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1990-12-17
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-----------------
UBX v0.05a.OS/2
-----------------
Users' Bulletin Express System for Maximus CBCS.
(C) David Luong, 1990.
All rights reserved.
FIDOnet address: 3:712/631.0
Distribution Rights
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
You are hereby granted a limited licence to use UBX in any way you see fit,
and to distribute it in any way you wish, so long as you don't charge any
money for it. If I catch you selling my software for profit, I'll sue you for
every penny of it. So there!
License fee & Support
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Please send me a post card if you decide to use UBX on your BBS. I enjoy
collecting postcards from _anywhere_ around the world and I mean ANYWHERE,
doesn't matter even if it's from Sydney Australia!
My postal address is included at the end of this document.
If you have any problems with the installation of UBX, then don't hesitate
to contact me via netmail.
Warranty
^^^^^^^^
I grant no warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied. This includes,
but is not limited to, implied warranties of merchantability, and fitness for
any particular purpose with respect to both the software and the
documentation included in this package.
In NO event shall I or any of EDEN BBS's principals be liable for any direct,
indirect, consequential, or incidental damages arising out of the use or
inability to use UBX even if I have been advised of the possibility of such
damages or claim.
The warranties set forth above are in lieu of all other express and implied
warranties, whether oral, written, or implied, and the remedies set forth
above are your sole and exclusive remedies.
This document constitutes the entire agreement and understanding between the
parties and supersedes any prior agreement or understanding whether oral or
written, relating to the use of this package.
Absolute Requirements!
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
* OS/2 v1.1 or higher is essential.
* A communications library(COMM.DLL) must be present to handle the high
level comm port communications if UBX is to support remote callers. This
'COMM.DLL' library is distributed as part of the OS/2 Maximus CBCS package.
Highlights
^^^^^^^^^^
* UBX is a _complete_ bulletins generation program. Both you(the sysop) and
your callers can enter neatly presented bulletins with minimum fuss.
* UBX is a mini database - it's maintenance free! It comes with a separate
auto purging and packing utility program. The optional purging of bulletins
are based on the age of the bulletins and it's configurable.
* UBX bulletins can be viewed/listed forwards or backwards.
* You can set up as many UBX Special Interest Areas as you like. Each SIG
area is maintained separately.
* UBX has an 'Express read-only' mode. Ideal for inclusion as an Express
News Items on your logon sequence.
* The built-in line editor for UBX is closely modeled around the look and
feel of Maximus CBCS BORED line-editor but it is more advanced in its own
right. No longer do your callers have to put up with a totally different
editor for every door program they run!
* UBX comes with a separate utility program to add plain ASCII text files to
the UBX bulletins database. Use your flavourite text editor to enter your
bulletins, then use this utility to incorporate them into the UBX bulletins
databases.
* All this and much much more............
Special considerations
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
* UBX in its current form can only be run a single_line BBS. You can still
use UBX in its 'Express READ_ONLY mode' on a multi-line setup provided that:
You DON'T do anything funny like purging the UBX
database or killing/adding bulletins while someone
else is running UBX on one of your BBSs!
Contents of this archive
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
README.UBX Last minute corrections to this manual.
UBXP.EXE The main UBX executable file.
UBXP.DOC This document.
UBXP.HST An UBX history file outlining the changes made between
versions of UBX.OS/2
UBX.CTL Sample UBX control file.
UBXDELP.EXE The auto purge/pack utility for UBX.
UBX_ADDP.EXE Utility to add text files to the UBX bulletin
database.
UBX_NO.BBS This file is displayed when the bulletin database
is empty. Feel free to edit this file to your liking.
UBX_NO.GBS The ANSI version of the above file.
SAMPLE.TXT Sample text file to illustrate the format of
an import file.
Demonstration:
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Here are a few things to try out before we go on with the detailed discussion
of the UBX package.
For the purpose of this demonstration:
1. Copy all the files in this archive to a directory of your
choice.
2. Modify the control file 'UBX.CTL'. For the purpose of the demo,
You'll only need to specify your name in UBX.CTL.
Demo of the UBX Door Mode:
--------------------------
* Start up UBX in local mode like this:
UBXP -K
* Select '[R]ead bulletins' from the menu.
* The file 'UBX_NO.GBS' will be shown seeing how the bulletin database is
empty.
* You might like to have a go at entering a couple of bulletins; select
'[E]nter Bulletins' from the menu.
Demo of the bulletins import utility:
-------------------------------------
Let's add a couple of sample bulletins to your UBX bulletin database by
importing the text file 'SAMPLE.TXT'.
