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*************************************************************************** * This is one of a series of four files which consist of messages from * * the FlagShip bulletin board dealing with BobsTerm Pro, arguably the * * finest terminal program ever written for the Commodore 64 and 128. The * * material for the files was compiled on March 1, 1989, and includes all * * relevant messages from the inception of the FlagShip until that date. * * My definition of 'relevant' was fairly liberal; in some cases, * * messages which might otherwise have been irrelevant have been preserved * * in order to preserve continuity of the threads. * * * * The four files available are: * * * * BTP.FEATURES.TXT Description and implementation of many * * of the features, both basic and advanced,* * of both the C64 and C128 versions. * * * * BTP.MACROS.TXT Use of the extensive MACRO feature, in- * * cluding a discussion which culminated in * * a macro to provide DIRECT TO DISK capture* * from GEnie by way of macros and changes * * to the GEnie default prompt character. * * * * BTP.MODEMS.TXT Discussions of configuration of BTP for * * use with various modems * * (including 2400 baud), as well as dis- * * cussions of which modems will NOT work * * with the program. * * * * BTP.MISC.TXT Messages which did not conveniently fit * * into any of the other files. * * * * Notes: * * The messages contained in these files will shortly be removed from the * * bulletin board, merely to conserve space. Feel free to start new topics,* * discussing BobsTerm or any other subjects. * * * * Obviously, there is overlap between these topic choices. Messages are * * NOT repeated in other files; if you do not find what you are looking * * for, try the next most likely file. * * * * Bob Lentini is no longer working on Commodore computers, distributing * * the program, or operating his bulletin board. BobsTerm Pro (both the * * C64 and C128 programs) are available through many software vendors or * * Progressive Peripherals and Software, whose address is sprinkled * * through out these files. * * * * Enjoy! --Howard Rosenman <HORO> March 5, 1989 * *************************************************************************** Jul 16, 1986 MIKEM [Pax Regal] Okay....Lets see how many folks know Macros on BOBSTERM PRO-128! I am an IDIOT in the Macro area! I have tried and tried and tried making an autolog sequence for GEnie, but none work. I am now quite familiar with the syntax and the control characters, but I cant figure out how to send the three H's. If they arent needed, then how do you 'wait' the appropriate amount of time until the U#= prompt? Ive tried waiting for the 'U#=' string, and sending my password/ID/etc., but nothing seems to work. Anyone have an example for us 'dummies' to follow? Thanx!!! -Mike Oh, and if anyone knows whether I should enter a + or - for the carrier phase on a Volks-12, please let me know. Again, thanx! --- Jul 16, 1986 KEVIN-S. [KeS] Mike-you can send a carriage return instead of the three h's. I haven't played with BT128, but am a macro-writing FOOL in Lotus, and it can't be any rougher than that! Wanna get together this weekend and thrash it out? (I'll buy the Pepsi!) . KeS --- Jul 17, 1986 GRAFIX.M [Mike Hooper] Here is the MACRO I use. I've found it very reliable. It's programmed thru the Phone Book Macro, so I [A]uto, [P]hone, and RETURN. ** ^T hhh ^T ^K e ^S U#= ^S ^T USERNUMB,PASSWORD ^M ^T ^W ? ^T c ^M ^T ^S 1? ^S ^T m625 ^M ^T Like the examples in the book, the spaces in the above example are for clairity only, don't enter them into your program. The ^ means a CONTROL character combination. In your BTP Macro, you'll see them as a reversed character with a small line above the character. If anyone needs a verbose description, let me know! --GFX --- Jul 18, 1986 MIKEM [Pax Regal] Mike - Thanx for the Macro example. Those in the manual are equally as good, and I do understand what to do and when, usually. I guess I am having the most problems with sending out the initial characters <hhh, or ^C, or <return>> that services require. I am also using a Volks-12 which displays status on- screen, and that throws things off too. I havent figured out how to send the ATQ1 command initially upon boot-up in order to turn off displays. Thanx for the example, though. I'll give it a try. The previous example that was posted