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RBBS Manager Version 2.0 Copyright 1990,1991 by Charles Arden Brill Management of Various RBBS Functions in an integrated menu-driven environment. RBBS Manager is released as Shareware. Information provided later in this document. RBBS Manager is fairly easy to set up. It is a single executable file that will create several files on your hard disk as necessary. It will work from any drive or directory, however, it is suggested that RBBS Manager be put in the same directory as your FMS files. This is preferably a subdirectory of the main board eg; C:\RBBS\DIR. While the file size of RBBS-MGR is a hefty 250,000+ bytes it will NOT function after any exe compression utility is applied to the file, nor is it allowed to be renamed. The File is Overlay and does not require quite the ammount of memory as it appears to hog. With the proliferation of hard disks, and in view of the functions provided by RBBS-MGR, paricularly version 2.0's ability to use expanded memory, this should not be a major concern. RBBS-MGR would also like all the memory you can give it. It may be run (does run quite successfully) in a multitasking window. It is not as yet an 'aware' program. Later, dude. All functions of RBBS Manager are available in conventional memory when memory available is about 450k and with a FMS size of 2000+ lines. Larger memory larger FMS File. Date ordered directories should present very little problem as the size can be broken into 2000+ line chunks and you can work with the latest dates. The view & edit utilities ie. Callers, Users and Messages require MUCH less so if you just want those features should be no problems. The RBBS-MGR program requires you have all the RBBS files on disk. These include: Callers Users Comments Category Code file These files MUST be on disk. Whether you use them or not, you must at least create a zero byte file for FMS directory RBBS-MGR to take a look at. RBBS Manager provides functions that will allow you: to view and delete messages view and search callers file view and search comments view, search and edit users view category code, check that codes are viable view any zip file, automatically within the FMS view any text file add, delete, move any FMS entry add security (=, 9, etc) to entry insert or append in date or alpha order import from a directory import formatted lines (FMS style) shunt new fms entry to any file for append search for text in fms view zip from fms reformat fms check fms against disk directories make a downloadable text file correct date and size errors retain different config's for subboards and nodes As you can see RBBS Manager is rather fully functioned. It is intended as a tool for sysops to maintain their RBBS systems from a single program as much as possible. Now I know you don't need to be told how to use the program, however the following documentation is provided for reference. General Considerations RBBS Manager is heavily supportive of FMS functions because there are a few sysops out there that still feel they should have some knowledge of what files are being included on their board. It is true that RBBS allows almost complete automation of the File system, this can be both a great boon or it can create problems. RBBS-MGR allows an easy to use option, at the same time providing an alternative as close to an automated way of maintaining and alphabetizing your FMS as possible. It is the feeling of the author that an alphabetized directory is much friendlier for the average user. Date ordered directories are great for sysops or 'power users' but the normal caller looking for a file has to wade through a lot of chaff. It also just appears more professional. The program is also designed be a limited monitor for board activity without having the sysop Log on. While running in a multitasking window or network environment or even as a standalone, the program services Callers, Comments, Messages and Users. As an example, the program will announce any new comments that have been added since it was last run. It will also allow the sysop to view messages without flagging them as received. The ability to load different config files increases the function of RBBS-MGR dramatically. It is possible to apply all of RBBS-MGR's options to your different RBBS config files and paths. So if you choose to keep a separate subboard for games you can create a GAME-MGR.CFG file will all the appropriate paths and settings and use all of RBBS managers features. The TOOLS are provide to maintain your FMS directories. Most are available from other sources and the author freely admits these programs are perhaps faster. Some speed has been sacrificed for the user interface and because its just plain more enjoyable to watch what's going on. Also you will find the reporting more complete than is found in most standalone 'quick' utilities. KEYING in RBBS Manager generally follows the common usage of pull down menuing systems. Menu selections are made with the cursor arrows and an <ENTER>; or the command letters (Highlighted Menu Letters) may be accessed by the <Alt>-<key> combination. An important key combination to remember is <ALT>-<C> which will clear any editing field. Keying for each section is explained specifically in each section description. Messages and Box prompts are removed by pressing the space bar or enter key. Prompts are accepted with <ENTER> or the appropriate keying, usually displayed. <ESC> is used to