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DiskTree V1.1 (Oct/Nov 1991 Release) (C)opyright 1991 Richard Smith Published and Distributed by PRECISION SOFTWARE APPLICATIONS This program is dedicated to Cliff Burton TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 Overview of facilities 1.2 MSDOS directory structure 2. BASIC FACILITIES 2.1 Directory functions 2.2 File functions 2.3 Differences between functions 3. IMPORTANT CONCEPTS 3.1 Tagging 3.2 Tag masking 4. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS 5. INSTALLATION 6. RUNNING DiskTree 7. USING DiskTree 7.1 The user interface 7.1.1 Help system 7.2 Directory functions 7.3 Directory function descriptions 7.3.1 Tag 7.3.2 Untag 7.3.3 taG mask 7.3.4 Find 7.3.5 Copy 7.3.6 Delete 7.3.7 Move 7.3.8 New directory 7.3.9 Options 7.3.10 Statistics 7.3.11 Log drive 7.3.12 ^Log options 7.3.13 Zip 7.3.14 Select files 7.3.15 Quit 7.4 File functions 7.5 File function descriptions 7.5.1 Tag 7.5.2 ^Tag all 7.5.3 Untag 7.5.4 ^Untag all 7.5.5 Copy 7.5.6 Delete 7.5.7 Move 7.5.8 Attrib 7.5.9 Invert 7.5.10 View file 7.5.11 Edit 7.5.12 eXecute program 7.5.13 Rename 7.5.14 taG mask 7.5.15 display type 7.5.16 dOs command 7.5.17 Escape Appendix 1. DiskTree and Networks Appendix 2. Hints & tips Appendix 3. Reading list Appendix 4. Support software 1. INTRODUCTION Making order out of the chaos of the thousands of files contained on even the smallest of Hard-disk drives is both important and incredibly tedious. Without control and order, files get lost, space gets wasted and productivity drops as users spend more and more time just keeping track of what files are where. Of course, in a perfect world, users would save their data according to a sensible and logical standard of what files should go where. Unfortunately, no one does this with any real conviction and when things get confused, there is no quick way of sorting the mess out. Until now! DiskTree is an affordable, powerful and above all, easy-to-use disk management tool for all your needs. 1.1 Overview of facilities Full Microsoft mouse support Support for extended screen resolutions, i.e. 43, 28 and 50 line modes Up to 26 drives in memory at once, drives may be removed from memory or re-read at any point. On a 640K system between 10,000 and 13,000 files and directories can be held in memory Directory structure is displayed in pictorial fashion and can be traversed using either the keyboard or mouse Files, directories, directories trees and even entire drives can be moved, copied or deleted with ease Search for individual files or directories Option to auto view files during file operations Files can be viewed, edited or executed Associate external programs with file extensions for automatic execution of external applications Variables and shortcuts to reduce typing Works with PKWARE's PKZIP utility for effortless and seamless creation of ZIP archives Extensive context-sensitive help available at all times. 1.2 MSDOS directory structure (Beginners Intro) The MSDOS directory structure is made up of basically two types of item; files - containing program and user data and directories which hold the individual files. The average disk, be it a floppy disk drive or hard disk can contain many such files and directories. 1.2.1 Directories Directories can be one of two types; the root directory or a sub- directory. On any single drive there will only ever be one root directory but there may be many sub-directories. This situation is more easy to visualise if one considers the directory structure as a sort of up-side-down tree with the root directory at the top and sub- directories growing down from it. The following diagram shows what might be a typical structure for a fairly empty hard-disk, in this case drive 'C'. (The root - '\') _________________|________________ / / \ \ DOS SYS WORK MODULA2 / \ /\ / \ / \ DOCS TEMP MOD DEF In this example the root (shown as a '\') contains the subdirectories DOS, SYS, WORK and MODULA2. In addition the sub-directory WORK contains two further sub-directories -DOCS and TEMP. The sub-directory MODULA2 also contains sub-directories; in this case, MOD and DEF. Directories are specified by their paths. A path defines the route through to the directory tree structure for individual directories. The format for a DOS path is thus: DRIVE-DESIGNATOR, ROOT, 1ST SUB-DIR, '\', 2ND SUB-DIR .. In this example the path for the TEMP directory within WINDOWS is: ___sub-dir separator / C:\WORK\TEMP --- sub-dir name / | \ \ drive root \ \ designation Sub-dir \__ sub-dir separator For normal DOS paths, the drive designation and root are not compulsory and it is normal to only give enough information to specify the required directory. Example: Suppose, using the above examples, that we are at the root '\'. To move (Using the DOS command line, NOT DiskTree) to the TEMP directory of the WORK directory: CD WORK\TEMP <---' (Return or Enter) Since we are at the root, the tree follows straight down to the TEMP directory through the WINDOWS directory. If, however, we were already within the directory DOCS, we would have to specify the root '\' to get back to the correct starting point position: CD \WORK\TEMP <---' (Return or Enter) The other way to change to C:\WORK\TEMP from C:\WORK\DOCS would be to use the backward tree pointers that point back through the directory structure to the root. When a directory is created, DOS automatically creates two other sub- directory entries - '.' and '..'. The '.' (single full stop) means 'the current directory' and the '..' (double full stop) means 'the directory above the current one'. Using the above example, we could get to C:\WORK\TEMP from C:\WORK\DOCS thus: CD ..\..\WORK\TEMP <---' 1.2.2 FILES DOS stores program data and user data such as spreadsheets, word processed letters etc.. in 'files'. A file is simply a collection of individually characters (e.g 'A','B') and is measured in 'bytes'. Since files are normally at least several thousand bytes long, the Kilobyte is usually used to refer to their size. A kilobyte is actually, 1024 bytes but a thousand will do. You will probably come across the term 'megabyte' at some point, and a megabyte is 1024 kilo bytes. A file is named with up to eight letters plus an extension of a further three letters. Between the name and extension is a '.'. The extension usually defines what type of data the file contains. There are essentially two types of data that files can contain: Runnable or executable program files: Runnable (executable) files have either the extension 'BAT' (batch), 'EXE' or 'COM'. Batch files are slightly different from EXE or COM files but in average use, the appear the same. See a proper DOS guide for fuller information. Anything else: Word processing, spread sheet, help, source code files etc.. the list goes on and on.. Typical extension you may come across are 'DAT', 'TXT', 'WKS', 'DOC', 'PRG', 'DBF' etc.. The extensions usually show which applications the files relate too. i.e DOC for word processing. Files are contained within directories and there is normally no limit to the number of files you can have, except in the disk space you have available. The only exception is the root directory which has a limit to the number of files (or sub-directories) than can be contained within it. Typical root-directory limits are: 360K 5 1/4" disk 112 files, sub-dirs 1.2M 5 1/4" disk 224 " " Hard disks 512 (may vary) Since it is very good practice to keep files and groups of files in sub-directories with their associated applications, the limit is not likely to become a problem. 