CDView : a Shareware CD-ROM Explorer

The main problems with CD-ROMs are
Exploring the huge volume of data
Finding what is relevant and then
Copying the items, and also
Remembering 1 week later what the *%$# file 3456.ZIP contains

I observed that the more CD-ROMS you have, the less you consult them, unless you have a 64X speed, 100-disk jukebox !

For the rest of us, we wrote this software to make finding information easier.

The solutions we offer are : One-step search : all your CD-ROMs' indexes can be "cached" on the hard disk Fast, approximate text search Possibility to read/view/execute each item Copy of each item in its own subdirectory along with a description file.

The most important function : Textual Search

SEARCHING FOR TEXT ---------------------------------------------------

The Search function (<F3>) lets you search all of the information files for a specific word or phrase, in the subdirectory you are and its subdirectories. You can perform an exact search and/or a fuzzy search. You will probably find the fuzzy search very useful as it "forgives" the (not infrequent) misspellings. The fuzzy search is language-independent with no phonetic, language-dependent nonsense - as described in Computer Language, dec. 91.

Example : If you Search for "Intelligence"
If you check Respect Case, CDV will NOT bring back "INTElligence", etc.
If you check Fuzzy, CDV will bring back "INTElligence", "Intelligent", "ZntellEgence", etc. this works similarly to our other text tools : FFF, FZGREP, TXTRPL, etc.

CDV displays a list of all matching files along with their description if any. You can copy everything that matches. At the end of each screen (when it is full) click on any line describing something you like. When you are down click somewhere on the bottom 3 screen lines or hit the space bar. Your choices will be summed up at the end and you can choose to copy each file individually. For the moment you cannot "unclick" items, but you can still choose not to copy them in the sum-up phase. For the files you choose to copy, CDV will ask you to insert the right CD-ROM when necessary. If you cache your index files as described in the next paragraph, you can scan your whole CD-ROM collection and copy everything of interest in the end. The file names themselves will be included in the search, or not, according to option /M.

STARTING THE SOFTWARE --------------------------------------------------

CDV is a protected-mode, 32-bit version.

Type CDV to start the software. By default, CDV takes the last existing drive letter as the one with the CD-ROM (Source) and C : as the Destination drive. These can be changed with options /S (Source) and /D (Destination) respectively, for instance CDV /SE /DD (Source E :, destination D :).

If your CD-ROM drive is not the last drive letter, use option /CD. Otherwise you may not be able to recover files from CD-ROM disks.

COMMAND-LINE OPTIONS ---------------------------------------------------

CDV - CD-ROM Viewer
To print this option list, type "CDV ? > PRN" at the DOS prompt.
Options of CDV.EXE :                                           [default values]
Drive and directory options : ------------------------------------------------
  S : Drive letter for the <S>ource disk (generally the CD-ROM itself)      [Z]
  CD : Drive letter for the <CD>-ROM (default :last drive on system)         [Z]
  D : Drive letter for the <D>estination disk                               [D]
  C : Drive & directory for the copied files,"Copy" function(<F5>)["D :\cddata"]
  E : T<E>mporary drive & directory for the "TryOut" function(<F8>)  ["C :\TMP"]
Text search options : --------------------------------------------------------
  R : Text to sea<R>ch for in the index files (same as screen field)       [""]
  F : <F>uzzy search (recommended; same as "Fuzzy" screen field)           [ON]
  A : Respect letter c<A>se (same as "Respect Case" screen field)         [OFF]
  M : Try to match file names (if OFF, only looks in the index files)      [ON]
  P : <P>rint search results (no corresponding screen field, use PrtSc)   [OFF]
CD-ROM index file caching options : ------------------------------------------
  X : Copy CD-ROM index files to the hard disk (use /i and /u if needed)  [OFF]
  U : Vol<U>me name, necessary for /X if the CD-ROM dœs not have one      [""]
  I : Path to the hard disk copies of the <I>ndex files ("cache")["c :\cdindex"]
Special options : ------------------------------------------------------------
  H : Display <H>idden files & directories as well(default :no prying eyes)[OFF]
  V : <V>erify the existence of files on the CD-ROM (slows a bit)          [ON]
  B : Ver<B>ose mode, displays each command line before execution         [OFF]
  T : Simula<T>e commands : displays commands but dœs not execute them   [OFF]
  W : <W>ait for click or keypress between two items, if OFF, see /DP     [OFF]
  DP : <D>uration of <P>ause between two displayed items, in milliseconds [500]
  sep : <Sep>arate each copied item in its own subdirectory                [ON]
  BD : Directories buffer size, in kilo-bytes (0-65)                       [12]
  BF : File information buffer size, in kilo-bytes (0-65)                [1000]
Display options : ------------------------------------------------------------
  L : Display using 50 lines (if OFF, uses 25 lines, more <L>egible)       [ON]

WHAT IS ON THE SCREEN -------------------------------------------------

Files in the current directory are displayed.

