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Text File | 1993-06-05 | 22KB | 477 lines

Network Mail Status (Postlink Version) ================================================================= First off I would like to thank those users who offered suggestions and made comments. Some functions and displays, even utilities, are the direct result of this input. This program generates a network import mail status bulletin showing each conference, 1000 maximum, and the total number of messages imported for current date and total to date for each conferences, total conferences and the total messages to date for the specified network. Also generates last import bulletin showing last import information: date, time, total messages import in last import and total messages imported to date. It also generates a network export mail status bulletin with the same format as the above import bulletin. Since the export routine contains all conference names it is run first to get those names so that conferences with zero imports are still displayed in the import bulletin. I could not find another way to get all conference names. Supports multiple networks. This program uses Postlink's export / import log(s). Single log file or separate Import and Export logs. It does a monthly rollover of the LOG(s) using PKZIP.EXE. There is an eighteen character limit on conference names, names longer than that are truncated. Starting with version 2.4 there are major changes in the way the program runs. Command line parameters have changed once again and options are now in a nine line configuration file. Requires registration to remove "Unregistered BBS" from bulletins. Starting with 2.6 you do not have to be in the directory with STATUS.EXE nor does it have to be on your path if you set the environment variable. This archive should contain the following files: STATUS.EXE............ Actual program STATUS.DOC............ This file STATUS.CFG............ Sample configuration file STATUS2.CFG........... Sample configuration file STATUS3.CFG........... Sample configuration file CLEANUP.EXE........... Postlink log reduction utility READ.ME............... Update/changes information STATUS.BAT............ Sample batch file FILE_ID.DIZ........... BBS description file SUPPORT.TXT........... Location of Support BBS ARCHIVE.TXT........... This list of files Syntax is pretty straight forward: STATUS STATUS.CFG Full path to STATUS.EXE may be used if not in path or in current directory. If you do use a path statement in your execution of Status (not in current dir or in path) you need to set the environment variable "SET STATUS=path to STATUS.EXE" (SET STATUS=C:\UTILITY\OTHER, etc. no ending slash is needed). It is not necessary to add a path statement to the configuration file since the program finds itself. Of course the file must be in location of STATUS.EXE. If the configuration file is not in the same location then use the path statement to it's location. "STATUS.CFG" and can have any file name with the following format. Paths to bulletins or logs are not needed if they are in or written to the current directory: (1) Unregistered BBS (2) 0000 (3) Postlink (4) POST1.LOG (5) C:\BBS\BLT7 (6) POST2.LOG (7) C:\BBS\BLT77 (8) C:\BBS\BLT777 (9) PCB CFG line #1 "Unregistered BBS", system name if registered CFG line #2 "0000", serial number if registered. CFG line #3 "Postlink" should be the name of the actual network you are using, one word and case sensitive (Rime, AccessNet, etc.). 18 characters max, longer names are truncated. Say you are making two different network mail runs with the same software, you would use those names here, each in it's own configuration file. CFG line #4 "POST1.LOG" is the path and name of your Postlink Export log. Lines #4 and #6 can contain the same file name if your Export and Import logs are in one file. CFG line #5 "C:\BBS\BLT7" is the path and name for your Export bulletin. CFG line #6 "POST2.LOG" is the path and name of your Postlink Import log. Lines #4 and #6 can contain the same file name if your Export and Import logs are in one file. CFG line #7 "C:\BBS\BLT77" is the path and name for your Import bulletin. CFG line #8 "C:\BBS\BLT777" is the path and name for your Last Import bulletin. CFG line #9 Color and characters used are as follows and are setup to give the sysop as much control over the output as possible. Not all users can read and handle IBM extended graphic characters (like sight impaired users and voice hardware). Program can use either "=/-" or IBM's extended graphic characters "═/─". Line #9 should contain one of the following options: "PCB" use IBM extended graphic characters and PCBoard's @X0 colorizing codes. "PCB0" use no IBM extended graphic characters and PCBoard's @X0 colorizing codes. "ANSI" use colorizing and no IBM extended graphic characters. "ANSI2" use colorizing and IBM extended graphic characters. "ASCII" use no colorizing and no IBM extended graphic characters. "ASCII2" use no colorizing and IBM extended graphic characters. PKZIP.EXE used by the Status Program "PKZIP.EXE" must be somewhere in your path or in the current directory. When the month changes in the export/import.log the program archives the current log into a file using 'ML'+ the current