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------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------- ----------------------------------- SFCB 1.2 SPITFIRE Call-Back Validation Utility Copyright (C) 1992 Richard Sleegers ----------------- RainbowSoft Wares R.R. #8 London, Ontario, CANADA N6A 4C3 ----------------- Rainbow BBS Sysop: Richard Sleegers Public Node: (519)455-4880 1200/2400 Baud ----------------- Alternate contact: Spitfire Support BBS Buffalo Creek - 515-225-8496 1200-38400 baud ----------------------------------- --------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------- Table of Contents IN THE BEGINNING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 INSTALLATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 SFCB Batch Files File (SF.BAT) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Spitfire Door Menus (SFDOOR.MNU, etc). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 COMMAND LINE PARAMETERS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 EXECUTION. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 FUNCTION KEYS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 CONFIGURABLE OPTIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 SUPPORT FILES. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 WARNINGS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 DISCLAIMER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 SHAREWARE INFORMATION. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 TRADEMARKS, COPYRIGHTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 SFCB HALL OF FAME! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 FUTURE MODIFICATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 MODIFICATION HISTORY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 COMMON QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 INTRODUCTION Are you one of those sysops who is concerned about the quality of users on your BBS? One time-consuming task for you is likely the validation of new users. In order to prevent abuse, you expect that your users provide accurate and truthful information. One of these tidbits of information is the phone number of the user, a way to contact them in case of a problem, or to help, or simply to verify that they are, indeed, providing truthful information. Prior to writing this program, I had to manually contact each new user by voice to validate him or her; a time consuming task, considering people like to call your BBS 24 hours a day, and you are not awake for 24 hours, watching your monitor. (It's more like 23 hours a day, right?). Now, while SFCB has been written to add security to your BBS, it is not a complete security system by any means, it merely acts on the assumption that most users are truthful and not malicious. You, as the sysop are ultimately responsible for the actions of your users! SFCB allows a user to validate him/herself by entering a door or menu option. The program will call back, using the number provided through the new user log-on. Upon successful re-connection and data verification (name, password and optionally, the birth-date), the user's security level will be upgraded to that of your BBS's regular user status (selectable by the sysop.) Other features of the program will be explained in this document, as well as some of the necessary Shareware information and disclaimers (yes, there are some!) I chose to put them at the END of the document, so you can worry about the guidelines if indeed you have tried out this program and found it useful. Quickly, though, here are some of the important legalities: SFCB is distributed as Shareware, you may try it out for a period of 14 to 21 days, after which time you must register it or remove it from your system. There are no warranties or guarantees with SFCB. You may distribute SFCB, on the condition that you do not alter the package, or any of the file's contents, or receive financial compensation for it, other than regular BBS fees. For more information, please refer to the sections entitled DISCLAIMER and SHAREWARE INFORMATION. Now on with the important stuff! IN THE BEGINNING SPITFIRE was born under the direction of Mike Woltz, of Buffalo Creek Software, to fill a unique position in the communications world. Many users and potential sysops (myself included) were drawn to the software for the same reason Mr. Woltz wrote it. Of course, we all have our own ideas for making it better and enhancing it, and this is my contribution. This version of SFCB has been written to reflect the multi-node version 3.0/3.1 of SPITFIRE and is backwards compatible with version 2.8. It is my intention to update the program for future versions at no cost to registered users (sans telephone calls to obtain it). If you require compatibility with an earlier version, please send correspondence to me and I will see about making one available for your version. I will also consider writing versions compatible with BBS systems other than Spitfire. INSTALLATION SFCB comes with an install batch file which will work for first time installation as well as updates from previous versions. (You will need about 400K free disk space and 300K free RAM memory to run install automatically - it is suggested that you exit Spitfire instead of dropping to DOS) Extract the SFCB