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Text File | 1987-03-26 | 44.5 KB | 872 lines

Underdog's FileFetcher v2.06 March 21,1987 (C) Crater Rim Software I wrote this program to (attempt) to get a better hold on the files I have available on the BBS. What with 280megs (soon to be 350megs) and some 10,000+ files, I suddenly found myself lost in a sea of ARC files! The original layout of the hard drives was some 20 or so categories (directories) but after a while, I got tired of having to read the doc file of each new upload, then make a determination of what category it fell into... and sometimes having to 'fudge' on that dertimination because the file content didn't quite fit into an appropriate 'niche'! I also found that the system was spending an extraordinary amount of time hunting for a file requested for download. So, I loaded up the BBS source code and modified the file request category (directory) search routine to the following: My first step was to re-organize all of the hard drives creating 1 letter directories each biginning with a letter of the alphabet. That netted me 26 directories (A thru Z). I then loaded the directories according to the first character of the filename ( ALBERT.ARC went into directory A - XYZ.ARC when into directory X). This was all well and good but I found that there were certain directories which were getting a lion's share of the files. I quickly modified the directory specifications in the BBS software to allow upto 6 letters. This allowed me to create 2600 directories (100 for each letter C:\A, C:\A1, C:\A2 ... C:\A99), thus allowing a limit to the number of files in each directory. This covered all the possible filenames except for three categories... Those filenames beginning with numbers (like 123UNP.ARC), those files starting with all of the other filename characters allowed by DOS (like !TROJAN!.ARC) and finally the uncataloged new uploads. Simple enough, created three catch- all directories... the number directory was named 00 the miscellaneous directory was named NA and the upload directory was named 0 Nice and easy now! Simply store each new file in the first character directory! Now I was in business, right? WRONG!!! Another trip to the BBS source code corrected the problems... The old file search process went something like this: 1) User requests a file. 2) System first checks the new upload directory 3) If it isn't there, it then steps through the other designated directories one at a time, searching all of the drives, all of the directories until the file is found or the system runs out of directory names. Not a whole lot of time consumed, but the hard drive lights look like a Christmas tree and Ma' Bell keeps that clock ticking! The new file search process goes something like this: 1) User requests a file. 2) System first checks the new upload directory 3) If it isn't theren it then checks the first character of the filename A) If it's a number, it jumps directly to the catch_all number directory. B) If it's a letter, the system loops through the designated directory names, checking only those directory names which begin with a matched letter. C) If the first character didn't fall into either of the above, or if it did but was not found in the above searches, the miscellaneous directory is then searched So from a potential 20+ category/10,000 file search under the old method, in most cases, the new method requires only a 3 or 4 category/1000 file search. OK, NOW I was in business, right? WRONG!!! Now that I got the BBS up to speed, I found that I was spending an extraordinary amount of time trying to locate files! Under the new method, the directories went from 21 to 36! I found I was constantly doing a directory of the hard drives just to see what directories were on what drives! Next step was to dig out, unpack and test all of the different FINDIT type programs I have online. Well, I've got to admit, there are some great FINDIT type programs out there! Some do a search of only one drive, others do a search across drives, others do a search inside ARC files... etc. etc. etc... BUT.... First - I found that they all operate the same way my old search method worked! I had two available options when executing any of these programs. 1) Blindly searching each and every hard drive completely until the file is found. 2) Doing a root directory of each hard drive to find the directory which may possibly contain the file I was looking for. Then calling up the file finder to locate the file (I'm already there, why bother!) Second - if I wanted to list the members of the ARC file I was looking for, I would have two more options. 