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Description of ELFTREE v1.E55: (US$35-US$50; FREE SHIPPING) by Alan J Avery, developer (member ASP) 1408 Noble Ave Springfield, IL 62704-3450 (217)698-8600 CompuServe ID: 73077,3605 ELFTREE is an integrated suite of hundreds (maybe thousands) of file, directory and program management utilities. Yes, there are many programs in the marketplace that have some of its features, but there are MANY features in ELFTREE that are better or faster than the features in these standalone utilities. For example, some programs can find all files that match a single file specification, and print a list of these files. In ELFTREE, you can look for files that match any of a group of specifications (or exclude the ones that are in the group), AND the full range of file/program management features can be applied to these files - you can tag selected ones for copying, editing, archiving, printing, etc., pop up a menu to perform a user-defined action against them, change the date/time stamp, etc. Which is more useful to you? Here is a list of the major features in ELFTREE: ****************************************************************** File display: ============= o Tap [F1] or [?] for help. [F1] gets you into the ELFTREE.HLP file, which you should read to learn about ELFTREE's many powerful features. Use the Print tool to print this file. The [?] key is for a quick reference chart to tell you what keys are available to you at that moment. o Use the [F10] key to set a group of file specifications to gather whenever you enter a directory. For example, you can set it up to exclude EXE, COM and BAT files, or to display only those files that have their archive flag set. You can also search for names that DOS can't handle, such as *ELF*, which means "has ELF in the name". Here are some examples of specs you can use: README - Name must be "README". ??? - Name must have exactly three characters. ET*.* - Names that begin with "ET". *.EXE - Names with an extension of "EXE". *ELF* - Names with "ELF" somewhere. *A*B*C* - Names with "A", "B" and "C" (in that order). A*B*C - Names that start with "A", end with "C" and have "B" somewhere between them. o Use the [F2] key to sort the files displayed in any of thousands of ways, or reorder the files temporarily for processing. There are 4 levels of sorting, and you can sort the files at each level by Name, Extension, Size, Date/Time, Disk Order, Attribute, Tag, Percent Slack Space, Date only, or Time only. Use the [F5] key to rearrange the display as needed for special processing when sorting alone won't put the files in the order you desire. o Search for a file in the current list as you type it. Tap [=] to activate the search, then just start typing. If more than one item matches what you typed, tap [Down] to highlight the next match in the list, or [Up] to highlight the previous match. You can use non-DOS names here, such as *ELF* to find a file with "ELF" in the name. To find a file starting with a particular number or letter, press [Alt] and tap the key with the number or letter desired. For example, [Alt+E] will find the next file that starts with "E". o Tap [F3] or [X] to open up the DOS Gateway window. Tap [Enter] to shell to DOS (ET+DOS uses only 6K of RAM), or enter a command and run it from this window. Dozens of programmable symbols let you build commands of incredible variety and complexity. For example, you can create a command to archive all tagged file, but have it ask you to enter the name of the archive when it is executed. Here's an example of such a command: PCZIP -a {Input}"Enter archive name:" @{Temp} When this command is run, ELFTREE will pop up a box with the prompt "Enter archive name:" in it (quotes are not used). The response provided is inserted directly into the command, then the rest of the command is resolved and it is executed. The symbol {Temp} provides the name of a file that has the name of all tagged files inside it (it is created automatically just before the command is carried out). In addition to commands entered through the DOS Gateway, you can build an unlimited number of menus of commands that are attached to the [U] and [Alt-F1] through [Alt-F12] keys, or to any file extension (40 extensions per directory). Up to 100 commands can be put in a single menu, and each selection can consist of multiple commands connected by '^' symbols. Menus can be nested 10 levels deep and can have comments, special help, etc. Plus, if you make ELFTREE start up in a menu (see Customize menu under Miscellaneous Settings), you can set up ELFTREE for a friend or customer as a menu-driven way for them to get into their favorite applications! Here