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Text File | 1995-01-22 | 23KB | 504 lines

JB-LEARN Version 1.1 for {COMMO} Version 6.4X Copyright (C) 1995, Jeff Bishop January 22, 1995 Introduction I have always loved writing {COMMO} macros. After examining other telecommunication programs to see what could be added to {COMMO} I came up with the idea of writing a automatic learn macro for {COMMO}. The {COMMO} macro language is very complex. Many users have been scared of it due to this fact. I thought to myself "what could I do to make it easier". I decided to write a macro that would create {COMMO} macros for login activities (or any activity the user wishes). After weeks of work, JB Learn was born to satisfy this requirement/need. What Can JB-Learn do? JB-Learn has the following features: - A very solid learn engine to create ready-to-run macros after learn mode is complete. - A learn data file capacity to make future learning more intelligent. The learn macro learns as you use it. This is a first in the BBS community. Find another learn engine that can do that (except CS-LEARN for {COMMO}). The user has complete control as to what it learns. - The learn data file will process {COMMO} variables for you. This gives you even more power. This allows for great flexibility when using CS-MAC since it defines a wealth of variables that you can use. - Have complete control of your learning experience. You make the decisions if you want to. This provides the ability to correct mistakes that the learn can not handle. This provides the ability to create very solid macros. Just think, you tell the teacher what to do and get a better grade for it. - Automatic detection of front end mailers. No need to press <ESCAPE> twice any more (even during learning) as long as EMSI protocol is being used. - The learn can automatically try to log you in without user intervention. This is similar to most other conventional learn engines available in other communication programs. - The ability to add SSLOOK logic in your macros. This will make them more stream lined for those nagging prompts often seen on BBS's. - The macro is FREE for your use. The source code is very well commented for a great learning experience. Installing JB-LEARN Installing JB-Learn is very easy. Follow these steps: 1. Copy the file JB-LEARN.MAC to the {COMMO} home directory (the directory that you installed {COMMO} in). 2. The file MY_COMMO.MAC is a slightly modified version of the {COMMO} 6.41 COMMO.MAC file. This macro file has a label that points to JB-LEARN.MAC. In addition, it has been added to the ALT-U utility menu. Besides that, it is a standard COMMO.MAC file. If you have not modified your COMMO.MAC file extensively then simply copy this file over your existing COMMO.MAC. Otherwise, continue to step 3. 3. Add the following line to the end of your COMMO.MAC file that is located in your {COMMO} home directory: {:LEARN} {GOTO JB-LEARN,JB-LEARN.MAC} {STOP} This line will make it a lot easier to add macro links to your dialing directory. Adding the Macro Links This section describes how to add macro links to your dialing directory. If you are using JB-Learn within CS-MAC, this is not necessary. CS-MAC accommodates JB-Learn by using the standard login macro links used for mail runs on others. These are GLR (generic login) and QWK (mail run). The way that CS-MAC knows that you are wanting to perform a learn is by you selecting the learn from the CS-MAC menu structure. The learn macro can be setup by selecting ALT-M (macro menu), O (online menu, which will be automatically selected if you are online), R (Learn). That is all you have to do. If you have downloaded JB-Learn as a stand alone package then you will need to add macro links to your dialing directory. Here is an example of what this would look like: Demodulator {290 2807} {PASSWORD} {LEARN} {} 00/00/00 The third set of braces ({}) is where the macro link is placed. Your macro link should look exactly like that one (assuming you added the line to commo.mac in the previous section). Your dialing directory may have other settings (or even a linked macro already). Simple substitute the linked macro you may have installed for the BBS with this one. All other parameters will be used during your login (terminal settings, password, etc.). Before Running JB-Learn Before you run JB-Learn you should have a very solid understanding of what it takes to login to your system. The key thing you must determine is if the BBS uses hot keys or whether all responses require that the <ENTER> key be pressed. Try logging into your BBS a few times to insure you understand what responses are required. This will be very important when you make decisions about the login. Special Variables Defined in JB-Learn JB-Learn uses a few special variables that control some of its features. This section will review each of these