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11 ============================================================================== PCBFiler Accessing PCBFiler Explanation of PCBoard's File System The PCBFiler Menu The Directory Editor Adding New Files PCBFiler is designed to help you maintain the file directories on your bulletin board system. With PCBFiler, you can move/copy files between file directories and conferences. In addition, you may also create complete file lists and even more. Accessing PCBFiler There are several ways to access PCBFiler. Simply pick the method that corresponds to what you are doing at the time when you want to load PCBFiler. The following describes the various ways you can load PCBFiler: At a DOS prompt: Because PCBFiler is an executable file, you can load it from the DOS command line by changing to a directory which has a PCBOARD.DAT file in it and typing PCBFILER on the command prompt. The only way to pass command line parameters to PCBFiler is via the DOS command prompt. See Command Line Parameters towards the end of this chapter for additional details. From the call-waiting screen: Simply move the selection bar over to the box which shows PCBFiler and press ENTER. While logged into PCBoard: If you are logged in locally to PCBoard, you may press A-D to load PCBFiler. If you are logged in locally using the /LOCALON command line switch for PCBoard, ALT-D will be disabled to prevent unauthorized users from accessing PCBFiler. From System Manager: From the Main Menu in System Manager, you can select Directory Maintenance (PCBFILER) to load PCBFiler. Explanation of PCBoard's File System If you understand how PCBoard's file system works, it will be easier to setup your system to work the way you want it to work. The following is a brief explanation of all files that are relevant to your file directory system. DIR: This is the file that is displayed to users when they select F from your main menu to view the file directories on your system. In essence, this is a text file which lists what each file directory on your system contains so users can select the file directory they wish to view. DIR.LST: This is the file PCBoard uses to determine where the file descriptions are stored, and the description for the directory contents. PCBFiler uses DIR.LST to determine where the files are stored on your hard drive or similar device. PCBFiler also determines what method to use when you sort your directories by reading DIR.LST. DLPATH.LST is a file which contains a list of paths PCBoard will search through for files that a user requests to download. Only the paths listed in this file are searched when a user requests a download. There is no direct relation to downloading and the description of the files. The descriptions for the files are merely a convenience to the user so they know what files are on your system. The PCBFiler Menu When you load PCBFiler, you will be presented with the Main Menu. From the Main Menu, you can edit directory files, configure the PCBFiler options, and perform other tasks related to maintaining file directories. The following describes each menu option. Edit DIR Files This menu option enables you to edit the file directories on your system. When you are editing your file directories, you can move, copy, or delete the files that are listed. When you select this menu option, you are presented with the following choices: Main Board Directories This menu option will allow you to edit the file directories for the Main Board Conference (conference #0). To edit the file directories of another conference, select Conference Directories instead of Main Board Directories. From this point on, the screens are exactly the same as if you selected Conference Directories instead. Therefore, see the following section for more information. Conference Directories If you have conferences in which files are available for download, this option will enable you to access these conferences. You are shown a list of available conferences. After you select a conference, you will be presented with a new screen. This new screen informs what the available directory numbers are for the current conference. This information is determined by examining the DIR.LST file for each conference. At any time, you can access the private directory which is directory 0 within PCBFiler. Before you select a directory number to edit, you may press F2 to edit the DIR.LST file for the current conference. When you do, the DIR.LST editor will be displayed on the screen. You may change and save the information on this screen as you would in PCBSetup | Conferences. You may notice that PCBFiler lists one more directory than you have defined in your DIR.LST file. If you have answered N to the Make All Uploads Private, PCBoard will add your public upload directory as the last directory in the conference. If you have defined 14 directories in DIR.LST, your public upload directory will be listed as directory 15. Once you select a directory to edit, you are shown some information about that directory. The following is a sample: Selected DIR Text File: C:\PCB\GEN\UPLOAD Attached Subdirectory : C:\PCB\UPLOAD\ DIR File Description : Main Board upload Selected DIR Text File: Displays the location of your description file. This is the file you entered in the DIR Text File Name & Path field in DIR.LST. Attached Subdirectory: This field should contain the disk directory where the majority of files are physically located for this file directory. If you have not specified any subdirectory in your DIR.LST file, you are informed there is no attached subdirectory. DIR File Description: In DIR.LST you are given over 30 characters to describe the file directory. For example, you may have entered something like Miscellaneous Screen Utilities. Whatever you entered in that field will be displayed here. Next, you will be asked two questions. The following describes each question: Include files found on DISK that are not listed in the DIR file: There are two valid responses to this question. The valid responses are: N Files which exist in the attached subdirectory but do not have descriptions will not be listed in the editor. Y All files in the attached subdirectory will be listed in the editor. The files which do not have descriptions will have DSK or D next to each filename. Verify file existence directory: There are three valid responses to this question -- Y, N, and A. A Verify all files in the directory listing to see if the actual file exists in one of the directories listed in DLPATH.LST. Use this option if you want to check and make sure a file is downloadable. If the file is not found in any of the directories listed in DLPATH.LST, the editor will display notification to the right of the filename. Selecting this option will significantly increase the time it takes to load the file into the editor. N Do not verify any of the files listed in the directory listing. This would be the choice to select if you want to do some quick editing of a file directory and do not care to check if the files actually exist on disk. Y Verify all files listed in the directory listing to see if they exist in the directory defined as the Attached Subdirectory. PCBFiler will report if the file actually exists when you are in the editor. Depending on how many files you have in the file directory, it may significantly increase the time it takes to load the file into the directory editor. Once you have answered the two questions, the directory file will be loaded and you will be placed in the directory editor. For instructions on how to use the directory editor, see the section titled The Directory Editor. Off-Line Directories If you select this option, you will be immediately taken into the directory editor and all of the files that are stored in your off-line directory will be displayed inside the editor. Since there is no