MaxFile/PM - Version 1.07 A FILES.BBS Manager for Presentation Manager Portions of the header files used in compilation are: Copyright (C) 1992, Scott Dudley Copyright (C) 1993, Aki Antman Copyright (C) 1994, Marco Maccaferri From the Development Team of: Craig Morrison - MaxFile/PM Development 1:201/60@fidonet.org Ronald Van Iwaarden - MaxFile/2 Development 1:104/338@fidonet.org Special Thanks go out to: Scott Dudley For making Maximus the great BBS that it is! Marco Maccaferri For providing the Lora structures and Lora itself Rick Fishman His container code was a great source of inspiration Steven Crandall Who thinks I should be barefoot and coding all the time Rick Ford Keeping me up to date with the Lora-BBS information Eric Chew For providing the SuperBBS information and testing Steve Lamb "Generic" code tester J Gitzen Maximus code tester David Campbell Lora-BBS code tester Raymond Deroo Maximus code tester David Roberts Maximus code tester Jerry McBride Maximus code tester If I missed anyone, well...you know who you are! Thanks! *** OS/2 Beta Service Pack Warning NOTICE TO OS/2 BETA SERVICE PACK USERS PLEASE NOTE that the Beta Service Pack for OS/2 2.1 GA breaks MaxFile/PM. At the present moment there is nothing I can do about this. When the Service Pack goes GA I can assure you that I will get right onto the matter of fixing MaxFile/PM so that it will work correctly. *** What's New - Added accelerators (hot-keys) for easier function access. - Added ability to skip over headers in FILES.BBS. - Added extended description support. - Enabled Virus Scanner option. - Added ability to extract an archive to a specified directory. - Added support for fully qualified filenames in FILES.BBS files. - Added a generic file format to support _any_ BBS package that uses the FILES.BBS format for download directories. Steve Lamb gets credit for this one. - Ripped out the old text configuration file code, it was causing way too much confusion with users who weren't running Maximus. - Dropped the _tmalloc() code and went back to the API memory allocation functions. - Added a new option to the Adopt Options dialog, DL Counters. - Changed memory allocation code to use the library _tmalloc() function for compatibility with the PM's 16-bit code. Hopefully this will squash the random SYS3175 access violations that some have been experiencing. - Added first run of the SuperBBS code. I don't know much about SBBS folks, so you are pretty much on your own. For what I do know, please keep reading this document. - Fixed a bug where if more than 4 files were tagged for dragging an error would occur when dropping the files on a window. - Previous code wasn't setting the changes flag when a FILE_ID.DIZ was imported from an archive. It is now. (Thanks Jim!) - Fixed a bug where if only a filename was present in the FILES.BBS it would move the filename of the next file into its description. - Added external program macros to the FILES.BBS windows. - Added Lora compatibility. - Fixed bug that made it so only D:\MAX\AREA.DAT could be read as a valid area file. *** Forward MaxFile/PM is a FILES.BBS manager that runs under Presentation Manager. While it was written with the Maximus-CBCS in mind, any BBS software package that uses the standard FILES.BBS format is supported. A quick list of the features are: 1. Drag and Drop between file areas 2. Adopting orphan files 3. FILE_ID.DIZ import 4. Rearchiving files 5. Sorting by: Name Date Size Description 6. In-place editing of file descriptions 7. Renaming files As the program grows, support for more convenient features will be added to make MaxFile/PM the perfect tool for managing your downloadable files from your desktop. *** Registration I'm going to keep this short, sweet and to the point. What you are seeing in MaxFile/PM is the result of drinking a lot of coffee and smoking way too many packs of cigarettes over the past month or so. Please take the time to print out the REGISTER.FRM file that is in the distribution archive and consider registration. MaxFile/PM is in a class by itself for managing FILES.BBS files on your desktop and $25 is a small fee for something that will make the chore of keeping your file areas neat and tidy a lot easier. To show my good faith in those of you who will use the program, the unregistered version is NOT crippled in any way, shape or form. A registration key simply stops the Product Information dialog from appearing when the program first starts and removes the "Please Consider Registration" message from that dialog. 