Copyright: Authoring Tool: Xantippe from IRIS Media Systems


CATCIS

Contents

Introduction

File

Edit

Search

Mark

View

Configure

Help

Procedures


Introduction

Welcome to CatCIS and thanks for your support!

CatCIS(TM) is a Windows program to be used with TAPCIS(TM) or GoCIS catalog files which contain Data Library Catalogs from CompuServe's forums.  It provides a convenient way to maintain catalog files and write download scripts for TAPCIS or GoCIS.  CatCIS includes the following features:

-- Flexible search capability

-- Clipboard support

-- Mark items for deletion,  download, or both

-- Automatically mark duplicate entries for deletion

-- Sort catalogs by date, filename, or library

-- Support for the Microsoft Software Library forum

-- Append catalogs

-- Supports both long and short descriptions

-- Convenient cross support between TapCIS and GoCIS

Please send me any comments or suggestions!


File

File|Open

File|Save

File|Save As

File|Write D/L File

File|Write Update File

File|Write Update File, Update Detail

File|MRU

File|Exit


Edit

Edit|Copy


Search

Search|Find

Search|Search Again


Mark

Mark|Download

Mark|Delete

Mark|Duplicates

Mark|Custom


View

View|Sort


Configure

Configure|Directories

Configure|Preferences


Help

Help|Keyboard

Help|Commands


File|Open

This menu selection presents a dialog box to open a catalog file.  The initial directory setting comes from the directory setting you enter via the Configure|Directories dialog box.  If you already have a catalog open, the Append option is available to append a catalog to the one currently in memory.

You may have CatCIS open this dialog automatically on startup using the Configure|Preferences menu selection.


File|Save

This menu selection saves the file being viewed to disk, deleting any catalog items marked for deletion.

A backup of the original file is saved with an extension of .~?? in the directory from which the original file was read, unless the Configuration Option Retain Backups is not selected.  The '??' are the last 2 characters of the original extension.


File|Save As

This menu selection displays a dialog box requesting file name information for the new file to which the current catalog will be saved.

If successful, the file will be saved under the new name and the display updated to reflect the new filename.

If there is already a file of the same name in the new location during a Saveas, a backup file will be created with an extension of .~??, unless the Configuration Option Retain Backups is not selected, where '??' are the last 2 characters of the existing file.


File|Write D/L File

This menu selection is only available when catalog items have been selected for download.  Selecting it causes the Download File Selections dialog to be displayed.

Shortcut is Alt-W.

DL Script

Contains a text field with the path and filename of the script file to be used.

List Boxes

Files may be moved to the Reject list box to preclude them from being included in the download script.  The script file will be written to the appropriate directory specified in Configure|Directories based on the product preference chosen in the Configure|Preferences dialog.  The created file has the same file name as the catalog file and an extension of '.dow' for all forums except MSL, in which case the extension is '.scr'.  Any files moved to the Reject list box will retain their marked status after the download script has been written.

If a download file of the same name already exists in that directory, a backup file will be created with the same file name, unless the Configure|Preferences Retain Backups option is not selected, and an extension of .~ow or .~cr as appropriate.  The newly marked download requests will be appended to the existing set of requests in the new .dow file.

Calculated Info Box

Based on information you provided in the Configure|Preferences dialog, the estimated time and cost of the download are displayed.

DL Script Type

The drop down list box of the Download File Selections dialog has selections for writing GoCIS or TapCIS scripts.

MSL Options:

If you are viewing a catalog created by capturing the library list of the MSL forum, choose one of the MSL options from the DL Script Type list box. This script file will be placed in the Section files directory for TapCIS or the Scripts directory for GoCIS.

Note:  The MSL Format options allow appending different requests to the file, but no checking is done on what is already in the script file.  Alternatively, you may select to overwrite the existing script file.


File|MRU

Initially, this area of the menu contains the inactive selection 'File List'.  After viewing catalog files, a Most Recently Used file list is built, and quick access to the last few files you viewed is enabled.


File|Exit

This menu selection closes CatCIS after checking to determine that no pending marked actions are required.


Edit|Copy

This menu selection copies the currently displayed catalog object to the Windows clipboard.

Shortcuts are Ctrl-C or Ctrl-Insert.


Search|Find

The Find menu selection will display a dialog box to get the required search information from you.  These items are:

Find What:

Enter the text you want to find in this edit box.

