Monster Media 1996 #15

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Text File | 1996-04-11 | 18KB | 351 lines

FileIN! 5.6 Copyright 1996 by Chris Roberts and Patrick Spence All Rights Reserved. General Notes ───────────── FileIN! is the answer to file importing problems with Renegade. This utility will correctly import a TICK FILES.BBS to the appropriate *.DIR file(RG directory). This extremely quick utility has many features that make it the ideal addition to any Renegade system. It will check for dupes and make sure that the file to be imported does reside in the currently directory. It will update extended descriptions over 45 characters with a word wrap. BIOS writes can be forced over the default direct video ram writes for certain multi-tasking environments. It can optionally NOT purge the FILES.BBS file, if you wish to have more than one BBS system use the same file directories, this option is for you, as certain BBS systems read the FILES.BBS for the file description info. It can also be used on a CD-ROM to import descriptions. For users of Allfix, you do not need to have the description shoved all on one line any longer. FileIN! will read the multi-line FILES.BBS, and import up to 5 lines into the Renegade dir. 10 line importing will be added as soon as Renegade supports it. FileIN! is intended for use by EXPERIENCED Renegade sysops. It is possible to destroy data(incoming TIC files) now with improper setup of the archive configuration. If you don't know what your doing, ask someone who does. Patrick and I may be able to help, the number to Patrick's system is at the end of this document. Usage ───── Usage is very straight-forward as follows: FILEIN <path -AND- filename to a valid config file> <-I> A -I in the commandline invokes IGNORE mode. More on this later. Configuration ───────────── Run FILECFG.EXE, and it will create a setup file in the current directory, The name of the config file can be user specifed, so there are now two running conventions for FILECFG.EXE #1 : FILECFG #2 : FILECFG <path to RENEGADE.DAT> <name of config file to use> The second running convention is for those of you who want one config file setup to import CD-ROMS, and another setup for normal imports. The name of the config file can be any valid DOS filename. Option S is the Standard Options menu. The toggles are pretty straightforward. The menu is as follows: (A) Swap(run FIN.BAT) <-FIN.BAT is described below, toggle this to YES if you wish to use a FIN.BAT (B) Purge FILES.BBS <-If you wish to keep your FILES.BBS, toggle this to No, if its yes FileIN! will not delete it after finishing the current base. (C) Use BIOS for Video<-Pretty self-explanatory. BIOS writes are SLOW however. (D) Scan CD-ROM bases <-Normally, this should be NO, as CD-ROM drives are typically slow. You can turn this on to import the FILES.BBS of a rom disk you purchased. (E) Keep a Log Files <-The log file contains start+stop times, and general info on the file bases and the files imported to those bases. The log now follows a binkley-style format. (F) Convert Archives <-Info below, toggle yes if you wish to have them converted. (G) Custom Scan list <-When toggled to yes, you can select which bases you want FileIN! to scan, which means faster runs. See below for instructions on how to set this up. (H) Files Uploaded by <-This can be "Sysop", your real name, or whatever you like. When you list files in renegade, it can display who originally uploaded the file. This text is placed in that field. (I) Registered to <-Your name as it appears on the card with your serial number(assuming you've registered) (J) Serial Number <-Your serial number(which you receive when you register.) (K) File list name <-If left blank, defaults to FILES.BBS. For use with non-standard tic processors or wierd CD-ROMS. (1) Path to RENEGADE.DAT <- I certainly hope you know what this is. (2) Swap Path <- Ditto here. Option A is the archive conversion setup. You CAN put the archivers in this menu, however FileIN! will not attempt to convert any archives unless you have a valid serial number(which you get by registering). Working on Archive Entry #1 Remember: %F=Complete path+filename+extension %W=Work Directory created at runtime Success Errorlevel is generally zero. (A) Extension ID: <--This is the 3 char extension, ex: ZIP,ARJ,ZOO,SDN etc (B) Decompression Commandline: for Arj it would be 'ARJ E %F %W' or for an SDN it would be 'GUS %F %W' You MUST have GUS installed 'SDN' files. Do NOT insert a path here, the renegade archivers path is added automatically!! (C) Compression Commandline: again, for arj 'ARJ A %F %W' Do NOT insert a path here, the renegade archivers path is added automatically!! (D) Success Errorlevel: Zero for everything except PKPAK to my knowledge. For PAK/PKPAK set it to -1(ignore). You can install up to ten archivers. Renegade has a maximum of eight, the extras are so you can convert the pointless *.SDN files that you receive in certain networks to a identifiable archive type(such as a ZIP or ARJ file). To setup the conversion of SDN's is very simple. You create an archive type with the extension ID of SDN, and the decompresssion commandline "GUS %F %W" You must have GUS(General Unpack Shell) to accomplish this. The compression commandline may be left blank, as it is usually unused for this type. You SHOULD use the /N(ignore imbedded directories) when using GUS, as if the archive is allowed to extract to a different directory, FileIN! will not find the