AC- The Archive Converter V2.13
AC is a menu interface AND a command
line archive converter. Supports 43/50 lines
and file listing to easily select files
for conversion. Supports Recursion and Much
much more!

V2.13




rchive onverter


Donald M. Langhorne
South 5241 Columbia Ave.
Hamburg, NY 14075


Regisration only $10








-i-


Contents
--------


Introduction---------------------- 1
Special Features------------------ 1
Installation---------------------- 1
Archive programs------------------ 2
Usage----------------------------- 3
Options--------------------------- 4
Using ACSETUP--------------------- 5
Command Line---------------------- 6
Command Line Options-------------- 7
Command Line Examples------------- 7
Limitations----------------------- 8
History of Revisions-------------- 9
Disclaimer------------------------ 12
Registration---------------------- 12
Forum on Data Express------------- 13



-1-



INTRODUCTION:
=============

AC is a menu driven archive converter. It makes converting
archive types easy for both the expert and novice user.
AC supports the most popular archive programs in circulation.
By customizing the AC.CFG file that is now an integral part of
AC, it is possible to use almost any archive program. AC allows
for easy conversion between any two archive types specified.
AC is once again also a Command Line program. Both the menu
interface and command line have been integrated into one EXE file.


SPECIAL FEATURES:
=================

-AC has the ability to report conversion to a log file
-AC works in conjunction with a configuration file AC.CFG. This allows
for customization
-AC supports recursive archives. To convert an archive recursively
the archive being converted to MUST support recursion.
-AC can SCAN archives during conversion to check for viruses
-AC will prompt for a new file name if it is about to overwrite an
archive file. This can be suppressed to allow for updating
archive files to newer version. IE pkzip 1.10 --> pkzip 2.00



Installation:
=============

Installation can be completed by following these simple steps:

1) Copy the files AC.EXE, AC.CFG and ACSETUP.EXE to a directory
in your path.

2) Wherever you place AC.EXE, AC.CFG and ACSETUP.EXE they MUST
be in the SAME location for AC to operate properly.

3) Check the file AC.CFG to make sure that the archivers match
the ones you use, and if necessary modify it to suit your
system.


That's It!! Enjoy.



-2-

Archive Programs:

The following is a list of all known archivers that I was able
to integrate into AC along with the versions I have tested

-AC will search your path for the following archive programs:


Type: Files Supported Vendor Versions(tested & supported)
=============================================================================

ARC programs:
pkarc.exe & pkxarc.exe {PKWARE, Inc.} 3.61
pkpak.exe & pkunpak.exe {PKWARE, Inc.} 3.61
arc.exe {Sea, Inc.} 6.02

ARJ programs:
arj.exe {Robert Jung} 2.00-2.22

LZH programs:
lha.exe {Haruyasu Yoshizaki} 2.11-13
lharc.exe {Haruyasu Yoshizaki} 1.13c

ZIP programs:
pkzip.exe & pkunzip.exe {PKWARE, Inc.} 1.10

DWC programs:
dwc.exe {Dean W. Cooper} A5.01

HYP programs: (P. Sawatzki K.P. Nischke}
hyper.exe 2.5

ZOO programs:
zoo.exe {Rahul Dhesi} 2.01-2.10

MD programs:
mdcd.exe {Mike Davenport} 1.00

PAK programs:
pak.exe {NOGATE Consulting} 2.51

LZS programs: {K.MIKI H.OKUMURA K.MASUYAMA}
larc.exe &larc7e.ovr 3.33



-3-



USAGE:
AC has been designed to be as easy and quick to use as possible.
All that is necessary to convert an archive is to follow these
simple rules:

1) After running AC, you will see a window that shows all
the available directories(including '..' to allow you
to navigate your entire directory structure by moving
one directory back toward the root directory). This
window will also show any archives that reside in your
current directory. AC will ONLY show valid archive
files recognized by AC

2) By moving the cursor, either higlite the file you want to
convert or Tag files for conversion.

3) Before you convert the archives, you should check to see
that AC is configured for your needs. Hitting the F3
key will bring up a window with all the current toggles
and their settings. Make any adjustments necessary.
***It is possible to save the desired settings of the***
***Toggles as defaults only if AC has been registered***

4) after you have selected what archive type and what settings
to use, Press F2 to convert the highlited file only, F5 to
convert all tagged files, or ALT-C to access the convert menu.
*NOTE:Converting ALL files, or converting all untagged files
can only be performed via the convert menu

5) AC will then proceed with the conversion, and when done
return you to the main program, with the file structure
updated.







-4-
OPTIONS:
=========
All options can be changed by higliting the desired toggle and
pressing the key to go thru the available selections.

