_____________________________________________________________________ **** COMMENTED DIRECTORY **** Version 2.0 by Dennis L. Raney (C) Copyright PC Applications 1985, 1986 _____________________________________________________________________ COPY NOTICE This is a user-supported program and is protected by the federal copyright laws. It is intended for personal use only. Commercial users are requested to send a very nominal donation. It is not to be distributed with any other product or service. No charge may be made for its distribution, including any "Disk fee". Nor may it be distributed in any modified form. You are encouraged to to distribute this program, whether you use it or not. Support the freeware concept. REGISTRATION This program is provided on an "as is" basis. No further support will be provided for version two point zero (2.0). If you like the program, and would like an opportunity to acquire a more enhanced version, along with support, you will need to register as a user. To register costs nothing. As a registered user, you will receive notices of enhancements, and be allowed to receive them for a very nominal fee, normally at cost. There will be no further releases of newer versions to the public domain, only to registered users. New versions will only be released when there has been a substantial number of enhancements made to the program. So fill out the registration at the end of this document, and send it in. It will cost you only a stamp to register, and then it is up to you as to whether you wish the up graded version. INTRODUCTION, In a computer system of any size, it is often very easy to forget what the many programs, documents, and various files are. With only eight characters available for file names, it is often hard to create names that are meaningful, especially when viewed months later. CDir was created to alleviate this problem. With CDir you can create a file of comments for every program, document, spreadsheet, etc. that you may have on your disks, whether you are using floppies or a hard disk. You could create a text file of comments on your own. In fact you may have already done such. If so, you know that recalling a comment from such a file can be tedious at best. With CDir you will be able to create a comment for all of your files, up to 65 characters long, that can be easily recalled with a simple command. There are some disk library programs, but these are quite often large programs, and require a large amount of disk memory. With CDir, you only need about 3k of storage for the program, and up to 57k for each comment file. You may have one master comment file. You may have one for each directory or floppy disk. You may find other uses for CDir. For my own use, I sometimes create comments to show the proper syntax of various DOS commands, program switches, etc. The main purpose is to have the information about a file available when and where you need it the most, right where you are working. HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS, These are the minimum requirements of CDir: * IBM-PC/XT or close compatible. * MS-DOS 2.0 or higher version. * Minimum of 128k total memory (64k free). * Monochrome or Color card. USING CDIR, On floppy based systems place a copy of CDIR.COM on your DOS disk. If you are using a RAM disk you can place a copy there when you boot your system. On a hard disk system, place a copy in your DOS directory, or wherever, as long as DOS can locate it in the current path. For CDir to be usable you must have a comment file in the root directory of the default disk (CDIR.CMT). If this file is not present you must create it using the /A switch or with a text processor. If you use a text processor such as WordStar (tm), use the non-document mode. The comment file must follow a strict format. The format is as follows: CDIR.COM;Displays a commented directory to the user. CDIR.CMT ;Comment file for CDIR.COM program. The filename must be in upper case letters, followed by an optional space and a semicolon, then your comment. If the comment is longer than 65 characters it will wrap around and throw the display off. Future versions will correct this, and allow for a much larger comment. The filenames may be kept in alphabetical order, but it makes no difference to CDir. The easiest way to create and add to your comment file is using CDir with the /A switch, (Append comment). All CDir comment files are easily edited, using any good word processor. As it stands right now with version 2.0, you must use a word processor to edit comments, or delete comments from the comment file. Once again, future versions will include these features. This is a usable version, but newer versions will include these features and more as they are suggested. SYNTAX OF CDIR, The basic syntax of CDir is as follows: CDIR [d:] [pathname] [filespec] [/x] [ ] is an optional parameter. < > is a necessary parameter. [d:] is any allowable drive letter. [pathname] is any allowable path name. [filespec] is an legal filename. Wild cards may be used, ? and *. [/x] is a switch to select several options. (/A, /D, /H, /P, /S). CDIR SWITCHES, You have several option switches available with CDir, an explanation of them follows. Switch Explanation ------ ----------- /A Appends file comments to the current comment file. If the comment file does not exist CDir creates one. If a comment file exists it renames it with a .BAK extension, and creates a new comment file. CDir will display a filename & a comment if one exists. If no comment exists, then CDir will prompt you for one. If you wish to enter a comment, type it in and press return. If you wish to not enter a comment simply press the return key. When all files matching the have been displayed CDir will write the new file to the disk, and display the amount of memory left in the comment buffer. (Limit 57k bytes in size). This is enough memory to hold about 1,400 average comments. Enough to handle a large hard disk system, about 20 meg. /D Display subdirectory names also. Normally CDir displays only Archive, Archived, and Read only files. If you wish to add comments for subdirectories use the /D switch along with the /A switch. /H Display hidden files. Used to display hidden disk files. Use with the /A switch to create comments for Hidden files. /S Display system files. Use with the /A switch to create comments for system files. /P Pause display when screen is full. Use this switch when you you have a long directory listing. These switches may be used in any order or combination. The out put may also be redirected using the DOS redirection commands to send the output to another device, such as the printer, or a disk file, etc. For more information on DOS redirection, see your DOS manual. NOTE: CDir may be used in the default drive and directory without any pathname or file specifier. EXAMPLE: CDIR or CDIR /D etc. This will display all files in the current directory. To display files in another directory, other than the one you're in, you must provide a file mask also. Such as, CDIR \BASICA\*.BAS, using any allowable wild cards. You may also use a file name, such as, CDIR \ASM\CDIR.COM. This will display only the selected file. You may use this to add comments or display comments for one file. It is recommended that you thoroughly test this program, to ensure that it will suit your needs. Whether you decide to use it or not, you are encouraged to share it with others. CDir was written entirely in assembly language using MicroSoft's (tm) Macro Assembler 1.27. The source code may be purchased by contacting the author at the following address. Dennis L. Raney %PC Applications 2612 Castle Dr. Blue Springs, Mo. 64015 Phone# (816)229-8699 Mail to: PC Applications 2612 Castle Drive Blue Springs, Mo. 64015 REGISTRATION FORM REQUIRED FOR PERSONAL USE, NAME ___________________________________________________________ STREET ADDRESS __________________________________________________ CITY ____________________________ STATE _______ ZIP ___________ HOME PHONE ___________________ REQUIRED FOR BUSINESS USE ONLY, COMPANY NAME ____________________________________________________ COMPANY STREET ADDRESS __________________________________________ CITY ___________________________ STATE _________ ZIP __________ BUSINESS PHONE __________________ MODEL COMPUTER __________________________________________________ DOS VERSION __________________ TOTAL MEMORY INSTALLED __________ NUMBER OF DRIVES _____________ WHAT ADDITIONAL FEATURES WOULD YOU LIKE TO HAVE AVAILABLE IN CDIR. __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ ANY OTHER COMMENTS _______________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________