SEEK Installation and User Manual

Table of Contents:

- Definitions, Conventions and System Requirements
- Introduction
- Contents of the SEEK_v1.zip archive
- Installation Notes
- Using SEEK (SEEK up and running)

- Opening Window
- Presort Window
- Seek Files Window
- Seek Files Results Window
- Provide Other Services Window
- Launch the files(s)
- Search for a text string in the file(s)
- Print the file(s)
- Get the file(s) extended attributes
- Copy the selected file tree data to the clipboard (or Copy the selected directory tree data to the clipboard)

- Customizing SEEK
- Example Uses of SEEK
- Known Issues, Problems and Capability
- The Usual Disclaimers and Other Legalities (Sorry About That!)
- Version Change History

Definitions, Conventions and System Requirements:

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- This document uses several words and acronyms such as: "SEEK", "VisProREXX", "REXXLIB", "REXXEA", "WPS" and "EA's" To avoid confusion please note the following definitions:

- SEEK is a freeware REXX program, given here and described in this document. It is a sophisticated program for performing file and directory searches, as well as a few other chores (more about that, below).
- VisProREXX is an OS/2 (or eCS) programming tool for creating programs with a graphical user interface (GUI). VisProREXX uses the REXX programming language to do that. SEEK was created from VisProREXX.
- REXXLIB is a rich collection of more than 150 functions for performing various tasks in REXX. Quercus Systems produces REXXLIB. They can be found at: http://www.quercus-sys.com/. You can download a fully operational, but demonstration, version of REXXLIB from the following websites (you must eventually register your copy with Quercus Systems):

- http://www.quercus-sys.com/rxlbdemo.htm
- http://www.os2site.com/sw/dev/rexx/libs/

- REXXEA is a set of REXX functions for listing and processing the extended attributes associated with a file or directory. You can find REXXEA at the following websites:
  - http://www.os2bbs.com/Download/rexx.html
  - http://www.os2site.com/sw/dev/rexx/source/
  - http://riverbbs.net/pub3/os2/rexx/
  - http://www.commtalk.de/pages/OS2/OS2_Development/more5.html
- WPS is the abbreviation for OS/2's (eCS's) WorkPlace Shell. WPS is the object oriented, graphical user interface of the operating system.
- EA's is my abbreviation for "extended attributes". EA's are additional information that the operating system, or a program, associates with a file or a directory. Extended attributes data are placed within the file or directory structure. The data can be in any format, such as text, bitmap or binary.

- In this ReadMe file text written in green font denotes a name, or a label, on a control object in a SEEK window. For example, in Figure 4, below, you see a radio button labelled Yes.
- Text written in red font denotes important, or critical information. Ignoring this information will cause SEEK to not operate, or to operate incorrectly.
- To use SEEK you must have Object REXX installed on your system and, optionally, you can have REXXLIB and/or REXXEA installed:

- Object REXX is necessary because SEEK contains several functions that are in Object REXX and not Classical REXX. You can switch over to Object REXX by running the REXX program, SWITCHRX.CMD, located in the "OS2" directory on the boot drive of your system. Your existing REXX programs will probably run just fine and without modification in Object REXX. And Object REXX gives you much more capability. You can always switch back later, using SWITCHRX.CMD, if you do not like it!
- If you want to use REXXLIB, place its *.dll file, REXXLIB.DLL, in a directory named in your CONFIG.SYS LIBPATH statement.
- If you want to use REXXEA, place its *.dll file, REXXEA.DLL, in a directory named in your CONFIG.SYS LIBPATH statement.

- You can configure SEEK to run without REXXLIB and/or REXXEA (see SETUP, Section 15). If you do, the extended attributes search and display capability of SEEK will be somewhat degraded.

