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File-A-Trix
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File-A-Trix is a file-utility Classic Desk Accessory (CDA) for the Apple IIgs. It allows you to perform various operations on files and disks without leaving whatever application you happen to be working in. Because it is a CDA, you can use File-A-Trix from within virtually ALL applications, desktop or text-based, GS/OS or ProDOS 8.
File-A-Trix can perform the following functions (or "Trix"):
+ Catalog any online disk, showing the contents of any folder
+ Copy files from one disk or folder to another
+ Move files -- i.e., copy and then delete the original
+ Delete files
+ Lock and unlock files, or change their type or auxtype
+ Rename files
+ Create a new folder
+ View or print text files, and the text content of other files
+ Find a file on a disk, using its name or partial name
+ Initialize (format) 3.5" disks
File-A-Trix is freeware. You are welcome to keep it, use it, and to distribute it freely to anyone. Don't expect much in the way of user support, however. No further updates to File-A-Trix are planned.
New Stuff
=========
For those familiar with earlier versions of File-A-Trix, here is a list of the features added since version 1.0:
1.01: Manual path entry under GS/OS allows "/" as a separator. First-letter keypress file selection now cycles around to the start of file list. The number of volumes File-A-Trix can display is no longer limited to ten. "View" now displays the name of the file being viewed, shows percentage position in the file, allows viewing of any type of file, jumps to start of the file being viewed with OpenApple-1, and allows printing of files.
1.02: Fixes some problems with copying Macintosh files on HFS disks, and with accessing over a network. Other minor bug fixes and changes.
1.03: Fixes a problem causing incomplete disk names when doing a "Volumes" under ProDOS 8.
1.1: Move function added. Find File function added. Set Preferences function added. Files being viewed can now be searched for occurrences of a word or phrase. Prefix numbers can be used when manually entering a path under GS/OS. OpenApple-X exchanges prefixes after copying, moving, or finding. OpenApple-A selects all files in current folder. OpenApple-I shows additional info on highlighted file in file dialogs. <Clear> key clears input when entering text for renaming, etc.
1.1.1: Fixes a bug in Find File that sometimes appears under ProDOS 8.
Installing File-A-Trix:
=======================
As with all CDAs, File-A-Trix is installed by copying it to the System:Desk.Accs folder of your startup disk, and restarting your computer. File-A-Trix requires System 5.0 or later. (Note to beginners: to access the CDAs installed in your system, press OpenApple, <control> and <esc> simultaneously.)
Using File-A-Trix:
==================
I've tried to design File-A-Trix to be as easy to use as possible. For the most part, the use of File-A-Trix should be pretty self-evident from the on-screen prompts. You should read these instructions, however, to avoid any confusion. In this section I'll go over each of the available functions in turn.
File-A-Trix's opening screen shows its main menu, listing the functions available (Catalog, Delete, etc.). Highlight the function you want by using the up/down arrow keys, or pressing a letter key, then press <return>.
File-A-Trix's File Dialogs
--------------------------
In most of File-A-Trix's functions, a text based file-selection dialog is used. Instead of clicking mouse buttons, the keyboard is used to navigate with this dialog.
As on-screen prompts in the file dialog note, you open a highlighted folder with <return>, close the current folder with <esc>, choose a volume with <tab>, and if you are selecting a file or files, use the space bar to select and deselect. To toggle the select status of ALL the files in the current folder, press OpenApple-A. The up/down arrow keys are used to scroll through the list of files, and OpenApple together with an arrow key will hop you through the list a screenful at a time. OpenApple-1 and OpenApple-9 send you to the beginning and end of the file list, respectively. Pressing a letter key will scroll the highlight bar to the next file (if any) that begins with that letter.
If you like, you can manually type in a path (that is, the volume name, followed by any nested folder names) by first pressing either "/" or ":", and then typing the rest of the path. Under GS/OS, you can use a prefix number as part of an entered path, for example: "8:Old.Files". To do this you must first delete the ":" or "/" that normally begins a pathname.
In any function's file dialog, you can get some additional information on the highlighted file by pressing OpenApple-I. This will
cause the following information to be printed at the bottom of the screen: The file's type in hexadecimal (rather than the usual three-letter abbreviation) its AuxType, the date and time the file was created (the last-modified date and time are shown in the file dialog listing), and the file's size in bytes.
And finally, OpenApple-period will always exit you from the file dialog, returning you to File-A-Trix's main menu.
Catalog
-------
This function lets you simply browse through your volumes and folders. For informational purposes, locked files are flagged with a "*", and extended GS/OS files are flagged with a "+".
Copy
----
Copies files. First you select the file or files you want to copy (again, pressing <space> selects and deselects files), and then press <return> to proceed and choose a destination folder for the files. In this second stage, the file-selection dialog will only show folder files in its list, with the words "Select Current Folder" as the first item in the list. When you have navigated to the folder you want, press <return> with "Select Current Folder" highlighted. The files will then be copied. Because of limitations to ProDOS 8 (see below under "Limitations") extended GS/OS files can't be copied under ProDOS 8.