description file associated with the off-line file directory, you will not see any descriptions. See The Directory Editor and Maintaining Files for additional information. Undo last change Whenever you perform operations in the directory editor (e.g., moving or copying these files), PCBoard will record the changes made in case you wish to undo them. Only one level of undo is maintained. If you wish to undo the most recent changes, select this menu option. If you moved files, PCBoard will move the descriptions and files back to the original directories. If you copied files, the copies of the file and description that were made will be deleted. However, if you deleted files, PCBoard does not undelete the file but it will restore the file description. Sort all DIR Files Allows you to sort file directories in all conferences using the sort method specified in DIR.LST and in the conference configuration (for the upload directories). Once you select this option, you are asked if you wish to only sort the upload directories in each conference. If you choose to select only the upload directories, both the private and public upload directories for each conference will be sorted (if they exist). Create Files List If you want to compile a list of all files available in a particular conference, use this menu option. PCBFiler will create a file called PCBFILES.LST. This file will contain a compilation of all of the directories in the conferences you defined in the PCBFiler Defaults menu option. PCBFiler will put a header before each file directory so your directories can be easily distinguished. The header has the following format: [Conf_Name]: [Directory_Number]) [Directory_Description] ======================================================== where [Conf_Name] is the name of the conference, [Directory_Number] is the number of the file directory and [Directory_Description] is the description of the file directory. For example, you may see the following in your PCBFILES.LST file: Main Board: 1) Sample Files ==================================== SAMPLE1.FIL 168046 12-28-90 Filename and description holder SAMPLE2.FIL 2662 12-10-92 No description available TEST3.TXT 2839 04-01-92 No description available (yet) Because your description files support @X color codes and included files (%filename), PCBFiler must take these into consideration. When you create a file list using this menu option, PCBFiler will strip all @X color codes in the description file, and will automatically include any files pointed to by %filename. Scan for Duplicate/Missing Files Periodically you may want to scan your file system for duplicate or missing files. This menu option will print a comprehensive report to a file called ANALYSIS.RPT in the default directory. You can use this report to help fix problems in your setup or to eliminate redundancy. The duplicate/missing report contains the following information: Conferences Included in Scan: As a reminder, this will list all conferences you have told PCBFiler to include in the missing/duplicate scan. This can be changed in PCBFiler | Defaults Page 2. Disk directories scanned: Lists the disk directories that were scanned for duplicates or missing files. This information is obtained from DLPATH.LST in each conference scanned. DIR files scanned: Lists the directory description files (sometimes called DIR files) that were scanned for duplicates or missing files. This information is obtained from the DIR.LST file in each conference. Files listed in DIR files but missing from Disk: The files listed in this section were listed in a directory description file, but when the entries in DLPATH.LST were scanned, the corresponding file could not be found on disk. This means the file is not available for download. Duplicate Files found in Disk subdirectories: The files listed in this section were found in more than one subdirectory. To determine this information, PCBFiler scans the DLPATH.LST file for all conferences. If the file is available in more than one subdirectory, it is considered to be a duplicate. Duplicate Files found in DIR files: If a file has descriptions in more than one directory, it will be listed in this section of the report. You will be shown what directory numbers each description number is in so you may fix the problem if necessary. Locate File Spec on Disk This menu selection is almost identical to the L user command that can be used to search for filenames which match a particular filename or wildcard. PCBoard will not search the file directories. Instead, it will search the download paths in all conferences to look for matching files. This menu option is useful if you are looking for a file you think might be available for download but are not sure where it can be found on your system. The following lists the fundamental differences between this menu option, and the L user command. PCBFiler searches the disk instead of the description files. All conferences are searched PCBFiler searches through all subdirectories listed in the DLPATH.LST for each conference to find a match. When you select this menu option, you are asked for the filename or filespec you would like to search for. You may enter any valid filename (including wildcards). Once you have entered the filename to search for, PCBFiler will begin scanning all conferences for matches. If a match is found, you will be shown the drive, path, and filename to help you locate the file on disk faster. Notice how the scan begins with the Main Board conference. Any matches will show the complete path and filename where the file can be found. Files will be listed even if they do not have descriptions written for them. If you want to see only files with descriptions, use the Locate File Spec in DIR Files menu option instead. Locate File Spec in DIR Files If you select this menu option, you will be asked what filename you would like to search the directory description files for. To help find multiple files, you may specify wildcards. PCBFiler will scan all directory description files in all conferences for a match. If a match is found, the description will be displayed on the screen as shown in the following example: The scan begins in the first file directory of conference 0 (the Main Board) and proceeds to scan all file directories in all conferences. Any matching files will show the complete file description including the date, file size, and filename. Locate Text in DIR Files If you wish to search the descriptions of all files in all conferences, select this menu option. You will be asked for the text to search for. Once you type in the text to search for, PCBFiler will begin searching all files in all conferences for the text you entered. As with just about any other text searching function associated with PCBoard, you can specify Boolean operators to help narrow your search. Notice that the description for CALGUIDE.ZIP contains the word HELP on the fourth line of the description. Since all file directories were being scanned for the word HELP and this particular description has the word help, the entire file description is displayed. Edit PCBFiler Defaults Page 1 There are numerous options you can configure to help you control how PCBFiler operates. There are two menu options (Defaults Page 1 and Default Page 2). This section describes each of the options available in Page 1 of the defaults. Maximum number of lines allowed in DIR file editor This field controls how many lines you can load into the Directory Editor. You should enter a value high enough so you can load any of your file directories into the Directory Editor. If you specify a value which is too low for your system, you may see a message stating Error: reached maximum number of records. If you see this error, increase the value of this field. While you can enter any value up to 32000 in this field, you should keep the value relatively close to the