Current Shareware 1994 January

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Text File | 1993-05-29 | 18KB | 433 lines

MAYTAG Tagline Display Programs MAYTAG-D.EXE - Display Taglines under DOS. MAYTAG-S.EXE - SABER Menu Add-in tagline displayer. FILECNV.EXE - Utility to convert text files into MAYTAG. MAYTAG.DAT - The data file used by the main programs. MAYTAG.TXT - An ASCII text file with the original quotes. Copyright (C)1993 by Grant Warkentin. All rights reserved. Command: MAYTAG-D [/H] or MAYTAG-S [/H] FILECNV [/H] inputfile.txt [/R] Purpose: I originally wrote this program as an add-in to the Saber Software Corporation's SABER MENU (R) program. Its purpose is to modify Saber's message line on a random basis. I also choose to include a DOS version as well. Prereqs: IBM Compatible AT/386/486 running DOS 3.3 or higher. Sorry, I do not support the XT class of computer. (8086/8088 CPU's). Archive Name: MAYTAG1.ZIP Associated Programs: MAYTAG-D and FILECNV are stand alone programs. MAYTAG-S requires SABER MENU from Saber Software Corporation. MAYTAG 1.2 - 2 - DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY These programs are provided AS IS. Grant Warkentin MAKES NO WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION, ANY WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND/OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. The entire and exclusive liability and remedy for breach of this Limited Warranty shall be limited to replacement of defective diskette(s) or documentation and shall not include or extend to any claim for or right to recover any other damages, including but not limited to, loss of profit, data, or use of the software, or special, incidental, or consequential damages or other similar claims, even if Grant Warkentin has been specifically advised of the possibility of such damages. In no event will Grant's liability for any damages to you or any other person ever exceed the lower of suggested list price or actual price paid for the license to use the software, regardless of any form of the claim. GRANT WARKENTIN SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIMS ALL OTHER WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO, ANY IMPLIED WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY AND/OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. LICENSE The MAYTAG programs are distributed as free, copyrighted software. What this means is that you can use these programs for as long as you like without cost or obligation. What you cannot do is to sell this software or make a profit off of it (except as described below) without the express written permission of the author. MAYTAG-S.EXE, MAYTAG-D.EXE, and FILECNV.EXE are the sole property of Grant Warkentin. The Quotes contained in the data files are, to the best of my knowledge, in the public domain. These programs may be freely copied and transferred to individual parties. They may be posted on Bulletin Board systems (BBS) for electronic access as long as NO FEE is charged for its distribution except for private BBS operations that charge a regular user subscription fee. Computer information services such as Compuserve (CIS), GEnie, and others are authorized to post this product for subscriber access. The MAYTAG Programs may be distributed on diskette by users groups which do not charge more than a nominal fee ($5) to cover the costs of distribution. Any changes to these policies must be made in writing by the author. MAYTAG 1.2 - 3 - TECHNICAL SUPPORT Since this program is a freebie, I'm not going to make any guarantees here with respect to bug fixes or other technical support. Having said that, I do like my programs to be as bug-free as possible, so feel free to report any problems which you run across. Contact via: GEnie G.Warkentin (See Note 1) Internet G.WARKENTIN@GENIE.GEIS.COM Logical Solutions BBS (403) 299-9900 300-2400 bps (403) 299-9912 9600 - 16.8K bps Compuserve User ID# 75020,3645 (See Note 1) Mail 407, 315 - 9A St. N.W. Calgary, Alberta T2N 1T7 Telephone (403) 283-1553 (before 10:30 pm Mountain time) The above are roughly in order of preference (i.e. how quickly I'm likely to see your message and be able to respond). I check GEnie and Logical Solutions once per week. I am on COMPUSERV only once every couple of months (more or less). Note 1: When contacting me via GEnie or Compuserve, please use the Email system since I do not regularly monitor any of the IBM SIG message bases. 1.0 Why MAYTAG? ------------------- I wrote this program in the month of May and it is meant to display Taglines. This program is similar to other Quote-of-the-Day type programs but it is limited to 78 character X 1 line taglines. For those who don't know, taglines are appended to the end of messages seen in the message bases of many IBM based BBS systems. Most taglines are limited to 52 characters in length. This program will display taglines that are 78 characters in length. I originally wrote this program as an add-in to Saber Software Corporation's SABER MENU (r)(c) program. I needed a way to modify the message area in Saber Menu. Maytag-S.EXE accomplishes this task. I also decided (later) to make a DOS version of the program so people who do not run Saber Menu could benefit from these words of wisdom. (Thank GOD for conditional compilation directives.) MAYTAG 1.2 - 4 - 2.0 Getting Started ----------------------- First, copy the files to an appropriate sub-directory on your hard drive. Saber Menu users must put the files in the Saber Menu directory (Saber's default name is NETUTILS). Next type MAYTAG-D, or MAYTAG-S. That's all there is to it. (well not quite...). 