Some quick notes about ZBLIST, Beta release 7Y: - 18 December 2016

ZBLIST is being developed because Vern Buerg's LIST.COM does not work under newer versions of Windows on 64-bit machines. I have had a few requests for an early PRE-release, so ... HERE IT IS.  This project is not complete by any means. I'm sure it has a few bugs as well.  Here are the features/limitations. 

Want to make a donation?  See below. Without donations, work on ZBList will not continue.

What’s new in release 7Y

• Minor bugs fixed
• Added the ability to restrict text searches to specific columns (See below)
• Added date format of DD-MM-YYYY at the request of a contributor

ALSO:

• See the documentation of the CONFIG file in WORD or RTF format.

What ZBList does have that LIST.COM does not do.

• Expandable screen sizes, up to and including full-screen. Use the mouse/cursor to stretch/shrink the ZBList window.
• More colors
• No limit for number of files in a directory. LIST.COM was limited to about 1000 entries.
• File sizes up to two gigabytes. I believe LIST.COM had trouble with files over 16mb.
• A CONFIG file to establish ZBList parameters.
• Ability to find text in specific columns

What ZBLIST does not have (yet):

• Piped input
• A help command if one hits F1
• Finding text in HEX mode
• Any feature that is not listed below is unavailable at this time, but under consideration for the subsequent releases. 

START Mode

What it does at start-up (START Mode).

• Based on input parameters, ZBList looks for a CONFIG file as documented here in WORD format or here in RTF format.
• If no parameters are present, ZBLIST enters DIRectory mode and lists the current directory.
• If the passed parameter is a directory, ZBLIST enters DIR mode and lists the named directory.  (e.g. ZBLIST     \MYDIR\OLDFILES)
• If one or more file names are passed as parameters, ZBLIST starts in LIST mode and lists the files named.  Use the "Q" button to scroll to the next file. 
  e.g. "ZBLIST WHAMMY*.TXT" will list all files in which the first six characters are WHAMMY and the last four characters are .TXT.
  Users can forward scroll to the next file with the Q, Ctrl-N, or Ctrl-PgDn.  Users can scroll to previous files with Ctrl-U, or Ctrl-PgUp.  Users can go back to the first file with "1" (one).  Note: if ZBLIST can not find the file name specified, ZBList will append “.TXT” to the file name. If that file name does not exist, ZBList will append “.*” to the file name.
• If one or more files are passed as parameters AND the user specifies "/d" in the parm, ZBLIST goes into DIR mode and lists the file names specified.
• Effective with release 7U or 8U, screen settings are based on the /Y parameter. If the optional parameter /Y(parm) is entered, ZBLIST examines the parm for the following:
  ** If Cnn is entered (nn is any number from 06 to 20), ZBLIST uses the Consolas font with a font size of "nn".  (e.g. a parm of /YC12 sets ZBLIST to use 12-point Consolas font.
  ** If Fnn is entered (nn is any number from 06 to 20), ZBLIST uses the Fixedsys font with a font size of "nn".  (e.g. a parm of /YF09 sets ZBLIST to use 9-point Fixdsys font.
  ** If Lnn is entered (nn is any number from 06 to 20), ZBLIST uses the Lucinda Console font with a font size of "nn".  (e.g. a parm of /YL16 sets ZBLIST to use 16-point Lucinda Console font.
  ** If Nnn is entered (nn is any number from 06 to 20), ZBLIST uses the Courier-New font with a font size of "nn".  (e.g. a parm of /YN11 sets ZBLIST to use 11-point Courier-New font.
  ** If Tnn is entered (nn is any number from 06 to 20), ZBLIST uses the Terminal font (a.k.a. Code page 437) with a font size of "nn".  (e.g. a parm of /YT7 sets ZBLIST to use 7-point Terminal font.  Vern Buerg's LIST.COM used the Terminal font. 
  ** If B is entered, then ZBLIST sets the background color to black and the foreground color to light gray.
  ** If Sxy is entered (x and y are digits 0-5), then ZBLIST sets the screen size from the minimum (zero) to maximum (five) in the x (horizontal) or y (vertical) direction.&bnsp; e.g. S35 sets the horizontal window to 3/5 of the screen, and the vertical size of the screen to the full screen size.  S00 sets the screen size to 24 rows of 80 characters, while S55 sets the ZBLIST window to full screen. 
  All of the /Y parms can be combined.  For example, a parm of /YS55N16B sets the ZBLIST window to full-screen, uses 16-point Courier font, and sets the background color to black. 

