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SD: IBM-PC SORTED DIRECTORY UTILITY V6.2 Copyright (C) 1986-89 By John F. Stetson SHAREWARE - All Rights Reserved 1.0 INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 1.1 Program Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 1.2 Design Philosophy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 1.3 Distribution Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 1.4 Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 2.0 OVERVIEW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 2.1 Modes of Operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 2.2 Command Line Syntax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 2.3 Controlling Program Output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 2.4 Summary of Switches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 2.5 Examples of Use . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 3.0 FILE SELECTION AND SORTING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 3.1 File Selection By Attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 3.2 File Selection By Date . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 3.3 ARC and ZIP File Processing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 3.4 Global Subdirectory Processing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 3.5 Sort Field Selection Switches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 4.0 OUTPUT FORMAT CONTROL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 4.1 Output Mode Switches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 4.2 Output Toggle Switches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 4.3 Filename Column Switches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 4.4 EGA and VGA Switches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 5.0 SYSTEM INFORMATION SUMMARY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 5.1 System Hardware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 5.2 System Memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 5.3 Disk Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 5.4 VSN Utility Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 6.0 SPECIAL ENVIRONMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 6.1 Batch File Operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 6.2 Multitasking Environments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 6.3 Local Area Networks and OS/2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 7.0 MEMORY RESIDENT VERSION (SDR) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 7.1 Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 7.2 Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 7.3 Activation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 7.4 Execution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 7.5 Termination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 7.6 Removal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 7.7 Switch Differences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 7.8 Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 7.9 Error Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 8.0 CUSTOMIZATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 8.1 Configuring the Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 8.2 SDC Configuration Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 8.3 Patch Area Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 9.0 APPENDICES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 9.1 Error Messages and Return Codes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 9.2 Modification History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 9.3 Product Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 SD V6.2 User's Guide Page 1 1.0 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Program Requirements This is a user-supported SHAREWARE product. Please see the section titled Product Support at the end of this document for details. SD.COM is a Sorted Directory utility program which operates on IBM-PC compatible computer systems using the IBM PC-DOS or Microsoft MS-DOS Operating System Version 2.0 through 4.0 and also under the IBM and Microsoft OS/2 Operating System in the DOS 3.X compatibility mode. A memory resident (TSR) version called SDR.COM is also provided. This version of the program requires about 16Kb of disk space and about 32-64Kb of memory during execution, depending on the number of files and directories being processed. Current program limitations are about 625 total directories when processing global directories, about 1525 files per directory, and about 1315 files per ARC or ZIP file, assuming 64Kb of memory is available. File sizes up to 100Mb and disk sizes up to 1000Mb are fully supported. Support is provided for IBM-PC compatible MDA, CGA, MCGA, EGA, and VGA video adaptors and monitors. 1.2 Design Philosophy SD provides more information than the resident DOS DIR command about the files on a disk, and allows the user to select, sort, format, and display the information in a variety of ways. This is accomplished by specifying a pattern name to select the desired files and by specifying any of a variety of command line "switches" which allow you to modify the behavior of the program. The switch names have been designed using letters, as much as possible, so that it is easier to associate the function of a switch with its name. In addition, the default switch values have been carefully chosen to reflect their most common use. Although the program is relatively small, it is possible to use it in an almost infinite variety of ways by using the switches in different combinations. A significant amount of effort has gone into optimizing the performance of the program, due to the number of times it is typically used. The program is designed to be as transparent as possible in normal operation, and does not impose itself between the user and the operating system. This allows both novice and experienced users to use it in the way that best meets their needs. As a default, the program writes output directly to video display memory which results in noticeably faster output than that possible with DOS. Output can still be redirected to an output device or file by specifying the standard DOS redirection symbol (>) on the DOS command line. Maximum possible use is made of the horizontal dimension of the screen to minimize the loss of previously displayed data by screen scrolling. Support is provided for a variety of file selection attributes. Support is provided for a variety of screen display formats with varying amounts of detailed file information displayed. SD V6.2 User's Guide Page 2 A variety of user customizable command line switches and screen field display colors are also supported. Every effort has been made to keep the size of the program to a minimum, for efficient use on systems having floppy disks. However, many of the capabilities of both DOS and this program are only fully realized when using large hard (fixed) disks with hierarchical directory structures to organize files. Two of the most valuable resources in a computer system are memory and disk storage. Many applications make little or no attempt to use these resources efficiently. Not only does this program attempt to provide many useful (and hopefully frequently used) capabilities in an efficient package, but it can be used to manage the system memory and disk space so that they are used to best advantage. 1.3 Distribution Files The SD program and associated files are distributed in the form of an archive file called SD62.ARC or SD62.ZIP. This is done to save disk space and time when transferring files over Computer Bulletin Board systems and to insure the integrity of the files. You will need a utility program (ARC or PKUNZIP) which is capable of extracting the files from the distribution file. These types of programs are normally available from most Computer Bulletin Boards or Software Libraries. The distribution file contains the following files: SD .COM - Executable File for SD - Sorted Directory Utility SDR .COM - Executable File for SDR - Memory Resident Version of SD VSN .COM - Executable File for VSN - Volume Serial Number Utility SD .DOC - Documentation File for SD, SDR, SDC, and VSN SD .PIF - Microsoft Windows PIF File for SD SDB .BAT - Batch File - Browse SD Output Using LIST Program SDD .BAT - Batch File - Execute SD Commands for Multiple Drives SDM .BAT - Batch File - Execute SD with Multiple Command Parameters DEMO .BAT - Batch File Demonstrating the SD Program DEMO2 .BAT - Batch File Demonstrating Related Products DEMO3-6 .COM - Executable Files Called By DEMO2.BAT ORDER .FRM - Order and Registration Form SITE .FRM - Site License Agreement Form The following file is also provided when you register SD: SDC .EXE - Executable File for SDC - Configuration Program The following source code files are also available separately: SD .ASM - Assembly Language Source File for SD SDR .ASM - Assembly Language Source File for SDR VSN .ASM - Assembly Language Source File for VSN SDC .BAS - BASIC Language Source File for SDC SD V6.2 User's Guide Page 3 1.4 Installation Copy the .BAT and .COM files from the distribution file to the root directory of the system boot disk (normally C:\) or to another directory of your choice which is specified in the DOS PATH command in the file AUTOEXEC.BAT. The best way to quickly familiarize yourself with the features and capabilities of SD is to run the DEMO.BAT file. For best results, copy the DEMO.BAT file to the root directory of the system boot disk, make sure this is the default directory (type CD C:\), and type the command: DEMO You can optionally specify a target drive and/or directory for the files to be displayed. For example: DEMO D: or DEMO D:\BIGDIR You can also run the demonstration in "quick mode", where you will be able to see the program running at full speed, without user prompts: DEMO C:\ /Q Only the files in the target directory and its subdirectories will be processed, so it is best to specify the root directory of the drive in order to be able to access a large number of files. The demonstration is designed to be run with a copy of the distributed SD.COM file, before any program defaults are changed by the user. This demonstration simply displays information about the computer system and the files on the selected disk; it does not write anything to the disk. Once you are familiar with SD, you may wish to run the DEMO2.BAT file for a quick demonstration of several related products. See the section titled Product Support for additional information. SD V6.2 User's Guide Page 4 2.0 OVERVIEW 2.1 Modes of Operation SD is a versatile program that can be used in a variety of ways: The most common use is to simply display information about files (and subdirectories) in a single (usually the current) directory. Most of the sort field switches are used in this mode. The program can be used to display detailed information about the system hardware configuration, the availability and current use of different kinds of system memory and fundamental disk characteristics. The /i switch is used in this mode. The program can be used to search or scan all (or a subset) of the ARC and/or ZIP files on a disk for one or more files which meet the specified criteria (file name pattern or age). This processing makes effective use of ARC and ZIP compressed files by allowing easy access to ARC and ZIP directories. The /a and /z switches are used in this mode. The program can be used to search or scan all (or a subset) of the directories on a disk for one or more files or directories which meet the specified criteria (file name pattern, file attributes, or age). The /g switch is used in this mode. The program can be used to display a graphical directory tree map of all (or a subset) of the directories on a disk which meet the specified criteria (file name pattern or age). The /m switch is used in this mode. The program can be used to create an output file by redirecting console output which may be subsequently used as input to another program. The /r switch can be used in this mode, but is optional since the program will automatically detect the use of DOS command line redirection. 2.2 Command Line Syntax The complete form of the DOS command line to run the program is: D>sd [drive][path][filespec] [/switches] [>[>]device/file] In most cases, only one or two parameters are specified, so the command syntax isn't as formidable as it may appear at first. Each of the command line parameters is optional (as the [] characters indicate) and may be used together in any combination or order. Spaces may also be freely used at any point to improve readability. The various command line parameters are described below: [drive] This parameter specifies the name of the disk drive to be processed. Typical drive letters are A: or B: for floppy disks and C: for a hard disk. RAM (memory) disks implemented via device drivers may also be specified, as can other types of disks, such as CD-ROM drives or logical Network drives. If no drive letter is specified, the currently logged-in drive (shown in the DOS prompt) is used. SD V6.2 User's Guide Page 5 [path] This parameter specifies the path through the hierarchical directory structure to the desired directory which contains the files to be processed. The general form of the path parameter is shown below: [\][directory][\directory]...[\directory][\] The path name may simply be the name of the root directory (\), or the name of a subdirectory in the root directory. The standard DOS . and .. directory names may be used to refer to the current and parent directories, respectively. If a path is not specified, the current directory on the specified disk drive is used. If the path name is the first parameter on the DOS command line after the program name, then they must be separated by a space. [filespec] This parameter specifies which file names are to be selected for processing from the previously specified directory (if any). A complete (unambiguous) file name may be specified, or an ambiguous file name, containing "wildcard" characters (? or *) may be specified to select several files. Either the file name (first 8 characters) or the file extension (last 3 characters) or both may be completely omitted. In these cases, wildcard characters are automatically used to match all possible file names in the selected directory. You may specify leading characters of the file names you wish to match, omitting the trailing characters of the name, the period delimiter, and the file extension. In this respect, SD processes file specifications differently than DIR. For example: SD ABC is equivalent to DIR ABC*.* If you specify a filespec which exactly matches a subdirectory name, then only the files in the subdirectory will be selected. If you wish to select other files in the parent directory with leading characters the same as the subdirectory name, you must use the following notation: Instead of SD ABC, use SD ABC*, where ABC is a subdirectory name. [/switches] This parameter specifies one or more "switch" or option values which modify the operation of the command. All switches are optional and may be specified before the drive, path, and filespec, after them, or both before and after. Each switch has a default value which has been carefully selected to represent the most frequently used option for most users. Specifying a switch overrides or "toggles" the current or default value of that command option. The SDC program can be used to change the default values of the switches, or they can be patched using the standard DOS DEBUG utility program. If you find that you frequently wish to override a default switch value, you can permanently change the default switch value by using either of these methods. If a default switch value is overridden, specification of that option will toggle the option back to its original state, if appropriate. Detailed descriptions of all switches are given below. SD V6.2 User's Guide Page 6 [>[>]device/file] This parameter is actually a standard feature of DOS called redirection of output to the "standard output" (STDOUT) device. This allows the console output generated by the program to be transmitted to either another device (usually the printer device: PRN), or to a disk file. By redirecting the output of the command to a file, you can later use the file as input to a word processor, disk catalog system, etc. If this parameter is specified, the program will automatically detect this and will use standard DOS console output services rather than writing directly to video display memory. 