MaxFile/PM - VERSION 1.25
COPYRIGHT 1993,1994 by Craig Morrison. All Rights Reserved.
A FILES.BBS Manager for Presentation Manager
Portions of the header files used in compilation are:
Copyright (C) 1992 by Scott Dudley
Copyright (C) 1993 by Aki Antman
Copyright (C) 1994 by Marco Maccaferri
MSGAPI portions of the Announce Files option are:
Copyright 1991,94 by Scott J. Dudley. All rights reserved.
"Squish" and "Maximus" are trademarks of Lanius Corporation.
From the Development Team of:
Craig Morrison - MaxFile/PM Development
1:201/60@fidonet.org
Ronald Van Iwaarden - MaxFile/2 Development
1:104/338@fidonet.org
Special Thanks go out to:
Mark Kimes
For putting up with my never ending questions and general bull-headedness
when it comes to programming under OS/2. (Very handy guy to talk to when it
comes to programming in general!)
Elliott Goodman
Beta Tester
ANNOUNCE.CMD author
Philip Perlman
Beta Tester
Ronald Van Iwaarden
Cohort in crime and Beta Tester
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--- Foreword -----------------------------------------------------------------
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MaxFile/PM is a FILES.BBS manager that runs under Presentation
Manager. While it was written with the Maximus-CBCS in mind,
any BBS software package that uses the standard FILES.BBS
format is supported.
A quick but less than comprehensive list of the features are:
1. Drag and Drop between file areas
2. Adopting orphan files
3. FILE_ID.DIZ import
4. Rearchiving files
5. Sorting by:
Name
Date
Size
Description
6. In-place editing of file descriptions
7. Renaming files
8. Full REXX Macro Integration
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--- Registration -------------------------------------------------------------
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I'm going to keep this short, sweet and to the point. It is
$25 to register the program. You may use this version of
MaxFile/PM for 45 days from the day you first run it. After the
45 day evaluation period it will no longer operate.
MaxFile/PM is not free ware, it's share ware, you are expected
to register the program if you continue using it.
Please print out and read the REGISTER.FRM file that is included
in the archive for more information on registering the program.
Registration provides me with the incentive to keep working on
the program, it's all up to you folks that use the program. I
treat registered users VERY well.
'Nuff said...
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--- Support ------------------------------------------------------------------
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If you need to contact me about the program I can be reached
in a number of places. NetMail will get you the fastest
response, but I read the OS2PRODSUP, OS2BBS and MUFFIN
conferences everyday and intend on answering any questions
posted there. There is also a local conference on my BBS
called MFILEPMSUP that you are more than welcome to poll for.
Contact either myself, Elliott Goodman at 1:102/1319 or Pete
Norloff at 1:109/347 for more information about getting hooked
up.
Due to the large cost in crashing netmail all over the world I
will only be sending replies out crash to registered users who
report a problem. Sorry folks, but most of my income is
generated by these projects. If they don't get registered I
can't provide free support. I will respond to everyone who sends
netmail, but it will be routed netmail in most cases.
While I will answer questions from those of you who have not
registered the program, you will get a much quicker response
from me if you have.
I *will* support MaxFile/PM, all you need to do is ask.
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--- Before You Start - READ THIS!! -------------------------------------------
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The default installation of OS/2 defines Mouse Button 1 as the
left button and Mouse Button 2 as the right button. Please
keep this in mind as you read through this document if you
have redefined your mouse buttons.
A word to the wise here..
BACKUP *BEFORE* USING MAXFILE/PM !
Here comes the standard disclaimer...I don't promise that
MaxFile/PM will do anything for you except take up space on
your hard drive. While I am fairly certain I have got all the
nasties out of it, there is a chance that I may have missed
something. So please be safe and backup prior to using the
program. Suffice it to say, you have been warned..
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--- Configuring MaxFile/PM ---------------------------------------------------
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To configure MaxFile/PM for use, simply start MaxFile/PM by
typing MAXFMPM and pressing ENTER at an OS/2 Command Prompt.
The MaxFile/PM Settings notebook will be presented for you, so
that you can enter the vital information about your system and
BBS setup.
The Settings Notebook is where you configure MaxFile/PM so
that it fits your particular system. There are a lot of
options here, some required, some not, all depending on
whether you want to be able to use that particular feature or
not. There are 4 major categories of information here; Main,
Archivers, Viewers and Other. Some of the categories have more
than one page devoted to them. A detailed discussion of the
categories follows.
Main - Basic information
The Main section of the notebook consists of three pages that
contain the information that tells MaxFile/PM the basics about
your BBS configuration and how to handle certain options.
Main - Page 1
Registration Key
Your registration key, if you have one. If not leave it blank.
Enter the registration key exactly the same as it is given to you.
Registration Name
Your name, this works in conjunction with the Registration Key
field. MaxFile/PM hashes your name against your Key to see if
you really are a registered user.
The Registration XXXX fields when filled out properly, stop
the usage timer.
BBS Package
Four choices here:
Maximus
Lora
SuperBBS
Generic
Simply select one from the drop down list box. Or type in one
of the names in the list above.
BBS Directory
This is the directory that your BBS software resides in. Enter
the FULL path specification.
Temp Directory
This is the FULL path to an EXISTING directory that MaxFile/PM
can use to store temporary files in and use for rearchiving
files. Don't use this directory for ANYTHING else while
MaxFile/PM is running. EVERYTHING, INCLUDING ANY
SUB-DIRECTORIES WILL BE REMOVED BEFORE Maxfile/PM TERMINATES!
File Area Data
This is the FULL path and filename of the file that contains
your file area definitions. For Maximus 2.xx users this will
be AREA.DAT, for Lora users this will be SYSFILE.DAT, for
SuperBBS users this will be FLSEARCH.BBS, for those using the
Generic setup this should be the name of the text file you
created according the guidelines in the "Generic File Area
Definitions" section.
Main - Page 2
AutoSave
This tells MaxFile/PM whether or not you want your FILES.BBS
files automatically saved when you close a file area. If you
check this option MaxFile/PM will save the FILES.BBS for you
as soon as you close the window associated with a FILES.BBS,
if not, it will prompt you and ask if you want the information
saved.
Button Bar
This check box tells MaxFile/PM whether or not you want the
button bar turned on in your FILES.BBS windows.
Create File Summaries
When checked MaxFile/PM will create a summary of the file
statistics for a file area when the FILES.BBS for the area is
saved. The name of the file will the same as the file list
(FILES.BBS in most cases) with the extension removed and
replaced with SUM. It will be saved into the same directory as
the file list.
Header Size
For those of you using programs such as DownSort, this option
will allow you to tell MaxFile/PM how many lines at the
beginning of your FILES.BBS to skip when reading them in. The
headers ARE preserved when MaxFile/PM writes out a new
FILES.BBS.
Dupe Length
Tells MaxFile/PM how many characters to look at in a filename
when performing a search for duplicates.
ED Marker
For those BBS packages that support extended descriptions this
option will come in handy. Here you tell MaxFile/PM what
character is associated with extended descriptions for your
BBS Package. This character can not be a space or a dash.
