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CF VERSION 0.9X CF TUTORIAL =========== ASSUMPTIONS ----------- This tutorial assumes that: (a) You have unpacked CF.ZIP and have managed to get CF up and running. (b) You are running it on an 80x25 colour screen. (c) You have a method of using CF and reading this text at the same time. (You can, of course, print this document and refer to the listing while running CF on your computer.) (d) While running CF, for the purposes of this tutorial, you are using the issued CF.INI file, or at least have no exotic parameters configured. In particular, I have assumed that a "recognise .cf" line is present in your CF.INI file so that you do NOT have to type the .CF extension when these files are accessed in the tutorial. (e) You have unpacked CFTUTOR.ZIP into a temporary directory and have made that directory the default directory. INTRODUCTION ------------ I wrote CF while working on a large piece of software called ProvuII (pronounced "proview two") and, hereinafter, refer to this software as P2. The need for CF arose because P2 was developed on a number of different machines and has well over two hundred modules. Many of th example .CF files are connected with this project. EXAMPLE ONE ----------- The first example illustrates that CF can be used to keep your hard disk clean. Type: CF DRIVE-F After a period of activity, you will see a typical CF screen. This is a complete list of the files that I have on my "F:" drive. Press "?". Apart from detailing the available and used memory, it shows you the number of files and total bytes of each file "set". (In this case, of course, there is only one set - the files from DRIVE-F.) Note that, in the line that shows how many files are in each "mode", there is an item that says "Dup:3". This means that, on my F: drive, there are three files that are in more than one place. You can use this fact to "clean up" you hard disks. I usually find that I have more than one copy of system commands (SORT, MODE, PRINT and so on) in different directories on my "path". Using the "Dup files" mode is a good way to find out where they are. Press RETURN and then TAB twice. This should take you to a screen that says "Dup files" in the top left hand corner. It shows those three files that I mentioned. Well, let's look in more detail at AB.ZIP. From this screen, I can see straight away that I've got TWO copies of it - in the bottom right hand corner, just under the "1/3" that tells us that the cursor is on the first of three files, is "1/2" which tells us that the current copy is the first of two. The text in the bottom left hand corner tells us that the latest (in a later section, I'll show that "latest" may have NOTHING to do with a file's date and time) copy is in F:\ARC\APPS. We can step through the duplicate entries for this file by pressing SPACE. Do so, now. As well as the date and time changing at the bottom of the screen, it now tells us that the second copy is in F:\Z. (On my machines, I tend to have a few temporary directories on EVERY drive. F:\Z is one of them.) Also, the "1/2" has changed to "2/2" since this is the second copy of two. I keep referring to these two "copies" of AB.ZIP, but it's clear that they are NOT true copies - the date, time and sizes all differ. By the way, the text in parenthesis after the date and time of copy two ("2/2") shows HOW different this copy is relative to the latest. In this case, the second copy is 192010 bytes LARGER than the latest copy (if it had been SMALLER, the "+" would've been replaced by a "-"), and nearly two days older. If you keep pressing the SPACE key, you'll end up cycling through all duplicate files until you end up at the latest again. In this case, of course, you just end up toggling between two files. In the case of AB.ZIP, we have two files, with the same name, that are completely different from each other (although YOU can't tell this just from this directory listing). If you now press the DOWN ARROW key, you'll come to SIO.C. This file, in F:\MSD\CJPI, is a 'C' source file destined for the JPI (TopSpeed) 'C' compiler. Press SPACE and you'll come to the other copy (and this time, it really IS a copy) that has been slightly altered to run under an old version of the Zortech 'C' compiler. Ok, that's all for the first example, so let's try something more ambitious. Press ESCAPE to get out of CF. EXAMPLE TWO ----------- This example, introduces the REAL purpose of CF and that is to COMPARE directories. Enter CF RESOURCE P2RES This time, we have TWO file sets. P2 has it's menu system specified via a file built from "source" files that are edited with a program we wrote called the "Resource Compiler". The first file set is from a directory called D:\RESOURCE and that's where I do development of the latest version of the P2 menu system. The other file set, this time from an archive called P2RES.ZIP, is a backup of D:\RESOURCE. So, how up-to-date is the .ZIP file? Well, I suppose what I'm interested in here, is the files that are different in the two file sets. Press TAB twice and you'll see "Diff files" in the top left hand corner. We now see the files that are different for one of two reasons; either the date, time or size differ, or one of the file sets does not have the file. In this case, we can see that four BUGS*.DOC files only appear in D:\RESOURCE and two P2*.DOC files only appear in P2RES. In fact, what actually