E
A Directory Viewing Utility
Copyright 1990, Rob Greenberg
All rights reserved.



Topics

Purpose.....................................2

Features....................................2

System Requirements.........................2

A Note about Shareware......................3

How to use E................................4

Explanations................................5

Examples....................................5

Understanding the Display...................6

Disclaimer..................................7

Modification History........................7

Registration/Order Form.....................8


Page 2
Purpose:


To provide a way to get organized, lightning-fast directory displays,
with a minimum of keystrokes, and a minimum of bother.

I think this program fulfills these goals. In any case, it is very
small (about 20K), simple to use (it doesn't have dozens of silly
options to wade through), and it only has to be configured once.

I wrote it after I realized HOW OFTEN I got directory displays, and I
soon became addicted to using it. I think that if you try it for a
while, you'll like it, too.




Features:


- FAST! directory displays.
- A balanced, color-sorted 4-column display.
- Easy, one-time configuration via environment variables.
- Automatic support (and use) of 43, 50, and 60 line EGA/VGA modes.
- Full Desqview/Windows background window compatibility.
- Intelligent filename processing that cuts your keystrokes in half!
- Source code availability.
- Optional sort by extension (great for programmers!)
- Optional TURBO mode for the greatest possible speed!
- Optional output to any device/file.
- Completely customizable screen colors.
- Responds gracefully to system errors (printer not online, etc.)
- Network compatibility.




System Requirements:


DOS 2.0 or higher.
60K of free memory.

E has been tested and performed well on various monochrome cards, EGA,
and VGA systems. It might "snow" a bit on some early CGA cards, but
otherwise it will work well. If enough CGA users register their copy
and scream about the snow, I'll fix this in a future release.

E works well on floppy disks, hard disks (including ones with strange
partitions), and unlike many other directory programs, it works well
with networks. (It doesn't mind 500 mb volumes, or 1200 files in one
directory).


Page 3
A Note about Shareware:


E, like many other fine programs, is shareware. If you use this
software, please register it!

You are welcome to distribute E wherever you like, but PLEASE
distribute all of the files (E.EXE, E.DOC, REGISTER.E) together
in the same package. (IE, distribute only the original E10.ZIP or
E10.ARC, not individual files).

Please support the shareware concept by registering this software.
Donations of any amount are greatly appreciated.

Donations of $15 or more will receive the latest version of E on
a 5" disk, as well as other fine programs:

o E/286 for 286 & 386 computers. A little smaller & faster.
o Turbo C source code allowing you to create your own TSR's!
o An invisible, resident keystroke monitoring/logging utility.
o An 'answering machine' utility that will log incoming calls
to a file so you can see when people called. You must have
a modem for this to work.




Complete, well documented Turbo C and assembler source code
for E is available on disk for donations of $40 or more.




*PLEASE* include the accompanying agreement! (in REGISTER.E, or
at the end of this file).

If you have questions or comments about this program, you can
reach me via electronic mail on:

Exec-PC or ISU ACS BBS

(414) 789-4210 (309) 438-7370
or 888-4409

Page 4
How to Use E:

(Brackets [] indicate optional items)

E ? (Display the help screen)

*or*


E [Drive][Filespec] [Switch] [Switch] [Switch]

where:

[Drive] The drive to view.
[Filespec] Display only files that match this file specification.
Partial filespecs can be given, and E will supply the
rest of the name!

Switches:

/E[-] /E sorts by extension.
/E- stops the sort by extension.

/C[-] /C clears the screen first. This is a bit faster.
/C- doesn't clear the screen first.

/Wpathname Writes the directory display to a file.


In addition, options can be set in environment variables:

SET E=/E Sort by extension.
SET E=/C- Doesn't clear the screen first.
SET E=/T Use TURBO mode.

(To use more than 1 option: SET E=/E /C-)

To set colors for Titles, Normal files, Directories, Hidden files,
Statistics information, and when Clearing the screen:

To set foreground colors:
SET E-COLOR-F= /Tx /Nx /Dx /Hx /Sx /Cx x can be 0-9, A-F

To set background colors:
SET E-COLOR-B= /Tx /Nx /Dx /Hx /Sx /Cx x can be 0-7

Available Colors:

0 = Black 3 = Cyan 6 = Brown 9 = L. Blue C = L. Red
1 = Blue 4 = Red 7 = L. Gray A = L. Green D = L. Magenta
2 = Green 5 = Magenta 8 = D. Gray B = L. Cyan E = Yellow
F = White


Command line options override environment options, so if you've
SET E=/E and you don't want the items sorted by extension this
one time, you can do an E /e- and they will sort normally.

