Cream of the Crop 25/Cream of the Crop 25.iso/comm/dltd30.zip/MANUAL.TXT

Text File | 1997-03-14 | 61KB | 1,334 lines

1. INTRODUCTION

FEATURES

Down Load Tracker (TM) has been designed to help you keep track
of all those downloaded files whether they are stored on floppy
disks, removable drive or on a hard drive. Special features
include:

Locate any download in just seconds, irrespective of location or
whether you can remember the filename using the following search
criteria.

Search for a particular file name. Know exactly where any file
is located whether it be on the hard drive, removable drive or
floppy disk.

Search for a particular a string of characters whether it be a
couple of words, a single word or part of a word in description,
archive, or filediz fields e.g. MS Flight Simulator  or Doom
files. No longer is it necessary to make sense of an obscure
file name. This powerful search option helps you locate any file
whether it is an archive or even a file within an archive in
just a couple of seconds.

Search for a group of similar files by category even if they are
located on different floppies, removable drives or hard disk.

List description for source. Very handy for those obscure
Internet addresses

Source can be up to 78 characters long. Ideal for those long
Internet addresses.

Search for Internet address by category or description. No need
to figure out cryptic addresses.

Auto entry option takes all the hassle out of entering details.
All you have to do is select the drive whether it be floppy,
removable drive or hard drive with the downloads on and DownLoad
Tracker does the rest. All you have to do is to add the category
and short description.

Automatically extracts long description from FILE_ID.DIZ if
available and archive details.

Shows which floppies have the most disk space free ensuring that
floppies are fully used.

View archive file contents for .ZIP, .LHZ or ARJ file or text
file contents while entering details or any other time.

Ability to delete a record and the file at the same time.

Ability to check for duplicate downloads stored on a different
disk.

Ability to check for different versions of the same file (BBS or
file lists!)

View and print text files and search for words within the text
file.

NEW with Version 3. Extract archive details, FILE_ID.DIZ details
from self-extracting EXE files and unpack self-extracting EXE
files. Also this has been rewritten showing extra hints on how
to make the best use of DownLoad Tracker.

Plus lots more.

DISCLAIMER - AGREEMENT



Users of DownLoad Tracker must accept this disclaimer of
warranty: "DownLoad Tracker is supplied as is. The author
disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, including,
without limitation, the warranties of merchantability and of
fitness for any purpose. The author assumes no liability for
damages, direct or consequential, which may result from the use
of DownLoad Tracker."



2. INSTALLATION

Hardware requirements

Minimum requirements is a 286 computer, EGA monitor, 2 megs of
extended memory. Recommended requirements: 386+ computer, VGA
monitor, 4 megs extended memory, 1 meg expanded memory. NOTE
DownLoad Tracker will run on a 286 with just 640K of memory but
some operations may be very sluggish.

Installing shareware version.

It is assumed that you have unpacked the file DLTD30.ZIP to the
C:\TEMP directory and that you have unzipped the DLTD30.ZIP file
and you have this README.1ST file. Now do the following
instructions.

1. Create a directory called \DLT in the drive where you want
DownLoad Tracker to reside.

Move to that directory.

At the \DLT prompt, type COPY C:\TEMP\*.* and press <Enter>. All
the files will now be copied to the \DLT directory.

Print out the manual. This is important because you will need to
set up DownLoad Tracker before you can use it. Especially read
Chapters 4, 5, and 6. There is a number of things you need to do
before running Down Load Tracker. The manual has been supplied
in two formats 1. In Windows Write format (manual.wri) It is
recommended that you print this manual as it has been properly
typeset and paginated. It is very easy to find any information
in this manual. 2. If you do not have Windows then there is an
ASCII manual (manual.txt). The ASCII file has not been formatted
and is much more difficult to read and locate information.

To run DownLoad Tracker, at the \DLT prompt type DLT and press
<Enter>. DownLoad Tracker will create a number of database files
and indexes the first time you run it.

Installing Registered Version

Place the DownLoad Tracker disk in drive A:.

Change to A: prompt.

At the A: prompt, type INSTALL and press <Enter>.

Follow the instructions on the screen.

3. SETTING UP DownLoad Tracker

The following should be done BEFORE you start Download Tracker.
If you start DownLoad Tracker before you do all of the following
steps, you will have to back out again to complete these steps.

Get a list of all your BBS sites. Let's assume that you are
using Telix which is the most popular of the BBS communication
programs. These instructions can easily be adapted to other
programs. Start up Telix. Press <Alt><D> to bring up the list of
BBS's. You can print out a complete list of BBS sites by
selecting Other for the optional menu selections, and then
select Print. This will print out a hard copy of the list of
BBS's you have in Telix.

If you are using the Internet, you will also need to get a list
of your Internet sites as well.

When you have all your BBS and Internet listings then have a
look at them and decide what categories these sources should be
under. You can always change or add to the categories later but
at least you should have a basic list. As most BBS cover a wide
range of topics, you should include the category GENERAL BBS in
the source category list. Also include "Unknown Source" in the
source list. This will be handy when you enter previous
downloads and you don't know where the download came from.

If your downloads are stored on a hard drive then go to section
5.  If your downloads are stored on floppy disks or removable
drives then you will need to number each floppy/removeable
drive. This is important because if you don't number the disks
now then you will not know which disk to place in the drive when
DownLoad Tracker asks for a particular disk. When you have
labelled all the disks make sure that they in correct order with
number one disk on the top.

