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- MANUAL ADDENDUM
- NEW FEATURES IN QFILER VERSION 3.1
-
- QFILER 3.1 (QF3) is a major upgrade to QFILER versions 3.0-3.0E
- which had previously replaced QFILER 2.x versions. As noted
- below, the 3.x series are a rewrite of the 2.x series and
- generally add substantial new features to this popular program.
- The following features are new to version 3.1 and are not covered
- in the QFILER "DOC" file:
-
-
-
- May 9, 1990 (version 3.1L)
-
- LHARC SUPPORT ADDED. If a file has a "LZH" extension, QFILER will
- will assume you wish to use Yoshi's LHARC utility to Zoom, View
- or Test the compressed file and will attempt to invoke LHARC.
- When compressing files, you may press Ctrl-A, and QFILER will
- search your pathed directories and offer ARC, ZIP and/or LZH
- depending on what compression utilities are available. If you
- KNOW you wish to use LHARC, then use Ctrl-L to invoke your com-
- pression utilities. Remember, you may continue to simply press
- ENTER when the current file is an ARC, ZIP or LZH file, and
- QFILER will immediately invoke the ARCZoom function. Note: QFILER
- was tested with LHARC version 1.13. To use QFILER's LHARC support
- just copy LHARC.EXE into a pathed subdirectory.
-
- TAG DUPLICATE FILE(S) FUNCTION ADDED. If you have two directories
- displayed, you may press Alt-T to tag duplicate files. You will
- be asked if you wish to tag all duplicate files or only duplicate
- files that are newer. Press "A" for all duplicates, or "N" (the
- default) for only newer files. QFILER will scan the directories,
- tag duplicates as appropriate, position the current file pointer
- to the first of the duplicate files on each side, and advise you
- which side(s) has duplicate files tagged. If you select "newer",
- then when QFILER finds duplicate files, it tags only the file
- with the more recent time-date stamp.
-
- QFIND and QFLIST AUTOMATICALLY SELECTED. QFIND is a replacement
- for FINDIT, and will search all logical directories on your hard
- drive(s) for files if you begin your search string with a ":".
- Otherwise QFIND works just like FINDIT. QFILER will use QFIND if
- it is in a pathed directory. If QFIND is not found, QF will try
- to run FINDIT. QFLIST is a replacement for Buerg's LIST (for
- those who wish to license their software from a single source).
- Again, QFILER will use QFLIST if it is in a pathed directory,
- otherwise QF will try to run Buerg's LIST. If you prefer to use
- LIST and FINDIT, then DO NOT copy QFIND and/or QFLIST into a
- pathed directory.
-
-
-
- August 24, 1989 (version 3.1Hd)
-
- MINOR CHANGE TO SUPPORT PKZIP101. PKZIP version 1.01 uses a dif-
- ferent format to show files within the compressed file. QFILER
- detects the use of this version of PKZIP and properly interprets
- the listing when performing QFILER's "ARCZOOM" function.
-
- MAXIMUM FILES INCREASED to 1200 files per side.
-
- DEFAULT SET TO IGNORE MOUSE. QFILER still includes mouse support
- but now defaults to "ignore mouse" to avoid annoying conflicts
- with certain display adapters. To configure QFILER to recognize
- a mouse, run QFINST with "/mouse" on the command line -- enter:
- "QFINST /mouse" and return.
-
-
- March 18, 1989 (version 3.1H)
- (QFINST 1.7 must be used to modify 3.1H defaults)
-
- NOGATE PAK SUPPORT ADDED. If a file has a "PAK" extension, QFILER
- will assume you wish to use NoGate's PAK utility to Zoom, View or
- Test the compressed file and will attempt to invoke PAK--
- regardless of what you have installed as your default file
- compression utility. If you wish to create "PAK" compressed
- files, run QFINST and select NoGate PAK as your default file
- compression utility.
-
- DELETE FILES FROM WITHIN A COMPRESSED FILE when using QFILER's
- Zoom feature. This option is always offered for ZIP and PAK
- files, and for ARC files if using Katz's PKARC and PKPAK or
- NoGate's PAK.
