2:  Overview of the Install Zips

The install for ADB comes in three parts.  Check this list out to see if you want them (the download links are also here.

• ADB_Main.Zip -- principal install files.

  This contains everything you need to use ADB

  (Caveat: if you've never worked with the DOS command line before, you'll probably also need at least some of the tools in ADB_Misc.Zip, the next install file.)

  The bare minimum install consists of just ADB.Exe, GAwk.Exe, and RPSort.Com, but I tend to feel that ADB is considerably less useful without its accompanying suite of utilities.

  All the executables together take up much less than a megabyte (about 700K), so you can move them from machine to machine on a standard floppy disk.  (You only need make the one change to config.sys that I described earlier, in order to port the system.)

• ADB_Etc.Zip -- archivers and other goodies.

  For starters, this contains three archivers.

  Two of these are shareware: PkZ204G.Exe (the last DOS version of PkZip) retails for $49, and Hyper.Zip (cost is free to noncommercial users, else $15 for commercial users).

  Rahul Desi's Zoo is free for all users (and contains a particularly excellent program called stuff, which is very much like Unix's find.)  Zoo is your best choice by far if you want to be freed of all possible licensing issues.

  Keep in mind that WinZip doesn't have a very accessible DOS command line, so you probably will need to use one of these if you want to have convenient backup sections in your DOS batch files.  DOS-based archivers also allow you to easily implement remote debugging without having to buy a license for PC-Anywhere on each PC that runs ADB.

  If you work for a firm that has a site license for WinZip, you might want to consult your legal department about the appropriateness of using the older, command-line-friendly version.

  The above zip also contains PCMZkM32.Zip, PC-Magazine's wonderful freeware keyboard remapper.  You'll have a tough time using most DOS programs until your CAPS LOCK key is remapped to ctrl.

  Breeze56.Zip (Breeze) is a handy shareware DOS text file editor with multiple windows, binary file support, and DOS "shelling" (return to the command line) built in.  You could theoretically stick with DOS EDIT (supplied with Windows), but I don't recommend it.

  DEdt0942.Zip (DEdit) is a freeware alternative to Breeze.  Unlike Breeze, DEdit will work with 32-bit FATs (file allocation tables), although DEdit has fewer features.  For those of you who prefer GUI interfaces, DEdit works from the desktop.

  TurboKey.Com is a freeware keyboard "speeder-upper" that makes your keyboard move much faster than anything Microsoft will ever give you.

  AnarkeyS.Zip is a shareware DOS command line editor which is vastly superior to DOSKey.  As with TurboKey, Breeze, and DEdit, you're not likely to see Microsoft ever produce anything of this quality.

  Please register your shareware!

• ADB_C.Zip -- soure C code.

  Freeware source C code for ADB and all its utilities.

  Much of it should compile on Unix cc/gcc+ with little trouble, although there are a few DOS-specific calls in ADB.

  All are single-module programs.  (ADB compiles in this way via a series of C prepocessor #include directives.)

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3:  Contents of ADB_Main.Zip

This entire zip unpacks to less than a megabyte.  I suggest that you retain all these files until you're certain that you don't need particular ones.

All the executable files here will print running instructions if you just enter their names at the DOS command line, with the exception of ADB itself (you have to type a space and then a question mark).

ADB.Exe, RPSort.Com, and DBCvt.Exe are mandatory for using ADB.