Now you can start DownLoad Tracker. The first time you run
DownLoad Tracker, a number of database files and indexes are
created. A number of boxes will flash on the screen telling you
what is happening. Also the first time you run DownLoad Tracker,
you will be asked to set the date format to either British
(dd/mm/yy) or USA (mm/dd/yy), the drive the floppy will use, the
drive/directory where the large files are stored on the hard
drive and also if available the drive letter for the removable
drive. IMPORTANT If you do not have a removable drive then leave
this blank at present. If a removable drive letter is specified,
DownLoad Tracker will assume that you have transferred all your
downloads from the floppies to the removable drive and will
search the removable drive and ignore the floppy drive. If you
are using the shareware version then the shareware message will
appear. After reading it press any key to remove it. The main
introduction screen will now appear. In a couple of seconds, the
main database screen will appear. See THE MAIN DATA SCREEN in
this manual for full description of this screen (including
hidden fields).

Now click the mouse on Download Category. An empty box will
appear with a number of buttons beside it. Click on Add Category
to add your first download category. A box will appear, enter
the category and then press <Enter>. Repeat this step until all
the download categories have been entered. Now press <Esc> to
back out or click on the Leave button. You must have at least
one download category before you can enter any download details.
You can add extra categories during Auto Entry. If you have
previous downloads to enter then you should have the category
"UNKNOWN". This is necessary because you will possibly come
across a number of previous downloads for which you may not be
able to immediately identify so you can use this category as a
temporary measure until you get some time in the future to
investigate these downloads in more detail (See also Chapter 6
FIRST TIME DATA ENTRY).

Now at the main screen click on Source Category.  An empty box
will appear with a number of buttons beside it. Click on Add
Category to add your first (BBS/Internet) category.A box will
appear, enter the category and then press  <Enter>. Repeat this
step until all the source categories have been entered. Now
click on the Leave button or press <Esc> to back out.

Now at the main screen click on Source. A box will appear with a
number of buttons under it. Click on Add to add your source
records. For full instructions see Chapter 8. SOURCE CATEGORY in
this manual. Repeat this step until all the source records have
been entered.

You are now ready to enter your download details. See Chapter 5.
SETTING UP THE DOWNLOADS FOR AUTO ENTRY for full information on
how to do this.

NOTE: If you try and skip any of the above steps, then when you
try to enter data, you will receive a error message like "No
categories available, Enter at least one category".

4. THE MAIN DATA SCREEN

The main data screen shows a list of different mouse buttons for
different purposes and the main download database. There are
four fields visible and six fields that are not visible at start
up. To view the other fields, press the <Right

Arrow>, <Right Arrow><Ctrl>, <Left Arrow>, <Left-Arrow><Ctrl>
keys to move through the different fields. The Source and Name
fields have been truncated in order to fit the four fields on
the screen.

You can also move through the fields by clicking on the side of
the box. The left button of the mouse moves the highlight bar
one field at a time while the right button of the mouse moves
the highlight bar one windowful at a time. To move to a
particular record just click on that record.

To move through the database, use the <Up>, <Down>, <PageUp>,
and <PageDown> keys. To move through the database with the
mouse, to move up, clicking the left button on the top of the
window will move the highlight bar up one record while clicking
with the right button on the top of the box will move up one
windowful, to move down, clicking the left button on the bottom
of the window will move the highlight bar down one record while
clicking with the right button on the bottom of the box will
move down one windowful.

To view all the details of a record move the highlight bar to
the record you want to view and press <Enter>. A box will appear
with the selected record's detail. Beneath this box a second box
will appear, if the long description has been extracted from the
FILE_ID.DIZ then this description will appear here. Press any
key to remove the boxes.

For more information on each field see ENTERING DOWNLOAD DATA.

5. SETTING UP THE DOWNLOADS FOR AUTO ENTRY

Here are a couple of rules you should follow when down loading
from a source, and preparing the files to be included in the
download database.

The easiest way to set up downloads for auto entry is to run
DownLoad Tracker as a DOS program within Windows. The
instructions listed below may seem a little complex but they are
a easier to do than explain so please all the instructions. They
can save you a considerable amout of time and a lot of hasssle.

Before down loading a file, get a short description of the file,
this saves the hassle of trying to remember what each download
is for. The best way to do this is when you tag the file to
download. It only takes a few seconds and can save you a lot of
time and hassle later. A short description is really necessary
to make DownLoad Tracker effective. Remember not all downloads
have a FILE_ID.DIZ. Keep a separate list of all files downloaded
from different sources otherwise you won't know where each file
came from.

If you are storing your downloads on a hard drive or removable
drive then move the downloads to the selected
directory/removeable drive. If you are only using a small
removable drive e.g. 100 megabytes, then you may need to read
the instructions below  for hints on how to completely fill a
removable drive otherwise go straight to Chapter 6. FIRST TIME
DATA ENTRY.

COPYING DOWNLOADS TO FLOPPIES

After down loading all the files, take your time and make sure
that the files downloaded are what you really need. Descriptions
can be misleading. Unzip the file to another temporary directory
and have a good look at the unzipped files. If it is not what
you wanted then delete the file.

Now start up DownLoad Tracker, then at the main screen click on
Search. A box will appear. Select "Last Floppy Number". A box
will appear showing the last floppy number entered in the
download database. If the database is up to date, then use the
next number for the next floppy to store downloads on. Press any
key to clear the box.

Now click on Search again. This time select "Show Floppy Space".
A box will appear with a list of floppies and the approximate
amount of disk space used for each floppy. The floppies will
appear in order of least space used. Note the floppy numbers
with the least space used and see if there is sufficient space
to store any of the new downloads. NOTE: The space used is only
an approximation as the size of the file is rounded down to the
nearest kilobyte, so the actual space used will be slightly
diffently than that shown. This is still a lot easier than have
to physically check each disk. If you have any floppies that are
not completely filled then note the number of these floppies or
alternately you can print out a complete list of floppy spaces
by clicking on the "Print Floppies". Now leave DownLoad Tracker.

