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1990-08-04
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Update File Descriptions
"UD"
by Earl R. Davidson
Version 1.23, August 5, 1990
Program and Documentation Copyright (c) 1990, by Earl R. Davidson. All
rights reserved.
Portions Copyright (c) 1989, Microsoft Corporation
Portions Copyright (c) 1988 and 1989, Ethan Winer, Donald R. Malin and
Crescent Software
4DOS is a trademark of J. P. Software.
PC-DOS is a trademark of IBM Corporation.
MS-DOS is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation.
This program is not in the public domain! You are hereby granted a
limited right to copy the program and pass it on to friends and upload
it to any bulletin board system, provided no fee is charged other than
a nominal disk fee. You may use the program for up to twenty one (21)
days. If you use it for more than this, please register.
Acknowledgments
This program was written using Microsoft Basic 7.0 Professional
Development System and the Crescent Software QuickPak Professional
Advanced Programming Library (Version 3.10). 4DOS (Version 3.01A) by
J. P. Software, was also being used; and, in fact, provided the
inspiration for this program. I thank all three companies for
making these outstanding products available.
Disclaimer
UD is distributed without warranty, expressed or implied, including
without limitation the warranties of merchantability and of fitness
for a particular purpose. The user is cautioned that improper use of
UD may result in lost or damaged files or may cause other damage to
your computer software and data. The user assumes full responsibility
for the selection and use of UD to acheive your desired results.
Introduction
4DOS provides the capability to add file descriptions to your files
and display these descriptions when you display a file directory. I
have found this to be a very handy way to keep up with various
versions of programs and files. Also, when I download files from
BBS's, I note the date and BBS in the description. Since it's not
always easy to remember every file created or downloaded in a day's
time, I wrote this program to help me. I hope you find it helpful.
This program provides an easy way to update the 4DOS file descriptions
of your files. You may select files based on the file date or on the
archive bit. An option allows your selection to exclude files based
on their filename extension. You may, optionally, exclude files that
have already been described and/or you may use a 'listfile' to exclude
any individual filenames of your choice. Once the selection is made
the 4DOS DESCRIBE command is called for each file. Multiple
directories may be searched simultaneously.
Using UD
If you run UD without any command line parameters the program will
perform using the defaults. UD begins by creating a temporary batch
file, whose default name is UPDTDESC.BTM, and writing a line with the
"@ECHO OFF" command to it. UD then begins in the current drive and
directory, examining the file date of each file. If the file date is
equal to (or greater than?) the system date, then the command DESCRIBE
and the file's complete path and filename is added to a line in
UPDTDESC.BTM. UD searches any sub-directories below the current
directory.
A few files are automatically omitted from the selection:
UPDTDESC.BTM, UPDTDESC.LST, DESCRIPT.ION, and all 4DOSSWAP files.
Once all appropriate files have been examined, UD runs the UPDTDESC.BTM
file, which simply calls the 4DOS DESCRIBE command for each file. Once
UPDTDESC.BTM is finished, it is deleted.
If UD is run just prior to turning your computer off for the day, you
will be given the opportunity to add descriptions for each file added
or modified that day.
Alternate beginning directory
You may have UD begin its search at a directory other than the current
directory by entering a valid drive and/or path as the first parameter
on the command line. Note that this MUST be the FIRST parameter on
the command line. UD will search all subdirectories under the
beginning directory.
Format: UD d:\[directory][\subdirectory]
Default: the current drive and directory
Examples: c:\doc\
a:\
c:\dos
Options
Several options are available in UD. All are entered as command line
parameters. Options may be entered in any order. Options must be
separated by either a space or a comma. The number of options is
limited only by the length of the dos command line.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
USE ARCHIVE BIT FOR FILE SELECTION:
Format: /A
Default: by default, the file date is examined
Example: /A
This option causes UD to select only those files whose archive bit is
set on. The file date - and /D option - are ignored. Other selection
criteria are still considered. This allows you to include files which
have been extracted from various archive (PAK, ZIP, ARC, etc.) with
their original file dates, which are probably before the current date.
