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CD Master (CDM) Version 1.0 Copyright 1991 All Rights Reserved by New-Ware Shareware Products 8050 Camino Kiosco San Diego, CA 92122 (619) 455-6225 Contents 1 General . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 1.1 Disclaimer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 1.2 Registering CDM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 2 What Is CDM? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 2.1 What Does It DO? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 2.2 How Does It Do It? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 3 Operating CDM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 3.1 Getting Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 3.2 Main Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 3.3 The Drive Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 3.3.1 New Drive - F3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 3.3.2 Re-Scan - F5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 3.3.3 Print Tree - F7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 3.3.4 Drive Stats - F8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 3.3.5 Search - Alt+S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 3.4 Directory Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 3.4.1 Add Dir - Ins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 3.4.2 Delete Dir - Del . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 3.4.3 View Files - F4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 3.4.4 Rename Dir - F6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 3.4.5 Prn File List - F9 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 3.4.6 Dir Stats - F10 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 3.5 The View Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 4 Mouse Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 5 Viewing/Browsing Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 6 Configuring CDM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 7 System Requirements & Program Limitations . . . . . . . 13 8 Technical Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 8.1 New-Ware BBS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 i 1 General 1.1 Disclaimer New-Ware hereby disclaims all warranties relating to this product, whether express or implied, including without limitation any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. New-Ware cannot and will not be liable for any special, incidental, consequential, indirect or similar damages due to loss of data or any other reason, even if New-Ware or an authorized New-Ware agent has been advised of the possibility of such damages. In no event shall the liability for any damages ever exceed the price paid for the license to use software, regardless of the form and/or extent of the claim. The user of this program bears all risk as to the quality and performance of the software. 1.2 Registering CDM CDM is a Shareware product which means that it is provided for you to use on a "try before you buy basis". If you do not find CDM useful, then simply stop using it. If you do find CDM useful then you should register it. Registration can be accomplished via mail, telephone, or BBS. Simply fill out the form below and mail or phone in the appropriate information. /-------------------------------------------------------------\ │ CDM Registration Form │ │ │ │ Name:_________________________________________________ │ │ │ │ Address:______________________________________________ │ │ │ │ City/State:_____________________________ ZIP _________ │ │ │ │ MC/Visa #_______________________________ EXP _________ │ │ │ │ Enclosed is my check or my MasterCard/Visa card number │ │ for the amount of $15.00. │ │ │ │ California residents must include 8.25% ($1.24) sales │ │ tax. Foreign orders must include $2.00 for shipping. │ │ │ \_____________________________________________________________/ Users may also register via the New-Ware BBS which operates at 1200/2400 baud 24 hours per day at (619) 455-5226. After connecting and logging in as a new BBS user you can register CDM with a valid MasterCard or Visa number via the BBS Questionnaire menu. - 2 - NOTE: The Shareware evaluation copy of CDM is functionally identical to the registered version copy. The only difference is that a Shareware information screen will pop up approximately once in every five major commands issued from the main directory tree display. This screen does not inhibit the functionality of CDM in any way but is included as a gentle reminder to evaluating users that CDM is indeed a Shareware product.. NOTE: All users that register CDM, including those who register via BBS, will receive a registered copy of the current version on disk via mail. Please specify if you require a 3 1/2" diskette. NOTE: The New-Ware voice line, (619) 455-6225, is served by a voice mail system that will answers calls in the absence of New-Ware personnel. This voice mail system has sufficient security to permit you to leave a MasterCard or Visa order without fear of card data compromise. NOTE: Users that register by mail or voice telephone are NOT automatically entered into the BBS registered user database. To gain access to the registered CDM file and to the exclusive registered user's node (9600 baud HST) you must first log on the open node and leave the Sysop a comment requesting access as a registered CDM user. NOTE: Special site license rates are available. Please call for further information. 