CHAPTER 6 LISTINGS This chapter describes the BIX Listings subsystem. 73 BIX User Manual Introduction 75 The Menu Mode 76 Command: AREA 76 Command: SUBAREA 77 Command: LIST 78 List Command Subcommand: ALL 79 List Command Subcommand: NAME 79 List Command Subcommand: DATE 80 List Command Subcommand: KEYWORD 80 List Command Subcommand: QUIT 81 Command: BROWSE 82 Browse Command Subcommand: RECEIVE 82 Browse Command Subcommand: TYPE 83 Browse Command Subcommand: CHECK 83 Browse Command Subcommand: NEXT 85 Browse Command Subcommand: QUIT 85 Command: SEND 86 Command: RECEIVE 88 Command: TYPE 88 Command: CHECK 89 Command: OPTIONS 89 Setup Option: SEND 90 Setup Option: RECEIVE 90 Setup Option: FORMAT 91 Setup Option: DESCRIPTION 91 Setup Option: PROMPTS 92 Setup Option: SHOW 95 Setup Option: SAVE 95 Setup Option: QUIT 95 Command: QUIT 95 74 BIX User Manual Introduction The BIX Listings subsystem consists of a general area and conference- specific areas. You can download files from or upload files to most areas. In the main Listings area, you'll find the source code associated with most of the articles that have -appeared in BYTE, beginning with the Sep- tember 1984 issue, and a wide assortment of public domain and shareware files. It has separate divisions covering specific brands of computers, language types, operating systems, and disciplines. Each Listings division is broken down into such subareas as applications, leisure, and utility. In the conference-specific Listings area, you will find files that com- plement the conference theme. To enter the main Listings area, type: join listings from the main ( : ) prompt, or the Read: or Mail: prompts. To join a conference-specific Listings area, type in: join [conference name] listings For example, join amiga listings If you are inside of a conference and want to join its Listings area, type: topic listings To exit Listings and return to the conference area, enter quit at the Listings command line. BIX Listings has three operating modes: Menu, Verbose prompts, and Terse prompts. The default setting is the Menu mode, and all the modes use the same commands. 75 BIX User Manual BIX Listings is flexible. It lets you choose the length of file descrip- tions, preset download and upload protocols, and set the area to enter when you join Listings. The Menu Mode The Menu mode command screen looks like this: File Area: FROMBYTE88 Subarea: ALL File Description: LONG 1. AREA Select a file area 2. SUBAREA Select a subarea 3. LIST List files 4. BROWSE Browse through files 5. SEND Send a file to BIX 6. RECEIVE Receive a file from BIX 7. TYPE Type a file 8. CHECK Check the contents of a file 9. OPTIONS Set options 10. QUIT Leave the Listings subsystem Selection: Enter your commands at the Selection: prompt. You can use the number, the word in uppercase letters, or the first three letters of a command. Command: AREA The BIX Listings subsystem is divided into many areas, including languages, operating systems, and particular brands of computers. The default area is FROMBYTE89, which contains program files that complement articles that ap- peared in BYTE magazine during 1989. To move to a different area, enter the command area in response to the Selection: prompt. For example: Selection: area 76 BIX User Manual BIX responds with the prompt: Area name? If you know the name of the area you want to go to, type it in. If not, enter a question mark ( ? ) to see the list. The list you will see is long. Enter quit at a .More.. prompt when you have seen enough. The Menu command screen returns. Reenter the command area followed by the exact name of the Listings division you want. For example, to move to the Macintosh Listings area, at the Selection: prompt you would enter: area Macintosh After you have moved to a Listings division, you can store this choice so that it becomes your default entry point to Listings. To do this, type in the command options, enter save, then enter quit to leave the Options area. The next time you join Listings, you will go directly to the area you selected. For more on options, see the discussion below. NOTE: You cannot move to a different area when you are in a conference- specific Listings division. If you attempt to do so, BIX displays this message: AREA command not allowed when entering through a conference. The command line is then redisplayed. Command: SUBAREA BIX subdivides each Listings area to define the various types of files. Use the subareas to narrow your search for files. The default is all. To see a list of subareas, type subarea from the Selection: prompt. The prompt changes to: Subarea name (or "ALL") 77 BIX User Manual Enter a question mark ( ? ) to produce a list of the subarea names. Type in the exact name of the subarea you want to go to. For example, if you entered ? at the FROMBYTE88 subarea prompt, you would see this list of sub- areas: DEC88 December 1988 BYTE program files IBM88 The Fall 1988 IBM Special Issue NOV88 November 1988 BYTE program files OCT88 October 1988 BYTE program files