1) Find the file using the finder, write the drive\directory path down on a scrap of paper, exit the finder, then do an PKXARC V (or ARC V) 2) Use a finder that would search EACH arc file (that would take months and I had to designate a member file to look for!) Third - if I wanted to look for another ARC file, I had to go through the ENTIRE process again! Now, since I had already written the routines for the ARC V (verbose listing of ARCfile members) and it was fully functional in both the BBS software and K9X (my communications package)... and since I had just completed the routines for this efficient new way to search my drives for a file, the next logical step was to merge the routines and create my own file finder.... Welcome to FETCH - Underdog's FileFetcher! N O W I A M I N B U S I N E S S !!! (You Too!) This program combines a number of functions into one all around utility which I have found almost a prerequisite when working with a hard drive! A note here on where the FETCH files can reside. Upon start up, FETCH makes note of where all of the FETCH support files are located. In order to allow you the flexibility to startup FETCH from any drive\directory on your system, I've included a routine that will search your system environment for FETCH= What this allows you to do, is place the FETCH files in a special directory or in your DOS directory and place a line into your AUTOEXEC.BAT file which will allow FETCH to find its overlay files and the FETCH.CNF file no matter where you are on your system's drives. Let's take a couple of examples: Example one: You place the FETCH.COM and FETCH.CNF files in a directory named FETCH on drive C Add the line SET FETCH=C:\FETCH to your AUTOEXEC.BAT file If you haven't previously set a DOS path, Add the line PATH=C:\FETCH to your AUTOEXEC.BAT file If you have set a DOS path, Add ;C:\FETCH to your path statement in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file Example two: You place the FETCH files in with your DOS files in the directory previously named DOS on drive D Add the line SET FETCH=D:\DOS to your AUTOEXEC.BAT file If you haven't previously set a DOS path, Add the line PATH=D:\(your DOS directory) to your AUTOEXEC.BAT file PLEASE NOTE that you MUST reboot your system in order for DOS to know where you have placed the FETCH files. Upon completing the initial startup, FETCH will automatically write the FETCH.CNF file to the area you specified in the SET and PATH lines of your AUTOEXEC.BAT file. Now that you have the files in the proper location, modified your AUTOEXEC.BAT and have rebooted your system, your first step to using the program is to copy the FETCH files into either the FETCH or your DOS directory. Now type FETCH at the DOS prompt. This sequence will step you through the creation of the configuration file, allowing you to custom configure FETCH to your own tastes. Let me step though the options. Upon startup, FETCH will automatically determine whether or not you are using a CGA card and set the default mode to what it finds. FETCH will then open up the first of several windows. The first window is the flag for whether or not you want the directory listings displayed in LIVING COLOR or just (BLAH!!) black and white. The default setting is determined initially by whatever FETCH finds when it queries your system for a CGA card. The default setting will be displayed in inverse colors. Simply hit the ENTER key. With this menu, and all of the menus in FETCH, there are two ways in which to select the different options. 1) Use the up and down arrow keys or the space bar to move the highlighted cursur from one option to another. When you have positioned the cursor where over the option you want, simply hit the ENTER key. If you are not using the Screen writes option (you are NOT during the first portions of the initial setup), you will have to tap one of the arrow keys or the space bar (rather than press and hold) to move the highlighted cursor. 2) Type the first letter (upper or lower case) of the option you want to use. This is the fastest way! If you should hit a wrong key, FETCH will display an <ERROR> message down on line 26 of the screen. The next menu to appear will contain the list of available colors for menu frame, menu text, menu title and lastly, the border color. If you are satisfied with the current menu colors, simply type Q. If you want to change the menu colors, do so now. When you have selected your choices (or hit ENTER for the default settings), move the highlighted cursor to the Q)uit option and hit ENTER (You MUST use the Q)uit option or FETCH will simply keep on cycling through the different Menu Color menus). The next menu to appear will contain the list of available colors for directory listing filename, filesize, filedate, filetime and transfer times colors. A second window will open toward the bottom of the screen displaying a sample fileline. Again, if you are satisfied with the default colors, type Q. If not, change them now. When you have selected your choices (or hit ENTER for the default settings), move the highlighted cursor to the Q)uit option and hit ENTER (You MUST use the Q)uit option or again, FETCH will simply keep on cycling through the different Global Color menus). The next menu displayed will allow you to complete the majority of the configuration of FETCH. The first choice here is to type S and check to see