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1996-11-07
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TOPMaint v2.00a
User Maintenance Utility for TOP v2.00
Introduction
------------
TOPMaint is simple utility that lets you manage your TOP v2.00 user file.
It replaces the crude TOP EDIT and TOP PACK modes in TOP v2.00 and adds some
extra functionality as well.
TOPMaint requires The Online Pub v2.00. It should also work with v2.00g1
and might even work with RAP (RA Pub) v1.82/v1.82a, but it has only been tested
with TOP v2.00.
Though TOPMAINT.EXE is a DOS program, it will work with the DOS, OS/2, and
Win95 versions of TOP.
Installation
------------
Installation of TOPMaint is very easy. Simply unpack the entire contents
of the TOPMaint Distribution Archive (TMTD200A.ARJ, or .ZIP, etc.) to your main
TOP directory (the same one with TOP.EXE and USERS.TOP).
Operation
---------
TOPMaint features four modes of operation, which are described briefly
below:
DELETE mode lets you delete a user from USERS.TOP. It works much like the
crude user deletor in TOP EDIT mode, but is a lot easier to use.
PURGE mode is a new feature which lets you remove idle or "twit" users from
the user file. By specifying a number of days, you can delete users that have
not entered TOP in a certain number of days. By specifying a minimum security
level, you can instruct TOP to delete all users who's security is less that
that level. Specifying both allows you to perform idle deletion on users while
"protecting" those users with a high enough security, for example sysops,
subops, or paid users.
PACK mode is identical to the TOP PACK mode that is built into TOP. It
should always be used instead of TOP PACK, as it runs faster and is more
suitable for batch file operation.
SETSEC mode works the same as the SYSOP SETSEC command inside TOP. It
replaces the extremely crude "set user to 65535 security" option in TOP EDIT
mode, which makes it a lot easier to upgrade sysops and other users.
The specific operation of each mode is explained in TOPMAINT.EXE itself.
Simply run TOPMaint as follows to get a list of commands:
TOPMAINT ?
WARNING: No users must be inside TOP while TOPMaint is running! Running
TOPMaint while users are chatting in TOP can permanently damage your user file!
Tips, Suggestions, and Warnings
-------------------------------
Below are some tips and suggested uses for TOPMaint, as well as warnings
about what TOPMaint can and can't do.
- Always backup your user file (USERS.TOP) before running TOPMaint.
TOPMaint does not do very much errorchecking (to keep it small and fast), so if
a problem arises it could spell big trouble for your user file. The simplest
and safest way to avert this is to use the following line (either manually or
in a batch file) before TOPMaint is run:
COPY USERS.TOP USERS.BAK
This will backup your user file. Be sure that no users are inside TOP
before this command is run. See below for details on how to do this in a batch
file.
- The PURGE and PACK modes of TOPMaint are best suited for inclusion in
the nightly maintenance batch file that most BBSs use. Here is an example
snippet from a batch file:
COPY USERS.TOP USERS.BAK
TOPMAINT PURGE /S10000 /D30
TOPMAINT PACK
Replace 10000 with the sysop, cosysop, or subop security (whichever is
lowest) so important users will not be deleted. Replace 30 with the number of
days that you wish to allow users to remain idle before they are deleted.
Ideally, this latter figure should be the same number of days that you delete
idle users from your BBS entirely, if you do so.
- Because TOPMaint can't be run while users are inside TOP, if you are
using TOPMaint in your nightly maintenance and nodes are allowed to remain
logged into the system while maintenance is running, you will have to take
special steps to allow TOPMaint to be run. First, change the batch file used
to call TOP.EXE as follows:
CD \BBS\TOP
ECHO . > TOP%1.FLG
TOP %1
DEL TOP%1.FLG
Note that to use this batch file, you must pass the node number to the
batch file as the first parameter. This batch file creates simple semaphore
flags while a user is in TOP, and deletes them once TOP finishes running. You
can then perform the following check in your nightly maintenance batch file to
make sure no users are in TOP before running TOPMaint:
CD \BBS\TOP
if not exist TOP*.FLG TOPMAINT PURGE /S10000 /D30
if not exist TOP*.FLG TOPMAINT PACK
- TOPMaint does not log its activities. However, you can maintain a record
of what TOPMaint does by using some fancy batch file work. Below is an example
of a nightly maintenance batch file snippet that runs TOPMaint and logs its
activities.
CD \BBS\TOP
TOPMAINT PURGE /S10000 /D30 > TMPLOG
COPY TOPMAINT.LOG + TMPLOG TOPMAINT.LOG
TOPMAINT PACK > TMPLOG
COPY TOPMAINT.LOG + TMPLOG TOPMAINT.LOG
DEL TMPLOG
This batch file redirects TOPMaint's output to a file (TMPLOG), then
appends this file to TOPMAINT.LOG (creating it if it does not exist). A
temporary file is necessary because files are overwritten when redirection is
used. This is why TMPLOG only needs to be deleted after the entire maintenance
is finished. Actually, it doesn't need to be deleted at all, but doing so
keeps your TOP directory cleaner.
Please note that TOPMaint uses some ASCII control codes so viewing a log
file inside a text editor may look a little strange, though by no means
unreadable. However, the best method of viewing a log file is from DOS, as
follows:
TYPE TOPMAINT.LOG | MORE
This will pipe the log file through DOS's MORE command, allowing you to
view it a screen at a time. All control codes will perform their proper
function, thus the output will be a lot more legible.
Future Plans
------------
As the next version of TOP (v3.00) is at least a year away, a few more
enhancements are planned for TOPMaint to provide some important features that
weren't able to be included in TOP v2.00. These include:
- The ability to change a user's handle.
- The ability to run TOPMaint before TOP to undo the automatic name
capitalization that TOP forces on user's handles.
- A native OS/2 version.
Registration & Usage Licence
----------------------------
TOPMaint is covered by the same registration guidelines and licence as TOP
v2.00 is. See REGISTER.DOC and LICENCE.DOC from the TOP archive for more
details. In short, if you have registered TOP then you have registered
TOPMaint. If you are still running TOP on a trial basis then you are also
running TOPMaint on a trial basis.
Contacting the Author
---------------------
The author of TOPMaint and TOP can be reached as follows:
FidoNet Netmail: 1:134/31 (address to Paul Sidorsky)
Internet Email : paulsid@nucleus.com
BBS : (403)686-0449 (Press L at the Main Menu)
Note that my Internet access has finally been renewed and I can once again
be reached at paulsid@nucleus.com. I again apologize for not having Internet
access when TOP v2.00 was released, but when you're broke, you're broke!
Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have a bug report or suggestion
for TOPMaint or TOP!
Revision History
----------------
Version 2.00a - Initial release.