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┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Silver Xpress Off-Line Mail/Fax/Forms System Version 3.00 │
│ (c) copyright 1988-1992 by Santronics Software │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Welcome to the new Silver Xpress Mail System V3.00! Silver Xpress is
the most powerful off-line mail system available for the growing BBS
industry. Simply put, there is really nothing like Silver Xpress in the
BBS world.
Silver Xpress has been the basis for features and functionality in many
of the off-line systems, and now with Silver Xpress 3.00, it will
establish the basis once again with new technology and features which
include fax, forms, mail driven events, off-line services, Groupware
applications possibilities, interface menu customization and much more!
┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│INSTALLATION: READ THE UPGRADE SECTION BELOW IF UPGRADING│
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
To install Silver Xpress, type INSTALL.EXE at the DOS prompt.
After the install, all you need to do is the following:
1. Check XPRESS.BAT (XPRESS for PCBOARD) and copy it over to your BBS
directory. This is your DOOR batch file for Xpress. Edit it and make
the appropriate changes to call this batch file from your BBS.
2. Xpress requires external utilities such as PKZIP, LHARC or others to
compress mail. They must be callable from Xpress. Make sure they can
located by putting them in a PATHED directory. You can copy to the
Xpress directory if you wish.
Thats it! If you have OPUS, MAX, Remote Access or QBBS you can type
XPMAIL -J to run in local mode to test it out. (-J will use record 0
from the the BBS user database file)
When you are all done and you want to get fancy, read the XPMAIL.DOC
documentation. Other documents are available for quick reading are:
WHATSNEW.300 : Summarizes all the major changes in v3.00.
ADDENDUM.DOC : Last minute changes to DOC and System
┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS │
│ o IBM PC 286 or clone (8088 available upon request) │
│ o Hard Disk with minimun 3 megs of extra space │
│ o IBM DOS or MS DOS 3.3 or better │
│ o 640K Ram Memory │
│ o Monochrome/Color Monitor │
│ o BBS like RBBS/PCBOARD/RA/QBBS/OPUS/MAX/TAG │
│ IDEAL SETUP │
│ o IBM DOS or MS DOS 3.3 or better │
│ o CGA Monitor or better │
│ o Hard disk with lots of extra space │
│ o 640K Ram Memory with 2K or more of Expanded/Extended memory │
│ o Your BBS <g> │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
┌─────────────┐
│LIST OF FILES│
└─────────────┘
This is the list of files you should expect in this package:
FILE_ID.DIZ - File Description For File Door Systems
INSTALL.EXE - Install program
README.300 - This file
WHATSNEW.300 - Whats new in Silver Xpress
ADDENDUM.DOC - Last minute changes to Silver Xpress/Documentation
XPMAIL.DOC - Silver Xpress Sysop Documentation
ORDER.FRM - Registration/Purchasing Information
CHECKOFF.LST - Quick Check Off List to ensure installation is OK
INSTALL.DAT - Installation control file (do not edit)
PREINST.BAT - For Install program (do not edit)
POSTINST.BAT - For Install program (do not edit)
DISK.DAT - For Install program (do not edit)
CALLXP.ZIP - Sample BBS files for calling Xpress (PCBOARD/RBBS
Xpress do not have/need this file).
XPBULL.ZIP - Sample Xpress Bulletins
XPEXE.ZIP - Main Executables/system files for Xpress
XPHELP.ZIP - Help files for online usage
XPMISC.ZIP - Display files
XPUTIL.ZIP - Utilities programs
XPMENUS.ZIP - Sample/optional Xpress menus
SAMPFORM.ZIP - Sample Silver Xpress Form for Order Entry.
if you have anything different or missing, please contact us and inform
us of any discrepancy. We want to ensure that your copy of Silver
Xpress is not maliciously manipulated in any way. Silver Xpress was
checked for viruses before and after the packaging process.
┌───────┐
│SUPPORT│
└───────┘
Support for this package is available several ways:
1) All customers can use the Silver Xpress International
OPUS_XPRESS and/or XPRESS_SYSOP echo conferences for questions
and comments. OPUS_XPRESS is the xpress user conference. It's
only called OPUS for historical reasons. Please limit
technical or non-user related questions to the XPRESS_SYSOP
conference.
You may also call the Santronics Software Xpress Support
Remote Host Center at 412-864-2294 and leave a electronic
message with your questions or comment. A reply will be
available with 48 hours. All patches, minor upgrades and
other files will be available on this Remote Host.
