Night Owl 6/Night Owl's Shareware - PDSI-006 - Night Owl Corp (1990).iso/034a/cdcom.zip/MAKEXRF.DOC

Text File | 1991-10-14 | 30KB | 711 lines

MAKEXRF - Ver 1.1
Description Conversion and other CdCom work files conversion program.

This version of makexrf and cdcom represent my first step in creating
a cdrom door program that can be configured to work with any shareware
type of cdrom disk except pc-sig.  It is not by any means foolproof.  I
have tested it to the best of my ability, but since I do not possess
most of the cdrom disks listed in this doc file I cannot test it
with all configurations.  However based on the information I already
had on most of these disks it should work just fine.  There may still
be some bugs in the program, so feel free to contact me so we can work
them out.

Makexrf's main function is to create the cross-reference file (cdcom.xrf)
that contains all the files on the cdrom disk, so that searching for
a filename takes milli-seconds instead of minutes to find.  However
some disks will need to have a master description file created from
the available listings.  This can be created using makexrf also.

Makexrf has been written so that it can easily adapt to most shareware
collection types of cdrom disks, except for the pc-sig disks.  These
need to be handled differently.  You should be able to get most any
disk to work with makexrf & cdcom by following the steps covered here.
The hardest part is getting the description filelists into a format
that makexrf/cdcom can use.  Most of the time this is not a problem
as long as some common sense was used when making these listings.
Pretty much any files.bbs or DIR# files can be converted quite easily
by makexrf for use with cdcom.  I am not familiar with all the file
category description listings in use by all the bbs packages, but most
follow a certain convention so there should be little difficulty
in getting this door to work with your cdrom disk.

The sorts that makexrf will have to do take up quite a bit of memory.
It is advised that you free up as much memory as possible before
running makexrf.  If makexrf does run out of memory, it will error
out with an error 7.  If so, try to free up some more memory and
attempt to resume the sort.  I added command line options to allow
you to do so without having to start from the beginning.  It will
usually bomb when it says "Reading FILENAME.EXT" (ex: Reading
cdcom.xrf or Reading filename.cat) if it is having memory problems.
In this case try to get more memory and restart it using one of the
command line parameters listed below.

Included in this zip is a file called RVMX, which will use EGA or VGA
memory starting at A000h as extra memory for DOS.  I was able to
get 736k total of dos memory with it, which gave me enough to do the
sorts without removing my cdrom drivers.  This will disable EGA graphics
however, so if you will be running any programs that use EGA graphics
mode then disable RVMX.  There are also files that can convert expanded
memory to extra memory for dos, but you have to be able to map to
A000h.  Neither the cdrom door nor wildcat use ega graphics so it should
be safe to run this program while your bbs is up.  Between this program
and dos 5.0 allowing to load dos high (on 286's and above) hopefully
this will be enough memory to do these sorts.  I am hoping the next
version of the compiler I use will allow me to use expanded memory for
arrays, which most of you have plenty of, so this will not be a problem
anymore.

The cdrom drivers can be removed to do the sorts on either the description
file or the cdcom.xrf file.  They must only be present on the initial
filename index creation, or if you are going to be copying files off the
cdrom.

Running MAKEXRF
---------------

Makexrf will accept the following command line parameters:

SORT    - Sort CDCOM.XRF (or resume after memory problem sorting cdcom.xrf)
CONVERT - Convert Description Listings for CdCom
REPORT  - Updates CDCOM.XRF With File Description Pointers
          and Reports Missing Files
PTR     - Creates Pointer File for Description File
HELP (?)- Command Line Parameter Help Screen
DSORT   - Sort Description File (or resume after memory problem during
          CONVERT)
DRIVE:  - Cdrom Drive Letter [D:, E:, F:, etc] for making cdcom.xrf

If you run MAKEXRF CONVERT, the DSORT and PTR functions are
done automatically (and in that order).  When you run MAKEXRF DRIVE:,
the SORT and REPORT functions are done automatically (and in that order).
On any error resume functions (SORT, DSORT) the other steps after that
are also performed.  For the REPORT function makexrf must have access to
the description file.  Makexrf will also need the makexrf.dat file once
it is created in order to do some of these functions.