if your system will allow direct screen updates. If it will not, you may have to do a [Ctrl C] to abort FETCH, and start over again. If your system will handle direct screen updates, it will speed up the screen displays considerably. Another window will now open showing what setting is current status of the S)creen Writes option (in the form of [YES] or [NO]) and then prompt you to type Y or N to the question being asked. PLEASE NOTE that ALL Yes/No (Y/N) questions will default to YES if you simply hit the ENTER key. How you repond is not that critical here... but it WILL be VERY critical in other sections of Fetch -Such as during the Delete File option!!! So, be sure you think out your reponses before you type them it! So type Y (or hit ENTER) now. FETCH uses a DOS shell to access your ARC program(s) so that you can make (create), test, type a text file member, and unpack arc files. The A option allows you to define which ARCing, UnARCing utilities you wish to use. Along with the ARC utility name, you must also supply the appropriate options for that particular ARCing function. Type A and let's take a look at the default values. Our first choice is the M)ake an ARC. Type M now. The window at the base of you screen shows you that the default program for creating an arc file is PKARC /OC A I have chosen Phil Katz' PK series for the speed in which they do their job. In creating an arc file, the /OC parameter tells PKARC NOT to use the squashing method. The reason for this will become clear when we discuss the R)ead an ARC Text file option. If you wish to use the original ARC.EXE utility, simply enter ARC A in place of the default setting. If you simply hit ENTER now, no changes will be made. Type R now. As you can see, I have chosen Vern Buerg's ARCTYPE for this option. ARCTYPE cannot read squashed files (thus the /OC when creating ARC files). The reason I chose Vern's ARCTYPE is because it pauses after each screen and displays a [More] prompt. The one flaw I have found with ARCTYPE is that the only way you can stop the display is by issuing a Control C at the [More] prompt. No problem though, as this simply returns you to FETCH. If you want to use ARC.EXE here, enter ARC P in place of the default setting. If you are using PKXARC, enter PKXARC/C NOTE: If you are using PKXARC for this option, you may wish to change the default setting for the M)ake option above to PKARC A so that PKARC will take advantage of the Squashing Method of file compression. Again, an ENTER response exits this window without making any changes. Type T now. The default for T)esting an ARC is PKXARC/T If you are using ARC.EXE, the test command is ARC T ENTER exits you back to the menu. Type U now. The default for U)npacking an ARC is PKXARC If you are using ARC.EXE, the unpack command is either ARC E or ARC X (see the ARC.EXE documentation for more details). ENTER exits you back to the menu. Type Q at the ARC Utilities menu to return to the Defaults Menu. NOTE: You may have noticed that the ARC List function is not included in this section. The ARC List is built in to FETCH and displays the ARC listing in FULL LIVING COLOR! At this point you have already completed the B)ase Colors option so lets move on to the next option. Option B is new in version 2.05. It allows you to define the backup and restore utilities commands and the Floppie Drive designator that will be used during system backup and restore. There are three parameters which you may set/reset through this option. They are: The Command to backup the system (14 characters maximum with the default set to DOS BACKUP.COM) The Command to restore the system (14 characters maximum with the default set to DOS RESTORE.COM) The BackUp Drive designator which will hold the backed up files during the backup procedure (20 characters maximum with the default set to drive A:) The Restore Drive designator which will hold the backed up files during the restore procedure (20 characters maximum with the default set to drive A:) During both the backup and restore functions, Fetch uses the predefined drive\directory names list to backup/restore each specified pathname individually. During the backup procedure, Fetch loops through the entire drive\directory list building and passing the following parameter line to the DOS BACKUP.COM via a DOS Shell for each entry in your drive\directory list: backup_command + ' ' + drive\path[#] + '\*.* ' + backup_drive As you can see, Fetch adds the required spaces and last backslash *.* to the drive\path[#] (the [#] being the loop number) automatically. During the restore, the process is identical except that the string passed to DOS RESTORE.COM is: restore_command + restore_drive + ' ' + drive\path[#] + '\*.* ' I have defined the maximum string lengths for each of these defaults to 14, 14, 20 and 20 respectively so that you will have enough 'space' to add whatever options you desire. If you are using FASTBACK or the like, you can use the default_drive parameters to hold the required Y/N prompts instead of a drive specifier as FASTBACK uses all available floppie drives (as opposed to just one). Note: When customizing these parameters to use FASTBACK or the like, remember that Fetch automatically adds the \*.