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Text File | 1993-01-19 | 30KB | 669 lines

Online INSTAbank 4.0b Public Release Version A RemoteAccess 1.11 Time and Byte Bank ──────────────────────────────────────────── (C) 1992-1993, William J. Dykstra Online INSTAbank is a Borland Pascal 7.0 application written for RemoteAccess 1.11 and compatable versions. This program will allow users to deposit and withdraw time and bytes. The sysop may configure the maximum daily deposits and withdrawals, as well as the maximum balances. There is also a Rob the Bank feature, which may be enabled or disabled by the sysop. This program has been extensively tested on my BBS, and has not caused any problems. There is, of course, absolutely NO WARRANTY of any kind! This program may work for you, or it may not! It will NOT WORK WILL ALL VERSIONS OF THE BNU Fossil driver. It works fine with X00, but has been known to lockup BNU systems. If you use the BNU .SYS file instead of the BNU .COM file, you will probably have better luck with the program. This program is being distributed as FREEWARE. That's right, its gonna cost you all of zero dollars to register it. You *MUST*, however, register it after 10 days of trial use. Please see the section about registration at the end of this document for more details. Online INSTAbank is reported to also work with SuperBBS using the SuperBBS - RA conversion programs. I cannot verify this, however. PLEASE READ THE DOCUMENTATION CAREFULLY. I know you hate reading the stuff... I hate writing it. But it is ESSENCIAL that you read this stuff, or you could miss some important configuration details. Please note that this version of Online INSTAbank will ONLY run on an 80286 machine or higher. If you would like an XT version please contact the author. Major Features of Online INSTAbank: ────────────────────────────────── ■ users may deposit and withdraw time and bytes ■ users may transfer time/bytes to other users ■ sysop may set the following limits: - Maximum Time/Byte Balances - Maximum Daily Time/Byte Deposit - Maximum Daily Time/Byte Withdraw - Maximum Time/Byte transfers to other users (may be disabled) - Maximum number of bank/user robbery attempts (may be disabled) ■ View bank statistical information ■ Send message to another user ■ List accounts ■ Full sysop account editing/deleting locally or remotely ■ Capability to trade time for bytes or bytes for time - Sysop may configure byte/time costs ■ Rob the Bank feature allows a user to steal time and bytes from either the bank or another user (May be disabled) ■ Supports RA 1.11 and compatable versions ■ Will not allow a user to take out time if it would cause a conflict with the next scheduled system event (reads system event as defined in RA, or from time left according to DOBBS.BAT if you use a mailer like Front Door) ■ specify path and filename of log file (big deal) ■ Mulitnode support ■ The BEST part of all... FREE registration! Online INSTAbank should run fine in DOS or Desqview. I have not tested it in any other environments. The program requires approx 150k-200k free RAM to run. Version 4.0b fixes a minor 'bug' I found in the program. It wasn't really a bug, but rather it was something that bugged me... New to version 4.0 ────────────────── Version 4.0 is the result of many changes from version 3.3. A transfer function was added, allowing users to transfer time and/or bytes to another user's account. Users may also trade time for bytes, or bytes for time, if they are short of one or the other. Both of these new features may be disabled by the sysop. A statistics screen was added, which shows various bank totals. A version information screen was added. The "Rob the Bank" feature was cleaned up a little, to avoid displaying the entire help screen every time a user selects this feature. The following limits have also been added (all sysop configurable): - Maximum Bank robbery attempts per day - Maximum User robbery attempts per day Please note there are minor changes to be made to your config file and major changes to your DEPOSIT.SEC (security) file if you have an earlier version of INSTAbank running. *** IMPORTANT *** IF YOU ARE UPGRADING FROM AN EARLIER VERSION OF Online INSTAbank, you MUST run DEPCONV.EXE to convert the bank datafile! The main account datafile has changed, and you MUST run the conversion program! To run the conversion program, copy it into the SAME directory that stores DEPOSIT.DAT and run DEPCONV.EXE. That's it! (ONLY run the program once! When you've converted the file, DELETE DEPCONV.EXE!) Be sure you replace ALL old EXE files (especially DEPMAINT.EXE) with the new ones! That's about it for this version! New to version 3.3 ────────────────── Version 3.3 added support for multiple bank account limits, based on security level. In other words, users with one security