happened was that I renamed the P2BUGS1.DOC as BUGS-P2A.DOC, P2BUGS2.DOC as BUGS- P2B.DOC - BUGS-ALL.DOC and BUGS-P2C.DOC are new files created between the time the last backup was done and the time the directory listing was taken. The other six "different" files really ARE different. Basically, they've just been altered as a result of the development work I was doing. You can always find the files that do NOT appear in at least one file set by selecting "Only files". In this case, press TAB again, and you should see them. Because of the attributes used to select files, it is clear that certain relationships hold with reference to the NUMBER of files in each group. For example, the number of "Same files" plus the number of "Diff files" should equal the number of "All files", because different and same are mutually exclusive. In the same way, the number of "Only files" plus the "Name files" also equal the number of "All files". Again, press ESCAPE to exit CF. (In future, I'll assume you've the sense to do this, without prompting for me, after each example is complete.) EXAMPLE THREE ------------- Our package, P2, comes on three high-density diskettes. Clearly, when I build each release's master disks, I must make sure that I don't miss any files out, or give users old copies of files. To this end, after I've created each release, I keep a directory listing of the three diskettes I issue and, when creating later release diskettes, compare them before handing them over to administration. This example demonstrates this process. The 1V*.CF files represents three issues of P2. Namely, 1.04, 1.05 and 1.05a. (The "V" in each file name is meant to represent the decimal point, like in the COBOL PICTURE clause.) So, type this CF -C 1V04* -C 1V05-* -C 1V05A* Be careful about the "-" in "1V05-*" because, if you miss it out, the second file set will include BOTH 1.05 release listings. Also, make sure you remember the "-C"s. If you don't, you'll get three file sets with three files in each; instead of READING the .CF files, CF will log the DETAILS of the .CF files. Not quite the same thing... (You might like to try the command WITHOUT the "-C" parameters, first, to see what I mean.) Have a play with CF at this point, and get a feel for the meanings of the different file sets. Earlier in this text, I said I'd mention what the "latest" file was and that it did NOT necessarily mean that the file had the latest date and time. Looking at the screen before you, this IS true. But CF can be run in a mode where it IGNORES certain attributes of a file for the purposes of high-lighting files as the "latest". In the default mode, CF uses date, time then size, in that order. So if two files have the same date and time, CF arbitrarily assumes that the file with the LARGEST size is the latest. In general this is true; as development continues, files tend to get bigger rather than smaller. In the default mode, in the three file sets on the screen, the latest files will be in the right hand set because this set was created AFTER the other two. However, CF can be run in a mode where only the file SIZE dictates whether a file is high-lighted or not. To see how this works, type the following (if you have a command editor, just exit CF, recall the command that started it and append "-IDT" onto the command and run it again): CF -C 1V04* -C 1V05-* -C 1V05A* -IDT The "-IDT" makes CF ignore (the "-I" bit) dates and times ("DT"). Press PAGE DOWN and look at the entry for MENUFILE.MNU. This file contains the menus, help text and message text, for P2, in a "compiled" format. Note that the "latest" version is the one in the 1.04 file set. Why? Well, look at the SIZE of the file. Between version 1.04 and 1.05 of P2, we altered the method of "compilation" to create a more compact menu file, so the size of the menu file went DOWN between these releases. Mind you, in the NEXT version, we must have added more to the file, because the size has gone back up again. Note also that the 1.05 version is "low-lighted". This means that it is the earliest (in this case, SMALLEST) file of the three. While we are on this page, not that the font down-loader, LOADFONT.EXE, went DOWN in size as well - God knows why... Keep typing TAB until "Only files" comes up. Just one file, POINTS.TSK, is shown. That's because I we decided to omit this file from later releases of P2. Type a couple more TABs and you will be at the "Low files" files screen. Because there are just three file sets in this example, it should be obvious that these are the ONLY three files, out of the 137 files present, that had different sizes for EACH of the three releases. Therefore, all of the other files must have only changed size at most once. EXAMPLE FOUR ------------ As I have said before, P2 is comprised of many modules and, as a result, I don't have much space on my C: drive. P2 is written in JPI (TopSpeed) Modula-2 (so is CF) and, to ensure I'm not wasting space on my hard disk, I wanted to check that each .MOD (program source) file had a corresponding .OBJ file. How to do this, then? The answer, as if you hadn't guessed, is to use CF. The file MOD.CF contains a directory listing of all of the .MOD files for P2, and OVL.CF is a list of all the .OBJ files from the directory where I link the .EXE. Now, in this case, I don't want CF to create a line for each file NAME, I want it to build a line for each file ROOT (that is, the part of