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DF - Directory Freedom 3.50 Copyright 1989, 1990 by Gordon Haff. All rights reserved. Command: DF Purpose: Offer users a fast, compact alternative to DOS Shells which provides 1) selective file and directory operations; 2) a scrollable environment for examining directories; and 3) user-defined keys which can operate upon highlighted files (e.g. defined editors) Format: DF [d:][source-path] [d:][dest-path] [/O,N,E,D,or S][/F][/V] Prereqs: 100% IBM Compatible PC running DOS 2.0 or higher (certain directory commands require DOS 3.0 or higher) Major Associated Programs: DFCONFIG, while not required for the use of DF, allows for the installation of user-defined commands and options in an intuitive, menu-driven manner. CONVERT allows users of earlier revisions to preserve their customized options when upgrading. ┌─────────┐ ┌─────┴───┐ │ (tm) ──│ │o │────────────────── │ ┌─────┴╨──┐ │ Association of │ │ │─┘ Shareware └───│ o │ Professionals ──────│ ║ │──────────────────── └────╨────┘ MEMBER Directory Freedom 3.50 2 DISCLAIMER The author hereby disclaims all warranties relating to this product, whether express or implied, including without limitation any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. The author cannot and will not be liable for any special, incidental, consequential, indirect or similar damages due to loss of data or any other reason, even if the author or an authorized agent has been advised of the possibility of such damages. In no event shall the liability for any damages ever exceed the price paid for the license to use the software, regardless of the form and/or extent of the claim. The user of this program bears all risk as to the quality and performance of the software. LICENSE Directory Freedom is a Shareware product. As such, it is made available to the general personal computing public for evaluation. Users are licensed to operate this program on their personal computers for the purpose of test and evaluation on a trial basis for a limited trial period. It is not possible to reasonably define the limits of a fair and equitable time period for evaluation; therefore it is left to the user's judgment and sense of fair play as to the time required to make a decision as to its usefulness. If the user decides the program is not of sufficient merit to warrant purchase through registration with the author, he/she should remove the program from his/her personal computer. Otherwise, if the program is deemed useful and is in regular use on the user's computer system, registration with the author is required. Registered users are those users who elect to pay for Directory Freedom and register that payment with the author. By virtue of registration and payment for the program, registered users are granted a license to continue to utilize the program on their personal computer for as long as they choose. This license authorizes the user to use the program on any personal computer system he or she may own or use so long as the program is operated on only one computer system at a time. GUARANTEE Directory Freedom is offered with an unconditional 30-day money- back guarantee. If you become unsatisfied with the program for any reason within that period, just let me know and your registration will be refunded. If you purchased a registration package which included a diskette and a manual, please return these when requesting a refund. This guarantee is unconditional. I would ask, however, if you are having a problem to let me know before giving up on DF since your problem may be something I can solve. Finally, if you order a registration package which includes Directory Freedom 3.50 3 diskette and manual and either of these items are defective -- either through my error or through postal service "processing", let me know and I will send replacements promptly. Directory Freedom 3.50 4 REGISTRATION Directory Freedom is the sole property of Gordon Haff. The program may be freely copied and transferred to individual parties for evaluation purposes. It may be posted on Bulletin Board systems (BBS) for electronic access as long as NO FEE is charged for its distribution except for private BBS operations that charge a regular user subscription fee. Computer information services such as Compuserve (CIS), Genie, and Byte Information Exchange (BIX) are authorized to post this product for subscriber access. Directory Freedom may be distributed on diskette only by 1) disk distributors/vendors who are associate members of the Association of Shareware Professionals (ASP) or 2) users groups which do not charge more than a nominal fee ($5) to cover the costs of distribution. Any changes to these policies must be made in writing by the author. Directory Freedom is a fully functional Shareware product. Shareware is a computer program distribution/marketing method that permits potential buyers to thoroughly try the program prior to purchase. It is NOT free and it is not in the Public Domain. If, after evaluating the program, you find it to be useful enough to use it on a regular basis, you are expected to pay for it by registering with the author. The registration fee is $20.00. The payment of this registration fee to the author entitles the user to full use of the product for an unlimited period of time in addition to product support. The distribution of diskette copies of Directory Freedom and future upgrades is not included as part of the basic registration fee. See the order form at the end of this documentation for the charges associated with these services. Attractively-priced site licensing is available for commercial users. Please call or write for details since the pricing varies depending upon support and product update requirements. Customization is also available on a contract basis. Please note that the registration fee is specifically limited to Directory Freedom (DF.COM), the configuration program (DFCONFIG.EXE), and their associated documentation. Other copyrighted "Freeware" and public domain software is distributed with Directory Freedom only for the convenience of users. This program is produced by a member of the Association of Shareware Professionals (ASP). ASP wants to make sure that the shareware principle works for you. If you are unable to resolve a shareware-related problem with an ASP member by contacting the member directly, ASP may be able to help. The ASP Ombudsman can help you resolve a dispute or problem with an ASP member, but does not provide technical support for members' products. Please write to the ASP Ombudsman at P.O. Box 5786, Bellevue, WA 98006 or send a Compuserve message via easyplex to ASP Ombudsman 70007,3536 Directory Freedom 3.50 5 TECHNICAL SUPPORT Full technical support is available to registered users of Directory Freedom. I have found that the most effective product support can be delivered through the electronic services listed below. If this option is not open to you, however, I also offer full product support through the mails, or, if the problem absolutely cannot wait, the telephone (no collect calls please). (It's not that I don't want to talk with you, it's just that I have found it very difficult to talk through complex problems over the telephone.) I will do my best to resolve any software bugs in a timely manner and I am always open to incorporating new features or changes which are appropriate to the nature of the product. I will attempt to respond to software trouble reports made by non-registered users if the problems affect the general functionality of the program. Such users should not, however, expect product support beyond initial aid to determine if the program is suitable for their needs. Contact via: Channel 1 BBS (617) 354-3137 Future Technology BBS (617) 720-3600 Compuserve User ID# 72561,2637 (See Note 2) InterNet/ARPANET See Note 1 BIX ghaff U.S. Mail 3205 Windsor Ridge Dr. Westboro MA 01581 Telephone (508) 898-3321 (evenings) The above are roughly in order of preference (i.e. how quickly I'm likely to see your message and be able to respond). I check Channel One almost daily and the other electronic services at least weekly in most cases. In addition, I monitor the Interlink Shareware relay on Future Technology and the PCRelay Shareware relay on Channel One. Note 1: I can be reached on two Internet nodes: 1) gordon_haff@img024.dg.com (or you may need something along the lines of gordon_haff%img024.dg.com@relay.cs.net if your system doesn't recognize the dg.com domain) 2) Alternatively 72561,2637@compuserve.com goes to my Compuserve mailbox. This second method is probably the more reliable of the two. Note 2: When contacting me via Compuserve, please use the Easyplex mail system since I do not regularly monitor any of the IBM SIG message bases. Directory Freedom 3.50 6 1.0 History and Program Philosophy DF.COM was adapted from Peter Esherick's DC (Directory Control) version 1.05B. DC, in turn, represents a melding of PC Magazine's DR and CO utilities (written by Michael J. Mefford and published in PC Magazine, vol.6, #17 and #21) with a variety of additional features added while not sacrificing the speed and compactness of those two utilities. While DC became a staple in my utilities subdirectory, it still lacked a few features which I would have found useful. Some of these were included in Brad Stephenson's modifications to DR; others didn't exist at all. You get the basic idea. The features I wanted in my directory control program were scattered amongst about 3 or 4 different versions of the original PC Magazine programs when they existed at all. At the same time, more conventional DOS shells usually lacked these features as well plus they tended to be rather big clunky things by comparison. So, what have I added? Some of the new features are listed below. These are just a sampling but should help to give the user of one or more of the earlier programs a flavor for how DF has been extended from its original roots. Directory functions User-definable shell functions An enhanced display containing more detailed subdirectory information Functions to change file and directory attributes Increased flexibility in areas such as setting the DOS Verify flag and beep type A user-friendly configuration program Directory Freedom is designed to provide what one user called "a rational alternative to the DOS 'dir' command." While, at this stage in its development, DF has grown significantly past the point where it merely provides DOS directory services, I have tried to stay true to one fundamental philosophy of design. This philosophy is that DF should stay sufficiently small and fast that the user does not feel that he is bringing up an applications program every time he types "DF". Rather, it is the intent that the user will find it faster and easier to just type "DF" that typing DIR, or COPY, or whatever other DOS command is required. Along the way, additional functionality has been added, but with the intent of never compromising this basic design goal. Directory Freedom 3.50 7 2.0 Installing Directory Freedom Installing Directory Freedom is straightforward. If you obtained the program from a bulletin board or other source which stores all distribution files in a compressed "archive", you first have to "de-archive" DF using the appropriate software. Since you are reading this documentation, however, it's a fair bet that you have already taken this step! The next step is to copy the required files to your working disk(s). DF.COM is self-contained and does not require any other files for its operation. DFCONFIG.EXE allows you to easily configure DF, however, and you'll want to make use of CONVERT.EXE if you are already a DF user and have gone to the time and trouble to custom configure an earlier revision of the program. If you are reasonably familiar with moving files between disks and so forth, the following section should tell you all you need to know about installing DF. Quick Installation: Copy the files DF.COM, (optionally) DFCONFIG.EXE, and (optionally) CONVERT.EXE to a working floppy diskette or a subdirectory on your hard disk. If you've got a hard disk, the easiest thing is probably just to copy to whatever subdirectory you normally keep your utilities in. Since DF is nice and small and simple, there's really no need to go off creating a separate subdirectory for it. To be most useful, whatever