Cream of the Crop 26/Cream of the Crop 26.iso/disk/cops707.zip/COPSINCE.DOC

Text File | 1997-07-31 | 12KB | 269 lines

COPSINCE.DOC                           1                           Jul 31, 1997

WIN95 AND WINNT NOTICE:  As with most DOS-based utilities, this program doesn't
understand the weird subdirectories, long filenames,  invalid  characters  that
are possible under Windows 95 and Windows/NT.   Both  operating  systems  alias
long filenames into names like MYFILE~1.TXT and you will need  to  specify  the
aliased versions of file names to process  them.   Under  some  file  structure
systems in NT, the program may not work at all.

This program looks for all files in a particular subdirectory  and  copies  all
new ones to another subdirectory.  It is typically used to make sure  you  have
backups of files while you're  in  the  middle  of  doing  something  to  them.
Features:

  * You can copy all files updated since  a  given  date  or  within  the  last
    x-number of days.
  * You can specify that newer files be copied regardless of  date  restriction
    as long as the older version already exists in the subdirectory.
  * You can define groups of file types, using DOS wildcard specifications  and
    copy only, say, text files or word processing files.
  * Pressing escape stops the program early.


Defining your own file specifications:

You can create your own file specifications for copying  purposes.   Typically,
this is done using an *.INI file (see BRUCEINI.DOC file) but  it  can  also  be
done from the command line.

These definition specifications are made using the following syntax:

        /DEF filetype=filespecs

For example, if you want to specify a new grouping "WP", you can define  it  to
include something like the following:

        /DEF WP=*.WP *.WP5

Up to 20 file specifications can be made for a given group.  Your  COPSINCE.INI
file can contain up to 10 groupings.  Once the group is defined, you  can  then
specify the name of the group on the command line and those are the files  that
will be grabbed.  By default, only two file  types  are  defined  and  you  can
override both of these if desired:

        /DEF ALL=*.*
        /DEF TEXT=*.BAS *.BAT *.BI *.C *.DOC *.H *.REF *.TXT

Win95  notice:   As  with  most  DOS-based  utilities,  this  program   doesn't
understand the weird subdirectories  and  filenames  that  are  possible  under
Windows 95.


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When are files copied or moved:

COPSINCE  has  five  action  parameters  that  are  mutually  exclusive   which
determines which (if any) files get copied or moved:

 /DIFF   says to copy any files which are different in size, creation date,  or
         time as well as any files which don't already exist in the destination
         subdirectory at all.

 /A      says to only copy files to the destination subdirectory only  if  they
         are not currently there.

 /U      says to only copy files to the destination subdirectory  if  they  are
         newer in the source subdirectory.

 /AU     says to  copy  files  if  they  are  either  not  in  the  destination
         subdirectory or they're more recent in the source subdirectory.

 /CLONE  says to copy everything no matter what.

The following table may help explain this:

File in         File in                         Copy?
Source sub      Destination sub       /DIFF  /A    /U    /AU  /CLONE

Newer           Older                 YES    no    YES   YES  YES
Older           Newer                 YES    no    no    no   YES
One size        Another size          YES    no    no    no   YES
Present         Missing               YES    YES   no    YES  YES
Same            Same                  no     no    no    no   YES

If /OBEY is in effect, files  are  only  copied  if  the  file  in  the  source
subdirectory was created within the number of  days  specified  in  the  "/COPY
date" or "/COPY -n" parameter.


Specifying parameters:

Parameters for this program can be set in the following ways.  The last setting
encountered always wins:
  - Read from an *.INI file (see BRUCEINI.DOC file),
  - Through the use of an environmental variable (SET COPSINCE=whatever), or
  - From the command line (see "Syntax" below)



COPSINCE.DOC                           3                           Jul 31, 1997

Syntax:

    COPSINCE [ [ /FROM ] from_dir | from_dir\filespec ] [ /TO to_dir ]
      [ /COPY date | /COPY -n ] [ /DIFF | /A | /U | /AU | /CLONE ] [ /-OBEY ]
      [ /DEF filetype=spec [ spec ]... ] [ /ALL | /TEXT | /filetype ]
      [ /-4DOS ] [ /BEEP ] [ /MONO ] [ /Iinitfile | /-I ] [ /-ENV ] [ /? ]

where:

"/FROM from_dir" (or just "from_dir") is the subdirectory  name  in  which  the
source files are found.  Can provide drive and  path  information  if  desired.
Defaults to  the  current  subdirectory.   Alternatively,  you  can  specify  a
filespec including wildcards to limit the activity to one group of  files.   If
you specify a filespec, it overrides any /ALL, /TEXT, /filetype specifications.

"/TO to_dir" (or just "to_dir") is the destination to which to copy the  files.
Can provide drive and path  information  if  desired.   Initially  defaults  to
"/TO=A:\".  The equal sign is optional.

"/COPY date" (or "date") specifies the date  from  which  you  want  all  files
copied.  Initially defaults to today's date (for  example,  "/COPY  06-23-96").
The date should be in whatever national date  format  you  have  set  for  your
computer.

"/COPY -n" (or "-n") says to copy all files updated in  the  last  n-number  of
days.  Initially defaults to "/COPY -0"; all files created today only.

"/DIFF" says to copy files from the  source  subdirectory  to  the  destination
subdirectory if it either doesn't exist in the destination subdirectory or  its
file date, time, or size is different.  This is  initially  the  default.   The
following parameters are all mutually  exclusive:   /DIFF,  /A,  /U,  /AU,  and
/CLONE.