Netmail is highly discouraged by Santronics Software for rapid
response. Response will not be quarantee to be immediate and
will take upto 1 week or more.
2) Customers who are unregistered can use our voice support
line at 412-864-2060 (EST 9-5pm) for questions and comments.
3) Paid Version 3.00 registered customers have 1 hour of free
support using our 800 number at 800-845-6944 (EST 9am-9pm). Have
your sysop registration number ready. Unregistered customers
may call this number if they are going to purchase or upgrade
version 3.00. Keep in mind, the 800 number is NOT cheap, and we
are not Microsoft and even they don't offer 800 support of any
kind. Support Silver Xpress and we will in kind be able to offer
such quality support.
┌───────────────────────────┐
│HOW TO PURCHASE THE UPGRADE│
└───────────────────────────┘
1) Customers who registered Silver Xpress version 2.2x after
3/1/91 and before 4/31/92 are eligible for a free version to
Silver Xpress version 3.00. To receive your free
registration code, please fill out the order form (in
order.txt), or you may call 412-864-2060. Make sure your
registration code is provided. No new codes will be
provided without one.
2) Customers who registered prior to 3/1/91 can upgrade by
using filling out the order form, or call 800-845-6944 for
credit card orders. The basic charge is $15.00 or $27.50
with printed documentation plus shipping and handling.
┌──────────────┐
│MANUAL INSTALL│
└──────────────┘
1) MAKE DIRECTORY \XPRESS
2) PKUNZIP XPEXE.ZIP
3) If you upgrading, perform the UPGRADE steps in UPGRADE.DOC
4) Unzip the following into their respective directories:
PKUNZIP XPMISC.ZIP into a MISC directory.
md misc
cd misc
pkunzip ..\xpmisc
PKUNZIP XPBULL.ZIP into a BULL directory. I would erase everything
in there first.
md bull
cd bull
pkunzip ..\xpbull
PkUNZIP XPUTIL.ZIP into a XPRESS directory.
pkunzip xputil
PkUNZIP XPHELP.ZIP into a HELP directory.
md help
cd help
pkunzip ..\xphelp
4) If need be, copy the XPRESS.BAT file to your BBS directory. This
is the batch file which is called by the BBS. You will be able to
edit this file from within XPADM.EXE.
5) Run XPADM.EXE.
Note: XPADM is a "DO ALL" administation tool for Silver Xpress. It
replaces XPUSER.EXE and XPCFG.EXE. It does take some memory to run.
6) After successfully creating/compiling the Xpress control file with
XPADM.EXE you are now ready to run Xpress from the BBS. Make sure
the XPRESS.BAT is correct for your setup.
┌───────────────────────────┐
│MANUAL UPGRADE INSTALLATION│
└───────────────────────────┘
Version 3.00 is a major revision.
There are literally thousands of Silver Xpress setups ranging from
v1.00 to v2.30 beta around the world. Each has it's own variation
depending on the BBS they are running. Therefore it was decided a a
DO-ALL UPGRADE program was too much to ask for to cover all
possibilties.
The upgrade steps below is for updating or upgrading from a previous
Xpress version 2.27 or 2.30 beta installation.
The goal in this upgrade is to retain your current XPUSER.DAT
information and generate the new 3.00 information from it. The INSTALL
program is designed to RETAIN the XPUSER.DAT. It will not delete it, so
if the user file is all you are concern about, go with the INSTALL
program.
If you DO NOT CARE at this time about the Xpress User's information
and wish to completely start fresh, then simply delete your entire
old setup and start fresh by running the install system. In fact,
this may not be a bad idea since 3.0x is a new generation of Xpress
software. By having the user reconfigure his setup again, he would
get more familar with Xpress at a faster pace by forcing him to
look around the menus.
You can run the INSTALL over your existing setup, it automatically
upgrade the old Xpress user data file (XPUSER.DAT). It will delete
a few old files but not all. So you may end up with some old files
laying around.
The best approach is to delete ALL files except XPUSER.DAT and
XPDUPES.DAT (XPAREAS.DEF or AREAS.DEF for RBBS/PCBOARD) and then
proceed with the INSTALL program. Otherwise follow these steps:
1) Remove ALL files and directories, but keep the following:
XPUSER.DAT (and XPUSER.XUA if you a beta tester for Xpress)
(RBBS/PCBOARD only)
AREAS.DEF Betas would have XPAREAS.DEF instead and possibly
XPFIDO.DEF depending on the version of the beta you
last used.