exit a function without change (cancel). Some Menu Selections are not available throughout the entire program. These selections are 'turned off' until you enter the appropriate section, then they mysteriously appear and function. Quick Start For those allergic to Documentation there are a few points to be aware of before you explore RBBS-MGR. RBBS Manager checks itself first and determines the video setup, loads the default config, checks comments and then decides its ok to turn control over to you. If you have not created the config file the program will not run properly. If the video determination doesn't meet your wishes you may force RBBS Manager to display in black and white by calling the program with the /B switch eg: RBBS-MGR /B. The configuration file is an ASCII file and may be changed with anything capable of producing ASCII output. Instructions and brief explanations are given in the file itself, view it for further info. Multiple config's are allowed but RBBS Manager requires the Default config to be named RBBS-MGR.CFG. The easiest way to start is just overwrite the sample file with your pathnames and parameters in the proper location and save. Here are the Config parameters in brief: First parameter is the name of the file itself. Default extension for all Backup files: Default is .bak but if you are using a utility like SWEEP and wish to change this to .sav (or whatever) there is no problem. Make Automatic Backup: RBBS Manager will make an automatic backup file of your FMS before any action is performed, saved in the current directory. This allows you to turn this option off if you like living on the edge. The Default Archive extension: Your archive of choice .zip, .pak, .arc, etc. Zip is currently supported. Default insertion mode: RBBS Manager's FMS support allows inserting files in the proper sorted order for your FMS directories. You let the program know what order your default directory will use, alphabetical or date ordered. NOTE: RBBS Manager only supports sorting as per RBBS's default bottom up sort. Length of FMS Description field: RBBS-MGR supports all the line lengths RBBS allows. NOTE: The reformat option off the Tools menu will easily reformat your directory to the proper length. It creates a new FMS you can then use in RBBS-MGR if you specify it in config. After you are assured that RBBS-MGR hasn't destroyed your directory, you can rename it to your main board FMS directory after deleting or renaming the original. Just load the FMS with a configuration file specifying the NEW line length you wish and run Reformat. Running in a File sharing Environment: Option tells RBBS Manager to open files in a shared mode. Generally needed only for networks. NOTE: Not required for DesqView@, etc EmmOn: This will turn on the expanded memory support in RBBS-MGR and allow loading the FMS into expanded memory. PATHNAMES: Config needs proper pathnames. Drive letter required if not on default drive so for consistency just use the Drive letter for all paths. NOTE: With a path entry alone RBBS-MGR requires drive and path NO extra slashes eg: C:\RBBS\UPLOADS is acceptable while C:\RBBS\UPLOADS\ is NOT. Path to FMS Directory: Your main FMS directory, it will be the default every time RBBS-MGR is started. Category Code Path: Path to the DIR.CAT file for the above FMS directory. Path to RBBS Messages: Path to your main Message base Path to Callers: Path to your main board Callers file Path to Comments: Path to main board comment file. NOTE: If you don't use a Comments file create one. It doesn't need to be used but it must be on disk, taking up space in the FAT. Path to Users: Path to main board users file Path to Upload SubDir: Drive and directory path to Upload directory. Download Directories are entered last and may include up to 99 different specifications. They are listed as the above paths, one to a line, no trailing slash. Provided you haven't made any glaring errors you should be ready to run RBBS Manager. Just enter RBBS-MGR at the DOS prompt. RBBS Manager requires the default config file (and all subsequent config's) to be on disk and in the same Directory as the RBBS-MGR.EXE file. The format of the file is explained in the file itself but in general Manager reads each line and discards blank or commented (lines beginning with the semi-colon ';'). It will also ignore anything on a line after the semi-colon. While the new format is flexible it is not entirely free form. The parameters must remain in the proper order and preferably starts at the first column on the line. For clarity a few spaces after the parameter should be included before any comments. Comments are not required but the parameters are required and in this order. (Note: FileName is first parameter and must match actual filename used) RBBS-MGR.CFG ; RBBS MANAGER CONFIG FILENAME Bak ; extension for backup FMS eg; BAK, SAV, TXT, etc Yes ; make automatic backup Yes/No Zip ; archive ext eg; ZIP, ARC, LZH (zip supported) Alpha ; insertion mode for FMS either Date or Alpha No ; filshare environment Yes/No Yes if using DOS share 43 ; Length of description field may only be 43 or 44 Yes ; EmmOn - weather to use expanded memory D:\RBBS\MASTER.DIR ; Fms default directory D:\RBBS\DIR.CAT ; Category code file D:\RBBS\MESSAGES ; Rbbs messages file D:\RBBS\CALLERS ; Rbbs callers file D:\RBBS\COMMENTS ; Rbbs Comments file D:\RBBS\USERS ; Rbbs Users file D:\HOLD ; Hold directory for ; Import Dir ; Download Directories. Max 99 directories, no