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Copyright --------- This software is protected by United States copyright law. Warranties ---------- KEE SOFTWARE DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES RELATING TO THIS SOFTWARE, WHETHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR ANY PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND ALL SUCH WARRANTIES ARE EXPRESSLY AND SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIMED. NEITHER KEE SOFTWARE NOR ANYONE ELSE WHO HAS BEEN INVOLVED IN THE CREATION, PRODUCTION, OR DELIVERY OF THIS SOFTWARE SHALL BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF THE USE OR THE INABILITY TO USE SUCH SOFTWARE EVEN IF KEE SOFTWARE HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES OR CLAIMS. IN NO EVENT SHALL KEE SOFTWARE LIABILITY FOR ANY DAMAGES EVER EXCEED THE PRICE PAID FOR THE LICENSE TO USE THE SOFTWARE, REGARDLESS OF THE FORM OF CLAIM. THE PERSON USING THE SOFTWARE BEARS ALL RISK AS TO THE QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE OF THE SOFTWARE. Some states do not allow the exclusion of the limit of liability for consequential of incidental damages, so the above limitation may not apply to you. -- 1 -- Legitimate Usage ---------------- KeeProbe was designed for the legitimate examination and repair of personal files. It was NOT designed to alter commercial software or files. Doing so may be illegal. Kee Software does not assume any responsibility or liability for those who use this program illegally. -- 2 -- Ordering -------- Thank you for trying KeeProbe. KeeProbe is a copyrighted program distributed on a "Shareware" Basis (as well as retail). That is, it is distributed free of charge for TRIAL use. This way you can try KeeProbe before you buy. If you don't find it useful, simply destroy or give your copy away. If you find KeeProbe beneficial and want to continue using it, please register. When you register you will receive : 1) The latest revision registered to you with your name and address on the opening screen. 2) The latest documentation. 3) The next major version will be sent automatically when it becomes available (free of charge). ------------------------------------------------------------------------- ORDER FORM ---------- Please rush me the latest version of KeeProbe and documentation for $69.95. Add $4.20 when ordering from the state of Pennsylvania ($74.15 total). Name : _________________________________________ Company : ______________________________________ Address : ______________________________________ City : ______________________________ State ____ Zip Code : ___________ Phone (____)-____-______ Disk Size : __________ Mail check and order form to : Kee Software 79 Valley Rd. Warminster, PA 19040 (215)675-2227 (Make checks payable to Kee Software) -- 3 -- General Information Introduction ------------ Congratulations, you have purchased the most powerful and easy to use file dump utility available. KeeProbe was created for use in real PC production projects, no matter how big or how small. KeeProbe was developed parallel to a large database project. The database was used both online and on CD-ROM. The smallest file was six bytes short while the largest file was 800,000,000 bytes big. KeeProbe has been used on files with 2, 3, and 4 byte offset pointers, straight text files, sorted index files, etc. Some files had fixed record lengths, others were variable length. Most files were large and required easy movement by offset or by record. We routinely needed to search visually through large files in a pseudo binary search sequence. It was designed for use by programmers just out of school through programmers with a dozen years of experience. Executives of several companies have found it helpful. It can be a tester's best friend. -- 4 -- Quick Start Installation ------------ You can install KeeProbe by copying all files to your hard drive or to a backup floppy. Screen Layout ------------- A sample KeeProbe screen is below. (It has been slightly altered to allow for printing and displaying). There are 7 areas on the display. The first sample below contains: (1) Main Menu (line 1) (2) File Name Display Line (line 2) (3) Data display lines (lines 3 through 20) (4) Label line (line 22) (5) Status / Message lines (lines 23 and 24) Sample 1 -------- File Navigate Jump Search Cosmetics Translation Options Edit ----------------------------------- TEST.FIL --------------------------------- | 0 54 48 49 53 20 49 53 20-41 20 54 45 53 54 20 46 THIS IS -A TEST F | | 1 49 4c 45 20 46 4f 52 20-55 53 45 20 42 59 20 42 ILE FOR -USE BY B | | 2 44 55 4d 50 2e 20 20 48-41 56 45 20 46 55 4e 2e DUMP. H-AVE FUN. | | 3 0d 0a .. