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This file is formatted to be printed out properly using
TYPE CHATMAN.DOC >LPT1: on most printers
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│▓▒░ CHAT MANAGER V2.4 ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓ (C) 1993 I. TOPS ░▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓│
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Features of Chat Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
CHat, Userdatafile explained . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1.A
Files included in this package . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2
Separate programs that can be used with Chat Manager.. .2.A
Installation procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3
Single-line BBS's without multitasking and networking. .3.A
Chats from a Sysop's point of view . . . . . . . . . . . .4
Special sysopkeys. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4.A
Local chatting for the Sysop . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4.B
Macro's. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4.C
SysopPaging & music files. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4.D
Spy Mode, ultimate Sysop control . . . . . . . . . . . .4.E
Fixed subject chats. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4.F
Using /# or /% parameter to force user in chats. . . . .4.G
Message writing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4.H
Errorlevels. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4.I
Downloading in a chat. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4.J
CMP, Chat Manager Protocol for your users. . . . . . .4.J.1
Using the conversion tool for your BBS . . . . . . . .4.J.2
Paging/Forcing other users . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4.K
Regenerating Chatfiles after corruption. . . . . . . . .4.L
Using CMSETUP. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5
Optional parameters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5.A
Statistics overview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5.B
How Chat Manager determines User data. . . . . . . . . . .6
Command-line parameters for CHATMAN. . . . . . . . . . . .7
Configuration files description and lay-out. . . . . . . .8
CMNOPAGE.CTL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8.A
CM24PAGE.CTL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8.B
CMSPY .CTL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8.C
CMFIXSUB.CTL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8.D
CMACCESS.CTL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8.E
CMNOCHAT.CTL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8.F
CMFILES .CTL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8.G
CHATMAN1.DEF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8.H
DORINFO1.DEF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8.I
DOOR .SYS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8.J
Optimizing & Security. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9
Using a RAMDrive for speed purposes. . . . . . . . . . .9.A
Internal CRC-Check for virusses, trojan horses etc . . .9.B
386 Version. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9.C
High-Speed Modems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9.D
BBS-Specific notes (includes installation extras)
Remote Access. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.A
Maximus. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.B
QuickBBS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.C
Opus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.D
SuperBBS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.E
Networks (no BBS). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.F
Passing userdata . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.F.1
SYSOPTSR.COM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.F.2
Troubleshooting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Why can't I use my cursorkeys to move around . . . . . 11.A
No warranty whatsoever . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Registration purposes and procedure. . . . . . . . . . . 13
International Support BBS's & Registration sites. . . . 13.A
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│▓▒░ 1 FEATURES ░▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓│
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
To get acquainted with Chat Manager, please read FEATURES.DOC!!!
and CHATINFO.TXT if you haven't done that yet. Then follow the
installation procedure. CMSETUP gives you some more info on Chat
Manager and some of it's details.
Installing it on your BBS and trying it is the best way to see
if you like it. But as a Chat needs more than one to party,
please try it at least with somebody else on-line (or run it
twice in local mode, although chatting with yourself is a strong
sign of mental decline). Once you are sure you like it, let all
join the chats (and register it).
Some functions are only available for a few BBS's or (more
specifically) only for RA and SBBS. This is always mentioned in the
text and is due to the fact dat at the moment the only registered
user's I have are RA or SBBS-Users. As more users of other BBS's
join I'll see to the implementation of some of those features for
more BBStypes.
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│▓▒░ 1.A CHAT & USERDATAFILE ░▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓│
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Chat has two meanings in this document. Somebody can chat (type)
in a specific chat (sort of area). More chats can exist at the
same time with different users chatting in each chat.
A userdatafile, often referred to in this manual, is one of those
files that passes userdata to Chat Manager. Examples are
EXITINFO.BBS, DORINFO1.DEF, DOOR.SYS and LASTUSxx.DAT
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│▓▒░ 2 INCLUDED FILES ░▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓│
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
CHATMAN .EXE Program to run from BBS in a shell or from a
network
CMSETUP .EXE Program to configure Chat Manager with
CHATMAN .DOC This Documentation
UPGRADE .DOC How to upgrade to this version from a previous
one
FEATURES.DOC Verbose listing of Chat Managers features
CHATMAN .NEW New additions, read this if you are upgrading
Chat Manager
CHATMAN .RAM Musicfile with sample paging tune
CHATINFO.TXT Help file displayed to your users if they want
info on Chat Manager
CM386 .EXE 386 Version of Chat Manager [registered only]
BBS2CM .ARJ Contains conversion utils for most systems
CMPxxx .ARJ External protocol for your users (see 4.x)
DMO .ARJ Several demo .CTL files
REGISTER.FRM Registration form for Chat Manager
ECHOMAIL.DOC About the Chat Manager help echomailarea
BUG .FRM Used when you discover a bug. Please read
troubleshooting section before sending it.
BBSTERMS.MCD Sample file with macros (see macro section)
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│▓▒░ 2.A RELATED ARCHIVES ░▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓│
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ 2.A Separate programs that can be used with Chat Manager
Archivename Magicname KB Contains
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
MRGMAC13.ARJ MERGEMAC 12 Util to merge macrofiles
TUNES .ARJ TUNES 24 A set of 58 paging tunes
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
These can at all times be frequested at the Support BBS's listed
in section 13 (bottom of docfile).
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│▓▒░ 3 INSTALLATION PROCEDURE ░▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓│
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
■ Ensure you load SHARE or a comparable util to enable
file-sharing and locking. DrDos and Netware are already
network aware. For MSDos use share.exe
■ Make a directory for these files (used in examples is
C:\CHATMAN) and put them in it. Make another directory
called TEMP or something like that to hold the temporary
files Chat Manager creates.
■ Place SET CHATMAN=C:\CHATMAN in your autoexec.bat (reboot to
activate it now)
■ REGISTERED users that will use Chat Manager only on 386 or
higher PC's should use COPY CM386.EXE CHATMAN.EXE and then
DEL CM386.EXE in order to use the identical but a little faster
386 version
■ Please read section 10.x, this covers some installation
details for RA, MAXIMUS, OPUS, QuickBBS, SuperBBS and
NETWORKS (no BBS). It also describes the contents of the
conversion/setup tools in BBS2CM.ARJ
■ Start CMSETUP.EXE in the Chatman directory and adjust the
settings to your needs. For the CHT Files it generates you
should use a small ramdisk or a quick & buffered harddisk. This
disk has to be used by ALL lines, so it MUST be a shared
drive in networks.
■ Install Chat Manager by adding three shells to dos to your
BBS's menu file's. The shells should start CHATMAN.EXE
and is described for most BBS's in the section in chapter 3
that is dedicated to the BBS toy're using.
Single-line BBS's don't need Shell 1, Networks only need Shell
1 (and not 2 and 3).
1 The FIRST shell in a chat or multi-line menu, this one gives
the user full access to all chats available. IF possible
allow them to download CMPxx.ARJ from this menu too.
2 The SECOND shell should be where a user can page the sysop,
call chatman with the parameter /Z added on the command-line
so the user will go to an empty chat and the paging tune is
played for your attention. (don't forget the usual parameters!)
Adding /? will make ChatMan also ask the reason for Chat.
RA users can either have RA ask the reason or ChatMan.
3 The THIRD shell should be invoked when you want to start a chat
with a user, placing the user in Chat Manager waiting for you
to come chatting. Add the /Y parameters to the command-line.
The user will be put in a chat with the message 'sysop is
coming, wait a moment' and the tune will not be played because
you started the chat and you really hate these tunes.
■ If you run desqview, add an entry and modify it to start Chat
Manager without parameters with direct writes on, no graphics
displayed, run's in background and uses 175Kb of memory. Now
you can start Chat Manager in a flash if a user is paging you.
■ Modify CHATINFO.TXT to your needs. This plain ascii-file is
displayed to your users when they ask for help from the Chat
selection-menu in Chat Manager.
■ If you have enabled downloading during chats, construct the
CMFILES.CTL file. For most BBS's a conversion util named
BBS2CM.EXE is included and can be found in BBS2CM.ARJ
(otherwise see the sectuion on CMFILES.CTL).
■ Add CMSETUP.EXE /R and if you have turned downloading on also
BBS2CM.EXE to your daily maintenance batch files. BBS2CM.EXE
will for RA be RA2CM.EXE etc.. (see BBS2CM.ARJ). Both actions
are explained later.
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│▓▒░ 3.A SINGLE-LINE INSTALLATION ░▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓│
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Don't worry, Chat Manager will work fine for you too. But there
are a few things you might keep in mind.
Because choosing from multiple chats has no sense on a single-line
BBS, you should add the /Z parameter to the command-line. This puts
a user that selects Chat Manager into an empty chat without asking
him to choose one and pages you when the user does so.
If you encounter problems and have NOT loaded SHARE.EXE, please
load SHARE.EXE and try again.
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│▓▒░ 4 CHATS FROM THE SYSOPS POINT OF VIEW ░▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓│
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
As a user starts a chat he will receive a screen from which he
can select a chat to join or start just by pressing it's key and
start chatting.
