The File Catalog Version 1.3 May 1993 Written in GFA Basic 3.5e by Randy Hoekstra This version may be freely distributed in it's unaltered form with this document included. All Commercial Rights Reserved * Changes for Version 1.3 (05/93): - Added Disk Name to top of file list. Disk name can be clicked on to change the name. - Added Copy, Move, and Show to a new file dialog with Rename and Delete when a file is selected from the main file list window. - Commands from the file dialog will automatically update the new file list in memory (ie when a file is deleted it's entry will be removed from the new file list that is currently in memory). - Added the ability to have a 30 character comment line following the file info. This comment can be edited by selecting a button from the file dialog. Comments are transferred from the old file list to the new file list when a delta is run. - Added menu command to add new file list to an archive file containing multiple file lists from various disks. If disk name is found in the archive file, you will have the option to replace the existing file list or add the file list to the end of file. - Added key commands to jump to the next/previous sub- directory entry in the currently displayed list. (right/left arrow respectively) - Optimized the way the new file list is read into memory, speeding up the operation and reducing the amount of disk accessing required. * Changes for Version 1.2 (02/93): - Fixed a bug seen when selecting list to display (Window) - Various code clean-up and enhancement - Added a point and click to RENAME/DELETE file. Any filename displayed on the screen can be clicked on to bring up a RENAME/DELETE Alert. An alert will indicate if a selected file does not exist on the drive (when choosing from the old file list or the delta list) and the RENAME/DELETE alert will not be presented. - Added a SEARCH FOR FILE command to allow searching of any list for a given string of characters. - Added a DO ALL command that will load the old list, generate a new list, and perform a delta all in one. - Added keyboard equivalents for nearly all menu commands. * Changes for Version 1.1 (12/92): - Window redraws are handled correctly with ACCs. - The selected drive is initialized to the drive the program was run from instead of drive A. - Drives that do not exist are disabled from the menu. ------------------------------------------------------------ The File Catalog is a simple utility that keeps track of the files on a disk or hard drive partition and allows you to monitor changes to your files. The program reads in all the files on a disk or partition and stores them in a file. Later, a new list can be generated and the old and new lists can be automatically compared to see what has changed. The 'delta' of the old and new file lists will show all files that have been deleted, added, or changed (size or date). It can not detect files that have been changed without a change in size or change in the date stamp. I have been using this program for awhile to help manage hard disk back-ups. By finding out what has changed since the last back-up, I can decide what files need to be backed up and what files need to be deleted before a tape back up. Since recently upgrading to GFA Basic 3.5e and joining GEnie, I thought I would tidy it up a bit and make it available in the public domain. I have attempted to make the program compatible with monochrome and color monitors, but I only have a Mega ST and do not know how it will perform on an STe or TT. If you have problems running The File Catalog using one of these machines, please let me know and I will try to fix it. I also plan to continue enhancing the program as time permits. If you have any suggestions for enhancements, new features, or whatever, I would love to hear them. I would also like to hear about any bugs, and will do my best to correct them as soon as possible. For any of the above, or to just let me know you're using the program, you can contact me at the following: Randy Hoekstra 3414 Norwood Circle Richardson, Texas 75082 GEnie: R.Hoekstra1 Using The File Catalog: ----------------------- For a quick start, run the program, select the desired drive under the DRIVE menu, and select GENERATE FILE LIST under the DO menu. This will bring up a list of current files on the selected drive. The SAVE NEW LIST under the FILE menu should then be used to save the list to the selected drive. Not much else to do now but go about your normal business of computer using. After changes have been made to the files on the drive, you can return to The File Catalog, load in the old list (LOAD OLD LIST under FILE), generate a new list (GENERATE FILE LIST under DO), and then see what has changed (DELTA OLD & NEW under DO). Or, all of the above can be accomplished by selecting DO ALL under the DO menu. The File Catalog can also be used to search for a file on a given disk or hard drive partition. Using the SEARCH FOR FILE command under the WINDOW menu, you can enter any character string up to 12 characters in length to search for. The search routine will find any occurrence of the string at any position within the searched text (search for PRG will find any file that ends in .PRG or contains PRG somewhere within the filename). File maintenance can also be performed by generating a new file list and then selecting (clicking with left mouse button) any displayed file to copy, move, rename, or delete the file. A dialog will be presented with the options and and a chance to cancel the command. The program is very simple to use and should be fairly intuitive from the Menus. The following brief overview of the menu commands should get you going. FILE ==== Load Old List ^L: Once a file list has been generated and saved ----------------- to disk, this command can be used to load that list back into memory. The old file list must be loaded before a delta can done between the old and new. Save New List ^N: This command is used to save the current ----------------- (new) file list to disk. The command can only be selected after the GENERATE FILE LIST command is used to create a new file list. You must initially generate a file list and save it to disk in order to have a list of files that can be compared to a new list at a latter date. Append to Archive: Selecting this command will bring up a ------------------ file selector and allow you to choose an existing archive file or type in a new file name. If it is a new file, the current new file list in memory will be saved to this file. If it is an existing archive file, that file will be searched to see if the disk name of the new file list in memory already