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Text File | 1993-03-23 | 41.5 KB | 886 lines

******************************* * * * CMFiler -- Version 5.36 * * * ******************************* Changes Since Version 5.22: The following features have been added or improved since Version 5.22, in reverse chronological order: ----- 5.35k ----- Corrected miscellaneous minor bugs and anomolies. ----- 5.35j ----- The permissible tree size was again increased, to 1700 directories, and a minor bug in the routine that reverses the function of the high-intensity bit was fixed. The default name assumed for Integrity Master's integrity data files, for the purpose of protecting them against inadvertent overwriting, was changed to ZZ##.IM, reflecting the default name assigned by Integrity Master in version 1.24a and later. This name can be changed using the command Alt-I (for IDname, where "ID" stands for integrity data). ----- 5.35i ----- The facility to view the file list within a compressed file has been expanded and improved to now include .EXE files (on the assumption that they are self-extracting files), and to find files in mixtures of compression types packed together. An option has been added to the Shift-O user Options screen to allow the action of the color attribute high-intensity bit to be inverted. Some LCD color monitors take the purpose of the high-intensity bit to be just opposite the normal sense, ie, high intensity enable when bit is zero instead of one. The permissible tree has been increased to 1000 directories from 505, to accomodate large network directories. ----- 5.35g ----- The command line color mode "V" (for VGA) is now recognized, in the form of the argument @V, similar to the previous @C, @M, etc. Support for VGA 43/50-line display has been added, and may be invoked in one of two ways: o On the fly. The Shift-O user Options screen has a new line to set 25, 43 or 50-line display, on the screen below the monitor line. This line can only be accessed if CMFiler senses a VGA card installed. The choices are 2,4 or 5. Switch is stored immediately in the .CFG file for the next execution of CMFiler. o Through the command line. Simply add 25, 43 or 50 to the argument @V (or @C or @M). This will override the previously recorded mode in the .CFG file. ----- 5.35f ----- Further testing of CF's two sorting algorithms (the original bubblesort and the more recently used quicksort) for speed in sorting large directories reveals that neither one is superior under all conditions. Therefore, the user has been given the option (letter A in Ctrl-O Ordering menu) to select whichever one works best in the environment of that user's file structure. Much depends on the "natural" DOS order -- the order in which the directory was constructed, and in which DOS reads the directory table. Quicksort works best for directories that already have a high degree of natural order, or a high degree of disorder, and does poorly compared to bubblesort in "lumpy" directories, which have clumps of ordered files randomly arranged. If you use principally one ordering scheme and both algorithms are making you wait each time you read a large directory, there is a way to cause DOS to reorder the directory table so that quicksort in particular will do much better: - Make a new directory on the same path in the same level as the directory to be reordered, and select it in one panel. - Put the directory to be reordered in the other, and with the desired ordering option selected, tag all the files and move them to the new directory. They will be moved in the order listed, and thus the directory table being created will have a "natural" DOS order the same as the one you most use. ("Moving" is nothing more than renaming, so no data reading/writing is involved, only directory table-making.) - Delete the old directory, and rename the new one like the old. To be sure, disorder will creep back in, and this procedure may need to be repeated. However, the occasional time investment will be worth it for the aggravation it will save waiting for sorts. A "floppy fill" function has been added to the main module, called by "Shift-I", which fills floppy diskettes in the drive selected in the target panel with the tagged files from the directory in the source panel. Diskettes must be preformatted, but need not be empty. User may specify a margin in kb to reserve on each floppy. To use the floppy filling function: 1. Put the first diskette to be filled in drive A or B, and select that drive in one panel. 