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Text File | 1993-04-30 | 32.6 KB | 815 lines

┌──────┐ ┌──────┐ ┌─────┐ ┌─────┐ ┌─────┐ ┌─────┐ ┌─┐ ┌─┐ ┌─────┐ ┌─────┐ └──────┘ └──────┘ └─────┘ └─────┘ └─────┘ └─────┘ └─┘ └─┘ └─────┘ └─────┘ ┌──────┐ ┌──────┐ ┌──────┐ ┌─────┐ ┌──┐ ┌─┐ ┌─────┐ ┌─────┐ ┌─┐ └────┐ │ │ ┌──┐ │ │ ┌──┐ │ │ ┌┐ ┌┘ │ ┌┘ │ │ │ ┌─┐ │ │ ┌─┐ │ │ │ ┌────┘ │ │ │ │ │ │ └──┘ │ │ ││ │ │ └───┐ │ └───┐ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ └──────┘ └─┘ └─┘ └──────┘ └─┘└─┘ └─────┘ └─────┘ └─┘ └─┘ └─┘ └─┘ └─┘ SabreChat! Version 5.02.00 Copyright (C) 1993 Shawn Gresham What is SabreChat!? ─────────────────── SabreChat! is simply a user to user chat program. It is run from each node of a bulletin board system allowing the users online to talk with each other. This connection is made possible by the SabreMixer! TSR that comes with the SabreChat! package. This SabreChat! version has the following features: Line-by-line or character-by-character chat modes that are toggled by the user. Communication between nodes separated by a multi-tasker or a network in character-by-character mode. Disk-based communication in line-by-line mode. Full ANSI color coding support. Multiple conferencing support for more than one chat session at the same time. Supports up to 50 nodes. Sysop-defined action commands for user entertainment. Sysop-defined questionnaire feature to give each user more identity. Three different prompting modes for user identification. Ability to capture conversations to a text file. Log file generation. By The Way ────────── SabreChat! is distributed as shareware with nothing stating the user has to register the program within a certain number of days. The unregistered version of SabreChat! has a built-in limitation of 10 minutes for each execution and no other limitations. There is no restriction for use by corporations or govermental agencies. The software is distributed as is. I am not liable for any damage cause by the use of this software. Trademarks of any companies mentioned in this doc appears for identification purposes only and likewise, belong to their respective companies. Requirements ──────────── The following are required to execute SabreChat!: 8086 or better DOS 3.3 or newer a communication fossil for port access SHARE.EXE must be loaded SabreChat! uses the following files: File Description Found ─────────────── ─────────────────────── ─────── SCHAT!.EXE Main Executable archive SCHT!WC.DOC Documentation archive SMIXER!.COM SabreMixer! archive SMIXER!.DOC Doc for SabreMixer! archive SCHT!HI.ASC welcome text (ASCII) archive SCHT!HI.ANS welcome text (ANSI) archive SCHT!HLP.ASC help text (ASCII) archive SCHT!HLP.ANS help text (ANSI) archive SCHT!MNU.ASC menu text (ASCII) archive SCHT!MNU.ANS menu text (ANSI) archive SCHT!ACT.EXE action compiler archive SCHT!ACT.TXT sample actions (text) archive SCHT!ACT.DAT sample actions (compiled) archive SCHT!REG.EXE registration program archive SCHT!KEY.DAT registration key file created SCHT!QST.EXE questionnaire compiler archive SCHT!ASK.TXT questionnaire questions archive SCHT!QST.TXT uncompiled questionnaire data archive SCHT!QST.DAT compiled questionnaire data created SCHT!USR.SWD user data created SCHT!CNF.SWD conference data created SCHT!LIN.SWD line data created SCHT!LOG.SWD log file created SCHT!CAP.xxx capture file for node xxx created SCHT!ALS.SWD user alias information created SCHT!NFO.SWD user questionnaire information created ARCHIVE = found in the SabreChat! archive. CREATED = created by SabreChat!. Registering SabreChat! ────────────────────── The copy of SabreChat! that you possess is the full-working version with only one drawback. Users are limited to ten minutes in the door before they are returned to the board. Afterwards they may return to SabreChat! for another ten minutes and so on. This limitation is merely to allow the user and sysop to have a sufficent evaluation periods to determine if they wish to register SabreChat!. Why register at all then? Well, there are few reasons you might consider... 1) Upon registration, you will be added to a list of names that I personally inform when a newer version of SabreChat! comes out. 2) You will receive priority support, in the unlikely event that you run into any problems or if you just have some questions. 3) Registrations keep me informed on just how interested people are in my software. If I don't receive any feedback then I can only assume that my efforts were in vain and I should find something else to do. 4) Registrations are forever. Once registered, you will never have to register for a newer version of SabreChat!. 