Some have asked for the file format for PCBoard's DIR files.  In the past this
has never been documented thinking that it was almost intuitively obvious what
the format is (DIR files being ascii format after all).  However, here's a
technical breakdown of EXACTLY what it takes to make a properly formatted DIR
file that PCBoard can recognize and process (example in between the two ******
lines below):

*******************************************************************************
 1) =====[  PCBoard v 14.5a Program Files  ]==================================
 2)
 3) %C:\PCB\DIR\DISCLAIM
 4)
 5) The PCBoard v14.5a software is available through a door called PCBOARD.
 6) To download v14.5a software simply type "PCBOARD" at the command prompt.
 7)
 8) PCBDEMO1.ZIP   315899  11-22-91  PCBoard 14.5a Demo Disk #1
 9) PCBDEMO2.ZIP   259140  11-22-91  PCBoard 14.5a Demo Disk #2
10) PCBDEMO3.ZIP   192391  11-22-91  PCBoard 14.5a Demo Disk #3
11) PCBDEMO4.ZIP   330754  11-22-91  PCBoard 14.5a Demo Disk #4
12)
13) PCBoard VROOM Overlay Size Adjustment
14) -------------------------------------
15) OVLSIZE.ZIP      7986  11-25-91  Use to adjust the size of the overlay buf
16)                                | in the VROOM OVERLAY version of PCBoard v
17)                                | or v14.5a.
*******************************************************************************


Headers, footers and any other regular text:
--------------------------------------------
   Lines 1-2, 4-7 and 12-13 are all considered regular text lines.  They can be
   used for headers (text that is displayed before the file listing), footers
   (text that can be displayed after the file listing) or if you DISABLE the
   "sort" function for a particular DIR file they can be located anywhere in
   the middle of the file.

   The only restriction is that they be 78 characters in length or less.


Include files:
--------------
   Line 3 is an example of an include file.  The file C:\PCB\DIR\DISCLAIM
   would be displayed to the caller after showing lines 1 and 2 and before
   showing the rest of the file.

   Anything contained in the include file will be displayed with no limit on
   file length or line width.  PCBoard does NOT display the existing line
   (i.e. "%C:\PCB\DIR\DISCLAIM" is not displayed) to the caller.


Primary file listings:
----------------------
   Lines 8-11 and 15 are all considered primary file listing lines.  The
   important aspects of each line are as follows:

   1) The file name is valid and contains no spaces within it.
   2) The file size is flush right in column #21.  No commas please.
   3) The file date begins in column #24 and uses dashes to separate the
      MM-DD-YY format.  All values less than 10 include leading zeroes as
      in "01" instead of " 1".
   4) The file description begins in column 34 and must not extended beyond 78.


Secondary file listings:
------------------------
   Secondary lines allow you to improve the description of a file by providing
   a much longer description.  Rules for valid secondary lines are as follows:

   1) Must follow a valid primary or secondary file listing.
   2) Must begin with a space in the first column.
   3) Must include a vertical bar (a | character) somewhere on the line (the
      default is in column 32 just to the right of the end of the date field).

   PCBoard will, when displaying the file to the caller, remove the vertical
   bar so as not to clutter up the display with extraneous characters.


Colorization:
-------------
PCBoard performs automatic colorization of the DIR files as they are being
displayed by recognizing headers, footers, file names, sizes, dates,
descriptions and secondary lines according to the above rules and according to
the color scheme defined via PCBFiler's "Choose DIR Colors" function.

Any additional colorations (via @-codes) desired are permissable as long as
they are placed in non-column-sensitive areas such as:  headers, footers, file
descriptions, secondary lines, etc.  You would not be able to place color codes
anywhere to the left of the end of the date field in a file listing.

Older versions of PCBoard allowed graphics versions of DIR files such as
creating both a DIR10 as well as a DIR10G file.  PCBoard v14.5 and beyond no
longer support the "G" version of the file due to the automatic colorization
being built directly into PCBoard.  This saves both disk space as well as
probably some lost hair which probably occured when DIRxxG files became out of
synch with their non-colorized counterparts.


PCBFiler's Master List
----------------------
PCBFiler automatically removes @-codes, includes any %FILESPEC include files,
and removes vertical bars while it creates a master listing of your files.  In
other words, the file created by PCBFiler is as readable (and without any
control codes being displayed) as when PCBoard displays your files to an online
caller who is in non-graphics mode.