2. Select the other panel to the directory containing the source files to be copied. Tag all the files to be copied (press A to tag them all), and press Shift-I. Specify number of kilobytes to hold in reserve on each floppy. (CF adds 2 just to be safe.) Filling starts. CMFiler -- Addendum 1-2 3. When each diskette is full, the files that were successfully copied are untagged in the source panel, and, if there are still files to copy, CF gives the choice of Escaping from the operation, or putting in a new disk and pressing any other key to resume. You may suspend the filling with Esc, and then resume with Shift-I without loss of continuity as long as you leave the tags in the source panel alone. This function is "semi-smart". It first looks to see if any existing files on the target floppy are the same as files tagged in the source, and updates them as appropriate, untagging the corresponding source files that matched. Then it looks at the source for tagged files that will fit in the remaining space on the floppy, and adds them until the floppy is full. Thus the floppy-fill can be used for updating a set of backups previously created with the floppy-fill function. As a further safeguard against loss of data during file copying, if you leave "soft" delete enabled, in addition to files that you "soft" delete going to the ~TRASH~ trashcan directory, newer files that you overcopy with older files also go to ~TRASH~, even after you confirm the action. The method of ensuring against inadvertent carryover of unseen sensitive or classified data during file copying through the slack space of the DOS input/output buffers has been completely revised. This protection is now provided automatically all the time, cannot be switched off, and is operating system-inndependent. In fact, the method now used enhances the speed of file copying by up to 10-20%. Consequently, the option "Clear I/O buffers if located?" in the Shift-O screen is no longer needed, and has been replaced with the following: "Wipe old files during HARD Delete, Copy and Move?" When this is set to Y, old files will be completely obliterated by overwriting all their data with the continuous sequence "cfcfcf..." before deleting them using the DOS file delete service. (As a point of information, the DOS "delete" service in fact only changes the first character of the file name in the directory table, and the cluster pointers in the file allocation table (FAT), and does NOT change or erase any of the data clusters themselves. Until they are overwritten by some other file, in whatever order DOS chooses to reuse the freed-up clusters, they are available for reading by any disk-scanning program that looks at the disk with absolute sector reads, ignoring what the directory table SAYS is on the disk. Much of the Irangate evidence was retrieved this way by investigators. This new feature in CF guarantees the obliteration of "deleted" data by overwriting all data in the file, from beginning to end, with "cfcfcf..." before using the DOS delete service.) All runtime questions requiring a (y/n) respond from the user now also offer a defauly, shown in capital letter at the cursor and chosen to reflect the more likely response under the circumstances, or the more conservative response from the standpoint of protecting files from inadvertent deletion. CMFiler -- Addendum 1-3 For example, when deleting files(s) with D or Ctrl-D, the default offering is Y in the confirmatory request, since it is more likely that deletion is what you intended, and you did not hit the D or Ctrl-D key by mistake. On the other hand, N is the default offering if a Read-only file is encountered during the delete operation, since assigning this attribute is a normal way of providing extraordinary protection of individual files, and if you are using the Read-only attribute correctly, you should typically NOT want to delete the file. ----- 5.35e ----- In the editor, a significant bug was corrected that resulted in loss of part of the file if the user returned to the editor after saving the file. In the tree module, a logic fault that was blocking the Esc bailout during file text searches. In the main module, minor logic errors were corrected in the command line support for masks. ----- 5.35c ----- In the main module, the file date/time change service has been expanded to permit mass date/time setting by tagging a collection of files, and pressing Alt-F as before. If files are tagged, the user must then confirm the desire to have all tagged files set to the same date/time stamp. The default values in the data entry windows are taken from the topmost tagged file in the listing. The logic which retains knowledge of the current cursor position in the target directory during directory-altering operations, such as file copying, has been refined to remove some anomalies. ----- 5.35b ----- In the editor, to support easier updating of the on-disk file copy during long editing sessions, a fourth option has been added to the Escape sequence -- "Return to editor? (y/n)", with the default set to N, since in most cases the user wants to leave the editor. So to update the on- disk copy of the file being edited, the following keystrokes might be used in the middle of the editing session: Esc-Enter-Enter-Enter-Y. In the main services file module, pressing Enter to view a .ZIP, .LZH, .ARJ or .ARC file displays a listing of the names of all the files compressed in that archive file (maximum of 60 file names). In the main file services module, user now has the option to continue copying or moving tagged files after a disk file creation/write/read error, rather than having the operation automatically cancelled. Also, the error trapping routines were updated and one anomaly corrected. CMFiler -- Addendum 1-4 ----- 5.35a ----- Different users on a network may now specify their own configuration through the environment, by setting the environment parameter CF-CFG before running the network copy of CMFiler. For example, User 1 is assigned logical drive U in the network, and User 2 drive V. CF.COM and CF.OVY