* At the OS/2 prompt type:
UBX_ADDP -isample.txt
* That's it! It's done, simple eh?
* Take a minute to have a quick look at the general format for the import
text file, 'SAMPLE.TXT'.
Demo of the UBX Express read mode:
----------------------------------
Now, let's see what the imported bulletins look like in a 'read-only' mode of
UBX.
* At the OS/2 prompt type:
UBXP -k -x+
* Like what you've seen so far? If the answer is 'yes', then read on!
UBX - The Users' Bulletin Express System
----------------------------------------
UBX operates in two distinct modes:
The Door mode:
Callers can enter bulletins here as well as read
bulletins entered by other callers.
The sysop can delete individual bulletins through the
'Kill' option after reading them.
This is the default mode unless you specifically
instructs UBX to operate in 'Express-read' mode with
a command line option.
The Express mode:
This is a read-only mode, bulletins from a specific UBX
database will be displayed to the callers. The callers
can view the bulletins back and forth.
Command line syntax of UBX
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
UBXP -Dfilename -X[ + | - ][ { | } ] -Pn -B -K -Tn
Command line options of UBX
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
-d ,where filename is the prefix for the bulletins
database, if not given it defaults to 'UBX'.
This is how you can set up different sections(SIGs)
for UBX.
-x ,express 'read-only' mode. This can be utilised to
include a particular UBX bulletin database as part of
your logon sequence.
For example:
-X- The '-' disables the 'Stop' option while reading.
-X+ The '+' leaves the 'Stop' option in place.
The optional '}' and '{' indicates the direction of
listing. '{' is reverse(ie. Latest first) and vice versa.
Default to the reverse listing '{'.
-p ,specifies which comm port handle.
No default.
IMPORTANT NOTE:
---------------
* On a zero based comm port assignment, '-p0' does NOT
necessarily mean COM1.
* This comm port handle should be the one passed on by
Maximus's '%L' or '%p' translation sequence for external
door programs.
-b ,caller's baud rate(applicable to the DOS version only).
This option is ignored by this OS/2 version of UBX. UBX
does NOT need to change the current comm port's operating
parameters.
-k ,forces local mode. No communication libraries required in
this mode.
-t ,where n is the task number for this node.
LEAVE THIS OPTION OUT COMPLETELY if the 'TASK' token is NOT
in effect in your MAX.CTL.
NOTE:
* Command line options may be presented in any order.
Installation
^^^^^^^^^^^^
1. Create a separate directory for UBX(will use c:\UBX for this example).
2. Copy all the files in this archive to c:\UBX
3. Modify the control file 'UBX.CTL'. Please consult the sample control file
for more information on the syntax of UBX.CTL.
4. Modify your BBS's menus to call up UBX and pass all necessary command
lines to UBX.
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ TASK NUMBER?!? │
│ -------------- │
│ │
│ * If you run a single line Maximus BBS and haven't specified a │
│ 'Task' number in your MAX.CTL, then LEAVE OUT the '-t%k' in │
│ all the following examples. │
│ │
│ UBX uses the '-T' command line switch to find out which │
│ 'lastus??.BBS' to use. │
│ │
│ For example: │
│ │
│ * If '-T' is ABSENT from the command line AND UBX is NOT │
│ operating in the local mode, then UBX would look for │
│ 'Lastuser.bbs' for more info on the current caller. │
│ │
│ * If '-T1' is present on the command line AND UBX is NOT │
│ operating in the local mode, then UBX would look for │
│ 'Lastus01.bbs' for more info on the current caller. │
│ │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Door mode example:
------------------
I have it set up in my bulletins menu in the Maximus MENUS.CTL as:
Xtern_Run d:\ubx\ubxp.exe_%L_-t%k Normal "Users' Bulletins"
Express mode Example:
---------------------
On my BBS, 'news.bbs' is included as part of the logon sequence. In the MECCA
file 'news.mec' I have:
[LE Worthy] [xtern_run]d:\ubx\ubxp.exe %L -dnews -x-{ -t%k
Whereby, all callers with privileges less than or equal to Worthy will be
presented with the bulletins in the 'NEWS' UBX database. The listings of
bulletins will be in reverse order( noticed the '{' in the -x option? ), BUT
the 'Stop' option is disabled while they're reading the bulletins(noticed '-'
in the -x option? ).
