Megaware 1/Megaware Volume 1.iso/communic/tapcis/tap.exe/CHANGES.TAP

Text File | 1990-09-29 | 24KB | 569 lines

=================================================================
TAPCIS 5.3 CHANGES FROM 5.2a
=================================================================

This document covers the changes from TAPCIS version 5.2a to the
current version 5.3. You will find that the changes are
evolutionary, and users of 5.2a should have little problem
installing and operating 5.3.

If you do hit any problems, FIRST READ THIS ENTIRE DOCUMENT. You
will probably find that a small change has been made that affects
your setup (for example, your modem no longer hangs up, or your
command line options no longer work right). But if you do get
stuck, stop by the TAPCIS Forum and leave a message to Sysop asking
for help.

ORDERING

You can get TAPCIS 5.3 from the TAPCIS Forum Library 1 (TAP.EXE and
TAPDOC.EXE) where it can be downloaded for connect charges. Or drop
a Mail message to 74020,10 or call Support Group at 800-USA-GROUP
and get TAPCIS 5.3 with a revised and expanded manual and the
program on disk for only $20.

THANKS!

We'd like to thank all of you that have supported TAPCIS over the
years. Your registrations and referrals keep the program moving
forward. We have many exciting plans for TAPCIS, and we invite all
of our registered users to stay tuned to Section 9 of the TAPCIS
Forum for discussion of future versions.

Richard Wilkes 76701,23
President
Support Group, Inc.

------------------------------
Backup

Please take a moment and backup your TAPCIS directories before
installing 5.3. In particular the PARAMS.CIS file will be modified
by 5.3 and become unusable with 5.2a in the unlikely event that you
must return to that version.


------------------------------
Temporary Registrations

If the registration number on your main menu ends with a T, that is
a temporary registration number. TAPCIS 5.3 will tell you that fact
each time you start the program. Be sure to enter your permanent
registration number following the directions in the manual under
Recording Your Registration. Drop a note to 74020,10 if you never
got your permanent registration number from Support Group.


------------------------------
CompuServe Mail

TAPCIS 5.3 uses CompuServe Mail, the replacement for Easyplex. The
;OLDM you added to your userid for 5.2a will be automatically
removed by 5.3. Mail operates identically to Easyplex except for
changes in prompts.

The name of the files TAPCIS uses have been changed from EASYPLEX.*
to MAIL.* (e.g., MAIL.MSG). Binary mail messages are stored in
MAILn.BIN files rather than EPLEXn.BIN (the maximum size of binary
files has been increased to 512,000 bytes). And, outbox messages
show Fm: MAIL. You will need to get new versions of any third party
programs you use (e.g., TAPLEX) that are coded for EASYPLEX or that
are codes for the 5.2a PARAMS.CIS format.

>POSTAL support has also been added, and 5.3 accepts INTERNET
addresses up to 78 characters. See >POSTAL below for more details.

You can use the command line option ! (e.g., TAPCIS !) to have
TAPCIS upload your mail messages using the error-free B+ protocol.
This is somewhat slower than the normal message uploading but
guarantees that no line noise will be introduced into your mail
messages. (Only applies to CompuServe mail, not forum messages).

------------------------------
Address Book & User Names

When searching for an address in your USERID.CIS file, TAPCIS will
now stop the search as soon as you make your selection by letter or
cancel the search by pressing space.

The format of the USERID.CIS file has changed. In order to support
comments for >FAX and >INTERNET addresses, we've added a delimiter
between the address and the comments:

Richard Wilkes >FAX: [phone] |(RWFAX) Richard's fax number

The <space>| is the delimiter. The space is required. If TAPCIS has
trouble with any of your existing addresses in USERID.CIS, edit
that file (E>dit F>ile USERID.CIS) and add the delimiter. For
example, you will need to change any FAX or INTERNET addresses you
added in 5.2a that included a comment. Edit the address and put
<space>| before the old comment.