trailing slash. ; Following Paths may NOT be longer than 32 characters C:\DNLOADS ; First download directory C:\Dnload1 ; continue listing C:\Dnload2 This is repeated for each Config file. If multipleconfig's are used then be sure to change the first parameter to match the actual config names. MEMORY and NETWORK USAGE RBBS Manager requires a minimum of 250k to load itself. This is before loading the FMS directory. With 512k FMS will easily load a 2,000+ line FMS in conventional memory, which seems a good size chunk to deal with at one time. Expanded Memory increases the capacity to the the limit of your machine. RBBS Manager is Overlayed to make use of all the memory possible. This increases the available memory for loading a file by swapping portions of the RBBS-MGR code out to expanded memory if available or disk if expanded memory is not found. The expanded memory swap is seamless the disk swap is dependent on the access speed of your disk and disk cacheing if used. Most sections of RBBS Manager display the memory available on the status line. Since most sysops will be running either a multitasking or networked solution this is less of a problem than it would have been a few years ago as larger chunks of memory can be allocated. From the above you should deduce that in a Multitasking environment such as Desqview the window size may vary from 250 up to your max (your max is preferable). There are no other problems that have surfaced when running in Desqview or similar environments. RBBS Manager, while not taking advantage of the interface, is well behaved. It does not write directly to video memory. A common RBBS setup includes a network such as Artisofts Lantasti and Desqview running on the Workstation. With RBBS-MGR in a DesqView Window on the Workstation, no specific bugs have been encountered in this type of system. The SetUp Parameter controlling the file shared environment does NOT need to be set in the above configuration. If you use RBBS-MGR on a Lantasti SERVER or another Network that requires DOS's SHARE to be run, then the SetUp file shared environment needs to be configured. Memory is only a problem with large FMS directories (so what else is new). Expanded memory will solve the problem. Date ordered directories present less of a problem as they can be chained and only the latest directory loaded as RBBS Managers default. Menu and Status lines: The Menu Line stays at the top of your screen and includes all the choices available to you while in various sections of RBBS Manager. The Status line resides at the bottom of your screen and displays some useful information about what's going on. CurFile:, is the currently loaded file you are working on, be it your FMS, Messages, etc. To the right is a little status block with the letters of the features you have turned on: eg; 43BZAN. 43 would be the length of description, B - backups are toggled on, Z is the first letter of your archive, A is the type of sort - either A for alpha or D for date, N is whether you are running in a shared environment - either Y or N. To the left of the status block the amount of free memory you have left is displayed. The middle of the screen displays several messages that aren't too cryptic. FmsL - means your FMS is loaded, Sht - indicates you have turned on the shunt file feature, etc. FILES MENU The files menu will be your launching pad to most of RBBS Managers functions. After the Setup has been properly completed the files menu allows you too choose a section of your RBBS to act upon. FMS ADD FILE: Loads the Current FMS (as per Setup) and displays the add file entry screen. You may enter a filename for addition to your FMS directory by using the fields provided. <TAB> moves to next field <Shift>-<Tab> returns to previous field. Formatting is provide for the size and date fields. Enter the size in the first position of the field and as you <Tab> out of the field it will be right justified. The date field also separates the month, day and year. The aim of the formatting is for you to just <Tab> into the field and begin entering data without worrying about the format. The length of the Description field will match the 43 or 44 column choice from your Setup. The Category code is not required (nothing is required past the filename) so support for the old style directories hangs around. Extended descriptions of up to five lines are accepted. <ESC> on any line accepts and exits the entry screen. <Enter> on the first line of the extended descriptions also exits if your entry has only a simple description (the extended description field must be blank). <Alt-S> will automatically add Security (in RBBS acceptable form) to the File Entry. It places a '=' sign before the filename and prompts you for the security level to add to the description field (any integer). Upon completion of the entry fields the File Entry is magically hidden and RBBS Manager will determine the type of inclusion (Append or Insert). The portion of your FMS directory directly above the insert location is displayed. And after a few fail safe prompts the file is placed in your FMS. FMS EDITOR: This menu selection will also load the current FMS (as per your Setup choice) or if it is previously loaded will move directly to display the FMS Editor. The Editor displays your chosen FMS between the Menu line and the Status line. The Cursor arrows are available to scroll a line at a time, PgUp, PgDn move accordingly and Home and End keys are