level may have a limit of say, 2000 kb and 120 minutes (max balances) while a user with another security level might be limited to 1000kb and 60 minutes. You may define up to 100 different security levels, each with its own daily deposit and withdrawal limits for time and bytes, and each with its own maximum byte and time balances. Please note there is a new configuration file required for this version and there is also major changes made to the old configuration file. Don't worry, the changes to the old file simply require deleting the last 6 lines... Version 3.3 also FINALLY fixes a problem with event time calculations. Sorry about all the troubles with this, but there are all kinds of wierd situations that can come up, and a few of them got missed (namely, what happens if there is NO event scheduled?) New to version 3.2b ─────────────────── Version 3.2b simply fixed a bug that was showing up now and then with systems running Front Door (or other mailers using DOBBS.BAT). This bug was causing the Minutes Until next System event to be read incorrectly by the time bank when RemoteAccess was run with the -T parameter. This should fix that bug. Everything else remained the same. New to version 3.2 ────────────────── Version 3.2 added a feature to read the DOBBS.BAT file that is created by various BBS front end mailers such as Front Door. Online INSTAbank will not allow a user to withdraw any time if that withdrawal would allow a user to remain online during a scheduled system event. Until now, the next scheduled system event was read from EXITINFO.BBS, which RemoteAccess creates when a user runs an external door. If you run a program such as Front Door, however, you will usually allow the front end mailer to handle all events. If you have not defined the events in RemoteAccess, though, the bank will not know about the event! These mailer programs often create a file called DOBBS.BAT, which contains the current baud rate, com port, and minutes until the next event. You may now tell Online INSTAbank to read this file to determine if they may withdraw time or if there is an event in the way. NOTE: DOBBS.BAT is not modified when a user logs in locally, so it will not read DOBBS.BAT when a local user is in the bank. New to version 3.1 ────────────────── Version 3.1 added support for multinode systems. A temporary file is created in the path to the bank files directory you specify, called DEPINUSE.TMP. It is deleted when the user in the bank exits the program. Line 7 of the configuration file specifies the Path to the Bank Files. The bank files are the various data files used by the bank for storing the accounts. You might want to set this to a separate directory, or to the main RA directory. If you are running multiple nodes, you will need to keep a separate configuration file in each LINE directory. Each configuration file should point to the SAME bank files (line 7). Each configuration file should point to its own LINE directory as the path to the RA system files (EXITINFO.BBS and DORINFO1.DEF) (LINE 8). By doing this, only ONE set of bank data files are used, but each node will use the proper EXITINFO.BBS and DORINFO1.DEF files. For example, if you had a two line system, with the RA system directories \RA\LINE1 and \RA\LINE2 for the two nodes, then you would run one copy of DEPOSIT from the \RA\LINE1 directory and the other from the \RA\LINE2 directory. Store a separate config file in each directory. Note you must run DEPOSIT from the same directory that stores the config file, therefore you must have a copy of DEPOSIT.EXE in each LINE directory, or have it in a directory in your PATH statement, so it can be found when the LINE directory is the CURRENT directory. The config file will only be found if it is in the CURRENT directory. If a user tries to access the deposit door, but it is already in use, they will be notified that the door is in use, and the program will exit with ERRORLEVEL 11. You probably won't need this ERRORLEVEL, but its there just in case. Installing Online INSTAbank ─────────────────────────── To install the program, unzip the original ZIP file into your Remote Access system directory, or into its own subdirectory. Once you have unzipped the archive, you must create (or modify) DEPOSIT.CFG. This is the configuration file, and is a standard ASCII file. There should be 11 lines in this file. Line 1 : Registration code. Leave a bunch of zeros if unregistered. Line 2 : Sysop Name Line 3 : BBS Name Line 4 : Rob Bank (YES=enabled, NO=disabled) Line 5 : Sysop Security Level (anyone with this level or higher can access the sysop functions) Line 6 : Path and filename of Log file (eg D:\RA\DEPOSIT.LOG) Line 7 : Path to the Bank files (data files) Line 8 : Path to RA system directory (DORINFO1.DEF and EXITINFO.BBS) Line 9 : Path to DOBBS.BAT. LEAVE THIS