Note the (RWFAX) in parens in the comment. If you were to enter
\rwfax as the address book search, TAPCIS 5.3 will pull up this
entry without a confirming letter choice. So, if you have an
address book entry like:

Joan Friedman 76701,145 |(Joan)(JoanF) TAPCIS Forum Sysop

you could select this address using \joan or \joanf. Case is not
important but the match must be exact. You can set up a user name
when prompted for the comments after the A>ddress command when
reading a message or when editing the USERID.CIS file. If you have
user name but need to search for that name anyway, put a space
after the name (e.g., \joan<space>) and the user name will be
ignored.

------------------------------
>POSTAL

Postal offers you the option of sending a letter printed on a laser
printer in one of five locations around the country. The charges
start at $1.50 for U.S. addresses and $2.50 for international ones.
Messages are limited to 60 characters per line and 279 lines (5
pages) per message.

Before you can use postal, you must go online I>nteractive. GO MAIL
and at the Mail! prompt type the "ADDRESS NAME" command:

Mail! ADDRESS NAME

Enter your name and say Yes to entering your return address. Supply
that information (which is needed for the printed letters). Then
logoff.

In TAPCIS address your message To: >POSTAL and press return. You
cannot send postal messages to multiple addresses at this time.
TAPCIS will ask you for the full address of your recipient. When
prompted for the state, you must enter the 2-letter state
abbreviation (i.e., if you enter Calif instead of CA, the message
will not be sent). If sending to an address outside the United
States, press <enter> at the state prompt and answer the country
and postal code prompts. Note for Canadian Addresses: you must
press <enter> at the state prompt for this to work, even though the
CompuServe online prompt is State or Province code. If you want to
put in the province code, include it in the City line (e.g.,
Montreal, PQ).

TAPCIS automatically sets the editor width to 60 columns. If you
load any text using Shift-F10 be sure to reformat the individual
paragraphs with ^B (control B) before sending or it will not work.

------------------------------
NAMES.BAT

A small DOS batch file has been included that renames your EASYPLEX
and PC Magnet files to the new names supported by 5.3. You can run
NAMES in your TAPCIS storage disk path. It can be deleted
afterwards.

------------------------------
Multiple Parameter Files

TAPCIS 5.3 supports multiple PARAMS files. You use the Alt-F
command from the main menu or forums selection screen. TAPCIS will
show you information about your current PARAMS file and let you
switch files or create a clone of the current one by pressing X.
The name of the new file can be 1-3 letters or numbers.

Each PARAMS.* file contains not only the list of forums but also
your user ID, password, and all other settings from the P>arameters
screen. Be sure to set up the main PARAMS.CIS first with your
registration number, user ID, and password and then use Alt-F and
the X> copy option to create new ones.

You can use an alternate PARAMS files to change forum sets, support
more than 20 selected forums, or switch COM ports and modem for
laptop use. For example, I have a PARAMS.WP that has the two WPSG
forums selected and that uses a different storage and download path
than my "normal" PARAMS.CIS (the default name).

You can select the PARAMS file directly from the command line by
enclosing it in parentheses. If you use any other command line
options, separate those from the PARAMS extension with a space:

TAPCIS (WP) GNX

The above would start TAPCIS using the PARAMS.WP file, globally
capture everything that happens online to the file ONLINE.LOG,
execute the N>ew command as soon as TAPCIS is loaded, and exit
TAPCIS as soon as N>ew completes.

TAPCIS now stores the status indicators in the PARAMS file. So, if
you have mail to read indicated by the ! mark, exit TAPCIS, and
return, the ! mark will reappear. If you create or delete any of
the TAPCIS files from DOS (for example, running one of the add-on
utilities available in Library 2 of the TAPCIS Forum which create
TAPCIS compatible .SND and .DOW files), the status marks may need
to be refreshed by pressing Alt-R from the main menu.

Some Parameter Screen options are no longer toggles (e.g., Append/
Overwrite). This makes it less likely that you will accidentally
change one of their values.

------------------------------
Macros

TAPCIS 5.3 supports 40 macros, 20 when online interactive and 20
when editing in the message editor. You can define those macros by
pressing Alt-M from the main menu and selecting either E>ditor or
O>nline macros. Then press the letter you want to assign to your
macros (A through T only) and enter the text for the macro. Use the
vertical bar (|) for carriage returns. NO other special control
codes are supported (e.g., no tabs).

Then when in the editor or online, press Alt-M. A list of the
macros will appear. Press the corresponding letter and your macro
will be passed to the editor or to CompuServe.

