3T, Simple File Manager for Psion Series 3a.


CONTACT:

Written by Roger Muggleton
Email:         hzk@cix.co.uk
Packet Radio:  G0HZK@GB7WIR.#42.GBR.EU
Mail Address:  23 Randolph Road, Langley, Slough, SL3 7QF, United Kingdom.


OVERVIEW:

3T is a smallish application which handles most normal day-to-day file
activities.  It can view, copy, move, and delete files, make new directories
and remove unwanted ones.  It works on single files, or groups of tagged
files.  Up to 39 or 70 files can be displayed at once, although directories
containing up to 200 files can be worked with.  3T is not as clever as some 
file managers, but it should be quicker than most.


REGISTRATION:

3T is a free program which may be copied and used without charge.  If you
pass this program on to someone else, please give them a copy of the
original archive.  However, I am always pleased to hear from any user,
so if you find my program useful, an Email or postcard would be appreciated!


USAGE:

If you have an earlier version of 3T, it is best to select Undo settings
from the Special menu, before overwriting the old version of 3T with this
version.

Copy 3T.OPA to an \APP\ directory on any drive.  Install in the usual way,
using Psion-I from the system screen.  Run 3T by highlighting the word
"ThreeT" underneath 3T's icon, and press enter.

The display shows 3 windows.  The top window shows the full name, path
and size of the file (or directory) highlighted in the lower window.
The status window shows the media type (ROM, RAM, Flash), the space
used in kbytes, and the space free.

The lower window shows up to 39 or 70 files in the current directory.
(The screen resolution is changed using Psion-Z).  As you press the arrow
keys, each item is highlighted in turn.  If you move past the last displayed
file, the window does NOT scroll, but the next file name will be shown in
the top window.  You can view up to 200 files this way.  The display is
sorted, with directory names first.


THE KEYS:

0-9, A-z By pressing one of these keys without the Psion modifier key,
	 you can hop around the lower window.  For example, repeated
	 pressing of 'B' will jump between all the files/directories that
	 begin with the letter B.


The following can be pressed for actions on highlighted files.

Psion-A  Touch a file.  This enables the user to change the date and time
	 of any file or directory in RAM or on a RAM or Flash SSD.

Psion-C  Copy a file.  A dialog appears, enabling you to choose a new drive 
	 and/or directory to copy the file to.  You can select only existing
	 directories.  You can change the destination name if required
	 (on single file operation only).  If the destination name exists,
	 you can overwrite, rename, or abort the action.
   
Psion-D  Delete a file or directory.  A dialog asking for confirmation 
	 appears.  If you delete a directory containing files, any files
	 and subdirectories within are also deleted.  (The 'delete' key 
	 can also be used).

Psion-E  Execute a ROM application.  The highlighted file will be loaded 
	 into the appropriate ROM application - Word, Data, Sheet, OPL 
	 Editor, Text Editor, or RunOpl.  If 3T does not recognise the file
	 type, a menu will appear so that you can select one of the five 
         applications.  If there is enough memory, 3T will use JBData for
         data files, if this program is present.

Psion-M  Move a file.  Files can be moved from one location to another.  
	 If any files are not copied for some reason, those files will not be 
	 deleted.

Psion-R  Rename a file.  This renames a file.  You cannot move its directory
	 by renaming - use the Psion-M key if this is desired.
	 If your new name has no extension (.OPL etc.), add a dot after the
	 last letter of the new name.
	 If you wish to keep the same extension as the original name, you
	 need only type the letters before the dot, and the dot and extension
	 will be added automatically.
	 You can also rename a directory with this command. 

Psion-T  Tag a file.  This tags files for actions on groups of files.  
	 The C, D and M commands detect when files have been tagged.  When 
	 all files have been 'actioned', the tags are cleared.  Tagged files 
	 are shown in italics.  The plus (+) key also tags files.
   
Psion-U  Untag a file.  Removes a 'tag' from a file.  The minus (-) key
	 will also untag files.

Psion-V  Views a file.  This is a limited facility which dumps files to the 
	 main window.  You can scroll down the file by pressing DownArrow.  
	 Any other key returns to the file list.  If the file ends .ASC, 
	 .CAP, .DOC, .TXT or .OPL, then the file is shown in non-wordwrapped 
	 ascii text format.  Otherwise it is wrapped at the border, and 
	 displayed as an ascii dump.

