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Text File | 1993-05-02 | 21KB | 519 lines

CalCat! Ver 3.5 By Bart Flentje May 1 1993 Legal CalCat! is provided "AS IS" without any warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied as to the merchantability or fitness of purpose. The risk as to the quality and performance of the software is the end user's. The Author shall have no liability or responsibility to the user with respect to the liability, loss or damage caused or alleged to be caused by this software, including, but not limited to, any interruption of service, loss of business or anticipatory profits or consequential damages resulting from the use of, or the inability to use the software. The information in this document is subject to change without notice and does not represent a commitment on the part of the Author. Copying and Distribution: CalCat! is (c) copyrighted 1993, by Bart Flentje. It is also registered with United States Library of Congress as such. That means registered versions of CalCat! cannot be copied and/or distributed without the express written consent of the author. However, CalCat! can be copied and distributed so long as it is an unregistered version and is accompanied with the appropriate key designating it as SHAREWARE. No changes or modifications may be made without the authors approval. It is also a violation to use CalCat! past an authorized date unless a new key has been issued and released by the author. IT IS a violation of Federal COPYRIGHT Laws to distribute registered versions of this software whether it be the software itself or a registration key. Registration: CalCat! is NOT public domain, it is SHAREWARE. That means that you have to pay registration fees ($10.00) if you use CalCat! in any way or form. The registration cost is minimal and considered to be below market standards. Registration fee will allow the author to write new and improved versions of CalCat!. Registering your software will give you limited rights of use with no expiration. Registering your software also supports all new updates that may be developed. Description of files: - CALCAT.DOC (This documentation) - CALCATDB.EXE (Holiday database utility) - CALCAT35.EXE (The CalCat! program file to be run as event) - CALCAT.BAT (Sample batch file to start CalCat! event) - CALCAT.INI (Sample .INI file to see format.) - CALCAT.DAT (Holiday data file. Back this up!) - RELEASE.DOC (Version release information and history) - HOLISCRN.ZIP (Archive file containing 242 holiday screens) - CCCONVRT.EXE (Converts .DAT file to any extension) What is CalCat! ? CalCat! is a utility that was originally written for my BBS to automatically swap in a new HELLOX. screen on holidays, thus saving me a lot of work. It started out with just half dozen or so major holidays and has progressed since. Right now, CalCat! is supplied with a data file that will check for over two hundred holidays. This data file has the necessary data to place your holiday screens where you want them regardless of the year. No more monkeying with date shifting. (e.g. President's Day is the 3rd Monday in February) CalCat! does it for you. Beyond that, CalCat! also allows you to randomly or sequentially swap in other screens on non-holiday days! CalCat! is easy to setup and should be run as an event (preferred) or as postcall.bat by Wildcat!. How do I install CalCat! ? There are four basic steps to setup CalCat! I. Set up your new event directory. II. Set up .INI file III. Customize your holiday .DAT file IV. Set up your event in Wildcat! I. A. Create a new directory for CalCat! For better organization, I create a directory for each event that I run. My CalCat! event path looks like this: C:\WC30\EVENT3 B. Copy all CalCat! files into your new event directory. That will include CALCAT35.EXE, CALCAT.INI, CALCAT.DAT, CALCATDB.EXE, and HOLISCRN.ZIP. C. Inside my event directory, I have created a sub directory for all of the holiday screens. This is for purely organizational purposes. That path looks like such; C:\WC30\EVENT3\SCREENS. Here is where you have the new option. You can either copy HOLISCRN.ZIP into this sub directory or you can unzip the contents of HOLISCRN.ZIP into the sub directory. Which ever way you decide to go, you will determine that when setting up the .INI file. Here is an EXAMPLE of how my directory looks... _______________________________________________ Volume in drive C is MAX1! Volume Serial Number is 18DB-9CAD Directory of C:\WC30\EVENT3 . <DIR> 08-28-93 2:07p .. <DIR> 08-28-93 2:07p CALCAT DAT 6756 10-31-93 12:01a CALCATDB EXE 64232 10-18-93 12:00a CALCAT INI 93 10-31-93 3:00p CALCAT35 EXE 76162 10-31-93 3:00p CALCAT BAT 12 10-31-93 3:00p CALCAT DOC 8138 10-31-93 3:00p CCCNVRT EXE 56124 05-01-93 12:00a SCREENS <DIR> 10-31-93 3:00p <- Screens go here. 11 file(s) 151459 bytes 1817217536 bytes free _______________________________________________ II. Part I is now done. Wasn't that relatively harmless? If you thought so, I have to apologize for making part II sound way more difficult that it truly is. A. Make sure you are now in your new event directory. We'll modify your .INI file to suit your needs. But before we start, let me tell you a bit about what it will look like. Below