subdirectory DF ends up in should be part of the PATH setup in your CONFIG.SYS file. You can also go ahead and copy any of the associated utilities distributed with DF to the same location if you like and do whatever you normally do with the documentation. If you're already using an earlier (rev 2.20 and later) revision of DF, CONFIG.EXE will bring over your customized settings to the new revision. Just type CONVERT at the DOS prompt and follow the instructions. When you're done, go ahead and erase CONVERT.EXE, if you like, since you won't be needing it again. At this, or any other point, you can also run the DFCONFIG customization program. Full instructions for doing this are given in Section 5.0 of this manual. Directory Freedom 3.50 8 3.0 Using Directory Freedom 3.1 About this Manual This documentation was written at a level which, I hope, is appropriate to the level of computer sophistication of most DF users. This level assumes a degree of familiarity with keyboard usage on an IBM-PC/AT compatible and a basic understanding of how DOS is employed to run programs and execute commands. DF is not a DOS Shell in that it attempts to make life easier for the person who knows how to use the command line but does not try to shield the user from the underlying system. If the above scares you a bit, don't let it. We have all been beginners at one time and I'm sure you can borrow a book or friend who will help you through any rough spots you run into. (And feedback on any spots of opaqueness in this manual is always welcome as well.) This manual does go into some depth explaining the hows and whys of certain functions. These explanations exist largely to satisfy the curiosity of the more technical users of this program and therefore the beginning user should not feel put off if he does not understand every concept mentioned in these supplementary discussions. One final note: The commands on the alternate main menu are designated throughout this manual as Alt-Fx commands for simplicity and consistency with previous revisions of this program even though they can now be alternatively defined as LeftShift-Fx. Directory Freedom 3.50 9 3.2 Starting up Directory Freedom The basic format of the DF command line is: DF [d:][source-path] [d:][dest-path] [/O,N,E,D,or S][/F][/V] All parameters are optional. If no pathnames are entered, both the source and the destination directories default to the current DOS directory. If only one path is enetered, this path is taken to be that of the source directory and the destination directory defaults to the current DOS directory. Options, specified by a "/" followed by a letter, may appear either before or after the pathnames and override any settings made with the DFCONFIG program. (Pathnames can be a maximum of 63 characters long, starting at the drive letter and including the filename.) The options are as follows: /N Sort directory by filename /E Sort directory by extension /D Sort directory by date and time /S Sort directory by file size /O Use original order, i.e. do not sort directory at all. /V Turn on DOS Verify switch for disk file writes /F Fast display on IBM Color Graphics Adapter (CGA) -- i.e. no snow check DF comes up displaying the "source" / "working" directory. A brief menu of optional commands is displayed to the right of the directory display. You may move up and down the directory list with the up and down arrow keys on the cursor keypad. Files may be individually copied, deleted, moved or renamed by pressing the function keys F1 through F4, respectively. Alternatively, a number of files may be selected, or "marked" using the Grey + and Grey - keys on the right side of the keypad. After marking, pressing the appropriate function key will apply the chosen operation to the entire group of files. New directories can be displayed in one of two ways. You can press the F9 function key and enter a new drive and path name. Alternatively, if you want to move to different sub-directories on the same drive, you simply press the <Enter> key after using the up or down arrow keys to high-light the desired subdirectory. Note that as always within DOS, ".." denotes the parent of a given subdirectory, i.e. the level above the currently displayed directory. Directory Freedom 3.50 10 3.3 Key by key Summary of Commands Esc Exit program and return to original directory. Alt-Q Exit program leaving the currently displayed dir as the current default drive and directory for DOS. Grey + Mark current file entry, if not a subdirectory or or Ins hidden file, and advance cursor to next line. Grey - Remove mark on current file, and advance cursor to next or Del line. Space Same as Grey - (Remove Mark) if currently highlighted file is marked; otherwise same as Grey + The following functions operate on the marked files, if any, otherwise they operate on the currently highlighted file. If the operation is successful the mark is replaced with an asterisk (*), if unsuccessful the file is passed over, leaving the mark, and the program proceeds on to the next marked file. F1 Copy file(s) via a read/write sequence to requested target F2 Delete file(s) or directory after asking for confirmation (unless empty directory) F3 Move file(s), i.e. Copy to requested target, delete source. Where possible this function is performed using an across directory rename instead of a file read/write sequence. F4 Rename file(s) or directory within the currently displayed directory. F5 Clear all marks F6 Mark all remaining files, i.e. those not marked with an "*" F7 Swap marked and unmarked files. The following three functions change the active source and destination directories: F8 Swap the Working (source) Directory and the Default Destination Directory F9 Prompt for a new Working (source) Directory F10 Prompt for a new Default Destination Directory The working (displayed) directory can be re-sorted by typing: Alt-N Sort by filename Alt-E Sort by file extension (e.g. .COM vs .DOC) Alt-D Sort by date and time Alt-S Sort by file size Alt-O Re-read and display dir in original, unsorted order Directory Freedom 3.50 11 Additional commands appearing in the ALT menu: Alt F1 Protected Copy -- similar to F1 except that an error is