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CATDISK A Diskette Catalog Program Version 3.56 -- 15 Jul 1987 Copyright (C) 1986, 1987 by Rick Hillier INTRODUCTION Overheard: "I know I have that file in an archive on a diskette SOMEWHERE, but which disk is it on?" Sound familiar? Many people that I know are in this predicament, especially those with floppy-based systems. Enter CATDISK, the diskette cataloging system. CATDISK can organize a "Super Directory" of all your diskette files in alphabetical order and tell you what diskette(s) they are on in a single glance. For those who use the ARC utility from System Enhancement Associates (highly recommended!), or the older LU utilities, there is an added bonus. CATDISK can also read .ARC or .LBR files and include the individual files from the archive,or library in your catalog along with the archive, or library name from which they came! Catdisk also supports sub-directories to two levels deep. They will be scanned and included in the catalog. CATDISK has been placed in the public domain by the author, Rick Hillier, and a $15 registration fee is requested if you use the program and find it to be beneficial. In any case, please feel free to copy and share this program with others. I will only support those who contribute toward the development of this SHAREWARE product, but I will accept useful suggestions from ANYBODY! The address at which to send the registration fee is: Rick Hillier 405 Barrington Lane WATERLOO, Ontario Canada N2T 1H9 Voice: (519)-888-6763 Fax: (519)-884-4887 DISCLAIMER CATDISK is provided on an "as is" basis. Any damages arising from the use of this program are entirely the responsibility of the user; i.e. the author, Rick Hillier, cannot be held responsible for any damages. CONFIGURING CATDISK Many features of catdisk may be controlled from the configuration program "CDISKCFG.COM". When you start this program, please make sure that the file "CATDISK.COM" is on the current drive and directory when you start the configuration program. Upon startup, the configuration program will read the current settings defined in "CATDISK.COM", after which the configuration screen will be presented. You may change any given item on this screen simply by using the <UP ARROW> and <DOWN ARROW> keys to highlight the TITLE of the field you wish to change. The bottom portion of the screen is dedicated to describing the item and instructing you on how to change it. A discussion of the 9 items on this list follows. 1) The screen update method. You may wish to have screen output done via the system BIOS, or by using a faster DIRECT screen access method. Choosing BIOS results in screen updates being much slower than using using direct screen access, but maintains compatibility with such operating environments as TopView, DesqView, MicroSoft Windows, Multilink and DoubleDos. Choosing DIRECT screen access is much quicker, but will be incompatible with most multitasking programs such as the above mentioned due to the fact that they cannot handle "ill-behaved" programs that write directly to the screen. If you chose DIRECT screen access, a second test is made if you have a GRAPHICS display connected in your system. Some video adapters have the nasty side effect of producing static, or "snow" when the video memory is accessed directly. This test will do multiple direct access to the video ram on your graphics adapter. When you hit a key to stop the test, you will be asked if you saw static on the screen. If you answer "Y" to the prompt, CATDISK will check for horizontal retrace before writing to the display. This will result in a slightly slower screen response than normal, but it is almost negligible. If you are not running under a multitasking system, or are using DoubleDos in dual screen mode, I would recommend that you use DIRECT screen access, as it's much quicker. 2) Color or B & W. This option is self-explanatory. The appearance of the setup screen will depend on the setting of this field. 3) Disk cacheing on or off. This field will enable you to set DISK CACHEING on or off. Turning it on will enable CATDISK to keep the most recently read sectors of the CATALOG FILES in memory, resulting in much faster scans through the catalog file when looking for a group of files. Some hard disks use their own device driver, and are incompatible with this cacheing method. If this is the case, CATDISK will warn you of this condition if cacheing is enabled, but is incompatible with your hard disk. If that is the case, you should disable it from this program. 4) The number of lines per page field will enable you to tell CATDISK the number of lines of data (EXCLUDING headings) that it should place on each page of printer or disk output. This may be any number between 0 and 255. Entering zero will disable page breaking and the output will be presented in a continuous stream with one title at the top. 5) The printer start up string is a series of ASCII codes (entered here as their ascii VALUES) that will tailor your reports to the format you desire. For example, I use an Epson printer and like to set it to 1/8" spacing and get 80 report lines per page. To do this, I send a startup string of "<Esc> <0>" to set this print mode. To enter this string in the configuration program, I would enter it as "027 048" without the quotes. The numbers are simply the ASCII values of the characters I wish to send. If you have a setup string entered here and wish to clear it, simply hit <Return> in response to the prompt in the bottom area of the screen. 6) The printer finishing string is commonly used to reverse the startup string entered above and is entered in exactly the same way. In the example above, I would use "<Esc> <2>", which would be entered as "027 050" without the quotes. If you have a setup string entered here and wish to clear it, simple hit <Return> in response to the prompt in the bottom area of the screen. 7) The default ARC/LBR extract state will control the way CATDISK will handle ARC/LBR files that it might encounter when cataloguing your diskettes. If you set it to OFF, CATDISK will NOT extract any archive files that it finds on your diskettes. If you set it to ON, CATDISK will expand EVERY ARC/LBR file that it finds on your diskettes. If you set it to QUERY, CATDISK will ask you for permission to expand an ARC/LBR file each time it encounters one. 8) The default catalog drive is the disk drive that CATDISK will assume you wish to use for labelling diskettes and reading them for cataloguing purposes. This drive may still be overridden at startup time (see STARTING CATDISK), or from the menu when catdisk is running. If you are running on single floppy based system, I would recommend that you set this drive to the same drive ID that CATDISK will be run from. CATDISK will prompt you to enter the appropriate diskettes at the appropriate time, and will eliminate potential problems with the disk cacheing feature if enabled (See the file README.1ST). 