available. The Status line displays the line currently highlighted by the cursor. From the editor the Edit, Search and View pull down menus are available, each will be dealt with in its own section. <Esc> removes the Editor. NEW FMS: Choosing New FMS will allow you to change FMS directories without leaving the RBBS-MGR. After an message explaining what your about to do you are asked to enter the new FMS. If the new FMS is NOT in the current directory you must enter the Full Pathname. eg: D:\DIR\NEWFMS.DIR. It will be loaded replacing the your current file. One note of caution, while this is a very handy feature, you must remember that just loading the FMS retains the Config settings. If you have both Alphabetical and Date directories and load an alphabetical directory with a config using the DATE option you will not be able to insert a new listing into the FMS. Editing and other features are not affected. <ESC> at the prompts will abort the load. MESSAGE EDIT: The default message file you have specified in the current Config is loaded. The Message section and sub menus are displayed. They are explained later in this manual. <ESC> returns to the main menus. USERS EDIT: Much like the Message prompt, this will load the Users file specified in the current Config. Users section and submenus are explained later in the manual. <ESC> returns to the main menu. RBBS Def: is not available in this release CREATE FILE: This will create a zero byte file that you name. It has no particular purpose. Once in a while you may wish to create a Configuration setup with special features. Since RBBS Manager's SetUp requires most files to be on disk you may want to use this as a placeholder. 'C' wasn't used on the menu anyway... WRITE FILE: This will write the current file (FMS) to disk, in effect a manual save of your work up to this point. Use this to save an FMS before loading another one if changes have been made. UNLOAD CURRENT FILE: Just the opposite of Write file. It will wipe the currently loaded file(FMS), leaving nothing in memory. For example, if you are just checking your directories or searching and want to load another FMS without any changes being made to the original, this will clear the memory. EXIT SAVE: Exits RBBS Manager and saves the current FMS to disk. EXIT: Exits program without writing FMS. RECORD MENU The records menu is one of the menu selections not available in all sections of RBBS Manager. It allows selection of record processing if you are in the FMS editor.It is activated only after you have made an entry in the Add file screens and have used <ESC> or the enter key on the first blank description line to indicate you are through entering data. It will be expanded in the future to increase message functions. RETURN WITH: Ok, so you messed up? Got the Date is not Inclusive message? Well if so or if you just changed your mind this will bring back the File Add screen with your last Entry still waiting. You may then proceed as normal. This is also a useful function if you have a large number of similar files to add. You may keep returning with the file entry and just change the fields necessary. Saves some typing. CLEAR RETURN: Along the same lines, if you start to add a file into your FMS and change your mind for any reason this will clear the entry. This is actually a holdover from a previous version of Manager. In the Current version you shouldn't have to use this command often if ever. NOTE: RBBS Manager now uses the Clipboard as a buffer for the file additions, so if you get confused as to what file you are entering you may use the View Menu to view the clipboard. The file to be entered will remain on the clipboard until another entry is made or it is cleared with Clear Return. FORWARD: Forward is not used in this release. (Message Forwarding) EDIT MENU The editor menu is one of the workhorses of RBBS Manager. It is available when you have loaded the FMS Editor are are preparing to work on the FMS directory. Most functions available from the Editor menu key off the cursor line location. Some of the Main pull down menus are used in the Editor. Record, Edit, Search, and View all have functions available in the Editor. These are accessed the same way as if the Editor was not loaded with the exception that you may not use the cursor arrows to move between menus. You must <ESC> each menu and re-enter another by using the <ALT>-<letter> combination of that selection. LINE EDITOR: This will highlight the Cursor line and allow individual editing of that line. It is set to the line length you indicated in the Setup and will not allow more characters to be included. Well, you can keep typing, but your wasting your time. Insert or Overwrite mode is toggled by the insert key, however due to the just mentioned safety feature if you need to insert a character you must first delete or otherwise make sure the line is not full. The Line Editor starts in overwrite mode. <ESC> or <ENTER> accepts the changes and returns you to the cursor line. You are only working on one line, changes made are kept in the copy of your FMS loaded in memory. If you wish to cancel or revise your changes you must use LineEdit and re-enter them. All will be lost if you do not Exit Save or Write the file to disk. LineEdit isn't insensitive to your needs, it will distinguish between an FMS File entry and an extended line. To ease your burden further it will position the edit window below or above the line being edited so you may see