compressed file (SFCBxx.ZIP) - where 'xx' is the current version - to a new directory and run INSTALL.BAT from the new directory. For example MD \TEMPSFCB PKUNZIP SFCB12.ZIP \TEMPSFCB CD \TEMPSFCB INSTALL C:\SF\SFCB Once the program is installed, you may remove the \TEMPSFCB directory and its contents.. CD \ DEL TEMPSFCB RD TEMPSFCB To install SFCB manually, create a directory for SFCB, and then move or uncompress all of the support files into this directory. In this example I will use C:\SF\SFCB for the door directory. SFCB Batch Files File (SF.BAT) Next you must include in your SF.BAT file the necessary steps to execute the call back program. In this example, SFCB is installed as Door C. *** This is the recommended method *** but, if you prefer: SF.BAT: :DOOR_C CD C:\SF\SFCB SFCB -D C:\SF CD .. GOTO LOOP SF.BAT: :DOOR_C COPY C:\SF\SFDOORS.DAT C:\SF\SFCB CD C:\SF\SFCB SFCB COPY C:\SF\SFCB\SFDOORS.DAT C:\SF CD .. GOTO LOOP Spitfire Door Menus (SFDOOR.MNU, etc) If you run SFCB as a door, than you need a line in the corresponding SFDOOR.MNU file, eg: Call-Back Verification,5 The installation program will attempt to correctly install SFCB if you are running it as a door or as a main menu extension. Please take a few moments to verify it is done correctly and to your liking, this will save you time later. See your SPITFIRE manual for more details on installing door programs, or if you are running SFCB as a menu extension. Once SFCB is setup in the batch and menu files, you must configure SFCB with the SFCBINST.EXE program. Help is contained in the program to explain all of the options. COMMAND LINE PARAMETERS If you wish, you may use the command line options to specify where to find the door file, configuration file, or to override the comm port or baud rate (now why would you WANT to do that?) Here are the available command line parameters: -D C:\SF\SFDOORS.DAT Where to find the door file. -D C:\SF\SFMAIN.DAT You may run SFCB as an extension, simply place the necessary commands in your SFMAIN.BAT, SFMESS.BAT or SFFILE.BAT, for more information on this method, please consult your Spitfire Manual. Depending on your version of Spitfire, this may or may not work, version 2.8 and above will read the corresponding data file and update the security level. -R Reconnect delay after CONNECTion is re-established. Default is 6 seconds. -W Wait time before redialing. Default is 6 seconds. -B 1200 Change the baud rate to 1200. (You really should let SFCB determine the baud rate from the SF Data file) -P 1 Use Comm Port 1. (Again, SFDOORS.DAT contains the port the user logged in at.) @R Disable Opening Shareware screen - available to registered users only. -C [filename] Option used in previous versions of SFCB (1.1 and older). Remove this option from existing batch files. When updating from previous versions, this file will be converted to the new format and will no longer be used. EXECUTION In the event that there are problems with the successful installation of the SFCB program, please refer to the comments shown to you on the screen and in the log file (SFCB.LOG) You will be informed if SFCB cannot find the door data file or if it has not been installed. When all goes well, you will see the initial log-on screen(CBOPEN.BBS), then the program 'plug', stating the current version and registration information; the usual stuff. The initial log-on screen should contain the necessary information to introduce the purpose of the program to the user and the process that it involves. This opening file may also be displayed in ANSI by creating an ANSI corresponding file named CBOPEN.CLR. This file will be displayed if the user has logged on to SPITFIRE with ANSI activated. (ANSI.SYS does not have to be loaded to see ANSI correctly on the BBS computer while within SFCB. The user is presented with the current settings, and the SFCB Main Menu. The menu shows the user's phone number and terminal program (which must be selected) When all is ready, option "C" (call-back) is activated and the user can continue call-back. SFCB will attempt to determine whether the caller is long-distance from the BBS. Numbers that are not the same area code are assumed long distance and will not be validated unless the sysop allows long-distance validation. If a number is within the sysop's area code, but not considered a local exchange (by comparing it to the numbers in the SFCB.XCH file), SFCB will ask if the user's number is long-distance. If the number is not local and the user informs SFCB it is, no validation will be made, as the phone call will not successfully reach the intended person. After checking security levels and phone numbers, SFCB hangs up and attempts to call the user back. It will attempt as many times as you have configured. Here is where you must have your Tone/Pulse set correctly. If you cannot dial with Tone, make sure you set the Tone available option to False. After the connection is re-established, (and CONNECT.BBS/CLR displayed) the user will be prompted for his or her name and password. You may force the user to enter his/her birth date as well, and/or a random code displayed prior to hangup. When all is entered correct (case is NOT significant for the password entered) then the final file, CBCLOSE.BBS/CLR will be displayed, explaining what the