SysOp Companion v1.0 Installation & Program Usage Shareware Version A WWIV User Editor Enclosed Software & Documents are Copyright (c) 1997 Chris Duerr All Rights Reserved þ Program Description ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 'SysOp Companion' is a full featured WWIV User Editor compatible with Windows 95. SysOp Companion has been tested successfully with stock WWIV v4.24, and _should_ work well on earlier systems. Version 1.0 of SysOp Companion has been released as Shareware. You may use this software for a trial period of 30 days free of charge. Should you desire to continue your use of this software after the 30 day trial period, you are strongly encouraged to register this soft- ware with the author. Registration is inexpensive, and grants usage of the software for an indefinite period of time. For registration details, see the file REGISTER.TXT for more information. This program may be redistributed provided that it is kept in its original .ZIP archive and no additional fee is required for download or transfer. Please read the installation instructions, program usage information, compatibility notes, and the disclaimer given below before executing this software. þ Installation ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Installation of SysOp Companion v1.0 is very simple. To ensure a safe installation, I suggest you take the following steps. No installation program is provided. 1) As with any freely distributed program, you should scan the files in this program archive with an updated virus scanner. 2) Important! Before using SysOp Companion, backup your WWIV USER.LST data file. This file is in the 'DATA' subdirectory of your main WWIV directory. To backup this file, simply copy it to another directory. Should your \DATA\USER.LST file ever become corrupted, simply delete the corrupted file, and replace it with your backup. 3) Copy SYSCOMP.EXE to the subdirectory of your choice. I suggest creating a \SYSCOMP\ subdirectory branching off of your main WWIV directory and copying the .EXE file there. However, as of version 1.0, SYSCOMP.EXE may be placed in any directory. 4) Create a Shortcut to SYSCOMP.EXE in Windows 95 entitled 'SysOp Companion v1.0'. Refer to your Windows 95 manuals or on-line help for information regarding the creation of shortcuts. 5) Test the shortcut out. If there are any problems re-read the above mentioned steps and try again. If you are still having problems, contact another SysOp using SysOp Companion for help. If all else fails, read the AUTHOR section for information about how to get a hold of me. 6) Read the 'Program Usage' section for program setup instructions. þ Uninstalling ------------------------------------------------------------------------ To uninstall SysOp Companion, simply delete the provided SYSCOMP.EXE program executable and accompanying documentation / readme files. You may also wish to remove any program shortcuts in Windows 95 that you may have created. No uninstall program is provided. þ Program Usage ------------------------------------------------------------------------ As with most Windows 95 compatible software, using this program is quite simple and straightfoward. Before you can begin, you will need to load your 'USER.LST' file. Start SysOp Companion and click on 'File', and select 'Open'. A familiar 'Open' dialog will appear. Select the Drive and Directory of your 'USER.LST' file and click on Open. If the file was opened successfully, the filename and path will appear below the main scroll bar. You may use the scrollbar to scroll your user records, or enter the user number at the prompt in the upper left hand corner. The 'LOAD' / 'RELOAD' button will load the current user from file into the tabbed notebook. By checkmarking 'AUTO-LOAD', user records will automatically be loaded into the tabbed notebook. The 'SAVE' button will save the current user record to file. By check marking 'AUTO-SAVE', user records are automatically saved when a new user or file is loaded, or when the program exits. The tabbed notebook contains a great deal of user information to edit as you please. Should an invalid entry get entered and saved, the program will save the entry as ZERO or NULL. During the Debug stage of SysOp Companion's development, I did everything I could to make either it crash or WWIV crash, and could not succeed. Infact, WWIV handled invalid entries quite well. Although I've tested invalid entries quite thoroughly, I do not recommend you go and do the same without first backing up your USER.LST file. As of version 1.0, some data entry options are not available for viewing/edit. Please note that the fields which do not work are not intentional software cripples. These fields are also non-operational on registered versions. Future v1.x versions will allow editing of these features. The bottom status bar contains basic program hints, information, errors, or warnings that may need to be aware of. As of now, no further documentation is provided. I plan to better document this program in the future. þ Compatibility Notes ------------------------------------------------------------------------ If you have successfully run SysOp Companion on software or an operating system not listed below, please contact the author with the updated information. Thank you. This Program has not been tested on non-Pentium based systems, how- ever it should be compatible with all Windows 95 supported hardware. - Windows 95 Successfully tested on Windows 95 v4.00.95a. - Windows NT Not Tested. This software may very likely be somewhat compatible with Windows NT v3.51 or better. However, it has yet to be tested, and I can not recommend you test it yourself... but if you do, I'd be very interested in knowing the results. - Windows 3.1 Not Tested. This software may work provided that Win32 is loaded, however I wouldn't recommend it. - WWIV BBS Successfully tested on Stock WWIV v4.24 'USER.LST' data file. This software should be compatible with most earlier versions and future v4.xx versions. Source Code Modifications not directly altering the current User Record Structure (not including reserved data storage) should be fully compatible with SysOp Companion. This software has been tested successfully while operating simultaneously with stock WWIV v4.24. It is not likely that any data loss or corruption can occur while operating WWIV and SysOp Companion simultaneously. I run WWIV & SysOp Companion simultaneously quite often, as I would expect any 24 hour SysOp would, and have had no problems what-so-ever. However, I am forced to advise you to take caution in doing so yourself. þ Technical Notes ------------------------------------------------------------------------ This software creates no permanent or temporary data files. No additional modifications (other than those made by the user) are made to the WWIV 'USER.LST' file. This program accesses no other WWIV data files, and is completely unaware of concurrently running instances of either itself or WWIV software. þ Disclaimer ------------------------------------------------------------------------ THIS SOFTWARE AND MANUAL ARE SOLD "AS IS" AND WITHOUT WARRANTIES AS TO PERFORMANCE OF MERCHANTABILITY OR ANY OTHER WARRANTIES WHETHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED. BECAUSE OF THE VARIOUS HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE ENVIRONMENTS INTO WHICH THIS PROGRAM MAY BE PUT, NO WARRANTY OF FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE IS OFFERED. GOOD DATA PROCESSING PROCEDURE DICTATES THAT ANY PROGRAM BE THOROUGHLY TESTED WITH NON-CRITICAL DATA BEFORE RELYING ON IT. THE USER MUST ASSUME THE ENTIRE RISK OF USING THE PROGRAM. ANY LIABILITY OF THE SELLER WILL BE LIMITED EXCLUSIVELY TO PRODUCT REPLACEMENT OR REFUND OF PURCHASE PRICE. Windows (R) 95 and Windows (R) NT are copyright (c) 1981-1995 by Microsoft Corporation. WWIV is Copyright (c) 1988-1996 by WWIV Software Services. All registered trademarks and trademarks trademarks are property of their respective owners and appear for identification purposes only. þ Author / Contact Information ------------------------------------------------------------------------ You can contact me via E-Mail at the following addresses. cduerr19@mail.idt.net via Internet duerchr@charlie.cns.iit.edu via Internet 3 @19907 via WWIVLink You may also visit us at on the World Wide Web at : http://hudson.idt.net/~cduerr19/sc/sc.html