
File Tools			Copyright (C) Moose O'Malley, 
-----------			March 2000.

File Tools for Windows 95, 98, NT, or 2000.
This program will **NOT** run under Windows 3.x
(even with Win32 installed) !!

File Tools provides some very useful functionality :

- Ever wanted to grab the list of files from the current directory ?
- Ever needed to get the long or short directory path from
  the current directory ?
- Ever wanted to stamp all files with the current date and time ?
- Ever been frustrated with virtually unreadable text files from 
  MAC or UNIX environments and wished you could make them readable 
  on your PC ?  (More on this below with examples !).
- Ever needed to convert long file names to short DOS standard (8.3)
  file names or vica versa ?
- Ever needed to test the integrity of a bunch of ZIP files ?
- Ever needed to rename a bunch of files ?
- Ever needed to search and replace the contents of a bunch of files ?
- Ever needed to Word Wrap all lines in a file or remove the 
  word wrapping of lines in a file ?
- Ever needed to change File Access Attributes ?
- And to be able to do all of this at the click of a button ?

If your answer is "Yes" to any of these questions, then
File Tools is most definitely for you !!!

File Tools supports full "Drag & Drop", so you can drag and
drop bunches of files onto File Tools from Windows Explorer.
(File Tools will automatically scan for and remove duplicates !).

Once the program has been run at least once on your computer, 
you can also start File Tools by selecting a file in Windows 
Explorer and right mouse clicking and selecting the "File Tool" 
option from the popup mouse menu.

Developed using 32-bit Delphi.

File Tools for Windows 95 / 98 / NT only.
This program will **NOT** run under Windows 3.x
(even with Win32 installed) !!


Using this Program :
--------------------

To use this program, unzip the contents of the ZIP file to a directory - 
such as c:\filetool - and run the executable file filetool.EXE.

Simply drag and drop files onto File Tools from Windows
Explorer and then click the buttons needed to perform
the particular processing you need.

Once the program has been run at least once on your computer, 
you can also start File Tools by selecting a file in Windows 
Explorer and right mouse clicking and selecting the "File Tool" 
option from the popup mouse menu.

I recommend that you also create a Shortcut to FileTools.EXE 
in the Windows "Send To" folder so that you can select
a bunch of files in Windows Explorer, right-click on them,
select the "Send To" option and then select "File Tools".
This will cause File Tools to load and automatically load 
the list of files you want to work on.

At the moment, when you double click on a file in the list, 
it always loads it into Windows Notepad - regardless of the 
type of file.  It would be much better to kick of WinZIP for 
ZIP files, WORD for DOC files, etc.

In future versions, I will be able to improve on these features.
(Refer to: "The Future" section below.)


UNIX CR Only Text Files - An Example :
----------------------------------------

In the UNIX world, there is only a Carriage Return at the end
of a line of text, but in the DOS / Windows world there is a
Carriage Return and Line Feed at the end of a line of text.

If you ever get a text file from a UNIX system, you will 
quickly recognise it, because it has ugly black boxes in
amongst the text and it isn't formatted right.

For example, it will look like this :

  

With File Tools,

 this text would be readable in a snap !


instead of :
  
  With File Tools,

  this text would be readable in a snap !

Which is how the text looks after File Tools has fixed it !!

Similar problems happen with text files transferred from a MAC.

File Tools will convert the text files from these all MAC and
UNIX sources to once again be readable !!

Converting text files from MAC or UNIX environments makes them
readable.

However, converting all the CRs to CR/LFs in a binary file
(such as an EXE or ZIP or Word DOC or Excel XLS or similar 
file) will cause corruption of the data in this file.

ONLY CONVERT TEXT FILES !!!

NEVER CONVERT BINARY FILES !!!

If you need more information on this, please Email me.


Limitations / Restrictions of the Shareware version :
-----------------------------------------------------

The Shareware version of this program has the following
limitations / restrictions :

- The program will not save its settings on Windows Shutdown,
  but it will still save its settings when you manually exit / 
  close the program - just not when Windows terminates the program.
- A "Shareware" label is displayed in the Menu area of Text Buttons.
- Every now and then a "You have used this program xxx times, 
  Please Register" message will appear on program startup.

To remove all the limitaions of the shareware version,
please Register.


