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T R I U M P H S O F T W A R E Presents ░██████████ ░██ ░███████ ░█ ░██ ░█ ░██ ░██ ░██ ░█░██ ░██ ░██ ░██ ░███ ░███ ░█░██ ░██ ░█ ░█ ░█ ░██ ░██ ░█ ░█ ░█ ░█ ░█ ░█ ░████ ░██ ░███ ░███████ ░███ ░███ ░██ An On-Line Door Support Unit For use with Turbo Pascal 5.5 and 6.0 TriDoor Written by Christopher M. Russo TriComm Communications Support Written by Jeremy H. DuBois TriDoor, TriComm (c)1992 Triumph Software, All Rights Reserved. QuickBBS is a Registered Trademark of the QuickBBS Group. Turbo Pascal is a Registered Trademark of Borland, Inc. Triumph Software is not affiliated in any way with either The QuickBBS Group or Borland, Inc. Triumph Software - TriDoor Documentation pg. i DISCLAIMER Triumph Software and the employees/programmers in conjunction with and/or affiliated with Triumph Software can not be held responsible for the condition of any software received through any non-postal/ non-parcel means. Nor can said persons be held responsible for any damage caused to media or hardware as a result of the use of any of our products. Triumph Software and it's employees and associates would like it to be known, however, that all of their products are thoroughly tested before leaving our offices. It is only in the deepest faith in our own product that any such software is released to the public. Triumph Software reserves the right to change any documentation, disclaimer, licensing information or registration procedures and costs at any time for any reason with no prior warning or notice. Triumph Software - TriDoor Documentation pg. ii LIMITED LICENSING AGREEMENT The holder of the unregistered TriDoor package is allowed a limited usage period of 30 (thirty) days, wherein he or she may incorporate the unit in any program that he or she develops as long as the program incorporating the TriDoor unit is not distributed in any manner at any time. After the thirty day period, the holder of the unregistered copy of the TriDoor package must register the software to be allowed further use of TriDoor. A private registered copy may be obtained by filling out the TriDoor registration form and sending both the registration form and $30.00, in the form of a check or money order, to Triumph Software. The private copy will allow the registered owner to produce programs using the TriDoor unit and distribute them as long as the registered copy of TriDoor is not included in the the package, no compensation is obtained in any way from the distribution of the software incorporating the TriDoor unit, and Triumph Software is given ample credit as depicted in the final chapter of this document. The registered copy of the TriDoor unit must not be distributed in any way other than as a compiled portion of a program or software produced by the registered copy holder. A commercial registered copy may be obtained by filling out the TriDoor registration form and sending both the registration form and $100.00, in the form of check or money order, to Triumph Software. The commercial copy will allow the registered owner to produce programs using the TriDoor unit and distribute them. This copy also allows the holder of the registered copy to obtain legal compensation for the program incorporating the TriDoor package. The holder of the commercial registered copy must include acceptable credit in the documentation of his or her program as further explained in the final chapter of this document. The registered copy of the TriDoor unit must not be distributed in any way other than as a compiled portion of a program or software produced by the registered copy holder. An individual copy must be registered for each individual company and person. The only exception is in the case of a company owned by a person in which case the copy may be registered for both in the case of a commercial copy. Triumph Software reserves the right to revoke registration priviliges either temporarily or permanently if the conditions of the registration are not properly met by the holder of the registered TriDoor package. Triumph Software reserves the right to use the registered owners name, company and/or product created incorporating the TriDoor unit in any of Triumph Software's advertising of any type. Registered copy holders will be entitled to minor upgrades of the TriDoor package at a minimal processing and materials fee of $5.00 per upgrade. Major upgrades can be obtained at a cost of $12.00 for private copies and $24.00 for commercial copies. Triumph Software - TriDoor Documentation pg. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Why Use Tridoor?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .001 Features of TriDoor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .002 What's New This Version . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .003 Command Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .004 Accessible Variables. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .010 Incoporating Support for Other BBS Software . . . . . . . . . . .011 Programming With TriDoor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .013 Reserved Words. