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XLIST (tm) DISK MANAGER USERS GUIDE for the IBM PC/AT by GARY W. WOOD *** READ CAREFULLY BEFORE USING XLIST *** PROGRAM LICENSE AGREEMENT XLIST (tm) is NOT "Public Domain" and it is NOT "Freeware". XLIST is a copyrighted software product developed and owned by Gary W. Wood. XLIST (tm) is distributed under the shareware concept. You are free to copy and use the software for personal use. If you are a corporation or institution a license fee in required. But, if you are using the software for personal use, your encouraged to make a gift ($25 suggested) and become a XLIST supporter. XLIST supports will receive the next major release free of charge and be keep informed of major developments for one (1) year. A license is required for use of XLIST by corporations and institutions, and for its commercial distribution. You may obtain a license for the use of XLIST by writing to me. The license is for perpetual, non-exclusive use of any version. Purchase orders and invoicing are acceptable. If you have special requirements, such as licensing for an unlimited number of copies, local area networks, site licenses, or customization, please feel free to submit them in writing. You may request a license for: o an unlimited number of end user copies at a single site; o customization of messages and documentation, an additional fee may be required depending on the extent of changes; o permission to distribute within your organization; o permission to include with your company's commercial products; o or other needs. The fee for a license depends on the estimated number of copies of the program that you will use. If you wish to distribute XLIST with your own programs or hardware, write for a "Marketing License". To use the discount schedule below, estimate the total number of copies that you may eventually use. Number of users(copies) Price per copy 1 to 9 $ 25.00 10 to 25 18.00 26 up (call) Regardless of the quantity, only one set of materials will be sent to you. You may then make as many copies of it that are licensed. Maintenance is free. Upgrades will be made available upon request. Technical support is available via mail, or through the Compuserve or GENIE bulletin board systems (76156,317 & G.WOOD4 respectively), at no charge. Copyright (C) 1985-1990 Gary W. Wood If you find XLIST easy and convenient to use, a contribution of $25 or more will register you to receive a current version of XLIST. Please state the current version of XLIST that you have. Send contributions to: Gary Wood 5401 Lakeview Road North Little Rock, Arkansas 72116 All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior written permission from Gary W. Wood, 5401 Lakeview Road, North Little Rock, Arkansas, 72116. DISCLAIMER The author has taken due care in the preparation of this document and the associated program. Insofar as specific mention of program features, the author believes the information to be true. No warranty is made regarding the suitability of the program to be compatible with your computer. Incidental and consequential damages caused by malfunction, defect, or otherwise are not the responsibility of Gary W. Wood, and to the extent permitted by law, and hereby excluded both for the property and, to the extent not unconscionable, for personal injury damage. (Some states or jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion or limitation of incidental or consequential damages, so the above limitation or exclusion may not apply to you.) Gary W. Wood also reserves the right to make amendments to the contents of this document from time to time, to reflect changes made to the specification of the XLIST system or for any other reason. XLIST is a Trademark of Gary W. Wood. IBM, IBM-PC, PC-XT, PC-AT, DOS, and PC-DOS are Trademarks of International Business Machines Corp. CHAPTERS 1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 2. Getting Started . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 3. Invoking the XLIST Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 4. Using the Keyboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 5. Using the XLIST.CNF File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 6. Using the XLIST.PRO Profile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 7. Sample XLIST.PRO File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 8. Command Line Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 INTRODUCTION WELCOME TO THE WORLD OF DISK MANAGEMENT USING XLIST - DISK UTILITY If you are new to PC-DOS, you have realized that commands provided by PC-DOS are designed to be short and sweet. This program is designed as a tool to effectively provide the user a friendly way to view files contained in sub- directories and be able to execute programs and PC-DOS commands. GETTING STARTED WHAT KIND OF HARDWARE DO I NEED To use XLIST you need the following: An IBM PC with hard disk, PC XT, PC AT, or a very closely compatible microcomputer. A color/graphics adapter, monochrome adapter, or VGA adapter 256K of RAM memory for best results. The program requires at least 120K of memory. One diskette drive DOS 2.1 or greater WHAT DO I DO NOW Installing XLIST to operate on your system is a simple process.You should start by copying the distribution diskette and putting the original away in a safe place. Now, copy the files on the diskette to a directory on your hard disk searched by the DOS path. The PC-DOS "PATH" command specifies a directory search order for commands and/or batch files that are not in the current directory. For best performance of XLIST, set the following environment parameters. SET OVERLAY=D:\ <--- Point to work area or RAM disk. SET XLIST=LIST <--- The name of a browser or editor. You are now ready! INVOKING THE XLIST COMMAND WHAT ARE THE INVOKING PARAMETERS First, no parameters are mandatory, but under some conditions you may want to specify them to limit or expand the directory entries displayed. To invoke the program enter: XLIST [[d:][path][filename[.ext]] /Mnn /A /L The optional parameters have the following definitions: [[d:][path][filename[.ext]] to specify the file and/or files that will be initially be displayed by the XLIST screen. [/Mnn] is used to specify a directory attribute that will override the attribute that could be specified in the profile with the *DIRATTR parameter. [/A] is used to tell XLIST to load every file on the default drive into XLIST. [/L] is used to tell XLIST to display license information. Example: Execute XLIST loading the directory from the default drive directory and the root directory of the C: drive. XLIST *.* c:\*.* USING THE KEYBOARD WHAT KEYS ON THE KEYBOARD DOES XLIST USE XLIST uses the keyboard for communications. The keyboard is used to enter commands, scroll the display, and to invoke user-defined function keys. These are the single keystroke commands used by XLIST. You may change command keys by using the "Alt-k" key. Defaults are defined as follows: Key Stroke Definition Home Position the cursor to the first character. End Position the cursor to the last character. Ctrl End Erase data in the command line from the cursor to the end-of-line. Alt a Change file attributes. Alt c Change screen colors. Alt e Toggle to EGA 43-line screen. Alt f Toggle to set XLIST to stop processing when an error is encountered. Alt k Change keyboard definitions. Alt s Toggle between displaying filesize in K's or in total number of bytes. Alt t Tag multiple files. Alt x Exclude entry. Esc Exit. Enter Pass control to XLIST to process the command lines. Ctrl PgUp Goto top of directory. Ctrl PgDn Goto bottom of directory. ` Tag single entry (toggle) USING THE XLIST.CNF CONFIGURATION WHAT PARAMETERS ARE IN THE CONFIGURATION FILE The 'XLIST.CNF' file contains the initial keyboard and color settings. You may modify these using the "Alt-c" for color changes and the "Alt-k" for keyboard changes. If by some chance this file is corrupted, erase the file and XLIST will recreate it to the default values. After changing the screen colors or the keyboard, XLIST will prompt you to permanently save the new setting to the configuration file. USING THE XLIST.PRO PROFILE WHAT PARAMETERS ARE IN THE PROFILE The 'XLIST.PRO' file is used to communicate the monitor type, directory limits, and definitions of the function keys. The profile is found by XLIST by first searching the current directory then searching for the profile by following the paths set by the PC-DOS "PATH" command. All XLIST options are identified by preceding keywords that start with a asterisk "*". When the first character is not an asterisk