Boston 2/boston-2.iso/DOS/HILFEN/TOOLS/DIRECTOR/DIRREV.DOC

Text File | 1993-12-01 | 15KB | 360 lines

                     What's New in Version 2.0 of DL.EXE




         Previous versions of DL allowed directory names of eight
         characters.  Version 2.0 allows for a full 12 characters.

         When making a new directory in DL, the new directory is now
         highlighted.

         When searching for a file in DL, you can specify that DL skips
         to the next directory to continue its search.

         When searching for a file, DL previously loaded up DB sorted by
         filename.  Now DB shows the files as they appear on the disk
         (not sorted).

         DL now shows hidden directories and gives you the ability
         to hide and unhide them,

         In DL F9 gets you a UTIL menu where you can

         1 Print the Directory List
         2 Hide or Unhide directories
         3 Get Information about DB

         The loading of DL and the screen I/O are a little faster.






                      What's New in Version 2.50 of DL.EXE



         DL now works with partitions larger than 32 MB in DOS 4.XX
         and Compaq DOS 3.31.  Because of the size of the file allocation
         table in these large partitions, DL will need at least 140 KB of
         memory to run when using large disk partitions.

         DL now comes with a configuration program, DLCONFIG.EXE.  You can
         use DLCONFIG to modify DL to run in black and white and change the
         way it prints the directory tree.

         DL.EXE will now work in 43 line EGA mode and 50 line VGA mode.

         DOS 2.XX will not allow you to rename a directory.  When previous
         versions of DL were run under DOS 2.XX and you tried to rename a
         directory, you got an error message saying that your entry was
         incorrect.  This has been fixed.  In version 2.50 of DL, it says
         "Not Avail" under the menu choice "Rename Dir", when running under
         DOS 2.XX.






                     What's New in Version 2.0 of DB.EXE



         After printing a file list, DB now does a form feed.

         If the target disk is full, DB will stop copying or moving
         and will no longer scroll through the directory entries beeping.

         There was a bug in DB where it might sometimes give an extra
         directory entry after performing a copy or move, that has been
         fixed.

         When DB sorts by date, the most recent files are now displayed
         first.

         DB now supports command line switches for different sorts.
         "/e"  sort by extension.
         "/d"  sort by date.
         "/s"  sort by size.
         "/u"  unsorted

         DB how shows the System attribute.

         PGDN now goes all the way to the last file.

         In DB F9 gets you a UTIL menu where you can
         1 Print File List
         2 Print File Text
         3 Change Attributes
         4 Get Information about DB

         In DB if when copying or moving to another drive, if you don't
         specify a directory, it will copy or move to the current
         directory.

         You can now print a file list or file text when using DOS 2.XX

         DB uses DOS calls to perform all its file work.  Therefore it will
         not be able to delete or copy or rename a file with characters not
         recognized by DOS. In earlier versions, if you tried to delete a
         file with illegal characters in the name, the file name was
         removed from the display even though the file was not deleted.  In
         version 2.0, if the file cannot be deleted, the file name will
         remain on the screen.





                     What's New in Version 2.0 of DB.EXE



         In version 1.0 of DB, if a file list was being printed and the
         printer became inoperative, you would get a disk-error message.
         In version 2.0, if the printer goes off-line, DB will just abort
         the printing operation and not give you an error message.

         Version 1.0 of DB used DOS's print spooler to do file printing.
         As it turned out, this was not such a good idea.  When printing a
         file, DB spawned DOS's program PRINT.COM.  When you finished
         working in DB, PRINT.COM, being a memory resident program, stayed
         in memory in the space above the top of DB thereby partitioning
         your memory and making it impossible to get to the memory above
         PRINT.COM.  Version 2.0 uses simple bios commands to print a file.
         Though this not as convenient; you now have to wait while your
         document is printed before doing anything else, at least you won't
         have to reboot your computer to run any program larger than 128k.

         In DB if you don't have a mouse and mouse driver installed, there
         won't be a scroll bar in the view and you will be able to view 80
         columns of text. If you do have a mouse installed, you will first
         have a scroll bar in the view section and have 78 columns of text.
         You can remove the scroll bar and view 80 columns of text by
         pressing F9 or clicking on Scroll Bar.  Subsequent presses of F9
         or clicks on scroll bar will toggle the scroll bar on and off.

         The screen I/O routines in DB have been rewritten for greater
         speed.

         You have the ability to change a files name when copying and
         moving though I didn't make it clear in the original
         documentation. In version 2 if the path you entered is ambiguous,
         DB will query you before changing the file's name.







                     What's New in Version 2.50 of DB.EXE


         DB now comes with a configuration program called DBCONFIG.EXE.
         By running this program you can install your favorite text editor
         or word processor in DB and change many of DB's defaults.

         When a text editor is installed, pressing ^Enter will load the
                text editor and the highlighted file.

         Against my better judgement but by popular demand, DB will now run
         programs.  You can run any highlighted BAT, COM or EXE program by
         pressing ^X or picking Execute from the UTIL menu.

         DB will now run in EGA 43 line mode and VGA 50 line mode.




                     What's New in Version 2.53 of DB.EXE

         DB works more like DIR in that it will accept a filename on the
         command line.  For instance, DB *.exe will display all the files
         in the current directory with the EXE extension.






                             What is DIRECTOR?
                                    OR
              What's New in Versions 3.0 of DL.EXE and DB.EXE

        I'm a programmer not a marketing man so it was fine with me that
        these programs were known by the names or their EXE files, DL.EXE
        and DB.EXE.  However, even I agree that DL and DB are hardly
        memorable names; so after sifting through all the suggestions of my
        friends, I've decided upon the name DIRECTOR.  From now on, these
        programs and any additions to them will be released under the name
        of DIRECTOR.