Defining this character causes a few changes in the way
MaxFile/PM handles your file descriptions. When this option is
used, file descriptions are allowed to be up to 1024
characters in length and nothing is stripped from FILE_ID.DIZ
descriptions read in from archives. MaxFile/PM does not insert
this character in multiple line descriptions for you, you need
to do this. However, when you use 'Format Description'
MaxFile/PM will take care of putting this character where it
belongs.
FileList Margin
This setting causes a change in the file description handling
similar to the ED Marker. NOTE: If an ED Marker is defined,
FileList Margin is IGNORED. However, if an ED Marker is NOT
defined and FileList Margin is greater than zero; File
descriptions are limited to 1024 characters, FILE_ID.DIZ's are
imported as is, when a FILES.BBS is written _FileList Margin_
spaces are added to the beginning of each extra line in the
file description so that they line up in a file listing.
If an ED Marker is not defined and this is set to zero, file
descriptions are limited to 255 characters, any non-printable
ASCII characters (0-31) and high-bit ASCII characters are
stripped from the file description.
File Database Utility
The next field is for the filename of your File Database
Utility. For Maximus this will be either FB.EXE or FBP.EXE. On
my system I have this set to FBP, since the utility is in my
path. For Lora-BBS users, this will be FILEIDX.EXE. Please see
the "Known Problems" section at the end of this document for
more information about FILEIDX.EXE. For SuperBBS users, I
don't have a clue. If someone would fill me in on this one I'd
really appreciate it! This entry is only required if you want
MaxFile/PM to run the utility for you.
Run FD Utility
The options for Run FD Utility determine when and if the File
Database utility will get run. There are three; Always, Prompt
and Never. Always will run your file database utility
every time you exit MaxFile/PM. If no changes have been made,
it will prompt you before running it. Prompt will ask you if
you wish to run it. Do I need to explain Never? :-}
Display
The Display options control whether or not the file size and
date information gets displayed for your files in the
FILES.BBS windows. Simply check or un check the check boxes to
set your preferences.
Main - Page 3
Extensions edit control
This is a simple edit control that you use to enter in the
extensions that you want add to the list box to the right. You
may enter up to 3 characters for each extension, wild cards are
allowed. These extensions are used while adopting files,
anything not defined here will be ignored. These extensions are
use when you perform an Adopt from the FILES.BBS window context
menu or you have Auto Adopt turned on.
Add button
After entering an extension in the edit control click this
button to add it to the list of extensions in the list box.
Remove button
This button allows you to remove an entry from the list box.
Simply highlight the entry you want to remove from the list
box and click here.
Auto Adopt
This check box tells MaxFile/PM if you want it to automatically
perform an Adopt when a file area is first opened. This only
works if you have actually added at least one extension for
MaxFile/PM to scan for.
Download counters
If you want download counters added to the description of
files that get adopted, check this box.
Default Description
You may enter up to 80 characters for a default description.
This text will get used any time you Insert, Adopt or drop
files from an outside source into a window in MaxFile/PM and
those files meet the following criteria: 1, they are not an
archive or 2, they are an archive and the archive does not
contain a FILE_ID.DIZ description inside of it.
Add (x/xx) counter on description copy
This option allows you to tell MaxFile/PM whether or not you
want the (xx of xx) counters appended onto the end of
descriptions when you perform a "Description->Copy" in a
FILES.BBS window. Check it if you want them, unchecked if you
don't. The default is for them to be added.
Remove Items
Three choices here:
Prompt
Entries
Entries and Files
This configuration option affects the default action of "Remove
Items" inside a FILES.BBS window. "Prompt" asks you each time.
"Entries" removes just the entries. "Entries and Files" removes
the entries and deletes the files associated with those entries.
Archivers - Archiver Information
This section causes the most confusion when configuring
MaxFile/PM. The best I can do to help is to tell you what I use
here on my system to give you a few hints.
There are eight pages, one each for; Zip, Arj, Lzh, Arc, HA, RAR,
UC2 and ZOO. I don't use HA, RAR or UC2 so you are on your own with
these archivers.
You will need to enter the executable name and the appropriate
switches for each of the actions for each archiver. You should
include any switches necessary for recursing sub-directories and
if you want to make MaxFile/PM's job a little easier, any switches
to tell the archivers to 'move' files into archives when adding to
or creating a new archive. Below I will give a short description
of each entry and the settings for the archivers I use. You will
have MUCH better success with OS/2 based archivers.
NOTE: Each of the archivers you use must be able to accept
filenames on the command line other than just the archive name.
Some versions of UNARJ do not allow you to do this.
I also believe I have gotten the DOS kludge worked around in the
code. So you *should* be able to just define your DOS archivers just
like OS/2 based archivers, I.E, PKUNZIP -v, for listing an archive.
The settings for the DOS archivers below worked for me for what
little time I spent with them.
Extract
This entry should contain the command and switches
necessary to extract a file from an archive.
ZIP unzip -xo -U -C
ARJ unarj e
ARJ x -y
LZH lh x
ARC arc x
RAR rar -o+ -y
HA ha ey
UC2 uc2 ESF
ZOO zoo xO
Add
This entry should contain the command and switches
necessary to add files to an archive.
ZIP zip -9 -r
ARJ a -r -y
LZH lh a
ARC arc a
RAR a -r -y -ep1
HA ha a12rd
UC2 uc ASF
ZOO zoo ah
List
This entry should contain the command and switches
necessary to list the files in an archive to standard
output.
ZIP unzip -v
ARJ unarj l
ARJ arj v -y
LZH lh l
ARC arc l
RAR v -y
HA l
UC2 VS
ZOO zoo L
Test
This entry should contain the command and switches
necessary to test the integrity of an archive with the
output going to standard output.
ZIP unzip -t
ARJ unarj t
ARJ arj t -y
LZH lh t
ARC arc v
RAR t -std -y
HA t
UC2 TF
ZOO zoo xN
Viewers - File Viewers
Here you can define viewers for use with the View function in a
FILES.BBS window. Enter the filename and any necessary switches
for each of the programs. There are entries for the following file
types:
GIF
PCX
JPG
TIF
BMP
Other
The 'Other' entry catches anything that is not an archive, GIF,
PCX, JPG, TIF or BMP file. I.E, text files.
Other - Things I couldn't figure out where else to put. :-)
Virus Scanner
This should be the name of the program to scan files for
viruses, make sure to include any necessary switches. I use
McAfee's scanner for OS/2 like so:
OS2SCAN /A /NOEXPIRE
Editor
Here you can define a text editor for editing text based files.
Currently this is only used for editing REXX macro scripts.
Shift F6
Shift F7
Shift F8
Shift F9
Shift F10
These five entries are for things I may have overlooked or for
some special processing that you would like to do to a file.
Enter the program name and any switches they need. When in a
FILES.BBS window and you press one of the above keystrokes,
the appropriate entry will get started with one of the
selected files as a parameter on its command line, this will
continue one file at a time until all selected files have been
processed.
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--- Generic File Area Definitions --------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To provide support for any BBS system that uses the standard
FILES.BBS format for their file listings I have come up with a
very simple text file format that will allow you to tell
MaxFile/PM how your file areas are defined.
