FCATENG.TXT : Description of file and archive catalog package Release 11A, Feb 14, 2000 J.R. Ferguson, Amsterdam e-mail: j.r.ferguson @ iname.com web : http://hello.to/ferguson (download the latest version from here) CONTENTS -------- 0. ABOUT THIS PACKAGE 1. FILE SUMMARY 2. INSTALLATION 3. WHAT IS A FILE CATALOG ? 4. WHAT IS AN ARCHIVE CATALOG ? 5. INTERACTIVE PROCESSING 6. BATCH PROCESSING OF FILE CATALOGS 6.1 Loading and maintaining file catalogs 6.2 Viewing file catalogs 6.3 Merging two or more file catalogs 7. BATCH PROCESSING OF ARCHIVE CATALOGS 7.1 Loading and maintaining archive catalogs 7.2 Viewing archive catalogs 7.3 Merging two or more archive catalogs 8. TOOLS 8.1 ACAUX.COM 8.2 CHKCMD.EXE 8.3 LBRLST.COM 9. HISTORY 0. ABOUT THIS PACKAGE --------------------- The software described here (see: 'FILE SUMMARY') may be used and copied without charge, but only for non-commercial purposes. I use it myself and I think it is useful, therefore I published it as freeware. I can not give you any guarantee, however, that it will do what you expect it to do and I can not be held responsible for any damage that may be caused by the use of this software. Your remarks and suggestions are welcome (see e-mail address above) but I cannot guarantee support in case you experience problems. The separate programs have their own version numbers (x.x). The total package has its own release number and is distributed as FCATnn.ZIP, where nn is the release number (i.e. FCAT01.ZIP, FCAT02.ZIP, etc.). I urgently request you to keep the package unaltered, in case you want to re-distribute it. Of course you can repackage .ZIP to .ARJ or someting else, and you may add Sysop notes. In the 'HISTORY' chapter of this document you will find some remarks on previous releases. 1. FILE SUMMARY --------------- ACAF BAT Search all catalogs, starting with archive catalogs ACAFIND EXE Search a specific archive catalog ACAMERGE EXE Merge two or more archive catalogs ACAU BAT Update an archive catalog ACAUB BAT Example: Update archive catalog C:\BACKUP.ACA ACAUM BAT Example: Update archive catalog C:\MASTER.ACA ACAUPD EXE (used by ACAU.BAT) ACAUPD DAT Description of archive listing formats for ACAUPD.EXE ACAUPD TXT Description of ACAUPD.EXE and ACAUPD.DAT ACAUPDB BAT (used by ACAU.BAT) ACAUPDB2 BAT (used by ACAU.BAT) ACAUX COM (used by CATVIEWV.EXE) CATF BAT Search all catalogs, starting with file catalogs CATFIND EXE Search a specific file catalog CATMERGE EXE Merge two or more archive catalogs CATUB BAT Example: Update file catalog C:\BACKUP.CAT CATUM BAT Example: Update file catalog C:\MASTER.CAT CATUPD EXE Update a file catalog CATVIEW BAT Batchfile to start CATVIEWV.EXE via RTMRES.EXE CATVIEWD EXE Alternative for CATVIEWV.EXE (DOS real mode) CATVIEWV EXE View and maintain file and archive catalogs interactively CHKCMD EXE (used by ACAU.BAT) DPMI16BI OVL (used by CATVIEWV.EXE) FCATENG TXT General description, English FCATNL TXT General description, Dutch LBRLST COM (used by ACAU.BAT) RTMRES EXE (used by CATVIEW.BAT) RTM EXE (used by CATVIEWV.EXE) 2. INSTALLATION --------------- Copy all files except FCATENG.TXT, FCATNL.TXT and ACAUPD.TXT to a directory in your DOS path. If you want to, you can copy the .BAT files to a separate directory, as long as it is in your DOS path as well. If you want to maintain an archive catalog, programs like ARJ and PKUNZIP, needed to produced a member listing of the archives, must be available in your DOS path as well. You may have to change the contents of file ACAUPD.DAT with a text editor. This textfile describes the listing formats produced by the archive utilities you use. More information on this topic can be found in ACAUPD.TXT. You only need one of the files CATVIEWD.EXE (DOS real mode) and CATVIEWV.EXE (DOS protected mode). More information on this topic can be found in the chapter 'INTERACTIVE PROCESSING'. 