ATree II ver 1 Introduction Welcome to Atree II. An Apple II file utility. Originally the project was called Apple Tree. In order to avoid any legalistic headaches with copyrighted or registered names I decided to call it simply Atree II. After branching off into the PC world I had gotten used to a couple of file utilities. Namely Xtree Gold for MS-Dos and Midnight Commander for Linux. These are a couple of great utilities. They are not function oriented as are most Apple II utilities. Instead you are presented with a directory tree and a list of options to perform. This greatly enhances their usability. Atree II does not match them in power but uses a similiar interface. Miscellaneous Atree II was written in Zbasic 128k version and assembly using Lisa 816. It requires a 128k Apple II with an 80 column card and 65c02 processor. I hope this isn't too much of a limitation to you. It is also compatable with the IIgs in emulation mode. I use it frequently from the Finder when I need to view files or perform simple maintenance. Launching Atree is simple. It will launch from the Finder via opening folders. It will also launch from the desktop or the nifty little utility Launch List. It will launch from any P8 program launcher which changes to it's subdirectory. Most P8 launchers do this. It will load from Basic.system if you manually change to the subdirectory first then type -ATREE.SYSTEM. It must be launched from it's subdirectory so it can find the runtime modules needed by Zbasic, and it's support machine language routines. When finished, Atree II performs a standard Prodos quit call to return you to the last program launcher you used, either GSOS or P8. Atree II has most of the basic file functions such as rename, delete, make subdirectory, copy etc. In it's present form it cannot recurse into subdirectories. What this means to you is you will have to manually move into the subdirectories and perform the neccessary functions. This really only applies to delete and copy functions. Hopefully this will be remedied in a future release. It will also perform some functions on multiple files. This will be explained later in this text. The screen layout of Atree II is very straight-forward. It is divided into several windows and toward the bottom of the screen is the function menu. It will change from the standard menu to the alternate menu by holding one of the Apple keys. You must also hold one of the Apple keys while selecting from this alternate menu. This is not as complicated as it may sound, after a little practice it becomes quite easy. Hopefully the menu function names are self explanatory. The very bottom line is used for prompts and input. Atree does not change directory settings itself. Instead it uses a standard P8 subdirectory path. This means it will only work with paths which meet the Prodos standard of 64 byte lengths. It will currently handle up to 255 files per subdirectory. This should not be too much of a limitation. Most directories hold less than this. It will not generate an error if this limit is reached it will simply ignore the extra files. Error control is limited to Prodos, so if you enter a bad name it will just tell you it cannot perform the function requested. The version of Prodos on the original disk has been patched with Qfix, to allow it to use other characters which Prodos normally doesn't allow. You should be careful when using this feature. Some programs will not let you access files with non-standard names. Atree II will. Qfix is provided in a subdirectory on the distribution disk. I did not write this program and claim no responsibility for it. I find it a neat little utility and I like the extra characters in Prodos names. Atree attempts to identify files by the standard file types as defined by Apple Inc. This list is based on the most current tech note I could find. Of course some programmers, myself included ignore this list sometimes. For instance, my program Amperdos uses the old BA3 file type for it's program code files instead of the BAS type. Atree will display these files as AMP. Currently this is the only non-standard file type used. General Usage Atree II uses a couple of cursor bars. In the left window is the volume cursor. You move this cursor by holding down an apple key and pressing any arrow key. In the center window is the file cursor bar. It is moved by simply pressing an arrow key. Up and down arrows move by one entry and will wrap around to the top or bottom of the list. In the file window the left and right arrow keys attempt to move by 10 entries. This is provided mainly as a user convenience. It may not always give the results expected though due to the algorythm used. I will try to make it more accurate in future releases. Once you have the file hilighted simply select the function desired by pressing the key framed in {}. For example {C} Copy. You enter a subdirectory by pressing return on the hilighted subdirectory filename. You exit a subdirectory level by pressing escape. Atree II will attempt to remember where in the prior subdirectory you were last at, up to a level of 16 deep. It does not remember where you were in the directory you just escaped from. So, you will be set at the top of the file list if you decide to re-enter that subdirectory. Also, escaping from a directory will lose the tagged file entries. This is done more as a convenience, it is assumed you have already performed whatever functions desired on the tagged files. Note: the escape key will also exit from the file viewing modes at any time. As mentioned, Atree II will work with multiple files for some functions. To use this feature you select the files with the spacebar. When selected, the file will have a mousetext check in front of the name. All functions which work on multiple files are listed in the alternate menu. Primarily, Lock, Unlock, Delete, Copy. You can select all files in the current directory by pressing apple key + {A} or deselect all files by pressing apple key + {T}. The copy function requires both paths to be online. This causes a limitation