THE FINDZZ PROGRAM OPERATING GUIDE Version 1.10 (September 1989) Published by Aeius Corporation PO BOX 700457 San Jose, CA 95170 (408) 257 0658 Copyright (c) 1989 by Aeius Corporation All rights reserved. ÿ The FINDZZ program is a shareware program. ÿThis means you are encouraged to give a copy of the program to your friends. ÿ If you use the program regularly, you are expected to register. ÿWhen you register, you recieve the latest program disk and will recieve the following version of the program, free, when it is released. ÿTo print out a registration form, place your master disk in your floppy drive, and type the command: REGISTER Table of Contents Page ----------------- ---- REGISTRATION FORM R INTRODUCTION 1 GETTING STARTED 2 Installation 2 Sample Installation 2 Quick Tryout 2 FIND FILES 5 Editing a Field 6 File Name and File Extension 6 Path 7 Date 7 Time 7 Find, Update Index, and Reset 8 FOUND FILES 9 Selecting a File For Viewing 9 SELECTED FILE 10 CONFIGURATION 11 HELPFUL HINTS 12 FIELD REPORT FORM Last Page FINDZZ REGISTRATION FORM If you use the program regularly, you are expected to register. This provides us with revenue to continue working on improvements and additions to the program. When you register as an FINDZZ User, we will send you the latest program disk. In addition, we will provide you with a free copy of the next improved version, when it is released. You can register by mail or phone. MAIL TO: AEIUS CORPORATION OR PHONE: (408) 257 0658 PO BOX 700457 Leave your order, credit card SAN JOSE, CA 95170 number, name, address and phone number on our recorder. Use form below as a guide. Or leave your phone number for call back. The price for registration is $19.00 POSTPAID and TAX PAID. Check, money order or credit card. Canadian or foreign customers use credit card or postal money order in US funds. Overseas customers add $5.00 postage. Name______________________________________________________________ Address___________________________________________________________ City____________________________State_______Zip___________________ ( ) Visa ( ) Master Charge Number ________ ________ _______ _______ Exp Date ____/____ Phone Number (________) ________ ________ Signature for charge only___________________________ Date ________ R INTRODUCTION The FINDZZ program is simple to use even though it provides you a very powerful and flexible addition to your computing capability. The program operates from four windows. Each window is marked with operating instructions so most customers can operate the program without reading the manual. To find a file, enter a search pattern consisting of partial file name and/or path, date, time. The program quickly lists the matching files. You can then instantly flip back to narrow the search pattern. A selected file may be viewed or edited from within the program using any of 8 editor, word processor, or spreadsheet programs that reside on your disk. FINDZZ uses an index to search files, so the searching occurs at blazing speed. As you become familiar with the program, you will use it to invoke your word processor and editor more frequently to avoid constantly changing subdirectories and looking for forgotten files. FINDZZ will handle up to 300 subdirectories and unlimited files. It uses 85k of memory and can be configured for either a monochrome or color monitor. It will run on any IBM PC or IBM compatible PC machine. If you discover a problem with the FINDZZ program or you have a suggestion for improvement, please fill out a Field Report Form and send it to us. We will appreciate your assistance greatly. The FINDZZ Master Disk contains a report form which can be printed by placing the Master Disk in your floppy drive and typing the command: REPORT The Master Disk also contains an order form which can be printed out with the command: ORDER 1 GETTING STARTED Installation The FINDZZ program is installed on your hard disk (or floppy) by simply copying the program from the master disk to a subdirectory on your hard disk. The root directory or any existing subdirectory can be chosen or a new subdirectory can be created. The following procedure will install FINDZZ in a subdirectory named "findzz". Sample Installation Start your computer and change directories to your root directory with the command: CD \ Then create the directory "findzz" with the command: MKDIR FINDZZ Change directories to the new directory with the command: CD \FINDZZ Place the Master Disk in your floppy disk drive A: and type the command: COPY A:FNZ.EXE The program will be copied from the Master Disk to your hard disk and the installation is complete. Of course you can use an existing subdirectory on your disk or you can create the subdirectory with a name of your own choosing. Quick Tryout Now quickly try the program before reading through the rest of this manual. Make sure your default directory is the directory in which the program is installed. If you followed the sample in the preceding Installation Section, the default directory will be "\FINDZZ". Start the program by typing the command: FNZ 2 A CopyRight screen will appear with a prompt "Press any key". ÿPress the space bar to start the program. ÿBecause this is the first time you have run the program, an Index File will be created by the program. ÿA blinking prompt "Index file missing, Wait.." will appear in the upper left hand corner of the screen. ÿÿIt takes from 5 to 30 seconds to create the index depending on the number of files on your disk and the speed of your disk and computer. ÿThen four windows will be drawn on your screen with the FIND FILES window in front of the others. ÿAt the bottom of the screen there are function key reminders in intensified display. ÿThe date of the last index update will be highlighted in the upper left area of your screen. You can move from one window to another by pressing the F3 key to go to the next window or F5 to go to the previous window. Try this now to take a look at each of the four windows. Return to the first window FIND FILES. Look at this window