Users can define the programs which should be installed in the File and Message menus as well as the text which should appear in the menus. To do this, use (or create) as plain text file called SILICON.INI in your ProBoard system directory. If you already have it (it is shared by several programs), find or create a section called [FileCFG]. The entries below show you the format the is expected as well as the keywords you need to use. The text that appears on the left of the equal sign should be copied verbatim, the text to the right is user-defined. Here are the setting I use (copied straight from my SILICON.INI): a
[FileCFG]
Allfix=D:\SBIN\ALLFIX\ASETUP.EXE
AllfixMenu=A~l~lfix setup
FileMgr=D:\SBIN\FEBBS\FEBBS.EXE
FileMenu=File area ~m~anager
AMU=D:\SBIN\AMU\AMUCFG.EXE
AMUmenu=AMU ~c~onfiguration
InterEcho=D:\IM\IESETUP.EXE
IEmenu=InterEcho ~s~etup
BlueWave=D:\SBIN\BWAVE\BWSETUP.EXE
BWmenu=~B~lueWave setup
As you can see, you need to specify the full path and file name of the command that needs to run (with the extension), and the text that is to appear on the menu. You do not have to enclose it in quotation marks. The letter which appears between the two tilde characters (~) will be the hotkey for the item and will be red on the menu. x
If FileCFG cannot find the programs when it initializes, the menu option will not be available and will be greyed out.
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Control Files
Both the file and message menus have a 'Process Control File' command on them. To use those, you need to create a FILEUTIL.CTL and MESGUTIL.CTL files in your FileCFG home directory (where the executable is). These are simple text files which list the commands to be executed one per line. You cannot have empty lines, but you can have comments which are denoted by the ';' character in column one. These are very useful if you have a lot of programs that reply on the area arrangement. If you do a lot of editing, you can run all necessary update programs from those files. Here's what my files look like:
; This is a sample configuration file for FileCFG
; Note that you cannot have empty lines, you must use the ';' comment
; character to separate lines. Each line that does not begin with a
; semi-colon will be treated as a command-line. Note also that you must
; give the full path and extension to the program (parameters are optional)
; Re-index the filebase and rewrite listings
D:\PB\PBUTIL.EXE FI
D:\PB\PBUTIL.EXE FC -R
; Update Allfix setup
D:\SBIN\ALLFIX\FCOMP.EXE 5 D:\PB
; Generate file lists
D:\SBIN\AMU\AMU386.EXE LISTS
; note that there are no empty lines. This is the last one.
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Reindexing Areas
After you're through rearranging areas, it is necessary to reindex the file areas (and, optionally, the message areas). These commands will simply run PBUTIL with the correct command line switches to save you the manual labor of typing them in. Note that the message indexing works for Hudson and JAM areas only.
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Contact
Fido
1:383/47
SCiN
751:430/2 and 751:430/1000
CompuServe
73023,262
Internet
sci@wtoc.net
http://www.wtoc.net/~sci (try this first!)
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/sci
FidoNet PROBOARD echo as Branislav Slantchev
Phone support numbers: J
BBS (and Fax)
(915) 949-4798
Voice
(915) 947-5327
Conventional snail-mail: s
Branislav L. Slantchev
Silicon Creations, Inc.
1814 S.Pierce Str. #36
San Angelo, TX 76904
USA
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Limitations
FileCFG does not support all 10,000 areas that ProBoard does. It currently will work with up to 5,000. If you have more than that, you are out of luck. With the memory limitations of DOS, there's nothing I can really do to make it work. If memory is still a problem, use the overlaid version which is available from the sample place you got this one.
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Overview and Usage
Please refer to the README file for quick tips and COPYING for license.
To ensure correct and hassle-less operation, make sure you follow these simple guidelines: ensure your PROBOARD environment points to your PB system directory (FileCFG will refuse to work without it), make backups for all the necessary files manually (FILECFG.PRO, FGROUPS.PB, MGROUPS.PB and MESSAGES.PB). Even though FileCFG does make .BAK copies each time it loads data, it is a good idea to do it yourself. I am not responsible for any data loss that might occur.
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Acknowledgements
This program would not be possible without the kind support of my beta testers. Thanks, guys and gals, you've been really great once again!
