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ACB GEXDIRHF GEExtended Diskette Directory ProgramHF GEVersion 5.4HF March 4,1984 Barry N. Shiffrin Dept. F58/5M00 IBM Endicott, NY 13760 VNET GDLPD(SHIFFRIN) Home address: 2309 Acorn Dr. Vestal, NY 13850 XDIR VERSION 5.4 Page ii GE-ABSTRACTHF- This manual describes the operation of the XDIR program which will aid you in keeping track of the programs which are on your diskettes. ABSTRACT ii XDIR VERSION 5.4 Page iii GE-PREFACEHF- Have you ever lost track of which diskette contained a particular file? Do you spend a lot of time searching for files and also for a diskette with enough room to store a particular new program? If these problems are affecting you, then this program should make your work much easier. XDIR will read the directory information directly from your diskettes and keep these entries in a separate file listed under an ID which you assign to your diskette. Ideally this ID will be written on the label of the diskette itself. In the future, as the contents of your diskettes change you may delete or add their file contents to the master file from XDIR. XDIR also allows you to enter a comment field for each file to allow you to keep track of anything you wish about each file. This information is entered through an editor included as one of the menu options. You may wish to maintain separate files of certain groups of your diskettes. For example, you may wish to have separate files for your financial programs, your game programs, and your word processing programs and files. XDIR allows you to select a subset of the master file and either display it on the screen or print it out. This would allow you to have a separate printout for your basic programs, your OBJ files, and perhaps your EXE files. The program allows great flexibility in this regard. It is also important to be able to find a diskette with enough room to be able to store a new program you may have written. XDIR calculates the amount of free space left on a diskette and will give you a printout of all your diskettes and the amount of space left on each. Fixed disks are also supported and the comment field is used to show the complete path name to the file. PREFACE iii XDIR VERSION 5.4 Page iv GETable Of Contents HFG HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS................................... 1 HG CHANGES FOR VERSION 5.4................................. 2 HG CHANGES FOR VERSION 5.3................................. 3 HG CHANGES FOR VERSION 5.2................................. 4 HG CHANGES FOR VERSION 5.1................................. 5 HG CHANGES FOR VERSION 5.0................................. 6 HG GENERAL INFORMATION..................................... 7 HG HOW TO USE THE PROGRAM.................................. 8 H GETTING STARTED....................................... 8 G HOW TO OPERATE - MAIN MENU.............................. 9 H 1. CREATE FILE........................................ 9 2. READ IN FILE FROM DISKETTE......................... 9 3. WRITE FILE TO DISK................................ 10 4. CHANGE MASTER FILE NAME........................... 10 5. DELETE DISKID FROM FILE........................... 10 6. EDIT COMMENT FIELDS............................... 10 7. REPLACE/ADD DISKETTE.............................. 11 8. SORT OPTIONS...................................... 11 9. DISPLAY OPTIONS................................... 11 A. MISCELLANEOUS OPTIONS............................. 11 D. EXECUTE DOS COMMANDS.............................. 12 H. PROCESS FIXED DISK FILE........................... 12 ESC.................................................. 13 G HOW TO OPERATE - SORT MENU............................. 14 H 1. SORT BY FILENAME,SIZE,DATE,ID..................... 14 2. SORT BY FILE EXTENSION,FILE NAME,SIZE,DATE,ID..... 14 3. SORT BY DISKID THEN FILENAME...................... 14 4. SORT BY LAST DATE MODIFIED........................ 14 5. SORT ON COMMENT FIELD............................. 14 6. SORT DISKETTE SPACE SUMMARY....................... 15 9. DISPLAY OPTIONS................................... 15 A. MISCELLANEOUS OPTIONS............................. 15 ESC.................................................. 15 G HOW TO OPERATE - DISPLAY MENU.......................... 16 H 1. DISPLAY RECORDS................................... 16 2. PRINT RECORDS..................................... 16 3. DISPLAY DISKETTE SPACE SUMMARY.................... 16 4. PRINT DISKETTE SPACE SUMMARY...................... 16 5. PRINT DISKETTE INSERTS............................ 17 Table Of Contents iv XDIR VERSION 5.4 Page v GETable Of Contents HF 6. CHANGE LINES PER PAGE............................. 17 7. PRINT DISKETTE LABELS............................. 17 0. CHANGE LABEL SPACING.............................. 18 8. SORT OPTIONS...................................... 