The Business Master (4th Edition)

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=========================================================================== 7 - Forum Libraries =========================================================================== Libraries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-1 Downloading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-1 Library Search Creating a Catalog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-1 Marking Files to Download . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-3 Catalog Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-4 Download the Marked Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-5 Transfer Log . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-6 Downloading Tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-7 Uploading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-8 Upload Dialogue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-8 Upload Tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-9 TAPCIS(tm) Documentation Copyright (c) 1991, Support Group, Inc. 800-USA-GROUP, 301-387-4500 =========================================================================== Libraries =========================================================================== The CompuServe forum libraries (LIBs, previously called "data libraries" or DLs) are where files can be uploaded by you for use by others or downloaded from the libraries for use on your computer. The LIBs are numbered just like the message sections. Many forums have LIBs that closely match the corresponding message section. Below you can compare the list of section and library names in the TAPCIS Forum: Libraries Message Sections 1 TAPCIS (tm) 1 TAPCIS Q & A 2 Scripts and Tools 2 Scripts and Tools 3 Modem/HW/OS 3 Modems/HW/OS 4 Problem reports 4 Problem reports 5 Suggestions 5 Suggestion box 6 International 6 International 7 The TAProom 7 The TAProom 8 Threads and stuff 8 Section 8 16 Fact File 16 TAPNews and Notices 17 Dixonary 17 The Parlor TAPCIS gives you a list of library names when needed to complete an operation. Online the names are found using the CompuServe NAME command from the function prompt. ------------------------------------ Downloading You can download files using offline commands or by selecting the files when interactive with CompuServe. TAPCIS uses the CompuServe "B+" protocol to do all protocol transfers so that the resulting files are transmitted without uncorrected errors and as efficiently as the communication link allows. ------------------------------------ Library Search Creating a Catalog The way most TAPCIS users download is to first have the program create a catalog of files from the LIBs you select. This catalog includes all the information CompuServe has about the files in the library. You can choose to include all files, files matching a wildcard specification, files less than a certain number of days old, files listed under certain keywords, or a combination of these. Press <L> to start the Library Search command. Enter the forum number when prompted. TAPCIS asks: File(s) to find: *.* In this example we are not searching the LIBs for a particular name so press <Enter>. The "*.*" will find all filenames. (If you know the exact TAPCIS Forum Libraries 7-1 name and LIB, you can enter those and have TAPCIS automatically download just that one file). You can also specify a userid before the filename as in: [74020,10]*.* This can be used to create a catalog containing all uploads by a particular CompuServe user. Also, if two files have the same name in a given library, use this option to specify the correct file. For example, specifying: [76701,23]TAPCIS.INF will insure that the TAPCIS.INF file uploaded by the CIS user 76701,23 is downloaded or cataloged. The next prompt requests: Keywords (leave blank for all): Keywords help to put the many files that can be in a single LIB into categories. Even if you don't know a specific filename, you might guess that WordPerfect macros would have the keyword "MACRO" or "MACROS." Here we're trying to get a listing of all files so the <Enter> key is pressed to select all keywords. Unfortunately, TAPCIS cannot give you a listing of keywords to choose from. You can enter several keywords separated by commas. However, in order for a file to match the search criteria it must contain all of the keywords (commas are treated as AND). To search for one or the other keyword you must do several searches, each with a different keyword. Keywords can contain wildcards. AGE Range (leave blank for all): The above prompt allows you to limit the search to files added within a certain number of days. This is a very convenient way of updating your catalog every week (7 days) or month (31 days). If you have an existing .CAT file TAPCIS will use the age of that file as the default at the Age: prompt. We'll get the full listing by pressing <space>, <Enter>. [Figure 7-1: Library Catalog Search] The next prompt: L>ong or S>hort Descriptions: L allows you to specify whether you want TAPCIS to capture Long or Short file descriptions. You can save time by specifying Short, but it doesn't give you as much detail as Long. Use Short if you want to get a general impression of the contents of a particular Library. TAPCIS offers a list of available libraries in a box to the right and asks you to choose which ones you want to catalog. 