'Nuff said... One last comment here... Please share MaxFile/PM with other sysops in your area who are running OS/2. Your support for the program is needed if you want it to grow and get better than it already is! *** Support If you need to contact me about the program I can be reached in a number of places. NetMail will get you the fastest response, but I read the OS2PRODSUP, OS2BBS and MUFFIN conferences everyday and intend on answering any questions posted there. There is also a local conference on my BBS called MFILEPMSUP that you are more than welcome to poll for. I *will* support MaxFile/PM, all you need to do is ask. I will respond to you in the same manner you contact me, with certain exceptions.. If you are in Zone 1 and you crash netmail to me, I will return netmail to you in the same fashion. Routed netmail will get a routed response. To those of you in other Zones, I am sorry but the cost of international calls is very prohibitive. If one of you would like to volunteer to hub the support echo in your Zone, I would really appreciate it and it will get you a registered copy of MaxFile/PM. If your BBS package is not supported by MaxFile/PM and you would like me to add it, I need a few things from you or the author of your BBS software. First I need the structure definitions or layouts for the file that holds your file area information. Second, I need a copy of the file that holds the file area information so that I can test the code before I ship it out to anyone. *** Before You Start The default installation of OS/2 defines Mouse Button 1 as the left button and Mouse Button 2 as the right button. Please keep this in mind as you read through this document if you have redefined your mouse buttons. A word to the wise here.. BACKUP *BEFORE* USING MAXFILE/PM ! Here comes the standard disclaimer...I don't promise that MaxFile/PM will do anything for you except take up space on your hard drive. While I am fairly certain I have got all the nasties out of it, there is a chance that I may have missed something. So please be safe and backup prior to using the program. Suffice it to say, you have been warned.. :-> *** Configuring MaxFile/PM To configure MaxFile/PM for use, simply start MaxFile/PM by typing MAXFMPM and pressing ENTER at an OS/2 Command Prompt. The MaxFile/PM Settings dialog box will be presented for you, so that you can enter the vital information about your system and BBS setup. There are four dialog boxes in total that you will need to enter information into so that MaxFile/PM will be able to do everything it does. The Main Settings, Adopt Options, External Programs and Macro Setting dialogs. *** The Main Settings Dialog The Main Settings dialog box is the first dialog that gets presented. Here you will need to enter the basics about your BBS setup. These items are; Registration Key, BBS Package, BBS Directory, the path and filename of the file that contains your file area information, Temp Directory, File Database Utility path and filename, when to run your File Database Utility, whether or not to display the date and size of your files, and whether you want to be prompted to save the FILES.BBS window information when you close a window or to save it automatically. Main Settings Controls: o Registration Key o BBS Package o BBS Directory o Temporary Directory o File Area Data o File Database Utility o Run FD Utility o Display o AutoSave o Header Size o ED Marker The Adopt Options and External Programs buttons get you to the Adopt Options and External Programs dialog boxes. *** Registration Key If you don't have a registration key, set this field to 0, otherwise type your key number into the Registration Key Field. *** BBS Package The BBS Package field has four options, Maximus, Lora, SBBS and Generic. Select which ever is appropriate for your system. The default is Maximus. For 'Generic' please see the section entitled Generic File Area Definitions later in this document. *** BBS Directory The BBS Directory field should be filled in with the root path that your BBS files reside in. For example mine is D:\MAX. An entry in this field is required. *** Temporary Directory The Temporary Directory field is where you want MaxFile/PM to place its work files and any files it needs to create when rearchiving, testing or viewing archives. NOTE: THIS DIRECTORY SHOULD NOT BE ONE THAT IS USED FOR ANYTHING ELSE! MaxFile/PM will delete _EVERYTHING_ in this directory, including any sub-directories during the normal course of its operations. This is a required entry and you will need to create this directory for MaxFile/PM. *** File Area Data The File Area Data field should be filled in with the full path and filename to the file that contains the information relating to your file areas. For Maximus this would be AREA.DAT by default. On my system I have this set to D:\MAX\AREA.DAT. For Lora-BBS users, this is the path and filename to SYSFILE.DAT. For SBBS users, this is the path and filename to your