XLIST

DISK MANAGER

USERS GUIDE

for the

IBM PC/AT



by

GARY W. WOOD


*** READ CAREFULLY BEFORE USING XLIST ***
PROGRAM LICENSE AGREEMENT

XLIST is NOT "Public Domain" and it is NOT "Freeware". XLIST is
a copyrighted software product developed and owned by Gary W. Wood.
XLIST is distributed under the shareware concept. You are free to
copy and use the software for personal use and shareware
distribution in its original, unmodified form provided no fee
beyond reasonable media and/or shipping charges is levied. If you
are using the software for personal use, your encouraged to make a
gift ($25 suggested) and become a XLIST supporter. XLIST
supporters will receive the next major release free of charge and
be keep informed of major developments for one (1) year. A license
is required for use of XLIST by corporations and institutions, and
for its commercial distribution. You may obtain a license for the
use of XLIST by writing to me. The license is for perpetual,
non-exclusive use of any version. Purchase orders and invoicing
are acceptable. If you have special requirements, such as
licensing for an unlimited number of copies, local area networks,
site licenses, or customization, please feel free to submit them in
writing. You may request a license for:

o an unlimited number of end user copies at a single site;
o customization of messages and documentation, an
additional fee may be required depending on the extent of
changes;
o permission to distribute within your organization;
o permission to include with your company's commercial
products;
o or other needs.

The fee for a license depends on the estimated number of copies of
the program that you will use. If you wish to distribute XLIST
with your own programs or hardware, write for a "Marketing
License". To use the discount schedule below, estimate the total
number of copies that you may eventually use.

Number of users(copies) Price per copy
1 to 9 25.00
10 to 25 18.00
26 up (call)

Regardless of the quantity, only one set of materials will be sent
to you. You may then make as many copies of it that are licensed.
Maintenance is free. Upgrades will be made available upon request.
Technical support is available via mail, or through the Compuserve
bulletin board systems (76156,317), at no charge.

Copyright (C) 1985-1991 Gary W. Wood




If you find XLIST easy and convenient to use, a contribution of $25
or more will register you to receive a current version of XLIST.
Please state the current version of XLIST that you have. Send
contributions to:

Gary Wood
5401 Lakeview Road
North Little Rock, Arkansas 72116

All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No
part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior
written permission from Gary W. Wood, 5401 Lakeview Road, North
Little Rock, Arkansas, 72116.




DISCLAIMER

The author has taken due care in the preparation of this document
and the associated program. Insofar as specific mention of program
features, the author believes the information to be true. No
warranty is made regarding the suitability of the program to be
compatible with your computer. Incidental and consequential
damages caused by malfunction, defect, or otherwise are not the
responsibility of Gary W. Wood, and to the extent permitted by law,
and hereby excluded both for the property and, to the extent not
unconscionable, for personal injury damage. (Some states or
jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion or limitation of
incidental or consequential damages, so the above limitation or
exclusion may not apply to you.) Gary W. Wood also reserves the
right to make amendments to the contents of this document from time
to time, to reflect changes made to the specification of the XLIST
system or for any other reason.









XLIST is a Trademark of Gary W. Wood. IBM, IBM-PC, PC-XT, PC-AT,
PS/2, DOS, VM/CMS, FLIST, and PC-DOS are Trademarks of
International Business Machines Corp.


CHAPTERS



1. Introduction 5

2. Getting Started 6

3. Invoking the XLIST Command 8

4. Using the Keyboard 9

5. Increasing background performance (OS/2) 11

6. Mouse Support 12

7. Use of the XLIST.CNF File 13

8. Maintaining the XLIST.PRO Profile 14

9. Command Line Commands 25




INTRODUCTION



WELCOME TO THE WORLD OF DISK MANAGEMENT USING
XLIST - DISK UTILITY

If you are new to PC-DOS, you have realized that commands
provided by PC-DOS are designed to be short and sweet. This
program is designed as a tool to effectively provide the user
a friendly way to view files contained in sub-directories and
be able to execute programs and PC-DOS commands.

XLIST was written in 1985 modelled after IBM's VM/CMS mini-
disk manager called FLIST. FLIST is a full-screen utility
that runs under CMS that allows professional programmers using
IBM 370 architecture VM machines to view a structured list of
available files and launch applications and commands by just
entering the command next to the corresponding file.


GETTING STARTED



WHAT KIND OF HARDWARE & SOFTWARE DO I NEED?


