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00681408-0 Version 1.0c Dave McIntosh ApT-Design 1996 Generated with Heddley v1.1 Heddley v1.1 (C) Edd Dumbill 1994 - Page 1 - 1. APT-BBS! Contents Index APT-BBS V1.00 EVALUATION RELEASE (1.Jan.1996) COPYRIGHT INFORMATION: ApT-BBS software is fully copyright (c) ApT-Design 1996. All rights are reserved. No charges are to be made for the distribution of any ApT-BBS copyrighted material without the prior written consent of ApT-Design. Similarly NO distribution on Magazine cover disks is allowed without prior written agreement from the software authors at ApT-Design. The ONLY allowable method of copyrighted material distribution is by inclusion on original "Fred Fish" or "Aminet" disk(s). Or by file transfer from Bulletin Board Systems (BBS's) - That do not charge any fees to gain access to this material. This version of the software is released on an evaluation basis to allow prospective Sysops to judge whether ApT-BBS! would suit their needs in establishing a BBS system. Please do not expect complete documentation, support utilities, or access to the latest updated programs. These will only be supplied to registered owners of the ApT-BBS system. Updates to these evaluation programs will be made totally at the discretion of ApT-Design. Genuine enquiries about ApT-BBS are very welcome at either one of the two development systems listed below... ApT-Design can be contacted directly at the following addresses. Internet: andy@elysium.nwnet.co.uk dave@aptsoft.compulink.co.uk Fidonet: 2:250/120.0 Tel: +44-161-799-4922 2:259/13.0 Tel: +44-1501-744262 If possible it would be preferable to contact us using one of the Fidonet BBS numbers listed. - As we are currently checking out some of the new Internet system providers and may well change our Internet addresses over the coming months. 2. Introduction ApT-BBS Design Goals. - What it is and is not! Preamble: If you have been interested in BBS software for any length of time then it is probably stating the obvious that BBS programs can differ greatly in their perceived 'look and feel'. What appeals in one program to one Sysop, may not matter one iota to another Sysop. And it will always be the case that you will need to balance the Pros and Cons of one BBS program against another. For this prime reason, we at ApT-Design feel it is necessary for potential users to be able to setup and run the software with the minimum of restrictions. The included software is not time limited or disabled in any way. There are no annoying requestors reminding you to register. Quite simply you can use the software supplied as long as you require, our hope is that if you find it useful, then you will want to register it. Registration will give you access to updates as and when they become available. As well as support from the BBS authors on any items you want to enquire about. Registration will also encourage us to keep the faith with the Amiga, as - Page 2 - 2. Introduction others hastily pack their bags and jump ship. ApT-BBS A brief introduction: This BBS software is not for the faint hearted. There, its been said! If you want a system that comes straight out of the box and configures EVERYTHING by itself, ...well this is probably not the package for you. That's not to say that we have designed things without regard to being as user-friendly as possible. (We have made available many support and utility tools.) Just that we have concentrated on providing as much power as possible to those that can and want to use it. For the most part this power is gained through Arexx script programming. For example the BBS menus are all Arexx scripts. There are many BBS Arexx accessed functions that you can call to control the look and feel of the BBS. ...Simply put, the power available is unbounded other than by your imagination and ability to use it. What price this power? As emphasized earlier, you need to understand some basic Arexx. There is no demand to be an expert programmer, just the ability to write/alter some scripts to make the BBS appear the way you want it to. Start of modestly by just altering a few lines of the supplied scripts, and before you know it, the BBS will take on a look of your own design that you can feel proud of! It is perfectly feasible for someone with no prior Arexx knowledge to start writing simple scripts within a few hours. We understand that for some people any required effort on their part might just be too much to expect. But hey! This software comes with no financial charge, its not restricted/disabled in any way. Surely you can afford to spend some time in properly trying it all out! If you really find Arexx a chore, then please try out the ACDriver method of BBS/Menu control. This allows you to create simple text scripts for designing BBS control in place of Arexx program files. It has to happen? Whenever you first collect together such a complex collection of programs that go to make up a full BBS package... It's probably inevitable that some mistooks ...erm mistakes will creep in somewhere. Please accept our apology in advance for any errors or omissions. We will gladly rectify any errors as soon as we are aware of them. Please contact one of the development sites if you have any queries or problems with the supplied software. 3. Index ApT-BBS Index of Contents. 1. Quick Set-Up. - Getting started as quickly as possible. 2. ApTserver. - ApT system server. 3. Fmanager. - Configuration and control manager. 4. Menu Control. - How to setup the various menu control systems. 5. Local Logon. - How to use ApT-BBS from the local CLI. 6. Startup Args. - Explanation of ApT-BBS startup arguments. 7. ApT-Design Utilities - Supplied Utility Software from ApT-Design. 8. External Support - Recommended 3rd part support programs. 4. Initial Set-Up ApT-BBS! Quick Setup info. THIS SOFTWARE NEEDS KICKSTART 2.04+ TO FUNCTION. - Page 3 - 4. Initial Set-Up First decide where you want to base your ApT: assigned directory. - It should be on a device with sufficient storage space. (A Hard Drive is recommended and probably essential!) Now run the Installation program. (Click on the Installer Icon on disk 1.) After the Installer has completed all the system files should be in place, and you can now edit the various configuration files necessary to properly set-up your system. You should now load in the 's:startapt' setup file into your favorite text editor and modify the ASSIGNS to suit your hard drive set-up. Do not delete or otherwise disable the APT: defines in particular. These contain essential assigns that ApT-BBS! needs in order to operate properly. Of particular note, you should have a directory called "BBS:" assigned, also "MAIL:" with a directory "MAIL:Nodelist/" available. Once you have edited this 'startapt' file you can then EXECUTE it from the CLI and if all goes well your ApT-BBS! system can now be started. Note: this script is not AUTO run by ApT-BBS! you will need to execute it yourself. It only needs to be run once each time your Amiga is newly switched on. Take Note: To get you started we have enclosed a set of Arexx scripts that provide a simple BBS shell. Many of the options within the menus refer to programs that are not included, especially in the "Games" menu. You will still be able to start the BBS up and you can try accessing these options if you wish. However, before you put the BBS on line you would most certainly want to configure the menus to your own liking. We recommend that as a novice user you start of slowly, perhaps only creating one set of Hotkey menu scripts to start with. Then when you build confidence you can layer on a set of Button menus. If you examine the included Button and Hotkey scripts you will notice that they are very similar in content and also that they share the same background display pages. - So the effort to maintain/create two quite different control methods is made easier. Special Note: To avoid possible copyright problems and to save space, certain 3rd party support libraries are not included in this archive. You will need to get hold of the FREE and easily obtainable xpr transfer protocol libraries that you want to support. "xprzmodem.library. xprxmodem.library and xprymodem.library" will probably suffice for most transfer situations. Also traplist.library version 5 or greater will give you access to Fidonet node parsing tools. "traplist.library" can be found in the Trapdoor 1.85+ archives that will be on most good Amiga file sites. 