home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
The World of Computer Software
/
World_Of_Computer_Software-02-387-Vol-3of3.iso
/
f
/
fdu_1c3.zip
/
FDU.DOC
< prev
next >
Wrap
Text File
|
1992-09-12
|
18KB
|
411 lines
╒══════════════════════════════════╕
│ FDU 1.00 - FrontDoor Utilities │
└──────────────────────────────────┘
Fdu.Exe/Fdu.Doc written by geoffrey booher; 1:2270/233.1@fidonet
┌─────────────┐
│ disclaimer: │
└─────────────┘
FDU 1.00 is *ONLY* guaranteed to consume diskspace. It has been very
extensively tested and found to be pretty reliable. In no way is the
author of this program responsible for any damages, consequential, or
otherwise from the neglect of FDU 1.00's use or misuse. FDU 1.00 is
provided as is, without warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied.
FDU 1.00 is NOT Public Domain Software, it is Shareware. It may be used
on any Computer with the following restrictions:
1. It may be evaluated for a period not exceeding 30 days at which time
you must register your copy or remove the software from your computer.
Please see the REGISTER.FDU file for details on how to register.
2. Any part of the FDU 1.00 files are NOT to be modified in *any* way.
3. The FDU Distribution Archive is NOT to be recompressed/reprocessed.
4. FDU 1.00 may NOT be utilized in any unlawful or illegal manner.
5. No Fees may be charged for FDU 1.00 - other than diskette cost.
FDU_100.ZIP may be put up for download on pay/subscription systems,
provided a fee is not charged for downloading FDU_100.ZIP itself.
┌──────────┐
│ support: │
└──────────┘
Send Netmail to geoffrey booher, 1:2270/233.0@fidonet. If you are expecting
a response, usually if you return poll me within 24 hours (nay weekends) and
I'll respond with a Netmail msg on HOLD for you. This assumes you are in a
current *FIDONET* Nodelist.
geoffrey booher - SysOp - The Gateway Net Bulletin Board System
North American RemoteAccess Support
RemoteAccess Beta Site
FrontDoor Beta Site
1:2270/233.0@fidonet
(815)233-5008 1200/2400/9600/14400 HST/V32b/V42b
Freeport, IL - USA
You can contact me through the above Bulletin Board System. Feel free to
send me your comments about FDU 1.00.
If you aren't a multitasking FrontDoor BBS SysOp, you probably won't have
much of a use for FDU.
:-)
┌────────────────────────┐
│ overview and features: │
└────────────────────────┘
FDU started out as most of my little programs, it was a series of small
utilities seperate. I wrote an Fdrescan.Exe program that simply created/
touched the FDRESCAN.NOW and FMRESCAN.NOW files. Then I wrote an Fdexit.Exe
program which created the FDEXIT.nnn file, then a Netmail renumber program,
etc. Before I knew it, I had 5 programs all reading FD.SYS (now SETUP.FD)
all doing various things. So ... one day I slapped them all together into
the first FDU version. Then as FrontDoor got more functionality with
'semaphore' files - FDU was enhanced right along with it.
As time passed - more feature requests by my select vigilant betatest team
were added. Then FrontDoor 2.10/Commercial showed up at my door. Along
with it - a whole new dimension in semaphore files dealing with 'TASK' and
freezing the mailer, et al. FDU became a very powerful functional small
program. And of course, support for RA's RAXITn.eee file was added along
with support for both FrontDoor 2.10/C and prior versions from 1.99c on up.
FDU is a 'smart' program that will totally maintain ALL of FrontDoor's
'semaphore' files. What is a semaphore file? Well, if you don't run
DESQview or a LAN and use FrontDoor in a multitasking environment, they
really aren't much use to you. Semaphore files are a way of "signaling"
a program that something is going on in the background, or specific actions
are needed. For example, creating a FDRESCAN.NOW file will alert FrontDoor
to rescan the Netmail directory. This is needed if you add new Netmail or
create file attaches in another window or 'task'. FrontDoor constantly
looks for semaphore files while it is active, and responds accordingly.
In our example, FrontDoor 'checks' the FDRESCAN.NOW file (it actually checks
it's timestamp against when the dynamic packets in the temporary packets
directory were created). If FDRESCAN.NOW is newer than the timestamp of
the temporary packets directory, the Netmail folder is rescanned, and any
"new" messages are bundled into packets.
