Night Owl 6/Night Owl's Shareware - PDSI-006 - Night Owl Corp (1990).iso/001a/bigard14.zip/BI-GARD.DOC

Text File | 1990-09-30 | 15KB | 347 lines

        BI-GARD  The Bimodem interface for Telegard  Release 1.4
                              by Alan Chavis



                                Disclaimer

This product is provided "as is" without warranty of any kind.  The author
does not warrant, guarantee, or make any representations regarding the use
of, or the results of the use of the program, and you rely on the program
and results solely at your own risk.  The author will not be held responsible
for system damage, loss of profit, or any other special, incidental, or
consequential damages resulting from the use or inability to use this product.

This program may be freely copied and distributed, providing it is not mod-
ified in any way, without express written consent of the author.

THIS INTERFACE WILL ONLY WORK WITH BIMODEM 1.22 OR LATER!  Do NOT attempt to
use it with 1.20 or earlier, as you will most likely mess everything up!  The
remote caller may use Bimodem 1.20 or 1.22.

Special thanks to Martin Pollard of Telegard, Dave Krause of Bimodem,
Robert Jackson of Modemlink BBS, Donald Butterfield of Butterscan BBS,
and the numerous BETA testers!  Without them this program would not be!

Please direct all questions, comments, and suggestions to Alan Chavis, via
one of the following BBS:

               Modemlink BBS               PowerQuest BBS
               [phone]               [phone]
               Robert Jackson               Alan Chavis
                 1:147/24                    1:147/55


                            THE BIMODEM CONCEPT

Bimodem is a really wonderful protocol.  It provides many great features that
benefit both the user and the BBS.  I have found that most users will take the
time to find something to send when using Bimodem, and that they upload more
often, because it does not take any extra time to do so.  I feel that it is as
much of a benefit to users.  As a user I can easily prepare transfers in ad-
vance, before I call the BBS, I can set up middle of the night transfers ef-
fortlessly, and if I see a file that I want while on-line, all I have to do
is tag it with my Hot-Key Utility and go.  I hate entering filenames, and I
hate remembering them even more.  What I hate the most is having to enter the
silly thing twice for uploads...Once on the BBS end, and once on mine!  Talk
about discouraging uploads!  Now anytime I see a file on my disk that I want
to send to someone, I just enter it into a Bimodem.pth file and let it sit
there until the next time I call that BBS.  Then I just tag a few that I
would like and start Bimodem.  EASY!  With the registered version, you can
add/kill files right in the middle of a transfer!

Why an interface?  Well the main problem with this wonderful protocol is that
when you set up an upload on your end, you enter the description on your end.
You could just put the uploaded files in the Telegard TEMP directory, but
then the user has to waste time entering the description after the transfer
(The worst possible time...I am usually asleep by the time its all over!).
So you have to get the description into Telegard some other way.  Just a
matter of adding it to the proper *.dir file, really.  And if you're going
to that, why not update the download counters and user data while you're at
it?  Bi-Gard is born.  Bi-Gard reads a special Bimodem log file, adds uploads
to the filebases, increments the download counters, credits/debits filepoints,
updates the system records, and reports activity to the SYSOP.LOG file.  It
also puts uploads into the current filebase (just like other TG protocols),
sounds an alarm when Bimodem is used (defeatable,name that tune), and can
determine if a transfer was aborted or not (among other things).

If after reading the docs, you run into a problem you can't solve, please
contact me, and I'll solve it for you.  Thanks for using Bi-Gard!


                                 REVISIONS

1.4  -  Corrected a bug experienced when upload path was on a different
        drive than other directories.

1.3  -  The 'U' option was not working correctly.  Fixed

1.2  -  If sysop hours were not declared, the alarm did not function.  Fixed

1.1  -  Bi-Gard 1.0 was not properly restoring the original Bimodem Receive
        Path after a Bimodem Transfer.  This has been fixed.

1.0  -  Initial Release

                            SETTING UP BI-GARD

■   Bi-Gard has access to the following files when it is running.

    BIMODEM.CFG     {The Bimodem configuration file}
          *.DIR     {ALL of the Telegard Filebase Data Files}
     STATUS.DAT
       USER.LST
      SYSOP.LOG
       ZLOG.DAT

    It is important to note that Bi-Gard has access to ANY *.DIR files in
    the GFILES path, whether or not they are used by Telegard.  The reason
    for this is that Bi-Gard has no way to determine what *.DIR file a down-
    loaded file is in, so it has to search EVERY *.DIR file until it finds
    a matching file record.  See Note below.