Using the /D option is often not appropriate when files are added this
way.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
USE ARCHIVE BIT FOR FILE SELECTION AND TURN ARCHIVE BIT OFF:
Format: /B
Default: by default, the date is examined
Example: /B
This is the same as the /A option above except the archive bit is
turned off as the descriptions are entered/edited. This will prevent
the file from being selected when UD is run again with the /A or /B
options.
***************************************************************
* - WARNING - USE OF THE /B OPTION MAY CAUSE PROBLEMS FOR *
* PEOPLE WHO USE THE DOS BACKUP, RESTORE, AND XCOPY COMMANDS. *
* USE IT WITH CAUTION! *
***************************************************************
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
OPTIONAL STARTING DATE:
Format: /D<mmddyy>
Default: the current system date
Examples: /D062390
Using an optional starting date causes only files dated on or after
that date to be included by UD.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
ALTERNATE OUTPUT FILENAME:
Format: /F<filename.ext>
Default: UPDTDESC.BTM (a 4DOS Batch To Memory file)
Examples: /Fupdtdesc.bat
/Ftemp.bat
/Ftemp.btm
UD creates a text file consisting of 4DOS commands. Once UD has
searched all directories, it runs this batch file. If you use the /F
parameter, you should follow it with a valid dos filename and
extension that will be executable. It should end with .BAT or .BTM.
This file is automatically deleted once it is finished.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
DELETE FILES WHOSE DESCRIPTION IS "KILL"
Format: /K
As you edit your file descriptions, you may find one or more files
that you need to delete. If you enter the word "KILL" or "kill" as
the file description, you may later run UD with the /K option and it
will delete the file(s) for you. This option uses the 4DOS /P option
for the DEL command, which prompts you to enter Y to confirm that you
want the file deleted. Most other options are invalid when you use
/K. You may, however, enter a starting path and or option /O.
If you begin the file description with the word "TRASH" or "trash",
running UD with option /K will move the file to a sub-directory named
"\TRASH" on the current drive or alternate drive if one was specified.
If the \TRASH directory does not exist, one will be created. You may
then hold the files in the \TRASH directory until you decide to delete
them or move them somewhere else.
Note that this option will delete a file only if the description is
"KILL". This prevents a file from being deleted accidently if the
description is something like "KILLER SHARK - GIF FILE". However,
since moving a file to the \TRASH directory does not delete it and
you may want some description to remain with the file, the file will
be moved if the description begins with "TRASH". A description of
"TRASH - OLD VERSION" will cause the file to be moved when the /K
option is used.
Files with a description of "TRASH" that are already located in a path
that contains the word "TRASH" will not be moved to "\TRASH".
----------------------------------------------------------------------
DELETE FILES WHOSE DESCRIPTION IS "KILL" - WITHOUT CONFIRMATION
Format: /KNOCONFIRM
This is the same as the /K option, but the 4DOS /P option is not
passed to the DEL command. The files are deleted without confirmation
when the UPDTDESC.BTM file is run.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
USE A LISTFILE TO EXCLUDE SPECIFIC FILES
Format: /L<listfile.ext>
Default: if /L is enteres without an argument, UPDTDESC.LST is used.
Examples: /L
/Lskipdesc.txt
You should create this ASCII text file with the text editor of your
choice. It should consist of nothing more than filenames. Use only
one filename per line. Do not use any blank lines or remarks. This
file must be in the same directory in which UD.EXE resides. Do not try
to pass a path with the filename.ext argument to option /L. By
default, UD looks for the UPDTDESC.LST file. If UPDTDESC.LST exists
and you wish to run UD without the listfile being considered, you must
either delete the file, rename it, or move it to a directory other than
the one UD.EXE resides in.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
MONOCHROME
Format: /M
This option removes the color from the display as UD runs. Use this
option if UD does not detect a monochrome monitor, or if you don't
like my choice of screen colors.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
EXCLUDE FILES WITH A GIVEN EXTENSION:
Format: /NO<ext>
Default: none, all files except those noted above are considered
Examples: /NObat
/NObak
/NOobj /NOlib /NObak
This option may be used more than once on the command line to exclude
multiple extensions.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
PROCESS ONLY THE CURRENT OR SPECIFIED DIRECTORY - NO SUBDIRECTORIES:
Format: /O
Default: none
Example: /O
Note that this command is the letter "O", not the number "0". Limits
UD to the current directory only, or the alternate beginning
path\directory if one is specified. No subdirectories are processed.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SAVE OUTPUT FILE:
Format: /S
Default: by default, the temporary file is deleted
Example: /S
This option, which has no argument, causes UD to not delete the
temporary file (UPDTDESC.BTM) upon completion.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
EXCLUDE FILES THAT HAVE ALREADY BEEN DESCRIBED
Format: /X
This causes files which already have a description in the DESCRIPT.ION
file to be excluded.
