LSORT
(C) Copyright London Computing, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990
LSRT (C)Copyright London Computing, 1983,1984,1985,1986, 1987, 1988, 1989

LSORT consists of two sort utilities, LSRT and LSORT as well as
object code for LSORT (which you can use to create a customized version).
LSORT now runs under both DOS (3.3 and above) and OS2.

LSRT is a replacement for the DOS SORT command.  It runs on IBM PCs and
compatibles with at least 256KB and either two floppy disks or a fixed
disk.  It will sort MSDOS ASCII files on 1 to 16 sort fields.  The file
to be sorted must contain variable length records ending with cr/lf.
It is written using large model and will sort files of up 16000 records
that will fit into memory.

LSORT is a full function sort program that will sort and merge on 32 fields.
Each field may be a character string, a binary number or a floating point
numbers.  LSORT sorts or merges files that are larger than memory, dBase II
and dBase III files.  LSORT allows user exits for customized applications.

You may make copies of this software and distribute to other users as long as
there is no charge or other consideration and this notice is not removed or
bypassed.

LSORT and LSRT are user supported software.  If either program proves
useful, please make a contribution ($10 for LSRT or $25 for LSORT and LSRT)
to:

London Computing
PO Box 696
Cherry Hill, NJ  08003

Anyone contributing at least $25 will receive a diskette containing the
source (in C) for both LSORT and LSRT.  Source is available for
Microsoft C 6.0 only.  LSORT now uses OS2 Family API Calls.  You will
need Microsoft C 6.0 or the Microsoft or IBM OS2 SDK to compile and
link LSORT.  The source to release 3.12 with bug fixes will be
available on Request.  3.12 is a DOS only release using proprietary
screen libraries, which are included.

Please report any problems or bugs to me at Compusrv account 72437,730 or
by mail to the above address.

Thanks, Norm London


What's New:

Version 3.21

Fixes a merge bug that sometime writes the output file to an incorrect drive.  
It was most likely to occur if output is sent to a RAM disk or network drive.

SORTPARM.DAT and DB3PARM.DAT, two files used by the restart facility, are now
deleted upon successful completion of LSORT.

Version 3.20

Fixes a merge bug introduced in version 3.12 that limits the size of a file
to sort.

LSORT has been migrated to run under DOS and OS2 as a Family Mode Application.
The menu program is LSMENU under DOS and LSMENU2 under OS2.

The maximum number of intermediate files created by a sort has increased from
5 to 9.  This will minimize the number of passes for large files, but requires
that FILES=32 be specified in CONFIG.SYS.

The maximum number of strings that can be merged increased from 256 to 1024.
This increases the maximum number of records that can be sorted to 16,000,000
from 2,000,000.  A string is created when all the data that fits in memory
is sorted.  This could be as few as 12 4K records to as many as 16,000.  The
size of a string depends on the amount of memory available and the record
length.

The maximum size of a filename has increased to 256 characters to allow for
use of HPFS under OS2.


Version 3.12

Version 3.12 fixes a merge bug in Version 3.11

Version 3.11

Version 3.11 has been rewritten to eliminate use of my private function
library.  Some special functions have been incorporated into the source
of Version 3.11.  Two special object files are needed: scrsubs.obj and
dvint.obj.  These provide full screen manipulation and an interface to
Desqview.  Source is not available.  The LSMENU program is no longer in
Beta.  Source for LSMENU is still NOT available.

A new version of LSRT, LSRTOS2, has been included.  LSRT has been relinked as
a family mode DOS/OS2 program and should run under either.

Version 3.10  (Beta)

This version of LSORT (3.10) fixes several problems with sorting type N
(numeric data in ASCII form).  It also enhances type N to accept scientific
notation of the form x.xxxExxx.

LSORT 3.10 contains a friendly front end to LSORT, LSMENU 1.00.  LSMENU is
an SAA like front end to LSORT that runs in character mode.  It allows you
to easily invoke the sort.  The source for LSMENU is not available because
I have used 3rd party screen manipulation subroutines.

LSMENU does not currently support delimited fields.  This facility will
be added soon.

LSMENU does allow you to select dBase fields to sort by name and allows you
to mark sort fields in type F and type V files.

LSORT still exists for anyone who wants to continue using command mode.

LSORT is now available in Microsoft C format only.


Version 3.02

This version of LSORT (3.02) contains bug fixes, LSORT for Microsoft C 5.1 and
a new version of the LSRT sort filter.  It also contains a new mechanism for
selecting files and a utility program, SELEFILE.EXE which can be called from
your own applications.

LSRT now will sort up to 16,000 records or the maximum file size that will fit
in memory, up from 6000 records and 48,000 bytes.  It must be compiled using
Microsoft C Rel 5.0 or above and it must use the large case libraries.


Extracting LSORT

This disk contains one EXE file which is a self extract LHARC file.
Run the EXE to extract all executables, object for LSORT, LSORT.MAK a
Microsoft NMAKE version make file (for use with QuickCs make facility),
LSORT.CRF a link redirection file for relinking LSORT, LSORT.HLP HELP
for LSORT and descriptive text.

Registered users will also extract all the source for LSORT and LSMENU
with the exception of the CSUBS and CDRIVER source which can not be
distributed.