MultiArc v1.32 MultiArc is Shareware (c) 1990 Ross Judson Legal Stuff This program and documentation file may be distributed freely as long as: 1) There is no charge for the distribution. 2) This documentation file and the program are not separated. 3) The terms of the Shareware agreement (below) are adhered to. By using this software, you agree that Ross Judson will not be held liable for any damages resulting from the use or misuse of the program. Introduction MultiArc v1.32 is a program that enables the user to conveniently view and extract the contents of multiple archive files (which are frequently the result of batch downloads). It knows about ARC version 6, LHArc and Zoo. You provide it with a list of archive files by one or more of several different methods. It creates a series of folders (named after each archive) then extracts the contents of each archive into its own folder. How to run MultiArc MultiArc can be accessed in a number of ways. The simplest is to double click on its icon from the desktop. This will run the program and present the main dialog, which is described below. Another way is to install multiarc.prg to have a document type. This is done by clicking on the multiarc program icon and then choosing Install Application from the Atari desktop menu. You can then enter ARC, LZH, or ZOO for the document type. Now choose Install. If you want your changes to be retained, you'll have to save your desktop. See your Atari manual for information on how to do this (essentially, you just choose "Save Desktop" from the menu). Unfortunately, with the GEM desktop you can only have one document type per application, even though MultiArc knows how to handle three. If you have Hotwire!, you can put all three extenders in the program information box. See your Hotwire! manual for details on how to automatically run applications by clicking on documents in MaxiFile. With NeoDesk 2, you can place two of the extenders in the application installation dialog. You will probably want to use ARC and LZH because Zoo files are fairly rare. The niftiest solution is afforded by NeoDesk 3. You can select a number of archive icons and drag them to the multiarc icon. Multiarc will start and all of the selected archives (up to 20) will be in the program list, ready to be extracted. A similar action can be accomplished in NeoDesk 2 by shift- selecting the archive icons you wish to pass to MultiArc then shift-double-clicking on the MultiArc program icon. If you are working from a command line, you can pass wildcarded file specifications to the program as arguments. A filename passed on the command line doesn't have to have wildcards. If it does, MultiArc recognizes two wildcard characters: the star symbol (*) and the question mark (?). These are the standard wildcard characters used by TOS. The star symbol replaces any number of different characters until the extension dot (.) or the end of the file name. The question mark replaces exactly one character for the position in which it appears. See your atari documentation for more details. MultiArc accepts wildcards only in the file name itself, not in the path. When arguments are passed to the program (either via a command line or NeoDesk 2/3 icon dragging) each argument is evaluated. Wildcards can optionally be specified in each argument. Wildcarded arguments are expanded into the file name set they represent. A test is made to ensure that a recognized file extension is used and at least one archive file exists in the set. There is a limit of 20 on the number of files that can be listed so only the first 20 valid file names will be used. Remember that the command line is limited to 127 characters, so there will be a practical limit as well on the number of arguments that can be passed. The Main Dialog This dialog consists of a number of control buttons and the file list below them. The Extract button breaks up all the archives in the file list, then exits. The Clear button empties the file list of all entries. The Help button shows dialogs with some quick help information and shareware information. The Configure button takes you to the Configuration dialog, described below. The Exit button quits the program. The A/L/Z, ARC, LHArc and Zoo buttons are quick ways to grab all the files of the specified type in a directory and place them in the file list. You are prompted to find a directory. Once you have arrived at the directory you want click on the OK button. All the archive files matching the button you clicked on will be placed in your list (the A/L/Z button matches all three types). You can use the arrow buttons at the right to scroll through your list of archives. There is a limit of 100 of the number of names that may appear in the list. Double arrows scroll by a screen full and single arrows scroll by one line. In addition, you can click on any entry in the file list. If you click on an empty entry, the program will prompt you to find an archive file to add to the list. You can specify a wildcarded file name in the file selector, or simply find the archive you want to add. You continue to add archive files until you click on the cancel button in the file selector. If, for