Filer6

Simplifies and expands the HP49G+ standard filer

Filer6 requires at least ROM 1.23 for the 49G+. For a 49G+ or 49G with an older ROM version use one of the filers of the package Filers. Main advantages over the standard filer are:

These shiftings are RS N (CHARS) for name sorting because unshifted N has become EVAL on the 49+,  and LS 2 (DEF) for defining a new file. Some shiftings, e.g. leftshift N, are redundant since key I toggles Inversion for every kind of sorting.


Version 3.2204: Return to simplicity. Document reading removed since it is supported by Docfiler and by Headman.

First Version released February 2004  -  Abbreviations: LS = LeftShift, RS = RightShift. 


BASIC OPERATION

The main application menu in Filer6 has two pages as follows:

EDITB    VIEW      COPY     KEYS    PURGE     RCL
   IOP         OVW?     SEND     RECV    XSEND    SD

crib sheet to hardkey of Filer6All other options are on hard keys.The menu option KEYS informs you of active keys during a filers run as shown by the screen shot. Active hard keys are listed in more detail below and referred to by the letter on it - provided there is any. After a while, you'll remember the relevant keys. Options from page 1 others than KEYS are self-explaining. PURGE is executed with or without confirmation, depending on flag -76. Like COPY, PURGE and RCL, it may be used with multiselection. Selection is done with the +/- key. EDITB ("Edit Best") edits like , while LS EDITB edits an object always in a command line like LS . For instance, pressing EDITB on PERIOD in the CAS menu, you see 2pi in the equation writer, but pressing LS EDITB one sees '2*pi' in the edit line. In addition, there is a SysRPL editor on RS EDITB, displaying PERIOD as "SYMBOL ZINT 2 xPI x*". This function should only be used by those familiar with the basics of SysRPL. Note that COPY and MOVE overwrite an equally named backup if copying from a directory to a port.

IOP is the most comfortable I/O parameter setter one can imagine. It sets a screen and menu for toggling wire/infrared and ascii/binary and cycling through all admissible IOPAR values relevant for the 49+. CANCEL and OK leave the IOP box and set the currently displayed values which the user might have changed.  Reset is the last option in the IOP menu. Remember that the reserved variable IOPAR does not include a setting of wire/infrared or ascii/binary transfer! ~OVW toggles the Overwrite flag. The transfer options SEND, RECV and XSEND can be used with multiple choice.

SD copies the selected files to the SD-card. If a library was selected, a directory LIBS is created on the card if not already present in which the library is stored. If being on the card, SD copies the selected files to the port choosen  from a port choose box. If beeing in HOME or another directory, SD may still do something different because from a directory files can be copied to the card with COPY. Hence, in this case SD saves all standard ports on the card in one keystroke. This amazing function allows returning a defective unit to the dealer and keeping all data on a card, including all libraries! HOME backups with long names are not transfered to the card  Clearly, these need not be tranfered since dated HOME backups can directly very easily be created on the card with the SPC key. Attention: In contrast to COPY, SD never overwrites. A library on the card is always saved in the directory LIBS on the card as long as SD is used. If two objects have the same backup name in different standard ports, only the one with smaller port number is saved on the card. This concerns in particular distinct versions of the same library in different ports.

Arrow keys work as in the built-in filer. For instance, goes UPDIR,  to a  selected directory. Most hardkey options are active only if the main appl menu is present, TREE has its own menu. More options can be added to the APPS box. But these must not affect the filers application menu. For instance, from APPS you may directly run the Constants lib and I/O-functions  inside a filer. Trivially valid hardkeys in the filers are not listed below (e.g. CANCEL, TurnOff). Keys working both with a single item and multiple items are marked with an asterisk.