-
- INSTALLED MOUSE CAN BE IGNORED by QFILER. Just enter "QFINST
- /MOUSE" from the DOS prompt and you will be shown whether QFILER
- is currently recognizing or ignoring the mouse. You may change
- this default if you wish. This option has been added for people
- who prefer their own external mouse menus to QFILER's internal
- mouse support.
-
- DEFAULT SORT ORDER FOR SIZE AND DATE may be changed by entering
- "QFINST /I" from the DOS prompt. Normally QFILER sorts by size
- and date in ascending order (smallest to largest, and oldest to
- newest, respectively), but you may choose to have size and date
- sorted in descending order so that largest or newest files are on
- top. Regardless of how you set the default sort, you may continue
- to invert the sort order by pressing "I" from within QFILER.
-
- THE MAXIMUM NUMBER OF FILES DISPLAYED IN ZOOM has been increased
- from 200 to 400. Apparently some of you have some really BIG
- compressed files.
-
- PICK NOW EXPECTS ONLY A DRIVE LETTER, usually saving a keystroke
- from earlier versions. To display a graphic tree for any drive,
- simply press "P" (Pick) followed by the letter of the drive you
- wish shown. Previous versions required you to answer "N" (no, not
- THAT drive) followed by the drive letter you really wanted.
-
- MISCELLANEOUS PROGRAM ERRORS (BUGS) CORRECTED. "Jumping"
- selection bar corrected when using a mouse and performing
- functions which shell out of QFILER. ZIP and PAK files may be
- Zoomed when using a mouse and clicking on the right half of the
- current selector bar. You may now attempt to delete and rename
- files on write-protected floppy disks without strange things
- happening (neither should be successful on a write-pretected
- disk). No "pick" file will be stored on removable disks.
-
-
- February 20, 1989 (version 3.1G)
-
- KATZ'S PKZIP/PKUNZIP SUPPORT ADDED. PKZIP now co-exists with
- whatever "ARC" utility you have installed as your default. There
- is no need to do anything special, since QFILER will generally
- guess your intentions. If you invoke your "compression" utility
- with Ctrl-A (intending to do anything except ADD a compressed
- file), then QFILER will select ARC or ZIP utilities based upon
- the extension of the current file. If you are ADDing to a
- compressed file (and have PKZIP/PKUNZIP installed in a pathed
- subdirectory) then QFILER will allow you to select whether you
- wish to "ARC" or "ZIP" marked files. If you KNOW you want to use
- PKZIP, then use Ctrl-Z to invoke your compression utilities--
- the choices are the same, but you will not be asked whether you
- wish to use ARC or ZIP. Remember, you may continue to simply
- press ENTER when the current file is an ARC or ZIP file, and
- QFILER will immediately invoke the ARCZoom function.
-
-
- January 26, 1989 (version 3.1F)
-
- INTERNAL MOUSE SUPPORT ADDED. Virtually all QFILER options may
- now be selected by use of a mouse in addition to the standard
- keyboard commands. The following descriptions will help to
- explain the various mouse-active areas:
-
- The left mouse button is used to select most options. Other
- actions are interpreted as follows:
-
- "YES" - Left button. "NO" - Right button.
- "ENTER" - Left button. "ESCAPE" - Right button.
-
- A vertical "scroll bar" has been added to the right of each
- directory window. If there are more files in a directory than
- can be displayed in a single window, there is a bar displayed
- within this scroll bar. Its size and position gives you an
- idea of the relationship the displayed files have within the
- selected directory. You may click on this bar and slide it up
- and down to quickly display different files. If there is a
- small arrow displayed above or below the scroll bar, you may
- click on each to move the file selection bar towards the top
- or bottom of the directory, respectively. Clicking above or
- below the bar is similar to pressing PgUp/PgDn on the
- keyboard.
-
- The second line from the top of the screen (used to display
- the path name) may be used to rapidly scroll the window down
- (selection bar moves toward the top), or the line just below
- the directory window (displaying the directory size, tagged
- file size and remaining disk space) may be used to scroll the
- window up (selection bar moves toward the bottom).