1.2.3 Files and directories. So far, we have talked about directories and files separately. In general use, however, they are closely related in that you need to the know the directory structure to find and access the files you need. Example: The full path of a WP file, 'LETTER.DOC' in the directory 'C:\WORK\DOCS' is actually: C:\WORK\DOCS\LETTER.DOC In practice, you would not normally need to use the full path since you are likely to be in the DOCS sub-dir anyway. The problem occurs, however, if you want to move or copy files around your disk for back-up purposes. As can be seen, there is a fair amount of typing in the above line which represents part of a very simple directory structure. Imagine the problem however, in a real-world situation with dozens, maybe hundreds of directories and thousands of files. Moving that many files around by hand using normal DOS commands is a nightmare. DiskTree makes life so much easier and simpler that after using it for a couple of days you will not want to go back to using the command interpreters primitive facilities ever again! 2. BASIC FACILITIES There are two distinct types of function performed by DiskTree 2.1 Directory functions: Directory functions are performed on a pictorial representation of a drives directory structure which can be traversed using either the keyboard or mouse. DiskTree's most powerful abilities are in its directory copying facilities. Entire directory trees can be copied with ease and minimal typing effort. Copied trees can also retain their directory structure. The file/directory deletion facilities are similarly powerful, allowing deletion across an entire drive. For example, all .BAK files within a drive or directory tree can be deleted with just a couple of key presses. 2.2 File functions: DiskTree's file functions operate on individual files or groups of files in a directory selected with the directory functions. Operations are performed in a scrollable window showing filenames, size, date and time as well as file attributes. Facilities are provided to edit, view, execute, delete, move, copy, rename and set file attributes. In addition, file viewing and editing can be performed by external programmes, 'hooked' into DiskTree. In this way you do not loose your favourite editors etc.. Files may be partially viewed automatically, when scrolling through the file list. A facility useful for checking the contents of a file without having to expressly open it. 2.3 Differences between directory and file functions Both directory and file operations include copying and deletion facilities, but they operate in slightly different ways. Directory functions operate on ALL tagged files and directories on the drive currently being used. File functions are only performed on tagged files within the current directory. 3. IMPORTANT CONCEPTS 3.1 File / directory tagging. The single most important concept used in DiskTree is idea of the tag. A tag shows that the file or directory has been selected for further manipulation. Most directory and file operations only work on tagged files. A tag is represented by the characters '>>' next to the directory or file name. It is important to understand how tagging works and the difference between file tagging and directory tagging. 3.1.1 Directory tagging Directory tagging and un-tagging is performed on directories AND their contents. If a directory is tagged, the files within it are also tagged (according to the current TAG MASK. See 2.2, 7.3.3). In addition, if the option 'Recurse subdirectories' is on (as it is by default), all directories within the directory will also be tagged. Example: Take the following directory structure: (before tag) (after tagging directory WORK) ---WORK ->>WORK ---ABC ->>ABC ---BACKUP ->>BACKUP ---ABC ->>ABC ---TESTING ->>TESTING As can be seen, the entire tree below and including work has been tagged. A copy or delete could then be performed on the entire tree. If many such trees had been tagged, the directory functions copy or delete would affect them all. The untagging or removal of the tags are performed in exactly the same way as tagging. NOTE: Since it is possible to tag an entire drive easily and then delete it, care should be taken to ensure that only desired directories and files are tagged. To help with this, a count of the number of tagged files and directories and the size of the tagged files is displayed on the screen. See also (7.2) 3.1.2 File tagging File tagging effects only files in the current directory that file operations are being carried out on. All files can be tagged or untagged and files may also be tagged individually. In addition, the tag invert facility can be used to invert the file tags. Tagged files are untagged, untagged files are tagged. Example: If you had 100 files in a directory and you wished keep 10 of them and delete the rest. Instead of tagging all the files you want to delete, you can tag the files you wish to keep and issue a tag invert. The file operations copy, move, attrib and delete only perform on tagged files. If any files within a directory are tagged, the directory itself will also be tagged, indicating that it contains one or more tagged files. See also (7.3.3, 7.5.1). 3.2 Tag masking. The file mask is used to control what files are selected for tagging. It consists of a standard DOS filename and may contain wildcards. By default it is '*.*', which means that all files would be tagged. In many situations, however, it is desirable to specify particular files or groups of files for tagging. Examples: To tag only filenames with the extension 'BAK', the tag mask would be set to '*.BAK'. If for some reason, only files starting with 'TEST' might be required and in this case, the file mask would be set to 'TEST*.*'. Specifying partial file masks is very useful for removing or copying files of a particular type. As shown in the example above, setting the file mask to '*.BAK' would allow the tagging of all .BAK files within a directory, tree or even the entire drive. Issuing a delete command would then delete all tagged files on the currently logged drive (in the case of directory functions) or all tagged files within the current directory (in the case of file functions). Dates can also be specified, allowing files before, after or between given dates to taggable. The file mask can be combined with the before and after dates to allow the masking of specific files which have date stamps between specified ranges. Example: To allow all *.BAK files created after 16/3/1991 and before 1/4/1991 to be taggable: Files mask: *.BAK Before date: 1/4/1991 After date: 16/3/1991 See also (7.3.3, 7.3.1). 4. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS DiskTree will only run 100% IBM PC compatible machines, and although it will run on a standard IBM PC (8088 chip), an AT type machine or clone is recommended (80286,80386 or 80486). The amount of memory required is dependent on the size of the disk drives you are going to use it with. 640K is recommended, but 256 should be enough if only small or empty drives are to be used. All of the main display adaptors (colour or monochrome) are supported, but if extended (43 and 50 line) text resolutions are desired, EGA or VGA will be required. Full support for the Microsoft mouse standard is included in the user interface. Summary of requirements: IBM PC / PS2 compatible (80286 recommended) >380K memory (640K recommended) 1 Floppy drive (A sub 28MS access hard-disk drive is recommended) Colour or monochrome, (Colour recommended) MDA,CGA,EGA,VGA (VGA recommended) Mouse optional. DOS 3.1 upwards, (DOS 5 recommended) See also Appendix 2 (Hints and Tips) for ways of increasing performance of DiskTree and your system in general. 