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BGFT [tm] BackGround File Transfer Version 3.03 March 3, 1994 Rick MacDonald, M.Sc. Rafael Moya, Ph.D. Tim Chapman, Ph.D. Dirac Systems 1005-1210 Radom Street Pickering, Ontario Canada L1W 2Z3 Copyright (c) 1990-1994 Dirac Systems \ / -------------------------------------- - o - / \ TABLE OF CONTENTS ----------------- 1.0 Introduction .........................................4 1.1 BGFT Concept .........................................5 1.2 What's New in Version 3 ..............................6 1.3 Registered User Support ..............................7 1.4 Why Register? ........................................7 1.5 Acknowledgments ......................................8 2.0 Red Tape .............................................9 2.1 Disclaimer of Warranty ...............................9 2.2 Copyright Notice .....................................9 2.3 Upgrade Policy ......................................11 2.4 Hardware and Software Requirements ..................12 2.5 Definition of Terms .................................12 3.0 Getting Started with BGFT ...........................14 3.1 Files in the Distribution ...........................14 3.2 Trying it Out .......................................20 4.0 Installation, File Buffers, and Resident Programs ...26 4.1 The Installation Program ............................27 4.1.1 Minimal Installation ..............................29 4.1.2 File Buffer Choice ................................30 4.1.3 BGFT Directory ....................................30 4.1.4 Support Files for Other Communication Products ....31 4.1.5 Changes to AUTOEXEC.BAT ...........................31 4.1.6 System Specific Details ...........................31 4.1.7 Files for Microsoft Windows .......................32 4.1.8 Automatic Sequence ................................32 4.2 Manually Organizing the Files .......................33 4.3 Hard Disk Drive File Buffer Creation ................35 4.4 The Resident Programs ...............................36 4.5 Resident Program Error Messages .....................38 4.6 Floppy Disk Drive File Buffer Creation ..............39 4.7 BGFT Environment ....................................40 4.8 Modem Requirements ..................................42 4.9 Systems Without a Hard Drive ........................42 4.10 BGFT and DOS 5/6 ...................................43 4.11 BGFT Support of STACKER and DoubleSpace ............43 4.12 BGFT and DR DOS ....................................44 4.13 Multitasking and Communications ....................44 4.14 BGFT and DESQview ..................................45 4.15 BGFT and Microsoft Windows .........................46 4.16 Problem Solving ....................................47 4.17 Operating Limitations ..............................48 4.18 BGFT Model Summary .................................48 5.0 Operation of Main User Interface: BGFT.EXE ..........50 5.1 Starting/Stopping BGFT ..............................50 5.1.1 Starting BGFT .....................................50 5.1.2 Exiting BGFT ......................................51 1 5.2 The Menu System .....................................52 5.2.1 File ..............................................53 5.2.2 View ..............................................54 5.2.3 Dial ..............................................54 5.2.4 Transfer ..........................................55 5.2.5 Setup .............................................55 5.2.6 Utility ...........................................55 5.2.7 Information .......................................56 5.3 Dialog Boxes ........................................56 5.3.1 Action Buttons ....................................56 5.3.2 File Lists ........................................57 5.3.3 Drive/Directory Lists .............................58 5.3.4 Data Input Fields .................................58 5.3.5 On/Off Flags ......................................59 5.3.6 Radio Buttons .....................................59 5.4 The Help System .....................................59 5.4.1 Message Line ......................................59 5.4.2 Alt_Z Help Key ....................................59 5.5 Configuring BGFT ....................................59 5.5.1 Terminal Emulation ................................60 5.5.2 Modem Parameters ..................................60 5.5.2.1 Modem Initialization String .....................60 5.5.2.2 Dialing Command .................................61 5.5.2.3 Hang Up Command .................................61 5.5.2.4 Time Between Dialing ............................61 5.5.2.5 Test for 'BUSY' .................................61 5.5.2.6 Direct Connection ...............................62 5.5.3 Communication Port Settings .......................62 5.5.3.1 Communication Port Number .......................62 5.5.3.2 Baud Rate .......................................63 5.5.3.3 Data Bits .......................................63 5.5.3.4 Stop Bits .......................................63 5.5.3.5 Parity ..........................................63 5.5.4 Preferences .......................................63 5.5.4.1 Confirm Exit ....................................64 5.5.4.2 Background Sound ON/OFF .........................64 5.5.4.3 Foreground Sound ON/OFF .........................64 5.5.4.4 Tab Width .......................................64 5.5.4.5 Number of Lines to Scroll Back ..................65 5.5.4.6 Show When the Scroll Buffer is Full .............65 5.5.4.7 Save the Scroll Back Buffer on Exit .............65 5.5.4.8 Default Dialing Directory .......................65 5.5.4.9 Mouse Speed .....................................65 5.5.4.10 Mouse Double Click Time ........................65 5.5.4.11 Enable Zmodem Auto-Download ....................66 5.5.4.12 Auto Save File Directory .......................66 5.5.5 ASCII Download Parameters .........................67 5.5.5.1 Character Pacing ................................67 5.5.5.1 Line Pacing .....................................67 5.5.5.3 Pace Character ..................................67 5.5.5.4 Expand Blank Lines ..............................67 5.5.5.5 Expand Tabs .....................................67 5.5.5.6 Add Line Feed to Carriage Return ................67 5.5.5.7 Local Echo ......................................68 2 5.5.5.8 End of Line Translation for ASCII Transfers .....68 5.5.6 Colors ............................................68 5.6 Terminal Mode .......................................69 5.6.1 Using a Modem .....................................69 5.6.2 Direct Connection .................................70 5.7 Background Dialing ..................................70 5.7.1 Selecting a Dialing Entry .........................71 5.7.2 Editing Dialing Entries ...........................71 5.7.3 Adding Entries ....................................72 5.7.4 Removing Entries ..................................72 5.7.5 Dialing an Entry ..................................73 5.7.6 Kill Background Dialing ...........................74 5.7.7 Resident's Status Window ..........................74 5.8 Background File Transfer ............................75 5.8.1 The File Buffer ...................................75 5.8.2 Background File Downloading .......................76 5.8.3 Manually Moving Downloaded Files ..................77 5.8.4 Automatically Moving Downloaded Files .............77 5.8.5 ASCII File Downloading ............................77 5.8.6 Preparing Files For Uploading .....................78 5.8.7 Background File Uploading .........................79 5.8.8 ASCII Uploads .....................................79 5.8.9 Acknowledge Communication Errors ..................80 5.8.10 Ending Transmission ..............................80 5.9 Utility Functions ...................................81 5.9.1 Turning the Resident Off ..........................81 5.9.2 Initialize the File Buffer ........................81 5.9.3 Modem Initialization ..............................82 5.9.4 Status of the BGFT Window .........................82 5.9.5 Relocate the BGFT Window ..........................83 5.9.6 Clear the Terminal Mode Screen ....................83 5.10 The Clipboard ......................................83 5.10.1 Copying Text From Terminal Mode Screen ...........83 5.10.2 Copying Text From Scroll Back Buffer Screen ......84 5.10.3 The Clipboard Menu ...............................84 5.11 The Scroll Back Buffer .............................86 5.12 Screen Capture .....................................87 5.13 BGFT Status ........................................87 5.14 Alt_Key Summary ....................................88 5.14.1 'Hot' Keys .......................................88 5.14.2 'Warm' Keys ......................................88 6.0 Operation of User Interface: BGFTOPT.EXE ............90 6.1 External Protocols ..................................90 6.2 General Considerations ..............................91 6.3 Using BGFT with Telix ...............................94 6.4 Using BGFT with PROCOMM PLUS ........................98 6.5 Using BGFT with Qmodem ..............................99 6.6 Using BGFT with Telemate and Others ................100 6.7 Command Mode Options Using BGFTOPT.EXE .............101 Index ..................................................109 3 1.0 Introduction ---------------- BGFT is an extraordinary file transfer system for the IBM PC/XT/AT family of computers. It allows files to be transferred over a serial communications link, in the 'background', while the PC is being used for other purposes. Files can be transferred by downloading, or uploading, using either the Zmodem, Ymodem-Batch, Xmodem- CRC or Xmodem-1K file transfer protocol. This means, that when you transfer files by modem, to or from your favorite Bulletin Board Service (BBS), you can be writing a letter with your word processor, updating your financial statement with a spreadsheet or doing most of the other things that are possible with your computer. A convenient background dialer also makes the package ideal for accessing busy BBSs. What makes BGFT special? BGFT works in the background. It overcomes traditional background conflicts with the Disk Operating System (DOS). Drive A:, or B: or a 'reserved' file on the hard drive C: is used as a special download or upload 'file buffer' for BGFT. Meanwhile, DOS is freed up to be used by other application programs. BGFT requires MS DOS Version 3.1 or greater to operate. The background features of BGFT can also be used with other suitable telecommunication packages like PROCOMM PLUS, Qmodem, and Telix; script files are provided for them. BGFT is also compatible with Microsoft Windows 3 when run in real or standard mode. Usually it is not possible to run a background DOS program while running a Windows program in the foreground on a 286 computer, BGFT can do it, even with 8088 computers; this cannot be said for most telecommunication packages. A small Windows program is provided to show BGFT's file transfer progress while running Windows applications. BGFT also works well with multitasking systems like DESQview, particularly on computers with limited memory since BGFT is compact. The registered and unregistered package for BGFT share all the same features described above. The only difference is that there is no initial screen on the registered executable files, BGFT.EXE and BGFTOPT.EXE. Otherwise, all files are identical. 4 1.1 BGFT Concept ---------------- BGFT started as a program written by one of the authors (Rick) who could not stand waiting to use his computer while it was downloading files. That prototype was in use for over two years and did thousands of background file transfers with a slow 4.77 MHz IBM PC clone and a 1200 baud modem. That program was developed into BGFT; it was first released commercially in January 1990. BGFT is intended to provide efficient background file transfers on 'ordinary' personal computers. It works well on IBM PCs, XTs, ATs and compatibles. A 1200 or 2400 baud modem will work fine although baud rates up to 57600 are supported. At baud rates higher than 9600, background file transfers may not be practical, particularly on very slow computers. Higher baud rates have been included, however, for use by people with high speed modems and high power computers or those who want to make use of BGFT's background dialer. A 14.4K baud modem on a 386 should work well with BGFT. BGFT will serve as a complete communications program. It has many of the important features like having a configuration file, dialing directory maintenance, menuing system, color, context sensitive help, mouse control, connectivity to communication ports 1 to 4, terminal emulations and so on. BGFT's background dialer will be a superior choice for accessing busy BBSs since the user can do something else with the computer while waiting for a connection. BGFT is a communication environment that actually consists of two programs; one operates in the background and one in the foreground. The first, a small terminate and stay resident (TSR) program acts as a file transfer 'driver' which is capable of carrying out background file transfers independently once it has been commanded to do so by a foreground program. The second program, BGFT.EXE, is the main user interface for BGFT. This foreground program acts as a standalone user interface to control the resident program's operation. Another foreground program, BGFTOPT.EXE, interacts with the resident in terms of command line options; it is used for specialized applications such as providing external background protocols for other telecommunication programs. BGFT is a robust background program due to a special way of avoiding DOS conflicts that have plagued other background utilities. In the technical sense, the background driver 5 for BGFT is unusual because it does not use DOS calls; therefore, it does not have to wait until a foreground program finishes using DOS. This enables BGFT to run concurrently with other programs that use DOS. The advantages of this approach are easily demonstrated. Simply print out a text file using the DOS PRINT command, which is a background driver that uses DOS. Then use the DOS TYPE command which is a foreground program that uses DOS to view a long text file. After a few seconds, the printing will stop due to a DOS conflict, and will remain stopped until the TYPE command has finished. This kind of operation obviously is not suitable for a file transfer program since the file transfer would time-out under these conditions. BGFT uses the concept of a file buffer for the temporary storage of files. The file buffer may either be on the hard drive C: or on a DOS formatted diskette, specially initialized by BGFT, in the floppy drive A: or B:. It is written to, and read from, by the BGFT resident program. There are two resident programs: one is BGFTHDZM.COM for accessing the hard drive file buffer and the other is BGFTFDZM.COM for accessing the floppy drive based file buffer. We will refer to the resident program as 'BGFTres.COM'. One of the programs is used during a computer session. Downloaded files are stored temporarily in the file buffer and moved to DOS files on the hard disk or second floppy drive under user control by BGFT.EXE. Files to be uploaded are first moved to the file buffer with the foreground program, then accessed by BGFTres.COM while uploading. The design of the user interface is such that the use of the file buffer is nearly transparent to the user. When the file buffer is located on the hard disk, a specially created 'read-only' file is used as the file buffer. The file buffer is created by a program called, BGFTFB.EXE. The resident program creates a 'map' of the file used for the file buffer and then reads and writes that file directly without using DOS. This technique is not totally unique to BGFT, as most 'fast' backup programs and all defragmenting programs bypass DOS in a similar fashion. BGFT uses several error checking algorithms to confirm that the file buffer file has not been inadvertently re-located. 1.2 What's New in Version 3 --------------------------- Version 3 of BGFT is significantly different from the previous releases in version 2. Many users have asked for Zmodem. We have listened and delivered! Many users have asked for larger file buffers. You can now have one several 6 megabytes in size on your hard disk. STACKER and Microsoft DOS 6 DoubleSpace users can have a file buffer on the uncompressed host for drive C:. There were many requests for an improved user interface. Now there are pull down menus and features like a scroll back buffer, clipboard and ASCII capture. Users told us that BGFT was not easy to install and get running. Now there is an installation program to do much of the set up for you. All in all, BGFT has matured into a full featured communications program in response to our user's requests. We hope you enjoy it. 1.3 Registered User Support --------------------------- We prefer to be reached through the USENET mail network. Tim's Email address is: tim.chapman@canrem.com Dirac Systems is also pleased to join Canada Remote Systems Online (CRSO) to offer BBS support throughout North America. Users of our products can send Email to the 'BGFT' (conference number 142) on NorthAmeriNet (NANET). Address inquiries to Tim Chapman on CRSO in the Toronto, Ontario area. You may also write to us at: Dirac Systems Attn: BGFT 1005-1210 Radom Street Pickering, Ontario Canada L1W 2Z3 Dirac Systems will attempt to answer your questions to help you get the most out of BGFT; registered users will get preferential attention. 1.4 Why Register? ----------------- There are a number of reasons why you should register. As you can see, there will be user support. BGFT is a low cost solution to having the benefits of background file transfer in DOS. It is only CAN$29.50. Please use the order form, BGFTORDR.FRM, to register. Once registered, BGFT is registered for life. There are no upgrade costs even if significant functional changes are included. See the upgrade policy in Section 2.3. 7 The registered version of BGFTres.COM is uniquely serialized and replace the unregistered ones. This will get rid of the opening screens advertising the registration request on the foreground programs. We are marketing BGFT through the Shareware method. You get to evaluate its full capabilities on a fair trial basis. This is beneficial to the customer because he or she can determine whether the software product fulfills a need on their own hardware. We expect you to register the software if you are going to continue to use it after the trial. This shows that the product has value. It is the moral and financial responsibility of the user to pay for registration. 1.5 Acknowledgments ------------------- We wish to thank all our beta testers and customers for your input. We look forward to hearing from you and for your continuing support. For new users, we trust you will find BGFT to be one of the most useful software purchases you ever make. 8 2.0 Red Tape ------------ BGFT is being marketed as Shareware. You are able to try out the full capabilities of the programs. After a short trial period you will have had the opportunity to evaluate the compatibility of the software with your system and whether you wish to continue using it. You will then be expected to purchase a registered copy. 2.1 Disclaimer of Warranty -------------------------- This software and documentation are provided 'as is' and without warranties as to performance of merchantability or any other warranties whether expressed or implied. Because of the various hardware and software environments into which these programs may be put, no warranty of fitness for a particular purpose is offered. Good data processing procedure dictates that any program be thoroughly tested with non-critical data before relying on it. The user must assume the entire risk of using the program. Any liability of the seller will be limited exclusively to product replacement or refund of purchase price. 2.2 Copyright Notice -------------------- The BGFT package includes the following executable programs: BGFTHDZM.COM: Resident program for use with the hard disk file buffer. BGFTFDZM.COM: Resident program for use with a floppy file buffer. BGFTFB.EXE: Makes a file buffer up to 65 megabytes on hard drive C:. BGFT.EXE: Main foreground program to control resident program. BGFTOPT.EXE: Command line foreground program for resident program. BGFTSPY.EXE: Windows 3 application to monitor file transfers. BGFTFLPY.EXE: Puts BGFT initialized floppy back to DOS floppy. 9 BGFTDIR.COM: Directory lister for BGFT or DOS floppies and file buffer. BGFTXDLG.EXE: PROCOMM/Telix/Qmodem phone directories to BGFT format. Other support files are: BGFTREAD.ME: Latest BGFT notes and revision histories. BGFTORDR.FRM: Order form for registering BGFT package. BGFT.DOC: BGFT documentation; this file. BGFT300.HLP: BGFT.EXE help screens. BGFT300.SCR: Other BGFT.EXE screens. BGFT.DLG: Sample BGFT dialing directory file. BGFTINIT.BAT: Initialize resident's communication port and baud rate. PROCOMM PLUS Specific: BGFTDZPC.ASP: PROCOMM script for Zmodem download. BGFTDYPC.ASP: PROCOMM script for Ymodem-Batch download. BGFTDXPC.ASP: PROCOMM script for Xmodem CRC/1K download. BGFTUZPC.ASP: PROCOMM script for Zmodem upload. BGFTUYPC.ASP: PROCOMM script for Ymodem-Batch upload. BGFTUXPC.ASP: PROCOMM script for Xmodem-CRC upload. BGFTUIPC.ASP: PROCOMM script for Xmodem-1K upload. Qmodem Specific: BGFTDZQM.SCR: Qmodem script for Zmodem download. BGFTDYQM.SCR: Qmodem script for Ymodem-Batch download. BGFTDXQM.SCR: Qmodem script for Xmodem-CRC/1K download. BGFTUZQM.SCR: Qmodem script for Zmodem upload. BGFTUYQM.SCR: Qmodem script for Ymodem-Batch upload. BGFTUXQM.SCR: Qmodem script for Xmodem-CRC upload. BGFTUIQM.SCR: Qmodem script for Xmodem-1K upload. Telix Specific: BGFTADD.BAT: Batch file adds BGFT external protocols to Telix. 10 BGFTTELX.DAT: Data file for BGFTADD.BAT; modifies TELIX.CNF. BGFTSLC.BAT: Batch file to compile all Telix support scripts. BGFTDZTL.SLT: Telix script for Zmodem download. BGFTDYTL.SLT: Telix script for Ymodem-Batch download. BGFTDXTL.SLT: Telix script for Xmodem-CRC/1K download. BGFTUZTL.SLT: Telix script for Zmodem upload. BGFTUYTL.SLT: Telix script for Ymodem-Batch upload. BGFTUXTL.SLT: Telix script for Xmodem-CRC upload. BGFTUITL.SLT: Telix script for Xmodem-1K upload. Microsoft Windows 3: BGFTSPY.ICO: Icon for BGFTSPY.EXE. BGFT386.PIF: PIF file to set up BGFT DOS session on a 386/486. BGFT386.BAT: Batch file to call BGFT DOS session on a 386/486. These files are Copyright (c) 1990-1994 by Dirac Systems, with all rights reserved. These products are commercial software and are licensed to the registered user, and are not to be distributed in any way, electronically or otherwise. The Shareware evaluation package includes all the files listed above except that BGFT.EXE and BGFTOPT.EXE have special momentary screens which inform the user about registration. This may be distributed by the Shareware marketing method. See Section 3.1 for some fuller descriptions of the files. 2.3 Upgrade Policy ------------------ In order to provide our customers with advances in performance and convenience there will be new versions of BGFT from time to time. Maintenance releases will increase the version number in the hundredth's digit of the version number, for example, 3.10 to 3.11; this is a minor release which will fix small problems. Product improvement releases will increase the version number in the tenth's digit of the version number, for example, 3.11 to 3.20; this is also a minor release. Major product changes will require increases in the version number, for example, 2.11 to 3.00; this would mean a significant functionality change. Changes are not whimsical; they are the result of customer input leading to careful development and testing. A number of fixes or improvements constitute a change so that releases are not too frequent. Releases that are referred to as 11 minor will, in fact, provide some more substantial abilities or improvements. Minor revisions will normally have no cost increase; there may be cost changes due to circumstances beyond our control, as in changes to taxes, mail rates or inflationary pressures. Since prices are subject to change, please refer to the latest Shareware release or Dirac Systems to determine the present upgrade rates; incorrect upgrade or registration orders cannot be processed. The upgrade policy and price is guaranteed to the end of 1995. Registered users of any BGFT version have registration for life. When a Shareware upgrade of the software appears, registered users are free to use it regardless of its functional change. Provision is made for them to transfer their serial number to the new version. Registered users of Version 2.x of BGFT should contact Dirac Systems' support BBS to find out how to take advantage of their investment under this policy. A new copy of the latest versions will be sent to registered users if they require one. The cost is CAN$10.00 to cover postage and handling. Province of Ontario residents must add the Provincial Sales Tax (PST) but not the Goods and Services Tax (GST). 2.4 Hardware and Software Requirements -------------------------------------- The requirements are minimal. BGFT will run on IBM PC/XT/AT compatible computers using DOS 3.1 or greater. It will run on machines with an 8088, 286, 386, 486, or Pentium CPU. The resident portion, BGFTres.COM, requires about 60K of memory which may be loaded high with DOS 5 or 6. The main user interface requires up to 230K of memory depending on memory allocation; usually it is less than 200K. The user interface is not required during transfers. 2.5 Definition of Terms ----------------------- Alt_X: An 'Alt_Key' combination, performed by pressing the Alt key and then the given key 'X' (or 'x') together momentarily. ASPECT: Trademark of Datastorm Technologies Inc. AT: Advanced Technology computer based on an Intel 80286 or higher central processing unit. BBS: Bulletin Board Service. BGFT: BackGround File Transfer System, trademark of Dirac Systems. BIOS: Basic Input/Output System. CompuServe: Registered trademark of CompuServe Incorporated. 