Why use FDU? True, semaphore files can be created with a REM >SEMA.FIL
statement to create a 0 byte SEMA.FIL file. One of the principle reasons
I wrote FDU is that with some versions of DESQview, the REM was NOT 100%
reliable, and would occasionally 'hang' a window - not desired whatsoever!
Besides - FDU is 100% more relaible and is also 'TASK aware', an important
factor if you are running FrontDoor 2.10/Commercial. FDU is very fast, and
also supports removal of these files, along with being very FrontDoor/
RemoteAccess 'smart' as well as respecting the 'rules' of what can happen.
And lastly - FDU will remove MANY lines of code in your batchfiles!
┌───────────────┐
│ installation: │
└───────────────┘
Put the FDU.EXE file anywhere in your DOS PATH, along with any of your other
favorite program utilities. See your DOS manual about the PATH Statement if
needed. It will function perfectly in this manner, and does not need to be
in a 'specific' directory, AS LONG as it is IN the DOS PATH that is fine.
requirements:
FDU requires the following to run:
PC/MSDOS 3.10 or newer
A working FrontDoor installation to be of any use at all
The FD environment variable MUST be set! This is usually done in your
Autoexec.Bat file, and sometimes modified in batchfiles to point to a
different SETUP.FD file. example:
SET FD=C:\FD (note no spaces before or after the = sign)
This tells FDU to read the SETUP.FD in the C:\FD directory to act on that
configuration. Changing the FD environment variable to 'point' to another
location to suit your needs is perfectly valid. example, SET FD=C:\FD\LINE2
will tell FDU to read the SETUP.FD in the C:\FD\LINE2 directory and use it's
configuration.
The FD environment variable is a REQUIREMENT, FDU will NOT run without it.
The RA environment variable is required ONLY if you wish to use the RAXIT
option (/Xnnn). This tells FDU where to locate and read the RemoteAccess
configuration file CONFIG.RA. Again, changing the RA environment variable
to suit your needs to 'point' to a different location is perfectly valid.
FDU gets information from the FD and optionally RA config files specifically:
FrontDoor
System directory path location
Netmail directory path location
Temporary dynamic packets path location
Semaphore directory path location (valid ONLY for FD 2.10)
Important Note! If you are running FrontDoor 2.10 - you are strongly advised
to setup the semaphore path location in FDSETUP - most preferrably a RAMDISK
drive and directory. I use D:\SEMA for mine. THIS IS THE ONLY MANNER IN
WHICH FDU CAN TELL IF FD 2.10 IS BEING USED. Otherwise if this is blank, it
assumes FD 2.02/NC and lower, which uses the system path location for its
semmaphore files and supports less semaphore files and a differing naming
convention for the FDEXIT routine.
If the Semaphore directory path is used and FD 2.10 is then assumed, FDU will
use the TASK environment variable that is used extensively by FD 2.10/C.
See your FrontDoor documentation regarding the TASK environment variable and
it's use. It will be "somewhat" covered in it's use with a description of
how to use it with FDU commands.
RemoteAccess
System directory path location
Semaphore directory path location (defaults to System directory if blank)
The TASK environment variable is also supported to determine the node number.
┌───────────────┐
│ command sets: │
└───────────────┘
To get a list of the valid commands for FDU - just type FDU with no parameters
or FDU /? for the help screen. ONLY the valid commands for your environment
will be shown. In other words, SETUP.FD (CONFIG.RA) is read to determine this
first. If you see things like TASK and RA options, then FDU has successfully
determined what is valid for your system. ONLY concern yourself with what
applies to your particular system! using FD 2.10 commands will basically be
ignored with a message stating so if they are not supported.
