Jason Aller Floppy Collection/176.img/SLBBS76M.ZIP/DOCS.ZIP/89OCT.DOC

Text File | 1989-11-02 | 20KB | 423 lines

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SEARCHLIGHT SOFTWARE   PO Box 131, Plainview, NY 11803
                                                                   





                             Searchlight BBS
                       October 1989 Update Bulletin




Echomail Support Features .................................... Page  1


Other New Features

  Command Access Levels ...........................................  5
  Message Text Searching ..........................................  6
  Message Auto Delete .............................................  7
  LHARC File Directories ..........................................  7
  Additional New Features .........................................  7
  Bug Fixes .......................................................  8











   ┌─────────────── Searchlight 24-Hour Support Systems ───────────────┐
   │                                                                   │
   │      Searchlight BBS                 Wise Byte BBS                │
   │      516-724-0971  (9600 HST)        212-962-1920  (1200/2400)    │
   │                                      212-962-1946  (9600 HST)     │
   │      Frank LaRosa, Sysop             Ron Chibnik, Sysop           │
   │                                                                   │
   └───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
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.F:
.F:...$$$

ECHOMAIL SUPPORT: INTRODUCTION

    Searchlight BBS version 1.75 provides support for Echomail message
conferences.  Briefly, Echomail is a type of Fidonet message which moves
from BBS to BBS via the worldwide Fido network of bulletin board systems.
Echomail effectively gives you access to nationwide and worldwide
conferences, conferences in which many users from many bulletin boards can
participate by both reading and writing messages.

    Searchlight supports Echomail through the SLMAIL utility program.
SLMAIL provides the ability to import messages in the standard Fido message
format into a Searchlight BBS message subboard, and to export messages from
Searchlight into Fido format.  When used in combination with standard
Fidonet utility software, SLMAIL provides a means of making Echomail forums
available to you in the form of Searchlight BBS message subboards.

    Please note that SLMAIL, by itself, does not give you access to
Echomail forums.  You will also require software to interface with other
Fidonet nodes, and you will need authorization from your local Fidonet
coordinator in order to begin participating.  For more information on how
to get started, contact other Fidonet users in your area.


SLMAIL NEW FEATURES

    SLMAIL is a command-line program which reads and writes messages from
your Searchlight message base.  Prior to release 1.75 of Searchlight BBS,
SLMAIL could import and export textual data from standard text files.  With
this release, we add to that the ability to use the Fidonet (*.MSG) format.
The following pages describe only the new features of SLMAIL; for a
complete description of SLMAIL's other functions, please refer to your
Searchlight BBS user's manual.

    The SLMAIL.EXE program module requires "registration" with your
Searchlight BBS registration number before it may be used.  To do that,
simply run the REGISTER.EXE program while in the same directory where
SLMAIL.EXE is located.  If you load SLMAIL.EXE into the same directory as
your other Searchlight BBS program files, you can register all programs at
once with a single REGISTER command.


New Messages

    SLMAIL has a new option, -N, for exporting (or reading) only new
messages on a subboard or from a user's mailbox.  For messages, SLMAIL
maintains its own set of new message pointers in a file called SLMAIL.NNN,
where NNN is the node number from which SLMAIL was called.  A different set
of pointers is maintained for the "Read" and "Export" operations, so each
subsequent "Read New" or "Export New" command will pick up where the last
command of that type left off.  SLMAIL updates the new message pointers
whenever it reads or exports a new message, regardless of whether the -N
flag is in effect.

    The -N flag is used in conjunction with message exporting.  In order
to avoid duplication of messages, use the -N flag each time you export
messages from a message subboard for inclusion in a national message echo.
This will ensure that only new messages posted after the last export
command was used are selected for export.

    When using SLMAIL for the first time, you may need to read and/or
export messages beginning from message 1 in order to initialize your new
message flags.  You can use the begin date/end date parameters for this
(begin and end dates can be combined with the -N flag).

