FastDir - Version 2.0
              by Looking Glass Technologies

Welcome to FastDir!

FastDir is a DOS program that makes the task of switching to 
various drives and directories on your system and issuing 
commands about as quick and simple as you could want it.  
Using FastDir, you can configure up to 63 different 
directories, each with up to 3 different commands, and then 
hop between them and issue the commands with just a few 
keystrokes.

FastDir was originally developed for our in-house use in the 
dim and distant past of the late 1980's.  After some recent 
conversations with users of some of our Windows programs, we 
decided to release FastDir as a shareware package.

Because FastDir is shareware, that means it is not free 
software.  If you continue to use FastDir on a regular basis, 
you should license your copy.  See the file ORDER.TXT for 
complete pricing information, registration benefits, and 
volume and site licensing information.

Using FastDir

Until you configure FastDir for your system, it won't do much, 
but you can still safely run it.  When you do, you'll see a 
full-screen display with three columns of directories, all of 
which will be "c:\".  The highlighted directory (the top one 
in the left column) is the current one.  You move the current 
selection around with the cursor, Home, and End keys. As you 
do, a list of commands that is specific to the highlighted 
directory is updated at the bottom of the screen. (All the 
directory commands in the evaluation copy are either "dir" or 
"chkdsk.")

When you have highlighted the directory of your choice, you 
press a key that tells FastDir what to do:

Enter = Switch to the highlighted directory, run the list 
of commands for that directory, and then continue running 
FastDir

Ctrl-Enter = Same as Enter, but ends FastDir after 
running the commands

Space = Switch to the highlighted directory and end 
FastDir without executing the commands

ESC = Quit without doing anything else.

F1 displays a help panel that tells you what the above 
keys do.

Using FastDir you can fly around your system and issue 
commands faster than you ever thought possible.

Configuring FastDir

As mentioned above, you have to configure FastDir before you 
can put it to work on your system.  If you start with the 
sample configuration file provided with this package, you 
should have your copy of FastDir customized and ready to go in 
no time.

The configuration process is very simple:

1. You make changes to the configuration file using any text 
editor that saves files as plain ASCII.

2. You run FDCONFIG.EXE, which reads the configuration file 
you created or modified in step 1, and it then modifies your 
copy of FD.EXE.  FD.EXE must be in the current directory.  By 
default, FDCONFIG will use the configuration file FD.CNF; if 
you want to use another configuration file, you should provide 
it on the command line when you run FDCONFIG, e.g.:

   FDCONFIG FRED.CNF

3. Once you have FastDir configured to your liking, you can 
store FDCONFIG.EXE and FD.CNF anywhere you like.  FD.EXE does 
not need either file when it runs.

Before you start experimenting with your own settings, it's 
probably a good idea to copy the provided configuration file, 
FD.CNF, to FD.OLD, just in case you want to revert to the 
original version.

Inside FD.CNF, you'll see a lot of commands that define the 
directories, commands, and screen colors FD.EXE should use.

There is no "comment delimiter" needed in the configuration 
file.  Any line that doesn't begin with one of the FDCONFIG 
commands ("dir", "cmd", or one of the color names), is 
ignored.  To avoid having FDCONFIG accidentally treat a 
comment as a command, you might want to pick a character, an 
asterisk, for example, and begin all comments with that 
character.  This is the convention we used in the provided 
FD.CNF file, but you don't have to follow it.

Directory Entries

There must be exactly 63 directory entries, since there are 63 
directories on the FD screen.  Each entry begins with the 
"dir" command and the name of a directory.  Following a dir 
command is anywhere from zero to three cmd commands, each on a 
separate line in FD.CNF.  These are the commands that are 
associated with that directory entry.  

You can have more than one entry with the same directory.  
This is often very handy-- perhaps you have several different 
sets of commands that apply to the files in the same 
directory.  You can configure FastDir with multiple entries 
for this directory, with the proper commands for each one.  
Maybe one set performs a selective backup of files, another 
launches a word processor with a file from the directory, etc.

The commands associated with each directory entry do not have 
to be DOS commands-- they can be the names of programs or BAT 
files, basically anything you could type in at the DOS command 
while the directory in question was the current one.  

One useful DOS command you can assign to a directory is the 
PAUSE command.  Perhaps you assign one or two commands to a 
directory, but you'd like to see the output of these commands 
on your screen before FastDir redraws itself.  You can set the 
third command for that directory to "pause" (without the 
quotes), and DOS will dutifully execute the command and wait 
for you to hit Enter after the first two commands are done.

There are some limits on how you can configure your copy of 
FD.  They are:

   Max. dir. length = 127 characters
   Max. cmds/dir. = 3
   Max. command length = 50 characters

Notice that the total length of three commands is larger than 
the amount of space on your screen to display them.  FD pushes 
the commands together into one long string, for display 
purposes (separating the commands with commas), and shows you 
as much of the string as will fit on your screen.  When you 
tell FastDir to execute the commands, the entire text you 
configured for each command will be used, and each command 
will be issued individually, just as you would expect.