5. INSTALLING DiskTree Although DiskTree needs no real installation as such, creating a specific area on your hard-disk for it, or copying it to an existing directory along DOS's search PATH makes sense. DiskTree has its own install program that will copy all the required files off the distribution disk for you. Installing DiskTree in its own directory: Place the disk in drive A: or B: Change to that drive: A: (and press RETURN/ENTER) (or B:) CD \ Type: INSTALL (and press RETURN/ENTER) The installation program will prompt you for the directory you wish to install DiskTree in. By default this is C:\DISKTREE although you may change this if you want. The program will then copy all the required files for you. Installing DiskTree by Hand MD C:\DISKTREE (or wherever you wish) COPY A:\*.* C:\DISKTREE Having installed DiskTree and its supporting files, the file AUTOEXEC.BAT should be modified to include the path of the directory containing DiskTree. A typical PATH with DiskTree added to it might be: PATH=C:\DOS;C:\WINDOWS;C:\DISKTREE 6. RUNNING DiskTree If DiskTree has been installed in a directory on DOS's search PATH, DiskTree will execute from anywhere. If it has been set up in its own directory and is not on DOS's search PATH, you will have to change to the directory. Example: (DiskTree has been installed in 'C:\DISKTREE') C: <---' (RETURN or ENTER key) CD \DISKTREE <---' NOTE: If you run DiskTree from a directory that is different from the one the DiskTree files were installed in, you will have to run the APPEND command so that DiskTree can find its help system: Example: You have installed DiskTree in the directory C:\DOS To allow DiskTree to find the help system files, you must type the following before you run DiskTree: APPEND C:\DOS This will allow DiskTree to find its help files. To avoid having to do this, simply change to the DiskTree directory before you run it. The command syntax for running DiskTree is as followed: DT {{drive}..{drive}} {drive}..{drive} is the name of the drive(s) you wish DiskTree to read at startup. Example: To run DiskTree, reading drives 'C', 'D', and 'A' at startup: DT C: D: A: <---' If the configuration file (See 7.3.9) DISKTREE.CFG exists in the current directory, DiskTree will read it in and set the options accordingly. 7. USING DiskTree 7.1 The user interface DiskTree's user interface is designed to work with either the mouse of the keyboard. The keyboard is recommended for those of you who are fairly proficient typists whilst other may find the mouse easier. In all cases, the keyboard and mouse can perform the same operations. Most of DiskTree's functions are listed in reverse video boxes towards the bottom of the screen. The text in each box will have one letter in upper case, and this is the key you press to activate the option from the keyboard. i.e. 'T' for 'Tag'. Moving the mouse cursor over one of these boxes and pressing either mouse button will also activate the option. In other operations such as 'Options' or 'taG mask' the same rules apply, but there can be other editable items as well. Editable objects are usually listed down the screen together with a '<' next to the currently selected object. The up and down cursor keys move you from object to object. Multi-select objects are a list (horizontally) of the available options in the current object, such as 'On Off' or 'A C E F'. One of the items in the list will be highlighted and the highlight can be moved with the left and right cursor keys. Editable text is entered on the keyboard and can be entered upto the size of the box the text is contained in. Pressing the TAB key will clear all text from box. The backspace key deletes text a character at a time. General traversing of the directory tree and the files list are performed using the cursor keys or the mouse. Page up and page down move pages up or down. The slide bars to the left of the directory tree and the files list are used (with the mouse only) to move up or down either line by line or page by page. Clicking the mouse cursor over the directional arrows at the top or bottom of the slider will move up and down by one line. Clicking the mouse cursor above or below the solid bar which represents the position within the tree or list, will move up or down as many lines as the solid part of the bar represents. Typically a page or so. 7.1.1 DiskTree's help system DiskTree has a context sensitive help system giving full help on most aspects of DiskTree's use. Context sensitive means that when help as asked for, help is given regarding the operation or function that is currently being carried out. When DiskTree is executed, it checks for the existence of DISKTREE.HIX and DISKTREE.HLP in the current directory (See running DiskTree, 6). If they are available, the help system will be activated. Help is activated by pressing the F1 (function 1) key. If help is available, the help window will appear giving relevant information for the current option or function. The text can be scrolled by the cursor keys or by clicking the mouse cursor on required parts of the scroll bars to the left of the help window. The information text takes two forms: * Normal text is displayed in the normal text colour. * Further help topics displayed in the highlight colour. Further help topics can be selected by the mouse or by using the SPACE bar to cycle through displayed help topics. Once a topic has been highlighted, pressing RETURN will activate help on that topic. Clicking the mouse on a previously highlighted topic will also active further help. The 'Prev' option takes you back through the help system to previous help topics. You can traverse the full help system at any point by selecting the 'Index' option which selects the index of available topics of help. Pressing the ESCAPE key ends the help session. 7.2 Directory functions The directory functions display forms the central core of DiskTree, other options such as the file functions, appear as windows on top of this screen: +-------[Drive C ]-------+---Statistics----+ +--Files...---+ | D | Vol DRIVE C | | IO.SYS | | +--DOS | Files 1245 | | MSDOS.SYS | | +--WORK | Dirs 8 | | COMMAND.COM | | +--ABC | Free 18000 | | AUTOEXEC.BAT| | +--BACKUP |----File mask----| | CONFIG.SYS | | +--ABC | *.* | | | | +--TESTING |---Current dir---| | | | | D | | | | | Size 2456 | | | | |---Current tree--| | | | | Size 13609 | | | | |---- Tagged -----| | | | | Files 0 | | | | | Dirs 0 | | | | | Size 0 | | | +------------------------+-----------------+ +-------------+ +-------------------Directory functions--------------------+ | Tag Untag taG mask Find Copy Delete Move New dir Options | | | |Stat Log drv ^Log opt Zip RETURN to select files Quit| +-F1 - help------------------------------------------------+ The top-left part of the screen consists of a scrolling window showing the directory structure of the currently logged drive. A highlight box and the scroll bar indicate the position within the directory tree. Information on the current directory (ie. size of files within it) and the current tree (all the files and directories including and below the current dir) is displayed to the right of the tree window. The disk label, number of files and directories, plus the remaining space on the drive is also displayed together with the number of tagged files, directories and the size of the tagged files. If the option 'Show files' is ON, the first 15 (depending on the number of lines on the screen) filenames are also listed in a window to the top right of the screen. The directory list is always displayed in alphabetical order. 