9) The catalog file directory is the location in your system that CATDISK will look for and create it's catalog files. This path may contain a drive designator, so that the catalog files may reside on a different drive than CATDISK itself, such as a ramdisk (in this case don't forget to copy the files to a real disk before you turn off or reboot your machine). Another use of this field is that the overlay file "CATDISK.000" may be placed in this directory as well. If this is the case, and "CATDISK.COM" is in a directory to which DOS has a path (see the DOS manual for details on the PATH command), you may run CATDISK from anywhere in your system without having to switch to another directory where all the CATDISK files reside. If this field is set to nothing, the default drive and directory will be used. 10) The maximum number of diskettes and files per catalog is simply that. When CATDISK starts, it allocates it's work space according to this setting. There are currently four possible settings; which one you pick is largely dependent upon the environment in which CATDISK is to be run. These settings are: DISKETTES # FILES 2000 32767 (32K) 1500 24576 (24K) 1000 16384 (16K) 500 8192 ( 8K) Some suggestions for choosing the best configuration: 1) If you are running CATDISK on a floppy based system, I would recommend the 8K configuration. This will leave the maximum amount of room for a disk cache, or a larger memory buffer for sorting and updating the catalog file. 2) If you are running CATDISK on a system with 192K of RAM under DOS 2.xx, you must use the 8K configuration. This will enable CATDISK to allocate it's work area and leave ample room for sorting, etc. PLEASE NOTE THAT IF YOU ARE RUNNING DOS 3.00 OR LATER, YOU MUST HAVE A MINIMUM OF 256K OF RAM TO RUN CATDISK. 3) If you are running CATDISK on a 256K system under DOS 3.00 or later, the 16K configuration is recommended. 4) If you are running CATDISK on a 256K system under DOS 2.xx, the 24K configuration is as high as you can go. The most efficient configuration would be to set the maximum disks/files per catalog to the lowest setting that would accomodate your largest catalog file. This will give CATDISK the largest amount of leftover memory to optimize for sorting and updating the catalog file, or create the largest possible disk cache (if you've activated this option in the configuration). Keep in mind that if a catalog should reach the set limits, you may always change this setting to a higher value, unless you are already at the maximum number of disks/files that CATDISK or your system can handle. Once you have set all the fields set to your desired settings, you may instruct CDISKCFG to save the current settings by pressing <F10>. Upon completion, you will be returned to DOS. If you do not wish to save the changes you made, simply hit <Esc>, and you will be returned to DOS, while the previous configuration will remain unscathed. DEFAULT SETTINGS 1) Screen Update Method: BIOS 2) Color or B & W: B & W 3) Disk Cacheing: Disabled 4) Output Lines Per Page: 58 5) Printer Startup String: Nothing 6) Printer Finishing String: Nothing 7) Default ARC/LBR Extract State: ON 8) Catalog Drive: A: 9) Catalog File Directory: Default Drive and Directory 10) Maximum Disks/Files per Catalog: 1000/16384 STARTING CATDISK CATDISK may be started from the DOS command line by the following: C>CATDISK parameters - where parameters may include any of the following:'); /NP - Specifying this commandline option will cause CATDISK to eliminate the pause after cataloguing/ un-cataloguing a disk. It will also eliminate the "Insert a disk in drive X:" prompt unless it is absolutely necessary. /NW - Under normal circumstances, when you catalog a diskette containing a Volume ID that already exists in the current catalog, CATDISK will issue a warning to that effect, and will ask you for verification before proceeding to catalog that disk. The reason behind this is that there is always the possibility of two different disks having the same Volume ID. Cataloguing one would mean that the files from the other would be un-catalogued in the same process. If you specify the /NW option on the command line, this warning will be supressed, and the disk will be catalogued without further delay. /NS - Supress status indicators during processing. This speeds up processing time. Status indicators are there simply to indicate that the computer is actually doing something useful. Try it either way and set it to your liking. /AC - Turn the auto comment feature ON at startup. Normally, CATDISK, upon completion of cataloguing a group of files from a diskette will immediately return to the menu. Activating this feature from the commandline (or from the menu) will cause CATDISK to proceed to the section where you may add/modify the file comments for the volume that you just catalogued. /Ffilename - The default filename that CATDISK uses is "CATDISK". This may be overridden with this parameter. Note that there is no space between the /F and the filename. /SD - CATDISK can display screen information for your catalog in two different formats. The default is to show the Filename, Volume ID, Arc ID, size, date, time and attributes for each record. There is a second display format that omits the file attributes, but shows the sub-directory that the file occupies on it's diskette. Setting this option will make the second format the starting report type. /CO - similar to above, but the third display format that shows file comments will be the default. - *** NOTE: If you specify both /SD and /CO at startup, the LAST one that you specified on the commandline will take effect. /Px - Set printer output format to report type x, where x is in the range (0-2). x Value Report Type ------- ----------- 0 Show regular file statistics 1 Show file comments 2 Show file statistics and comments (selecting this report style assumes that your printer is set to produce 132 column reports) /D: - Catalog files from drive D: where D: is one of [A - D]. The slash "/" may be substituted by either a dash "-" or a space " ". Eg. CATDISK /BW/NS/NA/B: or CATDISK A: - entering CATDISK ? will bring up a help message indicating the above. **NOTE: You may also put the command line options in a DOS environment string using the DOS "SET" command. This command (examples are below), may be placed in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file so that you will not need to remember which command line options to use to obtain your favourite setup, or for that matter, to type them! - example: SET CATDISK=/BW/NS/P2/B: - then simply type "CATDISK <CR> on the dos command line, and the above options will automatically be taken from the DOS environment area. Please note that if you enter any command line options when starting CATDISK, the dos environment area will be ignored. Once CATDISK has been successfully started, a title screen will appear. Hit any key to ascend to the main menu. SELECTION OF OPTIONS FROM