To use XLIST you need the following:

An IBM PC with hard disk, PC AT, PS/2, or a very closely
compatible microcomputer.

A color/graphics adapter, monochrome adapter, EGA, or VGA
adapter

640K of RAM memory for best results. The program requires at
least 128K of memory.

One diskette drive

DOS 2.1 or greater (or OS/2 1.0 or greater)




WHAT DO I DO NOW


Installing XLIST to operate on your system is a simple
process. You should start by copying the distribution
diskette and putting the original away in a safe place.

Now, copy the files on the diskette or unarchive the
application to a directory on your hard disk searched by the
DOS path. The PC-DOS "PATH" command specifies a directory
search order for commands and/or batch files that are not in
the current directory.

For best performance of XLIST when utilizing the capability to
page XLIST to a temporary file, set the following environment
parameter. (See the *OVERLAY option in Chapter 7 for more
information.)

SET TMP=D:\ <--- Point to work area or RAM disk.

You are now ready!


INVOKING THE XLIST COMMAND


WHAT ARE THE INVOKING PARAMETERS?


First, no parameters are mandatory, but under some conditions
you may want to specify them to limit or expand the directory
entries displayed.

To invoke the program enter:

XLIST [[d:][path][filename[.ext]] /A /L /U

The optional parameters have the following definitions:

[[d:][path][filename[.ext]] to specify the file and/or
files that will be initially be displayed by the XLIST
screen.

[/A] is used to tell XLIST to load every file on the
default drive into XLIST. The number of directory
entries loaded by XLIST is subject to the value specified
in the *ENTRIES profile parameter.

[/L] is used to tell XLIST to display license
information.

[/U] is used to tell XLIST to display usage information.

[/*] is used to provide profile commands.


Examples:

Execute XLIST loading the directory from the default drive
directory and the root directory of the C: drive.

XLIST *.* c:\*.*

Activate the performance options for XLIST OS/2 to wait 10
seconds before going into idle mode and want idle time to last
on second before checking for user input.

XLIST /*KEYWAIT=10 /*SLEEP=1000

Execute XLIST and redefine hotkey to press alt & right shift
key and disable the mouse functions.

XLIST /*hotkey=alt=rightshift /*mouse=off
















USING THE KEYBOARD


WHAT KEYS ON THE KEYBOARD DOES XLIST USE?


XLIST uses the keyboard for communicating instructions from
you to XLIST. The keyboard is used to enter commands, scroll
the display, and to invoke user-defined function keys. These
are the keystroke commands used by XLIST. You may change
command keys by using the "Alt-k" key.

Defaults are defined as follows:

Keystroke Definition
Home Position the cursor to the first character.
End Position the cursor to the last character.
Ctrl End Erase data in the command line from the cursor
to the end-of-line.
Alt-a Change file attributes.
Alt-c Change screen colors.
Alt-e EGA/VGA video mode switch.
Alt-f Toggle to set XLIST to flush unexecuted
commands when an error or CNTL-BREAK is
encountered.
Alt-k Change keyboard definitions.
Alt-s Toggle between displaying filesize in K's
or in total number of bytes.
Alt-t Tag multiple files.
Alt-x Exclude entry.
Esc Exit XLIST.
Enter Pass control to XLIST to process the
command lines.
Ctrl PgUp Goto top of directory.
Ctrl PgDn Goto bottom of directory.
Shift-Shift Popup the menu.
` Tag single entry toggle.


INCREASING BACKGROUND PERFORMANCE


When you use XLIST for OS/2 in the foreground and have another
application running in the background, OS/2 scheduling
conventions give the majority of the processing power to the
foreground application. This can sometimes cause a dramatic
decrease in background processing performance. XLIST of OS/2
avoids this possible decrease in performance by providing two
profile options that let you enhance your background
processing speed. These profile commands are: *KEYWAIT and
*SLEEP.

Why is there sometimes a decrease in background performance?
XLIST for OS/2 must continuously check for mouse movements and
keyboard shift status. This is necessary for XLIST to display
shifted function key definitions and to sense mouse movements.
Because XLIST is always trying to gather this information, the
program is never really "idle" even when it appears to be.


HOW THE PERFORMANCE OPTIONS WORK


When you use the *KEYWAIT and *SLEEP options, XLIST for OS/2
operates as explained in the example below.

