ProfitPress Mega CDROM2 …eeware (MSDOS)(1992)(Eng)/ProfitPress-MegaCDROM2.B6I/UTILITY/SYSTEM/FSERVER.ZIP/FSERVER.DOC

Text File | 1990-08-09 | 10.8 KB | 240 lines

Copyright 1990 P.C. Resources, PO Box 443, Hudson, MA 01749 All rights reserved

                    License fee for commercial use is $10.

    FSERVER shows a menu of filenames on your screen.  High-light a file-
    name and hit ENTER to pass the filename to your application.

    FSERVER provides 'Point-and-Shoot' file selection to any application
    which will accept a command-line filename. This includes DOS commands
    such as COPY and DEL.

    FSERVER was intended to be run from menu systems or batch files, but
    the defaults allow for reasonable use from the DOS command line.


    The file display shows 5 columns by 20 lines of files, or 100 files
    per page.  When multiple pages are available small up or down arrows
    are shown at the corners of the file box.

    Within the file display the four cursor-keys, Page-UP, Page-DN, HOME,
    and END move a high-lighted field.  The files are in alphabetical
    order, and any alpha-numeric key will jump the cursor to the first
    file starting with that character.

    Directories are shown in angle-brackets <>. High-lighting a directory
    name and hitting ENTER moves to that directory.  The double-dot entry,
    <..>, is a special directory entry to go up one level.

    The esc key exits FSERVER gracefully, returning to the current dir-
    ectory and clearing the screen. The ENTER key - when a filename is
    high-lighted - will execute the application program and pass the high-
    lighted file to the program.


    The general format for the FSERVER command is:

             fserver [file-mask] [options] [/cmd <command string>]


    FSERVER with no arguments is a directory viewer defaulting to display
    all files.  FSERVER with arguments is a powerful application launcher.

    The arguments are described in detail below with examples.


    file-mask   The file-mask is a file description which may include *
                and ? wildcards and which is interpreted per DOS standards.

                The mask - if used - must be the first argument after the
                command name. If no mask is provided the program defaults
                to *.*


    /CMD <string>
                The /CMD switch specifies which program or DOS command to
                execute.  The /CMD switch MUST be the LAST switch on the
                command line, and everything after /CMD is assumed to be
                part of the command.

                The command string may be anything which is valid at the
                DOS command line, except it may not include the DOS input
                redirection character "<".

                Programs and batch files used should be in the current
                dir, on the path, or specified by a complete path name;

                               FSERVER /CMD \util\field.com

                FSERVER appends the selected file name to the command
                string.  If the filename must be elsewhere in the string
                place %1% where the filename should be inserted.  When
                FSERVER is called from a batch file, where %1% is reserv-
                ed, use #1# instead.

                FSERVER /CMD LIST         *These three commands have the
                FSERVER /CMD LIST %1%      same effect, to run LIST with
                FSERVER /CMD LIST #1#      the selected file.


                FSERVER /CMD COPY %1% E:  *This demonstrates imbedding the
                                           filename within a command

                FSERVER /CMD ZZZZ.EXE %1% > TEMP

                                          *OUTPUT re-direction is allowed;
                                           INPUT re-direction is not.


    /REPEAT     The /REPEAT switch causes FSERVER to shell to DOS to run
                the application and then return to FSERVER: this allows
                executing the application REPEATedly, picking a new file-
                name each time.

                The default is to execute the application once and return
                to DOS.

                This option affects the amount of memory available to your
                application.  Without the /REPEAT switch FSERVER will take
                up roughly 5k to 7k of memory.  With the /REPEAT switch as
                much as 100k may be tied up.  The amount of memory used
                varys with the number of files in the current directory.


    /NOEXT      This switch causes the extension to be stripped from the
                filename before passing to the application.

                With batch files it is handy to be able to pass the file-
                name without extension; e.g. the batch file calls two
                programs, the first program creates a file with the same
                filename but different extension for the second program to
                use. If both programs accept default extensions then by
                not passing the extension into the batch file the same
                argument can be used for both programs.


