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** ** ** ** ******
** ** ** ** ** **
** ** ** ** **
*** ** ** **
** ** ** ** **
** ** ** ** ** **
** ** ***** ******
Version 4.2
* The eXpress Userlist Compiler *
(C) Copyright Artwork Software 1991
Written by Michael Barnes
All Rights Reserved
This release finished on 27/8/91
┌─┬───┬─┐
├─┘ _ └─┤rtwork
│ (_) │
│ ┌───┐ │ .
│ │■ █│ │ /
└─┴───┴─┘/
\
\ oftware
/
./
"Quality Shareware software for the IBM Compatible PC"
P L E A S E N O T E ! ! !
==========================
My netmail address is now 2:252/125, instead of 2:252/7. Netmail to
2:252/7 will still reach me as that is the board I collecting mail from. If
the 2:252/125 address disappears (the future of the BB is a little
uncertain) then go back to using 2:252/7.
Users of pervious versions will find several large changes in this
version. Please don't try and use it without reading the documentation, or
you may regret it!
============================================================================
License !!!!! I M P O R T A N T P L E A S E R E A D !!!!!!
============================================================================
The license for XUC is as follows... You can try out XUC absolutely free
for 30 days. After that period of time, I must ask you to register. There is
no way for me to *make* you register, but I hope the program is sufficiently
useful to warrant it's registration. I've spent a fair number of hours
working on it (far more than I'd like to admit), and the very modest fee is
designed to allow even the poorest user to register. I fear that the effect
may be the opposite to that which I want - because the price is low, people
think it's not worth registering. I hope that this isn't the case, but if it
is then there's a simple solution...
Anyway, whether you are registered or not, you are welcome to any help
that you require, so long as I can provide that help.
If you want to purchase a number of copies, bulk discounts may be
available. ONE purchase equals ONE user - there is no other arrangement.
The above extends back to all previous versions of XUC.
The registration fee is 5 pounds sterling (quid=pound, for you foriegn
users who might be confused by the term!). If you've already paid, you're
already registered - registration is for life and all future versions.
Introduction
------------
There's a saying in the world of software writing - "If you spend as much
time testing as you need to, you'd never get the program out the door." At
least, if there isn't there should be. It's true.
Where to strike the balance between reliability and time is the problem - I
use the "it seems to work" principle, which states: "If it seems to work
then release it - to hell with the little lurking bugs."
Well, little lurking bugs are often actually big lurking bugs in disguise,
as has been demonstrated adequately with previous versions of XUC. I'd hoped
that no more demonstrations would be necessary, but they have been... So
here's another release. XUC V4 didn't work. Quite simply, it was a load of
doggy do. Somehow I'd managed to forget to make it check to see if it had
already extracted the record it has just extracted already (got that? it
means "dupe checking"), except for looking at the last record. Oops. Also,
I'd missed out the vital word "Var" in one of my procedure declarations - if
you know Turbo Pascal, you'll know that this would mean that parameters are
not returned. Put simply, it was a cock up which meant that all point
numbers were wrong - except those that weren't.
I've also made the node number extraction a little better, which is an
improvement rather than a bug fix. A little weeny bug in the browser has
also been removed.
That was all true for V4.1, which was a bug-fix in a minor sort of way. This
new version includes a few new things including some more keywords in the
control file (look at the XUC.Ctl file itself for info on those). Browser
now also includes an echomail statistics section, and the PgUp and PgDn keys
work. Browser accepts command-line options, for use with XRS macros when
they arrive. The search facility will write all the node numbers of matching
entries into a file called "Found.Xuc", from which XRS may conceivably grab
them in the future - basically this feature allows XUC to create results
which can be used by another program. And a few bugs have been squashed too.
*** I ought to just point out that you really ought to read the "Other
Programs" bit at the end of this document. Address Master is a pretty
neat program, which I hope will go a long way. It also includes USA
support now (meaning it will convert "Postcode" to "Zip Code" - not a
big change but nifty!).
The Programs and How to Use them
--------------------------------
Convert
-------
"Convert" will convert your old userlist style list into the new XUC style
userfile. XUC now uses it's own format for the userfile - see below for more
details.
Convert has four command line parameters you can use.
-U:<FileName> - Specify userlist to convert ("Userlist.XRS" default).
-W - If the userlist is in 58 column mode, use this!
-N - Don't process entries where the username contains a
numbers.
-J - Don't process entries with characters of ascii value
higher than 126 or lower than 32.
XUC
---
XUC is a utility that you can run after you've read your mail which will
look through the mailbag and extract the names and Net/Node addresses of the
originators of messages which fulfill the following requirements.
a) They must have an address! Some boards seem to produce mail which does
not have an address in it. This is, I think, against FidoNet policy so
please ask sysops producing messages with no address on the origin line
to stop it! If a "^AMSGID" control flag is found in the message, the
node number will be taken from that. This also works for "^AFROM" -
assuming I've got the specs for this right!
b) They must have the address (if the ^AMSGID or ^AFROM isn't used)
surrounded by brackets "(" and ")". Text in the brackets is ignored
until a zone number and a colon (":") is found. Thus if there is, for
some reason, a number that has been specified in the control file - or
if none specified then the defaults of 1 to 5 - followed by a colon
*before* the actual address, the resulting address will be invalid.
c) The zone number must be preceded by either a space or an open bracket
"(". There should *never* be any other arrangement - if there is,
please tell me!