The local screen will state some info on the user when he starts
but will not display the chat itself unless you press ALT-D,
telling Chat Manager that you want to see it. Pressing ALT-D
again returns to the 'status mode'. The Chat can NOT be watched
if a user has (for example) 43 screenlines and your local screen
has only 25. Chatman uses the available screen as-is, if you
start it on a 43-lines screen, 43 lines will be used. If the user
has the same amount of lines, no statusbar will be visible, but
all ALT keys will work just fine and you can watch the chat.
Pressing ALT-R will make the user return to the BBS as soon as
possible with the message 'The Sysop forced you to leave'. After
a few seconds, he will be returned to the BBS.
ALT-J will give you a shell to dos. At the moment no memoryswap
is performed. Transfers in progress will be interrupted and you
are also 'unavailable' in your chat. Therefore this is NOT
recommended for long periods and memory-hungry programs.
Pressing Cursor UP and Cursor DOWN will Increase or Decrease the
users time with a minute.
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│▓▒░ 4.A SPECIAL SYSOPKEYS ░▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓│
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
ALT-I │ List the available keys (on-line mode only)
ALT-D │ Display chat, toggle between 'status mode' and 'view
│ chat mode'
ALT-R │ Return user to the BBS with the message Sysop forced you
│ to leave (if he can read fast)! Does not hangup.
ALT-J │ Jump to Dos
ALT-H │ Hangup, immediately throws a user off-line and exits
CRSR-UP │ Increase users time with one minute
CRSR-DW │ Decrease users time with one minute
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│▓▒░ 4.B LOCAL CHATS ░▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓│
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
There are FOUR ways for the Sysop to start a local chat.
FIRST is to logon locally to your BBS and choose to chat in the
same way your users have to.
SECOND is to start CHATMAN from the directory you put it in.
There should be no userdatafile there. Start it without any
parameters. Chat Manager now assumes you are the sysop. Username
is set to the sysop and you are granted the Sysop security level
which will give you access to sending private one-liners and
peeking into private chats. You also get two whole hours of
time.
THIRD is to start CHATMAN from the directory you put it in with
a userdatafile present (CHATMAN1.DEF is easiest). DO NOT put
this userdatafile in a line-directory or your users will be the
person mentioned in that file. To use it, rename it to
Chatman1.def, put it in your chatman directory and startup
Chatman.exe. You will now be Ivo Tops, logging on locally with
seclevel 100 and 120 min.
Only the name, location, time and seclevel are used now, other
data is ignored in local chats. This way you can use your own
name if you logon locally instead of being The_Sysop. Use this
if you are for example on a local terminal of a network and want
to chat. (No BBS needed, Chat with other terminals through the
network, check out novell.txt).
FOURTH is to select the screen of a user. Press ALT-L to view his
chat and then start typing. Your text will be white, his will be
normal. This is useable but not preferrable, because other users
cannot see you're present except for the one you are chatting
with. This is also the only way to chat without a split-screen.
Do not reset a local chat to quit, but leave it using ESC (for
menu) and Q (for quit). Otherwise you will have to follow the
regenerating chat-files procedure as described later, because
Chat Manager will think you're still 'on the air' and available
for chats with others.
If you started a chat for the user through the BBS with the /Y
option (see parameters) the user will be in the first empty chat
with 'Requested chat with sysop' as subject and [PAGE] in his
statusbar. You should then immediately join using one of the
above described methods.
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│▓▒░ 4.C MACROS ░▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓│
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Using the built-in macroeditor in CMSETUP you can enter/delete
macros for use with Chat Manager. If you rename MACROS.DMO to
CHATMAN.MCD, two simple macro's will be present (described
later). DO NOT ASCII-EDIT this file. Use CMSETUP and the later
mentioned tool mergemac only!
A macro can be any key-sequence, including ENTER, F1 etc... If
you enable macrochecking, all input is checked and if a sequence
matches a macro, the text already displayed is quickly erased and
the replacement text is put over it.
Macro's are case insensitive, but the replacements are. If the
macro has text in it and the user typed the first letter in
UPCASE the first letter of the replacement text will also be
upcase!
Consider these examples;
Macro : SYSOP
Replacement: mister sysop
If a user types sysop he'll see mister sysop, but if he types
Sysop he'll see Mister sysop
^ ^
Macro : UPTIME
Replacement: HiFive![CRSR-UP][CRSR-UP][CRSR-UP][CRSR-UP][CRSR-UP]
If a user or you enter UPTIME, it will be replaced with HiFive!
and time will be increased by 5 mins. There are almost no limits,
you might define playtune to trigger ESC-P (page you and play a
tune) or define ALLFILES to start sending your allfiles listing
using CMP.
All keys are valid and most are recognised and translated to
readable english like the above example. You can watch your
macro's by writing them to a file using CMSETUP. Ultimate
flexibilty is great, but beware. You can even redefine the ALT-R,
ALT-L keys etc. Consider the next macro;
Macro : [CRSR-UP]
Replacement: 5[SPC]minutes[SPC]extra[CRSR-UP][CRSR-UP][CRSR-UP]
[CRSR-UP][CRSR-UP]
This will give your user 5 mins. extra instead of one when you
press cursor up (users cannot press cursor up).
You could also enhance [ESC]P which stands for Page sysop to page
and write a message. Do not forget that the last key of the macro
is not executed, so it should be;
Macro : [ESC]P
Replacement : Pwhat a nice tune I hear
Esc starts the menu, P enables the macro, the replacement text
places the P in the buffers so Paging starts and displays the
message what a nice tune in the users window.
You could also use macro's to make things that should be in
uppercase appear in uppercase. Consider this one;
Macro : CHAT MANAGER
Replacement: CHAT MANAGER
It seems to do nothing, but in fact it changes every entered chat
manager to uppercase. As the macro itself is case insensitive,
chAt MaNager will also become CHAT MANAGER
Macro : ALLFILES[ENTER]
Replacement: [ESC]DALLFILES.ZIP[ENTER]
This macro will start sending your ALLFILES.ZIP to every user
that types ALLFILES and [ENTER] after it. If the user does not have
CMP, Chat Manager will tell him it's an invalid menuchoice to
download without CMP present.
The keys in a macro-sequence are also used in their normal
definition except for the last one in a macro. So if you defined
(in the above example) that pressing [CRSR-UP] two times would
be a macro the user would first get one extra minute and then the
macro is executed.
Entering macro's is easy, just run CMSETUP and choose for
macros/macroedit. All keys except TAB and BACKSPACE will be put
in your macro. TAB can be used to finish the macro, BACKSPACE
works like usual. To examine your macro's have them written to
a file. This will contain readable macro's with FKeys etc.
written between brackets [F1]. Macro's within macro's are not
allowed. You will be notified if you try this.
The included BBSTERMS.MCD file contains some simle macro's like
/FD for FrontDoor etc. If you are installing for the first time
you can rename this one to CHATMAN.MCD to use ut. Examine the
macro's by writing them to an asciifile using CMSETUP. If you
already have your own macros, use Mergemac.exe to merge this
file with your own.
Macro's are fun, but don't forget the following;
■ Macro's take space. All macro's and replacement are kept in
memory. Normally nothing to bother, but I you use a LOT of macro's
please give Chat Manager some more memory
■ Macro's are checked for after every input. This ofcourse slows
things down a little. I didn't really notice it, but try it for
yourself.
MERGEMAC.EXE (found in mergemac.arj) enables you to merge other
macrofiles with your own. It comes with a small docfile and a
macrofile that contains various macro's that shorten common BBS
terms like /RA for Remote Access, /MX for Maximus, /CM for Chat
Manager and lots more...
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│▓▒░ 4.D SYSOP PAGING & MUSIC FILES ░▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓│
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
If a user is paging you from a chat, (ESC-P for the user or /Y
or /Z specified) the user will have [PAGE] in his statusbar and
the screen will be attracting your attention. If it's between
paging hours, the musicfile specified or a random one if a subdir
was specified is played to get your attention (Not with /Y
because you forced the chat and are already present).
Paging hours defined in CMSETUP should run from 00:00 to 24:00
if you want your users to be able to page you 24 hours a day.
00:00 to 00:00 will give them no chance to page (except the users
defined in CM24PAGE.CTL).
You can use all music files that use only the simple TONE and
WAIT commands, normally these files have the .RA or .RAM
extension. Examine CHATMAN.RAM for more details or download some
RA-Musicfiles. Put all of them in a single subdir and specify
this subdir in CMSETUP.
There are also two control files in which you can list people
that may NEVER page you (CMNOPAGE.CTL) and people that may ALWAYS
page you (CM24PAGE.CTL). For the layout of these file check the
layout section.
Sysops with a Souncard (e.g. SoundBlaster, Ad/Lib etc.) can use
device to play the paging tune. This can be setup in the setup
program. However there are a few considerations;
■ All computers (networks) should have the soundcard
■ A dosutil to play soundfiles should be available
■ A special directory with soundfiles should be present
■ No memoryswap is done. So CHECK if the tool has sufficient
memory to play the song if Chat Manager shells to dos.
