******** DOXDOS.200 ******** (c)1987, Wilson Van Alst [76576,2735] ---------- INTRODUCTION ---------- DOXDOS is designed for people who work a lot with document files and the TDD. It's intended to complement and improve TS-DOS from Traveling Software. Although TS-DOS is a capable program, it requires a lot of memory -- about 5K in its "full" version. It also lacks the ability to perform multiple operations on multiple files. DOXDOS offers those features, and it saves memory by using just the 2.7K "resident" portion of TS-DOS. With the "resident" portion installed (see your TS-DOS manual), you can get rid of DOS200.CO. You do not need to keep it in RAM -- or on the disks you are working with. ---------- RUNNING DOXDOS.200 ---------- Here's the fun part. You'll see a screen that displays: --time and date --an indication that you are looking at RAM or 0: (disk) files --a list of those files --and the amount of free memory You also see a new set of function keys: <1> ALT: To toggle the display between RAM and disk. <2> NAME: To rename files on either device. <3> LPT: To PRINT selected files, starting each new document on a fresh page. <4> KILL: To KILL selected files, in RAM or on disk. <5> XFER: To TRANSFER selected files from RAM to disk or vice-versa. This is done in the "Append" mode (see NOTES). . <6> P&K: To combine <3> an <4>. PRINTs and KILLs the group of files you select. <7> X&K: To combine <3> and <5>. TRANSFERS selected files, then KILLS them from the memory they were in originally. <8> MENU: To re-set MAXFILES to 1 and return to the main menu. ---------- TRANSFER, PRINT, AND/OR KILL: ---------- Easy. Whe you hit one of the F-Keys above, you are prompted for a list of files. Type the names *without* a .DO extension. The file FRED.DO is entered simply as FRED -- followed by the key. After the last entry, hit again, and the computer does the rest. When processing has finished, DOXDOS returns to its main display. A 'beep' from DOXDOS while it's busy means one of two things: it can't locate a file you've selected, or it has run out of memory in the device yo're writing to. In the former case, the program continues, and will advise you later of the file(s) not found. If you've run out of memory, the program stops and indicates which file was not fully transferred. If you have mis-typed the name of a file, or if a transfer aborted because you ran out of memory, you return to the main display with a list of the entries not processed shown in reverse video. (To see how this works, try to < KILL> a couple of non-existent files.) In the case of a failure due to insufficient memory, the will be incomplete. If you're moving a disk file to RAM, the "new" file will hold as much of the original as memory permits. Going the other way, the transfer simply will not "take." In either case, the original file will not be killed, even if you selected . The function (including ) works in 'append' mode. For an explanation and instructions on modifying this, see NOTES. When you select the or optios, DOXDOS sends a top-of-form command to your printer at the end of every file -- so that each new file begins on a new page. See NOTES if you don't want this feature, or if you printer doesn't recognize CHR$(12) as a top-of-form. ---------- NAME: ---------- The key at the main display produces a prompt of "Name,As?" You respond by typing the original name, a comma, and the new name, followed by < ENTER>. As in other parts of DOXDOS, the names must NOT have a .DO extension. If you forget to enter the comma and new file name before pressing , you will see a "??" printed below the original prompt. It messes up the display temporarily, but does no harm. Simply type the new file name and < ENTER>, and the file will be given a new title. A caution on renaming disk files: you need 3K of free RAM in the T200 (a TS- DOS requirement). There is no such requirement for renaming RAM files. The rename feature is, frankly, a tack-on to the main program. It is not error-trapped. If you try to rename a file that doesn't exist, or if you attempt to rename a disk file without sufficient free RAM, DOXDOS will go bananas, and you'll have to RUN the program from scratch. No changes are made, however, to existing files or directories. ---------- NOTES ---------- For its size, this program does a lot. There was a temptation to make it do more (to kill and/or transfer .BA and .CO files, for example), but I decided the memory trade-off wasn't worth it. (The power of DOXDOS lies in its ability to process groups of files; I find that I seldom deal with BASIC or .CO files that way.) On the other hand, DOXDOS could be shorter and still retain its principal functions. For those who want to squeeze, I'd suggest eliminating the rename feature, the time-display, the 'RAM:/O:' indicator, and the various reverse- video display enhancements. If you never make typo's, the error-trapping routine could be eliminated as well. With those changes, the size of the program is reduced from about 670 bytes to less than 500 bytes. If you don't want the top-of-form feature when you print, you can eliminate line 18 of DOXDOS. That will require one other change: in line 18 "THEN18" should become "THEN19". Finally, the function in DOXDOS works in the 'Append' mode. Let's say you're transferring a file called FROG.DO from RAM to TDD. If there is no file by that name on the disk, the file is created. But if you already have FROG.DO on disk, the contents of FROG.DO in RAM are added to the bottom of the disk file. The alternative: near the end of line 15, change the word 'APPEND' to 'OUTPUT'. Then the file FROG.DO in RAM would replace (i.e., overwrite and destroy) the existing FROG.DO on disk. Questions? Changes you'd like to see? Leave a message on the SIG. Wilson Van Alst [76576,2735]