7.3 Directory function descriptions Directory functions (and file functions) are invoked either by: moving the mouse cursor into the appropriate box and clicking either mouse button, pressing the capital letter in the option you wish to select. eg. 'T' or 't' for 'Tag', 'O' or 'o' for 'Options'. Case is not important. 7.3.1 Tag Directory trees and the files within them can be selected (tagged) with this function. Directories are only marked with a tag if one or more files within them match the tag mask. Empty directories, however, are always marked as tagged, regardless of the tag mask. This can lead to some confusion as an empty directory can be marked as tagged when, because it is empty, it has no files matching the tag mask. It is therefore best to avoid wasting diskspace with empty directories unless you really need them. As mentioned previously, if the option 'Recurse subdirectories' is ON, all sub-directories will also be tagged. See also, file function tag (7.5.1) 7.3.2 Untag The untag operation performs the reverse of the tag function. Unlike the tag option, the tag mask is not used and all tagged files, regardless of the tag mask are set to clear. 7.3.3 taG mask The tag mask selects which files can be tagged. There are three parts to the tag mask: The file mask The file mask is a DOS format filename and can include wildcards. Only file names which match the file mask will be taggable. Examples: *.* will allow all files to be tagged *.EXE will allow all '.EXE' files to be tagged TEST*.* will allow all files starting with 'TEST' to be tagged ????D*.* will allow all files with the fifth letter 'D' to be tagged. Before date In many circumstances, it is desirable to allow only files created before a given date to be tagged. If a date is placed in this option, only files which are created on or before this date will be taggable. After date Just as the before date allows only files created before a date to be tagged, this option allows only files created after a given date to be tagged. Dates are in the format DD/MM/YYYY. All the tag options apply at the same time, if a file mask, before date and after date are all set, only files which match all three will be taggable. 7.3.4 Find The find option searches for a directory or a file. A specific filename is expected and wild cards are not allowed. Once a file or directory name hes been entered, the position cursor moves to the top of the directory tree and moves down rapidly until either the object is found or the end of the tree is reached. If found, the position cursor will be left on the matching directory. If not found, an message box appears saying so. 7.3.5 Copy The copy operation is used to copy all tagged files and directories on the currently logged drive. The copy procedure is as follows: The destination path is entered: An dialog box will appear prompting for the destination path for the copy operation. Only valid DOS format paths can be entered and if the path you supply is not present, it will be created. Pressing ESCAPE will terminate the copy operation. If the destination you have entered is an existing FILE, the copy operation will terminate. Retain original directory structure? DiskTree can retain the original directory structure if so desired, or all the directories contents can be copied to the destination path. If the original structure is to be retained, all necessary directories will be created for automatically. Files are copied The tagged files will then be copied. A dialog box shows the progress of the operation and ESCAPE can be pressed to terminate the copy operation. If a problem occurs with the copy, such as the destination disk being full, write protected or otherwise, an error message will appear and the copy operation will terminate. Results When finished or terminated, a message will appear informing of the result of the copy operation. The message will either be 'Tree(s) copied ok' indicating a fully successful operation or, 'Tree(s) only partially copied' indicating that for reasons mentioned above, the operation could not be fully completed. 7.3.6 Delete The delete operation affects all tagged files on the currently logged drive. For safety, DiskTree will ask you if you really wish to continue with the delete operation. If answered in the affirmative, a final check will query you again before a dialog box appears detailing the progress of the delete operation. ESCAPE can be used to terminate the delete operation. A directory marked as tagged will NOT be deleted if it contains any files which either cannot be deleted or were not tagged. Thus, even though the directory is tagged, it will not necessarily be deleted. NOTE: DiskTree will not automatically delete read-only and hidden files if the 'last chance' options are ON. If the last-chance checks are on, you will be prompted before deletion. 7.3.7 Move The move option is a combination of copy and delete. Tagged files are first copied and if the operation is successful, the tagged files are then deleted. See 7.3.5 for details. NOTE: As the files are first copied before being deleted, it is possible to have two copies of the file trees on the drive at the same time. Since this will happen if source and destination drives are the same, make sure that you have enough disk space free to hold the files during the move process. 7.3.8 New directory This option is used to create new directories. An entire path can be created with this option, not just an individual directory. Example: Creating a new directory of C:\TMP\MODULA2\BACKUP would create all the directories in the path if they did not already exist. ie. 'TMP' would be created on drive 'C', 'MOUDLA2' would 'be created within 'TMP' and 'BACKUP' would be created within 'MODULA2' A newly created path does not have to be on the currently logged drive. 7.3.9 Options DiskTree's options and parameters are split into several sub menus: 7.3.9.1 Checks/flags File deletion check If this option is ON, a check is carried out before a file is deleted. (Default ON). Recurse directory trees When ON, the entire tree will be affected by the tag operation. Otherwise only individual directories are affected. (Default ON). System/hidden last chance check If a file is hidden or system, a check is carried out before the file is deleted. (Default ON). Read only last chance check As above except for read only files. Tree deletion check When this option is ON, two final checks are made before a tree delete operation is carried out. It is advisable to leave this on at all times. (Default ON). View files within directory When this option is ON, a list of the first few files within the current directory is displayed in a window to the top right of the screen. (Default ON). Auto view files This option is only applicable to the file functions. When ON, the first few bytes of the current file will be displayed in a window at the bottom of the screen. (Default OFF). Use inbuilt file viewer DiskTree has a simple file viewing facility built into it but should another file viewing program be preferable, this option should be set to OFF. The viewer path should point to the viewer that is to be used instead. Untag drive after tree copy When this option is ON, all files/directories are untagged after a tree copy operation. This minimises the risk of accidental file deletion. (Default ON). File information This defines the default way DiskTree displays file information in the file functions screen. If set to full information, maximum information is displayed about each file. If set to brief, only filenames are listed in three columns. 