size of your largest directory because you may be wasting un-necessary memory by specifying a very large number. NOTE: If PCBFiler runs out of conventional memory while loading a file directory into memory, it will attempt to use virtual memory on your hard disk which may slow down your load time slightly. Include files found on DISK that are not listed in the DIR file This option enables you to control what the default will be for the Include files found on DISK question. The following are valid defaults: N Do not include any files which do not have descriptions into the Directory Editor. Y Include files found in the attached subdirectory (contained in DIR.LST) which do not have descriptions yet. This option is extremely useful for adding new files to the system. Verify file existence When loading files into the directory editor, you can have PCBFiler verify that a file really exists on one of the drives in your system. The following are the valid options for this field: A Verify file existence by searching all entries in the DLPATH.LST for the current conference. This is extremely useful if you have a file directory which has files in two or more different subdirectories. For example, you may have some of the files stored on a hard drive and the rest of the files stored on a CD-ROM. If both paths are listed in your DLPATH.LST file, the files will be verified properly. Basically, if the file is available for download, it will be verified properly. N Do not verify file existence. This will reduce the amount of time it takes to load the file into the Directory Editor because PCBFiler does not have to check and see if each file listed really exists. Y Verify file existence, but only verify using the attached subdirectory listed in the DIR.LST file. If you use either the Y or A option when loading a directory into the editor, you will see the status of the file existence to the left of each filename when in the editor. The following are keywords that you may see: [blank] If the file could be found, you will not see any status codes. DIR If there is a description for a file, but the corresponding file could not be found, you will see DIR next to the file name if you are using novice mode in the editor. If you are using expert mode in the editor, you will see an L to the left of the filename instead. NOTE: If you choose to verify file existence, the file date and file size will be updated when the file is loaded into the editor. The file date will be updated only when the Update FILE DATE with date found on disk file option is enabled. Perform operation (Move/Rename/Delete) on marked files If you have made changes while in the Directory Editor, you will be asked if you want to perform the file operations (Move/Rename/Delete). The valid options are as follows: A PCBFiler will search for the entries in the DLPATH.LST for the current conference to see if the file exists. If it exists, it will be moved, copied, or deleted as specified in the directory editor. N If you select this option, only the descriptions of the files that have been marked to be copied, moved, or deleted, will be processed. This means the physical files on disk will remain untouched. Y If you select this option, both the files and the file descriptions will be processed as specified in the directory editor. Check for duplicate files in each text DIR listing processed After all of the changes have been made as specified in the directory editor, you can have PCBFiler check all of the processed directories to see if there are any duplicates in any one file directory. The following are the valid options for this field: N Do not check for duplicates after all files have been processed. In all likelihood, you will not need to check for duplicates each time you make changes to a directory. However, it is recommended that you do check for duplicates from time to time. Y Defaults to check for duplicates each time changes are made to file directories. If duplicates are found, you are shown the duplicates and asked which description (if any) you would like to delete from the file directory. Perform DIR processing in NON-STOP mode (no pause when screen full) When PCBFiler is processing the changes you made, it outputs what it is currently doing to the screen. You can control whether or not PCBFiler should pause after each screen of data is displayed on your screen. The following are the valid options for this field: N If you select this option, PCBFiler will pause after each screen of data is displayed on your screen. Each time PCBFiler pauses, you are given the option to go into continuous or non-stop mode by pressing C at the prompt. Y Process the files in non-stop or continuous mode. PCBFiler will not pause each time the screen fills up. Delete tagged files from disk If you have selected any files to be deleted from a file directory, during processing you may be asked if you actually wish to delete the files from disk. The following are the valid defaults for this field: A If you select this default, the files will always be deleted from disk. In fact, you are never even asked if you want to delete the files--PCBFiler will do it automatically. N Default to not delete the files from disk. If you answer N to the Delete tagged files from disk, the descriptions will still be deleted, but the files will still remain on disk. This means you only removed the description from the file directory. Y Default to delete any files that have been marked for deletion in the directory editor. This means both the file description and the file itself will be deleted from the file directory. Update FILE DATE with date found on disk file If you have chosen to verify file existence when loading a file into the directory editor, you may also choose to have the file date updated to the date found on disk or leave the date unchanged. The following are the valid defaults for this option: N Do not update the description to reflect the current file date found on disk. The date that listed in the description will remain as the date for the file. Y Update the file date listed in the description for the file to reflect the date of the file on disk. If a file gets updated frequently or ever changes file dates, you may want to have it reflect the current date. If so, select this as the default. Set FILE DATE to today when moving/copying files This option allows you to choose if you want to set the file date in the description to the current date when moving or copying files. The following are valid defaults for this field: A Ask each time files are processed. By defaulting to ask, you can choose to set the file dates of all files being moved or copied to the current date. N Always leave the file date as listed in the Directory Editor when moving or copying files. Y Always change the file date to the current date of any file being moved or copied. Create 0-byte file when moving OFF-LINE or creating DELETED entries This option allows you to control if a zero-byte file is left behind when a file is removed from the file directory (using F7 in the Directory Editor) or moved to the OFF-LINE directory. The following are the valid defaults for this field: N A zero-byte file will not be left in the directory where the file used to reside. This means a user can re-upload the file to the system because the file will no longer exist on the system. Y A zero-byte file with the same name will be left in the directory where it used to reside. This will help prevent users from uploading a file with the same name as the one just deleted because technically, the file still exists on the system. Default to Expert Mode inside DIR File Editor There are two modes of operation in the Directory Editor--novice and expert. You can choose which method you prefer to default to when using the Directory Editor. The following are the valid defaults: N Defaults to novice mode when you load