BCI NET 2/BCI NET 2.iso/archives/utilities/disk/stock.lha/Stock.doc.en

Text File | 1995-01-22 | 10.6 KB | 202 lines

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             ***  STOCK  (Beta version) - Andrea Gualducci  ***
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DISTRIBUTION
Contents of file Stock.lha are in Public Domain.
Stock may not be sold, but may be distributed everywhere as long as only a
VERY SMALL fee is charged to cover the costs of copying and distribution.
Please, always copy the whole archive Stock.lha with docs, auxiliary files.
Don't send me any money, but E-Mail me to help me for next versions with
suggestions, comments, etc.

REQUIRED SYSTEM
All you need is an AMIGA with Hard Disk and a drive.
Stock should work with ANY version of KICKSTART !!!

WHAT IS ?
Stock is a STOCKING TOOL very useful to transfer files between hard disk
and disks (any format). It isn't a catalog tool, I mean Stock doesn't take
a global list of contents of your disks, but it manages the allocation of
files to disks (and retrieving to hard disk), optimizing with a Best Fit
algorithm.
If you keep a collection of images, musical modules, compressed PD programs
or something else, then you surely advised that a so big amount of files
takes a very large area on your hard disk. Moving those files to disk isn't
so easy as it could seems: it's necessary to apply full sized labels to
every disk in order to take a note (by pencil) about the current list of
files inside it.
And how to group files to fill up your disks and waste just a few blocks
on any volume ?
Let's say you've built an archive of images (40 disks, 100 or 200 files)
and you want to retrieve your old drawing Castle.pic: could you remember
wich disk your file is stored on ?
If you kept disks labels ordered and updated, read them all and you surely
find what you are looking for, but you wasted 10 minutes...
And what if Castle.pic becomes a stupid thing to keep archived and you
decide to delete it, how can you keep in mind that there is now a free
space in that disk and you can use it to store anything else?
Furthermore, it could be very useful to have a short comment for every
archived item, easy to access, modify, delete...
Well, Stock automatically solves all of those problems and it's very user
friendly and easy to use !!!
Stock can also store files larger than the disk's size, just splitting them
in many disks, and retrieve them in a transparent way.

INSTALLATION
Create a work directory for STOCK on your hard disk, i.e. DH0:StockDIR
(give it any name), then assign the logical device TH: to it,
i.e. "Assign TH: DH0:StockDIR".
Next, copy "Stock" (executable) to ANY command directory, that is any
directory included in your search PATH.; copy "Stock.types" to TH: work
directory.
That's all...

