README.TXT: List of files and installation instructions       27-Jul-93

WINSINCE.EXE Version 2.1          Copyright 1993 Rob Hueniken
                                  68 Fox Mill Crescent, London, Ontario,       
  "The Batch Machine"             Canada, N6J 2B4, 1-519-471-0333
                                  Compuserve 70162,1521

                                  Registration: $20

WINSINCE is a customizable Windows file processing utility that searches 
for files and performs definable actions on the list of files. It is able 
to run both DOS programs and commands as well as Windows programs. It is 
an excellent utility for power users, programmers, and network 
administrators.

WINSINCE 2.0 can run minimized in batch mode, logging files found, 
performing an action on the files found, and then exiting when done. 
Because the action to be performed can be any Windows program, DOS 
command or program, you have complete flexibility in defining what gets 
done. Its relative date searching lets you search for files created a 
number of days from the current date. WinSince will find the files you 
want to work on. 

Full help is available within the program. An Ascii version of the help 
is available as WinSince.txt.


Installation
============

*** To install, run the SETUP.EXE program. This will prompt you for the
    directory to put WINSINCE into, and copy the files to the appropriate
    directories.

WinSince supports VGA and higher resolutions.

If you are running an older version of WinSince (previously call Since version
1.01) you may need to delete the old Since.dll, Since.exe and Since.hlp files.
The WinSince SETUP program will overwrite an old DLL in \windows\system.
By deleting the older since.dll file you will avoid "sub or function not 
defined" errors. The version of Since.dll used by version 2.1 is new
(dated 08-04-93 11:54 am, 31209 bytes). The older version also used
Vbrun200.dll while you will need Vbrun300.dll for version 2.0. Vbrun300.dll can
be found on the distribution disk or on your BBS, and should normally be 
in your \Windows\System directory.

If you get an error when starting WinSince that says "The file
c:\directory\SS3D2.VBX is out of date" then you need to delete that file:
WinSince installs the latest version in your \Windows\System. You may need to
exit and re-enter Windows to be able to delete the file, since Windows may say
that it is using it.

If the SETUP program does not install WinSince, you can run WinSince out of a
directory containing all of the distribution files. Alternatively, the "Files
needed" section below can show you where each WinSince file is normally copied
to. WinSince requires VBRUN300.DLL.

Norton Desktop Installation Notice
==================================

A small problem in the MicroSoft Setup Kit with NDW can result in a DDE message
following a successful installation: "An application using DDE did not respond
to the system's exit command". If you see this message, click on the CLOSE
button. This problem does not affect the installation or the running of
WinSince. My apologies for this problem.

Change to Actions in Version 2 from Version 1.2
===============================================

Any Actions from previous versions need to be examined for their use of the %P
path substitution token. In the new version, %P has been split to allow %D to
be the drive, separate from the path.

This gives a lot more flexibility in moving files between similar paths.

Old version:        C:\WINDOWS\FILE.EXT  :   %P = C:\WINDOWS (no ending "\" )
                                             %F = FILE.EXT

                Action:  COPY %P\%F A:                  (copy files to A:)
                Result:  COPY C:\WINDOWS\FILE.EXT A:

New version:        C:\WINDOWS\FILE.EXT :    %D = C
                                             %P = WINDOWS  (no leading or
                                                            ending "\" )       

                                             %F = FILE.EXT (no change)

                Action:  COPY %D:\%P\%F  A:             (copy files to A:)
                Result:  COPY C:\WINDOWS\FILE.EXT A:    (same as old version)

                Now you can do things such as copying files to other areas of a
                drive, or other drives, while maintaining the subdirectory
                nature:

                Action:  XCOPY %D:\%P\%F  A:\SAVE\%P\   (make directory if
                                                         needed, then copy)
                Result:  XCOPY C:\WINDOWS\FILE.EXT  A:\SAVE\WINDOWS\


New features in version 2.1
===========================

Now handles multiple file types during the search, such as *.txt;*.exe 
 (separate with semicolon).
Can now have multiple instances of WinSince running at the same time.
Shows the total size of selected files in the new List menu.
The log file name can be automatically generated from the date to 
 create unique log files.

New features in version 2.0
===========================

WinSince is now able to run in batch with command line startup instructions.
This will allow you to create specialized WinSince instances that automate your
file management. Once you set up your WinSince Actions, you can create Program
Manager WinSince icons to define each of your file tasks.

The new start up commands include:

 /dir=                  Directory to start program in
                        Example: /dir=c:\windows
                        If /dir is left off, then WinSince will start in
                        directory specified in the Startup Directory specified
                        by the Windows Program Manager property.

 /filetype=             Type of files to search for
                        Example: /filetype=*.bat
                        If /filetype is left off, WinSince uses *.*
                        Any files found by a search are selected within the
                        file list box.

 /subdir                Search down the subdirectory tree from the directory
                        specified in /dir. If /subdir is left off, then
                        WinSince only searches the startup directory.