example, you wanted to add all the ARC files in directory C:\TMP that start with "XL", you would first change the directory shown in the file selector to C:\TMP. Then enter "XL*.ARC" in the selection field, and click on OK. See your Atari manual for more details on how to use the file selector. If you have an extended file selector program such as UIS III or Little Green Selector, these operations become considerably easier. When you tell MultiArc the name of a file to add (by clicking on a blank entry and selecting something with the file selector) the name you supply will be checked to ensure it has a known extension (.ARC, .ZOO and .LZH) and that at least one file matching the specification exists on the disk. If you don't give anything in the selection field, MultiArc will check the directory you specify and pick up all the archive files of all three types (similar to the A/L/Z button). Don't worry about spaces in the list. The program will skip over blanks. If you click on an entry with a name, you will be shown the contents of that archive. If you hold down the alternate key while clicking on a file name, that name will be deleted from the list. Whenever you perform an operation that requires MultiArc to run an archive program it will check to see that it knows where the archive program is. If it doesn't, it will ask you to check your configuration and set the locations properly. The deletion boxes in the centre of the file list indicate to MultiArc whether you want it to delete the archive file after successfully extracting it. If errors occurred while extracting, it will ask you whether you want to continue processing the other files. It will not delete the archive. The elongated, gray box allows you to toggle all the delete boxes on or off with one click. The Configuration Dialog The Configuration dialog allows you to tell MultiArc where your archiving programs are located. By saving this information you won't have to enter it each time you run the program. You can also tell it a default directory to show you when you click on an empty file entry in the main menu. This is very convenient if you consistently download files to a particular directory. You can click on each of the ARC, LHArc and Zoo buttons to show MultiArc where each of these archive programs resides. If you click on Def Dir, MultiArc will ask you to find the directory you wish to appear as the default when looking for archives to add. You do not need to enter anything in the selection box. Just find the directory and click on OK. If you click on Done, you will be taken back to the main menu. The settings you have made will persist for this session only. If you click on Cancel, you will be taken back to the main menu. However, any changes you made in the settings will be thrown away. If you click on Save, you will be asked to find the multiarc program file. MultiArc saves its configuration data right inside the program file. Because of this and because of its embedded resource information, MultiArc can be run from a directory other than the one it is located in, making it more convenient to use. Since configuration information is stored inside the program file you can't save a configuration to a packed program file (packed program files are programs that have been compressed with some executable program packer, such as PACK-ICE or BACKPACK). If you're really tight for space, you can save your configuration THEN pack the program. Everything should be fine as long as you don't try and save a different configuration into a packed file. Run Control Keys Version 1.32 of MultiArc adds the ability to automatically execute some functions at run time. If you hold down the Alternate key when running the program, your default directory (set with configuration, above) will automatically be searched and the files there placed into the file list. If you hold down the Control key, any files on the command line will automatically be extracted. If you hold down both, your default directory will be searched and the files there extracted. If you hold down the shift key, the delete toggle default will be ON instead of off. So, by holding down all three, you can have MultiArc search your default directory for archives, extract their contents, then delete the archive files. How's that for convenience! Note that these features are only going to work if you've set your configuration properly. Set it and save it, then everything will work. It's Shareware! Do you use this program? I certainly do. Are there any changes you'd like to see? Tell me! Quite a bit of effort went into making it the way it is. So that I can continue to improve this program, I'd like its users to send me a registration fee. You can use this program for ten days. After that, please send $10 to: Ross Judson 6 St. Remy Drive Nepean, Ontario Canada K2J 1A3 Compuserve ID 73657,1712 Please provide me with an email and surface mail address. When improvements are made to the program, I'll do my best to let you know. Anyone who registers automatically gets all the updates for free (no further upgrading costs). If you are a shareware author, let's swap! Just send me your shareware program and we'll call it even.