new security level entails, or whatever else the user must do for complete validation, etc., depending on your BBS setup. You will be able to see at all times where the user is currently at in the program, and can "help" the user along in case of difficulty. Also displayed on the top portion of the screen is the user name, baud rate, security level and time left. Press F1 or Home to display the available function keys. Once a user is in the program, you may chat by pressing ALT-C. Pressing ALT-C again will to exit the chat. Likewise, you may Drop to DOS if need be by pressing ALT-J (provided that you have enough memory). To exit back to SFCB after a drop to DOS, type "EXIT". SFCB will provide users with sysop level or greater an additional menu, which can be used to display the log and validation files. (SFCB.LOG, SFCB.VAL, SFCB.NVL) FUNCTION KEYS Here is a list of keys available to the sysop. (They cannot be used by the caller.) Press F1 or HOME to display these keys while running the program. Chat mode Alt C Press Alt C to end chat. Drop to DOS Alt D, Alt J Local drop to dos only. Add time F7 Adds 5 minutes to user's time Subtract time F6 Subtract 5 minutes Twit user Alt F2 No sysop can be without a user terminate function. :) Twit will hang up the modem line, or end a local mode test. CONFIGURABLE OPTIONS Options are modified via the SFCBINST.EXE program. This program should live in the same directory as your SFCB.EXE file. If you are compressing SFCB with a program such as LZEXE or PKLITE you must decompress it first before you can configure the program. The options are pretty straight-forward and are briefly explained within SFCBINST. A few should be commented on, and they follow: Sysop security level This need not be the sysop security (normally 999) but can be any level which you wish to have access to the log files. [LD] Validation times The method for disabling call-back at any time of the day (limited to 1/2 hour intervals is to place a BLANK in the position in the chart where you do NOT want to allow call-backs. (The chart starts and 12:00 midnight, so the first 'x' would correspond to the time period 00:00-00:29 or 12:00-12:29am) You may find this helpful if you are allowing long-distance call-backs and you do not wish to have calls during prime time (save those Long Distance bills for calling other BBS'!) Low baud rate This feature is used when a long distance call has successfully completed. If you wish users to be logged off immediately after entering his/her name and password, place a '-1' (minus one) here. To allow all callers to remain on-line (why would you want to run up those LD bills??) place a '0' (zero) here. Any other number will act as the cutoff point. If you place 9600 here, than any caller below 9600 baud will be disconnected, and those 9600 and higher will be permitted to remain on-line, at your expense. BBS area code This number is essential to determining whether a call is long-distance or not. Place the first 3 digits of your whole BBS number here. The location of your BBS is necessary to ask the caller whether a number in the same area code is still long-distance. To make it easier on the users, each time a new exchange code is entered and validated, add it to the SFCB.XCH file. Then the user is no longer prompted if they are long distance when the number is located. Force birth date When enabled (True) this option will only validate the user if he/she also enters the correct birth date along with name and password. Please note that if you do not have the "Require New User Birth Date" option in the Alt T (Toggles) menu of SPITFIRE set to YES, than this option will not work properly since there will not be an accurate date setting for each user. Allow number change When enabled, the user can change phone their number in SFCB. Both old and new numbers will be logged to the log file. If disabled, then the user is required to exit to Spitfire to change his/her number. Due to the way SF reloads, this phone number will not be saved to the user file. It will be remembered for the next call attempt if the user fails the first set of tries and uses the program next. Allow duplicates When disabled (False), SFCB will search the SFUSERS.DAT file for a duplicate of the current user's phone number. If you enable the previous setting (allow number change) the new number entered will be used to scan the user's phone numbers. To prevent a user from putting a phoney (no pun intended :) number in SPITFIRE and using the real number within SFCB, you should resort to using the SFCB.BAD file to prevent problem numbers from being used. SUPPORT FILES There are a few files that SFCB searches for which you can use to lock out phone numbers or pre-verify users, and others which will be created by SFCB. They are described here. All files are in DOS text format and any commands are listed once per line..Please see the example files included for more detail. SFCB.OK Listing of numbers which do NOT need to be called. This is useful for skipping long-distance calls, and yet allowing validation. Numbers are expected to be in the regular Spitfire format: eg 519-455-4880. The number is followed by a password. If both the phone number and passwords match, the user will be validated to the security level given, and not the