5) Upon receiving the registration key, the ten minute limitation will be removed. To register SabreChat!, please fill out the registration form included in the archive and send fifteen US dollars ($15 US) address found at the end of this document. Be sure that the names given are the names that you wish to appear in the registration. The registration will look similar to this: Registered to SHAWN GRESHAM of MAXIMUM INTENSITY. ------------- ----------------- The information is merely for my records so that I can keep tabs on where the program is headed and such. Plus the comments and suggestion are invaluable to the production of future versions. Installation ──────────── To install SabreChat! please read the installation text file also included in this archive. This fill will be called INST!xxx.DOC with xxx being the bbs software type. RA = Remote Access WC = Wildcat TAG = TAG BBS Also note that though all of the installation docs for each system (RA/WC/TAG) are included, only the system supported by Schat!.exe will work. NOTE: I have included a user tutorial text file, SCHT!USR.DOC, that can be set up as a bulletin on your system to help people get the hang of SabreChat!. Customizing SabreChat! ────────────────────── Using the installation instructions, you should have a standard working version of SabreChat!. The following section gives a list of command line options that you can use to customize the way SabreChat! works on your system. I would recommend make very few changes until you are certain that the base setup will operate correctly. Customizing would complicate debugging a problem. Note that some options are already set by the DOOR.SYS or DORINFO1.DEF file for you. These commands are identified by having [DOOR.SYS] or [DORINFO1.DEF] after their name. Normally you would not have to set these commands unless you wanted to over-ride the DOOR.SYS or DORINFO1.DEF settings. The command line parameters are listed in the following format: Option <letter>, <short description> [DOOR.SYS] [DORINFO1.DEF] <full description> Usage : SCHAT! <option usage description> Default : SCHAT! <example> Example of how to activate option from command line. DOOR.SYS Means that the option is read from DOOR.SYS if the Y option has been set. DORINFO1.DEF Means that this option will be set if you use the O (read dorinfo1.def) option. None Means that the option has no default value or is not activated by default. AutoDetect Means that SabreChat! tries to determine this value when it is executed, and that by setting this option, you are overriding the detected value. Option A, Select Graphics Mode [DOOR.SYS] [DORINFO1.DEF] This command is set by DOOR.SYS and DORINFO1.DEF. This command selects the graphic codes that SabreChat! uses to send colors to an online user. SabreChat! supports two standard graphic conventions, ANSI and AVATAR. This option will be set by DOOR.SYS and DORINFO1.DEF, if you are using option Y or O, based on the user's flags in RA. Usage : SCHAT! A<0..3> 0 No graphic codes 1 ANSI graphics 2 AVATAR graphics 3 Both ANSI and AVATAR Example : SCHAT! A1 Default : SCHAT! A0 or DOOR.SYS or DORINFO1.DEF Option B, Black and White Local Screen This command informs SabreChat! not to use colors locally. Color codes will still be sent to the user online. This is necessary on some black and white monitors that translate certain colors as black and cannot been seen against the black background. Usage : SCHAT! B Default : Color used. Option C, Set Default Conference Name This option sets the conference name that user will be joined to when he enters SabreChat!. Usage : SCHAT! C<conference name> Example : SCHAT! CCOMICS Default : SCHAT! CPUBLIC Option E, Enable DOS 3.3 COMMIT flushing This option enables file flushing for some of the temporary files that SabreChat! uses to communicate. Enabling this will slow down operation a tad, but will ensure that the data gets written to the disk as soon as possible. Do not use this unless some nodes are receiving the wrong text lines (ie. old lines of text or massive garbage, etc). Usage : SCHAT! E Default : Inactive Option F, Set Page Search Frequency This command defines the frequency that SabreChat! checks to see if someone has paged you while in SabreChat!. SabreChat! looks for pages once every 5 seconds by default. Using the F command line option, you can change this value or disable page checking entirely by setting it to zero. Usage : SCHAT! F<frequency in seconds or 0 (disabled)> Default : SCHAT! F5 Option G, Log Activity This option creates a file called SCHT!LOG.SWD and logs the doors activity. You can safely delete this file whenever it becomes to larger and SabreChat! will create a new one. This keeps a list of who enters and leaves and any errors that may occur. Usage: SCHAT! G Default: Disabled. Option I, Set SabreMixer! Interrupt Number This option sets the interrupt number that SabreChat! will expect to find SabreMixer! installed. The default for SabreChat! is interrupt $66. If you suspect an interrupt conflict with