for a second. The first line contains blanks for the file name and the file extension. A flashing cursor is located at the first character of the file name. Other lines in the first window provide blanks for entering a path name, a starting and ending date, and a starting and ending time. Press the down arrow cursor key and the cursor will move to the first character of the file extension. Type "EXE" into the extension blanks. Then press the PgDn key. The cursor will jump to the bottom of the window. Press the letter "F". The program will quickly find all files with a ".exe" extension, switch to the second window FOUND FILES, and display the first 15 of the files in the window. The number of files found is displayed at the top right of the window. Press the PgDn key to view the second page of files. Press the down arrow cursor key to move the highlight down the page. The files are listed in subdirectory order with deeper subdirectories listed last. Use the up or down cursor arrow keys to highlight any ".exe" file. Press the key to select that file. The program will jump to the third window and the selected file will be highlighted. Press the PgDn key and then press the "A" key to add this file to the list of programs you can use. The disk will operate as the program saves your selection. You will later use this simple method to create a list of programs that you can use to view a selected file. Now you can delete this program from the list by pressing "D". Move back to the first window by pressing F5 twice. Press the down arrow cursor key 5 times to move the cursor down to the STARTING DATE year position. Type the current year over the "1980" previously displayed in that position. Press the PgDn key and then "F" to get a list of files with an ".exe" extension which were created this year. If no files meet this criteria, the window will be blank and "Found no Files" will be displayed in the upper right hand corner of the second window. 3 Press F3 twice to move to the fourth window which is used for configuring the program to your needs. If you have a color monitor, you can select a color display by pressing "C". Later you can eliminate some paths from the search by setting the starting path in the second line. Press PgDn to move the cursor to the third line. If you press "S", the configuration will be saved on disk. Press the Esc key to get out of the program. A blinking prompt "Do you really want to quit (Y/N)?" will be displayed. Press the "Y" key to end the program. 4 FIND FILES The FINDZZ program is designed to make it convenient and intuitive for you to find a file by repetitive narrowing of a search. For example, you might be looking for a file you created in 1988. A search of the disk might list 200 files matching that year. You might then narrow the list by specifying a file name starting with "B". That search might narrow the list to 28 files. At this point you could view one or two likely files or you could narrow the search further based on hints you get from the files listed. The program operates so quickly that iterative searches of this type are painless and fun to conduct. It is sometimes easier to edit a series of files using FINDZZ, than it is to operate from the DOS command line even if you know the file names you are looking for. The FIND FILES window contains several lines for entering file specifications. A file must match all of the specifications to be accepted as a match. The first line contains a field for the file name and file extension. You can enter full or partial names in these fields and the program will search for all files which contain those entries. A blank field means the program will accept all files as matching that field. The next line specifies a starting search path. If you enter a path name in this field, the program will search that path and all subordinate paths. This allows you to eliminate subdirectories from the search that could not contain the file. The next two lines specify the calendar interval to be searched. The first line specifies the starting date of the interval. It is defaulted to Jan 1, 1980. The second line specifies the ending date of the interval. It is defaulted to the present date. During a search, the program accepts any file which was created or last modified on or after the starting date but also created or modified on or before the ending date. The next two lines specify the time interval to be searched. The first line specifies the starting time of the interval and the second line specifies the ending time of the interval. For example, if the starting time is set to 06:00 and the ending time is set to 12:00 the search will accept any file created or last modified in the morning. The bottom line is used to execute the search, to reset the search fields, or to update the index. When the cursor is on the bottom line, keying a "F" will make the program search for a list of files which meet the specification. If you key an "I", the program will update the index. If you key an "R", the FIND FILES window will be reset to all its default fields. 5 Editing a Field FINDZZ uses standard editing procedures for adding or deleting characters in a file specification field. The default edit mode is "REPLACE", meaning that the character above the cursor is replaced by the character entered from the keyboard. You can switch to the "INSERT" editing mode by pressing the "Ins" key and switch back to the "REPLACE" mode by pressing "Ins" again. The INSERT mode causes the keyed character to be placed in front of the cursor and all characters from the cursor to the end of the field are moved one space to the right. A highlighted prompt at the upper right of your screen tells you whether you are in the "INSERT" or "REPLACE" edit mode. Pressing the "Del" key deletes the character over the cursor and pressing the backspace key deletes the character preceding the cursor. The right arrow and left arrow cursor keys move the cursor to the right and left in the field respectively. The "End" key moves the cursor to the last