2 What Is CDM? 2.1 What Does It DO? CDM, an abbreviation for CD Master (the CD represents the DOS Change Directory command), is a utility designed to facilitate navigating around the different drives and directory trees of you computer system. Most computer systems have multiple drives with fairly complex subdirectory structure on each drive. CDM provides a fast, powerful, and easy to use interface for moving about and maintaining the directory structures of your system. - 3 - 2.2 How Does It Do It? Each time you run CDM it presents a graphical display of the directory tree structure of the current drive in a treelike format as in the example below: ╒══ Drive D: Tree ══╕ │├───FM │ │├───FMTSR │ │├─┬─NEWFILER │ ││ ├───INC │ ││ ├───INS │ ││ ├───OBJ │ ││ ├───PAS │ ││ ├───REAL │ ││ └───TPU │ │├─┬─OP │ ││ ├───EX │ ││ ├───INC │ ││ ├───OBJ │ ││ ├───PAS │ ││ ├───SAVE │ ││ └───TPU │ │├───RE │ │├───REFDATA │ │├───SPRINT │ ╘═══════════════════╛ When it executes, CDM will either scan the current disk to build and sort the tree structure for you or it will access a file where this data is maintained. Each time a new drive is accessed, the tree for the new drive is displayed. You can change drives while in CDM and go directly to a specific directory on the new drive. A number of useful functions are accessible from main display via pull-down menus, function keys, or mouse clicks. 3 Operating CDM It is strongly suggested that CDM.EXE be placed in a directory that is identified in your DOS PATH string so that it will be accessible from any place in your system. Execute CDM by typing CDM at the DOS prompt and press the Enter key. CDM will load and display the directory tree for the current drive. Or you may add a drive letter and colon, i.e., X:, where X is the drive designator - 4 - of the target drive. In that case CDM will display the directory tree for drive X. You may also add the name or partial name of a subdirectory. For example, suppose you have a directory with the path name of D:\UTILITY\ARCHIVE\ZIPPROG\DAT that you wish to change to. If you are already on drive D:, simply type CDM dat and press Return. CDM will load and position the cursor bar over the DAT subdirectory. Now press Return to change to that subdirectory and return to the DOS level. Or if you are not on drive D:, typing D:dat will accomplish the same thing. One thing to remember about this feature is that CDM will search the sorted tree in a top-down fashion. In the case of the example above, this means that if you had a subdirectory named D:\ALLDONE\DAT, CDM would place the cursor bar on this subdirectory instead of the longer one because it appears first in the tree. To handle such cases, use the Ctrl+L command. This will continue the search until the next match is found. 3.1 Getting Help CDM provides on-line help via the F1 key and the file named CDM.HLP. If you place CDM.HLP (along with CDM.EXE) in a directory that is in your DOS PATH, pressing the F1 key will bring up a help window. If you press F1 while in the main tree display, a Help Topic window will appear. Select a topic and press the Enter key get help on a specific topic. Help is also available from the file list viewing windows and from the directory stats window. 3.2 Main Display The main display will always contain a window that occupies the left side of the screen in which the directory tree structure will be displayed. The window width will automatically be adjusted to accommodate trees with long directory names and multiple depths. The height of the window will be proportional to the number of lines in the display. EGA/VGA users may elect to operate in a 44(EGA)/50(VGA) line mode. The top line of the display contains a bar that contains the following command cues: Drive - - Alt+D diRectory - Alt+R View - Alt+V Pressing the Alt key and D, R, or V will activate one of three pull down menus. If you have a mouse you may click the mouse over any of the cues to obtain the desired menu. - 5 - The bottom line of the display normally contains the "Alt+X to Quit" cue. Press Alt+X or click with the mouse over the cue exits the program with no action. 3.3 The Drive Menu The Drive pull-down menu offers the following six choices: ╒════════════════════╕ │ New Drive F3 │ │ Re-Scan F5 │ │ Print Tree F7 │ │ Drive Stats F8 │ │ Search Alt+S │ ╘════════════════════╛ Notice that each item shows a function or Alt key command that may be used directly from the main display without going through this menu. All menus in CDM operate by moving the cursor bar to the desired item and pressing the Enter key (or left-clicking the mouse). 