in detail. These are located at the top of JB-LEARN.MAC. Here is the list of variables and their definitions: AUTORESP This variable controls whether or not the user should be asked to confirm responses found in the data file or not. If this is set to 'N', the user will have to confirm each match. This is how you will achieve best results. If you are daring set this to 'Y' and the learn will assume what it finds is correct. You may or may not get a macro that works with AUTORESP set to 'Y'. This is set to 'N' as the default. CAPTFILE Jb-Learn uses a capture file to parse the BBS prompt. This variable defines the name of this capture file. The default name is COMMO_HOME\{JBLRN}.CAP. This file is accessed a lot. If you have a ram disk, re-assign this variable to a filename that would be placed in your ram disk. This will speed up JB-Learn a great deal. DATAFILE This variable contains the name of the learn target/response data file. The default is LEARN.DAT. FON_FILE This defines the name of the backup dialing directory FON file. This is used when adding a new entry to your personal dialing directory. The default value for this variable is COMMO_HOME\{JBLRN}.FON. NOV_MENU This variable defines whether a full-screen menu should be shown, or just an expert one line menu. Set to Y if you want novice menus. Any other value assumes expert menu. SSLKAUTO Set this variable to Y if you want SSLOOKS to be automatically generated instead of LOOKFOR/SEND pairs. This is only going to happen in the area that the data file is processed. It will not affect the JB-Learn menu. WAITTIME This variable defines the length of time after all modem activity stops before the learn process starts interacting with the user. The default is 15 seconds. Change the definition if you would like. Be careful though to keep it long enough. Making it too short will have disastrous affects in the learn engine. If this variable is set as NULL, then this auto learn type feature is turned off. Running Jb-Learn Once the link has been added to your dialing directory, just open the dialing directory with ALT-D and dial away. The learn will start once you have connected. The following paragraphs will describe what activities will take place during the learn run. Study this carefully. JB-Learn Flow (What Actually Happens)? After you connect, you will see the following message on the status line: <ESC> FOR LEARN MODE You can press <ESCAPE> at any time to invoke the learn processor. Do NOT press <ESCAPE> until all output from the modem has stopped. This is crucial. The WAITTIME variable determines how long the macro will wait after modem activity is seen before invoking the learn processor. If you do not press <ESCAPE> the macro will automatically invoke the processor after the number of seconds you have defined in WAITTIME. This is why WAITTIME should be set to at least 5 to 7 seconds. Once the learn processor is invoked it will search the capture file for the BBS prompt. If it can not find one, it will prompt the user for it. So, be very observant when you look at the screen. Most of the time the macro will determine the prompt. In very rare cases, it may not find it. This happens mostly if you press <ESCAPE> while the modem is sending data to the terminal screen. Remember to not press <ESCAPE> until ALL output has stopped. Once the BBS prompt has been determined, processing will continue. If this is the first time through the processor, we will need to define the macro file and label name to write to. You will be prompted for this information. I suggest that you do NOT write to COMMO.MAC or JB-LEARN.MAC. Name the macro something unique. This is completely up to you though. You will next define the label name used for the macro. The learn processor will attempt to create a label name up to 10 characters from the system name you have dialed. You will be presented with a label name prompt to edit the label if you so wish. Remember, this label is going to be used in the dialing directory so make it something meaningful. The macro name will also be used. Keep both names meaningful. You will be prompted to see if you would like to use auto learn mode. This allows you to set the AUTORESP variable. If set to 'Y', no prompting to confirm targets/responses is done. See documentation about AUTORESP defined earlier in this file. The learn processor will now begin looking through the data file. It is looking for a match from the BBS prompt it knows about with the targets defined in the data file. If it can not find one, then control passes to the special learn menu. This menu will be described later. It looks for a match and stops at the first one it finds. This is why placement of the targets/responses is very important. If it finds one, it first checks to see if the response is a {COMMO} variable. If it is, it translates it. You are then asked to confirm the