are on drive C. User 1 could execute CMFiler with a batch file that reads: SET CF-CFG=U:\SETTINGS\CF.CFG C:\PROGS\CF and User 2, using the same copy of CF.COM and .OVY, could execute: SET CF-CFG=V:\CONFIGS\CMFILER.CFG C:\PROGS\CF In these two cases, of course, U:\SETTINGS and V:\CONFIGS must be valid, existing paths. The files CF.CFG and CMFILER.CFG need not already exist. If it does not find the file in the path, CMFiler will create the file the first time configuration data is saved. Because of the incompatibility of the I/O buffer clearing feature with DR DOS, a safeguard was added that detects DR DOS, and blocks the buffer clearing option even if invoked by the user. The "trash can" directory for "soft-deleted" files has been renamed from "CF_TRASH.CAN" to "~TRASH~" for two reasons: in at least one case, a user's configuration included a TSR that caused system hangups in the presence of directories with an extension in their name (even though this is a perfectly legal DOS naming convention); and several users asked for a new trash can name that would appear as the last directory of their listing, rather than in the middle of the listing. ***NOTE***: This will be a nuisance to previous users the first time running Version 5.35a or later, but will be worth it in the long run for the neater directory list it will bring. The upper limit of directory size was increased to 2400 in the main file services module, and the sorting algorithm changed from a bubblesort to a quicksort for improved speed. In the editor, the action of the Home and End keys has been expanded as follows: the first press of Home/End goes to beginning/end of line, if not already there; the second press goes to top/bottom of page; the third press goes to beginning/end of file. A function "Refresh panel from disk" (Shift-R) was added to the main file services module, used when you change disks in a drive as a one-keystroke alternative to N and the drive letter. The similar function which already existed in the tree module was remapped from Alt-R to Shift-R for consistency. CMFiler -- Addendum 1-5 ----- 5.34d ----- A new user option has been added to the Shift-O option facility to allow turning off the automatic screen saver. Two new ordering options have been added to the Ctrl-O ordering facility, to permit ordering by file size, either smaller first or larger first. The file mask (Ctrl M) in the main service module now only applies to the panel the cursor was in when the mask was specified. This is so that you can apply different masks to the two panels. ----- 5.34c ----- The NARATIVE.CF files, containing the file and directory notes, are well protected from inadvertent overwriting or destruction within the CMFiler environment. However, there is no provision for their protection from inadvertent erasure or overwriting in other environments, such as from the DOS command processor. To afford some level of protection, a switch has been added to the user option (Shift-O) screen to let you set the Read-Only attribute of the NARATIVE.CF files, in addition to the Hide attribute. Most command processors will prohibit deletion or writing to Read-Only files. ----- 5.34b ----- In trying other archive utilities in response to recent requests from users, I have discovered that CMFiler has always (accidently) supported LHA and ARJ, and perhaps others in addition to the PKWare utilities, simply because they all use the same syntax in the command line, namely: archiver options archivefile file1[,file2,[...]] To clarify that other archivers may be supported by the Zip and Unzip commands in the main module, I have revised the help screen and the F10 user-definition screen. CMFiler still defaults to PKZIP and PKUNZIP unless otherwise specified. However, if you want to use ARJ or LHA instead, press Shift-F10 from the main screen, and change both the fields "Compress = " and " Extract = " to read "ARJ.EXE" or "LHA.EXE". Add the path to these file specs if ARJ/LHA is not on a path in the DOS path environment. Also make the "Compress Options = " line read "a" (this is both ARJ's and LHA's way of knowing you want to add or create a .ARJ or .LZH archive file), and the " Extract Options = " line read "x" (for extract). (Command line option parameters are necessary with ARJ and LHA because, unlike the PKWare utilities which have separate compression and extraction programs, the same program does both functions.) Use of LHA or ARJ by this facility is the same as use of the PKWare utilities. To compress, put the directory where you want the archive file to be created or added to in one panel and tag the archive file to be added to (if it exists); set up the other panel with the directory of the files to be archived, and optionally tag them (if none are tagged, the command line parameter defaults to *.