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .014 Tested Limits of TriDoor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .015 Programming Hint(s) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .016 Things to Come ("The Workbench"). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .017 Who to Contact. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .018 History of TriDoor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .019 Other Products by Triumph Software. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .020 A Comment on Quality. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .021 Acceptable Credit in Programs and Documentation . . . . . . . . .022 Triumph Software - TriDoor Documentation pg. 001 WHY USE TRIDOOR? The TriDoor communications package provides the programmer with a list of many commands and features that I have found extremely useful, if not invaluable while writing various on-line doors for both my BBS and others. No longer is the value of any door program you write hinging upon your abilities to write the communications drivers and commands to support them! Now, with communications equivalents of standard Pascal commands, such as print() which almost mirrors Turbo Pascal's write() and writeln(), you can sit at your terminal and write any program for a BBS in the same amount of time and with the same amount of effort it would take to write one for local usage! The possibilities are endless- I have written on-line games, archive viewing utilities, text/ansi file viewers, "top-ten" user-list creators and many more. How many times have you said to yourself, "Wow, this is a great system I have here, if only I could add..." One solution: you can go out and download programs to do some of the things you need to do; but none of them are ever exactly what you want, and you have to pay all those shareware fees. What do you do about all the things that you couldn't find anywhere? Hire an expensive programmer? I frequently find myself saying "If you can't do it with TriDoor, YOU CAN'T DO IT!" It is the easiest way to create a door. This is the best software package available of this kind. It's easy, quick, and powerful and you hold the power to make the doors and on-line games that you have always wanted! Triumph Software - TriDoor Documentation pg. 002 FEATURES OF TRIDOOR TriDoor has many advanced, easy to use features and I intend to add more. Any additional features will be tacked on to the actual program commands explanations with their appropriate version numbers. * Automatic set-up and support of communications ports. * Automatic reading and processing of the file DORINFO1.DEF. * Easy to use commands such as PRINT and GETINPUT which will print to the local screen, and the comport if a carrier is detected. * Built-in chat mode with word-wrap and highlighted user- entered text on the local screen. * Boolean variable QUIT which is set to TRUE if ALT-H is hit from the local keyboard- allows for programmer-defined or non-existent "hang-up" procedures. * Easy "caps-lock", and "password-entry" (see "***" instead of "hey") modes. * Length restriction on input fields. * Built-in string capitalization and easy integer/longint to string conversion. * Built-in direct screen write functions. * Automatic status bar displaying time, name and baud rate. * Automatic handling of user's time. * Built-in routines for clearing user's and local screen. * Built-in boolean response "Are you sure?" function. * Built-in User-Pager. * Automatic, disablable "Last Printed" Memory. * Help Status Bar on Local Screen. * Auto-sensing of color/monochrome mode. * Turbo Pascal 5.5 AND 6.0 support. * ANSI Support. * Ability to change User time * Auto-hangup (QUIT := TRUE) at time<1 (can be disabled). * System messages in status bar. * Ability to add support for ANY BBS System * Ability to be run in multi-tasking environments such as DESQVIEW and WINDOWS. * Automatic ANSI filter on outgoing text. * Local disable/enable of remote user keyboard. * Fake line-noise * Ability to use non-standard IRQ/COMM port configurations * Ability to change all communications parameters Triumph Software - TriDoor Documentation pg. 003 WHAT'S NEW THIS VERSION * You may now use non-standard COMM port/IRQ settings. In order to do this, all you need do is fill in the appropriate variables which have been added to the <stat> record before running the setuptri() function. Note that readquick() will do this automatically. For further discussion on this topic please see the chapters entitled INCORPORATING SUPPORT FOR OTHER BBS SOFTWARE and ACCESSABLE VARIABLES. * The readquick() procedure will automatically determine parity, stop bits and data bits. Triumph Software - TriDoor Documentation pg. 004 COMMAND SUMMARY * NOTE : All accessable variables will be discussed in more detail in the Accessable Varibles portion of this document. All commands marked with a signle * (asterix) are automatically executed in the setuptri procedure or is automatically handled by TriDoor under normal