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- Changes since v3.01
- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-
- * Read the upgrade notes in UPGRADE.DOC.
-
- * The bulletins are no longer hard-coded, they are entirely configurable by way
- of template files. Included in this archive is SAMPLE.ZIP which contains a
- copy of the .TPL files I am currently using on my system. They all end with
- the .TPL extension, but you may name them whatever you'd like. Each bulletin
- in AMUCFG on the Bulletin menu must have a template file defined. For
- example, the template for my File Area Overview is defined as
- D:\AMU\TPL\FILEOVR.TPL. You will notice that some items have been removed
- from the Bulletin configuration section in AMUCFG. The reason is that
- everything that was on that screen is now configurable. You define colors
- in the templates by using the following type of macro:
-
- @<background><foreground>@
-
- Where <background> is the hex code for the background color and <foreground>
- is the hex code for the foreground color. For example, @1F@ would give you
- text with a background color of Blue and a foreground color of White. This
- is similar to the way WildCat! handles it's color codes. The following is a
- chart of the hex codes:
-
- 0 - Black 8 - Dark Gray
- 1 - Blue 9 - Light Blue
- 2 - Green A - Light Green
- 3 - Cyan B - Light Cyan
- 4 - Red C - Light Red
- 5 - Magenta D - Light Magenta
- 6 - Brown E - Yellow
- 7 - Light Gray F - White
-
- The colors 0 thru 7 may be used for background colors. The colors 0 thru F
- may be used for foreground colors.
-
- In addition, as you might expect, we now have an entire boatload of macros
- available. Some macros are not available for all bulletin types. For
- example, if the template file for your Most Downloaded Files bulletin
- contains the macro for the total number of messages on your system, it's
- value will be zero since that information is not calculated for that type
- of bulletin. The macros are as follows, and the same rules concerning
- formatting apply to these macros as to all the other macros AMU uses, and
- for brevity I will leave out the beginning and trailing '@' marks. So
- if you see AVGCALLS, the macro you would really use is @AVGCALLS@ in the
- template file. One important note regarding the macros which report
- a total number of something. If you use a macro in your Top Uploaders
- bulletin which reports the total number of uploads, for example, the
- total is that of ALL users on your system, not the total of just those
- listed on the bulletin. Consequently, the macros which report averages
- are based on the average of ALL users on your system and not just those
- listed on the bulletin. A similar situation prevails for the file and
- message area totals/averages.
-
- CLS - Used to clear the screen in the ANSI and AVATAR bulletins
- AREANAME - Name of the current file/message area
- AREANUM - Number of the current file/message area
- RANK - Which entry in the bulletin this is (1, 2, 3, etc)
- BPS - BPS Rate at which this file was downloaded (Daily Ul/Dl)
- LOWBPS - Lowest BPS rate (Daily Ul/Dl)
- HIGHBPS - Highest BPS rate (Daily Ul/Dl)
- NUMFXER - Number of files transferred (Daily Ul/Dl)
- USERNAME - User's real name
- USERALIAS - User's alias
- FILENAME - Filename
- DOORNAME - Name of the door (from the DOORS.CTL type file)
- GRAPH - Horizontal bar graph of the use the current entry has versus
- the rest of the system
- FILESIZE - File size in bytes
- FILESIZEK - File size in kilobytes
- FDLS - Number of times file was downloaded
- TOTALFILES - Number of files in all areas selected for this bulletin
- TOTALFSIZE - Number of bytes in the files in all areas selected for this
- bulletin
- TOTALFSIZEK - Number of kilobytes in the fileas for all areas selected for
- this bulletin
- TOTALFDLS - Number of downloads in all areas selected for this bulletin
- AVGFDLS - Average number of downloads for each file on your system
- AREAFILES - Number of files in the current area
- AREASIZE - Number of bytes in the current area
- AREASIZEK - Number of kilobytes in the current area
- AREADLS - Number of downloads in the current area
- POSTS - Number of messages posted to the current area
- READS - Number of messages read in the current area
- MSGS - Number of messages in the current area
- TOTALPOSTS - Total number of messages posted by users on your system as
- read from the BBS logfiles if this is a Message Base Overview
- bulletin, or the total number of posts by users as read from
- the user file if this is a Top User bulletin.