MENUS The major options available from CATDISK such as the main functions menu that you see in the opening menu after the title page disappears can be selected in two different ways. The first, and easiest is just to hit the indicated key beside the desired option. In response to a few requests from registered users, I have also implemented a "point and shoot" method of selecting items from a menu. Simply use the cursor keys to position the flashing arrows in the inverse box that indicates the keystroke required to activate the desired option and hit <Return> (or <CR> to you C programmers). This will carry out the same function as if you had struck the key in the inverse box. One advantage that the second approach has to the first is that those of you who do not touch type numbers very well (or have a tendency to hit the key beside the one you are after) have another avenue to use to navigate through the menus of CATDISK. Another is that once you have activated a function such as cataloguing a diskette, you need only type <Return> to re-activate that function as CATDISK will remember the last option you activated (quite handy if you are cataloguing multiple diskettes, as the <Return> key is larger than most... you aren't as apt to miss it). Currently, this method of choice is available on the main menu, the output destination menu, and the sorting criteria menu on option #0 (discussed later in this manual). OPTION #1: SETTING THE CURRENT DISK DRIVE Option #1 from the main menu will allow you to set the drive from which the files to be catalogued will be read. Simply select letter from A - x to select the drive with that DOS letter designation, where x is the last drive that CATDISK detected in your system configuration (DOS 3.00 and up will show a minimum of 5 drives). The change will be noted immediately in the status area at the top of the screen. *** NOTE TO ALL SINGLE DRIVE FLOPPY DISK USERS *** Previous versions of CATDISK may have caused problems with the directory of the diskette being catalogued getting overwritten when labelling a diskette or cataloguing it. This problem has been rectified with Version 2.00. To catalog on a single floppy system, set the catalog drive the same as the one on which the CATDISK work files reside. (i.e. if you start CATDISK from drive A:, set the catalog drive to drive A:) At the appropriate times, CATDISK will now prompt you to switch diskettes as they are needed. Users with a hard-disk, single floppy configuration, who are running CATDISK from the hard disk will NOT experience this problem and may proceed as normal. It's ONLY if the same PHYSICAL drive is being used for the CATDISK work files AND the diskette to be catalogued that the above precautions must be taken. OPTION #2: THE TOGGLES MENU The options available in this sub-menu will allow you to control the behaviour of some of the features of CATDISK. You can get to this menu by selecting option #2 from the main menu. The options available on this menu are: Sub-option #1 - Toggle Auto ARC/LBR Extract ------------------------------------------- Although this option may be controlled from the DOS command line, it is also convenient to be able to change it during a CATDISK session. Hitting <1> will toggle the Auto ARC/LBR Extract Feature. The current status is shown near the top of the screen in the status area. If this feature is turned off, any file searches through the catalog, with the exception of OPTION #0 - Show All Files will NOT show any files that reside in an archive file. The archive file's presence will still be shown in the listing. Sub-option #2 - Set Current Catalog File ---------------------------------------- Although the catalog filename may be set upon starting up CATDISK, is may also be convenient to be able to change the current file from within a CATDISK session. Select option #2 from the main menu, and you will be prompted for a new catalog file to use. Any valid dos filename will do. Be sure to specify the NAME portion only; do not include the file extension portion. If the name you specify is valid, it will then be used for all subsequent catalog updates and queries (This is reflected at the top of the screen). If not, an error message will be issued and no change will be made to the current catalog file name. If you are switching to a catalog that already exists,and it will not fit into the configuration you defined in the configuration program (maximum disks/files per catalog), you will get an error message and the catalog file will be left unchanged. Sub-option #3 - Pause For Disk Change or At End of Catalog Update ----------------------------------------------------------------- Under normal circumstances, CATDISK will pause at strategic places, either to allow you to view what has just happened (cataloguing and un-cataloguing), or to prompt you to insert a disk in drive X: (labelling or reading directories, etc). If you turn this toggle off, CATDISK will only prompt you for a disk when absolutely necessary. In addition, there will be no pause at the end of a catalog update; you will immediately be returned to the main menu. Sub-option #4 - Add/Update File Comments While Cataloguing ---------------------------------------------------------- If this toggle is turned off, CATDISK will proceed back to the main menu upon completion of the process of cataloguing a disk. If you wish to add comments for some/all of the files that you have just catalogued, you may turn this toggle on. When this is the case, CATDISK will catalog files in the normal manner, but upon completion, you will be taken to another screen that will allow you to scroll through the files you just catalogued and add/update the comments for each file shown. See Option F1 - Add/Change File Comments for details on how this section of the program works. Sub-option #5 - Toggle Printer Report Type ------------------------------------------ CATDISK currently supports three printer report styles, which are detailed here. The particular report style that you desire may be set with this toggle, and will be reflected in the toggles portion of the menu screen. STATISTICS: This is the default report style (unless overridden on the command line), which is to show the path, filename, volume id, ARC/LBR id, as well as the size, date, time and DOS directory attributes of each file listed. This report style corresponds to the command line option /P0, and will fit on an 80 column printer. COMMENTS: This report style will substitute file comments for the size, date, time, and DOS directory attribute. This report style corresponds to the command line option /P1, and will fit on an 80 column printer. BOTH: This report style will show all of the fields from the two above reports. Please note that it assumes that you either have a 132 column printer, or an 80 column printer set to compressed mode. It corresponds to the command line option /P2. Sub-option <Esc> - Return To Main Menu -------------------------------------- Exactly