Once you have sorted out the files, now is the time to download
them to the floppies or removable drive. It is assumed that you
have downloaded the files to the temporary directory C:\TEMP and
that the files will be downloaded to floppies or the removable
drive. The first thing is to get a list of files and their size.
The easiest and fastest way to do this is with Windows File
Manager.  After starting File Manager, move to the directory
that the downloads are stored on, in this case C:\TEMP. Now
click on the File menu. Now click on All File Details. The size
of each file will be shown. If there are any floppies that are
not completely filled, then check the downloads to see if there
is any files that will fit in the available space following the
instructions listed below.

Place a floppy in drive A:. If it is a new floppy then remember
to label the floppy before placing it in the drive.  Click on
the A: drive symbol. Now click on the A: drive directory. At the
bottom left hand corner of the screen will be shown the
available disk space for the floppy loaded in the drive. Note
this space. Now click on the C: drive. Now select a file that
will fit in the available disk space. Remember that the aim is
to fill each floppy so that the mimum amount of free space is
left. Now press <F7>.  The Move File window will appear. Type in
A: in the lower entry area and click on the OK button. The
download will now be moved to the floppy. Click on A: drive
symbol. Click on A: drive directory to see how much space is
left on the floppy. Repeat the above steps in this paragraph
until all the downloads have been moved to the floppies.

When you have moved all the downloaded files to the floppies or
removable drive, now restart DownLoad Tracker and at the main
screen click on Auto Entry for auto entry of data. For more
information on Auto Entry see Chapter 6.

6. FIRST TIME DATA ENTRY

The first time that you enter download data into the database
you may be faced with a certain numbers of problems particularly
if you already have a number of previous downloads to enter.

Each of the following problems can possibly be fixed at a later
date so just follow the defaults at this stage. The first
problem is that you probably will not know where the file came
from, so when the source list comes up just select "Source
Unknown". This one may be a little bit hard to fix but the other
two problems should be easy to fix. If the archive has a
FILE_ID.DIZ then there be no problem in selecting the category
and entering the short description.

However many archives do not have a FILE_ID.DIZ and therefore
unless you are familiar with the archive, then you won't know
which category to select or what short description to write. If
this is the case select 'UNKNOWN' for the category, and write
'Unknown' in the short description. The most important thing at
this stage is to get all the files entered in the database, and
worry about the difficult ones later.

HINT: When you do get around to sorting out the unknowns, set
the database so that it is in disk number order.  To do this,
Click on Search, the select Floppy Search No., accept the
default by pressing <Enter>. Now move the highlight bar to the
disk number field by either using the right arrow key or
clicking the mouse on the right border. Now use the <F11> key to
move the Floppy No. field until you get the required fields in
view (<F12> works in reverse.) This way you will have a minimum
number of disk swaps. Now get a sheet of paper and rule three
columns on it, one for the file name, one for the disk number
and a wide one for the short description.

Now go through the database noting all the unknowns. You may get
some idea of what the file is about if the file is an archive
(.ZIP, ARJ,  LHZ or self-extracting DOS .EXE file) by looking at
the archive details. If this doesn't help then the only other
way is to unpack the file!

7. AUTO ENTRY OF DATA

This is the most powerful of all the DownLoad Tracker options
and allows you to automatically extract information including
the long description from the FILE_ID.DIZ file (if available)
from downloaded files contained on a floppy, removable drive or
hard disk and will automatically enter the data traight into the
database. All you have to do is to select the category and add
the short description. This allows you to quickly update the
database without any hassles. NOTE: 2 megabytes of extended
memory are required for this process. While it may run with just
640k of lower memory, the process would be very slow.

If this is the first time you have used the Auto Entry option,
then first collect all the floppies or removable drives that
have downloads on them and number them in sequential order. Make
sure that the numbers are large and legible. It would probably
pay to download a label program that can print out labels with
sequential numbers.

To use the Auto Entry option, at the main database screen click
on Auto Entry. A box will appear asking you if you want to
automatically add details of downloads to the database. If you
answer Y, another box will now appear asking you whether you
want to auto enter from Floppies, Removable Drive or Hard Disk.

AUTO ENTRY FROM FLOPPIES OR REMOVABLE DRIVE

After making your selection, the screen will clear and a box
will appear at the top of the screen with either the words
"DownLoad Tracker, Auto entry of data from floppies.", "Download
Tracker, Auto entry of data from removable drive". NOTE: The
action of whether you use floppies or removable drive is almost
the same except that different drives are used. Processing
floppies can be rather slow irrespective of the type of
processor because of the slow rate at which data is read from
the floppy into the processor. If you are using a removable
drive then where the word "Floppy" appears below, then treat
that word as "removable drive".

A message will then appear asking you to put the disk in the
selected drive. DownLoad Tracker will then check if the floppy
has been inserted correctly. If not a message will appear. If
everything is ok, then DownLoad Tracker will attempt to read the
floppy label. If DownLoad Tracker can not read the label, then a
box will appear asking you to enter the disk number that the
downloads are stored on. You must enter a disk number otherwise
an error message will appear. This only happens once with each
new disk. It is important that you enter the correct disk number
as this is used automatically by DownLoad Tracker. DownLoad
Tracker will then attempt to read the floppy directory. If the
directory is empty, the message " Unable to extract directory
information. Could be empty disk" will appear.

MESSAGE "THIS IS NOT A DOWNLOAD TRACKER DISK"

When you insert a floppy disk or a removable drive in a drive,
DownLoad Tracker attempts to read the disk label. When it reads
the label, it checks the first 3 characters to see if they are
"DLT", if these are not found then the above message will
appear. If this is an old disk that has been previously used
then the chances are that another program has labelled the disk.
If this is the case then back out of DownLoad Tracker. First
check that the disk does contain downloads by running the DOS
command 'dir A:'. If everything is okay, then run the DOS
command 'LABEL A:'. The disk label will be shown. Press <Enter>.
Now answer Y to confirm that you want to remove the old label.
Now start up DownLoad Tracker. Select auto entry. The message
will then appear 'Can not find disk number. Enter disk disk
number'. Enter the disk number and press <Enter>. The disk
number will then be written to the disk in the form "DLT"<disk
number>. For example if the disk number is 35, then the label on
the disk will be 'DLT35'. By writing the disk number to the
disk, DownLoad Tracker knows which disk has been placed in the
drive and also removes the need to enter the disk number each
time you insert the disk, which also removes the possibility of
human error.

