FILEID.TXT v1.9 by Richard Holler Last Revision 05/17/94 FILE_ID.DIZ INFORMATION Basically, the FILE_ID.DIZ file is a straight ASCII text file, distributed inside your distribution archive file along with your program files, which contains a description of your program. This file will be used by most BBS (Bulletin Board System) softwares for the online file description of your file. We recommend that the FILE_ID.DIZ file be used in all of your distribution archives. This text file contains a description of the FILE_ID.DIZ file, as well as a description of the recommended distribution archive format. WHY SHOULD YOU USE FILE_ID.DIZ? The use of this file will insure that the online description of your program will be in your own words (and who better to describe your program than yourself?), and that it will remain the same no matter how many different people upload your file to various BBS systems. As more and more BBS software makes use of this file, you can be assured that your own description will replace such online descriptions as "Cool Program" or "OK utility, but needs better ..." A majority of other electronic distribution services *REQUIRE* that a valid FILE_ID.DIZ file be contained in your submitted distribution archive. If your file doesn't contain a valid FILE_ID.DIZ file, then it simply won't be distributed by these services. Furthermore, most BBS sysops will not accept uploads of files which do not contain a valid FILE_ID.DIZ file, so you automatically lose out on that distribution as well. DESCRIPTION: FILE_ID.DIZ was created by Clark Development for use with their PCBDescribe utility, as a means for shareware authors to provide descriptions for their products, and thus so that BBS callers can upload the file(s) without having to manually type in a file description. As long as an author creates and includes a FILE_ID.DIZ file in their distribution fileset, the text from that file will be used for the online description (in most cases) rather than anything typed in by the uploader. It also ensures that the online description is always the same regardless of the number of different BBS systems the file is posted on. It has since been accepted by the BBS industry more-or-less as the "standard" file description source. (The extension of "DIZ" actually stands for "Description In Zip"). NOTE: The FILE_ID.DIZ file *MUST* be named exactly that, and *NOT* something like .DIZ. It will *ONLY* be used if it is named FILE_ID.DIZ! The FILE_ID.DIZ file is nothing more than a straight ASCII text file which contains the full description of the archived file containing it. It is used by most popular BBS software to describe your program, rather than using the description supplied by the person that uploaded your file. It should be placed *INSIDE* your distribution archive file. The FILE_ID.DIZ file is defined by its creators (Clark Development) as being created by the program author, and *NOT* the end user who is trying to upload the program. The BBS software will "look" inside the archive file. If a FILE_ID.DIZ file is found, it will replace any existing online file description with the text contained in FILE_ID.DIZ. It is an excellent method for making sure that your program files are described the way that "you" want them described. Even sysops who's software can't automatically make use of the FILE_ID.DIZ file have found it to be an excellent source for their manually added file descriptions. STRUCTURE: The file consists of straight ASCII text, up to 10 lines of text, each line being no more than 45 characters long. It should *NOT* contain any blank lines, any form of centering or formatting, or any Hi-ASCII or ANSI characters. (i.e. it should ONLY contain alpha & numeric characters). We recommended that it consist of 4 basic parts: 1. the proper name of your program 2. the version number 3. the description separator 4. the description All of the above parts should be separated by a single "space". PROGRAM NAME: To set it apart from the rest, it is recommended that you use ALL CAPS for the program name. VERSION NUMBER: The version number should be in the form of "v12.34". DESCRIPTION SEPARATOR: To separate the actual description text, insert a simple "-" (dash/minus) character in front of the description text. DESCRIPTION: You should attempt to FULLY describe your product, including its most important functions and features. Be sure to include anything which will separate your program from it's competition, and make the BBS user want to download your file. Also try to include any hardware or software requirements that your product may have. You should try to use the first 2 lines of the text to give a basic description of your program. This is helpful for sysops who's BBS software limits them to less than 10 lines, 45 characters. Sysops who are limited to using shorter descriptions can simply use the 1st two lines and truncate the rest. Thus, you can basically still supply your own description for BBS software which does not actually utilize the FILE_ID.DIZ feature. The remaining lines of text can be used to elaborate on the programs features, enhancements from the prior version, information concerning multi-file sets. Please note that older versions of some BBS software can only use 8 lines of text. It is advisable that you create your FILE_ID.DIZ file so that the file can be truncated to various line lengths without destroying it's usefulness. EXAMPLE MY PROGRAM v1.23 - A program which will do anything for anybody. Will run in only 2k of memory. Can be run from the command line, or installed as a TSR. Completely menu- driven. Version 1.23 reduces the previous 4k memory requirements, and adds an enhanced graphical user interface. Also, MY PROGRAM now contains Windows and DESQview support. Coming soon - an OS/2 version. From Do-It-All Software, Inc. $15.00 MULTIPLE DISK INFO Please note that if your distribution archive requires multiple archive files, you should create a separate, specific FILE_ID.DIZ file for each archive. This can be utilized to describe the various contents of each archive, and to identify each disk in the set. For example, the FILE_ID.DIZ file for disk #1 could contain: "MY PROGRAM v1.23 Program Executable Files - Disk 1 of 2" [followed by detailed description text] while the FILE_ID.DIZ file for disk #2 could contain: "MY PROGRAM v1.23 Documentation Files - Disk 2 of 2" [followed by more detailed description text] Optionally, you could also create a "complete" FILE_ID.DIZ file for the first disk, which would fully describe the program in detail, and identify it as Disk 1 of x. Then, for each remaining file in the set, simply include the Program Name, version number, and the disk number (i.e. "MY PROGRAM v1.23 Disk 2 of x"). ADDITIONAL INFO Please don't be tempted to use fancy graphic or ANSI sequences in the FILE_ID.DIZ file, as most BBS software will not allow this, and will render your FILE_ID.DIZ file useless. Also, don't be tempted to simply copy your program description file to FILE_ID.DIZ. Attempting to "format" your FILE_ID.DIZ file (i.e line centering, right & left justification, etc) will also cause unexpected results, especially for BBS software which re-formats descriptions to other than 10line/45char. Fred Hill has written a freeware utility which interactively creates a valid FILE_ID.DIZ file. The file is called DIZGEN.ZIP and can be found on CompuServe (GO IBMBBS, Library 2) as well as on many fine BBS systems. I highly recommend that you download a copy of this wonderful utility for creating your FILE_ID.DIZ files.