________________ / / / ________ / / / / / / /urbo /________ / / /iler TurboFiler 2.0 Copyright 1991 Timeless Software All rights reserved. Written by Steve Jennen and Jason McIntosh DISCLAIMER - AGREEMENT Users of TurboFiler must accept this disclaimer of warranty: "TurboFiler is supplied as is. The author disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, including, without limitation, the warranties of merchantability and of fitness for any purpose. The author assumes no liability for damages, direct or consequential, which may result from the use of TurboFiler." TurboFiler is a "shareware program" and is provided at no charge to the user for evaluation. Feel free to share it with your friends, but please do not give it away altered or as part of another system. The essence of "user-supported" software is to provide personal computer users with quality software without high prices, and yet to provide incentive for programmers to continue to develop new products. If you find this program useful and find that you are using TurboFiler and continue to use TurboFiler after a reasonable trial period, you must make a registration payment of $20 to Timeless Software. The $20 registration fee will license one copy for use on any one computer at any one time. You must treat this software just like a book. An example is that this software may be used by any number of people and may be freely moved from one computer location to another, so long as there is no possibility of it being used at one location while it's being used at another. Just as a book cannot be read by two different persons at the same time. You are encouraged to pass a copy of TurboFiler along to your friends for evaluation. Please encourage them to register their copy if they find that they can use it. Table of contents I. Introduction II. Main Menu III. File Menu IV. Options Menu V. Ordering Information Appendix I. Introduction TurboFiler is a directory/file management program with some unique features that sets it apart from other programs of its kind. The directory display format is in a tree format, but the cursor behavior while navigating around the tree is free-form. Most directory programs that display a tree let you easily move up the tree, but to go anywhere else in the tree requires you to navigate recursively through all the other trees in your way. Not so, with TurboFiler. If you are on a node of the tree and you want to move right, but there isn't a node directly to the right of the cursor, TurboFiler will 'best fit' the move and actually move the cursor right. Try it out yourself. Don't let the structural view of the tree limit your cursor key presses. After using TurboFiler for a very short time, I'm sure you'll find the navigation natural and more desirable than other programs. With TurboFiler, you also have the option of saving a copy of the tree structure that it creates in the root of each disk that you use with TurboFiler. Using this feature gives you the fastest loading directory structure possible. On most systems with a hard drive, the time between typing TF, pressing return and loading the entire directory structure and displaying it on the screen takes less than a second. Once in TF, logging to another drive takes even less time. Fast, fast, FAST! That's what TURBOFiler is all about. II. Main Menu Commands All the following commands are available from the Main Menu. The Main Menu is presented to the user when you first run TurboFiler. Each of the commands are selected by pressing the first letter of the command, such as 'f' or 'F' for File, 'c' or 'C' for Create, etc. Use the arrow, pageup and pagedown keys to move around the directory tree display. Don't let yourself be limited by the visual structure of the tree display, TurboFiler will let you move the cursor freely in any direction if at all possible. ENTER Pressing the ENTER key causes TurboFiler to quit and change DOS's default directory to the directory pointed to by TurboFiler's cursor. "F" for File This brings up the file box, which allows you to perform file oriented functions including copy, delete, move, run, view and archive and unarchive. See the File Menu commands section in this manual. "C" for Create Create allows you to make a directory that is a subdirectory of the directory that the cursor bar is on. When you select Create, a prompt appears at the bottom of the screen: Create directory name ? Type in the name of the subdirectory and press ENTER. If you press ENTER or ESC without typing a name, you will cancel the operation. Any errors that occur in trying to create the directory will appear after you press ENTER. "D" for Delete Remove the currently selected directory the cursor bar is on. The most common error in removing a directory is 'File access denied.' This means the directory is not empty, and DOS refuses to remove it. If you still want to remove the directory, you