* MaxFile/PM Version 1.25 * To install MaxFile/PM or update your existing MaxFile/PM configuration, you should unpack the distribution archive to either a floppy diskette or to a temporary directory. Move to that drive and/or directory and then run the supplied INSTALL.EXE to begin. I've tried to make the whole installation process as painless as possible. I hope you like it. ********************************************************************* * Go through EACH page of the notebook and make sure the settings are * * accurate for your system! I can NOT stress this enough. * ********************************************************************* MaxFile/PM requires MSGAPI32.DLL, this DLL does NOT get copied anywhere for you, it is your responsibility to put it in your LIBPATH if you need it. This file is now included with MaxFile/PM for the convenience of those users who are not running Squish. Have fun! Craig =============================================================================== Necessary files The only files absolutely needed for MaxFile/PM to operate correctly are: MAXFMPM.EXE MAXFMPM.INI EXECDOS.EXE MAXFMPM.INF (Not absolutely needed, but does come in handy.) MSGAPI32.DLL The rest are just examples and the documentation files. =============================================================================== What's New (or been fixed) I may not always put everything that has changed in this section of this file. I get quite wrapped up in the code and sometimes can't remember every little thing that I have worked on. But for the most part this section should be pretty accurate. 12-26-94 I lost the source code to the install program that first appeared with version 1.24. The new installer is a bit prettier and allows you to make some decisions before-hand. I hope everyone likes it. Please note: If you don't let the installer create/update the desktop references and this is your first installation of MaxFile/PM, the first time you run MaxFile/PM it will ask you for your settings. Fixed CN_ENTER message response so you get the file you double clicked on instead of a random selection. 12-24-94 Added file summaries when saving a FILES.BBS. The configuration option for them is in the Settings notebook on Main Page 2 - Create File Summaries. ***** MAJOR CHANGE ***** OS2.INI is no longer used to store the window presentation parameters! This means that a smaller subset of presentation parameters are stored for each window, but this should make those of you worried about the size of your OS2.INI happy. To clean up your OS2.INI from previous versions of MaxFile/PM please see the REXX command script INICLEAR.CMD. Please *READ* the file before running it! You need to supply it with a list of your file areas so it knows what to remove from OS2.INI. NOTE: All your previous window positions and colors will be lost. This is a ONE TIME only conversion, all future versions of MaxFile/PM will use the current method of storing window presentation parameters. ***** ***** 12-23-94 Recovered from a system crash, I was a single generation behind on the file list generator source as far as backups are concerned. So I rewrote it from scratch. Expanded the file area headers and spruced up the listing some. The file list generator is slower now, but the end result looks MUCH better. 12-09-94 When rearchiving files if a file is already in the format that archives are being converted to, it will be skipped. This stops MaxFile/PM from deleting files inadvertantly. 12-05-94 Brand new installer, it's a _real_ PM installation program with some pretty buttons and a bit of intelligence. More so than the REXX script I was using before. Extended description markers are now stripped from file announcements made from a FILES.BBS window. 12-02-94 The Shift+Fx accelerators are now on the FILES.BBS context menu. (Serge? :-) 12-01-94 Added 4 new REXX extensions; MPM_FileAreaSort(), MPM_SaveFilesBBS(), MPM_AllFilesList() and MPM_SetWindowState(). Fixed up Remove Entries so that it will remove file entries for files that don't exist when removing just entries. Modified "Scan Docs..." so that the file dialog opens along with the Get Description Text dialog. 11-26-94 Cleaned up the All Files List generator a bit so long file descriptions would line up correctly. At the same time added a New Files List generator. Currently the New Files List is limited to files received within the last 15 days. 11-25-94 Introduced a new command line switch; "/FIX", it allows you to get to the settings notebook so that you can enter your registration information after the evaluation period is over. *Killer* new feature.. :-) New menu option on the FILES.BBS Window Context Menu; Descriptions->Scan Docs... This one will extract all the documentation files it can find in an archive and allow you to browse through the first 8k of them to select and copy text for a description. (I was asked for this one a LONG time ago, never could figure out how to do it until now..) 11-24-94 Download counters should now be safe when cleansing or formatting descriptions. 11-23-94 Moved "Default Description" setting from Main Pg 2 to Main Pg 3 in the settings notebook to make room for the new FileList Margin setting. New configuration option; FileList Margin. It adds yet another twist to the way file descriptions are handled. If an Extended Description Marker is defined this setting is IGNORED. However, if no ED Marker is defined and FileList Margin is greater than zero, file descriptions are allowed to be upto 1024 characters. MaxFile/PM acts very much the same way that it does when an ED Marker is defined, with one exception. When a FILES.BBS is written, each extra line of a file description is padded with _FileList Margin_ characters to make them line up when the description is displayed on the BBS. If this setting is zero, descriptions are limited to 255 characters and no special handling is performed when the FILES.BBS is written. Mark Zembrzuski (hope I spelled that right Mark) suggested this. Added a check box to the "Format Descriptions" popup, "Cleanse". This allows you to perform an automatic cleanse (same as Descriptions->Cleanse from the FILES.BBS Window context menu) when you perform a Descriptions->Format. (Elliott? :-) 11-18-94 Found and fixed a long standing memory leak in the ReadFILESBBS() code. I found this while I was rewriting this function to handle long file descriptions. 