FLSEARCH.BBS file. This field is also a required entry. *** File Database Utility The next field is for the filename of your File Database Utility. For Maximus this will be either FB.EXE or FBP.EXE. On my system I have this set to FBP, since the utility is in my path. For Lora-BBS users, this will be FILEIDX.EXE. Please see the "Known Problems" section at the end of this document for more information about FILEIDX.EXE. For SBBS users, I don't have a clue. If someone would fill me in on this one I'd really appreciate it! This entry is only required if you want MaxFile/PM to run the utility for you. *** Run FD Utility The options for Run FD Utility determine when and if the File Database utility will get run. There are three; Always, Prompt and Never. Always will run your file database utility everytime you exit MaxFile/PM. If no changes have been made, it will prompt you before running it. Prompt will ask you if you wish to run it. Do I need to explain Never? :-} *** Display The Display options control whether or not the file size and date information gets displayed for your files in the FILES.BBS windows. Simply check or uncheck the check boxes to set your preferences. *** AutoSave AutoSave controls whether you are prompted to save FILES.BBS information or if it should be written automatically each time you close a window that has FILES.BBS information in it. When the checkbox for this item has a check in it, MaxFile/PM will automatically save, if not, you will be prompted to save the information. *** Header Size Header Size controls how many lines at the beginning of the FILES.BBS are skipped when the FILES.BBS is read to populate the FILES.BBS window. It also tells MaxFile/PM how many lines to copy from the old FILES.BBS to the new FILES.BBS when it saves changes. This will solve quite a few of the problems with DownSort headers while still preserving the headers in your FILES.BBS files. *** ED Marker For those BBS packages that support extended descriptions this option will come in handy. Here you tell MaxFile/PM what character is associated with extended descriptions for your BBS Package. This character can not be a space or a dash. Defining this character causes a few changes in the way MaxFile/PM handles your file descriptions. When this option is used, file descriptions are allowed to be up to 1024 characters in length and nothing is stripped from FILE_ID.DIZ descriptions read in from archives. MaxFile/PM does not insert this character in multiple line descriptions for you, you need to do this. If this character is not defined, file descriptions are limited to 255 characters, also, any CR/LF pairs and high-bit ASCII characters are stripped from FILE_ID.DIZ descriptions. *** The Adopt Options Dialog Box The Adopt Options dialog box is where you enter the information that tells MaxFile/PM what files are okay to adopt. You do this by entering the extensions of the files that you want to be added to your FILES.BBS when you do an Adopt Files. You also may enter a Default Description here that gets used for adopted files that either aren't archives or are archives that don't have a FILE_ID.DIZ file in them. Adopt Options Controls: o Add/Remove Extensions To Adopt o AutoAdopt o Download Counters o Default Description *** Add/Remove Extensions To Adopt You may enter upto 15 extensions for MaxFile/PM to recognize. Entering them in is accomplished by typing them into the edit field just above the Add button and then clicking on the Add button. You may also remove extensions by hilighting them in the listbox and clicking on the Remove button. NOTE: what you are entering here is JUST the file extension, I.E. ZIP, not a file specification mask. *** AutoAdopt The little checkbox to the right of the adopt list listbox labeled AutoAdopt tells MaxFile/PM whether or not to automatically adopt files each time a file area is opened. Check it if you want this behaviour. I will have to admit that at this time adopting is a rather slow process, so you might not want to have AutoAdopt set to on. *** Download Counters Next comes the DL Counters checkbox, if you have this option checked, when ever an Adopt is performed a download counter will be added to the beginning of the file description. Currently this is hard coded as '[ ]'. *** Default Description The last item in this dialog box is the Default Description. You may enter upto 80 characters for a default description. This text will get used any time you Insert, Adopt or drop files from an outside source into a window in MaxFile/PM and those files meet the following criteria: 1, they are not an archive or 2, they are an archive and the archive does not contain a FILE_ID.DIZ description inside of it. *** The External Programs Dialog Box The External