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Microsoft Windows Help File Content
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1993-04-06
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13KB
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238 lines
Documentation For
THE SILVER MAGE DATA INFORMATION MANAGER
Version 2.5
Released April 1993
Copyright (C) 1993 By Joseph W. Teller
:FEATURES
Useable on a BBS as a Door or as part of a Logon Event to
provide information,, entertainment and personally useful data in
a timely and attractive fashion.
All features are optionals* and include:
ANSI_Pictures* (Monthly & Daily)
Birthdays* (Historic and otherwise)
Bulletins* (Unlimited!)
Dated_Reminders (Taxes Due! Books Overdue! Subscriptions!)
Delays_&_Ads* (Sorry but necessary till you register!)
History* (What happened in it TODAY?)
Quote* (Daily Random Quotes & Secret Knowledge!)
Special_Reminders* (Day of Week, Month of Year etc)
NOTE: If you have a copy of DART HYPERTEXT, you'll find that these
documentation pages are designed to be compatible with it
to make your life easier while getting things set up, but
if you don't you can still read it as a normal text file.
:REQUIREMENTS
SMDI Requires you to be running DOS 3.3 or better, that all its
files be placed in the same directory, and that your BBS produce a
DORINFO1.DEF File, OR a WWIV-Style CHAIN.TXT.
BRUN45 is included in the distribution, but if you already have
a copy that is patched for communications then you can discard the
extra copy and save yourself some disk space. Just make sure the PATH
to it has been set in your system SET statement.
:CFG_FILE
The file SMDI.CFG is a sample configuration file for the program.
Line By Line it should contain:
1 The Path and filename of your DORINFOx.DEF file, where x
is the node number you are running the program on (1 is
the default to use on most boards unless you are multiline)
2 The Name of Your BBS
3 The Sysops First Name
4 The Sysops Last (family) Name
Any additional lines can be blank or may have numbers in them, they are
not actually used.
If you are Running WWIV (or one of its Clones) you should be able to
run this program as a Chain. Simply make sure that line 1 is the
Path and Filename to your CHAIN.TXT file and you should be fine.
:Fossil_Driver_Support
If your BBS uses a standard Fossil Driver like BNU, then you can
tell the door to utilize it by the adding of a switch to the command
line when you call the program:
SMDI.EXE SMDI.CFG /FD
:OPTIONALS
All Data Files used with SMDI are OPTIONAL. This means you can as
the sysop decide which features are actually used on your system. Some
folks get bothered by too many displays, bulletins etc and you as sysop
can decide what is important to you. Simply delete any files that you
find unnecessary and the program will skip over that section of its
operation.
Both ANSI and NON-ANSI Users are supported thru this program.
:Running_The_Program
Is simple once you have the CFG file set, just run it from your bbs
inside a batch file as:
SMDI.EXE SMDI.CFG
And exit back to your board as needed after its running.
:Support
If you have problems or questions, I can be left mail on my own
BBS at (617) 899-9483 where the SMDI is going to be used regularly.
New versions will be released there first.
The program was written using standard Quickbasic 4.5 and a
registered version of Ted Freeman's wonderfully useful DOORFRAME 3.9
Library of Communications routines.
:Registration
Registration is simple. Send $15 to me at the following address:
Joseph Teller
8 A Middle Street Court
Waltham, MA 02154
Be sure to include your name, return address, the Name of the
BBS it will be running on and the Phone Number of said BBS.
The registered copy that you will be sent (on 3.5 disk only)
will include a KEY FILE, expanded DATA files, and the USER END
Program that you can set up so your users can leave themselves
personal Reminders.
:ANSI_PICTURES
One of the many optional features is ANSI displays. This allows
a user with ANSI to be shown a 'Display of The Month' and a
'Display of the Day' by the BBS.
These can be any regular or Animated ANSI you wish to send, they
will display to the end and will wait for the user to press their
spacebar or Enter key upon completion.
Monthly Pictures should be named by the month and end in ANS and
should have full 8 character file names:
January .ANS
February.ANS
March .ANS
April .ANS
May .ANS
June .ANS
July .ANS
August .ANS
Septembr.ANS
October .ANS
November.ANS
December.ANS
Daily Pictures, which will show only on one day of the year (such
as you might use for a special holiday display) should be named
numerically such as:
01-01.ANS 02-15.ANS
12-25.ANS 10-30.ANS
:Quote
The Daily Random quote option uses the file QUOTE.DAT this file is
a simple text file, one quote to a line, 80 characters to a line.
The first line is the total number of quotes in the file, so if
you add more then increase this number appropriately.
Quotes can include any standard punctuation you wish.
A user door is being designed to allow users to add quotes to the
file from online as well, and will be made available when completed
to registered sysops.
:History
The 'Events in History' option uses the file HISTORY.DAT, a simple
structured Text File, one entry to a line, 80 characters to a
line.