Introduction

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- SEEK is principally an OS/2 (eCS) utility to search for files and directories (folders) on your system. But it also has other capabilities. Note that OS/2 (eCS) comes with two (2) programs to search for and find files. One of them is "Seek and Scan Files" (PMSEEK.EXE). The other is the Find facility built into the WPS. SEEK is more versatile than either of these two. With SEEK you can do the following:

- Search for files or directories, per your choice, using a selection of wildcards.
- Confine the search to a selected directory and recursively search that directory. That is, search it and all of its subdirectories. Alternatively, deselect recursive search and search the selected directory, only (no subdirectories).
- As an alternative to the, above, search one or more entire drives sequentially (this choice recursively searches all the directories on the selected drive(s)).
- If desired, confine the search (that is, further define the search) by using the following file or directory selection criteria:

- File size (set maximum and minimum limits for the size of the files).
- File (or directory) create/save dates (set maximum and minimum limits for the create/save date of the files or directories).
- File (or directory) create/save times (set maximum and minimum limits for the create/save time of the files or directories).
- File (or directory) attributes (set, or clear, any combination of the "ADHRS" attributes).

- After the search has been completed sort the results, in ascending or descending order, by any of the following sort criteria:

- File (or directory) create/save date.
- File (or directory) create/save time.
- File (or directory) size.
- File (or directory) path.
- Filename or directory name.

- For file searches you can select any of the following other services:

- Launch each selected file into an appropriate application, such as Describe, Mesa 2 or Mozilla.
- Search for a text string contained in the file or files (works for ASCII, or text, files, only).
- Print the file(s) (DOES NOT WORK YET).
- Find the extended attributes (EA's) of the file(s).
- Compare the contents of two text file(s) (DOES NOT WORK YET).
- Copy the file tree data to the clipboard.

- For directory searches you can select the following other services.

- Find the EA's of the directory, or directories.
- Copy the directory tree data to the clipboard.

Contents of the SEEK_v1.zip archive

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- RUN.EXE, the VisProREXX script in executable file format
- ReadMe.htm (the file that you are presently reading)
- REXXWin1.gif through REXXWin16.gif (sixteen (16) graphical images for this *.htm file, ReadMe.htm)
- The SEEK folder, containing all of the VisProREXX code (REXX code)

Installation Notes:

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- There is no installation program, per se. However, the installation is simple. It involves the following four (4) steps (delineated immediately below) and your creation of a SETUP file (also described):

- First, unzip the SEEK_v1.zip archive. It was created using WarpZip, which uses compression code from the Info-ZIP group. Info-ZIP compression and decompression executable files and dll's are freely available from the following Internet sources:

- http://www.cdrom.com/pub/infozip/
- ftp://ftp.cdrom.com/pub/infozip/

- Unzip, retaining the directory structure contained within the zip file. Place the entire contains of the zip file, with its directory structure intact, in any directory of your choice. Within the first level directory is the executable program, RUN.EXE.
- Create a program object for SEEK and place it on the desktop, or some other favorite place. Complete the "Program" tab in the properties notebook of the program object (see the example, in Figure 1, below). The "Path and file name" entry is the full path to the RUN.EXE executable on your system. Complete the "Icon" tab of the program object (in the example the "Icon" tab has the entry, "SEEK (LSB Radix)". You might also want to include a particular icon with this program object. If so, copy the one of your choice to the "Current icon" field on the "Icon" tab. For example, I used one that shows a file cabinet with a magnifying glass in front of it.
- If you want to use REXXLIB and/or REXXEA with SEEK, place the REXX.DLL and/or REXXEA.DLL files each in a directory that is listed in your CONFIG.SYS LIBPATH.

Figure 1: Example properties notebook for the SEEK program object
- Next, configure the SETUP file. SETUP is a required file for SEEK. It contains personalized setup information such as 1.) date and time format preferences, used in the Presort facility; 2.) file associations; and 3.) user preferences for using, or not using, REXXLIB and REXXEA. Create and configure the SETUP file as follows:

- Locate the ASCII file, SETUP0, in the SETUP folder (this folder, or directory, is contained in the SEEK program package).
- Open SETUP0 in a text editor of your choice. SETUP0 is a prototype SETUP file for SEEK. It contains my setup information. You are going to modify it to create your own SETUP file.
- Therefore, rename SETUP0 as SETUP and save it to the same SETUP folder.
- Follow all of the instructions in your (new) SETUP file to change all of my settings to your own. Hopefully, the file is sufficiently documented!
- Important! Important! DO NOT use an equal sign (that is, "=") anywhere in your SETUP file, unless you are using it to make a variable assignment for one of the setup/option variables. SEEK reads SETUP and searches for the equal sign to locate and load all of the setup assignments.
- So first, establish your preferences for the date and time formats, displayed in the Presort facility (section 1 of SETUP).
- Next, establish your file associations (sections 2 through 14 of SETUP). SEEK uses this data to automatically launch files into their respective applications. There are two (2) ways to associate a file with an application. Specifically:

- The file has a file type extended attribute, such as "Describe Document", "Mesa Workbook File" or "Adobe Document".
- And/or the file has a file filter dot extension, such as "*.TXT", "*.M2" or "*.PDF".

