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SDLSETUP.DOC
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1989-05-17
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* * *
SDLSETUP.BAT - DOCUMENTATION - Copyright(c) 1987,88,89 Bob Stephan
* * *
You will be able to browse through the SDLSETUP documentation
at your own pace. Just use the keys on the cursor pad to turn
the pages as you read. Note the reminder at the top of the
screen, and remember that you can exit at any time by pressing
Esc.
* * *
SDLSETUP will not modify any of your original files. Only
SDL.COM will be affected. In particular, your CONFIG.SYS and
AUTOEXEC.BAT will not be touched.
(Press the PgDn key to continue)
Documentation for SDLSETUP.BAT for SDL Version 4.3, April 1989
Copyright(c) 1987, 1988, 1989 Bob Stephan
SDLSETUP is a handy program to customize many of the options of
SDL, the Sorted Directory and disk Label printing program. It requires
only that you answer a series of questions with single keystroke
responses and, if desired, input new titles to appear in the top 2 lines
of the display.
To run SDLSETUP establish a working disk or directory (a RAM disk will
be fastest, a directory on a hard disk next, and a floppy can be
quite slow). Enter the following command to copy the necessary
files from the MASDIR diskette to your working area. Assume that the
MASDIR diskette is in drive B: and the working area is the current
directory on drive C:. Then just enter
COPY B:SDL*.* C:
You can add the path after C: if you so desire, or just issue this
command after changing to the working disk or directory. You can use
MAKEWORK to help you do this if you like. Enter MAKEWORK at the DOS prompt.
All of the questions in SDLSETUP are self-explanatory and should cause
no confusion. A few of them are explained in a little more detail
here. If you have any questions, read on, and then if you still have
questions after running SDLSETUP please contact me.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
SDLSETUP
* * *
MESSAGE: Checking system resources. Please wait.
At this point SDLSETUP is looking for the DOS DEBUG external
command. If it is not found you will see the message "Bad command
or file name". This will be followed by a beep and the following:
* * *
The message "Bad command or file name" that you just saw means
that a system file is not available to SDLSETUP.
This program requires access to the DOS external command file
DEBUG.COM. It must be in this directory on this disk or in
one of the directories on your path, which is
PATH= (REM: your current path will be displayed here).
Please correct the problem and run SDLSETUP again.
(REM: This will be followed by an exit back to DOS for corrective action.
But if DEBUG is found, SDLSETUP will check for the presence of other
files. Depending on what is found you may see some of the following
messages. If you don't see them, then all is well.)
(REM: One user reported a problem during this portion of the setup
program, and it turned out that he was running a RAM resident
program named DOSEDIT. This appeared to interfere with the
redirected input to DEBUG. The solution was just to boot the
computer without DOSEDIT temporarily while running SDLSETUP.)
Next the presence of required files will be verified. If any needed files
are not present, you will see ...
* * *
The following files must be in this current directory on this disk:
SDL.COM
SDL_GET.EXE
SDLTITLE.COM (REM: Except for the shareware version)
SDLSETUP.BAT
SDLPARMS.BAT
SDLNOTOG.BAT
SDLFINIS.BAT
SDLDEBUG.BAT
Next the DOS version will be checked. If it is found to be
version 2.x you will see the following message. Please see
the note at the end of this DOC file.
* * *
If you have any difficulty running SDLSETUP under DOS 2.x,
please see SDLSETUP.DOC.
* * *
Setting the More or Pause default...
Pausing refers to both intermediate pauses if the directory is
more than one page (screen), and the pause at the end to allow
you to select a new option. This is merely personal preference, but
pausing is a good idea, and it allows you to select new options.
* * *
Setting the Hdr default...
The first two lines of the header contain my copyright notice
and the reminder line, as well as the volume label. If you use
SDL mostly for directories on the your hard disk drive, you may
have no need for the first two lines as a rule. This permits 2
more rows of files to be shown on the screen. The directory
name will still be shown, and you can restore the title lines
for any display with the /H option. Later during SDLSETUP you will be
given the opportunity to change the default titles in these two lines.
* * *
Additional defaults will be explained and prompted for. They should be
self-explanatory, but if you have any questions see the rest of the
MASDIR documentation.