18 A. MISCELLANEOUS OPTIONS............................. 18 C. WRITE CONTENTS FILE............................... 18 ESC.................................................. 18 G HOW TO OPERATE - MISCELLANEOUS OPTIONS MENU............ 19 H 1. DISPLAY MASTER FILES ON DEFAULT DISKETTE.......... 19 2. LABEL A DISKETTE.................................. 19 3. CHECK LABEL WITH RENAME OPTION.................... 19 4. CHANGE CATALOGING DRIVE........................... 19 G HOW TO OPERATE - CREATE MENU........................... 20 H F1. REDRAW SCREEN.................................... 20 F2. TOGGLE DISKID LABELLING MODE..................... 20 ESC.................................................. 20 G REFERENCE MATERIAL..................................... 22 H SPECIFYING SUBSET WHEN READING FROM FILE............. 22 EXPLANATION OF EDITOR COMMANDS....................... 22 (up arrow)......................................... 23 (down arrow)....................................... 23 (right arrow)...................................... 23 (left arrow)....................................... 23 (TAB Key).......................................... 23 (S-TAB)............................................ 24 PgUp............................................... 24 PgDn............................................... 24 ENTER.............................................. 24 Alt-C.............................................. 24 Esc................................................ 25 C-PgUp............................................. 25 C-PgDn............................................. 25 BKSPC.............................................. 25 Del................................................ 25 Ins................................................ 26 Alt-S.............................................. 26 Home............................................... 26 End................................................ 26 Alt-T.............................................. 26 Alt-X.............................................. 27 USING PC-FILE WITH XDIR DATA FILES................... 27 Table Of Contents v XDIR VERSION 5.4 Page vi GE-HARDWARE REQUIREMENTSHF- L0xxⁿⁿⁿⁿxx0 At least 96KB of memory. A G96KB Hmachine will be able to read in about 410 records while a G128KB Hmachine can handle about 800. L0xxⁿⁿⁿⁿxx0 2 diskette drives - either electronic or floppy. Please do not try this program with only 1 drive as data may be lost on your diskettes. L0xxⁿⁿⁿⁿxx0 80 column display (may be attached to either display adapter) L0xxⁿⁿⁿⁿxx0 The IBM 80cps printer (or equivalent) will enhance the operation. The label creating option will only work on the IBM graphics printer or an Epson printer with Graftrax+. HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS 1 XDIR VERSION 5.4 Page 2 GE-CHANGES FOR VERSION 5.4HF- L0xxⁿⁿⁿⁿxx0 The logo now displays at invocation on the main panel and disappears after the first keystroke. L0xxⁿⁿⁿⁿxx0 In an earlier version, I began including hidden files. This was working only for the create option. The add/replace option was throwing them away. This has now been fixed. L0xxⁿⁿⁿⁿxx0 The diskid is now included in the data file. If this had been a DOS 2.0 label it had been ignored as far as being a file on the disk. It now shouldn't matter if it is a DOS 2.0 label or just a fname.LBL file, it will still show up in the data file. L0xxⁿⁿⁿⁿxx0 I wasn't blanking out the diskid field when displaying a new one in the create option. This showed up as garbage when displaying a label which is shorter than the previous one. L0xxⁿⁿⁿⁿxx0 I was resetting the graphics color burst a long time ago but it didn't accomplish the desired effect. I have removed that code with this release. L0xxⁿⁿⁿⁿxx0 I added a new option to the editing menu. It will allow you to delete a record from your file when writing out the file the next time. This is implemented as a toggle to allow changing your mind before actually doing the write. L0xxⁿⁿⁿⁿxx0 I think I have fixed all the bugs that caused the "space available" to be printed incorrectly on inserts and labels. If you have any problems in this area, please let me know. CHANGES FOR VERSION 5.4 2 XDIR VERSION 5.4 Page 3 GE-CHANGES FOR VERSION 5.3HF- L0xxⁿⁿⁿⁿxx0 If you left off the /V option when running CHKDSK, the file for the fixed disk wouldn't have the right information in it and the program would hang. I now detect that situation and give an appropriate message. L0xxⁿⁿⁿⁿxx0 I found the bug which affected some people who had been using XDIR on their fixed disks in a manual fashion. If a file was larger than 999,999 bytes, the XDIR data file would be written incorrectly causing unpredicatble behavior later on. I now detect if your files are larger than this limit and set the size in the XDIR data file to 999,999. L0xxⁿⁿⁿⁿxx0 For the fixed disk file processing, I put the path into the comment field. In certain cases where you had a