exists in the archive file. If no match is found, then the new file list will be added to the end of the archive file. If a disk name match is found, you will be given the option to replace the existing file list in the archive file, skip the existing file list and continue searching, or cancel the command. If continue is selected, the search will resume until another match is found or the end of file is reached. If the end of file is reached, the new file list will be added to the end of the archive file. This command can only be used when there is a new file list in memory. If there is not, a dialog will be presented with an indication that the command can not be performed. Delete File: This command can be used to delete any file ------------ using the standard file selector to choose the file to be deleted. You will be prompted to verify the delete before it is performed. Print Window: This command will print only the visable ------------- contents of the currently selected window. Print Entire List: This command will print the entire list ------------------ of files in the currently selected window. Quit ^Q: This will terminate execution of the program after -------- prompting you to save the new file list if it has been generated but not saved. DRIVE ===== This menu list is used to select the drive on which all other operations will be performed. When a new drive is selected, the current file lists are cleared from memory. DO == Generate File List ^G: This command reads in all the files on ---------------------- the currently selected drive. The file list generated must be saved to disk using the SAVE NEW LIST command if it is to be used at a latter date as the old list. Delta Old & New ^D: This command compares the old and new file ------------------- lists and generates a list of changes. Changes include files added, files deleted, files changed, folders added, and folders deleted. In order to perform this delta, an old file list must be loaded and a new file list generated. This command will also copy any file comments from the old file list to the new file list, where they can be edited or saved with the new file list. Do All ^A: This command will perform the three most common ---------- commands used in The File Catalog (Load Old List, Generate File List, and Delta Old & New) all in one. See the description of these three commands for details on what each one does. Upon completion, the delta list will be displayed. WINDOW ====== Old File List, New File List, Delta List, Show File: ---------------------------------------------------- Use this menu to select the file list to display in the widow. The active display will be shown with a check mark to the left of the file list name. The window can display either the old file list, new file list, the delta list, or the show file. Search for File ^S: This command will search any list for a ------------------- string of characters up to 12 chars in length. The search routine will find any occurrence of the string at any position within the searched text (search for PRG will find any file that ends in .PRG or contains PRG somewhere within the filename). The search will begin at the top of the list and the first occurrence found will then become the top of the displayed list. Each time this command is selected, the search will begin at the top of the list. Search Again ^R: Once the above command has been executed, ---------------- this command will be available to search for the next occurrence of the search string starting at the last found position. This command can be used to search for multiple occurrences through the entire file. KEY COMMANDS: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In addition to the keyboard equivalents for the above menu commands, the following key commands are available. - UP/DOWN ARROW: Use the arrow keys to scroll the display. - SHIFT+UP/DOWN ARROW: This will scroll a page at a time. - RIGHT/LEFT ARROW: This will cause the display to jump to the next/previous sub-directory entry, respectively. - CLR/HOME: This will move the display to the top of the current file list. EXTRAS: ~~~~~~~ - Any file in any list displayed on the screen can be selected with the left mouse button to bring up a file dialog allowing the file to be copied, moved, renamed, deleted, or shown in the show file window. An alert will indicate if a selected file does not exist on the drive (when choosing from the old file list or the delta list) and the file dialog will not be presented. - The disk name at the top of the list can be selected to bring up a dialog allowing the disk name to be changed. This will use the standard disk name format, or if you use NEODESK it will use the 21 character format used by NEODESK. (NEODESK is a trademark of Gribnif Software) That's all there is to it. Like I said, it's pretty simple. I find it useful for general file maintenance on my hard drive and maybe you will too. If you have any questions, suggestions, or whatever, please contact me at the addresses above. Thanks for allowing me to occupy your disk space. In the PipeLine: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I have some other ideas rumbling around in the noggin, so I will probably have a next version before too long. What I don't know is which idea to implement first. If you have a preference (or some ideas of your own), let me know and I will probably do that one first. My current list of ideas is as follows: - Disk info command to show number of files and bytes. - Directory Tree display to show only the folders. - Options to display only the file info desired (size, date, etc) and to sort by size, date, etc. - Show file command from the menu. - Implement the file info button in the file dialog and allow changing the file attributes (hidden file, archive bit, etc) from the file info dialog. - Command to set a default archive path and allow a file to be copied to that path with a control click. This would allow new files in the delta list to be quickly copied to an archive disk. - Implement some type of compression for the new file list saved to disk. A Final Note: ------------- Although I don't consider this program to be of shareware quality yet, I am hoping to get it there someday. I am not requesting any shareware fees, but I would be happy to accept any donations to further my programming efforts. Of course, any donations would be applied to shareware fees if and when I decided to release a shareware version. In any case, don't let the fear of shareware fees keep you from providing me feedback. I love to hear any new ideas from users or just to know the program is being used. Thanks, Randy