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1992-05-06
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9KB
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------------------------------
F I L E L I S T S O R T E R
------------------------------
Welcome to Crazy Quilts File List Sort Utility. This is an exciting
program that will make your BBS run more efficiently and a lot faster
when scanning for new files at log on.
Being new to developing shareware, I have a trusting nature and do not
cripple my software in any way. This copy represents the full working
copy. Please do not abuse my trust. All that will accomplish is to
force us shareware authors to spend a lot of extra time crippling our
software, limiting features, and in general making life unpleasant to
all involved. Please register this software if you use it. Enough said!
PURPOSE
-------
FLSort is designed to provide sorted BBS files lists (i.e. Files.BBS)
while not affecting the performance of your BBS. Let me explain...
When a user logs on to your BBS and does a new file scan, the following
steps are what may occur (depending on your BBS package):
1. Examine the user log file and determine the date this user last logged on.
2. Go to the first file list and determine the file date.
3. If the file list date is older then the last log on date, that
directory is skipped (no new files in that directory).
4. If the file date is NEWER then the last log on date, then the file
list is opened.
a. Each file name is extracted from the file list, one at a time.
b. The corresponding disk file is located.
c. The file date on the disk file is checked.
d. If the file date is older then the last log on date, it is skipped.
e. If the file date is newer, then it is displayed to the user.
f. This continues for every file in the file list (very sloooow).
5. Each file list is examined in this way.
Problem: All of the sort utilities I have seen update the date of the
file list whenever it sorts it!
Result: This causes your BBS to search through every darn directory,
even though there may not be any new files in it.
Solution: FLSort! File List Sorter Utility sorts your File Lists and
leaves the file date intact (it does not update it).
Result: Much faster new file scans. It only scans those directories
that really contain new files! Great!!!
Okay, now that you are sold, send in your registration money ($9.00 US) to
Crazy Quilts Software
Armando Caceres
117 Crocus St.
Lake Jackson, Texas 77566
INSTALLATION
------------
Before making changes to your valuable files list, FLSort makes a backup
of the file. To make it compatible with all the different file list
utilities out there, you can tell FLSort what you want it to name this
backup file. FLSort will also sort any type of Text Based file list.
You can sort Files.BBS, Files.TD, RA_Files.ASC and any other type of
file list you can think of. The only requirement is that each line
begins with the file name. If your file list or file lists meet
this criteria, FLSort will sort it. FLSort watches out for dashed lines
or any lines that begins with a space. It treats any lines following
a dash or a space as a seperate list. This makes it possible to add
comments to your file list and not have them sorted when using FLSort.
One problem with this that you should be aware off, when files are added
to the end of the list, they will be sorted under the last dashed or
spaced line. Oh well, if your last dashed line is titles "New Files" at
least your new files in that directory will be sorted until you can get
in there and manually move them into the right catagory. If you do not
do this with your files list then no big deal!
CONTROL FILE
------------
To operate, FLSort needs a control file. This file is extremely easy to
set up and you can set up multiple control files to sort multiple types
of file lists. The control file is a simple text file. The first line
of the text file must have the name you want FLSort to use when creating
the back up of your file list. Regular DOS conventions apply here. It
can be 8 characters long followed by no more than a 3 character
extension. i.e. MYFILES.CTL
The remaining lines in the control file are used to tell FLSort what
files to sort. Each line should have two pieces of information. (1)
The name of the file to sort and (2) The full path to this file.
i.e. Files.BBS C:\RA\FILES\GIF
Please note that a single space must separate the name of the file and
the path statement. Both of these parameters are required for FLSort to
find the correct file to sort. Following is a short example of what
your control file should look like:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- FLSort.CTL -
FLSORT.BAK
FILES.BBS C:\BBS\FILES\GIF
FILES.BBS C:\BBS\FILES\UTILS
FILES.BBS C:\BBS\FILES\GAMES
CONTACTS.LST C:\PERSONAL\WORK <-- FLSort doesn't care what it sorts so long
as it is a text file and you want it sorted!
However, it will name the back up the same as
the others...
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you want to have FLSort name back ups differently for different files
lists, then simply make a separate control file for those files and pass
the name to that control file to FLSort. For example, suppose I have a
file listing utility that makes its own file list named FILES.TD, but I
also want to maintain my FILES.BBS list and I want backups for both of
these lists. To accomplish this I just make two separate control files
as follows:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- FILESBBS.CTL -
FILES.BBK <-- The name of the back up files to make.
FILES.BBS C:\BBS\FILES\GIF
.
.
.
FILES.BBS C:\BBS\FILES\UTILS
- FILESTD.CTL
FILES.BTD <-- The name of the back up files to make.
FILES.TD C:\BBS\FILES\GIF
.
.
.
FILES.TD C:\BBS\FILES\UTILS
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FLSort can be run from a .BAT file as part of your nightly maintenance.
This will keep your file lists sorted and you never have to worry about
it again.
I have included a sample control file as part of this archive (this will
only work on my system, unless you happen to have the same directories
set up as I do). You can examine it if you like, or just delete it and
save some disk space.
One more note, notice that I didn't put a trailing back slash on the path
statements. You can do it either way, but it works faster if you leave
it off. Also, you can list as many file lists as you want (200, 600,
1000, it makes no difference). But do not leave any empty lines
anywhere in the file. If an empty line is encountered that will signal
FLSort that it has reached the end of the file and FLSort will exit.
PERFORMANCE and LIMITATIONS
---------------------------
FLSort is extremely fast. It is fast and flexible so there is a slight
tradeoff in speed (I won't get into it). Still, compared to other file
list sorters I have looked at, it is more than fast enough! To
accomplish this FLSort loads the entire file list into memory. I have
sorted 90K file lists (that was the biggest one I had), and it churned
that baby out in a couple of seconds without any problems. If you are
worried that you may not have enough memory, FLSort uses 1K of memory
for every 4 lines of text. If you have 250K (which is minimum for most
BBS's), that will let you sort lists a little less than 1000 lines long.
A little less because FLSort takes a little memory itself (about 12K or
so).
WARRANTY
--------
FLSort is guaranteed to do nothing except take up a tiny bit of disk
space. Crazy Quilts Software and Armando Caceres are not responsible
for any damages, loss of money or income, or any other thing