Search What:

Check the boxes of the items you want searched for the search text.  Any or all may be selected.

Each catalog object contains the following items that may be searched:

Compuserve Information System Identification line.  Checking this box causes a search of the first catalog object line, including the CIS ID and the library number, if available.  For short description objects, this is the only available field.

File Line.  Checking this box causes a search of the second catalog object line, including the file name, byte count, download count, and original upload date, last upload date, and last download date.

Title Line.  Checking this box causes a search of the uploader's title description.

Keywords.  Checking this box causes a search of the uploader's keywords.

Description.  Checking this box causes a search of the description of the catalog object.

Direction:

Select the appropriate radio button to search Up, which will search catalog objects prior to the one on display; or Down, which will search catalog objects after the one on display.

Match Case:

Check this check box to limit the search to matching the text you entered exactly.  Uncheck it to search for the text irrespective of case.

Highlight Hits:

Check this check box to cause visual highlighting of any matches found in a catalog object.

Save Default.

This button will write the current state of the Find dialog box to the CatCIS.INI file.  This will maintain your selections from session to session with CatCIS.  CatCIS will keep your Find dialog box selections throughout the current session when you do not use the Save Defaults button, but those selections will be lost the next time you run CatCIS, or if you run a second instance of the program.

Search.

This button closes the dialog and begins searching the catalog objects for your search text.

Cancel.

This button will cancel the search, and will cause any changes you made to the dialog to be lost.


Search|Search Again

The Search again menu selection will use the search criterion from the Find dialog box to search for the next occurrence of the target text.

The shortcut for this action is F3.


Mark|Download

The Download menu selection will mark the catalog item for download.  Once marked, a download script file can be written.

Shortcuts are the Insert key or Alt-D.


Mark|Delete

The Delete menu selection will mark the catalog item for deletion.  Catalog items marked for deletion will not be written to the file when the catalog file is rewritten to disk via File|Save or File|Save As.

Shortcuts are the Delete key, Ctl-X, or Alt-L.


View|Sort

The Sort menu selection displays a submenu allowing selection of different sorts on the library catalog.

Standard:

This is the original sort order from reading the file.

Date:

This selection reorders the display in descending order based on the last download date.  The secondary sort order is ascending filename order.

Filename:

This selection reorders the display in ascending filename order.  The secondary sort order is descending last download date.

Library:

This selection reorders the display in ascending library number order.  The secondary sort order is descending last download date.  The tertiary sort order is ascending filename.


Configure|Directories

The Directories menu selection displays a dialog box for setting the directories for TapCIS and GoCIS.

TapCIS

Catalog files are generally kept in the STORE subdirectory of your TAPCIS directory, so your entry might look like this:

c:\tapcis\store

Section files are generally kept in the TAPCIS directory, so your entry might look like this:

c:\tapcis

GoCIS

The Control directory is generally a subdirectory of your GOCIS directory, so your entry might look like this:

c:\GoCIS\control

The Scripts directory is generally a subdirectory of your GOCIS directory, so your entry might look like this:

c:\GoCIS\scripts

CatCIS will verify that the directories exist prior to closing.  If only one set of directories is entered, CatCIS will duplicate those entries for the other product.


Configure|Preferences

The Preferences menu selection displays a dialog box for setting the additional configuration items.

Default Catalog Type:

CatCIS can handle the catalog formats of TAPCIS and GoCIS.  Select the appropriate one for your catalogs.  This selection determines what initial  directories will be used, the default file extension in the File Dialogs, and the default Script Type in the Download File Selections and Write Update Script dialogs.

If you have a file created by capturing the descriptions to a file, or you have downloaded one of the catalog files maintained by the sysops, it is best to rename the file with an extension of .cat.  Either the TapCIS or the GoCIS default catalog type may be selected.

Download Information:

The Download Information section allows customization of the parameters used to determine the time and cost of downloading selected files.  Estimate Char/Sec based on download performance on your system; you can get information on rates from Compuserve by using GO RATES.

Options:

Retain Backups:

CatCIS creates backup files while executing any file write activities.  These files will be in the same directory as the original and have the same file name.  The extension of backup files substitutes the tilde (~) for the first character of the extension.  Unchecking the Retain Backups checkbox will cause all *.~?? files created by CatCIS to be deleted upon successful completion of file activities.

