@database NameStripV1.0 @remark $VER: NameStrip.guide 1.0 (September 94) @node MAIN @title "ŽNameStrip V1.1 By SlingShot/Dimentia U.K A.K.A James Allen" ******************************************************** @{fg highlight}ŽNameStrip V1.0 (14/9/94)@{fg text} -------------------------- @{b}By $LiNg$HoT/DiMeNTiA@{ub} --------------------- @{" Introduction " link INTRO} @{" Standard Disclaimer " link DISCLAIMER} @{" Requirements " link REQUIRE} @{" Usage " link USAGE} @{" Features " link FEATURES} @{" Bugs " link BUGS} @{" History " link HISTORY} @{" Greets " link GREETS} @{" Contacting the author " link CONTACT} ********_*******************************************_*** _ // Only Amiga Makes It Possible! _ // \\\\ // Intel Outside \\\\ // \\X/ The Choice For A New Generation \\X/ ******************************************************** @endnode @node INTRO "What the hell is NameStrip?" @next DISCLAIMER PLEASE READ THROUGH EACH SECTION OF THESE DOCS AS IMPORTANT INFO IS LINKED FROM CERTAIN PAGES WHICH ARE NOT ACCESIBLE FROM THE MENU. BROWSE> AND BROWSE< CAN BE USED TO MOVE THROUGH EACH MENU ITEM ONLY, NOT EVERY SUB SECTION! Welcome to NameStrip, a little ( Well maybe not ) program that will scan a directory and optionally all sub-directories looking for files that contain spaces in them. If it finds any it will strip the spaces and tidy the filename up. An example of a filename, NameStrip would modify is: @{fg highlight}"A lovely big sample.iff"@{fg text} NameStrip would rename this to: @{fg highlight}ALovelyBigSample.iff@{fg text} The reason for needing to do this is due to the way in which some programs handle file names. Some programs only read the first word in a filename if it has any spaces in it, and will therefore report an error. My program allows you to get rid of this error and to tidy up your filenames in one go. Also, when referencing files on the command line files with spaces must be enclosed in quotes and this can get a bit annoying! NameStrip stops this :) NameStrip will also create a log file in RAM:Log if the LOG switch is included on the command line. The logfile will contain all changes made to filename as well as any naming convention errors that occur. The log is useful as if you get any errors from programs unable to find certain files you can use the log to locate where the change was made. I wrote NameStrip after writing @{"GuideCompiler" link GUIDECOMPILER} as I came across a problem in AmigaGuide. GuideCompiler scans a directory and builds up a catalogue of files. These files are then linked to a file viewer. The problem is, within AmigaGuide, I have to use the SYSTEM command to execute the fileviewer along with the filename. This only allows you to pass over 1 string and therefore has to contain the name of the viewer and the filename. If the filename has spaces in, only the first word will be passed over due to the fact that I cannot enclose the filename is quotes ( 1 string remeber! ). As you can imagine this made me very angry and luckily before I put my fist through the monitor, I came up with the idea for StipName! NOTE: Makesure that if you are going to use NameStrip that the files to be changed are not referenced by any assigns, scripts or other programs. If they are, you may find that after NameStrip has been run that some of your other programs stop working suddenly! Usually, a simple change of a name in a script or config file will solve the problem, but just check the directories before running NameStrip! Also, there are some naming convention errors that can occur due to the way in which AmigaDOS handles filenames. These are described in the @{"bugs" link BUGS} section of this guide. @endnode @node DISCLAIMER "So, what is my legal status MR Cheese?" NameStrip is Public Domain and thus is free to be used by anyone who has a use for it. You use NameStrip at you own risk and I cannot be held reponsible for any damage caused by use or misuse of the program. Not that I'm expecting any problems to arise, but any use of a program that reads/writes files on a harddrive COULD in some extreme circumstances cause problems. These circumstances could be hardware failure, software failure or user failure and should not be attributed to my program ( although bugs do occur in the strangest of instances ;} ) NameStrip has been written in AREXX but has been compiled to protect the code ( not that it's amazing or anything but.. ). This not only protects my routines but means that it is easier to run and the user does not have to mess about with the RX command or script bits! I may at some time or another decide to release the source depending on how I feel about it :) NameStrip is written by: James Allen A.K.A SlingShot/Dimentia U.K Feel free to @{"contact" link CONTACT} the author at any time, for bug reports or to talk about AREXX. :) @endnode @node REQUIRE "What ya need.." @prev DISCLAIMER @next USAGE @{fg highlight}NameStrip V1.0 needs:@{fg text} ------------------------- OS2.0+ RexxMast ( The Arexx interpreter running ) The following AmigaDOS commands in C: ( sys:c/ ) - SORT - LIST - DELETE @{" Why use AmigaDOS commands? " link COMMANDS} @endnode @node COMMANDS "Why have I used the DOS commands?" @next REQUIRE @prev REQUIRE @{fg highlight}The following description contains technical terms which some people will not understand.