Documentation for HotDIR Plus 7.3 (User-Supported Version)

Thank you for obtaining the User-Supported Version (i.e. Shareware)
version of HotDIR Plus 7.3 for DOS. HotDIR Plus is distributed under the
User-Supported Software method. You get to try the program before
you buy it to make sure that it meets your needs. How many times have you
bought an expensive PC software package at your local software store only
to find out it won't work like you wanted it to, or that it was a dud? Well no
more! You are free to try HotDIR Plus 7.3 for up to 30 days from the date
you received it. If after using it you decide you would like to keep using it,
you are required to register your copy. See the file REGISTER.DOC for
the registration form. If you do not register HotDIR Plus after 30 days you
must erase it from your PC and stop using it.

HotDIR Plus 7.3 is copyrighted (c) 1993 by Robert Woeger. All rights reserved.
Unauthorized sale or use is forbidden by law. Shareware dealers, businesses,

BBS's, user groups, and individuals may distribute copies of this program so
long as:

1) No fee is charged for the program (other than a modest disk
duplication fee not to exceed $8). CD-ROM shareware disks
may re-distribute as long as they make it clear that the
program is shareware, and not being sold by them.

2) You distribute the entire HotDIR Plus software package to include
unmodified versions of HDIRPLUS.EXE, HDIRCNFG.EXE, HDIRPLUS.DOC,
and REGISTER.DOC. You MAY NOT distribute modified or partial versions
of this software.

3) You must pay for this program if you use it longer than the 30 day
trial period. This is NOT crippled in any way. It is the full version.

For more information about HotDIR Plus or to register write to:

Old Colorado Information Services
2423 Hagerman St.
Colorado Springs, CO 80904 U.S.A. Phone (719) 471-8306


HotDIR was the first and in my opinion the best color sorted directory
utility. I originally released version 1.0 back in early 1987, followed
by the "famous" HotDIR 2.1. Due to the change with hard disks larger than
33 MB in DOS 4 and DOS 5, I rewrote HotDIR from scratch and relased the
HotDIR Plus 7.0 series. HotDIR Plus 7.0 and 7.1 were only released to a
few people as beta versions and the first MAJOR release of HotDIR Plus was
version 7.2. Version 7.2 was released in October 1992 and is a huge success.
It has even been featured on a disk in the back of the book "DOS 6 Secrets" by
Bob Ainsbury published by IDG Publishing. This release (version 7.3) is being
released in June 1993 as an enhancement release which adds several new features
and options to HotDIR Plus. Please note that starting with version 7.3 there
will no longer be two separate HotDIR Plus versions (shareware & registered
versions). There will only be one version, which may be distributed as
shareware and used by registered users also. The reason I had two versions
before was to nudge people to register, but in an effort to reduce the amount
of disks I send out, I will now only have one version produced. You can still
order HotDIR Plus with or without a disk. The disk version costs $5 more,
and you will get the latest version. Thanks for all your suggestions...
keep them coming so HotDIR Plus can be improved even more.

All current registered users of previous versions of HotDIR Plus may use
this new version 7.3 without paying any upgrade fee. HotDIR Plus does NOT
charge its registered users when upgrades come out.


*** New features added in 7.3 ***

1) Volume label is now displayed for the disk you are doing a
directory of. It is displayed at the top near the path. Many users
missed the volume label that Version 2.1 displayed, it is now back.

2) Path now shows the true path instead of just '*.*'. Some users
wanted this to help them on their HDIRPLUS printouts to remember
what they were looking at. Path has been totally reworked.

3) OS/2 users will now be able to pause HotDIR Plus at the end of its
display to help prevent the screen from being erased when run in a
OS/2 session window. OS/2 users asked for this.

4) Will support HPFS under OS/2, but will only display files that
conform to the 8.3 DOS standard filename convention.

5) The number of customizeable color extensions has been increased
from 12 to 20. This will give you plenty of room to customize HotDIR
Plus to your favorite file extensions/colors.

6) Now you can display just directories and files without extensions.
Run HDIRPLUS *. to get just directories and files without extensions.
Also the ????????. and various ?,*, ., and .. combinations have been
enhanced to work together. Also you can now search for just matching
filenames without extensions (i.e. HDIRPLUS A*. will only serach for
files with no extension and beginning with A, HDIRPLUS A* will still
search for all files beginning with A and any extension).

7) HotDIR Plus now shows file sizes in Megabytes (Megs) if the file is
bigger than 10 Megabytes in size. If smaller than 10 Meg, bytes are
still used. This was added to keep the formatting nice. Before files
bigger than 10 MB broke the formatting and column alignment.

8) HotDIR Plus has been optimized for speed. This version is faster
than version 7.2, especially when it comes to screen I/O.