is a list of the special symbols available for commands: Group 1 - Macro symbols that provide objects for commands: Symbol Alternate Description ======== ========= =========================================== {CName} #C Drive:\Path\Name.Ext of current file {Date} #V Current date {Dext} #] Extension of current directory {Dir} #| Name.Ext of current directory {Dname} #[ Name of current directory {Drive} #4 Current drive (e.g. [A:]) {Ext} #E Extension of current file {Fname} #F Name.Ext of current file {FDate} #G Date of current file {FNote} #7 Note on current file {FTime} #H Time of current file {FSize} #5 Size of current file (flush left) {LDrive} #? Former drive (e.g. [C:]) {List} #L Execute command against list of tagged files {LPath} #/ Formerly displayed path {Name} #N Name of current file {Page} #P Current page (use for printing) {Path} #\ Currently displayed path {RSize} #6 Size of current file (right-justified) {Temp} #@ Insert name of filenames of tagged files {Time} #X Current system time Group 2 - Macro symbols that control command actions: Symbol Alternate Description ======== ========= =========================================== ^ Join multiple commands {COM1} #A Send string to serial port COM1 {COM2} #B Send string to serial port COM2 {DInput} #0 Default response to user input query {ExitC} #. Exit to current directory after completion {ExitO} #, Exit to original directory after completion {Free} #* Free file space before executing program {GTag} #8 Run command group for each tagged file {Input} #I Ask user for input to a command {LPT1} #1 Send string to printer port LPT1 {LPT2} #2 Send string to printer port LPT2 {LPT3} #3 Send string to printer port LPT3 {Macro} #J Stuff ELFTREE keyboard buffer for macro {MoveTo} #D Move to program directory before executing {NoSaveTag} #} Don't save file tags before executing command {NoWait} #! Don't wait for a key after command execution {Nozero} #Y Don't shrink to 0K {Prompt} #Q Prompt user with message before continuing {Repeat} #R Repeat last command until user stops {Repeatall} #M Repeat all commands until user stops ** Note: {Repeat} and {Repeatall} work even when shrinking to 0K RAM!! {Retag} #O Re-tag file after execution completes {SaveTag} #{ Save file tags before executing command {Stuff} #K Stuff DOS keyboard buffer before execution {Tag} #T Run command for each tagged file {UInput} #U Response to previous user input command {V25} #( Select 25-line video mode (all displays) {V43} #) Select 43-line video mode (EGA only) {V28} #- Select 28-line video mode (VGA only) {V50} #= Select 50-line video mode (VGA only) {VKeep} #9 Keep current video mode {Wait} #W Wait for a key after command execution {Zero} #Z Shrink to 0K prior to command execution Tap the [O] key to immediately shell to DOS. Tagged files retain their tags even when you run a program from ELFTREE (this can be disabled)! When you return to ELFTREE, any files that were deleted, changed or created will be included in the list of files shown as well!!! ELFTREE is the FIRST such program to offer this feature. o Tap [F4] to customize ELFTREE from within! Change the colors, the type of lines used for borders, the editor or format program to use, the speed of your keyboard, or dozens of other settings. Also, there are numerous command-line switches to determine how much memory ELFTREE should use for files, directories, etc. Once you've changed an ELFTREE setting, a simple tap of [F9] saves it until you change it again. You can set up ELFTREE so it starts up in a menu, at the Files display or at the Tree display. If you enter a filename on the command line when starting ELFTREE, it will automatically put that file in the viewer for you. The [Tab] and [Shift-Tab] keys change the way files are displayed. There are 4 formats to choose among, one of which displays file names, with any associated notes to the right. For EGA/VGA displays, the [Ctrl-V] key changes to the next available video mode. For EGA, the choices are 25/43 lines per screen. For VGA the choices are 25/28/50 lines. In addition, if you start up ELFTREE in a nonstandard video mode that has at least 80 columns, it can use that mode directly. So, if your video card can display 43 rows by 132 columns, you can get ELFTREE to use that as well by starting it up in '25' line mode. The [Y] key cycles through 6 date formats for files. The [;] key cycles through 6 time formats for files. The [,] key toggles whether a comma or a period separates each group of three digits in a large number. ELFTREE also uses the information supplied by a COUNTRY command to set these values at startup. The [%] key toggles whether percent slack space or attributes are displayed