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│▓▒░ 4.E SPY MODE ░▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓ REGISTERED ONLY ▓▓▓▓▓│
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Spy mode enables you to log the entire chat of any user(s) you
choose to a file. All it takes is editing the file named
CHSPY.CTL in the Chat Manager directory. Put a users exact name
on a line with underscores_ instead of spaces . On the line
immediately after the name enter the name (and location) of the
file that his chat should be written to. If you do not specify
a full path the file will end up in your linedirectory. The
sample file CMSPY.DMO (if renamed to CMSPY.CTL) will start
logging local sysop chats to the file SYSOP.SPY in the directory
the sysop started Chat Manager.
If you want to use another filename or place it in another
directoy, put /4PATH\FILENAME.EXT or /4FILENAME.EXT on the
command-line. That file will be read INSTEAD of cmspy.ctl.
(lay-out should be exactly the same). If you do not specify a
pathname the file will only be searched for in the current (line)
directory. This means you can put different cmspy.ctl's in each
line's directory's if you use the /4 option. Otherwise CMSPY.CTL
will only be searched for in the Chatman directory.
To log a users chat to the printer enter LPT1: for printer 1. If
your printer is off at start, spymode is not activated. But if
it runs out of paper or something like that later on, chatman
will exit with an error!
The spyfile cannot be shared, so don't log different users chats
to the same file. For those unregistered but curious, LOCAL SYSOP
Chats can be spied upon in unregistered mode. So to see what this
does just startup chatman without a chatman1.def or so and you
will be The_Sysop. Also edit cmspy.ctl to include the_sysop for
spymode (see layout section).
As you start a chat, Chat Manager will check whether your name
is in the CMSPY.CTL file. It's found so spymode is activated and
all text is written to the file found on the next line for later
printing/reviewing. Disk space is not checked for, but most
people don't chat above 100Kb a week, so you need not worry too
much. If the file cannot be opened for whatever reason
(wrong path etc.) spymode is deactivated.
To use this option effectivily, users shouldn't know, so do not
to tell them about this feature of Chat Manager! It might annoy
them a LOT.
By the way, spying is YOUR responsibility, not mine. Angry users
should address the Sysop that spied upon them, nobody else.
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│▓▒░ 4.F FIXED SUBJECT CHATS ░▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓│
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
It is possible to give a chat a fixed subject using CMFIXSUB.CTL.
This can be used to encourage chats about certain subjects. Users
will not be able to change the subject of such a chat. For layout
of CMFIXSUB.CTL look in the lay-out section or examine the
CMFIXSUB.DMO file.
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│▓▒░ 4.G USING /# or /% TO FORCE USERS IN CHAT MANAGER ░▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓│
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
If you want certain users excluded from the Chat-Selection menu,
you might specify /#? on the command-line of the shell that starts
Chat Manager for them. Use a the letter of a Chat in the place of
the '?'. So if you add /#B to the command-line, the user will
automaticallu be placed in Chat B and return to the BBS when he
quits that chat. This way you might force new users in specific
chats and use separate chats for different groups.
Alternatevely, you can use /%? to put users in a chat from which
they will return to the chat-selection menu and not immediately
straigth back to the BBS.
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│▓▒░ 4.H WRITING MESSAGES ░▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓│
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
If enabled, users from a certain level and up can save their window
to others users of your BBS. Below that level they can only save
messages to Sysop. Use CMSETUP to define the type, board, path
of your Messagebase. Only the HUDSON message base is supported at
the moment. For other types a similar function can be implemented
using the errorlevel method described in the errorlevel section.
This is a very handy fuction if e.g. someone wants to talk to you.
After paging (you're not at home) Chat Manager will tell him he
could write a message using ESC-S from within Chat Manager.
Chat Manager does not check whether the addressee is a valid user
of your system. Misaddressed messages will therefore not arrive
and in time be discarded by your msgbase maintenance software.
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│▓▒░ 4.I ERRORLEVELS ░▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓│
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
DOS-Errorlevel Meaning
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
0 Everything Ok
1 User Paged sysop, but sysop didn't come
2 User downloaded something
3 both errorlevels 1 and 2 are valid
99 Chat manager exited with error, see logfile
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Using Errorlevel 1, you could start an on-line message-editor
to let the caller write a msg to you using your own standard
message-editor. Just call Chat Manager via a batchfile and
trap the errorlevels like this;
\CHATMAN\CHATMAN.EXE parameters
if errorlevel 1 goto writeMSGtoSYSOP
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│▓▒░ 4.J DOWNLOADING DURING CHATS ░▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓│
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Using CMP (described later) your users can download file's while
chatting in Chat manager. Your fileareasetup is read from a file
named CMFILES.CTL. This is ascii-editable and described in the
lay-out section. For most BBS's a simple conversion util is
available that writes this file. You should also configure
downloading in CMSETUP, details are explained when running
CMSETUP.
A download via Chat Manager will be just like a global download
from your BBS. All fileareas the user has access to are searched
for the wanted file's and after that transferred to him in a batch.
Local downloads area also supported, although this is very slow.
For most BBS's Chat Manager knows how to pass the new userdata to
the BBS and the users downloadcouners etc. will be actualized. Chat
Manager also supports the standard BBSTAGFL.n TAGFiles. If detected
and the users starts CMP, downloading begins right away!
For users with SYSOPlevel or higher the ratios and KB limits are
IGNORED and ANY file can be downloaded if a correct path is
specified. So make sure this is available you set the sysoplevel
right in CMSETUP.
Downloading can be disabled from CMSETUP for all lines. But also
using the /) parameter on the command-line.
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│▓▒░ 4.J.1 CHAT MANAGER PROTOCOL [CMP] ░▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓│
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
The included package CMPxx.ARJ should be made available to your
users. This contains an external protocol and documentation for it.
Using CMP, your users have three features extra when in Chat
Manager.
■ Downloading during chats with statusbar at good speeds
■ Avatar, even if their commprogram does not support Avatar
■ Page-tunes, they hear your paging tunes via the modem :-)
If they start the protocol, all these features become automagically
available. Downloading is just selecting download from the regular
Menu. Avatar is turned on if Ansi or Ascii was in effect and tunes
will be played if the user pages you.
The Xferprotocol resembles Zmodem in that it is Autostart and
also resumes downloads that were interrupted (often called crash
recovery). Files alreay present at the users location are skipped.
Because Chat Manager is for Chatting, the protocol uses a very
small blocksize (Baudrate divided by 20 to be precise) and a
sixteen bit CRC method. Chats continue like usual besides a
little slowdown in responsetime.
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│▓▒░ 4.J.2 FILEAREA SETTINGS ░▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓│
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
To know where users can download from Chat Manager reads
CMFILES.CTL for the chatman directory. This file (see lay-out
section) can be generated using a conversion tool for multiple
BBS's. Whether it's also available for your BBS can be checked
in the special section for your BBS. If it is available, it
will be in BBS2CM.ARJ, supplied with Chat Manager.
Run this tool, e.g. RA2CM.EXE, everytime you change your file-area
settings. For ease, you might add it to a batchfile that you run
when changing your BBS-Configuration. It works very fast, so don't
worry about that.
If you have files in fileareas that are NOT for download, use the /F
switch with the BBS2CM filearea-conversion. This will force Chat
Manager to check whether a file in a filedirectory is in FILES.BBS
If not it's not available for download. Without /F it would be
downloadable. Most BBS's use a single directory per filearea and
the /F is not necessary. Do not specify it then because it will
degrade the searching speed when users request files for download.
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│▓▒░ 4.K ASKING/FORCING OTHER USERS ░▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓ RA/SBBS ▓▓▓▓▓▓│
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
From the main screen in which a user is able to select a chat
he can also get a list of current on-line users with the [U].
If his level is high enough he can ask someone else to come
to Chat Manager just by entering that user's nodenr. Chat
Manager also detects messages sent from the BBS and shows these
(quicker then RA ;-) to the user. Users are listed with their
name, status (browsing, downloading etc.) and whether they can
be disturbed or not. Hidden users are ofcourse not listed unless
you have sysopsecurity. The Donotdosturb flag is '-' if not set,
'X' if set and '!' if the user is a hidden. If he's hidden you
won't know if he doesn't want to be disturbed. But as you need
sysoplevel to see him, disturbing him probably won't cost you.
Users with an adequate level can also Force other users to enter
Chat Manager. This powerful feature uses the shells from text-
files option from RA which should be set to on for all lines
using raconfig. Forced users will execute a shell that can be
defined in CMSETUP under paging. Add the /# parameter to force
them in a specific chat. Not adding this will simply put them
in the main menu of Chat Manager.
Due to some functions that SuperBBS does not (yet?) have, forcing
is not possible, but asking is. Aki Antman has been asked to
implement these functions quite some time ago.....
Other BBS's could enhance their chat or multi-line menu with
some of these options if they are provided by the BBS itself
so users will still be able to ask other users to join etc..
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│▓▒░ 4.L REGENERATION .CHT FILES AFTER CRASHES ░▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓│
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
If a chat is interrupted by a system crash or reboot, the .CHT
files will not be accurate. All chats will continue and new chats
can be started as usual, only the chat that was interrupted will
cause 'user is not responding' messages when someone wants to
enter that chat or be on private until you join it.
Running CMSETUP again will regenerate these files. But as you
just might forget to run this after a crash; CMSETUP /R will
regenerate them automatically and return to dos. This is done
for easy use through batchfiles. Suggested is you do this once
a day or just once a week automatically along with other
maintenance.