- These methods are the same way that OS/2 and eCS create and track associations.
- If you do not know the file type for the data files of a particular application, use the "Association Editor" program, or a similar program, to find it.
- Alternatively, use the "UniMaint" program, or the "SYSGETEA" function in REXX, or some other method, to search for and find the EA's of one of the data files. After finding the all EA's, pick the one that is most likely to be the one for the file type association.
- Some applications apply a file type EA to their data files, and some do not. These latter applications may use a file filter, instead (BlueCAD is an example; it uses the *.DIS file filter instead of a file type).
- Note that SETUP provides associations for several categories of files. For example, there are associations for word processing files, spreadsheets, ASCII files, Adobe *.pdf files, etc. In addition, SETUP allows you to establish up to twenty (20) user-defined associations.
- For each file category there is a maximum number of associations that you can make to specific applications (programs). For example, for text files SETUP allows up to four (4) associations to text editor programs (section 3 of SETUP). Do not try to override the maximum number. SEEK uses only that portion of your specification that is within the maximum allowable (the first four (4) text editors specified, for example).
- Except for the graphics program, you can use up to three (3) file filters to associate files to a given program. For the graphics program you can associate up to 50 graphics file filters ("*.EPS", "*.GIF", "*.PCX", "*.TIF", etc.).
- When SEEK attempts an automated launch of a file, it will first search for and use a file type to associate it to an application. If a file type, corresponding to one established in SETUP, does not exist, SEEK will search for and use a (SETUP established) file filter to launch it.
- If a particular file filter has two (2) or more applications associated with it, SEEK will use the first application, chronologically listed in SETUP, as the default one for launching these files. As an example, in section 4 my SETUP file establishes the "Future Wave Editor" as the default application for REXX programming text editors. It uses the "*.CMD" file filter to do so. In section 6, however, it uses the same file filter to establish associations for running REXX programs. Therefore, if I want to launch a REXX program ("*.CMD") for execution, I have have to do so manually. I cannot use the automated method, because that facility will launch the REXX file into the "Future Wave Editor". That is, an automated launch will result in the file being opened for reading and editing, instead of execution.
- Please note that SEEK performs a search and verify for every application that you list in the SETUP file (up to the maximum allowable for the associated file category). If SEEK cannot find the executable for your application, SEEK will give you a message, stating that the particular application was not found. In addition, SEEK will stop searching for any remaining applications that you have named for that file category (it will continue the search for applications in other file categories). You must fix SETUP in order for SEEK to use all of your specified, and allowable, applications in that file category.
- Figure 2, below, shows the Section 6 portion of my SETUP file. That section is for establishing associations to applications that execute REXX programs, or scripts. I use two, PMREXX and the OS/2 command processor. If you also want to use the command processor, please write that association exactly as shown in the Figure. That is, use the "Command_Processor_Path" variable. That variable is assigned the value of the "OS2_SHELL" environmental variable from the CONFIG.SYS file.

Figure 2: My SETUP, showing the "REXX Commandline" application (the command processor)
- Next, establish your preferences for using, or not using, REXXLIB and REXXEA. See section 15 of SETUP for the specific instructions.

- Finally, run the SETUP.CMD REXX script to create a copy of your SETUP file. The script names the copy SETUP0; it saves SETUP0 in the SETUP folder. The script also creates a file named, SETUP.TXT, also saved to the SETUP folder. This latter file is for the developer of SEEK (me) to update the CONSTRUCT_SETUP0 REXX method in a REXX directive file, zDirectives. Do not attempt to update the CONSTRUCT_SETUP0 method yourself. That will not work, because your copy of SEEK has been compiled into the executable, RUN.EXE. However, use your new copy (named SETUP0) to replace SETUP, should the latter file become lost or corrupted.

- That's all there is to it!
- NOTE: If you do not create the SETUP file, or if it is lost or damaged, SEEK will not work. In that situation SEEK will give you an error message upon your attempt to use it (see Figure 3). SEEK will recreate the SETUP0 file, using my setup information.