Each Line begins with a simple Date Code entry, such as:
12-07-1941
No spaces before the numbers, and one space is suggested AFTER
the number before the sentence to be displayed.
As with ALL the Data Files in the system, there is no maximum
length limit at present and you can edit and add to the file
with ANY simple ASCII text editor, like the popular QEDIT.
:Birthdays
This optional file uses the file BIRTHDAY.DAT, a simple structured
Text File, one entry per line, 80 characters to a line.
Again Each line begins with a simple Date Code Entry, such as:
10-30-1961
No spaces before the numbers, and one space is suggested after
the number before the sentence to be displayed.
This can be used for the Birthdays of the Famous, or for users
on your bbs or whatever.
As with all Data Files in the system, there is no maximum length
limit at present and you can edit it with any ASCII text editor.
:Special_Reminders
These are reminders that you set up for your users to be
displayed based on the Day of the Week or the Month of the year.
It stores the information in the file REMIND.DAT, a simple
structured Text File, one entry per line, 80 characters to a
line.
Each entry should have a Three Letter code to designate when to
show the entry. These should be the Days of the Week (Sun, Mon,
Tues, etc) or the First three Letters of the Month (Jan, Feb, Mar)
and should be followed by a space before the content.
If you wish an entry to be more than one line in this section, all
you have to do is continue it on the next line, using the same
code.
As with all Data Files in the system, there is no maximum length
limit at present and you can edit it with any ASCII text editor.
:Dated_Reminders
These are reminders that you set up for your users to be
displayed based on the actual date on the reminder. They are
kept in the text file REMINDME.DAT, a simple structured
text file, one entry per line, 80 characters to a line.
Again Each line begins with a simple Date Code Entry, such as:
10-01-1993
No spaces before the Code, one space after, and then the
actual line of text, including any punctuation you might need.
If you wish an entry to be more than one line in this section, all
you have to do is continue it on the next line, using the same
code.
As with all Data Files in the system, there is no maximum length
limit at present and you can edit it with any ASCII text editor.
The REGISTERED version includes a second file generated by the
users themselves thru a seperate Door option you set up on the
menu screen to place personal reminders for particular dates.
:Bulletins
SMDI also offers optional support for Sysop Bulletins to be
added to the sequence, best used when the program is used as
part of the logon sequence to your bbs.
Simply place the Bulletins you wish shown into the file area.
Bulletin Files should be labeled by the simple format of
BUL01.TXT
BUL02.TXT
BUL03.TXT
...etc
There is no limit on how many bulletins you can support this way.
The system will ONLY show a Bulletin to a User for a maximum of
seven days after it was created, but will re-offer it as new
if it has been changed, modified or updated in any way that
changes the DATE CODE on the actual file.
Although the system WILL display an ANSI file as a bulletin this
is not suggested, as it will NOT modify the display if the user
doesn't have ANSI - this is the only time the program cannot
understand the difference between the two (This MAY be changed
in a future version, dependent on how many registered sysops
we get for the software).
:Delays_&_Ads
The Unregistered version of the program has some obnoxious
added features that you probably don't like. There are some
time delays built in when its running and it will glaringly
complain that its unregistered and that you need to send the
author $$$. It will also run an ad for the Authors BBS. This
is all incentive to REGISTER the software as soon as possible.
Don't worry, The author doesn't get rich from the programs, I
can assure you. Most likely the money you send me will be
spend on Phone Bills or for me to get software I Use by others
registered (the only way I can afford to do so).
:The_Future
SMDI's future is dependent on the number of Registered BBS Sysops.
I will NOT create the added support features or make them at all
available for people who don't register the software.
Redesign to support additional BBS Door systems is possible
if a sufficient number of people who wish to run the program and
can't contact me regarding such and providing DFRAME also will
support the system involved.
:Other_Products
SMDI is NOT the only program I've got on the shareware market!
Other Programs available are:
SMBBSLV2.ARJ - The Silver Mage BBS Lister, that allows
you a door for listing other boards across
the USA, Search by State, Area Code etc
and other nice Features (Shareware $10).
DORINFOx.Def Support ONLY.
HERB600.ARJ - Herbology Helper 6.0, a Hypertext Database
of Herbology information for Home Remedies,
Folk Medicine and Magickal Religions. This
includes full mouse support, Nice Desktop
environment, and has optional VGA graphics
support for viewing and artwork of plants.
($35 direct Mail Order ONLY on 3.5 MSDOS
Disk). NOT for use on a BBS.
:Update
Version 2.5 is a maintenance update. We've added a longer
delay before going to bulletins for those sysops who are
NOT using the Monthly or Daily ANSI display options as the
screens tended to scroll off too quickly to read at times.
The Registered Version is getting an Expanded database of
information for people, to cover the years ahead.