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ -- Rec(Dec) KeeProbe 4.25 - Copyright Kee Software 1992 NmlSgnLo ASCII -- |Key use; Open, Header, Reclen; Prnt, Comp, New pfile, Tri/Sin; Exit 15:49:45| | *** End of File Reached *** | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ -- 5 -- (6) The second sample contains the Files Pull Down Menu. Sample 2 -------- ------------ Files Menu ------------- | Key use ALT_K - Read First| ------------------------------------- | Open ALT_O, F3 | | Header ALT_H | | Record length ALT_R, F7 | ------------------------------------- | Print ALT_P, F1 | | Complete print ALT_C | | New print file ALT_N | |»Triple ALT_T | | Single ALT_S | ------------------------------------- | Exit ALT_E, F10, ALT_X | ------------------------------------- | return To main menu | ------------------------------------- (7) The third sample below contains the translation of data as longs. (00 00 00 02 with low value byte first evaluates to 33,554,432) Sample 3 -------- | 0 00 00 00 02 20 00 00 00-ff ff ff ff 00 00 00 00 .... ...-........ | | 33554432 32 -1 0 | -- 6 -- Sample 1 Details ---------------- The Data display lines (lines 3 through 20) contain (from left to right) 1. Line Label - either record number or offset. The labels can be in decimal or hex. 2. Hex display of 16 bytes of data. 3. ASCII or EBCDIC display of the data 4. The Label line (line 22) contains (from left to right) 1. Rec for record line labels or Off for offset line labels 2. (Dec) for the use of decimal line labels or (Hex) for the use of hex. 3. The KeeProbe version and Copyright information. 4. A concatenated string for numeric conversion (whether or not ints or longs are displayed). 4a. Nml for normal display of data with no numeric conversion or Int for the display of integers or Lng for the display of longs. Sample 3 has a line of longs displayed (evaluated using Low value byte on the left through the High value byte on the right). 4b. Sgn for signed conversion or Uns for unsigned conversion. 4c. Lo for low byte value first or Hi for high byte value first. 5. ASCII or EBCDIC conversion on the right side of the screen. 5. Status / Message lines (lines 23 and 24) used for messages and user input. -- 7 -- Menu Usage/Super Quick Start ---------------------------- KeeProbe's menus are designed to allow for easy usage. For example, type "PROBE TEST.FIL" in the directory containing Probe and hit ENTER two times. You will see the Files Menu. Each menu item has a message about it at the bottom of the screen. Use the DOWN ARROW key to see each message. Use the RIGHT ARROW and LEFT ARROW keys to move between menus. -- 8 -- Files Menu ---------- Probe is designed to be easy to use, so this quick start will get you well underway with Probe. Type "Probe TEST.FIL" (without the quotes) then hit ENTER to start the program. You will see the opening screen of information. Hit ENTER. This is the main window of Probe. Files is highlighted on the Main Menu at the top of the screen. Hit ENTER to select the highlighted menu item (File). In this case you will see the Files Menu pull down menu with Key use highlighted. Hit ENTER and you will get the key usage message. We will be using the ALT + key combination throughout this quick start. Hit ENTER again, and the key use screen will go away. Hold down the ALT key and hit "F". In the remainder of the quick start, this will be described using "ALT + F". This selects the pull down File Menu. We are going to hit ALT + O, but first look at the pull down menu for the choice starting with the letter O. When we hit ALT + O we are selecting Open. Hit ALT + O. At the bottom of the screen will be an input field to enter a file name. (Hitting the ESC key always brings you back to the main menu when you are in any of the input fields in Probe.) Type "TEST2.FIL". Hit ENTER four times - this will accept the system defaults for record length, record number and header. You have just opened a new file. You can see the file name at the top of the screen. Notice the "HEADER" followed by records of the same length. Hit ALT + F then ALT + H. At the bottom of the screen will be an input field. Type 8. Hit ENTER. Now the header is out of our way. (When there is no header, don't set the header or set it to zero.) Hit ALT + F then ALT + R. At the bottom of the screen will be an input field. Type 40. Hit ENTER. Now each record appears in a more logical display. -- 9 -- Files Menu ---------- Hit ALT + F then ALT + P. That screen will be printed. Hit ALT + F then ALT + C. The whole file will be printed. (If your printer does not have a large buffer, you may be prompted that the printer is not ready.) Hit any key to stop the printing of the whole file (after the current screen). Hit ALT + F then ALT + N. An input field will appear at the bottom of the screen. Type TEMP.PRN. Hit ENTER or answer Y to the append prompt that appears if the file already exists. You have just opened a print file. Hit ALT + F then ALT + P. You just sent a screen of print to the file TEMP.PRN. Hit ALT + F then ALT + N. Type PRINTER and hit ENTER. You just closed the file temp.prn. Now printing will