Beijing Paradise BBS Backup/PARADISE.ISO/software/BBSDOORW/FMQT131U.ZIP/FMQUOTE.DOC

Text File | 1993-03-06 | 14.7 KB | 473 lines

         ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
         │                                                             │
         │ F   M   Q   u   o   t   e                                   │
         │ ─────────────────────────   Version 1.31   ( March 6 1993 ) │
         │                                                             │
         │                                                             │
         │                 The *first* Italian Quoter                  │
         │                                                             │
         │       Written by Alberto Quario [ 2:331/316.5@fidonet ]     │
         │                                                             │
         └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘


        What do  you miss most ?  No no... let alone  Claudia Schiffel, I
        was referring to FM, the FrontDoor Message Editor.
        Do you  miss the 'GoldEd  style' quoting, the  random headers and
        Origins ( even  different from area to area ) ?  If so FMQuote is
        just for you !

        FMQuote is very fast and very easy to configure.

        FMQuote  configuration file  ( FMQUOTE.CFG )  is  searched in the
        current  directory or  in that  one specified  by the environment
        variable  FD.  Furthermore  it  is  possible  to supply a working
        directory,  where  you'll  put  configuration/origin/header/index
        files, with the environment variable FMQT.
        For instance:

        SET FMQT=c:\fd\fmquote

        If you  supply an absolute path  for the Origin or  Header files,
        the FMQT directory will be ignored.


        Now you need to configure the  program. Create an ascii text file
        and call  it FMQUOTE.CFG. Now,  one by line,  you can insert  the
        parameters;  the  order  and  the  use  of uppercase or lowercase
        doesn't matter. The  lines that begin with a  ';' will be treated
        as comments and  ignored. In the FMQuote zipfile  you should have
        found a configuration file with all the available parameters.
        It's also present a program  (GENCFG.EXE) that helps to configure
        the  quoter  and  updates  previous  configurations  that  may be
        present. Please read the GENCFG.DOC file, too.


        Let's now take  a look to the available  parameters, that will be
        always written inside a rectangle.

        First of all it's necessary to define:

        ┌───────────────────┐
        │ MsgFile  filename │
        └───────────────────┘

        FMQuote Version 1.31                                      Page  1




        where <filename> is  the file in which we'll  save the message we
        want to quote.

        I advice you to  use 'v' as filename, being  Alt+V the FM command
        to save a message on disk, that is:

        ;
        MsgFile  v
        ;


        If you want to generate the Origins is necessary to add

        ┌─────────────────────┐
        │ NetAddr  z:n/f/(.p) │
        └─────────────────────┘

        that  is the  network address  and if  you use  GEcho or  another
        tosser/scanner that always insert its tearline you should add

        ┌──────────┐
        │ NoTearLn │
        └──────────┘

        to avoid problems.

        Who isn't interested in the Origins can exclude them with

        ┌──────────┐
        │ NoOrigin │
        └──────────┘


        One of  the main FMQuote 1.31 changes is the ability  to generate
        random Origins, and Headers as  well, reading them from an extern
        file.
        The file must be an ascii text file in which, one by line, we can
        write our personal Origins.The parameter to specify that file is:

        ┌──────────────────┐
        │ OriginF filename │
        └──────────────────┘

        The maximum Origin length depends  on the network address length,
        usually is between 55 and 60 characters.



        What we  said about Origins holds  for Headers, too. I  call them
        'HiMsgs' and they  are printed   in the  beginning of  the quoted
        message.



        FMQuote Version 1.31                                      Page  2




        In the <filename> specified in

        ┌──────────────────┐
        │ HiMsgF  filename │
        └──────────────────┘

        we'll put the headers for the general messages and in

        ┌─────────────────────┐
        │ HiMsg2MeF  filename │
        └─────────────────────┘

        the headers for the personal messages (those addressed to us).

        The HiMsgs maximum length is 255 characters.

        There are some macros available:

            %b  whole name of the person who wrote the quoted message
            %B  name only  "   "   "  "   "   " "   "   "  "   "  "
            %t  whole name of the person who received the quoted message
            %d  whole message date
            %g  only the day in numbers
            %m  only the month in numbers
            %M  only the month in letters
            %a  only the year
            %w  only the day of the week
            %i  network address of the person who wrote the quoted
                message
            %s  subject of the quoted message
            %n  newline character
            %%  '%' character

        For example to print:

        "Hi Mike Smith! On April 12 1992 you wrote..."

        I should add  a line in the  HiMsgF file as follow:

        Hi %b! On %d you wrote...

        To use HiMsg2MeF is necessary to add this parameter:

        ┌──────────────┐
        │ MyName  name │
        └──────────────┘

        For example I should write:

        ;
        MyName Alberto_Quario
        ;


        FMQuote Version 1.31                                      Page  3




                               I M P O R T A N T
                               ──────────────────

        To separate the name and the  surname you must use the underscore
        character '_' !


        We can define different Origins and Header for every echo area in
        this way:

        @AREA_TAG
        line 1
        ......
        line n

                               I M P O R T A N T
                               ─────────────────

        If the  Headers/Origin file begins with  an area definition, that
        is if  the ** FIRST **  line will be @SOME_AREA_TAG  then FMQuote
        will  interpret that  file as  divided into  areas. Otherwise the
        Headers/Origins will be chosen between all the lines.