3.3.1 New Drive - F3 CDM will display a menu of all the valid drives found in your system. This includes ram drives and floppy disk drives. Select a drive from the menu by pressing the Enter key with cursor over the target drive or by pressing the drive designator character. CDM will immediately attempt to load and display the directory tree structure for that drive. Note that each time CDM is executed or a new drive is selected, the directory tree cursor will automatically move to the currently active directory name. If a drive is empty or otherwise reported by DOS as being not ready, CDM will show an empty directory tree. 3.3.2 Re-Scan - F5 CDM can be operated in two basic modes. In one mode, CDM scan the drive to build the directory tree each time a drive is accessed. This is slow, especially in the case of large drives with lots of directories, but it always shows the current state of the directory tree structure. CDM provides an alternative to this by maintaining small files that contain an abbreviated image of each drive tree structure. These files are named NEW-WARE.X, where X is the drive designator. In order to use this strategy, you must configure CDM to recognize a valid directory in your system as the repository for these files. Then CDM only needs to briefly read in the data that describes the tree structure when accessing a drive instead of spending seconds re-scanning the drive. Any time you elect to add, remove, or rename a directory via CDM, the appropriate tree data file - 6 - is automatically updated. If, however, you add, remove, or rename a directory via a means other than CDM the tree data will no longer be valid. That is why the F5 command is included. You can re-scan any drive at any time to update a tree data file and CDM will operate much, much faster. 3.3.3 Print Tree - F7 This function is provided so that you can print a copy of the directory tree structure. Please be sure that your printer is in the full ready mode and that it will properly print the IBM line drawing characters used to depict the tree structure. 3.3.4 Drive Stats - F8 The Drive Stats function displays a window in the right side of the display that contains interesting information concerning the current drive. On slower systems with a large drive, this function might take a few seconds to retrieve all the data that it displays. 3.3.5 Search - Alt+S CDM offers a fast means of finding a specific file on a drive. When you activate the search mode, CDM will traverse the current drive tree to collect all the file names on the drive into memory. An advisory message on bottom bar will appear during the scan. Then you will be prompted on the bottom bar to enter the target file name. You may press the Esc key at this point to abort the operation. If you enter a file name (no wild cards, please), CDM will rapidly search the in-memory list. If the file is found, a file list window will appear in the right side of the display with the cursor bar positioned over the target file name. If the file is not found, an advisory message is issued. Press any key to clear the message and return to the target file name prompt. You can enter the file list window without conducting a search by simply pressing the Enter key at the prompt. The window will open and you will be able to browse the entire file list. In addition, you can now use the fast, powerful CDM speed search method of looking for files. Notice that the directory path name of the directory that contains the file highlighted by the cursor bar is displayed just below the lower left hand corner of the file window. You may press the Enter key to view the file under the cursor. You may exit the file list window with the Esc key. Notice that the directory containing the file under the cursor bar when the Esc key is pressed will be highlighted in the tree display. Please see the paragraph entitled "View Files - F4" for information on how the F2 through F6 keys change the file sort and for the use of the - 7 - F8 key to display 4DOS (or NDOS) file descriptions maintained in the DESCRIPT.ION file. 3.4 Directory Menu The Directory Menu functions are the primary means for altering the directory tree structure. You can add, remove, or rename any directory on the tree providing all the DOS rules for doing so are complied with. Here is the menu accessed through the Alt+R command: ╒══════════════════════╕ │ Add Dir - Ins │ │ Delete Dir - Del │ │ View Dir - F4 │ │ Rename Dir - F6 │ │ Prn File List - F9 │ │ Dir Stats - F10 │ ╘══════════════════════╛ 3.4.1 Add Dir - Ins Adding a subdirectory to the current tree is quite simple and straightforward. Press the Ins key to activate the add directory function. The new directory will be added as a subdirectory to the directory highlighted when you activated the command. For example, if the cursor was highlighting a directory on the tree with the path name C:\UTILS\CONFIG and you typed in the name SAVE at the prompt and pressed the Enter key, CDM would create a new subdirectory with the DOS name of C:\UTILS\CONFIG\SAVE. Note that the tree will be immediately resorted and updated if the addition was successful. There are two things that might cause a failure to add a subdirectory. One is to enter a name that results in a full path name identical to one already on the drive. The other is to enter an invalid DOS directory name. 3.4.2 Delete Dir - Del You may remove any directory from the current tree structure provided that it does not contain any files or subdirectories. Pressing the Del key will remove the directory under the cursor bar if DOS permits its removal. Otherwise, an error message will be issued. If the directory is successfully removed, the tree will be re-sorted and updated. 