Thanks to my girlfriend who puts up with me going to bed at 4:00a because of those stupid help files. I promise I will not write another program in the next few weeks! :-) x
This program uses SPAWNO v4.0 A EMS/XMS/DISK Swapping Library Copyright (C) 1990-1991 Ralf Brown. All Rights Reserved.
It is also using the TurboVision v1.03 Application Frameworks from Borland, Intl. You will need the library as I cannot distribute it with my sources (without infringing Borland's copyrights on it.)
Also, I used routines from David Baldwin and Barnaby Falls (these are noted in the source code) as well as some rip offs from the Borland's RTL library sources. As usual, creative ripping is good!
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About Dialog Box
******* * ***
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* ********* ******* *** *
* ***** *** ***
Silicon Creations, Inc. (another bragbox)
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System Network Addresses (AKA)
'AKA = Also Known As' - network address setup for this system.
Each networked system has its own unique address (or set of addresses) on the net. If it belongs to more than one net, this number grows. Each message area can be restricted to a particular net. This is the address you wish to use for this area. All messages posted in this area on your system will be stamped by ProBoard with this originating address. Make sure you select the correct address or it may confuse some tossers.
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File Area Name
Choose a name for this file area. This name can be anything you want. I suggest you make it descriptive (not just 'Cool Utils').
Hint: use prefixes to group areas. For example, if you belong to SCiNET and you receive files in a couple of areas, name them with 'SCiNET: ' as prefix. This way, you can sort the areas later and they will stay grouped, and users can easily identify areas too.
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Cancel
Pressing this button will cancel the current dialog. All changes you may have made will not be carried over. Pressing Escape usually does the same.
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Global Record Update
This is a very powerful option and must be used with great care. You have to tag one or more records for this command to work. When you select global update, you will be presented with a menu from which you can choose which one setting to update. You cannot change more than one setting at a time. Depending on the selection, you will be prompted for the new value. There are a couple of different dialogs you may encounter while doing that: R
(a) Text input (for directories, names, etc.)
This is the regular input.
(b) Numeric input (for digits, numbers).
Make sure you type the correct values.
Your input is not being validated at all here.
(c) Yes, No and Cancel dialogs
This may seem counter-intuitive at first.
Selecting 'Yes' will turn the option ON.
Selecting 'No' will turn the option OFF.
Selecting 'Cancel' will not change it.
After the selection is made, you will be prompted whether you want to save the global settings. If you choose 'Yes', all tagged records will be updated immediately. Data is not verified, it will simply be dumped into the ProBoard configuration. This option is intended for experienced users only. Use with caution.
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Change Directory
This dialog lets you select a directory. Use the tree to navigate through the drives and paths, or simply type the directory name in the input line above it. 'Revert' will restore you back to the original startup directory. You can also choose a directory from the pull-down history list. Choose 'OK' to accept the new directory name.
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Delete Record
Delets the currently focused record (highlighted in the list window). Note that there will be no prompt before deleting it. Also note that this will cause the rest of the records to be be pulled up by one. This command does not work with tagged records (ignores them). This is done on purpose to prevent people from tagging all areas and then accidentally hitting delete. Note that pressing the 'Del' key accomplishes the same effect.
Insert
Edit
Save
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Edit Current Record
Edit the current record. This command will pop up a dialog box with the appropriate fields to edit. If you don't cancel the dialog, you will be prompted whether you want to update the record on disk. Choosing 'Yes' will immediately update the record.
Insert
Delete
Save
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All Groups
Toggles the 'all groups' flag for the file area. This flag lets you mark this area as globally belonging to all groups. Very useful with certain areas of special interest, like the local system file area with listings, rules and archived bulletins which are free for download. If an area is set as belonging to 'all groups', it will show up in all listings that involve group selection (provided the user has access to it).
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Date Format for FILES.BBS
Currently, ProBoard supports three different extended formats of the FILES.BBS listings. This option is ignored if the area is not marked as CD-ROM ('Copy Local' in ProCFG). Depending on where you are, the FILES.BBS can have different formats. Most utilities will write them in the American (MM/DD/YY) format and that is why this is the preferred setting here.