must open the File box (by pressing "F") and deleting all the files in the directory. Then, you may exit the File box and select "D" to delete the directory. "L" for Log Choose another drive to view. When you select this option, a prompt appears at the bottom of the screen: New drive letter ? Simply press the letter (A-Z, shifted or unshifted) of the drive you wish to view. Once selected, TurboFiler will read in the directory structure and display it in the directory window. If an error occurs when reading the directory, you'll have to select 'L'og again to choose another drive. "S" for Spawn This command will exit TurboFiler and return you to DOS but leave TurboFiler still loaded into memory. You may return to TurboFiler by typing "EXIT" at the DOS prompt. "U" for Update Use this command to take advantage of TurboFiler's speedy directory loading. When you 'Update' a drive, TurboFiler will save a copy of the entire directory structure in a file (called TF_SAVE.DAT) in the root directory of the currently selected drive. The next time you run TurboFiler from that drive, or log to that drive, TurboFiler will load the directory structure from the file rather than loading it by scanning the entire drive. You'll find this to be much faster. If you create or remove directory structures outside of TurboFiler, you may need to select this option to update TurboFiler's copy of the directory structure. "P" for Print This command is not fully supported for all systems. Its purpose is to print the directory to a resident printer defined by the DOS "PRN" device, but it does not do so intelligently. That is, it will not recognize your printer and send the appropriate printer codes to insure the directory is printed properly. The main concern is whether or not the directory will fit onto your printer in the horizontal direction. TurboFiler will print the directory assuming that the printer is set properly to receive the full width of the directory. It is up to you to insure that the printer is set properly to receive such a printout. "W" for Where Search the directory structure for a matching file specification. This command will search the current directory the cursor is on, and any subdirectory of the current directory. When selected, this command produces the prompt: Search file spec ? At the prompt, enter the search pattern such as *.exe, *.gif, etc. (See your DOS manual for more information about wildcard matching under the "DIR" command.) As each occurrence of a match is found, you are presented with the prompt showing the name of the file found as well as: Remain here, Next file or Cancel ? Press the letter "R" to remain at the current directory and discontinue the search. This will position the cursor on the directory and you may access the file by pressing "F" to bring up the File Menu. Press "N" to look for the next file matching the search specification. Press "C" to cancel the search and return the cursor to the directory from which the search was initiated. "A" for About Display a box about TurboFiler. "O" for Options This is a hidden command, that is, its name does not appear on the menu line. When you select this option, TurboFiler will write a file called TFCONFIG.DAT to the directory where the TF.EXE file was executed from. Use this option to save any changes you made to the options in the Option Menu. Utilizing this option will let you customize TurboFiler to your specific needs. All changes which you save with this option are automatically reloaded the next time TurboFiler is run. "Q" for Quit Quit TurboFiler and return to the DOS prompt. III. File Menu When you select 'F'ile from TurboFiler's main menu, a window pops up showing you all files in the current directory which match all selected file masks. (See the Options Menu section in this manual to change the file masks.) You may then perform commands on the files listed. Some commands allow you to act upon a list of files, files that are 'tagged.' To tag a file in the list, press the space bar. To tag all the files, press the Tab key. If you press the space bar twice on the same file, the file becomes untagged. The Tab key operates the same way - toggling the tags on and off. The File Menu commands are: ENTER To run a program, move the cursor over the file you wish to run and press ENTER. Note that only files with extensions of ".exe", ".com" and ".bat" can be run. If there is not enough memory to run the program from TurboFiler, you will be returned to TurboFiler without any warnings. "D" for Delete Delete the file the cursor is on, or delete the files that are tagged. There are two possibilities when you select this command. 1. If you are deleting just one file, you will be prompted: Are you sure you want to delete (Y/n) ? If you press ENTER or "Y" or "y", the file will be deleted. If you press "N" or "n" or hit the ESC key, the fill will not be deleted. 