for each file. The abbreviations that ELFTREE uses for days of the week and months of the year are stored in the configuration file and can be changed with a simple text editor. o Change to drive 'A' by tapping [Shift+A] (or B, C, etc.). ELFTREE can work with local, CDROM or networked disks with equal ease. o Delete one or more files by tapping [Delete] or [F7]. ELFTREE can be programmed to not prompt you before erasing files, but the default is on the side of caution. o Want to get back to the last directory you were in? Tap [F8] and you are taken there instantly. Tap [F8] again to return to the directory you just left. Want to compare the files in the two directories? Select Tag Diff from the menu bar, then choose [S] to compare the files byte-by-byte, or [F] to just look at file attributes such as size, date/time stamp, etc. This is MUCH FASTER than trying to compare them visually. o The menu bar on the top line allows single-key access to many common operations. For example, [C] is for the Copy tool, [P] is for the Print tool, etc. The highlighted letter is the key to tap to access that tool. o Change attributes for files and directories. Set or clear the flag for read-only, archive, hidden or system. o Copy/Move files from any drive/directory to any drive/directory, even across a network. Plus, conflicts are met intelligently: oo Before replacing a file, you can: Rename the source file. View the target file. Edit the target file. Copy only those files that are newer. Append to the target file. Compare the source file byte-by-byte with the target to see if they are identical or different. oo If you are copying to floppies and run out of formatted diskettes, ELFTREE lets you format a fresh batch on the fly, then resumes copying automatically! You can specify the format program to use as well as a menu or line of parameters to select from when needed. oo If there is not enough room to store all of the files on the disk, you can insert another and continue, skip over the file that won't fit, or quit copying/moving. oo To copy/move to the same directory on the target disk, just hold down the [Alt] key when selecting the target disk. For example, to copy/move from C:\WORK\DATA to A:\WORK\DATA, just tap [Alt+A] when presented with a list of drives to select from. oo To copy/move to the current directory on the target disk, just hold down the [Shift] key when selecting the target disk. For example, to copy/move from C:\WORK\DATA to drive A:, just tap [Shift+A] when presented with a list of drives to select from. oo To duplicate the highlighted file, tap ["] and give a name for the file. If the file already exists, you can use the conflict resolution just described to compare the two files, edit/view the other one, etc. oo To combine multiple files into one, tap [&] after you have tagged the files, indicate where you want the resulting file to be copied, and give it a name. oo If a note is attached to a file, it is copied/moved to the target directory automatically if the file does not already exist in that directory. oo If you want to copy/move files to a directory that does not exist, just create the directory on the fly! oo To copy/move files to more than one directory in one step, just tap the [Space] key to tag the directories to copy them to. o Edit one or more text files simultaneously. ELFTREE's registered version can be ordered with a superb editor that can: oo Be easily customized - colors, tab stop settings, video mode, auto-save, backup of original file, define whitespace, printer port and # of lines per mailing label. For example, you can put the current line in a different color from the rest of the displayed text for the file (this makes it much easier to determine which line the cursor is on!). oo Copy or delete text from one file and paste it into another. This can also copy/delete/paste columns of text. A block of text can also be printed, saved to another file, converted to UPPER, Proper or lower case, or printed as mailing labels (assuming the file is formatted for it). oo Copy/delete/paste individual lines of text, or duplicate the current line with a single keystroke - [Alt+"]. oo Delete all text to the end of the current line - [Alt+K]. oo Edit multiple files at once in full-screen mode (one file appears on the screen at a time, and you can step from one file to the next by tapping [Alt+N]). Copy a block from one file to a buffer, then move to another file and paste it. oo Find matching bracket characters. For example, if you put the cursor on a ')' and tap Ctrl+[ the cursor will move backward to the matching '('. oo Merge a file into the one currently being edited at the current cursor position. oo