTORY:". This box can be thought of as
- a window to a larger box containing the entire tree. The entire tree can
- be thought of as represented on a large spreadsheet with 65536 rows and 65536
- columns. In this spreadsheet, a tree is formed which graphically represents
- parent, child and sibling relationships between directories. Children of
- the same parent (siblings) will all be in the same column; the parent
- of any directory is always in the column to the left, and the children of
- any directory are always in the column to the right. Line segments between
- directories show how they are related. The directory box at any moment displays
- up to five generations (columns) of directories, and up to sixteen rows.
-
- You may use either the mouse pointer in combination with the left mouse button,
- or the UP, DOWN, RIGHT, and LEFT arrow keys to scroll the directory "window"
- to display different sections of the whole tree spreadsheet, as explained
- below.
-
- To the right of the directory box is another box just under the word "FILES".
- This box lists up to sixteen files in the currently highlighted directory.
- You may use either the mouse pointer in conjunction with the left mouse
- button, or the shifted UP and shifted DOWN arrow keys to scroll through the
- entire list of files in the currently highlighted directory, as explained
- below.
-
- On the display screen, there will always be one directory and one file that
- are highlighted. The highlighted file or directory is understood to be the
- "argument" or "object" of the various commands you can select from the
- keyboard or menus.
-
- Only the first eight (8) characters of directory names are shown in the
- directory box; the full name of the currently highlighted directory is
- displayed to the right of the word "DIRECTORY:" above the directory
- display box.
-
- Only the first twenty-five (25) characters of file names are displayed
- in the FILES box. To see the full file name, select the RENAME/FILE
- option from the ATTRIBUTE menu.
-
- Cursor keys alone move the highlighter in the directory box. Shift/UP
- Shift/DOWN move the highlighter in the files box.
-
- Click left mouse button on any legitimate directory or file and highlighter
- will move to it, skipping over anything between.
-
- Hold left mouse button down and move pointer -- highlighter will follow
- it.
-
- Clicking or holding the left button down with pointer close to the
- edge of either the directory or files boxes will cause display to scroll
- if there is anything to scroll to.
-
- The pointer with button held down functions according to the same rules
- as the cursor keys, no matter where on the edge of the screen the pointer
- is located. The position of the highlighter is what's important. Thus,
- if the highlighter is on a directory at the lower edge of the box
- and the directory has no entries in the same column below it, then no
- matter where you hold the pointer at the lower edge of the box, no
- scrolling will occur. But if you move the highlighter to a directory that
- does have entries in the same column below it, then no matter where you hold
- the pointer along the lower edge of the directory box, it will scroll.
-
- Tag files: Files in a directory can be tagged. The tagged files constitute
- a group that can be operated on as a unit for purposes of copying, moving,
- deleting, archiving, etc. To tag a file, move highlighter to file and press
- space bar (Directories can't be tagged). Once tagged, files remain tagged
- until an operation is performed on them. You thus may move to another
- directory to perform other operations and return later to the directory
- containing tagged files and the files will still be tagged. Tagged files
- are marked with the ">" symbol immediately to their left. You may remove
- the tag from a file by placing the highlighter over the file and pressing
- the space bar.
-
- ******************************************************
- Using the Atree menus:
- ******************************************************
-
- Tree Menu:
-
- Read next: changes the currently displayed directory tree by rotating
- through directory trees previously read into memory. Thus,
- if you have read into memory df0:, df1:, and dh0:, then
- selecting this option will cause the "next" tree to be
- displayed; "next" is determined by the currently displayed
- tree and the order in which the trees were read into memory,
- which, in turn, is determined by the order in which you entered
- the names on the command line.
-
- Get (replace): replaces currently displayed tree with a new one you specify.
-
- Get (new): reads into memory a new tree you specify and displays it. This will
- be a new tree in addition to the others currently read into memory.
- The user can thus read into memory a number of trees limited only
- by available memory after the program has been activated.
-
- Delete: Deletes the currently displayed tree. (You can't delete the
- last or only tree -- there must always be at least one tree).
-
-
- Attribute Menu:
-
- Note: Allows FileNote on highlighted directory/file.
-
- Protection: Allows change of protection status on highlighted directory/
- file.
-
- Rename: Allows renaming of highlighted file/directory.