Note that when online, two macros have been programmed specifically
to help you use CompuServe interactively. Alt-M X sets CompuServe
to verbose menu mode with a screen size of 23 lines. Alt-M Y sets
an individual forum to menu mode and pausing after each message.
Both these macros affect only the current session. Macros are not
available offline except in the editor. This is a planned
enhancement for a future version of the program.

Macros are stored in the file MACROS.CIS.

------------------------------
Gateways

Services such as PC MagNet and PC Week must be accessed through a
"gateway" before you can GO to the forums found there. TAPCIS 5.3
supports gateway designators on forum names. For example, to access
the PC MagNet Editorial Forum, you would use PCM: as the gateway
and EDITOR as the forum name. TAPCIS will use EDITOR.MSG as the
message file. The PC Week Forums use the PCW: gateway. Normal
CompuServe forums such as the TAPCIS Forum use CIS: as the gateway.

This replaces the previous names of PCM_EDIT, PCM_UTIL, etc., and
will work as more gateway are added. You will have to rename the
.SEC files (using NAMES.BAT if you like) or re-join the forums
using Alt-J.

Note: some of these gateways require that you answer a brief
questionnaire the first time you enter. You must answer this by
going online I>nteractive and typing GO PCM: or GO PCW:.

------------------------------
Reading Messages

TAPCIS 5.3 has changed the command issued to CompuServe to read new
threads in R Forums. This new command downloads new threads in
order by section, meaning that you'll be reading all of the threads
in section 1, followed by section 2, etc.

Most people find this a lot easier than ordering the threads from
oldest to newest. However, if you prefer the old method you can use
the # command line option to use that method.

To save a message, you press F10 just like in 5.2a. Version 5.3,
however, saves the name of the file you enter and will default to
that file the next time you press F10. This makes it a lot easier
to save a series of messages to a file other than <forum>.SAV.

You can search for text using F2 text F2 (to imitate WordPerfect).

------------------------------
Forums Selection

In addition to the support of multiple PARAMS files, the F>orums
screen has an enhanced option, F8-Edit. Press F8, select the forum,
and TAPCIS will ask whether you want to change the method (Q/R/M)
or the section selection. If you choose S>ecs, TAP shows you the
section list for the whole forum and what you've selected. If you
do not want to change you choice simply press enter.

------------------------------
Online (Terminal)

The screen no longer clears when TAPCIS enters terminal mode.

When you press ESC to stay online, a message will appear on the top
line. You can press ESC at any time. ESC is a toggle, and if you
press it twice, the "Remaining online" message will disappear.

Alt-Q (logoff after download) is new toggle that lets you tell
TAPCIS that you want to logoff after the in-progress file transfer.
If ON, a "Q" appears next to the elapsed/remaining times in the
status box. Note: it can take several seconds for this to update.
Alt-Q when not doing a protocol transfer will send an immediate
BYE.

Alt-L scrollback now uses the normal attribute rather than the
hilite attribute. This makes it easier to view. A reminder that you
are viewing the scrollback buffer remains at the top of the screen.
You can use the up/down arrows and PgUp/PgDn to review up to the
last 350 lines of text.

Alt-B in interactive mode will send a <break>. The B command in a
script will also send a <break>.

------------------------------
Logoff

TAPCIS 5.3 issues the LOG command to disconnect from CompuServe.
TAP then waits until it sees the "User ID:" response from
CompuServe before attempting to hang-up the phone. This was done so
that users of MNP modems would see the full CompuServe logoff
including the time online.

(Note: in terminal mode, you should still use BYE or OFF to logoff.
If you use LOG, you will get a User ID: prompt. At that prompt you
can press Alt-Q to hangup).

This works fine provided that your modem hangs up the phone when
DTR is dropped. If you have set your modem to do this, you should
refer to the modem manual for the proper command. On many Hayes
compatible modems, using AT&C1&D2 at the start of your
initialization string will get this to work.

Alternately, you should change your R>eset modem string to:

?2+++?2ATH0^M

although this is slower than using DTR to hang up the phone and
leaving your reset modem string blank. The R>eset string in TAPCIS
5.3 is really a "hang up" string. You should not use a reset string
of ATZ^M for example since that command would be ignored by your
modem when still connected to CompuServe.