7-2 Forum Libraries TAPCIS TAPCIS supports the new CompuServe Cross-Library searching software. You can enter individual LIB numbers separated by commas, specify a range using a dash (-), or both. The screen above shows LIBs 1 (TAPCIS (tm)) through 3 (Modem/Hardware/Operating System), and LIB 6 (International) are to be cataloged. The final question asks: Additional searches? N If you do not have any additional catalog commands to perform in this forum, press <N>o and TAPCIS will return to the main menu. At the bottom of the screen next to the forum number you'll find the upside-down triangle ( ) indicating a LIB action. Press <O>nline to go online and search the data libraries. [Figure 7-2: Main Menu with LIB Action Pending] ------------------------------------ Marking Files to Download Once the catalog is saved in the <forum>.CAT file, you can mark the files for downloading at your convenience. TAPCIS shows an indicator on the status line for forums with catalogs you have not yet looked at ( ). Press <C>atalog at the main menu prompt to process the catalog. Answer the forum prompt. While the catalog files are being scanned, TAPCIS will show: TAPCIS.CAT loading... Press ESC to cancel Files: nnn Sessions: nnn Searches: nnn TAPCIS on the top of the screen. When all the files have been scanned by TAPCIS, the first entry in the catalog will appear. Each file is shown separately on a screen similar to Figure 7-3. [Figure 7-3: Sample Catalog Entry] The status line indicates that this is the first file out of 17 files in the catalog for the TAPCIS Forum. This particular file is from LIB 1. The user ID in brackets [ ]'s above the filename is the number for the person who uploaded this file to the library. This person may or may not be the author of the file. The next line can be decoded as: TAPCIS.INF The filename which can be up to six characters followed by a period and a 3 character extension. If the filename was followed by "/binary" then it would indicate a file that must be downloaded using a protocol. This file is an ASCII file (indicated by the "/Asc") which can be read online or downloaded. Other files can be stored in various graphics formats such as GIF. TAPCIS Forum Libraries 7-3 29-Sep-90 The date the file was submitted to the library 13963 The approximate size of the file in bytes 8165 The number of downloads of this file since it was submitted This file has a list of keywords to help users find the file. The description below the keywords explains the contents of the file. If you want to download this file press <D>ownload. TAPCIS stores a script for downloading the file in the DOS file <forum>.DOW which will be processed the next time TAPCIS goes <O>nline. A "Download" indicator appears at the top right corner of the screen to indicate that you have marked this file to be downloaded. This marker remains only during the current session, subsequent views of the catalog will not have the files marked. The other commands available are summarized at the bottom of the screen. Press <F3-Help> for more information. ------------------------------------ Catalog Commands <D> Mark the file downloading the next time online with the autopilot. <Space> Go on to the next file in the catalog <Enter> <Down Arrow> <B>ack Go back to the previous file in the catalog <Up Arrow> <1> Position to the first file <9> Go to the last file in the catalog <Alt-F6> Skip to the next session <2> <Alt-F5> Skip to the previous session <3> Go to the top of the last session <J> Jump to any file in the catalog <F>, <F2> Find a string in the keywords and descriptions. You may also search on filenames, user IDs, extensions, or any other text in the file. <N> Position to the next occurrence of the search string (if any) <Esc> Exit the catalog <F7-Exit> <?> Display a list of Library names 7-4 Forum Libraries TAPCIS ------------------------------------ Download the Marked Files If you mark any files for downloading, the triangle will appear next to the forum number on the main menu. Go online with the <O>nline command to download the files to your computer. TAPCIS goes to the forum with files to download and issues the command "LIB nn" where nn is the library containing the file. The program then BROwses the file so you see which file is about to be downloaded. It then issues the command: DOW/PROTO:B CompuServe asks for the file for your computer. TAPCIS provides the full download path from your <P>arameters screen followed by the CompuServe filename for this file. If another file of the same name is in the download path, TAPCIS prompts you: File exists. Y to verify or resume; N to overwrite If you wish to have the file currently in your download path overwritten with the file that is on CompuServe, press <N> within 30 seconds. TAPCIS beeps every few seconds to get your attention in case you are not watching the screen. If you do not press <N> within 30 seconds, or if you press <Y>, TAPCIS tells CompuServe that it has a file of a certain length and CRC. If CompuServe sees that the file you have on your disk is a partial copy of the file you've asked to download, it resumes the download from the end of your file. Otherwise, the download is aborted and your file is left untouched. You'll need to delete it and re-select the file using <C>atalog <D>ownload in order to download the file. [Figure 7-4: Download in Progress] If