The Business Master (3rd Edition)

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Back Off! Multiple File Extension Deletion Program by John E. Bean Version 1.50 December 1990 Copyright 1989, JB Technology Inc. TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Getting Started . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 The Help System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Back Off! Main Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Change Search Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Add File Extensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Edit File Extension . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Print Extensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Begin Disk Search . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 APPENDIX A - Command Line Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 APPENDIX B - VIEW.COM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 APPENDIX C - BO.EXT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 APPENDIX D - Using Back Off! in Batch Files . . . . . . . . 15 APPENDIX E - Files On Disk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 APPENDIX H - Registration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 APPENDIX I - The JBT Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 -1- INTRODUCTION With the ever increasing number of software programs on the mar- ket, backup files for these programs have many different naming conventions. The most common file extension for a backup file is "*.BAK". However, there are many different file extensions. For example, SmartWare II's word processing has the backup extension of "*.BDC". These backup files can consume a significant amount of the PC hard disk. Back Off! was written to alleviate this common prob- lem. Back Off! accomplishes the following: * Allow multiple drives to be searched. * Allow a list of up to 30 file extensions to be en- tered and stored. * Search specified drives, locating files matching the file extensions. * Display the matching files on the screen, allowing scrolling. * "Tagging" individual files to be deleted. * Viewing highlighted file. * Show the total number of files found, the total file size of the files found, the number of files "tagged" and the total file size of the files "tagged". * Delete the "tagged" files. * Rename the highlighted file. An AUTOMATIC mode is also provide which will allow Back Off! to be run unattended in a batch file. I hope you enjoy this program, which is written in Turbo Pascal Version 5.0. Feel free to send me comments and suggestions at the following address: Back Off! JB Technology Inc. 28701 N. Main St. Ridgefield, Wa. 98642 (206) 887-3442 -2- GETTING STARTED When first receiving a software program, a backup copy should be made as follows: 1. Put write protected tape on the original diskette. 2. Insert diskette into Drive A. 3. Insert a formatted blank diskette into Drive B 4. At the DOS prompt type: COPY A:*.* B:/V. This will copy the program Back Off! , its documentation, and other accessory files onto the diskette which is in Drive B. Store the original diskette with Back Off! in a safe place. To load Back Off! do the following: * Log onto the drive/subdirectory where Back Off! pro- gram files are located. * At the DOS prompt type: BO. * Depress the <ENTER> key. Note: Back Off! will automatically be displayed in color if it detects a color graphics card. You can prohibit this by us- ing the Command Line Parameter "/BW". See Appendix A - Com- mand Line Parameters. -3- THE HELP SYSTEM The on line context sensitive help system is very easy to use, yet it has several powerful options. The help system is evoked by depressing function key F1, either a specific topic or a list of help topics will be displayed. Related topics (cross reference topics) can be chosen within a help screen. If there are any cross reference topics, the first cross reference will be highlighted. Other cross reference topics, if any, can be selected by highlighting the topic using the cursor keys. Depressing <Enter> will display the highlighted topic. The help system remembers the last nineteen (19) topics displayed. To display the previous topic simultaneously depress Alt F1. When a specific help topic is displayed the following are the valid keys: Key Action --------- ------------------------------------------------ PgUp,PgDn Display the previous or next help page. Esc Exit the help screen. Arrow Keys Move highlight bar among the cross reference