Monster Media 1994 #1

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Text File | 1994-04-19 | 105KB | 2,507 lines

▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▄ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▄ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▄ ▒▒▒▒▄ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▄ ▒▒█▀▀▀▀▒▒█ ▒▒█▀▀▀▒▒█ ▒▒█▀▀▀▒▒█ ▒▒█▀ ▒▒█▀▀▀▒▒█ ▒▒█ ▒▒█ ▒▒█ ▒▒█ ▒▒█ ▀▀ ▒▒█ ▒▒█ ▀▀ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒█ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒█ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▄ ▒▒█ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▄ ▒▒█▀▀▒▒█▀▀ ▒▒█▀▀▀▒▒█ ▀▀▀▀▒▒█ ▒▒█ ▀▀▀▀▒▒█ ▒▒█ ▒▒█ ▒▒█ ▒▒█ ▒▒▄ ▒▒█ ▒▒█ ▒▒▄ ▒▒█ ▒▒▒▒█ ▒▒▒▒█ ▒▒▒▒█ ▒▒▒▒█ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒█ ▒▒▒▒█ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒█ ▀▀▀▀ ▀▀▀▀ ▀▀▀▀ ▀▀▀▀ ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ ▀▀▀▀ ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ Remote Access Sysop's Information Service ───── Version 1.06 ───── Release Date: 04-20-94 "Your BBS System Information at the press of a key" ┌──────────────────────────────────┐ │ A Super Utility for a Super BBS! │ └──────────────────────────────────┘ - (C)Copyright 1993-1994 - Rand Nowell - RaLin Enterprises "Putting Bits Together" - All Rights Reserved Worldwide - ───════════════════════════════─── O P E R A T I O N S M A N U A L ───════════════════════════════─── Table of Contents Registration Code.............................1 Text Conventions..............................1 Welcome Message.............................1,2 Copyright Information.........................2 Distribution................................2,3 Disclaimer....................................3 Overview....................................3,4 Technical Notes...............................4 Multi-Task Support............................4 Important Information.......................4,5 System Requirements.........................5,6 Command Line Switches.......................7,8 Configuration File............................8 Startup.....................................8,9 Multi-Node Systems............................9 General Interest Information............9,10,11 Running from BBS or Mailer................11,12 Mail Label Format, Basics.................12,13 Command Line Report Notes....................13 Main Menu - Explanation......................14 Current Setting Display............14,15 File...............................15,16 Labels..........................16,17,18 Filters............................18,19 Print..............................19,20 Test Labels.....................19 Labels..........................19 One Label.......................19 Phone List......................19 File Transfers..................19 User Record(s)..................20 Deleted Users...................20 System Menu....................See Below Output - Report Destination...........20 Printer - Commands.................20,21 External...........................21,22 Quit..................................22 System Menu..................................22 Files..............................22,23 Messages..............................23 Languages.............................23 Others.............................23,24 Events..........................23 Modem...........................23 Protocols.......................23 Limits..........................23 Menus...........................24 CONFIG.RA.......................24 Tools...........................24,25,26 Sound On/Off....................24 System Calls....................24 Keyboard Password...............24 Post Message..............24,25,26 Return................................27 Quit..................................27 Message Templates............................27 File Attaches.............................27,28 Report Names - Filters....................18,19 Internal Editor........................28,29,30 Message Macros............................30,31 Report Names/Filters......................31,32 Report Formats - Contents..............33,34,35 Why Register?.............................35,36 Author Contact............................36,37 Support......................................37 Credits................................37,38,39 Distribution Sites........................39,40 RASIS 1.06 RASIS < Operations Manual > Page 1 ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │▒▒▒ Registration Code ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ *** IMPORTANT *** Due to a report of a possible bogus version 1.05 which is unconfirmed, but rather safe than sorry, we have skipped version 1.05 and called this version 1.06. Also, in order to run 1.06, if you are registered already, you need a new registration code. Codes for previous versions will no longer work. If I have not already sent you a code for version 1.06, please contact me and I'll send you one right away. If you are a new user, the code you receive will only work for 1.06 and above. We will not generate codes for earlier versions, once this one is released. There were several reasons for doing this, the above being one of them, some of you may figure out the other reason. We apologize for any innconvienience this chage has caused. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │▓▓▓ Conventions ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Often, throughout this document, reference is made to Setup. This refers to the Setup/Cutomisation program SETUPSIS.EXE Any parameters commands shown in square brackets [ ] are optional, those in < > are required. Any items marked {+} are available only when running in Registered Mode. Lines in the DOC marked with <> are new additions. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │▓▓▓ Welcome! ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Welcome, to what I hope you will find to be an invaluable tool, to you, the Sysop of one of the best BBS programs on the market today. In this manual, I have tried to answer most questions that a new user may have, but I would not be surprised if I have missed something. If so, I apologize, and if you will contact me, and let me know what I missed, I will make sure it's in the next copy. I have also tried to make all generated reports on your system setups, as easy to read as I could, and still keep the size down as much as possible. What you need to know, when you need to know it! RASIS 1.06 RASIS < Operations Manual > Page 2 Where possible, the report will use a more descriptive explanation that RACONFIG does in telling you what you are reading. I hope you find RASIS, informative, easy to use, and a tool worth keeping around. For thats what it is, a tool, not a pretty screen maker, or graphics viewer, just something to help you keep better track of your system setup, with a few bells and whistles thrown in. , One last thing, RASIS is pronounced "R" "A" "SIS" never "RASIS"..... just a personal thing ya know? <grin> Hope you enjoy! Rand Nowell, Author. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │▓▓▓ COPYRIGHT ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ RASIS, The Remote Access Sysop's Information Service, the program, documentation, support programs and all other supporting text or files, are not Public Domain or Free. They are the Copyrighted (c)1993-1994 work of Rand Nowell dba Ralin Enterprises. All rights are reserved, Worldwide. Copying, duplicating, selling or otherwise distributing this product except as noted in the Distribution Policy below is a violation of Federal Copyright Law. You are authorized to evaluate the program for a period of two weeks. If after two weeks you wish to continue using the program, registration is in order. Please see RASIS.REG If you don't intend to register it, then please stop using it. It's only fair........ ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │▓▓▓ DISTRIBUTION ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ 1. Feel free to distribute the Shareware version of this program as often as you like to any interested parties. Distribution to Electronic Bulletin Boards is encouraged. 2. Please do not distribute this program without all the original related files such as documentation, readme files, registration forms etc. 3. Please distribute ONLY the original authenticated ZIP format file. 4. If you must use another archive format, PLEASE wrap our ZIP within your preferred format. 5. Please obtain our written permission before including the program with any "bundled" software packages. 6. Please do not accept payment for the program; a copying fee of $5.00 per diskette may be charged by a non-profit user-group. 7. Please do not alter the program or documentation in any way. 8. Individuals, groups, vendors or other software distribution companies which market diskettes containing shareware or test-drive evaluation programs, for profit, must obtain written permission from RaLin Enterprises prior to distribution. This will insure that What you need to know, when you need to know it! RASIS 1.06 RASIS < Operations Manual > Page 3 you have the most current copy. 9. Last, but not least, Sysops..... please do NOT included BBS advertisements in the archive. An archive header is an understood, and accepted practice. But no text files, come files, ansi files and such. DISTRIBUTION of the REGISTERED version of this program is in violation of the license agreement and copyright law. Site Licensing is available. Please call. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │▓▓▓ *** DISCLAIMER *** ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ This program is supplied "as is" without warranty of any kind. The entire risk of using, and results from the use of, is assumed by you the user. You assume all costs of repair, servicing and corrections stemming from the use of this program. Rand Nowell and/or RaLin Enterprises, or any other associated company of the program author will not be held liable for any damages from the use of this program. No warranties are expressed or implied. We do our utmost to insure that "bugs" are absent from public releases, but this is nat always conclusive, they do manage to sneak in under different enviornments. And we do make an occasional mistake (we're human). Please let us know ASAP of any such critters and we'll fix right away! ******************************************************************** To the original licensee of the REGISTERED version of the program, RaLin Enterprises DOES warrant that the program disk(s) on which the program is recorded, be free from defects in material and workmanship under normal use and service for a period of (90) ninety days from date of delivery as evidenced by your receipt. Our entire liability and your exclusive remedy shall be replacement of the defective disk not meeting the standards of this limited warranty. And in no case shall exceed the cost of reimbursement of monies paid for program registration. The Author is not obligated to produce further versions of this program. The Author also reserves the right to convert any SHAREWARE program, to that of COMMERCIAL status without prior notice. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │▓▓▓ OVERVIEW ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ RASIS started out to be a simple program to allow Sysops to print mailing lists with the new address fields in Remote Access 2.xx Well, I did that, some of you may have tried the BETA program RAUL...., then I decided, since I'm accessing the user file already, why not do a little more..... Thus was born the Phone List, then I decided to do a File Transfer list, then the User Record report. What you need to know, when you need to know it! RASIS 1.06 RASIS < Operations Manual > Page 4 All of a sudden I was going forward with no way to stop! When I was finally able to come to a halt, there was what you see now. Note: Halt is ficticious, we are still moving forward...... And the former name, RAUL-Remote Access User Labels, certainly didn't do justice to what the program would now do, so came the new name, RASIS - Remote Access Sysop's Information Service. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │▒▒▒ Technical Notes ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ There are currently over 500 hours of programming time invested in RASIS. RASIS use's code from over 50 units, consisting of the program code and programming libraries. The source code for RASIS, not counting other libraries, but the program code itself, occupies about 17000+ lines of source code. RASIS has become so complex that the standard TPC.EXE command line compiler will not handle it anymore. We are now forced to use the Protected Mode compiler..... The Big Leauges now baby! <smile> RASIS.EXE consists of the compressed EXE of about 106K, with the Overlay file, of about 287K attached to it, resulting in the file size you see. NOTE: Do NOT de-compress RASIS, it will create problems with reading the Overlay, if not destroy it!! Now, aren't you just tickled to death to know this??? ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │▓▓▓ MULTI-TASKING SUPPORT ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Support has been added for those who multi-task. RASIS will correctly identify the following programs: DesqView, Windows, OS/2 (unable to test under OS/2, but should work) All input waits, and waits for keypresses, "should" now be calling the procedure to give up time slices. I do belive I got them all, let me know of any problems. Minimal testing has been done under DV and Windows, as I do not run a multi-node BBS, I have been unable to test in "that" enviornment. Let me know if there are any problems. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │▓▓▓ IMPORTANT INFORMATION ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ RASIS opens all files in READ ONLY/DENY NONE mode. What you need to know, when you need to know it! RASIS 1.06 RASIS < Operations Manual > Page 5 Currently it does no "re-trying" if a file is not accesible. It is "Best" to run RASIS at a time when your BBS is not real busy, so there is less chance of RA and RASIS fighting over who gets file access. Even on a slow XT, RASIS is pretty quick on its reports, but better safe than sorry. On a fast 386/486 this may not be a problem, reports to file are instantaneous, though printer speed will slow things down. You have been warned, use your own judgement. RASIS has been tested on a XT with 640K memory and no enhancements, running DOS 5.0. BBS running on a STACKED drive. EGA monitor. Also on a 486/33 with Qemm 7.03, 4 megs of RAM, running under XMS and EMS swap, DV 2.06, Windows 3.1, DOS 6.2, SVGA monitor. If you are upgrading from a previous version of RASIS, be sure to read the file UPGRADE.DOC on how to do so painlessly! ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │▓▓▓ REQUIREMENTS ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Requires DOS 3.0 or better! With the inclusion of the Message Posting function, the memory requirement has gone up a bit. RASIS currently requires a minimum of about 340K of memory to run at any semblence of functionality. <> But 351K is needed for FULL power. Less, and some reports will most likely be un-available. With todays systems, and the newer versions of DOS, this is becomming less of a problem. If you are using DOS, and not running the latest, ver 6.02, I highly reccomend you upgrade. The memory benifits alone are well worth the while, and a memory manager is even more of a help. At startup, RASIS checks "available" Free Memory, if less than 40K is available, after RASIS has loaded, a message will display, telling you that some reports may not be available, and the program MAY abort at some time. This is available Contiguous memory, in other words there must be One complete block of memory, 40K in size available, to store arrays that need to be created. <> Having 351K of RAM available at startup usually circuvents this message. If you only have 340K - 350K of RAM available, the message will display, and a report or two may not be available. Any less, and the program will most likely terminate somewhere, What you need to know, when you need to know it! RASIS 1.06 RASIS < Operations Manual > Page 6 depending on what has been done, or what report is attempted. 351K at loadup leaves about 40K free memory These may vary, depending on system usage. RASIS will run with as little as 340K, but you may not get all functions. We are constantly working on lowering the memory requirements, of course every time a new function is added, it starts all over again. Lowering memory requirements will always be an ongoing job here! Our next major project for RASIS, is full optimisation of the code in the attempt to lower memory requirements. For those of you with some programming knowladge.... Much of the memory is allocated on the Stack, I will be changing the code to allocate memory on the heap, as much as possible. RASIS, as of version 1.02 stores much of its code in an overlay file. This code is only read into memory when it is needed. By default RASIS tries to store the overlay in XMS memory if available, then it tries EMS, and if both fail, code in the overlay will bead read from the copy on disk. See the switches below for specifying memory type to use. The RASIS.OVR file is not laying on your disk, visible to you. It is attached to the end of the RASIS exe file. The exe file has been compressed, please do NOT expand it, as it may cause problems with the overlay file. Two files, RASIS.CFG and USERS.BBS are "Required" to run, if they cannot be found, RASIS will abort. RASIS.EXE should be placed in a "PATH" directory, so it can be found at any time. RASIS.CFG also should be in a PATH directory, though it need not be the same one that contains RASIS. With the addition of the Built-In editor, one more support file is added. SISED.HLP is a text file, specially formatted, and is the HELP displayed in the internal editor when F1 is pressed. This file should be placed in a PATH directory, so the editor can find it when it's needed. This is also mentioned later in the Editor section. RASIS was designed to run on a color system, with a color monitor, as far as appearances go. But it will attempt to determine if you indeed have color capability, and if not, will run in B/W mode. If RASIS does not correctly determine color capability, or you wish to run in MONO mode, use the /M switch, covered later. This forces MONO mode display. Some color video cards, used under DOS 6.2 will still attempt to display some things in clor, and may override the MONO setting. I do not have a true MONO monitor to test with....sorry. What you need to know, when you need to know it! RASIS 1.06 RASIS < Operations Manual > Page 7 Video Mode: See Startup below. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │▓▓▓ COMMAND LINE SWITCHES ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ RASIS accepts several switches and one parameter, they are explained here. ? Will display a short help screen, similar to this section. /M Forces monochrome display mode. /NP Specifies that NO PRINTER is attached. If a printer is attached, and it is not ready, RASIS will not let you continue until it is, or you tell it to continue without it. A message is displayed and prompts for correction, continue without printer report, or abort. Using this switch also disables all output to the printer, for reports. /NF Specifies "No Font" and disables use of the special font that RASIS uses for bright foreground colored text, including the highlighted menu item. It will only load this font if your video card is VGA If you have any problems, or just don't want to use the font, use this switch at startup. [directory] Specifying a directory name at startup, will cause RASIS to change to that directory before firing up. Upon exit, it will return to the directory you were in when you called it. /NOEMS Tell RASIS to NOT use EMS for Overlay storage/reading /NOXMS Do NOT use XMS for the overlay file The default behavior for RASIS is to attempt to allocate memory for the overlay file first in XMS, if not available it tries EMS, and if "that's" not available, code from the overlay will be read from the disk file. To force reading from the disk, even when one or both types of memory is available, simply specify both switches on the command line. ** There is one other Overlay Memory usage switch, that I had hesitated in documenting, but I will do so anyway. This switch ONLY effects memory used by the Overlay file. DOS creates a BUFFER in memory, in which to swap the overlaid code in and out of Base memory. Sometimes what DOS assigns, is really not enough, though in most cases it is. If you feel that the swapping time is to great, there seems to be to much of a delay in loading code for many of the reports, then you can start RASIS with the following switch.... /MEM=### where ### is the amount to expand the buffer by. This figure What you need to know, when you need to know it! RASIS 1.06 RASIS < Operations Manual > Page 8 is multiplied by 1024, so /MEM=10 would allocate and expand the overlay buffer by 10,240 kb. This switch may be used to fine tune the overlay performance. If you use it, use it sparingly, it adds overhead to the program memory requirements. Personaly, I have never had a need to use it! But it's there..... <> /TC {+} : Generates a Recent Callers report to file. /FT {+} : Generates a File Transfer report to file. For help on these two, type the command + ? for a short help screen. ie RASIS /FT ? will display a help screen for File Trasfers. Switches and directory_name may be in either case, and any order. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │▓▓▓ THE CONFIGURATION FILE ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ As of version 1.01.... The configuration file, RASIS.CFG is a binary format file, and must be edited with the program SETUPSIS. The file must be named RASIS.CFG, and should be placed in a PATH directory, do that it can be found at any time. See SETUP.DOC for instructions on how to use SETUPSIS. When RASIS runs, it will attempt to open the USERS.BBS as specified in the config file, if an error occurs, it will terminate with an error message. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │▓▓▓ STARTUP ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ After checking free memory, as mentioned above..... When RASIS starts up, it first checks for the existence of RASIS.CFG and USERS.BBS, then it checks to make sure the printer is On Line, unless the /NP switch was used. If /np was not used and no printer is found, RASIS will display a message, giving you three options: 1. Fix the problem and continue.... 