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█▀█ █ █ ▄▄▄▄▄▄▄ ▄▄▄▄▄▄▄ ▄▄▄▄▄▄▄ ▄▄▄▄▄▄▄ (R) █ █ █ ▄▄▄ █ █ ▄ ▄ █ █ ▄▄▄▄█ █ ▄▄▄▄█ █▀█ █ █ █ ▄▄▄ █ █ █ █ █ █ ▄▄▄█▄ █▄▄▄▄ █ █ ▀▀▀ █ █▄█ █▄█ █▄█▀█▄█ █▄▄▄▄▄█ █▄▄▄▄▄█ ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ "The Message & File manager" Release version 2.20 Copyright 1990-1993 Programming by: Jan Berends Documentation by: Rob Meulendijks All Rights Reserved T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S PREAMBLE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 CREDITS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 OVERVIEW AND FEATURES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 LICENSING INFORMATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 JAMES SUPPORT SYSTEMS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 HOW TO REGISTER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 REGISTRATION FORM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 THE KEY SYSTEM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 FILEFIX (MAGIC NAMES) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 TICK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 THE AREAMANAGER CONCEPT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 THE ALLFIX CONCEPT (SEARCH REQUESTS) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 INSTALLATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 CONFIGURATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 JAMESCFG Dos Shell to Dos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Save config as . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Exit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Main Addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 System Names . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 System Paths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Switches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Command-lines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Local BBS File Areas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Skipfiles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 LogFiles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Local Boards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 CC Addressee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Network Nodes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Magic Names . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 File Areas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Miscellaneous Origin Lines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Days . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Months . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Display formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 Export Main . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Local . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Miscellaneous . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 All of above . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 DISPLAY FORMATS USAGE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 JAMES COMMANDLINE PARAMETERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 ? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 B= . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 C= . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 CC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 DEBUG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 DEF= . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 E . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 FL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 FN= . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 H . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 LIST . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 LOCAL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 M= . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 MGR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 N . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 ON= . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 R . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 SCAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 SM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 SR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 T= . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 TIC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 W . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 JAMES MESSAGE METASTRINGS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 Metastrings for Names %BoardName . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 %Day . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 %GroupName . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 %FirstFrom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 %FirstSys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 %FirstTo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 %FromName . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 %LastDay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 %LastFrom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 %LastMonth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 %LastStrMonth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 %LastSys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 %LastTo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 %LastYear . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 %LocalFolder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 %Month . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 %Pw . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 %StrDay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 %StrMonth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 %SysName . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 %ToName . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 %Var . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 3 %Version . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 %Year . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 %FromAddress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 %FromNet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 %FromNode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 %FromPoint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 %FromZone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 %ToAddress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 %ToNet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 %ToNode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 %ToPoint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 %ToZone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 Metastrings for files %Desc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 %FileName . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 %MagicName . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 %NewFiles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 %NewTicks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 %ReqFiles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 %ReqMask . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 %ShowAvailableAreas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 %ShowAvailableFiles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 %ShowConnectedAreas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 %ShowConnectedFiles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 %UploadedFiles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 Metastrings for various sizes %DriveSizeXN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 %FileKb . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 %FileSize . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 %FreeXN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 %KbDriveSizeXN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 %KbFreeXN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 %KbNewFiles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 %KbUploadedFiles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 %NrNewFiles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 %NrReqFiles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 %NrUploadedFiles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 %PFreeXN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 %SizeNewFiles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 %SizeUploadedFiles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 %CarbonCopiesThisWeek . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 %CarbonCopiesToday . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 %ExportedThisWeek . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 %ExportedToday . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 %ForwardedThisWeek . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 %ForwardedToday . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 %ImportedThisWeek . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 %ImportedToday . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 %NewSizeKBThisWeek . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 %NewSizeKbToday . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 %NewSizeThisWeek . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 %NewSizeToday . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 %NrFilesThisWeek . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 %NrFilesToday . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 %RequestsThisWeek . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 %RequestsToday . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 %ThankYouThisWeek . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 %ThankYouToday . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 %TotalThisWeek . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 %TotalToday . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 4 %WelcomeThisWeek . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 %WelcomeToday . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 FILE NAMING CONVENTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 ERRORLEVELS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 5 PREAMBLE ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── The first public release of James was in early 1990. Reason for developping it was because my hard disk became more and more filled with all kinds of programs which all did something with the message base of my RemoteAccess BBS. Those programs filled about 800Kb of my diskspace, and I needed the space. So, I decided the time was right to start writing my own message butler. After about two months of development I released the first version of James. Now, almost three years later, James can do almost anything with messages, and with files received through your mailer. Jan Berends, January 1993, Groningen, Holland. 6 CREDITS ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── This documentation makes reference to a number of third-party pro- ducts. Please note that all copyrights, trademarks and/or reserved rights held in these products are acknowledged and respected. I'd like to thank the following persons for their contributions (in alphabetical order). All of them have played a part in the development of James: Jos Bergman, Jos Chrispijn, Christophe David, Daniel Docekal, Barry Geller, Glenn Harwood, Anton Hovestad, John Klaassen, Rob Meulendijks, David Morris, Sandra Nooren, Ginie Smith, Peter Sykora and Hans de Vor. 7 OVERVIEW AND FEATURES ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── James The Message & File manager (henceforth known as James) is a message butler and file manager for Bulletin Board software with either a RemoteAccess 1.11 or Ezycom message and file base, and requires a FidoNet compatible mailer with a *.MSG netmail message base. It has many features in it, so you no longer have the need for that other dozen message and file managing programs. In addition, James requires only a little memory. James allows you to generate a wide variety of messages, such as: ■ Netmail ■ Echomail ■ Local mail ■ File requests But James can also ease many other actions, normally done manual. James can: ■ Import netmail into the various supported messagebases ■ Export netmail from the supported messagebases into a *.MSG netmail area ■ Send new file announcements to various boards ■ Forward local messages from your BBS to personal netmail for predefined persons. ■ Search through download areas for files and create a message ■ Automaticaly update an alias list (magic request names) That was only the messages. James can also manage files; it can: ■ Process inbound files ■ Send inbound files to downlinks ■ Process tick files ■ Send tick files to your downlinks ■ Remove old files from your file areas And that still isn't all. James can perform a lot more tasks. This is only a selection of main features found in James. 8 LICENSING INFORMATION AND DISCLAIMER ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── "James" refers to the executable programs and documentation contained in the James distribution archives released by Jan Berends. This program is not freeware. It resides under the SHAREWARE concept, which means it is user-supported software. If you use this program for a period exceeding 30 days, you are asked to register James with any of the registration sites, or you should stop using our software. 50 Guilders (about US$30,-) is not a lot to ask. As a way of saying thanks, you will have some bonus features, unregistered users will not have. Shareware only works with your support. If you find that you can use this program, then a registration fee of 50 Guilders will help defray the development cost and encourage the authorship of other programs that might be useful to you. The registration form for this purpose is included with the James distribution archive as JAMESREG.DOC. "James" is copyrighted 1990 thru 1993 by Jan Berends, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED WORLDWIDE. You may distribute unmodified versions of the Shareware release of James, provided that it is distributed unmodified. You are granted a repacking of the archive into another compression method as long as all files are included in the archive unmodified. If you have registered your copy of James, you are allowed to make one copy of your key-file for archival purposes. You may not sell the product for a fee and/or distribute the product along with other (commercial) products without expressed written permission from the author of James, nor may you modify or remove the copyright notice from the program or the documentation. Neither the author, Jan Berends, nor any of the other people listed above in CREDITS, can held responsible for any damage (indirectly or directly) that occured through the use of this software package. This program has been successfully tested on a wide variety of PC's, including: PC/XT clone, 286, 386SX, 386DX, 486DX and 486DX/2 machines. Comments, suggestions and bug reports are welcome. If you have any, you can call one of the James Support systems listed below, and leave a message to the sysop. Before reporting a bug, please try to reproduce the problem. If you are reporting a bug, please give as much detail as possible. If needed, send a copy of the configuration files also. 9 JAMES SUPPORT SYSTEMS ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── The systems listed in the table below, are acknowledged as official distribution channels and support systems for shareware versions of James. You can send your questions, and/or bug reports to any of the systems listed here: BBS Name Phone Net Address Speeds ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Holland: ──────── HIO-BBS +31-50-712756 2:282/5 V32/V42B Googol Board +31-4927-65271 2:284/105 V32B/V42B RAccess JayBee +31-38-541358 2:512/146 HST/V32B/V42B AllTime Board +31-1185-2213 2:285/402 HST/V32/V42B NewAge RAccess +31-50-712518 2:282/510 HST/V32B/V42B United Kingdom: ─────────────── Octopus BBS +44-706-874802 2:250/131 V32B/V42B 10 HOW TO REGISTER ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Print or reproduce the registration form in the JAMESREG.DOC file and send it with your registration payment to: "Registration/JAMES" J.Berends Koolstraat 21a 9717 KB GRONINGEN HOLLAND PostGiro: 5579328 The registration fee is 50 Dutch Guilders, or the same amount in your local currentcy. For the United Kingdom: "Registration/JAMES" Mr David Morris 183 Newchurch Road Stacksteads BACUP Lancashire OL13 OTS The registration fee for the United Kingdom is 17 Pound Sterling. For Germany: Thomas Fensterseifer Herbartstrasse 71 8500 Nuernberg 44 Germany Account Number 2401652090 Bank Number 300 209 00 Citi-Bank Duesseldorf The registration fee for Germany will be 50 Deutsche Mark. ■ You MUST fill out the registration form correctly in order for your details to be processed. Not doing so will result in delays in your key delivery. ■ Cheques and money orders should be made payable to the person at your registration site and should be in the apropriate currency. ■ Please allow approx. two weeks for delivery of your key. 11 REGISTRATION FORM ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Enclosed is my registration fee for JAMES: Name: ________________________________________________________ Street: ______________________________________________________ City: __________________________ State: ________ Zip: ________ BBS Name as it appears in JAMESCFG: __________________________ Sysop Name as it appears in JAMESCFG: ________________________ BBS Phone: _____________________ Net/Node Number: ____________ Opening hours of BBS: ________________________________________ Type of computer _____________________________________________ What do you like about James? ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ Program Suggestions/Comments ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ 12 THE KEY SYSTEM ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Upon registering you will receive your uniquely generated key. Each key is a small file, about half a kilobyte in size which contains information about your registration. To install the key, simply rename it to JAMES.KEY (if not already) and copy it to your James system directory. When James detects a valid key it switches into registered mode. Features marked with a {+} in this documentation are only available when James is running in registered mode. It should be made absolutely clear that James is still fully functional before it is registered; the bonus features are 'nice' but their absence makes James no less usable. James is not and never will be 'DemoWare' or 'ExpireWare'. WARNING! Your key is unique, and under NO circumstances should it be made available to anyone else. Doing so is a direct violation of license agreement entered into with us upon registering. 