here would not work for me, even after I had manually sent an ATQ1. Thanx again, Mike --- Jul 18, 1986 GRAFIX.M [Mike Hooper] The 'hhh' only needs a VERY short delay after carrier is detected and BTP goes to Terminal mode. I've always used a full second to let the term set it's flags and write what it needs to the screen. GEnie can accept the 'hhh' far sooner than a second, I just started with that and it worked (why fix it if it ain't broken!). Other characters may work (returns and such) but I've always used 'hhh' and never had any trouble. Since it's now in a macro, I never have to worry bout it! --- Jul 18, 1986 MIKEM [Pax Regal] Bravo, Mike. I tried your macro exactly as stated, and it works terrifically. I did have a problem at first because I was using HALF duplex as a set-up, and you use C= E to set local echo in the Macro. Anyway, thanx again for making life easy for me!! Now I will lock myself in my Apt. with Bob's great manual, and learn myself a few things about modem settings, etc.... Regards, Mike --- Jul 19, 1986 DEB [*deb!*] Macros from terminal programs just 'type' lots FASTER than we do!!! ALWAYS preface your login delays for anything with a wait or two!! Remember, these macros are intercepting the RS-232 incoming characters before the screen even sees them and acts upon them at Machine Language speeds...!!! *deb!* --- Jul 23, 1986 DEBS-GUEST [Bob L] (Forwarded) I am glad to see the macros are developing.... Lets see some Different Terminal Emulator Macros uploaded around. How bout a Televideo 950, or some other common CP/M type terminals!!! Also.... questions regarding Carrier Phase..... Here is a simple method for determining proper phase: 1) Make sure that your modem is set to pass a Carrier Detect signal, and not a FORCED TRUE CARRIER at all times. 2) next... upon Bootup... when offline, check to see that the Carrier and Clock on the STATUS line are in NORMAL VIDEO. If not, then reverse the phase. When you receive a CONNECT, then the STAUS CARRIER and CLOCK should toggle to INVERSE VIDEO. After getting the proper settings, make sure to SAVE YOUR DEFAULTS. Next, you may execute any simple MACRO direct on BOOTUP, By creating a MACRO and naming it "AUTOSTART". You can then use this to go to Terminal Mode, for instance, and send your ATQ1 command or whatever initialization string your modem needs. You can also use it to autostart a PHONE FILE... or whatever else you can think of. Hope that helps!! Bob Lentini (RML) --- Nov 30, 1986 HARVARD Re[ : Phone and Macros! Any suggestions on how to log onto Compuserve ! With the old Vidtex when the computer was connected an Escape was sent and then the autolog procedure was executed. However, I can't get the right combination to send a CR that will connect me to Compuserve. There is no symbol for BTPRO to find and thus no activity takes place. I tried to transmit a CR but that didn't work! thanks for your help and suggestions in advance! Dick Reiling! --- Nov 30, 1986 MICHAEL.M [-:SysOp:-] Dick - Use a CNTRL-M in your macro for a carriage return. That will give you the HOST: prompt on CI$. What *I'm* trying to figger out is how to send a CNTRL-C instead, so I can get the ID prompt instead of HOST:. -=:Mike --- Dec 01, 1986 GRAFIX.M [Mike Hooper] A Control-C is a CHR$(3)...so at the point in your macro where you want to enter a control-c, hit #003 (or $03 if you are a HEX fan!). Yes, just like the built in buffer editor, macros will accept any decimal, hex or binary code with the proper #, $ or % prefix! Hope this gets it for all of ya! (Tho if ya got the big bucks it takes for CI$ time, send a few to the GRAFIX Consulting Service [[grin]]) \\GFX// --- Jan 16, 1988 F.MORRIS [ Fred. ] BTP MACROS I got BTP up and running and it is a great program. I even read most of the manual! I have made 3 macros, a general log-on, one that will log-on and then scan 3 different RT for new messages, and then sign-off and go to the dump buffer screen, and a third macro that signs-on and puts all new stories from my NewsGrid profile into the buffer, signs-off, and again ends at the dump buffer menu. I am putting them here both to share and to solicit any comments or suggestion in case I have overlokked something. Some notes: I had trouble sending HHH and was told by the help-desk that it was not required and had no effect at 1200 baud. a ^W? can not be used for that first prompt, since some sysops seem to LOVE using it in the greeting message (smile). Some Questions: Can one go into command mode from the sign-in? That is the only time it would seem to save time in these macros (I am set for short menu display on all RT). Is there any way to avoid the first Scroll? prompt in NewsGrid? What happens if the BTP buffer fills up before the end of a macro? Will BTP send a ^S and abort, or just keep going and trow away all extra data? Macro A: General sign-on ^W=*^Tcode,password^M^T^KE Macro B: BROwse same as above + ^W?