11-14-94 MaxFile/PM is now a year old and still going strong! :-) 11-13-94 Modified the behaviour (IOW, removed a kludge) in the GetDIZ() code so it only attempts a single extraction of FILE_ID.DIZ files on any single archive. Info-ZIP users, you really should upgrade to UnZip version 5.12 if you haven't done so already and use the -C modifier to remove case-sensitivity. Added two new long-awaited menu items, on the File Area window Context menu; Find Area... and on the FILES.BBS Context menu; Files->Find... With them you can type in an area name or filename, MaxFile/PM will find it and then scroll it into view for you in their respective windows. Added another REXX command script to the distribution archive. It will clear the INI entries in the OS2.INI user file that OS/2 creates to store the presentation parameters for MaxFile/PM's windows. You can now set file announcement messages generated in a FILES.BBS window or a REXX script with the DIRECT attribute. New menu item on the FILES.BBS context menu; Files->Send. You can use this item to send a brief message with files attached. REXX command script added to process inbound TIC files. TICK.ZIP is now included in the distribution archive. To use it, unzip it into your MaxFile/PM directory. Please look at the file and read the comments at the beginning. You'll have to change some things to make it work on your system. 11-12-94 Fixed a problem in WriteFILESBBS() that was causing only linefeeds to be written instead of CR/LF pairs when writing out multiple line descriptions to a FILES.BBS file. 10-14-94 Removed debug code from ExecAndWait() function. This removes the message box that presents the "Bad RC" message. You will still be notified of errors with spawning archivers, but only if it is a serious error that requires your attention. "Remove Items", orphaned file entries (entry in FILES.BBS with no file in the download directory) can now be removed when you select to "Remove Entries and Files." Purge missing will perform the same operation. Phillip Perlman brought the above items my attention. Tweaked menu handling code. 10-05-93 The number of significant characters for a duplicate file search can be configured now. Look for it in the Settings Notebook on Main - Page 2. 10-01-94 Modified the behaviour of "Remove Items", when you choose to remove only entries, the old behaviour was to remove the entry for a file from the FILES.BBS window. This has been changed to show the file, which is still present, as an orphaned file (this is the way it should have been in the first place.) Comments are still handled in the old fashion. Added another option to the FILES.BBS window Context Menu, "Select All Files". It selects all files in a FILES.BBS window that are not orphans. 09-28-94 Added "Files->Purge Dupes" to the FILES.BBS window Context Menu. This item scans through a FILES.BBS window and purges duplicate entries based on filenames. Useful when a TICK processor adds an entry for a file that already exists (during a replace, etc..) 09-27-94 Added another option to the File Area window Context Menu, "Create FREQ List..." This option allows you to create a list of directories for mailers that use an OKFILE.* for file requests. Added "Files->Remove Missing" to the FILES.BBS window Context Menu. It searches through a FILES.BBS window and removes orphaned file entries. The download counter string is now configurable, it is on Main - Page 3 with the rest of the adopt options. 09-26-94 Added a few more options to the File Area window Context Menu; "Edit REXX Macro..." this option allows you to create/edit REXX scripts by calling on your favorite editor from inside MaxFile/PM. And "Details View", this option will allow you to either have a full details view or just the area tag of the file areas displayed in the Main File Area window. A checkmark is used show which view is in effect (you should be able to figure it out by looking at the container...) When checked; details view is in effect, otherwise the view is text. 09-25-94 *Finally* cleaned up dupe check results. Duplicate files are now only listed once like they should be, in alphabetical order. Rearranged the Settings notebook, the Adopt page has been renamed to Main - Pg 3 (more for consistency than anything else.) At the same time, added two new configuration items. For "Remove Items" you can now set a default action, options selectable are; "Prompt", "Entries" and "Entries and Files." For "Descriptions->Copy" you can now configure whether or not you want the (xx of xx) counter appended to the end of the copied description. "Copying" files and/or comments can now be accomplished via Drag and Drop. Hold the CTRL key down while you are dragging file or comment objects, when dropped on either the Main File Area window or on a FILES.BBS window, the objects will get copied to the destination and the original objects will be left intact. Most of the above was suggested by Michael Roedeske. Also found a small bug related to FILE_ID.DIZ extraction, some archives come with the read only attribute set on the files in the archive. This bit is now removed from any _extracted_ FILE_ID.DIZ's so that they can be deleted when no longer needed.