HotDIR Plus is a color sorted directory utility. HotDIR Plus is unique in
that it was the first to display files by color (based on what extension they
were). It has options to sort your files in many different ways, and list
them left to right or up and down, plus in 1, 2, 4, or 6 column format.
I believe that once you've tried HotDIR you'll be hooked. Your files will
"pop out" at you, and that is how the "Hot" in HotDIR came about. I
originally wrote HotDIR for a friend of mine, Dr. John German, to help him
see the different files by type (extensions) easier. He said, "that's Hot"!
and I soon released the original HotDIR 1.0 to the world. I got such an
enthusiastic response from HotDIR that I wrote HotDIR Plus. I hope you
enjoy using it as much as we do.

Feel free to rename HDIRPLUS.EXE to any file name you like. A lot of
people rename it to H.EXE or D.EXE. Just be sure to add it to the PATH
statement so DOS can find it. Also when configuring HDIRPLUS be sure to
specify the exact name of the HDIRPLUS.EXE file (or whatever you renamed it
to). I got many frantic calls from users who got an file not found error
message when they ran HDIRCNFG and didn't supply the name of HDIRPLUS.EXE.


Type: HDIRPLUS /h to get the help screen.

All commands are described on the help screen and appear as a forward
slash followed by a letter of the option. You may use multiple commands
when you invoke HDIRPLUS:

Format: HDIRPLUS [path] [filespec] [/option] [/option] ...

Examples are:

HDIRPLUS \os2\system /c /2

This will display a 2 column directory format and clear the screen
first. It will display all files in directory \os2\system.

HDIRPLUS

This will display all files in the default drive/directory and use the
predefined options. Default or those modified through HDIRCNFG.EXE.

HDIRPLUS /R

Information about registering your copy of HotDIR Plus.

HDIRPLUS /h

List of all commands available for HotDIR Plus.

HDIRPLUS a: /p

Display directory of A: drive and toggle Pause at end of screen mode.

HDIRPLUS /p >prn

Sends HotDIR Plus' output to the printer without page pauses.
You can send output to a file by placing >filename instead of >prn.

HDIRPLUS \junk /u

Displays all files in the directory \junk on the default drive while
it toggles the up/down and left/right display option for filenames

HDIRPLUS /O /H

Displays the help screen when running in an OS/2 session window. Note
that the /O must proceed the /H and /R options or else it is ignored
and the text will scroll right off the screen. You can permanently set
the OS/2 pause at end of program switch and need not worry about
putting the /O switch on the command line.



Summary
-------

Commands used by HotDIR Plus:

/H - displays on-line help screen
/R - displays information on how to register your copy

/N - No sort (unsorted raw file directory)
/F - Filename sort (factory default)
/E - Sort by extension
/D - Sort by date (oldest to newest files)
/S - sort by file size

/1 - 1 column display format
/2 - 2 column display format
/4 - 4 column display format (factory default)
/6 - 6 column display format

/C - toggles Clear screen at beginning of directory display
/P - Pause at end of screen toggle
/U - Up/Down file sort/display toggle - alternate is left to right display

/O - OS/2 pause at end of display (for running under OS/2 sessions)

This summarizes the command switches for HotDIR Plus.


A program named HDIRCNFG.EXE is included to give you greater flexibility
and control over the permanent HotDIR Plus settings. The above commands
are great for overriding the default settings, but when you want to
permanently change the colors used by HotDIR Plus, sort options, column
displayed, etc. use HDIRCNFG to change HDIRPLUS.EXE. HDIRCNFG.EXE
modifies the HDIRPLUS.EXE program itself and writes the changes inside the
HotDIR Plus program. This was done to keep from having a separate
configuration file for HotDIR Plus floating around. Due to a programming
error on my part HotDIR Plus 7.1 was clobbered whenever the HDIRCNFG program
was run and the options saved. This has now been fixed, but I encourage
you to make a backup copy of HDIRPLUS.EXE before running the HDIRCNFG utility.
Version 7.1 was a limited distribution beta version, but somehow got out to
almost every BBS and CD-ROM known to man. Version 7.2 was very stable and I
have not had any bug reports or problems from it.

Simply run HDIRCNFG and it will prompt you to change each setting. If you
make a mistake just do not save the changes, exit HDIRCNFG, and rerun.

If you want to remove an extension name and color, simply overwrite the
extension name with another extension and color. If you want to just disable
one extension make sure you use blanks for the extension name. Make sure
you move the other extensions forward and make the blank extension the last
in the list. Otherwise the blank extension will cause HotDIR Plus to stop
searching for other colors and extensions that are after a blank entry.

HDIRCNFG is very versatile and powerful, but I recommend you get familiar
with HDIRPLUS first before you change options. Most every option is able to
be changed through HDIRCNFG.EXE. If you want to temporarily override an
option use a command switch when invoking HotDIR Plus. Also you can change
the number of lines to display per screen with HDIRCNFG. This is very useful
for EGA & VGA monitors when in 43 or 50 line per screen mode.

HDIRCNFG uses standard BASIC COLOR command color numbers. It is recommended
that you use colors between 0 and 15. 16-31 are blinking versions of the
lower 0-15 colors. The most common colors numbers are:

0 Black
1 Blue
2 Green
3 Cyan
4 Red
5 Magenta
6 Yellow
7 White
8 Gray
9 Light blue
10 Light green
11 Light cyan
12 Light red
13 Light magenta
14 Hi intensity yellow
15 Hi intensity white


There are some self imposed limits with HotDIR Plus which are:

No more than 1,000 files per subdirectory. This is a reasonable number
of files, and it helps keep HotDIR's sort and data areas to a reasonable size.