file name with the same name as the subdirectory, the path name shown in the comment field was truncated. This is now fixed. L0xxⁿⁿⁿⁿxx0 An easier description of how to use CHKDSK to create the file for the fixed disk processing. CHANGES FOR VERSION 5.3 3 XDIR VERSION 5.4 Page 4 GE-CHANGES FOR VERSION 5.2HF- L0xxⁿⁿⁿⁿxx0 When printing diskette inserts I wasn't resetting the printer to its normal state when finished. If you had used the Esc key to exit, I did reset it. It is now reset in both cases. L0xxⁿⁿⁿⁿxx0 Hidden Files are now included in the diskette cataloging. L0xxⁿⁿⁿⁿxx0 I have added fixed disk support through an option on the main menu. See the details under that option for more information. L0xxⁿⁿⁿⁿxx0 My old versions of XDIR (pre DOS 2.0) actually created a label on the diskette with the volume ID as the filename and LBL as the extension. My intention in the DOS 2.0 versions of XDIR was to create the same kind of label so that if you label a disk and then use it under DOS 1.1 the label would show up the way it used to. I had an error in the label rename option, but now it will change the extension of the label file to LBL the way it was intended. CHANGES FOR VERSION 5.2 4 XDIR VERSION 5.4 Page 5 GE-CHANGES FOR VERSION 5.1HF- L0xxⁿⁿⁿⁿxx0 Fixed bug that caused selection of a subset to be done incorrectly. The first character of the file extension was never checked causing an *.BAS selection to also read in *.PAS, etc. L0xxⁿⁿⁿⁿxx0 Added the DOS command option which allows DOS commands to be executed under XDIR. I would like to thank Tony Drumm for providing the code for this. You must have enough memory to run this and your DOS 2.0 COMMAND.COM must have a patch applied which has been provided by Boca and is included as Figure 1 on page 12. Please note that this patch is not needed with DOS 2.1. L0xxⁿⁿⁿⁿxx0 Added a subroutine in ASSEMBLER to replace a chunk of my code which saved about 2700 bytes of EXE file. L0xxⁿⁿⁿⁿxx0 fixed the bug which caused REPLACE with diskids less than 8 characters to always be treated as an ADD. L0xxⁿⁿⁿⁿxx0 I have added documentation on how to use PC-FILE with XDIR data files. This information is included in "USING PC-FILE WITH XDIR DATA FILES" on page 27. L0xxⁿⁿⁿⁿxx0 Fixed a bug that occurred when trying to use the "leave drive door open and enter dummy label" feature. This should now work correctly. L0xxⁿⁿⁿⁿxx0 Fixed a bug that caused the "space available" on the printout of files to be incorrectly displayed when your diskid was less than 8 characters. CHANGES FOR VERSION 5.1 5 XDIR VERSION 5.4 Page 6 GE-CHANGES FOR VERSION 5.0HF- L0xxⁿⁿⁿⁿxx0 First, let me say that this version is for GDOS 2.0 -only - H. The program will check the DOS version you are running with and exit if it is not at least 2.0. Version 4.7 of XDIR is the last version of XDIR that will work with DOS 1.1. L0xxⁿⁿⁿⁿxx0 This version will use the DOS 2.0 volume labels. In the create mode, the program will first check for the volume label, if none is found it will then look for a file with an extension of LBL. When disks are labeled, the program will now create volume labels. This means that you can use XDIR to add volume labels to disks which will then be read by other DOS programs like CHKDSK or DIR. My program will also rename the volume label which is something you cannot do under DOS 2.0. L0xxⁿⁿⁿⁿxx0 A little more space is available for the internal array of records. This was due to using some of the newer built-in DOS 2.0 functions. When the optimizing version of C86 is released (if ever) more space should be available. Stay tuned for a future version. L0xxⁿⁿⁿⁿxx0 Due to a bug in DOS 2.0, I cannot delete the volume label. The option on the miscellaneous screen has been changed to "check label/rename option." CHANGES FOR VERSION 5.0 6 XDIR VERSION 5.4 Page 7 GE-GENERAL INFORMATIONHF- After loading the program you will see a menu. All operations are performed by selecting options from this menu. You only have to type the number of the option you wish to invoke. In this program you will not have to press the enter key for any single character responses. The details of the menu operations will be covered in the next section. The program uses 2 files to store the data you are using. One of these files is the data file which contains the list of directory entries read from your disks and the other file is the space file which contains the amount of space left on each of the disks which you entered. The program will automatically check how much memory you have installed and adapt itself accordingly. When you invoke the program you should specify the filename you wish to use. This filename is the first part of the name used by the program. For example, if you had entered GXDIR XYZ Hto invoke the program, then the 2 files the program will be using will be GXYZ.DAT Hand GXYZ.SP H. This filename can be changed with one of