^JBROWSE BROWSE: ^RT^Tm560:1^M^T^KB^S1 ?^S^TSCR 0^M^T^W?^TBRO NOR^M^T^S1 ?^S^JBROWSE2 BROWSE2: ^RT^Tm625:1^M^T^KB^S1 ?^S^TSCR 0^M^T^W?^TBRO NOR^M^T^S1 ?^S^JBROWSE3 BROWSE3: ^RT^Tm545:1^M^T^KB^S1 ?^S^Tset 10^M^T^W?^TSCR 0^M^T^W?^Tbro cat nor^T ^S10 ?^S^Tbye^M^T^S/88^S^KB^RD Macro C: NEWSGRID Same as A with ,340:3 added to password and ^W?^JNEWS NEWS: ^RT^T10^M^T^W?^T2^M^T^S)?^S^KB^TV^M^T^W?^TS^M^T^W?^Tbye^M^Y^S/88 ^S^KB^RD Any and all comments appreciated. I know that there are some heavy users of BTP here on GEnie. Now, about those character sets. Correct me, but there are altnerate sets here in the libraries, right? How does one use them? My guess is to download and then rename to one of the unused option numbers in the parapaters menu, right? (Obviously rename in the same way as the others are named). Thanks all.....Fred. --- Jan 17, 1988 KEVIN.S [-128 Sysop-] Fred- Some responses... No, you can't set to command mode directly from the logon, I have wished for this for awhile. You can just wait for the first GEnie prompt, send a "C", and proceed from there, though. The NEWSGrid Scroll prompt, my guess is no, but I will go see what I can figger out. If BTP fills the buffer, it will close the buffer, send a ^G (bell), and continue without saving any more text. You could do an ASCII capture to disk, instead, if 60k isn't enough buffer. You are 100% right on with the character sets. DL them as program files, and look at your BTP directory to remind you how to name them correctly. Looks like you are getting into BTP pretty quickly! KeS --- [NOTE: GENIE HAS ADDED THE ABILITY TO SELECT COMMAND MODE EITHER PERMANENTLY OR AT LOGON SINCE THIS MESSAGE WAS POSTED. TO SET COMAND MODE PERMANENTLY, TYPE 'C' AT ANY MENU PROMPT, AND COMMAND MODE WILL BE IN EFFECT PERMANENTLY (TYPE ANOTHER 'C' AT ANY MENU PROMPT TO TOGGLE COMMAND MODE OFF PERMANENTLY). TO MODIFY THE COMMAND MODE SETTING FOR A PARTICULAR SESSION, ADD EITHER "COMMAND ON" OR "COMMAND OFF" TO YOUR LOGON; I.E., AT THE "U#", TYPE ID,PASSWORD,COMMAND ON OR ID,PASSWORD,COMMAND OFF. THIS WILL SET THE APPROPRIATE MODE FOR THAT SESSION ONLY. --HORO, 3/1/89] Jan 17, 1988 F.MORRIS [ Fred. ] (blushing) Thanks, Kevin.... O.K., I couldn't find it exactly in the manual, but what you are refering to above would be a ^X in terminal mode, then 2-S-filename-1, right? Before I try that (60k buffer has been fine so fare, but this would remove any chance of anything possibly going wrong...hahaha) would the multiple macro access, and the ^R that they require to get back to the terminal abort each transfer? Would a seperate file have to created for each RT/NewsGrid access? Any way to test for a bell (^G ?) in a macro? If sperate files are required (2 questions back), could an append be used in a macro? (gee, maybe I better just stick with the buffer!) Has anyone uploaded an INDEX for BTP to the library? Seems that it would be very usefull. Not details, just a list of page refernces in alphabetical order......Fred. --- Jan 19, 1988 H.HERMAN1 Fred, I just took a quick look at your macros, and suggest the following: [1] Reset the phone macro to turn on Echo, on top control line. No need to waste macro space on this. [2] You will want all macros to start from Terminal mode, so they should start with a "T".....No need for a "^RT". [3] Turn your buffer on, as last item in phone macro before you jump to the others. As now set up, each time you jump to another macro, you are turning the buffer on, and then off. [4] No need to do a "SCR 0" every time. I set myself up for this originally, and just do the "BRO NOR", and the stuff just scrolls by. [5] On your opening phone macro, why not use: "code, password, m560;1" and get yourself to your first stop right away. I suppose there are other changes, but these came to mind at first viewing. BTW, my sign on macro is somewhat different from yours, since sometimes Genie will ask for my sign on