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2. Files
Upon initialization, DOORWAY looks for several files: The
INITIAL WELCOME, the APPLICATION PROGRAM, the EXIT MESSAGE
or a TRANSLATION TABLE. The INITIAL WELCOME and EXIT
MESSAGE are simply ASCII (or ANSI) files, and the PROGRAM
can be either a .COM or .EXE program (for a .BAT program the
/C:VIA switch must be added). The TRANSLATION TABLE is
generated by the XTABLE.EXE program provided with DOORWAY.
See the XTABLE.DOC file for more information. If the INITIAL
WELCOME or EXIT message has ANSI codes in it, they will be
displayed properly on the HOST and REMOTE ends.
A. The INITIAL WELCOME File
This ASCII or ANSI file informs the user of the PROGRAM
about to be executed and nay setup requirements; such as set
NUMLOC key and/or have ANSI graphics installed. If any line
is started with a $:, then that line will be printed
(without the "$:") and a "Y", "N" or [CR] must be entered
before the output will continue. This allows the screen
display to be paused with a statement such as:
$:ENTER CARRIAGE RETURN TO CONTINUE; N TO QUIT
If the user enters a [CR] or [Y] to the prompt, DOORWAY will
run the application program; but if he enters an [N],
DOORWAY will return to the Bulletin Board or HOST.
The initial welcome can be made into a menu. This is
similar to the monitor function seen on RBBS's. When
DOORWAY is executed, a menu can be displayed for selection
of action to be taken; ie. Run a program, DROP TO DOS, etc.
The user enters a number from 0 to 9 or character from A to
Z and the program selected is loaded and run. When aborted,
DOORWAY returns to the menu, to let the user select another
door if desired. To exit the menu, the user enters either a
number or letter which is not defined (such as a [Q]). An
@NAME@ and @TIME@ will substitute the user name and time.
Example:
The batch file:
doorway com1 /r:k /g:on /i:menu
The following page shows the actual text of the welcome file
with the filename of "MENU".
The WELCOME FILE (MENU):
Welcome to Data World BBS's games doors. Select from one of
the following doors. When through, you will return to this
menu. To end this doors session, type either 'E', 'Q' or
selection 5.
1. Eatumup. A color graphic monster maze game (you need
ANSI).
2. 4inarow. Like Orthello. Can you beat the computer (ANSI).
3. Big Rig. Drive a truck across the country (ANSI).
4. Guessit. Let the computer guess something about you.
5. The financial menu.
6. Return to the HOST.
M:Please enter your selection (1-6):
/p:eatumup.exe
/t: p:4inarow.exe
/t: r:x /p:bigrig.exe
/g:off /p:guessit.exe
/i:FMENU
Please note that the M:...., and switches must start on the
left margin.
Note that you can nest menu's, so that one menu calls
another. When the program is exited, it will return to the
top level menu. For example, the switch line containing:
/I:FMENU will call up another menu which will be presented
exactly like this one. See section XX for an example of
FMENU.
The M: means that it is to stop and input a selection
number. The selection numbers start with 0 and runs 0-9,
then A-Z. Since a blank line is between the M: line and the
first selection, the menu in this case starts with 1.
The command line sets the defaults for ALL the programs in
the menu. Thus the graphics will be on, and the K will
cause an external abort in all the programs, unless set
differently. 4inarow will also trap for <CRTL-C>, and Big
Rig will also abort with a <CRTL-X>. "GUESSIT" has the main
command line ANSI ON directive, overridden with the /G:OFF.
The m:... may also be used. The "M:" and "m:" behave
differently on timeouts. The "M:" will return to the menu
if there is a keyboard or user timeout, but the "m:" will
return to the HOST. If PCBOARD.SYS or DOOR.SYS is being read
and using the actual user's time, it is preferable to use
the small "m"; however if only 10 minutes in a door is
given, then the capital "M" would be more logical.
DOORWAY can also password protect any door, or the drop to
DOS. Create a welcome file, and on the last line enter:
P:PASSWORD
For example:
Enter the password for exit to dos:
P:MONGOOSE
If this is in the INITIAL WELCOME file for your DROP TO DOS,
the user will see the first line, prompting him for the
password. When password is entered, dots will echo keyboard
entry. If the password is entered correctly, the door, or
DROP TO DOS in this case, will be executed. Otherwise, he
will get a message that the password is wrong, and he will
be returned to the HOST. The password may be either upper
or lower case letters, as DOORWAY doesn't differentiate
between them.
B. The APPLICATION PROGRAM
The application program can be virtually any .COM or .EXE
program. It can also be a .BAT file, provided a /C:DOS is
added to the DOORWAY command line. Note that the name of the
program to be run, and the path, if not in the same
directory as DOORWAY, must be given EXTENSION and ALL.
This is because COMMAND.COM is not loaded for safety
reasons, and to conserve memory. Although the SYSOP give
the program name as "BASIC.EXE APPLICATION", it is not
recommended. If the user was able to break the interpreted
basic program, or it were to abort on a critical error, the
user would be in the basic interpreter. Then, he could do a
shell command which loads COMMAND.COM, and be in DOS. After
checking out the BASIC program, then by all means compile it
so a break will return to DOORWAY, which will in turn return
control to the HOST. If the program is being run from a
different directory than the logged directory, and looks for
any files in the logged directly, it may be necessary to add
a /CD to the DOORWAY command line so the program's directory
will be logged prior to execution.
C. The EXIT MESSAGE
This is essentially the same as the INITIAL WELCOME FILE
message, but is typed after the application program is run.
The "$:" will wait after that line is output, just as in the
menu above, but any [Y] or [N] responses will be ignored by
DOORWAY.
D. The TRANSLATION TABLE
The Translation Table allow you to redefine characters from
the REMOTE. For more information see XTABLE.DOC file.
This page created by ng2html v1.05, the Norton guide to HTML conversion utility.
Written by Dave Pearson