The file is made up of a verb that tells MaxFile/PM how many
areas it can expect to find in the text file. Each successive
line after that verb defines the file areas themselves. A
sample file is shown below:
----------------------------- AREAS.CFG sample --------------------------------
AreaCount 5
0 d:\max\file\uncheck d:\max\file\uncheck\files.bbs Unchecked Uploads
1 d:\max\file\max d:\max\file\max\files.bbs BBS Stuff
2 d:\max\file\dos\games d:\max\file\dos\games\files.bbs Dos Games
3 d:\max\file\os2\util d:\max\file\os2\util\files.bbs OS/2 Utilities
4 d:\max\file\os2\apps d:\max\file\os2\apps\files.bbs OS/2 Applications
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The 'AreaCount' keyword tells MaxFile/PM how many area
definitions it can expect to find in the file. The AreaCount
keyword must come BEFORE the area definition lines.
The format for each area definition line is:
ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ
Is a short name to identify the file area.
Is the download path of the file area.
Is the full drive:\path and filename of the
FILES.BBS for the area.
Is a short description of the area.
ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ
You can name this file what ever you wish, just make sure you
specify the name of this file for the File Area Data option in
the Main Settings Dialog and make sure the BBS Package is set
to 'Generic'.
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--- Using MaxFile/PM ---------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
When MaxFile/PM first comes up a window will be displayed that
contains all of your file areas. I will be referring to this
window by the term 'File Area Window' throughout the rest of
this document.
When you open up a file area, a window that is very similar in
appearance to the File Area window will appear. This window
will contain all the files listed in the FILES.BBS for that
area. These windows will be referred to as 'FILES.BBS Windows'
from here on out.
--- File Area Window ---------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The File Area window serves two basic purposes. First, it
allows you to open FILES.BBS Windows and second, it also
serves as a dropping point for files so that you can quickly
move files to another file area without having to open the
file area.
File Area Window Context Menu
The File Area Window Context Menu is where you control the overall
operations of MaxFile/PM. A somewhat detailed explanation of each
menu item follows.
Open...
This menu item allows you to open the highlighted file area(s).
The various ways of opening a file area are: Highlighting the
area you want to open and pressing enter or double-clicking
mouse button 1 on a file area.
If the file area is already open it will be brought into view,
even if it is minimized to the Minimized Window Viewer folder.
Area Sort
Tag
Description
Files Dir
These options sort the File Area Window listing by the
appropriate field in ascending order.
Check for Duplicates
To check your file areas for duplicate files choose this menu
item after selecting the area(s) you want MaxFile/PM to check
against all of your file areas. Please note that the scan
performed when checking for duplicates does not involve the
FILES.BBS files for the areas scanned, it looks at the contents
of the download directory for each area. So all duplicates will
be found regardless of whether there is a FILES.BBS entry for
them or not. However, the files searched for come directly from
the FILES.BBS files of the areas selected in the File Area
window. So make sure if you have a FILES.BBS window open for one
of the areas you will be checking for duplicates from, that you
have saved any changes made in that window.
The File Area window will be locked open until you close the
DupeCheck Results dialog box. This dialog will appear as soon as
the file scanning is complete. Inside this dialog you will see a
listing of all the files found. To open the file area associated
with a file, simply double-click on its entry. If you decide
that you want to delete the file from this dialog, highlight the
entry and click the delete button.
Search...
This function is very similar to the Dupe Checker option, with
the exception that instead of checking for duplicate files you
can enter a string of text that MaxFile/PM will search for in
each of the FILES.BBS files for each of the selected areas.
First select the areas that you want to search, then bring up
the context menu and select 'Search...' A dialog box will come
up asking you what to search for. You may enter up to 80
characters. Click ok to begin the search.
The search is not case nor position sensitive. Both the filename
and description are searched for the text, if the text appears
in of these two places a 'hit' will occur. The dialog box that
comes up after the search is complete works exactly the same as
the dialog box showing the results of the Dupe Checker option.
Find Area...
This function will allow you to enter an area tag, MaxFile/PM
will find the area and then scroll it into view for you.
All Files List
Probably the most requested feature had to be the ability to
generate a list of available files from the FILES.BBS listings.
MaxFile/PM will generate an all files list for you. It's highly
customizable and can be run automagically from a batch file once
configured correctly.
To use the all files generator interactively, simply start
MaxFile/PM and then select the areas from the File Area window
that you want included in the listing. Then bring up the context
menu and select "All Files List". MaxFile/PM will then process
each FILES.BBS and produce two listings under the filenames
ALLFILES.LST and NEWFILES.LST in the directory that MaxFile/PM
resides in.
Each time you run the all files generator from the context menu,
a file called ALLFILES.CFG will be written that contains a list
of the area tags for each of the areas in the listing. Do NOT
modify this file. The purpose behind this file is to tell
MaxFile/PM what areas to include when you run the all files
generator in batch mode. If you add or delete file areas, you
MUST run the all files generator from the context menu in
interactive mode at least once to keep the ALLFILES.CFG in sync
with your file areas. I'll put it this way... IF YOU WANT TO RUN
IN BATCH MODE YOU MUST KEEP allfiles.cfg IN SYNC WITH YOUR FILE
AREAS.
To customize the all files generator to suit your tastes, you
can create some text files which will be written to your file
listing at the appropriate times.
The names for the files are:
ALLFILES.HDR NEWFILES.HDR
ALLFILES.FTR NEWFILES.FTR
ALLFILES.CUS
ALLFILES.HDR and ALLFILES.FTR are written verbatim to the file
listing at the beginning and ending of the listing,
respectively. ALLFILES.CUS is a little more complex. It allows
you to insert text into the headers that are written to the
listing for each file area. The format of the file is:
is the area tag of the file area header the text that
follows it should be inserted into. You may place as many lines
as you need to for each area as long as they all follow this
format. is checked against the area tag for each area
in such a manner that if the tag for the area begins with the
tag specified in this file the text will get inserted. An
example might be of some help here..
You have the following areas:
CICA001
CICA002
CICB001
001
002
In your ALLFILES.CUS file you have:
CICA Files in this area are NOT freq'able.
CIC These files are on my CD-ROM.
00 These files are freq'able anytime but ZMH.
CICA would match CICA001 and CICA002. CIC would match CICA001,
CICA002 and CICB002. 00 would match 001 and 002. Get the idea?
Its rather simple once you get used it.
To run the all files generator in batch mode from the command
line, specify the -A switch on MaxFile/PM's command line.
MaxFile/PM will do its thing and then return to the command
prompt when it is done. -a, -A, /a and /A are all recognized as
valid switches for this mode of operation.
Outdated Files...
This option will allow you to either remove or move to a file
area those files that are older than a certain number of days.
The process of taking care of your outdated files begins by
selecting the areas that you wish to scan from the File Area
window. Now, bring up the context menu and select 'OutDated
Files...', you will be presented with a dialog box, this is
where you tell MaxFile/PM how to manage the old files.
To remove files, select the Kill radio button. To move files to
a selected file area, select the Move radio button and then
enter the Area Tag of the file area you want the files to go
into. The Area Tag you type in MUST exactly match one of the
area tags listed in the first column of the File Area window,
upper and lower case letters are important here.
