                                                  howdoes.txt
                                                  October/96

                     How does FLOPYCAT work ?
   
 1. MENUS  
  All FLOPYCAT functions are invoked by Menus or Hot Keys.
  The current menu commands and corresponding Hot Keys are:  
 
   A) CATALOG (Alt-C):  
      - Catdisk (Ctrl-C):  
            Causes the program to read a floppy disk in a  
            designated disk drive, and to make entries in  
            the FLOPYCAT catalog for files located in all  
            directories displayed.  (If any directory on  
            the floppy disk is not displayed at some point,  
            no entries for files in that directory will be  
            made to the catalog.)  
 
      - FindEntry (Ctrl-F):  
            Locates an entry in the catalog, based on full or  
            partial filename, directory, disk volume label, or  
            any combination of these  
 
      - DeleteEntry (Ctrl-D):  
            Locates an entry in the catalog, based on full or  
            partial filename, directory, disk volume label, or  
            any combination of these, to prepare for deletion  
 
      - Exit (Ctrl-X):  
            Terminates the program  
   
   B) DIRECTORIES (Alt-D):  
      - ShowDirs (Ctrl-S):  
            Shows all the directories found on the floppy disk  
            in a pop-up window  
 
      - NextDir (Ctrl-N)  
            Displays the files found in the 'next' directory on  
            the current floppy disk. It also writes any changes  
            to the currently displayed information back to the  
            catalog  
 
      - PrevDir (Ctrl-P)  
            Displays the files found in the 'previous' directory 

            on the current floppy disk. It also writes any   
            changes to the currently displayed information  
            back to the catalog.  
  
   C) PRINT (Alt-R):
      - PrintOne (Ctrl-O)
            Prints all catalogue entries for files on a SINGLE
            floppy disk.  Use repetitively to print catalogue
            entries for several (but not all) cataogued disks.
            Output goes to the current Windows default printer.

      - PrintAll (Ctrl-A)
            Prints all entries in the FLOPYCAT catalogue to
            the current Windows default printer.

   D) ABOUT (Alt-A):  
      - General Info (Ctrl-G)  
            Displays this Help File  

   
 2. METHOD OF OPERATION  
 
  A) Start a 'Catalog' Operation:  
  Insert a floppy disk in any drive then select the Menu Item
  'CATALOG' and then the Menu Entry 'Catdisk'. In the pop-up
  window which appears, use the pull-down list to indicate the
  drive you want read, or click on the 'OKAY' button if the
  correct drive is already displayed.  
 
  B) Files are loaded:  
  The program reads the specified floppy disk and finds all the
  files in all the directories on the disk.  It then displays
  the information about each file (excluding directries) found
  in the top-level directory of the disk.  
 
  C) Existing Descriptions Extracted from Catalog:  
  For each file found in each directory, the program checks the
  FLOPYCAT catalog to see if an entry already exists for the
  file.  If no catalog entry is found, the phrase 'No Entry
  Found in Catalog' is displayed in place of the description.
  If a catalog entry is found but it does not have a file
  description, the phrase 'No Description Found in Catalog'
  is printed in place of the description.  Otherwise the file
  description from the catalog is displayed for that entry
  along with the other information about the file.  
 
  D) Other Information About the Files:  
  In all cases, the file size and creation date/time shown on
  the display are those taken from the Floppy disk and not from
  the catalog.  This is done since the information from the
  floppy disk will be either the same as or newer (more recent)
  than the information in the catalog.  (See 'Saving
  Information to the Catalog' below.)  
 
  E) Updating the Description in the catalog:  
  For any displayed file entry, you can type in a new (or
  modified) file description. Just click on the entry to be
  changed, and then enter the description in the high-
  lighted box at the bottom of the screen.  Press the <ENTER> key
  to move the new description up into the display area.  
    NOTE: You cannot change any of the other displayed  
              information, since it all comes from the floppy  
              disk which is current and considered correct.  
 
  F) Saving Information to the Catalog:  
  Once the contents of a directory have been displayed, (and
  perhaps descriptions modified), you will want to save that
  information permanently in the FLOPYCAT catalog.  There are
  several ways to do this:  
      1)  Move to another directory:  
          When you change directories, either with the  
          NEXTDIR or PREVDIR commands, or directly by  
          selecting a directory from the SHOWDIRS window,  
          the current contents of the display screen are  
          saved in the FLOPYCAT catalog.  
      2)  Click the 'Save to Catalog' button:  
          This will write the currently displayed information to 
          the catalog and clear the screen. The program  
          will still be pointing at the same floppy disk  
          directory.  
      3)  Terminate the program:  
          When you select EXIT to terminate the program,  
          the contents of the displayed screen are first  
          written to the catalog.  
 
  G) More about the SHOWDIRS Menu Item:  
  If a floppy disk has many sub-directories, you may find it
  awkward to navigate around using the NEXTDIR and PREVDIR
  commands. An alternative is the SHOWDIRS command, which
  provides a scrollable pop-up window which displays ALL
  the sub-directories on the floppy disk. Simply double-
  click on any directory in the pop-up window, and the
  contents of that directory will be displayed. (All
  information displayed on the screen at that time will
  automatically be saved to the Flopycat catalog.  
 
  H) Deleting old Catalog Entries:  
  At some point it is likely that you will delete old
  files from your floppy disks.  The entries for those
  files can be deleted from the FLOPYCAT catalog by use
  of the DeleteEntry menu item in the CATALOG menu.
  No floppy disk needs to be accessed in order to use
  this command.  
 
  I) Finding Files on Floppy Disks:  
  One of the major benefits of cataloging your floppy disks
  using Flopycat is the ability to quickly find out which
  floppy disk contains the file you are looking for. To do
  this, select the FindEntry menu item in the CATALOG menu.
  A pop-up window will appear, in which you can enter any
  of the following:   
      1) Full or partial disk volume label, or leave blank  
      2) Full or partial directory name, or leave blank  
      3) Full or partial file name, or leave blank  
  In all cases, 'full or partial' means you can enter the
  search criteria in one of several ways, for example:  
      1) file01.txt - will find only files with that name  
                         and extension.  
      2) file01.*   - will find all files with the name  
                         'file01' with any extension  
      3) *.bak      - will find files with any filename  
                         and with an extension of '.bak'  
      4) *ile*.txt  - will find files with the characters   
                         'ile' somewhere in the filename and  
                         with an extension of '.txt'  
  These examples also apply to the specification of the
  disk volume and/or the disk directory, or any combination
  you want to search on. Note also that you do NOT need any
  floppy disks installed to use this feature.  
 
  J) Requirement for disks to be LABELLED:  
  FLOPYCAT uses three pieces of information to find a specific
  file entry in the catalog: Disk Volume Label; Directory Name;
  and Filename.  Therefore, FLOPYCAT will not process any
  disk that does not have a Volume Label. You can use the
  Windows File Manager to put a label on any floppy disk, even
  if it has files on it (this is NOT the FORMAT DISK function).

