Directory Enhancer v1.41
Copyright (C) 1991
By Philip Maland
Released: 02/13/91



This program is Shareware. Directory Enhancer and the accompanying
documentation are copyrighted material. You may copy and distribute DE for
NONCOMMERCIAL use if:

- Directory Enhancer and its documentation are distributed together.

- It is not modified in any way.

If you like Directory Enhancer and wish to continue using it after a 20
day "Trial Period", a registration fee of $5 must be sent to the author.
Considering the amount of time put into this program, I feel $5 is fair price
to ask. If you think that it is too much, please send me a note telling me
what you think it is worth.


By registering, you are entitled to full support of the product, meaning
phone, mail, or E-Mail questions, comments, and concerns will all be answered.
By sending $10 or more, you will receive, when available, the next version of
the Directory Enhancer program and documentation on disk. Registrations are
valid for the current major version (1.x). Each major release requires
re-registration (2.x, 3.x, etc.).

All registrations should be sent to: Philip Maland
13511 51st Ave. W.
Edmonds, WA 98026

Directory Enhancer is designed to make MS-DOS more "user friendly". It
does this by adding color to the otherwise bland DOS screen, highlighting
files and directories, so you can quickly find the files you are looking for.
It also shows the total size of all files in the directory.
Directory Enhancer is a TSR (Terminate and Stay Resident) program, meaning
you run it once, usually in your AUTOEXEC.BAT, and it remains active until you
shut the machine off, reboot, or tell Directory Enhancer to remove itself from
memory. Directory Enhancer takes only 1.3k of your precious 640k, so other
programs won't even know it's there. It can also safely be loaded into high
memory with programs like QEMM and 386max.


- HOW TO USE DIRECTORY ENHANCER -

Usage: DE extension [extension...] [/H] [/S(m)] [/U]
Switches: /H Brings up Directory Enhancer's help screens
/S Selects the setup menu
/U Uninstalls Directory Enhancer


There are two ways to install Directory Enhancer. One method is to
specify the extensions you want highlighted on the command line. The other
method is to use the configuration menu to match the extensions with the
colors you wish to use, and save this configuration to disk.

To specify the extensions on the command line, the following rules must
be obeyed: The extensions can be in any case, and must be separated by
a space; Extensions MUST be 3 characters long, and blanks must be filled in
with periods (".").

EXAMPLE: C:\> DE me. Exe C.. BAT

Directories can be highlighted by specifying "!!!" as an extension.


- USING THE SETUP MENU -

Usage: DE /S[m]

Running Directory Enhancer with the /S switch brings up the Setup menu.
Use the arrow keys to move the highlight bar, and press Enter to select the
highlighted option, or simply press the first letter of any option. The
menu options are explained below:

CHANGE SETUP - This option allows you to visually match the extensions you
want highlighted with a specific color. You can then save this setup to disk,
or update the TSR portion of Directory Enhancer in memory with this setup
(if it has been installed).
Using the arrow keys, move the highlight bar next to a color you like,
and type in the 3 character extension you want to be highlighted in that
color. That's it! Do this for all of the extensions you wish. When you are
finished, hitting the ESC key will take you back to the menu.

SAVE SETUP TO DISK - This option takes the list of extensions you have
chosen, and saves them to the file DE.COM. This setup can be loaded by
running Directory Enhancer with no switches or extensions on the command line.


UPDATE DE IN MEMORY - If Directory Enhancer isn't installed, this option
will not do anything. If it has been loaded, this will update the in-memory
copy of Directory Enhancer, so that is uses the setup you have just selected.
Unless you save the setup to disk, it will be lost when you reboot the
computer, or shut the machine off.

TOGGLE FULL SCREEN - This option will toggle the status of the full
screen opening when Directory Enhancer is installed. When off, it will only
display a simple 3 line notice that it has been installed.

EXIT - Self explanatory. Pressing ESC will also select this option. If
you have made changes to the setup, it will ask you if you wish to save the
setup to disk. Respond accordingly.

When you run Directory Enhancer with the /S switch, it fills in the list
of extensions and colors in the window with the setup saved on disk. If no
setup has been saved, it will be blank. If you specify the /SM switch, the
window will be filled with the extensions from the TSR portion of Directory
Enhancer in memory (if it has been loaded).
If it has not been loaded into memory, the extensions will be filled in
from the disk instead.


- USING THE HELP SCREENS -

Running Directory Enhancer with the /H switch brings up the help screens.
To scroll through them, use the PgUp and PgDn keys. From any help screen,
pressing 'S' will take you immediately to the Setup menu, and pressing 'U'
will uninstall Directory Enhancer from memory. Press ESC at any time to
exit back to DOS.


- MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION -

Directory Enhancer is written totally in assembly language for speed and
size. I sincerely hope you enjoy this program. Any suggestions, from
registered or non-registered users, will be seriously considered, and credit
given to the person if it is implemented. If you send in an idea that gets
added to the program, I will send you a copy of the version which includes
your suggestion.

Here are my suggested settings for Directory Enhancer (the ones I use):

C:\> DE ZIP DOC COM SYS IMG EXE ... ASM TXT BAT PAS GIF BAK SCR


- REVISION NOTES -

Version 1.1 - Released June 7, 1990. This version fixes most (if not
all) of the bugs reported to me by users.