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│▓▒░ 5 USING CMSETUP, THE CONFIGURATION UTIL ░▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓│
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
CMSETUP gives you the possibility to change various settings and
it also generates the .CHT files that are needed by Chat Manager.
It should be run when nobody is chatting, otherwise it exits with
a message. All parameters are FULLY explained in CMSETUP itself
so you'd better run it and read the screens. Defineable are;
■ Macroeditor, on/off, define and list macro's
■ Security levels needed for various features of Chat Manager
■ Handles, on/off
■ Special Characters definitions (use umlauted chars etc.)
■ BBSName
■ Downloading on/off
■ Directories, Musicfiles/Tempfiles/MsgBase/....
■ Chats & Users, limitations settings
■ Holiday message, on/off
■ Buffersize for Quicktype
■ Logfile/style
■ Inactive timer
■ Display options
■ Statistics Screen
If you have changed your BBS-Drive from e.g. C: to L: you
ofcourse want to be able to do this quickly. This trick is
quick, but also dirty and at your own risk. HEX-Edit
CHATMAN.DAT and replace all C:\ with L:\. Do NOT use a ascii
editor for it is not an ascii-file. Make SURE you don't change
anything else. Run cmsetup now and exit it. It will warn you if
any configured directories were not found.
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│▓▒░ 5.A CMSETUP PARAMETERS ░▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓│
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
/? Shows the current settings (most of them) in a single screen
/R Regenerates the .CHT files, (see Regenerate....crashes). Put
it in maintenance batches run only when nobody is chatting.
And put it in your autoexec.bat. This will regenerate them
after you reboot, which is obligatory if you kept them on a
ramdrive! and not necessary if you kept them on a harddisk.
/N Disables Share-check. If your system uses a different (but
compatible) file sharing/locking system, cmsetup might not
detect this and tell you share was not detected every time you
run CMSETUP, /N surpresses the message.
No parameters will just run CMSETUP giving you the opportunity
to change all settings.
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│▓▒░ 5.B CMSETUP STATISTICS ░▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓│
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
The statistics will show data about;
Calls Number of times Chat Manager was used
Time Time Chat Manager was used in minutes
Msgs Messages posted using Chat Manager
Kb's Kilobytes downloaded using CMP
Files Number of files downloaded using CMP
SysPag Number of times somebody paged the Sysop
Macros Number of times a macro was matched and replaced
All data is divided in three categories. On-line data, these
are from users that called using a modem. Local data, these
are from local users (e.g. via networks). Third category is Sysop.
This category contains both on-line as local entries from all
users with a sysop or higher securitylevel (and is not included
in the other two categories).
Data is shown per month, four months past, three months ahead.
The column 'TOTAL' features totals from the first time Chat
Manager was run. It IS NOT the total of the previous eight
months. Data is not erased, so january 1993's data will be added
to the january data of 1992 and so on. Kb's and files INCLUDE
free files downloaded (if any).
Each time a user uses Chat Manager, the file CMSTAT.DAT which is
kept in the temporary directory is updated. If you erase this
file the statistics will be reset to zero.
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│▓▒░ 6 PASSING USERDATA TO CHAT MANAGER ░▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓│
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
All parameters specified on the Command-Line will be used if not
found in any userdatafile. Chat Manager reads the BBS-Specific
userdatafiles of RA, Opus, QuickBBS and SuperBBS. These are also
rewritten if e.g. you change the users time. This way the BBS will
know this change too. If these files were not found or you
use another BBS, use one of the following files to pass userdata
to Chat Manager. But remember that in this case changed userdata
is not passed to your BBS (including downloaded KB's)
CHATMAN1.DEF will be read in the current directory if available.
If not DORINFO1.DEF is searched for and DOOR.SYS if dorinfo1.def
was not found.
Settings in one of these files will be used even if the
corresponding parameter was already given on the command-line.
With the underlying scheme you can find out what Chatman needs
to know and how you can pass it to chatman.exe.
A = CHATMAN1.DEF
B = DORINFO1.DEF
C = DOOR.SYS
P = Parameter on the command-line
Data NEEDED^ A B C P^^
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Users First Name OL Y Y Y /F
Users Last Name OL Y Y Y /L
Comport O Y Y Y /P
BBS Line Number OL Y ! Y /N
Remaining time in min. OL Y Y Y /T
Graphics mode O Y ! Y /G
Screen length O Y ! Y /S
Users baud rate O Y Y Y /R
Users Security Level OL Y Y Y /C
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Figure 1
O = On-Line mode L = Local Mode
! = Needed and not in file
^ some data are not yet necessary, but might be used in future
versions and can already be specified.
^^ there are more parameters, check the command-line parameters
section for full details on all parameters.
If the linenumber was not specified, TCNODE is used (if defined),
if the comport was not specified, DSZPORT is used (if defined).
A baudrate of 0 or a comport 0 makes Chat Manager run in local
mode. This works exactly like the normal chat users on-line get,
only the statusbar disappears.
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│▓▒░ 7 COMMANDLINE PARAMETERS FOR CHATMAN ░▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓│
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
All parameters specified on the command-line should have a space
before them, failing to do so will cause Chat Manager to
misinterpret and/or ignore parameters. Use Figure 1 to determine
what parameters you need.
/F Users First Name
/L Users Last Name
/P Comport (0-4, 0 = local mode)
/N BBS Line Number or unique number for a terminal in a network
/T Users remaining time in minutes
/G Graphics mode (0=Ascii, 1=Ansi, 2=Avatar)
/S Screen length (should be 12 or higher)
/R Users baud rate (0 = local mode)
/C Users Security Level
/7 Optional specification of the directory your BBS put's its
userdatafile (EXITINFO.BBS, LASTUSxx.BBS etc.)
This works for all BBS's that you can specify in CMSETUP
/1 Optional specification of Chatman1.def alike file (see
chatman1.def)
/2 Optional specification of Dorinfo1.def alike file (see
dorinfo1.def)
/3 Optional specification of Door.sys alike file (see door.sys)
/4 Optional specification of CMSPY.CTL alike file (see spymode)
/5 Optional specification of CMNOPAGE.CTL alike file
/6 Optional specification of CM24PAGE.CTL alike file
/8 Optional specification of CMNOCHAT.CTL alike file
/1 to /8 filenames without paths makes Chat Manager search
for the mentioned file in the current directory Chat Manager
was started from ONLY (normally the line-directory). This way
you can use different CTL and userdatafiles with the same
names for each line (read more about this below).
/Y Place chatter in first empty chat and tell him to wait for
the sysop, without playing the tune because sysop forced this
and is present. (for RA 1.10+ use as extra parameter on the
external chat utility line).
/Z Same as /Y except Chat Manager starts paging you when the
user is placed in the first empty chat. Use /Y if you want
to force someone in chatmode. Use /Z on the command-line that
is executed when users normally page you.
/? If used in combination with /Y or /Z, Chat Manager will ask
the user why he wants to chat and put his reason in the
statusbar.
/# Force user to enter the chat specified. For example to force
the user in the first chat use /#A o the command-line. If you
specify a chat that is private or that is not available, the
user gets a message and is returned to the BBS. Handy for
forcing novice users into a specific chat etc. If the user
leaves the chat, he is returned to the BBS and does not get
to select another chat.
/% Same as /# only now the user returns to the chat-selection
menu after leaving his chat. So /%A puts a user in Chat A
and when he quits he gets the menu form which chats can be
chosen,
/( Freeze users time while in Chat Manager {Registered only}
/) Disable downloading
/! Check EXE for virusses and continue to run if the check
doesn't detect a change
/!! Check EXE for virusses and quit after the check
/. Disables timecheck and inactivity timer. Works only in
local (sysop) mode and can be used to start a task with
Chat Manager in it so you don't need to start it all up
if someone pages you.
/O Turn display On. Normally display is off if a user starts
Chat Manager. Only some configdata is displayed. By using
/O on the command-line the screen will show immediately
what the user sees, like if you pressed ALT-D.
/W Specify Screen-width. This defaults to 80, but if you use
a wider screen (e.g. 132 columns) specify /W132 and
Chat Manager will use the screen properly. Make sure
the screen is set to this width before you start Chat
Manager.
/H Use handles instead of real names for this session
(even if you set 'use real names' in cmsetup). Works with
RA, OPUS and BBS's passing userdata via DORINFOx.DEF
Can be combined with /# to make a 'handles-only' chat.
There are some special commands for problemsolving with High-speed
modems. Check these out in section 9.E
/1 to /7 without a path indicate the file is to be found in the
current directory at startup. For example; normally CMSPY.CTL
will be searched in the chatman directory only. If you use
/4CMSPY.CTL, it will (only) be searched in the startup (= line)
directory. Thus enabling you to differentiate configuration files
per line, or make CMSPY.CTL only active on line x (use
/4CMSPY.CTL and only put a cmspy.ctl in the directory line x starts
chat manager from). You might also use /4C:\CMSPYS\LINExxx.SPY
on the command-line to make CHat Manager search LINExxx.SPY in
C:\CMSPYS and read this as a CMSPY.CTL alike file.
For Remote Access the screen length cannot be passed on the
command-line and therefore CHATMAN1.DEF should be used for best
results, DORINFO1.DEF and DOOR.SYS do not show the screenlength.