files that were in the archive and the conversion will abort. *** FileIN! converts archives to the type specified in the base setup inside Renegade. If you (M)odify a file base inside renegade, it is option 8. SDN's are converted by extracting with GUS as shown above, and then the files are re-archived using the type you specified in your file base. *** FileIN! does not change to the temp directory when creating an archive. What this means is, your archive could end up with a directory structure of 'D:\REN\FILE\ITCSDN\!FILEIN!.TMP\SAMPLE.XXX' on each file. To disable this, add the appropriate option to the compression commandline. This is one of those "Read the Docs" type things. For ARJ tho, put a -e in the commandline. FileIN! will convert an archive BEFORE it runs FIN.BAT, that is so you can convert the archives to whatever format you like, then extract the .DIZ and .SDI comment files(if any) from the archive, scan it, and add your bbs advertisement/comment to the archive. FileIN! will NOT attempt to convert archive types on CD-ROM flagged bases. To futher that point, if you try to convert archives that are on a CD-ROM, unpredictable results could occur. I have done my best to check for things like this, but without a CD-ROM I can't be sure. I would highly suggest you NOT try it. To go a bit further on CD-ROMs. If you have a CD-ROM that you are importing for the first time, you need to toggle "Scan CD-ROM bases" in Filecfg to YES. You will need to make a custom FIN.BAT that will extract the comment files to the UPLOAD path of the cd-rom base on your harddrive, not the current directory as you would normally do. If a file base is set with the CD-ROM flag, after running FIN.BAT it will search there for comment files. CD-ROM bases are passed a third paramater. %3 is the upload path for the current file base with a trailing '\', use that to extract comment files. %3 is ONLY passed when you are scanning a CD-ROM base. When using a FIN.BAT or archive conversion, you should have the commandline that runs the archiver instuct it to assume YES on all queries. This is to prevent something like "File XXXX.XXX exists, overwrite?" from happening when FileIN! is spawned out, which would most likely hang your system all day. FileIN! fully supports 4dos's memory(.BTM) batch files, just rename your FIN.BAT to FIN.BTM and make any necessary changes(4dos has many batch file enhancements). Option M is the message posting setup. The menu is as follows: (A)Message Posted by : <-Typically sysop's name or "The Anonymous Announcer" etc. (B)Message Posted to : <-All, My Users, etc etc (C)Message Subject : <-"Newly Imported Files" or whatever. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (D)Scan Allfix bases : !!!!!!!!!!!!DO NOT MESS WITH THIS YET!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (E)Strip Pipe Codes : Toggle to yes to make filein strip ALL pipe codes from posted messages. (F)Posting Active : <-Toggle to YES to enable posting. The message itself is slightly configurable on this release. The two text files, HEADER.TXT, and FOOTER.TXT, go in the \MISC or \AFILES directory (if you dont know what this is, its in your renegade system config). You may edit these messages as you like, both support only TWO mci codes, time(%TI) and date(%DA). HEADER.TXT is imported before FileIN! begins scanning bases, FOOTER.TXT is imported just before the final tear line. Option T is the Tag lists setup. This is where you tell FileIN! a little more about your systems setup. Note that ALL tag lists are optional, but that at least one TWO must be setup to use message posting, and 3 to use a custom tag list. The menu presents you with 5 choices, only the first 3 are active. 1) File bases to scan during run 2) File bases to put in message 3) Bases to post message in 4) Allfix <reserved and not active> 5) Allfix <reserved and not active> Tag list number one allows you to select which file bases you want filein to check for non-imported files. Usually, you specify only network bases on this list to make filein run faster. Note, if you set this list up, you must enable it by toggle "Use Custom Scan list" in the (S)ystem Configuration menu to YES. Tag list two lets you pick only those bases that you want put in an announcement message. You can leave off nodelist bases, general text, and the like to make your messages smaller. Note that these bases still get imported normally, the files simply don't get put into the announcement message. Tag list three is totally new. Now that message posting is INTERNAL, you can have it post your message in as many bases as you like. I have it tagged to post in my local new files received base, as well as a network base used for new file announcements. You can tag as many bases as you like. As with all tag lists, you can use alt-T and alt-U to turn all bases ON or OFF respectively. Hitting space will toggle any single base on or off, and a small box denotes those bases tagged ON. FIN.BAT ─────── Well, major addition to the flexibility of FileIN!. You can now scan inbound SDN files for virii, insert BBS comments, and import the FILE_ID.DIZ or DESC.SDI inside an archive if it exists. Setting it all up is quite simple. You make a batch file, filename is FIN.BAT, and use that to perform all desired operations. Two parameters are passed to FIN.BAT, %1 is the complete path+filename and extension. %2 is the extension only. %1 is used for the DIZ file extraction, you can do something like this in the batch file. if %2=ZIP then pkunzip %1 FILE_ID.DIZ DESC.SDI if %2=ARJ then ARJ e %1 FILE_ID.DIZ DESC.SDI etc etc. You can add as many archivers as you want. You may also run SCAN, TBAV or THDPRO on the archive, and if it contains a virus, you may delete it by simply doing a DEL %1. After FIN.BAT has finished, if the file no longer exists it is skipped and operation continues as normal. Two sample batch files are included, one requires THDPRO to be installed on your system. If you DON'T have THDPRO, consider installing it, it's an excellent package! Remember that even though the sample batch files are named SAMPLE1.BAT and SAMPLE2.BAT, you will STILL need to name your batch file FIN.BAT (or FIN.BTM for 4dos or nDos users). Restriction on FIN.BAT ────────────────────── When extracting .DIZ or DESC.SDI files, they MUST be extracted to the current directory. You can use the lines above in your batch file, or, if you have GUS you can do this GUS %1 FILE_ID.DIZ DESC.SDI As far as scanning is concerned...if you delete the file(del %1) when filein returns from running the batch file, it will skip the entry if the file no longer exists. FIN.BAT or FIN.BTM(4dos batch) must exist either in the current directory or in a directory in your PATH statement. Swapping to run FIN.BAT is disabled if toggle 'Run FIN.BAT' is no in the options menu, or the swap path you specified cannot be located. You need to give filein as much ram as possible. Certain compressors, like ARJ, require large amounts of ram for initialization. If you decide to run THDPRO in your batch file, you'll need even more. FileIN! does swap, however I'd say 200k at the absolute minimum, more(around 420+) would be ideal. The swap routines have been known to blow up if they run out of ram, so if filein locks, try to free up more memory. Minor Glitch fixes, etc etc. Overall, its much more stable than before. Ignore Mode ─────────── Ignore mode is a special mode that filein can use to import a files.bbs that does not have the files listed in the files.bbs. If you say, had a list of files that you intended to download in several parts, but got the files.bbs early..you could import the files, using ignore mode. The ignore mode sets ALL imported files to "Offline Request" status in renegade. When/if the files you are expecting come in, renegade can fix the offline status with a cmdkey *5. Special Precautions ─────────────────── FileIN! is now fully multi-node capable. I have been able to run it under DesqView/X with 3 windows open, two running renegade, with no problems. However, you should still make freqent backups of crucial data (the \DATA or \GFILES directory is of utmost importance). Bugs + Suggestions ────────────────── I have tested FileIN! to the best of my ability, however with my fairly rushed schedule I'm not going to promise that its perfect. I haven't had any problems reported by the testing sites, but if you do come across a problem, document it including if applicable the runtime error number, and the address, ex 0000:FFE7. Runtime errors are now trapped in a file called FILEIN.ERR. If you have a runtime error, send this file to Patrick, his BBS #/network addresses are at the bottom of this document. I owe a LOT to many people for testing, particularly Patrick Spence(gave me the idea for FIN.BAT), Steve Zapatka(loyal tester), Dan Jones, Joe Farrell, Richard Rector, Frank Ward, Fred Cohen, and countless others who have expressed interest and have helped test the beta versions. Thanks to all. Legal Stuff ─────────── FileIN! is *FREE*. Yes, something for nothing, like all my utils. I am not under ANY circumstances responsible for damage to ANYTHING that results from the use or misuse of FILEIN.EXE, FILECFG.EXE, or any associated files that are used with filein. Please read REGISTER.DOC, but your only investment will be a postcard. You NEED to send that postcard if you plan on using the new features, as this version of FileIN! will only run fully with a valid serial number. FileIN! is Copyrighted material by Chris Roberts and Patrick Spence, you are given permission to reproduce and distribute the main ARCHIVE (ZIP, ARJ, or whatever format it's in) as long as the original contents are NOT altered in ANY way. You may NOT charge for the distribution of this file other than a disk duplication/postage charge. You may NOT add, remove, or modify files from the original archive created by Chris Roberts. You may NOT place FileIN! in a collection of utilites being sold for profit(example, placing FileIN! on a CD-ROM for sale to sysops) without prior written consent by Chris Roberts or Patrick Spence. My address is in UPDATE.DOC, contact me if necessary. Permission for this type of distribution is not a hassle and can usually be faxed out to you within a day of receipt of your request. This program uses a customized version of Ralf Brown's SPAWNO routines to minimize memory use while running other programs or shelling to DOS. Might I add its a darn good swapper routine :) Special thanks to Patrick Spence of Hawk's Aerie, Fred Cohen of DemoSoft, and Steve Zapatka of Crazy BBS for testing the program and reporting bugs. Bug Reports ─────────── Bug reports should be sent to Chris Roberts. Various methods of contact are: Email: halatos@azbiz.net WWW : http://www.azbiz.net/~halatos Note, my BBS is no longer up to the public , and I am no longer a member of ITCnet(or any net for that matter) :) And keep in mind, my email box is always open and waiting for suggestions and problem reports.