2. Continue with No Printer support.... 3. Abort running RASIS..... Continuing with no printer support, sends ALL reports to a print file, in the directory specified in SETUPSIS, or the current one. RASIS runs in 80x25 mode, but if the system is using 43 or 50 line mode, RASIS will note this, and restore the video to 43/50 upon termination. It then sets any changes made on the command line, and/or changes to What you need to know, when you need to know it! RASIS 1.06 RASIS < Operations Manual > Page 9 the directory specified with the startup command. It then checks to be sure a block of memory large enough is available to satisfy the requirements of some of the reports. If not, a warning message will display, then the program will continue. Not having the required minimum will disable some funtions, and could possibly cause RASIS to terminate when a specific function is called. Next, the available types of memory are searched for, dependant on the /NOEMS /NOXMS switches, if used. If either memory is available, RASIS will allocate some for the swapping buffer used by the Overlay file. If neither is available, then the overlay will be read from disk. Then, depending on if your copy is Registered or not, UnRegistered: A screen displays, with a pop up window, welcoming you to RASIS, and advising you to "Read The Manual" a key press will continue on to the Main Screen. Registered: You are taken directly to the Main Screen, no delays. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │▒▒▒ Mult-Node BBS ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Previously, RASIS only checked the "System" directory for the files to report on. This was not accurate for a multi-node system. RASIS now first looks for the file in the "current" directory, the one you are in when you call it, and if the file is not in that directory, then it will look in the defined System directory. Thanks to Mark Lewis for pointing this out, there were others, but he was the first..... ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │▓▓▓ GENERAL INTEREST ITEMS ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Sound : RASIS uses quite a few Beeps and Bongs, the sound can be turned off from the System -> Tools menu. Reports: All reports sent to a file, have the extension .PRN See the section on Report Formats and names. RAL files dumped to text have the extension .DMP The RAL report file will have the same root name as the RAL file. Ex: ENGLISH.RAL is dumped to ENGLISH.DMP The CONFIG.RA file text dump has an extension of .DMP Setup files have the extension .RIF What you need to know, when you need to know it! RASIS 1.06 RASIS < Operations Manual > Page 10 Message Template files have the extension .RMT Movement and selection keys. RASIS supports a mouse, if available. The left key is the same as ENTER, and the right, the same as ESCape. Menus: RASIS uses both horizontal and vertical menus. On the horizontal, your left/right arrow keys, space bar and TAB key, will move the highlight bar across the menu. Once you have reached an item, pressing ENTER or the Down Arrow, will activate the menu item. If you click the mouse on a menu item it will be activated immediately. Vertical menus are much the same way, though only the up and down arrows are available, along with space bar and Tab. The vertical menus, are all Sub-Menus, Pressing the ESC key will put away any Sub-Menu, as will the right mouse button....NOTE: The mouse cursor must be within the menus borders, to ESC with the right mouse button. The Spacebar and TAB key will also move through Menus and Picklists. Dialog Boxes: These are used in two different ways, as an information or error message display, and as a place to enter information when required. In interactive boxes, where you enter information, the right mouse button will escape, same as the menus, and the left again acts as the enter key. More will be explained, as we cover data entry further on. The left mouse button may also be used to place the cursor in a chosen field. Pick/Tag Lists: Picklists, for single file selection, and Tag lists for single or multiple selections are used by RASIS. The window will tell you to Select a file, =or= Select or Tag. To select a single file, highlight it and press enter, or double click on a filename with the mouse. To tag multiple files, you can use the space bar, or click with the mouse. Once files have been tagged, you must press ENTER to begin processing. In a Tag list, you can select just one file by highlighting it, and pressing ENTER. If there are more files than will show in the list box, up/down arrows will be displayed in the lower right corner of the list frame. You can place the mouse cursor on these, and hold down the left button for fast scrolling. PgUp,PgDn,Home and End also work as you might think they would. What you need to know, when you need to know it! RASIS 1.06 RASIS < Operations Manual > Page 11 You can also HUNT for a file, pressing a letter key, will highlight the first file found with that letter as the first in the name. Subsequent presses of the letter will find the next file and so on. This feature does not work to well when choosing from FDB files, as they all contain a "F" for the first character..... Pressing ESC or clicking the right mouse button, while the cursor is in the list box, will abort the choice(s) and exit the list. TAGGED FILES ARE PROCESSED IN THE ORDER IN WHICH THEY ARE TAGGED, NOT THE ORDER IN WHICH THEY APPEAR IN THE LIST. Menu Timeouts: All menus, if not having detected a key press within three minutes, will put themselves away, and return to the calling menu. That is, except the Main Menu, after three minutes of no activity, the screen is blanked. Any key press will restore things as they were. Swapping: The DOS shell and Text Viewer call swap all but 7K to EMS,XMS or DISK, in that order. If no extra memory is available the swap file will be written to disk. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │▒▒▒ RUNNING FROM REMOTE ACCESS OR MAILER ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ You can run RASIS from your mailer, or from RA in local mode. In both cases it is BEST to use an errorlevel, exiting back to the calling batch file. It is also a needed requirement that you turn on swapping, from the calling program, to make sure there is enough memory for RASIS. Mailer: Using FrontDoor as an example, you would, in FDSETUP, assign RASIS to a Mailer Function Key. Specify an errorlevel with the ?### in the setup field. Then in your mailer batchfile simply call RASIS with the parameters required. NOTE: Running FD, I exit with an errorlevel, which calls EXEBBS.BAT, the same file called by FD -> DOBBS.BAT, when FD->DOBBS sends a 0 as the baud rate, it runs RA in local mode, yet I get all the post caller functions executed, just as though I had been a regular caller. I also use the command RA -L, when I don't want this to happen. Remote Access: On my BBS, an XT with 640K and stacked C: drive, I found the ONLY way I can run RASIS is with a Type 15 menu item. Your mileage may vary.... For this method, simply set up a menu item, in your Sysop Menu to run RASIS. Type 15 - Exit with Errorlevel. OptData: Errorlevel to use.... What you need to know, when you need to know it! RASIS 1.06 RASIS < Operations Manual > Page 12 Always use RA's swapping directive (*M). Then in your batch file.... BBS.BAT/EXEBBS.BAT, whatever, call RASIS with whatever parameters you wish. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │▓▓▓ LABEL FORMAT BASICS ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ First we will cover a little about the mailing labels, then we'll go through the program, step by step, every menu item etc. The following diagram gives you a "basic" idea on how to figure your label dimension settings. This is a "standard" size mailing label, they look somewhat like this.. <Label Width ->|----- 3.5 inches -------------| ----- ---│ o │┌──────────────────────────────┐│ o │ L H 6 lines | 15/16"│ o ││ ││ o │ a e top to | | │ o ││ ││ o │ b i top. | ---│ o │└──────────────────────────────┘│ o │ e g -------- │ o │┌──────────────────────────────┐│ o │ l h │ o ││ ││ o │ t │ o ││ ││ o │ │ o │└──────────────────────────────┘│ o │ │ o │| │ o │ Left Margin--------|****| Generally only needed for multi label pages, with wide paper area on the sides. These are the important ones, then you simply tell RASIS how many labels there are across. Label setup will be covered step by step a little further on. - FORMAT - Though RA allows the address lines to be up to 50 characters in length, this is not conducive to nice looking labels. RASIS does not check the length, this will be in a future release. If the address lines are routinely longer than 35 characters, you should use COMPRESSED print. As of Version 1.04, RASIS allows you, in Setup, to configure how the Mailing Labels should be printed, that is, Line Text Format. There are three options: 1. Proper Case - (DEFAULT) The first letter of every word is put in uppercase, the rest lowercase. 2. Upper Case - All letters are printed in uppercase. 3. As Is - All words in the address fields will be printed as they are found in the user record. This is the fastest, if your entries are formatted correctly, use this one. When using proper case, the first letter of every word is capitalized. What you need to know, when you need to know it! RASIS 1.06 RASIS < Operations Manual > Page 13 Though this sometimes is not what you really want, as in the the Name McCord, it will become Mccord, it seems that most callers will not properly up case their entries. So this has been implemented. Upper Case is the best compromise, but is a bit slower, like proper case. As Is, is the fastest. No changes made, everything printed as its found in the user record. NOTE: The User Name will always be "proper case" as this is the way Remote Access stores it. Default Settings: The default settings for the label format, are that of the above example, they will be covered in more detail in the Label Setup section. The program does send an EPSON printer compatible command, to set the character pitch to 12 chars per inch, so given the 3.5 inch of the label, you could get 42 characters on a line. That is, IF you have the label positioned correctly. The type is set back to 10 cpi when finished. These are the default settings. - LABEL POSITIONING - On the print menu, you can print a test pattern, up to four rows. The pattern is 4 lines 25 characters wide. This option will not work unless the printer is On Line. Now lets walk through the menus, we will cover all functions, what they do, how they do it and so forth. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │▒▒▒ Command Line Report Notes ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ <> As mentioned earlier, there are two reports currently available from the command line. These are User File Transfers, and Recent Callers. These reports are identical to those generated in RASIS interactive mode, but there are "some" differences. 1. These reports do not honor any filters. 2. Pre/Post Print codes are not written. 