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Text File | 1996-01-13 | 19.3 KB | 368 lines

DCT Bulletin Generator v1.12 By Daniel Traczynski January 13, 1996 Copyright (C) 1995..96 Dan Traczynski. All rights reserved. ╔═════════════════════════════════╗╒══════════════════════════════╕╒═════════╕ ║ Table of Contents ║│ DCT Bulletin Generator v1.12 ││ Part 1 │ ╙─────────────────────────────────╜└──────────────────────────────┘└─────────┘ 1..Table of Contents 2..Introduction 3..Installation & Requirements 4..General Program Usage 5..Using Imbedded Codes 6..Creating Custom Bulletin Styles 7..Support 8..Enhanced Mode 9..Credits/Acknowledgments 10..Distribution and Disclaimer 11..History ╔═════════════════════════════════╗╒══════════════════════════════╕╒═════════╕ ║ Introduction ║│ DCT Bulletin Generator v1.12 ││ Part 2 │ ╙─────────────────────────────────╜└──────────────────────────────┘└─────────┘ The DCT Bulletin Generator is like all of the other generators that exist, except that this one is better, :) and will create beautiful ANSI news screens to show to your users when they log on to your BBS. The Bulletin Generator contains features like a built-in editor (with external editors supported), complete customization, and also allows you to design your own bulletin style, or use one of the 9 pre-made designs supplied in the package. Best of all, this program is freeware. ;) ╔═════════════════════════════════╗╒══════════════════════════════╕╒═════════╕ ║ Installation & Requirements ║│ DCT Bulletin Generator v1.12 ││ Part 3 │ ╙─────────────────────────────────╜└──────────────────────────────┘└─────────┘ If you are upgrading from v1.10, simply run 110TO112.EXE and the files will be converted to the new format. If for some reason the upgrade fails, delete DCTNEWS.CFG and it will be re-created when you run DCTNews. Be sure to re-compile the bulletins into NEWS.ANS/ASC for the changes in this version to take effect. The program has only been tested with RemoteAccess, SuperBBS and Concord, but should work with any BBS software that displays the NEWS.ANS/ASC file at login. To install the program, run DCTNEWS.EXE, and answer the questions asked. All of the required files will be created at this time. If you ever wish to change your configuration, edit the file DCTNEWS.CFG with any ASCII editor, and change the lines so that they have the information displayed below. The default configuration should be sufficient though. Line 1: Real name of the Sysop (maximum 20 characters). Line 2: BBS Name (maximum 24 characters). Line 3: Enhancement code. See section 8 for more information. Line 4: Sysop name, as it will appear at the end of each bulletin. Line 5: Directory where the text files are stored. Line 6: Name of bulletin file to create. Line 7: Put a "1" if you don't want users to be able to press the <S> key before the bulletin has been completely displayed; otherwise use a "0". Line 8: If you want to have the "Today's date is..." displayed at the top of the screen, set this to a "1". Otherwise set it to a zero. Line 9: If you would like to have a "Press Enter" prompt after each bulletin is displayed, set this to a "1". Otherwise use "0" for the default format. Line 10: File name of an external editor. Instructions are included in the configuration file, in case you forget what to put on each line. Line 6 was put in so that users can't hit the <S> key without reading your bulletins. It adds the ^B character to the beginning of the file, which is the character that RA, SuperBBS, and Concord use to disable aborting with the <S> key. I would recommend that you allow your users to be able to abort reading the bulletins, unless you write new bulletins very frequently. This option may not work on all BBS programs. To change the output file name from the default of NEWS.ANS/ASC, you may enter the alternate file name on line 6. One possibility is to name it ONCEONLY.ANS/ASC, and the news file will only be shown once to each user until it is updated again. Please keep in mind that you must specify only the file name, not the extension of .ANS or .ASC. Also note that the output file name is usually referred to as "NEWS.ANS/ASC" throughout this file, even though it may not be set to that. If you would like to use an external editor, its file name must be entered on line 8. If the MS-DOS Editor were used, an "EDIT" would be typed on this line. If when entering a bulletin, you see a "Bad command or file name" message appear after typing in the subject, the editor was not in the current directory or path. Leave this configuration line blank to use the internal editor (preferred method). If the external editor is used, any lines after the nineteenth will be ignored, and each line will be trimmed to 76 characters (excluding colour codes) if they are longer than that. If the file DCTNEWS.HDR exists in the current directory, it will be added to the beginning of NEWS.ANS/ASC. The file can be up to 640 bytes, and cannot contain any ANSI codes. If they do exist, they will be filtered out during compilation. If you wish to add colours to your header, you must follow the instructions in section 5 of this manual. ╔═════════════════════════════════╗╒══════════════════════════════╕╒═════════╕ ║ General Program Usage ║│ DCT Bulletin Generator v1.12 ││ Part 4 │ ╙─────────────────────────────────╜└──────────────────────────────┘└─────────┘ Type DCTNEWS to start the program, and make sure that the configuration file is in the current directory. To add a new bulletin, press 1. Enter the subject that it is about, and you will then have 19 lines