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DDPLus Version 7.1 Door Driver Toolkit for Turbo Pascal 7.0 NOTE: Items with marked with a "*" have changed since version 7.0 DISCLAIMER ---------- The contributors have taken every precaution to insure that no harm or damage will occur on computer systems operating this package. Nevertheless, they shall NOT be held liable for whatever may happen on your computer system or to any computer systems which connects to your own as a result of operating this package. The user assumes full responsibility for the correct operation of this software package, whether harm or damage results from software error, hardware malfunction, or operator error. NO warranties are offered, expressly stated or implied, including without limitation or restriction any warranties of operation for a particular purpose and/or merchantability. If you do not agree with this then do NOT use DDPLUS. COPYRIGHT INFORMATION ON DDPLus TOOLKIT (C) --------------------------------------------------- Most of the source code for the DDPlus package comes from the original Door Driver Kit 5.0 and that code is copyrighted by Scott Baker and Derrick Parkhurst. This copyright includes all source code and sample doors originated by them. These authors have permitted the original code to be published as Freeware, although they still retain copyrights to their original material. All other material, other then the original Scott Baker/Derrick Parkhurst items, is Copyrighted by Steven Lorenz and Bob Dalton. The IBBS.ZIP package is copyrighted by Andy Stewart. The RIPLINK.ZIP package is copyrighted by Tom Morgan. These authors are solely responsible for the content of their portions of DDPlus, not to mention any bugs <grin>. LICENSE AGREEMENT ----------------- The program source code, support files, and documentation NOT part of the the original Door Driver Kit package are copyrighted products of Steven Lorenz and Bob Dalton. The IBBS.ZIP package is copyrighted by Andy Stewart. These authors reserve all rights to these products. This is protected by the United States of America (USA) and International Copyright Laws. You may modify or use the the enclosed source code for your programs but you may NOT distribute DDPLUS source code modifications as part of the DDPLUS package. In cases where this may infringe on the Copyrights of the original Door Driver Kit authors, then their Copyrights will take precedence. Tampering with or altering the contents or integrity of the DDPlus software package is prohibited IF you intend to give a copy of the DDPLus archive package to others. No fee may be charged by any agency beyond the cost of distributing copies. The bottom line folks: Don't make any changes in this package and redistribute as coming from us, and you can't re-label or modify the DDPLUS package and market it as your own! WHAT'S IT GOING TO COST YOU TO USE THIS PACKAGE? ------------------------------------------------ Nothing! The DDPlus package is distributed as FREEWARE and requires NO registration and NO royalties for door products produced with this package. It would be nice though if you credit the DDplus Door Kit in your program with a line that says something like "Another DDPLus Door Program" or something similar and in the documentation so that others will know it is a product based on the DDPlus kit. The individual authors of this package will NOT however turn down a registered copy of any program created with this package, if it is offered to us in appreciation for all the work involved <grin>. These will ALWAYS be gladly accepted! (Hey, we ARE sysops as well as programmers after all!!) INTRODUCTION: ------------ DDplus is a package of pascal units for use in creating programs for use with Bulletin Board Systems (BBS). These programs are called "DOORS" and are stand alone products which "link" with the BBS to allow users to enjoy games and utilities of all types. The DDPlus package takes the tedium out of Door programming by allowing you to concentrate on the writing of door specific code and not having to worry about details such working with fossils, multi-tasker support, handling communications I/O and the processing of BBS drop Files. This package does NOT teach Turbo Pascal programming. It assumes that you know basic Turbo Pascal programming already, and desire to put that knowledge to use by designing a door for a BBS. Features of DDPLUS and the DDPLus Kit: -------------------------------------- 1. IRQs 0-15 are supported. 2. Comports 1-4 supported. 3. Selectable Port Addresses. 4. DesqView aware routines. 5. Detects Rip. 6. Fast and correct ansi color routines. 7. Lock baud and comm baud rates to 115,200 8. Built in Windows, WindowsNT and OS/2 time slice releasing. *9. Fossil support to 115,200 using extended fossil calls. Since release of 7.0 we have received the specifications on how to set the baud rate for highspeed bnu fossils. Now port speeds of 57,600 and 115,200 for both X00 and BNU can be handled by either the FOSSIL or the XFOSSIL options. Once again FOSSIL will initialize the detected fossil to the port speed and XFOSSIL will accept the fossil as-is with no initialization. 10. Local video can be toggled off to save processing time in multitasking windows or to give some user privacy when competing in game against the sysop. 11. Multiple control files can be accessed by a command line parm. 12. Will work with OR without the presence of a fossil. 13. ALL source code is provided and you can modify it to do whatever you need it to do! Just be sure to document your changes as new versions of DDPLUS come out periodically and will not have your changes in them. A better idea would be to make a separate add on unit for use with the main DDPLUS units so that you do not have to edit the DDPlus units each time a new DDPlus version comes out. 14. A Turbo Vision program skeleton is provided for use as a door setup/configuration/editor program. 15. An Inter BBS Door unit is provided so you can make your door an inter BBS one if you desire. *18. DDSETUP.EXE is provided for distribution with your Door program to help users configure the required CTL file for use with your door. It is FREEWARE. 19. A file/record locking unit is provided to allow you to design multi-node/online multi-player games. 20. An automatic overlay unit is included for making programs overlays to conserve memory and automatically initializes them. 21. RipLink is now provided so that you can build in a local display of RIP graphics for a using sysop. REQUIREMENTS: ------------ At this point in time the only requirements are that you must be using Borland Turbo Pascal 7.0. Most of the kit should also work with version 6.0 as well, but we no longer guarantee it. If you use file locking and sharing then users must be notified that SHARE is required to be loaded prior to use. The same goes for ANSI.SYS as well if ANSI graphics are used. Files Included -------------- Below is a listing of all files for the this Package. Feel free to give out copies of the ENTIRE archive package but please make sure all the files below are in that package: DVAWARE.ASM - DDPlus support source code unit. SLASYNC.ASM - DDPlus support source code unit. SAMPLE1.BAT - A sample BAT file which runs a DDPlus game program from the game directory. Feel free to distribute these batch files with your DDPLus game package creations. SAMPLE2.BAT - A sample BAT file which runs a DDPlus game program from any node directory. Feel free to distribute these batch files with your DDPLus game package creations. SAMPLE3.BAT - A sample BAT file identical to the one I use on my Single node WildCat Support BBS to run my DDPlus Games. Feel free to distribute these batch files with your DDPLus game package creations. *GAME.CTL - Un-edited and heavily commented Control file for use with all doors produced with the DDplus package. Provided mainly for information as DDSETUP.ZIP now provides a VGA setup program for inclusion with programs made with