the command line is treated as a comment. *ALLATTR ON | OFF | DISABLE The *ALLATTR is used in conjunction with changing the attributes of a DOS file within a sub-directory. When the "/A" command will function: ON --- All files under the sub-directory will be changed. OFF --- Only files under the specific directory will be changed. DISABLE --- Will not function on sub-directories. *BUFFER 32767 | nnnnn Use the *BUFFER command to assign the size reserved for "XLIST" to use as a "COPY" Input / Output buffer. The buffer is allocated the first time the "COPY" command is used. The size may be decreased down to 512 characters. By decreasing the buffer size, performance of the "COPY" command will be impaired. *DIRATTR 49 | nn The *DIRATTR command is used to define what attribute is used to search the DOS directory. This is used to setup a mask used during the search of the directory to select what entries are included when displaying directory entries on the XLIST screen. The attribute byte is mapped as follows: Bit Mask Hex Dec. Description .......1 X'01' +1 Read-only file. ......1. X'02' +2 Hidden file. .....1.. X'04' +4 System file. ....1... X'08' +8 Volume label. ...1.... X'10' +16 Sub-directory. ..1..... X'20' +32 Archival file. A file is flagged as archival whenever the file has been written to and closed. If all the bits are turned on the decimal number would be a decimal +63. The default is set to a decimal +49 which would have the bit mask of "..11...1" that has the meaning of having the sub-directory, archival, and read-only bits on. You get the attribute by adding together 32 + 16 + 1 to get +49. *DISABLE [command] XLIST will intercept some PC-DOS commands, this gives greater control to XLIST when monitoring the directory and keeps PC-DOS from writing over XLIST's screen. The PC-DOS "Copy" & "Rename" command executed by XLIST are not fully like the PC-DOS "Copy" & "Rename" in that XLIST won't allow wild cards in the source parameter. Also, note that XLIST will get a up to a 32K buffer, this will increase the size of XLIST and this space won't be given back. If you wish to use wild cards, either disable the command or use the "DOS" command to use PC-DOS. Profile parameter "*DISABLE command" is used to disable PC-DOS commands that XLIST will intercept for it to have better control. The following commands are able to be disabled: *DISABLE COPY *DISABLE DEL *DISABLE ERASE *DISABLE RENAME *DISABLE REN *DISABLE CHDIR *DISABLE CD *DISABLE MKDIR *DISABLE MD *DISABLE RMDIR *DISABLE RD *DISABLE MOVE It is to your advantage to not disable the above commands unless they fail to perform to your expectations. By allowing XLIST to intercept these commands, it is better able to keep the command line up to date as changes are made to the current sub-directory. *DIRCLEAR ON | OFF The *DIRCLEAR command is used in conjunction with the append directory command ("\AD"). When changing directories from one place to another, XLIST will reset what directories to load to "*.*" when this option is set ON. When set OFF, XLIST will use the currently set list of wildcards set by the "\RD" & "\AD" commands. *DIRSAVE ON | OFF The *DIRSAVE command is used to enable a feature to save the contents of the directory in XLIST when leaving that particular directory. This is in anticipation of returning to the directory and seeing the directory as it was left. The contents of the directory is saved in a file in the directory it represents with the name XLIST.$$$. After using the file to reload XLIST the file is erased. *DOS ON | OFF The *DOS command controls how XLIST passes control to programs invoked under XLIST. When this option is "ON", XLIST will load the secondary PC-DOS command processor (COMMAND.COM) to execute the program or command directly. When the option is "OFF", XLIST will search the environment "PATH" searching for the proper command to execute. If found, it will load the program directly, bypassing PC-DOS.This will save some memory space. If the command is found to be a ".BAT" file or isn't found, XLIST will load the secondary command processor to attempt to execute the command. The secondary PC-DOS command processor is always used when the OVERLAY option is set "ON". *EGA43 ON | OFF The *EGA43 command is used to have XLIST come up using the EGA 43 line mode. This will