the download fails in the middle, TAPCIS will ask you whether you want to retain the partial file. Saving the partial file, then re-trying the download can save significant time if a large part of the file has already been captured. At the top of the screen in Figure 7-4 is the TAPCIS version number, a note that the entire session is being captured to ONLINE.LOG (TAPCIS was started with the /LOG=Y start-up option), and the time the transfer was started. Below the top status line is the description of the file being downloaded. The protocol status box at the bottom has at the top a reminder that <F1> will abort the transfer (after a delay for TAPCIS to convince CompuServe that it wants to abort). The box shows that the full B Plus Protocol is being used to transfer this file. CRC's are being used to detect any errors in the transmission. The data in the file is being broken into chunks (packets) of 1K (1024 bytes). This is a download of an ASCII file (rather than a binary file). It is TAPCIS Forum Libraries 7-5 being stored in the download storage path, C:\TAP\DL in the file TAPCIS.INF. The left section has four columns: Port, Data, File, and Remaining. The rows are Received (Rec'd), Sent, Rate (in characters per second), and Percent efficiency (% Eff). In the example above, 5171 bytes have been received by the modem through the serial port. Of that, 5120 bytes were data. The difference of 51 bytes is the B Plus protocol overhead. The File column also shows 5120 bytes. That means that this download started from the beginning of the file. If it were a restart of an aborted download, the File count will be higher than the Data count. TAPCIS still needs to receive the remaining 8843 bytes in the file. If you add the Remaining figure to the File figure, you get the total length of the file shown in the top right of the box. On the Sent line you can see that TAPCIS has sent 12 bytes back to CompuServe to start the download and acknowledge the packets. The Rate and % Eff lines go together. This call is at 2400 baud, with a maximum throughput of roughly 240 bytes per second. The Port Rate shows that the full 240 cps maximum rate has been achieved for an efficiency rate of 100%. In this example we have a clean line, no errors that had to be retransmitted, and a data efficiency of 99%. Why the discrepancy? The CompuServe "B Plus" protocol-like any file transfer protocol-has a certain amount of overhead. Each packet of data is sent with a header, data, and some check digits called a CRC. The CRC is what insures that the packet was received correctly. Without the overhead, erroneous data could be stored in your downloaded file without your knowing it. For binary transfers the discrepancy will be larger because of the need to mask some 8-bit characters. The section at the right shows the current time (16:21:25), the elapsed time of 22 seconds, and the estimated time remaining of 0:38. The estimated time is based on bytes remaining divided by the current data rate in bytes per second. Under the estimated time remaining are the number of data packets exchanged and the number of errors detected. The B Plus protocol is an "error detecting" protocol. If an error is detected, the protocol asks for a resend of the damaged packet. TAPCIS does not store the data on disk until it has been received error-free. ------------------------------------ Transfer Log Downloading files without user intervention is one of the ways TAPCIS can save you time and money. If you use this feature, it is wise to also turn on transfer logging so you can later review whether the transfer was completed properly. Press <P>arameters from the main menu, then press <L>og until it says either "Transfers" or "Time and transfers." 7-6 Forum Libraries TAPCIS The status information and file descriptions are logged in the file XFER.LOG. You can then review this information using a file viewer, the DOS TYPE command, or an external editor or file viewer. TAPCIS does not delete this log, so you will need to delete the file from DOS using: [C:\TAP] DEL XFER.LOG ------------------------------------ Downloading Tips * Download during off-hours when the system is not heavily loaded for the best time and money savings. * Download a few files at a time. You need not go through the entire catalog on one pass. The catalog will remain until deleted by you. However, files do get removed from CompuServe or get switched from one library to another. You should get an updated catalog if the one on disk is old. * If you start getting beeps during the download, the protocol is detecting errors. If it gets excessive, you should abort and retry the downloading. You can safely save the partial file despite the errors reported. Only valid data gets written to disk. When you try again, the transfer will resume from where it left off. * Be sure to check the file size before marking the file for downloading. A file may sound very interesting but may not be worth an hour or two of download time. Some of the best software available online (like TAPCIS) is quite large (well over 200K archived). You may want to ask for opinions before spending a lot of money downloading a large (over 100,000 byte) file. * If the download of a series of files is interrupted, you should <K>ill the <D>OW file for that forum and go back to the <C>atalog command to redo the list of files to download, omitting the ones