Hard Keys in the filers
APPS choose box (for calling additonal options inside the filers).
Toggle two distinct Header views of the filer. 
Toggle inverse sorting provided a sorting (Name, Size, Type) is active.
(VAR) Toggle variables only, or long library titles if in a port. 
(STO) store the level 1 object in the selected name by overwriting it. If  in a port, the level 1 object is stored in the current directory under a corresponding name. The backup object itself is not overwritten.
L Toggle the built-in languages in Filer1. Same as LANG on page 2 in other filers.
M * Move file to another directory or to a port. Backups in ports will be overwritten.
N Does EVAL. Name sorting is on  RS N.
O * Order a set of selected files in a directory.
P Pause (HALT). Return to the filer with CONT. The HLT indicatore remains (bug) but disappears with U.
  Enters the TREE from anywhere. In ports or in HOME the TREE is also set with .
Q Quote the selected name. Quoting in ports includes port-tag. In card directories also the entire path.
R Rename. Beeps in a port since libraries and backups cannot be renamed.
S Size sorting of files. 
T Type sorting of files.
U Unsort, original order after any sorting. Removes also selection marks and updates the header (clock etc). 
V Version information as displayed in this screen shot.Version display
W (+/-) Select and go to next or previous item.
ALPHA Find a file name after waiting for its first letter in ALPHA mode after pressing ALPHA twice. Case-sensive search. For names starting with $ or other special symbols shift has to be used to obtain the character.
   . (dot) Immediate return to HOME from anywhere,. also from a directory below HOME.
0,1,2,3 Immediate entry to ports 0, 1, 2 or 3 (SD-card) from anywhere.
     9 Toggles clock display. Can be actualized with key U
 SPC SPC hit in a directoryWorks differently depending on whether in a directory or a port. In a directory (whicch may be HOME), a choose box is launched as shown in the screen shot. HIDE hides the selected files(s) in the current directory. It creates a nullnamed file displayed in the filer as
                       ''...''´´      CHAR      3
which separates visibles from hiddens by putting the latter behind the nullname ´´ which contains a small dummy (character H by default). Hidden files work normally and are invisible only in the VAR menu, hence are well protected against unintended overwriting. UNHIDE uncovers the selected files by putting them on top of the directory. If nothing is selected, just the scanned name will be unhidden. Note that anything can be stored in the nullname ´´ with the filer's STO function. Also the so-called Hidden directory has a nullname but this one is unvisible in filers.

SPC hit  in a port sets this choose boxWhen pressing SPC in port (including the SD-card), a choose box with the items seen in the example screen is set. ARCHIVE archives the entire HOME directory including key assignments in the scanned port, with date and time appended (on the card only date). The screen-shot shows such a HOME backup name just below the choose box. Date format depends on flag -42. Key VAR uncovers the time of creation. Since the card does not accept long names, a HOME backup name on the card contains only the date. For restoring, first press key T. This puts all candidates for RESTORE closely together. Then select the desired HOME backup and press RESTORE.

ENTER Enter the selected directory and leave the filer. Equivalent to running CHDIR at the end of the built-in filer menu and then leaving with CANCEL.

HINT for newbees. We recommend storing Filer6 in Port2 and attaching it to a key. For instance, to LS APPS, so that swapping USR mode toggles the selected Filer with the built-in filer. If you don't have libs in the ports or only very few, COPY may save them on the card. But if many libs are used, they are better saved with SD to get them in a separate card directory

HINT for advanced users: The access to APPS makes the filers more powerful. E.g., if the APPS box contains BZDIR from OT49, the scanned directory can be compressed as a whole inside the filer. Keep a copy of Filer6 in Port2, for having access to it via the standard filer after a crash  - a filer invokes another one smoothly. RS EDITB applies ASM2 for recompilation. Hence, extable should exist and the libraries 256 and 257 attached (which is granted provided OT49 is present). 


CREDITS. Thanks to Jean-Yves Avenard for creating flexible filer-tools


Wolfgang Rautenberg - raut@math.fu-berlin.de - www.math.fu-berlin.de/~raut