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CSCALLS.DOC
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1992-04-01
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(****************************************************)
(* CSCALLS Ver 1.0 Written by Gary Bouchard *)
(* SysOp - The Computer Store BBS *)
(* St. Augustine, Florida (904)794-0063 *)
(* Copyright(c) 1992....All Rights Reserved *)
(* Released March 31, 1992 Modified *)
(****************************************************)
Description
CSCALLS is a simple program that will generate a PCBoard 14.5a display
file, showing the last group of callers to your system.
The number of callers shown in the display file is configurable, and can
number up to 100. The sysop can define whether the program will add
Local or SysOp logons to the list, the colors used by the program
(using Pcboard @X## color macros), control of clearing the screen before
display, and the name of the file that the program will generate.
Setup
Place CSCALLS.EXE anywhere in your DOS path, along with the
configuration file. Edit your configuration file to reflect the
locations and path names of the files needed for operation. These are
as follows and should be in the exact order;
Line 1 is pretty simple.. you just define the name of the file you wish
CSCALLS to generate. It can be any name allowed by DOS. For example, on
my system, I generate a file called CSCALLS in my PCB\GEN directory.
When the program runs it updates this file. At the bottom of my callers
security level screen I place the line "%c:\pcb\gen\cscalls". After the
security screen is displayed to the caller, the CSCALLS file is
displayed. You can make it a bulletin, or attach it to your news file or
whatever, by using the design of PCBoard 14.5a.
Line 2 defines a name and path for a temporary pcboard.sys file. This
happens in two step. When a user logs onto PCBoard successfully, the
information from the callers users record is put into the PCBOARD.SYS
file. When the caller logs off, the file is still there, but is
overwritten with filler, and since this program updates the CSCALLS file
AFTER the user logs off, if we did not make a copy of the pcboard.sys
file, we would not know who the caller was unless we went through the
callers file...which is more trouble than its worth and slow. Using the
method I have employed here, the information needed for the program is
obtained in just a few lines of code, making it very fast.
On my system, I have created a batch file called $$LOGON.BAT. After
successful logon, PCBoard checks to see if this file exists, and if so
executes whatever is in it. What I did was very simply copy pcboard.sys
to cscalls.sys from within the $$logon.bat file, then exit back to PCBoard,
which is very quick. In this way, when user logs off, PCBoard also checks
to see if there is a $$LOGOFF.BAT, and if so also executes that file.
The $$logoff.bat file simply executes cscalls, and when its through,
deletes the cscalls.sys we made at logon.
Line 3 is the path and name of your PCBoard users file. There is nothing
written to this file. The program looks up the users record which
PCBoard has already updated, and obtains more information about the
caller.
Line 4 is the number of caller lines you would like the program to keep
in the display file. In the example, this is set to 5. There is a maximum
100 lines.
Line 5 is the Security level cutoff. If anyone equals this security
level or higher, they will not be included in the list.
Line 6-10 are user definable colors for the various pieces of the
display file. Using the PCBoard @X## color macros allows just one
version of the display file to be created, which can be display to both
mono and color users.
Line 11 is the Shortened name of your BBS, which is incorporated into
the display file.
Line 12 indicates whether or not you would like the @cls@ PCBoard macro
added to the top of the display file. The program will only recognize
the word CLEARSCREEN. Any other word found there will indicate that you
do not want the screen cleared.
Line 13 is an option which will allow you to prevent SysOp logins from
being added to the list. As long as you have a current, valid key file
the program will honor this. If your key file is invalid or expired, you
will not be able to override this.
Line 14 is an option to prevent LOCAL logins from being added to the
list as with option 13. The same holds true in regard to the keyfile as
option 13.
Look at the $$LOGON.BAT and $$LOGOFF.BAT. If you are not presently using
these files in your PCBoard configuration, then just copy them to you
PCBoard directory. If you are already using these files, then you need
to add the lines contained in them to your existing files. The
program will not operate properly without this information.
OPERATION
Each time the program runs it will first create a bakup of your existing
display file in the directory specified by the original. The program
will then open the cscalls.sys or whatever name you choose. I recommend
following the naming conventions here so you can relate which files are
used by which program. Opening the cscalls.sys file, the program will
extract information about the caller and node. The program will then
open the users file as specified in the cscalls.cnf, and extract the
remaining information. Once the information is obtained about the
caller, the program will determine if the user qualifies for the list.
If it is disqualified say because of NOLOCAL or SECURITY or SYSOP or
whatever, the program will then end. If the caller is ok, then the
program will read in the prior list, add the new caller, and sort the
list oldest call to newest call. If your maximum lines have been met,
the program rotates the oldest caller line out, and moves everyone up
one notch, otherwise, just keeps adding entries to the list.
DETAILS
CSCALLS is a copyrighted program. It is not Public Domain Software. I
retain the rights to the source code for CSCALLS, and any modification,
decompilation, or otherwise general hacking of CSCALLS is prohibited.
I cannot be held responsible for any damages caused by the use of this
program. All know bugs have been squashed, but as with any new program,
it has not been tested in every possible environment
There is no charge for CSCALLS. The program is being offered as
FREEWARE to the thousands of PCBoard SysOps who are partially
responsible for the BBS revolution. I am not a professional programmer, and
I have a fulltime job (fortunately!). I program for a hobby, and write
utilities for my personal PCBoard BBS. I share my utilities with other
PCBoard SysOps, because I know of the hardships that can sometimes come
about from running a BBS, including the many dollars put in to each
system for the software and hardware needed to run a good system. SysOps
like myself cannot afford to pay for all of the utilities authored by
all of these people which make the job of running a BBS some much
easier. There are many quality programs out there, that are well worth
the small amount of money that is requested, but it all adds up, and
fast! That is why I write FREEWARE programs..
You'll notice that there is a keyfile required for operation of this
program. I have included in the ZIP a keyfile which will allow
unhampered operation of this program for 1 year. To obtain a unlimited
key file for this program, all you need to do is call my BBS, and let me
know you would like a key file, and for which program.
I will let you know how to obtain your free key file as soon as I see the
message. If I am available when you call, I will direct you to that
process right away.
As you might have noticed, I am not a good writer when it comes to
documentation. If you do not understand something relating to this
program please feel free to call my free access BBS at the phone number
written at the top of this document. I will try to clarify whatever
problem your having.
Acknowledgements
Portions of this program have been written with the aid of routines
written by Samuel H. Smith of the ToolShop BBS (Prodoor), and B. Walter
for his PCBUSERSYS functions.