7.3.9.2 External links The external links options provide links to other applications that you may wish to run from inside DiskTree. There are basically three different types of information that can be entered in the external links dialog. Editor and viewer path: If you wish to use a text editor or an external file viewer/browser you must define their locations in the appropriate text boxes. NOTE: If you wish to use an external file viewer, you must set the Checks/options 'Use internal viewer' to OFF. Zip command: This defines the command and parameters that the PKZIP file compression utility uses to perform its file compression operations. By default, the zip command set up within DiskTree should work without modification, but should future versions of PKZIP use different parameters, you can enter any required parameters. NOTE: The PKZIP.EXE file should be present in a directory along DOS's search PATH. Links to external applications: Applications are linked to DiskTree by filename extensions. In general, most applications give associated files a particular extension. E.G. Microsoft Word gives word format files the extension 'DOC'. To define a link to an external application/program, move the cursors to the appropriate extension text box line and enter the extension that the application you wish to link uses. Example: DOC { we are linking in Microsoft Word } or ZIP { we are linking in PKZIP } Next, move the cursor right to the application location box and enter the full path of the application together with any parameters. Example: C:\WORD\WORD.EXE {Word's pathname} or C:\DOS\PKZIP.EXE -V {PKZIP's pathname} plus the VIEW parameter} Links are executed on the file functions screen by moving the highlight cursor to the required file and pressing RETURN/ENTER. DiskTree will then check its link table and if a matching extension is found, will attempt to load the required application and selected file. Using the above examples, DiskTree would load Microsoft Word if a filename with the extension 'DOC' was selected. If a file with the extension 'ZIP' were selected, DiskTree would attempt to load PKZIP with the VIEW parameter, therefore listing the contents of the ZIP file. NOTE: Bear in mind that DiskTree will remain in memory during application execution and that memory will be limited by how much DiskTree is taking to hold its drive tree's (See Memory Usage (Appendix 1) below). As a general rule, keep applications as small as possible. 7.3.9.3 Sort criteria Files are displayed in the file functions window according to DiskTree's sort criteria. The default sort mode is Alphabetic. Sort criteria explanation: NoSort - Files are displayed in no particular order. Extension - Files are sorted by extension and then by the first part of the name if the extensions are the same. Alphabetic - Files are sorted by the complete filename. Newer - Files are sorted by the date stamp of the file. Newer files are listed first. Older - As above, but older files are listed first. The sort criteria also affect the speed in which the drive details are read into memory; NoSort is the fastest method, Newer or Older are next fastest, Alphabetic is next and Extension is the slowest. The actual speed depends on the number of files in a directory. The less, the faster. In general use, however, there is no great difference between any of the options. If the file sort criteria changes, you will be given the option to re- read the currently selected drive with the new sort criteria. It is wise to note that DiskTree can take some time to read in large drives. 7.3.9.4 Variables shortcuts Variables can reduce typing by being defined to hold frequently used text. Commands, paths, names etc can be defined and associated with a letter that is used to substitute for the text in dos commands etc. For DiskTree to recognise that a letter has been defined as a variable you must indicate that it has by placing a '%' in front of the letter. In addition to user defined variables, DiskTree has a couple of build in variables. '%F' can be used as a substitute for the currently selected filename and '%D' can be used as the currently selected directory. Example of variables in use: Suppose that you are in the directory 'C:\DOS\BACKUP' and are in the file functions window and have highlighted the file 'COMMAND.COM'. By typing '%D%F' you save the need to type in the full path C:\DOS\BACKUP\COMMAND.COM. Suppose that you have a directory 'D:\BACKUP\DRIVEC\' that you regularly use to copy files to. Instead of typing it every time you needed to use it, you could define it as, say, '%B' so that you can just type '%B' instead of the full text. 7.3.9.5 Keep (save options) Use this option to save DiskTree's current options, links, variables etc.. DiskTree always saves its 'configuration' file as DISKTREE.CFG. DiskTree will automatically read this file in upon execution and set all the options accordingly. 7.3.9.6 RETURN & ESCAPE Return to continue with new options, escape to exit, ignoring changes. 7.3.10 Stat This option returns the disk statistics of the currently logged drive. Information is returned on: Bytes per sector - the number of bytes in each disk sector. Usually 512. Sectors per cluster - the number of sectors in each disk cluster. Usually 1,2 or 4. Free clusters - the number of free clusters on the currently logged drive. Drive capacity (clusters) - the number of clusters on the currently logged drive. Drive capacity (KBytes) - the size of the current drive in KBytes (1024 bytes). KBytes used (in files) - the number of bytes actually contained in disk files. This is not a true representation of the amount of bytes actually used but the size of the data contained in disk files. It does not include the space used by directory information and slack space in the unused part of a cluster. KBytes used (real) - the real disk space used. The minimum file size is 1 cluster (normally 2048 bytes) even if the file length is just 1 byte. This means that disk space is often used up at a quicker rate than is obvious from looking at the actual file length. The difference between this value and the kbytes used in files is called slack space. KBytes free - number of Kbytes free. Percentage free - the percentage of the current drive that free. 7.3.11 Log drive Logging a drive is equivalent to changing to a new drive. When the log drive option is invoked, a list of available drives is displayed together with a tick over drives which are actually in memory. Use the left and right cursor keys to highlight the drive you wish to log. If the new drive has not been previously logged, it will be read in to memory. If an 'out of memory' message appears, the drive read is cancelled. Use the ^Log options (7.3.12) to remove from memory any unwanted drives or, if this doesn't give enough space, remove any TSR's etc. NOTE: Logging a drive that is already in memory will not re-read it. If this is required, use the log option 'Re Read' drive. 