*** 4XBTM VERSION 4.0 RELEASE NOTES *** Freeware Package Thank you for evaluating 4XBTM. This file describes the 4XBTM files, and gives instructions for installation. As all files are extensively rewritten, read this first, even if you already have an earlier version! System requirements: 4DOS Version 5.5 DOS A few of these batches need DOS tools like SORT, FIND, FORMAT, COMMAND, SYS, EDIT, LABEL, DEBUG VGA Card for a few BTMs ANSI.SYS or equivalent driver for a few BTMs Ŀ 4XBTM requirements: If you're one of those who do not read this things: 4XINSTAL, the installation routine for the 4XBTM files, will give you hints and warnings if it detects possible incompatibilities. So install and be happy. For those who still read: These btms were written and tested under plain old DOS (MS_DOS 6.20), so they may give unexpected results under different Operating Systems like OS/2, WINDOWS shells etc. The newer ones and by now a few of those already included in earlier versions of 4XBTM use commands / functions of 4DOS 5.5 which will produce errors with earlier 4DOS versions. Solution: do a quick upgrade. All these btms need a few (hundred) bytes of environment space. XSP even needs 600, so I test for enough env space in 4XINSTAL. If you get a warning there , before you start to play, make sure your 4DOS.INI is set up to allow this by placing a line like ENVIRONMENT=2048 into it. I also expect the settings BATCHECHO=NO BRIGHTBG=YES in your 4DOS.INI. You may want to play with the color settings as well. Best effects are reached with the 4dos.ini settings STDCOLORS = BRI WHI ON BLU INPUTCOLORS = BRI YEL ON BLU HISTWINCOLOR = BRI WHI ON BRI BLU LISTCOLORS = BRI WHI ON BLU LISTSTATBARCOLORS=BRI WHI ON RED SELECTCOLORS = BRI WHI ON BLU SELECTSTATBARCOLORS=BRI WHI ON RED in conjunction with 4XBTM. (I know my color scheme is not to everybody`s taste, but it is pleasing to me. On the other hand, you can edit all btm colors to suit your taste.) I strongly recommend the setting of the TEMP variable to something like C:\TEMP in your autoexec.bat or wherever, so that temporary files have a fixed home and do not get placed into the root dir or current dir of your disk. You achieve this with the command SET TEMP=C:\TEMP in your autoexec.bat or config.sys. If you have a RAM disk, you can point TEMP to this in the interest of speed. Alias expansion is generally switched off by the line SETDOS /X-1 in 4XBTM batches and switched on again upon exit. If a batch terminates prematurely, alias expansion may remain disabled. You can switch it back on by the command SETDOS /X0 from the command line. Some btms use the usual DOS filters like FIND and SORT, external commands like FORMAT, SYS or the wellknown PKZIP / PKUNZIP programs to achieve their goal. These are found automatically as long as they are in a directory that's in your path. As the switches of these external commands may change from version to version of even the same brand, you may get unexpected or no results. These utilities are all written using the externals of MS_DOS 6.2. If you use another version, you may have to adapt the relevant lines in these btms. You may want to change the name of some of the 4XBTM files to suit your taste. As some btms have data files with the same name (though not extension ), be careful not to change their names without editing the parent btms. Perhaps a better way would be to alias those btms to the name you want. ============================================================================ Ŀ INSTALLATION Copy these files to a directory in your path, eg. \4DOS5 or \BATCHES. If you create a new directory for 4XBTM, include the name of this new directory in your path statement by editing the PATH= line in your autoexec.bat file: PATH=.......;C:/4XBTM or whatever you have called your new dir. For temporary evaluation you can expand your path from within your testing dir with the command line SET PATH=%_CWD;%PATH Read the header of each btm before using it! There may be some customizing to do in the btm or it's accompanying .dat files for your system. The most frequent error occuring is the 'DOC not read ERROR'! Each BTM gives you usage information when called with /? or -?. Further info and credits to author in the header of each .btm file. ============================================================================ Ŀ What is 4XBTM? 4XBTM has grown into a collection of small(?) utilities and aliases for use with 4DOS, written exclusivly in the 4DOS batch language, featuring, I hope, ease of use, safety and good looks. 