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1991-12-15
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by Matt Messier //// ////
401-726-3859 (Data) // // // //
// // //
for use with PCBoard 14.5 /// // //
with support for /Xnnn // // //
versions of PCBoard! // // // // //
//// // ////
INTRODUCTION
------------
Welcome to ProChat! ProChat is a door program for use with PCBoard 14.5
systems that enhances that chat facility between nodes. ProChat allows any
number of users to chat amongst themselves in any size groups either public
or private with any number of different public or private groups. Sound
confusing? Don't worry about it, if you think that the PCBoard CHAT/NODE
command is bad, this program is for you. It is very similar to the CompuServe
type CB, however scaled down a bit for smaller systems.
If you do not run a multi-node system, you have no use for this program.
If you run a 2 or 3 line system, ProChat will work, but will have no real
advantage over the built in CHAT in PCBoard. If you have a large system with
about 5 or more nodes, you will find that ProChat will be a favorite amongst
your CB'ers ...
GETTING STARTED
---------------
Setting up Prochat is not difficult. I hope I didn't scare you off with
my opening statement about the program! You should be able to have ProChat
up and running in a matter of 10 or 15 minutes. Should you wish to customize
your system to make ProChat fit in a bit more smoothly, it may take a little
longer than that.
First, make ProChat it's own little directory. You'll find that it's
easiest to do it this way. All of your nodes can share the files (including
the configuration files), so there is no need to make multiple files for each
node on your system. Place all of the files in the distribution ZIP file into
this directory.
The next thing you'll want to do is run the setup program. The setup
program is outlined in greater detail later in this document. For now, let's
just say run the program and configure everything. Ok, great. Everything is
configured and we're ready to make batch files.
Make your batch file to run ProChat. ProChat uses the standard ProKit
command line parameters and batch file. For those of you unfamiliar with
ProKit based doors, here is an example of what your batch file should look
like:
@echo off
cd\prochat
prochat prochat.cnf c:\pcb1
cd\pcb1
if exist event.bat event
node1 <- command to reload your board
Last, but not least, modify your doors.lst file to reflect the addition
of your new door. You'll probably want to set it up to SHELL (in which case
you would not put the last two lines of the above example in your batch file)
to make everything run smoothly. I call my batch file CB so my callers can
just type CB at the main menu and drop right into ProChat. Don't forget to
add the new door to your doors menu and let your users know it's there!
To go a step further, you may wish to modify your PCBTEXT file(s). ProChat
allows users to page others in PCBoard. In order to do this, some changes are
needed for your PCBTEXT file to let users know they are being paged to go into
ProChat and not the built in CHAT facility inside PCBoard. Below is a list of
record numbers you may wish to modify and what you may want to change them to.
225: " wants you in ProChat, @FIRST@."
226: "To respond, at the main Command line enter CB."
227: "Node CHAT: (U)navailable, (Enter)=no change?"
228: "Node CHAT: (A)vailable, (Enter)=no change?"
311: "CHATTING in ProChat"
There are other records relating to Node CHAT as well, but those are the
ones that'll make the most difference.
THE SETUP PROGRAM
-----------------
The setup program is fairly easy to use and is pretty much self-
explanitory. This section will outline the use of the program to the point
where if you have any questions you have had too much to drink. <BIG GRIN>
There are basically four different types of fields that can be modified.
They are strings, numbers, toggles, and lists.
When editing strings, the field is automatically formatted to uppercase,
lowercase, mixed, or none for you. Use the right and left arrow keys to move
around the field, backspace and delete to remove text, home to go to the
beginning of the field, and end to go to the end. Pressing ctrl-end will
delete from the cursor to the end of the field. If you press ctrl-left or
ctrl-right, the cursor will move one word to the left or to the right.
When editing numbers, use the right and left arrow keys to move around
the field, backspace and delete to delete, home to go to the beginning of the
field, and end to go to the end. Pressing ctrl-end will delete from the
cursor to the end of the field. If you enter a value that is out of range, you
will not be able to move to another field until a valid value is entered.
