Category : Windows 3.X Files
Archive   : FFW100A.ZIP
Filename : FFW.TXT

6
INTRODUCTION
Fast File Find for Windows is a file locating utility for
Windows. Some of its features include :
Full background processing so you can work on any other
application while FFW does the file search in the
background.
Multiple search specifications allowed.
Ability to execute multiple commands on selected files it
finds in a DOS window
Cut and Copy of found files to clipboard
Optional display of file size and file date and time.
Easy to use 3D interface.

COPYRIGHT
Fast File Find For Windows (C) D. Munro 1992,93

DISCLAIMER
This program comes with NO WARRANTY written or implied. Use
this program at your own risk.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Windows is a registered trademark of Microsoft Inc.

REQUIREMENTS
80286 or better
Windows 3.1 or better

LICENSING
This program has been released for distribution as freeware.
You may copy it but not sell it or make money out of it
in any other way.

SUGGESTIONS AND BUG REPORTS
If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, or if
you have stumbled across any bugs in FFW, I can be
contacted at :
Internet : [email protected]
Port Elizabeth Technikon BBS (041) 534278 (2400,N,8,1
Full Duplex)
P.O. Box 12854
Centrahill
PORT ELIZABETH
6001
South Africa


FUTURE ENHANCEMENTS
Possible future enhancements include :
Making FFW a Drag-and-Drop server. At present (Windows
3.1) Windows only supports Drag-and-Drop clients for user
applications, the file manager is the only application
which can run as a drag-and-drop server. Microsoft claim
that the drag-and-drop concept will be generalised in
future releases so any application can become a drag-and-
drop server. When this feature becomes available FFW
will be converted to a drag-and-drop server; which should
add to its utility.
Adding a archive search feature to allow searching the
contents of ARJ and ZIP files.
Adding a DDE feature to allow FFW to act as a DDE server
with client applications receiving file names from FFW. A
possible use for this would be to simulate UNIX style
piping.
LIMITATIONS
FFW cannot find more than 8160 files. This is due to the
fact that in 16 bit Windows List boxes contents is
restricted to 64K. If FFW used list boxes normally (used
LBS_HASSTRINGS style) then it would have supported much
less even than the 8160 mentioned above. To get around
this the file found list box is implemented as a owner
draw list box with the list box only containing pointers
to the actual strings displayed allowing 8160 entries
(each entry takes 4 bytes for the far pointer, 4 bytes
overhead and the list box itself takes another 255
bytes).

CONTENTS
Introduction Page 1
Description
Copyright
Disclaimer
Requirements
Licensing
Suggestions and Bug Reports
Future Enhancements
Limitations

Entering Search Specifications Page 4

Selecting Drive to Search Page 4

Starting the Search Page 4

File Selection/Deselection and the Edit Menu Options
Page 4/5

Option Menu Options Page 5

Executing commands on found files Page 6


ENTERING THE FILE SPECIFICATION(S)
The first step in doing a file search is to enter one or
more search specifications in the file specification
field. The search specification may be a file name or a
MS-DOS wild card file specification. You may enter more
than one search specification if you wish to find more
than one file or kind of file in one search. Press ENTER
after every specification and press TAB or use the mouse
when finished entering file specifications to move to the
drives selection list.
File Specification Examples
Entering
RUN.BAT
in the file specification field will find all files named
RUN.BAT on the specified drives.

Entering :
RUN*.BAT
in the file specification field will find all files of the
form RUN?????.BAT eg RUN.BAT, RUNME.BAT, RUNOLD.BAT etc.

Entering
*.C
*.H
*.RC
will find all files with extensions .C, .H and .RC

DRIVE SELECTION
After entering the search specifications the next step is to
select which drives to search using the drives selection
list box on the upper right of the FFW window. Press TAB
in the file specification field or use the mouse to get
to the drives selection list box. This is a multiple
selection list box so you may select as many drives as
you wish. To select with the keyboard use the arrow keys
to move up and down and the space bar to select. With the
mouse use the vertical scroll bar to scroll and the mouse
left button for selection.

STARTING THE SEARCH
After entering the file specifications and drive selections
you may start the search by pressing the OK button with
the green robot on it. To press this button move the
mouse cursor over the button and press the left button or
simply press the ENTER key (this is a default button).
The file search will now begin. The OK button will change
to a cancel button (a stop sign bitmap will replace the
green robot). To stop the search at any time press this
button. You may now continue with other Windows
applications while FFW does the search.
FFW will place the name of the file and its path and
optionally its size and last access date (see option menu
options) in the files found list box which occupies the
bottom section of the FFW window.

