Monster Media 1996 #15

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Text File | 1996-04-11 | 24KB | 468 lines

10-26-93 Version 1.0 First Release ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10-29-93 Version 1.1 Released as SHAREWARE Added: 1. Ability to configure program via. TABS.CFG 2. Message to Sysop on ERRORS 3. Removed Source code from package 4. Added Donation options screens ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 11-09-93 Version 2.00 ********** CONFIG FILE CHANGES *********** 1. TMAN.EXE no longer required. 2. Added autoprompt of (C)ontinue for the Addition donations menu. Should reduce confusion about what to do after options screens display. 3. Added ability to add new SID's to your list of available SID's 4. When you add new SID's the SID file is packed and all used Sid statements are removed. 5. You may now name your active SID file anything you wish.... 6. Added ability to add the following to the caller notes of the contributing caller. TABS donation XXXXXXX On (DATE), X# Donation You must have the Caller Notes PSA installed for this to work. This PPE will write to lines 1 and 2 of your caller notes.... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 11-9-93 Version 2.01 1. Minor changes to the error message handling. Hopefully will make any trouble shooting you have to do a little easier. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 11-10-93 Version 2.02 1. Added more testing to the inquire command so that invalid numbers are not included in the Total Number of SIDS available for usage total. 2. Thanks to Marc Medow of Midas Touch for finding a bug that could allow a caller to enter a bogus number and be upgraded !!! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 11-17-93 Version 3.00 1. Fixed a minor logging problem that was causing the PPE to write incorrect info and then correct info to the TABS.LOG 2. Added a spinning prompt when TABS-PPE is checking validation numbers. 3. Compiled with version 2 of the PCBoard Programming Language compiler. Since this version is still in Beta test, I have also included a copy of this version compiled with version 1 of the compiler. The copy compiled with Version 1 of PPLC is called TABSV1.PPE and the version compiled with Version 2 of PPLC is called TABSV2.PPE. Please try TABSV2.PPE first (rename it TABS.PPE) and see if PCB 15.0 will run it It should (or so CDC says :)), if it will not run rename TABSV1.PPE to TABS.PPE and it will run fine. 4. Changed registration scheme a bit. See TABS-PPE.DOC for more info. 5. You may now specify the name of your config. file for TABS-PPE on the command line that runs TABS-PPE in your CMD.LST. If you don't specify the configuration file name on the command line in your CMD.LST it will default to TABS.CFG. NOTE ***** All of your configuration files MUST reside in the same directory as the PPE. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 11-23-93 Version 3.01 1. Fixed typo on the inquire screen. 2. Added the subscription days to the entitlements screens. Thanks for the suggestion Bob. 3. Removed the subsequent donations entitlements screen from the code. You must now enter the name of this screen in the TABS-PPE configuration file and the file must reside in the same directory as TAB-PPE. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 12-19-93 Version 4.1 1. Almost a complete rewrite...... YOU MUST READ THE .DOC FILE !!!! Multiple changes have been made to the configuration file. 2. Added the ability to use your own external screens and menus or you may use the internal screens (they are great :) ) 3. Added the ability for you to "turn off" the subsequent donations feature. In other words, if you only have 1 subscription level, and the caller enters the PPE and checks for the next level of upgrade, you can tell him that there are no other services available. The PPE will STILL accept a donation from the caller if he chooses to donate anyway. 4. Added the ability to use security level, and language specific menus if you choose to use external menus. 5. Changed all internal references to donations, to contributions or fees. 6. When you download the code from my system your name is stamped in the PPE and then it is recompiled. Your name is then displayed, along with the version of TABS-PPE that you are running as the caller exits the PPE. 7. Fixed a small bug that would always add "third donation" to the caller notes. This would not effect the access level changes, but would put incorrect data in your caller notes. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 12-22-93 Version 4.02 1. Found some minor bugs that caused some of the internal prompts to read incorrectly under certain situations. 2. Changed some prompts for configurability reasons. (Too hard to explain further.) Thanks to Michael Sussell of The Invention Factory BBS for many hours on the phone trying to get it through my thick head, exactly what the problem was :) I'm a little slow some times....... 3. Delay after exiting door cut by 3/4's 4. Registered BBS Name now displayed to caller instead of Registered User's name. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 04-21-93 Version 4.03 1. Home at last, thanks for your support over the last 4 months. Going to sea in the US Navy is never really fun but..... (its a dirty job.... but somebody's got to do it....:) ) 2. Improved the documentation a little bit, and also show the method for running TABS PPE as a door. 3. Added configurable amount of times you will allow a caller to "try" to guess at a SID. 4. TABS PPE will now send you a message when it is below a configurable number of SIDS (set this to 0 if you wish to disable this feature) 5. When a SID is used, the SIDS.LST will now look something like: **** SID XXXXXXX was used 04/01/94 by John Smith **** 6. Merging a new list of SID's into the SIDS.LST will no longer purge the used SID messages. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 04-23-93 Version 4.04 1. Fixed some problems where TAB PPE was sending messages on systems configured not to send them. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 05-10-94 Version 4.05 1. This version supports the new $25 subscription rates. 2. Worked on smoother multi-node support. 3. TABS-PPE now writes node specific log files. If you enter TABS-PPE on Node 1 the log name will be TABS1.LOG, Node 2... TABS2.LOG etc. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 05-28-94 Version 5.0 1. Changed the expiration date handling. In the past we just added the number of days you wanted the subscription to last to the current date. We now check to see if the user is expired, if he still has days left on his current subscription we just add to them. If he has expired we reset his expiration date to todays date plus the number of days you configured. This keeps the caller that subscribes before his account expires from losing days on your system. 2. Fixed logging typos (forgot space before looking in $XX file). 3. Worked on prompts colors a bit 4. Worked on standardizing colors in text screens. 5. Worked on more multi-node compatibility issues. 6. TABS-PPE can now create a bulletin listing of your contributors. You define the header and footer for the bulletin. (optional) 7. Install PPE written and supplied with package. 8. Caller may now download TABSINFO.TXT at either the OPTIONS menu or the PPE billing menu (optional) file must be called TABSINFO.TXT though and be located in the same directory as TABS-PPE. 9. Contributor may now download a receipt of their contribution (you may define the header for the receipt. (optional) 10. Updated/corrected TABS-PPE.DOC. 11. Added registration keys to the program. If you've already registered the PPE, call the Support Board @ 804-468-6454 or 804-468-6528 enter PPEDOOR at the main menu and create your registration key. That will be the last time you HAVE to call the board for updates. This registration key will be good for all future versions of TABS-PPE. 12. Registration for TABS-PPE is now available using the TABS 900 system. Call the TABS Service enter one of my BBS numbers to get your 7 digit code, call the support BBS and enter PPEDOOR at the main menu and choose option 2 (Register by redeeming Subscription ID) and the rest is pretty straight forward. Yes, you are right.... TABS-PPE registration fee is now $10. 13. Added the time the SID was used to the SID.LST to conform with True Media support software guidelines. 14. Fixed error where 3rd time contributor was being reported incorrectly to the Sysop, in the message sent. 15. TABS-PPE now sends the messages to the Sysop instead of the caller. 16. Unfortunately I can not set the Sysop's message waiting pointer as I would have to "GET" the Sysop's account with a caller on the same node. I don't think that it would hurt anything but.... I just don't like the idea of the caller being logged on with all of your account info, so no message waiting pointers updated yet. 17. If you answered 0 to disable the number of tries to give the caller to enter a valid SID as documented, it would still pass you messages. (corrected). 18. Many other small enhancements too numerous to report. 19. We are no longer able to compile this code with the old version (Version 1) of the PPCL. Some of the new features require code that was not available in version 1 of the compiler. 19. Guess you know now why this is a major version update :) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 07-10-94 Version 5.01 ***** Note: This version involves configuration file changes ***** 1. The TABINFO.TXT, and RECPT*.TXT files are now downloaded directly from the PPE. Note: For this to work properly you must have the TABS directory listed in your DLPATH.LST and then for your protection ensure that in your fsec file you have something like: DLPATH.LST ╔══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗ ║ Conference Name (#0) : Main Board ║ ║ ║ ║ Enter a list of DOWNLOAD Paths ║ ║ ══════════════════════════════ ║ 3) %D:\DISK_2\DISK_2.IDX ▒ ║ 4) %D:\DISK_3\DISK_3.IDX ▒ ║ 5) %D:\DISK_4\DISK_4.IDX ▒ ║ 6) %D:\DISK_5\DISK_5.IDX ▒ ║ 7) %D:\DISK_6\DISK_6.IDX ▒ ║ 8) %D:\DISK_7\DISK_7.IDX ▒ ║ 9) C:\PPEDOOR\ ▒ ║ 10) C:\TABS\ ▒ ║ 11) C:\WPPE\ ▒ ║ ESC=Exit Alt-R=Repeat a Line Alt-I=Insert a Line Alt-D=Delete a Line ║ ╚══ 11:42:07 ═══ 07-10-94 ══════ F1 ═ help ════ caps: OFF num: OFF ins: OFF ═╝ And in your FSEC file..... ╔══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗ ║ Edit Download Security File ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ ════════════════════════════════ ══════════════ ═════ ══════════════ ▒ ║ TABSINFO.TXT 2 NOTIME ▒ ║ RECPT*.TXT 2 NOTIME ▒ ║ C:\TABS\ *.