3. WAT IS A FILE CATALOG ? -------------------------- A file catalog is a file that holds information about location, size, date and time of files. The information is grouped by directory path within disk name (volume label). With the disk names also goes information about the total capacity of that volume in kilobytes as well as the number of kilobytes available. To create a file catalog you will have to provide a unique name (volume label) to your hard disk and each of the diskettes you want cataloged. The best way to do this is to use a name that includes a serial number. I myself use volume labels of the format xxxxxxxxAnn, where xxxxxxxx A meaningful name of 8 characters, using trailing '-' characters if needed (these could be spaces as well). A A one-letter code for the type of data on the disk (for instance D=data, S=source, W=work). nn A serial number, consisting of digits and/or letters. Of course you can use another scheme. The essential thing is that each disk name is unique, i.e. you must not use the same name for more than one disk. A file catalog can be maintained and viewed interactively with a menu-oriented program, but you can also use DOS commands, optionally called from .BAT files. You can even mix both methods, which are described in more detail later in this text. 4. WAT IS AN ARCHIVE CATALOG ? ------------------------------ An archive catalog is a file that holds information about the contents of archives, holding one or more compressed files as members. To maintain the archive catalog, you use the appropriate 'archivers' like ARJ and PKZIP (or PKUNZIP) to get a member listing. At this moment the following archive formats are supported: type program ---- ------- ARC PKARC v3.5 and PKPAK v3.61 ARJ ARJ v2.21 and v2.41 LBR PCLU (of LU) by T. Jennings (15 Jan 84) LZH LHA v2.1 PAK PAK v2.51 RAR RAR v1.55 and 2.00 ZIP PKZIP v2.04g and 2.50 When you use an archiver not listed here you will have to update the textfiles ACAU.BAT and/or ACAUPD.DAT with a text editor. The format of ACAUPD.DAT is described in a separate textfile named ACAUPD.TXT. If, now or in the future, you use another version of one of the archivers, you can also edit ACAUPD.DAT to describe the new listing format. In most cases this won't even be neccessary. The method chosen here is very flexible and takes into account that you may use other archivers in the future. There are, however, two important restrictions: - The names of the archive files must be unique within an archive catalog. So, if you have two files with the name PASLIB.ARJ, only one can be cataloged in the same archive catalog, even if they are on different disks and/or directories. You can, however, catalog them in different archive catalogs. - The inclusion of subdirectories within archive files is not supported. So you cannot save information about tree structures in the .ARJ, .ZIP and other archive files. 5. INTERACTIVE PROCESSING ------------------------- CATVIEWV.EXE and CATVIEWD.EXE are menu-oriented programs that allow you to interactively view and maintain the contents of both file and archive catalogs. Although there is not much on-line help text available, I think the use is fairly intuitive. CATVIEWV.EXE has been compiled as a Protected Mode program that uses extended or expanded memory if that is available. It needs a computer with at least an Intel 80286 or compatible CPU. The program uses the Borland DPMI (Dos Protected Mode Interface) server (RTM.EXE and DPMI16BI.OVL). If you get a DPMI error message when you execute CATVIEWV.EXE from the DOS prompt, this probably means there is a conflict with another memory manager that is active in your system. Normally this problem is solved by using the command CATVIEW in stead of CATVIEWV. This starts CATVIEW.BAT, which loads CATVIEWV.EXE via Borland's RTMRES.EXE. CATVIEWD.EXE is functionally identical to CATVIEWV.EXE, but was compiled as a plain DOS program that doesn't use Protected Mode. For that reason it can be used on a computer with an Intel 8086, 8088 or 80186 CPU as well. This program however can not use any expanded or extended memory. So, which of the programs described above do you have to use? - Use CATVIEWD.EXE if your computer doesn't have an Intel 80286 CPU or compatible. In that case you will not need the files CATVIEWV.EXE, CATVIEW.BAT, RTM.EXE, DPMI16BI.OVL and RTMRES.EXE. You may encounter memory problems if you use big catalogs, however. You can see for yoursef how much memory is left by choosing the 'Memory Usage' option from the 'Help' menu. - Use CATVIEWV.EXE if you have extended or expanded memory. This program uses that memory so you can maintain much bigger catalogs. You must have an Intel 80286, 80386 or higher though, or some other processor that is compatible with it. In this case you will not need the files CATVIEWD.EXE, CATVIEW.BAT and RTMRES.EXE. - Use CATBIEW.BAT if the conditions needed