If the screen length was not found the default user-screenlength
defined in CMSETUP is used.
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│▓▒░ 8 CONFIGURATION FILES ░▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓│
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
All configuration files can be edited using a standard ascii-editor.
For many of them a .DMO file was supplied in the archive that
contains example entries. The lay-out of BBS-specific userdatafiles
like EXITINFO.BBS and LASTUSxx.DAT is not given, there is no need
for those to be changed as they are generated automatically by
the BBS itself.
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│▓▒░ 8.A CMNOPAGE.CTL ░▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓ OPTIONAL ▓▓▓▓▓│
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
This file contains the names of people that are not allowed to
page you anytime. Names should start at the first column and
the first and last name sould be seperated with an underscore.
Use /5 to specify another filename with optional path for
another file with the same layout
Example entry;
Ivo_Tops
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│▓▒░ 8.B CM24PAGE.CTL ░▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓ OPTIONAL ▓▓▓▓│
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
This file contains the names of people that can page you
anytime, layout is the same as CMNOPAGE.CTL. Use /6 to
specify another filename with the same layout.
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│▓▒░ 8.C CMSPY.CTL ░▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓ OPTIONAL ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓│
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
This file contains the names of people spymode has to be
activated for. Enter a username (underscore between first
and last name) on a line and enter a valid filename on the
NEXT line. Paths are allowed.
Example entrys;
The_Sysop
C:\RA\MYSELF.LOG
Ivo_Tops
Tops.txt
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│▓▒░ 8.D CMFIXSUB.CTL ░▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓ OPTIONAL ▓▓▓▓│
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
This file contains the subjects for chats that you want to have
a fixed (unchangeable) subject. Layout is simple;
D Chat Manager, what a thrill
C Today's weather
│ │
│ └───── The subject as shown in the selection screen
└───────── The Chat to fix
The subject can be up to 40 characters long. More characters are
simply ignored. Lines that are empty or contain invalid characters in CMSETUP
on the first position (valid chats are A through T) are also
ignored.
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│▓▒░ 8.E CMACCESS.CTL ░▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓ OPTIONAL ▓▓▓▓▓▓│
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
This file contains securitylevels with which you can bar the entry
of certain chats for users below that securitylevel. Format is
strict but simple;
D 32000
C 45
│ │
│ └───── The Securitylevel now needed to enter that chat
└──────── The Chat to guard with a seclevel
Nothing else should be present. No comments whatsoever and the
letter of the chat should be the very FIRST character on the line.
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│▓▒░ 8.F CMNOCHAT.CTL ░▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓ OPTIONAL ▓▓▓▓▓│
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
This file contains the names of people that are not allowed to
enter Chat Manager. Names should start at the first column and
the first and last name sould be seperated with an underscore.
Use /8 to specify another filename with optional path for
another file with the same layout.
Example entry;
Ivo_Tops
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│▓▒░ 8.G CMFILES.CTL ░▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓ REQUIRED FOR DOWNLOADING ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓│
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
This file can for some BBS's be generated using the conversion
tool BBS2CM.EXE (Like OPUS2CM.EXE for Opus etc..). It contains all
info on the fileareas users can download from using CMP.
The file should contain one or more of the following lines, one for
each filearea. (A demofile CMFILES.DMO was included).
DIR SEC NAME FILESBBS [<TOGGLE1 TOGGLE2 TOGGLE3> [A B C D]]
All items should be seperated with one or more spaces and contain
no spaces themselves. The first four items are required. If you
want to specify the flags you will have to specify the toggles
also (set them to NORMAL).
DIR Directory (full path) where the files can be found
SEC Securitylevel needed to DOWNLOAD files in this area
NAME Name of the filearea, use _ instead of spaces in the name
FILESBBS The name of a file with the filenames available for
download from this directory. If no path is specified
the file should be in the directory defined under DIR
If in a filearea all files can be downloaded, set this
item to ALL. This way Chat Manager will not check whether
the files are in the defined file but only if they are
present in the directory. This is much quicker and works
perfectly if your filedirectories contain only the files
of one filearea and nothing else. If your fileareas
do NOT work this way, add the /F switch when running the
conversion tool. It wil set this to FILES.BBS for all areas.
[TOGGLE1] Either NO-KBL or NORMAL, NO-KBL makes Chat Manager ignore
the download limit for files in this area.
[TOGGLE2] Either NO-KBR or NORMAL, NO-KBR makes Chat Manager ignore
the KB-ratios of the user for files in this area.
[TOGGLE3] Either NO-FLR or NORMAL, NO-FLR makes Chat Manager ignore
the file-ratios of the user for files in this area.
[FLAGS_A] Users A Flags, only needed if flags are used to restrict
downloads
[FLAGS_B] Users B Flags, only needed if flags are used to restrict
downloads
[FLAGS_C] Users C Flags, only needed if flags are used to restrict
downloads
[FLAGS_D] Users D Flags, only needed if flags are used to restrict
downloads
No empty lines should be present.
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│▓▒░ 8.H CHATMAN.DEF ░▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓ OPTIONAL ▓▓▓▓▓│
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
CHATMAN1.DEF is searched for only in the current directory when
a user starts a chat. It contains all data Chat Manager needs to
know, so this should be the file to create when a user starts
Chat Manager. If you use another please specify the remaining on
the command-line.
For RA a special .RAT file is included and this section can be
skipped, but you do have to use the /P and /U parameters on the
command-line. Maximus can generate Chatman1.def using the Mecca
compiler as described in Maximus.doc.
If you have a file with the same structure but with a different
name, say CMLINE3.DEF specify it with /1 (e.g. /1CMLINE3.DEF) on
the command-line. If you put it in a special directory specify
the path also (e.g. /1C:\LINE2\CHATMAN2.DEF)
Layout of chatman1.def, NO EMPTY LINES PLEASE!
USERS FIRST AND LAST NAME SEPARATED BY a SPACE or UNDERSCORE
USERS LOCATION
BBSLINE USER IS ON
COMPORT USER IS ON (0 = Local Mode)
USERS BAUDRATE
USERS NUMBER OF SCREENLINES
USERS REMAINING TIME IN MINUTES
USERS SECURITY LEVEL
ON or OFF (ANSI)
ON or OFF (AVATAR)
USERS DAILY DOWNLOAD LIMIT (only needed if downloading enabled)
KB DOWNLOADED TODAY (only needed if downloading enabled)
UPLOADS (KB) (only needed if downloading enabled)
UPLOADS (FILES) (only needed if downloading enabled)
DOWNLOADS (KB) (only needed if downloading enabled)
DOWNLOADS (FILES) (only needed if downloading enabled)
KBRATIO (only needed if downloading enabled)
FILESRATIO (only needed if downloading enabled)
USERS A FLAGS (only needed if downloading enabled)
USERS B FLAGS (only needed if downloading enabled)
USERS C FLAGS (only needed if downloading enabled)
USERS D FLAGS (only needed if downloading enabled)
If your BBS can generate this file for Chat Manager in the
line-directory when a user starts chat manager, this is all Chat
Manager needs to know. You can safely forget about parameters and
dorinfo1.def
If you're not using a BBS, modify chatman1.def and insert your
data in it, (name, location, line, time & level are used, all
others are ignored). You can now start chatting via the network.
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│▓▒░ 8.I DORINFO1.DEF ░▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓ OPTIONAL ▓▓▓▓▓│
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
As DORINFO1.DEF does not contain the screenlength and bbs
linenumber those two should be specified on the command-line!
The line-number and comport-number can also be set using
environment variables TCNODE & DSZPORT. If you use a DORINFO1.DEF
alike file you can specify it using /2 ( e.g. /2DORINFO2.DEF or
/2C:\CHATMAN\DORINFO4.DEF) If CHATMAN1.DEF was found,
DORINFO1.DEF is ignored.
Layout of DORINFO1.DEF
NAME OF THE BBS (NOT USED BY CHAT MANAGER)
USERS HANDLE FIRST NAME (NOT USED BY CHAT MANAGER)
USERS HANDLE LAST NAME (NOT USED BY CHAT MANAGER)
COM1 (COMPORT 0-4, 0 = local)
BAUD RATE
0 (NETWORK TYPE, NOT USED BY CHAT MANAGER)
USERS FIRST NAME
USERS LAST NAME
USERS LOCATION (CITY)
GRAPHICS MODE (0=Ascii, 1=Ansi, 2=Avatar)
SECURITY LEVEL
REMAING TIME IN MINUTES
No empty lines should be present.
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│▓▒░ 8.J DOOR.SYS ░▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓ OPTIONAL ▓▓▓▓▓│
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
The small DOOR.SYS is supported and used are the Name, Port and
Baudrate specified in it. All other parameters should be passed
through the command-line, these are; /N /S and /G if graphics is
not 0, 1 or 2 in your DOOR.SYS
If you use a small door.sys alike file with another name, you can
specify it using the /3 parameter ( e.g. /3DOOR2.SYS or
/3C:\CHATMAN\DOOR5.ASC)
If CHATMAN1.DEF was found or DORINFO1.DEF is found, DOOR.SYS is
ignored.