topics, if any, displayed on the current page. <Enter> Select the currently highlighted cross reference topic, and display the first page of that topic. F1 Display the Back Off!'s Help Topics index. Another topic can be chosen by moving the highlight bar using the cursor keys and pressing <Enter>. Alt F1 Display the help topic most recently selected. You will find that the help system is so comprehensive, that you will rarely refer to this manual. -4- BACK OFF! MAIN MENU Once Back Off! has been loaded into memory, Back Off!'s Main Menu and the Settings Box will be displayed. The Main Menu options are: * Begin Disk Search * Change Search Drives * Add File Extension * Edit Extensions List * Print Extensions * Exit Back Off! The following are the valid keys and their respective action that can be used in selecting the desired Main Menu Option. KEY ACTION ----------- ----------------------------------------------- Down Arrow, Move the highlight bar down one Main Menu Right Arrow, Option. Space Bar Up Arrow, Move the highlight bar up one Main Menu Option. Left Arrow Home Move the highlight bar to the first Main Menu Option. End Move the highlight bar to the last Main Menu Option. <Enter> Select the currently highlighted Main Menu Op- tion. Depressing the first capital letter of the desired Main Menu op- tion will also select that option. The Help Screen can be displayed by depressing function key F1. The Settings box which is located on the right half of the screen displays the drives to be scanned and the file extensions to be searched for. The following sections will described how to edit the drives to be scanned, add file extensions, edit file extensions, print file extensions and begin the scanning process. -5- CHANGE SEARCH DRIVES If the drives are not specified on the command line, (see Appen- dix A - Command Line Parameters) Back Off! will scan the drive you are currently logged on. The Main Menu Option, Change Search Drive, will allow the editing of drives to be scanned. To select Change Search Drive, from the Main Menu, move the high- light bar to Change Search Drive, or depress the letter "C". Once this has been accomplished, an area twenty (20) characters long will be highlighted and the Change Search Drive edit mode will be evoked. The following are the valid keys and their respective action that can be used in editing the Search Drive KEY ACTION ----------- ----------------------------------------------- Right Arrow Move the cursor one character to the right. Left Arrow Move the cursor one character to the left. Home Move the cursor to the beginning of the edit area. End Move the cursor to the last character displayed in the edit area. Del Delete the character directly under the cursor. BackSpace Delete the character to the left of the cursor. <Enter> Finish editing the Search Drive. The Search Drive can be any combination of drives or all drives can be scanned by simply entering "ALL". The following are some valid Search Drives. Search Drive String Description ------------------- ------------------------------------------ C,D Scan drives C and D. D,A,B,C Scan drives D, A, B, C. Back Off! does not require the Search Drives to be listed in any particular order. ALL Scan all the drives. Depressing the <Enter> key to finish editing the Search Drive. -6- ADD FILE EXTENSIONS Back Off! comes with a file named BO.EXT (see Appendix C - BO.EXT) which contains several commonly used file extensions which are used for back up files. You may use software who's backup files have a different extension. Add File Extension allows the addition of file extensions to the list displayed in the Settings box. There is a limit of thirty (30) file extensions. To select Add File Extension, from the Main Menu, move the high- light bar to Add File Extension, or depress the letter "A". Once this has been accomplished, a three (3) underlined space will be highlighted below the last file extension. The following are the valid keys and their respective action that can be used in Adding File Extension: KEY ACTION ----------- ------------------------------------------ Right Arrow Move cursor one character to the right. Left Arrow Move the cursor one character to the left. Home Move the cursor to the beginning of the edit area. End Move the cursor to the last character dis- played in the edit area. Del Delete the character directly under the cursor. BackSpace Delete the character to the left of the cursor. <Enter> Finish editing the Search Drive. The File Extension can be any valid character used in