Figure 3: Error message, when SEEK cannot locate, or cannot read, the SETUP file

Using SEEK (SEEK up and running)

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- Figure 4, below, shows the opening window for SEEK. SEEK defaults to a recursive filename search on a particular drive, selected by you. As such you see the three (3) radio button respectively labelled, Select one drive. Or, select one drive and later a subdirectory within it, Yes (for recursive directory search) and Filename, all selected.

Figure 4: SEEK default opening window
- In the figure notice that the Continue button is disabled. You have to enter a search string for the desired file(s) and also select a drive (C:, for example) to enable that button.
- Notice that you can search for directories, instead of files, or perhaps not have a recursive search. Just select the appropriate radio button(s).
- You can search all the directories on one or more drives. Figure 5 shows Select one or more drives and all the subdirectories within them selected to enable that function. Since this is a recursive search, the Yes and No buttons are now disabled with Yes selected. Select one or more drives to search and enter a search string to enable Continue.

Figure 5: SEEK opening window with full drive search enabled
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- You can also search by first presorting the data by file size, file (or directory) create/save date, file (or directory) create save time and/or attributes. Just select Perform additional presorting on the data. It's near the bottom left-hand side of the opening window. Figure 6 shows the window that opens as a result.

Figure 6: SEEK Presort default opening window
- Use the Presort facility to help manage (limit) the size of your file and directory searches and your data sorts.
- Figure 7 shows the window with Create or Save Date (MM DD YYYY) selected. Note that the format is in "month number, day number, year number", which is my preference in SETUP. Also, the maximum and minimum dates default to today's date. Enter your desired maximum and minimum dates. If you enter a minimum date that is chronologically after than the maximum, SEEK updates (changes) the maximum to equal the new minimum. Similarly, if you select a time presort, SEEK will ensure that the maximum time is always greater than or equal to the minimum (continually updates the maximum, if necessary, when the minimum is changed).
- If desired, select the Attributes check box. Controls will then appear for you to set, or clear, the Archive Attribute, the Directory Attribute, the Hidden Attribute, the Read Only Attribute and the System Attribute.
- Continue remains disabled until you select one or more presort condition. Pressing Continue will return you to the SEEK opening window.

Figure 7: SEEK Presort window with (File) Create or Save Date selected
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- Figure 8 shows an example of the SEEK window after Continue has been pressed from the SEEK opening window (see Figure 4 for a view of the opening window).

Figure 8: SEEK Files window
- Perform one or more of the following actions in the SEEK Files window:

- Press Go up to the Opening Dialog to return the SEEK opening window.
- Double click on any subdirectory to highlight it in the list box. That will confine the search to that subdirectory (and all of its subdirectories, if recursive search is enabled).
- Search for the desired files by pressing Seek Files.
- Press Cancel to close SEEK.

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- Figure 9, below, shows an example of the window that appears after pressing the Seek Files button. In the illustration, that particular window is the result of first selecting the "C:\Mesa2" subdirectory in the SEEK Files window, then pressing Seek Files. The resulting window shows the file tree data of all the files in that subdirectory (date created/saved, time created/saved, file size, file ADHRS attributes and full file path).

Figure 9: Recursive file search result in the "C:\Mesa2" subdirectory
- Using this new window you can sort the resulting files by date, size, filename, time or file path. You can sort in ascending or descending order.
- Alternatively, or in addition, you can select all or some of the found files for other services. Select, or deselect, them one at a time from the top down, or from the bottom up, by pressing the appropriate radio buttons. Alternatively, select, or deselect, all of them. You can also manually select, or deselect, any file by single clicking on that file in the file list window.
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- After you have selected the desired files press "Highlight the files desired for other services. ...,". Alternatively, you can double click on your last file to initiate the other services. In either case, Figure 10 shows the window that results.

Figure 10: SEEK Provide Other Services window
- Remember, the Print the file(s) and Compare two or more text files services do not work yet.
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- Figure 11, below, shows an example of the initial Launch the files(s) window. I created the example by:

- 1.) searching for all of the "*.pdf" files in a selected subdirectory of my C:\ drive;
- 2.) selecting all of them;
- 3.) pressing the "Highlight the files desired for other services. ...," radio button;
- 4.) finally, pressing the Launch the files(s) radio button on the Provide Other Services window.

