ASP Advantage 1993/The Association of Shareware Professionals Advantage CD-ROM 1993.iso/files/commions/pcbview/pcbview.doc

Text File | 1993-01-29 | 15KB | 342 lines

                              PCBView V1.00

                  PCBoard BBS @Code Screen File Viewer
            featuring: User-Definable @Variable Replacement Text

             Program & this document Copyright 1992, Jeff Sloan
        PCBoard is a registered trademark of Clark Development Corp.

                         Last Updated: 29 JAN 1993

                             Yardbird Software
                               P.O. Box 4646
                            West Hills, CA 91308

                               [phone]
                           CompuServe: 73650,104

                           _______
                      ____|__     |               (R)
                   --|       |    |-------------------
                     |   ____|__  |  Association of
                     |  |       |_|  Shareware
                     |__|   o   |    Professionals
                   -----|   |   |---------------------
                        |___|___|    MEMBER



    Acknowledgments

       The author wishes to thank all the beta testers for their
    contribution towards making this program as bug-free as possible.
    Special thanks goes to Dave Jackson for originally suggesting the
    idea for this program, and his many helpful ideas and encouragement
    during it's development.



    WHAT IS PCBView?

         PCBView is a DESQview-aware screen viewer for PCBoard BBS
    @code screen files.  In addition to displaying screens using the
    specified colors, any user or system @variables embedded in the
    screens will be replaced with text, simulating exactly how your
    screens will look to your BBS callers on-line.  The default
    @variable replacement text is kept in a separate text file:
    PCBVIEW.VAR which may be customized to your specifications using a
    text editor.  Single screens can be displayed, or you may enter
    multiple screen filenames on the command line, or even use DOS
    wild cards to display a series of screens one after another.
         PCBView is a great companion program to the Laughing Dog Screen
    Maker, Yardbird Software's premiere BBS screen designer.  Of course,
    PCBView will work with any PCBoard 3.xx. screen files, but if you
    aren't using the Laughing Dog to create your screens, you are
    definitely working too hard!


    INSTALLING PCBVIEW:

         To install PCBView, simply copy the PCBVIEW.EXE file and it's
    @variable file: PCBVIEW.VAR into the same subdirectory on your hard
    disk, or a floppy disk.
         The PCBVIEW.VAR file MUST reside in the same directory as
    PCBVIEW.EXE in order to replace any @variables with the default, or
    your own custom replacement text.  You may install these two files
    in a directory that is in your AUTOEXEC.BAT PATH in order to allow
    you to easily view files from any location on your disk.

    NOTE: If PCBView cannot find the PCBVIEW.VAR file, you will be
    notified of this and given the choice of either quitting the program
    immediately, or continuing to view the file(s) without the
    replacement text (in which case, the literal @variable strings,
    @USER@, @MINLEFT@, etc., will be displayed as is).


    RUNNING PCBVIEW.EXE

    Command-Line USAGE:

         PCBVIEW [? | /?] [/Mbf] [/Dn] [filename.ext] [filename.ext ...]
                                           (DOS wild cards OK)

      >>   ? or /?
    Either of these by themselves after PCBVIEW will display a help
    screen.

      >>   /Mbf
    This allows you to override the default attribute (Lightgray on Black)
    used for monochrome when toggling the displayed screens between full
    color and monochrome (see Commands Available During File Display,
    below)

        b = the uppercase hex value for the background color
        f = the upper case hex value for the foreground color

    Possible values are:
    ---------------------------------------------
       Background               Foreground
    ---------------------------------------------
    0 = Black                0 = Black
    1 = Blue                 1 = Blue
    2 = Green                2 = Green
    3 = Cyan                 3 = Cyan
    4 = Red                  4 = Red
    5 = Magenta              5 = Magenta
    6 = Brown                6 = Brown
    7 = Lightgray            7 = Lightgray
    8 = Black, blinking      8 = Darkgray
    9 = Blue, blinking       9 = Light Blue
    A = Green, blinking      A = Light Green
    B = Cyan, blinking       B = Light Cyan
    C = Red, blinking        C = Light Red
    D = Magenta, blinking    D = Light Magenta
    E = Brown, blinking      E = Yellow
    F = Lightgray, blinking  F = White

    example:    /M1E = Yellow on Blue

    You also may change the monochrome attribute in the middle of a series of
    files that were listed on the command line to display as a group.
    For instance:

    PCBVIEW /M1E title.bbs menu1.bbs /M0E goodbye.bbs


      >>  /Dn
    This allows you to change the speed at which the files are displayed on
    your screen. The default delay is 0.
    Replace the n above with any value from 1-9 to change the initial delay.
       0 = No delay
       9 = Maximum delay


      >>   filename.ext
    One filename with it's extension will display that one file, wait
    for a keystroke, then exit.


