home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
Ham Radio 2000
/
Ham Radio 2000.iso
/
ham2000
/
bbs
/
wpcvt21
/
wpcvt.doc
< prev
next >
Wrap
Text File
|
1994-01-15
|
7KB
|
163 lines
WPCVT White Pages converter utility
WPCVT 2.0 (C) 1994 by Dean R. Madsen, KE0WO
Brief notes for the WPCVT program:
-------------------------What does it do?-----------------------------------
One always wants the most complete White Pages database possible, and
it seems that someone else always has more info in their WP database. They
may offer to send a copy of it to you for you to replace your smaller WP
database with, but then you would loose any info that the larger database may
not have. My solution to this problem is the WPCVT program. What this
program will do is take the larger WP database that someone sent you, process
it and turn it into (a) WP update message(s) to be imported into your BBS
where the BBS will ADD the new info into its existing WP database.
--------------------------Using it-------------------------------------------
To use the WPCVT program you will require 2 DOS parameters to go with it.
The first is the name of the WP database to process, such as WP.SYS (which
is usually the case).
The second parameter is the output file that the WP update message will be.
This could be \FBB\MAIL.IN so that you won't have to do anything for the
BBS to import the new data. If you do output the data into the MAIL.IN file
in a multitasked enviornment with the FBB BBS still running, you have the
problem that FBB will start to import the MAIL.IN before WPCVT is finished
writeing it. If you decide to direct the output to the MAIL.IN file, you
will want to use the A option described in the next section.
The (optional) third parameter. This parameter lets you specify two options
for the output of the WPCVT program.
A option - This option will Append the output of the WPCVT program to the
file specified in the second parameter. If the file doesn't
exist, then the WPCVT program will create it.
I option - Create individual files starting with FILENAME.001 and
incredimenting the file number for each update message
(automatically enables the Split option). This option
is useful for using MAILREN to import a new update message
hour. Make sure you do not specify an extension in the
second parameter: WPCVT \FBB\SYSTEM\WP\WP.SYS MAIL -I
Do not even include a "." in the second parameter!
O option - Output the WP update info in MESS.WP form: doesn't make a
message. This is useful for creating a file for the WPHB
program to cross reference the White Pages with the HAMBASE
callsign database program, filling in any missing info it may
have.
S option - This option will create multiple short WP update messages
instead of one big long one (about 15K each).
The options entered in the third parameter in any order. You may even
include other characters with them.
Works: Doesn't work:
A A S
S A__ S <--- No spaces allowed!
-A S A
-S
-AS
-SA
****SA**
You may use a fourth parameter as the @ callsign for the update messages.
This allows sending your entire white pages (as update messages) to another
station over the air (I advise you to use the -SI options to create MAIL.001
type files for MAILREN to rename every so often for import into the BBS).
When the program is used, this is what the command line may look like:
WPCVT \FBB\SYSTEM\WP.SYS \FBB\MAIL -IS KE0WO
This would multiple MAIL.### files in my \FBB directory, which MAILREN would
then import one every hour. After being imported, the BBS will "chew"
on it a while and update is own WP database.
-----------------------------Conclusion-------------------------------------
1. This software is freeware to the amateur community. It may not be sold.
It may be freely copied and distributed in its original form, but at no
charge exceeding the medium and shipping.
I am tired of logging on to telephone bulletin boards and see my stuff
with strange .ARJ and other extensions, under different file names. I
request that you leave the archive unchanged, as I released it. If you
want to upload your white pages in the converted form, do it in a
seperate file.
2. No warranty is expressed or implied and incidental damages resulting from
the use of this software are solely the responsibility of the user. While
the software works fine, and I am willing to give it to the amateur
community, I am not willing to assume any liabilty for it crashing your
computer or its peripherals. (It has not done that on any machine we have
run it on...this is just legal junk to prevent someone from holding me
responsible for being generous enough to give this utility away as a
service to the FBB community.)
3. Feedback on desired features, changes, bugs, etc. are encouraged.
4. Let me know if a particular program is worth maintaining and updating.
I am finding myself with limited time and multiple programs that I could
work on. It would help to know which programs are worth updating the
most (taking into consideration number of people who find it useful,
ideas for new features, etc).
This new version was due an inquiry by SM2IRZ. Previously I had been
playing with the file servers (which are currently in the beta test stage).
I didn't have any immediate plans to release a new version until the
message asking about it.
Good luck and 73,
Dean - KE0WO
US Snail:
Home: Dean R. Madsen, KE0WO
P. O. BOX 303
Storm Lake, IA 50588
College: Dean R. Madsen, KE0WO
Wallace 7348 Lancelot
Iowa State University
Ames, IA 50013
Packet: KE0WO @ KE0WO.#NWIA.IA.USA.NA
Internet: dmadsen@iastate.edu
MADSENDEAN@BVC.EDU (forwarded to above address when at school).
Phone:
Voice: (515) 296-9471 - Your dime. I am usually around most weeknights
(Sunday-Thursday), but my schedule changes
unexpectedly.
Voice: (712) 732-2081 - Your dime. Your best chances of catching me at
home are on a weekend when I am home, or when
on break.
Data : (712) 732-3767 - 14400,N,8,1 . Enter your call at the prompt,
then type Y to proceed.
Latest KE0WO servers/utilities in the SERVERS
subdirectory of my file section in FBBDOS.