SEP88 September 1988 BYTE program files AUG88 August 1988 BYTE program files MAC88 The 1988 Macintosh Special Edition JUL88 July 1988 BYTE program files JUN88 June 1988 BYTE program files MAY88 May 1988 BYTE program files APR88 April 1988 BYTE program files MAR88 March 1988 BYTE program files FEB88 February 1988 BYTE program files JAN88 January 1988 BYTE program files UTILITY Utilities required by some files Subarea name (or "ALL"): Type in the complete name of the subarea you want. After you have moved to a Listings area and set your subarea, you can store these choices so that they become your default entry point to Listings. To do this, type in the command options, enter save, then enter quit to exit the Options area. The next time you join Listings, you will go directly to the area and subarea you selected. For more on options, see the discussion below. Command: LIST The list command is the first of two methods that prints to screen the files in the Listings area and subarea. BIX prints lists of files based on four selection criteria: all files, files by name, files by date, and files by keyword. When you enter list, BIX responds: 78 BIX User Manual Select files by: 1. ALL Select all files 2. Name Select files by name (or wild cards) 3. DATE Select files by date 4. KEYWORD Select files by keyword 5. QUIT Quit without displaying any files Selection: Enter your commands at the Selection: prompt. You can use the number, the word in uppercase letters, or the first three letters of a command. List Command Subcommand: ALL The list subcommand all produces an inventory of every file in the Listings area or subarea in alphabetical order. A .More.. prompt appears every 21 lines. Press Return to continue, or enter quit to stop the list. List Command Subcommand: NAME List subcommand name locates and displays the description for any number of files using the wild card characters * and ?. An asterisk stands for any combination of characters, and ? stands for one character. Thus, you can search for files using such formats as FOO*.BAS, *.PAS, CLAM?.TOS, and so forth. When entered, name produces the prompt: File? ype in as much of the name as possible. For example, if you want to see all the files ending with the extension .ARC, at the File? prompt you would enter: *.ARC 79 BIX User Manual BIX will respond: Searching for files matching `*.arc'... 621 files found. Loading descriptions...contributor names...download counts...keywords... Now calling up individual descriptions... BIX displays the individual file descriptions in alphabetical order. A .More.. prompt appears every 21 lines. Press a carriage return to continue or enter quit to stop. List Command Subcommand: DATE The date subcommand lists files in reverse chronological order ending on or nearest to the date you specify. Use this command to list only the new files posted since the last time you logged on to BIX. For example, say that your last session on BIX was on March 1, 1988. To list all the files posted after that date, at the list Selection: prompt you would type: date 01mar88 BIX would respond: Searching for files by date... Found 10 files. Loading descriptions...contributor names...download counts...keywords... Now calling up individual descriptions... The file posted nearest to today's date appears first, followed in reverse chronological order by the other files back until March 1, 1988. List Command Subcommand: KEYWORD The keyword subcommand searches for and displays file descriptions using any identifier that normally describes or indexes a file, such as communi- cations, pascal, database, and utility. 80 BIX User Manual When you enter keyword at the list Selection: prompt, the prompt changes to: Keyword? Type in a keyword that describes what you are looking for. Here's an example of how to locate a file using keyword. To search for the files associated with Bradley L. Richards' April 1988 BYTE article "When Facts Get Fuzzy," at the Keyword? prompt you might enter: fuzz BIX would respond: Searching for files with the keyword `fuzz'... Found 5 files. Loading descriptions...contributor names...download counts...keywords... Now calling up individual descriptions... _______________________________________________________________________ fuzzy.arc 109444 Approx time (min):113 at 300 baud, 28 at 1200 baud Contributed by: Bradley L. Richards Date: Fri Mar 18 11:53:00 1988 "When Facts Get Fuzzy," by Bradley L. Richards, April 1988, page 285. All the files from the article. Unpack with arc521.com, available here. Non-MS-DOS machine owners should download fuzzy1.txt through fuzzy3.txt and manual. Keywords: APR88 Richards avl fuzzy.pro parser doÿFDreser city .More..quit List Command Subcommand: QUIT To stop listing files, type quit at the list Selection: prompt. 