Psion +  Makes a new directory.  This works only when a directory is
	 highlighted.  If the name typed in is preceded by a backslash, it
	 is placed in the root, otherwise it is placed in the highlighted
	 directory.  (The full path is displayed before the new directory
	 is created - you can abort here!)

Enter    i)    Shows file size, date, attributes.  By pressing Enter at the
	       dialog, file attributes may be altered.
	 ii)   Moves to the highlighted directory.
	 iii)  If '<Root>' is highlighted, moves to parent directory.


Other keys:

Psion-B  Save a bookmark.  This save a directory path for later recall.

Psion-G  Go to a bookmark.  This enables the user to go to the last path
         bookmarked.  See also Psion-N.

Psion-I  Version, and how to contact the author by Email.
   
Psion-L  Log a new drive.  Carry out action on a different drive.  If the
	 current path exists on the new drive, this path will be preserved.
	 Otherwise you are located in the root.  See Psion-P for PC drives.

Psion-N  Toggle bookmark mode between 'smart' and 'normal'.  When 'smart'
         is active, a Psion-G command will also swap the current path into
         the bookmark memory, allowing repeated presses of Psion-G to move
         between two directories.

Psion-O  Toggle 'copy to bookmark mode'.  Normally when you move or copy a
         file, you need to choose the destination directory in the dialog
         which will appear.  This may require you to use the built-in file
         selector to find this directory.  However, if you first navigate
         to your destination in 3T's main window, and save this as a bookmark,
         'copy to bookmark' mode will preset the 'copy' or 'move' dialog with
         the bookmarked directory as a destination.

Psion-P  Log a PC drive.  If linked to a PC in the usual way, all PC drives
	 present will be available.  This has been tested only on an IBM type
	 PC, but it may work with other computers.

Psion-S  Toggles a check of whether filenames without extensions are 
	 directories.  By default, all such names are checked.  By turning
	 this check off, file display is slightly faster.  This also means
	 that 3T will assume a file called FRED is a directory, and add a
	 [dir] after it.  However, if you try any action on FRED, it will
	 check its status first, and then treat FRED correctly as a file.

Psion-W  The directory check status and the zoom setting are stored in an
	 environment variable called RM3T.  It you wish to remove 3T from
	 your Psion, Do a Psion-W before a Psion-X (exit) which will remove
	 this variable from the environment.

Psion-X  Exits from 3T.

Psion-Z  Toggles 39 file and 70 file displays.

Escape   Moves to parent of current directory.
     
Menu     Guess what!


Bookmark Mode

Bookmark allows you to save the current directory path by pressing Psion-B.
Thereafter, whichever device you are logged to, you can go to this bookmark
by pressing Psion-G.  If 'bookmark mode' (Psion-N) is set to 'smart', this 
action will also swap the current directory into the bookmark memory, so if
you press Psion-G again, you will return to the path you were displaying 
prior to the first press of Psion-G.
Psion-O toggles 'copy to bookmark' mode.  If this mode is active, any 'copy'
or 'move' command will preset the destination path to the bookmark path.  You
can, of course, overide this.
These settings are stored on exit.


LIMITATIONS:

3T cannot handle subdirectories more than 9 layers deep!

You can view only up to 39 or 70 files on the screen.  While 3T does not 
scroll if there are more, their names will appear in the top window, and all
actions still work on them.  Up to 200 files can be handled.  If your
directory contains more, these extra files will not be accessible.

The date is shown in U.S format on a U.S. Psion, but in U.K. format on
all other machines.

The Psion-P command will allow you to read directories on a PC linked to your
Psion.  The Psion should be linked in the normal way, using a PC program like
SLINK, RCOM, or PSIWIN.  If you use PSIWIN, remove the switch /X from the
line:  ENGINE=PRCENWIN.EXE  in the file  \WINDOWS\PSIONPRC.INI
Note that this is very slow!  It is much quicker with RCOM though!

3T checks whether each file is a subdirectory or not.  This takes a bit of
time, but ensures that the [dir] tag is applied correctly.  If your
subdirectory has an extension, e.g. FOLDER.DIR, this extension is shown
instead of the [dir] tag, and will be grouped with any other subdirectories.
A file with no extension will be shown as a file, as expected!

To get a slightly faster display, you can disable this checking by pressing
Psion-S.  The next time the display is refreshed, a subdirectory with an
extension will be grouped with the files, and a file without an extension
will be tagged [dir] and grouped with the subdirectories.  However all
'files' are identified correctly in the top window, as will be any actions
on the 'file'.  Psion-S is a toggle.