character in the field and the "Home" key moves the cursor to the beginning of the field. Pressing the down arrow cursor key moves the cursor from one field to the next field while the up arrow cursor key moves the cursor to the preceding field. The PgDn key moves the cursor to the last field on the screen and the PgUp key moves the cursor to the first field. The F3 function key takes you to the next window and the F5 key takes you back to the preceding window. File Name and File Extension The File Name field is used to enter a partial or full file name. The program then searches each file name in the index for a match to the characters entered in the File Name field. A "?" can be used as a wild card place holder. A "*" is not used by the FINDZZ program. The search looks for a matching string of characters anywhere in each file name. A '/' at the end of the string means look for an exact match for that string. The search process is best illustrated with an example. Suppose we search these seven files. EDUCATOR TEDDY TREDLITE FIXED WANTED LOCATED PROVIDED 6 If we enter "ED" in the File Name field, and run a search, all seven files will be listed because there is a match somewhere in each file name with "ED". If we enter "???ED", only the last four files will match, because the first three characters of each file name are covered with a "?" so the match against "ED" starts with the fourth letter. If we enter "ED??????" only the first file name would match because the last 6 letters are covered with a "?" so "ED" will not be searched against those last 6 letters. An entry of "ED/" would match no files since only the file name "ED" would be an exact match. The File Extension is searched in the same manner but that field only holds 3 characters instead of 8. Path The Path field is used to restrict the search to a starting subdirectory and all subordinate subdirectories. Enter the starting path name in the second line. The default path is "\" which specifies the starting directory as the root directory. If the path does not exist, a blinking prompt "DIRECTORY DOES NOT EXIST" will appear in the upper left of the screen when you execute the search. Subdirectory names are separated with a "\" in the path field in the standard DOS manner. A typical path entry would be: \JOHN\TEXT\MEMOS Date The starting date field specifies a month, day and year on or after which a file must have been created or modified. The default starting date is 01/01/1980. Either a "0" or a blank will specify an unused left digit. The ending date field specifies a month, day and year on or before which a file must have been created or modified. The default ending date is the present date. Time The starting time field specifies a time in hours and minutes on or after which a file must have been created or modified. The default starting time is 00:00 or midnight of the previous day. A 24 hour time is used so 2 pm is specified as 14:00. Either a "0" or a blank will specify an unused left digit. The ending time field specifies a time in hours and minutes on or before which a file must have been created or modified. The default ending time is 24:00 or midnight of the present day. 7 Find, Update Index, and Reset The last field on the FIND FILES window is a one character field used to tell the program to find files, recompile the index, or reset all the search fields to their default values. To move the cursor to this field, press PgDn. Enter a "F" to conduct a search. FINDZZ will quickly scan the index, switch to the FOUND FILES window, and list the matching files. If you enter an "I' in the last field, the program will recompile an up to date index of your disk. A blinking prompt "Updating index.." will appear on your screen while the index is being recompiled. It will take from 5 to 30 seconds to update the index, depending on the number of files on your disk and the speed of your computer and disk. The date and time of the last Index Update is shown in the upper left hand corner of the window for your convenience. It is advisable to recompile your index daily at some convenient time. You can also recompile the index when you start the program by specifying an "I" parameter in the command line as in: FNZ I If you enter an "R" in the last field, all fields in the FIND FILES window will be reset to their default values. 8 FOUND FILES After you command a search by pressing the "F" key, a new window is drawn on the screen and the matching files are listed in this FOUND FILES window. The first file is highlighted. The number of matches found is shown in the upper right corner of the window. If no matching files were found, "Found no files" will be shown. Each file name is listed with its full path and the drive letter. A file number is also listed at the left of the line. At the right of the line, the date and time of the file's creation or last change is shown. The files are listed in subdirectory order, with the root directory first, followed by the shallowest paths, followed by increasingly deeper paths. If the path is too long to display, only the right hand portion of the path is shown and "--" is drawn at the left of the path to indicate it has been truncated. 