■   You will need to put BI-GARD.EXE, BIMODEM.COM, and BIMODEM.CFG in the
    same directory and set the environment variable BGCFG so that it points
    to that directory.  Make sure this directory is in your path statement.

    EXAMPLE:   SET BGCFG=C:\BIMODEM\

    Also, if your BBS directory is not C:\BBS\, you'll need to set BBS= so
    that Bi-Gard can find the sysop log file.

    EXAMPLE:   SET BBS=C:\PATH\TO\BBS\DIR\


■  To set up Bi-Gard, create a new menu command on the FILES menu.

    CMD letters  : /B  (This can be whatever you want)
    CmdKeys      : D-
    Mstring      : Bi-Gard A @R @D @I @T @N
                           Q

    The parameters listed above must be entered EXACTLY as shown.
    If any parameters are out of order, the results will be completely
    unpredictable.

    A  = Enable Alarm  or (Q = Quiet)
    @R = User's Number
    @D = Current Filebase Download Path
    @I = Current Filebase *.DIR file and path
    @T = Number of Minutes User has left
    @N = User's Name

■   All uploads will be placed in the current Filebase.  It would be
    a good idea to tell your users to change to the <MOST> appropriate
    filebase for files they intend to send BEFORE using BiModem.

■   You may wish to put all Bimodem Uploads in the same directory and
    filebase every time.

    To do this specify the 'U' parameter in the Bi-Gard MSTRING like this:

        Bi-Gard A @R U C:\BBS\GFILES\UPLOADS.DIR @T @N

    'Uploads.dir' should be a valid Telegard filebase, and it's upload
    directory should be the same as the one you specified as the
    default receive directory in BiConfig.

■   If you do not wish to limit the time, simply substitute a large
    number for @T, say 1000 or something.  This will not disable the feature,
    but it provides for a very large amount of time!

■   'A' at the front of the Mstring enables the Alarm, 'Q' Disables it.
    The alarm will only sound when enabled, scroll lock is OFF, and Telegard
    Sysop hours allow paging.

    Note:  This feature does not have anything to do with the 'Sysop Page
           Function' in Bimodem.  This is governed by Bimodem's sysop hours.

■   An automatic Bimodem detector can be set up so that all the user has
    to do is switch to the FILE area, and start Bimodem on their end.

    NOTE:  THIS WILL ONLY WORK IF THE USER IS USING BIMODEM 1.22 (or later)

    I use two different menu commands, one for automatic, one for manual.
    They are the same as listed above except for the automatic's CMD letters:

    Automatic CMD letters: ┬   (Alt-194)

    Manual CMD letters   : /B

    When a user starts Bimodem on his end, Bimodem sends the '┬' char. and
    Bi-Gard is automatically called!  This feature is available to the user
    regardless of the file area he is in, but Telegard must be waiting for
    a command (ie. not in the middle of a paused listing or something).

    I have found this to be a very useful feature, because as a user, I
    usually tag my downloads right off the BBS, shell to DOS and enter my
    uploads, and start Bimodem from Powernode.  If the BBS is not set to
    auto-detect Bimodem, I would have to exit Powernode, return to my Term,
    enter the manual '/B' command, shell back to DOS, load Powernode, and
    then start Bimodem. The Auto-Detect saves a lot of keystrokes!


                            THINGS TO BE AWARE OF!

■   Currently the program does not check to see if the user has sufficient
    Filepoints to download a particular file as there is no way to know what
    files the user will request in advance.  However, you can use Telegard's
    ACS system to require at least (X) filepoints for access to Bimodem.

                 (See also Bimodem Config and Security Below)

■   Having a pesky BIMODEM.PTH file hanging around after a local use of
    Bimodem by the Sysop is a bad deal, since Bimodem will use BOTH the remote
    AND the local BIMODEM.PTH files!  Bi-Gard checks for this situation and
    if it finds a BIMODEM.PTH file in the BGCFG directory, it renames it
    to BMPATH.OLD.  HOWEVER, it only checks the path pointed to by BGCFG!  If
    you wish to keep your BIMODEM.PTH files in a different directory, you'll
    have to find some other way to delete it!

    Hint:  Set up a batch file to delete BIMODEM.PTH

    You may wish, from time to time, to set up a transfer on the local end
    so that when the user calls, all they have to do is start bimodem, since
    you set up the transfer for them.  Set up the transfer normally, then
    rename the BIMODEM.PTH file to BI-GARD.PTH.  Bi-Gard will detect this
    transfer list and relay it to Bimodem.

