ARCON.EXE
Copyright 1995 Colin Birch
The Dog House BBS 01443 400327
24 Hours - 2400 to 28800 VFast
FIDONET 2:442/618
What is ARCON.EXE?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ARCON.EXE is an automatic archive converter with the addition of the ability
to add or delete files aautomatically to the new archive. Useful for BBS
Sysop's who want all the files on the BBS in the same archive format and
also want to add BBS adverts etc to the archive.
ARCON.EXE was originally written to work with Chris Buijs excellent
RemoteAccess filebase manager RAFT but can be used as an addon to the
RemoteAccess RAMGR.EXE program, as a stand alone program or from within
other programs that allow user definable shells.
How to configure ARCON.EXE
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To configure ARCON.EXE please read the control file ARCON.CTL
It is also advisable to add the following line to your AUTOEXEC.BAT file
SET ARCON=(path to arcon.exe)
The file ARCON.CTL must be in the same directory as ARCON.EXE
ARCON.CTL is preconfigured for the following archivers:-
PKZIP
ARJ
LHA
RAR
NOTE: The archivers themselves MUST be in a DOS PATH. For more info on
DOS PATHs please read your DOS manual.
setting WORKDIR
If you want ARCON to use a different drive/directory for it's work files
just enter the path after the WORKDIR entry in the CTL file.
NOTE : IT IS NOT ADVISED TO USE A RAMDRIVE FOR WORK FILES AS THE SIZE
OF THE FILES WHEN UN-ARCHIVED MAY BE LARGER THAN THE SIZE OF THE
RAMDRIVE.
Automatically deleting files from within the archive.
To automatically delete files from within an archive edit the ARCON.CTL
file to include the file name(s) for the files to be deleted as follows:-
DELFILE ~filename.ext~
Wildcards are valid.
Adding archive comments - Not available on LHA/LZH archives
To add an archive comment :-
1 - Create a text file containing the comment to be displayed
2 - Set ADDCOMMENT to Y in the .CTL file
3 - Set COMMENTFILE to the FULL path and name of the comment file to be
added
NOTE - This function does not work when using LHA archiver. This is due to
the archiver and not ARCON.EXE
Running ARCON.EXE
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The command line syntax for ARCON is as follows :-
ARCON <path+filename of file to convert>/<new archive type>
ARCON D:\TEMP\TEMP.ZIP/ARJ
this would convert the file TEMP.ZIP in the directory D:\TEMP to .ARJ
format
Options
~~~~~~~
/D
Adding the /D switch to the command line will allow you to manually
delete files from within the converted archive
ARCON D:\TEMP\TEMP.ZIP /ARJ /D
/L
The /L switch allows you to view text files from within an archive. The
name and path to the external text viewer program must be configured in
the ARCON.CTL file.
ARCON D:\TEMP\TEMP.ZIP /ARJ /L
The /L and the /D switches can be combined on the command line.
Using ARCON.EXE from with RemoteAccess RAMGR.EXE
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To use as an archive converter within RAMGR set up a function key as follows
(path + name of arcon.exe) @ /(arctype)
Example, assuming your copy of ARCON.EXE is in a directory C:\RA\UTILS\ARCON
and you wanted all files converted to .ARJ
C:\RA\UTILS\ARCON\ARCON.EXE @/ARJ
Using ARCON.EXE from within RAFT.EXE
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ARCON.EXE can also be used within Chris Buijs excelent RemoteAccess utility
RAFT.EXE. To use as the archive converter within this program add the
following line to the RAFT.CTL file :-
ARCONV (path + name of arcon.exe) %f /(arctype)
Example, assuming your copy of ARCON.EXE is in a directory C:\RA\UTILS\RAFT
and you wanted all files converted to .ARJ
ARCONV C:\RA\UTILS\RAFT\ARCON.EXE %f /ARJ
How to Register
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
There is no need to register ARCON.EXE as it has been released as FREEWARE.
The author still retains full copyright of the program.
If you do use this program or have any sugestions for improving it or
have found any bugs PLEASE let me know either by logging on to my BBS
( The Dog House BBS 01443 400327 24 Hours VFast ) or netmail me at
Fidonet 2:442/618
Disclaimer
~~~~~~~~~~
Although this software has been checked on various systems the only
guarantee I make is that it will take up hard disk space.
Thanks to:
~~~~~~~~~~
Thanks to everyone who finds the program useful and lets me know!
Brief History
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To find the version number use the command ARCON/V
V1.8 - 1st public release.
v1.9 - not released to public
V2.0 - WORKDIR option added
Screens tidied slightly
V2.1 - Ability to add archive comments added
V2.2 - Auto and manual file delete option added
V2.3 - View a file within an archive add
Archive name format changed new format :- Arcon2_3.ARJ