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FileFix Version 1.00 Copyright (C) 1987 by Gtronics * Bennett Griffin, Jr. All Rights Reserved Gtronics The Aztec BBS P.O. Box 4345 300/1200/2400 Wichita, KS 67204 (316) 788-3630 Phoenix Net/Node 800/1 The most comprehensive FILES.BBS management utility available. FileFix v1.00 Table of Contents. -------------------------------- December 23, 1987. Section Number Description ------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.0 ............................. Copyright and Contribution Notice 1.1 ................................ Credits and Special Thanks 2.0 .................................................... Disclaimer 3.0 ........................................... General Information 4.0 ................................................. The Main Menu 5.0 ............................. Moving a File and Its Description 5.1 ..................................... Specifying a Filename 5.2 .................................... Where to Move the File 5.3 ................................ Error Checking and Sorting 5.4 ............................................. Doing the Job 6.0 ........................................... Viewing a FILES.BBS 7.0 ............................ Sorting a FILES.BBS Alphabetically 8.0 ................................... Sorting a FILES.BBS By Date 9.0 ......................................... Verifying a FILES.BBS 10.0 .................... Making a List of All FILES.BBS's Contents 11.0 ................... Adding to/Creating a FILES.BBS by Filename 12.0 .............................. Editing a FILES.BBS by Filename 12.1 .................................... Editing a Description 12.2 ........................................... Editing a Date 12.3 ................................... Removing a Description 12.4 .......................................... Deleting a File 12.5 ........................................ Remove and Delete 12.6 ................................... Changing Selected File 12.7 ................................... Returning to Main Menu 13.0 ........................................... Ending the Program 14.0 ................. Catalog of Other Fine Programs From Gtronics 1.0 Copyright and Contribution Notice. -------------------------------------- FileFix is Copyright (C) 1987 by Gtronics (tm) and Bennett Griffin. FileFix is distributed under the UserWare concept. You are free to distribute FileFix provided it is not modified in any way; it is distributed with this documentation, and no fee is charged for it. If you feel this program has any value, or find yourself using FileFix frequently, your registration of $30 is GREATLY appreciated. Your registration insures more updates of this and other fine software packages from Gtronics. Remember, UserWare is NOT FreeWare. It is only try-before-you-buy. If you use FileFix in your files maintainance, then you should register your copy. Help keep UserWare alive - SUPPORT PUBLIC DOMAIN PROGRAMS! When you register your copy, you will be mailed a newer version of FileFix if it exists, and will be ensured all new versions for only a small upgrade fee to cover shipping and handling. Please put FileFix v1.00 on the check. 1.1 Credits and Special Thanks. ------------------------------- FileFix was written and developed by Bennett Griffin, with special thanks to Chuck Gorish for all his help with ideas and debugging. If you happen to find a problem with FileFix, please report the problem along with the situation in which it occured and your hardware setup to The Aztec BBS (316-788-3630). Phoenix and Phoenix RCS are trademarks of The GeneSys Project, Inc. Gtronics is trademark of Gtronics Software. 2.0 Disclaimer. --------------- Gtronics and Bennett Griffin are not responsible in any way for any damage to any computer hardware, software, or peripherals caused in part or in whole by FileFix. 3.0 General information. ------------------------ Utility to move a file and its accompaning FILES.BBS description to and from Phoenix Up/Download areas (as defined in FILEINFO.SYS), or view, sort (2 ways), verify a FILES.BBS listing, make a complete list of all FILES.BBS's, create or add to a FILES.BBS by filespec, or edit a FILES.BBS by filename. To run, simply invoke with : FILEFIX FileFix needs the file FILEINFO.SYS in the same sub-directory in order to work properly. If the file is not found, execution is halted with an error message stating that the file is not found. I suggest you keep FILEFIX.COM in your main Phoenix directory (with all the PHOENIX.* files and related bulletin board files). Note that FileFix is completely compatable with the FILES.CLR system used by Phoenix. Throughout this documentation whenever a FILES.BBS is referred to, FileFix will also work with the corisponding FILES.CLR IF IT EXISTS. FileFix NEVER creates a FILES.CLR (as with Phoenix). However, if you have a FILES.CLR then FileFix will work with it in addition to the FILES.BBS. 4.0 The main menu. ------------------ You are first taken to the main menu. This menu has 9 options: 1. Move a file. 2. View a FILES.BBS. 3. Sort a FILES.BBS alphabetically. 