for your bulletin. Pressing <F1> will bring up a summary of the available commands, so there is really no need to list them here. If you wish to trim down the number of entries in the News File, press 2. You will be asked as to how many News Items that you would like to have remaining, and it will keep the newest entries only. Entering 0 or hitting <Esc> will abort. The remaining entries will be automatically compiled into the NEWS.ANS/ASC files. To see what the bulletin style looks like, press 3 when in the main menu. If you would like to shell to DOS quickly to do something, hit 5 from the main menu. Once you have finished using the program, hit 6 or <Esc> to quit. There is no way (yet) to edit bulletins that have already been added to the News File from within the program. If you wish to do this, use any ASCII editor and edit the DCTNEWS.DAT file. Below is a description of how this works. :Test This is the subject. May06-95 This is the date of the entry. This is a test bulletin. Actual bulletin. ^ This will echo a CR/LF in NEWS.ANS/ASC. The above line is blank. More of the bulletin. Blank lines are ignored. :Testing... All bulletins must begin with a ":". May03-95 Date. . . . . etc. etc. The description isn't very good, but if you create a News Item, then edit it, you should understand how it works. The newest bulletins must go first, and all of the News Items start with a colon. Never start any other part of the bulletin with a colon, or the program may get confused and create garbage. Once you have finished editing the data file, choose option 5 in the main menu to re-compile it into the NEWS.ANS/ASC files. ╔═════════════════════════════════╗╒══════════════════════════════╕╒═════════╕ ║ Using Imbedded Codes ║│ DCT Bulletin Generator v1.12 ││ Part 5 │ ╙─────────────────────────────────╜└──────────────────────────────┘└─────────┘ Imbedded codes may be used in almost all strings and data files. When a string or file is checked, any imbedded codes within it are converted into new strings. Valid codes are shown below. `XX Changes the colour to "XX". The first character is the fore- ground colour, and the second is the background. These are valid colour codes. 0 - Black 8 - Grey 1 - Blue 9 - Bright Blue 2 - Green A - Bright Green 3 - Cyan B - Bright Cyan 4 - Red C - Bright Red 5 - Violet D - Bright Magenta 6 - Brown E - Yellow 7 - White F - Bright White X - No change (can be used for foreground and background) The background colour may only be from 0 to 7. For example, to change blue on white to bright blue on white, then to bright red on blue, and finally to normal green on white again, it would look like this: `17`9X`C1`27 ┬ ┬ ┬ ┬ Change to blue on white ─────┘ │ │ │ Change to bright blue on white ─┘ │ │ Change to bright red on blue ──────┘ │ Change to normal green on white ──────┘ |D This is converted to the date that the bulletin was generated. |V Displays the version of the Bulletin Generator. |B Displays the BBS Name. It is always 24 characters long. ╔═════════════════════════════════╗╒══════════════════════════════╕╒═════════╕ ║ Creating Custom Bulletin Styles ║│ DCT Bulletin Generator v1.12 ││ Part 6 │ ╙─────────────────────────────────╜└──────────────────────────────┘└─────────┘ When designing a bulletin style, the template file DCTNEWS.STL must first be created, and can be no larger than 512 bytes. The format is as follows. Line 1: `X0 The colour that the bulletin text will be. The background colour MUST be black. Line 2: nn The maximum length of the subject (can be 20-62). Line 3: Press Enter What the "Press Enter" prompt at the end will look like. If this is less than 10 characters long, a random prompt will be selected. Line 4: n What the background colour of the title bar at the top of NEWS.ANS will be (1-7, 0 disables). Line 5: XXXXXXXXXX What the style looks like. Line 6: XXXXXXXXXX Another line of the bulletin style. . . . . . . etc. etc. In addition to the codes explained in section 5, these ones may also be used within DCTNEWS.STL. |L This expands to show the subject of the bulletin. The subject text is left-justified, and it is always the length specified on line 2 of DCTNEWS.STL. |R Same as above, except that the subject text is right-justified. |S Also expands to the subject, but does not include the extra spacebar padding that make the above functions always the same length. |D This is converted to the date of the bulletin. It is always eight characters long. !x Displays the character "x" as long as the length of the subject; so if the subject were ten characters long, it would be expanded to 10 x's. @x This shows the character "x" as long as the maximum subject length minus the actual length of the subject. Therefore, if the maximum subject length was 62 characters, and the subject was 30 characters long, "x" would be displayed 42 times. For examples of the above information, please take a look at the files within the self-extracting archive SAMPLES.EXE that came with this program. ╔═════════════════════════════════╗╒══════════════════════════════╕╒═════════╕ ║ Support ║│ DCT Bulletin Generator v1.12 ││ Part 7 │ ╙─────────────────────────────────╜└──────────────────────────────┘└─────────┘ None. I don't have a BBS, so I can't really be contacted in any way. If you do know how to get in touch with me, though, I'll be happy to answer any questions that you may have, or listen to your suggestions or bug reports. I would also be interested in knowing if this program works on any BBS programs other than RemoteAccess, SuperBBS, and Concord. I am also looking for a support BBS for my