BLANK to disable this feature. BE SURE YOU LEAVE A BLANK LINE FOR LINE 9 IF YOU DON'T USE THIS FEATURE. ENDING THE FILE AT 8 LINES WILL CRASH THE BANK! Line 10 : Max num of Bank robbery attempts allowed per day (0=disable) Line 11 : Max num of User robbery attempts allowed per day (0=disable) Sample Configuration File: ------------------------------------- 000000000000 Sysop Name BBS Name YES 32000 C:\RA\DEPOSIT.LOG C:\RA\ C:\RA\ C:\FD\ 2 3 ------------------------------------- *NEW TO VERSION 3.3 and above* You must also modify a file called DEPOSIT.SEC. This file MUST be located in the directory with the bank's data files (the directory specified as the Path to the Bank files (line 7 of config file)). This file contains the various security levels and their limits. You may have up to 100 different security levels defined, each on its own line. If you define more than 100 levels, the rest will be ignored. SPECIAL NOTE: THE FIRST SECURITY LEVEL MUST BE 0. This will be the DEFAULT limits for all users. If a user has a security level that is not listed in this file, then that user's limits will be set to the default limits. DEPOSIT.SEC has this format: <SL> <MTD> <MTW> <MBD> <MBW> <MTB> <MBB> <MBT> <MTT> <TC> <BC> <SL> <MTD> <MTW> <MBD> <MBW> <MTB> <MBB> <MBT> <MTT> <TC> <BC> <SL> <MTD> <MTW> <MBD> <MBW> <MTB> <MBB> <MBT> <MTT> <TC> <BC> etc..etc...etc... SL: Security Level MTD: Maximum Time Deposit (daily) MTW: Maximum Time Withdraw (daily) MBD: Maximum Kbyte Deposit (daily) MBW: Maximum Kbyte Withdraw (daily) MTB: Maximum Time Balance MBB: Maximum Byte Balance MTT: Maximum Time Transfer MBT: Maximum Byte Transfer TC : Time Cost *see below BC : Byte Cost *see below example: 0 30 60 500 1000 120 4000 60 1000 40 10 10 60 90 800 2000 240 4000 90 2000 20 0 In the above example, all users by default will have a the following limits: Max Time Deposit=30 mins Max Time Withdraw=60 mins Max Byte Deposit=500 kb Max Byte Withdraw=1000 kb Max Time Balance=120 mins Max Byte Balance=4000 kb Max Time transfer=60 mins Max Byte transfer=1000 kb Time Cost : Get 1 minute for 40 kb Byte Cost : Get 50 kb for 10 minutes and any user with security level 10 would have these limits instead of the defaultss: Max Time Deposit=60 mins Max Time Withdraw=90 mins Max Byte Deposit=800 kb Max Byte Withdraw=2000 kb Max Time Balance=240 mins Max Byte Balance=4000 kb Max Time Transfer=90 mins Max Byte Transfer=2000 kb Time Cost : Get 1 minute for 20 kb Byte Cost : Byte purchases DISABLED (value of 0). NOTE: The maximum value for each of these fields is 99,999. The maximum Transfer values are the maximum amounts that a user may transfer to another user per day. For example, if a user's maximum time transfer value is 30 minutes, they may transfer up to 30 minutes to as many different users as they wish (as long as they have the time in the bank for the transfers). They may not deposit MORE than the limit you set to the same user on the same day. * TIME COST: The time cost value is the number of bytes it will cost the user for each minute they purchase. A value of 40 would indicate a cost of 40kb for each minute purchased. * BYTE COST: Byte cost is a little different than time cost. The Byte cost is based on 50kb. The value you set for the Byte cost will be the number of minutes it costs for 50 kb. A value of 1 means it will cost 1 minute to purchase 50 kb. A value of 3 means it would cost 3 minutes to purchase 50 kb. Please note that you may NOT use decimal values. A value of ZERO (0) will disable the feature. You may choose to enable time or byte purchases, but disable the other. You can disable either one or the other or both by placing a zero in each appropriate field. WARNING: Be sure that your Byte Cost is high enough to offset your time cost. If your byte cost is too low, it is possible that a user could continually trade time for bytes, and then trade those bytes for more time, and actually make a profit! Example: Time Cost = 10 (buy 1 minute for 10kb) Byte Cost = 1 (buy 50kb for 1 minute) I have 1000 kb and 100 minutes. I sell my 1000kb for 100 minutes. I now have 0 kb and 200 minutes. I sell back the 100 minutes for 5000 kb. I now have 5000 kb and 100 minutes. I have made a super profit! If, however, you set it up similar to this, a user could not make a profit by trading time and bytes back and forth: Time Cost = 20 (buy 1 minute for 20kb) Byte Cost = 5 (buy 50kb for 5 minutes) I have 1000 kb and 100 minutes in my account. I sell my 1000 kb for 50 minutes. I now have 0 kb and 150 minutes. I sell back the 50 minutes for 500 kb. I now have 500kb and 100 minutes. I cannot make a profit this way. (I lost 500kb!) I find a time cost of 20 (buy 1 minute for 20 kb) and a byte cost of 5 (buy 50kb for 5 minutes) works very well. Sure, you are, in a sense, ripping off the users, but sometimes they need