    Note that -T is now used to designate a filename for text file reads
and writes instead of -N.  (To get a complete list of SLMAIL command line
options, just type SLMAIL without any parameters).


Fido Export

    SLMAIL exports messages in the Fidonet *.MSG format when the E (export)
command option is given. For example,

   SLMAIL E B                  Export messages on subboard "B"
   SLMAIL E B -N               Export New messages on sub "B"
   SLMAIL E SYSOP              Export contents of Sysop's mailbox

    SLMAIL checks the current directory for *.MSG files and begins
exporting messages at the next highest message number. If no MSG files
exist, then exporting begins at 2.MSG and continues with 3.MSG, 4.MSG, etc.

    Fidonet conventions require that user names be displayed using a
combination of upper and lowercase characters. By default, Searchlight BBS
and SLMAIL use all uppercase for usernames. You can change this default by
placing a -L switch on the SLMAIL command line when exporting messages.

    SLMAIL will not export "protected" messages. Messages are protected in
Searchlight by editing the message and assigning a protected status when
prompted. Protecting a message gives you a way to enter a local message
into an otherwise echo-bound subboard area.

    In addition to a message header and text, exported messages contain a
tear line, an Origin line, and a "Via" line.  These are standard items
which other software will expect to find.  Tear, Origin, and Via lines
appear at the end of an exported message and look like this:

    --- SLMAIL v1.32M  (#0001)
     * Origin: Searchlight BBS (0:107/20.4)
    ^AVia SLMAIL v1.32M  (#0001)

The first line (Tear line) contains the version number of the SLMAIL
program used to export the message, along with your unique Searchlight BBS
registration number.  Next is the Origin line, which contains the name of
your BBS and your Fidonet node numbers (node numbers are entered via the
1-Subop command).  The Via line, not normally visible when reading an
Echomail message, serves to mark the message as having been exported by
your BBS.  SLMAIL uses that information later to avoid duplication of
messages as they are imported and exported.


Fido Import

    SLMAIL imports Fidonet *.MSG format files when the I (Import) command
is used. For example,

   SLMAIL I B                  Import messages to sub "B"

    SLMAIL takes the *.MSG files in the current directory (starting with
2.MSG) and imports them into the specified message area. If private
messages are found, SLMAIL attempts to send these to the mailbox of the
designated recipient, if that recipient appears in your USER.BBS file. If
not, then the message is forwarded to the SYSOP's mailbox, along with a
message indicating the name of the unknown recipient.

    SLMAIL skips messages which were previously imported into your message
base or which were exported from your message base. If you do wish to
import such messages, use the -A (All) flag on the SLMAIL command line.

    Messages are always imported in date and time sorted order. The process
of sorting messages is done before the importing begins, and may take some
time if you have a lot of messages to import.

    Messages can be imported from another directory other than the current
dir.  To do this, specify the MSG directory with the -G option on the
SLMAIL command line.

    By default, "Seen-By" lines at the end of a message are ignored. If you
want to see these lines, add the -I switch to the SLMAIL command line.

    If the -K (Kill) command line option is given, SLMAIL deletes each
*.MSG file as it is imported. The 1.MSG file (if it exists) is not deleted.

    If the sender of an imported message exists in the SLBBS user file,
then that user's record ID number is entered into the message header, as
with an ordinary Searchlight message. If the sender does not appear in the
SLBBS user file, then the actual text of the sender's name is inserted
instead.


SLMAIL Configuration File

    SLMAIL supports a configuration file, which allows you to provide the
text of "Origin" type lines used by your system and an alias name for your
SYSOP account. The configuration file is a text file called SLMAIL.CFG,
which should be located in your Searchlight BBS directory. The format is as
follows:

     =Default SYSOP alias
     :Default origin line text
     A=SYSOP alias for subboard A
     A:Origin line text for subboard A
     B=SYSOP alias for subboard B
     B:Origin line text for subboard B, etc.