Any Mode after startup

What ZBLIST does in any mode after startup:

• Alt-G spawns a new DOS window in the current directory without terminating ZBLIST. 
• Alt-W spawns an additional copy of ZBLIST in the current directory.  The two executions of ZBLIST run independently (concurrently) of each other. 
• F5 thru F8 - Change colors.  When hitting F5 - F8, users will be prompted for the color for that particular aspect of ZBLIST (see below).  The colors Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet, Cyan, Magenta, White, blacK, and grAy can be entered by name, or by R, O, Y, G, B, I, V, C, M, W, K (for blacK), and A (for grAy), respectively.  In addition, users can specify the first three or more letters of Brown, Chocolate, Gold, Khaki, Lime, Maroon, NavyBlue, Peach, Olive, Purple, Silver, SkyBlue, Tan, or Turquoise.  In addition, users may append one-to-five plus signs ("+") to lighten or one-to-five minus signs ("-") to darken any color.  (e.g. specify "Lime++" for a light lime color).  Alternately, colors can be entered with the 6-character HEX RGB equivalent (e.g. FF0000 for red, FFD700 for gold, etc),
• F5 - Change the background color of the main display (ZBLIST starts with this value set to Peach).
• F6 - Change the color of lettering of file names (in DIR mode) and the color of lettering when listing a file (ZBLIST starts this in Black). 
• Ctrl-F6 - Change the coloring of the letters for directory entries when in DIR mode (ZBLIST starts this in a light blue, 0x0000C0).
• F7 - Change the background coloring of the top/bottom lines (from gray).
• Alt-F7 - Change the color of the background of the cursor when in DIR mode. (ZBLIST starts this with a light gold (Gold+++) (RGB = 0xFFF1A6),
• F8 - Change the lettering of the top/bottom lines of the display.  ZBLIST starts this in black (0x000000). 
• F10 - Exit ZBLIST

DIR Mode

What ZBLIST DOES do when listing a directory (ZBLIST calls this DIR mode)