time or bytes and have the other, so they'll gladly trade the extra of one to get some of the other! (To make everything break even, ie no gain, no loss, set the time cost to 10 and the byte cost to 5) If you are unsure if your values will allow the user to make a profit or not, then step through the example as I did above. If you make a profit, raise your byte cost or time cost. Once you have modified the configuration files, you need to install the program to run as an external door from RemoteAccess. The program should be installed as a type 7 external program in RACONFIG. Just run DEPOSIT.EXE to execute the program. No other parameters are necessary. If you run into memory problems then you may want to use DEPOSIT.EXE *M, to cause RemoteAccess to swap memory before loading the door. You should not need to do this however. I run the program without the *M parameter, both in DOS and Desqview environments. The program will use ANSI colour codes if ANSI is enabled in the DORINFO1.DEF file. If the user uses ANSI on the BBS, then they will have ANSI in the bank. Avatar is NOT supported. If they do not have ANSI enabled then it will run in plain ASCII mode. Options available to the users: The options that are available to users are: - Deposit Time/Bytes - Withdraw Time/Bytes - List accounts - Send message to another user (70 character max length) - Rob the Bank (or another user) *only if enabled by sysop - Transfer time/bytes to another user - Statistics - Version Information - Trade Time for Bytes/Bytes for Time - Quit - * Sysop (available to any user who's security level matches the Sysop Security level setting in the config file) The Rob the Bank feature will not appear on the menu if the sysop has disabled this feature. The sysop menu will only be available to users who have a security level that is equal to or greater than the level you set in the configuration file. This option will NEVER be displayed on the menu, even if the user is allowed to access the function. The key to use to access the sysop menu is the * key. NOTE: Install this as a type 7 menu option in RACONFIG. You *MIGHT* have to run it with the *M parameter, to cause RemoteAccess to enable memory swapping when the program is run. If you have problems running the program (for example, if you see the message UNABLE TO EXECUTE: C:\RA\DEPOSIT.EXE) then you probably don't have enough memory available. Enabling swapping should fix this. DEPMAINT.EXE - Maintenance Utility ────────────────────────────────── This program contains the same options that the Sysop menu in DEPOSIT.EXE does. This is for LOCAL use only, and is very handy for changing account balances while a user is online. You cannot use the sysop menu within the INSTAbank program itself when a user is online, as it will read their info from DORINFO1.DEF and EXITINFO.BBS. Running DEPMAINT /MAINT will CLEAN THE DATA FILES. This option should be used now and then to clean out the data files. Old messages (any messages that are marked as read) will be deleted from the message file, and any users that are no longer located in USERS.BBS will be deleted. Accounts with no time and no bytes (empty accounts) will also be removed. The regular DEPOSIT.LOG file will indicate who's accounts have been deleted. You may run this program in your nightly events if you desire. (be sure to use the /MAINT parameter!). READMSGS.EXE - Message reader ───────────────────────────── This program will simply display all of the messages that are in the message file. Big deal. (it also shows who sent the message, and who the message is for.) Distributing Online INSTAbank ───────────────────────────── Please feel free to distribute Online INSTAbank. Please distribute only the original archive, in unmodified form. NO FEE MAY BE CHARGED for this program, other than fees necessary to cover the cost of distribution. This may be included in shareware/freeware packages, such as CD-ROM disks of shareware, etc. Registering Online INSTAbank ──────────────────────────── You must register Online INSTAbank after 10 days of evaluation use. If you continue to use the program after the 10 day trial period, please register it. Registration is *FREE*, so you have no excuse to avoid registering. Why do I require registration if its FREE? I want to know how many people are using the program, so I can determine if furthur development should be done. I will gladly accept suggestions and ideas for the program. If there is a feature you would like to see, let me know. Also, PLEASE let me know if you encounter any bugs of any kind! Custom versions of the program may be written on request, for a very modest fee (usually less than $25 Cndn). If it is a very small modification, and most are, then there will be no charge. I will just consider it an "implemented suggestion". Future Plans: ──────────── I