Copyright: Copyright 1993 TARDIS DP Consultants


Introduction

The administrator is responsible for maintaining an up-to-date list of all network users and groups who can access Work Status.  No user may log into Work Status without first being defined by the administrator.   Each time Work Status (WSTATUS.EXE) is executed it gets the user's network ID from Windows.  If Window's does not know the user's network ID, Work Status prompts the user for it.  NOTE: Network ID's in Work Status must be 8 characters or less.  If you have defined network users with longer ID's you may want to change their network ID.

WARNING: Never access Work Status Admin (WSTATUSA.EXE) if ANY users are currently running the Work Status program.  Data corruption may result.  You can see who is logged in by running Work Status (WSTATUS.EXE) and checking the user list for a plus sign in the right column.  The plus sign indicates the user is currently running Work Status.

Instructions for maintaining the Work Status user list:

Start the Work Status Admin program (WSTATUSA.EXE) by double clicking on the icon in the Work Status group.

If this is your first time using the program a blank list of user displays.  We suggest you add your name first.

Type a user's Network ID in the text box at the top of the screen.  Notice that the Add button becomes available when anything is typed in the text box.  Some characters are not permitted as network ID's.  These characters will not be entered into the text box.

Click Add (or press Enter).  A directory on the hard drive under the Work Status directory (ex. WSTATUS\MSG\<network id>) is created.  This directory is used to store phone and mail messages.  If you remove the user the directory and all files contained in it are also removed.

The User Addition window displays.  Enter the information requested.  The Full Name is required and defaults to the network ID.

It this person is to be considered the "Receptionist", click the Receptionist check box..  A receptionist is a user who can change other user's status and alert them to new phone messages, and faxes.  More than one user can be a receptionist.

The Refresh Interval is the number of minutes (approximately) between checks for new phone messages, fax, and mail.  This also controls how often the user status list is updated.  This value defaults to 2 but may be changed to any positive value between 1 and 9999.

Click OK when done.

Proceed with the next network ID.  If you attempt to add more users than your user count permits, you will receive an error message.  You can check your maximum user count by clicking on the Note icon.

Once you have defined your User ID's you can optionally create groups and assign users to one or more groups.  This makes it much easier to send mail messages to groups of users.  Please see the section below.

When you have completed adding/changing users, click Save and Quit to save the new user list to the network drive.  Any changes you make can not be reversed.  Please be careful.
Once you setup each user's work station they may begin using Work Status.  Please see the section  "Configuring a User's Work Station".

The Reset Button
The reset button is a quick way to reset the Phone Message, Fax, and Mail alerts for all users.  It also sets each users on-line status to "Off Line".   This should not normally be used but is included for those instances when you want to reset these flags.

The ReDir Button
The ReDir button re-creates the directory tree of subdirectories.  This can be extremely helpful if you had to restore from backup and empty directories were not re-created.  Just click the button to create directories for all users.

Setup User
This option should be run once on each user's work station.  It creates the necessary files, Program Manager groups, and icons so that a user can access Work Status more easily.

Setup Admin
This option should be run once on the Adminestrators work station to set up Program Manager to access not only Work Status but also the Work Status Admin. program.

User Groups
The User Groups option allows you to assign a user to one or more groups.  These groups appear on the Copy mail list and can be selected just like a user.  This allows you to quickly and easily send mail messages to all the members of one or more groups.  The system even allows you to selectively "remove" users from a group (for a given message) which gives you absolute control over who in a group receives a given message.

Click on the User Groups button to display the User Group entry window.  The left column list all defined groups.  The right column list all users in the system.  Users who are highlighted in the right column are members of the group which is currently highlighted in the left column.

You simply click on the group you want to display/change and then click on the users to highlight (member of group) or un-highlight (not a member of group).  This gives you a quick and easy method of adding and removing users from a selected group.

To add a new group , enter the group ID (7 characters or less) in the box under the group list.  You then click Add.  You can then add users to the group.  You can delete a group by selecting it and clicking Delete.

Note: The same user can belong to any number of groups.  As you delete users form the primary administration window, the groups are automatically updated to reflect your changes.  Don't forget that when you add a new user you should also assign them to any groups as necessary.

Deleting Users
You may delete a user at any time.  When you delete a user all phone and mail messages sent TO that user are automatically deleted.  Any bulletins posted BY that user are not deleted.  The receptionist has the ability to delete any bulletin as easily as they would delete their own.  Please ask the receptionist to delete any bulletins desired.

Advanced Topics

Notice


Advanced
Advanced Topics

Changing the Status Type List

The Work Status system defaults to a list of status ID's which include:

"Available"
"Not Available"
"Out of Office"
"See Message"
"In Car"
"Do Not Disturb"
"In Conference"
"Back in 5 min"
"Back in 10 Min"
"Back in 30 Min"
"Back in 1 Hour"

If this list does not suit your needs you may make your own list which replaces the hard coded list above.  To design your own list  create an ASCII file in the network \WSTATUS directory named WSTATUS.MSG.  Place one status type on each line.  Status types are limited to 15 characters.

Make sure there are no blank lines (especially one or more blank lines at the end of the file).  Save the file.  The next time Work Status is started you list will display when the user clicks on the List Box button.

Keep in mind that any user may either select from the list or manually type their status.  This may save you from having to account for every possible status.  Some users may even want to indicate where in the building they are (instead of using the Brief Message).  This way, their location appears in the User List without users having to view the detail window.

