The DOS Shell is quite flexible. In the directory tree area and file list area, you can display directories and filenames from any of your computer’s disk drives, including directories and filenames from two disks at one time. You also can display just the program list, change the entire screen to a graphics mode, and show as many as 60 lines of information on a single screen (depending on the capability of your computer’s monitor).
The following sections describe how to modify the display to list directories and files from other disks, to display files from two disks at one time, and to change the amount of infor-mation displayed about each file. In addition, the following sections show you how to dis-play the program list full-screen and how to change the number of lines that appear onscreen.
Logging On to a Different Disk
As you learned in Chapter 2, “Starting DOS,” each time you turn on your computer, the operating system (DOS) is loaded from one of your computer’s disks. This disk is the boot disk. If your system is configured to start the DOS Shell immediately after your computer boots up, the Shell window lists directories and filenames found on the boot disk. Often, you might need to display the directories and filenames on a disk other than the boot disk.
Figure 4.2, for example, shows three drive letters: A, B, and C. Drive C is the boot disk;
therefore, the directories found in drive C are shown in the directory tree. Drive C’s icon is highlighted, indicating that C is the currently selected disk drive.
To display the directories found on another disk, move the mouse pointer to the drive icon of the desired disk and click the left mouse button. Alternatively, press the left- or right-arrow key until the Shell highlights the drive letter you want and then press Enter.
Using the DOS Shell Menus 71
The Shell displays a message that it is reading the disk information and then displays in the directory tree and file list areas of the DOS Shell window the directories and filenames from the target disk. Figure 4.9, for example, shows filenames from a disk in drive B.
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Ch Figure 4.9
Displaying the directories and file-names from the disk in drive B.
Because the DOS Shell enables you to start other programs that can create, modify, or delete files on your disk, the list of files in the DOS Shell window might at times be inaccu-rate. If you suspect that the directory tree area or file list area does not reflect the actual contents of the disk, use the Shell’s Refresh command. To refresh the file list, press F5 or choose Refresh from the View menu (see Figure 4.10).
When DOS Shell is run in text mode, there is no visual differentiation between file types.
Running the Shell using one of the graphics modes, however, causes file lists to show icons to the left of the listed files. These icons differentiate between executable files and docu-ment files. If you look closely at the icons in Figure 4.9, you see that docudocu-ment files are represented as dog-eared pages and that executable files (.EXE,.COM, and .BAT) have a rectangular icon that represents a running program.
The Shell displays the message Reading Disk Informationand then returns to the DOS Shell window and displays the updated list of directories and files in the directory tree and file list areas.
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Switching Between Dual and Single File Lists
From time to time, you might want the convenience of seeing lists of directories and files from two disks simultaneously. Perhaps you want to copy a file from one disk to another, or maybe you want to compare the list of files on one disk to the list of files on another disk.
The DOS Shell enables you to display two file lists on the same screen. To do so, choose Dual File Lists from the View menu (refer to Figure 4.10).
The Shell replaces the program list area, at the bottom of the window, with a second disk drive area, directory tree area, and file list area showing the directory tree and file list from the current disk drive (see Figure 4.11). This view is called a dual file list.
Even though the initial display of the second file list is a duplicate of the top window, each file list is independent of the other. Note that each file list has its own set of disk drive icons.
To select a second disk drive in the bottom portion of the window, click the icon in the bot-tom disk drive area for the drive for which you want to list directories and files.
Alternatively, press Tab or Alt+Tab to cycle the selection cursor until it highlights the drive icon of the currently selected drive in the bottom disk drive area. Then use the left- or right-arrow key to highlight the desired drive icon and press Enter.
The Shell lists directories and filenames from the second disk in the lower set of directory tree and file list areas (see Figure 4.12). You can switch between the two lists by using the mouse or the Tab key.
Figure 4.10 The View menu.
Using the DOS Shell Menus 73
At times, especially when a directory contains many files, you need a single full-screen file list. Choose Single File List from the View menu to see a list, called a single file list, similar to the one shown in Figure 4.13.
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A dual file list.
Figure 4.12 Viewing directories and filenames from two disks at one time.
74 Chapter 4 Using the DOS Shell
Figure 4.13 Viewing a single file list.
When you exit from the DOS Shell, it remembers the changes you made using the View menu. The next time you start the Shell, it will have the same appearance.
Displaying All Files
Occasionally, you might want the Shell window to display all files on a disk, regardless of the directory. To display all files in a single list, choose All Files from the View menu.
In the All Files view, the Shell displays a window on the right side of the screen listing the names of all files on the disk in alphabetical order (see Figure 4.14). To the left of this win-dow is an area that displays information about the currently highlighted file.
Switching Between the Program List and the Program/File Lists
The first time you start the DOS Shell, the DOS Shell window displays the directory tree area, file list area, and program list area. Some users prefer to use the DOS Shell primarily as a menu for starting applications programs and thus don’t want to view the directory tree and file list every time. The DOS Shell, therefore, provides a view that displays only the program list. To select this view, shown in Figure 4.15, choose Program List from the View menu.
If you decide later that you want to display the directory tree and file list areas onscreen along with the program list area, you need only choose Program/File Lists from the View menu. The DOS Shell then returns to the original view, with the disk drive area, directory tree area, and file list area in the top half of the screen and program list area in the bottom half of the screen.