4XBTM is absolutely free of charge. I only claim the right to the name 4XBTM. You can and should PRIVATELY copy it to give it to your friends. I would be glad if you sent me a short message stating your opinion and suggestions concerning 4XBTM. SHAREWARE DISTRIBUTORS may copy and distribute 4XBTM taking a small, reasonable fee for their labor, under the following conditions: 1: No files may be left out, added or altered in any way. 2: I want a note stating the name of the shareware distributor and the name of the shareware package into which 4XBTM is included. 4XBTM is _not_ aimed at the power user. For many of these batches execution would be faster if you typed the right command on the command line. It is aimed at people who like a nice user interface, don't want to remember all those switches and parameters, or like to study the code to give them ideas for their own programming. Furthermore, with these utilities you have a chance to change their behaviour or look to your liking, which you can't usually do with compiled utilities. ============================================================================ Ŀ Interaction This was the place I went to preach and implore you to send me your best btms in earlier versions of 4XBTM. Response was poor (Shame on you: there were only 2 real collaborations via email and a few suggestions or bug reports). So I will stop preaching. You can still send me your btms or ideas, bug reports or praises if you want this collection to grow further, and I will be grateful. I _am_ grateful for promptly answering all my qestions to Mike Bessy, sysop of JP Software's Compuserve lib (among others), as well as to all other people who sent me hints, a few praises, very few suggestions and 1 bug report. Now have fun with 4XBTM, impress your friends with the power of 4DOS versus that "free sample command processor included in most DOS versions" as Mike Bessy, sysop of Compuserve's 4DOS forum is fond to call it, and register your 4DOS version! Those people really did a good job and deserve to be payed more than some I could think of... Author Information: you can reach me by email, fax or letter under the following adress: Klaus Meinhard Brahmsstr. 12 D26842 Ostrhauderfehn Germany FAX: (049) (0)4952 61775 Compuserve ID: [100115,2025] ============================================================================ Ŀ FILES INCLUDED 4XBTM.DOC This file 4HISTORY.DOC Revision history of 4XBTM ========================= XDIRTOOL System ======================================== XCD.BTM XCD : Change Directory utility XPATH.BTM XPATH : AddPath utility XPNG.BTM XPNG : Prune and Graft dir limbs XDDEL.BTM XDDEL : Directory Delete utiliy XDREN.BTM XDREN : Directory Rename utility XND.BTM XND : New Directories (several) at one go! ============================================================================ When I wrote these I did not know about the excellent CD, GO, GX, ND aliases and REFRESH.BTM by Mike Bessy, which are much smaller and faster (though lack my beloved interface). They are available in JP Software's 4DOS lib on Compuserve as CD.ZIP. ============================================================================ XAD.BTM XAD : Screen Saver Admin "After Dawn" XAD.DAT XAD Menu File XBL1.BTM XAD Screen Saver "Mondrian" XBL2.BTM XAD Screen Saver "Hollywood" XBL3.BTM XAD Screen Saver "As time goes by..." XBL4.BTM XAD Screen Saver "Say it again..." XFA.BTM XFA : File Attribute change with picklists XFMT.BTM XFMT : Format Disk utility XFMT.DFP Data file for XFMT, format parameters XFMT.DPA Data file for XFMT, drive A: XFMT.DPB Data file for XFMT, drive B: XFMT.FC1 Data file for XFMT, normal format XFMT.FC2 Data file for XFMT, up / down format XDC.BTM XDC : Disk Copy Utility XER.BTM XER : Show Error with explanation XER.DAT Data file for XER XFF.BTM XFF : File Find utility XLIST.BTM XLIST : Dir and File Lister XSC.BTM XSC : Set Color & Prompt (Ansi) utility XSC.DAT Data file for XSC XSET.BTM XSET : Change Alias / Environment utility XSI.BTM XSI : System Information XSP.BTM XSP : Set Megaprompt from a rich menu XSP.DAT Menu file for XSP XND.BTM XND : MUltiple New Directories at one go XUZ.BTM XUZ : Unzipper for downloads from mailbox XUZ.DAT Menu file for XUZ XZIP.BTM XZIP : Zipper for upload files XZIP.DAT menu file for XZIP XRT.BTM XRT : Reaction Timer (Game) XBESAFE.BTM XBESAFE : Backups of critical WIN/NDW files XDAILY.BTM XDAILY : Once Daily Program execution at boot time XTS.BTM XTS : Text Search (and list and ...) XDSKCAT.BTM XDSKCAT : Disk Catalogue Utility XDEREM.BTM XDEREM : Delete Remarks, spaces, blanks and batcomp a btm XFS.BTM XFS : FileSizeUtility XTOUCH.BTM XTOUCH :ChangeDate&TimeStampofFiles XCLEAN.BTM XCLEAN :Delete0_length&temporaryFiles XTEL.BTM XTEL : Telephone number Dial Utility XXTEL.BTM XXTEL : Interactive Telephone number Dial Utility XTEL.DAT Phone list for XTEL / XXTEL XPURGE.BTM XPURGE : Safely (with backup) purge files XUNPURGE.BTM XUNPURGE: Restore purged files