Example:

You are running XLIST in the foreground, another application
in the background, and you're using the defaults for the
*KEYWAIT (15 seconds) and *SLEEP (100 milliseconds). When
using XLIST, if you do not make an entry for 15 seconds, XLIST
will become idle for 1/10 of a seconds (100 milliseconds).
When XLIST is idle, the background application is given
increased processing power resulting in an improved processing
speed. At the end of the idle time XLIST checks for user
input. If none is found, XLIST goes back into idle mode for
another 1/10 of a second. XLIST continues the idle/check loop
until it detects user input.

How does XLIST idle time affect you? When XLIST is idle the
response to you input is delayed by the number of milliseconds
specified. This means that your first couple of keystrokes
will not appear on the screen for a fraction of a second.
However, after you begin typing, XLIST comes out of the idle
mode and normal typing speed is resumed.



MOUSE SUPPORT


HOW DOES THE MOUSE INTERFACE WITH XLIST?


XLIST will use a mouse device when available. The mouse is
capable of scrolling the screen, executing function keys,
moving between directories, tagging & untagging entries, and
bring up a series of menus. A mouse will have anywhere from
2 to 3 buttons. For the purpose of this discussion, we will
call the buttons the left, center and right buttons.

Scrolling: You may scroll the display by positioning the mouse
pointer to the top or bottom right most position and pressing
either the right or left button. The left button will scroll
a full screen while the right button will scroll continuously
one entry at a time.

Function Key: Position the mouse pointer over the function key
definition on the last row of the display and press the left
button.

Directories: Position the mouse pointer on the first row and
press the right button to move from the current directory to
the directories parent. Position the mouse pointer to a
directory entry on the main screen area and double click the
left button to move to the corresponding directory.

Tagging: Position the mouse pointer to the first entry to tag
and press the center button or both the left and right buttons
at the same time an drag the mouse pointer to tag multiple
entries. Use the right button to untag already tagged
entries.

Menus: Position the mouse pointer to the first row and click
the left button.



USE OF THE XLIST.CNF FILE


WHAT PARAMETERS ARE IN THE CONFIGURATION FILE?


The 'XLIST.CNF' file contains the initial keyboard and color
settings. You may modify these using the "Alt-c" for color
changes and the "Alt-k" for keyboard changes. If by some
chance this file is corrupted, erase the file and XLIST will
recreate it to it's default values. This file is maintained
by XLIST and cannot be edited by a text editor.



MAINTAINING THE XLIST.PRO PROFILE


WHAT PARAMETERS ARE IN THE PROFILE?


The 'XLIST.PRO' file is used to communicate a multitude of
parameters to XLIST that allow it to be tailored to your
individual needs. Use a text editor, such as BRIEF, KEDIT, or
EDLIN to modify the profile parameters based on the following
parameter descriptions. There is no way the provided profile
will suit your needs and you should modify at least the
*PFKEYS and *EXECUTE parameters.

The profile is found by XLIST by first checking the default
drive/directory, then by following the paths set by the PC-DOS
"PATH" command. All XLIST options are identified by preceding
keyword that start with an asterisk "*". When the first
character is not an asterisk the command line is treated as a
comment.

Following is description of the parameters specified in the
XLIST.PRO file. Optional parameters are designated by
separation using the "|" and parameters that need a numeric
value specified use "n" to designate a numeric value. The
default value is the first parameter specified or underlined.


XLIST.PRO PROFILE PARAMETERS


*ALLATTR OFF | ON | DISABLE

The *ALLATTR is used in conjunction with changing the
attributes of a PC-DOS directory using the /A command.

OFF Only files under the specific directory will be
changed.
ON All files under the sub-directory will be changed.
DISABLE Will not function on sub-directories.


*BUFFER 32767 | nnnnn

Use the *BUFFER command to assign the size reserved for
"XLIST" to use as a "COPY" Input / Output buffer. The buffer
is allocated the first time the "COPY" command is used. The
size may be decreased down to 512 characters. By decreasing
the buffer size, performance of the "COPY" command will be
impaired.


*DIRATTR n+r+d+a | n+r+h+s+v+d+a

The *DIRATTR command is used to define what attribute is used
to search the DOS directory. This is used to setup a mask
used during the search of the directory to select what entries
are included when displaying directory entries on the XLIST
screen.

The attribute byte is mapped as follows:

Value Description
n Normal file
r Read-only file
h Hidden file
s System file
*v Volume label
d Directory
a Archival file

* Volume is not available on OS/2 operating systems.

