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Text File | 1993-02-13 | 33.7 KB | 649 lines

DARC : Download ARchive Converter (previously known as DSZX) Version 1.00 beta (c)1993 All Rights Reserved By Daniel Mecklenburg Introduction ------------ DARC is a program that operates as a shell around external protocols. It's purpose is to allow users to convert any archives that they are downloading to another format. The reason that this utility was developed was so: 1) Users would not need to have an un-archiving utility for every possible format available. 2) Allow users to convert archives to a format that they can only use. Some archiving utilities are not available for all machines. There is no ARJ utility yet for the Macintosh or OS/2 for example. The need was obvious when Macintosh users wanted to get TrackBlaster .MOD files which I had ARJed to save room on the BBS's hard drive. This allowed them to get the files without there being two copied of it. The BBS calls DARC the same manner that it calls external protocols. This was done to keep the confiuration and installation down to a bare minimum. Seeing a lot of programs and utilities available for BBS's requiring much work in setting it up, I determined that the easier the installation, the better. Most of the options that will ever be needed are already included in DARC. Simply delete the ones you don't wish to use. DARC will only work for downloading (sending) files to users. DARC will work with amost any external protocol that BBS's may use. All that DARC needs to know about the external protocol is how to find the communications port number from the command line. DARC will only work with BBS's running a fossil driver such as BNU or X00. Later additions may support non- fossiled systems. DARC is copyrighted software. It is also shareware. You may use DARC for a trial period of no more than 3 months after which point you may either register it for a small fee of $10.00 or stop using it. $10 is not a whole lot to ask for the amount of work that went into this baby. All the functions and routines were designed and tested by ME. Registered copies of DARC allow the users some advanced options. The unregistered version is by no means incomplete or crippled. It works just fine with the exception of "special features" which were only added to enhance it operation (custom menues/comment adding). Daniel Mecklenburg can not be held responsible for and damage that DARC may have caused to either files located on the machine that DARC is installed on or hardware on the machine in which DARC is installed on. DARC is offered "as-is". Packing list ------------ This copy of DARC should include the following files: DARC.EXE The main executable. DARCINS.EXE The configuration program. DARC.CFG Configuration file for DARC. DARC.ANS Sample ANSI menu for registered version. DARC.TXT Sample text menu for registered version. DARC.DOC The document you are reading now. DARC.REG Registation form for DARC. FILE_ID.DIZ Description for DARC. The size, date, time, and CRC32 values for these files are as follows: Filename Size Date Time CRC32 --------------- ------- --------- --------- --------- DARC.EXE 99625 93-02-13 01:55:22 0DF2DBCB DARCINS.EXE 91978 93-02-12 23:59:58 689F8318 DARC.CFG 3040 93-02-12 23:59:58 3AF12090 DARC.ANS 1669 93-02-12 23:59:58 042FB4B9 DARC.TXT 924 93-02-12 23:59:58 D642AC62 DARC.DOC 34478 93-02-13 02:17:48 7FEFDD75 DARC.REG 2690 93-02-12 23:59:58 AA499CE7 FILE_ID.DIZ 786 93-02-12 23:59:58 F40AF4FB If any file is missing from the above list or there are extra files, please do not use it. It may be an illegal or hacked version. Also notify Daniel Mecklenburg of any "illegal copies" of DARC. Obtaining DARC -------------- If you want a recent copy of DARC, you may optain it at Non-Sequitur BBS, (802)476-6542 or you may file request it over FidoNet from 1:325/608, or over DoorNet from 75:7802/1, with the magic filename DARC. Installing ---------- One of the things taken into account for DARC when it was under developement was ease of installation. The following steps should work with ALL BBS's that use external upload/download protocols configurable by the sysop. 1. Unarchive DARC###.??? into the same directory which your external protocols reside (where ### is the current version being installed and ??? is the extension of the archive containing DARC). 2. Run DARCINS. Enter all information that is required for you use. Check the protocols and archives menus. If you are not using (or going to support) one of the ones that appear, remove it. You may also edit DARC.CFG manually with an text editor (see the descriptions of it's contents below). Be sure that DARC.CFG resides in DOS's path (see PATH command in your DOS manual). 3. Change your BBS's download configuration for both batch download and single file download so that the command executed is DARC instead of the external protocol. Be certain the the protocol being called is defined in the DARC.CFG file. Here is a sample of before and after of a download command line: Before: dsz port <port#> sz -m @<file> After: darc dsz port <port#> sz -m @<file> Before: hslink -p<port#> @<file> After: darc hslink -p<port#> @<file> Note: All external protocols that DARC support must specify the files for download in the following formats: <file> @<file containing list of files> Only one file can be specified at a time. If the external protocol needs: <file> <file> ... then do not configure DARC to run with this protocol. 