
           The Volkov Commander, Version 4.05 shareware
            Copyright (C) 1991-2000 Vsevolod V. Volkov



Minimal requirements:
     Computer. . . . . . . . IBM PC or BIOS-compatible
     Operation system. . . . DOS 3.20 or higher
     Free RAM. . . . . . . . about 155 Kb


Implementation notes:
     - all  file and memory management operations implemented on
       DOS level via Int 21h
     - keyboard polling implemented on BIOS level via Int 16h
     - I/O  ports access: port 3DAh is used for snow elimination
       on CGA


Some notes and recommendations:

 1. The Volkov Commander  allows  you  to select, copy, move and
    delete  directories (including all contained subdirectories)
    as well as ordinary files.

 2. You  can  split and merge files while copying. What you have
    to  do  for  splitting - if you see  following message while
    copying file to diskette:

                 Copy ͻ
                 There isn't enough room to copy 
                           filename to           
                           D:\filename           
                        Abort   Continue         
                ͼ

    change diskette and select "Continue". First part of splited
    file  will have such date and time as had source file, other
    parts will have current date and time.

    How  to  merge  two  files?  You have to copy second part of
    splitted  file to directory  where  first  part resides. You
    will see following message

             Copy ͻ
                    The following file exists        
                           D:\filename               
             Do you wish to write over the old file? 
                 Overwrite   All   aPpend   Skip     
            ͼ

    - choose "Append".

 3. Hotkey  F10  in Copy/Rename dialog box (F5/F6) pops up panel
    with directory tree of the  drive  specified  in destination
    path.  Then  you  can choose right place to copy to.  Hotkey
    Alt-F10 invokes directory tree of the current (source) disk.

 4. Group  Selection (Grey +) and  Group Inversion (Grey *) acts
    upon  files  only, while  Unselection  (Grey -) acts on both
    files and directories.

 5. After  completion of operation upon  selected group of files
    you  can  restore selection using Restore Selection (Ctrl-M)
    command.

 6. You  can  specify a name of DOS command, executable or batch
    file  in command  line as a parameter for  VC  which will be
    executed automatically when the Volkov Commander starts. For
    example:

                        VC startup.bat

    VC  will start up and then run batch file startup.bat, which
    may contain DOS commands and resident programs.

 7. There are two options of residing VC in RAM:

    1. "Small" mode - The Commander  deallocates  memory  before
       execution  of  each  DOS  command  or  application.  When
       program started from  VC  is terminated, file  VC.COM  is
       reloaded  from path it was  originally  started. In  this
       mode  only  about 12.5 Kbytes of The Commander resides in
       memory when programs run.

    2. Full-resident mode - VC is totally  allocated in the  RAM
       (about 76 Kb). While  in  full-resident  mode, executable
       file  VC.COM is loaded only once and does not need later.
       This mode is faster.

    Small mode is selected if 'Memory Allocation' option checked
    in pull-down menu Options. It is possible while being in one
    of this modes to launch applications in  opposite  execution
    mode without using menu: you just have to press  Shift-Enter
    instead  of  Enter. The status of Shift key is also examined
    when  starting  programs  from  User Menu  (F2)  or  History
    (Alt-F8).

    Mode choice recommendations:

    1. If  you  have  more  than 65 Kbytes of high  memory (UMB)
       free - it would be preferable to load VC into  UMB  using
       command LH VC under  MS-DOS 5.0, HILOAD VC  under  DR-DOS
       6.0.  In such case it would be better to utilize "maximal
       mode" for faster operating.

    2. If  you  have  no  UMBs  in  your  system  or UMB size is
       insufficient - "small mode" will be optimal if you run VC
       from  hard  disk. If  you  have  RAM-disk it will be even
       better to copy  VC.COM to RAM-disk and start from it. For
       example, it could be done in such a way:

                        COPY C:\VC\vc.com E:\
                        SET VC=C:\VC
                        E:\vc

       SET VC=... command  specifies  directory   where  VC.INI,
       VC.HLP, main menu  VC.MNU, etc reside.  If VC environment
       variable  is not specified, these files are looked for in
       directory VC.COM was started from.

    3. If you run  VC  from floppy disk - "maximal mode" will be
       the best choice. In spite of expense of RAM, this  choice
       save  you from painful waiting for VC.COM reloading after
       return from applications.

 8. You  can  compress  VC.COM  by almost any executable packing
    program, such  as  DIET, LZEXE or PKLITE. Some  packers (for
    example, LZEXE) support  only  EXE-files. Older  versions of
    PKLITE or DIET  before v1.44 refusing to pack  COM-files  of
    size near 64K. In such cases you'll have to transform VC.COM
    to EXE-format using COM2EXE utility.

 9. Two methods of launching  DOS commands and applications from
    VC is available.

    First - standard way: executing COMMAND.COM /C <command>. In
    this  case  it  is  needed  that  COMSPEC  variable  in  DOS
    environment  shall be installed  properly  and  presence  of
    command  processor  on  mentioned path. This is no-risky way
    (and used by default).