allow displaying of 43 lines of text instead of the default of 25. The "alt-e" keystroke will toggle into and out of this mode when using a EGA adapter. *ENTRIES 200 | nnnn The *ENTRIES command is used to provide a method for the user to specify how much memory is used by XLIST to hold directory entry information. Each directory is held in memory by XLIST to be displayed on the screen. The maximum number of entries XLIST can load is 1300. Whenever there are more entries than set by the *ENTRIES command, the excess entries are bypassed. *EXECUTE [pattern] [commands......] The *EXECUTE command is used to associate a series of commands to be entered when the ENTER key is pressed. This can be used to invoke a browser, editor, Lotus 1-2-3, DBASEIII, or any other series of commands. You can set up multiple *EXECUTE commands within the XLIST.PRO profile. They are scanned sequential each time the ENTER key is pressed to see if any commands should be entered if the pattern matches the name of the file. Example: To have a program called "LIST" invoked whenever the ENTER key is pressed for all files that start with either an A, B, or C and the extension is "DOC". *EXECUTE [ABC]*.DOC LIST *FINDFILE [d:][path][filename] The *FINDFILE parameter specifies the name of a file to save a file containing all the filename's located during a "\FIND" command. This can be used to create batch files for executing global commands against the files located by the "\FIND" command. *HEIGHT nnn The *HEIGHT command is used to disable the EGA adapter interface in determining the number of rows on the screen. This will set the number of rows on the screen to the value specified in the parameter. This value must be between 25 and 60. This will disable the EGA 43-line toggle. NOTE: Not a normally used parameter. *LINEEND ~ | c The LINEEND command is used to define the logical line end character. For entering multiple commands on the same line for execution. The default character is the '~'. This character may be put on the command line or used within the *PFKEYS or *EXECUTE profile commands. *LOGO ON | OFF The LOGO command is used to disable the presentation of the initial copyright screen. This presentation delays XLIST execution for 3 seconds. *MEMORY 0 | nnn The MEMORY command is used in conjunction with the OVERLAY command to reserve the minimum amount of memory that should be available for commands invoked from within XLIST. This value contains the amount of memory in K that you want to free up. Specify zero (0) or a number greater than available memory to free up all the memory possible. *OVERLAY ON | OFF The OVERLAY command is used in conjunction with the MEMORY command to reserve the minimum amount of memory that should be available for commands invoked from within XLIST. XLIST reduces the resident portion of XLIST while another command is executed by temporarily storing the XLIST program to disk. After the invoked command is finished, XLIST is read back in memory and execution resumes. This will effectively reduce the memory requirements of XLIST down to only 16K! The feature can be toggled on and off by using the "/s" option on the command line. XLIST will free memory to a temporary work file. This file can be up to 128K, and takes a long time to page out when the file isn't on a RAM drive. I would suggest setting up a RAM drive in extended memory using the VDISK.SYS device driver provided by PC-DOS. Example: Change CONFIG.SYS to include the following: DEVICE=C:VDISK.SYS /e 196 512 64 Change AUTOEXEC.BAT to include the following: SET OVERLAY=D:\ The above changes would set up a 196K RAM drive using the next available drive, ie. D:. XLIST would save the memory file to the location specified by the "OVERLAY" environment variable. *PATHSZ 200 | nnn The PATHSZ command is used to define the amount of memory reserved for saving the DOS paths that have been previously been displayed during a XLIST session. This memory is automatically managed in conjunction with use of the /BD command. *PFKEYS Xnn (btd) function *PFKEYS-ARC Xnn (btd) function *PFKEYS-ZIP Xnn (btd) function This command provides the user with a method of defining the function keys F1-F10 in order to execute commands using the function keys rather than entering the command. The function may be more than one command