the menu options. The program will detect if you are using double-sided diskettes and read in the extended directory and calculate the space remaining automatically. As another user-friendly feature the menus will indicate how the data in storage has been sorted. It will also tell how many records are currently in storage and the name of the master file you are using. GENERAL INFORMATION 7 XDIR VERSION 5.4 Page 8 GE-HOW TO USE THE PROGRAMHF- GEGETTING STARTEDHF Make sure your A drive is the default drive by entering A: as a command to DOS. Then insert the program diskette into the A drive and enter the command GXDIR fname Hwhere fname is the filename you wish to use as explained earlier. If you forget to enter the fname parameter, the program will prompt you for one. After the program is loaded, the main menu will be displayed along with the version number, etc. This "logo" will disappear after the first keystroke. HOW TO USE THE PROGRAM 8 XDIR VERSION 5.4 Page 9 GE-HOW TO OPERATE - MAIN MENUHF- This section will cover the various options you will see on the main menu. GE1. CREATE FILEHF This is the option you choose to create the file on the disk. Normally, this option is only run once as it will erase any master files with the same name. This will probably be the first one you would choose the first time you run the program. It will erase the file on disk if it exists and then allow you to put the diskettes into your cataloging drive one at a time and type in an ID for each one. You should be sure to write this ID on the diskette label for future reference. The ID field can be up to 8 characters of your choice as long as there no embedded blanks. Please note that this information is written directly to disk, nothing is left in memory when you have finished. To complete this option, just press the GEsc Hkey. If you wish, you may pre-label your diskettes with a DOS 2.0 volume label or put a file on your diskette with the diskid as the filename and GLBL Has the extension. The Create option will look for this volume label or file and use the first 8 characters of the volume label or the filename as the diskid for this diskette. If it does not find such a volume label or file, you will be prompted for the diskid. "HOW TO OPERATE - CREATE MENU" on page 20 contains more information on the CREATE option. GE2. READ IN FILE FROM DISKETTEHF If you wish to process the data file on the disk, you must use this option first. Most other options work from the in-memory copy of the file on disk. This option checks the amount of memory you have installed and limits the size of what you can read in accordingly. A message is displayed if the entire file cannot be read in. After selecting this option, you will be asked to specify the search argument for reading in data. If you press the enter key you will select all files, otherwise you may specify a subset - such as all your Basic programs. Information on how to specify the subset will be given later. If you have already read in a file, you will be asked if you wish this new file appended to the end of the current file in storage. If you don't choose to have it appended, it will replace the current file in storage. HOW TO OPERATE - MAIN MENU 9 XDIR VERSION 5.4 Page 10 GE3. WRITE FILE TO DISKHF The contents of the memory array is written back to the master file on the disk erasing the previous contents. If you had wanted to preserve the old contents of the file, you could use the option to change the master file name and then use this option. This would create a new file and write out the array to it. You must first be sure that there is enough room on the diskette to store the new data. You will be warned if a subset of files had been read in and you try to write them out. This requires a second response to perform the write. GE4. CHANGE MASTER FILE NAMEHF This will allow you to change the current filename being used by the program. It will display all master files which you have on the default diskette, then ask you to choose one of them or a new one. Any future reading or writing of files will be done with this filename. GE5. DELETE DISKID FROM FILEHF This option will read in the file into memory and remove those diskids which match the diskids you specify as those to be deleted. If files are currently residing in memory, you will be warned and given an opportunity to cancel. GE6. EDIT COMMENT FIELDSHF As mentioned earlier there is a 28 character user specifiable comment field contained in the file. This field is entered and edited with this option. It is maintained by the other options and become part of your file. It can be displayed either on your screen or the printer. More details for the editor will be given later in this document. This option also allows for editing the DISKID field as well. HOW TO OPERATE - MAIN MENU 10 XDIR VERSION 5.4 Page 11 GE7. REPLACE/ADD DISKETTEHF This