13 FILEFIX (MAGIC NAMES) ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── FileFix is a file distribution method developped by Stig Jacobsen. James supports the concept of passing files through a system by magic names. What are magic names, and how does the concept work? A magic name is a description of a file. For the FidoNet nodediff files, the magic name could be NODEDIFF, with a filemask NODEDIFF.???. Whenever a downlink connects to a magic file, every time the boss receives this file, a file-attached message will automatically be created by James for this downlink. In this way, the boss has to do almost no maintenace on files which have to be send on through his system and are defined as magic's in James. Another thing that can be done with magic names, is automatic execution of DOS commands whenever a magic file has been found in the inbound path of the mailer. With this option it is possible to process, for example, received NODEDIFFs. This can be done by telling James the commands to execute when a magic NODEDIFF has been found, or telling James to execute a batch file which processes the nodediff. 14 TICK ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Tick is a file distribution method developped by Barry Geller. James also supports the concept of passing files through a system by Tick area definitions. The Tick concept is a more flexible and a more secure way of sending files around a network. A Tick area definition is a definiton of an areatag (the name of the area). In a tick area definition, you do not specify the names of the files that will be processed in that area as you do with the magic names. In a Tick area, a file can have any name. Each file sent out in a Tick area, will be accompanied with a TIC-file. This control file contains information about the file, such as: ■ Name of the Tick area ■ Name of the file ■ Size of the file ■ Description of the file ■ A 32-bits Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) ■ A password ■ The nodenumber of the system sending you the file The control file also contains some other information used to prevent it from being send back to the same system twice. Old file processor did this by checking the so-called SEEN-BY's, but James is more intelligent and keeps track of flow in a duplicate database. Further- more, a TIC file contains information about which systems the have processed the file before it reached your system (called the PATH). The description of the file is in the control file, so the description which will be inserted into your filebase, will be the actual descrip- tion of the file as it was defined by the person that hatched the file. About the security aspect of a Tick area. A tick file will have to pass the next steps in order to be processed: ■ Does the area exist? ■ Do you allow to receive files from the sender? ■ Is the password defined for the sender correct? ■ Is the CRC of the file the same as in the control file? ■ Is the file not a duplicate? When any of these checks fails, the file will not be processed and remains in the inbound files directory of your system and the TIC file will be renamed to *.BAD. One part of the tick concept is hatching of files. Hatching is what you do when you create a tick control file for a file for the first time. In a normal tick network, only certain systems are allowed to hatch files. You can allow nodes to send files to you in a Tick area, and/or allow nodes to receive files from you in a Tick area. Those restrictions can be set for each individual node in each Tick area, so a node can have Send and Receive rights in one area and have Receive-only rights in another. 15 The node listed as the origin in a TIC file, will never receive the file via Tick, because it already is on it's system. The origin node normally is the person that initiated the Hatch within a file net. If the file is then exported outside the network into another, the first node within the new network will then be listed as new origin node in that net. Since forwarding TICK files can produce a huge amount of file attached netmail on HUB systems, a new feature was introduced in TICK con- figurations lately: the creation of so-called ZIC files. ZIC files contain all hatch information and files of one James run for one system in one ZIP file. When ticking a large amount of files, the output of netmail messages is reduced to a single message per node, instead of hundreds of netmail attaches. This also has one major disadvantage: it requires the distribution file to be compressed in all outgoing ZIC files. Hatching huge files to numerous nodes will require a large amount of disk space to hold all ZIC files. System that do not have large disk capacity will probarbly stick to producing TIC files instead of ZIC. James supports both TIC and ZIC file forwarding and it can be set for each listed node individually. 16 THE AREAMANAGER CONCEPT ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── In order to have to do as little maintenance as possible, James supports the AreaManager concept. With the AreaManager, your downlinks can send a netmail message to a special user on your system (such as AreaMgr). James recognises a netmail message to this user as a message to the AreaManager. In this message your downlinks can connect and disconnect from the MagicFiles and Tick areas you give them access to. They can also get a list of connected and/or available MagicNames and Tick areas. The downlink has to supply a password for the AreaManager. This prevents illegal connecting/disconnecting of MagicFiles and Tick areas. A message to the AreaManager could like like this: By: Jan Berends To: JamesMgr, 2:284/105 Re: MyPasswrd St: Pvt Local Kill ------------------------------------------ +Nodediff -Z2-Diff %List This message requests to connect to Nodediff, to disconnect from Z2-Diff, and send a list of all files available to you at 2:282/5. 17 THE ALLFIX CONCEPT (SEARCH REQUESTS) ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── The AllFix concept is an alternative for a megalist project. The idea behind a megalist project is that one system has a list of all files available at systems which participate in that megalist project, this enables a user to find out at this system where he can get a certain file. One problem with a megalist project is, is that the megalist system never has the latest information about available files at the participating systems. This disadvantage does not apply to the AllFix concept. With the AllFix concept, all systems which participate in the project have an echomail area installed in which the AllFix requests can be send by the users. Whenever a user is search-ing for a file, he can enter an echomail message in an AllFix area requesting a search for the file he is looking for. This echomail message will then be send to all the participating sys- tems. On those systems, James sees the request, and searches the local file areas for the requested file. When James has found the file, it will send a message (netmail or echomail) to the person who requested the search. In this way, the user can do a search in the actual database of the participating systems instead of searching a database which contains old information. An other advantage of the AllFix concept when comparing it to a megalist project is that the user can call his local system, and does not have to call any other systems until he knows the exact location of the file he was searching for. A message in an AllFix echomail area requesting a search for The Message & File manager James could look like this: By: Jan Berends To: AllFix Re: Manager St: Local ------------------------------------------ This requests a search for all programs which have the word Manager in their description. The same search could also look like this: By: Jan Berends To: AllFix Re: James* St: Local ------------------------------------------ This requests a search for all files which have a name which equals the mask JAMES*.*. You do not have to supply the extension, because James will substitute the extension of a search mask always by a *. 18 INSTALLATION ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── James should run on any IBM 8088 or 8086 compatible computer. The only other software you will need in addition to the release package is DOS version 3.30 or higher (DOS 5.0 is recommended). The minimum memory requirement is 200K but 512K is recommended. 1. Ensure that your CONFIG.SYS file contains these statements: FILES=20 BUFFERS=25 If you are running in a multitasking system, you may need to increase the number of file handles that DOS can open at one time, by raising the FILES= value. You should also have loaded SHARE. This utility allows you to open one file by two programs at the same time. If you haven't loaded SHARE, and are running a multitasking mode, you are asking for disaster. 2. Create a directory to put the main program files in. The con- figuration example that follows later assumes that this directory (the SYSTEM directory) is C:\JAMES. 3. To be able to access James from anywhere on your system, include: PATH=C:\JAMES; in your path line (probarbly the best place is in the AUTOEXEC.BAT) and add the following DOS environment setting: SET JAMES=C:\JAMES 4. Copy all of the executable files from the James distribution package into the SYSTEM directory. 5. If you have the program Pretty Good Privacy version 2.0, written by Philip Zimmermann, you can assure that the files came from the Author of James by running: "PGP JAMES.SIG". Enter JAMES.EXE when you are prompted for the textfile. When it succeeds, you have a good copy of James. The .SIG files should be in the distribution package. If not, request a fresh copy of James from our support systems. The public key which is required for this test can be requested at 2:282/5 with the magicname PGPKEY. 