operating conditions. <01> function offline : boolean; This function will return a TRUE if there is no user "on-line". This function automatically accounts for local users. <02> procedure recordtimeon; * This procedure records the time that the user enters the door. <03> function timeleft : integer; The timeleft function will check the user's time left in the door. If the boolean variable AUTOHANG is set to TRUE and the user's time runs out, the boolean QUIT variable will also be set to TRUE. <04> procedure puttime; This procedure will put the user's time left in the lower righthand area of the screen as long as the boolean TIMEOFF variable is set to false. <05> function strg( i : integer ) : string; This function will return the string of any integer. <06> function bstrg( li : longint ) : string; This function is the same as the strg() function except that it will accept long integers as well. <07> function ucase( strg : string ) : string; This function will return the string given it in capital letters. <08> procedure dwrite( outchr : char; attr : integer ); The dwrite() procedure will write the character outchr directly to screen memory at position scrnpos. Triumph Software - TriDoor Documentation pg. 005 <09> procedure gotopos( x,y : integer ); The gotopos() procedure will set the variable SCRENPOS in accordance to the standard x,y position. <10> procedure dstr( outstr : string; attr : integer ); This procedure writes a string to screen memory at the position of SCRENPOS. <11> procedure statusbar; * The statusbar() procedure will print a bar at the bottom of the local screen with with the user 's name , time left and baud rate. This is also where the variable PROGRAMNAME will be displayed. <12> procedure sysmessage( strng : string ); The sysmessage() procedure will print a message (strng) in the statusbar on the local screen. <13> function readquick : boolean; This function will read the necessary door operation information from the door support file DORINFO1.DEF. TriDoor MUST get it's essential information from a door support file in order to be able to operate properly. This will also return a TRUE if the file was successfully read. <14> function topcaps( strg : string ) : string; This function will return a string with the first letter of word capitalized and all other letters in lower-case. <15> procedure clearcom; This function will clear the local screen and the remote screen if a user is online. <16> procedure angotoxy( x, y : integer ); This is the ANSI equivalent of the Pascal procedure gotoxy(). If ANSI is disabled, this function will NOT work. <17> procedure anleft( ls : integer ); This is an ANSI procedure that will move left the number of spaces specified in the variable ls. Triumph Software - TriDoor Documentation pg. 006 <18> procedure anright( rs : integer ); This is identical to anleft() except that it goes right instead of left. <19> procedure anup( us : integer ); This procedure is similar to anleft() and anright() except that it goes up the number of spaces passed as the variable us. <20> procedure andown( ds : integer ); This procedure is identical to anup() except that it goes down instead of up. <21> procedure aneraseln; This is the ANSI procedure to erase an entire line in the current ANSI color as set by ancolor(). <22> procedure anclear; The anclear() procedure is the ANSI equivalent of clearing the screen. Like all ANSI functions and procedures, this does not function if ANSI is disabled. <23> procedure ancolor( bl, br, fg, bg : integer ); This function will set the ANSI color. The following constants have been provided for easy access : bl : BLINK br : INTENSITY fg/bg : BLACK, RED, GREEN, YELLOW, BLUE, MAGENTA, CYAN, WHITE The following are some examples : ancolor(0,0,WHITE,BLACK) white/black background ancolor(BLINK,0,CYAN,BLACK) blinking cyan/black background ancolor(0,INTENSITY,WHITE,BLACK) bright white/black background <24> function getkey : char; This function will wait for a key to be pressed either locally, or over the communications port if a carrier is present. <25> function comwait : boolean; This will tell you if there is a character waiting in the input buffer of the communications port waiting to be read. Triumph Software - TriDoor Documentation pg. 007 <26> function getinput( wrdsize : word ) : string; The getinput() function is similar to getkey() except that this function allows for a string to be entered. The following variables also apply : CAPS := TRUE/FALSE -- will convert all typed to uppercase if TRUE. CODE := TRUE/FALSE -- will show all characters typed as *'s if TRUE. wrdsize := (1-255) -- maximum characters accepted as input. <27> function readphone : string; This function reads and returns a phone number in the format of (###)###-####. <28> function readdate : string; This function reads amd returns a date in the format XX/XX/XX. <29> procedure printchar( ch : char ); The printchar() procedure will print a character to the local screen and the comport if a carrier is detected. There is no calculated delay between characters in this function as there is in the print() procedure. <30> procedure print( strng : string ); The print() procedure will print a string to the local screen, as well as to the communications port if a carrier is detected. To create a carriage return, simply plug in a || anywhere in the string to be printed. For example... print('My name is george.