    SYSOP alias is a name that SLMAIL will use in place of SYSOP when it
exports messages to Fidonet. Normally, you should put your name here.
Origin text is used in the "Origin" line appended by SLMAIL to each
exported message. For example, your SLMAIL.CFG file might contain:

    =Frank LaRosa
    :Searchlight BBS 516-724-0971

    You can provide a different SYSOP alias and default line for each
Echomail area you use; the default values apply to all areas for which
specific data is not provided.


Echomail Network Addresses

    Each Echomail message that you send requires a Fidonet zone, net, node,
and sometimes a point address.  These numbers are provided by the network
coordinators in your area and serve to identify your bulletin board in the
international network.  They are included as part of the "Origin" line on
messages created with your system.

    To install your network numbers, issue the 1-Subop command for the
Echomail subboard and insert your address numbers. Because one bulletin
board may wish to participate in several different networks, Searchlight
supports the designation of different node numbers for each Echomail
subboard; if you will only be using one set of node numbers, make sure you
install these in each Echomail area on your system. The point address is
not required, and should be left with a value of zero if you do not have a
point address.

   Option #6 on the 1-Subop menu, Subboard Type, allows you to designate a
subboard as an Echomail or a Local area.  For subboards involved in
Echomail use, this designator should be set for Echomail.  Although SLMAIL
can export messages from any subboard area, the Echomail designator informs
the Searchlight message system to expect Echomail messages in that
subboard, which changes the behavior of some commands (for example, the
Scan/Personal command, as described later in this update bulletin).


COMMAND ACCESS LEVELS

    Searchlight BBS version 1.75 introduces a new configuration option that
allows you to define minimum access levels for all 24 commands on the Main
menu and all 22 commands on the Files menu.  Command access levels work in
conjunction with user BBS and files access levels, and allow you to
restrict the use of individual commands to users who have a certain access
level.

    Command access levels can be changed by selecting Option #8 on the
CONFIG program main menu.  Select the desired command from the submenu
choices, then enter a number from 0 to 255 to define an access level for
each command.  Once access levels for commands have been set, only users
who have an access level equal to or greater than the level associated with
a particular command will have the ability to use that command.  Other
users will not see that command on the menu and will not be able to execute
it.

    By default, all command access levels are set to 0, except for the
1-Subop and 2-Sysop commands on the main menu and the Copy and 2-Sysop
commands on the Files menu, which are initialized to a value of 254.
However, the 1-Subop command is still accessable to users who are desig
nated as SubSysops of a particular message subboard, regardless of their
access level.  Note that it is now possible to make the 1-Subop, 2-Sysop,
and Copy commands available to non-sysop users by lowering the command
access levels associated with these commands (most people will, of course,
want to continue to restrict these commands to sysops only).

    Command access levels are useful for restricting or completely shutting
off options on a command-by-command basis.  For example, in Searchlight BBS
version 1.74, the Quotes command will not display quotes if user quoting is
turned off (via the CONFIG program switch).  In version 1.75, this
restriction is removed, and Quotes will operate regardless of whether
quoting is enabled.  Those who wish to have the Quotes command unavailable
to their users may do so by assigning a command access level of 255 to the
Quotes command (thus making it available only to the Sysop user).

    Please note that although access levels for all commands can be
changed, there are some commands for which changing the access level
doesn't make sense (for example, if you gave the Goodbye command an access
level of 255, you would make it impossible for users to log off!).  It is
up to you to make sure that reasonable access levels are assigned, so use
this facility with care.


MESSAGE TEXT SEARCHING

    Searchlight version 1.75 supports several additional message scanning
facilities, including the ability to scan a public message area for
messages addressed to you, and the ability to search the texts of messages
as well as the message headers for specific text strings.


Finding Messages Addressed To You

    A new command option, Scan/Personal, appears on the Scan command
submenu.  When selected, Searchlight searches for messages which are
replies to messages posted by the currently logged on user.  As with the
Scan/Search command, the results of the search are listed and marked, and
the user is given the option to read the selected messages.  The command
can be aborted at any time by pressing ^C.