generated if the target file already exists Alt F2 Invoke DOS Shell Alt F3 Forced Move -- Unlike a regular move (F3), this option will overwrite the target file if it already exists. (This command has the same relationship to MOVE as COPY has to PROTECTED COPY.) Alt F4 Re-read working directory. Required after changing diskettes in a floppy-disk drive. Also useful if a copy or shell command has changed the current directory. Alt F5 Run a program. Parameters may be added after the program name. Alt F6 Create a directory. Creates a new subdirectory under the working (displayed) directory using a name provided by the user. Alt F7 Returns the size of the highlighted directory in terms of disk space used both on the working drive and on a typical floppy diskette. Alt C Copy (Duplicates F1) Alt M Move (Duplicates F3) Alt V View (Duplicates Return) Attribute Commands: Alt A Add Archive bit Alt R Add Read-Only bit Alt H Add Hidden bit Alt Y Add System bit Ctrl A Remove Archive bit Ctrl R Remove Read-Only bit Ctrl H Remove Hidden bit Ctrl Y Remove System bit Directory Freedom 3.50 12 User-defined Commands: Ctrl-F1 through Ctrl-F10 plus external file viewer. Ctrl-F11 and Ctrl-F12 can be optionally configured through DFCONFIG if you are using an extended (101-key or equivalent) keyboard View Mode commands (ONLY applicable when using internal viewer): W Toggle word wrap/horizontal scroll A Toggle ASCII string display B Toggle blanking of non-ASCII characters Grey * Toggle Wordstar bit mask (shift non-ASCII high-order characters (from 128 to 255) down into the displayable ASCII range of 1 to 127. 3.4 File Marking Entries may be marked, as explained above, with the following exceptions. The marking keys will NOT operate on the following: -- Subdirectories -- Hidden files Directory Freedom 3.50 13 4.0 Program Feature Information 4.1 Built-in Viewer (Note that this section applies ONLY if an external file viewer is NOT configured. I recommend that, for most purposes, the user configure Vernon Buerg's LIST as his file viewer. DF is shipped with LIST preconfigured although the user can, of course, change this easily, by either changing or deleting the command line LIST ~ from within the DFCONFIG program.) Just as pressing <Enter> lets you view a new directory, pressing <Enter> when a filename is highlighted lets you view the contents of the file. In the default mode the display is wrapped at the edge of the screen if a line is more than 80 characters wide. This option can be toggled by pressing W. Display of non-ASCII characters can be toggled with the ASCII and Blank options by pressing A or B. In ASCII mode only strings of 5 or more normal ASCII characters (including tab or space) are displayed. This is useful for viewing the messages contained in an .EXE or .COM file. With the Blank option, non-ASCII characters are replaced with a blank or space. A final option, Grey *, masks the high- order bit of non-ASCII characters to make Wordstar files readable. 4.2 Shell functions These appear in the CONTROL menu with one exception. The exception is the VIEW function accessed by the <Enter> key. If an external VIEW program (such as Buerg's LIST) is defined, it will replace the internal VIEW function. Functions which could be set up might include EDIT, UNARCHIVE, and ARCHIVE VIEW. The program comes configured with a few typical external programs predefined, but these can be easily added to or changed through the use of the DFCONFIG program. Up to 10 (or 12 if the F11/F12 keys are enabled) external shell functions can be assigned to the CONTROL-F1 through CONTROL-F10 keys. In addition, an external program can be assigned to the VIEW function, as mentioned earlier. A Run-a-Program function (Alt-F5) allows you to run an executable program from within DF. Use this function with caution, however, as detailed further down in this documentation. The DOS Shell (Alt-F2) allows you to temporarily exit to DOS. You should be able to do anything in this shell which you would normally do from the DOS command line subject to the contraint that the DF parent is using approximately 96KB of memory. Type 'EXIT' at the DOS prompt to return to DF. Directory Freedom 3.50 14 4.3 Attribute Functions DF incorporates functions which allow you to add or remove file attributes. The ALT-attribute functions allow you to add attribute bits while the CTRL-attribute functions allow you to remove the bits. The A, R, H, and Y keys control the Archive, read-Only, Hidden, and System bits respectively. (An S-key would have conflicted with the sort function, so the system attribute was assigned a different key since it will be seldom used anyway.) In general, attribute functions can be performed using standard marking just like all other functions. The exception is un- hiding hidden files. Hidden files can be unhid one-by-one, but hidden files cannot be marked. This is because the ability to mark must carry over to all program functions and I thought that, in general, users would want hidden files to be automatically skipped when marking files since most functions are not allowed on those files by the program. 4.4 Notes on RUN a Program -- Use this option with caution on programs you haven't tried out before. For one thing, DF has no way of testing a program's memory requirements. If a program doesn't do its own testing it may hang your system. Also, some programs seem to be allergic to being run in shells. -- NEVER execute a Terminate-And-Stay-Resident (TSR) program from a shell. You'll end up creating a hole in memory which will, at the least, cause you to lose memory and, at worst, will cause a system crash. 