a file ex- tension. Depressing <Enter> will pop up a window in which a description of the file extension just entered can be entered. The same keys used in Adding File Extension, are used in entering a description. Note: You may enter a file extension with less than three (3) characters. Back Off! will automatically fill the trailing spaces with "?"s. Example: You enter a file extension of "WK". Back Off! will add a "?" so the extension will become "WK?". To exit Add File Extension, depress the Esc key. Once Back Off! has be exited, the file BO.EXT will be modified to reflect the additional file extension. -7- EDIT FILE EXTENSION Back Off! allows the file extension displayed in the Settings box to be edited or deleted. To select Edit File Extension, from the Main Menu, move the high- light bar to Edit File Extension, or depress the letter "E". Once this has been accomplished, first file extension will be high- lighted and the Edit File Extension mode will be evoked. The following are the valid keys and their respective action that can be used in Editing File Extension: KEY ACTION ----------- --------------------------------------------- Right Arrow Move the cursor one character to the right. Left Arrow Move the cursor one character to the left. Home Move the cursor to the beginning of the ed- it area. End Move the cursor to the last character displayed in the edit area. Del Delete the character directly under the cur- sor. BackSpace Delete the character to the left of the cur- sor. Right Arrow Edit the next file extension. Left Arrow Edit the previous file extension. Tab Edit the file extension, one column to the right. Shift Tab Edit the file extension, one column to the left. Ctrl Y Delete the current file extension. <Enter> Edit the file extension Description. F10 Finish Editing File Extension. Once Back Off! has be exited, the file BO.EXT will be modified to reflect the changes to the file extensions. -8- PRINT EXTENSIONS The file extensions are stored in the file BO.EXT. This file not only contains the file extensions, but also may contain a de- scription of each file extension. A printout of the file extensions and their descriptions can be obtained by selecting Print Extensions from the Main Menu. To se- lect Print Extensions from the Main Menu, move the highlight bar to Print Extensions, or depress the letter "P". Once the Print Extensions has been selected, the printer will be reset, and the list of the file extensions and their description, if any, will be printed. -9- BEGIN DISK SEARCH Once the Search Drive and the File Extensions are edited/added to your satisfaction Back Off! is ready to begin scanning for files that match the file extensions. This is accomplished by selecting Begin Disk Search from the Main Menu. Select Begin Disk Search by moving the highlight bar to Be- gin Disk Search or depressing the letter "B". Once Begin Disk Search has been selected, the following screen will appear: +-----------------------------------+ | | | Scanning Drive/Subdirectory: | | D:\MC2 | | for | | Backups | | | | Files Found: 3 | | | +-----------------------------------+ The drive and subdirectory being scanned will be displayed just below Scanning Drive/Subdirectory. In the example above, the drive and subdirectory being scanned is D:\MC2. As each matching file is found, the total number of files found is displayed. Note: Depressing the Esc key will exit Back Off! Once all the drives have been scanned, Back Off! will exit if no matching files are found or the following window will be dis- played: +--------------------------------------------------------+ | File Name Location Size Date Time | | EZINST.BAT D:\ 2065 06/25/89 17:18.04 | | JOSHUA.BAT D:\ 422 06/15/89 20:58.40 | | MC540.BAT D:\ 735 07/07/89 06:01.52 | | UTIL.BAT D:\ 867 06/27/89 06:28.10 | | INSTALL.BAT D:\LABEL 101 02/19/87 17:56.46 | | SPBAT.BAT D:\MC2 36 08/31/88 21:34.24 | | SPBAT.BAT D:\MCDC\DDC 36 08/31/88 21:34.24 | | A.BAT D:\MCL 246 05/03/89 21:32.34 | | CMPLE.BAT D:\MCL 48 03/26/89 20:22.50 | | E.BAT D:\MCL 246 05/26/89 15:04.36 | | MCLINST.BAT D:\MCL 2199 04/06/89 19:20.38 | | MCPLE.BAT D:\MCL 49 03/26/89 20:21.46 | +--------------------------------------------------------+ -10- The files can be scrolled, viewed, and files can be tagged and untagged. The keys that can be used to accomplish this are: KEY ACTION ---------- -------------------------------------------- Down Arrow Move the highlight bar to the next file. Up Arrow Move the highlight bar to the previous file. PgDn Move the highlight