Programs dialog box is where you enter all the information about your archivers and viewers. There are four entries for each archiver type that MaxFile/PM supports (ZIP, ARJ, LZH and ARC.) Which are; Extract, Add, List and Test. You'll need to look up the proper switches in the documentation for each of the archivers you have. If you deal with archivers that can handle directories inside of them, make sure that you specify those switches here. See also: MaxFile/PM and External Programs The final control in this dialog is a button labeled Macros, it will bring up the Macro Settings Dialog. *** The Macro Settings Dialog Box Here you can enter the definitions for 5 macros that will get called when you press one of the keys, Shift-F6 - Shift-F10. They aren't macros persay, but they behave in a very similar manner. See also: MaxFile/PM and External Programs *** MaxFile/PM and External Programs If you have REXX installed you can use REXX command files for any of the external program options. You may also call OS/2 command files. Just remember to save the directory that your command file gets called from and restore it just before your command file gets done. During certain operations MaxFile/PM expects to find a result file in the directory it calls these programs from. The Test and View functions are those times. MaxFile/PM expects to find the file ARC.TXT in the temporary directory these programs are called from, if it doesn't find that file it will not display anything about the files that are being tested or viewed. I had originally stated the MaxFile/PM could directly run DOS applications, well it can but in certain circumstances it takes a little work. For the Archiver Test and Viewer functions, if you use a DOS based archiver you will need to write a small batch file that runs the archiver and directs the output from the archiver to a file called ARC.TXT. As stated above this is the file that MaxFile/PM displays to you for those functions. Please note that what directory the programs start out in WILL vary over the course of a MaxFile/PM session, so don't hard code any references into your command files. *** Generic File Area Definitions To provide support for any BBS system that uses the standard FILES.BBS format for their file listings I have come up with a very simple text file format that will allow you to tell MaxFile/PM how your file areas are defined. The file is made up of a verb that tells MaxFile/PM how many areas it can expect to find in the text file. Each successive line after that verb defines the file areas themselves. A sample file is shown below: ----------------------------- AREAS.CFG sample -------------------------------- AreaCount 5 0 d:\max\file\uncheck d:\max\file\uncheck\files.bbs Unchecked Uploads 1 d:\max\file\max d:\max\file\max\files.bbs BBS Stuff 2 d:\max\file\dos\games d:\max\file\dos\games\files.bbs Dos Games 3 d:\max\file\os2\util d:\max\file\os2\util\files.bbs OS/2 Utilities 4 d:\max\file\os2\apps d:\max\file\os2\apps\files.bbs OS/2 Applications ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The 'AreaCount' keyword tells MaxFile/PM how many area definitions it can expect to find in the file. The AreaCount keyword must come BEFORE the area definition lines. The format for each area definition line is: 컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴 Is a short name to identify the file area. Is the path to the files. Is the full drive:\path and filename of the FILES.BBS for the area. Is a short description of the area. 컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴 You can name this file what ever you wish, just make sure you specify the name of this file for the File Area Data option in the Main Settings Dialog and make sure the BBS Package is set to 'Generic'. *** Using MaxFile/PM When MaxFile/PM first comes up a window will be displayed that contains all of your file areas. I will be referring to this window by the term 'File Area Window' throughout the rest of this document. When you open up a file area, a window that is very similar in appearance to the File Area window will appear. This window will contain all the files listed in the FILES.BBS for that area. These windows will be referred to as 'FILES.BBS Windows' from here on out. *** File Area Window The File Area window serves two basic purposes. First, it allows you to open FILES.BBS Windows and second, it also serves as a dropping point for files so that you can quickly move files to another file area without having to open the file area. The File Area Window Context Menu: 컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴 Open Opens the highlighted file area. View Change the way items are displayed. Area Sort Change sort order of file area display. Settings... Configure