@{fg text} When I first learnt AREXX, I didnt know there was a command in the AREXX support library that allowed directories to be scanned and the files returned to a variable. Therefore I used my own technique of redirecting the output of the list command to RAM: and sorting it. I now know how to use the inbuilt support function ShowDir() but I have decided against using it in this instance. The problem is, due to AREXX being an interpreted language it aint the fastest thing around. Therefore, just like a C coder might use the AmigaDOS functions in dos.library for extra speed, I have decided to use the AmigaDOS commands in C:. This system works faster than it would if I used ShowDir() because using that would involve: 1. Reading the directory into a single simple symbol. ( A Variable ) 2. Spliting it up into a set of compound symbols. ( An array ) 3. Sorting it using a quick sort. Even on my 030/40Mhz this all takes alot of time in AREXX and so by using AmigaDOS commands the running of the program is improved. I make LIST and SORT resident and so they donnot need to be repeatedly loaded off disk. This of course takes alittle bit of memory but not much. Using my current technique I redirect the output of list to ram creating 2 files holding the files and the directories. I then read these into compound symbols. This is alot faster than using the above method, but I suppose reading them into an array takes alittle bit of time. Still, I am happy with the speed my program runs at, and dont think it could be speeded up much more. If it doesnt run very fast on your system, @{"mail me" link CONTACT} your system setup as I am interested on how it runs on slower machines. I have written a number of procedures which use the above techniques and these allow me to write other AREXX programs that need to scan directories quickly and easily. @endnode @node USAGE "So.....How do I use it then?" @prev REQUIRE @next FEATURES Before running NameStrip, the AREXX interpreter RexxMast MUST be running. If this is not run from your Startup-sequence or User-Startup, go to the CLI and type: @{fg highlight}run >nil: sys:system/rexxmast@{fg text} IF you want it to be run every time, place the above line in your startup-sequence OR user-startup. You could also merely drag the RexxMast file from sys:system into your sys:WBStartUp drawer and this would have the same effect. Usage is pretty straight forward. Here is the standard AmigaDOS template: NameStrip @{fg highlight}SOURCE/A,LOG/S,ALL/S@{fg text} SOURCE - This is the Source directory from where scanning begins. LOG - This switch selects whether a LOG file should be produced. ALL - This switch specifies whether sub-directories are scanned. Note: The log file is written to RAM:Log and contains every change the program makes and any problems it encounters due to strange naming conventions. The following example would scan text: and all it's sub-directories creating a LOG file in RAM:Log. 1> @{fg highlight}NameStrip text: log all@{fg text} @endnode @node FEATURES "It strips spaces out of names for gods sake! :)" @prev USAGE @next BUGS @{fg highlight}V1.0 Features:@{fg text} - Strips the spaces out of filenames. - Optionally scans all sub-directories. - Will capatalise each word in the file name to make it look better. - Wont capatalise 'mod.' or any 4,3 or 2 letter extension. E.G .txt .pp - Will allow @{"GuideCompiler" link GUIDECOMPILER} to function at 100%! @endnode @node GUIDECOMPILER "A useful program...!" @{fg highlight}GuideCompiler V1.1 By $LiNg$HoT@{fg text} ------------------------------- Will create an ŽAmigaGuide document and fill it with links to files in a specified directory. Each file is linked to a text viewer or the ŽAmigaGuide program itself, with the MultiView program being used as a default to viewing text files. An environmental variable is used to specify the standard text viewer if you wish to use something other than MultiView. GuideCompiler will also optionally scan recursively through the source directory and build up a complex guide of all the files stored. Each directory has it's own page which contains files and then the other directories if there are any. This means that tranversing a directory tree is simply a matter of clicking on the desired directory on each page until the required file is located. Try it...I'm sure you'll like it! @endnode @node BUGS "Arhhhhh no not them....!" @prev FEATURES @next HISTORY @{b}KNOWN BUGS in V1.0@{ub} ------------------ @{fg highlight}Amigados uses characters such as # and () for other things and so rename does not work on files with these characters in the name.