go to the printer. Wait for the printer to stop printing. Hit F1 (function key one) 3 times. F1 is the shortcut key for single keystroke printing. Many functions have shortcut keys. They are listed on the menus. You will get one page of print containing 3 screens of data. Hit ALT + F then ALT + S then F1 twice and you will get two pages of print with one screen of data each. Output to file is identical. Hit ALT + X. You just exited to DOS. To see all command line parameters you can exit Probe and type PROBE then ENTER and they will be displayed. (We are about to use the record size command line parameter.) Type Probe TEST3.FIL 40. Then hit ENTER twice and you are Probing another file, test3.fil, with no header, using the record length of 40. -- 10 -- Navigation Menu --------------- Hit ALT + N to bring down the Navigation Menu. Hit ALT + R. At the bottom of the screen will be an input field to enter a record number to go to. Enter 100 and hit ENTER. The screen will now start file record number 100 zero based. Hit ALT + N then ALT + O. The bottom of the screen will contain an input field to enter the offset to go to. Enter 100 and hit ENTER. The screen will now start at file offset 100. The rest of the Navigation Menu is more easily accomplished using shortcut keys. Hit the UP ARROW, and the display will move up (toward the beginning of the file) a line. When the top line does not start on the left part of the screen the cursor up arrow moves you up to the front of that line. Hit the DOWN ARROW key, and the display will move down one line in the file. Hit the PAGE UP key and the display will move one screen of data up in the file. Hit the PAGE DOWN key and the display will move one screen of data down in the file. Hit the HOME key and the display will move to the top of the file. Hit the END key and the display will move to the end of the file. -- 11 -- Jump Menu --------- Hit ALT + J to bring down the Jump Menu. Hit ALT + R. At the bottom of the screen will be an input field to enter the number of records to jump (skip over). Type -10 and hit ENTER. You will have jumped back 10 records. Hit ALT + J then ALT + M. You have jumped 10 more records back. Hit ALT + J then ALT + F. You have moved forward 10% of the total file. That is, if you are at 76.6%, you will go to approximately 86.6%. Hit ALT + J then ALT + M. You have jumped 10% of the full file further. Hit ALT + J then ALT + T. You have moved back in the file 10% of the top of the file. That is, if you are at 50%, you will go to 45%. Hit ALT + J then ALT + M. You have jumped the same amount again. To continue the example (two lines above), you would go to 40%. That is, when you select more, the jump is the same as last time. If you select Jump then Top, you jump 10% of what is left (which changes as you go). Hit ALT + J then ALT + B. You have moved forward 10% of the remainder of the file. For example, if you are at 50%, you will go to 55%. Hit ALT + J then ALT + M. You have jumped the same amount again. To continue the example, you will go to 40%. Hit ALT + J then ALT + O. At the bottom of the screen will be an input field to enter the number of bytes to jump (skip over). Type 100 and hit ENTER. You will have jumped 100 bytes forward. Hit ALT + J then ALT + A. You have jumped in the file 100 bytes again. -- 12 -- Search Menu ----------- Hit ALT + S then ALT + I. At the bottom of the screen will be an input field. Type 100. Hit ENTER. Probe will find the string 100 anywhere in the rest of the file. You have initialized your search. Hit ALT + S then ALT + S. Probe will find the next occurrence of the string 100. (You could have used F6 to save a keystroke.) Hit ALT + S then ALT + F. Probe will find all occurrences of the string 100 in the rest of the file and print them. When Probe finds the string, it prints the full record or one full screen, whichever is larger. Hit the HOME key to go to the top of the file Hit ALT + S then ALT + P. This sets the next search to be positional in each record. Hit F5, this is the shortcut key for initializing a search. Type THI (in caps). Hit enter. This tells Probe to find the letters THI starting in the zero-ith position of each record. You will have found THI in the front of the next record but not the THI in the word THIRD. (If you hit F6, the shortcut key for search again, it will skip THI in THIRD and find the THI in THIS in the next record.) Hit F5 to initialize a new search. Type IS and hit ENTER. It will find nothing, because it is looking in the first position of each record. Hit ALT + S. Hit ALT + O for Offset position. Enter 5 and hit ENTER. Hit F6, search again. Now Probe will find the IS, which is offset 5 bytes in each record. Enter ALT + S, then ALT + A for All characters. Hit ALT + H for Hexadecimal search pattern use. Hit F5. (Up to here we have been using Textual searches.) Type 31 30 30 with spaces (ASCII 100). Hit ENTER. Probe will find