        So besides a name, what's new?

        Well to start with DL now contains all of DB.  There were too many
        features that I wanted to add to these programs, that their being
        separate programs made very cumbersome so I combined them into one
        program.  DL is still very fast and is even faster when you want to
        see a file list of a particular directory.  DL will now let you
        remove directories that have files in them, but only after first
        warning you.  It will also let you move directories.  You'll notice
        that the menu bar in DL has changed. (Please don't hate me for it.
        I have trouble with it too.)  That was necessary because I wanted
        to have some consistency between the file view and the directory
        view; particularly I wanted F4 to be move in both.

        There are more clear error screens, telling you if your target disk
        is full or if you're trying to move a file where one already
        exists.  DL will now let you overwrite a file when moving if you
        wish but didn't worry, you'll be adequately warned first.

        The stats screen is now clearer. The disk usage gauge is something
        I borrowed from a program DF by Ed Trujillo.  Ed, if you're reading
        this, consider yourself a registered user of DIRECTOR.  DL and DB
        will now let you print any group of marked files.  DL and DB now
        completely unload themselves from memory and use a batch file to
        run the programs so they use only about 3.5K of memory when running
        programs  You can now run all programs that are marked instead of
        just the highlighted one.

        I've also added a 'File Spec' option to the UTIL menu.  You can use
        this to enter a particular file spec such as *.EXE and all the
        files will be reread and only these matching the file spec will be
        shown.  You can use the same file spec with DB on the command line
        and it will load up showing only those files.





                     What's New in Version 3.30 or Director


         In trying to respond to users needs, I've been adding more shell
         capabilities to DIRECTOR.  You can now install 5 programs in
         addition to your text editor.   When you run the programs from
         the file view, they will load up with the highlighted file.  When
         run from the directory view the programs will run alone.  I am
         currently working on a version with a pop up menu that will take
         up to 25 programs.  This menu will be able to also work as a
         stand alone hard disk menu.  All of you registering for this
         version will receive the new version.

         There is also a new installation program.  Now there is only
         one program DCONFG for DL and DB.

         This version of DIRECTOR is LAN compatible.  It will run on
         any DOS "compatible" formatted drive.   Though it will run on a
         network, DIRECTOR is not network aware and does no file locking.

         In order to keep the size down, I've removed unnecessary features.
         F7 now will only run the highlighted file rather than all marked
         files.  I've also taken out the About DL and About DB choices from
         the UTIL menu.  Unregistered versions of DIRECTOR now have a
         trailing screen telling users about registration.  This is removed
         in the registered versions.


                    What's New in Version 3.40 of Director

         Director now comes with a pop up menu program DM.EXE.  You can pop
         up DM from within Director or use it alone at the DOS prompt.  DM
         allows you to install a hot key to run a particular program.  You
         can run each program from Director just by pressing the ALT key and
         the Hot Key without ever poping up DM.

         Director now saves the directory tree information to disk making
         future loads much faster.  You can turn this option on or off
         with DCONFIG.

         I 've also given you the option to install your own file listing
         program.

         Director has been expanded to accomodate 26 logical and subst
         drives and to accomodate directories of up to 600 files.


                  What's New in Version 4.0 of Director


         o You can modify Director's colors through DCONFIG

         o You can add command line arguments, highlighted file, and marked
           files to programs run from DM.

         o DM has been expanded to be a full featured hard disk menu and
           can have unlimited sum menus.

         o DA.EXE is a new program that will read every file on your hard
           disk, show duplicate files, add other drives, write ASCII and DBF
           files of your file lists.

         o Registered versions of Director come with file viewers for
           WordPerfect and dBASE files.

         o If you want Director to act just on the highlighted file rather
           than the marked file, press the shift key before selecting the
           operation.

         o You can turn off file overwrite warnings when copying or moving
           files.

         o Director shows a byte count of total files and marked files at
           the bottom of the screen.

         o You can now mark, move or copy single directories or whole directory
           branches in DL.



                  What's New in Version 4.5 of Director


        This version of Director runs programs by swapping to disk or
        expanded memory (user configurable).  Memory overhead when
        running programs is only 2kb.

        Director now has file viewers for:
             1. Lotus 123, Quattro, Symphony and compatible spreadsheets,
             2. WordPerfect version 5 and greater files.
             3  dBASE, FoxBase, FoxPro, Clipper, Quicksilver
                and compatible DBF files.
             4. WordStar version 4 and greater files.
             5  Microsoft Word and Windows Write.
             6  Word for Windows.
             7  PCX pictures.

        You can have DL and DB operate on just the highlighted file or
        the marked files.

        Two new command line options have been added to DL. The first allows
        you to use DL to change directories quickly.  Enter DL and the drive
        specification and directory name or part of it and DL will change
        directories to the first match.  For instance say I'm in E:\FILES
        and I enter "dl tem".  DL will change directories to my
        E:\FOX\TEMPLATE directory.  If I enter "dl c: do", I will find
        myself in my C:\WP\DOCS directory.  If you have more than one
        directory with the same name, just type the number after the
        directory name.  For instance, if I have 3 DOCS directories, I can
        put a "2" or "3" after "do " to get to the second or third DOCS sub
        directory.  For example to get to my third DOCS sub directory, I
        would enter "DL do 3".

        The second command line option allows you to run DL, go to a
        specified directory and show the files of that directory.  For
        example, say I'm still in my C:\WP\DOCS directory and I enter
        "dl !", DL will load and show me the files of the current directory
        which in this case is C:\WP\DOCS.