Convert to: ARC/ARJ/DWC/LZH/LZS/MD/PAK/ZIP/ZOO
This setting allows the user to change what type of archive
that AC should convert to.
Recursion: ON/OFF
This will either turn on support for recursion or turn it off.
Recursion means to reconize archives that have directories with
files converted without losing it's structure.
If you are converting a recursed archive to another type that
does not support recursion, it is important to turn this switch
off.
Timestamp: ON/OFF
This toggle when turned on causes AC to alter the date of
the new archive file to the latest date of the actual files
that are inside the archive. Turning this feature off causes
AC to use today's date for the date of the archive.
Logging: ON/OFF
This toggle when on, will cause AC to send a one line report to
a text file AC.LOG that shows the name and size of both the
old archive and new archive, and the difference in size after
conversion. Each time a file is converted with this on, AC.LOG
will be appended to. Turning this feature off will cause no
report to be sent.
Scan: ON/OFF
This toggle when ON, will enable SCAN.EXE to check for viruses
inside the archive. This will increase the conversion time, so
it can usually be turned off, unless you are converting a file
you have just downloaded.
Keep Originals: ON/OFF
This toggle when ON, prevents AC from deleting the original
archive after conversion.
Video Mode: 25/43/50
This will toggle the screen size. Be aware that 43/50 line
support is not available for CGA monitors and 50 line support
is not available to EGA monitors. Changing this value on a
monitor that does not support these modes, could cause the
screen to look very odd, since AC does not check before it
switches modes, whether the monitor supports the higher modes.
Overwrite Mode: ON/OFF
This toggle when ON will allow AC to support updating of
archives. For example when PKZIP 2.0 is available, you may want
to update all your existing ZIP files to the new version.
with this set to ON, AC will not check to see if it is
overwriting a file, which it normally does. This should only
be set to ON when you want to update archives to the same type.
Current drive: C:,D:, etc.
This will allow the user to change drives, note that for this
release floppy drives are not supported! This will be addressed
in a future release.


-5-

Using ACSETUP
=======================


-ACSETUP is a menu driven program that allows the user to easily
and quickly configure the AC.CFG program for use with AC.EXE.
Once AC.CFG is configured it is not necessary to keep ACSETUP
installed, but any changes that need to be made should be done
using ACSETUP.

-Assuming ACSETUP is in your path and AC.CFG is in THE SAME
DIRECTORY as ACSETUP, ACSETUP can be run from any directory.

-When using ACSETUP, use the up and down arrow keys to highlight
the item you wish to change. Then hit the enter key to choose
your choice. ESC will return you to the previous menu options.
and if you hit ESC at the main menu, it will exit the program.


-Major features of ACSETUP, and some limitations.

1) If you make changes in ACSETUP, you MUST save them by
selecting the last option on the main menu 'Save
configuration' Your changes will not be saved unless this
is done.

2) All archivers are different, and some require that all the
switches be separated by spaces, others require NO spaces.
It is up to the user to be sure to take this into account
when changing/adding switches.

Example:
to compress an ARJ file with recursion and
timestamping from DOS you would normally type
something like this:
ARJ a -r -s arjfile.arj

--The normal switch would be ' a '
--The recursive switch would be ' -r '
--The timestamp switch would be ' -s '

When AC runs, it simply adds these lines together, so
if there are no spaces entered, the command would become:
ARJ a-r-s arjfile.arj
which would cause ARJ to return an error message.

3) Simply hitting return when asked to enter a value will cause
ACSETUP not to change anything(The original value will be
retained). The one exception is when entering the
registration number, which need only be entered once.

4) The menu choice 'Default toggles' is only applicable to the
registered version. While you can enter and make changes
to these values, they will not be recongized by AC unless
a valid registration number has been entered.



-6-


Command Line:
=============

AC will accept command line options. This allows for faster operation
since AC is told what to do when it executes, acts on the switches and
exits.

Commands:
=========

/a Convert to .ARC{Default}
This will convert the specified file(s) to an archive(s) of type ARC

/j Convert to .ARJ
This will convert the specified file(s) to an archive(s) of type ARJ

/d Convert to .DWC
This will convert the specified file(s) to an archive(s) of type DWC

/h Convert to .HYP
This will convert the specified file(s) to an archive(s) of type HYP

/l Convert to .LZH
This will convert the specified file(s) to an archive(s) of type LZH

/m Convert to .MD
This will convert the specified file(s) to an archive(s) of type MD

/p Convert to .PAK
This will convert the specified file(s) to an archive(s) of type PAK

/s Convert to .LZS
This will convert the specified file(s) to an archive(s) of type LZS

/o Convert to .ZOO
This will convert the specified file(s) to an archive(s) of type ZOO

/z Convert to .ZIP
This will convert the specified file(s) to an archive(s) of type ZIP

/k Keep originals
This command will prevent AC from deleting the original archive after
conversion. When AC is finished there would be two archives. The
original and the new.
/v Scan for Viruses.
This command will invoke McAffee's SCAN after extraction and before
re-compression. If a virus is detected, AC will notify the user.

