                               G-Files Lister
                                and TextView
                              for mystic 1.10+
                               by Darryl Perry 
Software --------------------------------------------------------------------
       [ ] PCB PPe      [ ] OBV          [ ] VGA         [ ] OTHER___________
       [ ] Renegade     [ ] Iiniquity    [ ] ASCII       [ ] HTML/CGI/WWW    
       [x] Mystic       [ ] WWVI         [ ] Telegard    [x] MPL
       [ ] ANSI         [ ] TEXT
OS --------------------------------------------------------------------------
              [x] dos  [ ] os/2  [x] windows [x] Win32 [x] *nix
Type ------------------------------------------------------------------------
                infoform [ ]   utility [X]  misc [ ]  door [X]
Disclaimer-------------------------------------------------------------------

   The author has taken every precaution to insure that no harm or damage
will occur on computer systems operating this util.  Never the less, the
author will NOT be held liable for whatever may happen on your computer
system or to any computer systems which connects to your own as a result of
operating this util.  The user assumes full responsibility for the correct
operation of this software package, whether harm or damage results from
software error, hardware malfunction, or operator error.  NO warranties are
offered, expressly stated or implied, including without limitation or
restriction any warranties of operation for a particular purpose and/or
merchant ability.  If you do not agree with this then do NOT use this
program.

G-Files Description-----------------------------------------------------------

o G-Files is a graphical text file lister and viewer.  It is reminescent of
  the old WWIV G-Files option that displays text files to users.  However
  this program is much more configurable.
  
+ Features include:
o Lightbar selection: up, down, page up, page down, Home, End
o Default Configurable ansi menus
o Multiple sub-directory support (limted only by OS constraints)
o Optional separate configurations per sub-directory.
o Help menus
o Display both ansi and text files.
o Full screen text viewer, scroll and search for text.


TextView Description ---------------------------------------------------------

o TextView is a full screen text file viewer.  It displays files, and allows
  the user to scroll up or down, or quickly move to the beginning or the end 
  of the file.  A progress bar at the right also shows where the page is in
  relation to the whole file.

o TextView is intended as a companion program to G-Files, but it can also be
  used as on it's own when the sysop wishes to display a text file to his or
  her users.  

o TextView works best for simple text files.  TextView is not recommended for 
  displaying ANSI display files.
  
G-Files MPL Intallation-------------------------------------------------------

o Place the gfiles.mps and textview.mps in the Mystic SCRIPTS directory and 
  then compile each it with mplc.

o Place gfmain.ans, default_gfhi.ans and default_gflow.ans, gfhelp.ans and 
  gfhelps.ans in the Mystic TEXT directory.

o Rename default_gfhi.ans to gfhi.ans, and default_gflo.ans to gflo.ans
+ Note: example1_gfhi.ans and example1_gflo.ans are also provide as examples
  that I uses for my game scores directory.

o Add G-Files to your desired menu.  The Mystic menu type is GX for running 
  a script. There is only one required parameter.  The first parameter must 
  be the path to the desired text file directory.  The next parameter is 
  optional.  It will be the text that gets displayed in the title line of the
  G-Files menu.  If there are multiple words, the spaces must be replaced with
  underbars '_'.  See format below.

Type: GX
Data: gfiles </path/to/desired/textfile/dir> Optional_Display_Title

TextView Implementation ------------------------------------------------------

o Place the textview.mps file in the Mystic scripts directory.
o Compile ith with mplc.  i.e. "mplc textview"
o Usage:
  o Type: GX
  o Data: textview /path/to/textfile.ext Optional_File_Title

#NOTE#
  The TextView app is optional, and is not required for use with G-Files.  
  G-Files will only use it if textview.mpx is found in the scripts directory.
  If you do not compile textview.mps, or remove ./script/textview.mpx, G-Files
  will use the default Mystic text file viewer.

  Historically, TextView was developed as a text reader before Mystic had a
  default text file viewing option.  G-Files however, still reflects the old
  method of viewing files.

G-Files Configuration --------------------------------------------------------

o Create a directory to use for your textfiles.  I created a subdir from
  my Mystic TEXT directory, ./text/gfiles.  Place all desired text files
  in that directory.  Subdirectories are also permitted, and can be used 
  to group and categorize your text files.

Adding entries to the list ---------------------------------------------------

G-files will not know about any new files until you tell it to look for and
add them to the list.  This is done by selecting 'A' from the main menu.  
G-Files will then search the directory for any unknown files, and add them 
to the list.  The titles of the files will be the same as the name of the
file.  To change the title of the file, highlight it, and select 'U' to 
update the title.

The full list of sysop commands are as follows:

o A - Add files to the list of known files.
o S - Sort the list by filename
o D - Delete the highlighted entry.  You will be prompted to delete the 
      file from the dir as well as the entry.  It is possble to delete only
      the title from the list, and not the file from the dir.
o M - Move the highlighted entry up or down.  Select ENTER to finish moving.
o U - Update the highlighted entry title.  Use this option to rename any
      entry titles as you see fit.

Menu and configuration files -------------------------------------------------

The default menus should be placed in the Mystic theme TEXT directory.  
However, the individual subdirectories can have separate configurations.  
If you wish to have a separate a subdirectory to have a different config, just
place the gfmain.ans, gfhi.ans or gflo.ans in that paricular subdirectory.
If G-Files finds any one of the gfmain, gfhi, or gflo ans files in a subdir,
it will use that file.  If it does not find the file, it will use the default
file found in the Mystic TEXT dir.

GFMAIN.ANS
 
 gfmain is the main menu file for G-Files.  Alter this to your own needs.

 Use the |!<number> Mystic MCI codes to define certain aspects of the menu
 screen.

 !1 - Top Left corner of the menu screen.  This should be placed at the row
      and column where the first line of the entry titles will be displayed.
 !2 - Bottom Right corner of the menu screen.  This should be placed at the
      row and column where the last char of the last line of entry titles will
      be displayed.
 !3 - Title line, left-most column.  This is where the title of the directory
      will be display
 !4 - Title line, right-most column
 !5 - Menu line, left-most column.  This is where the menu prompts will be
      displayed.
 !6 - Menu line, right-most column.

GFHI/GFLO files.

 The gfhi.ans and gflo.ans files are used to define the entry list lines, for 
 both the regular text (gflo) and the highlighted text (gfhi).

 Use the |&<number> Mystic MCI codes to define certain aspects of the entry 
 list.

 &1 - Title of the entry.
 &2 - Age in file in days.  Example, if the file is 2 days old, it will 
      display "2 days ago."  If it is over a month old, it will say 
      "X months ago".  I use this arrangement for my game scores directory.
 &3 - Date of the entry.  This is the date of the file in MM/DD/YY format.
 &4 - Time of the entry.  This ss the time of the file in HH:MM format.
 &5 - This is the file size of the entry.
 &6 - Filename of the entry.

 In order to correctly position the cursor when updating the entry title,
 G-Files also needs to know where to place the cursor.  This is done by 
 utilizing the |!8 MCI code in the GFHI.ANS file.  Place the |!8 code at the
 position where the entry title begins.


Bug Fixes/History-------------------------------------------------------------

Version 1.0 is the first release.  

Bug Reports-----------------------------------------------------------------

If you want to send me bug report or a note telling me how much you like it,
please feel free to do so.

Cyberia BBS web page (http://cyberia.darktech.org)
Email me at dperry.geo@yahoo.com
Telnet to telnet://cyberia.darktech.org