- Fixed compatibility problem with Denon CD-ROM device
driver.

- When filtering or piping the directory to a file,
Directory Enhancer would display all of the filenames
in a blast of color on one line. This is fixed, although
I suggest using the /P switch instead of the |MORE filter,
since DE won't work with MORE.COM.

- Due to a bug in my logic, some things would randomly be
highlighted like a directory. This is fixed.

- Thanks to the people on the 80xxx Echo of FidoNet, this
version takes about 300 bytes less memory, and should
solve most compatibility problems that were present in
version 1.0.


Version 1.2 - Released June 27, 1990. More bugs fixed.

- DOS v4.xx displayed things to the screen differently than
all previous versions of DOS, so the directory size never
got displayed. This is fixed.

- DOS v2.xx doesn't initialize the 2Fh interrupt which is
how I check for re-installation, so the machine would lock
up immediatly after running DE. This is also fixed.

- Fixed a problem with machines not using ANSI.SYS. When the
filename was highlighted, it highlighted too much text on
the screen.

- Fixed a bug with CGA cards. After a screenful of filenames,
DE would start double spacing everything.

- Due to poor programming, occasionally "0 bytes in directory"
would show up. This has been fixed.




Version 1.3 - Released 10/05/90. Compatibility problems fixed.

- Thanks to Dave Angel, Directory Enhancer now works in any
screen resolution (132x50, 80x60, etc). I still have had
problems with the Paradise VGA Plus card although.

- DOS v5.0 is different enough from DOS v4.01 that I had to
make a few modifications to Directory Enhancer, so it
should work fine when v5.0 is released.

- All problems with NetWare have been fixed. You must load
Directory Enhancer AFTER you load the NetWare Shell in
order for it to work correctly.

- The author has moved. Please note new address and phone
number.

Version 1.31 - Released 10/15/90. Compatibility problem fixed.

- Directory Enhancer was reported to be incompatible with
Roger Cross' HyperDisk. I believe this has been fixed.


Version 1.4 - Released 01/31/91. New feature.

- Due to a few requests, I have added the option of having
Directory Enhancer display a full screen status screen
when loaded, or merely display 3 lines saying that DE
has been installed. To switch between the two, run
Directory Enhancer with the /S switch, and choose the
"Toggle Full Screen" option. The box in the top right
corner of the screen will reflect the current setting.
Choose the "Save Setup to disk" option to make it
permanent.

- I recieved a copy of "The Zen of Assembler" for Christmas,
and highly recommend it to anyone who does any assembly
language programming. It has many good ideas on how you
can speed up your assembly code, and teaches you all about
how the 8088 works, like the Pre-Fetch Queue, and DRAM
refresh, etc. I have put some of this knowledge into
making Directory Enhancer faster, and slightly smaller.




Version 1.41 - Released 02/13/91. Bugs fixed.

- The full screen toggle option didn't work right when
you specified the extensions on the command line.

- In older versions of DOS, at the end of the directory
DOS would get an Insufficient Disk Space error, and print
that message. It didn't cause any problems, but needed
fixing.

- I did some more optimization of the code. I have shaved
off about 100 bytes from the resident code. It should
be a bit faster, but you probably won't notice the speed
difference.









- COMPATIBILITY NOTES -

This is a list of conditions that are incompatible with Directory Enhancer
version 1.41.

- Due to 4DOS' and DR-DOS' methods of printing the directory to the
screen, Directory Enhancer won't work with them.

- When using the |MORE filter, Directory Enhancer will not color the
filenames, due to the way MORE.COM prints to the screen. Use the /P
switch instead.

- If you have a color monitor and a monochrome monitor, Directory
Enhancer will only work on the screen that is active when it is
installed.

- Under DOS v5.0 when using the DIR/W command, filenames will not be
highlighted. The format for DIR/W has changed significantly, so a
new method of coloring the names will have to be developed. This
will be fixed when DOS v5.0 is officially released. Note: DIR without
the /W switch will work fine.


- VERSION 2.0 PLANS -

This is a list of enhancements planned for v2.0. If there are things not
on the list that you would like to see included, please let me know.

- Allow up to 255 extensions to be specified.

- Let multiple extensions have the same color (all .DOC and .TXT files
could be colored bright green, etc.)

- Redone interface, possibly a separate configuration program.

- Possibly display the status of the Read-Only and Archive bit for each
file in the directory.

- Command line switch to shut off the full screen status when loaded.
(implemented in v1.4)

- Automatic loading into XMS (BIG maybe...)

- DR-DOS and 4DOS compatiblity if anybody requests it.


- REACHING THE AUTHOR -

I can be reached at any of the places listed below:

Philip Maland
13511 51st Ave. W.
Edmonds, WA 98026
(206) 745-6713

GEnie: L.MALAND

CompuServe: 72020,3626

ProVision BBS
(206) 353-6966


- CREDITS -

I wish to thank Jerry Breen, of Lynnwood, WA for all his help, comments,
suggestions, beta testing, encouragement, etc, etc... Thank you very much!