Any messages where any of the above requirements are not met will be
ignored. You should find, if you're getting all the zones, that you're
getting around a quarter of the total number of messages. The reason it's
that low is because it only takes each person once!
The simplest way of running XUC is to just type "XUC" at the command line.
This will set XUC going on a default mailbag of "Bat1mail.XRS". If your
mailbags have a different name from this, you need to run XUC by typing:
"XUC -B<Name of MailBag.Extension>"
or use the control file to change the default. If there is no
control file, XUC will use built-in default values.
You *must* give XUC the entire filename.
Once XUC has extracted the names and Net/Node numbers it will sort them
and write them out to a file called "UserAdd.XUC". XUC then merges this
sorted userfile file with your main userfile. Where there are duplications
of name, XUC will add the new name. If the node number (*not* including the
point number) is the same the new entry won't be added. "What?" I hear you
say... "duplicates allowed?". Yup! The "Browser" program, included in the
package, will search the userlist succesfully with or without duplicates.
Hopefully Mike Ratledge will support the new file format soon. But don't
worry - if you ask XUC nicely, it will produce an old-style userlist too.
To create a userlist, use the "-M" command line parameter, or use the
keyword "MakeList" as described in the XUC.CTL file.
A whole host of new keywords have been added to the XUC.CTL range. Read
what I've written in the XUC.CTL file for full details.
One thing to remember is that XUC has a 850 address limit. If it manages
to extract that many, it should ignore any that come after. As the number of
messages you can download in one session is limited, there shouldn't be any
problem at all with this!
Incidently, the "comment" field in the program is not a text field, it's a
pointer to another record in a file called "Comments.Xuc". This means that
if you don't write a comment, you don't take up much disk space! The down
side is that this sort of thing is prone to problems if the links go wrong.
This may happen if my programming is as bad there as it is everywhere else,
or ot may happen due to disk errors. It will also happen if you delete the
Userfile.Xuc file or the Comments.Xuc file without deleting the other (ie:
if you delete one, make sure you delete the other!).
Browser
-------
This program gives you a whole host of features, none very complex.
Add: "A" - You can add a user to the userlist. You must then merge
("M") the new record or records with the database.
Delete: "D" - Tag a user for deletion. You must then pack the database
("P") to remove tagged records.
By Date: "B" - Tag for deletion all users written to the userfile
before a specific date.
Edit: "E" - Edit the nodenumber of the highlighted user.
Search: "S" - Search by string or part of a string for any user.
Details: "Return" - This will show you the full stored details on any
user. Pressing "N" while in extended view mode will
search the nodelist (if there is one) for the
details of the BBS. More on that later.
Help: "?" - This will give you a summary of all commands.
If you are a sysop, or a keen user, you may have a nodelist handy. You'll
need a nodelist compiler such as Parselist, and you should use this or a
similar program to create a nodelist in one of the formats supported by
Browser. Tell Browser which type of nodelist to use, and where to find it,
using the two keywords "Nodelist" and "NodePath". You can then use Browser's
lookup function to find the name and telephone number of the user's BBS. The
nodelist routines were written by Mark Cole, who's such a brilliant chap
that they actually work, and work well, so a big hand for Mark please.
In V4.2, when you do a search Browser writes the results to a file called
Found.Xuc. This file is in the format:
Barnes, Michael, 2:252/125.0
This may be useful to someone.
Browser now has a few command line options. These are:
-! This tells Browser to display echomail statistics automatically
when you load the program.
-A Browser will automatically show extended info on a record which
you find using the search facility.
-S<Name> Automatically search for <Name>. Note that spaces in the name
should be replaced with underscore characters -
ie: -SMichael_Barnes.
This feature is not case sensitive.
-N With this option, Browser will automatically look up a board's
details in the nodelist from the "extended view" section.
These new additions should allow XUC to work with the upcoming XRS V5 macro
options. Then again they may not. That's the trouble with being ahead of the
game for once (unles V5 is already out, in which case I'm behind again).
Bugs!, Bug Reports, and FeedBack
--------------------------------
If you find a bug, don't keep it to yourself! Write to me by snailmail
(address below), Netmail me at 2:252/125, or use any echo which seems
appropriate (QMX_XRS is a good bet). If you think of something you think I
should add, I'm open to suggestions as well as criticism. This fourth
version has been written from ideas from users. I hope everyone is happy
with it, if not please feel free to tell me exactly what you think!