other software, be sure to change both SabreChat! and SabreMixer! to the same interrupt. I would suggest placing I$68 on both command lines, this will change both to interrupt $68. Use this option with extreme caution and only if you are sure that SabreMixer! and another TSR are conflicting. Usage: SCHAT! I<int number> Default: SCHAT! I$66 Example: SCHAT! I$68 Option L, Line-by-line Mode By putting this option on the command line, SabreChat! will default to line-by-line mode instead of character-by-character mode. Usage : SCHAT! L Default: Disabled. Option M, User Prompting This command sets the type of prompting that SabreChat! while use to distinguish between users. Usage : SCHAT! M<0..3> 0 No prompting 1 Initial prompting 2 Full name prompting 3 Preceding Fullname Default : SCHAT! M2 Option N, Select Node [DOOR.SYS] This command is set by DOOR.SYS. This option tells SabreChat! which node it is operating on. This option is also read from DOOR.SYS if the Y option is selected and will not need to be explicitly set. Usage : SCHAT! N<node 1..50> Default : SCHAT! N1 or DOOR.SYS or DORINFO1.DEF Option O, Read User Information from DORINFO1.DEF. This option tells SabreChat! to read DORINFO1.DEF for information pertaining to the user setup. This command will automatically set the com port, graphic mode, and time remaining. Theses options should not need to be set once the O command has been used unless the values are desired to be forced. Usage : SCHAT! O<path to DORINFO1.DEF> Default : None Option P, Select Online Communications Port [DOOR.SYS] [DORINFO1.DEF] This command is set by DOOR.SYS and DORINFO1.DEF. This command sets the communications port (COM) that it will talk to an online user with. A port value of zero is assumed to be a local user. A communications fossil will be used to access the port. Usage : SCHAT! P<0,1..8> (local,com1..com8) Default : No ComPort or DOOR.SYS Option Q, Activate Questionnaire. This command activates SabreChat! questionnaire feature. The files SCHT!QST.TXT and SCHT!ASK.TXT will need to have been created and SCHT!QST.EXE executed before this works correctly. Usage : SCHAT! Q Default : Inactive Option S, Set SEMAPHORE Path Remote Access allows you to specify a semaphore path to a drive for quick access temporary files. This is usually a ramdisk drive. Remote Access will put its paging files in there. If you specified RA to use a semaphore path, then you will need to tell SabreChat! where this path is with the S<path> command. Usage : SCHAT! S<semaphore path> Default : None Example : SCHAT! SE:\ Option T, Set User Time Remaining [DOOR.SYS] [DORINFO1.DEF] This command is set by DOOR.SYS and DORINFO1.DEF. This option tells SabreChat! how long the user has access to this door in minutes. Once this time is used, the user is returned to the board. NOTE : This command is ignored in the unregistered version of SabreChat! and the user time limit is set to 10 minutes. Usage : SCHAT! T<1..255 minutes> Default : SCHAT! T20 or DOOR.SYS or DORINFO1.DEF. Option U, Auto-Line Mode Switch This command line option sets the number of users that must be in SabreChat! before SabreChat! will automatically switch to line-by-line mode. Setting this value to 0, disables the auto-switch. Usage : SCHAT! U<number of users> Example : SCHAT! U5 -- go to line-by-line mode when the 5th user enters a SabreChat! conference Default : SCHAT! U3 Option Y, Read User Information from DOOR.SYS This option tells SabreChat! to read DOOR.SYS for information pertaining to the user setup. This command will automatically set the user node, com port, graphic mode, and time remaining. This options should not need to be set once the Y command has been used unless the values are desired to be forced. Usage : SCHAT! Y<path to DOOR.SYS> Default : None Option Z, Set Local Screen Length This option informs SabreChat! of the size of the local screen. Though the size of the local screen is read from BIOS upon program initialization, you may desired to force the size if SabreChat! does not read the value correctly or if you wish to make the SabreChat! window shorter than screen. The latter use is nice if you are using SabreChat! in a windowed enviroment and you wish to see the status bar at the bottom of each window. Usage : SCHAT! Z<1..50 lines> Default : AutoDetect Option &, Immediate User Mode This option allows you to use SabreChat! without the need of a BBS user file (NODEINFO.DAT or USERON.BBS). The user name is set to the name entered on the node specified by the N option, and on the port specified by the P option. Usage : SCHAT! &<FirstName_LastName> Default : SCHAT! None Example : SCHAT! &Shawn_Gresham Note: This option also allows you to use SabreChat! as network chat utility by assigning a node number to each workstation. Thus workstation #5 could just type 'SCHAT! &John_Doe