the origional. MARK BLOCK: Marking the Block you want to process is the first thing needed to take advantage of RBBS Managers moving, and deleting file entries. As other functions off this menu it keys off the cursor line. Choosing Mark block will highlight the cursor line. The down arrow is available to highlight up to five more lines (coincidentally RBBS Manager supports up to five lines of extended descriptions). <Enter> accepts the highlighted lines for inserting elsewhere in the FMS. That will be repeated; <Enter> accepts the highlighted lines for inserting elsewhere in the FMS. Manager currently allows you to forget this step which can be irritating, but repeating the mark allows you to procede. INSERT: This selection allows putting lines saved in the Clipboard (marked and saved to clipboard) into the FMS directory. The lines are Inserted below the cursor line. Nothing is needed to accomplish this other than the proper use of RBBS-MGR, in other words you don't have to make any space for the additional lines it will be taken care of for you. Inserting from the Edit Menu is a three step process. First lines must be marked, then transfered to the Clipboard. The cursor line is then moved to the line above the target location and Insert is chosen from the Edit Menu. That inserts the lines stored on the clipboard into the loaded FMS. DELETE: Delete will remove the lines highlighted by Mark Block. This is not reversible in this version so use judiciously. This requires only a simple two-step. First mark the lines then select delete. Poof, no more lines. CLIPBOARD: This hold the lines Highlighted by Mark Block. It is an intermediate step while you position the cursor for insertion. Field Capture: Not available in this release. SEARCH MENU SEARCH This is rather self explanatory. This release of the Manager only supports searching the FMS directory loaded in the FMS Editor section. It will search for any string. You will be prompted for attention to case. REPEAT LAST FIND Continues search from current position in file. <ESC> aborts. VIEW MENU Another of the more frequently used functions of RBBS Manager. These menus are available at most times in RBBS Manager. COMMENTS: This will bring up a view window and display the contents of the Comments as per SetUp. Keys available are the cursor arrows, home and end keys. This allows scanning the file for a particular comment or skipping to the end to view the latest comments. You will be notified of new comments, if any, upon the start of RBBS-MGR. <ESC> returns to the main pop up menus. CALLERS: Choose this option and you are presented with a submenu. The Callers file may be listed based on these selections. Some of the submenus require input, such as the search on callers name. The Callers file is read from disk and displayed in accordance with your choice. It is read as it is written, sequentially, and as such provides little more than a direct scroll of your boards activity. Some screens provide a scroll back buffer to view the last screen if you missed something and wish to go back. Prompts should direct you through this section and in general <ESC> gets you out. CATEGORY CODE: Very nice feature if you have a tendency to forget the little things. Displays the DIR.CAT file, once again as per the SetUp. It has been formatted for easier viewing. <ALT>-<C> will perform a nifty maintenance function provided you have an FMS loaded. It will check the FMS directory against the category codes in DIR.CAT and report on any file entries with unrecognized codes. eg; DFT for those too lazy to catagorize their uploads. ZIPFILE: Zipfile will show the files in any zipped archive. If called from the main menu section you must give a full path to the archived file. In the FMS Editor the function is quite a bit easier to use. The ZipViewer will use the file that the cursor line highlights and automatically search the directories you have entered in SetUp for the file. If found in your download or upload directories it will be displayed. Depending on the number of directories and your computers speed, well, this will not be instantaneous. ANYFILE: Allows viewing of various files (text preferably). Handy to view batch files or the reports on disk that RBBS Manager generates. You are prompted for a filename and path, and the cursor arrows, home and end key are available for moving around in the file. TOOLS MENU The Tools menu selections are not all available from the File Menu at all times. Some selections must have an FMS directory loaded. RECONCILE FMS DSK/DIR: If you are plagued by 'File not Found' errors in callers this can help. Also if you keep wondering where all your disk space went and stumble across five copies of 'ListIt.now'. Reconcile will find that, it compares the FMS file list to itself and to the actual disk directories listed in SetUp. It also checks those directories against themselves for multiple file copies. Most importantly it reports where the multiples are located. Reconcile will accept the currently loaded FMS or read the default FMS from disk if it is too large to load, this is an instance where having a specialized config file will be useful. You are presented a prompt screen. If you want RBBS Manager to create an ASCII report (viewable by the View Menu's Anyfile command) indicate it here. Also if you have chained directories RBBS-MGR will search up to Three(3) chained FMS's. The first stage of Reconcile just checks for multiple filenames in your FMS