File-A-Trix supports disk-swapping -- you can copy files between two disks using one disk drive -- but you'll find that this requires a large number of disk swaps.
After copying, the folder that File-A-Trix initially opens for subsequent functions will be the destination path you selected for the copy. You can quickly switch back to the source, or "copied-from" folder by pressing OpenApple-X in the file dialog.
Move
----
This function is the same as Copy, except that after copying a file, the original will be deleted. The instructions for using Move are identical to those for copying, so I won't repeat them. One point of interest is that if you are under GS/OS and you are moving a file from one folder to another on the same disk, then File-A-Trix will use the GS/OS "ChangePath" command, which allows files of any size to be moved almost instantly.
Delete
------
Deletes files. You select files -- as usual -- with the space bar, and then press <return> to execute the deletes. As the files are being deleted, a list of the selected files will appear in the file dialog window. A slight delay will occur before each file is deleted to allow you to cancel the operation by pressing OpenApple-period. If you are deleting several files and want to speed up the process, you can hold down the space bar to bypass the delay. Locked files must be unlocked before they can be deleted, and folders must be empty before deleting. Because of limitations to ProDOS 8 (see below) extended GS/OS files can't be deleted under ProDOS 8.
Lock/Unlock, Set Attributes
---------------------------
Most users will probably only be interested in the lock/unlock portion of this function. The "Set Attributes" portion allows you to change the type and auxtype of files; this is more for the "power user". To perform either operation, first select the files you want to modify, and then press <return>. Each selected file will then be presented to you in turn, and you will be allowed to lock or unlock it and/or to enter a new type and/or auxtype for it. After making these modifications to a file, pressing <return> will save the changes to disk and proceed to the next selected file.
Rename
------
Allows you to rename files. As usual, select the files you want to rename, and press <return>. Each selected file will then be presented, and you will be prompted for a new name. Press <return> and the new name will be written to disk, and File-A-Trix will proceed to the next selected file. Extended GS/OS files can't be renamed under ProDOS 8.
Create New Folder
-----------------
With this function, the file dialog will prompt you to select a location for the new folder. As when you are selecting a destination folder for copied files, only folder files will be listed, with the words "Select Current Folder" at the top of the list. When you have navigated to the disk and folder you want, press <return> with "Select Current Folder" highlighted, and you will be prompted for a name for the new folder. Enter this, press <return>, and the folder will be created.
View Text File
--------------
This File-A-Trix function allows you to display ASCII text files (type TXT), source code files (SRC), and AppleWorks word processing files (AWP). When you use File-A-Trix under GS/OS, you can also view Teach files (type GWP). Teach files can't be viewed under ProDOS 8 because they are extended GS/OS files, and can't be opened by ProDOS 8.
View behaves a little differently from the other File-A-Trix functions, most notably in the fact that you can only select a single file at a time for viewing. When you select "View Text File" from the main menu, the file dialog will only display folders, TXT, SRC and AWP files, and Teach files if GS/OS is active. A file is selected by pressing <return>, and that file will then be displayed. As prompt buttons on the text-display screen note, you can view the next page (screenful) of the file by pressing down-arrow, the previous page with up-arrow, and exit from the text with OpenApple-period.
As another prompt button mentions, you can also print a text file from the View function by pressing OpenApple-P. When you do this, the text will (with no further prompts) be sent to a printer connected to your IIgs's printer port. A printing in progress can be canceled by pressing OpenApple-period or <esc>.
As is noted by yet another prompt, you can find any occurrences of a word or phrase in the file you are viewing by pressing OpenApple-F. When you do this you will be prompted for the text you want to find. Enter this and File-A-Trix will scan through the file. If and when the text is found, the scan will stop at that page and the searched-for text will be highlighted. This search is not case sensitive; entering "Cat" will also find "cat" and "CAT".
The View option can also be used to display the text contents of ANY type of file, rather than just the various types of text files mentioned above. To do this, hold down the OpenApple key when you press <return> with "View" highlighted. When you do this the file selection dialog will display ALL types of files. If a file is an extended GS/OS file and you are under GS/OS, the data fork of the file will be displayed.
Find File
---------
Much like the Find File NDA provided with System 6, this function allows you to locate files by entering their name or partial name. First you select the volume you want to search, and then you enter the full or partial name you want to search for. While entering the filename, you also select whether you want File-A-Trix to find files that match, start with, or include the text you type in. This selection is made by using the up/down arrow keys to highlight "matches", "starts with" or "includes" in the text-entry prompt. After you enter the text to search for, File-A-Trix will scan the disk you selected. If a match is found, the contents of the folder the matching file is in will be displayed, and the matching file will be highlighted. At this point you can navigate around the disk as if you were doing an ordinary "Catalog" function with File-A-Trix. You can also continue the search by pressing OpenApple-F (as a prompt button notes) to find any other matching files. The search will be resumed from wherever the highlight bar is when you press OpenApple-F. A disk search in progress can be canceled by pressing (and holding for a moment) OpenApple-period or <esc>.