programs. (So if anyone is interested...) ╔═════════════════════════════════╗╒══════════════════════════════╕╒═════════╕ ║ Enhanced Mode ║│ DCT Bulletin Generator v1.12 ││ Part 8 │ ╙─────────────────────────────────╜└──────────────────────────────┘└─────────┘ The program is freeware, however, it will now support an "enhanced" mode. This basically means that if you send me a "donation" for my work in making this program, I will send you a code that will enable the enhanced mode. Registration is not required, though, and there are no unregistered delays, beeps, or messages telling you to pay. You simply get a few bonus features by sending me money. :) The following bonus features will only work in the enhanced mode. -Forcing users to read the bulletin. -Turning off the "Today's date is..." option. -Maximum subject length may be changed. -The BBS name is displayed at the top of NEWS.ANS/ASC instead of "[FREEWARE]". -The colour of the title bar at the top of NEWS.ANS/ASC can be changed or the bar can be removed altogether. -Shell to DOS is enabled. -A "This copy is registered to xxx of xxx BBS" is added to the end of the bulletin. -And any more new features that I add in the next version. ╔═════════════════════════════════╗╒══════════════════════════════╕╒═════════╕ ║ Credits/Acknowledgments ║│ DCT Bulletin Generator v1.12 ││ Part 9 │ ╙─────────────────────────────────╜└──────────────────────────────┘└─────────┘ -Garfield of Neural Meltdown BBS (604-255-5198) for testing the program for me on SuperBBS (and I wouldn't have found out about that 80 character bug without his ßeta testing). Thanks! :) -Chronos of Rogue's Inn BBS (604-924-0783) because his BBS is cool and I thought I should mention it here. ;) -Kevin Boldt of Expressions BBS, because I got the sample style #8 from him. Unfortunately, his BBS was shut down. :( -Al Ianson of Al's Place BBS (604-xxx-xxxx) for being the first person to register DCTNews. Thank you very much. ╔═════════════════════════════════╗╒══════════════════════════════╕╒═════════╕ ║ Distribution & Disclaimer ║│ DCT Bulletin Generator v1.12 ││ Part 10 │ ╙─────────────────────────────────╜└──────────────────────────────┘└─────────┘ DCTNews is copyright (C) 1995, 1996 by Daniel Traczynski. All rights reserved. I encourage you to distribute it, but DO NOT change any of the files within the original archive. No fees are to be charged to people who wish to obtain a copy of this program, except for general access fees to the system. The archive should also be named DCTBG112.EXE, preferably in LHA's self-extracting archive format. The author, Daniel Traczynski, will take no responsibility to anything that this program may or may not do to your system. Although the program has been tested thoroughly, no guarantee can be given that it will do what it was made to do. Nevertheless, if anything should happen, the user is totally responsible, and the author will be under no obligations whatsoever. By using this program you agree to this disclaimer. ╔═════════════════════════════════╗╒══════════════════════════════╕╒═════════╕ ║ History ║│ DCT Bulletin Generator v1.12 ││ Part 11 │ ╙─────────────────────────────────╜└──────────────────────────────┘└─────────┘ + Added a new feature/Something was improved. - Removed something. * General comment. > Bug fix. Version 1.12 - January 13, 1996. > Fixed the runtime errors that were resulting when there was no BBS name, Sysop name, or signature defined in DCTNEWS.CFG. + DCTNews will now allow you to disable the signature that's appended at the end of each bulletin. This was actually an option in v1.10, but the above bug wouldn't allow it to be turned off. + The colour of the title bar at the top of NEWS.ANS/ASC may be now be changed or the bar can be removed altogether. > Fixed the runtime error you would get if DCTNEWS.CFG was a 0 byte file (why would this ever happen anyway?). + Added an option to have the BBS prompt the user to press Enter after each bulletin is displayed. Version 1.10 - December 16, 1995. * First public release. > Fixed a bug where if a line was 80 characters long, the cursor would move back to the beginning of the line on some terminal programs instead of advancing to the next one. * Moved the "Press Enter" prompt string into DCTNEWS.STL, as it made more sense to have it there. + Re-wrote the main menu, so that it looks really cool and has a lightbar selector as well as hotkeys. + Completely re-wrote the internal editor, so that the Home, End, Ins, Del, etc. keys may also be used. Also added a "BigFont", though it hasn't been fully implemented yet. + The maximum subject length can be changed, to allow more diversity in the bulletin styles. + Colour codes can now be used in all parts of the bulletin except the subject. + Colour codes have been completely re-written, so that they are easier to understand, and so that the background colour can be changed too. + The compiled ANSI file is a little smaller now, as I've optimised the ANSI routines so that they no longer add repetetive colour changing commands. + Shell to DOS added. + Added ASCII support (why?). + Improved the installation process a bit. Version 1.02 - May 6, 1995. > Fixed a nasty little bug where if you entered two bulletins in a row, the bulletin text would still be there from the first one. + Option to create custom bulletin styles added. Version 1.01 - April 15, 1995. + An external editor is now supported when entering a bulletin. + Some internal changes. + The cursor now looks normal, instead of a flashing underscore character. Version 1.00 - April 6, 1995. * Initial creation.