File Selector 0.4

MyDOS File Selector v0.4 (C) 1996 New Breed Software

File Selector 0.4 - Screenshot 01

File Selector 0.4 – Screenshot 01

File Selector 0.4 - Screenshot 02

File Selector 0.4 – Screenshot 02

  • By Bill Kendrick
  • Loader menu for binary and text files
  • ACTION! source code included
  • DOS file

MyDOS File Selector v.0.4
By Bill Kendrick,
New Breed Software 1996

January 13, 1996

About MyDOS File Selector:

This powerful program gives you a menu from which you can easily select and run executable binary programs, read text files and navigate MyDOS subdirectories.

Features:

– Compatible:
+ MyDOS 4.53 compatible
+ MyDOS subdirectory support
+ SIO2PC and APE compatible
+ APE PC Mirror compatible
+ Changes the current directory to the file you’re loading’s path
+ Built-in text file reader
+ Understands ATASCII, ASCII and Unix text files
N Strips LFs from ASCII files
N Page-up command in text reader

– Easy to use:
+ Easy listing navigation
+ Joystick or keyboard control
+ Safe Exit-to-DOS command
+ “Same directory” (“.”) entry lets you reload the same listing without going out and back into a subdirectory
+ “Previous directory” (“..”) entry adds the “back” command to joystick naviagtion
+ Always remembers where you were, even when coming back out of a MyDOS sub-directory

– Configurable:
+ Configuration file
+ List filtering by filename extension
+ Wildcards allowed in filters
+ User defined screen colors, font and title colors
+ Sort listings (by descending or ascending by name or extension)
+ Directories are sorted above files

N = New features for version 0.4

Installation and Startup:

Simply put this program on a bootable MyDOS (4.53) disk. DUP.SYS is unnecessary if you want to boot directly into File Selector (but the “exit” command will not work unless DUP.SYS is available somewhere).

If you wish the menu to appear at boot time, name it “FILESEL.AR0”. (Or if other autorun files exist, rename it appropriately, making sure it’s the last to be loaded.)

If you want to load the menu from the DOS menu, be sure DUP.SYS is available. When the DUP.SYS menu appears, [L]oad “FILESEL.COM” from the menu.

Controls:

Selecting:

Selecting a file is done with the arrow keys or a joystick. Both the arrow keys (with or without the [CONTROL] key down) and the joystick directions move the highlight by one selection. Arrow keys with [SHIFT] move the highlight to the to the extreme (far left or far right of a row, or top or bottom of a column).

You can also select files by their first letter. Press a letter ([A] through [Z]) and the next entry having that letter as their first character will be selected.

Loading Programs:

Press [RETURN] or [FIRE] on a selection to load and run it.

Subdirectories:

To enter a subdirectory, press [RETURN] or [>] on it. The new directory listing will be loaded.

To return from a subdirectory, press [BackSpace] or [<] (anywhere), or select the “..” directory entry. The parent directory will be reloaded. (The highlight will also be where it was when you entered the directory!)

Viewing Text Files:

Any file which doesn’t begin with the standard Atari “FF,FF” binary-load file header will instead be displayed on the screen. This is useful for reading text files.

Before the file is loaded, the first 100 characters are tested to find character 155’s (Atari EOL), 13’s (ASCII CR) and 10’s (Unix NL). Depending on which is found first, any of that character found in the text file will be converted to an EOL on the screen. If CR’s are found, any LF’s (character 10’s) will be stripped. This should make reading IBM, Mac and Unix text files easier.

One screenful of 40 column text will be displayed and then it will pause.

During the pause, press [ESC] joystick [LEFT] to abort the display and return to the file selection menu, or press any other key, [FIRE] or joystick [DOWN] to continue reading.

Press [UP] or joystick [UP] to reload the previous screenful of text (you can read back to the beginning of the file, with a 256 page limit).

Press [T] to jump to the top of the file.

NOTE: Because APE’s PC Mirror doesn’t support random access of file data, the “previous screen” and “top of file” commands won’t work correctly.

Changing Drives:

Press a number ([1] to [9]) to select the “root” directory of that drive.

Reloading A Directory:

To reload a directory (useful if the disk was changed somehow) select the “.” directory entry.

If you’re at the “root” of a disk (not in a subdirectory), you can simply type the number of the drive it’s in to reload it.

PC Mirror Subdirectories:

APE PC Mirror subdirectories are supported. APE allows the Atari to access to PC subdirectories by making them “normal” files (and APE itself remembers what directory you’re in).