once, and let me in, other times I get asked twice, and other times, I even have to give my sign on three times. I don't know why this is, but I put a conditional in there to cover Genie's fickle ways, and sign on as many times as Genie requests. It seems to make Genie happy. Howie --- Jan 19, 1988 KEVIN.S [-128 Sysop-] Repeat sign-ons seem to me to be a result of stray control characters arriving somehow. The trouble went away for me after I started sending a ^X before my logon. KeS --- Jan 19, 1988 F.MORRIS [ Fred. ] Thanks, Howie and Kevin, for your comments! I will start "tweeking" the macros and see if I can make them more ergonomic (favorite word). I get those double sign-ons too (no validation error) and called customer support as they started at the same time as I started using the macros. They had never heard of double U#= without an error, but did mention somthing about having the macro wait for a "^Q" (I think) that GEnie SOMETIMES send so maybe Kevins ^X meshes with that. I will give a look at the "conditional" macro command. Howie, I didn't include a move in the password/ID 'couse I built them all as modules one at a time to debug. Now I can start the fine tuning. Thanks for the feed-back! Fred. --- Feb 04, 1988 DEB [*SysOp*] Fred: Possible source of login errors that LOOK ok to you is that the program might be sending the string too fast and your 1200 baud lo byte isn't timed *quite* right to handle it. I suggest using a CHAR delay of 1, possibly 2, at all times, for all things, like, defaulted and saved into every macro file, autologin file, etc! You'll find it on the <P>arameter <X>fers menu. I'm sorry about the '?' giving your troubles. <<sigh!>> I changed my GEnie default prompt to a '>'. ::grin:: I don't know how to ask questions in bulletins or announcements without using a question mark! My GEnie login sets to command mode as soon as it sees that first menu and the '>' prompt. I presume you could change that prompt character to anything you wanted...a CTRL G, whatever. You can change your prompt at the GEnie SETUP menu. Just remember to SAVE it before you exit. (Ask her how she learned THAT one...!) It will ask you for the ASCII value of the character you want. You can use the CHR$ chart in your manuals for PETSCII for most of the symbols like @,?./>< etc. they are the *same*. I'm also quite sure that BTPro will wait for *any* character, even a CTRL G. Just watch out that GEnie's default to EVEN parity doesn't send your macro crazy...A CTRL G is ASCII 007 (!), but with EVEN parity, you might have to make the wait character a 007 + 128 (The value of the high bit) Glad you are happy with BTP! *deb!* (A great terminal program is worth more than a 1000 flakey ones...) --- Feb 04, 1988 F.MORRIS [ Fred. ] Deb! Thanks for the tips. When I first signed up for GEnie I had no idea of the things to come, so a ? prompt seemed logical. Now, a > seems a much better choice. I am not up to ^G yet! But I gotten all the macros zipping and a nice list of local boards to cycle through. All is great...except- I do have this one small problem. When I go exploring GEnie, I sometimes whant to dump an entire CAT or TOP to buffer (REA ALL NOR) and knpw it will be more than 60K. I saw that (I thought) that you could dump direct to disk, but when I try that, ^x and then follow the prompts, it seems to open a channel o.k. (green light goes on) and be happy, till I finish and press RUN/STOP. Then I get something like IGNORED (DUMPED?) and the file is only 1 block long and empty. I must be aborting instead of terminating. What is the correct end for this? Also, is it possible to dump directly to printer? If you can just direct me to the proper page in the manual would be fine (how is the index comming, anybody?) Should I be pressing the ESC ket to close a disk dump? Thanks...Fred --- Feb 05, 1988 F.MORRIS [ Fred. ] Howie, thanks for the macro examples. Now I have an idea how the conditionals are used, I had not tried those yet. GEnie told that the HHH were not needed for 1200, so now I have a simple ^W=^Tid,pass etc, and have not had a failure in quite a while. Just a couple of Q's: For break I use ESC, what is the diff between that an C= ESC ? For ^S and ^Q I just use CLR/HOME and CRSR DOWN keys, do you mean actually holding down ^ and pressing S (not as ergonomic)? In fact I tried it once and it din't work, but occasionalyy GEnie also ignores my CLR HOME key