4.5 DESQView Compatibility While this revision of Directory Freedom is not fully "DESQview- aware," an alternate "hot-key" has been added which can substitute for the Alt key. This addition, in conjunction with the following setup information, should allow you to effectively use DF in a DESQview environment. When configuring DESQview to add DF to its program list, the following characteristics should be specified in the advanced program setup: Writes directly to screen Y Uses its own colors Y Maximum height/width 25,80 Starting Row/Column/Height/Width 0,0,25,80 Directory Freedom 3.50 15 4.6 Hints and Suggestions The following techniques, explanations, and hints have proven useful to myself or to other users. They may help you to get more out of your copy of Directory Freedom. -- To "re-mark" a group of files (i.e. mark the same group of files which have just been operated on and which now have a * next to their entries) press F6 and F7 in sequence. -- One of the PC Magazine utilities is called SWEEP and allows you to automatically repeat the execution of a command through multiple directories. If you type 'SWEEP DF' from the root directory, therefore, DF will be executed in succession in each directory on the hard disk. Ben Stock suggests that this "is the best thing for housekeeping, reclaiming disk space, and preparing for major backups." SWEEP should be available on most major bulletin boards. -- To pop up a directory level, highlight the '..' entry and press <Enter>. -- The DF destination directory is also the current DOS directory. Hence user-defined commands which send output files to the default directory regardless of the directory of the source file (e.g. PKUNZIP) will send their output to the DF default destination directory -- NOT the (displayed) working directory. 5.0 Customization User customization is carried out through the DFCONFIG program which is menu driven and includes its own help screens. You MUST use the matching rev of DFCONFIG with DF. The matching revision requirement is enforced by the software and DFCONFIG will give you an error message if you attempt to use it to modify a mismatched revision of DF. The DFCONFIG command line is as follows: DFCONFIG [path\filename of DF] If you do not specify a path and filename on the DFCONFIG command line, DFCONFIG assumes that the program you wish to modify is called DF.COM (the name for the Directory Freedom program file as shipped) and is in the current directory. If you do specify a path\filename on the command line, you must give a full legal pathname from either the current directory or a root and the full filename with extension. (This allows you to rename DF.COM if you wish -- always preserve the .COM extension, however, else DOS will get confused.) Miscellaneous DFCONFIG usage notes: -- A mouse is supported in DFCONFIG's menus. The <Left Mouse Button> button is equivalent to <ENTER> on the keyboard, the <Right Mouse Button> button to <ESC>. Directory Freedom 3.50 16 -- If you make changes to DF's parameters, make sure that you tell DFCONFIG to save them; i.e. changes are not automatically saved. -- DFCONFIG operates by reading in DF, making changes to the memory image of the program, and then saving the memory image back to disk if told to save the changes overwriting the original. This modification procedure may alert certain anti-viral programs such as Flushot+. 5.1 Commands Modification DFCONFIG can be used to modify the user-defined shell functions accessed by the CONTROL menu in DF. At the simplest level, the shell functions can merely be used to run an external program with no arguments (or at least no variable arguments). Thus, if you had a program called CPUTYPE which you would ordinarily run just by typing: C>CPUTYPE at the DOS prompt, you would just enter the same thing as one of the command lines within the DFCONFIG commands modification screen. There may indeed be situations where you want to access such a program from within DF, however this usage does not take full advantage of the DF user-defined shell feature. Since the DF highlight cursor is always resting on a file or directory, it might seem useful to be able to pass that information to a shell command line. DF can do exactly this. By entering a ~ (tilde) as part of a defined command line in DFCONFIG, the user tells DF to "Insert the full path and filename of the file or directory under the highlight at this spot in the command." Along with this feature, beginning with Rev. 3.50, a dynamic customization feature has been added. Together with the ~, a ` (grave -- the backward accent under the tilde on most keyboards) can be added to the command line in DFCONFIG. If a ` is present in the command line, DF will prompt the user for parameters to insert at its location at runtime. Example: All the above is really a whole lot more complicated to read than it actually is to do, so let's go through an example. Let's suppose that we want to define a key for Phil Katz's PKUNZIP program which views or extracts the archives found on many electronic bulletin board systems. Although we would normally set this program up on two different keys (one to view and one to Directory Freedom 3.50 17 extract), let's assume for the purposes of the example that this is a seldom used function and we only want to use one key for it. We go into DFCONFIG and the Commands menu. We then enter the desired command line. (We'll assume we've programmed CTRL-F3): PKUNZIP ` ~ (Enter whatever you like for the menu name -- it's only for your own reference. Don't worry about the Pause? and Refresh? fields for now. They're described later.) We save the modified data entry screen with a <CTRL-Enter>, and choose Save and Quit from the main DFCONFIG menu. When we next run DF, you'll notice that, when pressing the Control key, the new item has been added to the menu. We now select a file to operate on. Just move the cursor down until the desired file is highlighted and, while holding down the Control key, press F3. DF will prompt you to enter parameters. Let's assume you want to view the archive. In this case, type -v and then hit the <Enter> key. If the highlighted file were called ARCHIVE.ZIP and was in the DOWNLOAD directory on the C: drive, DF would expand the command line to the following: PKUNZIP -V C:\DOWNLOAD\ARCHIVE.ZIP Command-line data entry summary: -- A tilde (~) indicates that the file name under the cursor is to be inserted at that point. Only one tilde should generally be entered per command line, else it may well get too long (note that DF uses the filename with its entire path) -- A grave (`) indicates that a string entered dynamically by the user is to be inserted at this point. More than one grave may be entered per command line, BUT the user is only