5. ApTserver AptServer - BBS Line Control Server. For the most part you need not be concerned about the operation of this program as it mainly concerns itself with the automatic control and sharing of services between all the possible BBS lines. As an essential part of the APTBBS system - alongside the Fmanager program, ApTserver is required to be started before any attempt at running an ApTline program. - This is demonstrated in the STARTAPT script that is supplied in this BBS archive. Of note you should provide an argument to ApTserver indicating the required Screen 'Depth' that should be used. An example startup line is as follows... - Page 4 - 5. ApTserver run ApT:ApTserver depth=4 ; Here 'depth' is the requested screen depth ; - which can be 2,3 or 4. This allows 4, 8 ; or 16 colour screens. In the ApTserver window you will see a selection of "ACTION ITEM" gadgets. Their purpose is explained below. Show: - This will toggle on or off a logged in users display window. The user currently highlighted in the listview gadget is the one that will be affected by the "Show:" gadget. It actually runs a small Arexx script called LINE-ACT.apt that resides in the APTREXX: assigned directory. You can of course edit this script as you require. Note that you can NOT switch off a 'Local' logged in user (i.e someone not logged in using a modem.) as that makes no sense! User: - This will run a support utility called ShowUser for the currently highlighted user. Chat: - This will force an immediate chat with the currently highlighted user. It actually runs a small Arexx script called CHAT-ACT.apt that resides in the APTREXX: assigned directory. You can of course edit this script as you require. Note this can unavoidably cause some display glitchs after the chat - depending on where and what the user was doing at the time of the forced chat. So be careful in your use of this feature. Shut: - This will force the currently highlighted user off the BBS by displaying a message for a few seconds and then 'system friendly' forcing him to exit. It actually runs a small Arexx script called DROP-ACT.apt that resides in the APTREXX: assigned directory. You can of course edit this script as you require. Note: The displayed message is located in the Tplates:sys assigned directory and is called SYS_FORCEDOFF.TPL You can of course edit this template file as you require. Pri - This a slider gadget that allows you to set the priority of the ApTserver program within the range 0-5 It's probably best to leave it set to 5. Whatever value you set will be remembered at close down and will be used as a default value when next started up. Disp: - This will run the DisplayEd program for generating an ApT-BBS Screen/Window display file Rept: - This will run the UserReport program. Menu Items Under the "Local" menu you see a selection of 'Local - CLI only' BBS lines that can be started quickly be selecting them with your mouse or by using the Right Amiga Key and 0-9 numbers. This is just a convenience feature, you can of course start any of the possible 0-255 lines in local mode if you wish - by starting the line from the CLI with the proper startup argument. The "Mail" menu has three options, Of which Load Mail.Dat and Save Mail.Dat simply force a load or save of the ApTservers locally stored mail area data. You would only consider using these options if you had manually altered the mail pointers using some external mail editing tool (for example the mail editing features in the Fmanager program.) and you wanted to update the ApTservers recognition of this new mail.dat information. In such cases you must ensure that there is NO currently logged in user before you start using any external mail editing tool, and then force ApTserver to save off its mail.dat values. You should then shutdown your modem answering program - Page 5 - 5. ApTserver (Trapdoor, Jammail or whatever). - Do whatever editing is required, then select 'Load Mail.DAT' to force ApTserver into reloading the new data. The 3rd mail menu item 'Waiting Mail?' will simply bring up a window telling you what messages if any are marked as waiting for your attention. The "Execute" menu has 4 option... Reset Calls - Will zero the ApTservers display of the number of calls since the ApTserver was displayed. Public Screen - Allows you to 'capture' (Shanghai) windows that would open on the default public screen (Usually workbench) This is useful if you want to easily allow workbench utilities like the clock or calculator to open on APTBBS's screen. A typical use of the shanghai mode would be to set it on in the ApTserver menu - when selected a 'tick' character will appear - then run a workbench utility and it should now open on ApT's screen. Once you have shanghai'd all that you want, select the 'Restore Workbench' menu option. NOTE: That you should first shutdown ALL the windows that have been shanghai'd onto ApT's screen before you attempt to shutdown the ApTserver! Start Mailer - Is just a quick and convenient way of starting up your mailer software (Trapdoor, Jammail or whatever.) from the ApTserver screen. This menu option will execute the script called "Mailer.batch" that resides in the APT:Batch directory. So you should edit this to suit your prefered mailer if you want to use this menu item properly. An example for using the Jammail mailer follows... ; /* This is a Script to Run a Mailer program. */ run execute s:setup ; Jammail Mailer startup script. Shutdown Server - Simply attempts to shutdown the ApTserver program. Please make very sure that there are no shanghai'd or otherwise opened windows on the ApTserver screen, except the ApTserver window itself of course, before selecting this option. Otherwise the shutdown will fail and may cause ApTserver to hangup. 6. Fmanager The following information assumes that the 'Fmanager' program is now running (It is usually started in the 'startapt' script). To make the Fmanager window visible you should press your RIGHT-AMIGA key + SHIFT key + 'f' together at the same time. These 3 keys will pop the Fmanager menu to the desired screen. ======================================================================= PLEASE NOTE: In using the Fmanager you will sometimes have to select an entry from a listview gadget - you normally do this by selecting the entry with the mouse pointer then either 'double-click' the pointer on it, or by selecting an 'ACCEPT' or 'OK' type gadget. PLEASE USE THE DOUBLE CLICK METHOD OF SELECTING AN ENTRY FROM A LISTVIEW GADGET. - OTHERWISE AN INCORRECT SELECTION WILL BE MADE. WE WILL MODIFY THE FMANAGER SO BOTH SELECTION METHODS ARE SUPPORTED ASAP. ======================================================================= NOTE: By supplying a screen argument (or not) you can decide on what PUBLIC screen the Fmanager will open on. e.g. "run ApT:Fmanager/Fmanager screen=APTBBS" Will cause the Fmanager to open its window on the APTBBS screen. If you want it to open on the Workbench screen then simply remove the "screen=APTBBS" part of the argument. The Fmanager can display its menu in 1 of 2 modes. One is where it is - Page 6 - 6. Fmanager stretched along the width of the window. The other is where it makes a 2 column wide display DOWN the window. You should normally use this 2nd mode of display for all access's to the Fmanagers options. You can toggle from mode 1 to mode 2 display by clicking on the leftmost button that has a '<' character within it. Please do that now. (If no Fmanager is displayed check that you pressed the key combination as described earlier). Example 'Mode 1' Gadget display: +---+-----------------------+-------+------+------+------+------+-------+ |<|C| Waiting for Callers. |2:19pm | EDIT | APTX | VIEW | SYST | <<-1>>| +---+-----------------------+-------+------+------+------+------+-------+ ^ |_ Click on this button to get mode 2 display. Example 'Mode 2' Gadget display: _____________ | BIX | PFS | +-----+-----+ | FUP | MED | +-----+-----+ <<<--- This is the display mode of the Fmanager that | CPF | ACC | you should select every time. +-----+-----+ (The other mode is fine, but for this purpose | FED | VDE | - it makes reference easier if we use mode 2!) +-----+-----+ Please note that there are a different set of | MSG | INT | MENU items available depending on which Mode +-----+-----+ you have selected. This 'Mode 2' option gives | CHT | LIN | the greatest range of selectable Menu items. +-----+-----+ Check them out by pressing your Right mouse | EDU | EMP | button when this gadget window has been selected. +-----+-----+ | APTX | +-----------+ |<<| -1 |>>| ------------- You can now enter your system setup into the various Fmanager menu options. NOTE: You gain access to the Fmanager EDITING options by 2 methods. One, click on the desired button. Or Two, press the right mouse button while the Fmanager window is active, and you will see a menu display with various options that you can select. - Some can be accessed by EITHER clicking on a button or from the drop-down menus but others are ONLY available from the menus. When finished editing the options to suit your needs remember to then SAVE your Fmanager preferences. - To the S: directory if you want these to be the default values used when the Fmanager starts up. Or you can choose some other directory if you want them to be an alternative config that you will use at a later date - as a backup for example. 