DC - Directory Control
Version 1.03d
by Peter Esherick

Contact via: Albuquerque PC Users' Group or
Albuquerque RBBS, 296-7672, John Maio, sysop
Midnight Express 836-9576, Terry Stein, sysop
Surya 294-9601, Paramjeet Singh, sysop


Command DC
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Purpose: To allow selective copying, moving, deleting and browsing
of files displayed in a directory listing.

Format: DC [d:][source-path] [d:][dest-path] [/O,N,E,D,or S][/F]

Remarks:
This program is closely based on the CO and DR programs, both written
by Michael J. Mefford and published in PC Magazine, vol.6, #17 and #21,
1987. I have combined features from these two programs and also added a
number of new features of my own. This program is released into the
public domain, as is, with no warranties of any kind. I will be happy to
supply source code to any interested party, with the request that if you
make any significant changes, modifications, or improvements that you
please share these changes, preferably in source code form, with me and
the rest of the PC user community.

Usage notes:
The source and destination directory pathnames are both optional.
Options, specified by a "/" followed by a letter, may appear either before
or after the pathnames. The options are as follows:

/N Sort directory by filename
/E Sort directory by extension
/D Sort directory by date and time
/S Sort directory by file size
/O Use original order, i.e. do not sort directory at all.
/F Display only filenames, no sub-directories.

DC comes up displaying the "source" or "working" directory. A brief
menu of optional commands is displayed to the right of the directory
dispaly. You may move up and down the directory list with the up and down
arrow keys on the cursor keypad. Files may be individually copied,
deleted, moved or renamed by pressing the function keys F1 through F4,
respectively. Alternatively, a number of files may be selected, or
"marked" using the grey + and - keys on the right side of the keypad.
After marking, pressing the appropriated function key will apply the
chosen operation to the entire group of files.

Different directories can be displayed in two ways. One is to press
the F9 function key and enter a new drive and path name. Alternatively,
if you want to move to different sub-directories on the same drive, you
can simply press the "Enter" key after using the up or down arrow keys to
high-light the desired subdirectory. Note that as always within DOS, ".."
denotes the parent of a given subdirectory, i.e. the level above the
currently displayed directory.

Just as pressing Enter lets you view a new directory, pressing Enter
when a filename is highlighted lets you view the contents of the file. In
the default mode the display is wrapped at the edge of the screen if a
line is more than 80 characters wide. This option can be toggled by
pressing W. Display of non-ascii characters can be toggled with the Ascii
and Blank options by pressing A or B. In Ascii mode only strings of 5 or
more normal ascii characters (including tab or space) are displayed. This
is useful for viewing the messages conatained in an .EXE or .COM file.
With the Blank option, non-ascii characters are replaced with a blank or
space. A final option, "*", masks the high-order bit of non-ascii
characters to make wordstar files readable.


Key by key summary of commands:

Esc Exit program and return to original directory.

Alt-Q Exit program leaving the currently displayed dir as the
current default drive and directory for DOS.

Grey + Mark current file entry, if not a subdirectory or hidden
file, and advance cursor to next line.

Grey - Remove mark on current file, and advance cursor to next line.

The following functions operate on the marked files, if any, otherwise
they operate on the currently highlighted file, provided it is not a
sub-directory entry. If the operation is successful the mark is
replaced with an asterix (*), if unsuccessful the file is passed over,
leaving the mark, and the program proceeds on to the next marked file.

F1 Copy file(s) via a read/write sequence to requested target

F2 Delete file(s) after asking for confirmation.

F3 Move file(s), ie Copy to requested target, delete source.
Where possible this function is performed using an across
directory rename instead of a file read/write sequence.

F4 Rename file(s) or within the currently displayed directory.

F5 Clear all marks

F6 Mark all remaining files, ie those not marked with an "*".

F7 Swap marked and unmarked files.

The following three functions change the active source and dest
directories:

F8 Swap the Working Directory (source) and the Default
Destination Directory

F9 Prompt for a new Working (source) Directory

F10 Prompt for a new Default Destination Directory

The directory can be re-sorted by typing:

Alt-N Sort by filename
Alt-E Sort by file extension (eg .COM vs .DOC)
Alt-D Sort by date and time
Alt-S Sort by file size
Alt-O Re-read and display dir in original, unsorted order

Additional commands not appearing in the menu:

Alt F1 Protected copy - bypass filenamess that already exist on target

Alt R Re-read working directory. Required after changing diskettes
in a floppy-disk drive.


View Mode commands:

Alt W Toggle word wrap/horizontal scroll
Alt A Toggle Ascii string display
Alt B Toggle blanking of non-Ascii characters
* Toggle wordstar bit mask (shift non-ascii high-order
characters (from 128 to 255) down into the displayable
ascii range of 1 to 127.

Revision history:
DC version 1.03 - April 6, 1988
Add Rename for directories
Automatically re-read dir with Alt-O original order sort
More work on error recovery - write protected target

DC version 1.02 - March 14, 1988
Added Alt-F1 "Protected Copy" function.
Tweaked file view function to save 4 bytes.
Now highlights last sub-dir viewed when returning to parent dir

DC version 1.01 - March 7, 1988
Modified method of handling directory changes
F9 (change work dir) now relative to displayed work dir
Allow specifying both source and dest paths on entry

Earlier versions COD1 through COD9: Dec '87 to Mar. '88
Combined DR and CO,
Added ability to change directories
Added more screen info on bytes free
Added "spedometer" display of marked files, bytes
Added "View" options to
toggle word wrap,
Horizontal scroll
blanking or full suppression of non-ASCII


Features that could be added:

Sub-directory functions like RMDIR and MKDIR on directories
Improved error messages on disk not ready, etc

List options: hex dump a la Buerg's LIST.COM
search/scan for text
display current horizontal scroll position
improve provisions for re-synch in mode toggles