*DISABLE [command]

XLIST will intercept some PC-DOS commands, this gives greater
control to XLIST when monitoring the directory and keeps
PC-DOS from writing over XLIST's screen. The PC-DOS "Copy" &
"Rename" command executed by XLIST are not fully compatible
with PC-DOS's "Copy" & "Rename" in that XLIST won't allow wild
cards in the source parameter. Also, note that XLIST will get
a up to a 32K buffer, this will increase the size of XLIST and
this space won't be given back. If you wish to use wild
cards, either disable the command or use the "DOS" command to
use PC-DOS.

Profile parameter *DISABLE command is used to disable PC-DOS
commands that XLIST will intercept. The following commands
can be disabled:

*DISABLE COPY *DISABLE DEL
*DISABLE ERASE *DISABLE RENAME
*DISABLE REN *DISABLE CHDIR
*DISABLE CD *DISABLE MKDIR
*DISABLE MD *DISABLE RMDIR
*DISABLE RD *DISABLE MOVE

It is to your advantage not to disable the above commands
unless they fail to perform to your expectations. By allowing
XLIST to intercept these commands, it is better able to keep
the command line up to date as changes are made to the current
directory.



*EMS ON | OFF

Option used in conjunction with the *OVERLAY profile command
to enable or disable use of EMS memory. Normally, this option
should be left on because use of EMS memory swapping is almost
instantaneous.



*ENTRIES 200 | nnn

The *ENTRIES command is used to provide a method for the user
to specify how much memory is used by XLIST to hold directory
entry information. Each directory is held in memory by XLIST
to be displayed on the screen. The maximum number of entries
XLIST can load is 800.

Whenever there are more entries than set by the *ENTRIES
command, the excess entries are bypassed.


*EXECUTE [pattern] [commands......]
*EXECUTE-ARC [pattern] [commands......]
*EXECUTE-ZIP [pattern] [commands......]
*EXECUTE-LZH [pattern] [commands......]

The *EXECUTE command is used to associate a series of commands
to be entered when the ENTER key is pressed. This can be used
to invoke a browser, editor, Lotus 1-2-3, DBASEIII, or any
other series of commands.

You can set up multiple *EXECUTE commands within the XLIST.PRO
profile. They are scanned sequential each time the ENTER key
is pressed to see if any commands should be entered if the
pattern matches the name of the active file.

Example:

To have a program called "LIST" invoked whenever the
ENTER key is pressed for all files that start with either
an A, B, or C and the extension is "DOC".

*EXECUTE [ABC]*.DOC LIST



*HOTKEY ALT | CONTROL | RIGHTSHIFT | LEFTSHIFT

The *HOTKEY command is used to redefine the menu keyboard
hotkey combination used to bring up the menus. The default is
by pressing both shift keys at the same time. You must
specify two of the four possible values.

Example:

To define the alt & control combination to envoke the menus.

*HOTKEY ALT CONTROL


*KEYWAIT 15 | nn

The *KEYWAIT command is used to tell XLIST for OS/2 the number
of seconds to wait before going into idle mode. Where nn is
the number of seconds (between 1 and 99) to wait. The default
is 15. (See *SLEEP command)


*LINEEND ~ | c

The *LINEEND command is used to define the logical line end
character. For entering multiple commands on the same line
for execution. The default character is the '~'. This
character may be put on the command line or used within the
*PFKEYS or *EXECUTE profile commands.


*LOGO ON | OFF

The *LOGO command is used to disable the presentation of the
initial copyright screen. This presentation delays XLIST
execution for 3 seconds.


*MOUSE ON | OFF

The *MOUSE command is used to disable the interface to the
mouse pointer. This can be used to keep XLIST from
continuously checking for mouse movements.



*OVERLAY OFF | ON*

The *OVERLAY command is used to maximize the amount of memory
available for commands invoked from within XLIST. The option
will default to ON when at least 144K of EMS memory is
available. XLIST reduces the resident portion of XLIST while
another command is executed by temporarily storing the XLIST
program to a disk file. After the invoked command is
finished, XLIST is read back in memory and execution resumes.
This will effectively reduce the memory requirements of XLIST
down to only 7K. The feature can be toggled on and off by
using the "/s" option on the command line.

XLIST will free memory to a temporary work file or expanded
memory. XLIST will swap to EMS(3.2+) memory to swap if
available. Otherwise, XLIST swaps to a disk file up to 128K,
and takes a long time to write out when the file isn't on a
RAM drive. I suggest setting up a RAM drive in extended
memory using the VDISK.SYS device driver provided by PC-DOS or
use EMS memory.

