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    DISK CATALOG SYSTEM FOR THE TANDY PDD

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    A disk cataloging system for the Portable Disk Drive, which allows
you to keep track of a number of disks, what files on are on the 
disks, and what the files are.

    The program creates/updates a .DO file containing a listing of the
disk names, (1-10 characters), all files on that disk with their 
lengths (see Note 4), and a description of what the file contains, (1-
30 characters). When updating a disks information, the old file 
descriptions are used automatically, descriptions from identically 
named files on other disks can be used with a single key stroke, or 
automatically.

    This release of the program differs greatly from earlier releases,
DIRLST files from earlier programs need to be converted by running the
program DSKCNV.PDD.

    In addition to the main program DSKL.BA, there is a printer 
listing program DSKLP.BA.

    The programs are fully Basic, no assembly or machine calls are 
used, useable on either Model 100's or 200's.

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Program Usage:

   When you first enter the program, you get a blurb, then a message 
that it is reading the DIRLST file. If there is no DIRLST file, you 
start off with a clean file. (See Note 1). The program then gives you 
the following choices:

     (L)og disk         (O)ptions
     (D)irectory        (F)ree
     (W)rite            (V)iew
     (E)xit

    Whenever the program is doing something which takes time (reading,
writing, etc., "Disky" will appear on the right side of the screen and
jump up and down. It may pause for a second or two, but should be 
animated at least that fast. No activity for 9/10 seconds means your 
stuck.

    Each option is described below:

(L)og disk:

    This is how you enter a disk into the file. The PDD must be on and
connected. This program does no error checking. If you hit BREAK in 
the middle of this program, it may hang the PDD. Just turn it off/on 
to clear it. You will be asked for a name for the disk. This name can 
be from 1 to 10 characters, and is case sensitive. (DISK and disk are 
not the same). If you hit ENTER at this point, you will return to the 
start of the program. A message about reading the disk will appear, 
and you will then be prompted for a description for each new file on 
the disk. If there are no new files, you will simply get a message 
"Updating old disk", and it will return to the program start. If you 
are logging a new disk, or you have a new file on an old disk, a check
is made for any files with the same name on other disks. If there are,
the description for that file is listed, and by hitting ENTER will be 
used for the current file. (Note, if the auto name option is used, the
name is used automatically). If the file name is new for all disks, 
the program will just ask for a description. Hitting ENTER at this 
point will assign the description "*" to the file.

(D)irectory:

    This will list out the directory for the current disk, in case you
aren't sure what is on it, and need to take a look. The file names are
listed to the screen, and the program then waits for any key to be hit
to continue.

(W)rite:

    This option writes out the DIRLST file. If you are not using the 
Auto write option, this allows you to easily write the file out every 
once in a while.

(E)xit:

    This writes out the new DIRLST file, and goes back to the main 
menu.

(O)ptions:

    This takes you to a menu with the user settable options on it. 
Hitting a 0 will return to the top menu of the program, (not the Main 
Menu), while hitting the number of an option will toggle that option 
from yes/no to no/yes. Each option is listed below.

    1)  Auto write

    When this option is on, after each disk log, the DIRLST file is 
written out. This is the same as using the (W)rite option after each 
disk log.

    2)  Auto old name

    When this option is on, if the file name matches a name on another
disk, the description is used automatically. This is most often used 
when transfering a number of files to a different disk, such as 
archiving files.


(F)ree:

    This will list out the current number of disks and files you have,
and the amount of free space left. The program doesn't give you an 
error if you start to run out of space, you just hit an OM error when 
trying to log a disk. Error checking is done however on the number of 
disks, both when logging in a disk, and reading in a file. (See Note 2
).

(V)iew:

    This lists out the current disk names, the update dates, and the 
number of files on each. Just a useful way to be able to check if you 
have updated a disk without exiting and coming back in the program.

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Note 1:

    When first running this program, if there is no DIRLST file, the 
program counters just reset to zero. A file will not be created until 
you exit using the (E) option.

Note 2:

    When reading in a file, if for some reason you are using a 
different version of the program which has a different number of Max 
disks, or you enter some into the file by hand (See Note 3), the file 
will be truncated when read in. If you then save the file out, data 
from the first file will be lost. (Note file output is alphabetical by
disk name).

Note 3:

File structure:

    The file structure of the file is as follows, "<", followed by the
disk name, (ten characters), plus the last updated date, followed by 
the free disk space. Then each file name, a one character separator, 
the file size, a one character descriptor and the description. (The 
separator is ignored, and can be changed if desired, it is SP$ in the 
program [must be 1 character]). This continues until the EOF. If you 
alter this file in any way, the file names must be maintained in 
alphabetical order.

Note 4:

    This version of the program tracks file sizes, and in most cases 
will work. However, since it is in basic, whenever a file size is such
that when it is broken into two bytes, one of them is a decimal 26, 
the file size is not returned. ie., file lengths of 26,282,538..., and
6656-6911. (Decimal 26 is an EOF, and you can't read it in BASIC). 
When this occurs, a file size of -1 will be assigned. This will not 
cause any problems other than being wrong for this file, and 
increasing the disk free space accordingly. Sorry about that, but it's
not too severe a limitation as it only happens once in a while. 
Earlier versions did not even track file size, but it seemed people 
wanted it, so it is included.

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    Any comments/suggestions/etc. would be appreciated.

     Richard Haw
     [71706,334]

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