******************************* * * * User's Manual Supplement * * * * CMFiler -- Version 5.37c * * * ******************************* The following features have been added or improved since the printing of the CMFiler Version 5.36q User's Manual: Tree image facility: The tree module now has a feature that captures to the C drive (C:\~TREES~) an image file of the tree for each drive C or greater when it is first accessed. This image is then available for use as a quick alternative to rereading the whole drive the next time the tree module is entered and that drive is selected. The image file loads the tree structure in a fraction of the time it takes to read the whole drive and construct the directory and file list. The first time version 5.37c is run in tree mode, CMFiler explains three basic setup options to help the user use this new feature in the best way. In one option, you can tell CMFiler to ask permission to reread the drive and refresh the tree image on file after copying a structure into the drive tree. It is often convenient, if you have several structures to copy, to wait until the last before rereading the drive and refreshing the tree image. The tree image can also be manually updated using Shift-R (Refresh tree). The Tree image option menu can be brought up with Ctrl-O. Full color selection capability: Press Ctrl-P to select from four palettes. However, each palette can now be edited by pressing E within the palette facility. Each of five colors in the file list display can be selected by arrowing around an 8x8 color array, and pressing the spacebar when the desired color is reached. The affect of each selection is shown as the arrow is moved around the array, so no guesswork is required. This new facility is best used with both panels open, and some files tagged in one of the panels, since the file tagging color and both the source and target path line colors are independently variable. When finished editing one palette, hit Enter to return to the original level of the palette facility, and either Enter to set that palette as the default choice, or another key to rotate to the next palette. The editor and tree displays are not independently adjustable, but take their colors from the current palette. Path alias facility: A "path alias" facility now exists in the main module. This allows assigning the commands Alt-1 through Alt-9 to your nine most frequently used directories, for instant navigation from any drive and path. To assign a path to the alias list, first go to the subdirectory you want to add, then press Alt-A (for Alias). The Alias menu shows a list numbered 1 through 9, each with a user-definable title and path. Pick a free number, press it and type in the title you want as your key for the path. Hitting Enter saves the alias. To navigate to that aliased path instantly, either press Alt- and the number you assigned (if you remember), or press Alt-A, look over the list, and while still holding down the Alt-key press the number. The alias facility can also be used in place of pressing a drive letter after the New drive command, or when arrowing over to the right-hand panel when it is blank. The Shift- key, used with Alt-1 through Alt-9, puts the aliased path into the opposite panel and goes across to it, in much the same way as Shift-\, Shift-P and Shift-Enter on a directory name act to put the selected directory into the opposite path and jump across. Registration forms: Version 5.37c added to the shareware edition a choice of registration forms -- one form for direct orders to NoVaSoft, one form for credit card orders to Public (software) Library. Synchronization of DESCRIPT.ION and NARATIVE.CF files: CMFiler keeps file and directory notes that you enter (using the edit notes facility, Ctrl-N) in a file called NARATIVE.CF. This file is in a different format from 4DOS/NDOS DESCRIPT.ION files. After some debate on whether to convert CMFiler over to using the DESCRIPT.ION format, I have decided to keep the separate NARATIVE.CF file format for CMFiler's notes, but add a routine that, at the user's option, "synchronizes" the NARATIVE.CF and DESCRIPT.ION files every time the CMFiler notes facility is called for viewing or editing notes, or copying or moving of files. Any entries already contained in either file will be preserved, and unique entries from each file will be simply added to the other. This synchronizing routine must be activated by resetting a switch ("Meld NARATIVE.CF and DESCRIPT.ION files?") in the Shift-O user Options menu. Swapping file names: A new feature in the Rename routine in the main file services module permits swapping two file names. If exactly two files are tagged when the key R is struck, CMFiler asks if the user wants to swap their names. If Yes, the file names are swapped, if No, CMFiler goes to the normal rename facility. Swapping Panels: In the main and tree modules, you can quickly swap panels left-for-right and right-for-left, keeping the cursor in the same panel, left or right, with the new command Ctrl-W (for sWap). Diskette Images: In diskette copying and scanning routines (disKopy and scAn), there is a new option to save the diskette image as a file on the hard disk after reading master diskette, and to use a previously saved image as the master for making new diskettes. There is a short-cut to using a previously stored diskette images from the hard disk. Select the directory with the diskette image you want to use, and put the cursor on the name of the image file before pressing Shift-K for disKopy. Press Shift-K, and answer the first question Yes. The file name will be given as the default in the data entry window. Press enter to accept it, and continue with the disk copy session. Enhancements for Blind Users: To assist blind users of Telesensory Systems, Inc. Power Braille 40 displays, the character * is printed in the column to the left of the filename to denote a normal-tagged file (the character 1-9 or a-z was already printed to denote an Alt-tagged file), and the character denoting a directory is changed from the graphics character ASCII 249 (a small dot in the center of the character array) to a colon. CMFiler -- Supplement 1-2 PKZIP support enhancement: Previously, the number of files which could be tagged for ZIPping in one shot by CMFiler was limited by the remaining space in the command line after the commands, options and ZIP filespec -- about 8 to 16 files, depending on the length of their names. CMFiler now takes advantage of the @filelist option of PKZIP, and will create a temporary file list as ZZIPLIST.CF in the current directory, containing all the tagged files. PKZIP itself places some limits on how large this file can be, but for practical purposes this will no longer frustrate CMFiler users. .BTM support: The extension .BTM is now recognized as a batch file extension for 4DOS users. Cursor Height: The new command Ctrl-K decrements the cursor height on each keypress. The cursor height is now a savable parameter using Shift-S. Editor changes: o The editor is now colorized, in the same scheme as the main file services module and tree module. o The Find-string command Alt-F now seeds the search string data entry line with whatever word of text the cursor is on when Alt-F is pressed. The previous search string can be retrieved with the Up Arrow. o A new string-finding aid has been added; Ctrl-G (for "Goto next same word"). When the cursor is placed on a word and Ctrl-G is pressed, the editor searches the file for the next appearance of that word and repositions to it. Unlike Alt-F, this search will recycle to the beginning of the file if necessary. o The cursor left-right positioning while moving up and down the screen is now like WordPerfect. Specifically, the cursor tries to maintain its original position on the line, but stays within the limits of the line. o The Home and End key logic has been cleaned up. The first press takes the cursor to the beginning or end of the line. If the cursor was already there, the keystroke is ignored. The second press takes the cursor to the top or bottom of the current screen page. If it was already there, the keystroke is ignored. The third press goes to the beginning or end of the file. (The previous action of these keys could be surprising. For example, if the cursor was already at the beginning of the line, the first press of Home would produce the unwanted effect of immediately jumping up to the top of the screen page, which the user was not expecting until the second press.) CMFiler -- Supplement 1-3