Once the directory has been read, a box will appear with the
message " Processing files ", also the number of files on the
floppy and the file number and file name currently been
processed.

Each file is processed as follows, first the file name is read,
then a check is made to see if a matching file name is found on
the database. If the name is found on the database, then file
dates are compared.

MATCHING NAMES WITH DIFFERENT FILE DATE

If the file dates match, it is assumed that the file has already
been entered on the database and the file is ignored. However if
the file dates do not match, then the following message will
appear on the screen "This file is already listed on database
but the file dates do not match. This could be a different
file." This could be a completely different file covering a
completely different subject in which case it should be
carefully checked out. If they are two different files, then
change the name slightly of the file that you are presently
trying to record details of and try again. The other occurrence
of the file names that may be the same but the file date is
different is where you have downloaded a list of files from a
BBS. This list changes daily and it is easy to finish up with a
number of lists all with the same name but with different dates.
By checking file dates, DownLoad Tracker makes it easy to
eliminate out of date BBS lists. You will then be asked whether
you want to delete the file on the floppy or whether you want to
continue. The case where you would want to delete the file on
the floppy is where the file listed on the database is later
then that on the floppy. Where the file on the disk is later
than the file shown in the database, then select Continue. This
will add the details of the file on the floppy to the database.
Make a note of the older file and after you have finished adding
all the downloads, then delete the older file. (See deleting
records).

DUPLICATE DOWNLOAD CHECK

A second check is made to see if the file name and the file date
match and if the other file resides on a different disk. If this
is the case then the second file is possibly a duplicate
download.

When this happens a box will appear giving you three options.

VIEW You can view the contents of the second file. This option
may give you some idea if the second file is the same as the
first if you are familiar with the first file without the need
to leave DownLoad Tracker.

DELETE If you are sure that this is a duplicate download, then
you can use this option to delete the second file. You will be
asked to confirm that you want to delete the file.

QUIT This option will abort the auto entry and return you to the
main screen. You may need to make this option if you want to
check the file out in more depth then just viewing the file
archive.

EXTRACTING FILE_ID.DIZ AND ARCHIVE DETAILS

If the file checks out, then the file extension is checked. If
the file extension ends with ZIP, LZH, or ARJ, or the file is a
self extracting EXE created with either ZIP, LHA or ARJ then an
attempt is made to extract the long description from the
FILE_ID.DIZ file contained in the archive. All other files are
ignored. The FILE_ID.DIZ file is a file with a long description
of the program and is used by sysops of BBS's when adding to the
BBS list.

In order to extract the FILE_ID.DIZ file, you must have the
following three programs either in the \DLT directory or on the
DOS path. The three programs are PKUNZIP.EXE, LHA.EXE and
ARJ.EXE plus PKZIP.EXE for viewing ZIP files.. The files
PKUNZIP.EXE and PKZIP.EXE can be found in the self extracting
archive PK204G.EXE. The file ARJ.EXE and be found in the
self-extracting file ARJ230.EXE. The file LHA.EXE can be found
in the self extracting file LHA213.EXE. These self extracting
archive files can be easily found on most BBS's. Version numbers
may be different from those  listed above.

Remember to register these files separately. If the required EXE
file can not be found then a error message will appear, check
the DOS path or move the required exe file to the \DLT
directory. If there is no FILE_ID.DIZ then a message will appear
informing you of same.

ADDING CATEGORY AND SHORT DESCRIPTION

The screen will then clear and a box will appear with the
contents of the FILE_ID.DIZ if available. Beneath that a box
will appear with details to enter the source, category and short
description.

Immediately afterwards a box will appear with a list of sources,
select the source where the file was downloaded from and press
<Enter>. The easiest way to do this is to press the first letter
of the source required. If there is more than one source with
the same first letter then just keep pressing the letter until
you come to the source required. If you can't remember where the
download came from then select "SOURCE UNKNOWN". The box
containing the list of sources will disappear and the source
will appear in the source field.

A list of categories will now appear.The easiest way to select
the required category is to press the first letter of the
category required. If there is more than one category with the
same first letter then just keep pressing the letter until you
come to the category required. If you want to add a new category
press <F4>. After selecting the category press <Enter>. Now add
the short description. If the long description is visible
(extracted form FILE_ID.DIZ) then this should be easy. However
if there is no long description, and you can't remember what the
file is about, then enter "Unknown" and after you have listed
all the other files, go back and check on the file in order to
decide which category and short description should be entered.
Each file will be processed in one at a time.

The description field is an indexed field where you can do a
search for a certain description. It is important therefore that
you make you make the first word a " key-word ". For example if
the file is a Microsoft Flight Simulator add-on for version 4,
then use a description similar to the following. "FS4 - Sydney
Airport add-on". This way when you do a search in descriptions
for Flight Simulator files then all you need to do is to enter
as your search string " fs4 " and all your flight simulator
add-on files would be shown.

HINT: If you are down loading from a BBS, when you tag a file to
download, then press the <Print Screen> button. This will give
you a print out of the filename, size, date of file, and
description, all ready to be added to DownLoad Tracker! If you
are down loading from the Internet or Compuserve then you should
be able to do something similar.

8. managing records

EDIT RECORD

To edit a download record, at the main screen click on Records
and then select EDIT RECORD. Most of what applies when adding a
record, also applies when editing a record, except that no check
is made on the file name. See Add Record for full details of
fields. If you only want to change one field then click on that
field. When you have changed the field, press <F2> to save the
changes. This saves you having to go through all the fields.

DELETING A RECORD.