* as a file specifier. Option D allows you to designate the default command to be used in the DOS command option of the Utilities menu (discussed later). There is a special character which is used here... it is the vertical bar | (not the colon :). This allows you to enter a portion of a command and when this option is selected, FETCH will prompt you for the remainder of the command. Let me see if I can clear this point up... There are some programs which require a command line parameter to be specifed when starting up that program... such as a word processor requiring a filename for the file to be edited. The vertical bar allows you to make this designation. Your DOS Command might look like: Your program name is EDIT.COM When you use it, you type EDIT myfile.txt Your DOS COmmand will be EDIT | When you choose the DOS Command option, FETCH will replace the vertical bar with whatever else you enter. If you simply hit ENTER, FETCH will start that program by itself without any additional parameters. The default value here is simply the vertical bar. In effect, the vertical bar by itself acts the same as the DOS Shell option discussed later. As you have already seen, the menus are displayed in a straight print type routine. The E option will display the menus in an exploding fashion. If you opt for exploding menus, FETCH will display the menus by starting at a central point and expanding the menu frames out to their normal size, simulating an explosion. Type E and then type Y and decide for yourself if you want exploding menus! If you decide not to have this type of menu, simply type E again and then N. Option F allows you to specify if you want FETCH to do a straight sequential search or a designated search of the drive\directory list. The designated search requires that your files are stored in the same fashion as I set up the BBS directories... the actual list sequence for the designated search is covered further on in this document. Most 'normal' users will not require this special designated search feature. Type F then Y for a sequential search pattern or N for the special designated search. We've already completed the M)enu Colors option. Option N allows you to specify the number od directories in your list. The range is from a minimum of 2 to a maximum of 80. The default here is 2... NOTE that this number DOES NOT include the the Default Path drive\directory (option P below). You will have to count up and make a list of the drive\directory\subdirectory paths you have on your system. I will explain how to edit the directory list later on, but you will have to enter the total number of entries in your list from this option. Option P allows you to designate the default drive\directory (in my case, this is my new upload directory) which is the first to be search upon each and every search request. A note here... The total allowable length is 29 characters. That includes the drive designator. Also, FETCH automatically inserts the last backslash \ when using this or any of the directory names in your list. DO NOT include the last backslash! Take note to the default setting which is displayed when you select this option. Notice that it is simply a C: without the backslash. When FETCH uses this entry, it will be C:\ Option T is another special feature. Since there are numerous times when I am looking for a file so that I can upload it to another BBS or transfer it to a client, FETCH will display approximate transfer times at 1200, 2400 and 9600 bps (as you've already seen when selecting your B)ase Colors). The T)ransfer Times option enables and disables this option. When you type T, FETCH will first ask if you want the transfer times displayed. If you type Y to have them displayed, FETCH will then allow you to turn on (or off) any combination of the three baud rate times. Examples: if you only have a 300/1200 modem, you can disable the 2400b and 9600b times by responding with a Y for the 1200b and N for the 2400b and 9600b if you have a 300/1200/2400 modem, you can disable the 9600b by responding with a Y for the 1200b, another Y for the 2400b and a N for the 9600b The last option in this set concerns which files will have their transfer times displayed. If you respond with a Y here, all files will have their transfer times displayed... If you respond with an N only those files having an extension of ARC (ie: FETCH.ARC) will have their transfer times displayed. If, after opting to display transfer times, you then set all the times to off (by reponding N to the individual baud rates), the original display transfer times flag will be set to No. If you type N to the T)ransfer times option, none of the transfer times will be displayed. Option W will save any changes you have made to the FETCH.CNF file residing with the FETCH program. Please note, upon your initial startup of FETCH, the FETCH.CNF file is automatically saved... HOWEVER, any subsequent changes you may make will NOT be automatically saved. If you want the changes to be there when you startup FETCH the next time, YOU MUST use this option. Option Q is your route out of this menu. Both options (W and Q) will cause an exit from the defaults section, the difference being that, other than during this initial startup, the Q option does not save any changes you may have made. The changes will be active, but not saved to the disk copy of FETCH.CNF configuration file. Once out of your initial setup menu, (hit ENTER with option q highlighted), FETCH will clear the screen and display the prompt: Search Specification: ([Enter]= *.