works similarly to the Delete diskette option in that it reads the file into memory. However, after reading it in it asks you to put your replacement diskette in the cataloging drive and press Enter. The directory information is read from the diskette. All files which were on the old version of this diskette (as indicated by the in-memory file) -and- the new version will have the size and date updated thus saving the comments. Any file on the old version and -not- on the new version will be discarded. Any file on the new but not on the old will be written out to the file. The file will be read in to memory once at the beginning of this option. It will be written out at the end after all the Add/Replaces have been done. An indicator of how many records will reside in the file at completion of this option is shown on the screen. If the diskette you insert cannot be read or if you leave the drive door open, you will be warned and given an opportunity to create a dummy label and comment for the diskette. This is a handy way to label those diskettes which cannot be read. Please note that you should be careful and not Replace the same diskette twice as the new files will be added twice. GE8. SORT OPTIONSHF Typing this number will cause a new menu to appear. This new menu will be described later on in this write-up. GE9. DISPLAY OPTIONSHF This option will also cause another menu to appear giving all the options for displaying/printing. GEA. MISCELLANEOUS OPTIONSHF This option will select the menu which allows master files to be checked on the default drive and check/change labels on the diskettes in the cataloging drive. HOW TO OPERATE - MAIN MENU 11 XDIR VERSION 5.4 Page 12 GED. EXECUTE DOS COMMANDSHF If you have more than 128K of memory on your PC, you may make use of this option to execute DOS commands while staying in XDIR. This can be useful to do a DIR, or CHKDSK, or any other DOS command. You could, for example, run PE under XDIR. You will need to have COMMAND.COM on the default drive. This COMMAND.COM will have to have a patch applied to it if it is from DOS 2.0. DOS 2.1 does not need this patch. Boca has agreed that DOS function 4B does not work with the released 2.0 COMMAND.COM and has supplied a patch. This patched COMMAND.COM should be used in place of the one you are currently using on all your disks. The patch follows: ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │DEBUG command.com │ │-U 404A │ │ │ │The first instructions should be: │ │ MOV ES,BX │ │ SS: │ │ LES BX,[0BB3] │ │ ES: │ │ MOV [0030],ES │ │ ES: │ │ MOV [002E],BX │ │ To patch this enter: │ │ -A 404A │ │ PUSH DS │ │ MOV DS,BX │ │ SS: │ │ LES BX,[0BB3] │ │ MOV [0030],ES │ │ MOV [002E],BX │ │ POP DS │ │ (press the ENTER key to terminate ASSEMBLE mode) │ │ -W │ │ -Q │ │ │ │Figure 1. DOS 2.0 patch for COMMAND.COM │ └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ GEH. PROCESS FIXED DISK FILEHF XDIR will process your fixed disk files and create a separate file for each fixed disk that you have. If space permits you may merge them into one file through use of the "Read File" command. The fixed disk is first processed with the CHKDSK DOS command and the output of that is input to HOW TO OPERATE - MAIN MENU 12 XDIR VERSION 5.4 Page 13 XDIR. The resulting listing will have the fixed disk volume name as the diskette id and the path to the file will be put into the comment field. You may then sort on the comment field to get them in order by sub-directory. The procedure to do this follows. If your storage size permits, you may run all these commands under the DOS command option of XDIR: 1. Execute the following command: CHKDSK d:\/v >chkdsk.fil where the d: is the fixed disk you wish to process. 2. This will create a file CHKDSK.FIL with the output of the CHKDSK command. 3. Run XDIR in the usual way selecting option H on the main menu. The fixed disk will be processed. 4. Repeat this for your other fixed disk if you have one. GEESCHF Pressing this key will cause the program to terminate. If any editing was done without saving, the program will warn you and give you an opportunity to cancel termination. HOW TO OPERATE - MAIN MENU 13 XDIR VERSION 5.4 Page 14 GE-HOW TO OPERATE - SORT MENUHF- When you select the Sort options from the main menu, another menu will be displayed offering you the following options: GE1. SORT BY FILENAME,SIZE,DATE,IDHF This option sorts the in memory file in the indicated order. A message is displayed to indicate that a sort is being done. With 700 records to sort,it can take 20-30 seconds, so please be patient. GE2. SORT BY FILE EXTENSION,FILE NAME,SIZE,DATE,IDHF This option sorts the same as option 1 but the extension is the primary field. GE3. SORT BY DISKID THEN FILENAMEHF Same as option 1 but sorted as indicated. This sort is quicker due to fewer fields being checked. It can take up to 15 seconds to sort 700 