2.3 Controlling Program Output Unlike most programs, you can't type ahead while the program is running. This is due to the need to monitor the keyboard in order to pause the screen output. If you wish to begin typing a new command, simply press ESCAPE or CTRL-C to terminate the output, and then type the next command. ESCAPE causes the program to terminate immediately, whereas CTRL-C closes the file box and displays the disk space totals line. Console output may be paused by pressing any other key and may be restarted in two different ways. If the RETURN or PAGE-DOWN key is pressed, screen output resumes until the either the screen fills or the output finishes. If any other key is pressed, only a single line of additional screen output is displayed. This allows you to easily control the displayed output so as to minimize the loss of existing screen data by scrolling. The Space Bar or the DOWN-ARROW key is recommended for use in single line scrolling mode. As an experiment, try typing the command SD, immediately followed by two carriage returns. You will see only one line of output and can use the space bar to display additional lines. When you have seen enough, press the ESCAPE key to terminate the program. By carefully selecting the proper switch values and using this technique, you can minimize the loss of previously displayed information on the display screen. If /q is specified, the console output isn't paused when the screen fills. This is necessary when redirecting output to a file or device, or when you wish to browse through large amounts of output. Output lines which are longer than the current screen width (usually 80 columns) are truncated at the right screen margin when writing to video display memory, but not when redirecting output to a file or device. Program output may be sent to a printer in several different ways: You can use the technique of "echoing" console output to the printer by pressing either Control-P or Control-Print-Screen to start and stop. You can use the technique of printing the entire contents of the screen by pressing Shift-Print-Screen. You can use the technique of redirecting all program output to the printer by using the DOS command line redirection symbol and the printer device name: SD ... >PRN SD V6.2 User's Guide Page 7 2.4 Summary of Switches /s - Select all files and directories /sd - Select Directories only (no files) /sf - Select Files only (no directories) /ss - Select files with the System attribute /sh - Select files with the Hidden attribute /sr - Select files with the Read/Only attribute /sa - Select files with the Archive attribute /sn - Select files with No attributes /@n - Select files after/before (+/-) today-n /a - Process ARC files (+) (:filespec) /z - Process ZIP files (+) (:filespec) /az - Process both ARC and ZIP files (+) (:filespec) /g - Process Global directories (n)osort (t)otals /f - Sort by (1) File Name and (2) extension (+/-) /x - Sort by (1) file Extension and (2) name (+/-) /b - Sort by file size in Bytes (+/-) /d - Sort by (1) file Date and (2) time (+/-) /c - Sort by file Cluster number or ARC/ZIP CRC (+/-) /n - Do Not sort directory entries /? - Display program Help information /i - Display system Information summary /j - Just display configured screen colors /l - List file names and (p)ath names only /m - Display graphical directory tree Map /r* - Redirect output to device or file using * char /t - Display Totals output lines only (n)o totals /e - Erase the screen before displaying output /h - Display output using Horizontal sequence /k - Display memory and disk space in Kilobytes /o - Switch between long and short date and time formats /p - Measure CPU performance for /i switch /q - Quick output (no prompts when the screen fills) /u - Switch between Upper and Lower case filenames /v - Display disk Volume label and path at start /w - Reset the screen to 25 lines at exit /y - Restore the original screen at exit /1 - Display file information in 1 column /2 - Display file information in 2 columns /4 - Display file information in 4 columns /6 - Display file information in 6 columns /25 - Display 25 lines on EGA or VGA monitor /35 - Display 35 lines on EGA or VGA monitor /43 - Display 43 lines on EGA or VGA monitor /50 - Display 50 lines on EGA or VGA monitor /$ - Display prompt and read keyboard in .BAT file /$$ - Don't move cursor up when exiting from .BAT file SD V6.2 User's Guide Page 8 2.5 Examples of Use The following examples assume that the original program switch defaults have not been altered by the SDC configuration program or DEBUG. A>sd Display the current directory of drive A. C>sd /? Display program help information. A>sd c:/i/p Measure CPU performance and display system information summary including information for the disk in drive C. C>sd d:\/m Display a graphical directory tree map of all directories on drive D. C>sd d:\work/m/u >prn Write a graphical directory tree map of all directories on drive D which are subdirectories of the "work" directory to the printer in upper case. B>sd/f/6 Display the current directory of drive B, sorted by file name, using the six column format (file names only). D>sd c:\/ss/1 Display only the system files in the root directory of drive C, using the one column output format. C>sd /j Display the currently configured screen colors. A>sd c:\/sd Display all of the subdirectories in the root directory of drive C. A>sd /lp/sf c:\ >files.dat Create a file called "a:files.dat" which contains a sorted list of all files with path names (no directories) in the root directory of drive C. A>sd .asm/b- Display all files having an extension of "asm" in the current directory of drive A and sort the output by descending file size. B>sd \/n/4/y Select all files in the root directory of drive B, do not sort the file entries, display the output using the four column format and restore the original console screen when done. C>sd \/35 Display all of the files in the root directory of drive C using 35 lines on the screen with an EGA or VGA. C>sd \/u/50/w Display all of the files in the root directory of drive C in upper case using 50 lines on the screen with an EGA or VGA and automatically reset to 25 lines when done. SD V6.2 User's Guide Page 9 C>sd d:/i /r= >prn Write system information for drive D to the printer, substituting the = character for all graphics characters. B>sd temp.* >c:temp.dir Select all files having a name of "temp" in the current directory of drive B, and redirect the console output to file "c:temp.dir". B>sd/1 c:\*.com >>c:temp.dir Select all files with an extension of "com" in the root directory of drive C, format using one output column, and redirect the console output, appending to the file "c:temp.dir". B>sd e:/k/u Display the current directory of drive E, rounding the space values to Kilobytes and displaying the file names in upper case. C>sd /h/2 Display all files and directories in the current directory on drive C sorted and displayed from left to right, using the two column format. A>sd t/e/k/q Select all files in the current directory of drive A whose names begin with "t", erase the screen before displaying output, display file size and disk space values in Kilobytes and do not pause the console output. C>sd \ Display all files in the root directory of drive C sorted by file extension and by file name using the two column format. B>sd temp If temp is an existing subdirectory in the current directory of drive B, then select all of the files in that directory. Otherwise, select all files in the current directory of drive B whose names begin with "temp". B>sd temp* Display all directories and files in the current directory of drive B whose names begin with "temp". A>sd ../sar Display all files in the parent directory of the current directory of drive A with either the archive or read/only attribute. A>sd c:/d/@+30 Display all files in the current directory of drive C which were created during the past month sorted by date and time, using two output columns. C>sd \/v/g/1 Display the disk volume label and all information for all files in all directories of drive C. C>sd \/gt Display grand totals information only for all directories on drive C. C>sd \/g/t/s Display totals information only for all directories on drive C. SD V6.2 User's Guide Page 10 C>sd c:\command.com/2/tn >check.cmd Create a file called "check.cmd" which contains directory information for the file command.com, but without the disk and directory totals. C>sd d:\test/gn Display information for files and directories at and below the "test" directory level of drive D without sorting directory names. A>sd c:\*.exe/g Display information for all .exe files in all directories on drive C. C>sd /sn Display all files without any attributes on drive C. A>sd c:\/g/sd Display all directory names on drive C. B>sd ..\*.a?m/d+/1 Display all files in the parent directory of the current directory of drive B whose extensions begin with "a" and end with "m" and sort the output by ascending date and time using the one column output format. C>sd /a/1 Display all files in all ARC files in the current directory of drive C using the one column format. C>sd /z:*.com/4 Display all .com files in all ZIP files in the current directory of drive C using the 4 column format. C>sd abc/a/@+365 Display all files less than one year old in all ARC files whose names begin with "abc" in the current directory of drive C in 2 column format. C>sd \/az+/gt Display grand totals information only for all files in all directories and all files in all ARC and ZIP files in all directories of drive C. C>sd/v/1 b:\dir1\dir2\dir3\*.doc/d >prn Select all files having an extension of "doc" in the directory "\dir1\dir2\dir3" of drive B. Sort the output by date and time. Use the one column output format and include the disk volume label. Redirect the console output to the printer. A>sd/r/q b: (Type Control-P/RETURN) Display the current directory of drive B and duplicate the console output on the printer. Type Control-P/RETURN again to stop the output. SD V6.2 User's Guide Page 11 3.0 FILE SELECTION AND SORTING 3.1 File Selection By Attribute Syntax: /s[attr-switch]...[attr-switch] /s - Select all files and directories /sd - Select Directories only (no files) /sf - Select Files only (no directories) /ss - Select files with the System attribute /sh - Select files with the Hidden attribute /sr - Select files with the Read/Only attribute /sa - Select files with the Archive attribute /sn - Select files with No attributes These switches are used to further restrict which files are selected (in addition to any filespec) based on the attributes of the files. As a default, the /s switch is configured ON. This means that all files (including Hidden and System files) are selected as a default. If you prefer to not see these files (like DIR) unless you type /s, set the /s switch OFF using the SDC program or DEBUG. If /sd is specified, all and only the subdirectories in the specified directory are selected, including the current (.) and parent (..). If /sf is specified, all files (regardless of attribute) and none of the directories are selected. If /sn is specified, all and only the files with none of the four possible file attributes are selected. This switch is mutually exclusive with the other /s switches. If a /ss, /sh, /sr, or /sa switch is specified by itself, all and only the files with the specified attribute are selected. These switches may also be combined in any order and the intervening /s switch(es) omitted. For example: SD C:\DIR/SA/SR is equivalent to SD C:\DIR/SAR When multiple /s switches are specified, the effect is "additive"; i.e. for the example above, all files with either the Archive or Read/Only attribute will be selected from the specified directory. Specification of any /s switch(es) other than /sd causes an additional 'totals' line to be displayed which summarizes the number of files which have each of the requested attributes. If files with the Archive attribute are selected, the percent of files with this attribute is also displayed. This provides an indication of the need to back up files on a hard disk. Since separate colors are used to identify System and Hidden files from normal files, it is possible to permanently configure the /s switch ON without losing the ability to distinguish the different file types. SD V6.2 User's Guide Page 12 3.2 File Selection By Date Syntax: /@[+/-][days][+/-] The /@ switch is used to select files based on their age (the date the file was created or last updated). Since dates are specified relative to the current system date (normally set by the DATE command or real time clock at boot time), it is essential that the system date be set correctly in order for this feature to work properly. Files may be selected which are exactly the specified number of days old, or either newer (+) or older (-) than the specified number of days. The number of days specified may range from 0 to 9999, syntactically, but cannot be so large as to predate January 1, 1980, which is when the universe was created (according to DOS!). Think of the date specification process in two steps: go back the specified number of days and then find the files written before (-), on, or after (+) that date. For example: /@ select files written today (days=0) /@1+ select files written during last 2 days /@7 select files written exactly one week ago /@+30 select files written during the past month /@-365 select files written more than a year ago The +/- may be specified either before or after the number of days. Regardless of the default sort type, specifying the /@ switch will cause the /d switch to be set automatically. If you wish to specify a different sort switch, you must specify it after the /@ switch. If the number of filename columns is not already set to 1, specifying the /@ switch will cause the /2 switch to be set automatically. If you wish to specify a different number of filename columns, you must specify it after the /@ switch. 3.3 ARC and ZIP File Processing Syntax: /a or /z or /az or /za [+][:filespec] These switches request special processing for compressed archive files instead of OR in addition to normal file processing. These files are created by utility programs such as ARC.EXE and PKZIP.EXE. Although the format of ARC and ZIP files differs, the use of the /a and /z switches is the same, and file information is displayed using the same format. The /a switch causes all .ARC, .PKA, and .PAK files to be processed. The /z switch causes all .ZIP files to be processed. Specifying either /a/z, /az, or /za will cause BOTH types of files to be processed. To simplify the discussion below, only the /a switch is explained. The same information applies to the use of the /z switch, either alone or when used together with the /a switch. All other program switches operate as usual with the exception of those noted below. SD V6.2 User's Guide Page 13 In the simplest case (/a specified), all files in the specified directory with extensions of .ARC are automatically processed. Although the .ARC file type is assumed, any other file type (such as .PAK or .PKA) may be explicitly specified to select the desired files. Each archive file is opened, the directory entries are read and saved, and the file is closed. Information for each of the files inside the selected archive file is then displayed. This process repeats until all of the selected archive files have been processed. The archive files are processed in the order they are found in the directory and are not sorted. Entries inside each selected archive file are sorted and displayed in the usual way except that some additional information is displayed if the /1 switch is specified. The information displayed for each file in an archive file includes: Filename, Original Length, Storage Method, Packing Percent, Packed Size, Date, Time, and CRC code. After the entries in each archive file are displayed, a totals line is displayed which summarizes this information for the archive file as a whole. After all archive files have been processed, a grand totals line is displayed which summarizes the information for all of the selected archive files. If a primary file specification is used with /a (SD ABC/A), it is used to select a subset of the available ARC files. If a secondary file specification is used (SD /A:ABC), it is used to select a subset of the available files INSIDE the selected ARC files. The /@ switch may also be used to select files INSIDE ARC files by the age of the files. If /a+ is specified, normal file processing occurs first, followed by archive file processing for each of the selected ARC files. This process can also be applied to all directories on a disk by using the /g switch. Processing for /a may take considerable time if many ARC files are present and the disk space is heavily fragmented. In this case, you may wish to specify the /q switch and control the console output manually. The /s switches are not applicable to archive file entries since no file attribute information is maintained inside ARC files. The /c switch is not particularly useful either since it sorts by the file CRC codes! Nested ARC files (ARC files inside ARC files) cannot be processed since this would require the full extraction code for the ARC compression algorithms to be included in this program, which is not appropriate. The following limitations apply to ZIP file processing: 1) Only the least significant four hexadecimal digits of the file CRC codes are displayed, due to space limitations. 