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File Manager for Psion computers Version 1.00 March, 29, 1997 Copyright (c) Konstantin Saliy, 1996-97 Introduction ------------ Brief history ------------- I started to write this program in the May, 1996. The primary intention was to make a file manager with support of Ranger Disk, 3.5" floppy drive with serial interface. Its name -- RShell -- means exactly "Ranger Shell". It was almost ready, but then I didn't find potential users, and launching of Cyclone drive in June killed this idea. I almost dropped this project, but then was told by some people who downloaded this program from my Web site that they like some ideas and found RShell useful as a file manager. To continue improvement RShell, I had to disable RD support at all. Now it became powerful file manager with some unique features. Maybe one day I'll restore RD support, because all in all I have that device. Due to lack of spare time I was writing RShell too slow. As a side effect its name became well known, so I decided not to rename RShell. I didn't implement all the ideas from my to-do list in the first public release. I'll continue development and hope you will like it and wait for new versions. Copyright --------- RShell is protected by Russian copyright laws and international treaty provisions. Full ownership rights to RShell are the exclusive property of Konstantin Saliy, RShell author. Conditions of use ----------------- NO WARRANTY AT ALL. Although it was tested during more than 6 month, I take no responsibility on any possible damages or data loss. The entire risk as to the quality and performance of the program is with you. RShell is shareware program. You may evaluate it during 30 days, but if you'll continue use it after 30 days period, you must register it. You may copy and distribute copies of RShell in the same form as you receive it, without any files being removed, altered or added. You may not copy it in any other form. See Installation chapter for the list of files in the RShell package. Unregistered version has only one restriction: some commands (copy, move, rename, change file attributes) work only on one panel (right for vertical orientation). You always able to delete files and format disks on both panels. Registered users will receive a code which will unlock disabled functions. Please, read the section "How to register" below if you like this program and want to register it. Basic features -------------- File Manager' screen has a header and 2 windows (panels) each of which shows you file list of any local (A,B,C,M,ROM) drive, remote disks on the IBM PC, connected with 3Link. You can walk through directory tree, make directories, copy, rename, delete files and directories, format disks, run applications. You may search for files using many criteria. Any file or directory on local disks (excluding ROM) may have a comment up to 255 characters long. Copy and move operations will preserve comments, delete command deletes comments as well. It requires about 40Kb free RAM with default settings and depends on your preferences (maximum number of files and cache size). It was written using assembler and operating system calls instead of OPL operators which made it fast. It is compatible and was tested with Psion Series 3a, 3c and Siena. I'd recommend to use horizontal panel orientation on Siena if you need to see file attributes. It is compatible in most cases with Cyclone drive. The only reported problem (and I don't know how to make it work) is to format DS/DD floppy (720K) which was unformatted or totally erased before. When you copy or move files and there is no enough free space, RShell gives you opportunity to insert new disk and continue, and will preserve directory structure. It makes more easy e.g. to backup large Flash SSD to floppies. Warning about ROM drive on Siena -------------------------------- All versions of Siena I saw have more than one SYS$CTRY.CFO file in the ROM, i.e. more than one (I saw up to 4) file with the same name. If you will e.g. copy either of them, only first file will be copied, and I couldn't prevent it. Warning for non-English users ----------------------------- RShell has an ability to search for files which contain a string. Then, when you launch built-in text editor (Word, Program editor or any other alias of Word application) for a found file, RShell sends "Find" command to Word with this search string. On most language versions of Psion RShell sends this command directly. But on some versions (e.g. Sweden or Dutch S3a) RShell sends key sequence to navigate to this command using menu. If you'll start pressing keys just after editor's window appeared, you may make changes to the file. The logic to determine whether to use a command or menu access method does not depend on particular language code, so I couldn't tell you which way RShell will work on your computer. Installation ------------ RShell comes as a ZIP archive with 3 files: RSHELL.OPA - application file. RSHELL.HLP - online help file. README.TXT - this file. Copy RSHELL.OPA into \APP\ directory and install its icon from the System screen usual way. If you need