 /drives=               Search the entire selected drives for the file type.
                        Example: /drives=cdf would search drives C, D and F.
                        Non-existent drives are ignored, which can be handy on
                        networks where drives come and go. It will give an
                        error though if no drives are found to be valid.
                        If both /drives and /subdir are left off, WinSince
                        searches the startup directory.

 /cleardate             Ignore the creation date when finding files
                        If /cleardate is left off, WinSince searches for files
                        created today.

 /since=                Creation date of files to find since. Files created on
                        or after this date will be included.

                        Absolute date method; handy when you know the date to
                        check:

                        Example 1: /since=01-30-1993     (find files created
                                                          since Jan 30 1993)
                                                         (ie. format is
                                                          /since=mm-dd- yyyy)

                        Relative date method; handy for automating searches to
                        run each day:

                        Example 2: /since=-5               (find files created
                                                            since 5 days ago)
                                                           (ie. today - 5 days)

 /archive               Search for files with the Archive file attribute set.
                        These are files that have not yet been backed up.
                        If /archive is left off, WinSince ignores the files'
                        Archive flag setting when searching.

 /search                Search for files when WinSince starts, even if Option
                        is set to not get files when starting up. Usually
                        you'll want to include this so that WinSince finds
                        selected files on startup.
                        You should leave /search off if you are using /dir
                        and/or /filetype to specify startup values but don't
                        want a file search to delay the startup of WinSince.

 /action=               Action number (1 to 10) to perform on the files. The
                        action be any of the 10 actions defined by you within
                        the WinSince Edit screen.
                        Example: /action=10 performs action number 10 on any
                        files found.
                        If /action is left off, WinSince searches for files but
                        does not perform an action on the files found.

                        If /min is present, then the Action run will run in a
                        minimized window, even if the Action is defined to run
                        full size, etc.
                        All other aspects of the defined Action are run as
                        defined, so be sure to NOT include any Pauses between
                        or at the end of DOS actions, and to NOT have the
                        Confirm before run option set in Edit.
                        The reason is that the Action will run minimized, and
                        you will not see the request for keystrokes ("Press
                        return to continue"). The program would sit idle
                        waiting until you maximize the screen and click on OK.

 /exit                  Exit WinSince once the initial file search is done
                        ("batch mode").
                        This allows you to set up WinSince to perform a single
                        task and then exit. If /exit is left off, WinSince will
                        remain active on the screen when it completes any task
                        you assigned for it("interactive mode").

 /min                   Run minimized. This is handy for running WinSince as a
                        batch job with /exit when you don't want to see it
                        running. /Min overrides the Window Format defined in
                        the Action, so that even if you have the Action defined
                        to run Notepad.exe full screen, the /min qualifier will
                        run it minimized.

 /log=                  Name of log file to write files found by WinSince.
                        Example: /log=c:\winsince.log   
                        WinSince will write the type of search and the file
                        details of all files found during the current session.
                        This can be used in batch mode to show what files were
                        found, and in interactive mode to create
                        a list of files, for later printing or analysis. If
                        free disk space falls under 500,000 bytes the log file
                        is automatically closed, so pick a drive with lots of
                        space for the log file: it uses about 80 characters
                        for each file found during the searches.

                        Note: errors occuring during a search are usually
                        written to the log file, preficed with ">> ".

 /append                Append to an existing log file, as specified in /log
                        qualifier. If the log file does not exist it is
                        created.

                My personal preference for interactive file management is to
                always specify /log on the command line but without the
                /append. It barely slows things down and is often very handy
                for checking details.

 To set up WinSince to use the command line switches, use the File | Properties
 menu item in the Program Manager to modify the WinSince command line. Ie. 
 instead of running C:\WINSINCE\WINSINCE.EXE you might change it to show 
 C:\WINSINCE\WINSINCE.EXE /DIR=C:\ /FILETYPE=*.BAT /SEARCH 

 The command line switches can be combined to do a variety of tasks that range
 from customizing the startup file type to automatically copying files between
 directories.


*******************************************************************************
Warning: You have complete flexibility in creating and running your Actions.
This also means that you must exercise care in using them. Testing your Actions
in interactive mode on copies of files is a good way to be sure that the
/Action and other command line qualifiers do what you want on the right files.
Be mindful of how many files may be found in a search: you could run out of
memory or disk space.
*******************************************************************************

Setting up multiple icons for WinSince on the Windows desktop
=============================================================

As you come up with your own list of file tasks that you would like to
automate, you can add copies of the WinSince icon within its Windows group. To
do this, hold down the Ctrl key while you click and drag the WinSince icon to a
free spot within its group. Modify its File Properties with the command line
qualifiers, and change its title to show the meaning of the task it does.

For example, I have a WinSince icon set up to look at the log file. Its command
line reads:
WinSince.exe /dir=c:\ /filetype=WinSince.log /cleardate /action=3 /exit 
This launches the Notepad editor to edit the log file, then exits, to leave you
to browse the log. I have the Title set to Edit Log  If you have multiple
WinSince logs for various purposes, you can use /subdir or /drives= to search
for them all and to pop up edit sessions for each of them.