2. If you are deleting a list of tagged files, you will be prompted: Confirm delete for each tagged file (Y/n) ? Pressing ENTER or "Y" or "y" will prompt you for each tagged file, as above under 1. If you press "N" or "n", all tagged files will be deleted without further prompting. "R" for Rename Renames the file that the cursor is on. This command does not work on a list of files. Type the file's new name at the prompt and press ENTER: Rename to ? "C" for Copy Copy a file or a list of files to another drive or directory. Once selected, TurboFiler removes the File window and asks you to select a destination drive and/or directory: Select destination drive/directory. ESC aborts. Use the arrow, pageup, pagedown keys to select a different directory and press ENTER. If you wish to copy the files to a different drive, press the letter (A-Z, shifted or unshifted) of the drive. (Note: You do not need to first press the "L" key to log a new drive, just press the letter of the drive.) Once the drive is selected, you may use the arrow, pageup or pagedown keys to move the cursor around to select the destination directory on that drive. Then, press ENTER and the files will be copied. As long as the prompt "Select destination drive/directory." is on the bottom of the screen, you may either move the cursor around or switch to a different drive until you are at the desired destination. You'll find this to be a relatively quick way to copy files to a floppy disk. If you are viewing a list of files that you'd like to copy to drive A:, all you need do is press the TAB key to select all the files, and then type "C", "A" and ENTER to copy the files to drive A. "M" for Move This option behaves the same as Copy except that once the file is copied to its destination, the file is deleted from the source. THE SOURCE FILE IS DELETED ONLY IF THE COPY WAS SUCCESSFUL. "E" for Edit Edit the file the cursor is on. By default, this will execute the command 'edit.exe ', where is the name of the file that the cursor is on and program 'edit.exe' is the editor which comes with DOS 5.0. If you wish to use a different editor, you must edit the 'editor' line in the options box. Once finished editing, you will be returned to TurboFiler. Note: It is possible that once TurboFiler is loaded, there may not be enough space to load your editor in as well. In that case, you will simply be returned to TurboFiler. "O" for Options This brings up a window which allows you to change file viewing options, and specify your archiving program. See the Options Menu section for a complete list of Options commands. "L" for Log Logs you to a different drive, the same as the directory command described in section II. However, when you log another drive from the file menu, the drive's default directory is automatically loaded and displayed in the File window. "V" for View View the file the cursor is on. By default, this will execute the command 'list file', which runs the popular file viewing utility called List. In order for this command to work, you must have a copy of the List program installed on your computer and its directory defined in your Path. You may edit the command in the Options box to call a different program. "A" for Archive Compress the file or files selected by calling the popular PKZIP compression utility. You need to have the PKZIP utilities installed on your computer and their directory defined in your Path for this command to work. Once the files are zipped, you will be returned to TurboFiler. Note: You may also press 'CTRL-A' to call this option, but instead of just zipping the files selected, it will run 'pkzip -m' which moves the files into the zip archive. "U" for Unarchive Decompress the selected file. This runs the command 'pkunzip file'. You may change the syntax of this command in the options box. "F" for Files View the files in the compressed archive file. The command 'pkunzip -v file' is executed when this command is selected. You may change the syntax of this command in the options box. "Q" for Quit Quit the File menu and return to TurboFiler's directory menu. IV. Options Menu The Options Menu lets you change certain parameters about how TurboFiler displays files in the File Menu and what programs it runs for an editor and archiver. The Options Menu appears as follows: +----------------------Directory Options -----------------------+ | Edit Quit Masks: New Delete | +---------------------------------------------------------------+ | Sorting Display Masks Programs | +---------------------------------------------------------------+ | *File *Size **.