-
- Help may be displayed by clicking on the prompt line just
- above the bottom menu bar. To activate any of the bottom menu
- bar actions, just click on the displayed word. For all other
- QFILER functions (function keys, alt and control keys, and
- normal keyboard assignments), click on the top line (used to
- display the volume name) and a full drop-down menu will be
- displayed.
-
- Within the directory window, select a file or directory by
- moving the mouse cursor to the desired file and pressing the
- left mouse button. To tag or untag a file, simply click on the
- selected file a second time. NOTE: to simplify some special
- QFILER functions, some file types are treated in a extended
- manner as described below:
-
- DISPLAYING DIRECTORIES ON LEFT OR RIGHT: If a subdirectory
- has been selected as the current file, you may click on
- the left half of the selected line to display the
- subdirectory on the left side of the QFILER screen, or on
- the right half to display on the right side. The ">" in
- the word "<DIR>" is the dividing character.
-
- ".ARC" FILES: If an ".ARC" file is the current file,
- clicking on the left side of the line will tag the file;
- clicking on the right side will invoke ARC-Zoom for
- extracting and listing of files within the ARC. Within
- ARC-Zoom, clicking left will tag the file and clicking
- right will list the file.
-
- If you press a key while the standard QFILER screen is
- displayed, the mouse cursor will "park" itself in the lower
- right corner of screen -- so as not to interfere with your
- keyboard commands. But both the mouse and keyboard are always
- active. Use whichever is most suited to the task you are
- performing.
-
- If it's not clear what you should click on the screen to
- perform a particular function, first try clicking on the
- appropriate word. If all else fails, the right button is your
- "NO" or "ESCAPE" button. PLEASE BE CAREFUL UNTIL YOU ARE
- FAMILIAR WITH THE MOUSE ACTION! The mouse is very responsive,
- and it's easy to inadvertently select an undesired file--
- especially when moving to the bottom and top menu areas. READ
- the displayed prompts before clicking "YES". As always,
- QFILER does a minimum of hand-holding.
-
- If you have a mouse installed and would prefer to just use the
- keyboard, you may choose to disable the mouse by selecting
- DOS/MISC-Disable Mouse in the drop down menus. The mouse will
- be ignored until you exit QFILER or enable it.
-
- DROP-DOWN MENUS ADDED. Although implemented primarily for mouse
- users, the drop-down menu is useful for people with those darn
- 101-key keyboards (the one where the function keys are all in the
- wrong place). To invoke the drop down menu, just press "/", then
- use your cursor keys to select one of the various options.
- ENTER will select an option and ESCAPE will return you to the
- standard display.
-
- QFILER NOW DEFAULTS TO 25-LINE CGA MODE. If you wish to have
- QFILER default to 43/50 line mode, run QFINST with "/EGA" on the
- command line (enter "QFINST /EGA" at the DOS prompt). After
- QFILER is running, you may toggle between 25 and 43/50 line modes
- by pressing Ctrl-D.
-
- TAGGED FILES FLAGGED. Tagged files now have a diamond character
- displayed in the first column so they can be more quickly
- identified.
-
- GREY PLUS KEY MAPPED TO F10 (TAG AND ADVANCE). The minus key is
- mapped to F9 -- again for convenience of those people who have
- keyboards where the function keys are unreachable.
-
- ALT-X MAPPED TO "Q" (QUIT AND RETURN TO DOS). As requested by a
- programmer-type whose fingers automatically use the Borland exit-
- sequence.
-
- TAGALL NOW REPORTS CORRECT NUMBER OF FILES. A program error was
- corrected that included subdirectories in the count of files to
- be tagged.
-
- QFILER AVAILABLE IN AN OVERLAID CONFIGURATION. If memory usage
- must be kept to a minimum, QFILER is available (on special order)
- in a configuration where an overlay file "QF3.OVR" is used.
- Program execution is only slightly slower and QFILER uses about
- 20K less available memory when using an overlay. If using the
- overlay version, you may continue to rename QFILER.EXE to
- QF.EXE, but do NOT rename QF3.OVR or QFILER will complain and
- make you tell it what the overlay file's new name is -- every
- time you run QFILER!. Just copy both QFILER.EXE and QF3.OVR to a
- pathed directory, and everything should work fine.