4. Also if you could edit the little message that says "Start download now or press <ctrl-x> several times to abort" (or somthing similar). DARC will send it's own. If you can't clear this message on your board, you may wish to use the ClearScreen command in the DARC.CFG file (see below). Also see the IgnoreFile command below. Commands -------- The commands that you'll find in the DARC.CFG file are listed below. The commands followed by a "*" are only available in the registered version of DARC. These enhanced commands do not make DARC crippled in anyway. They were added to "jazz-up" DARC. AnsiMenu * Ident ArcCmd IgnoreFile ArcComment InputColor * ArrowColor * Key * BannerColor * LineColor * BBS * OptionColor * ClearScreen PromptColor * CommandColor * SysOp * CommentCmd * Recurse CommentColor * TempPath Creates TestCmd DefineArc TxtMenu * DefineProtocol UnArcCmd DetectWait UseAnsi * FilenameColor * WorkPath FileOtherColor * BBS * Syntax: BBS = <board name> Example:BBS = Any Old Board Description: This command is used to tell DARC who it is registered to. If your copy of DARC is unregistered, this command will have no effect on the operation of DARC. <board name> must me on the same line as the BBS command and must be no longer than 32 characters in length. SysOp * Syntax: SysOp = <sysop's name> Example:SysOp = James Elmer Holagan Description: This command is used to tell DARC who what BBS it is registered to. If your copy of DARC is unregistered, this command will have no effect on the operation of DARC. <sysop's name> must be on the same line as the SysOp command and must be no longer than 32 characters in length Key * Syntax: Key = <registration key> Example:Key = ABCDEFGHIJKL Description: This command defines the registration key for your copy of DARC. If your copy of DARC is unregisters and you enter an incorrect registration code, DARC will not run at all. <registration key> must be on the same line as the Key command. TempPath Syntax: TempPath = <path to temp area> Example:TempPath = C:\BBS\DARCTEMP\ Description: This command defines the path to the temporary directory where archives are to be reconverted for download. This directory does not have to exist. DARC creates it and then removes it after it is through. DO NOT HAVE THIS POINT TO A DIRECTORY THAT HAS FILES IN IT THAT YOU WANT TO KEEP!!!! The directory gets wiped out and removed as part of DARC's cleanup routine upon exiting. UseAnsi * Syntax: UseAnsi Example:UseAnsi Description: This command determines if DARC will auto-detect the user for ANSI capibility. If DARC is either unregistered or this line is missing, DARC will use standard TTY output for menues and prompts. There are no parameters for this command. It will appear on a line all by itself. DetectWait Syntax: DetectWait = <seconds> Example:DetectWait = 15 Description: This command determines if DARC will timeout after the specified number of seconds and go ahead and send the requested files without rearchiving them. This is useful when users forget or are unaware that DARC is being used and proceed with download. WorkPath Syntax: WorkPath = <path to work area> Example:WorkPath = C:\BBS\DARCWORK\ Description: This command defines the path to the temporary directory where archives are reconstructed for download in. This directory does not have to exist. DARC creates it and then removes it after it is through. DO NOT HAVE THIS POINT TO A DIRECTORY THAT HAS FILES IN IT THAT YOU WANT TO KEEP!!!! The directory gets wiped out and removed as part of DARC's cleanup routine upon exiting. DefineArc Syntax: DefineArc = <archive tag> Example:DefineArc = ZIP Description: This command defines the start of a archive definition. The archiveing commands between this line and the next DefineArc command pertain to this Archiver. The <archive tag> must be no longer than three characters in length, must appear on the same line as the DefineArc command and is equal to the file extension of the archives created by this archive. For example, the <archive tag> for the archive definition for PKZip would be ZIP. Note: All archive programs that DARC calls must either be in the enviroments PATH= or the full path must be specified when defining the command line structure for the archive. ArcComment Syntax: ArcComment = <archive comment> Example:ArcComment = PKZip/Unzip v1.10 by PKWare. Description: This command defines the description that will be used by the menu generated by DARC. If you are running a registered copy of DARC and are using external menues, this command will have no effect (other than documentation of your DARC.CFG file). <archive comment> must appear on the same line as the ArcComment command and be 64 characters in length or less. Ident Syntax: Ident = <position>,<identification string> Example:Ident = 0,504B0304 Description: This command defines the identification string used to tell if a file is an archive when its extension does not match a archive tag as described by the DefineArc command. This follows the format used my Maximus / Squish Compress.Cfg file. The position is where to start matching the string. If the position is positive then the string begins that many bytes into the start of the file. If position is negative, then the string is located that many bytes in from the end of the file. The identification string is a hexidecimal string that is used to match with what is inside the archive file at the defined position. (See Appendix A for a list of commonly (and uncommonly) used ident codes for various archivers.) UnArcCmd Syntax: UnArcCmd = <unarchive command1>[| <unarchive command2>[| ...]] Example: UnArcCmd = PKUNZIP -d [FILE].