3. The File Transfer report is 96 chars per line. If you need to print it, set your printer to 96 cpl (12 cpi). An optional Dir\Filename may be specified, if not the default named files will be written in the current directory. Recent Callers Default: TDCALL.TXT File Transfer Default: UL-DL.TXT For help on either command, type ? after the command switch. The switches, and help command for them, are listed in the RASIS command line help screen. (RASIS ?) What you need to know, when you need to know it! RASIS 1.06 RASIS < Operations Manual > Page 14 ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │▓▓▓ MAIN MENU ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Before covering the menu items, lets see what we have showing..... The top line displays the program name. Also displays «UNREGISTERED» or «Registered» at the far right. The second line contains the Main Menu. The very last row of the screen, contains the help line. This row will contain a help message for every menu item, and every data field you encounter in RASIS. This is all the help there is, RASIS is pretty easy to handle, I don't think much more help is needed, I could be wrong.....<grin>. USING/REMOVING SPECIAL FONT: If you are using a VGA video card, and have not used the /NF switch at startup, all bright foreground text on the screen will be displayed in the special font included. This includes, Highlighted menu and picklist items, data entry fields, etc. Any text that is bright. RASIS removes this font when it exits. Should you somehow "crash" the program, and the font is still in effect, you can clear it using the Dos MODE command..... type MODE CO80 at the prompt, and the font will be cleared. <> The special font is turned OFF for all external program calls, Dos Shell, and Dos Command. Some programs use the upper video memory to create thier OWN special characters, and the RASIS font renders them unreadable. So this fix has been added. <> You can permanently disable the special font in Setup. ┌──────────────────┐ │ Current Settings:│ └──────────────────┘ Just above the bottom of the screen you will see a box, with the header: "Current Settings", this box displays settings for labels, filters, output, printer availability, etc. On the left, Label Settings On the Right, Filters and Misc. Label Settings: As you have defined, or the defaults. Or from loaded setup file. {+} Label Width (label width) Label Height (from top of one to top of next) Number Across (labels across) Page Height (paper height, mainly for Laser printer users) Pre-Print Code (code sent before labels/report) Post-Print Code (code sent after labels/report) Use Name (Forcing use of user name as first line) What you need to know, when you need to know it! RASIS 1.06 RASIS < Operations Manual > Page 15 Left Margin (for multi label pages with wide paper border) Filters and Misc. Security Check [On/Off] Level [###] Compare [= < >] Group Check [On/Off] Level [###] Compare [= < >] {+} Birthday Check [On/Off] Month [##] MonthName {+} Comment Check [On/Off] {+} Phrase (phrase to search for in user comment) {+} Setup File (name of file loaded) {+} Report Destination (PRINTER or FILE or PRN & FILE) NOTE: Notice the <F5> to the right of this display. The F5 hotkey will, when any menu is displayed, toggle the report destination from PRINTER to FILE, or FILE to PRINTER. To send to PRINTER "and" file, you must use the Output menu. The Settings box is updated each time the F5 key is used. <> You may also toggle output to SCREEN via the F5 key, or the Output Menu. Ltr Qual (Letter qual print On/Off) Label Text Upper/Proper/As Is If you used the /NP switch at startup, <No Printer> will be displayed at the bottom frame line. Also if no printer was found, and you chose to continue with no printer availability. Now the menu items: ┌────────┐ │ File: │ Sub-Menu └────────┘ <> * Configuration- This will call SETUPSIS.EXE, if you change any settings in the configuration, RASIS will re-read the config file upon return. In order to call Setup from RASIS, SETUPSIS.EXE must be in the same directory as RASIS. IF not, you will get an Dos Error message saying File Not Found, (error #2), and a reminder about program placement. * About- Displays program copyright and compile information. Also displays the name of the Sysop, if registered. * System- Displays a screen of information about your PC, also shows the various RASIS variables and settings not visible elsewhere in the program. This window will also display what Multi-Tasking program you are running under, or just Plain ol Dos if not. Day/Date : Displays what day it is and the full date. Day of Year : What day of the year. Time : Current time, not updated. Dos Ver : What version of DOS running. What you need to know, when you need to know it! RASIS 1.06 RASIS < Operations Manual > Page 16 Mem Avail : Current free memory. Home Dir : Dir RASIS was called from, and to which it will return upon termination. Current Dir : If you specified a runtime dir at startup, it will be shown, else same as Home Dir. Reports Dir : Dir defined in Setup to hold reports, if blank reports are landing in Current Dir. Overlay Mem : Reports on what type of memory is being used to swap the overlay code, or Disk if no memory. Multi-Task : Reports Yes... or No... and which program you are running under. RA Env : Displays your setting for the RA enviornment variable. Drive Space : Size of the current drive. Avail Space : Free drive space of the above. Share Installed : Yes/No A keypress puts this display away. <> * Lock Keyboard- This will display a data entry window, and prompt you for a password. The password can be up to 15 characters, and is case INSENSITIVE. Pressing ESC will abort the Keyboard Lock. Once the keyboard has been locked, all keypresses will be ignored, unless they result in the password you entered. All menu functions are disabled.... The ONLY thing that will work, is the screen blanker. It will still be called after 3 min of no activity. The screen will remain blank, until you enter the proper password. Should you forget what you entered, you have no choice except to reboot your system. ┌────────┐ │ Labels:│ └────────┘ Set Current Load Setup {+} Save Setup {+} Set Current: This displays a data entry box, where you set up your label format. Your Up and Down arrow keys will move between the fields, as will the ENTER key. Pressing ENTER or DnArrow on the last field will Save and Exit, pressing UpArrow on the first field will Save and Exit. Pressing Ctl-W at any time will Save and Exit. Pressing Escape at any time will Abort and Exit. The mouse may be used to select a field to edit, and the right button acts as ESCape. Fields.... What you need to know, when you need to know it! RASIS 1.06 RASIS < Operations Manual > Page 17 Label Width: Width of the mailing labels being used. Common sizes are 2.5" 3.0" 3.5" The label width must be entered in a whole number, the Help Line shows the proper format..... a 3.5" label would be entered as 35, a 2" label as 20 The allowable range is 20 to 60 (2" to 6") Label Height: This is the number of lines, from the top of one label, to the top of the next. Most printing is done at 6 lines per inch. A line is "approximately" 1/8" so using a small ruler you can figure this value out. Number Across: The number of labels across on the page. Allowed values are 1 to 6. Page Height: This is mainly included for those that have a Laser Printer, as they use single sheets, you would want to set this at 60 or less. When the number of label rows, that fill a page of the specified size, have been created, they are then sent to the designated output. For Dot Matrix printers, you can generally leave it set at the default, 66. But you may experiment with other settings, the values allowed are 4 to 66. Left Margin: If you are using multiple labels on a page, the paper usually has a fairly wide open margin on the left. Labels are created starting at column one, so this would start printing on the paper, not the label. The left margin is set by number of Characters/Spaces. So the print mode being used is important, if you need a 1" margin, in ELITE mode, its 12 cpi (chars per inch) so you would enter 12. STND mode, 10 cpi, you would enter 10. Allowed values are 0 to 20. This should cover most print modes, if not, please advise. Pre-Print: Pressing the space bar will toggle the type. Post-Print: Works the same. If you use ELITE.ON as pre-print, use STND.ON as post print. If you use COMP.ON as pre-print, use COMP.OFF as post print. Make use of the Test Label option, (see below) to help get your settings correct. Description Cmt: A message box will display, with the currrent comment placed by you when you saved the file. If no Setup file is loaded, it will state so, if no new comment has been entered, it will display "Enter description here". NOTE: Comments/description can only be entered when saving a setup file. If you want to update the comment, without making any other changes, simply "LOAD" the setup file, and choose SAVE the setup file, acept the filename shown, then What you need to know, when you need to know it! RASIS 1.06 RASIS < Operations Manual > Page 18 enter in the new comment. It's done! Load Setup{+}:Presents a picklist of saved setup files. These have an extension of .RIF and are saved and searched for in the same directory that contains RASIS. Select the file you want, it will be loaded, and the Current Settings box will be updated. Pressing the ESC key will abort loading a setup file. ************************************************************************* UPON REGISTERING, YOU WILL HAVE ACCESS TO SETUP FILES THAT HAVE BEEN CREATED FOR VARIOUS BRAND MAILING LABELS, THESE ARE AVAILABLE IN THE RALIN SUPPORT FILES AREA ON THE BBS. YOU MUST COMPLETE AND SEND THE PREBBS.FRM FOR REGISTERED USER ACCESS. ************************************************************************** Save Setup{+}:Presents a data entry box and prompts for an 8 character, (or less) filename. The RIF extension is automatically added. If a file exists with the same name, it will be over-written. The file is saved in the same directory that RASIS resides. Pressing the ESC key will abort the setup save. If you have modified an existing label file, previously loaded, that file name will appear in the name field, press ENTER to accept that, or enter a new name. Once the new or original file name has been accepted, you will prompted for a descrition, you can enter one up to 40 characters in length. This description can be viewd from the Labels Menu -> Description Cmnt when the file is loaded into RASIS. Once you have entered a description, or accepted whats there, the file will be saved. ┌──────────┐ │ Filters: │ └──────────┘ Displays a data entry box where you set the filtering options for various reports. See the section REPORTS, for a listing of reports, it will list each report, and tell you if it uses the Filters, Pre and Post print codes etc. Your Up and Down arrow keys will move between the fields, as will the ENTER key. Pressing ENTER or DnArrow on the last field will Save and Exit, pressing UpArrow on the first field will Save and Exit. Pressing Ctl-W at any time will Save and Exit. Pressing Escape at any time will Abort and Exit. The mouse may also be used to select a field to edit, and also the right button acts as ESCape. Fields... Security: The first