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1991-06-22
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Truth In Advertising!
True Date Conversion Utility
For Archive Files
R E V I S I O N 1 . 1 4
written by Bill Auclair
Copyright (C) 1991 XanSoft Development
All Rights Reserved
NOTICE:
This software is offered as Shareware. It may be freely used and
distributed, as long as all files within the package are complete
and unmodified. If you find this program useful, a contribution
in the amount of $10 may be sent to the author at this address:
Bill Auclair
XanSoft Development, Inc.
13-1 Ridge Rd.
Naugatuck, CT 06770
If this package is used within a corporate or government environment,
the contribution should be considered a requirement. The $10 contribution
entitles the sender to complete source code, and free program updates as
they are written.
Files within this package:
TIA.EXE - The TIA True Date Conversion utility.
TIA.DOC - The documentation file you're reading now.
DISCLAIMER:
Users of this software do so at their own risk. The author is not
liable for damages of any kind arising from the operation, or failure
to operate, of TIA. Damages include, but are not limited to, loss or
erasure of any files, archived or unarchived.
Truth In Advertising! - 2 -
WHAT IS TIA?
Have you ever downloaded or file-requested a file with an interesting
name or description, only to discover after you de-archived it on your
system that it dated back to the "prehistoric" age of personal computing
(pre-1985)? I have. That's the main reason why I wrote this utility.
TIA will search for ARCed, PAKed, ARJed, ZIPed & LHARCed files in a
directory, regardless of file extension. When it finds a file meeting
its search criteria, it will read the contents of the archive header,
noting file sizes and datestamps. TIA will use this information to
change the datestamp of the archive file to that of the NEWEST, OLDEST
or LARGEST file contained within. Time/datestamp selection criteria are
defined via command-line switches.
This means that the datestamp of any archive file processed with
TIA will correspond to the creation date of one or all of the files
contained within the archive, letting downloaders and FREQers know if
they're getting a late-model program or yesterday's news.
That's what I call "Truth In Advertising"....
WHAT TIA CAN BE USED FOR:
TIA.EXE can be used by BBS sysops to perform a "one-shot" conversion to
"true dated" archive files. The program can also be run from a batch
file to periodically convert any new archive files received to a
"true date" status. TIA may defeat the purpose of certain "new files"
utilities that rely on file datestamps to indicate recent uploads to
a bulletin board system. It's best to experiment to see if this is the
case with your setup.
Truth In Advertising! - 3 -
USING TIA:
TIA supports parameter-passing via the command line. The following
are examples of valid command line syntax:
TIA
No parameters. Generates a help screen.
TIA [<-date switch><hour min sec>]
where <-date switch> is one of the following command-line switches:
-N Use datestamp of NEWEST file within the original archive.
-O Use datestamp of OLDEST file within the original archive.
-L Use datestamp of LARGEST file within the original archive.
where <hour min sec> is a user-specified timestamp value to be attached
to each processed archive file. Attachment of this stamp is necessary
to avoid re-processing the same archive files each time TIA.EXE is run.
The program will examine each archive file's time stamp and will not
process the file if timestamp values match those specified on the
command line. There is a VERY slim chance (1 in 43200) that an
unprocessed archive file will have the same time stamp as that specified
on the command line, but with those kind of odds, it's not much to worry
about. The default time stamp is 11:28:58, which does not have to be
entered on the command line.
NOTE: Datestamp resolution is 2 seconds, which means that if you want
to reprocess files for any reason, you'll have to change the
datestamp value originally specified on the command line by at
least 2 seconds.
Truth In Advertising! - 4 -
USING THE TIA ENVIRONMENTAL VARIABLE
TIA can be run in auto-processing mode by using the DOS SET command to
create a pointer to the subdirectory where BBS configuration files can
be found. TIA now supports auto-search of Opus 1.0x/1.1x, Maximus and
T.A.G. BBS configuration files, using the download directory as specified
within these files. The TIA environmental variable may be set from the
DOS command line, or from within the AUTOEXEC.BAT file, using the
following syntax:
SET TIA=D:\Path
where D:\Path is the subdirectory in which BBS configuration files are
stored. TIA will automatically process all subdirectories defined in
configuration files. If the TIA variable is not found, processing will
be confined to the current subdirectory. A trailing backslash (\) is
not required. NOTE: Make sure you are not within a DOS shell when
setting the environmental variable, as it will "disappear" when you
return to the primary command processor!
SKIPPING AUTO-PROCESSING FOR CERTAIN SUBDIRECTORIES
There may be certain subdirectories defined within your BBS configuration
files that you wish not to be processed. To get TIA to skip these areas
during auto-processing, use the COPY command to create a file named
SKIP.TIA in each subdirectory you wish to bypass, using the syntax below:
COPY CON SKIP.TIA (press ENTER)
(type a few random characters and press ENTER)
(press CTRL/Z and then press ENTER)
ATTENTION BBS PROGRAM DEVELOPERS! If you wish to include auto-processing
of your program's configuration files as a feature in TIA, please send
the necessary header structure codes to FidoNet node 1:141/545, or use
the U.S. Mail address listed at the beginning of this document.
INSTALLATION STEPS:
1. Install TIA.EXE in the DOS subdirectory of your choice. Make sure
the directory is included in your DOS path.
Truth In Advertising! - 5 -
REVISION HISTORY:
5/5/89: Version 1.00-- first public release of TIA.
7/1/89: Version 1.01-- got rid of a few nasty bugs, including one
which caused TIA to generate strange date stamps on archive
files unable to be processed correctly (bad archive, etc.)
Thanks to Don Dawson of 1:141/730 for his debugging efforts.
5/19/90: Version 1.10-- Eliminated the need for a "work" directory--
TIA now gets file size/datestamp info directly from the
archive header, without de-archiving files. Dropped support
for .ZOO files, due to ZOO's somewhat quirky archive header
structure. Improved archive recognition subroutine-- TIA will
now recognize archives regardless of extension.
7/15/90: Version 1.10a-- Fixed a nasty little bug that was causing TIA
to lock up when attempting to read the headers of .ZIP files
created with PKZIP's "verification" option. Many thanx to
Bob Davis at 1:106/114 for reporting this one.
3/2/91: Version 1.12-- Added support for ARJ and LHA archives. Fixed
a bug that was causing TIA to use compressed, rather than
original, file sizes when calculating date stamps for .ARC
and .PAK archives when the -L datestamp option was chosen.
Added support for I/O redirection.
6/22/91: Version 1.14-- Added auto-processing functions and support for
Opus, Maximus and T.A.G. BBS programs. Also added capability
to skip auto-processing for certain subdirectories through use
of the SKIP.TIA flag file. Added support for ARJ and LHA(rc)
archive utilities.
Please send all compliments, criticism, advice and bug reports to:
Bill Auclair
Xanadu BBS
FidoNet Node 1:141/545.0