- TOTALREADS - Total number of messages read by users on your system.
- TOTALMSGS - Total number of messages on your system.
- ACCESS - Number of times the current door was accessed
- TOTALACCESS - Total number of door accesses
- AVGACCESS - Average number of times each door was accessed
- ULS - Number of files the current user has uploaded
- ULSK - Number of kilobytes the current user has uploaded
- DLS - Number of files the current user has downloaded
- DLSK - Number of kilobytes the current user has downloaded
- CALLS - Number of times the current user has called
- ULDL - User's Upload:Download ratio (based on files)
- ULDLK - User's Upload:Download ratio (based on kilobytes)
- POSTCALL - User's Post:Call ratio
- TOTALULS - Total number of files uploaded by all users
- TOTALULSK - Total number of kilobytes uploaded by all users
- TOTALDLS - Total number of files downloaded by all users
- TOTALDLSK - Total number of kilobytes downloaded by all users
- TOTALCALLS - Total number of calls by all users
- TOTALPOSTS - Total number of posts by all users
- TOTALULDL - Upload:Download ratio on your system (files)
- TOTALULDLK - Upload:Download ratio on your system (kilobytes)
- TOTALPOSTCALL - Post:Call ratio on your system
- AVGULS - Average uploads per user (files)
- AVGULSK - Average uploads per user (kilobytes)
- AVGDLS - Average downloads per user (files)
- AVGDLSK - Average downloads per user (kilobytes)
- AVGCALLS - Average calls per user
- AVGPOSTS - Average posts per user
- AVGULDL - Average Upload:Download ratio per user (files)
- AVGULDLK - Average Upload:Download ratio per user (kilobytes)
- AVGPOSTCALL - Average Post:Call ratio per user
-
- * AMU will now recognize the new file structures for Concord's upcoming
- Gamma-5 release as well as the current Gamma-4 versions. You do not
- need to make any changes in AMUCFG, AMU will figure it out dynamically.
-
- * The way in which macros which contain the '<', '>', and '|' formatting
- characters has changed significantly! In the past, a macro such as
- @SYSOP<<<<@ would be replaced with the Sysop's name (left justified)
- and the '@' symbols would be replaced with spaces. If you left out the
- formatting characters, the '@' symbols would not be replaced by spaces.
- In an effort to make things more consistant and also to fix a couple other
- problems, the '@' symbols will NOT be replaced with spaces any longer
- under any circumstances. What does this mean? It means that if you are
- using macros that contain formatting characters, you need to put a space
- before the macro and a space after the macro. For example, if you used to
- have something such as "Created by@PRODUCT_ID<<@on @DATE@", you will need
- to change that line to "Created by @PRODUCT_ID<<@ on @DATE@". I have
- changed the default .TPL template files as well as some other sample files
- which are distributed with AMU to reflect the above change.
-
- * As a result of the above change, a new default List Format for the
- Allfiles/Newfiles listings has been created. If you want to have your
- current List Format string replaced with the new default, simply go into
- AMUCFG and blank out your current List Format string. When AMU runs,
- the default will be filled in and saved.
-
- * If you had more than one logfile set up in the Archives section as a
- "Julian Rename", and had it set up to compress on a monthly basis, only
- the first entry would be processed. Fixed.
-
- * In previous versions, setting the Download Counter Width to zero in
- AMUCFG on the File Manager -> Global menu would not only serve to disable
- AMU from adding download counters, but would also cause AMU to remove
- any existing download counters. This has been changed, if that field is
- set to zero, AMU will leave any existing download counters intact.
-
- * If you have told AMU to add approximate download times in your Allfiles
- listings, it will now calculate the times for 2400, 14400, 28800,
- and 64000 bps rates.
-
- * The file sharing used when the user file is opened for reading has been
- changed. However, when AMU needs to open the user file to update it's
- contents, it will still require exclusive access and will fail if another
- application has it open. This is to prevent potential data corruption.
-
- * For Maximus 3.01 systems, users who have the 'Hidden' bit set in the
- user profile will not be shown on bulletins.
-
- * When you use command line parameters, AMU will now check to make sure
- each one is valid before processing anything.
-
- * Fixed a problem with the FILES.BBS creation when one did not already
- exist.