online help, copy RSHELL.HLP file supplied into \APP\RSHELL\ directory on the same drive. Menu commands ------------- File ---- Copy (Psion-C) copy file or directory under cursor or tagged files. You can rename files while copy. (Psion-Shift-C) asks for the destination directory. If it does not exists, it will be created. Rename (Psion-N) rename file or directory under cursor or tagged files. Move (Psion-M) move file or directory under cursor or tagged files into another directory. Move files across disks is exactly copy and then delete. (Psion-Shift-M) asks for the destination directory. If it does not exists, it will be created. Info (Psion-I) display information about a file. You may add a comment (up to 255 characters long) to any file or directory. View (Psion-V) view contents of the file under cursor. Implemented only for Psion bitmap files, regardless of extension. For directory this command shows statistics. Edit (Psion-E) runs text editor (not Word processor) for a file under cursor. Attributes (Psion-Shift-A) change attributes for a file, selected files, directory itself or all files in the directory. To change attributes for specified files in a directory tree, place cursor to the "Parent Dir" entry. Date/time stamp (Psion-Shift-S) change date/time stamp for a file, selected files, directory itself or all files in the directory. To change stamp for specified files in a directory tree, place cursor to the "Parent Dir" entry. Directory --------- Make (Psion-Q) create new directory. On any local disk you can create directory tree with a single command (e.g. TMP\MYFILES). Compare (Psion-O) compare two directories. Then in each directory some files may be tagged: either newer versions of existing files or new files. Copy (Psion-C) copy file or directory under cursor or tagged files. (Psion-Shift-C) asks for the destination directory. If it does not exists, it will be created. Rename (Psion-N) rename file or directory under cursor or tagged files. Move (Psion-M) move file or directory under cursor or tagged files into another directory. Move files across disks is exactly copy and then delete. Info (Psion-I) display information about a directory. You may add a comment (up to 255 characters long) to any file or directory. Disk ---- Select disk (Psion-D) selects a disk for the active panel. (Psion-Shift-D) selects a disk for the inactive panel. Re-read (Psion-R) use this command when disk was changed or if file system was changed by another application. Find file (Psion-F) finds files by some criteria. "Hexadecimal string" means a string of pairs of hexadecimal digits without separator (e.g. "0D0A" represents CR and LF codes) To set advanced search options, select "Advanced options" string and press Enter. Then you may press Esc if you don't want to use advanced search. Name disk (Psion-Shift-N) change volume label for the current disk. Format (Psion-Shift-F) format disk. As usually, all files will be destroyed during format operation. Info (Psion-Shift-I) display some information about a disk. For Flash SSD, it calculates free space, which will be available if you backup files, format SSD and then restore files. It does not count disk space, recoverable by compressing Data and Agenda files. Note that sometimes it can be less than the current free space. For RAM disks allocation unit size is shown. Special ------- Edit New (Psion-Shift-E) creates new text file. Swap panels (Psion-W) exchange panel places. Set preferences (Psion-P) runs preference menu (see below). Zoom in (Psion-Z) increases font size. Zoom (Psion-Shift-Z) decreases font size. Remote link (Psion-L) switches remote link on and off. With remote link switched on, remote disks can be accessed. Only PC remote file system is supported. Note: you can switch remote link on and off from System screen as well. This is only replacement for easy access. About (Psion-A) displays copyright information, my e-mail address. Exit (Psion-X) exits File Manager. Use it instead of Psion-Esc, if possible. Preferences ----------- General select sort criteria, confirmations, maximum numbers of files to be shown in a directory etc. Display various options to display data in panels. Associations you can associate up to 4 applications with a given pattern. Association for "*.*" is used only if there is no other record for that file. Special value '*' for application means that the file itself is an application and should be run. You may add a comment to any file type. It will be shown as default comment for that file type in the File Info (Psion-I) dialog. Search path file manager looks for application to run on the disks A, B, M, C (in this order) in the directories in the search path. Default value is "\APP\". Use ';' as delimiter. Do not forget to specify trailing '\' in the directory name. Hot key set a hot key to bring the file manager to foreground. Any letter with any modifiers can be chosen, but this key combination will be disabled to other applications. E.g. if Psion-A is set as hot key, no application will recognize it as a menu short cut. Save options Saves preferences. Found File ---------- Almost all menu items are the same as