and multiple filenames in the Disk directories. The line gives an indicator of activity. While it is checking for multiple names RBBS-MGR also sets up for the next search. Upon completion you are prompted whether to cross check the FMS against the directories. This provides the most useful report. You will also be able to keep track on your monitor and the status line indicator. The Report file generated is named FILECOMP.DAT. Managers Tagged File feature is supported in the reconcile search. If A Tagged '{2345}' file size is found in the subdirectories the filename is reported as not listed in the FMS Listing. (Its supposed to be Offline, remember) MAKE DOWNLOADABLE TEXT: This choice creates an ASCII file on disk of your FMS directory organized by category code and with the codes removed. Or it will create a single file for each code depending on how you answer the prompts. All files are created in the current directory. You may selectively choose the codes to write to the download file. As you may chose to include or exclude extended lines. The header line is basically included to divide the categories, you will no doubt want to customize this with your board name. The area below <EndofParameters> in the Config file is reserved for your custom header. The default line contains the RBBS Manager tag , The Category Code and the description from the Cat Code file. Only 48 columns of description are used so if your description is longer it will be chopped off. Choose security based on your own rbbs's config. RBBS Manager will not write lines to the download file with a security equal or above that you have entered on the prompt screen. This concerns the security rbbs allows for individual lines using the '='. Once again RBBS Manager keeps you apprised of the progress by watching the codes count down. If your FMS directory is too large to be processed with the file in memory unload it and call Download text and the file will be processed from disk. This should be done if any memory error occurs when trying to run Download text with the FMS loaded. The file created by RBBS Manager is DOWNLOAD.FMS, when multiple files are selected the category code is used as the filename but the first category retains the name DOWNLOAD.FMS. The Extension is always FMS. DOWNLOAD.FMS or the Multiple files are only created for the currently Loaded FMS. It will not automatically chain to other FMS files. If your Directory is broken up or if you have several subboards you wish to run through to create a downloadable text you must manually put them together (use DOS '+'). The preferable method of course would be use expanded memory and load keep only one FMS. One note of caution; you must shell out and rename the file DOWNLOAD.FMS or copy it into another directory before you process another FMS file. The new file will overwrite DOWNLOAD.FMS. FORMAT/STRUCTURE FMS: The purpose of this section is twofold. A maintenance function Used to check your FMS it will check each field for proper location and size and check for line length. It is a non-destructive check and it will write a file to disk called NEWFORM.FMS This file will have the character '?' in any location found to be in error. You search on the '?' character to find any errors with confidence that even if they are there the directory will have no display problems. It will look funny but it will display. During the process the currently loaded FMS is removed from memory, for safety and to free more memory. Fix Reformat is useful if you want to change the line length of your FMS. During the process the line length is truncated to the length assigned in SetUp. If your previous line length was shorter, no problem, as extra spaces are added to the description field. If it was longer you will lose spaces or text from the description field. No help for that, but it will be worth the change. DATE SIZE CHECK: Checks the date and size listed in your FMS directory against the actual disk date and size of the file in the download directories from SetUp. The first prompt you are presented with after choosing Date/Size asks if you wish to be prompted for each file or to run automatically. If you are very conscientious you may want to try the prompt but if its being run for the first time it is possible you will be there all night if you have a large directory. The manual [P]rompt stops for each file found in the FMS listing doesn't correspond to the disk directory entry and lets you specify where to write date and size, to the file or the disk. While this sounds harmless enough if you have a date ordered directory you will have to reorganize every file to its proper location after a date has been corrected. Another arguement for an alphabetized directory. After choosing automatic (did we successfully talk you out of [P]rompt?) RBBS Manager will proceed to check every file in the currently loaded FMS against the disk directories. As usual in RBBS Manager you will be kept appraised of what's going on by the display. IMPORT FORMATTED LINES: Will enable you to import a file that is already in FMS format directly into your main FMS. The Currently loaded FMS will be the target and you will be prompted for the name of the file to import. This allows separation of your main FMS from your upload FMS, a good policy. So if your main FMS is called DATE.FMS and you create a separate upload directory called UPLOAD.FMS, you may merge the two periodically into the DATE.FMS. Just load DATE.FMS as