6. Read the manual (you are well on your way). This completes the installation, and you are now ready to move to the CONFIGURATION section. 19 CONFIGURATION ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── JAMESCFG The configuration part of James is built into a seperate program called JAMESCFG, which should be invoked at this point. The look and feel of this configuration is adopted from the FrontDoor setup utility. Since FrontDoor a widely used product, it will ease installation for most people. JAMESCFG will allow you to built various configurations, all for dif- ferent purposes. You will see that there are six main menus, from which all features are configured. JAMESCFG uses colour. When using a monochrome monitor on a color card, you might want to use the -M command-line parameter to have JAMESCFG displayed in black and white. As said before, James has the oppertunity to use different configurations for each James session. To modify a configuration other than JAMES.CFG, specify it on the JAMESCFG command-line. All Node addresses in JAMESCFG should be entered in 3D or 4D format! CONFIGURATION: Dos ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Available options: Dos: Shell to Dos ───────────────── Use this option for a temporary shell to Dos. You can also press ALT-Z from anywhere in JAMESCFG to shell to Dos. Dos: Save config as ─────────────────── Allows you to save the current configuration under a different name. Dos: Exit ───────── Select this item when you want to leave JAMESCFG. Escape from the main menu has the same effect. 20 CONFIGURATION: Main ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── This part of the configuration program is used to configure some general information about your system. Main: Addresses ─────────────── Use this window to enter you network address (if any). If you have any alias addresses (AKA's) you may enter these in one or more of the nine slots provided. Behind each address you can enter the netmail board for that address uses in your message base. When you want to use the Import netmail function, you have to define a netmail board for every one of your addresses when you want to import netmail. When sending messages James will try to find the address 'closest' to that of the addressee when no address is specified. Main: System Names ────────────────── In this section you tell James where all files have to be stored or can be found. Also some other system dependent names have to be entered in this window: Sysop Name : Name of sysop of BBS. Board Name : Name of BBS. This one is the one your key is generated upon. Mailer type : Select the mailer type you are using. Using the space bar you can toggle between: FrontDoor : Writes the semaphore FDRESCAN.NOW D'Bridge : Writes the semaphore DBRIDGE.RSN None : Does not write any semaphore file Message Base : The type of bulletin board you are using. Using the space bar you can toggle between: RemoteAccess 1.11 Ezycom File Base : Here you can select what type of file base you are using. Currently only FILES.BBS or None is sup- ported. Manager Names : In this section you can enter 7 names where the JAMES -SCAN function should respond to. The first three names can not be changed. Main: System Paths ────────────────── Inbound Path : Where inbound files are received Messagebase Path : RA/Ezycom message base. Mailer Path : Mailer semaphore directory. Netmail Path : Mailers *.MSG netmail directory. 21 Outbound Path : Outbound directory for MGR and TIC functions. This directory should only be used by James. Eventual other files in this directory will be deleted. Swap Path : James' swap files will be placed here. Queue Path : D'Bridge QUEUE directory. This is applicable only if selected mailer type is D'Bridge Aliasfile Name : Name of file containing the alias information used by the mailer to honour file requests. Helpfile Name : The HELP text file for JamesMgr %HELP requests. Log File : Directory and filename of the James log file └ Log Level : How the James should log actions. With the space bar you can toggle between: No logging: Do not log any actions Standard : Verbose logging Full : Debug logging. Write ANY action to the system log. Main: Switches ────────────── This section deals with many of the global settings in relation to messages. Force Rescan : Create messagebase rescan semaphore files for mailer whenever a echomail/netmail message has been sent. Show Size : Show size of listed file after filename in messages where newfiles or files found after an AllFix searchrequest are being displayed. Show description : Show description of listed files in messages where newfiles or files found after an AllFix searchre- quest are being shown. Add Private Files : Show files which have NO description in your filebase in %NewFiles or AllFix searchrequest reply messages. Show Area Name : Show name of file area if newfiles or AllFix search- request messages. Insert Blank Line : Insert a cosmetically good looking blank line bet- ween two file areas in newfiles messages. Tabulate Descriptions : Split description of files over more than one line when they get too long. James will also do this when it detects a plus sign (+) at the first position in a FILES.BBS. This is used in a lot of programs such as RFW. Send Empty New Files : Send new files message even when no new files were found. Send Empty 22 Search Requests: Send searchrequest reply message even when no re- quested files area being found. Only recommended when replies are being sent by netmail. Suppress Scrn Output : Do not write anything to screen after reading the configuration file. Compress Mail : D'Bridge has the ability to compress normal netmail messages into the XMAIL mail bundles and putting the file-attached file directly in the disk based queue, which cleans up the netmail area. If you use D'Bridge and want to use this option, toggle it to Yes. Otherwise set it to No. Clear Stat. On : James keeps track of how many messages have been sent. You can define on what day the statistics have to be reset to 0. Maximum # Wildcards : Maximum number of "?" in an AllFix searchrequest filename. '*' will be expanded to (multiple) '?'. A recommended value here is 3. Minimum # Characters : Minimum number of characters in an AllFix searchrequest when searching by description (when searchstring contains no wildcards). Days to keep dupes : Number of days to keep a file's CRC in the JAMES.DUP file. These CRC's are calculated over all files processed by the -MGR, -TIC and -H functions. Main: Command-lines ─────────────────── This feature allows you to give James predefined command-lines. For exmaple, if you generate multiple file announcements regularly, you can execute them all in one run by using the command-line database, without spawning JAMES multiple times and without the worries of seperate batch files. With -DEF= (see command-line options) you can use one or more predefined command-lines. 23 CONFIGURATION: Local ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── This section contains mainly information from your BBS. Local: BBS File Areas ───────────────────── In this section you can enter the information about your local File Areas. Path : Directory where the files in this area are being stored Description : Description of this area (Used in newfile messages). SearchRequests : Whether this file area is to be searched when an AllFix search request is being processed. NewFiles : Whether this file area has to be searched for new files. See the meta-string %NewFiles for more information about NewFiles announcements. Group : Group to which this file area belongs for selective new file announcement messages. Skipfiles ───────── Here you define which files should never be reported in %NewFiles. This is useful for files like your Allfiles file which probably will be new every day. It is nonsense to announce this file in every %NewFiles announcement. The files defined here will never be automatically hatched (See Network/File Areas/Auto hatch). LogFiles ──────── Here you tell James which logfiles should be searched when James is checking for new users or for uploaders. To have James correctly read the logfiles, you can define important information in "Miscellaneous -> Display Formats" Local: Local Boards ─────────────────── Here you define the boardnumber and a description of the message boards in your messagebase which have to be searched for messages addressed to persons listed in the nodes database (see Network -> Nodes -> Forward). Local: CC Addressee ─────────────────── In this window you specify the information about the addressee of Carbon Copy messages which will be send when you specify the -CC parameter on the commandline. Name : Name of Carbon Copy addressee. Address : Optional netmail address of CC addressee. 24 Board : Message base board number. You have to specify adress or board, not both. Subject : Subject which will be given to CC message. Attributes : Attributes which will be given to CC message. A CarbonCopy message is an exact copy of a message sent to any person, but sent to the person defined in this section. 