If you rename a file or directory, the cursor position will remain unchanged.
i.e. it will highlight the wrong file :-(

Most errors have been trapped (I think), but there is bound to be some case
where I goofed.

THANKS are due to:

Max Bisschop for the file sort and display routine,
David Palmer for his idea for a directory "prune" routine.


WARNING:

3T has the ability to delete data.  Please make sure you delete only the 
files and subdirectories you intend to!  I disclaim any responsibility for
any data loss, damage, or any unwanted effects whatsoever.




Roger Muggleton.
hzk@cix.co.uk

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RELEASE DETAILS for Version 1.42

Two bug fixes:
Date range for 'Touch' is now 1st Jan 1980 to 1st Jan 2038. Crashes
occuring when dates after 1/1/2038 now fixed.
The correct OPL editor should appear when an OPL file is 'launched'.

New in 1.41

Corrected 'feature' which made 'touched' directories invisible to PsiWin.
Copy/Move command default directory changed.

New in 1.40:

3T shows the M:\ directory if it expects to read an invalid path. Previously
it defaulted to M:\APP which is not guaranteed to exist!

New in 1.39:

Psion-E will run JBData if it is present, and if there is enough memory.
Tagging commands also trigger an infoprint showing how many files, and
total size tagged.


New in 1.38:

Any copy/move dialog is generally set to the current path.

The rename directory rewritten, about 1k of code removed!

The environment variable RM3T is ignored if its length is not 4, and a new
string is written when 3T exits.

The datestamp on a copied file is now the same as the original file (the OPL
COPY command sets the current date).

Version 1.36, 1.37 were not released!

New in 1.35:

Touch file added.

Bookmark added.

You can now rename a subdirectory.
The date format is normally dd-mm-yyyy, but on a U.S. Series 3a it should
change to mm/dd/yyyy.

There has been a major change in how 3T navigates towards the root directory.
This now allows the Psion-L command to keep to the same subdirectory on a new
device.  e.g. if you do a Psion-L from M:\OPL\ to drive A, you will change
to A:\OPL\ if this path exists.  Othewise you will change to A:\.

Changes to the file tagging system now stop a file from being tagged more
than once (!).  The refresh after untagging all files has been removed.

Changes since 1.32:

Bug fixes.  There was a programming error which caused a crash in some Psion
models when Psion-S was pressed.  Not in mine of course :-( so apologies to
all those who suffered this bug.  It should not happen in this version I hope.
Both the Psion-S and -Z settings are now stored on exit.

Changes since 1.30:

When a directory is deleted, all the files and nested subdirectories inside
it will also be deleted.  If a file is open, or the Read Only attribute is
set, the delete action will abort with a suitable message.

This version now displays files as a sorted list, with directories first.
Alas, it is almost 2k bigger, but it is much faster.  The code to achieve
this was written by Max Bisschop, to whom I am most grateful.  Max also
sped up the display by using an arbitrary method of deciding whether a
file was a directory.  I used a faster way of confirming this, and the
Psion-S command switches this extra check out and in.

Pressing Enter on a file name brings up the file info dialog as before.
You can clear this with Esc, or by pressing Enter again, you get the
chance to change file attributes.  This new dialog displays the current
attributes, so pressing Enter alone will not change them, and you can
press Esc here to avoid re-writing the attributes.

Launching an open file/applicaion (Psion-E) will bring it to the front,
instead of generating an error.  You can return to 3T with Shift-System.
If you try to view an open file, you now get an alert (instead of a crash).

The file "View" window (Psion-V) is now full screen width.

The used disk and free disk space is now in kbytes.

Changes since Version 1.25:

The Application Name has been changed to "ThreeT".  This is to avoid
conflict with other file managers.  Unfortunately you can't have an
application name beginning with a number!  So please remember to deinstall
the old version (Psion-/), and reinstall this version (Psion-I).  If you run
3T from a macro, you will have to change this too!

3T now has a menu!  But to make room, I have removed the 'HELP' screen.
But all the commands are visible from the menu anyway.

You can now tag files with the plus (+) key, and untag with the minus (-)
key, like the Psion file selector.  Psion-T and Psion-U still work as well.

File launching is more specific.  TXT files are now loaded into the text
editor, and there is a text editor option for files with unrecognised
extensions.

The cursor position is now stored as you move through a directory tree.  So
as you move back towards the root, the cursor will restore to the original
position in each layer.  Also when a file is renamed, moved, or deleted,
the cursor will move to an appropriate position.  The position should also
be retained if you change resolution.

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