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- Bugs and enhancements in previous versions of WSSINDEX
-
- Enhancements are listed under the first version in which they
- appear, bugs (hopefully) under the last. Version numbers should
- be interpreted as decimal numbers, i.e. 3.1 and 3.10 are identi-
- cal. If the first digit of the version number changes, it means
- a major upgrade; if the second digit changes, it is a significant
- upgrade; and if the third digit changes, it means a bug correc-
- tion. However, if there are enhancements ready when a bug
- correction release becomes necessary, they will also be included.
-
- If you discover a program bug, don't assume that someone else
- will report it. This is especially true for the non-standard
- versions since they receive more limited testing. Your comments
- are also welcome on program features (or lack thereof) and the
- quality of the documentation.
-
- The various utility routines will usually be updated with each
- release because they share subroutines with WSSINDEX. There may
- not be any obvious change in function, and in this case I some-
- times forget to change the version number.
-
- Pre-4.0 buglist available on request.
-
- Version 4.0 enhancements
-
- 1. A major change with this release is that the shareware
- version is a limited demo; full version is only available to
- purchasers. [returned to uncrippled demo at version 5.1]
-
- 2. Combined most of the DOC files into a single manual with
- page numbers and a table of contents.
-
- 3. Added support for other library formats: LBR, ZIP, ZOO, PAK,
- PKA, ARK and the ability to extract comments from libraries.
-
- 4. Added option to page backward and forward when listing files
- or volumes to the screen.
-
- 5. Made the response to some input errors more forgiving -
- prompt for re-input rather than dropping back to the main
- menu.
-
- 6. Added new option ^G to get configuration file and matching
- database, and command line specification of = for database
- name to perform similar function on startup.
-
- 7. Added new option ^R to erase in-memory database.
-
- 8. Made default database and configuration file names indepen-
- dent of any change of current directory which might be done
- when pushed to DOS with the S option. Also changed the user
- prompt while in a DOS shell to remind user how to get back
- to WSSINDEX or CUSTPRNT.
-
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-
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-
-
-
-
-
-
- 9. Added option to quote all fields when exporting (required by
- Lotus 1-2-3 and possibly other database programs).
-
- 10.Added command line parameters to most of the utility rou-
- tines.
-
- 11.When checking for backups, subdirectory selection now ap-
- plies only to the disk being checked for backup so that it
- is easy to check part of a hard disk for backups.
-
- 12.Added new environment variable WSSDISP which specifies the
- default screen output method.
-
- 13.First release of utility SPLIT which divides a WSSINDEX-
- format database into two smaller databases.
-
- 14.New "zippy" search option which looks for character strings
- anywhere in file name, extension, comment or category.
- Available as a substitute for find from main menu or as
- another selection option.
-
- 15.Output routines now properly handle line counting when a
- subdirectory name is long enough to cause line wrap.
-
- 16.Printer definition files now accept ascii, octal, decimal or
- hexadecimal values.
-
- 17.Added option to select sort order when printing disk covers.
-
- Version 4.0 bugs, fixed in 4.01 (Rainbow only except for SPLIT)
-
- 1. The database splitting utility (version 1.0) would fail if
- the first disk in the input database had any subdirectories,
- and also often if there were comments or categories. Fixed
- in version 1.01.
-
- 2. The Rainbow version of the configuration routine always set
- DOS-calls video mode after reading a configuration file so
- fast video could only be used by resetting the configuration
- each time the program was invoked.
-
- Version 4.01 enhancements: none, bug correction release only
-
- Version 4.0,4.01 bugs, fixed in 4.02
-
- 1. Paging backwards through a volume listing didn't work right.
-
- 2. If an ARC file had garbage appended to it, such as might
- happen if it were padded to a multiple of 512 bytes when
- transferred by modem, and if some but not all files had
- comments in the archive, Wssindex could interpret the ap-
- pended garbage as comments. If the garbage included a
- newline character, the database would no longer be readable.
- I can easily repair any databases damaged this way.
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-
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- 3. The B-option could be confused if backups had equal or later
- dates but earlier times, and would report files as not being
- backed up, when actually they were backed up.
-
- 4. When exporting with all strings quoted, library file names
- and missing comments and categories were not quoted.
-
- Version 4.02 enhancements
-
- 1. Added code to demo version to check for a user password set
- by an environment variable so that registered users can
- "unlock" demo releases obtained from other sources.
