THD ProScan Version 12.1
------------------------
This text outlines the changes made to THD ProScan Version 12.1. Changes
noted are as made between Version 12.0 and this release. The primary reason
for this release is referred to below in regards to a bug in the conversion of
imbedded archives.
THDPRO.EXE (v 12.1)
----------------------
An error in coding resulted in all imbedded archives being given their
original name after conversion. This version corrects that error by renaming
only those imbedded archives whose name is other than the proper name for
their archive type.
The code surrounding "THD ERROR = 58" has been completely rewritten
"again" in the hopes of correcting that problem on "some" OS/2 systems. I
cannot stress enough that the error being reported in that instance can
theorhetically not occur. These changes have been made to hopefully fix the
problem, however since the problem cannot occur, it is unknown if this will
help.
A correction to the TESTINFO.DAT recording procedure. In some cases the
"expected" errorlevel to be returned was improperly recorded in the record.
this would cause BBS'es which used the TESTINFO.DAT file to determine pass or
fail of the file to pass failed files. (Notably Telegard 2.99 gammas).
ZIP identification routines rewritten to avoid the long detection problems
with corrupted ZIP archives that I "thought" I had already fixed.
Added... (drum roll please) DUPE CHECKING. You can now opt to not check
files which have previously been tested by THDPRO.EXE. In order to accomplish
this you must select to create a DUPE FILE in THDINSTL. This will cause
THDPRO.EXE to create a file by the same name as THDPRO with a "DUP" extension
(THDPRO.DUP). Thereafter, THDPRO.EXE will record the size and CRC of each file
it tests in this file.
To actually check for dupes you will need to run THDPRO.EXE with the "/DC"
switch which will cause THDPRO.EXE to check this file for a previus entry with
the same size and CRC. If you do not use the "/DC" switch THDPRO.EXE will do
no dupe checking but will continue to add the sizes and CRCs of the tested
file(s) to THDPRO.DUP.
When creating archives from non-archives, THDPRO.EXE will now "add" any
files you have selected to be added to archives.
Added a BBS definition to support FILES.BBS type using the "|" (pipe) code
to indicate extended description use.
OS/2 version ONLY - A change in the way comport initialization was being done
to correct problems for those unable to pass the necessary file handle on
the command line. The DETECT routine has been improved as has the
"SET THDPORT =" option.
OS/2 version ONLY - 4 new command line switches have been added to the
OS/2 version. These switches affect priority settings of THDPRO.EXE and
any OS/2 child processes it runs. The four switches can be used to move
THDPRO.EXE into a very high or very low priority on your system. The
switches are as follows. Please be aware that these setting will not
affect DOS child session which are controlled by by your system settings.
/PR1 = VERY low priority . This setting will only allow THDPRO to use the
CPU when there is idle time to spare. You might use this setting if you
have THDPRO.EXE doing automated testing in the background where speed
of processing is of little importance. May also be useful if you're
running it from a DOS prompt where multiple sessions could possibly be
spawned.
/PR2 = Normal priority. This switch is essentially unnecessary as this is the
priority OS/2 would normally give to any OS/2 process. It is included
in case the session which calls THD has a different priority level
which it passes to THDPRO.EXE by default.
/PR3 = High priority. This switch will cause THD to take precedence over most
other running tasks. It will essentially slow other operations somewhat
to allow THD to complete quicker.
/PR4 = VERY High Priority. This setting will allow THD to take the vast
majority of CPU time to do the processing. It will certainly slow
almost all other tasks on your system.
THDINSTL.EXE (v 12.1)
----------------------
In THDINSTL.EXE the final screen reported press "K" to modify option "J".
(a simple typo corrected).
Added a BBS definition to support FILES.BBS type using the "|" (pipe) code
to indicate extended description use.
Added a toggle on the final screen for the keeping of a DUPE Checking File
for use with THDPRO.EXE's "/DC" option.
THDPLUS.EXE (v 3.1)
---------------------
Added a BBS definition to support FILES.BBS type using the "|" (pipe) code
to indicate extended description use.