To delete a download record, at the main screen click on Records
then select DELETE RECORD. A box will now appear with the name
of the file, where it was sourced from, and the description of
the file. You will asked to confirm that you want to delete the
file and record or just the record only. The only time you
should select record only is when you are sure that the file has
already been deleted from the disk. Selecting file and record
makes it a lot easier and also more foolproof as you don't have
to remember to delete the file after you have left DownLoad
Tracker. When you select File and Record, you will be asked to
place the required disk in the drive if it is stored on a
removable drive or floppy. A number of checks will be made to
make sure that the correct disk has been inserted and if
everything thing is ok than the file and record is deleted. If
there is any problem then the appropriate message will appear.
If the file can not be found then a message to that will appear.
If this happens just delete the record only.

TOTAL DOWNLOAD

This option allows you check on how many files and the number of
kilobytes that have been downloaded from a particular source. To
check the total downloads, at the main database menu, click on
Records and when the menu box appears select Total Download. A
box will appear with a list of sources. Move to the one you want
to check and press <Enter>. A box will appear telling you that
source files are been counted and to please wait. This box will
probably only be visible if there is a large number of downloads
from a particular source. When the counting is completed a box
will appear with the name of the source, total number of files
downloaded and total kilobytes downloaded.

PACK DATABASE

This option should only be required if you have deleted a large
number of records and you want to recover hard disk space. You
can lose data during a packing operation if there is a power
loss during the operation. For safety, back-up your data first.
To pack the database, at the main database screen, click on
Records and when the menu box appears select Pack Database. A
box will now appear with the message asking to confirm that you
want to pack the download database. If you answer Yes then a box
will appear saying "Packing Download database. Please wait." If
the database is large then this may take some time. When the
packing is complete, the box will disappear. NOTE: This option
is not available with the shareware version of DownLoad Tracker.

9. SEARCHING FOR DATA AND CHANGING INDEX ORDER

Searching for a previous download should only take a couple of
seconds even if you can't remember the file name. The easiest
way to do this is to select the category you think the download
is in, then look at the file name and short description.

Below is a list of the ways you can do different searches and
also change the order in which the data appears.

CATEGORY SEARCH

This option allows you to search for a category. At the main
database click on Search. When the pop-up menu appears select
Category Search. A box will appear, select the category and
press <Enter>. The first record in the category will be
highlighted and the database will now be in category index order
by category and filename.

FILE SEARCH

This option allows you to search for a file name. At the main
database click on Search. When the pop-up menu appears select
File Search. A box will appear, enter the file name and press
<Enter>. You can enter a partial file name if you want to. If
there is no exact match then the next nearest match will be
highlighted and the database will be in filename order. If you
want to change to the filename index without searching, then do
not enter anything for the filename.

SOURCE SEARCH

This option allows you to search for a source. At the main
database click on Search. When the pop-up menu appears select
Source Search. A box will appear, select the source and press
<Enter>. The first record in the source will be highlighted and
the database will now be in source index order. In order to
bring the source field into view either press the <Right Arrow>
key or click on the right border until the field is in view.

FLOPPY No. SEARCH

This option allows you to search for a floppy disk. At the main
database click on Search. When the pop-up menu appears select
Floppy Search. A box will appear, enter the floppy number and
press <Enter>. If there is no exact match then the next nearest
match will be highlighted and the database will be in floppy
disk order. As the floppy disk field is normally not visible on
the screen, you may need to use the <Right Arrow> button or
click on the right border to move to the floppy disk field into
view.

SHOW FLOPPY SPACE

This option will allow you to view the approximate number of
kilobytes in a floppies without handling the floppies. This is
handy if you are looking for some free disk space and you want
to make sure that all floppies are full. At the main database
click on Search. When the pop-up menu appears select Count
Floppy. A box will appear confirming that you want to check
floppies, answer Y then another box with the message "Checking
floppies, Please wait" will appear. DownLoad Tracker will then
go through the download database. When complete, if there are no
floppies listed then the message "No floppies used" will appear
otherwise a box will appear with details for each disk for Disk
No., Number of kilobytes used, and Number of files on disk. The
list will be sorted into kilobytes used with the least used
shown first. This will give you some indication which disks have
free space available and without the need to check each disk
separately. The disk space used is only an approximation as the
file size has been rounded off to the nearest kilobyte, so the
actual disk space used will be slightly higher.

print floppy space

This option works much the same as Show Floppy Space above but
instead of showing the listing on the screen, prints out a hard
copy to the printer. This is handy when you are trying to fit  a
number of downloads on a number of different floppies.

LAST FLOPPY NUMBER

This option may be used if you haven't prenumbered the disk
labels and you want to quickly find the number  of the last disk
used. At the main screen click on Search/View. When the menu box
appears click on Last Floppy Number. A box will appear showing
the number of the last disk used.

VIEW ARCHIVE CONTENTS

When the download details were been extracted, the archive
contents were also noted and stored in the database. This means
that you can easily view the archive details of any .ZIP, ARJ or
LZH archive. Move the highlight bar to the archive you want to
check, click on the Search/View button. When the submenu
appears, click on View Archive Contents. If the file is a .ZIP,
ARJ, or LZH archive then the details of the archive will appear.
If you selected any other type of file then the message "No
archive  details available". Use the <PageUp> <PageDown> keys to
move through the archive details. Press <Esc> to leave.

unpack file

Move to the file that you want to unpack. Click on Search/View
button. When the menu pops up, click on Unpack File. You will be
then be asked to confirm that you want to unpack the selected
file.  You will then be asked to select a directory that the
files are to be unpacked to. The default is the directory you
entered in setup. IMPORTANT You can only select a directory in
the same drive in which DownLoad Tracker resides. You will then
be asked to place the required disk in the drive. The screen
will clear and the screen will show how the unpacking is going,
same as if you unpacked a file from the DOS prompt. When all the
unpacking is completed, a message "Operation completed, Press
any key" will appear at the bottom of the screen.

