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1990-04-12
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RagTag 0.03
Telix script to add taglines to messages entered online, using the John
Hancock tagline program, version 2, by Dan Moore
Author: Maurice Crouse
WHAT'S NEW
RagTag 0.03 uses John Hancock version 2, which is much more versatile
than version 1. And now you don't have to have a copy of JH in your
Telix directory. If you're already using version 2 in a directory with
your DeLuxe or EZ reader, you can direct RagTag to look for it in that
directory by an entry in a configuration file.
PURPOSE
RagTag is a Telix script written for those persons who wish to use Dan
Moore's John Hancock program, version 2, to add taglines to messages
entered online. Why would anyone want to do this? I don't know. Why
DO you want to do it?
Presumably you want to give the impression that you're using an offline
reader when you're not in fact doing it. Frankly, it would be a lot
simpler and faster if you just typed in a fake reader name and a
tagline, but if you want to go to the trouble of using RagTag to do
it, you're certainly welcome.
For those of you who were hoping this script would work with other
communications programs such as Qmodem, ProComm, and Boyan, I'm sorry,
but I barely understand how to write in the Telix script language, and
anything more complicated than a simple log-on script in one of the
other script languages is beyond my ability. If you are a master of one
of them, feel free to adapt the ideas here to your script language.
CONTRIBUTION
No, I'm not asking for a contribution; I'm making one.
RagTag is hereby contributed to the public domain, if the public domain
will have it. It is nothing that you as a competent SALT programmer
could not have written for yourself if you had put your mind to it for a
couple of hours, as I did, so I see no point in asking you to pay for
it. You probably wouldn't pay for it even if I asked you, so there's
no point in making you feel guilty either.
You may make any changes or modifications to RagTag that you please.
To save you the effort of decompiling, disassembling, or reverse-
engineering it, the .SLT file is included along with the .SLC file. If
you know anything at all about Telix and SALT, you can create your own
version of RagTag, even to the point of changing the logo that it
sends with the tagline.
LIMITED WARRANTY
I make no warranty of any kind, either expressed, implied, or inferred.
The program isn't guaranteed to do anything. It may not even work for
you; if it does, it may not work the way you want it to work. It works
on my machine and the way I want it to work, which is more than I can
say for some people's programs. If RagTag is not to your liking,
rewrite it or throw it away.
LICENSE TO COPY
You are granted a license to copy RagTag for others subject to the
following limitation:
You must give the others fair warning that the software is probably
useless and that it will not be supported.
Operators of electronic bulletin board systems (sysops) may post
RagTag for downloading by their users, or they may trash it as soon as
they can get the opportunity.
RagTag SETUP
Versions of RagTag earlier than 0.03 required that version 1 of the John
Hancock programs written by Dan Moore be used. Why? Because Dan wrote
version 2 in such a sneaky way that there was no way to tell what the
.REP file would be named. Without my script knowing the name it was
just stumbling in the dark with a 1 in 26 chance of getting it right. I
thought it better to have a program that worked 100% of the time than
just 3.85% of the time. Finally, by an ingenious programming trick, I
was able to get RagTag 0.03 to work with version 2 of John Hancock.
(Check the .SLT file to see what the trick is.) Well, I did get a
little bit of help from an expert programmer with that one, but I had
thought of the idea before he suggested it. Frankly, I had thought it
wouldn't work and was amazed when it did. Now you no longer have to
keep both versions of JH around; you can use JH2 with your DeLuxe or EZ
reader *and* with RagTag.
Using an ASCII editor or the DOS command COPY CON RAGTAG.CNF, create and
save in the Telix directory (the one with TELIX.EXE in it) a file named
RAGTAG.CNF which will contain exactly two lines. On the first line, put
the full path to the directory in which JH.EXE, JH.CFG, and your .TAG
file(s) can be located. On the second line, put the full path to the
directory in which TELIX.EXE is located. My RAGTAG.CNF reads:
c:\qmail
c:\telix
and if your directory structure is the same, you may simply copy into
your Telix directory the RAGTAG.CNF file which is included with
RAGTAG.ZIP.
Copy JH.EXE and JH.CFG to your favorite directory, the one you have
identified in line 1 of RAGTAG.CNF. You must also copy at least JH.TAG
to that directory. This is an ordinary ASCII file of taglines which you
may create for yourself. Or, if you're like me or Bud Schrimsher, you
may steal taglines that others have written. (The first time JH runs,
it looks for JH.TAG. If you have other .TAG files you may copy them to
the directory also, and you may switch from one to another using the
directions in the JH documentation.)