This documentation was dashed off in one mega finger-killing, keyboard
bashing exercise. Well, that's not quite true by now - several re-writes
have been required, but why spoil a good line? If you spot a gruesome error
in it, please tell me! There shouldn't be any spelling errors, but Word
Perfect won't spot them darned grammatical errors...
New features in V4.2
--------------------
1) Browser command line options.
2) Browser keywords in the Xuc.Ctl file.
3) PgUp and PgDn work in Browser now.
4) The merge in XUC and Browser was improved to make it work properly with
duplicate names.
5) Echomail statistics section added in Browser.
6) It probably now doesn't work either, but there's a large probability
that some it it that didn't work before now works to some extent. The
reverse is probably also true. I've discovered that the comments can go
walkies quite often - I'll try and make that work later on!
New features in V4.1!
---------------------
1) I decided that I really ought to make the program work.
New features in V4!
-------------------
1) I rewrote the program. Nearly all the code is new, and the program now
uses it's own userfile format. Also included is a program to let you
browse the userfile. Note that "Userfile" refers to the new file
format, "Userlist" refers to the old one. Two many new features to list
in full here - most are covered in the XUC.CTL file. Users who have
used V3 or before should read this and not just blunder into it!
Money, luvely Money!!!
----------------------
Well, I've already mentioned (somewhere up there) the price for this fine
piece of software. No need to impress on you further that if you use this
program you will feel utterly low and depressed until you send me 5 quid is
there? Please make all cheques payable to Michael Barnes. I won't accept
money from abroad in any form other than cash unless it also covers the bank
charges. It's probably easiest to buy a five pound note from your local
bank, shove it between two bits of paper so that it isn't too obvious, and
send that.
As promised somewhere further up the page, here is the address to send all
of that money which I just know you're gonna be reaching into your pockets
for as soon as you get your trousers on:
Artwork Software
67, Heath Road,
Holtspur,
Beaconsfield,
Bucks.
HP9 1DG.
England.
If you're very poor, but just happen to have a spare PC (with a hard disk
and preferably a colour monitor) just lying around somewhere collecting
dust, feel free to send that along instead.
File Formats
------------
I meant to include this in V4, but forgot...
The UserFile.Xuc file format:
Type URec = Record
First:String[20];
Last:String[20];
Zone:Word;
Net:Word;
Node:Word;
Point:LongInt;
Year:Word;
Month:Byte;
Day:Byte;
Comment:Longint;
End;
The Comments.Xuc file format:
Comm = Record
Message:String[50];
User:Longint;
End;
If you want to include the XUC format in a program you're writing, please go
ahead. I'd like to know about it, but that's up to you really. It's a fairly
simple format but seems to work quite well.
Registered Users
----------------
My profound thanks (and the thanks of my bank manager) go to:
Steve Dixon
John Buckley
Paul Carrol
Ivar Peterson
Daan Van.Rooijen
Jeroen Smulders
for their registration of XUC. And may
I say that with the money received I have established a private army which
will track down and kill anyone who decides not to register... Eh? Oh well,
tough - I've said it already.
Other Stuff
-----------
1) Address Master Version 2 - marvellous Address Book program. Absolutely
brilliant. Far too many features to do the program justice here, but
included is Word Perfect mail merge support, scrolling menus, full
colour selection, label printing, etc etc. Freq as AdMaster.
2) NewsView - Newsfile creation program for sysops. Rather handy and easy
to use. It allows you to enter some text and a title to post as a news
item, and then the program adds this at the top of the news file
(News.Ans and News.Asc on QBBS - but you can define it to any name you
like) in both ansi and ascii format. You can specify how many news
items you want kept, and the program automatically only keeps as many
as you tell it to. This is a definate must for sysops.
3) StoryMan on-line story creator. This one's really good - it allows
users to add to a story, which builds up as each user decides to add a
bit. Because it's written by different people, it can turn out very
funny. This program was written for QBBS/RA systems, but can be
modified for other systems that don't use the Dorinfo1.Def file.
For more information Netmail me, Michael Barnes, at 2:252/125 - or write
to the address given above.
Michael Barnes - Owner, Chief Programmer, and Tea boy of Artwork Software.
_ ()
'\/\
/|^
_| \ (the Author - not a nancy boy, it
just looks that way (but not in real
life!))
┌─┬───┬─┐
├─┘ _ └─┤rtwork
│ (_) │
│ ┌───┐ │ .
│ │■ █│ │ /
└─┴───┴─┘/
\
\ oftware
/
./
"Quality Shareware software for the IBM Compatible PC"
Thank you for using Artwork Software programs... I hope I will soon be
able to thank you for buying Artwork Software programs! I also hope,
fervently, that the quality and usefulness of this program is enough to
encourage you to register - if not, then nobody's forcing you to use it! If
you think it's a crap program, feel free to tell me so.
This documentation, the XUC program, and everything else in the XUC
zipfile (XUC1.Zip, XUC2.Zip, XUC3.Zip, XUC4.Zip, XUC41.Zip or XUC42.Zip) are
(C) Copyright Artwork Software 1990,1991.