81 BIX User Manual Command: BROWSE The command browse uses the same specifiers as the list command, but it displays file descriptions one at a time. Browse stops at the end of each file description, where you can download, type out, or receive a status report on the file. When browse is entered, your prompt changes to: Browse: To view a list of your options, enter a question mark ( ? ) at the Browse: prompt. For example, if you entered a ? at the Browse: prompt, BIX would respond: 1. RECEIVE Receive the current file 2. TYPE Type the current file 3. CHECK Check the contents of the file 4. NEXT Skip to the next file (default) 5. QUIT Quit browsing Browse: Enter your commands at the Browse: prompt. You can use the number, the word in uppercase letters, or the first three letters of a command. Browse Command Subcommand: RECEIVE Use subcommand receive to download the file. The default download protocol is XMODEM/checksum. BIX will respond: Get ready to receive using XMODEM/checksum.... [ bytes: xxx, blocks: x, block size: 128 ] Instruct your communications software to receive an XMODEM file transfer. If you want to use a different protocol, set it beforehand in the List- ings options subsection (see below for details). 82 BIX User Manual When the transfer is completed, the Browse: prompt returns. NOTE: To receive a file using XMODEM, your communications software must be set for 8 bits, 1 stop bit, no parity. Browse Command Subcommand: TYPE The subcommand type lists to screen the contents of a file. Only text (i.e., ASCII) files can be typed out. Binary files, such as those with the extension .ARC, .PIC, .EXE, and .TOS, cannot be be typed out. If a file is binary and not ASCII, BIX denies the request. If the file's description begins with the word TEXT or if $text is listed as a keyword, you can type out the file. Also, if a file's description tells you that it requires StuffIt or Packit, you cannot type it. When type is entered, BIX prompts you for the file to list: File? Enter the full name of the file you want typed out and press Return. A .More.. prompt will appear every 21 lines. Enter a quit to stop printing the file to screen. Press Return to continue. Browse Command Subcommand: CHECK The browse subcommand check provides information on a file that you are considering downloading. You can check files using three methods: arcv to look into files with the extension .ARC, arcp to display the contents of an item that's in a file with the .ARC extension, and csum for obtaining checksum and block counts. When check is entered, BIX prompts you for the method to use by displaying this prompt: Function (ARCV ARCP CSUM or Q)? 83 BIX User Manual Press return or q to exit the check mode without checking a file. If you want to see a list of modules in a file with the extension .ARC, respond arcv. Here's an example session. In this exchange, we are asking to have a report on the contents of the file APR88.ARC in the FROMBYTE88 file area: Browse: check File? apr88.arc Function (ARCV ARCP CSUM or Q)? arcv Name Length Stowage Size now APR.TOC 628 Crunched 431 AVL.B 15559 Crunched 5462 . . . TOKEN.S 4787 Crunched 1792 -------------------------------------- Total 28 286666 114113 Type RETURN to continue... The arcp option prints to screen the contents of a file that's in a file with an .ARC extension. For example, in this exchange we request to see what is in APR.TOC in the file APR88.ARC: Selection: check File? apr88.arc Function (ARCV ARCP CSUM or Q)? arcp File to Display? apr.toc BYTE LISTINGS APRIL 1988 ISSUE TABLE OF CONTENTS 84 BIX User Manual AVL.B, AVL.S, CITY, CITY.PRO, DATA_DEF.S, DOÿFDRESER.B, EXECUTE.B, FUZZY.PRO, FUZZY_PR.A, IO.B, IO.S, LIST, LISTING.B, LISTING.S, MANUAL, PARKINSO,PARSER.B, PARSER.S, PRINT_ST.B, PROVER.B, PROVER.S, READ.ME, TOKEN.B, and TOKEN.S accompany the article "When Facts Get Fuzzy," by Bradley L. Richards, BYTE, April 1988, page 285. . . . Here's the same file report using csum: Browse: check Function (ARCV ARCP CSUM or Q)? csum File? apr88.arc 10051 57 apr88.arc The number on the left, 10051, is the 16-bit checksum for the file. The number on the right, 57, is number of blocks. Browse Command Subcommand: NEXT The subcommand next locates and displays the next available file. This is the default setting. Pressing Return automatically produces the next file. Browse Command Subcommand QUIT To exit the Browse mode, type quit at the Browse: prompt. The Listings area command line is redisplayed. 85 BIX User Manual Command: SEND Use the command send to transmit a file up to a BIX Listings area. BIX usage fees are suspended the moment you instruct BIX that you want to send a file. Fees for telecommunications services, such as Tymnet, Datapac, and PSS, are not suspended. Here's how to upload a file to BIX: Enter the command send from the Selection: prompt. BIX responds: File? Type in the name of the file you are sending and press Return. BIX responds: Does this file contain only ASCII text? (y or n): If you are transferring a text-only file, respond with a y (for yes). If you are uncertain or if you are sending a binary file, enter n (for no). When in doubt, answer this question with an n. BIX now indicates that it's ready to receive your file by displaying this prompt: Get ready to