-
- 2. Added support for the LHarc file compression utility.
-
- Version 4.02 bugs, fixed in 4.03
-
- 1. Multiple-page volume listings directed to printer or disk
- lacked form feeds between pages. When printing volume
- lists, it was necessary to hit return twice to tell the
- program that the printer was ready.
-
- 2. Exit from the add-comments menu was a little awkward when
- files were selected by name only. You had to hit escape if
- you didn't want to enter another file spec, but the message
- didn't tell you this.
-
- 3. When printing disk covers, CUSTPRNT would ask for the number
- of blank lines to insert when the first sort key changed,
- but this key is always the volume name, and when this chang-
- es a new cover is started. Changed to look at the first
- user-entered key after the two required keys.
-
- Version 4.03 enhancements
-
- 1. Changed the name "predefined categories" to "keyboard mac-
- ros" to more accurately reflect their function. No change
- in how they work.
-
- 2. Changed the way wildcard specifications are interpreted when
- searching for files. FOO* is now equivalent to FOO*.*; to
- match only files with no extension, use FOO*. instead.
-
- 3. File and volume lists to the screen now recognize HOME (PF1
- for Rainbow) as meaning go to beginning.
-
- 4. Added support for the LARC file compression utility.
-
- Version 4.03R bugs, fixed in 4.04R (Rainbow only)
-
- 1. Hitting Q to get out of a file or volume listing failed.
-
- 2. It was possible to completely mess up the screen display,
- either by using the push to DOS option and doing anything
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- which scrolled the screen, or by hitting control-c in some
- places.
-
- Version 4.04R enhancements: none, bug correction release only
-
- Version 4.03, 4.04R bugs, fixed in 4.05
-
- 1. Due to a bug in the Turbo C compiler, the N (rename) option
- was broken in the demo version only: if the new disk name
- was less than 11 characters long, it would be padded with a
- few hundred characters from the opening screen, starting
- with a blank, rather than just with blanks. All routines in
- the package have been recompiled with the "merge duplicate
- strings" compiler option disabled in case there were other
- unnoticed problems caused by the same compiler bug.
-
- Version 4.05 enhancements: none, bug correction release only
-
- Version 4.05 bugs, fixed in 5.0
-
- 1. Selection of archive files and members didn't select the
- archive files.
-
- 2. High-bit ascii characters in comments and categories were
- not handled well in any of the routines; loading a database
- would strip them off.
-
- 3. Comments could not be extracted from ARC files written by
- PAK.
-
- Version 5.0 enhancements
-
- 1. The user interface was completely rewritten. Multiple menus
- were added, along with mouse support. Many new configura-
- tion options were added. Unfortunately, this overflowed the
- expansion space which had been allowed in the configuration
- file format, so the format had to be changed and old con-
- figuration files cannot be used. The new format is designed
- to allow further expansion.
-
- 2. Not exactly an enhancement, but there will be a price in-
- crease effective Nov. 1, 1990.
-
- 3. Printer page specifications by width, length, and left, top,
- and bottom margins. Option to use form feeds or line ad-
- vance at end of page.
-
- 4. Indexing options to control whether to make .ID entries, ask
- before replacing a disk, add auto-comments, add auto-catego-
- ries, ask before extracting archive information, include
- hidden files, or include subdirectory tree in dummy entries.
-
- 5. Checksum disk image to verify program integrity.
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- 6. Configurable default selection and sorting options.
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- 7. Listings have configurable number of blank lines between and
- after headings, file names may be in FN.EXT format, field
- width used for subdirectory name, archive file name and
- comments or categories may be limited, comments may be
- printed before or after categories, delimiters around ar-
- chive file name and category may be changed.
-
- 8. When entering file names for database, configuration file,
- etc., the prompt gives the complete default drive and path;
- these may be edited. Filling in of defaults values is only
- done when the program first starts up. There is no longer
- any problem with using extensions on subdirectory names.
-
- 9. File specs for database searching and configured exceptions
- may be entered and edited in full-screen mode. The last-
- entered set of specifications is remembered the next time
- the full-screen editor is entered.
-
- 10.Disk volume sorts may be by the numeric part of the volume
- name, regardless of where the number appears.
-
- 11.File selection may now start from a previously selected
- subset.
-
- 12.Selection by date range now defaults to no limit, and day,
- month, and year are entered in the same order as used for
- date printing.
-
- 13.Added internal key buffering so that control-s and control-c
- will be recognized even if an unprocessed keystroke has been
- made.