1) Determine whether or not you need to have a description file created
or not.  If so, you will need to create a proper makexrf.cfg so that
makexrf can create this listing.  Included in this zip is CFGFILES.ZIP that
has configuration files for the cdrom disks I have come into contact
with.  See the section below on this topic.  If you do in fact have to
run makexrf convert, then when this step is done makexrf will create a
file called makexrf.dat that contains the description line length.  Insure
that this value is the same as what is on line 15 of cdcom.def.  Save this
file in same directory as makexrf as it does need it for other functions.
If you lose it you can always make a new one, just by inserting the
number that is on cdcom.def line 15.

2) Once the description file has been converted or dealt with, then
you need to create the file index (cdcom.xrf) for the door.  This is
done by running

makexrf drive:

where drive: is your cdrom drive letter (ex: makexrf e:).  If you simply
type makexrf it will prompt you for your cdrom drive letter and also
create the xrf file.  If you are having memory problems with the sort,
you can remove the cdrom drivers at that point and re-attempt the sort
by running makexrf dsort.  See above for more details.

3) Once these steps are completed I strongly recommend backing the
converted description file (if you had to do so) and its pointer file
(.ptr), cdcom.xrf and cdcom.pth to a floppy in case something happens.
This way you do not have to go thru the entire configuration process again.

You are now done with makexrf.  Finish the setup procedure in the cdcom.doc
file and the door will be ready to run.  If you have problems feel free
to contact me at the number listed in the cdcom.doc file (home or bbs).


CDCOM DISK CONFIGURATION FILES
------------------------------

Included in the CFGFILES.ZIP file are various configuration files for
cdrom disks that I have come into contact with.  Check below to see if you
can find the disk you have, if not you can create your own configuration
files for makexrf to use.  This is covered at the end of this doc file.

I cannot guarantee that all of these configuration files will run
flawlessly as I do not have the vast majority of these cdrom disks
to test these with.  If you have problems with them give me a call
so I can correct them, and help you figure out where the problem
is also.  They should work just fine however, unless I overlooked
something when I created them (those late nights you know).


CARRS 003 (CARRS3.ZIP)
----------------------
Un-zip the FILETXT.ZIP file in the \TEXT sub-directory on the cdrom disk
into the current directory.  Un-zip the carrs3 configuration file.
Run MAKEXRF CONVERT to create the master description listing.  Then
run makexrf again to create the other work files.

ex:  (cdrom drive letter e:)
pkunzip e:\text\filetxt
pkunzip cfgfiles carrs3.zip
pkunzip carrs3
makexrf convert
makexrf e:

CARRS 003-1 (CARRS3-1.ZIP)
--------------------------
This disk may also be called nightowl 003-1.  Locate the DIR1 - DIR34
files on the cdrom disk and copy them over to the current directory.
Un-zip the carrs3-1 configuration file, then run makexrf convert
to create the master description listing.  Then run makexrf again to
create the other work files.

ex:  (cdrom drive letter e:)
copy e:dir*   (ie: copy above DIR filenames into current directory)
pkunzip cfgfiles carrs3-1.zip
pkunzip carrs3-1
makexrf convert
makexrf e:

GIGABYTE (GIGABYTE.ZIP)
-----------------------
This disk exactly matches the first release of nightowl 004 (nowl4#1).
At any rate locate the DIR1 - DIR28 description files and copy them
from the cdrom disk to the current directory.  Unzip the gigabyte
configuration file, then run makexrf convert to convert them.  Once this
is done run makexrf to create cdcom.xrf and the other work files.

ex:  (cdrom drive letter e:)
copy e:dir*   (ie: copy above DIR filenames into current directory)
pkunzip cfgfiles gigabyte.zip
pkunzip gigabyte
makexrf convert
makexrf e:

NIGHTOWL 004 #1 AND #2 (NOWL4#1.ZIP AND NOWL4#2.ZIP)
----------------------------------------------------
These disks may also go by the CARRS label.  There are two 004 disks.
The #1 disks DIR files are dated 4-28-91, and the #2 disks DIR files
are dated 7-15-91.  Once you figure this out, copy the DIR1 - DIR28 files
into the current directory.  Unzip either the nowl4#1 or nowl4#2 depending
on which disk you have.  Then run makexrf convert to create the description
listing.  Once this is done run makexrf again to create cdcom.xrf and the
other work files.