[EXT] Description: This command defines exactly how to unarchive files from the currently defined archiver. (See command defintion sytax below for more information on command line syntax.) If this command is missing from an archive deininition, the archive type cannot be unarchived to create another type. Examples of this are EXEs (self-extracting archives) or types which cannot be undone. ArcCmd Syntax: ArcCmd = <archive command1>[| <archive command2>[| ...]] Example:ArcCmd = PKZIP -a [FILE].[EXT] Description: This command defines exactly how the archiver being defined creates / adds files to it's archives. (See command definition syntax below for more information on command line syntax.) If this command is missing from the achive definition, the arcive can only be be unextracted. This is useful for converting JPGs to GIFs or converting GIFs to JPGs. Also for archive utilities that can only unarchive (like extracting Unix .Z type archives or Macintosh .SIT archives). If this command is missing and the Creates command (see below) is present. The File extracted cannot be rearchived but rather is sent in its unarchived form. There can only be only file created by the unarchiver and it must be the same filename (except for the file extension) as it's archive. TestCmd Syntax: TestCmd = <test archive command1>[| <test archive command2>[| ...]] Example:TestCmd = PKUNZIP -t [FILE].[EXT] Description: This command defines exactly how the archiver being defined tests files in its archives for validity. (See command definition syntax below for more information on command line syntax.) CommentCmd * Syntax: CommentCmd = <comment archive command1>[| <comment archive command2>[| ...]] Example:CommentCmd = PKZIP -c \[FILE].[EXT] <c:\menus\arccmnt.txt Description: This command defines exactly how to add an archive comment to the newly created archive that is currently being defined. (See command definition syntax below for more information on command line syntax.) Creates Syntax: Creates = <file extension> Example:Creates = GIF Description: This command will tell DARC what type of file the unarciver only will create. This is used in unarchivers like JPG2GIF. TxtMenu * Syntax: TxtMenu = <path and file of text menu> Example:TxtMenu = C:\BBS\DSZX.TXT Description: This command will allow DARC to use an alternate menu instead of the default one generated. This menu file is only sent to non-ansi users or if the UseAnsi command is not used and DARC is unregistered. AnsiMenu * Syntax: AnsiMenu = <path and file of ansi menu> Example:AnsiMenu = C:\BBS\DSZX.ANS Description: This command will allow DARC to use an alternate menu instead of the default one generated. This menu file is only sent to ansi users and if the UseAnsi command is used and DARC is unregistered. Recurse Syntax: Recurse Example: Recurse Description: This command will allow DARC to rearchive all archive files located inside of archive files. ArrorColor * Syntax: ArrowColor = <color> Example:ArrorColor = Blue Description: This is the color of the arrow that appears between the filenames as rearchiving is taking place. FilenameColor * Syntax: FilenameColor = <color> Example:FilenameColor = Blue Description: This is the color of the filenames that are displayed as DARC is rearchiving the files. FileOtherColor * Syntax: FileOtherColor = <color> Example:FileOtherColor = Blue Description: This is the color of the <Skipped> and other such messages that appear after arrows while rearchiving files. CommandColor * Syntax: CommandColor = <color> Example:CommandColor = Blue Description: This is the color of the Initializing, Unarchiving, and other such messages that appear after the filenames and arrow while DARC is rearchiving files. PromptColor * Syntax: PromptColor = <color> Example:PromptColor = Blue Description: This is the color of the prompts that are sent to users (Option> and Y/N's). InputColor * Syntax: InputColor = <color> Example:InputColor = Blue Description: This is the color the information entered by the user will appear in. BannerColor * Syntax: BannerColor = <color> Example:BannerColor = Blue Description: This is the color of the program name, copyright notice and the registration information. CommentColor * Syntax: CommentColor = <color> Example:CommentColor = Blue Description: This is the color of comments for the archives that appear in the default ANSI menu. If you are using an external ANSI menu, this has no effect. OptionColor * Syntax: OptionColor = <color> Example:OptionColor = Blue Description: This is the color of the options for the archives that appear in the default ANSI menu. If you are using an external ANSI menu, this has no effect. LineColor * Syntax: LineColor = <color> Example:LineColor = Blue Description: This is the