Move a character, word, line or page at a time through the file, or jump to any particular line instantly. oo Move the current line to the top or bottom of the display. oo Record up to 11 keyboard macros that can be instantly played back by tapping the corresponding key. oo Reenter the last text character typed. This is especially handy for entering repeated instances of a graphics character. oo Search for text (case sensitive or not), or perform a search and replace operation with lightning speed. (How fast? Would you believe it can change 3000 occurrences of a phrase in a 400K file in under 3 seconds?) oo Show a chart of all 256 ASCII characters, and enter any ASCII character except NULL (0). oo Undo all changes to the current line in one step. o Gather 16000 files from across 1000 directories and work with them as if they were in the same directory! This is MUCH MORE sophisticated than programs that just list the files that match the criteria you specified. From the list of files that are gathered by ELFTREE, you have access to the FULL RANGE OF FILE MANAGEMENT utilities built into it!!! So, you can edit or view any file in the list, run programs against them, copy or move them to another drive/directory, print their contents or a list of them, tag files with duplicate names, etc. Incredible!!! You can gather files by a combination of criteria, including: Name (or group of names) and attribute. For example, you can search for all EXE, COM or BAT files in one simple step, OR all files EXCEPT these! Content - Type in the text to look for, enter the file name(s) to search in (or to omit), and proceed. ELFTREE's search routines are coded in Assembler for optimum speed, and are often as much as twice as fast as standalone utilities. Date range - Enter the range of dates to allow, and enter the file name(s) to search in (or to omit), and proceed. You can search any or all drives available to you through ELFTREE, including those on a network or CD-ROM. If you are searching on a single disk, you can also tag the directories that you want included in the search. Once the list of files is gathered, you can save the list to a file and retrieve it at a later date, or freshen the files in such a list. Tap [F11] to quickly gather all files that match the current file specification across all disks, or [F12] to just gather those files from the current disk. o Attach notes to files in a directory, or erase notes that are attached to specific files. These notes can be any of the following types: Normal, 4DOS and ProFinder. ELFTREE can read/write notes directly in each of these formats. You can easily select the option you prefer from ELFTREE's extensive customization menus, accessible via the [F4] key. Once notes are attached to files, you may want to change the file display to make the notes appear next to the file name. The [Tab] key in ELFTREE changes the file display to a number of different layouts - just pick the one you want. You can also tag files based on whether a particular phrase or word is in the file's note. If a note is attached to a directory tree map, it is displayed when the tree map is shown, on the line just below the Path. o Print file contents, or a list of them. Before printing, you fill out a dialog box that can: oo Set page margins, length or range of pages to print. oo Accept initial and final setup strings, which are needed when printing to a network printer. oo Put a header at the top of each page. oo Change tab characters in the file to spaces so that the text is aligned in the correct columns. oo Number each line printed. oo Print the name of the file being printed on each page. oo Skip selected pages in a page range. For example, you can print all odd pages, then all even pages. oo Signify whether to print to a file or printer. Or, you can just forego the formatting and send it to the destination indicated as is. The dialog box also appears when you print a list of files from the current listing. You can choose to list all of the files, or just the ones that are tagged. If any notes are attached to the files, they are printed as well. The dialog box appears when you want to print a block of a file that was marked when you were viewing it. o Rename files, even if they have a space inside them! For example, ELFTREE can rename the file "BESTFIT.EXE" to "BEST FIT.EXE", and vice versa! Many programs (including DOS) have a terrible time with files that have a space in the name, but not ELFTREE. Also, you can rename several files at once in ELFTREE by using the same file specification for each of them. Directories can be renamed just as easily, and the directory tree will be rearranged, if needed, automatically. o