-
- In all of the above cases, you can select the attribute from the menu
- to see or view the current specification and, if you wish, you can click on the
- string gadget to alter the current specification.
-
- Directory Menu:
-
- Delete: deletes all files in highlighted directory and deletes directory
- if there are no subdirectories.
-
- Make: creates a subdirectory in the highlighted directory.
-
- Mark Destination: Highlighted directory becomes the target or destination
- directory for MOVE and COPY functions. Any function
- requiring a target will not work unless a MARK is set.
-
- Show Destination: In case you have forgotten which directory in which tree
- you have selected, this option will tell you. You will
- however only get an abbreviated representation of the
- complete destination path specification; you will be
- given the name of your "tree top" (what you specified
- in order to read this tree) and the name of the
- directory that is marked as the destination (There may,
- of course, be more than one directory with the same name
- in a given tree, so be careful about your assumptions).
- The complete destination path specification is not given
- for the simple reason that Atree supports up to a depth
- of 65536 directories, each of which can have a name up to
- 40 characters long -- that represents a string of 2,621,440
- characters!
-
- File Menu:
-
- Copy, Move and Delete highlighted, tagged, or all files in currently
- highlighted directories; choices should be obvious.
-
- Archive: Use the Configs menu (see below) to specify the path to your favorite
- archive utility. Then select "Archive" highlighted/tagged/all from the
- FILE menu. You will be presented with a requester asking you to "Enter
- ARC arguments:". You should enter everything here that you want to
- be added to your path spec for your archive utility, except the
- filename -- this will be added automatically by Atree. The filename
- added by Atree depends on whether you slected highlighted, tagged, or all.
-
- To make the above clearer with an example:
-
- Suppose you entered "dh2:utilities/arc" as your path spec in the Configs
- menu for your Archive selection. Suppose you now select Archive/highlighted
- from the FILE menu. You get the requester asking you to enter arc arguments.
- Suppose you enter here, "a newarc". Suppose your highlighted file name is
- "this_file". What will happen now is that Atree will execute the command
- line:
-
- run dh2:utilities/arc a newarc this_file
-
- For my particular version of ARC, the above command line will create an
- archive file, newarc.arc, in the current (highlighted) directory (if it
- doesn't already exist) and then will add "this_file" to it.
-
- Selecting "tagged" or "all" instead of "highlighted" will result in the
- above command line being executed over and over for all appropriate
- files.
-
- Execute: Executes the highlighted file with the RUN command; a command tail
- is requested via a requester and is optional.
-
- Text reader, editor, word processor, IFF displayer and sector editor
- should be obvious, but will not function unless first specified by
- selecting CONFIGS menu. If specs are made in the CONFIGS menu, the program
- specified will execute with the RUN command and with the highlighted file
- as the command tail.
-
- NOTE: It is obvious that the user may alter a directory tree or a file
- in many ways without the memory copy of the tree or file list being
- correspondingly changed. Therefore, through the use of text editors,
- word processors, archive utilities, etc. your memory copy of a tree
- as displayed by Atree at any moment may not correspond to the disk
- it is supposed to represent. The user is advised to update the tree
- by re-reading it using the "Get (replace)" option from the TREE menu.
- Use the same path specification to update your displayed tree to
- keep it in correspondence with the disk it represents.
-
- Configs:
-
- Set Path: A requester allows user to specify a path leading to a text reader,
- editor, word processor, IFF display program, or sector editor (or of course
- any program specified). To use the requester set mouse pointer on selection,
- press left mouse button; if a specification was previously set, it will
- now appear in the string gadget at top of requester, otherwise it will be
- blank. To make new specification, set mouse pointer on string gadget,
- press left mouse button and enter text -- press RETURN. When the
- corresponding selection is made via the FILE menu, the specified program
- will be executed with the RUN command and with the highlighted file as
- the command tail.
-
- Thus, suppose you select "Text Reader" and in the string gadget you
- enter "dh2:utilities/blitz". When you now go to the FILE menu and select
- "Text Reader", Atree will execute the following command line:
-
- Run dh2:utilities/blitz <filename>
-
- where <filename> is the currently highlighted file.
-
- Save: Saves the currently specified paths to text reader, editor etc.
- Current colors are also saved. To change colors, use the TREE menu
- and select "Read new" and specify a path that includes a directory
- containing "preferences". Then select "execute" from the FILE menu.