this package. FILE_ID.DIZ - Ascii Description File for BBS Sysops on DDPLUS71.ZIP *DDPLUS.DOC - The file you are now reading. *HISTORY.DOC - History file of changes made to the DDPlus package. DVAWARE.OBJ - DDPlus support unit (compiled) SLASYNC.OBJ - DDPLus support unit (compiled) ASYNC2.PAS - DDPlus support source code unit. *COMIO.PAS - DDPlus support source code unit. *DDANSI2.PAS - DDPlus support source code unit. DDFOSSIL.PAS - DDPlus support source code unit. *DDIGI.PAS - DDPlus support source code unit (Digiboard support) *DDOVR.PAS - DDPLus support source code unit. *DDOVR2.PAS - DDPlus support source code unit. *DDPLUS.PAS - Main DDPlus source code unit. Needs to be compiled. *DDSCOTT.PAS - DDPlus support source code unit. BOOKS.TXT - List of useful Borland Pascal reference books. SWAG.TXT - Information on a programmers best friend -SWAG! ANSIMENU.ZIP - A ANSI Menu routine with example program and instruction file. A simple but effective way to add ansi menus to your door program. Includes a sample door, with source code, to demonstrate the use of the ansimenu unit. *DDSETUP.ZIP - VGA Setup program for distribution with doors you make using the DDPlus Package. Freeware. ELOG.ZIP - An error log unit with explanation text file for use in your door programs. Can make bug detection and extermination of the little critters much easier. I highly recommend that you use this unit in ALL your door programs!!! Revised to make it much easier to install then before. IBBS.ZIP - An Inter-BBS unit which can be used with DDplus to make an Inter-BBS capable door program. LOCKING.ZIP - A unit for use with your program and DDPlus that will give you the capability to make a multi-node and online multi-user door program. Includes a fully operational sample door, with source code, which demonstrates the principles involved in file/record locking. MACROKEY.ZIP - A small and simple unit with instruction file to allow you to add macro-recording and play-back to your door programs. OVERLAY.ZIP - A sample overlay initialization unit. Can be used to automatically provide overlay support. Comes with a text file to help explain it's use. *RIPLINK.ZIP - RipLink units to allow you to show RIP graphics on the sysops screen! Works with RIP 1.54. SETUP.ZIP - A Turbo Vision skeleton program you can make into a door setup/configuration/editor program. *SYSOP.ZIP - Sample of documentation I use with my door programs, to include the all important SYSOP.DOC which explains how sysops should set up the program to work on their BBS. Feel free to modify these files for your door products and distribute it with YOUR DDPlus creations. All we ask is that you keep us in the credits section of the document file. Hey, it's only fair we get some credit.... Installation and Preparation for Use ------------------------------------ 1. Move this package to a temporary directory and "unzip". 2. Use Turbo Pascal 7.0 to compile DDPLUS.PAS (or DDPLUSR.PAS, included in RIPLINK.ZIP, if you plan to use RipLink in your door programs). 3. AFTER compiling, move ALL files ending with the extension TPU or OBJ to your Pascal units directory. 4. That's all you have to do! The package is now ready to use in your door programs. WHAT ARE DROP FILES? -------------------- When the BBS transfers control to a door program it provides a file, called a "DROP FILE" to the door program which contains essential information such as the users name, time remaining, com port, connect speed, etc.. The format for this "DROP FILE" varies from BBS to BBS. At this time the DDPlus Package supports the following drop file formats: DOORSYS - The DOOR.SYS format (Wildcat!,GAP,TAG, etc) *DORINFO1 - Remote Access,others(uses DORINFO1.DEF**) RBBS - Rbbs version 16.1+ (uses DORINFOx.DEF*) QUICK - Quickbbs,Force,R.A. (uses DORINFOx.DEF**) PCB14 - Pcboard version 14 PCB15 - Pcboard version 15 PHOENIX - Phoenix bbs (uses INFO.BBS) SPITFIRE - Spitfires bbs (uses SFDOORS.DAT) WWIV - WWIV bbs (uses CHAIN.TXT) TRIBBS - TriBBS software (uses TRIBBS.SYS) 2AM - JUMPER.DAT * New BBS type DORINFO1 uses the dorinfo1.def for dropfile name. PCBoard 12 and Callinfo support hereith ends. These two obsolete dropfiles are no longer supported. THE DOOR CONTROL FILE (CTL) --------------------------- To run properly DDPlus requires configuration information from a control (CTL) file. For your use a GAME.CTL file is enclosed with this package. The GAME.CTL file is unedited and heavily commented so that you might understand what each line does. Note that lines beginning with the ";" character are NOT read by the DDPlus program unit. This CTL file tells the DDPlus portion of your program how to act, what drop file to use, etc. It should be noted that a program produced with DDPlus will NOT function without the presence of a CTL file. The CTL file can be renamed, such as GOC.CTL or RAW.CTL and is loaded and processed automatically when your program calls "INITDOORDRIVER" (explained below). It has been our experience that most problems experienced by users of doors made with DDPlus are from improperly configured CTL files. To help correct this Steven Lorenz has created a standard CTL setup program which can be distributed with your programs and is FREEWARE. This setup program (DDSETUP.ZIP) provides VGA and mouse support and is very professional is appearance. It is also suggested that you provide a copy of the GAME.CTL file with your door packages for user information purposes and as a backup in those rare cases where the CTL setup program does not function correctly because of an odd system configuration. Command Line Parameters ----------------------- DDPlus supports several parameters which may be specified on the command line. These parameters are handled automatically when you call "INITDOORDRIVER". An example would be if you wanted to run the GodFather of Crime Door Game locally then you would type the Command Line parameter: GOC /L The following is a list of DDPlus supported Command Line Parameters. "/Bxxxxx" This tells GAME.EXE to lock its baud rate at xxxxx. In order to get the most efficiency out of a high speed error correcting modem (9600 baud or above), you may lock the baud rate to a speed higher than what the caller is actually using. By locking the baud to say 38,400, the modem can compress text data that is being sent and achieve a baud rate much higher than the actual transmission rate. This will lock the baud rate at the same value for all nodes that use this command line. If you perfer a more selective way to lock baud use 'LOCKBAUD' command in the GAME.CTL file. "/Cx" (where x is 1..4) This specifies a comport number. Some bbs software does not create door information files (dropfiles) that contain the comport number. If your bbs does have a comport listed in the dropfile then there is no need for this parameter. The default is comport 0, local mode. "/E" - Expanded Memory Specification If your machine has over one megabyte of memory, then you may have some available. GAME.EXE can utilize EMS to improve game performance and reduce conventional memory requirements. This command will tell GAME.EXE to use EMS memory to hold its overlay buffer. Otherwise disc area may be used to hold this buffer. This needs a memory manager and when enabled and is compatible with DESQview. Default is NOT to use any available EMS. *Some authors want to have their door run maintenance. The maintenance mode now is set and does not access a dropfile. But the author must still check for bbs_software=0 to flag this as a maintenance run. *"/F" This is a generic maintenance mode. It logs into the game with the name "SYSTEM MAINTENANCE" in local mode. You can use it if your program requires a nightly maintenance or something similar. *"/H" This is a generic maintenance mode. It logs into the game with the name "SYSTEM MAINTENANCE" in local mode. You can use it if your program requires a nightly maintenance or something similar. *It is left to the programmer now to either block these options