-
-
-
- December 20, 1988 (version 3.1E)
-
- DIRECTORIES MAY NOW (AGAIN) BE HIDDEN. This restores an option
- that was previously in version 2.x. Further, if you hide an
- already hidden file or directory, it becomes a system file or
- directory. We've never seen a system directory, but it does seem
- to work.
-
- VERSION NUMBER ON HELP SCREENS. The version number is now shown
- on the top line of each help screen.
-
- SMALL ADJUSTMENTS MADE. Several minor cosmetic changes have been
- made to recent new features.
-
-
-
- November 4, 1988 (version 3.1D)
-
- QFINST 1.5 must be used to change CGA <-> EGA/VGA
-
- EGA/VGA MODES USER CONFIGURABLE. QFILER defaults to the greatest
- number of lines available on your monitor. If you have EGA/VGA
- and the type is too small, you may change the QFILER default to
- 25 lines by running QFINST version 1.5 with "/CGA" on the command
- line. In other words, at the DOS prompt, type: QFINST /CGA
- You may press Ctrl-D to switch between EGA/VGA and CGA while in
- QFILER. QFINST should be in the same subdirectory as QFILER.
-
- "FILL" FUNCTION A LITTLE SMARTER. Before offering the option of
- FILLING disks, QFILER now checks the target drive for files that
- will be overwritten. FILL will be offered only if the disk space
- on the target drive appears to be insufficient to accept the
- files you wish to copy.
-
- PKUNPAK COMMAND LINE PROBLEM CORRECTED. The QFILER screen will
- no longer scroll up one line when selecting PKUNPAK, extract ALL
- files.
-
- INVERTED SORTS ARE MAINTAINED WHEN READING NEW DIRECTORIES. If
- you have selected inverted (descending) sorts, the sort will
- remain in inverted order more consistently when changing
- directories.
-
-
-
- November 1, 1988 (version 3.1C)
-
- EGA 43-LINE AND VGA 50-LINE MODES SUPPORTED. QFiler will adjust
- to EGA/VGA mode when loaded. If you wish to switch to CGA 25-line
- mode (or back to EGA/VGA), press Ctrl-D (Display Toggle). On
- exit, QFILER will restore the video mode active when QFILER was
- loaded.
-
- "FILL" FUNCTION ADDED. If you have tagged one or more files, are
- copying to drives A: or B: (assumed to be a floppy disk), and
- QFILER believes the tagged files will not fit on the target
- drive, you will be given the option of FILLING disks. If
- selected, QFILER will fill the disk to within 1K of maximum
- capacity (selecting largest files first, then smaller files as
- appropriate), then prompt you to swap disks. When all tagged
- files have been copied, you will be offered several choices of
- how you wish to redisplay the source directory. NOTE: QFILER does
- not compare files to see if any will be overwritten, but simply
- disk space free. If you wish to override the FILL function, just
- answer "N" to the prompt displayed, and QFILER will revert to
- it's "normal" copy.
-
- KATZ'S PKPAK and PKUNPAK SPECIFICALLY SUPPORTED. Use QFINST to
- select Buerg ARCx, Katz PKARC, or Katz PKPAK as you desire.
-
- TWO OPTIONS HAVE BEEN ADDED TO THE ARCHIVE SUBMENU. You may now
- press "T" to test the integrity of an archive, or "Z" (zoom) to
- display the contents of an archive and list or extract
- individual files. While the contents of an archive are
- displayed, you have the following options:
-
- Up or Down - Use cursor arrow keys to select current file.
- F9 - Tag or UnTag the current file.
- F10 or T - Tag or UnTag the current file and advance.
- U or Enter - UnTag all files.
- E - Extract tagged files, or current if none tagged.
- L or S - Browse (using LIST) current or tagged files.
- Q or ESC - Quit Archive Zoom and return to the main display.