File:	Purpose:
ADBFiles.Txt	List of files and alternate zips
ADB*.HTM	Documentation files:  browse to adb.htm
ADB*.Bat	ADB_1.Bat, ADB_J.Bat, and ADB_U.Bat are the "helper" batch files, described in the second example.
ADB_Ex.Zip	Files for the extended example in this documentation.
ADB_Rp.Zip	Remaining files from RpSort's distribution zip (you must include these if you distribute RPSort.Com): Examples.Doc, RPTab.Exe, and RPTab.Pas.  Contrary to what's stated in the zip file, RPSort is now free to all users.  (The author died in 1992, and his brother, Alex, has graciously dedicated the program to the public domain.)
ADB.Exe	The main ADB module
BE2.Exe	Allows users to select options in DOS batch files: very useful for NT or Win2K/XP, which don't have Choice.Com: see the utilities section for more info.
Cat.Exe	GNU Cat, for concatenating files: see the utilities section for more info.
Cp.Exe	GNU Cp, for copying files: see the utilities section for more info., or see GNUHelp.Doc for the full GNU manual entry
Create0.Exe	Creates a file of zero length,see the utilities section for more info.
DBCvt.Exe	Converts from commas-n'-quotes to fixed length, and vice-versa., see the utilities section for more info.
Delim2CQ.Bat	Converts a file that uses a particular delimiter character to commas-n'-quotes: see the utilities section for more info.
DOSDate.Exe	Outputs a DOS batch file that sets the variable DOSDATE: see the utilities section for more info.
Ed.Exe	GNU Ed, for making complex changes to text files within DOS batch files: see the utilities section for more info., or see GNUHelp.Doc for the full GNU manual entry
ErrMsg.Exe	Prints an error message, asks the user to hit the space, and returns 1, see the utilities section for more info.
Excel.Awk	If you've copied an Excel file to your clipboard, pasted it into WordPad, and then saved it as "MS DOS Text," you can use this Awk script to convert it to commas-n'-quotes format; see the utilities section for more info.
FEcho.Exe	GNU Echo, more powerful than DOS echo: see the utilities section for more info., or see GNUHelp.Doc for the full GNU manual entry
FileBrk.Exe	Splits files up into chunks or puts them back together, see the utilities section for more info.
FileIncl.Exe	My "include preprocessor", probably of interest only to programmers, see the utilities section for more info.
FileMux.Exe	Splits files into chunks based on data in each record, see the utilities section for more info.
FileStat.Exe	Verifies existence, nonexistence, and/or executablility and/or emptiness, see the utilities section for more info.
FMkDir.Exe	GNU MkDir, more powerful than DOS MD: see the utilities section for more info., or see GNUHelp.Doc for the full GNU manual entry.
FSFGrep.Exe	GNU Grep, useful for identifying which files contain certain strings, and much more powerful than DOS find. see the utilities section for more info., or see GNUHelp.Doc for the full GNU manual entry.
GAwk.Exe	GNU Awk: the simple programming (script) language that ADB's designed to work with.  See the Awk primer for more info.
GAwk.Doc	Documentation for GNU Awk, the scripting language that comes with ADB.  You definitely do need to read this in order to get the most out of ADB.  You should first read the Awk primer in this documentation.
GetFld.Bat	Batch file to extract a field from a file.  Like Unix's "cut", see the utilities section for more info.
GetVal.Exe	My program to extract a variable value from a file: see the utilities section for more info., or see GNUHelp.Doc for the full GNU manual entry
GNUHelp.Doc	"Man" entries for all the GNU utilities.
LS.Exe	GNU LS: more powerful than DOS Dir: see the utilities section for more info., or see GNUHelp.Doc for the full GNU manual entry
Mv.Exe	GNU Mv: more powerful than DOS Move: see the utilities section for more info., or see GNUHelp.Doc for the full GNU manual entry
OSQLRf?.Exe	OSQLRf1 and OSQLRf2 work together to reformat the output of a SELECT query issued from the OSQL command line.  If you have the program OSQL.Exe on your system (or server), these two ADB utilities can crunch the output (this includes MSDE, SQL, FoxPro, and all other DBMSs that follow the ODBC standard).  The final product consists of the data in commas-n'-quotes format, as well as a set of FLD definitions and a FLDSET definition for the file (which you can then use with ADB).  The full OSQL documentation is available at http://rs-freeware.org/osql.
Repl.Exe	Puts together "segments" of records in multiple files, along with optional constants.  Can also be used to overcome the shortcomings of the DOS Echo command, see the utilities section for more info.
Rm.Exe	GNU Rm: more powerful than DOS Del: see the utilities section for more info., or see GNUHelp.Doc for the full GNU manual entry.
RpSort.Com	Robert Pirko's sort (a subprocess of ADB).
RpSort.Doc	Documentation for RPSort, ADB's subsidiary sort program.   (You don't need to read this unless you want to use RPSort by iteself).
Sleep.Exe	Sleeps for a certain number of seconds: useful for writing NT server "daemon" processes that crunch data extracted from the web ... see the utilities section for more info.
StrRepl.Exe	Mutiple file string search-and-replace, see the utilities section for more info.
StripEOF.Exe	Strips the DOS EOF (AKA control-Z) off of ASC text files, see the utilities section for more info.
Tr.Exe	GNU Tr: complex utility for translating "hexadecimal" characters: see the utilities section for more info., or see GNUHelp.Doc for the full GNU manual entry
View.Exe	Large file viewer, see the utilities section for more info.
80_Pixel.Gif	"Spacer" GIF for the doc.
ColorLin.Gif	"Divider" GIF for the doc.

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