N5' and JOHN DOE would enter SabreChat! as node 5. Customizing Menus ───────────────── There are three screens in SabreChat! that can be modified. These are SCHT!HLP, SCHT!MNU, and SCHT!HI. Each consists of two files that end with .ASC, a straight ASCII file, and .ANS, an ANSI file. You may modify these files as you wish to give any extra information or flash to your copy of SabreChat!. However, modifying the command names in the SCHT!MNU file will NOT modify the command names in SabreChat!. This will only confuse your users. Also, some ANSI screens may contain commands that SabreChat! does not correctly interpret. This screens will appear wrong on the local side only. Action Commands ─────────────── SabreChat!'s action feature allows the user to make gestures with just a few keystrokes. An example would be /SMILE that sends "SHAWN GRESHAM smiles." to each user in his conference. These commands are an attempt to give SabreChat! a more conversation atmosphere. The action commands can be altered by modifing the file SCHT!ACT.TXT. Before doing so, be sure to change into the directory containing that file. Each line of SCHT!ACT.TXT is in this format: <COMMAND> <TEXT> <COMMAND> is a word of ten characters or less that will be used by the users to invoke this action command. Verbs usually work best for this. <TEXT> is a coded string that is used to produce the action text that will be displayed to everyone in the chat. example defined in SCHT!ACT.TXT: SUCK There is a vast sucking noise. example as used in chat: /SUCK There is a vast sucking noise. There are also two special variables that can be used. These are: %1 user's name %2 destination user's name Example defined in SCHT!ACT.TXT: JUMP %1 jumps. KISS %1 kisses %2!! example used in chat: /JUMP SHAWN jumps. /KISS Gina SHAWN kisses GINA!! And one last special command that is based off of the sex of the user. This is: @male string@female string@ Example defined in SCHT!ACT.TXT: FLAP %1 flaps @his@her@ arms. example used in chat: /FLAP SHAWN flags his arms. SabreChat! will support as many action commands as memory allows. After modifying the file SCHT!ACT.TXT, you will need to run SCHT!ACT.EXE. This will convert SCHT!ACT.TXT into SCHT!ACT.DAT that is read by SabreChat!. SCHT!ACT.EXE will notify you if you have made any mistakes regarding the size of an action command. Questionnaire ───────────── The questionnaire feature of SabreChat! allows you to ask additional information on a user. This information will be available to other users when they encounter each other by using the /LOOK command. This feature is an attempt to 'flesh' out a chatting session. Users will be able to put a description along with the 'voice' of the person they are chatting with. The questionnaire consists of three files: the aspect definition file (SCHT!QST.TXT), the ask file (SCHT!ASK.TXT), and the show file (SCHT!SHW.TXT). To set up a questionnaire file you can edit the files that came in the SabreChat! archive or by create a new ones by deleting the SCHT!QST.TXT, SCHT!ASK.TXT, SCHT!SHW.TXT files and doing it from scratch. For a start, I suggest slightly altering the ones that I made until you get the hang of it. Following I will explain how each of these files are set up: The aspect definition file - SCHT!QST.TXT ----------------------------------------- We start with the aspect definition file which is the heart of the questionnaire. It contains information about the various aspects of an user. Each line in this file defines an aspect. The format for each line is as follows: <aspect name> <length in characters of entry> for example: hair_color 10 defines the aspect HAIR_COLOR that can be up to 10 characters long. This information will be used by SabreChat! when the user answers the questionnaire. Which leads us to... The ask file - SCHT!ASK.TXT --------------------------- The ask file is displayed when a user enters SabreChat! for the first time or when the user wishes to change his/her current aspects/answers. Basically, the ASK file asks the questions that the ASPECT DEFINITION file will contain. The format for this file is simple. Everything will be printed as is except lines that begin with a % (percent) character. A line beginning with a percent character is expected to contain an aspect name (for example HAIR_COLOR). Using the example above: SCHT!ASK.TXT: What color is your hair? %HAIR_COLOR% This sample prints the line 'What color is your hair?' and then prompts for a string up to 10 characters long as defined in SCHT!QST.TXT and assigns the string to the name HAIR_COLOR. The show file - SCHT!SHW.TXT ---------------------------- Where the ASK file asks the questions, the show file shows the answers. The show file will appear to the users when they use the /LOOK command from SabreChat!. The format for this file is a little more complicated