response to the BBS prompt. If you answer 'Y', the code will be written to the macro and the learn processor begins all over again. It will wait for your key press or the timeout period before attempting to process the next BBS prompt. If you answer 'N', you will be taken to the learn menu. The learn processor will continue this way until you are done. We will now discuss the learn menu. This menu provides a great deal of control not available in other areas of the learn engine. The JB-Learn Menu Here is what the learn menu will look like: JB-LEARN RESPONSE TYPE MENU - VERSION 1.1 BBS PROMPT: C - CONTINUE LEARNING E - SEND <ENTER> F - BYPASS FRONT END BBS MAILER WITH TWO <ESCAPES> H - TREAT AS A SINGLE KEY HOT KEY (NO <CR>) I - INSERT COMMENT INTO MACRO L - TREAT AS A SSLOOK STRING: (SSLOOK COUNT# ) P - TREAT AS A PASSWORD Q - QUIT JB-LEARN R - REVISE/EDIT BBS PROMPT S - ENTER STANDARD BBS RESPONSE (WITH <CR>) W - SET WAIT TIME: X - TOGGLE BETWEEN NOVICE AND EXPERT MENU ENTER CHOICE: C,E,F,H,I,L,N,P,Q,R,S,W,X: The following paragraphs describe each option in this menu in detail. C - CONTINUE LEARNING This option simply continues to learn. Use this if you accidentally came here by mistake. E - SEND <ENTER> Use this option if you just need to respond to the BBS prompt with a <ENTER> key. F - BYPASS FRONT END BBS MAILER WITH TWO <ESCAPES> JB-Learn will attempt to recognize front end mailers automatically. This option should not be needed. This will send two <ESCAPE> characters to bypass a front end mailer. JB-Learn only recognizes those front end mailers that use the EMSI protocol. H - TREAT AS A SINGLE KEY HOT KEY (NO <CR>) Many systems use what are called hot keys. These are menu choices that simply require a one character response (no <ENTER> required). This option will provide a way of sending these hot keys. I - INSERT COMMENT INTO MACRO This option allows you to write a line to the macro file. This could be a comment or even additional commands. This option simply takes what you enter and writes it to the macro. Be very careful with this one. L - TREAT AS A SSLOOK STRING This menu option allows you to create SSLOOK strings and place them into your macros. Consult the {COMMO} documentation on what a SSLOOK command will do. Basically, the SSLOOK should be used when nagging prompts appear often during a login session. The SSLOOK will send the string/response you tell it when it sees the target. You may have up to 15 SSLOOKS active at one time. When the menu appears, it will show you the current number of active SSLOOKS. This will help you when running JB-Learn. Keep in mind that after you have reached 15 SSLOOKS, this menu option is no longer visible. Adding a LOOKFOR (any other method of responding to BBS activity then this option) will reset the SSLOOK count back to 0. Again, consult the {COMMO} documentation (macro.doc) for more information on this capability. P - TREAT AS A PASSWORD This option will send your password to the host and write macro code to do it in your macro. The routine will check to see if you defined a password in the dialing directory. If you have, it simply uses it. If you did not, you will be asked for the password. Q - QUIT JB-LEARN This option terminates the learn processor. When this happens, final code is written to the macro file. You are also asked if you want to create a new dialing directory entry in your dialing directory file. If you answer yes you will be prompted for the system name (a default is provided if known), and the phone number will be asked for. The routine will place the new entry just after the one already defined in the dialing directory. The string '(WITH LEARN)' is appended to the system name. If no entry matching the system name is seen, the entry will be placed at the end of your dialing directory. The linked macro will automatically be defined for you based upon the input entered earlier. A backup of your original dialing directory file is made prior to any modifications. The name of this dialing directory file is defined with the variable FON_FILE. Once this is done, the variables are cleared out of memory and the JB-Learn processor will be terminated. R - REVISE/EDIT BBS PROMPT This option allows you to edit the BBS prompt. S - ENTER STANDARD BBS RESPONSE (WITH <CR>) This option allows you to enter a string to send to the BBS. This string will be terminated with a <ENTER> character. W - SET WAIT TIME: This option allows you to update the WAITTIME variable described above. X - TOGGLE BETWEEN NOVICE AND EXPERT MENU This menu option toggles between the novice menu and the expert menu. You will be presented with a 1 line menu showing the letters available when in expert mode. When in novice mode, the entire menu will be shown. The JB-Learn Data File Format One of JB-Learn's strongest features is its use of a special data file to process potential BBS prompts and have possible responses to them. This is accomplished with the use of the LEARN.DAT data file. This file has a special data format that the macro uses to parse through. Here are the rules for this data file: 1. Any comments desired in the file should begin with a space character in column 1. Any lines beginning with a space are ignored. 