25 CONFIGURATION: Network ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Network: Nodes ────────────── In this section you can define your uplinks and down-links. Use Insert to add a new node-definition, Delete to remove a node-definition, and Enter to edit an existing node-definition. Address : Net address of system. Sysop name : Name of sysop (will be used for all messages send to this system). Groups : Controls which areas and magic files this system can connect to/disconnect from with an AreaMgr message. Password : Defines the password for the AreaManager and Tick functions of James. Use Aka : Use which address when sending messages to this system. This will default to the closest address defined in the Main/Addresses section. OldFashioned: Send an Oldfashioned Tick-file to this node. This means that when this option is set to Yes, no point-info will be includeded in the TIC-file. When this option is set to No, Pointinfo will be added, and SEEN-BY lines will be removed from the TICK-file (since an intelligent Tick-processor does not need these lines for dupe checking). Forward : If James detects messages addressed to this node in the local areas defined in Main: Local Message Boards, it will forward them to netmail using the node address of this sysop. Notify : Send notification message of AreaManager to this sys- tem. Uplink : Set this to Yes if this this node is an uplink of you (the node that takes care of your mail and files). If you serve as a Hub for the node, that node is a downlink, and in that case this option should be set to No. Create ZIC : If you want to create ZIC files for this node, select Yes. If you want normal TIC files, set this to No. For more information about ZIC files, please read chapter TICK earlier in this manual. Manager Name: In case this is an uplink definition, you should enter the name of the file manager used at the uplinks site. It is used to address automatically generated (dis)connection requests. Status : Defines the status of all messages send to this system. Network: Magic Names ──────────────────── In this section you define the magic files. Magic files are filemasks of files which you receive through your mailer in your inbound directory and want to process automatically. When you have downlinks, you can define them also. Whenever you receive a file defined as a magic file, it will be send on to your downlinks. MagicName : Name of file used for connecting/disconnecting files with a message to AreaManager. 26 FileMask : File mask of file. Wildcards are allowed in this filemask. Description : Description of file used for manager mes-sages. This description will be inserted in the filebase in the destination path. You can use some meta-strings in the description: %1-%8 for the first upto the eighth character of the filename. %9-%11 for the first upto the third character of the extension. Destination : Where to move the file to. Leave this blank when the file should be moved. Group : Defines a group to which this file belongs. Downlinks requesting a magic-file though a manager request must have the same group in their groups listing in order to be able to connect/disconnect the file. On Days : You have to define on which day the file will be processed. Keep Latest : Keep latest allows you to control the number of files hold in the destination directory. It is un- necessary to keep all received nodediff's for example. When you set this number to 3, the latest 3 nodediff's will remain in this directory. Set this number to 0 if you want to keep all files. Auto Forward : Automatically forward files with a date/time newer than the last time JAMES -MGR has been executed found in Destination path to downlinks. AliasList Update : The alias list defined in the Main/Names section. James will search for the magicname in this list, and insert the correct path and filename in it. Eg. when you have the following entry in your alias list: NODEDIFF C:\FILES\NODEDIFF.A76 and James processes the next nodediff, James will replace the entry with: NODEDIFF C:\FILES\NODEDIFF.A83 (assuming that C:\FILES\ is the destination path for the magic NODEDIFF). In this way, you alias list is always up to date. No Delete : When you want to use the -MGR function to perform certain tasks on the file, and to update your alias list, but the file is received as a tick file and you want to forward it to your downlinks as a tick file. Normaly, James would move the file to the destination path, and JAMES -TIC will give an error because the attached file could not be found. When you activate this option, James will process the magic but instead of moving the file, James will copy the file to it's destination path. Allow repack : This option allows you to repack the files located 27 on your bulletin board, even before all nodes have picked up the file. You might want, for example, to repack ZIP files to ARJ files in your download area. When you set this option to Yes, James will place a second copy of the in-transit file in the outbound directory. The original copy is then moved to the file area it belongs in. Outgoing file-attach mes- sages for this area then do not attach the file in the download area, but will use the temporary, non- repacked copy in the James outbound. When all sys- tems have picked up this file, it is deleted. Commands : The commands entered here will be executed when the file has been found in the inbound directory prior to moving the file to its destination directory. Commands should be separated by ';'. When the line is too short for all your commands, simply create a batchfile containing all your commands, and enter the name (and path) of your batchfile. You can use three macro's on this line: %1 for complete filename+path %2 for filename %3 for extension Nodes : Here you define the nodes you want to send the file to whenever it has been found in your inbound direc- tory. James will create a file-attach message for each node. Network: File Areas ─────────────────── In this section you define your Tick areas. AreaTag : This is the name of the area. This name will be in the tick control files which comes with the files. Description : Description is the description shown in AreaManager messages. Destination : Destination is the directory where the files received in this area will be moved to. If this you leave this empty, the file will NOT moved. Group : Defines a group to which this file belongs. Downlinks requesting a magic-file through a manager request must have the same group in their groups listing in order to be able to connect/disconnect the FileArea. Use Replace : Defines whether or not the replace option should be used for this area. The replace option is activated whenever the tick control file accompanying the file contains the REPLACES keyword. When James finds the file following this keyword, James will delete this file when you activate this option. The filename may NOT contain any wildcards. This is done for security reasons, in order to disallow things like REPLACES *.*. We suggest you only activate this section for 28 areas where it is useful to use this option. Save Info : This option defines whether the information of a file should be saved in order to make it possible to announce the new received files in this area in an (echo)mail message. James will store the information in a file called JAMES.TCI in your James directory. (refer to metastring %NewTick for more information about announcing new ticks). Auto Hatch : Automatically hatch files found in desti-nation path of this area which have a time/date newer that the last time JAMES -TIC was executed. Allow repack : This option allows you to repack the files located on your bulletin board, even before all nodes have picked up the file. You might want, for example, to repack ZIP files to ARJ files in your download area. When you set this option to Yes, James will place a second copy of the in-transit file in the outbound directory. The original copy is then moved to the file area it belongs in. Outgoing file-attach mes- sages for this area then do not attach the file in the download area, but will use the temporary, non- repacked copy in the James outbound. When all sys- tems have picked up this file, it is deleted. Nodes : Nodes defines your UPLINK and downlink nodes. Pres- sing enter on a defined nodenumber allows you to define whether a node is allowed to send files TO you in this particular area and/or is allowed to receive files FROM you. When you do not specify your uplink here with receive status, TIC's received in this area will NOT be processed. In order to know whether a file has been processed before or not, James keeps a duplicate file. This file contains a CRC-32 check over the received file. This duplicate checking is done for both the Magic files and the files received in a tick area. The Areatag or Magicname will also be included in the duplicate check in order to allow a file to pass your system in more than one area, or to process it with -MGR and forward it with -TIC. 29 CONFIGURATION: Miscellaneous ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Here you can define some global texture to give your own designed messages a better look. Miscellaneous: Origin Lines ─────────────────────────── With "Origin Lines", you define the origin lines James will add to your echomail messages. The first origin line is the default origin. The origin line is used to give information about the sender of the message and is placed at the end of any echomail message. An example of an origin line is: * Origin: HIO BBS Groningen * +31-50-712756 * (2:282/500) James itself (like most other programs) will add the text "* Origin: " and the nodenumber to any echomail message. So you should enter the above origin line here as: HIO BBS Groningen * +31-50-712756 * Miscellaneous: Days ─────────────────── This section allows you to define the full names of the days in your own language or in