BBS Toolkit

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OSIRIS SE Rev 4.01 Copyright (c) 1988, 89, 90, 91, 92 By International TeleCommunications ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 1 314 334-6359 CBIS 1 314 335-5384 VOICE DOCUMENT VERSION 15.00 May 12, 1992 Table of Contents i Warranty .................................................. Page 1 Copyright ................................................. Page 1 Hardware Requirements ..................................... Page 2 Archive Contents, Exe's ................................... Page 2 Zmodem.exe ............................................. Page 3 Ymodem.exe ............................................. Page 3 Xmodem.exe ............................................. Page 3 Chksum.exe ............................................. Page 3 Index.exe .............................................. Page 3 Mmu.exe ................................................ Page 3 Ovl01818.exe ........................................... Page 3 Bullgen.exe ............................................ Page 3 Confile.exe ............................................ Page 3 Fam.exe ................................................ Page 3 Cat.exe ................................................ Page 3 Sphinx.exe ............................................. Page 3 Ulink.exe .............................................. Page 3 Osm.exe ................................................ Page 3 Osiris.exe ............................................. Page 3 Imx.exe ................................................ Page 3 Readarc.exe ............................................ Page 3 Export.exe ............................................. Page 4 Import.exe ............................................. Page 4 Traffic.exe ............................................ Page 4 Event.exe .............................................. Page 4 Scan.exe ............................................... Page 4 Osetup.exe ............................................. Page 4 User.exe ............................................... Page 4 Ovl01819.exe ........................................... Page 4 Mkpost.exe ............................................. Page 4 Itc.exe ................................................ Page 4 Itlink.exe ............................................. Page 4 Memo.exe ............................................... Page 4 Cmds.dat ............................................... Page 4 Ascii.txt .............................................. Page 4 Cmdmake.exe ............................................ Page 4 Lankey.exe ............................................. Page 4 Setlock.exe ............................................ Page 4 Test-Drive Mode ........................................... Page 4 Introduction .............................................. Page 5 Not Just A Bbs Program ................................. Page 5 Cost ................................................... Page 5 Set Up .................................................... Page 6 Important Information .................................. Page 6 Local Testing ............................................. Page 7 Reboot First ........................................... Page 7 On-Line Testing ........................................... Page 7 Menus ..................................................... Page 7 Beginners Menus ........................................ Page 7 Slightly Advanced Menus ................................ Page 9 Table of Contents ii Odds And Ends ............................................. Page 10 Environment Variable ................................... Page 10 Spl/I .................................................. Page 10 Main Menu ................................................. Page 10 Conference Area ........................................ Page 11 File Area .............................................. Page 11 Log Off ................................................ Page 11 User Status ............................................ Page 12 Bulletin ............................................... Page 12 Page You ............................................... Page 12 Change Set-Up .......................................... Page 13 Version ................................................ Page 13 Who Is On-Line ......................................... Page 14 Message Center ......................................... Page 14 [I]ndividual ........................................ Page 15 [T]hread ............................................ Page 15 File Attaches ....................................... Page 15 Download ............................................... Page 16 User List .............................................. Page 16 Store .................................................. Page 16 Statistics Subsystem ................................... Page 17 Todays Callers ...................................... Page 17 Who Called Yesterday ................................ Page 17 Caller History ...................................... Page 17 Six Best Times To Call .............................. Page 17 Six Worse Times To Call ............................. Page 18 Quirk ............................................ Page 18 Top Ten Uploaders ................................... Page 18 Baud Rate Chart ..................................... Page 18 Top Ten Downloads ................................... Page 18 Protocol Graph ...................................... Page 18 Top Ten Dnloaders ................................... Page 18 Track Call History .................................. Page 19 Specific History Date ............................... Page 20 Track Individual .................................... Page 20 Total And Avg In-Use ................................ Page 20 Top Ten Callers To The System ....................... Page 20 Top Ten Message Posters ............................. Page 21 File Area Statistics ................................ Page 21 Advanced Mailer/Remote Tnt .......................... Page 21 Inter Node Mail Room ................................... Page 21 User Defined Functions ................................. Page 22 Adding Conference Message Areas ........................... Page 23 Area Name .............................................. Page 23 Fragmented Area Numbers ............................. Page 23 Area Access Level ...................................... Page 23 Area Flag Settings ..................................... Page 23 Flags, How They Work ................................ Page 24 General Propose Flags ............................ Page 24 Area Flags ....................................... Page 24 Table of Contents iii Board Type ............................................. Page 25 Local ............................................... Page 25 Echo ................................................ Page 25 Echo/Pass ........................................... Page 25 Message Type ........................................... Page 25 Asp ................................................. Page 25 Asp/Alias ........................................... Page 25 Rev ................................................. Page 26 Mod.ctl .......................................... Page 26 Rev/Alias ........................................... Page 26 Origin Line ............................................ Page 26 Full Help Menu Name .................................... Page 26 Pack Trigger Level ..................................... Page 27 Pack Level ............................................. Page 27 Word Wrap .............................................. Page 27 Functions .............................................. Page 27 Area Change ......................................... Page 27 Log Off ............................................. Page 28 New Mail ............................................ Page 28 Enter ............................................... Page 28 Main ................................................ Page 28 Confer. ............................................. Page 29 Text ................................................ Page 29 Gateway ............................................. Page 29 Pack ................................................ Page 29 Bug? . . . No .................................... Page 30 File Areas .......................................... Page 30 Message Center ...................................... Page 30 [R]ead Command ...................................... Page 30 [M]ask ........................................... Page 31 [T]o ............................................. Page 31 [F]rom ........................................... Page 32 [A]ll ............................................ Page 32 [P]attern ........................................ Page 32 [L]ast Read ...................................... Page 33 Searching For Specific Messages .................. Page 33 [T]hread ......................................... Page 33 Default.msg ............................................ Page 34 Final Step ............................................. Page 34 Matrix(?) ................................................. Page 35 Osage ..................................................... Page 35 Ascii Uploading Into Messages ............................. Page 36 Rules .................................................. Page 36 Hard Carriage Returns .................................. Page 36 Line Editor ............................................... Page 38 Message Handling Or Message Base Format ................... Page 38 Fido Style ............................................ Page 38 Hudson ................................................. Page 38 The Answer ............................................. Page 39 Table of Contents iv Fidonet Style Echomail .................................... Page 39 Export ................................................. Page 40 Command Line ........................................ Page 40 /S ............................................... Page 40 /R ............................................... Page 40 /N ............................................... Page 40 /F ............................................... Page 40 /M ............................................... Page 40 /A ............................................... Page 40 /X ............................................... Page 40 /O ............................................... Page 40 /C ............................................... Page 41 /? ............................................... Page 41 Setting Up Export.ctl For Outbound Echomail ............ Page 41 Support Path ........................................ Page 41 Add Listing ......................................... Page 41 Enter Area Name ..................................... Page 42 Determine Archiving Method .......................... Page 42 Get Network Address ................................. Page 43 Determine Priority .................................. Page 43 Avoiding Echomail Errors ............................ Page 44 Config.sys .......................................... Page 45 Import.log .......................................... Page 46 Exporting And Multiple Line Systems ................. Page 46 Import ................................................. Page 47 Dups ................................................ Page 48 Backup System .................................... Page 48 Import's Echo.ctl File .............................. Page 48 Sample Echo.ctl ..................................... Page 49 Common Error ........................................ Page 49 Import Em Cache ..................................... Page 50 Cache Statistics ................................. Page 50 Disk Space ............................................. Page 50 Speed Tips ............................................. Page 51 Halcyon.cfg ............................................ Page 51 Use Ems ............................................. Page 52 Bypass Security ..................................... Page 52 Max Cache Size ...................................... Page 53 Ems Handles, Very Important ...................... Page 53 No Em Cache ......................................... Page 53 Maximum Memory ...................................... Page 53 Matrix Address ...................................... Page 53 Common Mistake ................................... Page 54 Tear Line ........................................... Page 54 Point Net ........................................... Page 54 Htms Address ........................................ Page 54 Archive Directory ................................... Page 54 Msg Format .......................................... Page 54 Outbound Msg Directory .............................. Page 55 Inbound File Path ................................... Page 55 Table of Contents v Pkt Temp Storage .................................... Page 55 Dup.dat Storage ..................................... Page 55 Max Systems ......................................... Page 55 Unknown Save Area ................................... Page 56 Matrix Ending Up Here ............................ Page 56 Formatting .......................................... Page 57 Echo/Pass .............................................. Page 57 Seen By Lines .......................................... Page 57 Quad Already Seen System ............................... Page 57 Origin Lines ........................................... Page 57 Databases .............................................. Page 58 Error Reading/Writing Record 0 ......................... Page 58 Traffic.exe ............................................ Page 58 Readarc.exe ............................................ Page 58 Ulink .................................................. Page 59 Sphinx! ................................................... Page 59 Display.dat ............................................ Page 60 Message Center ......................................... Page 63 Print Current Message To A Text File ................ Page 63 Print Current Message To Printer .................... Page 63 Conference Message Areas ............................ Page 63 List Headers ........................................ Page 64 Mark ................................................ Page 65 Restore ............................................. Page 65 Search .............................................. Page 65 Broadcast ........................................... Page 66 Edit Current ........................................ Page 67 Jumping To A Specific Message ....................... Page 67 Set Personal Msg Pointers ........................... Page 67 Conference Message Areas ............................... Page 68 Moderator ........................................... Page 68 Mass Print .......................................... Page 68 Change Area ......................................... Page 69 Mark ................................................ Page 69 Restore ............................................. Page 69 Search .............................................. Page 69 Forward Conference .................................. Page 70 Forward Message Center .............................. Page 70 Jumping To A Specific Message ....................... Page 70 Marking Received .................................... Page 71 Set Personal Msg Pointers ........................... Page 71 Set Unread Msg Pointers ............................. Page 71 Tag Line ............................................ Page 71 Screen Clip ......................................... Page 72 Dc Word(tm) ............................................ Page 73 Commands ............................................ Page 73 F1 - Calculator ..................................... Page 76 F2 - Text Viewer .................................... Page 76 Alt-D Dictionary .................................... Page 76 Alt-J Jump To Dos ................................... Page 76 Table of Contents vi Ctrl-B Reformat ..................................... Page 77 Alt-I Import File ................................... Page 77 Alt-S, Cursive Signature ............................ Page 77 Mouse Menu .......................................... Page 78 Cut/Paste ........................................... Page 78 Cut ................................................. Page 78 Paste ............................................... Page 79 Quick Jump .......................................... Page 79 Macro Keys .......................................... Page 79 Color .................................................. Page 81 File Subsystem ............................................ Page 82 Upload/Download File(s) ................................ Page 82 Files.idx ........................................... Page 82 Files.dat ........................................... Page 82 Dl_area.idx ......................................... Page 82 Wildcard Characters .................................... Page 83 Advantages ............................................. Page 83 Disadvantage ........................................... Page 83 File Queue ............................................. Page 83 Defining A File Area ...................................... Page 83 Area Name .............................................. Page 84 Access Level ........................................... Page 84 Area Access Flags ...................................... Page 84 Download Path .......................................... Page 84 Download Files.qbs ..................................... Page 84 Cd-Rom Or Worm Drives ............................... Page 85 File Not Found, But It Exists! ...................... Page 85 Upload Path ............................................ Page 85 The Help Menu .......................................... Page 85 Dnl Files Name ......................................... Page 86 Upl Files Name ......................................... Page 86 Free Download Area ..................................... Page 86 Application Flags ...................................... Page 86 Command Key Options .................................... Page 87 Area Change ......................................... Page 87 Alternate Area Listing ........................... Page 87 Log Off ............................................. Page 88 File Search ......................................... Page 88 Kill ................................................ Page 88 Main Menu ........................................... Page 88 Quick File List ..................................... Page 88 Full File List ...................................... Page 89 List In Reverse Order ............................ Page 89 List Mask ........................................ Page 89 Upload .............................................. Page 90 File Duplication System .......................... Page 91 Badfiles.bbs ..................................... Page 91 (G)oodbye After Batch, (A)bort, Or (S)tart Transfer . Page 92 Archive Integrity Check .......................... Page 92 Virus Check ...................................... Page 92 Table of Contents vii Download ............................................ Page 93 File Ratio Limits ................................ Page 93 Kilo-Byte Ratio Limits ........................... Page 93 Password Protected Downloads ..................... Page 94 Password Kill After Downloading .................. Page 94 Bi-Directional Upload ............................ Page 94 File Queue .......................................... Page 94 Download ......................................... Page 95 List Selected Files .............................. Page 95 Remove ........................................... Page 95 Estimated Transfer Time .......................... Page 95 Trans Stats ......................................... Page 95 Messages ............................................ Page 95 Type ................................................ Page 95 Protocol ............................................ Page 95 Extract ............................................. Page 96 Restrictions ..................................... Page 96 Auto-Cleanup ..................................... Page 96 Rearchive ........................................ Page 96 Contents ............................................ Page 96 Achiever Notes ................................... Page 97 New Files ........................................... Page 97 Conference .......................................... Page 97 Gate_fr ............................................. Page 97 File One ............................................ Page 98 Dl Time ................................................ Page 98 Error Messages ...................................... Page 98 File Transfer Protocols ................................ Page 98 Internal ............................................ Page 98 External ............................................ Page 99 How It All Works ....................................... Page 101 Protocol.cfg Fields .................................... Page 101 Name ................................................ Page 101 Program ............................................. Page 101 Send File(s) ........................................ Page 101 Receive File(s) ..................................... Page 101 Slow Speed Cps And High Speed Cps ................... Page 102 Batch Protocol ...................................... Page 102 Access Level ........................................ Page 102 New Callers ...................................... Page 102 Embedded Protocol Characters ........................... Page 103 Bi-Directional Protocols ............................... Page 104 Restrictions ........................................ Page 105 Validation And Virus Checking ............................. Page 106 Files.qbs ................................................. Page 106 Confiles ............................................... Page 107 Fam: File Area Manager ................................. Page 107 Screen Layout ....................................... Page 108 Using Fam ........................................... Page 108 Move ................................................ Page 108 Table of Contents iix Kill ................................................ Page 109 Change Areas ........................................ Page 109 Upload .............................................. Page 109 Dnload .............................................. Page 109 Edit ................................................ Page 109 Info ................................................ Page 110 Orphans ............................................. Page 110 Arcview ............................................. Page 110 Arcformat ........................................... Page 110 Arcaddcomment ....................................... Page 111 Shell ............................................... Page 111 Rename .............................................. Page 111 Untag All ........................................... Page 111 Transpose ........................................... Page 112 System Bulletins .......................................... Page 112 Xxxxx.msg .............................................. Page 112 Warning ............................................. Page 112 Accxxxx.bbs ............................................ Page 113 Smart(tm) Bulletins .................................... Page 113 Getting On-Line ........................................... Page 113 Required Command Line Parameters ....................... Page 114 Confusing Rains ..................................... Page 114 Optional Settings ...................................... Page 114 -T, Time Till Next Event ............................ Page 114 -M, Memory File ..................................... Page 115 -L, Local Mode ...................................... Page 115 -K, No Multi-Tasker ................................. Page 115 -Hxxx ............................................... Page 115 -Cx ................................................. Page 115 -X .................................................. Page 116 -Oxxxx .............................................. Page 116 -Sxxxx .............................................. Page 116 Comport.dat ............................................... Page 117 Nodexx.ini ................................................ Page 117 Osm ....................................................... Page 122 Overview ............................................... Page 122 Main Display ........................................... Page 122 File ................................................... Page 123 Msg .................................................... Page 123 Access ................................................. Page 123 Sysinfo ................................................ Page 123 Main ................................................... Page 123 Jump ................................................... Page 123 Clone .................................................. Page 124 Mass ................................................... Page 124 Delete ................................................. Page 124 Verify ................................................. Page 125 Dialog Confirmation Box's .............................. Page 125 Table of Contents ix Edit Mode .............................................. Page 126 Editing Individual Fields ........................... Page 126 Backspace ........................................ Page 126 Ctrl-Currt ....................................... Page 126 Curlf ............................................ Page 126 Currt ............................................ Page 126 Delete ........................................... Page 126 End .............................................. Page 126 Esc .............................................. Page 126 Home ............................................. Page 126 Insert ........................................... Page 126 Screen Movement ..................................... Page 126 Up Arrow & Reverse Tab ........................... Page 126 Down Arrow, Return, Tab .......................... Page 126 Pgup & Pgdn ...................................... Page 126 Ctrl-Home & Ctrl-End ............................. Page 126 Ctrl-Return ...................................... Page 126 Flags .................................................. Page 126 Misc ................................................... Page 127 Protocol ............................................ Page 127 Sig ................................................. Page 127 Com Port Defs ....................................... Page 127 Nodexx.ini Compiler ................................. Page 127 Dbase ............................................... Page 127 Pack Db ............................................. Page 127 Make Db ............................................. Page 128 Add Db .............................................. Page 128 Mouse .................................................. Page 128 Vertical Menus ..................................... Page 128 Editing ............................................. Page 129 Confirmation Box .................................... Page 129 Cat.exe ................................................... Page 129 Cat's Report To You .................................... Page 130 Cat.cfg ................................................ Page 132 Explanation ............................................ Page 133 <Day Of Week> ....................................... Page 133 <Day Of Month> ...................................... Page 133 Delete Received ..................................... Page 133 Delete Unread ....................................... Page 134 Backup Message Center ............................... Page 134 Backup Files.dat .................................... Page 134 Backup User Records ................................. Page 134 Rebuild Files.qbs Indices ........................... Page 135 File Sort Type ...................................... Page 135 Archive Type ........................................ Page 136 Check Message Areas ................................. Page 136 History ............................................. Page 137 Delete Old Bulletins ................................ Page 137 Delete User Records ................................. Page 138 Post Conference ..................................... Page 138 Table of Contents x Post Bulletin ....................................... Page 139 Conference Stats .................................... Page 139 Delete Old Files .................................... Page 140 Make Filelist ....................................... Page 140 Run External ........................................ Page 141 Virus Check ......................................... Page 142 Disadvantages! ................................... Page 142 Cat File Integrity System ........................... Page 143 Chksum.exe ....................................... Page 144 Synchronizing Access Levels ......................... Page 145 Command Line ........................................... Page 145 Cat B ............................................... Page 145 Cat V ............................................... Page 145 Cat S ............................................... Page 145 Cat M ............................................... Page 146 Cat P ............................................... Page 146 Cat ? ............................................... Page 146 Cat F ............................................... Page 146 Mkpost.exe ............................................. Page 146 User.exe .................................................. Page 146 Primary Control Boxes And Main Screen .................. Page 146 Flags .................................................. Page 147 Date ................................................... Page 147 Del .................................................... Page 147 Undel .................................................. Page 147 Find ................................................... Page 148 Print .................................................. Page 148 Pack ................................................... Page 149 Index .................................................. Page 149 Page4 .................................................. Page 149 Page2 .................................................. Page 149 Sort ................................................... Page 150 Left/Right Arrow ....................................... Page 150 First / Last ........................................... Page 150 Add .................................................... Page 150 Cdnup .................................................. Page 150 Type Of Clear ....................................... Page 150 Which Records To Clear .............................. Page 150 Page3 .................................................. Page 151 Dynamic Access Level Changing .......................... Page 151 Shift Up Range ...................................... Page 151 Shift Dn Range ...................................... Page 151 Change Specific ..................................... Page 151 Access.sys ................................................ Page 152 Time Limit Per Call ................................. Page 153 Time Limit Per Day ..................................... Page 153 Download Limits ........................................ Page 153 File Ratio Limits ...................................... Page 153 Byte Ratio ............................................. Page 153 Time Give Back ......................................... Page 154 Table of Contents xi Byte Give Back ......................................... Page 154 Password Protect Uploads ............................... Page 154 Allow Password/Kill .................................... Page 154 Attach File To Message ................................. Page 154 Twitting A User ..................................... Page 154 Display Files ............................................. Page 155 Logo.asc/Mmu/Ans ....................................... Page 155 Nodexx.asc/Mmu/Ans ..................................... Page 155 Tlimit.asc/Mmu/Ans ..................................... Page 155 Xxxx.msg ............................................... Page 155 Accxxxx.bbs ............................................ Page 155 Rookie.asc/Mmu/Ans ..................................... Page 156 Welcome.asc/Mmu/Ans .................................... Page 156 Welcome2.asc/Mmu/Ans ................................... Page 156 Welcome3.asc/Mmu/Ans ................................... Page 156 Welcome4.asc/Mmu/Ans ................................... Page 156 Welcome5.asc/Mmu/Ans ................................... Page 156 Main.asc/Mmu/Ans ....................................... Page 156 Mainhelp.asc/Mmu/Ans ................................... Page 156 Byebye.asc/Mmu/Ans ..................................... Page 157 Byebye2.asc/Mmu/Ans .................................... Page 157 Dos.asc/Mmu/Ans ........................................ Page 157 Back.asc/Mmu/Ans ....................................... Page 157 Last_on.asc/Mmu/Ans .................................... Page 157 Main1.prg .............................................. Page 157 Main2.prg .............................................. Page 157 Main3.prg .............................................. Page 157 Main4.prg .............................................. Page 157 Main5.prg .............................................. Page 158 Main6.prg .............................................. Page 158 Main7.prg .............................................. Page 158 Main8.prg .............................................. Page 158 Main9.prg .............................................. Page 158 Main10.prg ............................................. Page 158 Msghelp.asc/Mmu/Ans .................................... Page 158 Gate_m.asc/Mmu/Ans ..................................... Page 158 Editor.asc/Mmu/Ans ..................................... Page 159 Peditor.asc/Mmu/Ans .................................... Page 159 Edhelp.asc/Mmu/Ans ..................................... Page 159 Mchelp.asc/Mmu/Ans ..................................... Page 159 Maskhelp.asc/Mmu/Ans ................................... Page 159 Setboard.asc/Mmu/Ans ................................... Page 159 Confhelp.asc/Mmu/Ans ................................... Page 159 Filehelp.asc/Mmu/Ans ................................... Page 159 Gate_f.asc/Mmu/Ans ..................................... Page 160 File1.asc/Mmu/Ans ...................................... Page 160 Search.asc/Mmu/Ans ..................................... Page 160 Ratio.asc/Mmu/Ans ...................................... Page 160 Byte.asc/Mmu/Ans ....................................... Page 160 Mhelp.asc/Mmu/Ans ...................................... Page 160 Table of Contents xii Cselect.asc/Mmu/Ans .................................... Page 160 Slhelp.asc/Mmu/Ans ..................................... Page 160 Showibm.asc/Mmu/Ans .................................... Page 161 Showansi.asc/Mmu/Ans ................................... Page 161 No_ansi.asc/Mmu/Ans .................................... Page 161 Mcmenu.asc/Mmu/Ans ..................................... Page 161 Read.asc/Mmu/Ans ....................................... Page 161 Chelp.asc/Mmu/Ans ...................................... Page 161 Phone.asc/Mmu/Ans ...................................... Page 161 Onewhelp.asc/Mmu/Ans ................................... Page 161 Uphelp.asc/Mmu/Ans ..................................... Page 161 Dnhelp.asc/Mmu/Ans ..................................... Page 162 H_chelp.asc/Mmu/Ans .................................... Page 162 Cslhelp.asc/Mmu/Ans .................................... Page 162 Email.asc/Mmu/Ans ...................................... Page 162 Twit.asc/Mmu/Ans ....................................... Page 162 Birth.asc/Mmu/Ans ...................................... Page 162 Sys_stat.asc/Mmu/Ans ................................... Page 162 Private.asc/Mmu/Ans .................................... Page 162 New1.asc/Mmu/Ans ....................................... Page 162 New2.asc/Mmu/Ans ....................................... Page 162 Fdisplay.asc/Mmu/Ans ................................... Page 163 Statmenu.asc/Mmu/Ans ................................... Page 163 Promenu.asc/Mmu/Ans .................................... Page 163 Prohelp.asc/Mmu/Ans .................................... Page 163 Sintro.asc/Mmu/Ans ..................................... Page 163 Slist.asc/Mmu/Ans ...................................... Page 163 Infxxxx.asc/Mmu/Ans .................................... Page 163 Bulxxxx.asc/Mmu/Ans .................................... Page 163 Files ..................................................... Page 164 Callx.dat .............................................. Page 165 Comport.dat ............................................ Page 165 Xxxmsg.yyy ............................................. Page 165 S_node.dat ............................................. Page 165 Userx.qbs .............................................. Page 165 Msgboard.qbs ........................................... Page 165 Hdrxxx.sys ............................................. Page 165 Txtxxx.sys ............................................. Page 165 Hdp.sys ................................................ Page 166 Txtp.sys ............................................... Page 166 Msgx.doc ............................................... Page 166 Newmail.sys ............................................ Page 166 Pmail.idx .............................................. Page 166 Hdh.sys ................................................ Page 166 Txtp.sys ............................................... Page 166 User.bbs ............................................... Page 166 User.idx ............................................... Page 166 Alias.idx .............................................. Page 166 Filboard.qbs ........................................... Page 167 Files.dat .............................................. Page 167 Table of Contents xiii Files.idx .............................................. Page 167 Dl_area.idx ............................................ Page 167 Upx.bbs ................................................ Page 167 Dnx.bbs ................................................ Page 167 Ncx.bbs ................................................ Page 167 Badfiles.bbs ........................................... Page 167 Sendx.ctl .............................................. Page 168 Tranx.log .............................................. Page 168 Effx.log ............................................... Page 168 Protocol.cfg ........................................... Page 169 Default.msg ............................................ Page 169 Osiris.err ............................................. Page 169 Welcome.bbs ............................................ Page 169 Proboard.qbs ........................................... Page 169 Hpdxxxx.dat ............................................ Page 169 Tpdxxxxx.dat ........................................... Page 169 Mainpriv.qbs ........................................... Page 169 Access.sys ............................................. Page 170 Sysinfo.qbs ............................................ Page 170 Laston ................................................. Page 170 Callx.cnt .............................................. Page 170 Nodex .................................................. Page 170 Bulletin.hdr ........................................... Page 170 Bulletin.txt ........................................... Page 170 Mod.ctl ................................................ Page 170 Baud.dat ............................................... Page 171 Dorinfox.def ........................................... Page 171 Door.sys ............................................... Page 171 Sig.def ................................................ Page 171 Sigx.log ............................................... Page 171 Chat.dmp ............................................... Page 171 Tcallx.bbs ............................................. Page 171 Histx.log .............................................. Page 172 Outx.qbs ............................................... Page 172 Myyxxxx.txt ............................................ Page 172 Key.def ................................................ Page 172 Cmds.dat ............................................... Page 172 Cmds.key ............................................... Page 172 Nodex.cfg .............................................. Page 172 Ansi.sys .................................................. Page 173 What About Security? ...................................... Page 173 Avs(tm) ................................................... Page 175 What To Do? ............................................ Page 176 Memory Manager ............................................ Page 176 Vms Errors And Their Meanings .......................... Page 177 Too Many Open Files ................................. Page 177 Access Denied ...................................... Page 177 Cannot Locate Comspec ............................... Page 177 Memory Control Blocks Are Damaged ................. Page 177 Not Enough Disk Space .............................. Page 177 Table of Contents xiv Error Writing The File .............................. Page 177 Too Many File Handles ............................... Page 178 Interrupt(s) Changed During A Shell ................. Page 178 Too May Mcbs ........................................ Page 178 Locked Dte ................................................ Page 178 Keyboard Commands ......................................... Page 179 Confirming Sysops Intentions ........................... Page 179 Node Restricter ........................................... Page 179 Command Stacking .......................................... Page 180 Command Stacking Example ............................... Page 180 Special Stacking Characters ............................ Page 180 Hotkeys ................................................... Page 181 Birthdate ................................................. Page 181 Caller's Telephone Number ................................. Page 181 Example ................................................ Page 181 Screen Length ............................................. Page 182 Passwords ................................................. Page 182 Changing Passwords ..................................... Page 183 Rotating Passwords ..................................... Page 183 Alias ..................................................... Page 183 Private Listing ........................................... Page 183 Accounting System ......................................... Page 184 Message Conference Check .................................. Page 184 Stats Screen .............................................. Page 184 Personal Mail Check, Message Center ....................... Page 184 Searching For New Files ................................... Page 185 Logging The Search Date ................................ Page 185 Hard Drive Maintenance .................................... Page 186 Error Handling ............................................ Page 186 Sample Osiris.err ...................................... Page 186 Error L1000 ......................................... Page 186 Error L1000 ......................................... Page 186 Error L1000 ......................................... Page 186 Error F2002 ......................................... Page 186 Error L1000 ......................................... Page 186 F20xx Error Codes ...................................... Page 187 F2001 ............................................... Page 187 F2002 ............................................... Page 187 F2003 ............................................... Page 187 F2004 ............................................... Page 187 F2005 ............................................... Page 187 F2006 ............................................... Page 187 F2007 ............................................... Page 187 F2008 ............................................... Page 187 F2009 ............................................... Page 187 F2010 ............................................... Page 187 F2011 ............................................... Page 187 F2012 ............................................... Page 187 F2013 ............................................... Page 187 F2015 ............................................... Page 187 F2099 ............................................... Page 187 Table of Contents xv Warning Messages .......................................... Page 187 Lm1001 ................................................. Page 187 Lm1002 ................................................. Page 187 Error Xxxx9000 ............................................ Page 187 Ansi Esc Filter ........................................... Page 188 Slash Commands ............................................ Page 188 Restrictions ........................................... Page 189 Illegal Names .......................................... Page 190 Last On ................................................... Page 190 Mailer Combinations ....................................... Page 191 Commit Dos Function ....................................... Page 191 File Handles .............................................. Page 191 Color Optimizer ........................................... Page 191 Osiris And Multiple Nodes ................................. Page 192 Overview ............................................... Page 192 How It Works ........................................... Page 192 Hardware/Software ...................................... Page 193 Local Area Networks ................................. Page 193 Slave Card System ................................... Page 194 Desqview ............................................ Page 194 Caution .......................................... Page 195 Novell ................................................. Page 196 Peer-To-Peer Networks .................................. Page 196 Lantastic ........................................... Page 196 Slave Cards ............................................ Page 197 Desqview ............................................... Page 197 Exception 13 Errors ................................. Page 199 Very Important Read This ............................... Page 199 Help ................................................... Page 200 Games Or Doors And Other External Program ................. Page 200 Qkdoor/Doormaster Approach ............................. Page 201 Games ..................................................... Page 201 Installing A Game Sub-System ........................... Page 201 Step 1, Setting The Menu ............................ Page 202 Processing The Selection ............................ Page 206 Compiling Games.scr ................................. Page 209 The Individual Game Batch Files ........................ Page 209 Scab.bat ............................................ Page 210 Fish.bat ............................................ Page 210 Qkdoor Parameters ................................ Page 210 Dorinfo1.def/Door.sys .................................. Page 211 Dorinfo1.def ........................................ Page 211 Door.sys ............................................ Page 211 Slightly Advanced Game System .......................... Page 213 Explanation ......................................... Page 214 Overlaying A Game ...................................... Page 215 Advanced Set-Up ........................................ Page 215 Advantage .............................................. Page 216 Problem Areas .......................................... Page 217 Fossil ................................................. Page 217 Door Technical Support ................................. Page 218 Table of Contents xvi Private Cbis Systems ...................................... Page 218 Callxxx.cnt ............................................... Page 219 Rcp, Remote Command Processing ............................ Page 219 Message Cache ............................................. Page 219 Key.def ................................................... Page 220 Line Noise ............................................. Page 220 On-Line Store ............................................. Page 223 Creating Proboard.qbs .................................. Page 224 Sample .............................................. Page 225 Product Database Storage Structures .................... Page 226 Product Definitions ................................... Page 226 Maximum Field Lengths ............................... Page 227 Description Field ................................... Page 227 Example .......................................... Page 228 Example 2 ........................................ Page 228 Error In Osm ........................................... Page 230 Search All Departments ................................. Page 230 Imx ....................................................... Page 231 Optional Command Line Switches ......................... Page 231 /X .................................................. Page 231 /Mxxxxxx ............................................ Page 231 Warning .......................................... Page 231 /Dtr ................................................ Page 232 /Hot ................................................ Page 232 Sample Batch ........................................... Page 232 Shellxx.cfg ............................................ Page 232 Mdm Control File ....................................... Page 233 Modem Initialization String ......................... Page 233 Ok Return Code ...................................... Page 233 Events ................................................. Page 233 Exit Errorlevel ..................................... Page 234 Starting Time ....................................... Page 234 Ending Time ......................................... Page 234 Day Of Week ......................................... Page 234 Modems, In General ..................................... Page 236 Overlays .................................................. Page 236 Lim/Extended Memory .................................... Page 236 Vms Overlays ........................................... Page 237 Lock-Ups ............................................ Page 237 Speed Tips ................................................ Page 237 Lim 4.0 ................................................ Page 237 Cache .................................................. Page 238 640K Extender .......................................... Page 238 Asc/Mmu/Ans Files ...................................... Page 238 Ovl01818 And Ovl01819 .................................. Page 238 Mono-Graphics Adapter .................................. Page 238 16650 Uart ............................................. Page 238 Fast Harddrive ......................................... Page 239 Scsi ................................................ Page 239 Table of Contents xvii Tsr/Device Drivers ..................................... Page 239 Small Partitions ....................................... Page 239 Memory Manager ......................................... Page 239 Qemm ................................................ Page 239 Steath ........................................... Page 240 386Max .............................................. Page 240 Loadhi ................................................. Page 240 21St Century Bbsing ....................................... Page 241 Overlay Caching ........................................... Page 242 Price ..................................................... Page 242 Upgrading ................................................. Page 243 Upgrading To Newer Versions ............................ Page 243 Important Information .................................. Page 243 Upgrading To Multiple Lines Or Adding More Lines ....... Page 243 Lost Or Damaged Keys ...................................... Page 243 Bug Reports ............................................... Page 244 Suggestions ............................................... Page 244 Help ...................................................... Page 244 Busy ................................................... Page 244 Exceptional Important, Must Read! ...................... Page 245 Spl/I ..................................................... Page 246 Spl/I Verses Itp ....................................... Page 246 Don't Be Overwhelmed ................................ Page 247 Introduction ........................................... Page 247 Data: Variables And Constants .......................... Page 247 Data Classes ........................................... Page 248 Integer ............................................. Page 249 Unsigned_integer ................................. Page 249 Long ............................................. Page 249 Unsigned_long .................................... Page 250 Real ................................................ Page 250 Intermixing Data Classes ............................... Page 251 Declaring An Integer Variable .......................... Page 251 Initializing A Variable ................................ Page 252 Integer Constants ...................................... Page 252 Printing Variables And Constants ....................... Page 254 Character Class ........................................ Page 254 Using Strings .......................................... Page 254 Declaring A String Variable ......................... Page 255 Initializing A String Variable ...................... Page 255 String Constants .................................... Page 256 Maximum Number Of Active Variables ..................... Page 257 Variable Names ......................................... Page 257 Predefined Variables ................................... Page 258 Restrictions ........................................ Page 261 Spl/I Command Format ................................... Page 262 Language Syntax ....................................... Page 262 Structure .............................................. Page 263 Table of Contents xiix Procedures, Variable Types, And Order .................. Page 265 Procedures .......................................... Page 265 Data Types .......................................... Page 267 Global ........................................... Page 267 Automatic ........................................ Page 268 Order ............................................... Page 269 _++(X); ................................................ Page 270 _--(X); ................................................ Page 271 _Atol(destination,source); ............................. Page 272 _Atoi(destination,source); ............................. Page 272 _Atof(destination,source); ............................. Page 272 _Call(procedure_name); ................................. Page 274 _Cast(chickens, Class); ................................ Page 275 _Chdir(directory); ..................................... Page 277 _Clear(variable); ...................................... Page 278 _Cls(); ................................................ Page 279 _Color(value); ......................................... Page 280 _Command_queue_status(rtcode); ......................... Page 281 _Convert_to_bbs_case(s1); .............................. Page 282 _Copy_ch(ch,string,position); .......................... Page 283 Program Explanation ................................. Page 284 _Continue; ............................................. Page 287 _Curget(row,col); ...................................... Page 288 _Dayofweek(day); ....................................... Page 289 Database ............................................... Page 290 _Addrecord() ........................................ Page 290 _Loadrecord(rtcode,key) ............................. Page 290 _Copyfrom(dest,field#) .............................. Page 290 _Opendatabase(fname) ................................ Page 290 _Closedatabase() .................................... Page 291 _Getnextrecord(rtcode) .............................. Page 291 _Settofirstrecord() ................................. Page 291 _Deleterecord(rtcode,key) ........................... Page 291 _Rewriterecord() .................................... Page 291 _Copyto(field#,source) .............................. Page 291 _Define_var(name,class); ............................... Page 292 Warning! ............................................ Page 293 Tip ................................................. Page 293 _Display_memo_record(data_file,index_file,record_no.); . Page 295 _Display_menu(cmds,fname); ............................. Page 296 _Display_text(filename); ............................... Page 297 Warning ............................................. Page 297 _Dorinfo(path,prog); ................................... Page 298 _Doorsys(path,prog); ................................... Page 299 _Elseif(expression......); ............................. Page 300 _Else; .............................................. Page 300 _Eend; .............................................. Page 300 Example Of Nesting Elseif Statements. ............... Page 302 _Execute(memory,program,rtcode); ....................... Page 307 Quickbasic Brun.exe ................................. Page 307 Table of Contents xix _Fclose(stream); ....................................... Page 310 _Fcloseall(value); ..................................... Page 311 _Fgets(string, N, Stream, Rtcode, Flag); ............... Page 312 _Fildate(filename,y,m,d); .............................. Page 313 _File_command_access(cmd_number,rtcode); ............... Page 314 _Filexists(rtcode,filename); ........................... Page 315 _Filsize(filename,size); ............................... Page 316 _Filtime(filename,h,m,s); .............................. Page 317 _Fopen(path,variable,type); ............................ Page 318 Explanation ......................................... Page 319 Maximum Open Files .................................. Page 319 _For(start = Value : Condition End : Step); ............ Page 320 _Fend; .............................................. Page 320 _Fprintf(file,format{,variable 1, Variable 2, .....}); . Page 324 _Free_var(name); ....................................... Page 325 _Fscanf(return_code,stream,format{variables....}); ..... Page 326 File Field Delimiters ............................... Page 326 _Get_ctrled_input(ch,cmds); ............................ Page 328 _Getc(char,force_upper); ............................... Page 329 _Gets(str,len); ........................................ Page 330 _Global_download(); .................................... Page 331 Highlevel Commands ..................................... Page 332 _Post_private_msg(); ................................ Page 332 _Post_msg_to_sysop(); ............................... Page 332 _Display_protocol_name(); ........................... Page 332 _Goto_file_system(); ................................ Page 332 _Goto_msg_system(); ................................. Page 332 _Run_newmail_scan(); ................................ Page 332 _Run_newuploads_scan(); ............................. Page 332 _Goto_online_store(); ............................... Page 332 _Show_who_is_online(); .............................. Page 332 _Goto_log_off(); .................................... Page 332 _Goto_display_version(); ............................ Page 332 _Goto_status_system(); .............................. Page 332 _Page_sysop(); ...................................... Page 332 _Goto_adjust_user_settings(); ....................... Page 332 _Display_callers(); ................................. Page 332 _Goto_msg_center(); ................................. Page 332 _Edit_conf_boards(); ................................ Page 332 _Change_file_area(); ................................ Page 332 _Search_for_file(); ................................. Page 332 _Upload(); .......................................... Page 332 _View_archive(); .................................... Page 332 _Quick_file_list(); ................................. Page 332 _Full_file_list(); .................................. Page 332 _Kill_file(); ....................................... Page 332 _Type_text_file(); .................................. Page 332 _Select_protocol(); ................................. Page 332 _Extract_file(); .................................... Page 332 _Transfer_stats(); .................................. Page 332 Table of Contents xx _Edit_queue(); ...................................... Page 332 _Download(); ........................................ Page 332 _Internode_chat(); .................................. Page 332 _Read_bulletins(); .................................. Page 332 _Private_mail_scan(); ............................... Page 332 _New_bulletin_scan(); ............................... Page 332 _Change_msg_areas(); ................................ Page 332 _Enter_message(); ................................... Page 332 _Read_messages(); ................................... Page 332 _Pack_messages(); ................................... Page 332 _Drop_carrier(); .................................... Page 332 _If(expression......); ................................. Page 333 _Endif; ............................................. Page 333 Nesting ............................................. Page 340 Trick! .............................................. Page 340 _Is_message_area_selected(area#, Rtcode); .............. Page 342 _Locate(row,col); ...................................... Page 343 _Main_command_access(cmd_number,rtcode); ............... Page 344 _Make_mask(dest,source,mask); .......................... Page 345 _Masked_input(flag,s1,mask); ........................... Page 346 _Math(results = Format); ............................... Page 348 Restrictions ........................................ Page 349 Advanced Arithmetic Operations ...................... Page 349 Bit Fiddling, Operators And Fields ............... Page 349 Operators ........................................ Page 350 Bitwise Logical Operators ........................ Page 350 Bitwise And ................................... Page 350 Bitwise Or .................................... Page 350 Bitwise Exclusive Or .......................... Page 351 Case Sensitive ................................ Page 351 Usage ......................................... Page 351 Bitwise Shift Operators .......................... Page 352 Left Shift .................................... Page 352 Right Shift ................................... Page 353 Usage ......................................... Page 353 Modulus Operator ................................. Page 354 _Msg_command_access(cmd_number,rtcode); ................ Page 355 _Printf(format{,variable 1, Variable 2, .....}); ....... Page 356 _Push_into_queue(s1); .................................. Page 360 _Putc(ch); ............................................. Page 361 _Replace_ch(ch,string,position); ....................... Page 362 _Rewind(file); ......................................... Page 363 _Send_file(rtcode,file); ............................... Page 364 _Setdisplay(type); ..................................... Page 365 _Set_file_area(area); .................................. Page 366 _Set_node_status(status); .............................. Page 367 _Set_msg_area(area); ................................... Page 368 _Setcmdkey(string); .................................... Page 369 _Setlangname(string); .................................. Page 370 _Setmenupath(string); .................................. Page 371 Table of Contents xxi _Spawn(program); ....................................... Page 372 Warning ............................................. Page 372 _Sprint(format); ....................................... Page 373 _Sprintf(variable,format{,variable1, Variable2, .....}); Page 374 _Storage(name,len); .................................... Page 375 _Strcat(string1,string2); .............................. Page 376 _Strindex(rcode,string1,string2); ...................... Page 377 _Strlen(string,length); ................................ Page 379 _Switch(ch); ........................................... Page 380 _Case(value); ....................................... Page 380 _Break; ............................................. Page 380 _Send; .............................................. Page 380 _Sysdate(year,month,day); .............................. Page 383 _Systime(h,m,s,hu); .................................... Page 384 _Timerset(v1,1000); .................................... Page 385 _Timeup(v1,rtcode); .................................... Page 386 _Unlink(file); ......................................... Page 387 _While(expression......); .............................. Page 388 _Wend; .............................................. Page 388 Windows ............................................... Page 389 _Openwindow(win#,ur,uc,lr,lc,border_type,border_color)Page 389 _Closewindow(win#); ................................. Page 389 _Clearwindow(win#); ................................. Page 389 Spl/I Database System ..................................... Page 392 Number Of Fields ....................................... Page 392 Defining A Database ....................................... Page 392 Creating Vetlink.scr ...................................... Page 396 Spl/I, A Functional Example ............................... Page 412 Itc, Itc2, And Itlink ..................................... Page 421 Itc.exe ................................................ Page 421 Itlink.exe ............................................. Page 421 Linking Multiple Object Modules ..................... Page 422 Compiler/Linker Limits ................................. Page 423 Run.exe ................................................ Page 423 Memo Databases ............................................ Page 424 Uses ................................................... Page 424 How .................................................... Page 424 Making A Memo Database ................................. Page 424 Memo Infomall.txt ................................... Page 426 Mmu ....................................................... Page 427 Mmu.exe ................................................ Page 427 Command Line Switches ............................... Page 428 /A ............................................... Page 428 /B ............................................... Page 428 /C ............................................... Page 428 /N ............................................... Page 428 /M ............................................... Page 428 /F ............................................... Page 428 /25 .............................................. Page 428 /O ............................................... Page 428 Table of Contents xxii /B ............................................... Page 428 /C ............................................... Page 428 /N ............................................... Page 428 /M ............................................... Page 428 /25 .............................................. Page 429 /O ............................................... Page 429 Precompile Format ...................................... Page 429 Mmu Commands ........................................... Page 429 [Black] ............................................. Page 430 [Red] ............................................... Page 431 [Green] ............................................. Page 432 [Blue] .............................................. Page 433 [Yellow] ............................................ Page 434 [Magenta] ........................................... Page 435 [Cyan] .............................................. Page 436 [White] ............................................. Page 437 [Brown] ............................................. Page 438 [Gray] .............................................. Page 439 [Ltred] ............................................. Page 440 [Ltgreen] ........................................... Page 441 [Ltblue] ............................................ Page 442 [Ltmagenta] ......................................... Page 443 [Ltcyan] ............................................ Page 444 [Blink] ............................................. Page 445 [Normal] ............................................ Page 446 [Bgblack] ........................................... Page 447 [Bgred] ............................................. Page 448 [Bggreen] ........................................... Page 449 [Bgblue] ............................................ Page 450 [Bgmagenta] ......................................... Page 451 [Bgcyan] ............................................ Page 452 [Bgwhite] ........................................... Page 453 [Enter] ............................................. Page 454 [Breakoff] .......................................... Page 455 [Breakon] ........................................... Page 456 [Moreoff] ........................................... Page 457 [Moreon] ............................................ Page 458 [Cls] ............................................... Page 459 [Run_program Prg_name] .............................. Page 460 Osiris Language Database .................................. Page 461 Cmdmake.exe ............................................ Page 462 Ascii.txt .............................................. Page 462 Cmds.key ............................................... Page 462 Lankey.exe ............................................. Page 462 Designing Your Own Bbs .................................... Page 463 Autoexec.prg ........................................... Page 463 Getting Started ........................................ Page 463 Main_menu .............................................. Page 475 File Subsystem ......................................... Page 484 Press_return ........................................... Page 490 Table of Contents xxiii Process_slash .......................................... Page 490 Wrap Up ................................................ Page 492 Tip .................................................... Page 492 Spl/I Source Files ..................................... Page 493 Speed Tip .............................................. Page 493 File Structures ........................................... Page 494 _Hdrxxxxx .............................................. Page 494 _Message_header ........................................ Page 495 Conference Message Attributes ....................... Page 495 _Keydef ................................................ Page 496 _Access_sys ............................................ Page 496 _User_record ........................................... Page 497 _Mainpriv .............................................. Page 498 _Lastcaller ............................................ Page 498 _Filboard .............................................. Page 499 Programmers Notes ................................... Page 499 _Msgboard .............................................. Page 500 _Filesbbs .............................................. Page 500 Protocol_rec ........................................... Page 500 _Msg_center_msg ........................................ Page 501 _History_log ........................................... Page 501 Packed Time Fields .................................. Page 501 Packed Date Fields .................................. Page 501 Packing A Date Field ............................. Page 501 Unpacking A Date Field ........................... Page 502 Outxx.qbs .............................................. Page 502 _Outctl ................................................ Page 502 Programming Notes .................................. Page 503 Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 1 Warranty Osiris carries no warranty of any kind. If the program proves defective, you assume the entire cost of all necessary servicing, repair or correction. I do not warrant, guarantee, or make claims regarding the use of, accuracy, or reliability of this product. You rely on the program and its results solely at your own risk. I cannot accept responsibility for system damage, loss of profit, or any other special, incidental, or consequential damage resulting from the use or misuse of this product. Distribution Policy And Copyright Copyright Despite the method of marketing, Osiris SE is not in the public domain. Osiris SE is a proprietary product of International TeleCommunications, protected under U.S. copyright law, International treaty provisions, and trade secret laws of general applicability. Copying, duplicating, selling or otherwise distributing this product, except as expressly permitted in the TEST-DRIVE Distribution Policy is a violation of the Law. You are, however, granted the right, in fact encourage, to make and distribute copies of this TEST-DRIVE version, with the following provisions. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 2 -- Test-Drive Distribution Policy -- 1. Feel free to distribute the TEST-DRIVE version as often as you like. 2. Please do not distribute the program without all of its original files. 3. You must get written permission before distributing Osiris with any "Bundled" software packages. 4. You may NOT accept payment for the program. A copying fee of 10.00 per diskette may be charged when distributed by a non-profit user-group. 5. You may NOT alter the program or documentation in any way. 6. Individuals, groups, vendors, or other software distribution companies who market diskettes containing the TEST-DRIVE programs for profit must NOTIFY us, in writing, 30 days before distribution. Hardware Requirements Osiris SE is not compatible with single or dual floppy drives and computers with limited memory. Your memory and storage areas must be large enough to hold the files and work areas required during normal operations. We have no plans of changing the program to fit systems with limited capacity. The following list represents the minimum configuration your system should have to maximize the potential of the program. - IBM Personal Computer (or true compatible) with 512K (minimum) RAM, 450K free for Osiris. I suggest, although NOT required, 512K of AST EEMS 3.20 or LIM 4.00 RAM - PC-DOS or MS-DOS, Ver. 3.0 or later (other operating environments such as DESQview may be used). - Asynchronous communications (serial port) adapter - RS-232 cable with the standard nine pins connected (some modem cables do not have all the pins hooked-up). - Intelligent AT command set modem - Eighty column monochrome or color monitor - Voice-grade telephone connection for modem - Hard disk drive Archive Contents, Exe's I'll attempt to list all the EXE files contained within the SE archives, along with some of the other important files, along with a brief explanation. I want to apologize if I miss any and I hope you'll let us know about it. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 3 Zmodem.exe, a zmodem driver. You're free and in fact encouraged to use whatever driver works best on your system. Ymodem.exe, a Ymodem batch and Ymodem-G driver. You're free and in fact encouraged to use whatever driver works best on your system. Xmodem.exe, a Xmodem and Xmodem1k driver. You're free and in fact, encouraged to use whatever driver works best on your system. Chksum.exe, figures and prints a CAT file integrity checksum on any give file or files. Index.exe, used by several programs to rebuild the newmail indices. Mmu.exe, Multi-Menu compiler. Ovl01818.exe, one of the Osiris VMS overlays. Must be in the same directory as Osiris.exe. Bullgen.exe, used to generate system bulletins. Confile.exe, converts Opus/Fido style Files.BBS files to Osiris Files.qbs format. Fam.exe, used to manage Osiris File areas. Move files, edit listings, etc. Cat.exe, Osiris Automatic maintenance system. Sphinx.exe, sysop stand alone Message editor. Ulink.exe, used to generate conversation chains in echomail areas. Osm.exe, Osiris system manager. Used to create file areas, message areas, define menu keys, protocol drivers, etc. Osm.ovl, Overlay File. Osiris.exe, Main Osiris program. Imx.exe, front-end that answers the phone and calls Osiris. For those that do not use mailers. Readarc.exe, an echomail statistics program. Shows who you are exporting mail to and how much. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 4 Export.exe, Halcyon echomail export program. Import.exe, Halcyon echomail import program. Traffic.exe, Halcyon echomail statistics program. Shows all kinds of echomail statistics. Event.exe, used to compile the event.ini file for IMX. Scan.exe, a virus checker used by Osiris to check new uploads. Osetup.exe, automatic installation program for NEW Osiris sysops. User.exe, used to manage Osiris user records. Ovl01819.exe, VMS overlay. Should be in the same directory as Osiris.exe. Mkpost.exe, used to generate text files suited for BBS displays. Itc.exe, multiple stage SPL/I compiler. Itlink.exe, SPL/I run time linker. Memo.exe, Memo Database compiler. Cmds.dat, Language database. Ascii.txt, ASCII version of language database. Cmdmake.exe, Language database compiler. Lankey.exe, Language command Key editor. Setlock.exe, Used to mass set EXE/COM/OVL/OVR files to READ ONLY status, to prevent share volitions. Only needed on systems running on a Network. Test-Drive Mode Once you have installed Osiris, you may download a special 30 day test drive key from Vetlink III at 1-314-334-6359. Just type /DEMO from the main menu. Once you have received the test drive key, all you have to do is move it into the OSIRIS= directory. Without the special 30 day test drive key, the DEMO copy of Osiris will only support 20 user records. You can have more than 20 user records, but Osiris will exit to DOS should you attempt to use a record higher than 20. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 5 Introduction First things first, THANK YOU for trying Osiris. I'm sure you'll find that it has everything you could possible want in a BBS. You're no doubt a bit stunned by the size of the documentation, the doc's from HELL, and anyone would be. No matter how good a program is, if you don't document the features, they will not do you any good. Needless to say, we've attempted to provide as much documentation as possible and in clear, easy to read, terms. I suggest that you read the first 200 pages before you do anything. You don't have to print them, at least not right away, but do read the first 200 or so pages before beginning the installation process. If you have a question, check the table of contents to see if there is a TOPIC listed that relates to your question. The documentation is extensive and seventy-five percent of the questions our technicians answered last year WAS in this document and they just quoted from it. Not Just A Bbs Program Osiris is NOT just a BBS program, it is an INTEGRATED BBS operating SYSTEM. Unlike many other BBS programs, we did not just STOP with the BBS itself. We have attempted to provide you with everything you could possible need to run a BBS. Cost Osiris cost less than any other BBS on the market. There are several BBS' that have a base price less than Osiris but with those BBS', the base price only covers the BBS program itself. Many companies charge extra for add-on programs that we provide with the package. A lot BBS' do not even provide the add-on programs. You have to call all over the country looking for 3rd party add-on programs and in the process, run up a huge phone bill and you still have to pay for the programs when you do find them. The cost of the Osiris package is less than $6.00 a program, based on a single line system. You can't find, download, and register a shareware program for that amount. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 6 Set Up (Osetup) Important Information Osetup created a PRGS directory, in your Osiris root directory, and moved all the *.EXE and *.COM files into it. Osetup also added a PATH statement to your autoexec.bat file pointing to this directory. I did that to keep the number of files in your Osiris directory to a minimum. You should NOT attempt to run any of these programs FROM the PRGS directory. Log into your OSIRIS directory and run the program from there. DOS will find the program you want to run by searching the PATH. Again, you must be your Osiris= directory when you RUN any program. The program you're RUNNING doesn't have to be there, but you do. Osetup set up the Message Center for Private Mail between you and your callers and for private mail between callers. Osiris and CAT maintain the message center and you don't need to do anything to it. Osetup created ONE PUBLIC conference area called GENERAL TOPICS. Osiris uses the conference areas to hold public messages to other individuals or messages to ALL. It's up to YOU to create or define each area. I created the first one for you, to help get you started. See section on Conference Areas for further details. Osetup created a file area, you place files you want your callers to download in a file area, and you may create MORE, up to 32721, when you decide you need them. Osetup also created a UPLOAD area called files\uploads. This is where ALL uploads for file area number one go. Because of security problems, you must NEVER define any file area and point both the UPLOAD path and the DOWNLOAD path to the same directory. This does mean you'll have to MOVE the new uploads to their download areas before they CAN be downloaded, but it's well worth it. Even if you decide that Osiris isn't for you, make sure that the software you DO pick gives you this option. With other BBS programs, like Opus and Maximums, it's even MORE important. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 7 Most of the other "set up" items were sub-systems (messages, files, main, etc.) with default command keys, flag settings, and of course, menus. Local Testing Directly following the Osetup installation, most want to log-on in local mode to test the installation. Osetup should have created, in your OSIRIS= directory, a batch file called "LOCAL.BAT." You can use this to log-on locally and TEST the primary installation. Reboot First Don't forget to reboot your computer so the SET commands Osetup added to your autoexec.bat file can take effect. Local.bat should contain: osiris -L -B2400 -P2 -N1 -P2 may be -P1 on your system. This is the MINIMUM command line configuration required to log-on locally. You MUST, and this is very important, be in the OSIRIS= directory before you attempt to log-on locally with this batch file. On-Line Testing The next thing you most likely want to try is putting the basic installation on-line. Most of you will not want to RUN the system AS IS, but you do want to see what it is like to log-on remotely. One common mistake is just typing "OSIRIS" at the DOS command line and expect it to come on-line and that will NOT work. If you have a mailer front-end then read the section in this document called "Getting On-Line". If you do not have a front-end, then read the section(s) "Getting On-Line" and "IMX Osiris SE Front-end". Menus Beginners Menus You have two types of display files, those having a file extension of ANS and one with an extension of ASC. The main menu file that I'll LOOK for is "MAIN.ANS and MAIN.ASC." Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 8 I'll decide which file to display based on the callers GRAPHIC settings, ANSI or NON-ANSI. If you have ANSI turned on, I'll look FIRST for MAIN.ANS. If it exists, I'll show it. If it does NOT exist, then I'll look for Main.asc and if it exists, it'd better or you get nothing, then I'll show that one. If you don't support ANSI I'll skip directly to MAIN.ASC. The first step to creating a new main menu is to load OSM and go to the MAIN section. Here you'll find all the functions available to you. Decide which ones you want, the command keys that you want used, the access level and flag settings, if any, and make the changes. Jot down which command keys you used for each function. The entire process should take no longer than a couple of minutes. The next step is to create a MAIN.ANS file. This is the file that gets displayed if the caller supports ANSI graphics. Load an ansi draw program, THEDRAW is highly recommend, and draw the menu the way you want it to look. You can use any colors you want, but I do advice that you avoid using background colors other than BLACK. You should clearly outline the KEY required to activate each function. One word of warning, do not go pass column seventy eight on the screen. You'll want to avoid the DOS automatic screen wrap and you do that by keeping the width to seventy eight or less. Once you've got the menu LOOKING the way you want, save it using CLEAR SCREEN NO, HOME CURSOR NO, ANSI YES, and DISPLAY SPEED 0. The "save" file name should be MAIN.ANS. You'll need to edit MAIN.ANS with your text editor and remove the extra blank lines at the end of the file, to keep the menu from scrolling off the screen. The ANSI program MAY use the ANSI VERTICAL tab sequence instead of blank lines. Check the file and if you see something like "<-[20H, <-[21H, or <-[24H." The <- is an arrow but WordStar doesn't allow that character, at the end, remove them. That's basically it, you have a full functional MAIN menu for ANSI callers. You must also create a menu for callers that do NOT support ANSI. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 9 Use your Text editor to create it and the layout is still up to you. You should clearly outline the command keys needed to active each selection. Some people encase the command key in (), others use ) to separate the command key from the rest of the text. Do NOT use the open and close square brackets, [ or ]. MMU reserves opening and closing brackets as command indicators. Once you've completed the NON-ANSI screen, save the file as MAIN.ASC. That's all there is to creating menus for Osiris. Thedraw is a very powerful ANSI screen editor, the prefect tool for doing color menus. Slightly Advanced Menus A slightly advanced method of doing menus involves combining the ANSI and NON-ANSI menu into one file and compressing it to speed up the display. Take the MAIN.ANS file and rename it to M.ANS. This is important because we don't want to FIND the MAIN.ANS. We want to ALWAYS use the MAIN.MMU for ALL CALLERS. NOTE: I assume that you did not use animated ansi displays. You may NOT convert animated ANSI files. Load M.ANS into Thedraw and then save it with a clear screen. Now you get to use MMU.EXE, the MMU compiler. Use the following command line: MMU M.ANS /A /F Rename M.MMU to MAIN.MMU and you now have a finished main menu file, compressed, that allows me to handle color displays depending on the caller's graphic settings. You have one file instead of two. See the section on MMU for a detailed explanation of MMU. WARNING: Do not attempt to load this finished file and edit it. If you want to make changes go back to the m.ans and make the changes there then follow the steps outlined above to create a new main.mmu. That's all there is to making menus for Osiris. You can now make new menus for the message areas, file areas, main menu, store, and other areas. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 10 Odds And Ends Environment Variable Osiris requires TWO environment variables, OSIRIS=DRIVE:\PATH and TXT=DRIVE:\PATH. DRIVE: is the DRIVE letter and \PATH is the FULL path to the directory. OSIRIS= should point to the directory that contains the Osiris system files (user records, message board definitions, file area definitions, etc.). TXT= should point to the directory that contains the MESSAGES , HDRxxxx.SYS and TXTxxxx.SYS. Osetup SHOULD have added the definitions to your AUTOEXEC.BAT file. OSIRIS=C:\OSIRIS TXT=C:\OSIRIS\MSGS There's also an optional setting you can use, HDR=, to SPLIT the message base between drives and directories. The section on Halcyon explains why you may want to do that. Spl/I SPL, Structured Programming Language version I, lets you create questionnaires, and other items by creating command programs with commands to generate color, branch, do conditional testing, etc. over 150 different SPL/I command. See section on SPL/I for further DETAILS. Main Menu The MAIN MENU display file, the one that shows the system commands, for "Full" help is MAIN.(ASC/MMU/ANS) and resides in the Osiris text support directory. This file should list all the available commands for the main menu. You can use SPL/I commands, so you're free to do just about anything you can think of, including adding commands that don't normally exist. See section on MENUS for details on construction. The HELP file for the Main Menu is MAINHELP.(ASC/MMU/ANS) and should be placed in the Osiris text support directory. From the main menu you have 15 built in function and 10 user definable functions at your disposal. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 11 All 25 functions have ACCESS levels and KEY command flag(s) available for each individual command. It's up to you to set the command KEY (A, B, C, etc.) to active each function as well as the ACCESS level and flags, if needed. Those you do NOT want to use, set the ACCESS LEVEL to 32722. Conference Area This takes you to the message area(s) dedicated to public messages. These areas must be setup or defined by you. Follow the guide lines laid out in the Conference section of this document. The Osetup.exe program set up ONE public conference area for general conversations. It's up you to decide IF public message area(s) will be used. Some systems, those run by companies, may not need or want to use such areas. If this is the case, set the access level for the function to 32722 and do not list the command key on the full help menu. File Area Takes you to the file area(s). All files on the system, those available for downloading, can be found here. It's up to the you to set up the file areas. Osetup installed one for you. See section on File Areas for further details. If you don't intend to have file(s) available for downloading, set the access level to 32722 and don't list a command key for this function on your full help menu. Log Off Allows you to LOG off the system with the option of leaving the sysop a message. You do not have to use this function and hanging up will not harm the software nor will it cause any problems. You may want to use a slash command, covered later, to allow a QUICK log off without an optional message. If so, create an SPL/I file as follows. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 12 copy con OFF.SCR _DROP_CARRIER();^Z Compile with ITC.EXE by typing the following at the DOS prompt: ITC OFF Now link with ITLINK using the following command ITLINK OFF Copy the OFF.PRG to your TEXT directory. If you type /OFF, notice the '/'slash . . . it indicates a slash command, I'll instantly log you off. The /OFF can be used from any one of the three primary menus; Main, Conference Area(s), or File Area(s). User Status This shows the sys_stat.(asc/ans/mmu) file normally shown during the initial log-in process. Bulletin This will display a menu listing all the current system bulletins, created with Bullgen.exe, and allows you to read any or all of the old bulletins. The menu is internal and requires no additional set up. Page You This function allows the caller to page you for a real time chat. When the caller pages you, you'll hear a beeping sound and there will be a short message on the screen telling you that so and so is paging you. To answer the page, press 'C' (Chat). If you press any other key, the page process will terminate. The Node.ini file contains 7 fields, one for each day of the week. Each field allows you to specify the starting time and the ending time for paging along with the name of a file to show when a caller tries to page outside of those hours. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 13 The Chat function has TWO modes, ANSI and NON-ANSI. The NON-ANSI mode is ONE way. ONE way means that only one person can type at a time. TWO way means the display screen will split in half with two windows, the top for you and the bottom for the caller. You can both type at the same time without overwriting the each others text. The Chat function has 4 special keys. Two that can only be used by you and two that can be used by you and the caller. ESC (You) - Ends chat mode and returns the caller to the main menu. Ctrl-L (Either Party) - Clears that parties window, if in TWO way mode). Ctrl-R (Either Party) - Clears the screen and redress the windows. ALT-P (You) - Causes the current screen to be dumped to a text file called "CHAT.DMP," a screen snapshot. If 'CHAT.DMP' already exists, the snapshot will be appended to it. Change Set-Up This takes you to an area that allows you to change certain user record setting. Version Shows which version of Osiris you're running. I'll also display the type and version of DOS you're using and the type of multi-tasking software, if any. You also have the option, if you're running a Network, of having the name of Network Software/Hardware shown. Just make a text file called "Network.def." It should contain the name of the network you're running, use only ONE line. Total available memory, conventional and EMS, will also be displayed along with the amount left. Conventional memory doesn't reflect what you might think it does. DOS will attempt to give any program that loads 1 million bytes of memory, whether it needs it or not. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 14 That means the program may be assigned a lot more memory than it actually needs to run. If less memory were available, (TSR, Disk Cache, etc.) the program would still run. Who Is On-Line Displays WHO is on-line at the same time you are. This feature will not work on single line systems. The Who's On-Line Display would look like: (#) Status Caller ___ ___________________ _____________________ 1 In External Program John Doe (City State) Possible Status Messages: No Caller This Node Unavailable for CHAT In External Program Available for CHAT Transferring a FILE I'll handle changing the status line internally EXCEPT when you're in an SPL/I command file. When in an SPL/I file that may keep the caller away from one of the primary menus for an extended period of time, you should manual change the status line with the SPL/I command _SET_NODE_STATUS(). Callers not wishing to have their names displayed will always show up as "No Caller This Node" and any SPL/I request to change that status will be ignored. Unavailable for CHAT, Transferring a FILE, and In External Program does NOT stop another node from SENDING Email since that Email will be held until the node IS able to receive it. Only 'NO Caller This Node' will PREVENT anyone from sending Email to that node. Message Center This is where you can find all private messages between individuals on the system. You can read, reread private message, or enter private messages from this area. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 15 The Message center also has a NEW mail check, triggered during the log-on process, that automatically scans for NEW mail addressed to you. If you have mail, I will display the message and you have the option of REPLYING. When you enter a message, you have the option of sending CARBON copies of the message, up 30, to other individuals. You also have the option of having ME notify YOU when addressee receives the message. The Message Center has its own internal SHORT menu system that's very functional: Msg # 1 [1 .. 386] [R]eply, [N]onStop, [H]elp, [D]isplay Current, [-]Reverse Direction, [I]ndividual, [E]nter, [T]hread, [Q]uit, [ENTER] for Next Message : [I]ndividual Let's you enter a MESSAGE NUMBER and providing it is TO you or FROM you, I'll display it. [T]hread If the message is THREADED, has replies or is a reply to another message, you can go to the THREAD system and follow the conversation threads. From the THREAD menu you have: Msg 274 [1...399] [R]eply, [-] Reverse Thread Direction, e[X]it Thread, [ENTER] for Next Message: You will only be shown messages in the THREAD that are TO or FROM you. I'll save your CURRENT message location BEFORE you enter the THREAD system. When you exit the THREAD system, I'll place you back on the original message. File Attaches If you have access, you can add file attaches to the message center messages. I will restrict the name of the file to the DOS 12 character limit, no path designator will be allowed, and ALL files MUST be in the directory "UPLOADS,", a sub-directory in the OSIRIS= directory, this is the message attach staging area. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 16 Osiris will automatically create this directory, providing you're ON-LINE. If you're going to attach a message locally, with Sphinx, and the directory doesn't exist, you'll have to create it manually. If you're entering the message locally, with Sphinx, you will have to copy the file to the staging area. If you're a caller, you will HAVE to upload the file you want to attach to the message. I will NOT allow you to attach a system file, a system file is a file listed in one of the file areas, to a message. I'll place the file you've uploaded in the staging area and as soon as the addressee downloads the file, I'll delete it. NOTE: CAT will NOT remove any message that has an active FILE ATTACH. Download This is the same as the download command in the file areas with one small change. If you use wild card characters, you will not have the option of restricting the matches to a specific file area. User List Displays a list of the current callers to the system. You can enter a search string if you're looking for a specific name. The search is a basic slide match and CASE is unimportant. Example: JO would match John, Jones, Joe, etc. Pressing <Enter> will give you a complete list. Callers not wishing to have their names and places of origin shown will have PRIVATE LISTING and XXXXXXXX used in place of their real name and place of origin. Store This takes you to the ON-LINE STORE(tm). If you don't intend to use this, set the access level to 32722 and don't list a command key for it. See the section on ON-LINE STORE(tm) for details on setting up and operating the store. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 17 Statistics Subsystem You'll find several statistical options located in this section. Todays Callers This will display a list containing the names of the people that called your system TODAY. The list contains the name of the caller, where he called from, when he logged on, when he logged off, and the total time spent on-line. Callers that have the privacy switch turned on, no user list display, will not be shown but will still be counted. At the end of the list; the total number of calls, total minutes of in-use time, and the percentage of utilization, based on 1440 minutes. Who Called Yesterday "Who called yesterday" functions the same as "Todays callers," but shows only yesterdays callers. Caller History Caller history shows a screen listing all the callers to your system for the last 14 days, if available. I will use a date bar to divides each group of entries. At the end of the list; the total number of calls within that 14 day period, the total number of minutes used, and the AVERAGE utilization. NOTE: CAT takes care of the HISTORY logs for each node and will automatically keep them trimmed back to no more than 14 days. You don't have to do anything. Six Best Times To Call Uses the history log for the current node to compute the SIX less used HOURS and displays them in less to most order. It also shows the average in-use time for that hour. This lets you pick the BEST times to call the system. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 18 Six Worse Times To Call Does the same as the last display but shows the SIX busiest hours when you should NOT attempt to call. Quirk Six Best and Six Worse times to call have a small quirk that you may notice. It is possible, highly probably, that you will see BUSY HOURS with more then 60 minutes. Since Osiris, and ISIS for that matter, round each call up to the next highest minute, you may get more than 60 minutes in a busy hour. Top Ten Uploaders There are two different charts displayed under this option. The first is top 10 UPLOADERS to your system, based on the NUMBER OF FILES uploaded. The second is top 10 UPLOADERS to your system, based on KILO-BYTES uploaded. Callers with zero uploads will NOT be allowed in the chart. Baud Rate Chart This TRACKS the SPEED of your callers. Top Ten Downloads A list of the ten most popular files on your system. It might be helpful to new callers if you have a LOT of files. Protocol Graph This graph shows which protocols are popular and which are not. If your callers aren't using a particular protocol, you may want to replace it with one they will use. Top Ten Dnloaders Again, this option displays two different charts. The first chart is base on the NUMBER OF FILES down loaded- loaded. If you do not have enough dnloaders to fill the 10 slots, the remaining slots will be empty. The second chart is based on the number of KILO- BYTES down loaded. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 19 Track Call History You can input a name and list the dates, times, and amount of time a specific person has called the system. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 20 This allows the sysop, or the caller, to track the calling habits of individuals. Specific History Date This is almost like the TODAYS CALLER display except you can enter the DATE you want to look at. The available dates will be displayed before you're asked to enter which date you want to look at. Track Individual This option allows you to track the times a specific individual called the system. The display shows the name, log-in date, log-in time, and the time spent on-line for that call. If you want to track yourself, simply press return. If you want to track someone else, backspace to remove your name and type in the name of the person you want to track. I'll only list a person with the privacy switch for the sysop OR that person. After all the dates on-line have been displayed for that person, I'll give you the total number of connects and the total time he or she spent on- line. Total And Avg In-Use You'll get a display showing the TOTAL calls, TOTAL in-use time, the percentage of utilization, average callers per day, average in-use timer per day, and the average percentage of utilizations per day. Top Ten Callers To The System Lists the names of your ten most frequent callers. Those with the privacy switch are excluded from the chart. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 21 Top Ten Message Posters Lists the top ten people based on the number of messages they have posted. Those with the privacy switch are excluded from the chart. File Area Statistics This chart lists each file area, those you have access to, along with the number of files, total byte count, and total number of files downloaded from the area. After all the areas have been listed, the combined number of files, bytes, and number of downloads is shown. Advanced Mailer/Remote Tnt If you're using our advanced mail system, ISIS, incoming and outgoing mail sessions will be added to the history logs so in-use times will reflect TOTAL in-use time. All incoming Remote TNT users will be added to the history log. Inter Node Mail Room Takes you to the internode mail room, sometimes referred to as CB Chat, where you may send short, up to 5 line, messages to callers on other nodes. The HELP file for the internode email room is "EMAIL.(ASC/MMU/ANS)" and resides in the text directory. Ctrl-K . Exits Mail Room. S ...... Send Inter Node Email Message. L ...... List Who's on which Node. J ...... Join a SIG. Q ...... Quit SIG. W ...... Who's in SIG with You? A ...... List Available SIG areas. C ...... Clear Screen Redisplay Command Options. B ...... Browse through OLD Chatter for This SIG ^----(For the CURRENT day) While you're in this area, you can wait for pending E mail without fear of the in-activity timer throwing you off line or you can send Email from here. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 22 You don't HAVE to WAIT here for the Email. If you're at any one of the 3 MAIN Osiris Menus, you will automatically be alerted to any and all arriving E mail messages. Once alerted, the message will be displayed and you'll have the option of replying. If you're not at one of the primary menus, I'll wait until you reach one before breaking in with Email. You can send Email to any ACTIVE node on the system, either to a SINGLE node or a GROUP of nodes via the SIG function. Inter Node Email also has full function Special Interest Groups often referred to as a SIG. You might think of a SIG as a special conference ROOM for GROUP conversations. It's up to you to install the different SIG areas using the SIG option in OSM. You can only belong to one SIG at a time. If you attempt to join another, I'll remove you from the current Sig. Belonging to a SIG is the only way you will be allowed to GROUP send, send the same message to multiple individuals, and I'll handle the actual sending. If you leave the mail room, the talk got slow, you still remain attached to the SIG and will automatically be notified and shown any messages that come in. I'll log all activity in a SIG, SIGxxx.LOG, and you can BROWSE though the old messages, using the B option. You also have the option of setting a specific starting time for the browse. There can be up to 128 DIFFERENT Inter Node Conversations going on at the same time. Each node can have up to 5000 un-read Email messages waiting. A system may have as many as 32722 different SIG areas, more SIG areas than available phone lines I'd wager. User Defined Functions The remaining 10 functions available from the main menu are: Main1, Main2, Main3, Main4, Main5, Main6, Main7, Main8, Main9, and Main10. These are SPL/I command files, baring the same name as the aforementioned functions. I expect you to use SPL/I to PROGRAM these files. All of the Main1 - Main10.(PRG) files should be located in your text support directory. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 23 Adding Conference Message Areas A conference board is a message area defined for GROUP conversations. It can be either a LOCAL area or an ECHO area. Unlike the "MESSAGE CENTER," I do not allow private messages and the conference newmail check is optional. You will be required to define each conference message area using OSM. Your first step would be to go to an existing board and press the C)lone key. Now press the END key, located on the keypad. You're now positioned ON the new message board and you're ready to edit. Press the E)dit key to begin. Area Name The first field is the area name. This is a description field used to identify the area. I don't use this field for anything and it's for your benefit. I use the field "Area Number" for all internal and external references. Fragmented Area Numbers I'll NOT adjust the area numbers so they are contingent. If you don't have access or have an area selected you may get a display that shows areas 1 3 6 7 9. Some smaller BBS programs will auto-adjust the area numbers. But because of the possible areas, it would require over 128,000 bytes of memory to synchronize the area numbers in Osiris. Simply not worth the additional overhead. Area Access Level Your access level must be equal to or higher than THIS access level before you can get into the area. Area Flag Settings This allows you to sub-divide the access level by specifying specific flag settings. This field has 8 flags and you can use any combination. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 24 Flags, How They Work All command keys on the Main, Message, and File Area menus have 16 special access flags that can be turned on, or off, in groups. File areas and Conference areas have 8 special access flags. Each User record has a special flag field for the command keys. Each group of flags offers some 65,535 different combinations for 16 flags and 255 with 8 flags. A set of command key flags will be comprised of 16 zeros(0) or one's(1). ,e.g., 0000000000000000 or 1100101011110010. Zero means the flag is off, one means the flag is on. If you and the command have the same flag(s) ON , then you have access to that command, providing the ACCESS level itself is ok. Note that I said ON in the last paragraph . . . only flags that are ON will be checked and I only looks at the REQUIRED Flags. 100000000000000 may be a flag for the File SubSystem command at the main menu. You must have flag number 1 turned on to access that command. If your flag field is 1000000000000010, flags 1 and 15 are on. I'll ignore flag 15 because that command does not require it. General Propose Flags Each user record also has 16 General Purpose flags for use in SPL/I command files. 16 flags offers 65,535 possible combinations. Each user record has a specific flag field for these flags and function the same as the command key flags. Area Flags Each File board and each Conference Board have a set of 8 flags offering 255 different combinations to choose from. They function just like the 16 flags except there are only 8 of them. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 25 Board Type This defines the TYPE of area; local, echo, or echo/pass. Local If you define a message board as LOCAL, you're telling me the messages in that area NEVER leave your system. Echo If you define a message board as ECHO, you're telling me the messages will be removed from that area and sent to someone else's system. I will active special flags and other items to give external programs additional support. The method used to send the messages does not matter. I need to make one thing perfectly clear, the term ECHO is generic. It does NOT reference the area as a Fidonet Echo area nor any other specific type of Echo area and I will not place any default "Tear or Origin" type lines in ANY message. If you're going to set up an area that NEEDS those, your external export program will have to supply them. Echo/Pass An Echo/Pass board is the same as Echo but, I expect the external programs to remove all traces of the messages once they've been moved. Message Type The 5th field is the Message TYPE: ASP, REV, ASP/ALIAS, and REV/ALIAS. When you enter a message, the message TYPE tells me whether or not to allow you to use your ALIAS and it also tells me to either post the message right away or to move it to a HOLDING area for review. Asp I will make message posted in an area defined as ASP available for public viewing as soon as you save it. Your REAL name will always be used in the message FROM field. Asp/Alias This is identical to an ASP area except, I'll let you have use your ALIAS. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 26 Rev REV means do not post the message for public viewing but move it to a HOLD area so that it can be reviewed (REV) by the area moderator. The moderator has the option of P)osting the message or R)ejecting the message. If you reject the message, I'll send the message BACK to the party that wrote it with the text body of the rejection message containing the entire header and text body of the rejected message. You can't reply to Rejection notices and the name used in the FROM field will be "Area Moderator," to protect the moderator's identity. Mod.ctl If you define an area as REV, you must also create a MOD.CTL file, in your Osiris root directory. The Mod.ctl file contains the area number and a password, up to 8 characters. This allows you to assign individual area moderators that can work the system remotely. Rev/Alias This is the same as REV but, I'll let you use your ALIAS. Origin Line The 6th field is "Origin Line." If you define the area as ECHO, your external export program may need some type of Origin line. Halcyon, one of my programs, does. The section about Halcyon will tell you what the field is for and what/what not to put in it. If you don't know or aren't sure when you DEFINE the area, skip the field until you know what you need to put in it. Full Help Menu Name The 7th field "Full Help Menu Name" is the name of the /ASC/MMU/ANS file to display when you have FULL help turned on. You can use one menu for ALL area, different menus for each area, or one menu for ALL areas EXCEPT for special areas. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 27 Pack Trigger Level Field 8 is the "Pack Trigger Level" and CAT uses the field to keep the number of messages in the area below a specific level or number. CAT takes the "Pack Trigger Level" and compares it with the actual number of messages in the area. If the number of messages exceeds the "Pack Trigger Level," CAT trims the area down to the number of message defined in field 9. The "Pack Trigger Level" can be any number ranging from 1 to 32722. I suggest you keep it high enough so it only triggers a PACK once a week to cut down on drive fragmentation. Pack Level Field 9, Pack Level. Cat uses this field to determine the post pack message level. Word Wrap Field 10 "Word Wrap" tells me if HARD CARRIAGE RETURNS should or should not be used. HTMS echomail, Fidonet echomail, and LOCAL message boards require a YES. You should ONLY use the NO option if the area is to be used in a network that requires HARD CR's (Pc Rely, UUCP type networks). Functions The remaining twenty (20) fields pertain to certain features/options available to the callers. All twenty fields have three things in common; A command key (single character), an access level (1 - 32722), and a set of flags (16 of them). NOTE: I do not currently use ALL 20 fields. If I do not use a field, I will mark the field "OPEN." If you run across a field marked "OPEN," set the command key to a SPACE. Area Change Allows you to switch conference areas. Only the area(s) you have selected will be displayed and areas containing UNREAD messages will be flagged with (*). Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 28 Please keep in mind that Osiris is CONFERENCE based. That means simply ADDING new conference message areas will NOT affect your area display and only areas SELECTED will be displayed. I suggest you use a system bulletin to notify your callers about new areas. Log Off Allows you to log off the system with the option of leaving the sysop a parting message. New Mail This triggers a CONFERENCE mail check for UNREAD messages addressed TO you. There is also a log-on OPTION, can be turn on from the change menu, that will automatically scan for NEW CONFERENCE mail each time you log-on. The LOG-ON Conference check will also display a list of areas that HAVE unread conference mail. Only areas you have selected will be scanned and only unread messages addressed to you will be shown. You have the option of reading and replying to any new message displayed and you can quite at any time. The conference new mail check is exceptionally fast and can scan at roughly 15,000 messages per second. Enter Allows you to enter a message. If you defined the area as a LOCAL message board, then you can ONLY enter a message to someone on the system or address the message to ALL. If you defined the area as ECHO, you may address the message to anyone. Any message entered in a CONFERENCE area is a PUBLIC message and anyone may read or reply to the message. Main Takes you back to the main menu. If you entered the Conference message area from an SPL/I command file, you'll exit back to the SPL/I command file and NOT the main menu. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 29 Confer. This takes you to the conference message area selection system where you can add, remove, or view the areas you want to read. You can select up to 49 message areas to read. Commands (Hard Coded and May NOT be changed) A)dd an Area L)ist out all Available areas (those you have access to). D)elete an area out of your personal list. M) List out the areas you have already selected. "SETBOARD./ASC/MMU/ANS" is the FULL screen help menu for the conference selection subsystem Text Displays the Text file ####./ASC/MMU/ANS. #### is the area number for that message area. The file can contain anything from a brief explanation of the area to calling a complex SPL/I command file. The design and make-up of this file is up to you. Gateway Displays the Text file GATE_M.ASC/MMU/ANS. Pack Pack lets you to place un-read messages from a single message area or ALL areas in an archive, optional, and download it for off line reading. You have the following options. 1. Starting message number. Pressing RETURN starts with the CURRENT message. 2. The maximum number of messages to pack. Press RETURN for up TO 500 messages, about 500,000 bytes for a NON archived text file. 3. Type of archive. Zoo, Lharc, PAK, Zip, ARC, or NO archiving. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 30 Lharc uses Lharc, Zip uses Pkzip, Arc uses pkarc, and Pak uses PAK, and Zoo uses Zoo.exe. I do not, currently, support ARJ because the slow compression time offsets the time savings. When Mr. Jung releases ARJX, a faster version of ARJ, support will be added to the PACK function. If the download went OK, you have the option of having the LAST READ marker set to the last message PACKED for the area(s). Since the TEXT file is in generic ASCII format, it doesn't require special READER software and can be used by anyone. Bug? . . . No The following often leads to some confusion and does generate more "bug.frms" than anything else. There is only ONE download, send file, function in Osiris. All internal Osiris functions have to go though this function to send files to the caller. The send file function displays a prompt telling you to press S to start, A to abort, or G for goodbye after transfer. Only S and A are valid and G will be treated the same as S, START. File Areas Takes you directly to the Files Areas. It's useful for those with elaborate ANSI Main Menus. Message Center This option accesses the MESSAGE CENTER from the Conference message area. [R]ead Command Takes you to the READ messages system for that area. From here the options will be displayed by an internal menu system. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 31 Msg 1 [1....1027] [R]eply, [M]ask, [H]elp, [D]isplay Current, [Q]uit, [-]Reverse Direction, [I]ndividual, [E]nter, [T]hread, [G]oto Last Read, [ENTER] for Next Message: Items that were moved to the read menu or obsolete by the Mask Sub System have been left empty for future expansion. Those fields are marked as OPEN in OSM. You should set them to SOMETHING, a key you're not using for one of the other commands. Do NOT leave the fields blank. [M]ask The MASK Menu allows you to set message FILTERS and toggle the TRACKING of the LAST message read on and off. If a message doesn't MEET the MASK requirements, I'll skip it and go to the next message until I find one that DOES match, or until I reach the LAST message in the area. [T]o This sets the MASK so that ONLY messages addressed TO a specific individual will be display. When you select this option, I'll ask you to enter a persons name. I'll DISPLAY YOUR name and if you want to use it, press RETURN. Otherwise use the DEL key to erase your name and type in the name you'd rather use. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 32 [F]rom This works like the TO mask but works with the FROM field. Only messages FROM that individual will be displayed. When you select this option, I'll ask you to enter a persons name. I'll DISPLAY YOUR name and if you want to use it, press RETURN. Otherwise use the DEL key to erase your name and type in the name you'd rather use. [A]ll This resets the MASK to the default value and I'll show ALL messages. [P]attern This is a VERY powerful function and one that I find to be very useful. When you select this option, I'll ask you to enter a text string. This can contain ANYTHING that might be found in a messages TO, FROM, SUBJECT, or DATE field. Unlike the TO and FROM masks, which require a perfect match, the PATTERN mask only requires that the pattern be IN the field(s) SOME PLACE. Suppose you entered "John" as the PATTERN. Msg #2, From Field, has "John Doe." Msg #5, SUBJECT field, has "RE: John Deer Tractors." The pattern would match BOTH messages since both messages have the word JOHN in it. You can also use this on DATE fields and display message posted in a specific month, on a specific date, even at a specific TIME. Keep in mind that message dates have the format of DD MMM YY HH:MM:SS DD is always TWO digits. If the day is less than 10 (1,2,9) it will always have a 0 before it. MMM is months and all months are 3 characters long followed by a blank space. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 33 [L]ast Read Gives you the option of turning the LAST read TRACKING system OFF and ON. If you do set one of the mask options to SEARCH for something, you MAY want to turn tracking OFF so you cam jump BACK to the original message without having to remember it. If you have toggled LAST read Tracking OFF and you are going to be toggling it BACK on, I would advise you to jump back to the last read position, (G) option from READ menu, before doing so. Searching For Specific Messages If you're going to SEARCH for a specific message or group of messages. 1. Turn Tracking OFF. 2. Jump to message number 1 (I command from READ menu) 3. Set Mask. 4. Exit Mask Menu. 5. Press RETURN. When you have completed the search . . . 1. Turn Tracking ON 2. Set Mask to ALL 3. Jump to Last Read (using [G]oto Last Read command) [T]hread If the message is THREADED, has replies or is a reply to another message, you can go to the THREAD system and follow the conversation threads. From the THREAD menu you have. Msg 274 [1...399] [R]eply, [-] Reverse Thread Direction, e[X]it Thread, [ENTER] for Next Message: I will save your CURRENT message location BEFORE you enter the THREAD system and I will return you to that message when you EXIT the thread system. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 34 Default.msg With new callers, you MUST ASSIGN default conference areas. You do this by building a text file in your Osiris root directory. To assign the default message areas, create a file called "DEFAULT.MSG." The format of this file is: Area # Area # A single area number, one per line, with a maximum of 49 areas per file. The FIRST area you have listed will be used as the "Default" area and that's where new callers will be placed the first time they go to the message system. Example Default.msg File 1 2 4 5 This will give the callers default access to message conference areas 1 through 5. Final Step Once you have defined a new conference message area, one final step must be taken before you can access the area from within Osiris. Although you have defined the area, the physical databases must now be created and only CAT.EXE can do that. Exit the OSM program and from the DOS command line run the CAT.EXE program. CAT doesn't require command line parameters but you may want to LOOK at the CAT.CFG to see if you want any of the options changed. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 35 Matrix(?) Since most sysops, 95 percent, do not allow users to send Matrix mail, I did not build a matrix type conference board into Osiris. I do have two stand alone modules that gives your callers DIRECT access to your mailers matrix area. They can be accessed from any place on the system via an SPL/I command file. It is up to you to decide if you want to provide matrix mail and to pick out which of the matrix modules suits your needs. Imaxtrix.exe: Gives you direct access to the ISIS matrix area. MMSG.EXE: Gives you direct access to the mailer matrix area in Binkley, Frontdoor, D'bridge, and others. Osage Osage is the Osiris ANSI message editor. To use it, you must support ANSI Graphics and your terminal program must support control keys. Most do, but there are some that do not. Osage also has DEC VT102 support for left, right, up, down arrow keys as well as home, end, and ctrl-Home. All other commands are Wordstar Compatible to lower the Learning curve. A quick run down of available commands: ^E up line ^N split the line ^I TAB (10 Spaces) ^K? Dictionary ^X down line ^V insert space ^S character left ^Ky delete line ^D character right ^Ki insert line ^A word left ^Kx del to end of line ^F word right ^G Del Current Char ^Qd end of line Backspace Delete ^Qs start of line ^R page UP ^C page DOWN ^B reformat ^Kr redraw screen ^Qc Bottom of Msg ^Kd Done/Exit Editor ^QR Top of Msg ^Kq Quote text Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 36 Ascii Uploading Into Messages I'll also allow you to UPLOAD your message using ASCII uploads. After you have entered the subject, I'll ask if you'd like to upload using ASCII, press Y if you do. I'll then ask if you want the text ECHOED as you upload. Normally you would answer NO to this one. Having the characters echoed back to you MAY mess up the protocol driver, if that's what you're using. To signal the end of the ASCII upload, you will need to press Ctrl-X. After you finish the upload and have pressed Ctrl-X, you'll have the option of reviewing what you have uploaded. Be fore warned, this review option does NOT have word wrap and a word may be broken in half. If the text looks ok, not counting any broken words on the edge of the screen, then answer Yes to the next prompt. If the text did NOT look ok, maybe line noise got in the way, then answer No. If you DO answer no, you'll have the option of resubmitting the text file. Rules There are several rules governing the make-up of the text file you will be submitting. 1. It must be in ASCII format. 2. You may NOT use any high bit or graphic characters, those over ASCII 127. Illegal characters will be ignored. 3. ANSI graphics will simply not be allowed. 4. The file may not be larger than 10K. Hard Carriage Returns I'll store the messages in one long string and only use Hard Carriage Returns to signal paragraph changes. Most word or text processors will end each line with a Hard Carriage Return. That means I have no way of knowing if you REALLY wanted a carriage return or if it was just the text editor. For a hard carriage return to be retained, there must be two in a row. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 37 For the following examples, I will use <CR> to imply hard carriage returns. Hello all<CR> I'm calling<CR> to see if I<CR> have any messages<CR> I would format the message as: Hello all I'm calling to see if I have any messages. To place a BLANK line in a message, you will need THREE <CR>'s in a row. Example: Hello all<CR> <CR> <CR> I'm calling to see . . . I would format it as: Hello all I'm calling to see. To make COLUMN listings, the same rule applies. Example: Apples<CR> <CR> Guns<CR> <CR> MICE<CR> <CR> I would format it as: Apples Guns Mice Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 38 Line Editor For those that don't want to use OSAGE or UPLOAD the message, you have the LINE editor. It allows you to edit existing lines, insert lines, delete lines, continue to add to message, list the message, abort the message, and even do QUOTED replies. Yes, QUOTED replies! A QUOTED reply is where you REPLY to a message and IMPORT sections of original message so the other person will KNOW what you're referring to. The LINE editor will allow up to 150 Lines of text, roughly 12K. Message Handling Or Message Base Format There are TWO popular methods of handling message bases. Fido Style The Fido style message, commonly referred to as MSG format, consists of an individual message PER File. The MSG format is a popular storage method because of the safety factor. The Fido style message system has two major draw backs. It's slower than molasses in the winter and takes an ungodly amount of disk space. Hudson The HUDSON style message base, made popular by QuickBBS, uses ONE BIG file to hold all the messages. That means it's fast and doesn't take up much disk space. That addresses the two major problems the FIDO style message bases had. But, the HUDSON message base is prone to accidents like cross linked clusters, mangled echomail messages, bad sectors, etc. IF ANYTHING goes wrong, you've lost it ALL. Osiris originally used a message base system almost like the HUDSON system. But, I found after several years that the message base failure rate was just too high. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 39 The Answer The answer to the HUDSON verses FIDO problem was to combine the two methods to form a 3rd type of message base. One that's fast, didn't take much disk space, and wasn't prone to accidents like the HUDSON message system. The message handling method is unique, extremely efficient, and very fast. I use two files to store the messages for each area. One is a HEADER file called HDRxxx.SYS, with xxx, replace xxx with the area number, and the other is TXTxxx.SYS. e.g., HDR1.SYS and TXT1.SYS In fact, the method of handling messages has proven to be so effective, that within the last few years, several brand-X BBS', Maximus' Squash for instances, have adopted our method. The HDRxxx.SYS files contain the message Header information such as: who wrote the message, the subject, and several other important pieces of data. The TXTxxx.SYS files contain the actual text for the messages in that area. Your HDRxxx.SYS and TXTxxx.SYS files can go anywhere as long as you set the environment variable TXT=, in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file, to point to them. You can also SPLIT the HDRxx.SYS and TXTxxx.sys onto separate drives or into separate directories by moving the HDRxxx.SYS files and defining HDR= in the environment. Multiple Database structures, like the HDR/TXTxxx.SYS files, offer all the advantages of the SINGLE database structure, but offer addition advantages of safety as well as the ability to use multiple drives. Should something happen, you only lose a small part of your message base instead of the whole thing. Fidonet Style Echomail Although Osiris doesn't directly support echomail, I do have a set of echomail programs specifically FOR Osiris, Halcyon. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 40 Halcyon is a TWO phase Conference mail processor. It imports and dup checks on one pass and then exports on the 2nd pass. Halcyon uses two programs to do this, Import and Export. By using a TWO phase processor we take advantage of loading data into memory only twice. We avoid the pit falls of SINGLE phase processors, Qmail and QuickBBS, by avoiding the creation of FRAGMENTED outbound bundles. Fragmented bundles increase import time for those receiving echomail from you. Export Export takes messages out of your conference message area and moves them into archive bundles ready to be mailed out to other systems. Command Line Export {*L *U /X /O} {/S /R /N} /AZone:Net/Node /CControl_file {/F, /M} where /S . . . Standard Scan. Retains ALL of the original paths and seen by lines. /R . . . REMOVE all Un-moved echo flags. /N . . . Delete all path statements and seen by lines. Should ONLY be used if Gating to a different network. /F . . . Don't reset high-water markers nor mark messages as scanned out. /M . . . Maximum number of messages to export during the run. Default is 32700 but can be changed with this switch. /A . . . You address in Zone:Net/Node format. /X . . . Running in HTMSnet, uses a slightly different Origin line more appropriate for HTMSnet Conference mail. /O . . . Use old style conference mail naming. Some Older echo processors use a restricted echomail naming system. If you're sending echomail to one of these systems, not likely, then you may need to use this. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 41 /C filename . . . Filename of the control file to use. /? . . . Check and see if enough file handles are available for the number of systems you want to send to. Export MUST be run from your TXT= directory. It will go to your system files to find all control files, even the ones you have defined on the command line. Setting Up Export.ctl For Outbound Echomail Building your export.ctl file is the first step. This file will be used as the primary echo control file by EXPORT. NOTE: You may chose any name for this file that you like. Support Path The first line of your EXPORT.CTL file should say SUPPORT PATH You have to obtain an echo link from someone. Assuming you have done this, make sure you do not LINK to anyone else for the same echo area. This is vital! You can PROVIDE links to other people with the understanding that they do not get the echo from anyone else. Assume you have a link to an echomail area called "IBM." First, you have to add a message board to OSIRIS to HOLD the IBM echomail messages. Do this with OSM and define the area as Echo. Write down the area number, the one displayed when you do an AREA change from within Osiris, for that message area. Add Listing Add a line in your EXPORT.CTL file for the IBM echomail. Go to the end of the file. If it's your first one, the line following the "SUPPORT PATH" line. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 42 The first item on the line will be the area number. Let's use area number 22. Your file should now look like this: SUPPORT PATH 22 Enter Area Name Enter the NAME of the echomail area. It is critical that you use the LEGAL name for that echo. It is IBM for the purposes of this example. Place ONE space following the area number and enter the echo NAME. SUPPORT PATH 22 IBM PLEASE NOTE: the ONE SPACE is critical, it saves considerable time when exporting. Determine Archiving Method Find out, from the person you're getting the area from, what archive type he uses. This is a critical item and should not be assumed. EXPORT can use ARJ, PKZIP, LHARC, ZOO, and ARC formats. I use the Letters L, O, Z, A, and J to tell EXPORT what to use for a particular system. The letters are: L for Lharc O for Zoo Z for Pkzip A for Arc J for ARJ The archive programs used to place the messages in the above formats are PKZIP.EXE, ZOO.EXE, ARJ.EXE, LHARC.COM/EXE and PKARC.EXE. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 43 They must be in the current directory OR in a directory that's PATHED. See DOS reference manual for an explanation on PATH statements. Get Network Address Get, from the system your getting the echo from, the network address he is uses when he exports. You MUST list the full address in ZONE:NET/NODE format. Assuming you are getting it from Zone 1, Net 230, Node 300, the correct EXPORT.CTL format would be: 1:230/300 PLEASE NOTE: There is a colon (:) following the zone and the net number and a forward slash between the net and the node number. Determine Priority The PRIORITY, Flag Settings, of the outgoing file-attached message, used to send the archived echomail, must be defined. In general, Fidonet mailers support CRASH, HOLD, and NORMAL priority. HOLD means your mailer will not place an outbound call to drop the mail off. CRASH means it will send it as soon as possible. NORMAL means to let your Mailers Event Manager decide when it can be sent, this is the recommended option. HTMS mailers, Isis, supports CRASH and NORMAL flags. Hold is not directly supported because of the reverse nature of HTMS over FIDO. ISIS uses something that's is far "STRONGER" than a simple HOLD flag. NOD or NOT ON MY DIME meaning this file or message will never be sent if you're the one making the call. IF you tell Halcyon that you're using ISIS and to use HOLD on an echomail attach, it will use the NOD flag. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 44 I use three letters to indicate message priority; C for crash, N for normal, and H for hold. For this example we will assume NORMAL priority. Putting the steps together and assuming ARC formatted archives. SUPPORT PATH 22 IBM AN1:230/300 NOTE: Be sure there is only ONE space between the AREA name and the address. You can now send/receive IBM echomail from 1:230/300 using ARC formatted echo bundles and have his outbound echomail file-attach messages flagged as Normal priority. If another system wants to link into you, go to step 4 and repeat the process to add it to your list. To add more areas, go to step one and repeat the process. Avoiding Echomail Errors Use only ONE space between items in the EXPORT.CTL file on a specific line. Using more than one space will cause errors. Each line must end with NO SPACES. If you have extra spaces following the last entry, it will be translated into 0:0/0 Don't leave BLANK lines in the EXPORT.CTL file. An error that seems to occur frequently is MIXING archive formats for the same system. In other words having the same system defined as using ARC for one area and PKZIP in another area. This will cause you to lose messages. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 45 Avoid listing the same system twice for the same Echomail Area. Getting the Echo Area NAME wrong. If this happens, the messages will end up in the bad message area. Using the wrong Matrix Address. ASK the sysop of the system you are communicating with what address he uses to SCAN OUT. Some systems have multiple addresses, but use only ONE for scanning purposes. If you're expecting 100/504 and the system you're getting the area from only uses that address to drop off mail but SCANS OUT messages using 100/1, then you'll end up with BACKFLOW. BACKFLOW is where you send the SAME messages BACK to the person that sent them to you in the FIRST place. His system will see them as DUPLICATES, we HOPE. Export MUST be run from the same directory you're message bases are in, that's the directory defined in the TXT= environment variable. Config.sys Export is VERY fast, compared to other echo processors. To obtain some of this speed, I had to design special file routines. Because of the way they work, once I use a file handle, it cannot be freed back to the POOL for reuse until the program ends. This means you have maximum number of DIFFERENT Nodes you can send to during a single run. This can be varied by a setting in Halcyon.cfg, MAX SYSTEMS. By default, the total number of DIFFERENT nodes per control file is 20. If 20 isn't enough, hope you have a LARGE hard drive, you may increase the amount using MAX SYSTEMS. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 46 As you increase the maximum number of systems, you must increase your files=# proportionally. For the Default 20 systems, your FILES= should be set to FILES=34. This may vary depending on your hardware setup. But you can test it using the /? switch. It will tell you the number of systems it CAN send to, verses the number you want. Import.log Export will use, if it is available, a file called "IMPORT.LOG", created by import.exe, to control which areas it exports from. This can get you into trouble if you happen to use the /F and /R switches. Since /R sets ALL "I NEED EXPORTING FLAGS" to OFF, if you had messages in areas not listed in the import.log file, those messages will not be exported. If you are using the /R and /F switches, place "DEL IMPORT.LOG" in the batch file BEFORE you run export. This can increase your export time, but guarantees that ALL messages will get exported. Again, If you use /R or /F, delete the import log file before exporting. Exporting And Multiple Line Systems Although export does support file locking, there are other concerns when exporting WHILE callers are on-line. When you use TWO export control files, you run the risk of having someone POST a message AFTER the first pass, but before the second pass. Their message will go out in the files created with the second control file, but not with the first. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 47 The solution to this type of problem is to divert any conference messages that may be posted while you are exporting to the REV holding area, even if you have NOT defined the area as REV. If you are going to export WHILE callers are on-line AND you are using more than one export control file, you'll need to call export with the command line switch *L BEFORE you begin the export process. E.g., EXPORT *L EXPORT ....Your FIRST run. This engages a conference system DIVERSION LOCK and causes all newly posted conference messages to be diverted to the REV holding area. There WILL be a 5 second pause before export EXITS when you use the *L switch, to give all lines time to respond to the LOCK. After you have finished exporting, you call export with the command line *U. E.g., EXPORT *L EXPORT ....Your FIRST run. EXPORT ....Your SECOND run. EXPORT *U *U will DISENGAGE the conference system DIVERSION LOCK and newly posted messages will be posted according to the area type. You should periodically check and move any messages that are diverted to the REV hold area. Import Import takes messages out of archive bundles and tosses them into the various echomail areas. Import does NOT require any command line switches. It gets all its information from the Halcyon.cfg file, outlined later in this document. Import supports SIX archiving formats; normal ARC, PKARC, PKZIP format, LHARC, ARJ, and finally, ZOO. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 48 Nothing needs to be done on your part except to have the following programs in your OSIRIS= directory: PKXARC.EXE (renamed from PKUNPAK) PKUNZIP.EXE ZOO.EXE LHARC.EXE ARJ.EXE If all attempts to unbundle the archive fail, I will assume the bundle is bad. If that happens, I will rename the bundle to HHMMSSXX.BAD and leave it for your personal attention. IMPORT MUST be run from your TXT= directory. It will go to your OSIRIS= directory to find all control files such as ECHO.CTL, sysinfo.qbs, newmail.sys, etc.. Dups Import checks the newly arrived messages to see if you've already seen them. It does this BEFORE you import the message which should save a little disk fragmentation. Import uses an EID duplicate checking system. It's the most reliable method to date for controlling duplicates. Import will track the last 2000 messages in each area with a fixed dupXX.dat file size. The file will never grow nor shrink so the file will stay contingent on your hard drive. Backup System The Dups checker has a backup high-speed CRC system for messages that does not have an EID. These are few and far between, but they do exist. Import's Echo.ctl File This file provides Import with the information needed to determine which ECHO AREA goes in which Osiris message area. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 49 The lay out of the echo.ctl file is pretty straight forward. Area# Conference_NAME Area# Conference_NAME I have reserved the first line of the Echo.ctl for future use and you HAVE to use "0 PRIMER LINE" as the VERY FIRST LINE. Sample Echo.ctl 0 PRIMER LINE 3 COLLEGE 4 HPOLITICS 6 TREK 7 VIETNAM_VETS 8 VET_REUNION 9 HST 10 WORLD 11 HTMS_SYSOP 12 AI Common Error A common, and fatal, mistake is padding echo area names with spaces. In other words: 7 VIETNAM_VETS<SPACE> Import will see the area name as "VIETNAM_VET " and not as "VIETNAM_VET" and any echo coming in for "VIETNAM_VET" will be placed in the bad message area. This mistake can be a very hard to spot because a trailing space will not show up in your text editor. The easy way to find this type of error is to use Pctools File Editor, Norton will work, in HEX mode. Spaces will show up as 20H. Best way to avoid this type of error is to use a text editor that doesn't end lines with spaces. Edwin and Sidekick are good control file editors while Qedit and Edlin are not. Don't get me wrong, Qedit is a good editor. It's just not good for control files. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 50 Import Em Cache Import has its own internal EMS/LIM 4.00 cache that is hundreds of times more effective than your traditional disk cache. I have the advantage of knowing in advance what data is likely to be needed again and I'll only cache that data. I'll ignore data that isn't going to be needed again. This accounts for its higher than normal hit ratio, generally around 90 percent. Since I know what should or should not be cached, I can bypass the system read/write requests and go directly to the cache. This allows your normal disk cache, if you are running one, to retain data longer than it normally would. The import EM cache is an expandable cache. Unlike traditional caches, I'll expand the size of the cache when I need more space. I'll start with 0 bytes and expand the cache up to 4 million bytes. If no space is available, I'll use a "LESS USED" algorithm to determine which block to replace with the new data. If for some reason you do not want Import to use the cache, add NO_CACHE to the import command line. E.g., Import No_cache Cache Statistics At the end of an import run, I'll display the EM cache statistics; Memory used for cache, number of read requests, number of write requests, number of reads actually done, number of writes actually done, read hit rate, and write hit rate. The number of read and write requests do not reflect ALL read/write requests. They only reflect read/write requests for data I would normally cache. I ignored read/write requests for data I would not normally cache. Disk Space I an not going to waste time monitor disk space and I'm going to just assumes you've got enough to get the job done. If you run out, Halcyon is as good a place as any to Stop. If you're out, nothing else on your system is going to run. I will not even be able to write an error log so . . . Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 51 Speed Tips There are several things you can do to decrease your processing time. Have Export store the temporary PKT in the Osiris TXT root directory. Dos gets very slow when it has to work across directories and even S L O W E R if it's across drives. Use PKzip for outbound storage, if at all possible. It's by far the fastest. Export only one time per day and find FEEDS that will do the same for you. This will greatly reduce YOUR import time . Don't use the /M setting unless you just plain have to. Your archive time will go down a tad, but the time to break off and pick back up will more than offset it. RUN A DISK CACHE!!! Set it to 128K, no larger, and lower your BUFFERS= statement in your config.sys to 10. Yes, I did say 10. Use a Disk compression program like OPTUNE (By far the best) with FULL DEFRAGMENTATION and FILE REALIGNMENT twice a week. Keep your Hard Drive partitions as small as possible. Smaller partition run faster than large, over 30 meg, partitions. If you have a LOT of message areas, over 150, then move the HDR files to a different directory. To do this define HDR= in the environment. If you have less than 150, don't do this or the Dos cross directory file slow down will make it even slower. Halcyon.cfg The final setup is to configure the Halcyon.cfg file. Import and export get needed information from this file. Enclosed is a sample.cfg file showing what a Halcyon.cfg looks like. Below is a step by step run down of the configuration options. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 52 The centered text is a halcyon.cfg option. You follow each option with the required information, if any. Place one blank space between the command line text and the data. Use Ems This tells me to map to EMS when I call an archive program such as Pkunzip or Lharc. If you do not have EMS or do not want it used, I'll map to DISK. Bypass Security Traditional import programs will "ASSUME" that anything that isn't an echomail message is a matrix message and that message will be tossed into your mailers matrix area. That in itself is boggiest and not all "UNKNOWNS" will be matrix messages. This also leaves you open to those that may wish to cause you problems. Fidonet mailers, all of them we've tested, have a security gap large enough to drive a train though in this area. It is possible to trick the mailer into forwarding matrix messages, attaching files (even user records), and other items without your consent. ISIS, an HTMS/FIDOnet mailer, has internal security systems to prevent this by disallowing matrix messages in echomail archives. You can bypass those security systems by using this switch. Warning, using this switch will void your ISIS warranty. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 53 Max Cache Size This determines the maximum size the EM import cache. Valid sizes range from 10 to 200. Each increment is equal to 16384 bytes. E.g., Max cache size 10 would equal 163840 bytes. EMS can only be allocated in 16384 byte blocks. Example : MAX CACHE SIZE 200 Ems Handles, Very Important In order for import to use an EXPANDABLE, on demand cache, each block uses 1 EMM Handle. Your memory manager should be set to allow MAX CACHE SIZE + 10 EMM Handles. Almost all memory managers have a default of 32 or 64 EMM handles, but do allow you to increase the number of EMM Handles with a command line switch. QEMM uses HANDLES=, AST uses PID= and CONTEXT=. Check the manual that came with your memory manager for the correct switch settings. The program EMCHECK.EXE will tell you how large MAX CACHE SIZE can be for your current settings. Just run it, no command line switches needed. No Em Cache If you do not want import to use EMS caching, add this command. This will drastically reduce your import speed so it is not recommended, but it is available. Maximum Memory This tells me you're running with less then the ideal amount of memory and that you REALLY need all that can be squeezed out of the machine. You almost always will need this switch if you are running in a DV window. Matrix Address Import Echomail addressed to this address. You can define up to 10 of them. e.g., MATRIX ADDRESS 902/1 Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 54 Common Mistake There are several common mistakes associated with these addresses. One is to include the zone number. Do NOT ADD THE ZONE NUMBER. Use _ONLY_ your net/node number. Do not use your HTMS address, if you're using ISIS. Tear Line Use the following text as the TEAR line. e.g., TEAR LINE Halcyon 3.01 Point Net Define a POINT net address. When export I'll take this address and strip it from the CURRENT seen by lines. e.g., POINT NET 25202 Htms Address Define an HTMS address. Used only if you are running ISIS. e.g., HTMS ADDRESS 13143346359 Archive Directory I'll store all outbound ARCHIVED bundles in this directory. Useful if you are low on disk space and wish to split things between two drives. e.g., ARCHIVE DIRECTORY C:\lynx\arcmail Msg Format I'll use MSG file attaches instead of the default HTMS file attach messages. For use with systems using Binkley, FD, D'bridge, etc.. (NOTE: I do not support OMMM style bundles). e.g., MSG FORMAT If you are running Binkley, I'm afraid you might as well stop right here. Although I know of folks using Binkley and Osiris, it's just not worth the trouble. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 55 Binkley is one of those programs that has an identity problem. It doesn't know if it's a terminal program or a mailer and ends up not doing either very well. Outbound Msg Directory I'll place the HTM or MSG file attach messages in this directory. Once again, I'm not referencing OMMM style bundles. e.g., OUTBOUND MSG DIRECTORY c:\email Inbound File Path I'll look in this directory for inbound arcmail bundles. Keep in mind, I expect all echomail to arrive in archived format. e.g. INBOUND FILE PATH c:\fidonet Pkt Temp Storage I'll place the unarchived PKT files in this directory until it is time to move them into the archive. Useful if your disk space is a little on the low side. You might want to store the PKT files on one drive but when it comes time to archive them, archived to a different drive. e.g. PKT TEMP STORAGE D:\ Dup.dat Storage Tells me which directory the DUPxx.DAT files will be stored. Useful if you need to spread things across two or three drives. e.g. DUP.DAT STORAGE c:\dups Max Systems Lets you increases the number of individual systems support during a single export run. The default value is 20 systems and does not require the use of MAX SYSTEMS. The upper limit for MAX SYSTEMS is 99. e.g. MAX SYSTEMS 45 Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 56 Unknown Save Area Any message that I don't UNDERSTAND; an undefined area, MATRIX message, or grunged messages will be placed here. This should point to your MAILER matrix area and I'll save the message either in HTM format or MSG format, depending on the TYPE of mailer you are running. Matrix Ending Up Here One of the most common questions is WHY does my Matrix mail end up here? There is basically no difference between a Matrix message and a grunged message. I.e., there are no special "Designators" used to set matrix and echomail apart. You should never send matrix mail inside of an echomail archive for several reasons. Reason1: The destination system MAY be running secure echomail and if he is, you will not know that your message did not arrive. Reason2: With MSG based message systems, you can safely assume certain things, grunged may not be grunged but matrix. If you're wrong, you only lose a single message. With nonMSG based message systems, you cannot afford to make those types of assumptions. A wrong guess can destroy hundreds or thousands of messages. Reason3: There are several security issues involved that I'd rather not go into because of their delicate nature. Let us just say that all kinds of hell can be raised by those with less than honest intentions. There are a couple of popular echomail programs, qmail is one, that assume unidentified echomail is matrix mail. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 57 They claim it as a feature, but it is really a giant hole in their logic that can be used to reek havoc on those using it. Formatting Spaces are NOT important within the HALCYON.CFG file as long as at least ONE space is there. CASE is not important. I'll ignore blank lines as well as anything following a semicolon. Echo/Pass I'll automatically clear an area as soon as I finish exporting its messages, providing you have not used the /F switch. This will free up disk space as you process and your PKT files become larger. Seen By Lines Halcyon supports FULL seen by lines in or out as well as sub-sets. I'll not tamper with existing seen by lines except to remove any point net listings you've defined. I'll automatically remove any NET ZERO ie. 0/9 or 0/0 entries as non-valid. Quad Already Seen System I use a QUAD Already Seen it system instead of the traditional single phase seen by line approach. Which means import is 4 times more accurate when it comes to stopping duplicate traffic than Confmail 4.0 or Qmail. This makes Halcyon, combined with the FILTER options, the blazing speed, and the EID dup checking the best Echomail processor you could possible run. Origin Lines Osiris no longer directly supports ANY type of echomail, although I have provided HOOKS for external processors such as Halcyon. You'll find, in each message area, a place to define an ORIGIN line for the area. You use an ORIGIN line to show WHERE the message originated. You should place the NAME of your BBS, City and State, and the PHONE number, providing there is room, in the origin line. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 58 e.g. VetLink #3, Cape Girardeau, Mo. (314 334-6359) Do NOT add ZONE:NET/NODE information. Halcyon will automatically include it in the proper place. Databases Neither Import nor Export can CREATE missing message database files. Both programs demand the HDRxxx.SYS and TXTxxxx.SYS files exist. I'm not going to validate or trap for missing databases. The VERIFY option, in OSM, and CAT can be used to create missing databases. Attempting to import mail into non-existing message bases can result in system lockups, spraying parts of the message on the screen, and other "weird" happenings. Error Reading/Writing Record 0 This is a BTREE index error which means I couldn't FIND the ISIS nodelist.dat and nodelist.idx files, the ISIS primary nodelist. These two files MUST be in the OSIRIS= directory. If you're running ISIS out of a different directory, copy these two files to the OSIRIS= directory. Traffic.exe This is an additional program that will allow you to view incoming echomail activity. How much, where, when, and who. Just run it, no command line switches needed. Readarc.exe I'll track the compressed byte amount for each system that I send to. This can be used for shared billing when one system retrieves echomail for multiple systems in the same area. Readarc.exe takes the archive.log and compiles the total statistics for each system and then prints it to the screen. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 59 DOS redirect, can be used if you want to have it written to a text file. e.g. readarc > results.txt Ulink Ultralink is an OSIRIS SE conversion linker that links messages that did not originate on your system. The MAXIMUM number of message I can link in any given area is 5000. Ultralink looks small and doesn't require much memory when it first starts, 80K, but it can quickly consume a large chunk of memory. It can require as much as 512K on areas that push it close to the 5000 message limit. To use Ultralink you must be in the directory that contains the HDRxx.SYS files and your OSIRIS= must be defined so I can find you msgboard.qbs file. I'll display the name of the area I am currently linking along with the number of messages in that area. When I have finished linking all the areas, I'll display the TOTAL number of messages scanned and the elapse time in seconds. If I find the file IMPORT.LOG, created by import.exe, I'll use it to limit linking only to areas that received new echomail. That means run Ultralink directly AFTER import.exe and but BEFORE export. Ultralink can also accept one command line switch, /M. This tells me you only want the message center messages linked. Sphinx! As the SysOp, you will need to be able to READ messages easily and have MORE control than the average user. Most BBS' packages require you to LOG ON locally to read mail, how quaint. Sphinx! is an Osiris compatible sysop editor for message reading/editing. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 60 Sphinx! really needs a mouse, but can be used with HOTKEYS. You will also need roughly 384K of free memory. Sphinx! will READ your video adapter and switch between COLOR and B/W mode depending on which video adapter is active. Display.dat Display.dat MUST be in the current directory. This is the Sphinx primary display screen. See sub section on color for an explanation on how to configure the primary display colors. Sphinx! requires ONE command line switch, the USER record to load and use. The switch /U or -U, case is NOT a factor, followed by the record number. Remember, user records start with record number ZERO (0). e.g. sphinx /U0 Load the first or record #0. This is usually your record. You can run Sphinx! from any directory or drive but I do recommend you call it in your Osiris ROOT directory for maximum speed. I have divided the primary display screen into four areas. The first area, at the top of the screen, consists of two rows. The first row is the name of the area you're in. If the message center then "Osiris Message Center." If you're in one of the conference areas, the name of that area will be displayed. The Second row contains the message Attributes for the current message; Received, Deleted, Return Receipt Requested, etc. The second area contains information about the current message; who it is to, who it is from, and the subject. At the END of the subject line, you'll see two sets of numbers separated by a forward slash '/'. e.g. 6/235 The FIRST number, 6, indicates you're ON the sixth message. The SECOND number, 235, indicates the LAST message in the current area is number 235. The area, located slightly off center on the lower 2/3rd's of the screen, is the message text window. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 61 There are several special sub-windows located on the outer parameters of this window. On the bottom horizontal double line border; Chain Original and Chain Reply. Either of these options may be selected by clicking on them with the left mouse button or pressing the HOTKEYS (- or +), respectively. In order for - and + to work, the message has to be linked with other messages in a conversation chain. On the right side of the window there are two SQUARES located on the vertical double border, one at the top and one at the bottom. Provides a method of quickly jumping to the top or the bottom of the current message. Click, with the left mouse button, to select. HOTKEYS Ctrl-PgUp and Ctrl-PgDn may also be used. The fourth primary window, located on the lower half on the far right hand side of the screen, contains several options which can be selected by pressing the left mouse button. Below is a list of the options, their purpose, and the HOTKEY that can be used. Function Purpose HOTKEY ----------------------------------------------------------- Enter Enter a New Message E Reply Reply To Current Message R Kill Kill The Current Message K DOS Jump To DOS D Exit Exit Sphinx! ESC Menu Access Special Sphinx! Options M First Jump to FIRST Message in Area HOME Last Jump to LAST Message in Area END <-- Move Back a Message LEFT ARROW --> Move Forward A Message RIGHT ARROW Up Arrow Scroll Message Window Up A Line UP ARROW Dn Arrow Scroll Message Window DN A Line DN ARROW PgUP Scroll Message Window UP 20 Lines PgUp PgDN Scroll Message Window DN 20 Lines PgDn Help Displays a small Help window ALT-H Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 62 Page Intentionally Left Blank Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 63 Message Center The MENU option, from the Message Center, offers 4 additional options. To select one of the options on the MENU window, move the mouse cursor to the row containing the option you want and click the LEFT mouse button. A box will appear around the selection to indicate that it is TAGGED. Once you're satisfied with the selection, click on the TAGGED BOX again. There are TWO methods of CANCELING your current selection. You can move to a different selection and click on it or you can click your RIGHT mouse button and return to read mode. Below is a list of the options and their purpose. I associated each function with a HOTKEY using the "first come, first serve" principle, starting with 'A' and ending with 'Z'. Print Current Message To A Text File You have the option of using the default, MSG.SAV, by pressing RETURN or clicking the LEFT mouse button. You can clear the field, ESC or Middle Mouse Button, and enter a new name. The current message will be written or appended to this file. Print Current Message To Printer This is the same as the previous option but instead of writing the message to a file, I'll write it to your printer. You have the option of use LPT1 by pressing return or clicking the LEFT mouse BUTTON. You may clear the field ,ESC or Middle Mouse Button, and enter a new printer port. Use the format LPTx with x being the printer port. Supported Printer ports: LPT1 LPT2 LPT3 LPT4 LPT5 LPT6 LPT7 LPT8 Conference Message Areas Takes you to the Conference Message Areas, this is where we keep the public/echo messages. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 64 List Headers Displays a list of the message headers in the current area. I'll ask you for the starting message number, pressing return or clicking the LEFT mouse button will accept the default. Use ESC or the Middle mouse button to clear the field or any of the normal editing keys to chance the starting number to the one you want. When the starting number suits you, press RETURN or click the LEFT mouse button. You'll have to specify which of the three header field you want me to display. Given the volume of text, it is not possible to display all three fields. You can select either: To, From, or Subj. Move the inverted bar to the field you want, using your mouse or the UP/DN arrow keys. Click the LEFT mouse button or press RETURN to select. The display window will hold up to 20 message before requiring you to signal either JUMP, CANCEL, or MORE. You'll know when it needs input, you hear a short sharp beep. To select one of the option, move to the BOX (JUMP, CANCEL, or MORE) and click the LEFT mouse button. You may also HOTKEY the selection using the first character i.e. C, J, or M. If the beep sounds and the window isn't full, it means end of messages. Select either the MORE or JUMP to continue. JUMP allows you to go directly to the TAGGED message. It will ABORT the listing, return to the area, and display the message. To TAG a message for JUMP, move the mouse cursor to the line containing the message you want to jump to and click the RIGHT mouse button. An inverse bar will highlight your selection. Move to the JUMP BOX and click the LEFT mouse button. If you accidentally TAG the wrong one, click on it again. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 65 If you have TAGGED a message, but click on the MORE BOX, your TAG will be cleared. I'm sorry, but this function will ONLY work if you have a mouse. TAG/JUMP will REMEMBER the message you have JUMPED TO and if you select to LIST HEADERS again, and you're still in the same area, I'll present you with the next highest message number as the default starting message number. This allows you to jump quickly down the list viewing messages from, to, or on any specific subject/person. The OK box HOTKEY is O The CANCEL box HOTKEY is C Mark Marks the current MESSAGE you're on. This is useful if you need to hunt down a message that may contain information related to the message you're reading. After you find the message, click on restore to return to where you were. Restore Returns you to the LAST MARKED message. Search Allows you to do an IF CONTAINED within text search on the messages. You have two options; Search the message headers (TO, FROM, SUBJECT fields) or search the BODIES of the messages. You may use up to a 50 character search string. When I find a match, I'll terminate the search and place you on the message. To resume the search, select the search option again and when asked to continue, select YES. Selecting NO will allow you to reset the search perimeters. I do suggest that you MARK the current location before beginning the search. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 66 All the options listed above can also be accessed by special HOTKEYS. Use the ALT-H, help key, to list which functions can be accessed and what their HOTKEYS are. Broadcast The broadcast option allows you to send the same message to a GROUP of individuals. You have four methods of broadcasting a message: 1. ALL. Sends the message to everyone listed in the user.bbs file, excluding record 0, your record. The TO field will have the users name in it and NOT 'ALL'. I can't think of a GOOD reason to broadcast to ALL users when the system bulletins would do the same thing and take less disk space. 2. By Access Level. Sends the message to everyone that has access level XXXX or higher. You specify the access level. This could be used in place of the ACCxxxx.BBS text file. It's more personal since it LOOKS like you took the time to type in a message to each person. The users will not know that you broadcasted the message. 3. By Control File. This uses a TEXT control file that lists the first and last name, one listing per line, of each person you want the message to go to. You MUST have the first AND last name listed, single names will not work. There is no limit to the number of names you can have listed in the control file. I'll ask you for the name of the control file and if it exists, the message will be saved to each individual listed. 4. Manual Control. This works like the control file except you ENTER each person's name manually. Again, there is no limit to the number of people you can send to. To terminate the process, press ENTER without entering a name. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 67 When you select the broadcast option, you'll fill out your message header like you normally would except for the TO field, I'll skip this field and fill it in myself once I find out which method of "BROADCAST" you want to use. The rest of the process is just like entering a message to an individual. Edit Current This allows you to edit the CURRENT message, the body only. A word of warning, Osiris uses a PACKED message structure. That means the next message begins directly following the last BYTE or CHARACTER of the last message. That means you can't actual EDIT a message you've already saved, it has a FIXED starting and ending location in the message database. When you edit a message, I'm basically saving the body at a NEW location. The last or original body is STILL in your message database and will remain there until CAT packs the area. Editing a LOT of message can cause your message databases to grow at an abnormal rate and you should use this function sparingly. You may also HOTKEY this option by pressing 'A'. Jumping To A Specific Message You can jump to a specific message by entering the message NUMBER. When you type 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, or 0, a small window will open in the middle of the screen and you may complete the message number. When you press return, I'll jump you directly to that message. Set Personal Msg Pointers This does what I refer to as "LOCKING DOWN" specific messages. If you select this option, I'll scan ALL the messages in the area for unread message addressed to you. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 68 When you press the Left or Right arrow keys, or click on them with your mouse, I'll move to the NEXT or PRIOR message stored in the LOCK DOWN queue, instead of the normal next/prior. If you want to DISENGAGE the message LOCK before you read the LAST message, press ESC. Conference Message Areas Having CLICKED your way to this section, your screen will look almost identical to the one described above. All the options listed above will also be available to you from this section, plus a few more. One option does work slightly different, EXIT. It takes you BACK to the Osiris Message Center instead of EXITING Sphinx. Moderator Lets you view messages in DELAYED POSTED (REV) areas and either POST them or REJECT them. HOTKEYS for POST and REJECT are: P R If you REJECT a message, you'll have to supply the reason. A menu will open in the middle of the screen listing several default reasons. Move to the one you want, using the mouse or the up/dn arrow keys, and press RETURN or click the left mouse button. One of the default reasons is "Other." This lets you enter your OWN reason for the rejection. The reason will be limited to one line with a maximum length of 50 characters. Mass Print This functions the same as the previous 'Print Current Message To A TEXT FILE' except you print a RANGE or GROUP of messages. You will be required to provide the name of the file to save messages TO, as well as the starting and ending message numbers. The default file name is "MSG.SAV" and can be accepted by clicking the LEFT mouse button or pressing RETURN. You can also use the ESC or Middle Mouse button to clear the field. Other normal editing keys may be used. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 69 Change Area Allows you to SWITCH to a different Conference area. A SIDEKICK type window will open listing the available areas. Move the inverted bar to the area you want and click the LEFT mouse button or press RETURN to select. Pressing the MIDDLE mouse button or ESC will abort the change. The Change Area window will only display 20 areas at a time. If you have move than 20 areas, you can scroll the window by moving the inverted bar to the FIRST or LAST entry and pressing the RIGHT MOUSE button. Additional areas will scroll up or down, depending on whether you're on the FIRST or LAST entry. Holding the RIGHT mouse button DOWN will cause a fast continuous scroll. You can also scroll the window by using the Up/Dn/PgUp/PgDn,HOME, or END keys. The Area change display also sets the JUMP NEXT Flag , option 9 on the menu. Once I've set the flags, you can jump to the next message area with UNREAD messages by click on JUMP NEXT. Each time you change areas, with the CHANGE option, the JUMP NEXT flags will be reset. Mark Marks the current MESSAGE. It's useful if you need to hunt down a message that may contain information related to the message you are reading. After you find that message, click on restore to return to where you were. I'll save the current AREA and if you had to change areas to search for a message, I will place you back in the original message area. Restore Returns you to the LAST MARKED message. Search Allows you to do a IF CONTAINED within text search on the messages. You have two options; Search the message headers (TO, FROM, SUBJECT fields) or search the BODIES of the messages. You may use up to a 50 character search string. You may also restrict the search to the CURRENT message area or ALL areas. Matching Messages will be added to a LOCK DOWN queue. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 70 Once you have engaged the LOCK DOWN , pressing the left or right arrow keys will move you to the NEXT or PRIOR message that matched your search string. If the message is in a different area, I'll automatically change areas. If you want to DISENGAGE the lock down BEFORE you have read all the messages in the QUEUE, press ESC. Forward Conference Allows you to forward the current message to someone else in one of the conference areas. Forward Message Center Forward the current message to another individual on the system and have the forwarded message placed in the message center. Edit Current This allows you to edit the CURRENT message, the body only. A word of warning, Osiris uses a PACKED message structure. That means the next message begins directly following the last BYTE or CHARACTER of the last message. That means you can't actual EDIT a message you've already saved, it has a FIXED starting and ending location in the message database. When you edit a message, I'm basically saving the body at a NEW location. The last or original body is STILL in your message database and will remain there until CAT packs the area. Editing a LOT of message can cause your message databases to grow at an abnormal rate and you should use this function sparingly. You may also HOTKEY this option by pressing 'A'. Jumping To A Specific Message You can jump to a specific message by entering the message NUMBER. When you type 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, or 0, a small window will open in the middle of the screen and you may complete the message number. When you press return, I'll jump you directly to that message. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 71 Marking Received Sphinx! will always ASK you before marking a message as RECEIVED. Set Personal Msg Pointers This does what I refer to as "LOCKING DOWN" specific messages. If you select this option, I'll scan ALL the areas for unread message addressed to you. When you press the Left or Right arrow keys, or click on them with your mouse, I'll move to the NEXT or PRIOR message stored in the LOCK DOWN queue, instead of the normal next/prior. If the next message is in a DIFFERENT area, I will automatically change areas. If you press HOME, it will take you to the FIRST message in the LOCK DOWN QUEUE for the CURRENT message AREA. If you press END, it will take you to the LAST message in the LOCK DOWN QUEUE for the CURRENT message AREA. This allows you to SKIP over some messages. If you want to DISENGAGE the message LOCK before you read the LAST message, press ESC. Set Unread Msg Pointers This works EXACTLY like the "Set Personal Msg Pointers" except it Locks Down on ALL messages you have NOT read yet, even if they are NOT addressed to you personally. Tag Line Sphinx! will always add an identification line to any message it saves. Sphinx EM/vx.xx * xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ---------------------------------------- xxxxxx will contains 'Osiris Compatible Editor' or may contain text that you have selected to use in place of the default. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 72 I've included a file called Tagline.ctl. This file contains some 150 odd taglines. You can add new taglines to it, maximum length of a tagline is 50 characters. Place Tagline.ctl in the Osiris directory and if it exists, Sphinx will pull a tagline from this file each time you enter a message. Once it has reach the end of the file, it will start over with the first tagline. Screen Clip Sphinx! supports CLIP to File using your mouse if you're at the main menu, message center or in a conference area. CLICK the RIGHT mouse button to trigger the CLIP function. Move the mouse cursor to where you want the CLIP to start and press the LEFT mouse button to drop the CLIP anchor. Move the mouse cursor to where you want the CLIP to end, you may not move to the LEFT of your anchor or above the anchor, and press the RIGHT mouse button. As you move your cursor, once the anchor has been dropped, the area that WOULD be considered as part of the CLIP rectangle will be highlighted. After you have pressed the RIGHT mouse button, you'll be asked for the name of the file to save the screen CLIP. The default is Sphinx!.cut and can be selected by pressing RETURN or clicking the LEFT mouse button. If the file already exists, you will have the option of APPENDING to it or OVERWRITING it. Using CLIP is preferred over the " WRITE to TEXT File " option if you only need PART of the message. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 73 Dc Word(tm) DC Word(tm) isn't actual an individual program, it's a module for Message entry in Sphinx!. DC Word(tm) was designed specifically for message entry systems found in CBIS, BBS, Mailers, etc. It has many, if not more, options found in most popular word processors. DC Word(tm) has a default left margin of one and a right margin of 75. The margins may not be changed. When entering test, I'll automatically wrap when you exceed the 75th column. If you press <CR> then you'll move to the next line, if one is available, and the line you where on will be flagged as ENDING with a HARD CARRIAGE RETURN. You should ONLY use <CR> to format columns of data or to signal paragraph changes. DC Word(tm) allows up to 161 lines of text, seven pages or about 13K. There are other systems that cannot handle messages exceeding 10K. At the bottom of the screen you'll find a status bar. It shows the current row, col., page, and the number of lines left, excluding the current line. There are several command keys available and pressing ALT-H will display a help screen listing them. Commands Items beginning with (*) designate wordstar compatibility (*) Up Arrow Key or ^E - Move up a line. (*) Dn Arrow Key or ^X - Move down a line (cannot go pass last line of text). (*) Left Arrow Key or ^S - Move one CHARACTER to the left. (*) Right Arrow Key or ^D - Move one CHARACTER to the right. (*) Ctrl - Left Arrow Key or ^A - Move one WORD to the left. (*) Ctrl - Right Arrow Key or ^F - Move one WORD to the right. (*) HOME or ^Qs - Move to the start of the current line. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 74 (*) END or ^Qd - Move to the end of the current line. (*) Ctrl-HOME or ^Qr - Move to the first line, first column of the message. (*) Ctrl-END or ^Qc - Move to the Last line, first column of the message. Ins - Toggles Insert Mode on/off. Cursor becomes a BLOCK when in insert Mode. (*) DEL or ^G - Delete the character under the cursor, move rest of line back to fill hole. If you are at the end of the line, I'll look at the line below your current position and if I can move text from that line to your current line, I will. (*) PgUp or ^R - Move up a page or to Top of document, which every comes first. (*) PgDn or ^C - Move down a page or to Bottom of document, which every comes first. (*) Ctrl-N - Split the line at the current cursor position. (*) Ctrl-Y - Delete the current line, move all text up a line. (*) Ctrl-I - Tab (*) BS - Backspace delete. ESC - Done editing, exit DC Word(tm). (*) Ctrl-B - Reformat document. ALT-D - Engage Dictionary. ALT-J - Jump to DOS. ALT-I - Import Text file. ALT-X - Delete from current position to end of line. ALT-S - Cursive Signature. ALT-R - Redraw Screen. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 75 (*) ^KB - Start Block Mark. (*) ^KK - End Block Mark. (*) ^KC - Copy Marked text to line below current location. (*) ^KY - Delete Marked text. (*) ^KH - Dissolve Block Marks (HIDE). (*) ^KW - Write Marked text to a file. I'll highlight marked text in reverse video to illustrate the first and last line in the block. (*) ^U - Undelete last line deleted with ^Y, Delete buffer will hold the last 36 lines of text deleted with ^Y. Individually deleted characters will NOT be saved in the undelete buffer. (*) ^T - Delete word. DC Word(tm) will start at the current cursor position and delete an entire word. I'll use either; end of the line, a white space, or a punctuation mark to determine the end of a word. If you are at the END of the line to start with, WORDS that will fit in the remaining space on the next line will be pulled up to the current line. ^V - Insert Blank line below current position. ALT - C - Access Cut section of CUT/PASTE. Requires Mouse. ALT - P - Access Paste section of CUT/PASTE. Requires Mouse. <- Del Key - Moves the cursor back a character and deletes the character at the new cursor position. If you're at the start of the line, I'll move you to the end of the line above you. Left Mouse Button - Active Mouse Menu. Requires Mouse. Right Mouse Button - Active Quick Jump. Requires Mouse. All functions will prevent you from going pass the last available line. Should you attempt it, the system will BEEP at you. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 76 F1 - Access calculator. F2 - Access TEXT VIEWER. F1 - Calculator Most of the functions are fairly straight forward except 'M' or Memory. If you press M, the CURRENT total will be placed in the CUT/PASTE buffer, lets you paste the total into your message using ALT-P. To EXIT the calculator, press ESC. F2 - Text Viewer This is a windowed text viewer, similar to the one found in control.exe. The idea is to allow you to bring up a text file for viewing without having to exit the word processor. You may CUT text from the text window and PASTE it into your messages. You can make Multiple CUTS and each cut will be appended onto the last CUT(s). The only restriction is the total size of the CUTS cannot exceed 4000 bytes, the maximum size of the paste buffer. If you exceed 4000 bytes, the remaining text will be lost. Once you have finished viewing or cutting text from the text window, press ESC to return to work processing mode. Once you have re-entered this mode, you can paste the text you CUT using ALT-P. The TEXT VIEWER window should be able to handle text files in excess of 350,000 bytes. Alt-D Dictionary ALT-D gives you access to the Osage dictionary. You should have Osage.dic and Osage.idx in the same directory. Alt-J Jump To Dos This uses VMS to free up all available memory. The current screen and cursor positions will be saved and restored when you return. If I can't allocate a buffer to store the video screen, you'll get an error message and the Jump to DOS will be aborted. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 77 Ctrl-B Reformat After a heavy editing session, your text could look choppy. This really doesn't hurt anything, but it's there if you want to use it. Alt-I Import File Allows you to import text files. The only restrictions placed on this function is the size of the file. It must fit within the space you've got left. I'll make sure of that and when you run out of space, I'll quit importing the text. Although it's not a restriction, the length of the lines in the file should be discussed. I'm allowing only 78 character per line before either wrapping or requiring a HARD CARRIAGE return. Should the file contains lines that will not meet this requirement, I'll force it by placing HARD CARRIAGE returns in as needed. This means a file may not look like you though it would. If you're importing files that have lines LONGER than 66 characters, I suggest that you attempt to shorten them so they'll display correctly. When you select the IMPORT option, I'll ask you'll for the file name. You can enter the full drive, path, and file name. You may use the wild card characters; '?' and '*'. I'll scan that directory and show you a list of files matching the file name pattern you typed in. Move to the one you want and press return. When I start importing a file, I'll always check to see if you're on a BLANK line. If not, I'll start INSERTING the text following the line you're on. I'll NEVER over write any existing line of text. Alt-S, Cursive Signature Press ALT-S, enter the signature, and it will be converted to the new FONT format and you may place it anywhere in the message by pressing the ALT-P for paste. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 78 You can also block mark the signature, after you display it with ALT-P, and write it to a MACRO file. ______ _ o / / ' ) / ' --/ /_ _ / / / o __. (_/ / /_</_ (_(_/ <_/ |_ (| Mouse Menu Pressing the left mouse button will activate the mouse menu. This is slower than using the keyboard commands but does lower the learning curve for new sysops. Once the mouse menu is open, move to the option you want, or the sub-topic, and press the left mouse button. If it is an option (jump to dos) then it will be activated. If it is a sub-topic (BLOCK) a pull down menu will appear. Move to the selection you want and press the left mouse button. The RIGHT mouse button can be used to back up. Cut/Paste Cut/Paste requires that you have a mouse. Both Cut and Paste can be activated using keyboard commands, ALT-C for CUT and ALT-P for Paste, or the mouse menu. Cut Allows you to mark text on the screen and places it in a buffer. Cut does NOT remove or delete the marked text. It cuts out a section of the screen and store it for PASTE recall. If you select this option, your mouse cursor will be placed in the middle of the screen. Move to the upper right hand corner of the section you want to cut and press the LEFT mouse button. This will drop the first anchor. Once you have dropped the first anchor, you may not go pass it, horizontally or vertically. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 79 As you move, the text will be highlighted. Once you have selected all that you wanted to CUT, press the RIGHT mouse button. You can CUT as little as one character or the entire screen. If you cut multiple screen lines, then each line will end with a hard carriage return. The text will remain in the cut buffer until you select to CUT more text. Paste Paste may be selected from the mouse menu or by pressing ALT-P. If you have CUT text, selecting the PASTE option will begin placing the text in your message at your current location. If you are NOT in insert mode and you aren't at the end of the message then the text that's already there will be over written. You can paste CUT text as many times as you like. The same text will be available until you CUT more. Quick Jump You can active the Quick Jump by pressing the RIGHT mouse button. This allows you to QUICKLY jump to different spots in your message, limited to locations on the CURRENT screen. When you press the RIGHT mouse button, the mouse cursor will be placed in the middle of the screen. Move to the location you want to jump to and press the LEFT mouse button. You can't move pass the last line of text or the last column on a particular line. Attempts to move pass the LAST line of text will place you ON the last line. Attempts to move pass the last column on a particular line will place you at the LAST column position for that line. Macro Keys You have 9 scrap MACRO keys that can be programmed to do all most anything you can do manually. Each MACRO can be triggered by pressing ALT-1 - ALT-9. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 80 Providing the MACRO file for that key exists, it will be executed. Each MACRO has its own specific command file, MACx with x being the MACRO key in question. i.e. MACRO ALT-1 uses the file name MAC1 To create a MACRO file, use any text editor and enter what you want. Normal text, not DC Word(tm) commands, will simply be imported into your message as TEXT. All DC Word(tm) normal key functions, Ctrl-I type keys, can be triggered by entering them in character format. In other words, use some type of program, like Char.exe, to generate the character representation of the ASCII value for the command. Certain DC Word(tm) commands do not use ASCII characters but use IBM Extended Keyboard Scan codes. e.g. The Left, Right, Up, and Down Arrow keys. Using these commands requires a TWO character sequence. You must prefix each command with ASCII character 238. Following the ASCII 238, enter the character representation for the key. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 81 Below is a chart listing each command and its ASCII value, keeping in mind that you don't enter the ASCII value but the ASCII character for that value. 01 - Pause for 1 second 02 - Wait for a key press 32 - Active Dictionary 45 - ALT-X, Clear to EOL 19 - ALT-R, Redraw Screen 35 - ALT-H, Show Help 36 - ALT-J, Jump to DOS 23 - ALT-I, Import Text File 82 - Toggle Insert on/off 83 - DEL, Black hole delete 77 - Right Arrow key, move right one character. 75 - Left Arrow Key, move left one character. 115 - Ctrl-Left Arrow Key, move left a word. 116 - Ctrl-Right Arrow Key, move right a word. 73 - PgUp 81 - PgDn 119 - Top of Document 117 - End of Document 72 - Up Arrow 80 - Dn Arrow 79 - Goto End of Line 71 - Goto Start of Line There's no limit to the size of the MACRO file. Since there's no size restriction on a MACRO, there is NO need to allow MACRO chaining. NOTE: Although you may activate the dictionary and the import file functions, you may not supply file names nor dictionary input. The MACRO will continue to execute when the function has completed its task. Color You can change or set the primary screen colors in Sphinx with the program SColor.exe. Move Scolor.exe to the directory that contains the display.dat file. Run scolor, no command line arguments required, and follow the instructions on the screen. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 82 File Subsystem The HELP file for the File Menu, FILEHELP.(ASC/MMU/ANS), must be in the Osiris text support directory. Upload/Download File(s) I'll allow you download a file from any file area , providing you have access, even if that file is NOT in the current area. To do this with a reasonable degree of speed, I use a special secondary indexing system that will catalog all the files on your system, upload and download directories. I will use the individual PRIMARY file listings in each area to build the secondary index. Files.idx Files.idx contains the name(s) of the files along with a pointer to a record in files.dat. Files.dat Files.dat contains all the information about the file that would normally be found in its files.qbs. Dl_area.idx Dl_area.idx contains pointers to the START of each Download directory in the files.dat file. When you UPLOAD a new file, I'll automatically update the secondary indices. Right now this serves no other purpose than to prevent duplicate uploads that may come along before you move the file to a download directory. New uploads will NOT be available for downloading UNTIL you move them to a download area via FAM. When you adopt orphans, delete, or move files via FAM you'll need to REINDEX or the pointers will be off and the files cannot be downloaded. FAM "SHOULD" automatically call Cat when you perform any operation that may affect the download status of any file. You may SPECIFICALLY request cat to reindex the file areas by using the command line CAT B . The other functions of CAT will be bypassed by this request. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 83 The NEW upload search and SEARCH function use the secondary indexing system to speed up operations and to decrease the pounding your hard drive takes. Wildcard Characters Unlike WildCAT! and Pcboard, which also allows downloading from any directory, I'll allow wildcard characters in file names and allow you to restrict the search to the current area or system wide. Advantages A) The number of files that you can download during a single batch transfer is 40. B) The files can be in any combination of file areas. C) File verifications, for downloading, is very fast. D) File duplicate checking, uploading, is very fast. E) Checking a CD-ROM drive for duplicates, searching, and new uploads is not a problem. F) Because of the reduction in head movement, your hard drive will last a lot longer. Disadvantage There is one, the additional disk space required for the secondary indexing system, roughly 167 bytes per file. This is offset, as least I believe it is, by reduced head movement. File Queue The names of ALL download file(s) will be held in a file queue. The method of selecting the files, Tag or download, doesn't matter. Each listing contains the file name, area, complete download path, IF the file should be counted in the user's record, and the file size. Since I have stored the file(s) in a QUEUE, a failed download can be restarted without having to RESELECT the files. Defining A File Area You must define each file area, use OSM, before it can be accessed from Osiris. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 84 Select the FILE option from OSM and then select the Edit sub- option. Move to the last file area you've defined and press the C)lone key and then press END, located on your keypad. This will move you to the NEWLY created board. Press E to edit the record. Area Name Area Name is the text name you want displayed to the caller. I don't use this name for anything, it's strictly for human consumption. Access Level The access level, 1 - 32722, required to get into the area. If you don't have access, the area will not be displayed. Area Access Flags Area Access Flags allows you to sub-divide an access level by requiring specific flags to be on or off. Download Path The full drive and path to the actual downloadable FILES. e.g. c:\general\ This should point the drive and directory that contains the physical files for this area. I do NOT validate directories. If the directory does NOT exist, strange things can happen. Download Files.qbs The full drive and path to the FILES.QBS type listing that contains the list of files that can be downloaded from the area. e.g. c:\general\ If the path defined in the Download Path and the one defined in the Download Files.qbs isn't the same, I'll assume the area's on a NON-WRITEABLE drive. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 85 Cd-Rom Or Worm Drives The last TWO definitions are very important if you are defining a file area that's located on a CD- ROM or WORM Drive. You MUST make a subdirectory on your MFM/RLL/ESDI hard drive for the "Download files.qbs." I'll attempt to write to the files.qbs file in that sub-directory following uploads or downloads and that requires a writeable drive. Your "Download path" should point to the directory on the CD-ROM or WORM drive. File Not Found, But It Exists! If you get a "FILE NOT FOUND" message when you enter a file name, no wild card characters, but you KNOW that file is in the current area then you need to do two things. To eliminate the possibility that FAM messed up or that the index itself has been damaged, run CAT B and try again. If that does not fix the problem then you have duplicate download areas, i.e., the same physical sub-directory and the same files.qbs for more than one file area. You CAN have multiple file areas using the same physical sub-directory, but each file area MUST have a unique files.qbs structure. Upload Path The full drive and path pointing to a temporary storage area for files uploaded to this area. The upload path should NOT be the same as the "Download Path." The Help Menu "The Help Menu" is the name of the FULL Help menu for the area. You should NOT list the extension and the file must be in the text support directory. You can use one menu for ALL areas, different menus for each area, or any combination you chose. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 86 Dnl Files Name The name of the file that will hold the listings for all the files in the area, the default being FILES. You should NOT list the extension and I'll add .QBS to it. This allows you to combine different areas in the same physical sub-directory and logically divide them with different "DNL Files Name." Although this is allowed, I would discourage it because of the limited number of files that FAM can handle, 750 files per area, and because DOS will drastically slow down in proportion to the number of files. Upl Files Name The name of the file that will hold the listings for all NEW uploads for the area, the default being FILES. You should NOT list the extension, I'll add .QBS. You can, in fact it is desirable, use the same upload directory and the same "UPL Files Name" for all areas. Callers seldom upload in the correct directory and you will usually have to MOVE the file anyway. This makes it easier to work with if ALL uploads are grouped. Free Download Area This means downloads from this area do not get recorded in the users record. They just didn't happen as far as ratios and download limits are concerned. Application Flags These flags can be used by just about any program that needs YES/NO or ON/OFF switches to indicate whether or not it should do whatever it is the program does to a specific file area. Read the documentation for the application you're going to use, it will tell you if it requires a flag or not. So far only one external application uses the application flags, CAT.EXE. The application flag field works just like the other flag fields in Osiris. In OSM the flag field is represented by a string of 0's and 1's. 0 (zero) indicates the flag is off and 1 (one) indicates the flag is on. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 87 Flags are numbered 1 to 16 from left to right. E.g. 0000000000000000 1234567891111111 0123456 Command Key Options The remainder of the file board definition record pertains to selecting command keys, access levels, and command key flags. Commands you do not want to use, set the access level to 32001 and use a space as the command key. Area Change A list of available file areas, those you have access to, will be displayed. You can enter the number of the area you want or press <Enter> to abort the area change. Another way of changing areas, once you know the system, is to ENTER the area number on the command line and press RETURN. e.g. xxx minutes Remaining Command ? 12 <ENTER> You'll jump DIRECTLY to file area 12. Alternate Area Listing Given the maximum length of an area name, I can only display the list of available areas in a two columns format. If you would rather custom design your own display, create a file called "FDISPLAY.MMU/ASC/ANS" and place it in the TEXT support directory. If this file exits, I'll display it rather than the dual column listing. Keep in mind that this is a simple text file and I can not control area displays by access level. If you want that, you'll have to use SPL/I and control the display yourself. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 88 Log Off A graceful way to hang up with the option of leaving a message, to the sysop. Logging off using the log off command is not required and dropping carrier will not harm anything. File Search Lets you enter a search string, NO wild cards. The system will display the area and file name of matching files. I will display a file called "Search.asc/mmu/ans." It should contain instructions on what is acceptable. A default search.mmu file is included. The search will allow you to TAG any MATCHING files for Batch Downloading. The search does NOT stop with the first matching file, but it'll continue to search ALL available areas. You can abort the search by pressing Ctrl-K or by selecting Q when a match is found. Kill Permits you to kill a file. Be careful of this command. Do not give callers access to it unless you know and trust them. (Knowing where their children go to school helps too!) I don't allow wild card characters to be used in the kill file name. Only you are allowed to kill more than 2 files per call. After the two- file limit, the caller is NOT allowed to kill any more files. Main Menu Takes you back to the Main Menu. If you used an SPL/I command to enter the file area, takes you BACK to the SPL/I command file instead of the main menu. Quick File List Displays only the names of the files in that area along with their file size and description. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 89 Full File List Displays the files available for downloading in the current File Area along with file dates, descriptions, times downloaded, transfer time, who downloaded it last, when it was last download, who uploaded it, and file sizes. List In Reverse Order Both the QUICK file list and FULL file list will allow you to LIST the files in REVERSE Order. *IF* you have FULL help turned on OR have elected to use HOTKEYS, I'll ask if you'd like the list in reverse order. The default is N)o. Once you have turned HELP down a level, the prompt is skipped, but may still be used via COMMAND stacking. e.g. L - List Mask Both the QUICK file list and the FULL file list commands also allow a LIST mask. You can enter part of the file name and ONLY those files matching will be shown. This is a SLIDE type match and NO wildcard characters, * or ?, are allowed. Like the reverse order option, if you have FULL help turned on or you're using HOTKEYS, I will ask for a mask or RETURN for ALL files. Once the Help Level has been turned DOWN a notch or two, the prompt will disappear but can still be used via command stacking. e.g. L BA List only files starting with 'BA' e.g. L - BA List files in REVERSE order and then ONLY those files starting with 'BA' Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 90 Upload Lets you send a file to the system. When you select upload, I'll check the free space on the hard drive where the uploaded file will be placed. If there is less than one Mbyte of free space, I'll not allow the upload. You'll be told why I could not allow the upload and an error message will be placed in the BBS log file. The first question I'll ask is "FOR SYSOP EYES ONLY ?". If you indicate that it is, a forward slash '/' will be appended to the START of the description field. If you answer NO AND have the access, I'll ask if the file is to be password protected. If you have ACCESS you can also PASSWORD KILL a file. Meaning it is password protected and I've been instructed to DELETE the file after its been downloaded. You can't intermix FOR SYSOP EYES ONLY and PASSWORD protected files. I'll ask you, following the description field prompt, if you would like to post a message to go along with the file. You can post a message in any area providing the following conditions are met: 1. You have the area selected. 2. You have access to the "enter message" command for that area. I do FOUR primary tests to ensure the upload file name is a valid DOS file name. 1. Entire file name is tested to see if it falls within the twelve character DOS limit. 2. The file extension, if one is used, is tested to make sure it doesn't exceed the three character DOS limit. 3. A test is run to ensure that only ONE period exists in the file name. ie. Dos.zip is valid, Dos.zip.zip is not valid. 4. If no file extension is used, test one is rerun with an eight character limit. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 91 File Duplication System You MUST tell me what file(s) you are planing to upload before uploading, even when using a batch protocol. This allows the File Duplication system to systematically search all upload and download areas, using the Btree indexing system. Should a match occur, the file will not be allowed. You do have the option of specifying the TYPE of search. In your NODEx.INI, you'll find a option labeled DUPLICATE SEARCH TYPE. Osiris currently supports two types, TYPE 0 and TYPE 1. Type 0 search means an EXACT match. If the file name is "BRAND.ZIP," then you'll have to already have BRAND.ZIP on the system. Type 1 search means to find the first file name, if it exists, equal to or greater than the upload file name, minus the extension. If the upload file name is BRAND.ZIP, then I'll look for anything that will match BRAND. E.g., Brand.arj, Brand.lzh, etc. would match. Badfiles.bbs You may want to set up a control file, badfiles.bbs, that can be used to FILTER out certain files. Badfiles.bbs is a text file that contains one file name per line. You should place Badfiles.bbs in the Osiris= directory. I don't place a LIMIT on the number of files you can list in Badfiles.bbs. But, the time it takes me to check the upload name against the contents of Badfiles.bbs will increase proportionately to the number of file names you've listed. Lotus.arj Dbaseiv.zip If the above lines were in the Badfiles.bbs, I would prevent anyone from using those file names during an upload. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 92 (G)oodbye After Batch, (A)bort, Or (S)tart Transfer ? Gives you the option of aborting or if it is a large transfer, to automatically disconnect after the file transfer. If you select the auto-disconnect, I'll give you 10 seconds to abort the disconnect before severing the connection. This works not only on uploads, but also on downloads. Archive Integrity Check Following the upload, I'll verify the archive by extracting the contents to a work directory. Virus Check If the file passed the archive integrity check and you have virus checking activated, I'll call SCAN.EXE to scan the files for over 300 known virus infections. If a virus is detected, I'll notify you, the caller, and then delete the infected upload. Scan.exe MUST be in a PATHED directory. If it is not, you will lose uploads. DOS will return the error code used by SCAN if it cannot find SCAN.EXE. Providing everything was OK, I'll display a brief 2 line message showing the number of files you've uploaded along with the number of Kilo-Bytes. If the protocol was one of mine, the AVERAGE, in case of batch transfers, throughput will also be shown. I'll also post a message, in the message center, thanking you for the upload(s). Each file uploaded will be listed in the message. If the file transfer did NOT go, you will have the option of RETRYING without having to RE-ENTER any of the file upload information. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 93 Download Lets you receive file(s) from the system. All Dos wild card characters, * and ?, will be supported and expanded to match files in your file list. File Ratio Limits When you set the limits for each access level, you will supply a File Ratio for that level. This ratio works off the number of files downloaded versus the number of files uploaded. An 8 to 1 ratio means the caller is allowed 8 files downloaded for every 1 file uploaded, while 10 to 1 means 10 files downloaded for every 1 up loaded. The ratio also sees a 0 as a 1, so new callers will be allowed to download. Since a zero is the same as a 1, once a new caller has reached his file ratio limit, he will have to upload two files to clear it. When a caller has exceeded his file ratio, I'll not allow him to download any more files until he has corrected the problem. The caller can do that by uploading a file. If the caller attempts to download and he HAS exceeded his Ratio limit, the text file "RATIO.ASC/MMU/ANS" will be shown. To disable the file ratio warning system for any access level, just define the ratio as 0 (Zero). Kilo-Byte Ratio Limits When you set the limits for each access level, you will supply a Kilo-Byte Ratio for that level. This ratio works off the number of files downloaded versus the number of files uploaded. An 8 to 1 ratio means the caller is allowed 8 Kilo-bytes downloaded for every 1 Kilo-Byte uploaded. When a caller has exceeded his K-Byte ratio, I'll not allow him to download any more files until he has corrected the problem. The caller can do that by uploading a file. If the caller attempts to download and he HAS exceeded his Kilo-Byte Ratio limit, the text file "BYTE.ASC/MMU/ANS" will be shown. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 94 To disable the Kilo-Byte ratio system for any access level, just define the ratio as 0 (Zero). Password Protected Downloads The unique aspect here is that the AREA itself is not password protected. The actual file itself can be password protected. If a caller attempts to download a password protected file, he MUST supply the password associated with that file. The archive functions of extract and contents will not work on any protected file. Password Kill After Downloading This functions the same as the Password download EXCEPT, the file will be deleted and the file listing for it removed once the caller has download it. Bi-Directional Upload Following each download, I'll check the temporary upload directory, UPLxx.TMP with xx being the node number, to see if the party doing the download uploaded anything using a bi-directional protocol. File Queue The new upload search, search/find, full file listings, and quick file listing has a TAG option. You can tag up to 40 files, in any directory, for batch downloading. The File Queue system has its own internal menu(s) and you don't need to setup anything. The File Queue menu has several selections: Download, list selected files, remove a file(s), clear the queue, estimated transfer time, return to file menu. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 95 Download Similar to the Download command from the main file area. Providing you have access, time, and you haven't exceeded any of the file ratios, I'll allow you to download the tagged files from the QUEUE menu. List Selected Files This will display a LIST of the files you've tagged along with the TOTAL byte count. Remove If you've selected too many files and don't have the time or byte count to download them, you can remove individual files from the queue. Estimated Transfer Time Shows the estimated transfer time for the files you have tagged. Leaving the file area, downloading other files, etc. does not affect the status of the tagged files. Trans Stats This displays information about your current file transfer statistics: Last throughput rating, number of bytes and files downloaded for the day and total files and bytes downloaded to date. File Ratio set for callers access level and his current STANDING in respects to those ratios. Messages Gives you direct access to the Message Center from any file area. Type Displays an ASCII text file listed in the FILES.QBS to the caller's screen. For security purposes, ANSI characters and SPL/I commands will be FILTERED out of the file. Protocol Lets you reset your default protocol from the file area. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 96 Extract Lets you pull a single file OUT of an Archive for downloading. The first name I'll ask you for is the FULL name of the Archive, the extension must be included. The second name I'll ask you for is the name of the file to be EXTRACTED from the archive. Restrictions No wild card file names, those to be extracted, are allowed; the primary file must be an Archive; and only ONE extracted file is allowed at one time. Auto-Cleanup I'll automatically clean up after an Extraction either when you log-off or when carrier is lost. Any extracted file or Osiris-built extracted archive left lying around will be deleted before control is released back to the front-end. Rearchive Once the file has been extracted, I'll ask you to select a NEW archive format for the file. Archive formats supported: ARJ, ARC, ZIP, PAK, and LZH. If I can convert the file to the requested format, it'll be placed in the file queue for downloading. All Extracted file(s) will be placed in a sub- directory called TARC, located off the Osiris= directory. I'll create the directory if it does NOT exist. This allows Extract to be used on WORM or CD- ROM drives. Contents Displays a list of all the files contained within an archive. The name I'll ask you for is the FULL name of the archive and the archive extension must be included. View supports ARJ, PAK, ZIP, LHARC, and ARC. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 97 Achiever Notes Osiris requires the following archive programs for extract and view. PAK.EXE ARJ.EXE PKUNZIP.EXE PKZIP.EXE LHARC.EXE PKXARC.EXE PKARC.EXE You should set the shell memory for archivers to 384K, the largest amount of free memory required by ARJ. New Files The new upload search is based on the DATE of your LAST new uploads search, new callers will default to the CURRENT date. The last search date will be displayed and you do have the option of changing it. At the end of the search, I'll ask you if it is OK to log the date of this search, provided it isn't already set to the current date. This lets you forego having the date logged if you do not, for whatever reason, have time to download the new files. You can say "No" and the next time you do a new uploads search, the same date will be used. You also have the option of TAGGING any NEW file, adding it to the file queue, for batch downloading. Password protected files will not be listed in this search. Conference Takes you to the Message conference subsystem. Gate_fr A text file (Gate_f.asc/mmu/ans). Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 98 File One A text file, File1.asc/mmu/ans, provided for any thing you want to use it for. Before you attempt to access any newly defined file boards, you should bring up FAM and log into each of the new areas to make sure you did not miss define a path. Dl Time When you TAG or enter the name of a file to download, the estimated download time will be displayed following the file name. This is based on TOTAL BYTES SELECTED. In other words, if 4 files have already been selected and you enter a 5th file name, the estimated transfer time will be for ALL FIVE FILES. Error Messages When you type in the name of a file to download, there are four possible error messages. => FILE NOT FOUND <= which means you typed in the name of a file that doesn't exist on the system. => ACCESS DENIED <= The file was located in an area that required a higher access level. => PWD FAILURE! <= which means you attempted to download a password protected file and failed to enter the correct password. => Duplicate <= which means you've selected a file you ALREADY HAVE listed for downloading. File Transfer Protocols Protocols, Internal Or External You have two basic ways of handling protocols, you can build them into the BBS package or you can use EXTERNAL protocols. Each method has its own advantages and disadvantages. Internal Internal protocols give you, or rather me, total control over what is actual SENT and what is actually RECEIVED. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 99 If you select 5 files to download, but lose carrier after transferring only 3 of them, then I know only the first 3 got transfers and will only "BILL" you for those three files. If you upload a file, I know EXACTLY what file you uploaded and I can wait until AFTER you finish to get the descriptions. Internal protocols do have several major, I think they are major, drawbacks. The specific way a protocol works, internal code, isn't always compatible with the MACHINE it's being used on. A good example is DSZ. It works fine on some computers, but not on others. If the internal protocol doesn't work on your machine, you're out of luck! If there is a BUG in a particular protocol, you have to get a WHOLE NEW BBS package when the bug is fixed. If you don't like the way the protocol LOOKS or functions, you're out of luck! External With external protocols, if you don't like the way a specific protocol looks or works, you're free to swap in one that does work or looks better. It's ENTIRELY up to you. If a protocol has a BUG, you ONLY need to get the new PROTOCOL driver and NOT the whole BBS package. Most of the GOOD protocols, Tmodem for instances, are proprietary and you HAVE to go with an external driver if you want to USE them. External protocols DO have a couple of drawbacks. If you're downloading a BATCH of files and you get 3 of them but lose carrier on the 4th and final file, I'll have to "BILL" you for ALL 4 files. Question: Why? Answer: DOS only allows you to EXIT a program with a SINGLE error level. External protocols use error level 0 to indicate a successful transfer and 1 or higher to indicate an unsuccessful transfer. You can't say 0 for this file and 1 for this file. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 100 Question: Why not a LOG file indicating which file(s) were sent? Answer: You could, providing the protocol driver could write the LOG in a SPECIFIC format AND the protocol driver would also have to be MULTIUSER. You can't have a protocol driver on two or three different NODES attempting to WRITE to the same LOG. You'll end up with garbage. And if you start REQUIRING external protocols to FUNCTION in a specific MANNER, you will have a lot of trouble finding ones that will work with your software. Pcboard is a GOOD example. If you use MY protocols, I will use that type of log but it is not required. When you UPLOAD, I have to ASK you, before the upload, what file(s) you'll be uploading. If you tell me you'll be uploading "TEST.ARJ" and turn around and upload "TEST.ZIP," you'll NOT get credit for the upload because TEST.ARJ does NOT exist in the upload directory. Again, the protocol can ONLY exit with ONE error level AND you can't use a LOG file for the same reasons you can't use one on DOWNLOADS. If you are using one of my protocols; Tmodem, Zmodem, Ymodem Batch, Ymodem-G, or Zmax and you engage the -N switch, the protocol driver will simply refuse to accept anything you didn't tell the BBS you were going to upload. Question: WHY couldn't I JUST look in the upload directory and if there is a NEW, use the name of THAT file. Answer: Because I don't KNOW that you were the one that uploaded that file. What if someone on Node 3 was uploading and that file was one of his? Question: Why not use a different upload holding area for each node? Answer: You could with a 2 or 3 node system, but anything more than 3 nodes would create a bottle neck on the file server, copying files back and forth. A couple of BBS packages do this and you can really tell it when the system comes to a screeching halt while the server attempts to catch up. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 101 Osiris is setup to use a control file called "protocol.cfg" to define the protocol names, programs to use, and the command line to send and receive files. A functional Protocol.cfg is included mapped to use my protocol drivers. This allows you, providing you have a suitable protocol driver, to add up to 32722 protocols to Osiris. You use the PROTOCOL section of OSM to define each protocol and the information for that protocol. How It All Works Osiris uses the protocol.cfg file by assigning a number to each protocol. The position in the file is the protocols number. For instances, if the first protocol defined is Zmodem and it is in the default protocol.cfg file, then Zmodem would be referenced as protocol number one (1). I'll take care of formatting a display screen listing your available protocols along with the CPS for each protocol. Protocol.cfg Fields Each protocol record has seven main fields. Name Contain the name of the protocol, the name that will be shown to callers. Program This field contains the name of the actual protocol driver. Send File(s) This field should contain the entire command line need to send a file or group of files. You may use the special embedded protocol characters defined later on. Receive File(s) This field should contain the entire command line need to receive a file or group of files. You may use the special embedded protocol characters defined later on. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 102 Slow Speed Cps And High Speed Cps I'll use these fields for figuring transfer times. The reason you need two fields instead of one : Some protocols such as xmodem, ymodem, puma, etc. function "reasonable" well at 2400 bps. By reasonable I mean better than 75 percent. But at 9600+ it's a different story. As a starting guide here are a few that you can use: Protocol Low CPS High CPS Tmodem 240 1152 Ymodem-G 230 1100 Zmodem 228 1008 Ymodem/Batch 218 624 Xmodem 1K 218 624 Xmodem 204 480 This can and will vary depending on equipment, protocol implementations, phone lines, etc. The high CPS is based on a 19.2K lock using an HST 450. A v32bis, 14.4, or DS will provide better CPS on the high side. Batch Protocol This field, set to Y or N, tells me whether or not the protocol can handle BATCH downloads. The primary use or goal is to prevent someone from attempting to download 3 or 4 files using a protocol that does NOT support that type of transfer, xmodem. This is to KEEP you from being CHARGE with ALL of the files, even thou only ONE was actual sent. Access Level This is the access level you have to have to USE this protocol. This is to accent the ANTI-PMS system. If you don't have access to a specific protocol, I'm not going to bother to HIDE it. New Callers You should have your BASIC protocols set to access level 0 so NEW callers can select them. Since new callers don't yet HAVE a user record, their access level would be ZERO. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 103 Embedded Protocol Characters You will need a method of passing the com port, baud rate, and the name(s) of the file(s) to be sent or received. Therefore, 6 special two character sequences have been reserved. *L = Locked Serial Rate *B = Baud Rate *P = Com Port *F = File name(s) (MUST BE LAST ITEM LISTED) *U = Use File SEND control file (MUST BE LAST ITEM LISTED) *P, replaced with the SERIAL port number, 1 - 8. *T, place full drive and path to the temporary upload directory for this node. *B I'll place the CONNECT speed, which will ALWAYS be a LEGAL serial rate. Some BBS programs, Wildcat and Pcboard for example, will send almost anything as a connect baud rate, including 12000 and 14400. That causes external programs to have fits because 12000 or 14400 are not legal serial rates. *F means place the file names to SEND or RECEIVE here. The NUMBER of files that can be sent will depend on the LENGTH of your file download paths. Only what will fit on the 128 character command line (including all other items such as baud rate, port number, etc.) will be allowed. The rest will be ignored. This MUST be the very last switch you use. If you're testing your installation and notice that after you've selected several files and you go to DOWNLOAD and the number shown is LESS than what you've selected, don't get alarmed and start looking for the "BUG." This isn't a bug and I'm just "TRIMMING" the number of files BACK to what will FIT on the command line. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 104 Silly, but I spent 4 hours one day trying to FIND that THINKING it was a bug. It finally dawned on me, there was NO bug and I had used the *F in place of the *U. *U means place the names, including drive/path, of the files to send in a control file and pass the name of the control file to the protocol driver. I'll generate the name of the control file and it'll be called SENDxx.CTL with xx being the NODE number the caller is on. The control file will be placed in the Osiris system directory and the full drive, path, and name WILL be passed to the driver. e.g. Assuming you are using my drivers then -@*U would translate to -@C:\OSIRIS\SEND1.CTL Providing C:\OSIRIS was the Osiris system directory and the caller was on NODE 1. You MUST use the *U approach if you're going to allow your callers to take full advantage of the file queue system. Otherwise they'll be restricted to downloading only 2 or maybe 3 files at a time. *L - SERIAL LOCK RATE and is primarily for protocol drivers I didn't write but need to have the serial lock rate passed to them. Bi-Directional Protocols Osiris does have internal support for bi-directional or full duplex protocols such as Bimodem and HS/Link. To set-up a protocol as bi-directional, simply include the *T switch with the appropriate protocol command line argument that indicates where the upload directory is located. E.g., HS/Link would use -U*T If node 1, Osiris would replace that with -UC:\OSIRIS\UPL1.TMP When the caller selects the files he wants to download, he may have HS/Link or Bimodem send the files he wants to upload. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 105 After the download, I'll check the temporary upload directory for anything he or she may have uploaded during the download. If I find any files the following will happen: 1. I'll check to see if the file already exists on the system. If it does, the file will be deleted and the caller will not get credit for the upload. 2. If the file is has the file extension of EXE, COM, or BAT it will be deleted and the caller will not get credit for the upload. 3. Assuming the file passes 1 and 2, it will be moved to the upload area for the current file area. 4. If the file is an archive and you have virus checking turned on, the file will be pulled apart and virus checked. 5. Assuming it is free of any type of virus, the caller will be asked to enter the files description. If the caller drops carrier before the file description is entered, the file will be deleted and he will not get credit for the upload. Bi-directional transfers CAN be an asset if you have callers willing to upload files and they are using 2400 baud modems. Restrictions Be forewarned, bi-directional transfers are VERY CPU intensive. Your computer may be able to handle bi-directional transfers at 2400 baud but it may not be able to handle them under v32, v32bis, or v32fast connects. Bi-directional transfers at speeds higher than 2400 baud RARELY work under Windows, Desqview, or when Network software is in memory. Bi-directional transfers at speeds higher than 2400 baud generally requires a 16550 highspeed uart. Bi-directional transfers will not work with USRobotics 14.4, Hayes 9600v series, TeleBit PEP, CompuCom CSP, and several other highspeed protocols. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 106 Validation And Virus Checking You nodeXX.ini has an option to turn on virus checking. If this is ON, I'll do several things to a new upload. 1. The uploading of EXE or COM files, often used to spread virus infections, will not be allowed. 2. Following the upload, I'll test the integrity of the archive by attempting to extract all the files. Should this FAIL, the file will be deleted. 3. Once step two has been completed successfully, I'll call SCAN.EXE to scan the extracted files for any virus. SCAN.EXE MUST be in a PATHED directory or ALL uploads will be deleted even thou they could not be checked. DOS returns the same error code for "Program not found" as SCAN does when it finds a virus. 4. Following the VIRUS scan, the extracted files will be deleted. *IF* a virus was detected I'll notify you, the caller and then delete the infected archive. Files.qbs FILES.QBS offers more flexibility than Fido/Opus FILES.BBS text files. The FILES.QBS file contains: The file name. A field for description (80 characters). The upload date which is used by the new upload functions. The name of the person that up-loaded the file. The number of times that file has been downloaded. The last date the file was downloaded. When you select the FULL file listing option, the files list will be displayed using five lines per file. Name: xxxxxxxxxxxx File Date xx xxx xxx Upload Date xx xxx xx Size: xxxxxxxxxx Dwnld Time xx:xx Last Dwnld xx xxx xx From: xxxxxxxxxx Times Dwnld xxx Area: XXXXXXXXXXX Description. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 107 Confiles This is the FILES.BBS to FILES.QBS Conversion Utility. When you are converting to an Osiris CBIS system from Fido or Opus, you will want to run CONFILES on each of your old FILES.BBS files to convert them into Osiris formatted FILES.QBS files. You may then delete the old FILES.BBS files at your leisure, they'll never be used again. Fam: File Area Manager FAM will, by default, go to file area #1 and to the Download Directory for that area. The maximum number of files it can handle in any file area is 750. There is NO error trapping on this limit so do NOT exceed it. I've designed FAM more for a MOUSE than anything else, but if you don't HAVE a mouse, I'll emulate one for you. You can use your ARROW keys to move the mouse cursor and the SPACE bar to simulate pressing the left mouse button. This is in respects to TAGGING and UNTAGGING files. With other functions, you'll have to use the HOTKEYS. To select a function from the menu, move the mouse cursor to the one you want and click the LEFT mouse button. You can also PRESS the HIGHLIGHTED letter(s) displayed on the menu. To TAG or UN-TAG a file, move the mouse cursor to that row and click the LEFT mouse button. If you don't HAVE a mouse, press the SPACE bar. To move to a DIFFERENT page, use PgUp or PgDn. If you have a mouse, click middle mouse button and when you hear a beep, click LEFT button to go UP a page or RIGHT button to go DOWN a page. You can press HOME to go to the FIRST page or END to go to the LAST page. I also make extensive use of YES/NO/CANCEL dialog boxes. You can use the mouse, arrow keys, or tab to move to the option you want. Click Left mouse button or press RETURN to select. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 108 Screen Layout The TOP window contains miscellaneous information such as copyright notice, name of the program and the version number, and the name of the current file area you're in, along with (DN) or (UP). (UP) stands for UPload directory and DN stands for DOWNload directory. The MIDDLE window is 15 rows long and this is where I'll display the file names and up to 60 characters of the description field. The BOTTOM window is a menu with additional statistics. The information is related to the number of files tagged, total files in the area, current PAGE being displayed and the total number of pages. I'll show it as Page xx of xx Using Fam To do ANYTHING with the files, they must first be "Tagged." You do this by moving TO the row the file is on and clicking the LEFT mouse button or press the SPACE bar. When a file is tagged, the ROW it's on will be displayed in FLASHING BLACK on WHITE, UN-TAGGED files are white on black. You can untag a file by following the same steps a second time. Move Although MOVE works on GROUPS of tagged files, I'll ask you, before moving each file, which area you want THAT file moved TO. This lets you tag multiple files from a COMMON upload area and move them to different download areas. I'll also ask if you want the UPLOAD date to be the CURRENT date, so it'll show UP as a new upload. If you select CANCEL, this will CANCEL the remaining moves, including the current one, and return you to the main screen. I'll NEVER overwrite an existing file. If the file already exits in the directory the file is to be moved TO, I'll skip to the next file. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 109 Kill I'll display TWO conformation boxes. The first is physically delete files [YES][NO]. This allows you to PHYSICALLY remove the files from the hard drive AND the Files listing at the same time. If you answer NO, I'll assume you want the LISTING to be removed and the physical FILES will be left along. The 2nd conformation box is your LAST chance to BACK OUT of the operation, select [YES] to proceed. Change Areas Lets you switch to a different FILE area. If you are in the UPLOAD directory, you'll go to the UPLOAD directory in the NEW area. The same thing holds true if you are in the DOWNLOAD area. Upload Changes into the UPLOAD directory for the CURRENT file area. Dnload Changes into the DOWNLOAD directory for the CURRENT file area. Edit This allows you to EDIT the file record(s) for the files you have TAGGED. The "edit record" window will appear at the top of the screen. You'll start with the description field and pressing <Enter> or the Down-Arrow key will move the cursor on to the next field. After you have edited the last field, you'll be moved to the UPDATE, ABORT, CANCEL section of the "edit record" window. If you click on the UPDATE box or press 'U', I'll save your changes. If you click on the ABORT box or press 'A', I'll NOT update the record, any changes will be lost, and you'll go on to the NEXT record in the batch, if there is one. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 110 If you click on the CANCEL box or press 'C', I'll NOT update the record, any changes will be lost, and I'll CANCEL the BATCH edit and return you to the main screen. Info Displays an INFORMATION window showing FULL file information ; who uploaded file, last time downloaded, full description, times downloaded, etc. for the files you have tagged. You'll also be required to click on the NEXT box or press 'N' to go to the next file in the BATCH. If you click on the CANCEL box or press 'C', then the BATCH will be canceled and you'll return to the main screen. Orphans Orphans are files in a file area that aren't listed in the FILES.QBS file. If a file has been flagged as an Orphan, the message "Adopt Filename ?" will appear. Clicking the YES box will adopt it. Clicking on NO will skip it and clicking on CANCEL will abort the Adoption process and returns to the main screen. Arcview Lets you view the contents of any number of Tagged Archives. Arcformat Lets you change the archive format of the tagged files to either Zip, Lharc, or ARJ. The files ORIGINAL date/time stamps will be retained. Warning!!! I suggest, strongly suggest, that you do NOT use FAM to convert Zip, Arj, Pak, and Arc to Lharc format. Lharc doesn't appear to clear the area it uses to store headers, and doesn't always create the archives correctly. To make matters worse, it returns error level zero, archive process successful, so I can't detect when it DOES mess-up. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 111 I've tested this, to make sure it wasn't a problem with FAM, by shelling out and attempting to use Lharc manually. It did not always work the way it was suppose to. Arcaddcomment This allows you to ADD ARCHIVE comments to the Tagged files. ONLY ZIP and ARJ archives support archive comments and if the archive format isn't one of those two, it will be skipped. You MUST make a file called "COMMENT.FAM" and place it in your OSIRIS= directory. This file contains the COMMENTS you want added to the archive. If I can't find COMMENT.FAM then I'll return you to the main screen. WARNING!!!! DO NOT ALTER COMMENT.FAM AFTER YOU HAVE STARTED FAM. IF YOU NEED TO CHANGE THE COMMENT.FAM; EXIT FAM, EDIT COMMENT.FAM, AND THEN RESTART FAM. ALTERING COMMENT.FAM WHILE FAM IS RUNNING CAN RESULT IN SYSTEM LOCKUP. The MAXIMUM size of the COMMENT.FAM file is 2048 bytes, a limit imposed by the archivers. If the file size exceeds 2048 bytes, I'm not going to use it. Shell Shells to DOS. Useful if you need to examine the contents of an archive more closely. Rename Lets you RENAME the tagged files. I'll NOT allow you to use the name of a file that already exits in that directory. Untag All Quick method of UNTAGGING all the files at once. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 112 Transpose Allows you to SHIFT a file to a DIFFERENT position in the FILES.QBS. 1. Move to the file you want moved and tag it. 2. Go to the TRANSPOSE option on the MENU and click on it or press 'T'. 3. After the brief instructions window has closed, move to the position BELOW the spot you want the file moved TO and click the left mouse button or press the SPACEBAR. That pretty much WRAPS up everything dealing with file areas. The File system is fairly straight forward, no hidden gimmicks, and most of the GRUNT maintenance (sorting, pruning, archive converting, etc...) will be handled automatically by CAT. See section on CAT for further details. System Bulletins System Bulletins . . . oh yes, something you will sooner or later need. With the flexibility of SPL/I, adding system bulletins could WELL be left entirely up to you. But, I've added a few internal goodies to make bulletins easy and flexibility. And if you still don't like the built in ones, you're free to design your own using SPL/I. Xxxxx.msg Following the conference mail search, if you have that activated, I'll look for (in the Osiris ROOT directory) a file called XXXX.MSG with XXXX being the caller's users record number. If it exists, I'll show and then delete it. You can use this file to leave personal messages to individual callers knowing they MUST read it or at least it will be shown to them. Warning The message may not be shown to the person it was originally intended for if you delete and then pack the user records. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 113 Accxxxx.bbs This works like the xxxxxx.MSGs. But, xxxxx is replaced with an access level. Allows you to post bulletins to GROUPS of users within a specific access level. The ACCxxxx.BBS file should be placed in the Osiris root directory. Unlike the xxxxx.MSG files, this one doesn't get automatically deleted when read. Smart(tm) Bulletins I will scan a file, if it exists, called bulletin.hdr. This contains information headers about bulletins created with bullgen.exe. I'll compare the date and time the bulletin was created with the date and time you were last on-line and if the bulletin has been added SINCE then, I'll show it to you. The dates are compared according to JULIAN dates so on Dec 31st, you'll need to delete your old bulletins and start fresh ones. The bulletins are held in two files so they'll take very little drive space. You MUST create the bulletins in your Osiris ROOT directory. Bullgen needs a command line argument to tell it what function you want. /A . . . Add a NEW Bulletin /L . . . List out Bulletin Headers /D . . . Delete one or more Bulletins Getting On-Line Having enlightened you on the message system, file area, and making menus, you're now about ready to try this puppy out, ON-LINE. To go ON-LINE, you need one of two things. A mailer front end or IMX, Osiris front end. Since most of the Osiris sysops run mailers, I made no attempts to have Osiris ACTUAL handle answering the phone. If you have a Mailer, below is a list of command line parameters that you can use. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 114 Required Command Line Parameters Osiris -Bxxxx -Pxx -Nxx -N requires the node number passed be supported by your version of Osiris. A single line system only supports node 1, a two line system supports node 1 and 2, etc.. -Bxxxx with xxxx being the CONNECT baud rate. Valid baud rates, -Bxxxx, range from 300 to 9600 baud with 9600 baud handling 9600, 19200, 38400, etc. via the COMx= environment variable. The reason you do not pass a baud rate higher than 9600 is simple: 9600 is the highest VALID CONNECT serial rate passed by modems, all we've seen. Confusing Rains Usrobotics and some of the other companies that make v.32bis modems should be SHOT, HUNG-UP by the HEELS, STRANGLED and anything else NASTY that I can think of for introducing CONNECT 12000 and CONNECT 14400 messages. Those messages are FINE for TECH folks who really understand what they're all about, but most of you aren't TECH oriented and insist on actually attempting to USE those messages. Sorry folks, those messages were never intended for anything other than debugging. If you insist on using them, make sure the program that's answering the phone KNOWS how to handle converting them to VALID serial settings, otherwise don't expect anything to work. There are only two programs, that I know of, that correctly handle 12000 and 14400, ISIS and IMX. Valid -Pxx settings : -P1, -P2, -P3, . . . -P8. Optional Settings -T, Time Till Next Event -Txxxx time to your mailer or front-ends next scheduled event with xxxx being the number of MINUTES. I'll adjust the callers time per call to ensure this is not missed. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 115 -M, Memory File If you don't have EEMS or LIM 4.0 memory, I can write the VMS memory map to any drive/directory (A Ram Drive for instances) you want. e.g. -MD:\ Both Drive and Directory must be specified and you must have 384K of free space available. -L, Local Mode This means running in LOCAL mode, ignore the absents of carrier. -K, No Multi-Tasker Certain NETWORK drivers use the same signature as Desqview or Double Dos. -K tells me to IGNORE any SIGNATURE and assume NO multi-tasker is available. This prevents me from making TIMESLICING calls to something that doesn't exist. -Hxxx Tells me to load user record xxxx and jump directly to the main menu. Generally used by the sysop for QUICK and DIRTY local log on. -Cx The default currency symbol is the dollar sign. If you're outside the United States you'll need a DIFFERENT currency symbol for the ON-LINE STORE (tm). x is the ASCII character you want me to use for a currency symbol. e.g. -C# use pound sign. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 116 -X No internode chat allowed, don't waste time checking. Something that can drain system resources is checking for internode email. I've attempted to design it so that it's a minimal drain, but never the less, it still is a drain. If you only have a half dozen or so nodes hooked to a network, the drain may never be noticed. If you have a lot of nodes, the exact number will depend on the TYPE of network and your equipment, you may want to disable internode chatting to reduce server demand. If you're running under Desqview, disabling internode chat will show a speed up if you're running more than two nodes. It may be enough to JUST limit internode chatting to SPECIFIC nodes. That's why it's a command line switch instead of a blanket configuration option. The only way to really tell is to experiment with your set up. -Oxxxx -Oxxx lets you define the size of the memory block that is allocate to the Osage editor. The default is 256K and should be enough for most systems. If you're running DESQview, you may need to increase this to 384 or higher. e.g. -O384, -O512, -O640 -Sxxxx -Sxxx lets you define the size of the memory block that is allocate to the statistics overlay. The default is 256K and should be enough for most systems. If you're running DESQview, you may need to increase this to 384 or higher. e.g. -S384, -S512, -S640 Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 117 Comport.dat Osiris has its own internal high speed serial driver and needs no external driver such as a fossil to run. Osiris supports baud rates up to and including 115,200 baud. Osiris uses a COMPORT.DAT file that defines the standard serial port information such as interrupts, addresses, etc. You may edit this file using OSM if you need to change any definition to accommodate non-standard serial ports. The information in this file is in BASE 10, not in HEX. If you do NOT have a mailer, see section on IMX later on in this document. You'll need to use the IMX.EXE program, included within the package. Before you go on-line, you may want to edit the NODE1 Control file. Osetup used some default settings, which you may want to change. Nodexx.ini Many settings are held in a file called NODExx.INI with xx being the node number for that node. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 118 A NODExx.INI contains: 2400 ; Slowest Baud Rate for ANSI (3,12,24, and 9600) 0 ; shell Memory ( In Kilobytes, 0 = All) 256 ; Memory Required for Protocol Drivers ( In Kilobytes, 0 = All) 0 ; Memory Required for Archivers ( In Kilobytes, 0 = All) 0 ; Duplicate Upload Search TYPE (0 or 1) 12 ; 16550 Uart fifo Size ( 2 - 16, Greater than 12 Not recommended) 240 ; Serial Transmit Buffer Size for 300/1200 baud ( 240 - 8196) 512 ; Serial Transmit Buffer Size for 2400 baud ( 240 - 8196) 8196 ; Serial Transmit Buffer Size for 9600+ baud ( 240 - 8196) Yes ; Allow Caller to PICK Password (Yes/No) Yes ; Use EMS Memory (Yes/No) No ; Duplicate Phone Number Check (Yes/No) Yes ; Use direct screen writes (Yes/No) 5 ; In active time out (In Minutes) 10 ; New User Time Limit (In Minutes) 1 ; Log on timer (In Minutes) 14 ; Days BACK to check New bulletins for NEW callers Yes ; Enable Duplicate Upload check (Yes/No) 0 ; Keyboard/Clock per cycle (Recommend 30 if DV is used) Off ; Accounting system (On/Off) 1 ; Amount to charge (In Pennies). 1 ; Per minute of connect time (In Minutes) 1 ; Out of credit access Level (1-32722) 1 ; New Caller Credit (1-32722) 00 01 Chat ; Chat for Mon. 00 01 Chat ; Chat for Tue. 00 01 Chat ; Chat for Wed. 00 01 Chat ; Chat for Thu. 00 01 Chat ; Chat for Fri. 00 01 Chat ; Chat for Sat. 00 01 Chat ; Chat for Sun. Yes ; Check new upload for Virus Infestation c:\osiris\cmds.dat e:\menus Lines must NOT begin with a BLANK and first argument must have at least one BLANK SPACE following it. Line 1: The slowest baud rate you'll allow for ANSI. Line 2: Amount of FREE Memory you want available when you do a SHELL to DOS. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 119 Line 3: Amount of FREE Memory you want available when you call protocol drivers. Generally speaking, 256K is enough for almost any driver. Line 4: Amount of FREE Memory you want available when you call Archivers. Almost all archivers can function in 384K. Line 5: This specifies the search TYPE used during the duplicate upload file search. Type 0 does a perfect match. Type 1 does a slide type match Line 6: Refers to the number of bytes to send to the UART when a TX interrupt is triggered. This is ONLY used if you have a 16550 Uart installed. If you have a fast machine you may find that a lower value yields the same results as the default 12. If you have a slow machine (XT) or your running Desqview you may need to RAISE it to achieve maximum speed. Line 7 : Line 8 : Line 9 : These lines reference the SIZE of the Transmit buffer I'll use at different baud rates. Valid sizes range from 240 bytes to 8196 bytes. The larger the buffer, the more space I have to send characters to the modem without being halted or slowed down by the baud rate. Even thou I will SLICE time to other partitions, it isn't always effective if you slice away more time than it takes to empty the TX buffer. e.g. If you're using DV and you are running 3 lines with a combined TIC count of 18 and you have a caller on-line at 2400 baud with a TX buffer size set to 240 characters for 2400 baud. The TX buffer will fill and the remaining time will be given to the other partitions. 240 characters, what's in the TX buffer, will be sent in 1 second at 2400 baud. But, you've sliced to the other partitions and they'll use roughly 1 second before the original partition gets any more time. This will cause the caller to get a JERKY display. If you're running a multi-tasker, I would recommend that your buffer size(s) be no smaller than what is listed above. If you have more than 3 lines, You may need to make them even larger. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 120 Having LARGE buffers does affect the caller if he is using HOTKEYS. The closer to the MAXIMUM CPS * 1.5, the better HOTKEYS work. Tx Buffer Sizes for Hotkeys to be most effective. 300/1200 : 240 (actual 180 but i don't allow one that small) 2400 : 360 9600 : 1440 If you're running DV, then you have to weight the pro(s) and con(s) and decided for yourself which you want. Line 10 : By Default, I will only allow the caller to pick the first character of his or her password and I'll generate the remaining characters. This foregoes having a caller use the same password on several systems and makes HACKING more difficult. If you want to allow the caller to pick the ENTIRE password, then use "Yes," otherwise, "No." Line 11: If you have EEMS 3.2 or LIM 4.0, setting this to "YES" allows the VMS system to do memory swaps to high memory instead of using your disk. Line 12: Duplicate phone number checking, as far as I can tell, serves no useful purpose. If someone is going to have two log on names to your system, they aren't dumb enough to use the same phone number for both. If you want duplicate phone number checking, answer "YES," otherwise "NO." If you're running on a NETWORK you may want it disabled to reduce the drain on the file server. LINE 13: This allows you to turn off direct screen writes in lent of a slower BIOS write. This only serves to slow things down and may soon be removed as an option. LINE(s) 14, 15, and 16 refer to internal timers, in Minute increments. In active timer means NO input from the caller. It is suggested that you go no higher than 5 minutes. New User Time Limit means the AMOUNT of time a caller is given to FILL OUT the new user record. It does NOT reference the amount of time for the CALL. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 121 LOG on Timer is the amount of time a caller is given to enter their name and password. It is suggested that you keep this low, about 1 minute, to avoid long connects with a FAX or MAIL System that may fall thought to your BBS by mistake. LINE 17: The number of days the bulletin system will check BACK for new bulletins for NEW CALLERS. LINE 18: Duplicate upload search checks your Upload and Download directories to see if the file the caller is about to upload already exists on the system. I suggest that you always keep this set ON. LINE 19: Certain system calls under multi-taskers such as Desqview can greatly reduce the amount of CPU time available to other partitions. Checking the keyboard, system clock, etc. are just a couple. This switch allows you to limit the number of times Osiris will scan certain system functions when running under Desqview. 30 seems to produce about a 50 percent speed increase when 2 lines are in use. Higher values may produce better results when more than 2 lines are being run on the same machine. I suggest that you go no higher than 90. LINE 20, 21, 22, 23 and 24 reference the time billing system. Line 20 turns it on and off while lines 21 - 24 reference billing settings. LINE(s) 25 - 31 : This is where you define the times that you will allow Sysop Paging. The first item is the STARTING HOUR, in military format for the page. The Second item is the ENDING HOUR, again in military format for the page. Page times must begin and end on an HOUR and MINUTES are not supported, ie. 10 is legal while 10:30 is not. The third item is the name of an ASC, MMU, or ANS file to show if Chat is NOT allowed. The file can say anything you like and can be different for each day. LINE 32 : Enables virus checking on new uploads. Each new upload is scanned for viruses using McAfee's SCAN.EXE program. The archive is pulled apart and each individual program is scanned. SCAN.EXE should be in one of your PATHED directories. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 122 The testing takes very little time, generally less than 25 seconds per upload, and can save a lot of maintenance time. Time that WOULD have to be spent manually testing each file. LINE 33 : Contains the full drive, path, and filename for the language control file. Line 34 : The full drive and path to the ASC/MMU/ANS files. This allows individual nodes on a NETWORK to keep separate copies of the menus on LOCAL hard drives or on an EMS/Extended Memory RAM disk. This can GREATLY reduce SERVER demands. Each node must have its own control file which allows you to alter node settings without messing with command line switches. This means all available settings are laid out right in front of you and you don't have to dig out the SE documentation to figure out how to set what. You have to compile the NODExx.INI before I can use it. The Compiler option is in OSM, under MISC sub-system. Osm Osiris System Manager Overview OSM is a GUI (Graphics User Interface) System Manager for Osiris SE. To run, type OSM from the DOS command line, no parameters are needed. Main Display The main menu has the following options: Quit, File, Msg, Sysinfo, Misc, Dbase, Store, Main, and finally Access. Move to the option you want using either the space bar, left arrow key, or right arrow key, and press RETURN. Many of the options have submenus associated with them. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 123 File File Has two sub-menus, EDIT/VIEW and Area Stats. EDIT/VIEW allows you to edit, view, or add file boards. This option has many sub options of its own. Area Stats gives you statistical information about your file areas. Msg Msg has three sub menus: Edit/View, Area Stats, and Echo Flags. EDIT/VIEW and Area Stats does what their FILE counter parts do only with the message areas. Echo Flags allows you to reset the echo flags. Access You define, view, and edit your access level information from this section. Sysinfo You define, edit, and view your Osiris System information from here. Main Define, edit, and view your main menu settings from this section. Before moving on to some of the other more complex main menu options, there's some information that pertains too almost all the functions I've spoken on so far. Jump The Jump command, found under the MSG, FILE, AND ACCESS options, allows you to go directly to a specific record. In respects to the file boards and message boards, a vertical window will open displaying the names of the areas. Use the arrow keys, PgDn, PgUp, or space bar to move to the area you're interested in and press RETURN. When in the Access area, you'll simply be asked to enter the access level you want to go to. Only valid access levels will move you. If you enter one that isn't valid, your request will be ignored. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 124 Clone The Message, File, and Access level sections also have a feature called Clone. This duplicates the existing record, the one your viewing. To reach the duplicate record, press END. The cloning process is very fast, usually less than a second. Because it's so fast and you may need to quickly clone the record several times, no message that the cloning process was completed will be shown. You'll only get a message if the cloning process could NOT be completed. Mass The Message and File board sections both have an option called MASS. This allows you to pick out one of the menu command keys from a vertical menu. Once the key has been selected, you'll be asked for the command key to use for it, the access level, and the flag settings. That key on ALL records or boards will then be changed to the NEW key you've just defined. Delete Sub-Sections MSG, FILE, and ACCESS will allow you to delete records, but you can only safely delete a file board. Deleting an access level or Message board can lead to complications if that access level or message board isn't the very last one listed. If you delete a message board from the middle, all HDRxx.sys and TXTxxx.sys files will be thrown off. Your Echo control files, if you're running echomail, will also be thrown off. It's suggested that instead of deleting a message board, you raise the access level or set the area flags so that no one can get to it. In other words, save it for reuse or until you get enough of them to warranty the additional work involved in deleting message boards. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 125 Deleting an access level isn't quite as bad, just be aware that the users with access level equal to or higher than the one you're going to delete will find themselves with the privileges associated with the next highest access level (time limits and such). Delete will also not allow you to delete the very first record. This'll keep you from deleting yourself to a zero byte file structure and OSM doesn't like zero byte files. Verify The MSG Sub-System has an option called Verify. This verifies that the TXTxxx.sys and HDRxxx.sys files exist for all message boards defined. If one doesn't, OSM will create it. Dialog Confirmation Box's No permanent change to any item will be made without double checking with you. In other words, you ALWAYS have the option of backing out of anything. Before the operation starts, a dialog box will open with a YES/NO continue with operation prompt. Move the selector, arrow keys or tab key, to NO if you want to cancel. Otherwise, press RETURN to signal OK. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 126 Edit Mode When selecting to Edit a record, you'll be place in FULL Screen FULL field editing mode. Editing Individual Fields Backspace * Destructive backspace to the left. CTRL-CURLF * Control left arrow moves one word left. Ctrl-Currt * Control right arrow moves one word right. Curlf * Left arrow key moves one position left. Currt * Right arrow key moves one position right. Delete * Del (on keypad) delete character under cursor. End * Move cursor to end of string. Esc * Clear string. Home * Move to beginning of string. Insert * Insert a space under cursor. Screen Movement Up Arrow & Reverse Tab - Move the cursor to the previous field. Down Arrow, Return, Tab - Move the cursor to the next field. Pgup & Pgdn - Move the cursor to the previous or next field respectively Ctrl-Home & Ctrl-End - Move the cursor to the first or last field respectively. Ctrl-Return - Always End Edit Session. Flags Osiris SE is loaded with Flags. Each command has 16 flags associated with it. While file areas and message areas have 8 flags. OSM displays the flags as a string of zero's '0' and one's '1'. A command key flag field will look somewhat like this; 1000100000100000 Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 127 To turn a specific flag on, change the zero to a one. To turn it off change the 1 to a 0. The flags are numbered (for your reference) from left to right starting with flag #1. In the example above, flags 1, 5, and 11 are turned on. Misc The MISC main menu option has the following SUBSYSTEMS available: Protocol Here you define, edit, delete, or view the protocol definitions for Osiris. It's completely Menu (vertical selector) driven so you should have no problems using it. Sig This section deals with defining, removing, and cleaning SIG Email conference areas. Com Port Defs Replaces the old comport.exe file and deals with defining com port information. This section should RARELY be used and only by those with the technical background to understand what is what. Nodexx.ini Compiler Does the actual compiling/compressing of the nodeXX.ini file. Dbase Dbase is used to create and maintain SPL/I database systems. Pack Db This removes DELETED records and rebalances the Btree indices. You'll be asked for the name of the database. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 128 This is the FIRST part of the name minus the extension. All Dbase functions will supply the needed extensions. Make Db This is the one you use to originally define the SPL/I database structure. The number and lengths of the fields as well as the index field and name of the database. Add Db Allows you to mass add to a Btree database using a TEXT formatted control file containing the information to add. The fields within this text file should be delimited by @. All fields for a particular dbase record must be on ONE line. Line Length isn't important. Mouse OSM will automatically detect and allow you to use your mouse for menu selection and to some extent, when in full screen or full field editing. OSM supports a two button mouse or , preferred, a three button mouse. Vertical Menus You can use your mouse to select the option you want by moving the inverse bar to that option and pressing the LEFT mouse button. If you have a 3 button mouse, your middle button will allow you to BACK OUT without selecting anything. If you have a 2 button mouse, press the ESC key on your keyboard. Horizontal or sometimes referred to as LOTUS style menus. They run ACROSS the screen instead of up and down. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 129 You can use your mouse to select the option you want by moving the inverse bar to the option you want and pressing the LEFT mouse button. If you have a 3 button mouse, your middle button will allow you to BACK OUT without selecting anything. If you have a 2 button mouse, press the ESC key on your keyboard. Standard Menu This is the STANDARD Keyboard menu display at the bottom of a secondary screen. It generally consists of something like: ESC Edit Jump -> <- Delete You can use your mouse to select one of these options by moving the mouse pointer to the TEXT or within one space on either side and pressing the LEFT mouse button. If the text is enclosed within a box, just move INSIDE the box and click your left mouse button. Editing When you are required to actual EDIT a field or record, your mouse buttons can be used, even thou you will not see any type of MOUSE CURSOR. Left Button : Acts as if you had pressed the Enter Key on your keyboard. Can be used to page THROUGH fields to get to the one you want or to accept what's in the field. RIGHT Button : This can be used to QUIT edit mode. It's similar to pressing CTRL- RETURN. Middle Button : This will CLEAR the current field. If you do NOT have a Middle Button, you will have to press ESC on the keyboard. Confirmation Box After editing/changing some fields, you will get a Confirmation box on the screen asking if you really want to save the data. Just move the mouse cursor to the OK or CANCEL box and click the LEFT mouse button. Cat.exe Osiris Robot Maintenance system. Cat's the Osiris Robot maintenance system. It handles all the GRUNT work of cleaning and verifying message areas, file areas, sorting file areas, converting archive formats, etc. You should run CAT once a day or once every two days to keep your system in top form. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 130 Cat's Report To You Every time CAT's run, it will generate a system report and place it in the message center, addressed to you. The report will list everything CAT did during its run and look something like this. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 131 Message Center Mail : Delete Received after 10 Days Delete Un-Read after 45 Days ~ Validating Msg Areas and Message Pointers. ~ Packing Message Center. ~ Relinking Reply Threads. ~ Relinking User Records. ~ Rebuilding Mail Index File(s). ~ Scanning Upload Directories for NON-LZH Archives. ~ Checking Osiris SE Rev 2.02. { Converted Oilcap2.zip to Oilcap2.Lzh. ~ Checking Isis, Intergrated mailer. ~ Checking Registration Keys. ~ Checking Bug/Sug.Frms Go Here. ~ Checking Archivers. ~ Checking Odds & Ends. ~ Checking Games. ~ Checking Beta *Use at YOUR Risk*. ~ Sorting By Date (Descending Order). ~ Sorting Osiris SE Rev 2.02. ~ Area Contains 38 Downloadable Files. ~ Sorting Isis, Intergrated mailer. ~ Area Contains 4 Downloadable Files. ~ Sorting Protocol Drivers/Qt 2000. ~ Area Contains 11 Downloadable Files. ~ Sorting NAMvet Newsletter(s). ~ Area Contains 5 Downloadable Files. ~ Sorting Arcshell, Ultimate Archive Utl. ~ Area Contains 1 Downloadable Files. ~ Sorting Registration Keys. ~ Area Contains 0 Downloadable Files. ~ Sorting Odds & Ends. ~ Area Contains 21 Downloadable Files. ~ Sorting Games. ~ Area Contains 25 Downloadable Files. ~ Sorting Beta *Use at YOUR Risk*. ~ Area Contains 6 Downloadable Files. ~ System Has 117 Downloadable Files. ~ Indexing Download Area(s). ~ Indexing UPload Area(s). ~ Creating Download AREA Index. { Warning : Area 6 Empty. { Warning : Area 7 Empty. ~ Packing History Log For Node # 1. Entries IN 402 : Entries OUT 374. ~ Doing File Integrity Check. ~ Scanning System for Known Viruses. ~ No VIRUS Found. ~ Doing File Integrity Check. { C:\AUXPRGS\TNTBBS.EXE Failed Integrity Check! Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 132 Cat.cfg Cat requires a control file to tell it WHAT to do. The name of the control file is CAT.CFG (A default CAT.CFG is included) and must be in the OSIRIS= directory. CAT.CFG contains : Delete received 10 Delete OLD files <Day of Month> <Days Not Downloaded> Make Filelist <CTRL FILENAME> <HEADER FILE> <ARCHIVE COMMAND> delete unread 30 Conference Stats <DAY OF WEEK> Check Message Areas <DAY OF WEEK> Backup Message Center <DAY OF WEEK> Backup Files.Dat <DAY OF WEEK> Backup User Records <DAY OF WEEK> Rebuild Files.qbs Indices <DAY OF WEEK> File Sort Type 6 <DAY OF WEEK> ; ; File Sort Type's are as Follows . . . ; 0 = No Sort ; 1 = Sort By Name (Ascending Order) ; 2 = Sort By Name (Descending Order) ; 3 = Sort By Size (Ascending Order) ; 4 = Sort By Size (Descending Order) ; 5 = Sort By Date (Ascending Order) ; 6 = Sort By Date (Descending Order); Archive Type 1 <DAY OF WEEK> ; Archive Type's are as Follows . . . . ; ; 0 No Conversion. ; 1 Lharc (Uses LHARC.exe) ; 2 Arj (Uses ARJ.EXE) ; 3 Zip (Uses Pkzip/Pkunzip.exe) ; Archives MUST be in one of the directories defined in ; your PATH= statement. History 1 ; ; Delete Old Bulletins <DAYS OLD> Run External <FILENAME> <DAY OF WEEK> Post Conference <DAY OF MONTH> <AREA> <FILE> <SUBJECT> Post Bulletin <DAY OF MONTH> <FILE> <SUBJECT> Delete User Records <Day of Month> <Days Old> VIRUS CHECK SCAN C: D: E: /NOPAUSE /REPORT C:\OSIRIS\VIRUS.MSG /M VIRUS CHECK TBSCAN C: D: E: -allmem -log -batch TEST E:OVL01819.EXE 13457893123 Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 133 Explanation <Day Of Week> Several of the CAT.CFG commands were followed by <DAY OF WEEK>. This is the day or days you want CAT to execute this particular command. Valid day of week designators are: MON TUE WED THU FRI SAT SUN You may stack multiple days on the same line. E.g., Check Message Areas MON WED FRI <Day Of Month> Several options require a DAY of the MONTH to run. E.g., Delete User Records 1 185 Cat will delete users on the 1st day of the month. Although you may NOT stack day of the month designators, you may use multiple lines if you want to run it more than once a month. E.g. Delete User Records 1 185 Delete User Records 15 185 Cat will delete users on the 1st or the 15th. Delete Received 1 - 365 References the number of days to allow RECEIVED messages to remain in the message center. See sample CAT.CFG for proper settings. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 134 Delete Unread 1 - 365 This is the number of days you want to allow UNREAD messages to remain in the message center. I'll NOT delete any message as long as it still has an active file attach. Backup Message Center <DAYS TO RUN> You have the option of having the two MESSAGE CENTER databases backed up to a ZIP file. I'll make a COPY of the two files, but I'll use a file extension based on the JULIAN date. E.g. Backup Message Center MON WED FRI Backup Message Center FRI If you do not want to backup the message center, simply leave this command out of the cat.cfg or comment it out by placing a semi-colon in column 0. Backup Files.dat <DAY(s) TO RUN> Gives you the option of having the secondary FILES.DAT file backed up to a ZIP file. I'll make a COPY of the file, but I'll use a file extension based on the JULIAN date. E.g. Backup Files.Dat MON WED FRI Backup Files.Dat FRI If you do not want to backup the Files.Dat, simply leave this command out of the cat.cfg or comment it out by placing a semi-colon in column 0. Backup User Records <DAYS TO RUN> Gives you the option of having the user records backed up to a ZIP file. I'll make a COPY of the file, but I'll use a file extension based on the JULIAN date. E.g. Backup User Records MON WED FRI Backup User Records FRI Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 135 If you do not want to backup the user records, simply leave this command out of cat.cfg or comment it out by placing a semi-colon in column 0. All BACKUPS will be placed in a file called "BACKUPS.ZIP." Rebuild Files.qbs Indices <DAYS TO RUN> This tells me to rebuild the secondary file index system. Since we've been using this secondary indexing system, I've never heard of one going bad. Because of this, I don't think you should worry about having this rebuilt every single day. E.g. Rebuild Files.Qbs Indices MON WED FRI Rebuild Files.Qbs Indices FRI File Sort Type 0 - 6 <DAYS TO RUN> If you want your DOWNLOAD areas sorted, select the SORT method (listed above). If you don't, set it to Zero. During the SORT operation, I'll also FIX all the file listings for that area. By FIX I mean I'll convert the file name and the file description to BBS CASE to give the system a uniformed look. I'll also strip any LEADING and TRAILING blank spaces from the description field. E.g. File Sort Type 1 MON WED FRI File Sort Type 1 FRI I'd recommend that you only do this on the day(s) you move new uploads to their respective download areas. Running it when you don't or haven't moved in new uploads serves no useful purpose after the first time. Running the sort feature will automatically engage Rebuild Files.Qbs Indices even if it wasn't set to run on that particular day. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 136 Archive Type 0, 1, 2, or 3 <DAYS TO RUN> Here you define the default archive type, if any, and the day or days of the week you want this to run. This is the archive format you want all new uploads to be placed in. Cat will scan your upload directories and convert any file not in the proper format. I suggest, for the sake of speed and time, that you set this to run on the day or days you plan on moving new uploads to their respective download areas. E.g. Archive Type 1 MON WED FRI Archive Type 1 FRI Running the archive convert feature will automatically engage Rebuild Files.Qbs Indices even if it wasn't set to run on that particular day. Check Message Areas <DAY OF WEEK> Each time you run Cat, I'll validate the message base pointers for each area. If any message base is missing, I'll create it. Every time you define a new message area, in OSM, you were asked to define a pack level and a pack trigger level. When I see an area that exceeds the pack trigger level, I'll trim the area back to the pack level. This keeps the individual message bases down to size. When an area has deleted messages, I'll also PACK the area to get rid of the messages. Validating the pointers needs to be done on a daily bases. Not that they are easy to get off, but it is best, especially when echomail is involved, not to take chances. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 137 However, you may NOT need the pack trigger level or the deleted messages checked every single day. Especially if you have enough hard drive space to allow them to go OVER the trigger level. The reason you may want to relax this part of the check is disk fragmentation. Packing a message area does generate some fragmentation and can take a lot of time, specially if you keep a lot of messages on-line. Check Message Areas <DAYS TO RUN> is used to govern this part of the message area maintenance section in Cat. I will only TEST the Trigger levels and watch for deleted messages on the day or days you specify. Of course, if you handle a LOT of echomail or you have a marginal amount of free disk space, you may need to do it every day. E.g., Check Message Areas Mon Wed Fri Check Message Areas Sun History 1 - 255 This is how I find out WHICH HISTxx.LOG file to keep trimmed back to 14 days. You supply the NODE number following the key word HISTORY. e.g. HISTORY 1 HISTORY 2 HISTORY 3 You can have up to 255 HISTORY commands listed in CAT.CFG Delete Old Bulletins <DAYS OLD> This references the SYSTEM bulletins you've posted using Bullgen. Cat will delete all the bulletins that are older than <DAYS OLD>. E.g., Delete Old Bulletins 21 Remove bulletins older than 21 days. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 138 Delete User Records <Day of Month> <Days Without Calling> Allows cat to keep your user records trimmed down to size by deleting inactive users. Inactive being defined as "Users that haven't called within XX days." <Day of the Month> is the day, integer format from 1 to 31, of the month. If you want to run the check on more than one day, you can have multiple "Delete User Records" listed in the cat.cfg file. E.g., Delete User Records 1 185 Check the user records on the 1st of the month and delete anyone that hasn't called in 185 days, roughly 6 months. Post Conference <Day of Month> <Area> <File> <Subject> This lets you automate the posting of a specific message, like echo area rules, on a particular day of the month. <Day of Month> is the day, integer from 1 to 31, of the month to post the message. <Area> is the Conference message area, 1 to the highest area you have defined, the message is suppose to go in. <File> is the name of a text file, one created with MKPOST.EXE, that contains the body of the message. <SUBJECT> is the text you want used as the SUBJECT of the message. Do NOT exceed 38 characters. I do not check this and if you exceed 38 characters you will corrupt the message area. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 139 E.g., Post Conference 1 10 c:\osi\rules.txt Echo Area Rules On the 1st of the month post a message in area 10. Use the text file c:\osi\rules.txt for the message body and use "Echo Area Rules" as the subject of the message. There is no limit to the number of "post conference" commands you can have in your cat.cfg file. Post Bulletin <Day of Month> <File> <Subject> This lets you automate the posting or reposting of a specific system bulletin, like system rules, on a particular day of the month. <Day of Month> is the day, integer from 1 to 31, of the month to post the bulletin. <File> is the name of a text file, one created with MKPOST.EXE, contains the body of the system bulletin. <SUBJECT> is the text you want used as the SUBJECT. Do NOT exceed 38 characters. I do not check this and if you exceed 38 characters you will corrupt the message area. E.g., Post Bulletin 15 c:\osi\Sysrules.txt System Rules On the 15th of the month post a message in area 10. Use the text file c:\osi\Sysrules.txt for the bulletins body and use "System Rules" as the subject. There is no limit to the number of "post bulletin" commands you can have in your cat.cfg file. Conference Stats <Day of Week> Adds a fairly detailed report on your conference message area usage; who, what, when, how many, etc. to the daily maintenance report. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 140 Delete Old Files <Day of Month> <Days Not Downloaded> This option certainly isn't for everyone and if you don't want to use it, don't include the command in your cat.cfg file. This option scans the download file areas on <Day of Month> and deletes any file that hasn't been downloaded in <Days Not Downloaded>. This conserves diskspace by removing files people don't want. If they aren't downloading the file, there is no point in taking up valuable disk space storing it. E.g. Delete OLD Files 30 185 On the 30th day of the month, delete any file that hasn't been downloaded in 185 days, roughly 6 months. In order for a particular file area to be scanned , you must set Applications Flag 1(ONE) ON. On means putting a 1 in the first slot. You can find the Applications Flag in the Filboard definition record for that area, use OSM. E.g. 1000000000000000 If the flag isn't on, CAT will not check that file area. This lets you "DELETE OLD FILES" in some file areas while excluding files in another area. Make Filelist <CTRL FILENAME> <HEADER FILE> <ARCHIVE COMMAND> The Make Filelist Option generates a TEXT listing of selected FILES.QBS files. This is generally used as a File Request list or to offer callers a text listing they can down load and read off line. 'Make Filelist' requires a control file, you can pickout the name and it is the FIRST argument following the KEY Phrase "Make FileList". Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 141 The control file contains two lines. The first line is the full drive, path, and file name that is to be used for the TEXT listings. E.g. c:\osiris\files\filelist.txt The second line contains a list of the Osiris File areas to add to the TEXT listing. The list consists of the numeric area number, up to 500, separated by a blank space. All areas MUST fit on ONE line. e.g. 1 2 3 4 8 11 23 Example of a control file c:\osiris\files\general\filelist.txt 1 2 3 4 5 6 8 9 10 11 12 13 <EOF> The second argument is the name of a text HEADER file to insert at the TOP of the list. This file may contain almost anything but is generally used to display the name of your BBS. The third and final argument is the complete archiving instructions. E.g. arj m -e -jm d:\general\filelist filelist.txt Example of a complete Make FIlelist statement Make Filelist Flist.ctl fist.hdr arj m -e -jm d:\flist filelist.txt You can add multiple "MAKE FILELIST" commands to the cat.cfg file if you want to create MULTIPLE listings. Run External <Filename> <Days to Run> You may have applications or maintenance programs that are not directly related Osiris that you'd like to run on a scheduled bases. "Run External" allows you to define programs, generally batch files, along with the day or days of the week you want them to run. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 142 There is no limit to the number of programs you can define and they will have at least 512K of free memory to run, providing you had 512K free BEFORE you ran cat. E.g. Run External HDMAINT.BAT MON WED SAT Virus Check If you want a SYSTEM wide virus scan run during your maintenance event, use this verb. Place the name of the virus checking program and any command line settings following the key words VIRUS CHECK. I've defined TWO for you, one for Mcafee's SCAN.EXE and one for TBSCAN.COM. Uncomment the one you want to use and edit to suit your system. You'll need to change the " C: D: E:" to go along with YOUR drives. You may also need to change the "C:\OSIRIS\VIRUS.MSG". This is the file SCAN.EXE uses to LOG any files that may contain a virus. TBSCAN.COM will use "TBSCAN.LOG" and you'll find it in your OSIRIS= directory. You may define a TOTALLY new program to replace either of these. Just include the name of the program along with any command line switches. There are two restrictions. The program must return error level 0 if no viruses were found. It must return 1 or higher if a virus WAS found. The command line, including the name of the program, can't exceed 128 characters. Disadvantages! Virus scanners have several very serious disadvantages! They can only recognize viruses that have already been identified. When a new virus has been launched it will take a while before someone discovers it. After that it will take sometime before a reliable signature is distilled from the virus and it will also be a while before you can get the new scanner. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 143 All this means that there is a real chance that your system is infected at this moment by a virus the scanners have not yet recognized! Because of all the attention the media is paying to the computer virus, it has become a real sport for sick minds to write computer viruses. Even viruses that have no stable signature have already been discovered. Some Virus scanners allow wild cards in the signature and can still trace this kind of viruses, some times. But it will not be long before viruses will be created that have no special characteristics by which they can be identified. The solution to this problem is the CAT FILE INTEGRITY SYSTEM. Cat File Integrity System This engages the CAT FILE INTEGRITY system. Cat will computer an Integrity checksum for the file you've defined and if it doesn't match the integrity checksum you've listed, it will be flagged as infected with an Unknown virus. One the virus checker didn't know about. You define a file by using the key work TEST. Following TEST include the FULL drive, path, and the name of the file to check and the Integrity Checksum for that file. e.g. TEST C:\OSIRIS\OSM.EXE 3459123475 There is no limit on the number of files you can define for testing. There are several advantages to using this system over the normal virus check (SCAN.EXE). It can detect changes in a file and it doesn't have to know anything about the virus that did it. New virus comes along, doesn't matter. It'll be detected if it does anything to the files you've defined. The 2nd big advantage is speed. This system is 10 to 20 times faster than using SCAN.EXE to do a system wide virus scan. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 144 Chksum.exe Chksum.exe can be used to generate the file's original integrity checksum. Chksum.exe requires one of three possible command line switches. /Ffilename : Computer a file integrity checksum on "filename." eg. /FC:\OSIRIS\CAT.EXE If this switch is used, the file integrity checksum will be displayed on the screen. Write it down and manually edit the cat control file and add the file name and the integrity checksum. /Cfilename : Use the CONTROL file "filename" to obtain the names of the files. The control file is a text based file with a complete drive, path, and filename. One per line. Instead of printing the checksums on the screen, I'll place them in a text file called CHKSUM.DAT. If chksum.dat already exists, I'll append to it. The entries in Chksum.dat will be PRE- FORMATTED so you can simply IMPORT chksum.dat into the cat control file. eg. Chksum /Cfile.ctl /SDRIVE : Analyze the drive and build a chksum.dat file containing the full drive, path, filename, and the integrity checksum for all COM, EXE, OVL, and OVR files on the system. If chksum.dat already exists, I'll append to it. This is the QUICKEST method of getting all the executable files and overlays, ovl and ovr, added to the cat control file. You will also need to MANUALLY, using /F, generate integrity checksums for EVERY file listed in your CONFIG.SYS. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 145 The entries in Chksum.dat will be PREFORMATTED so you can simply IMPORT chksum.dat into the cat control file. You now have one more defense against NEW viruses. Synchronizing Access Levels This means CAT is taking your ACCESS.SYS file and counting the number of access levels you have define and matching that number against the number defined in the SYSINFO.QBS. I've never heard of this getting out of sync, so this may be a waste of time, but an ounce of prevention . . . Command Line Cat can accept any one of six command line arguments. You may NOT intermix the arguments, i.e., only one at a time. Cat B CAT B rebuilds the secondary file indice. It's used by FAM when you make changes to your FILES.QBS listings. You can, if you need to, rebuild the file indice manually using this switch. Cat V CAT V only does the VIRUS Scan and the File INTEGRITY check, provided you have defined them. It MIGHT not be a bad idea, if you have a busy system or you're running on a network, to have a couple of INTEGRITY events during the day that does a system wide virus scan and a file Integrity check. Cat S CAT S triggers the FILE AREA file listing sort. You may need to use this if you have just moved files and don't want to wait. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 146 Cat M Triggers the Message Area Validation Check. May be used after you have defined NEW message areas to build the message databases for those areas. Cat P Triggers the Message Area PACK, if an area requires it. This also triggers the Message Area Validation CHeck prior to the PACK operation. Cat ? Displays a HELP screen listing the available command line switches. Cat F Flush ALL the messages in the CONFERENCE message areas and reset the callers last read to 0. This can be used on days you want to BACK-UP the system and do a full file realignment with a disk compression program. Mkpost.exe <Filename> Mkpost is a text editor designed specifically for creating text files suited for BBS display. E.g., messages, bulletins, uploading ASCII replies, etc. Mkpost requires one command line parameter, the name of the file to save the text in. E.g., Mkpost rules.txt Mkpost uses the same editor Sphinx, TNT, and Iedit uses so you should have no problems using it. User.exe Primary Control Boxes And Main Screen A bank of 19 control boxes is positioned on the right side of the FIRST display. These are your primary control boxes to move amongst the user records and to access the other sub-functions of user. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 147 The control boxes are: Flags, Page2, Date, Find, Page3, Del, Left Arrow, Right Arrow, Page4, UnDel, Index, Exit, First, Last, Sort, Pack, Add, CDNUP, and Print. To select one of the control box options, click the LEFT mouse button. The control boxes may also be selected using a HOTKEY. To get a list of the HOTKEYS, press ALT-H. Flags Flag opens a Window containing the flag settings; Area Flags, Command Key Flags, and Misc, for the current user record. This window functions the same as the primary window. To change a field, move your mouse cursor to the line that the field is on and click the RIGHT mouse button. You may also select the field to change using one of the ten F-KEYS. To see which F-KEY is associated with which field, press ALT-H when the FLAG window is open. The ESC key also duplicates CLICKing the OK box. To exit the Flag section back to the primary control screen, move to the OK box and click the Left Mouse button or press ESC. Date Kill by Date allows you to specify the number of days that a user hasn't called. If any record matches that, the record will be flagged as deleted. This doesn't REMOVE the record, it only mark it so that it CAN be removed. Before I start, you will be shown an OK to Proceed box. Click on YES with the Left Mouse button if you want to go ahead. If not, move to the NO box and click on it. Again with the Left Mouse button. LEFT/RIGHT/TAB/RETURN keys may also be used. Del Selecting this option will cause the CURRENT record to be flagged as deleted. There is no confirmation box and the record will instantly be marked. It isn't REMOVED, but only flagged for removal by the PACK option. Undel Selecting this option will cause the CURRENT record to be UNDELETED. You'll be asked for the FIRST character of the callers NAME. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 148 Find Allows you to search the database based on any one of three criteria; name, alias, or access level. You'll be shown (upper right hand corner of the screen) a small menu. Move to the search option you want and click with the Left Mouse button. Clicking the RIGHT mouse button cancels the operation. ESC/ARROW (UP/DN)/RETURN keys may also be used. Once the search option has been selected, you'll be asked for either a search string or an access level. I'll begin searching at the NEXT record and any matches will be shown with a YES, NO, or CANCEL confirmation box. The Left Mouse button indicates that you want the OUTLINED option to be accepted. ARROW (left/Right) and RETURN keys may also be used. The search will continue till either the record is found or all records have been searched. If the item can't be found you'll hear a short sharp beep and then you'll return to the main screen. Print Will print a text file, in the current directory, containing the names, access levels, phone numbers, and last date on-line for all the user records. The text file is suitable for printing and has page breaks using the ASCII 12 Form Feed character. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 149 Pack This function removes ALL records marked as deleted, rebuilds the two primary index files and then rebuilds the NEW newmail indices by calling "INDEX.EXE." The process can be time consuming if you have a LOT of messages on-line. Index Rebuilds all the indices associated with the user records. Nearly the same as the PACK option, but doesn't remove deleted records. Page4 Opens a secondary screen showing the TOTAL uploads and Downloads for the current record. This functions just like the primary screen. RIGHT mouse button to edit a field, Left mouse button in the OK box to return to primary display screen. You may also select the field to change using one of the ten F-KEYS. To see which F-KEY is associated with which field, press ALT-H when the UP/DN window is open. The ESC key also duplicates CLICKing the OK box. Page2 This a second control screen showing additional settings for the CURRENT user record. Total Calls, Nodelist Display, Screen Clear Type, IBM Graphics, ANSI Graphics, Command Type, Help Level, Conference Mail Check, and Message Posted. Some fields can be TOGGLED to the reverse settings by moving to that field and clicking the RIGHT Mouse Button. Fields that can be TOGGLED: Nodelist Display IBM Graphics ANSI Graphics Command Type Conference Mail Check The remaining fields can be edited by moving to their screen line and clicking the RIGHT mouse button. Some will require TYPING in values while others may use a pull down menu. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 150 When you're done viewing or editing items on Screen Two, move to the OK box and click the Left Mouse button. You can also select the field to change using one of the ten F-KEYS. To see which F-KEY is associated with which field, press ALT-H when the PAGE2 window is open. The ESC key also duplicates CLICKing the OK box. Sort Allows you to sort the user records using any one of three sort methods; Access level, Times Called, or Access Level and Times Called with Access level being the primary key and Times Called being the secondary Key. This sort is for YOUR benefit. Order makes no difference as far as Osiris finding a record. Left/Right Arrow Moves you to the next or previous record. First / Last Moves you to the FIRST or LAST record. Add Adds a BLANK user record to the user.bbs file. You should NEVER leave a record blank. If you add a record, immediately go to the record and edit ALL fields or as MANY as possible. Cdnup This function allows you to mass clear upload and download fields. When you select this option, you'll be required to supply 3 additional pieces of information; Type of clear, which records to clear, and access levels (if required). Type Of Clear This tells me which fields to clear and you have three options; upload field, download field, or upload AND download fields. Which Records To Clear Again, you'll have to tell me WHICH records you want to clear, based on access level. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 151 You have three options; All Records, only a specific access level, or by RANGE. The only one that needs further explanations is by RANGE. Range requires a LOW access level and a HIGH access level and records are cleared only if the callers access level is equal to or between the low access level and the high access level. Page3 Screen Three shows still more settings associated with the current record. Protocol, Screen Length, Last File Board, Last Message Board, Original Log on Date, and Node Restricter. You may edit any field, except for the protocol field, by moving to the line the field is on and clicking the RIGHT mouse button. When you're done viewing/editing items on Screen Three, move to the OK box and click the Left Mouse Button. You can also select the field to change using one of the ten F-KEYS. To see which F-KEY is associated with which field, press ALT-H when the PAGE3 window is open. The ESC key also duplicates CLICKing the OK box. Dynamic Access Level Changing You have 3 options. Shift Up Range. Shift Dn Range. Change Specific. The Shift UP and Shift DN range allows you to specify an access level RANGE (ie. 4 - 8) and how many access levels to shift UP or DOWN. You can specify a range of 1 - 15, shift up, and a shift of 2. That means anyone with an access level between and including 1 and 15 will have their access level boosted by 2. 10 will become 12, 5 will become 7, etc. Same thing if you go with the shift dn. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 152 Change asks you for the old access level and then a new access level and just changes anyone with the old level to the new level. The Main Display Screen shows 10 primary fields within the user record. These are the fields that are likely to be changed the most. To Edit a field, move to the line the field is on and click the RIGHT mouse button. In the lower right hand corner of the screen you'll see a field containing the CURRENT record number, 0 - 65535. You may select the field to change using one of the ten F- KEYS. To see which F-KEY is associated with which field, press ALT-H. When editing a field, your mouse buttons may be used to simulate pressing RETURN, ESC, and CTRL-RETURN. Left Mouse Button - Simulates RETURN. Right Mouse Button - Simulates CTRL-RETURN. Middle Mouse Button - Simulates ESC (clears field) Access.sys Access.sys resides in the Osiris root directory and contains information about each access level you've defined. You define such things as ; time limits per call, time limits per day, download limits per day, etc. Some items, such as time limits and download limits, require four settings, one for each of the primary baud rates. This gives you more control, based on just how fast the caller is, than the traditional single access level for everyone. Osetup set up 1 access level for you. You can edit that and add up to 65534 more access levels. That's in theory. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 153 I don't really expect anyone could possible need that many , given the ability to subdivide each level by 65535. You can view/edit/add/delete from OSM (Access subsystem). Time Limit Per Call One for EACH of the primary baud rates ; 300, 1200, 2400, and 9600. 9600 covers the remaining baud rates. If a Time Limit Per Call field is set to ZERO, you'll be given 1440 minutes PER call (basically disabling the setting). Events will still be ENFORCED. Time Limit Per Day One for EACH of the primary baud rates ; 300, 1200, 2400, and 9600. 9600 covers the remaining baud rates. If a Time Limit Per Day field is set to ZERO, you'll be given 1440 minutes PER Day (basically disabling the setting). Download Limits One for 300, 1200, 2400, and 9600pbs. Setting this to ZERO will disable it and gives you unlimited daily downloads. File Ratio Limits One for 300, 1200, 2400, and 9600pbs. Setting this to ZERO will disable it This is an X to 1 ratio. Meaning for every X number, allow 1. If set to 3, the caller would be allowed to download 3 files for every one uploaded. Byte Ratio This allows you to define a KILO-BYTE, 1024 bytes, ratio. This is an X to 1 ratio. Meaning for every X Kilo-Bytes, allow 1 Kilo-Byte. If set to 3, the caller would be allowed to download 3 kilo-bytes for every one uploaded. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 154 Time Give Back This is the amount of TIME given back for the amount of time you spent uploading. This is a X to 1 RATIO meaning give back X minutes for every 1 minute spent uploading. 3 means give back 3 minutes for every 1 minute spent uploading. 1 means give back 1 minute for every 1 minute spent uploading. 0 means don't give ANYTHING. Byte Give Back This is the amount of BYTES to give back for bytes uploaded. This is a X to 1 KBYTE RATIO meaning give back X Kbytes for every 1K byte uploaded. 2 would mean give 2K for every 1K uploaded. 0 means don't give ANYTHING. Password Protect Uploads Y or N This decides *IF* I will ASK you if you would like to PASSWORD protect the file you're about to upload. Allow Password/Kill Y or N This determines whether or not you're able to flag a password protected file for auto-deletion. Attach File To Message Y or N This is used by the Message Center to determine IF you're allowed to ATTACH a file to a message. Twitting A User If you set a caller's access level to zero, I'll assume that person is a TWIT and you don't want him on-line. I'll display the file "TWIT.ASC/MMU/ANS" and then hang up on him. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 155 Display Files Unless otherwise stated, all the files that follow may include ANSI (if .ANS extension). All the files, unless other wise stated, should be placed in the TEXT support sub-directory. Logo.asc/Mmu/Ans Shown before Osiris ASKS the caller for his or her first name, per-log on. Contents and make-up is up to you. Nodexx.asc/Mmu/Ans Shown to a caller who has been ASSIGNED to a specific NODE and has CALLED a node which IS NOT the one he's assigned to. The 'xx' is the NODE NUMBER he has been assigned to. Contents and make-up is up to you. Tlimit.asc/Mmu/Ans Shown to a caller who has exceeded his DAILY time limit before Osiris hangs up. Contents and make-up is up to you. Xxxx.msg This is a PERSONAL message addressed specifically TO the caller with User record number is XXXX. ie. 234.MSG is for the caller who's user record number is 234. The XXXX.MSG MUST be placed in the Osiris sub-directory. The file is in TEXT format, created with any ASCII editor, and will be shown to the caller it is addressed TO. Once displayed, Osiris will delete it. Warning, RENUMBERING the user records (packing) may cause the record number to change and the WRONG person will get the message. NOTE: You should NOT use ANSI in this file nor do SPL/I commands work. Accxxxx.bbs This is a Text message, created with any ASCII editor, placed in the Osiris directory that'll be shown to anyone with the access level equal to xxxx. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 156 e.g. ACC10.BBS will be shown to those having access level 10. I'll NOT delete this file and it will continue to be shown until YOU delete it. NOTE: You should NOT use ANSI in this file. Rookie.asc/Mmu/Ans This is shown during the log on process, before the new files check. ROOKIE.ASC/MMU/ANS is shown *IF* the caller has called your system LESS than 4 times. Contents and make-up is left up to you. Welcome.asc/Mmu/Ans This is the first file shown during the log on process, providing the caller has called 4 or more times. Contents and make-up is left up to you. Welcome2.asc/Mmu/Ans This file is shown following the welcome.ASC/MMU/ANS or rookie.ASC/MMU/ANS. Contents and make-up is left up to you. Welcome3.asc/Mmu/Ans This file is shown following the welcome2.ASC/MMU/ANS. The contents and make is left up to you. Welcome4.asc/Mmu/Ans This file is shown following the welcome3.ASC/MMU/ANS. The contents and make is left up to you. Welcome5.asc/Mmu/Ans This file is shown following the welcome4.ASC/MMU/ANS. The contents and make is left up to you. Main.asc/Mmu/Ans This is the menu displayed at the MAIN MENU when you have FULL help turned on. Mainhelp.asc/Mmu/Ans This is the HELP system file for the MAIN menu. This is shown when you press ? from the main menu. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 157 Byebye.asc/Mmu/Ans This is displayed when you log OFF the system. It's displayed following the "enter message to sysop prompt." Byebye2.asc/Mmu/Ans This is displayed during the log off process right before you're asked to hang up. Dos.asc/Mmu/Ans This is shown to the caller when you SHELL to DOS (F3). Back.asc/Mmu/Ans This is shown to the caller when you return from a DOS shell (F3). Last_on.asc/Mmu/Ans This is shown to a caller when you have engaged the LASTON control file to prevent a back-to-back log-on. Main1.prg This is the file shown when you select the MAIN menu MAIN1 option. The contents and make up is left up to you. Its primary purpose is to allow you to PROGRAM in your own functions using SPL/I. Main2.prg This is the file shown when you select the MAIN menu MAIN2 option. The contents and make up is left up to you. Its primary purpose is to allow you to PROGRAM in your own functions using SPL/I. Main3.prg This is the file shown when you select the MAIN menu MAIN3 option. The contents and make up is left up to you. Its primary purpose is to allow you to PROGRAM in your own functions using SPL/I. Main4.prg This is the file shown when you select the MAIN menu MAIN4 option. The contents and make up is left up to you. Its primary purpose is to allow you to PROGRAM in your own functions using SPL/I. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 158 Main5.prg This is the file shown when you select the MAIN menu MAIN5 option. The contents and make up is left up to you. Its primary purpose is to allow you to PROGRAM in your own functions using SPL/I. Main6.prg This is the file shown when you select the MAIN menu MAIN6 option. The contents and make up is left up to you. Its primary purpose is to allow you to PROGRAM in your own functions using SPL/I. Main7.prg This is the file shown when you select the MAIN menu MAIN7 option. The contents and make up is left up to you. Its primary purpose is to allow you to PROGRAM in your own functions using SPL/I. Main8.prg This is the file shown when you select the MAIN menu MAIN8 option. The contents and make up is left up to you. Its primary purpose is to allow you to PROGRAM in your own functions using SPL/I. Main9.prg This is the file shown when you select the MAIN menu MAIN9 option. The contents and make up is left up to you. Its primary purpose is to allow you to PROGRAM in your own functions using SPL/I. Main10.prg This is the file shown when you select the MAIN menu MAIN10 option. The contents and make up is left up to you. Its primary purpose is to allow you to PROGRAM in your own functions using SPL/I. Msghelp.asc/Mmu/Ans This is the HELP menu for the primary Conference area menu. This is shown when you enter ?. The contents and make up of this file is left to you. Gate_m.asc/Mmu/Ans This is shown when you select the GATE option from the primary conference area message menu. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 159 Editor.asc/Mmu/Ans This is the LINE editor menu. A default one is included but you are free to make your own. Peditor.asc/Mmu/Ans This is ALSO the line editor menu, but this one is shown ,in place of EDITOR.ASC/MMU/ANS, IF you're allowed to ATTACH files to messages. Make sure you have BOTH Peditor and editor.PRG/ans in the text directory. Edhelp.asc/Mmu/Ans This is the HELP system file for the line editor. It's shown when you enter '?' from the Line editor menu. The contents and make-up of this file is left up to you. Mchelp.asc/Mmu/Ans This is the HELP system file for the READ menu, located in the message Conference system. This file is shown when you press 'H' for help. Maskhelp.asc/Mmu/Ans This is the HELP system file for the MASK sub-menu which is located in the READ sub-system (message conference section). It is shown when you press 'H' for help. Setboard.asc/Mmu/Ans This is the menu for the conference selection sub- system, located in the conference message system. Confhelp.asc/Mmu/Ans This is the HELP system file for the conference selection sub-system. It is shown when you enter '?'. Filehelp.asc/Mmu/Ans This is the HELP system file for the main file area menu options. This file is shown when you enter '?'. The contents and make up of this file is left up to you. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 160 Gate_f.asc/Mmu/Ans This file is shown when you select the GATE option from the file area. File1.asc/Mmu/Ans This file severs the same function as the GATE_F.ASC/MMU/ANS file. But, it is considered as a PLACE holder for future expansion and MAY not be available for programming in the future. Search.asc/Mmu/Ans This is shown when you have FULL help turned on and have selected the SEARCH option in one of the file areas. It should explain a little about the search feature. Ratio.asc/Mmu/Ans This file is shown when you attempt to DOWNLOAD but your FILE RATIO is out of whack. You should explain HOW to correct the problem. Byte.asc/Mmu/Ans This file is shown when you attempt to download but your Kilobyte ratio is out of whack. You should explain HOW to correct the problem. Mhelp.asc/Mmu/Ans This is the SYSTEM help file for the Message Center. It is displayed when you press 'H'. Cselect.asc/Mmu/Ans This is shown RIGHT after a NEW caller has finished filling out his user record. You may want to use it to display some ground rules or explain about your system. Slhelp.asc/Mmu/Ans Shown to a NEW caller just before he's asked about the screen length setting. Should explain what a screen length setting is. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 161 Showibm.asc/Mmu/Ans Shown to a NEW caller just before he's asked about IBM graphics. Should be used to illustrate IBM graphics. Showansi.asc/Mmu/Ans Shown to a NEW caller just before he's asked about ANSI graphics. Should be used to illustrate ANSI graphics. No_ansi.asc/Mmu/Ans Shown to a NEW caller when they are at or below the required baud rate for ANSI. Mcmenu.asc/Mmu/Ans This menu is shown when you enter the Message Center. Read.asc/Mmu/Ans This menu is shown when you enter the READ sub-system from one of the conference areas. Chelp.asc/Mmu/Ans This is the HELP system file for the CHANGE menu. Is displayed when you press '?'. Phone.asc/Mmu/Ans This is displayed to NEW callers right before they're asks for their phone number. It should be used to convey some type of formatting instructions. The default one, included with the setup package, uses SPL/I to customize and force format (on screen). Onewhelp.asc/Mmu/Ans This is shown to NEW callers right before they're asked about OSAGE. It should be used to explain what OSAGE is and what's required to use it. Uphelp.asc/Mmu/Ans This is shown to NEW callers right before they're asked if they want to be ASKED about the new upload search. It should explain about the new upload search and the benefits of using it. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 162 Dnhelp.asc/Mmu/Ans Shown to NEW callers prior to asking about the Download/Tag prompt during a new upload search. H_chelp.asc/Mmu/Ans This is shown to NEW callers right before they're asked about HOTKEYS or COMMAND STACKING. It should be used to explain a little bit about each option. Cslhelp.asc/Mmu/Ans This is shown to NEW callers right before they're asked to select the type of screen clear. You should explain the difference between ANSI, FF(Form Feed) and CR/LF. Email.asc/Mmu/Ans This is the HELP system file for the Internode chat system. Twit.asc/Mmu/Ans THis is shown to a caller who has had his or her access level reduced to ZERO. The name says it all. Birth.asc/Mmu/Ans Shown to a caller when the current DATE is his birth day. Sys_stat.asc/Mmu/Ans Shown to a caller during the log on process and from the main menu (personal status option). Should be used (programmed with SPL/I) to display some of the caller's personal stats as well as some of the system stats. Private.asc/Mmu/Ans Shown to anyone attempting to LOG on to a NEW system when that system has been flagged as PRIVATE, no NEW callers. Should be used to explain that you run a private system. New1.asc/Mmu/Ans This is the FIRST file shown to a NEW caller, right before the user record information is asked for. You should AVOID using ANY SPL/I commands in this file. New2.asc/Mmu/Ans Shown to NEW callers right after the Cselect.ASC/MMU/ANS file. Most often used for new caller questionnaires. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 163 Fdisplay.asc/Mmu/Ans Alternate file area display. Most often used when you have lots of areas, small area names, and want to create a three or four column display. Statmenu.asc/Mmu/Ans The primary statistics system main menu. Promenu.asc/Mmu/Ans This is the ON-LINE STORE FULL help main menu. Prohelp.asc/Mmu/Ans This is the HELP system file for the On-line Store. This is displayed when you enter '?' from the main store menu. Sintro.asc/Mmu/Ans This file is shown when you enter the ON-LINE store sub- system for the first time. It can be used as a blanket advertising screen. Slist.asc/Mmu/Ans Used to display the different STORES you have setup. This should also display the store NUMBER for each store listed. The store number corresponds with its position in the control file. Infxxxx.asc/Mmu/Ans This file is shown when the caller selects the information option from the store menu. It should contain information about the current store. The 'xxxx' will be replaced with the store NUMBER. Bulxxxx.asc/Mmu/Ans This file is shown when you select the BULLETIN option from the store menu. It may contain anything and the 'xxxx' will be replaced by the store NUMBER. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 164 Files Files used by or created by Osiris are categorized by families. The families and types are as follows: File Type Extension Use ______________________________________________________________ Special Compiled Dual Purpose display file. display file that lets the filtering. ______________________________________________________________ ASCII Display Files. .ASC NON-ANSI Display file. ______________________________________________________________ ANSI Display Files .ANS Used for ANSI Displays. ______________________________________________________________ Osiris Configuration or Control Files. .QBS configuration or Osiris system related data. ______________________________________________________________ Index .IDX Allows fast access to system configuration files. Those with .QBS , BBS, DAT, and SYS extensions. ______________________________________________________________ Memo Files .DAT Storage for MEMO fields. ______________________________________________________________ Index .IDX Allows fast access to MEMO fields. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 165 SPL/I Command Files .PRG Programmable SPL/I command file. ______________________________________________________________ Individual File Break Down Callx.dat Replace x With Node Number Used to store information about the last caller to Node x. Comport.dat Used to store individual serial port settings, interrupt numbers, offsets, etc. Xxxmsg.yyy Used to store internode email messages. Replace xxxx with node number. yyy is a random 3 digit HEX number from 1 to 4096. No two internode email messages will have the same yyy file extension. S_node.dat Holds that NODE status for each node. Userx.qbs Replace x With Node Number The current callers user record, written during external shells. Modifications made to this record, during shells, will be adopted by Osiris when you return from the shell. Msgboard.qbs Contains the individual Conference area settings. Hdrxxx.sys Contains the message HEADERS; to, from, subj, etc. for individual CONFERENCE messages. Replace xxxx with the conference area number. Txtxxx.sys Contains the actual TEXT for individual CONFERENCE messages. Replace xxxx with the conference area number. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 166 Hdp.sys Contains the message HEADERS; to, from, subj, etc. for private Message Center messages. Txtp.sys Contains the actual TEXT for individual Message Center messages. Msgx.doc Replace x With Node Number A temporary holding file for message text. File is created and deleted by Osiris when needed. Newmail.sys A new, personal, conference mail index file. Used for fast new personal mail checks. Pmail.idx A new, personal, PRIVATE Message Center new mail index file. Hdh.sys A temporary holding file for message HEADERS; to, from, subj, etc. for all areas marked as REV. Txtp.sys A temporary holding file for message TEXT for all areas marked as REV. User.bbs Used to store individual user records. User.idx Index for fast access to user.bbs, key is user name. Alias.idx Index for fast access to user.bbs, key is ALIAS name. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 167 Filboard.qbs Used to store settings for each individual file area. Files.dat A secondary data file used for fast access to the files available for downloading. This index is used by the new uploads search, string search, and other operations where speed is paramount. Files.idx Index used, under some conditions, for fast access to FILES.DAT. Dl_area.idx Index used, under some conditions, for fast access to FILES.DAT. Upx.bbs Replace x with Node Number Used to store the names and sizes of the files uploaded during the CURRENT day. File is used by CAT when it posts the daily statistics message to the sysop. Dnx.bbs Replace x with Node Number Used to store the names and sizes of the files dnloaded during the CURRENT day. File is used by CAT when it posts the daily statistics message to the sysop. Ncx.bbs Replace x With Node Number Used to store the names of NEW callers during the CURRENT day. File is used by CAT when it posts the daily statistics message to the sysop. Badfiles.bbs Used to store the names of ILLEGAL file names you do not want used on your system. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 168 Sendx.ctl Replace x With Node Number Temporary file created by Osiris to hold the full drive, path, and names of the files the protocol is suppose to send to the caller. If you tell me to, I will pass this file name to the protocol driver. The File format is a single filename per line, no limit on the number of lines. Tranx.log Replace x With Node Number A temporary file created by the protocol driver listing the name(s) of the files sent to the caller. I'll use this file, providing it exists, to determine which files to charge the caller for downloading. If this file does not exist, I will have to rely on the protocols exit errorlevel. File Format is a single file name per line, no limit on the number of lines. E.g., SE302A.ARJ TMOD710.ARJ ZMODEM.ARJ Do NOT include drives or paths. This is an illegal entry: C:\SEND\SE302A.ARJ It should have been: SE302A.ARJ Effx.log Replace x With Node Number A temporary file created by the protocol driver holding a single short integer. This should be the average thoughput rating, percentage, for all the files sent during the file transfer session. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 169 This does not hold the average CPS rate, only the percentage of effective thoughput. E.g., 97 Transfer was 97 percent. Protocol.cfg Used to store protocol definition records. Default.msg Used to store the default messages areas for new callers. Osiris.err Used to store information about CRITICAL errors that prevented Osiris from running. Welcome.bbs The contains the text for the MESSAGE sent to new, first time, callers. Proboard.qbs Used by the Store System and holds information about the location of the store database files. Hpdxxxx.dat Replace xxxx With Department Number Holds the HEADER information about the products for department xxxxx. Tpdxxxxx.dat Replace xxxxx With Department Number Holds the descriptions for the products in department xxxxxx. Mainpriv.qbs Holds the keys, access levels, and flag settings for the main menu. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 170 Access.sys Holds the information pertaining to the access levels you have defined on the system. NOTE: Record #0 is a place holding record and isn't used for access level information. Sysinfo.qbs Used to hold some information about your system configuration. This file will, is, gradually being phased out and information stored in this file is slowly being moved to the individual NODEx.CFG files. Laston Contains information used by the LASTON function. Callx.cnt Replace x With Node Number Contains the total number of BBS callers node x has received. This is a single 4 byte long integer. Nodex Replace x With Node Number A temporary file listing the name and city of the caller currently on node x. If the name begins with 01H, the caller is not suppose to show up as being "ON-LINE." Bulletin.hdr Used to store the SYSTEM bulletin headers. Bulletin.txt Used to store the text bodies of the system bulletins. Mod.ctl The area moderator passwords and area numbers are stored in this file. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 171 Baud.dat Contains information about the TYPES of connects i.e., baud rates. Dorinfox.def Replace x With Node Number I'll write this file, a popular DOOR control file, when you issue the DORINFx.DEF SPL/I command. You are limited to nodes 1 - 9. Door.sys I'll write this file, a popular DOOR control file, when you issue the DOOR.SYS SPL/I command. Unlike DORINFOx.DEF, Door.sys does NOT support multiple nodes. Sig.def Contains the individual SIG definition records. Sigx.log Replace x With SIG Number Contains a log of the internode chat messages for a specific SIG. Chat.dmp Contains screen snapshots created during SYSOP chat. Tcallx.bbs Replace x With Node Number Used to store the number of calls node x has received for the CURRENT day. This is used by CAT when it posts the statistics message the sysop. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 172 Histx.log Replace x With Node Number Used to stores the caller history for node x. Outx.qbs Replace x With Node Number DOOR information file written during shells. Myyxxxx.txt A temporary file used to store messages packed by the pack function. Replace yy with the node number, 2 digit hex format. XXXX should be replaced by a 4 digit hex number for the area being packed. If all areas, use zero for the area number. Key.def Contains the ASCII keys allowed during input operations. Cmds.dat Contains the display text, colors, and formatting characters for the text prompts within the main Osiris program. Cmds.key Contains the command keys for varies prompts like Yes/No. Used in conjunction with Cmds.dat to tailor the system to other languages. Nodex.cfg Replace x With Node Number Contains system configuration information for node x. Miscellaneous Items Now we will talk about this and that. Items not directly related to each other or the primary operating sub-systems of Osiris, except for SPL/I. I'll leave SPL/I till the very last. It's by far the most complex system in Osiris and the one NEW sysops aren't likely to need right away. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 173 Ansi.sys Osiris uses its own built in high speed ANSI emulator that writes directly to the Video port. This accounts for a VAST increase in speed over the traditional ANSI.SYS drivers. What About Security? After reviewing the documentation, you will undoubtedly begin to think that I'm preoccupied with security. If so, you're absolutely right. Although Osiris is perfectly capable of serving the needs of the hobbyist, it was designed with a business environment in mind, an environment in which the integrity of information is of paramount importance. Osiris security is second to none. Since the first version of Osiris was released, the security provisions have never been overcome as the result of a software deficiency or compromise of the program code. That was a boastful statement and up till a couple of weeks ago (summer of 1991), accurate to the best of my knowledge. However, that suddenly changed. When I got back from a recent trip, I'd received a disturbing letter from an Osiris sysop in South America. He thought he'd discovered a method of breaking into Osiris remotely. Actually his wife came up with it while he was trying to explain about the BBS one night. She asked "what happens IF." I hate that question, don't you? After reading his letter, I thought about it for a few minutes and just shrugged it off, wouldn't work. But during lunch it kept nagging at me, so when I got back I decided to try it. The first attempt failed and I almost gave up but decided I'd give it one more try. This time it worked. I had seized control of the computer remotely and could do anything I wanted. To say I was feeling pretty stupid would be an understatement. Here I'd gone and left a doorway big enough park a garbage truck in. By this time I was calling the method B&S, after the way I felt. After I explained what was happening to my girl friend, she said something to the effect of "Chronic PMS for Sysop's" . . . I had to agree with that so the name stuck. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 174 I got to wondering if it was possible that other BBS programs were also open to PMS attack. It was or seem to be totally BBS independent. And I had heard of several QuickBBS systems over the pass year that had a lot of trouble so I began to look into it. I selected WildCat, Pcboard, QuickBBS, and RemoteAccess as the BBS programs I would test, since I had access to those systems locally. After a series of tests, I can report that ALL FOUR BBS programs were taken over using PMS within a matter of minutes. In fact, RemoteAccess fried the network it was running on. Although I haven't the time nor the desire to do the actual testing, I'm sure almost ANY BBS program is ALSO open to PMS attack. Since I started with this, I can account for 9 instances of PMS attack around the country, mostly QuickBBS systems. QuickBBS' sysops must piss a lot of people off. I'm sure they, the person doing the attacking, calls it something other than PMS, but it's the same method. Am I going to tell you HOW to use PMS to break into a system, no. I was going to make the information available to registered Osiris sysops, but Willy (shyster in the pin stripped suit) said to keep my mouth shut about the particulars so I will. But I can tell you how to protect your system. Yes there is a way, providing the software KNOWS what PMS is. Step 1: Get Osiris v3.00 or greater. Earlier versions know nothing about PMS. Version 3.00+ has internal anti-PMS screens. Step 2: Use ONLY my protocol drivers, excluding Zmax. It has no anti-PMS screens, yet. Use /V on the protocol command lines. Step 3: Allow ONLY those people you have VERIFIED access to external applications that deal with the serial port. This includes Games, special file transfer protocols. This is very important. I can ONLY protect you as LONG as I'm in complete control of the serial port and computer. The minute you run Tradwars 2002, Puma, Bi-Modem, etc. I have to give up that serial port and you have to give PMS protection. Luckily, most people that call your system will not be interested in doing any harm. They just want to enjoy it. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 175 But there is a small, but growing, number of people that get off on crashing systems. Don't be one of those they NAILED because you were not prepared. Avs(tm) In the early part of 1991 International TeleCommunications started tracking the development of a strain of computer virus known as "Polymophic". The Polymophic virus uses a mutating engine, hence the name polymophic, to generate a different version of itself every time it infects a new file. Because all occurrences of the virus are different, finding a signatures of any two instances of this virus is highly improbable. All this boils down to; normal methods of detecting the virus are totally useless. It is estimated that the earlier versions of the mutating engine can produce some 4 billion different forms and there are already improved mutating engines being developed as you read this. In an attempt to safe guard our customers, we installed an ANTI-POLYMOPHIC system, AVS(tm), in Osiris. Even though CAT is capable of detecting a POLYMOPHIC virus, any virus for that matter, the SOONER it is detected, the less damage it can do. AVS(tm), Anti viral shield, is an integrated part of the Osiris.exe program and uses a triple level protection system to detect any changes in itself that may be caused by a virus. When Osiris first comes on-line, it will do a QUICK check that takes roughly 1/10th of a second. The QUICK check is capable of detecting most virus infections. If it detects anything, it will drop carrier, delete itself (to keep from spreading the virus), and it will display this message: You have an ACTIVE VIRUS on your computer! When the caller hangs up Osiris will engage the two detailed AVS sub-systems for a much more detailed analyses. It is almost impossible (one never says TOTALLY impossible when dealing with a computer) for anything to escape the detailed analyses. These tests take between one and two seconds to complete. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 176 Again, if anything is detected, Osiris will drop DTR (to prevent the modem from answering), delete itself (to prevent the spread of the virus), and finally it will display the message You have an ACTIVE VIRUS on your computer! What To Do? If AVS, or CAT, does detect something, run SCAN.EXE to see if it can determine what virus has infected your system. If it can identify the virus, follow the guidelines SCAN provides for CLEANING the infection from the system. If SCAN can't figure it out rename one of the infected file to "VIRUS.TXT," place it in an archive, and send it to us so it can be analyzed. Memory Manager Osiris SE has an internal Virtual Memory Manager (Referenced simply as VMS) that assures the maximum amount of free memory is available for all external applications such as protocol drivers, SPL/I _EXECUTE calls, archive calls, etc. VMS will use either your DISK or EMS memory to store mapped Memory Segments before making these calls. If All memory is made available, VMS will reserve 6K of conventional memory for itself. Usually VMS can regain control of any locked computer during protocol shells and SPL/I execute calls. If you need to dump the program you've called because it locked up or you just want to, press Ctrl-Alt Ins. VMS will kick the program out of memory and reinstall Osiris. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 177 Vms Errors And Their Meanings Too Many Open Files This error occurs when VMS tries to open the temp. file and all available file handles are already in use. The solution is to increase the FILES= statement in config.sys. Access Denied Means that the root directory for the temp. file is already full. This is probably a good time to consider a little disk management. Cannot Locate Comspec This error means VMS could not locate the command processor using the COMSPEC environment variable. The COMSPEC variable MUST give the name and location of the command interpreter. Generally, you should not hit this error, because if COMSPEC is not set properly you will almost always get a lockup after running any program. QuickBasic and Bordland Turbo Pascal programs have been known to damage the environment and cause the above problem. Memory Control Blocks Are Damaged This means that memory that belongs to Osiris has been overwritten, QuickBasic programs are bad about this and so are some TP programs that use overlays. If I can't follow the chain of memory blocks to determine how memory is structured . . . This is only possible if you free only PART of the memory instead of all of it. Not Enough Disk Space This error means there is not enough free space to store the TEMP. file. I'll check the disk space BEFORE attempting to create the file so I don't waste time if there is not enough space. Error Writing The File This should NOT occur since I insure there is enough space for the file before writing it. However, if you get this error, it means that DOS returned an error while the file was being written to disk. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 178 Too Many File Handles This means that there is more than 255 file handles in the extended file handle table. VMS can handle upto 255 MAXIMUM. Out of curiosity, how did you get DOS to allow more? Interrupt(s) Changed During A Shell This error should never happen. VMS will save (and restore) any interrupt that falls in the area of memory that's to be freed. Interrupt 14H is always saved and restored even if it is NOT in the area of memory to be freed. The only time I can see the above happening is when you use one of the command line switches to reduce the amount of free memory requested and an interrupt lies outside of the area to be freed. Too May Mcbs This error means there are more MCBs than I deal with. I can handle up to 80 which should be MORE than enough for 99.9 percent of the programs. Not Enough Memory To Load The Command Interpreter This means there was not enough memory for the command interpreter to be loaded in memory to call the child program. The work around is to specify that MORE memory is required for the child program. To load COMMAND.COM, you generally need to have at least 32K free, and I suggest at least 64K. The above list isn't ALL the possible errors. There are others, but the likely hood of your system locking up if they occur is so high . . . Locked Dte If you're running a LOCKED DTE, locking the serial port at a fixed baud rate, you have to use an environment variable to define your fixed DTE rate. This variable is COMx with x being the com port to use. e.g. SET COM1=19200, SET COM2=9600 Osiris supports fixed DTE rates up to and including 115,200 baud. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 179 Keyboard Commands For list, press F1 while on-line in local mode. Sysop Help screen will pop open. Confirming Sysops Intentions When you press one of the sysop command keys, F1 though F10, you will be asked to confirm your intentions by pressing 'Y'. I'll give you no more than 3 seconds to press 'Y' before aborting the sysop command. I've done this for two reasons. First, a lot of businesses run Osiris systems and a lot of them use electronic air cleaners. That's good, it keeps the air clean, but it also fills it with static electricity. A computer keyboard is one of the first thing effected by static electricity. Stray characters have been known to creep into the picture every time one of those cleaners POP. The confirmation process will keep one of those STATIC pops from accidentally kicking a caller into CHAT mode, hanging up, and giving him twit access, etc. The second reason is young kids. Computers draw them like a magnet and this will keep them from accidentally knocking someone off-line, hanging the computer, dropping access levels, etc. Node Restricter If you'll run the user.exe, you'll find a field called node Restricter. If you enter anything in this field other than zero, I will force that caller to use only that node. If he attempts to log on to any other node, the text file nodeX.asc/mmu/ans, X being the value in the user records node Restricter, will be shown. It should contain something to the effect that he's been assigned to node so-and-so and must call that number. After the files been displayed, I'll hang-up. There are several conditions where this can come in handy. Assuming you have a two line system and one line has a HST 9600 baud modem on it and the other has a 2400 baud modem. To maximize the HST, you may want to restrict that line to only 9600+ callers and have the slower baud rates use the 2nd line or node 2. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 180 If you want to assign individuals to MULTIPLE nodes then you'll need to use SPL/I. You can get very complex in your assignments with it. Command Stacking Osiris has one of the most advanced command-stacking systems you're likely to encounter. To stack commands in Osiris, place at least ONE blank space between commands. Commands may be stacked ANY place, even at Y/N prompts. As many as 40 commands may be stacked in most places. Command Stacking Example Assume you have suddenly decided that you need to log off at the "[N]ext [R]eply [Q]uit ?" " prompt. This can be done by stacking the commands 'Q G N' which will abort the "Next msg" prompt and then proceed to log you off the system. NOTE: The above prompt doesn't really exist but was used as an example. Special Stacking Characters There are TWO special characters reserved by Osiris when dealing with command line stacking, a semi- colon (;) and a colon (:). The semi-colon is translated into a Carriage Return <Enter> and the Colon is translated into a <Ctrl-K>. NOTE: The only place command stacking will not work is jumping into a CUSTOMIZED command from another area that doesn't normally exist. e.g. You've added a customized command to the message areas that lists all system callers and the command key is ! to access this option. Caller is in File Areas and does a M M !. He will go to the main menu, then to the message areas, but will get stopped because "!" doesn't normally exist. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 181 Hotkeys Osiris allows you to switch to HOTKEYS instead of using advanced Command Stacking. You should make your users aware that they can never get the display screen to instant stop and switch. This isn't because the HOTKEY setup isn't good. It's because of the much faster screen displays. Most of the time the screen's already out the com port or at least sitting in the modems transmit buffer by the time the caller sees the first character. Once it has gone this far there isn't anything you can do to stop it. Birthdate Osiris does require the caller to enter his or her birthdate and I'll use it as a secondary security check every 6th call. You'll be required to RE-ENTER the birthdate and if it is not correct, I'll notify you and then hang up on the caller. If I do hang up because you couldn't enter the correct birth date, I will NOT update the TIMES called field. You'll CONTINUE to get the secondary security check until you DO enter it correctly. I also check the birthdate against the CURRENT date and if the month and day match, callers birthday, the file "BIRTH.MMU/ASC/ANS" will be shown. You can wish him a happy birth day with this file. Caller's Telephone Number New callers must enter their home phone number when filling their user record. You will need to build a create text file called "PHONE.ASC/MMU/ANS" ( or use the default file created during the set up) that will display the prompt asking for the phone number. It is suggested that you display some type of required phone number formatting information. Example Enter HOME phone number using one of the following formats: United States, Non Local caller: xxx xxx-xxxx Trans-Atlantic : xx xxx-xxxx Local Caller (Not a LD call) : xxx-xxxx > Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 182 Notice that a ">" was entered as the VERY LAST ITEM in the file. A carriage return was not used after it. That will place the cursor directly after the ">" making it look neater. I'll not FORCE any of the above formats, but I will require you to enter a minimum of 8 characters. I'll strip out all non-numeric characters and do a search on the existing user records for a matching phone number, if the search is allowed. Some BBS programs have fancy (xxx) xxx-XXXX formatting. Osiris doesn't do this because not all countries use the same type of phone number format that we do in the United States. You can built a custom SPL/I command file to ADD it. There is one in the SPL/I 4.00 source file directory on Vetlink III that can be used in the United States. Some BBS programs, WildCat for instances, use the phone number as a security check. Not only is this pretty poor security, it's down right silly. If I know your name, just how much trouble is it to open the phone book and get your phone number? Screen Length I'll allow screen length settings from 6 (lap tops) to 50 (VGA). Passwords A MAJOR problem in many areas is callers using the same password on multiple systems. Let someone get that password, and they've access to any system that person calls. It's understandable why people use the same password on multiple systems. It's easy to remember and coming up with unique password can be difficult. To avoid this problem, I'll only allow you to select the FIRST character of the password. I will randomly generate the remaining 4 characters for a total of 5 characters. NOTE: You may override this (nodeX.INI) and allow the caller to select his or her entire password Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 183 Changing Passwords Many corporations require their personnel to change passwords on a weekly bases, to avoid the possibilities of someone "HACKING" it. I will, at the change menu, allow the caller to REGENERATE a new password at any time. Rotating Passwords If you do have to periodically change your password, you can have Osiris track the time for you. You determine the number of calls that each password is good for and when that limit is reached, I'll automatically prompt for or generate a new password. Alias An ALIAS is a secondary name you might want to use, in messages, in place of your real name. There are several reasons to use an Alias (professional people may not wish to be bothered with giving out free advice). When a new caller fills out his or her user record , there is a field provided so they may enter an ALIAS name. All Alias names MUST be unique. The personal newmail check and the conference newmail check can locate mail to the caller if the mail is addressed to their real name or their alias name. You do, of course, have control over whether or not an ALIAS may be used in ANY conference area. Private Listing You're given the option of having your name withheld from the user list display. This goes along with the ALIAS names to offer some degree of privacy. When a user list display is requested and I come across any caller not wishing to have his or her name display, "Private Listing" is used in place of the name and "XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX" is used in place of the city. Your caller list will NOT be blank under any conditions. Those having the privacy switch turned on will not be listed as last caller to the system and will not be able to receive CB inter-node Email. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 184 If they upload any files, only the you will SEE their name. Other callers will see N/A as the name of the uploader. Accounting System After you have entered your password your current credit level will be shown, providing the time billing system is active. The accounting system settings can be found in the NodeX.INI file. There has been some confusion on just how this system works, although it is fairly straight forward. Your time on-line is tracked and when you hang up, I take the number of minutes spent ON-LINE and divides it by the PER MINUTE OF CONNECT TIME and multiple THAT by the PENNIES PER MINUTE variable. That amount is deducted from your MATRIX CREDIT FIELD. Message Conference Check I'll run a Message Conference verification check on areas you have selected, each time you log on to the system. I'll take each area selected and verify the area is STILL accessible. If the area has been removed or the access level to that area has been changed and your access level isn't high enough, I'll remove the area from your list. A message similar to the following will be placed in the log if I remove any areas. Area #2 not accessible. Stats Screen Following the conference verification check, I'll show a file called "sys_stat.ASC/MMU/ANS," providing it exists. NOTE: Most sysops use this file to show personal statistics as well as system statistics using SPL/I. Personal Mail Check, Message Center Then A NEW personal mail check is done. If you have personal mail waiting, the message will be displayed and you have the option of replying. This is NOT optional. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 185 Conference New Mail Check This is a Conference Area New mail scan to see if there is any NEW mail addressed to you. If so, the message header is displayed and you have the option of reading it, skipping it, or quitting. The newmail check is very fast and can scan the index file at the rate of about 15000 messages per second. Following the scan for PERSONAL new conference mail, each conference area having NEW messages will be displayed. Searching For New Files After the string of welcome files (welcome, welcome2, welcome3, welcome4, and welcome5) , you're given the option of searching for NEW files, if you have this turned on. The secondary index FILES.DAT is search, instead of the PHYSICAL file area to reduce the load on the hard drive, for any new files uploaded to the system since the specified date. If one is found, the file name along with the file description is shown. IF you have access to the Download Command for that area and provided you have this prompt active, you'll be asked if you'd like to download or TAG the file for BATCH downloading. This should make getting NEW files much easier since you don't have to remember filenames or directories. Logging The Search Date After the search has been completed, you'll have the option of LOGGING the search date, Yes or No. If you log-on and there is an external event or you simply don't have time to download, for whatever reason, you can answer No to the log prompt and the next time you call, the same date will be used for the new uploads search. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 186 Hard Drive Maintenance If you were running some other BBS system, you are probably optimizing your hard drive at *least* every other day. With Osiris, you probably won't need to optimize it for over a month and the hard drive access time will probably appear as smooth as it was the day you installed Osiris. With one big message file per area, almost invariably laid out in a contiguous set of sectors on a SeaGate S251, the head makes one smooth sweep from one end to the other with so few movements that the little red indicator light barely blinks at all. Not only is message access time faster using Osiris message base technology, but your hard drive should fare better for wear and tear. Error Handling If I detect any type of file handling error when attempting to open, read, write, seek to a new position, or create a new file, I'll open the "Osiris.ERR" log file and post the error number along with the date and time the error happened and the name of file. I'll also write it to the screen in case something is seriously wrong and I can't use the Osiris.ERR log. I'll notify the caller that a System Error has occurred, apologize for the problem, and then dump the caller by dropping DTR. I'll then exit back to DOS with an error level of 101. This errorlevel should be trapped and the mailer should NOT be brought back up. This will leave things in the state they were in when the error occurred so the problem may be found and corrected. The General Error Routine just logs things like missing sysinfo, not baud rates, fossils, etc. Sample Osiris.err Error L1000: 'No baud rate specified!' Error L1000: 'No port number specified!' Error L1000: 'Sysinfo missing' Error F2002: 'access.sys' Error L1000: 'No access level information!' To understand the meaning of the F20XX error number, use the following table, making note of the last two digits. NOTE: These are NOT internal errors, they are DOS error messages. I'll intercept the error messages and Osiris will do the DISPLAY to prevent DOS from HALTING the program. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 187 F20xx Error Codes F2001 Invalid DOS function number requested. F2002 Specified file not found F2003 Specified path not found F2004 too many open files F2005 Access to file denied F2006 Specified handle is invalid F2007 Memory control block was destroyed F2008 Not enough memory for request F2009 Invalid memory block address specified F2010 Environment invalid F2011 Invalid format F2012 Invalid file access code F2013 Invalid data F2015 Drive is not valid F2099 Gdosint error Warning Messages Some possible WARNING messages that might appear in your Osiris log: Lm1001 You had an area selected that no longer exists ,it might have been deleted or the access level was changed and your access level is not high enough. I've detected it and removed the area from your list. Lm1002 For some reason, the total number of message areas selected shows greater than 50. I've detected this and corrected it by lowering it to the maximum allowed. Check your DEFAULT.MSG file and make sure you do NOT have more than 49 areas define. The following three error messages should NEVER appear. Files were left open in one of the sub-systems and when the caller switched system, Osiris detected it. Error Xxxx9000 They will more than likely never be seen. If they do appear, it will probably be right after a MAJOR code change. ERROR MAIN9000, Contact International TeleCommunications ERROR FILE9000, Contact International TeleCommunications ERROR MSG9000, Contact International TeleCommunications Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 188 Ansi Esc Filter Osiris has an ANSI <Esc> (ASCII 27) filter on the File area Type command, the archive Contents Command and on all Read Message displays. Prevent someone from uploading a file that contains ANSI sequences that could reprogram your keyboard (to format your hard drive or to do just about anything else they wished). Slash Commands One of the problems I've run into is wanting to add more custom commands or sub-systems to my system than available slots on the primary menu(s). I want them available FROM the menu without having to resort to SUB-MENUS. This isn't too big of a problem at the main menu because you have 10 SPL/I mainxx.PRG files to play with, but even that number is rapidly becoming to few. The public conference areas and file areas only have 1 such file available, far to few for me. You can't alter the file board (filboard.qbs), message board (msgboard.qbs), etc. without making every secondary program obsolete. That's where the Slash commands come into the picture. A Slash command is executed when you pressing the forward slash key, /. You can use up to 8 characters for the command. The slash command can be entered in any one of the three primary systems; main, public Conference areas, and the file areas. The command following the / is not really a command, it is a FILE NAME. NOTE: The '/' is NOT part of the file name and does NOT count towards the 8 character limit. The slash, /, is SYMBOLIC and is used simply to SHOW that a SLASH command is being executed. IF that file exists, it will be shown and any/all SPL/I commands can be used. The file for the slash command can reside in any one of TWO places. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 189 If you enter a slash command from the main menu, I'll look for the file in a subdirectory OFF the TEXT directory. Remembering that the TEXT directory is where your ASC/MMU/ANS files are. Assuming that your TEXT directory is C:\OSIRIS\TEXT and you enter /GAMES at the main menu then I'll attempt to show the file C:\OSIRIS\TEXT\MAIN\GAMES.PRG You'll notice that GAMES.PRG was expected to be in the directory C:\OSIRIS\TEXT\MAIN IF it wasn't there, then I'll look for the file C:\OSIRIS\TEXT\GAMES.PRG This lets you RESTRICT a slash command to a particular menu or make it system wide by placing it in your TEXT directory. Each area has its own specific sub-directory that I'll look in FIRST. File Areas : Sub Directory FILE Public Conference areas : Sub-Directory MSG Main Menu : Sub-Directory MAIN Taking the above example but assuming you selected the slash command from each of the above area and assuming that your TEXT directory is C:\OSIRIS\TEXT AND you enter /GAMES. File Area : C:\OSIRIS\TEXT\FILE\GAMES.PRG Public Conference Area : C:\OSIRIS\TEXT\MSG\GAMES.PRG Main Menu : C:\OSIRIS\TEXT\MAIN\GAMES.PRG Failing to FIND the file in their respective directories, meaning that the command MAY be a system wide command, C:\OSIRIS\TEXT\GAMES.PRG This allows you to add literally MILLIONS of custom commands without having to ADD, CHANGE, or ALTER the structures of ANY Sub-System in Osiris. If you enter / and nothing else or /? then I'll try to show the file SLASH.PRG. I'd suggest you use this as a HELP file to list your slash commands. Restrictions A SLASH command CAN be command stacked but does have some restrictions. For instances, if you're in the FILE AREA and do a "M /GAMES" and you're expecting to go to the Main menu and execute the slash command GAMES then you'll find that's NOT the case. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 190 The PROPER way to STACK a slash command is to STACK it as TWO separate commands, / GAMES, because it IS two different commands. / ACTIVATES slash system and GAMES being the slash systems COMMAND. You can't HOTKEY into a SLASH command. In other words, entering a / while a menu is being display will have NO effect and will be ignored. Illegal Names I'll not allow you to use any SLASH command that starts with the following. COM CON PRN AUX LPT This prevents you from entering COM1 or AUX which would LOCK up the system. Last On If you have a busy system, you can stop the same caller from logging back on-line until someone else has had a chance to log-on. To engage this option, create a file in your osiris directory called "laston." The file "laston" contains two fields, elapse time and access level. e.g. Copy Con Laston<CR> 10 20^Z Field one, elapse time, is the amount of time the system stands idle, no callers. If no calls are received in the time specified then the caller may log back on. Field two is the access level that allows callers to bypass the laston feature. Used to allow co-sysops, area moderators, paying customers, etc. to log-on back-to-back. The time compensation system for uploads will also not increase the time for the CURRENT call on uploads. The time will be "banked" and can be used later that day. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 191 If this option is active and the same caller attempts to log back on, I'll show, if it exists, the text file called "last_on.mmu/asc/ans." You can briefly explain that you don't allow back-to-back log-on and ask the caller to kindly wait till someone else has had a chance to call or until the in-activity time, field one, has elapsed. Mailer Combinations I've tested Osiris with SEADOG, FRONTDOOR, DUTCHIE, ISIS, TELCOM and BINKLEY. No problems have cropped up with any of these mailers. Commit Dos Function Later versions of DOS (3.30 and later) have an extended File Flush Function that offers a secure method of flushing file buffer before closing a file. If I detect DOS 3.3 (or a later version), I'll enable the extended flush function and call it before closing any file. File Handles If I detect DOS 3.30, or later versions, I'll extend the internal file handle table to allow Osiris to have up to 40 files open at one time. This is a safety feature and Osiris doesn't require that many. It is possible that I may fail to close a file. This isn't likely, but it does give me a little safety margin. Color Optimizer Osiris has a color optimizer built into the MMU color display system that can reduce the number of characters to the screen and com port by 38 to 40 percent, depending on colors used. COMPILED MMU files will be optimized, RAW ANSI will be displayed AS IS without being optimized or altered in any way. Most, if not ALL, the internal colors within Osiris will go thou the color optimizer. Callers should see the "Jerky" movement (at 12/2400 baud) associated with color changes all but disappear. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 192 Osiris And Multiple Nodes As indicated in the Software License Agreement, any multi- line version of Osiris must be used "on multiple computers that are connected by direct cable to the same network server." It is not licensed for use at multiple locations. Any questions regarding your rights under the Software License Agreement should be directed to me for clarification. Overview Those installing the multi-line version for the first time, as well as those upgrading from a single-line version, should first set up a single line system. Don't attempt to setup multiple lines right off the bat. How It Works When writing a multi-line BBS system there are two ways of talking to more than one communication port at the same time. The first makes use of "internal program multi-tasking." A single PC/AT handles the port addressing for all lines and internally directs the program responses to the ports. This type of setup needing only the one computer, but is limited in that it can't perform activities outside the program or DOS shell support. It is not possible to run doors, external protocols, or any other program as a sub-process. The second method loads a separate copy of the BBS program into memory for each line or node. This setup allows an individual node to perform whatever activity or BBS maintenance event it desires, while allowing the remaining lines to perform independent activity. The disadvantage is the extra memory required for multi- tasking software or additional hardware for network operation. I use the second method because it is REQUIRED for doors and external file transfer protocols. This, by no stretch of the imagination, means that Osiris, or any program, can just leave everything up to the multi- tasker or network software. That simply would not work and your hard drive would end up a mass of mangled files. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 193 I'll not get into the specifics of what Osiris does, most of it is pretty technical, just don't attempt to run multiple copies of any program that updates files unless that program SPECIFICALLY says it can handle it. Hardware/Software In the following discussion the term "multi-line" is the same as "multi-node." Likewise, both a "line" and a "node" refer to a single Osiris session connected to a single modem and phone line. I've designed Osiris to operate in single line mode on a single PC system, or in multi-line mode in any of three general configurations: Local Area Networks I've included support for file and record locking under Novell, 3-COM, Banyan Vines, PC-MOS 386, Network OS, LANtastic, and any networks that truly support DOS 3.x SHARE. Keep in mind that several peer-to-peer networks claim SHARE support, but do not actually have it! In a LAN environment, each Osiris line operates on a separate computer connected to the other PCs or ATs via network cable. Each line runs its own copy of Osiris which is loaded from server's hard disk. A "server" in this context is used to define any computer in a LAN setting that allows sharing any of its peripherals such as hard disks, printers or other devices. Some network configurations only allow sharing programs located on a "dedicated server," one that only performs LAN management functions. Others enable sharing of disk devices located in other workstations and are normally referred to as peer- to-peer networks. In a network which allows multiple "servers," the server computers can also be used as a workstation for an Osiris node. Each workstation running Osiris is assigned a separate and unique Node ID Number. Regardless of the network used, only one copy of Osiris needs to be kept on the disk. This copy is available to each workstation running a Osiris node. All workstation nodes may update and access a common message, file, and user databases. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 194 Slave Card System This setup requires an AT or clone and a slave card such as Alloy's PC-Slave, which is available in 8088 (NEC V-20) and 80286 versions. A slave card usually contains a CPU (8088/V-20, or 80286), a serial port, a keyboard port, and a monitor port. Each slave card is actually a PC on a card which interacts with and shares the other peripherals in the PC, including the hard disk. In brief, a slave card environment is one in which a single machine adds one or more slave cards with a modem and phone line connected to each slave card. Osiris is loaded in the memory of each card just as if it was a separate PC system, and it uses the shared hard disk of the main system for storage. Some slave systems allow viewing access to each slave PC environment via the main system keyboard and screen. The cost factor in this setup can approach or exceed the LAN setup, depending on the network type and PC cost. A spin-off on the slave card environment is the multi-PC card from CUBIX. It installs in a Novell network server and operates 2 workstations from within the network server. Desqview For those interested in running only 2-3 or possibly 4 nodes, it can done on a single 80286/80386 system under DESQview, a multi-tasking operating environment available from Quarterdeck Office Systems, 150 Pico Blvd., Santa Monica, CA 90405, (213) 392-9701. Although very fast 386 combinations may be able to run 4 or 5 nodes, I've found that performance may suffer significantly on slower systems when more than 2 serial port applications. I only recommend 2 nodes under DESQVIEW, unless you are prepared to upgrade your serial port UART chips. A DESQview setup involves purchasing DESQview ver. 2.25 or above from Quarterdeck and installing it on your 286/386 system. Earlier versions will not operate well with multiple serial applications and are not recommended. To establish 2 DESQview applications you will need at least 512K of Expanded memory. Make certain the memory board you purchase is fully compatible with the DESQview memory manager - check with Quarterdeck for details. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 195 You need memory which meets the specifications for either AST's EEMS version 3.2 or LIM 4.0. Caution The continual switching back and forth between the "real" and "protected" mode of CPU can result in lost interrupts and system lock-ups makes using EXTENDED memory to emulate EXPANDED unreliable. I do not recommend extended memory use for any purpose, even extended memory which is "converted" to EMS memory by use of a software driver. This type of multiple line set up is the only one in which the performance of the BBS program may be hindered, because of time-slicing. By contrast, both LAN and slave cards offer almost full throughput. The number of nodes actually possible under DESQview will depend on several variables, including the speed of the microprocessor & clock, the baud rates of the connections, and the speed of the hard disk. The memory requirements for Osiris operating under DESQview is about 330K - 350K for each copy of Osiris. This means that the total memory required easily exceeds the 640K base memory area. A system with 512K of expanded memory will operate 2 lines. Although my recommendation is for no more than 2 nodes under DESQview, there are some situations which may allow additional nodes to be added. If a fast 286 or 386 CPU is used, you may find that an additional node or two can be added with little or no impact on performance. If the majority of your callers will be operating at 2400 baud, additional nodes may also be possible. Testing your set up is the only method of determining the actual limits. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 196 Novell Novell offers several versions of NetWare including the entry level system ELS Level I, ELS Level II, and Advanced NetWare. ELS I is limited to 4 workstation connections, including a non-dedicated server that can operate as a workstation. ELS II is limited to 8 workstation connections and also uses a non-dedicated server that doubles as a workstation. ESL, Level I and Level II, are priced significantly lower than Advanced NetWare which will allow up to 250 Osiris nodes. It's been reported that Advanced NetWare ver. 2.15 is capable of operating two nodes on a single workstation using DESQview. This type of configuration allows you to operate six nodes using 3 AT's connected as Novell workstations, with each AT running 2 BBS lines. Peer-To-Peer Networks This section reviews generic peer-to-peer networks using LANtastic as an example. From an operational viewpoint, these networks will function much like any other. The primary difference is the use of multiple "servers." If multiple workstations are used as servers for various system resources, the same server / workstations may also be used as a Osiris node. Each node must still be given a unique Node ID. Lantastic This network operates Osiris well when configured properly. The following network parameters have been found to increase reliability and improve operation: DOS ver. 3.1 or 3.3 are recommended, version 3.2 is not fully compatible with the network communication interfaces. The SHARE command is not necessary since LANtastic emulates SHARE in the LANBIOS. For maximum performance, I recommend using a small disk cache system with LANtastic. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 197 Slave Cards This follows the same Osiris software setup procedures as a network. The only real difference here is that SHARE must be loaded in EACH SLAVE ENVIRONMENT. Alloys' PC Slave system is established to act much like a network with no cables connecting the individual workstations. Instead, each workstation is actually a card installed into the bus on the "server." Alloys' own network software is NTNX. Setup the hardware and software according to the instructions from Alloy. If the slave cards are populated with 1 megabyte of memory, I recommend allocating 512K for the slave partition and the remaining 512K as a system disk cache within NTNX. The Osiris configurations on the slave cards are established on the server hard disk exactly like any other network setup. The individual slave cards may be accessed by connecting directly to the cards via terminals (monitor & keyboard). Alloy cards also operate with the utility program NXSCAN to control slave cards from the server in real time without using additional terminals. The NTNX software includes a utility to monitor each slave from the server, although interaction is not possible. When operating a slave system, all Osiris sessions MUST answer the phone by Auto-Answer. Alloy uses the ring detect line, pin 22, to reboot the individual slaves from the server. Desqview DESQview should be set up with two windows and follow the same procedures as a network. The only real difference here is that SHARE must be loaded before starting the DESQview program with DV or XDV. There is no need to load SHARE in each DV window. Osiris is DESQview "aware" and will recognize when it is operating in a DV environment. When the TX buffer can no longer take data, I'll slice time to the other partitions. The same holds true when Osiris is waiting for input. If no input is available, I'll slice time to the other partitions. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 198 I'll only scan the local key board every 30th time though the input loop. This degreases the drain on the CPU and gives other partitions more time. If you're attempting to run more than 2 nodes, it is suggested that you increase this to about 60. Do not go to far over this or carrier monitoring could be affected. I recommend using DESQview version 2.25 and above. I also strongly suggest using the 16550A UART chip as a replacement for the 8250 or 16450 found in most RS-232 boards. Using this chip becomes even more important when more than two Osiris nodes are configured on a single machine. This chip is inexpensive and is available from several sources at a nominal cost, including Arrow Electronics at 1-800-932-7769. The Initial setup of DESQview (SETUP.BAT) allows setting performance parameters which affect the processing time allocated to foreground and background tasks. You'll want to experiment with these settings, but should begin with each task receiving equal time if both are operating an Osiris node. Start with 3 ticks for each node. If you're operating a single BBS in the background while using the foreground for other activities such as word processing, you then should allow the background task more time by a factor of about 3. The following shows the major setup parameters and the proper settings for a 2 line BBS under DESQview. The important parameters here begin with the second half of the page. Optimize communications must be set to "Y" to operate high speed modems reliably. In addition, you should load the Osiris node that uses the highest baud rate first. Doing so prevents the 0-640K area of memory from becoming fragmented since communications programs are never swapped out, and guarantees the best transfer speeds. In addition, if an Enhanced Expanded Memory board (EEMS) is being used DESQview will make use of its "instantaneous" mapping registers for the first program while assigning all other programs to the slower registers with mapping overhead. Remember that the processing power of your PC ultimately limits how many high speed communications programs may be run simultaneously without dropping characters. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 199 Swapping programs may be set to "Y", although Osiris should never be swapped out of memory. This parameter allows other programs this option. Printer contention should not be managed since DV will suspend a program that attempts to print if another is already printing. I recommend setting DV to indicate that Osiris does NOT write directly to the screen (even though it does). Fine tuning DESQview parameters WILL be helpful. To ensure that you never get a Share Violation message asking for "Retry, Abort, or Fail," the DOS critical interrupt will be taken before any OPEN File request to prevent such message or error from halting the program. The normal interrupt vector will be restored following the open call. Exception 13 Errors Desqview can, at times, come up with an exception 13 error. No one really KNOWS what this error message means. If they do, they don't want to share that information with anyone. It also only shows up on SOME systems while others NEVER see it. Which indicates that it has something to do with the way your system is configured. Someone DID figure out that changing two parameters within Desqview "SEEMS" to make the error message go away. Try changing the COMMON MEMORY from 17K to 20K and change the DOS BUFFERS FOR EMS to 5. You may need to go higher on one or both of these settings but try the 20K and 5 first. Very Important Read This Despite the method of multitasking, you will NEED to set your EXE, COM, OVL (overlay), and OVR files to READ ONLY to prevent DOS SHARE violations. When DOS loads an EXE or COM, it opens it in READ/WRITE mode. If two or more nodes attempt to LOAD the same program, a protocol driver or archiver, you can get a share violation. Since this is external to Osiris, I cannot trap it. I have included a program in the package, setlock.exe, that allows you to MASS set, in the current directory, EXE, COM, OVL, and OVR files to READ ONLY. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 200 The program is easy to use. Log into the directory and type SETLOCK /L <ENTER>. This sets all the COM, EXE, OVL, and OVR files in the current directory to READ ONLY. If you need to set them back to READ/WRITE, to delete or replace one of the programs, log into the directory and type SETLOCK /U <ENTER>. This will set all the COM, EXE, OVL, and OVR files in the current directory to READ/WRITE mode and you can make the required changes. But, don't forget to change them back to READ ONLY. Help The VAST number of methods that CAN be used and the differences that can exist between individual set ups forces me to limit Technical support to only the OSIRIS interface. I cannot offer setup, installation, operational help, or maintenance support for other produces such as Desqview, Novell, Lantastic, etc. Games Or Doors And Other External Program There is no standardized method of setting up for external programs, which isn't surprising. The Capitol PC User Group's program, RBBS-PC, handles this feature using a specific format, which is unique to RBBS-PC. In fact, RBBS- PC uses several different formats, depending on what version of the software you happen to be using. PCboard is another prime example. It uses several different door formats depending on what version of the software you are using. Other BBS programs use similar, but somewhat different, methods of passing parameters to external programs. In fact, there are so many different , incompatible, formats door authors have a hell of a time picking out the one they want to use. You'll find a lot of door programs for Pcboard and RBBS. Not because either is considered to be an excellent BBS package, they're not. They aren't BAD packages, just not excellent packages. It is because they have been around a LONG time and most DOOR authors have also been around a long time and they are familiar with the Pcboard or RBBS layout. I've joined the ranks by adding my own specific format. there are programs available, Qkdoor and Doormaster to name a couple of the more popular ones, that converts the Outxxx.Qbs file to almost any format. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 201 Qkdoor/Doormaster Approach Several BBS' packages have internal door support for different formats, Osiris does, but that is not really the best approach. Door formats can change rapidly, as RBBS and PCboard have demonstrated all to well. And, new Door formats come out almost monthly. If you must rely on the door system built into the BBS package, you can be left out in the cold when a door format changes or a new one comes out. You'll have to wait for a new version of the BBS software, which could take a year or two. Using external DOOR programs, like QKDOOR, eliminates that problem. The authors of Door programs generally keep up to date on the current DOOR control files and when one changes or a new one comes out, they can quickly add it to a new version of their software. There isn't any real advantage to using the door control file system built into the BBS package. You still have the same number of commands and steps to go though. You'll either tell me or the Door program. Games With Osiris, you're not locked into having to set-up games in any specific fashion or location. You can install a game or game system any place. The most obvious place to install a game sub-system is off the main menu using one of the MAINx.PRG files. You'll generally set-up the game sub-system using SPL/I and shelling to batch files, or directly to the program once you have become prolific with SPL/I. You do not have to worry about having enough memory. VMS will give you just as much memory as your system had before you called Osiris. Usually this will be at least 512K. More or less, depending on what you had to start with. I have 622K FREE when I shell to games. Installing A Game Sub-System For this tutorial, I'll use the following seven games: Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 202 Scrabble Fishing Acey Deucey Pit Galactic WarZone Tetris Yankee Trader What I'm about to show you is very simplistic in nature and most certainly not the only way to do things. You can get VERY creative with SPL/I and I've seen some very unique game systems that were works of art with multiple menu systems, windows, kaleidoscopes of color and form. Step 1, Setting The Menu The first order of business is the menu. The callers have to have some method of selecting which game they want to play. There are two methods of designing a game menu. The first is using a draw program, like "THEDRAW," to draw out the menu. This is the best approach since it is WYSIWYG and you don't get any surprises when you display it for the first time. The second method is "BY HAND." You use a text editor and lay out the menu and add the SPL/I color commands by hand. Some folks like this approach, but I've found that you almost always have to go back and readjust your menu because things seldom line up correctly the first or even the second time around. Let's assume you selected the first method and you have drawn a simple menu using light blue, yellow, gray, bright white, and light green colors. You saved the menu using THEDRAW command clear screen, no limit on line length, and the file name was games.ans. You've now got the basic game menu, but it is in ANSI format and we want to get it into MMU format so ALL callers can use it, not just those supporting ANSI. Compile the "GAMES.ANS" file using the MMU compiler, MMU.EXE. Use the command line: MMU GAMES.ANS /A /F Slash A tells the MMU compiler the file "GAMES.ANS" is an ANSI file. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 203 You'll end up with a file called "GAMES.MMU," the original "GAMES.ANS" will not be altered. It might look something like this, minus color, when displayed: Game Menu A) Scrabble B) Fishing C) Acey Deucey D) Galactic WarZone E) Tetris F) Yankee Trader X) Quit To Main Menu Selection ? Not fancy, but adequate. You can get as fancy as you like when you do yours. Now that we have our menu, we have to setup an SPL/I command file to display it, get the selection from the caller, and execute the game they have selected. Lets call the command file, GAMES.SCR, SCR stands for SOURCE. Since we're going to get a menu option from the caller, we'll need to define a variable to HOLD the selection. Lets use 'CH', CH short for CHARACTER. _define_var(ch,character); The next step is a controlled loop to HOLD the caller in the game program until WE decide to let him out, when he selects the X option. We'll need a control variable that can be used for a test expression, lets use NOT_DONE. That name tells us what the it does just by looking at it. _Define_var(Not_Done, Integer); We also want to set NOT_DONE to some value other than 0 so it will return TRUE when tested. _Assign(Not_done,1); Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 204 The loop itself will be a WHILE loop and looks something like _while(not_done); _wend; Lets put everything we've defined, so far, together: _define_var(ch,character); _define_var(not_done,integer); _assign(not_done,1); _while(not_done); _wend; _mend; That's our basic SPL/I game command file. It will continue to LOOP until the variable NOT_DONE has something in it other than 0. As soon as NOT_DONE has 0 in it, it'll fail the test and the loop will terminate. The FIRST thing we want to do inside the LOOP is to clear the screen and display our menu so: _CLS(); _DISPLAY_TEXT("C:\osiris\games.mmu"); I'll assume you placed the games.mmu file in the directory c:\osiris. You can put it anywhere you want as long as you include the full drive and path to the file. The next step is to stop and get the selection from the caller using the _getc(ch,1) statement. The 1 tells me to convert the selection to UPPERCASE. In other words, if you typed in 'a', I'll convert it to 'A'. That will make testing a little easier to do. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 205 If we put it all together, we now have something like: _define_var(ch,character); _define_var(not_done,integer); _assign(not_done,1); _while(not_done); _CLS(); _DISPLAY_TEXT("C:\osiris\games.mmu"); _getc(ch,1); _wend; _mend; The way the program's currently set-up, you would go into an infinite loop; the menu would be displayed and you'd get a selection from the caller; over, and over, and over until you finally have to hang-up to get out of it. So we have to add some _IF statements to determine WHAT the caller selected and what action we want to TAKE. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 206 Processing The Selection Since we have seven possible selections, we'll need seven IF statements to test what we have. Lets put those in: _define_var(ch,character); _define_var(not_done,integer); _assign(not_done,1); _while(not_done); _CLS(); _DISPLAY_TEXT("C:\osiris\games.mmu"); _getc(ch,1); _if(ch = 'A'); _endif; _if(ch = 'B'); _endif; _if(ch = 'C'); _endif; _if(ch = 'D'); _endif; _if(ch = 'E'); _endif; _if(ch = 'F'); _endif; _if(ch = 'X'); _endif; _wend; _mend; Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 207 You'll notice that I used UPPERCASE letters inside the _IF statements. CASE DOES make a difference and 'A' is NOT the same as 'a'. But, I used the 1 in _getc(ch,1), so I don't have to worry about 'a'. 1 means I'll never get a lower case character. Now that we have all the _if tests set-up, we can go in and do what we want to do if the caller enters that particular selection. X is the most obvious one to start with and X means you want OUT of the menu. Since NOT_DONE is driving our LOOP all we have to do is set NO_DONE to 0 and the LOOP will terminate. _CLEAR(NOT_DONE) will do that so : _IF(ch = 'X'); _clear(not_done); _ENDIF; Before we do any of the other _IF statements, let me explain one of the commands we'll be using, the execute statement. The EXECUTE() statement tells me that you want to execute an external program. Unlike other BBS programs that exit with errorlevels, Osiris will remains in memory and uses the VMS manager to free up the memory needed to execute the external application. The VMS manager will use either EMS or your disk for memory segment swapping. For the moment, I'm going to assume that you are going to use external batch files, Qkdoor to create the appropriate door file, and execute the external game. I would suggest beginners use this method since it is similar to the methods other BBS programs use. We can get into other, more advanced, methods a little later on. We'll also need to add another variable to hold any possible return code although in this case there will be none, but . . . execute() REQUIRES us to provide one so _define_var(rtcode,integer); Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 208 Lets also pretend that you're using the batch files, that's why there will be no return code: Scab.bat Fishing.bat ACEY.bat galwar.bat Tetris.bat trader.bat Our program, including the execute statements should now look like: _define_var(ch,character); _define_var(not_done,integer); _define_var(rtcode,integer); _assign(not_done,1); _while(not_done); _CLS(); _DISPLAY_TEXT("C:\osiris\games.mmu"); _getc(ch,1); _if(ch = 'A'); _execute(0,"scab.bat",rtcode); _endif; _if(ch = 'B'); _execute(0,"fishing.bat",rtcode); _endif; _if(ch = 'C'); _execute(0,"acey.bat",rtcode); _endif; _if(ch = 'D'); _execute(0,"galwar.bat",rtcode); _endif; _if(ch = 'E'); _execute(0,"tetris.bat",rtcode); _endif; _if(ch = 'F'); _execute(0,"trader.bat",rtcode); _endif; _if(ch = 'X'); _clear(not_done); _endif; _wend; _mend; Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 209 For a more detailed explanation of _execute, see the sub-section on _execute() command. That's IT! We now have a COMPLETE game system about ready to go on-line. Compiling Games.scr The game program will have to be compiled with the SPL/I compiler before I can use it. Assuming you are going to use MAIN1.PRG, rename GAMES.SCR to MAIN1.SCR and compile it with ITC using the following: ITC main1 ITC will, if you made no typing errors, produce MAIN1.OBJ. If the compiler stops with an error message, correct the error and recompile. Assuming you got a successful compile, your next step is to LINK the OBJ file to produce the runable program file. Use ITlink and the following command: ITLINK MAIN1 MAIN1.PRG would then be created containing the runable SPL/I code. Move MAIN1.PRG to your Text directory. The Individual Game Batch Files Most games require some type of control file containing information about the com port, baud rate, and user information for the CURRENT caller. All BBS systems provide door control files, but rarely are they compatible. The game authors generally provide direct control file support for the BBS programs they're using. You have to translate, in most cases, the file I use to the format the game understands. You don't have to do this manually. Several programs can take the OUTxx.Qbs file and translate it to any number of formats. Qkdoor is widely used and we'll use it in these examples. In our sample batch, <EOF> indicates the END of the batch file and it's not actual PART of the file. <START> indicates the beginning of the batch file. Remember, neither <START> or <EOF> are parts of the actual batch file. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 210 I'm not going to do each and every batch file since they are all basically alike. I will do two, scab.bat and fish.bat, which should be enough to give you the generally idea. Scab.bat Scrabble, selection A, can use an older format of the Osiris control file which use to be called extinfoX.qbs, X being the Node number you're using. The new format is OUTx.QBS with x being the node number. Just copy it to the old file name, the part that scrabble uses is still the same. <START> copy out1.qbs extinfo1.qbs scrabmn scrabble.cfg <EOF> Fish.bat The second menu option was fishing.bat: <START> qkdoor c:\osiris\OSSE1 c:\osiris\fish\QBBS cd fish FISHING 1 C:\Osiris\FISH <EOF> The first line calls QKDOOR, passing the parameters it needs. Qkdoor Parameters The first parameter, c:\osiris\OSSE1, gives it the full drive, path, and node number for the file Osiris created. The second parameter, c:\osiris\fish\QBBS, gives the drive, path, and TYPE of control file you want written. The program you're going to run and control file must be in the same directory. "QBBS" tells QKDOOR to write a QuickBBS' external control file in the sub-directory "C:\OSIRIS\FISH" The Qkdoor.doc file gives a complete run down of available Door control files Qkdoor can handle. It supports most of the popular formats. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 211 The line "FISHING 1 C:\Osiris\FISH" is specific to the program you're calling and varies according to the special needs of that program. You don't have to worry about changing back to the Osiris directory before exiting the batch file, I save the current drive and directory before calling the batch files or external programs and I'll restore you to the original, preshell, directory when you return. Dorinfo1.def/Door.sys I do directly supports DorinfoX.Def and Door.Sys via SPL/I command calls. Dorinfo1.def If you want to create the DorinfoX.Def directly, bypassing external Door programs, issue the command _dorinfo(path,program) replacing PATH with the full drive/path to the sub-directory you want the dorinfoX.def file written in and PROGRAM with the name of the external program to execute. I'll automatically create the correct Dorinfox.Def depending on which node you are on. E.g., if node 1 then Dorinfo1.def will be created. E.g., if node 2 then Dorinfo2.def will be created. Due to the limitations placed on the DorinfoX.def file, by the author of the file format, Dorinfo can only be used on nodes 1 through 9. E.g., proper dorinfo1.def call: _dorinfo("c:\osiris\tradewar","twar.bat"); Please pay attention to the path part of the command. It is a proper DOS path and should NOT end with a backslash. Door.sys If you want to create the Door.sys directly, bypassing external Door programs, issue the command _doorsys(PATH,PRG); replacing PATH with the full drive/path to the sub-directory you want the DOOR.SYS written in and replace PRG with the name of the external program to execute. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 212 Door.sys is NOT a multiple user door file and cannot be used on more than one node at a time. E.g., proper door.sys call: _DOORSYS("c:\osiris\tradwar","TWAR.BAT"); Please pay attention to the path part of the command. It is a proper DOS path and should NOT end with a backslash. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 213 Slightly Advanced Game System _define_var(ch,character); _define_var(not_done,integer); _define_var(rtcode,integer); _define_var(com,integer); _assign(com,_PORT); _assign(not_done,1); _while(not_done); _CLS(); _DISPLAY_TEXT("C:\osiris\games.mmu"); _getc(ch,1); _if(ch = 'A'); _elseif(com != 2); _call(error); _else; _execute(0,"scab.bat",rtcode); _eend; _endif; _if(ch = 'B'); _elseif(com != 2); _call(error); else; _execute(0,"fishing.bat",rtcode); _eend; _endif; _if(ch = 'C'); _elseif(com = 4); _execute(0,"acey4.bat",rtcode); _else; _execute(0,"acey.bat",rtcode); _eend; _endif; _if(ch = 'D'); _elseif(com != 2); _call(error); else; _execute(0,"galwar.bat",rtcode); _eend; _endif; _if(ch = 'E'); _elseif(com != 2); _call(error); else; _execute(0,"tetris.bat",rtcode); _eend; _endif; _if(ch = 'F'); _elseif(com = 4); _dorinfo("c:\osiris\twar4",trader4.bat); _else; _dorinfo("c:\osiris\twar",trader.bat); _eend; Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 214 _endif; _if(ch = 'X'); _clear(not_done); _endif; _wend; _mend; _procedure(error); _define_var(ch,character); _printf("\n\nI'm sorry, but you have to be on COM2\n"); _printf("to play this game.\n\n"); _printf("Press any key to continue\n"); _getc(ch,0); _pend; Explanation What I've done above is slightly more advanced and uses several new, you haven't seen them yet, SPL/I commands that might be required on a multiple line system. For a more detailed explanation of the SPL/I commands, reference the section on SPL/I. I'm assuming that this system runs two nodes, one on com port 2 and one on com port 4. I'm also assuming that several games do not support com port 4 and those that do may need a different type of control file. I've also intermixed the _execute() and the _dorinfo() methods of calling the games. Because I've got two serial ports to deal with, I'm going to use the elseif statements inside the _if statement. There are other methods, but those are a bit to complex for you at this time. If you're on a serial port the game does not support, I'm jumping to a procedure that tells you to switch nodes if you want to play. The method of jumping to the sub-routine is similar to the BASIC GOSUB, for any basic programmers that may be reading this. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 215 Overlaying A Game This is a method of calling an external game that I call,"OVERLAYING" because it is almost like the game is part of Osiris, especially if you have LIM 4.0. _if( ch = 'A'); _chdir("c:\osiris\twar"); _dorinfo("c:\osiris\twar","twar -Qbbs"); _chdir("c:\osiris"); _endif; You'll see a new SPL/I command used here, "CHDIR(path);" as well as a slight variation to the "_DORINFO()" command. _CHDIR(PATH) is equivalent to the DOS "CD" command except the SPL/I version will also change drives. If you use this command, be SURE and change back to your OSIRIS= directory. If you don't, strange things may happen later on. The DORINFO() command, and the DOORSYS() commands allow you to pass command line parameters to the program you're calling. Just include the parameters following the name of the program. Advanced Set-Up Here I'm going to show you how to govern what times and days you're allowed to play games. It's a good example on combining low level SPL/I commands and multiple conditional tests. See SPL/I section for additional information on the commands used in this section. Lets assume that we have a game, Tradewars, and we only want to allow callers to play this game on Saturday and Sunday between 8 AM and 5 PM. _define_var(time,integer); _define_var(hr,integer); _define_var(min,integer); _define_var(sec,integer); _define_var(day,integer); _define_var(hund,integer); _define_var(ch,character); _define_var(rtcode,integer); Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 216 _if(ch = 'A'); _dayofweek(day); _elseif(day = 6 .AND. day = 7); _systime(hr,min,sec,hund); _math(time = hr * 60 + min); _elseif(time > 479 .AND. time < 1020); _execute(0,"twar.bat",rtcode); _else _printf("I'm sorry, but you can only play this\n"); _printf("Game between 8 AM and 5 PM.\n\n"); _printf("Press any key to continue.\n"); _getc(ch,0); _cls(); _eend; _else; _printf("I'm sorry, you can only play this game on\n"); _printf("Saturday and Sundays.