      >>   file1.ext file2.ext file3.ext ...
    More than one filename.ext (each separated by a space) will display
    each file in order, one after the other.  This allows you to do
    things like simulate a users progression through a series of menus
    and screens by placing those screen file names, in the correct
    order, on the command line.


      >>   filenames using the DOS wild card chars: '*' and '?'
    Using DOS wild card character expressions like: *.*, *.BBS,
    file??.BBS, A*.*, etc. will cause all files in the current directory
    (or a specified directory, example: C:\PCBV\SCREENS\*.BBS) to be
    displayed in the order in which DOS finds them, one after another.

    NOTE: If PCBView cannot find a file, or has a problem opening the
    file, it will display an error message, then attempt to continue, if
    possible.

    ALSO NOTE: PCBView will attempt to display any file you hand it on
    the command line, even if that file is not an actual @code file, it
    doesn't care!


    COMMANDS AVAILABLE DURING FILE DISPLAY

         Whenever a file is longer than the current number of lines
    available on your monitor minus one (for the status line), for
    instance screens longer than 24 lines when in 25 line mode, the
    familiar:

    MORE?

    will be displayed at the bottom of the screen, there is also some
    additional information displayed, however, which does not normally
    appear in PCBoard so your status line will actually look something
    like this:

    MORE                      Delay[0-9]  [M]ono     Screen1: my.pcb

         The name of the screen (my.pcb) and an indication of the
    screen's position in a list of multiple screen files (Screen1:) is
    displayed at the far right end of the line.  This is useful mostly
    if you ran the program with several screen files or wild cards
    specified on the command line, to remind you exactly which file you
    are currently viewing.
         There is also another option: "Delay[0-9]" available.  This
    controls the speed at which the file is displayed on your screen.
    The default is Delay=0, or full speed.  You may choose to display
    the screen at a reduced speed by pressing one of the number keys on
    your keyboard between 1 and 9 for varying delays between lines.
    Pressing "0" will return the display to the minimum delay (maximum
    speed) setting.  These number keys may be pressed at any time during
    display, not just in response to the -Pause- prompt.

    --Pressing the "N" key will have the usual effect aborting the
      display of the current screen file.

    --Pressing "Y" will continue displaying the current screen file.

    --Pressing <cntl>-K or <cntl>-X will immediately abort the display
      of the current screen.

    --Pressing <ESC> will immediately exit the program & clear screen.

    --Pressing the Spacebar at any time will cause an immediate Pause
      to occur.

    --Pressing "M" will toggle the display between Mono and Color.
      NOTE: You can change the default monochrome colors using the /M command
            line switch described above.

    --Pressing any other key will is the same as pressing "Y".

         If the screen being displayed contains any of the display
    control codes (@PAUSE@, @POFF@, @QOFF@, @WAIT@, @CLS@, etc.)
    embedded in it, those controls will override anything typed in
    response to an on-screen prompt, as they would on-line.


    THE PCBVIEW.VAR @VARIABLE FILE

         The PCBVIEW.VAR file is a plain ASCII text file which contains
    the replacement text which will be inserted into screens in place of
    the user and system @variables (@TIME@, @BBS@, @USER@, etc.).  The
    original PCBVIEW.VAR file supplied with the program contains some
    arbitrary replacement text.  You may very easily customize the file
    to your heart's desire.  You must use a plain ASCII text editor (or
    save the file as straight ASCII text if you are using a word
    processor), to avoid adding unwanted control codes to the file.  In
    addition, there are a few very rigid formatting rules that you must
    follow.