7. Fmanager Menu Items Example of the Menu items displayed when using the 'Mode 2' Fmanager display window. Menu 1 Menu 2 ___________________________________________________ | About A | User Account Editor E | +----------------------+ Account Filters | | Prefs | Template Editors | | Paths... +--------------------------+ | Chat Preferences | File Index Editor B | | ApT-Tic Prefs | File Editor F | +----------------------+ File Bulk Uploader U | - Page 7 - 7. Fmanager Menu Items | Load Preferences... | File Intercepts I | | Save Preferences... +--------------------------+ +----------------------+ Message Index Editor M | | User Work Log +--------------------------+ | Active Callers | Menu Editor | +----------------------+--------------------------+ | Close C | Visual Editor V | | Terminate T +--------------------------+ +----------------------+ Monthly Day Chart | | Hour Chart | +--------------------------+ | APTX Editor | +--------------------------+ 8. Fmanager Files Area Editor Using this Fmanager Editor option you can bring up a display of any file areas already configured and edit them as required. You can also create new file areas, setting all their relevant configuration details. To edit an existing file area you MUST double-click on its entry in the list of areas displayed. This will open a new window in which you can alter the configuration data as required. If you are entering a NEW file area then you can either click on the 'New Area' button or you can 'Clone' an existing file area by selecting an existing area first. - Single click on the area you want to clone then click on the 'Clone' button. Note: If you Clone an area then an EXACT copy of the area will be created and added to the END of the list of file areas displayed. - If the list of areas is greater than can be displayed at any one time, then you will have to scroll the list down to the end to see the newly cloned area. You must then change the File Area number to a unique value. And then alter the filepath information etc. to suit your requirements. Cloning file areas can be a very useful method of creating a lot of new file areas but you should take time to ensure that you all the clones are altered as you intended. To finish editing either click on the Close window gadget or the button marked as '<<' 9. Fmanager Preferences This option allows you to set several basic Fmanager preferences. The options are all fairly self-evident in their usage but some brief guidance follows. Log Actions: This option allows you to select the amount of Logging information that will be stored when the Fmanager carries out its various operations. Usually no information will be generated, but if the Fmanager detects some problem then it will write the error details to the log file. Filter: Selects whether the Fmanager should use its various Filter options or not. Panel Style: Selects the default Fmanager 'Panel' or Window style when it is first opened up. I recommend type 'II' for maximum access to the Fmanager options. But its easily changed from one style to the other by selecting the appropriate toggle button on each panel. Resumes: If you want to save any aborted uploads to a 'Resume' directory where the uploader can continue the upload at a later date, then you should switch this ON. Note: Resumes can only work on files uploaded by a suitable transfer protocol. e.g. Zmodem. Protocols like Xmodem can never allow - Page 8 - 9. Fmanager Preferences uploads to continue at a later date because of their design restrictions. But do not worry about the different transfer protocols, ApT is smart enough to work this out automatically for each protocol. If you want Resumes ON then you should also set the limits on the number of files and maximum file sizes to be saved in the Resume directory. - See other Resume options below! Maximum Resume Kbytes: This limits the maximum size of the partially uploaded files to be stored in the Resume directory. Note that it is in units of KiloBytes so if you do not want to store any more than 500 Kilobytes of files then enter 500. Maximum Resume Files: This limits the number of files to be stored at any one time. If you set this to 20 and there are 20 files stored, then when a 21st file is ready to be stored the oldest file will be removed. Sysop Name: The name entered here is used in various APT functions so you should key in the name you want the System to recognise as 'SYSOP'. 10. Fmanager Bulk File Uploader This is a very useful method of BULK uploading a lot of files to an existing file area. Generally you will be hoping that your BBS users will be doing most of the uploading in the normal way! But if you have the desire to build up a file area with a lot of files not already registered in the file index then this is a good way of doing it. When first started you will see 2 List windows displayed. Underneath the Left List you will see a 'Build List' button. Click on this button and you will get a file directory requestor displayed. Select the Directory in this requestor where the files are currently situated. This will then close the File requestor and a list of files will be displayed in the Left List window. You can then Double click on the files you want to select to be uploaded. Or alternatively select them ALL in one go by clicking on the 'Mark ALL' button. Next you should select the file area that the files should be copied to in the Right List window. You do this by double-clicking on the desired file area and you should see '>>DEST>>' appear beside the desired file area. Finally you can select the 'Upload' button and the files will be uploaded as required. There are various useful features that can be used to Filter out undesired file types. For example you may only want files with the '.LHA' suffix to be copied. Experiment with the filters to see what can be done! 11. Fmanager Menu-Editor Please disregard this editing item as it is no longer supported and will be removed at a later date. For the curious, it edited an optional set of 'hard-coded' menus that ApT-BBS once used. But after using Arexx for control purposes it soon became apparent that 'old style' BBS menu control had very little to offer! 12. Fmanager Chat-Preference Editor This option allows you to edit your preferred settings for the 'Chat' function within APT-BBS. Rather than listing what should be obvious features I will mention just a few points on some items. Background Information: - Page 9 - 12. Fmanager Chat-Preference Editor When a user pages the sysop for a chat you can determine whether depending on the time and date or an overall IN/OUT option, the user gets to attempt to page you or gets a programmable 'Sorry - Not In!' type message. You can also select several display options for when a CHAT 'window' opens and you engage in conversation. You can also choose to save the conversation to disk somewhere for record purposes. 13. Fmanager Accounts Editor This is a very powerful yet easy to use ACCOUNTS editor. Using this tool you can edit existing accounts or the default values that will be used when a new user is registered on the BBS, or altering an existing users configuration. The best way to understand how it all works is to experiment with it after you understand some basic operation functions. To help you get started in configuring your user accounts settings I will briefly outline the most important aspects of using the editor. When you have started the User Accounts editor you should see something like the following displayed: +-------------------------------+---------------+ | | [1] | | | EDIT | | |_______________| | | | | USER NAMES | [2] | | DISPLAYED | FILTERS OFF | | HERE! |_______________| | | | | | [3] | | | << | |_______________________________|_______________| | [4] | [5] | [6] | | Edit Filters | Templates | Execute | |_______________|_______________|_______________| | [7] | [8] | [9] | | Members | New Accounts | Review/Expire | |_______________|_______________|_______________| [1] EDIT This gives three options for actioning on the users marked in the display. To mark a user you can double click on the user name or by using a drop-down menu you can mark/unmark ALL users. Note: This Menu method of marking only works when working in TRANSPOSE mode or DELETE mode. See (2) and (3) below! (1) EDIT - Here you can edit individual user account details. Simply double click on the user name required which should be displayed in the listview. See [7], [8], and [9] below for details on how to get a list of user names displayed. (2) DELETE - This simply deletes the account(s) marked in the list view. You will see '[D]' to the left of all names you have marked for deletion. These users and their (3) TRANSPOSE - This mode of editor operation allows you to transpose a users account from one set of pre-determined values to another. You would most likely use this when you want to upgrade (or downgrade!) a users account. For example converting a 'new' user into a 'registered' user. The transpose values that will be applied to the user(s) can be edited by selecting the TEMPLATES button - see [8] below. - Page 10 - 13. Fmanager Accounts Editor [2] FILTERS (ON/OFF) You can toggle on/off whether filters should be applied to building up a list of users to be displayed. For example you may only want users who have made a certain number of calls to the BBS to be displayed. - Possibly with some other filters in action as well. - See [4] [3] << This button simply exits the user accounts editor and returns to the previous Fmanager display. It duplicates the action of the 'Close Window' gadget. [4] EDIT FILTERS This button opens a window wherein you can select what filters you want to use in various combinations. These filters will mask out users from the list that will be displayed when you click on either [7], [8] or [9] buttons. Filters only operate when you have toggled