above. Jump to (Psion-J) returns to File Manager and makes the file under cursor the current. Save list (Psion-S) saves list of files found into a text file. Set preferences (Psion-P) only one option is available now: whether to send "Find" command to a editor that was started with found file. Exit Find (Psion-X) returns to File Manager. Other keys ---------- Delete deletes file or directory under cursor or selected files. Shift-arrows switches tag mark of the current file and moves cursor. Space switches tag mark of the current file. Tab/Diamond switches between panels. Enter goes inside subdirectory under cursor or runs a file. '+', '-' tags/untags files using pattern. '*' inverts selection. \ Jump to the root directory. Control-Up Jump to the parent directory. Help Online help. Control-Help Help Index. Left, Right scrolls file attributes window. To fast scroll to a file you need you can start to type its name. If you don't remember a letter in the file name, type '?' to replace it. To remove text cursor, press Esc. To jump to the next matching name, press Control-arrow down. Useful notes ------------ To interrupt copying or deleting file or group of files press Esc while copy/delete in progress. You may have to press Esc quickly several times if copying of a directory tree is in progress. Copy, Move, Delete, Info commands can be used with special "Parent Dir" entry. Pattern may contain wildcards ('*' or '?') or may not. To rename selected files you must use wildcards in the pattern so that resulting file names will be unique. Associations ------------ You can define up to 4 associations with a pattern to use when you press Enter, Control-Enter, Shift-Enter or Psion-Enter. File manager searches for first fit pattern and use its associations regardless of whether they are defined or not. The only exception is *.* pattern which is applied last. The symbol '*' has a special meaning when it is entered as the first character in any field for associated applications. It means that a file itself is an application and should be run. This is the default value e.g. for *.APP and *.IMG patterns. Some .IMG files (e.g. UNZIP.IMG) requires special for of command line, as for DOS and Unix programs. You may specify these parameters after the '*' symbol, using at least 1 space as separator. See default settings for *.ZIP as an example. As an application, you may specify its name with or without extension, with full or partial path. If there is no extension, RShell tries APP, OPA, ALS, IMG, OPO in this order. If there is no drive, it tries ROM, A, B, M, C in this order. If there is no full (from the root) directory name, it searches in the directories from Set preferences/Search path option. For instance, if you want to run HexView (my hexadecimal viewer/editor) for any file by pressing Psion-Enter, and its full path is LOC::M:\APP\HEXVIEW.OPA, you may type either from HEXVIEW HEXVIEW.OPA \APP\HEXVIEW LOC::M:\APP\HEXVIEW.OPA and many other combinations on the appropriate line for pattern "*.*" and all other patterns. If your application is in a non-standard directory (e.g. \APP\READCIS\JBCIS.APP -- CompuServe reader) you may enter READCIS\JBCIS for a corresponding pattern (e.g. MAIL*.OUT for outgoing mails). If you have typed a comment for a pattern, it will be used as default for all files that satisfy this pattern and have no comments (see Comments below). UNZIP.IMG is special case of associated application -- RShell produces a dialog box before run it, where you may specify other command line parameters and a target directory. What does Directory Info show? ------------------------------ Every file occupies more space on a disk then its exact size, and disk space required to keep a file depends on disk type, file size and other factors. On any disk type, some space is required to keep information about a file -- its name, size, attributes etc. On the Internal disk and RAM SSD disk space is allocated by fixed size units, so called "clusters". You may see cluster size in the Disk/Info dialog. With cluster size 512 bytes, a 513 bytes long file occupies 1024 bytes, i.e. 2 clusters. On the Flash SSD disk space is allocated by variable length portions, less than 64Kb each. Every portion has a header which require additional space. Directory/Info dialog shows you how much space this directory tree require to be copied to different types of disks, assuming that there is no directories with the same name and no destination files will be overwritten. On the Internal disk or RAM SSD required space is less if one or more files will be overwritten. On any disk required space is less if directory or one or more subdirectories already exist. Comments -------- Using File/Info or Directory/Info menu commands you may add a comment up to 255 characters long to any file or directory on any local (M, A, B and C) drive. At the time of writing, disk C is accessible for writing (and thus for comments) only if it is Cyclone floppy drive. In the Set preferences/Display menu dialog turn 'Show file comments' to 'Yes' to see your comments while browsing disks. With this option, RShell will show comments in the appropriate corner if you highlighted an entry and didn't press any key more than a second. Turn 'Sync file info' to 'Yes' (menu Set preferences/General) if you want RShell to keep comments with files during copying, moving, renaming, and delete them with files and directories. This option slows down such operations. RShell does not copy file comments to remote disks. However, full backup and then restore will copy comments data base file (~dirinfo.