too. When I am "exploring" around GEnie, I can control buffer overflow by just DL one topic at a time if there are a lot of messages, but I would like to buffer directly to disk (i.e. 360K buffer). I have a macro that I set off first thing in the A.M. that goes to NEWSGRIDat dumps my profile stories while I take a shower and I read it with breakfast. I can not ^S from a macro without stopping the macro, can I? If I do, I can not restart the macro from that point so that it will sign-off GEnie at the end of the NEWSGRID dump prompt (I take long showers). Any suggestions out there?? Fred. p.s. I wrote this off line in response to Howies reply to the above, but didn't make note of the CAT/TOP and it wasn't this one! oh well... Also, tried ^S/^Q just now and they work fine (ya'll must have thought I was crazy on that one) but I still prefer to use the CLR HOsingle CLR HOME key on the right side of the keyboard (smile). Fred. --- Feb 06, 1988 DEB [*SysOp*] Break Characters: I usually reccommend people use a CTRL C for their break character, since only a few terminal programs enable a TRUE BREAK. BTP has a true break tho. ESCape is not usually used as a break character, and it might really throw you off in some of the games on GEnie if you were to play them. It is, however, a non printing character, and for messages, mail and text retrieval, it will not cause you any troubles. Buffers: ^X is usually your Line Delete key...if you press THAT, you'll get GEnie telling you that the line was DELETED. I don't know why you are pressing that to dump direct to disk, tho...! <gulp> If your ^S ever ceases to work on you, somethings goofed up from a little bit of line noise or something. Press RETURN (heck, even in the middle of text!) and then an immediate ^S and the RETURN will clean out whatever was goofing up your ^S. The HOME key can also be used instead of CTRL S, and the Cursor Down key instead of CTRL Q. (they are so handy, one finger is all it takes...!) *deb!* --- Feb 06, 1988 F.MORRIS [ Fred. ] Thanks Deb! I think I have most everything worked out EXCEPT how do I terminate a dump to disk? Getting it started is no problem, but I can not terminate it either manually of from a macro (I need it for both). Thanks! --- Feb 06, 1988 H.HERMAN1 Fred, Thanks for info on HOME/CRSRDWN. Anyway you look at it, it is a ^S/^Q, and it does indeed save one keystroke. [Now the hard part....retraining of the fingers.] As to the ESC, that is an ascii27, which Genie may recognize as "your" break signal, but none of the other bbs's will. In BTP, using either C=/ESC, or SHIFT C=/ESC, sends a true short or long break to the host, and is pretty universal on most boards. Since Genie does recognize a real break, and BTP offers it, I use it. As to your question on macros, yes they can be set-up to send a ^W save buffer to disk, clear buffer, and resume filling buffer by sending a ^Q. The prob is knowing when the macro should do this, so I quess you are just as well off using the end of a CATagory or the like as the place to do this....from past experience you can judge how much buffer is needed for stuff. One other thing.....after that shower, and when you sit down with your coffee to read what you captured, don't forgrt that BTP macros can get the stuff from disk and re-fill your buffer for reading, saving a lot of manual keystrokes...thought you'd like that suggestion. [Tomorrow I'll have a chance to start playing around with PPM. One of its neat features, assuming it works, is that it can call Dow/Jones, and automaticaly update quotes into its reports. No matter how I tried, I couldn't get the dBASE portfolio program I wrote to do this, and quotes had to be entered manually. However, my dBASE does have a few more sophisticated reports than PPM offers, although you can write your own reports there too...but with no where the complexity of dBASE....Now..if I could just transport my dBASE reports to PPM.....and expand its data base a bit.....it would be the best thing around town...] Howie --- Feb 08, 1988 F.MORRIS [ Fred. ] Well, I have another small problem with BTP (still have not figured out how to CLOSE a direct dump to disk). This new problem is the VT100 emulation. I call a mainfram, and specify that I am a vt100. Well, all the PF keys seem to work (i.e. ESC 7) but the ENTER key does not work as a CLEAR key that is esential (NOT the RETURN key which DOES work as a CR key). A friend