the Directory Editor. This means you will see more meaningful status indicators if you choose to verify file existence. For example, expert mode will show a D next to the left of a filename if it exists on disk but has no description. In novice mode, PCBFiler will print DSK instead. Y Defaults to expert mode when using the Directory Editor. When in expert mode, you will see a shortened status indicator, conference number, and directory number to the left of each filename. Expert mode is very useful when you are moving a large quanity of files to many different subdirectories because you can quickly change the directory number or conference number where the file will be moved. You can do all of this without having to select the file and then pressing ALT-M to move the file. NOTE: You can toggle between expert and novice modes while in the Directory Editor by pressing ALT-X. Default indentation for vertical bar on Secondary Lines When you are inserting secondary lines in the Directory Editor, you can control what position the secondary line character ( | ) will be placed. You may enter any value between 2 and 79. You may not enter a 1 because PCBoard requires that there be a space preceding the secondary line character. To match the 45 character lines PCBoard uses, enter a default indentation of 32. Speaking of PCBoard, this option will not change the 45 character limit per description line that the user enters. Edit PCBFiler Defaults Page 2 Like Defaults Page 1, this screen allows you to change options that will affect the operation of PCBFiler. The following describes each of the fields available via this menu option. Include Conferences in File List This field holds the conferences you want to include whenever you create a file list from either the main menu in PCBFiler or with the /LIST command line parameter. You may specify a single conference, a range of conferences, or a combination of the two in this field. For example, if you want to include conference 0 (Main Board), conferences 10-15, and conference 22 in your file lists, enter the following in this field: 0,10-15,22 Include for Missing/Dupe Scan In this field, specify the conferences you want to include in the missing/dupe scan that you can select from the Main Menu. Like the previous field, you can specify a single conference, a range of conferences, or a combination of the two. Maximum number of files allowed in scan The number you choose here should be high enough to handle the total number of files listed in all directory files plus the total of all of the files on disk. (maximum number is 65,000) The scan for duplicate/missing files feature stores the names and locations of all files in DIRs and hard disks in virtual memory to speed the sorting and comparison process. Therefore, if you select a number which is too high for your system, you may end up using the virtual memory much faster than you need to which will slow down the duplicate/missing report. Off-line directory In this field, specify the drive and subdirectory where you want to store files you have marked as being moved off-line. PCBFiler will copy the files to the location specified in this field and mark the file as being off-line in the file description. If you are really moving the files off-line, you may want to specify the location of a DOS device which supports removable media (e.g., floppy disk drive, magneto-optical drive, etc.). If you move files to a location which has removable media, you can fill up one disk or cartridge, store it, then put in a new one and move some more files off-line. Backup directory When PCBFiler processes files, it makes backups of all directory files it modifies in case you choose to undo the changes made. This field enables you to specify where the backup files will be created. In this field, specify the drive and subdirectory where you want your backup files to be created. If you leave this field blank, the backup files will be created in the default or current subdirectory. Original Directory Some SysOps may copy their directory files to RAM disks when they boot their system while the masters are stored on a hard-drive or other fixed media device. If you use this type of setup, PCBFiler can help you make all of your changes to the physical copies of your DIR files stored on the hard-drive. In this field, enter the name of the directory you would like to translate to a new location. For example, you may physically store your directory files in C:\PCB\GEN\ but you may copy them out to F:\, a ram drive, for quicker access. If this resembles your setup, enter F:\ in this field. The F:\ will be replaced with whatever you enter in the New Directory field. NOTE: If you do not intend to use this feature, you must leave this field blank. New Directory If a file directory is found which includes the path specified in the Original Directory field, the original directory will be replaced with your entry in this field. If your system resembled the previous example, enter C:\PCB\GEN in this field. File VIEWERS When you are in the Directory Editor, you have the ability to view the currently highlighted file by pressing ALT-V. In this section you may specify up to six viewable extensions. Each viewable extension can execute a program or batch file which may then allow you to view the file while in the Directory Editor. In the File Extension field, enter the viewable extension. In the DOS Command field, enter the DOS command whenever you press ALT-V in the Directory Editor while a filename with this particular extension is highlighted. PCBFiler will run the command you specify after it appends the filename you are currently viewing onto the command. For example, if you enter EDIT in this field and you press ALT-V while viewing a file called TESTRUN.TXT that is stored in C:\PCB\DL01\, PCBFiler will execute the following command: EDIT C:\PCB\DL01\TESTRUN.TXT. PCBFiler will begin scanning the file extensions in the File VIEWERS block from the top down to the bottom acting upon the first match found. There is a special extension you may specify which will match on every extension. If you want to take advantage of this, make this new entry your last file extension. The extension you want to enter is ???. The question marks are wildcard characters which will match any filename extension. What type of viewing utility should you use for this entry? Most SysOps will use a all-purpose viewing utility which will simply show the raw content of the file. The following is a sample setup. File Extension : ZIP DOS Command : PCBFV C:\PCBFV\PCBFV.CNF /L File Extension : ARJ DOS Command : PCBFV C:\PCBFV\PCBFV.CNF /L File Extension : ARC DOS Command : INTERNAL File Extension : ??? DOS Command : LIST If a filename is viewed which has an extension of ZIP or ARJ, PCBFiler will execute PCBFV C:\PCBFV\PCBFV.CNF /L [filename]. If a filename is viewed which has an extension of ARC, PCBFiler will use its internal viewer for ARC compressed files. Any other files will get viewed (because of the ??? extension) and will be viewed using a utility called LIST. NOTE: PCBFiler has two internal viewers. One internal viewer is for ARC compressed files and the other is for ZIP compressed files. These internal viewers simply list the files stored in the compressed file and their sizes. To use these internal viewers, specify INTERNAL in the DOS Command field. Choose PCBoard DIR File Colors PCBoard will colorize your file directories on the fly. You can colorize the following elements of your directory files: Header or banner at the top of a directory file Filename File size File date First line of a description Any additional lines of a description Text lines in the middles of a directory file OFF-LINE notices (in the date field) DELETED notices (in the date field) To choose your colors, simply move the cursor on the sample screen to the color or section you want to