DDDD X X D D X X ** What is DX ? D D X X ** Why is everyone talking about DX? D D X ** What can DX do for me? D D X X ** Who should download DX? Can I save the cost? D D X X ** What new features have been added in v2.0? DDDD X X This file serves several purposes. The size of DX scares many people -- especially with the cost of downloading an unknown program of this size. Don't be scared away! DX will probably replace many of the small utilities that you now use for directory and file maintenance! ...DX will probably also replace many DOS commands that you now use! This file is intended to answer the above questions; to acquaint the new user with DX; and to tell the seasoned user what new features are available. (For those of you UPGRADING from previous versions, please see the section on changes and new features later in this file). DX is ShareWare and is uploaded in three parts: DX-207.ARC => Directory eXtended v2.08; includes this DXREAD.ME file. DX-D20.ARC => Documentation for DX v2.0. A 70 page printed manual is now available when registering -- see below. DXREAD.ME => This file. DX is THE MOST POWERFUL directory and file management utility available for DOS. It is not full-screen or mouse-driven deriving its power from the fact that most users work faster and more efficiently once they master a small set of commands and options. DX supports multiple inclusion and exclusion patterns and characters after a '*'; you can ask for simple DIR-like directories or complex directories like: dx *t*+my*e;.pas In the example above, DX would select all files that have a "t" anywhere in their names; AND all files that start with "my" and end with "e"; UNLESS they had an extension of ".PAS". Files like "MYFILE.EXT", "TEST", and "XTY.C" would match while "TEST.PAS" would not match. DX can sort your files any way you wish and search entire directory structures; even match and sort files within ARChives and LiBRaries! Directory eXtended v2.08 READ.ME Page 1 Select? Match? What do you mean? DX, by default, only shows the directory of all files that match the specification -- in a two- column wide, fully customizable format that shows file attributes and many disk and file statistics not normally availalble. You can further specify file selection by date/time ranges, sizes, and file attributes. (Customization includes selecting colors, number of columns, UPPER, lower, or Initial Caps, printer formatting, 12 or 24 hour time formats, and more.) THIS IS ONLY THE BEGINNING!! Once you have selected a group of files, DX can perform ANY task on those files! From enhanced versions of the standard COPY, MOVE, COMPARE, RENAME, and DELETE to advanced functions like Appending to files, Changing Date/Time or File Attributes, Testing whether the files will fit on another disk, Going back to a ".BAK" version of a file, and Running a Specified program on every file that matches -- all these functions are verified on a file-by-file basis by default. I did say "ANY task", didn't I? DX can generate and execute batch files to perform any task that you can imagine. DX can generate checksums and Cyclic Redundancy Checks; it can compare files within an archive to those outside of an archive; it can rename or change a file's date/time while it is in an archive. ORDERING INFO: ======== ==== ECONO-SOFT now has a new address, an 800 phone number, and we accept MasterCard and Visa: ECONO-SOFT CompuServe [73267,1664] P.O. Box 181030 GEnie [ROB.BLAINE] Austin, TX 78718-1030 800-367-7590, 512-832-1675 The recommended ShareWare contribution is $25 (Texas residents please add 8% sales tax). A printed manual is available for $35 or you can specify whether you'd like an on-disk manual formatted for an EPSON FX-80, an EPSON FX-85, a PostScript Laser Printer, or generic ASCII (available on bulletin boards' as DX-D20.ARC). UPGRADE prices for registered users who registered prior to August of 1986 are $10 for disk only and $20 for disk and printed manual. If you registered after August of 1986, you should have already received a free update... contact ECONO-SOFT if not. ECONO-SOFT has always offered a 30-day, no questions asked guarantee! Save the cost of the download and try DX at home at your leisure! Directory eXtended v2.08 READ.ME Page 2 The distribution disk includes a few files not available on bulletin boards... DX.CED => A sample synonym file including over 40 PCED synonyms that facilitate using DX. DX_QUICK.REF => A Quick Reference (Appendix A from the manual). DX_HEAP.EXE => A program to adjust DX's internal heap size to accomodate very large disks. CHANGES SINCE DX v1.6: ===================== - The color switches (/FColor, /BColor, and /DColor) require the use of keywords now -- the numeric format will no longer work. (DX still gets its default color configuration from the screen's colors at the cursor position where DX is started from.) - File attribute selection has changed. /Archive, /Normal, /Directory, /Hidden, /Readonly, and /System have all been replaced with /ATtr -- please see DX.DOC for details; /Full still works as before. This was done to provide a more uniform approach to attribute handling since there are now three switches that take attributes. - The /DAte and /TIme switches have been replaced with /SINce and /BEfore -- these work very much like Digital Equipment Corporation's VMS Operating System and provide much more flexibility in specifying dates and times. - DX now writes directly to the video buffer. A /VIDeo switch is provided as follows: /VIDeo:Direct => Direct writes with no snow checking. /VIDeo:DIRECTSnow => Direct writes with snow checking (default). /VIDeo:BIOS => Output through the system BIOS. - NOTE: DX v2.06 and v2.07 had a problem with Toshiba DOS 3.2 and added the /NONSTD switch to prevent the use of an undocumented DOS function call. With v2.08 that switch should not be needed and may be removed in future versions. If you experience a hang when DX v2.08 is first started, add /NONSTD to your AUTOEXEC.BAT's SET command. (The old /ABsolute switch is superceeded by this switch.) Directory eXtended v2.08 READ.ME Page 3 NEW FEATURE SUMMARY: === ======= ======= There are three categories of questions asked during special processing controlled by /Verify, /OVerwrite, and /ROnly -- please see the appropriate sections of the manual. Among other things, you can specify that a file be overwritten if it is newer/older/larger/smaller than the previous version; you can specify that the file MUST overwrite a previous file; and you can tell DX to never touch, ask first, or ignore read-only files. When being asked a question, you can now shell to DOS before answering or view the directory of the source and target; you can also view (using /LIst) the contents of the target file in addition to the source. New switches include: /GOBak => revert to a .BAK version of a file. /APpend => append to existing files. /FDate => set a file's modification date/time. /TDate => set the target of a move/copy's date/time. /TAttr => set the attributes on the target. /MSP => multi-pass special processing. /ARCDT => correct an archive/library's date/time to that of the most recent member. /VIew => call the /LIst processor for matching files. DX now fully supports network configurations. You can specify what action to take when a network conflict is detected: /NETaccess:Criterr => Produce critical error message (default). /NETaccess:Wait => Wait for conflict to resolve. /NETaccess:Fail => Automatically "Fail" the operation and go on. DX now adapts itself to EGA/VGA 8x8 modes (43/50 lines) and Hercules 132-column modes -- if these modes are in effect when DX is called. Target pattern replacement now includes a "/" character to delete Directory eXtended v2.08 READ.ME Page 4 characters from the source pattern -- see DX.DOC for details. If /FSize is used with copy/move, you may omit the drive and it will use the same drive as the target of copy/move. A program is supplied to adjust the amount of memory available -- see the section on Memory Utilization in DX.DOC for information on running DX_HEAP. Directory eXtended v2.08 READ.ME Page 5