*); press Z, check and edit the command line paramters if desired, and press Enter. CMFiler -- Addendum 1-6 Extraction is easier. Set up the target panel in the directory you want the extracted files to go, put the cursor on the archive file, press U, check the command line parameters, and press Enter. ----- 5.34a ----- The naming convention for backup files, created with the command B in the main module, has been changed so that the backup file will appear closer alphabetically to the original file. If the original file has a three character extension, the third character will be replaced with a tilde (~; ASCII 126). If the extension has less than three characters, it will be padded with one or two exclamation points (!; ASCII 33, 1 larger than blank), so that the third character can be a tilde. When creating appended files (ie, Alt-tagging several files followed by the command C to copy to the target, or B to copy to the source), a default appended file name will be generated (name of the first file in the append list plus extension APF). The user may edit this name before the file is created. ----- 5.34 ----- In the tree module, while the cursor is in the file list during a Show files or Goto file command, several commands are available for disk cleanup that mimic commands in the main module. Files may optionally be tagged with T or Spacebar, and then deleted individually (if no tags are set) or as a group with the D (soft) or Ctrl-D (hard) delete command. The command A (tagAll) clears any tags set, or sets all tags, as in the main module. In the editor, the keypad map to the cursor movement functions is now independent of Num Lock. Shift-Up/Down Arrow moves to top/bottom of current video page. Gray+/Gray- function the same as Alt-Plus/Alt-Minus, toggling the delimiter and bottom displays. ----- 5.33b ----- Navigation and file-finding in the tree module was revised to follow the "G" and "Alt-G" conventions of the main module: - G ("Goto file") has replaced "F" as the file-finder command. Pressing "G" commences a filename search, and as each letter in the filename search string is typed, the tree and file list dynamically adjust to highlight the matches and position the cursor to the directory with the first match. Mode is toggled off with G, Alt-G or Esc. - Alt-G ("Goto directory") commences a directory name search in the same fashion. As each letter of the search string is typed, the matches are highlighted dynamically and the display is adjusted so that the topmost match is shown. Mode sets for both panels, and stays until G, Alt-G or Esc is pressed. An anomaly was fixed to let the directory be re-read in its "natural" DOS order after switching to Order mode 7. CMFiler -- Addendum 1-7 An anomaly was fixed which prevented CF from checking the CF_TRASH.CAN directory on execution. A workaround was devised for an anomaly in the directory structure of some netware, that prevented CF from navigating back through the parent directory in the main module. ----- 5.33 ----- The ZIP feature was revised to permit the use of either normal or Alt- tags to denote which files to decompress. The following improvements were made to the editor: - The notation of typeover/insert mode and wrap/no wrap mode has been shortened and moved to the upper right corner of the screen. It stays on the screen when the lower information area is blanked. - On color monitors, the lower five lines of text (which become the top five lines on PgDn) are in red vice white, to distinguish this area from the "active" video page (the top 20 lines), and to help the eye find its place in the text during scrolling. - The exit defaults after editing have been adjusted so that most users will be able to answer the three questions with three strokes of the Enter key most of the time. (Yes, save this edit; No, don't reuse the date/time stamp from the original file; No, don't save the original file as *.BKP). - You may switch from View mode to Edit mode within the editor, with the combination Alt-S(witch mode). In the tree module, on the Show files screen, Enter views the file (same convention as main module), and Shift-Enter returns to the main module with the cursor on that file name. ----- 5.32b ----- The I/O buffer clearing feature was extended to support MS-DOS Ver 4 and 5. The file 4DOS2CF.COM was added to the CMFiler collection, with its companion documentation 4DOS2CF.DOC. 4DOS2CF does a directory-by- directory search and coverts any 4DOS/NDOS notes (in files called DESCRIPT.ION) into CMFiler format, and appends them to existing (or creates new) NARATIVE.CF files. This way, 4DOS/NDOS users don't have to reenter all their notes to take full advantage immediately of CMFiler's notes facility. CMFiler -- Addendum 1-8 ----- 5.32a ----- Memory allocation logic error in the tree module was fixed. This error resulted in fragmented memory for applications run from CMFiler after a call to the tree module. In the editor, a logic error was corrected which prevented use of the block move and copy operations when the screen lower information area was turned off. In the editor, the Home and End keys were redefined to move the cursor to the beginning or end of the line (same as Shift-Left and Right Arrow), rather than to the top or bottom of the current screen page, in keeping with the rest of the world. ----- 5.32 ----- Version number changed to 5.32 to avoid confusion with several versions of 5.31 released to selected users for beta testing. ----- 5.31 ----- The command line support has been expanded to include an optional path specification(s) to the directory(ies) initially displayed and an optional initial file mask, as well as an optional color attribute setting. The command line syntax is now as follows, where the square brackets indicate optional parameters: cmfiler [pathspec1[\mask] [pathspec2]] [@color] where "mask" is a file mask of the form "*.ext", and may be attached to pathspec1 or pathspec2, and color is C, M, L or T for standard color set, monochrome attribute set, LCD (except Tandy) and Tandy LCD attribute sets. Parameters are separated by blanks. The leading "\" may be omitted from the mask if there is no pathspec in the command line. Examples of valid command lines might be: cmfiler c:\assembly\*.doc c:\pcw\letters @t CF C:\ASSEMBLY C:\WP51\DOCS\*.DOC cf assembly @c cf *.exe cmfiler d: CF C:\QBASIC A:\QBASIC /*.BAS In the tree module, after the delete commands (D for soft Delete, Ctrl-D for hard Delete), CMFiler marks the deleted portion of the image of the tree structure in memory so that it will no longer be shown on the screen, but does not refresh the tree structure from disk or update the directory size and files information. This saves time so that you can do several delete operations without having to wait for the tree structure to be reread from disk after each deletion. When you finally want to refresh the tree from disk after one or more deletes, the command is Alt- R (for Refresh). CMFiler -- Addendum 1-9 In the tree module, a new text searching function is available for searching for a text string of 25 characters or less, using up to eight file filters separated by + signs. Preceding a file filter with the pipe symbol (|) excludes it from the search. You may restrict the search to files only in the currently selected block of the tree (the "painted" structure in the source panel), or expand it to the entire disk. The search text entry "*" is permitted, which hits any text (useful in scanning for several filenames at once in text find mode, instead of individually in file find mode). The command is "Shift-F" in the tree module. The screen display in file find and text find modes has been revised to eliminate the use of blinking to signal the presence of a "hit". The directories containing hits are shown in high intensity (underlined in monochrome) with "right arrowheads" (ASCII character 16) in front of them, and the files containing hits are shown in high intensity (monochrome underline) at the top of each file list. Also, while the results of a text search (Shift-F) or file name search (F) are displayed on the screen, the command Alt-L (print tree List) prints a copy of, not the tree structure, but a listing of the directories containing "hits" and the names of the files in those directories. In the main menu, the function of the tagging options Alt-N and Alt-O has been changed to "tag all files Newer than the file at the cursor", and "tag all files Older...". A new tagging option is added as Alt-D, "tag all files with same Date as file at cursor". Esc from the main menu now presents the followup choice of "Esc to remain in CMFiler, any other key to quit." A bug has been corrected which precluded running batch files with command lines. When shelling out of CMFiler, the DOS prompt has been modified so that it retains the caller's PROMPT string, and imbeds into it the string <CMFiler> (CR-LF) so you are reminded you are in a shell from CMFiler. ----- 5.30 ----- The annotation of files backed up with the backup facility ("B") is now that the first character in the extension is the tilda (~) instead of underscore (_), for readability and to ensure that backed-up files always follow the original in an alphabetical listing. Thus the backed-up file to READ-ME.DOC would be READ-ME.~DO. The notes facility was expanded to provide for two cases, and its mnemonic command changed: - The "edit notes" function has been reassigned the command "Ctl-N" (was "O"), and its operation is much the same as modified in version 5.28 CMFiler -- Addendum 1-10 - A new "view notes" function is added, as "Shf-N", which displays the notes in the opposite panel covering the file list for the target directory, but the cursor remains in the source panel and all the file services are still available, including copy and move to the target directory. Toggle out of "view notes" mode with Shf-N or Esc. A display option was added ("Ctl-E" for casE) which lets you display file lists and trees in one of four possible letter case conventions: - Files and directories all caps - Files lower case, directories all caps - A "modified-Tauck" convention, (eg, Read-Me.Doc) - Files and directories all lower case. In the application launcher, when the command line is shown for editing just before file execution, you may swap the command line shown in the window for the last one used in a previous file execution with Up Arrow, Down Arrow (twice), PgUp or PgDn. This simplifies multiple execution of the same file with slightly different command lines, and works with ZIP/UNZIP as well as user specified applications. The options screens invoked by Shf-O, Ctl-Enter and Ctl-O were "spiffed" up. A separate help screen was added for the edit notes facility, invoked by F1 or Alt-H from the Ctl-N screen. The file mask facility was revised to make the method of entry similar to other data entries, and the default value was changed from ????????.??? to the simpler *.