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- ╘HE ┬┴╙┼╙ ╞ILE IN ─ETAIL
- ------------------------
-
-
- ┴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. ╘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.
-
- ╘HE ROOM INFORMATION IS IN THIS FORMAT:
-
- <ROOM #1 STATUS> <├╥>
- "<ROOM #1 NAME> <├╥>
- <ROOM #2 STATUS> <├╥>
- "<ROOM #2 NAME> <├╥>
- ...ETC...
-
- ╘HE ROOM STATUS IS AN INTEGER THAT INDICATES WHICH ╙╔╟ THE ROOM BELONGS
- TO, THE ROOM'S WRITE STATUS, LOCKED STATUS, ANONYMOUS POST STATUS, AND
- LOGOFF MESSAGE ROOM STATUS:
-
- ┬ITS 0-3 OF THE ROOM STATUS INDICATE WHICH ╙╔╟ THE ROOM BELONGS TO. ╔F
- NONE OF THESE BITS ARE SET, THE ROOM IS UNUSED.
-
- ┬IT 4 IS UNUSED.
-
- ┬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.
-
- ┬IT 6 INDICATES THE WRITE STATUS OF THE ROOM. ╙ETTING THE BIT MAKES THE
- ROOM READ-ONLY.
-
- ┬IT 7 INDICATES THE LOCK STATUS OF THE ROOM. ╙ETTING THE BIT LOCKS THE
- ROOM.
-
- ┬IT 8 INDICATES THE ANONYMOUS USER STATUS OF THE ROOM. ╙ETTING THE BIT
- MAKES THE ROOM ANONYMOUS.
-
- ╬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 AND WILL NOT BE AVAILABLE TO BE CREATED.
-
- ╘HE ROOM NAME FOLLOWS EACH ROOM STATUS AND CONSISTS OF A QUOTE MARK
- FOLLOWED BY THE ROOM NAME. ╒NUSED ROOMS CONSIST OF A SINGLE QUOTE MARK.
-
- 2. ┴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:
-
- <NUMBER OF POSTS> <├╥>
- <MESSAGE POINTERS> <├╥>
-
- ╘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.
-
- ╘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.
-
- ╘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 "@".
-
- ╞OR EXAMPLE, IF THE FIRST FEW CHARACTERS OF THE MESSAGE POINTER STRING
- ARE:
-
- DACB@BB....
-
- ╘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.
-
- ╫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.
-
- ╘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.
-
- ╘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. ╘HE NEXT TWO ENTRIES ARE THE NUMBER OF CALLS AND THE NAME OF THE LAST
- CALLER IN THE FORMAT:
-
- <NUMBER OF CALLS> <├╥>
- <NAME OF LAST CALLER> <├╥>
-
- 4. ┴FTER THE NAME OF THE LAST CALLER COMES THE ╙╔╟ INFORMATION. ╘HIS
- CONSISTS OF A ╙╔╟ BULLETIN DATE AND ╙╔╟ NAME, REPEATED 15 TIMES:
-
- <╙╔╟ BULLETIN DATE> <COMMA>
- "<╙╔╟ NAME> <├╥>
- ...ETC...
-
- ╘HE ╙╔╟ BULLETIN DATE TELLS THE ┬┬╙ WHEN THE LAST [┼] [╙] X/1 COMMAND WAS
- ENTERED.
-
- ╔F THE ╙╔╟ BULLETIN DATE IS ALL ZEROS, THEN THERE IS NO ╙╔╟ BULLETIN FOR
- THE ╙╔╟.
-
- ╔F THE ╙╔╟ BULLETIN DATE IS ALL NINES, THEN THE ╙╔╟ BULLETIN WAS ACTIVATED
- WITH THE [┼] [╙] X/2 COMMAND.
-
- ╘HE ┬┬╙ COMPARES THE ╙╔╟ BULLETIN DATE WITH THE DATE A USER LAST LOGGED ON
- TO DETERMINE IF THE ╙╔╟ BULLETIN SHOULD BE DISPLAYED.
-
- ╘HE ╙╔╟ NAME CONSISTS OF A QUOTE MARK FOLLOWED BY THE NAME OF THE ╙╔╟.
- ╒NNAMED ╙╔╟S CONSIST OF A SINGLE QUOTE MARK.
-
- ╘HE LAST ╙╔╟ NAME IS FOLLOWED BY TWO CARRIAGE RETURNS.
-
- 5. ╘HE NUMBER OF EMAIL ENTRIES ARE NEXT. ╘HIS CONSISTS OF AN INTEGER AND A
- CARRIAGE RETURN.
-
- 6. ╠ASTLY COMES THE EMAIL ENTRY INFORMATION:
-
- <EMAIL INDEX> <COMMA>
- <DATE SENT> <├╥>
- ...ETC...
-
- ╘HIS IS REPEATED AS MANY TIMES AS THERE ARE EMAIL FILES ALLOWED.
-
- ╘HE EMAIL INDEX IS THE ACCOUNT NUMBER OF THE USER TO RECIEVE THE EMAIL. ┴
- ZERO INDICATES AN UNUSED EMAIL ENTRY.
-
- ╔F THE EMAIL IS URGENT, 1024 IS ADDED TO THE EMAIL INDEX.
-
- ╔F THE EMAIL IS CERTIFIED, 3072 IS ADDED TO THE EMAIL INDEX.
-
- ╘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.
-
- ┘OU CANNOT EDIT THE "BASES" FILE USING THE ┬┬╙ EDITOR BECAUSE THE ┬┬╙
- KEEPS THE BASES FILE INFORMATION IN MEMORY AND WRITES THE MEMORY INFO
- TO DISK WHEN YOU LOGOFF. ╘HIS WILL OVERWRITE ANY CHANGES YOU MAY HAVE
- MADE.
-