12 CRC: Cyclic Redundancy Check. CRSO: Canada Remote Systems Online. DESQview: Trademark of Quarterdeck Office Systems. DOS: Disk Operating System. DR DOS: Trademark of Digital Research. DoubleSpace: Trademark of Microsoft. ENTER: The Enter or Return key. ESC: The Escape key. Fxx: A function key, for example, F10 accepts data from data entry forms. IBM: Registered trademark of International Business Machines Corporation. Microsoft Windows: Registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation. MS DOS: Registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation. Pentium: Registered trademark of Intel Corporation. PROCOMM: Registered trademark of Datastorm Technologies Inc. PROCOMM PLUS: Trademark of Datastorm Technologies Inc. PgDn: Page Down key, for requesting a download. PgUp: Page Up key, for requesting an upload. Qmodem: Trademark of Mustang Software, Inc.. SALT: Trademark of deltaComm Development. Smartmodem: Registered trademark of Hayes Microcomputer Products. SPACE: The Space bar. STACKER: Trademark of STAC Electronics, Inc. Telemate: Trademark of White River Software. Telix: Trademark of deltaComm Development. TSR: Terminate and Stay Resident. 13 3.0 Getting Started with BGFT ----------------------------- The best way to find out about BGFT is to try it. BGFT's menu and help systems make its operation straight forward. On installing BGFTres.COM (that is, BGFTHDZM.COM or BGFTFDZM.COM), less than 64K of memory is used up for the resident part. This is relatively small when it is considered that this controls the download and upload functions in background. BGFTres.COM was deliberately kept small to leave you plenty of memory for foreground applications. Even on expensive multitasking systems there is only one CPU doing all the work, so it must be shared between all processes. BGFTres.COM must use some CPU time to do its work; this means that foreground programs may appear to run slightly slower than their usual speed. This will depend on the speed of the computer and the baud rate used for the file transfer. 3.1 Files in the Distribution ----------------------------- BGFT300A.EXE: BGFT300B.EXE: The BGFT package is distributed on one 720K 3.5 inch floppy diskette. All the necessary files have been archived to save space; the distribution files are contained in the files, BGFT300A.EXE and BGFT300B.EXE. The 720K floppy has those files as well as the executable file, INSTALL.EXE, which installs the programs. The BGFT files are self- unarchiving; we recommend using the installation program (see Section 4.1). BGFTORDR.FRM: This is the order form for obtaining and registering BGFT. BGFTREAD.ME: These are the release notes and up-to-date information not found in the documentation. BGFT.DOC: This file is the BGFT documentation. INSTALL.EXE: The program will set up the appropriate directory for BGFT and put extracted files to where you want them. The installation will give you the opportunity to have your system up and ready for running BGFT quickly. See Section 4. 14 For users with a hard disk, it is recommended that these files be located in a separate sub-directory such as '\BGFT300'; this is done for you by the installation program, INSTALL.EXE. BGFTres.COM: This a generic term for the 'resident' portion of the system. You run one of these programs to install the communications driver for BGFT. BGFTres.COM is one of: BGFTHDZM.COM or BGFTFDZM.COM for the Hard Drive and Floppy Drive file buffers, respectively. Each program will perform background file transfers using Zmodem, Ymodem-Batch, Xmodem CRC, or Xmodem 1K protocols for uploads and downloads. BGFTHDZM.COM: This is the resident program used when using a reserved section of the hard drive C: as a file buffer. You can set up any size of file buffer up to half of the available disk space by using the program, BGFTFB.EXE. It is used when you run the installation program; you are asked how much space you wish to assign to the file buffer. The size of the file buffer may also be changed at any time using the utility, BGFTFB.EXE. BGFTFDZM.COM: This is the resident program used when using a floppy drive for the file buffer. The file buffer size is determined by BGFT depending on the formatted capacity of the floppy. Only the 1.2 megabyte floppy is restricted to 720K. The resident program uses the floppy drive A: or B: as selected; see Section 4.4. BGFTFB.EXE: This utility makes the hard drive file buffer only on drive C: or host drives for C: when using DoubleSpace or STACKER. The file buffer is used by BGFT exclusively and the rest of the drive is available to DOS even during transfers. This program is used to delete the file buffer if need be. See Section 4.3. BGFT.EXE: This program is the main foreground user 'interface'. It provides user control over the background file transfers and facilitates moving files to and from the file buffer. See Section 5. BGFT300.HLP: This file is the on-line help file for BGFT.EXE. 15 BGFT300.SCR: This file is used to paint a number of screens for BGFT.EXE. BGFT.DLG: This file is the dialing directory file for BGFT.EXE. BGFTFLPY.EXE: You can 'fix' a floppy diskette that has accidentally been initialized for use as a BGFT file buffer back to a DOS floppy. Data will be lost if used by BGFT for a file transfer. A BGFT initialized floppy can be reused as a DOS floppy if it is reformatted with the DOS FORMAT utility. This is the only documentation required for this utility. BGFTDIR.COM: If you use BGFT.EXE as the user interface you can get a listing of the files in the BGFT file buffer by using the 'View | File Buffer' menu or using the hot key combination, Alt_L. At the DOS command line you can use BGFTDIR.COM to list the contents of the file buffer. A file buffer can be 'active'. When the BGFT resident program is loaded it knows which buffer to use; this is the active file buffer. The resident program, BGFTFDZM.COM, can use the whole floppy Drive A: or B: as the file buffer depending on which one you tell it to use. The resident program, BGFTHDZM.COM, will use the file area, BGFTHDFB.DAT, on Drive C: for its file buffer. If you are using STACKER or DoubleSpace on Drive C: the location of the hard drive file buffer will actually be on the uncompressed host drive. If the active file buffer is being used by the resident program for file transfers in progress then you are not allowed to see the directory contents. This is true for BGFT.EXE as well as BGFTDIR.COM. A file buffer can be 'inactive'. For example, if the BGFT resident program has the hard drive file buffer active then a floppy in Drive A: which has a BGFT file buffer will be inactive. You can use BGFTDIR.COM anytime to look at its directory even when the hard drive buffer is being doing background file transfers. BGFT.EXE does not allow you to look at inactive file buffers. When using BGFTDIR.COM on a floppy drive it will indicate whether the floppy diskette in Drive A:, or B:, has a BGFT or DOS directory structure. It will print out either type of directory to the screen. For example, to access Drive A: you would enter: BGFTDIR A: 16 The hard drive file buffer only has a BGFT directory structure since it resides in the special file, BGFTHDFB.DAT (Hard Drive File Buffer). You can list files in the hard drive file buffer by entering: BGFTDIR C: If you are not using STACKER or DoubleSpace on Drive C: and the hard drive file buffer is not active you can see the BGFT directory contents at any time. If STACKER or DoubleSpace has been used to compress Drive C: then you will receive the following message: *** ERROR: On trying to open BGFTHDFB.DAT: Bad file number due to the fact that the file buffer is not actually on Drive C: but on its host drive. If you are using the hard drive file buffer with a compressed Drive C: then you can see its contents by using the command described in the next paragraph. If the hard drive file buffer is not active you will not be able to see the contents of the buffer. To access the active file buffer enter: BGFTDIR This is the only documentation required for this utility. BGFTOPT.EXE: Command line processor which does foreground control of the resident programs, similar to BGFT.EXE. BGFTOPT can be used as an external transfer protocol option for other commu- nication programs such as PROCOMM PLUS, Qmodem, and Telix. It is explained in detail in Section 6. BGFTOPT.EXE is meant for use by the expert user who has specialized applications, such as for external communication program protocols. BGFTINIT.BAT: You can initialize resident's baud rate and communication port with this DOS batch file; it uses the auxiliary user interface utility, BGFTOPT.EXE. The file is updated according to user input during the installation process in running INSTALL.EXE; the file can also be edited to the user's preferences. The main foreground program, BGFT.EXE, will do the required initialization when run; BGFTINIT.BAT is usually required if BGFT.EXE is not used. See Section 6.2. 17 TELIX FILES: Below is a list of Telix SALT language scripts which use BGFTOPT.EXE as means to use external BGFT transfer protocols using the resident background file transfer system. Each script has comments to indicate its installation as an external protocol and operation (see Section 6.3). The example ideas can be used for any script- like language that has adequate capability (e.g., able to exit without hanging up). BGFTDZTL.SLT Telix script for Zmodem download. BGFTDYTL.SLT Telix script for Ymodem-Batch download. BGFTDXTL.SLT Telix script for Xmodem-CRC/1K download. BGFTUZTL.SLT Telix script for Zmodem upload. BGFTUYTL.SLT Telix script for Ymodem-Batch upload. BGFTUXTL.SLT Telix script for Xmodem-CRC upload. BGFTUITL.SLT Telix script for Xmodem-1K upload. There are a number of Telix support files; see Section 6.3 on their use: BGFTADD.BAT Batch file to add BGFT external protocols to Telix. BGFTTELX.DAT Data file for BGFTADD.BAT to modify TELIX.CNF. BGFTSLC.BAT Batch file to compile all Telix support scripts. PROCOMM FILES: There is also a support package for PROCOMM PLUS (see Section 6.4); it is made up of the following files: BGFTDZPC.ASP PROCOMM script for Zmodem download. BGFTDYPC.ASP PROCOMM script for Ymodem-Batch download. BGFTDXPC.ASP PROCOMM script for Xmodem-CRC/1K download. BGFTUZPC.ASP PROCOMM script for Zmodem upload. BGFTUYPC.ASP PROCOMM script for Ymodem-Batch upload. BGFTUXPC.ASP PROCOMM script for Xmodem-CRC upload. BGFTUIPC.ASP PROCOMM script for Xmodem-1K upload. QMODEM FILES: There is also a support package for Qmodem (see Section 6.5); it is made up of the following files: BGFTDZQM.SCR Qmodem script for Zmodem download. BGFTDYQM.SCR Qmodem script for Ymodem-Batch download. BGFTDXQM.SCR Qmodem script for Xmodem-CRC/1K download. BGFTUZQM.SCR Qmodem script for Zmodem upload. 18 BGFTUYQM.SCR Qmodem script for Ymodem-Batch upload. BGFTUXQM.SCR Qmodem script for Xmodem-CRC upload. BGFTUIQM.SCR Qmodem script for Xmodem-1K upload. BGFTXDLG.EXE: This utility automatically translates a Version 1.x and 2.x PROCOMM PLUS, Version 4.2 Qmodem or Version 3.x Telix telephone list to the BGFT format. The PCPLUS.DIR, QMODEM.FON or TELIX.FON file must be present in the directory in which the BGFT.DLG file will be produced. Just run BGFTXDLG and choose the translation you want. It will inform you that any BGFT.DLG file in the directory will be overwritten; you can escape the process, if required. A number of warnings will be produced where items are found that are not appropriate for BGFT operation. For example, the maximum baud rate is 57600, so that higher ones are set to 57600. You can use your printer and issue a 'Ctrl_P' to capture the warning list; you could also use file redirection (see your DOS manual for information). Fatal errors occur only for gross file problems or incompatibilities that preclude further useful processing. This is the only documentation required for this utility. BGFTSPY.EXE: This is a Microsoft Windows 3 program to display information regarding the background file transfer packet count and BGFT resident status and the status of the current file transfer. Its display may be used in minimized (recommended) or maximized mode. An icon, BGFTSPY.ICO, is provided. You can acknowledge fatal BGFT errors from the Help menu. Use BGFTSPY.EXE only in real or standard mode Windows. BGFT386.PIF: BGFT386.BAT: If you have a 386 or higher type of CPU you can run BGFT as a DOS session in Windows enhanced mode. You can use these files to manually install BGFT to be called in Microsoft Windows. The batch file will have to be edited with an ASCII editor to indicated where BGFTres.COM and BGFT.EXE are. The PIF file will have to have the path to batch file included. BGFT is not recommended to be run in enhanced mode. 19 3.2 Trying it Out ----------------- In order to introduce you to the operation of BGFT, we suggest that you follow the example BGFT session presented here. We will illustrate the way you will use BGFT most often. The process is simple and has been geared to help you "try it out". The following assumes that this is the first time that you are using BGFT. Let's assume that you first try it out as Shareware. You will have downloaded the packages: BGFT303A.ZIP and BGFT303B.ZIP if you download from a BBS. For this example you will need only the first package, BGFT303A.ZIP. After you unzip it you should have the resulting files in some working directory; make sure it is NOT called, '\BGFT300'. Two of the important files that you get from BGFT303A.ZIP are: INSTALL.EXE and BGFT300A.EXE; they are used to create a 'minimal' BGFT installation for you to try out. The program, INSTALL.EXE, will be used to extract the files from the self-unarchiving file, BGFT300A.EXE. The following example will show you how to: - do a simplified hard drive C: installation of BGFT, - use BGFT with a modem, - use the Zmodem transfer protocol, - download a file from a BBS in the background, - use the BGFT file buffer and move files to DOS. In order to do the installation you must be in the working directory where you have INSTALL.EXE and BGFT300A.EXE. You run the installation program (if needed, see Section 4 for details) by entering: INSTALL You will be asked a number of simple questions in order to customize your system. You will be prompted along the way. Please make sure you do the following: - You must have at least 1 megabyte of free space on drive C:. - Choose to do the minimal installation when asked at the beginning of the installation. This will fast track your installation of the BGFT file buffer on the hard drive C:. You will be able to use the full features of BGFT in its own standalone environment. - Be prepared to indicate which communication port your modem is on. 20 - Be prepared to indicate what baud rate your modem normally uses. - Be prepared to indicate whether your computer is connected to a telephone line (normal) or directly to another computer. - Be prepared to indicate what kind of telephone line you have (touch tone or rotary/pulse). - When the hard disk file buffer is going to be created you are asked how big you want it. Choose the buffer large enough for downloading the amount of files you are interested in, say 1000K (one million bytes). This is done under the constraint of how much room you have left on the drive C:. - The installation procedure will suggest putting two lines in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file to load the BGFT resident program that your system needs and an environment variable to tell BGFT where its home directory is. Agree to add them since BGFT will be available for you each time you run your computer. - At the end of the installation choose to automatically reboot your computer so that the new AUTOEXEC.BAT will be executed. This will load the resident part of BGFT for you. Make sure that your modem is on the desired communication port and operating. Be sure to change your active drive/directory to C:\BGFT300. You are now ready to use BGFT. 1) At the DOS prompt, enter BGFT This will run the user interface for you. Since this is the first time you would have run BGFT, there will be a warning indicating that the scroll back buffer file was not found. Do not be alarmed; just hit the 'ENTER' key to OK the message. 2) The standard opening BGFT screen will then appear. Running BGFT will automatically activate the resident part. You will see the appearance of the resident part's status display 'BGFT' (ready, with no errors), shown in the upper right corner of the screen. It is a four character 'window'. 3) As prompted, press any key to continue. The opening screen disappears. 21 For unregistered users, BGFT will then show a screen to remind you to register the program for your own use. Read this screen and then press any key to continue. 4) A window message informs you that the modem is being initialized. On completion of the modem initialization, you will be in 'Terminal Mode'. Terminal Mode connects you to your modem. You are able to communicate to the outside world via the modem by typing in commands with the keyboard. Typing Alt_Z, the help key (see Section 5.14), will show the Terminal Mode 'hot' keys. These key combinations allow you to access important parts of BGFT's user interface functions quickly. The Alt_Z key sequence provides context sensitive help throughout the program; use it when needed. Alt_O provides a convenient overview help to assist you in navigating around BGFT's features. Typing Alt_M, or clicking the left mouse button on the top line of the screen, will display the Main Menu and a little bit of exploration will show you the layout of the system. Hitting 'ESC' out of the menus will get you back into Terminal Mode. 5) From Terminal Mode you can check your modem's readiness by typing 'AT', followed by 'ENTER'. The modem should respond 'OK'. Some modems will also accept 'at' for the 'attention' prompt. When BGFT initialized the modem in step 4) above, it sent the command 'ATE1' to cause the modem to echo responses in Terminal Mode. If you do not get an 'OK' you should consult Section 5.5.2 and your modem documentation. It is assumed that your modem's attention commands are nominally Hayes compatible; see Section 4.8. To dial a number to a BBS, type 'Alt_P' which will display the dialing directory. The dialing directory file provided with BGFT has been set up to contain two entries for Dirac Systems' BBS: one for local dialing and one for long distance dialing. The first entry is 'selected' as shown by the highlighted bar. Type 'Alt_A', or use the mouse to click the left button on the <Add> button, to add a dialing entry between entries 1 and 2. Fill out the dialog box fields to enter the number, name of the BBS you want to dial, and so on. The new entry will be entry number 2; the previous entry 2 will be re- numbered to entry number 3. 22 You can move to different fields by using the tab key. The mouse provides direct control. Use the arrow keys to indicate choices. Once the dialing data entry dialog box has been completed, accept your input by pressing 'ENTER' or hit 'ESC' if you wish to abandon your input. Assuming you pressed 'ENTER', a window pops up to ask if you want to save the changes to disk. Type 'Y' to make the change permanent; typing 'N' keeps the entry only as long as the dialing directory is on screen. If you pressed 'Y' then a dialog box pops up to show that the dialing directory will be saved to a file called BGFT.DLG, in the current drive/directory. This dialog box allows you to save the file with any name you choose on any drive/directory on your computer. For now, press 'ENTER' to accept this file name and drive/directory. At this point BGFT lets you know that this dialing directory file already exists and asks if you want to overwrite it. In this case press 'Y' to overwrite. Your changes have now been saved in the default dialing directory file, BGFT.DLG. The new dialing entry will be shown as 'selected' by the highlight bar and is ready for dialing. On pressing 'ENTER' the dialing entry will be dialed and an information window will appear displaying the number dialed. To abort dialing press 'ESC'; typing any other key returns you to Terminal Mode. If you have sound enabled on your modem you should be able to hear the modem dial the selected number. The dialing that takes place is actually done in the background. This means that you can exit BGFT, done by typing Alt_X, and dialing will continue. Indeed, you can run any of your normal software as dialing continues. For this example, it is assumed that the connection is made soon. The BGFT status window will indicate the dialing progress. When the number is dialed you will see 'DIAL' in the window. It will 'WAIT' for a connection until it times out; you will see a 'PAUS' as it does this. The number will be retried until it gets a connection. When a connection is made, the BGFT resident will 'beep' and the status display in the top corner of the screen will indicate 'BGFT'. You will be in Terminal Mode. Press 'ENTER' a couple of times from BGFT until the BBS re- sponds. Some BBSs may respond without any user action. Log on normally. Give the commands necessary to tell the BBS to start downloading a file using Zmodem. 23 After a few seconds delay, BGFT's status window will change from 'BGFT' to 'DNLD'. A few Zmodem start up characters may be seen on the Terminal Mode screen. The menu bar at the top of the screen will then appear. You will not be able to return to Terminal Mode until the transfer is complete; however, a number of BGFT's functions are still available to you via the menus. The 'DNLD' will be replaced by '1', '2', '3', and so on to indicate 1 Kilobyte blocks being transferred to your system. Pressing the Alt_N 'hot' key displays an information window which provides the status of the file currently being transferred. Exit BGFT at any time by typing Alt_X. You can use your computer for whatever compatible purposes you want while the background file transfer is occurring. On exiting BGFT, a pop up window asks whether you really want to exit. Press 'Y' to exit. You can configure BGFT (see Section 5.5.4.1) using the Setup menu to exit without confirmation; this is much quicker. Unregistered users will see another screen; press any key to continue. While in DOS you will see the BGFT status window receiving 1 Kilobyte packets. 6) When the downloading is completed, the BGFT resident will beep a few times to let you know it has finished downloading the file. The BGFT status window will show 'OK'. To retrieve the downloaded file you must run BGFT again. To do this, return to the DOS prompt and enter 'BGFT'. As before, you must get through the opening screens (unregistered version only). The Scroll Back Buffer file, BGFT300.SBB, will have been created so you will not get any warning. A dialog window appears and BGFT beeps once to tell you that there is a downloaded file in the file buffer. Press 'Y' to indicate that you wish to 'move' the file from the file buffer so you can use it. Another dialog box appears and shows the downloaded file in a list. You choose files to move by hitting the space bar. The 'd' (download) symbol to the right of the file name will toggle to '*' to indicate that it is tagged for moving. You can also tag all the files by typing Alt_T; this is useful if you download many files. A default download target DOS directory is shown at the top. You can change it by tabbing to the 'Directories' list and using arrow keys to choose a new one by entering the highlighted choice; the path for moving will then change. You may use a mouse to achieve the same thing. Type Alt_M or click on <Move> with your mouse to start the file move. 24 A status window then shows the progress of the files as they are moved from the file buffer to the DOS directory. On completion of the file move you will then be in Terminal Mode. Type Alt_L to list the files in the file buffer; there should be none since they were moved to the DOS directory. Type Alt_X to leave BGFT. The downloaded file can be found in the download drive/directory you accepted. It is now available for your use. The download example is now complete. You can see that BGFT is easy to use and that it is effective. Section 5 goes into detail about using BGFT.EXE and its advanced features. You may want to configure BGFT more to your preferences. You will be an expert in its use very quickly; remember, it is full of context sensitive help. 25 4.0 Installation, File Buffers, and Resident Programs ----------------------------------------------------- This Section will describe how to install and run the BGFT resident programs on your computer system. Installation of BGFT is normally a one time event. It can be done manually or semi-automatically with the provided program, INSTALL.EXE. We recommend using INSTALL.EXE to set up your system. It will guide you through a set up depending on what you determine your needs to be. You can either run the installation again at some other date to change things or change them yourself. The BGFT package has a lot of potential. Some users may not want all of it so the INSTALL.EXE program will minimize the files that you need. Moreover, there is a minimal installation that can be done; this will give you the standalone BGFT environment using the hard drive C: file buffer. In the full installation, one of the major choices you have in setting up your system is the choice of file buffer that you will use. We recommend the hard drive file buffer since it is faster and more convenient than the floppy based buffer. If you use the hard drive file buffer you will use the resident program, BGFTHDZM.COM for background file transfers. If you use the floppy drive you will use the resident program, BGFTFDZM.COM. We will refer to either by a generic name, BGFTres.COM. The installation program will take care of all these details and will load the resident you wanted through your AUTOEXEC.BAT file. The file buffer is used as a means to avoid conflicts with DOS during BGFT background transfers. The hard drive file buffer is a special initialized file reserved for BGFT on Drive C:. A whole floppy drive A: or B: can also be used as a file buffer; it is just a DOS formatted diskette which is manually initialized by BGFT. Running the BGFT communication environment is started by loading the resident part, BGFTres.COM, and then running the interface part, BGFT.EXE. BGFTres.COM exists as a TSR to do the dialing and file transfers in background and to be accessed and commanded by BGFT.EXE. The user interface, for example, allows you to move downloaded files from the file buffer to DOS directories for use. The operation of BGFT.EXE is explained in Section 5. If you reinstall BGFT or are upgrading from a former version, you should delete all the old files except the dialing directory, BGFT.DLG. Save the dialing directory either for information or for use with the new files, if it 26 is compatible. In upgrading from version 3 files you may want to protect the configuration file, BGFT300.CNF. 4.1 The Installation Program ---------------------------- When you receive BGFT as a registered package there should be the following files on the distribution floppy or floppies: BGFT300A.EXE: BGFT300B.EXE: These are the archived packages of BGFT programs and files; they are not "executable" in the normal sense, they contain files that are extracted during the installation process. There are two files so that they can be distributed more easily. When you register BGFT, you will receive one 720K floppy with the two registered distribution files and the installation program, INSTALL.EXE. BGFT300A.EXE contains all the files required for a minimal installation of BGFT on a hard drive. If you are new to BGFT or just want to evaluate the Shareware version, this might be all you need to get going. If you want the use the floppy based file buffer, Microsoft Windows 3.1 files, or files to run BGFT with other communications products then you can run the full installation again with BGFT300B.EXE included. The following files are in BGFT300A.EXE: BGFTREAD.ME BGFT.EXE BGFT.DLG BGFT.DOC BGFT300.HLP BGFT300.SCR BGFTFB.EXE BGFTHDZM.COM BGFTORDR.FRM BGFT300B.EXE contains all the other files. If you want the full installation you must have both the A and B files. INSTALL.EXE: This is the installation program. The 720K floppy distribution will have INSTALL.EXE, BGFT300A.EXE, and BGFT300B.EXE on the one floppy. BGFTREAD.ME: This is a file, or a number of similar files, with information you should read for up-to-date information not in the documentation. 