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- Appendix 6:
-
-
- Embedded Instructional Codes (EIC)
-
-
- Explanation of EICs
-
- 4D-BBS allows the use of special control codes that can be placed
- in any text files displayed by the BBS. These codes cause the BBS
- to perform certain functions or print specific information to the user.
- A good example of EICs is the "stats.txt.ascii" file in the TEXT:
- directory.
-
- If you load this file into a text editor you will see several of
- these embedded codes (which start with the control-right bracket
- character "^]"). If you view this same file from 4D-BBS, you will not
- see those codes. Instead you will see what information 4D-BBS
- replaces these codes with. Most EICs are specific to the user's
- information who is logged onto the BBS. Other EICs display system
- information, while another can execute any menu function.
-
- Below is a list of some EIC's and what they do. A complete list
- of EIC's is provided at the end of this appendix.
-
- ^]P0% current time and date
- ^]P1% current time
- ^]P2% last call date of online user
- ^]P3% name of online user
- ^]P4% phone number of online user
- ^]C#% show last caller number # 1 to 5
- ^]SS% send current sub-board name
- ^]SN% send current sub-board number
- ^]SD% send current file-sub number
- ^]SE% send current file-sub name
-
- The symbol "^]" above represents a "CONTROL ]" keypress, then the
- EIC specifier. A "%" must always end the EIC; this tells 4D-BBS the
- EIC sequence is done.
-
- You can enter those EIC's via your text editor or via the built
- in message editor. But please note that for security's sake, you
- can not enter them in a message for a message base or email (someone
- couldn't easily use the execute menu function EIC to run the user
- editor, for example).
-
-
-
- Special EICs
-
- Besides EIC's that prints out information about the current user
- or the system, there are a few EIC's that do useful things. Following
- is an explanation and example of many of these.
-
- The Wait EIC
-
- The EIC "^]Y%" makes the system pause and wait for the user to
- hit any key. It DOES NOT provide any text asking the user to hit any
- key to continue. This should be done in the text file before the EIC
- is encountered. Below is an example of this EIC.
-
- Hit any key to go on...^]Y%
-
-
- The Last Quote EICs
-
- The EIC "^]F3%" asks the current caller if they would like to
- enter a quote to be displayed to the next caller. If the user chooses
- yes, they can enter a one line message. The EIC, "^]F2%" displays
- this message. Normally the EIC asking the quote is part of the
- logoff.txt file, and the EIC displaying the message is part of the
- stats.txt file. However two menus commands using the :e could be used
- to set and display the quote.
-
- The Display a Text File EIC
-
- Another useful EIC is the "^]F1filename%" EIC which sends a text
- file. This can be done from any text string, including inside of
- another text file. But be careful not to nest this too many times or
- you could cause erratic system results.
-
- The Menu Function EIC
-
- One EIC that might seem a little unuseful at first, is the menu
- function EIC, "^]Mmenu command%". This EIC lets you execute any
- menu function available in 4D-BBS (except the 0 and 1 functions). For
- example, "^]Mm s sysop%" will force a user to send mail to the SysOp
- in the middle of displaying a text file.
-
- The Random EIC
-
- The most colorful EIC is the random EIC, "^]R...%", which picks
- a message at random from a file and displays it. This is great for
- displaying fortune cookie quotes and such. For example, the EIC
- "^]Rtext:cookie.dat%" will select a line from the file
- "text:cookie.dat" and display it. But the file "cookie.dat" (or any
- file that is to be used by the random EIC) must follow the format
- depicted below:
-
- 3 /* How many messages? */
- @Don't worry, be happy. /* First message */
- @Be happy but worry a bit. /* Second message */
- @Forget all about happiness! /* Third message */
-
-
- The format is rather simple. The first line should have a number
- indicating how many messages this file has. All the lines after that
- are the messages. Each message should start with an "@". A message
- can be a single line or it can have many lines. The way to do a
- multi-line message is shown below.