Example:

Change CONFIG.SYS to include the following:

DEVICE=C:VDISK.SYS /e 196 512 64

Change AUTOEXEC.BAT to include the following:

SET TMP=D:\;C:\

The path shown above would cause XLIST to try the ramdrive
first, and if it failed would try the C: drive next.


*PATHSZ 200 | nnn

The *PATHSZ command is used to define the amount of memory
reserved for saving the DOS paths that have been previously
been displayed during a XLIST session. This memory is
automatically managed in conjunction with use of the /BD
command.


* *OVERLAY is not available on OS/2 operating systems.

*PFKEYS Xnn (btd) function
*PFKEYS-ARC Xnn (btd) function
*PFKEYS-ZIP Xnn (btd) function
*PFKEYS-LZH Xnn (btd) function

This command provides the user with a method of defining the
function keys F1-F12 in order to execute commands using the
function keys rather than entering the command. The function
may be more than one command each separated by the logical
line end character (See *LINEEND for more information). When
viewing a .ARC or .ZIP directory structure by utilizing the
/LZH, /ZIP, or /ARC commands, XLIST has the ability to load
another set of function key definitions. These are specified
by appending "-ZIP", "-ARC" or "-LZH" upon the *PFKEYS keyword.


The format for the command is as follows:

*PFKEYS Xnn (btd) function

X = Shift key indicator.
blank = unshifted.
S = right or left shift pressed.
C = CTRL pressed.
A = ALT pressed.
nn = Function key number (1 through 12).
btd = Abbreviation for display (optional).
function = Text inserted into XLIST command line.

Examples:

Set function key (F1) to compile a program using the Lattice
C compiler.

*PFKEYS 1 (lcs) lc -ms /c


Set function key (F2) to link-edit a program and cancel
execution of XLIST.

*PFKEYS 2 (lnk) link @xlistlk.lnk /o/c~/can

Set function key (F3) to execute F1 & F2 commands.

*PFKEYS 3 (all) /F1~/F2

Set function key (F3) to un-zip active file using PKUNZIP to
the drive/directory specified by the TEMP environment variable
using PKUNZIP; execute a program called "LIST" passing the
name of the file as the first parameter; erase the un-zipped
file after execution of LIST.

*PFKEYS-ZIP 3 (LIS) /cPKUNZIP -o $A %TEMP% $~LIST %TEMP%$~ERASE %TEMP%$


*PFREF OFF | ON

The *PFREF command is used to tell XLIST to refresh the
function key definitions from the XLIST.PRO profile found in
the current directory. When XLIST senses that a drive or
sub-directory change has occurred a search is made in the
current directory for the XLIST.PRO profile. This can be used
to refresh the function key definitions between drives and/or
directories.


*RETRACE OFF | ON

Profile parameter *RETRACE is used for IBM Personal Computers
with IBM Color/Graphics Monitor Adapters (CGA). They require
special programming to prevent "snow" from appearing on the
screen when a program changes the contents of the screen
buffer. The required programming will slow down screen
updating and is not necessary for many other display adapters.

*RETRACE ON

Setting *RETRACE OFF on an IBM PC with an IBM color adapter
will cause "snow" on the screen in some instantaneous.




*SLEEP 100 | nnnnn

This command controls idle mode. It tells XLIST for OS/2 the
number of milliseconds to remain idle before checking for user
input (keystrokes or mouse movement). Where nnnnn is the
number of milliseconds (between 100 and 32000) to remain idle.
Any input cancels idle mode (after the *SLEEP milliseconds
expire). The default is 100.


*SORT [A | S | B | N | D | E | T][-]

Profile parameter *SORT will cause XLIST to sort the directory
before it is displayed. This will allow you to specify the
order the entries are arranged.

The parameter definitions are:

A by attribute
S by size
B by blocksize (same as S)
N by name
D by date
E by extension
T by type (same as E, except sub-directories go to
the top)

- descending order


*TOPVIEW OFF | ON

The *TOPVIEW command is used to disable the access of the
TOPVIEW video buffer address. Some video adapters have
conflicts with the interrupts used to access the TOPVIEW video
buffer. Setting this to the OFF setting will make for faster
screen access.


*TREE OFF | ON

The *TREE command when set to "ON" will automatically load the
directory tree during startup of the XLIST program. This will
cause the startup of XLIST to take longer.

