Automatic Batch File Decompression Interface_K (ABFDIK V4.0) © June 1994 by Kenneth J. McCormick. All rights reserved. THIS IS A GIFTWARE PROGRAM. IT MAY BE FREELY DISTRIBUTED AS LONG AS THE ENTIRE PACKAGE IS DISTRIBUTED. NO FILES MAY BE EITHER ALTERED OR DELETED. THIS PROGRAM IS DEDICATED TO JAY MINER DECEASED, THE MAN WHO MADE THE AMIGA A REALITY ............... SPECIAL THANKS TO ALL THOSE AUTHORS WHO WROTE THOSE FINE COMPRESSION/ DECOMPRESSION/VIEWER PROGRAMS THAT THIS INTERFACE USES. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- HISTORY WHATS CHANGED FROM VERSION 1.0 ? HERE IS THE LIST: 1. DISK MASHER CAN NOW BE USED TO DECOMPRESS '.DMS' FILES. IT IS NOT INCLUDED BUT YOU CAN GET IT FROM ANY BBS. * * DO NOT USE VERSION 2.04 * * AS IT DOESN'T SEEM TO WORK WITH THIS PROGRAM. I FIND VERSION 2.03 TO WORK JUST FINE. COPY THE DMS PROGRAM TO THE C DIRECTORY OF YOUR WORKBENCH. 2. SPED THINGS UP 3. FIXED PRINTER ICON 4. OPERATIONS ARE SHOWN BETTER. FILE COUNTER SHOWS COUNTING. 5. SMALL SOUND EFFECTS INSTALLED TO HELP SHOW OPERATIONS 6. MORE KEY MACROS ADDED 7. STRING GADGET FOR OPERATIONS SCREEN CORRECTED TO PROPER LENGTH 8. SECOND MENU ADDED FOR DMS OR LX PROGRAM CHOICES 9. BUTTON HELP SCREEN UPDATED 10.MENU HELP WORKS PROPERLY \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ WHAT HAS CHANGED FROM VERSION 2.0 REL 1 ? 1. PROGRAM NOW OPERATES UNDER WORKBENCH 2.0 AND ABOVE NOT JUST 3.0 2. MENUS OPERATE EASIER 3. MENU ALARM IF DECOMPRESSION TYPE CHOSEN THAT IS NOT MOUNTED IN 'C' DIRECTORY OF WORKBENCH 4. ADDED LHA DECOMPRESSION CAPABILITY. \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ WHAT HAS CHANGED FROM VERSION 2.0 REL 2 ? BIG CHANGES FOLKS 1. ADDED A PREFS TOOL TO ADD DEFS TO ABFDIK SO IT CAN DECOMPRESS MANY MORE TYPES OF PROGRAMS. 2. ADDED A DEFINATION LIST AND LOCATION FILE WHICH SHOULD BE KEPT IN THE T DIRECTORY OF YOUR WORKBENCH STARTUP DISK. 3. ABFDIK NOW WARNS IF DECOMPRESSION TYPE NOT SELECTED. 4. DECOMPRESSION TYPE NOW DISPLAYED ON MAIN SCREEN. 5. FIXED DIRECTORY AND ICON CREATION BUTTONS. 6. DEFAULT MODE IF DEFINATION FILE NOT AVAILABLE. 7. REDRAWN INTERFACE AND ICONS. 8. ADDED A FILE IDENTIFICATION ROUTINE IF THE PUBLIC DOMAIN PROGRAM CFX PUT INTO YOUR C DIRECTORY. 9. ADDED A MENU ITEM TURN OFF FEATURE IF YOU TRY AND USE A DECOMPRESSION PROGRAM THAT ISN'T IN THE C DIRECTORY. 10.ADDED ABILITY TO LOAD ANY DEFINATION FILE. 11.ADDED AN AUTOMATIC FEATURE FOR DMS WITH A QUIT OPTION. 12.ADDED ABILITY TO DECOMPRESS FILES THAT HAVE AN EXTENSION OTHER THAN THE USUAL '.XXX' MEANING A DOT WITH THREE LETTERS AFTER IT. 13.ADDED ABILITY TO DETECT UNRENAMED DIRECTORIES BEFORE DECOMPRESSION. 14.FIXED FLASH AT IDLE. 15.MENU NO LONGER HIDDEN WHEN USING KEY ASSIST OR MENU ASSIST SCREENS. 16.ONE KEY OPERATION FOR ASSIST SCREENS. 17.ADDED A READER TO SHOW USER PROGRAMS ALONG WITH EACH DECOMPRESSION STRING, VIEWER NAME OR STRING AND ALL EXTENSIONS. 18.IMPROVED LOG FUNCTION. LOG MUCH MORE INFORMATIVE. 