send using XMODEM/checksum.... Instruct your communications software to send a file up to BIX using the XMODEM protocol. After a successful transfer, your screen beeps four times and BIX dis- plays this message: Please enter a description of your file. Line 1 will be used as a summary. End with `.' > > Type in a description of your file. Backspace over any typographical errors. Enter a period at the beginning of a new line to exit the write mode. 86 BIX User Manual After you exit the write mode, BIX prompts you with: Please enter keywords that describe your file. End with `.' > > Type in the word or words that you would use to index your file. Backspace over any typographical errors. Enter a period at the beginning of a new line and press return to exit the write mode. When done, the Listings area command line returns, and normal BIX usage fees resume. If your XMODEM or YMODEM upload should fail, BIX will send four beeps to your computer and print this message: [Trans. Failed: CANCEL] Transfer complete Upload failed, would you like to try again? (y or n): Enter y (yes) to try it again or n (no) to discontinue. If you end your XMODEM or YMODEM transfer prematurely, the abort signal sent by your communications software should work within a few moments. If not, send Control-X twice in rapid succession. If no blocks have been transferred successfully, first send a Control-U then issue Control-X twice. Check to see that your communications software permits these control characters to pass out into the network. NOTE: The default protocol setting is XMODEM/checksum. If you require a different protocol, set it beforehand from options (see below). 87 BIX User Manual Command: RECEIVE Use the command receive to download a file from BIX. Here's how to download a file from BIX: At the Selection: prompt, enter receive. BIX responds: File? Type in the name of the file you want to download. For example, if in response to the File? prompt you told BIX to send the file CLOCK.COM from the IBM file area, BIX would respond: Get ready to receive using XMODEM/checksum.... [ bytes: 384, blocks: 3, block size: 128 ] Instruct your communications software to receive a file using the XMODEM file-transfer protocol. When the transfer is completed, the command screen returns. If your XMODEM or YMODEM download should fail, the abort signal sent by your communications software should work within a few moments. If not, send Control-X twice in rapid succession. Check to see that your communications software permits these control characters to pass out into the network. NOTE: The default protocol setting is XMODEM/checksum. If you want to use a different protocol, select it beforehand from options (see below). Make sure that your communications parameters are set for 8 bits, 1 stop bit, and no parity. Command: TYPE To list a text (i.e., ASCII) file to screen, use the type command. BIX prompts you for the filename and warns if it is not a text file. A .More.. prompt appears every 21 lines. Enter a carriage return to continue or type quit to stop. 88 BIX User Manual Command: CHECK This version of check works in the same manner as described under browse, except that BIX prompts you for the name of the file to look into. For example, File Area: FROMBYTE88 Subarea: ALL File Description: LONG 1. AREA Select a file area 2. SUBAREA Select a subarea 3. LIST List files 4. BROWSE Browse through files 5. SEND Send a file to BIX 6. RECEIVE Receive a file from BIX 7. TYPE Type a file 8. CHECK Check the contents of a file 9. OPTIONS Set options 10. QUIT Leave the Listings subsystem Selection: check File? Type in the name of the file you want to investigate, and BIX will prompt you for the actions to take. For details on the check command, see the discussion of check under browse. Command: OPTIONS BIX Listings has an Option subsystem so that you can tailor its environment to suit your tastes. To enter the Listings Option subsystem, type options. BIX produces this screen in response: Setup options: 1. SEND Send protocol 2. RECEIVE Receive protocol 3. FORMAT Text format 4. DESCRIPTION Set description length 5. PROMPTS Set menu/command mode 89 BIX User Manual 6. SHOW Show current settings 7. SAVE Save current settings 8. QUIT Leave the Options subsystem Selection: Setup Option: SEND To choose an upload protocol (i.e., the protocol used to send files up to BIX), type in send. In response, BIX displays this screen: Send protocol: 1. X XMODEM protocol 2. XC XMODEM/CRC protocol 3. XK XMODEM/CRC with 1K blocks 4. K KERMIT protocol 5. QUIT Leave without changing protocol Selection: Enter your choice at the Selection: prompt. You can use the number or the letters in uppercase letters. When done, BIX redisplays the Setup option screen. Setup Option: RECEIVE To choose a download protocol (i.e., the protocol used by BIX to transmit a file down to your computer), type in receive. In response, BIX displays this screen: Receive protocol: 1. X XMODEM protocol 2. XC XMODEM/CRC protocol 3. XK XMODEM/CRC with 1K blocks 4. Y