the language you want to announce messages. This gives the messages you send an extra good look, as most other programs insert the default English name of the days. Miscellaneous: Months ───────────────────── This section allows you to define the full names of the months in your own language or in the language you wish to announce your messages. Miscellaneous: Groups ───────────────────── These are the groups a particular node (configured in Network: Nodes) is secured with. A group definition is the Group combined with a description. The Group and description is included in notify lists (-LIST) and is used all over JAMESCFG. For example, for FidoNet files you could use: F FidoNet File Distribution And for general files, you could assign group G: G General Files You are not obliged to assign descriptions to your groups, but it improves the looks of your notify lists and it will ease your own JAMESCFG usage as well. 30 Miscellaneous: Display formats ────────────────────────────── This is the section that allows you to have James create messages the way you want them to look, and also how James scans existing log files for uploads and new users. This is rather powerful and looks complicated, but it really isn't that difficault. You will find examples and syntaxis for display formats later in this manual in section 'Display formats usage'. The following option can be configured for log-file analysis: User on-line : This defines what's written to your BBS' log-file when a user enters your board. User off-line : Defines how your BBS software writes to the log-file if a user leaves your board. Upload : Here you can define the way your bulletin board software writes to the log file when an upload is made. New User : This specifies the text your bulletin board software logs when a new user has just logged on. The following options can be configured for message layouts (see metastrings for explanation): %UploadedFiles : This is how your messages look when using the %UploadFiles metastring. %List : How the format of metastring %List will look in mes- sages. %ReqFiles : How messages will look when using metastring %ReqFiles. %NewFiles : How messages using metastring %NewFiles will look. %NewTick : How messages using metastring %NewTicks will look. 31 CONFIGURATION: Export ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── In the export section you can export your configuration to a plain vanilla ASCII text file. This is very useful when you have a bug-report or are trying to find out where a problem is in your setup. Export: Main ──────────── This exports all functions listed under menu Main: Addresses, system names, system paths, switches and the command-line database. Export: Local ───────────── This exports BBS file areas, skip files, log files, local boards and CC addressees. Export: Network ─────────────── This will export all node, magic files and TICK configurations. Export: Miscellaneous ───────────────────── The will export the origins, day-namings, month-namings, group definitions and display formats. Export: All of above ──────────────────── This will export Main, Local, Network and Miscellaneous. 32 DISPLAY FORMATS USAGE ───────────────────── When configuring James in Miscellaneous: Display Formats, there are several commands you can use for analyzing log files. The meaning of these commands is explained below: !nn skip nn positions in the current line ; skips to the next line 'text' a normal text definition @ skips to the next word without using it * is replaced by the user-name in a 'User on-line' definition # represents the filename in an 'Upload' definition $ represents the size of an upload in an 'Upload' definition Also, the layout of file announcements, ALLFIX messages and 'Thanks for upload' messages, can be entirely customized. The commands used to do this are: %0 prints a semi-colon (;) in the message %1 is replaced by the filename in the message %2 the size of the file in bytes %3 is replaced by the description of the file %4 represents the areaname the file was hatched into. This option can only be used in conjunction with metastring %NewTicks (see section Metastrings for an explanation of the NewTick function). %5 is replaced by the origin of the file. This parameter can only be used in conjunction with metastring %NewTicks. ; starts at a new line. So, let's say you're running RemoteAccess logging in extended mode. When someone enters your board, RemoteAccess might log: > 20-Jan-93 12:03 Jan Berends on-line at 14400 bps To analyse this in 'Display formats' we should use !19*' on-line at' to have James correctly look up the log file for the 'On-line' option in JAMESCFG. If you are running a Ezycom BBS logging in extended mode, you could use the following as a default setup: User on-line : !12@*' at '@'baud' User off-line : !12'Call Terminated' Upload : !12'Upload('@# New-User : !12'Questionnaire NEWUSER' %UploadedFiles: %1 33 JAMES COMMANDLINE PARAMETERS ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── James has a lot command-line parameters, each having its own special function. Some parameters can be used together with others, other parameters must be used as the only parameter. Some other parameters can only be used with others. All this will be explained in the following section. Command-line parameters should be preceded with either '-' or '/'. All files specified on the commandline (and all other files) will first be looked for in the current directory, and when not found there, James will look in the directory specified by the James environment parameter. All addresses should be entered completely! When an example contains parameters which you do not under-stand at the time you read them, don't bother. When you have read this complete manual, you will understand them. Command Description ─────── ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── ? This parameter will display the help message. Example: JAMES -? 0=..9= With these ten parameters you can specify a variable on the commandline, and with the %Var0..%Var9 you can include those parameter in your message text. The value of those parameters have to be given be-tween '"'. Example: JAMES -M=Msg -T=New,2:282/5 -N -0="c:\KEY" B= The B= parameter defines the boardnumber in your message- base. This parameter can be used with both the R and the M parameters. Example: JAMES -B=13 -M=NewMsg.Txt -T=Sysop -E=1,2 C= This parameter designates an alternate configuration file. The default extension for the configuration file is .CFG. This parameter can be used with any other commandline parameter. Example: JAMES -C=MyCfg -I CC When you include the -CC parameter with any other com- mandline parameter, a Carbon Copy of new created messages will be send to the person defined in the CC Addressee section of JAMESCFG. This is not the case when using one of the options -Fl, -I or -X. Example: JAMES -Scan -CC DEBUG This commandline parameter shows most of the internal actions of James' operation. It has been included for debugging purposes. DEF= Allows you to execute predefined command-line option specified in JAMESCFG. This allows you to easily executed 34 regular used command-line option, without the worries of creating seperate batch-files. Example: JAMES -Def=1 JAMES -Def=1-5 E The message sent will be an echomail message. James will append an origin line and a tearline to your message. The format of this parameter is: -E<=OriginNumber<,AddressNumber>> - OriginNumer is the number of the origin line to use. - AddressNumber is the number of the address to use. Address 1 is your Main address, address 2 is Aka 1, address 3 is Aka 2 and so forth. This parameter can be used with the R end T= parameter. Examples: JAMES -E -B=2 -T="To Name" -M=Msg JAMES -E=2 -B=7 -R FL When James finds the FL parameter on the commandline, James will scan the message base for messages in the defined local boards addressed to the persons defined in the Node database. When James finds such a message James will export this message to the Netmail directory, and sending it to the address specified in the Node database. You can specify the M= parameter on the same commandline. The message text defined in the file given with the M= parameter will precede the original message text. Examples: JAMES -Fl JAMES -Fl -M=FlHeader FN= If you want to substitute the default sysop name in the From: field of messages, you can specify this parameter. Examples: JAMES -Scan -M=JamesMgr -FN="JamesMgr" JAMES -R -B=12 -M=Search -FN="File Locator James" H The H parameter allows you to Hatch file into file distribution networks. This function will send out the file accompanied with a TIC file to all downlinks listed for a certain area which allows full automated file forwarding. It is important to know if your uplink allows you to hatch files into file areas. With -H as the only command-line option for James enters the manual hatch mode. From here you can manually hatch files into an area. You will have to specify the following data: AreaName : The name of the TICK area the file will be hatched into. FileName : The filename (eventualy with path) to be hatched Description: A description of the hatched file Origin : Your nodenumber Replaces : File that needs to be replaced by this one 35 (if it exists). Then, James will automatically forward this file to all up- and downlinks listed for that particular TICK area. You can only hatch one filename at a time. You can also hatch a file by reading the neccesary infor- mation from a file on disk. Example: JAMES -H=Dummy will hatch a file listed in file