records. GE4. SORT BY LAST DATE MODIFIEDHF Same as above except for the different sort field. GE5. SORT ON COMMENT FIELDHF Sometimes it may be useful to have the data sorted by comment field. You may wish to use some special coding for the first few characters of the comments so that this sort will be more useful to you. If comments are equal than a secondary sort is done on filename, file extension. HOW TO OPERATE - SORT MENU 14 XDIR VERSION 5.4 Page 15 GE6. SORT DISKETTE SPACE SUMMARYHF This sort will put the space summary records in order by diskid. This is extremely quick and therefore no sorting message is put on the screen. GE9. DISPLAY OPTIONSHF This option will take you to the Display options sub-menu. GEA. MISCELLANEOUS OPTIONSHF This goes directly to the Miscellaneous options menu. GEESCHF Pressing this key will return you to the main menu. HOW TO OPERATE - SORT MENU 15 XDIR VERSION 5.4 Page 16 GE-HOW TO OPERATE - DISPLAY MENUHF- When the Display option is selected on the main menu, another menu will be displayed offering many choices as described below: GE1. DISPLAY RECORDSHF The contents of the array are displayed on the screen. The GPgUp Hand GPgDn Hkeys will be used to scroll through the data shown on the screen. The GEsc Hkey is used to return to the menu. GE2. PRINT RECORDSHF This option displays the same information as option 1 but the information may either be printed on the IBM 80cps printer or put into a file. The option will prompt you for the filename to be used for the printout. The default is preset to Gprn Hbut may be changed to any file desired. This may be useful if you are using a different file number for your printer or wish to store this output in a file for use by some other program. Printer control characters are only included if you leave the file as Gprn H, Glpt1 H, Glpt2 H, or Glpt3 H. GE3. DISPLAY DISKETTE SPACE SUMMARYHF The information for the amount of space left on the disks contained in the master file is displayed on the screen. The same options exist here as exist for option 1. GE4. PRINT DISKETTE SPACE SUMMARYHF Same as above but the information is the space summary for the diskettes. HOW TO OPERATE - DISPLAY MENU 16 XDIR VERSION 5.4 Page 17 GE5. PRINT DISKETTE INSERTSHF You may select this option to print inserts for your diskette envelopes. These will be of the correct size to just fit in the envelope with the part sticking out having the diskette id printed in double width style and also the date that the master file was last updated. Also included on this insert is the amount of space remaining on the diskette and all the files listed in alphabetical order listed 5 across in condensed type. If you have not sorted the memory array by diskid, this option will do it for you. You will be asked if you wish to be prompted for individual inserts or if you wish all printed. GE6. CHANGE LINES PER PAGEHF The default is 60 lines which is shown on the display options menu. This will fit on the normal 8 1/2 X 11 paper used on the IBM printer. If you wish a different number of lines/page, use this option. If you set the lines/page to G0 H, then continuous printing will take place with no page skips and header printing. This last method can be very useful if you are printing to a file and want to upload to a mainframe computer and use a text processor such as SCRIPT to do your printing. GE7. PRINT DISKETTE LABELSHF This option will print a label of size 3 1/2 inches by 15/16 inches. Test labels will be printed first to aid in lining up the labels, then either individual labels may be selected or all labels may be selected. These labels contain similar information to the inserts - they tell the diskette ID, the date of last modification of the master file, and the space available on the diskette. There is then room for 50 filenames. No extensions are listed and no duplicate filenames are included. They are listed alphabetically on the label. The type style used is compressed sub script which is small but quite readable. HOW TO OPERATE - DISPLAY MENU 17 XDIR VERSION 5.4 Page 18 GE0. CHANGE LABEL SPACINGHF This option allows you to adjust the label printing for labels which are spaced more that 1 inch top-to-top. It may take some experimentation to get this number right. GE8. SORT OPTIONSHF Selecting this option will take you to the Sort options sub-menu. GEA. MISCELLANEOUS OPTIONSHF This will take you directly to the miscellaneous options menu. GEC. WRITE CONTENTS FILEHF This will create a file called GCONTENTS Hon the cataloging drive which will contain the contents of the diskette as specified in the current XDIR data file. You will be warned if a contents file already exists and given an opportunity to cancel. GEESCHF Pressing this key will return you to the main menu. HOW TO OPERATE - DISPLAY MENU 18 XDIR VERSION 5.4 Page 19 GE-HOW TO OPERATE - MISCELLANEOUS OPTIONS MENUHF- GE1. DISPLAY