what it says. OPTION #3: LABELLING A DISKETTE Selection of option #3 on the main menu will allow the VOLUME LABEL of a diskette to be set or changed. Upon selection, CATDISK will attempt to read the current label of the diskette. If none is present, you will be notified of this, and will be given the opportunity to create a volume label for that diskette. See the DOS manual on volume labels for more information. If a label already exists on the diskette, it's name will be shown as a reminder, and you will be given an opportunity to change the label name. Just enter the new label name and hit <CR>. If the label name was valid, the change will be made, otherwise, an error message indicating such will be issued and you will return to the main menu. If you do not wish to enter or change the disk label, simply hit <ESC> at the volume label prompt and you will immediately return to the main menu with no changed made to the disk label. When the volume label has been successfully changed or created, CATDISK will check to see if the old label, if any was present, exists in the current catalog file. If so, you will be given an opportunity to have CATDISK automatically change the old volume id references to the newly entered one. If the disk that you re-labelled is one that actually is in the catalog, answer <Y>es to the prompt. CATDISK will take care of the rest. This feature (implemented starting with version 2.10) can be a great time saver, since with the older versions, the procedure for cataloguing the same disk under a different name involved changing the disk label, uncataloguing the disk under the old volume id, and re-cataloguing the disk under the new name. If the disk is not in the catalog, answer <N>o to the prompt. Answering <Y>es under these circumstances will not damage the catalog files, but will cause confusion as to what disk the altered catalog records reside on. OPTION #4: CATALOGING A DISKETTE Selection of option #4 from the main menu will initiate cataloging of the files on the selected catalog diskette. The volume label will be read, and if it doesn't exist, you will be given an opportunity to enter a volume label for the diskette. Hit <ESC> at the label prompt to abort the operation. After entering the label name for that diskette, you will be asked if you wish to write that label to disk. If you answer <Y>es, the disk will be labelled and cataloguing will continue. If you answer <N>o, the label will not be written, but the disk will be catalogued under the name that you gave it. This will allow easy cataloguing of write-protected diskettes. Please note that volume labels created by Peter Norton's "Volabel" utility may contain lower case characters. CATDISK will convert the labels to upper case before adding them to the catalog. This will enable you to manipulate and uncatalog any of these diskettes. The physical volume label on the diskette will be left unchanged. If the label on the diskette to be catalogued already exists in the catalog, you will be notified of this situation, and will be given an opportunity to abort the operation. This feature has been added starting with V2.03 as a safeguard against a situation where two diskettes of the same volume id may be overriding each other and clobbering the catalog contents of the other diskette. If you specified the "/NW" option on at startup, this warning will not be issued. Once the label has been found, the directory and any archive or library entries (if the ARC/LBR auto extract feature option is turned on - it is by default) will be read (if the ARC/LBR auto extract is set to QUERY, you will be asked for verification before a given ARChive or Library will be read). This process will be repeated for each sub-directory on the diskette as well. Sub-directories are supported to TWO levels deep in this version. Upon completion of this, the catalog summary file and master catalog will be updated to reflect the current directory/directories of the diskette. If any files have been added, they will be added to the catalog; if any files have been changed, they will be updated; if any files have been deleted, they will be removed from the catalog. Keep in mind, that deletion of an ARC/LBR file will cause any files existing within that ARC/LBR file to be uncatalogued. Also, turning the Auto ARC/LBR Extraction feature OFF, or answering <No> to a Extract ARC/LBR prompt to a catalogued ARCHIVE will cause any files in an ARC/LBR file on that diskette to be uncatalogued as well. Should the disk become full when the cataloguing process is underway, the process will be aborted with an error message. The old catalog file will remain intact (i.e. no changes made), but the summary file will reflect either the presence of the new diskette, or the current status of that diskette if it already existed in the catalog. This means that the catalog file will not be accurate as to what's on the diskette that you attempted to catalog. If this error is encountered, you should either try to free up some space on disk on which the catalog file exists, or move the .DTA and .SUM files to another diskette (see CONFIGURING CATDISK for details on how to access catalog files on other drives and directories) and retry the operation. This operation is completely automatic and does not require any further input from the operator once started, ulesss, of course, the ARC/LBR extract state is set to QUERY. If you have turned on the auto-comment feeature either from the comandline or from the toggles menu, you will be taken to a section of the program that will allow you to add/update file comments. See "<F1> - Adding/Updating File Comments" later in this manual for details. OPTION #5: UNCATALOGUING A DISKETTE There may be times when you will wish to remove a disk's files from the catalog. Select option #5 from the main menu, and you will be asked to enter the VOLUME NAME of the disk to be uncatalogued. Enter it and hit <CR>. If the volume label doesn't exist in the catalog, then you will be notified and returned to the main menu. If the volume label is found in the catalog, it's entry will be deleted along with all the file names under it. If you do not wish to carry out this operation, hit <Esc> at the volume label prompt and no action will be taken. Should the disk become full during the catalog update process, the process will be aborted with an error message, and the old catalog file will remain intact. Typically, this error should not occur, unless you have added more files to the disk, or another program has used up more disk space (such as a database expanding a file). Should this error occur, the summary file will no longer contain a reference to the diskette that was uncatalogued, but the catalog file will still contain references to that diskette. Should this be the case, you should either free up some space on the disk, or copy the .SUM and .DTA files to another disk (see CONFIGURING CATDISK for details on accessing catalog files