color of the line that appear between the options and option descriptions in the default ANSI menu. If you are using an external ANSI menu, this has no effect. ClearScreen Syntax: ClearScreen Description: This command will tell DARC to clear the screen upon entry. Reason that this would be handy would be for boards that don't allow for the removal of the "Start download now or press <crtl-x> several times to abort" message. This will erase this message before the user gets to see it (hopefully). DefineProtocol Syntax: DefineProtocol = <protocol> <parameters> Example:DefineProtocol = DSZ port [PORT] Description: DefineProtocol will tell DARC what external protocol to call. It will also tells DARC how to extract the port number from the external protocols command line. The parameters are one or more strings that DARC will attempt to match. One of them must contain the string [PORT]. This will be where DARC will obtain the port number from. IgnoreFile Syntax: IgnoreFile = <Ext1> [<Ext2> ...] Example:IgnoreFile = QWK SDN Description: This command will tell DARC to ignore any files that end with these extensions and go ahead and send them without attempting to convert them. This option has been added for systems that support built in offline readers and other such options. If ALL files requested for download have these extensions, DARC will not display anything and will jump to the download protocol directly without even writting anything to the screen. Archive command syntax: The following commands have special rules when it comes to how they appear in the config file and how they operate: UnArcCmd, ArcCmd, TestCmd, and CommentCmd. There are two special character strings that appear in the command definition line these are: [FILE] : This will be replaced with the filename of the archive that is being converted. [EXT] : This will be replaced with the file extension of the original archive file. For example if DSZX is converting a file from FOOBAR.ZIP to FOOBAR.ARJ, [EXT] would be equal to ZIP. Color command syntax: The following commands cause text to be sent to the user (when ANSI is active on registered versions of DSZX) in a specific color: ArrowColor, FilenameColor, FileOtherColor, CommandColor, PromptColor, InputColor, BannerColor, CommentColor, OptionColor, and LineColor. The following colors must be used be used: Red Green Brown Blue Magenta Cyan LtGrey Grey LtRed LtGreen Yellow LtBlue LtMagenta LtCyan White Protocol syntax: The DefineProtocol command describes how DARC will obtain the port number from the external protocols command line. Some examples of these are: DefineProtocol = AMODEM -p[PORT] AMODEM is the external protocol program that will be executed. -p[PORT] is the switch which define which port the external protocol AMODEM will use to send the files. Appendix A : Ident codes ------------------------ What follows is a compilation of compression utilities for MS-DOS machines and their ident codes used by DARC. Format Ident code ------ ------------- Arc 0,1A Arj 0,60EA Dwc -3,445743 Ice 2,2D6C68312D Lzh 2,2D6C68 Pak -2,FE Sqz 0,484C53515A Zip 0,504B0304 Zoo 0,5A4F4F If you happen across any archive utility that is not listed above, I'd be interested in it (sort of a hobby of mine - compressor collector). Appendix B : Maximums --------------------- These are the maximum number of various settings for DARC: Number of Archivers 15 archivers Command lines (ArcCmd, etc.) 4 lines Command line lengths 80 characters Extension lengths (ZIP, etc.) 3 characters Archive description lengths 64 characters Number of files to download 64 files Number of external protocols 36 protocols Number of parameters per protocol 16 parameters Number of IgnoreFiles 8 extensions * * Will be increased in next release. Appendix C : History -------------------- Version 0.07 beta - January 6, 1993 * First released for beta testing. Version 0.08 beta - January 9, 1993 * Check communications output buffer before sending text. * Hid the system calls info and added the red popup window. * Fixed the reporting of "Verifying" and "Commenting" when archive type didn't have one defined. * Added color customization commands * Fixed the recursive rearchiving "Done." bug. * Fixed the unarchive only text output bug. * Added the ClearScreen command. Version 0.09 beta - January 17, 1993 * Fixed INT 10h redirect bug. * Added external protocol definitions command DefineProtocol. * Added the IgnoreFile command * Uses much less memory to run. * Fixed the custom menu cr/lf bug. (Yahoo!) Version 0.10 beta - February 1, 1993 * Changed name to DARC from DSZX. * Added DARCINS: DARC installation / configuration program. * Simplified the external protocol set-up * Fixed the custom menu bug. (Different bug.) * Added ability to recognize archive file with different extensions. * Added the time out for rearchiving selection. * Corrected the really nasty IgnoreFiles bug. (My apologies to SS Explorer BBS in Titusville, Fl) Version 1.00 beta - February 12, 1993 * Major rework of code. * Added ability to extract only for creation of new archives (XARC -> ZIP for example) * Fixed ability to recognize archives inside archives during recursive conversion. Version 1.01 ???? - early 1993 * Non-fossil capibility. * More IgnoreFiles capibility. * Public release? (hopefully.)