If neither of these work, you can try using the D command line
option (TAPCIS D) which uses the OFF command.

------------------------------
Login & Scripts

There have been a number of additions to scripts.

User login scripts are no longer limited to TAPCIS.SCR. If you
follow the user script character "_" with a script name, that
script will be used instead of TAPCIS.SCR. For example:

<1>  555-1212_DPC

would use DPC.SCR for the login script.

You can now put a comment after the phone number using a semicolon.
Keep your comments short so that it fits within the field length
limits (if you enter one too long you'll have to re-enter the
number and comment). Also, do not include apostrophes in your
comments. For example:

<1>  1-301-555-1212;Baltimore MD

Do not precede the comment semicolon with any spaces, and if using
any login script codes like _ be sure to put your comments after
those codes. For example:

<1>  1-412-555-1212_MYSCR;My login script

If you use an O>nline report of NONE (in CAPS!) then TAPCIS will
not look for any connect response from the modem and proceed
directly to the login script. You could use this along with a blank
modem initialization string to move directly to a login script.

We've also added a script called PHONES.SCR. Set it up on your
params screen on a telephone number at 300, 1200, or 2400 baud:

<6> 1-800-346-3247_PHONES

Then go I>nteractive and follow the screen prompts. This toll free
number lets you get CompuServe access numbers or report node
problems. Any output will be captured to ONLINE.LOG if you started
TAPCIS with TAPCIS G. Otherwise, you will need to write down the
numbers.

The I script command is used by PHONES.SCR to pause the script for
user input. You can use the I command in any script, both login and
online scripts. This can allow you to manually login through an
unfamiliar type of connection, or pause for input in a script so
you can select menu choices from the screen. See MANUAL.SCR for an
example of the manual login capability.

The E script command echoes instructions to the screen. In version
5.2a there was no way to tell the user what was going on or what to
expect. The E command echoes the instructions highlighted.

GTE/Sprint has renamed Telenet to SprintNet. To recognize the
change we have changed the Telenet scripts from TELE1200.SCR and
TELE2400.SCR to SPRINT12.SCR and SPRINT24.SCR. You should delete
the old TELE*.SCR's.

------------------------------
Marking Headers

TAPCIS has a limit of 350 headers that can be marked at one time in
a Q Forum. To get around this limitation when M>arking headers for
a very busy forum, TAPCIS will break the headers into groups of
350. Pressing N>ext will move to the next group. We've also added
a marker to tell you when your reached the end of the headers.


------------------------------
View & Edit

The V>iew, E>dit, and K>ill commands have been enhanced to allow
you to specify a file as well as the appropriate file for a given
forum.

For example, pressing V>iew 1>MAIL will view the MAIL.SAV file as
did 5.2. But let's say that you have used F10/Save to put a bunch
of messages in a file called "2DO" in the current directory.
Pressing V>iew F>ile 2DO will view that file and allow you to
reply, forward, save, and print messages in that file. This greatly
expands the flexibility of V>iew. I use this to save messages that
I need to act on later, and then view that file when I have time.

Note: even though you may be V>iewing a file of messages created
from the TAPCIS Forum, using the R>eply command will send the reply
via CompuServe Mail. If you want to post a reply somewhere other
than MAIL, use the C>hange command.

The E>dit command has been similarly enhanced. You can select a
file for editing, such as a script, your CONFIG.SYS, a file
captured by a script, etc. I use this to create and edit scripts
rather than shelling out to another editor. If the file is too big
to fit into memory, TAPCIS will tell you. Also, be sure not to edit
files other than ASCII files.

The editor was changed to show the name of the file being edited in
the top window, and the cursor is now positioned to the top of the
file rather than the end. To go to the end of the file, press Ctrl-
PgDn.

You can now use the K>ill command to delete an individual file from
disk. Note: wildcards are not supported. If you wanted to delete
*.BK! files, use Sh-F1 and the DOS command DEL *.BK! instead.

------------------------------
Command Line Options

There have been some important changes to the command line options.
If you use command line options, you may need to change some in
order to use TAPCIS 5.3 (e.g., adding a T in front of a delay
time). You can get a list of the new options by typing:  TAPCIS ?
from DOS.