on other drives and directories), catalog the diskette in question, and uncatalog it again. This will remove any references to that disk from the catalog file. If you do not have access to that disk anymore (you may have erased it), simply take a blank diskette, add one file to it, and label it the same as the diskette you wish to uncatalog. Carry out the above procedure, and you will obtain the same results. OPTION #6: SHOW DISKETTE SUMMARY Selection of option #6 from the main menu will cause CATDISK to display an alphabetical list of VOLUME NAMES and some pertinent statistical information for each. This option is handy if, say, you have a bunch of utility disks and want to add a 14K utility program to one of them. This report can be quite useful in making efficient use of existing working diskettes. All the statistical items shown should be self-explanatory, except one; that is, the Slack % factor. The disks on which DOS stores it files are divided into allocation units called clusters. The size of each cluster varies with the type and size of disk. When DOS allocates space on a disk for a file, it is alotted in one cluster units to the file. Some common cluster sizes are 512 bytes on 160-180K diskettes, and 1024 bytes on 320-360K diskettes. Some hard disks have larger cluster sizes. Anyway, let's say, for example, that you have a file of 256 bytes. On a 360K diskette, DOS will allocate 1024 bytes to the file, even though it is only 256 bytes long. This means that three-quarters of that cluster is unused, or that you have 75% slack for that file. The figure that you see on the summary report is the overall slack percentage of all the files on the disk. When you select option #6, you will be asked where CATDISK should send the output. You may send it to: <S> - Screen: The summary will be shown on the screen. You may browse through the list by using <PgUp> and <PgDn>, or return to the menu by pressing <Esc>. Please see the note about the scroll bar on the left side in Appendix B. - Printer: A hardcopy summary report will be printed on your printer. The disk volume names will be ehoed to the screen as they are sent to the printer. Hitting <Esc> at any time during report generation will abort it and return to the main menu. <D> - Disk: A listing in the same format as the hardcopy summary report will be produced in a diskette file with the same name as the current catalog filename with an extension of ".LST". Hitting <Esc> at any time during the generation of the report will abort it and return to the main menu. <Esc> - Abort: This will return you to the main menu without producing any output. OPTION #7: SHOW FILES FOR A VOLUME Selecting option #7 will cause CATDISK to display an alphabetical list of files for a particular disk. After selecting the report destination, you will be asked for a volume ID. Simply enter it and hit <Return>, or hit <Esc> to return to the menu without producing a report. When you select option #7, you will be asked where you wish CATDISK to send the output. It may be sent to: <S> - Screen: Upon entering the search spec, scanning of the catalog will commence. If you have status indicators turned on, a counter will increment each time a matching file is found. If at the end of the search, no files were found, an error message will be issued and you will be returned to the main menu. Upon a successful search, the file names will be shown alphabetically, along with the volume name, archive name, and other directory information for that file. You may browse through the list with <PgUp> and <PgDn>, or return to the main menu with <Esc>. Please see the note about the scroll bar on the left side in Appendix B. Starting with Version 1.40 (sub-directories), you may hit <S> to change the display format to show the sub-directory of each file in the listing. If a sub-directory begins with a tilde (~), that means that the sub-directory shown is a sub-directory past the first level (sub-directory within a sub-directory). Hit <N> to get the normal display back. If you wish the sub-directory format to come up by default, use the /SD option when starting CATDISK. See the section "STARTING CATDISK" for details. Starting with Version 3.50 (comments), you may hit <C> to change the display format to show your comments (if any). If you wish this display format to appear by default, use the /CO option when starting CATDISK. Again, see the section "STARTING CATDISK" for details. Better yet, run the program and see for yourself! - Printer: A hardcopy file report will be printed on your printer. The filenames will be ehoed to the screen as they are sent to the printer. Hitting <Esc> at any time during report generation will abort it and return to the main menu. <D> - Disk: A listing in the same format as the hardcopy file report will be produced in a diskette file with the same name as the current catalog filename with an extension of ".LST". Hitting <Esc> at any time during the generation of the report will abort it and return to the main menu. <Esc> - Abort: This will return you to the main menu without producing any output. OPTION #8: SHOW FILES FOR AN ARCHIVE Selecting option #8 will cause CATDISK to display an alphabetical list of files for a particular archive. After selecting the report destination, you will be asked for a archive name. Simply enter it and hit <Return>, or hit <Esc> to return to the menu without producing a report. When you select option #8, you will be asked where you wish CATDISK to send the output. It may be sent to: <S> - Screen: Upon entering the search spec, scanning of the catalog will commence. If you have status indicators turned on, a counter will increment each time a matching file is found. If at the end of the search, no files were found, an error message will be issued and you will be returned to the main menu. Upon a successful search, the file names will be shown alphabetically, along with the volume name, archive name, and other directory information for that file. You may browse through the list with <PgUp> and <PgDn>, or return to the main menu with <Esc>. Please see the note about the scroll bar on the left side in Appendix B. Starting with Version 1.40 (sub-directories), you may hit <S> to change the display format to show the sub-directory of each file in the listing. If a sub-directory begins with a tilde (~), that means that the sub-directory shown is a sub-directory past the first level (sub-directory within a sub-directory). Hit <N> to get the normal display back. If you wish the sub-directory format to come up by default, use the /SD option when starting CATDISK. See the section "STARTING CATDISK" for details. Starting with Version 3.50 (comments), you may hit <C> to change the display format to show your comments (if any). If you wish this display format to appear by default, use the /CO option when starting CATDISK. Again, see the section "STARTING CATDISK" for details. Better yet, run the program and see for yourself! - Printer: A hardcopy file report will be printed on your printer. The filenames will be ehoed to the screen as they are sent to the printer. Hitting <Esc> at any time during report generation will abort it and return to the main menu. <D> - Disk: A listing in the same format as the hardcopy file report will be produced in a diskette file with the same name as the current catalog filename with an extension of ".LST". Hitting <Esc> at any time during the generation of the report will abort it and return to the main menu. <Esc> - Abort: This will return you to the main menu without producing any output. OPTION #9: SHOW SELECTED FILES Selecting option #9 will cause CATDISK to display an alphabetical list of files. After selecting the report destination, you will be asked for a filespec. This filespec follows the conventional DOS filespec search conventions including wildcard searches. Eg. *.