SWAP TO DOS

To swap to DOS from within DownLoad Tracker, click on the
Search/View button, when the sub-menu appears, click on Swap to
DOS. The screen will clear and the DOS prompt will be visible.
To return to DownLoad Tracker, at the DOS prompt, type EXIT and
press <Enter>. You will then be returned to DownLoad Tracker.
The is a couple of simple rules to follow.

Don't start up a TSR while DownLoad Tracker is in background.

When running another program while DownLoad Tracker is in
background don't try to return to DOS from within the second
program.

If you do any of the above, you will most likely corrupt memory
and when you try to return to DownLoad Tracker, DownLoad Tracker
will either crash or the computer will just hang. This applies
particulary if you have to type EXIT to leave DOS.

VIEW VENDINFO CONTENTS

VENDINFO is a system for conveying software product information
and distribution permissions from the author to distributors and
users. A standard (public) file format allows a VENDINFO.DIZ
file to carry extensive information in a compressed, efficient
form. The associated toolset:

aids the author in constructing the record

allows the distributor to extract portions of the record, or to
make distribution decisions based on its content, in a highly
automated way

allows the user to view user-relevant product information quite
easily.

VENDINFO provides unprecedented capabilities for

Communication of product information and distribution policies
from authors to users and distributors.

Enforceable distribution policies.

Automation of many aspects of package handling by shareware
distributors of all types.

At present VENDINFO concept is fairly new new and that you may
not  at present  see VENDINFO.DIZ in many of the downloads, but
this should change fairly rapidly as more and more authors see
the benifits of the vendinfo concept.

The vendinfo.diz file is quite large, usually about 15-20
kilobytes and for that reason is not copied to the database. To
view the contents of the vendinfo.diz file, first move to the
file which has the vendinfo.diz file that you want to view.
This is easy to do by just checking the archive details. Click
on the Search/View button. When the menu pops up, select View
Vendinfo Contents. You will then be asked to confirm that you
want to view the vendinfo.diz file. A check will then be made to
see if the file you selected has a .ZIP, .ARJ, or .LZH
extension. If it does not then the message "Sorry, only archive
files with ZIP, LZH or ARJ which may have vendinfo.diz file can
be viewed". If everything is okay, you will then be asked to
place the selected disk in the drive, then press <Enter>. A box
will now appear with the message "Extracting vendinfo.diz file
from [file], Please wait". In a short while the details of the
vendinfo.diz will appear. Use the <PageUp> and <PageDown> keys
to move through the file. Press <ESC> to leave. If there is no
vendinfo.diz file file then a message will appear warning of the
same.

VIEW TEXT FILE

This option is intended as a quick and easy way to view text
files up to any size. First move to the file that you want to
view. Click on the Search/View button. When the submenu comes
up, click on View Text File.

The selected file is then checked to see if it has an extension.
Only files with an extension can be viewed. If there is no
extension then the message "You can only view files with an
extension."

If there is an extension then a box will appear with the
following message "Please wait while the File is prepared for
display". If the file is small then this will take very little
time, however if the text file is large and is stored on a
floppy disk then this make take some time. The reasons for this
is that the whole file is read before been displayed and the
very slow transfer rate of floppy disks which is usually around
20 times slower than a hard disk.

Once the file has been read, it is then displayed on the screen.
You can move through the file in the following manner.

PAGING DOWN

You can page down through the file by either 1. Clicking on the
Page Down button. 2. Pressing the Page Down key on the keyboard.
or 3. Moving the mouse cursor to the down arrow on the scroll
bar and clicking with the right button.

PAGING UP

You can page up through the file by either 1. Clicking on the
Page Up button. 2. Pressing the Page Up key on the keyboard. or
3. Moving the mouse cursor to the up arrow on the scroll bar and
clicking with the right button.

SEARCHING FOR A WORD

Click on the Search button. A box will appear. Enter the word or
part of a word that you want to search for and press <Enter>. If
you want to start searching from the start of the file then just
press <Enter> again.

A box will then appear with the words 'Searching Description,
Please wait'. The text will then be moved to the section where
the selected word appears. NOTE: The selected word is not
highlighted.

If you want to continue searching for the same word, click on
the Search button. Press <Enter> to accept the same word and
then press 'N' to continue searching from the last location that
the word was found.

PRINTING THE ASCII FILE

First make sure that your printer is ready. Click on the Print
button. A box will appear asking you if you want to print the
selected file. Click on the Yes button or press <Enter> to
accept the default. If the printer is ready then a message will
appear with the following "Printing [textfile], Printing  line
[num] of [totallines],Press <ESC> to stop printing. You can stop
printing the file at any time by just pressing <ESC>.

SEARCH FOR KEY WORD

This option gives you a powerful search option which allows to
search for a string of characters. This string of characters can
be part of a word, a single word or a group of words. You can
search within three areas, Description, Vendinfo information, or
within the archive details. You can search the full database or
just within a certain category.

At the main screen, click on the Search/View button. Now click
on Search Key Word.

A box will appear with the following message 'Which type of
search?', 'Full database','Category'.

Before proceeding any further it might be an idea as to explain
how this search is done. There are two types of searches,
Indexed and Sequential.

An indexed search is very fast and goes straight to the required
record, but is only suitable for searching usually for a single
word in the field,for an example a Surname, this is of no use
use if you are looking a word in the middle of a sentence.

A sequential search will search the complete string of
characters in a field and detect whether the required characters
are in the string in the field. However there is a price to pay
for this type of search and that is speed. The reason is that is
the search is started from the first record, the field is read
into memory, checked, and if the required string is not found
moves to the next record and then seaches that record and
continues doing so until until either the required string is
found or the end of the file is reached.