MaxFile/PM for use. Product Information... Displays some information about MaxFile/PM. 컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴 To bring up the context menu for the File Area window, press mouse button 2 anywhere inside the confines of the window. *** File Area Menu/Open This menu item allows you to open the highlighted file area. The other ways of opening a file area are: Highlighting the area you want to open and pressing enter or double-clicking mouse button 1 on a file area. If the file area is already open it will be brought into view, even if it is minimized to the Minimized Window Viewer folder. *** File Area Menu/View Here you can change the way that the window displays your file areas. There are three different options: 컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴 Detail Sets the display to the "detail" view. Icon Sets the display to the "Icon" view. Text Sets the display to the "Text" view. 컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴 *** File Area Menu/Area Sort The default order for your file areas is the order they are defined in. Here you may change the order in which they are displayed. You can sort your file areas in the following ways: 컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴 Tag Sorts file area display by Area Tags. Description Sorts file area display by Area Description. Files Dir Sorts file area display by Area Download Path. 컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴 *** File Area Menu/Settings This option brings up the Main Settings configuration dialog. See Also: Main Settings Dialog *** File Area Menu/Product Information This menu item displays the Product Information dialog box for MaxFile/PM. *** FILES.BBS Window FILES.BBS windows are the heart and soul of MaxFile/PM, these windows are where you will be spending most of your time. A FILES.BBS window is very similar to the File Area window in appearance. What you will see when you open one of these windows is the contents of the FILES.BBS that is associated with the file area this window belongs to. The FILES.BBS Window Context Menu: 컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴 Sort Sort Options View Displays file(s) based on their type. Test Archive Run archive tests on selected arhcives. Virus Scanner Run virus scannner utility on selected files. ReArchive ReArchive Options Extract to Directory Extract files to a specified directory. Adopt Files Adopt orphan files. Touch Files Updates Time and Date stamp of selected files. Edit Description Edit description of FIRST selected item. Get FILE_ID.DIZ Extract FILE_ID.DIZ from selected Archives. Insert Insert Files or Comments Remove Items Removes highlighted items (doesn't delete files.) Select All Selects all items in FILES.BBS window. Deselect All Deselects all items. Area Statistics Display number of files, space used, etc... 컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴 *** Sort With this option you can sort the entries in this FILES.BBS window in one of four ways; Name, Date, Size or Description. Pay attention here, this is the part that confuses some people. If there are any items selected ONLY those items get sorted. To sort the entire window, make sure NONE of the items in that window are selected. We'll talk about this a bit later. *** View The View option works in conjunction with the external program options. For archives it will fire up the proper archiver to create a list of files contained in the archive and display a dialog containing that list. For pictures and text files the appropriate viewer will be started. View is also the action that is associated with double-clicking mouse button 1 on an entry in the window. *** Test Archive This option only works with archives. It simply invokes the appropriate archiver for each selected item in the window. The output from the archiver will be displayed in a dialog box after the testing is completed is completed for each archive. *** Virus Scanner This option runs the virus scanner you have set up on each file selected in the current FILES.BBS window. The window that the virus scanner is run in is not closed when the scan is complete so that you may view the results. *** ReArchive This option allows you to convert archives to your preferred archive format. Should one of your archivers not have an Add option defined for it, its menu option will be grayed out. *** Extract to Directory Here you can extract a selected archive to a directory that you specify. Note that the directory you specify must exist. Once you select this option a dialog box will appear asking you to specify the directory you want to extract the files to, it also displays the current directory. Type in the directory name and select Ok, or select