USAGE
Version 1.0 (and Beta version) of Stock doesn't use any kind of menu and
everything is done by gadgets.
Just after starting, Stock shows an area of file selection on the left, 10
gadgets on the right and a comment area on the bottom of the window.
The first operation you want to execute to use Stock it's CREATE a new
archive, of course, that you perform clicking on gadget CREATE. Then Stock
asks you by requester the name of that new archive and just after that you
will be asked to select a type of archive by mouse, on a little window.
That small window shows the list of types found in Stock.types (that MUST
be in TH:) and loaded at program's start up. That file can be easily
modified by ANY bare-text editor (such as Ed), so you can convert it to
your language, add new types, etc.
It could contain up to 10 types of 30 characters. Extra characters and
extra types will be ignored.
Those limitations are not so tight as they could seem, 'cause with "types"
I just mean a wide class such as "PD Programs" or "Images".
For a more specific comment to the archive there are 80 characters of note.
Stock.types could be modified at any time, but the type of your new created
archive will not.
Let's say you have just created an archive named "Landscapes", type
"Images", then in selection area will appear now the name of that archive
and so will be in the little area just under the gadgets that always shows
the currently selected archive.
More, in the wide comment area some information will tell you about
dimension of index file "Immagini.stk" (created with the new archive),
type of archive as described above and write protection state.
Second line in comment area could be used at any time to insert, modify or
delete 78 characters of comment to the archive (use it as a specification
to the archive type) that will be stored in TH: as a filenote to the
index file.
At this time Stock has also created a sub-directory in TH: named
TH:Landscapes that I'll refere, now on, as "Buffer Directory" or simply
"Buffer".
Let's open now a CLI or a SHELL and transfer to the Buffer Directory all
the files you want to archive, i.e. all the landscapes you have collected
on your hard disk.
Pressing gadget "Show Buffer" a list of those files will appear in the
selection area: select now, by mouse, just one, a subset or none of them,
then press gadget "STORE".
If none of them was selected we will be asked for transferring ALL that
files to archive disks, else just selected files will be transferred.
Then Stock will ask to format a new disk giving it exactily the required
name (use a parallel CLI or SHELL), to insert it in a drive and to
specify which device the program must access that disk through. That
information is necessary since some device of Amiga doesn't communicate
the change of volume to the system, then it will be better to access
all the volumes by device name (instead of volume names)!!!
It ain't necessary to use normally formatted disks, ANY format will be
accepted, i.e. DF0:, PC0:, DS0:, etc.
If you have at disposal more than one drive I suggest you to use them in
an alternate way, I mean even volumes on even drive, odd volumes on odd
drive, i.e. DF0: for Landscapes00:, DF1: for Landscapes01:, DF0: for
Landscapes02:, DF1: for Landscapes03: and so on...
Archiviation is accomplished using a simple BEST FIT algorithm that
examines each time the WHOLE disk list !!!
After the creation of archive you can see it pressing "Show Archive" gadget
and you can sort the list by name, by size or by disk, you can insert a 4
lines comment for each file, selecting the comment area: it's important
to press ENTER at the end of each line in order to correctly store it in
memory!
Further you can see the disk list pressing "Show Disks".
If you are viewing the archived files list you can use the "Retrieve"
gadget to copy archived files back to Buffer so to have them once again at
disposal on hard disk.
Then Stock will require necessary disks in order (from 00 to MAX) where the
selected files are stored in. Unfortunately I didn't yet manage to
eliminate the system requester so you should ALWAYS answer CANCEL to it
to let Stock requester appear.
BEWARE: STORE operation MOVES files from Buffer to Archive, but RETRIEVE
operation just COPIES them from Archive to Buffer, without deleting them
from disk.
To delete files, archives or blank disks use the "DELETE" gadget.
If you prevent Stock from accessing disk while deleting archivied items,
it will always delete files from archive, but the physical copy will
remain as a "ghost" file on your disk. Don't worry, the only effect is
that your disk has lost some allocation capacity that you can recover at
any time deleting the "ghost" file.
"List Archives" gadget shows a list of every archive created and allows you
to quickly switch between them.
Finally, "Save & Quit" gadget work exactily like the close gadget of the
window so when you exit Stock you are sure that modified archives will be
updated. DON'T switch off your Amiga without exiting Stockto prevent
damaging of archive informations.
Using Stock you don't have to apply full-sized labels on disks: you just
need very thin labels to write on just the volume name, i.e. "Landscapes00"
"Landscapes01", etc. saving paper and...patience!!!
Using Stock you also can archive files larger than the available blank disk
space: Stock will automatically splits your too-large files in a few parts
that will be merged back together in RETRIEVE operation. To do this Stock
only looks for EMPTY disks. I suggest NOT to store files larger than 8M.

LIMITS
Max number of disk for each archive:      100
Max number of files for each archive:    2000
Max number of types:                       10
Max length of type strings:                30
Max number of parts while splitting files: 10

DEVELOPMENT SYSTEM
Written in C without any assembly optimization (no need) and compiled on
Amiga 2000 with KickStart 1.3-2.0 switchable, 1M chip ram, 2M fast ram,
Fatter Agnus PAL, STANDARD Denise, double drive, hard disk Quantum 85M.

VERSION
This is Beta version that I release since I have not so much time to test
and debug, so I'd like to have contribution from anybody who wish to use
Stock.
I've tested Stock for a couple of weeks about, but I CANNOT give you any
warranty, at this moment, about perfect behaviour, then I suggest you:
"DON'T USE BETA VERSION TO STORE IMPORTANT DATA", wait for V1.0.
I'd be happy to reveive an E-Mail from anybody who has find out hidden
bugs or just has got some advice to give me, comments or anything else.
I'll release version 1.0 when the test period will be big enough to give
some warranty: your help can shorten very much this period!

TO DO
In version 2, Stock will be endowed with configurable menu that allows the
user to accomplish some action directly on archived files whith non need to
previously copy them to Buffer Directory.
i.e. It would be nice and smart to be able to view files of an archive of
images from disk, or docs; or extract files from a compressed archive
stored away using Stock.
I'd also like to allow some kind of treatment of files before stocking,
some like compression, coding for error protection, etc.
Furthermore second version will be able to transfer not just files, but
directories also.
I should apply an algorithm to format new disks. But I don't really want
to do it because Amiga is a multitasking system so it's wise to use this
feature: a parallel CLI or SHELL is the best solution. Use a parallel CLI
or SHELL to transfer file from any place of your hard disk to Buffer and
from Buffer to any place.
HELP: How can I avoid system requester to pop up (that one saying "No disk
present in device DF1:") ?
I've placed  -1 in pr_WindowPtr field of current process, but it isn't
enough !
If you can suggest me how to do it, I'll be grateful :-)
An AmigaGuide hypertext for documentation.

E-MAIL
For comments, advices, pointing out to bugs, etc. you can contact me via
E-Mail: [e-mail]
by mail: Andrea Gualducci - Via Po, 59 - 20030 Cormano - MILANO - ITALY

                        !!! DON'T LET AMIGA DIE !!!