19.FIXED PRINT UTILITY 20.ADDED THE ABILITY TO PLAY MODS WHILE DECOMPRESSING 21.ADDED A GAGUE TO MONITOR THE PROGRAMS TO DECOMPRESS 22.REMOVED THE CUSTOM EXTENSION OPTION 23.REMOVED THE ORGANIZE OPTION, NOW ONLY PROGRAMS WITH THE SELECTED EXTENSION WILL BE DECOMPRESSED AND MOVED TO THEIR DIRECTORIES. \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ WHAT HAS CHANGED FROM VERSION 3.0 ADDED: 1. CREATE LIST OF FILES IN SOURCE. 2. READ LIST OF FILES IN SOURCE. 3. PRINT LIST OF FILES IN SOURCE 4. COPY LIST OF FILES TO DESTINATION. 5. DELETE LIST OF FILES FROM RAM:. 6. SOURCE AND DESTINATION SPACE UPDATER FOR ANY DEVICE. 7. MORE WARNINGS ADDED FOR CERTAIN SITUATIONS. 8. BUTTON AND MENU HELP FOR ADDED ROUTINES. FIXED: 1. DECOMPRESSION MONITOR WON'T COME ON WHEN AUTO BUTTON PRESSED IF SOURCE OR DEST NOT SELECTED. 2. SOURCE AND DESTINATION BUTTONS NOW OPERATE MUCH MORE LOGICALLY. MENU 1. RAM: FILE READER NOW WORKS. 3. SOURCE AND DESTINATION MADE CONSISTENT 3. PRINTING FILES NOW WORKS I'M INTERESTED IN BUG REPORTS. I WOULD APPRECIATING ANYONE SENDING THEM TO ME AT THE PORTAL BBS. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Manual FILE PACKET NAME ABFDI_K2 Files included in this packet: ABFDIK30 ABFDIK30_L ABFDIK ABFDIK INSTALLER AUTO_KHELP ABFDIK.DEFS_HELP PPMORE The following programs are all part of the LX and LV package and have all been included as not to break up the author's files. This program doesn't use all of them. These files will be in the drawer called LXPROGRAMS. THESE FILES HAVE NO ICONS. BENCH.TXT LV LX LV100.DOC LX LX100.DOC LX6800CHIP ORGANIZATION OF MANUAL: CHAPTER 1. SETUP CHAPTER 2. PUTPOSE OF PROGRAM CHAPTER 3. KEYS AND MENUS CHAPTER 4. USING THE PROGRAM CHAPTER 5. EXAMPLES CHAPTER 6. FUTURE VERSIONS -------------------------------------------------------------------------- CHAPTER 1. SETUP REQUIREMENTS: WORKBENCH 3.0 OR ABOVE ! *LXProgram includes bench.txt,lv,lv100.doc,lx,lx100.doc,lx6800chip,read THERE ARE No '.info' files in this directory ABFDIK40_L and ABFDIK40 work exactly the same but ABFDIK40 is for those having Amos Professional V2.0. It may work on earlier versions but I don't know. The reason for 2 versions of ABFDIK40 is the Version for Amos Professional owners is smaller since I dindn't have to intergrate the Amos Professional Library in it. The files 'LX' AND 'LV' from the LXPROGRAM directory MUST!!! be put into the 'C' directory of the workbench you are booting off of. It can be from the hard drive or a floppy drive. A hard drive is suggested because it just doesn't make much sense to use this program from a floppy since you lose most of the advantages of the automatic process due to space, therefore from now on I will refer to a hard drive only. To fully utilize this version add 'The Disk Masher' (DMS) TO the C directory of your workbench partation. Just add the DMS program not the rest as they are not needed. Also add PPACK using the method shown below. You may put this program anywhere on your hard drive. New Features have been added and also a new way to set up ABFDIK40. You can put the program anywhere on your hard drive or even on a floppy. You are being given a defs file called ABFDIK.defs. This file contains the definations for the following decompression programs: LHA,LX,DMS,PPACK PUT THIS FILE IN THE 'T' DIRECTORY OF YOUR STARTUP WORKBENCH. You will still need the programs which are easily available from the Public Domain. When you get these programs put them into your 'C' directory on your startup workbench. Note: PPACK also requires a late version of PowerPacker.library to be installed in the 'Libs' directory of your workbench startup disk and the program DECRUNCH to be installed in the 'C' directory on your workbench startup sequence. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- CHAPTER 2 PURPOSE I became tired of decompressing files one at a time. This program will decompress as many files of the .lha, .lzh, .pp, .dms format as needed automatically. You may also add to these type using the prefs tool. There are TWO limitations: 1. You must have enough space on your hard drive to hold the decompressed files. If this becomes a problem there are 2 solutions: a. A space saving routine is included b. Copy less files at a time 2. Every once in a while you will encounter a compressed program that has a level 2 header.(very rare). If this happens the program will created an unusable drawer if icon creation is on. The program will proceed to the next file. (This has only happened to me 2 times in two years) As of this writing I have successfully decompressed programs at the rate of approx. 50 a night, two nights a week since the first version was written at without a hitch. If you encounter any problems please let me know at either NETCOM MY EMAIL ADDRESS nymts95@ix.netcom.com --------------------------------------------------------------------------- CHAPTER 3 KEYS AND MENUS LIST OF KEY MACROS F1 = CLI F2 = READ TEXT FILE F3 = READ RAM DIRECTORY F4 = TOGGLE LOG F5 = TOGGLE PRINTER F6 = COPY UTILITY F7 = SET DEFAULT SOURCE & DEST F8 = UNSET THE SOURCE & DEST F9 = MAXIUM SPACE TOGGLE F10 = ABOUT M = MANUAL OPERATION 1 FILE DECOMPRESSED AT A TIME FROM SOURCE DIRECTORY A = AUTOMATIC OPERATION ALL FILES DECOMPRESSED IN SOURCE DIRECTORY S = SET SOURCE DIRECTORY D = SET DESTINATION DIRECTORY I = TOGGLE ICON CREATION BUTTON H = BUTTON HELP R = RESET SOURCE AND DESTINATION TO DEFAULT U = SHOWS ALL INFO ON USER PROGRAMS C = ENTER COPY FILE MODE P = PRINT A FILE X = ADDITIONAL INFORMATION $ = UNDOCUMENTED KEY TO LOAD A TRACKER MODULE - NOT FOR STOPPING MUSIC LEFT ALT OR RIGHT ALT = TOGGLE F KEY AND MENU SCREENS LEFT AMIGA + A TOGGLE PROGRAM TO BACK AND FRONT *note WHEN TURNING ON THE LOG, ANY ATTEMPT TO READ THE FILE USING F2 OR MENU ITEM 'READ TEXT FILE' WILL TURN OFF THE LOG. IF THE LOG IS TURNED ON AGAIN IT WILL BE OVERWRITTEN. THE AUTOLOG_FILE REMAINS IN RAM: UNTIL DELETED WARNING - USING THE MAXIUM SPACE OPTION WITH MIXED FILE TYPES MIGHT CAUSE THE ERASURE OF ALL TYPE NOT MATCHING THE SELECTED EXTENSION TYPE. E.G. IF YOU SELECT THE USER PROGRAM 'LHA' ANY EXTENSIONS OTHER THAN .LHA OR .LZH MIGHT CAUSE ERASURE. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- CHAPTER 4 USING THE PROGRAM This program uses buttons, menus and keys. Start by using the buttons and the menu. To see the keys or menu available press the RIGHT 'ALT' OR LEFT 'ALT' KEY, this toggles a help screen. MUSIC FUNCTION IS NOT ON THE KEY VIEWER IN THIS VERSION BUT IT WORKS. TO PLAY A MOD LOAD IT USING THE MENU. TO STOP THE MUSIC JUST GO TO THE MENU AGAIN AND SELECT PLAY MUSIC AND IT WILL STOP. To toggle the program from front to back and back to front use the left Amiga Key + A. This is very useful when using the CLI or other programs. The program will run while the key help screen is showing if you so desire. A SOURCE & DESTINATION MUST BE CHOSEN BEFORE MOST OF THE ROUTINES IN THIS PROGRAM WILL OPERATE. While it is not absolutely necessary it is best to set a default Destination and Source. This can be done by clicking on menu item 7 or pressing F7. Once set it will automatically come up when the program is loaded. You always have the option of using a different temporary settings using the buttons marked Change Source Directory and Change Destination Directory. Keys S and D will also work in place of these buttons. The file containing this info will must be kept in the 'T' directory of your workbench startup. Now that we have set the default Source and Destination let us continue. Buttons: Use the mouse to click them. Extreme upper left box with red dot in center - EXIT PROGRAM Automatic Operation - Just press this button and all files from your source will be copied to your destination. Files that don't have extensions or have extensions that your user program can't handle will not be copied, but will remain in your source directory. You may use the menu item # 6 'Copy programs to ' by clicking on it or pressing F6. Manual Operation - Easy to use, decompresses one file at a time. Click on file to decompress, then choose a destination and type a '*' on the bottom line of the file requestor and the file will be decompressed to that location. Create Icons For Drawers - The default is yes. You will notice the button is pressed when the program starts. All files of the selected type will be decompressed to drawers in the destination directory that have icons. The rest of the files will remain in the SOURCE directory. If you deselect this button all the above files will be copied to drawers that have no icons. It is always a good idea to set the workbench 'Window Menu' to Show All Files when viewing your directories directly on the workbench for decompression purposes. Change Destination Directory - Pressing this button will allow you to select a different destination directory for this session. IT WILL NOT CHANGE YOUR DEFAULT SETTING. Change Source Directory - Pressing this button will allow you to select a different source directory for this session. IT WILL NOT CHANGE YOUR DEFAULT SETTING. Button Help - Toggles Button and Menu Help. When on point at a button and its function is revealed in a help screen, same for menu items. Copy Empty Drawer Icon To Source - you MUST have the empty draw icon in your source directory. This button was added just to make the coping a little easier. See Directories - A directory gadget to veiw ANY directory. It is not functional except for viewing. Reset - Resets program to default settings. Delete Files - Deletes files from any directory 