No more than 20 different customized file extension colors at one time. This
is a reasonable number that keeps HotDIR Plus from spending too much time
sorting through a large number of files.

Through the new feature to display files larger than 10 Megabytes in Megs
rather than in bytes, you can accomodate files up to 999 Megs without breaking
the display and column formatting. If you do have a file larger than
999 Megs, then you will still see the size in Megs, but the formatting on
that line will be a space off. I doubt anyone will have a file > 999 Megs,
but I made it sufficiently large just in case.


HotDIR Plus has been tested under all version of DOS up to and including 6.0,
OS/2, and Windows NT. It should work with all later version of the above
operating systems also.

We do not offer OS/2 or Windows/Windows NT specific versions of HotDIR Plus at
the current time. Due to Windows and OS/2's graphical nature a text based DIR
replacement such as HotDIR Plus is not often needed. HotDIR Plus will run
happily as a DOS mode application under these operating systems. We have
added and extra option for users running under OS/2. You can set the switch
manually (/O) each time you run HotDIR Plus or permanently with the HDIRCNFG
utility. The /O option causes HotDIR Plus to pause the screen until a key is
hit when it is done. This allows for OS/2 users to see HotDIR Plus' display
when it is run from an OS/2 session (non-DOS session), instead of it flashing
off the screen and returning back to the OS/2 prompt.


*** This is not free software! You are granted a limited non-exclusive
license to use this software (HDIRPLUS.EXE and HDIRCNFG.EXE) for a trial
period of no longer than 30 days. If after that time you have not paid for
the right to use the program from the author, you must STOP using it. You are
free to distribute unmodified copies of the entire Shareware version of HotDIR
Plus to others, but in no way may you charge any fee for HotDIR Plus other
than a modest disk duplication fee not to exceed $8. This documentation file
and the REGISTER.DOC file MUST be distributed unmodified with HDIRPLUS.EXE
and HDIRCNFG.EXE. Registration is described by the REGISTER.DOC file and
by the HDIRPLUS /R command. The author, Robert Woeger, makes no warranties
or guarantees of any kind regarding this software. This software is
distributed "AS IS" and the author will not be liable for any damages from use
or misuse of the software. ***

HotDIR Plus is $15 and comes with technical support from the author, notices
of upgrades, and a software license showing you are a registered user.

For $20 you get a disk with the latest version also.

If you would like to order a site license (multiple copies of HotDIR Plus) for
use at your business, school, or home, the fee is very low for extra copies.
It costs only $5.00 per extra copy you register after you have paid for the
first copy at regular price. See REGISTER.DOC for an order form with more
site license information. Or you may call 1-719-471-8306 for more
information.

Send registration payments directly to the author:

Old Colorado Information Services
2423 Hagerman St.
Colorado Springs, CO 80904-3228 (719) 471-8306
U.S.A.

Note the company name is new, but the author is the same (Robert Woeger).

Write or call for info about site licenses, volume discounts, and repackaging
HotDIR Plus with your software.


Special Note to Compuserve Users:
---------------------------------
You may optionally register for $20 HotDIR Plus through Compuserve's
Shareware Registration Service (GO SWREG) and using registration ID #364 for
HotDIR Plus for DOS. Your Compuserve account will be billed $20 and they will
forward your order to me. For this $20 fee I will also send you a disk with
latest version of HotDIR Plus on it. This is available in the U.S. and for
foreign orders (same price). Sorry, but you can not order the "registration only"
version of HotDIR Plus 7.3 through Compuserve for $15. You can only order the
$20 package that includes the registration and the disk.


Credit Card Orders Now Accepted:
------------------------------
You may now register HotDIR Plus by phone with your credit card. We have
contracted with the Public software Library (Houston, TX) to do our credit
card orders for us. They can take ORDERS ONLY and can not provide technical
suppport. You can order by calling 1-800-242-4775, or from outside the U.S.
by calling 1-713-524-6394. When you call, tell them you want to order HotDIR
Plus (product # 10850). They charge $25 ($20 for HotDIR Plus with disk, plus
$5 shipping/order processing charge). Your order is electronically forwarded
to us immediately. They can only accept orders with a disk (the same as
Compuserve). If you would like to order the Non-Disk Version or want a site
license for HotDIR Plus you must order directly through the mail with us.
We can only accept credit card orders through your calling the number above,
not through the mail. Thank you.


Note to Shareware Vendors:
--------------------------
You are free to distribute the complete HotDIR Plus package as long as you
distribute unmodified copies and the complete package, and you only charge a
disk duplication fee of less than $8. CD-ROM vendors may distribute HotDIR
Plus as long as the purchaser knows that HotDIR Plus is Shareware.

Enjoy! - Robert Woeger, Author of HotDIR Plus