date (ML010193.ZIP, etc.). It also includes the current logs (1 or 2) and all three bulletins. It creates this in the directory that contains the log file(s). The program then rewrites the log using only the current new month's data. This way there is only one month's log data in your Postlink log(s). I have made a work around for the archiving problems with logs with Share being loaded. The work around is invisible to the user. The bulletins are added to the archive so that sysops wanting to see totals would have the last ones generated prior to the rollover without having to do so manually. With an editor it is possible to clip out the totals at rollover and create a yearly bulletin showing the totals for each month, adding them up and showing a yearly grand total using just as little as 12-15 lines. If you do not want the previous month's log(s) simply delete the archive from your hard drive. In your calling batch file you can add "IF EXIST ML*.ZIP DEL ML*.ZIP" and this will auto-delete the archive. If there are no imported/exported messages on the day of the rollover then a bulletin reflecting same is generated. There must be at least one meg of free disk space for the archive to be executed. I have no idea the possible sizes and if anyone has problems with the archive with one meg as the minimum please let me know and I will increase the size of the free space needed. I have been unable to trap PKZIP.EXE errors from within my Turbo Pascal 7.0 programs. I believe PKZIP handles them and does not pass them along to operating system. Errors Errors are written to the same directory as STATUS.EXE in a file called STATUS.ERR. If the file already exists additional errors are appended to the end of the file. It may be deleted after you have made note of any errors. It's existence it not required by the program. During the start up procedures that program displays "Searching!" while it is looking for the directory STATUS.EXE is located in. Also "Configuring!" while it is reading in and verifying the configuration file. These are to show the user what the program is doing should lockups occur. I had problems in these area and took some time to isolate them, at least now these problem area can be isolated. Normally these two displays should be very quick and unreadable depending on the system speed and it's and Status' configuration. It should be noted that when you start using Status if your Postlink log(s) are not the current month's logs that they will not roll over until the month rolls over inside the log. Say your log(s) are dated 01-15-93 and you start using Status in 02-93, no messages since 01-15-93, the log will still show the messages imported up till 01-15-93. If your log contains multiple months of logs when it rolls them over you will only end up with the previous month's log, the others will have been over written by the last one in the archive. Either that or you can archive the log(s) and delete everything up to the current month before you run Status for the first time. If you are making two or more DIFFERENT network mail runs the only thing you must do is make two or more different POSTLINK.CFG files, one with the name of the LOG file for each network so that ALL logs are not put into one file. I would have no way of knowing what messages came from what network in order to separate them. You would then just have a TEMP1.CFG, TEMP2.CFG and when you call postlink you just copy TEMP1.CFG POSTLINK.CFG, then on next run you might copy TEMP2.CFG POSTLINK.CFG, etc. A simple batch file might look like one of these: SET STATUS=C:\UTILITY CD \POSTLINK COPY TEMP1.CFG POSTLINK.CFG POSTLINK CALLER.CFG STATUS STATUS.CFG SET STATUS= SET STATUS=C:\UTILITY CD \POSTLINK Copy TEMP2.CFG POSTLINK.CFG POSTLINK CALLER2.CFG C:\UTILITY\STATUS STATUS2.CFG SET STATUS= Perhaps you want to make a bulletin with the PCBoard @X0 codes and one using straight ASCII codes and yet another using ANSI codes. The .CFG files would contain the bulletin names and the form setting (#9): STATUS STATUS.CFG (.CFG with PCB, uses ANSI codes and IBM extended graphic characters) STATUS STATUS2.CFG (.CFG with ASCII, ASCII and no IBM extended graphic characters) STATUS STATUS3.CFG (.CFG with ANSI, ANSI colors and no IBM extended graphic characters) You just call STATUS as many times as needed, with as many configuration files as needed to generate whatever formats you want. On my 386/33 it takes less than twenty seconds to run the program on a 6,500 line test log (from three BBS systems). This Program If you don't like the program please write to me and explain why. Send me any suggestions you might have. If they enhance the overall program I will try to incorporate part, some, all, in the next release. CLEANUP.EXE CLEANUP [path]logfile.ext CleanUp must be in current directory or somewhere in your path statement. You may include a full name and path to your log file. Check list of lines that are deleted to make sure it is not going to remove any lines that you want to remain in your copy of the Postlink log(s). This is not adjustable by the user, but your input is wanted on what is or what is not removed. Just type in "CleanUp filename.ext" or "CleanUp path\filename.ext" and press enter. At the end of activity