home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
Current Shareware 1994 January
/
SHAR194.ISO
/
screenut
/
maytag.zip
/
MAYTAG.DOC
< prev
next >
Wrap
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)