Layout for DOOR.SYS (graphics and alarm are ignored);
USERNAME
PORTNR
BAUDRATE
TIME
GRAPHICS (0=ascii,1=ansi,2=avatar otherwise use /G)
ALARM
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│▓▒░ 9.A USING A RAMDRIVE FOR SPEED ░▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓│
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
All exchange of text between the chatters is routed via a few
files. Total size between 2 and 40Kb, (the exact size depends on
your configuration and is mentioned (on exit) in CMSETUP).
For speed purposes, a small RAM-Drive is preferable to hold these
files. Buffering your Harddisk will also help and work fast enough.
A small RAM-Drive can easily be created with an extra line in
your config.sys. For details, check your DOS-Documentation on
RAMDRIVE.SYS . Use CMSETUP once to see how large the ramdrive
should be. Create the ramdrive and run CMSETUP again to create
the .CHT Files on it!
Because all .CHT files will be erased after you reboot the
computer, you MUST put CMSETUP /R in your autoexec.bat to
regenerate these files at startup (insert CMSETUP /R after you
have SET the CHATMAN environment variable)
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│▓▒░ 9.B INTERNAL CRC-CHECK /![!] ░▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓│
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
CHATMAN.EXE has an internal selfcheck routine. If a mismatch
occurres, the EXE code has changed and Chat Manager WILL NOT START
DO NOT COMPRESS the EXE files! At irregular intervals Chat Manager
forces the check, so the EXE files should remain unchanged!
Using /!! on the command-line (no other parameters needed) forces
Chat Manager to check itself for virusses and then terminate
whether a code-change was detected or not.
I know this system isn't bulletproof, but it is quit reliable
against most EXE changing virusses. Get a clean version from my
address if the one you have is reporting changes.
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│▓▒░ 9.C 386 VERSION [CM386.EXE] ░▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓ REGISTERED ONLY ▓▓▓▓│
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
The 386 version of Chat Manager is identical to the normal version
except that it is a little faster and ONLY RUNS ON A 386 or higher
It will probably crash on XT's and 286 (didn't try). It will
only work if you are a REGISTERED user of Chat Manager. Don't forget
it has it's own CRC file for the internal viruscheck and that if
you rename CM386 to CHATMAN, you should also rename the crc file.
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│▓▒░ 9.D HIGH-SPEED MODEMS ░▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓│
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Chat Manager needs a FOSSIL to work reliably on High-Speed
connections. If you encounter any problems, Chat Manager will
accept four extra commands on the commandline that you could
try. They are;
SXON Turn Sending of XON/XOFF flow control on
RXON Turn Receiving of XON/XOFF flow control on
CTS Turn CTS/RTS flow control on
FHOT Leave Fossil HOT at exit. Does not de-initialize Fossil
Normally your fossil is already working correctly, but if you
miss characters or think it's a flow problem, these commands
might help. Put them on the Chat Manager command-line WITHOUT
a /slash before them and WITH a Space before them.
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│▓▒░ 10 BBS-SPECIFIC SECTIONS ░▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓│
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
If you use one of the BBS's mentioned in the index as 10.X,
you should read that section thoroughly!!
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│▓▒░ 10.A REMOTE ACCESS ░▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓│
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
The startupshell (type 7) should read;
*C /C C:\CHATMAN\CHATMAN.EXE /P*P /N*N *M
The third place where you should install as mentioned in the
installation procedure is where you can define the External
Chat Command-line in RACONFIG. This is a {Registered}
function of Remote Access. Adding the /O parameter will turn the
screen on at default. Normally you get a sort of infoscreen
and switch to the chat with ALT-D
To be able to force users into Chat Manager you should set
shells from textfiles on for EACH line in Raconfig and
set the shell to start chatman in cmsetup. Adding the
/#A parameter will force into chat A etc..
RA files supported Action/Use
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
EXITINFO.BBS │ Loading and changing users data
RAXITn .e │ Quit on node n (RA will exit with errorlevel e)
USERDOES.n │ Written & Read for lineactivity
LIMITS .CTL .RA │ Determining ratio's en DL-Limits
FILES .CTL │ Determining FREE en PWD files
NODEn .RA │ InterNode messages
USERON .BBS │ Users on-line
BBSTAGFL.n │ TAGFile for autostarting downloads
FILES .BBS │ Determining whether files can be downloaded
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
At the moment FREE files in FILES.CTL are supported, but
Passworded files can not be downloaded via Chat Manager.
>> RA 2.x users should note that Chat Manager uses FILES.BBS and NOT
the FILEDATABASE. If you use a single directory per filearea and
users have access to that directory (level & flags checked) and they
can download everything in that directory, FILES.BBS is NOT needed.
If you use groups and new RA 2 stuff to make up fileareas then
DISABLE downloading from CMSETUP. Also the cost fields are not
supported.
RA2CM.EXE [/F] BBS2CM.ARJ
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
This tool reads your fileareasettings and writes then to
CMFILES.CTL in the chatman directory. Run this every time
you change your file-area settings with RACONFIG. Easiest
way to do this is to make a batchfile that run's your
configutil and afterwards RA2CM. This program is fast
so you won't have to wait very long.
The /F switch is described in 4.I.2
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│▓▒░ 10.B MAXIMUS ░▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓│
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Example of a meccadefinition for maximus to start Chat Manager.
This assumes Chatman to be in F:\CHATTER and creates a
chatman1.def alike file named chatman.xxx with the user's data
in it and a chatxxx.bat file to start Chat Manager with the just
generated userdatafile. (xxx is the unique! number of the line)
The batch is put on D:\MAX and is fired up at the end of the
definition. With some modifications, this should run on your
system too.
CHATMAN.MEC
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
[delete]F:\Chatter\chatman.%k <────── %k = Task (1,2,3,4,5,..)
[open]F:\Chatter\chatman.%k
[write]%n
[write]%c
[write]%k
[write]%b
[write]%E
[write]%t
[EQ Sysop][write]1100 <────── Levels, please
[EQ AsstSysop][write]900 do adjust these to
[EQ Clerk][write]800 match the ones you use
[EQ Extra][write]700
[EQ Favored][write]600
[EQ Privil][write]500
[EQ Worthy][write]400
[EQ Normal][write]300
[EQ Limited][write]200
[EQ Disgrace][write]100
[EQ Twit][write]100
[colour write]ON
[endcolour nocolour write]OFF
[endcolour][write]OFF
[write]0
[write]0
[write]0
[write]0
[write]0
[write]0
[write]0
[write]0
[write]%P
[open]nul
[delete]d:\max\chat%k.bat
[open]d:\max\chat%k.bat
[write]@echo off
[write]f:
[write]cd\
[write]cd chatter
[write]chatman.exe /1F:\chatter\chatman.%k
[write]d:
[write]cd\
[write]cd max
[open]nul
[dos]d:\max\chat%k.bat <────── Start just created batchfile
──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
┌────────────┐
│CHATMAN.MEC │ <---- Sysop should modify above code and save
└─────┬──────┘ as chatman.mec
│
┌┴┐
│ │ Mecca.Exe -> Mecca-Compiler, use MECCA CHATMAN
└┬┘ to compile
┌─────┴──────┐
┌─│CHATMAN.BBS │ <---- This is the result of the Compiler!
│ └────────────┘
│
│ The Sysop should now edit the MENUS.CTL something like this;
│
│ Menu Main
│ Title Main
│ MenuHeader None
│ MenuFile D:\Max\Misc\Main
│ Display_File D:\Max\Misc\Chatman
│ ... ^^^^^^^
│ ... │
│ Menu End │
│ │
└───────────────────────────────────────┘
After this, the sysop should recompile the MAX.CTL
(Menus update)
Syntax: SILT MAX -M
│ │ │
│ │ └───── -M stands for: Only create NEW MENUS
│ └───────── MAX.CTL -> MAX-Control-File
└────────────── SILT.EXE -> Compiler for the MAX.PRM
File
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
With a lot of thanx to Peter Kaszanics
MAXTUNCV.EXE BBS2CM.ARJ
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
This tool will convert your TUNES.BBS file to the paging tunes
format Chat Manager reads.
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│▓▒░ 10.C QUICKBBS ░▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓│
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
The Shell should be type: 7
*M \CHATMAN\CHATMAN.EXE /P*P /N*N
Chat Manager reads and writes QuickBBS's EXITINFO.BBS
QBBSfiles supported Action/Use
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
EXITINFO.BBS Loading and changing users data
LIMITS.CTL Determining ratio's en DL-Limits
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
QBBS2CM.EXE [/F] BBS2CM.ARJ
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
This tool reads your fileareasettings and writes then to
CMFILES.CTL in the chatman directory. Run this every time
you change your file-area settings from QuickBBS. Easiest
way to do this is to make a batchfile that run's your
configutil and afterwards QBBS2CM. This program is fast
so you won't have to wait very long.
The /F switch is described in 4.I.2
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│▓▒░ 10.D OPUS ░▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓│
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
The startupshell should be;
C:\CHATMAN\CHATMAN.EXE /N%1 /7C:\OPUS\LASTUS\
^^
%1 should be replaced with the tasknumber of the line starting
the shell.
/7 determines the directory where Chat Manager can find
LASTUSxx.DAT, xx will equal the tasknumber given with /N, if
they are in the current directory when Chat Manager is started
/7 can be omitted.