each separated by the logical line end character (i.e. ~). When viewing a .ARC or .ZIP directory structure by utilizing the /EXP, /ZIP, or /ARC commands, XLIST has the ability to load another set of function key definitions. These are specified by appending "-ZIP" or "-ARC" upon the *PFKEYS keyword. The format for the command is as follows: *PFKEYS Xnn (btd) function X = Shift key indicator. blank = unshifted. S = right or left shift pressed. C = CTRL pressed. A = ALT pressed. nn = Function key number (1 thru 10). btd = Abbreviation for display (optional). function = Text inserted into XLIST command line. Example: Set function key (F1) to compile a program using the Lattice C compiler. *PFKEYS 1 (lcs) lc -ms /c Set function key (F2) to link-edit a program and cancel execution of XLIST. *PFKEYS 2 (lnk) link @xlistlk.lnk /o/c~/can Set function key (F3) to compile and link-edit a program. *PFKEYS 3 (all) /F1~/F2 Set function key (F3) to un-zip file to the drive/directory specified by the TEMP environment variable using PKUNZIP; execute a program called "LIST" passing the name of the file as the first parameter; erase the un-zipped file after execution of LIST. *PFKEYS-ZIP 3 (LIS) /cPKUNZIP -o $A %TEMP% $~LIST %TEMP%$~ERASE %TEMP%$ *PFREF ON | OFF The PFREF command is used to tell XLIST to refresh the function key definitions from the XLIST.PRO profile found in the current directory. When XLIST senses that a drive or sub-directory change has occurred a search is made in the current directory for the XLIST.PRO profile. This file is used to refresh the function key definitions. *RETRACE ON | OFF Profile parameter *RETRACE is used for IBM Personal Computers with IBM Color/Graphics Monitor Adapters. They require special programming to prevent "snow" from appearing on the screen when a program changes the contents of the screen buffer. The required programming will slow down screen updating and is not necessary for many other display adapters. *RETRACE ON will make XLIST run slower on these systems. Setting *RETRACE OFF on an IBM PC with an IBM color adapter will cause "snow" on the screen in some instantaneous. *SORT [A|S|B|N|D|E|T] [-] Profile parameter *SORT will cause XLIST to sort the directory before it is displayed. This will allow you to specify the order the entries are arranged. The parameter definitions are: A - by attribute S - by size B - by blocksize (same as S) N - by name D - by date E - by extension T - by type (same as E, except sub-directories go to the top) - - descending order *TOPVIEW ON | OFF The *TOPVIEW command is used to disable the access of the TOPVIEW buffer address. Some video adapters have conflicts with the interrupts used to access the TOPVIEW video buffer. Setting this to the OFF setting will make for faster screen access. *TREE ON | OFF The *TREE command went set to "ON" will automatically load the directory tree during startup of the XLIST program. This will cause the startup to take longer. The default is to have the option "OFF". *WIDTH nnn The *WIDTH command is used to disable the EGA adapter interface in determining the number of columns on the screen. This will set the number of columns on the screen to the value specified in the parameter. This value must be between 80 and 132. This will disable the EGA 43-line toggle. NOTE: Not a normally used parameter. SAMPLE XLIST PROFILE *ALLATTR DISABLE *BUFSIZE 32767 *DIRCLEAR ON *DIRSAVE OFF *DISABLE RMDIR *DISABLE MKDIR *DISABLE CHDIR *DISABLE DEL *DOS ON *ENTRIES 300 *FINDFILE C:\XLBAT.BAT *LINEEND ~ *LOGO OFF *MEMORY 0 *OVERLAY OFF *PATHSZ 200 *PFREF ON *RETRACE OFF *SORT T *TOPVIEW OFF *TREE OFF *EGA43 OFF + *EXECUTE *.ZIP /ZIP *EXECUTE *.ARC /ARC *EXECUTE *.BAT /EXE *EXECUTE *.EXE /EXE *EXECUTE *.COM /EXE *EXECUTE [abc]*.C X $F *EXECUTE * LIST $F *EXECUTE *.* LIST $F + *EXECUTE-ZIP *.BAT /cPKUNZIP -o $A %TEMP% $~%TEMP%$~ERASE %TEMP%$ *EXECUTE-ZIP *.EXE /cPKUNZIP -o $A %TEMP% $~%TEMP%$~ERASE %TEMP%$ *EXECUTE-ZIP *.COM /cPKUNZIP -o $A %TEMP% $~%TEMP%$~ERASE %TEMP%$ *EXECUTE-ZIP * /cPKUNZIP -o $A %TEMP% $~LIST %TEMP%$~ERASE %TEMP%$ *EXECUTE-ZIP *.* /cPKUNZIP -o $A %TEMP% $~LIST %TEMP%$~ERASE %TEMP%$ + *EXECUTE-ARC *.BAT /cPKXARC -r $A %TEMP% $~%TEMP%$~ERASE %TEMP%$ *EXECUTE-ARC *.EXE /cPKXARC -r $A %TEMP% $~%TEMP%$~ERASE %TEMP%$ *EXECUTE-ARC *.COM /cPKXARC -r $A %TEMP% $~%TEMP%$~ERASE %TEMP%$ *EXECUTE-ARC * /cPKXARC -r $A %TEMP% $~LIST %TEMP%$~ERASE %TEMP%$ *EXECUTE-ARC *.