NIGHTOWL 004-1 (NOWL4-1.ZIP)
----------------------------
This disk may also go by the CARRS label.  Copy the DIR1 - DIR31 files
into the current directory.  Unzip the nowl4-1 configuration file.
Then run makexrf convert to create the description listing.  Once this
is done run makexrf again to create cdcom.xrf and the other work files.

ex:  (cdrom drive letter e:)
copy e:dir*   (ie: copy above DIR filenames into current directory)
pkunzip cfgfiles nowl4-1.zip
pkunzip nowl4-1
makexrf convert
makexrf e:

Programmers Rom QB-1011 (PRGMROM.ZIP)
-------------------------------------
You will need to convert the _ROM.CAT file to a format that makexrf can
use.  The program convert.bas has been included to do this task.  It will
work under dos 5.00 qbasic.exe program.  If you do not have access to this
program, contact me and I will give you a compiled convert.bas to do the job.

Copy the _ROM.CAT from the cdrom root directory.  Un-zip the prgmrom.zip
configuration file.  Then load convert.bas into qbasic by typing qbasic convert,
then press the F5 key to run it.  It will create the files that makexrf can read.
Then run makexrf convert to create the master description listing.  After this
is done run makexrf again to create the other work files.

ex:  (cdrom drive letter e:)
copy e:\_rom.cat
pkunzip cfgfiles prgmrom.zip
pkunzip prgmrom
qbasic convert  (press F5 once loaded to run it)
makexrf convert
makexrf e:

Rbbs-In-A-Box Vol 1, #1 (RBBSV1N1.ZIP)
--------------------------------------
Copy the cdmaster.dir from the \RBBS directory on the cdrom
disk to the current directory.  Un-zip rbbsv1n1 configuration
file, then run MAKEXRF PTR to create the pointer file for the descriptions,
then run makexrf again to create the .xrf and other work files.

ex:  (cdrom drive letter e:)
copy e:\rbbs\cdmaster.dir
pkunzip cfgfiles rbbsv1n1.zip
pkunzip rbbsv1n1
makexrf ptr
makexrf e:

Rbbs-In-A-Box Vol 1, #2 (RBBSV1N2.ZIP)
--------------------------------------
Copy the cdmaster.alp from the \RBBS directory on the cdrom
disk to the current directory.  Un-zip rbbsv1n2 configuration
file, then run MAKEXRF PTR to create the pointer file for the descriptions,
then run makexrf again to create the .xrf and other work files.

ex:  (cdrom drive letter e:)
copy e:\rbbs\cdmaster.alp
pkunzip cfgfiles rbbsv1n2.zip
pkunzip rbbsv1n2
makexrf ptr
makexrf e:

Rbbs-In-A-Box Vol 3, #1 & Vol 3.1, #1 (RBBSV3N1.ZIP)
----------------------------------------------------
For the Vol 3, #1 disks things are a little different.  One of them has
only 1 file in the \SWAL directory, this is the first disk.  The second
disk has all these files.  So for these disks just copy over the
cdmaster.alp file from the \RBBS directory on the cdrom disk to the
current directory.  Un-zip the rbbsv3n1 configuration file, then
run makexrf ptr to create the pointer file for the descriptions, then
run makexrf again to create the other work files.

ex:  (cdrom drive letter e:)
copy e:\rbbs\cdmaster.alp
pkunzip cfgfiles rbbsv3n1.zip
pkunzip rbbsv3n1
makexrf ptr
makexrf e:

Vol 3.1, #1 does not have a cdmaster.alp file in the \RBBS directory so
makexrf will have to sort the cdmaster.dir file so that is can use it.
Copy the cdmaster.dir file from the \RBBS sub-directory on the cdrom disk
to the current directory, un-zip the rbbsv3n1 configuration file, then run
MAKEXRF DSORT to sort the descriptions (it will also create the pointer
file).  Then run makexrf again to create the other work files.

ex:  (cdrom drive letter e:)
copy e:\rbbs\cdmaster.dir
pkunzip cfgfiles rbbsv3n1.zip
pkunzip rbbsv3n1
makexrf dsort
makexrf e:

ROM1 (ROM1.ZIP)
---------------
Unzip the ROM-1V09.ZIP file that came on the floppy disk into
the current directory.  Then unzip the rom1 configuration file.
Run makexrf convert to create the description listing.  Once this
is successful, run makexrf to create the cdcom.xrf and other
work files.

ex:  (cdrom drive letter e:)
pkunzip a:\rom-1v09
pkunzip cfgfiles rom1.zip
pkunzip rom1
makexrf convert
makexrf e:

ROM2 (ROM2.ZIP)
---------------
Unzip the ROM2V10.ZIP file that came on the floppy disk into
the current directory.  Then unzip the rom1 configuration file.
Run makexrf convert to create the description listing.  Once this
is successful, run makexrf to create the cdcom.xrf and other
work files.

ex:  (cdrom drive letter e:)
pkunzip a:\rom2v10
pkunzip cfgfiles rom2.zip
pkunzip rom2
makexrf convert
makexrf e:

Shareware Carousel (CAROUSEL.ZIP)
---------------------------------
This disk only has IBM, MacIntosh and C-64 files on it.  It also
has no version number on the disk.  You will need to copy the following
files over from the cdrom disk (35 total):

MASTER.CAT    969486 04-10-90   4:32p
00APPL.CAT      6533 04-10-90   9:43a
00CDEV.CAT      3325 04-10-90  11:43a
00CODE.CAT      3222 04-10-90   9:44a
00DA.CAT       17491 04-10-90  11:41a
00DEMO.CAT      3318 04-10-90   9:48a
00DOC.CAT        814 04-10-90  11:30a
00ED.CAT        1782 04-10-90   9:50a
00FKEY.CAT      2496 04-10-90  11:29a
00FONTS.CAT     2855 04-10-90   9:51a
00HC.CAT       20851 04-10-90  11:28a
00INIT.CAT      3344 04-10-90   9:55a
00JOHN.CAT       840 04-10-90  11:01a
00LANG.CAT      4364 04-10-90   9:55a
00MACII.CAT     1123 04-10-90  11:01a
00MACTN.CAT    10359 04-10-90  10:03a
00PATCHE.CAT    1276 04-10-90  11:00a
00PICT.CAT      5101 04-10-90  10:06a
00POSTSC.CAT     396 04-10-90  10:58a
00REVIEW.CAT     461 04-10-90  10:06a
00SOUNDS.CAT   10440 04-10-90  10:32a
00TECH.CAT      1165 04-10-90  10:07a
00UNIX.CAT      1238 04-10-90  10:24a
00UTIL.CAT      5550 04-10-90  10:12a
00UTILDK.CAT    3386 04-10-90  10:24a
00UTILFL.CAT    2469 04-10-90  10:15a
00UTILPN.CAT     855 04-10-90  10:19a
00VIRUS.CAT     2263 04-10-90  10:18a
064APPS.CAT     6956 04-10-90  12:25p
064GAMES.CAT   13444 04-10-90  12:04p
064MISC.CAT     2735 04-10-90  12:22p
064MUSIC.CAT   40867 04-10-90  12:16p
064UTILS.CAT    8287 04-10-90  12:21p

I do not know exactly where they are located, I imagine it is one file
per directory however (I don't have this disk, just these files).

These descriptions will need to be converted before makexrf can use them.
The program convert.bas has been included to do this task.  It will work
under dos 5.00 qbasic.exe program.  If you do not have access to this
program, contact me and I will give you a compiled convert.bas to do the job.