Cancel to abort the operation. *** Adopt Files Adopt Files allows you to add any orphan files in a particular file area to the FILES.BBS for that area. Adopting is performed in a seperate thread so that you may continue to work in the window for the file area while the adopt is going on. The window will be locked open while the Adopt is being performed. *** Touch Files "Touching" is the process of updating the Time and Date stamps of files to the current time and date. This option allows you to do that for the selected files in the current window. *** Edit Description Many of you asked for this one. Edit Description allows you to edit the description of a selected item by first selecting it, then choosing this option from the context menu. It works the same way as ALT+clicking mouse button 1 on an item's description. *** Get FILE_ID.DIZ This option goes through the selected items in the window and attempts to extract the FILE_ID.DIZ from them. Comments and files that aren't archives are skipped over by this function. If a FILE_ID.DIZ is present in the archives selected, the first 255 characters will be read from it and placed in the description field. CR/LF pairs and high-bit ASCII characters are stripped from the text read in from the FILE_ID.DIZ. *** Insert To Insert a comment into the current FILES.BBS window, first select the item in the window that you want the comment to go in FRONT of. Then bring up the context menu and select Insert->Comment. A blank comment will then be inserted in the FILES.BBS window. To allow you to adopt a single file from either the current directory or another drive/directory, you can use Insert/File. It works much the same way as Insert/Comment, first select the item in the window that you want the file to go in front of, then select Insert->File from the context menu. A file dialog will be displayed so that you can find the file you want to insert. Once you have found the file, select the Insert button in the dialog box. The file will then be inserted into the current window. Selecting the Cancel button inside the file dialog box aborts the insert operation. *** Remove Items This item removes or deletes items from the FILES.BBS window. When you select it from the context menu, a dialog box will appear allowing you two options. 'Entries' just removes the entry from the FILES.BBS window, 'Entries and Files' causes the entries to be removed and the associated with the entries to be deleted. Click Ok to remove the items, or Cancel to abort the operation. *** Select/Deselect All These two options do exactly what they say. Select All, selects every item in the window and Deselect All, deselects all items in the window. *** Area Statistics This option displays an information message box containing how many files are in the current area, how much space they take up and how much free space remains on the volume. *** Selecting Items Perhaps the most confusing part of working in a FILES.BBS window is selecting or deselecting items. I wrote the program and I still have to think about it. Basically it works like this; Clicking mouse button 1 on an item selects it and clears the selection from any other items in the window. To select multiple items in the window, press mouse button 1 on the first item you want selected and hold it down while you drag the mouse cursor. This allows you to select a contiguous range of items. If you want to select multiple items and they aren't adjacent to each other, hold down the CTRL key while you click mouse button 1 on each item. If the item is not selected it will become selected, if the item is already selected the selection is cleared for that item. If you need to select or deselect all the items in a window, your best bet is to use the Select All/Deselect All options from the context menu. *** Drag and Drop A drag operation is started by pressing mouse button 2 down and dragging the mouse cursor. The operation is considered complete when you release mouse button 2. Should you wish to abort the drag, press the ESC key on your keyboard. You can drag files from anywhere on your system and drop them either on a FILES.BBS window or onto the File Area window. When dropping on an open FILES.BBS window, the files are inserted into the FILES.BBS at the point at which they were dropped. When dropping on the File Area window, the files are inserted at the end of the FILES.BBS for the area they are dropped on. You can also rearrange the items in a window by selecting them, then dragging them and dropping them where you want them to be. Many of you have asked about this one...To delete one or more items from a FILES.BBS window; highlight the items you want deleted, then drag them to the shredder object and delete them. *** Renaming Files To