[GE Privil] [xtern_run]d:\ubx\ubxp.exe %L -dnews -x+{ -t%k
Whereby, all callers with privileges greater than or equal to Privil will be
presented with the bulletins in the 'NEWS' UBX database. The listings of
bulletins will be in reverse order( noticed the '{' in the -x option? ), BUT
they can abort the display of bulletins with the '[S]top' option while
reading the bulletins( noticed '+' in the -x option? ).
Maximus will translate:
%L into either '-K' or '-Pn -bxxxx'
depending on whether the caller is remote or not.
%k into the task number of this node.
UBXDEL - The UBX Database Maintenance Utility
---------------------------------------------
This is where the maintenance-free part of UBX comes in. If you have a very
busy and heavily used UBX bulletin forum, then you can include UBXDEL in your
daily maintenance routine to delete bulletins based on their 'age'.
Each bulletin area maintained by UBX comes in two parts:
filename.IDX This is the index file for the UBX bulletin
database 'filename'.
filename.DAT This is the actual data file for the UBX
bulletin database 'filename'.
It is recommended that you:
* Only instruct UBXDEL to purge(see below) old bulletins from the _index_
file in your 'daily' maintenance routine.
* Run UBXDEL to pack the data files perhaps once a week or maybe once a
month.
Of course there's no harm in running purge and pack together on a daily
basis. Though in my humble opinion, it's a waste of time. <grin>
Command line syntax of UBXDEL
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
UBXDELP -Dfilename -Kn -P
Command line options of UBXDEL
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
-d ,where filename is the prefix for the bulletin
database, if not given it defaults to 'UBX'
-k ,kills bulletins older than n days from the UBX index file.
No defaults.
-p ,Instructs UBXdel to Pack the data files.
UBX_ADD - The UBX Text File Import Utility
------------------------------------------
Don't you just hate line-editors? Well, I certainly do. It would have been
nice to have a built-in full screen editor for UBX. But........
You can enter your bulletins on any plain ASCII text editor, then use UBX_ADD
to import the text file into the UBX bulletin database.
The text file to be imported is free form, though you should take note of
following:
\\\ Three backslashes marks the start of a bulletin.
The rest of the line following the backslashes
will be taken as the heading for this bulletin.
All lines between the current heading and the next
heading(or the end of file) will be considered as
the body for the current bulletin.
; You might embed comments in your bulletins if you
wish. But comment lines must start with a semi-colon.
Comment lines will not be imported into the UBX
bulletin database.
See the sample text file 'SAMPLE.TXT' for more info.
Command line syntax of UBX_ADD
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
UBX_ADDP -Dfilename -Ifilename
Command line options of UBX_ADD
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
-d ,where filename is the prefix for the bulletin
database, if not given it defaults to 'UBX'.
-i ,import text from filename into the UBX bulletin
database.
UBX Control File Syntax:
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Key Words:
----------
Lastuser_Path This tells UBX where to find your 'lastus??.bbs'
files. The 'lastus??.bbs' files are written out
by Maximus each time an external program is
called from within Maximus.
UBX make use of these files to find out the
caller's name, time remaining etc.
For Example:
Lastuser_Path D:\max\
SYSOP Defines the Sysop's name. This will be the default
user name when you start up UBX in local mode.
Only the person defined as SYSOP here has the
privilege to 'Kill' selected bulletins.
For Example:
SYSOP David Luong
Note:
-----
Do not double space your names; ie. don't leave
more than one space between each word of your
name. Otherwise UBX might get confused and not
recognise you as the sysop.
COLOUR c1 c2 c3 c4 c5
Where c1..c5 are the five colour parameters for the
display of bulletins. These are:
border, title, byline, body and prompt respectively
For Example:
COLOUR 9 14 3 7 10
<subtle colors>
COLOUR 23 30 113 112 79
<strikingly attention-grabing colors>
Please consult your Maximus Documentation for a
list of the colour codes.
Word of Caution
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
UBX's indexing scheme is purely based on the 'Time' when the
bulletins are created.
UBX would function fine with OR without a time-zone environment
variable (eg. TZ=GMT-10). BUT DON'T MIX AND MATCH! In other words, if
you have the time zone variable set in your BBS task, then you should
also have the same time zone environment set for all other OS/2 tasks
where you plan on using any of the UBX's utilities. Failing to do so
would result in incorrectly indexed bulletins.
Hardcoded Error levels of UBX
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
255: Fatal error. You should take note of the error message on
the screen.
-=[WELL, THAT'LL BE ALL FOLKS]=-
POSTCARDS
^^^^^^^^^
Post cards should be directed to:
Mr. David Luong
308/232 Pitt Street,
Waterloo, N.S.W. 2017
Australia.