-
- The number of files in the archive are now displayed at the
- bottom of the archive box, along with the total size of tagged
- files. The files within an archive will remain displayed for
- action until "Q" or <ESC> is pressed. If files are extracted to
- the current directory, that directory will be redisplayed.
-
- FREE MEMORY (after QFILER is loaded) IS DISPLAYED at the far
- right of the prompt line (above the bottom menu bar) when the
- UnTagAll option is active (most of the time). The number will
- change as QFILER runs, indicating QFILER's usage of this "free"
- memory.
-
- YOU MAY INVERT THE SORT ORDER OF A SIDE by pressing "I"
- (Invert). QFILER defaults to ascending order, but "I" will
- toggle between descending and ascending. If a side is displayed
- in descending order, a small arrow will be displayed in the
- right corner of the top line indicating the current sort
- direction. QFILER remembers the current sort direction, and will
- display new directories in that direction.
-
- FILES ARE NOW COPIED IN LARGER BLOCKS, resulting in faster
- copies, with fewer disk accesses. And Qfiler is now SMALLER,
- taking just under 115K of memory.
-
- BUILDING OF GRAPHIC DIRECTORY TREE (PICK) IS NOW FASTER, because
- a file is stored in the root directory of each logical drive
- containing the last tree built by QFILER. If you ONLY add and
- remove subdirectories from within QFILER, the displayed tree will
- be correct. If you have made subdirectory changes ouside of
- QFILER (perhaps by installing a new application), or you suspect
- the displayed tree is incorrect, you may press "C" (Clear) when a
- tree is displayed, and a new tree will be built. If your printer
- supports the IBM character set, you may also press "P" to print a
- hard copy of the displayed tree.
-
-
- June 20, 1988 (version 3.1B)
- June 22, 1988 (version 3.1Ba)
-
- GOTO (JUMP) COMMAND ADDED. If you have especially large
- directories, you may press "G", followed by the first letter of a
- filename you wish to locate. QFILER will scan the current
- directory and position the highlight bar on the first occurrence
- of a file whose name begins with the character you indicated.
- Automatic forward and reverse scans will be performed, and
- subdirectory names are ignored. (Minor bug corrected by 3.1Ba)
-
- LIST INDIVIDUAL FILES WITHIN AN ARCHIVE WITHOUT EXTRACTING! An
- earlier QF release added the ability to extract individual files
- from within an ARChived file. Now you may select and view
- individual files (using Buerg's LIST.COM), without actually
- extracting them and cluttering up your hard drive. This feature
- is intended primarily for reading "DOC" files within an ARChive
- and expects Buerg's LIST to be used for the "list" utility, so
- those of you who have substituted other editors or browse
- utilities may have some problems. To use, press ALT-A (Archive
- utilities), followed by "L" (List). The individual files within
- the current ARC file will be listed. Tag those files you wish to
- view and press <ENTER>. All tagged files will be extracted and
- piped to LIST so you may browse through them. Exit LIST, and
- you'll be back in QFILER. WARNING: If Buerg's LIST.COM is not
- used, selecting this option will have unpredictable results.
-
- DIRECTORY POSITION MAINTAINED WHEN DELETING FILES. The highlight
- bar will be positioned either on the file immediately before or
- after a deleted file. Previously, the first filename was
- highlighted after deleting one or more files. If you have marked
- files and choose to delete only the current file, your markings
- will be lost, but the highlight bar will be above or below your
- deleted file.
-
- FILES MAY BE COPIED FROM A WRITE-PROTECTED DISKETTE. A program
- error prohibited copying files from a diskette that had a
- write-protect tab attached.This error has been corrected.
-
- SET-BLOCK ERRORS EXPLAINED. You should NEVER execute a TSR
- (terminate-and-stay-resident) program from within a program that
- allows you to "shell" to DOS. To do so messes up the way DOS
- manages your memory. QFILER is no exception. Except that in
- QFILER's case, QF does some memory management before executing a
- external program (or "shelling" to DOS). If you execute a TSR
- program and return to QFILER, QF determines that something has
- messed up the memory it thought it had available to it and
- complains of a "SET-BLOCK" error. Sorry... this is something
- that occurs outside of QF's control and there's nothing QF can do
- to recover gracefully. Don't do that!