or to use them to actually do something when switched. "/L" This tells GAME.EXE to load up in LOCAL mode. This is good for testing or when a sysop just wants to "try out" the door without messing with his BBS setup. The "/L" mode will ask the user for his name and run the door in local mode. "/Nx" (where x is 1..9) This specifies a "node number". Some bbs software support multinode environments in which you must know the node number of the drop file to use. For example, RBBS-PC uses DORINFOx.DEF. If you specified "/N2" then GAME.EXE would use DORINFO2.DEF. "/Mx" (where x is up to 2 filename acceptable characters) Used to specify one of Multiple control files. If you have created more than one GAME.CTL file (GAME1.CTL, GAME2.CTL, etc.) for each node or network PC then you can select the one you want by using the /M parm. Example: "/M2" will force GAME.EXE to use GAME2.ctl. "/Pyyy" This specifies the path to the drop files. For example, "/PC:\WILDCAT\WCWORK\NODE1" would tell GAME.EXE to look for the drop file in C:\WILDCAT\WCWORK\NODE1. If this is left out the program assumes the drop file is local. "/R" Forces local RIP, if supported by the Door Program. Use AFTER the "/L" parameter if running the door locally. Use this with Doors which have RipLink built in to them to force display of RIP on the sysops screen. Default is No Local RIP otherwise. "/V" This command will tell GAME.EXE not to show any display on the local screen. Only a colored screen and a message will be displayed. The cursor will not move as it will be turned off. Saves a little processing on multi-tasking systems. "/W" This flags the program that a network is present even though no multitaskers are detected. This is useful if the door is run on a network such as Novell that doesn't use multitaskers. Special Note on RIP Support --------------------------- DDplus can detect if RIP is present but YOU must program in any code to make use of RIP. The extent of RIP support is to provide for both detection AND to pass a variable which tells your program that the door user has RIP. RipLink is also provided to enable your RIP commands (Version 1.54 or below) to be displayed on the sysops local screen. Special Note on Multi-Tasker Support ------------------------------------ DDplus can detect the presence of DesqView, OS2, Windows 3.1, and Windows NT and provide automatic time slice releasing to them. All with only minimal coding required on your part. *Detect multi-taskers now check for OS/2 first then other taskers. *We have added int $28 to the Os/2 timeslicer. This gives up the time slice as well as idles dos while waiting for character input per any Int $21 call. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- SPECIAL NOTE: The following sections are from the original door driver documentation from Scott Baker and have been changed and added to in order to allow them to be consistent with the the updates reflected in the DDPlus package. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Overview of DDPlus Routines --------------------------- The procedures, functions, and variables in DDPLus usually fall in one of the following categories: * INPUT [INP] Get information from the user who is online. Example: SREAD() which performs the functional equivelant of READLN(). * OUTPUT [OUT] Send information to the user. Example: SWRITE() which performs the equivelant of WRITE(). * INFORMATIONAL [INF] Provide information about the user, such as his name, baud rate, etc. Example: USER_FIRST_NAME which stores the current user's first name. Informational variables are usually read-only, but some can be written to as well. Use common sense and you should get by. * CONTROL [CTL] Procedures which perform various control functions over how DDPLUS operates. In the sections to follow, all functions/procedures/etc will be placed in one of these categories for ease of use and easy identification. Reference - Procedures ---------------------- INITDOORDRIVER(filen: string); [CTL] This procedure MUST be called before any of DDPlus's features are used. In fact, in most cases it should be the first statement that your program executes. The FILEN variable specifies the filename of the control file that DDPlus will use (i.e. GAME.CTL). InitDoorDriver does a variety of things including loading and processing the control file, reading the drop files, setting up serial I/O. It also sets up an "EXIT Procuedure" which will automatically close down the serial I/O when your program is finished. DISPLAYFILE(Filen: String); [OUT] This Procedure is usefull in that it will transfer an Ascii or Ansi file, and will put "(C)ontinue, (S)top, (N)onstop" to stop an Ascii file from scrolling of the page and thus allowing the user to read this file at his or her own speed. -> RELEASETIMESLICE [OUT] This is automatically done while DDPlus is doing any of the Sread procedures. It is also done whenever the commands NetUnLock or NetClose are used from the NETFILEP.PAS unit. It is included here so that if you have coded a procedure which takes an abnormally long time to execute or complete you SHOULD add this procedure call from DDPlus to your procedure to give up a time slice to any resident multi-taskers which might be present. -> PROPELLER(V:Byte); [OUT] This procedure provides a flashing/moving "propeller" character on screen for as long as you call this procedure by using a loop. This can be used to show a door user that something is happening, processing, etc..instead of just a blank screen or nothing. The propeller itself only writes and you must change the value of "V" to get the moving affect. Here is some sample code which you can use which will show the proper propeller affect we are trying to obtain: Example of code which would make use of it: Function SpeedChar: Char; var Ch: Char; begin SpeedRead(ch); SpeedChar := Upcase(ch); end; { This is a propeller prompt procedure } Procedure TimeReadLoop (var cx:char;var TimesUP : boolean); var t : integer; ch : char; v : byte; begin TimesUP := false; t := 0; v := 0; cx := #0; repeat inc(t); if t > 1500 then begin t := 0; inc(v); if v > 22 then v := 0; If v < 17 then case graphics of 3 : Propeller(v); { 5 : not installed yet } end; { If TimingYes then } { Timed entry check } { CheckTime(TimesUP); } { } end; ch := SpeedChar; If ch <> #0 then cx := ch; until (cx <>#0 ) or TimesUP; case cx of '0'..'9', 'A'..'Z' : Swritec(cx); else SwriteC(chr(250)); end; ReleaseTimeSlice; end; PROMPT(var s: string; length: integer; hi: boolean); [INP] The prompt procedure is a high-level string input routine. It allows you to specify the maximum length of the input string and if HI is set to true, it will hilight the input in reverse background. The colors for the prompt routine are defined in the control file. SCLRSCR; { ANSI code } [OUT] This procedure clears the remote side's and the local side's screen. SCRLEOL; [OUT] This procedure will clear up to then end of the current line. (note: only works when caller has ANSI capabilities) SET_FOREGROUND(b: byte); {chg SRL to byte } [OUT] The set_foreground procedure sets the current foreground color to the one specified by the byte variable, b. The color is set both on the local side and the remote side if the remote user has ANSI toggled on. The acceptable range for the color is 0-31. Colors 0-15 are standard foreground colors and 16-31 represent colors 0-15 but in blinking mode. SET_COLOR(f,b: byte); {by S. Lorenz } [OUT] The set_color procedure sets the current foreground color and background and are specified by the variable bytes f and b. The color is set both on the local side and the remote terminal if the remote user has toggled his ANSI on. The acceptable range for the f is 0-31 and b is 0-7. If the color is currently set to foreground or back- ground then that process is skipped. If a (7,0) is sent then an ansi reset color code is sent. SET_BACKGROUND(b: byte); {chg SRL to byte } [OUT] The set_background procedure sets the current background color to the one specified