home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
Monster Media 1994 #1
/
monster.zip
/
monster
/
BBS_UTIL
/
EZYAD300.ZIP
/
EZYAD300.DOC
< prev
next >
Wrap
Text File
|
1994-02-05
|
22KB
|
454 lines
███████ █████ ██
██ ██ ██ ██ ██
██ ██ ██ ██
██ ██ ██ ██
█████ ██████ ██ ██ ██ ██ █████
██ ██ ██ ██ ███████ ██ ██
██ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██
██ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██
███████ ██████ █████ ██ ██ █████
██
███
The Dynamic Archive Advertiser!
(c)1993-1994 by Bob Milutinovic & The OnLine Tryst
VERSION 3.0
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
OVERVIEW
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
EzyAd is a program which allows sysops to store all of their files in
their original format, without advertising banners, logos, or embedded files
of any kind, until such time as a user decides to download one of the files.
It is then that EzyAd adds an advertising banner of your design, along
with a descriptive "banner" detailing the downloader and originating system of
the file, and an imbedded advertising file further promoting your BBS. These
options are all selectable and configurable from within the ASCII EZYAD.CFG
configuration file (see "CONFIGURATION" below), for optimum flexibility.
Under normal circumstances, the sysop of an aspiring BBS will want to
advertise his/her BBS as much as possible, thereby attracting a large volume
of new users to keep the board thriving. The most common forms of advertising
are archive headers and embedded advertising files. Unfortunately, including
these in all available files tends to chew up disk space at a rather alarming
rate - I use a header file of about 800 bytes in length, which in itself does
not cause much concern. But multiply that by over 16000 files which I have
online, and you get the point - by including the header in all of the files,
I would be losing over 12.5 megabytes of storage space.
Storing all of your files with headers presents another problem, in
that should you ever decide to change the design of your header, updating the
entire filebase would be tedious and time-wasting.
With EzyAd, you can change your header at will, and rest assured that
whoever downloads a file from your system will have your latest information
attached to it, and with the identifying banner being added to your advert,
the user downloading the file will have less of a tendency to remove the
archive header - after all, it's their name that's in the banner!
A side benefit of EzyAd is that, because it copies all files to be
processed for downloading into a temporary work directory, it can also affix
your header to archives from a CD-ROM. No longer will users be downloading
files from your system only to be confronted with advertisements for other
BBS's. And by having the files on your hard disk drive rather than on CD, they
will be transferred much faster. Users of EzyCom's CD-ROM Protocol Driver will
now be able to switch back to the regular protocol driver without fear of loss
of performance.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
INSTALLATION
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
EzyAd needs only two files to function - EZYAD.EXE and EZYAD.CFG. I
would recommend that you place both these files in your EzyCom directory, but
if you prefer keeping all your utilities in separate directories, you may
place the files in any directory on any drive, as long as they are both
together.
If you are placing the EzyAd files in a directory other than your
EzyCom system directory, or if you are receiving the error "EZYAD.CFG not
found in current directory", you should set the EZYAD environment variable
in your AUTOEXEC.BAT:
SET EZYAD=<path-to-EzyAd-files>
eg: SET EZYAD=D:\BBS\EZYAD
EzyAd will then search for its configuration file in that directory.
The next step of installation requires you to go into EzyCom's CONFIG
utility, and edit the Protocol Driver setup (CONFIG -> FILE AREAS -> PROTOCOL).
Go into each of the protocol entries for which you want to use EzyAd,
and edit the "Download Command" field by adding the path and filename of
EzyAd, followed by "*N" enclosed in parentheses, before the command already
in place for the protocol download.
For example, for the X-Modem protocol, if you have:
D:\BBS\EZYPROT.EXE -N*N S X
You would modify the line so that it reads:
D:\BBS\EZYAD.EXE (*N) D:\BBS\EZYPROT.EXE -N*N S X
This is assuming that you have both the protocol driver and EzyAd in
the D:\BBS directory, but you will naturally replace the drive/directory with
those that are used on your system.
Another option that I would recommend for those with ample memory, is
to include the parameter "*M" at the very end of the line:
D:\BBS\EZYAD.EXE (*N) D:\BBS\EZYPROT.EXE -N*N S X *M
This tells EzyCom to swap out to memory when performing the call to
the protocol driver, and in effect improves the performance of EzyAd, because
more memory is available to the archiving programs for processing files. If you
are short on memory, exclude this option - if EzyCom has to swap out to disk,
the performance gained by having the extra memory available will be lost through
the time it takes to swap EzyCom out, then back in, from disk.
Repeat the above procedure for the command line of each protocol you
want EzyAd to handle, and you'll be 75% of the way to full EzyAd operation.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CONFIGURATION
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The most important part of setting up EzyAd is in tailoring the file
EZYAD.CFG to suit your requirements. Without it, EzyAd will not function - and
if it is incorrectly set up, EzyAd will become more of a nightmare than a
utility.