them on by selecting FILTERS ON using button [2] (see above). [5] TEMPLATES This is the most complex user accounts editing option and deserves a 'mini-doc' of its own. In brief it allows you to create/modify a list of template files that will be masked into the users account data file. See [1] (3) above on how to activate the template for the desired user(s) Some example Templates are provided and these have suitable names to indicate their original purpose. By examining them you should soon see how they will act on the user account(s) and you can Clone/Add new templates to your own requirements. [6] EXECUTE You should select this button when you want to activate your TRANSPOSE or DELETE options on the marked user accounts. See [1] (2)-(3) above. [7] MEMBERS There are 3 main types of user accounts supported on APT-BBS. Members, New-Accounts and Review/Expired. This button will bring up a full list of users in the MEMBERS category but may filter out some or all depending if you have switched Filtering on (See [2] above) AND whether the filters match the required user data. [8] NEW ACCOUNTS This is the 2nd type of main user account supported by APT-BBS. As it implies it is a list of NEW user accounts which await your upgrading or deletion. Filters (if activated) can also limit the number of users displayed. Clicking on this button will show all the users (if any) in this category. [9] REVIEW/EXPIRED This is the 3rd and last type of main user account supported by APT-BBS. As it implies it is a list of user accounts that have expired or otherwise have come up for review. These users will be denied access to the BBS until you have renewed their account by TRANSPOSING a suitable accounts filter file onto their data file. Note Filters (if activated) can also limit the number of users displayed. Clicking on this button will show all the users (if any) in this category. 14. Fmanager File Index Editor This editing option allows you to alter an existing file areas contents. You can for example Delete, Move, Rename, Update whatever files are listed in any particular file area. The use of most of the options should be self evident and I wont detail them here. But a few items that need more explanation will be given. - Page 11 - 14. Fmanager File Index Editor 'Turkey Check' is a function that will scan the directory listed as containing the selected file areas files. If any files are found that are not included in the contents list, then you will be given the opportunity to mark them individually to be 'uploaded'. If you do upload 'turkey' files then you should remember to add in proper descriptions for them and also alter any other flags that you want set. MOST IMPORTANTLY remember that you are working with a copy of an existing file areas index. You should not allow users access to upload or otherwise alter files in this area while you are editing it! ALSO you MUST remember to SAVE the newly edited index before changing to a new file area or exiting the edit, otherwise you will lose your modifications. 15. Fmanager Visual-Display-Editor Please ignore this editing option! It pertains to an old Visual Display option system that has been overtaken by later display developments. Its probable this option will be removed totally from the system quite soon. 16. Fmanager Message Area Editor This editor option allows you to create or maintain configuration information for all of your message areas. To select an existing area for modification 'double click' on the area name listed in the viewer. You will then be presented with a new window allowing you to fully edit the data for that message area. I will not detail all the options available as most of them are self evident but instead I will mention some of the more important ones. Sig Val: - Select the number of a SIG that you want this message area to be related to. For example, you might want SIG '1' to be known as AMIGA based. So if the message area is essentially Amiga in content then you could make the Sig Val = 1. This would have the effect that whenever a command is issued to display Message areas belonging to SIG '1' then this area would be displayed. While areas with another SIG number would not. If you do not want this area to be considered 'attached' to any SIG group then use a value of '0' for the SIG. Area Type: - This is a very important setting. Currently the selections are... (1) Echo Mail - Signifying that the message area is imported and exported to a Fidonet like system. (2) Private - This is a local message area where all messages are normally private. i.e. they can only be seen by the sender and the receiver...and people who have a 'Read Private Mail' privilege flag set in their account data. (3) Local - This is a non private 'Local' i.e. non-exported message area. (4) Netmail - Use areas of this type for sending Netmails to Fidonet type systems. MaxMsg: - You should enter a number here that will determine the maximum number of messages that will be kept in the area when 'ApTmail' runs and carries out its housekeeping activities. Low & High: - Are indicators of the lowest and highest numbered messages recognised in this area. These are normally maintained by 'ApTmail' after it has been run. But if you want to alter these manually, then you will have to enter true values for - Page 12 - 16. Fmanager Message Area Editor the lowest and highest numbered messages in the area. Otherwise you risk having 'orphan' messages stored on disk but not 'seen' by APT. REMEMBER to use the Save option if you have altered any data that you want to be used. 17. Fmanager Intercepts Editor You may have decided at some point that you wanted any uploaded files destined for some particular areas, to be 'Intercepted' and stored in the Intercepts area until you have had the time to check them out. (You would have switched on the Intercepts flag for the areas concerned using the Filebase Editor) This editor option allows you to review any files awaiting attention in the Intercepts area. And you can then allow them to be 'registered' in their intended areas so they can be downloaded or you can delete them totally from your system. 18. Fmanager Chat Please disregard this option for present! 19. Fmanager Line Selector This option allows you to select what BBS Line number you want the Fmanager program to work on. - APT-BBS allows upto 256 users on at any one time. So if you have multiple users logged on this option would be used when you wanted to investigate or edit a user on a particular line number. 20. Fmanager Edit a user On-line If you have a user currently online - logged into a particular BBS line number then you can edit/investigate that users configuration data by choosing this option. Its important that you first make sure that you have selected the proper line number for the user concerned (If you have more than one user logged on.) You can select the Line number by using either the '<<' or '>>' buttons to display the required line number. You will be presented with another selection window with a series of buttons that allow you access to all of the users configuration information. And you can edit this data in real time so that the user can see the effects of you changes. For example you can alter his Display flags or his access to areas...whatever you choose. There are a lot of possible alterations available and I will not detail them here for now. Experiment with this function and feel the power! 21. Fmanager Display toggle You can toggle the window display type by selecting this option. As previously explained you are probably best advised to use the 'Mode 2' display where the Fmanager window is displayed in a double column down the screen, rather than the single row 'Mode 1' display. But its easy enough to toggle between the displays if you feel the need to do so! 22. Fmanager APTX Please ignore this item for now. It has no real relevance to the BBS operation at present. - Page 13 - 22. Fmanager Online selector 23. Fmanager Online selector If you want to edit a users data while he is currently ONLINE you have to first make sure that select the line number that he is using. The line number is displayed between the '<<' and '>>' gadgets and this gadget simply indexes the selected line number UPWARDS. - Only lines logged into the bbs will be indicated. 24. Fmanager Online selector If you want to edit a users data while he is currently ONLINE you have to first make sure that select the line number that he is using. The line number is displayed between the '<<' and '>>' gadgets and this gadget simply indexes the selected line number DOWNWARDS. - Only lines logged into the bbs will be indicated. 25. Fmanager Line Display This gadget simply displays the Line number of the user that the Fmanager is linked into. If you have multiple users online then you will have to ensure that this display shows the line number of the user that you want to edit. If no users are online then this gadget will display '-1' 26. Fmanager-Description FMANAGER Brief function description. The Fmanagers purpose is many fold. It allows the Sysop to edit many of the BBS configuration items as well as supplying inbuilt management utilities and real-time BBS support functions. 