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1991-05-08
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BB Message Editor
Version 0.9
Bob Lafleur, NQ1C @ W1NY
45 Ionia Street
Springfield, MA 01109-2519
(413) 736-0178
┌───────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ This is the first release of this program. │
│ It may have problems, so I urge you to make a │
│ copy of your MSG.BB file before running it. │
│ The program ONLY modifies MSG.BB, and ONLY at │
│ the very end when you say Yes to update. I │
│ have tested the program on my system and it │
│ works fine, but I cannot duplicate the same │
│ environment as every other BBS system. │
└───────────────────────────────────────────────┘
BACKGROUND:
I have been the SYSOP at the W1NY bbs for over two years now.
One of the things I have come to learn about SYSOPing a BBS is
that one must keep on top of things. It is easy to let the
system for a few days, and then the workload is only that much
harder to get things back in order. One of my biggest problems
has been that I tend to miss messages that should have some
SYSOP action taken. Once a message is burried between a pile
of bulletins, it gets mixed up and I tend to miss it.
With the recent FCC action taken against several BBS's, it
has also become more desirable for a BBS SYSOP to hold every
bulletin for review before releasing it for distribution.
Unfortunately, this is an overwhelming task for the SYSOP.
I don't know about you, but I already find myself spening
more time in front of the BBS computer than what is
probably good for my sanity. I don't really need to spend
more time reviewing 50-100 bulletins each day.
The AA4RE BBS system is a great system, but it lacks an
easy way to view and take action on messages in a easy
manner. Especially when one wants to view and take action
on many messages in a row. First, the message must be read,
then EM'd, changed, and then a carriage return must be
pressed before reading the next message. A printout of the
entire message list helps, but for those of us who don't
have the luxury of space in our shacks for a printer, the
task of reviewing and fixing messages becomes even harder.
Hence, this program, BBMSGEDT.
HOW IT WORKS:
BBMSGEDT is a program that will display the BBS's message
list on the screen. You move a highlight bar up and down
through the messages, and press keys to take an action on
the highlighted message.
On your first time in BBMSGEDT, you will be presented
with your message list starting at the very first message.
On subsequent runs of the program, the message list will
be displayed starting at the highest message number that was
in the system during your last use of BBMSGEDT. This makes
it easy to start reviewing messages that are new on your
system since the last time you used the program. You can
still use <UpArrow> to go to previous messages in your
message list. The file BBMSGEDT.DAT contains the message
number to start the display at, so you can delete or edit
this file if you want to start the display at a specific
point in the list.
point where BBMSGEDT picks up
To view a message, press V and the message will be
displayed on the screen. You need a program called LIST
either in the program directory, or in the DOS path for
this option to work. I recomend LIST by Vern Buerg, but
you can use any LIST program you like, as long as the
first command line parameter is the name of the file to
display.
To toggle a message between killed/unkilled, use the K key.
The H key will toggle a message between held/unheld. And
the B, P and T keys can be used to change the message type.
For ease in picking out messages of certain types, killed
messages will be displayed in a dimmed manner, and held
messages will be blinking.
When you're done editing the messages, press <escape> and
then choose <Y> to make your changes permanent, or <N> to
abandon your changes.
DRAWBACKS:
In order to use BBMSGEDT, you must stop the BBS. You cannot
run BBMSGEDT in another DOS session, as BB uses a local
in-memory copy of the message list, and won't like it very
much if another program goes and changes MSG.BB.
This version of BBMSGEDT assumes that the file MSG.BB
is where you are "sitting" when you run the program, and
that the message texts are in a subdirectory called MSG
down from where you are "sitting".
WISHLIST:
Yes, there are lots of things I still want to add to the
program, but I wanted to get it out so I could get *your*
feedback as well. Some things I know I want to do are:
- Tweak the colors to make more sense on a color display
- Add PageUp/PageDown for moving through the messages
- Add a <Z>oom function to show and edit all fields of the
message, including to, @to, from, @from, hier_addresses,
subject, etc.
- Use the BBS parameters to get the message text location.
YOUR COMMENTS ARE WELCOME!
I am very open to suggestions and constructive criticizm.
There are many ways you can contact me:
Call me: (413) 736-0178
Packet: NQ1C @ W1NY.MA.USA.NA
CompuServe: 75146,3122
PRODIGY: FRBN29A
GEnie: SKID
America OnLine: Skid6
Internet: 75146.3122@CompuServe.COM
I'm sure there are more ways, too, but I can't remember
them all anymore!
I hope you find this program to be helpful in performing
your SYSOP duties. If there's something it doesn't do that
would help you, please let me know. I don't do this work
full-time, but if it's reasonable, I'm willing to give it
a shot.