change and press ENTER. When you press ENTER, you are presented with a box which shows all possible color selections you may choose. Move the cursor around in the box until you have found the color you wish to use. Once you press ENTER on the color you wish to use, you will see the sample screen update to show you what your directories will look like. When you are done making all of your selections, press ESC to exit. If you have made any changes, you will be prompted if you wish to save the changes. To save the changes, answer Y to this question. The Directory Editor The Directory is the heart and soul of PCBFiler. Within the editor, you can easily maintain your file directories by moving, copying, or deleting files located in a particular directory. Once you understand how the directory editor works, you will be able to quickly and easily place files where you want them. The Directory Editor Screen Understanding the Directory Editor screen will help you be more productive while using it. The following screen shows points of interest. Following the screen, an explanation will be given which describe what each arrow points to. status indicators: The status indicators are always displayed but are different for novice and expert users. These status indicators are typically shown in bright red on the left side of the screen. The following explains each status indicator and what it looks like in both novice and expert modes. Status Codes Detailed Description Novice Expert DIR L There is a description for this file. However, the actual file could not be found on disk. PCBFiler will either check the attached directory as defined in DIR.LST or for all paths listed in DLPATH.LST depending on how you choose to verify existence. DSK D This file was found on disk, but does not have a description yet. You must enter a description for this file if you want it listed in the file directories. Action Codes Detailed Description Novice Expert CPY C The file and description are marked for copying. DEL D The file and description are marked for deletion. MOV M The file and description are marked for moving. REM R The description will be deleted, leaving a 0-byte file. SEL S The file has been selected. You can move all files that are selected, by pressing ALT-M while you have files selected. All selected files will be moved. current line number: Represents the current line number that is highlighted in the directory file. These line numbers include all description lines, text lines, blank lines, etc. lines in directory: The total number of lines that are in the file directory currently loaded into the editor. primary description line: Every file must have a description if you want the file to be listed in your file directories. The first line of the description is known as the primary description line because it is required. secondary description line: A secondary description line is any line in a multi-line description other than the first line. This line always has a vertical bar ( | ) to help separate it from a primary description line. When the file is listed in the file directory, the vertical bar will not be shown to the user. text line: Any line in a file directory which does not describe a file, is considered a text line. You have 79 characters on a text line which you can enter text. The previous example points to a text line that says %H:\PCB\DIR\H_PCBD2. The % in the first column is a special feature of PCBoard and PCBFiler. In this case, PCBFiler will display the H:\PCB\DIR\H_PCBD2. conference number: The conference number is only displayed when you are using expert mode in the editor. If you change the value in this field, the file will be automatically marked for moving to the new conference you specify. directory number: Like the conference number, the directory number is only displayed while you are using expert mode in the editor. If you change the value in this field, the file will be moved to the new directory you specify. If you want to move the file to the off-line directory, you can enter an X for the directory number. Navigating In The Editor There are some keystrokes you will want to remember to help you navigate while you are in the Directory Editor. These keys will easily let you go to the beginning or end of a directory file. In addition, you can use these keystrokes to step through fields in the editor. You can tell what the current field is, because it will be highlighted. For example, if the date field is the current field, you can enter any valid date into the field and it will be saved. Likewise, you can move over to the description area, and enter or change text in that field. Keystroke Description of action -------- --------------------------------------------------------- up Move to the field above the currently highlighted field. down Move to the field below the currently highlighted field. left Move the cursor one character to the right in the current field. right Move the cursor one character to the left in the current field. TAB Move to the next field. SHIFT-TAB Move to the previous field. Home Move the cursor to the beginning of the current field. End Move the cursor to the end of the current field. up Display the previous 15 lines (page) of the file directory. down Display the next 15 lines (page) of the file directory. CTRL-End Delete everything from the cursor to the end of the field. CTRL-up If you press this once, PCBFiler will move to the first field on the current screen. If you press this keystroke twice (quickly), you will be placed at the beginning of the file directory. CTRL-down If you press this once, PCBFiler will move to the last field on the current screen. If you press this keystroke twice (quickly), you will be placed at the end or last field of the file directory. Commands Available Within PCBFiler there are several commands you can execute which will allow you to perform actions on various files, check free space, shell to DOS, etc. The following is a list of commands available while you are in the Directory Editor of PCBFiler: Key Description ------- -------------------------------------------------------- ESC Exit the Directory Editor. When you are done making changes, press this key to exit the editor. If you have made changes, you will be prompted if you would like to save the changes you have made. You can choose to save the changes, abort the changes, or return to the editor. F1 Access on-line help. On-line context sensitive help is available from just about anywhere in PCBFiler. To access this on-line help, press F1. F2 Display file directory setup. Sometimes you may need to view the directory setup for a particular conference so you know what directory you want to move or copy a file to. When you press F2 you are asked for the conference you want to view the directory setup of. F3 Convert to upper-case. All alphabetical characters in the current field will be converted to upper-case letters. Numbers are not effected. F4 Convert to lower-case. All alphabetical characters in the current field will be converted to lower-case letters. Numbers are not effected. F5 Convert file listing to text line. Normally, PCBFiler will split-up a file description into various fields (filename, date, size, etc.). You can tell PCBoard to convert the current file description into a text line using this command. F6 Convert text line to file listing. If a text line is in the proper format for a file description (see The File Directory Format), the text line will be changed back so you can access one field at a time rather than the entire line. F7 Remove file. Marks the current filename to be removed. When the file is removed, the file description remains but the date changes to show that the file was deleted. A zero byte file is also usually left (Depending on Defaults Page 1) where the file used to be so the file cannot be uploaded again. F8 Copy file. After