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File Selection Dialog
This dialog lets you select a file from a list of files. You can navigate through the list using the arrow keys or speed searches (just start typing the name and the program will attempt to match a file). The directories are grouped at the end of the listing and are indicated by a backslash (\) after the name. The '..' indicates the parent directory, if any. You can use this dialog to change drives too, just type 'D:\*.*' in the input line, for example, to switch to the root directory of drive 'D'.
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File Area Access Flags
Setting particular flags lets you control access to the file area. Note that this is all or nothing type of deal. There is no 'view, but don't download' thing in native ProBoard. You can specify which flags should be present (those will appear in white) or which should not be present in the user flag list (those will appear on green background). The setup is exactly the same as in ProCFG so you should not have any problems.
See also: Level
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File Area Free
If you set this to 'Yes', all file downloads from this area will not be counted towards the user daily limits. Be careful with this option for large areas. Some users will hog the system downloading everything they can find once they figure out the area is free. I, for example, have the system listings and my programs for free download, but that's all.
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File Area Group Selection
Each file area can be defined as belonging to not more than four groups. When users select a certain group, only areas in this group will be shown. Pressing Enter on the input line will pop up a dialog box with a list of all currently defined groups. Simply select one from the list. You can also type in the number directly if you so prefer.
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File Area Access Level
This is where you set up the minimum access level required for this area to be made available. Note that if the user has a level equal to or higher than this one, they will be given access to the area.
See also: Flags
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File Area List Path
Each file area has its own FILES.BBS (or compatible) file listing. This is usually located in the directory with the files but does not have to be there. It is advisable that you keep your listings named FILES.BBS and placed in the file area directories as there are too many utilities that will assume this. |
You need to specify the full path and name of the file. Press Enter on the input line to bring up a file
selection
dialog.
If your area has mutlitple directories, this is the path to the master listing file which will be a concatenation of the individual listings.
FileCFG fully supports the FA_nnn.CTL mechanism for specifying multiple directories per file area (refer to the ProBoard FAQ on my WebSite and will automatically update the names of the FA_nnn.CTL files when necessary.
See also: File
Location
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File Area File Location
This is the directory path where the files for this area are stored. Even though you can actually have mutliple directories per file area, it is not advisable to use the feature as there are not too many programs out there that support it. Pressing Enter on the input line will bring up a directory selection dialog box.
See also: File
Listings
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Mark Area as CD-ROM
This field is called 'Copy Local' meaning that ProBoard will treat the area as slow access and copy the files to the local hard drive before letting the user download them. Please, refer to the ProBoard manual for the location of the destination directories.
It is important that you set this to 'Yes' for your CD-ROM areas because the file listings there usually have the extended FILES.BBS format (with date and file size). Not only this will speed up the operation, but it will ensure correct file listings.
See also: Date
format
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Maximum Files to Download
Limit the number of files that can be downloaded daily bu users from this area. Entering '0' in this field will disable this option. You can also use the KB restrictions.
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Maximum Kilobytes for Area
Limit the total number of kilobytes that can be downloaded from this area. Use this in conjuction with the number
limit to enforce certain restrictions. Entering '0' in this field disables this option.
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Minimum Age for Access
This field is not editable with ProCFG and I am not sure ProBoard actually respects it. This number defines the minimum age requirement for an user to be able to access the files in the area. Entering '0' in this field will make the area accessible to all people regardless of age (they must still have the necessary level and flags though.
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File Top Downloads
ProBoard can generate listings with top downloaded files. If you want the files in this area to be included in those listings, leave this option to 'Yes'. Setting it to 'No' will cause ProBoard not to consider any file from this area for a top list candidate. Very useful if you have areas with frequently downloaded files which are not suitable for top listings.
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Search for Text
Scan the list of records and try to match the record name with the search text. The matching is not case-sensitive. When a match is located, the record will be focused in the list viewer. Use the find
next command to continue scanning from the current position.
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Find Next
You must use find
first to initiate the search before you can use this command. It will continue the scan starting where a previous call to 'Find first' or 'Find next' left off. If a match is found, the record will be highlighted in the list viewer.
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Global Change of AKA
This command allows you to change the AKA address for all tagged areas. You can select the address from the list you entered in ProBoard.