2) Embedded path names stored in ZIP files are not displayed, due to space limitations. 3) ZIP files which span multiple disks are not supported. SD V6.2 User's Guide Page 14 ARC and ZIP files have become a standard means of transferring DOS disk files across Computer Bulletin Board systems since they significantly reduce the transfer time, allow multiple files to be combined into a single file, insure the integrity of the files by storing and checking CRC codes, and preserve the original file dates, times and sizes. They are also useful for long term disk storage since they reduce the number of floppy disks needed to store data. It is therefore highly desirable to be able to display the directories of these files in an efficient and flexible manner. The integration of ARC and ZIP file processing with normal directory processing in this program allows you to take full advantage of the benefits inherent in compressed archive files. 3.4 Global Subdirectory Processing Syntax: /g or /gn or /gt The /g switch requests global subdirectory processing. All other switches operate as usual. After the specified target directory (usually, but not necessarily, a root directory) is processed, all subdirectories below that directory are processed. The directories are sorted into alphabetic order unless /gn is specified when they are not sorted and are processed in the order they are found on the disk. After all directories have been processed, a grand totals line for all of the directories and files is displayed, followed by a grand totals line for file attributes (if a /s switch was specified). Specifying the /gt switch suppresses the totals lines for individual directories and only displays the grand totals. If the current directory on the target drive is not the root directory, you must explicitly specify it (\), if you wish to process all of the directories on that drive: SD \/G ... Processing for /g may take considerable time if many directories are present and the disk space is heavily fragmented. In this case, you may wish to specify the /q switch and control the console output manually. The /g switch has a variety of uses. It can be used to display a summary of the total number of directories and files on a disk similar to the CHKDSK command if /gt is specified. Somewhat more information for each individual directory is displayed if /g/t is specified. It can be used to locate any and all occurrences of a file anywhere on a disk with a complex directory structure by simply specifying a filename. If no matching files are found, the displayed path name is that of the last directory which was searched for the file. Another interesting use is to specify the /sd switch, which will display all of the directories on the disk below the specified directory. 3.5 Sort Field Selection Switches Syntax: /sort-switch[+/-] /f - Sort by (1) File Name and (2) extension /x - Sort by (1) file Extension and (2) name /b - Sort by file size in Bytes /d - Sort by (1) file Date and (2) time /c - Sort by file Cluster number or ARC/ZIP CRC /n - Do Not sort directory entries SD V6.2 User's Guide Page 15 These switches specify which fields are to be used as sort "keys" when formatting the output information. These switches are all mutually exclusive; i.e. only one sort switch should be specified. If no sort switch is specified, the default is by file extension and name (/x). Sort switches may be optionally followed by a + for an ascending sort or a - for a descending sort. The default sort direction is ascending for all sort switches except /d, which is descending (so the newer files appear first). The + and - options are not meaningful for the /n switch. The /f switch simply sorts the selected directory entries by file name and extension. Any "strange" file names beginning with unusual special characters will tend to collect at the beginning and end of the list, where they can be easily identified. The /x switch is helpful in identifying which, if any, files have "strange" file name extensions. Since most standard files have one of only a few possible types (extensions), such as .BAT, .COM, .EXE, etc. using this switch will separate out any non-standard file names. The /b switch is used to find either the smallest or largest files on a disk, or to discover which file(s) have sizes which lie in a given range. This can be helpful when it is known that a file of a given size is missing from a disk, and it is desired to find its identity by examining the contents of another disk which does contain the file. The /d switch is a frequently used sorting option, especially when combined with the /1 or /2 switch. This allows either the newest or oldest files on a disk to be easily identified. Of course, the validity of this information is once again dependent on the correct setting of the system date at the time the files were written. If the number of filename columns is not already set to 1, specifying the /d switch will cause the /2 switch to be set automatically. If you wish to specify a different number of filename columns, you must specify it after the /d switch. The /c switch sorts the file entries by the first or starting cluster number allocated to the file. This is simply the absolute location on the disk where the file begins. Although not used very frequently, this switch can be used to determine the actual order of the files on a disk, which is independent of their order in the disk's directory, especially on a disk whose space has become "fragmented" by the creation and deletion of many files with differing sizes. Regardless of the default value for the number of filename columns, specifying the /c switch will cause the /1 switch to be set automatically. If you wish to specify a different number of filename columns, you must specify it after the /c switch. For ARC or ZIP files, /c causes the files to be sorted by the file CRC codes which is not very useful. The /n switch bypasses the sort process with the result that the file entries are displayed in the order they occur in the disk directory. This is helpful when examining a bootable disk to insure that the order of files is optimal (in the order they are needed during the boot sequence, and by frequency of use after boot-up). This is the same order of file names as that displayed by the DIR command. SD V6.2 User's Guide Page 16 4.0 OUTPUT FORMAT CONTROL 4.1 Output Mode Switches Syntax: /output-switch ... /output-switch /? - Display program Help information /i - Display system Information summary /j - Just display configured screen colors /l - List file names and (p)ath names only /m - Display graphical directory tree Map /r* - Redirect output to device or file using * char /t - Display Totals output lines only (n)o totals The /? switch requests that a help screen be displayed which summarizes the command line syntax used to invoke the program and switch meanings. The /? switch output may be redirected to a file as follows: SD /? >FILE The /i switch requests that a screen be displayed which summarizes the system hardware configuration and memory and disk characteristics. See the section titled System Information Summary for details. The /j switch requests that a summary of the configured screen colors be displayed. This switch is useful when you can't remember what the color values are for a specific type of file attribute or screen area. The /l switch requests that a list of file names (only) be generated. All other output (file information and totals lines) is suppressed. This switch is normally used with the /sf switch (to suppress any directories), and the /r switch to redirect the output to a file for processing by another program. The filename column switches are ignored (/1 is assumed) if they are specified with the /l switch. Since any embedded spaces are removed, the file names are ready to be operated on by copy commands which might be generated automatically by another program. Specifying the /lp (path name) option causes the file names to be prefixed with their path names. This can be useful when another program is to subsequently process the file name list from another directory. /l is mutually exclusive with the /t and /gt switches. The /m switch requests that a graphical directory tree map be displayed for the specified drive and directory. Processing for /m is similar to that requested by the /g, /t, and /sd switches. A subdirectory of the root directory may be specified to limit the directories selected. The directories are always sorted and links to higher level directories are shown using graphics characters. Processing may take a while if many directories are selected. The /r switch requests that console output be written using DOS services, rather than directly to video display memory for higher speed. Although this slows down the output and suppresses the screen colors, this is necessary when the need arises to redirect the output to a file or a device (printer) for subsequent processing. /r is also used to run the program in a window with a multitasking environment (see below). If /r is specified, it should be the first parameter on the command line after the command name, so that any error messages which are generated for subsequent parameters can be redirected. Although the program will usually be able to automatically detect the fact that output is being redirected, you can always force redirection to occur by explicitly specifying the /r switch (with the /q switch). SD V6.2 User's Guide Page 17 If the character immediately following the /r switch is something other than a slash (/) or carriage return character, it is substituted for all of the graphics characters which are normally generated by the program. This feature can be handy when sending output to a device which is incapable of interpreting graphics characters correctly. Some typical characters which might be used include a space, asterisk, or equal sign. You may wish to place the output file on a different drive or directory than the one being processed or the output file may be included in the directory list as a zero byte file. For example: SD A: >C:\TEMP.DIR The /t switch suppresses the display of detailed information for individual files and directories and only displays the directory, file attribute (see the /s switch) and disk space totals lines. The directory totals line includes the target directory path (if the /v switch isn't specified), the number of subdirectories, the number of files selected, the total number of bytes and clusters in the selected files, and the percent of space used in the clusters allocated to the selected files. This last value provides an indication of how efficiently disk space is being utilized for the selected files and depends on the number of files selected, the file sizes and the disk cluster size. If a long path name is selected, it is displayed on a separate output line to prevent truncation of the other information. The disk space totals line includes the space used, percent used, space free, total space on the disk, and the current date and time. The /t switch is used when you wish to compare the total number or size of files on two different disks or directories. If a difference is detected, other switches (such as /b or /d) can be used to determine which files are missing (or different). The /tn switch requests that the disk and directory totals information be suppressed, and only the individual directory entries be displayed. This option can be useful when it is desired to create an output file which will subsequently be compared to another file to detect any differences between several files, directories, or even entire disks. 4.2 Output Toggle Switches Syntax: /output-switch ... /output-switch /e - Erase the screen before displaying output /h - Display output using Horizontal sequence /k - Display memory and disk space in Kilobytes /o - Switch between long and short date and time formats /p - Measure CPU performance for /i switch /q - Quick output (no prompts when the screen fills) /u - Switch between Upper and Lower case filenames /v - Display disk Volume label and path at start /w - Reset the screen to 25 lines at exit /y - Restore the original screen at exit SD V6.2 User's Guide Page 18 These output switches are all "toggles". This means that specifying the switch on the command line toggles the switch value to the opposite state of the default value (either ON or OFF). For example, the value of the /k switch is normally OFF. Specifying /k on the command line will cause space values to be shown in Kilobytes, rather than Bytes. However, if /k is configured to be ON as a default, specifying it on the command line will cause space values to be shown in Bytes rather than Kilobytes. These switches may be used together and with other switches in many different combinations. The /e switch causes the display screen to be cleared before any output is displayed. The screen is cleared using the current number of screen lines (rows), which may be different from the standard 25 lines if an EGA or VGA adaptor and monitor are being used. The /h switch causes the file entries to be displayed in horizontal rather than vertical sequence according to the sort option specified. This is handy when more than a screen's worth of output is generated, so that the sequence of file entries is continuous when the screen scrolls. The /k switch requests that system memory and disk space information be displayed in units of Kilobytes (1024 bytes), rather than the default units of bytes. In addition, these values are rounded upward, taking into account the allocation unit (cluster) size for the specified disk. System memory values are simply rounded to the next higher Kilobyte. Use of the /k switch will reveal the actual amount of disk space used by each file, rather than the normal file size which may be much less. Depending on the file size and the number of output columns specified, the file size value may be displayed in Kilobytes, even if the /k switch isn't specified, due to space limitations. The /o switch requests that an alternate format be used when displaying system and file date and time values. Two formats are supported, long and short. For example, for the long format values: 21-May-89 18:32:10, the equivalent short format would be 05-21-89 06:32p. The advantage of using the long format is that the month is more readable and times are displayed in seconds for better accuracy. The advantage of the short format is that dates are easier to compare when using the /d switch, and the format is similar to the standard DOS date and time format. The /p switch requests that the system CPU performance be measured and displayed when the /i switch