* - search for everything. *.COM - search for files ending in .COM A*.EXE - search for files starting with A and ending in .COM CATDISK.COM - search specifically for CATDISK.COM *.?Q? - search for files with an extension containing Q as it's second character. ??.DOC - search for files with two letters as it filename and .DOC as it's extension. Please refer to the DOS manual for further information on file searching patterns. If you do not wish to carry out this option, hit <Esc> at the filespec prompt. When you select option #9, you will be asked where you wish CATDISK to send the output. It may be sent to: <S> - Screen: Upon entering the search spec, scanning of the catalog will commence. If you have status indicators turned on, a counter will increment each time a matching file is found. If at the end of the search, no files were found, an error message will be issued and you will be returned to the main menu. Upon a successful search, the file names will be shown alphabetically, along with the volume name, archive name, and other directory information for that file. You may browse through the list with <PgUp> and <PgDn>, or return to the main menu with <Esc>. Please see the note about the scroll bar on the left side in Appendix B. Starting with Version 1.40 (sub-directories), you may hit <S> to change the display format to show the sub-directory of each file in the listing. If a sub-directory begins with a tilde (~), that means that the sub-directory shown is a sub-directory past the first level (sub-directory within a sub-directory). Hit <N> to get the normal display back. If you wish the sub-directory format to come up by default, use the /SD option when starting CATDISK. See the section "STARTING CATDISK" for details. Starting with Version 3.50 (comments), you may hit <C> to change the display format to show your comments (if any). If you wish this display format to appear by default, use the /CO option when starting CATDISK. Again, see the section "STARTING CATDISK" for details. Better yet, run the program and see for yourself! - Printer: A hardcopy file report will be printed on your printer. The filenames will be ehoed to the screen as they are sent to the printer. Hitting <Esc> at any time during report generation will abort it and return to the main menu. <D> - Disk: A listing in the same format as the hardcopy file report will be produced in a diskette file with the same name as the current catalog filename with an extension of ".LST". Hitting <Esc> at any time during the generation of the report will abort it and return to the main menu. <Esc> - Abort: This will return you to the main menu without producing any output. GENERAL NOTES REGARDING OPTIONS #7, #8 and #9 The reported files shown by these options (either screen, disk, or printer) will be dependent on the state of the ARC/LBR extract toggle. If you have the ARC/LBR extract toggle set to ON or QUERY, any files found in the catalog that reside in ARC/LBR files will be included in the report. If you have the ARC/LBR extract toggle set to OFF, any files found in the atalog that reside in ARC/LBR files will NOT be included in the report, even though they exist in the catalog. OPTION #0: SHOW ALL FILES This option, if viewed on the screen will product a report in the same manner as option #9, except that ALL files in the catalog will be included in the list. It is similar to choosing option #9 and searching for "*.*". The only difference is that the catalog scan will not take place, as it is not necessary for this function. Upon selecting <D>isk or rinter output, CATDISK will present a menu allowing you to specify how you want the report sorted. You may sort this report by filename, Volume ID, or ARC/LBR ID. Simply hit the key beside the appropriate sort spec, and CATDISK will take care of the rest. During the printing of a report, you may abort it at any time by pressing the <Esc> key. If you decide that you do not want to generate a report at this time, you may press <Esc> to return to the main menu without taking any further action. If, during the sorting process, CATDISK runs into a disk problem (such as a full disk, or a disk media problem (read or write error), the process will be aborted and no report will be produced. OPTION F1: ADD/CHANGE FILE COMMENTS There are two places from which this feature can be activated; either at the conclusion of the cataloguing process, or from the main menu. If you select <F1> from the main menu, you will get a sub-menu that will allow you to specify one of two methods for deciding which files to bring up on the screen for commenting. If you select sub-option #1, you will be asked to specify a disk volume. Upon entry of such, CATDISK will go through the catalog and bring up a list of files that currently reside on that disk volume. If you select sub-option #2, you will be asked for a filespec on which to base the search. It functions quite similarily to option #9 (see it for details). If you have the auto-commment feature turned on (either from the command line or the toggles menu), this section will be activated as if you had specified the Volume ID of the disk that you just catalogued; those files will appear on the screen. Once CATDISK has found a group of files for commenting, they will appear on the screen in a format similar to the "COMMENT" screen output format, the main difference being that one of the comments (or blanks) are highlighted in an inverse field. To change a comment, simply move the highlight to the file that you wish to comment, and start typing. When you are done, hit the <Return> key. Other editing keys are as follows: <Left Arrow> - move cursor one character to the left. <Right Arrow> - move cursor one key to the right. <Home> - move cursor to the beginning of the line (once you have started typing). <End> - move cursor to the end of the line (once you have started typing). <Ctrl>-<End> - erase from the cursor to the end of the line. <Del> - delete the character at the cursor and shift the characters on the right to the left. <Backspace> - delete the character before