for using CATVIEWV.EXE are satisfied, but you get an error message when you start it directly. All three versions can be run under MS-Windows as well. The first time you start the program, you will only see a menu and a status line. By choosing 'File catalog' or 'Archive Catalog' from the 'File' menu you can open one or more catalogs. These can be both existing or new catalogs. When leaving the program the catalog names are saved, together with some more information, in a 'setting file' named CATVIEWV.CVS or CATVIEWD.CVS by default (CVS is an abbrevation of CatView Settings). The next time you start CATVIEWV.EXE or CATVIEWD.EXE, the catalogs are automatically re-opened. The setting file is saved in the same directory as the .EXE file, or in a directory that is named in the DOS environment variable SETTING. So, if you want your settings to be saved in a separate directory, include the line 'SET SETTING=dirpath' in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file, substituting the directory path of your choice for 'dirpath' (for instance 'SET SETTING=C:\SETTING'). It is possible to work with several setting files by using the menu option 'Options|Save As' and 'Options|Restore from'. When starting the program, you can tell it what setting file to use by means of the command parameter '/Ssettingfile' or '/settingfile'. Examples: CATVIEW /SBACKUPS.CVS CATVIEW /BACKUPS.CVS CATVIEW /MASTER.CVS When a catalog file is opened, not all of its contents is loaded into memory, but only the list that is shown to you. Whenever you look at details or update the catalog, it is re-opened and closed afterwards. For this reason there is no need to 'save' changes. All saving is done automatically. For the same reason, however, the program must always be able to reach the catalog file. 6. BATCH PROCESSING OF FILE CATALOGS ------------------------------------ 6.1 Loading and maintaining file catalogs You can use the command CATUPD and/or batch files like CATUB.BAT and CATUM.BAT to initially fill a file catalog, and later to maintain it whenever the contents of a cataloged directory has changed. You can also do this on a regular base, for instance after making a backup of your hard disk. The syntax of the command CATUPD is as follows: CATUPD [dirpath [...]] [option [...]] Options: /D Delete: delete specified directories from catalog /E Empty : delete empty directories from catalog /F[catfile] Use the specified file catalog /S Process subdirectories as well Default: dirpath Current directory catfile C:\MASTER.CAT Examples: CATUPD Update C:\MASTER.CAT with the current directory information CATUPD /E Same a above, but delete the directory from the catalog if it is empty CATUPD /D Delete the current directory from the catalog CATUPD /D /S Same as above, but also delete all subdirectory entries CATUPD A: Update C:\MASTER.CAT with the information from the current directory of A: CATUPD A:\ /S Update C:\MASTER.CAT with the information from all directories of A: CATUPD A:\ /S /E Same as above, but remove information about empty directories CATUPD C:\DOS /Ftest.cat Update TEST.CAT with the information from directory C:\DOS The command 'CATUPD /?' provides you with a short usage summary. The batchfiles CATUB.BAT and CATUM.BAT serve as examples to show how you can easily maintain different file catalogs. With CATUB.BAT you maintain the catalog C:\BACKUP.CAT, with CATUM.BAT you maintain C:\MASTER.CAT. Examples: CATUB A:\ Update C:\BACKUP.CAT with information from directory A:\ CATUM C:\DOS Update C:\MASTER.CAT with information from directory C:\DOS 6.2 Viewing file catalogs Use CATFIND.EXE or CATF.BAT from the DOS prompt. The syntax for the commando CATFIND is: CATFIND filespec [/Fcatfile] [>outfile] Option : /Fcatfile : Search in file catalog default catfile = C:\MASTER.CAT Examples: CATFIND AUTOEXEC.BAT CATFIND CAT*.* The command 'CATFIND /?' provides you with a short usage summary. 6.3 Merging two or more file catalogs With CATMERGE.EXE you can merge the contents of two or more file catalogs into a single catalog. The command 'CATMERGE /?' provides you with a short usage summary. 