*, [?]= Drive_List): Since we are not done with the initial setup (and I want to explain the Utilities menu to you). Simply hit ENTER at this time. FETCH will now display a directory of your current logged drive\directory. If you have more than one page worth of files listings, you will encounter the prompt: More ([Esc], [Y]es/[Enter], [N]o, [C]ontinuous)... Briefly, your choices here are pretty straight forward. Hitting the Enter or the Y key will simply scroll up the next page of files listings. The N response here will stop any further listing and take you to the final prompt. The C response will scroll all of the remaining files listings for this directory non-stop. The Esc response represents the Escape key. It brings up the Utilities menu which allows you to 'work' on a file or files mid-stream in the directory listing. This command will be discussed in detail later on... If you have the More ([Esc], [Y]es/[Enter], [N]o, [C]ontinuous)... prompt displayed now, hit the N key. If not, you should be at the prompt That's It! [Esc] [A]gain or [Enter]/[Quit] This prompt signals the end of the directory listing. I will cover the available commands for the this prompt in detail later on but briefly... The Esc response is the same as described above. It allows you to enter the utilities section and work on files. The A response recycles FETCH by simulating the DOS command line parameters so you can continually cycle FETCH without ever exiting the program! This option and the DOS command line parameters will be discussed in detail further on... But for now, hit the Escape (Esc) key. You should have the Utilities menu display in the upper right corner. I have attempted to place all of the main work windows up in this area so the majority of the directory listing will be visible. Utilities Options: ARC Type This routine will prompt you for the source filename. Note that if you do not specify a drive\directory path, FETCH will use your drive names list to automatically find the specified arc file for you. If, on the other hand, you specify a drive\directory path, FETCH will use that information instead of using the drive names list. This is true of all instances where the [d:\][path\] is included in the prompt line. When using any of the ARC functions, the .ARC extension is assumed so you do not have to type the .ARC after the filename. If you simply hit ENTER here, FETCH will return you to the Utilities menu without any further action. After entering the source file name, FETCH will prompt you for the File(s) to type. If you are using ARCTYPE, you will not be able to use wildcards and must specify the full filename to be typed. If you are not sure of the name, use the L)ist ARC option (discussed later). If you are using PKXARC, you may use wild cards as described in the PKXARC documentation. Backup/Restore This routine will perform a system backup and/or system restore using the your predefined drive\directory list and the default values set earlier in the backup portion of the defaults section. NOTE that Fetch backs up each (and every) drive\directory in the list individually. NOTE ALSO no backup/restoration will be made on any drive\directory that does not appear in your list. To use this option, simply select either the Backup or Restore option. Fetch will perform a DOS shell and pass both the parameter string and control to the back/restore utility. Upon completion, you will be returned to the Fetch Utilities menu and your screen will be restored to whatever was displayed. Copy File This routine will prompt you for the source and target file names. You may enter a full drive\path for one and or the other. FETCH will check both source and target filenames to make sure all is ok... If it finds a duplicate target filename, it will let you know and give you the opportunity to overwrite the target file or abort the file copy operation. Unlike other 'in program' files copiers which only copy 128 bytes at a time, FETCH uses a 16K buffer for a FAST efficient copy! Additionally, FETCH will ask if you wish to delete (erase) the source file upon successfully completing the copy. DOS Command This routine, along with the DOS Shell are probably the most powerful features of FETCH! They give you total flexibility from within FETCH. This