home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
Simtel MSDOS - Coast to Coast
/
simteldosarchivecoasttocoast2.iso
/
rbbs_pc
/
rbbtic39.zip
/
RBBTIC.DOC
< prev
next >
Wrap
Text File
|
1993-04-06
|
16KB
|
385 lines
Version 3.9 of
█▀▀▀█ █▀▀▀▄ █▀▀▀▄ ▀▀▀█▀▀▀ ▀▀▀█▀▀▀ ▄▀▀▀▀▄
█ ▄▄█ █ ▄▄· █ ▄▄· █ █ █
█ ▄ █ █ █ █ █ █ █
█ ▄ █▄▄▄▀ █▄▄▄▀ █ ▄▄▄█▄▄▄ ▀▄▄▄▄▀
Copyright 1993 David Remer
RBBTIC was written by
David Remer
at
The Morning Sun BBS
8:931/697 and 1:387/697 in San Antone, Tx.
Registration is only $8.00.
The registered version requires
no sysop intervention.
i. The Legal Stuff
ii Registration Information
I. Introduction
II. Setup
II. Credits
i. The Legal Stuff
RBBTIC, Copyright 1993 DAVID R. REMER. All Rights Reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted,
transcribed, stored in a retrieval system, or translated into any other
language or computer language in whole or in part, in any form or
by any means, whether it be electronic, mechanical, magnetic,
optical, manual or otherwise, without prior written consent of
David R. Remer.
Permission is granted to distribute the unregistered version of
RBBTIC by way of modem and electronic transfer from an individual
to a Bulletin Board Service or, from a Bulletin Board Service to
an individual, or via a non-profit file distribution network,
provided the contents of the original RBBTIC program package,
to include its' support files and this documentation file, are not
altered in anyway prior to, or, during distribution. Distribution
of a registered version of RBBTIC is a clear violation of the
authors copyright and is subject to remedial action to the fullest
extent of the law.
David R. Remer disclaims all warranties as to this software, whether
express or implied, including, without limitation, any implied
warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose,
functionality, data integrity or protection.
RBBTIC is released under the Shareware concept, meaning that users of
RBBTIC are permitted to use and evaluate RBBTIC's usefulness, for a
period of 30 days from the time of acquiring RBBTIC. If the user makes
use of RBBTIC beyond the 30 day evaluation period, they are required to
register it. If the user does not wish to register their copy of RBBTIC
with the author by the end of the 30 days trial, the user is obligated
to cease using RBBTIC and delete it from their system except in an
archived/compressed form for distribution purposes.
ii REGISTRATION
Registration is ONLY $8.00. It is worth registering.
The registered version does not require the Sysop to enter
a randomly generated number to continue RBBTIC operation.
In other words, the Registered version is fully automated.
Besides, you are an honest person who I am sure won't mind
registering both to be legal and to be fair to the author
who spent over 100's of hours writing, debugging and
perfecting RBBTIC, a program written specifically for RBBS-PC
sysops and, which, will save you a lot of time and effort from
having to hand edit extended Tic file descriptions to function
in an FMS.DIR format.
SEE the end of this file for a registration form printout.
Thank you very much in advance for registering RBBTIC. I am
currently unemployed and struggling to make ends meet for
my 2 year old daughter, Hannah, and myself.
Upon receipt of your registration, I will netmail (or postal
send) your Registration number to you. You simply place it in the
appropriate place in the RBBTIC.CFG file and RBBTIC will
function in auto mode for unattended batch file operation.
I. INTRODUCTION
RBBTIC is a program that processes incoming .TIC files and creates
an output file that is 100% compatible with RBBS-PC's FMS.DIR
format. This includes extended file descriptions in forward or
reverse order, as well as the category code for each file.
Currently, the output format for extended descriptions is in the
format of FMS.DIR's original description line (i.e. extended
descriptions begin in column 34).
RBBTIC Features:
*Very easy to set up and configure
*Handles description line lengths of 40 to 46
*Handles word-wrap, so, no words at the end of a line will
be cutoff in the middle and continued on the next line.
*Handles forward or reversed extended descriptions. In REVERSED,
this means Date ordered FMS.DIR's, which are read from bottom up,
will be in proper reading order for callers.
*Handles Letter or Number FMS Category codes.