default ending security level. FORMAT: ###-###-####,Password,Security EXAMPLE: 519-455-4880,My123Pass,50 SFCB.BAD These numbers will NOT be called back either, but the security level will not be raised to validated access. The appropriate message will be displayed. NUMNOVAL.BBS/CLR should explain what the user should do at this point. FORMAT: ###-###-#### SFCB.XCH This contains the local exchanges available from your area code. If you have all of the available local exchanges, you can then prevent the prompt for long-distance callers when the caller is in a local calling range. (You can check the log file for any exchanges you have missed, an exchange verified as local will appear there.) FORMAT: ### (3-digit phone code) SFCB.LOG If 'log file' is activated, this file will contain information on the call-back process for each user, including failed attempts, phone number changes (if permitted) times, dates, etc. SFCB.VAL As a subset of SFCB.LOG this file contains only those users and numbers that were validated. SFCB.NVL Likewise, this file contains the users and numbers that failed validation. SFCB.TRM This is the customizable terminal file. It contains the menu list and the specific keywords to wait for upon reconnection. FORMAT: OptionName,O, ,GENERIC.DAT OptionName is the text to be displayed in the menu. The 'O' refers to the character used to select that option. The string to search for follows, (important: use a space if there is no special character sequence to wait for) whatever is included in between the commas must be sent by the remote program for SFCB to operate correctly. GENERIC.DAT refers to any special information needed by the user to correctly operate SFCB with his/her terminal program. EXAMPLE: Mirror,M,Mirror,MIRROR.DAT SFCB.LST Used to save information from the last caller to use SFCB so he/she is not required to re-set the options and can try again immediately. If another user uses SFCB in between, this file will not be used. Display files in SFCB follow the Spitfire convention. Mono files (without colouring) have .BBS extensions and coloured (ANSI) files have .CLR extensions. Here are the files that can be customized for your copy of SFCB: Screen Name Description CBOPEN.BBS/CLR Opening display - inform user of program purpose SETTINGS.BBS/CLR * Current settings of call-back program MAINMENU.BBS/CLR Displayed instead of the default main menu TERMINAL.BBS/CLR Displayed instead of the default terminal menu CBHELP.BBS/CLR Printed when the user asks for help. VERIFY.BBS/CLR Displayed when caller is found in SFCB.OK (preverified) TIMEDAY.BBS/CLR Cannot be validated at this time of day (local and long-distance callers) NUMNOVAL.BBS/CLR Telephone number cannot be used for validation (SFCB.BAD) NODUPES.BBS/CLR Telephone number is a duplicate (found in SFUSERS.DAT) NOQUALFY.BBS/CLR Shown when a user is not qualified by reason of: duplicates, time of day, long-distance, not enough time, wrong security lever... CBNOLD.BBS/CLR Show if a user is a long distance caller, and long-distance validation is disabled. CONNECT.BBS/CLR Displayed prior before returning to BBS In all cases, if there is no file available, a default line will be displayed. * In the absence of SETTINGS.BBS/CLR the valid times, and number of attempts will be shown. WARNINGS Due to the nature of software and hardware, 100% compatibility is a goal but hardly a reality. This program has been tested on a number of different computer systems, but this cannot guarantee that it will work with any specific (or your) setup and software/hardware combination. RainbowSoft Wares will be more than happy to provide assistance and fix errors, to a reasonable extent. If you have any suggestions for improvement, or bug reports please feel free to report them. (Refer to the locations noted at the beginning of the document.) DISCLAIMER SFCB is distributed AS IS. Neither Richard Sleegers, nor RainbowSoft Wares will be held responsible for direct or indirect damage to your computer (or its peripherals) or to your sanity. There are no warranties, expressed or implied, as to the operation or functionality of this program. The primary goal of shareware is to provide quality programs at a low price to the purchaser. If the program doesn't work for you, don't use it! On the other hand, if it saves you time, and you leave it installed on your system, you should feel obligated to register it. Read on. SHAREWARE INFORMATION SFCB is a Shareware program, distributed under the 'Try Before You Buy' concept; this means that after you have tried the program for a 'reasonable' length of time, (14 to 21 days) you must either register the program, or remove it from your system. Registering this program grants you a limited license to use, for your personal use only, all files and documents contained in the original software package, distributed by RainbowSoft Wares. Please see the file, SFCB.REG, for more information on registering this version of SFCB and what benefits arise from registering. You are granted a limited license to distribute SFCB, subject to the following conditions: 1. You may not receive any financial compensation for direct access to this program. One exception is noted, whereby you may recover costs of medium (Disk(ette)s, or other electronic medium) only, at a reasonable amount. 