option uses the default DOS Command specified in the Defaults Section (see default DOS Command option above). It acts exactly the same as specifying a command when using the DOS Shell option. The only difference is this option allows you to predesignate a commonly used program command and not have to type the command each time you use the program. Please study the Default DOS Command option in the Utilities section above. Erase File This routine allows you to erase a file. Again, you may enter a full drive\path. You will be asked to confirm the erasure prior to FETCH performing the task. Free Space This routine will return the space remaining on any valid drive. Simply type in the letter of the drive. In Memory of This option will display the current program version, compile date and the program dedication. List ARC This routine allows you to list the members of an ARC file. It displays a modified verbose listing, excluding the compression method. You may designate a full drive\path here also. Make ARC This routine is identical to the ARC Type option except that it will first prompt you for the name of the arc file you wish to create (taget) and then for the file(s) you wish to place into the arcfile. You may use any wildcards here. And you may also specify full paths for both the target arcfile and the source member files. New FileName This option allows you to rename a file. Your first input is the name of the file to be changed. If no drive\path is specified in you input, FETCH will use the drive\directory name list to find the file. Once found, FETCH will request the new file name. Again, FETCH will use the drive\directory name list to see if that filename exists anywhere else on your system. If a match is found, FETCH compares the matched file's drive\directory with that of the file you wish to rename. If these two paths match, the rename file function is aborted without any changes being made. If the two paths do not match, FETCH will display the already existing drive\path\filename and ask if you wish to continue. A Y response here will go ahead and rename the file regardless of the duplication. A N response will again abort the rename file function without any changes begin made. If, in its search for a match to the new filename, FETCH does not find a match, one last check is made in the drive\path of the file to be renamed. The operation is aborted if a match is found or completed of no match is found. Registration This option displays two screens. The first screen is the Crater Rim Software Logo. The second screen is the program licensing summary. I could have placed this in full sight but didn't... so please read and heed! Parameters This is your doorway to the Defaults Menu (where we just came from). If you wish to change any of your default settings at any time, this is the way in! Upon exiting the Defaults Menu you will be returned to this (Utilities) menu. Shell to DOS This routine allows you to drop to DOS without exiting FETCH. Upon selecting this option, FETCH will open a window and prompt you for a command to be executed. You may start up any program (memory permitting) or simply drop to DOS. NOTE: If you drop to DOS and change directories, be sure to log back into the directory in which you first dropped to DOS. Secondly, you MUST type EXIT at the DOS prompt in order to return to FETCH. These two restrictions only apply if you drop directly to DOS. If you enter a commnd at the prompt, FETCH will automatically restart upon exiting the secondary program. NOTE that, while at the DOS level within the DOS Shell, your cursor will be a large block as opposed to the standard underline type cursor. Test ARC This routine allows you to test the integrety of one or more ARC files. Again, if you specify a drive\directory path, FETCH will use that information. If no drive\directory is specified, FETCH will use the drive name list. You may use any valid wildcards here. With PKXARC, the single * without a drive\directory path will test all arc files found in every drive\directory in you drive names list! The single * with a drive\directory will text all arc files in that directory. Again, the ARC extension is assumed. Unpack ARC This routine allows you to unpack an arc file. You may desingnate both the source arcfile path and the drive\directory in which to place the extracted files. View File This routine allows you to view a text file. This option is for text files which are NOT within an ARC file! A straight page by page display of the specifed text file is made. Your prompt line allows you to stop the display at any time or do a C)ontinuous non-stop display of the text file. Quit This option returns you to the directory section of FETCH. Notice that your original place with the directory listing has not been altered. You may now continue on to another page of files listings, hit the Escape key and enter this section again, or simply exit FETCH completely. Let's exit this section and go back to the directory listing. Hit the q key or