Then load convert.bas into qbasic by typing qbasic convert, then
press the F5 key to run it.  It will create the files that makexrf
can read.  Then unzip the carousel configuration file, then run
makexrf convert to create the master description listing.  After this
is done run makexrf again to create the other work files.

ex:  (cdrom drive letter e:)
copy e:\*.cat  (ie: copy the above cat files into current directory)
pkunzip cfgfiles carousel.zip
pkunzip carousel
qbasic convert  (press F5 once loaded to run it)
makexrf convert
makexrf e:

Shareware Carousel Vol. 2, #1  (CAROV2N1.ZIP)
---------------------------------------------
The descriptions on the cdrom disk will need to be converted before
makexrf can use them.  The program convert.bas has been included to
do this task.  It will work under dos 5.00 qbasic.exe program.  If
you do not have access to this program, contact me and I will give
you a compiled convert.bas to do the job.

You will need to copy the following files from the cdrom disk to the
current directory.  I think they are all in the root directory.

filename         size   date     time
AMIGA.CAT       40532 08-20-90   7:59p
ATARI.CAT       41554 08-20-90  12:19p
COMDORE.CAT     97334 08-21-90   8:14p
GRAPHIC.CAT     90460 07-12-90  11:42a
MACTOSH.CAT    178513 08-21-90   1:59p
MASTER.CAT     973174 08-13-90   2:15p
MEAN_18.CAT     19535 08-20-90   4:18p

Then load convert.bas into qbasic by typing qbasic convert, then
press the F5 key to run it.  It will create the files that makexrf
can read.  Then unzip the carov2n1 configuration file, then run
makexrf convert to create the master description listing.  After this
is done run makexrf again to create the other work files.

ex:  (cdrom drive letter e:)
copy e:\*.cat  (ie: copy the above cat files into current directory)
pkunzip cfgfiles carov2n1.zip
pkunzip carov2n1
qbasic convert  (press F5 once loaded to run it)
makexrf convert
makexrf e:

IF YOUR CDROM DISK IS NOT LISTED HERE CONFIGURATION INFORMATION
---------------------------------------------------------------

CdCom for ease of searching uses one master description listing with
all files in it, sorted alphabetically.  If you do not have such a
listing then one needs to be made.  Makexrf has the capability of taking
category file listings and merging them into one main file, then sorting it.
The listings can have single or multi-line descriptions.  All headers and
other non-filename/description listings will be stripped out (see below).

CdCom uses the following format for description listings.

single line description:

filename       filesize filedate     description                 category code
16550.ZIP        4197  07-27-88  Set fifo buffer on 16550 UART             001


multi-line description:

filename       filesize filedate     descriptions                category code
AP102.ZIP       76146  04-15-91  Telix script auto-starts Puma and Bimodem 001
                               | Downloads, exits Telix if left unattended,001
                               | other features                            001

The | signifies multiline description to makexrf.  multi-line descriptions
cannot be recognized without it (even with the multi-line toggle set
to 1).  The | does not have to be in column 32 exactly initially, however
makexrf will move it to that location when it re-writes it (this is
following the pcboard format).

Makexrf will add the category code based on its location in the makexrf.cfg
file (see makexrf.cfg explanation below).  Category codes DO NOT have to be
in the initial listings, in fact I recommend stripping any out that may
already be in them if they do in fact contain such codes (unless they are
really needed) since makexrf will add its own code that cdcom uses.  I just
showed them here so you would know where it puts them.

This is not a fixed format.  The only thing that matters for the initial
conversion is that all filenames must be all the way at the left. If
makexrf encounters a space or any other invalid filename character in the
leftmost column it will strip this line out.  This is why it is important
to use the | character for multi-line descriptions, without it makexrf has
no way of knowing whether it is just part of a filename header or something
else not needed in the master file.  Most headers will be stripped out
unless they are left justified and begin with a valid filename character.
Blank lines will also be stripped out.