by the byte variable, b. The color is set both on the local side and the remote terminal if the remote user has toggled his ANSI on. The acceptable range for the color is 0-7. SGOTO_XY(x,y: integer); [OUT] Sgoto_xy allows you to position the cursor on the local and remote screen. The valid range for X is 1 to 80 and the valid range for Y is 1 to 24. SREAD_CHAR(var c: char); [INP] This procedure waits for a character to be pressed and then returns that character in the character variable. No echoing is performed (i.e. the user will not see the key he pressed). If you wish echoing, you must again write the character with SWRITE below. This routine is useful for writing your own lowlevel readln routines or performing "hot-key" operations. It is a direct replacement for CH:=READKEY. SREAD(var s: string); [INP] The sread procedure accomplishes the equivilant of the Turbo Pascal procedure READLN. A string is read from the user and wher the CR character is obtained, the procedure exits with the string stored in the string variable, s. SREAD_NUM(var i: integer); [INP] The sread_num procedure is almost identical to the sread procedure except it will read an integer variable instead of a string. Only the characters 0-9 are allowed to be entered by the user. The value returned will be in the range of -32768 to +32768. SREAD_NUM_BYTE(var b: byte); [INP] The sread_num_byte procedure is almost identical to the sread procedure except it will read an byte variable instead of a string. Only the characters 0-9 are allowed to be entered by the user. The value returned will be in the range of 0 to 255. SREAD_NUM_WORD(var w: word); [INP] The sread_num_word procedure is almost identical to the sread procedure except it will read an word variable instead of a string. Only the characters 0-9 are allowed to be entered by the user. The value returned will be in the range of 0 to 65535. SREAD_NUM_LONGINT(var l: longint); [INP] The sread_num_longint procedure is almost identical to the sread procedure except it will read an longint variable instead of a string. Only the characters 0-9 are allowed to be entered by the user. The value returned will be in the range of -2147483648 to +2147483647. SWRITE(s: string); [OUT] The swrite procedure is the equivilant of the Turbo Pascal WRITE procedure. Swrite will simultaniously write to both the local screen and the remote terminal. No CR/LF sequence is added to the end of the string. (note: You may also use WRITE(SOUTPUT,s)) -> SWRITEXY(x,y: integer; s: string); [OUT] The swritexy procedure is the equivilant of the Turbo Pascal GOTOXY followed with a WRITE procedure. SwriteXY will goto to the screen position x,y and then simultaniously write to both the local screen and the remote terminal. No CR/LF sequence is added to the end of the string. -> SWRITEC(ch: char); [OUT] The swritec procedure is like a swrite but only a single character is written to both the local and remote terminal. -> SELECTANSI(ch:Char, A:String); [OUT] Are you are tired of having lots of individual ANSI files cluttering up the program directory? If you are then why not build an ANSI Resource file which contains ALL the ANSI files in ONE file? This command is called from your own program and the pulls out a selected ansi screen and displays it. This command is new to DDPlus 7.0. Use it in your own program as follows: Procedure ShowAnsiMenu(ch:char, A:String); Procedure ShowAnsiMenu; begin ch:=1; A:=MENU\MENU01.ANS'; SelectAnsi(ch, A); end; Note - this procedure call goes into your unit calling DDplus. So you can just say ShowAnsiMenu('1') and show the first ansi menu. You can use any character like 'a', 'X' or anything you can think of. Use a separate char for each ansi screen that you put together and add to the resource file. The second variable is a string showing the path and file name to that ansi resource file. The following is an explanation of what must be done to make the actual ANSI resource file so this can work. I did my ansi scenes in Thedraw and saved them at a length of 200. I then took them into the TP editor and appended them to the end of each other. As I did this I inserted the selecting character at the front of each line. For each new ansi file use a different character. Then save this file, I call mine menu01.ans. All these files must be static, they can't be changable. Use the normal Displayfile for those things like ansi bulletins and other things that you might change. SWRITELN(s: string); [OUT] The swriteln procedure is the equivilant of the Turbo Pascal WRITELN procedure. Swrite will simultaniously write to both the local screen and the remote terminal. A CR/LF sequence is appended to the end of the string. (note: You may also use WRITELN(SOUTPUT,s)) DDASSIGNSOUTPUT(f: text); [CTL] This procedure assigns the simultanious output channel to a text file. This is done automatically by INITDOORDRIVER to SOUTPUT (i.e. DDASSIGNSOUTPUT(SOUTPUT). But, if you wish to assign it to a different file, you may do it with this procedure. For example: DDASSIGNSOUTPUT(my_output_file); rewrite(my_output_file); writeln(my_output_file,'This will go to both local and '+ 'remote.'); Reference - Functions --------------------- SKEYPRESSED: Boolean; [INF] SKEYPRESSED will return TRUE if a key has been pressed and is waiting to be read and FALSE if no key has been pressed. It is the equivelant of Turbo Pascal's KEYPRESSED function. This also allows the program to pause until the user presses a key. When used in a loop like this it stops everything until user input occurs. Repeat Until skeypressed; TIME_LEFT: Byte; [INF] The time_left function returns the amount of time left in minutes. This time is computed automatically by DDPLUS for you. USE OF FUNCTION KEYS [OUT] -------------------- -> The following function keys have been defined in DDPlus for use by Sysops: F1 = Display available "F" Keys and what they do. F2 = Open a scrolling chat window with the door user. F7 = Increments user time by 5 minutes. F8 = Decrements user time by 5 minutes. F10 = Ejects user from door and returns him/her to BBS after showing a brief message. Of the above only the Chat command needs further explanation. When the sysop hits the F2 key a scrolling chat window will be opened in the users current screen display. When terminated it is up to your code to refresh the screen image on both ends. To help you out in this, the Chat Command has been set to return a "#3" character value to your program. The way to use this would be to include "#3" as a case statement choice set to execute a current image refresh in your program. Example code snippet: REPEAT CP(3,18);W('Enter Selection: ');{Tells user to make choice} REPEAT XX:=UPCASE(GetChar) {Waits for typed character} UNTIL XX IN ['A','B','C','#3']; {List of available choices} CASE XX OF 'B': BuyCop(Player); {Call to game procedure} 'C': BuyDetective(Player); {Call to game procedure} '#3':RefreshCurrentScreen; {Call to refresh procedure} UNTIL XX IN ['A']; {"A"=quit} Reference - Variables --------------------- SOUTPUT: text; [OUT] This text file is associated with the simultanious output channel. It provides an alternate form of IO than using swrite/swriteln. To use, simply treat SOUTPUT as it were a normal text file. For example, Writeln(SOUTPUT,'This is a test'); is the same as swriteln('This is a test'); When is this useful? When you want to use WRITELN's ability to write various data types (i.e. integers, reals, etc) or it's ability to format output. For example: USING SWRITELN: str(integer_data,tempstr); swriteln(tempstr); USING SOUTPUT: writeln(soutput,integer_data); ANSION: boolean; [CTL] This variable controls whether local output (it has nothing to do with remote) will go directly to the local screen or if it will be sent through DDPLUS's emulation routine. Since the emulation routine is slow in comparison to direct output, this variable is defaulted to FALSE. If you want to send your own ANSI codes to the screen through SWRITE/SWRITELN, then you will