3.4.3 View Files - F4 This function is one of the most useful available in CDM. When the View Files function is selected, and new vertical window will open on the right side of the display that contains a list of file names found in the directory under the cursor in the tree window. This window also has a - 8 - cursor bar that can be moved through the list with the cursor pad keys and/or mouse. A file name speed search function is a available in this mode by pressing the letter keys of the file name you are searching for one at a time. For example, suppose you are interested in a file named BIGDATA.DOC. Pressing the "B" key will move the cursor to the first file in the list that begins with the letter "B". Notice that as you press the letter keys the file name is incrementally displayed in the lower left hand corner of the window. You can clear the speed search by moving the cursor or pressing the backspace key. A file may be viewed (browsed) by pressing the Enter key (or clicking) with the cursor bar over the desired file. A more detailed explanation of this feature appears latter in this document. You do not have to return to the tree display to view files in other directories in the tree. Press the F9 or Ctrl+PgUp key to move up the tree one directory or the F10 or Ctrl+PgDn key to move down the tree. The tree cursor will update and the file list window will be updated with the new list of files. The faster your drive system and your CPU is, the more smooth the transition between directories with large file lists will be. Press the Esc key to leave the file view window and return to your original starting point on the tree. Notice that the tree cursor will be positioned over the directory that was active when you pressed the Esc key. Five different file name sorts are available in conjunction with either ascending or descending sort logic. The default sort at start-up is by file name and ascending unless overridden via the CDM.CFG file. Use the following keys to dynamically change the sort as indicated below: F2 - Sort by file name F3 - Sort by file extension F4 - Sort by file date F5 - Sort by file size F6 - Sort by file name/extension F7 - Reverse the sort direction Note that large file lists and/or a relatively slow CPU can result in a delay while the sort is executing. You will notice that the cursor bar disappears during the interval the sort is taking place. The F6 key activates what I call a "nested" sort. It groups files by file extension and sorts by file name within the extension groups. The F7 key toggles the sort direction from it's current state to the logical opposite. The two states are ascending and descending. - 9 - 4DOS and NDOS users can use the F8 key to display an existing file comment. Note that a comment related to the file must exist in the DESCRIPT.ION file that resides in the host directory for the target file. 3.4.4 Rename Dir - F6 This command permits you to rename a directory on the tree. Notice that the prompt that is issued contains the current name of the directory and that just pressing a key will clear the entry and start a new one. Or you may use the backspace or arrow keys to edit the entry accordingly. The only thing that will cause the rename function to fail is if your new name entry results in a path name of an existing directory on that drive. 3.4.5 Prn File List - F9 A sorted listing of all the files contained in the directory under the tree cursor bar may be obtained by pressing activating this function. Please be sure the printer is ready to print before using this function. 3.4.6 Dir Stats - F10 The directory stats function is somewhat similar to the drive stats function except that it displays data relating to the directory under the tree cursor bar. Also, note that if the highlighted directory is a subtree, i.e., it contains subdirectories, CDM will display the data for the entire subtree in the lower half of the display window. Like the file view command (F4) explained earlier, you may move up and down the directory tree with the F9/F10 keys respectively. Note that if you move the cursor to the root directory at the top of the tree, the subtree data is now for the entire drive. 3.5 The View Menu The View Menu provides a means for toggling an EGA or VGA display between the normal 25 line mode and a 43/50 line mode. ╒═══════════╕ │ 25 lines │ │ 50 lines │ ╘═══════════╛ Note that pressing the F2 key while in the main tree display also toggles between the two types of displays. CDM can be configured to automatically switch to a 43/50 line mode at run time. This is explained later. If the display is already in a 43/50 line mode upon entry, it will automatically adjust. - 10 - 4 Mouse Support CDM fully supports all mouse systems that are compatible with the Microsoft two-button mouse standard. It will save the current system mouse state upon entry and restore it upon exit so as not to perturb your default settings. You may use the mouse to traverse the graphic tree, traverse file lists, access menus, select menu items, etc. If a system mouse is detected at runtime, CDM will display four additional mouse cues on the bottom line of the display. These cues can be clicked on to perform the indicated function. When operating within the tree or file windows, you may move the cursor by positioning the mouse cursor at a desired line and then pressing the left button. If the left button is pressed with the mouse cursor on the cursor bar it is the same as pressing the Enter key. Pressing the right button is always the same as pressing the Esc key. The middle key on a three-button mouse is not recognized. 