Now you need to tell MaxFile/PM the number of days old a file
has to be before it will be moved or deleted. Either type in the
number of days or use the spin button to adjust the number of
days to your liking. To give you some indication of the date
range you will be working with, the date below the spin button
will tell you what the date on the oldest file can be.
After entering the above, click OK and sit back and let
MaxFile/PM do its thing. If a file area you have selected is
open, it will be skipped. Also, if you are moving files, the
file area that will receive the dated files will be skipped.
Create FREQ List...
Here you can tell MaxFile/PM to create an OKFILE listing for
your mailer based on the selected items in the File Area window.
After selecting this option, you will be presented with a
standard File Save As dialog to choose a filename from. You can
either type in the name of an existing file, or the name you
want the listing to have. If it doesn't exist MaxFile/PM will
create it for you.
If the file "MAGIC.TXT" exists in the directory you start
MaxFile/PM from, the entries in it will be copied to the output
file. The directory listing will then be appended to the output
file.
REXX Macro...
Don't like the way MaxFile/PM does something? Well, now YOU can
change it! REXX scripts are now supported. In addition to all
the commands available from REXX, there are 21 REXX extensions
added by MaxFile/PM so that you can manipulate your files from a
REXX command script.
A discussion of REXX is well beyond the scope of this document,
instead what you will read about here are the extensions that
MaxFile/PM adds to REXX to allow you to work with your files.
The supplied TESTREXX.CMD file is a sample that shows the syntax
and usage of each of the added functions. PLEASE use this file
as a guide when you are constructing your macros.
REXX commands and programs that communicate with the user via
Standard input and Standard output are fully supported by
MaxFile/PM's REXX interface. When the REXX interface first
starts up a window entitled "MaxFile/PM REXX Output" will appear
on your desktop, this window is your means of communication with
REXX.
The top line of the REXX output window contains a single line
edit control that can accept up to 80 characters. When you wish
to actually send the typed text to standard input, click on the
Send button. Clicking on the Send button when the control is
empty sends a CR/LF pair to standard input.
The remainder of the output window is reserved for the output
coming from your REXX commands and/or application programs.
REXX's PULL and SAY commands are fully supported. There are some
limitations to what the output window can do though. It doesn't
support; reverse tabs, vertical tabs, backspace or cursor
movements. For applications that use this type of output or
expect to be able to write to the screen using other methods
than standard output you are going to need to use the START
command or some other similar utility to run them in another
session.
To stop a REXX script that is running, bring the Main File Area
window to the front and pull up the context menu, then select
'Stop REXX' this will halt the script after the current
instruction is complete.
Starting MaxFile/PM with the -r switch will cause MaxFile/PM to
open its main window, immediately run the REXX script specified
and then exit. An example:
MAXFMPM -rTESTREXX.CMD
Would start MaxFile/PM, run TESTREXX.CMD to completion and then
exit. -r -R /r and /R are all valid forms of the "REXX"
switch.
Listed below you will see the REXX extensions for use with
MaxFile/PM, they will be listed by name with a short explanation
of each. All the functions return 'ERROR' if something goes
wrong. Those functions that aren't meant to return some type of
information return 'OK' for success. If a syntax error occurs,
processing of the script stops and the error cause can be found
in the file REXX.ERR in the directory MaxFile/PM resides in.
*******************************************
* PAY ATTENTION TO THE NEXT PARAGRAPH *
* IT WILL MAKE OR BREAK YOUR REXX SCRIPTS *
*******************************************
You *MUST* be in the directory that MaxFile/PM resides in when
you call one of the extensions added by MaxFile/PM. You can
change directories throughout the lifetime of your script, but
MaxFile/PM needs to be able to find its files and it expects
them to be in the directory that your script gets called from.
So if things start acting strangely when you are testing a
script, make sure the current directory is your MaxFile/PM
directory before you call one of the extensions listed here. The
standard REXX function DIRECTORY() will return the current
directory for you, use it to save the directory your script
starts out in. Then just before your script ends, use it to
restore the current directory.
MaxFile/PM REXX Extensions
--------------------------
MPM_GetVersion()
Returns MaxFile/PM's revision or version number.
MPM_ClearWindow()
Clears the REXX output window.
MPM_MsgBox(message, title)
Displays a simple message box using 'message' as the text
displayed in the message box and 'title' as the title for
the message box.
MPM_QueryArea([area tag])
Works in two different ways. Called with no arguments it
returns the area tag of the first file area listed in the
Main File Area window listing. When called with a single
argument containing the area tag of an existing file area,
it will return the area tag of the NEXT file area in the
list. In either case, if an area can't be found it returns
'ERROR'.
MPM_QueryAreaList('stemvar')
Creates a compound stem variable containing the area tag,
description, download path and the full path/filename of the
FILES.BBS for each area.
The stem variable name is passed to the function as a
string. stemvar.0 contains the total number of areas that
information has been returned for.
An example of how to use this function follows:
/* MPM_QueryAreaList() example */
rc = MPM_QueryAreaList('arealist')
Say arealist.0' items in Area List.'
Say arealist.1.area' is the first area.'
Say arealist.1.desc' is the first area description.'
Say arealist.1.path' is the first area download path.'
Say arealist.1.fbbs' is the first area FILES.BBS location.'
MPM_QueryAreaInfo(area tag, '0' | '1' | '2')
Queries and returns the specified information for 'area
tag.' The level info is as follows:
0 - Area description
1 - Download Path
2 - FILES.BBS Location
MPM_DeselectArea(area tag)
Detags a file area in the Main File Area window.
MPM_SelectArea(area tag)
Tags a file area in the Main File Area Window.
MPM_OpenArea(area tag)
Opens the FILES.BBS Window associated with 'area tag'.
MPM_CloseArea(area tag)
Closes the FILES.BBS window associated with 'area tag.'
MPM_IsAreaOpen(area tag)
Returns "1" if the FILES.BBS window associated with 'area
tag' is open, "0" otherwise.
MPM_AllFilesList()
Starts up the All Files List generator in interactive mode,
the list generated will be made up of the file areas that
are selected in the File Area window. Use MPM_SelectArea()
and MPM_DeselectArea() to select areas from REXX.
MPM_SetFDUFlag(area tag)
Sets the File Database Utility flag for the FILES.BBS that
is associated with 'area tag.' Use this to tell MaxFile/PM
that the File Database Utility needs to be run to update
your file database after making changes that MaxFile/PM
doesn't know about.
MPM_QueryFile(area tag[, filename])
Returns the base filename of a file from a FILES.BBS window.
When called with just the area tag of an open window it
returns the first file in the window. When called with both
the area tag and an existing filename it will return the
NEXT filename in the window. If something goes wrong it
returns ERROR.
MPM_QueryFileList(area tag, 'stemvar')
Creates a compound stem variable containing a list of all
the files in the FILES.BBS associated with 'area tag'. The
stem variable name is passed as a string to the function.
stemvar.0 contains how many items are in the list.
An example follows:
/* MPM_QueryFileList() example */
Call RxFuncAdd 'SysSleep', 'RexxUtil', 'SysSleep'
mpmarea = 'TEST'
/* Open up the file area */
retval = MPM_OpenArea(mpmarea)
/* Give the open call a chance to work */
Call SysSleep 3
If MPM_IsAreaOpen(mpmarea) = '0' then Exit
rc = MPM_QueryFileList(mpmarea, 'files')
rc = MPM_CloseArea(mpmarea)
Say 'There are 'files.0' files in the list.'