27 If you download BGFT as a Shareware evaluation package it should be the two files: BGFT303A.ZIP and BGFT303B.ZIP. Be sure that you start off in a directory that is not called, '\BGFT300' since the construction of such a directory is part of the installation itself. Keep all files in the same directory. BGFT303A.ZIP allows a minimal hard drive installation of BGFT. You should use the appropriate unarchiving program to extract the above files. For PKZIP from PKWARE you would enter PKUNZIP BGFT303A.ZIP This will produce the two files: INSTALL.EXE and BGFT300A.EXE and, perhaps, a text file to read. Do the same to BGFT303B.ZIP to produce the file, BGFT300B.EXE. You are able to use BGFT in a variety of ways. It can be used as a standalone telecommunications program or it can be used as an add-on with other popular packages. It can use a hard drive or floppy drive file buffer. There are numerous combinations of settings that you have for your modem and so on. The installation program, INSTALL.EXE, helps you make these choices that define your system. This is of particular use if this is the first time that you have encountered BGFT. If you have the Shareware files, go to the directory where you unzipped the files and enter: INSTALL and follow the prompts. If you have the registered distribution 720K floppy, put it in Drive A:, for example (assuming the drive supports the media). The installation program is easy to run; just go to drive A: by entering A: and then enter: INSTALL and follow the prompts. If you have the two floppy registered distribution be sure to put in the floppy with INSTALL.EXE on it first. When the second floppy is required you will be informed. You can have an installation strategy at the beginning. If you are new to BGFT we recommend that you start off using our user friendly program, BGFT.EXE, as your interface program. It is convenient and easy to use. If you want to 28 use the capabilities of BGFT with other programs you will have to use the less friendly program, BGFTOPT.EXE; it is described in Section 6. When you run the installation you always have the ability of quitting the program. You can always start again. The question for quitting requires a yes or no answer (y/n); a 'No' requires the 'n' or 'N' to be pressed, otherwise, any other answer, including 'y' or 'Y', will be taken as a 'Yes'. The INSTALL program is straight forward. The following is provided to describe what is available. You can run INSTALL with command line switches; normally you don't use them. There is a debugging mode that can be used by entering: INSTALL /D This will do all the things done normally but will tell you some information about your system and what it is constructing internally for path statements and so on. You can use this if you want to see what the program is assuming in case things did not turn out the way you expected. You can enter, INSTALL /B to see a little background on the BGFT story. Normally, you would just enter INSTALL to start the installation. If you want to do a manual installation see Section 4.2. 4.1.1 Minimal Installation -------------------------- BGFT is commonly used as a communications program that does background file transfers. As a standalone program you can use it for most of your needs. The hard drive C: file buffer gives the best performance since the hard drive is so much faster. The installation program will allow you to 'fast track' in this direction if you want. When BGFT300A.EXE is found, the installation will ask whether you want to use it for the minimal installation. You can choose to do so or do the full installation 29 instead. The minimal path will not ask about file buffer choices (Section 4.1.2), files for other communication products (Section 4.1.3), or Microsoft Windows files (Section 4.1.6) since they will not be installed. 4.1.2 File Buffer Choice ------------------------ The first choice you have is to use a hard drive file buffer or a floppy drive file buffer. If you choose the floppy drive file buffer you will be asked which floppy drive (A: or B:) that you want to use. The whole floppy is used as a BGFT file buffer and is unavailable for other uses. If you choose the hard drive file buffer you will cannot have the BGFTres.COM already loaded. You will have to leave the installation and reboot your system so that BGFTres.COM is not loaded. The hard drive file buffer directory must go on Drive C:. This is a limitation. You must have adequate space on any drive for the installation; otherwise, you are informed about the deficiency and will have to leave the installation. If you have to leave, go to the drive to make room as suggested. Users of STACKER and DoubleSpace are supported. The unstacked companion drive to C: will be used for the file buffer location. If BGFTres.COM loads automatically in your AUTOEXEC.BAT, you will have to edit it to avoid loading the resident. When you get back to this point where you left off, you will be allowed to continue. The reason you must not have the resident programs loaded is for making sure that there will not be a conflict over the hard drive file buffer when it is being created. Only a portion of drive C: is used as a BGFT file buffer. The rest of the drive is always accessible by DOS. 4.1.3 BGFT Directory -------------------- You are required to have your BGFT directory called '\BGFT300'. If a hard drive file buffer is chosen then it must be on drive C:. If a floppy drive file buffer is chosen then it cannot be where the file buffer will be. Otherwise, the directory can be on any legal drive that has enough space for the installation. 30 4.1.4 Support Files for Other Communication Products ---------------------------------------------------- After you have completed the choice of file buffer, you will be asked if you want to install files to support other telecommunication programs. There are specific files for PROCOMM PLUS, Qmodem, and Telix. You will have the files copied to the corresponding directory where you keep other files for them. Any other installations you require, such as script compilation, will have to done manually. You can, in fact, move a basic (generic) set of these support files to any directory. When you input the directory name for the destination of the support files, you can edit your entry. Press 'F1' for help on the editing functions. The edit entry will appear yellow on color screens. 4.1.5 Changes to AUTOEXEC.BAT ----------------------------- The installation program will have determined where your BGFT directory should be and what command is appropriate to load the resident part of BGFT. This information is recommended to go into your AUTOEXEC.BAT so that it is available to you each time you turn on your computer. The AUTOEXEC.BAT file is always run first and the objective is to load the correct resident you specified and the environment variable used by BGFT to tell it where its home directory is. You will be presented with the additions expected to go into the AUTOEXEC.BAT file. You can keep them, reject them, or quit. Your AUTOEXEC.BAT is checked for occurrences of the string "BGFT". This will indicate that there may have been previous installations of BGFT. You will have the choice of keeping, making the entry a remark (makes the line inoperative in the batch file) or deleting the lines of the new AUTOEXEC.BAT. The installation will not put the BGFT directory in your PATH statement. 4.1.6 System Specific Details ----------------------------- The user interface program, BGFT.EXE, has a configuration file that it uses to correspond to your system and preferences. The INSTALL program sets up a basic configuration file, BGFT300.CNF, for BGFT.EXE. One of the most important things that BGFT.EXE does when it is first run is to initialize BGFTres.COM as to the communication 31 port to be used and what its default baud rate is. The baud rate may be changed during a computer session but the communication port cannot. The INSTALL program will ask for the communication port you want to use and its baud rate. There are two ways to use a communication port. It can be connected directly to another computer or, more normally, to a modem. You will be asked which to use. There are two types of telephone dialing methods that are used: the older pulse kind and the modern tone dialing kind. You will be asked which one you want. 4.1.7 Files for Microsoft Windows --------------------------------- Some users will have Windows 3. BGFT will run under Windows and there is a Windows program that will monitor the progress of background file transfers. There is also an icon available for it. There is also support files for 386/486 users You will be asked if you want it in your BGFT directory. You will have to install it in Windows yourself. See also Section 4.15. 4.1.8 Automatic Sequence ------------------------ You have given the required information to allow the automatic installation. One of the first things you are asked to choose a minimal or full installation. The course of the installation will vary depending on what you choose. A BGFT directory, \BGFT300, is created on the drive that you specified. There is no problem if it was created before. Typically you would have deleted all the files from it. All the files in the distribution files, BGFT300A.EXE and BGFT300B.EXE, are expanded to the target BGFT directory. If the same files exist already from a previous installation, the unarchiving program will prompt you as to whether you want them overwritten with the new files. Normally you would overwrite the files; you may want to backup your dialing directory, BGFT.DLG, if it has been modified for your use. The support files for other communication products are copied to the respective directory, if chosen. The BGFT initialization batch file, BGFTINIT.BAT, is updated with the relevant input. 32 The support files for Microsoft Windows 3 use are retained in the BGFT target directory, if chosen. Unnecessary files are deleted. The hard drive C: file buffer, BGFTHDFB.DAT, is created interactively with another program, BGFTFB.EXE, if it was specified. Just enter a size of file buffer that you want. Sometimes there may be times when retries are needed to successfully create a file buffer; you will be notified. Floppy file buffers have to be manually created; see Section 4.6. The old AUTOEXEC.BAT file is backed up to AUTOEXEC.BAK in the boot up root directory (taken to be the C: drive). The new AUTOEXEC.BAT file replaces the old one. The configuration file, BGFT300.CNF, is created for the BGFT user interface program, BGFT.EXE. If an old configuration file is found then old settings are retained that are not asked about during the normal installation. This allows you to retain old color choices and so on. You will be able to reboot your computer at the end of the installation to run the new AUTOEXEC.BAT file or go to DOS. That is the end to this installation procedure. The BGFT.EXE configuration file can be more fully set up to your needs. See Section 5. When you reboot your computer the correct BGFT resident will be loaded and ready for use with the interface, BGFT.EXE. If you desire a more custom setup or addition features you can read the rest of this Section. If you chose the floppy drive as the file buffer you will have to initialize a floppy diskette as described in Section 4.6. Otherwise, you are ready to use BGFT. 4.2 Manually Organizing the Files --------------------------------- If you did not use the installation procedure above, you must keep all the files associated with BGFT in one directory, '\BGFT300' to do the manual installation. Specifically, use the DOS Make Directory command to make a directory from the root directory, for example: MD BGFT300 33 If you use the hard disk file buffer then the directory must be on Drive C:. Suppose you set up BGFT on Drive C:. BGFT is distributed via BBSs for Shareware evaluation in an archived format as files, BGFT303A.ZIP and BGFT303B.ZIP. Copy the archived files into the directory '\BGFT300' by entering: COPY BGFT303A.ZIP C:\BGFT300\*.* and COPY BGFT303B.ZIP C:\BGFT300\*.* Then use the change directory command to enter the new directory: CD \BGFT300 To unarchive the files you will require PKWARE's PKUNZIP, Version 1.10 or greater. Enter the following: PKUNZIP BGFT303A.ZIP and PKUNZIP BGFT303B.ZIP and the files INSTALL.EXE, BGFTREAD.ME, BGFT300A.EXE and BGFT300B.EXE will be produced. To further extract the files you can run the self unarchiving files by entering: BGFT300A and BGFT300B When you register BGFT you will receive a one or two floppy distribution as you request; copy all the distribution files on the floppies we send you into the new directory. Supposing that the distribution diskette is in drive A: and that you made a '\BGFT300' directory is on hard drive C: as described above, you would enter: COPY A:*.* C:\BGFT300 for each of the floppies. The files, BGFT300A.EXE and BGFT300B.EXE, will automatically unarchive the necessary files themselves. Simply enter: 34 BGFT300A and BGFT300B You should be careful about overwriting your dialing directory if you had one before. You will be able to use the files as you see fit. 4.3 Hard Disk Drive File Buffer Creation ---------------------------------------- Normally the hard disk file buffer is made as part of the installation but it may be made manually at any time. The program, BGFTFB.EXE, is used. BGFTres.COM must not be loaded when using BGFTFB.EXE so there is a guarantee of no access conflict between the two programs. The only hard drive BGFTFB.EXE can create a file buffer on is Drive C:. It must be made in the directory, \BGFT300. It cannot be run on a floppy drive or other hard drive partitions (D:, E:, and so on). To run the program enter, BGFTFB and follow the prompts. If you just hit RETURN when asked to create a hard drive file buffer, it will delete any previous one that you made. Otherwise, enter a number corresponding to the size, in Kilobytes, that you want the file buffer to be. The only restriction is that the file buffer cannot be larger than 32767 Kilobytes on your C: drive. From time to time you may find that the program cannot make a file buffer the first time. The program will retry five times. If a file buffer cannot be made and verified, it may be due to disk defragmentation or other reasons. The file that is produced, BGFTHDFB.DAT, is a 'read-only' file to make it difficult to modify or move unintentionally; it should be reserved for BGFT's sole use. You will not be able to delete it with DOS unless the read- only status is changed; use BGFTFB.EXE if need be. Users must not use any utility or means to modify or relocate this file while transfers take place. The file is automatically initialized by BGFTFB.EXE for BGFT's use. You may 'initialize' it (see Section 5.9.2) with BGFT.EXE which 35 would be equivalent to 'erasing' all files from the file buffer. The file buffer is used to contain download and upload files for use by the resident program, BGFTHDZM.COM. The downloaded files may be moved to regular DOS files by BGFT.EXE; see Section 5. The upload files may be uploaded as commanded by using BGFT.EXE. From time to time you will notice that there is a file reorganization that takes place with the file buffer. This is a house keeping chore needed to organize the file buffer effectively. The BGFT window at the top right will show progress in the reorganization as a percentage. It is advisable for you to back up your drive before using this file buffer utility and downloads with BGFT. Please read the disclaimer in Section 2.1. It is advisable to defragment your disk too. If you defragment your disk you should delete the file buffer before doing so and then create it again afterwards. The file buffer has its own special mapping that may not make sense after defragmentation. 4.4 The Resident Programs ------------------------- If you installed BGFT with the INSTALL program then the desired resident program will be loaded into memory and ready for use on rebooting your computer. Otherwise, you will have to load it manually. BGFTres.COM is normally loaded after turning on your computer and before any application programs are run. If you are going to use the hard drive file buffer you use the resident program, BGFTHDZM.COM. If you are going to use the floppy drive file buffer you use the resident program, BGFTFDZM.COM. The resident program, BGFTres.COM, accepts some command line options. However, for normal operation, it is only necessary to invoke the program with the command: BGFTHDZM when using the hard disk as the file buffer (previously prepared by BGFTFB.EXE; see Section 4.3). The hard drive file buffer must be on Drive C:. To use floppy drive A: as the file buffer, enter BGFTFDZM 36 Or, enter BGFTFDZM /B to use floppy drive B: for the file buffer. The floppy drive resident program will determine the size of the file buffer that BGFT can support. See Sections 4.4 and 4.6. They are: DOS Floppy BGFT File Disk Size: Buffer Size: 360K 360K 720K 720K 1200K 720K 1440K 1440K The command line options recognized by BGFTres.COM are: /1 - Use COMM port 1 (only if BGFT300.CNF does not exist). /2 - Use COMM port 2 (only if BGFT300.CNF does not exist). /3 - Use COMM port 3 (only if BGFT300.CNF does not exist). /4 - Use COMM port 4 (only if BGFT300.CNF does not exist). /B - Use floppy drive B: as the file buffer. Only used for BGFTFDZM.COM. Using floppy drive A: as the file buffer needs no command since it is the default. /C - Chain interrupts. Use if COM port 1 has a mouse and if COM port 3 has a modem, similarly for the COM 2,4 pair. Otherwise, do not use (e.g., COM port 1 and COM port 4 are all right.) /E - 'Spawn' the resident program, that is, do not run it as a TSR. Run it this way from a DOS shell if you want to delete it from memory after use. Enter 'EXIT' at the DOS prompt to exit the shell and release the program. /I - Initialize the file buffer to BGFT format on startup. This is not normally recommended. The hard drive file buffer is automatically initialized on creation; the floppy file buffer is usually manually initialized. An initialization will erase existing files in the file buffer. Initialization can be done from the interface programs, BGFT.EXE or BGFTOPT.EXE. 37 /L - Loopback mode used to echo characters on the given port. This is not normally used; it is used as a system debug tool only. /S - Use a String compare in background dialer. If a modem cannot handle the carrier detect line properly for BGFT operation, this command forces the BGFT resident to look at modem string responses rather than relying on the carrier detect line state. The problem may arise for new types of modems when the modem initialization string forces the carrier detect to be always true. BGFT will not do a modem initialization since it sees a connection already made and will ignore the request. /U - Unload the resident program. The BGFT resident will free up memory that it used. /? - This will list the valid list of arguments for the command line options. This will only work if a resident is not already loaded. 4.5 Resident Program Error Messages ----------------------------------- The resident part displays error messages in its 'BGFT' status window when it is turned on. The status window is a small four character 'window' normally located at the upper right corner of the screen. Its normal display is 'BGFT' which means it is dormant and error free. The error messages are displayed in the form: '**n' or '!!n' where n is a number. The '**' messages are 'soft' errors which do not cause file transfer to stop; the '!!' errors are 'hard' errors which will cause the file transfer to terminate. All hard errors must be acknowledged. You should use the Transfer menu in BGFT.EXE to acknowledge hard errors (see Section 5.8.9) or enter terminal mode where the acknowledgment is done automatically. They may also be acknowledged with BGFTOPT.EXE or BGFTSPY.EXE if you are in Windows. The following is a list of the 'soft' error messages: **0 In download or upload this is a timeout while synchronizing to the host. It is normal to receive one of these at the beginning of a transfer. **1 In download (only), this is a timeout while receiving a block. The usual cause of this is that something has happened to lose a character; for example, running a program during background transfers that disables interrupts for an excessive period of time, which is common of some CGA programs. 38 **2 This is a block check error during transfer. The block will be present according to the Xmodem-CRC, Xmodem- 1K, or Ymodem-Batch protocols. **3 This is a CRC error, meaning the block had bad data in it. This may be experienced if the telephone line is noisy or a foreground program temporarily disabled computer interrupts. **4 This is a duplicate block error, meaning the host sent the same block twice for some reason. This is highly unusual. **5 This is an error specific to Zmodem. It could be the result of line noise or a protocol error from the host. The following is a list of the 'hard' error messages: !!0 This is a fatal timeout that would occur if the host was not responding. !!1 This error means that the host canceled the transfer. !!2 This error indicates a file buffer error. This could be due to an I/O disk error or, on uploading, due to no upload files in the file buffer. !!3 This occurs when the user requests to halt the transfer. ERR This occurs when an unknown error condition is detected. 4.6 Floppy Disk Drive File Buffer Creation ------------------------------------------ The floppy disk file buffer must be made manually. The floppies are formatted with DOS as usual and initialized for use by BGFT. The user interface program, BGFT.EXE, is normally used to initialize the diskette; see Section 5.9.2. The program BGFTOPT.EXE may also be used with the '/I' command line switch; see Section 6.7. The recommended procedure using BGFT.EXE will be described here. As explained above, each kind of floppy drive is capable of having a certain size of file buffer. The whole drive is taken over by BGFTFDZM.COM when it is used as a BGFT file buffer and it will not accessible from DOS. It is possible to 'turn off' the resident program so that the floppy can be accessed by DOS for another DOS floppy; see Section 5.9.1. 39 Place a new floppy in the floppy drive when BGFTres.COM is turned off or not loaded. Format it with the usual DOS FORMAT command for the normal size of the drive. Do not use custom format utilities. It is important that the floppy diskettes must not have any bad sectors on them; use the CHKDSK program that came with your version of DOS to make sure. It is recommended that you throw away diskettes that have bad sectors as a good practice anyway; there is something wrong with the floppy. Please be careful about using old diskettes with data on them. Using them as BGFT diskettes will destroy the data. However one of the supplied BGFT programs, BGFTFLPY.EXE, will deinitialize a BGFT floppy; but is must be done before it is used for BGFT file transfers. Floppy drive file buffers must be initialized manually. In order to initialize the floppy, BGFTres.COM must be loaded. Put the DOS formatted floppy in the drive to be used as the file buffer. Use BGFT.EXE to initialize the floppy from the Utility menu. You may also use BGFTOPT.EXE to initialize the floppy. BGFTres.COM must be loaded and initialized with the communication port and baud rate; use an edited version of BGFTINIT.BAT with your communication port and default baud rate (see Section 6.2). You then enter: BGFTOPT /I The file buffer is used to contain download and upload files for BGFTFDZM.COM. See Section 5.8. There can be a combination of 31 files in the file buffer. The use of the floppy file buffer will be slower than the hard drive file buffer for essentially the same reasons as in DOS use. The size is restricted somewhat. However, many users like to be able to use this piece of rarely used equipment for a useful purpose. It is also a source of disk space that some users may not have on their hard drive. A floppy with 1.44 Megabytes of room can make for a handy download area. 4.7 BGFT Environment -------------------- If you wish to run BGFT interface program, BGFT.EXE, from any directory, you should include the BGFT directory in a PATH statement in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file. For example, if 40 you have installed BGFT in the directory '\BGFT300' on drive C:, then the following PATH statement would suffice: PATH = C:\BGFT300 You should append the BGFT directory name to an already existing PATH statement. The installation program will not change your PATH statement. BGFT uses a number of support files. In particular: BGFT300.HLP - used for context sensitive help, BGFT300.CNF - used to store the user configuration, BGFT.DLG - used to store the dialing directory, BGFT300.SCR - used for program screens. Although BGFT will function without the file, BGFT300.HLP, it will inform you that the help file is not available. You are strongly recommended not to modify the help file in any way because this will almost certainly upset the correct functioning of the help system. BGFT will work happily without the files, BGFT300.CNF and BGFT.DLG; it will create these files the first time you save the user configuration and the first time you save the dialing directory, respectively. Again, if you modify these files, by some means other than by using BGFT, the functioning of BGFT may become unpredictable. Updated versions of BGFT may change the format of the files so that it is recommended that old ones should be deleted. BGFT is designed to look for these four support files in one of two possible locations. First, BGFT looks in the current directory; if it cannot find the files there, it will look in a user directory specified by the environment variable 'BGFT'. The environment variable can be set, in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file, as given in the following example: SET BGFT=C:\BGFT300 In this example, the environment variable 'BGFT' is set to the directory '\BGFT300' on drive C:; that is, to the directory containing all the BGFT system files. This is recommended. If the environment variable method is used then BGFT will place the files BGFT300.CNF and BGFT.DLG in the directory specified by the environment variable the first time it creates them. If you wish to set up independent versions of these files in other directories, but still set the environment variable, then you should copy a version of these files, from the directory specified by the environment variable, into the desired directory, and then use BGFT to modify these files to suit your needs. 