2. The file may be of any size. 3. The response / target lines should look like this: RESPONSE,TARGET RESPONSE|,TARGET N|,MORE Y/N? %_PAS|,PASSWORD: The response comes first and begins in column 1 of the line. {COMMO} variables may be used. Precede them with a % character. If the value of the variable used in the data file is blank, you will be asked to define it during the learn macro processor. Other special {COMMO} characters may also be used in the response string. A list of these is below: CHARACTER DESCRIPTION ^M or | Carriage return ^J Linefeed ^I TAB ^L Formfeed ^[ Escape ^G Bell ^S XOFF ^Q XON ^Z End of file The response string is separated from the target (BBS prompt) by a comma ',' character. Look at the examples shown above. These show {COMMO} variables being used, standard strings, and the use of special characters (like | to represent a <CR> character). The macro will append strings to the data file if you tell it to when asked. These entries will follow the format described here. This format is also used in the CS-LEARN macro product as well. So, if you are using that one as well, the data file will work the same way. The Future of JB-Learn Like any other product, I hope to continue to evolve JB-Learn. Here are a few ideas that you will probably see in future versions of JB-Learn: - A more automated setup routine to add the JB-Learn link to your dialing directory. This will help the beginning users a great deal. - I would like to expand the LEARN.DAT data file to contain more strings and responses. This will help all of us. If you want to contribute, just send them my way. - Add all user suggestions that are possible with {COMMO}'s rich programming language. Start sending them my way. Again, this macro is another learning project for all of you to study. If you make changes to it that are significant in nature, please send them my way. My contact information is located at the end of this document. Let us make this thing sing and dance even better! Thanks I would like to thank the following people: My Wife (Keri) My wonderful wife who puts up with a programmer that stays up all night. She tells me she is my second love. Well, hmmmmm ... Just kidding <GRIN>. Fred Brucker I would like to thank Fred for the great product {COMMO}. I would also like to thank him for the great SFI enhancements he has made to the program. Without that, it would have never even been possible to use it. Thank you very much Fred! Keep up the good work! Chuck Seyboldt Thanks to Chuck for the wonderful suggestions regarding {COMMO} macro programming tricks and tips. Good work sir and keep CS-MAC alive. You are an inspiration to me. Jim Bennett I would like to thank Jim for the technical review of JB Learn. Without it some nasty little bugs would have been seen by all of you. Thanks Jim. Also, thanks to Jim for the use of his BBS to distribute JB-Learn (more on that later). Contact Information I value all of your input. Please contact me with any suggestions you may have. You can contact me via the following methods: Jeff Bishop Mailing Address: 420 E Yavapai RD. NO. H Tucson, AZ 85705 E-Mail Address : JBISHOP@PRIMENET.COM Voice Phone : 1-602-888-1456 (evenings before 12:00AM EST). I can also be reached in the COMMO conference in the fidonet and WME message networks. Post a message to "jeff bishop" and I will surely respond to it. Getting JB-Learn Updates JB-Learn is distributed in two different packages. I am distributing it as a stand alone package and it is also in the CS-MAC package (version 13 and above). If you are reading this from the CS-MAC archive, this may or may not be the latest one. Use the information below to get the latest and greatest version. If you have access to the internet, you can use ftp to get JB Learn. Ftp to ftp.primenet.com. Login as anonymous and send your e-mail address as the password. Once logged in, cd to /users/j/jbishop/commo. Once here, get the file jbl-*.zip. This will get you the latest version. You are also welcome to get the latest version of CS-MAC here as well. Get the file cs*.zip. If you wish, you can also ftp to ftp.nlbbs.com. Login as anonymous and send your mail address as password. Once here, cd to /pub/cs-mac. If you do not have access to the internet, you can log in to the Demodulator BBS. The phone number is 1-602-290-2807. Use 'COMMO RELEASE' as your first and last name. Use 'guest' as the password. A menu will be presented to allow you to pick JB-Learn from. In addition, other {COMMO} products can be downloaded from this menu.