Supplied within this archive is a sample configuration file so you
can get a quick idea of how EZYAD.CFG should look on your system, but your
best bet would be to read through the options listed below carefully, before
creating your own EZYAD.CFG (or modifying the sample EZYAD.CFG).
Please note that blank lines, as well as anything after an apostrophe
(') are ignored by EzyAd, so you can space out lines and add comments for your
own reference later on.
Entries in the EZYAD.CFG file comprise a keyword, an equal sign (=),
and a parameter. The keyword specifies which option of EzyAd you want to define,
while the parameter tells it what value you want the option to assume.
The keywords and their meanings are as follows:
EZYPATH= (required) The complete path to your EzyCom system files
eg: EZYPATH=D:\BBS\
HANDSHAKE= (required) Which type of handshaking EzyAd should use
when communicating with your modem. The options
are "H" for hardware (CTS/RTS) handshaking, "S"
for software (XON/XOFF) handshaking, or "B" for
both hardware and software handshaking. I would
recommend that you use the hardware setting, but
there may be situations where you need to use
one of the others.
eg: HANDSHAKE=H
TEMPPATH= (required) The path to the temporary directory which EzyAd
will use to process downloadable files.
eg: TEMPPATH=D:\BBS\TEMP\
FLISTFILE= (required) The full path and name of the download batch
list that EzyCom creates when a batch download
begins. In the case of EzyCom's EZYPROT driver,
with the default configuration, this file will
be DNFILES. To check the name of the file which
EzyCom creates, look at the "Ctrl Name" entry
in the protocol driver screen in CONFIG. Note
that you should NOT include any file extension,
as EzyAd will append the node number as the
file extension, as in DNFILES.1, DNFILES.2, etc.
eg: FLISTFILE=D:\BBS\DNFILES
LOGOFILE= (optional) The full path and name of the text file which
you want EzyAd to use for creating the headers
on downloadable archive files.
eg: LOGOFILE=C:\UTILS\SMALL\TRYST.TXT
CDROM= (optional) If you have a CD-ROM, you can specify here
which drive letter your CD-ROM is identified
with. This tells EzyAd to copy ALL files from
this drive into the temporary directory, even
if they will not be processed with the archive
advertising option. Only one drive letter is
allowed per CDROM= statement, but you can have
up to 26 CDROM= statements in your EZYAD.CFG
file.
eg: CDROM=I:
BANNER= (optional) This tells EzyAd whether you want the user's
name or alias to be entered into the banner
added to the file being downloaded. The valid
options are "NAME" and "ALIAS".
eg: BANNER=ALIAS
BANNERLOC= (optional) This specifies whether you want the banner to
be placed in the archive header above or below
your logo. Valid options are "TOP" and "BOTTOM".
eg: BANNERLOC=BOTTOM
BORDER= (optional) This defines which type of border you'd like
drawn around the banner. Refer to "BANNER"
below for a description of the different types
of borders available. Valid options are 1-6.
eg: BORDER=3
PESTFILE= (optional) If you would like EzyAd to embed a file into
the archives being downloaded, for example a
self-displaying ANSI file which so many BBS's
use, you can specify it here. You need to
specify the full path and name of the file.
eg: PESTFILE=C:\UTILS\SMALL\U_READ.ME
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BANNER
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A vital factor in effective advertising in archived files is stopping
the users who've downloaded the file from deleting the header, which many people
do to preserve disk space on their own system. The most effective means (short
of purchasing an ARJ Security Envelope package) I've found is to include the
person's details in the archive header - this will make them proud of that fact
when they proceed to upload the file, with the archive header intact, to another
BBS.
With EzyAd, you can specify the creation of a banner which will be added
to your logo file while it's being placed in the archive header. You can specify
whether this banner should be placed above or below your logo file and whether
it should contain the name or the alias of the person downloading the file,
depending on your personal preferences and the orientation of your BBS.