you have marked a filename to be moved, you can change it so the file is copied instead of moved. This means both the file and the description will be left in the current directory and also copied to the destination directory. F9 Delete file. The current filename is marked for deletion. This means both the file on disk and the file description will be permanently deleted from this file directory. F10 Undo line. If you have made changes to a field, you can undo those changes while you are still in the field by pressing F10. Any changes you have made will be lost. ALT-A Repeat last command. There are certain commands you may want to repeat frequently. For example, you may use ALT-L and ALT-Z several times to find the right file. To make things easier, PCBFiler will repeat the last search when you press ALT-A. ALT-D Delete current line. The current line will be deleted from the directory editor. It does not matter if the line is a text line or a file description. The deletion cannot be undone while in the editor. ALT-F Check free drive space. When you are moving files around it may become essential to see how much space you have available on a system drive. When you issue this command, you are asked for the drive letter you wish to see the free-space for. Once you enter a valid drive letter, you are shown the total space available on the drive and the amount of free space on the drive. ALT-I Insert a line. Somewhere down the road, you may need to insert a line in your file directory. PCBFiler allows you to enter three different types of lines. If you select the first type, a totally blank line will be inserted. If you pick option B, a line will be inserted showing you the fields in a file description. Finally, if you choose the default (option C), a secondary description line will be entered. This is most useful when you are adding a new line to a description. ALT-L Locate a filename. When you are working with several files, you may need to locate a particular filename. This command allows you to find a specific filename. You may enter a filename to search for or you may enter any valid wildcards. If a match is found, the highlight bar will be moved to the match. ALT-M Move a file. If your highlight bar is currently on a file description, you can mark the file to be moved to another directory. You are prompted for the conference number, and directory number you want to move the file to. You are also asked if you wish to copy the file instead. See Moving or Deleting Files. ALT-O Shell to DOS. Nothing is more handy than being able to shell to DOS when you need to. You can shell to DOS at any time while you are in the Directory Editor by pressing ALT-O. ALT-S Select current file. When your highlight bar is on a file description, the current file will be marked as a selected file. You can use ALT-M to move all selected files to a new directory. This is very handy if you are moving lots of files and do not want to press ALT-M on each file description. ALT-T Change file date to today's date. The date of the current filename will be changed to today's date. ALT-V View current file. PCBFiler will view the currently highlighted filename using the programs you defined in Defaults Page 2. ALT-X Toggle expert/novice mode. As mentioned previously, there are two different modes of operation within the Directory Editor--novice and expert. You can toggle novice and expert mode using this command. ALT-Z Search for text. Like the (Z)ippy command in PCBoard, you can use this command to search for text in a description. If a match is found, the highlight bar will be moved to the matching filename. Moving or Deleting Files An integral part of the file system is the ability to move and delete files. Most SysOps will have several file directories defined. Since all uploads go into one directory, you need a way to move files out of the upload directory into a new directory. Likewise, you may need to delete a file because you do not want to put it online for download and you do not want it wasting space. Moving Files To Another Directory There are two different ways to move files within the Directory Editor. Each method has advantages and disadvantages. The following discusses the two methods: ALT-M If you press ALT-M while your highlight bar is on a valid file description, you will see a box pop up. This box asks you the following information: Conference Number: The conference number to move the file to. Directory Number: The file directory to move the file to. Move or Copy (M/C): Enter M to move or C to copy the file. Move File Offline: Enter Y if you wish to move the file off-line. Simply fill in this information, and press ESC to mark the file for moving. You will see either a MOV or an M next to the filename showing you that the filename is marked to be moved. If you press ALT-M while you have files that are marked as selected (SEL or S) all files that were selected will be moved to the location you specify and the files will be unmarked. Expert While you are in expert mode in the Directory Editor you can change the number located in either the conference or directory number field. If a new number is specified in either of those fields, you will notice that the file will be marked for moving. Using this method can save you time because you never have to hit ALT-M and you do not have to select files. Another advantage is that you can see the conference and file directory the files are designated to be moved to. Moving Files Off-Line Just as there are two ways to move a file, there are two ways to move a file to the off-line file directory. When you press ALT-M you will notice there is a prompt asking you if you want to move the file off-line. If you answer Y, the file will be moved to the off-line file directory and a zero-byte file will be left behind to prevent the filename from being uploaded again. In expert mode, you can simply put an X in the conference column. You will immediately notice the file is marked for moving. The file will be moved to the directory that you specified as the off-line directory and the date in the description will be changed to say OFF-LINE. Deleting Files You may either delete a file or remove a file from a file directory. The following describes the difference between deleting and removing a file: Deleting: Both the file description and the file will be marked for deletion. This is the method that you will want to use if you want to totally purge a file from the system. Removing: Only the physical file is deleted leaving the file description behind. To help differentiate a normal file from a file which has been removed, the date in the file description will be changed to DELETED. In addition, a zero-byte file is left behind on disk to prevent a file with the same name from being uploaded again. Changing a Filename, Date or Description Changing a filename, date or description is extremely easy. All you have to do is move your highlighting bar to one of the fields mentioned previously and simply type in the new filename, date or description. When you exit the Directory Editor, your changes will be made to both the file description and the physical file on disk. Multi-line descriptions Obviously it would be quite difficult to describe a file with only 45 characters. PCBoard and PCBFiler allow you to enter up to 65 lines for your file descriptions. To add a description line to an existing file description you insert a new line using ALT-I. Insert a secondary description line and start typing. If you need another line, simply press ALT-I again to insert another secondary description line. Make sure whenever you are entering a description and it is not the first line that it has a | character before the place where your description begins. Otherwise, your description line will be treated as a text line instead of a description line. Processing changes made in directory