    The format for data in this file is as follows:
      1. Each line in the file must begin with an at symbol(@), which
         is the first character in the @variable name.
      2. The 2nd character on the line must be the first character of
         the variable name, which is generally in upper case.
      3. The remainder of the upper case variable name follows,
         immediately terminated with another at symbol(@).
      4. This terminating at symbol is immediately followed by an
         equals sign (=).
      5. The equals sign is immediately followed by the replacement
         text.
      6. The replacement text is immediately followed by the usual
         Carriage Return(CR)/Line Feed(LF) sequence (which is what
         happens when you press the ENTER key to end a line and move on
         to the next line).
      7. There should be no blank lines between the @variable
         definitions.  The files should just be one solid block of
         @xxxx@=yyyyyy lines (see below).

      NOTE: any "white space" (spaces) between the equals sign and the
      end of the line (CR/LF) will be included in the replacement text,
      so be sure you press the ENTER key when the cursor is right next
      to the last character you wish to end the text with, without
      pressing the spacebar, tab, or arrow keys  first(some text
      editors take the liberty of assuming you meant to enter spaces at
      the end of a line if you use the right arrow key to arrow over a
      few spaces before pressing enter).

         This probably sounds a lot more complicated that it actually
    is.  When you look at the default PCBVIEW.VAR file, it should be
    immediately obvious what your file should look like. In fact, if you
    just edit this file (or better, a back-up copy of the original
    file), you should be in good shape.  Just delete or type over the
    text you wish to change, and don't add any unwanted spaces at the
    end of the line.
         Here is a brief excerpt from the default PCBVIEW.VAR file to
    show you what it should look like:

    @BOARDNAME@=The Coolest BBS
    @BPS@=9600
    @BYTELIMIT@=100,000
    @BYTERATIO@=2:4
    @BYTESLEFT@=2,000
    @CITY@=West Hills
    @CONFNUM@=23
    @CURMSGNUM@=234

         The actual variable names and text is up to you.  You can even
    add phony variable names that PCBoard would not understand if you
    want to, and PCBView will dutifully believe you and insert your
    replacement text into the displays if it comes upon the bogus
    @variable name in a screen file.  This is pointless, of course, but
    this ability is offered just in case Clark Development Co. adds
    additional @variables in future releases of PCBoard  In that event,
    just add them to your PCBVIEW.VAR file and you are on you way!
         Along these same lines, the format of the replacement text is
    not checked.  It is up to you to provide valid replacement text.

    For example, dates are displayed in PCBoard in the MM/DD/YY format,
    if you choose to define the @EXPDATE@ @variable like this:

    @EXPDATE@=March 23rd, Nineteen Ninety Two

    you will get what you deserve! (a display which does not match what
    PCBoard displays).  But seriously folks, stick to the correct
    format, and then what you see (with PCBView) is what you will get
    (with PCBoard).


    GETTING THE LATEST VERSION OF PCBView OR THE LAUGHING DOG SCREEN MAKER:

    The latest version of these programs can always be found on one of the
    following ASP Hub Network BBS's:

    North-East Coast USA           Mid-East Coast USA:
     The Consultant BBS             The Break RBBS <East>
     [phone]                  [phone]

    North-Mid USA:                 South Mid-USA:
     The Twilight Zone              The DataExchange BBS
     [phone]                  [phone]

    South-West Coast USA:          North-West Coast USA:
     Attention to Details BBS       Space BBS
     [phone]                  [phone]

    CANADA:
     Knightec BBS
     [phone]

    These BBS's are committed to allowing even first-time callers to download
    AT LEAST one file on their first call, so you can be assured of getting
    the latest version of this program anytime.


    ASP Ombudsman statement

         Yardbird Software is a member of the Association of Shareware
    Professionals (ASP).  ASP wants to make sure that the shareware
    principle works for you.  If you are unable to resolve a
    shareware-related problem with an ASP member by contacting the
    member directly, ASP may be able to help.  The ASP Ombudsman can
    help you resolve a dispute or problem with an ASP member, but does
    not provide technical support for members' products.  Please write
    to the ASP Ombudsman at 545 Grover Road, Muskegon, MI 49442 or
    send a CompuServe message via CompuServe Mail to ASP Ombudsman
    70007,3536.