Catalog - CatArt Manipulation Tool

Catalog is a command-line utility for creating and managing CatArt - visually enhanced catalog displays for Amstrad CPC disk images using BASIC programs.

What is CatArt?

CatArt is a technique for creating attractive, graphical disk catalogs on the Amstrad CPC by embedding catalog information within a specially crafted BASIC program. When the BASIC program runs, it displays a nice-looking catalog with custom fonts and colors.

Features

Build CatArt from BASIC programs → DSK/HFE or raw binary
Display CatArt with rendering (cat/dir commands)
List catalog content (text output)
Decode CatArt back to BASIC listing
Modify catalog entries (readonly, system flags, filenames, etc.)
Debug CatArt structure (inspect bytes and BASIC commands)
PNG export of pixel-accurate CatArt rendering
Multi-locale support (English, French, Spanish, German, Danish fonts)
All screen modes (0, 1, 2, or 3)

Quick Start

# Build a catart DSK from BASIC program
catalog loader.bas build -o game.dsk

# Display catalog (alphabetically sorted)
catalog game.dsk cat 

# Display catalog (directory order)
catalog game.dsk dir

# List catalog content (text only)
catalog game.dsk list

# Decode CatArt back to BASIC
catalog game.dsk decode -o restored.bas

# Export rendering to PNG
catalog game.dsk cat --png catalog.png --locale english

# Modify an entry
catalog game.dsk modify --entry 0 --readonly

# Debug CatArt structure
catalog game.dsk debug --cat

Use Cases

Integration with BndBuild

Catalog is available as a standalone catalog binary but can also be used within BndBuild build scripts using the catalog or cat command aliases. See BndBuild Commands for integration details.

Create professional-looking disk menus
Distribute demos with attractive catalogs
Customize disk presentation
Reverse-engineer existing CatArt disks
Modify catalog metadata without breaking the display