MASTER FILES ON DEFAULT DISKETTEHF This option will access the default diskette drive and display the filenames of those files whose extension is GDAT H. GE2. LABEL A DISKETTEHF The cataloging drive is checked for a label and if one is present, you may rename it. If none is present it will allow you to label it. DOS 2.0 volume labels will be created. GE3. CHECK LABEL WITH RENAME OPTIONHF This option will check for a label and if present allow you to rename it. GE4. CHANGE CATALOGING DRIVEHF This option will allow you to change the drive which will be used by the Create or Add/Replace options. The default is B:. HOW TO OPERATE - MISCELLANEOUS OPTIONS MENU 19 XDIR VERSION 5.4 Page 20 GE-HOW TO OPERATE - CREATE MENUHF- This menu displays an audit trail of the last diskids that were processed. The most recent one is shown in high intensity. It is a circular list. All data entry is done on this menu. The status of automatic labeling is shown. There are 3 options on this menu. GEF1. REDRAW SCREENHF Will redraw the screen. This is useful if you are using automatic diskid labeling and you mistakenly left the write-protect tab on. This is explained below. This option will clear the screen of any error messages. It will also remove the audit trail of diskids already processed. GEF2. TOGGLE DISKID LABELLING MODEHF This toggles the automatic diskette labeling mode. If this mode is on and your current diskette has no label, one will be written to your diskette. This will be written as a DOS 2.0 volume label and will not be visible as a file but will be recognized by the DIR command, etc. Since a directory entry is written to your diskette, the write-protect tab should be removed if you turn the option on. If you forget, DOS will present you with the usual error message to GAbort,Retry , or Ignore the error H. I would not suggest Aborting as your program will terminate. If you chose GIgnore H, the program will continue without writing the label. If you remove the tab and reinsert the diskette, you may choose the GRetry Hoption. These error messages will remain on the screen. If you wish to clear up the screen use the GF1 Hkey. This will redraw the screen, but -remove the --audit trail. -GEESCHF Will return you to the master menu. You should note that if you leave the disk drive door open or if the diskette is not readable by DOS, you will be prompted to see if you wish to create a dummy label in the HOW TO OPERATE - CREATE MENU 20 XDIR VERSION 5.4 Page 21 file for this diskette. This can be useful to keep track of the copy-protected game diskettes you may have. You don't actually have to put the diskette into the drive. Just leave the door open and press the GENTER Hkey. HOW TO OPERATE - CREATE MENU 21 XDIR VERSION 5.4 Page 22 GE-REFERENCE MATERIALHF- GESPECIFYING SUBSET WHEN READING FROM FILEHF When you enter option 2 you will be prompted to enter the search parameter for which data you wish read in from the file. If you press the enter key without typing anything, the entire file is selected for processing. If you enter any parameter, only a subset of the file will be read in. This subset may be selected in a manner similar to the syntax for the DOS GDIR Hcommand. For example: If you enter G*.BAS Has the argument you will get only those files which have an extension of GBAS H. If you had entered GABC*.* Hyou will get a subset consisting of all files beginning with GABC Hand with any extension. You may also make use of the ? wildcard allowed by DOS DIR. If you want all files selected which have an extension of GXYZ Hand have a G4 Hcharacter filename beginning with GQ Hyou would enter GQ???.XYZ Has the argument. GEEXPLANATION OF EDITOR COMMANDSHF The editor screen has been designed to give you a partial look at how the particular entry you are editing fits in with the others in the file. You will see 17 files on the screen with the input area indicated in reverse video. This input area is scrolled up and down on the screen. The data will be scrolled if the input area is at the top or bottom of the screen. In the upper right corner is an indicator which tells you which record, by number, you are editing and how many total there are in the file. At the bottom of the screen is a list of all the commands and keys which are valid for the editor. These commands are explained below: REFERENCE MATERIAL 22 XDIR VERSION 5.4 Page 23 GE-(up arrow)HF- Pressing this key will move the editing field one row toward the top of the screen. If you try to scroll past the top of the file you will hear a beep. Note that the cursor stays in the same column. GE-(down arrow)HF- Same as above but the active entry will be the next lower one in the file. GE-(right arrow)HF- The cursor is moved one position right on the comment field. If the cursor reaches the end of the comment field, it will automatically recycle back to the beginning of the field. GE-(left