||Who are you?||||BLAH! '); would print... My name is george. Who are you? BLAH! ( <-- cursor would remain here! ) Triumph Software - TriDoor Documentation pg. 008 NOTE : When plugging variables, substitute +'s where you would normally place ,'s in a write()/writeln(). For example... print('My name is '+mynamevar+'.||'); When printing Numerical Variables, use the STRG function to convert them to a string format. For example... print('My age is '+STRG(age)+'.||); Also note that as of V1.26 there is a boolean variable called queueoff. If this variable is set to false, the print() command will always remember the last thing printed. (Comes in handy when exiting chat-modes and so-forth.) The variable that the last thing printed is stored in is queueone. (a string) <31> procedure comprint( strng : string ); The comprint() procedure is identical to print, except that it prints SOLELY to the communications port and that it does not have a queue like print does. <32> function setuptri : boolean; This function MUST be run in order for TriDoor to operate properly. It is to be placed in your program's code right after the reading of the chosen door support files. setuptri() will return a FALSE if it fails to set up the communications port with the values currently in the STAT record. <33> function aysure( s : string; [Yes/No] ) : boolean; The aysure() function will print the string s accompanied by a '? (Y/[N])' and return a boolean TRUE or FALSE depending on a choice of yes or no respectively. The Yes/No is to specify which choice you would like to have as the default setting for if the user hits RETURN. An example of this is as follows- if aysure('Proceed to next procedure',Yes) then gonext; Triumph Software - TriDoor Documentation pg. 009 <33> procedure showfile( fname : string; len : word ); The showfile() function will display a file to both the user on-line (if present) and to the local screen. The len variable is the number of lines of the file that should be printed before a 'More? ([Y]/N)' appears. Triumph Software - TriDoor Documentation pg. 010 ACCESSIBLE VARIABLES Here is a list of accessible variables and their descriptions. You may work with these as you like at any time during program operation. statrec = { RECORD OF ON-LINE USER STATISTICS } record name : string[50]; { name of user on-line } baud, { baud rate } time : word; { time user has left } comstr : string[20]; { comstring in the format 1200,N,8,1 } comport : integer; { comport- COM1,COM2, etc... } comp_interrupt, { assignable comport IRQ } comp_dbits, { assignable data bits } comp_sbits, { assignable stop bits } comp_parity : integer; { assignable parity } ansi : boolean; { ANSI codes enabled if TRUE } end; The above record is necessary to support the various bulletin board systems. This will be further explained in the next section. var stats : statrec; record of starec local, local if true code, "***" at getinput() if true quit, set to true at ALT-H and timeout caps, caps at getinput() if true queueoff, turn off print queue if true timeoff, display time in status bar if false ansi, ANSI active if true autohang : boolean; sets quit to true at time<1 if true mainpath, path to DORINFO1.DEF (default=current) queueone : string; queue store for print queue programname : string[80]; name of program (shown in status bar) Triumph Software - TriDoor Documentation pg. 011 INCORPORATING SUPPORT FOR OTHER BBS SOFTWARE Due to the variety of bulletin board systems available today we have made TriDoor easily adaptable for any system. The variables in the record STAT which is of the type STATREC must be filled in with the data from the door support file which you are reading. The following is an example of how TriDoor reads this data from the file DORINFO1.DEF which is created by QuickBBS and it's clones. {* * * * * * * * *} function readquick : boolean; { reads a users stats from the file DORINFO1.DEF and returns false if there was an error. } var deffile : text; i, loop, loop2 : integer; comst, filler : string; work1, work2 : string[40]; begin if fsearch(mainpath+'DORINFO1.DEF','') <> '' then begin assign(deffile,mainpath+'DORINFO1.DEF'); reset(deffile); for loop := 1 to 4 do readln(deffile,filler); case filler[4] of '0' : stats.comport := 0; '1' : stats.comport := COM1; '2' : stats.comport := COM2; '3' : stats.comport := COM3; '4' : stats.comport := COM4; end; readln(deffile,stats.comstr); readln(deffile,filler); readln(deffile,work1); readln(deffile,work2); readln(deffile,filler); readln(deffile,i); readln(deffile,filler); readln(deffile,stats.time); close(deffile); Triumph Software - TriDoor Documentation pg. 012 stats.name := work1 + ' ' + work2; work1 := ''; loop2 := 0; loop := length(stats.comstr); while (loop2<loop) and (ord(stats.comstr[loop2+1]) <> 