┴PPENDIX ┬ OF THE DOCUMENTATION DESCRIBES THE INFORMATION IN THE "BASES" FILE. ╘HIS TEXTFILE EXPLAINS HOW ALL THE INFORMATION IN THE "BASES" FILE IS USED.
╘HE "BASES" FILE, LOCATED ON THE "A" DRIVE, CONTAINS ESSENTIAL INFORMATION ABOUT ROOMS, MESSAGES, ╙╔╟S, AND EMAIL. ╘HIS INFORMATION IS READ INTO MEMORY WHEN THE ┬┬╙ IS BOOTED, AND IS UPDATED WHENEVER A USER LOGS OFF.
┴ DETAILED EXPLANATION OF EACH PART OF THE "BASES" FILE FOLLOWS:
╝------------------------
1. ó╘HE FIRST PART OF THE "BASES" FILE CONTAINS INFORMATION ABOUT THE CURRENT ROOMS. ┼ACH ROOM HAS A ROOM STATUS AND ROOM NAME ENTRY. ╙INCE THE ─╘╩-┬┬╙ CAN SUPPORT 50 ROOMS, THIS INFORMATION IS REPEATED 50 TIMES, EVEN FOR UNUSED ROOMS.
ó╘HE ROOM INFORMATION IS IN THIS FORMAT:
ó<ROOM #1 STATUS> <├╥>
ó"<ROOM #1 NAME> <├╥>
ó<ROOM #2 STATUS> <├╥>
ó"<ROOM #2 NAME> <├╥>
ó ...ETC...
ó╘HE ROOM STATUS IS AN INTEGER THAT INDICATES WHICH ╙╔╟ THE ROOM BELONGS TO, THE ROOM'S WRITE STATUS, LOCKED STATUS, AND LOGOFF MESSAGE ROOM STATUS:
ó┬ITS 0-3 OF THE ROOM STATUS INDICATE WHICH ╙╔╟ THE ROOM BELONGS TO. ╔F NONE OF THESE BITS ARE SET, THE ROOM IS UNUSED.
ó┬IT 4 IS UNUSED.
ó┬IT 5 INDICATES IF THE ROOM IS A LOGOFF MESSAGE ROOM. ╔F THIS BIT IS SET, THE ROOM IS A LOGOFF MESSAGE ROOM, AND BIT 7 IS ALSO SET. ╧NLY ONE ROOM CAN HAVE THIS BIT SET.
ó┬IT 6 INDICATES THE WRITE STATUS OF THE ROOM. ╙ETTING THE BIT MAKES THE ROOM READ-ONLY.
ó┬IT 7 INDICATES THE LOCK STATUS OF THE ROOM. ╙ETTING THE BIT LOCKS THE ROOM.
ó╬OTE THAT EVEN THOUGH YOU CANNOT LOCK AN UNUSED ROOM ONLINE, IF YOU EDIT THE "BASES" FILE OFFLINE TO LOCK AN UNUSED ROOM, THAT ROOM WILL BE LOCKED INTO THE UNUSED STATUS.
ó╘HE ROOM NAME FOLLOWS EACH ROOM STATUS AND CONSISTS OF A QUOTE MARK FOLLOWED BY THE ROOM NAME. ╒NUSED ROOM CONSIST OF A SINGLE QUOTE MARK.
2. ó┴FTER ALL 50 ROOM STATUS AND ROOM NAME ENTRIES COMES THE NUMBER OF MESSAGES POSTED AND THE MESSAGE POINTERS. ╘HESE ENTRIES ARE IN THE FOLLOWING FORMAT:
ó<NUMBER OF POSTS> <├╥>
ó<MESSAGE POINTERS> <├╥>
ó╘HE NUMBER OF MESSAGES POSTED IS USED BY THE ─╘╩-┬┬╙ FIGURE OUT WHICH MESSAGE IS THE OLDEST AND WHICH IS THE NEWEST. ╔F YOU CHANGE THIS NUMBER, THE MESSAGES WILL PROBABLY APPEAR OUT OF ORDER.
ó╘HE MESSAGE POINTERS CONSIST OF A STRING OF CHARACTERS. ┼ACH CHARACTER POSITION REPRESENTS A MESSAGE. ╘HERE IS ONE CHARACTER PER MESSAGE AND THE NUMBER OF CHARACTER POSITIONS DETERMINE THE NUMBER OF MESSAGES YOUR ┬┬╙ IS CONFIGURED TO HANDLE.
ó╘HE CHARACTER THAT IS PLACED IN EACH POSITION OF THE MESSAGE POINTER STRING REPRESENTS THE MESSAGE BASE THAT MESSAGE BELONGS TO. ╘HE CHARACTER CODE USED IS THE ┴╙├╔╔ CODE OF THE ROOM NUMBER PLUS 64. ╒NUSED POSITIONS (I.E. KILLED MESSAGES) CONTAIN A "@".
ó╞OR EXAMPLE, IF THE FIRST FEW CHARACTERS OF THE MESSAGE POINTER STRING ARE:
óDACB@BB....