        For example my Origin file could be:

        @CLANG
        Origin 1 for CLANG echo area
        Origin 2 for CLANG echo area
        @COMMS
        Origin for COMMS echo area


        If  you don't  want to  specify  all  the areas  you can  use the
        DEFAULT tag:

        @DEFAULT
        Default Origin for the other echo areas


        A maximum of 200 areas can be defined.


        To make things work you have to supply the message base directory
        with this parameter:

        ┌──────────────┐
        │ MsgBDir  dir │
        └──────────────┘

        for example

        MsgBDir  c:\fd\msgbase.


        FMQuote Version 1.31                                      Page  4




        ┌─────────┐
        │ ItaDate │
        └─────────┘

        With 'ItaDate' the  date we'll be printed in  the Italian format:
        day/month/year. By default the english format is used.


        Other parameters are:

        ┌───────────────────┐
        │ SignFile filename │
        └───────────────────┘

        With 'SignFile' we can specify a file that we'll be automatically
        imported  at the  end of  the quoted  message, useful for complex
        signs or greetings.


        ┌────────┐
        │ NoQofQ │
        └────────┘

        With 'NoQofQ' FMQuote will not quote again a previous quote.


        ┌──────────┐
        │ QtBlanks │
        └──────────┘

        With 'QtBlanks' FMQuote will quote blank lines, too.


        ┌────────────┐
        │ MaxLen  nn │
        └────────────┘

        MaxLen is  the maximum number  of character a  line of quote  can
        have. By default MaxLen value is 60.


        ┌───────────┐
        │ Delta  nn │
        └───────────┘

        The usefulness  of this parameter is  to avoid FMQuote to  wrap a
        line with just a few characters.  When FMQuote will be arrived at
        MaxLen characters  will look if adding  Delta characters the line
        will be completed. By default Delta value is 0.

        My advice is to test different  values to find the ones right for
        you. I use 65 and 8 respectively.


        FMQuote Version 1.31                                      Page  5




        ┌────────┐
        │ NoFilt │
        └────────┘

        From  version 1.20  is  possible  to filter  non-ascii characters
        replacing them with a '#'. NoFilt *disables* this feature.


        ┌───────────────┐
        │ All  <string> │
        └───────────────┘

        Often  messages are  addressed to  "All", with  this parameter is
        possible to supply a substitute to make the HiMsgs more funny.
        For instance:

        ;
        All  Invisible_man
        ;

        instead of  "In a msg to  All you said..." will  be printed "In a
        msg to Invisible man you said..."

        Here too,  in place of  the space character, the underscore ('_')
        must be used !



        Starting  FMQuote  with  "-c"  on  the  command  line  the actual
        parameters configuration will be shown.


        Now we have almost finished... we must configure FM.
        Run FDSETUP and from the 'Editor' menu, select 'Keyboard macros',
        assign to one of the function keys this macro:

                             ~Efmquote;~R<FileName>;

        where <FileName>  is the name of  the file you have  specified in
        the MsgFile parameter.


        That's all !

        Now to  quote a message  you have to  save on disk  it with Alt+V
        giving the name you chose in  the setup, answer with Alt+R saying
        'NO' to FM's quote request and finally press the function key you
        have assigned the macro.


        It's  also  included  a  TSR  that  allows  you  to perform these
        operation   automatically.   Its   name   is   FMQuote  Companion


        FMQuote Version 1.31                                      Page  6




        (FMQTCOMP.EXE). The Companion must be  loaded before FM and needs
        two parameters:

                     FMQTCOMP <filename> <functionkey>

        The first is the usual filename  you wrote in MsgFile, the second
        is the macro function key.

        For instance:

        FMQTCOMP v 12


        Once   inside  FM   pressing   Alt+C   we'll  answer   and  quote
        automatically. If FMQuote  is run when it's already  in memory it
        will be unloaded.

        Please refer to F.BAT as an example.


        Furthermore it is possible to  quote many messages into one. It's
        enough to Append  the messages and use FMQuote  on the last. Here
        is not possible to use the Companion.



        I n f o
        ───────

        FMQuote  1.31 is  a FreeWare  program and  nothing is  due to the
        author but can't be sold for any  reason. Feel free to copy it to
        friends  or upload  in BBS  as long  as the  files or the archive
        (ZIP,ARC,etc) aren't modified.

        Every effort was  made to test this program  but the author makes
        no warranty of  any kind, either express or implied  and so in no
        event  shall  the  author  be  liable  for any damages (including
        damages  for  loss  of   data,  business  interruption  or  other
        pecuniary loss) arising out of the use of this program.

        The  program  has  been  tested  with  FrontDoor  2.01  but there
        shouldn't be problems even with other versions.

        Bug reports and suggestions can be addressed to:

                 ■   2:331/316.5@fidonet    ( A '.' of Orpheus )

                 ■   [e-mail]      ( Internet )

                 ■   Alberto Quario
                     Via Don G. Calabria 19
                     20132    Milano  ITALY


        FMQuote Version 1.31                                      Page  7




        For those who care... :-)
        ─────────────────────────

        FMQuote is written in C , compiled with Borland C++ 3.1



        H i s t o r y
        ─────────────

           1.00   4 May      1992    Initial Release
           1.10  26 June     1992
           1.11   4 July     1992
           1.20  11 October  1992
           1.30   3 February 1992
           1.31   6 March    1993






































        FMQuote Version 1.31                                      Page  8
        @