27. Menu Control ApT-BBS uses a set of predefined Arexx scripts to control all the BBS activity when a user is logged on. These scripts allow you the Sysop maximum control over how the BBS operates - the look and feel - of the BBS. But please NOTE that Arexx is used mainly as a control, all the intensive BBS features are programmed in Assembler or 'C'. There are a small number of explicitly named Arexx files that must be present for ApT-BBS to work. You can edit these files to suit your preferences but do not delete or rename them as ApT-BBS will need to use them to control some basic features. All ApT-Rexx scripts have the extension of .apt and are called from the directory "ApTRexx:" - You should make quite sure that you have a suitable assign within your user-startup sequence. A list of these predefined scripts is listed below. ScriptName | Called from/at -------------------+---------------------------------------------------- logon.apt | Very first script called. You should not need to | edit this except perhaps the user display text. interlog.apt | Called just after entering the login password. core.apt | First Main script after logon. From here YOU | determine what happens next with any number of Arexx | scripts! interlogoff.apt | Within the early logging off process. *1 logoff_final.apt | Just prior to BBS window closing after logoff. *1 carrierdrop.apt | Whenever a user exits abnormally from system. - Page 14 - 27. Menu Control chatsound_on.apt | Just prior to the chat-window appearing. chatsound_off.apt | Just after the chat-window closing. newuser_logon.apt | Whenever a user is found to be new to the system. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- I suggest that you first take a look at these scripts and see what they do. You will probably want to make some changes. Note: *1 - These scripts can be bypassed by using a script called "LOGOFF.APT" In the included example Arexx scripts this is indeed what happens. So please ignore these *1 marked scripts for now. "core.apt" In the example scripts provided, this script is used to determine what style of user 'menus' should be displayed. If the user wants BUTTON or HOTKEY or COMMAND menus. The script then branches (using the CHAINAPT command) to various Arexx scripts that provide the user with menus of the style required. But please NOTE: This is just an example of one way of using the 'core.apt' script. What happens here is all down to YOU! But for the purpose of this explanation, we will assume that core.apt is only used for menu selection. Also Note that the script is designed so that if a user chose BUTTON or HOTKEY menus last time he called then he wont be prompted for a choice each time he calls. The script will default to his previous choice. However I decided that I would allow users who chose COMMAND menus last call to always be prompted for their menu type preference. - Reason? Well COMMAND menus can look very unfriendly to someone that may have chosen them by mistake and I didn't want to force them on them every call in case they got 'lost' within them and did not know how to change back to HOTKEY or BUTTON menus. Ok, so now we presume in this example that the user has been allocated one of three menu styles. If he chose COMMAND menus then he will be in the ACDRIVER (Non-Arexx) control system. - See the ACDRIVER docs for further details. However, if he chose BUTTON or HOTKEY menus then he will be using either the "Core_Button.apt" or "Core_hotkey.apt" scripts respectively. Note that the naming of these scripts can be changed to suit your requirements. Only the arexx scripts listed in the above table need to have specific names. In the example scripts "Core_Button.apt" and "Core_hotkey.apt" you will find much similarity. The only differences are to do with the way that things are displayed to the user. The HOTKEY description is used to signify that the BBS will respond to a users keypresses on a key by key basis. For example he will be presented with a menu of choices and when he presses a SINGLE key that represents the choice he wants, then an action will take place. The BUTTON description represents a method of control that is mostly CURSOR driven. For example the user will be shown a set of choices and he can use his cursor keys to cycle through the options to the one he wants. he can then press his Enter/return key to confirm his choice. These button style menus can look very attractive if designed properly, and they are also very friendly to the user - as long as his comms software fully supports ANSI movement! Note: To use button style menus you have to create a series of compilation files that work hand-in-hand with a set of normal display files - as you would use in normal HOTKEY type menus. To see the example compilation files that are needed with the arexx button scripts provided in this archive, look in the APT:REXX directory for a file called ButtonCompile.rexx This file lists MOST (all except the QWK button menus) of the BUTTON menu data that is needed in the example scripts. If you run the script (The Fmanager program - Page 15 - 27. Menu Control needs to be running in the background) then a series of data files will be created. These data files are then used in Arexx scripts like "Core_button.apt" to give the unique look of "Button" style menus. Creating button menus can look a bit daunting at first glance. But study the example "ButtonCompile.rexx" file and you should work out how it is done. I recommend that you make only small modifications to the existing script, compile it and note the differences to the way it displays. Then build on that experience to develop your own powerful Button menus. - Full documentation on Button Menu creation will be provided at a later date. I suggest that you examine the "Core_Button.apt" and "Core_hotkey.apt" scripts and alter their contents to suit your requirements. Please refer to the separate ApTrexx.guide documentation for a full list of the Arexx commands that you can use to control the BBS. If you are new to using Arexx then it can all appear quite confusing at first, but please persevere, the power it allows you is well worth the small effort needed to get to grips with its basic operation. I suggest that you make small changes to the provided scripts and note the difference in the way it operates the BBS. Then build on that experience to develop a look-and-feel for your BBS that is unique! 28. 's:startapt' EXAMPLE Basic Startup-Script for ApT-BBS! Change the Drive directories to suit your system but don't delete any assignments unless they are marked as 'optional'. This script can be renamed to suit your own preferences, but you should execute this (Or something similar!) when you want to start the BBS system up. (Say after a cold re-boot of your Amiga. NOTE: Several directories and sub-directories need to be available or commented out. PLEASE read through this script BEFORE you attempt to execute it! --- cut here --- stack 20000 assign APT: dh0:APT assign ApTRexx: ApT:ApTRexx assign Flist: ApT:Flist assign logs: apt:logs assign TPlates: APT:Templates assign text: tplates:TXT assign aptNEWS: tplates:news assign aptGeneral: apt:GeneralFiles assign modules: apt:modules The following 2 assigns are optional, but are 'standard' ones used by many 3rd party Fidonet mail utilities, so are recommended. assign mail: dh0:mail assign nodelist: mail:nodelist Paragon/Starnet needed assigns. (If you want to run their Doors.) These Door assigns are optional, but recommended. assign bbs: apt: assign paragon: bbs: assign starnet: bbs: assign Doors: bbs:Doors - Page 16 - 28. 's:startapt' FSED stuff (External Full Screen Editor) These are optional, and can be replaced to suit any other external CLI based FSED you want to use. (eg the AED editor.) assign FSED: doors:extfsed assign USER: t: assign DLGConfig: t: makedir DLGConfig:Misc These assigns cover a TEMPORARY directory that file Uploads will be made to. RAM: is recommended for performance reasons, but if space there is limited then use your Hard Drive. makedir t:Uploads assign ApTuploads: t:Uploads These assigns are to allow the CLI handler to operate. And cover Line numbers 0 and 1. You should add in other assigns in a similar manner to cover any other Line numbers you may want to 'fire up'. mount APTDEV0: from devs:ApT-Mountlist mount APTDEV1: from devs:ApT-Mountlist Finally startup the two 'background' tasks that need to be running before any ApT-BBS! line can start up, And run the Arexx variable utility. run ApT:Fmanager/Fmanager screen=APTBBS run ApT:ApTserver depth=4 ; Here 'depth' is the requested screen depth ; - which can be 2,3 or 4. This allows 4, 8 ; or 16 colour screens. rx aptrexx:setclips.rx 29. Logging on Locally You can try a local logon to ApT-BBS! by entering the following command sequence... "RUN APT:ApTline line=0 command=0 mode=1 screen=local.disp Hide=0" Or alternatively (shorter!) "RUN APT:ApTline l=0 c=0 m=1 s=local.disp H=0" The argument options used are explained briefly below. See the line-startup document for a FULL list of the possible arguments. line = the line number. command = startup command (Always use 0. In the future this may change.) mode = 0 or 1. Where 0 means use the serial device. IE we expect a serial connection. '1' Means that we want