FileDescribe!

©1995, Robert J. Tiess

an Introduction

While everyone, including myself, wishes DOS and WINDOWS 3.1 permitted longer file names, the ability to do so is not here--until now.  FileDescribe! is a unique solution to a continual problem:  The 8-character limit DOS places on filenames, rendering them generally descriptionless.  A file such as "vtsgat.cpp" would be meaningless if you haven't worked with it for several months.  Chances are you wouldn't have the slightest idea what it was about, other than the fact (if you know at all) that this is probably a C++ program you wrote.  If you used FileDescribe!, you would have been able to jump right to that file, click on it, and understand IMMEDIATELY what is was: "a Video test program for color attribute manipulation in Super VGA ."  Or something like that.

The point is this:  With FileDescribe!, you could use the most esoteric group of symbols and never wonder what the file was.   FileDescribe! works with EVERY FILE TYPE, including BINARY files, .COM's, EXECUTABLES, .DLL's, .INI's, .DAT's, .DOC's --EVERYTHING!

Suppose you had a file called "UE@BPWAE.VID" and didn't know quite what it was.  Simply run FileDescribe!, and if you entered a description for the file sometime in the past (through FileDescribe!, as will become your custom), the following (for the sake of this example) would appear:

D:\MISC\UE@BPWAE.VID

Date:	08/09/96

Time: 07:08:09

Size:	12345678

Description:

This is a video clip of Uncle Ed at Aunt Emma's 102nd birthday party

in 1996.

But there are other reasons you will want to use FileDescribe!.  Suppose you are an author, such as myself, and you have a number of chapters, ASCII files, scattered poems, and half-written plays tucked away in more than one directory.  What would you do if you were looking for Act II of your play The Information Age and didn't know you saved it as "agif2.doc"?  In fact, you actually changed the title to The Age of Information, and for some reason you went back to The Information Age.  No problem.  Run FileDescribe!, go to a directory you think the file's in and CLICK to view the description for that file (which you would have entered through FileDescribe! at the time).  The following would appear:

C:\DOCS\agif2.doc

Date:	01/01/97

Time: 11:12:13

Size:	33333

Description:

Act II of The Age of Information.  Michael finds he is becoming more

like his computer.  He goes to talk with one of his user-friends and

they too seem like computers.  As the act progresses, Michael

encounters a doctor who, when asked if she believes humans are like

computers, responds assuringly that man is very much indeed like a

computer--particularly with regards to man's brain.  At that point

Michael decides to go to his girlfriend's house.  He is visibly

distraught. He exits on the words, "Molly's my only hope!"

Or something like that.  By now you should begin to realize how useful and powerful FileDescribe! can become when used with the right ideas in mind.  FileDescribe! also lets you keep track of projects, such as the play or the program in the examples above.  Envision this scenario:  you were writing a bound-to-be-bestseller novel and suddenly, for some reason, you stopped.  It's been months and you want to start writing again--maybe another book proposal finally came through and you've been busy promoting your book around the country.  Now you're back home and anxious to recommence your follow-up masterpiece.  Where were you?  What were your intentions when last you wrote?  What ideas did you have?  What was it you were trying to do?  If you used FileDescribe!, you wouldn't have to go very far--simply click on SELECT and dive into the directory of your work and see what you entered for a description....

Writers and programmers are not merely the exclusive beneficiaries of FileDescribe!.  There are also the other millions of users who have stuffed their harddrives full with files from everywhere to cyberspace.  FileDescribe! gives you control.  More than that, it gives you the information you need, when you need it, all at the click of a button.

FileDescribe!: Instructions

To be viewing this help file you must have installed FileDescribe! on your computer.  Regardless what drive you installed FileDescribe! on, you must make certain there is a directory called DESCFILE on your C: drive.  That is where all your descriptions will go.  Description files are actually "mimetic files"--files that imitate the files they describe. The imitation is apparent in the filenames, and you will see them in the directory once you've entered a few descriptions for files.  If you ran FileDescribe!, SELECTed a file, then entered a description for it, a COPY OF THAT FILE'S FILENAME would then be placed in the C:\DESCFILE directory.

You may wonder how effective FileDescribe! would be in a similar filename situation--a README in one directory, a README in another, and so on.  Well, FileDescribe! can tell the difference.  The information would all be saved to the README file in the C:\DESCFILE directory, but FileDescribe! will make a textual notation in the Description file.  You could have a HUNDRED README's--even a THOUSAND--and FileDescribe! would know and report and record the difference.  This finally puts an end to the confusion of same filenames / different dates, and the other dozens of problems arising when one file appears to be something it is not.

After you SELECT a file, FileDescribe! executes the Windows program, NOTEPAD.  NOTEPAD will then contain the existing description (if one already exists) or will be ready to receive a NEW description, should you wish to enter one.  Once you have, Exit NOTEPAD as you normally would.  You may either SAVE your changes or exit without updating your description file.  After you decide, you will be returned to FileDescribe! to either Edit/Show your Description or Create a new one for another file.  You may continue as long as necessary.

When finished, simply click EXIT.

If, for some reason, you desire to delete one or some or all of your Description files from the DESCFILE directory, you may, but do NOT delete (remove) or rename the C:\DESCFILE directory, as doing so will render FileDescribe! useless, having no place to file your Descriptions.

FileDescribe!: shareware notice ($5.00)

FileDescribe! is shareware.  If you like FileDescribe!, please register it.  Shareware is a marketing system in which you, the user, benefit in countless ways.  However, the system is only effective when people register their products.  When you register your software with a shareware programmer, you enable her or him to continue bringing you quality software at unbeatable prices.  Given the prices on some of the software available today, shareware has proved to be a feasible, often compelling alternative.  In many cases shareware software is software you will find nowhere else.  Why?  Because most massive companies do not waste valuable resources on creating small programs with a specific purpose.  To do so would be fruitless and economically unsound (the audience is too narrow; not enough user support or interest in the product).  What the shareware author can do for you is something rather unique:  produce a program you actually need and can easily use.  Hundreds if not thousands of hours are expended in the creation of one shareware title, which may or may not draw interest because people decline to register, believing they only use it "so often."  Granted, some shareware registration fees may seem unreasonable, but not, I'll bet, to the programmers, who sacrificed their only three free hours every night after coming home from their full-time jobs for six months straight just to bring you that game your children liked but don't play much anymore.  Please support the shareware authors.

The registration form for FileDescribe! is contained in the file "FDESREG.WRI"

Please complete that form and mail it with your $5.00 (Check or cash; preferably a check) to:

Robert J. Tiess

44A Rockwood Gardens

Middletown, NY 10940

 * Thank you for using FileDescribe! *