-
- 14.Indexing of ZIP files was speeded up by reading the central
- directories at the end of each ZIP file rather than the
- local directories scattered throughout the files. Text
- prepended to a ZIP file, which PKZIP ignores, is now also
- ignored by Wssindex.
-
- Version 5.0 bugs, fixed in 5.01
-
- 1. The auto-commenting option only worked when a disk was re-
- indexed.
-
- 2. The trigger letter C was used twice in the indexing menu.
-
- 3. The comment import routine did not recognize escape when
- prompting for a comment file name.
-
- Version 5.01 enhancements: none, bug correction release only
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- Version 5.01 bugs, fixed in 5.02
-
- 1. Cursor positioning and text display were wrong for new
- categories on the add-comments screen created by copying old
- categories or when keyboard macros were used.
-
- Version 5.02 enhancements: none, bug correction release only
-
- Version 5.02 bugs, fixed in 5.03
-
- 1. Indexing ignored files for which the archive bit was not
- set. Typically backup programs clear this bit, so some
- users will have many files which would not be indexed.
-
- 2. The date-indexed stored in a database had 1900 subtracted
- from the year twice. After converting to standard date
- format, this turns 1990 into 2010.
-
- 3. The flag controlling whether to include hidden files was not
- included in the configuration file; the default was to not
- include these files. The utility routines can write config-
- uration files, so they have all been updated.
-
- 4. The database splitting utility sometimes mis-handled subdi-
- rectory entries. This might lead to later problems when
- disks were re-indexed, or SPLIT might crash with no useful
- error message.
-
- Version 5.03 enhancements:
-
- 1. The database read routine now checks for consistency in the
- subdirectory information and warns if any errors are found.
-
- 2. First Rainbow release in the 5.0x series. The keyboard is
- now read at a low level which allows control-arrow keys to
- be detected and used for word-tabbing.
-
- Version 5.03 bugs, fixed in 5.04
-
- 1. The database splitting utility which was supposedly fixed in
- the last release still sometimes produced corrupt databases
- when processing subdirectories. Damaged databases can
- usually be repaired, but it isn't easy.
-
- Version 5.04 enhancements.
-
- 1. Screen sizes other than 80x25 are now supported. Border
- color can be set for EGA and VGA cards.
-
- 2. Archive file comments can now be extracted without also
- extracting directory information.
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- 3. Viewfile now recognizes the HOME key.
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- 4. Keyboard can now be read by the BIOS so that ANSI.SYS key
- redefinitions are not seen.
-
- 5. Files can be required to be the same size before they are
- considered duplicates.
-
- 6. Escape key now acts the same as Q from a file listing.
-
- 7. The comment import utility can now also import categories.
-
- Version 5.04 bugs, fixed in 5.05
-
- 1. "Extract only comments" (from archive files) was interpreted
- as "don't extract any information" when a saved configura-
- tion file was reloaded.
-
- 2. Lists of files, such as are entered for a ^F search, are
- remembered for possible reuse even when changing the config-
- ured database size limits. The memory allocated for these
- could fragment memory, limiting the maximum size which could
- be configured. These are now relocated to avoid fragmenta-
- tion.
-
- Version 5.05 enhancements: none, bug correction release only
-
- Version 5.05 bugs, fixed in 5.06
-
- 1. If the configured size limits were changed by loading a
- configuration file from the primary configuration menu, the
- changes did not take effect unless you entered the size
- configuration menu.
-
- 2. Some debugging code got left in which caused an ungraceful
- exit if you attempted to push to DOS with the COMSPEC envi-
- ronment variable undefined.
-
- 3. Loading an old configuration file could cause indexing to
- fail in some cases.
-
- 4. Several of the utility routines had unused code linked in.
- This increased their size, but was otherwise harmless.
-
- Version 5.06 enhancements: none, bug correction release only
-
- Version 5.06 bugs, fixed in 5.1
-
- 1. The code which was supposed to allow upward and downward
- compatibility of configuration files often failed.
-
- 2. When exporting file names, the .ID records for volumes and
- subdirectories were excluded even if they met the selection
- criteria.
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- 3. When exporting volume names, comments and categories were
- output before other information; they should have been last.
-
- 4. Some valid LBR format files were reported to be corrupt.