* /cPKXARC -r $A %TEMP% $~LIST %TEMP%$~ERASE %TEMP%$ SAMPLE XLIST PROFILE (Continued) *PFKEYS 1 (HEL) XHELP -TXLIST -HXLIST.HLP XLIST /O *PFKEYS 2 (KED) X $F *PFKEYS 3 (LIS) LIST $F *PFKEYS 4 (NCD) NCD /O *PFKEYS 5 (ARC) /EXP *PFKEYS 6 (DSP) /DSPF *PFKEYS 7 (/BD) /BD *PFKEYS 8 (/AP) /c/pTSRMAP *PFKEYS 9 (TRE) /TREE *PFKEYS 10 (CAN) /CAN + *PFKEYS S1 (TST) /c/oECHO SHIFT FUNCTION KEYS~pause *PFKEYS S2 (KED) X $F *PFKEYS S3 (LIS) LIST $F *PFKEYS S4 (NCD) NCD /O *PFKEYS S5 (ARC) /EXP *PFKEYS S6 (DSP) /DSPF *PFKEYS S7 (/BD) /BD *PFKEYS S8 (/AP) /c/pTSRMAP *PFKEYS S9 (TRE) /TREE *PFKEYS S10 (CAN) /CAN + *PFKEYS A1 (ALT) /o/cECHO ALT FUNCTION KEYS~pause *PFKEYS A2 (KED) X $F *PFKEYS A3 (LIS) LIST $F *PFKEYS A4 (LOC) /FIND *PFKEYS A5 (DOS) DOS *PFKEYS A6 (DSP) /DSPF *PFKEYS A7 (MAP) /MAP *PFKEYS A8 (TRE) /TREE *PFKEYS A9 (XCO) /FIND=XCOPY.EXE *PFKEYS A10 (PRO) /o/cX \XLIST\XLIST.PRO + *PFKEYS C1 (CNT) /o/cECHO CNTL FUNCTION KEYS~pause *PFKEYS C2 (KED) X $F *PFKEYS C3 (LIS) LIST $F *PFKEYS C4 (LOC) /FIND *PFKEYS C5 (DOS) DOS *PFKEYS C6 (DSP) /DSPF *PFKEYS C7 (MAP) /MAP *PFKEYS C8 (TRE) /TREE *PFKEYS C9 (BAC) /BD *PFKEYS C10 (CAN) /CAN SAMPLE XLIST PROFILE (Continued) *PFKEYS-ZIP 1 (HEL) XHELP -TXLIST -HXLIST.HLP XLIST /O *PFKEYS-ZIP 2 (KED) /CPKUNZIP -o $A %TEMP% $~X %TEMP%$~PKZIP -U $A %TEMP%$~ERASE %TEMP%$ *PFKEYS-ZIP 3 (LIS) /cPKUNZIP -o $A %TEMP% $~LIST %TEMP%$~ERASE %TEMP%$ *PFKEYS-ZIP 4 (DEL) /CPKZIP -D $A $ *PFKEYS-ZIP 5 (EXT) /CPKUNZIP -o $A $ *PFKEYS-ZIP 6 (VIE) /CPKUNZIP -cm $A $~PAUSE *PFKEYS-ZIP 7 (PRT) /CPKUNZIP -P $A $ *PFKEYS-ZIP 8 (TRE) /TREE *PFKEYS-ZIP 9 (BAC) /BD *PFKEYS-ZIP 10 (CAN) /CAN + *PFKEYS-ARC 1 (HEL) XHELP -TXLIST -HXLIST.HLP XLIST /O *PFKEYS-ARC 2 (KED) /CPKXARC -R $A %TEMP% $~X %TEMP%$~PKARC U $A %TEMP%$~ERASE %TEMP%$ *PFKEYS-ARC 3 (LIS) /cPKXARC -R $A %TEMP% $~LIST %TEMP%$~ERASE %TEMP%$ *PFKEYS-ARC 4 (DEL) /CPKARC D $A $ *PFKEYS-ARC 5 (EXT) /CPKXARC -R $A $ *PFKEYS-ARC 6 (VIE) /CPKXARC -C $A $~PAUSE *PFKEYS-ARC 7 (PRT) /CPKXARC -P $A $ *PFKEYS-ARC 8 (TRE) /TREE *PFKEYS-ARC 9 (BAC) /BD *PFKEYS-ARC 10 (CAN) /CAN COMMAND LINE COMMANDS HOW TO USE THE COMMAND LINE XLIST will present the directory vertically down the screen with a input line next to each entry, this is the "COMMAND LINE". The user can use the cursor keys to navigate up and down the directory entering commands. When the <ENTER> key is depressed, XLIST will process the commands top-to-bottom. All commands entered are first examined by XLIST to find special commands used by XLIST. These commands are from logical line end characters to special commands used to sort the directory into another order. There are 33 characters that can be presented to XLIST on the command line at any one time. But, by continued typing up to 63 characters can be entered. After the command is entered XLIST will append the filename and extension name to the command unless told otherwise by the /O line command. EXAMPLE: Fileid │ Input Area Entry │ Resulting Command ──────────────┼────────────────────┼─────────────────── fn1 ext1 │ erase │ erase fn1.ext1 fn2 ext2 │ masm / │ masm fn2.ext2 fn3 ext3 │ copy / a: │ copy fn3.ext3 a: fn4 ext4 │ dir *.* /o │ dir *.* GENERAL NOTES: 1. Do not rename or erase files from a BAT file or with a "ERASE *.*" sequence. These situations cannot be detected by XLIST and may result in random displayed filenames or XLIST termination. If you do the above, by entering the "/RD" command, the directory is refreshed. $ - SUBSTITUTE FILENAME & EXTENSION There are a series of characters using the '$' as a prefix that can be used to imbed parameters into the command line automatically. / --> Substitute the DOS filename & extension. // --> Will pass on one /. $ --> Substitute the DOS filename & extension. $$ --> Will pass on one $. $P --> Substitute DOS pathname without trailing slash. $N --> Substitute DOS filename without extension. $E --> Substitute DOS extension. $F --> Substitute DOS pathname, filename & extension. $D --> Substitute DOS drive letter without trailing colon. /A - CHANGE THE FILE ATTRIBUTES This command is used to modify the file attributes. The attribute maybe marked read-only, hidden, made a system file, or have the archive flag turned on. When this is placed on