View Next on Mark:

Check the View Next On Mark checkbox to automatically skip to the next item after clicking on the delete action bar button.

Relax Duplicates:

Check this option to allow comparison between short and long descriptions in a given catalog when using the Mark|Duplicates menu item.  The difference is that with this option selected, the check for duplicates will ignore the CIS ID of the uploader.

Long descriptions will be retained in cases where entries with the same filename exist with both long and short descriptions.

The risk in using this option is that the uploader's ID is not used in the comparison, so two files of the same name, uploaded by different people, will cause the loss of one.

Startup File Open Dlg:

Checking this option will cause CatCIS to automatically display the File Open Dialog upon startup.


Help|Keyboard

Page Up

The Page Up key will display the previous video page of information on the displayed catalog item, or, if you are viewing the top of the displayed catalog item, it will display the previous catalog item.  This action can also be completed using the action bar button '<'.

Shift Page Up

The Shift Page Up key sequence (hold the shift key and press Page Up) will display the first item in the previous session.  TapCIS tracks each session you have in a given library, and this keyboard accelerator uses that information to provide a 'fast reverse' capability.This action can also be completed using the action bar button '<<'.

Page Down

The Page Down key will display the next video page of information on the displayed catalog item, or, if you are viewing the bottom of the displayed catalog item, it will display the next catalog item.This action can also be completed using the action bar button '>'.

Shift Page Down

The Shift Page Down key sequence (hold the shift key and press Page Down) will display the first item in the next session.  TapCIS tracks each session you have in a given library, and this keyboard accelerator uses that information to provide a 'fast forward' capability.This action can also be completed using the action bar button '>>'.

Home

The Home key will display the left side of the displayed catalog item when the horizontal scrollbar is present and you have scrolled right.

End

The End key will display the right side of the displayed catalog item when the horizontal scrollbar is present and you have scrolled left.

Ctrl-Home

The Ctrl-Home (hold the Ctrl key and press Home) will display the first catalog item in the file.  This action can also be completed using the action bar button '|<'.

Ctrl-End

The Ctrl-End (hold the Ctrl key and press End) will display the last catalog item in the file.  This action can also be completed using the action bar button '>|'.

Arrow Keys

When horizontal and/or vertical scrollbars are present, the arrow keys allow for directional scrolling.

Insert

The Insert key is a short cut that marks a displayed catalog item for download.

Ctrl-Insert

The Ctrl-Insert key is a short cut that copies the current catalog object to the clipboard.

Delete

The Delete key is a short cut that marks the displayed catalog item for deletion from the catalog file.  The Ctrl-X sequence also performs this action.


Help|Commands

File

Edit

Search

Mark

View

Configure


Procedures

Changing Colors:

To change the various colors used in CatCIS requires editing the CatCIS.INI file located in your Windows directory.

In the colors section there are several variables that you may change to valid colors.  Each of the numbers must be in the range of 0 to 255.  Using the Control Panel's application Color, you can determine the requisite Red, Green, and Blue settings.

WARNING:  CatCIS does not check the validity of your entries, so be careful.

The following defines the variables, where highlight variables refer to the text color and highlight background variables refer to the background color when highlight hits is selected while searching:

[Colors]

Workspace:  Reserved for future use

IDLine:  Color for the displayed ID line

IDHighLight:  Highlight color for the displayed ID line

IDHighlightBackground:  Background color for the displayed ID line

FileLine:  Color for the displayed File line

FileHighLight:  Highlight color for the displayed File line

FileHighlightBackground:  Background color for the displayed File line

TitleLine:  Color for the displayed Title line

TitleHighLight:  Highlight color for the displayed Title line

TitleHighlightBackground:  Background color for the displayed Title line

KeysLine:  Color for the displayed Keywords lines

KeysHighLight:  Highlight color for the displayed Keywords lines

KeysHighlightBackground:  Background color for the displayed Keywords lines

DescriptionLine:  Color for the displayed Description lines

DescriptionHighLight:  Highlight color for the displayed Description lines

DescriptionHighlightBackground:  Background color for the displayed Description lines

MarkDelete:  Color for the text in the Delete buttton when an item is marked for deletion

MarkDownload:  Color for the text in the Download button when an item is marked for download

MarkPrint:  Reserved for future use

MarkGray:  No longer used.