-
- Version 5.1 enhancements:
-
- 1. First release of the extended version for 286/386/486 ma-
- chines. First availability of printed manuals. Number of
- files limit removed from shareware (DOS) release. User
- password scheme suppresses opening commercial screen.
-
- 2. Added option to extract information from ARJ and GIF files.
- Also recognize new header format written by LHArc 2.0.
-
- 3. The custom print functions were moved into WSSINDEX;
- CUSTPRNT is obsolete.
-
- 4. The comment import function was moved into WSSINDEX;
- WSIMPORT is obsolete.
-
- 5. Get disk menu selection can now merge databases; the sepa-
- rate merging utility is mostly obsolete.
-
- 6. Registered DOS version now includes an optional overlaid EXE
- file. Although the disk file is considerably larger than
- previous releases, there is actually more memory available
- for database storage than there was in version 5.06.
-
- 7. Disk read errors during indexing are now intercepted and
- handled nicely.
-
- 8. Added option to not indexed backed up files, i.e., files
- with the archive bit clear.
-
- 9. Added option to remove duplicate volume names created by
- merging databases.
-
- Version 5.10 bugs, fixed in 5.11
-
- 1. The database splitting utility could fail when splitting a
- small format database. Usually, it would give an error
- message "write error".
-
- 2. When indexing a ZIP file which had another, uncompressed ZIP
- file as the last member, the directory of this file would
- sometimes be found rather than the proper directory.
-
- 3. The extraction option for GIF files could be set to "Com-
- ments only", should have been restricted to YES or NO.
-
- 4. The category delimiter actually surrounds whichever of
- comment or category is printed first. Neither the menus nor
- the documentation stated this.
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- Version 5.11 enhancements: none, bug correction release only
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- Version 5.11 bugs, fixed in 5.12
-
- 1. The code for handling the various exception lists had a
- problem which would sometimes corrupt the list, possibly
- turning file names past the first to just ".". In the
- extended version, this bug could cause GP (general protec-
- tion) faults.
-
- Version 5.12 enhancements: none, bug correction release only
-
- Version 5.12 bugs, fixed in 5.13
-
- 1. Selection of files looks like it would fail in the extended
- version for a database of more than 64K files. (No reports
- yet of anyone creating a database that large.)
-
- 2. If the extended version was configured to print the dupli-
- cate file flag, print options from the right side of the
- print menu could crash with a GP fault. DOS version was ok.
-
- 3. If one of the input databases was small format, and the
- output database was large format, the stand-alone merging
- utility could create a database with entries for archive
- members indicating that they were not on the same disk as
- the containing archive. Operations on this database tended
- to produce GP fault crashes. Wssindex now checks for this
- problem when a database is read and attempts to correct the
- problem. If disks have been reindexed since the faulty
- merge, they may be flagged as requiring reindexing. Merging
- done by Wssindex proper did not have this problem.
-
- 4. Suppress snow option on video board configuration menu had
- "W" highlighted, but was actually selected by "U".
-
- 5. IDADD did not recognize large-format databases.
-
- 6. Disk covers did not use the margin allowance in the printer
- DEF file for the header lines, so if a margin was specified,
- these lines and the box border would be shifted left rela-
- tive to the rest of the cover.
-
- 7. If there was a comment applying to an entire disk, it was
- supposed to be printed at the top of the corresponding disk
- cover, but it was sometimes skipped.
-
- 8. Each page of the ascii documentation files included two
- carriage returns without matching line feeds. These were
- harmless if sent directly to most printers, but some methods
- of printing would make each page appear to have 68 lines
- rather than 66. Fixed by editing the Word Perfect standard
- printer driver.
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- Version 5.13 enhancements
-
- 1. Added option to specify BX value for video mode setting;
- required for Vega VGA and possibly other cards.
-
- Version 5.13 bugs, fixed in 5.2
-
- 1. If the date printing style was changed, the change didn't
- take effect until the configuration was saved and restored.
-
- 2. If auto-category was YES, but there was no auto-category
- string, zero-length categories would be assigned to files as
- disks were indexed. This made databases larger than they
- needed to be, and prevented copy category from working on
- the add-comments menu unless the null comment was first
- deleted. These null categories will be silently removed
- when a database is loaded.
-
- 3. If configured to ask before extracting archive information
- from ARJ files, the question would be asked about any file
- with an extension beginning with A rather than only exten-
- sions of the form Ann where n is a digit.
-
- 4. Setting option to ignore backed up files prevented indexing
- of files in subdirectories.