Check space usage on all/some available drives, and report how much memory (conventional, EMS, XMS) is used as well as the type of installed CPU. If files are tagged, the space that would be occupied by the tagged files if they were copied to each of the drives is shown as well. This is handy for seeing if there is enough room on a disk to hold a group of files before starting to copy them to the disk. The type of disk (CDROM, Local, Network, Removable) is displayed. o Tag (or mark) multiple files when you want them to be operated on as a group. Here are the ways you can tag files in ELFTREE: oo Tag one file by tapping the [Space] key. oo Use the [*] key to mark the beginning and end of a block of files to tag. oo Use the Tag submenu to: Tag each file in the list. Tag files that are different from the corresponding files in the last directory you were in. Tag Files that have the same name as one or more files in the current list (created with the Find command). Tag all files whose name matches one or more of a group of specifications. For example, tag all files with an "EXE" extension or those with "ELF" in the name. Tag all files above the highlighted file. Invert the tags on all files in the list. Tag all files below and including the highlighted file. Remove all untagged files from the list. Tag all files that have a note attached to them. Tag all files with a 'Retag' symbol on them. Remove tags from all files. Tagged files can be worked with just as easily as single files in ELFTREE. For example, you can tag all files with an extension of "EXE" and use the Attrib tool to mark them as Read-Only. Or, you may use the [Space] key to tag several files, then [F5] to arrange them in a particular order, then print them in that order. You can tag files in many different ways with ELFTREE. You do not have to tag a file before you work with it - for example, to copy a file, just highlight it, tap [C] and proceed to copy it. ELFTREE can also be configured to be smarter about deciding what files to work with. For example, if you've got several files tagged and tap [M] to move them, ELFTREE can be set to automatically assume that you want to move the tagged files, not just the one highlighted. The [I] key toggles between Immediate and Delay modes, with Immediate being the smarter and Delay providing maximum flexibility. o View any file (binary or text) using any of several different filters or attached external viewing programs. Also, you can: oo Display the file as hexadecimal characters. oo Search for text (ASCII or hex format) in the file. The line the text is found on is highlighted, and the text is displayed in a contrasting color. oo Translate between ASCII and EBCDIC characters. Combined with block operations, it can be used to translate an entire file from EBCDIC --> ASCII or ASCII --> EBCDIC. oo Replace text being searched for. oo Perform 10 different block operations on the file. These include print, append to another file, delete, replace null, control or all characters with a user-specified character, or convert to UPPER, lower and Proper Case. oo Instantly jump to any position in the file, no matter how large. oo Scroll the file forward or backward automatically at 9 different speeds. Great for hands-free browsing! oo Change tab stop settings from 1-8 (or show tab characters). oo Display line numbers from the start of the file. oo Toggle wrapping of long lines of text (up to 1000 characters per line. oo Move directly from the viewer to the editor by tapping [E] and, if line numbers are displayed and your printer has a GOTO LINE# key, the file will be displayed in your editor at the exact line number you were viewing it! oo Move through the file one byte at a time, one line at a time, one page at a time, or one file at a time (the keys [Ctrl+PgUp] and [Ctrl+PgDn] move to the previous or next file, respectively.) Also, the "<" and ">" keys move to the previous or next tagged file in the list, respectively. oo Program the viewer to preferred settings based on the extension of the file being viewed, or call an external program. For example, you might want the viewer to be in Hex mode when you are viewing a file with an "EXE" extension, or you might want to call up an external program when viewing an archive file. Up to 40 extensions are permitted per directory. If you create or delte files when using an external viewing program, these changes will be reflected in ELFTREE when you return. o Change the date/time stamp for files. Tap [Ctrl-T] and enter the date/time to change them to, then tap [Enter] to process the files. ****************************************************************** Directory tree display: ======================= Your directories for a given disk are displayed in a tree format, with parent directories appearing to the left of child directories. These trees are stored in files on your disk so when you change to a disk you have visited previously, the tree is loaded instantly for you. Tree maps can be stored on any writable disk, and the user can control whether they are stored on the associated disk or in a centralized area. ! ! ! SPECIAL NOTE FOR CDROM USERS ! ! ! ELFTREE will recognize CDROM drives automatically AND will store tree maps for each distinct platter in the directory where the configuration file for ELFTREE is stored!!! This means that you do not have to wait 1-20 minutes for a tree to be built every time you return to a CDROM!!! Just scan it once and you're set! ELFTREE is the FIRST program to offer this amazing convenience. o From the directory tree display, you can work with directories in a similar way to how you work with files in the file display. For example, you can tap [Space] to tag (or untag) a directory, [T] to tag a directory and all of its children, or [U] to untag them. Once you have tagged some directories, you can: oo Copy, move or graft the directories to the same or another drive, even across a network. This is especially handy when setting up a workstation. Grafting can be done across drives, not just to the same drive, it can do a subset of the files in the affected directories, and it can move or copy the files. oo Hide the directories from view. o The style of the tree and the characters used to draw or print it can be dynamically customized. Tap [F4] to activate the feature. and use the arrow keys to select the style or characters you want. This is especially handy when printing the tree, as some printers cannot print the graphics characters used to make the tree. o You can search for a directory three different ways: oo Tap [F] for the Find option, type the name to look for, then tap [Enter] to start the search. oo Tap [=], and ELFTREE can search for the name as you type it! Best of all, both DOS and non-DOS names (such as *ELF*) can be used! The [Down] and [Up] keys can be used to locate the next or previous directory whose name matches what you've entered. oo To find a directory starting with a particular number or letter, press [Alt] and tap the key with the number or letter desired. For example, [Alt+E] will find the next directory that starts with the letter "E". o Tap [Shift+A] (or B, C, etc.) to view the tree for drive A. o Tap [E] to expose all hidden children of the current directory. o Tap [H] to hide all directories that appear in a column to the right of the current directory (if no directories are tagged). o To create a new child directory of the current one, tap [N] and enter the name for this directory. This can be done even if you are in the middle of specifying the destination for a copy, move or graft operation. o To print the current directory tree, tap [P] and enter the margins, header, etc. you want used, if any. If directories are tagged, ET can also report the number of files in each tagged directory and the number of bytes used by these files. o To rename a directory, just highlight it, tap [R], and enter the new name for it. If needed, the tree will be adjusted to keep the directories in alphabetical order. o After installing new software, or optimizing disk space usage by running a separate utility, the directory tree used by ELFTREE may get out of date. Tap [S] to rescan the disk and build a new tree, or [F5] to just grow the subtree that begins at the current directory. If you move to the tree from a directory that is not currently on the tree, ELFTREE will attach it automatically. o The [#] key will reveal a number of statistics about the directories in the tree currently being shown. o Tap [F2] to display many current settings in ELFTREE, such as the number of files or directories to hold, etc. o Tap [F6] or [L] to change to a directory level view of another disk. o Tap [Up] or [Down] to move up or down the current column in the tree displayed, or [Left] or [Right] to move left or right one column, if allowable. Tap [+] or [-] to move forward or backward one directory at a time, left to right, top to bottom. ****************************************************************** This should give you some idea of the depth of ELFTREE's features. I'm sure I left out quite a few of them, and I'll update this list as I remember them or as I enhance ELFTREE. If you have comments or questions, be sure to let me know! Thanks, and enjoy using ELFTREE! Alan J Avery, developer (member ASP) 1408 Noble Ave Springfield, IL 62704-3450 (217)698-8600 CompuServe ID: 73077,3605