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V - Multi-Pane File Manager

Jun
27
0
Is anybody familiar with the "V" file viewer/manager at [title] ? It's a multi-pane file manager that has built in support for File Descriptions. It looks very useful if you use a lot of file descriptions. I wanted to get the opinions of those of you who use it.
 
Take a look at the help file.

It is part of Take Command.

upload_2016-9-7_10-51-1.png


Joe
 
I use v long before it was included into take command.

Never found the page of descriptions, but i normally use 4desc (DOS) or 4desy2 (OS2), which is an editable bare directory listing. Maybe someone would write 4desc/w or spomething.
 
Don't see 4Desc listed on the web - remember the source?
 
The file is 4utils.zip at eg www.4dos.info/4comps.htm . Searching for '4utils.zip' and look for a file of 155k. Some versions have add-in pages that you can add to your 4dos help file and recompile it. There's a more recent file 4utils that contains a 4nt plugin.

4desc and 4ff (find-file) need to have the TP200 error fix done to them, but they both work afterwards. For findfile, i tend to use the more difficult to find cactusware proggie 'findfile.exe', which takes some of the earlier 4dos wildcards (eg it takes *frog*.*)

Source code is found in the file as .PAS stuff.
 
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On using 'v' file-manager as a description editor.

NOTE: The v in take command does not have the file-manager. You have to get the base product.

1. There are references to 4dos and 4nt in the help file. 4dos means 'descriptions', and 4nt means 'shell replacement'. You activate '4dos support' to get descriptions, and follow the 4nt stuff if you want to use 4nt.exe or tcc.exe in place of cmd.exe.

2. Descriptions appear in the right hand column, but you can apply a short-cut key to it (the default is ctl+shift+R, it is classified as a 'rename description' function). The file name disappears while you are adding the description.

If something else has hijacked the hot-key (on my PC, ctl+shift+R rotates the screen), you can select a different set of keys (on my UK keyboard, I use ctl+shift+\, which are very close together).

Ideally, I was hoping to access the description editor from the thumbnail, or run the thumbnail in the other window.

On using 4desc as a description error.

NOTE This is a DOS program, but it works well under Windows 7 Ultimate (32-bit). [4UTILS.ZIP, 155K].

1. You have to fix the RT200 error on it. This means there are more cycles per tick, and the cycle counter overflows. The fix is a proggie that hunts down a borland pascal module in the program, and puts an updated version of the same in it.

2. It has a file viewer, and is more like the IBM frameless editors (QEdit, PE2, E3), rather than the framed proggies like (MSEDIT, QBEDIT). It has the keys down the bottom, such as PF2 = Edit, in the manner of BASICA,

3. Not unicode or LFN friendly, but includes the source.
 
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I still use the InkUtils with 4DOS, which includes description editor.

I thought that Klaus Meinhard had a BTM file on his site for editing file descriptions, but I could not locate it.

Joe

I don't know these tools, but you can have a fullscreen desription editor with just an alias:

Code:
alias XX=`( select /1 /z /a:-d describe (*)  ) && XX`

It opens a select-box with (just) the files in the current folder.
You can [Enter] on the file to edit the description.
After that you will return to the (updated) select-box.
Exit with Ctrl-C (that's why there is a "&&", so you can break out of the loop).

I think I'm going to write a batch for this; the part of the filename that is showing is too short to figure out the complete filename.
 
First version completed.

For the test I described the files in the TCMD folder:
Code:
for /a:-d %x in (*) describe "%X" /D"%@verinfo[%x,FileDescription]"

.. And started the script:

Capture.JPG


Capture2.JPG


EDIT: exit this script with [Esc]

Code:
@echo off
SETLOCAL
:: Width reserved for showing filenames
   set WIDTH=40

:START
   ::   For every file: show first %WIDT% characters of filename, ":" (we need this later on), description
   :: Select the file whose description you want to edit
       for /a:-d %x in (*) echo %@left[%WIDTH%,%x%@repeat[ ,%WIDTH%]] : %@descript["%x"] |! set THIS=%@word[":",0,%@select[con:,1,1,100,100,Titel]]

       if "%THIS%" == "" quit
       set THIS="%THIS%"

   ::   If The filename is too long to fit on the screen,
   ::   we have to find out what it is /what they are (hence %THIS%*)
   ::   Add 2 to the length for the quotes
       IF %@LEN[%THIS%] == %@eval[%WIDTH% + 2] set THIS=%@expand[%THIS%*]
   ::   In case of multiple files: Show warning and edit the description of all of them
       IF %@words[" ",%THIS%] GT 1  MSGBOX /W OK "Warning" Multiple files match this pattern ..
 
       for %%x in (%THIS%) DO (
       ::   Get current description, ask for new and update
           set NEW=%@descript[%%x]
           querybox /E %%x Description :  %%NEW
           DESCRIBE %%x /D"%NEW%"
           unset NEW
   )
   unset THIS
goto :START


N.B. Will not run in TCC/LE, because of "|!" (In-Process Pipes); thanks to vefatica for this wisdom)
 
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On using 'v' file-manager as a description editor.

... a lot of useful things, including:

1. You have to fix the RT200 error on it. This means there are more cycles per tick, and the cycle counter overflows. The fix is a proggie that hunts down a borland pascal module in the program, and puts an updated version of the same in it.

Wow, that is some serious research!
Do you know where one can find this RT200 fix program? Internet gave me quite some links, but I do not have the knowledge/wisdom to pick the right one.
 
It's more like 'long in the tooth' rather than 'serious research'! The OS/2 proggie 4desy2 came on the 4utils2 disk even. The problem is caused by a module in Borland Turbo-Pascal 7.

bp7patch.zip, patchcrt.zip, tp-patch.zip, tppatch.zip, turbofix.zip, r200fix.zip are examples of files that apply the patch. The process is to run the program over the affected proggie, eg "tppatch 4desc.exe", but I suggest doing this in a DOS vm, rather than in windows.
 
Wow, that is some serious research!
Do you know where one can find this RT200 fix program? Internet gave me quite some links, but I do not have the knowledge/wisdom to pick the right one.

If you are feeling really adventurous, and since the source code is included, you may want to re-compile using Free Pascal with the -Mtp switch. This would eliminate the need to patch the DOS .exe with the RT200 fix program.

However, having not seen the source code, if there are third-party units required, this would not be a solution.

Joe
 
If you are feeling really adventurous, ...
Joe

Well, that *would* be adventurous, considering that I have practically zero programming experience, let alone experience in Pascal.
( But I have done "worse" ... :-)
But it is really good to know this stuff exists and apparently even works!

I have to admit, there is an alternative reason why I ask.
Recently found a diskette with a little game on it that was written by a friend of a friend in the Intel 286-days. Basically it is Snake, the game that was on Nokia phones since ... ever. The disk included even the source code!

I'm not a gamer at all, but this one was quite addictive. We played it for days on end.
I'm still on the fence if I want to let my Mr Hyde gaming-demon out again, though. But if I want to: now I can!

Thanks for the big help, Joe and w_krieger!

Regarding the description editor: I extended the .BTM above to browse through folders and added some extra stuff.
I quite like it; it sure is enough for what I want/need.
 
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The fix to look for is a proggie CRTFIX16.ZIP. It has a number of options and its attempts at fixing programs is a bit more informative than some of the other packages. I managed to get both 4desc and 4ff to work by running the crtfix in MS-DOS 6.30 boot diskette.

It says 'your puter is too fast for this ancient stuff'.

In any case, it's just a matter of replacing one of the objects used in the compile. Just replace filename.ext in the pascal distro with filename.exe in the zip file, wherever these occur.
 

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