the cursor and shift the characters on the right to the left. <Ins> - toggle insert/overstrike mode - in insert mode the cursor will be slightly fatter than the one in overstrike mode. <Esc> - cancel the changes and restore the line to it's original contents. In some (and probably most) cases, the file list will be too large to fit on the screen. The list may be browsed through by using the keys on the cursor keypad. Their functions: <UP> and <DOWN> will move the highlight bar up or down one file. If you at a screen margin, and there are still more files to be browsed, the listing on the screen will scroll in the appropriate direction. If you can't move any more, you will hear a short beep. <PgUp> and <PgDn> will move you 15 files forward or backward in the list. If you can't move any more, you will hear a short beep. <Home> and <End> will move you to the beginning or end of the group of files respectively. When you are done adding/changing file comments, hit <Esc> to return to the main menu. Two options that do not appear on the screen are: <F9> - Repeat Last Entered Comment: This is handy if you want to repeat a single comment at different places in the list where <F10> (see below) won't suffice, as the comment desired is not directly above the current position. If no comment was previously entered, or the last entered comment was blank, no action will be taken. <F10> - "Ditto": Pressing this key will copy the comment from the entry above. It is handy if you want to copy a comment down a consecutive list of files, or one that was already previously entered at an earlier time, if it is directly above the current position. If the comment above is blank, or you are at the top of the list, no action will be taken. OPTION F2: TEMPORARILY EXIT TO DOS This option, although not really necessary, has been added in response to the numerous requests that I have had for this feature (shows that I am really paying attention to those suggestions, eh?). By selecting this option, CATDISK will be temporarily suspended and you will be returned to the DOS prompt. You may carry out any normal function that you would ordinarily be able to carry out from DOS, provided that there is enough memory remaining in which to run your desired program. When you are done, simply type "EXIT" and hit <Return> to return to CATDISK. Starting with V3.24, this option will ALWAYS be functional, provided that you have enough system memory in which to run it. Please note that if you have the disk cache active at the time you use this function, the contents of the cache will be pitched before calling DOS. When you are finished with DOS, and wish to return to CATDISK, simply type "EXIT" and hit <Return> to return to CATDISK. Please be sure and replace any disks that you had in your drives before returning to CATDISK. Possible errors that you may encounter when you use this option are: Error #1 - Not enough memory for DOS - CATDISK could not allocate enough memory to load a secondary copy of COMMAND.COM Error #2 - Set Block Error - similar to above. Error #3 - Insufficient Memory For - CATDISK was able to allocate Internal Stack Buffer enough memory to load DOS, but there was not enough memory left over to preserve it's own environment. Error #4 - Error Invoking DOS - generally, this means that CATDISK was unable to find COMMAND.COM on the drive and directory defined by the SET COMSPEC= environment string (see the DOS manual for details on the SET command). This is usually set to the location from which COMMAND.COM was loaded when the system was booted. If COMMAND.COM was not not found at the boot location, the root directory of the current drive is attempted. OPTION <drive_letter>: SHOW DISK DIRECTORY To activate this feature, simply type the drive letter of the disk whose directory you wish to view. You will be prompted to insert a disk for drive D where D is the drive letter that you typed. Upon doing this, the label and directory contents will be read just like they would if they were about to be catalogued, but instead of adding them to your catalog, they will be shown directly on the screen in the same format as option #7 - Show Files For A Volume. The ARC scanning feature functions as normal throughout the program. Upon a successful reading of the directory, the file names will be shown alphabetically, along with the volume name, archive name, and other directory information for that file. You may browse through the list with <PgUp> and <PgDn>, or return to the main menu with <Esc>. Please see the note about the scroll bar on the left side in Appendix A. Report formats may be viewed in a similar fashion to that of the other screen reports. OPTION ESC: EXIT TO DOS Select this option when you are finished with CATDISK to terminate it's operation. Upon exit, you will be returned to the DOS prompt. APPENDIX A - THE SCROLL BAR Starting with Version 2.00 of CATDISK, a new feature has been added to the screen display routines. A scroll bar will now appear on the left hand margin indicating approximately where you currently located along the full length of your report. The scroll bar feature will also allow you to move quickly through your report to get to a certain group of files. By simply hitting the <UP ARROW> and <DOWN ARROW> keys, the position on the scroll bar may be moved up or down one increment. The new page number in the report being shown on the screen will be automatically set according to the size of the report (each increment represents one fifteenth of the total length of the report). In a long report, this represents a much nicer way of getting to, say, the files beginning with "R" without having to hit the <PgDn> key a hundred times. Remember... the scroll bar is used to ROUGHLY position yourself among a group of files in a screen report. Oh, by the way, if you hit the <UP ARROW> key when you are at the top of the report, the scroll bar position will wrap down to the bottom of the report. This makes it quicker to get to the bottom of things without having to progress through the entire report. Hitting the <DOWN ARROW> key will wrap to the top of the report as well. APPENDIX B - ARCHIVE AND LIBRARY SUPPORT This version of CATDISK currently supports the archive utility from System Enhancement Associates and the popular public domain Library Utility (LU). CATDISK can extract directory information from archives created with SEAWARE'S ARC utility, version 5.12 or earlier, or any compatible archive generating program. These files commonly have a file extension of .ARC, and any files with this extention will be examined by CATDISK to see if it is a valid archive. If so, the directory information of each file in the archive will be extracted and added to the catalog if the Auto ARC/LBR Extraction feature is turned ON. Files extracted from an ARChive will have a file attribute of "*ARC". Recently, PKWARE released a version of their FAST! ARChive utility PKARC V2.0. This new version supports a new data compression