-
- * While updating download counters for systems using the RA file database,
- AMU will now update the 'Last Date Downloaded' field as well.
-
- * Rewrote a portion of the code which handles the Message Base Overview
- bulletin.
-
- * The 'Relative Usage' graph macro (@GRAPH@) available in the Top User
- bulletins is no longer available for the Upload:Download,
- UploadK:DownloadK, or Post:Call bulletin types. The results just do not
- make much sense when you think about it.
-
- * The List Format for the Allfiles/Newfiles has changed. The following
- macros are valid:
-
- @FILENAME@ - Filename
- @DATE@ - Filedate
- @SIZE@ - Filesize
- @SIZEK@ - Filesize in kilobytes
- @DLS@ - Number of downloads
- @DESC@ - File description
- @DESCDL@ - File description with approximate download time
-
- The big change with these macros is that you can now use the '<', '>' and
- '|' characters for formatting just like all of the other macros AMU
- uses. When you run AMUCFG -upgrade, a new default list format will be
- entered for each of your Allfiles/Newfiles list records.
-
- * Fixed a bug in the Maximus 3.01 code that would not display the
- user's birthdate properly.
-
- * AMU will no longer attempt to modify a multi-volume archive for
- the following archive formats: ARJ, RAR.
-
- * AMU will no longer insist that the BBS file/message areas on Maximus
- systems is different each time AMU runs. Run AMUCFG -Importfiles and
- then AMUCFG -Importmsgs first so AMUCFG can store the proper date, after
- that everything should be ok.
-
- * Fixed a bug in the Message Posting code which would always interpret
- the @USER_SUBDATE@ and @USER_BDATE@ macros to be the same as @DATE@.
-
- * In AMUCFG on the System -> System menu you can now define which character
- is to be used to separate the components of a date. For example, if you
- choose '-' (the default), the date will look like 12-01-96.
-
- * Added a macro @USER_CITY@ which is available in the bulletins and in the
- messages posted to the users. This is replaced by the user's location.
-
- * Added an option in the File Manager -> Areas section where people using
- the RA FDB can tell AMU whether the Old option should calculate the age
- of a file based upon the file date or upload date of the file.
-
- * Added an option in the File Manager -> Areas section where you can have
- AMU move files that have no description or which have what you defined
- as the 'Missing Description' to a separate file area.
-
- * Added an option in the File Manager -> Areas section where you can have
- AMU compress text versions of files in your file areas. This uses a
- control file called ZIPTEXT.CTL in the AMU directory where you list the
- extensions AMU should consider as being text files (ASC, TXT, DOC, etc).
- For example, if you have a file called BBSLIST.TXT in a file area that
- has this option enabled, have the archive format set to ZIP, and have
- TXT in your ZIPTEXT.CTL file, AMU will compress BBSLIST.TXT into a
- BBSLIST.ZIP file and remove the BBSLIST.TXT version.
-
- * Added four new bulletin types:
- - "User List" which can be used to create a list of the users on your
- system.
- - "Today's Callers" which can be used to create a list of the people who
- have called your BBS today. (*not* the mailer)
- - "Today's Birthdays" to create a list of users who have a birthday today
- - "Today's Sub Exp" to create a list of users whose subscription expires
- today.
-
- The corresponding command line parameters for the above are USERLIST,
- TODAYCALL, BDAYLIST, and SUBLIST respectively, and the TEMPLATE.ZIP file
- distributed with the Beta 2 archive contains four new template files that
- can be used for these bulletins.
-
- * The Filter Graphics, Import GIF Information, Force Rearchiving, and
- Honor AV switches have been taken off the Global Options menu and
- are now definable for each file area on the File Manager -> Areas menu.
-
- * For Concord systems, AMU will now honor whatever has been defined as the
- FILES.BBS path/name in CSETUP for FILES.BBS areas.
-
- * For each bulletin, you can now define which formats you want created.
- Currently, AMU is capable of creating ASCII (.ASC), ANSI (.ANS), and AVATAR
- (.AVT) versions of each bulletin.
-
- * Fixed a longstanding (but was unable to reproduce it until now) problem with
- the ANSI bulletins in which the background color ANSI code would not be
- interpretted correctly by some ANSI drivers.
-
-
- EOF - WHATSNEW.310