    Second method - using  DOS  interrupt int 2Eh - may not work
    in some cases (for example 4DOS and NDOS support this method
    optionally, OS/2  DOS box  does not support it at all). This
    method  have  some  advantages over the standard method: you
    are  able  to  modify  master  DOS  environment variables by
    usual SET, PATH, PROMPT etc. commands, second  copy of shell
    (COMMAND.COM or replacement) wouldn't be loaded into memory,
    therefore  commands and applications are executed faster and
    after loading of resident programs there is no "hole" in RAM
    after  second  copy  of  COMMAND.COM. There  are  also  some
    shortcomings inherited in DOS: BATCH-file  interruption with
    Ctrl-Break  stops  execution but with trying to execute next
    command, continued  execution of interrupted batch  file and
    then  ordered  command;  DOS  has  no  possibility of nested
    execution  through  int 2Eh, so if one program started  with
    int 2Eh  and then started another one through  int 2Eh also,
    the control will be given to the process which started first
    program  and other program is allocated in RAM, though there
    is no access to it. Shortly  speaking - the choice is yours.
    You  can  select  second  method  by checking "Quick execute
    commands" in Advanced options.

10. "Memory Info" (Alt-F5) command  gives you useful information
    about  programs  loaded into low (first 640 Kbyte) and upper
    (UMB area)  memory: PSP  segment address, number and size of
    memory blocks occupied by program, and intercepted interrupt
    vectors.  You  can  also  remove from memory thouse resident
    programs which were loaded after the Commander.

    You can select/unselect programs from the list using Insert,
    Grey -, Grey + keys  and  then remove selected programs from
    memory by pressing Enter.

    It is not possible to unload resident program if one or more
    interrupt vectors  originally owned by this program rehooked
    (intercepted)  by  another TSR. That's why the programs with
    the    same    intercepted   vectors   could   be   unloaded
    simultaneously  or  one  by  one   starting  with  the  last
    intercepting program. 

    When  VC  exits to DOS it unloads all TSR programs installed
    after VC was started.

11. "File Attributes" command (item in Files menu) allows you to
    change  the  attributes, date and time of selected files. If
    you  apply  this  command to subdirectory, attributes of all
    files in that subdirectory will be changed.

12. You  can  calculate  the  sizes of all subdirectories in the
    current  panel. The size of directory is the sum of sizes of
    all  files and subdirectories inside of that directory. This
    calculation  can  be  done automatically on every file panel
    re-reading - check "Auto directory sizes" in  Options  menu,
    or manually - using Alt-F6 combination.

13. File  search  function  Alt-F7  allows  to  search  files by
    standard  wildcards  template  or  filtered  by context.  If
    "Containing"  field  is  empty, the template search is going
    on, and if the "containing" field  is not  empty, the search
    is running  according  to  the  specified string facing  the
    template.  This  command  searches  the current or specified
    directory  and  in  all enclosed directories. Apart from the
    particular  directory you can specify the drive. You may use
    *: instead of drive letter if you  want looking for files on
    all  fixed  disks, i. e. on  all  hard  disk partitions, all
    virtual and network disks excluding floppy drives and CD-ROM
    drives. While search is in progress you can move the pointer
    above  the found files, interrupt search or switch to chosen
    file into the specified subdirectory of specified drive.

14. There  is  current  drive  label in the Info panel. You  can
    create, edit or remove it, with the command  Volume label in
    menu Commands or press Ctrl-F4. To remove the label you have
    simply  to  delete  all characters in the field of the label
    name.

15. You can create enclosed  User Menus. For this, you have only
    to  enter  full  file name containing submenu instead of the
    command. If path is not specified the search  will be in the
    same directory from what file executing was loaded. It is an
    obligation to specify extension .mnu as follows:

                   F1:  Formatting...
                        format.mnu
    or
                        C:\VC\format.mnu

16. It is possible to use macro !@  in extension files and menu,
    which  creates  file (VC.LST) containing list of highlighted
    files  and  directories, and  inserts  pathname of this file
    into  the  command  instead  of  !@. If there is a string in
    menu:

                        PKZIP -ex ! @!@

    the file VC.LST will be created and command

                PKZIP -ex filename @C:\VC\vc.lst

    would be executed. File  VC.LST is created in home directory
    of VC or in directry specified in TEMP environment variable.

17. Internal viewer and editor work in both text and hexadecimal
    modes (F4 switches modes).  While in hexadecimal mode Search
    operation (F7) allows  to search  file  fragments  and bytes
    sequences in hexadecimal. For example, if you specify:

                            EB,38,A5,6

    VC  will  try  to  find text "EB,38,A5,6" as well as 4 bytes
    sequence: EB 38 A5 06. Mentioned  string  could be presented
    in any convenient way:

                            EB, 38, A5, 6
                            EB38A56
                            EB38A506
                            EB 38 A5 6

18. VC  allows you to associate operation of  Enter, F3  and  F4
    keys  with  file  extensions. Information  about  associated
    commands  stored  in  so-called  "extension"  files: VC.EXT,
    VCVIEW.EXT   and  VCEDIT.EXT  correspondingly.  These files'
    format is following:

                Ŀ
                ' Comment                      
                ext:   command1                
                       @ command2              
                       . . . . .               
                