field is the Comparison sign, pressing the space bar toggle between the three modes available: = Security equal to What you need to know, when you need to know it! RASIS 1.06 RASIS < Operations Manual > Page 19 < Security less than > Security greater than The next field is where you enter the value to be compared. The maximum value allowed in the Security Field is 65535. Examples: Security = 40 Will only do function for users that have a level of 40 Security < 40 Will only do function for users whose level is less than 40 Security > 40 Will only do function for users whose level is higher than 40 {+} Group: Identical to Security. {+}Birthday: Enter a month, 1 to 12, filter will be set to that month, if the users month of birth is the same, then its a match. {+}Comment: Here you may enter a string of up to 20 characters in length. This "Phrase" will be searched for in the User Comment field, RASIS will only do the function for records that contain this phrase in the comment field. Input is forced to Upper Case. ┌────────┐ │ Print: │ This Print Menu has to do only with Mailing Labels, and other └────────┘ USER related reports. *************************************************************************** IF YOU ARE SENDING A REPORT TO FILE, RASIS CHECKS TO SEE IF THE PRINT FILE ALREADY EXISTS. IF SO, YOU ARE ASKED IF YOU WISH TO "OVERWRITE" THE CURRENT FILE, OR "APPEND" THE NEW REPORT TO THE OLD. *************************************************************************** Test Labels: You are prompted for the number of label rows to print, it is usually best to do at least two rows, to insure that your Label Height is set correctly. A test pattern of four rows of asterisks will be printed on each label. Labels: Sends mailing labels, as configured, to the designated output destination. <> One Label: Allows you to print a mail label for one user. The user is verified, if they do not exist, the function aborts. Phone List: This prints a user phone list, showing the user#, user name, Voice and Data phone. This report uses your current Filter settings. The un-registered version is limited to the first 20 users on your system. Registered checks/prints them all. File Transfer:This one also uses the Filter settings, and is limited to the first 20 users in the UnRegistered version. For each user reported, it shows the Upload/Download: What you need to know, when you need to know it! RASIS 1.06 RASIS < Operations Manual > Page 20 Number of Files, kBytes of Files, and current File Ratio, if Files_Uploaded to Files_Downloaded. User Record(s): Uses Filters, in the UnRegistered copy it will only print the first user record, this is generally the Sysop. Upon choosing this option, you will be presented with another menu, where you can choose, Specify User {+} Continue - DEFAULT CHOICE Abort Specify user prompts for a user name, a report will be generated for this user only. If the user specified is not found, an error message will display. Continue, will print reports for all users that pass the current Filter Settings. Abort, will return to the menu. Deleted Users: Lists all users that are marked as deleted, and about to be purged from the user file. Usefull if you have utils that do this based on certain criteria. ┌─────────┐ │ System: │ See System Menu Below...... └─────────┘ ┌─────────┐ │ Output: │ └─────────┘ This is a box with Buttons, you make your selection in one of three ways..... 1. Select the button, press ENTER. 2. Click on the button with the mouse. 3. Press First character of choice. Printer - All reports go to printer only. File - All reports go to file only. Files are pre-named, and are listed in the REPORTS section. Both - All reports are sent to Printer =and= File. This is done concurrently, no further action is required from you. Comming soon..... Output to screen with pausing... ┌─────────┐ │ Printer:│ └─────────┘ Here you can Send FormFeed - Eject the printer paper. What you need to know, when you need to know it! RASIS 1.06 RASIS < Operations Manual > Page 21 LQ On - Turn on Letter Quality print LQ Off - Turn off Letter Quality print Reset - Reset Printer These are all specified in Setup. (SETUPSIS) ┌──────────┐ │ External:│ └──────────┘ Viewer: The Viewer entry will execute the program you defined in Setup, if none was defined a message will state this, if the program cannot be found and executed, an error message will display. Most commonly this will be "Dos Error 2" meaning File Not Found, in this case, check your field in setup, and make sure a complete drive\directory\filename.extension is given. You cannot run a batch file to use your viewer. Editor: Presents a Sub-Menu with the folowing choices... * Load Editor - Loads editor in current directory (external) The internal editor is of course in the current directory. * Edit Message - Presents a picklist of .RMT files, that exist in Template the Template directory specified in Setup. Highlight one and press ENTER. * New File - Prompts for filename, for a template just specify root name, no extension, for a normat text file, give the complete filename, you can also specify directory. HINT: If you're using the internal editor, specifying a directory, and a filespec of *.*, will load the editor, then display a picklist of files in that directory from which you can select the file to edit. * New Template - This will prompt for a base filename ONLY, and will create the (RMT) file in the directory specified for Template storage in Setup. For New File or Message template, you are prompted the same, regardless if you are using the built-in editor, or an external editor. The internal is a bit faster, as RASIS does not have to swap out program code to run it. This is especially important on older smaller systems, without EMS/XMS memory. These are covered more later in the Internal Editor Section, and Templates. Dos Shell: The Dos Shell puts you at the Dos Prompt where you can run another program or batch commands. Typing EXIT will return you to RASIS. RASIS releases all memory, except 7K for these calls, by What you need to know, when you need to know it! RASIS 1.06 RASIS < Operations Manual > Page 22 swapping most of itself to EMS/XMS/DISK. If EMS is available, it will use that, next choice is XMS memory, and lastly, if neither type of memory is found, it will swap to DISK. The DISK SWAP file is named $SISSWAP.$$$ and is given the HIDDEN attribute, but may still be visible with some programs. DO NOT DELETE! A program or System crash is very likely!! NEVER! Load a terminate and stayresident (TSR) program while you are in a Dos Shell, CRASH!/HANG!/BANG! Dos Command: <> This function allows you to run a Dos Command, Batch File, or another program from withing RASIS, without having it configured in setup, or performing a shell out of the program. Program code is swapped just as in the Shell, this only provides a quick easy access to your other programs. ┌──────┐ │ Quit:│ Exits RASIS to Dos...... └──────┘ ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │▓▓▓ SYSTEM MENU ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ When you choose System from the Main Menu, a new horizontal menu is displayed. This is where you generate reports on all other aspects of your RA system, and perform changes and Post Messages. *************************************************************************** IF YOU ARE SENDING A REPORT TO FILE, RASIS CHECKS TO SEE IF THE PRINT FILE ALREADY EXISTS. IF SO, YOU ARE ASKED IF YOU WISH TO "OVERWRITE" THE CURRENT FILE, OR "APPEND" THE NEW REPORT TO THE OLD. *************************************************************************** ┌────────┐ │ Files: │ Sub-Menu └────────┘ File Areas {+} File Groups File dBase File Areas - You will be prompted to report on ALL areas, or ONE area, if you choose ONE, you will be prompted for the file area number. File Groups- Reports on File Groups as set in RACONFIG. File dBase - Presents a TAG list where you may select one or more FDB (File DataBase Header) file(s) to report on. These files What you need to know, when you need to know it! RASIS 1.06 RASIS < Operations Manual > Page 23 are searched for in the HDR directory, under the directory you specified as the Filebase in the config file. If the list says No Files, then you should recheck your setting in the config file. NOTE: This report does NOT prompt if you wish to overwrite or append, if an existing report file exists, it is deleted. ┌──────────┐ │ Messages:│ Sub-Menu └──────────┘ Msg Areas {+} Msg Groups Conferences Msg Areas - Same as File Areas, you will be prompted for One area or ALL. Msg Groups - Does the same as File Groups. Conferences- Reports on any currently active Real Time Conferences set up on the system. This info is stored in the CONF.BBS, which will only be available if you run the PRO version of RA. Message Stats - Just a simple display showing High and Low message numbers, and Total Messages on Board. More comming....... ┌───────────┐ │ Languages:│ Sub-Menu └───────────┘ Language.Ra Rpt Dump RAL to Text Language.Ra Rpt- Reports on your language setups as defined in RACONFIG. Dump RAL - Select an RAL file, RASIS will dump it to a very informative text file for you. No printer. RAL dump files are saved with the same name as the RAL file, and the extension .DMP ┌─────────┐ │ Others: │ Sub-Menu └─────────┘ This menu contains all other reports available for RA. Events - Reports on your Event setup, days available, time, last run etc. Modem - Modem setup as defined in RACONFIG {+}Protocols- Reports on External Protocol setting, availability. Complete Information. Limits - Reports your LIMITS.CTL settings What you need to know, when you need to know it! RASIS 1.06 RASIS < Operations Manual > Page 24 {+}Menus - Presents a picklist, select one menu, or tag multiple and press ENTER. Menu reports are rather large, it is suggested that you send these to FILE, then view.... When sending to file, especially with more than one menu, its easy to end up with a .PRN file over 100K!! {+}Dump RA CONFIG - Dumps your complete CONFIG.RA to a text file, or to Screen. This is the only report that I have not included a sample of, for security reasons. I did not feel like going through and changing information. This will also show your keyboard password. ┌─────────┐ │ Tools: │ └─────────┘ Sound On/Off This menu choice toggles the Beeps and Bongs on/off. Current status is shown to the right. When you toggle Sound On, when it was off, two beeps will sound to confirm that it is back on. {+} System Calls - Allows you to reset the number of calls to your system. You may enter any value from 0 to 900,000. Resetting to zero is easily accomplished by simply pressing ENTER on the input field, 0 is the default value. The data entry box will display the name of the Last Caller, and the current value of System Calls, above the area where you make your changes. {+} Keyboard Password - Allows you to change the keyboard password, used for access to RAMGR, RACONFIG and in RA itself. Or, you can reset it to in-active. Pressing ENTER on a BLANK field, disables the password. Post Message- (some limitations when un-registered) Post Message allows you to send a pre-written and stored message file, called a template, to a user you specify. See the following sections on explanation of templates, and use