41 For example, if you require to use more telephone numbers than BGFT allows (200), simply set up another DOS directory and place in it a copy of the file BGFT.DLG. With this new DOS directory as the current directory, run BGFT, and use it to modify the copy of BGFT.DLG to suit your needs. 4.8 Modem Requirements ---------------------- Your modem must be 'nominally' Hayes compatible. This means that it must respond to the normal 'ATxx' command set; for example, 'ATDT 555-6789' will dial the number 555-6789, with touch-tone dialing. The initialization string and the dialing command can be changed via the 'Modem...' option in the 'Setup' menu. If your modem can detect a BUSY connection, then the dialer can also be configured to redial immediately. See Section 5.5.2. It is important to note that your modem must be set up such that the carrier detect line is active when a connection is made. BGFT assumes that the carrier detect line will indicate the status of the connection, i.e. connected or disconnected. If this is not the case then there are several consequences. First, BGFT must be set up to be in 'direct connect' mode (see Section 5.5.2). Second, the background dialer will be inoperable but file transfer will still be possible. In most cases, a Hayes compatible modem can be easily set up to manipulate the carrier detect line, so this should not be a problem; refer to your modem setup documentation for further information. BGFT can be set up to use modem strings instead of the carrier detect line; see Section 4.4. A modem that has a buffered UART chip is recommended. 4.9 Systems Without a Hard Drive -------------------------------- Even though BGFTres.COM makes exclusive use of drive A: or B: floppy, it is possible to use the system with a computer having only two floppy drives. Of course, the range of operation will be limited, but it is possible. In order to run your application from drive B:, it is necessary to set the COMSPEC environment variable to point to COMMAND.COM on drive B:. Use a command like: SET COMSPEC=B:\COMMAND.COM which may be placed in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file. Of course, COMMAND.COM must be present on drive B: in order for DOS to operate correctly. 42 4.10 BGFT and DOS 5/6 --------------------- The BGFT resident portion is quite small and is one of its major benefits. You can use the DOS 5 or DOS 6 LOADHIGH utility to put BGFTres.COM into upper memory. This will leave the whole 640K transient area unaffected by BGFT's presence. You will then be able to run large foreground programs while BGFTres.COM is coincidentally being used in upper memory. See your DOS 5/6 manual for details. For example, you may add a line like the following to your AUTOEXEC.BAT: LOADHIGH C:\BGFT300\BGFTHDZM to load the hard drive file buffer resident into upper memory. Your CONFIG.SYS should have the proper memory management and so on for your system. An example for a 386 system might look like: DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\EMM386.EXE NOEMS DEVICE=C:\DOS\SETVER.EXE FILES=30 BUFFERS=30 DEVICE=C:\DOS\EGA.SYS SHELL=C:\DOS\COMMAND.COM C:\DOS\ /p DOS=HIGH,UMB STACKS=9,256 4.11 BGFT Support of STACKER and DoubleSpace -------------------------------------------- BGFT version 3.01 and above is compatible with STACKER. BGFT version 3.03 is compatible with DoubleSpace. The issues for either disk compaction technique is basically the same; the BGFT support will be described in terms of STACKER. BGFT does not support other disk compaction schemes. In order to avoid DOS conflicts, BGFT uses its own mapping for managing files in the BGFT file buffer. The location of the hard drive file buffer is normally restricted to the directory \BGFT300 on drive C:. STACKER uses file compaction techniques to increase disk storage but this alters the mapping that BGFT requires if drive C: is stacked. If a user stacks the C: hard drive with STACKER then a pseudo drive C: is created that is 'really' not C:. If there was only one drive partition (C:) before installing 43 STACKER then there will be an associated unstacked 'drive' created. It will be called the D: drive here since STACKER chooses the next drive letter after all the existing partitions. The BGFT hard drive file buffer maker, BGFTFB.EXE, will detect STACKER (or DoubleSpace) and create its file buffer on the uncompressed portion of the C: drive which is drive D: in this case. STACKER normally reserves a megabyte of uncompressed space and puts a few files there that are needed to boot the computer. Usually this leaves about 900K bytes free that can be used for a hard drive file buffer. If a larger file buffer is required then run the STACKER utility, SDFRAG, to create more uncompressed space; see the STACKER manual for detail. DoubleSpace has similar capabilities. 4.12 BGFT and DR DOS -------------------- BGFT version 3.01 and above is compatible with DR DOS formatted drives. However BGFT is not compatible with the compaction utility, SUPERSTOR, in DR DOS. 4.13 Multitasking and Communications ------------------------------------ Multitasking with DOS is one of those ideas that is much simpler in theory than in practice. DOS just was not designed to do more than one job at a time. Even the common exceptions to this, such as the DOS print spooler or 'pop up' type programs, are specific to the application at hand and the techniques used to achieve the multitasking are not generally applicable. The 'lifeline' of a multitasking system is interrupts. Even more importantly, a communications program relies on interrupts to process characters when they are received. If the characters are not 'taken away', then they will be lost. If an application program can easily disable interrupts then multitasking, and therefore communications, is going to be unreliable at best. Unfortunately with DOS on a PC, this is the case. Another major problem with DOS, as far as multitasking is concerned, is that DOS is non-reentrant. This means that DOS cannot be easily shared by applications running at the same time. This is because its data areas are not protected from simultaneous access. Most TSRs, e.g. pop ups, work around the reentrant problems by trying to determine when DOS is busy; however, many DOS internal routines, such as the 'TYPE' command for example, keep DOS busy for as long as they execute. This again is a problem for multitaskers. 44 OK, that is the bad news. The good news is that it is possible to circumvent DOS, or, in some cases, to ignore it. BGFT uses the latter approach. It does not use DOS in any part of the file transfer operation; therefore, it cannot be affected by DOS being busy. Disabling interrupts is another story. With a PC running DOS there is just no way to prevent disabling interrupts from happening if a running piece of software does it. This is true even with sophisticated multitaskers like Microsoft Windows 3 and DESQview 386. BGFT performs as well as running a 'standard' communications program under one of those multitaskers but does not require an Intel 80386 CPU and does not use anywhere near as much memory. The consequence of the interrupt disabling problem for file transfer is that retries will occur during downloading. If this is considered to be a serious problem in your application, then there are some possible hardware solutions such as the NS16550AS chip for your communications port; contact Dirac Systems for assistance in this area. BGFT will automatically detect the presence of the NS16550AS chip and take advantage of its capabilities. 4.14 BGFT and DESQview ---------------------- BGFT works exceptionally well with DESQview, particularly on computers that have expanded memory or with DESQview 386 which emulates EEMS by using extended memory. This is because of the following two reasons: 1) On the Intel 80386 CPU, the 'LOADHI' program can run BGFTres.COM outside the 640K DOS address range. This means that the resident part of BGFT does not use up any conventional memory. When installing QEMM.SYS it is necessary to specify the 'ram' option. This is configuration dependent; see your DESQview user's manual or give us a call as we may be able to help. 2) BGFT does not need to be made non-swappable. Thus DESQ- view can swap BGFT.EXE to disk or to expanded memory without affecting the communications. 45 If you use DESQview then give BGFT a try. That is the advantage of Shareware. 4.15 BGFT and Microsoft Windows ------------------------------- BGFT is recommended for use with DOS. Its Windows use is limited to real and standard modes; the enhanced mode introduces problems with virtual communication ports. BGFT is Microsoft Windows 3 compatible. Many DOS based telecommunications programs cannot even run under Windows. Others will have problems when trying to run Windows applications and DOS programs; this is especially true for 286 or 8088 based machines. BGFT allows the user to engage in DOS as well as Windows 3 activities while doing background transfers. Even Windows based telecommunication programs will generally not let you do that if not running in 386 protected mode. You must install the BGFT resident, BGFTres.COM, before running Windows. You must also initialize the resident with the communications port and baud rate by using a variant of the supplied batch file, BGFTINIT.BAT. Alternatively, you can run BGFT.EXE briefly to automatically do the initialization. You may then run Windows and use BGFT as you would normally. Your Windows documentation will show you how to install BGFT.EXE as a non-Windows application. The basic procedure is as follows. In the Program Manager of Windows choose the DOS applications group that you may have. Choose 'File' from the Program Manager and then choose 'New' to install BGFT as an item of the group. Where is asks for a 'Description' put in 'BGFT'. Click with your mouse onto the 'Command line' prompt and enter the path name. where BGFT can be found; for example, C:\BGFT300\BGFT.EXE You can activate BGFT by clicking twice on the icon you choose from the Program Manager. A Windows 3 program, BGFTSPY.EXE, is included with BGFT to allow you to monitor background file transfers while you use other Windows programs. It can also acknowledge hard transmission errors. Install BGFTSPY.EXE as above and call it BGFTSPY; the supplied icon, BGFTSPY.ICO, will also be loaded. This program is most useful in minimized mode as it will show, in a compact form, the file packet number during file transfers and other status messages from the BGFT resident program. In maximized mode it will show more 46 information. It is loaded in iconic form which is minimized mode; click twice on the icon for maximized mode. You should only run BGFTSPY.EXE if the BGFT resident program has been installed and initialized for communication port and baud rate. You will be warned it you did neither. BGFTSPY.EXE should only be run in Windows real or standard mode; under protected mode, there is likely to be a conflict with accesses to the resident program. To use BGFT.EXE with older versions of Microsoft Windows it is again necessary to load BGFTres.COM prior to running Windows; this is true for both Windows/286 and Windows/386. BGFT may then be executed as a 'standard' application under Windows. Windows will complain about a conflict with the communications port; select BGFT.EXE in the dialogue box and OK. For Windows/386 it is important that the parameter 'windowmemsize' in the WIN.INI file is left at the default of 640. The primary advantage to using BGFT.EXE under Windows, instead of a standard DOS communications package, is that BGFT.EXE can be 'swapped' out of memory whereas the standard DOS communications package would have to remain 'locked' in memory, using up valuable address space. This may be of importance in some applications such as Windows 2.X with expanded memory. If you use both DOS and Windows on an AT compatible computer then BGFT may be your best bet. 4.16 Problem Solving -------------------- Some programs, usually games, are not compatible with BGFT. In most cases, the conflict will be evident as retries during download. The retries are caused by the application disabling interrupts and, therefore, causing characters to be lost. The best thing to do is to experiment; in some cases, reducing the baud rate may help. If BGFT fails to run properly on your system its probable cause can either be due to software or hardware conflicts. The most common cause is incompatible TSRs. The resident portion of BGFT is a TSR. Sometimes there may be other TSRs or software that hog resources or interfere with BGFT. In order to trouble shoot these problems you should delete all TSRs other than BGFT's. If BGFT runs all right then one of your other TSRs may be the problem. Try to isolate the problem and arrive at a solution or work around for your system. 47 The order of installation of TSRs can also be important. Try reordering them. We recommend that you install BGFT as your first TSR in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file. BGFT, by its very nature, is carefully written so as to abide by the correct rules of building TSRs. BGFT is very robust software. If BGFT still fails to operate it may be your hardware. If the floppy file buffer version fails, then try the hard drive version. 4.17 Operating Limitations -------------------------- Users should be aware of the following limitations: 1) In a 'multitasking' environment the maximum baud rate that allows convenient foreground usage depends on your computer's capabilities. High baud rates may tie up your CPU too much; the user should test for the baud rate that gives best results. BGFT has been found to work well with modern 14.4K baud modems on a common 386-25 computer, for example. Modems with buffered UARTs are recommended. 2) Floppy diskette file buffers must not have any bad sectors. 3) The floppy drive used for the file buffer is unavailable for DOS while under the control of BGFTFDZM.COM. 4) The file buffer can have a total maximum of 31 files. The files can be downloads or uploads. 5) When running graphics applications with a monochrome graphics card, BGFTres.COM does not automatically disable its status display as it does with color systems. This is easily overcome by the user manually disabling the display from the Utility menu before running the application. Even if this is not done, there will usually only be a remnant of the BGFTres display window appearing during monochrome graphics applications. 6) The hard drive file buffer must be on Drive C: in directory '\BGFT300'. Its maximum size is 32767 Kilobytes. 4.18 BGFT Model Summary ----------------------- This Section explained how to install a file buffer and a resident program needed for background file transfers. If you used the INSTALL.EXE program most of the details are taken care of for you. Having done a download with the 48 example in Section 3.2 you should be convinced that BGFT is easy to use in spite of all the detailed features. Your mental model of BGFT should be: - A resident program, BGFTres.COM, does background file transfers to and from a file buffer. - The file buffer can exist on part of the hard disk C: or on a whole floppy drive diskette. The file buffer is used to avoid conflicts with DOS. Files are moved from the file buffer to DOS directories for your use. - The user interface program, BGFT.EXE or BGFTOPT.EXE, allows the user to communicate with the BBS connected to the modem or command the resident program to perform some function. When the use of the interface is completed only the resident part is left in memory to do transfers. This is somewhat like the modern vision of a client-server technology. The back end or the server is the resident doing most of the heavy work in the background. The front end is BGFT.EXE being used by you as the client to get files from the server via the file buffer. 49 5.0 Operation of Main User Interface: BGFT.EXE ---------------------------------------------- Section 3.2 described how to operate BGFT in a basic step by step way. Experienced users will demand more, so this Section gives the details that will be needed. The operation of BGFT is presented from a 'functional' point of view. This means that the menus are not described in order of appearance, except where deemed necessary. After a little bit of experimentation with the menu system, BGFT will be found to be easy to use. 'Hot' keys are provided if you wish to bypass the menu system; see Section 5.14 for the Alt_Key summary. 5.1 Starting/Stopping BGFT -------------------------- 5.1.1 Starting BGFT ------------------- The main user interface, BGFT.EXE, is normally invoked with no arguments specified on the command line, that is, by entering BGFT In this case BGFT runs in its normal interactive mode. However, it will accept the following command line 'switches' which cause it to carry out specific operations: BGFT /H The command line help switch, /H, or any unsupported switch, will activate a help screen. BGFT /K BGFT terminates (Kills) background dialing and then exits. BGFT /M This forces BGFT to read the file buffer, and if downloaded files are detected, to initiate the sequence that moves the downloaded files from the file buffer to a given download file directory, and then proceed to terminal mode. This is useful if you switched your computer off after downloading files into the file buffer but did not move them from the file buffer to hard disk first. Some manual operations will be required. BGFT /N When BGFT is first run, it will initialize the modem with the modem command string 50 taken from the configuration file, BGFT300.CNF. There may be times when you are already connected to a remote computer, by some other means, and want to use BGFT for the first time but do not want to send the modem string. To avoid sending the string, use the command line switch, /N. BGFT /R BGFT suspends the resident part and then exits. This is useful, in the case that a floppy drive has been used as the file buffer to gain quick access to the floppy drive when the resident part is active. If you have elected to use a floppy drive for the file buffer, you cannot use this floppy drive for non-BGFT purposes while the resident part is active. 5.1.2 Exiting BGFT ------------------ You may exit BGFT by selecting the 'Exit' option from the 'File' menu or by means of the 'hot' key Alt_X. If you set 'Confirm Exit' to on, as per Section 5.5.4.1, then a window pops up to ask you if you are sure; typing 'Y' will exit from BGFT, typing 'N', or any other key, will return you to where you were before you requested exit. If you chose to set 'Confirm Exit' to off, as per Section 5.5.4.1, then BGFT will cleanly and swiftly exit to DOS. Exiting BGFT will not affect the resident part, particularly if the resident part is transferring files; it will leave the line open. Also, you can re-enter BGFT at any time; however, if you enter BGFT while background transfer is in progress, then you will be prevented from entering terminal mode until the transfer is completed. BGFT also provides an Alt_J key to enable you to run a DOS shell. This means that when you have initiated a file transfer you could run a shell so that you can run a DOS application while the file transfer continues in the background. However, this is not the recommended way because BGFT.EXE uses a substantial amount of memory. The recommended way is to exit BGFT is with Alt_X. This enables you to maximize the amount of memory available for your DOS applications. BGFT was carefully designed to allow quick in and out access. It remembers your configuration so that you would re-enter into the same state that you were in when you left. When you are running the unregistered package, you will always see a screen that provides you with registration 51 information. Press any key to clear this screen and so complete the exit operation. Sometimes, when you exit applications such as BGFT.EXE, you may experience a disturbance of the file transfer that is in progress. You may see a '**3' in the BGFT status window. This indicates that the application program may have suspended all interrupts. This is only a soft error and the transmission should recover. The problem is a limitation of Personal Computers and not BGFT. 5.2 The Menu System ------------------- If your system has a mouse, see Section 5.5.4.9 and 5.5.4.10 for configuring it, BGFT will automatically detect it and enable it to be used to select items in the pull down menus. In the following description, appropriate mouse movement may be used instead of using the key board. In particular, pressing the left mouse button corresponds to 'ENTER' and simultaneous pressing of the left and right buttons corresponds to 'ESC'. The main menu system for BGFT is activated from terminal mode by typing 'Alt_M', or clicking the left mouse button on the top line of the screen. The menu is of the pull down type. Pull down menu items can be activated by either typing the first letter of the option/sub-menu name, or by using the left and right arrow keys to select it, followed by pressing 'ENTER', or by dragging or clicking the left button of the mouse. Similarly, items on the pull down menus can be activated by pressing the key corresponding to the highlighted letter, or by using the arrow keys followed by 'ENTER', or by using the mouse. For example, to view the current status of BGFT, press Alt_V to pull down the 'View' menu. Then use the down arrow key to highlight the 'BGFT Status' option; pressing 'ENTER' will activate the status display. An alternative to using the arrow key would be have been to press the highlighted letter of the menu option, in this case 'b'. If you have a mouse installed, the above could have been achieved by pressing the left button of the mouse with the mouse cursor on the top line of the screen. Keeping the left button pressed, drag the mouse cursor to the 'View' option, the view menu will pull down. Then drag the mouse so as to highlight the 'BGFT Status' option and release the mouse button. The status window will appear. If you are using a color monitor, pull down menu items that are currently in-active are displayed in grey without a highlighted letter. If using a monochrome monitor, in- active menu items can be identified as ones that do not 52 have a highlighted letter. If you attempt to use an in- active menu item then you will simply return to your previous state without further action. Pull down menu items that show '...' after the description, lead to dialog boxes where further user interaction is required, for example, the 'Prepare Files For Upload...', option from the 'Files' menu. Some menu options have a '>' character at the right hand side. This indicated that there is a side pull down menu that will appear if this option is selected, for example, the 'Colors' option from the 'Setup' menu. Some menu items simply toggle features 'On/Off'. If BGFT is in the 'toggled' state then the menu option will show a check mark on the left hand side. Pressing 'ESC' from any point in the main menu system will return you to terminal mode. Typically, the 'ESC' key exits a BGFT menu or window without any action being taken and returns you to your previous state. The main menu entries are briefly described as follows: 5.2.1 File ---------- Selection of this item using Alt_F, or the mouse, pulls down a menu list with the following operations: Save Downloaded Files: Moves download files from the file buffer to a DOS file. Prepare Files For Upload: Copies DOS files into the file buffer ready for uploading. Echo Screen To A File (ON): Sends all the text that appears on the terminal mode screen to a DOS file for later retrieval. Terminal Mode: Returns operation to terminal mode. DOS Shell: This will run a DOS shell. This allows you to suspend execution of BGFT.EXE and run other applications from the DOS prompt. When in the DOS shell, the DOS prompt will show the message: "Type 'EXIT' to return to BGFT". When in the shell, BGFT is still in memory. WARNING: if the DOS PRINT command is used to print a file but the PRINT driver was not loaded into memory before BGFT was run then the driver will 'lock' BGFT into 53 memory. When BGFT is exited, about 180K of space will unavailable to do foreground tasks. TSRs like PRINT, which are to be run in the shell, should be loaded before running BGFT. Exit: This exits BGFT. Typing 'Alt_X' at any location in BGFT has the same effect. 5.2.2 View ---------- Selection of this item using Alt_V, or the mouse, pulls down a menu list with the following operations: File Buffer: Alt_L. Lists the files in the file buffer. BGFT Status: Alt_N. Shows the current status of BGFT, in particular, it shows the status of the files being transferred. Scroll Back Buffer: Alt_B. Allows viewing of text that has scrolled off the terminal mode screen. Clipboard: The prime purpose of the clip board is to be able to capture text from the terminal mode screen, edit it, and then send the modified text back to the remote computer. A simple example would be to capture to the clipboard a list file names from the remote computer and then to use the clipboard to pick out a subset of the files you wish to download. The clipboard allows you to send this modified list back to the remote computer. This would normally be in response to the remote computers request for a list of file names. This can save a lot of typing and avoids mis-spelling the file names. 