Figure 11: SEEK Launch the files(s) window in automated launch mode
- Note that the initial window opens in the automated launch mode. An informational message appears in RED font near the top left side of the window. Just as the message states, launch any file on the file list by simply highlighting it (single click on it). If that file has an association to a particular application, SEEK launches it and then removes the filename from the list.
- On the other hand, if SEEK cannot find an association, it provides a three (3) second message to that effect near the top left side of the window. It then configures the window into the manual launch mode. After you have manually launched the file, SEEK returns the window to the automated mode.
- Figure 12 shows an example of the launch window in its initial configuration for manual launches. The informational message now tells you how to manually launch. It is a two (2) step process, which you can perform in either order:

- 1.) Highlight the file (single click on it)
- 2.) Select the application

Figure 12: SEEK Launch the files(s) window in the initial manual launch configuration
- The above manual launch example shows all of the file associations presently active in my SETUP file. I do not have any associations for data files belonging to a financial program. Similarly, I do not have any user-defined file associations. Therefore, the window does not display any associated programs for these two (2) file category types.
- Notice that several of the file category descriptions have a colon at the end (Text Editors:, for example); other descriptions do not (Describe, for example).
- The colon indicates the possibility of two (2) or more applications listed for that category. Click on the corresponding radio button to reveal the application(s), that are specified for the category.
- Figure 13 provides an example, where the specific applications for the PFD Readers: category are shown. Click on the PFD Readers: radio button again to return to the initial manual mode window (Figure 12).
- Similarly, click on any other button that has a colon in the description. Each click toggles between two (2) manual mode presentations - one for the initial manual launch window and the other for the window that shows the application(s) for that file category.

Figure 13: Manual launch window with the PDF Readers: applications shown
- Almost without exception, SEEK uses the OS/2 (eCS) "START" command to launch files into applications. That results in the following behavior:

- Indivdual files are launched into separate windows. As a result, a particular application may have more than one window open, each one for a different file.
- All of the windows, including the various SEEK windows, are independent. You can use and work with any one without affecting the others.
- When finished with a particular file, you have to manually close its launch window (to remove that window).

- The exception to the above is the launch of REXX programs for execution (not editing) via the OS/2 (eCS) command processor. For that task SEEK uses the REXX "CALL" instruction. Using "CALL" results in the following behavior:

- Only one (1) REXX program can be launched and executed at any given time, using this method.
- That program is executed in VisProREXX "STDIO" window, instead of the normal command processor window.
- All of the SEEK windows become locked and non-responsive, while the REXX program is running.
- You must close out the REXX program window to continue any otheer operations in SEEK.
- See additional details, above.
- See additional details, below.

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- Figure 14 shows an example of a text string search result. I created it by:

- 1.) searching for all "*.cmd" files on my C:\ drive;
- 2.) selecting all of the found files;
- 3.) pressing the "Highlight the files desired for other services. ...," radio button;
- 4.) entering the search string, "sort" (without the quotation marks), into the entry field control immediately to the right of the Search for a text string in the file(s) radio button;
- 5.) pressing the Search for a text string in the file(s) radio button.

- PLEASE NOTE: Do not use quotation marks in your search string, unless the desired string contains them. For example, do not arbitrarily encase the string in quotations.
- PLEASE NOTE: The search will be insensitive to alphabetic capitalization.

Figure 14: Text string search result example
- In the search results window the top portion is a path listing of the files, if any, that contain the search string (see Figure 14 for an example of the window).
- The middle portion of the window has controls that enable you to singly select the files from the top down, or select all of them, or deselect them all.
- The next portion is a listing of the line(s) in the selected file(s) that have the desired text string. Line number(s) are given at far left of the list for all the line(s).
- Finally, the bottom portion of the window has a radio button, for copying the resulting file tree data (basically the file path data) to the clipboard.
- Notice that you can manually select one or more files to list the line search results. Simply click on each file path in the topmost listing.
- Text string searches officially work for ASCII files, only. There is some limited capability to search binary files. The results are not guaranteed, however. Note that if you perform a text search on a Mesa 2 spreadsheet file (a binary file), the search will be over (will default to) any Mesa 2 scripts in the file. These scripts are text-based REXX programs; the search will find the desired search string inside the Mesa 2 scripts.
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- File print services are not yet operative.
Return to the Table of Contents. Figure 15 shows an example of a Get the file(s) extended attributes window result. I created it by:

- 1.) searching for all Describe data files on my D:\ drive, using the "*.*" file search criteria;
- 2.) selecting all of the found files;
- 3.) pressing the "Highlight the files desired for other services. ...," radio button;
- 4.) pressing the Get the file(s) extended attributes radio button.