~~~), one per disk, and thus keep them. Copy and Move commands preserve comment for target file if a source file has no comment. RShell has predefined set of comments for some directories and file types, and show them if you have no your own comments for that entry. Hot key ------- You may choose virtually any combination of a key from the main keyboard and Control, Shift, Psion modifiers in any combination to bring File Manager to the foreground. On Siena, 'Fn' modifier and characters that required it are not supported yet. This can be done from the Set preferences/Hot key menu: 1. Press a key or type a character in the 'Character' field. 2. Turn 'Psion', 'Control' and 'Shift' fields to 'Yes' if you need to press them for the hot key chosen. 3. Turn 'Psion required' to 'Yes' if that character can not be entered without pressing Psion key (e.g. '@'). 4. Turn 'Enable' to 'Yes' and press Enter. Note: if you have running more than one instances of RShell, only the first started senses the hot key. RShell does not sense hot key if it has menu bar or a dialog box active. Configuration files ------------------- File manager keeps association information in the RSHELL.EXT file in the \OPD\ directory, initially on the internal drive. It is plain Psion Data file and you can edit it (e.g. to change order) with built-in Data application or other data base tools, but it is not recommended. File manager keeps all settings in the RSHELL.INI file in the \OPD\ directory, initially on the internal drive. Both RSHELL.INI and RSHELL.EXT can be moved to \OPD\ directory on any drive using file manager itself. File manager looks for these files on drives A, B, M in this order every time to read or to update. File manager keeps comments to files in ~DIRINFO.~~~ files in the root directory on each drive. It is plain Psion Data file and you can edit it (e.g. to change order) with built-in Data application or other data base tools, but it is not recommended If you have renamed or deleted files with associated comments from another file manager or with disabled comment synchronization, corresponding comments become superfluous. But then when you'll delete any file or directory on the same disk from this file manager (even with disabled comment synchronization!), these comments will be deleted from ~DIRINFO.~~~ file. Known bugs and limitations -------------------------- Copy and Move commands don't check for free space on the destination drive. Please, check it manually using Info commands for disks and directories. This application was not tested by me with Cyclone 3.5" floppy drive. Please, let me know if you have any problems. View directory statistics command presume, that Internal disk has cluster size 256 bytes, RAM SSD -- 512 bytes, Flash SSD has 24-bit references. In some cases this is not true and actual disk space requirement may be larger or smaller. Want to see my To Do list? -------------------------- This list is provided "as is" without any promises to implement it, in no order. Just to prevent multiple postings :-) 1. Launch panel. 2. File names only in multiple columns. 3. Text viewer. 4. File display filters. 5. Sort order (asc/desc) 6. Panel with all disks and volume labels. 7. Sort of associations. How to register --------------- RShell is a shareware program. You may use it for evaluation purpose during 30 days period. Then you must either destroy it or register if you like it and want to continue to use it. I (living in Moscow, Russia) couldn't accept mails with cheques or cash. I'm no longer CompuServe member and thus can't use SWREG service. The best way to know how to register RShell is to e-mail me and ask. Now you may register RShell via 1. CompuServe SWREG, ID=14997, registration fee is $25. 2. By sending a cheque to Michael Baas, PSIOLogic, in Germany. Registration fee is 40 DM. Please send a cheque to the address below: PSIOlogic Taunusstrasse 4 D 63589 Linsengericht, Germany Please, make your cheque payable to Michael Baas. Being Psion distributor in Germany, Michael Baas is able to accept credit cards. You may call him +49 06051 470065 or e-mail: Internet:<106044.2274@compuserve.com> CompuServe:106044,2274 Do not forget to notify me by e-mail about your registration via collectors. I'll send you your registration code which will unlock all the features disabled in the trial version then. How to reach me --------------- By e-mail: Internet: <kis@aha.ru> CompuServe: 106062,203 You may also visit my Web site <http://www.aha.ru/~kis/>. It always contains latest versions of RShell and my other programs. All comments, suggestions and even bug reports are welcome. Please, use the word "RShell" (with possible additions) in the Subject line of all mails about this program.