5.2.3 Dial ---------- Selection of this item using Alt_D, or the mouse, pulls down a menu list with the following operations: Default Dialing Directory: Provides access to the default dialing directory. The dialing directory allows you to organize your telephone numbers and dial them quickly. The name of the default dialing directory is specified as described in Section 5.5.4. Other Directories: Provides access to any BGFT format dialing directory on your computer. Kill Dialing: Terminates background dialing. 54 Hang-up The Phone: Hangs up the line and breaks the communication. 5.2.4 Transfer -------------- Selection of this item using Alt_T, or the mouse, pulls down a menu list with the following operations: Download Files: Allows selection of protocols for downloading files. Upload Files: Allows selection of protocols for uploading files. Kill Transfer: Enables file transfer to be aborted (Killed). Acknowledge Errors: Allows resetting of the resident part in the event of a file transfer hard error. 5.2.5 Setup ----------- Selection of this item using Alt_S, or the mouse, pulls down a menu list with the following operations: Terminal Emulation: Allows selection of a given terminal emulation type. Terminal emulations are normally set in the dialing directory. Modem: Change modem parameters. Communications Port: Change communication port settings. Preferences: Define user preferences. ASCII Communications: Set ASCII communications parameters, such as end of line translation. Color: Alter the colors (if you have a color system) of the various types of menus and windows used by BGFT. 5.2.6 Utility ------------- Selection of this item using Alt_U, or the mouse, pulls down a menu list with the following operations: Turn Resident OFF: De-activates the resident part. Initialize File Buffer: Prepares the file buffer ready for use. 55 Modem Initialization: Sends the initialization string to the modem. Status BGFT Window: Toggles the 'BGFT' window on/off. Relocate BGFT Window: Allows relocating the 'BGFT' to anywhere along the top line of the screen. Clear Screen Terminal Mode: Clears the terminal mode screen. 5.2.7 Information ----------------- Selection of this item using Alt_I, or the mouse, pulls down a menu list with the following operations: Overview: Provides a brief overview of the operation of BGFT. Errors: Describes the possible error codes. About: Provides copyright information for BGFT. 5.3 Dialog Boxes ---------------- All the dialog boxes use the concept of an 'active area'. The active area defines the current area of focus. For example, the 'Save As' dialog box has six areas; namely, the file name, file list, drive/directory list, open button, cancel button and the help button. You can move from one area to another using the tab or shift_tab keys. The active area is always identifiable because it is the area with the cursor displayed. You can also move to a different area by clicking the left button of the mouse with the mouse cursor in the desired area, for example, anywhere in a file list or within the borders of a given set of radio buttons. You can also change areas using the Alt keys together with the indicated highlighted letter. However, as for the mouse method, some of these areas lead to immediate action, for example, clicking on the <Help> button. In addition to the active area concept, BGFT dialog boxes may have one or more of the following features: 5.3.1 Action Buttons -------------------- BGFT's dialog boxes have action buttons, for example, <Move>. In most cases the result of the action is adequately described by the description given between the 56 <>. The actions can be initiated in one of the following three ways: 1) By pressing an Alt key corresponding to the highlighted letter, for example, for the above example this would be Alt_M. 2) Use the tab (shift tab) to move forward (backward) from one button to another. When the cursor is located at the desired button, press the <ENTER> key to activate the button. 3) Click the left button of the mouse on, or between, the <> characters. On BGFT's dialog boxes, three of the buttons always have the same meaning; these are: a) <Ok> : the Ok button accepts the information selected on the dialog box and then closes the box. Choices made remain in memory and, in many cases, can be saved to the configuration file. b) <Cancel> : The Cancel button exits the dialog box without any changes to the parameters listed in the box. c) <Help> : The Help button provides context sensitive help and provides descriptions of the parameters listed in the box. 5.3.2 File Lists ---------------- A file list is simply a list of file names showing the size of the file, and, in some cases the type of file, that is, whether the file is for uploading or was downloaded. The file lists each have a vertical scroll bar to enable moving through the file list by using a mouse. If you are using the keyboard, you can move through the list using the vertical arrow keys, PgUp and PgDn, Home and End keys. If you have a mouse you can move through the file list by dragging the file cursor bar using the left mouse button. Also, clicking the left mouse button on the up/down arrows of the scroll bar will move up/down through the file list one file at a time. Furthermore, clicking the left mouse button on the vertical scroll bar will page the file list up/down depending which side of the scroll bar tag you click. Also, you can drag the scroll bar tag up and down if you wish to move quickly through the list. 57 In the dialing directory there is a horizontal scroll bar and this works in a similar way to the vertical scroll bar. Files in the file list can be 'tagged' using the 'SPACE' bar, or by double clicking the left mouse button on the desired file name. A tagged file can be identified by the '*' character. Some dialog boxes have a <Tag All> button that toggles the tag status of all the files in the list. 5.3.3 Drive/Directory Lists --------------------------- You can move around a drive/directory list in much the same way as you would a file list. To change to the previous directory simply locate the highlighted cursor bar on the '..' symbol and then press 'ENTER'. If using a mouse double click the left mouse button on the '..' symbol. To change to another directory locate the highlighted cursor bar on the desired directory name and then press 'ENTER'. If using a mouse double click the left mouse button on the desired directory name. To change to another drive, locate the highlighted cursor bar on the desired drive letter and then press 'ENTER'. If using a mouse double click the left mouse button on the desired drive letter. 5.3.4 Data Input Fields ----------------------- Data input fields are of two distinct types, character input or numeric input. For both types you can edit the characters or numbers types using the left and right arrow keys, Home goes to the beginning of the field. End goes to the end of the field. BACKSPACE deletes the previous character. DEL deletes the character under the cursor. INS toggles insert mode. Alt_B blanks the input field. If invalid characters are typed BGFT beeps as a warning. Where accurate input is required, BGFT checks to make sure that valid input has been typed. A message window appears to inform of invalid input. For example, if BGFT is expecting the name of a drive/directory BGFT will check to see that drive/directory exists; if not, a warning message appears. You must type a valid entry before you can move to the next field. 58 5.3.5 On/Off Flags ------------------ On/Off flags are distinguishable by the [ ] characters. If the flag is 'true' then you will see [X]; otherwise you will see [ ]. To set a flag first of all, move the active position to the desired flag. Then use the 'SPACE' bar to toggle the flag. If using a mouse simply click the left button of the mouse on the [ ]. 5.3.6 Radio Buttons ------------------- Radio buttons are distinguishable by the ( ) characters. Radio buttons are used where a parameter has a number of distinct values, such as the baud rate. If using the keyboard move the active point to the desired radio button sequence. Then use the left/right arrow keys to move to the desired value. If using a mouse simply click the left button of the mouse on the desired ( ). 5.4 The Help System ------------------- BGFT provides the following two types of context sensitive help: 5.4.1 Message Line ------------------ A message line at the bottom of the screen is provided for practically all functions of BGFT to indicate current status of the given function or to give brief guidance on the available options. For example, a reminder that pressing 'ESC' will return you to terminal mode. 5.4.2 Alt_Z Help Key -------------------- A help key for more detailed help information. BGFT uses Alt_Z as the help key. The help key is active practically anytime keyboard input is required. Pressing the help key in terminal mode gives a list of 'hot' keys used to speed up certain BGFT operations from terminal mode. 5.5 Configuring BGFT -------------------- BGFT allows you to change its appearance to suit your needs and preferences. In particular, the 'Setup' pull down menu is provided to allow you to customize BGFT. The 'Setup' menu can be accessed via the main menu or directly from 59 terminal mode using Alt_S; the pull down menu has the following options: 5.5.1 Terminal Emulation ------------------------ This option pops up a side menu which is a list of the terminal emulations that can be selected to suit the computer system that you are connected to. The available emulations are: NONE, ANSI, VT100, and VT52. BGFT has a limited set of basic terminal emulations because these are normally sufficient for background file transfer purposes. The VT100 keypad is mapped to the PC function keys as follows: PF1 > F1 PF2 > F2 PF3 > Shift_F1 PF4 > Shift_F2 7 > F3 8 > F4 9 > Shift_F3 - > Shift_F4 4 > F5 5 > F6 6 > Shift_F5 , > Shift_F6 1 > F7 2 > F8 3 > Shift_F7 Enter>Shift_F8 0 > F9 0 > F10 . > Shift_F9 Enter>Shift_F10 'Shift_F10' indicates that the Shift key and then the F10 key should be held down together momentarily. 5.5.2 Modem Parameters ---------------------- On selecting the modem parameter option, 'Modem', a dialog box pops up allowing you to select various modem setup commands. The following are the parameters that can be modified: 5.5.2.1 Modem Initialization String This entry should be used to set the initialization string to be sent to your modem on starting BGFT. BGFT was designed to work with Hayes compatible modems, so you should check your modem documentation to decide appropriate setup commands. BGFT does not automatically send the modem attention string 'AT', so you should include that at the start of the command. If you start BGFT without a configuration file, then it uses ATE1 S7=255 S0=0 V1 60 as the default string. The S7 modem register is used by the modem to wait the indicated number of seconds for a connection. However, BGFT configures its own wait time (see 5.5.2.4 and 5.5.2.5 below) which will override it. Change this with care to suit your needs and your modem. 5.5.2.2 Dialing Command The following commands instruct the modem to auto-dial: ATDT instructs the modem to use Tone dialing, ATDP instructs the modem to use rotary-Pulse dialing. BGFT defaults to tone dialing if you are not using a configuration file. You must use one of these commands if auto-dialing is to work. 5.5.2.3 Hang Up Command BGFT uses two methods to hang up the line. The quickest, and so probably the most desirable, is by inhibiting 'DTR'. However, you will have to check your modem documentation to make sure that this feature is supported by your particular modem model. On earlier, and consequently slower modems, this would be done by means of the appropriate 'dip' switch settings. On later modems, for example, the Hayes Smartmodem 2400, this can be done with software through a suitable modem command. The second method, which is somewhat slower than the DTR method, is to send the modem hang-up string, for example: ATH0 See your modem documentation for further information on this command. BGFT handles the appropriate time delays so that you should not include any time delay instructions. BGFT uses the DTR method first and, if unsuccessful, then sends the modem hang-up string. 5.5.2.4 Time Between Dialing This command sets the number of seconds BGFT will wait for a carrier before it gives up, assuming that the line was not busy. The 'Time Between Dialing' allows you to set the interval between dialing cycles from 1 to 999 seconds. If you run BGFT without a configuration file it defaults to 55 seconds. International connect times can take over a minute; local calls typically take 30 seconds or less. 5.5.2.5 Test for 'BUSY' BGFT is able to use modem information, if available, as to whether the line is busy when dialed. If the line is busy, 61 BGFT will drop the line without waiting for the connection and background re-dialing will recommence. The default is 'Y' to enable this feature. 5.5.2.6 Direct Connection If you are using a null modem connection to communicate with another computer, rather than a modem, then you should enter 'Y'. In that case, the above modem commands are ignored. If you are using a modem then you should select 'N'. If you run BGFT without a configuration file then it will default to 'N'; it assumes that you are using a modem. 5.5.3 Communication Port Settings --------------------------------- Selecting the communication port option, 'Comm port', pops up a dialog box that allows you to make the following communication port selections: 5.5.3.1 Communication Port Number BGFT is designed to work with one of the communication ports 1 (default), 2, 3, or 4; you must have the appropriate hardware installed. You cannot set up background communications on more than one port at a time. It is recommended that your modem be connected to communication port 2 and, if you have a mouse, that it be connected to port 1. Port 2 has a higher priority when dealing with hardware interrupts; having your modem there will aid in communications. There are general hardware limitations on the PC for users who wish to use a combination of odd or even serial communication port pairs. This is due to the physical construction and the way hardware interrupts were designed to be handled on the PC. For example, some users may want to have COM 1 for the mouse and COM 3 for the modem since some internal modems use COM 3. This is not recommended (the mouse on COM 1 and modem on COM 4 is all right). Under BGFT, there is a 'work around' solution provided. The mouse driver should be loaded in before BGFTres is activated and the resident part should be loaded with the '/C' command line option. For example, BGFTres /C This will inform the resident part about the existence of the mouse on the other paired port and allow for a proper 'chaining' of interrupts between the modem and the mouse. 62 This option should not be used if they are on an odd and even COM port as recommended. If you attempt to run BGFT without a configuration file then it will check to see whether or not a communication port has been specified earlier via the BGFTres command line. If not, it will prompt you to specify an appropriate communication port number. 5.5.3.2 Baud Rate BGFT allows you to specify the following baud rates: 300, 1200 (default), 2400, 4800, 9600, 19200, 38400 and 57600 If you run BGFT without a configuration file it prompts you to specify a value. When using the automatic dialer, the baud rate must be specified. This is done by setting the baud rate in the dialing directory; this will override any value set previously. 5.5.3.3 Data Bits Serial communications make use of various data formats, usually of the following two forms: 8 data bits, 1 stop bit, and No parity (8 1 N) or, 7 data bits, 1 stop bit, and Even parity (7 1 E). Most BBSs use (8 1 N) but some mainframe computer networks may use (7 1 E). With BGFT you may chose several formats; valid entries for data bits are: 7 or 8 (default). 5.5.3.4 Stop Bits Valid entries for stop bits are: 1 (default) or 2. 5.5.3.5 Parity Valid entries for parity are: N for No (default), E for Even, O for Odd, M for Mark, or S for Space. 5.5.4 Preferences ----------------- The user Preferences menu option pops up a dialog box to allow selection of user preferences to suit your needs. The following are the available options: 63 5.5.4.1 Confirm Exit As BGFT is a background utility, it is highly desirable to be able to get into and out of it as quickly as possible. For example, you might want to initiate the upload of a collection of unrelated files using Zmodem and then quit out to DOS to run your favorite spread sheet package. To this end, BGFT has a 'hot' key Alt_X, that allows you to exit BGFT from any location. When using the program for the first time it can be a little disconcerting to discover just how easy it is to exit BGFT. Consequently, this user option allows you to request a confirmation prompt before exiting. After frequent use of BGFT you will almost certainly want to turn confirmation off. If you run BGFT without a configuration file it defaults to 'Y', for confirmation. 5.5.4.2 Background Sound ON/OFF This option allows you turn off all sound effects related to the operation of the BGFT resident part, for example, the sound that you hear when BGFT has established a connection or has completed a file transfer. This can be useful if you are running BGFT late at night and you do not wish to disturb others. This option does not affect BGFT's foreground sound; the foreground sound can be controlled as described in 5.5.4.3 below. Turning sound off for BGFT will not turn sound off for any other application program that you might be running while BGFT is performing its background activities. If you run BGFT without a configuration file then it defaults to background sound 'on'. 5.5.4.3 Foreground Sound ON/OFF This option allows you turn off all sound effects related to the foreground operation of BGFT, for example, the sound that you hear when you type an invalid entry in a dialog box. This can be useful if you are running BGFT late at night and you do not wish to disturb others or if you simply do not like BGFT beeping at you. If you run BGFT without a configuration file then it de- faults to foreground sound 'on'. 5.5.4.4 Tab Width When using terminal emulation you may need to set the tab width as required. If you run BGFT without a configuration file, the default tab width is 8. 64 5.5.4.5 Number of Lines to Scroll Back This option allows specification of the number of lines used for the scroll back buffer. The smaller this number the less memory BGFT will use. Valid entries range from 25 to 999; the default is 200. 5.5.4.6 Show When the Scroll Buffer is Full The scroll back buffer is a circular buffer so that when the buffer is full it starts to overwrite the characters that were put into the buffer first. When this happens, the overwritten contents are lost. If the "Show Scroll Buffer Full" flag is set to on, then BGFT prompts each time the buffer gets full and so provides you with the option of saving the contents of the buffer to a file before any of the contents get overwritten. The default is not to prompt when the buffer is full. 5.5.4.7 Save the Scroll Back Buffer on Exit This option instructs BGFT to save the contents of the scroll back buffer to a file, BGFT300.SBB, on exit and to automatically restore the contents of the buffer the next time BGFT is run; this is the default. If the flag is set to off, the scroll back buffer contents are not saved and the buffer is 'emptied' each time BGFT is run. 5.5.4.8 Default Dialing Directory When the 'Default Directory' option is selected from the 'Dial' menu, BGFT looks for a dialing directory with the name specified by the 'Default Dialing Directory' field. This field must be a valid file name and that file must have been previously created using the BGFT dialing directory system. The default is 'BGFT.DLG'. 5.5.4.9 Mouse Speed This field allows setting of the desired mouse speed; valid values lie in the range 1 to 100. The default value is 50; a value of 100 corresponds to the maximum speed setting. 5.5.4.10 Mouse Double Click Time This field allows setting the maximum time between mouse button clicks for mouse double click operations. The default values is 5 and the units of measure are tenths of a second. 65 5.5.4.11 Enable Zmodem Auto-Download When downloading with Zmodem this feature allows downloading to start automatically. This means that as soon as the remote computer has been instructed to download using Zmodem, then the download will start without any further user interaction; this is the default setting. If this feature is not set then, after having instructed the remote computer to download using Zmodem, it is necessary to select Zmodem download from the BGFT 'Transfer' menu. 5.5.4.12 Auto Save File Directory When BGFT downloads a file it first of all downloads the file into the file buffer. The files that are transferred into the file buffer are in a format that cannot be accessed by DOS and so have to be converted to a DOS readable file and moved to another drive/directory before they can be used. When the file transfer is complete, and you return to BGFT from whatever you were doing while transfer took place, BGFT will semi-automatically transfer the files that had been downloaded into the file buffer to the drive/directory specified by 'Auto Save File Directory' You are given the option to change the drive/directory if required. If you do not wish to have this process done semi- automatically then simply enter 'MANUAL' instead of a path specification. You may manually move files from the file buffer to another drive/directory using the 'File' menu. If you run BGFT without a configuration file it will default to the current drive/directory because it has no way of knowing which directory you want the files to be moved to. Each time you run BGFT it checks with the resident part to see if any files have been downloaded, that is, assuming that you had specified a 'Auto File Save Directory' name. It does this, rather than reading the file buffer directly, to save time and to enable you to get into the program quickly in the case that no files have been downloaded; for example, after an upload. However, if you switch your machine off, or re-boot it after a download, then BGFT will not initiate an auto-move of files until after your next download. In that case, you may wish to use the manual method from the 'File' menu to move your downloaded files or use the '/M' command line option. 66 5.5.5 ASCII Download Parameters ------------------------------- The following parameters are provided to enable adjustment of your setup so as to effectively perform ASCII file transfers to, or from, a wide variety of remote computer systems. 5.5.5.1 Character Pacing Some remote computer systems have limit on the speed at which they can receive characters. This is typical for older computer systems that expect characters to be sent no faster than the speed of a fast typist. For such a case, a small time delay can be inserted between each character. These time delays are measured in 1/20 th second intervals; the default is zero. This feature applies to ASCII upload only.5.5.5.2 line pacing. 5.5.5.1 Line Pacing Some remote computers require a brief time delay (line pacing), after the transmission of each line of text. If some of the characters are getting lost in the transmission, try increasing the line pacing value. The default value is 5. This feature applies to ASCII upload only. 5.5.5.3 Pace Character The pace character is a distinct character that is used to denote the end of a line of text. The default is a 'blank'. 5.5.5.4 Expand Blank Lines If this flag is set, then blank lines will show as blank lines; otherwise downloaded text will appear without any separating blank lines. The default is to expand blank lines. 5.5.5.5 Expand Tabs This field determines how tabs are to be treated; if set, tabs will be expanded to the value of tabs set as described in Section 5.5.4.4. If this option is not set then a transmitted tab has no effect. The default is to expand tabs. 5.5.5.6 Add Line Feed to Carriage Return Some remote computers do not send line feeds after a carriage return. Evidence of this would be the text overwriting itself on the same line on the screen. If this option is set then a line feed is added to each carriage 67 return sent by the remote computer; the default is not to add the line feed. This feature is not strictly related to ASCII upload/download but is generally available. 5.5.5.7 Local Echo When communicating with some remote computers characters typed on the keyboard do not show up on the screen. When this option is set, it enables key strokes to be 'echoed' to the screen; the default is no echo. This feature is not strictly related to ASCII upload/download but is generally available. 5.5.5.8 End of Line Translation for ASCII Transfers The following two situations are catered for: Translation for Carriage Return The available options are: - None. - Strip (remove carriage returns). - Add Line Feeds. Translation for Line Feed The available options are: - None. - Strip (remove line feeds). - Add Carriage Returns. The defaults have been set to give correct translation when communicating with PC Board BBS's. 5.5.6 Colors ------------ If you have a monochrome system then the screen appearance can be changed only to toggle a white or black background. WARNING: If you configure BGFT to be monochrome but then install a color system, you will have to delete the configuration file, BGFT300.CNF, and re-configure to get colors. The following Section is only applicable if you have a CGA, EGA or VGA color system. If you have a monochrome monitor, with a color type video card, then the options in this Section will have limited affect on the display. 68 The 'color' option allows you to change the colors of the various BGFT screens. The method of changing color is first to select the screen feature that you wish to modify using the side pull down menu. At this point a window pops up showing the current colors for the given screen feature. Simply follow the instructions listed in the pop up window to change the colors. For example, if you wish to change the colors of the terminal mode screen then: 1) Select the terminal mode option, 'Terminal Mode', from the side pull down menu. 2) Type 'f' or 'F' to step through the available foreground colors. 