-
- 2
- @Roses are red,
- Violets are blue,
- Am I thinking of you?
- @Roses are blue,
- Violets are red,
- And I think I'm color blind.
-
-
-
- Complete List of EICs
-
- Below is a complete list of EICs and their descriptions useable
- withing 4D-BBS.
-
-
- EIC Description
- ------ ---------------------------------------------------------
-
- ^]B#% Sends a beep (# = 1 to 9)
-
- ^]P0% Current date AND time
- ^]P1% Current time
-
- ^]P2% Last call date of online user
- ^]P3% Name of online user
-
- ^]P4% Phone number of online user
- ^]P5% Real name of user (if alias is used)
-
- ^]P6% Total number of calls made to the system
- ^]P7% How much time left
-
- ^]P8% How long the user has been on system
- ^]P9% City and state of online user
-
- ^]PA% Downloads by online user
- ^]PB% Uploads by online user
-
- ^]PC% Messages posted by online user
- ^]PD% Calls made by online user
-
- ^]PE% Timelimit on mintues of online user
- ^]PF% Status (NEW,MEMBER,SYSOP,CUSTOM) of online user
-
- ^]PG% Computer type of online user
- ^]PH% Password of online user
-
- ^]PI% Rows displayable by online user
- ^]PJ% Expert mode (ON,OFF) of online user
-
- ^]PK% How many calls did the user make today
- ^]PL% How many calls in a day the user is allowed to make
-
- ^]PM% ASCII mode (ON, OFF)
- ^]PN% User's real name
-
- ^]PO% User's gender (MALE, FEMALE)
- ^]PP% User's interests
-
- ^]PQ% User's age
- ^]PR% Is this user's data private? (PUBLIC, PRIVATE)
-
- ^]F2% Send the last words of the previous caller
- ^]F3% Make new last words
-
- ^]F4% Sysop available? (AVAILABLE,NOT AVAILABLE)
- ^]F5% No pausing allowed while text is being displayed
-
- ^]F6% Pausing allowed now
- ^]F7% No aborting allowed while text is being displayed
-
- ^]F8% Aborting allowed now
- ^]C#% Show last caller number # 1 to 30
-
- ^]SS% Send current sub-board name
- ^]SN% Send current sub-board number
-
- ^]SD% Send current file sub-category number
- ^]SE% Send current file sub-category name
-
- ^]SR% Prints a CR
- ^]SM% How many pieces of mail for current user
-
- ^]SU% How many new users on system
- ^]S1% Baud rate description
-
- ^]S2% Serial baud rate
- ^]S3% Carrier baud rate (if different from serial)
-
- ^]WC% How many calls made to this system
- ^]WU% How many users on this system
-
- ^]WF% How many files on this system
- ^]WD% How many downloads made on this system
-
- ^]WM% How many messages posted on this system
- ^]WS% Who is this bbs's sysop
-
- ^]WR% Registration number
- ^]NF% Full FIDO Address
-
- ^]NZ% FIDO zone
- ^]NA% FIDO area
-
- ^]NN% FIDO node
- ^]NP% FIDO point
-
-
- SPECIAL EIC's
-
- ^]TM% Check for the user's E-mail (Good to have this in a bulletin)
- ^]TP% Check all mail to the user
-
- ^]WN% How many new files uploaded to system since sysop's last login
-
- (Mostly for waiting screen, reset to 0 after sysop's auto-login.)
-
- ^]Rname% Prints a randomly-chosen message from the named file. (See the
- section 7.Color&CMDS on how to prepare a file for this EIC.)
-
- ^]MComm% - Executes a menu function. (Example: ^]MM S Sysop% which
- would send mail to the sysop of the system.) All menu functions
- (except 0 and 1 functions) will work here.
-
- ^]F1name% Send file named 'name' and continue with current file later
- (ex: ^]F1text:junk.txt%)
-
- ^]Y% Wait for user to press a key, no text show (you provide)
-
- ^]V% Sends the current version of 4d-bbs
-
-