prompted for parameters once and this same set of parameters will be entered for each grave. -- The Pause? value is asking whether you want a "Press any key to return" after exiting the program. You probably don't want a pause for things such as editors and do for programs which place information on the screen without inserting their own pause before exiting. -- The Refresh? value is asking whether you want DF to reread the directory before returning from the shell. You will generally want to set this value to 'Y' when performing functions such as extracting archives. There is a minimal performance penalty attached to performing such a reread on hard disks unless the directories are very large. If a function is regularly used on a floppy diskette directory, however, you may wish to perform Rereads manually (Alt-F4) only when you need them. Directory Freedom 3.50 18 -- In the customization screen, you save your work by either typing CTRL-<Enter> at any point, or <Enter> when positioned on the last field of the screen. Exiting with<Esc> DOES NOT SAVE THE CONTENTS OF THE SCREEN! -- All the movement and edit commands for the data screen are available through on-line help in DFCONFIG 5.2 Attributes Modification In addition to DF screen colors (NORMAL, INTENSE, MENU, BORDER, and INVERSE), the following attributes can be changed by the DFCONFIG program: -- Switch character [Default: / (Standard DOS) -- Copy Verify mode [Default: No Change] -- Beep tone [Default: Standard DOS Beep] -- Screen snow check [Default: Off] -- Default sort order [Default: Name order] -- Secondary Hot Key [Default: Alt] -- Enable F11/F12 Keys [Default: No] Each of these options are explained below. Color Both the foreground and background settings of the five color combinations used in DF can be modified through DFCONFIG's Attribute modification. To aid you in this process, a sample color screen changes dynamically based on the currently set and currently highlighted colors. Switch character / ("Standard" DOS switch) -- Default - ("Unix" switch) For the UNIX hackers, the switch character is used to identify an option entered on the DOS command line when you first call up DF. Normally this is '/', so that options would be specified by /d or /o. By changing the byte to '-', options can be entered as -d or -o. This lets you use '/' in your path names, so that instead of entering command lines like: DF C:\COMM\DOWN D:\UTIL /D You can now enter: DF C:/COMM/DOWN D:/UTIL -D or DF C:\COMM\DOWN -d D:\UTIL or DF -d C:/COMM\DOWN D:/UTIL -D But not: DF C:\COMM\DOWN D:/UTIL /D (This will confuse DF) Directory Freedom 3.50 19 (Note that since the confusion results from the option switch, and since there are no options entered with pathnames once the program is running, you can use either / or \ as a path delimiter when entering a destination or changing the path with F9 or F10 keys.) Copy Verify option No Change Yes No Floppy Only From the DOS command line, you can type VERIFY ON or VERIFY OFF to change DOS's write-verify status. If Verify is on, MS-DOS performs a series of checks following each disk-write operation to attempt to verify that the data just written can be read without error. The downside of such checking is that write operations are slowed down significantly and the enhanced security provided by VERIFY ON is questionable, at least with hard disks. In any case, DFCONFIG allows the write-verify status within DF to be set in one of four different ways. It can be set ON, in which case all affected DF commands will operate with write-verify status enabled. It can be set OFF, in which case all affected DF commands will operate with write-verify status disabled. It can be set to NO CHANGE, in which case DF will use the write-verify status which was in use by DOS prior to running DF. Or it can be set to FLOPPY ONLY in which case verify is set on if the target is a floppy diskette and set off otherwise. Using DF's /V command-line switch will force write-verify status ON no matter how this switch is set. Beep option DOS Beep Beep 1 If an error is made when using DF (e.g. an illegal operation such as deleting a Read-only file is attempted), the program beeps to alert you of the error. By default, the standard DOS beep (ASCII 07) is used. Some users find this standard tone rather obtrusive and grating on the ear so DFCONFIG allows an alternative "soft beep" to be chosen instead. (This alternative tone is generated by programming the timer chip directly instead of using standard DOS or BIOS services. Therefore it may not work on some computers which are not 100% IBM PC/AT hardware compatible.) Directory Freedom 3.50 20 Snow Checking Yes No When DF starts up it checks BIOS data area (Segment 40) to see if the current display adapter is a monochrome card. If it isn't mono, then DF will query the display adapter before writing a character to the display memory to see if it is ok to do so. This procedure is necessary to avoid spurious dots or "snow" on old IBM Color Graphics Adapters (CGA's) caused by the CPU and the display-refresh circuitry simultaneously accessing the video buffer. Unfortunately, this check also slows things down quite a bit. If you prefer speed over a clean display update, or if you have an EGA or other color display adapter that doesn't need to do this checking, choose OFF for the snow check option. Choosing Yes will enable snow checking on all but the monochrome display adapter (which never needs it anyway). Using DF's /F command- line option switch forces snow checking off and will override the setting of this switch. Sort Option Name Ascending order by filename Extension Ascending order by filename extension Size Descending order by file size in bytes Date Descending order by file date/time stamp Original DOS order A new default sort order can be chosen from within DFCONFIG. The choices (Name, Extension, Size, Date, and Original) are the same as those which can be specified on either the DF command line or by pressing the appropriate Alt-key. If a sort order is specified as a command line switch, this default setting is overridden. If (O)riginal is chosen, no sort takes place and the filenames are displayed in the same order as