that hex pattern. -- 13 -- Search Menu ----------- Hit ALT + S then ALT + R. This initializes a binary search controlled by the user. (You could have hit the + key or the - key to start.) This puts you into the middle of the file. (This set of functions is usually used for files that have been sorted.) From here out, using shortcut keys is easier than using the menus. Suppose you can see that what you want is further down in the file (toward the end of the file), hitting the + key will move you to the 75% (approximate) mark in the file. Suppose you can see that what you want is further up in the file, hitting the - key next will move you to 62.5%. And so on. Hitting ALT + S then ALT + U will take you back ONE step in your binary search of the file. In this case you would be back at 75%. -- 14 -- Cosmetic Menu ------------- Hit ALT + C then ALT + 0 to change the record number on the left of each line of data to offset. Hit ALT + C then ALT + R to change back to record number labels. Hit ALT + C then ALT + H to change to hex display of record number. Hit ALt + C then ALT + D to change back to decimal. Hit ALT + C then ALT + N to change to display with no hyphens. Hit ALT + C then ALT + L to change to a display with the hyphen on the left only. Hit ALT + C then ALT + B to change to a display with the hyphen on the right only. Hit ALT + C then ALT + S to change back to the display with hyphens on the left and the right. -- 15 -- Translation Menu ---------------- Hit ALT + T then ALT + L to have each set of 4 bytes converted as longs (signed) using low byte to high byte value order. Hit ALT + T then ALT + U to have each set of 4 bytes converted as unsigned longs. Hit ALT + T then ALT + I to display each set of 2 bytes converted as unsigned integers. Hit ALT + T then ALT + H to have the integers evaluated using high byte to low byte value order. Hit ALT + T then ALT + N to get back to normal display with no numeric conversions. Hit ALT + T then ALT + E to change the display on the right to EBCDIC conversion. Hit ALT + T then hit ALT + A to get back to ASCII conversion. -- 16 -- Options Menu ------------ Hit ALT + O then ALT + H to use hex input in numeric input fields. For example, Hit ALT + N then ALT + R. Enter 10 and hit ENTER. You will be at record 16 because 10 hex is 16 decimal. Hit ALT + O then ALT + D to change back to decimal input. Hit ALT + O then ALT + S to shell to DOS. Now you can do things like type dir and hit enter to get a directory. Type exit then hit ENTER to get back into Probe. Hit ALT + O then ALT + N to begin the creation of an extract file by entering the extract file name. Enter temp.xtr and hit ENTER. Hit ALT + O then ALT + B. Enter 100 and hit ENTER. You have just selected offset 100 of the test3.fil to be the start of the extract file temp.xtr. Hit ALT + O then ALT + E. Enter 200 and hit ENTER. You have just selected offset 200 of the file test3.fil to be the end of the extract file temp.xtr. Hit ALT + O then ALT + W to write those bytes to the extract file, temp.xtr. Answer Y to write the file. Hit ALT + O then ALT + C to close the file (so that we could now look at it with Probe). Hit ALT + F then ALT + O then enter temp.xtr and hit ENTER four times. Now you are Probing the file you extracted. It contains data from test3.dat. Hit ALT + O then ALT + T to truncate the file. Enter 100 and hit ENTER. Probe will show you what you are doing. Answer Y to truncate the file. Answer N to adding a carriage return/line feed. Answer N to adding an end of file mark. Hit ALT + O then ALT + F to print an order form on you printer. -- 17 -- Edit Menu --------- WARNING: SOUND DATA PROCESSING PRACTICE DICTATES THAT YOU SHOULD NOT EDIT A FILE UNLESS: 1) YOU DON'T CARE IF THE FILE IS LOST OR CORRUPTED. 2) YOU ARE ABLE TO EASILY RECREATE THE FILE. 3) YOU CAN RESTORE THE FILE FROM BACKUP EASILY. Hit ALT + E for the Edit Menu. Hit ALT + H for hex editing. Enter 00. Hit the PAGE DOWN Key to move 8 bytes down. Hit the RIGHT ARROW Key to move right on byte. Enter ffff (a space is placed between by Probe). Hit the PAGE UP Key to move up 8 bytes. Hit the LEFT ARROW Key to move one byte to the left. Hold the CONTROL Key and hit the ENTER Key to end input. (You can also end input by hitting ENTER while in the last input field.) Answer Y to saving the changes. You can see the effect of your changes. Hit ALT + E then ALT + A for ASCII editing. Enter abc. Hit the PAGE DOWN Key to move 8 bytes down (further). Hit the RIGHT ARROW Key to move right on byte. Enter de ff. Hit the PAGE UP Key to move up 8 bytes. Hit the LEFT ARROW Key to move one byte to the left. Hold the CONTROL Key and hit the ENTER Key to end input. Answer Y to saving the changes. You can see the effect of your changes. The tour is over. Hit ALT + X to exit. Happy computing with Probe. Please sent $69.95 to get your personalized copy of Probe, documentation and one free upgrade. -- 18 --