Say
Say files.1.file' is the first file.'
Say files.1.path' is the path of the first file.'
Say files.1.desc' is the description of the first file.'
MPM_QueryFileInfo(area tag, filename, '0' | '1' | '2' | '3')
Queries and returns the specified information about
'filename.' The level information is as follows:
0 - File Path
1 - File Date in DD MMM YYYY format
3 - File Size
4 - File Description
MPM_SelectFile(area tag, filename)
MPM_DeselectFile(area tag, filename)
Select and deselect 'filename', respectively, in the area
identified by 'area tag'.
MPM_SetFileInfo(area tag, filename, '0' | '1' | '2')
Set the displayed information for a file in a FILES.BBS
window. The level information is as follows:
0 - Set File Date
1 - Set File Size
2 - Set Description
Please note that options 0 and 1 are only for display
purposes, if you want to set the file's date ("touch" it)
you need to perform this yourself, MaxFile/PM does not do
this for you, the same goes for the file's size. This REXX
extension is merely to update the display in the FILES.BBS
window. Option 2, for setting descriptions, does actually
alter the description that will get saved for the file.
Dates should be in the FTSC format DD MMM YYYY, 01 Dec 1993.
Sizes should be unformatted with no thousands separators.
MPM_RemoveFile(area tag, filename)
Removes the file 'filename' from the FILES.BBS window
associated with 'area tag'.
MPM_AddFile(area tag, filename, description)
Adds 'filename' with description to the FILES.BBS window
associated with 'area tag'. 'filename' MUST be a FULL file
specification in the form of D:\PATH\FILENAME.EXE! The
function returns 'ERROR' if something goes wrong.
MPM_AnnounceFiles('stemvar')
Creates a file announcement message and writes it to a
Squish or *.MSG message base. The message is built from the
information stored in the compound stem variable 'stemvar'.
Please see TANN.CMD (included in the distribution archive)
for an example of how to use this extension.
The elements of the message that need to be placed in
'stemvar' are as follows:
stemvar.msgpath - is the root path of the message area
to place the message in.
stemvar.msgproc - is the executable name and switches
needed to run your mail
tosser/packer, this one is optional,
if it isn't defined it is ignored.
stemvar.msgtype - this defines the type of message base
and must be one of:
SQUISH
MSG
MSGECHO
stemvar.msgflag - is the message flag you want to use
for this message, it must be one of:
HOLD
NORMAL
CRASH
DIRECT
stemvar.to - is the name to address the message
to, if it isn't defined it defaults
to 'All'.
stemvar.toaddr - this the Fidonet style address of the
recipient of the message. It must be
in the format Zone:Net/Node.Point,
I.E, 1:201/60.0, if not defined it
defaults to stemvar.fromaddr.
stemvar.from - is the name the message is from, this
one is required.
stemvar.fromaddr - is the address of who the message is
from, in other words, the originating
Fidonet address. This one is also
required.
stemvar.subject - this gets put in the subject field of
the message. If not defined it
defaults to 'File Announcement'.
stemvar.header - is the header of the message, it gets
placed just before the file list in
the message. This one is optional.
1024 character limit.
stemvar.footer - this is similar to the header, except
it comes after the file list in the
message. It is also optional. 1024
character limit.
stemvar.origin - this is the text that will get put in
the origin line of the message. The
" * Origin: " and from fidonet
address are taken care for you. All
you need to enter here is what text
you want added in between the two.
This is optional, if it is not
defined no origin line is generated.
stemvar.0 - contains the number files being
announced.
stemvar.x.file - this is the base filename of a file
to announce.
stemvar.x.path - is the drive and path to the above
base filename. Do NOT include the
filename here.
stemvar.x.desc - this is the description you want to
use for this file in the message.
1024 character limit.
'x' in the above three is a place holder for each of the
files that you want announced, up to stemvar.0 files.
MPM_FileAreaSort(area, 'Name|Date|Size|Desc', 'Asc|Desc'[, 'All'])
Sorts the file area 'area' by; Name, Date, Size or Desc. In
either ascending or descending order, optionally deselecting
all highlighted files.
This function behaves just like the menu options on the
FILES.BBS context menu, if any items are selected ONLY those
items are sorted. If you want to sort the entire area make
sure you pass the fourth argument 'All' to it.
Here are a few examples:
rc = MPM_FileAreaSort('0', 'Name', 'Asc')
Sorts area 0 by name in ascending order.
rc = MPM_FileAreaSort('FWBBS', 'Date', 'Desc')
Sorts area FWBBS by date in descending order.
rc = MPM_FileAreaSort('FWCOMM', 'Date', 'Desc', 'All')
Sorts area FWCOMM by date in descending order, first
deselecting all selected files.
MPM_SaveFilesBBS(area)
Saves the FILES.BBS for 'area'. Should be used after any
changes are made to a FILES.BBS window.
MPM_SetWindowState([area, ]'MAXIMIZE | MINIMIZE | RESTORE')
Sets the state of a window. If 'area' is ommitted, the File
Area Window is set, otherwise, the state of the FILES.BBS
window 'area' will be set.
The possible window states are; MAXIMIZE, MINIMIZE or
RESTORE, only one may be specified per call to this
function. Examples:
rc = MPM_SetWindowState('MINIMIZE')
Would minimize the File Area window to either the
desktop or Minimized Window viewer, depending on
your object settings.
rc = MPM_SetWindowState('1' ,'RESTORE')
Would restore the FILES.BBS window associated with
file area '1' to its previous state.
MPM_Crc32('filename')
Examines 'filename' and returns a CRC32 value calculated
according to FIPS PUB 71 and FED-STD-1003. This should prove
useful for rolling your own TIC processor.
Stop REXX
Stops the currently running REXX macro. The current instruction
in the macro will finish executing before the macro stops.
Edit REXX Macro...
Here you can find and edit a REXX macro script, provided you
have an editor defined in your configuration.
After selecting this option you will be presented with a
standard file dialog to select from the files on your system.
After selecting a file, the editor you have configured will be
started with the selected file as its one and only argument.
Settings...
Brings up the Settings Notebook for MaxFile/PM. Please see
'Configuring MaxFile/PM' for more information.
Product Information
Displays MaxFile/PM's Product Information Dialog.
--- FILES.BBS Window ---------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FILES.BBS windows are the heart and soul of MaxFile/PM, these
windows are where you will be spending most of your time. A
FILES.BBS window is very similar to the File Area window in
appearance. What you will see when you open one of these
windows is the contents of the FILES.BBS that is associated
with the file area this window belongs to.
FILES.BBS Window Context Menu
Save FILES.BBS
Performs an unconditional save of the FILES.BBS for the
current FILES.BBS Window. At the same time it also sets the
flag for this area to tell MaxFile/PM that the File Database
Utility (if you have one configured) needs to be run on it.
Shift-Macros
Each of your defined program macros will be listed on this
sub-menu. See Configuring MaxFile/PM -- Other for more
information on program macros.
