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COOKIE.EXE v2.00 - Fortune Cookie program for ALL BBS systems
Written by Earl Ruby @ KnowledgeMatters, 510/935-4878, Fidonet Node 1:161/201
The latest version of this program is available via FREQ as COOKIE
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<<<*>>> HISTORY <<<*>>>
I used to run a BBS system which used a little-known software package called
The DMG BBS System. The DMG System had a number of interesting features,
including built-in games, a user-generated Bulletin section, and a file
system that let you cross-reference files across multiple file sections. The
DMG System also had a built-in fortune cookie program that would spew forth a
witty little saying or a quote when you logged off the system.
The original cookie file used by the DMG System was about 200K in size. I
started adding to the file, typing in funny quotes that I'd heard and merging
text files containing quotes that I would run across. Eventually the file
grew to over 450K in size.
In January 1991 I switched software packages and started using Remote Access
BBS software. Remote Access had many features that the DMG System lacked --
and it was STABLE. I didn't have to worry about having the system crash while
I was gone on weekends, something which happened quite often with the DMG.
I wrote this program because there was no COOKIE program built into Remote
Access. When I wrote the COOKIE program I wanted to make sure that it would
run under ANY BBS system, because it was possible that I would switch systems
again. I've stuck with Remote Access -- I love it -- and the COOKIE program
is still running strong and the cookie file keeps growing in size.
<<<*>>> VERSION 2.00 <<<*>>>
The changes in version 2.00 are as follows:
* A new random-number algorithm has been implemented to make the cookies even
more random. However, bigger cookies tend to be displayed more often
because there is a greater chance of "hitting" a big cookie within the
cookie text file.
* More cookies have been added! There are now more than 1.1 megabytes of
cookies included with the program. I especially want to thank Joe Russack
of UCSC for sending me an 800K file of cookies that he had. If anyone else
out there has a file of cookies that they'd like to see included, please
send them in!
* With all of the new cookies, there were bound to be duplicates. I wrote a
program to analyze the file and remove duplicates, as well as to sort the
cookies in alphbetical order. Over 2000 duplicates were removed from the
file.
* I received netmail from a couple of people regarding spelling errors and
mis-attributed quotes. The ones that were brought to my attention have been
corrected. I have not yet run the file through a spell-checker because
proper nouns, computer jargon, and nonsense-words make up quite a bit of
the file, and it's going to take me hours to go through the entire thing. I
hope to have the everything spell-checked by the *next* release.
* I broke the cookie file into separate files by "type of cookie." The file
names are:
COOKIE.CKS Miscellaneous cookies
ONELINER.CKS One-liners, quick quotes
BARRY.CKS Quotes from Dave Barry
STARTREK.CKS Quotes from Star Trek
ZIPPY.CKS Quotes from Zippy the Pinhead
* There is a new file called MERGE.BAT. This program will take all of the
separate cookie files and merge them into one file called COOKIES.TXT. You
can edit MERGE.BAT so that it only includes the cookie files that you want
to display.
<<<*>>> REGISTRATION <<<*>>>
The COOKIE program is Shareware. If you like it, send me a check for $10 or
so payable to "KnowledgeMatters" and I will feel very flattered. (As one of
the quotes says: "Money is the sincerest form of flattery.") My mailing
address is:
KnowledgeMatters
Attn: Earl Ruby
P.O. Box 5485
Walnut Creek, CA 94596
If you register and you give me a Fidonet address where you can be reached,
I will send you NetMail whenever a new version of the cookie file comes out.
I can be reached on The KnowledgeMatters BBS @ 510/935-4878, Fidonet node
1:161/201. The latest version of COOKIE can always be File-Requested (FREQ)
using the magic name "COOKIE" at HST DS speeds.
<<<*>>> USING THE PROGRAM <<<*>>>
To use the program, stick the following line of code into your batch file
immediately before the batch file starts up the BBS system:
COOKIE cookie_file output_file
Where:
cookie file = path and name of the text file with cookies
output file = path and name of the file for a single cookie
Since I'm using Remote Access, and Remote Access displays a file called
GOODBYE.ANS (ANSI) or GOODBYE.ASC (ASCII) when the user logs off the system,
I could use the following line of code in my batch file:
COOKIE COOKIES.TXT C:\RA\TEXT\GOODBYE.ASC
This would create an ASCII file that the user would see when they logged off
the system.
However, let's say that I want to generate ANSI and ASCII versions of the
quote, and I want to add a header to the message stating something like:
"Thanks for calling! The cookie monster says:" before the cookie is
displayed. To accomplish this I create two files, one called GB.ASC and one
called GB.ANS. These have a clear-screen character and the header message in
them. The .ANS file also contains color-changing information. To use these
headers, I add the following to my BBS batch file:
COOKIE COOKIES.TXT TEMP.TXT
COPY GB.ANS+TEMP.TXT C:\RA\TEXT\GOODBYE.ANS
COPY GB.ASC+TEMP.TXT C:\RA\TEXT\GOODBYE.ASC
DEL TEMP.TXT
(then call the BBS program)
This works just fine for creating ANSI and ASCII copies of the file.
The cookie file is broken into sections. If you do not have room on your
hard drive to keep ALL of the cookies on-line, you can pick a section or two
and just keep those sections on-line. The sections are stored in separate
files. The file names are:
COOKIE.CKS Miscellaneous cookies
ONELINER.CKS One-liners, quick quotes
BARRY.CKS Quotes from Dave Barry
STARTREK.CKS Quotes from Star Trek
ZIPPY.CKS Quotes from Zippy the Pinhead
There is also a file called MERGE.BAT. This program will take all of the
separate cookie files and merge them into one file called COOKIES.TXT. You
can edit MERGE.BAT so that it only includes the cookie files that you want
to display.
The merge file consists of the command:
COPY COOKIE.CKS+BARRY.CKS+ONELINER.CKS+STARTREK.CKS+ZIPPY.CKS COOKIES.TXT
After reading Dave Barry quotes for the past 5 years I was getting pretty
tired of them, so I used the command:
COPY COOKIE.CKS+ONELINER.CKS+STARTREK.CKS+ZIPPY.CKS COOKIES.TXT
That merged all of the separate cookie files, except for the Dave Barry
quotes, into one file called COOKIES.TXT.
<<<*>>> THE COOKIE FILE <<<*>>>
The COOKIES.TXT file is a collection of quotes, sayings, pearls of wisdom,
jokes, and funny news items. Each cookie is separated by a "}" at the
beginning of the cookie. There is no minimum or maximum cookie length. You
can have a cookie file of nothing but one-liners, or a cookie file consisting
of nothing but quotes from Alice in Wonderland.
I know of one Remote Access BBS using this program that has a file of
practical jokes and pranks (& the Temple of the Screaming Electron BBS,
510-935-5845). If a user selects the [P]rank option from the BBS's menu, it
calls the COOKIE program, extracts a prank, and then displays the prank using
a "display ASC/ANS file" menu option. Very amusing!
The COOKIES.TXT file is the product of several year's worth of collecting
quotes, sayings, and other related trivia. People are always sending me new
files of quotes to add to the file. If you have some quotes you'd like to see
added, send them to me via NetMail or upload them to the KnowledgeMatters BBS
and I'll put them in the next release.
Earl Ruby
KnowledgeMatters BBS
1:161/201, 510/935-4878
07/01/92
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