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Monster Media 1996 #14
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Monster Media No. 14 (April 1996) (Monster Media, Inc.).ISO
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bbs_util
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bbsedit1.zip
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BBSEDIT.DOC
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BBSEdit v1.0
Copyright 1996, Sergey Polak
DISCLAIMER
This program and other files associated with it are NOT
guaranteed to be bug free or virus free. I am not responsible for
damages of any kind, including profit losses and data losses, that
relate directly or indirectly to these programs and files.
DISTRIBUTION OF THE PROGRAM
You are free to distribute the program as long as you include
all the files in the archive in their original format. You may NOT
charge any fee for the distribution of the program, other than for
the media on which you distribute it.
INSTALLATION
BBSEdit will only work with Telegard BBS software v3.0 (or
2.99Gamma). You must also have DOS v3.3 or above. Installing
BBSEdit is very easy. All you have to do is put the two required
files -- BBSEDIT.EXE and BBSEDIT.HLP -- in the directory or your
choice.
NOTE: If you're running in a multitasking environment, please
read the section entitled MULTITASKING CONSIDERATIONS!
RUNNING BBSEDIT
BBSEdit can be executed in two modes: interactive and event.
Interactive mode is the one you use to edit the BBS list. In
interactive mode you are presented with windows, pull-down menus
and other similar devices. Event mode is used to run BBSEdit in an
event, such as nightly maintenance, to sort a BBS list and/or strip
high ASCII characters.
To run BBSEdit in interactive mode execute it as follows:
BBSEDIT [/T:path] [/L:filename]
/T:path - In order to run, BBSEdit requires access to your
CONFIG.TG. Unless CONFIG.TG can be found in the
current directory, in your path or in the path
specified by the TELEGARD environment variable, you
have to put the PATH to CONFIG.TG on the command-
line with the /T: switch. Do *NOT* include the
filename!
/L:filename - When BBSEdit starts, it attempts to load the file
BBSLIST.BBS from your DATA directory. If you would
like BBSEdit to load another BBS list, put the
filename on the command-line with the /L: switch.
If the BBS list is in your DATA directory, you do
not need to include the path. If the extension is
.BBS, you do not need to include the extension
either.
If you do not want to use the /T: parameter, you can create a
configuration file for BBSEdit. The file must be called
BBSEDIT.CFG and it's first line must contain the PATH to your
CONFIG.TG. You can put anything else in the file after the first
line, as BBSEdit does not read that far.
To run BBSEdit in event mode execute it as follows:
BBSEDIT [/L:filename] /S:by,order [/C] [/H]
/L:filename - The name of the BBS list to process. If you don't
include this parameter, BBSLIST.BBS is assumed.
See the /L: switch above for more information.
/S:by,order - This switch tells BBSEdit to sort the specified BBS
list and exit. The /S: switch takes two
parameters, separated by a comma. The first tells
BBSEdit what field to use as the sorting key. It
must be one of the following characters:
P - phone number
N - BBS name
S - Sysop
D - Description
E - Speed
W - software
The second parameter tells BBSEdit what order to
sort the list in. It must either be the letter A
for Ascending or the letter D for Descending.
/C - This optional parameter tells BBSEdit that the sort
is to be case SENSITIVE. By default the sort is
NOT case sensitive. In a case sensitive sort
upper-case letters come before lower case ones!
This parameter has no effect without the /S:
switch.
/H - This parameter tells BBSEdit to remove all high
ASCII characters from the BBS list. For the
purposes of BBSEdit, high ASCII characters are
characters whose codes are 0 to 31 and 127 to 255.
These include non-printable control characters as
well as ASCII graphics and non-English letters.
This switch CAN be used INDEPENDENTLY of the /S:
switch, or in conjunction with it.
When used in event mode, BBSEdit will not expect any input from the
user whatsoever. Error messages will be output to the screen.
USING THE PROGRAM
When used in interactive mode, BBSEdit allows you to easily
modify BBS lists in a friendly and powerful environment with a
context-sensitive help system. All options in BBSEdit are
accessible via the mouse or the indicated hotkey. The menu bar at
the top of the screen can be accessed by pressing the F10 key.
At the heart of BBSEdit lies the BBS List Window. This window
displays the open BBS list and allows you to modify it. You can
edit entries, add new ones at the end of the list, insert new
entries anywhere in the list, delete entries, copy and cut them to
the clipboard as well as paste them from clipboard.
Because of the extensive context-sensitive help system, I am
not going to explain the use of every single option in this
document. Most key combinations are self-explanatory. DEL deletes
entries, while INS inserts them. To add an entry use Ctrl+A.
Pressing ENTER or double-clicking on an entry edits it. Shift+DEL
cuts an entry to the clipboard, while Ctrl+INS copies it.