"/A" adds new files only to the destination subdirectory.  If the  file  exists
already in the destination subdirectory, it will be skipped over  whether  it's
newer or not.  The following parameters are all mutually exclusive:  /DIFF, /A,
/U, /AU, and /CLONE.

"/U" says to  copy  files  only  if  they  exist  already  in  the  destination
subdirectory and only if the files in the destination  subdirectory  are  older
than the ones in the source subdirectory.  The  following  parameters  are  all
mutually exclusive:  /DIFF, /A, /U, /AU, and /CLONE.

"/AU" copies the file if the version in the destination subdirectory is  either
missing or older than the one in the source subdirectory.  Note that  "/UA"  is
treated  the  same  as  "/AU".   The  following  parameters  are  all  mutually
exclusive:  /NONE, /DIFF, /A, /U, /AU, and /CLONE.

"/CLONE" says to copy all files from directory1 to  directory2.   Period.   The
following parameters are all mutually  exclusive:   /DIFF,  /A,  /U,  /AU,  and
/CLONE.


COPSINCE.DOC                           4                           Jul 31, 1997

"/OBEY" says that if the file exists already in the  output  subdirectory,  the
"/COPY date" or "/COPY -n" specification is to be strictly adhered to.  This is
initially the default.

"/-OBEY" says that if the file exists already in the output subdirectory and is
older there than it is in the input subdirectory, ignore the  "/COPY  date"  or
"/COPY -n" specifications and update it anyway.  This makes sure that the files
are current even when they're outside your  date  specification.   The  initial
default is "/OBEY".

"/DEF  filetype=spec  [  spec  ]"  allows  you  to   create   your   own   file
specifications.  Typically, this would be  specified  in  your  initfile.   See
"Defining your own file specifications" above.

"/ALL" says to take all files (initially, a file specification of *.*).

"/TEXT" restricts copying to only those files that are  known  to  be  straight
ASCII files.  Initially, this is defined as any files which  meet  any  of  the
following file specifications:

        *.BAS *.BAT *.BI *.C *.DOC *.H *.REF *.TXT

Initially, the routine grabs the /TEXT specification by default.

"/filetype" allows you to invoke your own file specification.  You  might  want
to have something like /WP (for *.WP *.WP5  etc  files)  or  whatever.   Unless
you're referencing /TEXT or /ALL though, you have to define the filetype  using
a /DEF filetype statement before using it; the  relevant  "/DEF  filetype=spec"
parameter must  appear  before  the  "/filetype"  parameter  in  the  *.INI  or
command-line or *.INI file or whatever.

"/4DOS" says to respect 4DOS conventions vis-a-vis the DESCRIPT.ION file.  File
descriptions from the DESCRIPT.ION file in the input path are  added  to  those
(if any) in the DESCRIPT.ION file in the output path.  4DOS is  copyrighted  by
Rex Conn and JP  Software  Inc.   The  COPSINCE  program  initially  determines
whether 4DOS is loaded or not and acts appropriately.  The "/4DOS" switch  says
to force 4DOS adherence whether it's loaded or not.

"/-4DOS" says to ignore  4DOS  conventions  vis-a-vis  the  DESCRIPT.ION  file.
Initially, the conventions are ignored only if 4DOS is not currently loaded.

"/BEEP" gives you a beep when the  program  finishes.   Initially  defaults  to
"/-BEEP".

"/-BEEP" does not beep when  the  program  finishes.   This  is  initially  the
default.

"/MONO" (or "/-COLOR") does not  try  to  override  screen  colors.   Initially
defaults to "/COLOR".

"/COLOR" (or  "/-MONO")  allows  screen  colors  to  be  overridden.   This  is
initially the default.


COPSINCE.DOC                           5                           Jul 31, 1997

"/Iinitfile" says to read an initialization file with the file name "initfile".
The file specification *must* contain a period.  Initfiles are described in the
BRUCEINI.DOC file.  Initially defaults to "/ICOPSINCE.INI".

"/-I" (or "/INULL") says to skip loading the initialization file.

"/ENV" says to look for %var% occurrences  in  the  command  line  and  try  to
resolve any apparent environmental variable references.  See  BRUCEINI.DOC  for
more information.  This is initially the default.

"/-ENV" says to skip resolving apparent %var% occurrences in the command  line.
Initially defaults to "/ENV".

"/?" or "/HELP" or "HELP" shows you the syntax for the command.


Return codes:

COPSINCE returns the following ERRORLEVEL codes:

        0 = no problems
      250 = operation aborted by pressing Escape
      255 = syntax problems, or /? requested


Author:

This program was written by Bruce Guthrie of Wayne Software.  It  is  free  for
use and  redistribution  provided  relevant  documentation  is  kept  with  the
program, no changes are made to the program or documentation,  and  it  is  not
bundled with commercial programs or charged for separately.  People who need to
bundle it in for-sale packages must  pay  a  $50  registration  fee  to  "Wayne
Software" at the following address.

Additional information about this and other  Wayne  Software  programs  can  be
found in the file BRUCE.DOC which should be included in the original ZIP  file.
The recent change history for this and the other programs is  provided  in  the
HISTORY.ymm file which should be in the same ZIP file where "y" is replaced  by
the last digit of the year and "mm" is the two  digit  month  of  the  release;
HISTORY.611 came out in November 1996.  This same naming convention is used  in
naming the ZIP file (COPSymm.ZIP) that this program was included in.

Comments and suggestions can also be sent to:

                Bruce Guthrie
                Wayne Software
                113 Sheffield St.
                Silver Spring, MD 20910

                e-mail: [e-mail]   fax: [phone]
                http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Lakes/2414

Please provide an Internet e-mail address on all correspondence.