The location of the filesize, date, description, etc is not critical, and
any of these can be omitted.  The only thing needed is the filename.
The filename however should not contain any spaces.  It will not affect
the operation of the description conversion, however the cddisk.rpt
will contain all of the filenames that have spaces in them. The filename
should be FILENAME.EXT not FILENAME EXT or FILE     EXT if you want
it to function correctly (FILE.EXT is acceptable for the last example, but
FILE EXT is not).

The category code tells cdcom which file category the file is in, so that
the user can list files by category.  The rbbs-in-a-box (riab) description
files already have this category code in their listings.  If makexrf creates
listings from available file descriptions, then it will add it itself.
It must always be a 3 character numeric code, no letters allowed.

Here is the format for the makexrf.cfg file:

1> nowl4-1.cat ;description filename
2> 1           ;multiline descriptions=1, single line = 0
3> 0           ;set at 1 only for riab disks (read desc file backwards)
4> 31          ;# of category description files to convert
DIR1
DIR2
DIR3
DIR4
DIR5
DIR6
DIR7
DIR8
DIR9
DIR10
DIR11
DIR12
DIR13
DIR14
DIR15
DIR16
DIR17
DIR18
DIR19
DIR20
DIR21
DIR22
DIR23
DIR24
DIR25
DIR26
DIR27
DIR28
DIR29
DIR30
DIR31

1> is the filename that will be used when writing the master description
listing (in this case nowl4-1.cat).  You can call it whatever you want.
The pointer file in this case would be nowl4-1.ptr (so it just changes
the extension to .ptr for the pointer file).

2> if the file category listings you have contain multi-line descriptions,
and are using the | convention, then set this to 1.  Otherwise set it to 0.

3> if the existing master description listing is sorted backwards, like
the riab disks are, then set this to one.  If you want your single line
description listing sorted backwards you can also set this to 1 also,
although I don't know why you would want to do this.  This must be set
to 0 for multi-line descriptions.

4> is the number of category description filenames to convert.

lines after 4 are the category filenames to convert.  These must be valid
dos filenames, and can include the paths to them.  Note however that they
will be erased as they are converted, so if they are on the cdrom disk
then copy them over to the current work directory.  These files are the
listings by category (like files.bbs) that hopefully came with your cdrom
disk (broken down into categories like communcations, games, etc).  Each
listing will be treated as a different category.  The three digit category
code is assigned by the filenames location in makexrf.cfg.  So in this
example DIR1 is assigned 001, DIR2 is assigned 002, etc.  If DIR3 had
been the first filename listed then it would have been assigned 001
for a category code.  This category code should match the one given
in your file category menu (for cdcom, category.bbs).  Example:

 1 Communications           13 Printer Util         25 Misc program util
 2 Games of all sorts       14 Disk Util            26 Home and personal
 3 Desktop applications     15 File Util            27 Utilities & programs
 4 Word processors          16 Keyboard Util        28 Gif Pictures
 5 C/Assembler              17 Windows              29 BBS Doors and Util.
 6 Pascal And Turbo         18 Cad                  30 ASP Shareware Progr.
 7 Basic And Qbasic         19 Lotus applications   31 Zipping Utilities
 8 Education and helps      20 Misc                 32
 9 Business programs        21 Virus protections    33
10 Entertainment            22 Database programs    34
11 Systems Util             23 Graphic programs     35
12 Screen Util              24 Dos and patches      36

so the DIR1 file contain the communications category files, DIR2 file
contains the games files, etc.  So try to arrange them in the proper order
so they will match the category.bbs menu file.  Note in the menu it is not
important if the category code is 1 or 001, cdcom will add the padded 0's
itself if the user just types 1 instead of 001, or 2 instead of 002 when
it goes to list the files by category.

Do not put ; comments on the category filename lines.  Also if you copy
files off the cdrom disk insure that the read-only attribute has been
toggled off (use attrib -r *.* to turn it off if it is on).

Once you have created the makexrf.cfg file, then run makexrf convert.
It will read the cfg file and process the file lists.  Once it is done,
and it did not crash in the process, there will be the master listing
(given by line 1), a .ptr file (based on line 1), and a file called
makexrf.dat.  This will contain the number that you must put on cdcom.def
line 15.