to use ONLY a local Window display with NO serial use. screen = the screen startup data to use. This is an editable file that defines what screen & window setup you wish to use for this ApTline. The screen data can be edited by running the DisplayEd program that can be found in your APT: directory. If you find problems with the supplied screen.disp files you should use the DisplayEd program to define some screen files that suit your system. And then use one of those with the Aptline startup. - Page 17 - 29. Logging on Locally Hide = Whether the BBS should HIDE the Local window when the BBS is started. In this example, we want a window to open so we choose '0'. If we wanted to hide the window we would have selected '1'. But in cases where there is NO serial use (See the 'mode' description above) you cannot ALSO hide the display window as there would be no way to communicate with the BBS! If you have got to here successfully, well done! If not, then take note of any error displays that should show up in the console window that you RAN ApTline from. These error displays should guide you to what is wrong with your setup. If you ran ApTline with the output directed to "NIL:" or similar then please try again without redirecting the output from the CLI window. ApTline, hopefully, should now be displaying its startup screen/window. Depending on the screen.disp file that you used, it MAY have brought the opened window to view automatically. But if you have disabled the 'Screen to front' option for a particular screen.disp file, then you will probably have to cycle through all the Amiga screens available till you find ApTline. For this reason its sensible to make ALL local screen.disp files pop their window to the front. (With Modem run lines this option could be a nuisance so you would normally want those screen.disp files to NOT pop their windows to the front.) Use the DisplayEd documentation to glean further information on the screen/window options. If you have not been able to get ApTline to open either a screen or window then its quite likely that the Display file you choose is not suitable for your system. So please use the DisplayEd editor to modify a Display file and use the newly saved file in your Aptline startup argument. To ease logon, there is a DUMMY account with the name of SYSOP and password APTBBS that will allow you to logon without going through the registration form, but you should delete/modify this account before you allow other users access to the BBS. 30. ApTline Startup Arguments To startup ApT-BBS you need to supply some arguments so that ApT can determine under what conditions it should set itself up. A Full list of all the possible arguments are supplied below. NOTE: that depending on what mode you want ApT to startup in, some of the arguments might be unnecessary. Example argument line for a full SERIAL startup mode. - This will only work when the serial device is active! "RUN APT:ApTline Line=1 Command=0 Mode=0 Actual=14400 Unit=0 Baud=19200 Device=serial.device Screen=custom.disp Hide=0" Or alternatively (shorter!) "RUN APT:ApTline L=1 C=0 M=0 A=14400 U=0 B=19200 D=serial.device S=custom.disp H=0" These argument options can be supplied in any order after the program name and an explanation of their purpose follows. Line = The line number to use. Must be in the range 0 - 255. Which allows a maximum of 256 different users online at any one time. By convention you should treat line '0' as a local only line - where you the Sysop will only ever log on from the Amiga CLI. But this is only a suggestion, line '0' CAN be used for serial usage if needed. - Page 18 - 30. ApTline Startup Arguments Command = Startup command (Always use 0. In the future this may change.) Mode = 0 or 1. Where '0' means use the serial device. IE we expect a serial connection. '1' Means that we want to use a local Window display with NO serial use. Actual = Actual BAUD rate connection. This is a value representing the connection speed between a caller and your modem. A program like Trapdoor will pass on this actual value for you automatically in a named variable. (In Trapdoors case it uses a variable called '%B' - Note its an upper case 'B') Unit = Serial unit number. You should supply the serial unit number that you want to use. Usually this will be '0' or '1' but refer to your documentation on the serial device for advice. A program like Trapdoor will pass on this actual value for you automatically in a named variable. (In Trapdoors case it uses a variable called '%u' - Note its a lower case 'u') Baud = This is the value of the LOCKED baud rate between your computer and the modem. Consult your modem documentation for details on what value of locked baud you should use. A program like Trapdoor will pass on this actual value for you automatically in a named variable. (In Trapdoors case it uses a variable called '%b' - Note its a lower case 'b') Device = Enter the name of the serial device you want to use. Normally this will be "serial.device" But if you have an alternative eg. "duart.device" you can use that. A program like Trapdoor will pass on this actual value for you automatically in a named variable. (In Trapdoors case it uses a variable called '%s' - Note its a lower case 's') Screen = The screen startup data file to use. This is an editable file that defines what screen & window setup you wish to use for this ApTline. The screen data can be edited by running the DisplayEd program that can be found in your APT: directory. If you have problems with the supplied screen.disp files you should use the DisplayEd program to define some screen files that suit your system. Hide = Whether the BBS should HIDE the Local window when the BBS is started. In this example, we want a window to open so we choose '0'. If we wanted to hide the window we would have selected '1'. But in cases where there is NO serial line use (See the 'Mode' description above) you cannot ALSO hide the display window! Also note that EACH user can have a privilige bit set (DisplayOpen or DisplayClose) in their account file that will either force open a normally closed window or close a normally open window! So for example you may choose to start ApTline up in a closed window mode and rely on the users set privelige bit to open a snoop window. - Handy for those users you wish to keep track off, while not being bothered by window displays from others! To use ApT-BBS with a modem you need a program like Trapdoor or Jammail to handle the initial call. - These programs will deal with the call and will either startup the BBS or if its a mail-only call - (Fidonet or similar.) they will transfer the mail and files as required. Listed below are the necessary options you need to use in your Trapdoor configuration file. (Trapdoor.cfg) See your Trapdoor documentation for full - Page 19 - 30. ApTline Startup Arguments details on how to use Trapdoor. Firstly, you MUST have a FULL 7 wire modem/computer cable (RTS/CTS etc connections made.) - Most Cables support these connections, but if your modem cable is a 3 wire job, then upgrade the thing now! You should ensure that the BBS is started up in SHARED mode every time. - The Trapdoor docs will tell you what SHARED mode is. --- Cut--- Example Trapdoor config data... ; Always use SPAWN to run the BBS. BBSMODE SPAWN ; If you want to spawn a BBS, you must use the SHARED ; option. Otherwise, you can use NOSHARED to prevent ; other programs from using the serial device when ; TrapDoor has it open. SHARED ; If you have a buffering modem, you need to have a full ; 7-wire cable and enable hardware handshaking with 7WIRE. 7WIRE ; Batch script that you should run after a fidonet session. ; Alter the batch script to suit your preferred mail tosser. AfterSession "execute ApT:Batch/Mail.batch" ; This is the commandline that TrapDoor will execute when ; a user presses Escape to enter the BBS. ; To disable the BBS, use BBSMODE NONE or omit the statements. BBSCOMMAND "apt:aptline L=1 C=0 M=0 A=%B U=%u B=%b D=%s S=custom.disp H=0" ; NOTE: In the above BBSCOMMAND option, you should change the ; 'S=custom.disp' entry to suit your choice of screen/window display that ; the BBS should use when started up by Trapdoor. Use the DisplayEd ; program to generate your choice of such a Display mode. (Refer to ; the DisplayEd doc.) You can also change the 'L=1' entry to start up ; ApT-BBS! using a different LINE number, but the other argument entries ; should be left alone. --- Cut --- For Jammail usage please use the excellent configuration utility supplied with Jammail and when requested to enter the LAUNCHBBS command, enter the following argument. apt:aptline L=$(line) C=0 M=0 A=$(baud) B=$(baudlocked) U=$(unit) D=$(device) S=custom.disp H=0 You may want to alter the S=custom.display and H=0 arguments to suit your own requirements. ApT-BBS works perfectly with Jammail and a full working configuration setup will be supplied if you need further help. 31. Button Menus Button Menus - An Introduction. Button Menus is a description given to a menu display type where a menu selection can be controlled by Cursor key action. The current selection is - Page 20 - 31. Button Menus displayed in 'highlighted background' coloured text, which makes for an attractive