am pretty much out of ideas for this thing. I was going to add a 'bank book' feature, which would log all account transactions, allowing users to see past transaction history. I opted not to do this, though, as it would be a rather useless function (neat, but useless), and it would take up unnecessary disk space. If enough people want this feature, however, I'll add it. What about a loan/payback feature? Does anyone have a use for this? Would you like to see it added? Please let me know... Want something to read your RA.LOG and fine users for dropping carrier? That's another idea I can add if people want it... Please send me your ideas. If you have a suggestion for the bank, and it is something that I can add without too much work, I'll do what I can to implement your suggestion. Your ideas are welcome! Send em to me! --------[Cut Here]------------------------------------------------------------- Online INSTAbank R E G I S T R A T I O N F O R M ~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ *Sysop Name: _______________________________________________ *BBS Name: _______________________________________________ Address: _______________________________________________ _______________________________________________ City: ________________________ Prov/State: __________ Postal/Zip Code: __________________ Country: __________________ BBS Phone: __________________ Max Baud Rate: _____________ If you plan to call the BBS to pickup your registration code, please fill out the following: Real Name:_______________________________ (do NOT use an alias) Password to use:_________________________ ANSI colour? (Yes or no):________________ The number you will be calling from:_______________________ (this will be matched via call display) You *ONLY* need to fill out this information if you want me to create an account ahead of time for you (and you are mailing this form in. If you are simply going to call the BBS to get your Registration code, don't worry about this logon info...) Where did you obtain your copy of Online INSTAbank? ________________________________________________________________ Comments/Suggestions: ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ --------[Cut Here - end of registration form]------------------------------------------------------------- Mail the above registration form to: Bill Dykstra 189 Bristol Road Newmarket, Ontario. Canada. L3Y 7X9 or call The BillBoard BBS (416) 898-2443 14.4k v.32bis/v.42bis 8,N,1 and leave a message to Bill Dykstra (or sysop), with this form file attached to the message. FidoNET 1:250/932 If you would like me to send your registration code to you in the mail, please include a self addressed stamped envelope (why should I pay if you don't have to!?). If you do NOT include an envelope, then I will assume that you will be calling the BBS. I will create an account for you on the BBS if you fill out the apropriate information above. I will leave you a message with your registration code in it. Please allow enough time for the letter to arrive here. I will post a message with your reg. code the same day that I receive your letter. You do NOT have to mail this form to me, however. You may call the BBS, upload this form to me (File attach it to a message), and then page me. If I'm around, I'll get your code on the spot. If I am not around, you'll have to call back. I usually check mail every night at 5:45pm, as well as at other random times. If you leave a message before 5:30pm it will almost surely be answered by 6:30pm. (see above for BBS phone number) I hope this program works well for you, and you have no problems! I apologize for the lack of user-friendliness in the program configuration and documentation. Again, I didn't originally plan on releasing this to the public, so I didn't worry too much about being user friendly. Also, its freeware, so I guess you shouldn't expect everything! Need an archive viewer? Online Archive Master 5.0 is now available! It is also FREEWARE, and is available on the BBS. This program will allow users to view the contents of ZIP, ARJ, LHA, LZH, ARC, and PAK files while online. They may also read files within the archive and extract files to a separate extract zip file! Check it out on the BBS! These are both programs that I have written for my personal use on my BBS, but, with the help of a few local sysops who kept bugging me to release them, I have made public versions available. Since I originally made them for my own use, and didn't intend them for public release, I am making them freeware. After all, the program was there, so why not let others benefit from them? I hope you find them useful. --Bill Dykstra You may file request the latest version of Online INSTAbank at 1:250/932. File request DEPOSIT to get the proper file. To file request Online Archive Master, file request ARCMAST.