- change your colors with preferences. Quit preferences and then
- select "save" from the CONFIG menu. The new colors, along with any
- other specifications you have made will be saved. The file, Config.Atree,
- is created in the directory specified by the s: assignment. If you are
- a first time user of Atree, and the Config.Atree file does not exist,
- you will get a prompt upon running Atree telling you "object not found"
- -- click on "continue" and the program will proceed with its
- initialization. Set up your config file per the above instructions
- for future running.
-
-
- **********************************
- Keyboard operation
- **********************************
-
-
- To the right of each menu choice is a key description to allow the function
- to be accessed from the keyboard instead of the menus. Capital letters indicate
- of course that the SHIFT key is to be pressed simultaneously to execute the
- function. F10 refers to SHIFT/function key #10; f10 is unshifted function
- key. the "^" symbol refers to the CONTROL key and must be pressed simul-
- taneously with the indicated key.
-
- The table below outlines the menu selections and the corresponding keyboard
- selections:
-
-
- Tree Menu
- Read next Esc
- Get (replace) =
- Get (new) +
- Erase -
-
- Attribute Menu
- Note/file n
- Note/directory N
- Protext/file p
- Protect/directory P
- Rename/file r
- Rename/directory R
-
- Directory Menu
- Delete (no key)
- Make (no key)
- Mark Destination (no key)
- Show destination (no key)
-
- File Menu
- Copy/highlighted c
- Copy/tagged C
- Copy/all ^c
- Delete/highlighted d
- Delete/tagged D
- Delete/all ^d
- Move/highlighted m
- Move/tagged M
- Move/all ^m
- Archive/highlighted a
- Archive/tagged A
- Archive/all ^a
- Execute f1
- TextReader f2
- TextEditor f3
- WordProcessor f4
- IFFDisplayer f5
- SectorEditor f6
-
- Configs Menu
- SetPaths s
- SetBuffer S
- Save ^s
-
-
- *********************************
- Future Enhancements:
- *********************************
-
- The following enhancements to the program are in process and will be included
- in the next available revision:
-
- 1. Prune -- allow for deletion of all files and directories from highlighted
- directory down -- like pruning a large branch from a tree.
-
- 2. Graft -- add to a tree starting at destination marker a given segment of a
- tree; all subdirectories and their files.
-
- 3. Go to destination -- Allow user to switch the display to the currently marked
- destination tree and directory.
-
- 4. Set place marker -- several of these will be allowed permitting the user to
- mark several places in various trees and later return to them instantly.
-
- 5. Go to place marker -- any of the several above, if set.
-
- 6. Read (replace) from here down -- alternative to "get (replace)". Allows
- user to specify and read a portion of a tree from the currently highlighted
- directory (a large branch, in other words).
-
- 7. Read (new) from here down -- alternative to "get (new)". Reads a large
- branch of a displayed tree as a new tree.
-
- 8. Get disk info -- display free space, volume name, etc.
-
- 9. Display total bytes in all files in a directory.
-
- 10. Update memory copy of disk tree by:
-
- a. Allowing user to re-read files in a single directory.
-
- b. Automatic check and update of files for ARC, Text Editor, etc.
-
- 11. Allow moving and copying files with preservation of original datestamp.
-
- 12. Allow user to see total bytes in tagged files.
-
- 13. Do auto check before move and copy to see if there is enough disk space.
-
- 14. Allow user to search for files in a tree, or all trees.
-
- a. allow specific search pattern.
-
- b. allow wildcards, etc.
-
- 15. Allow copy, move, delete to/for a directory specified by the user via
- a requester; user should not always have to read a tree into memory
- in order to copy, move, delete files from it.
-
- 16. Allow user to sort files in directories by date, size, or name.
-
- 17. Allow user to see how much memory Atree has allocated to hold the
- trees user has read into memory and to display amount of system memory
- still available.
-
- 18. Provide support for more utilities to be specified in the CONFIGS menu
- (zoo, pak, etc.).
-
- 19. Allow use of Atree from the Workbench.
-
- 20. Allow user to set a filespec for display, e.g. display only files with
- ".doc" extension, etc.
-
- Whether or not work continues on this program may depend on how well
- received the program is by the general public. How well received the
- program is will be measured by the number of persons sending money.
-
-