highlight the Quit option and hit Enter... I had mentioned exiting FETCH in the Quit option above. Since we are at a prompt line, this is a good place to explain your exit options. If you are positioned at a More ([Esc], [Y]es/[Enter], [N]o, [C]ontinuous)... prompt, your exit routine is a two key operation. First hit the N key to prevent any further directory listing. Then simply hit ENTER or Q at the That's It! [Esc] [A]gain or [Enter]/[Quit] prompt. If I recall, we were at the 'That's It!' Prompt when we entered the Utlities section. So let's finish up your tour. Hit the A key. You will notice that the prompt line has changed to: [\] [spec] [/spec] or [Enter] These are the command line parmaeters which may be passed to FETCH upon startup. They are: \ Forces FETCH to do a directory of the root of the logged drive. This is equivilant to typing Dir C:\ at the DOS prompt. Execution of this option at the DOS command line would take the form FETCH \ spec This may be any drive\path\search criteria. FETCH will aoutmatically perform a directory listing using the specified search specification. Valid entry examples: C:\DOS\ or D:\MYDIR\A*.T?T or A:\ C:\DIR1\DIR2\DIR3\*.ARC or C:\DOS\FET* /spec This option is the same as spec above except it forces FETCH to use the drive\directory list so DO NOT include the drive\directory path here! FETCH will ONLY search those drive\directory names previously specified in the program configuration. Valid entry examples: / or /A*.T?T or /*.ARC /FET* Enter This option simply takes you back to the prompt line Search Specification: ([Enter]= *.*, [?]= Drive_List): And, at this point, that's exactly where we want to go! So, hit the Enter key! First a note about entering Search Specifications... Entering an asterik/period (*.) without the extension will cause FETCH to display only the Directory Entries (all directory entries containing the <DIR> designation including the . <DIR> and .. <DIR> entries from within a directory). If no period or period/extension is supplied, Fetch will automatically add the .* to your search specification. We should now be at the prompt line Search Specification: ([Enter]= *.*, [?]= Drive_List): Our next detour is to the Drive_List section so type a question mark and hit the Enter key. Your screen should now contain the following: ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dir[ 0]=C: FileFetcher Drive/Dir Names Page 1 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dir[ 1]=C: Dir[ 2]=C: ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Which Dir number [0..2] [P]age [E]dit or [C]lear There are a possible two full pages (40 per page) of drive\dir names. You are presently viewing page 1 as noted in the upper right corner. Unless you have specified more than 40 directory names in the Defaults Menu section, page 1 will be the only page you will be able to access. If you have specifed more than 40 directory names, page 1 will display the first 40 entries and page 2 will display the remaining entries up to the maiximum 80. Dir[ 0] is the default path which you specified from within the Defaults Menu section and will remain visible no matter which page you are viewing. Your options here are: 0..2 These numbers are the maximum (as configured earlier) available directory names available. The 0 represents the default path name, the 2 designates the total number of directory names you have set. A choice of a number from 0 to 2 will allow you to view the directory listing for a specified drive\directory. Upon selecting a number, your prompt will change, displaying the actual drive designator (including the final backslash) and wait for you to input a search specification. Enter your search criteria and hit Enter. FETCH will then procedd to diplay all matches found in that drive\directory. If you simply hit Enter for the search spec prompt, FETCH will insert *.* as the search criteria. [P]age This is the paging command. It will switch you from page 1 to page 2 if you have designated more than 40 drive\directory names in your configuration. If you have less than 40 drive\directory names designated, this command will have no effect. [E]dit This command places you into an endless loop! Upon selecting the edit option, FETCH will open a window prompting you for a number from 0 to 1 more than the maximum designated (and number larger than the maximum designated or simply an Enter response exits the loop). Upon entering a valid number, FETCH will open another window, displaying the present value for that drive name and prompt you for a new value. Hitting Enter here will restore that entry to its previous value, refresh the displayed listing, and return you to the entry number input window again. You may continue editing the assorted entries until you are satisfied... at which time, either enter a value larger than the configured maximum or hit the Enter key to exit the edit mode. Oh yes, the maximum drive\directory length here is also 29 characters... and again, do not include the trailing backslash. Valid