                           Ye Olde Help File

This help file is provided to make it easy for you to grasp the madness
behind RONCODIR, and how to best use the program. The examples in this
Zip file are for the CICA Shareware Collection CD for September 1994.
If you have this CD, you may only need to change the DOS drive letter
before using the enclosed RONCODIR.CFG file. After you have documented
your CD, it's a good idea to rename the RONCODIR.CFG file to something
recognizable in the future. Such as CICA94.CFG in this case. That way
you can make changes, and recompile the entire DIR collection without
having to enter any data from scratch!

The CICA CD from Walnut Creek has a file called DIRS.TXT in the root
directory, and that's the one you want to use as a template for making
the RONCODIR.CFG file. On other CD's just look for a similar directory
listing. What you want is something that has the paths to the files
defined, along with a short description of the area. That becomes the
basis of the RONCODIR.FAR file that is created by the program. Below
is a snippet from the DIRS.TXT file from the CICA CD.

\DOCS                        Walnut Creek CDROM Documentation
\win3\access                 MS Access Utilities
\win3\demo                   Demo Windows Files

--- Lines Deleted ---


Below is the 'doctored' version of the same file. Notice, that the
only thing that was added was a drive designation and the files.bbs
to each path. Obviously the docs directory is not something a user
wants to see, so I deleted that line. Also, don't forget to block
off the area description with quotes as shown.

i:\win3\access\files.bbs                 "MS Access Utilities"
i:\win3\demo\files.bbs                   "Demo Windows Files"

--- Lines Deleted ---

Next, and most important, you need to tell RONCODIR what to do. The
mask variable 'has' to be defined! Otherwise the program won't know
how to name your DIR files. Check the docs for further options that
you can use here. Skip 5 tells RONCODIR to walk around the first 5
lines of the FILES.BBS listing. It contains a header that you surely
don't want to use in your DIR list. Also, don't ever forget the end
keyword, or RONCODIR will waltz through the entire list looking for
its commands, and it won't process anything. Following the end
statement is where your actual directory listing starts.

mask cd1-?.dir
skip 5
end

i:\win3\access\files.bbs                 "MS Access utilities"
i:\win3\demo\files.bbs                   "Demo Windows Files"

--- Lines Deleted ---

Now, if you did everything right, then you should have a completed
DIR file for each area in the listing you gave to RONCODIR along
with a RONCODIR.FAR file that you need to rename. The following is
a portion of the DIR file as a reference for what you should get. 

;                                                 Ŀ
;͵  The Bit Bucket BBS  
;                                                
;              Shareware for Windows Collection              
;                  (cica September 1994 CD)                  
;                                                            
;ͼ
;
I:\WIN3\ACCESS\ACC_IN.ZIP     1541513 08-03-94 ACC_IN.ZIP   Utility for acc_kb.zip
I:\WIN3\ACCESS\ACC_KB.ZIP     1212063 10-08-93 ACC_KB.ZIP   Knowledge Base for Microsoft Access for
!>Windows

--- Lines Deleted ---

Well, that about does it. It's that easy! It was all done by invoking
the /A and /F options when RONCODIR was started. The /A is the auto.
feature, and the /F option forces RONCODIR to construct the DIR files
with the actual file sizes and dates from the CD.

The following files are included in this archive:

RONCODIR.FAR  -  The RONCODIR.FAR file produced by RONCODIR.
RONCODIR.CFG  -  The RONCODIR.CFG file for CICA Sept. 94 CD.
RONCOHDR.DAT  -  An example RONCODIR.HDR file for this CD.
   CD1-1.DIR  -  The RONCODIR generated DIR for area #1.
    DIRS.TXT  -  The listing from the CICA CD.

Good luck,
Harry