bar down 18 files. PgUp Move the highlight bar up 18 files. Home Move the highlight bar to the first file. End Move the highlight bar to the last file. P Print a list of the files found. R Rename the highlighted file. S Display the status. SpaceBar Toggle tag mode of the highlighted file. If the file is currently tagged, then the file will be untagged. If the file is untagged, then the file will be tagged. Grey Plus T Tag the highlighted file for deletion. Alt T Tag all the files for deletion. Grey Minus U Untag the highlighted file. Alt U Untag all the files. V View the highlighted file. F10 Erase the tagged files. Depressing the Ctrl key and the desired letter, the highlight will move to the next file beginning with that letter. (i.e. Ctrl A will move the highlight bar to the next file beginning with the letter A). Once the files to be deleted are tagged, depress the function F10. A verification screen will appear. Depressing "N" will exit Back Off! and depressing "Y" will delete the tagged files. That is all there is to Back Off! -11- APPENDIX A - COMMAND LINE PARAMETERS Back Off! provides several Command Line Parameters that enhance the program. The Command Line Parameters are: Parameter Description --------- ----------------------------------------------------- /D=<LIST> This command line parameter is used to specify the drives to be searched. Examples of valid entries are: /D=D /D=C,D /D=ALL (Note: This mean scan ALL drives) /F=<NAME> This command line parameter is used when you wish to use your own custom file with extensions in lieu of BO.EXT. /BW This command line parameter will display the program in black and white. /GO This command line parameter means bypass Back Off!'s Main Menu and begin scanning for matching files. /AUTO This command line parameter means bypass Back Off!'s Main Menu, scan the disk drives and AUTOMATICALLY de- lete the matching files. NOTE: BE CAREFUL!! /VW=<FILE> Back Off! uses the program VIEW.COM to view a file. If you want to use another file viewing program (i.e. LIST.COM) you can specify it with this command line parameter. NOTE: THE FULL DRIVE/PATH AND FULL PROGRAM NAME MUST BE SPECIFIED! Example: BO /VW=C:\UTILITY\LIST.COM The following are examples of Command Line Parameters and how Back Off! will execute. Example: C:>BO /D=C,D /GO Back Off! will set the search drives to C and D, skip the Main Menu, scan both drives C and D looking for matching files that are stored in BO.EXT, display the matching files and allow the user to tag files to be deleted. Example: C:BO /D=ALL /BW Back Off! will set the search drive to ALL the drives that your computer has and go to the Main Menu. Back Off! will also be displayed in black and white. -12- Example: C:>BO /F=AUTO.EXT /AUTO Back Off! will set the search drive to the drive you are logged on, skip the Main Menu, scan the search drive for matching files that are stored in AUTO.EXT, and automati- cally delete any matching files. WARNING!! The above example if very powerful, but you must know what you are doing! Files WILL BE DELETED without verification. Note: The /F and /AUTO Command Line Parameter are avail- able only for registered users. -13- APPENDIX B - VIEW.COM When the matching files are displayed on the screen and the let- ter "V" is depressed the program VIEW.COM is evoked. View will allow the user to see the contents of the highlighted file. View only displays the ASCII characters, therefore files that are not ASCII will not be readable. The valid keys while in VIEW.COM are: KEY ACTION ---------- ----------------------------- Down Arrow Move down one line. Up Arrow Move up one line. Left Arrow Left 20 columns. Right Arrow Right 20 columns. Home Go to the top of the file. End Go to the bottom of the file. PgDn Move to the next page. PgUp Move to the previous page. F1 Help Screen F3 Find Text F9 Repeat Last Find F10 Exit VIEW.COM. -14- APPENDIX C - BO.EXT Back Off! stores the file extension and their descriptions in the file named BO.EXT. BO.EXT is an ASCII file an can be edited using a text editor. The format for BO.EXT is as follows: Column Description ------ --------------------------------------- 1-4 File extension with a "." in column 1. 