32) do begin loop2 := loop2 + 1; work1 := work1 + stats.comstr[loop2]; end; val(work1,stats.baud,loop); if i = 1 then stats.ansi := TRUE else stats.ansi := FALSE; i := pos('BAUD',stats.comstr); i := i + 5; work1 := copy(stats.comstr,i,1); case work1[1] of 'N' : stats.comp_parity := NONE; 'E' : stats.comp_parity := EVEN; 'O' : stats.comp_parity := ODD; 'M' : stats.comp_parity := MARK; 'S' : stats.comp_parity := SPACE; end; val(copy(stats.comstr,i + 3,1),loop,loop2); stats.comp_dbits := loop; val(copy(stats.comstr,i + 5,1),loop,loop2); stats.comp_sbits := loop; readquick := true; end else readquick := false; end; {* * * * * * * * *} Once either this or your customized function has been executed and, the all of the <stats> record variables have been filled in all your program needs to do is execute the setuptri() function. Once this is done your system should be fully configured and ready to begin efficient communications. PLEASE NOTE that if you are using non-standard IRQ settings that you will need to enter the IRQ value into the <stats> BEFORE running setuptri(). Remember that TriDoor has IRQ2-IRQ4 as global constants for your convenience. Please note that if your BBS software is not supported and you write a procedure to handle it that we will put it in future versions of TriDoor if you send it to us. Triumph Software - TriDoor Documentation pg. 013 PROGRAMMING WITH TRIDOOR Creating doors with TriDoor is an astoundingly simple process but a couple steps must be taken in each program you write in order for the program to function normally. The computer may physically "hang" if these few following procedures are not completed (but will usually just drop out with a complaint about not being able to set-up properly.) First of all you must fill in the STAT record with the appropriate data either using procedures already incorporated in TriDoor or with a procedure or function of your own. The STAT record is shown in the "Accessable Variables" chapter with it's record type, STATREC. If your BBS is not currently supported by TriDoor then you need to create your own support file which is explained in the previous chapter, "Incorporating Support for Other BBS Software". Then you must call on the setuptri() procedure which will set up the communications port and initialize the system for door support. After these two or three things have been completed you may proceed with using any of TriDoor's commands and features to write your door. Remember that due to the nature of Turbo Pascal's units, any TriDoor function or procedure that you do not use will not be built into your software. This is good for two reasons- one is that memory will not be used unecessarily and the other is that you may create substuitutions for TriDoor commands that you would prefer to write yourself. Triumph Software - TriDoor Documentation pg. 014 RESERVED WORDS The following list of words are reserved (used by TriDoor) and not to be re-defined by any program incorporating TriDoor as a conflict will arise that will result in non-functionality, to some degree, of the final resultant program/software. tridr55? tridr60? buffptr buffrec statrec stats scrnpos logontime comintvec screnmode local code quit caps queueoff buffertop head tail oldint exitsave programname tdver tddate CR BS BLACK RED GREEN YELLOW BLUE MAGENTA CYAN WHITE INTENSITY BLINK IER IIR LCR MCR LSR MSR RLS RDA TRE MSI PIC EOI PICMASK ENABLE1 ENABLE2 DISABLE1 DISABLE2 BIOSSEG KEYHEAD KEYTAIL EVEN ODD NONE COM1 COM2 COM3 COM4 IRQ2 IRQ3 IRQ4 offline recordtimeon timeleft puttime strg bstrg ucase dwrite gotopos dstr statusbar sysmessage readquick clearcom angotoxy anleft anright anup andown aneraseln anclear ancolor getkey comwait getinput readphone readdate printchar print comprint checkkey setuptri aysure Yes No Triumph Software - TriDoor Documentation pg. 015 TESTED LIMITS OF TRIDOOR TriDoor has been run and tested, successfully, on a variety of systems ranging from a 4.77MHz IBM XT with a 2400 baud modem to a 33MHz 386 with a 9600 baud HST modem. As far as we know, if your system is fast enough to handle your modem, this unit will function without a hitch. There are a few limitations, however, that we are aware of at this time. The constraints are as follows : *** There are currently no limits on TriDoor that we know of *** Those are all of them as far as we are aware. If you find any new problems, please contact us immediately. Triumph Software - TriDoor Documentation pg. 016 PROGRAMMING HINT(S) Here are a few ideas to get you going. TriDoor is written very flexibly to allow for you to do essentially as you like with the commands However, due to this flexibility, some things may seem confusing, or just not occur to you right away. Over time, as I think of these things, I will place them in this area, and feel free to send us any hints that you've discovered while programming with TriDoor. * REMEMBER to put online and quit checks in all of your while loops and repeat untils and so on. If you do not put these in and you hit ALT-H or the user drops carrier then your program will hang! * Program