Copy RAGTAG.SLC to your Telix directory (the one with TELIX.EXE in it).
Actually you could put it in the same directory as your other scripts,
as long as you have defined your scripts directory within Telix. But
Telix looks in its own directory before it looks there. No matter where
you put RAGTAG.SLC, be absolutely certain that you place RAGTAG.CNF in
the Telix directory (the one with TELIX.EXE in it). If you don't,
RagTag won't be able to find the configuration file, and you'll probably
blame me if RagTag bombs out. (As a favor to you, if RagTag can't find
the configuration file it will look in the Telix directory to see if JH
could possibly be there. If so, you will probably get a tagline anyway;
if not, sorry, but RagTag can't make up taglines out of thin air.)
Execute the Telix program. While in Telix, press <Alt><K> to bring up
the keys menu, choose "Regular", then "Display" and look for a
convenient empty function key. When you find one, choose "Edit" and
press the function key. When asked for what to set up on the function
key, type @RAGTAG and press <Return>. Press <S> to save, and save the
configuration to the desired filename (probably it will be TELIX.KEY).
Press <X> to exit back to the terminal screen.
RagTag USAGE
When you have finished writing the last word of your message online,
press <Return> to get to a new line. (Don't press <Return> more than
once, however, because on many systems, especially PCBoard, two <Return>
characters in a row will throw you out of the editing mode.)
Press the function key to which you have assigned the call to RagTag.
(If you do not want to waste a function key definition on RagTag, you
may call it by pressing <Alt><G> to open up the Scripts window and
entering TAGTAG as the script name.)
Choose the tagline using the instructions in the JH documentation. I
could tell you how to do this, but if you don't already know how, you
don't have any business using RagTag yet. You've got to learn how to
crawl before you can walk.
RagTag AUTOSAVE
There isn't any. The procedure for saving varies so much from one
board's software to another that it's impossible to write an autosave
routine that will work for all of them. It's up to you to save your own
messages in the way the board's software requires.
RagTag REGISTRATION
There isn't any. Since you're using Telix and John Hancock, be sure to
register them with Colin Sampealeanu and Dan Moore, respectively.
RagTag SUPPORT
There isn't any. If you should ask me anything about RagTag, I will
probably deny having written it. You've heard of user-supported
software? Well, this is it. You're the user, you support it.
BONUS SCRIPT: SHOWNAME
Some software authors will send you a bonus program or a bonus pack of
programs when you register their software. Since I don't ask you to
register RagTag, I'll include a simple but very useful bonus script
along with RagTag.
Have you ever had that sinking feeling when you realized, all of a
sudden, that you had no idea what BBS you were connected to? Perhaps
you use a dialing queue and a log-on script to handle things for you
automatically. All PCBoards look very much alike; all Opus boards look
very much alike. Or maybe your memory is just beginning to go. For
whatever reason, if you can't puzzle out what board's screen is staring
you in the face, Telix is no great help because it doesn't display the
board's name on the status line. ShowName to the rescue!
Copy SHOWNAME.SLC to your Telix directory or your Telix script
directory. Using the directions above in RagTag SETUP as a guide,
configure a function key (a different one, naturally) to call the
ShowName script. When you reach the point where you are asked what the
key is supposed to send, type @SHOWNAME instead of @RAGTAG. After you
have properly saved the key definition file, you may find out at any
time the name of the board with which you're connected. Just tap the
function key. A little window will open up and display the name of the
board. After about a second the window will vanish, restoring the
previous screen. The board name will be displayed exactly as you have
entered it in your Telix dialing directory. You *do* use a dialing
directory, don't you? If not, the window will be blank, because
ShowName depends on reading the Telix system variable _entry_name, which
in turn depends on reading the name portion of the directory entry.
RagTag ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I'd like to say to Colin Sampaleanu, Mark (Sparky) Herring, and Dan
Moore that RagTag would probably not have been possible without them.
But that's not correct. Without them, it's for darn certain that RagTag
wouldn't have been possible. Without Colin's Telix program, there would
have been no SALT scripts; without Sparky's Qmail system no one would
have known what taglines were; and without Dan's John Hancock program
RagTag wouldn't have had a clue as to how to put a tagline on the
message. And without Dan's documentation as a model and an inspiration,
I wouldn't have learned how to write documentation files.
---
* RagTag 0.03 * If you can read this, thank Colin, Sparky, and Dan.