9-70 Description with a ";" in column 9. Back Off! will support any custom file made with the same format using the "/F=" command line parameter. One way of making a cus- tom file is to copy the file BO.EXT to the desired file and then edit it. This will enhance the chances of having the proper for- mat. -15- APPENDIX D - USING BACK OFF! IN BATCH FILES One of the powerful features of Back Off! is the Command Line Pa- rameters (See Appendix A - Command Line Parameters). Using the Command Line Parameters Back Off! can be run unattended in a batch file. The following are the steps I have taken to set up a batch file to accomplish this. * I copied the file BO.EXT to the file AUTO.EXT and modified it to have only the extensions that I feel comfortable having deleted without my verification. * I created the following batch file named BO!.BAT us- ing my Public Domain program CopyCon. echo off cls bo /d=ALL /f=auto.ext /auto Running the batch file BO!.BAT will scan all the drives on my computer and AUTOMATICALLY DELETE all matching files using the extensions stored in the file AUTO.EXT. Note: The /F and /AUTO Command Line Parameters are available only for registered users. -16- APPENDIX E - FILES ON DISK The following files come with Back Off!. File Description ------- ---------------------------------------- BO.EXE This is the program Back Off! The evalu- ation copy has an introduction screen where a guest I.D. number must be en- tered to run the program. BO.HLP This is the help file for Back Off! BO.EXT This is the file that stores the file extensions and their respective defini- tions. BO.DOC This is Back Off!'s manual. VIEW.COM When the files are displayed on the screen and the user depressed the letter "V", VIEW.COM is evoked and the high- lighted file can be viewed. -17- APPENDIX F - REGISTRATION By registering Back Off! several features are added and some an- noying features are eliminated. They are: * Elimination of the introduction screen where a 5 dig- it number must be entered to access Back Off!. * Elimination of the flashing title. * Elimination of having to type "QUIT" after exiting Back Off!. * The Command Line Parameter "/AUTO" can be used. This is very powerful. * The Command Line Parameter "/F=" can be used. This allows custom files storing extensions to be used in lieu of BO.EXT. Also by registering you are supporting the concept of ShareWare which has provided numerous quality programs at an affordable price. The next page is an order form. INVOICE Remit to: From: JB Technology Inc. __________________________ 28701 N. Main St. Ridgefield, Wa. 98642 __________________________ (206) 887-3442 __________________________ __________________________ Contact Individual __________________________ __________________________ Quantity Unit Price Total _______ Back Off! Software $15.00 ___________ _______ Back Off! Manual $15.00 ___________ (Laser Quality) Total ___________ I want 5 1/4" _______ 3 1/2" _______ diskette. (Check One) Note that Back Off! computer software has been delivered and ac- cepted by the customer. Upon receipt of paid invoice, a current disk will be sent. -19- The JBT ToolBox The program you are using is one of several programs that I have written that are either public domain or shareware. These programs have appeared on bulletin boards, distributed by ShareWare clearing houses and are included in several of the Dvorak-Osborne series of books. Most users of these programs are not aware that the other programs that I have written exist. I have created The JBT Tools to provide an interface that allows all my programs to be used. The following is the programs included in the JBT Tools and a brief description of each program. EzDoss EzDoss is a Dos Shell. As with all Dos shells actions can be taken on multiple files. I have used many Dos shells in the past and they have many features that are great. Unfortunately, all these features are not included in one shell. Therefore, I wrote EzDoss to include the features I like the best. Some of the features are: Copying/Moving When copying or moving files and there is a file with the same name on the destination, most Dos Shells offer only "Overwrite" option. EzDoss provides several options. They are: OverWrite: This option is typical. It will overwrite any the file on the destination with the file on the source. Newer: This option will copy/move the file to the destination only if the file on the destination is OLDER than the file on the source. Copy/Rename: This option will rename the file on the destination and copy the file from the source. Rename/Copy: This option will rename the source file, then copy the file to the destination. These options provide the most flexible options when copying or moving files. -20- Tagging Files: Multiple files can be "tagged". Besides tagging individual files, all files can be tagged, files can be tagged by