3) Type 'b' or 'B' to step through the available background colors. (If you use a mouse simply click on the lines with the 'f' or 'b' to step through the available colors.) WYSIWYG stands for 'What You See Is What You Get' so that the color changes that you make by following 1) to 3) above are those that you will actually see when you return to the terminal mode screen. Once you are happy with your color scheme, press 'ENTER' to accept the colors and return to terminal mode. If, on the other hand, you decide that you would rather keep the old color scheme, simply press 'ESC' instead of 'ENTER'. 5.6 Terminal Mode ----------------- When you first run BGFT after turning on your computer you arrive in terminal mode after you have negotiated the opening screens. At this stage you will be either connected to your modem or you will be in direct contact with another computer via a null modem cable (a direct connection). These two cases are described separately below: 5.6.1 Using a Modem ------------------- If you are using a modem, assuming you have set your modem configuration switches appropriately and/or have set the modem initialization string to suit (including the 'ATE1' command), then characters typed at the keyboard will be echoed on the screen. For example, typing 'AT' followed by pressing 'ENTER' will produce the familiar 'OK' response from the modem. In fact, you can type any valid modem command string and the modem will respond accordingly. For example, you can manually type the appropriate commands to dial a given telephone number; normally you would not do that because it is so much more convenient to use the 69 dialing directory and so get the benefits of background dialing. Occasional users are not recommended to send manual commands to the modem via terminal mode because BGFT makes certain assumptions about how the modem is set up. If you somehow the modem gets into a weird state, inadvertently via manual terminal mode commands, then the response of BGFT may become unpredictable. Just in case, BGFT allows re-initialization of the modem; this is done via the 'Modem Initialize' option from the 'Utility' menu. To do this, BGFT first sends the 'ATZ' command which, for earlier modems, such as the Hayes Smartmodem 300, resets the modem to its power up condition, initializes its registers, reads the configuration switch settings and does the power up test. For later modems, such as the Hayes Smartmodem 2400, the 'ATZ' command resets the user configuration. 5.6.2 Direct Connection ----------------------- Any characters typed in terminal mode are transmitted directly to the other computer and what is seen on the screen depends upon how the other computer is set up. 5.7 Background Dialing ---------------------- An important feature of BGFT is that it can do dialing in the background. That means once dialing is initiated and BGFT is exited, dialing will continue even though the computer may be used for other activities. When dialing is complete and a connection is made, an audible beeping sound will be heard, that is, assuming that the default option of 'BackGround sound' is set to on. If you wish to terminate dialing before a connection has been made, then this can be done by using the Alt_K 'hot' key if you are running BGFT, or by typing 'BGFT /K' from the DOS prompt assuming that you left BGFT earlier. To assist with the process of dialing, BGFT has a dialing directory. The dialing directory can be accessed from terminal mode via the main menu (Alt_D) or directly via the Alt_P 'hot' key. You can select a dialing entry as described in 1) below. Pressing 'ENTER', or double clicking the left mouse button, will dial the number of the selected entry (if connected to a modem). The following operations are possible from the dialing directory dialog box: 70 5.7.1 Selecting a Dialing Entry ------------------------------- - Use the up and down arrow keys to move from one entry to another. - Use the 'PgUp' and 'PgDn' keys, on the key pad, to move one page up or down one page at a time. - Use the 'Home' key, on the key pad, to move to the first entry in the directory. - Use the 'End' key, on the key pad, to move to the last entry in the directory. - Drag the highlight cursor using the left mouse button. - Use the mouse on the vertical scroll bar. - By typing the first digit of the dialing entry number (not to be confused with the actual telephone number), a window pops up showing the digit typed. By completing the number and pressing 'ENTER', the entry with the given number is selected. On entering a number out of range, a message to this effect will be displayed. - Use of the <Find> button will display a pop up window that allows specification of a character string to be search for (in the forward direction); the search is case sensitive. The dialing entry which contains the first occurrence of the given string will be selected; wild cards are not supported. Use the right arrow key to display additional information contained in the dialing directory. The password for the computer to be logged on to can be seen in this way. Use the left arrow key to return to the original display. If you are employing a mouse, the horizontal scroll bar can be used instead of the left/right arrow keys. Pressing 'ESC' gets you back to terminal mode. 5.7.2 Editing Dialing Entries ----------------------------- The selected (highlighted) dialing entry can be edited by using the <Edit> button. A dialog box, identical to that used when creating new entries, allows editing of all the fields of the highlighted dialing entry. On using the <OK> button, you will be prompted to determine if you wish to make your changes permanent by writing the modified dialing directory to disk. 71 5.7.3 Adding Entries -------------------- A dialing entry can be added by using the <Add> button. The new dialing entry is inserted immediately after the selected (highlighted) dialing directory entry. On initiating the 'Add' option, a dialog box pops up requesting the following information: Name: Use the 'name' field to make it easy to identify the telephone number. Keywords may be used to facilitate the search feature. Number: The telephone number may include the characters: '(', ')' and '-' to assist with readability. The characters, 'W' and 'R', are also allowed by some modem manufacturers and are permissible. Password: This is optional since it is not used except for your own information. It should be the password that you will have to use when you log on to the remote computer system. Baud: BGFT allows 300, 1200, 2400, 4800, 9600, 19200, 38400 and 57600 baud rates. Try to connect to the remote system with the highest baud rate possible if you do not want to limit your speed. Terminal: This allows you to store, in the dialing directory, the type of terminal emulation you require. This means that when you dial a particular number, BGFT will automatically set the terminal emulation to the one specified by this field. The valid choices are: NONE, ANSI, VT100, and VT52. Data bits: Choose '7' or '8' (default). Stop bits: Choose '1' (default) or '2'. Parity: Choose 'N' for None (default), 'E' for Even, 'O' for Odd, 'M' for Mark, or 'S' for Space. On using the <OK> button, you will be prompted to see if you wish to make your changes permanent by writing the modified dialing directory to disk. 5.7.4 Removing Entries ---------------------- The dialing entry under the highlighted cursor bar can be deleted by using the <Delete> button. On using the <OK> button, you will be prompted to see if you wish to make your changes permanent by writing the modified dialing directory to disk. If you do not save your changes to disk 72 they will remain in memory only until you leave the dialing. 5.7.5 Dialing an Entry ---------------------- Select the desired dialing directory entry as described in 1) above. To dial the highlighted entry press 'ENTER', or double click the highlighted entry using the left mouse button, or use the <Dial> button. On initiating dialing an information window pops up to allow you to confirm that you have dialed the desired number. Assuming that the modem is appropriately set up, then you will hear it start to dial. At this time one of the following may be done: - Wait until the resident part beeps to inform that a connection has been made. You may also hear the familiar sound that the modem makes, if the modem speaker is enabled, also telling you that a connection has been made. The information window automatically clears and terminal mode is entered. You would normally press 'ENTER' until the remote computer issues the log-on identification prompt. Some systems respond without any user action. - Press any key (except 'ESC') to clear the information window; this takes you to the terminal mode screen. Terminal mode will be disabled but it will automatically be enabled once the connection has been made. The advantage of going straight to terminal mode, as de- scribed above, is that you can now make use of some of BGFT's features (via the Alt_Keys or menus) while dialing continues in background. For example, you could select the 'Files' menu and prepare some files for uploading and so not waste time waiting for the connection to be made. - Type 'Alt_X' and leave BGFT and then run some other application program while dialing continues in background. This background ability is what makes BGFT significant. It is very convenient to have a background dialing capability if you are trying to connect to a busy BBS. Most application programs these days allow you to temporarily return to DOS without quitting the application. This is called "Shelling to DOS". When you hear the resident part beep, to tell you that the connection has been made, you can, if your system has sufficient spare memory, temporarily leave your application and then re-run BGFT from the DOS prompt. For example, you can run a DOS shell from your application program and then use BGFT to log-on to a remote computer and initiate file transfers, then leave BGFT and 'EXIT' back to your applications 73 program, carrying on from where you left off. BGFTres will take care of your file transfers in background. - Type 'Alt_J' and suspend BGFT.EXE to run other applications from the DOS prompt. You can EXIT back to BGFT when the connection is made.; this is not the preferred mode. It is better to leave BGFT using Alt_X because in this way you will free up the maximum amount of memory for other applications. - Pressing 'ESC' will cause dialing to be terminated. This is useful if you have inadvertently dialed the wrong number. 5.7.6 Kill Background Dialing ----------------------------- Termination of background dialing can be done in three ways: 1) Background dialing may be terminated at any time while running BGFT by using the Alt_K 'hot' key. 2) It may also be terminated by selecting the 'Kill Dialing' option from the 'Dial' pull down menu. 3) If you have exited BGFT and you wish to terminated back- ground dialing, simply run BGFT with the '/K' command line option: BGFT /K This will instruct the resident part to terminate dialing and will automatically exit BGFT. 5.7.7 Resident's Status Window ------------------------------ The resident part displays specific dialing information in the upper right hand corner (default location of the BGFT window), while it performs the task of background dialing. The following is a explanation of the displayed codes: WAIT: dialing is in progress, PAUS: dialing has timed out, the resident part will wait 'time between calls' seconds and then redial, DIAL: dialing is being re-initiated, STOP: dialing was terminated using one of the following, 'ESC' from the dialing information window, the Alt_K 'hot' key, or the /K command line option. 74 5.8 Background File Transfer ---------------------------- BGFT supports uploads and downloads for: Zmodem: This is the most popular batch file transfer protocol and, due to its high reliability, is the protocol of choice for BGFT. Ymodem-Batch: This is also known as DSZ-Ymodem. This protocol allows for multiple file transfers and its implementation in BGFT is excellent. Xmodem-CRC: This is the classic CRC version of the Xmodem protocol which sends 128 byte packets. No checksum is done by BGFT as it is much less reliable than CRC checking, so it was not included. Xmodem-CRC is sometimes known as just Xmodem. BGFT will report packets sent in terms of 1K sizes. Xmodem-1K: This is the one Kilobyte (1024 byte) packet version of Xmodem-CRC. Xmodem-1K is sometimes referred to as Ymodem. Since the resident part of BGFT uses a file buffer, it is occasionally necessary to do some file buffer 'housekeeping'. This means that before uploading, the DOS files to be uploaded must be moved into the file buffer and, after downloading, the files must be moved from the file buffer to DOS files. 5.8.1 The File Buffer --------------------- BGFT uses the concept of a file buffer to avoid having to access DOS during file transfer When downloading, the data received is copied into the file buffer. After downloading is completed, the files in the file buffer may be copied into regular DOS files, on your drive/directory of choice, through the use of the 'Save Downloaded Files' option from the 'File' pull down menu. For uploading, the files must first be copied into the file buffer, with the 'Prepare Files For Upload' command, before the upload is initiated. The file buffer may either be on the C: hard drive (preferred), or on either floppy drive A: or B:. When using a floppy drive as the file buffer, that drive becomes unavailable for use by other programs. The floppy drive can be made temporarily available for other programs as described in Section 5.9.1. 75 5.8.2 Background File Downloading --------------------------------- There are four background file transfer protocols available for downloading: Zmodem, Ymodem-Batch, Xmodem-CRC and Xmodem-1K. Section 3.2 described the basic operations to enable your computer to accept downloads with BGFT. When the host computer is ready to download files to your computer, choose the corresponding protocol set up on the host by pressing the 'PgDn' key and then select the same protocol from the pull down menu list. When using Zmodem with the auto-download feature enabled it is not necessary to select the protocol using 'PgDn'. If you are using a floppy drive as the file buffer, be sure that your floppy drive door is shut and the drive contains a BGFT initialized diskette when you want to do file transfers. The Zmodem and Ymodem-Batch protocols are similar; they are both multiple (batch) file transfer protocols. Zmodem can be viewed as being more sophisticated than Ymodem-Batch. For example, Zmodem has a powerful feature that allows a file transfer to be resumed after some interruption. For example, imagine you are transferring a large file, say 1 megabyte, and a power interruption occurs aborting the transfer just before the transfer is complete. For Ymodem-Batch, you would have to go back to the beginning and transfer the file all over again. For Zmodem you simply re-connect and start the transfer again. However, this time the file transfer will start from where you left off, that is, it is smart enough to know that you have transferred most of the file already. This makes Zmodem very suitable for transferring large files over noisy telephone lines. Zmodem's automatic download start feature is not part of the Ymodem-Batch protocol. Partial Zmodem files are identified by a 'a' in the listing of the file buffer directory. When using Zmodem or Ymodem-Batch, it is important to keep in mind the size of the file buffer. If BGFT receives a file that will overflow the file buffer, it halts the transfer and shows an error on the status display. If attempting to download with Zmodem (auto-download disabled) or Ymodem-Batch a file that already exists in the file buffer, the file will be saved with a modified name. The modified name is formed by using punctuation to replace the first character of the file name. Thus the name used is recognizable and the original file is not overwritten. The 76 sequence of characters used to replace the first character of the file name is: '$', '#', '&', '@', '!', '{', '}', '~'. Only eight levels of renaming are available; however, this should be more than enough in most cases. If Xmodem-CRC or Xmodem-1K is selected, then BGFT will prompt for the file name to be used; if BGFT's 'guess' at the file name is all right, which it is if the file name was the last 'word' typed, just hit 'ENTER' to accept it. If the file name was not the last 'word' typed, simply use the up arrow key to show the previous 'words'. Continue until you find the required file name. You may also edit the displayed 'word' if desired; use Alt_Z to show the editing details. 5.8.3 Manually Moving Downloaded Files -------------------------------------- To move downloaded files manually from the file buffer to a DOS file, select the 'File' option from the main menu. On selecting the 'Save Downloaded Files' file option from the pull down menu, a dialog box appears that allows you to easily select the drive and directory that you wish to move the downloaded files to. 5.8.4 Automatically Moving Downloaded Files ------------------------------------------- The easiest way to move files from the file buffer is simply to type Alt_Q from Terminal Mode. This is equivalent to tagging all the downloaded files in the file buffer and moving them to the default download directory. 5.8.5 ASCII File Downloading ---------------------------- The ASCII protocol is provided for the convenience of transferring small text files. For example, you can prepare a text message off-line and save it in a DOS file. Then, use ASCII upload to insert that text directly into a message when you are using a message editor on a BBS. The ASCII protocol is a foreground protocol, that is, it is only active when you are running BGFT.EXE. Furthermore, the ASCII protocol does not have any form of error checking. So if the telephone line is noisy, spurious characters may show up in the transmitted text. If you need accurate transfer of information, you should use one of the other protocols, as they all have error checking capabilities. 77 5.8.6 Preparing Files For Uploading ----------------------------------- There are four background file transfer protocols available for uploading: Zmodem, Ymodem-Batch, Xmodem-CRC and Xmodem- 1K. Uploads from your computer are initiated by pressing the 'PgUp' key, or via the 'Transfer' menu, and protocols are chosen in a similar fashion to downloading. The receiving computer should have been prepared to receive the files with the same protocol which is used to send files. To prepare files for uploading, first go to the 'File' pull down menu using the Alt_F from terminal mode; select the 'Prepare Files For Upload' option. At this point a dialog box appears. This dialog box enables you to select a given drive/directory and then to copy selected files to the file buffer. Having selected the chosen drive/directory, go to the file list and, using the arrow keys or the mouse, highlight a file that you wish to upload. Then press 'SPACE', or double click with the left mouse button, to tag the file (note the '*' tag). Repeat this for all the files you wish to upload and then use the <Copy> button to instruct BGFT to copy the tagged files into the file buffer. Up to 31 files may be tagged. BGFT will display the status of the files as it copies them to the file buffer. The moved files may have different file sizes than the originals; this is merely a result of transferring files in 512 byte packets and will have no impact on the files themselves. To check that you have copied all the files that you intended, select the 'File Buffer' option from the 'View' menu. The files contained in the file buffer will then be displayed. Files tagged ready for upload are marked with a 'u'. If, for some reason, the file buffer contains files that were previously downloaded, then they will be tagged with a 'd' or an 'a'. Zmodem and Ymodem-Batch protocols will upload all the files marked 'u' in the file buffer. This is a handy feature for uploads in using the file buffer; Zmodem transfers will start automatically if configured for it. If you decide that you do not need to upload all the files that you placed in the file buffer, after all, then the unwanted files may be delete files as described below: 1) Select the 'File Buffer' option from the 'View' menu to view the files in the file buffer. 78 2) Move the cursor bar to highlight the file you wish to delete. 3) Press 'SPACE', or double click the left mouse button, to tag the file. 4) Repeat 3) to tag all files you wish to delete. 5) Use the <Delete> button to initiate the deletion. BGFT responds by asking you if you are sure that you wish to delete the tagged files, type 'Y', or use the mouse. After a brief pause, the files are deleted and an examination of the file buffer list confirms that the unwanted files have been removed. 6) Press 'ESC' to return to terminal mode. If you deleted files then an information window will appear to inform you that the file buffer is being reorganized. This reorganization is done so that the file buffer is optimized for file transfer. This may take some time if the file buffer contains many large files. 5.8.7 Background File Uploading ------------------------------- There are four file transfer protocols available for background uploading: Zmodem, Ymodem-Batch, Xmodem-CRC, Xmodem-1K. Before negotiating an upload with the host, you must copy the files to be uploaded into the file buffer; see Section 5.8.7. If Zmodem or Ymodem-Batch is used, then all files marked for upload will be uploaded. If one of the Xmodem upload protocols is used, then the files must be specified individually; you will be prompted for the file names at the appropriate time. 5.8.8 ASCII Uploads ------------------- ASCII upload is only for text files. Non-text files should be uploaded with one of the other protocols provided with BGFT. ASCII uploads are done in the foreground, that is, BGFT.EXE must be running. To initiate ASCII upload, press 'PgUp' and then select ASCII from the protocol pull down menu list. A dialog box pops up to enable you to easily select a file from any drive/directory on your computer. Select the desired file and initiate the upload by using the <Open> button. BGFT will beep when the transfer has been completed. If ASCII upload is initiated when using an editor on a remote computer, then the uploaded text will display on the screen. 79 ASCII upload is useful because it enables preparation of messages off-line and then to upload it directly into a remote computers message editor. This way you avoid using on-line time to compose messages. ASCII uploads can be terminated by pressing 'ESC'. 5.8.9 Acknowledge Communication Errors -------------------------------------- Occasionally, transmission errors will occur that will terminate a file transfer or prevent a file transfer from being successfully initiated. These errors could, for example, be due to a poor quality telephone line connection or due to running a poorly behaved applications program while you are running background file transfers. Errors are identified by the error codes displayed in the resident part's status window (BGFT window); these codes are listed in Section 4.5. Explanation of errors is also available on-line by means of the 'Information' pull down menu. The errors appear in the form '!!n' where 'n' is a single digit. To acknowledge an error, select the 'Acknowledge Errors' option from the 'Transfer' pull down menu. The resident part's status display will clear and show the familiar 'BGFT'. If you re-enter terminal mode after an error condition has occurred, then BGFT will automatically acknowledge errors. In the event of a Zmodem or Ymodem-Batch upload abort, you will get a time-out condition which may last for an extended period (approximately one minute); you will not be able to acknowledge this error during this period, since it is not yet a hard error. If you are in a rush, then you will have to 'Kill' (see Section 5.7.6) the transfer to get the 'hard' error condition. The 'Kill Transfer' transfer option, from the 'Transfer' pull down menu, automatically acknowledges the 'hard' error condition that generates it. You will not be able to access the file buffer until any errors have been acknowledged. 5.8.10 Ending Transmission -------------------------- If you are transferring files and you wish to 'Kill' the transfer, then select the 'Kill Transfer' option from the 'Transfer' pull down menu. 80 5.9 Utility Functions --------------------- Utility functions can be accessed via the 'Utility' menu using Alt_U, or the mouse. The following functions are available: 5.9.1 Turning the Resident Off ------------------------------ The most common use of this option occurs when a floppy drive is being used as the file buffer: in this case, when the resident part is active it takes full control of the chosen floppy drive, even if you have exited BGFT and are not transferring files. This means that if you try to use the drive for any other purpose, such as using the DOS format command, it will be unavailable and DOS will report an error. To enable you to use the drive, you can turn the resident part off using the 'Turn Resident OFF' option. Normal functioning of BGFT cannot be achieved unless the resident part is re-enabled. Re-enabling the resident part can be done by selecting the 'Turn Resident OFF ' option again, or simply by re-running BGFT. BGFT automatically enables the resident part when ever you run it. It may be necessary to disable the resident part when you are not running BGFT. For example, suppose that you were using BGFT for file transfers earlier in the day and now you have a need to use the floppy drive for some other purpose. Rather than run BGFT, and go to the 'Utility' menu to turn the resident off, you can toggle the resident part from the command line using the '/R' option. Use: BGFT /R The resident part may also be activated/suspended using Alt_A from terminal mode. 5.9.2 Initialize the File Buffer -------------------------------- BGFT uses a file buffer when either uploading or downloading files. Furthermore, BGFT uses a non-standard format for the files in the file buffer, so that it is necessary to use BGFT to initialize the file buffer before use. This needs to be done only once. In the case you are using a hard drive file buffer, the buffer will have been initialized when it was created by BGFTFB.EXE, that is, during the install procedure. However, you can re-initialize it again any time you like; sometimes you may find this a convenient way to clean out ALL files in the buffer (when you are sure you do not need them). 