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XFILE.DOC (C) Copyright 1991 by Eddy Van de Winckel, BELGIUM. ========= Version 1.xx. DOCUMENTATION FOR THE 'XFILE' DOS COMMAND. (2612-15) ------------------------------------------- 10 1. INTRODUCTION. 'XFILE' is one from a set of DOS add-on and replacement commands which have been developed after considering it hopeless to ex- pect MicroSoft fixing the bugs in the DOS command interface! Our Extended DOS commands behave in such a way that - They won't do anything else then what you expect them to do (not like the 'COPY' command); - They will nicely report what they are doing (not like the 'DELete' command); 20 - They will fill in the basic needs of any (simple) PC-user. - They will report error conditions in an understandable way (not anything like "bad command or file name"). - They include on-line help. - They comply to the normal DOS syntax so that it is easy for you to remember how to specify the command line. - When possible, they will check the command line syntax for incorrectness and ambiguities and report this to you. - They can be interrupted with <CONTROL>C as soon as you notice that you gave a bloody wrong command! 30 In our Extended DOS commands the syntax compatibility with DOS has been maintained, i.e. Command Source Destination /Option /Option ... using the same separators. Compatibility with DOS Version 5.xx is maintained by accepting the /? option for on-line help. 40 2. USAGE OF 'XFILE'. 'XFILE' is a DOS-Command which covers most of the functionality of DOS' COPY and XCOPY commands. Depending on which options are given in the command-line: - It will ADD (copy) those files to the destination which were not in there yet. 50 - It will UPDATE (copy) only those files which are already present in the destination but which are older than the same files in the source. - It will do both ADD + UPDATE if you do not specify anything. Here it does the same as the DOS COPY command except that it will not copy files which are identical and already on there (based on the filename and timestamp), saving you a lot of time! 60 - All legal DOS-Masks and wild-cards are accepted from the command line. 3. SYNTAX for the 'XFILE' command. The command line syntax for XFILE is: XFILE [Source-Path-&-Mask] DEST-PATH [/Option1] [/Option2] 70 The syntax for Paths and file Masks is the normal DOS syntax. OPTIONS: /A to ADD only those files not present on the destination. /U to UPDATE only those files which are already on the desti- nation and of which the source contains a more recent version. (Great for updating your hard disk after working from a floppy or vice versa). 80 NO OPTION will make XFILE do UPDATE + ADD, this is the same as the DOS 'COPY' command, except that it behaves nicely, it is faster and it is safer. XFILE /? will show an online help screen for the XFILE-command. This is consistent with the /? parameter in DOS version 5.xx XFILE /R will show a registration information summary. 90 REMARKS: - XFILE Source Dest /A /U is legal but not handy! - DESTINATION-PATH MUST ALWAYS BE SPECIFIED. - Paths can include a DRIVE identifier. - File-Masks allow any legal DOS-mask syntax. XFILE does not provide the possibility to copy a file into another name! (Which it shouldn't do!). Use DOS' RENAME command instead. The inconsistency of DOS's COPY command which also allows to rename a file is the cause 100 that it cannot differentiate whether you give a directory or a new file name to the destination (see example 1 below). XFILE does not provide the possibility to append files as with "COPY InFile1 + InFile2 OutFile" which is not consistent with a "copy" command. Sorry, a "copy" command should not be expected to produce something any different from the original! 110 DEFAULTS: - Source-Path will default to CURRENT PATH when not given. - Source-Mask will default to *.* when not given. EXAMPLES: XFILE *.* C:\MYDIR will copy all files from the current directory, for example A:\, to the directory C:\MYDIR. If the destination directory is not available, XFILE will not 120 pack all the files into one file called "MYDIR.[No Extension]" as does "COPY" after having reported to you "n files copied" ! (If you had never seen a real BIG BUG, here is one!). XFILE *.TXT C:\MYDIR will copy all files with extension .TXT from the current directory to ddirectory C:\MYDIR. XFILE C:\TURBO\*.* C:\BAK /U will copy only the more recent versions of files in C:\TURBO into directory C:\BAK. 130 4. SPECIFICATIONS AND LIMITATIONS OF 'XFILE'. - CAUTION: XFILE uses the File Time Stamps contained in all your files and set automatically by DOS each time you write into a file. IT will work incorrectly if your system does not contain the correct time and date. It is bad practice to operate your computer without the correct time and date set. 140 - ERROR REPORTING. XFILE will check the command-line for correct syntax. It will report incorrect syntax and exit without executing. Error conditions which can appear during execution will be neatly reported to you, stating the type of error, i.e. 