specifying a "pattern" or by selecting a date in which files newer, older, same or a combination will be tagged. Help System: EzDoss's manual is online. Help for the current function can be displayed by depressing function key F1. Depressing Alt F1 will display the list of help "topics". There are over fifty (50) help "topics". Zip Management: Many of public domain/shareware users access bulletin boards. Files downloaded from these boards are compressed into a "ZIP" file. EzDoss allows files to be "zipped", "zipped" files to be "unzipped" and to display files within a "zip". Those files displayed within a "zip" can be "tagged" and "unzipped", viewed on the screen or deleted from the zip file. Disk Sort: When files are displayed, they can be sorted eight (8) different ways. This does not sort the files on the disk. EzDoss DOES provide a public domain program that can be called from within EzDoss that will sort the disk. Search: EzDoss comes with EzFind. EzFind will search any non executable files for a string. This can be used to find a key word within wordprocessing files that are not ASCII. These are just a few of the many features that EzDoss has. I use this program every day, and I am sure you will find it as useful. EzEdit: EzEdit is a text editor. The file to be edited/created is displayed in a window. EzEdit can have multiple windows opened. A block of text can be copied to the "clipboard" where the text can be copied/moved into other files. -21- Windows moveable and resizeable. A pop up calculator and ASCII chart also come with the program. EzView: EzView will display an ASCII file in a window. EzView can have multiple windows opened. Windows are moveable and resizeable. EzLocate: EzLocate is a file finder program. Multiple drives can be scanned for files which meet the user specified masks. Multiple masks can be specified. EzLocate can also look inside ARC and ZIP files for the user specified masks. Find Duplicates: Find Duplicates is a program that can scan multiple disk drives and find all the files with duplicate file names. Once the drive(s) have been scanned, the duplicate files are displayed on the screen. Each file can be viewed (ASCII only), renamed, suspend to DOS in that file's subdirectory or "tagged" for deletion. Find Duplicates can list duplicate files that are stored in ARC and ZIP files. If your PC has PKZIP and ARC or PKUNPAK, those duplicate files can be deleted within the ZIP or ARC files. Back Off!: Back Off! is an utility that you will use on a weekly basis. Back Off! is a multiple file extension deletion program. It will search any and all drives for files ending with extensions matching a previously prepared list. (i.e. .BAK, .CHK, .$$$). Back Off! will show you the matching filenames and their locations, and give you the option of viewing them and/or "tagging" and deleting them. CopyCon: When I first used a MsDos PC, I wrote small batch files using COPY CON command from the Dos prompt. If I had a dime for every time i goofed and had to start over again, I would be a rich man. I wrote CopyCon to help me write small batch files. CopyCon has grown since version 1.00 and now not only allows simple batch files to be created/edited, but allows graphic boxes, ASCII characters to be inserted and line centering. -22- One of the most important features of CopyCon is the on line help. Not only does the help provide information on how CopyCon works, but it is a reference on batch file commands including examples. Also included are two small programs that can be used in batch files and two useful batch files. They are STATUS.BAT which will read your PC and list out its status. The other batch file is MENU.BAT which is a menuing system that is all set up. You will find that these programs will increase your productivity and make using your PC easier. The following page is an INVOICE that you can order the JBT Tools from: JBT TOOLS INVOICE Remit to: From: JB Technology Inc. __________________________ 28701 N. Main St. Ridgefield, Wa. 98642 __________________________ (206) 887-3442 __________________________ __________________________ Contact Individual __________________________ __________________________ Quantity Unit Price Total _______ JBT Tools Software $35.00 ___________ _______ JBT Tools Manual $20.00 ___________ (Laser Quality) Total ___________ I want 5 1/4" _______ 3 1/2" _______ diskette. (Check One) Note that The JBT Tools computer software has been delivered and accepted by the customer. Upon receipt of paid invoice, a current disk will be sent.