Delete everything else including sub-directories.
MAKE SURE THE FOLLOWING FILES DO NOT EXIST!
XPAREAS.DAT (only betas should have this)
XPAREAS.RAW (only betas should have this)
XPFILES.DAT (only betas should have this)
XPFILES.RAW (only betas should have this)
XPAREAS.ADX (only betas should have this)
XPMAIL.CTL (or any CTL file)
XPMAIL.PRM (or any PRM file)
2) PCBOARD/RBBS (including TAG) sysops only.
Edit the AREAS.DEF and create two FILES:
XPFIDO.CTL Put all your pure fido areas here.
XPAREAS.CTL Put all your pure RBBS/PCBOARD areas here.
It was separated because when you do a XPADM update, it was killing
the fido information when re-reading the area information from the
PCBOARD BBS.
If you don't have PURE FIDO areas, then forget about the
XPFIDO.CTL file.
If you are a BETA then you might have these files already.
Either way, from now on, PCBOARD and RBBS sysops have TWO files to
maintain; XPAREAS.CTL for their normal direct BBS areas and
XPFIDO.CTL for the direct fido areas. Note: By fido we mean, FIDO
Areas NOT converted to your BBS format.
3) Now Run Install. The final step in INSTALL is that it will run
the XPADM program for you. It will generate the above files once
again in the new 3.0x format for you.
4) OPTIONAL! Silver Xpress now uses a file called XPPROT.CTL for it's
file transfer logic and XPARCH.CTL for it's file compression and
expansion logic. If you have customized HOT KEY for the file
transfer and archiver selection menus, then you may want to EDIT
these files to match your HOTKEYS. The default files use the
standard X, Y, and Z for the file transfer system and Z, L, A, K, P
and C for the compress hotkeys. The WORST that will happen is that
your user's current selections may not be matched and thus he will
have to select it again the first time he enters Xpress 3.0x. A
very minor issue.
5) RUN (2.30 beta testers can skip this step)
XPUCVT6.EXE xpuser.dat
The converter will only convert the user file if it is in the
old 2.27 format. Otherwise it will tell you it is already in
the new format.
5) RUN (2.30 beta testers can skip this step)
CVTXUA.EXE
5) RUN
BCVTXUA
Both CVTXUA.EXE and BCVTXUA require the presence of the
XPAREAS.ADX file created by XPADM so it is important that XPADM
is executed and successfully creates your setup the first time.
If you notice your prior areas selections where not completely
carried over, there is NOT much that can be done about this. The
best advice is to delete the XPUSER.XUA file and allow the user
to start fresh with new conference selection.
6) At this point we are pretty much done and you can go ahead and
study how to call the XPRESS.BAT from your BBS.
┌──────────────────────────────────┐
│SOME NEW FEATURES IN SILVER XPRESS│
└──────────────────────────────────┘
INTERACTIVE HYPERTEXT HELP:
You will find the XPADM hypertext help system to be very
useful. Everything in Silver Xpress is explained, except
where detailed information is required. Some of the details are
explained here, but to get the most of Silver Xpress, you will
need the full documentation.
Just hit F1 where ever you need help. Use the ALT-F1 key to browse
backwards in the help system.
EXEC SWAPPING:
Silver Xpress will utilize as much memory as required to successfully
negotiate a mail session. Whenever a DOS operation is performed from
Silver Xpress, it is quite possible to RUN OUT OF MEMORY, thus causing
the DOS operation to be unsuccessful. When this situation occurs, you
can use the built-in EXEC SWAPPING feature of Silver Xpress to free up
memory prior to calling the DOS operation. If you insert certain
prefixes to the command, it will enable certain exec swapping or other
operations.
Prefix Command
none Xpress will use COMMAND.COM. Program must be on the path.
! Direct call to Program. Program must be Fully Qualified
$ Exec Swap. Program must be fully qualified
# Exec Swap. Xpress will call COMMAND.COM. Program on Path.
W Pop up a window and run program using COMMAND.COM. No
swapping will be perform so make sure the program has
enough memory. Here is the format:
W <x1> <y1> <x2> <y2> [command] [parameters]
where x1,y1,x2,y2 are window dimensions.
(Fully qualified means the complete drive:\path\filename.ext must be
included).
SUPPORT FOR 32,000 CONFERENCES:
Silver Xpress now supports 32,000 conferences.