4. Sort a FILES.BBS by date (newest first). 5. Verify a FILES.BBS. 6. Make a list of all FILES.BBS's. 7. Add to/Create a FILES.BBS by filename. 8. Edit a FILES.BBS by filename. 9. Quit FileFix. To make a choice, use the up and down arrows (or [Space] and [Backspace]) or enter the number of what you wish to do. The highlighted selection will be activated when you press [Enter]. Each option is described below. Note that FileFix is completely compatable with the FILES.CLR system used by Phoenix. Throughout this documentation 5.0 Moving a file (and its accompanying description). ------------------------------------------------------ Where the file is located. -------------------------- You are first prompted: Enter record number [1..x] to move FROM, <Enter> to List, 'Q' to Quit : If you hit <Enter>, then FileFix displays a listing of each file area description and its accompaning up/download paths if they exist. If no upload path or no download path is in the system record, a message stating so will be displayed in place of the path name. If you enter 'Q', then FileFix returns you to the main menu (sec. 4.0). After you enter a record number, you are prompted for [U]pload path, [D]ownload path, or [Q]uit. This corresponds to the up/download paths for that system record. If you enter 'Q', then you are returned to the main menu described in section 4.0. If the upload path and the download path match, then a message stating so is displayed in place of this question. 5.1 The filename. ----------------- You are asked the question: Enter filename to be moved, [─┘] for list of files, Or 'QUIT' to exit: You then enter the filename ONLY. FileFix then appends your filename to the end of the path you have specified (see section 5.0) and checks to make sure the file exists. If it doesn't then FileFix aborts with an error message stating file not found and you are returned to the main menu line described in section 4.0. If you simply hit return, then FileFix displays a list of all files in the files area you specified to move from. If you type in 'QUIT' (case does not matter), then FileFix returns to the main menu. 5.2 Where the file is to be moved to. ------------------------------------- The format and answering procedure for this question is the same as that of section 5.0, except that the question is for where you are going to move the file and the description. 5.3 Error checking and sorting. ------------------------------- FileFix now checks several things. FileFix checks to see that there is a path for both the from and the to paths that you entered. It also checks to make sure you aren't copying a file to/from the same path. If both of these check ok, then FileFix attempts to move the description. FileFix checks to see if there is a FILES.BBS in the area you are moving from. If there isn't, FileFix asks you if you would like to move the file anyway. If you reply yes, then FileFix moves the file (Copy + Del) from/to the areas you specified. If you reply no, then FileFix returns you to the main menu. Next, FileFix checks to see if there is a FILES.BBS in the area you are moving to. If there isn't, FileFix asks you if you want to create one. If you reply yes, then execution continues with a newly created FILES.BBS in the area you are moving to. If you reply no, FileFix asks if you want to move the file anyway. FileFix acts as stated above. If FileFix doesn't find a description for the file you are moving, you have the option to create one. FileFix automatically figues the date and the filesize and adds them in the right position along with your description if you choose to make one. If you reply no, FileFix asks you if you want to move the file anyway. FileFix acts as stated above. After the description has been found or made, you are given the following menu: Do you want the description of [filename.ext] to be [1] - Sorted alphabetically. [2] - Sorted by date (newest first). [3] - Appended to the end of FILES.BBS. If you choose option #3 (appending), then FileFix simply adds the description to the end of the FILES.BBS in the area you are moving to. If you choose option #1 (sort alphabetically), then FileFix will automatically sort the FILES.BBS in the area you are moving to with the new description put in its proper place. FileFix determines if a line is a FILES.BBS header line and not a filename by checking the first character of each line. If the character is not in the set of legal DOS filename characters (the set is: A..Z, 0..9, $, (, ), &, ', -, @, #, {, }, %, ~, !, _) then the line is NOT sorted but written directly to disk. The following is an example of part of a FILES.BBS, along with what will be sorted: » The Aztec BBS - Main File Listing « Filename Size Date Description [----------] [-----] [------] [--------------------------------------] ARC.EXE 31,584 07-04-86 Sea's ARChive utility. etc... The first lines (prior to the ARC.EXE line) would not be sorted, but written directly to disk, then the