of the Internal Editor. This presents a Data Entry box for you to enter the information required to send a message. * The first field is From: And should already have the name you specified in Setup, inserted there. This can be changed now. * Next we have the To:, this field cannot be left blank. It must contain a name. RASIS will search the RA index file for a match, if none is What you need to know, when you need to know it! RASIS 1.06 RASIS < Operations Manual > Page 25 found, an error message will be displayed, and you will get another chance. If the user is found, it will continue on as usual, no beeps or anything. It checks both User NAME and HANDLE, both are valid entries. Use a handle only if you have that activated in the message area you are posting to, else RA will not recognize the user, when it searches for the user's messages. During name/handle validation, the name is coverted to Proper Case, just as RA does it, except its not done while you type. @ALL {+} If you address the message to @ALL, RASIS will post a message to all users who pass the filter settings. It checks all filters when posting in batch mode, if no filters are set, then the message will be sent to "every" user in the user file. An example would be: to set the Birthday month in Filters to say 6, for June, then address the message to @ALL, and type a birthday message, or specify an existing Template File, RASIS will send the message to any user who has a birthday in the month of June. * Subject: Whats a message without a subject? Enter the subject line here. * Private: (Y)es or (N)o as to whether the message is Private or public. * Delete?: Do you want the template file, ???.RMT deleted after it is used? In most cases this would be no, and is the default. NOTE: If you write/send a message "on-the-fly" the temporary RMT file created is ALWAYS erased. IF you are batch sending with @ALL, RASIS waits until the last message is sent, then deletes the Tmp file. When sending to @ALL, it will NOT delete a template file. * Send File: Defaults to No, if you wish to attach one or more files to a user, answer Yes. See the section File Attaches, just prior to the Internal Editor section later on. * Template: What message file template (.RMT) to send. Pressing the F2 function key will display a picklist of files in the template directory, select the one you wish to send, and press ENTER. See Write/Post NOW! below...... At the bottom of the Data Entry Area, RASIS displays what Message Base the message is being sent to, based on what you specified in Setup. To a Hudson Message Base, it will display Posting To: Board #: ### d:\dir\msgbase_dir What you need to know, when you need to know it! RASIS 1.06 RASIS < Operations Manual > Page 26 To a JAM file is will display Posting To: d:\dir\jamfile SETUP.DOC explains this further, and tells you what to be aware of. Write/Post NOW! {+} (Registered Only) If you want to write a quick message and send it now, then hit ENTER while this field is blank (Template). This will invoke the editor with a temporary file, named TMP$$.RMT. Type in your message and save with Alt-X, you will be prompted for confirmation to send the message, if you answer No, the temp RMT file will be erased. NOTE: For Write/Post the Internal Editor is ALWAYS called, most external editors do not return an error code that RASIS can read, telling it if the file was Saved, Abandoned or what. NOTE: TMP$$.RMT is =ALWAYS= deleted after sending, regardless of the setting in the Delete field. Upon successful sending of the message, RASIS displays "Message Saved" , if you specified Delete Template, or this was a Write/Post, it will also display Message: <filename> Deleted. If there are any errors, RASIS will display a message telling what the error was. ┌───────────┐ │ F/U Mgr │ Sub-Menu - File/User Manager └───────────┘ This menu is created, or was created, by you in SETUPSIS. From this menu you can call your User and File maintainence programs, plus another external program. The conversion program, or SETUPSIS, with a new configfile, inserts the required variables and text for calling RAMGR.EXE for both User and File maintainence. You also enter the text to be displayed on the RASIS help line, when each of these menu items is highlighted. Calls to programs here, are supported with the XMS/EMS swap of the program code, leaving all but 7K of memory Free for your program. Note: If you use the default settings for RAMGR, your RA enviornment variable MUST be defined, or RAMGR will not work. Ex: set ra=D:\RA from the command line. What you need to know, when you need to know it! RASIS 1.06 RASIS < Operations Manual > Page 27 ┌─────────┐ │ Return: │ Returns to Main Menu, ESC will also do this. ESC from this └─────────┘ menu does not blank the screen. ┌─────────┐ │ Quit: │ Exit RASIS to Dos. └─────────┘ ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │▒▒▒ Message Templates ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Template files can have any valid DOS filename, but the extension MUST be .RMT (for RASIS Message Template), the extension is required for them to show up in the Picklist called with F2 when you are posting a message. Using Template Files is the only way, in UnRegistered mode, that you can post a message to the users from RASIS. Once registered, you can write a message and send it, "on the fly". Template Files (RMT) should be placed in the directory you specify to hold them in SETUPSIS. This can be any valid directory on your system. HINT: If you want to create a message template, use New Template from the menu, this takes care of all Path names and extensions. This option creates the file with a RMT extension in the Template Directory specified in Setup. NOTE: Currently, the Internal RASIS editor, only supports up to 500 lines of text. If you need to create larger messages, (really???) then you will need to specify an external editor to use. It is capable of handling up to 16000+ lines, but that uses more memory "at startup" when the editor is setup. Its a possibility that I will make this configurable later on. Creating Templates can be done from the External -> Editor -> New File, or New Template menu items at the Main RASIS menu. <> Message Macros: Currently 16 macors are supported while writting a message, or creating a Template File. If you are using the Internal Editor, these are available from a picklist, allowing you to paste them into the message/template. With an external editor you will have to type them in. A Macro Reference sheet has been provided for you to print out, MACRO.LST. See "Internal Editor" for Macro popup list. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │▒▒▒ File Attaches ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ RASIS allows you to attach one or more files to a message posted while What you need to know, when you need to know it! RASIS 1.06 RASIS < Operations Manual > Page 28 using the message posting funtion. (multiple files = {+} ) After the message is sent, assuming you answerd Yes to send file, RASIS will prompt for a file name, you have several options here.... 1. Enter a valid path\filename to send. 2. Press ENTER on blank field to abort. Note: The screen says that enter on blank will abort "multiple" file attaches.... but it works if just one file is being sent also. 3. Press F5 and a picklist will popup. 4. Press ESC to abort the file attach. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- IF YOU EITHER, ABORT THE FILE ATTACH, OR TELL RASIS TO "NOT" SEND THE MESSAGE, THE RASIS CREATED ATTACH FILE, AND ALL ATTACHED FILES IN IT, ARE REMOVED. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- File Selection List: This list will start in the directory you specified in setup as the ROOT directory for the file areas. You can move from dir to dir in the list, simply select a directory and press enter. Once you have found the file you want, press enter while it is highlighted, and that file will be sent. The file attach window will display again, repeat the above or press enter on blank to finish. You will be asked if you want to send the message. If you answer NO, the temp attach directory, and all it's files will be removed. RASIS creates a uniquely named directory using the time and date, with the extension .SIS. If your specifed attach directory is D:\ATTACH, the directory name will be something like D:\ATTACH\3847749.SIS, and the file(s) sent will be in the 3847749.SIS directory, under the \ATTACH\ directory. The temp directory name is derived from a combination of date and time factors, insuring a unique directory every time. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │▒▒▒ Internal Editor ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ There are several reasons why I included an internal editor in RASIS. 1. No program code swapping to load an external editor. a) This is faster on a system with no XMS/EMS 2. External editors do not normally return correct codes to tell the calling program if a file was saved or aborted. The program must always assume a message/file was saved. And even if they did I would have to cover to many editor codes to make this useful. 3. I can add special functions, specific to RASIS, to the editor if What you need to know, when you need to know it! RASIS 1.06 RASIS < Operations Manual > Page 29 I desire. Those of you who have used our program RATE, you know what I mean. These may be done later. For now, the Macro Picklist is a prime example of the plus side of an internal editor. The RASIS editor is a full featured editor, it supports Text Import, Text Export, text printing, reformatting of paragraphs, search and replace, and much more. Help is available in the editor by pressing the F1 key. The Help file is a simple ascii text file, with a specific format, and special markers. The help file can be printed for a reference sheet if you wish. The help file is named SISED.HLP, it needs to be placed in a PATH directory, so the editor can always find it. And you must NOT rename it, or the editor will not find it. The editor has two appearances, when called from the External -> Editor menu, it fills the screen from row 2 to the bottom. When called to Write/Post{+} a message, there is a Message Header display at the top of the screen, and the editor fills the screen below it. If you check the Editor Help File, you will see how to Grow/Shrink or move the editor window around your screen. You can have it as small or as large as you want. When you fire up the internal editor, unless you specify a file extension, it will always append the extension .RMT. So when you choose New File, from External -> Editor -> New File, to create a new template file, you would just give the base name, ex: giving a name of UPLOAD, will create UPLOAD.RMT, in the Template Directory. If you wish to create a normat text file, such as a memo to yourself, you can specify a full path/filename when prompted for the name. Ex: Entering D:\CHORES\MEMO.001 will create the file MEMO.001 in the D:\CHORES directory. The RASIS editor has many uses. The RASIS editor is always the one called when you wish to Write and Send a message "on the fly" from the Post Message function, alas, doing this is a Registered Only feature. RASIS will not use an external editor for this feature, even if its specified in Setup. The external editor can only be used from the External -> Editor menu. I will not cover all the editor functions here in the manual, the Help file is very informative..... but I will cover a couple that are needed when creating an "on the fly" message to a user, or a text file for that matter. Alt-X - This saves the current Message/Textfile and returns to RASIS ESC - This is the abort key, if changes have been made, the editor will ask to confirm that you wish to abondon changes. What you need to know, when you need to know it! RASIS 1.06 RASIS < Operations Manual > Page 30 ^KR/Alt-R - Read in a file, (import) lets you import another text file into the current message/textfile. If you enter an invalid name, the editor will ask if you'd like a list of files in the current directory. HINT: If you enter *, it will present a list of all RMT files in the current directory, enter *.