*Fairly extensive error handling with errors displayed with
recommendations, both to screen and a log file.
*Registered version requires no SYSOP input and runs unattended
*Choice of whether output is to be reviewed by sysop for file
category code editing (e.g. SDN files); or by way of bat file,
output may be directly appended to existing FMS.DIR.
*Version 3 now renames older FMS?.APP files which may not have
been appended to the FMS.DIR file before writing the current
output FMS1.APPend file.
*Detects absent areatags in TICK.CFG or RBBTIC.AREA file
by putting ... in place of the FMS category code. Means
you have incoming Tick files not yet configured or
improperly configured in TICK.CFG if that is what you
told RBBTIC to read for areatags.
*Registration is only $8.00. Registration number can be netmailed
to you, or sent by postal mail. (See the end of this file
for the registration form.)
*Prompt netmail reply support for Registered Users.
II. SETUP
!!!!!!!! IMPORTANT !!!!!!!!!
MAKE A BACKUP OF YOUR TICK.CFG FILE, NOW!
Setting up RBBTIC is as easy as ABC. Follow the instructions
in sections A, B and C below. It is easier to set up than to
explain, so if the explanations are confusing, muddle through
them then see the sample files included with RBBTIC.
System Requirements: IBM-PC compatible machine. A front end
mailer and Tick software already setup. I prefer to have
RBBTIC setup in my TICK sub-directory, however, you may place
it anywhere on the same drive as your Mailer Software's Inbound
directory, and, the RBBTIC.CFG and RBBTIC.EXE must be kept
together in the same Sub-directory.
RBBTIC.EXE MUST NOT BE
**********************
PLACED IN THE SAME DIRECTORY THAT THE FMS1.APP OUTPUT FILE
**********************************************************
WILL BE WRITTEN TO. RBBTIC MUST BE LOCATED ON THE SAME DRIVE
************************************************************
AS YOUR MAILER'S INBOUND DIRECTORY!!!
*************************************
A. RBBTIC expects to find either:
1) a fully configured TICK.CFG file (whose drive\sub-directory
and filename are indicated in the RBBTIC.CFG file, and)
whose format is similar to the following for each file
area to be processed:
AREA F:\DL ACAD_MSC
Local Listname d:\rbbs\dir\fmsadd.dir
Local Listfmt %100:33%3:-12%4:9 %5:8.3 %1:-45.2 160
Address PW &C
The the crucial elements are: a) 1st line for the file echo
beginning with AREA (in all caps) and b) the LOCAL LISTFMT line
being the 3rd line down for each area and c) the FMS category code
being the last item on the LOCAL LISTFMT line. (Note: many
sysops will have a 3 letter code, instead of a 3 number code,
at the end of the LOCAL LISTFMT line, and this presents no problems.)
OR
2) A RBBTIC.AREAS file you create whose format is as follows:
AREA **** ACAD_MSC
******************
****************** 160
with the crucial features being a) that there are 3 words on
the AREA, the first being "AREA", the second single word
you want, and the areaname (filetag) is the 3rd word with a space
between each of the 3 words on the 1st line, and 2) a second
line be present with anything typed in except leading spaces
and 3) the 3rd line contains some characters prior to a space
and the FMS category code on the end of the line (numbered or
lettered).
If Tick's Config file is at all confusing to you, I recommend
you set up the RBBTIC.AREAS files in option 2 above.
If you already have a TICK.CFG file setup as in example #1 above
you simply need to copy it to another "filename" for use by
RBBTIC, and enter the new path and "filename" in the RBBTIC.CFG
file for RBBTIC's use or, RBBTIC and TICK may share the Tick.CFG
file. See the sample TICK.CFG file that came with RBBTIC.
Since RBBTIC will now do what Tick's LOCAL LISTFMT line did,
(but, specifically for RBBS-PC's FMS.DIR needs), the
LOCAL LISTFMT lines in your TICK.CFG are no longer required
EXCEPT, that Tick will produce a Files.BBS file by default even
if the Local Listfmt lines are removed. Therefore, I recommend
changing the Local Listfmt lines of the TICK.CFG file and
directing all areas that RBBTIC will now handle to one file,
which you may delete using your TickRun.Bat file after
it calls Tick. (If this sounds confusing, see the sample
TickCfg.Sam file enclosed for examples and explanations.