The Future :
------------

In the future, many improvements could be made to this program,
such as :
- Storing the program in the Windows Tray Bar - with the clock, 
  etc.
- Automatically create a File Tools shortcut in the "Send To"
  menu (displayed when you right click on a file in Windows 
  Explorer).
- Tie File Tools in with Windows Explorer, so when you select
  a group of files and right click on them, then File Tools is 
  an option on the popup menu displayed.
  At the moment, File Tool only works with a single file - if you 
  select multiple files and right click, you get multiple copies of
  File Tools running - each with a single file in them - which
  isn't satisfactory.  But, it is the best I could do for now.
- Check of a file is a Text File before allowing it to be
  converted from UNIX (CR) to DOS (CR/LF).  Checking if a file
  is a text file and getting it absolutely correct is not 
  easy - even WinZip gets it wrong somethimes !!
- Add in support for ARJ, TAR, and other types of compressed files.
- Add in functionality to perform Backups.
- Add in functionality to Word Wrap or remove Word Wraps on a 
  text file.  (This will make it much easier to move a text file
  into w WordProcessor document, and vica versa).
- Add in an "Edit / View" Text file option - with support for huge
  text files.  (Bloody Windows Notepad !!)
- Add in smart file handling.  At the moment, when you double click on
  a file in the list, it always loads it into Windows Notepad - 
  regardless of the type of file.  It would be much better to kick
  of WinZIP for ZIP files, WORD for DOC files, etc.
- Command Line mode.
- Anything else ?

If you would like any of these improvements, or would like to
suggest more, please email me and let me know.

How much more work I do on this program depends entirely on
what support I get, how many people use the program, how many
people have registered, etc.


Shareware Reviews / Awards / CDs :
----------------------------------

None so far.


Special Thanks to :
-------------------

The ZIP Testing functionality for this program was mostly supplied by :

        Info-Zip:	http://www.cdrom.com/pub/infozip/
	Delphi Zip:	http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Orchard/8607/

I would like to thanks the developers of these products for making great 
FREE ZIP tools and utilities.


Sharware Information :
----------------------

This is NOT free software.  This product is shareware.  

But, it only costs $5 (FIVE) dollars to buy !

This means that you can try out the software for evaluation 
purposes without charge for a period of 21 days to enable you
to decide whether to purchase / register it.

If you use this software after the 21 day evaluation period
a registration fee is required.  See the Registration Form
in the file register.txt.

Unregistered use of this software after the 21-day evaluation 
period is in violation of U.S. and international copyright laws.

If you do not purchase / register the software after the 21 day
trial period, then you must delete it from your system.

In order to encourage me to develop this software and keep 
developing other software, I encourage you to do the right 
thing and register the software.

I could have easily have made the programs nag you to Register, 
or expire after 21 days of use, but I do not like this approach.

From April 97 on, however, some of the new functionality being 
added to my programs will be available for Registered users only.
I tried to avoid doing this, but now I have been forced to do 
this to try and encourage some Registrations.

I live in the hope that if people use the programs, then they 
will register them.

Registered users will receive FREE upgrades of the program for
the life of the program.  i.e. as long as I keep improving the
program, registered users will get this new / additional 
functionality for FREE.

To Register, please complete the Registration Form in
the file register.txt.


Ammendment History :
--------------------

Vers    Date        Description

1.0  22-Feb-2000    First Public Release.
                    (11,672 lines of code / comments.)

1.1  29-Feb-2000    Save and Load previously used File list to the same
                    directory where File Tool is installed.  Also, if
                    File Tool is run by selecting a file, right mouse 
                    clicking and choosing "File Tool" or the 
                    "Send To ..." menu, then do not load the previously 
                    used file list.  Save the settings INI file in 
                    File Tool's directory, rather that in the Windows' 
                    directory - there's enough crap there already ! ;)
                    (11,676 lines of code / comments.)
                    
1.2  29-Mar-2000    Re-design the user interface - hope you like it !
                    Add in "Restore Factory Defaults" menu option, to restore
                    the size and shape of the application to what it was when 
                    it was originally downloaded.  Add in "Set / Change File 
                    Attributes" functionality.
                    (12,016 lines of code / comments.)

If this program was not downloaded from my Home Page, then
it is possibly an old version.  The latest version of this 
program is available from my WEB page - see below.

Mike "Moose" O'Malley
___________________________________________________________________
 Moose's $5 Shareware & Arcade Emulation Valley - since July, 1996.
 WEB:  http://move.to/moose            Email:  moose@move.to
___________________________________________________________________