7.3.12 ^Log options Log options contains functions to re-read a drive into memory and remove drives from memory. Remove drive from memory If you wish to free up memory, or have no need for a particular drive any more, you can remove it from memory. However, at least ONE drive must be in memory at any time. So this operation will fail of the currently logged drive is the only one. Use this option if you have problems with 'Cannot run program' when attempting to run a program. If a drive has been successfully removed from memory, the new logged drive will the first one in the list of drives in memory. Re-read drive This option is useful, for example, when you have run a program from the file functions window which has effected the directory structure of the drive. Also, if the file sort criteria have changed, you may wish to re-read the drive with file listed in the correct order. If you are using DiskTree with a removable drive (floppy, usually), a re-read operation must be performed after each disk change to get the new disks directory structure into memory. 7.3.13 Zip. The Zip function works on tagged files just as copy or delete does. Simply tag the directories or files you want to zip up and select this function. There are two modes of operation to the zip function: 7.3.13.1 Zip all tagged files on current drive. If you use this option, DiskTree will cause PKZIP to create a zip file containing FULL paths of any zipped directories or files even if the tagged files are at the bottom of a directory tree. What this in fact means is that you would only be able to really use this option for back-up purposes. If you unzip a zip file created in this way, the FULL path of the files will be recreated. 7.3.13.2 Zip in the currently directory and below. Use this option if you want to create zip files of directories or files without storing the full path through to the files. DiskTree will cause PKZIP to store only the necessary directory names from the current directory downwards through the tree. This means that you can unzip a file created in this way and get an exact copy of the original directory structure with out the names of the directories above the start point in the tree. This may all sound a little complicated, so probably the best way to really work out what the differences between these two modes of operation is to try them out. When unzipping any zip files that have sub-directories in them, use the PKUNZIP parameter '-D' to cause PKUNZIP to create any required directories. For a fuller description of how the PKUNZIP & PKZIP work, consult relevant documentation. NOTE: Try to avoid zipping up too many incompletely tagged directories as PKZIP uses up more memory if it can't just uses '*.*' to deal with a directories contents. 7.3.14 RETURN to select files Pressing RETURN opens up the file function window (See 7.4) 7.3.15 Quit DiskTree Use this option to quit from DiskTree. 7.4 File functions File operations are performed with file functions. The file functions window appears over the directory functions screen: +--C:\--------------------------------------[ALL]-+ | IO.SYS 22398 02/02/1988 00:00:02 HSR | | MSDOS.SYS 30128 02/02/1988 00:00:02 HSR | | COMMAND.COM 25308 02/02/1988 00:00:02 HSR | | AUTOEXEC.BAT 267 07/02/1991 22:43:56 | | CONFIG.SYS 258 07/03/1991 22:37:20 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Tag ^Tag all Untag ^Untal all Copy Delete | | | | Move Attrib Invert View Edit eXec Rename | | | | taG mask Show MATCH dOs cmd disPlay ESCAPE | +-Tagged 0 KBytes 0 Tagged 0 KBytes 0-+ Operation of file functions is very much the same as directory ones. The cursor keys or mouse move the highlight up and down the screen, scrolling the list of files if necessary. The scroll bar indicates position within the list of files. The scrollable part of the window lists the files within the current directory. Each directory entry is displayed as: TAG FILENAME SIZE DATE TIME ATTRIBS eg: >> CONFIG.SYS 258 02/03/1991 22:37:20 The TAG is displayed when a file is marked as tagged. FILENAME is obvious. SIZE is the file size in bytes. DATE is the date-stamp of the file in the British format, DAY/MONTH/YEAR. TIME is the time-stamp of the file in the format, HOURS:MINS:SECONDS. ATTRIBS the files attributes, R for Read-Only, H for Hidden, S for System. Details of tagged files are displayed at the bottom of the file functions window. The first two 'Tagged, KBytes' are details of all tagged files on the current drive. The second set are for the current directory. The main difference between these values is that the first set apply to directory tree functions and the second apply to file functions only. The number of files listed on the screen is dependent upon the number of lines down the screen and whether the option 'auto view files' is ON. NOTE: If any files are tagged by file operations, when control is returned back to the directory functions, the directory itself will also be tagged. Similarly, if there are no tagged files, the directory tag will be removed. 7.5 File function descriptions. File functions are invoked in the same way as directory functions (See 7.2). 7.5.1 Tag This operation tags individual files only. Files are only tagged (marked with '>>') if they match the tag mask. (See 3.2, 7.3.3). After the file has been tagged (or not), the highlight moves on to the next file in the list. As with directory functions, most file functions work on tagged files. However, eXec, Edit, Rename and View do not. These operations work on the currently highlighted file. 7.5.2 ^Tag all The operation, tag, mentioned above tags individual files. The tag all operation tags all files matching the tag mask within the current directory. 7.5.3 Untag Untag, unsurprising perhaps, untags the currently highlighted file. Like tag, it moves down to the next file in the list. 7.5.4 ^Untag all Does the exact opposite of tag all (7.5.2). 7.5.5 Copy The file function copy is different from the directory function copy in that only tagged files in the CURRENT directory function are affected. Tagged files in other directories are not included in the scope of the copy. Apart from this, they are identical. See 7.3.5 for details of the procedure. 7.5.6 Delete As with the copy function, the file function delete affects only tagged files within the current directory. The file function delete does not have the safeguards on accidental use as the potential for damage is not so great. Apart from these differences, functionality is identical. See 7.3.6 for details of the procedure. 7.5.7 Move Move is a combination of copy and delete. The files are first copied, and if totally successful, the originals are deleted. Hence moved. If during the copy stages, any errors occur, the move operation will be terminated immediately. 7.5.8 Attrib Under DOS, each file has a set of attributes - read-only, hidden and system. Read-only files cannot be deleted and hidden files do not show up using normal DOS commands (Dir etc..). The system attribute is a throw back from the operating system CPM, and has the same effect as the hidden attribute. Normally most files will not have any of these attributes set. However, in some circumstances (Networks etc..) attributes need to be set to protect the files and prevent such things as sharing violations. Eg. On a Network, executable files are normally set to Read Only. On selecting this option, a dialog box will appear detailing the available attributes. By default, the attributes are set to OFF, using the cursor keys (or mouse), you can set them to ON. The attrib option only affects tagged files. 