a sub-directory, XLIST will change the attributes of all the files within the directory. The format is: /A[+/-][attribute] [+/-] the plus(+) is used to denote adding the attribute and the negative(-) is used to remove a attribute. [attribute] is the one-character representation of the attribute to be added or removed from the file. A - Archive R - Read-only S - System file V - Volume label H - Hidden file D - Sub-directory Example: The following example sets the attribute of the file to read-only. /A+R The following example will turn off read-only and make the file hidden. /A-R+H /AD - APPEND TO THE XLIST DIRECTORY The /AD command is used to append to the internal directory. This can be used to load entries from other drives or sub-directories. Example: Set XLIST to only append the files with an extension of "EXE": /AD=*.EXE Append data from the root directory: /AD=C:\*.* /BD - GO BACK TO PRIOR DIRECTORY This command is used to proceed back to previous sub-directory. Whenever a sub-directory or drive change is made by entering the PC-DOS commands, XLIST will save the current directory in the path area reserved by the *PATHSZ profile command. By entering /BD the program will roll back to the prior directory. /C - CLEAR SCREEN BEFORE EXECUTING COMMAND When the /C is found in the command line it is extracted from the command line and before the entered command is passed to the DOS command processor the screen is cleared. When a function key is defined to invoke a program it is more appealing to have XLIST clear the screen before invoking the program using the "/C" option. This also causes XLIST to clear and re-display the entire XLIST screen when control is passed back from the program called. /CAN - CANCEL XLIST This command will exit XLIST and stay in the current directory. /CLS - CLEAR COMMAND LINE AREA This command will clear the XLIST command line area. /DOS - INVOKE SECONDARY COMMAND PROCESSOR Use the DOS command to pass control to the secondary DOS command processor. This command will load a copy of DOS and pass control to it. You will remain in DOS until you return to XLIST by entering the EXIT command. You should not execute any commands while in the secondary command processor that will make them permanently resident. /DSPF - DISPLAY USER-DEFINED FUNCTION KEYS You can use the /DSPF function to display the function keys currently defined. /END - END XLIST This command will exit XLIST and return to the drive and directory where XLIST was invoked. /EXP - EXPAND AN "ARC" or "ZIP" FILE DIRECTORY This command will read the directory contained within the specified ARC file. It will then display it using the XLIST directory display features. Be aware that the /UD & /A sub-commands will be deactivated. To redisplay the normal directory either enter the ESC command or the /RD command. NOTE: You can use the /ZIP command to expand a ZIP file or /ARC to expand a ARC file. The /EXP command implies whether or not its a ZIP or ARC file from the file extension. /Fnn - EXECUTE FUNCTION KEY nn This command can be used to invoke function keys from the command line. As a matter of fact, when a function key is depressed XLIST will insert into the command line the above command. Example: To invoke the F4 function key you would enter "/F4". /FIND - FIND FILES ON CURRENT DRIVE The /FIND command will search the current drive locating the location of all files that match the selection criteria specified by the /FIND command. This can be used to View, Erase, or execute some other command against the matching files. When the "View" option is specified for a matching file, XLIST will execute the command specified by the "VIEW" environment parameter passing the name of the file as the first parameter. This can be used to specify your favorite browse utility or to specify some other type of command. If not specified, XLIST will invoke the TYPE command. Example: Find all batch files that start with either a "A" or "B": FIND=[AB]*.BAT The right and left bracket is used to specify optional characters in a specified location within the name. The normal "*" and "?" wildcard characters can also be used. /MOVE - MOVE FILE Use the MOVE command to move a file from one directory to another directory on the same drive. This program uses a feature of the DOS RENAME function that will logically move a file from on directory to another. This command will also change the name of the file during the move if you wish. Example: Fileid │ Input Area Entry │ Results ─────────────┼────────────────────┼─────────────────────────── fn1 ext1 │ move / ..