method called Squashing, which is now supported starting with version 3.10 of CATDISK. The old restrictions that existed in the previous versions of CATDISK no longer exist. Files created by the Library Utility (LU) and conform to the fifth revision of the formal definition of the library file format are also fully supported. These files commonly have a file extension of .LBR, and any files with this extension will be examined by CATDISK to see if they are valid .LBR files. If this is so, and the Auto ARC/LBR Extraction Feature is turned ON, the directory information of each file in the library will be extracted and added to the catalog. Files extracted from a library will have a file attribute of "*LBR". APPENDIX C - DUPLICATE FILE NAMES AND CATALOGUING HARD DISKS A number of users have made a request to have CATDISK show a list of files that have been duplicated over a number of diskettes. There is no need for an extra option to support this request, as the existing reports that may be derived from options #9 and #0 show files in alphabetical order. Any duplicate files will be clustered together, and it is quite easy to spot duplicate files in this manner. If you choose option #9 and ask for a specific file (i.e. no wildcards), ALL instances of that file in the catalog will be reported. Even though CATDISK is capable of reading a hard disk and cataloguing it to SOME degree, it was never meant to catalog a hard disk, as there are many excellent hard disk managers on the market that do a commendable job of allowing you to browse through your file structure; far better than catdisk would enable you to. The whole idea behind CATDISK is to allow you to see what's on your floppy disks, to find out which disk a given file is on, as well as to see what the status of each diskette is without having to insert them into your computer each time. With a hard disk, you have all of your files online - readily accessible - and to catalogue such a drive is overkill, in my opinion. APPENDIX D - SUPPORT AND UPDATES As I said in the introduction, I will only offer advice and technical support to those who contribute via the SHAREWARE concept. Users who do contribute will be notified when updates and new products are available. Anyone wishing to offer advice and suggestions are most welcome to do so. I may be reached on CompuServe at I.D. # 73307,333, or on The PEARL BBS in WATERLOO, Ontario, Canada, under my name, Rick Hillier. You may also correspond via your FAX machine, if you have access to one. My FAX number is: (519)-884-4887 Telephone support (or any support for that matter) is available to registered users only. My voice line is (519)-888-6763. The most up to date version of CATDISK is always available on The PEARL, which may be reached at (519)-576-6754, 24 hrs. a day. Please note that The PEARL is a pay board (normally $25/year), but I have made arrangements with the Sysop to obtain memberships for CATDISK subscribers who include an extra five dollars with their subscription, along with their first name, last name, and a password to use on the board. One restriction must be made on this offer... you must live at least 125 miles outside the Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario, Canada area in order to qualify. You will be validated immediately upon my receiving your cheque or money order. Even if you do not wish to have a PEARL membership, you can still see what changes and revisions have been made to date by going to the bulletins section of the board. You do not have to be a registered PEARL user to use this feature. Those of you who register your copy of CATDISK and wish to receive an update to the latest version (from me and not The PEARL), please include an extra $10.00 with your registration to cover materials and shipping costs. I will send you the latest version of CATDISK upon receipt of your registration. Please specify the version of CATDISK that you currently have. If there have not been any updates made since your version, I will wait until the next release of CATDISK to send your update. Optionally, you may include a diskette and diskette mailer with your registration plus $2.50 to cover shipping costs, and I will send you the latest version of CATDISK. If you do have a question, or a bug report, or whatever, in your correspondence, please indicate the following: 1) The version of CATDISK that you are using. 2) Your hardware configuration (Model, memory size, printer, etc.) 3) Any resident software that you have loaded in memory at the time. (i.e. Sidekick, SuperKey, Disk Caches, Print Spoolers, Ramdisks, etc.) This information will help me to track any problems and to suggest reasonable solutions to your problems. OTHER PRODUCTS AVAILABLE For all you avid golfers out there, my software company, Neptune Software Inc. in Waterloo, Ontario has a golf handicap system available, called HANDICAP II, that goes way beyond just calculating a simple golf handicap. Among the many features of this program are: 1) Pull down menus for ease of use. 2) On line context sensitive help. 3) Storage capacity for up to 100 different golf courses. 4) Storage capacity for up to 32767 rounds of golf. (score and number of putts on each hole can be logged) 5) Instant retrieval of past played games, and the ability to browse through them. 6) An expanded handicap card that is more informative than a standard handicap card. 7) A report showing your average score on each hole on each course. - good for spotting habitual trouble holes. 8) A report showing your average putts on each green on each course. - good for spotting habitual troublesome greens. 9) A report showing how often you hit each green in regulation. - good for analyzing your tee-to-green game on each hole. 10) Many more statistical reports of interest to you. 11) Full housekeeping routines to correct mistakes (but I'll bet that you never make any, right?!?) 12) Support for most popular printers. * ALL reports may be viewed on the screen or printed on your printer. * Pop up windows are used extensively, adding to the ease of use of the program. We also have a clubhouse version available with all of the above plus: 1) A simple date-differential entry system for those who do not wish to have all the detail of the enhanced reports. 2) Capacity to maintain handicaps for over 1000 members (you are only limited by disk size). 3) Full system manager functions available only to authorized users. 4) A handicap listing (in alphabetical order by member name) of the handicaps of all the members in the system. 5) This version of HANDICAP II may be used on multi-user systems without user file conflict. Ordering Information The GOLFERS version of HANDICAP II is available for $89.95, and the CLUB HOUSE version is available for $295.00. Please note that these prices are in Canadian funds. They may be ordered from: NEPTUNE SOFTWARE, INC. 405 Barrington Lane Waterloo, Ontario Canada N2T 1H9 Phone: (519)-888-6763 Fax: (519)-884-4887