home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
Magnum One
/
Magnum One (Mid-American Digital) (Disc Manufacturing).iso
/
d20
/
tscnv104.arc
/
TSCONV.DOC
< prev
next >
Wrap
Text File
|
1991-09-10
|
8KB
|
196 lines
TSCONV; TosScan Converter 1.04 14 Aug 1991
------------------------------
Copyright 1990, 1991 Mats Wallin All rights reserved
2:201/329@fidonet, 9:462/110@virnet
TSCONV is the follow-up program to TS2FD, the program which
converted TosScan's areadefinitions to FrontDoor's format.
TSCONV will convert TosScan's areadefinitions to FrontDoor's,
and/or RemoteAccess' and/or up to 10 textfiles (an AREAS.BBS
file, or any other textfile).
You're not required to have FrontDoor or RemoteAccess, YOU
decide what you want TSCONV to create. It could be everything
it can do (FD, RA + 10 textfiles), or only 1 textfile (or
even nothing at all, but in that case, I don't think you
need TSCONV). TSCONV doesn't force you to do something
you don't want to do.
You're required to have TosScan, and TosScan also requires
FD.SYS, so I guess that you probably also have FD.
In the rest of this document, I've supposed that you want
TSCONV to create everything, so I'm always talking about
both FrontDoor and RemoteAccess, but this isn't a
requirement.
Why TSCONV?
The reason behind TSCONV, is that you shouldn't have to add
a new area in all the places you currently have to, TosScan's
TSETUP, FrontDoor's SETUP, RemoteAccess' RACONFIG, and some
textfiles you maintain with the same info. Instead, you maintain
all your areadefinitions with TSETUP, and then run TSCONV,
which fully automatic updates the other definitions
A new feature, is that you can maintain all FD's different
folder statuses with TSCONV. You can give all areas some
default status, change some status because of which group an
area belongs to, and for another area, specify all status exactly.
When TSCONV updates RA's area definitions, then you can
easily specify different security levels and flags as
default, for a group of areas, or a specified area. It's
also possible to specify what kind of area it is (public,
private, both, read-only), and change all of the other area
options.
And, as already mentioned, TSCONV can also create textfiles
with all the areadefinitions. This file could look like
an AREAS.BBS file, or any other format choosen. The only
restriction is that each area is written on a single line.
Area levels - default, group, area
When specifying different statuses, security etc for an area,
it's possible to do that at three different levels. First of
all, it's possible to specify default status, security etc,
for all areas not mentioned later. The second level is to
specify these things for a whole group of areas. (Groups are
the groups (A-Z) defined with TSETUP). The third level makes
it possible to specify certain status or securities for a
certain area.
Configuration file
TSCONV requires a configuration file, which exactly specifies
what should be done, which statuses, securities, flags etc
that should be used, which areas that should be included,
which files should be created, etc. The default filename of
this file is be TSCONV.CFG. TSCONV will search for this
file in the current directory, and in FrontDoor's system-
directory. It is also possible to specify the filename
as a parameter to TSCONV, e.g. 'TSCONV CONFIG.CFG'.
A file called EXAMPLE.CFG is included together with this
doc-file. That file explains all commands and other
things that are possible to use in the TSCONV.CFG file. It is
not recommended to use EXAMPLE.CFG without modifying it to
suit your needs. I recommend copying it to TSCONV.CFG, and
then start to read and edit TSCONV.CFG, before trying to
run TSCONV.
How to run TSCONV
There are, as I see it, three ways of running TSCONV. The first
is to run it manually each time you've done something in
TSETUP. If you remember to do it, everything will be correct,
everywhere, all the time, but if you forgot to run TSCONV ...
The second way is to run it in your nightly maintaince. This
is no problem, since TSCONV doesn't need any input. The third
(and best) way, is to combine 1 and 2 :-)
TSCONV will by default write information to TosScan's logfile
when it adds or removes an area, which will make it easier to
run TSCONV unattended. This can of course be disabled.
Anyway, each time you run TSCONV, it will check that the areas
defined in TSETUP exists in FrontDoor and RemoteAccess. If
an area is missing, TSCONV will add it. TSCONV also checks that
each area in FrontDoor/RemoteAccess is defined in TSETUP, if
it isn't, the area is removed.
TSCONV will NOT remove the area defined as the dupe directory,
and (if you're using the (q) flavor of TosScan) the
RemoteAccess netmail board.
If TSCONV discovers that you have two areas with the same
boardnumber, it will display a warning message. The netmail
board defined in TSETUP is not included in this check, since
some users have the netmail board defined in the Area Manager,
to be able to use TSUTIL to maintain that board.
Important notes
If you have local areas defined in RemoteAccess, you must
tell TSCONV about them. The easiest (and best in my opinion)
is to define the local areas in TSETUP (without any nodes in
the exportlist), which will make it possible for TSUTIL to
maintain these areas. The other way you can do it, is to use
the KEEP verb, which informs TSCONV that it should keep
specified boardnumbers/paths. If you don't do one of these
things, all your local areas, that are defined in RA, will be
removed.
I also would like to mention, that if you let TSCONV sort
your folders in FD's setup, the folder number will of course
change. If you are used with a special folder number for an
area, don't use the sort option.
Screen I/O
By default, TSCONV will do all it's screen I/O via BIOS
calls. If you of any reason (for example running TSCONV remote)
don't like this, it's possible to force TSCONV to use DOS
calls instead, or, if prefered, interrupt 29h. To force
TSCONV to do this, use one of the following lines:
SET VIDEO=DOS
SET VIDEO=INT29
SET VIDEO=BIOS
before you start TSCONV. With the first example, it's possible
to redirect the output to a file or to a comport if you're
running TSCONV remote. With the second example, the output
will be somewhat faster if you have a super fast ansi driver
loaded. The third example is what TSCONV uses by default.
Disclaimer etc
This program is provided as is, without warranty of any kind.
The only thing guaranteed is that TSCONV will occupy some
diskspace.
FrontDoor, TosScan and RemoteAccess are trademarks
of their respective holders.
Registering
If you like TSCONV, and continue to use it after a first
trial period, you're required to register it. To register,
the only thing you have to do is to send a postcard with
your name, netmail address and which program you're
registering to:
Mats Wallin
Förskottsvägen 11
S-126 44 Hägersten
Sweden
In return, you will receive messages with information about
new versions of this program.
All comments, suggestions etc could be sent to me at:
2:201/329@fidonet
9:462/110@virnet
Version history
Read the file RELEASE.NOT for information about what have
changed since the previous version.