* Editor | | Ext *Date *.exe View | | Size Time *.com Archive | | Date Percent *.txt Unarchive | | Unsorted K Bytes *.c Archive move(^a)| | *.pas Files (view Arc)| | *.tmp ArchiveExtension| | *.dat | +---------------------------------------------------------------+ The cursor first appears on File under Sorting. To select another main column, use the left and right arrow keys. Pressing ENTER causes you to exit the Options window. Each column may behave a little differently, as described below. Sorting This describes the what the File view sorts on. You can select either File, Extension, Size, Date or Unsorted. Select the option you want by using the up or down arrow keys and then press the space bar. Display These options let you choose what to view along with the file name in the File view window. You may select more than one option in this column. Use the up/down arrow keys to select an option and then press the space bar to toggle an option. The TAB key may be used to toggle all the options on or off. Masks The file masks describe what files TurboFiler will allow you to see in the File view. All files are the default and are described by the mask '*.*'. Any files not matching the mask will not be shown in the file view! Use the up/down arrow keys to select an option and then press the space bar to toggle an option. You may use the TAB key to toggle all the masks on or off. You may also add or delete to the list of masks that TurboFiler provides as a default. You do this by simply pressing the 'N' key to make a new mask or the 'D' key to delete a mask. 'N' for new mask When selected, this brings up the prompt: Enter new mask ? Type in the new mask and press ENTER. 'D' for delete mask Place the cursor on the mask that you would like to delete and press the 'D' key. The mask is then removed from the list. The mask '*.*' is built-in and cannot be deleted. 'E' for edit mask Place the cursor on the mask that you would like to delete and press the 'E' key. A prompt is displayed with the mask from which you may edit the mask. Once finished editing the mask, press ENTER. The mask '*.*' is built-in and cannot be edited. Programs You may customize the command lines that TurboFiler uses to run different programs by selecting one of the items in this column. Use the up/down arrows in this column to select an item and press 'E' for edit. You will then be prompted to enter in the command line used to run the program, such as: Editor program: edit /h Replace the command line or add to it and press ENTER. In the above example, the DOS 5.0 editor is called with the '/h' option which will use the 43/50 line modes of EGA or VGA. You can delete that part of the command line by using the backspace key. Or, you can add another option if you desire. Once you have changed all the options you wanted and if you wish to save the changes, you must quit back to the Main Menu and press the 'O' key for options. This is a hidden command and is not displayed on the menu line. See Part II, Main Menu. NOTE: Archive programs operate differently when you wish to add a list of files to an archive. TurboFiler uses the PKZIP method of creating a temporary file for the PKZIP program and then calling PKZIP with the command 'pkzip -a zipfile @list' Other programs probably do not use this convention, and may not work if you tag a list of files and select Archive from TurboFiler's File Menu. You are provided with the option of changing the archive command string for the purpose of specifying path name, or other listing options. For this reason, TurboFiler does not support adding a list of files to an archive other than PKZIP. V. Ordering Information TurboFiler 2.0 is Shareware. You may distribute TurboFiler free of charge, but if you decide to keep and use TurboFiler, you must register. Please send $20 to register TurboFiler to: Timeless Software P.O. Box 711 St. Cloud, MN 56302 Appendix TurboFiler by default is set up to use a color display. If you wish to use TurboFiler with a monochrome or VGA monochrome display, simply COPY one of the files to the file TFCONFIG.DAT in the same directory as the TF.EXE file: TFMONO.DAT for monochrome displays TFVGAM.DAT for VGA monochrome displays TFVGAC.DAT for VGA Color displays (the default setup) TurboFiler by default is also set up to use as large a display as possible on VGA or EGA systems. If you wish to force TurboFiler into 25 line mode, use a text file and edit the file TFCONFIG.DAT.Change the first line from '1' to '0'. Save the file and re-run TurboFiler. In a future version of TurboFiler, you will be able to change the default colors to your satisfaction from within TurboFiler or through a utility program. For now, if you MUST, and I stress MUST change the colors, you can do so. All the colors are defined in the file TFCONFIG.DAT, starting at line 2. Through trial and error, you can change the colors to suit your needs. If you do this, you must only change the value in a line - NOT ADD OR DELETE LINES from this file. The value in a line can not be greater than 255 or less than 0. TurboFiler makes no checks on the bounds of these numbers and may abort if they are out of range. NOTE: No support is given to users who wish to change this file - do so at your own risk.