-
-
- February 14, 1988 (version 3.1A)
-
- EXPLICIT SUPPORT FOR BOTH BUERG AND KATZ ARCHIVE UTILITIES. You
- may select which of these two popular user-supported archive
- utilities you wish to use though the use of QFINST (Buerg is the
- default). If PKARC has been selected, then the selection of
- Ctrl-A, A (Add or Update an ARC), will result in fewer calls to
- PKARC since multiple files are communicated to it by QFILER.
-
- ADDITION OF INDIVIDUAL FILE EXTRACTING from an ARC'd file.
- Selection of Ctrl-A, E (Extract files from an ARC) now offers the
- choice "<A>ll or <I>ndividual files?". Pressing "I" will display
- a window in which all the files of the selected ARC are
- displayed. You may select one or more files to be extracted and
- the drive/directory to which they should be written. QFILER will
- send the appropriate commands to your selected ARChive utility
- and extract only those files you have tagged.
-
- SINGLE KEY INVOCATION OF LIST AND FINDIT. Although you may
- continue to invoke both LIST and FINDIT by using the "List"
- submenu, the single keystroke keys "S" and "F" have been mapped
- to perform these functions without having to press "L" first. "S"
- = Show a file (using Buerg's LIST). "F" = Find file(s) (using
- FINDIT).
-
- COMPOSITE VIDEO MONITOR SUPPORT has been added. Just run QFINST
- with a /M on the command line, then write the changes to QFILER.
- This solves the problem of a composite video monitor attached to
- a color video card by substituting normal mono "colors" for the
- default color table and runs QFINST in monochrome as well.
-
- REFRESH OF SCREEN AFTER ARCA/ARCE. In most cases, the proper
- target directory of an ARC-Add/Update or ARC-Extract will be
- shown even if your selected target drive is other than the
- current drive/directory. Files are no longer "UnTagged" after an
- ARC-Add/Update.
-
- "NOVICE" MODE ADDED. QFILER includes several advanced and
- potentially dangerous features especially in the hands of a
- novice computer user. There is now a procedure whereby Corporate
- Micro Managers or Trainers can disable a number of these more
- advanced features. (You are licensing those corporate copies,
- aren't you?) If QFINST is run with a /NOVICE on the command line,
- you will be shown the current level of QFILER and may toggle
- modes between Novice and Intermediate. Selection of the Novice
- mode will result in the following:
-
- Set/Clear Attribute Bits (sht-F1/F2) disabled.
- Hide/Unhide (sht-F3/F4) disabled.
- Protect/UnProtect (sht-F5/F6) disabled.
- Set File Time/Date (sht-F9) disabled.
- Shell to DOS (ctrl-S) disabled.
- System/Hidden/ReadOnly files are NOT displayed and consequently
- may neither be copied nor deleted.
- EXIT TO CURRENT DIRECTORY added through the use of Ctrl-Q.
-
- In summary, <ESC> and <Q> will exit QFILER and return to the
- original directory -- Ctrl-Q returns to the directory currently
- active and displayed on the QFILER screen.
-
- SIZES NOW DISPLAYED "CORRECTLY". Well, they weren't really wrong
- before, but they are now shown as a multiple of 1000 bytes
- rather than 1024 bytes. In other words, an empty DS/DD floppy
- will show 362K free and be less confusing.
-
- FLASHING POINTER RESTORED. It's tricky, but if someone REALLY
- wants to go back to the QF2.x-style flashing pointer instead of
- the inverse video for current and tagged files, it now happens
- automatically if you run QFINST and set the tagged color to the
- same as the current color. Suggest gray on blue for current (same
- as the normal display); white on blue for both tagged and
- tagged+current. Write the new defaults and rerun QFILER.You
- should now see a flashing pointer in the left margin.