Warning: The use of this option with a 4DOS version up to and
including 3.01A, may cause this option to appear to not work
correctly. The problem exists because 4DOS will read a DESCRIPT.ION
file which seperates the entries with a LF, CR, or LF/CR character
combination. It will, however, in certain circumstances, write the
file with only the LF character between the entries. UD expects the
entries to have a CR character between entries, and will not read the
file properly. This problem also exists for the 4EDIT utility program.
J. P. Software representatives have stated that the next version of
4DOS will have this problem corrected.
You are advised to not try the /X option unless you are using a version
of 4DOS later than 3.01A.
Also note that once you upgrade to a later version of 4DOS, your
DESCRIPT.ION files may still contain only the LF character in some
cases. If /X allows some files to be included even though they
already have descriptions, the problem will eventually correct itself
as you edit the descriptions and 4DOS uses the LF/CR as the separator
between the entries. You could edit the files with a text editor that
allows you end each line with a CR/LF.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DELETE DESCRIPT.ION FILES
Format: /Z
This option allows you to delete all DESCRIPT.ION files beginning in
the current path or the path you specify on the command line. You
will be prompted to confirm each deletion. This option does not scan
each filename in the directory so most other options are invalid when
you use /Z. You may, however, enter a starting path.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DELETE DESCRIPT.ION FILES - WITHOUT CONFIRMATION
Format: /ZNOCONFIRM
This is the same as the /Z option above, but you are NOT given a chance
to confirm the deletions.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Support
Support for UD will be available on the Software Designer BBS in
Albany, GA. The number is (912) 432-2440. Leave a private message to
Earl Davidson, and I'll respond as soon as I can.
This BBS may be reached via Fido-Net (1:3617/1) and RBBS-Net (8:928/1).
I monitor the 4DOS echo on a regular basis.
Release History
Version 1.23, August 5, 1990
- Files with descriptions beginning with "TRASH" that are already
in a "\TRASH" directly will be skipped when the /K or
/KNOCONFIRM options are used.
Version 1.22, July 14, 1990.
- Fixed problem which locked system.
Version 1.20, July 14, 1990.
- Added the capability of moving files to a trash directory if the
description begins with "TRASH" and the /K option is used.
- Added option /O to limit the processing to only the current
directory or the alternate beginning directory if one was
specified.
- If a monochrome monitor is detected, the display will be adjusted
without the use of the /B option.
Version 1.10, July 8, 1990.
- Added the /K and /KNOCONFIRM options to allow deletion of files
with a description of "KILL".
- Added documentation for the /Z and /ZNOCONFORM options which was
omitted in error.
- Fixed problem of failure to exclude files which have no extension
in their filename when using the /X option as well as from the
listfile.
- Minor change to confirmation routine for /Z option.
- Additional information on /X option problem added to the
documentation file.
Version 1.00, July 4, 1990. First release.
Registration
To register this program for permanent use, complete the form below and
mail, together with your check for $5.00, to the address on the form:
UD Registration Form
Your Name: _______________________________ Date: __________
Company: _______________________________
To: Earl Davidson
Address: _______________________________ 1505 7th Avenue
Albany, GA 31707
_______________________________
City, St: _______________________________ Zip: ___________
UD version number: _______________________
Where did you find your copy of UD? ___________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
Suggestions: __________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________