B. Make a backup of the RBBTIC.CFG file that came with the RBBTIC
program. Then edit the RBBTIC.CFG file to reflect your particular
paths, file names and choices regarding FMS.DIR format.
The RBBTIC.CFG file should not be altered in anyway other than
replacing the existing example parameters with ones that match
your particular setup. The RBBTIC.CFG file is fully commented
with explanations for each parameter. The order of the parameters
in the RBBTIC.CFG file are crucial to the proper function of
RBBTIC. If you have any problems with the RBBTIC.CFG file or
the comments regarding it's parameters are unclear to you, please
netmail me your question or problem and I will respond
as soon as is practical.
C. Edit the Bat file that calls up TICK so that RBBTIC IS CALLED
FIRST. I repeat, RBBTIC must be called to run before TICK
since RBBTIC will read your mailers inbound file directory
(where your mailer puts incoming Tick program and description
files when received) and use that information to complete its
tasks. If Tick is run 1st, RBBTIC will no longer be able to
get the program file's size to output for your FMS.DIR.
In my situation, I have Tic files coming in that I do not make
available to my callers for download. Files like the Backbone
files and the Fidonet.N? files, I treat as exclusions in the
following manner. I edit the Bat file that calls RBBTIC and then
TICK, to copy the program files (not the .TIC description files)
to a sub-directory off my Binkleyterm "IN" directory. I tell
the bat file to do this BEFORE RBBTIC is called because, by
default, RBBTIC will not process a TIC description file if the
Program file is not in the sub-directory with it. After RBBTIC
is done and control goes back to the Bat file, I copy those
excluded program files back to my "In" directory and then the
Bat file calls TICK which processes them in the normal fashion
it always did. (See the sample bat file included with RBBTIC
named RBBTIC.BAT.)
The flow of my setup is diagrammed as follows:
Mailer receives incoming Program and *.TIC files and deposits
them in the Mailers "IN" sub-directory (Lets say, F:\BT1\IN)
|
|
Mailer calls its scheduled event bat file which calls the
TICK bat file. The TICK Bat File:
|
|
Copies all PROGRAM files NOT to be included in the
FMS.DIR file, to F:\BT1\IN\TICTMP.
|
|
Calls RBBTIC which creates the FMS1.APP file which
you may review and edit or simply append to your
FMS.DIR, complete with correctly formatted extended
descriptions, and FMS file category codes obtained
from either the TICK.CFG file or the RBBTIC.AREAS
file that mimics the TICK.CFG file.
|
|
Copies all excluded Program files back to the
F:\BT1\IN sub-directory so TICK can process them.
|
|
Calls TICK which tosses all the program files to
their respective sub-directories (i.e. RBBS-PC's
download directory and SYSOP only program directory).
|
|
Delete Tick's FMS description file.
|
|
Return control back to the Mailer and await next call.
III CREDITS
RBBS-PC Bulletin Board software contains the following credits:
Copyright 1983-1992
by
D. Thomas Mack
39 Cranbury Drive
Trumbull, Connecticut 06611
Ken Goosens
5020 Portsmouth Road
Fairfax, Virginia 22032
DATA #1,2,3 -- (703) 978-6360
Doug Azzarito
2399 N.W. 30th Road
Boca Raton, Florida 33431-6212
DATA #1 -- (407) 487-3441
#2 -- (407) 487-3442
TICK, the File Tosser software was written and is owned by,
Barry Geller
Maple Shade Opus
Copyright 1989
My warm thanks to Lars Olson and Dave Hughes for assisting
me in working out some bugs. Thanks guys.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
RBBTIC VERSION 3.0 REGISTRATION
Please mail this form with your $8.00 registration fee to:
David R. Remer
The Morning Sun BBS
13126 Maple Park
San Antonio, Tx. 78249
Date:_____________
Your Name: ___________________________________
Your mailing address or phone number ______________________________
Your Fidonet or RBBS-Net address: (e.g. 1:387/697) ________________
If you do not have a Netmail address, your registration number
will be mailed to you. Be sure your mailing address is complete
and accurate.
My 2 year old daughter, Hannah and I thank you very, very
much for registering your copy of RBBTIC.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------