• Mouse support: In DIR and ZIP modes only, the mouse can be used to jump around the directory listing.
• Click on any member to jump to that member
• Click on the top line within the first five characters to jump to the top of the DIR listing (Equivalent to CTL-Home)
• Click on the top line anywhere else to jump up one page (equivalent to PgUp)
• Click on the bottom line in the lower right five characters to jump to the last member (equivalent to CTL-End)
• Click on the bottom line to go down one page. (equivalent to PgDn)
• Double-click on any member is the equivalent of hitting enter on that member.
• Use cursor keys (up, down, right, left, Pg-Up, Pg-Dn, Home, End) to move around the page.
• Use Ctrl-End, Ctrl-Home to move to 1st/last file in a directory.
• 0-9 - The numbers zero through nine select the number of columns for the directory listing. "0" is the max for the screen size.  More columns means that more files (but less data for each file) per page are displayed.  Fewer columns means that fewer files (but more data for each file) are displayed on each page.  ZBLIST starts with this value set to "4".  At a minimum, ZBLIST displayes the old 12-byte file name format with an 8-byte name followed by a period followed by the old three-byte extension (e.g. ZBLIST.EXE). If only one or two columns are displayed, then ZBLIST displays
  (A) - The 12 byte old file name,
  (B) - The number of bytes in the file.  Larger files may have "k" or "m" appended to indicate that the file size should be multiplied by 1024 or 1048576 respectively. 
  (C) - The date/time of last modification in the format yyyy-mm-dd hh:mm. 
  (D) - The file attributes "A" for archive, "S" for system, "H" for hidden, and "R" for read-only. 
  (E) - The full long file name.  If there is insufficient room to display the entire file name, ZBLIST places a tilde ("~") at the end to signify that more data exists. 
• If the shift key is depressed and any letter is hit, the cursor jumps to the first entry that begins with that letter.  (e.g. Shift-W positions the cursor to the first directory entry that begins with "W"). 
• B - Create a temporary backup copy of a file in the same directory.  It copies the file to another file in the same directory named _Zyymmdd.ZBhhmmBU.(old file name) where: yymmdd is the current date and hhmm is the current time.  This is a temporary file which may get scratched by future releases of ZBLIST when the file is more than 30 days old.  For example, ABCD.DOC would have a copy created named _Z100630.ZB1425BU.ABCD.DOC.  ZBLIST temporary files will be better documented in the future.  For now, realize that ZBLIST is creating a short-term working backup copy of a file for TEMPORARY backup purposes.  When implemented in the future, ZBLIST will delete temporary files older than 30 days (even files that are created now).  The long-term purpose of this feature is to create a backup copy of a file just before it is edited.  If a user makes a catastrophic mistake, they could just revert to the backup copy.  (It is assumed users will discover their mistake within 30 days) 
• C - Copy a file - ZBLIST prompts for the new location and/or new name.
• D - Delete a file (actually move it to the recycle bin) - Use "Alt-D" to move a file to the recycle bin without prompting.
• E - Edit the file using the command "EDIT filename".  If "EDIT" is not a valid command on your system, create a .BAT file named EDIT.BAT.  If the CTRL key is down when "E" is hit (i.e. CTRL-E), a temporary backup copy of the file is made (see the B command above). 
  Note: If you want to use NOTEPAD, see the "O" command, below. 
  Note: On 04-JAN-11, someone reported a bug wherein file names that contain imbedded blanks do not work.  This will be fixed in the next release. 
• Alt-E - For users who want to use their own editor, Alt-E invokes a command ZBEDIT drive dir filename complete_file_name, where drive is the drive on which the file exists, dir is the directory on which the file exists, filename is the filename of the file, and complete_file_name is the fully-qualified path/file name.  I created a 3-line .BAT file named ZBEDIT.BAT which contains %1: on the first line, thence CD %2 on the second line, and thence EDIT %3 on the third line. Together, these three lines are used to edit the file.  Users can create their own .BAT file and use the parameters as desired. 
• F - Enter file specifications.
• CTL-F – Place the currently displayed directory listing in a text file. The default file name is $$ZBList_Directory.txt in the current directory. Alternately, the name of the file to receive the directory listing can be specified with the DIRFILE command in the configuration file
• Alt-G (Also Alt-X) - Start (spawn) a new DOS session using the current directory as the starting directory. ZBList continues running. (See X below)
• I - Invoke the file as a command.  It is assumed that the file is a .BAT, .EXE, or .COM file, otherwise, users will be prompted if they wish to continue.  Thence, users will be prompted as to the parms to be passed to the invoked program.  (If no parms, then just hit enter or click "OK")  The current directory will be changed to the directory in which the program resides and the program will be called.  ZBLIST will wait for the program to complete.
• L - Change to LIST mode and display the file on which the cursor resides.  This is the same as hitting the Enter key. 
• M - Move a file/directory (you will be prompted for destination)
• O - The letter "O", not zero.   Similar to E, this command invokes "NOTEPAD filename".  Note: Use Ctrl-O to create a backup copy before NOTEPAD is called. 
• P - Change current directory or current drive.  Wild-card characters ("?" or "*") are allowed.  Wild-card character "*" is assumed at the end if no wild-card characters are supplied, and ZBLIST will path to the first directory that meets that specification. 
• Q - Quit (if in DIR mode) or return to list the most recently listed file.  (See below for LIST mode. 
• R - Rename a file
• S - Sort the directory.  Unlike LIST.COM, when a directory is sorted in date sequence, the directory is also sorted by date.  Use "F" to sort by file name (directories sorted first).  Use "D" to sort by date sequence.  Use "N" to sort by name with directories interleaved in file names.  Use "S" to sort by size (number of bytes).  Precede F, D, N, or S with a minus sign (-) to sort the items in descending sequence.  (e.g. "-D" to sort in descending date sequence, "+S" to sort in ascending size sequence). 
• V – If the cursor is positioned on a file name that is a ZIP file, ZBList will enter ZIP mode. ZIP mode is similar to DIR mode but a ZIP directory is listed. Use “V” to list all files, including any associated directory stored with the filename. Use CTL-V to display only file names.
• W - Toggle Word-wrap. If Word-wrap is "on", files being listed in ASCII mode will "break" at the end of the line, or if a "break" character is found in the last 9 columns of a line. A "break" character is 0X00, a blank, a minus sign, or a 0XA0
• X - Start a new DOS session using the current directory as the starting directory.  Thence ZBLIST terminates. (see ALT-G to not end ZBList).
• “?” (question mark) if entered when the cursor is on the “PARENT DIR” selection, ZBList prompts for one CONFIG command as documented here in WORD format or here in RTF format.
• Esc - Escape - Exit ZBLIST
• "*" (asterisk) - Refresh the directory listing. 
• Enter - Change from DIR mode to LIST mode and display the file on which the cursor resides.  This is the same as "L". 
• "." (period) - Jump to the parent directory.  This has the same effect as hitting Ctrl-Home and thence hitting Enter. 