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Global Change All Groups
Allows you to change the 'All Groups' settings globally. Selecting 'Yes' in the dialog box will set the flag to ON, 'No' turns it off, and Cancel will not make any changes. This works regardless of the current setting.
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Global CD-ROM Areas
Globally change the CD-ROM (Copy local) flag for the file areas. Selecting 'Yes' will mark the areas as remote (CD-ROM), choosing 'No' will make them local (hard drive) and Cancel will not make any changes. This will update the flag regardless of the current setting.
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Global Flags Change
Globally change the access flags. Regular and reverse flags are supported. To set a flag, type the letter (or number) that corresponds to it. To reverse it, type it again (reversing a flag means that the caller must not have this flag in order to get access).
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Global Set as Free
Globally mark file area as free. An area marked as free lets the user download any files from it without subtracting from the current download limits. Be careful with this option as a lot of users are real bbs hogs.
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Global Kill After Days
ProBoard's maintenance utility (PBUTIL) can fully maintain your Hudson and/or JAM message bases. With this option, you can set up the number of days to keep messages in the areas. The utility will delete them when run if they are older than this number of days. I find it useful to have this number set between 10 and 21, depending on the message traffic and the interest of my callers. This option works globally and will modify all tagged areas.
If you are using Squish or *.MSG, you are on your own. As far as I know, you will need to use their programs to do the maintenance and those do not use this setting.
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Global Kill Received After Days
Globally set the number of days to keep received messages. All messages that have been read by the individuals they were addressed to, will be deleted after this number of days. A setting of 1 or 2 is generally enough here. This only works for the JAM and Hudson areas. Squish and Fido *.MSG users will have to use the configuration options of the respective programs. =
This option will change the setting for all tagged records.
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Global Access Level
Change the minimum security level needed to access the particular group or area. Note that area security overrides group settings (if the level required for the area is higher than the one required for the group, the one for the area will be applied). ?
This will let you change this setting for all tagged records.
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Global File List Location
Change the drive and root directory for the file listing locations for the tagged file areas. You can type a drive letter only to change the drive and you can type the drive letter and a root directory to change those too. This is very useful when moving areas around physically. For example, if you had 'C:\COOL\FILES\LIST.BBS' as the original setting and you type 'D:\FILEBASE' in the dialog box, the new resulting path will be 'D:\FILEBASE\COOL\FILES\LIST.BBS'. You can change the drive letter only by typing 'D:' only, for example.
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Global File Location
This allows you to change the file location globally for all tagged areas. This is the directory where the files are. This option is very useful if you move the areas physically to a new drive or new root directory. You can change the drive and/or the drive and directory in one shot. If you changed the BBS file base drive from 'D' to 'E', you would enter 'E:' in the dialog box and this will update the areas correctly.
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Global Max Files
Change the maximum number of files allowed for download from the tagged areas. The user will not be able to download more than this number of files during the call. Setting this field to 0 (the usual situation) will disable the feature and allow unlimited (actually, limited by the security setup) downloads from the areas (the recommended setting).
KBytes
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Global Max Kbytes
This option is very similar to the global files limit setup, but instead of file numbers, it works on file sizes. Specify the number of Kilobytes (Bytes / 1024) that the users can download from this area at one time. Setting this field to 0 will disable this option.
files
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Global Max Messages
This option lets you define the maximum number of messages allowed in the particular area. This works only for JAM and Hudson areas and will be enforced during the maintenance (purge option with PBUTIL). All excessive messages will be deleted to trim down the number. Even though JAM is very forgiving with respect to the number of messages per area, Hudson bases can become very flakey with large volumes of messages (the whole base is limited to about 16 Mb). I suggest you be conservative woth those numbers for the Hudson base. 0
This will set the number for all tagged areas.
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Global Base Format
Change the format of all the tagged message areas. ProBoard supports four different formats: Hudson, JAM, Squish, and Fido *.MSG. Be very careful with this option as it may have side-effects that you have not expected.
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Global Message Kind
Change the area kind for all tagged areas. Areas can be local, netmail, echomail and private echomail. Even though global operation is not very useful for this type of setting, I decided to throw it in as a bonus.
