![[Atar.Accessories]](staracc.gif)
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Next in to bat with his choice of Star Accessories is NameNet author
Roger Derry who has chosen "STree" and the controversial
"Harlekin".
It provides an effective file search engine and also allows deletion or printing out of found files, as well as printing the list of found files. It can also copy found files. So if you have searched using the archive file flag it provides a simple one-off incremental back up facility (although it has no way of resetting the archive flag.
![[Screenshot] ALIGN=right>The major use is for locating that file, the name of which you can't quite
remember. You're pretty sure it starts with](stree.gif)
You can restrict the search further by selecting a specific path, entering
a specific string of bytes in ASCII or Hex to be present or not present,
specify a beginning and end date and time, a maximum and minimum size and
how deep into nested folders you want to go. You can also specify the
archive, system, hidden, and read only file attribute flags.
What do I wish it had but doesn't? Well my wants are simple but would be useful. I would like it to display the number of matched files found while it is still searching. I would like to be able to exit the search prematurely without losing the list of files found so far. I would like an option for it to stop at every found file, tell what it is and give the option to add to the list, ignore or exit search.
Even so I find it an invaluable addition to my machines' armoury.
| Now to me the major character of my machine; why I find it friendly and helpful is provided largely by two programs; Neodesk - so much better than TOS and Magxdesk - and my other Star Accessory: |
Harlekin is an all-singing, all-dancing accessory. Some of its facilities overlap with the control panel and the desktop, others are entirely new facilities. In version 3 the different modules are loaded in as overlays as required. The amount of memory the accessory takes is set by the user. Most of that memory can be used dynamically for different functions. These include Text editor memory, ram disk memory, printer buffer memory, Time Manager memory. Most windows have drop down menus, a feature, now common place, but radical and controversial when Harlekin was introduced.
As with any major piece of software, I do not use EVERY module with equal frequency so I am going to prioritise my descriptions and cover the daily essentials.
First the file selector [here's the one Kev didn't cover in his file selector feature, FFF]: I always did like the file selector which looked stylish and worked well. But the FS in version 3 has developed into something very powerful indeed without developing a complex appearance that might frighten the horses.
![[Screenshot] ALIGN=left>Open the file selector and there is nothing remarkable about it, yet it is
already on your side. As soon as you start to enter a file name it starts
to offer the first match that it can find, updating it as you enter more
letters. So, for example in my press releases folder, typing PR will be
enough for my blank Calligrapher press release document, PRESSREL.CAT, to
be offered. This is done by the file list being scrolled, if necessary,
and an arrow symbol appearing beside the matching file. The arrow can be
moved using the up and down cursor keys if you wish. Pressing INSERT will
select that file and exit the selector as if you had pressed RETURN. The
files themselves can be listed in the five conventional sorts.
<P>
A neat idea, which I believe originated with Harlekin 1, is that files
with today's date are shown with their creation _time_ rather than the
date. This saves space and works particularly well if you use sort by date
as your default.
<P>
The selector allows up to ten files paths to be preselected. These can be
called by keyboard shortcuts (Alt 0-9). These short cuts can be
incorporated in Harlekin macros. So, for example, I have a keyboard
macro that loads my Cix reply script into the editor for checking and
titivating. The selector will also undertake the utility tasks of changing
file dates, deleting files, creating folders and searching for files
within folders.
<P>
There is also a separate file utility module which handles files in bulk.
Adding files to the action list can be done in various ways. Entering
*.ZIP and pressing return will add all your zip files in the current
directory. Clicking on a file will add it. Clicking again will remove it.
Even whole folders can be added by clicking on them with SHIFT held down.
The list can encompass files from a mixture of folders and disk
partitions. There are four actions that can be applied: Delete, rename,
copy, move. The last two will put files into the directory being displayed
when the button is pressed. If there are file conflicts then you are
warned and given the option of overwriting the lot or confirming each
conflict.