-
-
- DIFFERENCES BETWEEN VERSIONS 2.X AND 3.X
-
- QFILER version 3.x (QF3), is a major upgrade to previous
- 2.x versions of the program the last version being 2.3F,
- released in the late summer of 1987. All of the features of the
- earlier versions have been retained or improved, plus some major
- new features added. The changes are summarized below, separated
- into two groups; Minor things that are slightly different, and
- Major those features that are either new or substantially
- different from previous versions.
-
- MINOR CHANGES
-
- MARK / UNMARK is now TAG and UNTAG. This change was made to
- allow the use of [M] to be used for Move. You will have to get
- used to pressing [T] instead of [M] to tag-all-files. To ease
- the confusion somewhat, when selecting an option that operates on
- either current or tagged files, you may press either [T] or [M]
- to select all-tagged-files. For example, to copy all tagged files
- you could press the sequence [C]-[T]/[M]-[Y] meaning "copy all
- tagged files yes, do it".
-
- HELP is now displayed on the non-active side of the screen, and
- is contained in two screens. When the first screen is displayed
- (showing function key assignments), press [N] to see the next
- screen (alt- and control-key assignments) or [ESC] to return to
- the normal display. When the next, or second screen is displayed,
- press [P] to view the previous screen. Prompts are at the bottom
- of the help screen.
-
- YES/NO questions now have a default value which may be accepted
- by pressing [ENTER]. The default will be indicated by the
- bracketed letter, for example [Y]/N which will be interpreted as
- YES if you press either [Y] or [ENTER]. To abort an operation,
- press [ESC], which will be interpreted as NO.
-
- CURRENT FILE POINTER (the triangle with flashing cursor) is gone
- and has been replaced (on a color monitor) with a moving colored
- bar. Tagged files are normally shown in inverse video. If the
- moving bar is placed on a tagged file, the characters will flash
- indicating the file is both marked and current.
-
- ARCHIVE BIT is now shown as a small "a" next to file time. QF3
- will now set the archive bit on all copied files. In addition,
- shift-F1 can be used to set the archive bit on selected files,
- while shift-F2 may be used to clear the archive bit on selected
- files.
-
- "DOT" and "DOUBLE-DOT" FILES are no longed displayed as the top
- two files in a subdirectory, and are replaced with a single
- "PARENT DIR" entry. Selecting the "PARENT" entry and pressing F3
- or F4 will move "up" one level in your subdirectory tree. You may
- move immediately to the "PARENT" of the current directory by
- pressing alt-F3 (to display on the left) or alt-F4 (on right).
-
- COMPLETELY EMPTY directories (such as on a newly-formatted
- floppy disk) will be displayed with the message "NO FILES"
- displayed in the middle of that side.
-
- DELETION of HIDDEN, READ-ONLY and SYSTEM files now require
- operator confirmation before deletion. Attempted deletion of
- SYSTEM files will also result in a warning and second operator
- confirmation before the deletion will be performed. (Too many
- folks who had never seen IBMBIO.COM and IBMDOS.COM before,
- decided to "clean up" their hard drives with some
- disastrous results!)
-
- CRITICAL ERRORS, such as selecting a floppy drive with no disk
- inserted, are now trapped more consistently and reported as
- "selected drive does not respond...".
-
- USE OF ARCE and ARCA will result in the current side being
- reread and redisplayed after the ARChive utility has been run the
- assumption being that something has now changed in the current
- directory. The currently selected file will remain selected.
-
- ESCAPE pressing the [ESC] key will usually abort an
- operation. You may "quit" QF3 by pressing either [Q] or [ESC].
-
- DRIVE/DIRECTORY COMMAND LINE CHOICES will now be immediately
- displayed the QF3 signon screen will not be displayed and no
- beep will be played. For example, invoking QF3 by entering "QF A
- C:" at the DOS prompt will result in the root directory of A:
- being displayed on the left side, and the current directory of
- drive C: being displayed on the right side.
-
- ALL OTHER COMMAND LINE SWITCHES have been removed. See QFINST
- below for information on how to modify QF3 to fit your favorite
- configuration. SPEED of operations, especially sorts, has been
- improved. In many cases, it may be done without you noticing
- anything has occurred!