they are displayed when typing the 'dir' command at the DOS prompt. If (N)ame or (E)xtension is chosen, the sort is in ascending (i.e. alphabetical) order. If (S)ize is chosen, the sort is in descending order to allow for more efficient packing when copying to multiple floppy diskettes. (D)ate also sorts in descending order to place the most recently created or modified files at the top of the directory listing. Secondary Hot Key Alt Left-Shift (i.e. the Shift key on the left side of the keyboard) The switch chooses the "hot-key" used to bring up the secondary menu of "hardwired" DF functions. (This is the menu which includes the Directory-specific functions and items such as "Run Directory Freedom 3.50 21 a Program.") The choice is offered because pressing and releasing the Alt key also brings up the DESQView menu if DESQView is active. Since Alt has been the secondary "hot-key" in all versions of Directory Freedom to date, however, it has been left as the default for backward compatibility. Enable F11/F12 keys Yes No On systems with extended keyboards (101-key or equivalent), selecting this option will allow the user to program two additional function keys on the Control menu. The status of this switch does NOT affect the ability to program these keys in the DFCONFIG command line editor. Unless this switch is set to Yes, however, those programmed keys cannot actually be used (nor will they be displayed) within DF. 6.0 Supplementary Programs 6.1 Included Programs The programs described in this section are NOT part of DF and are distributed with DF only for the convenience of users. The copyrights to this software remain with the original authors. Two programs which were included with earlier revs of DF (TED and FV) are no longer distributed with DF but they are still available from a wide variety of sources. RF I have included a slightly modified version of PC Magazine's RN.COM to provide a higher-level "tree-style" directory program which users can run in conjunction with DF. It's called RF.COM now and is configured to spawn DF with no switches. With the addition of directory functions to DF in rev. 3.00, there should now be less need to use RF as a companion program. This version of RF is based on RN Rev. 2.0 which supports drives >32MB under DOS 4.x. This will probably be the last major revision of DF to include RF since plans for the next major DF release include a sophisticated support for this functionality (either through a DF Enhanced version or as a separate program.) DFM I have received several requests to add mouse support to DF. While this is still a likely possibility for the future, I didn't add it in rev 3.50. What I did do, however, was tweak some assembly language sources which derived from PC Magazine's MOUSEKEY program so that they would run properly with DF. The result is DFM which is a TSR (~900 bytes) which interprets Directory Freedom 3.50 22 forward/backward mouse movement as up and down keystrokes and which treats the left mouse button as a <Space> (Mark/Unmark) and the right button as an <Enter> (View file or change directory). The mouse sensitivity is adjustable from the command line. Read the comments at the beginning of the assembly language sources (included) for all the nitty-gritty. It's not an elegant solution, but it does more or less work. ND This program can be programmed to a function key and will rename the highlighted file to a new name which is derived from the current date. For example, FILENAME.TXT would be renamed to 891015.TXT if the date were Oct 15, 1989. It append a letter to the base name (e.g. 891015A.TXT, 891015B.TXT, etc.) if the "dated name" already exists. I find this very useful for handling message-base files from BBS's. (Besides, I wrote it and figure that no one can keep me from distributing it with DF if I want to.) 6.2 Non-Included Programs The programs in this section are NOT included with the DF distribution, but I have found these programs (or programs fulfilling the same functions) to complement DF well for certain applications. FV or RV Vernon Buerg's FV can be used to cut down on the number of function keys needed to deal with archives. FV will basically allow you to view any kind of archive (.ZIP, .ARC, etc.) by programming only a single function key. DF is shipped configured for use with FV. You'll still need a different function key for each archive extraction function, but consolidating all the view functions should help those users who were running out of keys. Robert T. Kaya's RV serves a similar function. Most recent revisions as of this writing: FV 1.23; RV 2.13 SLED or TED or QEDIT or ... Since I do not want to start a religious war, I won't even begin to suggest which editor people should configure. SLED is a small shareware editor which many people like and is very sophisticated for its size. TED is a simple editor from PC Magazine which is free copyrighted software. While lacking such features as word- wrap, it is very compact (~ 12K bytes) and more than sufficient to edit batch files and perform similar tasks. QEdit is a very good shareware programmers' editor. Personally, I have my working copy of DF setup to use Multi-Edit (a programmer's editor) and WordPerfect. Directory Freedom 3.50 23 LIST As mentioned earlier in this documentation, I recommend Vernon Buerg's LIST in place of the built-in file viewer for most applications. Vernon has been making significant enhancements to LIST recently (current version is 7.3d) and is well worth a look in the event you don't already have a copy. 7.0 Technical Compiled using Borland's Turbo Assembler 1.0 and debugged using Turbo Debugger. Multi-Edit from American Cybernetics was used as an editor. DFCONFIG was compiled using Turbo C 2.0. Windowing functions in DFCONFIG are from Mike Smedley's CXL rev 5.1. 