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Text File | 1995-01-27 | 17.3 KB | 437 lines

SmartCopy v1.3 © 1995 Rask I. Lambertsen User's Manual (I wish I didn't have to do this, but ...) Disclaimer. ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ This program is provided "as is" without warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied, including, but no limited to, the implied warranty of fitness for a particular purpose. The entire risk as to the results, reliability and performance of this program is assumed by you. Distribution. ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ This program is freely distributable. Distribution is allowed if the following conditions are met: 1. Program and documentation must not be changed in any way, except for archiving with an archiver, for which the corresponding unarchiver will work on any CPU type used in Amigas at the time of distribution. 2. Program, documentation and the icons for the program and the documentation must be distributed together. 3. The file names of the program, documentation and icons must not be changed (this especially applies to Fred Fish, who has had the habit of changing file names to upper case). However; you ARE allowed to change the default tool of the documentation icon. You are also allowed to shapshot the icons if you really need to. 4. Only a nominal and small fee for copying is charged, unless some sort of media is supplied with SmartCopy, in which case it is allowed to add the cost of that media to the charge. 5. SmartCopy or parts of it must not be sold in combination with or as part of commercial software without my written permission. (OK, lets get to the more interesting part.) Introduction. ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ SmartCopy was written to easily transfer files from a hard disk to multiple disks. It automatically finds out when the disk is full and prompts for another one. This is useful for copying a bunch of pictures, samples, modules or whatever to disks, like a picture, sample or module collection. SmartCopy uses a GUI to be as user-friendly as possible (meaning that you don't need to mess around with shells/CLIs or directory utilities). One of my major goals was to make a very fast yet reliable copy routine (like the one in C:Copy). This became a major goal especially after I found out that the copy routine in SID2 is not just slow, but also UNRELIABLE when copying files from CrossDOS disks with text filtering enabled. When I released version 1.2, I didn't know of any similar programs other than CO.COM for IBM PC's and compatibles. It didn't have a GUI, but, of course, any decent Amiga program has a GUI. As of this writing, I know of the programs ECopy, Dred, Reducer and Stow, which (more or less) do the same as SmartCopy. However, THEY DON'T HAVE A GUI, so if you don't want to have to remember the format of their command line options, well, then you know which program to use. System requirements. ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Any Amiga with - 224 bytes of CHIP memory + 38200 bytes of any memory (measured with C:Avail on my system, may differ on yours). - at least Amiga OS 2.04 or later. Amiga OS 2.1 or later is recommended because of the MUCH faster file requester. If you want some technical details, here is more precise OS requirements: exec.library version 36+ dos.library version 36+ intuition.library version 36+ utility.library version 36+ asl.library version 36+ gadtools.library version 37+ dos.library version 37+ is recommended because version 36 contains many bugs. asl.library version 38+ is recommended because version 36 and version 37 are awfully slow. Installation. ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ As simple as it can be: Copy SmartCopy and it's icon to the directory where you want to install it. From Workbench you simply drag SmartCopy to it's destination. Usage. ¯¯¯¯¯¯ (Since version 1.2, a lot has changed, most notably the keyboard short-cuts, so users of version 1.2 should read this also.) SmartCopy can be started from either Workbench or Shell/CLI. You will then see the main window. It contains the following gadgets: "Add files..." Brings up a file requester so you can add files to the file list (see below). The files will be marked automatically. Keyboard short-cut: "a" or "A". "Sort files" Will sort the files so that the biggest files are at the top of the list. This will help SmartCopy fill the disks optimally. Keyboard short-cut: "s" or "S". "Copy files" Copies the files in the file list (see below) to the destination device (see below). Optionally, a directory on the destination device(s) can be specified (see below). If you haven't selected a destination device, you will be informed about it, and the operation will be aborted. Files that don't fit on the destination(s) device (see "Disk space check" below) will not be copied. If