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Night Owl 6
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Night Owl's Shareware - PDSI-006 - Night Owl Corp (1990).iso
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033a
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bbscomp4.zip
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README4
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1991-12-27
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LEGALITIES
This product is not FREE, it is being distributed as Shareware.
This means you are granted a limited license to evaluate this
product. If, after a 30 day trial period, you are still using
this program, you are required to register it. Registered users
will be advised of upgrades and changes in documentation.
This program does constitute numerous hours of developement on my
part. I certainly don't think I'll get rich via distributing this
program, but I would appreciate a small registration fee if you
find this program of value. Registration fees and suggestions for
enhancements are gratefully accepted. I don't think that a $5 fee
is unreasonable, do you? I can be reached via E-mail on Exec-PC,
Milwaukee, which I might add, in my personal "un-biased" opinion,
is THE best BBS in the country! (414) 789-4210. Thanks!
I claim no responsibilities for any damage incurred as a result of
using this program. I reserve all rights to this program.
(c) 1989,1990 Gary L. Vandenberg
977 S. 56th St.
Milwaukee, WI 53214
RELEASE 4!
Yes, folks, I made it! The response to Versions 1 & 2 was so
overwhelming, and release 3 never made it to the boards, Release 4
is now available! It now prompts you for sorting prior to
performing the compare that gives the Up and Down load
opportunities. This should eliminate the step of externally
sorting your files prior to running the program. I'm now using an
superb sorting algorythm so you should see some performance
improvement there (my tests sorted a 6000 line file in about 8
seconds). The input file size limit is 10,000 records, I'm still
struggling with how to increase this. For the time being, if your
file is larger than this, there are plenty of sort utilities that
can pre-sort your file before running BBSCOMP. Enjoy!
OVERVIEW
This program is intended to assist the more-avid BBS'er. It reads
in the your file list and the BBS's file list, and then produces
three output files. The first file, UL.DAT, shows files that you
have and the BBS doesn't, showing your opportunities for uploading.
The second file, DL.DAT, shows files that the BBS has that you
don't, showing your download opportunities. The third file,
COMMON.DAT, is intended as somewhat of an audit trail and shows the
files that you have in common with the BBS.
While I don't run a BBS, I can certainly sympathize both with
SYSOP's trying to get users to upload, and also with users that
just want to "get those new files and try 'em out". This program
should help users more easily comply with upload/download ratios,
etc., by showing the exact files that are suitable in either
direction.
OPERATION
This program was originally written in QuickBasic 4.5 (Nice
Language!). It is now in Basic PDS 7.1. Many BBS's seem to have
standardized on the file directory display format show below:
JACKSON1.GIF 49152 02-08-89 Le Toya Jackson VGA Gif #2 in Series of 5
JACKSON3.GIF 19456 02-08-89 Le Toya Jackson VGA Gif. #2 in series of 5
JACKSON4.GIF 26624 02-08-89 Le Toya Jackson VGA Gif #4 in series of 5
Given this format, it seemed simple enough to compare this list
type to my own computer's directory listing.
STEP 1
First, you need to create an input listing of your files that you
want to compare to the BBSs'. This can be obtained by by using
the command:
DIR >FILENAME
Or if you have a disk(ette) cataloging program that stores the
filename in ASCII, in positions 1 thru 12 or can export such a
report, that will do fine also.
STEP 2
The second step in using this program, is to capture or download a
BBS file listing that you are interested in. It again assumes the
above format, that is, at least the file name is expected to start
in column 1 and be no longer than 12 characters.
STEP 3
Simple enough, start the enclosed program called BBSCOMP4. You
will be prompted for YOUR directory file name and the BBS
directory file name. You will then have the option of sorting the
input files first. After the sort is complete, or you have
answered "no", the compare will start executing. The output of
the program will be stored in the current sub-directory as UL.DAT,
DL.DAT, and COMMON.DAT.
NOTES
File extensions are dropped during the compare since a program may
exist on your system in an excutable form (.EXE) and is most
likely in a compressed form on the BBS (.ZIP). Any records that
start with a space or period are dropped, this helps filter your
listing if you attain it via the DIR >FILENAME sequence.