Sort Ascending
Name
Date
Size
Description
Sorts the FILES.BBS entries for the current FILES.BBS Window
in ascending order.
Sort Descending
Name
Date
Size
Description
Sorts the FILES.BBS entries for the current FILES.BBS Window
in descending order.
Please note the following; If you want the entire FILES.BBS
sorted make sure that none of the items in the window are
selected. If any items are selected ONLY those items get
sorted. Deselect All or CTRL+\ will remove the selection
emphasis on all items in the window. This applies to both
ascending and descending sorts.
Descriptions
Copy
This selection takes the first description from a group of
selected items and copies it to the rest of the files in
the group. The copied description will have '(xx of xx)'
appended to the end of it. This is convenient to use with
a group of files that are all part of one program or file
collection.
Cleanse
This option goes through each of the selected items in a
FILES.BBS window and removes all the extra whitespace,
non-printable ASCII and high-ASCII characters from the
descriptions or comments.
Edit
Many of you asked for this one. Edit Description allows
you to edit the description of a selected item by first
selecting it, then choosing this option from the context
menu. It works the same way as ALT+clicking mouse button 1
on an item's description.
Format...
This option is only usable when you have an Extended
Description Marker (ED Marker) or a FileList Margin defined
in the Settings Notebook.
When an ED Marker is defined:
What it does is take a file description and break it up
into smaller parts and insert the defined ED Marker at
the beginning of the excess lines so that your BBS
package will understand the excess lines are part of the
description for a file.
After selecting this option from the context menu a
dialog box will be presented asking you for a left
margin and a line length. The left margin is where you
want the ED Marker placed on the line and the line
length is how many characters past the ED Marker the
description is allowed to go on each line.
When an ED Marker is NOT defined and FileList Margin is
greater than zero:
What it does is take a file description and wrap it into
smaller line segments based on 80 - _FileList Margin_.
Get FILE_ID.DIZ
This option goes through the selected items in the window
and attempts to extract the FILE_ID.DIZ from them.
Comments and files that aren't archives are skipped over
by this function. If a FILE_ID.DIZ is present in the
archives selected, it will be read from it and placed in
the description field. You will need to edit this text to
suit your needs.
Set FILE_ID.DIZ
Here you can insert the file description for selected
archives into the archives as a FILE_ID.DIZ. You will need
to edit the description to conform to the 45/10 standard.
Scan Docs...
This works only with archives. MaxFile/PM will go through
and extract all the documentation files it can find for a
selected archive. It will then present a dialog box that
will allow you to copy text from a file to use as a
description.
Each selected archive is processed in sequence, in other
words, the Get Description Text dialog gets presented once
for each selected archive.
When the dialog first comes up a standard File Open dialog
will be presented for you to choose a file to open. NOTE: If
there were directories stored in the archive, they will be
present and you might have to go down a few to find the
files.
After selecting a file the first 8K of it will be loaded
into the text entry control in the Get Description dialog.
You can edit the text if necessary to get it somewhere close
to what you want.
If you choose to open an INF file, the OS/2 View application
will be started so that you can view the file selected.
Using the Services menu from View you can copy a page to the
clipboard from the INF file. Then you can switch back to
the Get Description Dialog and paste the contents of the
clipboard into the entry control by clicking on the "Paste
from Clipboard" button.
To copy and use part of the text in the entry control,
highlight the text you want to copy and click on the "Copy"
button. The highlighted text will be copied into the
description of the selected file that the file in the entry
control was extracted from.
All the normal description handling characteristics apply to
the copied text. If you do NOT have an Extended Description
Marker defined and FileList Margin is set to 0; all
whitespace, unprintable characters (CR, LF, etc..) and
high-bit ASCII are stripped from the description and it is
truncated to 255 characters.
Files
Find...
Many, many of you asked for this one. After selecting this
option you will be asked to type in a filename. MaxFile/PM
will search for the name and scroll it into view if it is
found. Partial filenames are okay, case is not important.
Adopt
Adopt Files allows you to add any orphan files in a
particular file area to the FILES.BBS for that area.
Adopting is performed in a separate thread so that you may
continue to work in the window for the file area while the
adopt is going on. The window will be locked open while
the Adopt is being performed.
Remove Missing
This option automates the process of removing entries in a
FILES.BBS window that have no file associated with them.
No special setup is required, just bring up the context menu
and select this option. MaxFile/PM will then search through
the FILES.BBS window and remove all entries that meet the
following criteria; The entry is a file, is 0 bytes in size
and has a date/time stamp of 00/00/00 00:00:00.
Purge Dupes
Purge Dupes scans the FILES.BBS window looking for duplicate
file entries. Only the last entry for each file that has a
duplicate entry is kept.
This option is useful for removing extra entries added after
a TIC processor has added new files to a FILES.BBS file.
Announce...
This option will allow you to write a customized message
announcing selected files directly to any Squish, *.MSG or
*.MSG ECHO message base. You may also specify a mail
processor so that you can scan for the message to send it
out of your system.
The whole process gets started by selecting the files you
wish to announce from a FILES.BBS window. Next you bring up
the context menu and select 'Announce Files...' You will
be presented with a configuration dialog you must fill out
to tell MaxFile/PM the particulars about the message you
want to send. As it stands right now, you have to fill out
the dialog for each different window. The configuration
for each window will be saved separately and will be used
each subsequent time you announce files from each
particular window.
There are a few things MaxFile/PM needs to know to be able
to send the message correctly and they are as follows:
Message Base Path -The full path and base filename
of the message area put the message in. For *.MSG
areas this will be the full path to the directory that
contains the *.MSG files. For Squish areas this will
be the path and base filename of the Squish files
related to the message area. This is a required entry.
Mail Processor -This is an optional entry to
allow you to scan for the message that was just
written by a mail tosser/scanner. Please see the
documentation for your tosser/scanner for more
information.
Message Type -This is the message base type,
*.MSG and Squish are fairly self-explanatory. *.MSG
Echo, refers to a Fidonet style *.MSG echo mail area
that stores the high-water mark in 1.MSG.
Message Flags -These are the attribute flags for
the message you will be creating. They are mutually
exclusive. I will be adding Direct to the available
flags when I get the time to research the flags more.
To: -This is the name of the recipient
of the message. If you leave it blank, MaxFile/PM will
automatically default to 'All.'
To Addr: -This is the address of the
recipient of the message. If left blank, the From
Address will be used. (Please see the From Address
discussion for more information on entering Fidonet
addresses.)
From: -This is a required entry. This is
the name of the sender of the message.
From Addr: -This is a required entry. This is
the address of the sender of the message. Most likely
this will be your fidonet address if you have one. If
not it doesn't matter what you enter here, as it won't
get used by your message bases.
The format for entering Fidonet addresses into
MaxFile/PM is:
zone:net/node.point
All four elements are required. To use my address as
an example, the field would have 1:201/60.0 entered
into it.
Header -This is an optional entry that
you can use to place a customer banner at the top of
the message just before the files that are being
announced in the message. It is pretty much free-form,
but you will be much better off if you leave the
formatting up to MaxFile/PM. You may enter up to 1024
characters in this field.