is also specified. Since this process can take up to about 10 seconds on an 8088 system, the default is OFF. If you are using a fast system, you may prefer to configure the value ON. See the section titled System Information Summary for details. The /q switch suppresses the console reads which normally occur when output information is about to scroll off the screen. You may wish to specify this switch when a large amount of output is being generated (/g or /a used without /t) or when specifying the /r switch. The /u switch requests that an alternate format be used when displaying individual path and file names. Two formats are supported, upper and lower case. The lower case format is usually more readable, but this depends on the video monitor and number of screen lines being used. SD V6.2 User's Guide Page 19 The /v switch causes the disk volume label (if any), and the target path name to be displayed before the information for individual files. In this case, the path name is not displayed on the first totals line, which is the normal default. You may wish to avoid using this switch when you are working with long path names, to prevent truncation of information on the output line. The /w switch requests that the number of screen lines be reset to 25 when the program is about to exit in a video mode with more than 25 screen lines when an EGA or VGA adaptor is in use. A necessary side effect of this is that the program must wait for the user to press a key just prior to exiting and the screen is cleared. If this switch is configured ON, you will have to specify /w/y when you wish to use the /y switch. See the section titled EGA and VGA Switches for additional information. The /y switch requests that the program save the contents of the screen (including the cursor location and size) on entry, and that these be restored when the program terminates. This requires that the program wait for the user to press a key just prior to exiting, so that the final screen output is not prematurely lost. Screen sizes of up to 80 columns by 50 lines for EGA and VGA adaptors are supported. /y may be ignored if used together with either the /w, /25, /35, /43, or /50 switch since the restored screen size could be incorrect after the video mode change requested by these other switches. It is also possible that /y will be ignored if used together with the /g switch when processing a large number of directories. The directory buffer size is 2000 bytes which allows up to about 125 16 character directory names to be processed. If the directory buffer fills, it automatically expands into the screen save buffer (an additional 8000 bytes), which allows up to a total of about 625 16 character directory names to be processed. 4.3 Filename Column Switches The /1, /2, /4, and /6 switches specify the number of filename output columns and, inversely, the amount of file information displayed: /1 - 1 column - File name, size, clusters allocated, % of space used, date, time, starting cluster and sector, and attributes /2 - 2 columns - File name, size, date and time /4 - 4 columns - File name and size /6 - 6 columns - File name only A larger number of columns allows more files to be displayed on the display screen at one time, at the cost of losing some of the detailed file information. A smaller number of columns allows more detailed file information to be displayed, at the cost of only being able to display a limited number of files. All of these switches are mutually exclusive; only one should be specified. The default switch is /2. SD V6.2 User's Guide Page 20 Subdirectory entries (normally found in the root directory) are shown with special screen colors, for emphasis. This is especially helpful when using the /6 switch, since there isn't room for the <Dir> indicator (directory names may be up to 11 characters long, just like file names). File name colors indicate the most significant attribute of the file in the order: System, Hidden, Read-Only, Archive, and Normal. The file size is normally displayed in bytes, or Kilobytes if the /k switch is specified. If /2 is specified, file sizes larger than 999,999 bytes are displayed in Kilobytes and if /4 is specified file sizes larger than 99,999 bytes are displayed in Kilobytes, due to space limitations. If /1 is specified, the number of clusters which are allocated to the file and the percent of space actually used are also displayed. The date and time the file was last modified are displayed in either long or short format, depending on the /o switch value. The time a file was last written is only accurate to a resolution of two seconds; all values will have an even number of seconds. Files created with early versions of DOS may not have either a date or time stamp. In this case, the date and time fields will appear as periods. If /1 is specified, the starting cluster number and starting logical sector number for the file are displayed, as are the file attributes: A - Archive R - Read/Only H - Hidden S - System 4.4 EGA and VGA Switches /25 - Display 25 lines on EGA or VGA monitor /35 - Display 35 lines on EGA or VGA monitor /43 - Display 43 lines on EGA or VGA monitor /50 - Display 50 lines on EGA or VGA monitor These switches change to the specified number of screen lines (rows) when an Enhanced Graphics Adaptor (EGA) or Video Graphics Array (VGA) video adaptor and monitor are in use. The screen is automatically cleared and the screen remains set to this size when the program terminates (unless /w is specified when it is reset to 25 lines). If the number of screen lines has already been set to a value greater than 25, the program will automatically use the current value. The use of a monochrome monitor connected to an EGA card is not supported by these switches. For an EGA, the native modes are 25 and 43 lines. The 35 and 50 line modes are synthesized by dynamically creating new EGA fonts. The 35 line mode is more readable than the 43 line mode. The 50 line mode is rather difficult to read since it is formed by dropping the last scan line of each character which causes the partial loss of the descenders of some lower case letters. For a VGA, the native modes are 25, 43, and 50 lines. The 35 line mode is synthesized as for the EGA. The 50 line mode is readable, since the VGA can use 400 vertical scan lines, rather than the 350 of the EGA. SD V6.2 User's Guide Page 21 Since versions of DOS prior to 4.0 neither properly recognize nor fully support all of the operational modes possible with the EGA/VGA BIOS (43 line mode, for example), you may experience strange results when using these modes at the DOS command prompt. In particular, ANSI.SYS does not recognize 43 line mode and may cause the DOS command prompt to appear on screen line 25, overlaying data previously displayed there. If you normally use ANSI.SYS (or other equivalent ANSI console device drivers) with an EGA/VGA monitor, you may wish to configure the /w switch ON which handles this problem. Turning the option ON will cause SD to wait for a character to be typed when it is about to exit in an EGA/VGA video mode with more than 25 screen lines. After a character is typed, the standard 25 line video mode is reset, the screen is cleared and the program terminates. If you are using DOS 4.0 with ANSI.SYS, you MUST specify the new /L ANSI command line switch if you plan to use more than 25 screen lines. You may also change the number of screen lines using the MODE command: DEVICE=ANSI.SYS /L (In CONFIG.SYS) MODE CON LINES=25 or 43 or 50 (In AUTOEXEC.BAT or at DOS prompt) The standard IBM video modes are those from 0 to 19. If the current video mode at the time SD is executed is in this range and not equal to 2 (25 x 80 B/W) or 3 (25 x 80 Color) when a color monitor is in use, the program will automatically reset the video mode to 3 before running. The other standard IBM 40 column text modes and graphics modes are not supported, but it is rare to encounter these modes other than in BASIC programs. SD will operate if the current video mode is greater than 19, for compatibility with high resolution video modes supported by many non-IBM EGA and VGA video cards. SD dynamically detects both the number of screen rows and columns and uses these values when writing to video display memory. Screen sizes up to at least 50 rows by 132 columns are fully supported. However, the 8000 byte screen save buffer is only large enough to fully save and restore screens of 50 x 80 or 30 x 132. SD V6.2 User's Guide Page 22 5.0 SYSTEM INFORMATION SUMMARY The /i switch requests that a screen be displayed which summarizes the system hardware configuration and memory and disk information. The information is presented in six boxes. The upper left box summarizes the system hardware configuration. The upper middle and right boxes summarize DOS and system memory information. The lower three boxes summarize the technical information for the specified disk. Other switches which can be used with the /i switch include /e, /k, /o and /p. For example, to compare two sets of drive parameters using an EGA/VGA: D>sd c:/i/50 - display info for drive C using 50 lines D>sd d:/i/e - display info for drive D without clearing screen Output generated by the /i switch may be redirected as follows: D>sd c:/i >file 5.1 System Hardware PC System Type - The PC System Type Code, followed by the Submodel Type and BIOS Level for PS/2 systems. Typical system codes are as follows: Code System Types ---- ------------ FF IBM PC FE IBM PC-XT, IBM PC-PORTABLE FD IBM PC-Jr FC IBM PC-AT, IBM PC-XT/286, IBM PS/2-50,60 FB IBM PC-XT/2 FA IBM PS/2-30 F9 IBM PC-CONVERTIBLE F8 IBM PS/2-70,80 ROM BIOS Date - The date contained in the ROM BIOS chip which provides an indication of when the system was manufactured. Processor Type and Performance - The type of CPU chip in the system and its computing performance relative to the original IBM PC. Possible CPU types are 8088, 80286, or 80386. The /p switch must be specified or configured ON or the performance value will be reported as N/A. Memory Resident (TSR) programs that intercept the timer interrupt may make the computed CPU performance value appear artificially low. You may wish to temporarily rename the CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files, reboot the system and execute the command: SD/I/P to determine the true CPU performance. Processing time for /p ranges from 10 seconds on 8088 systems to less than 1 second on 80386 systems. You may wish to run the test several times, since the value may fluctuate slightly. SD V6.2 User's Guide Page 23 Typical CPU performance values are as follows: System CPU MHz Waits Perf ------ --- --- ----- ---- INTEL 80386 25 0 18.18 COMPAQ 386 80386 20 0 15.15 IBM PS/2-70 80386 20 1 14.08 IBM PS/2-80 80386 16 0 11.36 AT-CLONE 80286 12 1 8.69 IBM PS/2-60 80286 10 1 6.99 AT-CLONE 80286 8 0 5.88 IBM PC-AT 80286 8 1 5.52 AT-CLONE 80286 6 0 4.23 IBM PC-AT 80286 6 1 4.14 IBM PC-XT 8088 4.77 - 1.00 Screen Size - The number of rows (normally 25) and columns (normally 80) used on the screen by the current video mode. Video Adaptor and Mode - The type of Video Display Adaptor (MDA, CGA, MCGA, EGA or VGA) currently being used and the Video Mode Number. Drives (F/H/L) - The number of (F)loppy and (H)ard drives in the system and the DOS (L)ASTDRIVE value which may be specified in CONFIG.SYS. Ports (S/P/G) - The number of (S)erial, (P)arallel, and (G)ame ports in the system. Serial ports are often used for a modem or mouse, parallel ports are often used for printers and game ports are used for joysticks. ANSI/CP/Mouse - ANSI indicates whether or not an ANSI Console Device Driver is installed in the system (via CONFIG.SYS). CP indicates whether or not an 80x87 math Coprocessor chip is installed in the system. Mouse Type indicates whether or not a Microsoft Mouse compatible software device driver is installed in the system. 5.2 System Memory DOS Version - The version of PC-DOS or MS-DOS installed in the system. Environment - The amount of memory currently being used by the DOS Environment allocated to the program. The DOS SET command is used to add or delete Environment variables. Video Memory - The amount of video memory installed in the system. MDA adaptors use 4Kb, CGA adaptors use 16Kb, and EGA/VGA adaptors normally use up to 256Kb (some EGA or VGA adaptors may actually use up to 512Kb). DOS Memory - The amount of memory used by the following DOS system components: Interrupt Vectors in low memory, the Disk BIOS (IBMBIO.COM), the DOS kernel (IBMDOS.COM), FILES, BUFFERS, and any Device Drivers specified in CONFIG.SYS, and any memory they allocate. TSR Memory - The amount of memory used by the resident portion of COMMAND.COM (at a minimum) and memory allocated to any subsequently loaded Terminate-and-Stay-Resident type programs (such as SDR.COM). It also includes any currently free memory blocks which do not reside in high memory (those previously released by TSR programs). SD V6.2 User's Guide Page 24 The DOS and TSR memory values can be very useful in analyzing how the memory currently being used is allocated and in finding overallocations. Memory Used - The amount of system memory currently in use. Memory Free - The amount of system memory currently not in use. Total Memory - The total amount of system memory (below 640Kb). EMS Version - The version of the Lotus-Intel-Microsoft Expanded Memory Manager installed in the system, if any. EMS allows any PC system to share paged memory on an EMS memory card between applications. A device driver must be installed in CONFIG.SYS to use this memory. Memory Used - The amount of EMS memory currently in use. Memory Free - The amount of EMS memory currently not in use. Total Memory - The total amount of EMS memory in the system. XMS Version - The version of the Lotus-Intel-Microsoft Extended Memory Manager installed in the system, if any. XMS allows an 80286 or 80386 system to share Extended memory (above 1Mb) between applications. A device driver must be installed in CONFIG.SYS to use this memory. Memory Used - The amount of Extended memory currently in use. Memory Free - The amount of Extended memory currently not in use. Total Memory - The total amount of Extended memory in the system. 