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Monster Media 1996 #15
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Monster Media Number 15 (Monster Media)(July 1996).ISO
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PAGE.DOC
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1996-02-12
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PAGE.DOC
Running Page.exe with SPITFIRE V3.5 or 3.51
PAGE - Version 1.5 by
Jeremy Kettelhohn, 1995
A JMP Production
INTRO.
I wrote this program out of frustration that I kept forgetting to turn my page
on or off. I couldn't find a program or anything in spitfire that I could
schedule the page to be turned on or off. So we scrapped a couple of projects
and turned to writing this program. This program is not very complex. Most
of the code is to attempt to make it Idiot Proof. There are still places
where things could go wrong like PAGE.CFG and TIMES.DAT are setup wrong. This
program is freeware because anyone with any PASCAL programming I'm
sure could write this just as easy as I did. If anyone is interested in
seeing the source code or would like the source code contact me. I'm sure
someone could easily clean up the code make it more efficient, and better to
suit there needs. I wrote it to suit my needs. But will make changes so any
SPITFIRE BBS can run it. Also thanks to Mike Woltz who wrote what I think to
be the best bbs software in the world. Also thanks to Mike for releasing
certain aspects of SPITFIRE that made this program possible. I also include
the source so if someone would like to recompile and have output telling the
sysop that it ran okay. If there is a problem when it runs it beeps and
writes to a file called errorlog. If you can't get the error to work itself
out please contact me and i'll help you out.
RUNNING PAGE WITH SPITFIRE v3.5 or V3.51 WITHOUT FRONT DOOR UTILITY
The easiest way to run page within spitfire, is to have it placed before
spitfire is loaded. The reason I recomend this is on how spitfire determines
when the page is on or off. If it is before your command to call spitfire it
will even turn the page on and off after a user has exited a door. See the
example below. My recomendation is not mandetory. But it will not work in
the SFLOGON.BAT file. If you still don't want to place it before spitfire
is loaded I suggest placing it in your SFINIT.BAT
{EXAMPLE}
:LOOP
c:
CD\spitfire\Page
Page or {optional Page page.cfg}
CD\Spitfire
Echo Booting SPITFIRE Bulletin Board System
SPITFIRE /C0 0
RUNNING PAGE WITH SPITFIRE V3.5 OR V3.51 WITH A FRONT DOOR UTILITY
For those of you running a Front Door utility I recommend the followin.
I recomend to call page before you load spitfire. Yes it works that way
even if you are passing parameters. In the Example below is how I call
spitfire from my EXEBBS.BAT file. I don't know enough about other Front
Door utilities to recommend on how to run it. I use Front Door V 2.20.
If you are having trouble please contact me via one of my listed support
areas.
{EXAMPLE}
:LOOP
C:
cd\spitfire\page
rem page page.cfg
CD\Spitfire
ECHO LOADING SPITFIRE BULLETIN BOARD SYSTEM
SPITFIRE.EXE %1 /C1 /T%3
GOTO CONT
As you can see I pass with no problems from Front door Three parameters.
INSTALLING PAGE
The only thing you need to run this is PAGE.EXE, PAGE.CFG, and
TIMES.DAT. These can be in there own directory if you wish or in the
SPITFIRE system directory.
SETTING UP PAGE.CFG
This is the easiest part. Use your favorite ASCII text editor to edit PAGE.CFG
Sample PAGE.CFG with Comments.
C:\SF\Page {This line tells Page where to look for Its files or Times.dat}
C:\SF\ {This Line tells Page where Spitfire System Files are}
In future versions since I only use two lines from Page.cfg I may make them
Command line Parameters.
SETTING UP TIMES.DAT
This is a little harder. The longer your Times.dat is the longer it may take
to finish the program. I would suspect that the file would have to be pretty
long and on a slow computer before a noticeable wait occurs.
Sample TIMES.DAT
Monday 11:00 PM off
Tuesday 8:00 am on
Wednesday 10:00 am on
Tuesday 5:00 PM off
The only absolute musts of TIMES.DAT that must be followed for now are
that after the day of the week there must be a space. There must be a :
between the hour and Minute, and there must be spaces separating the
AM/PM and the status of the page.
There is no requirement for the order that the days are listed. It just
trudges through the TIMES.DAT file and checks each line. But it takes the
last Day, Time and Status for the page. So if you had.
Tuesday 7:00 am on
Tuesday 8:00 am off
Tuesday 7:30 am on
If Page was ran on Tuesday After 8:00 AM it would be on at the end of the
program. It will be On because the last thing it checked was that on Tuesday
at 7:30 am it was suppose to be on.
Another problem encountered during testing was that if the day of the week
was not spelled right it would ignore that day. So if you misspelled
Wednesday as Wednsday it would not do anything for that line.
A short coming of the program is that if a user calls one minute before the
page is to be turned off it won't be. I currently don't shut off the page if
the time to turn it on or off is close. Future versions may allow for the
user to specify a leeway of time that they would like the program to turn on
and off the page if it is say 15 minutes away.
RUNNING PAGE
Currently to run page is no problem. If your PAGE.CFG and TIMES.DAT are
in the same directory as Page then all you need to do is put the following in
a batch file or from the DOS prompt.
CD\SF\PAGE
PAGE
If your config is in a different directory from page please call page like the
following.
Page Page.cfg
That's it! It should run and change your Page in SPITFIRE. No more
forgetting to turn your page on and off it will do it for you if you put the
day time and if you want it turned on or off.
PROBLEMS
Pretty easy right. If not give me a call on my bbs {IF its up} or a Voice
call and we'll se if we can't fix your problem. I can also be reached via
Fidonet and Internet Mail.
Internet Mail
jjkettel@alpha.delta.edu
Fido-net
I check the Spitfire conferences quite often or the Pascal and Door Games
conference. I would only use Fido-net if you can't afford to call me or if you
don't have access to Internet Mail.
Sloth Stone BBS
(517)839-0532
{Currently operational sporadically. Hoping to get it up full time again soon}
Voice line if the bbs is not up is (517)839-0532
SPITFIRE.EXE, SFINIT.BAT, SF.BAT Are copyrighted
by Mike Woltz 187-1995
by Buffalo Creek Software