\ │ Move file up one directory. fn2 ext2 │ move / \ │ Move file to root directory. fn3 ext3 │ move / demo\*.bat │ Move to "demo" sub-directory │ │ & rename file to "bat" │ │ extension. /O - OMIT THE FILENAME & EXTENSION FROM COMMAND This command is used to keep XLIST from appending the filename and extension to the end of the command entered on the command line. This can be useful when entering DOS commands from the command line, since in most cases the filename shouldn't follow the command. /P - PAUSE AFTER EXECUTING COMMAND The /P command is used to cause XLIST to pause after executing the command entered on the command line. This can be used in conjunction with the /C command to allow the screen to be viewed before XLIST takes control and refreshes the screen. /RD - RELOAD THE XLIST DIRECTORY The /RD command is used to reload the XLIST internal directory. This can be used to refresh the current directory when modules are added or when directory clean-up is necessary. At this time a optional parameter can be entered resetting the mask used to select the entries to reload. Example: Set XLIST to only load the files with an extension of "EXE": /RD=????????.EXE Reload the directory with the default mask: /RD /RF - RE-FRESH THE XLIST FUNCTION KEYS The /RF command is used to refresh the XLIST function definitions. This is useful when the "XLIST.PRO" file is changed and you want the changes to take effect. /S[-] - SORTING DIRECTORY XLIST uses the Shell method of sorting directories when invoked by the "/S[-]" command. The following methods maybe used to sort the directory: /SA Sort by file attribute /SB Sort by filesize in bytes /SD Sort by file maintenance date /SE Sort by file extension name /SN Sort by file name & extension /ST Sort by file extension and always put the sub-directories on the top. The command maybe optionally followed by a "-" to denote a reverse sort sequence. Example: Sort the directory by the size of the file from the largest to the smallest file: /SB Sort the directory by the size of the file from the smallest to the largest file: /SB- /SET - SET FUNCTION KEYS This command provides the user with a method of defining the function keys F1-F10 interactively while XLIST is currently executing. This command follows the same rules under which the "*PFKEYS" profile command follow. The format for the command is as follows: /SET Xnn (btd) function X = Shift key indicator blank = unshifted S = right or left shift depressed C = CTRL depressed A = ALT depressed nn = Function key number (1 thru 10) btd = Abbreviation for display (optional) function = Text of command line /TREE - XLIST DIRECTORY STRUCTURE This command will load a graphic directory tree of the current drive. From within the directory tree, you can navigate to other sub-directories, create directories. To reload a directory tree use the /RTREE command. /UD - UPDATE DIRECTORY ENTRY WITH CURRENT DATE The /UD command is used to modify a directory entries date and time stamp. When the command is entered with no operands the corresponding directory entries date is set to the currently set DOS date and time. The /UD command can optionally be followed be either a date or a time which is recognize by XLIST by the forward slash for a date and the colon for a time. Example: Set date to current date & time: /UD Set date to July 2, 1985: /UD=07/2/85 Set time to 12:00 noon: /UD=12:00:00 /V - VERIFY ON ERASE or VERBOSE ON COPY The /V command in conjunction with the ERASE command will prompt the user to erase the file or not. With the COPY command, XLIST will display the entry being copied. /nnn - DISPLAY DIRECTORY STARTING WITH nnn ENTRY The /nnn command is used to make XLIST display the current screen starting with the nth directory entry. ? - DISPLAY LAST COMMAND ENTERED The ? command will cause XLIST to display the last command entered on the command line. = - REPEAT THE LAST COMMAND ENTERED The = command will cause XLIST to execute the last command entered for the directory entry adjacent to the command line where the = command is entered.