This search is done sequentially. This means that if you have a
large number of records, and that the record that you are
searching for happens to be the last one, and you have a slow
computer with little or no RAM then this can take some time.
However if you have some idea as to which category the required
record is in then you should try that category. Lets say that
you have 10,000 records, and there is only 100 record in the
selected category then by selecting the category, the search
will be 100 times faster!

After selecting the type of search, another box will appear
asking which field to search in. You have three choices.

DESCRIPTION

This is the description you wrote during the auto entry.

VENDINFO

This is the description supplied by the software programmer and
contained in the FILE_ID.DIZ file contained in the archive. Not
all archives have this file. This information appears in the
bottom box when you click on the View button at the main
database screen.

ARCHIVE

This is the list of files contained in the archive. The search
here would be for a file name within the archive.

After selecting which field to search in, box will appear. Enter
the word or part of a word that you want to search for and press
<Enter>. If you want to start searching from the start of the
file then last location that the word was found.

10. DOWNLOAD CATEGORIES

The download categories are designed to make it easy to locate a
similar group of downloaded files irrespective of their actual
locations. To view the download category database, at the main
download database, click on Download Categories. A box will
appear with the list of download categories. Beside the box a
number of buttons will appear as follow:

ADD DOWNLOAD CATEGORY

To add a download category, click on Add. Enter the category
required and press <Enter>. The new category will now be
highlighted. Just make sure that you haven't entered the same
category twice.

EDIT DOWNLOAD CATEGORY

To edit an existing download category, move to the required
category and click on Edit Category. A check will be made to see
if any downloads have the same category as the one you want to
change. If there is any downloads with the same category then
the following message will appear "One or more records in the
download database have the same category as the one you want to
change." If this message appears then you will not be able to
change the category until you change the matching download
records. There is a reason for this. The download category
database is used as a selection tool to search for download
records with a matching category. If you changed the record in
the category database to a different category then you never be
able to locate any download records with the old category using
the selection tool. If the above happens, say you misspelt a
category, create a new category, change all the download records
so that they match the new category, and then delete the old
category. If there are matching download records then change the
category and press < Enter >.

SEARCH DOWNLOAD CATEGORY

This option would only be required if you had a large number of
download categories and you wanted to do a 'wildcat' search.
Click on Search Category. A box will appear. Enter sufficient
information to identify the category and press <Enter>. If there
is no exact match then the next nearest category will be
highlighted.

DELETE DOWNLOAD CATEGORY

To delete an existing download category, move to the required
category and click on Delete Category. A check will be made to
see if any downloads have the same category as the one you want
to delete. If there is any downloads with the same category then
the following message will appear "One or more records in the
download database have the same category as the one you want to
change." If this message appears then you will not be able to
delete the category until you change the matching download
records. The reasons are the same as for editing a download
category.

PRINT DOWNLOAD CATEGORIES

To print a list of categories, click on Print Categories. A box
will appear confirming that you want to print the categories.
Answer Y and a list of categories will be printed out.

Click on Leave to leave Download Categories.

11. SOURCE CATEGORIES

The source category allows for a group of sources to be easily
identified. While this may not be very important for BBS's as
most BBS's cover a wide range of topics, it can be important for
Internet addresses as these tend to be more specialised and the
addresses are to a certain extent rather cryptic. For example,
say you had a number of Internet addresses for weather in
different parts of the world, then you create a category for
WEATHER and list all those addresses in that category. To view
the source category database, at the main source database, click
on Source Categories. A box will appear with the list of source
categories. Beside the box a number of buttons will appear as
follows:

ADD SOURCE CATEGORY

To add a source category, click on Add Category. Enter the
category required and press <Enter>. The new category will now
be highlighted. Just make sure that you haven't entered the same
category twice.

EDIT SOURCE CATEGORY

To edit an existing source category, move to the required
category and click on Edit Category. A check will be made to see
if any sources have the same category as the one you want to
change. If there is any sources with the same category then the
following message will appear "One or more records in the source
database have the same category as the one you want to change."
If this message appears then you will not be able to change the
category until you change the matching source records. There is
a reason for this. The source category database is used as a
selection tool to search for source records with a matching
category. If you changed the record in the category database to
a different category then you never be able to locate any source
records with the old category using the selection tool. If the
above happens, say you misspelt a category, create a new
category, change all the source records so that they match the
new category, and then delete the old category. If there are no
matching source records then change the category and press
<Enter>.

SEARCH SOURCE CATEGORY

This option would only be required if you had a large number of
source categories and you wanted to do a 'wildcat' search. Click
on Search Category. A box will appear. Enter sufficient
information to identify the category and press <Enter>. If there
is no exact match then the next nearest category will be
highlighted.

DELETE SOURCE CATEGORY

To delete an existing source category, move to the required
category and click on Delete Category. A check will be made to
see if any sources have the same category as the one you want to
delete. If there is any sources with the same category then the
following message will appear "One or more records in the source
database have the same category as the one you want to change."
If this message appears then you will not be able to delete the
category until you change the matching source records. The
reasons are the same as for editing a source category.

PRINT SOURCE CATEGORIES

To print a list of categories, click on Print Categories. A box
will appear confirming that you want to print the categories.
Answer Y and a list of categories will be printed out.

12. HARD DRIVE, REMOVABLE DRIVE OR FLOPPIES

You have an option of 3 ways to store your downloads. Listed
below are the three options with their advantages and
disadvantages.

HARD DRIVE

Advantages:

Fast access

Disadvantages

Limited storage available

Increased back-up times

REMOVABLE DRIVE

Advantages

Access considerably faster than floppy.

Storage of data can be many times that of floppy.

Physical storage much less than trying to store a large number
of floppies.

Cost per megabyte usually cheaper than floppies.

Less wasted space than floppies

Disadvantages

Initial high cost of drive

FLOPPY DISKS

Advantages

Cheap to buy. Especially in quantities of 100+

Drive already in computer

Disadvantages

Maximum size of file that can be stored is 1.44 megabytes. This
rules out many large games files.