who uses the mainframe (but not on a vt100) and I tried just about every key, but could not get the correct results. Had to go back to the O'Hara program, which funtions correctly as far as CR (RETURN) and CLEAR (ENTER) but does not have a PF 3 key...at least not teh one the mainframe wants. Any suggestions? Fred. --- Feb 08, 1988 DEB [*SysOp*] Oh, I'm sorry I forgot about your capture to disk question before! When you request a Disk Transfer (Receive) with the CTRL CODE method, this requires a CTRL R to START or OPEN the capture. CTRL T will close it. Neither of these commands will mess up most of your GEnie commands if you issue them AFTER the command you have issued but BEFORE the return: Move625:1 BRO ALL [NOW hit the C=X/4/C] ^R <<RETURN>> A single ^T will close the capture, but again, I would add it at the END of the GEnie command, or issue a CTRL X right after so your next line to GEnie is interpretted. Note that you can APPEND existing files or write new ones...but appending usually requires lots more TIME to get it started. Hope this all helps...! *deb!* --- Feb 09, 1988 H.HERMAN1 Fred, I'm a bit confused by your asking how to close a direct dump to disk, since BTP does this for you without the need for prompt. You aren't by any chance saying that you have BTP reading the boards direct to disk? If so, how did you do this? Howie --- Feb 09, 1988 H.HERMAN1 Deb, Your suggestion doesn't seem to work. I changed my prompt code here to a "20", or Control T, which closed the disk after the category/topic read was completed, and I got a prompt, but nothing was recorded, since I couldn't figure out how to send "me" a Control R to start up. Putting the Control R in the command line doesn't seem to work----ah ha!! it doesn't because I'm using Genie's suggested half duplex, and I don't get it back. Perhaps then if I was set for full-duplex here, the Control R would come back and start the recording. So..I quess it can be done after all. Howie --- Feb 09, 1988 DEB [*SysOp*] No, howie, I'm set for local echo and it works FINE for me, you just press CTRL R to open it and CTRL T to close it. It works BECAUSE you are in half duplex, actually...! I haven't tried putting it in a macro, but doing it exactly as I described dumps everythin which crosses my screen to the disk. Remember, the CTRL R/T only works AFTER you have requested a C=X Transfer RECEIVE to DISK, CTRL CODE and given a filename. Other than that, I don't know of any other way to spool everything to disk. *deb!* --- Feb 09, 1988 F.MORRIS [ Fred. ] Howie, YES, I DID IT!!! Thanks Deb! This allows a direct REA ALL or BRO with a whole disk acting as the buffer! Here is exactly what worked: from terminal mode C= X select transfer from transfer window 4 receive to disk c xon/xoff protocal enter file name, replace, append, as asked and.... back in terminal mode ^R start file press RETURN (having typed command prior to C= X) when finished (additional GEnie commands seem to be o.k.) press ^T to terminate. "TRANSFER COMPLETED" flashes and entire file is saved to disk, just like using the buffer and appending every 60K. I have not done it, but assume one would have to use "FILL FROM BTYE #" to read this in chunks. Any way to print one of these mega files you could create directly from disk to printer? (Sorry Deb, one question just seems to lead to another). Oh yes, one very important note. If all is well, when you press ^R, the = in BUFFER= will highlight and go off with ^T. Only the =, not BUFFER, will high light. Deb, thanks so much for this, I never would have figured it out, and Howie, I am always so glad to help, I feel like I get so much more out of this than I can contribute. --- Feb 11, 1988 F.MORRIS [ Fred. ] Thanks, Howie. Glad I could help for a change. But now for the macro to dump my morning paper to disk from NEWSGRID whist I shower.... ATTN DEB! RE: ^R and ^T in macros. Is this possible? Seems like I read something in the manual about HEX or something, but could not find it in chaper 13 of the manual. Would something likee this work: ^W ? ^K X * 4 * C * NEWS ^M * $12 ^T V ^M ^T (scroll responses etc here) ^W ? $14 ^T BYE ^M ^T ?