TOOLKIT\TOOLBOX.DOC ·
DOC ·
9 KB ·
1990-03-01 ·
from PersonalComputing_Mar-1990
TOOLBOX
P.R. Bird. 1989
Toolbox is a hard disk manager which allows you to perform many
of your file housekeeping tasks without recourse to the Dos
prompt.
It uses a display based on the graphical interfaces of
Gem/Windows but is purely text based. It can be used both with a
mouse or from the keyboard.
Using Toolbox it is possible to run, edit, copy, type, print,
delete or rename files. Create or delete sub-directories.
Find files. Display a monthly calendar and the time.
It works via the notion of tagging files/directories. These are
displayed in boxes. Each box has icons at each corner.
The top left icon quits the box. The top right icon allows a box
to be repositioned. The bottom icons are used for scrolling
through the display. If you are not using a mouse to move the
cursor to an icon the keys,
F7 / Home F8 / PgUp
F9 / End F10 / PgDn
move straight to the icon. F2 or ESC or Right mouse button exits
a box straight away. This will also exit Toolbox if in the main
screen. Using ESC to exit Toolbox will leave you in DOS in the
directory which was last selected. If you exit via the top left
icon you will be left in the root directory. Selections can be
made from the main menu by pressing the highlighted key which
corresponds to that selection.
Return or the Left mouse button tags a directory/file or chooses
the action under the cursor.
On starting Toolbox the directories will be read from disk. This
may take some time. The directories will then be displayed on
screen.
Moving the cursor to the name of a directory, or the drive letter
which appears in the top left part of the screen, and pressing
return will tag that directory. The files in that directory will
be read and displayed in a second box which appears on screen.
Files can be tagged by moving the cursor to the name and return
pressed. They can be un-tagged in the same way.
If no files are tagged then the File operations Copy and Delete
will be performed on the whole directory. Selecting another
directory will un-tag any existing file tags.
If there are more files/directories than can be displayed on the
screen then the scroll boxes can be used to display them.
RUN
The tagged files will be run in sequence. On completion you will
be returned to Toolbox.
TYPE
The tagged files will be typed to the screen a page at a time.
Pressing any key will display the next screen.
FILE
COPY
If there are any tagged files these will be displayed in
turn and you will be asked for a destination name. This
can be a new drive, e.g. A:R\FILE.DOC or a path on the
exiting drive e.g. WORDSR\DOCSR\FILE.DOC.
If no files are tagged the whole sub-directory will be
copied to the destination. In this case there is no need to
enter the file name as a *.* is assumed. Thus A:R\ would
copy all the files in the chosen directory to drive A,
while WORDSR\DOCS would copy all the files to the sub-direc-
tory C:R\WORDSR\DOCSR\*.*.
DELETE
If there are any tagged files these will be displayed in
turn and you will be asked for confirmation to delete.
The file will become un-tagged. If no files are tagged
then the whole subdirectory will be deleted if you enter
'y' at the prompt.
RENAME
Allows tagged files to be renamed. By giving a different
path, to the one specified, will result in the file being
moved. The files will become un-tagged. You must enter the
path in full if you want to rename the chosen file in the
sub-directory. (Without the drive letter).
EDIT
Allows the editing of small text documents, such as batch and
config files. A window will open and display the text of the
first tagged file. If no file is tagged it is possible to load
and save using the function keys F3/F4. F5 allows a file to be
saved under a different name. (The file name must be entered in
full). F6 will clear the current document while Escape returns
you to the main menu. The document will remain unless F6 is
pressed.
The editor supports movement using the arrow keys, del, home, end
and CTRL-Y to delete a complete line. A line can be 80 characters
long.
A document can be up to 19K in size. If it is larger no file is
loaded.
DIRECTORIES
MAKEDIR
A path name is requested, this must be the full path for the
new directory but without the drive letter, a new directory
will be created and the disk remapped when you exit the
box.
REMOVEDIR
The currently selected directory will be removed, but only
if it is empty of files. The disk will be re-mapped when
you exit the box.
ZAPDIR
The currently selected directory will be removed, including
all files, but not if there are any tagged files within it.
The disk will be remapped.
DOS
The DOS prompt is displayed allowing any DOS operations to be
performed. Typing EXIT will return you to Toolbox.
DRIVE
CHANGE
Will allow another disk to be examined under Toolbox. Enter
the letter of the new drive. (A to E).
STATISTICS
Will report the size, amount of space used and space left on
the logged disk.
PRINT
The tagged files will be typed to the parallel printer in
sequence.
DATE
Will display the monthly calendar for the date set by the clock.
It is possible to change the month using the scroll boxes. The
day can be altered by tagging any day from the calendar. This re-
sets the internal clock. It is not possible to change the year,
other than by scrolling through the months. (Use DOS DATE as
above).
TIME
Will display the time set by the clock. This cannot be changed
with Toolbox although it is possible to use the normal DOS TIME
command by exiting to DOS, (as above).
MASK
Limits the files which are displayed. The default is *.*. By
changing this to *.EXE only those files with an EXE extension
will be displayed.
FIND
By entering the file name, in full or part, the disk will be
searched for that file and its location reported as a path name.
SHOW
Will redisplay the files in the currently selected directory. If
no directory has been selected the files in the root will be
shown.
HELP
Will display some help text on using Toolbox. The help text can
be scrolled. Pressing F1 will move the cursor to Help.
GAME
This is a simple version of breakout which is played using the
left and right shift keys. The Space Bar serves a ball.
LIMITATIONS
You will need a copy of COMMAND.COM in the root directory of the
disk.
Only 6 levels of sub directories can be displayed.
Only 90 directories are supported and 90 files within each
directory.
If you enter a box and immediately exit you need to press return
twice or double click the mouse button.
There may be a problem if you try to delete all the files in a
sub-directory with no space left on the disk.
Some programs which require lots of memory space may not run
under Toolbox. It depends on the amount of RAM fitted to your
machine. Quit Toolbox to run them normally.