home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
OS/2 Shareware BBS: 3 Comm
/
03-Comm.zip
/
AUTOPO.ZIP
/
READ.ME
< prev
next >
Wrap
Text File
|
1991-08-28
|
8KB
|
206 lines
READ.ME
The enclosed files comprise as system of scripts and command files that
I use to multiply my effectiveness on the EEP BBS. They were inspired
in large part by Rick Wilkerson's READBBS.CMD and are designed to work
in conjuction with it.
I do most of my EEP BBS work in three phases.
1. Go on line and get all new messages since the last time I was on.
The GETNEW.ASP is a script file that accomplishes that task.
2. Read new messages off-line and reply if desired. READBBS.CMD does
an excellent job of this.
3. Go on line and post my replies.
To facilitate step 3, I made one small change in Rick's READBBS.CMD.
I changed the naming convention for reply files to REPnnnnn.m where
nnnnn is the number of the message being replied to and m is the
number of the message base. By thus encoding the destination of the
reply in the file name, I can make the script file (POSTNEW.ASP)
access the BBS, read the target message again, select the reply option
and then post the message using Procomm's ASCII send option.
There are several points at which this process is vulnerable. I found
it best to work with the pretty graphics mode turned off since the
ANSI codes tended to make the screen a mess during the ASCII send.
The following is the setting I use on the IBM EEP BBS. You may see
yours and change them by issuing the "I" command at a top level
(execute ?) command prompt.
Information - Self User Alterations
Calling From.. : Baton Rouge, La Last Time On.... : Sun Aug 25
Password...... : (password) Number Times On. : 110
Phone Number.. : (504 291-3060) Security Level.. : 10
Xpert Mode.... : On Downloads....... : 37
Graphics Mode. : Off DownLoad Kbytes. : 342
Trans Protocol : None Uploads......... : 0
Computer Type. : And Os/2 Sessions UpLoad Kbytes... : 0
Birthday ......: 00/00/00
Note that I have not set a default protocol. My GETNEW.ASP script will
select the protocol at the time of download. If you have selected a
default protocol then you must either reset it to none or make a small
change to the script at that point. Your choice.
INSTALLATION
This file is distributed as a self extracting achive (zip).
Just copy AUTOPOST.EXE into your PCPLUS directory and enter
AUTOPOST <CR> at the DOS (VDM) command prompt.
Note: This will replace your copy of READBBS.CMD with mine if
it is already in that directory so you may wish to rename it
to READBBS.OLD or something before running AUTOPOST.
GOTCHA's
One "GOTCHA" that I've found doing ascii sends of message
text is that if you send a line of 73 characters the BBS editor word
wraps to the next line and interprets the carriage return at the end
of the 73 characters as a blank line. This puts you back into edit
sub-command mode while Procomm is still trying to send the remainder
of your message. Needless to say the results are messy.
To fix this, I wrote a little REXX CMD file that checks all of the REP
files for lines of exactly 73 characters and adds a -> to each of
thos lines to make them wrap prior to the carriage return. It's not
elegant but it keeps the script from blowing up. It would be more
elegant to do some word wrapping in REXX but I'm just learning the
language and haven't gotten that much skill with it. In fact, NO73.CMD
is my first serious effort so please be charitable (grin).
Also, though the FINDFILE function is not supposed to recognize
directories without the directory keyword, it apparently does in the
VDM. I haven't determined if this is a PROCOMM bug or a VDM bug yet.
Just don't have any subdirectories underneath PCPLUS that match the
wildcard REP?????.? I did and it cause the script to fail.
My basic processing cycle is as follows:
DOS VDM: PCPLUS /FGETNEW
OS2 MAIL.CMD
DOS VDM PCPLUS /FPOSTREP
MAIL.CMD is worthy of some comment:
del mail*.txt ;This just cleans up old mail files
del rep?????.? ;This cleans out old reply files
pkunzip mail*.zip
;this runs the standad pkunzip utility to unzip the files.
;Note that MAIL.CMD is run from an OS2 session but I have
;PKUNZIP.EXE (a DOS program) in a directory in the OS2 path.
;OS2 is "smart" enough to recognize a DOS program and launch
;a VDM to run pkunzip and then return to OS2. This is a nice
;feature of OS2 that you may not have discovered. Among other
;things it means that you can generally just run your favorite
;DOS utility even from an OS2 prompt and it will do what you
;want instead of what you asked it to. Nice!
;PKUNZIP unpacks a file called MAILn.ZIP which is the new messages.
del readmail.* ;This just cleans up any readmail files
copy mail*.txt readmail.txt ;Copy new messages to standard named file
call readbbs readmail.txt ;Invoke READBBS for that file
for %%f in (rep?????.?) do no73 %%f ;Run NO73.CMD on all the reply files.
del mail*.zip ;Clean up the zip mail files
There is nothing special about this command file other than it
reflects the way I choose to process messages. I don't keep old
mail around. Some like to concatenate messages so that they have
a "history" of sorts. Modify this to your hearts desire. This one
works for me.
MY SETUP.
I have PCPLUS installed on my C:\PCPLUS directory. I have the following
files in that directory as well.
READ ME 4851 8-28-91 2:59p ;This file
GETNEW ASP 3553 8-28-91 2:19p ;PCPLUS script to get new mail
IBM ASP 2386 8-28-91 2:19p ;PCPLUS script to auto logon
POSTREP ASP 6657 8-28-91 2:20p ;PCPLUS script to post replies
MAIL CMD 175 8-26-91 2:31p ;New mail processing command file
NO73 CMD 923 8-26-91 10:47p ;Reply file 73 character line fix
READBBS CMD 24089 8-21-91 4:32p ;My modified version of READBBS.CMD
I have an EEP group with 4 choices set up as follows:
Group: IBM EEP BBS
===============================Choice 1==================================
Properties
Required
Program Title :Get New Mail
Path and File Name :C:\PCPLUS\PCPLUS.EXE
Optional
Parameters :/fgetnew
Working Directory :C:\PCPLUS
Program Type :Default
===============================Choice 2==================================
Properties
Required
Program Title :Get New Mail
Path and File Name :C:\PCPLUS\PCPLUS.EXE
Optional
Parameters :/fgetnew
Working Directory :C:\PCPLUS
Program Type :Default
===============================Choice 3==================================
Properties
Required
Program Title :Post Replies
Path and File Name :C:\PCPLUS\PCPLUS.EXE
Optional
Parameters :/fpostrep
Working Directory :C:\PCPLUS
Program Type :Default
===============================Choice 4==================================
Properties
Required
Program Title :PCPLUS - IBM EEP BBS
Path and File Name :C:\PCPLUS\PCPLUS.EXE
Optional
Parameters :/fibm
Working Directory :C:\PCPLUS
Program Type :Default
=========================================================================
ICONS
I've included some icons which I use just to dress things up. Getting
the ICONS to show on the group menu is the main reason for the Default
Program Type choices above.
I hope you enjoy these tools as much as I do. Even if you don't use
PROCOMM you can probably use the scripts as a logic guide for building
your own scripts. The scripts are heavily commented for this reason.
Here's to the succes of OS/2 - Cheers!
-dB
A.K.A Don P. Babcock Jr. P.E.
Manager of User Services
Cajun Electric Power Cooperative
Baton Rouge, LA 70816
(504) 291-3060 x5426
I can be reached on CompuServe at 76077,3173.