    The  sign ' in  the  first  position  means  that  the  line
    contains comments. If any other  sign apart from  Space, Tab
    or ',  VC  tries  to  identify  extension  in such a string.
    Command1, command2, ...- could be any DOS commands. If there
    is a symbol @ before  the  command, both  prompt and command
    are not echoed to  screen (as in BATCH-files). Using 4DOS or
    NDOS, the following string has to be included into VC.EXT:

                              BTM:     !

    This string allows to run BTM-files simply with Enter press.

    Meanings  of  all sequences of the macro substitutions using
    ! are in the lower  part of screen  while  editing extension
    files.

    Viewers  could be run in two ways: either in mentioned above
    way or with  passing on of the parameters, including 'Socha'
    string,  information  about  colors,  mouse  etc.,  as  many
    standard  viewers do. To  pass  on  the  parameters in files
    VCVIEW.EXT  or  VCEDIT.EXT  the  string  has  to  look like:
    the command  has  to  contain  only  full name of the viewer
    including  extension and path; if the path is not specified,
    the  viewer is being  searched in the  same  directory, from
    what extension file was read; the command should not contain
    substitution  symbols  !; only  one  command allowed for the
    extension. For example, the following lines

                txt:    wpview.exe
                txt:    C:\VIEWERS\wpview.exe

    will  invoke  viewer  in  proper way, with passing on of the
    parameters, and the first line  will try to load  wpview.exe
    from the same directory where are the  files  VCVIEW.EXT  or
    VCEDIT.EXT  located.  And if the viewer has not found there,
    internal viewer would be invked instead. But commands

                txt:    wpview
                txt:    wpview.exe !.!
                txt:    wpview.exe
                        cls

    will  be  executed  as  regular commands through the command
    line.

19. VC  supports  not  only  main (global) version  of extension
    files  VC.EXT, VCVIEW.EXT, VCEDIT.EXT and menu file  VC.MNU,
    but  also local ones. Local versions overrides main file for
    current  directory. What does it mean? VC  looks for "local"
    versions  of  this  files  in  current  directory of current
    drive. Only if local  file  does  not exist, VC  looking for
    main  extension or menu  file  in  directory,  specified  in
    environment  variable  VC=...,  and  if  this  variable  not
    specified - in directory VC was started from.

20. Internal  editor  can  edit  quite  long  files,  using  all
    available free memory.

21. Internal  editor  can  undo  last  character, line  or  word
    deletion (Ctrl-U).

22. To  hide  the  panels  and  show DOS output screen, move the
    mouse  into  the  upper  left  corner  and click any button.
    Click mouse button one more to restore panels. This function
    is the same as Ctrl-O press.

23. Ctrl-Z displays the Tree-panel in the adjacent window.

24. Ctrl-I  inserts  selected filenames into command line, space
    delimited.  Ctrl-[ and Ctrl-] inserts path of left and right
    panels.

25. VC  fully  supports logical drives created by DRIVER.SYS and
    phantom disk drive B: in systems with one floppy drive.

26. VC is fully compatible with  multitasking  environments like
    DesqView,  Windows,  OS/2  DOS  boxes  and  does  not  waste
    processor time while waiting for keyboard input.

27. Country  information  sets  the appearance of date, time and
    determines  character  converting  from  lower to upper case
    in   search  operation.  If  this  function  does  not  work
    properly, be  sure  the  country  code and code page are set
    correctly in the COUNTRY=... line of CONFIG.SYS file.

28. The program  VCSETUP  allowes you to set a lot of parameters
    of  screen,  mouse,  panels, view  country  information  and
    change color palette.

29. You  can  show or hide  directories  with  hidden and system
    attributes using option 'Show hidden directories' in VCSETUP
    program. You should  rescan tree to update TREEINFO.NCD file
    by Ctrl-R in Tree panel after changing this option.

30. You can check for presence of VC in memory and get addresses
    of VC internal data structures using this INT 21h call:

    INT 21h:
    Set registers to:
        CX = 'VC' (5643h)
        DX = 'OM' (4F4Dh)
        AH = 2Bh
        AL - subfunction:
             AL = 0 - get pointer to left panel data structure
             AL = 1 - get pointer to right panel data structure
             AL = 2 - get address or global data varables
    Returns:
        AL = 0FFh - if VC.COM is not loaded
        AL = 0    - if VC.COM loaded
	AH        - API version (42 for VC 4.02 and 4.03)
        ES:BX     - pointer to requested data structure

31. VC is year 2000 compliant.

----------------------------------------------------------------

Vsevolod V. Volkov                                 Kiev, Ukraine

Homepage: http://come.to/volkov
E-mail:   vc@vvv.kiev.ua
Fidonet:  2:463/62.16
Phone:    380-44-4842542                  Monday through Friday,
                               7pm-10pm Kiev time (+2 hours GMT)


                         June-16-2000