-
- 5. Information could not be extracted from some valid ARJ
- files. The files in question had a flag setting which ARJ
- itself never produces, so I suspect they were produced by
- some other utility.
-
- 6. Column heading in multi-column listings might be mis-cen-
- tered depending on which fields were selected for printing.
-
- 7. Label printing code did not properly handle multi-column
- labels when the information printed exceeded the label
- width.
-
- 8. In the Rainbow version, hitting Next or Previous Screen
- before screen painting was completed would behave as if
- escape had been hit, terminating the current listing. Long
- lines, particularly in multi-column listings, could clobber
- the display. Cursor and screen display could get out of
- sync when the screen scrolled.
-
- Version 5.2 enhancements
-
- 1. Period during which registered version is warranted to
- function substantially as documented increased from 30 to 90
- days.
-
- 2. Maximum comment and category length are now configurable; up
- to 1023 characters for comment, 64 for category. To
- accommodate long comments, the printing routines now do word
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- wrap for long lines. Configuration now specifies the maxi-
- mum number of line wraps allowed and the indentation for
- wrapped lines.
-
- 3. Added support for postscript printers.
-
- 4. Printer port can now be configured as PRN, LPT1, LPT2, LPT3
- or EPT.
-
- 5. Database, configuration and printer definition files can now
- be selected from pop-up menus.
-
- 6. When printing disk labels, disks can now be selected by
- size. 3.5" and 5.25" disks are recognized by total capaci-
- ty; odd formats may not be identified correctly.
-
- 7. Directory information can now be extracted from SDN and HYP
- files. Image sizes can be extracted from BMP, PCX and TIF
- files. Selection of which archive and image files to pro-
- cess was moved to two new submenus.
-
- 8. Menu boxes now have a shadow around them. It's a silly
- little thing, but it seems to make the display look nicer.
-
- 9. If environment variable WSSDISP is not set, Wssindex will
- now auto-detect the video type (may be changed by config
- file). This may cause problems on non-IBM compatible ma-
- chines such as the Sanyo 555. (Solution is to set WSSDISP.)
-
- 10.New indexing option to ignore labels, or more properly, tell
- you what the label says but give you the chance to use
- something else.
-
- 11.Indexing now records the date and time a volume was labeled
- and uses it to decide whether a previously known volume
- label is likely to be a reindexing or a duplication.
-
- 12.More selection options when printing a database.
-
- 13.Box forming characters in comments extracted from archive
- files are now ignored. Previously, the typical comment
- extracted would be the top of a graphics box advertising a
- BBS. I hope this doesn't cause too many problems for those
- not using the English code page.
-
- 14.Option to route messages and prompts through DOS so that
- they can be more easily seen by screen readers for the
- blind.
-
- 15.On first entry to main menu, give a reminder if no database
- is loaded.
-
- 16.Added an option to only move the cursor manually in menus
- rather than attempting to guess whether advancing to the
-
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-
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-
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- next item was desired. Rearranged menus to minimize the
- number of cases where an item in a two column menu was not
- matched with an item in the adjacent column. In the remain-
- ing cases, made left/right arrows move to previous or next
- item in other column.
-
- 17.Support for Wang version officially dropped. This version
- was vaporware for a long time, and literally no one ever
- ordered a copy. Rainbow and TI Pro versions continue to be
- supported. They aren't very popular, but at least I have
- hardware to test them on.
-
- 18.Discontinued overlaid version of Wssindex. It offered only
- a small increase in capacity, and I haven't had any feedback
- indicating that anyone is using it. If I get many com-
- plaints, I'll put it back in the package.
-
- Version 5.2 bugs, fixed in 5.21
-
- 1. ARJ files with a security envelope were flagged as corrupt.
-
- Version 5.21 enhancements: none, bug correction release only
-
- Version 5.21 bugs, fixed in 5.22
-
- 1. Index ignoring labels crashed badly when on disks with
- subdirectories.
-
- 2. When a disk was reindexed, the test for whether a duplicate
- volume name was likely a reindexing or a true duplicate
- often failed with a message that the date was not available.
- The failure was in looking up the old date in the database;
- the date the disk was labeled was stored correctly.
-
- 3. A wildcard of 8 characters followed by *, such as XXXXXXXX*,
- should have been equivalent to XXXXXXXX.*, but was instead
- equivalent to XXXXXXXX. Wildcards of 7 or fewer characters
- follwed by a * were handled correctly.
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