the file name EXCLUDING the extension). As before, in the previous example, I want to ignore something, so we use the "-I" parameter, but this time followed by "E". This will make CF ignore file extensions. Also, I've stuck a "-MO" on the end of the command line. This will make CF enter the mode "Only files" after it has loaded the file information. This will show me all files for which there is a .MOD without a .OBJ, or vice versa. So, do this: CF MOD OVL -IE -MO The screen shows some files on the left which has no corresponding entry on the right. In the case of ALARMLOZ, this is because ALARMLOZ is a stand- alone test program that I haven't had any need for; so, I haven't compiled it. And, of course, there are files that appear on the right but not on the left. For example, ASCII has no .MOD. The reason is that ASCII is a JPI- supplied "library" file and the .OBJ is picked up, by the compiler, from another directory. Before we move on, try this: use TAB to get to "Name files" mode - you'll see a warning message. CF usually, when in "Name files" mode, shows a screen with each line holding different versions of the same file. However, when using the "-IE" parameter, the file names are NOT the same. Only the file root is used to distinguish "Name files". In this example, since the files on the right are generated, via the JPI Modula-2 compiler, FROM the files on the left, the latest files are ALL in the right hand set. Finally, use the RIGHT ARROW to move the cursor from the left set to the right, and note the file name, at the bottom left hand corner of the screen, change from AHANDATA.MOD to AHANDATA.OBJ. The REAL file name is ALWAYS shown at this position. It is needed, of course, because the entry at the left hand end of the AHANDATA line just says "AHANDATA". In most cases, when using extension ignore mode, the high- and low-lighting convey no useful information. This is because you are NOT comparing files of the same name - only the same file name ROOT. You can, again using an "-I" parameter, make CF ignore dates, times AND file sizes. If you do this, you will get NO high-lighting at all. You can try this, if you like. Pop back to MS-DOS, and edit the last command you typed to say this: CF MOD OVL -IEDTS -MN (Note the "-MN" to get into "Name files" mode.) And, viola!, no high- lighting... EXAMPLE FIVE ------------ For each P2 I generate, I have a .EXE file, fifty (yes, FIFTY) .Onn overlay files and a .OLM overlay map. As well as the normal P2, it comes in a "text" version (P2 is a hi res graphics SCADA program) called P2T. In this example, I have two file sets; each is a directory listing of a complete P2 program. One is version 1.05a and the other is 1.05b. Quite often, I'm interested in the file size differences between the two - if the later version has any files are substantially larger than the previous version, it could be that I've forgotten something. For example, I may have left diagnostic code in, compiled with debug options enabled, or just declared some large global variables. So, let's compare these two programs: CF P2-1V05A P2-1V05B -IDT -MD I've added the "-DT" because the files in P2-1V05B will ALL be later than the ones in P2-1V05A; '5B is, after all, a later version of the same program. The "-MD" is just to get us straight to the "Diff files" mode. Since we are only high-lighting files ny sizes, you can see straight away that some files are smaller in the later version and some larger. In general, I've found that the overlays can alter be one or two paragraphs (a paragraph is sixteen bytes long)when the code has NOT changed; I assume that it's to do with changes in external data structures, or something. Anyway, the result is that not ALL the size differences are significant. The way to find out the large changes is to run the cursor down the NON-high- lighted files. That way, you get to see the size (as well as the date and time) differences in parenthesis - any small size differences are obvious, and you can concentrate on finding out why you have any larger differences that you can't account for. If you type a RIGHT ARROW, to place the cursor over the right hand file set, you'll see what I mean. While overlays .O01 and .O02 are significantly different in size, .O03 and .O04 are not. EXAMPLE SIX ----------- This example show the use of the "Set n files" mode. I have, in this example, three file sets. The first is from a floppy disk. The second is a listing of the complete P2 development directory. The last is a .ZIP listing of my backup archive. The problem is to find out the state of the files on the diskette. Are they current files? Are they backed up? Try this: CF DRIVE-A P2-SRC P2WORK This obvious way to see the status of the diskette (set one) files, is to just keep paging down in "All files" mode. If you try this with this example, you'll find it a tedious process - the other sets just have too many files in to make it easy to get to the diskette files. So, instead, press BACKTAB (that is, SHIFT + TAB). This selects ONLY those files that appear in file set one, the diskette files. Immediatly, you can see that ALL the files on the diskette are current and backed up. Simple, isn't it? CONCLUSION ---------- I hope you've found this "tutorial" enlightening. I say again, the best way to get to know ANY software is to USE it. I think you'll find the more that you use CF, the more uses you will find for it. Mark Davis.