is an example of what the .INI file should look like. (MINUS THE COMMENTS ON THE RIGHT!) SYSOP=Bart Flentje <--- Sysops first and last name BBS=The Bad Place BBS <--- Name of BBS TargetFile1=HELLO7 <--- Title of Target holiday screen 1 TargetFile2=HELLO8 <--- Title of Target holiday screen 2 TargetFile3=HELLO9 <--- Title of Target holiday screen 3 SourcePath=C:\WC30\EVENT1\SCREENS\ <--- Path of Source Holiday Screens TargetPath=C:\WC30\DISP\ <--- Path to Display Screens Last=4 <--- Last screen used sequential swap Sequence=2 <--- Swap type. 0=off 1=rnd 2=seqtl ASCII=BBS <--- Postfix for ascii screen type ANSI=SCR <--- Postfix for ANSI screen type Key=0000000 <--- Your key here Archive=HOLISCRN.ZIP <--- Name of ZIP file to use if the holiday screens are to be left in archive form to save space. LEAVE BLANK if screens are to be stored in UNZIPPED form. The ini file contains 13 lines. The order of these 13 lines does NOT matter. However, the SYNTAX MUST BE CORRECT. If you replace my data with your's leaving everything else the same, you will encounter no problems. The "Flag" part of each line MUST BE CORRECT in order for the .INI file to be read in properly. For example, you will notice where it says 'SYSOP=', this must exist on the line and simply fill in your information. Leave NO spaces BETWEEN the line 'Flag' and your data. The line 'Flags' are not case sensitive, however, your name and BBS name will obviously appear as you type it. B. The following data will help explain the information needed in the .INI file. Use your favorite text editor to change anything in the .INI file. 1. Sysop= This is the first and last name of sysop. Syntax: Sysop=Bart Flentje 2. BBS= The name of your BBS. Syntax: BBS=The Bad Place BBS 3. TargetFile1= This is the name of the screen you want to write the holiday screen to. This can be HELLOX., GOODBYE., or PRELOG. I Recommend that you use any HELLOX. screen. Do NOT put postfix or period at the end of this file name. The file type, whether it be ANSI or attribute, will be controlled automatically by another function. You will notice you now have the option for up to three TargetFiles to be written. You can use either one, two, or all three TargetFiles. If you choose not to use any one of them, leave the field empty. (eg TargetFile2=_ ) You must utilize at least one TargetFile or an error WILL occur. Syntax: TargetFile1=HELLO7 4. TargetFile2= See example above. Line number 3. 5. TargetFile3= See example above. Line number 3. 6. SourcePath= This is the path where CalCat! will find your holiday screens. If a holiday file does not exist at this path, CalCat! will abort it's operation. CalCat! is NOT sensitive to backslash at the end of the path. Syntax: SourcePath=C:\WC30\EVENT3\SCEENS 7. TargetPath= This is the path where CalCat! will write your holiday screen to. This line is more important to your BBS that it is for CalCat!'s operation, because this is the path where your BBS should be able to find your HELLOX screens. Again, CalCat! is NOT sensitive to the backslash at the end of the path. Syntax: TargetPath=C:\WC30\DISP 8. Sequence= This field tells CalCat! what type of a swap you want to use when it is a non-holiday day. There are only three (3) options here, and they are 0, 1, and 2. '0' means all swapping on non-holiday day should be turned OFF. A '1' will allow you to randomly swap a list of files specified in CALCAT.DAT. A '2' will allow you to sequentially swap a list a files that have been specified in CALCAT.DAT. If any other number or character exists here it will default to '0'. Syntax: Sequence=1 9. Last= If you chose swap type '2', the sequential swapping, this line will be written to every time CalCat! is run keeping track of the last screen swapped. Before you run CalCat! for the first time, this number can be any value for it will adjust itself accordingly. This line MUST exist whether you use sequential or not. I would recommend that you just put a '1' here and leave the rest to CalCat! Syntax: Last=1 10. ASCII= Most BBS packages produced today allow you to use two sets of screens. These two screens types are usually ANSI and ASCII, one set allowing for advanced colors and animation, and the other allows color or black and white, respectively. CalCat! is now setup to go beyond Wildcat!'s .BBS and .SCR making CalCat! compatible with several other packages on the market. In this field, simply put the ASCII postfix used by your BBS package here. Again, this line is more important to your BBS than for the operation of CalCat!. A postfix that is wrong will cause your BBS to not find your holiday file. Syntax: ASCII=BBS (note: .BBS is wrong! No dot.) 11. ANSI= As in above, simply put the ANSI postfix used by your BBS package here. It is not case sensitive. Syntax: ANSI=SCR (note: .SCR is wrong! No dot.) 12. Key= And lastly, but maybe most importantly, we have our new key system. CalCat! will not work unless there is a key entered here. All keys are currently 7 characters in length and with the exception of registered versions, the key is date sensitive. So, be sure to enter it here correctly. Syntax: Key=XXXXXXX 13. Archive= This is where you specify whether you would like to store the holiday screens in ZIP archive form or not. This