/w Write report to LOG file
This command will cause AC to append/create to the file AC.LOG which
would be located in the same directory as AC.EXE. The log file will
keep information on the names and filesizes before and after
conversion, plus the difference in size.

/u Update archive
this command will prevent AC from checking if there is already a file
with the name that the archive will become after conversion.
This command is most useful when simply updating an archive without
changing it's type. IE update files from pkzip 1.10 to 2.00




-7-

OPTIONS:
========
Options should follow the command that specifies the type to convert
to and should not have any spaces between the two.
IE 'AC /jr filename.zip' is the correct syntax.

r convert file with recursion.
This option will allow for nested directories inside of archive files.

t Update to latest member
This option will cause AC to locate the newest file inside of the
current archive and change to date of the new archive to that date.


Examples: Command Line
=======================

Example 1: To convert the file AC210.ZIP to an ARJ.

'AC /j AC210.ZIP' or 'AC AC210'


Example 2: To convert the file WP51.ZIP to an ARJ file with recursion
and timestamping without deleting the original archive.

'AC /jrt /k WP51.ZIP'

Example 3: To convert the file MYFILE.LZH to a ZIP file with recursion
timestamping, not deleting the original, scan for viruses
and report to a log file.

'AC /zrt /k /v /w MYFILE.ZIP'

Example 4: To update the file ZIPFILE.ZIP which is currently compressed
with PKZIP 1.10 to the newer PKZIP 2.00

'AC /z /u ZIPFILE.ZIP'


Note on defaults:
=========================

**Only Registered versions allow for the defaults to be modified.**

The pre-defined default for Archive type is ARC.
It is possible to not include a switch specifying what archive type
to convert to. IE 'AC MYFILE.ARJ' would automatically convert the
file from type .ARJ to type .ARC. Registered users can change this
default to any other for faster execution.

As of this release it is NOT possible to toggle the recursion or timestamp
options from the command line if NO archive switch is supplied.













-8-



LIMITATIONS:
============

The following is a compilation of known limitations that I have
encountered while writing AC, some are in the works(to be added
in future releases) and others are inherent in the archivers
that AC uses and would be extremely difficult, if not impossible
to fix

--As of this release AC no longer supports SFX archives.
This will be re-implemented in a future release.

--AC does not support hercules video cards.

--Do not Add Recursive switch settings to DWC or ZOO, while they
both support recursion, they both use the full path with the
drive, and will not work with AC at this time.

--While AC does support the option to scan archives for viruses,
I have not been able to test this feature properly in a
real-time situation. I would appreciate hearing from ANYONE
who experience a virus detection with AC, and can let me know
if it executed properly or not.

--DWC uses the environment variable TEMP if it exists to point
to the directory for it to create temporary files in. If this
value is set to a directory that does not exist DWC will not
function.



-9-


History
=======
*(NR)==Not Released

Version 2.13 [03-03-92]
========================
-Improved screen performance in menu mode.
-Fixed minor bug with Convert menu not being erased if directory
was accidentally selected for conversion.


Version 2.12 [02-18-92]
========================
-Added Convert Menu to AC(Menu interface). Allows to choose what files
to convert:single,all,tagged,or untagged. The convert menu is accessed
by typing ALT-C.
-Minor screen adustments and fixes.

Version 2.11 [02-16-92]
========================
-Modified logging function so that output is left justified instead of
right justified
-Added 3 new Hot Keys, ALT-D,ALT-V, and ALT-X to change drives,
change video modes, and quickly exit the program.
-Added new toggle in AC.CFG to control sound when running AC in menu
mode.

Version 2.10a [01-25-92]
========================
-Fixed AC so it will not exit if an archive that is defined in AC.CFG
is not found in the DOS PATH.
-Fixed AC so that when executing AC -S AC will return to the current
directory, not the directory where AC.CFG resides.

Version 2.10 [01-10-92]
========================
-Re-implemented command line interface.
-Modified some screen routines, mostly esthetic.
-Changed options menu so the cursor will loop around from top to bottom
and bottom to top.
-Added -S switch to display defaults.


Version 2.02 [01-08-92]
========================
-Fixed a few screen bugs when there are more file than appear on
screen.
-Added Alt-T(tag/untag files) to command keys.
-Modified AC to advance cursor down after tagging a file.

Version 2.00b [12-30-91]
========================
-Fixed bug that caused AC not to recognize first directory
when at the root directory
-Support for Hyper was accidentally left out of AC2.00 and
AC2.00a. Reinstalled it.