5.3 Disk Parameters Disk Drive - The name of the target disk drive from A: to Z:. The drive letter will be followed by one of the following descriptors, if the drive type can be determined: NET - Logical Network Drive BIG - Hard Disk Partition GT 32Mb HARD - Hard Disk Partition LE 32Mb 5.25" - 5.25" Floppy Drive 3.5" - 3.5" Floppy Drive OEM Boot Information - The name of the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) and the version of DOS used to format the disk. Hidden Sectors - The number of sectors on a hard disk hidden from use by DOS when processing the current disk partition. This area on the disk may either contain partition table information, or the data in another partition, depending on the partitioning scheme used. Reserved Sectors - The number of sectors reserved at the beginning of the disk for the boot sector, partition tables, etc. FATs/EntrySize - The number of File Allocation Tables (FATs) and the number of Bits Per File Allocation Table Entry for the disk. This value is 12 for disks formatted prior to DOS 3.0 and either 12 or 16 for disks formatted with DOS 3.0 or later. DOS uses 16 bit FAT entries if a disk has 4086 or more data clusters. SD V6.2 User's Guide Page 25 Sectors Per FAT - The number of Sectors Per File Allocation Table. Directory Sector - The logical sector number of the Root Directory for the disk (or hard disk partition). Data Sector - The logical sector number of the Data (File) Area on the disk (or hard disk partition). Root Directory Size - The maximum number of entries in the disk's Root Directory. Total Sectors - The total number of sectors on the disk, including the Boot sector(s), FAT sectors, Root Directory sectors, and Data sectors. Sectors Per Track - The number of Sectors Per Track on the disk. Heads (Sides) - The number of Heads (Sides or Surfaces) for a hard or floppy disk. Some RAMDISKs may have too many heads for their own good! Cylinders - The number of Tracks Per Side (Head or Surface) for a floppy disk or a hard disk partition. This value may be slightly smaller than the number of physical cylinders for a hard disk partition, due to the use of some cylinders for partition information, bad sector tables, or diagnostic purposes. For a hard disk, the total number of cylinders on the drive is also displayed, but only for the first drive and partition. Media Byte - The Media Descriptor Byte is used to describe the size and format of the disk media and is based on the following disk parameters: Sectors per Track, Heads (Sides), and Cylinders (Tracks Per Side). Although the Media Byte is used by the BIOS to determine the disk characteristics in certain cases, not all DOS BIOS implementations use exactly the same Media Bytes for the same disk types. An example is the 5.25" 1.2Mb and 3.5" 720Kb disk types which both use media byte F9. Bytes Per Sector - The number of Bytes Per Sector on the disk. Sectors Per Cluster - The number of Sectors Per Cluster on the disk. Bytes Per Cluster - The number of Bytes Per Cluster on the disk. Volume Serial Number - The Volume Serial Number for the disk. DOS 4.0 places an 8 digit hexadecimal Volume Serial Number in the Boot Sector of each disk when it is formatted. This value can be used to uniquely identify a disk since it is different for each disk (unlike disk Volume Labels which may be the same). The VSN.COM utility provided can be used to create, change and delete Volume Serial Numbers on disks which are either formatted or used with any version of DOS. See the section on VSN for additional information. Volume Label - The Volume Label for the disk. Volume Labels are created either when the disk is formatted or when the LABEL command is used. Create Date - The date when the Volume Label was created. Create Time - The time when the Volume Label was created. Used Clusters - The number of Clusters in use on the disk. Free Clusters - The number of Clusters not in use on the disk. SD V6.2 User's Guide Page 26 Total Clusters - The total number of Clusters available on the disk. This does not include the space used by the Boot Sector, the FATs, or the Root Directory. Used Space - The number of Bytes used and the Percent of space used on the disk. Free Space - The number of Bytes free and the Percent of space free on the disk. Total Space - The total number of Bytes available on the disk. This does not include the space used by the Boot Sector, the FATs, or the Root Directory. Some of the disk information is obtained by reading the Boot Sector of the disk. If either an error occurs when reading the Boot Sector, or invalid data is detected, this information will appear as NONE or zeros. The values affected are the OEM Boot Information through Cylinders and the Volume Serial Number value. Standard DOS disk formats and their characteristics are shown below: Disk Type Size SPT Heads Cyls Media BPC FAT --------- ---- --- ----- ---- ----- --- --- 5.25" SS 48 TPI 160K 8 1 40 FE 512 12 5.25" SS 48 TPI 180K 9 1 40 FC 512 12 5.25" DS 48 TPI 320K 8 2 40 FF 1024 12 5.25" DS 48 TPI 360K 9 2 40 FD 1024 12 5.25" DS 96 TPI 1.2M 15 2 80 F9 512 12 3.5" DS 135 TPI 720K 9 2 80 F9 1024 12 3.5" DS 135 TPI 1.4M 18 2 80 F0 512 12 PC-XT Hard Disk 10M 17 4 305 F8 4096 12 PC-AT Hard Disk 20M 17 4 611 F8 2048 16 PC-AT Hard Disk 30M 17 5 731 F8 2048 16 5.4 VSN Utility Program VSN.COM is utility program which is used to manage DOS Disk Volume Serial Numbers. It operates on IBM-PC compatible computer systems using the IBM PC-DOS or Microsoft MS-DOS Operating System Version 2.0 or higher. Disk Volume Serial Numbers were introduced with DOS 4.0. When a disk is formatted by FORMAT or copied with DISKCOPY, an 8 digit hexadecimal Volume Serial Number is automatically placed in the Boot Sector of the disk. Subsequent execution of the DOS CHKDSK, DIR, LABEL, TREE or VOL command will cause the Volume Serial Number to be displayed. However, no mechanism is provided for the user to create a specified VSN, change an existing VSN, or to delete an existing VSN. The VSN.COM utility provides these functions. Perhaps even more useful is its ability to perform these functions for disks formatted under ANY version of DOS from 2.0 through 4.0, and it can be executed under ANY version of DOS from 2.0 through 4.0. This greatly enhances the possible benefits of using Volume Serial Numbers. SD V6.2 User's Guide Page 27 The main reason for using Volume Serial Numbers is to establish a unique means of identifying a removable (floppy) disk. Floppy disks may have identical Volume Labels or even identical Directories, but may still contain different data. Since DOS 4.0 forces the user to accept the VSN it selects for a disk and the method is based on the current date and time, each VSN will be unique. However, this means that the assigned VSN's follow no logical pattern and are difficult to relate to one another. The VSN utility retains the benefits of the concept, but allows the user to establish a numbering scheme which can be used to form a disk cataloging sequence which makes sense, and is compatible with the format used by DOS 4.0. An option is also provided to allow a VSN to be assigned using the DOS 4.0 method, for full compatibility with disks formatted under DOS 4.0. The DOS command line syntax for the VSN program is as follows: VSN [drive:] [xxxx-xxxx] [/d] [/u] where all parameters are optional. If no parameters are specified, help information is displayed. If a drive letter is specified, the current Volume Serial Number is displayed, or the user is informed that none exists. If an 8 hexadecimal digit value is specified, the VSN for the specified disk is changed to the specified value. If no drive is specified, the current drive is used. VSN's are always specified and displayed as 4 hex digits (0-9 or A-F), followed by a dash (-), followed by 4 hex digits. The /d switch causes the current VSN for the specified disk to be deleted, if one exists. The /u switch causes a unique VSN to be created for the specified disk using the DOS 4.0 method. This method uses the current date and time obtained from DOS to generate the VSN. The Most Significant Word of the VSN is the sum of the current Month and Month Day with the current Seconds and Seconds/100. The Least Significant Word of the VSN is the sum of the current Year with the current Hours and Minutes. SD V6.2 User's Guide Page 28 Status Messages Drive D: Has No Disk Volume Serial Number Drive D: Old Disk Volume Serial Number is: XXXX-XXXX Drive D: New Disk Volume Serial Number is: XXXX-XXXX Drive D: Volume Serial Number Deleted Error Messages Unable to Read Disk Boot Sector - an error occurred when trying to read the boot sector of the specified disk. VSN will not create VSN's for hard disk partitions whose size exceeds 32Mb. Unable to Locate System Boot Code - there was no jump instruction at the start of the boot sector of the specified disk. Insufficient Room for Volume Serial Number - the data area after the jump instruction in the boot sector was too small to contain the VSN. Unable to Write Disk Boot Sector - an error occurred when trying to write the boot sector of the specified disk. Examples of Use D>vsn - display help information D>vsn c: - display the VSN (if any) for the disk in drive C D>vsn a: 1989-0001 - create or change the VSN for the disk in drive A D>vsn b: /d - delete the VSN for the disk in drive B D>vsn a: /u - create a unique VSN for the disk in drive A SD V6.2 User's Guide Page 29 6.0 SPECIAL ENVIRONMENTS 6.1 Batch File Operation There are a variety of ways to effectively use SD inside a Batch (.BAT) file. Three .BAT files are provided as examples: SDB, SDD and SDM. All three files will display help information if executed without any command line parameters. They may be modified using any standard text editor. Once you are familiar with the use of these files, you may wish to remove the help information at the beginning of each file to keep them as small as possible. If you are using DOS 3.3 or higher, you may wish to add an @ character to the ECHO OFF statement to suppress it. Although you can use almost any valid SD command line with these files, the following restrictions exist: 1) You must type a space before any command line parameters. 2) Output redirection to a device or file isn't supported. 3) If you don't specify any command line parameters, help information is displayed. To select the current directory, specify * or ? or edit the file to remove the help information as described above. The SDB.BAT file allows you to browse the output generated by SD using another program (the default is LIST). You may edit the SDB.BAT file to change the name of the browse program to any program you prefer. This Batch file is most useful when you are generating many screens of output and wish to be able to scroll forward and backward through the output, find character strings, etc. However, there may be a long wait before the output file is written, so a RAM disk should be used. An example of using SDB is provided below: C>sdb /az/1 Browse all information for all files inside all ARC and ZIP files in the current directory of drive C using the one column output format. The SDD.BAT Batch file allows you to execute the SD program for multiple disk drives automatically. This is especially useful when searching for files which may be on other drives and possibly in other directories or ARC or ZIP files on other drives. It is also handy when displaying totals information for one or more directories or ARC or ZIP files on several drives. Before using SDD, you must use a text editor to edit the file to select the disk drives you wish to process (the default is drives C, D, and E). It is recommended that you only select partitions on hard disks, and possibly other drives which are not floppy disk drives, but any valid drive letters may be selected, and in any desired order. Since the drive letters are contained within the Batch file itself, you must not specify a specific drive letter on the command line. You may abort the output at any point by pressing ESCAPE or CTRL-C, so you should order the drive letters by expected frequency of use. The following two statements must appear in the Batch file for each drive (d): sd d:%1%2%3%4%5%6%7%8%9/$ if errorlevel 2 goto end SD V6.2 User's Guide Page 30 The last drive is an exception, where the /$ switch must be changed to /$$ and the if statement should be omitted. The /$ switch tells SD to provide a pause between successive drives in order to synchronize screen scrolling. The /$$ switch prevents the last output line from being overwritten by the DOS command line prompt. Some typical examples of using SDD are provided below: D>sdd \abc/g Display information for all files whose names begin with abc in all directories on all selected drives. D>sdd /v/t Display volume label and totals information for the current directory on all selected drives. D>sdd \/gt Display volume label and grand totals information for all directories on all selected drives. The SDM.BAT Batch file allows you to execute the SD program with multiple command line parameters including drives, paths, file name specifications and/or switches all on the same command line. SDM executes the SD program repeatedly, passing a separate command line parameter to SD each time it is executed. Since each Batch file command line parameter is separated from another by one or more spaces, you can group multiple sets of parameters together and separate the groups with one or more spaces. Some typical examples of using SDM are provided below: C>sdm d:\/gt e:\/gt Display volume label and grand totals information for all directories on drives D and E. D>sdm *.bat *.com *.exe Display information for all .BAT, .COM and .EXE files in the current directory of drive D. C>sdm \dir1 \dir3 \dir5 \dir7 Display information for the files in each of the specified directories on drive C. SD V6.2 User's Guide Page 31 6.2 Multitasking Environments There are two different ways to use SD with various multitasking environments such as DESQview or Microsoft Windows. The first method is to use SD in its normal mode where it writes output directly to video memory for fast color output. This method will allow the program to run inside a window under DESQview, but not under Microsoft Windows. The supplied SD.PIF file tells Microsoft Windows that SD writes directly to video display memory and can therefore not run inside a window. The second method is to make a copy of SD (called SDW) which will have the /r switch turned on as a default. This will allow it to run inside a window, but more slowly and without color. Create the SDW file as follows: D>COPY SD.COM SDW.COM D>DEBUG SDW.COM -E114 1 -W -Q Copy SD.PIF to SDW.PIF and use the Microsoft Windows PIFEDIT utility to edit the SDW.PIF file to indicate that the program does not directly modify the screen. 6.3 Local Area Networks and OS/2 SD and SDR have been tested with IBM, NOVELL, 3COM, 10NET and other Local Area Networks for compatibility. Logical Network drives are detected and identified. When the /i switch is specified, no attempt is made to read the Boot Sector for Network drives, so not all of the disk parameter information is available. ARC and ZIP files are opened using "Deny Write" sharing mode to allow concurrent Read mode access on LANs. SD and SDR have been tested with several versions of the OS/2 DOS 3.X "Compatibility Box" with good results. An OS/2 protected mode version of SD is under development. Please let the author know if you are interested in this version of the program. SD V6.2 User's Guide Page 32 7.0 MEMORY RESIDENT VERSION (SDR) 7.1 Overview SDR.COM is a memory resident sorted directory utility program which operates on IBM-PC compatible computer systems using the IBM PC-DOS or Microsoft MS-DOS Operating System Version 2.0 or higher. SD.COM is the non-memory resident version of the program. Since the capabilities and command syntax of the two programs are virtually identical, only the differences and additional capabilities of SDR.COM are covered in this section of the document. It is recommended that the user first become familiar with the use of SD.COM before using SDR.COM. The bulk of the command syntax for SDR.COM is therefore covered in the section for SD.COM. This version of the program requires about 18Kb of disk space and about 25-70Kb of memory during execution, depending on the size of the directory, file and screen buffers configured by the user. With the default buffer sizes, the program uses about 31Kb of system memory. The advantage of a memory resident program is that it is almost always available for use, regardless of the other program(s) currently running. Otherwise, it would be necessary to either exit the current program and return to the DOS system command prompt in order to run the program, or use the "shell" facility that some programs provide to execute other programs and then regain control. Since not all programs provide this capability, having your frequently used utilities in memory resident form greatly increases their availability. In addition, execution of a memory resident program is virtually instantaneous, since the program is only loaded from disk once. The primary disadvantage of a memory resident program is that it consumes system memory which would otherwise be available to execute other programs. Most memory resident programs are loaded once at system boot time and remain in memory permanently. Well designed memory resident programs are carefully written to minimize the amount of memory they use, and allow the user to configure the program to achieve a good balance between functionality and memory consumption. Another more subtle disadvantage is that most non-trivial memory resident programs must employ a variety of techniques to work around the limitations in the DOS operating system and the IBM-PC BIOS. Since there is not yet a universally accepted standard for what these techniques should be, there is no guarantee that any one memory resident program will be compatible with another, or even with other non-memory resident programs. However, enough of a standard has emerged to write useful memory resident programs, and the benefits of frequently used programs greatly outweigh the occasional incompatibilities for most users. This program has been designed in such a way as to try and maximize its compatibility with other programs. However, there is no guarantee that incompatibilities will not arise with a specific program. When this occurs, a good strategy to follow is to try to simplify the environment as much as possible; remove other memory resident programs one at a time, or try changing the order in which they are loaded. SD V6.2 User's Guide Page 33 7.2 Installation Unlike non-memory resident programs, SDR is normally only executed once, immediately after the operating system is booted. This is best done by placing the command "SDR" in the AUTOEXEC.BAT file which is automatically executed by DOS after boot-up. As mentioned above, it may be necessary to experiment with different loading orders of multiple Terminate-and-Stay-Resident programs. In general, the more complex TSR type programs (such as BORLAND's SideKick) should be loaded after simpler TSR programs. Like most TSR programs, SDR should only be installed at the top DOS command level, not from inside another program. There are two SDR DOS command line switches (/q and /y) which may be specified at installation time. A third switch (/r) is used to remove the program from memory and is described below. These switches should not be confused with those used once you have activated the program and are operating inside it. The help screen displayed in response to the /? switch (inside SDR) flags these switches with an (*) character as a reminder that they are to be used on the DOS (not the SDR) command line. The /q switch requests "quiet" installation mode. Normally, if the installation is successful, SDR will display a message in a box showing the total amount of memory it is using and the activation key sequence. This message cannot be suppressed by redirecting it to the DOS "NUL" device, since it is not displayed using standard DOS video services. Specifying the /q switch will prevent the message from being displayed. Similarly, the /y switch causes suppression of the message box which is normally displayed when the program is activated by pressing the hot key sequence. See the sections below for additional information. As an example, you can install SDR and suppress both message boxes as follows: D>SDR /Q/Y Although it is rather unlikely, installation of SDR can be denied for the following reasons: 1) DOS 2.0 or later is required. 