QD4 Release
Notes
V1.00.0036
*** The following is important information about this release of QD4 ***
Bugs, known issues, missing features etc etc
Future additions, fixes and updates
V1.00.0036
5th December 2001
Copy now set's the
correct attributes for folders (ie hidden/system)
Further improved display of target file info during copy
Improved Abort,Retry,Ignore function during copy errors
(Abort - Abort entire copy operation)
(Retry - Retry current file)
(Ignore - Ignore current file, continue with next file)
V1.00.0035
13th November 2001
Fixed various
copying bugs/crashes
Improved display of target file info during copy
V1.00.0031
Added shared
network drive logging
Improved drive logging screen
Fixed several network related bugs
V1.00.0030
Fixed bug copying zero byte files
V1.00.0026
Added recovery option when copying/moving files.
QD4 usually copies files in 16K chunks but if it encounters a damaged file recovery mode will keep re-trying with smaller and smaller "chunks" (8K, 4K, 2K, 1K, 512 bytes, 256, 128, 64, 32, 8, 4, 2, down to a single byte) in order to copy as much of the readable data as possible. For sensitive files such as executables (.exe) this will most likely result in a corrupt and unusable file. For images and sound files this may yield a useable or at least a repairable copy which is far better than a truncated file which many other utilities will leave you with. Recovery can be time consuming especially if you have a bad sector on your hard drive as each retry attempt may have to wait a few seconds for the disk to timeout, but if the file is important to you, it's worth the wait.
V1.00.0022
Fixed
disk free space bug - QD4 now correctly reads drive info over 2GB
Added lots more system information (i)
V1.00.0021
Fixed field with bug in GOTO command - Increased from 50 to 255
V1.00.0020
Added
option to use space bar to tag files.
Fixed a bug which caused QD4 to not save the settings on exit.
V1.00.0019
Trapped
error in GOTO when favourite network folder no longer exists.
Fixed bug in GLOBAL where total bytes figure got too large -
changed from LONG to DOUBLE.
V1.00.0018
Bug fix in Log screen, crept in last version!
V1.00.0017
Copy/Move/Rename/Delete simulation
This feature simulates any normal operation right down to prompting you to overwrite and prune folders but dosn't actually do anything. This way you can see what would have happened if you were doing it for real. You might find for instance that you would have overwritten some files that you didn't want or expect to. The simulation is much faster because it's not actually doing anything so it's a good idea to use it if you're not 100% sure what's going to happen. At the end of the simulation you will be presented with the event log regardless of whether or not the event log is turned on. To use the simulator, simply click the check box in either the copy/move, rename or delete windows.
Specific folder logging.
In this version of QD4, when you press L to log a drive you now have the option to log a specifc folder as well as any fixed drive or pre-defined favourite folders. This includes valid network paths such as \\server\c\windows. You can also add these to your 'favourite folders' list for future use.
Idiot traps
This version of QD4 has a few more idiot traps added to catch your mistakes. For example, QD4 will not allow you to copy or move a folder into a sub-folder of itself.
V1.00.0016
Faster startup
In this version, QD4 does not check or compact it's database. This makes load time much quicker but you may need to compact the database periodically to keep it's size down. Just click on compact database under the file menu. I may add an automatic compact routine that is only activated if the database exceedsa given size, I haven't decided yet...
% Parameters
QD4 now supports all the old QD3 association parameters and a few more! Click here for more information
Multiple file specifications
QD4 now supports multiple patterns such as *.bmp;*.gif;*.jpg for file specifications, global file searches and tagging by wildcard.
Recent documents
QD4 keeps it's own list of recently opened documents. When you press X to execute a command you will see a list of the most recent documents from which you can choose. You can also keep documents in the recent list so that they are always available regardless of how infrequently you use them. Simply right-click on the recent document you wish to keep. Kept documents appear in bold.
Other new features
ALT-ENTER opens the highlighted folder in Windows Explorer
CTRL-ENTER opens the highlighted folder in the other window
PLUS and MINUS quick log of next/previous fixed drive.
ALT-PLUS and ALT-MINUS quick log of next/previous fixed drive in other window.
Standard Disclaimer!