1 at a time. Delete Contents of Directory - Please be VERY CAREFUL as this is a very powerful routine and can even wipe out a whole partation on a hard drive if that partation is selected. IT ALWAYS DELETES from the HIGHEST directory selected down to all the contents of sub directories. HELP ME - Loads this file into the program for reading Count - Gives a count of all 'COMPRESSED' programs to be decompressed that match the USER program parameters. Eyeball - Pressing this button allows you to view the file info on all files that were compressed into the master file if you have a viewer for that user program loaded in the C directory or have defined a command for viewing. LIST MENU: THE FUNCTION OF THE LIST MENU (MENU 3), IS TO CREATE, READ, PRINT, COPY OR DELETE A FILE CONTAINING A LIST OF ALL THE PROGRAMS IN YOUR SOURCE DIRECTORY. IT IS HANDY SINCE SOME OF THE FILES MIGHT BE TEXT OR PICTURES AND YOU MAY WANT TO CHECK THIS LIST TO DECIDE IF YOU WANT TO MOVE OR COPY ANYTHING BEFORE DELETING THIS DIRECTORY AFTER DECOMPRESSING YOUR FILES. 1. CREATE FILE - CREATES THE LIST FILE IN YOUR RAM: DIRECTORY 2. READ FILE - BRINGS UP A TEXT READER WITH THE LIST FILE LOADED IN FOR READING. 3. PRINT LIST - PRINTS THE LIST FILE IF IT EXISTS IN RAM: 4. COPY LIST - COPIES THE LIST FILE TO YOUR DESTINATION DIRECTORY, IF THE LIST FILE EXISTS IN RAM: 5. DELETE LIST - DELETES LIST FILE FROM RAM: IF IT EXISTS. ON EXITING THE PROGRAM THIS HAPPENS ANYWAY. PLEASE REMEMBER THIS PROGRAM REQUIRES : 1. WORKBENCH 2.0 OR HIGHER (MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS LHA PROGRAM AND DMS PROGRAM WITH WORKBENCH 2.0) LHA AND DMS PROGRAM MUST BE IN THE 'C' DIRECTORY OF THE BOOTING WORKBENCH --------------------------------------------------------------------------- CHAPTER 5 EXAMPLES LETS PRETEND THAT WE HAVE JUST DOWNLOADED 50 COMPRESSED FILES(.LHA OR .LZH) TO A DIRECTORY CALLED DOWN. LETS FURTHER PRETEND THAT WE WANT TO DECOMPRESS THEM TO A DIRECTORY CALLED READY, BOTH IN THE SAME PARTATION ON OUR HARD DRIVE. LETS ASSUME YOU HAVE SELECTED A DEFAULT SOURCE & DESTINATION DIRECTORY BY SELECTING THE MENU ITEM 'DEFAULT SOURCE AND DESTINATION' AND THE SOURCE AND DESTINATION ARE SET TO THE SAME DIRECTORIES YOU ARE ABOUT TO USE. (IF THIS IS FALSE USE THE BUTTONS TO CHANGE SOURCE OR DESTINATION OR BOTH) STEP 1. IF THE 'DOWN' DIRECTORY DOESN'T HAVE THE EMPTY DRAW ICON IN IT COPY IT TO 'DOWN' USING THE MENU ITEM COPY PROGRAMS TO OR PRESS F6. STEP 2. IF YOU WANT ICONS FOR YOU DIRECTORY DRAWS LEAVE THE 'CREATE ICONS FOR DRAWS BUTTON ALONE, IF NOT CLICK ON IT. STEP 3. PRESS A OR CLICK ON THE AUTOMATIC BUTTON. STEP 4. GET A COOL DRINK, SIT BACK AND RELAX. DMS EXAMPLE: STEP 1. CHOSE DMS FROM MENU 2. STEP 2. PUT A BLANK DISK IN DRIVE DF0: STEP 3. PRESS THE 'AUTOMATIC BUTTON'. THE FILE WILL START TO DECOMPRESS TO THE DISK IN DF0: --------------------------------------------------------------------------- CHAPTER 6 FUTURE VERSION HAVE ANY IDEAS? CONTACT ME!!! SEE MY EMAIL ADDRESS IN THIS DOCUMENT. I TRIED TO ELIMINATE EVERY POSSIBLE CAUSE OF CRASHES, HOPEFULLY IT WORKED BUT I WOULD APPRECIATE ANY BUG REPORTS.