FDU 1.00 (X86) Turbo(C++) FD 1.99c -> FD 2.02/NC Command Set
by: geoffrey booher; 1:2270/233.1@fidonet.usa
Copyright (c) 1991, 1992; boo software technologies
■ DESQview 2.42 detected
■ Usage: FDU [/Lnnn] - use alternate RA node number (default = 1) +
[/R] - renumber *.MSG Netmail messages
[/K] - kill temporary dynamic packets
[/D] - touch/create FDRESCAN.NOW
[/M] - touch/create FMRESCAN.NOW
[/NS] - touch/create FDNOSCAN.NOW
[/NU] - touch/create FDNOUSER.NOW
[/NE] - touch/create FDNOEXIT.NOW
[/I] - display status information
[/C] - remove FDNO????.NOW files
[/Ennn] - create FDEXIT.nnn
[/Xnnn] - create RAXIT1.nnn +
+ RemoteAccess BBS ONLY
FDU 1.00 (X86) Turbo(C++) FD 2.10/Commercial Command Set
by: geoffrey booher; 1:2270/233.1@fidonet.usa
Copyright (c) 1991, 1992; boo software technologies
■ OS/2 2.00 DOS Mode detected
■ TASK 1
■ Usage: FDU [/Tnnn] - use alternate TASK number nnn
[/Lnnn] - use alternate RA node number (default = 1) +
[/R] - renumber *.MSG Netmail messages
[/K] - kill temporary dynamic packets
[/D] - touch/create FDRESCAN.NOW
[/M] - touch/create FMRESCAN.NOW
[/Fnnn] - touch/create FDFREEZE.1, wait nnn for FDFROZEN.1
[/NC] - touch/create FDNOCALL.1
[/NS] - touch/create FDNOSCAN.NOW
[/NU] - touch/create FDNOUSER.NOW
[/NE] - touch/create FDNOEXIT.NOW
[/I] - display status information
[/C] - remove FDNO????.NOW, FDNOCALL.1, FDFREEZE.1 files
[/G] - globally remove FDNO????.*, FDFREEZE.* files
[/Ennn] - create FDXIT1.nnn
[/Xnnn] - create RAXIT1.nnn +
+ RemoteAccess BBS ONLY
┌───────────────────────────┐
│ command set descriptions: │
└───────────────────────────┘
* /Tnnn - nnn is a number between 0 and 255. this tells FDU to act upon a
certain "TASK" number - overriding the current TASK setting.
FDU defaults to using the current TASK= setting, and uses TASK=0
if the TASK environment is not set (like FrontDoor).
+ /Lnnn - nnn is a number between 1 and 250. this tells FDU to act upon a
certain RemoteAccess node number. FDU defaults to using node 1
if /L is not used and TASK=0 or TASK is not set, otherwise it also
uses and supports the current TASK= environment variable setting.
/R - renumbers *.MSG netmail and updates LASTREAD. The /R parameter
will respect any FDINSESS.* semaphore present and not renumber the
netmail messages while FD is 'in mail session' for any TASK number.
If the netmail folder is renumbered, FDRESCAN.NOW and FMRESCAN.NOW
are created/touched. /Renumber supports up to 2048 *.MSG files.
/K - kills FD's temporary dynamic packets directory. it only removes
the *.PKT and *.FDC files - it will not remove any other files.
This creates/touches FDRESCAN.NOW if it finds and deletes any
temporary packets. The /K parameter will respect any FDINSESS.*
semaphore present and will not kill temporary dynamic packets
while FD is 'in mail session' for any TASK number. If the
temporary packets are deleted, FDRESCAN.NOW and FMRESCAN.NOW are
created/touched.
/D - touch/create FDRESCAN.NOW.
/M - touch/create FMRESCAN.NOW.
* /Fnnn - create FDFREEZE.t and wait for FD to create FDFROZEN.t before
continuing where TASK=t. FDU will default to waiting up to 30
seconds and continue if no FDFROZEN.t file is found. If you want
to change the wait, use /F60 to tell FDU to wait a minute, or
/F3600 to tell FDU to wait an hour before continuing. It will
attempt to give up DV, WIN, OS/2 CPU time slices while waiting.
NOTE: If FDU does not find an FDREADY.t file, it *assumes* the
mailer is DOWN and will NOT wait the time specified!
* /NC - create FDNOCALL.t where TASK=t.
/NS - create FDNOSCAN.NOW.
/NU - create FDNOUSER.NOW.
/NE - create FDNOEXIT.NOW.
/I - display status information, all active semaphore conditions.
/C - deletes FDNO????.NOW, FDNOCALL.t and FDFREEZE.t files where TASK=t.
* /G - globally clear all FDNO????.* and FDFREEZE.* files (all tasks).
* /Ennn - creates FDXITt.nnn where TASK=t and errorlevel to exit=nnn.
/Ennn - creates FDEXIT.nnn where errorlevel to exit=nnn.
+ /Xnnn - creates RAXITt.nnn where TASK=t and errorlevel to exit=nnn.