*. ----- 5.29a ----- A logic error that prevented applications launched by CMFiler from finding the COMSPEC string in the environment was corrected. ----- 5.29 ----- Improvements were made to the editor as follows: - The record delimiter marks are now toggled with "Alt-Minus" and the bottom display is toggled with "Alt-Plus". The current states of both of these switches are stored as the program startup defaults by "Shf-S". - The line wrapping mode can be toggled between Wrap and NoWrap with "Alt-W". If this is done while viewing any but the first section of a very long file, the editor has to go back to the beginning of the file to avoid confusion when it reestablishes the array of memory pointers to the text lines. The current state of this switch is saved as the startup default by "Shf-S". CMFiler -- Addendum 1-11 Wolfgang Stiller's Integrity Master system integrity and virus checking application generates files named ")(.ID" in each directory, to record signatures of all the files in the directory for later integrity checking. It is important that those not be disturbed, and so CMFiler now has a protective feature that prevents their being overcopied. The Home and End key actions in the main file services menu have been revised slightly, to make navigation from long directory lists to long file lists easier. If the cursor is in a directory list, the first press of End puts the cursor at the top of the file list, and the second press goes to the end of the file list. Within a file list, the first press of Home goes to the top of the file list, and the second to the top of the directory list. ----- 5.28 ----- The file editor is now accessible from the nOtes panel, so you can take a peek at (or even edit) files while you are looking at or writing the associated notes. Press Alt-E to Edit, Alt-V to View. Tagging files may be done from the nOtes as well. Ctl-T for a normal Tag (since the letter "T" would be taken as text to be typed into the note), and Alt-T (as from file listing screen) for Alt-Tag. Improvements have been made to the editor as follows: - The algorithm which calculated the display parameter "Record Number" was not corrected when the line wrap feature was added. "Record Number" was actually counting the number of screen lines, and so a record (the material delimited by a carriage return, line feed or combination) longer than 80 characters might appear to be 2,3,4 etc., records. That is now corrected. - The find-string feature has now been made case-insensitive. ----- 5.27 ----- The configuration file format for version 5.27 is unavoidably different from that of the interim version 5.26. Users of 5.26 will have to respecify configuration (F1-F9, Hide and Compare switch settings, etc.) If there is old "trash" in the trash can directory TRASH_CAN.CF, CMFiler only asks once each day if you want to delete or look at it, rather than each time the drive is selected. The "Go to..." commands for navigating within a long directory listing ("G" to go to a file name in a directory list beginning with a certain character, "Alt-G" to go to a directory name) have been expanded. Now you can keep typing the name of the file or directory you are trying to find, and as you type the second letter, then third, etc., the cursor moves if necessary to the file described, until the string of characters you have typed no longer describes a file or directory name, or you press CMFiler -- Addendum 1-12 Enter or Esc to leave the "Go to" command. The cursor stays positioned on the last file described by the string you were typing. ----- 5.26 ----- The name has been changed to remove the nuisance underscore character. In searching for itself and its overlay, it looks first for CFV if it is the evaluation version, then CF, then CMFILER. (The evaluation version is identical to the registration version except that it has an opening screen which provides a license for 60-day evaluation and information on how to register.) You may now edit or view files directly while in the tree module, without having to exit back to the main module. In the tree module, press "F" to find files or "S" to show files, and move up and down the directory tree until you find the directory of interest. Arrow left or right across to the file list, move the cursor (dark bar, actually) up or down until it is on the file of interest, and press "E" or "V", for Edit or View file. You will be in the editor module directly. Exit back to the tree module with Esc or, in view mode, Enter. If you then want to return to the main file services module with the cursor selected to this file for editing, printing, execution, etc., just press Enter again. Rather than overwriting part of the .COM file to record setup parameters, which forces the user to reestablish the setup parameters each time a revision to the program is received, a separate file is created called CMFILER.CFG (or CF.CFG), which CMFiler will look for each time it runs. This should be kept on the same path and be given the same name as the .COM file. Logic errors have been corrected to make file moving smoother for the case where there is already a file by the same name in the target directory. Previously, this case would cause an error message "Access denied renaming file", which was not too enlightening. Now, this case is handled just like copying -- if the target file by the same name is older, it is simply deleted before the newer file is moved in. If it is newer, the