*, it will list All files in the current directory. IMPORTANT: The RASIS editor has the capabilty to rename the file you are editing, also of saving the current, then loading a new file, without leaving the editor. It is "highly reccomended" that you do NOT do this when working with a RASIS template file, either when creating a new one, or writting/sending on the fly. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED! Message Macros: Pressing the "F4" function key, key will display a picklist of macros that can be inserted into the text. These show the macro, and an explanation of what it will provide. Select the one you want, and it will be pasted into the message text. The next section lists the macros, and other information. Experiment, there is lots you can do with this editor. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │▒▒▒ Message Macros ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ There are currently 16 message macros available for use in RASIS messages. These macros are interpeted during the actual writting of the message to the message base. Some information is gathered from the message posting variables at post time, user information is read from the user file. Some sample RMT files, using macors have been provided, see RMT.ZIP. One, MACTEST.RMT uses most all the user macros available, you might like to send that one to youreself, to see what it does. It also has an error in it, to show you what RASIS does with an invalid macro. The KEY character for a macro is the ampersand (@), when RASIS see's this character it knows the next on will be a macro specific character. Before we go any further, you CAN use the @ in the normal message text, simply use two ampersands, ie @@. This will result in one @ being printed in the message. Macros read from the current message posting session consist of one @ and a character or number. Macros for user info consist of the @ and a U, then a character or number, allowing us to use the same basic character for both types of information. What you need to know, when you need to know it! RASIS 1.06 RASIS < Operations Manual > Page 31 Example: @N gives the Message Addresse Full Name, while @UN, gives the Number of Calls by user. So that "U" is important. If RASIS encounters a USER macro, it will search the USERS.BBS for a name match, then read in the info needed for this message. It only does this once, if you have 4 user macros in the message, it will still only read the user info one time, but use that info for any remaining macros. The list that follows shows the Macro, What it is, Where its read from. If its read from the user file, it will say User Record, if its read from the Message Info entered, or the RASIS enviornment, it will say Message Session or System...... MACROS: @F First Name Message session @N Full Name Message session @B BBS Name System @S Sysop Name System @A Name of Attached File Message Session, 1 only @# Number of files attached Message session @UV User Voice Number User Record @UD User Data Number User Record @UL Date of last call User Record @UF Date of first call User Record @UX Access Expiration date User Record @UN Number Calls by user User Record @UU Number of uploads User Record @UD Number of downloads User Record @U1 Downloads in K User Record @U2 Uploads in K User Record Should you enter an invalid macro, RASIS will replace it with: <MACRO ERROR= @x> where x is the invalid character. If you use the @A macro, when sending multiple files, it will only show the FIRST file sent, there is no macro (yet anyway) for listing ALL the attached files. See the sample RMT file, MACTEST.RMT, it has an error in it, I suggest you send this to youreself from RASIS, so you can see just what it does. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │▓▓▓ REPORT NAMES - FILTERS ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ This lists the names of the reports, when sent to a file, also whether they use the filters, the pagesize (Setup-Pageheight) and if they use the Pre and Post print codes. At the far right, the chart specifies whether you can ABORT the report when being sent to the printer. NOTE: The Abort Print attempts to Stop the output, close the print device, What you need to know, when you need to know it! RASIS 1.06 RASIS < Operations Manual > Page 32 flush the printer buffer, and exit. If you have a large buffer chip installed in your printer, you may still get a lot of info printed. My printer has a 40K buffer, so I have to be "real" quick, or it will still print quite a bit, or all, of a smaller report.. Some of the files list TOFILE instead of YES or NO in the Abort column, these reports are always sent to a file, not the printer, so the Abort function is irrelevant. <> If there is a asterisk under Scr, then this report can be sent to the Screen Following this section there are a few tidbits of information on some of the reports, what they show and their basic format. Report File Names, print code usage: System Report Uses Uses Uses Can To File Name Filters Pre-Post Print PageSize Abort Scr ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ PROTOCOL.RA EXT_PROT.PRN NO NO NO NO MODEM.RA MODEMSET.PRN NO NO NO NO LIMITS.CTL LIMITS.PRN NO FORCES COMPRESSED NO NO FGROUPS.RA FGROUPS.PRN NO NO NO YES FILES.RA FILES_RA.PRN NO NO NO YES MESSAGES.RA MSGS_RA.PRN NO NO NO YES MGROUPS.RA MGROUPS.PRN NO NO NO YES CONF.BBS CONFBBS.PRN NO NO NO YES MENUS MENU_RPT.PRN NO NO NO YES LANGUAGE.RA RAL_RPT.PRN NO NO NO NO FILE BASE FDB_RPT.PRN NO NO NO YES ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- OTHER REPORTS: MAIL LABELS MAIL_LBL.PRN YES YES YES YES PHONE LIST USER_PHN.PRN YES YES NO YES * USER RECORD USER_REC.PRN YES YES** NO YES FILE TRANS FILE_TRNS.PRN YES YES** NO YES DELETED USERS USR_PAK.PRN NO NO NO NO * CONFIG DUMP CONFIGRA.DMP NO NO NO NO * LASTCALL.BBS 2DAYCALL.PRN NO NO NO NO * RAL DUMP FILENAME.DMP NO NO NO TOFILE " " same as the RAL file. ** Needs 96 CPL (12 cpi "ELITE") mode at least, 80 is not enough. I hope to be adding more to the Screen allowable list soon, some of these, that are formatted in memory, need major changes to allow them to print properly to the screen. I'm working on it.... Rand- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What you need to know, when you need to know it! RASIS 1.06 RASIS < Operations Manual > Page 33 ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │▓▓▓ REPORT FORMATS - CONTENTS ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ This section briefly describes whats in the report, and what, if any was left out, and why. Most reports are formatted for 60-66 lines per page, formfeeds are written to the file, (or printer) when required. There may be a spot or two where formfeeds "should" be, and aren't, but we will catch them, sooner or later! Some reports force compressed print, others just use whatever mode the printer is currently in. Any that will fit within 80 columns do not contain any printer codes. One thing that HAS been left out of reports, any CRC value that exists for files or passwords is not included. Also, pointers to descriptions in FDB header files are not shown. Also, message and file area reports do not show what areas have access to these areas, as a listing of this would generate MUCH more in paper usage or file size. It "could" be implemented if enough decide they need this info. EXT_PROT.PRN Display basically what you see in RACONFIG, one protocol per section. Availability and other information. MODEMSET.PRN Lists all the settings for your modem, as defined in RACONFIG. LIMITS.PRN Forces compressed mode, and lists the screen as you see in RACONFIG, plus the last date it was run. I don't use events in RA, so I cannot confirm that this date is printed. Please advise if it isn't. FGROUPS.PRN Reports on your File Group setups as defined in RACONFIG. FILES_RA.PRN Reports File Area information, one area or All. MSGS_RA.PRN Your message area configuration for one or all areas. MGROUPS.PRN Your Message Group setups as defined in RACONFIG. CONFBBS.PRN Reports on Real Time Conference information stored in CONF.BBS This report is only valid if you are running the PRO version of RA. If CONF.BBS is not found, an error message is displayed, and you are returned to the menu. This report is NOT all inclusive, I still do not have a copy of a full-bore CONF.BBS from an RA system that has RTC's. Development and What you need to know, when you need to know it! RASIS 1.06 RASIS < Operations Manual > Page 34 testing has been done with a "fake" file. MENU_RPT.PRN Prints out a section for each menu line. All information is shown, including the English description of the menu type. The only thing left out at the present is the information pertaining to what Nodes & Groups to which this item is available, and the times of day this item is available. These fields could add up to a page more of information, depending on the setup. If you find you need this information, yell! If enough Sysops yell, I will put it in. Or, I may make it a RunTime choice..... Highlight Attr is the color used to show keys between the ^^, which is why its displayed that way. Then the prompt text, color, and the Suppress Field is not accessed at this time, most people don't use it, and when its not used it sometimes gets filled with garbage. Menu Line shows which line of the menu this is. Then the Menu Type is given. The rest is pretty self-explanatory, but I will say something about the HotKey display. RASIS displays either the actual ASCII hotkey, or one of two other values. If the hotkey was assigned the ENTER key, it will display <ENTER>, if the Menu Item is to be auto executed, it will display <AutoExec> The last possible display is blank. If I hear that Sysops are using keys other than Enter for a hotkey, I will try and code displays for those in too. RAL_RPT.PRN Reports on the Language file setups in LANGUAGE.RA, path info, availability etc. FDB_RPT.PRN Reports on files contained in the database for the specified area, which you choose from a picklist. Some information, such as if its a CD-ROM area or not, area password etc. are not listed here. They are in the file area report, FILES_RA.PRN, so were not included here. This lists only files that actually exist in the directory, this is based on the file size in the record. This means, that OffLine files are not listed, we had to do this because if you, like I do, use separator lines between descriptions, RASIS reads these as files, and inserts a listing for it, but declares it OffLine. Make's a whole bunch of wasted entries..... MAIL_LBL.PRN You can send your mailing labels to file, and print them at a later time. Output is formatted just as though it went to the printer, and pre What you need to know, when you need to know it! RASIS 1.06 RASIS < Operations Manual > Page 35 and post print codes are written. USER_PHN.PRN An easy to read list of your users phone numbers. USER_REC.PRN The report format is similar to what you see in RACONFIG, but also displays the Flags that are normally hidden. Also displays the message areas that the user has set up for combined reading. FILE_TRNS.PRN Shows file transfer info for users, gives the following for files uploaded and downloaded: Number of Files - Number of kBytes - File Ratio. Ratio is in the format of Files_Uploaded for each File_Downloaded. USR_PAK.PRN Lists those users who have been marked as deleted, and are about to be purged from the system. FILENAME.DMP When you dump a RAL file to text, it is given the same name as the RAL file, and the extension of .DMP The report shows the listing format. It gives the color assigned to the prompt, HotKeys assigned, and the prompt itself. 