You can further specify which type of border EzyAd should place around
the banner - currently, there are six types available, and all are listed below:
Banner type 1:
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| This file (EZYAD300.ARJ) was downloaded by BLUEBEARD |
| from THE ONLINE TRYST at 2:45pm on Saturday, 05-Feb-1994 |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Banner type 2:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ This file (EZYAD300.ARJ) was downloaded by BLUEBEARD │
│ from THE ONLINE TRYST at 2:45pm on Saturday, 05-Feb-1994 │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Banner type 3:
╔═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗
║ This file (EZYAD300.ARJ) was downloaded by BLUEBEARD ║
║ from THE ONLINE TRYST at 2:45pm on Saturday, 05-Feb-1994 ║
╚═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝
Banner type 4:
╓─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╖
║ This file (EZYAD300.ARJ) was downloaded by BLUEBEARD ║
║ from THE ONLINE TRYST at 2:45pm on Saturday, 05-Feb-1994 ║
╙─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╜
Banner type 5:
╒═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╕
│ This file (EZYAD300.ARJ) was downloaded by BLUEBEARD │
│ from THE ONLINE TRYST at 2:45pm on Saturday, 05-Feb-1994 │
╘═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╛
Banner type 6:
░░░░░░░░░░▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓███████████████████▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒░░░░░░░░░░
░░░░░░░░░░▒▒ This file (EZYAD300.ARJ) was downloaded by BLUEBEARD ▒▒▒░░░░░░░░░░
░░░░░░░░░░ from THE ONLINE TRYST at 2:45pm on Saturday, 05-Feb-1994 ▒░░░░░░░░░░
░░░░░░░░░░▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓███████████████████▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒░░░░░░░░░░
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Special acknowledgements are due to the following people and companies
for their products, without which EzyAd would not be in existence:
EZYCOM - Peter Davies & The EzyCom Development Group
PKZIP - Phil Katz & PKWare
ARJ - Robert K. Jung
SQZ - Jonas I. Hammarberg
Note also that the program names listed above are the trademarks or
registered trademarks of the people and companies listed.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
COPYRIGHT NOTICE
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
EzyAd shall at all times remain the property of the Bob Milutinovic,
the author, and The OnLine Tryst. Under no condition may it be used to achieve
monetary or other gain, or be disassembled or decompiled or modified, or
distributed contrary to the distribution guidelines listed below under
"DISTRIBUTION", without the express written permission of Bob Milutinovic
and/or The OnLine Tryst.
By using EzyAd, you agree to abide by these conditions, and acknowledge
that any breach of these conditions shall be cause enough for prosecution to
take place.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DISTRIBUTION
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
EzyAd may be freely distributed among users of computer bulletin board
systems, as long as the following conditions are met:
1. That the file shall be distributed in archived form, and named EZYAD300,
with the extension of your preferred archiver appended (eg. EZYAD300.ZIP).
2. That the archive shall include all of the following files in unmodified form:
EZYAD.EXE
EZYAD.CFG
WHATSNEW.300
EZYAD300.DOC
200TO300.DOC
REGISTER.DOC
3. That there be no charge levied specifically for the distribution of EzyAd
over and above the charge which may be charged by a particular BBS or vendor
for the distribution of any other file on the system.
4. That EzyAd is not distributed as part of any other software package, be it
commercial, shareware, or public domain, nor as part of a hardware package.
Failure to comply with these conditions will render you liable to the
same consequences as those for breaching the copyright agreement above.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
WARRANTY
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
EzyAd is hereby guaranteed to do as it damn well pleases, when and if
it suits its mood, and to whom it desires. It is further guaranteed to occupy
disk space if it is copied onto your disk(s).
Other than the express guarantees listed in the paragraph above, there
are NO warranties of ANY kind given with EzyAd, and by using or attempting to
use EzyAd, you automatically indemnify Bob Milutinovic, The OnLine Tryst, and
any other associated parties, from any damages incurred or incurrable from the
use or inability to use EzyAd in any particular function.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
REGISTRATION
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
EzyAd is distributed as a SHAREWARE product. That is, you are allowed to
evaluate it for a period of up to 21 days without any responsibilities to the
author. If, after evaluating it, you decide you wish to continue to use it, you
MUST register the product, or discontinue its use.
************************* REGISTRATION OF EZYAD IS FREE ************************
There are no registration fees that need to be paid for the registration
of EzyAd - I know how limited sysops' funds are, without the need to add yet
another bank account crippling registration fee.
All that you are required to do is to send a netmail message to Bob
Milutinovic at any of the addresses listed at the end of this document, stating
that you have decided to use EzyAd on a regular basis, along with the name you
wish to appear on your screen when EzyAd is invoked.
Once registered, EzyAd will display a line similar to:
■ This copy of EzyAd is registered to Bob Milutinovic of The OnLine Tryst
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
It is this part of the registration line that you supply. It can be
your name, your BBS's name, or both. The only restriction is that it may not
be longer than 40 characters.
Upon registration, you will be sent back a netmail message with a 4-
digit registration key, which you should add to your EZYAD.CFG file in the
following fashion:
1. Add the entry REGISTER= to your EZYAD.CFG file, followed by the registration
name you used when sending in the netmail message for registration. This
needs to be EXACTLY the same as the one in the message, INCLUDING upper and
lower case - if it's at all different, EzyAd will refuse to recognise that
you've registered.
eg: REGISTER="Bob Milutinovic of The OnLine Tryst"
2. Add the entry REGKEY= to your EZYAD.CFG file, followed by the 4-digit key
which you received by registering EzyAd.
eg: REGKEY=2123
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CONTACTING THE AUTHOR
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Should you have any difficulties in setting up EzyAd for use on your
system, or have a desire to contact the author with suggestions or any other
comments regarding EzyAd, you can do so by any of the following means:
Post: Bob Milutinovic
The OnLine Tryst
P.O. Box 1200
Liverpool NSW 2170
Australia
Telephone: +61-(0)18-868-152
Netmail: 3:713/111 @ FidoNet
61:9600/240 @ WorldNet
69:1171/807 @ AdultLinks
151:6121/964 @ EzyNet
7:696/69 @ HeartNet
181:100/210 @ MysticNet