DIZEDIT Version 4.9l Copyright (c) 1993 GDSOFT May 22, 1994 WHAT IS IT : ------------ DIZEDIT is a simple utility that allows editing of those nice little description files commonly found in archive files (ZIP,ARJ,LZH). Many BBS systems use this file as the ACTUAL description whenever the archive file is uploaded to them. Commonly, the file is named FILE_ID.DIZ, however other variations are FILE.DES or FILE.SDI. In this document, I'll refer to this file regardless of the flavor as the FILE_ID. DIZEDIT easily allows you to create the existing FILE_ID if it already exists in the archive, and if not, it allows you to create it. Additionally, with Version 4.0, several useful abilities have been added : .... Convert archives to a DEFAULT format. .... REPACK archives to minimize size .... Recognizes most ARJ,ZIP and LZH SFX files .... Strip or add Archive comments (ARJ and ZIP ONLY) .... Automatic VIRUS SCAN using popular SCAN programs. .... Update ARCHIVE date with TODAY,NEWEST,OLDEST file date. .... Add BBS files to the archive such as ADS etc. .... Included an .INI file which can be edited interactively to save setup information. .... Can be used in AUTOMATIC mode to do archive conversions of entire directories. .... Maintains LOG file of all activity. BASIC STARTUP : --------------- Unpack the distribution archive to some directory on your disk, and type the command : DIZEDIT . If it is the first time you have used to program, DIZEDIT will create a DIZEDIT.INI file on the same path that DIZEDIT.EXE exists. This is a plain vanilla ASCII file and contains the following information : MARGIN=40 (anything from 30 to 78 chars) COLOR=BLUE (Choices are : BLUE,RED,GREEN,CYAN,MAGENTA) INSERT=ON (Start DIZEDIT in insert mode. Could be OFF) FORCEDIZ=NO (ABSOLUTELY save FILE_ID.DIZ no matter if SDI or DES file) DOUBLEUP=NO (Save the ORIGINAL FILE_ID.DIZ as ARCHIVENAME.DIZ in the file ) SAVEDIZPATH=D:\SOMEPATH (path for saving DIZ's .. OPTIONAL) DIZLOGFILE=D:\UTILITY\DIZEDIT.LOG (path and name of DIZEDIT LOG file ) SWAPDRIVE=D (The drive DIZEDIT should create SWAP on. Use FASTEST drive.) EXTENSIONS=*.ZIP *.ARJ *.LZH *.EXE *.COM *.SDN (whatever you want) EMS=YES (Use EMS for Swapping if available. Make this NO for 286/386sx) ARJ=D:\UTILITY\ARJ.EXE A (The address of ARJ.EXE PLUS extra switches) PKZIP=D:\UTILITY\PKZIP.EXE -EX $B -a -r -p (ditto, whatever you use) PKUNZIP=D:\UTILITY\PKUNZIP.EXE -d -$ (ditto again MAKE SURE THEY MATCH !!) LZH=D:\UTILITY\LHA.EXE (ditto again and again) SCAN=D:\TOOLS\SCAN.EXE /NOMEM /BELL (use any switches you like) SCANDELAY=2 (seconds to leave scan screen displayed ) DATE=NEWEST,EXT (sets archive date to newest PLUS extension, OR oldest PLUS extension OR TODAY (today's date) OR just blank for NOTHING (current archive date)). COMMENT=D:\TURBO\ARCS\ZIPLOGO.TXT (the address and name of a comment file) BBSAD=D:\BBS\ABBS.TXT (name and address of file to add to archive). DEFAULT=ZIP (ARJ,ZIP, or LZH. Archives WILL be converted to this) REPACK=NO (Repack archives for MAXIMUM compression .. either YES or NO) The easiest way to create this file is to execute DIZEDIT. A DIZEDIT.INI file will AUTOMATICALLY be created. Press the F1 key BEFORE selecting an archive file, and DIZEDIT will allow you to edit these values. When finished, press F10 to save your changes. The changes WILL TAKE EFFECT IMMEDIATELY, so you don't have to exit DIZEDIT and re-run it. Of course you can use any ASCII word processor to change your DIZEDIT settings. Also, if you want DIZEDIT to return to whatever the default value was, just DELETE everything AFTER the EQUAL (=) sign. For example, to STRIP all comments for archives as they are process, just DELETE everthing AFTER the COMMENT= line from DIZEDIT.INI. You can use the F2 key when in the FILE_ID edit window to write out the current FILE_ID to any valid directory on your disk. This is useful if you want to save them for creating BBS lists or whatever. The file will be name ARCHIVENAME+.DIZ Additional NEW features of DIZEDIT are : The file copy function. Press F4 on a valid file, and you will be permitted to copy the file to any path on your system. This is nice if you want to create an upload directory to send a group of files somewhere. You can change the current drive using F8. This let's you pick any path on any drive on your system. Also, on the file selection screen, you can press the DELETE key, and you'll be able to DELETE or MOVE the archive if you desire. AH... NOW FOR THE GOOD PART --------------------------- You will be presented with a directory list of the current directory. You can select the '..' entry to get to the ROOT directory. From there, select a directory where there are files that have ZIP, ARJ or LZH files. Select anyone of them, and DIZEDIT will open the archive and extract all of the files to a "blind" directory that it creates. The DEFAULT file that DIZEDIT looks for is FILE_ID.DIZ. If that does NOT exist, then it looks for a file with the extension of "DES". If that does NOT exist then it looks for a file with the extension of "SDI". If your archive contains NONE of these then DIZEDIT will present you with a list of the files in this archive. You may choose one of them to be READIN, and the DIZEDIT permits editing. This is useful if you DO NOT already have a FILE_ID, and you want to use the DOC file or a TXT file as a basis to create from. The file that will be created in this case is FILE_ID.DIZ. If one of these files already exist, then DIZEDIT permits editing. You can enter up to 4096 characters. BE WARNED !!! Many BBS sites ONLY permit 15 lines by 40 characters to be displayed in their descriptions. You can have as many lines as you have memory for, and each line can be up to 78 characters. FORCEDIZ SWITCH --------------- This switch allows you to FORCE and FILE_ID.DIZ to be saved in the archive even when there is already a SDI or DES file. DOUBLEUP SWITCH --------------- This switch allows you to FORCE the ORIGINAL FILE_ID.DIZ to be saved in the archive along with the edited FILE_ID. In order to make this work, you MUST have this switch set to YES in the INI file. Save the ORIGINAL FILE_ID using F2. Edit your FILE_ID. When you press F10 to save the edited FILE_ID, DIZEDIT will place the saved FILE_ID in the archive too. It will be named ARCHIVENAME.DIZ. DIZEDIT LOG FILE ---------------- As files are processed with DIZEDIT, a log of all activity may be maintained. To accomplish this, you need to define a "DIZLOGFILE=" in the INI file. Include the COMPLETE path and file name. If this is blank, then NO log will be maintained. This log file is very useful when using DIZEDIT in AUTOMATIC mode. LAST.DIZ FILE ------------- Once a FILE_ID is saved, DIZEDIT creates a buffer of the LAST data, and whenever you use F1 to READIN files, you will notice the file LAST.DIZ in the list. You may select this file. This makes it nice and easy to edit multiple archives in a series. ARCHIVE PROGRAM LOCATIONS ------------------------- Again, DIZEDIT recognizes the extensions ZIP,ARJ, and LZH. In order for DIZEDIT to work for each of these respective archives, you MUST have a copy of the following files SOMEWHERE on your path. DIZEDIT will search for them, and if NOT found, will tell you. You must then make sure that these files are in the same directory as DIZEDIT.EXE or in a directory listed in your PATH statement. ZIP - PKZIP.EXE and PKUNZIP.EXE ARJ - ARJ.EXE LZH - LHA.EXE or LHARC.EXE From there, if a file in the files display window ends in one of these extensions, simply press , and the FILE_ID for that archive can be edited. At anytime, you can press the 'F1' key, and READIN any file on your disk as a basis for the FILE_ID. To save the FILE_ID and re-pack the archive, press the 'F10' key. Pressing ESCAPE exits WITHOUT saving. A WORD ABOUT THE DIZEDIT SWAP AREA ---------------------------------- DIZEDIT creates a temporary directory that it uses to unpack files for viewing or printing. Normally, this directory is created on the same disk that the program is on. PKZIP also uses a temporary file to do its work. DIZEDIT will use the same temporary disk that you assign for PKZIP unless you have SWAPFILE=somedisk in the DIZEDIT INI File. You may have this temporary file created in a different directory by setting the environment variable PKTMP. Set this equal to the drive you wish to use as your temporary file location and ARCTOOL temporary directory. For optimal performance on your local harddrive, the PKTMP could be set equal to a RAM drive if a large enough one is available. This will make EVERYTHING run VERY FAST !!!! The temporary file location must have enough free space to hold ALL the files in their UNCOMPRESSED state. A one or two MEG RAM drive would be sufficient for most compressed files. DIZEDIT swaps to EMS (see switch in the INI file) memory if available. Becuase it's executing PKZIP and PKUNZIP as external shells, there may not be enough EMS memory available for PKUNZIP to do it's job properly. This might