user is asked to confirm that it should be replaced with the older file. A choice of four color palettes in now available for color monitors. Press "Ctl-P" (for "Palette"), then roll through the choices with the spacebar. Esc to cancel any change, Enter to change the default color set. A new option setup menu has been added to permit easy reconfiguration of a few features. It is called by "Shf-O" (for "Options"), and it presents this menu: CMFiler -- Addendum 1-13 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Move cursor with Up/Dn Arrow. Type option desired. Define F1 as Help? N Define "D" as HARD Delete? N Clear I/O buffers if located? N Overcopy files with same date/time/size? N Refresh directory contents after Screen Saver? N Assign Hidden attribute to NARATIVE.CF file? N Monitor (C=Color, L=LCD, T=Tandy LCD, M=Mono) C Press Esc to cancel changes, Enter to accept. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- These seven "switches" represent setup features that various users have asked for, but that not all users would want. Any of the first six may be toggled between Y and N by putting the cursor on it using the Up/DnArr keys, and pressing the spacebar, or pressing Y or N. The seventh must be set for your monitor type by pressing one of the key choices. Once you have reconfigured the way you wish, press Enter. Esc exits with no changes. Here is an explanation of each feature: 1. The F1 key has been added as a Help call in the editor and tree modules, and can be so designated for the main module by resetting this switch to Y. The sacrifice is loss of F1 as a user-defined application. 2. For those who do not wish to use the "soft" delete feature nor be bothered with the directory "CF_TRASH.CAN", the "D" key may be reconfigured to "HARD Delete", identical to "Ctl-D" by resetting this switch to Y. 3. The I/O buffer clearing feature for data security during file writing operations runs into problems on some system configurations with DR DOS 6.0 as the operating system. It has been set to a default mode that does NOT clear buffers before writing. If you want to invoke this security feature, you have to reset this switch to Y. 4. In the default setting, CMFiler does not waste time during file copy operations overcopying any file in the target path that is reported by DOS to be the same date/time and size as a file in the source path. However, sometimes you might want to mass-overwrite files on a backup directory or disk that are suspect, even though they may appear to be identical. Just set the Overwrite switch to Y. 5. For Windows users, if you run CMFiler in a window, it does not have any way of knowing when it returns to the foreground whether any other application has written to the directories that it is selected to. In the default setting, it does not refresh the file listing (reread the directory tables). Windows users may want to reset this switch to Y. 6. Users have asked to be able to specify that the NARATIVE.CF file, containing the file/directory notes, not be assigned the hidden attribute. This switch may be reset to N for this purpose. CMFiler -- Addendum 1-14 7. CMFiler can detect the presence of a true monochrome video card, and when a monochrome card is present, there is only one color set available. However, when CMFiler detects a color card, there is a range of possibilities. The attached monitor may be an LCD or monochrome monitor, in which case a set of default color attributes designed for a CGA/EGA/VGA monitor would be awful. On initial execution, CMFiler establishes what type of monitor you have attached by forcing a choice. This setup option lets you change that initial choice if you wish. CMFiler now does a rudimentary self-check for integrity each time it loads. If the file has become corrupted by tampering or a disk sector gone bad, you will get a message to that effect and the program will offer you the option of continuing or terminating. This will detect some of the file-infecting viruses, as well as corruption by editing or defective media, but should NOT be counted on as an anti-virus measure. [There is no substitute for a good virus checking/integrity checking software suite. I recommend the shareware program Integrity Master by Wolfgang Stiller.] A new "Save configuration" command has been added as "Shf-S" to make saving the current configuration (Hide switch, Compare mode switch, file Order mode, etc.). This saves all the current setup data to the .CFG file. (The Options command at "Shf-O" also calls the same save routine when it exits, so you do not need to press Shf-S after Shf-O.) The spacebar has been remapped to tag files. The date/time display is toggled with the "5%" key. The editor module has been revised to wrap lines longer than 79 characters, so that there is never any information off-screen. This makes viewing .COM and .EXE files much easier, and has little effect on edited text files. This is a display feature only -- the editor does not insert line delimiters in the text. ----- 5.25 ----- The on-screen Help in the main module has been reorganized for clarity. ----- 5.23 ----- A new file copying option, "copy with rename", has been added as the command "Alt-R" in the main file services module. It operates only on the file at the cursor. CMFiler -- Addendum 1-15