Figure 15: Get extended attributes (EA's) example window
- The results window is same format as the one for a text string search. That is, the top portion of the window contains a path listing of the files, if any, that contain EA's (see Figure 15).
- The middle portion of the window has controls that enable you to singly select the files from the top down, or select all of them, or deselect them all.
- The next portion is a listing of the EA's in the selected file(s).
- The bottom portion of the window has a radio button, for copying the resulting file tree data (basically the file path data) to the clipboard.
- You can manually select one or more files to list the EA results. Simply click on each file path in the topmost listing.
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- The process of copying file tree data (or directory tree data) to the clipboard is easy. Please do the following:

- 1.) Search for the desired files (or directories), using the appropriate search string criteria. Enter that string into the entry field control on the SEEK opening window (see Figure 4 for an picture of that window).
- 2.) Further define the search, using the Presort facility and/or a selection of drive(s) and/or a selection of subdirectories
- 3.) Press the Seek Files (or Seek Dirs) button.
- 4.) Highlight the desired files (or directories)
- 5.) Press the "Highlight the files desired for other services. ...," (or "Highlight the directories desired for other services. ...,") radio button.
- 6.) Press the Copy the selected file tree data to the clipboard (or Copy the selected directory tree data to the clipboard) radio button. The button remains pressed for two (2) seconds, while the data is copied to the clipboard. After that, SEEK resets the button.

Customizing SEEK

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- All allowable customizing is provided for in the SETUP file.
- Please see the SETUP file configuration for all information.

Example Uses of SEEK:

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- "Where did that pesky little folder go?"

- Ever create a folder and inadvertently drop it someplace unknown? Of course you have!
- Maybe you accidently placed it inside one of your desktop folders? You have more than a couple of those!
- Maybe you dropped it inside a folder on the C:\ drive? Several of those were open too!
- You don't want to recreate it. It had several important files and objects inside!
- Now you can find it, using SEEK's directory search function. If you have an idea where it is, you can search a particular directory (and all of its subdirectories). If you have no clue, search all of one drive, or perhaps all the drives. SEEK will find it, even if it's buried somewhere deep in the desktop structure.

- "There's some great REXX coding that I previously created and I want to use it again. I just don't remember the script (file) that contains it!"

- Now you can find it by doing a file search followed by a text string search.

- Use the opening window to search for files with a ".cmd" file extension ("*.cmd" file search string)
- After finding the "*.cmd" files, use a text string search in the "Other Services" facility to isolate the script. Enter a text string for a portion of the coding that you remember.

- Maybe you can initially isolate the script to a particular folder, or a set of directories. If not, do a recursive search on one or more drives.
- Maybe you can isolate it to a date time span. Use the Presort facility to do that.

- "I don't remember how to format an html document a particular way (html tags, for example). However, I have a couple of them somewhere on my hard drive, that are formatted the way I want!"

- Therefore, perform a file search for "*.html" files
- After that perform a text string search on a portion of the html file contents that you remember. Html files are after all text (ASCII) files. Therefore, you can search for the text strings that they contain.

- Perform a text string search on one or more Mesa 2 spreadsheet files. The search will be over any (REXX-based) scripts contained in those files.
- Ever want to launch a set of files into their applications after you finished a search to find them? I have! Probably, you have too!

- Previously, you had to perform three (3) separate and distinct operations. First, you had to search for the file(s), using PMSEEK.EXE or some other search engine. After you found them, you had to note their locations and then open the appropriate applications and launch them.
- Now, with SEEK you can find the file(s), select them and then launch each one. You can manually select the application within SEEK for each one. Or, you can have SEEK automatically select the application(s) and launch, using file associations.