If you are having memory problems, refer to the top of this doc file.
You can remove the cdrom drivers during the description conversion if
you need to, as they are not needed.  You will need to re-install them
however for when it creates the filename cross-reference listing.  For
any other errors refer to ERRORS.DOC.  If you still cannot solve the
problem then feel free to contact me at the numbers listed in cdcom.doc.

You will also need to create a file called cdcom.cat.  This file actually
controls what categories cdcom will recognize.  This file is also covered
in the cdcom.doc file.  For this example cdcom.cat would look like:

# of categories
category code,category description

31
001,Communications
002,Games of all sorts
003,Desktop applications
004,Word processors
005,C/Assembler
006,Pascal And Turbo
007,Basic And Qbasic
008,Education and helps
009,Business programs
010,Entertainment
011,Systems Util
012,Screen Util
013,Printer Util
014,Disk Util
015,File Util
016,Keyboard Util
017,Windows
018,Cad
019,Lotus applications
020,Misc
021,Virus protections
022,Database programs
023,Graphic programs
024,Dos and patches
025,Misc program util
026,Home and personal
027,Utilities & programs
028,Gif Pictures
029,BBS Doors and Util.
030,ASP Shareware Progr.
031,Zipping Utilities

Note that in this file the category number must contain the padded 0's
in front of the category number.  The description can be whatever you
want, but it should just match the menu.  I have seen on the disks that
support GAP bbs that cdcom.cat resembles the DIRS file, so you can just
modify that file to the format cdcom uses.  If not what I usually do is
just take the category menu and edit it to make cdcom.cat (now you see
what I used to have to do to make a disk work with cdcom).  Also on some
of the disks are the DIR and DIRG files, which are the ascii and ansi
category menus, respectively.  Just rename these to category.bbs for
the DIR, and category.scr for the DIRG and your set as far as the
category menu goes.  Note ansi screens only work with the registered
version of the door however.

You can look at the configuration files that are included in this zip
for examples on how to setup the makexrf.cfg, cdcom.cat and cdcom.def
files for your disk if you are having problems.  I tried to make this
as simple as possible, but then again everything looks simple from the
programmers point of view.  Feel free to contact me if you are having
problems.

A simple example showing idea behind setting up a new disk for this
program:

a cdrom disk with 5 category sub-directories, each with a files.bbs in it.
The descriptions are single line.

cdrom disk tree structure:

E:\
  \GAMES
  \COMMO
  \UTILS
  \PRINTER
  \GRAPHICS

copy each files.bbs into current directory, re-naming it as you go along.

ex:
copy e:\games\files.bbs games.txt
copy e:\commo\files.bbs commo.txt
copy e:\utils\files.bbs utils.txt
copy e:\printer\files.bbs printer.txt
copy e:\graphics\files.bbs graphics.txt

makexrf.cfg for this would look like

category.cat  ;description filename
0             ;single line descriptions
0             ;sort them forwards
5             ;# of description filenames to convert
GAMES.TXT
COMMO.TXT
UTILS.TXT
PRINTER.TXT
GRAPHICS.TXT

Remember to arrange these in the order that they appear in your category
menu (category.bbs) if you have one.  Games in this example will be
assigned category code 001, communications category code 002, etc.

run MAKEXRF CONVERT to convert them.  Then run makexrf again to create
the .xrf and other work files.  Check makexrf.dat for description line
length to put on cdcom.def line 15 (and save this file also in same
directory as makexrf as it is used later by some functions).

ex for above:
makexrf convert
makexrf e:

Create CDCOM.CAT

5
001,Games and other Fun Stuff
002,Communications Programs
003,Utilities
004,Printer Programs
005,Graphics Programs

Create a category.bbs file category menu if needed using these category
codes.

You are now done with makexrf.  Continue with cdcom installation.

Sound simple?  I hope it is.  It will just require a little work locating
and copying over all the description files, and locating the category
menu.  Hopefully your cdrom disk comes with all this information.
Once that step is done the rest should be easy.

ELS  10-13-91

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