*VGAMODE "Menu Title", "Font Filename"

The *VGAMODE command is used in conjunction with EGA/VGA
display adapters that allows you to specify an optional
character display table (ie. FONT) to be loaded inplace of the
resident fonts. *VGAMODE commands contain two pieces of
information separated by a comma. The first parameter
contains the heading contained in the menu within XLIST
corresponding to the specified FONT. The heading must be
contained within double quotes, have two leading spaces and
not exceed 40 characters in length. The second parameter
contains the PC-DOS file name of the FONT. This file is
composed of 256 entrys between 8 to 14 characters in width.
These are the bitmaps for each possible character from decimal
0 thru decimal 256. You can create your own fonts by using
font editors that create normal PC-DOS character definition
tables that contain 256 entrys.

If the *VGAMODE command isn't provided, XLIST will allow you
to shift between 25 line and 43 line modes using the alt-e
keystoke or corresponding menu commands.

Some examples of font files are provided with XLIST which have
the extension of ".FNT".




COMMAND LINE COMMANDS


HOW TO USE THE COMMAND LINE


XLIST will present the directory vertically down the screen
with a input line next to each entry, this is the "COMMAND
LINE". The user can use the cursor keys to navigate up and
down the directory entering commands. When the ENTER key is
depressed, XLIST will process the commands from top-to-bottom.
All commands entered are first examined by XLIST to find
special commands used by XLIST. These commands are from
logical line end characters to special commands used to sort
the directory into another order. Then XLIST will pass the
commands to PC-DOS for execution.

Based on a 80-column display, there are 33 characters that can
be presented to XLIST on the command line at any one time.
But, by continued typing up to 63 characters can be entered.

After the command is entered XLIST will append the filename
and extension name to the command unless told otherwise by the
/o line command.


GENERAL NOTES:

1. Do not rename or erase files from a BAT file or with a
"ERASE *.*" sequence.

These situations cannot be detected by XLIST and may result in
random displayed filenames or XLIST termination. If you do
the above, by entering the "/RD" command, the directory is
refreshed.



$ - SUBSTITUTE FILENAME & EXTENSION

There are a series of characters using the '$' as a prefix
that can be used to imbed parameters into the command line
automatically.

/ --> Substitute the DOS filename & extension.
// --> Will pass on one /.
$ --> Substitute the DOS filename & extension.
$$ --> Will pass on one $.
$P --> Substitute DOS pathname without trailing slash.
$N --> Substitute DOS filename without extension.
$E --> Substitute DOS extension.
$F --> Substitute DOS pathname, filename & extension.
$D --> Substitute DOS drive letter without trailing
colon.


/A - CHANGE THE FILE ATTRIBUTES

This command is used to modify the file attributes. The
attribute maybe marked read-only, hidden, made a system file,
or have the archive flag turned on.

When this is placed on a sub-directory, XLIST will change the
attributes of all the files within the directory. (See
*ALLATTR profile command for more information.)

The format is: /A[+/-][attribute]

[+/-] the plus(+) is used to denote adding the attribute and
the negative(-) is used to remove an attribute.

[attribute] is the one-character representation of the
attribute to be added or removed from the file.

A - Archive R - Read-only
H - Hidden file S - System file
D - Subdirectory


/AD - APPEND TO THE XLIST DIRECTORY

The /AD command is used to append to the internal directory.
This can be used to load additional entries from other drives
or sub-directories.

Examples:

Set XLIST to only append the files with an extension of "EXE":

/AD=*.EXE

Append data from the root directory:

/AD=C:\*.*


/ARC - EXPAND AN "ARC" FILE DIRECTORY

Same function as the /EXP command for archive files with the
".ARC" extension. See the /EXP command for further details.



/BD - GO BACK TO PRIOR DIRECTORY

This command is used to proceed back to previous
sub-directory. Whenever a sub-directory or drive change is
made by entering the PC-DOS CHDIR commands, XLIST will save
the current directory in the path area reserved by the *PATHSZ
profile command. By entering /BD the program will
automatically navigate back to the previous directory.


/C - CLEAR SCREEN BEFORE EXECUTING COMMAND

When the /C is found in the command line it is extracted from
the command line and before the entered command is passed to
the DOS command processor the screen is cleared. The video
mode and character definition table (font) is reset to PC-
DOS's normal settings. When a function key is defined to
invoke a program it is sometimes more appealing to have XLIST
clear the screen before invoking the program using the "/C"
option. This also causes XLIST to clear and re-display the
entire XLIST screen when control is passed back from the
program called.