Known Issues, Problems and Capability:

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- Search speed, especially with a large number of files or directories
- SEEK uses the Radix Least Significant Bit (LSB) method to sort file and directory data (requested sorts on file create/save date, file create/save time, etc.). The table, below, provides test data on the amount of time, in seconds, needed to sort 1000, 2000 and 3000 files (records). These tests were performed on a personal computer (PC) with an Intel Pentium 4 3.2 gigahertz (GHz) central processor unit (CPU) and 1 gigabytes (GB) of P3200 double date rate 400 (DDR400) random access memory (RAM). The computer has a 3.0 gigabits per second (g/s) SATA hard drive.

Time Required (seconds) to Perform a Sort
| Number of Files Sorted
Type of Sort | 1000 | 2000 | 3000
File Create/Save Date | 3 | 28 | 45
File Create/Save Time | 4 | 36 | 65
File Size | 3 | 4 | 5
File Path | 3 | 10 | 10
Filename | 3 | 7 | 15

- Note that sort speeds are also dependent on the size of the sort data (how many characters sorted in each sort). Your sort times will vary, based on your computer's capability, the number of records sorted, the size of the sort data and perhaps other factors. Therefore, use data in the table as a guide in gauging the sort speeds that will occur on your computer.
- SEEK uses the facilities of VisProREXX to list files and directories. There is a maximum limit on the size of these lists. Tests indicate that it is something slightly under 33,000. Therefore, if you attempt to list anything greater than 32,000 (files or folders), SEEK will stop and not complete that request. Instead, it will give you an error message (see Figure 16). If you press the OK button to dismiss the message, that action will reset SEEK for another search. If you press the Cancel button, SEEK will close.

Figure 16: SEEK with error message for exceeding the file list size maximum limit
- SEEK uses several different windows and some are large. When necessary a window is scrollable. It is quite possible, however, that a large window may be positioned off of the screen at the top of your monitor. If that occurs, use the Alt-F7 key combination to lock your mouse cursor to that window. First, place the mouse somewhere in the middle of the window. Next, press Alt-F7. The mouse cursor will change shape. Lock the cursor to the window by pressing and holding the left mouse button (assumes the usual mouse button setup). With the window locked to the cursor, move the cursor downward to place the top of the window on your monitor screen. Release the left mouse button to unlock the window from the cursor. You might have to use this technique on the file launch window, for example, if it is displayed in the second manual mode configuration and there are many applications specified for the selected file category (Figure 13, but with perhaps the User Defined Applications: category selected).
- SEEK has been tested on the default OS/2 (eCS) command processor, only (the "CMD.EXE" executable in the "OS2" directory on the boot drive). Nevertheless, SEEK recognizes and uses the specific command processor on your system. It reads the "OS2_SHELL" environmental variable assignment from the CONFIG.SYS file to do so. However, correct operation with any other command processor, such as "4OS2", is not guaranteed. The primary concern here is the launching of REXX programs for execution via the commandline (command processor). Please see the next item, below, for additional information.
- To my knowledge there are only two (2) ways of executing a REXX script:

- 1. The PMREXX program.
- 2. The OS/2 command processor

If you use the OS/2 command processor to execute a script (see above), the result is that it run in the VisProREXX "STDIO" window, instead of the normal OS/2 commandline window:

- The "STDIO" has a look and feel similar to PMREXX.
- User input is on a white background with black words.
- Use of colored and highlighted text is not possible.
- Please also see other information, above

The Usual Disclaimers and Other Legalities (Sorry About That!)

Return to the Table of Contents.
- SEEK is freeware:

- You are free to modify it to your heart's content for your own use.
- You are free to distribute the original, unmodified version to anyone else (and please do so!).
- You may not distribute this program, in whole or in part, to others and charge a fee for it.

- USE THIS PROGRAM AT YOUR OWN RISK! I am not responsible for any damages, problems, etc. resulting from your use of SEEK. You assume all the risks, costs, aggravation, etc. should ANYTHING GO WRONG!
- Hopefully, SEEK is bug free, but I cannot (and do not) guarantee it!
- In summary, SEEK is provided AS IS and without any warranties.
- If you have any problems, I will try to help! Please E-mail me at: hmotin@sbcglobal.net.

Version Change History:

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- Please use the SEEK program contained in the this zip archive (the program contained in SEEK_v1.zip). Thank you!
- Version 1: The initial release