arrow)HF- Same as above but the cursor moves to the left. If the cursor moves to the left out of the comment field it cycles back to the end of the comment field. GE-(TAB Key)HF- Pressing this key moves to the next tab stop which is every 10 spaces in the comment field. It is ignored if you are editing the DISKID field. REFERENCE MATERIAL 23 XDIR VERSION 5.4 Page 24 GE-(S-TAB)HF- This function is accomplished by pressing the Shift key and holding it while you press the Tab key. This moves the cursor back to the previous tab stop. GE-PgUpHF- When you select this command, the input area will be scrolled toward the top of the file by 9 records. GE-PgDnHF- Similar to the above function but the display will be scrolled toward the bottom by 9 records. GE-ENTERHF- Pressing the ENTER key will perform the same function as the down arrow - moving the input area 1 record down toward the end of the file. GE-Alt-CHF- Hold the GAlt Hkey while pressing the GC Hkey. This will bring back the old field from the file in memory. This will only work if you have not yet pressed any of the keys which move the input area on the display. REFERENCE MATERIAL 24 XDIR VERSION 5.4 Page 25 GE-EscHF- Pressing this key will return you to the main menu. Any data entered in the editor is retained in the in-storage array. GE-C-PgUpHF- Hold the GCtrl Hkey while pressing the GPgUp Hkey. This moves the input area to the top of the file. GE-C-PgDnHF- The input area is moved to the end of the file. GE-BKSPCHF- This is the key to the left of the Num Lock key and is labeled with a left pointing arrow. This works by deleting the character to the left of the cursor and shifting everything to the left 1. GE-DelHF- The character at the cursor position is deleted. REFERENCE MATERIAL 25 XDIR VERSION 5.4 Page 26 GE-InsHF- Pressing the Insert key will put the editor in insert mode. The GIns Hat the bottom of the screen will blink indicating that Insert mode is active. Characters will be inserted at the cursor location and other characters will be shifted to the right. If there is no more room for inserting, the speaker will beep. GE-Alt-SHF- Hold the GAlt Hkey and press the GS Hkey and the in-storage file will be written back to diskette. GE-HomeHF- This key will move the cursor back to the beginning of the field. GE-EndHF- This key will position the cursor one character past the end of the current length of the field. GE-Alt-THF- This key will toggle you into the DISKID field for editing. Any changes will automatically be folded to uppercase. They won't appear that way on the screen at first, but when the screen is refreshed by scrolling you will see them. If you have lower case diskids from an earlier version of XDIR, just moving the cursor over the field will fold them to REFERENCE MATERIAL 26 XDIR VERSION 5.4 Page 27 uppercase. GE-Alt-XHF- This will allow you to cause a particular record to be deleted upon writing out the file the next time. Put the cursor on the line that you wish to delete, then press this key and the diskid will be changed to *DELETE* signifying that it will be deleted the next time the file is written. If you change your mind before writing out the file, just press the key again and the delete will be cancelled. You may delete as many files as you wish in this manner. GEUSING PC-FILE WITH XDIR DATA FILESHF It is relatively easy to take an XDIR data file and make it acceptable to PC-FILE. You could then use all the extensive facilities of that database program to access your data. You might want to print out some special format for a report. In the write-up below I will be using "fname" as a place holder for your XDIR filename, please substitute your appropriate name Steps to follow to get an XDIR fname.dat file into PC-FILE: 1. Execute PC-FILE and define a new file called fname with the following format: filename 8 characters ext 3 characters id 8 characters date 6 characters size 7 characters comment 28 characters x 1 character 2. Exit PC-FILE and do the following DOS command - copy fname.dat fname.dta 3. Run the BASIC program as shown in Figure 2 on page 28. When the filename is requested, enter "fname.dta". This will add the special characters to the end of the file to keep PC-FILE happy. 4. Execute PC-FILE again and select the SORT option and REFERENCE MATERIAL 27 XDIR VERSION 5.4 Page 28 sort by any field you choose. This will create the index needed by PC-FILE. 5. You are now on your own in PC-FILE. The full power of PC-FILE is now at your command. ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │10 INPUT "Enter the filespec:",F$ │ │20 OPEN F$ FOR APPEND AS #1 │ │30 PRINT#1,STRING$(61,"\") │ │40 CLOSE │ │ │ │Figure 2. BASIC program to prepare XDIR dat file for │ │PC-FILE │ └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ REFERENCE MATERIAL 28 ACB REFERENCE MATERIAL 28 ACB @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@