A change to handle the support provided by TG 2.99 (TG3) for the TESTINFO
format. THDPLUS.EXE will not mark the TESTINFO record processed until it has
been checked "twice" by THDPRO.EXE or "once" by Telegard. This will allow
THDPLUS to "attempt" to update TG's data bases on each run and still leave
the record marked as unprocessed for TG. This change will allow TG 2.99 (TG3)
sysops to keep THDPLUS in the same directory as THDPRO.EXE for use outside of
the BBS. Since TG only checks one record per run, this will allow THD to make
updates when TG is not doing so, and still allow TG to make it's updates.
Added the ability to modify the number of spaces prior to the extended
character for the FILES.BBS (useful for LORA/QBBS "I'm told"). Using the
THDOPT environment variable the user can select to add additional "space"
characters in front of the extended character (+, >, or |). This was done to
accomodate those BBS types which use a file they "call" FILES.BBS but refuse
to follow the standard conventions.
SET THDOPT=ADDSPACE## will cause THDPLUS to put ## spaces in front of the
extended character. If not specified the default is "1". Replace ## above with
the number of spaces and please note there must be NO SPACES between ADDSPACE
and the number.
okay = SET THDOPT=ADDSPACE32 (add 32 spaces before extended character)
okay = SET THDOPT=ADDSPACE4 (add 4 spaces before extended character)
okay = SET THDOPT=ADDSPACE1 (add 1 space before extended character)
okay = SET THDOPT=ADDSPACE255 (add 255 spaces before extended character)
NOT okay = SET THDOPT=ADDSPACE 5 (The 5 must be tacked on the the end of
the ADDSPACE or THDPLUS will ignore it)
If you're using THDOPT to control aspects of the operation of THDPRO.EXE
then add this variable to your THDOPT setting. THDPRO.EXE will ignore this
setting with no ill effects and THDPLUS will ignore all settings intended for
THDPRO.EXE.
A change in regard to THDPLUS when copying old descriptions from RA's FDB
to the log file. THDPLUS Version 3.0 was sometimes calculating an incorrect
description length which resulted in logging of multiple descriptions for a
single file. The code has been modified to account for this and should now
include only the correct description.
The T.A.G. structures did not convert well to OS/2 thus causing THDPLUS to
invoke a runtime error 100. Those structures have been modified to avoid this
error.
Formatting of the description for FILES.BBS is now only done if the
description does NOT quailify as a valid FILE_ID.DIZ in respect to it's line
length (the number of lines is ignored for this purpose because it's ignored
by so many "authors"). If the description exceeds 45 characters per line, then
THDPLUS will attempt to format it into line lengths not exceeding 45
characters (as it always has). If it does not exceed 45 characters per line,
then THDPLUS will not format the description (should fix some jumbled graphic
representations in the file_id.diz).
THDEXARC.EXE (v 1.1)
---------------------
THDEXARC has been changed slightly so as to disallow changes to the
parameter and path fields when dealing with "INTERNAL" archive types. These
entries are not supported by "INTERNAL" definitions and are now "forced" to
blank entries if marked as INTERNAL. The presence of a path in one of these
entries "could" cause a security breach in some cases.
Note that the fields may still be modified, but all changes to unecessary
fields will be cleared prior to saving the record.
THDDEMO.EXE (v 12.1)
--------------------
THDDEMO.EXE has been modified to more correctly display the ansi's on some
ansi drivers (notably the one included with MS-DOS version 6.2x) which fail to
properly translate the <esc>K sequence.
UNP.TXT
-------
A section of documentation regarding UNP usage was inadvertently missed.
It is included here as UNP.TXT. If you are considering using UNP to expand
compressed executables, I STRONGLY recommend you take a moment to read it.
DISTSITE.TXT (corrections and updates)
------------
Site information updated to correctly reflect the distribution sites as of
Version 12.0.
TESTINFO.H and TESTINFO.INC
---------------------------
Added type 12 as files.bbs with "|" pipe character.
THD_12_1.TXT (new)
------------
This text was added to outline the differences between the Version 12.0
release and the 12.1 release. Normal release notes are found in THD_12_0.TXT.
David Muir... Author THD Proscan.