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Global Area Name Options
Change the area poster's name options for all tagged areas. The options include enforced real name, free alias, alias or real name, and alias only enforced. Again, this may not be very useful in global opreations.
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Global Message Type
This selects the default status of the messages posted to these areas. The messages can be private, public, public and private (user chooses), and to-all (great for system announcements). Generally, netmail is private, echomail is public, and system messages are in to-all areas.
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Global Origin Line
Change the default origin line for the range of tagged areas. If this field is left blank, the origin line from ProCFG will be used by ProBoard. Origin lines should be short and say something about your system (usually) and it is a good idea to have different origin lines depending on the conference (show off your creativity a little).
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Global Sysop Flags
Set the sysop flags (and reverse flags) for all tagged message areas. If a user has the required sysop flags and level, the system will let them delete, export (and others) messages in the area. Careful with this one.
Global
Sysop
level
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Global Sysop Level
This lets you define the sysop level for all tagged message areas. The sysop level is another aspect of the sysop access to message areas. Sysop access means maintenance options and other goodies. Careful with this one.
Global
Sysop
flags
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Global Sysop Name
Here you can change the name of the person considered a 'Sysop' for all the tagged message areas. All messages posted to 'Sysop' in those areas will be automatically posted to that person. If left blank, the real sysop will receive the messages. This is useful if you have CoSysops or persons that maintain the message areas themselves.
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Global Show in Tops
Set the 'Show in TOPFILES' flag for all tagged file areas. If this flag is set, files downloaded from the areas will appear in the topfiles listings (if they are indeed top!). If set to 'No', then the files will be ignored regardless of the number of downloads. Useful for certain things like areas with distributable files (nodelists) as your callers rarely have any special interest for those.
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Global Write Flags
Specify the flags needed for the user to have (or not have) in order to be able to write messages in the tagged areas. You can use both the normal (required) and reverse (must not have them) flags. Great for restricting the Sysop and message areas.
Global
write
level
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Global Write Level
Specify the level needed for the user to be able to post messages in all tagged areas. The user must also have the necessary access flags. Great for restricting the announcement areas so that users cannot write any announcements themselves. :-)
Global
write
flags
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Goto Record Number
This command allows you to jump to a specific record number directly. Just type the number in the box provided. If found, the record will appear highlighted in the list viewer box. Note that actual numbers are used, and not the ones that may be visible on the screen. Choose 'Renumber' to synchronize the numbers.
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Group Flags
The flags neccessary for users to access areas in this group. You can use both normal and reverse flags for more security. Note that the group flags can be overriden individually by each area.
Group
level
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Group Level
The minimum security level required in order for users to be able to access the areas in this group. Note that area level defintion will take precedence (if higher than this one) and thus you can have individual overrides.
Group
flags
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Group Name
Choose a descriptive name for your users to see. This can be anything you might come up with. Don't assume callers always know what you are talking about (EFF might mean something to you, but not to them :-) L
BTW, I have a group called EFF and people ask me about it all the time! :)
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Help on help
To use the help system, press F1 on any item of interest. Generally, you will see a single screen with a concise description. If there are any hypertext links (in different color), you can select them using either the arrow or tab (shift-tab) keys and jump to them by pressing Enter or clicking them with the mouse.
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Insert a New Record
This command inserts an empty record at the current highlight position. Note that all areas following it will be shifted downwards. The record will be empty but can be edited as a normal record afterwards. You will need to manually Save the data before you can edit an individual record.
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Record List Viewer
This is the window where all the records are listed. Use the up and down arrows to move the selection bar, Home and End to move it to the top and bottom of the currently visible window, PageUp and PageDown to scroll the window contents and Ctrl+PageUp / Ctrl+PageDown to move to the beginning or end of the list.
Space bar will toggle the tag of the current item and advance the selection bar down if possible. F5 tags all records for group processing. F6 untags all records and F7 toggles all tags (the tags will be cleared and the ones that were not tagged will be).
You can use the mouse to select an item by clicking on it with the left button. Advanced dragging is available with the right button: just place the selection bar on the record you want to drag and then, press and hold the right button, and drag the record up and down. You can quickly swap two records that are both visible in the list by selecting the first with the left button and then clicking the right button on the other one. &
You can also select a range of areas by selecting the first one and then holding down the Shift key and clicking with the left mouse button. This will select the range of records between the clicked one and the old one. If you use Control+left-click, the effect is the same as pressing Space.