=prompt I am on the right track, and, Deb or anyone, could you please rifine and correct? If this would work, I need the $ values and should some more *** go after them (it takes a few seconds for the disk to start, it sounds)? Many thanks...Fred. --- Feb 12, 1988 DEB [*SysOp*] Fred: weeel, a CTRL T already HAS a special value/job in a macro, so you probably SHOULD enter it as a numeric value. Decimal is #020 for CTRL T, and #018 for CTRL R I believe you enter a hex key character as you do in the buffer editor, (or a decimal one in this case...). C= # sets you to numeric value entry, then type in the THREE digit DECIMAL value, or C=$ and type in the TWO digit HEX value. shoot, shoot, shoot....I'll bet you can't enter it as a value. How about Assigning the CTRL R and CTRL T in Fkeys and then sending them out?! As for timing....since the disk drive has utter and complete control over the computer while it opens a file, etc, the waits with a * may not be neccesary. Only a little experimentation and observation will tell for sure, tho. *deb!* --- Feb 20, 1988 F.MORRIS [ Fred. ] RE: Dumping direct from GEnie to disk using C= X, 4, C, FILENAME, ^R AND ^T This works fine in direct mode, but I can not get it to work in a macro, nor can I program an F key to perform this in direct mode. 1. How do you program this in an F key? I have tried the following form the C= K command: F1 ^R F2 ^T C= #018 C= #020 C= $12 C= $14 C= %00010010 C= %00010100 NOTE: Using the C= # and $ values actually results in the same character as ^R or ^T. C= % is a different character. I also tried ^M after each! How can I program these keys? 2. After having programed the F keys, how do you put them in a macro? If I push the F1 key I get a = charachter. Is this right? I can't tell cause I can't get the F key programed right in the first place. I am so close to having a automatic mornin' paper printed by having BTP call GEnie automatically at 600AM and dump Newsgrid to disk, it so frustrating not being able to have this automated with a macro!!! Many thanks for any help! Fred. --- Feb 21, 1988 H.HERMAN1 Fred, What you want to do should most certainly work from a macro. Did you try what I earlier posted: place the ^t within ^t's? However, to keep BTP from responding to a ^t by mistake, try using a "CONTROL (SHIFT) T" (upper case), as the one transmitted. So it would look something like: ^t^T^m^t Hopefully BTP will ignore the upper case T and only transmit it and Genie will accept it. Let me know how it comes out.... Howie --- Feb 21, 1988 DEB [*SysOp*] Well, gents, I just spent 30 minutes trying to get ANYTHING to transmit in ^T pairs after initiating a Ctrl Code receive to disk. NADA. The keyboard functions, but the macro waits to execute til AFTER the transfer is complete/aborted/finished. Even the Fkeys, when they have been assigned to be the ^R character, will NOT transmit. The only thing I did NOT try was setting my GEnie prompt character to a CTRL R. I am SURE that BTPro's control code method of capturing to disk was ONLY intended to work with systems which INITIATED the control code capture, not from us fooling it. (grin) I believe that I'll go try setting my prompt character to CTRL R now... *deb!* --- Feb 21, 1988 DEB [*SysOp*] Well, it makes an interesting prompt <grin>. The problem still remains that I can't get anything to transmit within a macro after the ctrl code transfer to disk is initiated... *deb!* --- Feb 21, 1988 F.MORRIS [ Fred. ] Deb! Thanks for all the testing. This is so frustrating to me, but really beyond my ability. I hope you are the "never say die" type!!! --- Feb 22, 1988 H.HERMAN1 Deb and Fred, Tsk! Tsk!! Tsk!!! The solution to do what you want is so easy, and obvious. You guys have forgotten about the forest while look'in at the trees. Remember the Term you are working with? Doesn't it offer a couple of hundred or so options and Parameters that YOU can choose? Okey! Okey..I can see that I am going to have to spell it out. I assume your macro has gotten this far: ^t625 1^m^t^w?