Opusfiles supported Action/Use
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
LASTUSxx.DAT Loading and changing users data
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
OPUS2CM.EXE BBS2CM.ARJ
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
This tool reads your fileareasettings and writes then to
CMFILES.CTL in the chatman directory. Run this every time
you change your file-area settings. Easiest way to do this
is to make a batchfile that run's your configutil and
afterwards OPUS2CM. This program is fast so you won't have
to wait very long.
! Chat Manager ALWAYS assumes files in a filedirectory are
! available for download if the level/time etc. is oke.
! if this is not the case with your configuration, change it
! to use seperate directories per filearea with only downloadable
! files in them or disable downloading from within Chat Manager.
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│▓▒░ 10.E SUPERBBS ░▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓│
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
The startupshell should be;
C:\CHATMAN\CHATMAN.EXE /N*N /T*T *S *E
Chat Manager reads and writes SuperBBS's EXITINFO.BBS, passing
all userdata like changed time, downoad statistics etc. back
to the BBS. Unfortunately the NORATIO flag is not in that file
and is therefore not currently supported. (Aki, put it in there ;-)
SBBSfiles supported Action/Use
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
EXITINFO.BBS │ Loading and changing users data
LIMITS .BBS │ Determining downloadlimits/ratios
NOYELL .CTL │ Who is not allowed to page
NOCHAT .CTL │ Who is not allowed to chat
SBBSDOWN.LOG │ Logging downloaded files
FILES .CTL │ Free files support
USERDOES.n │ Showing other user's you're in Chat Manager
BBSTAGFL.n │ TAGfile to autostart downloads
SUSERON .BBS │ WHo's online, paging etc..
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
SBBS2CM.EXE [/F] BBS2CM.ARJ
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
This tool reads your fileareasettings and writes then to
CMFILES.CTL in the chatman directory. Run this every time
you change your file-area settings from SuperBBS. Easiest
way to do this is to make a batchfile that run's your
configutil and afterwards SBBS2CM. This program is fast!
so you don't have to wait very long.
The /F switch is described in 4.I.2
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│▓▒░ 10.F NETWORKS WITHOUT A BBS ░▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓│
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
This section describes how to get Chat Manager to know the
users data and how to use SYSOPTSR.COM, a TSR program for
DOS that will BEEP if someone pages the sysop.
ALL Chatters should have read and write access to both the
TEMP directory (cmsetup) and the drive/directory you store
the .CHT files (cmsetup). When a user runs Chat Manager the
files in the Chatman directory will only be read, so they
do not need to have write access to that directory.
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│▓▒░ 10.F.1 PASSING USERDATA ░▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓│
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
This has not been thoroughly tested and should be
modified to suit your needs. Idea is to construct a small
file for each user at login that chatman can read as the
user selects Chat Manager from a menu.
The described procedure should generate a Chatman1.def
alike file for each user in the directory (used here)
G:\CHATMAN\USRDATA with the name CHATMAN1.xxx where xxx is
the stationnumber of the terminal (from 0 upto 254).
If your users always start Chat Manager from the same
directory which is a different one for all of them, put
the chatman1.def file in that directory and do not use the
xxx extension, no special userdatafilesdirectory is needed.
The userdatafile is generated using Dos-environment
variables. You might have to increase the size of the
environment. (COMMAND /E:xxxx). This way seems to be the
easiest in a novell system.
CHATMAN.EXE /1G:\CHATMAN\USRDATA\CHATMAN1.%NOD% should be
used to start Chat Manager if you've put userdatafile's in
a subdirectory as explained above. If the userdatafile is
named CHATMAN1.DEF and present in the current directory
no parameters are needed and chatman.exe suffices.
The loginprocedure;
include z:chat.scr
CHAT.SCR
[Puts Novell Userdata into dos environment]
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
drive g:
dos set CHATMAN="G:\CHATMAN"
dos set USR="%FULL_NAME"
dos set LOC="%P_STATION"
dos set NOD="%STATION"
dos set SEC="100"
if member of "SUPERVISOR" then dos set SEC="64000"
#command /c chatdef.bat
dos set USR=
dos set LOC=
dos set NOD=
dos set SEC=
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
CHATDEF.BAT
[Userdata from environment into G:\CHATMAN\USRDATA\CHATMAN1.xxx]
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
echo %USR% >G:\CHATMAN\USRDATA\CHATMAN1.%NOD%
echo %LOC% >>G:\CHATMAN\USRDATA\CHATMAN1.%NOD%
echo %NOD% >>G:\CHATMAN\USRDATA\CHATMAN1.%NOD%
echo 0 >>G:\CHATMAN\USRDATA\CHATMAN1.%NOD%
echo 0 >>G:\CHATMAN\USRDATA\CHATMAN1.%NOD%
echo 120 >>G:\CHATMAN\USRDATA\CHATMAN1.%NOD%
echo %SEC% >>G:\CHATMAN\USRDATA\CHATMAN1.%NOD%
echo NO >>G:\CHATMAN\USRDATA\CHATMAN1.%NOD%
echo NO >>G:\CHATMAN\USRDATA\CHATMAN1.%NOD%
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
I hope this is of any help. If you have suggestions, please let
me know. With thanx to Onno Huijgen for the first version of this
part of the network section.
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│▓▒░ 10.F.2 SYSOPTSR.COM ░▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓│
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
This program will check wether someone is paging you and ring a
bell if someone does. Memory use is around 4Kb and it does
decrease your systems performance somewhat. This will be better
in a next version, but hell, this was my first TSR. So TEST THIS
TSR with your software before you use it regularly. I will
improve on this one in the future.
If you're do not like this TSR, you might construct a similar
'system'. Only need is to check for SYSOPTSR.YEL in the
Chat Manager TEMP directory. If found someone is paging you
(and you should delete the file sysoptsr.yel). To find out who,
just start your own Chat Manager.
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│▓▒░ 11 TROUBLESHOOTING ░▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓│
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Most errors will be detected and reported by either starting
Chatman.exe or Cmsetup.exe But a few things will be stressed
here to help you along the way. Use BUG.FRM to report bugs.
Send it to the nearest Support BBS. But please first read this;
This section is subdivided in SETTINGS, SPECIALS and MESSAGES
SETTINGS gives hints about what could be wrong in yur setup
SPECIALS gives tips with special configuration areas
(switchbox etc.)
MESSAGES describes the solution for some errormessages you might
get after starting Chat Manager.
▓▒░ SETTINGS
■ CHATMAN environment variable should point to the right
directory
■ If you don't see the user's screen (this is default) use
ALT-D or specify /O on the command-line
■ Share should be loaded or something similar enabling
filesharing under dos for multi-line/task systems
■ Files and sharelocks should be high enough (try more)
■ .CHT files should be on a drive every line or terminal can
read from and write to
■ Chatman should get all parameters needed via a combination of
a file like dorinfo1.def and parameters (see figure 1)
■ Chatman.exe should get enough memory, normally 200K suffices,
try more if you really think that's it or use a hell of a lot
of macro's.
■ Check whether the special charzone's (CMSETUP > Various) are
either zero or somewhere between 127 and 255
■ If some 'special' keys like umlauted ones that are on your
keyboard are not accepted then use the CharZone definition
in CMSETUP to implement them
■ Directory with musicfiles should contain ONLY musicfiles
■ Check whether all paths etc. are correctly entered in CMSETUP
■ Spy mode works only when registered (except for the_sysop)
■ If the selection-screen of Chat Manager shows people not
present use CMSETUP /R to fix this.
■ If you specified an invalid logfile in CMSETUP, errors will be
written to CHATMAN.ERR in the current directory.
■ If Graphicsmode is not set to ANSI/AVATAR but remains ascii,
the dorinfo1.def entry might not be 0, 1 or 2 with your BBS
system. Specify the /Gx parameter with x = 1 for ansi and
x = 2 for Avatar.
■ Linenumbers should be unique and from 0 to 254 (gaps allowed)
■ Screenlength should be 12 or more
■ Single-line systems without SHARE.EXE, try with SHARE.EXE
loaded.
▓▒░ SPECIALS
■ If some of your users do not have ESCape keys, define a macro
in CMSETUP that, when entered, replaces the macro with the ESC key.
For example define the macro '~' to be the [ESCAPE] key
■ If Chat Manager hangs or crashes, make sure you do not use
a patch or some fix for it. Also make sure CHATMAN /!! works.
■ If you are running on a network with a switchbox for the
keyboard the keyboard gets jammed when it's not switched
to a computer that wants to flesh the leds (in pagingmode).
It does not lock up, users continue normally, only the
keyboard no longer works when you switch it back to that
computer.
Solution is simple, disable flashing of the leds within CMSETUP
▓▒░ MESSAGES
Read this if it's a Message within Chat Manager;
Message : You are already in that chat
Cause : You left not using ESC-Q last time or you are logged
on twice
Problem : Chat Manager can handle only one instance of you at a
time
Solution: CMSETUP /R to correct the .CHT files if you're not
logged on twice. Otherwise log out on one line or use
different names for each instance
Message : Userflags format is different
Cause : Formaterror in CMFILES.CTL causing Chat Manager to
incorrectly read the flags for an area. Or different kind
of flags in CMFILES.CTL and EXITINFO.BBS (very unlikely).