<P>
The disk utility can format and copy disks. There is a useful multicopy
facility. Formatting allows bad sectors to be marked and give you a
reduced capacity but useable disk.
<P>
A powerful and wonderfully dangerous module is the Monitor. This is a
combined sector, memory and file editor displaying in both hex and ascii.
This is admirable for quick corrections to files. You can use it to change
text within executable programs: I used it on Harlekin itself to change
the text backup extender to HBK. I have even used the search facility to
hunt through an entire disk partition for a phrase that I knew was
somewhere in my Cix message base but could not, for the life of me,
remember in which conference it was. Like all really powerful tools it has
the capability of destroying information - even making a partition
unusable so it has to be used with some caution, although, in practice, I
have never (so far) found it a problem.
<P>
The comms module is very simple - so simple that even I can use it. (You
are reading someone here who has never worked out how to make Connect
dial!) It opens to a window and allows you to type commands directly to
the modem. Additionally it has a dialling and directory list facility. The
module will upload, download, send a text file, run a capture file. It
will even execute a simple script language. Even I have easily managed to
write scripts to log me onto a BBS, collect messages, download them and
log off. An example is:
<P>
<pre>
<What is your first name?
>!roger\r
<What is your last name?
>derry\r
<Password?
>guess\r
<wcMAIL command?
>D
<[Y]es, [N]o, [G]oodbye when done?
>Y
<wcMAIL command?
>G
<Are you sure you wish to logoff [Y/n]?
>Y
</pre>
<P>
No,](fs.gif)
As supplied by HiSoft, there are only with X and Ymodem protocols. They
always promised a Z-modem add-on but it never materialized - OH YES IT
DID! One of the best kept Harlekin secrets is that GSZRZ, run as an
accessory, will hook in to Harlekin and take over the comms protocols
providing Zmodem efficiently and transparently.
Harlekin's text editor is just that: a text editor. It has text or ASCII options (i.e., with or without auto formatting). It has few gimmicks but is always there and works reliably. It can manage four documents at the same time, if not simultaneously. By this I mean that you can switch among four text files using the f1 to f4 function keys. Only the current file is in memory but when you return to a file it is reloaded and the cursor placed where it was when you left it.
All the normal clipboard functions are provided as well as the ability to read other files into the present one. Blocks can be written out as files. There is also a specific Append feature.
An unusual feature, which is occasionally very useful, is that the lines of a selected block of text can be sorted alphabetically. Search and replace functions are supplied along with four bookmarks and a goto line command. Tab characters can be retained or expended on loading. Pagination is provided complete with a simple but adequate header and footer facility.
![[Screenshot]>The star of my Star Accessory is Harlekin's manager. I run my life using
it. Describing it as an electronic diary totally underestimates its
usefulness. Entries are made tagged to a day with or without a time. If
necessary entries can](month.gif)
As an accessory, Harlekin has to allocate memory at boot up. I have
allocated about 350k on my 4mbyte machine. That memory is shared
dynamically amongst the modules. So If I have a large text file loaded
there is less memory for everything else. Some of it can be used for a RAM
disk (although RAM disks are not something I have ever wanted to use).
It is also used as a printer buffer. This has a well-hidden, but extremely useful feature, where the output can be turned off. You then print to the buffer only. When you switch the output back on you can either output the contents to the printer or, more usefully, to a file. For example Calligrapher's ASCII text export is only available in paragraph form (where a carriage return marks the end of a paragraph not a line). However If I print to the buffer using Cal's Text mode, I can save to a file using the printed format with a carriage return at the end of each line.
Other modules include an ASCII decoder, calculator (decimal, hex and binary), a colour palette setter, a screen font editor, a macro recorder, a control panel, a printer filter for reassigning characters, a ramdisk, RS232 setter.
I could double the length of this article with many "Oh and another thing"s but I will not inflict that on you. With so many features, I honestly believe that, without Harlekin, I would be saving up for a PC (yuk).
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