have to set this variable to TRUE. BAUD_RATE: integer; [INF] This variable holds the user's current baud rate. BBS_SOFTWARE: byte; [INF] The following numbers indicate software names: Number Supported BBS DropFile Format ------ ------------------------ -------------- 1 Local Only Operation N/A 3 QUICK DORINFOx.DEF 5 WWIV CHAIN.TXT 6 PC BOARD Vers 15 PCBOARD.SYS 7 RBBS 16.1 DORINFOx.DEF 8 PHOENIX INFO.BBS * 9 DORINFO1 dorinfo1.def 10 PC BOARD Vers 14 PCBOARD.SYS 11 DOOR system format DOOR.SYS (Wildcat 3.X or 4.X,GAP,TAG, etc) 12 SPITFIRE SFDOORS.DAT 13 2AM JUMPER.DAT 14 TRIBBS TRIBBS.SYS BBS_TIME_LEFT: integer; [INF] This holds the amount of time that the user had left when he entered the door. It is loaded from the DROP FILE by INITDOORDRIVER. Note that this provides the time left when the user ENTERED the door, not the current time left. The current amount of time left is calculated by the function TIME_LEFT. BOARD_NAME: String[70]; [INF] Board_Name hold the current BBS's name that is set in the control file. CHARORIGIN: CharOriginType; [INF] Returns either LocalChar or RemoteChar depending on where the last sread_char was received from. This is mainly used in the chat routine to set different foreground colors for local and remote users. COM_PORT: byte; [INF] Contains the current com port that serial output is going to. Should be a zero if in local mode. CURRENT_FORGROUND: byte; [INF] This variable stores the current foreground color. CURRENT_BACKGROUND: byte; [INF] This variable stores the current background color. CURLINENUM: byte; [INF] This variable is used internally to control the more prompt. It is incremented when a line of text is sent out. When it reaches 24, a <more> is sent. This is of course, providing that morechk:=true. [INF] GRAPHICS: byte; Graphics specifies a text mode: 1 : Ascii - General Text 2 : Ascii's Extended Graphics and General Text 3 : Ansi Color and Graphics 4 : Ansi Color and Graphics and Ansi Music (See Section on ANSI.TPU) 5: RIP Color and Graphics LOCAL: boolean; [INF] This boolean is alway true if in local mode and false if in remote mode. MINTIME: byte; [INF] (check this - don't know) MORECHK: boolean; [CTL] This boolean allows you to toggle the more prompts on or off. If TRUE, then DDPLUS will display a "more" prompt every 24 lines. NODE_NUM: byte; [INF] Returns the current Node that the door is running under. Defaulted to 1 in a single node system. This corresponds directly to the "/Nx" command line parameter. NOTIME: String; [CTL] (check this) When the users time limit has been reached this string will be displayed then the user will be returned to the bbs. This string has a default of "(***TIME LIMIT EXCEEDED***)". STATFORE: byte; [CTL] The status line foreground. STATBACK: byte; [CTL] The status line background. STATLINE: boolean; [CTL] A status line pops while any door is in operation if this boolean is set true. The status line contains the user name and the program name an the users time left. SYSOP_FIRST_NAME: string[30]; [INF] Returns the first name of the sysop. The name is entered into door-driver through the control file. SYSOP_LAST_NAME: string[30]; [INF] Returns the last name of the sysop. The name is entered into door-driver through the control file. USER_FIRST_NAME: string[30]; [INF] Returns the first name of the current user of the door program. The user's name is determined from whatever door information is passed from the bbs software. USER_LAST_NAME: string[30]; [INF] Returns the last name of the current user of the door program. The user's name is determined from whatever door information is passed from the bbs software. USER_ACCESS_LEVEL: word; [INF] Returns the access level of the user. The user's access level is determined from whatever door information is passed from the bbs software. PROGNAME: String[60]; [CTL] This option must be set by the programmer, preferably in the beginning of the door. It sets the name that will be displayed centered on line 25 of the screen. It is simply used for cosmetic purposes. SETFORECHECK: boolean; (default=FALSE) [CTL] This variable when set to TRUE will cause DOORDRIV to filter out repetetive SET_FOREGROUND() calls. If for example, you set the foreground to gray, then set it to gray again later while the foreground is still gray, the second call would be ignored. This can spare the user from the slowdown effects of meaningless, repetetive SET_FOREGROUND calls. Reference - Procedure Substitutions ----------------------------------- This section is provided to help you in figuring out which DDPLUS routines you should call to replace turbo's standard I/O routines. READKEY: Readkey is used in many normal programs to get a single character. (i.e. CHAR:=readey). This can be replaced by SREAD_CHAR(char);. WRITELN(xxxx); (or WRITE(xxxx)) The writeln procedure is probably the most common and numerous change that you will have to make. DDPLUS provides the SWRITE/SWRITELN procedures to do the job of turbo's write/writeln. In addition, the SOUTPUT file is also available. Let's take a look at some examples: Ex 1 ---- Convert "writeln('Scott was here!');" --> swriteln('Scott was here!'); or --> writeln(soutput,'Scott was here!'); Ex 2 ---- int is an integer. Convert "write(int);" --> str(int,tempstr); swrite(tempstr); or --> write(soutput,int); Ex 3 ---- r is a real. Covert "writeln(r:2:2);" ---> str(r:2:2,tempstr); swriteln(tempstr); or ---> writeln(soutput,r:2:2); As you can see, the SWRITE/SWRITELN method is easier if you are using string type data, but the write(SOUTPUT,xxx) method is better for numerical types. You can use whichever you like. CLREOL: You can replace CLREOL with SCLREOL, but please note that it will only work when the caller has ANSI capabilities. If the caller doesn't have ansi, then he'll get a load of garbage. CLRSCR: CLRSCR can be directly converted to SCLRSCR. This works for either ANSI or non-ANSI users. GOTOXY(x,y): GOTOXY(x,y) can be converted into SGOTO_XY(x,y), but again, this will only work for ansi users. READLN(string_variable) ---> SREAD(string_variable) READLN(integer_variable) ---> SREAD_NUM(integer_variable) READLN(word_variable) ---> SREAD_WORD(word_variable) READLN(long_variable) ---> SREAD_LONGINT(long_variable) REFERENCE - Units ----------------- The following is a brief list of the included units and what they do here. *DDPLUS.PAS This is the main unit that you need to use. *DDANSI2.PAS Contains procedures used by DDPLUS to display ANSI on local screen. *DDFOSSIL.PAS Contains procedures used by DDPLUS to interact with fossil drivers. *DDSCOTT.PAS Miscellanious procedures used by DDPlus. *COMIO.PAS Medium-level COM I/O used by DDPlus. *ASYNC2.PAS/SLASYNC.OBJ Internal COM routines. *DVAWARE.OBJ Routines for support of Desqview *DDOVR.PAS Overlayable unit containing code that gets information out of bbs drop files (i.e. DORINFOx.DEF, etc) *DDOVR2.PAS Overlayable unit that contains code to process control file. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- SPECIAL NOTE: The following tutorial was originally authored by Scott Baker and has been modified for use with DDPlus. The unaltered parts remain copyrighted by him. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- HOW TO WRITE A DOOR ------------------- * Writing a BBS Door - Tutorial by Scott M. Baker Doors are programs written for a bulletin board systems to allow the user to perform other tasks than the bulletin board software allows. For example, a door could be anything from a bbs lister to a multiplayer simulation (such as Galactic Warzone, Yankee Trader, Trade Wars, etc). This article will be a tutorial on how to write door programs. The programs will be written in Turbo Pascal (version 6 or 7) and will use the DDPlus routines to provide support for RBBS, QuickBBS, Wildcat, WWIV, etc. Right now, we're just going to stick with the DDPLus routines since they are the routines that I am most familiar with. REQUIREMENTS What you'll need: - Turbo Pascal by Borland. Either version 6.0 or 7.0 will do. - DDPLUS71.ZIP. This is a DDPLUS support package for TP6 and TP7 It includes async support, bbs interfacing, etc. Available from the TANSTAFL BBS (501-741-5699) (FIDO 1:391/3010). If you have a 9600 baud or above modem you can freq it from the TANSTAFL BBS using the magic name of DDPLUS. - A basic understanding of Pascal (specifically Turbo Pascal). You don't need to be a Pascal wizard or anything, but the more knowledge you have, the better. BASIC ELEMENTS OF A 'DOOR' Ok, time to get started. First lets talk about the basic elements that a door needs. 