When editing toggles, pressing the space bar will toggle from yes to no
and vice-versa. If you press 'y', it will switch to yes, and if you press 'n',
it will switch to no.
When editing lists, there are a couple of stages. The first stage is when
you first move to the field. Pressing the space bar or enter will cause a
window with a list in it to pop up. This is stage two. Use the up and down
arrow keys to move through the list and press enter to choose the item you want
to set the field to. If you press ESC here, any changes to this field will be
aborted. If you pressed enter to pop up the window, when a selection is made,
you will be moved onto the next field, otherwise you will be back at stage one.
When you are editing any one of the four types of fields, you always have
the option of exiting the programming (and saving any changes made) by pressing
the ESC key. If you press tab, enter, or the down arrow, you will be moved on
to the next field. If you press shift-tab or the up arrow, you will be moved
back to the previous field.
SETUP: FILE INFORMATION
-----------------------
PCBoard node information file: This is the path and name of your usernet.dat
data file. Without this information, Prochat could not display node scans or
page users within chat.
ProChat node information file: This is the path and name of your prochat.dat
data file. This file contains information for the users currently in prochat
including their name, handle, channel, squelch value, etc. This file is
automatically created and maintained by ProChat.
Chat data file: This is the path and name of your chat.dat data file. This
file is used for exchanging messages back and forth between the various nodes
on the system. If node 1 sends a message out it is written to this file and
read in by the other nodes. This file is created and maintained by ProChat.
The only time you should have to intervene is if the file starts getting too
big (which it will, trust me!) When you delete it, try to make sure there is
no one inside ProChat at the time. Should you delete it while users are in
ProChat, the program should recover so it's not a big problem.
ProChat channel data file: This is the path and name of your channels.dat data
file. This file is used to keep track of how many users are chatting on each
channel, squelch value, and whatnot. This file is also created and maintained
by ProChat.
Bad Handle Trashcan file: This is the path and name of your trashcan data file.
If there are certain names or words that you do not want users to use in their
handles, this is where you should put them. Whenever a user selects a handle,
it is checked against this file to make sure that it is valid. In this file,
there are two types of entries that you can have. The first is just a line
with the name you do not want used. The second has an asterisk in the first
column of the line. This will cause ProChat to not allow users to use a
certain word in any part of their handle. For instance, if you put "*SYSOP"
in your trashcan, users would not be able to be tricky and use " SYSOP" as
their handle an impersonate you.
Caller Help Display file: This is the path and name of the text file to display
to callers when they ask for help. Two defaults are supplied with ProChat.
One is a rather lengthy text file explaining each command individually and what
it does. The other is a brief list of all of the commands available.
ProChat Entrance display file: This is the path and name of the text file to
display to callers when they first enter ProChat. This is the same thing as
PCBoard's GCTOPIC file.
SETUP: REGISTRATION INFORMATION
-------------------------------
If you have not registered ProChat yet, there is no need to modify
anything in this section. When you register ProChat, you give me the name of
your system as you would like it to appear and I give you a number. You put
both of those items in this section and you'll be ready to roll.
SETUP: MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION
--------------------------------
Driver Type: This is the only item require by the ProKit interface itself.
It is the type of async driver you wish to use. You may use with INTERRUPT
or BIOS. INTERRUPT is the preferred method, but if it doesn't work on your
system, try BIOS. If BIOS doesn't work then give me a call and I'll see what
I can do.
Use fast message check method: When this is enabled, ProChat will only check
for incoming messages when the input line is blank and when the enter key is
pressed. If this is disabled, ProChat will constantly check for incoming
messages every 5 seconds. This is intended for those slower systems where
the typing becomes slow and choppy.
PCBoard version: Here is where you put the version of PCBoard you are running.
This doesn't mean "14.5a/E9", it just means the "/E9" part. So in other words,
if you were running the /E25 version of the code, you would be "/E25" in this
field. There is one special exception to this field. If you are running the
/U version of PCBoard, you should place "/U99" in this field. This field is
required to determine how many nodes are online, and also if you are using the
extended USERNET.DAT version or the old version. Only the "/Xnnn" versions of
PCBoard use the extended USERNET.DAT file for the time being.