7. BATCH PROCESSING OF ARCHIVE CATALOGS --------------------------------------- 7.1 Loading and maintaining archive catalogs You can use the batch file ACAU.BAT and/or batch files like ACAUB.BAT and ACAUM.BAT to initially fill an archive catalog, and later to maintain it whenever the contents of a cataloged archive file has changed. The syntax of the commando ACAU is: ACAU filespec [typ [acafile]] filespec = archive file(s) you want the members cataloged of. Wildcards * and ? are permitted typ = archive file type: ARC,ARJ,LBR,LZH,PAK or ZIP (default ZIP) acafile = archive catalogus file. Default is C:\MASTER.ACA Examples: ACAU A:FOO.ZIP ZIP ACAU *.ARJ ARJ The batchfiles ACAUB.BAT and ACAUM.BAT serve as examples to show how you can easily maintain different archive catalogs. With ACAUB.BAT you maintain the catalog C:\BACKUP.ACA, with CATUM.BAT you maintain MASTER.CA. Examples: ACAUM A:FOO.ZIP ZIP is the same as ACAU A:FOO.ZIP ZIP C:\MASTER.ACA ACAUB A:*.ARJ ARJ is the same as ACAU A:*.ARJ ARJ C:\BACKUP.ACA The batchfiles mentioned here all use the program ACAUPD.EXE and the file ACAUPD.DAT that goes with it. These are disussed is a separate textfile named ACAUPD.TXT. 7.2 Viewing archive catalogs You may use ACAFIND.BAT, ACAF.BAT and CATF.BAT from the DOS prompt. The command syntax for program ACAFIND is: ACAFIND filemask [archmask] [/Fcatfile] [>outfile] filemask and archmask may contain * and/or ? windcard characters Option: /Fcatfile Search the archive catalog 'catfile'. Default catfile = C:\MASTER.ACA Examples: ACAFIND ???LIB.PAS /FC:\BACKUP.ACA ACAFIND *.* BATCH.ARC The command 'ACAFIND /?' provides you with a short usage summary. 7.3 Merging two or more archive catalogs With ACAMERGE.EXE you can merge the contents of two or more archive catalogs into a single catalog. The command 'ACAMERGE /?' provides you with a short usage summary. 8. TOOLS -------- 8.1 ACAUX.COM ACAUX.COM is used by CATVIEWV.EXE and CATVIEWD.EXE to start the batchfile ACAU.BAT when you update an archive catalog (menu option 'Edit|Add/Update'). Apart from that, ACAUX.COM issues the message 'Press any key to continue...' afterwards, so you are can read any error messages, should they be there. 8.2 LBRLST LBRLST is there to start PCLU in a way that the batch file ACAU.BAT can process. With PCLU you can access .LBR files, an (ancient) library format used often with the CP/M operating system. PCLU itself is not distributed with this package (neither is PAK, ARJ, PKZIP, etc.) but it used to be available in public domain. 8.3 CHKCMD CHKCMD is used in ACAU.BAT to check if the neccessary command files are present. The command 'CKKCMD /?' provides you with a short usage summary. 9. HISTORY ---------- 2000-02-14: FCAT11A FCAT*.TXT - Changed author's Web address 1999-04-15: FCAT11 CATVIEWx.EXE - File dialogs: directories first, times in 24 hour format. - Directory lists: ordered alphabetically. ACAUPD.DAT - Added PKZIP/PKUNZIP 2.50 and RAR/UNRAR 2.00 formats. ACAUPD.EXE - Added support for SkpCol/SkpTxt in ACAUPD.DAT. 1998-07-30: FCAT10 CATVIEWD.EXE - Recompiled with patched CRT unit to prevent runtime error 200 with fast CPU's. CATVIEWV.EXE - Same as above. 1996-11-13: FCAT09 FCATNL.TXT - Replaces FCAT.TXT. Added author's e-mail and www address. FCATENG.TXT - New: English version of FCATNL.TXT. ACAUPD.DAT - Correction LZH format. 1996-09-28: FCAT08 ACAUPD.EXE - Support for '/D catfile' apart from '/Dcatfile'. - Scan ZIP listing improved (occasional column bias). 1995-12-26: FCAT07 ACAUPD.DAT - Fix: ZIP and LZH format was no longer recognized. - Support for ARJ v2.50. ACAUPD.EXE - String comparision in ACAUPD.BAT no longer case sensitive 1995-12-25: FCAT06 ACAUPD.DAT - Support for RAR v1.55 and UNRAR v1.05. CATVIEWV.EXE - Added Ins 'button' on status line. 1995-07-26: FCAT05 CATVIEWV.EXE - Fix: list position after add/update archive catalog. 1995-07-05: FCAT04 CATVIEWV.EXE - Ability to use different setting files. - Added type field in add/update archive catalog dialog. 1995-01-07: FCAT03 CATVIEWV.EXE - New menu option: 'File|Change directory'. - Add/Update archive catalog searches ACAUX.COM in DOS Path - After 'abort' Add/Update or Delete, delte the .$$$ file. 1995-01-05: FCAT02 ACAUPD.DAT - Correction Lister for PKUNZIP - Correction LenCol=01 for PKZIP/PKUNZIP v2.04g ACAUPD.EXE - Option /H: new - Option /D: added echo of deleted entries CATVIEWV.EXE - New menu option: 'Window|Previous Window' 'Edit|Add/Update' 'Options|Archive files' 'Help|Memory usage' - New with 'Delete dir': option 'Delete empty directories only' - 'Abort' option added for lengthy operations. 1994-12-03: FCAT01 First release to Public Domain