new line must exist. If you WOULD like to store holiday screens in archive form, put the name of the archive file here. The screens included in SHAREWARE version have been preZipped, so I would recommend that you just leave the screens as is and put HOLISCRN.ZIP in this field. If you choose to store the holiday screens in the extracted form, this line MUST exist but leave the field blank. Syntax: Archive=HOLISCRN.ZIP That should do it for the .INI file, that didn't seem too bad, did it? III. With CalCat's new database system, it is now easier for you to turn holidays on and off, or add holidays to the database. I won't go into too much detail on how to run CALCATDB.EXE because there isn't as much to it as it may seem. It is just a means to manipulate holidays easier. Run CALCATDB.EXE and you will encounter the database screen. A. First of all, anytime you want to leave the program, just hit F1 and you are out. B. To go through the holidays one by one, use F2 key to go up and the F3 key to go down. You will notice once you get to the top it will wrap back to bottom and the same is true when the bottom is hit. C. If you'd like to add a holiday, hit the F4 key: 1. First enter a name to give holiday in the database. 2. Next you will be asked to give title of the screen file. The syntax must follow MS DOS proper file name syntax. That means the file name cannot exceed 8 characters and if it has a dot postfix at the end, (e.g. .BBS) it cannot exceed 4 characters. Any name not entered properly will be refused by database out. 3. The next question asked is whether or not your holiday should be turned on or off. Answer according to your preference. Any holiday added to the database does not have to be used. 4. Now you will be asked what type of holiday you are adding. You will have the choice of '1', '2', and '4'. ('3' is reserved for author use.) If you are entering a holiday that falls on the same day every year, use selection 1 and answer the questions given such as the month and day. If you are adding a holiday that shifts from year to year such as Memorial Day or Labor Day, use selection '2' and answer the prompted questions accordingly. The selection you will use the most often will probably be selection '4'. Use this to enter in your screens to swap in on non-holiday days. D. To delete a holiday from the database, use the F5 key. Please note that any holidays supplied by the author cannot and SHOULD NOT be altered in any way or form. All author supplied holidays can be turned on and off, but all other information pertaining to the holiday is locked from being erased or changed. E. If you know a particular record number that you'd like to jump to in the database bypassing all others, use the F6 key to jump to that record number. F. If you know the name of a particular holiday that you'd like to jump to bypassing all others, use the F7 key to do a search. G. Pressing any of the keys 1-5 will allow you to edit your record information. Note you are only allowed to edit holidays that you yourself have entered. 1. Change the name of the holiday in the database. 2. Change the title of the holiday screen. 3. ** Reserved for author use ** 4. Use this to toggle your holidays on and off. 5. Use this to edit the type of holiday. ** Well that should do it. You know the basics for holiday house keeping. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! To get a list of holidays sorted by date and/or name, run CalCat34.EXE with the switch -LIST. Syntax: CALCAT35 -LIST !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IV. Set up event in SYSOP menu area of Wildcat! BBS using the CALCAT.BAT sample file. Run once per day preferably at say 12:01 A.M. Once installed properly, event only takes approximately 5 seconds to run so will not interfere with incoming calls. That should do it. CalCat! is now ready to be run. You can run it outside of Wildcat! obviously if you'd like to see it run. Not much to see though until you log onto your BBS system. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REMEMBER................ I have supplied ANSI and attribute screens for the 242+ holidays that are already installed in the CALCAT.DAT file. Please cut me some slack on these screens. Some of them are from other authors and some of them are made by me. Every attempt has been made to retain the original work by other authors and by also leaving their mark, (name) on their work. I respect the hard work and creativity by these people, and I hope you also appreciate them. ANSI authors make your life easier!! ****** Read on.... And by all means I cannot and will not guarantee that any of these screens are setup with the proper amount of line lengths. I tried with the version 2 series and it turned out to be too much work for one person to do. (Especially as a student.) So, if you get a chance to get a nice set of custom holiday screens, please circulate them around the BBS world, especially at MSI HQS so I can get a hold of them. Enjoy CalCat! and if you have any problems or suggestions for improvements, please feel free to contact me, Bart Flentje, on the MSI HQS BBS or you can write to me at: or voice phoned at: Bart Flentje 612-686-6276 1718 Hickory Hill Eagan, MN 55122 Thanks for the support!