When the Atari tries to open a PC Mirror subdirectory, APE recognizes this, changes the directory, and returns an error (139).

To access an APE directory, simply try to open the entry on the menu. File Selector will try to read it as a text file, realize it is an APE subdirectory, pause for a moment (to give slower PC’s enough time to change the directory) and reload the listing (which is now the new directory).

NOTE: I can often not open APE PC Mirror subdirectories with File Selector. If you have any suggestions as how to remedy this, or if you have the same problems, please contact me. (Mention what model and speed PC you have and what version of APE you’re running.)

Quitting:

Press [ESC] or [RESET] to exit to the MyDOS menu.

Configuration File:

When the MyDOS File Selector loads, it assumes “D1:” as the current path and looks for the file “D1:FILESEL.DAT”.

Also, every time a directory is changed or a new drive is selected, a file in the new directory named “FILESEL.DAT” is looked for.

It reads it, two or three lines at a time. (Blank lines are skipped.) It interprets the first line as a command and the second line as data (a parameter) for the command.

The following commands are available:

BACK Backgd color (hue*16+lum)
Default: “0” (black)

FORE Foreground lum
Default: “15” (bright)

BORD Border color (hue*16+lum)
Default: “0” (black)

FONT Set a font for the screen If no drive/path is given, the current path (where this “FILESEL.DAT” was found) is used Default: NONE (OS font)

TBACK Backgd. color of the title (hue*16+lum)
Default: “128” (dk blue)

TFORE Foreground title lum
Default: “15” (bright)

TBORD Border hue of the title (shades of this hue used)
Default: “144” (bluegrn)

TITLE Screen title (ie,”Games”)
Default:
“File Selector v.0.4”

MASK Extension filter mask
See below.
(ie, “COM,EXE,OBJ”)
Default: NONE (All files)

SORT Sort files. The modes are:
“NAME” sort by fname
“EXT” sort by ext.
“!NAME” sort backwards by filename
“!EXT” sort backwards by extension
Default: NONE (No sort)

About the Mask:

The mask is a set of 3-character strings (which can optionally be separated by commas (“,”)) representing extensions that will be “listable”. When the directory (“D1:*.*”, for example) is read, only files that have extensions that match one of the extensions listed in the mask are shown (MyDOS Subdirectories are, of course, always shown, no matter what their extension. To show APE PC Mirror directories, you’ll need to specify any extensions that your MSDOS subdirectories have for example, ” “, (three blank spaces) which would show all files and subdirectories that have no extension.

If the mask is empty (default), then all files are shown.

The “?” wildcard character is supported. If you wish to list, for example, all of your MyDOS autorun files on a disk, the mask entry “AR?” can be used. (Instead of listing ALL possibilities (“AR0” through “AR9”).)

Sample FILESEL.DAT File Using All Commands:

——————————–

BACK
128

FORE
12

BORD
4

TBACK
142

TFORE
0

TBORD
0

TITLE
Games

FONT
TIMES.FNT

MASK
COM,EXE,OBJ,AR?,DOC,TXT

SORT
NAME

——————————–

This will give a dark blue background, light text, and a dark grey border for the menu and text-reader area. The title lines will have a light blue background, dark text, and a shaded grey border.

The screen will be titled “Games” and all files with the extensions “COM”, “EXE”, “OBJ” and MyDOS “AR#” (autorun) files (executables), and “DOC”, and “TXT” (text files) will be listed, sorted by name.

Bugs:

A strange bug keeps File Selector from loading certain programs. Try replacing your “DUP.SYS” (MyDOS menu) with the File Selector program if you wish to boot up into File Selector and have come across programs which won’t run when File Selector is an AutoRun file.

Please see the section on using PC Mirror regarding any difficulties in changing subdirectories with File Selector.

Planned Features:

+ Online help
+ File info. display
+ 62-sector graphics viewer
+ 9-sector font viewer

Credits:

Suggestion (idea): Michael Kling
Program/Documents: Bill Kendrick
Thanks to: All supporters

Support:

If you need help, wish to submit ideas, have bugs to report, or want more information about this or other New Breed Software programs, you can contact me via postal mail or the Internet:

Postal:
New Breed Software
c/o Bill Kendrick
1530 Armstrong Ave. #47
Novato, CA 94945-2574

E-Mail:
kendrick AT zippy DOT sonoma DOT edu

World Wide Web:
http://zippy.sonoma.edu/’kendrick/
(where “‘” is a tilde)


Bootable MyDOS 4.55 disk (ATR / 7-Zip): File Selector 0.4

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