Footer -This entry is basically the same
as the Header field, except it comes after the
announced files. You may enter up to 1024 characters
in this field.
The 'Subject' line of the message is 'File
Announcement' it is currently hard coded. If I get
enough requests, I will add it as an option but as you
can see, the message dialog is quite full as it is.
The same holds true with the Tear and Origin lines,
they are not configurable. The Tear line will always
read '--- MaxFile/PM......' and the Origin line will
always just be a standard origin line with your
Fidonet address in it. These two I will probably be
adding macros for so that you can place them into
either the header or footer of the message. It all
depends on user feedback.
Send...
Here you can create a file attach message. First select the
file or files that you want to send, then select this item.
The same dialog that is used for the Announce Files option
is presented for you to fill out, please see the discussion
of that function for more information on the dialog
controls.
The Header and Footer text are combined together to create
the body of the message, if you enter any text for them. No
tearline or origin are added to the message. In addition to
the message attributes you set in the message information
dialog box, the File Attach and Kill/Sent bits are set.
Touch
"Touching" is the process of updating the Time and Date
stamps of files to the current time and date. This option
allows you to do that for the selected files in the
current window.
View
The View option works in conjunction with the external
program options. For archives it will fire up the proper
archiver to create a list of files contained in the
archive and display a dialog containing that list. For
pictures and text files the appropriate viewer will be
started. View is also the action that is associated with
double-clicking mouse button 1 on an entry in the window.
Virus Scanner
This option runs the virus scanner you have set up on each
file selected in the current FILES.BBS window. The window
that the virus scanner is run in is not closed when the
scan is complete so that you may view the results.
Nothing is extracted from the archives. The files are
passed to the 'Other->Virus Scanner' entry from the
Settings Notebook one at a time until all the selected
files have been scanned. At this writing it is up to you to
perform any additional processing.
Archives
Test Archive
This option only works with archives. It simply invokes
the appropriate archiver for each selected item in the
window. The output from the archiver will be displayed in
a dialog box after the testing is completed is completed
for each archive.
Extract To...
Here you can extract a selected archive to a directory
that you specify. Note that the directory you specify must
exist.
After you have used this option at least once, the directory
will be remembered the next time the dialog box comes up
asking you for a directory. You can just press ENTER to
accept it.
ReArchive
to ZIP
to ARJ
to LZH
to ARC
to HA
to RAR
to UC2
Each of these options takes an existing archive or group
of archives and converts them to the appropriate archive
type.
If one the ADD entry for an archive is not defined its
entry on this sub-menu will be disabled.
Insert
Comment
To Insert a comment into the current FILES.BBS window,
first select the item in the window that you want the
comment to go in FRONT of. Then bring up the context menu
and select Insert->Comment. A blank comment will then be
inserted in the FILES.BBS window.
File...
Insert/File works much the same way as Insert/Comment, first
select the item in the window that you want the file to go
in FRONT of, then select Insert->File from the context menu.
A file dialog will be displayed so that you can find the
file you want to insert. Once you have found the file,
select the Insert button in the dialog box. The file will
then be inserted into the current window. Selecting the
Cancel button inside the file dialog box aborts the insert
operation.
THE FILE WILL BE INSERTED INTO THE FILES.BBS WITH A FULL
PATH SPECIFICATION. It does NOT get copied or moved to the
download directory. This allows you to point to a single
file from multiple FILES.BBS files.
Remove Items
This item removes or deletes items from the FILES.BBS
window. When you select it from the context menu, a dialog
box will appear allowing you two options. 'Entries' just
removes the entry from the FILES.BBS window, 'Entries and
Files' causes the entries to be removed and the associated
with the entries to be deleted. Click Ok to remove the
items, or Cancel to abort the operation.
Select All
Selects all items in the current FILES.BBS Window.
Select All Files
Selects all files in the current FILES.BBS window, excluding
orphans.
Deselect All
Deselects all items in the current FILES.BBS Window.
Display Date
Toggles the display of the File Date column in the current
FILES.BBS Window. This setting is temporary, FILES.BBS
Windows will always open according to the settings defined
in the Settings Notebook.
Display Size
Toggles the display of the File Size column in the current
FILES.BBS Window. This setting is temporary, FILES.BBS
Windows will always open according to the settings defined
in the Settings Notebook.
Area Statistics
This option displays an information message box containing
how many files are in the current area, how much space
they take up and how much free space remains on the
volume.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--- The Button Bar -----------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you have the Button Bar option in the Settings
Notebook/Main/Page 2 turned on then just below the title bar
of each FILES.BBS window there will be a button bar that
contains buttons for the most commonly used items on the
context menu. Moving from the left side of the window towards
the right, here's what they do:
Sort
Uses the *last* sort type selected from the context menu in a
FILES.BBS Window. If no sort has been selected it defaults to
Name/Ascending.
Edit Description
This is the same as ^E and Edit Description on the context
menu. Allows you to edit the description for the highlighted
file, if more than one file is highlighted the file with the
dotted cursor focus is the one that will have the edit box
opened for it.
Get FILE_ID.DIZ
Attempts to extract the FILE_ID.DIZ from the selected files.
Touch Files
Touches all the selected files.
Virus Scan
Runs the defined Virus Scanner on all highlighted files.
Test Archive
Runs the archiver tests on the highlighted archives.
Remove Items
Just like 'Remove Items...' from the context menu.
Format Description...
Same as Description->Format... from the context menu.
Should you forget what a particular button does you can find
out by pressing mouse button 1 down while the mouse pointer is
over the button and holding it down. A short description will
appear in the status bar at the bottom of the FILES.BBS
window. If you don't want to perform the operation at that
time, drag the mouse pointer down into the list of files and
release mouse button 1.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--- Selecting Items ----------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Perhaps the most confusing part of working in a FILES.BBS
window is selecting or deselecting items. I wrote the program
and I still have to think about it. Basically it works like
this; Clicking mouse button 1 on an item selects it and clears
the selection from any other items in the window. To select
multiple items in the window, press mouse button 1 on the
first item you want selected and hold it down while you drag
the mouse cursor. This allows you to select a contiguous range
of items. If you want to select multiple items and they aren't
adjacent to each other, hold down the CTRL key while you click
mouse button 1 on each item. If the item is not selected it
will become selected, if the item is already selected the
selection is cleared for that item.
Another technique to select items uses a combination of the
CTRL and SHIFT keys along with mouse button one. The SHIFT key
when used in conjunction with mouse button 1 will
select/deselect all items between the first marked item and the
item SHIFT-clicked on. An example might help:
COMMENT
FILE1 <-- click mouse button one here
FILE2
FILE3
FILE4
FILE5 <-- SHIFT-click mouse button one here
COMMENT
FILE6 <-- CTRL-click mouse button one here
FILE7
FILE8
FILE9
FILE10
FILE11
FILE12 <-- CTRL-SHIFT-click mouse button one here
With no items selected, the above actions would select two
non-contiguous blocks of files; FILE1-FILE5 and FILE6-FILE12.