SELECTION AND DESELECTION
Files in the files found result list box may be selected by
the user. When a file is selected it is displayed in
inverse video. Certain operations can only be performed
on selected files. To select a file with the mouse scroll
the files found list box up or down using the vertical
scroll bar, move the cursor over the file to select and
press the left mouse button. Multiple files may be
selected. To de-select a file follow the same procedure.
When using the keyboard first press TAB until the files
found list box has the input focus (this is denoted by a
dotted rectangle around one of the display lines) then
use the cursor up and down keys to scroll up and down and
the space bar to select or de-select.

EDIT MENU OPTIONS
The Edit menu options all act on the files found results
list box which forms the bottom half of the FFW windows.
The options are :
SELECT ALL
This option selects all files in the files found list box
When a file is selected it is displayed in reverse video.
UNSELECT ALL
This option de-selects all files in the files found windows
TOGGLE SELECTIONS
This option inverts the current selection status of all
files in the files found list box. If a file was selected
it is de-selected and vice versa.
CUT TO CLIPBOARD
The Cut to clipboard option will delete all selected files
from the files found list box and place these files in
text format in the Windows Clipboard. Another program
such as a Word Processor or Spreadsheet may then read
these files from the clipboard (normally using their EDIT
menu paste option).
COPY TO CLIPBOARD
The copy to clipboard is the same as the cut option except
that it does NOT delete selected files from the files
found list box.

OPTIONS MENU
The option menu has various options affecting the display of
files found. When any of these options are selected a
check mark will appear next to it on the menu.
The options are :
DISPLAY FILE SIZE
When this option is selected the size of the file in bytes
will be displayed next to the filename in the files found
list box.
DISPLAY FILE DATE AND TIME
When this option is selected the date and time of the last
change to the file will be shown in the format specified
by you in the Windows Control Panel International
options.
ALWAYS ON TOP
When this option is selected the FFW window will always
appear on top of other windows .

EXECUTE COMMANDS FEATURE
FFW provides a feature whereby you may execute multiple
commands on files found by the file search. The steps to
follow to execute commands on files found are :
First search for the files by entering a file
specification and selecting the drives to search as
described previously.
Select the files on which to execute commands or use the
EDIT menu option Select All if you wish the commands to
operate on all the files found.
Enter the commands you wish executed in the optional
commands edit control terminating each command by
pressing ENTER. To specify the names of files in the
commands use one of the substitution characters listed
below.
Press the Execute button (with the picture of the gallows
on it). To press this button move the mouse cursor over
the button and press the left button or using the TAB key
to cycle through the controls until the EXECUTE button
has the input focus (this is denoted by a dotted
rectangle around the inside of the button), then press
SPACE.

EMBEDDED SUBSTITUTION CHARACTERS IN COMMANDS
Normally when performing a DOS command on a filename you
would specify the actual filename to the DOS command line
eg DEL FOO.BAK. In this case however there will be
multiple file names which we want to automate the
processing of DOS commands on. To do this FFW allows you
to specify a substitution character preceded by a &.
These are :
&p = Substitute full path name eg C:\FOO\BAR\FOO.BAK
&f = Substitute file name only eg FOO.BAK
&d = Substitute directory name only eg C:\FOO\BAR
&l = Substitute drive letter (and colon) only eg C:
So now if your command is DEL &P then for each selected file
its full name will be substituted instead of the &p when
the command is executed.

EXAMPLES
Example 1 :
To delete all .BAK files on drives C, D and E.
Specify *.BAK in the file specification and select drives
C,D and E to search on using the drive selection list
box, then press ENTER to find all .BAK files on the
specified drives.
Select all the files using the Select All option on the EDIT
menu.
Now enter
del &p
in the optional commands edit control and press the EXECUTE
button.
Alternatively you could enter
&L
CD &D
DEL &F
this when substituted for example for C:\FOO\BAR\FOO.BAK
would lead to the following sequence of commands :
C:
CD C:\FOO\BAR
DEL FOO.BAK

Example 2
To compile selected programs which have a make file called
MAKEFILE. on drive C.
Specify MAKEFILE. in the file specification and select drive
C to search on using the drive selection list box, then
press ENTER to find all the MAKEFILE.'s on the specified
drive.
Select the files you wish to compile.
Enter the following in the commands edit control :
&L
CD &D
NMAKE /a /f &F