the program displays the starting and ending log file sizes, starting and ending line count. The process may be lengthy depending on the size of your log. It can be run daily, bi-daily, or even weekly, which all depends on the growth of your log file. A program such as Do-Once can be used among many other programs for running programs on specific days. All that is needed to run CleanUp is as much free space on the log file drive as the size of the log or the program terminates at that point without making any changes. If your BBS system is critical on free space you can run CleanUp everyday to reduce the size of your Postlink log(s). The program removes unneeded conference exports with zero messages. It does not remove them all since the first of each name encountered is used by Status. First it keeps in memory each new conference name, when a match is found that has zero message then, and only then, is that line removed from the log. See list below of other lines currently deleted. It does nothing to the current day's portion of the log. It stops deleting lines when it finds the log date equals the current system date. It can reduce the size of your log up to about 60%, perhaps even more on some systems. Depends on how many mail runs you make each day, if you are a Hub, errors, etc. If your hard drive space it not at a premium or speed is not critical then you really do not have to run CleanUp. The main savings on time (both CleanUp and Status) would be gained the most near month's end. It takes Status time to read in and process logs when they are larger. Lines can reach 30,000 or more on a system with a lot of conferences. The savings would be most needed/noticed on systems that operate as Hubs for other nodes and/or carry all conferences. The log file reduction on The Running Board (RUNNINGA (#2)), Bonnie Anthony sysop, went from about 7 megs (70,000 lines or so) to about 2.5 megs (33,000 lines). Status was running real slow by month's end and the log was too large to load into most editors to view activity. After running CleanUp the log could be easily loaded into the editor. You log might not be this large, but it will reduce it's size. Currently lines starting with the following information are deleted plus any blank lines along with the unneeded zero message exports: <-starting position in log Attempt Corrupted error Error Occurred filesend sendpkt Unable to Undeliverable (Bi- error File received File sent dict.net pcbnet ppost Preamble Site Skipping Unable to Regardless of what is deleted the current day's activities are not altered in any way. Items deleted may change as I receive any feedback. Errors Errors are written to the current directory in a file called CLEANUP.ERR. If the file already exists additional errors are appended to the end of the file. It may be deleted after you have made note of any errors. It's existence it not required by the program. Current directory is wherever you call CLEANUP.EXE from. Status Registration The Status and CleanUp represents many long hours of programming, testing, updating and more testing as well as LD telephone calls to get it tested or distribute the release copies. Please support my efforts and register your copy. If you find this program useful please send BBS information and one of the following in U.S. funds only: Registration only via routed node ID................$10 Not a safe or reliable form of registration. Registration only via mail..........................$10 (outside U.S. please add $2) Better registration. Registration and latest version via mail........... $12 (outside U.S. please add $4) Include diskette size. FROM: Name: --------------------------------------------------- Address: --------------------------------------------------- City: --------------------------------------------------- State & Zip: --------------------------------------------------- HUB ID: NODE ID: ---------------------- -------------------- Phone(voice): (data) ---------------------- --------------------- Diskette type if registration includes current version (360, 1.2, 720, 1.44) --------- Your version number. If you have current version any version request fee is returned. --------- Please supply name of BBS to be added to program. It may include other data up to sixty characters. Anything longer than that will be truncated, no exceptions. This is to be on one line of code and must be legible since the serial number is based on exact syntax. I cannot be responsible for unreadable data. Please print. Case sensitive! Example: "Jim's Graphic BBS". In Status it comes out as the following in all bulletins generated (example is no IBM extended graphic characters): ==================(Jim's Graphic BBS)================== ------------------------------------------------------------- Your registration number, and any diskettes if requesting current version or other software, are be sent by return mail or via Rime and routed Node ID if this is your choice. James Huckabey 3621-A Fraser Street Bellingham, Washington 98226 U.S.A. (206) 671-2868 (voice) I do have a USR 14.4 DS! You can also contact me at: Corporate Headquarters BBS, Romeoville, Illinois. Sysop: Bob Neal RelayNet (tm): CHQBBS (#1255) (815) 886-3233 / (815) 886-9381 (14400 V32bis)