/CAN - CANCEL XLIST

This command will exit XLIST and stay in the current directory
and not reset the video mode and character definition table
(font) back to PC-DOS's normal settings.


/CLS - CLEAR COMMAND LINE AREA

This command will clear the XLIST command line area.


DOS - INVOKE SECONDARY COMMAND PROCESSOR

Use the DOS command to pass control to the secondary DOS
command processor. This command will load a copy of DOS and
pass control to it. You will remain in DOS until you return
to XLIST by entering the EXIT command.

You should not execute any commands while in the secondary
command processor that will make them permanently resident.


/DSPF - DISPLAY USER-DEFINED FUNCTION KEYS

You can use the /DSPF function to display the function keys
currently defined.


/END - END XLIST

This command will exit XLIST and return to the drive and
directory where XLIST was initially envoked. This is the
well-behaved ending of XLIST.

/EXE - EXECUTE SPECIFIED PROGRAM

The /EXE command is designed to be used in conjunction with
the *EXECUTE profile command to specify the ".EXE", ".COM" and
".BAT" to be launched when the ENTER key is pressed next to
the application executable program name. This method presents
a user-friendly window where you can specify additional
parameters.


/EXP - EXPAND AN "ARC", "LZH" or "ZIP" FILE DIRECTORY

This command will read the directory contained within the
specified archive file. It will then display it using the
XLIST directory display features. Be aware that the /UD & /A
sub-commands will be deactivated. To re-display the normal
directory either press the ESC key or enter the /RD command.

NOTE: You can use the /ZIP command to expand a ZIP file or
/ARC to expand a ARC file or /LZH for LHA files. The /EXP
command determines whether it's a ZIP, LZH or ARC file from
the file extension.


/F[x]nn - EXECUTE FUNCTION KEY

This command can be used to invoke function keys from the
command line. As a matter of fact, when a function key is
depressed XLIST will insert into the command line the above
command. The [x] position can either be blank, 'A' for Alt,
'S' for shift or 'C' for ctrl followed by the function key
value from 1 through 10.

Example:

To invoke the F4 function key you would enter "/F4".
To invoke the alternate F4 function key you would enter "/FA4".


/FIND - FIND FILES ON CURRENT DRIVE

The /FIND command will search the current drive locating all
files that match the selection criteria specified with the
/FIND command. The results are displayed as if the files are
all contained on the same drive/directory. To re-display the
normal directory either press the ESC key or enter the /RD
command.

Examples:

Find all batch files that start with either a "A" or "B". The
right and left bracket is used to specify optional characters
in a specified location within the name. The normal "*" and
"?" wildcard characters can also be used.


/FIND=[AB]*.BAT

Find all files with the extension of WK1.

/FIND=*.WK1


/LZH - EXPAND AN "LZH" FILE DIRECTORY

Same function as the /EXP command for archive files with the
".LZH" extension. See the /EXP command for further details.



/MOVE - MOVE FILE

Use the MOVE command to move a file from one directory to
another directory on the same drive. This program uses a
feature of the DOS RENAME function that will logically move a
file from on directory to another. This command will also
change the name of the file during the move if you wish.


/O - OMIT THE FILENAME & EXTENSION FROM COMMAND

When the /O is found in the command line it is extracted from
the command line and before the entered command is passed to
the DOS command processor the screen is cleared.

This command is used to keep XLIST from appending the filename
and extension to the end of the command entered on the command
line. This can be useful when entering DOS commands from the
command line, since in most cases the filename shouldn't
follow the command.


/P - PAUSE AFTER EXECUTING COMMAND

When the /P is found in the command line it is extracted from
the command line and before the entered command is passed to
the DOS command processor the screen is cleared.

The /P command is used to cause XLIST to pause after executing
the command entered on the command line. This can be used in
conjunction with the /C command to allow the screen to be
viewed before XLIST takes control and refreshes the screen.



/RD - RELOAD THE XLIST DIRECTORY AND RESET MASK

The /RD command is used to reload the XLIST internal
directory. This can be used to refresh the current directory
when modules are added or when directory clean-up is
necessary.

At this time a optional parameter can be entered resetting the
mask used to select the entries to reload.

Examples:

Set XLIST to only load the files with an extension of "EXE":

/RD=*.EXE

Reload the directory with the default mask:

/RD


/RF - RE-FRESH THE XLIST FUNCTION KEYS

The /RF command is used to refresh the XLIST function
definitions. This is useful when the "XLIST.PRO" file is
changed and you want the changes to take effect.