Specifying the User's Network ID
If windows does not know the current user's network ID when they start Work Status, the user is prompted for it.  If you would prefer not to be prompted, you can add the user's network ID directly after the program name in the program manager (separated by a space).  Fox example, if Work Status is installed on G: in the directory WSTATUS, the program manager command is G:\WSTATUS\WSTATUS.EXE.  You simply add the user's name after this.  It would now read G:\WSTATUS\WSTATUS.EXE  JUDY.  The system would read this name if Windows does not know the network ID.

If you do not want to customize each user's windows system, you may set the DOS environment variable WSTATUS to the user's network ID.  This environment variable will be checked if Windows does not know the ID and the ID is not specified on the Work Status command line.

Sending Mail from Other Programs
Work Status allows you to create ASCII files from any program and then "Send" the ASCII file as a message to any Work Status user.  This allows Windows and DOS programs to indicate their progress or status by sending a mail message via Work Status.   An example might by the nightly backup process sending a message to the network supervisor that the backup completed.  This feature can prove invaluable!

The ASCII file must have the following format to be processed correctly by Work Status.

Line 1 - The Work Status Network ID of the person SENDING this message.  Although this value is not checked against defined Work Status users, it MUST be correct.  Proper message functioning will be impaired if it is not a valid user.
Line 2 - The Subject (any length)
Line 3+ - The message text.  The text will automatically word wrap in the Work Status message window, so you should not include CRLF (ASCII 13 & 10) unless you specifically want to start a new line.
The file must match the above specification (although Line 2 may be blank, there must be at least 3 lines in the file!).  The file size is limited to about 64K (the maximum size windows can store in a text box).

To send the message to a user, you must save the ASCII file in the desired user's message directory.  For example, if you installed the Work Status program on the network drive G: in the \WSTATUS directory, and you want to send the message to Judy, you must store the ASCII file in the directory G:\WSTATUS\MSG\JUDY.

The name of the ASCII file is important also.  Only files which have the first letter of "N" (for new) and the extension ".MAI" will be converted to mail messages.  Although you can send a file named simply N.MAI, it is STRONGLY recommended that you include in the file name a random number and that you check for the existence of a same named file before saving the new one.  This will prevent you from accidentally writing over an ASCII message file sent earlier.

Every time a user starts Work Status or the user list is updated, their message directory (see above) is scanned for all files matching N*.MAI.  If any are found, they are saved as a new file (M???????.MAI) in internal message format , the original ASCII  file deleted, and the user alerted to new mail.


Notice

Please see the WSTATUS.TXT or WSTATUS.SAM (Ami Pro) documentation files for information about registering Work Status and increasing your user count.

Software License Agreement

Work Status is not and never has been public domain software, nor is it free software.  You are, however, granted 15 day evaluation period to try out the system.

The software product and user's manual are copyrighted and all rights are reserved by TARDIS DP Consultants and Charles L. Cranford IV.

Evaluation users are granted a limited license to use Work Status for no more than 15 days for the purpose of determining whether Work Status is suitable for their needs. The use of Work Status for more than 15 days  requires licensing and the payment of a license fee. The use of the product for more than 15 days by any person, business, corporation, government agency, or any other entity without licensing it from TARDIS DP Consultants is strictly prohibited.

A license permits a user to use Work Status on one file server.  The software may not be installed on more than one file server without additional licenses.

No one may modify or patch the Work Status files in any way, including but not limited to decompiling, disassembling, or otherwise reverse engineering the program.

A limited license is granted to copy and distribute Work Status for the trial use of others, subject to the above limitations, and to those below:

(1) Work Status must be copied in unmodified form, complete with the file containing this license information and all documentation.

(2) Work Status may not be distributed in licensed form to any person.  It MUST be distributed as an unlicensed copy.

(3) No fee, charge, or other compensation may be requested or accepted for distributing Work Status, except as follows:

(a) operators of electronic bulletin board systems may make Work Status available for downloading. A time-dependent charge for the use of the bulletin board is permitted so long as there is no specific charge for the download of any Work Status files.

(b) vendors of Shareware may distribute Work Status, subject to the above conditions, and may charge a disk duplication and handling fee, not to exceed ten dollars.

Limited Warranty

TARDIS DP Consultants guarantees your satisfaction with this product for a period of thirty days from the date of original license. If you are dissatisfied with Work Status within that time period, return the package in salable condition to TARDIS DP Consultants for a full refund.

TARDIS DP Consultants warrants that all disks provided are free from defects in material and workmanship, assuming normal use, for a period of thirty days from the date of purchase.

TARDIS DP Consultants warrants that Work Status will perform in substantial compliance with the documentation supplied with the software product. If a significant defect in the product is found, the Purchaser may return the product for a refund. In no event will such a refund exceed the license price of the product.

The product and all updates are provided on an "as is" basis without warranty of any kind, express or implied, except as stated above including, but not limited to the implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. The entire risk as to the selection, quality, results, and performance of the product is with the Licensee. Should the product prove defective, then the Licensee (and not TARDIS DP Consultants or its dealers) assumes all liability and expense incurred as a result thereof. Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion of certain implied warranties so in such jurisdictions, the above exclusion of implied warranties may not apply to you. The limited warranty gives you specific legal rights. You may also have other rights which vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction.

TARDIS DP Consultants shall have no liability or responsibility to you or to any other person or entity with respect to any liability, loss or damage caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by the product or your use, misuse or inability to use the product, including but not limited to, any interruption of service, loss of business, anticipatory or actual profits or consequential damages resulting from the use, misuse or inability to use the product.

TARDIS DP Consultants does not warrant that the functions contained in the product or updates will meet your requirements.

Use of this product for any period of time constitutes your acceptance of this agreement and subjects you to its contents.