Solution: Check your CMFILES.CTL for areas without a path or
without a name, they should be corrected in your
BBS software and afterwards regenerate cmfiles.ctl
using the bbs2cm.exe tool. Also possible is to
directly edit cmfiles.ctl, but the error will then
reappear if you run bbs2cm.exe again.
Message : Your BBSline is already in that chat
Cause : The last time someone used the BBSline you're using now
it was not released due to crash/reset etc. OR you have
not defined the correct linenumber (/N) and are using
line 0 (default)
Problem : Chat Manager uses the linenumbers as ID, they should
be unique
Solution: Pass the correct linenumber for each line to chat
manager using /N or chatman1.def. When chatting in
local mode make sure you have a unique linenumber, set
it to 0 or some high number
Message : Private chat, not possible to join
Cause : You tried to join a private chat, which is impossible
except for people with sysoplevel
Solution: Get a higher level (Sysoplevel can be set in CMSETUP)
Message : Unable to pass changed userdata to the BBS
Meaning : If the user downloaded something or you changed his
time, this data is passed to the BBS. This is
only possible with the BBS's you can specify in CMSETUP
Cause : Unknown BBS types and starting Chat Manager
directly from DOS or Chat Manager doesn't find
the BBS's userdatafile
Solution: For supported BBS's use /7 to tell where the
userdatafile is. Normally this is not necessary
for it is in the current directory. Otherwise
contact me to support your BBS also.
If you're still bugged, maybe it's not you but me who did
something wrong, please sent your nearest Support BBS a bugreport
(using bug.frm) with enough detail to let me regenerate the error.
I will attent to it ASAP. (Thanx for the support).
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│▓▒░ 11.A WHY NO CURSORMOVEMENTS? ░▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓│
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
With Chat Manager people with different screen sizes can chat and
use all their screenlines. Ofcourse the user with the largest
amount of screenlines gets larger textwindows for each user.
Problem is if you'd move with your cursorkeys up in your window,
the line you'd edit might already have scrolled off in the
smaller window a user with less screenlines has reserved for
your text. So screen length is flexible and fully used, but
makes it impossible to use cursor keys for textmovement.
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│▓▒░ 12 NO WARRANTY! ░▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓│
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
This program is only guaranteed to occupy some diskspace......
Registration will not improve this, it will just activate some
extra features and disable the non-registered limits, make sure
you're being legal and help me in keeping Chat Manager up-to-date.
In no event can I be liable to you or anyone else for any damages
or costs, including, but not limited to, any lost profits, lost
savings, lost income, lost information, loss of the right to use
Chat Manager, or other incidental or consequential damages
arising out of the use or inability to use Chat Manager.
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│▓▒░ 13 REGISTRATION ░▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓│
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Registration is required if you continue to use Chat Manager
after a period of 30 days. The non-registered version works
alright, but has a few tweaks;
Registration will have the following effects;
■ You will receive your personal keyfile through crashmail or
regular post
■ Spy mode available (could only be tested in local mode)
■ No more ten minute time-limit for every chatter.
■ 386 Version works
■ Asking/Forcing users into a chat will work more then once per
session
■ Messages posted using Chat Manager will no longer have
the footnote 'Chat Manager [unregistered]'
■ No more 'UNREGISTERED' messages and no beeping when a
chatter leaves Chat Manager
■ Updates are also automatically registered.
■ I will be induced to continue developing Chat Manager
■ You will be legally using Chat Manager
Registration is required for every BBS/Network you install Chat
Manager on. If you run multiple BBS's or install Chat Manager on
a network too, you have to register for each BBS/Network
seperately (and pay again!). This is independant of the number
of lines/terminals the BBS/Network has. Normally you have only
one BBS/Network with x lines so you just register that BBS and
pay the fee only once.
For non-commercial organizations and non-juridical persons the
fee is;
American Dollars US$ 40,-
Australian $ AUS$ 55,-
Deutsche marken DM 55,-
Dutch guilders f 50,-
Finland FIM 160,-
France FF 180,-
Israel NIS 130,-
UK £ 25,-
Swedish K 200,-
For commercial organisations and juridical persons the fee is;
American Dollars US$ 70,-
Australia AUS$ 99,-
Deutsche marken DM 99,-
Dutch guilders f 89,-
Finland FIM 290,-
France FF 320,-
Israel NIS 230,-
UK £ 40,-
Swedish K 350,-
Local currency's NOT listed are accepted if you're
country has NO registration site. Use the DEUTSCHE MARK
amount to calculate how much local currecy is needed
and use my address to register. Registration sites
will only accept THEIR OWN valuta. The prices may differ
if you convert them, but international phone cost differ
for me too!
This should be sent via MAIL in CASH!! in local valuta to THE
SUPPORT BBS in your country and only if there's none in your
country it should be sent to me. Bank-Transfer ONLY to a
support-bbs in your country, international bank-transfers cost
about US$20 extra ($10 to your bank, $10 to my bank) so mailing
is to be preferred.
Please do fill in and sent me the registration form that is
included in this archive as REGISTER.FRM. Even if you
bank-transfer the money you should either sent it to the BBS
you picked to register with or I won't know where to send
your key....
Conclusive: ■ FILL IN REGISTER.FRM
■ SENT THE MONEY BY MAIL OR BANK TRANSFER
■ NETMAIL REGISTER.FRM or SENT IT BY MAIL
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│▓▒░ 13.A SUPPORT BBS'S/REGISTRATION SITES ░▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓│
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
NETHERLANDS Ivo Tops, FidoNet 2:280/305 V32bis/V42bis/MNP5
& COUNTRIES
WITH NO BBS: 020-6342503
SUPPORT BBS Address: Spreeuwenpark 13-II
1021 GS Amsterdam
The Netherlands
Giro: 6533940
Bank: 38.24.34.226
Account at RaboBank Amsterdam
(Giro of the Bank is 37.42.59)
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
AMERICA Drew Roberts, FidoNet 1:216/510 V32bis
BBS: 1-408-336-5325
Address: 8470 Glen Arbor Road
Ben Lomond, Ca, USA
95005-9751
Bank: Peninsula Postal Credit Union
1040 Leigh Avenue
San Jose, CA, USA, 95126-4152
Accountnumber 9674
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
AUSTRALIA Terry Harvey, FidoNet 3:712/704 PEP/V32
BBS: 02-745-3231
Adress: The Eagles
PO Box 593
Burwood NSW 2134
■ Bankcard, Mastercard and Visacard facilities
are available on the BBS.
For mail order credit card transactions
please include the name on the card,
card number and expiry date.
■ Cheques to be made payable to Terry Harvey.
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
BELGIUM Carl Meynen, FidoNet 2:292/808 V32bis/V42bis
BBS: 32-3-3264147
Bank: 733-1680551-56
MC-HOT-BBS o.v.v. CHATMAN
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
FINLAND Mikael Hjelt, FidoNet 2:220/293, VNet 46:9616/20
SuperNet 42:1201/601, HST V32bis V42bis
BBS: +358-0-5051123
Bank: SYP/FBF: 242218-9205
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
FRANCE Laurent Siraponian Fidonet 2:320/1
Virnet 9:331/103
Address: 12 avenue Joffre
92250 La Garenne Colombes
Mailer/BBS Line1 33-1-47699261 V32 V42 V42b HST
BBS Line2 33-1-47804001 V32 V32b V42 V42b
BBS Line3 33-1-47804101 V32 V32b V42 V42b
Bank: Credit Lyonnais
Account Number: 57027P
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
GERMANY Wim Abels, FidoNet 2:242/20 ,VirNet 9:493/1050
INTLnet 57:4940/104, HST V32bis/V42bis
Zyx 16k8
BBS: 49-211-5961291 oder 49-211-593439
Bank: Postgiroamt Essen
Kto.Inh: Wim Abels
Kto. : 45 66 59 435
Blz : 360 100 43
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
ISRAEL Eyal Zach Fidonet 2:405/10 972-52-503683 V32B V42B MNP5
Virnet 9:9725/0
Technet 111:405/8
Adress: 47/5 Golomb St.,
Hertzeliya 46305
Bank: Israel Discount Bank,
Aehad Haam 207
Account Number: 11-207-00101125
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
SWEDEN Sune Olsson, FidoNet 2:203/127 V32bis/V42bis
[DOWN, BBS: +46-31-291546
REGISTER Address: c/o SEO Service AB
DIRECTLY Grimmeredsvägen 13
IN HOLLAND] s-421 69 VÄSTRA FRÖLUNDA
Bank: PERSONKONTO: 410807-4875
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
UK N.Metcalfe, FidoNet 2:250/116, 2:250/117
Address: 129 Chapel House Rd
Nelson Lancs
BB9 9PL
Also accepts Visa & Mastercard payments
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
I hope you like Chat Manager, and will be present for any
questions or suggestions on the forementioned Fido-address. By
mail is also possible, write to the above address. You will be
answered as soon as possible.
I. Tops
Author of Chat Manager
2:280/305 FidoNet, normal address see above
With thanks to all official, unofficial and involuntary betatesters
for reporting all those little buggers to me AND for providing me
with enough hints and tips to keep up the job for a year or so...