than the previous SCHT!ASK file as it allows for some minor formatting of the aspects. The text will printed as is to the user except for the user aspects which should be prefixed and suffixed with a % (percent) character. Using the previous example, you might display the user's hair color with the following line: SCHT!SHW.TXT: Hair color : %HAIR_COLOR% The show file also allows you to define how big the space is that the answer will appear in. Though this may seem awkward at first, it becomes very powerful when you wish to align your text into two or more columns. You can specify the aspect field size by placing the field size in letters between the first % (percent) and the aspect name: %<field size>[ASPECT name]% Using the example above with a few new aspects: Hair Color : %38HAIR_COLOR% Eye Color : %EYE_COLOR% Height : %38HEIGHT% Weight : %WEIGHT% This example would display the four aspects with the WEIGHT and EYE_COLOR being lined up regardless of the lenght of the HAIR_COLOR or HEIGHT answers. The field size is completely optional and is assumed to be the length of the answer if left out. Finally ------- After completing these three files, you will need to run SCHT!QST.EXE to compile SCHT!QST.TXT into SCHT!QST.DAT. The compiler will notify you of any errors found in the TXT file. And very last, you will need to use the Q option on the command line to activate the questionnaire. Technical Information ───────────────────── Following is some technical information that may be useful in debugging application conflicts. ■ The communication fossil is expected to be at interrupt 14h. ■ NetBIOS is accessed through interrupt 5Ch. ■ Interrupt 66h is used to communicate with SabreMixer!. ■ NetBIOS datagrams are used in NetBIOS mode. ■ Record locking is used to safely access USERON.BBS (ra/tag) and NODEINFO.DAT (wc) files. Thanks ────── Thanks to my very very responsive beta testers!!!! Give these guys a call to see the lastest SabreChat! in action! Wildcat BBS ----------- Greg Day Steve Henry Suburban Computer Connection AMBASSADOR BOARD Garden City, MI Ontario, Canada 1-313-427-0223 1-519-925-0724 v.32bis 1:2410/193 Jeff Shapiro Chuck Alpert Computer Junction Short Circuit Elizabeth, NJ Boca Raton, FL 1-908-354-6979 1-407-997-2235 1:107/900 1:369/78 TAG BBS ------- Allen Crist Code Three Prescott, AZ 1-602-771-8646 1:15/23 Remote Access BBS ----------------- Rick Sande Josh Zerlan LifeStyles BBS The Temporal Alliance Branford, CT Ft. Collins, CO 1-203-481-4836 1-303-490-1047 1:141/107 1:306/23 Chris DeClerk Yolanda's Wonderland State University, AR 1-501-972-6549 1:389/12 Also many thanks to Joel Karr for initially getting me started in SabreChat! and offering his system as the birth place of this program. To Ellis Green of Ellwye's Funhouse the use of his system as a distribution point and mail contact before my arrival into the FIDOnet and BBS world. To Gina Lewter for the many hours of putting up with me and my 'puter and, foremost, for agreeing to be my wife (May 8, 1993! everybody be there!) Love you babe! (yes, we can go eat now) And to everyone of you users out there who poke, jab, pummel, and basically pull the arm of your sysop to register SabreChat!!!! Future Versions ─────────────── Here are a few ideas that my beta testers and I have come up with for future versions: * adding a KNOCK command for users to request entrance to a private conference (room) * expanding the IGNORE command to allow a user to ignore a certain node * possibly adding a sysop page option and apporiate handling * detection of users logging on/off the board... Let me know what you think or if you have any other suggestions. Contacting The Author ───────────────────── You can reach the author by sending netmail to SHAWN GRESHAM on the following board: Maximum Intensity Whitesboro, Texas, 76273 FIDOnet 1:19/129 1-903-564-3853 22:00 to 06:00 cst Or by sending a letter to: Shawn Gresham Route 1 Box 544 Gordonville, Texas 76245-9789 USA Or, by dropping a message on the RA_UTIL or WILDCAT echos to SHAWN GRESHAM. Any comments or suggestions would be treasured. If you are having problems and wish to contact me, please have the following information handy: BBS System (ra/wildcat/tag) Machine types. (8086, 80286-10, 80486DX-50, etc) Memory Manager (if any) (QEMM, 386MAX, etc...) System Type (DESQview, network, WINDOWS, etc...) Operating System (MS-DOS 3.3, MS-DOS 5.0, DRDOS 6.0, etc...) Number of nodes in your system Command line used for SabreChat! (as in the MAIN1.RUN) Command line used for SabreMixer! (as in AUTOEXEC.BAT) Current S!NODE= environment setting (as in AUTOEXEC.BAT) Current S!EXE= environment setting (as in AUTOEXEC.BAT) This information is invaluable for debugging SabreChat! problems. ────────────────────────────────────────────── SabreChat! Copyright (C) 1993 Shawn Gresham