Shift+INS pastes the entry at the current location (similar to
inserting a new one) while Ctrl+V pastes it at the end of the BBS
list. The up/down arrow keys, PgUp and PgDown, Ctrl+PgUp and
Ctrl+PgDown as well as Home and End keys let you scroll through the
list vertically (Home and End go to the top and bottom visible
entry, while Ctrl+PgUp and Ctrl+PgDown go to the top and bottom
entry of the list). The left/right arrow keys as well as Ctrl+Home
and Ctrl+End let you scroll through the list horizontally. And, of
course, the most important key combination of them all: Alt+X
exits the program.
If you need help at any time, press the F1 key. The only time
F1 will do nothing is when you're already in the help system.
Getting around the help system is relatively easy. The arrow keys
scroll the text up/down and left/right. Text that appears in
yellow is actually a link to another help topic. The Tab and
Shift+Tab keys cycle through all the links in the current topic.
To go to the selected topic, press the ENTER key. You can
backtrack through the topics with the Alt+F1 key combination. To
close the help window press the ESC key.
ON MULTIPLE BBS LISTS
BBSEdit lets you take full advantage of using multiple BBS
lists with Telegard by allowing you to have up to 9 BBS lists open
at the same time. On certain occasions, such as when you are
running low on memory or under certain operating systems (such as
Windows for Workgroups 3.11) you will only be able to have 6 BBS
lists open.
BBSEdit's cut-and-paste editing allows you to copy and move
entries from one BBS list to another. Unfortunately you have to do
this one entry at a time at this point. Hopefully you will be able
to move multiple entries in future versions.
MULTITASKING CONSIDERATIONS
When BBSEdit opens a BBS list, it locks the file against
writes, so the contents does not change while you're editing it.
Unfortunately that causes Telegard to crash with a run-time error
if a user tries to ADD to the BBS list or EDIT it while you're in
BBSEdit editing it. This does *NOT* happen if the user only looks
at the BBS list.
To help you avoid this problem, BBSEdit creates a semaphore
file in the same directory as the open BBS list. The file is named
bbslist.USE, where bbslist is the name of BBS list. If the BBS
list's extension was .USE, then BBSEdit uses the .SEM extension.
Included in this archive is a sample script file that can help you
avoid the run-time error. In order for the script to work properly
you have to edit the Add and Edit commands in the BBSLIST menu.
Instead of executing the OA command you need to execute the -E
command, and put the name of the script -- ADDLIST for Add and
EDITLIST for Edit -- in the options field. You must also supply
the name of the BBS list following the script name.
For example, if you're using the default BBS list --
BBSLIST.BBS -- then your options must read: ADDLIST BBSLIST (or
EDITLIST BBSLIST) *NEVER* include an extension for the BBS list!!!
Here is the ADDLIST script and an explanation of how it works:
-----------------------------------------------------------------
FILEEXIST D:\TG3\DATA\@1@.USE GOTO INUSE
FILECREATE D:\TG3\DATA\@1@.USE
FILEPUT "BBS list being edited in Telegard"
FILECLOSE
MENU OA D:\TG3\DATA\@1@
FILEERASE D:\TG3\DATA\@1@.USE
ENDSCRIPT
:INUSE
PUTNL "`0CSorry, you can not add to the BBS list at this time!"
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The FILEEXIST command checks to see if the semaphore file
exists. The @1@ sequence refers to the first parameter passed to
the script from Telegard -- this is the name of the BBS list you
put in the command options field in the menu editor. It will be
BBSLIST or MYLIST or whatever the name of the BBS list is. If
FILEEXIST finds the specified file, it will execute the command
that follows it, which is GOTO INUSE. The GOTO INUSE command will
jump directly to the :INUSE line and tell the user that he can not
add to the BBS list at this time.
If, however, FILEEXIST does not find the semaphore, it will
first create the semaphore, so that if BBSEdit is executed in
another window it does not open the file, then goes on to execute
the OA menu command to edit the BBS list. Before ending the script
the sempahore is erased.
The directory used here, D:\TG3\DATA will undoubtedly be
different on your system. It refers to the DATA directory
specified in your CONFIG.TG. In reality this can be any directory
where the BBS lists are stored.
The only difference between the ADDLIST script and the EDILIST
script is the MENU command. For EDLIST it is ON.
On another note, I do not believe this script will work if
youre BBS lists's extension is not .BBS.
CONTACTING ME
Even if you don't encounter any bugs, please drop me a note.
If you have any ideas for improvement, thoughts, etc., mail me. I
can be reached at the following addresses:
NetMail: Sergey Polak @ 1:272/107
Internet: wp931085@pacevm.dac.pace.edu
BBS: Hometown's Glass Manazure BBS 914-496-4115
If you post on the TG_SUPPORT echo, I will most likely see the
message and respond.
The latest version of BBSEdit can always be FREQed from
1:272/107 under the magic name BBSEDIT or downloaded from my
Telegard page on the WWW, which is located at
http://ny.frontiercomm.net/~spolak/telegard.html