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1992-03-29
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ALF v1.0
Copyright (C) by Scott Fell,1992
A Thunderstorm Software production
Released into the Public domain March 29, 1992
-----------------------------------------------------------
DISCLAIMER
>> If you do not agree to this disclaimer, don't use this
product!
>> ALF is supplied AS-IS. ALF carries no warranty,
expressed or implied. The person using ALF takes whole
responsibility as to the quality and performance of this
product. The author of this program assumes no
responsibility for anything.
-----------------------------------------------------------
S E C T I O N S
----------------------
<1> Why? <11> Contacting the Author
<2> What does it do? <12> Anything ELSE?
<3> Installation <13> Bugs
<4> If you have a Problem... <14> Limits
<5> Compatibility <15> ALF and DesQview
<6> CD-ROM users <--> REFERENCE
<7> Maintenence <1> Headers
<8> Just a note <2> Step Explanation
<9> How much does it cost? <3> Submissions
<10> Anything else? <4> Possible Problems...
----------------------
Why?
----
I had another program that made up headers for the file-lists, and I
loved the concept, and loved how it worked and kept up-to-date, but
they wanted a 10$ registration fee before it would actually run by
itself, and that huge "UNREGISTERED" notice would disappear. I didn't
like it, so I stopped using it, and decided to write my own. So here
it is- my submission to the SpitFire world... Enjoy!
What does ALF do?
-----------------
It's a down-and-dirty header-maker for your SpitFire file-lists.
Down-and-dirty meaning it won't clean your monitor, wash your car, or
water your lawn, but it does what it's supposed to do, without fooling
around with any unnecessary options.
Installation
------------
Knowing that you'd rather get it running than look over
instructions for an hour, use the following steps to get going
ASAP. However: I HIGHLY suggest taking at least a quick
look-through of the rest of this DOC file.
>>>>> DO NOT SKIP ANY STEPS!!!! <<<<<
***If you have CD-ROM areas, you need to read the CD-ROM section!!!***
1) Put all the EXE files into your SpitFire home directory (Where your
SFFAREA.DAT file is located).
2) Execute ALFBAK.EXE
3) Execute SFF_BAK.BAT (This batch file will be created for you when
you execute ALFBAK.EXE). Run this file at this point in time, and
do not run it again until you're POSITIVE that ALF will work with
your system.
4) Execute ALF whenever you want to update the headers in your
file-lists. (As an event, it will update your headers as often as
you like, and you won't have to worry about it)
5) Goto step 4
>>If you're interested in knowing exactly what these steps do, consult
the last part of this DOC file. There are more specific
explanations there.
If you have a problem..
-----------------------
If your computer belched when you ran it, and your file-listings are
messed up, run !ALF once more. If the listings are still messed up,
then run the program BAD!_ALF, and then execute UNDO_ALF (a batch file
that is created by BAD!_ALF), and your file-lists will be returned to
how they were prior to running ALF. I don't anticipate problems, but
someone somewhere is going to have one, and this is the easy way to
get back to normal. If you want to try to use !ALF again, after
you've had a problem, you can start at step 4 and see if it works. If
it doesn't work this time, run UNDO_ALF once more.
NOTE: CD-ROM users beware! If your file-listings from the CD-ROM are
not in the EXACT same format as v3.1 (or v3.2) then you will have your
file-areas screwed up.
Compatibility
-------------
ALF will work on SpitFire v3.1. It will also work with v3.2, BUT, if
you have the multiline option for file-descriptions active (for
version 3.2), the file-counter will be wrong. If you want to test it
out, please be sure to let me know!.. With the ALFBAK and BAD!_ALF,
even if it does mess up, you have a 2 minute fix-process before
everything is back to normal.
NOTE: If you've added extended descriptions to your file- like a
second line, such as this,
DATA1.GIF 62,464 08-13-91 Data of Star Trek: The Next
Generation as Sherlock Holmes
-Episode 34
NOTE <continued> everything will be correct except for the number of
files in the area. ALF will tell you that you have more files
than you do, because it counts the number of lines that are
used, not the number of filenames.
CD-ROM users:
------------
When executing any of the programs in this package, you need to be
aware of just one command-line parameter. It is the path to your
CD-ROM display files. In most cases, this file-path is C:\SF\DISPLAY,
which is the default setting. If your configuration is different, you
need to enter the path to your display files. Just enter it on the
command-line without any special parameters. Remember to NOT use the
following backslash! If you do, the program will exit with an error,
and halt. If no path is specified, the default directory is used
(C:\SF\DISPLAY).
NOTE: If the structure of your CD-ROM display files is different from
that of SpitFire, you WILL run into problems. As long as there is a
comma in the 18th space of the line, all will be well in the world.
If there is no comma in the 18th character, then that line will be
omitted in the final product. (ie- if none of the lines have commas
in the 18th place, ALL of the listings will be erased). If the comma
is there, then all of your file-lists will be just fine. If it is not
there, you might end up with no files listed in that area. So here's
what you do- On the command-line, instead of specifying the ACTUAL
directory where the display files are, specify a DIFFERENT directory
(That actually exists) on your disk where NO CD-ROM display files are.
ALF will then skip the processing of your CD-ROM areas. The regular
file-areas will continue to be updated, but ALF will now ignore your
CD-ROM areas.
NOTE: There is a utility on Buffalo Creek's BBS that will add commas
in the right places in your CD-ROM areas, assuming that they're
not exactly the same as SpitFire's format.
It is conceivable that ALF will eventually grow to include the
different CD-ROM listing formats. If you have a format that you
want supported, please include a sample of the file listings, and
send it off to the author.
Maintenance
-----------
Every once in a while (you should run this by YOURSELF), you
will probably want to execute the program ALFBAK.EXE, and then run
the batch file (SFF_BAK.BAT) that it creates. When you do this,
the CURRENT SFFILES.BBS will be copied into backup files. This way,
you can be assured that the back-ups of your SFFILES.BBS files will
be kept current, and you won't have to mess with adding back in all
the files that you've added to your areas since you last ran
ALFBAK. (This does the same with CD-ROM file-area lists)
Just a note
-----------
This version of ALF does NOT do anything about the file upload-paths.
it will not update or create headers for the upload areas. If your
upload and download are the same area, then the SFFILES.BBS file will
be updated. If they are separate, the download section will be
updated