2. You may not alter any documents, programs, or files distributed with SFCB. 3. You may not mass-distribute SFCB without the written permission of Richard Sleegers. Distribution by electronic mail systems (or Bulletin Board Systems) is permitted just in case condition 1 is met. TRADEMARKS, COPYRIGHTS SFCB is copyright (c) 1992 by Richard Sleegers. SPITFIRE is a registered trademark of Buffalo Creek Software. SPITFIRE is copyrighted 1986-1992 by Mike Woltz. Turbo Pascal is a registered trademark of Borland International, Inc. Turbo Pascal is copyrighted 1983-1992 by Borland International, Inc. Portions of this program use source code provided by Mike Woltz and Buffalo Creek Software to allow file sharing. BCSHARE may be downloaded from the BCS Bulletin Board at 515-225-8496 Portions of this program are written with Object Professional and Async Professional under license. from TurboPower Software. LzEXE is copyright 1989 Fabrice BELLARD. PkLite (tm) is copyright 1992 PKWARE Inc. SFCB HALL OF FAME! This section is dedicated to all those who helped in the production of SFCB. Thanks to all of the new users of RAINBOW BBS who have put up with me while I tried different (read unworkable) versions, usually made for different BBS's; or just plain had to WAIT while I worked on this program! Thanks to Tim Ingram of the Radio Station BBS who helped Beta test the original version and provided valuable suggestions and advice. A golden globe goes to Bill Arlofski of the Reverse Polarity BBS for numerous suggestions prior to the release of version 1.2, and for testing on high speed modems. Likewise, Derek Motloch of The Computer Room (TCR) who provided bug reports and suggestions, plus an HST modem to test the high-speed routines as well. FUTURE MODIFICATIONS SFCB is always changing, as my needs for new user maintenance change. This version reflects changes to long-distance validation, the addition of a number of configurable display files, repairs to the comm routines to work for a greater variety of modems, and some minor bug fixes. I am open to other suggestions which you may have to improve or enhance SFCB. You can contact me by mail or through Rainbow BBS. One note of caution. SFCB is not fool proof. It is possible to circumvent the duplicate phone number scan, and the next version will eliminate this loophole. For more information, contact me for temporary ways to prevent it. (It involves using the SFCB.BAD text file) MODIFICATION HISTORY Version 1.00 Beta Test version of SFCB Limited chat mode, time lockout enabled 1.1 Added Drop to DOS, enhanced chat mode (with word wrap) Fixed time lockout (wouldn't work before 10:00 am) Cosmetic changes to user interface. Registration format - initial screen disable added. 1.2 Enable 3.0 compatibility, Multi-node and file-sharing. Will display Node Number in Log File (if activated) Long-distance validation enabled. Added CBNOLD.BBS/CLR to display if long-distance validation disabled. SFCB now checks SFCB.BAD for phone numbers which will not be validated (ie - local BBS numbers) SFCB can instantly validate numbers included in SFCB.OK, and will validate without call-back. Repaired minor bug when coming back from Chat or Dos Jump, and re-displays last line shown. User phone number may now be changed "on the fly", if the sysop allows it (set in configuration file). SFCB.LOG will reflect changes to the phone number and incorrect phone numbers, password, or name attempts. SFCB.XCH now shows all available local exchanges that will not fit on one line in SFCB.CFG. The configuration file is read first and SFCB.XCH is searched only if the prefix has not been found. (So put frequently used prefixes in SFCB.CFG and other local exchanges in SFCB.XCH) SFCB.VAL contains the list of users who have been validated SFCB.NVL will contain the list of users who failed validation Added CONNECT.BBS/CLR to display once the user is reconnected NUMNOVAL.BBS/CLR is displayed if the number is found in the SFCB.BAD file. NODUPES.BBS/CLR is displayed if the number is determined to be a duplicate number. NOQUALFY.BBS/CLR is displayed if the user cannot be validated for some other reason. 4/20/91 Discovered intermittent timeout bug - fixed 4/21/91 Chat mode bug fixed 4/21/91 Line 20 of SFCB.CFG file caused the program to not continue validation if set to FALSE - fixed to scan every number except the users' number. 4/21/91 Made modifications to the dialing routine which would not work as expected on some modems, and would not work at all on the 2nd and 3rd attempts. *******Please note! If you have a program which resets your BBS after x number of rings, please disable this program before running SFCB! Some programs cannot properly distinguish rings and hangups so this may cause reboots while attempting to redial. 4/22/91 Added TIMEDAY.BBS/CLR to be displayed if the user cannot be validated at that time of the day. SFCB.CFG can now contain up to 10 different time zones for the day, in the format HH:MM-HH:MM separated by a space, comma or semi-colon. 