LIST Mode

What ZBLIST does when listing a file (ZBLIST calls this LIST mode) . Note: ZBList took a more Windows-like approach to cut-and-paste. See: Ctl-A, Ctl-B, Ctl-C, Ctl-T, & Ctl-V

• Use cursor keys (up, down, right, left, Pg-Up, Pg-Dn, Home, End) to move around the file. 
• 1 (the number 1) quit listing the current file and go back to the first file in the file list.
• 7 or 8 to display 7-bit ASCII (ignoring the high-order bit) or 8-bit ASCII.
• F3 (or "A") to find the next text; F9 to find the previous text.  (See: "F", below)
• Ctrl-A - Mark the 1^st line of the file and the last line of the file in preparation for copying the entire file to the Windows’ clipboard.
• Ctrl-B – Mark the line that is displayed on the bottom of the screen
• Ctrl-C – Take the two most-recently marked lines, and all the lines between those two lines, and copy the contents to the Windows’ clipboard. Thence, unmark the lines.
• E - to display the file in EBCDIC (Hit "E" again to return to ASCII display
• "F" or "S" or "\" or "/" to find text.  "F" and "\" finds text regardless of case.  "S" and "/" finds text which is case-sensitive.  Lines containing the text are listed in bold (the entire line).  The next found text is bookmarked (see: Alt-Y).  Currently, ZBLIST only supports ASCII text finds.  ZBLIST does not support searches while listing in HEX mode at this time.  See NOTE 1, for information on restricting text search to specific columns.
• Alt-H - to display a file in hex.  Note: If the screen is more than 116 characters wide, ZBLIST will display 32 characters per line.  If the screen is more than 125 characters wide, the ASCII line number (in decimal) will be displayed on the right as well. 
• Ctrl-N - quit listing the current file and list the next file of a list.
• Q - quit listing the current file and list the next file. 
• Alt-R to display column numbers on top.
• S - Finds case-sensitive text (see "F")
• Ctrl-T – Mark the line that is currently at the top of the display.
• Ctrl-U - quit listing the current file and list the previous file of a list.
• Ctrl-V – Unmark all lines (see Ctrl-A, Ctrl-B, and Ctrl-T)
• Ctrl-Y to bookmark the top line listed on an ASCII display
• Alt-Y to return to the previous bookmark.  Keep hitting Alt-Y to cycle through previous (up to 25) bookmarks. 
• * (asterisk) is used for a junk filter. If listing a file in ASCII mode, ZBList will treat the listing the same as “7” and ignore the high-order bit. If displaying the file in HEX mode, the ASCII portion of the listing will display all non-standard characters as a period (“.”). Non standard characters are those characters other than 0X20-0X7F.
• # is used to jump to a specific line number (if listing in ASCII mode).  You will be prompted for the line number.  If you are listing a file in HEX (see: Alt-H), then you will be prompted for the byte position within the file.  Precede the line number or byte number with H or X to indicate a hexadecimal byte number.  (e.g. "H1000" or "X1000" are equivalent to decimal "4096"). 
• + The plus sign is used to jump forward a relative number of lines (if listing in ASCII mode) or number of bytes (if listing in HEX mode).  For example, to jump forward 3000 lines, enter "+", then enter "3000" when prompted.  To jump forward &H4000 (16384) bytes, enter either "16384" or "&h4000". 
• - The minus sign is used to jump backward a relative number of lines (if listing in ASCII mode) or number of bytes (if listing in HEX mode).  You will be prompted as to how many lines/bytes you wish to move backwards in the file.
• / or \ - Used for finding text. See: "F", above
• Ctrl-Pgup - quit listing the current file and list the previous file of a list.
• Ctrl-PgDn - quit listing the current file and list the next file of a list.
• Ctrl-Left (arrow) - Go left to column 1.
• Ctrl-Right (arrow) - Go right to the last column of the longest record on the current page. 
• Esc - Escape: Exit LIST mode, return to DIR mode.