Deleting Catalog Items

Use the Mark menu to mark an item for deletion, or the Delete key as a short cut.  Either way, this is a toggle function allowing you to mark and unmark.

Download Catalog Items

Use the Mark menu to mark an item for download, or the Insert key as a short cut.  Either way, this is a toggle function allowing you to mark and unmark.

Once the download script has been written to disk, any items marked for download can no longer be unmarked.  The Download menu item and action bar button will be disabled.


Mark|Duplicates

This menu selection will mark duplicate catalog entries for deletion.  This menu selection is only available if there are no entries already marked for deletion.

If the Configure|Preferences Relax Duplicates option is not checked, catalog entries are first sorted by filename, CIS Id, and the last download date.  Entries are checked for duplication based on the filename and CIS Id being equal.  Long descriptions are tested against long descriptions, and shorts against shorts.

If Relax Duplicates is checked, the CIS Id is ignored, allowing duplicate long and short descriptions in the same catalog to be removed irrespective of description type.

The entry with the latest download date is retained.  If all criterion are equal, the final determining factor is the session number; the entry with the larger session number is kept.

This algorithm assumes that there are no duplicate filenames in a given session.  If there are, the last entry found in that session after the sort   is kept and all others are marked for deletion.

The jump keys '<<' and '>>' will take you to the next filename for easy checking that the correct entries are marked for deletion.


File|Write Update File

Selecting this menu item displays a dialog box to define the parameters for generating a script that will update the current catalog.

Shortcut is Alt-U.

Update Script

Contains a text field with the path and filename of the script file to be used or created.

Select Libraries to Update

Contains a checklist box for selecting which libraries will be updated.  Each line has a checkbox indicating if the library will be updated, the library name, the file pattern to use (or the word 'Custom' if the file pattern or keywords have been changed), and the number of days for the update.

The check box may be toggled with the mouse or space bar.  This is a multiple selection box, so the control and shift keys are used to select more than one library.  It is not necessary to use either when the space bar is used for selection.

Edit Button

To edit a particular line, either double click it, or choose the Edit button while that line has the focus in the checklist box.  To maintain selected libraries when using the mouse, hold down the control key.  The Update Detail dialog box will be displayed.

Description Type

This set of radio buttons indicates whether the item with the focus in the checklist box will be updated with short or long descriptions.  The radio buttons are for information only, and the selection may be changed by using the edit button.

Update Script Type

This drop down list box has selections for writing GoCIS or TapCIS scripts.

MSL Options:

If you are viewing a catalog created by capturing the library list of the MSL forum, choose one of the MSL options from the Update Script Type list box. This script file will be placed in the Section files directory for TapCIS or the Scripts directory for GoCIS.

Note:  The MSL Format options allow appending different requests to the file, but no checking is done on what is already in the script file.  Alternatively, you may select to overwrite the existing script file.

The created file has the same file name as the catalog file and an extension of '.dow' for all forums except MSL, in which case the extension is '.scr'.

If a download file of the same name already exists in that directory, a backup file will be created with the same file name, unless the Configure|Preferences Retain Backups option is not selected, and an extension of .~ow.  The newly selected criterion for updating the catalog will be appended to the existing set of requests in the .dow file.


File|Write Update File, Update Detail

This dialog box is displayed to edit the parameters of a library object for update.

Files

You may change the file search pattern by changing this entry.  The search pattern is written to the CatCIS.INI file for this catalog and library so it is retained from session to session.

Keywords

You may change the keywords of the update search by changing this entry.  Multiple keywords may be specified by separating them with commas.  The keywords entry is written to the CatCIS.INI file for this catalog and library so it is retained from session to session.

Days

You may change the number of days for the update by changing this entry.  Initially, CatCIS calculates the number of days from the current system date back to the most recent entry for this library based on the Last Download Dates in the catalog.

If there are no entries for this library in the catalog, CatCIS will default to zero days.

CatCIS will maintain the number of days you entered until you reopen the catalog.  To allow CatCIS to recalculate the number of days from the catalog without reopening the file, enter -1 in the days edit box.

Description Type

You may change whether the update will retrieve long or short descriptions from CIS.  Your selection is written to the CatCIS.INI file for this catalog and library so it is retained from session to session.


Mark|Custom

This menu selection will display a dialog box for defining the criterion for marking catalog items for deletion or download.

CatCIS will search the entire catalog and mark items appropriately.