ó╘HEN THE FIRST MESSAGE (D) BELONGS TO THE FOURTH ROOM, THE SECOND MESSAGE (A) BELONGS TO THE FIRST ROOM, ETC. ╘HE FIFTH MESSAGE (@) WAS KILLED AND DOES NOT BELONG TO ANY ROOM.
ó╫HEN A MESSAGE IS SAVED, HOW DOES THE ┬┬╙ DETERMINE WHICH CHARACTER POSITION WILL BE USED? ╘HIS IS WHERE THE NUMBER OF MESSAGES POSTED COMES IN.
ó╘HE ┬┬╙ DETERMINES THE POSITION BY TAKING THE REMAINDER OF THE NUMBER OF MESSAGES POSTED DIVIDED BY THE NUMBER OF MESSAGE POINTERS. ╘HE VALUE COMPUTED IS THE POSITION OF THE OLDEST MESSAGE IN THE SYSTEM, WHICH WILL BE REPLACED BY THE NEW MESSAGE.
ó╘HE POSITION IN THE MESSAGE POINTER STRING IS THE INTERNAL MESSAGE NUMBER AND IS INCLUDED IN THE MESSAGE FILENAME AS THE 4-DIGIT NUMBER AFTER THE "M-". ╘HIS NUMBER DOES NOT CORRESPOND TO THE MESSAGE NUMBERS AS SHOWN IN THE ON-LINE ┬┬╙. ╘HE ┬┬╙ MUST CONVERT BETWEEN THE TWO NUMBERING SYSTEMS TO FIND EACH MESSAGE. ╘HIS IS DONE BY COUNTING THE CHARACTERS THAT MATCH THE CURRENT ROOM NUMBER STARTING FROM THE POSITION OF THE OLDEST MESSAGE POINTER. ═ACHINE LANGUAGE IS USED FOR SPEED.
3. ó╘HE NEXT TWO ENTRIES ARE THE NUMBER OF CALLS AND THE NAME OF THE LAST CALLER IN THE FORMAT:
ó<NUMBER OF CALLS> <├╥>
ó<NAME OF LAST CALLER> <├╥>
4. ó┴FTER THE NAME OF THE LAST CALLER COMES THE ╙╔╟ INFORMATION. ╘HIS CONSISTS OF A ╙╔╟ BULLETIN DATE AND ╙╔╟ NAME, REPEATED 15 TIMES:
ó<╙╔╟ BULLETIN DATE> <COMMA>
ó"<╙╔╟ NAME> <├╥>
ó ...ETC...
ó╘HE ╙╔╟ BULLETIN DATE TELLS THE ┬┬╙ WHEN THE LAST [┼] [╙] X/1 COMMAND WAS ENTERED.
ó╔F THE ╙╔╟ BULLETIN DATE IS ALL ZEROS, THEN THERE IS NO ╙╔╟ BULLETIN FOR THE ╙╔╟.
ó╔F THE ╙╔╟ BULLETIN DATE IS ALL NINES, THEN THE ╙╔╟ BULLETIN WAS ACTIVATED WITH THE [┼] [╙] X/2 COMMAND.
ó╘HE ┬┬╙ COMPARES THE ╙╔╟ BULLETIN DATE WITH THE DATE A USER LAST LOGGED ON TO DETERMINE IF THE ╙╔╟ BULLETIN SHOULD BE DISPLAYED.
ó╘HE ╙╔╟ NAME CONSISTS OF A QUOTE MARK FOLLOWED BY THE NAME OF THE ╙╔╟. ╒NNAMED ╙╔╟S CONSIST OF A SINGLE QUOTE MARK.
ó╘HE LAST ╙╔╟ NAME IS FOLLOWED BY TWO CARRIAGE RETURNS.
5. ó╘HE NUMBER OF EMAIL ENTRIES ARE NEXT. ╘HIS CONSISTS OF AN INTEGER AND A CARRIAGE RETURN.
6. ó╠ASTLY COMES THE EMAIL ENTRY INFORMATION:
ó<EMAIL INDEX> <COMMA>
ó<DATE SENT> <├╥>
ó ...ETC...
ó╘HIS IS REPEATED UP TO 50 TIMES.
ó╘HE EMAIL INDEX IS THE ACCOUNT NUMBER OF THE USER TO RECIEVE THE EMAIL. ┴ ZERO INDICATES AN UNUSED EMAIL ENTRY.
ó╔F THE EMAIL IS URGENT, 1024 IS ADDED TO THE EMAIL INDEX.
ó╔F THE EMAIL IS CERTIFIED, 3072 IS ADDED TO THE EMAIL INDEX.
ó╘HE DATE SENT IS USED BY THE ┬┬╙ TO DETERMINE WHICH PIECE OF EMAIL IS THE OLDEST, SO THAT EMAIL CAN BE DELETED IF NECESSARY WHEN SAVING A NEW PIECE. ╒NUSED ENTRIES HAVE A DATE OF ALL ZEROS.