'invalid destination path', 'source cannot be opened', etc. After reporting an error, XFILE will stop executing and return 150 to DOS. - BREAK WITH <CONTROL>C. XFILE will break and exit to DOS after <Control>C. This is to give you the opportunity to stop it the earlier if you find out that you gave a bloody wrong command! Using the BREAK on XFILE can cause lost clusters to be present on the DESTINATION. (to be fixed with DOS' "CHKDSK /F"). 160 - ACTIVITY REPORTING. XFILE will report neatly what it is doing, including which file it found and where it is copying it to. This will stop you praying the Lord all the time, hoping this long list of files is getting at the right place as with DOS' COPY command! - READ/WRITE ERRORS. XFILE has a built in Read after Write process to make sure that 170 what is on your destination is exactly the same as the original. This takes some more time (especially on Floppy) but that is the price to pay for a little bit of security. The read after write check of XFILE is independant from your global system setting with VERIFY ON or VERIFY OFF in the start-up batch file. - SYSTEM LIMITATIONS. XFILE is very fast. It will scan the directories at a rate of 25 files per second on a typical hard disk. 180 So if you have 100 files to scan and no file on the destina- tion needs an update, XFILE will take only 4 seconds after it loaded! When files need to be updated, the time needed is deter- mined by the speed of the disks in your system. There is however a price for speed: Memory. XFILE needs 237K of RAM memory in your PC to work! So it will not run on very small machines nor on machines clogged with TSR'S, windows, drivers, etc., unless 237K of memory are still available. There is however no particular caution: If there is not enough available 190 memory in your system when you call XFILE, it will report this to you and return to DOS without executing. Then you can still choose to use DOS' "COPY" and start praying the Lord! 5. DISTRIBUTION and SHAREWARE AGREEMENT. XFILE Version 1.xx is distributed as SHAREWARE. There is no fee for using this software because we believe it should have been there already for a long time, coming free with your DOS operating 200 system (unless you are using a non legal copy of DOS, Bahhh!!!). However, this software is not in the public domain and is copy- righted material. It is illegal to sell or include this software into a commercial package, or to charge for distribution of this software other than for including it in a SHAREWARE library on a disk with no more than 30% of its maximum capacity free. By using, owning or copying this software you agree to comply with this DISTRIBUTION and SHAREWARE agreement. XFILE can be dupli- cated and distributed only in full, i.e. XFILE.EXE together with its documentation file XFILE.DOC. 210 XFILE Version 1.xx can be used for Corporate or Company use under the same terms of agreement as stated above. It is expressly forbidden to ditribute XFILE under another name than the original. 6. REGISTRATION. 220 A registered version of XFILE, version 2.xx is available from the author. XFILE Version 2.xx has enhanced functionality such as sup- port of Subdirectories. To recieve your own registered copy of XFILE Version 2.xx, please send a 20 US$ note in an envelope with your full name and addres, stating that you want to register XFILE. We will send you a 5.25" floppy with the latest release of XFILE, together with another nice utility FREE. Sorry, no credit cards or cheques to keep our costs low. FOR REGISTRATION SEND A 20 US$ (TWENTY US DOLLAR) NOTE IN AN 230 ENVELOPE TO: EDDY VAN DE WINCKEL 21, RUE MARCQ B 1000 - BRUSSELS BELGIUM. XFILE Version 2.xx and the other DOS utility which comes with it are not available through SHAREWARE nor from any commercial out- 240 let. 7. PRODUCT LIABILITY. This product is made available on an 'as is' basis without warranty of fitness for any particular use. The author cannot be liable for any damages incurred by the use of this software. This software is guaranteed to have been used extensively and tested for compliance to the specifications before release. 250 >>>>>>>>>>> END OF "XFILE" DOCUMENTATION <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< ----------------end-of-author's-documentation--------------- Software Library Information: This disk copy provided as a service of Public (software) Library We are not the authors of this program, nor are we associated with the author in any way other than as a distributor of the program in accordance with the author's terms of distribution. 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