INTERACTIVE HELP LANGUAGE:
Silver Xpress sports a new interactice help language to allow you to
effectively describe your setup. This language called VCC "Video
Control Codes" and it is very similar to the OEC (or the MEC) language
used by OPUS and Maximus respectively.
With VCC, you can create any kind of help system for your Xpress
users. You can also use it to create a menu system to run other
programs. For instance, you may want to add a prompt to the
NEWUSER.VCC file:
Do you want to download Silver Xpress V3.00 n/Y: [menu]YN|
[if]Y[dos]XMT /C 1 /T /A /Z C:\FILES\SXR300.ZIP
A future version of Xpress will have VCC control the entire Silver
Xpress session, not just the help.
See the XPHELP.ZIP file and the HELP directory Xpress creates.
SILVER XPRESS FORMS SYSTEM:
The Silver Xpress Mail System now implements a powerful
forms processing facility. If you are a system integrator, you
will find Silver Xpress Forms System to be a powerful and
flexible system to allow for most off-line data entry applications.
If you are a professional sysop, and wish to investigate
the possibilities Silver Xpress Forms may have for your
organization, then download the file SXEDI100.ZIP from any Xpress
Distribution Node. This document will explain how applications can
be setup for your data entry needs.
The file SAMPFORM.ZIP contains a real working example of the Silver
Xpress off-line forms capabilities. (If you use this, don't forget
to change the AREA NUMBER to your netmail area number).
If you wish to get a free copy of Silver Xpress, we are offering the
Silver Xpress EDI Distribution Program to sysops who implement the
Silver Xpress off-line order form for users to process off-line.
With SXEDI, users can order Silver Xpress off-line and when they
upload the reply packet, the order will be sent to Santronic
Software at fidonet 1:129/82. So the only criteria to using this
system, is to be on FidoNet 1:129/82 and be willing to allow
your users to send 1 type of NETMAIL (security is FULLY respected).
Call 412-864-2060 to more information on this program.
SILVER XPRESS FAXXPRESS SYSTEM:
You can install a Fax Service for your users with the package
contained in SXFX100.ZIP.
A CAS compatible FAX card is required. SXFX100 is a "Lite" version
of our commercial version FaXXpress.
The lite version does not do any accounting. All it does is FAX.
To install FaXXpress Lite, create a Uploaded Mail Service Call
option and install the following FAXXPRESS information:
Service Log Tag : FAXX
Active Service : YES
Apply to all Areas : NO
When to Applu Service : AFTER TOSS
Mail Area Number : choose one. Must be a valid BBS area
Ascii Convert : NO
Add Header : YES
Erase Xpress Message : NO
Strip Kludge for text : YES
Text Storage Directory : C:\FAXQ (Xpress will make directory)
DOS command to Issue : !C:\XPRESS\SXFAX.EXE %f C:\FAXQ
Processing Message : FAX REQUEST!
Success Message : FAX HAS BEEN QUEUED FOR SENDING!
Error Message : FAX ERROR. REPORT TO SYSOP!
Note: The BBS area must exist and it should be designated as a FAX
area for OUTBOUND faxes only. You should make it PRIVATE ONLY
so that people will not see other fax messages.
SXFAX.EXE will take the fax request and immediate fax it. No log.
HOST CUSTOMIZED MENUS:
The Silver Xpress Reader V3.0x now uses a pull down menu system.
The menu may be changed by using the SXDYMENU.EXE program.
This program is available as SXDM100.ZIP and can be found on
the Xpress Distribution Network.
Silver Xpress Reader will always load the menu SXMENU.LIB. You
can explore the alternate menu system with the sample 228MENU.LIB by
typing:
XPREAD -X228MENU.LIB
A BBS can also define the menu you will see. If a sysop chooses to
provide a customized menu with your mail packet, the user can
not the override the setup.
By customizing the menus for your users, you create a application
specifically designed for your BBS. For example, you can create
a menu for your readers:
"Send Mail to Sysop"
"Read OptiNet Mail Conference"
"Sent Netmail"
"Read Private Conference""
"Read LAN MHS Mail"
or create a hard disk menu system for your users, like:
"Run Genealogy Database Program"
"Call BBS"
43/50 LINE MODE SUPPORT:
You can tell Xpress to use 43/50 line mode support. Xpress will adjust
it's windows dimensions in most places to take advantage of the added
screen space.
You can temporarily switch to 43/50 line mode by using the -V50 switch.