Similarly, even though a directory can be up to 127 characters 
long, only the first 24 are displayed on the FastDir screen, 
but the entire directory is used.

For example, if you configured a FastDir directory entry with 
the following commands:

   dir c:\letters
   cmd dir *.doc > letters.txt
   cmd dir *.let >> letters.txt

Then when you highlighted that entry and hit Enter, FastDir 
would switch to the c:\letters directory and execute each of 
the specified commands, which create a text file (letters.txt) 
that contained a directory listing of all your *.doc and *.let 
files in that directory.  FastDir would then continue running.

This example also points out something worth remembering-- the 
commands are always executed when the directory you specify 
for the entry is the current one.  In other words, the dir 
commands in this example will create and append to the file 
letters.txt in the directory c:\letters.

In laying out the directory entries in your FD.CNF file, it's 
a good idea to leave some directory entries set to "c:\" at 
the bottom of each column.  This allows you to spread out your 
"real" entries on the screen, and makes for better human 
factors.

Color Settings

FastDir contains two sets of display attributes, one for color 
screens and one for monochrome screens, and it determines your 
display type at runtime and uses the appropriate set of 
values.

The sample copy of FD.CNF contains color commands that match 
the default values in FD.EXE.  You can change this as you 
like, using the numbers in the comment just before the color 
commands as a guide.

The naming convention used in the commands is very 
straightforward:

1. The settings for color screens all begin with "color_", and 
the settings for monochrome screens all begin with "mono_".

2. The settings for foreground colors (text) all end with 
"_fg", while the settings for background colors all end with 
"_bg".

3. The middle part of each color command indicates which part 
of the screen it applies to:

"border" refers to the border around the edge of the 
screen and the line just above the command area.

"text" refers to the text in the three columns of 
directory listings that make up the bulk of the FastDir 
screen.

"hilite" is the currently selected directory entry.  Take 
care to make sure the hilite settings are not identical 
to the "text" settings!  If they are, then you won't be 
able to tell what your current selection is!

"cmd" is the area at the bottom of the screen where 
FastDir shows you the commands associated with the 
currently selected directory.

"help" is the panel of help text that you display with 
the F1 key.

FDCONFIG will not warn you if you try to set the foreground 
and background settings for some part of the screen to the 
same value.  For example, if you used the following commands:

   color_cmd_fg 1
   color_cmd_bg 1

Both the text and background colors for the command area at 
the bottom of the screen would be dark blue, effectively 
making commands invisible.

Error Checking

FDCONFIG does not verify that the directories you specify 
exist or that the commands are free of syntax errors.  
FDCONFIG also does not attempt to keep you from doing 
something destructuve like formatting your hard disk.  The 
user is trusted to find his or her own ways to make silly and 
possibly destructive mistakes without this program passing 
judgment on his or her actions.

FDCONFIG will detect syntax errors in your use of its own 
commands, however.  If you specify a dir or command string 
that's too long, or provide too many commands for a given 
directory, then FDCONFIG will complain and stop processing 
your configuration file.

FDCONFIG looks for the configuration information in FastDir so 
that it can update it.  If for some reason FDCONFIG can't 
locate this information, then it will stop and tell you what 
has happened.  This should never happen.  If it does, then 
your copy of the FastDir package has likely been tampered 
with, and you should contact Looking Glass Technologies at one 
of the addresses at the end of this document at your earliest 
convenience.

FastDir assumes that your environment contains a COMSPEC 
setting that can be used to find your command processor.  
FastDir needs this setting, since your command processor is 
used to run the commands associated with a directory.

When you run FastDir, it checks that the COMSPEC setting in 
your evironment exists, and that it points to a file that 
really exists.  If one of these conditions isn't met, then 
FastDir will refuse to run and tell you why.

Suggestions and Problem Reports

We always like to hear from our customers, especially when 
they have suggestions for new features.  If you'd like to send 
us your thoughts on FastDir, or if you encounter a problem, 
please contact us as one of addresses at the end of this file.

If you're reporting a bug or a problem, please be as specific 
as you can.  Let us know how repeatable the problem is, 
exactly what happens when something goes wrong, etc.  The more 
and better information you can give us about the problem, the 
better our chances of providing you and other users with a 
solution.


The entire contents of the FastDir package are copyright (c) 
1994 Looking Glass Technologies, all rights reserved.


Looking Glass Technologies
P. O. Box 8636
Endwell, NY 13762-8636

CompuServe: 71055,1240
GEnie:      L.G.TECH
Internet:   71055.1240@compuserve.com
FAX:        (607)754-1267