^tbro nor^m^tC=X4Cfilename;9^m [to write on device #9] Since there is apparently no way to transmit a "^R", why not just change the "buffer on" control code to the letter that usually starts your printout, or select any common vowel. The first instance of the letter will start your disk drive humming away and buffering stuff. [There is a slight delay from the time the letter is received, and when writing to disk begins, of perhaps one second, so a first line or two will be lost. However, since this probably would only be a heading or intro stuff anyway, it is something that should be easy to live with.] So, for the macro that will be asking the write to disk, just select yes to changing Parameters, go to X-fer, and change the Buffer On code to a common letter. Obviously, then re-save the changed macro. Now, you just have to get yourself a #1581 drive, a clean disk, and you have your 800k buffer....but then how will you have time to read all this stuff over breakfast? To close the file, just change the Buffer Off code to whatever you select for your prompt here. It should be something unique, and that won't appear in text, or your buffer would be turned off prematurely. This should be the easy part. And, macro a sign-off, and disk to buffer dump to read. BTW macros can clear buffer, and stuff it with next 60k, etc., while you read off line. Howie (remembers the forest while look'in at trees even while 'puter'in) (also, believes that BTPro, like Mother Nature likes to be fooled with) --- Feb 22, 1988 DEB [*SysOp*] Howie: GREAT! thankee...! <<blush>> --- Feb 23, 1988 F.MORRIS [ Fred. ] Thanks Howie! The only problem with NEWSGRID is there is no SCR 0 equivalent to avaiod at least one propmt after the first screen. But since I am confortable enough now on GEnie, and usually use a macro to buffer the message boards, I think I can change my main setting to 0 lines to avoid that and give your idea a go. Will let you know. --- Feb 25, 1988 DEB [*SysOp*] Fred: doesn't Newsgrid paging follow whatever you have setup in your GEnie Terminal Settings on the SETUP page?! If so, you can set screen size (length, number of lines, whatever) to 0 - its permanent, tho, if you want it changed, you'll have to go back and do it or nothing will ever page again for ya. I think I'd suggest using the * asterisk * as your open buffer character, its at the beginning of each new topic, so you won't miss anything that way. *deb!* --- Feb 25, 1988 F.MORRIS [ Fred. ] Well, with some good (analog) help from Howie, we got this dump to disk thing to work fine, with a few quirks. First, I changed my GEnie setup to 0 lines (to eliminate unwanted prompts - NEWSGRID does not offer a SCR option) and set my prompt to a \ (092). Next the Macro: T ^Tm340:3^M^T ^W\ ^T12^M^T ^W\ ^T2^M^T ^W\ ^TV^M^T ^K X 4 C NEWS ^M * ^TBYE^M^T ^R D D NEWS ^M 1 Now to set the parameters. The BUFFER OFF was easy, the \. But for BUFFER ON first I chose the letter A which is 193 to BTP ( I guess a lowercase could be entered with the C= # method, but read on). This worked fine, but then the charachter selected is eaten by BTP, so I lost all "A" charaters when I loaded the file back in the buffer. Luckily, NEWSGRID begins each story with a lot of : (058) characters ( MATCHED : AIRLINE XMIT : 25FEB88 etc) so I just changed the paramater to a : with no great loss of clarity. Now it works flawlessly from logon to logoff and I can shave worry-free! I got really bugged on this 'cause I think the keyword profile and standing story feature is GEnies 2nd best feature. You can permantly store all sorts of topis to scan plus over 100 standing stories (stock market, sports scors, ski conditions, etc). One word of caution if anybody starts using this: To keep up on 'puters use things like CHIP, CHIPS, DISK, etc but NEVER NEVER use the word "IBM" or you will get every stock market story that comes across the wires! This dump to disk can also be used for dumping entire CAT from other RT when doing research, like going to TIS and dumping the entire RECOMMEND topic for a vacation (but then you can just use the ^R and ^T). Special thanks to Howie and Deb for all the help and time spent on this. Now, about that VT100 emulation mode...... Fred. --- Feb 26, 1988 D.SCHMOLDT [Dave/SysOp] Fred, You're right ... I just dropped IBM from my profile to get rid of all those "Most Active Stocks" matches. Also seemed to get those matches with MicroSoft, so I dropped it too. I love the concept of NewsGrid though. Everyone reading this should type NEWSGRID and set up your own profile of keywords. Next time you log on, any stories thAt matched those keywords will be waiting for you. A real customized news service. Dave --- Feb 28, 1988 H.HERMAN1 Fred, One additional thought on being able to use "^RDV"at the close of the macro. After you finish up with the "^KH^RFDnews^M" try using the "^Q". Time how long it take for the buffer to fill, and just round it out to the next highest whole second. (Or, if the macro sees the dump as "activity" then perhaps only a few "**" may be all that's needed.) Howie ---