QD4 is still in beta and as such carries no warranty of any kind. If you use this program you do so at your own risk. Although all care has been taken I cannot be held responsible for any loss or damage caused as a result of using this program. You have been warned!
Windows 95B or greater.
I have only tested QD4 under Windows 95. It should work under Windows 98 and NT4.
As far as hardware goes, basically anything that will run Windows 95 should be sufficient, the faster the better of course. I have tried to make QD4 as efficient as possible but there are still some areas that I feel are a little slow. Many of them can be turned off if you find you don't require them such as the automatic column width adjustment. QD4 was written and tested on a Pentium 166MMX and runs fine on that so you can use that as a benchmark.
Bugs, known issues, missing features etc
Disk size/free space restricted to 2GB
This is a problem with some earlier versions of the Win32 API. OSR2 has a fix which has been implemented in QD4. This is why QD4 will crash on eariler versions of 95. If this is a major problem for people I will add some compatibilty for 95A but this will not include 2gb+ support.
Changing up-dir does not always reset the cursor on the previous folder
QD4 is supposed to place the cursor on the previous folder when moving up a directory. Ie when changing from C:\TEMP\MYFOLDER to C:\TEMP, QD4 should place the cursor on MYFOLDER in the C:\TEMP directory to show you where you have come from. I think I've fixed this bug as most of the time this works fine but occasionally it doesn't!
Goto Folder command does not recognise new folders or deleted folders
This is not a bug, QD4 keeps an independant database of the folders on your hard drives which needs to be re-scanned periodically. I have attempted to minimize the need for re-scanning by checking against the database in other areas of the program however it may be necessary to re-scan every now and then. QD4 updates it's database whenever you go into a folder and also when you use QD4 to copy, move or delete folders. In most cases this should be sufficient, you may run into problems if you're using mapped network drives and they don't always have the same drive letter.
Colour Setup
The colour setup is a bit rough at the moment. You must click on the row you wish to change before clicking on the "Change background colour" or "Change foreground colour" buttons. I plan to tidy this up as soon as possible.
Future additions, fixes and updates
The following is a list of features I either plan to implement or would like to implement as and when time and brain permits.
Drag and Drop
I would like to be able to drag and drop files to and from other applications such as the Windows Explorer. I'm not quite sure how usefull this will be but I think it would have advantages. I have the necessary code for this but haven't had time to implement it yet.
Delete to recycle bin
QD4 currently deletes files permanently but I would like to make use of the recycle bin for safety. As with the drag and drop function, I have the code but not the time to implement this feature.
Undo
An undo feature would be handy, the program would simply need to keep a log of everything that happens during a copy/move/rename operation and "undo" everything if required. Doesn't sound too hard does it? We'll see when I try to implement it!
Save long filenames
This feature could be very handy if you're using anything that doesn't like long filenames. The function will save the long filenames in a temporary file or even a batch file then when the files reach there new home the long filenames can be restored. This feature is available using the batch file example but I would like to automate this a little more.
Set file date/time
QD3 was capable of changing any file(s) time and date stamp. I will probably implement this in QD4 as well.
Remote internet client
I'm hoping to be able to implement some kind of internet based remote client mode in QD4 to enable users to access other machines like local machines. I have no idea how I'm gonna do this but I think it's realistic and would be very handy. It may require restrictions or warnings about file sizes ( being a slow connection ) and also some client based security to prevent anybody messing with your stuff.
FTP Client
I plan to add FTP functions enabling QD4 to function as an FTP client. I feel this is a natural progression and would provide a seamless bridge between the local machine and the server in a familiar environment.
I now have all the necessary code to implement this feature, just need time to put it in!
Automatic refresh
Due to the nature of multi-tasking, multi-user operating systems, folder contents can change at any time so QD4 should be aware of this. This means checking that files still exist before attempting to copy, rename or delete them. It may also mean adding some sort of automatic refresh which either refreshes at set intervals ( controlled by the user ) or does some sort of quick check to see if anything has changed. I'm not sure exactly how this will be implemented but I feel some sort of auto refresh is necessary. Windows does have a notification system built into the api but I need to look into it some more.
Archive Handling
QD3 had some very powerfull archiving features which I hope to implement in QD4 but this may take some time so don't hold your breath! I have recently aquired code to fully implement support for ZIP files, I will be adding this feature as soon as time permits.