and clear method of indicating menu choice. Needless to say, you the Sysop can determine the colours, size, position etc. of these button menu options. And you can link the buttons together in many logical ways. For example, you can set things so that a user who presses any of the four cursor keys - (UP/DOWN/LEFT/RIGHT) will then get a new button menu option highlighted. This new selection can be ANY one of the available buttons, the choice of which one is up to you the Sysop. Naturally you would probably want to keep the cursor selection to some logical format. So that for example, in an ordered list of menu options, a user pressing the DOWN cursor will see the option below being highlighted instead of the current one. Similarly, pressing the RIGHT cursor key would highlight the adjacent menu option in the column to the right. By some simple Arexx programming you can also allow users to select options in a "Hotkey" method by simply pressing any appropriate key. Button menu displays rely on the users terminal display fully supporting ANSI colour and positioning control characters. It's sad to report that a number of well known Terminal programs do NOT fully support the full range of ANSI control characters. It's therefor a good idea to supply Button Menus as an optional Menu Type alongside plain (non-ANSI) menus. HINTS: You are advised to study the supplied information on the various Menu Controls that are supported in ApT-BBS and offer as wide a range of choice as you can. Note: It is possible to share display files between menu types so you do not have to create and maintain separate files. For example, Hotkey menus can use the same background display file as the button menu equivalent. 32. ApT-BBS! - A brief overview ApT-BBS - A brief overview. To help give you a better understanding of how ApT-BBS is structured an introduction to how the main system software meshes together will be given. There are three main interactive programs within the ApT-BBS system. These are APTSERVER, FMANAGER and APTLINE. Input control to ApTserver and Fmanager is by Amiga Intuition devices. I.E. Menus, gadgets etc. In addition the Fmanager program supports Arexx input. (Intuition)-----> ApTserver Fmanager <-----(Intuition & Arexx) \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / ApTline <-----(Intuition & Arexx) The ApTserver and Fmanager programs can be run independently of each other as there is no direct interaction between them. The Aptline program on the other hand can ONLY be started up when both ApTserver and Fmanager have been activated. 33. ApT-Design Supplied Utility Software - Page 21 - 33. ApT-Design Supplied Utility Software Supplied ApT-Design BBS utility software. To help support you in creating and maintaining an ApT-BBS system of the highest order, we have supplied some powerful utility software. These ApT-Design created programs are listed below: Displayed - Screen and Window designer. RoboWrite - Automated Mass messaging tool. UserReport - Functional User Reporting tool with inbuilt support for using the RoboWrite program mentioned above. ShowUser - Quick display of a single users account details. 34. DisplayEd Screen Editor DisplayEd - Support Utility. To allow ApTline to use a Screen and Window that you desire you should create or edit a display file that ApTline will load in when it starts up. These display files can be named as you wish but should conform to the following restrictions. The files should have a suffix of ".disp" appended. eg "screen.disp" The total name should be under 128 bytes long. These display files must be in a directory "APT:Config/Display". To create these display files please use the supplied program called "DisplayEd" You can run this program from the CLI or Workbench, the only supported argument is the name of the display file you may want to pre-load in. The use of the DisplayEd program should be fairly self evident and at this stage I will only briefly cover some items that would benefit from some explanation. Presuming you have run DisplayEd you will be presented with an Editing display... On the top-middle of the screen there is a gadget with the options: DEFAULT PUBLIC CUSTOM These are the the different screen types that you can select. Where DEFAULT will try to open its window on the 'default' public screen. (Usually Workbench). When PUBLIC is selected then the window will try to open on the "Named" public screen in the nearby gadget. If it cant find that public screen it will fallback to the default one. CUSTOM will allow you to select the SCREEN options that YOU want. (The previous options only allow Window editing because you are using an existing screen that you have no control over. When you have created a screen/window set-up that you want to use then save off the display file. You will need to ensure that this new display file is used in the ApTline startup argument. Defaults: - Page 22 - 34. DisplayEd Screen Editor Certain Display 'default' files will be used at certain times. You should customise these files as you want, but do not delete/rename them! 1. Default.disp ...This will be used at various times. eg if you enter a display file that isn't found or cant be used, then this file will be tried in its place. 2. Local.disp ...This is the default 'Local' display that will be opened. This would normally be a display that you the Sysop would want to see when running the BBS from a CLI. NOTE: It is perfectly possible to have different display screen/windows for each BBS line. You simply pass on the display file you want for each line in that lines startup argument. 35. RoboWrite - The Automated Messaging Tool RoboWrite - Support Utility RoboWrite: This is a small but very powerful program that allows you to message one or more users in an 'automated' way. For example, you may wish to message all users with a good upload to download ratio to thank them for their support. Now it would be tiresome to manually write a message to each user in the conventional way. Instead you could use the features of this utility program to address a standardised message to as many users as needed - all in one call to this program! Also there is no need to be logged onto the BBS to use RoboWrite, all that is required is that the ApTserver program is running in the background. Command Line Template: "B=BODY/A/K,A=AREA/A/N,T=TO/A/K,F=FROM/A/K,S=SUBJECT/A/K,P=PRIVATE/K/S, U=UPLOAD/S,M=MULTIUSER/K/S" Listed above are the CLI arguments that RoboWrite supports. A brief description of their purpose follows. BODY - Is the name of the text file message that will be sent to the user(s) AREA - Is the message area NUMBER that the message is to be posted in. TO - Serves a dual purpose. If you only want to send one message to one named user then simply enter the name of the user in this parameter. (Remember to put the name within quotes to allow for any spaces between the names.) - Ensure that in this case you do not supply the MULTIUSER flag. Alternatively, if you are intending to message more than one user then you should supply the path details to a text file that contains a full list of the user names that you want to message. e.g. "RAM:userlist.text" - See the MULTIUSER flag below FROM - Is the name that the message(s) will use as the sender. SUBJECT - Serves a dual purpose. It is either the subject title of the message or the path and name of any attached file. If you do intend to attach a file to a message then simply supply the file details eg you would use "RAM:myfile.lha" as the 'SUBJECT' parameter, where a file called "myfile.lha" is stored in the RAM: directory. See the UPLOAD flag below. PRIVATE - You should supply this flag parameter if you want any message to - Page 23 - 35. RoboWrite - The Automated Messaging Tool be tagged as being private. UPLOAD - You should supply this flag parameter if you want to signal that an attached file is being supplied. Note that you need to properly supply the attached file details as indicated in the SUBJECT parameter mentioned above. MULTIUSER - You should supply this flag parameter if you want to send the same message to more than one user. In this case you would also need to set the TO parameter mentioned above to indicate the path to a file containing a list of the user names that are to be messaged. Note that the file should ONLY contain the names to be used - each name on a new line. Some Examples of possible CLI usage... 1. RoboWrite B=RAM:Message.txt A=0 T="Dave McIntosh" F="The Sysop" S="Hello There" 2. RoboWrite B=RAM:Message.txt A=5 T="Demi Moore" F="Bruce Willis" S="DH0:Movies/Review.txt" PRIVATE UPLOAD 3. RoboWrite B=DH1:mail/msg.txt A=193 T=APT:bad_users.txt F=Sysop S="Upload/Download ratios." PRIVATE MULTIUSER Note the use of "" quotation marks to enclose parameter details that have used spaces within them. Also to make the examples readable the line was split into two. In real life you would supply the CLI argument in one line. 1. - Simple, single message to "Dave McIntosh" using the message text RAM:Message.txt - The message will be listed as having come from "The Sysop" 2. - A user called Demi Moore will get a message from Bruce Willis. There will also be an attached file called "Review.txt" that Demi will be able to download. This message is marked as Private. 