/S - TOGGLE *OVERLAY OPTION ON or OFF

The /S command is used when launching a application to toggle
the use of the *OVERLAY profile command on or off. If the
*OVERLAY profile command is disabled, the use of /S will
temporarily enable the option for this execution of one
application.


/Sx[-] - SORTING DIRECTORY

The following methods maybe used to sort the directory:

/SA Sort by file attribute
/SE Sort by extension
/SB Sort by filesize
/SN Sort by name
/SD Sort by file maintenance date
/ST Sort by extension, directories to top

The command maybe optionally followed by a "-" to denote a
reverse sort sequence.


/SET - SET FUNCTION KEYS

This command provides the user with a method of defining the
function keys F1-F12 interactively while XLIST is currently
executing. This command follows the same rules under which
the *PFKEYS profile command follow.

The format for the command is as follows:

/SET Xnn (btd) function

X = Shift key indicator
blank = unshifted
S = right or left shift depressed
C = CTRL depressed
A = ALT depressed
nn = Function key number (1 through 12)
btd = Abbreviation for display (optional)
function = Text of command line
/START - START AN OS/2 SESSION (OS/2 ONLY)

This command will allow you to start a new session using the
capabilities of the DosStartSession OS/2 function. The
command will search the PATH when the full full qualified name
is not provided. If a ICON is located in the same path as the
program with the extension of .ICO, it will be used as the
ICON. The syntax of the command is:

/START [-TIT:title] [-NOC] [-BG] [-FS | -PM | -WIN] [-I] [-MIN
| -MAX] {program name} [program arguments]

Parameters:

title Specify the title to assign to the session
which is displayed on the Presentation Manager
menu and session window.

-NOC Specify not to close the window when the program
ends.

-BG Start the program in the background.

-FS Start the program as a full screen session. (NOTWINDOWCOMPAT)

-PM Start the program as a PM session. (WINDOWAPI)

-WIN Start the program as PM compatible. (WINDOWCOMPAT)

-I Pass current environment settings to the starting session.

-MIN Set window state as MINIMIZED.

-MAX Set window state as MAXIMIZED.

-CMD Invoke the program session using CMD.EXE.

-K Invoke the program session using CMD.EXE with the
/k option that keeps the session when terminated.


/TREE - XLIST DIRECTORY STRUCTURE

This command will load a graphic directory tree of the current
drive. From within the directory tree, you can navigate to
other sub-directories, create directories, and delete
directories.

To reload a directory tree use the /RTREE command.


/UD - UPDATE DIRECTORY ENTRY WITH CURRENT DATE & TIME

The /UD command is used to modify a directory entries date and
time. When the command is entered with no operands the
corresponding directory entries date is set to the currently
set DOS date and time.

The /UD command can optionally be followed be either a date or
a time which is recognize by XLIST by the dash for date and
the colon for time. These separator characters are specified
by PC-DOS using the COUNTRY command in CONFIG.SYS.

Example:

Set date to current date & time: /UD
Set date to July 2, 1985: /UD=07-2-85
Set time to 12:00 noon: /UD=12:00:00


/V - VERIFY ON ERASE or VERBOSE ON COPY

When the /V is found in the command line it is extracted from
the command line and before the entered command is passed to
the DOS command processor the screen is cleared.

The /V command in conjunction with the ERASE command will
prompt the user to erase the file or not. With the COPY
command, XLIST will display the entry being copied.


/ZIP - EXPAND AN "ZIP" FILE DIRECTORY

Same function as the /EXP command for archive files with the
".ZIP" extension. See the /EXP command for further details.



/nnn - DISPLAY DIRECTORY STARTING WITH nnn ENTRY

The /nnn command is used to make XLIST display the current
screen starting with the nth directory entry. You can use the
+- signs to position an offset from the current position.

Examples:

/80 Position to the 80th entry in the list.
/+1 Position to next entry.
/-1 Position to previous entry.
/999 If the number is greater than the number of
entries, XLIST will position to the last entry.
/1 Position to the 1st entry.


? - REDISPLAY LAST COMMAND ENTERED

The ? command will cause XLIST to display the last command
entered on the command line.


= - REPEAT THE LAST COMMAND ENTERED

The = command will cause XLIST to execute the last command
entered for the directory entry adjacent to the command line
where the = command is entered.