DUMMY. The format of this file is almost the same as with a manual hatch. It should contain AREA TICK area FILE Filename DESC Description ORIGIN Origin address REPLACES I {+} The I parameter invokes the Import Netmail function. James scans your netmail directory for netmail message addressed to one of your addresses, and when found imports that message into the defined message base board. This parameter should be the only on the command-line. Example: JAMES -I LIST {+} With the LIST function you send a message to all the connected nodes containing a list of all connected files/areas, and a list of all available files/areas. You can also send a list to a selected person by adding the nodenumber to send it to preceded by a =. The layout of this 'notification message' is configurable with metastrings (see the section about metastrings for more inforation) Examples: JAMES -List JAMES -List=2:282/5 JAMES -List=2:282/5 -M=Notify LOCAL The LOCAL parameter allows you to test the -R function (see later). When you include the LOCAL parameter on the com- mandline, JAMES will also answer locally generated messages in the searches. This parameter is intended to test if James correctly searches for requests, and should only be used for test purposes. Example: JAMES -R -B=13 -LOCAL M= The M= parameter defines which ASCII file should be used as the message body. It is used with almost all options of James. James defaults to the extension .MSG. The first line of this message is placed on the subject line. Example: JAMES -M=Message.Txt -R -B=34 MGR The Mgr parameter tells James to perform all the tasks related to the MGR function. Those task are: 36 - Checks the distination path for new files to auto-forward; - Checks the inbound path for files which match a magic file definition, and processes them; - Cleans up the files in the detination path. The Mgr Function can be executed on the same command-line as the TIC function. Which function will be executed first, depends on the order of those commands on the command-line. Examples: JAMES -Mgr JAMES -Mgr -M=MgrMsg JAMES -Mgr -Tic JAMES -Tic -Mgr N The message generated will be a netmail message. This parameter can be used with the -R and the -T= parameter. The format of this parameter is: -N<=AddressNumber> Address one is your Main address, address 2 is Aka 1, address 3 is Aka 2 etc. ON= With the ON= you can specify on which days the messages have to be send. You run James every day, but only on the days given with the ON= parameter James will send messages. This is useful for sending inbound and outbound traffic overviews to the sysop. Examples: JAMES -On=SunTueThu -List JAMES -On=Mon -M=Report -T=Sysop -B=10 R When you use this parameter James will scan your message base for messages addressed to either James or AllFix. You have to specify a boardnumber (-B=) in which James will search on the commandline. You can also use the -M= parameter to define the message sent to the person who requested a search. All reply's will default be sent in NETmail. Locally generated message will never be answered, unless LOCAL is supplied. Examples: JAMES -R -B=17 JAMES -R -B=23 -M=Answer JAMES -R -B=41 -E=1,4 SCAN When Scan is given as a parameter, James will scan your NET- mail directory for messages addressed to your selected 'Manager Names' specified in JAMESCFG. These messages are requests from your downlinks for connecting and disconnec- ting magic files and/or tick areas. The node sending the message can include some meta-strings in his request mes- sage: %L{IST} to list all available files/tick areas %Q{UERY} to list all connected files/tick areas %H{ELP} to request help about the JamesMgr +%ALL to connect all available files/tick areas -%ALL to disconnect all available files/tick areas 37 SM The SM parameter (Skip Move) tells James not to move the file you are hatching. This parameter can only be used with the H parameter. Example: JAMES -H -SM SR The SR parameter (Skip Reset) can be used with message which include a listing of new file announcements. When you use this parameter, the time information will not be updated. In this way you can send more than one announcement in a very simple way. When you run James after you ran James with the -SR parameter, James will not know it has sent out a message previously and will send the information once more until the -SR option is ommited. Example: JAMES -M=NewFls -T=Sysops -E=1,2 -B=1 -SR T= This parameter defines the receipient of your message, or a file containing multiple addressees. This parameter should be used with at least the -M= parameter, and the -B= or -N parameter. The format of this parameter is: -T=<">Name<,Address><;Attrib><">|@FileName - Name : is the name of the addressee, underscores will be translated to spaces. - Address : is the netmail address of the addressee - Attrib : are the attributes given to the message Valid attributes are: C Send netmail with Crash priority D Send netmail Direct to addressee E Delete attached file when send F File attached (first line of message is filename) H Hold message I Send netmail with Immediate priority K Kill netmail message when send P Message is Private R Request a file (first line of message is filename) T Truncate attached file when send U Update request (first line of message is filename) - FileName is an ascii file containing one addressee per line. Examples: JAMES -T=To_Name -M=MyMsg -B=14 JAMES -T="To Name,2:282/500" -M=Test -N JAMES -T=@Nodes.Dat -M=TestMsg -N JAMES -T=To_Name,2:282/500.1;PK -M=Test -N TIC The Tic parameter activates the following functions: first of all James will clean the outbound directory. James will do this by checking all files in this directory against the file-attached messages in your Netmail direc- tory. Files which are not attached to a message are con- sidered to be send, and thus will be deleted. The only not-attached file that James will not delete is the FILES.BBS file. The -Mgr Function can be executed on the same commandline as 38 the -TIC function. Which function will be executed first, depends on the order of those commands on the commandline. Examples: JAMES -Tic JAMES -Tic -Mgr U {+} This parameter tells James to check the logfile(s) defined in the Local/LogFiles section of JamesCfg for uploaders. How James checks this log file is specified in JAMESCFG in 'Display Formats'. James will place the defined message in the message base board you define. You can add the status bits given to the message with an =<status bits> after the U parameter. Examples: JAMES -U -B=17 -M=UplFiles JAMES -U=P -B=17 -M=UplFiles W {+} This parameter tells JAMES to check the logfile(s) defined in the Local/LogFiles section of JAMESCFG for new users. How JAMES scans the log file(s) is specified in JAMESCFG in 'Display Formats'. James will place the defined message in the message base board you define. You can add the status bits given to the message with an =<status bits> after the W parameter Examples: JAMES -W -B=17 -M=NewUsers JAMES -W=P -B=17 -M=NewUsers X {+} The X parameter invokes the Export Netmail function. James scans your entire messagebase for messages with netmail status, which are not yet exported. When found, James will create a new message in your netmail directory, and will delete the original located in the message base board or flagging it 'Rcvd'. This parameter should be the only on your commandline. Example: JAMES -X 39 JAMES MESSAGE METASTRINGS ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── James has the capability to replace information in your messa-ge files by other information. When you include a 'metastring' this string will be replace by the appropriate value. In this way, for the reader of the message, it is possible to let a message look just as if you entered it manually. Below is a listing of all metastring divided into some logical groups. Metastrings for Names ───────────────────── %BoardName Name of Bulletin Board as defined in JAMESCFG. %Day Current day (1..31). %GroupName Name of group as defined in JAMESCFG. This metastring should be followed by the letter of the group. E.g. %GroupNameA for the description of Group A. %FirstFrom First name of sender of message. %FirstSys First name of sysop as defined in JAMESCFG. %FirstTo First name of addressee of message. %FromName Full name of sender of message. %LastDay Day when James has done a check for new files for the last time (1..31). %LastFrom Last name of sender of message. %LastMonth Month when James has done a check for new files for the last time (1..12). %LastStrMonth Month when James has done a check for new files for the last time (jan..dec as defi-ned in JAMESCFG). %LastSys Last name of sysop as defined in JAMESCFG. %LastTo Last name of addressee of message. %LastYear Year when James has done a check for new files for the last time. %LocalFolder Name of local folder, when using FL= parameter, where the original message was found. %Month Current month (1..12). %Pw Password of node for manager messages. Is only valid when -Scan, -Mgr or -List is used. %StrDay Current day (Sun..Sat as defined in JAMESCFG). %StrMonth Current month (jan..dec as defined in JAMESCFG). 