3. - A list of users supplied in a file (APT:bad_users.txt) will all be messaged with the text supplied in a file DH1:mail/msg.txt All the messages will be Private. Final notes: The real power of RoboWrite lies in its flexibility. You could have it automatically message a user under all sorts of conditions. Be imaginative and have fun with it as well as using it for more utilitarian purposes! 36. UserReport UserReport - Support Utility This program is designed to help you select a list of BBS users that you may wish to either delete, message or report on. You can create a list of users by selectively enabling a series of check items. If any user fits your selection criteria then that user is simply added to the list. When UserReport is first run you will notice that its layout takes the shape of four almost equally sized rectangles. In the top right corner you can see the selection items. - They are disabled (ghosted out) and to enable them you have to click on the 'OFF' buttons of the desired items until they show - Page 24 - 36. UserReport 'ON'. Note also that for most of them you also have a '<' (Less than) '=' (Equal to) and a '>' (Greater than) gadget that you can set as you wish. Currently you can select users on the following criteria: Date: - Date of last call relative to an input date. You can enter the date to check against in the usual AmigaDos format. i.e. '4-Dec-95' or '4-12-95' or even 'Monday' or 'Yesterday' if you want. you should of course then set the <,=,> gadget as required. Calls: - As you might expect this is the total number of calls to the BBS that a user has made. Up: - Equals total number of Bytes uploaded by a user. Down: - Equals total number of Bytes downloaded by a user. Level: - The users set BBS level. (0-255) As well as these definable check items there are two user flags you can tick on if you want to ensure that only users with these flags are to be listed. - These flags being "Subs" and "Adult" When these flags are active a small 'tick' character will appear in their box. Ok, that explains how to select the check items, you now need to generate a list of users that comply with your criteria. To do this you need to decide in which of the three possible User directories you want to look. i.e. in the "Users", "New (Users)" or "Review (Users)" directory. You should now ensure that the correct directory is selected by clicking on either the Users, New, or Review button that is located in the top left section of the window. Once you have done this, click on the LOAD button and a list of users that fit your selection will be created and displayed in the ListView gadget. Note that there may be no users listed if no users fit your selection data! Presuming you now have a list of users displayed you can now choose which ones you want to work with. If you want to act on all the users listed then you will be given that choice at the apropriate point. But presuming that you might want to manually select the users to use, then you will need to 'toggle' the desired users on. You do this by putting the mouse pointer over the users name then quickly 'double-click' by pressing the left mouse button. If all goes well a '*' character will appear to the left of the user display line in the listview gadget. To unselect a toggled on user you can simply double-click on that users line again and the '*' character should vanish. To make things easier you can automatically toggle all users ON or OFF by choosing that option from a drop down menu. At this stage you should now have a list of users (toggled ON or not) that you wish to act on. If you now look at the bottom left corner of the window you will see a cycle gadget that has 6 selectable options, namely... "Message All" "Message Tagged" "Report All" "Report Tagged" "Delete All" "Delete Tagged" 1. "Message All" or "Message Tagged" - Page 25 - 36. UserReport This allows you to message the selected users. You should first have prepared a text file containing the message text you want to send. You then need to click on the cycle gadget until "Message All" or "Message Tagged" is displayed within the gadget. This enables the message input gadgets that you now need to set. In the bottom right section of the window you will see a set of gadgets that will control the RoboWrite program utility. [Please read the documentation on RoboWrite to get a fuller description on how it works, as that will aid your understanding on how the message gadgets in UserReport need to be set.] Assuming you have the message text ready, click on the "FI" button. This will bring up a file requestor and you need to set this to select the message file you want to use. Next select the message area that you want the message to be sent to by clicking on one of the areas listed in the "Message Area" listview. If the message is to be marked as private, click on the "P" button until you see the "Tick" mark character. Enter the name that the message is to be addresed FROM into the "From" gadget. If you want to attach a file to the message then click on the "A" button. - This will bring up a file requestor and you should then select the file that you wish to attach. Note that the file name is copied over to the "Subject" gadget, this is normal and you should not edit the subject gadget text again unless you want to select a new attach file. If you do not want to attach a file then you should enter the message subject text you want to use into the "Subject" gadget. - Ensuring that the "A" (Attach flag) is NOT ticked. And all you now need to do to send a message to all the selected users is to click on the "EXECUTE" button! 2. "Report All" or "Report Tagged" This simply creates a formatted report of the selected users. You first need to select the name of the report file that will be created by ensuring that either "Report All" or "Report Tagged" is displayed within the cycle gadget. This enables the report file gadget that you now need to set by clicking on the "FI" button. Doing this will bring up a file requestor that you should use to enter a file name for the report. Now click on the "EXECUTE" button to generate the report. 3. "Delete All" or "Delete Tagged" This will delete all the selected user accounts. Their complete subdirectory will be deleted from your system disk. To confirm the deletion, click on the "EXECUTE" button. 37. ShowUser ShowUser - Support Utility This is a small but hopefully useful utility to bring up a window on the APTBBS screen showing some relevant detail on a particular user. It is normally run from the ApTserver window by clicking on the "User:" button. This will run ShowUser with the user currently highlighted in the ApTservers lisview gadget. - If no user is highlighted then ApTserver will not run the ShowUser program! If you want you can run ShowUser from the CLI by providing an argument pointing to a users ".DAT" file. For example... "run showuser user=apt:users/dave_mcintosh/dave_mcintosh.dat" Will load in the ".DAT" file for a user called "Dave_Mcintosh" and display it on the APTBBS screen. - Page 26 - 37. ShowUser This program is best used as a quick aid in viewing a desired users major account details. For more detailed information and access to editing tools, please use the user account tools inbuilt to the Fmanager program. 38. External Support Utilities Third Party Support Programs. Rather than wasting valuable development time "reinventing the wheel" we at ApT-Design decided early on that we would use and support as many external "3rd party" support programs as possible. However we deemed it necessary that these programs would have to satisfy some critical requirements. Otherwise we would have to take the time to develop our own ApT-BBS specific versions. These requirement specifications were as follows. 1. They had to be of a high quality, program and presentation wise. 2. There had to be a choice of competing packages available. 3. At least one package would have to be free-ware or share-ware. 4. Their ease of use with ApT-BBS software would have to be high. After some consideration we can highly recommend the following external support packages. Front-end Mailers: (Modem answering and mail transfer.) a) Trapdoor 1.85+ b) Jammail (jm950618+) Mail-tossers: (Mail import/export support.) a) Traptoss b) Foozle 1.03+ NOTE: There are other possibly better candidates for the above mentioned support slots. But these are programs that we have tested with ApT-BBS and can give our whole hearted recommendation for. 39. Registration Registration Information. The Included software is totally unrestricted, however it is our hope that after some use that you would want to show your appreciation by registering this product. Registered users will gain free updates (bar post&packaging) and unlimited support. At the present time no fixed cost has been set for registration. It will however be very modest, please contact one of the development sites for the latest details on the cost. Check this documentation or the drop down menu on the ApTserver program for contact addresses. Thank you for your time in evaluating this product. And please forward any feedback you may have to either Andy or Dave here at ApT-Design, it will be most welcome.