At some point you will need to add files to your file directories. You could be starting your BBS for the first time and adding new files, or you may have obtained a large number of files that you would like to add to a particular file directory. This section discusses the steps necessary to add files to a particular file directory.

To help illustrate this technique we are going to use a very simple setup as an example. In our sample setup, all files are stored in the Main Board and there are only two directories defined in DIR.LST which looks like the following:

   DIR Text File Name & Path       Hard Disk Subdirectory       Sort
   -------------------------       ----------------------       ----

1) C:\PCB\GEN\DIR1 D:\DEMO\ 1

2)   C:\PCB\GEN\DIR2                 F:\UTILS\                      1

The first thing you need to do once you have decided on the directory that you want to add files to is to copy the files you want to add to the subdirectory specified in the Hard Disk Subdirectory field.

Once the files have been copied to the subdirectory, run PCBFiler so you can describe the files you just copied.

Use the Edit DIR Files menu option to load the directory you copied the files to into the directory editor. Make sure you answer Y to the Include files found on DISK that are not listed in the DIR file. If you do not, you will not be able to describe these files because they will not be listed in the Directory Editor.

Once the file is loaded into the editor, you can go to the end of the directory by pressing CTRL-PgDn twice. You will see the filenames you copied to the directory listed with either a DSK or a D next to the filename. This is telling you that file exists in the subdirectory but there is no description for the file.
Now simply move over to the description field and start entering descriptions for the files you copied to the directory. When you are done entering all of the descriptions, press E to exit the Editor and save your changes.

You can use command line parameters to modify what PCBFiler will do when it loads. To use a command line parameter add the parameter after PCBFILER.EXE. For example, you may type PCBFILER.EXE /LIST:3. The /LIST:3 in this example is the command line parameter.

When PCBFiler loads, you will immediately be taken to the conference number you specify so you may begin editing file directories. You are locked into this conference, and you cannot return to the Main Menu of PCBFiler.

For example, if you typed in PCBFILER /CONF:0 you may see the following:

PCBFiler - A Utility for PCBoard Directories
           Directory Selection

Available DIR numbers are 0 for PRIVATE and 1 through 1 Enter Number of Main Board DIR to Edit ? 1

Notice that you do not have to go through all of the menus to get where you need to get going. In addition, this is very handy if you have conference SysOp or co-SysOps that you wantto lock into a particular conference so they do not edit files in conferences you do not want them to access.

This command line parameter is identical to the /CONF:[conf] parameter with one exception. Instead of specifying a conference number to be locked into, PCBFiler will pull the current conference from the PCBOARD.SYS in the current directory. If the PCBOARD.SYS does not have a conference number in it (because nobody is online), PCBFiler will return back to DOS.

PCBFiler needs to access the PCBOARD.DAT file so it can access information about your various file directories. Normally, PCBFiler will look in the current directory for the PCBOARD.DAT file. However, you can tell it where to find the file by using this command line parameter.

Simply replace the [location of PCBOARD.DAT] with the full path and filename where it can be found (e.g., C:\PCB\PCBOARD.DAT).

  PCBFILER /FILE:C:\PCB\PCBOARD.DAT

The example above will load PCBFiler and tell it to use the PCBOARD.DAT located in C:\PCB. If you did not use this parameter, only the current directory will be searched.

Using this command line parameter is equivalent to selecting Create Files List from the PCBFiler Main Menu. If you use /LIST as the command line parameter, the conferences that will be included in the list will be those that are listed in Defaults Page 2. You may override these conferences by specifying a : after the /LIST followed by a list of conferences you want to include in the file lists.

  PCBFILER /LIST:1

The above example would create a file list using only the files that are available from conference 1 on your system.

PCBFILER /LIST:0-10,15

This command line will create a file list of all files available in conferences 0 through 10 and conference 15.

If you have files that change dates or sizes on a regular basis, you may want to update the file descriptions to show the current file date and size. This command line option enables you to update the file size and the file date.

NOTE: In order to update the date, you must have answered Y to the Update FILE DATE with date found on disk file option in Defaults Page 1.

In order for this command line switch to work, you must specify the conference number and the directory number in the conference you want to update.

By adding :A to the end of the command line, PCBFiler will search all directories in your DLPATH.LST for the conference you specify to see if it can find the file on disk. If the file cannot be found in the default location for the file directory or in the DLPATH.LST file, PCBFiler will not be able to update the file information.

  PCBFILER /PROCESS:0:1

This example would update the file information of file directory

PCBFILER /PROCESS:1:1:A

The example above would update the file directories in directory

search all subdirectories listed in DLPATH.LST if it cannot find the file in the default location for the file directory.

This is the equivalent of selecting Scan for Duplicate/Missing Files from the PCBFiler Main Menu. This is most useful if you regularly scan for duplicate or missing files within an event. Remember, the report will be written to ANALYSIS.RPT in the current subdirectory.

The only exception between this and the /SCAN parameter is that you may override the conferences you listed to include in dupe/missing scan in Defaults Page 2. Simply enter the conferences to include in the scan after the colon. For example, to include conferences 0-39 in the duplicate/missing scan, enter the following:

PCBFILER /SCAN:0-39

Using this command line parameter is equivalent to selecting Sort all DIR Files from the Main Menu. The only difference is you are not asked if you wish to sort only the upload directories of each conference. All directory files will be sorted according to the methods you specified in DIR.LST.

All upload directories in all conferences will be re-sorted. The sort method used will be the one defined in the conference configuration.
Remember, only the upload directories (private and public) will be sorted. If you want to have all directories sorted, use /SORT instead.