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Message AKA Address
Select the system network address to use for this area. All messages that are posted on your system in this area will be stamped with this identifying address. Generally, you would use the address for the network this area belongs to. You may press Enter to use a pop-up list of all the addressed you have defined in ProCFG.
Dialog
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Area Belongs to All Groups
If you select 'Yes', then the area will be listed always when a user chooses to use the group option. This makes the area visible regardless of the group selected. This is generally useful for local system areas that you want your users to see no matter what.
Groups
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Message Area Name
This is the (hopefully informative) name you choose for this message area. This can be anything you want and it is recommended that you put some thought in the process of assigning names. You can group areas by name by using a common prefix, say [SCiNET] for all message areas from SCiNET. This way users can tell what they are looking at, and this way FileCFG will sort the areas and keep them together.
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Message Base Format
Choose the message base format for this area. Hints: use Fido *.MSG of this is going to be a NetMail area. Use Hudson for the areas local to your BBS, like System Announcements. Use Squish or/and JAM for the rest of the BBS. Please refer to the ProBoard FAQ available at my WebSite for more information and suggestions about this topic.
Kind
Type
Name
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Message Area Echo Tag
Each echo area has a unique identifier called a tag which is assigned by the people that create the echo. You cannot freely choose a tag, you must use the official one from the EchoList (this list should be avialble from your Uplink upon request or by sending a %QUERY message to AreaMgr). The name is not case-sensitive, but it is customary to use upper-case in this field. This field might not be the same as the QWK entry.
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Message Area Groups
Each message area can belong to zero or more (up to four) message groups. Groups are used for organizing areas together in some logical order, like all areas dealing with programming might go in a separate group and all areas for a certain network might go to another. Pressing Enter in this field will pop up a list will all currently defined groups, you can choose one of them.
Groups
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Hudson Area Number
The purpose of this field is unclear, it seems to be always set to 0. I suggest you don't mess around with it unless you figure out what purpose it serves. Maybe Philippe will tell us one day?
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Kill After Days
This sets the number of days to keep messages in this area. Messages older than this number will be purged during maintenance. Note that this only works with Hudson and JAM areas for which PBUTIL is used to do all the necessary work. As far as I know, Fido *.MSG and Squish users must use the confgurations for their particular programs. A good setting here depends on the particular area, with values from 7 to 21 not uncommon. "
Kill
received
Maximum
messages
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Kill Received After
This option is similar to Kill
Messages but it only applies to messages that have been received by the person they were for. It is not usually necessary to keep those around for more than a couple of days. !
Maximum
messages
Days
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Message Area Kind
Each message area can be one of four kinds: local (messages are only to and from this system and they never get out to other BBS'), netmail (direct contact with almost all other BBS' in the net(s), good for Sysops, not generally good to let callers use), echomail (all FidoNet and compatible message transfer systems use this), and private echomail (this is the same as echomail, except private messages are allowed: not a good idea for the public echoes, and generally frowned upon by many).
Type
Base
Name
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Maximum Messages
Maximum amount of messages to keep in this area at any one time. Note that this will not be enforced until maintenance runs with the purging option. This setting only works for Hudson and JAM areas for which PBUTIL is used. Squish and Fido *.MSG users should refer to their respective utilities.
Days
Kill
received
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Minimum Age
This field is not available in ProCFG and (probably) defines the minimum age required to access a particular message area. I don't know if ProBoard respects it or not, but if it does, this can be very useful for adult systems with validated callers.
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Message Name Options
Each message area has certain name options that lets the Sysop control how messages get posted. Users can be forced to use their real name, their own alias, choose a free alias, or choose between their name and alias. Generally, the FidoNet echoes do not like aliases, so the echo areas should be set to 'Real Names Only'. In an alias-only system, you would want all local messages to be posted under an alias (certain echoes, like FLAME also lean towards this), so you would set it to 'Fixed Alias'. If you want to have even more fun, select 'Free Alias' which would let users choose an alias each time they post a message. If you want to let the users choose between their name and their alias, set this area to 'Real Name or Fixed Alias'. Thus, each time they post a message, they will be prompted if they want to use their alias instead of the real name.