15 files are listed at one time in the FOUND FILES window. If more than 15 files were found, you can display the next page of 15 files by pressing the PgDn key. The PgUp key displays the previous page of files. The down arrow cursor key moves the highlight to the next file and the up arrow cursor key moves the highlight to the previous file name. The program is limited to displaying the first 512 files in a very long list. However the correct number of files found is listed in the upper right corner of the window. Selecting a File For Viewing To select a file, move the highlight to the desired file name and press the key. This tells FINDZZ you want to select that file to view or to add to your program list. 9 SELECTED FILE When you have selected a file and pressed the key, the SELECTED FILE window is drawn on the screen. This window displays the selected file name on the first line and also displays a list of programs which can be used to view or edit the selected file. First you will need a list of programs. To compile this list you need to find a program you wish to add to the program list. Use the FIND FILES window to find the editor or word processor you wish to add. Enter the file name and extension of the program to be added and run a search. The extension must be either "EXE" or "COM". You will get a short list of file names. (Usually one file.) Move the highlight to your program name and press . The file name will be shown in the SELECTED FILE window. The cursor will be located in a one character field marked "Press "A" to add selected file to program list". Press the "A" key to add the selected file to your program list. The disk will operate and the selected file will be displayed under "Programs:". This program list is saved in the index so you only have to make up your list once. It is a good idea to make up your program list while the default path is set to the root directory so that none of the programs you wish to add to the list are hidden from the index. Up to eight programs can be added to the program list. Any program will work, but programs that will accept a file name as an argument are best. Most word processors and editors will accept a file name on the command line and will open the desired file when they are invoked. Some programs will not accept a file name argument. These programs can still be used in your program list but the selected file will not be opened automatically. In this case you will have jot down the selected file path and name and open it from within the application. Once you have completed your program list, the selected file can be viewed or edited by simply finding a selected file, highlighting the desired program in the program list, and pressing the key. FINDZZ will call your program and give the selected file as the command line argument so the next thing you will see is the selected file from your editor or word processor. Programs are not limited to editors and word processors but can include spreadsheets or any other type of program you find useful. "EDLIN.COM" and "PRINT.COM" are two good programs to start with. Batch files are not accepted as programs by FINDZZ. A program can be deleted from the program list by highlighting it and pressing the 'D' key. Programs can be added or deleted at any time. 10 CONFIGURATION The last window is used for configuring FINDZZ to your needs. The first field is a one character field. It is used to select either a monochrome display by entering "M" or a color display by entering "C". The default is monochrome. When you change the display selection, the screen will be redrawn but the selection is temporary until it is saved as described below. The second field allows you to select a subdirectory Starting Path for the index search. The Starting Path feature can be used to eliminate paths from the Index which you know you will never search. To set the Starting Path, enter a path name in the second field. Use the "\" backslash to separate directory names as in "\TEXT\LETTERS". The path must start with the root directory. If the path does not exist a warning prompt will be displayed. Any configuration settings are temporary until they are saved in your index file. Once the configuration is saved it will be used every time FINDZZ is used. To save the configuration move the cursor down to the last line in the window marked "Press 'S' to save configuration". Then press the 'S' key and the disk will operate to save the configuration and recompile the index. 11 HELPFUL HINTS In this section several common problems and pointers are presented in a problem/solution format to help you get the most out of the program. Problem: ÿ"I can't find a memo that I typed this morning even though I am sure the file name is correct." Solution: ÿMake sure that your Index has been recompiled since this morning. ÿIf a file has been created, moved or deleted since the last compilation, the Index is not informed about that file. Problem: "I can't find a file that I just found ten minutes ago in another search." Solution: You may have dates or times left from a previous search which prevent the file from being matched. Reset your dates and times to the default values by entering an 'R' at the bottom of the FIND FILES window. Problem: "I have a 750 Megabyte disk. How do I get around the 300 subdirectory limit?" Solution: Install FINDZZ in two or more subdirectories in your root directory. Use the CONFIGURATION window Starting Path to separate your disk into chunks which contain less than 300 subdirectories each. 12 FINDZZ PROBLEM REPORT FORM We would appreciate it if you would report any problems you may discover with the program or the manual. We will update the program and manual from time to time and your comments will help us eliminate errors from future versions. If you have an idea on how the program or manual could be improved or made easier to use and understand, we would appreciate your comments in these areas also. Please fill out all applicable sections of the form and send it to us at the address given below. Thanks for your help. DESCRIPTION OF PROBLEM: Use other side if necessary. ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ Has the problem occurred more than once?____________________ Program function being used when problem occurred.__________ ____________________________________________________________ I would like to see the following features added to the program or manual: _________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ Computer Type______________________Disk Size________________ Name________________________________________________________ Address_____________________________________________________ City________________________State______________Zip__________ Telephone including area code_______________________________ Mail to: AEIUS CORPORATION FINDZZ FIELD REPORT PO BOX 700457 SAN JOSE, CA 95170 Phone: (408) 257 0658