81 In the case that you are using a floppy diskette for the file buffer, BGFT has a number of features designed to reduce the likelihood of accidentally initializing a regular DOS formatted diskette. If by chance you do manage to initialize a DOS formatted diskette containing files that you wish to keep, all is not lost. The utility, BGFTFLPY.EXE, allows you to recover an inadvertently initialized diskette. WARNING: only error free diskettes can be used with BGFT. To initialize a diskette, simply place a error free DOS formatted diskette into the selected floppy disk drive, then select the 'Initialize File Buffer' option. If the diskette has not previously been initialized you will be prompted to confirm that you wish to continue. If the diskette has previously been initialized then initialization will occur without further prompting providing that it does not contain any files. If BGFT is, for some reason, unable to initialize the disk- ette, then an information window will appear instructing you on how to proceed. This happens if the floppy drive is left open, for example. 5.9.3 Modem Initialization -------------------------- By selecting the 'Modem Initialization' option, the modem initialization string is sent to the modem. This option is only available if you are not using the direct connection option and the line is not connected. This option is useful for re-setting the modem in the case that you have changed the modem settings (possibly by running some other communications software which may have some other modem setup requirements). The same modem commands are used when you run BGFT for the first time after turning your computer on. 5.9.4 Status of the BGFT Window ------------------------------- Occasionally you may find that the resident part's status window, which normally displays the 'BGFT' code, is not desired and that you would like to turn it off. A good example is if you are using a screen capture program; in that case you would capture the 'BGFT' as well. To toggle the resident status display on/off, select the 'Status' option. This will not affect transfer operations. You can also toggle the status display from terminal mode using Alt_W. 82 5.9.5 Relocate the BGFT Window ------------------------------ Selecting 'Relocate BGFT' from the 'Setup' pull down menu allows relocation of the status BGFT window along the top line of the screen. This can be used so that both the BGFT window and some other concurrently running software will not conflict with the top right hand corner, the default BGFT position. The BGFT display can be turned off with Alt_W from the terminal mode; see also Section 5.9.4. Use the left and right arrow keys, or mouse, to drag the BGFT display along the top of the screen. Press 'ENTER' when you have reached the location you want, or 'ESC' to keep the old position. 5.9.6 Clear the Terminal Mode Screen ------------------------------------ This option clears the terminal mode screen. 5.10 The Clipboard ------------------ The purpose of the clipboard is to provide a mechanism by which text can be copied from either the terminal mode or the scroll back buffer screen; then to edit this text using the clipboard editor, and then re-directed it back to the remote computer. This is useful for replying to messages or for selecting specific text to be used to reply to prompts from the remote computer system without having to do a lot of typing. 5.10.1 Copying Text From Terminal Mode Screen --------------------------------------------- First of all you must 'select' the text from the terminal mode screen that you wish to copy to the clipboard. Make sure the Num_Lock key is off. If using the keyboard use 'Shift_F5' to switch into 'select' mode. Now use the arrow keys to move the cursor to the beginning of the block to be marked. Then use Shift_Arrow_key to start highlighting the desired text. If text is highlighted then you can use Shift_Arrow_key to extend the selection, any other key will clear the highlighted text. If using a mouse then use Shift + dragging of the left mouse button to make the selection. To copy the selected text to the clipboard editor simply use 'Ctrl_Ins'. To check that the selected text was copied 83 to the clipboard, select the 'Clipboard' option from the 'View' menu. 5.10.2 Copying Text From Scroll Back Buffer Screen -------------------------------------------------- First of all you must 'select' the text from the scroll back buffer screen that you wish to copy to the clipboard. If using the keyboard use 'Shift_F5' to switch into 'select' mode. Now use the arrow keys to move the cursor to the beginning of the block to be marked. Then use Shift_Arrow_key to start highlighting the desired text. If text is highlighted then you can use Shift_Arrow_key to extend the selection, any other key will clear the highlighted text. If using a mouse then use simply drag the left mouse button to make the selection. To copy the selected text to the clipboard editor use 'Ctrl_Ins'. To check that the selected text was copied to the clipboard, select the 'clipboard' option from the 'View' menu. 5.10.3 The Clipboard Menu ------------------------- The clipboard is accessed by means of the 'Clipboard' option from the 'View' pull down menu. On selecting the 'Clipboard' option, the clipboard screen appears with the clipboard pull down menu at the top. The menu options include: File: Selection of this item using Alt_F, or the mouse, pulls down a menu list with the following operations: Open A File: Imports a given file into the clipboard editor. Save To A File: Saves the contents of the clipboard editor to a DOS file. Send Clipboard To A Port: Send the test from the clipboard editor to the port for transmission to the remote computer. If text is selected then BGFT prompts to see if only the selected text should be sent; otherwise the entire contents of the clipboard are sent. Return To Terminal Mode: Returns to terminal mode but retains the clipboard in memory. Edit: Selection of this item using Alt_E, or the mouse, pulls down a menu list with the following operations: 84 Cut: Cuts the selected text to a paste buffer, that is, the selected text is removed from the screen but remains in memory. Paste: Paste the text in the paste buffer to the current cursor location. Copy: Copies the selected text to the paste buffer but does not remove the selected text from the screen. Clear: Clears the entire contents of the clipboard editor. Search: Selection of this item using Alt_S, or the mouse, pulls down a menu list with the following operations: Search: Searches the clipboard editor for a given string of text. Replaces: Replaces a given string of text with another string. Search Again: Allows searching again for another occurrence of a text string that was previously specified with the 'Search' menu. Help: Selection of this item using Alt_H, or the mouse, pulls down a menu list with the following operations: Cursor Movement Commands: Shows how to move around the clipboard editor, that is, PgUp Page up PgDn Page down Arrow up Up one line Arrow down Down one line Home Beginning of the line End End of line Arrow right Right one character Arrow left Left one character Ctrl_Home Beginning of clipboard Ctrl_End End of clipboard Ctrl_R Page up Ctrl_C Page down Ctrl_E Up one line Ctrl_X Down one line Ctrl_Q R Beginning of clipboard Ctrl_Q C End of clipboard Ctrl_Q S Beginning of the line Ctrl_Q D End of line Ctrl_I Tab foreword Ctrl_Q I Tab backward Ctrl_F Foreword one word Ctrl_A Backward one word 85 Ctrl_D Right one character Ctrl_S Left one character Ctrl_Right arrow Foreword one word Ctrl_Left arrow Backward one word Block Commands: Shows how to select text, move, copy, delete blocks of text, that is, Shift arrow keys Mark block Ctrl_Q Y Delete to end of line Ctrl_Q B Delete to start of line Ctrl_Ins Copy block Shift_Del Shift_Ins Move block Del Delete block Shift_Del Cut block to paste buffer Drag mouse to highlight block. Cut and an paste operations can also be done using the Edit menu. Other Commands: Provides help on other features of the clipboard, that is, F2 Save clipboard contents to a file F3 Loads contents of a file into the clipboard F4 Search for text F5 Send contents of the clipboard to the COMM port Alt_Z Help ESC Returns to terminal mode Backspace Deletes character before the cursor position Ctrl_H Deletes character before the cursor position Del Deletes the character at the cursor position Ctrl_G Deletes the character at the cursor position Ctrl_T Deletes the word the cursor is on Ctrl_Y Deletes the line the cursor is on Ctrl_L Search again Ins Toggle insert mode Ctrl_V Toggle insert mode 5.11 The Scroll Back Buffer --------------------------- The purpose of the scroll back buffer is to save the contents of the terminal screen in such a way that it is easy to 'scroll' back to 'look' at the previous contents of the terminal mode screen. The scroll back buffer can be viewed by selecting the 'Scroll Back Buffer' option from the 'View' pull down menu or via Alt_B from terminal mode. The scroll back buffer is displayed in reverse colors so that it is easy to distinguish it from the active terminal mode screen. Once in the scroll back buffer display, it is possible to view the previous contents of the terminal mode screen using 'PgUp'. Keys such as 'PgDn', 'Home', 'End', up/down 86 arrow keys provide the expected responses to move backwards and forwards through the buffer. The size of the scroll buffer is under user control, as described in Section 5.5.4.5. Also, Alt_F enables saving the contents of the buffer to a file. This can be useful if a message you have just viewed from a BBS has scrolled off the screen but you desire to save it for later retrieval. As users of BGFT often "run" BGFT many times in a session, the user is able to configure BGFT so that it will automatically save the scroll back buffer on exiting. This is done in such away that when you re-run BGFT it restores the scroll buffer as you left it. For example, if the last time you were logged on to a BBS and you had been viewing a list of files, then the next time you run BGFT, say a couple of days later, you can display the scroll buffer and still see the list of files. This feature of being able to "see" some of your previous session, in the scroll buffer, provides you with considerable continuity from one session to another. You can also copy selected text from the scroll buffer window to the clipboard; this is described in Section 5.10. 5.12 Screen Capture ------------------- The purpose of screen capture is to continuously "Echo" the text that appears on the terminal mode screen to a file. In this way, a record of an entire session can be saved. Screen capture is initiated by means of the 'Echo To A File' option from the 'File' pull down menu, or Alt_G. On activation of this option, a 'Save File' dialog box pops up to allow you to specify the name of the file to put the screen contents to, and the drive/directory in which to store the file. Screen capture stays active until the option is re-selected or you exit BGFT. 5.13 BGFT Status ---------------- The BGFT status display can be displayed from the 'View' pull down menu, using 'BGFT Status', or via Alt_N from anywhere in BGFT. On selecting the 'BGFT Status' information option, BGFT will display a window that shows the status of a number of key parameters. In particular, it will show BGFT in one of the following states: DORMANT: denotes that the resident part is 'idling' and ready to accept commands from BGFT. 87 RECEIVE: denotes that the resident part is downloading into the file buffer. TRANSMIT: denotes that the resident is uploading from the file buffer. SYNCHRONIZING: is an intermediate state associated with RECEIVE and TRANSMIT. ERROR: denotes that the resident part is in an error state associated with a 'hard' error condition. On ac- knowledging this error state the resident part will return to the DORMANT state. WAIT: denotes that the resident part is waiting for a re- try condition to clear. Also displayed is the progress of the current file being transferred. 5.14 Alt_Key Summary -------------------- An 'Alt_Key' combination, Alt_X, is performed by pressing the 'Alt' key and then the given key 'X' (or 'x') together momentarily. BGFT.EXE provides both menus and Alt_Key combination to navigate through the user interface program. The Alt_Key combinations are used to provide a fast alternative to the menu system and can be viewed as 'accelerator' keys. There are two kinds of these 'accelerator' keys: 5.14.1 'Hot' Keys ----------------- In particular, BGFT provides the following 'hot' keys, which have the same function wherever they are applied: Alt_J to Jump to a DOS shell. Alt_K to Kill background dialing. Alt_N to give Information on BGFTres status. Alt_X to eXit BGFT to DOS without hanging up the line. 5.14.2 'Warm' Keys ------------------ Warm keys are keys that are active only within a given context. For example, Alt_Z gives context sensitive help. BGFT provides on-line help to give the following 'warm' key information on-line. 88 Terminal Mode: Alt_A to suspend/Activate the resident part. Alt_B to show the scroll Back buffer. Alt_C to Clear the screen. Alt_D for Dialing menu options. Alt_E for clipboard Editor. Alt_F for File menu options. Alt_G to echo (Grab) the screen to a disk file. Alt_H to Hang up the telephone line. Alt_I for the Information menu options. Alt_L to List the file buffer directory. Alt_M to show the main Menus. Alt_O for an Overview of BGFT operation. Alt_P for Phone directory. Alt_Q to Quickly auto-move file buffer files to default download DOS directory. Alt_S to Setup menu options. Alt_T for Transfer menu options. Alt_U for Utility menu options. Alt_V for View menu options. Alt_W to toggle the BGFT status Window. Alt_Z to give context sensitive help. PgUp to upload files. PgDn to download files. Shift_F5 highlight terminal screen for clipboard. (Do not have the Num Lock key on). 89 6.0 Operation of User Interface: BGFTOPT.EXE -------------------------------------------- Section 5 described the operation of the main BGFT user interface, BGFT.EXE. It is user friendly and full of useful features. There are times when a smaller user interface is needed; the program, BGFTOPT.EXE, is used in this case. The primary use of this would be for installing the background file transfer capabilities of BGFT as an add-on to other telecommunication products. BGFT is 'open' in this regard; it allows you to choose your preferred interface. BGFT can migrate with you when you change from one program to another. This Section will describe how to use BGFTOPT.EXE as an add-on to other communication programs such as PROCOMM PLUS, Qmodem, Telemate, or Telix. The operational details of the BGFT interface utility, BGFTOPT.EXE, are explained at the end of this Section. 6.1 External Protocols ---------------------- Most of the popular telecommunications programs such as PROCOMM PLUS, Qmodem, or Telix do not have the background capabilities of BGFT. However, BGFT can be easily used with them as an external protocol to provide it. The standalone user interface, BGFT.EXE, is not used to do this; the program, BGFTOPT.EXE, allows the installation of BGFT as an external protocol. BGFT's supported download or upload protocols are Zmodem, Ymodem-Batch, Xmodem-CRC, and Xmodem-1K. Each can be used as an external protocol and run in the background to do the file transfers. The basic idea to using BGFT as an external protocol with other telecommunication programs is to use the script capabilities of those programs. One of the main requirements to do this is that the script be capable of exiting the host telecommunications program without hanging up the telephone. The communication link must be left open so that BGFT can use it. Some programs will use BGFT better in a script file than as an installed external protocol; it is a matter of what works best with the chosen telecommunications package. Example scripts are provided with the BGFT package for PROCOMM PLUS, Qmodem, and Telix. These are offered as models on which to build either new scripts for other programs or as a basis for newer program releases of the ones provided. These programs sometimes change in ways that 90 require editing of the scripts; Dirac Systems will not necessarily update the scripts just because there are newer revisions of other products. Users are encouraged to construct or update scripts and make them available for others on your local BBS. The examples show how BGFTOPT.EXE can be used and how file names are passed for various programs and transmission protocols. For example, Xmodem requires a manual input for file names while Ymodem-Batch and Zmodem pass them as part of the protocol. You will find BGFTOPT.EXE to be a versatile program and you will be able to think of many other specialized uses for it. For example, background dialers can easily be set up. Remember that BGFTOPT.EXE was made so that it can work with other programs without taking up a lot of room. So be careful in its use since it does not contain all the user friendly safety nets of BGFT.EXE. It will be useful when you have repetitive tasks that are well known. 6.2 General Considerations -------------------------- The use of BGFT with other programs is easy. The basic steps are: Preliminary: - the file buffer should have been initialized (done on creation with hard drive version of BGFTres.COM, manually on floppy drive version). - the scripts edited to refer to your modem's port and normal baud rate. - if BGFT was not installed with INSTALL.EXE then the BGFTINIT.BAT file must be edited to put in your communications port and default baud rate. On turning on your computer: - choose the BGFTres.COM for the file buffer that you want. - have BGFTres.COM loaded before running any programs. - run BGFTINIT.BAT once to initialize BGFTres.COM. Setting up the transfer: - use your telecommunications program and set up the file transfer. - run the BGFT script to do the file transfer in background. - use your computer for other things while BGFT does the transfer. 91 After the transfer: - use the 'BGFTOPT /f*.*' command (or BGFT.EXE) to move the BGFT transferred files to the DOS directory from the file buffer. - use the telecommunications program to continue with the host. When running BGFT as an add-on to other telecommunication programs there are a few general rules to follow. The Installation procedure, Section 4.1, copies the required files to various directories for using BGFTOPT.EXE with other telecommunication programs. For example, if you are using PROCOMM PLUS, then all the ASP script files should be in its \PCPLUS directory. BGFTOPT.EXE should also be available for use by being in the telecommunication program's directory or in a directory of your computer's PATH environment variable. BGFT allows you to use your computer's hard C: drive, floppy A: drive or floppy B: drive as a file buffer. This should have been set up already. The correct BGFT resident program, BGFTres.COM, is required for the particular file buffer. Use the resident program, BGFTHDZM.COM, when using a hard drive file buffer and BGFTFDZM.COM when using a floppy drive file buffer. Be sure that BGFTres.COM is loaded before any other program is run. Typically BGFTres.COM is loaded when you boot your computer so that it is in memory, ready for use at any time. See Section 4.4 on how to load the resident part of BGFT and how it should be put into your AUTOEXEC.BAT file; the INSTALL.EXE program should have done this for you. If you ran the installation program, it would have updated the provided batch file, BGFTINIT.BAT, with the communication port and baud rate normally used as chosen by you. If you did not use the BGFT installation program then the file, BGFTINIT.BAT, must be edited, prior to use, with an ASCII editor to specify your modem's normal communication port number and baud rate. The file has the following arbitrary defaults: the communication port is 1 and the baud rate is 1200. The batch file is then used only once during a computer session to initialize BGFT. This makes sure that BGFT is set up properly. It MUST be done in spite of the fact that most scripts will perform similar functions. Run the batch file by entering, BGFTINIT.BAT BGFTINIT.BAT uses the command: BGFTOPT /r1 /b1200 92 which tells BGFTres.COM to use communications port 1 at a baud rate of 1200. BGFTOPT.EXE uses a number of such command line switches (BGFT OPTions); see the details in Section 6.7. The USER DEFINED data for communication port used and baud rate must be edited in the script files with an ASCII editor. This will make the script agree with the baud rate you have told the host computer to download at. The baud rate may be different than what you used in BGFTINIT.BAT. However, the communication port must be the same as initialized with BGFTINIT.BAT. The scripts correspond to two types of transfer: download and upload. For each, there is a corresponding transmission protocol: Xmodem-CRC, Xmodem-1K, Ymodem-Batch, and Zmodem. BGFTOPT.EXE uses more command line switches to communicate the choice of protocol to the resident program. Each script shows how it is set up in the corresponding script language. Downloaded files are put into the file buffer by the resident program during the transfer. If you are uploading files then you must manually move files from the DOS directory to the file buffer. You may use BGFT.EXE or BGFTOPT.EXE. The resident knows where the file buffer is so you need not specify it. For example, to copy the file, TEST.TXT, in the present DOS directory to the file buffer for uploading you would enter BGFTOPT /mTEST.TXT All the preliminaries and edits should have been accomplished. You can now run your other telecommunication program for the first time. Use it as you normally would. Set up your download or upload with the host. Each script is run in a particular manner depending on the telecommunication program. There are descriptions below for PROCOMM PLUS, Qmodem and Telix. WHEN TRANSFERRING FILES WITH BGFT, DO NOT RUN THE TELECOMMUNICATIONS PROGRAM OR YOU WILL GET THE TRANSMISSION ON THE SCREEN INSTEAD OF THE FILE BUFFER. THIS CAN RUIN A TRANSMISSION BY CAUSING A TIME OUT. Most programs are not aware of BGFT; the BGFT user interface program, BGFT.EXE, is, of course. After the transfers are over you can use the telecommunication program again in terminal mode to communicate with the host. You may use BGFT.EXE instead, if 93 you wish. There is also a basic terminal emulator in BGFTOPT.EXE itself. If you downloaded files, use BGFT.EXE to move your files to the desired DOS directory where you want to use them. See Section 5.8.3. You may use BGFTDIR.COM to get a file listing of the BGFT file buffer. Each file has a designator: - 'd' means the file was downloaded with BGFT. - 'u' means the file is in the file buffer ready for upload with BGFT. - 'a' means the file was interrupted in a Zmodem transfer. Upon recovery it will be marked as complete (either 'd' or 'u'). 6.3 Using BGFT with Telix ------------------------- Be sure that the BGFT resident and file buffer are set up correctly as described in Section 6.2. You must have run BGFTINIT.BAT. Background file transfer using BGFT with Telix is accomplished by means of the provided Telix SALT scripts. These scripts provide for the selection of a BGFT file transfer protocol and initiation of BGFTOPT.EXE to start the background file transfer. Having done this, the scripts will then make Telix automatically exit to DOS without hanging up the telephone line. There are two ways to install BGFT protocols in the Telix external protocol list. One is manual, which is described next, and a more automatic way which is described later on. The following outlines how to manually install a Telix SALT script for using BGFT as an external protocol in Telix. The particular example is for Zmodem download. Please refer to the Telix SALT script in the file, BGFTDZTL.SLT. Change the port assignment and baud rate in the script to your set up where a USER DEFINED quantity is indicated. Use an ASCII editor. Compile the BGFT Zmodem download script file, BGFTDZTL.SLT, by using the Telix script compiler, CS.EXE; enter, CS BGFTDZTL This will produce the compiled script file, BGFTDZTL.SLC, for use in the Telix program. 