    /NOPATH     FSERVER normally passes a full path and filename including
                drive letter, e.g. C:\util\list.com

                We found a program which insisted on only the filename:
                the NOPATH switch will block passing the drive and path.
                If you use this switch and move around the directory tree
                you may need the /FOLLOW switch for your application to
                find the file.


    /NOTREE     Normally FSERVER lists subdirectories in angle-brackets,
                <UTIL>, and allows moving from directory to directory by
                hitting ENTER on the directory entry.

                The /NOTREE option defeats directory display and movement
                allowing access only to the files in the current directory.


    /FOLLOW     FSERVER changes the current directory as you move the
                display to another directory; but when you execute the ap-
                plication the current directory is returned to the one
                from which FSERVER was called. Thus if you start in dir-
                ectory \A, specify file \B\test, and your application
                creates file test.out, the output file will be \A\test.out

                The /FOLLOW switch makes the current directory FOLLOW and
                remain with the file display.  In the above example the
                output will be \B\test.out

                Using this switch requires that your application either be
                on your path or that you provide a full path description
                in the application name.  You may have to take steps to
                make overlay files available to the application as well.

                If you use /FOLLOW with the /REPEAT switch you will be
                returned to the original directory when the application
                terminates.


    /DRIVE=x    This switch allows jumping to other disk drives for the
                file display. At present drives A through G are supported.
                To specify drive D the command is,

                             FSERVER /DRIVE=D/REPEAT/CMD list

                If you use the /REPEAT switch - or exit with the esc key -
                you will be returned to the current drive and directory
                when terminating. Otherwise your current drive will be the
                one specified in the /DRIVE command.

                If the drive is a floppy which is not ready the program
                will give you an "INSERT DISK IN DRIVE n AND HIT ANY KEY"
                message.  If the drive cannot be read the program halts.

    /FG=nn
    /BG=nn
    /HL=nn      These switches allow adjusting the default color scheme.
                FG is fore-ground, BG is back-ground, and HL is high-
                light. The argument is a one or two digit number between 0
                and 15 for FG and HL, and between 0 and 9 for BG.

                         FSERVER /FG=3/BG=4/HL=15/CMD list


    NOTES:

    FSERVER /CMD ECHO
    *Is a handy way to verify what FSERVER is passing.

    FSERVER /REPEAT/CMD list
    *Our favorite - runs Vernon D. Buerg's LIST.COM program.

    FSERVER does not display system or hidden files - this cannot be changed
    from the command line.

    Type "<" to quickly jump to directory entries.

    Type Control-Break in FSERVER and you are returned to the calling program
    with the default drive and directory those that were displayed when
    FSERVER was terminated.

    Type Control-Break in an application called by FSERVER and the result
    depends on how the application handles Control-Break.  You may or may not
    be returned to FSERVER.

    If you run a program, shell from the program into DOS, and then run
    FSERVER, you should use the /REPEAT switch.  If you do not, you may lose
    the return path to the first program.  Use caution if you try this.




    FSERVER was written for use on systems we set-up and support; these run
    menu systems for the users who don't care to learn DOS.  But if an ap-
    plication doesn't support a file-selection option, feeding the applicat-
    ion a filename through the menu can be difficult.

    With several hundred files it isn't easy to run a file management program
    to find the file, terminate the file management program, remember the
    filename while navigating the menu screens, and finally type the name in
    at the application prompt.

    And on many systems we don't want to give the user the power of an XTREE
    or similar file management program.  The browsing features are nice, but
    the delete-all-tagged-files type of commands can be troublesome.

    Finally, users who don't want to learn DOS probably don't want to learn a
    file manager.

    FSERVER - short for File-SERVER - is an excellent partner to menu systems
    such as BrownBags' POWER-MENU where it provides point-and-shoot capabil-
    ity for most any program - even batch files.



           FSERVER was written in POWER-BASIC from SPECTRA Publishing.


     P.C. Resources will provide customized or modified versions of this
     program.  We hope to have a mouse-version in the near future - write
     for details.

                   P.C. Resources, PO Box 443, Hudson, MA 01749