-10-

Version 2.00a [12-29-91]
========================
-Removed SFX options from ACSETUP to avoid any confusion for
first time users.
-Fixed minor screen glitch when switching to 43/50 modes

Version 2.00 [12-28-91]
=======================
-AC is now a menu driven program

Version 1.51 [12-18-91]
========================
-Many enhancements made to ACSETUP, improved input handling with
on screen reference.
-Added /U switch to AC to handle archive updates.

Version 1.50a [11-30-91]
========================
-Fixed bug that caused AC not to work properly when it was renamed.

Version 1.50 [11-19-91]
========================
-Changes made to AC and AC.CFG to accomadate ACSETUP.
-Added ability for renaming AC.EXE to any other name, so long as the
.CFG file is also renamed to the same name

Version 1.42a [11-14-91](NR)
========================
-Fixed very minor glitch in the logging routine.

Version 1.42 [11-13-91]
========================
-Fixed problems with the log file, output was not lined up making it
hard to view as the file became larger. Added size difference to
log file.

Version 1.41 [11-12-91] (NR)
========================
-Removed the 'x' switch for extra compression. This option can still
be used by adding the proper switches to the AC.CFG file.


Version 1.40 [11-05-91]
========================
-Minor modifications to screen output

Version 1.38 [10-17-91] (NR)
========================
-Fixed long standing bug that prevented using file*.* wildcard specs
on the command line. Could use file.* or file*, but not file*.*.
fixed.

Version 1.37 [10-15-91]
========================
-More bug fixes, problem with converting to an SFX of type ARJ,
fixed.

Version 1.36 [10-07-91] (NR)
========================
-Bug Fixes




-11-

Version 1.35 [10-06-91] (NR)
========================
-Added logging feature, uses new switch /w. Will create and/or
add to AC.LOG the files it has converted and size differences.

Version 1.34 [10-05-91] (NR)
========================
-More bug fixes

Version 1.32 [10-03-91] (NR)
========================
-Added registration requirement for certain defaults to be recognized
in AC.CFG

Version 1.31 [10-02-91] (NR)
========================
-Added colors to AC

Version 1.3F [10-02-91] (NR)
========================
-Improved speed with screen writes, particularly the help screen

Version 1.3A-E [09-29-91] (NR)
=======================
-Continual refinement of interpreting AC.CFG file
-AC now depends on the existence of AC.CFG for execution

Version 1.3 [09-21-91] (NR)
=======================
-Began conversion of program to separate source files and
formed basis for using configuration file

Version 1.2B [09-17-91] (NR)
=======================
-Fixed bug that would cause AC to crash if an Archive and exe had
the same name, but the exe was NOT a SFX file.


Version 1.2A [08-28-91] (NR)
=======================
-Fixed minor bug where AC would report it's switch info for each
archive converted if multiple filespecs were specified.


Version 1.2 [08-21-91]
=======================
-Removed some final code left over for debuging purposes.


-12-

DISCLAIMER:
===========

I assume no liability or responsibility for any damages that may occur
from the use or misuse of this program. A user operates this program
without any guarantees as to the accuracy of the information included.
All use is at the user's risk.


A note on registration:
=======================

I am releasing this program as shareware. Using this program for a
NON-COMMERCIAL PURPOSE is allowed. AC is NOT Public Domain Software
nor is it Freeware. It is copyrighted by myself and I retain the
rights to all files included in this release. Using this program
for personal use is allowed. If you find this program of use,
a donation of $10 is encouraged. Use of this program
for COMMERCIAL use REQUIRES registration of $10 US per copy.
Please make payment in US funds to:

Donald M. Langhorne
South 5241 Columbia Ave.
Hamburg, NY 14075

Thank you for your interest in AC.


Why register:
=============

Registering this program gives you a license to use AC and enjoy
free upgrades for the life of the program. The registered
version will enable defaults for all options to be set
either on or off in the CFG file.
For more information or to register write to the above address.

problems or suggestions:
========================

If you encounter a problem or have any suggestions in reference to this
program, please send your comments to the above address or to the
following boards. I am interested in you problems/suggestion
with/for AC. Please contact me with any questions or problems. I
will try to help anyone, registered or not who takes the time to get
in touch with me as best as I can.


BIBMUG:716-695-0583
Data Express:716-627-7420(2400) 716-627-3299(19200-HST)














-13-

FORUM:
======

I have a forum on the Data Express that is dedicated to Q & A
about AC. Whether you are registered or not I would like to
hear your suggestions for AC, and will be glad to help out in
as much as I can. Keep in mind that while I will try to help
all that I can, registered users will have priority.

To Acces the forum, all you have to do is follow these simple
steps.
1) Call the Data Express
2) If you don't already have an account, then create one now.
3) After answering the usual questions when logging on, at
the Main menu command type 'J 5'. This will put you in the
AC Forum.
4) If you want to read the previous messages type 'R' to read
them.
5) To leave me a message, just type 'E' to enter a message
and address it to 'Don Langhorne'.