4/23/91 The configuration and door file could not be properly located, this is fixed, as is the delay time prior to disconnected, to allow the user to see the last few lines of text. 5/15/91 Fixed bug with duplicate numbers (if user is last on the user list, which happens frequently with new users) 5/17/91 Created nicer scrolling routines with ANSI callers, cleaned up some prompts, general code optimizing 5/31/91 Added support for special terminal programs, most notably, Mirror II which does not allow incoming calls in terminal mode. Call-backs may now be done for users already validated (with the exception of long-distance calls) with changing security level. 8/1/91 SF 3.1 is now out. SFCB is compatible with version 3.1 and 3.0 as well. 8/15/91 Started work on an installation and configure program. This will do away with the SFCB.CFG file and SFCB will be self-contained. 8/23/91 Support for USR Courier and MicroCom high speed modems added, easier to use user interface.. 8/30/91 Prevalidated users are required to match the password in the SFCB.OK file (if one is given) and will be validated to the given security level. -- hiatus -- 2/14/92 USR / Courier modems now fully operational at all known speeds 2/27/92 Modem parameters made more flexible Dial time out - wait for CONNECT, etc signals Redial time - time between dialing Reconnect time - time delay after reconnection to detect BBS' better (improper phone numbers) These options were also added to the SFCBINST install program. 3/ 1/92 Users no longer have to reenter their terminal information if using SFCB twice in a row. A text file SFCB.LST stores the information on the last caller and is read in if it matches the current user. It is written when a user fails validation (Usually through BUSY or NO CARRIER) 3/ 2/92 Install batch file spiffed up for much simpler install. 3/ 2/92 Added option to use a special access code upon reconnection, along with name, password (and optional birthdate) 3/ 8/92 Clear buffer when returning from DOS (and not in chat mode) 3/ 3/92 1.2 Version finally released!! COMMON QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS Question: What exactly does SFCB modify? Answer: SFCB will modify the SFDOORS.DAT file (or SFMAIN.DAT, whichever file it finds) and the SFUSERS.DAT file. Some older versions of SPITFIRE will only with if the door file is also modified, the user file is modified as a precaution. Question: What version of SPITFIRE does SFCB 1.2 work with? Answer: SFCB is backwards compatible with version 2.8 and has been revised to work with version 3.1 on multitasking systems, with file sharing routines (Courtesy of BCS and Mike Woltz through the use of BCShare) Question: Why does SFCB ask for the user's name and password upon re-connection? Answer: The answer to this question is obvious. A user could leave the number of another Bulletin Board and be validated when it connects. Entering the name and password ensures that it is the same person that initiated the call-back. Question: What happens if a BBS system is called through SFCB? Answer: The user will NOT be validated. SFCB will never receive the user's name or password. In your log file, you will notice some strange responses to the prompt for the user's name, and might be able to see what BBS system was called. To prevent local Bulletin Boards from being called, lock out the numbers via the SFCB.BAD file. Question: Should I copy my SFDOORS.DAT file to the SFCB directory before calling SFCB? Answer: Well this depends a lot on your preference and the type of system that you are running. If you have a single node system, it is easiest to leave SFDOORS.DAT in the SPITFIRE directory and use the -D parameter to tell SFCB where it is. If you copy SFDOORS.DAT to the SFCB directory, you _MUST_ copy it back after the program is run because there is updated information in the door file after running the door. On multi-node systems you may wish to copy the file to and from the SFCB directory to prevent collisions, if you are using the same SF directory for all nodes. Question: Once I'm registered, how to I get support? Answer: You can call Rainbow BBS or write by mail (see title screen for details) If you wish to pre-validate your account on Rainbow BBS, please include your number and unique password to use on Rainbow BBS with the registration form. (Use SFCBINST.EXE to print out your registration form.) Question: I am having timeout problems with the call-back. The modem will dial out but will not send a CONNECT or NO CARRIER signal to the modem, and then SFCB dials out again but immediately sends out a NO CARRIER. This sometimes happens more than once. Answer: You should change the contents of your modem's S7 register (on Hayes compatible modems) This register controls the modem's internal wait time for reconnection. SFCB is set for a dial timeout of 60 seconds, so if your S7 register is greater than 60 seconds, it will time out before the modem. Change your register by using the ATS7=45 command (to set it to 45 seconds for example) Alternatively, you can store it in your NRAM (if one is available) If your modem does not have an NRAM storage area, place the S7=45 in your modem initialization string. (In SPITFIRE, use the Alt-M command, option <I> at the ready for user prompt. You may have to tweak this timeout with the SFCBINST program until you have a working program. I suggest register S7 set to between 30 and 45, and timeout at 60. NO CARRIER or BUSY will break the timeout, so it will not necessarily wait 60 seconds between each dial attempt.