Type
Kind
Base
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Message Origin Line
Each message area can have its own distinct origin line (show your creativity here). It's a good idea to have topical origin lines with regards to the individual area. For good ideas on origin lines, see the TAGLINES FidoNet echo. If this is left undefined, the defaul origin line from ProCFG will be used instead. Do not append your network address here, it is added by ProBoard automatically.
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Message Area Path
This field depends on the type of message
base used. For Hudson, leave this field blank (the Messagebase path in ProCFG will be used). This is because all Hudson areas share the same set of files. For Squish and JAM, type the directory and the root file name (no extension) for the area. The two use a separate set of files with the same name and different extensions to manage the area. For Fido *.MSG, type a directory name only. This format uses one file per message to store the messages and only requires the name of the directory.
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Message QWK Tag
QWK-compatible software as well as some offline mail doors like BlueWave require this field to be set to some unique string for identifying purposes. Note that this field is not the same as the Echo
Tag and should be set separately. Unlike the latter, this one is defined by you and only works for your system. I usually type the EchoMail tag in this field because those are unique already. If it's too long, I just truncate it. Use of all uppercase here is customary.
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Reply Board Number
This is the number of the message area where all replies will be posted to instead of this one. This is great if you have a To-Sysop area and you want your replies to be posted in a world-accessible area. Simply give the area number here. Note that 0 in this field means you want messages to be posted to the same area (default), you do not need to give the area number in the reply field in this case.
FileCFG keeps track of those numbers and if you decide to move areas around, it will automatically adjust those numbers for you to match the new areas.
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Area Sysop Name
Users can post messages addressed to 'Sysop'. If you want someone else to receive those (Co-Sysop or the person maintaining the echo), type the name in this field. Leave blank for real sysop (default).
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Message Area Type
Message areas can be private (users can only see messages addressed to them), public only (users cannot post private messages there), private or public (users can choose what type of message to post) or 'To-All'. The first is generally useful for local private areas. The next one is good for 'Message to Sysop' which can be made public so that other users benefit from the information or private if it's for the Sysop only. The third one, public only, is good for FidoNet echomail areas. The last one (and often overlooked) is the To-All type which lets you post mail to all users (kind of). They will see the messages posted in this area in their new mail scan.
Name
Kind
Base
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Move Tagged Records
You need to have tagged one or more records for this command to work. It will simply move all tagged areas and group them right after the selection bar. The empty areas that will be generated will be removed. Use the Renumber command to fix the display of the area numbers if you want.
Sort
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OK Button
Accept the settings in the current dialog box.
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Pack Records
Packing means removing empty entries from the list. This operation will remove all empty records. It is not reversible and should be used with care. That's why you will be prompted once again if you want to do it.
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Read Flags
The security flags required for the user to have (or not have) in order to be able to read messages in this area. '
Read
level
Write
flags
Sysop
flags
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Read Level
The minimum level required for user to have in order to read messages in this area. '
Read
flags
Write
level
Sysop
level
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Renumber Records
When moving areas around, FileCFG does not automatically adjust the numbers for you. This is done so you can verify correct operation. Once done, choose this command to synchronize the internal numbers with the display. Note that this command does no saving of the data, it simply matches the numbers in memory with the numbers you see.
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Save
Save all data to disk. It might be necessary to use this after inserting new empty records and before editing any record.
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Move and Sort
This works exactly like the Move command except it will also sort the records by name when grouping them together.
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Sysop Flags
Flags required for Sysop access to this message area. Sysops can do a lot more than general users. Messages can be deleted, exported, and forwarded. '
Sysop
level
Read
flags
Write
flags
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Sysop Level
The level required for Sysop access to this area. Again, this is a very powerful feature, don't let a lot of your users have access to it. '
Sysop
flags
Read
level
Write
level
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Write Flags
Flags required for user to have (or not have) in order to be able to write messages in this area. Additional control is available via the level setting.
Read
level
Sysop
level
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Write Level
Minimum level a user has to have in order to be able to write to this area. This should be used in conjunction with flags for additional control if you wish. '
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