7.5.9 Invert The invert option inverts the tag marks in the current directory. Tagged files become untagged and untagged files become tagged. See also 3.1.2 7.5.10 View (or pressing RETURN) The view option is used to view the contents of the currently highlighted file. If the option 'Use inbuilt file viewer' is OFF, DiskTree will load the file viewer you have specified in the 'viewer path'. Otherwise, DiskTree will use its built-in file viewing facility. There are three modes to the file viewer: ASCII mode where NULLs and carriage returns are classed as line terminators and BINARY mode where they are not. The third mode, Hex, displays files in hexadecimal notation. Binary and Hex modes are intended for files such as .COM's or .EXE's. The file viewer will attempt to set the viewer mode according to how the data contained in the file. View in use The file viewer displays files in pages. Use the 'U' or 'D' keys to page up and down through the file or select the boxes on the screen with the mouse cursor. A count of the byte position of the start of the page is displayed at the bottom right of the view window. The viewing mode can be changed by pressing either 'A' for ASCII or 'B' for binary. Alternatively, the mouse can be used. The hex mode is selected by pressing 'H' or selecting the relevant box with the mouse if available. In hex mode, the display is split between a HEX list of the ASCII values of the characters the right of the screen. Moving through the file is as in any of the other modes. When viewing binary files, there are usually a lot of non text characters which make reading text characters difficult. DiskTree can strip these characters and replace them with dots '.'. The strip facility is toggled on and off with the 'S' key. Pressing the ESCAPE key will exit the file viewer. Loading an external viewer is just like running any other program and as such, enough memory should be set aside. If DiskTree cannot load the external viewer, it will use the inbuilt one. 7.5.11 Edit DiskTree does not include an editor as part of its facilities. If you need to use an editor, you must set the option 'editor path' to the location of the one you wish to use. 7.5.12 eXec (or pressing RETURN) DiskTree can execute either COM, EXE or BAT files. Batch (.BAT) files are executed by invoking the command line interpreter - COMMAND.COM. DiskTree will check the environment variable COMSPEC for the location of COMMAND.COM. Therefore, your systems AUTOEXEC.BAT file should contain the following line: SET COMSPEC=C:\COMMAND.COM (or other path) DiskTree allows you to set parameters for the program you wish to run and these should be entered in the field provided on the screen. By default, DiskTree will move DOS's 'current dir' to the current DiskTree directory. This will normally be desirable as it is likely that the program you are trying to execute may need access other files within the directory. This facility may be turned OFF if desired. The option of re-reading the directory after execution is also provided and should be left ON so that an up-to-date directory list is maintained in memory. If the message 'Cannot run program' appears, it is likely that there is not enough memory to run the program. Once the program you are executing has finished, control is passed back to DiskTree. 7.5.13 Rename The currently highlighted file can be renamed with this function. The file will be renamed to the entered name unless the entered name exists or the drive is write protected etc.. 7.5.14 taG mask Use this option to change DiskTree's tag mask. Operation is identical to the directory tree function of the same name. If the show MATCH (7.5.15) function has been activated, changing the tag mask will also effect which files are listed in the window. 7.5.15 Show MATCH/ALL It is often desirable to list only files which actually match the tag mask. Usually, since the tag mask matches all files, this option will have no effect. If, however the tag mask has been set to specific files, only those matching the mask will be listed in the files window. The show MATCH/ALL operation functions in a toggle fashion -if show MATCH is on, selecting it again will turn it off and show all files, regardless of whether they match the tag mask or not. DiskTree will automatically turn this option on if the tag mask is anything other than the default 'all files' on entry to the file functions window. 7.5.16 dOs cmd Dos commands such as 'dir' or other programs can be run with this option. The command or program name must be entered together with parameters if required. The option of changing to the current directory is available, as is the option of re-reading the directory after the command is completed. By default, DiskTree will do both. 7.5.17 disPlay This function changes the file display from 3 column (minimum information) to 1 column (maximum information) and vice-versa. 7.5.18 ESCAPE to leave file functions Use this option to return control back to the main directory tree functions. APPENDICES APPENDIX 1 Using DiskTree over a network DiskTree makes no distinction between local and network drives and will happily work on either. It is wise, however to note the following: DiskTree reads in the directory structure in one chunk and represents the structure at a point in time. With other users on the network, it is quite possible that files and the directory structure may have changed. Therefore, it is best to ensure that there are as few users on the system as possible. Failing this, re-reading the drive is the next best solution but slower. NOTE: These problems will probably only become apparent if you are using a system as the network manager (or someone with sufficient access). i.e, you are using DiskTree on drives containing user areas. If DiskTree is used on read-only drives etc, changes are only likely if the network manager has modified the directory structure since you started DiskTree. APPENDIX 2 Improving system performance No one could say that DOS was particularly good as a modern operating system (or even as an operating system at all) but for most of us, were stuck with it. There are, however a number of things that can be done to improve it or at least make it faster. Improving disk performance There are several things that effect disk performance apart from the drive controller and the drive itself. a) Buffers If you look at your CONFIG.SYS file, you will probably see something like: BUFFERS=20 This line tells DOS how many buffers to use when accessing disk drives. A reasonable figure for general use is 20, any more and you'll waste memory (especially with a disk cache in operation), any less an performance is likely to drop for some applications. b) Disk caching Increasing DOS's disk buffers is one solution, but a better one is disk caching. A disk cache keeps the most recently used parts of your hard disk in memory and instead of having to read them disk which is slow, the cache will read from memory. A disk cache is a more efficient solution than that of a ram-disk in that most frequently accessed data will automatically be placed in the cache for speedy access. There are several