from backup XDOUBLE.BTM XDOUBLE:Find doubles (duplicate files) XFFD.BTM XFFD:Find Files by Date XFFS.BTM XFFS: Find Files by Size XFFDESC.BTM XFFDESC: Find Files by Description XPW.BTM XPW: PassWord utility XWIPE.BTM XWIPE: File Wipe utility XDSIZE.BTM XDSIZE: Dir Size Utility XIN.BTM XIN : CD to FIRST subdir XOVER.BTM XOVER : CD to NEXT subdir XDSKFILL.BTM XDSKFILL: Fill Disk with empty file XDN.BTM XDN : Directory Navigation Utility XDOSDEV.BTM XDOSDEV : DOS DEVice segment adress display XCOPYD.BTM XCOPYD : XCOPY to diskette with prompt for new diskette. XBOOTEX.BTM XBOOTEX : Boot time execution manager XBOOTEX.DAT Data file for XBOOTEX XCORTIME.BTM XCORTIME: Time Correction Utility 4XALIAS.ALS : Alias file for 4XBTM aliases 4XINSTAL.BTM 4XINSTAL: Installation of 4XBTM files with system check ============================================================================ Ŀ DESCRIPTION OF FILES The XDIRTOOL system is a collection of tools to handle directories and files. They all depend on the creation and regular update of a file named XCDDIRS.DAT in the root of your boot drive containing the directory structure of all your hard (nonremovable) drives. This file should not be deleted. All of the BTMs in this system attributed to the XDIRTOOL system try to keep this file up to date. If you start one of these tools, this file is created automatically. You can always update it by starting one of these tools with the /r switch from the command line. Diskettes and other removables are handled differently: A temporary file of their structure is created in your temp directory, and deleted after exit. If the TEMP variable is not set, the root dir of your boot drive is used. This file is called XCDSRCH.DAT and can be deleted if it remains after exiting one of these tools prematurely by a CTRL-C. All tools in this system work across different drives. See the description of the individual tools to see what they do. These are the dir_related tools belonging to the XDIRTOOL system: XCD.BTM : is a Change Directory utility with a lot of features. You can change to any directory on all your drives by giving no or only part of the name of the target dir. If more than one match is found, you can choose from a menu. XCD senses if a directory is new or deleted and updates the database. XPATH.BTM : is a utility to add dir names to your path. XDDEL.BTM : Directory Delete with as much safety as possible (for me). Dir entries are shown before you decide to delete. Protects against wrong input, boot drive deletion etc. XPNG.BTM : Prune and Graft tree limbs from a nd to your directory tree. See what you'll do before it's done. XDREN.BTM : Rename a directory. XND.BTM : Multiple new Directories (and subdirs!) at one go! This one adds one or more new branches to your directory tree. XND is command line driven, simply because it is faster this way. ============================================================================ The following files are new in part, others have been altered to better comply with the overall look and feel of 4XBTM. So please save your old 4XBTM files first before using these! You may want to retain the old version because it's smaller and faster. ============================================================================ XFA.BTM : File Attribute change with the help of SELECT. Shows only files with matching attribute. Only 1 attribute at a time. XAD.BTM : is an Administrator for "screen savers" (After Dawn!). It provides a random generator for (up to now) four examples of "screen savers" (not blankers!) named XBL1 ... XBL4.BTM Naturally these are not TSR`s and don`t stop until you hit any key. You can (and should!) write your own savers. You can add them by naming them XBL4.btm ..... XBLn.btm. Add the name and a description to XAD.DAT and enter it in XAD.BTM under the next label. XAD should take care of the rest. If you like what you have done, send your saver to me for inclusion! XFMT.BTM : User interface for FORMAT.COM (must be in path!). If you want to put the system files on the new disk, COMMAND.COM must be in the path. Format your diskette(s) with a friendly interface, all imaginable safety guards, plausibilty checks and more! XFMT uses two files for Capacity of drive A: (XFMT.DPA) and drive B: (XFMT.DPB) They are configured for a: = 5 1/4 " and b: = 3 1/2 ". You can reconfigure them with an ascii editor to your needs. If you do, small changes must be made to the :start section of XFMT.BTM as indicated in the file. Two further files are used to channel input to FORMAT.COM. If you don't use an english speaking version of DOS, you have to change the "Y" (for YES) in XFMT.FC2 to whatever is the first character of your "YES" (J for JA in Germany). XFMT.BTM uses a lot of safety features: you