list would be read in and sorted and then the list would be written to disk in alphabetical order. If you choose the second option (sort by date, newest first) then FileFix behaves just like it does when you choose to sort alphabetically, except that the list is sorted by date, with the most current starting the list, and FileFix must read in the list in one step, then sort, and then write to disk as opposed to reading and sorting at the same time which is done in alphabetical sorting. FileFix has a VERY LARGE capacity for FILES.BBS lines. When sorting alphabetically, you are limited only by how much memory you have as to how many description lines may be read in and sorted. When sorting by date, you are limited to 3000 lines. If anyone has more than 3000 lines which they wish to sort, they are out of luck! I can't imagine having over 3000 lines in 1 area!! 5.4 Doing the job. ------------------ FileFix now moves the file and the description and optionally sorts if you have told FileFix to. If you choose to Sort, you will have more disk access, as FileFix must not only re-write the FILES.BBS in the area you are moving from, but it must re-write the FILES.BBS in the area where you are moving to reflect the changes made. At this point if you wish to move another file then you press [Enter]. If you are finished moving then press [ESC] and you will be returned to the main menu. 6.0 Viewing a FILES.BBS. ------------------------ You are prompted to enter the record number where the FILES.BBS is located. Your options are the same as described in section 5.0. FileFix then dumps the FILES.BBS to the screen pausing every 24 lines with a message stating: Press <─┘> to continue or 'Q' to Quit. If you enter 'Q' then you are returned to the main menu line (Sec. 4.0). If you press Enter then it continues until the file is completed or another 24 lines have been displayed and repeats in this manor. Occasionally, you may get the prompt Press <─┘> to continue. This will occur when the end of a FILES.BBS has been reached, but if the main menu were to simply appear, part of the FILES.BBS would be scrolled off the screen. As soon as you press ENTER the main menu (section 4.0) is displayed. 7.0 Sorting a FILES.BBS alphabetically. --------------------------------------- You are prompted (as in section 5.0) for the area that you wish to sort. FileFix will then sort the FILES.BBS in the area you chose. FileFix determines if a line is a FILES.BBS header line and not a filename by checking the first character of each line. If the character is not in the set of legal DOS filename characters (the set is: A..Z, 0..9, $, (, ), &, ', -, @, #, {, }, %, ~, !, _ ), then the line is NOT sorted, but written directly to disk. The following is an example of part of a FILES.BBS, along with what will be sorted: » The Aztec BBS - Main File Listing « Filename Size Date Description [----------] [-----] [------] [--------------------------------------] ARC.EXE 31,584 07-04-86 Sea's ARChive utility. etc... The first lines (prior to the ARC.EXE line) would not be sorted, but written directly to disk, then the list would be read in and sorted, and then the list would be written to disk in alphabetical order. The sort routine is very fast as it reads the list in and sorts it at the same time. You are limited only by the ammout of memory in your computer for how large a FILES.BBS may be. 8.0 Sorting a FILES.BBS by date. -------------------------------- You are again prompted (as in section 5.0) for the area that you wish to sort. FileFix then reads in the FILES.BBS, writing header lines (see section 7.0 as to how FileFix determines a header line) to disk. Then FileFix sorts the lines. Finally, FileFix writes the sorted list to disk. The date sort routine takes slightly longer than the alphabetical sort routine because it must use 3 steps instead of 2. 9.0 Verifying a FILES.BBS. -------------------------- This option will go through the FILES.BBS in the area that you specify (as described in section 5.0), and for each filename it finds, it checks to see if there is actually a file in that area with that name. You have the option of deleting the description lines that don't have an accompaning file. FileFix will display the following when a filename is found that doesn't have an accompaning file: File not verified: FILENAME.EXT xxx,xxx ##-##-## Description.... FileFix will also tell you that the description line has been removed from the FILES.BBS if you used the delete option. 