Commands can now be separated by spaces:

TAPCIS G NX T07:30 (TAP)



OPTION    DESCRIPTION

Thh:mm    Delayed start time must now have a T in front of the time
          with no intervening space. This time can be specified
          anywhere on the command line.

(EXT)     Use PARAMS.EXT file rather than PARAMS.CIS.

F         Use bioswrites (no fastwrites). This command line option
          replaced Alt-B that was used in some test versions.

Hnn       Between each character in the initialization string,
          delay nn tenths of a second (e.g., H10 for one second
          delay between characters).

Inn       Change the normal 30 second delay between busy redials to
          nn seconds (e.g., I05).

P         Suppress the sending of ^P characters that might disrupt
          transmission on some foreign PADs.

U         Suppress the sending of the line clearing character
          (default is ^U). Some foreign PADs cannot handle this
          character.

Vnn       Change the PAD clearing character from V21 (^U) to Vnn
          (enter a two digit number in decimal).

!         Use B+ protocol to upload CompuServe Mail messages.

S1        Suppress the READ WAITING command on Q forums when the
          N>ew command is running.

S2        Suppress the SCAN WAITING command on R forums when the
          N>ew command is running.

S3        Suppress both

#         Read threads in chronological order rather than in order
          by section.

K         Disables the S>ave and D>elete keys when reading messages
          (you would use F10/Save and the Del key). It also
          disables the F9/F10 keys from the main menu which set or
          reset all forums.

------------------------------
Other Changes

Library Search: When setting up a library search, TAPCIS will use
the age of any existing .CAT file as the default at the Age:
prompt.

Dialing Delay: A one and a half second delay has been added when
TAPCIS dials the phone. TAPCIS 5.3 raises DTR and then waits for
the modem to get ready. Some modems such as the Hayes V Series 9600
used to require ^M?1ATZ^M?1 or something similar as part of the
initialization string. Now such modems will probably work with just
ATV1E1DT as the init string.

Mail Send: Private Unformatted has been added as a send option.
This is used to send a private message (in forums that support
private messages) without having CompuServe reformat the line
breaks.

Initialization string: Fractional seconds are now supported. A two
and a half second delay would be entered as: ?2?.5

FRONTEND.SCR: You can now use the "C d:\path\filename.ext" command
to capture to a specific file rather than just to MAIL.MSG. The K
script command to kill a file now works in FRONTEND.SCR, and X is
now a synonym for "C N" in all scripts.

Skipping Messages You Write: This is a forum OPTION that is not
supported by TAPCIS 5.3. Because CIS changes responses when you
have this option selected, it can confuse the autopilot. If you
have this option set in any forums, you must turn it off. You can
do so using an A>dvanced U>ser command:  OPT;SKI N;P

CompuServe Nodes: When TAPCIS sends a control-C to the CompuServe
node, it now echoes to the screen "^C Sent". If you see this
multiple times then your node is not responding. A normal login
will show the node echo the ^C as in: ^C Sent ^C

Send: Any lines in a message that begin with a slash will now be
prefixed with an extra slash so that CIS will treat the line as
text.

Carrier Monitoring: If TAPCIS detects a carrier loss during
transmission it will now give you a message indicating that carrier
was lost and will reset the modem.

XFER.LOG: If you are logging transfers, the XFER.LOG file will
include the forum and library where the file was found. Note: this
information will only be accurate for downloads started
interactively if you do not change forums using the GO command. If
you are going to be downloading interactively, use I>nteractive
Forum#> from the main menu to record the forum name in the
XFER.LOG.

Forum Prompting: TAPCIS will always prompt for a forum number in
5.3 even if there is only one forum selected. This change was made
so that TAPCIS would always have consistent keystrokes to select
various actions, whether the active forum set has only a single
forum or fifteen.

Accounting (STATS.EXE): the $>accounting function in TAPCIS has
been moved to an external program in 5.3. The file STATS.EXE can be
run from TAPCIS with the $ command or from DOS directly.

American Express: Support Group, Inc., now accepts American Express
for online registration and toll free ordering of TAPCIS at
(800) USA-GROUP.