1) Async communications support. The door must be able to talk to the user through the communications port. Support has to be provided for multiple com ports, locked baud rates, etc. The program also must monitor the presence of the CARRIER DETECT modem line to make sure the carrier is not dropped while the door is in use. 2) BBS software interfacing. The door needs to be able to grab the user's name, time left, and other associated information from the bbs software. Since bbs programs lack standardization, there are several different methods that have to be accounted for. 3) Support for ANSI (color) graphics and animation. Just about every door has ANSI capabilities these days, so if you want yours to be seriously considered, you'd better have it as well. DDPlus will handle the first two points for you automatically when you call the INITDOORDRIVER procedure described below. DDPlus has support for the third point (ANSI graphics), but you'll need to use your own skills in deciding where you wish to put colors, what colors to use, etc. DDPLUS PROCEDURES There are a series of procedures that DDPLUS will provide to you for accomplishing these tasks. Without getting too complex, let's discuss a few of them: PROCEDURE INITDOORDRIVER(ctl_file_name: string); This procedure initializes the door support system, comm port, grabs the user name, and a few other necessary things. The variable "ctl_file_name" is a string containing the name of the control file that your door will use. For now, let's just ignore the control file and use the sample included with the DD package. PROCEDURE SWRITE(out_str: string); This is DDPLUS's compliment to the Write() statement of Turbo Pascal. The "S" stands for simultaneous. Output will be written to both the remote user (through the com port) and the local screen. "out_str" is the string containing the data you wish to write. Most of your output will use either this or the following SWRITELN procedure. PROCEDURE SWRITELN(out_str: string); Same as SWRITE, except a carriage return/line feed is appended to the end of the string. This is similar to TP's writeln statement. variable USER_FIRST_NAME: STRING; After INITDOORDRIVER has been called, this variable will contain the user's first name. The string will be all upper-case. variable USER_LAST_NAME: STRING; Similar to USER_FIRST_NAME, this variable will contain the user's last name. As with USER_FIRST_NAME, it is only valid after the call to INITDOORDRIVER has been made. YOUR FIRST DOOR Now that you've seen a few of DDPLUS's support routines, lets put them to work in the "hello door." The hello door will be simply a door version of the standard hello program. Meaning that it displays "hello world" to the screen. First, a note about my code, I'll be placing line numbers ({1}, {2}, etc) in the code. These are intended for discussion purposes and are not needed in the pascal program itself. HLODOOR.PAS: {1} Program HelloDoor; {2} {3} uses crt, ddplus; {4} {5} begin {6} InitDoorDriver('GAME.CTL'); {7} swriteln('Hello World!'); {8} delay(5000); {9} end. Experienced pascal programmers will feel a bit insulted by the simplicity of the above program, but it is a necessary step in learning to use door driver. COMPILING AND RUNNING THE DOOR Once you've got that typed in, then it's time to compile HLODOOR. Using either Turbo Pascal version 6.0 or version 7.0, compile the program to disk. If all goes well, then you'll be left with HLODOOR.EXE on your hard drive. DDPLUS.DOC (supplied with DDPLUS) includes infor- mation on how to configure / run the door on your system. For now, let's just worry about running the door in local mode. For local mode, type "/L" on the command line. For example, "HLODOOR /L" will run HLODOOR. Since you are a local user, the door will prompt you for your first and last name. A remote user's information would be gathered from the bbs information file (i.e. DORINFOx.DEF). We won't worry about that for now. ANALYSIS OF CODE Now lets go through the important lines of code one by one. LINE 3: Uses crt, DDPlus; The "uses" statement is required by Turbo Pascal to tell TP which units we will be using. Obviously, we need "DDPLUS" for DDPLUS's procedures. "crt" is required because we use the DELAY procedure. LINE 6: InitDoorDriver('Game.CTL'); This is that all-important initialization statement described somewhere above. It tells DDPLUS to get things all set up and working. The 'GAME.CTL' is the name of that "control file" and we won't pay any attention to it for now. LINE 7: swriteln('Hello World!'); This is our screen output. It'll write "Hello World" to both the user and the local screen. Since its SWRITELN and not SWRITE, a carriage return and line feed also will be sent. There are several ways that this could have been done. For example: {1} swrite('Hello'); {2} swriteln(' World!'); - - - or - - - {1} swrite('Hello'); {2} swrite(' World!'); {3} swriteln(''); The output will be the same in the above situations. LINE 8: Delay(5000); This routine is provided by Borland and will cause our program to delay so you can see the "hello world" before DDPLUS exits and clears the screen. The string "Hello World!" looks pretty plain, doesn't it? Maybe we should put something a bit more impressive in, such as the user's name. This would involve using the variables USER_FIRST_NAME and USER_LAST_NAME. The modification is simple enough: Change line 7 from: {7} swriteln('Hello World!'); to: {7} swriteln('Hello, '+user_first_name+' '+ user_last_name+'!'); As you may have noticed, I used plus signs (+) instead of commas (,) to separate the string parameters in the SWRITELN line. With a standard WRITELN statement, you may use as many variables as you wish, but with SWRITELN, we are limited to 1 string variable. The point is, TP requires us to merge our string variables together with the plus sign. We will now dig deeper into some interactive communication with the user. The best way to do this is with a sample program. Our last sample, HLODOOR was pretty plain, so let's write something that is a bit more exciting. The following is NUMDOOR.PAS: a simple little game designed to demonstrate some interactive communication with the user. { 1} program numdoor; { 2} { 3} uses ddplus; { 4} { 5} procedure DoTheTitle; { 6} begin; { 7} sclrscr; { 8} swriteln('Hello, '+user_first_name+ { 9} ' '+user_last_name+ {10} '. Welcome to NumDoor!'); {11} swriteln(''); {12} end; {13} {14} procedure playgame; {15} var {16} thenum: word; {17} playerguess: word; {18} guessnum: byte; {19} done: boolean; {20} tempstr: string; {21} begin; {22} swriteln('I''m thinking of a number.'