Example 1: You are interested in seeing a list of all TXT files in particular
           areas:

               WINSINCE.EXE /DIR=C:\MYWORK /FILETYPE=*.TXT /SUBDIR /CLEARDATE  
                            /SEARCH

            This tells WinSince to look down in all subdirectories starting
            from C:\MYWORK for files with the extension TXT, and to ignore the 
            creation date, ie. find all .TXT files regardless of creation date.
 
            Since no /ACTION is given, WinSince will display the list of files
            when it appears, leaving it up to you to view the list and possibly
            choose an Action at that time.

 Example 2: You want to review or edit TXT files changed since yesterday, and
            create a log file showing the list of the files found:

            WINSINCE.EXE /DIR=C:\MYWORK /FILETYPE=*.TXT /ACTION=3 /MIN /EXIT   
                         /SEARCH /LOG=C:\MYWORK\CHECK.RPT /SINCE=-1

        This tells WinSince to look only in the C:\MYWORK directory for files 
        with the extension TXT that have been created since yesterday. The
        /SINCE=-1 tells WinSince that you are using a relative date of -1, 
        ie. one day in the past. On each of these TXT files, WinSince will run
        Action number 3, which in the distribution version of WinSince runs the
        Windows NOTEPAD editor on the selected file. (You may customize all
        Actions to do whatever you want if you don't like the defaults). Since
        /MIN is specified, each Notepad session will appear as an icon, ready
        for you to work on when ready. Since /EXIT is specified, WinSince
        itself will never appear to you: it will just start up the Notepad
        sessions and then exit. The list of files found, along with their dates
        and sizes, will be put into C:\MYWORK\CHECK.RPT, as requested in the
        /LOG command. This is an Ascii file suitable for later editing or
        printing.


 Example 3: You want to copy TXT files changed since January 2nd 1993 to a safe
            directory, and create a log file showing the list of the files
            found. 

            This is a similar example to Example 2 except that a specific date
            has been selected, and the Action is 7 (Xcopy):

            WINSINCE.EXE /DIR=C:\MYWORK /FILETYPE=*.TXT /ACTION=7 /MIN /EXIT   
                         /SEARCH /LOG=C:\MYWORK\CHECK.RPT /SINCE=01-02-1993

        This tells WinSince to look only in the C:\MYWORK directory for
        files with the extension TXT that have been created since January 2nd
        1993. The /SINCE=01-02-1993 tells WinSince that you are using an
        absolute date. Action 7 is defined in the distribution kit as 
        XCOPY %D:\%P\%F C:\SAVE\%P\ . If we use C:\MYWORK\HELLO.TXT as one of
        the files found, it would be copied to C:\SAVE\MYWORK\HELLO.TXT . In
        the Edit screen you can set the Window Format to Minimized if you don't
        want to see the copying occur on the screen.

Features introduced in version 1.2
==================================

Quick Start tutorial help section.
Point and click file button assignment; it's fun and easy!
Double click on file name to run associated program.
Options for getting files when starting, and warning before running double 
 clicked files.
The action definition can be cleared by double clicking.
Two-size edit screen (summary and editing details).
Screen layout modified slightly to allow for use under VGA.
Saves last position of program for next session.


Files needed
============

There are 8 files required for running WinSince.exe:

1)  WinSince.exe
2)  WinSince.hlp  (must be on the path, or in the working directory)
3)  Since.dll     (usually in the \Windows\System subdirectory,
                   must be on the path, or in the working directory)
4)  Since.ini     (usually in the Windows subdirectory, on a network this can
                   be in the same directory as the end user's version of
                   win.ini)
5)  Sincerun.bat  (must be on the path, or in the working directory,
                   is put into the \Windows subdirectory)
6)  Sincecls.pif  (must be on the path, or in the working directory,
                   is put into the \Windows subdirectory)
7)  SS3D2.vbx     (usually in the \Windows\System subdirectory,
                   must be on the path, or in the working directory; 
                   this is the Sheridan 3D Widget Runtime)
8)  Vbrun300.dll  (usually in the \Windows\System subdirectory,
                   must be on the path, or in the working directory;
                   part of Visual Basic 3.0 runtime)

There are three additional files:

 9) WinSince.txt  (Ascii version of the WinSince.hlp)
10) WinSince.doc  (a Word version of the WinSince.hlp)
11) Readme.txt    (this file)


Distribution disk setup versus Bulletin board setup
===================================================

The SETUP.EXE program uses SETUP.LST to check which special files are needed
for Setup. The supplied SETUP.LST (a copy of SETUP.DSK) is for distribution by
disk and expects to find and install VBRUN300.DLL. The version of SETUP.LST
needed for a bulletin board or for computers that already have VBRUN300.DLL is
in SETUP.BBS. If you are planning to upload WINSINCE to a bulletin board then
copy SETUP.BBS to SETUP.LST. This will avoid needing to upload VBRUN300.DLL
(which the BBS has already) and avoid an error when SETUP.EXE tries to find
VBRUN300.DLL. WinSince is already on Compuserve as WINSNC.ZIP, in the WINSHARE
File Utilities area.