After successfully finding a file, File-A-Trix's other functions (Copy, Delete, etc.) will initially open the folder containing the found file. If more than one matching file was found (via OpenApple-F to find again), then you can switch back to the folder in which the previous matching file was found by pressing OpenApple-X in any function's file dialog.
Initialize 3.5" Disk
--------------------
Initializes, or formats, 800K 3.5 inch disks. First you are asked to select a drive, and then to enter a name for the new volume. If GS/OS is active and you have the HFS FST (available with System 6.0 and later) installed, you will be given the option of initializing the disk as an HFS volume.
Set Preferences
---------------
The final item in the main menu is Set Preferences. This allows you to customize certain aspects of File-A-Trix's behavior. The procedure for changing preferences is clear from the on-screen prompts: The up/down arrow keys select an item in the preferences list, and the left/right arrow keys modify the selected preference. Pressing OpenApple-period will exit you from the function and keep the preferences you've entered, but they will not be saved to disk. <Return> also exits, saving the new settings to disk so they will be the same the next time you boot your computer. To ensure that your preferences are indeed saved to disk, use the Finder's (or another launcher's) "shut down" procedure before turning off your IIgs. Here is a list of the preferences you can set:
Hot keys in Main Menu: With this item set to "on", pressing a letter key under File-A-Trix's main menu will send you directly to the function corresponding to that letter. With the default, "off" setting you press a letter key and then <return>.
Alphabetize file lists: Normally File-A-Trix displays the list of files in its file dialogs in alphabetic order. By setting this preference to "off", files will be displayed in their true order.
Auto-scrolling when selecting: This affects File-A-Trix's behavior while you are selecting files in any of the functions that requires selecting (Copy, for example). When it is set to "on", the highlight bar will automatically scroll to the next file after you select a file with <space>.
Delay between deletes: As mentioned above, File-A-Trix normally pauses briefly between files when deleting several files at once. You can bypass this delay by setting this preference to "off", or by holding down the space bar during the delete process.
Default in Find File: This controls whether the default option in the Find File function is "matches", "starts with" or "includes".
Limitations, etc.:
==================
There are two types of limitations that may effect your use of File-A-Trix: Limitations of File-A-Trix itself, and limitations of ProDOS 8. The former are unlikely to be significant, and the latter are only a factor when you use File-A-Trix from within a ProDOS 8 application.
File-A-Trix Limitations:
------------------------
File-A-Trix will not show more than 255 files in a folder. If you have more files than that in a folder, only the first 255 will be listed. You should manage your folders better than that.
When selecting files for any of the functions that require selecting, a maximum of 100 files can be selected at once.
The maximum path length (The volume name, plus all nested folders, plus the name of the file being worked on) that File-A-Trix allows under GS/OS is 200 characters. (ProDOS 8 limits path lengths to 64 characters.)
With HFS disks, filenames can contain special characters that aren't in the standard character set. Since these characters can't be displayed on the text screen that File-A-Trix uses (they require the graphical desktop screen), File-A-Trix will display any such characters as "-".
ProDOS 8 Limitations:
---------------------
Probably the most notable limitation of ProDOS 8 is that it can't perform certain functions on "extended" GS/OS files (also called "forked" files). Such files cannot be deleted, copied, moved or renamed under ProDOS 8, though they can be locked and unlocked. As noted above, extended files are marked with a "+" beside their name in File-A-Trix's listing when you select files for deleting, copying, moving or renaming under ProDOS 8. Such files can be deleted, copied, moved and renamed if you are using File-A-Trix from within a GS/OS program, so they aren't flagged with a "+" under GS/OS.
If you use OpenApple-I to get information on a highlighted file while under ProDOS 8, and the file is extended, the "Bytes:" count will be approximate rather than exact. The number will be preceded with "~" to signify this.
Under GS/OS, File-A-Trix makes use of the various FST's (File System Translators) that allow you to work with Macintosh HFS disks, DOS 3.3 disks, and other "foreign" filing systems. These FST's do not function under ProDOS 8, so any non-ProDOS disks you have online will not appear in File-A-Trix's Volumes list when ProDOS 8 is active.
As noted above, ProDOS 8 limits path lengths to 64 characters. Since the maximum file name length under ProDOS is 15 characters, File-A-Trix will limit prefixes to 64-15, or 49 characters.
When renaming or copying a file under ProDOS 8, or creating a folder under ProDOS 8, the use of lower case letters in the file's name is not supported. If you rename a file under ProDOS 8 that was previously named under GS/OS, the order of upper/lower case letters will be preserved in the new name. Thus, "Old.Name" will become "BettEr.name", for example.
For technical reasons it is impossible to absolutely guarantee that File-A-Trix will function properly from within ALL ProDOS 8 programs. However, it works perfectly with the vast majority of such applications.
Occasionally, you may call up File-A-Trix and see the message: "ProDOS is busy right now; press a key to exit, and try again in a moment." If this happens, it's typically because you are in a program that has a frequently-updated time display. Usually, you can "get through" to File-A-Trix by just trying again, but sometimes you may have to go to some other part of the application you are using for File-A-Trix to work.
Enjoy!
Karl Bunker
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