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t_ManagingABigCollectionofSoftware

Managing a big collection of software


I devised a tricky way to manage my huge apps collection with Ztree, using ZNOLOG.INI, ZCOLORS.INI and CO-2J.

I've collected thousands of software over the years. About 80% of software are "just in case"... therefore I usually copy only a very small selection of branches of my huge \COMPIL directory to myself friends and clients (eg. emergency CD), mostly the "most popular" apps.

The collection is divided in typical division/dir/subdir such as \Utilities, \System, \Graph, \APPS\Academic\Bibliographical software\, etc. At present, all subdir names start with one of the following prefix:

  • #- for freeware
  • $- for commercial (trial) or shareware
  • ¶- for registered apps or registration info that I do not want to share with others
  • !- for collection of url only (portals, tips, etc.)

I also have a special subdir name suffix which is *.CDROM and indicates that the folder contains... one or many CD images.

Finally, I differenciate the "unpopular apps" from the "popular apps" by putting a Hide attribute on their subdir. I enabled DATTR-H:bri black in ZCOLORS.INI to see the difference. NOTE: actually *most* subdirs have a +H attribute since most of them are "old apps" that I keep for legacy, "just in case" or only because I am a compulsive man :-)

Some examples:
\01.APPS\ACAD\BIBLIOGRAPHICAL MANAGER\$-Procite 5.0\ 
\02.PRODUCTIVITY\OCR\$-Finereader 8.0 PRO\ 
\02.PRODUCTIVITY\PRINT\$-FinePrint\ 
\02.PRODUCTIVITY\PRINT\¶-FinePrint\ 
\04.UTIL\CDROM\#-CDImage\ 
\04.UTIL\CDROM\¶-CloneCD\ 
\04.UTIL\CLIPBOARD\$-InClip 1.75\ (with +H on dir) 
\07.SYSTEM\TWEAKS\!-Tips\ 
\10.OS\WinXP\Windows XP Pro FR Ori.CDROM\


Now some scenarios:

1. I want to display only the most popular apps? C0-2J=Yes, then log my compil. Voilà . I am ready to do whatever I want now!

2. I want to copy only the most popular apps that are freeware? Edit ZNOLOG.INI and add (or uncomment if already added) the following:
*$-* 
*¶-* 
*!-*

then CO-2J=Yes (doing ALT-F10,3 reload ZNOLOG.INI), then relog. Voilà .

3. Same as above, but exclude also CD-Roms images? Just add *.CDROM to the ZNOLOG.INI !

4. I want to display only dir (popular or old) with personnal content? Edit ZNOLOG.INI the following way:
*$-* 
*#-* 
*!-*

Then CO-2J=No and Relog

Etc.

Simple and effective.

By adding suffix to subdir name, I can also extend functionnality.

Of course, rather than editing ZNOLOG.INI each time, I can run ZTREE with alternate configuration directory?.

Contributors to this page: laurent .
Page last modified on Sunday 02 of March, 2008 23:16:26 EST by laurent.

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