    For Echomail subboards, Scan/Personal works a little bit differently.
In addition to searching for replies to messages posted by the current
user, the command also searches the first few lines of the text of each
message for that user's name.  Since the SLMAIL program places the name of
each message's intended recipient on the first line of all imported
messages, Scan/Personal will be able to locate any Echomail message which
is addressed to the current user (it may also list messages in which the
current user's name otherwise appears in the first few lines of text).


Searching Messages for Text Strings

    The Scan/Search and Mail/Find commands now support the ability to
search both the header information (author and subject) and the text of
messages to locate a particular search string.  When you use these
commands, you will be prompted after entering your search key with:

    Search Text of Messages (Y/N)?

If you answer affirmatively, Searchlight will scan the entire text of each
message for your search key.  The search is non case sensitive (ie. all
combinations of upper and lowercase will be displayed).  At any time, you
can abort the search with ^C.

    Of course, searching message texts takes longer than searching header
information only.  If you are only interested in searching for information
in the subject or author fields of a message, you can choose not to search
message texts by responding with "N" to the "Search Text" prompt.



MESSAGE AUTO DELETE

    An automatic message deletion feature has been added to Searchlight
version 1.74.  When auto delete is active, Searchlight automatically
deletes the first nonprotected message on a message subboard when that
subboard is full and a new message is entered.  Auto delete can be enabled
on a per-subboard basis.

    To activate auto delete, set the Auto Delete option on the 1-Subop menu
in those subboards for which this feature is desired.  Searchlight will
purge old messages when the subboard limit of 480 messages is reached.
"Protected" messages will not be deleted (you can protect a message by
using the Edit command).


LHARC FILE DIRECTORIES

    Searchlight's View command for viewing the internal directory of
archive files has been expanded to support the LHARC file format, in
addition to PKZIP, PKPAK, and ARC formats.  Searchlight will recognise any
file with the standard '.LZH' extension as an LHARC type file.  Note that
because there are no direct "signature" bytes in LHARC files (as there are
in ZIP type files), Searchlight uses the '.LZH' file extension to determine
which format to use.  Therefore, LHARC files with other file extensions
should be renamed to allow viewing.  Viewing of self-extracting LHARC files
is not supported.

    Viewing of ZIP and ARC type files has been revised to provide faster
listings and a uniform list format for all three types of files.  Viewing
of self-extracting ZIP files is now supported, as is the display of large
ZIPfile comment strings (please note that if a ZIP file contains a comment
which is too large to load completely into available memory, Searchlight
will omit the comment when viewing that file).


ADDITIONAL NEW FEATURES

  ■ Default Subjects: Searchlight now carries the subject line of the
    original message as the default for all replies.  Previously, this
    was done only for private replies.  For public replies, the designator
    "Re:" is added before the text of the original subject (provided that
    "Re:" was not already present there).  If you want to change the
    default subject, you can do so by typing a new subject over it or by
    using the editing keys.

  ■ Com Port Parameters: Values for the COM3 and COM4 ports (base address
    and IRQ) have been expanded to include the standard values used on
    IBM PS/2 machines for COM3 to COM8.

  ■ Doors Menus: When using layered Doors menus (one menu which calls up
    other menus), Searchlight will return to the last active menu after
    executing a Door program.  Previously, control was returned to the
    first menu in the chain.

  ■ Who Command: For consistency, a "Who" command appears on the main
    menu in both single and multiuser versions. For single user systems,
    the Who command displays the name of the current user and the status
    of the Sysop's availability (ALT-S) flag.


BUG FIXES

Several bugs which were reported in earlier versions have been corrected in
version 1.75.  Specifically,

  ■ The Sysop-Next feature (ALT-N) did not work properly when front-end
    software was used with Searchlight.

  ■ Small files (less than 1K) were not properly recognised during a
    batch upload.

  ■ The calculation of file transfer ratios could be erratic when values
    exceeded 32K.