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Monster Media 1994 #1
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BBS_UTIL
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EZYAD300.ZIP
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WHATSNEW.300
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1994-02-05
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The Dynamic Archive Advertiser!
(c)1993-1994 by Bob Milutinovic & The OnLine Tryst
Firstly, I'd like to thank all those who responded to my plea in the
last version for feedback regarding new features to be incorporated into
EzyAd version 3. Without that feedback, there would be much fewer improvements
in the current version.
To that end, the following people deserve a mention:
Dan Lundqvist 2:205/241.5
Michael Heinbockel 2:242/316
David Potter 3:711/437
Craig Sprod 3:711/923
Lawrence Gould 3:712/535
Andrew Maggs 3:713/501
Robert Wilson 3:713/618
Geoff Martin 3:800/881
Thanks to them, the following new features have been implemented in
version 3 of EzyAd:
* You now have the option of specifying an "advertisement file", which can
be a self-displaying ANSI, free game, or what have you, which EzyAd will
add to the archive before it gets downloaded. I personally don't go for
this type of advertising, but for those of you that do, here's yet another
way to save storage space by not including these advertisements in-situ.
* The "banner" containing the user's name/alias, BBS name, and file details,
can now be located before OR after your advertising logo at the header of
the archive file.
* There's a hell of a lot more feedback going back to the user's side while
EzyAd is processing files, so they don't get the idea that the system's
locked up. Large files will still take a longer time to process than small
files, but you shouldn't have too many confused users.
* A complete "parsing" routine has been incorporated for checking the config
file, and if there are ANY anomalies, they are reported and logged in an
error log called EZYAD.ERR, along with the time and date of the occurence.
This should make it a LOT easier to debug your initial configuration.
* EzyAd now removes ALL traces of files it's moved into temporary directories,
even if the system crashes. The fact that EzyAd version 2 occasionally left
files and temporary directories in tact was a downright pain for which I
apologise, but you'll find the new version suffers no such afflictions.
* Support for SQZ archives - although a relative newcomer to the archiving
scene, SQZ has shown its fantastic compression capabilities and is slowly
becoming the preferred compression type for many BBS's. EzyAd now recognises
SQZ archives and appends advertising accordingly.
Although these represent a considerable improvement over EzyAd version
2, I do regret not being able to incorporate some other features which were
suggested. Firstly, I've yet to figure out a way to get QuickBASIC to read the
command line parameters without capitalising them first, so users of DSZ and
similar protocols which require lower-case parameter passing still won't be
able to use EzyAd. Then there's the "compression" routine which I worked on
for a while without much success - a user suggested that EzyAd should compress
selected uncompressed files (such as .TXT, .INF, etc., usually found on CD's)
before passing them for download, but alas once compressed & downloaded, EzyCom
refused to recognise that the file was downloaded. I was also asked to include
support for PAK archives, but unfortunately, PAK only handles single-line
comments, which would make it pretty useless as far as the header/banner system
was concerned.
However, I did manage to incorporate a few of my own thoughts into the
new version:
* Rather than EzyAd relying on finding its configuration file in the current
directory (which isn't always assured when you're running in a multitasking
environment), you can now specify an environment variable, EZYAD, which (if
found) will cause EzyAd to look for its configuration file in the directory
specified by this environment variable.
* Complete file sharing, which means you should never have file lock conflicts
in multitasking & networking environments (as long as you've loaded DOS's
SHARE first!)
* Bullet-proof error protection - if EzyAd comes across ANY error while
processing a file, it'll leave the file where it is, as it is, and let the
user download it from there. The file won't have the advertising plastered
all over it, of course, but it'll stop system crashes if (for example) you're
running low on hard drive space.
* A choice of six different types of borders to be drawn around the "banner".
It is a bit of a muchness, but it should keep you all happy as far as keeping
your board's identity when BBS's in your area are also using EzyAd.
Finally, EzyAd version 3 is "registrable". No, you still don't have to
pay anything for it, but if you send me a netmail message to declare your use
of EzyAd, you will be sent back a registration number which will allow EzyAd
to display the message "Registered to..." along with your name, to all callers
using your filebase. Read the file "REGISTER.DOC" for information on this.
- Bob Milutinovic,
The OnLine Tryst
P.O. Box 1200,
Liverpool NSW 2170
Australia
'phone +61-(0)18-868-152
3:713/111 @ FidoNet
61:9600/240 @ WorldNet
69:1171/807 @ AdultLinks
151:6121/964 @ EzyNet
7:696/69 @ HeartNet
181:100/210 @ MysticNet