YMODEM batch protocol 5. Z ZMODEM batch protocol 6. K KERMIT protocol 7. UUE UUENCODED ASCII 8. QUIT Leave without changing protocol 90 BIX User Manual Selection: Enter your choice at the Selection: prompt. You can use the number or the letters. When done, BIX redisplays the Setup option screen. Setup Option: FORMAT The format option lets you set the end-of-line character that BIX will use when sending files to you. When entered, format produces this prompt: Text file format: 1. LF Each line ends with an LF 2. CRLF Each line ends with a CR/LF 3. QUIT Leave without changing format Selection: Enter your choice from the Selection: prompt. You can use the number or the letters. When done, BIX redisplays the Setup option screen. The default setting is CRLF. Setup Option: DESCRIPTION Description toggles between long and short file descriptions. A long des- cription contains the complete information on a file, including contributor name, keywords, and download count. Here's an example of a long description: apr88.arc 114927 Approx time (min):118 at 300 baud, 30 at 1200 baud Contributed by: editors Date: Fri Mar 18 12:09:51 1988 All the files from the April 1988 issue of BYTE. Keywords: APR88 BYTE files April 1988 Download count: 201 91 BIX User Manual Here's an example of the same file displayed with the short description: apr88.arc 114927 All the files from the April 1988 issue of BYTE. When entered, description produces this screen: Description length: 1. LONG Long desctiptions 2. SHORT Short descriptions 3. QUIT Quit without changing description length Selection: Enter your choice at the Selection: prompt. You can use the number, the word in uppercase letters, or the first three letters of the command. Re- member, you can always use browse to see the full description for a file. Setup Option: PROMPTS Prompts lets you choose among Menu mode and Verbose and Terse command prompts. All BIX Listings commands remain the same regardless of the inter- face you choose. Only the face of the interface changes. In response to prompts, BIX displays this screen: Menu and command prompts: 1. MENU Menu mode 2. VERBOSE Verbose command mode 3. TERSE Terse command mode 4. QUIT Quit without changing prompts 92 BIX User Manual Selection: Enter your choice at the Selection: prompt. You can use the number, the word in uppercase letters, or the first three letters of the command. The Menu mode is the default setting. It produces this command line: File Area: FROMBYTE88 Subarea: ALL File Description: LONG 1. AREA Select a file area 2. SUBAREA Select a subarea 3. LIST List files 4. BROWSE Browse through files 5. SEND Send a file to BIX 6. RECEIVE Receive a file from BIX 7. TYPE Type a file 8. CHECK Check the contents of a file 9. OPTIONS Set options 10. QUIT Leave the Listings subsystem Selection: The Verbose setting produces this command line: File Area: FROMBYTE88 Subarea: ALL File Description: LONG Command (? for help): When you select Verbose prompts, you enter into that mode immediately. Here's how BIX notifies you of this change : Dropping into command mode... Option: Enter a question mark ( ? ) at the Verbose command line to get help. In response, BIX displays this: 93 BIX User Manual SEND Send protocol RECEIVE Receive protocol DESCRIPTION Set description length PROMPTS Set menu/command mode SHOW Show current settings SAVE Save current settings QUIT Leave the Options subsystem NOTE: Numbers are eliminated from every command list at every level of Listings when you use the Verbose prompts. You must now enter the complete command or its first three letters. For example, to save all your prefer- ences, from the Option: prompt you would enter: save BIX would respond: Current option settings saved. Option: The Terse prompt setting produces this command line: [FROMBYTE88]: When you select the Terse prompts, you immediately enter into that mode. Here's how BIX notifies you of this change: Dropping into command mode... Option: Enter the complete command or its first three letters. Type a question mark ( ? ) to get help. 94 BIX User Manual Setup Option: SHOW To review your option settings, enter show. In response, BIX produces this screen: Area: FROMBBYTE88 Subarea: ALL Prompt mode: Menu Description length: LONG Send protocol: X Receive protocol: X Text format: CRLF Setup Option: SAVE Save stores your settings so that you do not have to reenter them the next time you join Listings. All settings made in options are not permanent un- til you save them. Enter save to make your preferences permanent. You can change any setting later. Setup Option: QUIT To leave options, type quit. The Listings area command line will then return. Command: QUIT To leave the Listings subsystem and return to the conference system, enter the command quit. NOTE: Listings supports an automatic log off. After 5 minutes of inactivity, your screen will beep and BIX will query: "Are you there?" If there is no response within 1 minute, you are logged off of BIX. NOTES: 95 BIX User Manual NOTES: 96 BIX User Manual