the Currently loaded FMS and select Import Formatted Lines from the Tools Menu. Enter the UPLOAD.FMS at the prompt and it will begin processing the file into DATE.FMS. RBBS Manager Filters the File entry through the ADD screen, this is done to allow review and editing of the file line in keeping with RBBS Managers philosophy that you should know what's going on in your FMS. Also because <description unavailable> looks dumb. Each Field of the File Entry will be displayed as you enter that field. You may edit as in the FileAdd Menu choice and all the same keys are valid. <ALT-C> still clears a field. The file is then processed the same as if you were adding it manually, Manager determines the Insert mode and displays where it will be put. You accept or abort the entry and then are asked if you want to import the next file line. The Shunt option is active if you have chosen it off the Config Menu. Useful to keep track of the files you have actually imported as aborted files will not show up here either. IMPORT DIR: This will Import a directory of filenames, dates, and sizes into the the FMSADD screen for including in the FMS Directory that is currently loaded. It will Insert or Append automatically depending on the Date/alpha sort type chosen in config. The filename, date, and size are loaded into the FMSAdd screen and the description and category code are entered by you with or without extended descriptions. The file entry is then inserted into the FMS directory in memory. ImportDir then moves on to the next file in the Import directory and a prompt is issued to continue. The user is responsible for moving the actual files and keeping track of which files have been added if the process is aborted. The Shunt option is active if turned on in the Config Menu and will create a list of the files added to help in tracking the files. This is designed to ease addition of separately downloaded files into your FMS directory. For example, many Comm programs allow specifying a directory to place downloaded files. This may be the same directory you indicate as the ImportDir, so that all that would be required to add these files to your FMS would be adding descriptions and categorizing the filenames. SORTED DIRECTORY: This feature will sort the currently loaded FMS directory based on the date/alpha toggle on the CONFIG Menu. As usual in RBBS Manager this is not destructive to the currently loaded FMS but rather creates a new file SORTED.FMS on disk. So this means you can test sort a dated FMS to see if you would like to try running an alphabetized FMS, or just use it to verify your FMS directory order. Sort will keep track of five extended description lines and keep them with the proper filename. More than five(5) description lines per file and you will LOSE description lines! No guarantee as to what lines you lose either, but you will have five left. The Alpha/Date sort is controlled by the Toggle on the CONFIG Menu. For instance if your default directory is Dated and it loads automatically (that's what the default should do) and you want to sort it in alphabetical order just Toggle the Config option to Alpha and run sort. SORTED.FMS will be created as an alpha sort. If you just want to make sure your Directory is in the Proper order run it with the current settings and any changes will appear correctly in SORTED.FMS. SHELL to DOS: Shells out to Dos if there is something you need to check. And as long as your checking remember that if you have RBBS-MGR loaded with an FMS you will not have much memory left to run anything other than some of the more sensibly written programs with smaller memory requirements. You need at least enough memory to load the second command processor. CONFIG MENU SET BJUMP: BJump, highly origional name standing for big jump. In the FMS editor it allows moving around the FMS in chunks. You set the number of lines to jump with this command. Then the <Ctrl-PgUp> and <Ctrl-PgDn> keys will move the number of lines you indicated. The default is 200. LOAD NEWCFG: This allows changing the config file that RBBS Manager relies upon for all its file path information. BACKUP: This is a toggle. Using <ENTER> while the prompt is highlighted toggles the RBBS_MGR Backup feature on and off. A check appears if the option is on and it is indicated on the status line. INSERT MODE: Also a Toggle. Same procedure applies to toggle it on and off however, the check will always be present with an 'a' or 'd' behind it depending on whether you choose Date or Alphabetical ordered directories. It is also indicated on the status line. SHUNT: If you select shunt you will need to provide a filename. This may be any filename, existing or not. All new entries added with the RBBS Managers insert or append features will be appended to the shunt file. A check will appear if active and you are notified on the status line. General Notes: ALL edit fields in RBBS-MGR may be cleared with ALT-C. Most screens allow movement with the Cursor arrows, PgUp, PgDn, Home, End, Tab, and Shift-Tab. Screens without noticeable keying may generally be cleared by pressing any key. FUTURE ENHANCEMENTS RBBS Manager is so full featured it is going to take care of all your RBBS needs? .....Not yet, and quite possible never, but that doesn't mean we won't try. Some of the next steps have been alluded to in the documentation or for those of you who browsed the menus there are some prompts you noticed aren't active yet. RBBS Manager continues to