2) The program has already been loaded into memory. 3) The directory or file buffer sizes requested are out of bounds. The program was incorrectly patched - this can't happen if the available configuration program (SDC) is used. 4) There is insufficient system memory available for the resident code, data, directory and file buffers. 5) The program is unable to release memory it no longer needs. 6) The program is unable to allocate memory for the screen buffer. SD V6.2 User's Guide Page 34 7.3 Activation Since the program is "memory resident", it is available for use even though another program is currently running. The program is activated by pressing the activation or "hot" key combination. The default activation key combination is CTRL-ESC (while holding down the CTRL key, press the ESC key at the same time). These key combinations can be changed using the configuration program so as not to conflict with their possible use by other programs. Although the program will usually be able to "go active" or "pop up", there are a few situations where this is not possible (or desirable!): 1) If the program is already active. Pressing the activation key while inside the program is sometimes used to exit a TSR program. Since a different key (ESC) is used for this purpose in SDR, this is not allowed. 2) If Disk I/O is in progress. Although not recommended, you may find that you can safely pop up SDR in the middle of reading or writing to a disk. At other times, the request may be denied. This is due to the need to serialize access to non-reentrant code in the PC BIOS. 3) If the current video mode doesn't support at least 80 text columns. Since SDR requires at least 80 columns on the screen in a valid text mode, it will decline to activate if the current video mode is incompatible with these requirements. The primary programs which use incompatible video modes are BASIC programs which use 40 column text mode or various dot graphics modes. 4) If a multitasking environment such as Microsoft Windows or DESQview is currently being used. Since these environments involve complex memory management functions, you should use SD rather than SDR. You CAN use SDR with Windows/386 if you install it while inside Windows. In the situations above, the activation request will be acknowledged by an audible tone or "beep", so that there is no doubt that the request was declined. However, there is another situation where the program may not appear to activate. Some programs or commands may perform certain long-running functions which do not provide an opportunity for TSR programs to activate. A simple example is the TYPE command. If you type a large file and press the activation key during the output, the program will probably not go active and the audible tone will not be generated. However, when the command ends, either normally or by a CTRL-BREAK interrupt, SDR will activate. Some TSR programs simply refuse to activate in this situation. Another similar situation can occur when one TSR program is already active and refuses to allow a second TSR program to even "see" its hot- key sequence. This is a characteristic of "ill-behaved" TSR programs which are all too common. Yet another scenario occurs when SDR "pops- up" over another TSR program but appears to be "dead". Sometimes simply pressing a few keys will cause the "deadly embrace" to end, although these keys may be passed back to the previously invoked program. Since SDR dynamically determines the video configuration, this means that you can install it using one kind of video monitor and activate it from another kind. You can switch between MDA, CGA, and EGA or VGA monitors at will and SDR will adapt its operation to the monitor in use. SD V6.2 User's Guide Page 35 7.4 Execution After the activation key is accepted, the program "goes active" or "pops up". At this point, the top few lines of the screen are cleared and a box with several lines of information is displayed. A prompt appears on the screen line below the box. Once you are familiar with the operation of the program, you may wish to use the SDR DOS command line /y switch to eliminate the box in order to save screen space. The following options are now available: 1) Enter a valid command line. See below for details. 2) Press the RETURN key to display the current directory. 3) Enter /? to display command help information. 4) Press ESC or CTRL-C to return to the suspended program. The complete form of the command line is: D:\path> [/switches] [drive][path][filespec] [/switches] The prompt string consists of the current drive letter, followed by the current directory path for the drive, followed by the prompt character (which may be configured). The SDR prompt may appear alarmingly similar to your DOS system prompt; the DOS command: PROMPT $P$G generates the same type of prompt string. To avoid confusion, SDR allows the prompt character to be changed, and the default is a graphics character different from the usual (>) character. The rest of the command line parameters (drive, path, filespec, and switches) are just like those accepted by the SD.COM program. Please refer to the documentation for SD for details. The command line must be terminated by the RETURN or ENTER key. The Backspace key may be used to remove previously typed characters on the command line. Since SDR must avoid the use of DOS console services in resident code, utilities like CED and PCED which allow editing the DOS command line will unfortunately not function inside SDR. After the output of the current command is displayed, the prompt string is redisplayed. This allows you to enter as many commands as desired before returning to the suspended program. Keep in mind that the program which was in control when the activation key was pressed is in a suspended state; this implies that you will not wish to activate SDR (even though it is allowed) when executing a time-critical program. A good example of this is a modem communication program which is in the middle of a file transfer with a remote system. SD V6.2 User's Guide Page 36 To see SDR in operation, try the following example: 1) Execute the BASIC language interpreter with the command: BASICA 2) Enter the following BASIC command: FOR I=1 TO 999 : ? I,SQR(I) : NEXT 3) Press RETURN and wait until the screen fills 4) Press the SDR activation keys: CTRL-ESC 5) Press RETURN several times to display the directory 6) Press ESC to return to the BASIC program 7) Notice that the program picks up where it left off 8) Press CTRL-BREAK to terminate the BASIC program Unlike most programs, you can't type ahead while the program is running. This is due to the need to monitor the keyboard in order to pause the screen output. If you wish to begin typing a new command, simply press ESCAPE or CTRL-C to terminate the output, and then type the next SDR command. ESCAPE causes the program to terminate immediately, whereas CTRL-C closes the file box and displays the disk space totals line. Console output may be paused by pressing any other key and may be restarted in two different ways. If the RETURN or PAGE-DOWN key is pressed, screen output resumes until the either the screen fills or the output finishes. If any other key is pressed, only a single line of additional screen output is displayed. This allows you to easily control the displayed output so as to minimize the loss of existing screen data by scrolling. The Space Bar or the DOWN-ARROW key is recommended for use in single line scrolling mode. 7.5 Termination The only way to exit from SDR to the suspended program is by pressing the ESC or CTRL-C key from the SDR command prompt. Pressing CTRL-BREAK will not exit from SDR and will appear to be ignored, but the interrupt may be seen by the suspended program when SDR is exited normally. If the ESC key is used to exit from SDR, the console screen is restored to its original state, and the cursor position and size are restored to their original state when the original program was suspended. If the CTRL-C key is used to exit from SDR and the original screen line containing the cursor before SDR was activated is still visible, the cursor is restored to its original state, but the screen is NOT restored. A divider line is displayed over the last SDR prompt line to clearly separate the original and subsequent screen output. The reason for this behavior is to allow you to retain output generated by SDR in order to be able to refer to it when you return to the suspended program. Once the original cursor line is overwritten, either by screen output, scrolling, or clearing the screen, CTRL-C will cause the entire screen to be restored, just like ESC. Therefore, if you plan to use this feature, you will want to position the cursor as close to the bottom of the screen as possible before activating SDR. Once you have referred to the SDR output, you may wish to perform an action in the suspended program which will cause the screen to be rewritten, in order to avoid confusion and to resynchronize the display. SD V6.2 User's Guide Page 37 7.6 Removal SDR prevents the user from loading multiple copies of itself in order to avoid wasting memory. It can be removed from memory by running it again with the /r command line switch specified. This is helpful when the program is being configured for different screen colors, etc. in order to avoid a system reboot to load a new copy of the program. It can also be useful if the need arises to release as much memory as possible for some other purpose. Although it is rather unlikely, removal of SDR can be denied for the following reasons: 1) The program is not already loaded in memory. 2) Interrupt vectors previously saved and changed by the program have been subsequently altered by another program. 3) The program is unable to release memory it no longer needs. SDR will decline to remove itself from memory if it determines that another TSR program has stolen one of the interrupt vectors which it saves and then changes. In this case, you must remove the other program from memory before you can remove SDR. A good example is when BORLAND's SideKick utility is used with SDR. In this case, install SDR first and SideKick second. You must remove SideKick first, and SDR second. This is necessary since SideKick constantly monitors the interrupt vectors it steals and if it detects that another program has stolen them, it steals them back again! If you cannot remove a TSR program loaded after SDR (such as the DOS PRINT command) then you will not be able to remove SDR. Although a few TSR programs provide a means of deinstalling themselves from memory (such as SDR), most do not. However, there are several utilities available which provide this capability. MARK and RELEASE by TurboPower Software and INSTALL and REMOVE by PC Magazine are readily available on many Bulletin Boards. These programs require that you execute a special program before installing a TSR program, and another program when you wish to remove the TSR program. They work by saving information about the state of the Interrupt Vector Table and DOS Memory Control Blocks so that this information can be subsequently restored, thus effectively removing the TSR program. There are also several utility programs available (PMAP or MAPMEM) which display all of the currently loaded TSR programs, along with information on how much memory they use, which interrupts they "steal", etc. By observing which interrupts are stolen by each TSR program, it is possible to determine which programs are likely to conflict with each other once they are installed. If you use one of these programs to display the currently loaded TSR programs, you may notice that some are identified by their program names and some are not. Starting with DOS V3, the path and program name used to execute a program are stored in the program environment memory block. It is generally considered good practice for a TSR program to release this environment block (usually less than 100 bytes) at the time it is installed, and SDR does this. A side effect of this action is that programs which scan the memory control blocks and display information about TSR programs cannot obtain the program name. SD V6.2 User's Guide Page 38 If the TSR memory map program you use displays the text of the DOS command line used to install the program, you can place the name of the program on the command line as a parameter (to itself!) so that it will show up on the memory map listing. For example: D>SDR SDR /Q When any TSR program is removed from memory and it is not the last loaded TSR program, a gap in memory will result from the creation of the resulting free memory block. DOS will not normally be able to use this memory unless all TSR programs above it are first removed. This implies that TSR programs should always be removed in the opposite order in which they were installed, in order to maximize the use of available memory for other programs. 