Page 5
Explanations:


The /E and /C- environment variables operate similarly to the command
line options. (But once set in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file, they never have
to be entered again).

The /T environment variable determines whether TURBO mode will be used.
When TURBO mode is on, E will attempt to gather its allocation
information using a very speedy method that eliminates DOS' 3-10 second
delay (on slow machines) while it calculates free space on a hard disk.
(You usually see this at the end of a DIR command when you first access
that drive).

TURBO mode is mainly of use to XT's and slower AT's. The problem is
less severe on faster machines, and hardly noticeable on 386's.

Because TURBO mode uses a different method to gather its allocation
information, the total amount of disk space and the amount free are
not available and cannot be displayed.

TURBO mode may not work with ramdisks, disks using partioning software,
and some network drives. If TURBO mode cannot be used, E will gather
its allocation information using conventional methods and proceed
normally.


Examples:


Typing: Yields:

E A display similar to a DIR *.*

NOTE: If there is enough room on the display,
detailed information on each file will be
shown. Otherwise you will get a 4 column
abbreviated display.

E DB A display of all files in the current directory
that start with the letters DB. (DBASE, etc.)

E D: Displays a directory of drive D.

E D:*.com Displays all files on drive D that have COM
extensions.

E D:\DOS\COMMAND.* Displays all files in drive D's DOS directory
that start with the name COMMAND.

E /wB:OUT Writes the output from the current directory
to a file called OUT on drive B.

Page 6
Understanding the Display:


E will always show directories first in the listing. The default
color is cyan (on a color monitor), or highlighted on a monochrome
monitor. (All colors can be changed using environment options).

Hidden files appear next in the listing. They default to red and
are also highlighted on a monochrome monitor.

Then all other files appear. If E has been told to sort by extension,
files will be sorted by extension and then alphabetically. Normal
files default to green.

Files that have their read-only attribute set will appear with an
inverse R after their file size.

System and archive attributes are ignored.

Note that the size is the amount of space that DOS allocates to
each particular file. When detailed information is given (there is
enough room to fit all of the files on the screen), the space
actually used is given in addition to the amount of space allocated.

All file sizes are abbreviated with a K (units of 1024 bytes) or M
(millions of bytes).

E will work hard to make sure that the inverse R and file size are
always clear. If a file is ever large enough (5 digits) to "run into"
the extension (to the left in the display), E will highlight the size.
If the file is already highlighted (due to you setting the color), the
size will be displayed with no highlighting.

Page 7
Disclaimer:


E has been thoroughly tested and works flawlessly on a variety of
systems. However, no warranty or liability in any form or manner
is implied or suggested.

In other words, if your computer bursts into flames after running E,
I'm not responsible.

Those of you that are concerned about viruses, check that your
distribution files match the following, and you are guaranteed to have
virus-free software:


PKZIP 1.02 shows:

Length Method Size Ratio Date Time CRC-32 Attr Name
------ ------ ----- ----- ---- ---- ------ ---- ----
20285 Implode 13085 36% 02-01-90 00:00 ad29ad0e --w E.EXE


ARC (TM) 5.12 shows:

Name Length Stowage SF Size now Date Time CRC
============ ======== ======== ==== ======== ========= ====== ====
E.EXE 20285 Squeezed 11% 18203 1 Feb 90 0:00a 992D



Modification History:


Release 1.0 on 2/01/90. Initial release.

Page 8
Registration/Order Form:
------------------------


Please send me the software that I have checked below. Enclosed is
my generous contribution of $___.

**************************************************************************
* *
* I agree not to redistribute any of this software in any way, manner, *
* or form. This includes giving it to friends. *
* *
* I understand that if I'm sent source code, I can alter it any way that *
* I like, but I can't redistribute the source code or any resulting *
* executable code. *
* *
* Signed: ____________________________ *
**************************************************************************



O -- Enclosed is my contribution.



O -- Enclosed is my contribution of $15 or more.
Please send me the latest copy of E and the other programs you
mentioned. I have signed the agreement above.


O -- Enclosed is my contribution of $40 or more.
Please send me all of the above stuff plus the complete source
code to E. I have signed the agreement above.


My name and address are: (PRINT carefully)







Please send this form to:

Rob Greenberg
26C Broadway Village Dr.
Columbia, MO 65201

Thank you for your support!