* 300 SECRET ▒ ║ ESC=Exit Alt-R=Repeat a Line Alt-I=Insert a Line Alt-D=Delete a Line ║ ╚══ 11:44:21 ═══ 07-10-94 ══════ F1 ═ help ════ caps: OFF num: OFF ins: OFF ═╝ Please not the order that the files are in on the FSEC screen. PCBoard reads configuration files from the top down so this will allow the caller to download only the tabsinfo.txt and recpt*.txt files from your TABS directory. NOT your SID lists...... BEWARE !!!!!! 2. Earlier I stated that I could not get the Sysop message waiting pointer set. Well this isn't true. If you enter the Sysop's name in the TABS configuration files EXACTLY like it is on line #2 of the PCBOARD.DAT TABS-PPE will set your message waiting pointers when it sends you messages. 3. Changed time per day statements to read time per day/session, due to the fact that some people honor time limits on a per session basis not a per day basis. 4. Added an option that will add a configurable number of days to a callers subscription expiration date if he/she is at a level higher than the highest level configured. 5. Added case mixing to the bulletin generation module of the program. It will now write out the bulletin with the First letter of the contributors first and last name capitalized. 6. Callers may now go directly from the Introduction screen to the billing menu. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- September 23, 1994 Version 6.0 New features/changes: 1. Supports new PCB 15.2 Accounting system 2. Supports new PCB 15.2 Dbase III+ for logging purposes 3. We no longer support the 2nd upgrade level. All callers who submit a SID that are above the level configured will have the following changed. A. Add days to their subscription expiration date. B. Add credits to their credit account. 4. We no longer support the INSTALL.PPE..... It took as much time to write as TABS-PPE itself. 5. Cleaned up tons of code, removing about 1000 lines of now unused code. Then we turned right around and added about the same or more code for the new features :) 6. The format of the OPTIONS.CFG file and the TABSXX.CFG have tons of changes. 7. There is an option in each config. file that will allow you to set the callers subscription expiration date to 00-00-00. This gives you the option of having the accounting system in PCB totally control the downgrading of callers and take the subscription expiration date totally out of the picture. NOTES: Please see the TABS10.CFG and OPTIONS.CFG files for the proper configuration options formats. The way the Dbase code has been added to PPL is a little strange in that it doesn't track with the way PCB can deal with dates. PPL dbase dates are in Julian..... PCB dates are long integers.... (if that doesn't mean anything to you don't feel bad). What this really effects is this.... we set the expiration date to 00-00-00 if you choose to zero expiration dates and run a totally credit based system. This poses a problem for PPL's Dbase. The date 00-00-00 is illegal (out of the range) of PPL's Dbase. The way we get around that is in this manner.... we trim the date to the highest date recognized which is 12-31-99. So if you see this date in the Dbase accounting log created by TABS-PPE don't worry, the real expiration date in the users file is 00-00-00. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- November 3, 1994 Version 6.01 Bug fix.... 1. Lines 22 and 25 should have read.... Enter NONE to disable instead of Enter 0 to disable. This configuration options control the sending of messages to you when a program errors and/or a caller contributes. 2. Fixed bug where if you didn't have accounting enabled in PCBoard, TABS-PPE would not send you a message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- February 19, 1995 Version 6.2 1. Added the ability to use act on levels instead of UPGRADE levels. We used to have you enter an UPGRADE level on line 10 of your TABSXX.CFG file and if the caller using the program was at an access level less than that level the program would upgrade their access to the level on line XX. Now we use "act on levels" on line 10. You may specify up to 5 access levels for the program to "act upon" on line of the TABSXX.CFG file. If you decide to use more than 1 "act on level" separate the levels with a space. If the caller using the program is at an access level that matches one of these "act on levels" then the program will upgrade the callers to the security level specified on line 11. This change allows Sysops using what I called in the past non-concurrent security level to use the program. If you need more than 5 access levels for this new system to work for you please send me a message and I'll increase the number of levels. This also changes the way the program works a bit. But, in my honest opinion it seems to be less confusing for the caller. The program no longer displays