+ {23} ' Can you guess what it is?'); {24} swriteln(''); {25} guessnum:=0; {26} randomize; {27} thenum:=random(100)+1; {28} done:=false; {29} while not done do begin; {30} inc(guessnum); {31} swrite('Guess #'); {32} str(guessnum,tempstr); {33} swrite(tempstr); {34} swrite(': '); {35} sread_num_word(playerguess); {36} if playerguess>thenum then swriteln('Lower!') else {37} if playerguess<thenum then swriteln('Higher!') else {38} if playerguess=thenum then begin; {39} swriteln('Correct!'); {40} done:=true; {41} end; {42} if guessnum=10 then done:=true; {43} end; {while} {44} if thenum<>playerguess then begin; {45} swriteln('You Lost!'); {46} str(thenum,tempstr); {47} swriteln('The number was '+tempstr+'.'); {48} end; {49} end; {50} {51} procedure waitforkey; {52} var {53} ch: char; {54} begin; {55} swriteln(''); {56} swriteln('Press any key to continue.'); {57} sread_char(ch); {58} end; {59} {60} begin; {61} initdoordriver('GAME.CTL'); {62} dothetitle; {63} playgame; {64} waitforkey {65} end. Some of you were asking for a real door.. Well, there it is. All 62 lines worth. First lets look at an overview of the structure of NUMDOOR. We've got three main procedures: DoTheTitle, PlayGame, and WaitForKey. These procedures are pretty self explanatory. DoTheTitle displays a little title information about NUMDOOR. PlayGame performs the actual task of playing the game, and WaitForKey waits for the user to press a key once the game is over. Let's go through the program section by section. At the very top, you'll notice lines one and three. Line 1 (Program NumDoor;) is simply us formally telling TP the name of our program. Line 2 (Uses DDPLUS;) is the all-important "uses" statement which tells TP that we will be using the DDPLUS TPU. Procedure DoTheTitle The first procedure, DoTheTitle displays a little introduction to the user so he knows where he is. Let's look inside this procedure and see how it works: LINE 7: SCLRSCR; This is a DDPLUS procedure which we have not introduced before. Sclrscr is DDPLUS's compliment to the Turbo Pascal clrscr procedure. The clrscr procedure is provided by TP to allow us to clear the screen. If you're familiar with basic, then this is equivalent to a CLS. Obviously, we will need to clear both the remote and the local screens, so that's why we have to use DDPLUS's Sclrscr. LINES 8-10: SWRITELN('Hello, '+user_first_name+ ..... These lines display the introduction. As we learned in part one of this tutorial, SWRITELN is DDPLUS's compliment to Turbo Pascal's writeln procedure. You may notice that I have separated the parameters across three lines. This is perfectly legal - as long as the individual components include plus (+) signs in between them, we can split it up that way. Another important note about this line: We include the variables USER_FIRST_NAME and USER_LAST_NAME. These were discussed in part one. For those who may have missed it, DDPLUS places the user's first and last names into those two respective variables. Sticking them in the SWRITELN allows us to be a bit more personal to the user. LINE 11: SWRITELN(''); You may be wondering, what is the point of writing _nothing_ to the screen? The point is, like TP's writeln, swriteln will output a CR/LF sequence. So even if we do not write any data, the Carriage Return still goes out. The effect is a blank line. Procedure PlayGame PlayGame is where all of the real work takes place. Let's take a minute to talk about what exactly the "game" is that we are playing. The game is a very common number guessing game. The computer generates a random number and the user gets ten shots to guess what it is. If the user guesses incorrectly, the computer will tell whether he needs to go "higher" or "lower". Now that we know what we want to do, lets see how we would go about doing it. In pseudocode, here's what we need to do: 1) Generate a random number 2) Ask the user for a guess 3) Compare the user's guess to our random number. 4) Say "lower", "higher", or "correct" based on the outcome of #3's comparison. 5) Loop back to 2 until either the user guesses the number correctly or uses up all ten tries. 6) If the user used up all ten tries, tell him he lost. That's our strategy. Now, let's go thought the actual code. LINES 16-20: Variable Declarations We need a multitude of variables to store some of our information in. THENUM is a word variable which will hold the random number which we generate. PLAYERGUESS is another word to hold the player's current guess. GUESSNUM is a counter to hold how many times the user has guessed. DONE is a boolean to tell us when we are done. And finally, TEMPSTR is a temporary string which we will discuss when we come to it. LINES 22-24: SWRITELN('I''m thinking of ..... These lines comprise a little instruction that we give the user. They're just simple swriteln statements, similar to the ones we encountered in DoTheTitle. LINE 25: GUESSNUM:=0; Since Turbo Pascal does not initialize our variables, we will have to do it ourselves. Guessnum is our counter of how many guesses the user has made. Since he hasn't made any yet, we've got to set it to zero. LINE 26: RANDOMIZE; The Randomize procedure is provided by Turbo Pascal to randomize TP's random number generator. Without it, the game would pick the same random number each time it runs. LINE 27: THENUM:=RANDOM(100)+1 Here is where we get our random number. The random function returns a number between zero and it's parameter minus one. (i.e. Random(100) will include 0..99, not 100) So we add 1 to it to get numbers between 1 and 100. LINE 28: DONE:=FALSE; Right now, we aren't done yet, (we haven't even hardly started!) so we'd better set our variable accordingly. LINE 29: WHILE NOT DONE DO BEGIN; Line 29 sets up our "loop" which will ask the user for up to ten guesses. We want to keep going as long as DONE is not true. The loop consists of lines 29-43 which ask the user for his guess and check it's validity. LINE 30: INC(GUESSNUM); We're on the first guess, so set guessnum accordingly. LINES 31-34: SWRITE('Guess #' ..... These lines prompt the user for his guess. Although they may seem complicated, they are really nothing more than the simple SWRITE statements that we have seen before. We just need to do some "magic" to manipulate our data. Let me explain our problem: SWRITE/SWRITELN only accept string data. But, our variable GUESSNUM is a byte variable which holds numeric information. So how do we get this data into something we can use? The answer is that we use Turbo Pascal's STR procedure. STR is a very handy procedure which converts a numeric format variable to a string format variable. So, when we say STR(GUESSNUM,TEMPSTR), we are telling pascal to "take the number in guessnum, convert it to a string, and place it in tempstr". Once this has been done, TEMPSTR now contains our number which we can send out to swrite with no problem. LINE 35: SREAD_NUM_WORD(PLAYERGUESS); This line the major new concept that we are trying to introduce. SREAD_NUM_WORD is a DDPLUS procedure which will read a word variable from the user. It handles all the details of waiting for the user to press keys, converting the data to a word, etc and just gives us a nice word variable. This is where the "interaction" takes place. Until now, we have just been displaying information to the user. Now, we ask the user for some information back. Specifically, we ask him for his guess. The guess is stored in the variable PLAYERGUESS. LINES 36-41: If playerguess>thenum then .... This block comprises the code to test the player's guess and act upon the results. We display "higher" or "lower" if the number is higher or lower and if the user's guess is correct, we display "correct" and set DONE to true to end our loop. This code is all standard pascal stuff (with some swrites thrown) in so I won't go into too much detail here. We've got to try to stick to the DDPLUS-related things or our little tutorial could get very big very quickly. LINE 42: IF GUESSNUM=10 THEN DONE:=TRUE; If we're at the tenth guess, then it's time to end our loop. LINES 44-48: IF PLAYERGUSS<>THENUM THEN BEGIN; .... We could have exited the loop for one of two reasons: 1) The user guessed correctly and DONE was set to true or 2) The user ran out of turns. These lines will check and see if the user's guess was correct. If it was not, then we got to break the bad news to him - he lost. This code also includes our little trick of using STR to convert the data. In this case, we have THENUM and we need to convert it to a string so we can tell the user what the number was. It works identically to the situation we had in lines 31-34. Procedure WaitForKey After we have finished PlayGame, we need to have a little pause so the user gets to absorb the full impact of his game playing. We could use a simple DELAY(2000) for