8.0 Acknowledgements DF 1.00 was based extensively on Peter Esherick's source code from DC rev 1.05b with the additional help of some code from Brad Stephenson's DR26 program. Peter has also been kind enough to share some DC code fixes with me for incorporation into DF. Peter can be contacted at the following: Albuquerque PC Users' Group Albuquerque RBBS 296-7672, John Maio, sysop ARPANET: esheric@SANDIA.GOV I would also like to thank the many users whose suggestions have contributed greatly to the advancement of DF and, of course, those who have registered their copies and made the Shareware concept work. While the following list is by no means complete, the following individuals' ideas have been especially helpful in my efforts to improve DF: Don Dougherty, Greg Saddler, Tom Bullard, Dennis McCunney, and Jack Lupic. Finally, I would like to thank the sysops of my "home" BBS (Channel One), Brian Miller and Tess Hedder, and Bud Napier of the Future Technology BBS. Directory Freedom 3.50 24 9.0 Revision history DF VERSION 3.50 General cleanup of shell routines should result in more reliable operation for a wider range of programs (user-defined and Run a Program) Parameters can be inserted at runtime in user-defined functions Optional support for F11/F12 added to user-defined functions Checks added to path length (63 characters max) and length of user command lines when expanded (i.e. file names filled in, etc.) to prevent overruns Menu moved to avoid conflict with long destination path names Information added to display: number of highlighted entry, total number of entries, bytes in subdirectory, and volume name of the working drive Some problems with cursor positioning and other oddities in empty directories, along with cursor problems when deleting directories, eliminated Problems when default directory was deleted eliminated >10MB of tagged files now display properly Internal file viewer finally fixed properly (Thanks to Peter Esherick for sharing his fix in DC with me) Additional Verify option (ON when copying to floppy only) The left-shift can optionally replace Alt as a hot key for improved interoperability with DESQView Date/Time sorting fixed (Time wasn't sorting in most descending order within a particular date) P-Copy message fixed Major documentation rework. Also the printed manual is now "desktop publishing quality" Various changes in included programs (for license and other reasons) Message added when shelling to DOS CONVERT has been updated and will also bring over color modifications from earlier revisions DF VERSION 3.01 Made modifications to the DOS EXEC functions which should allow a wider range of programs to run from the shell (Control-Fn functions) without problems Eliminated problem with changing to and operating on directories with extensions Corrected problem which caused viewer to PgDn one too many lines Directory attribute changes now work properly Cursor positioning (and associated problems) which occurred when all files in a root directory were deleted is now fixed A potential problem with the Directory Size function which would result in not popping back up to the parent directory if the parent were not sorted at the top of the subdirectory was eliminated The latest FV (1.22) for viewing archives has been added to the DF archive Directory Freedom 3.50 25 CONVERT has been made more general purpose and can convert either Rev 2.20 or 3.00 to the current rev. This will be continued with future DF revs DFCONFIG has been relinked with the latest revision of Mike Smedley's CXL function library (5.1). This should be transparent to the user. DF VERSION 3.00 DIRECTORY FREEDOM is now SHAREWARE (fully functional) Added directory functions -- create, size, delete, rename, change attributes Space bar will function as Mark/Unmark for greater consistency with the way other similar programs operate Added a "soft" beep option (configurable in DFCONFIG) Added a Verify On/Off/No Change option (configurable in DFCONFIG) The full path and name for DF.COM can now be specified at the DFCONFIG command line (i.e. the name of DF.COM can be changed and DFCONFIG does not need to run from the same directory) Corrected bug which caused attribute changes to sometimes not "catch" on the first try Moved menu to avoid overwrites by long destination path names Fixed shell bug which could cause DF's attributes to be used by programs run in a shell Added "forced move" option (i.e. a move which will overwrite even if the destination file name already exists) Fixed the wording of the shell return Returns from shell to re-read directory -- cursor will now sit on the original file if it still exists Sort by size order is now sorted in descending order (so that files can be more efficiently copied to multiple diskettes) Added two more auxiliary programs to the archive: Buerg's FV: View all types of archives with one command DFM: A PC Mag MOUSEKEY derivative to allow the use of mouse movement and mouse buttons with DF Major rewrite of the documentation "Cleanup" of DFCONFIG to warn of exits without saving, etc. DF version 2.20 Added some memory management fixes from Peter Esherick to GET_MEM and the MAIN initialization routine Added Reread Directory switch to DF and DFCONFIG Modified DFCONFIG to accommodate significant changes in Michael Smedley's C function libraries (TCXL 3.3 to CXL 5.0) Added mouse support for menu selection to DFCONFIG Added sample color window when configuring DF's colors in DFCONFIG DF version 2.11 Fixed problem introduced by longer user-defined command lines in version 2.10. User functions can now be defined properly. Directory Freedom 3.50 26 DF version 2.10 Fixed shell problem with the CTRL-F5 key (Prompt to continue appeared before the execution of the shell rather than after) Added configuration (through DFCONFIG) of a default sort option - name, extension, size, date, or original (unsorted) Lengthened allowable command line which can be configured DF version 2.00 User defined shell commands are now configured through DFCONF2.EXE including user defined names for menus and user defined pause after shell execution; environment variables no longer used Attribute modification functions added CONTROL-key menu added to accommodate all this new stuff, along with other modifications to the existing menus; user- defined commands are now separate in the CONTROL menu Fixed bug with reading parameters when Running a Program DF version 1.00 Alternative ALT-key menu added Shell to List, Edit, Unarc, Unarc view, and run program added with program information specified in environment variables