all of your door support file reading functions with a boolean return. This not only allows you to know if it was successful but will also allow you to program a procedure that automatically reads whatever door support file is available. * Do you want the SysOp to see something that the user will not? Simply use a writeln() instead of print(). Or in newer versions of TriDoor, use the sysmessage() command. It is always good to make it obvious to the SysOp that the user is not seeing that text, though! A standard way of doing this is by using a small block (ASCII 254) before the text and high- lighting it. * Try not to exclude non-ANSI users from your door. It's a sign of a lazy/unthinking programmer. Better than 35% of BBS users DO NOT have ANSI capabilities- don not limit yourself and your program! * Remember that many bulletin board systems run better if they stay in memory while dropping to dos to run a door, and many systems do not have more than 640k-1 meg of RAM. If your program requires more, try to break it up into pieces to run more efficiently. If you have an update program that needs to be run but once per day, make it a separate one. Triumph Software - TriDoor Documentation pg. 017 THINGS TO COME ("THE WORKBENCH") The following is a list of some of the things that are most likely going to be added in future versions of this software. Or they are things that we are, at the very least, seriously considering. This is a far from complete list, but it gives you an idea of what we are up to. If you have any further ideas or suggestions, please contact us and tell us what you think. * Support for other BBS software such as PCBoard (If you have a system you would like supported, send us the appropriate file and information so we may add it.) Triumph Software - TriDoor Documentation pg. 018 WHO TO CONTACT Did your machine swear in protest at our software? Are you missing files that should be included in this release? Do you have any questions you would like to ask us? Do you have any comments or suggestions? Well, then- you may get in contact with us at any of the following places/numbers : Christopher M. Russo Voice : (508)263-8420 Jeremy H. DuBois Voice : (508)263-7004 Triumph BBS TEMPORARILY OFF-LINE PLEASE CALL VOICE Remember that those voice phones are our HOME phones as we do not yet have a business line- please refrain from hassling the other people that live there- NONE of us will answer "Hello, Triumph Software." We will tell you when we get the business line. We are also looking out for potential support boards and beta-testing systems, so if you have a system and are interested, make sure you inform us of your desire and eligibility. Triumph Software - TriDoor Documentation pg. 019 HISTORY OF TRIDOOR TriDoor and it's communications support is the end result of almost four years of effort by both Jeremy DuBois and myself. (Christopher M. Russo) We started one rainy day when Jeremy had informed me that he had managed to write some basic polling Pascal communications routines. As Jeremy already had a bulletin board system running at that time, I suggested that we write an on-line game for it. And that is when it all began. We went from writing a semi-complete and not-too-awful on-line game to writing DoorBase, our first version of an on-line door supporting unit. Then I wrote a game on my own- Monopolistic Competition, followed shortly thereafter by Monopolistic Competition II which was running off of a newer, but still bedraggled version of DoorBase. Then one day while trying to write a terminal program, we realized that the communications routines that Jeremy had made were simply not fast enough to handle all the tasking necessary, and at anything above 2400 baud, was a miserable failure. Thus, Jeremy set out once again to create newer, faster, interrupt driven routines. I had quite a lot of trouble dealing with the newer routines for reasons which, I admit, are beyond my knowledge. After time and perseverance, however, I mastered the new routines and re-wrote the newest version of DoorBase, now called TriDoor in the interest of our newly-founded company. And thus, I present to you said software and complete documentation for the easy usage and incorporation of communication and door support in your Pascal programs for QuickBBS and clones. I strongly believe that using TriDoor is the easiest, most user-friendly way of writing doors and on-line games available today. Finally, before we commence, I would like to take a moment to thank Jeremy for all his help and patience with my quirky little habits and programming nit-picks. I have never given another teacher more of a hard time than I gave him. Ridiculous as this may sound, he is an inspiration to me, and I thank him for all he's taught me and all he will, undoubtedly, teach me in the future. Triumph Software - TriDoor Documentation pg. 020 OTHER PRODUCTS BY TRIUMPH SOFTWARE The following products are also available from Triumph Software. For more information on these products or specific consulting services, please contact us. TriComm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Registered : $30 TriComm is the original communications unit compiled for Turbo Pascal 5.5 and used in the creation of TriDoor. It currently supports COM1 and COM2 and runs at all baud rates. (Has been tested up to and over 9600 baud) TriUser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Registered : $25 TriUser is an on-line QuickBBS user editor written using the TriDoor on-Line door support unit. It also takes advantage of TriDoor's ANSI support features. WorldFix. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $200.00 WorldFix is a utility for the Real World Accounting software package that will close data files in a matter of seconds as opposed to the minutes and hours that it takes Real World to do the same job. Triumph Software and Real World are not aphilliated in any way. Qstat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Registered : $20 Qstat is a QuickBBS download counter that will keep track of downloads in the FILES.BBS files. Among it's many nice features are a limit of 999 downloads per file before returning to 0, (Most such programs only allow 99) a nice interface and display and an error log. Triumph Software - TriDoor Documentation pg. 021 A COMMENT ON QUALITY To finalize, I would like to take a moment to voice my thoughts on quality in programs and programming. I have spent over eight years working on and with bulletin board systems, an equal amount of time programming both at an amateur and a professional level, and three years or more programming for bulletin board systems. In that time I have seen many doors and many bulletin board systems, and I have noticed so many sloppy doors and on-line games that if I had a computer for every one I have ever seen, I would be able to put them together and form a top-of-the-line Sun SPARCStation with tint-control, a built-in microwave and a television. I can't tell you how many times I have run a program and then been asked, infuriatingly, "Cannot find BRUNxx.EXE. New Path?" or found that a program would literally crash inside of two minutes of operation on any machine that I could try it on. And all the programs that I saw grinding away at the disk-drive as they either accessed a massive load of disorganized data or simply were running in the slowest possible languages and needed three days to load 360k of marginally organized data. Then there were the programs that simply crashed without a peep, or crashed and threw some sickening statement like "KILLROY DEATH NOTICE #093284AF84UAREDEAD" at you as you sat in bewilderment. I am the pickiest person on earth when it comes to programming, so you can be assured that any product that you ever get from Triumph Software has been brutally criticized and abused to make sure it is doing everything it should be doing, doing it well, and then some. If I missed something, I will be ever amazed, but I assure you that I literally don't sleep until the problem is fixed. I hope you enjoy this and all of our programs and find them easy to use and well-written. If you have suggestions or complaints, please contact us/me as we/I are/am always happy to hear them and try to incorporate them. Happy Programming! -Christopher M. Russo Triumph Software - TriDoor Documentation pg. 022 ACCEPTABLE CREDIT IN PROGRAMS AND DOCUMENTATION On the title-page of your documentation where your program name appears, or if you do not have such a page, wherever your "credits" are (Written by... ) you should include the following : TriDoor Communications and On-line Door Driver Written by Christopher M. Russo and Jeremy H. DuBois (c)1992 Triumph Software, All Rights Reserved. (508)263-7004 / (508)263-8420 The above listed credit lines MUST be placed within the first 3 (three) pages of your documentation to be considered as acceptable credit. A disclaimer must also be in the documentation stating that Triumph Software is not affiliated with you or your company in any way and that Triumph Software can not be held responsible for any programs created using the TriDoor package. If no documentation is included in the package that you have produced, then a file giving Triumph Software credit for TriDoor must be included in the package. This credit must also include the disclaimer as noted in the previous paragraph. Triumph Software reserves the right to temporarily revoke registration privelleges until proper credit for Triumph Software is given in any software/programs created using the TriDoor unit. The following lines will AUTOMATICALLY appear VERY BRIEFLY upon bootup of any program using a registered copy of TriDoor : TriDoor Vx.xx - On-line Door and Communications Support (c)1992 by Triumph Software, All Rights Reserved. Reg No : xxxxxxxxxx Reg To : John Q. Programmer A special copy of the package without this notice may be obtained by special arrangements with Triumph Software. Different licensing agreements and disclaimers may apply. Removal of this notice or any of it's information without prior and valid written approval by Triumph Software voids the registration of the TriDoor package.