CompuServe Messages

Mr BE, Thank you for your response! As a software developer myself, I'm especially focused on things that could be changed, sometimes easily, that improve productivity. Thanks for listening. (Try sending ideas to Microsoft and see where they go. <g>) >>destructive join, already there… I've seen that in the PCREADME.TXT, but it said only to use it when the disk is full and requred modifying the PAR.INI file. Even if the disk-full requirement isn't the case, that wouldn't streamline operation except in rare cases. Besides, there doen't seem to be any way to know if two files are contiguous. Whether the destructive join of non-continuous files will take longer or fragment the disk more is not an issue here. Consider this: if I am arranging a series of segments into a single animation, I have to manually and repeatedly Join, Delete, then Rename the TMP file. I will process segments in an arbitrary order, taking a given length of time, and leaving the disk in a given state of fragmentation when it is all done. I don't really care what state the disk is left in, because my task is to create a specific video presentation regardless of what goes on in the hardware and software. Think of what I'm suggesting from Mr User's viewpoint rather than from the disk's viewpoint. The whole process would be streamlined if he could… -Select the starting ANI -Click the Join button -Select all segments to be joined -Specify in the dialog if this is to be a destructive join -Click OK to perform the Join For a destructive join Ask for a file name, defaulting to the initial ANI Join all segments, displaying progress Delete all component segments For a non-destructive join Ask for a file name, presenting TMP as a default (to get fancy here, present TMP01 if TMP is in use, etc.) Join all segments, displaying progress -Leave the highlight on the new file Note that if the ANI file listbox had an option to redisplay the file list and indicate which files are contiguous and capable of a non-fragmenting destructive join, then I could perhaps use this informatino first to try to plan and optimize my editing. However, the bottom line is I'm going to join what needs to be joined, whether contigous or not. Operation somewhat like that outlined above would simply let the computer do automatically what I now have to do manually. BTW, an extension of any ANI file listbox redisplay would be to allow a sorted display by name, size, date, or unsorted (showing which are contiguous, perhaps by separating non-contiguous files with something like "———-" in the filename field) >>there are quite a number of new features not outlined… Great things to know. Let them out of their cages! Is one of these features a stack of joins, or has that always been there? When I click on Join again while the Join list box is already active, I seem to get a stack of Join boxes, as evidenced by their unlayering as I click Cancel. (I have not actually tried clicking OK on one of these stacks) If you do allow a stack of joins, does it result in a single TMP file? Some layers can have a single file name – what are they joined to? If this stack is a feature, it would certainly seem to complicate the any potential destructive join operation. Personally, I see limited use for such a feature, as it 1) can be accidentally activated without any indication on the screen, and 2) hides a pending operation from review. Again, I've been too chicken to try this, since I have some things I on the drive that aren't backed up, so I may be way off base here. Thanks again for your attention! JKJ