be ESPECIALLY TRUE on 286/386sx machines. If you have one of these, I recommend setting the "EMS=" switch in the INI file to "EMS=NO". Also, if you machine should hang after unpacking the archive, try changing this switch to NO as well. COMMAND LINE USAGE ------------------- DIZEDIT if "batch file" capable, and can be executed directly from the command line such as : DIZEDIT \PATH\SOMEZIP.ZIP In this case, DIZEDIT does NOT show you the normal selection screen, but instead goes DIRECTLY to the archive specified if it exists. You MUST enter the FULL name and COMPLETE path of the archive file. You will then be able to edit the FILE_ID.DIZ for the named file. Also, you can start DIZEDIT on a particular directory by typing : DIZEDIT \PATHNAME If the pathname is a valid path, you will presented will all of the files matching EXTENSIONS in that path USING DIZEDIT IN AUTOMATIC MODE ------------------------------- DIZEDIT can be used as straight-forward archive convert too !! You WILL NOT BE ABLE to edit the FILE_ID.DIZ in this case, but the is very useful if you have directory of files that you simple want to convert to a particular archive format. Also, as files are converted, they may be scanned for viruses, and your comment and BBS advertisment added. To run DIZEDIT in AUTOMATIC mode on a single file, just type from the DOS command line : DIZEDIT filename /A DIZEDIT will process the archive based on your DIZEDIT INI settings. You can process an entire directory of files with DIZEDIT in the automatic mode. From DOS just type the following : DIZEDIT /A \pathname\*.ZIP ALL of the archive files in the selected directory will be processed using DIZEDIT in the AUTOMATIC mode. Pressing the ESCAPE key during the process with permit you to abort. MULITASKERS - OS2/WINDOWS/DESQVIEW ------------------------------------ Just for your information, DIZEDIT will run nicely under WINDOWS, DESQVIEW and OS/2. It'll give up the timeslices to allow these operating systems to work properly. BASIC COMMANDS AND CURSOR MOVEMENT : ------------------------------------ DIZEDIT uses the normal cursor keys to go LEFT, RIGHT, UP, DOWN, HOME, END, PGUP, PGDN. The editor is "WORDSTAR" compatible. Here is a list of the function and CTRL keys and what each does : Command Description -------------------- ------------------------------------------------ PROGRAM KEYS (BEFORE Archive is selected) [F1] - Edit the DIZEDIT.INI File [F4] - Copy the selected file to another path. [F8] - Select another path or drive to work from. [DEL] - Permits archive to be DELETED or MOVED. [ESC] - Quit DIZEDIT EDITOR KEYS (AFTER Archive is selected) [F1] - Presents a list of files to be READIN. [F2] - Allows the current FILE_ID to be written to disk. [F10] - Save the current FILE_ID and repack the archive. [ESC] - Quit back to the file selection screen. INSERT - Toggle INSERT/OVERWRITE Mode DELETE - Delete Character [CTRL]-[Y] - Delete current line [CTRL]-[B] - Reformat paragraph [CTRL]-[O][J] - Reformat & Justify paragraph [CTRL]-[S] - Character Left [CTRL]-[D] - Character Right [CTRL]-[A] - Word Left [CTRL]-[F] - Word Right [CTRL]-[E] - Line Up [CTRL]-[X] - Line Down [CTRL]-[W] - Scroll Up [CTRL]-[Z] - Scroll Down [CTRL]-[Q] - Delete To End Of Line [CTRL]-[T] - Delete Word MANY Thanks to Felix Mueller and James Duckworth, Guy Hunter and others for recommending MANY IMPORTANT improvements to DIZEDIT !! Well, that's pretty much it. I think that you will find DIZEDIT easy to use, FAST, and once you get used to using it, indispensable !! Especially if you maintain a BBS. If you like DIZEDIT, then please register it. For those who do, I will send my super dooper BONUS archive as well. Believe me there are many goodies on this BONUS disk. including ARCTOOL, ARCPLUS and FILEMANAGER PLUS, an exciting NEW program which does ALL that you could EVER want a file manager program to do and MUCH MORE, including DIZEDIT built in !!! Register : GDSOFT G.D. DAVIS 57280 Osage Drive Goshen, Indiana 46526 Please Include a $15.00 registration fee. Make sure that you include your return address. If you have any comments or questions, I would REALLY love to receive your comments or suggestions. I can be reached by leaving mail on GENIE (G.D.DAVIS) or CompuServe (72067,2726), or write to me at the above address or better yet, call GDSOFT BBS (219) 875-8133, HST 14400,8,N,1 v.32/v.42. This is a FREE BBS, and you'll find MANY GDSOFT programs and files as well as lots of other goodies. Thank you for using DIZEDIT.