■   When updating the number of downloads for a particular file, Bi-Gard
    searches each *.Dir file until it finds a matching file record.  It
    then increments the number of downloads and continues.  This could be
    a problem if a file is listed in more than one filebase at a time, as
    only the FIRST matching record is updated.

■   Bi-Gard may run into troubles if Telegard is set up to put dirfiles in
    the download directories of the filebases, as it expects all *.dir files
    to be in the GFILES path.  The GFILES path can be any valid path, however.

■   Bi-Gard will accept up to 3 words for a user name.


                          BIMODEM CONFIG and SECURITY

■   IF YOU HAVE NOT READ THE BIMODEM DOCUMENTATION, PLEASE READ IT THOUROUGHLY
    BEFORE USING BI-GARD.

■   Recommended BiConfig Options:

    GENERAL OPTIONS:

    Allow current directory access         N
    Allow filenames only                   Y
    Rename file if it exists               N
    Always verify when done                Optional
    Do NOT allow source deletion           Y
    Retain original file date              Y
    Do NOT allow full directory transfers  Y
    Do NOT allow sub directory transfers   Y
    Replace timer interrupt                Optional (see Bimodem docs)
    Replace keyboard interrupt             Optional (see Bimodem docs)
    Allow remote file requests             Y
    Allow local file requests              Y
    Skip transfer if same date/time/size   N

    LIMITS AND EDITING:

    Since Bi-Gard cannot check to see if the user has sufficient filepoints,
    it is recommended that you set the 'Maximum K Per Transfer' to a reason-
    able limit in BiConfig.  When this limit is reached, Bimodem will drop,
    allowing Bi-Gard to update filepoints, and returning to Telegard.  The
    user may then return to BiModem and resume transfers.  As long as you
    set up your Bi-Gard menu command to check for sufficient filepoints, this
    should provide reasonable security against file raping.

    Maximum transfer time is automatically passed by Bi-Gard from the amount
    of time the user has left.

    DOWNLOAD DEFAULTS:

    All 'No'

    UPLOAD DEFAULTS:

    All 'No'

    FILENAMES AND PATHS:

    Create a text file that contains the paths that contain downloadable
    files.  I use 'FILES.LST' for the file name and it should look something
    like this:

    C:\DLS\GAMES\
    C:\DLS\UTILS\
    C:\DLS\COMM\
    C:\DLS\MISC\
    etc.

    Be sure to include the '\' character at the end of each path.

    Then enter the complete path to this file:

    EXAMPLE:

    Directory or List of Directories that files are sent from:
    C:\BIMODEM\FILES.LST

    USERS WILL HAVE COMPLETE ACCESS TO ANY DIRECTORY PATHS LISTED IN YOUR
    FILES.LST  WHETHER OR NOT THE FILE IS LISTED IN THE TELEGARD FILEBASE!!

    If you have sensitive files that need to be accessed by certain users,
    you could create a special command on the file menu available only to
    users with a higher SL.  This Mstring would be essentially the same:

    HIBI A @R @D @I @T @N

    but it would call a batch file that looked something like this:

    (HIBI.BAT for example)
    @echo off
    cd\bimodem                             {or whatever directory you use}
    copy HISL.LST FILES.LST                {copy the Hi Security List}
    Bi-Gard %1 %2 %3 %4 %5 %6 %7 %8 %9     {call Bi-Gard}
    copy REG.LST  FILES.LST                {restore the Regular List}

    You will also need to specify a rejection path list.  You may use the
    same file that you used for the 'SEND' paths, but you will probably want
    a seperate file that includes your SYSOP dir and any other paths you
    want checked for rejections.  The format for the 'REJECTS.LST' is the
    same:

    EXAMPLE:
    Directory or List of Directories that determine rejections:
    C:\BIMODEM\REJECTS.LST


■   Again, when you are specifying filenames and paths in BiConfig,
    make sure you use complete paths for EVERYTHING!!

    Make sure the path lines in your SEND directories and REJECT
    directories lists have a '\' character on the end of each path!

■   There are a variety of Bimodem shells available from various sources
    (Powernode, for example).  Your users will find Bimodem much friendlier
    by using one of these, Although the newer utilities that are included
    with Bimodem are good.  A Hot-Key file tagger is especially useful.




                                IDEAS WANTED!

    If you have any ideas for useful utilities for Telegard, or other
    programs drop me a note at PowerQuest and I'll take a look at them.


    If you find this program useful and would like to see more from this
    author, send your donations, 3.5 floppies, job offers, ram chips, ideas,
    or whatever to:

                                ALAN CHAVIS
                               PO BOX  22078
                               OKC,OK. 73123