ASP Advantage 1994 2nd Q2

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Text File | 1993-11-14 | 15.3 KB | 332 lines

TBOX (V1.4) by The Binary Toolshed REGISTRATION ($30.00) ************************************************************** * * * FOR THOSE WHO NEVER READ DOCUMENTATION, NO MATTER HOW * * BENEFICIAL, JUST PROCEED IMMEDIATELY TO THE QUIZ AT THE * * END OF THIS FILE. * * * ************************************************************** The ToolBOX is a DOS shell plus an assortment of utility programs to simplify and enhance your DOS activities. Whether you're a novice or an experienced DOS user, you'll find a wealth of uses for these tools. The shell is a simple to use platform for all your DOS needs. You can use it as a simple directory display, for file management, as a point-and-shoot vehicle for viewing text or graphics files or for listening to sound files, or whatever other file processing needs you may have. The ToolBOX is a great platform for tying together all the individual programs you already have access to. And it's all easy to use; for example: o if you want to change directories, just type in the new directory name - that's right, just close your eyes and type it. No prior selection required. You can also enter any valid DOS command line. o one of the many possible uses is for decompressing all the compressed files that we all deal with. Take a minute or two setting up as per the enclosed instructions and then use the ToolBOX as the platform to UNZIP (or UNPAK or whatever), view the documentation files, start (even auto-start) the embedded programs, and so on, and NEVER have to cleanup files afterward. You also have access to all the standard features you'd expect to see: adjustable screen sizes, reusable command stack, reduces to negligible size when running other programs, help system, configurable, and so on. And many unique features such as ready access to the most recently entered directories, a split screen for simultaneously showing a directory display and the standard 25 DOS lines, and the ability to select files from the directory display and then integrate these selections into any desired DOS command line. And this usability is carried throughout the balance of these programs. For example, after the first use the TREE program doesn't re-read the directories unless it detects a change has just occurred. For the text VIEW program just enter the string you want to search for (that's right, again just close your eyes and enter the desired search string, no prior preparation required). And so on through all the utilities. The following provides a quick summary of the utilities provided: BTSPATCH A utility to quickly set the preferred default command line arguments for each of the Binary Toolshed programs. DIRS Ever need to know where all your disk space is allocated or how much space is really being used by each of your applications - then use DIRS. It displays cumulative disk space totals for a directory and all of its descendants. DRIVES Do you always know which logical drives are assigned and the space allocation on each. If not, DRIVES can help. It displays disk drive parameters for all assigned drives including drive types, volume names, capacities, and the available free space. MAKEBAT Do you find it necessary to perform repetitive DOS operations on multiple files within a directory. Use MAKEBAT. It can eliminate the need to manually create such batch files. ONPATH Need to know if a file is accessible on the DOS PATH, or which one has precedence if multiple such files exist - ONPATH will tell you. TOASCII Utility to convert text files that use the extended IBM PC character set (such as The Binary Toolshed documents) to use the standard 95 printable ASCII characters. TREE Provides a graphic display of the directory tree structure. The user can cursor through this structure to change directories or examine file contents. VIEW Text viewer, or browser, for displaying the contents of text files. WI A WHEREIS program. Like most such programs, WI finds files anywhere on the disk drive(s) that correspond to a match specification. WI, however, has a powerful additional feature - it can perform any desired DOS operation on the selected file(s). You can copy it, delete it, view it, change directories to it, start an application with it, or whatever. And the match specification can involve file types, date ranges, file sizes, or multiple file specifications (with include or exclude lists). TBOXCFG With ToolBOX, virtually everything is configurable - the colors, display formats, key bindings, and so on. The TBOXCFG program creates configuration files that are used by ToolBOX. All of these programs are detailed in the accompanying documentation (*.DOC) files: GENERAL Provides an overview of all of The Binary Toolshed programs along a packing list, system requirement specification, installation instructions, sample file usage, glossary, and a brief Q&A session. ORDRINFO Warranty, support, and order information. TBOX The ToolBOX program description. TBOXCFG ToolBOX Configuration program description. UTILS Descriptions of all utility programs. These programs will run on any IBM PC compatible with at least 256KB, and DOS 3.0 or higher. Proceed now to the GENERAL.DOC file to get up and running as quickly as possible. *********************** * * * QUIZ QUESTIONS * * * *********************** 1) Q How do you move the new VBRUN400.DLL file you just received to the right new directory A Enter the DOS command line: WI VBRUN300.DLL : COPY VBRUN400.DLL $p This searches for the prior version of the file on the current drive and then copies the new file to the same directory. 2) Q You typed WP like usual but it's not running WordPerfect like you expect. How do you find out what's going on. A Enter the DOS command line: ONPATH WP This searches all your PATH directories (in order) for any matches with the WP.* file specification. Note the command isn't restricted to searching for just executables, nor is it restricted to the PATH set variable. 3) Q For whatever reason, you need to scan the contents of all the README files on all your drives. A Enter the DOS command line: WI *:README : VIEW $f As one would expect, this searches every (HARD) drive for files matching the README.