40 %SysName Names of sysop as defined in JAMESCFG. %ToName Name of addressee of message. %Var The contents of the command-line parameters 0=..9=. This metastring should be followed by the number of the command-line parameter. Eg %Var3 for the con- tents of command-line parameter 3 %Version Version number of James. %Year Current Year. Metastrings for addresses ────────────────────────── Addresses are only valid for Netmail and Echomail messages. Addresses of addressee are only valid for Netmail messages. %FromAddress Origin address of message. %FromNet Net number of origin address of message. %FromNode Node number of origin address of message. %FromPoint Point number of origin address of message. %FromZone Zone number of origin address of message. %ToAddress Destination address of message. %ToNet Net number of destination address of message. %ToNode Node number of destination address of message. %ToPoint Point number of destination address of message. %ToZone Zone number of destination address of message. Metastrings for files ───────────────────── %Desc Description defined in JAMESCFG of magic file when -Mgr parameter is used. %FileName File name in case of a file-attached message when -Mgr is used. %MagicName Magic name of file attached file when MGR parameter is used. %NewFiles New files found in file areas since last run of James with %NewFiles metastring. When you want to announce new files in a specific group of areas, you can add :Groups to this meta-string. Eg. use %NewFiles:ACF to announce only those new files found in areas belonging to groups A, C and F. Do not forget to add the -SR switch to the command- line when you want to make other announcements (The 41 marker will otherwise be reset to the current time and date, and James will not find any new messages). %NewTicks New arrived Tick files in Tick areas since last run of James with %NewTicks metastring. When you want to announce new arrivced ticks in a specific group of areas, you can add :Groups to this metastring. Eg. %NewTicks:GYD to announce only those new ticks arrived in the areas belonging to groups G, Y and D. Do not forget to add the -SR switch to the command line when you want to announce those new ticks in an other message. %ReqFiles Files found matching searchmask when -R parameter is used. %ReqMask Searchmask given by user on the "Subject" line in the original message, when R parameter is used. %ShowAvailableAreas Used in notification messages (-LIST). Shows all of the available TICK areas. %ShowAvailableFiles Shows the available magic files in the notification messages. %ShowConnectedAreas Used in the notification messages. This option shows the currently connected TICK areas. %ShowConnectedFiles Also used in the notification messages. It shows the connected magic files. %UploadedFiles The filenames of the files a user has uploaded when -U parameter is used. Metastrings for various sizes ───────────────────────────── %DriveSizeXN Size of drive X using N positions in message in bytes. The size will be right justified (see also %KbDriveSizeXN). %FileKb Size of attached file in case of a file attached message in KiloBytes (1024 bytes). %FileSize Size of attached file in case of a file attached message in bytes. %FreeXN Free space on drive X in N positions in message in bytes. The size will be right justified (see also %KbFreeXN). %KbDriveSizeXN Size of drive X using N positions in message in KiloBytes. The size will be right justified (see also %DriveSizeXN). 42 %KbFreeXN Free space on drive X in N positions in message in KiloBytes. The size will be right justified (see also %FreeXN). %KbNewFiles Total KiloBytes of new files found when %NewFiles is used in same message (see also %SizeNewFiles). %KbUploadedFiles Total KiloBytes of files uploaded by user when -U parameter is used (see also %SizeUploadedFiles). %MBDriveSize Shows the total capacity on disk in megabytes. %MBFree Shows the total free space in megabytes. %NrNewFiles Number of new files found when %NewFiles is used in same message. %NrReqFiles Number of files found matching the search mask found when using the -R parameter. %NrUploadedFiles Number of files uploaded by user when U parameter is used. %PFreeXN Percentage free on drive X in N positions in mes- sage. The percentage will be right justified. %SizeNewFiles Total bytes of new files found when %NewFiles is used in same message (see also %KbNewFiles). %SizeUploadedFiles Total size of files uploaded by user when U parameter is used. Metastrings for Statistics ────────────────────────── %CarbonCopiesThisWeek Number of Carbon Copy messages send in the past seven days, or since last reset. %CarbonCopiesToday Number of Carbon Copy message send today. %ExportedThisWeek Number of netmail messages exported in the past seven days or since last reset. %ExportedToday Number of netmail messages exported today. %ForwardedThisWeek Number of messages forwarded from local boards in the past seven days or since last reset. %ForwardedToday Number of messages forwarded from local boards today. %ImportedThisWeek Number of netmail messages imported in the past seven days, or since last reset. %ImportedToday Number of netmail message imported today. 43 %NewSizeKBThisWeek Total size in KiloBytes of new files found in the past seven days or since last re-set. %NewSizeKbToday Total size in KiloBytes of new files found today. %NewSizeThisWeek Total size in bytes of new files found in the past seven days or since last reset. %NewSizeToday Total size in bytes of new files found today. %NrFilesThisWeek Number of new files found in the past seven days or since last reset. %NrFilesToday Number of new files found today. %RequestsThisWeek Number of search requests answered in the past seven days or since last reset. %RequestsToday Number of search requests answered today. %ThankYouThisWeek Number of user thanked for uploads in the past seven days or since last reset. %ThankYouToday Number of users thanked for uploads today. %TotalThisWeek Total number of messages send in the past seven days, or since last reset. %TotalToday Total number of messages send today. %WelcomeThisWeek Number of new users welcomed in the past seven days or since last reset. %WelcomeToday Number of new users welcomed today. 44 FILE NAMING CONVENTION ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── James creates several files by itself which have a hardcoded name. These files will be created in the James directory. JAMES.CFG Default configuration file JAMES.HIS History file about the amount of messages send etc. JAMES.NDE This file contains the information about your uplink and downlink nodes. JAMES.FLS This file contains the information about your magic files. JAMES.ARE This is the file which contains the defi-nitions of your Tick areas. JAMES.DUP File containing the CRC-32 checks used for duplicate checking. JAMES.TCI File containing the information about new received tick files. JAMES.KEY Key file you will receive when you have registered JAMES. 45 EXAMPLE MESSAGE FILES ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Included in this package is a file called EXAMPLES.ZIP. This file contains some example messages to help you on the way, and to show you what can be done with James. DAILYREP.MSG This message includes some statistical in-formation about your BBS, and the thing James has been doing. Usage: JAMES -M=DAILYREP -T=Sysop -B=10 FLHEADER.MSG You can use this message as a header mes-sage when for- warding messages from your local boards to the users defined in the NetWork/Nodes section. Usage: JAMES -FL -M=FLHEADER MANAGER.MSG This message can be use as a message ac-companying files which you forward to your downlinks. Usage: JAMES -MGR -M=MANAGER NEWFILES.MSG With this message you can announce new files which are moved to your BBS file-areas in a message. Usage: JAMES -M=NEWFILES -T=All -B=35 -E NEWUSER.MSG This is an example of a message which you can send to a new user on your system. Usage: JAMES -W=P -M=NEWUSER -B=10 UPLFILES.MSG When you use this message with the -U pa-rameter, James will send the message to all uploaders. Usage: JAMES -U=P -M=UPLFILES -B=10 46 ERRORLEVELS ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Whenever James has an unexpected problem James will exit with an errorlevel. Below is a listing of all possible errorlevels. 0 Nothing wrong. All went well 1 No message sent 2 Could not process a configuration file 3 Outbound path not defined in configuration file 4 Sysop's name not defined in configuration file 5 Not enough parameters given on commandline 6 An invalid skipfile definition was given in configuration file 7 No name of BBS defined in configuration file 8 No message base board given on commandline 9 Could not open a file 10 An invalid boardnumber was given on commandline 11 One or more netmail addresses have no netmail board defined 12 Wrong day for message 13 No message text file given on commandline 14 No file areas defined in configuration 16 An invalid origin line number was given on commandline 17 An invalid address number was given on commandline 18 An invalid drive letter was given in message text 19 Could not create netmail message 20 Configuration file is not a James configuration file 21 Invalid drivespace definition in message text 22 parameter conflict 23 No logfile(s) defined in configuration file 24 Requested option is only for registered versions 25 Attached file could not be found 29 Unable to create TIC file 30 Configuration locked 31 No message base board numer or netmail address specified for Carbon Copy 32 Information missing in hatch file 33 No hatch information given on commandline 34 Insufficient hatch information 35 An invalid timezone was given in JAMES environment string 36 An invalid on-line string was given in configuration file 37 An invalid off-line string was given in configuration file 38 An invalid upload string was given in configuration file 39 An invalid new-user string was given in configuration file 47