can see the directory of any disk already formatted, checks against incompatible or inappropriate parameters are made, you can always break out of XFMT.BTM before formatting starts. XDC.BTM : Disk Copy utility with copy across different formats, sys- tem files recognition, label. Formats or clears target disk automatically (after confirmation by user). XER.BTM : shows last internal, external , DOS and programm errors with an explanation where possible. Very useful when writing batch files, especially in conjunction with XSP 7. If there is a more up to date list of errors out there, send them to me please! XFF.BTM : File Find utility. Searches all your hard disks for a match for the given filespec. Shows matches in list with option to change to that dir. New version with a few enhancements and new user interface. See XFFD, XFFS and XFFDESC for finding files by date, size or description. This one was written long before the new FFIND command in 4DOS 5.5, but may still be useful. XLIST.BTM : is a directory and file lister with not quite as much fea- tures as V. Buerg's LIST.COM. Decides automatically between text and hex listing for some files (configurable). Lets you decide to return to home or current dir on ESC. XSC.BTM : Set your coloured prompt and screen foreground / background with menu, example screen. Needs ANSI.SYS! XSC gives you access to all 16 VGA text foreground and background colors. I hope you have set BrightBG=yes in your 4dos.ini file! XSET.BTM : Edit existing aliases / environment variables. Picklist to choose from matching specs. New user interface. XSI.BTM : System Info making the most of 4DOS variables. Now who of you writes a reliable speed test for processor and disk? XSP.BTM : Set Prompt. This is based on Mike Bessy of JP Software's SETPROMP.BTM. XSP gives you access to 13 different, highly informative prompts. Some prompts may take too much time for everyday use on machines with a slow processor, but with a 386 / 486 you should be on the safe side. Try the different prompts by choosing from menu or command line parameter. XUZ.BTM : Unzipper for downloads from mailbox. This one depends heavily on your working (playing?) habits. It follows what I usually do with a bunch of downloaded compressed files in my various download dirs: 1. Goto the download dir I want 2. Check if all of my 9 TEST dirs are present, if not create the missing ones (I have probably renamed one for a download I want to keep). 3. Select the file I want to unzip, move it to the first TEST? dir that is empty (I may have some that are not!), and go there. 4. Choose the right unpack programm and decompress the file. If at any stage in this act something is wrong, XUZ terminates. You may want to adapt this to your habits, so see XUZ.BTM and XUZ.DAT for customizing info. I find that this is nearly all I do with those lovely archive progs nowadays since disk compression is available. XZIP.BTM : Zipper for uploads to mailboxes. This is the reverse of the above XUZ.BTM: Zip selected files from current dir, put the resulting .ZIP file into upload dir. Protects against overwriting existing files. For customizing to your habits see header of XZIP.BTM and XZIP.DAT. So this is my other use for zipper progs. Do you need more? XRT.BTM : This is a Reaction Timer meant as a game to show the power of 4DOS to your friends on parties. Follow the onscreen instructions. It was the first btm I dared to upload to the 4DOS forum in Compuserve as ALCTST.BTM. Slightly changed. XBESAFE.BTM : Safely store the critical WINDOWS files and NDW files in a self-extracting archive for easy restoration. If you ever experienced the General Protection Fault caused by corrupted NDW groups this one is for you. You can also take XBESAFE as the starting point for solving similar problems with other applications or for a simple version control system for your program / text sources. See the :setup section of XBESAFE as well as XNDW.DAT and XWIN.DAT for necessary adaptations to your system. BTM contributed by David H. Kay. XDAILY.BTM : Programm execution only once daily at boot. Slightly adapted for 4XBTM from ONCEADAY.BTM as distributed by JP Software with 4DOS. XTS.BTM : Text Search utility. Very useful! You can enter any text and a filespec and XTS will find that text in those files, show you where (file name, line number) it is found and lets you list it. To get even more out of XTS, you can change from 4DOS internal LIST to LIST.COM from V. Buerg and then you can directly edit, copy or delete those files. XDSKCAT.BTM : Disk Catalogue Utility. You can catalogue your floppy disks, look for filenames, list disks, look for free space on disks etc. It is menudriven and should explain itself. BTM contributed by Hans-Jrgen Mller XDEREM.BTM : Delete remarks, leading blanks and empty lines from a batch and use BATCOMP on it. For those of you who like to spend a few minutes to save microseconds. The time you save is minimal, but you save in diskspace and loading time. XFS.BTM : File Size Utility: modelled after P. Norton's FS, it shows you the total size of selected files. While you do not get info about the slack area of each file, you get intermediate sums, and you can (4DOS)select files that are not covered by wildcards. See XDSIZE, too, for directory size. XTOUCH.BTM : A utility to change the date and time stamps of files. There was a heated discussion in Compuserve's 4DOS forum over the propoal to add this function as an internal 4DOS command. While we are waiting for that implementation, here is an external one. XCLEAN.BTM : Clean your drives of zero-length files and unwanted backups and / or temp files. User-configurable. XTEL.BTM : A phone number dialler. Look up your contacts with a search string and let XTEL dial their number. XXTEL.BTM : More elaborate phone number dialler. Works interactively, reports BUSY line etc. May not work with every modem. Rename to XTEL.BTM if you use this. XPURGE.BTM : Delete your files safely. With XPURGE purged files are moved to a hidden directory (\XPURGE on your boot drive) and stored until you decide to clean them out. XUNPURGE.BTM: Restore XPURGEd files to current or original home dir. Clean \XPURGE directory. Menudriven. XDOUBLE.BTM : Utility to find duplicate files (doubles) across your drive(s) with info about age and areasonable guess as to what they are. XFFD.BTM : Find Files by Date range and go to directory of found files. XFFS.BTM : Find Files by Size range and go to directory of found files. XFFDESC.BTM : Find Files by Description and go to directory. XPW.BTM : Password utility. Enter your correct password or stop your system. May deter a not very sophisticated attempt to get at your data. XWIPE.BTM : Utility to wipe the info in a file before deleting it. CAUTION: Recovering the information of a wiped file is NOT possible! XDSIZE.BTM : Directory Size utility. Sizes and percentages of disk use for selected directories. XIN.BTM : CD to FIRST subdir. Dir navigation in conjunction with XOVER.BTM XOVER.BTM : CD to NEXT subdir. Dir navigation in conjunction with XFREN.BTM : Multiple File REName utility with the help of SELECT. XDSKFILL.BTM: XDSKFILL creates an empty file on the disk of your choice named XDUMMY.DAT. This file can be any size, default is all of remaining disk space. As only 1 byte is really written to the file, you can view, edit and save textual information of deleted files in the former slack space. With XWIPE you can then erase all information in XDUMMY.DAT for security reasons. After deleting XDUMMY.DAT even UNDELETEing other files is possible again in most cases. XDN.BTM : Directory Navigation by cursor and enter keys. Really only a stripped down XLIST.BTM, but there seems to be an endless demand for different directory navigation utilities. XDOSDEV.BTM : DOS DEVice segment adress display with DIR command! One of the quirks of all DOS versions is that if you issue a DIR command with a device name like CON or LPT1, the device name will be displayed with a filesize that in reality is the decimal form of the (hexadecimal) segment adress. XCOPYD.BTM : XCOPY to diskette with prompt for new diskette, so you do not have to remember which files are already copied. XBOOTEX.BTM : Versatile manager of programs / batches you want to run only once every day at first boot. Unlimited progs, selectable interval, selectable ask before execution. Run CHKDSK every day, a virus scan once a week, defrag once a month if you have the time? Then XBOOTEX is the btm for you. XCORTIME.BTM Correct Time utility. This is the btm way to automatically adjust your system clock, if it is off by a regular amount of seconds every day. Even handles necessary date changes. Install XCORTIME with XBOOTEX and get your clock to run with accuracy of 1 second a week. 4XINSTAL.BTM: Installation of 4XBTM files with file description, system check. ????????.BTM: This could be *** YOUR *** best batch! No, it is _not_ included yet! 4XALIAS.ALS : is a collection of useful aliases for the beginner. Here you find those small utilities (1_liners in general) that get you started using the power of 4DOS. Read the file for explanation and documentation first! Be careful not to overwrite already existing aliases by simply loading these with "alias /r 4xalias.dat" ! Ŀ Ĵ DISCLAIMER Ŀ As usual: I have taken care not to format your disk or to destroy your files. NO guaranty of any kind for these batches is implied or given. If something happens, it wasn't me! I acknowledge the copyright of all branded products mentioned.