Allow paging in PCBoard: If you do not want users to bother other users in
PCBoard, set this flag to no. If you would like users to be able to receive
chat requests while in PCBoard, set it to yes.
Number of channels: This setting determines the size of your channels.dat file.
It also places a restriction on how many channels users have to choose from on
the system. For most systems, a value of 10 is reasonable, but you may have up
to 1000 channels, in which case you would need 2000 nodes to have 2 people
chatting on each channel.
Allow paging in ProChat: If you do not want users to be able to page other
users in ProChat, set this flag to no. If you would like users to be able to
receive chat requests in proChat, set it to yes.
Default channel: When a user enters ProChat you may wish to place the user in
some channel other than channel 1. You may place the user in any channel you
want, just be careful not to put the user in a channel about the limit on the
number of channels you set above.
Show private messages to sysop: If you want to be able to see the private /SE
messages going back and forth between users while you are in ProChat, set this
flag to yes. If you don't want to be bothered with them, set it to no. Even
if this flag is set to no, users will still be able to send private messages
back and forth.
Default squelch: Much like default channel, you may place users in any squelch
setting you like when they first enter chat. Leaving this blank will place
users in public chat.
Display city in node scan: When a node scan command is issued, you may wish to
exclude user's calling locations from the list. If you do, set this flag to
no, otherwise set it to yes.
Time Warning Frequency: When this is set to a non-zero value, ProChat will
notify the user of how much time is left every x minutes, where x is the value
set in this field. Setting this to zero (0) will disable this feature.
Allow use of handles: If you don't want users to use handles while in chat, set
this to no. When handles are not allowed, the user's first name is used in
place of a handle. If set to yes, the user will be asked for a handle when he
first enters ProChat with his first name as the default handle.
Allow duplicate handles: Allowing duplicate handles can become confusing. For
instance, if two users were chatting, both with the handle "Matt", it would be
impossible to tell which Matt was saying what. But, for those of you that like
adventure, you may set this to yes and allow users to use the same handles.
DATA FILES
----------
ProChat creates and maintains three data files. They are the node
information data file, chat data file, and channel data file. When the chat
data file becomes too big, it may be deleted and it will start over again with
no problems. I do not recommend deleting this file while users are in ProChat,
but it shouldn't cause any major problems. The other two files should require
no intervention. The only time you should mess around with them is in the
event of a power failure while people are in ProChat or whatever. If this
should happen and a user is stuck in the file when they really aren't in
ProChat, just delete both the channels.dat and the prochat.dat files. Do not
delete either file if there is someone in ProChat.
REGISTRATION
------------
ProChat is not free software. It is distributed under the policy of
shareware - try before you buy sort of thing. If you like ProChat and you use
it on a continuous basis, please register it. Many long hours of time and
effort have gone into the development of this program. It wasn't as easy as it
may seem.
Should you make the wise decision to register prochat, there is a $25 base
registration fee. If you run 6 nodes or more, add $5 for each node. So in
other words, if you run 10 nodes, your registration fee would be $25 + 5 * $5,
or $50. If you are registering from Canada, please add an extra $5 for bank
processing fees (I really hate those, they get me for $5 every time). Please
make all checks or money orders payable to Matt Messier.
When you send your registration fee in, make sure you give me the
following information:
1) Your name
2) Your BBS name as you would like it to appear in ProChat
3) Your voice telephone number
4) Your BBS telephone number(s)
After I receive your registration information, I will be calling your system
to give you your registration information.
Send your bundle o' joy to the following address:
ProChat Registration
c/o Matt Messier
3 Loring Drive
Lincoln, RI
02865-1623
Thank you for your support!
SUPPORT
-------
I run a 2-node 24 hour bulletin board. I only have one incoming line at
the moment which is 401-726-3859. There is a ProChat Support conference set
up for questions, suggestions, comments, and whatever niceties you can think
of. The latest version of ProChat can always be found in file directories 5,
12, and 16 as a free/no time download.