entry names: C:\FOO\BAR\YOU\ME\TODAY\NOW C:\K9X\MININET\DOWNLOAD C:\DOS C: Be sure to include all of the drive\directory names you wish FETCH to search. Any drive\directory not specifeid will not be searched. If you want to use the special disignated search feature (see the introduction above), your drive\directory entries must be as follows: Drive 0 Default Logged Drive Drive 1 The catch-all number drive\directory Drive 2 The catch-all miscellaneous drive\directory Drive 3 ... Drive 80 the Alphabetically named drive\directories If you have one directory named P and need a second directory with the P letter, simply create a directory named P1 increase the default menu number of drive names by one, edit the new last entry to reflect the drive\directory name. It does NOT matter that the P and P1 directory names are not next to eachother as FETCH will ONLY search those two directories, along with the default drive 0 and possibly the catch_all miscellaneous directory. [C]lear The number entry portion of this command functions identically to the edit mode. Upon entering a valid entry number, FETCH will automatically delete the current directory entry value and replace it with C: If you no longer require the use of cleared entries, and the cleared entries are located in the middle of your list, you should compress your list and replace all cleared entries with the last most entries, then enter the Defaults Menu Section and decrease the total number of directory entries. Any duplicate drive\directory names will only slow down the performance of FETCH when using the drive_list feature. That takes care of the drive_list section! Hit the Enter key when you are ready and let FETCH do its thing! I think that only leaves one (or two) commands yet to be discussed... These reside in the command line parameters section. The easiest way the display the commnad line help screen is from the DOS command prompt. So let's exit FETCH now... type N at the 'More' prompt, then hit Enter at the 'That's It!' prompt. Back to DOS! Along with the command line parameters already covered, there are some special command line parameters which have not been discussed yet. The first one is the question mark. Type FETCH ? at the DOS command prompt. The help screen should now be displayed on your screen. The [\], [/spec], [spec] have already been covered. The [?] you just used, so the only one remaining is the [`] parameter. Starting FETCH with a ` (in the form of FETCH ` ), takes you directly to the Utilities menu, bypassing all of the other directory functions. Your screen will be blank except for the Utilities Menu in the upper right corner. Upon exiting the Utilities menu, FETCH will place you at the 'That's It!' prompt. From that point you may choose any of the available options to enter the directory mode or simply hit the Enter key to exit back to DOS. Well, I think that just about does it! You've had the full guided tour of the power available from within FETCH. One last point I would like to mention... and that's registration. FETCH is distributed under the terms outlined within the program's 'Program Info' section and more importantly, under the licensing agreement supplied within the FETCH.ARC file. I wont go into details here as the licensing agreement says it all. The only point I want to make is that all proceeds received from this program, K9X, PopEdit, and the other programs I have written and released go toward the upkeep and maintenance of Underdog's MiniNet BBS. And a special plea for all the authors who supply all the programs you download and use... After being both a user and a Sysop for over 10 years now, I know that alot of you say 'What the Hell, what does he know whether I'm using his program or not'. I also know that an equal number (if not more) use the programs available to them and make a mental note to register the program but never quite get around to doing it. And, in both cases, you are right! It is true that the authors do not know who is using their program and who is not. The point I am trying to make is that over the years, I have seen more and more 'ShareWare' programs go commercial because the ShareWare users neglected to register a package they were using. I've also seen authors of really good programs simply stop writing and releasing their work due to the lack of support. I've seen thousands upon thousands of users log onto the MiniNet and download countless numbers of files. I know that they are using the programs by the way that they hunt out and download the latest versions. Unless you guys (and gals) start supporting the authors by registering these programs, sooner or later the 'source' is going to dry up. The only losers at that point will by yourselves! I urge you to please support the authors of the programs you use by registering them. The $20.00 or $30.00 or whatever is requested is a small price to pay to keep this whole concept alive and thriving. Enjoy and.... Keep the Faith. Sal Manaro Underdog's MiniNet Crater Rim Software