2DAYCALL.PRN Lists the callers to your system, contained in the most current copy of LASTCALL.BBS. Output is similar to what you see in RA's display. CONFIGRA.DMP Dumps your CONFIG.RA to a text file, containing most all information available. Some, if available in another report, may not be shown. File List description format is displayed in Wrap Around mode on the report, if the line is over 56 chars long, it is continued on the next line, with a ....continued... message written in the left area. Recently added the display of the Default Combine message areas. More info is being added to this report, as we figure out what goes where, and the best way to report it. ****** Did I Cover Everything? ****** ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │▓▓▓ WHY REGISTER? ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ There are several reasons: 1. Gives you a good feeling, it does me... 2. Shows me the program is worth further efforts. 3. Helps support development and distribution costs. 4. Gets you the full version, no delays, no Register messages, and no limits on any reports. What you need to know, when you need to know it! RASIS 1.06 RASIS < Operations Manual > Page 36 What you get: 1. The latest fully functional Registered version. (if ordering on disk) 2. A registration code good for all releases. 3. A password with which to File Request or Download future Registered user only files. 4. Free access to The RaLin BBS, if you send the completed PREBBS.FRM 5. Full and free support. 6. My grateful Thanks! for supporting the program. Now, what more could a guy or gal ask for? You get a powerful Sysop tool at a reasonable price, full support, from a not so bad guy! <grin> MEMO: As mentioned in the last release, the registration has gone up to $15.00. This takes affect with version 1.06. I do not anticipate any further increases. It will remain at this amount for all future releases. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │▓▓▓ AUTHOR CONTACT ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ I can be reached by several means. Voice Phone: (510) 651-0253 Ask for Rand If you get my wife, or the answering machine, please leave your name, number, and a brief description of the problem, and I will get back to you ASAP! (See SUPPORT below) Net Mail: 1:161/710 -> Rand Nowell FIDO Echos: Shareware, RA_UTILS, RA_SUPPORT DOORWARE -> Rand Nowell Mail: Rand Nowell RaLin Enterprises Software 40728 Sundale Dr. Fremont, Ca. 94538 BBS: (510) 651-0253,,3322 Internet: rand.nowell@intellisoft.com (checked 2-3 times week) PHONE NUMBER: Our Mailer/BBS shares a voice line at the present, so connecting can sometimes be a problem. It also requires a modified dialing string. To switch to the Mailer/BBS requires that you send a 4 second pause, and a special code. The code is 3322 Most modems use a comma for a pause code, and most are set at 2 seconds per comma. Given the standard, your dialing string to connect to our system would be: 1-510-651-0253,,3322 What you need to know, when you need to know it! RASIS 1.06 RASIS < Operations Manual > Page 37 Now, if you use a long distance call service, you may require more delay time than 4 seconds, before sending the code. The main thing is that the pause and the code should be sent after connecting to "our" number.... With a mailer: I can only tell you how to do it with FrontDoor, due to our number containing the commas, we cannot have our number in the nodelist, so we are listed UNPUBLISHED and PVT. You can over-ride this in FDNODE.CTL Simply enter a line as such: PHONE 1:161/710 1-510-651-0253,,3322 or whatever you end up needing to connect. Then re-compile the Nodelist. Since the recession hit, I can not justify another dedicated line. Things are still slow, once they start rolling again, this is a priority! Sorry for the gruesome phone situation, but hopefully it will be fixed soon. HINT: Before setting up your Mailer to call us, and tring to POLL for a file automatically, you should try connecting with your COMM program first, the phone bill can get out of hand, if you put your mailer on auto-poll, and it keeps getting our answering system, instead of FrontDoor!! ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │▓▓▓ SUPPORT ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Registered users receive full unlimited support, if I have to call you back, it will be on my dime! Unregistered users will receive help, but if I have to call, expect a collect one. See the RASIS.REG file for our Registration plans. There are three ways to receive your Registration Code. FIDO Netmail Regular Mail Disk by Mail If you order on disk, we throw in a few free utilities too. NOTE: The FidoNet file attach is an experimental procedure, if it proves to NOT be cost efficient, we will be switching to DISK only shipping. See RASIS.REG for more information. Thank You! ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │▓▓▓ CREDITS ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Front Door Mailer: Joaquim Homrighausen What you need to know, when you need to know it! RASIS 1.06 RASIS < Operations Manual > Page 38 Remote Access - Andrew Milner, Wantree. My thanks for writing such a fine BBS program, and making information available for developers. Any other products. trademark names mentioned, are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. I wish to thank a couple of people for their help..... Mike Janke: For the help with some the more cryptic values stored deep down in RA's records. Also his donation of code for a previous version of his Dump Config program. I trashed my code, and he was kind enough to donate his for RASIS. A few hours of adding the new variables for 2.xx and some additions and it was ready to roll. Saved me a bit of work!! (still more to do though) Mike also help out immensly in lowering the memory requirements of the RAL dump, thus freeing memory for the rest of RASIS. And.... once again, Mike was instrumental in the implementation of allowing overlay storage to XMS memory. Much more help, and I'm going to have to start paying the guy a percentage of the registrations. <smile> Mikes a great guy! And if you have not yet tried his program RACE, Remote Access User Editor, you're really missing out! Even with my small user base, I couldn't pass up registering RACE, and have never regretted it! Jon Kent: For his help with reading the menu files. Check out Jon's RAMM, Remote Access Menu Manager and Flatline, the definitive RIP Editor/Painter. Both are "excellent" programs, registered and in use here! Mark Lewis: With permission from the one who counts, Mark was kind enough to create a "dummy" CONF.BBS for me, and send it along my way. This allowed me to at least make the report available, limited though it may be. Mark also made a few helpful suggestions and comments! Don Oldeburg: Don is the Sysop of the Missing Link BBS in Wisconsion, he has made many a call here to RaLin, to report bugs, send sample print files, showing me the problems. He has proven to be an EXCELLENT beta tester, though he didn't start out to be one I don't think.... <grin>, thanks a bunch Don! **** Thanks Guys! **** A special thanks to Mark Turkal of Abuser BBS in Fort Lauderdale, Florida for being the first to Register RASIS. Thanks Mark! Of course, my wife and kids, who are still putting up, somewhat, with my What you need to know, when you need to know it! RASIS 1.06 RASIS < Operations Manual > Page 39 numerous hours banging away on the keyboard. My wife says she's starting to hear "TAPitty TAPitty TAPitty" in her sleep! Ah..... the life of the programmer. And of course, to the Sysops who register..... Thanks for supporting further development of RASIS, and other RA utilities from RaLin Software. A final note...... I am pleased with the acceptance, so far, of RASIS by the Remote Access community. Sysops from all over the world have registered, even had one from Germany and Brazil both call LD regarding registration. Seeing Sysops go to this kind of effort to register my program, makes me feel like I have accomplished what I wished, to provide a helpful Sysop tool at a reasonable price. I will continue to try and enhance RASIS even more! RASIS is compiled under Turbo Pascal 7.0 - Borland International Libraries used: TOAPZ : Software Science - Just gets better and better. Object Pro : Turbo Power Software - Awesome Stuff. MkMSg Code : Mark May - Mythical Kingdom Software. Mark is probably one of the greatest things that ever happend to Pascal Programmers. His message base utilities and code are some of the best known, anywhere! JAM(mbp) - : Copyright 1993 Joaquim Homrighausen, Andrew Milner, Mats Birch, Mats Wallin. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Others : Sections of code are derived from Public Domain source, and a good portion are from libraries written by the Author. (only when I need to invent a NEW wheel!) ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │▓▓ Distribution Sites ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ The most recent version of RASIS should always be available at these locations: The Missing Link BBS The RaLin BBS Janesville WI. Fremont, Ca. Fido : 1:121/34 Fido: 1:161/710 1-608-755-1449 HST 14.1 1-510-651-0253,,3322 V32b 14.4 1-608-755-9876 Generic 2400 Freq: Yes Freq: Yes Sites that allow freq will have it available as filename or Magic Name RASIS. If you would like to be listed as a RASIS distribution site, please contact us with the appropriate information. Most RADIST sites should have the latest version also. What you need to know, when you need to know it! RASIS 1.06 RASIS < Operations Manual > Page 40 With this release, all our RemoteAccess programs will be going out to the RANet system too, allowing our friends in the UK, Europe and Asian countries to get them more quickly. Thanks for looking at RASIS!! ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │▓▓ <end of file> - RASIS.DOC ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ What you need to know, when you need to know it!