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1992-12-29
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─ File Announcer For Points v1.10 ────── Copyright Steve Mulligan 1992 - 1993─
Well, g'day. This is the second release of FAP. Fresh from the Valley. It
took a long time because of this thing called <yech> school. But, thanks to
X-MAS holidays I got my act together and fixed it up and here you go.
Special Thanks goes to THE GUY THAT TOLD ME TO PUT THE ALWAYS EXCLUDE KEYWORD
INTO FAP (Buddy, I need your name so I can thank you. This time, I save
it on the hard disk. Not on paper). More special thanks go to Malcolm
Campbell for letting me use OTTBETA on his BBS. OTTBETA is a Beta Testers
area for programmers in the Ottawa area. If you want to link in, just send
a NetMail to Steve Mulligan at 1:163/307.30. More special thanks goes to
Peter Beeftink for writing all of the AlwaysExclude logic. And last but not
least, Steve Mathieson, my head beta tester who really helped. Didn't you,
Steve!
NOTE : If you use FAP and you NetMail me, Steve Mulligan, at 1:163/307.30
then I will send you a NetMail every time I release a version of
FAP and I will tell you when and where I have sent it.
─ Introduction ─
File Announcer for Points (also called FAP) is a program that will scan
any specified directory for new files and post the new files in a Squish, MSG
or QBBS style message base. It will convert RSP files to messages for you and
allow you to run specific programs on certain files. I made FAP because I
like to F'REQ files a lot. Sometimes too much. Anyhow, I get all these files
in and forget that I F'REQ'ed them and when I go look in my NetFile directory,
I've got a ton of files. After a long time, I wished I had a program that
would announce these files for me when they arrived. So... I saddled up my
trusty Turbo Pascal book and gathered up my beta testers and here you go.
FAP. A program that announces new files for you in a Squish, MSG or QBBS
style message base.
─ Setting Up FAP ─
To install FAP, just copy all the files to your mailer directory (if you
have one). Files in this archive should be:
FAP.EXE - Executable program you run
FAP.DOC - Your reading it
FAP.CFG - Sample config file
After all the files are in the right spot, edit the text file FAP.CFG and
change the options as necessary. See the next section on how to set up the
configuration file.
─ FAP And The Config File ─
Here is a list of all the config verbs that FAP understands. All commands
and parameters are not case sensitive. They can have spaces anywhere. If a
line starts with a ; then it will be treated as a comment and skipped.
NetFile
The NetFile option tells FAP where to look for new files. You can enter up
to 8 of these. Duplicates will be ignored. This should point to the
directory that your mailer puts new files into.
eg : NetFile d:\modem\bbs\file
FileExclude
The FileExclude verb tells FAP where to find the list of files to exclude from
new file scanning. This file holds the full path and file name of any file
that has been scanned by FAP. If a file is found in a directory and is in the
FileExclude file, it is not announced. This stops files from being announced
more than once. The default is FAP.DAT. If a file is found in the exclude
file but it is not on disk, it will then be removed from the exclude file
automatically.
eg : FileExclude FAP.DAT
Area
The Area verb tells the FAP where to put the file announcements. It should
point to a Squish, MSG or QBBS style message base. NOTE: This message base
must already exist or it will not work. THIS MUST BE INCLUDED. THERE IS NO
DEFAULT!
eg for Squish : Area d:\msgs\cvpfiles
eg for MSG : Area d:\msgs
eg for QBBS : Area d:\msgs
NumberAnnounce
The NumberAnnounce verb tells you how many files announcements will go in each
message. The default is 3. If there are more than the number specified, it
will be broken into multiple messages. You cannot have more than 32 files per
message. Any number greater will be reset to 32. The larger the number, the
less FAP has to run it message posting routine so FAP will run a lot faster if
you get many files in one transfer.
eg : NumberAnnounce 3
AreaType
The AreaType verbs tell FAP what message area to support. Right now, FAP
supports Squish and MSG bases. Put the word Squish after AreaType to use
Squish style bases. Put the word MSG after the AreaType to use MSG type
bases. Squish is the default
eg for Squish : AreaType Squish
eg for MSG : AreaType MSG
eg for QBBS : AreaType QBBS
BoardNo
The BoardNo verb tells FAP what QBBS Board Number to post the message to. 1 is
the default. You only need this if you use QBBS (Hudson) style message bases. This number can be between 1 and 65535.
eg : BoardNo 1
AddressFrom
The AddressFrom verb is to define the address the message is from. This MUST
be included if there is no AddressTo verb.
eg : AddressFrom 1:163/307.30
AddressTo
The AddressTo verb is to define the address the message is from. This MUST
be included if there is no AddressFrom verb.
eg : AddressTo 1:163/307.30
FAPTempFile
The FAPTempFile verb points to the temp file. The default is NEWFILE.FAP. The
temp file simply stores the text that will go into the file announcement
message. If a file by the name given already exists, it will be erased.
eg : FAPTempFile FAP.TMP
MSGTempFile
The MSGTempFile verb points to the temp file that FAP makes uses for posting
messages. The default is FAPMSG.TMP. If this file already exists, it will be
erased.
eg : MSGTempFile FAPMSG.TMP
From
The From verb is what appears on the From line of the message. FAP and the
version is the default. If you want the right version number displayed, do
not include a from line.
eg : From FAP v1.10
To
The To verb is what appears on the To line of the message. All is the
default.
eg : To All
Subject
The Subject verb is what appears on the Subject line of the message.