@{fg text} @{b}Solution:@{ub} To manually rename each file with these characters in them using a directory util like FileMaster, Dir Work or Directory Opus. Note: My program will detect if a filename contains 1 or more of the symbols that rename cannot handle and will output a message to screen and the optional log file. @{fg highlight}Filenames which have extra spaces at the beginning or end will not be handled.@{fg text} The problem here is due to the way I read in the filenames. I strip all leading and trailing spaces from the name and have noway to detect trailing spaces anyway. It's being worked on! :) @endnode @node HISTORY "What has been changed and added.." @prev BUGS @next GREETS @{fg highlight}NameStrip.rexx Version History@{fg text} ------------------------------ V1.0 - 14/9/94 (Released: 6/3/95 - Included with GuideCompiler 1.1) - A program to strip the spaces out of file names. - Will scan a directory and it's sub-directories. - LOG switch for producing a log in Ram:log. - Will capatalise each word in the file name to make it look better. - Wont capatalise 'mod.' or any 4,3 or 2 letter extension. E.G .txt .pp - BUGS: @{" See BUGS " link BUGS} @endnode @node GREETS "Hi mum!" @prev HISTORY @next CONTACT @{fg highlight}Greets go out to the following people:@{fg text} Laurie Lee ( The C God ) - See! C isnt the be all and end all :)) Dave Hollway - Money and map NOW!!! :) Mark & Scott/Visage Computers - What are YOU doing with one of my programs? Catlord - When ya gonna code a demo then.... *;) Draxx/Desire - Built any CrayAmigas lately? Darren Bloor - Psst....Got any......dirty videos... :) Creator/Dimentia - Get that Babylon 5 beater finished! ;) KenD/LSD - See yers on mono m8. CounterPoint/Westower - Hey, keep those cool mods coming.. Chalky - Was it 2 disks or 3 you gave me? ;> WhiteWolf - HEY! Mail me dude! WolfLord - If your reading this.it must be on my home page..Get yours done!:> The_Don - SO...When are we gonna get our OWN section then? ;> Jason Compton - Keep producing your great mag! Deztech - Hi Philip...So...what do you think? (I hope I remembered ya nick!) ---- @{fg highlight}IRC:@{fg text} FUNdament - Hey, get that paint package done..I want to do the AREXX :) Secka - Wonder if we'll get banned again... ;> Wangi - Where did you get that name from..? :) Xanim - Hey Terje..so when are you gonna optimise xanim then.. ;> Toto - B5 has the best effects... ;-> Oh and greets to all on #amiga..I'm not mentioning #amigascne..I was banned from there for no reason! :( @{b}AND..@{ub} All the programmers on the world wide Amiga scene, who make our machine such a joy to use. While I'm at it, greets to ALL Amiga owners everywhere. Keep the dream alive! @endnode @node CONTACT "So you want to talk to me huh? :)" @prev GREETS @next MAIN Right then, here are my current E-Mail addresses. They remain valid until: @{b}Either:@{ub} A). July/September 95' when I finish year 2 of my degree. B). The operators de-user me for.....Errmmmm well, I dont think we need to go into that right now *8-}} Mail me - @{fg highlight}James Allen@{fg text} - at either: - @{fg highlight}cc022jwa01@ntu.ac.uk @{fg text}OR - @{fg highlight}sys1jal@doc.ntu.ac.uk@{fg text} You can also contact me on the "MonoChrome" Internet BBS run from City University London, England. Telnet : @{fg highlight}electron.mono.ac.uk@{fg text} PAD : @{fg highlight}uk.ac.city.mono@{fg text} ( When prompted, enter the above TELNET address. ) My account name is : @{b}SlingShot@{ub} I look forward to hearing from you..... Oh and check out my WWW home page some time (Thanks Threapwood!). It has links to my programs on aminet, upcoming projects and Amiga links etc.. @{fg highlight}http://www.york.ac.uk/~dmh11/slingshot@{fg text} --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Look out for my other releases ( I finally got my AREXX compiler! ) such as: GuideCompiler - Scans recursively and builds an ŽAmigaGuide of text files. DeliList - " " " and builds up a ŽDeliTracker2 playlist. MultiVer - Compares VER strings in files in 2 directories and allows you to copy newer versions into the source. DeArchive - Unpacks all LHA/LZH/ZIP files into a directory automatically (Aminet: util/arc/DeArchive15 - Most recent) Oh and my one released music mod is on aminet in mods/pro and is called: WhoIsElvis94.lha It's a remix of the techno track, "Who is Elvis" By Interaction. @endnode