the further entitlements screens. When a caller who was below the UPGRADE LEVEL (in the older versions of the program) he/she would first be displayed the entitlements for that first contribution, then if the caller choose to view the next screen, the program would display for the caller a screen of entitlements if the caller contributed a second time. To me that was confusing. So... the way it works now.. is like this. If the caller is at one of the "Act on levels" the first contribution entitlements screen is displayed (and that's it), if the caller is not a one of the "Act on levels" then they are shown the screen that lists what you give for contributions for callers NOT AT one of the "Act on levels" 2. Added the ability to add the caller to more than 1 "contributors conference". List the conferences on line 23 of the TABSXX.CFG file. If you choose to join the caller to more than one conference then separate the conferences with a space. You may join the caller to up to 5 conferences. If that isn't enough then let me know and I'll add some more. (Thanks for the suggestion Jose Frias!) 3. Callers are now joined to the "Contributors Conference(s) without the X (or Expired) flag. They are joined with only the R (Read), and S (Select) flags. I don't know why I ever had the X flag in there.. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- July 16, 1995 Version 6.3 (Skipped) Version 6.4 (Skipped) Version 6.5 1. Some little buglet fixes over the last few months. Nothing that would effect the operation of the program, just some cleaning up. 2. Increased the number of "act on levels" to 10 3. Added a trashcan feature. (Registered versions only). The first time this version of the program is run if a file called TCAN is not found in your TABS directory, the program will create it. In this TCAN file you may specify callers names who you do not wish to have access to the program. These names are case insensitive and are to be listed one name per line. I will be going out of the country for the next 5 months or so, and while I am gone I will be re-writing TABS-PPE. My goal is to decrease the size of of the program and its memory requirements. There are a ton of new PPL commands that have been added to the compiler since the last re-write of this program and I will be used them to decrease the code size. If you have any wish list items for the new version, please send me a message and my wife will get me the info for inclusion in the re-write. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- April 11, 1996 Version 6.6 1. Well, the overseas tour was WAY to busy to even start a re-write. I am currently taking programming classes in Turbo Pascal, and Turbo C++ and will be re-writting the program in one of those languages. This will include an native OS/2 version ! 2. I have switched operating systems to OS/2 Warp (LOVE IT !!), and found some minor problems with TABS-PPE. I believe some of the blame goes to the new version of the PPL compiler and some to poor programming in the early days of this program. The features were added and the following problems were found and corrected. a. Sometimes the callers subscription date was improperly adjusted. Don't worry... it seemed to only add 1 extra month to the callers expiration date. For example if you added 365 days to a callers expiration date on 1-1-96 the program would set the new expiration date to 2-1-97. This didn't happen under PCB 15.21.... and only happened every now and again under 15.22. b. You would get a "Unable to create TABSPATH/BUSY<node>.FLG" message when TABS was started. Another problem that didn't show up until version 15.22 of PCB...... This flag is a holdover from the days when we included an installation program with the TABS-PPE package and was no longer needed so I removed the code from the program. c. I a couple of areas we had assigned incorrect variable type for data used by the program. Thanks to the new programming classes this was a quick find and fix. d. Added some color to the spinning prompts :) 3. True Media was purchased by another company that from what I have seen plan to continue the TABS service pretty much the same as we now know it. They have also promised additional services. As more info. is provided, I will update TABS-PPE to add these services (whatever they may be. 4. My FIDO address has changed to 1:271/115 5. My BBS will soon be Telnetable (more info in the coming days). 6. Note on additions to the program....: I have had some requests to add batch processing to TABS-PPE. In other words, the request was to add the ability for a caller to upload a number of SIDS (Subscription ID's) at one time. I have resisted this idea because I can't see a caller dialing the TABS service 10 or 20 times to get enough SIDS for a subscription. If you had something like this in mind, I feel that you should probably consider getting a merchant account and going with a credit card type door. If someone can explain the functionality of adding such a feature to TABS-PPE I MAY reconsider... 7. I have run out of ideas for the program. PLEASE, if you have any requests for features send me a message and I'll do my best to add them.