3.0 MAYTAG-D ---------------- The program file can go in any directory but the data file MAYTAG.DAT should be able to be located via your PATH command in the autoexec.bat file. Execution speed can be increased if the executable and the data file are in the same directory. (It only makes a couple hundredths of a second difference but speed is speed). NOTE: ***** DR DOS 6 USERS ***** You can use the PROMPT command to have the MAYTAG program run every time a DOS prompt is displayed (external DOS commands only). Enter the following into your Autoexec.bat file: SET PEXEC=C:\sub-dir\MAYTAG-D PROMPT $X$P$G The $X parameter does not print. It just points to the environment variable named PEXEC. DR DOS 6 will run the program referenced by PEXEC each time a dos prompt is displayed. (I'd like to see Microsoft's DOS-6 do that!) ):-) 3.1 MAYTAG-S --------------- This is the Saber Menu version of MAYTAG. This program changes the message line of Saber Menu at random. It does this by re-writing a file called SABER.MSG. The files MAYTAG.EXE and MAYTAG.DAT must be copied to your Saber Menu sub-directory. You will have to modify the batch file that runs Saber Menu (menu.bat or saber.bat or m.bat). If you choose, you can run MAYTAG-S from any DOS prompt as well. ******* Directory rights & security issues. In Netware version 3.11 you must assign your users the following rights to the Saber Menu directory: Read, Filescan, Write, Erase, Create These are excessive rights you say? Please read on... MAYTAG 1.2 - 5 - To prevent your users from modifying your menu settings, FLAG all the files to READ ONLY status (except SABER.MSG). Since you have not granted the Modify right, your settings will be safe. The best way to flag all the files Read Only is to make a batch file that calls Saber Edit or another editor (see below). SABERSRC.BAT @ECHO OFF FLAG * RW ;Give the files a read write attribute. EDITOR SABER1.SRC ;Call an editor to modify the menu code. CREATDAT SABER1.SRC ;Compile the edited menu. PAUSE ;Pause to read compiler messages. FLAG * RO S ;Make all files read only and Shareable. FLAG SABER.MSG RW S ;Make SABER.MSG Read/Write and Shareable I recommend adding the Shareable attribute as it provides an extra measure of protection against any possible Sharing Violation errors. I have included code in the program to prevent sharing violations and the program execution time is 1/2 a second or less. File access takes about .22 seconds maximum (MAYTAG.DAT = 0.1 seconds and SABER.MSG = 0.200 seconds). Also, don't include the comments in the batch file. 4.0 FILECNV -------------- This program converts a text file into MAYTAG format. The input file (text) should be a plain ASCII text file and each line must be terminated by a carriage return - line feed combination. IBM extended ASCII characters are allowed in the file as well. Please see the supplied MAYTAG.TXT file for an example. I choose to go with a special file format in order to increase the speed of the program. With a text file, the program run time was about two seconds on a 386/40. A slower machine took longer than two seconds to run. I have decreased the run time to less than 1/2 a second with the special file format. This time does not change significantly, if at all, on a slower computer. The command to convert a text file is: FILECNV infile.txt This command appends new quotes to the end of an existing MAYTAG.DAT data file. Rebuilding the quote file is accomplished by the following command: FILECNV infile.txt /R This command starts a new MAYTAG.DAT data file. As with the display utilities, you can obtain help by entering: FILECNV /H MAYTAG 1.2 - 6 - 5.0 Technical and Acknowledgments. -------------------------------------- MAYTAG-D, MAYTAG-S, and FILECNV were written using Borland Pascal version 7.01, Turbo Debugger 3.2, and Turbo Profiler 3.2. I had some help with the in-line assembler op codes from the SID utility (Symbolic Instruction Debugger version 3.2) in DR DOS 6. The hardware environment is a Heintz 57 variety 386 running at 40 Mhz (Long live AMD! :] ) with an AMI BIOS. I run OS/2 2.01 (hopefully soon to be OS/2 2.1) and DR-DOS 6 for operating systems. Saber Menu is a registered trademark of Saber Software Corporation makers of the BEST little menu package in Texas (or anywhere else). They can be reached at the following address: Saber Software Corporation P.O. Box 9088 Dallas, TX 75209 Sales: (800) 338-8754 or (214) 361-8086 Netware and DR DOS are registered trademarks of Novell Inc. in Provo, Utah. MS-DOS is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation in Redmond, Washington. The Far Side is a registered trademark of Garry Larson. Last, but certainly not least, thanks to my good friend Bryce Hansen for allowing me full access to his network so I could test this program and for putting up with my interruptions, silly requests, and The Far Side obsession. 6.0 Other Programs from Grant Warkentin: -------------------------------------------- None... (YET). Okay, there is an electronic resume in progress. I'm currently seeking a position as a Network Administrator or PC Support Technician. 7.0 History: ---------------- Maytag Programs: ---------------- Rev. 0.01 Started coding 1st version. Rev. 0.1 Speed concerns required a special data file. Changed code to accommodate data file and FILECNV.exe was born Rev. 1.0 Added code to generate a DOS version program Rev. 1.1 Added PATH searching for data file Added error reporting routines Added code to support network sharing Rev. 1.2 Fixed DR DOS PROMPT $X printing bug. MAYTAG 1.2 - 7 - 8.0 Plans for the future? ----------------------------- Future plans for these programs are dependent on user response. I do not want to issue a version that will run on XT computers, but I will upon request. If an XT version is required, please send $10 and disk size requirements to the address below to cover the cost of shipping. Any bug fixes and modifications will be performed on an as reported basis. Please send any comments, suggestions, complaints, donations, or flames to the address below. Contact via: GEnie G.Warkentin Internet G.WARKENTIN@GENIE.GEIS.COM Logical Solutions BBS (403) 299-9900 300-2400 bps (403) 299-9912 9600 - 16.8K bps Compuserve User ID# 75020,3645 Mail 407, 315 - 9A St. N.W. Calgary, Alberta T2N 1T7 Telephone (403) 283-1553 (before 10:30pm Mountain time)