rename a file, press and hold the ALT key and click mouse button 1 on the file that you want to rename. Then enter the new filename and click button 1 anywhere outside the edit box or press the ESC key to end the edit. *** Editing File Descriptions Editing descriptions works in the much the same manner as renaming files, ALT+click mouse button 1 on the description you want to edit. To save the description, click outside the edit box or press the ESC key. *** Program Macros FILES.BBS windows are the only place that the Shift-F(x) macros will operate. When pressing one of these key combinations MaxFile/PM will search through the container in the window and pass the fully qualified filename of the FIRST (and ONLY the first) selected item in the container to your macro. If a comment is selected, or no items are selected, your macro will get called with no arguments passed to it. Don't make any assumptions about what directory the macro will start out in, that will be determined by the default OS/2 shell. *** FILE_ID.DIZ Notes MaxFile/PM will attempt to extract FILE_ID.DIZ from archives and use the description inside the file any time you adopt orphans, drop files from an external source on the File Area or FILES.BBS windows or 'Insert' files. *** Known Problems In a system as configurable as OS/2 there are always going to be problems, this section is devoted to those problems and in some cases work-arounds. If you are having trouble with MaxFile/PM this is the first place to look to see if you can find some help. Problem List: o CONFIGURATION o SYS3175 - Access Violations o DOWNSORT o FEELX o FILEIDX.EXE o RENAMING FILES o SPLAT DIRECTORIES *** CONFIGURATION I changed the BBS package I use, why do I have to restart MaxFile/PM? Sometime in the near future this is likely to change, but for now anytime you change the 'BBS Package' and 'File Area Data' options in the Main Settings Dialog you will have to shut MaxFile/PM down and restart it for the changes to take effect. It has to do with the way the configuration is read in, which I am not going to go into here. *** SYS3175 - Access Violations On ocassion when dragging file(s) outside of MaxFile/PM's windows an access violation will occur and shut MaxFile/PM down. I have not been able to reliably duplicate this (its only happened to me once), thus I haven't been able to track down its cause. *** DOWNSORT Single Carriage Returns in Comment Lines DownSort headers have been a major source of anguish.. ;-} Some versions of DownSort will insert ASCII 0x0D carriage returns in comment lines in order to cover up the dash that tells Maximus to use white text instead of the default cyan. In an effort to keep the PM Container control and DownSort users both happy I had to resort to a kludge. When the FILES.BBS is read in, MaxFile/PM will replace any single occurances of CR's with a sentinel (ASCII 0x01). This tells MaxFile/PM when it writes the FILES.BBS back out to insert a single CR at that position. This sentinel character shows up as a little smiley '' in the comment text on the right side of the container control. If you delete this little guy, the CR will NOT get replaced. So make sure you actually do want to get rid of it. Another alternative is to use the Header Size configuration option to force MaxFile/PM to skip the headers in your FILES.BBS files. *** FEELX Video corruption when fast scrolling in the Archive Statistics Dialog. It has been brought to my attention that some video corruption has occured when FEELX is being used. MaxFile/PM is not causing the problems here. I am using standard controls with none of their behaviour modified. I'm sorry if this causes some inconvenience to FEELX users, but I can't fix something in my program that isn't broken. *** FILEIDX.EXE Lora-BBS File index maintenance utility Make sure that you specify the files IDX file that you want rebuilt in the Main Settings dialog box. For example: 旼컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴커 File Database Utility � E:\LORA\FILEIDX E:\LORA\FILES.IDX � 읕컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴켸 MaxFile/PM will take care of the rest. (The "AREA .. .. .." part.) *** RENAMING FILES I haven't fully tested all the different ramifications of renaming files now that full path specs are supported, please be careful when renaming files in a FILES.BBS window. And report anything out of the ordinary. *** SPLAT DIRECTORIES Left over directories in the Temp Directory If MaxFile/PM suffers from an Abnormal Termination, it is quite possible that the proper cleanup of the Temporary Directory did not get performed. It is safe to remove the files from these temporary directories and remove the extra directories. Please do this when MaxFile/PM is NOT running.