If you need to select or deselect all the items in a window,
your best bet is to use the Select All/Deselect All options
from the context menu.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--- Hotkeys ------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The following accelerator keys may be used when you are
working in FILES.BBS window:
^ = CTRL, ! = SHIFT
Sort Ascending
Name ^1
Date ^2
Size ^3
Description ^4
Sort Descending
Name ^5
Date ^6
Size ^7
Description ^8
Description
Edit ^E
Format ^F
Get DIZ ^G
Set DIZ ^S
Files
Adopt ^A
Announce ^N
Touch ^O
View ENTER
Virus Scan ^C
Archives
Test ^T
Extract to ^X
ReArchive
to ZIP !F2
to ARJ !F3
to LZH !F4
to ARC !F5
Remove Items ^D
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--- Renaming Files -----------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To rename a file, press and hold the ALT key and click mouse
button 1 on the file that you want to rename. Then enter the
new filename and click button 1 anywhere outside the edit box
or press the keypad Enter key. Pressing ESC will discard any
changes you have made to the filename.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--- Editing File Descriptions ------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Editing descriptions works in the much the same manner as
renaming files, ALT+click mouse button 1 on the description
you want to edit. To save the description, click outside the
edit box or press the keypad Enter key. Pressing ESC will
discard any changes made to the description or comment.
The standard CUA conventions for cutting and pasting text work
while the editing window is open for you to edit descriptions.
They are as follows:
Ctrl+INS Copy to the Clipboard
Shift+Del Cut to the Clipboard
Del Cut (to the black hole of bits)
Shift+INS Paste from the Clipboard
These aren't well documented, but they are standard items that
you can expect *most* applications to use when working with
text, including MaxFile/PM.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--- Program Macros -----------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FILES.BBS windows are the only place that the Shift-F(x)
macros will operate. When pressing one of these key
combinations MaxFile/PM will search through the container in
the window and pass the fully qualified filename of the
selected files to your macro one at a time. Comments are
ignored. Don't make any assumptions about what directory the
macro will start out in, that will be determined by the
default OS/2 shell.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--- Drag and Drop ------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*************************************************
* THIS IS HOW YOU MOVE FILES BETWEEN FILE AREAS *
*************************************************
Remember, MaxFile/PM is a Workplace Shell and Presentation
Manager friendly program. The basic operations of changing,
editing and moving objects work the same way.
A drag operation is started by pressing mouse button 2 down
and dragging the mouse cursor. The operation is considered
complete when you release mouse button 2. Should you wish to
abort the drag, press the ESC key on your keyboard.
When dragging files between windows in MaxFile/PM, holding down
the CTRL key will cause the objects to be copied instead of
moved. This works for both files and comments.
You will need to make sure that both the source and
destination windows are visible on your display.
You can drag files from anywhere on your system and drop them
either on a FILES.BBS window or onto the File Area window.
When dropping on an open FILES.BBS window, the files are
inserted into the FILES.BBS at the point at which they were
dropped. When dropping on the File Area window, the files are
inserted at the end of the FILES.BBS for the area they are
dropped on.
You can also rearrange the items in a window by selecting
them, then dragging them and dropping them where you want them
to be.
Many of you have asked about this one...To delete one or more
items from a FILES.BBS window; highlight the items you want
deleted, then drag them to the shredder object and delete
them. Or, alternatively you can use the 'Remove Items' option
on the context menu.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--- Known Problems -----------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In a system as configurable as OS/2 there are always going to
be problems, this section is devoted to those problems and in
some cases work-arounds. If you are having trouble with
MaxFile/PM this is the first place to look to see if you can
find some help.
--- FILEIDX.EXE --------------------------------------------------------------
Lora-BBS File index maintenance utility
Make sure that you specify the files IDX file that you
want rebuilt in the Main Settings dialog box. For example:
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
File Database Utility ³ E:\LORA\FILEIDX E:\LORA\FILES.IDX ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
MaxFile/PM will take care of the rest. (The "AREA .. .. .."
part.)
--- CONTAINER DISPLAY CORRUPTION ---------------------------------------------
Moving vertical separator bar messes up highlighting
The Service Pack for OS/2 2.1 screwed up the way the
highlighting is handled when the vertical separator bar is
moved. I didn't it break folks, IBM did.
--- VIEW AND TEST DIALOG LOCKUPS ---------------------------------------------
Archive Statistics Dialog comes up as a grey window
When run under 2.11 the View and Test functions lock up
after opening more than one window. I have NOT been able
to reproduce this under 2.10, so I don't even know where
to begin to look. I have made several modifications to the
code, hopefully one of them fixed the problem. :-( [06 Jun
1994] This *HAS* been fixed!!
--- MAXFMPM.INI CORRUPTION ---------------------------------------------------
MAXFMPM.INI gets trashed if a REXX script bombs out and won't
quit.
Always keep a backup of your MAXFMPM.INI file someplace
safe. I need specific examples of scripts that I can use to
recreate the problem. I'm not sure what is causing it, but I
am looking.
The key to safety is to BACKUP before you start a new script
and try to debug it to get it to work.
--- LAUNCH PAD SHREDDER WON'T SHRED MY FILES --------------------------------
Create a shadow of your shredder object on the desktop and drag
the items you want deleted to it or use Remove Items from the
context menu in a FILES.BBS window.
--- MOVING ITEMS -------------------------------------------------------------
Moving items up in a FILES.BBS window more than one window at a
time can be a major chore. Here's a simple work around:
1) Select the item(s) at the bottom of the window you want to
move.
2) Move up into the list approximately where you want them to go.
3) Hold down the CTRL key and click on an item to highlight it
along with the other item(s).
4) Select one of the Sort options off the Context Menu.
NOTE: This only works for moving items towards the TOP of your
FILES.BBS.
--- DOS ARCHIVERS NOT WORKING ------------------------------------------------
The following is the results of a lot of head scratching on my
part for about the 30th time, not it is documented.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Area: OS2BBS
Date : Dec 23 '94, 23:31
From : Craig Morrison 1:201/60.0
To : Rick Cooke
Subj : MaxFile/PM 1.24
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Following up a message from Craig Morrison to Rick Cooke:
RC> Robert Jung. My arj version is 2.41a also by Robert Jung.
RC> can you suggest an alternative, as neither one works.
CM> I just did some checking.. :-(
CM> Somehow I've broken the DOS archiver support, I'll be
CM> damned if I know what I did to break it but sure enough it's
CM> hosed.
CM> This WILL be fixed ASAP, hopefully by the time you read
CM> this message..
After some more testing, make sure that in the AUTOEXEC.BAT for your
DOS sessions you have the directory that your DOS archivers are in
listed in the PATH statement. The DOS archiver support is _NOT_ broken
in MaxFile/PM.
I just got done testing MaxFile/PM with ARJ 2.41a and the following
settings:
Extract ARJ x -y
Add ARJ a -r -y
List ARJ l -y
Test ARJ t -y
All functions operated normally.
It did NOT work until I remembered I had to reinstall OS/2 because of
a drive failure and that I had forgotten to add my Utilities directory
to the DOS PATH statement in my AUTOEXEC.BAT. Once I added the directory
to the path ARJ/PKZIP/PKUNZIP et al magically started functioning
correctly.
Good luck! :-)
See ya,
Craig
cam@wpc.cioe.com
--- timEd/2 1.00
* Origin: Workplace Connection * (317) 742-2680 (1:201/60)
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