5 Viewing/Browsing Files CDM provides an interface to the file viewer of your choice. It will call Vern Buerg's famous LIST viewer as a default or you may configure CDM to use any other viewer. You must ensure that whichever viewer you desire to use resides in a directory that is identified in the DOS PATH string. To view a file, enter one of the file list viewing modes, move the cursor bar to the desire file, and press the Enter Key or left click the mouse. CDM will issue a call to the designated viewer with the name of the selected file as a command line argument. Note that the LIST /m (for use mouse) switch is not passed so you must preconfigure LIST to use the mouse. CDM will devote the full display for viewing/browsing the target file and then restore its display upon exit from the viewer. 6 Configuring CDM You may cause CDM to use certain default modes at start-up via the CDM.CFG file. This is a simple ASCII text file that you create/modify to cause CDM to use specified defaults. Since CDM must be able to locate CDM.CFG at runtime, you should position your CDM.CFG file in the DOS PATH. The simplest and best way to do this is to place both CDM.EXE and CDM.CFG in the same directory and ensure that directory is in the DOS PATH. - 11 - Here is an example of what the file can look like. You will need a text editor (like the fabulous QEDIT) to create/modify this file: dirlog=c:\log; where to store drive directory tree data files forcemono=false; primarily for use with certain laptop monitors vidlines=25; anything but 25 will force into 43(EGA)/50(VGA) line mode viewer=list; name of file viewer nosort=false; do not sort the directory tree filesort=4; default sort is by size files=false; if TRUE then always start CDM in the file view (F4) mode tree=true; if FALSE, change directory only - do not display tree. Values for the "filesort=" item will set the start-up default file sort method as follows: 1 = Sort by file name 2 = Sort by file extension 3 = Sort by file date 4 = Sort by file size 5 = Sort by file extension/name Please ensure that each line of the file, if included, looks like the example above. The lines can be in upper or lower case but there must be NO spaces between the command, equal signs, and arguments. The file may contain one or more of the above lines. Comments can be added to each line by using a semicolon delimiter as shown above. Any text following the semicolon will be ignored. Note that if the "dirlog=" argument is empty or is an invalid directory path name, CDM will NOT use the directory data file storage strategy and disk access will slow things down. If no CDM.CFG file is found by CDM at runtime, the following defaults are in effect: DirLog=C:\LOG ForceMono=false VidLines=25 (but will adjust automatically to current system value) Viewer=LIST NoSort=false Laptop owners may find the colors of CDM to be unacceptable. If that is the case you may force a mono (two-color) mode by placing the line ForceMono=true in the file. Note that there is a sample CDM.CFG file in the distribution package. - 12 - 7 System Requirements & Program Limitations CDM is designed to operate on any IBM PC compatible computer running DOS 2.1 or higher with 300K of RAM available at runtime. CGA, EGA, VGA and monochrome monitors are supported. CDM can support up to 700 directories per drive. The number of files per directory/drive is strictly dependent upon available memory, but will range from approximately 4500 with 300K to 18,000 with 620K (not improbable with DOS 5.0 and QEMM!). Any mouse compatible with Microsoft Systems mouse version 6.0 and above is supported. Any printer that supports printing of IBM line characters can be used to print the directory tree. 8 Technical Support Technical support is available from 8 a.m to 5 p.m. Pacific time on Monday through Saturday via telephone at (619) 455-6225. Please note that messages left on New-Ware voice mail by non-registered users requesting a return call for support will not be responded to. 8.1 New-Ware BBS New-Ware operates a Bulletin Board System (BBS) which can be accessed for technical support, copy of latest version, and on-line product registration. Registered users of any New-Ware products have access to a closed line served by a U.S. Robotics HST Courier 9600 baud modem as well as to the standard 2400 baud line. The BBS operates 24 hours a day on these two lines: Node #1 - (619) 450-3257 - Registered Users Only Node #2 - (619) 455-5226 - All callers Those users who register by voice telephone or by mail are NOT automatically entered into the registered user database and MUST call node #2 and leave a comment for the sysop requesting registered status. - 13 -