If TASK not used, t defaults to 1 or /L value is used instead.
┌──────────────────┐
│ batchfile usage: │
└──────────────────┘
FDU's primary purpose is to be used in your Mailer/BBS batchfiles. Below
are some examples showing it's use, flexibility and power:
File request in a second window:
Xr Get FILES 1:2270/868 /C
Fdu /D
Using FM in a second window:
@Echo OFF
rem * RunFm.Bat
Fdu /NE
Fm
If Exist C:\Ra\Msgbase\Echomail.Bbs TosScan Scan
Fdu /C /M /D
Exit
Processing a Nodelist using Freeze Function:
:MAIL
If Exist C:\Fd\File\Nodediff.A?? Call Nodediff
@Echo OFF
rem * Nodediff.Bat
Fdu /T1 /F60
Fdu /T2 /F60
Fdu /T3 /F60
rem - FDU will wait the specified 60 seconds for each FDFROZEN.t file.
rem * process NODEDIFF here *
Fdu /G
┌──────────────────────────┐
│ FDU 1.00 technical info: │
└──────────────────────────┘
Fdu.Exe was compiled with Borland International's Turbo(C++) 1.00
using the Small Memory Module ( < 64kb heap ) and the C++ (Fdu.Cpp)
option. Fdu will run in less than 128kb RAM (64kb code - 64kb data).
FDU 1.00 exits with the following errorlevels for trapping in *.BAT
files. Although not really needed, they are there for batchfile gurus.
errorlevel 7 - no parameters or /h help screen
errorlevel 6 - invalid parameters
errorlevel 5 - error renumbering netmail messages
errorlevel 4 - invalid directory pathname
errorlevel 3 - could not remove a file
errorlevel 2 - file i/o error
errorlevel 1 - missing FD environment variable/incorrect DOS version
errorlevel 0 - successful completion
FDU 1.00 also writes error messages to a file called FDU_ERR.LOG. This
file will be located in the FrontDoor system directory specified in FDSETUP
by default. In the case that the error is a missing FD environment variable
or a missing/invalid SETUP.FD file, it will be written in the current
directory it was executed from. FDU will also put the FDU_ERR.LOG in a
directory specified by the FDULOG environment variable overriding all of the
above actions. SET FDULOG=D:\LOG will cause the FDU_ERR.LOG file to be
created/appended to in D:\LOG . The error log is a more detailed report of
what went wrong when FDU generates an error, as well as having a record of
it since FDU screen displays often do not remain on the screen too long.
Environment Variables Supported:
FD - location of SETUP.FD
RA - location of CONFIG.RA
TASK - current TASK number (defualt)
FDULOG - alternate location of FDU_ERR.LOG file
All program parameters are case INsensitive. all semaphore files created
are 0 bytes in size. Parameters can be entered in ANY order, the NO functions
and clear functions take priority (done LAST) in the order in which executed.
┌─────────┐
│ thanks: │
└─────────┘
Thanks to my vigilant select group of betatesters - who helped with FDU
testing as well as providing me with many excellent suggestions:
Kevin Zimmerman, The Boomtown BBS (1:2270/868)
Sandy Theriault, sandy's office (1:2270/233.2)
David Gibbs, The Midrange System (1:115/439)
Kelly Griffin, 7th Inning Stretch! (1:170/900)
Rocky Simler, The Black Star BBS (1:2270/443)
Bruce Bodger, The Truckstop BBS (1:170/400)
Jay Desio, Network Communications (1:107/574)
Bob R., The Anonymous BBS (1:154/40)
Thanks to Joaquim Homrighausen for his excellent FrontDoor product
Thanks to Andrew Milner for the best BBS software in the world, RemoteAccess
Thanks to Jay Desio for his *excellent* semaphore knowledge!
Thanks to Sandy for always being an inspiration no matter what.
Thanks to James Smith and Bruce Bodger for letting me test their stuff and
be a part of Online Communications. :-)
The following products/examples are the Copyrighted materials of their
respective named holders:
FDU boo software development team
FrontDoor joaquim homrighausen - Advanced Engineering sarl
RemoteAccess andrew milner - Continental Software
Turbo(C++) 1.00 Borland International
DESQview QuarterDeck Office Systems
OS/2 International Business Machines Corporation
Windows Microsoft Corporation
PC/MSDOS International Business Machines and Microsoft
Fidonet Tom Jennings