To turn the pages, use PgUp or PgDn, or click respectively on the top or bottom lines of the screen,

CDV recovers the information in the CD-ROM 00_INDEX.TXT, DIRX.LST, FILES.LST, FILES.BBS, 00FILES.TXT, 00INDEX.TXT, *.CAT and *.DIR files if any (in this order) and displays it alongside the file names.

Subdirectories are displayed under the files. Click on a subdirectory name to go to it. <F9> gets you back one level.

The search fields at the top of the screen are explained in SEARCHING FOR TEXT.

FUNCTION KEYS -----------------------------------------------------------

There are functions available, listed at the bottom of the screen in a line. Use the corresponding function key or click on the name to use them. The line under the functions usually displays clues about the available choices.

You can select any item in the current directory, by clicking on it (click on the description lines or in the brackets), or bringing the keyboard cursor to the item (Tab, Shift-Tab), then Space ; <F1> checks all. <F2> unchecks all.

Then use functions : Read (<F4> : or click on "F4Read" at the bottom of the screen). You will see garbage on the screen if the file is not a text file. Hit or click to see the next page, hit to skip to the next file.

Copy (<F5>) : to copy the item(s) to the hard disk. Each item will be copied under directory CDDATA on your destination disk, a subdirectory with the same name as the volume name of the CD-ROM, each item in its own subdirectory, accompanied by a text file by the name of WHAT, containing the information about this file if there was any. This way you will have no trouble knowing what is what even long after you copied the files. if the CD-ROM dœs not have a volume name, you must supply one with the /U option. For example, with the older GARBO CD-ROMs (have no volume name) CDV /DD /UGARBO - This will copy to D :\CDDATA\GARBO Use option /C if you do not like the CDDATA name. (Even though you have to specify a drive in this option, the actual drive chosen will be the one indicated by the /D option.)

Launch (<F6>) : to launch it - it must be an executable file of some kind, .EXE, .COM or .BAT.

View (<F8>) : to view one or more .GIF, .PIC or .PCX files, or .GL or .FLI animations. Any and all files can be started by this function, as indicated in the VIEWERS.CDV file. This contains the associations you choose. Look at the existing VIEWERS.CDV for examples.

TryOut (<F8>) : to copy the item to the directory c :\tmp (or what your DOS variable TMP or TEMP says, or the /E option, in this order), unzip it, and let you view/execute/etc. the contents of that directory.

<F9> gets you back one level. exits to DOS.

CACHING INDEX FILES ONTO THE HARD DISK ------------------------------

To speed up the search, we strongly recommend that you cache the information files to the hard disk. The cache directory is called as specified by /I on your destination disk, has subdirectories with the same name as the volume name of each of the CD-ROM, and then reproducing the directory structure of the CDROM. for CD-ROMs without volume name, you will one to think one up and specify it using option /U.

Once you have copies of all your CD-ROMs' index files on a hard disk (by default in the C :\CDINDEX directory, one subdirectory per CD-ROM), you can scan your whole library in one operation, without playing toaster with your CD-ROM drive. To do this, launch CDV on the hard disk (with CDV /SC for instance), go to the CDINDEX directory and start the search from here. If you do a search, CDV will notice you scanned hard disk copies and ask you to insert the CD-ROMs as needed.

OF COURSE, you can simply launch CDV on the CD-ROM, then you will be using the index files on the CD-ROM. This is slower but simplest.

BUILDING THE CDINDEX DIRECTORY : To build this copy on the hard disk automatically, launch CDV with CDV /X, and also a volume name (like /UGARBO) if the CD-ROM has none. This only needs to be done ONCE ; you can also copy the index files by hand using xcopy /s (for masochists among you). If you delete part of the index directory, launch CDV /X again and CDV will only copy the missing or older files.

We recommend that you check for duplicate index files, for instance in BBS or _BBS directories, or in (relative) root directories. Remove all these as they slow down the search and do not correspond to existing files in their directory.

IMPROVEMENTS TO COME ------------------------------------------------------

Logical operators in search More CD-ROM index file formats (send us your differently indexed CD-ROMs !) Fuzzy grep Possibility to annotate items Auto removal of duplicate indexes etc. etc. etc.

CDV calls :

lharc.exe booz.exe pkunzip.exe pkxarc.com pkunpak.exe for decompression

These are NOT included as they are not ours ! But they quite common and probably already on your PATH. The main advantages of CDV lie anyway in the fuzzy search & copy functions.

CDV is FREEWARE. Distribute it freely.

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