7.7 Switch Differences Although most of the command line switches function the same in SDR as they do in SD, there are differences due to the operating environment. Although the /e switch may still be used to clear the screen before the execution of an individual command, using the SDC program to turn this switch ON as a default will cause the entire screen to be cleared each time SDR "pops-up", but not automatically for each subsequent command. The Environment Size, TSR Memory, and System Memory Used and Free values displayed by the /i switch reflect the system memory at the time just after SDR was installed and may be incorrect if other TSR programs have been subsequently loaded. If SDR is activated from the DOS command prompt (not from inside another program), it will not be able to read the Boot Sector for ANY drive under OS/2, or drives above C: under DOS. In this case, some of the disk parameter values will appear as NONE or zeros. The /q switch requests "quiet" installation of SDR when specified on the DOS command line as described above. When used inside SDR, it functions just as it does in SD to generate "quick" output without user prompts. The /r switch is normally used in SD to allow the program output to be redirected to a file or to the printer. Since this function is performed by the DOS command interpreter, it is not available inside a memory resident program. The /r switch is used to remove SDR from memory (when specified on the DOS command line to execute SDR), and is ignored if it is specified on the command line inside SDR. The /w switch resets the screen to 25 lines after the execution of the current command in SDR, NOT when SDR returns to the suspended program. The /y switch is normally used in SD to cause the screen to be saved and restored. When specified on the SDR DOS command line, it suppresses the activation message box. If you often use the CTRL-C key to exit from SDR, you may wish to specify /y when installing SDR so that you have more room to use on the screen. The /y switch is ignored if it is specified on the command line inside SDR. The SD /$ switch, which is designed to facilitate the operation of SD when it is executed inside a DOS Batch file, is not implemented in SDR. SD V6.2 User's Guide Page 39 The EGA and VGA switches (/25, /35, /43, /50) should be used cautiously. If you use an EGA or VGA video adaptor and wish to use more than 25 screen lines, make sure you select screen buffer type 2 (8000 bytes) in the configuration program. Otherwise, only the first 25 lines of the original screen will be restored. Even so, it is recommended that you reset the screen to its original size before returning to the suspended program, unless it is known to be able to tolerate this kind of dynamic video mode switching. It should be kept in mind that SDR has several restrictions placed on it which do not apply to the simpler operating environment of SD. Even though SDR can be activated from the DOS command prompt, you may prefer to use SD in this situation for the following reasons: 1) Previous screen output is more readily visible. 2) More directories and files can be processed. 3) Output may be redirected to a file or device. 4) Full disk parameter information is available for all disk drives when requested by the /i switch. SDR should therefore not be viewed as a total replacement for SD, but as a supplementary program which is available in more environments. 7.8 Configuration The SDR program may be configured (using SDC) or patched (using DEBUG) to change the various program defaults to those you prefer. The SDC program is preferred over DEBUG since it is much easier and safer to use and allows you to decide which combination of screen colors you prefer. It also allows you to first configure the SD program for the default switches and screen colors you prefer and to then transfer these values to the SDR program, without having to leave the configuration program. You will then only have to configure the options which are unique to SDR. Please run the DEMO2.BAT file to see examples of the SDC program. If you are using DEBUG, you will need to refer to the section titled Patch Area Format to obtain the necessary offsets and data values. Activation Key Specification Great care should be taken in selecting the activation or hot key sequence. It must be unique enough that it will never be needed for any other purpose by any program you normally use. This usually means that an ALT or CTRL key combination is the best choice. For PC-AT style keyboards, the SysReq key cannot be used as a hot key since it is processed differently from the other standard keys. The new keys on enhanced 101 key keyboards such as F11 and F12 also cannot be used since they are processed differently by the ROM BIOS. Hot Key Control Codes (select any combination from 0-15) 1 = Right Shift Key 4 = Ctrl Key 2 = Left Shift Key 8 = Alt Key The default hot key control code is 4 (CTRL). SD V6.2 User's Guide Page 40 Hot Key Scan Codes (select any value from 0-255) Escape = 01 Home = 71 Shift F1-F10 = 84- 93 1234567890-= = 02-13 Up Arrow = 72 Ctrl F1-F10 = 94-103 Back Space = 14 Page Up = 73 Alt F1-F10 = 104-113 Tab = 15 Left Arrow = 75 Ctrl PrtSc = 114 QWERTYUIOP[] = 16-27 Right Arrow = 77 Ctrl Left Arrow = 115 Enter = 28 Keypad + = 78 Ctrl Right Arrow = 116 ASDFGHJKL;'` = 30-41 End = 79 Ctrl End = 117 \ZXCVBNM,./ = 43-53 Down Arrow = 80 Ctrl PgDn = 118 * = 55 Page Down = 81 Ctrl Home = 119 Space = 57 Insert = 82 Alt 1234567890-= = 120-131 F1-F10 = 59-68 Delete = 83 Ctrl Pgup = 132 The default hot key scan code is 1 (ESC). Hot Key String You may enter a character string of from 1 to 16 characters which will be displayed as part of the program's installation message as a reminder of the hot key sequence. The default hot key string is CTRL-ESCAPE Keys. If you use DEBUG, make sure that the string is padded with trailing spaces through the 16th character, if necessary, and that the next character is a NULL (hexadecimal 00). Prompt Character Specification The default prompt character (code 26, a graphics right arrow symbol) was chosen to be different from, but similar to the standard DOS command line prompt character. You may change it to any standard or extended ASCII character from 0-255. SDR Memory Usage Dir Buffer Minimum Default Maximum ---------- ------- ------- ------- Bytes 512 1024 4096 Dirs 32 64 256 File Buffer Minimum Default Maximum ----------- ------- ------- ------- Bytes 2560 8192 40960 Files per Dir 102 327 1638 ARC/ZIP Files 88 282 1412 Memory Usage Minimum Default Maximum ------------ ------- ------- ------- Code & Data 18544 18544 18544 Dir Buffer 512 1024 4096 File Buffer 2560 8192 40960 Screen Buffer 4000 4000 8000 Total 25616 31760 71600 SD V6.2 User's Guide Page 41 Buffer Size Specifications The choice of the directory and file buffer size values is based on a trade-off between minimizing the amount of memory used and allowing for a reasonable number of directories and files. Each directory buffer entry uses a variable number of bytes from 4 to 70, depending on the length of the directory name. For the purposes of performing some calculations, we will assume an average directory name length of 13 characters, or 16 bytes per directory buffer entry. Each file buffer entry uses 25 bytes per file or 29 bytes for files in ARC or ZIP files. The default buffer sizes are 1024 bytes for about 64 directory entries and 8192 bytes for about 327 files per directory or 282 files per ARC or ZIP file. The directory buffer is only used when processing global directories with the /g switch. Its size may range from 512 to 4096 bytes. The file buffer is always used and contains all of the file and subdirectory names for an individual directory or ARC or ZIP file. Its size may range from 2560 to 40960 bytes. The size of the resident code and data excluding these two buffers is currently about 18544 bytes. The buffer used to save the screen may be configured for either 4000 or 8000 bytes. You can therefore configure the program to use as little as about 25Kb of memory or as much as about 70Kb. The total memory used not including the screen buffer must be less than 64Kb. This limit is strictly enforced; you will receive the "Memory error" message when installing SDR if the total configured memory size exceeds this. If you attempt to exceed the configured buffer size limits when running the program, you will receive the "Too many dirs" or "Too many files" message, and the resulting output will be incomplete. The default screen buffer size is 4000 bytes. This is sufficient for either a Monochrome or CGA equipped PC. However, if you use an EGA or VGA monitor and sometimes use more than 25 lines on the screen, you may wish to configure an 8000 byte screen buffer to allow for up to 50 lines of 80 characters. Failure to do this will result in only the first 25 screen lines being restored. Use of special video modes which support more than 80 characters per line (43 rows x 132 columns) may also result in only partial screen restoration. 7.9 Error Messages The following error messages are displayed and system return codes set for various conditions which may arise. An audible tone is generated to alert the user of severe errors. The return codes may be tested using the standard DOS IF ERRORLEVEL statement in a .BAT file. No matching files (directory may be empty) Bad switch (use /? for help information) Bad drive (doesn't exist or syntax error) Bad path (doesn't exist or syntax error) Bad filespec (syntax error) Bad date (too large or syntax error) Too many dirs (buffer limit exceeded for /g) Too many files (buffer limit exceeded) Disk error (floppy disk not in drive or unformatted) 0 - Removed (in response to /r switch) 1 - Already loaded (can't reload unless removed) 2 - Not loaded (can't remove unless loaded) 3 - Can't remove (interrupt vectors changed) 4 - Memory error (insufficient or (de)allocation problem) SD V6.2 User's Guide Page 42 8.0 CUSTOMIZATION 8.1 Configuring the Program The SD program may be configured (using SDC) or patched (using DEBUG) to change the various program defaults to those you prefer. The SDC program is preferred over DEBUG since it is much easier and safer to use and allows you to decide which combination of screen colors you prefer. It also allows you to judge the effect of your changes by alternately modifying the SD program and executing the modified program, all without having to leave the configuration program. Please run the DEMO2.BAT file to see some examples of SDC program output. If you are using DEBUG, you will need to refer to the section titled Patch Area Format to obtain the necessary offsets and data values. The following example shows how to use DEBUG to patch the SD program: D>DEBUG SD.COM (Load SD.COM into memory using DEBUG) -E107 '4' (Change the default number of columns to 4) -E118 01 (Display the volume label as a default) -E11C 1E (Change directory colors to Yellow on Blue) -W (Write the modified file back to disk) -Q (Exit to DOS from DEBUG) D>SD (Execute the modified version of SD.COM) Screen Color Configuration Although it is possible to configure the SD program using either a color or monochrome monitor, best results will be obtained if you are using the target monitor since you will be better able to judge the effect of different screen color combinations. If you are using a laptop computer with a LCD display screen, you may wish to set all colors to White on Black for better readability. You can do this as follows: D>DEBUG SD.COM (Load SD.COM into memory using DEBUG) -F11C L 10 7 (Change all screen colors to White on Black) -W (Write the modified file back to disk) -Q (Exit to DOS from DEBUG) D>SD (Execute the modified version of SD.COM) SD V6.2 User's Guide Page 43 The foreground and background colors (screen attributes) used for the following screen fields may be configured: DIRECTORY COLORS apply to individual subdirectory entries. SYSTEM COLORS apply to files with the System attribute. HIDDEN COLORS apply to files with the Hidden attribute, but not the System attribute. READ/ONLY COLORS apply to files with the Read/Only attribute, but neither the System nor Hidden attribute. ARCHIVE COLORS apply to files with the Archive attribute, but neither the System, Hidden, or Read/Only attribute. FILE COLORS apply to files with none of the above mentioned attributes. ARC FILE COLORS apply to file entries INSIDE ARC files. ZIP FILE COLORS apply to file entries INSIDE ZIP files. FILE SIZE COLORS apply to the file size, clusters, and percent of space used fields. FILE DATE COLORS apply to the file date and time fields. FILE MISC COLORS apply to the file starting cluster and sector and file attribute fields for non-ARC files and file CRC codes for ARC files. These are also used for empty file box entries and (K)ilobyte symbols. GRAPHICS COLORS apply to the graphics characters which are used to form the border lines of boxes. TITLE COLORS apply to the title fields for the various boxes displayed by the /? and /i switches. TEXT COLORS apply to the text strings which precede numeric or string values in the leading and trailing text lines and to the text in the boxes displayed for the /? and /i switches. INFO COLORS apply to the numeric or string values which follow the text strings in the leading and trailing text lines and to the values in the boxes displayed for the /i switch. NORMAL COLORS apply to the trailing characters on each output line, the new output lines created when the screen is scrolled and the SDR prompt line. These colors should be set to the standard screen colors used at the DOS command prompt. The Graphics, Text, Info and Normal Colors should be selected so that they all use the same background color (the default is Black), for best results. The remaining colors should be selected so that they are sufficiently different from one another to be individually recognizable and are easily readable on the video monitor being used. Although there are 2048 possible color combinations, only a few are tolerable for long. SD V6.2 User's Guide Page 44 8.2 SDC Configuration Program SDC.EXE is a utility program which is used to configure the Sorted Directory Utility Program (SD.COM) or the Memory Resident Sorted Directory Utility Program (SDR.COM). It operates on IBM-PC compatible computer systems using the IBM PC-DOS or Microsoft MS-DOS Operating System Version 2.0 or higher. SDC can be used with either MDA, CGA, MCGA, EGA, or VGA video adaptors and monitors, but should be used on the target system, for best results. The SDC screen displays are normally shown using various colors if a color video adaptor is in use. Some LCD video screens used on laptop computers can make it difficult to see certain color combinations. If you prefer to use SDC in Black and White mode, execute the following DOS command before running the SDC program: D>SET SDCDISP=MONO You may wish to initially set all screen color combinations to White on Black if you are using a laptop computer, for the same reason. Program Operation SDC allows you to configure SD.COM, alternately changing one or more program defaults and then executing SD.COM to observe the result, all without having to terminate the SDC program. Once you are satisfied with the changes made to SD.COM, you can transfer them to the SDR.COM file and then adjust the remaining SDR defaults to your preferences. Changes made by SDC to the SD.COM or SDR.COM files are effective as soon as they are specified, not when the SDC program is terminated. You may exit from the program at any time by pressing the CTRL-BREAK keys. Program Structure SDC displays two function selection menus. The Main Menu is used to specify which program you wish to configure. The Option Menu is used to specify which default values you wish to change for the selected program. The Option Menus for SD and SDR are slightly different. Main Configuration Menu 1 = Configure SD.COM Program 2 = Configure SDR.COM Program 3 = Exit Configuration Program You will be asked which program you wish to configure, and then for the name of the executable file (normally SD.COM or SDR.COM). Several tests are made to insure that the specified file exists, is the proper program type, and is the proper version for the configuration program. Configuration Option Menu For SD.COM 1 = Display or Change Sort Options 2 = Display or Change Filename Columns 3 = Display or Change Switch Values 4 = Display or Change Screen Colors 5 = Execute Configured SD Program 6 = Transfer SD Program Options to SDR 7 = Exit to Main Configuration Menu SD V6.2 User's Guide Page 45 Configuration Option Menu For SDR.COM 1 = Display or Change Sort Options 2 = Display or Change Filename Columns 3 = Display or Change Switch Values 4 = Display or Change Screen Colors 5 = Display or Change Hot Key or Prompt 6 = Display or Change Buffer Sizes 7 = Exit to Main Configuration Menu Common Options 1 = Display or Change Sort Type (/F/X/B/D/C/N) Display or Change Sort Direction (+ OR -) This option allows you to change the default sort type and direction which will be used to sort the file entries. 2 = Display or Change Filename Columns (/1/2/4/6) This option allows you to change the default number of filename output columns, and inversely, the level of detail for the file information. 