a 20 second delay, but we are out to demonstrate interactive communication, so let's wait for a keypress. I'm not going into this line-by-line as it is such a simple procedure. Rather, I'll describe what it does. First, we tell the user we want him to hit a key with a SWRITELN statement. Then, we use DDPLUS's SREAD_CHAR procedure to read a single character. SREAD_CHAR will wait for a key and then return it to us. We used the variable CH to hold this character. The Main Procedure The main procedure, comprising lines 60-65 executes all of our other procedure. Please note that similar to HLODOOR, we had to call INITDOORDRIVER() to get DDPLUS setup and ready for use. After that, we just called DoTheTitle, PlayGame, and WaitForKey in order. Then, we exit. Interactive Routines We have introduced two new very important routines: SREAD_NUM_WORD and SREAD_CHAR. DDPLUS includes a whole set of similar routines for doing similar things. Here's a listing of them: SREAD(s: string); Reads in a string SREAD_NUM(i: integer); Reads in an integer SREAD_NUM_WORD(w: word); Reads in a word SREAD_NUM_LONGINT(l: longint); Reads in a longint SREAD_CHAR(CH: CHAR); Reads in a char The first four of these routines will read in data until the user presses the return key. For example "1234"<return>. They allow the user to backspace back and forth to correct his mistakes. These are very similar to Turbo Pascal's READLN and Basic's INPUT statements. The fifth procedure (SREAD_CHAR) will wait for a character and return that character. It's simply for when you want one character and only one character. The user can't correct his mistakes with backspace or anything. This routine also does not echo to the screen. SREAD_CHAR performs almost identically to Turbo Pascal's READKEY function. In Turbo Pascal you would use ch:=READKEY; With DDPLUS, use SREAD_CHAR(CH). REFERENCE - IMPORTANT THINGS ---------------------------- -> What happens when the user runs out of time, sleep -> disconnects, or drops carrier? DDPLUS will HALT. This will cause an immediate termination of the door. If your door needs to save any data then you should use an EXIT PROCEDURE to save the data. For example: {$F+} procedure myexit; {$F-} begin; save_our_data; exitproc:=exitsave; end; {main program} begin; InitDoorDriver...... ExitSave:=Exitproc; ExitProc:=@myexit; ....... end. This will setup MYEXIT so it is run whenever your program exits for any reason. This is the best way to trapped carrier dropped, out of time, etc. NOTE #1: The carrier, time left, and sleep disconnect are only tested when DDPLUS is waiting for a keypress (i.e. sread_char, sread, etc) NOTE #2: If checktime=false then DDPLUS will not check to see if the user is out of time. -> How do you use ANSI in your programs? You can use ANSI by two methods: 1) By using the set_foreground, set_background, and sclrscr procedures, you can perform some basic ANSI functions. DDPLUS will automatically enable these fucntions when ANSI is available and disable it when not. 2) If you set ANSION:=TRUE, then you can just SWRITE your ansi sequences directly to the screen. When you turn ANSION on, it will slow down screen writes, so it is advisable to do it only when necessary. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- This ends the copyrighted Scott Baker part of the documentation. The rest of this document is from Steven Lorenz and Bob Dalton. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- CREDITS: -------- This relatively small section is just to recognize the people who have made the DDPLUS package a possibility. Scott Baker -=*=- The authors of the original DoorDriver Kit and are to be thanked for releasing the Derrick Parkhurst source code to their great kit! Without that act of kindness DDPLUS would NOT be possible. Hopefully Steve and I have done your kit justice and given it a new lease on life in the programming world. Scott is the author of several door games, most notably Land of Devastation, which uses the original doordriver kit. Steven Lorenz -=*=- The author of the enhanced add on package to Scott Bakers DoorDriver Kit. Thanks to his code modifications, add ons and enhancements DDPLus is a much more complete and capable package then originally released in the DoorDriver Kit. He is also responsible for the DDPlus setup program which he freely donated. Steve is the author of several door games, most notably Railroad Empires, Romans At War, and Empires at War, all of which use DDPlus. Bob Dalton -=*=- The author of most of the documentation in this package and contributor of the OVERLAY.ZIP, LOCKING.ZIP, ELOG.ZIP and many other items in this kit. Bob is the author of several door games, such as GodFather of Crime, Rise To Power, Task Force Broadside, Ship of the Line, Grunt Fest, Way Freight and the Adventure Door Game Toolkit, all of which use DDPLus. Andy Stewart -=*=- The author of the IBBS.ZIP portion of the DDPLUS kit. Great job Andy! Tom Morgan -=*=- The author of the RIPLINK.ZIP portion of DDPLUS for deciding to make his RipLink package freeware and include it in the DDPLus kit. DESQview is a registered trademark of Quarterdeck Office Systems. Ripscript & Ripterm are registered trademarks of TeleGrafix Communications. Where to reach us ----------------- We can usually be reached at the following places: Steven Lorenz - The Officer Club BBS - Telephone Number: 818-249-8579 (CA) Bob Dalton - The TANSTAFL BBS - Telephone Number: 501-741-5699 (AR). FIDO Node Number: 1:391/3010 Scott Baker - Although he NO longer supports his original DoorDriver kit I am sure he would appreciate any free program you were to offer him. He can be reached at his Not Yet Named BBS at 602-544-4655 (AZ) or FIDO Node Number 1:300/9. Keep in mind he will NOT answer any questions about this kit! NOTE: Both Steve Lorenz and Bob Dalton habitually monitor the FIDO door related National and International echos if you have questions. Bob Dalton also monitors the Pascal FIDO echo as well. Address ALL questions about DDPlus to either Steve or Bob and no one else, assuming you want an answer that is. Since this package is FREEWARE, please do not expect us to send you a reply back at our expense, either call back for it or poll us via FIDO 48 hours after you netmailed the question. Bug Reports/Comments/Suggestions -------------------------------- We have made every attempt to make sure this package is free of bugs, BUT the possibility always exists that one may have been missed by us. If you find a bug, or have a suggestion or comment to make which would make future versions of DDPlus even better, then netmail Bob Dalton or post a message on one of our BBS's. We do read ALL of them and those people that lead us to find a bug or generate a better package will receive credit in the next DDPlus version published. PLEASE DO NOT NOTIFY US OF PROBLEMS AND EXPECT US TO FIX THEM IF YOU HAVE FAILED TO PROVIDE US WITH COMPLETE SPECIFIC INFORMATION ON THE PROBLEM! FIDO INFORMATION ---------------- Bob Dalton's BBS supports file "freq"ing at 9600 baud or above. Just call 1:391/3010. He also carries a door library of over 400 of the all time best door games which he tries to keep current. For a list of these doors just freq "DOORS". We are always adding new things to DDPlus so most likely there will be a later version of the program available on one of our BBS's then the one you have. For a current version of DDPLUS you can call either Steve's or Bob's BBS and download it, or if you are a member of the FIDO network and have a 9600 baud or above modem you can freq the magic name "DDPLUS" for the latest version. Bob Dalton carries a large Turbo Pascal support file section. If you would like a list of these files just freq "FILES" from him. If you are a door game/program writer why not send Bob or Steve a copy of your game/program? If you have a more current version of a door then we have, please consider sending us a copy as a token of your appreciation for the service we offer at NO cost to you. Thanks!