10.0 Making a list of all FILES.BBS's contents. ----------------------------------------------- This option is used for creating the standard 'ALLFILES.TXT' file which contains the entries in all FILES.BBSes that you select. You have 5 questions to answer before beginning: The first prompt asks you for the file area (download path) to send the ALLFILES.TXT to. This is useful to automatically have the ALLFILES.TXT sent to a new uploads area. The second prompt asks you for a header to be displayed at the top of the file (such as: 'Complete Files Listing'). Just hit <Enter> if you do not wish a header. The third prompt asks you if you wish to use the individual FILES.BBS's header lines. Header lines are defined as lines in which the first character is NOT in the standard DOS filename characters (see section 7.0 on legal DOS filename characters). If you say no, then only filenames listed in the FILES.BBSes are entered into the ALLFILES.TXT. The fourth option allows you to include a total of all of the files counted. This total will be reported to the screen as well as put at the end of the file. The last option is the MAXIMUM security level of file areas to be included. FileFix will include in the ALLFILES.TXT all FILES.BBSes less than or equal to what you enter. At this point FileFix compiles the ALLFILES.TXT in the area you have chosen with the parameters you specified. 11.0 Adding to/Creating a FILES.BBS. ------------------------------------ This option will allow you to create (or append to) a FILES.BBS by filespec. You can create an entire FILES.BBS including filename, size, date and description easily now! You are first asked the area you are modifying. This is done the same way as all of the others. You are then asked for the filespec for adding files and are allowed to quit and list a directory of the current area. The filespec can be a single filename such as FILEFIX.ARC, or any combination of characters and wildcards. To update the FILES.BBS with all files in an area (such as creating a new FILES.BBS), simply tell FileFix *.* and away it goes. Each time FileFix finds a file matching the filespec you enter, it checks the FILES.BBS to make sure it isn't already listed. If FileFix finds the file is already listed, in continues on without asking for a description. If a match on filespec is found, and the file isn't already listed in the FILES.BBS, then you are prompted for a description for the file. You can keep FileFix from adding the file and description to the FILES.BBS by simply hitting enter at this prompt; otherwise, enter the description for this file and FileFix will add it to the FILES.BBS. Regardless of whether or not you enter a description, FileFix will continue on looking for more matches on the given filespec. When all matches are found, FileFix closes the FILES.BBS and all files matching the filespec you entered were either already in the FILES.BBS or you were given the option to enter a description for them. 12.0 Editing a FILES.BBS by filename. ------------------------------------- With this option you can change a description of a file, the date of a file, erase the description or erase a file. You are first asked to specify an area and a filename to edit. FileFix then searches the FILES.BBS and if a description exists for the file, it is displayed along with a small sub-menu with this option that contains 7 choices. Each choice is described below. 12.1 Editing a description. --------------------------- With this choice you can change the description of a file listed in a FILES.BBS. FileFix will simply prompt you for a description, and you enter it. FileFix will then change the description in the FILES.BBS. Note that if you just hit enter, a blank description will be used. 12.2 Editing a date. -------------------- With this option you can change the date listed in the description for a file in the FILES.BBS. Simply enter the date in the form: MM-DD-YY and FileFix will change the description for you. 12.3 Removing a description. ---------------------------- This choice will let you erase a description from a FILES.BBS. FileFix simply purges the FILES.BBS and erases the specified description line. 12.4 Deleting a file. --------------------- This option will simply delete the specified file. It will not erase the description. 12.5 Remove and delete. ----------------------- This option combines sections 12.3 and 12.4. 12.6 Change selection. ---------------------- This choice will allow you to specify a new area and filename to edit. 12.7 Return to main menu. ------------------------- Choosing this will allow you to return to the main menu (section 4.0). 13.0 Ending the Program. ------------------------ The last option will display a contribution suggestion and then return you to DOS. 14.0 Other Gtronics programs. ----------------------------- Other Programs Currently Available From Gtronics [as of December 23, 1987] BULK PRINT. V2.0a A bulk print handler that supports up to 10 individual filenames, any or all with wildcards. BULK PRINT formats each page (you may specify the lines per page variable and characters per line) and inserts a page break after printing every file. BULK PRINT also sees if it is about to print a form feed (^L) and instead inserts its own page break to keep all spacing correct. There are options for file/date headers and manipulating the page breaks. WordStar (tm) type files are also supported, and it is possible to delete files after printing them. DIRCONV. V1.00 A utility to convert PCBoard DIR files to Phoenix FILES.BBS files. It's lighting FAST! ****** End Of File ******