caching programs available, but the one most commonly used is SMARTDRV.SYS Smartdrive should be included in the CONFIG.SYS of your system. Example: DEVICE=C:\SMARTDRV.SYS 1024 This example is for a 386 equipped machine, with a megabyte or more of extended memory. If your machine has expanded memory, '/A' should be added on the end of the line: DEVICE=C:\SMARTDRV.SYS 1024 /A Obviously, the size of the disk cache you set up will be limited by how much memory your machine has and how much you need to leave free for other applications. For useful purposes, 256 kbytes of disk cache should be considered a minimum and there is no real advantage in having much more than 1 megabyte. Increasing memory The biggest single problem in MS-DOS machines is the 640K limit. All DOS (not Windows3) applications have to squeeze into this space together with the operating system, and any other resident applications. MS-DOS 5 and MS-DOS replacements such as DR DOS 5.0 can increase available space by moving portions of the operating system and TSR's into memory above the 640K barrier. Expanded memory managers such as QEMM.SYS (the 386 version) can also do this. However, 640K is still the limit, even if your machine has 16 megabytes of memory!. An example of this is the machine used for DiskTree's development. The machine in question is a 25 MHZ 80386 machine with 4 megabytes of memory, most of which remains unused under DOS. If the lack of memory becomes a real difficulty, try removing some of the device drivers (with the .SYS extension) you may have in you CONFIG.SYS. Also check that no TSR programs are listed in the AUTOEXEC.BAT of your machine if you do not really need them. A word of caution, be careful what .SYS files you remove from CONFIG.SYS as some of them may be required for other applications. Although the 640K limit is a real problem, it is not one that the average DiskTree user will find a great handicap unless DiskTree is being used on machines with very full hard disks or on big networks. For further reading read the book 'Supercharging MSDOS' listed below. DiskTree's minimum memory usage is around 191K. It stays at 191k for around a 1000 files/directory and increases in stages of 64k. Each 64k will cope with a 2000 or so files and directories. On a machine running MS-DOS 5 with mouse drivers, disk caches etc , with 950 files on disk, well over 400k is left free for applications. APPENDIX 3 Bibliography / reading list PC System programming. ISBN 1-55755-036-0. Abacus. If you are a serious pc system programmer who needs a complete reference to the low-level features of DOS and the IBM PC machine series, look no further. But beware! It weights a ton and costs a fortune. Still, it does come with over a MB of source code in C, Assembler, Turbo Pascal and Basic. The NEW Peter Norton Programmer's Guide to The IBM PC & PS/2, Microsoft Press, ISBN 1-55615-131-4. A must for any serious programmer. Contains detailed information on the PC's BIOS, MSDOS, video, disk and keyboard services plus many hints and tips. Microsoft MS-DOS Programmers Reference. Contains some useful information and examples in assembler. Advanced MS-DOS, Microsoft Press. Detailed information on low-level programming of the IBM'PC. MS-DOS Functions, Microsoft Press, ISBN 1-55615-128-4. Handy and inexpensive guide to MSDOS function calls. Introduction to Modula-2, Prentice Hall, ISBN 0-13-488610-0 DiskTree was written in Modula-2, and this is the first book I bought on the subject. The book deals with Modula-2 in general and is not PC specific. However, as an introduction to Modula-2 and programming in general it is very good. DOS the Complete Reference, McGraw hill. A massive tomb covering everything from batch files to DOS system calls and Windows. If you are only going to buy one book, this is as good as any. Supercharging MSDOS. Gives hints and tips on getting the most out of your DOS based system. APPENDIX 4 Support software. Colour configuration program - CONFIG.EXE. Included as part of the DiskTree package is a colour configuration program for changing the colours you see when using DiskTree. For general use, the default colour scheme should be satisfactory but if you are colour blind or are going to use DiskTree on a LCD display, you can change all of the colour sets you see displayed by DiskTree during operation. Operation of this program is very much the same as DiskTree with use of either the mouse or the keyboard to select functions. In addition to the dialog box based user interface, config also uses drop-down menus to select functions. The menu options are displayed along the top of the screen in the form of option headings: File Colours Holding down the ALT key and the first letter of the required heading will bring options in the form of a menu below the selected heading. Use the up and down cursor keys to select the required function and press ENTER. If you are using the mouse, move the mouse cursor over the required heading and press either mouse button. After the menu has appeared, moved the menu highlight to the required option and press a button. The file menu. The file menu contains functions to load, save and reset DiskTree's configuration file plus options to quit the config program. Load - loads DISKTREE.CFG if present. Save - saves a file called DISKTREE.CFG containing colour information and default DiskTree options. Any existing file of the same name will be overwritten. Reset - resets the colour scheme to the tasteful default colours. Save and quit - saves as above and then exits the config program. Quit - quits, not saving the colour configuration. The Colours menu. This menu contains the main colour sets that DiskTree displays during operation: Tree window colours Colours used to display the directory tree and the files list next to it. Tree functions / general dialog box colours Colours used to display most of the dialog boxes you see displayed when performing commands. The copy, attrib, execute etc.. dialogs use this colour scheme. The directory tree functions menu (displayed below the tree window) also uses this colour scheme. File window colours Colours for the file functions menu. Alert box colours Colours for the alert boxes that appear querying options etc. Viewer colours Colours for the file viewer. ---------------------------------- CHANGING COLOURS When any of the above options are chosen, a dialog will appear showing a sample of text that would be displayed by DiskTree together with the colours that can be changed. Some are background colours and some are foreground colours. The following colours can be changed: 1. Window background colour (background colour) 2. Window border colour (foreground colour) 3. Normal text colour (foreground colour) 4. Highlighted text colour (foreground colour) 5. Box background colour (background colour) 6. Box text colour (foreground colour) When you select any of these colours to change a list displaying available colours will be displayed. Use the mouse or cursor keys to select the one you wish to use. For foreground colours, 16 colours are available, ranging from black to white. Background colours depend upon whether you have a VGA card or not. If you do not, only 8 colours will be available. If you have VGA, 16 background colours will be available so you can create nice lurid backgrounds. NOTE: If you take a configuration file that has colours set for VGA only to a CGA system, any colours above light-grey will cause blinking.