CatAFlop - Visual Disc Cataloguer

by Keith Vernon and Alan Wrigley


The Visual Disc Cataloguer enables you to keep a visual record of the root directory of any  floppy disc. The record takes the form of a directory (which would usually be kept on your hard disc). When this directory is opened, it  looks just like the root directory of the floppy, though it contains no data. This makes it easy to find a particular file or application without searching one-by-one through a pile of floppies.

USING CatAFlop
To catalogue a floppy disc, you will first need to create a small RAM disc of about 64K. This can be achieved from the Task Manager's Tasks display (click on the acorn if you have RISC OS 3). Then insert the floppy disc into drive 0. Run CatAFlop by clicking on its icon in the RiscDisc Menu System or double-clicking on its icon in a directory viewer.

Adirectory will be created in the RAM filing system which has the same name as the floppy disc, and which contains files and/or directories which duplicate all the objects in the root directory of the floppy disc. Any files in the new directory are simply zero-length files with the same name and filetype as the original, while directories have the same name as the original but are empty.

In the case of applications, CatAFlop looks to see if the original has a !Sprites file. If so, and if that file contains a sprite with the same name as the application, a !Sprites file containing that sprite only is saved inside the application in the catalogue directory on the RAM disc. Thus when the catalogue directory is accessed in the future, any applications will be shown with the correct icons.

As well as the files and directories showing the contents of the disc, the catalogue directory will contain a text file called Details, which gives the disc name and its root directory contents in ASCII format. This can then be dropped into a database or text editor if required.

Once the cataloguing process is complete, the catalogue directory can be moved from the RAM disc to a permanent home on your hard disc or wherever you want to keep it. The RAM disc has been used in CatAFlop so that users without a hard disc can still use the program to store visual records on floppy discs, but if you are using a hard disc you will find it quicker and more convenient to alter lines 100 and 200 by replacing "RAM::0.$" with a pathname of your own choosing.

An error will be generated if the RAM filing system is not present, or if the RAM disc becomes full before the cataloguing is complete.

 RISC User 1993
