!Help file for !Renamer version 3.00 (16 May 1994)

Company: Castle Amber
         Hardware and software development
         Grondherendijk 11c
         3082 DD  Rotterdam
         The Netherlands
         
Author:  Simon Baas
Email :  simon@amber.gds.nl or simon@gds.nl


Introduction
============

!Renamer is a useful application for people who occasionally interact with
the MSDOS world, thereby receiving software with uppercase filenames.
On Acorn computers, the Capitalised naming convention (first letter and
letters at wordboundaries uppercase and the rest lowercase as in !RunImage,
!SpriteFile etc.) is frequently used. !Renamer can be helpful be converting
files from MSDOS to RISCOS and vice versa.

The earlier versions of !Renamer could only change the case of letters in a
filename and delete the extension. From version 3.00 onwards !Renamer is
also capable of converting extensions into directories and vice versa.
For example, a MSDOS file MAIN/C can be converted to c.main by choosing the
new 'From MSDOS' option. Due to these new features, the name of this
application may change in the future.

Interactive Help is available...


Options
=======

The following options are available:

- Recursive        : Rename contents of directories and applications as well.

- Confirm          : Allow user to confirm each rename operation.

- Force            : If an object is locked, rename it anyway. Access is
                     preserved afterwards.

- Use wordfile     : If the filename contains words found in the 'WordFile'
                     (in the !Renamer application directory) then the word
                     from the wordfile is substituted in the filename. This
                     wordfile may be edited by the user. Note however that it
                     is loaded only when loading the !Renamer application so
                     when modifying the WordFile you should quit and reload
                     the !Renamer application for the new WordFile to take
                     effect. Also stick to the current format of the file,
                     that is: One word per line with *no* spaces or anything
                     behind it. Currently the contents of the WordFile is
                     only checked for words longer than 10 characters.
                     The word on line one has the highest priority.
                     The words in the WordFile have higher priority than the
                     First Capital/Uppercase/Lowercase options, discussed
                     next.
                     Note that the order of the words is very important. If
                     word A is a real prefix of word B then you should word
                     A below word B or else word B will never be found.

- First Capital    : The whole filename is converted to lowercase except for
                     the first letter, which is converted to uppercase. Note
                     that if a filename start with a '!' this is skipped and
                     the next letter is converted to capital.

- Uppercase        : The whole filename is converted to uppercase.

- Lowercase        : The whole filename is converted to lowercase.

Note: Of the last three options only one may be selected at the time. It is
      also possible to select none of the above three options: Click ADJUST
      on the currently selected one.

- Delete after     : The last occurence of the character displayed in the icon
                     after the 'Delete after' radio icon plus all trailing
                     characters will be deleted if 'Delete after' is on. Its
                     use is intended to delete MSDOS names extensions.
                     Note that all characters are allowed, including dots and
                     dollarsigns and such.

- Minimumlength    : Leafnames shorter than this value will not be renamed.
                     Intended to skip c, h and o directories. Note that to
                     rename all files, this value must be set to 1 of course.

New to version 3.00:
- From MSDOS       : When an extension character is found in a filename, the
                     file is split in name and extension. The extension is
                     used as a directory and the file without the extension
                     is placed in this directory. Example: CONFIG/SYS will
                     become SYS.CONFIG. The directory and file names are
                     processed separately when changing the case as desired.
- To MSDOS         : This is a bit more difficult because the files to copy
                     must reside in a directory with a name suitable to use
                     as an extension. Currently only one recursion level is
                     allowed. Files are copied as normal and the contents
                     of directories is processed by appending the extension
                     character and the directory name to the files.

Note that for either of these new options to work, the extension may not
be deleted. This option is therefore greyed out in the options window
and ignored.

WARNING: When the file- and directory names are combined to form a MSDOS
         filename with extension the length may exceed 10 characters.
         Thus when converting 'To MSDOS' to an Acorn Filing System (ADFS,
         SCSI, IDEFS, etc.) the filename is truncated incorrectly.
         This behaviour is acceptable assuming that this operation will
         only be used when the destination directory resides on a MSDOS
         Filing System. In this case the file is properly truncated (the
         filename is truncated to 8 characters preserving the extension).


Processing
==========

Drop a file selection unto the icon or options window to start a rename job.
If either the 'From MSDOS' or 'To MSDOS' option is selected, it is necessary
to specify an output directory, because the originals may not be overwritten
(This is usually undesirable, because the originals are stored on a DOS
disc). Drag the savebox icon to the destination directory.
A window (the 'renaming' window) pops up showing the name of the object
being currently processed.
If 'Confirm' is on, you will be asked for confirmation by means of 'Yes' and
'No' icons.

The possible choices in the Renaming window are:

- Abort : Abort current rename job altogether.
- No    : Do not rename the current object, but continue with the next.
- Yes   : Rename the current file as shown in the Renaming window.
- Quiet : Rename the current and all further objects without confirmation.

Note that during a rename operation with confirm it is possible to change the
type of renaming by changing the relevant options. The change in the filename
is shown immediately in the 'renaming' window. For this reason all objects
are shown in the 'renaming' window, even those of which the name will be
unaltered with the current option settings. After a change in the options
the filename could alter in such a way it will be renamed after all.

Note: The 'From MSDOS' and 'To MSDOS' options may not be changed during a
      rename session, because the output must be stored in a specified
      directory, different from the input directory.

When a rename job is in progress you can drop a new file selection unto the
icon or one of the windows. This selection will be added to the end of the
list of objects to process. This is not indicated...

When a rename job is finished the 'renaming' window will be brought to the
front (this can also be done during renaming by clicking SELECT on the
renamer icon on the iconbar) and an OK icon appears. Clicking on this will
close the window. You may also drop a new selection on any of the windows
to start a new rename job.

All comments and suggestions for future improvement are welcome and can be
mailed to the address listed at the start of this file.
We would also, of course, welcome details of any bugs discovered so that
they can be corrected.


Version Improvements
====================

0.80 First Release version
1.00 Major rewrite of internals
2.00 Major rewrite of internals
     Added extension character deletion.
     Added minimum leafname length option.
3.00 Added From MSDOS and To MSDOS *Copy* options.


Copyright
=========

This utility is  Castle Amber 1994, but may be used and spread freely,
but not for any profit, under the condition that all files are included
in their original state.


Disclaimer
==========

This software is provided as is. Using it is entirely at your own risk.


Simon Baas,
16 May 1994.