Large number of disks may cause physical storage problems.

Slow read and write

The best solution in the long term, especially if you are going
to download a large amounts of files is the removable drive, but
of course there is the problem of the initial high cost of the
drive although this problem is soon overcome when a number of
removable drives have been purchased compared to an equal
storage capacity of floppies and this will probably improve as
prices drop. A single 210 megabyte removable drive can hold the
same data as 145 1.44 megabyte floppy disks! Also if you are
considering buying a tape backup, then consider buying a
removable drive instead. A removable drive can be put to more
purposes while a tape backup is limited to one purpose only and
is really only useful if you have very large backup tapes and
you want to do unattended overnight backups.

13. FINDING LATEST DOWNLOADS

This option is handy when you are interrupted when adding down
loads and you want to find the latest entries so that you know
where you left off. At the main database menu click on Show New.
A box will appear with the date of the auto entry as default.
Change the date if required and press <Enter>. The highlight bar
will move to the date that the files were downloaded and the
database will be in date downloaded order. If there is no
matching date then the highlight bar will move to the next
available date. As the date downloaded field is not normally
shown on the screen, you will have to use the <Right Arrow> key
to move to the field.

14. PRINTING DOWNLOAD LIST

To print a list of all the downloads entered, at the main screen
click on Records. A box will appear, select Print Downloads. A
box will appear asking you if you want to print a list of
downloads. Make sure your printer is ready then answer Yes. The
list will be printed out in file name order. This allows you to
quickly check when using a BBS or the Internet as to whether you
have already downloaded the file. For this list to be effective,
you should print out a list regularly.

15. UNPACKING ARCHIVE FILES

If a file has a .ZIP, .LHZ, or ARJ extension or is a DOS
self-extracting file created with ZIP,ARJ, or LHA then you can
unpack that archive from within DownLoad Tracker. Move to the
file that you want to unpack then click on Search. Select Unpack
File. A box will appear asking you to confirm that you want to
unpack the designated file. If you select a file that does not
have one of the above extensions a message will appear warning
you that you can only unpack files with the above extension.
When you answer yes a box will appear asking for the directory
to unpack the files to. The default is the directory that you
designated when you ran Setup. You can change this to any
directory. A check will be made to see if this directory exists,
and if not you will asked if you want to create it. IMPORTANT
You can only unpack an archive to the same drive as DownLoad
Tracker exists in. If you try and specify another drive, you
will receive an error message. If everything is ok then you will
be requested to enter the right disk in the drive, if it an
incorrect disk a warning message will appear. If everything is
ok then the screen will clear with a message appearing at the
top saying that the file is been unpacked to the designated
directory. What appears on the screen is as if you used PKUNZIP,
LHA or ARJ at the DOS prompt. For example if the message appears
asking you whether you want to overwrite an existing file then
answer Yes or No as you would at the DOS prompt. When the
operation is completed a message will appear at the bottom of
screen telling you to press any key. NOTE  If you try to unpack
a Windows self-extracting EXE file, you will receive the message
"This file requires Windows" or something similar depending on
which version of Windows you are running and whether the file is
a Windows 3.1 file or a Windows 95 file.

16. ON-LINE HELP

There is an extensive range of on-line help covering all of the
above topics. This is obtainable at any time by just pressing
<F1>. A list of help topics will appear. Select the one you want
and press <Enter>. The help topic will now appear. Use the
<PageUp>, <PageDown> keys to move through the help topic. Press
<ESC> to leave.

17. MOVING DOWNLOADS FROM FLOPPY DISK TO REMOVABLE DRIVE

Moving the downloads from floppy disk  to removable  drive is
done in three easy steps.

After you have installed the removable drive, start up DownLoad
Tracker and click on Setup. Now click on the removable drive
field and enter the drive letter for the removable drive.
IMPORTANT Once you have entered a drive letter for the removable
drive, DownLoad Tracker will assume that all downloads are now
stored on the removable drive disks and not the floppies.

Now for the hard bit. Copy all the downloads from the floppy
disks to the removable drive disks using the DOS COPY command.

Now start up FD2RD.EXE. This utility loads a directory of all
the files held on each removable drive disk and changes the
diskno shown in the download database from the floppy disk
number to the removable drive disk number. All this is done in
memory so each disk will only take a couple of seconds. As you
insert each disk, you will be asked for the disk number same as
for the floppies. Ignore the number shown in the box as this is
the last floppy disk number. Enter the number you will be
entering for the removable drive disk and press <Enter>.  FD2RD
(Floppy Disk 2 Removable Drive) will now process the  removable
drive disk. You will be then asked if you want to insert another
removeable drive disk, if so then enter each disk until all the
removable disks have been processed. NOTE: FD2RD.EXE is only
available with the regisitered version of DownLoad Tracker

18. CHECKING DATABASE FOR OLDER VERSIONS

As new versions of shareware are released, the international
practice is to designate a new file name for each version giving
the version number as part of the file name. For example, say a
program called X Word was released. The first version would have
the file name XWORD10.ZIP and version 2 would have the file name
XWORD20.ZIP and so on. If you have downloaded the newer version,
then you will have both versions listed on the database and the
older version taking up valuable disk space. You may even finish
up with a number of different versions of the same program if
you have a large number of downloads and you haven't run a check
for a considerable period of time.

The way to overcome the above problem is about once every six
months,  select Search For File Name. Enter "0" as the search
string. This will ensure that the files are listed in file name
order with the very first file highlighted.

Now just browse through the database checking the file names for
more than one version and deleting the older versions. When
deleting an older version make sure that you have selected
DELETE FILE AND RECORD.

If you have the registered version, then you should run the PACK
DATABASE option especially if have deleted a large number of
records. This will save addtional disk space.



Trademarks

DownLoad Tracker is a trademark of ABIS Software. All other
trademarks are the property of their respective owners.