* file specification. Each such file found is opened for viewing with the supplied text viewing utility VIEW. Use <ESC> or <ALT q> to exit from each text file. 4) Q You're on a strange system (or you've just forgotten) and you need to find out what the currently available drives are. A Enter the DOS command line: DRIVES Displays not only the available drive letters, but their volume names, capacities, etc. 5) Q You want to find out how much disk space each of your applications is really taking. DIRS \ /L2 This displays the total space used by the first 2 levels of directories off your drive root, including the accumulated space of all the embedded subdirectories. You'll probably be surprised by the disk capacity used by disk hungry programs such as MS Windows. 6) Q What's the quickest way to move to the directory where the Windows fonts reside. A Enter the DOS command line: WI *:*.ttf -C This searches all of the known hard drives for one of the font files (known to have a TTF extension). The -C specifies that we should change to the directory where the first occurrence is found. 7) Q Give me an example of what these utilities are uniquely suited to do. A Start the TBOX program, then cursor to and use <SPACE> key to select various files in the directory display. These should be files you don't care much about; use COPY to create some super- fluous files if you have to. Now just enter the DOS command: RENAME <CTRL f> <CTRL x>.<CTRL n> Note <CTRL f> is entered with the CTRL and f key, and no brackets. This is equivalent to $f for the command line utilities such as WI. Now the RENAME command is executed once for each selected file where <CTRL f> represents the selected files entire name, <CTRL n> the name portion, and <CTRL x> the extension. That's right, you just renamed all the selected files by reversing the name and extension portions. Admittedly this is rather silly, but it serves to show how one can integrate directory selection with DOS commands. You can use this facility for functions the ToolBOX knows nothing about; changing file attributes, compiling files, dumping files to hex, converting files to another format, doing file compares (FC) with files in another directory, and so on. 8) Q How do I find out how much space all my Lotus 123 files are using. A Enter the DOS command: WI *:*.WK* This searches all your drives and displays the total space occupied by files matching the *.WK* match string. Obviously we could have instead looked for database files, programming source files, word processing documents and so on. And we could have specified further restrictions such as above or below a certain file size, or those modified before or after a given date. 9) Q You want to use <ALT p> with the command line utilities, but you don't know why. A Come on, we can't tell you everything here - there has to be some benefit for those who read the manual. 10)Q OK, you're convinced at least enough to try the ToolBOX - at least for the typical 2 minutes we all typically take to evaluate a new package. What should you know to maximize this joyful experience: A A few quick pointers: o before starting, expand the SAMPLE.EXE file, then add the current directory to your PATH or copy all of the enclosed .EXE and .BAT files to a directory on your PATH. The TBX--xxx.BAT files will control how point-and-shoot operations are carried out. Typically each contains a single line consisting of the appropriate program name (for files with the .xxx extension) and a %1 which will represent the selected file. These should already be setup for demonstrating compression programs you already have on your PATH (whether you are using ZIP, PAK, LZH, and so on), but you must make a C:\EMPTY directory to hold the temporary files. If you want to point-and-shoot for WAV, GIF, PCX, MID, or whatever, then edit or create the associated TBX--xxx.BAT file and ensure the appropriate DOS program is specified to handle that file type. o start TBOX. Use <ALT 5> or <ALT 4> to select 50 or 43 display lines respectively. o now just enter DOS commands, or directory names at any time. If the DOS information scrolls past, then use <F10> to see the DOS screen, or <F9> to cause a permanent split between the directory and DOS windows. Hit the <INSERT> key to recall previously entered commands for editting. o use space to select files from the directory display, or <ALT space> for all files with the same extension, or <CTRL space> for all files. To cancel the selection, just re- select. o to use the selected files in any DOS command, insert <CTRL f> at the appropriate point in the command line; or you might just wish to use just the name <CTRL n> or extension portions <CTRL x> of the selected files. You can also use the built-in file management operations on these selections: e.g. delete <CTRL d>, rename <CTRL r>, and copy <CTRL c>. o you can cursor through the directory display and point-and- shoot at selected files - whether to move to a new directory, start a program, display the contents of text or doc files, or use the other operations setup above. For example, if you point and select a .ZIP file, it should be expanded into the C:\EMPTY directory, where the current directory is also repositioned. Now examine the expanded files at will - look at the text files, start the programs, look at the graphics files, or whatever. When done, enter the <+> on the keypad and you'll automatically be placed back where the .ZIP file came from. Select another .ZIP file and you'll note the previously expanded contents were automatically removed. This completes our quick list of suggestions. Feel free to experiment and try whatever you wish. If you are now using VIEW for the first time (such as when starting with the STRTHERE.BAT file), then enter the <ESC> key to stop or <ALT m> to specify a match specification for new files to examine. As for all Binary Toolshed programs, use <F1> for help information. We hope that you enjoy all that we have to offer. ************************ * * * SPECIAL OFFER * * * ************************ As a special offer, those who register this Version V1.4, will receive not only a registered copy of this version, but will automatically receive the V2.0 release expected for early 94. As a minimum, it will contain mouse support, real Unix style wildcard support, wrapped text and hex file displays (with unlimited sizes), and much much more. So register now. And register often. The Binary Toolshed