-
- BOTTOM MENU OPTION-LETTERS are now highlighted (on a color
- monitor). Each of the options may be selected by either pressing
- the key letter, or by changing the selected option by pressing
- the spacebar or tab key, then pressing [ENTER].
-
- A FILE MAY BE COPIED TO A DIFFERENT NAME by pressing alt-C. You
- will be prompted for a new file name. If a file exists with the
- new name, the copy will not be performed.
-
- MAJOR CHANGES
-
- SORT CHOICES (name, extension, size, date, and unsorted) are now
- "remembered" when selected and will remain in effect for both
- sides of the screen until changed. The current sort choice is
- displayed at the top right corner of each side to show how that
- side is sorted (no display means unsorted). QF3 now defaults to
- sorted-by-filename instead of unsorted. If you wish to change
- this default, you may see QFINST below. In addition, if you
- change the sort option on a side, the currently selected file
- will remain selected after the sort and will be highlighted in
- the middle of the screen.
-
- MOVE has been added to the bottom option menu. If a true move
- can not be performed (where both the source and target
- directories are on the same drive) then the user is given the
- option to perform a "pseudo-move" a copy, followed by a delete.
- Move has been extended to DOS 2.1 users.
-
- DIRECTORY MASKS may be entered by pressing shift-F10. QF3
- defaults to all files (*.*), but you may enter some other mask,
- or return to the default (press shift-F10, then [ENTER] without
- entering a new mask). If the current mask is not *.*, then it
- will be displayed at the top left corner of each side. Masks
- remain in effect until changed. For example, if you wish to
- display only "BAK" files, press shift-F10 and enter " *.BAK".
- Only those files whose extensions are "BAK" will then be
- displayed until you enter a different mask.
-
- PICK has been added to the bottom option menu. Selection of this
- option will display an alpha-sorted, visual tree of
- subdirectories on a drive displayed on the non-current side of
- the screen. You may scroll through the directories, then press
- [ENTER] to display the selected directory on the opposite side of
- the screen. Pressing cursor-right and cursor-left will move the
- tree display to the opposite side of screen. The currently
- displayed directory will be highlighted in the tree.
-
- ARChive UTILITIES OTHER THAN BUERG'S ARCE, ARCA and ARCV may be
- used by running QFINST (see below) and changing the default, then
- creating QFARCE.BAT, QFARCA.BAT, and QFARCV.BAT files with
- appropriate replaceable parameters to invoke your favorite
- ARChive utility.
-
- QFINST, a QF3 configuration utility, has been furnished so that
- you can easily change several of QF3's defaults to your liking.
- You may change:
-
- SORT CHOICE Select sort by file name, extension, size,date or
- unsorted. Normally by file name.
-
- FILE MASK Normally all files (*.*).
-
- ARChive UTILITY Buerg's ARCA, ARCE and ARCV or Katz's PKARC
- and PKXARC.QFILER optimizes it's interface with your selected
- utility. Normally Buerg's utilities.
-
- DIRECT SCREEN WRITES Normally QF3 will write directlyto video
- memory, but if you wish to redirect through BIOS calls (at a
- substantial loss of speed), you may.
-
- CHECK SNOW ON CGA Turn ON if you wish direct screen writes to
- be made only during horizontal retrace intervals (reducing
- "snow"on most CGA monitors). Normally OFF (since EGA's are
- becoming more common).
-
- CONFIRM EXIT If you wish to confirm you really want to return
- to DOS after pressing the [ESC] or [Q] key. Normally quit-to-
- DOS is NOT confirmed.
-
- QF3 COLORS You may select new colors for the various
- combinations of QF3 foreground/background colors resulting in
- some really garish screens, or to optimize for your
- particular monitor. If you really get things messed up, you
- can easily restore the original default color combinations.
-
- A QF3 program that has been modified by running QFINST will have
- a message displayed on the second of the "help" screens
- indicating that it has been user modified.
-
- QFILER (c) copyright 1986, 1987, 1988 by
-
- Jamestown Software
- 2508 Valley Forge Drive
- Madison WI 53719
-
- BBS: 608-271-3685
-
- Quantity purchase and site license information: 608-271-2090
-
-