files Once you have made all of the changes you want to make in the directory editor, you need to actually carry out those changes. To do this, press E to exit the Directory Editor and save your changes. At this point you will be asked some questions regarding processing. Perform operation (Move/Rename/Delete) on marked files PCBFiler allows you to control if the physical files will be processed in addition to the file descriptions. In most situations, you will want to move the physical files with their descriptions. The following are the valid responses to this question. A PCBFiler will search for the entries in the DLPATH.LST for the current conference to see if the file exists. If it exists, it will be moved, copied, or deleted as you specified in the directory editor. N If you select this option, any files which have been marked to be copied, moved, or deleted, will have only the description acted upon. The physical file will remain untouched. Y If you select this option then both the files (on disk) and the file description will be processed as you have specified in the directory editor. Check for duplicate files in each text DIR listing processed After all of the changes have been made as specified in the directory editor, you can have PCBFiler check all of the directories that were processed to see if there are any duplicates in any one file directory. The following are the valid responses for this field: N Do not check for duplicates after all files have been processed. In all likelihood, you will not need to check for duplicates each time you make changes to a directory. However, it is recommended that you do check for duplicates from time to time. Y Defaults to check for duplicates each time changes are made to file directories. If duplicates are found, you are shown the duplicates and asked which description (if any) you would like to delete from the file directory. Set FILE DATE to today's date when moving/copying files This question will only appear if you set the default of this field to A. This option allows you to choose if you wish to set the file date in the description to the current date when moving or copying files. The following are valid responses. N Always leave the file date as listed in the Directory Editor when moving or copying files. Y Always change the file date to the current date of any file that is being moved or copied. Processing The Files Once you have answered all of the questions, PCBFiler will begin processing each of the file directories that are involved. A single line will be displayed showing what is currently being processed. For example, you may see the following: Backing up: H:\UTIL\FDIR2 Changed : HISTRY14.ZIP file date Moved File: HISTRY14.ZIP to Area 9, DIR 8 Sorting : H:\DOOR\UPLOAD by Date (Ascending) From the first line you can see that PCBFiler backed up the directory file in case you wish to undo the changes. Next, the file date on HISTRY14.ZIP was changed to reflect the new date that was entered in the editor. Finally, the file was moved to conference 9, file directory 8 and the destination file directory was sorted using the method specified in DIR.LST. Sharing Violations As your system becomes larger there is a better chance you will start to see sharing violations. These are notifications that the current action could not be processed yet, because someone is accessing the file that is needed for processing. These errors are common in a multinode environment and are normal. Whenever PCBFiler runs into a sharing violation, it will wait 10 seconds and try to access the file again. The best way to avoid or minimize the number of sharing violations you get while processing files is to do your directory maintenance in off-peak hours when fewer people are online. The File Directory Format PCBoard stores the file directories in ASCII format. In other words, you can look at your file directories with a text editor and see exactly what they look like. Because the file directories are stored in ASCII format, the text must be placed in certain positions and follow certain rules in order to be considered valid. If you do not manually edit your file directory listings, you most likely will not need to pay attention to this section. Those that manually edit their file directories will find this section full of useful information. Text lines: Any line that is not part of a file description is considered a text line. Obviously, there is no format required for a text line. Simply enter up to 78 characters per line and it will be displayed as entered. You can use text lines at the top of your file directory as a header which will describe the contents of a file directory. There is no real limit to what you can do with text lines. Remember that even text lines get sorted if you have chosen to sort the file directory. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Directory 1 - PCBoard Bulletin Board Software ------------------------------------------------------------------------ +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | PCBoard software is only available from inside the Support | ª Conference. However, the files below can be downloaded by any ª ª caller to this system - including the complete PCBoard documentation ª ª file. It is provided for your use in the event you are considering ª ª the purchase of PCBoard software. You can order PCBoard software ª ª while online with us by completing Script Questionnaire #2. ª +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ PCB145AM.ZIP 168046 12-28-90 PCBoard v 14.5 ASCII Manual PCBORDER.ZIP 2662 12-10-92 PCBoard v 14.x Ordering Information PCBCOMP.ZIP 2839 04-01-92 PCBoard v 14.5a Comparison Guide Use this to compare other BBS packages with PCBoard. In the previous screen capture the text lines are the dashed lines explaining the directory, and the box. Include files: An included file is a line which begins with a % followed by a valid filename. The file specified will be viewed at the point it is stored in the directory file. The include file feature is very handy to use especially if you have a disclaimer that you put in each file directory. That way, you may only have to enter something like %C:\PCB\GEN\DISCLAIM on a blank line instead of all of the text. When you make a change to the DISCLAIM file the changes are automatically spread through all directories which display the file. Primary description line: This is the line that contains the filename, date, size, and first line of the description. The following specifications must be met for this line to be considered as a valid primary description line. The file name is valid and contains no spaces within it. The file size is flush right in column #21. No commas please. The file date begins in column #24 and uses dashes to separate the date (e.g., 03-19-94). All values less than 10 include leading zeroes as in "01" instead of " 1". The file description begins in column 34 and must not extended beyond 78. The following shows some sample primary description lines: PCB145AM.ZIP 168046 12-28-90 PCBoard v 14.5 ASCII Manual PCBORDER.ZIP 2662 12-10-92 PCBoard v 14.x Ordering Information PCBLINFO.ZIP 7205 01-18-89 PCBoard/LANtastic Thoughts/Ideas PCBFILES.ZIP 259861 02-23-93* Complete List of All Files on Salt Air As you can see, these listings all adhere to the proper format. If you do not adhere to the format as outlined previously, the entire line will be considered a text line and will be treated as such. Secondary file listings: Secondary lines allow you to improve the description of a file by providing a much longer description. Rules for valid secondary lines are as follows: * Must follow a valid primary or secondary file listing. * Must begin with a space in the first column. * Must include a vertical bar (a ª character) somewhere on the line (the default is in column 32 at the end of the date field). PCBoard will, when