that already came through okay. TAPCIS won't download the same file twice, but it does take 30 seconds or more for each duplicated file to be skipped. If you use the <E>dit <D>OW command to remove the files, be sure to remove all three lines associated with the file (LIB, BRO, and DOW). * Turn on transfer logging and review the XFER.LOG file after a batch download of several files is completed. Delete the log file if you are short on disk space. The log can be useful for determining where, what, who, and when a particular file was downloaded. * <Alt-Q> is a toggle command that tells TAPCIS that you want to logoff after the in-progress file transfer. If ON, a "Q" appears next to the elapsed/remaining times in the status box. Note: it can take several seconds for this to update. <Alt-Q> when not doing a protocol transfer will send an immediate BYE. If you abort a download session by pressing <Alt-Q>, TAPCIS will delete the DOW file after it gets offline, whether all files have been downloaded or not. To download any remaining files in a future session, you will have to use <C>atalog and re-mark those files. TAPCIS Forum Libraries 7-7 =========================================================================== Uploading =========================================================================== Uploading is the process of taking a file from your computer and submitting a copy to a forum library. It is one of the few processes not fully automated by TAPCIS. Fortunately, the actual uploading is currently free of CompuServe connect charges (network surcharges do still apply during your upload). First we go online using the <I>nteractive command. Enter the number of the forum where you'll be uploading the file when prompted. TAP dials the phone, logs in, and goes to the forum. On the screen you'll be left at a prompt that says: Forum ! LIB 2 You need to enter the command LIB followed by the number of the LIB for your file. If you can't remember which LIB is most appropriate, type NAME at the prompt. The following dialogue between a user uploading the file C:\FILES\WEA.ARC demonstrates the uploading process. ------------------------------------ Upload Dialogue Forum ! LIB 2 LIB 2 ! UPL Suspending connect charges... Under our Agreement and Operating Rules, you must own or have sufficient rights to any information you place on the Service. File name: WEA.ARC Transfer types available - 1 ASCII 2 Binary 3 Image 4 Graphic:RLE 5 Graphic:NAPLPS 6 Graphic:GIF Enter choice ! 2 File name for your computer: C:\FILES\WEA.ARC <The transfer takes place here. It begins and ends automatically.> Enter File Description (up to 549 chars, or about Seven 80-character lines) Type "/EXIT" when finished: This is a script and documentation file for downloading today's 7-8 Forum Libraries TAPCIS weather and storing it in the file TODAY.WEA. /EXIT Enter Keywords ( or type "?" for HELP ): SCRIPT WEATHER WEA TODAY Enter Title (up to 49 chars, <CR> when finished): | | Title: TAPCIS Script and docs for downloading weather Title : TAPCIS Script and docs for downloading weather Keywords: SCRIPT WEATHER WEA TODAY This is a script and documentation file for downloading today's weather and storing it in the file TODAY.WEA. Is this okay (Y or N)? Y Your request will be processed by the Sysop as soon as possible. Resuming connect charges. LIB 2 ! OFF Thank you for using CompuServe! Off at 17:41 EST 22-Oct-91 Connect time = 0:03 ------------------------------------ Upload Tips * You can shorten the above dialogue by providing the necessary information on a single line as in: UPL FILENA.EXT/typ:bin/pro:B If the file is ASCII, replace "/typ:bin" with "/typ:asc". Most files should be uploaded as binary files! * Always archive (ZIP) files over 10K or if multiple files are in the "distribution" such as a series of macros or a utility with documentation. Separate files make it difficult to download all the files and keep them together. Archiving also preserves file integrity better. * Keywords are important. Make yours meaningful. Think about how you would try to locate the file if you did not know its name. * Descriptions should give a clear picture of the contents and purpose of the file. If it is a demo, say so. If you are the author, say so and give your name. If you are uploading with permission of the author, indicate that and give the authors name (and user ID if any). The more info you provide, the less follow-up required by the sysops. TAPCIS Forum Libraries 7-9 * The limit for DEScriptions is 549 characters, for KEYwords 80 characters, and for Titles 49 characters. * Files are "merged" (made visible) by the sysops on a regular basis. Sysops try to verify every upload before the files are made available to the forum membership. This can sometimes take a few days. If your file is not merged after a few days, drop a message to *SYSOP to see if there was a problem with the upload. Make sure the file is available before announcing it. * Don't upload files you don't have the right to make available for public downloading. * The maximum length of a file name is 6 characters plus a 3 letter extension. CompuServe will truncate longer filenames. Also, avoid using special characters in the filename. CompuServe truncates a name like MDM_CMDS.ARC to MDM. * Use a script to help automate uploading files. The Scripts section begins on page 9-3. 7-10 Forum Libraries TAPCIS