evolve. Programmers note: As RBBS Manager is written with MicroSoft PDS 7.1 and heavy assembly help, the FMS has been loaded as an huge fixed string array which requires the fixed string to be 128 bytes long. Quite a bit of wasted memory there. Support for expanded memory paging has relived most of the memory problems. Message Editing and Forwarding will be added to RBBS-MGR. Only between RBBS Conferences and SubBoards. No NetMail support is planned (There's enough of those). A host of other changes and yes, perhaps a bug fix or two. Suggestions will be taken very seriously as there are as many different RBBS configurations as RBBS's out there and maybe a useful function to all has been totally overlooked. ANY feedback is appreciated. RELEASE HISTORY Version 1.0: 09/01/90 Initial Release Version 1.1: Fixed bug in Message edit and User edit submenus. Variable was not declared static resulting in improper display of submenu after using certain functions off menu. Fixed interesting error where FIXALL in the Reformat menu actually messed things up. Result of a section of code remaining in the routine from a previous version thus Variable values were corrupt. Added HotKeys to submenu's in Users and Message, etc. Added PgUp PgDn to viewers Added Message Check to initialization, checks new and SYSOP Version 1.2 Added option to turn off extended lines in Download text file and allow board name in header. Updated Status line Filenames and memory usage Fixed Bug in Search which didn't display String not found Version: 1.3 Added The Import DIR feature off the TOOLS menu. RBBS Manager is now overlayed. Ho Hum so what? Well you should notice a larger free memory on the status line permitting larger FMS files to be loaded and processed. Version: 1.4 Reformated some of the Data types should notice some speed up of assorted functions. Added SORT Fms directory Menu option off the TOOLS Menu. Version 1.5 Import Formatted Lines option added to the tools menu. Manager now has an offline tag feature. In the Editor you may tag any file with the Edit Menu selection or the Hot Key CTRL-T. It will bracket the SIZE field. All of the features of RBBS Manager support this way of tagging. When you wish to reconcile your directories and do date/size checks RBBS-MGR will pick up the bracketed size field and not give you any problems. The main drawback to this is you are now limited to files of less than one million bytes. If there's a special need contact LETTERS and we'll fix you up for megasize files. Scroll back buffers were added to a couple of the Callers view options, allows the viewing of the last screen of info if you went by something that piqued your interest. Version 1.6 Released support for all RBBS FMS Line Lengths. All functions now support the various line lengths. TOOL Functions such as Reformat, Make Download Text, Reconcile, and Date/Size Check are available without loading FMS into memory. This allows processing larger FMS directories. VIEW ANY File has been altered to accept files up to 16,000 lines. It now works slower as it is dependent on disk access. Version 1.7 Config file format has been changed to an ASCII text file and may be editable by any text editor. Information as to format is contained in commented lines in the file itself. Various bugs were found and squashed that appeared after the support for all line lengths. Version 1.8 More Bug Squashing as time allows, most involving the changeover to all Line Lengths. eg. extended description line length mark. Line handling in the FMS editor Load routine sometimes reporting wrong number of lines causing subscript and illegal function errors Version 1.9 Somewhere along the line a trim line dissapeared, allowing a doubling up of spaces in extended descriptions while using the Format/Fix routine Version 2.0 Expanded Memory support added, numerous changes involved. Supports all file sizes. Security support added for file entry. Manager supports using RBBS's '=' in all its functions. Speed optimizations begun, New load routines,etc SHAREWARE There should be no need to explain the intricacies of ShareWare to a sysop. Also a plea is tiresome. There are some distinct advantages to registering RBBS Manager, aside from the factthat it is the right thing to do. Bug fix releases are free (distributed on 360K 5.25 inch floppies). Also the registration package includes a more extensive manual, and for the proliferation of processors (say that five times fast) versions of the program are available to take advantage of the 286 and 386 CPU's. Must request specialized exe's, you will receive basic program if nothing is noted. Support is free via BBS or Voice (you receive a voice number with the registration package). 'Nuff said. Registration Version 2.0 is 35.00. Registration Address and Checks payable to: Charles Arden Brill 4812 NE 103rd. Seattle, Wa 98125 No form is enclosed. Please break down and write a note with your Name and Address. You might also give any impression or suggestion you wish to pass along, and the type of processor you are using (XT,286,386,etc). SUPPORT BBS: Support for RBBS Manager is available from: LETTERS RBBS (206) 524-4811. 24hrs 9600baud (USRobotics DualStd) 1:343/81 8:918/11 (Latest release avail MAGIC NAME=MANAGER) LETTERS RBBS (206) 524-5401 24hrs 2400baud COMPUSERVE ID: 76220,424 (checked about twice weekly) Registered users receive voice number and surprisingly enough for RBBS support all electronic messages are answered within 2 days.