* * *
Setting the sleeve Insert eject default...
A half page saves paper if you print many Inserts. Then if you
print an even number of inserts your TOF setting will not be changed,
but if you print an odd number your printer will be left at the middle
of a page. If you prefer to always use a full page for a sleeve Insert,
you can set that here.
* * *
Installing your own default title lines...
If you answer N you are finished, and SDLSETUP will call DEBUG
to make the changes you have requested. If you answer Y,
another program, SDLTITLE.COM, will be called to ask you for the
titles you want. The first line title can be 44 characters long
and the second line can be 79 characters long. If you want to
change only one, just press ENTER for the other. Whenever you
just press ENTER, the original title will be used. If you want
to blank out a title completely, just enter one or more spaces.
If you want to have your own titles on the first two lines you will
have to enter them both even though you may just be changing one of
them from a previous setting.
To restore the original titles, simply press ENTER at each prompt.
Setting your own titles or restoring the original titles
eliminates the highlighting of the key characters in the reminder
line and allows all lines of the directory display to be redirected
to a file if desired.
After the titles the program will run to completion. The only problem
that can arise is no access to DEBUG. In that case you will see the
following message.
Bad command or file name
Using the DOS DEBUG command appears to have failed!
You may not have a path to DEBUG. Please check the
directories on your path for the existence of DEBUG.COM.
If you can establish a path to DEBUG or copy DEBUG.COM
to this working area, you can install the changes you
have made by entering SDLDEBUG.
If you see this message, please make DEBUG available from
your version of DOS and run SDLSETUP again. In fact, if you have
gotten this far you can take a short cut and run SDLDEBUG after you
have made DEBUG available. That will finish up the changes.
(CAUTION: Do NOT run SDLDEBUG if there has been any other error
or interruption. In that case it is safer to start over again,
but see the NOTE below. SDLDEBUG uses redirection and if the
input file SDLSETUP.TXT has not been completed, it can cause a
hangup that will require a reboot.)
If everything completed normally you will see the message...
SDL.COM has been modified.
Don't forget to COPY your new version of SDL.COM
to the disk and/or directory with your other DOS
commands and utilities.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
That's all there is to it, so enjoy using SDL with your own configuration.
SDLSETUP creates two working files named SDLSETUP.TXT and
SDLTITLE.TXT. These files will be erased when SDLSETUP is
finished with its work.
NOTE: I have run into an occasional problem running SDLSETUP
under DOS 2.1. Generally it works fine, and I can detect no
problems under DOS 3 or later, but if you see either of the
messages "EXEC failure" or "File creation error" please let
me know. You might try increasing the "FILES=" value in your
CONFIG.SYS file and reboot. A remote possibility is that the
directory is full, so you might try running it on a different
drive or in a different directory. You can also run CHKDSK to
see if there are any other conditions that might cause the error.
This seems to be caused by a problem with DOS 2.1 in the number
of open files it thinks it has. One method that some have used
successfully to work around this is to make only one or two changes
to the defaults on each invocation of SDLSETUP. If this works, you
will have to reboot your computer before you can run SDLSETUP again.
This may be tedious, but it is one way to use SDLSETUP with DOS 2.1.
Be sure to use the Esc key to skip the sections in which you are
not making changes.
This problem is apparently caused by a bug or deficiency in DOS
2.1, but I have included another work-around for it. If you see
either of the above messages, AND if SDLSETUP has finished all
of its questions through the ones about changing the titles, then
reboot with Ctrl-Alt-Del and get back to the drive and directory
in which you were running SDLSETUP. (If you are working on a RAM
disk, copy your work to a permanent disk first.) One or two of the
.TXT files named above should be in that directory (2 if you changed
titles, otherwise only the first one). If you see SDLSETUP.TXT
you can run SDLDEBUG, the last batch file in the series. This
should install your changes and clean up after itself.
See the CAUTION above about other types of problems. I apologize
for any inconvenience, but it is a problem beyond my control.
As a last resort, run SDLSETUP on a machine that is running
DOS 3.0 or later. Then copy the resulting SDL.COM to your
machine. Good luck!
Now, if you want to exit, remember to press Esc.