"New Files" is the default. (without the surrounding quotes).
eg : Subject New Files
OriginLine
The OriginLine verb tells FAP what to put on the Origin Line of your message.
DO NOT PUT YOUR ADDRESS HERE. It will be added to the end of the Origin Line
by FAP. The default is (ignore apostrophies):
'Point System Using FAP v' + Version + ' * (' + FromAddress + ')'
Translated to real words this looks like :
'Point System Using FAP v1.10 * (x:xxx/xxx)'
eg : OriginLine Carp Valley Point * Carp, Ontario
TICAnnounce
The TICAnnounce verb tells FAP if it should read into TIC files and announce
the files that appear in them. Valid options are Yes and No. The default is
Yes. This is useful if you get files from a file distribution net because
files you get from there often come with TIC files accompanying them. This
will allow files to have descriptions and other important information added
to the file announcement.
eg : TICAnnounce Yes
RSPAnnounce
The RSPAnnounce verb tells FAP if it should convert files with the RSP
extension into a message. Valid options are Yes and No. The default is Yes.
Sometimes when you file request a file from a BBS but you get the password
wrong or the file cannot be found, they BBS will return a RSP file. FAP will
post this file to you message base.
eg : RSPAnnounce Yes
AlwaysExclude
The AlwaysExclude verb is for users who want to exclude certain files all the
time. This config verb is used mainly for people who get a lot of mail and
want FAP to run before they unpack their mail. When you run FAP before you
unpack your mail, you might get *.PKT's and *.MO* files announced be mistake.
AlwaysExclude takes a wild card as an argument. You can have up to 32 of
these. There is no default but there is an example in the config file that
works good for me.
eg : AlwaysExclude *.PKT
─ Running FAP ─
Once you have done all the above, you can run FAP. It takes one command
line argument; the config file name. You can rename FAP.CFG to any file and
then type FAP <configname> or just keep the name and run fap without any
command line options.
FAP will display a title screen and proceed to scan your directories using
some calls to DOS. It will then put a list of all files that did not appear
in the ExcludeFile file in a the FAPTempFile. FAP then shells copies this
file in to the message base of your choice. If a file did not appear in the
ExcludeFile file, it will be added so that when FAP runs again, you will not
get the same files announced over and over.
FAP runs best in a batch file. If you have a batch file to run your mailer
and unpacker, make sure FAP is run AFTER the mail is unpacked. Otherwise, you
will get mail packets listed in file announcements unless you use the
AlwaysExclude command.
If you continue to use FAP, I would LOVE to hear from you. I just want to
know if you like the program or you think I should stop development. If you
wish to make a comment (PLEASE) NetMail Steve Mulligan 1:163/307.30
─ Beta Testers Wanted ─
If you are in the 163 or 243 net or you don't mind polling long distance
you are eligible to be a beta testers. Simply NetMail Steve Mulligan at
1:163/307.30. I will reply to you and tell you how to get the latest beta
versions of software I make.
─ On the Drawing Board ─
This is a list of all the features my Beta Testers and I want to have added
to FAP. I'll get around to it in a while. PLEASE ADD TO LIST AND FORWARD TO
STEVE MULLIGAN 1:163/307.30. If you want to become a Beta Tester, NetMail me
and I'll send you beta releases.
1.11ß · Change all config errors to errorlevel to 3
All runtime errors to errorlevel 2
Finding and announcing files to errorlevel 1
No files announced to errorlevel 0
· Option to write file announcement to Text File.
1.12ß · Add byte count in file announcement.
Header & Footer in file announcement.
1.13ß · Update FileExclude at the end of program execution.
1.14ß · Add nodelist and other 'new file' support to FAP.
ie. Compile nodelists if they arrive
Unpack and post FIDONWS if it arrives.
1.15ß · Command line usage.
1.16ß · Allow user to change appearance of file announcements.
1.20 · Next public release. (Mar 93)
1.21ß · Support FLE files. All I have to do is get the format of
these files! Any idea's?
1.22ß · Get rid of excess units and global variables.
1.30 · Another public release. Should be smaller and faster!
(End of Jul 93)
1.3xß · Misc bug stomps.
1.40 · Probably the last release. Alas. (End of Sep 93)
?.?? · My file FDN. This way, I can release updates & patches
to my users really fast.
If you have any additions to this list or any bugs, please let me know!
Steve Mulligan 1:163/307.30@fidonet.org