94 From terminal mode in Telix enter 'Alt_O' for 'Configure Telix'. - Choose 'Terminal Options'. - Choose 'N' for Zmodem auto-downloads. - In response to "Allow Zmodem auto-downloads?" choose "No" by moving the right/left arrow keys and then 'ENTER'. This will stop Telix from auto downloading the file before BGFT does. - Choose 'Protocol Options'. - 'Change which setting?': Choose one of the four external protocol options provided for in Telix: 'A', 'B', 'C', or 'D'. - 'Key': When in the download operation, pressing this key will choose the protocol. The key should not be used elsewhere; for example, 'Z' is already used for the Telix internal 'Z'modem. Choose 'D', for example. The 'D' will be highlighted during the Telix download operation in the protocol name list: the 'D' in 'BGFTZMDM' (see the next paragraph). - 'Protocol name': This is what will show up in the list of protocols when you choose the download operation. Call it, 'BGFTZMDM'. - 'Upload file name': For this example, leave it blank. Normally it will be the corresponding upload script for the chosen BGFT Zmodem protocol (see the script, BGFTUZTL.SLT). - 'Download file name': Enter, 'BGFTDZTL' which is the BGFT download Zmodem protocol. This will be the compiled script made above. - 'BAT or Script': Choose 'Script' since BGFTDZTL.SLT operates as a script. - 'DL name': For Zmodem (or Ymodem-Batch), the protocol itself will pass the name of the file to the script so choose 'N'. (If you install Xmodem you will choose 'Y' for Yes since you want Telix to pass the name of the file to the script.) - ESC out of the screen and save the set up to disk by hitting 'W'. This get you back into Telix terminal mode. In Telix, tell the host to send the files desired by Zmodem download as you normally would. Then hit 'PgDn' in Telix to 95 set up to receive the files. Choose the BGFTZMDM protocol using arrows plus an 'ENTER' or by the Key ('D') defined above. The script will begin to give some messages, start the background transfer, and then exit the Telix program. You will be at the DOS prompt. You should see the BGFT window indicate normal transmission counts. Now you can do your work in foreground as the file is downloaded in background. After completion of the file transfer, you can use BGFT.EXE to move your files to some DOS directory. The files are ready to use. The installation of BGFT external protocols is only done once. They will be available to you each time you run Telix. This completes the manual installation. The more automatic procedure is described next. A number of utilities are included to automatically perform some of the functions needed to process the scripts or change the Telix configuration file, TELIX.CNF. The following files will be of use here: BGFTSLC.BAT Batch file to compile scripts. BGFTTELX.DAT Data file to append to TELIX.CNF. BGFTADD.BAT Batch file to update TELIX.CNF; uses BGFTTELX.DAT. The Telix SALT (script) compiler, CS.EXE, must exist in your Telix directory. In your Telix directory, enter BGFTSLC.BAT to compile all the SALT scripts for the BGFT external protocols for Telix. To automatically add the protocols to Telix, you can enter BGFTADD.BAT This appends the protocol information to TELIX.CNF so that the BGFT protocol will show up in the protocol list. It will also turn off the Telix auto-download feature so that it will not interfere with BGFT's Zmodem. Writing the Telix configuration file to disk (Alt_O command in Telix and 'W'rite set up to disk) will reorganize TELIX.CNF properly. You will install the external protocols as 'A', 'B', 'C', and 'D' under the names: 96 BGFTXMDM - install BGFTDXTL as Xmodem-CRC download. - install BGFTUXTL as Xmodem-CRC upload. BGFTIMDM - install BGFTDXTL as Xmodem-1K download. - install BGFTUITL as Xmodem-1K upload. BGFTYMDM - install BGFTDYTL as Ymodem-Batch download. - install BGFTUYTL as Ymodem-Batch upload. BGFTZMDM - install BGFTDZTL as Zmodem download. - install BGFTUZTL as Zmodem upload. If this is not desirable, for example, if you already use other external protocols as 'A', 'B', 'C', or 'D', then you must do the installation manually. If you do this automatic method then any former protocols are changed. When you do Alt_O and choose 'Protocols' in Telix you should see the following BGFT external protocols installed: Key Protocol Upload Download BAT or DL Name Filename Filename Script Name A.. B BGFTXMDM bgftuxtl bgftdxtl Script Y B.. I BGFTIMDM bgftuitl bgftdxtl Script Y C.. F BGFTYMDM bgftuytl bgftdytl Script N D.. D BGFTZMDM bgftuztl bgftdztl Script N When the file transfer has been completed, you may enter Telix again without disturbing the connection by entering: TELIX O (the 'O' tells Telix not to send the modem initialization string). Some modems respond to a 'break' character by switching to modem command mode. This will prevent BGFT from carrying out background file transfers. Telix appears to generate a 'break' when it exits; therefore, the modem should be set to ignore 'break' (this is usually possible, consult your modem manual). Uploads are done with files that are in the BGFT file buffer and not with those in the Telix default upload directory. Nevertheless, Telix will search its upload directory and will report that it found "No Matching File(s)" if the named file is not found. This is a recognized deficiency with Telix. Telix has to be tricked; the same files for BGFT upload in the file buffer must be 97 in the Telix upload directory, to keep both BGFT and Telix happy. See Section 6.7 for the complete description of the operation of BGFTOPT.EXE so that you can customize your own scripts. The following SALT scripts for Telix version 3.x have been included in the BGFT package for your use: BGFTDXTL.SLT Telix script for Xmodem-CRC/1K download. BGFTDYTL.SLT Telix script for Ymodem-Batch download. BGFTDZTL.SLT Telix script for Zmodem download. BGFTUXTL.SLT Telix script for Xmodem-CRC upload. BGFTUITL.SLT Telix script for Xmodem-1K upload. BGFTUYTL.SLT Telix script for Ymodem-Batch upload. BGFTUZTL.SLT Telix script for Zmodem upload. 6.4 Using BGFT with PROCOMM PLUS -------------------------------- Be sure that the BGFT resident and file buffer are set up correctly as described in Section 6.2. You must have run BGFTINIT.BAT. PROCOMM PLUS also has a good script language to allow BGFT's capabilities to be used. The following description outlines how to use BGFT's Zmodem download with a PROCOMM PLUS version 2 Aspect language script. Using a script to do the file transfer with BGFTOPT.EXE seems to be more convenient than using BGFT as an external protocol in PROCOMM PLUS. Please refer to the Aspect language script in the file, BGFTDZPC.ASP. The PROCOMM PLUS script, BGFTDZPC.ASP, should be in the \PCPLUS directory. The USER DEFINED data for communication port used and baud rate must be edited in the file with an ASCII editor. The script must be compiled if PROCOMM PLUS version 2 is used; an ASX file is produced. Get the remote system ready to download the chosen files to you with Zmodem. From your terminal mode in PROCOMM PLUS hit 'Alt_F5' to begin to set up the ASX file for running the file transfer. Hit RETURN to get a list of compiled ASX files. Choose BGFTDZPC.ASX with the up or down arrows keys and then enter your choice to do a Zmodem download. BGFTDZPC.ASX will initiate the download using the baud rate and communication port defined in the script file. The BYE command in the script will exit PROCOMM PLUS without hanging up; you will then be at the DOS prompt. The files(s) will be transferred 98 in the background by the BGFT resident program; you can use your computer for other purposes while this takes place. After the transfers are over you can use PROCOMM PLUS again in terminal mode to communicate with the host. You may use BGFT.EXE instead, if you wish. See Section 6.7 for the complete description of the operation of BGFTOPT.EXE so that you can customize your own scripts. The following Aspect scripts for PROCOMM PLUS version 2 have been included in the BGFT package for your use: BGFTDXPC.ASP PROCOMM script for Xmodem-CRC/1K download. BGFTDYPC.ASP PROCOMM script for Ymodem-Batch download. BGFTDZPC.ASP PROCOMM script for Zmodem download. BGFTUXPC.ASP PROCOMM script for Xmodem-CRC upload. BGFTUIPC.ASP PROCOMM script for Xmodem-1K upload. BGFTUYPC.ASP PROCOMM script for Ymodem-Batch upload. BGFTUZPC.ASP PROCOMM script for Zmodem upload. 6.5 Using BGFT with Qmodem -------------------------- Be sure that the BGFT resident and file buffer are set up correctly as described in Section 6.2. You must have run BGFTINIT.BAT. The following description outlines how to use BGFT's Zmodem download with a Qmodem SCR language script. Using a script to do the file transfer with BGFTOPT.EXE seems to be more convenient than using BGFT as an external protocol in Qmodem. Qmodem is a very simple program to interface to BGFT's capabilities. Qmodem has similar usage as PROCOMM PLUS. The version of Qmodem considered for script operation is 4.52. There are newer versions of Qmodem; you can adapt the scripts as necessary. The following outlines how to install a Zmodem download file transfer script for using BGFT in Qmodem. Please refer to the script in the file, BGFTDZQM.SCR. Change the port assignment and baud rate in the scripts to your set up where a USER DEFINED quantity is indicated. Use an ASCII editor. Get the remote system ready to download the chosen files with Zmodem. 99 From terminal mode in QMODEM hit 'Alt_F' to begin to set up the SCR file for running. Type in 'BGFTDZQM' for the script name to be run. Enter nothing for parameters to the script. BGFTDZQM.SCR will initiate the download using the baud rate and communication port defined in the script file. The 'SYSTEM X' command will exit QMODEM without hanging up; you will be at the DOS prompt. The files(s) will be transferred to the BGFT file buffer in the background so you can use your computer for other purposes while this takes place. After the transfers are over you can use Qmodem again in terminal mode to communicate with the host. You may use BGFT.EXE, if you wish. See Section 6.7 for the complete description of the operation of BGFTOPT.EXE so that you can customize your own scripts. The following SCR scripts for Qmodem version 4.x have been included in the BGFT package for your use: BGFTDXQM.SCR Qmodem script for Xmodem-CRC/1K download. BGFTDYQM.SCR Qmodem script for Ymodem-Batch download. BGFTDZQM.SCR Qmodem script for Zmodem download. BGFTUXQM.SCR Qmodem script for Xmodem-CRC upload. BGFTUIQM.SCR Qmodem script for Xmodem-1K upload. BGFTUYQM.SCR Qmodem script for Ymodem-Batch upload. BGFTUZQM.SCR Qmodem script for Zmodem upload. 6.6 Using BGFT with Telemate and Others --------------------------------------- Be sure that the BGFT resident and file buffer are set up correctly as described in Section 6.2. You must have run BGFTINIT.BAT. Although it is easy to write a Telemate Version 4 script to set up BGFT for background transfers, it will not work properly. BGFT will get the correct instructions but it appears that Telemate will regain control of the communication port from BGFT on exit of the script. Here is a work around solution which may also be used in other similar circumstances. Let's assume you want to do a Zmodem download and that your modem is on communication port 1 and will do the transfer at 2400 baud. Be sure to turn off the internal Telemate Zmodem auto-download feature so that BGFT can do its own. Set up the download with the BBS and then exit Telemate with Alt_X. You will be at the DOS prompt. You can enter the BGFT commands directly as: BGFTOPT /5 /A /R1 /B2400 /~5 /S Since BGFTOPT.EXE is not in quiet mode, it will give the following replies: 100 Turning resident part on. Acknowledging error. Reconnecting communication port 1. New baud rate: 2400. Zmodem download protocol. Starting file transfer. You could put the BGFTOPT command in a batch file and run it each time you needed it. For the other BGFT supported protocols you could create other batch files. After the transfers are over you can use Telemate again in terminal mode to communicate with the host. Since you are already on-line you should enter: TM /O so that the modem initialization string is not sent to the host. See Section 6.7 for the complete description of the operation of BGFTOPT.EXE so that you can customize your own batch files. 6.7 Command Mode Options Using BGFTOPT.EXE ------------------------------------------ BGFTOPT.EXE can be used in place of BGFT.EXE where a simple user interface is needed. For example, BGFTOPT.EXE would be used for installing BGFT external file transfer protocols in another communications package. BGFTOPT.EXE is used to send certain pertinent messages to the resident about the file transfer such as the chosen communication port, baud rate, and file name. The supplied files with file extension ASP, SCR and SLT give examples on how BGFTOPT is used to support background file transfers for external protocols in PROCOMM PLUS, Qmodem, and Telix. BGFTOPT.EXE is able to send and receive a number of messages from the resident part of BGFT. This is accomplished by using the command line switches that are provided. For example, suppose you are in the DOS shell and the 'BGFT' window indicated an error condition such as '!!1' due to the host canceling the transfer. This 'hard' error condition can be acknowledged by entering: BGFTOPT /A The '/A' is referred to as a switch (or BGFT OPTion) and is a DOS command line argument (input) to BGFTOPT.EXE. The case of the switch is not significant, so that '/a' would 101 produce the same result. The space is not required between BGFTOPT and the switch '/' symbol. However, there should not be a space between the '/' and the 'a'; for example, the combination '/ a', would be incorrect. Some of the switches can be chained, such as: BGFTOPT /a1 which would acknowledge any error and then hang up the phone. The chain is parsed from left to right. A chain starts with the '/' symbol. If quiet mode, '/q', is not switched on, then most switches will give a little message. For example, the '/a' switch will announce "Acknowledging error" plus an internal BGFTOPT reporting number which can be used to test for an error exit (in general, BGFTOPT will return with a '0' if no error occurs). The switch chain, '/qa', will not produce a message, for example. The chains can be broken with no effect such as in the case: BGFTOPT /a /a This is the same as if there was one switch chain, '/aa'. If the chain is broken then there must be at least one space separating each chain. Continuous chains can be used for the following set of symbols: ? a h i k q s t 1 4 5 6 9 This is shown in the usage prototype which appears when the help screen is produced by using the '/?' switch. The first part of it looks like: BGFTOPT[/?ahikqst14569 ] The square brackets indicate the any one of the symbols can be chained together in any logical fashion; they may be repeated. Sometimes broken chains must be used so that the command line parser can determine the correct instructions for BGFTOPT. The prototype above ends with a space just before the ']'; this indicates that the other command line switches should be switches that are separated by at least one space. The prototype for these switches could be shown as: 102 [ /~<#>][ /b<#>][ /d<filename>][ /f<[path]files>] [ /m<[path]files>][ /r<#>][ /u<filename>] [ /7<parity>][ /8<parity>][ /0<P|T><#>] For example, one could manage the switches like: BGFTOPT /5a /r2 /b1200 /~1 /dtest.txt /s which would activate the resident part of BGFT, acknowledge any errors, reconnect the second serial communication port, set the port's baud rate to 1200 baud, choose the Xmodem download protocol, tell BGFT to expect a file called 'TEST.TXT', and send a signal to the remote host to start sending the file. The following notes describe all the available switches. 6.7.1 /~<Protocol> 1 for XMODEM-CRC or XMODEM-1K download or XMODEM-CRC upload 2 for Ymodem-Batch download 3 for Ymodem-Batch upload 4 for XMODEM-1K upload 5 for ZMODEM download 6 for ZMODEM upload One of the six values (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6) is to be entered for <Protocol> depending on the desired transmission protocol. The number should be right next to the '~'. The resident part of BGFT will automatically distinguish whether a downloaded packet for Xmodem is of the 128 byte (CRC) or 1024 (1K) byte size. Also, for Xmodem, selecting upload or download is done when entering the file name. When using Ymodem or Zmodem for uploading or downloading, there is no need to give a command line entry for the file names since the protocol provides them. Summary: Xmodem-CRC download needs the switch, '/~1'. Xmodem-1K download needs the switch, '/~1'. Ymodem-Batch download needs the switch, '/~2'. Zmodem download needs the switch, '/~5'. Xmodem-CRC upload needs the switch, '/~1'. Ymodem-Batch upload needs the switch, '/~3'. Xmodem-1K upload needs the switch, '/~4'. Zmodem upload needs the switch, '/~6'. 6.7.2 /b<Baud> 300,1200,2400,4800,9600,19200,38400,57600 One of the eight indicated values is to be used for <Baud rate>. The number should be right next to the 'b'. The 103 communication port must have its baud rate set appropriately. This must be set, along with the communication port, once when BGFTres.COM is loaded. 6.7.3 /? Display this help screen This displays a help screen which shows the Copyright information, the prototypes for BGFTOPT, and a short reminder of what each switch does. The text of the reminder is stated in a similar fashion as to what is seen in this list of switches. The screen is displayed when an unknown or illegal command is entered. The help screen is also displayed when only 'BGFTOPT' is entered, that is, without any switches. BGFTOPT will return '0' if both the port and the baud rate are set, and '1' otherwise. 6.7.4 /a Acknowledge error Hard (!!n type) transmission errors must be acknowledged. 6.7.5 /d<filename> Download file entry The name of the file being downloaded should be inserted right next to the 'd'. The Xmodem download protocols require that a file name be supplied; Ymodem-Batch and Zmodem do not. 6.7.6 /h Halt background file transfer A file transfer, either upload or download, which is in progress may be terminated with this switch. This will produce a hard error condition '!!3' which must be acknowledged. The remote system, that was communicating, will time out due to not hearing from the locally halted system. 6.7.7 /i Initialize active file buffer The file buffer is initialized for use by BGFT. The correct file buffer will be accessed since it is known by the resident program, which should be loaded and active. Any DOS floppies used as the file buffer must have been formatted by DOS and checked by CHKDSK for error free condition. The hard disk file buffer is initialized automatically upon installation of it. Using this function on BGFT initialized file buffers will delete BGFT directory information. This effectively 'erases' the buffer. 104 6.7.8 /k Kill background dialer Background dialing is terminated with this switch. 6.7.9 /f<[path]files> Files to DOS from buffer Move BGFT downloaded files from the file buffer to DOS directories with this command. The resident part of BGFT must be loaded and active to move the files. The file name, <files>, of the file in the BGFT file buffer, including optional DOS destination path, [path], if needed, should be right next to the 'f'. Wild card operation is allowed. For example, to move all downloaded files in the active file buffer to the present DOS directory use: BGFTOPT /f*.* or, equivalently, BGFTOPT /f. Drive and directory information can be used to direct the files elsewhere. For example, to move all BGFT downloaded files in the file buffer with file extension 'ZIP' to drive D: in directory 'HOLD' use: BGFTOPT /fD:\HOLD\*.ZIP Recall that if BGFTDIR.COM is used to list the active file buffer the BGFT downloaded files will have the 'd' designator to the right. Partial Zmodem downloads/uploads will have the 'a' designator. This command will move partial Zmodem download files to DOS; they will likely be unusable. Once files are moved from the file buffer their file slots are freed up by BGFT. Therefore, it is not possible to do the same operation twice; use the DOS COPY command if you want multiple copies of the downloaded files in other directories. As with many BGFTOPT.EXE commands, BGFT.EXE can be used in a more user friendly manner, including error reporting, to move the files. You can use its file tagging file ability and so on if you wish. BGFTOPT.EXE will not do or report any incorrect operations for this command. For example, if you directed the files to a non existent DOS directory the operation would not delete the files in the file buffer. 105 6.7.10 /m<[path]files> Move file to buffer Move DOS files to the file buffer for uploading with this command. There is a maximum of 31 file slots available in the file buffer. The resident part of BGFT must be loaded and active to move the files; it knows where the active file buffer is. The DOS file name, <files>, including optional DOS path, [path], should be right next to the 'm'. For example, to move the file TEST.TXT from the present directory, the active directory on another drive F:, or the path D:\BGFT300 to the file buffer use, respectively: BGFTOPT /mTEST.TXT BGFTOPT /mF:TEST.TXT BGFTOPT /mD:\BGFT300\TEST.TXT Wild card operation is allowed. For example, to move all files in the present DOS directory to the file buffer use: BGFTOPT /m*.* This move command is non destructive to DOS files, that is, they will actually be copied to the file buffer. If BGFTDIR.COM is used to list the active file buffer the files for upload will have the 'u' designator to the right. As with many BGFTOPT.EXE commands, BGFT.EXE can be used in a more user friendly manner, including error reporting, to move the files. You can use its file tagging file ability and so on if you wish. BGFTOPT.EXE will not do or report any incorrect operations for this command. 6.7.11 /q Quiet message mode Subsequent command line switches to the right of the first 'q' will have their switch messages to the standard output disabled. Another 'q' will not turn the messages back on. Subsequent BGFTOPT command line entries will not be quiet. If '/q' is used as the only command line argument there will be no help listing. 6.7.12 /r<Reconnect COMM port> 1,2,3,4 This switch indicates that one of the four indicated values is to be substituted for <Reconnect COMM port>. The number should be right next to the 'r'. The number corresponds to the number of the communication port which is to be reconnected. The communications port must be set. It should not be changed during a computer session without turning your computer off and then on. 106 This must be set, along with the baud rate, once when BGFTres.COM is loaded. 6.7.13 /s Start background file transfer Uploads and downloads must be initiated with this switch after setting up the transmission. 6.7.14 /t Terminal emulator A basic terminal emulator is invoked which enables sending keyboard instructions to the remote host. This can be used for logging in to a BBS, for example. The terminal is exited by typing 'Ctrl_E' or 'Alt_X'. If you have other large programs in memory which preclude using BGFT.EXE as the interface you will find that the small terminal emulator in BGFTOPT.EXE fits in less memory. 6.7.15 /u<filename> Upload file entry Xmodem-CRC and Xmodem-1K require that a file name be provided when uploading a file from the file buffer. It should be placed right next to the 'u'. Ymodem-Batch and Zmodem do not require a file name; all files marked as upload are sent. 6.7.16 /1 Hang up phone This will hang up the telephone line. 6.7.17 /4 Wait for end of transfer This switch will not allow a normal exit of BGFTOPT after being parsed. BGFTOPT will wait until the transmission is over before continuing. 6.7.18 /5 Turn resident program on The resident part is turned on with this switch; the file buffer is taken over and is made inaccessible from DOS. The switch is 'one way'; turning the resident off requires the '/6' switch. 6.7.19 /6 Turn resident program off The resident part of BGFT will be turned off. This would allow access to the floppy drive file buffer. This should only be done when the resident is not otherwise busy with any file buffer. The switch is 'one way'; turning the resident on requires the '/5' switch. 107 6.7.20 /7<parity> 7 bit & parity N,E,O,S,M One of the five indicated choices is to be substituted for <Parity>. The letter should be right next to the '7'. The letter corresponds to the required parity: N for None, E for Even, O for Odd, S for Space, or M for Mark. Only one stop bit is supported. The resident part of BGFT will automatically revert to the correct settings for file transfer (normally 8 data bits, no parity, and one stop bit). 6.7.21 /8<parity> 8 bit & parity N,E,O,S,M One of the five indicated choices is to be substituted for <Parity>. The letter should be right next to the '8'. The letter corresponds to the required parity: N for None, E for Even, O for Odd, S for Space, or M for Mark. Only one stop bit is supported. The resident part of BGFT will automatically revert to the correct settings for file transfer (normally 8 data bits, no parity, and one stop bit). 6.7.22 /9 Start background dialer The resident's internal dialing string is set up with the '/0' switch and the actual dialing is commenced with this command. 6.7.23 /0<P|T><#> Pulse or Tone & number This command needs two inputs. The first is for the type of dialing that your phone line supports. The <Pulse|Tone> means that you have a choice of Pulse or Tone dialing; use 'P' or 'T' respectively. The desired phone number must be entered for <#>. The number should be entered in a form suitable to the modem. Generally, this is a combination of numbers and certain specific punctuation characters (for example, the ',' is a pause and '-' is a separator). (If you plan to use this in a batch file you will have to use '.' instead of ',' since the batch file processor considers ',' to be a separator. BGFTOPT will convert and understand it.) For example, to start tone dial to a local number 555-6789, you would enter: BGFTOPT /0T555-6789 /9 108 Index ----- A BGFTDZPC.ASP, 10,99 acknowledge error, 80 BGFTDZQM.SCR, 10,100 Alt_Key, 88 BGFTDZTL.SLT, 11,98 ASCII, 67,77,79 BGFTFB.EXE, 6,9,15,35,81 ASPECT, 12 BGFTFDZM.COM, 6,9,15,36,39 AUTOEXEC.BAT, 21,26,31 BGFTFLPY.EXE, 9,16,82 B BGFTHDFB.DAT, 33,35 background BGFTHDZM.COM, 6,9,15,36 dialing, 70 BGFTINIT.BAT, file downloading, 76 10,17,32,91,94 file transfer, 75 BGFTOPT.EXE, 9,17,90,101 file uploading, 79 BGFTORDR.FRM, 7,10,14 sound, 64 BGFTREAD.ME, 10,14,27 status, 82 BGFTres.COM, 15 baud rate, 63,104 BGFTSLC.BAT, 11,96 BGFT, 12,50 BGFTSPY.EXE, 9,19,46 configuring, 59 BGFTSPY.ICO, 11,46 dial menu, 54 BGFTTELX.DAT, 11,96 exiting, 51 BGFTUIPC.ASP, 10,99 file menu, 53 BGFTUIQM.SCR, 10,100 help, 50,57,59,85,88 BGFTUITL.SLT, 11,98 information menu, 56 BGFTUXPC.ASP, 10,99 registration, 7 BGFTUXQM.SCR, 10,100 setup menu, 55 BGFTUXTL.SLT, 11,98 starting, 50 BGFTUYPC.ASP, 10,99 status window, 38 BGFTUYQM.SCR, 10,100 transfer menu, 55 BGFTUYTL.SLT, 11,98 trying it out, 20 BGFTUZPC.ASP, 10,99 unloading, 38 BGFTUZQM.SCR, 10,100 utility menu, 55 BGFTUZTL.SLT, 11,98 view menu, 54 BGFTXDLG.EXE, 10,19 BGFT.DLG, 10,16 C BGFT.DOC, 10,14 Canada Remote Systems BGFT.EXE, 6,9,15,50,92 Online, 7,13 BGFT300.CNF, 31,51 client-server, 49 BGFT300.HLP, 10,15 clipboard, 83 BGFT300.SCR, 10,16 editing, 84 BGFT300A.EXE, 14,27 scroll back buffer, 84 BGFT300B.EXE, 14,27 terminal, 83 BGFT386.BAT, 11,19 color, 68 BGFT386.PIF, 11,19 COMMAND.COM, 42 BGFTADD.BAT, 10,96 communication port, 62,106 BGFTDIR.COM, 10,16 CompuServe, 12 BGFTDXPC.ASP, 10,99 COMSPEC, 42 BGFTDXQM.SCR, 10,100 CONFIG.SYS, 43 BGFTDXTL.SLT, 11,98 D BGFTDYPC.ASP, 10,99 DESQview, 13,45 BGFTDYQM.SCR, 10,100 dialing directory, 65,70 BGFTDYTL.SLT, 11,98 Dirac Systems, 7 109 DORMANT, 87 PgDn, 13 DOS 5, 43 PgUp, 13 DOS 6, 7,43 PKUNZIP, 28,34 DoubleSpace, 17,30,43 PKWARE, 28,34 DR DOS, 44 PKZIP, 28 E PROCOMM PLUS, 10,13,31,98 ERROR, 88 protocol, 103 error messages, 38 PST, 12 external protocol, 90 Pulse, 108 F Q file buffer, 4,75 Qmodem, 10,13,31,99 floppy drive, 39 R hard drive, 35 RECEIVE, 88 initialization, 35,39,81 S G SALT, 13 graphics, 48 screen capture, 87 GST, 12 scroll back buffer, 65,84 I SET, 41 IBM, 13 Shareware, 8,9,27 initialization Smartmodem, 13 floppy buffer, 40 STACKER, 17,30,43 hard drive buffer, 35 SYNCHRONIZING, 88 resident, 17 T INSTALL.EXE, 14 tab width, 64 installation Telemate, 13,100 automatic, 32 Telix, 10,13,31,94 INSTALL.EXE, 27 terminal emulation manual, 33 ANSI, 60 minimal, 20,29 NONE, 60 package, 27 VT100, 60 interrupts, 44 VT52, 60 chain, 37 terminal mode, 69 L Tone, 108 limitations, 48 TRANSMIT, 88 LOADHIGH, 43 TSR, 5,47 M U menu system, 52 upgrade, 7,12 Microsoft Windows, 13,46 Usenet, 7 modem, 22,42,60,69,82 W busy, 61 WAIT, 88 carrier detect, 38 warranty, 9 mouse, 52,65 X MS DOS, 4,13 Xmodem-1K, 76,79,90,103 multitasking, 44 Xmodem-CRC, 76,79,90,103 N 1K packets, 75 NorthAmeriNet, 7 Y NS16550AS, 45 Ymodem-Batch, 76,79,90,103 P Z parity, 63,108 Zmodem, 20,66,76,79,90,103 PATH, 40 Pentium, 12 110