NOTE 1

· A new feature added in version 7Y allows for data searches that restrict columns when one enters "F", "S", "/", or "\" in LIST mode.

· For example, if one wants to find "ABCD", but only if it starts in column 14, specify "@14=ABCD" without the quotes. Or if one wants to find "qwer" that falls between columns 7 and 33 (inclusive), specify, "@7/33=qwer". In this case, the text must start after column 6 and end before column 34.

· The FIND parameter must start with "@" and the text starts after "=". A forward slash separates the column numbers if both a beginning and ending column number are specified.

· If the desired text (A) starts with "@" and (B) contains "=", one MUST use this option. For example, if one is looking for any line that contains "@", Specify, "@1/999=@". Kapish?

· A caveat: If one has chosen to hi-lite found text (a feature added in 2013), ZBList will only find the text in the specific columns, but all found text will be hi-lited. So, for example, if one enters "@4/19=4088", ZBList will only stop whenever "4088" appears between columns 4 to 19, but all occurrences of "4088" on that page will be hi-lited.

Donations:

January, 2014 - When I purchased my first 64-bit computer in the summer of 2009, I found out that 16-bit programs like LIST.COM did not work.  I assumed someone would come along and write a similar program.  I emailed Vern Buerg. Vern said that it was doubtful that he was going to write a 32-bit (or 64-bit) version. After four months, I started to write something.  Five months later, I had my first version.  I assumed that people would thank me with donations.  Well, in three years, ZBLIST has received a total of $1660 in donations (Thanks, Rob, Kevin, Wayne, Mark, Tommy, Bret, Lynn, Gerd, and one anonymous donor for your $100 donations).  All-in-all, that's about half of minimum wage.  I didn't expect to retire on ZBLIST like Vern did, but I was hoping for more support than I’ve received.  Anyone contributing $25 or more will get a version of ZBLIST that does not nag you for a donation after a few months.  Anyone contributing $40 or more will be allowed a one-time upgrade to the next version, assuming ZBLIST is still active.  If you have a ZBLIST feature that you would like added, a contribution would move your request towards the top of the request queue.  You can contribute by:

• Check or cash to C. Woodworth; 20 Sherburn Circle; Weston, MA 02493 (Please include your email address) (My son and I both share the first initial, “C”)

Other:

• I started this project in December, 2009, before Vern Buerg had passed away.  I'm a bit discouraged that I'm only receiving about three emails a month about ZBLIST.  It's enough to keep me going, but this is mostly a spare-time project.  If it looks like it might be a viable product for better development, I shall give it more time. 
• Please report any errors to me at yellowspoon@verizon.net. 
• Email me if you're hot-to-trot over a feature that I haven't included, yet.  I wrote this utility with my own needs in mind. 
• ZBLIST only supports long file names.  The 8.3 file name normally displayed on the left during a directory listing is only to be compatible with LIST.COM.
• If directory names or file names contain embedded blanks, ZBLIST may have a problem.  I've corrected some issues, but some may still be outstanding.  Please email me if you have a problem in this area (or any area). 
• If you're lazy, like I am, and you use ZBLIST as frequently as I do, I suggest creating a short-named Z.BAT so that you only have to type Z to get to ZBLIST.  My Z.BAT file consists of

START \path-to-exe-file\ZBLIST %1 %2 %3 %4 %5 %6 %7 %8 %9

where \path-to-exe-file\ is only necessary if ZBLIST is not in the WINDOWS path for executable files. Notice: I use the command START. This allows ZBList to start while leaving the DOS window open for other commands.

• This is a BETA version and will nag you for a donation in a month or two.  In the meantime, test and enjoy ZBList. Then, C'mon back here for a newer version. Or … Those that make a suitable donation (above) will receive a non-expiring version of ZBList.

Clark Woodworth