displaying the file to the caller, remove the vertical bar so as not to clutter up the display. Colorization: PCBoard performs automatic colorization of the DIR files as they are being displayed by recognizing text lines, filenames, sizes, dates, descriptions, and secondary lines according to the previous rules and according to the color scheme defined in PCBFiler's Choose DIR Colors menu option.. Any additional colorations desired (via @-codes) are permissable as long as they are placed in non-column-sensitive areas such as text or secondary lines. You will not be able to place color codes anywhere to the left of the description field on a primary description line. Adding New Files At some point you will need to add files to your file directories. You could be starting your BBS for the first time and adding new files, or you may have obtained a large number of files that you would like to add to a particular file directory. This section discusses the steps necessary to add files to a particular file directory. To help illustrate this technique we are going to use a very simple setup as an example. In our sample setup, all files are stored in the Main Board and there are only two directories defined in DIR.LST which looks like the following: DIR Text File Name & Path Hard Disk Subdirectory Sort ------------------------- ---------------------- ---- 1) C:\PCB\GEN\DIR1 D:\DEMO\ 1 2) C:\PCB\GEN\DIR2 F:\UTILS\ 1 The first thing you need to do once you have decided on the directory that you want to add files to is to copy the files you want to add to the subdirectory specified in the Hard Disk Subdirectory field. Once the files have been copied to the subdirectory, run PCBFiler so you can describe the files you just copied. Use the Edit DIR Files menu option to load the directory you copied the files to into the directory editor. Make sure you answer Y to the Include files found on DISK that are not listed in the DIR file. If you do not, you will not be able to describe these files because they will not be listed in the Directory Editor. Once the file is loaded into the editor, you can go to the end of the directory by pressing CTRL-PgDn twice. You will see the filenames you copied to the directory listed with either a DSK or a D next to the filename. This is telling you that file exists in the subdirectory but there is no description for the file. Now simply move over to the description field and start entering descriptions for the files you copied to the directory. When you are done entering all of the descriptions, press E to exit the Editor and save your changes. Command Line Parameters You can use command line parameters to modify what PCBFiler will do when it loads. To use a command line parameter add the parameter after PCBFILER.EXE. For example, you may type PCBFILER.EXE /LIST:3. The /LIST:3 in this example is the command line parameter. /CONF:[conf] When PCBFiler loads, you will immediately be taken to the conference number you specify so you may begin editing file directories. You are locked into this conference, and you cannot return to the Main Menu of PCBFiler. For example, if you typed in PCBFILER /CONF:0 you may see the following: PCBFiler - A Utility for PCBoard Directories Directory Selection Available DIR numbers are 0 for PRIVATE and 1 through 1 Enter Number of Main Board DIR to Edit ? 1 Notice that you do not have to go through all of the menus to get where you need to get going. In addition, this is very handy if you have conference SysOp or co-SysOps that you wantto lock into a particular conference so they do not edit files in conferences you do not want them to access. /CONF:PCBOARD.SYS This command line parameter is identical to the /CONF:[conf] parameter with one exception. Instead of specifying a conference number to be locked into, PCBFiler will pull the current conference from the PCBOARD.SYS in the current directory. If the PCBOARD.SYS does not have a conference number in it (because nobody is online), PCBFiler will return back to DOS. /FILE:[location of PCBOARD.DAT] PCBFiler needs to access the PCBOARD.DAT file so it can access information about your various file directories. Normally, PCBFiler will look in the current directory for the PCBOARD.DAT file. However, you can tell it where to find the file by using this command line parameter. Simply replace the [location of PCBOARD.DAT] with the full path and filename where it can be found (e.g., C:\PCB\PCBOARD.DAT). Example PCBFILER /FILE:C:\PCB\PCBOARD.DAT The example above will load PCBFiler and tell it to use the PCBOARD.DAT located in C:\PCB\. If you did not use this parameter, only the current directory will be searched. /LIST:[conferences to include in the list] Using this command line parameter is equivalent to selecting Create Files List from the PCBFiler Main Menu. If you use /LIST as the command line parameter, the conferences that will be included in the list will be those that are listed in Defaults Page 2. You may override these conferences by specifying a : after the /LIST followed by a list of conferences you want to include in the file lists. Examples PCBFILER /LIST:1 The above example would create a file list using only the files that are available from conference 1 on your system. PCBFILER /LIST:0-10,15 This command line will create a file list of all files available in conferences 0 through 10 and conference 15. /PROCESS:conf:dir:[A] If you have files that change dates or sizes on a regular basis, you may want to update the file descriptions to show the current file date and size. This command line option enables you to update the file size and the file date. NOTE: In order to update the date, you must have answered Y to the Update FILE DATE with date found on disk file option in Defaults Page 1. In order for this command line switch to work, you must specify the conference number and the directory number in the conference you want to update. By adding :A to the end of the command line, PCBFiler will search all directories in your DLPATH.LST for the conference you specify to see if it can find the file on disk. If the file cannot be found in the default location for the file directory or in the DLPATH.LST file, PCBFiler will not be able to update the file information. Examples PCBFILER /PROCESS:0:1 This example would update the file information of file directory #1 in conference #0 (Main Board) PCBFILER /PROCESS:1:1:A The example above would update the file directories in directory #1 of conference #1. Because the :A is specified, PCBFiler will search all subdirectories listed in DLPATH.LST if it cannot find the file in the default location for the file directory. /SCAN This is the equivalent of selecting Scan for Duplicate/Missing Files from the PCBFiler Main Menu. This is most useful if you regularly scan for duplicate or missing files within an event. Remember, the report will be written to ANALYSIS.RPT in the current subdirectory. /SCAN:[conferences to include in scan] The only exception between this and the /SCAN parameter is that you may override the conferences you listed to include in dupe/missing scan in Defaults Page 2. Simply enter the conferences to include in the scan after the colon. For example, to include conferences 0-39 in the duplicate/missing scan, enter the following: PCBFILER /SCAN:0-39 /SORT Using this command line parameter is equivalent to selecting Sort all DIR Files from the Main Menu. The only difference is you are not asked if you wish to sort only the upload directories of each conference. All directory files will be sorted according to the methods you specified in DIR.LST. /SORT:UPLOAD All upload directories in all conferences will be re-sorted. The sort method used will be the one defined in the conference configuration. Remember, only the upload directories (private and public) will be sorted. If you want to have all directories sorted, use /SORT instead.