a file is successfully copied, its comment, attributes (protection bits) and date is copied too, and the file is deselected. If some files didn't fit on the disk, you will be requested to insert a new disk. Inserting a new disk will automatically acknowledge the requester. If you push the "Cancel" button, the operation will be aborted, and those file that were not copied will still be selected. Else, the whole process will be repeated with the new disk and the files that didn't fit on the previous disk. As files are copied, the list is scrolled so that the file being copied is in the middle (when possible). The file name is also show beneath the file list. The logo in the lower right corner of the window will fill up as the disk get full. It is an estimate of how much space has been used on the disk when the file copy/move has completed. Keyboard short-cut: "c" or "C". "Move files" Same as "Copy files", except that after the files have been copied, they will be deleted from the source directory and removed from the file list. If the delete fails, the files will just be de- selected. Keyboard short-cut: "m" or "M". "Remove files" The selected files will be removed from the file list. Keyboard short-cut: "r" or "R". "Clear list..." Puts up a requester asking you to confirm that you really want to clear the file list (see below). If you do, click the "Yes" button and watch the file list be cleared, else click the "No" button, and the operation will be aborted. Keyboard short-cut: "t" or "T". ** ** ** CHANGED SINCE VERSION 1.2 ** ** ** "De"select all Will deselect all files in the file list. Keyboard short-cut: "d" or "D". "select all" Will select all files in the file list. Keyboard short-cut: "l" or "L". "Delete files..." Puts up a requester asking you to confirm that you really want to delete all selected files. If you click "Yes", all selected files will be deleted and removed from the file list. If you click "No", nothing will happen. Files that fail to be deleted will stay in the file list. Keyboard short-cut: "e" or "E". "Find devices" Scans the system device list for file system devices. You can use this button if you mount a device after SmartCopy was started. This is also handy if SmartCopy couldn't access the device list on startup. Warning: Your currently selected device(s) will NOT be reselected. Keyboard short-cut: "v" or "V". ** ** ** CHANGED SINCE VERSION 1.2 ** ** ** "List of files to be copied" This is where you can see which files has not yet been copied. The scroll bar and scroll arrows on the right side can be used to scroll the list when SmartCopy is not copying the files. You can click file names to select or deselect them. "Destination device" This is a list of available disk devices. You can choose one by clicking on its name. This is where SmartCopy will copy the file to. You select multiple devices if you want to. Clicking on a selected device name will deselect it. "Destination dir" This is where you can enter the name of a directory on the destination device to copy the file to. There is a limit of 256 characters for the directory specification. The directory must exist, it will NOT be created. This gadget has on-line help (try pressing the HELP key when it is activated). Keyboard short-cut: "i" or "I". "Disk space check" Select the way of calculating whether a file fits on the disk or not. "Smart (FFS)" is for AmigaDOS FFS disks. This is a bit inaccurate for disk formatted with directory caching, though. "Smart (OFS)" is the same as "Smart (FFS)", except for OFS disks. "Generic" is for other types of disks, like CrossDOS disks. "None" turns off disk space check. Useful if you want to copy something to the RAM disk. What I would like to add. ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ I would like to make it easier to select whole directories at a time (so that you don't have to click every file to select a whole directory). Other things will be: - a way to abort copying files. - disk space calculation for PFS (Professional File System) disks. - improve handling of multiple destinations (see known quirks). - disable gadgets when they are not functional. - reduce OS requirements to Amiga OS 2.0. - public screen option (should be VERY easy). - reduce memory fragmentation. - some other optimizations. Acknowledgements. ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ (OOPS! I forgot this important part in the 1.2 docs. Sorry, folks!) Thanks to - Matthew Dillon for the DICE C compiler. - Piotr Obminski for SKEW (SKEleton Writer). - Commodore-Amiga for MungWall and their good startup code. - Michael Plitkins for CodeWatcher. - Joe Yurick for ideas and suggestions. - Holger Kruse for the right code to calculate the number of blocks a file will occupy. The author. ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ (OOPS! I forgot this in the 1.2 docs. Sorry again, folks.) I can be contacted via - Regular mail: Rask I. Lambertsen Pinievej 20 Strøby Egede DK-4600 Køge Denmark (To type 'ø' on non-Danish keyboards, press Alt and 'o' at the same time. If it doesn't work, just use 'oe' instead.) - Phone: (+45) 56267651 - E-mail: Rask I. Lambertsen <gc948374@gbar.dtu.dk> (preferred) or Rask I. Lambertsen <e9864029@ebar.dtu.dk> Bug reports, suggestions, ideas, etc are welcome. If you think I deserve it, I will accept donations, but you are NOT required to send me donations, and you should NOT feel guilty if you don't. This IS FreeWare. Know bugs/quirks/problems. ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ With multiple destination devices, if SmartCopy is unable to copy at least one file to a device, the a requester will pop up, asking you to replace one or more disks. However, instead of trying again on the same device, it will move on to the next selected device in the list. I hope to fix this soon. If SPEAK: is mounted, SmartCopy will lose 128 bytes of memory (two blocks of 64 bytes) on startup and every time you click the "Find devices" button. This seems to be a problem with L:Speak-Handler (at least on my Workbench 2.1 system). 5. HD1:> Version L:Speak-Handler FULL speak-handler 37.4 (21.2.91) Doing a 5. HD1:> List SPEAK: will lose you 256 bytes (4 blocks of 64 bytes). Doing a 5. HD1:> Dir SPEAK: will lose you 128 bytes (2 blocks of 64 bytes). The big problem is that this causes memory fragmentation. This problem can worked around by not having SPEAK: mounted. Although this is not a bug in SmartCopy, I mention this because it is likely that people will have SPEAK: mounted as part of their system startup, like having the "SPEAK" icon in DEVS:DOSDrivers for Workbench 2.1 and above. (The above results were obtain with CodeWatcher (see acknowledgements) and verified with C:Avail.) History. ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ 1.0 (Sometime at the end of 1992) Simple GUI file copier with simple disk space check. Not released to the public. Size: 5552 bytes. 1.1 (11-Aug-93) Improved disk space check with options for specialized calculation of disk space on FFS and OFS. Generic is the old space check. Also, disk space check can now be turned off. Rearranged GUI to get more space. Increased window size. File comments and attributes (protection bits) are preserved when the files are copied. Changed the gadget labels to be User Interface Style Guide compliant. Added (permanently disabled) "Sort" gadget. Added the little logo in the lower right corner. Added the option to copy to a directory on the destination. SmartCopy will now close and reopen it's window when it thinks the user has changes screen resolution. This is to help IPrefs close and reopen the Workbench screen. Fixed a lot of bugs, including these major ones: The device list is now locked and stepped through using OS functions, making it safe. No longer enters an endless loop when copying empty files. No longer enters an endless loop when there is less than one (1) byte of free memory. Not released to the public. Size increased from 6 kb to 13 kb :-( Size: 13795 bytes. 1.2 (27-Nov-94) Fixed disk space check for FFS/OFS disk (the improvements in v1.1 were barely noticeable because I made a stupid mistake). This time it REALLY should work. FFS and OFS space check is now the same, the old code was almost identical for the two cases anyway. FFS/OFS disk space check should also work with block sizes other that 512 bytes now. Fixed the file copy routine so that it can copy from CrossDOS devices with text filtering enabled. File dates are copied too now. No longer requires utility.library version 37, version 36 will do (a stupid error of mine). Removed the useless (and permanently disabled) "Sort" button. No longer forces the ASL file requester to use any particular text for the title and the "OK" button. This looks A LOT better when the system is localized to another language than English. The code to close and reopen SmartCopy's window has been removed as it didn't work as intended. Instead of reacting to changes to the screen, it reacted to changes in printer settings. Unfortunately, when the window reopened, SmartCopy crashed. Even starting a certain word processor would make SmartCopy react and crash! :-( Reduced size from 13 kb to 10 kb :-) Size: 10624 bytes. 1.3 (26 Jan 95) No bugs were fixed because none were found :-) Sort-by-size function added (yes, finally it's there). Files can be marked to process only those files. Multiple destination devices can be selected. You can now either move or copy the files. Delete-files function added. Rearranged GUI to get room for the new gadgets. The device list will probably show more devices than before (like RAM:, for example). Better way of checking if a file fits on an FFS/OFS device. Back to seperate FFS and OFS space check calculation. Sizes of each version added to the program history. Size: 12672 bytes.