for users with a single disk drive. If you have an extended ram card which creates a ram disk you can use it to for a two step copy. This does not apply to the P8 /RAM volume which is disconnected by Zbasic 128k at startup. It also does not apply if the paths are on the same volume. Note also, if you run Atree from a floppy disk the floppy may be removed from the drive. The only drawback is this help file is not available. The copy function is designed to ease file copying. It does not actually copy any files. It sets the name in a copy buffer and reminds you to select a new location. The purpose of this is to allow you to perform any neccessary functions such as delete, rename or make directory as needed to prepare a place to put the copy. You must press apple + return to actually copy the file. This is also handy if you need multiple copies of the same file(s) since the buffer is not cleared until you select copy again. Technically speaking, once you've set the copy file(s) you can perform any functions available in Atree II except copy. If you select copy again it will forget the last filename in lieu of the new name. Copy functions will reset the copy mode. This means you can make either multiple copies of a single file OR multiple copies of tagged files. Locked files in the file display window are designated by the mouse text diamond. Subdirectories are designated by the mousetext folder characters as well as the standard descriptions in the info window and on the prompt line. View text will attempt to view any file that is hilighted. This can be very informative for those who are interested in text stored inside some assorted files. Alternatively, you can list a file in hex mode from the alternate menu. Currently it will not correctly display an AWP file. You will see the assorted bytes which make up the formatting codes in these. This may be changed later also. These two modes will even view subdirectories. More Miscellanea I have lots of ideas for improvements but memory is currently pretty tight in this version. If I can reorganize the code enough to gain more memory I would like to add features for viewing SHK and AWP files, block viewing and hopefully other things. Eventually I plan to use a solid apple menu for other features. It is suggested you primarily use the open apple key for the alternate menu just so you don't get used to the solid apple key sequence. I'm not sure yet if I can squeeze enough memory for these but I would like to add features for other P8 system functions such as block read/write, changing file types and attributes etc. Atree II does most error checking through Prodos. It has been highly tested by us and seems to be very stable. It currently cannot handle forked files but they don't cause the system to fail. If you are trying to view a file and Atree seems to ignore it this may be the problem, check the file type. I hope this is enough info to get you going. I'm not much on writing docs. As stated earlier, it is a very easy program to use. I hope you enjoy using it and it helps to ease your file maintenance. Unfortunately, it does no disk formatting. You will still need another P8 utility for this. I haven't tested the copy function with sparse files. Due to the method of copying used it is liable to ruin them. Copy does 512 byte (not block read!) of the file's data then writes it to disk. This doesn not allow for the indexes which Prodos originally reserved for the file. Legalities Names used in this program and help file are either registered or copy righted by their respective owners and used without permissions. No disrespect to these companies was intended. Atree II ver 1 is released as freeware. You may use it as you see fit. You are not required to register this program with the author. But, (ain't there always a but?) you may register with us if you require support. The registration fee is $10.00 US funds in cashiers check or money order. See the end of this text for more details. This is the ONLY version released as freeware. All future versions are released to registered users only. This software is not limited in any respects to functionality or time limits. Any limitations are within the current programming methods used and are not intentional or are unavoidable. You may distribute it as you see fit as long as all files from the original archive are included. However the program is copyrighted by Kandi's Kreations, 1999, 2000, etc. We reserve the rights to change the program without notice to any persons except those who have registered for support. As far as Prodos allows, this program is Y2k compliant. Any limitations as regards Y2k are a part of the P8 kernel and are out of our control. So far the only limitations I know of are date stamping of files. The only date stamping we do is in the creation of new directories, in which case the current system date/time is used. The copy function will use the original file's creation date/time. If you use this program you do so at your own risk. You should test it with disposable data disks to see if it meets your needs. We claim no responsibility for any damage caused either directly or indirectly by this program. It has been tested by us and we use it frequently. It was released originally virus free but you should always check programs with a virus scanner if you are not certain of the supplier. If you are not sure your copy is clean or you would like a fresh or updated copy on 5.25 disk you may contact us at the address listed in this text. We will supply you with one for $10.00 US funds in cashiers check or money order. This will also register you for support. Support registration includes technical help via ground mail. If you register you will be sent the most current version on 5.25 floppy. Updates will be made available for the cost of media and shipping. Approximately $5.00 US if in the continental US. Make cashiers check or money order payable to: Michael Thomas and mail to: Kandi's Kreations 17084 Springfield Dr. Conroe Tx 77302-7104 I can be reached via email: phoenyx@texas.net