3 = Display or Change Switch Values (/E/H/K/O/P/Q/S/U/V/W) This option allows you to specify the default state of the output toggle switches. Although there are a number of other output switches which may be specified on the SD or SDR command line, it is normally only reasonable to change the default values of the switches listed here. 4 = Display or Change Screen Colors or Attributes This option allows you to change the colors or monochrome attributes of 16 individual screen fields. Separate defaults are maintained for color and monochrome monitors. For a color monitor, you may specify the foreground (0-15) and background (0-7) color combination. For a monochrome monitor, you may specify the screen attributes (normal video, reverse video, or underlined) each of which may be intensified. Options Specific to SD 5 = Execute Configured SD Program This option allows you to execute the configured SD program to observe the effect of the changes you have made. You are prompted for a command line and may execute the SD program any number of times with any desired command line switches, etc. SDC is a compiled Microsoft QuickBasic program. Since it has been determined that the SHELL function used to run SD.COM without leaving SDC doesn't work reliably with DOS Version 2, you should avoid using this option if you are using DOS Version 2. 6 = Transfer SD Program Options to SDR This option allows you to automatically transfer all of the common option values you have configured in the SD.COM file to the SDR.COM file so you don't have to respecify them. SD V6.2 User's Guide Page 46 Options Specific to SDR 5 = Display or Change Hot Key or Prompt This option allows you to specify the Activation (Hot) Key and command line prompt character used by SDR. The Hot Key Control Code can be any combination of the ALT, CTRL, LEFT-SHIFT, and/or RIGHT-SHIFT keys. The Hot Key Scan Code can be any value selected from the displayed list. The Hot Key String can be up to 16 characters long and should be selected to describe the configured Hot Key since it will be displayed at the time SDR is installed in memory, as a reminder. The Prompt Character can be any regular or extended ASCII character from 0 to 255. 6 = Display or Change Buffer Sizes This option allows you to specify the size of the SDR Directory, File, and Screen Buffers. The values should be carefully selected to be just large enough to handle the maximum number of directories and files in a single directory that you are likely to encounter. The screen buffer size should be selected based on the video display adaptor you normally use. Please refer to the section on SDR for additional information. 8.3 Patch Area Format The following information is only provided as a reference for those who need to use DEBUG to change the program defaults; it is not needed to run the SDC configuration program. The following data area at the beginning of the SD.COM file may be modified using the standard DOS DEBUG program. Only the data values beginning with the Sort Type field should be modified. Only the toggle switches marked (SDC) should normally be turned ON as a default. SD V6.2 User's Guide Page 47 SDC DEBUG Field Default Possible Offset Offset Description Value Values ------ ------ ----------- ------- -------- 01 0100 Jump Instruction - ?? ?? ?? 04 0103 Program Type - 1=SD.COM, 2=SDR.COM 05 0104 Program Version - 62H = Version 6.2 06 0105 Sort Type 'X' 'B','C','D','F','X','N' 07 0106 Sort Direction '+' '+','-' 08 0107 Filename Columns '2' '1','2','4','6' 09 0108 Process ARC Files 0 /A = 0,1 10 0109 Erase Console Screen 0 /E = 0,1 (SDC) 11 010A Process Global Dirs 0 /G = 0,1 12 010B Horizontal Sequence 0 /H = 0,1 (SDC) 13 010C System Information 0 /I = 0,1 14 010D Just Display Colors 0 /J = 0,1 15 010E Space in Kilobytes 0 /K = 0,1 (SDC) 16 010F List File Names 0 /L = 0,1 17 0110 Display Directory Map 0 /M = 0,1 (SDC) 18 0111 Date/Time Format 0 /O = 0,1 (SDC) 19 0112 Measure CPU Performance 0 /P = 0,1 20 0113 Quick Output 0 /Q = 0,1 (SDC) 21 0114 Redirected Output 0 /R = 0,1 (SD) 22 0115 System & Hidden Files 1 /S = 0,1 (SDC) 23 0116 Totals Lines Only 0 /T = 0,1 24 0117 Upper/Lower Case 0 /U = 0,1 (SDC) 25 0118 Display Volume Label 0 /V = 0,1 (SDC) 26 0119 Reset to 25 Screen Rows 0 /W = 0,1 (SDC) 27 011A Restore Original Screen 0 /Y = 0,1 (SD) Suppress Activation Msg 0 /Y = 0,1 (SDR) 28 011B Process ZIP Files 0 /Z = 0,1 29 011C Directory FG/BG Colors 11+16*1 I Cyan on Blue 30 011D System FG/BG Colors 12+16*0 I Red on Black 31 011E Hidden FG/BG Colors 13+16*0 I Magenta on Black 32 011F Read/Only FG/BG Colors 9+16*0 I Blue on Black 33 0120 Archive FG/BG Colors 14+16*0 I Yellow on Black 34 0121 File FG/BG Colors 15+16*0 I White on Black 35 0122 ARC File FG/BG Colors 14+16*1 I Yellow on Blue 36 0123 ZIP File FG/BG Colors 15+16*1 I White on Blue 37 0124 Size FG/BG Colors 11+16*0 I Cyan on Black 38 0125 Date FG/BG Colors 10+16*0 I Green on Black 39 0126 Misc FG/BG Colors 9+16*0 I Blue on Black 40 0127 Graphics FG/BG Colors 4+16*0 Red on Black 41 0128 Title FG/BG Colors 7+16*1 White on Blue 42 0129 Text FG/BG Colors 2+16*0 Green on Black 43 012A Info FG/BG Colors 3+16*0 Cyan on Black 44 012B Normal FG/BG Colors 7+16*0 White on Black SD V6.2 User's Guide Page 48 45 012C Directory Mono Attrs 0+16*7 Reverse Video 46 012D System Mono Attrs 9+16*0 I Underlined 47 012E Hidden Mono Attrs 1+16*0 Underlined 48 012F Read/Only Mono Attrs 1+16*0 Underlined 49 0130 Archive Mono Attrs 15+16*0 I Intensified 50 0131 File Mono Attrs 7+16*0 Normal Video 51 0132 ARC File Mono Attrs 15+16*0 I Intensified 52 0133 ZIP File Mono Attrs 15+16*0 I Intensified 53 0134 Size Mono Attrs 7+16*0 Normal Video 54 0135 Date Mono Attrs 7+16*0 Normal Video 55 0136 Misc Mono Attrs 7+16*0 Normal Video 56 0137 Graphics Mono Attrs 7+16*0 Normal Video 57 0138 Title Mono Attrs 0+16*7 Reverse Video 58 0139 Text Mono Attrs 7+16*0 Normal Video 59 013A Info Mono Attrs 15+16*0 I Intensified 60 013B Normal Mono Attrs 7+16*0 Normal Video 61 013C Hot Key Control Code 4 0-15 (SDR) 62 013D Hot Key Scan Code 1 0-255 (SDR) 63 013E Hot Key String CTRL-ESCAPE Keys 16 chars,NULL (SDR) 80 014F Prompt Character 26 0-255 (SDR) 81 0150 Dir Buffer Length 1024 512-4096 (SDR) 83 0152 File Buffer Length 8192 2560-40960 (SDR) 85 0154 Screen Buffer Type 1 1/2=4000/8000 (SDR) Color Codes 0 = Black 1 = Blue 2 = Green 3 = Cyan 4 = Red 5 = Magenta 6 = Brown 7 = White SD dynamically selects either the color or monochrome attributes specified at the offsets in the table above, based on the type of video display adaptor being used. Once the desired foreground and background colors (attributes) have been selected for a screen field, compute the field attribute byte using the formula: ATTRIBUTE = FCOLOR+16*BCOLOR, where FCOLOR and BCOLOR are the foreground and background colors (attributes), respectively. Intensified foreground colors corresponding to the 8 standard colors may be selected by adding 8 to the foreground color number. For example, specify foreground color (6+8)=14 to get a foreground Yellow color instead of the unintensified Brown. The blinking attribute (for foreground characters) may be selected by adding 8 to the background color number. However, use of this attribute is not recommended, since it may be distracting. For a monochrome monitor, selecting Blue on Black (1+16*0) will cause the screen field to be underlined. SD V6.2 User's Guide Page 49 9.0 APPENDICES 9.1 Error Messages and Return Codes The following error messages are displayed and system return codes set for various conditions which may arise. An audible tone is generated to alert the user of the error (for code 2 and above) in case the output is being redirected. The return codes may be tested using the standard DOS IF ERRORLEVEL statement in a .BAT file. 0 - One or more matching files were found. 1 - No matching files were found. 2 - Bad switch or ESCAPE or CTRL-C pressed. 3 - Bad drive (doesn't exist or syntax error). 4 - Bad path (doesn't exist or syntax error). 5 - Bad file specification (syntax error). 6 - Bad date (too large or syntax error). 7 - Too many directories (when /g is specified). 8 - Too many files (partial information displayed). If there is insufficient space in the directory and/or file buffers to hold the specified directories and files, as many entries as will fit in the buffers are processed in the order they are selected. Other errors which are detected relate to the processing of ARC or ZIP files. The first type are standard DOS file I/O error codes which can occur when opening, reading, or closing files. The error message is: Error <n> on <drive><path><filename>, where <n> is as follows: 1 - Invalid function code 5 - Access denied 2 - File not found 6 - Invalid handle 3 - Path not found 12 - Invalid access value 4 - Too many open files The only one of these errors which is likely to occur is 4, in which case you need to increase the FILES specification in CONFIG.SYS. The second type of error is caused by bad data in the header field for a file in an ARC or ZIP file, or attempting to process a file with the /a or /z switch which is not an ARC or ZIP file. The error message is: Bad header in <drive><path><filename> SD V6.2 User's Guide Page 50 9.2 Modification History 01-Jun-89 ... V6.2 Changed /m switch to display graphic directory tree map. Changed /p switch to measure CPU performance for /i switch. Added /tn switch to request suppression of totals lines. Changed EGA Memory to include other types of Video Memory. Determine Total Extended RAM from CMOS RAM information and display Extended RAM Used, Free, and Total for /i switch. Added PC System Type ID to /i for Pre-PS/2 system types. Combined Processor Type and Performance on the same line. Added display of Screen Size (number of rows and columns). Added display of current Video Mode after Adaptor Type. Modified to run in a DESQview window without redirection. Modified to work correctly with more than 80 screen columns. Modified to reset VGA 400 line screen mode if /25 specified. Modified to reset video mode 3 if bad video mode is detected. Don't display . and .. entries if /l switch is specified. Count . and .. entries as files if /sd switch is specified. Use character after /r for box border graphics characters. Reduced default SDR file buffer size from 10240 to 8192. 9.3 Product Support This product represents more than a thousand hours of work over several years. I believe it is a good example of the SHAREWARE concept; you get to try the product without prior commitment and only choose to support it if you find it useful. Many of the continuing improvements have been implemented in response to user suggestions and requests. If you find that you continue to use this product once you have become familiar with it, it is obviously of some value to you; please support the SHAREWARE concept by registering your copy and sharing the SD62.ARC or SD62.ZIP file with other users. The distribution file may be freely copied and distributed as long as the only charge is for media and reproduction costs, etc. Under no conditions should the program either be sold for a profit or distributed in modified form without the permission of the author. Site and Corporate licenses are available on request for use in corporate or government organizations. The SITE.FRM file contains a Site License Agreement Form. Special versions are available on request. As supplied, the programs in this product are fully functional with no missing or crippled features. However, the SHAREWARE concept is a two way process. The version of the SD program contained in the distribution file will display a gentle registration reminder message after it has been executed 20 or more times since the operating system was booted. Registered users will receive a version of the program without the message. Previously registered users and Bulletin Board SYSOPs may contact the author for information on removing the message, for their private use only. SD V6.2 User's Guide Page 51 In order to keep the size of the distribution file reasonable, and to encourage users to register their copy of this product, the SDC configuration utility program is only available through the mail when you register your copy of SD. This easy-to-use program provides full screen color menus which allow you to change any of the default sort options, screen colors, command line switch values, or other program options in SD or SDR to the defaults you prefer. Although you can also use the DOS DEBUG program to make these changes by patching the SD or SDR files, SDC makes this process much quicker and safer. To register your copy of SD, please print and complete the order and registration form contained in the file ORDER.FRM and return it together with a contribution of $20. Use of the order form is optional; it is simply included as a convenience to users. In return, you will receive a disk containing the latest version of all of the SD utility programs, including the SDC configuration program. The full Assembly Language source code for the SD, SDR and VSN programs and the BASIC Language source code for the SDC program is available on a second disk for an additional $20. Obtaining this second disk will enable you to see how the programs work, learn more about assembly language programming, or make your own enhancements. If you do improve the program, please let me know so that the results can be shared with other users. I prefer to coordinate all changes so that they are released in an orderly fashion. Full source code is included with all Site Licenses. A comprehensive DOS HELP utility is available separately which provides quick, friendly access to complete DOS command reference information for DOS 2.0-4.0. This product eliminates the need to have several manuals at the computer when command reference information is needed. The data base files are user extensible. The HELP programs and format of the data base files were designed to be easily updated using a standard text editor. You can even create new HELP data base files for your favorite word processor, modem communications program or programming language. The DEMO2.BAT file provides a demonstration of some of the capabilities of this product. The DOS HELP utility is also available for a contribution of $20. Please specify whether you want the IBM PC-DOS or ZENITH MS-DOS Version of the HELP Utility. Site Licenses are also available for this product. This is not a SHAREWARE product and is only available through the mail. Even if you don't register or formally support these products, please share copies of the distribution file with other users and/or upload copies to Computer Bulletin Boards you use. Users who have supported this product in the past are largely responsible for the existence of the current version. Previously registered users can receive the latest version of the SD Utility Disk or DOS HELP Disk for a $10 contribution, at any time. I normally supply 5.25" 360Kb disks. If you prefer to receive 3.5" 720Kb disks, please indicate this on the order form and add $2.50. If you are ordering 2 or more disks and prefer to receive 5.25" 1.2Mb disks, please indicate this on the order form (there is no extra charge). I can accept checks, money orders and purchase orders. SD V6.2 User's Guide Page 52 You may obtain the latest version of the SD distribution file from the following Information Services and Bulletin Boards: GENIE IBM-PC Software Library COMPUSERVE IBM-PC Software Library Computer Connections Bulletin Board (202) 547-2008 If you wish to contact me with problem reports, suggestions for improvements, and/or especially large financial donations, I can be reached using the information provided below: John F. Stetson (Home) (301) 946-5615 (8PM-11PM EST) 42 Tivoli Lake Court (Work) (301) 340-4544 (10AM-6PM EST) Silver Spring, Md. 20906 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ IBM and PC-DOS are trademarks of IBM Corporation. MICROSOFT and MS-DOS are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. DESQview is a trademark of Quarterdeck Office Systems. SideKick is a trademark of BORLAND International Corporation. ARC is a trademark of SEA Corporation. PKZIP and PKUNZIP are trademarks of PKWARE Corporation. LIST is copyrighted by Vernon D. Buerg. CED, PCED and PMAP are copyrighted by C. J. Dunford. ------------------------------------------------------------------------