\n\n"); _printf("Press any key to continue.\n"); _getc(ch,0); _cls(); _eend; _endif; The first thing I did was to retrieve the current day of the week. If the day of the week wasn't 6 (Saturday) or 7 (Sunday) then there was no need to go any further. Just display the error message and return. Providing the day was right, I retrieved the current time and converted it to MINUTES, that's not the only way but it is easy. 479, 7.59 AM, would be the number of minutes since midnight and 1020, 5 PM, would be the number of minutes since midnight. If the current time is greater than 479 and less than 1020, then it's OK to play the game. Advantage One of the primary advantages to this method of servicing external programs is the ability to regain control if the external program locks up. Simply press Ctrl-Alt-INS at the same time and I'll seize control of the computer and bring you back up. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 217 Problem Areas If you have a 16550 Uart, you could run into some problems with external games. Most of them do not support a 16550 and if one is active, they'll lock up. The safe way around this is to DEACTIVATE the 16550 before calling the game and then REACTIVATE it after you exit the game. I use a program called 16550.EXE and I believe it is included with the QKDOOR package. e.g. <START> qkdoor c:\osiris\OSSE1 c:\osiris\fish\QBBS 16550 1 OFF cd fish FISHING 1 C:\Osiris\FISH 16550 1 ON <EOF> If you have a 16550 Uart, then the odds that you are running a locked DTE rate of 19200 baud or 38400. QKDoor will read the Osiris Lock variable so that you get the correct results. You should be warned that a lot of games will work just fine at 2400 baud but cannot be used at high speeds. Fossil Some games require a fossil to run, it is rare, but we'll cover it anyway. The best method is to load the fossil before calling the game and then unloading it after you exit the game. The BRAND of fossil, there are several, doesn't really matter. We'll use BNU, not the best one but it will do in a pinch. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 218 Batch file using a fossil with a LOCKED DTE of 19200 baud. <START> qkdoor c:\osiris\OSSE1 c:\osiris\game2\QBBS CD game2 bnu /L2=19200 twars 1 bnu /U <EOF> That should give you a good idea how games can be called and a little insight as to how you can work with OTHER SPL/I commands to create master pieces of your own. Door Technical Support One final note about external programs. I must limit technical support to problems with the OSIRIS interface only. This means that I can't extend advice on specific door operation or hardware system configurations. The responsibility for set up and operation of specific programs rests with you. I make NO commitments that any DOOR/external program will run properly on your system. Each program operates differently and may require a conversion program, special device driver, basic run time module (BRUN40, etc.), or other type of manipulation to operate. Some versions of DOS, in combination with some IBM compatible hardware, do not function properly with the CTTY command or with some programs. THIS IS A DOS/HARDWARE PROBLEM, AND NOT A FLAW IN OSIRIS. Questions on specific programs should be directed to the program author. I DO encourage DOOR authors to contact me concerning configuration advice and possible testing of their product within my beta group. Private Cbis Systems If you want to set up a PRIVATE BBS, then set the default new user access level to zero. If the default new user access level is zero, no new callers will be allowed to log-in. A text file called "PRIVATE.ASC/MMU/ANS," if it exists, will be displayed. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 219 Callxxx.cnt Caller counters for individual nodes are maintained instead of a SYSTEM wide count. Each nodes caller count can be found in the file CALLxxx.CNT, xxxx is node number in base ten. The file contains a single 4 byte long integer. Rcp, Remote Command Processing This gives Osiris the ability to tell the remote DTE to do certain things. 1. Request the remote DTE to send the name defined in the dialing directory entry used to place the call (used for hands off log-on). 2. Request the remote DTE to send the password defined in the dialing directory entry used to place the call (used for hands off log-on). 3. Request the remote DTE to start a download, used to auto trigger a download session once the "S" has been pressed. 4. Request the remote DTE to start an up-load, used to auto- trigger an up-load session once "S" has been pressed. 5. Request the remote DTE to hang-up. The remote DTE must support RCP commands for this to work. QT 1.02 supports the above commands. Message Cache Osiris uses an internal disk cache system when reading messages for display purposes. The size of this cache is set to 4096 bytes. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 220 Key.def The file contains 256 ASCII flags set to either ON or OFF. This tells me which characters to accept, when getting input from the caller. The purpose is to disallow characters that : 1. Do not meet Fidonet, RCSA, UUCP, and other network standards. 2. To cut down on the effects of NOISY lines. A default KEY.DEF has been included that meets the above requirements. You may toggle individual characters on or off from within OSM. When you select this option, characters with a check mark are turned ON or allowed. Some languages, French for instances, use accented characters that do not fall within the accepted standards of international message formatting. You may turn the accent characters on, but you should check to be sure you aren't violating the standards of any networks you belong to. Line Noise The key.def concepts works so well line noise, for the most part, will be filtered out. The caller will be lured into a false impression that the lines are CLEAN when in fact, they may be very bad, to bad for a file transfer. Osiris will TRACK the number of LINE HITS received during each connect. When, if, you start to download a file or files and LINE HITS have been received, I'll display the message: Noise to Signal Ratio: X to y. Continue <Y/n> ? X is the number of LINE HITS and Y is the number of minutes ON-LINE for the current call. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 221 E.g. Noise to Signal Ratio: 12 to 3 That would indicate 12 Line Hits within the last 3 minutes. If one of the line hits had occurred during a file transfer, a resend would have resulted. Auto Daily Report To keep you abreast of what's happening, I'll generate a daily system report to you, one for each node you have on-line. Each time Osiris is called, I'll check to see if the date has changed. If so, the caller will be asked to please wait while I generate the report. The wait will be short, 4 or 5 seconds, tops. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 222 A typical Daily report will look something like this. Node 1 Activities Summary for Thu August 1, 1991 Total Calls : 31 In-Use Time : 397 Min(s) Utilization : 27.57 Percent New Callers : 4 Ron Hebert Casino Sagonis Jeff Lentini Gail Long Downloads : 22 Files 2694646 Bytes d:\general\Tnt100a.lzh d:\isis\I510b.lzh d:\isis\I510a.lzh d:\drivers\Tmod630.exe d:\drivers\Qt104.exe d:\arcshell\Arcshell.lzh d:\drivers\Tmod630.exe d:\drivers\Qt104.exe d:\arc\Lha212.exe d:\arc\Newzoo.exe d:\add_on\List75i.lzh d:\drivers\Tmod630.exe d:\drivers\Qt104.exe d:\drivers\Tmod630.exe d:\drivers\Qt104.exe d:\drivers\Qt104.exe d:\drivers\Zmax100b.exe d:\isis\I510b.lzh d:\isis\I510a.lzh d:\arcshell\Arcshell.lzh d:\isis\Nodediff.lzh d:\isis\Otc200.lzh Uploads : 1 Files 86144 Bytes d:\uploads\Oilcap2.zip Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 223 On-Line Store Now we are about to enter the realm of on-line shopping. This is going to be harder for ME to explain than it is for YOU to set up. Figure on calling the TECH support BBS at least once on this one. If you get it set up WITHOUT having to get help, pat yourself on the back, you deserve it. The first step is the creation of a sub-directory called "ONLINE." Create this directory in your OSIRIS= directory. e.g. mkdir C:\OSIRIS\ONLINE Please use ALL the names I use. It'll help a lot when or if you need help. You'll put the information files about the on-line store, databases, in this directory. You'll place all of them there except for 'STORE.DEF'. This is the file you create that tells ME where to find the product databases for a certain store. The Store.def MUST be placed in the Osiris directory. The Store.def file contains one line per store. This line consists of TWO parts. Part one is the NAME of the store, e.g. Walmart, and ENDS with a comma. Part two is the full drive and path to the directory, the one you just created. Sample: Walmart,C:\Osiris\online Did you notice the comma? Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 224 This is used to divide the store name from the path and there should be NO spaces following the comma and the start of the path to the store directory. If you're going to have more than one store, add a line for each store you add. Make SURE you use a different sub-directory for EACH INDIVIDUAL store. e.g. Walmart,C:\osiris\online The Business Store,C:\Osiris\online2 Creating Proboard.qbs Now you have to tell me how you are going to set up the departments within your store. Do that by creating a Proboard.Qbs file The On-line Store uses DEPARTMENTS to group products together. For example; Hard Drives, Tape Drives, Disk Drives, are all like products and would be grouped under one Department. We'll call this department "Drives." Create a file called proboard.INI and enter the following. Define Proboard Vender: Your Company Name Name: Product Name Access Level: Access Level Required to Enter this Department. End Define An Actual Entry would look something like this. Define Proboard Vender: Walmart Name: Drives Access Level: 1 End Define You can use the access levels to setup WholeSale, Retail, preferred customer areas, etc. Each Proboard definition is an actual Database. The database numbering would be on a first come, first serve bases. The above example would reference database #1 or the Drive Database. The department names are only visual references so you can use the same "NAME:" definition for more than one department. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 225 Sample Define Proboard Vender: The Business Store Name: Systems access level: 1 End Define Define Proboard Vender: The Business Store Name: Monitors access level: 1 End Define Define Proboard Name: Printers access level: 1 Vender: The Business Store End Define Define Proboard Name: Assessors access level: 1 Vender: The Business Store End Define Define Proboard Name: Books access level: 1 Vender: The Business Store End Define Define Proboard Name: CDROM access level: 1 Vender: The Business Store End Define Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 226 Once you've completed the proboard.ini file, you have to compile it. Use the MAGCFG option in OSM. Once the proboard.qbs file has been created, move it to the directory you defined in the store.def file. Other stores will require their own proboard.qbs. The owners of those stores should provide you with copies of their proboard.qbs. Product Database Storage Structures Each database is broken into two files, HPDxxx.DAT and TPDxxx.DAT. The first holds most of the information for each product listed in that department except for the description field. The description field is held in a TPDxxx.dat file that allows variable length records. This reduces the amount of disk space required to store the products and allows fast record retrieval by using FIXED length records via the HPDxxx.DAT structure. Product Definitions Now here comes the really hard part, defining the actual STORE databases. You do this by creating dpXXXX.TXT files containing a text formatted list of all the products for that department. Take each proboard department in the order you've defined them, this is important. When you build the DPxxxx.TXT files they will be associated with the Departments defined in the same order. ie . . . for the DRIVES department, used in the first example, use DP0001.TXT. Each product is in the department is defined by starting the definition with "Define Item." Each product definition is ended with "End Define" Define Item * * End Define The information about the product is contained within these two fields. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 227 Each product definition should define the following fields, order within the definition doesn't matter. Name: "name of the product" Catalog Number: "For your information, something to reference" Price: "Unit price for product" Weight: "Shipping weight, if applied" Description "A description of the product." Payment Method: "Method of payment you'll allow when ordering" Order Form: "Name of the customized order form, do not use any extensions.". (NOTE that each field name ends with a COLON ':') Maximum Field Lengths Name - 40 Characters Price - 10 Characters Weight- 10 Characters Payment Method - 40 Characters Catalog Number - 10 Characters Order Form - 8 Characters Description Field - 1,000,000 Characters The field definitions are fairly straight forward except the description field. Description Field To define the description field use "Begin Description". It should be the only item on that line. To END the description definition, use "End Description" The text between these two lines will be used as the product's description field. The individual description LINES themselves should be no longer than 65 characters each. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 228 Example Begin Description High speed mailer system with HTMS, Wazoo, FSC001, Sealink mail Sessions. 10 definable Alt-Fkey and 20 shift/ctl Keys. 400 definable events, Flash Packing, Dynamic Events, on the fly event redefinition, color configurable. Safety catches for Bad calls, busy time out counters per event, Multiple FREQ restriction settings per individual events. End Description Example 2 Example of an entire Product Definition within a DPxxxx.TXT file; Define Item Store: Micro TECH Systems Name: ISIS Rev 2.14 Catalog Number: MTS01L Price: 79.95 ;Weight: Begin Description High speed mailer system with HTMS, Wazoo, FSC001, Sealink mail Sessions. 10 definable Alt-Fkey and 20 shift/ctl Keys. 400 definable events, Flash Packing, Dynamic Events, on the fly event redefinition, color configurable. Safety catches for Bad calls, Busy time out counters per event, Multiple FREQ restriction settings per individual events. End Description Payment Method: Master Card or Visa Order Form: ORDER2 End Define If a particular field doesn't apply or isn't used for that product, leave it out or comment it out by starting the line with a semi-colon. You can have up to 32,722 individual items listed per department. Just define each item as outlined above. WARNING Do NOT alter the FIELD designators 'Store:' by adding spaces in an attempt to "PRETTY" up the display. 'STORE:' works while 'STORE :' will NOT work. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 229 Once you've finished the product definition list for a particular department, list that filename in a file called "MAGDB.CFG." e.g. for the FIRST listing . . . Copy con magdb.cfg DP0001.TXT ^Z<RETURN> The MAGDB.CFG is used by the product database compiler. It reads the magdb.cfg file to obtain the names of the department product lists. Continue building the rest of your department product lists and adding each list to the MAGDB.CFG file. One you've completed this, you'll have a MAGDB.CFG that looks something like this, assuming 10 departments. DP0001.TXT DP0002.TXT DP0003.TXT DP0004.TXT DP0005.TXT DP0006.TXT DP0007.TXT DP0008.TXT DP0009.TXT DP0010.TXT By doing it this way, you can come up with any naming scheme that suits you. I think the above make sense, but individual preferences . . . Once you've completed the product definitions for all the departments and have the individual files listed in MAGDB.CFG, you're going to compile them into department databases. Use the MAGDB option in OSM. This can take awhile if you've a lot of products. You're done with the DPxxxx.TXT files so use some type of archive program, Pkzip, to archive them away until you need to make any changes. When it is time to make those changes, you can use your word processors pattern matching Search/Replace features to quickly edit the items that need changing. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 230 Your final set would be to go to OSM and select the command keys for each store function and then create a menu for full help display. When you select the command keys, do NOT skip any option on the menu. You MUST define something, even if you do NOT want to use it. If you do NOT want to use an option, set the command key to a numeric character, 0 - 9. The name of the full help menu is "PROMENU.OJB/ANS." A demo menu is included. Each store has two optional *.ASC/ANS/MMU files, INFxxx and BULxxxx. "xxxx" is the stores number, directly references the position in the proboard.qbs. INF is an information file and it can or should contain information about the store. Who owns it, operating hours, voice phone numbers, etc. BUL is the store's bulletin file. It can contain anything. The SPL/I commands supported in both files. You have an intro display file called SINTRO. A default one is included. The display of available stores is controlled by you. Osiris will displays a TEXT file called SLIST. The stores are numbered, starting with 1, in the order they are listed in the STORE.DEF file. A sample SLIST is included. Error In Osm In the store menu option, the command "Search For Item" should actual read "Open", meaning it does nothing at this time. Search All Departments This feature searches the PRODUCT name field and does not allow you to search the product description. With the possibility of hundreds of thousands of items, it would be TO time consuming to search the description fields on all items. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 231 Imx Osiris Se Frontend IMX is the stand alone module for Osiris. Its primary job is to answer the phone and call Orisis. IMX requires 3 command line parameters; -B BaudRate -P Com_Port (1-8) -N Node_number (1-255) e.g. IMX -B2400 -P2 -N1 Optional Command Line Switches /X, EXIT with errorlevel 1 if a human calls. This overrides the default VMS shell. I'll write a control file called RUNBBSx.Bat with x being the node number passed on the IMX command line. e.g. /N1 will result in RUNBBS1.BAT being created. The contents of RUNBBSx.BAT is one line . . . HUMANx BAUD_RATE COM_PORT TIME_TILL_NEXT_EVENT x being the node number passed on the IMX command line. This lets you run multiple nodes from the same directory. /Mxxxxxx, refers to a MODEM IN string used to force the modem to answer the phone rather than using the S0 register or auto-answer. The xxxxx is the string to send to the modem to force it to answer. Generally this is ATA on most Hayes compatible modems. Warning In order for this to work, your modem must be set up so it DOESN'T AUTO-ANSWER. Most modems will abort an auto-answer if you send them ANYTHING during the answer process. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 232 /Dtr means do NOT use the modem busy string as defined but simply drop DTR when exiting. This means the modem will NOT be able to answer the phone. /Hot means leave the modem AS IS when exiting. I don't recommend using this switch. Sample Batch Example of a Frontend batch file to run IMX for Node 1 using EXIT errorlevel on Human caller. :TOP imx -B 9600 -P 2 -N 1 -M ATA -X if errorlevel 255 goto end if errorlevel 1 goto caller goto TOP :caller runbbs1 :end Your RUNBBS1.BAT file will contain: human1 9600 2 197 ^------^------ will vary human1.bat could look something like: osiris -B%1 -P%2 -T%3 -N1 rem load frontend batch file. port1 Shellxx.cfg You'll also be required to build a SHELLxx.CFG file. xx is the node number you provided on the IMX command line. This file contains command line parameters you want passed to Osiris. You should NOT include : -B, -P, -N, or -T. I will provide those for you. IMX, by default, does NOT exit when it calls Osiris but uses the Virtual Memory System to SHELL to Osiris. IMX will shift to EMS memory if you have it or to DISK if you do not. You'll have all your original system memory for Osiris to run in, except 5.5K. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 233 Mdm Control File You need to create a modem control file for IMX. Select the MDM option in OSM to build a modem control file for IMX. OSM will explain about the information it requires you to supply. Modem Initialization String This can be tricky, especially if you have no prior mailer or bbs experience and unfortunately there isn't much I can do to help you with it. There are hundreds of different brands of modems. And each one of those modems has a number of hardware dip switch settings that can further complicate matters. About the best advise I can give you is set the modem so that it does not echo commands, uses verbose return codes, and auto-answers. With most Hayes compatible, command set, you would use something like: ATH0M0V1E0S0=1 Your modem may require addition or even totally different commands. You'll just have to read the manual that came with your modem. Ok Return Code IMX requires that your modem return OK when it sends the modem initilization string. If your modem ECHOS any part of the modem string, OK will NOT be returned. If this happens IMX will exit to DOS with errorlevel 252. Check your CBISx.log and if you do not see MODEM : <OK> then you KNOW this was the reason. The next step is to setup an event file for IMX. Events IMX can support up to 400 defined operating events in Stand Alone mode. An EVENT is used to tell me that you need to exit to your batch file at a certain time to perform an external operation. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 234 Even if you do NOT want to exit to do anything, I still to have events defined to cover each day of the week and to cover all 1440 minutes of the day. You use the EVENT.INI (Default Event.ini included) file to define, edit, delete, or view events you've defined. Since IMX isn't a mail system, you only define : Exit Errorlevel Starting Time Ending Time Day(s) of week Exit Errorlevel Exit with this errorlevel the first time it runs that event for the day. Valid errorlevels range from 1 - 255. NOTE: You should avoid using errorlevels greater than 250 or lower than 10 so you don't conflict with internal errorlevels. If you don't want the event to exit with an errorlevel, enter a 0 (Zero) for the errorlevel. Starting Time The time of day the event starts. The time is in military format, 10 PM = 22:00. Legal starting times range from 00:00 to 23:59. Ending Time The time of day the event will end. The time is in military format, 10 PM = 22:00. Legal ending times range from 00:01 to 24:00. Day Of Week WHICH day(s) that event is to run on. Legal Day of week Verbs Are: MON TUE WED THU FRI SAT SUN ALL WEEKEND You may stack as many as you need on one line. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 235 Run Event on MON TUE FRI SAT or Run Event on ALL or Run Event on WEEKEND NOTE: No single event may span midnight. You must end the event at 24:00 and start a new one at 00:00. NOTE: Although IMX will only run an event one time per day, you should remain OUTSIDE in your batch file for at least 60 seconds for the MIDNIGHT event. MIDNIGHT event being defined as the event that starts at 00:00. All other events can return as quickly as possible. Nothing BAD will happen if you don't. It'll not EXIT again, but it will continually load the event (00:00) until 00:01 rolls around. You need to COMPILE the EVENT.INI before I can use it. Use the EVENT.EXE program for this. Just run it without any command line switches. It will generate an Event.Bbs file which contains your compiled event.ini. You can't directly use the Event.Bbs without first renaming it. I will look for the file EVENTxxx.BBS with xxx being the NODE number you passed on the command line. e.g. Node 1 -> Event1.Bbs, Node 2 -> Event2.Bbs. This allows you to define DIFFERENT events for each node, if you're running more than one. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 236 Modems, In General IMX is set up to work with GENERIC modems. Supported CONNECT codes: Connect 19200 Connect 14400 Connect 12000 Connect 9600 Connect FAST Connect 2400 Connect 1200 Connect IMX also supports EXTENDED result codes like Connect 9600/REL or CONNECT 14400/ARQ/V32 or almost any thing else you can think of. I can do that by IGNORING everything PASS the numeric, ie. 9600 or 14400, part of the message. You WILL run into a problem if you have a cheaper 9600 baud modem that always returns the LOCKED rate PLUS the connect rate. e.g. CONNECT 19200/2400 If you have one of those, you'll need to get ahold of an advanced mailer that is HIGHLY configurable and lets you DEFINE odd ball result codes. ISIS is one that can handle something like that. Overlays I do make extensive use of "OVERLAYS," an Overlay contains part of the program that ONLY loads into memory when you need it. That means there _CAN_ be .05 second delay between the time you select an option and that option executes. But .05 seconds would, in most cases, not be noticeable. Earlier, I said Osiris needs 450K to run. Actually, I only NEED 185K to load the program and it is possible to run it in 256K, minus archive support, games, Statistics System, Osage, and several other external applications. Lim/Extended Memory If you have LIM 4.0, EEMS 3.2, or Extended Memory, I'll automatically load the overlays into that section of memory. That means the entire program is in memory and I don't have to load overlays from your disk. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 237 Vms Overlays I use two special VMS overlays, one for the Statistics System and one for Osage. A VMS overlay is different from your regular overlay because it doesn't RESERVE any OVERLAY space. Instead of reserving space, I'll use part of the programs memory, after swapping it to disk or LIM memory. That greatly reduces the amount of memory needed to run the program. Lock-Ups If you have LIM 4.0 or EEMS 3.2 memory and you're locking up when loading the Statistics System or Osage, you may need to adjust the Overlay memory to fit your system. The default is 256K, which is more than enough for the Statistics System or Osage and will work just fine on 95 percent of the systems. But, no two systems are exactly alike and your memory layout may require you to fine tune the VMS overlays. If it locks, I would suggest that you start with 384 and go up in 10K blocks. Under some conditions, you may be able to start at 384 and go DOWN in 10K blocks. E.g., Vetlink #3 will lock if set to 400, but will work just fine with the default 256. You can make the adjustments by using the command line switches, /Oxxx and /Sxxx. xxx is the amount of memory you want. Speed Tips A super fast BBS does not have to have the latest and greatest Super Computer. A fast BBS can be set-up on a 10 Mzh AT. If it is set-up correctly, your callers will think you have a 20 Mzh 80386 instead of a 10 Mzh AT. Lim 4.0 Install at least 2 Meg of LIM 4.0 memory, 4 Meg for Optimum results. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 238 Cache Set-up a 128K disk cache. I suggest an EXTENDED or LIM memory cache. 640K Extender There are several public domain Dos Extenders that will map 64K of LIM 4.0 memory to DOS giving you 64K more conventional memory that you would normally have. This means VMS memory swaps for protocols, archivers, and games SHELLS will have to swap LESS memory to give you want you need and LESS means faster. Asc/Mmu/Ans Files Create a RAM Disk and place your ASC, MMU and ANS files on the RAM disk, don't forget to tell me which directory to use! I'll be loading and displaying menus and other display files more often than any thing else and if I can do it from a RAM disk, then the file is basically already LOADED. Since most disk caches do not cache RAM disks, that leaves more DISK based data in your Cache. Ovl01818 And Ovl01819 Move those files to your RAM disk and add a PATH= statement, pointing to THAT directory. Make it the FIRST one in the path statement so I'll look there, FIRST, before looking in your other PATH= directories. Important, make SURE you do NOT have ovl01818 and ovl01819 in your OSIRIS ROOT directory. Mono-Graphics Adapter Do not use a COLOR monitor on your BBS machine. Color Adapters are a lot slower than MONO. Using a MONO card on the BBS can REALLY speed things up. 16650 Uart Install a 16550 high speed Uart on your serial card. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 239 Fast Harddrive No, you don't have to go out and buy a fast hard drive. If you follow the other suggestions, a 40 MLS HD will be fast enough. Scsi Although SCSI drives are fine for file areas, they do tend to operate a bit slower than other drive types when it comes to small or medium disk writes. This makes them unsuitable for use as the PRIMARY drive for the BBS software and the message bases, especially if you are handling large volumes of echomail. We're really not SURE why they tend to be slower, but Osiris sysops report 286 machines with ESDI or IDE drives blowing the doors off 386 and 486 machines with SCSI drives during echomail import and export. Tsr/Device Drivers Get rid of all TSRs or Device drivers that you do not absolutely have to have to run the computer, they steal interrupt time. Small Partitions Keep your hard drive partitions as small as possible, no larger than 30 Meg, 20 is better. The smaller partitions are just plain faster. If you HAVE to have larger partitions, make sure you only use them to store DOWNLOAD files. Memory Manager The TYPE or brand of memory manager you use and how you set it up can have a direct impact on system performance. Qemm QEMM is a nice manager with lots of features, but it does severely degrade system performance in the areas of disk access and screen writes, as much as 25 percent in some cases. I would advise that you switch your memory manager to 386MAX if at all possible. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 240 Steath QEMM has a STEATH option, do NOT use it. Although you will pickup a few K of conventional memory, this is offset by a LARGE decrease in system performance. 386Max 386MAX is the memory manager we recommend for optimal system performance and reliability. Using 386MAX will not degrade disk access, in fact it will increase the data transfer rate, nor will it have any impact on screen writes. 386MAX is also considered to be the most reliable memory manager you can use and it is Window and DESQview compatible. Almost all the Osiris sysops that switched from QEMM to 386MAX reported their computers ran an average of twenty-five percent faster. Loadhi Do NOT LOADHI any application, system driver, TSR that will repeatedly be accessed such as ANSI drivers, DISKCACHES, BIOS, etc. Although LOADHI will increase your conventional memory, it will degrade, drastically, system performance. An alternate method is to use a DOS extender that adds 64K to conventional memory. This generally gives you more conventional memory than LOADING HIGH and it, for some reason, doesn't degrade system performance. Vetlink III, 1-314-334-6359 has several PD DOS extenders available for downloading. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 241 21St Century Bbsing BBS' of the future will in no way, shape, or form resembles the way we do things now. With everyone concerned with "TIME" and "PERSONAL CONVENIENCE," they simply will not tolerate having to set in front of a computer while the terminal program dials the BBS, having to actual log-on to a BBS, or other wise being "THERE" during the whole process. Osiris 4.00+, TNT 6.00+, and ISIS 6.00+ combine together to bring 21st Century BBSing to the 20th Century. If you have our high-speed mailer, ISIS, and install the TNT utilities on your BBS, your callers can access all the major BBS operations; Reading/Replying to messages, downloading, uploading, new file lists, global file lists, getting BBS statistics (today's callers, yesterday's callers, best times to call, etc.), user lists, adding/removing message areas, etc. without having to log-on, unattended, and at a far greater speed and in less time than normal. Your callers Reading and Replying to messages on their computer with an editor similar to Sphinx with full mouse support, graphics, quoting, and other items. They just tell TNT, by clicking on options, what they want, when to start calling, and they can go shopping, play with the kids, eat dinner, take a shower, or anything else they want and TNT will take care of everything else. TNT gives your callers more control over their personal FREE time. Remote TNTing provides full security, including virus scanning, automatically moving uploads into proper directories, updating file listings, giving the remote TNT person credit for uploading. The same holds true for downloading. In fact, all the normal BBS restrictions, security aspects, and safe guards apply to remote TNT. Not only does TNT give your callers 21st Century capabilities, it also means you can handle MORE calls PER LINE. The average TNT session, to retrieve messages, last less than 2 minutes and in a lot of cases, less than one minute. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 242 TNT also takes the INSTALLATION and OPERATION into the 21st Century. TNT, remote end, takes less than 2 minutes to setup and use. YOU can install it on your end in less than a minute. Download the TNT A and B archives for FULL details. We provide TNT, Sysop Disk, FREE of charge. Overlay Caching Osiris will automatically allocate either an EMS/LIM 4.00 cache, Extended Memory Cache, or Conventional Memory Cache, to store OVERLAYS. The type of cache; EMS, EXTENDED, or Conventional will be determined on a first come bases. I'll check for EMS first, Extended second, and finally I'll use a small part of conventional memory if all else fails. This does three things . . . First it makes your disk cache, if you are running one, much more effective by freeing it from caching overlay requests. Second, the entire program runs faster because it's ALL loaded into memory and overlays do not have to be read from the disk. And third, it reduces file SERVER demands by keeping the overlay in memory instead of reading it from the server. Price The Price of Osiris SE depends on the number of LINES you're wanting to run. No. of Lines Price 1 ............................................ 119.95 2 ............................................ 179.95 4 ............................................ 269.93 8 ............................................ 403.75 16 ............................................ 600.16 32 ............................................ 1200.00 64 ............................................ 2400.00 128 ............................................ 3800.00 256 ............................................ 5000.00 Each License is for one specific computer or LAN network. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 243 Upgrading Upgrading To Newer Versions We generally produce a new version every 12 to 16 months. Upgrade Price Chart No. of Lines Price 1 50.00 2 60.00 4 80.00 8 120.00 16 200.00 32 360.00 64 680.00 128 1320.00 255 2590.00 Bug fixes, when needed, are provided free to anyone that wants to download the fix. A bug fix can be identified by looking at the last two digits in the version number, X.YY. If .YY is greater than 00, that is a bug fix. A NEW version can be identified by the first digit, X. Important Information New versions often bring desirable added functions or performance. But, you should stop and ask yourself if the upgrade is really necessary. If you fail to do that and upgrade just for the sake of upgrading, you are likely to create more tangible benefits for us, we will gladly accept your money, than for yourself. Upgrading To Multiple Lines Or Adding More Lines I'm fairly liberal on upgrading from a single node version to a multiple node version, just pay the difference between what you HAVE and what you WANT. Lost Or Damaged Keys Should you lose your key, I will provide ONE additional key at no charge. There will be a five dollar handling charge for any replacement keys after that. Since it takes less than a minute to store the key archive on a backup disk, this should rarely happen. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 244 Bug Reports I am sure there are a few bugs in Osiris, no programmer is perfect, I know none of ours are, and no program is totally bug free. If you find a bug, PLEASE report it. You'll find a BUG.FRM form included in the archive. Make use of it. Suggestions If you have a suggestion for a new feature or program you would like to see added to Osiris, I would like to hear about it. Just fill out the sug.frm send mail to: International TeleCommunications 555 North Spring, No.39 Cape Girardeau, Missouri 63701 United States of America Help If you need help, you can use the Bbs, Vetlink III, at 1-314- 334-6359. This is an unmanned system and the sysop picks up mail once a day. Please give him 48 hours to answer your question. He does not pickup mail on weekends or holidays. There is a mailer on Vetlink III, but it is used for Remote TNT and Echomail. Do not attempt to send matrix mail or file attaches, no one will see them. ITC maintains a Voice technical support line at 1-314-335- 5384. The line is manned between 10 Am and 4 Pm Monday through Friday, Central Standard Time. This is the FASTEST method and the ONLY one we have direct control over. Busy This is a RING THOUGHT System. In other words, if the line is busy, it will switch to an alternate extension. So if the primary line is tied up, you will not get a busy signal, it will just not answer (unless you're lucky and someone else is available to answer). Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 245 Exceptional Important, Must Read! International TeleCommunciations and VETLINK III will be moving to a new location, about 100 miles south of our current location, in or around Sept. 1992. If you call our voice number or the BBS and get a "Number Has Been Disconnected" recording and the phone company screws up and fails to give you the new phone number, it has happened before, call 1-314-785-7868 and ask what the new number is. These people have be kind enough to offer to give out the new number. They are not employee of International TeleCommunications, know NOTHING about Osiris, in fact they don't even own a computer so do not bother them unless you get the "Number Has Been Disconnected" message. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 246 Spl/I Copyright Notice SPL/I is the proprietary property of International TeleCommunications, protected under U.S copyright law, international treaty provisions, and trade secret laws of general applicability. Cloning or Duplicating, in part or whole is prohibited. Spl/I Verses Itp Things have really changed in the language department. The original concept was to create a very high level language that would take most of the "programming" work out of it. But, as more people began to use ITP, they began to demand more and more from it. It soon became clear that we were going to have to create a new lower language in order to meet the needs of the ITP users. In the land of programming, low and high have different means. A HIGH level language is one where a single command does a LOT. A LOW level language means you a become more involved in what is done, this sometimes requires more steps but you have more control over what is going on. ITP was akin to the COBOL programming language. A single command could do a whole lot, but if you needed something a little different, you may not be able to do it or you would have to TRICK the system into doing it. The TRICKING part could be very hard to pull off. SPL/I is a cross between 'C', PASCAL, COBOL, and BASIC. In some areas it is very high level, databases and some internal Osiris functions. In other areas it is very low level, Input/Output, conditional testing, controlled looping, and variables. But with the higher degree of control comes more responsibility. With ITP, if you mess up the worse that could happen was the screen display would mess up or it didn't do what you wanted it to do. Moving to a lower level language now means if you mess up, you stand a good chance of locking the computer up. That's something 'C' programmers are very familiar with. If I don't lock a computer up a couple of dozen times a day, I know I'm not DOING much work. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 247 Don't Be Overwhelmed Your first reaction, as you read this, is "oh my god!". Don't let it overwhelm you, it looks a LOT harder than it actual is. Start out slow, with small programs, and within a few weeks you'll be doing things you never thought were possible. Introduction SPL/I programs work with data. We feed numbers, letters, and words to the program and we expect it to do something with the data. The next several pages will concentrate on data concepts and properties. Following that, we'll pounce on some data and see what we can do. The main topic of this section will be the three great families of data CLASSES: integer, String, and real. We'll learn what the CLASSES are, how to declare them, how to use them, and when to use them. We'll also discuss the difference between constants and variables. Data: Variables And Constants SPL/I can do many things. It can add numbers, beep the speaker, display output to the video screen and serial port, calculate cometary orbits, prepare a mailing list, manage btree databases, multiple level conditional testing, create/read/write disk files, draw stick figures, or do whatever else your imagination can create. To do these tasks, it needs to work with DATA, the numbers and characters that bear the information you use. The difference between variables and constants is pretty obvious: a variable can have its value assigned or changed while the program is running, a constant can't. A variable does not disappear once you use it, a constant does. A constant is only kept until the current SPL/I command has been processed. After the command has been processed, the space or memory occupied by the constant is released. The only exception to the this rule is the predefined variable constants. Those are predefined SPL/I variables that you can access, but you may not change. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 248 E.g., Joe This is a variable you have defined, its value can be assigned and it can be changed. E.g., _NAME This is constant. Its value was assigned by SPL/I and you may not change it. _NAME, by the way, is a string constant and contains the name of the current caller. E.g., 2356 This is a constant, Its was declared by you, but it cannot be changed. E.g., 50000U This is a constant, Its was declared by you, but it cannot be changed. E.g., "THIS IS A TEST" This is a STRING, denoted by the double quotes, constant. You defined it, but it cannot be changed. A character constant MUST encase it with single quotes, i.e., 'A' or '2', I.e., _ASSIGN(CH,'A'); Data Classes Beyond the distinction between variable and constant is the distinction between different types of data. Some data are numbers. Some are letters, or, more generally, characters. Throughput this document, the data's type will be referred to as the CLASS. If CH was declared as an integer, its CLASS would be integer. A variable needs to have its CLASS announced in a declaration statement. I'll fill you in on the details as we move along. First, though, let's look at the fundamental CLASSES recognized by SPL/I. SPL/I uses eight keywords to set up data CLASSES. Here are those keywords: Integer Unsigned_Integer Long Unsigned_Long Real Character String(size) File Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 249 The integer keyword provides the basic class of integers used in SPL/I. The next three keywords (Unsigned_Integer, Long, and Unsigned_Long) are used to provide variations of the INTEGER CLASS; we'll discuss their use soon. Character is for letters of the alphabet and for other characters, such as #,$, %, and &. The Real keyword represent numbers with decimal points. The keyword String(size) represents a GROUP of characters. The number of characters is defined by the size. E.g., String(80) defines a group of up to 80 characters. Integer CLASSES? Real CLASSES? If you find these terms disturbingly unfamiliar, be assured that I'm about to give you a brief run-down on their meanings. For a human, the difference between an integer and a real number is reflected in the way they can be written. For the computer, the difference is reflected in the way they are stored. Let's take a look. Integer The integer is a whole number. It never has a fractional part, and in SPL/I it is never written with a decimal point. 2, -23, 2456 are integers while 3.99, 122.1, 2/3, and 999999.99 are not integers. Integers allows a range in values from -32768 to +32768. Unsigned_integer An Unsigned_Integer is a whole number and is basically like its brother the integer. The difference between the two; the range in values. The integer values range from negative 32768 to a positive 32768. An Unsigned_Integer has a range in values from 0 to 65535, no negative numbers. Long The long is the same as the integer except the range of values is larger. It takes twice as much memory to store a long and it is slower, during arithmetic operations. The long has a range in values from - 2,147,483,648 to 2,147,483,647. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 250 Unsigned_long The unsigned long is the same as the UNSIGNED_INTEGER except the range of values is larger. It takes twice as much memory to store and it is slower during arithmetic operations. The Unsigned_Long has a range in values from 0 to 4,294,967,295, no negative numbers allowed. Real Here are some real numbers: 2.71, 3.16E7, 7.00, and 2e-8. Obviously, there is more than one way to write a real number. So SPL/I requires you to write all REAL numbers in the format xxxxxxx.yyyyy or 123348.1124321. 3.16E7 and 2e-8 are not supported under SPL/I. The key point is the scheme used to store a real number is different from the one used to store an integer. Real number representation involves breaking up a number into a fractional part and an exponent part and storing the parts separately. Thus, the 7.00 would not be stored in the same manner as the integer 7, even though both have the same value. Here "0.7" is the fractional part, and the "1" is the exponent part. SPL/I would use binary numbers and powers of two instead of 10 for internal storage. YOu don't have to worry about the mechanics of real storage, I'll handle that. You do need to be aware of it, you'll find out why later on. Lets concentrate on the practical differences: 1. Integers are whole numbers, while real number can represent both whole and fractional numbers. 2. Real numbers can represent a much large range of values than integers. 3. For arithmetic operations, real numbers are subject to greater loss of precision. 4. Real operations are slower than integer operations. 5. Integers take two to four bytes of memory to store, REAL numbers take 8 bytes of memory. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 251 Intermixing Data Classes The 'C' programming language does allow you to intermix data CLASSES during arithmetic operations and compare statements. However, comparing or doing arithmetic operations on different CLASSES can lead to unexpected results. A professional programmer knows, or should, how to manage intermixed CLASSES so he gets the desired results. But, you are not a professional programmer and we do not expect you to have the skill required to manage intermixed CLASSES and I can't do it for you. To prevent unexpected results, I've decided to follow PASCALS (another popular programming language) lead and all arithmetic operations and conditional testing requires all the variables involved be in the same CLASS. In other words, you may not add an integer with a long, both would have to be integers OR both would have to be long. Since I can't read your mind, the next best thing is to provide a method of changing a variables CLASS and the contents of the variable, the _CAST(variable, New_Data_class) function. You should be careful when using the _CAST function. You can safely cast a variable UP to the next largest data CLASS, but casting down to a smaller data CLASS can sometimes cause the value to change if it is larger than the new data CLASSES maximum size. See the section on _CAST for further details. Declaring An Integer Variable The key word _DEFINE_VAR is used to declare variables. First comes _DEFINE_VAR, the half-moon opening bracket, the chosen name of the variable, a comma, the key word INTEGER, the half-moon closing bracket, and a semicolon. The following are valid declarations: _Define_var(hogs,Integer); _Define_var(cows,Integer); _define_var(goats,Integer); These declarations created variables, but they did not provide values for them. They can pick up values in the program. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 252 Initializing A Variable To initialize a variable means to assign it an initial value. In SPL/I, this can be done with the function _ASSIGN. First comes _ASSIGN, the half-moon opening bracket, the name of the variable, a comma, the value, the half-moon closing bracket, and a semicolon. The value can be a constant or it can be the name of another variable. If it is the name of another variable, then the contents of that variable is assign. The following are valid assigns: _Assign(hogs, 12); _Assign(cows, 25); _Assign(goats, hogs); _Assign(MyName,"John Doe"); Although _ASSIGN is primarily used to initialize a variable, it may be used to change the value of the variable at any time. Because _ASSIGN knows the DATA CLASS of the variable you're assigning the value to, you do not have to add the CLASS indicator to non-integer constants; Long, Real, or Unsigned_Integer's. If COW was declared as having a LONG data CLASS _ASSIGN(COW, 256000); would be valid. _ASSIGN(COW, 256000L); would also be valid but the trailing CLASS indicator isn't required or used. Integer Constants The varies integers (21, 32, 14, and 94) are examples of Integer constants. When you use a number constant in SPL/I, SPL/I assumes it is an Integer constant, unless an class indicator is used. Take the constant 40000. SPL/I would attempt to fit that into INTEGER format and the results would not be 40000. 40000 exceeds the maximum value an INTEGER can hold. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 253 Constants that fall outside the classification of INTEGER, those larger than 32768, must have a class indicator. In the prior example, 40000 will not fit in an INTEGER but it can fit in an UNSIGNED_INTEGER. The constant class indicator for an UNSIGNED_INTEGER is an upper case U, i.e, 40000U. Example: _define_var(cows,LONG); _if(cows < 50000); _endif This test would not be valid. cows is defined as a LONG and 50000 was defined as an INTEGER constant. 50000 would also not be 50000 because it exceeds the maximum value an INTEGER can hold. _define_var(cows,LONG); _if(cows < 50000L); _endif Would be valid because the constant 50000 has the LONG class indicator, upper case L. Constant Class Indicators are U for UNSIGNED_INTEGER and L for LONG. Even thou REAL is not a INTEGER or variation of the INTEGER class, it also has a Constant Class Indicator, R. Examples 50000U UNSIGNED_INTEGER Constant 50000L Long Constant 50000R REAL Constant Constant CLASS indicators ARE CASE SENSITIVE. l is NOT the same as L, u is NOT the same as U. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 254 Printing Variables And Constants We'll use the _printf function to print the variables and constants. The nature or format for using _printf will be outlined later. This is a complete SPL/I program: _define_var(cows, Integer); _define_var(name,string(40)); _assign(cows, 200); _assign(name,"Bill"); _printf("%s, I've got %d cows for sale today.\n",name,cows); Running this program would produce the output: Bill, I've got 200 cows for sale today. Printing LONG, UNSIGNED_LONG, REAL, UNSIGNED, CHARACTER, and STRING is almost the same except the %<CLASS> indicator is slightly different. Use %l for LONG, %x for UNSIGNED_LONG, %r for REAL, %c for CHARACTER, and %s for string. See section on _printf for further details. Character Class The character CLASS is used for storing characters such as letters and punctuation marks. The standard ASCII code runs numerically from 0 to 127. This is small enough to fix within the range limits of the character CLASS. The IBM PC offers extended ASCII codes, but they are within the range limits of the character CLASS. As you might expect, character variables are declared in the same manner as other variables. Here are some examples: _define_var( response, character); _define_value(grade, character); Using Strings Example of a String: This is an example of a string. A string is simply a GROUP of CHARACTERS linked together so they can ALL be referenced with one variable. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 255 In low level programming languages, the lower the level the more control the programmer has, there isn't any such thing as a STRING data CLASS. In 'C', the programmer has to create a character array if he wants to store multiple letters together. But since the building and using of character arrays is so common, SPL/I has taken over the grunt work of creating characters arrays by giving you a special STRING class. Declaring A String Variable The key word _DEFINE_VAR is used to declare string variables. First comes _DEFINE_VAR, the half-moon opening bracket, the chosen name of the variable, a comma, the key word STRING, the half-moon opening bracket, the maximum length of the string, the half-moon closing bracket, half-moon closing bracket, and a semicolon. The following are valid declarations: _define_var(name,string(80)); _define_var(City,string(40)); In the first define statement, the variable "NAME" was declared as having the CLASS of string and the size of the string, maximum number of characters allowed, was set to 80. In the 2nd define statement, the variable "CITY" was declared as having a CLASS of string and the size of the string was set to 40. SPL/I does not do LENGTH CHECKING! If you assign a value to the string variable it must be large enough to hold all the characters. Initializing A String Variable To initialize a string variable means to assign it an initial value. In SPL/I, this can be done with the function _ASSIGN. First comes _ASSIGN, the half-moon opening bracket, the name of the variable, a comma, the value, the half-moon closing bracket, and a semicolon. The value can be a constant or it can be the name of another variable. If it is the name of another variable, then the contents of that variable is assign. The following are valid assigns: Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 256 _ASSIGN(CITY,"CAPE GIRARDEAU, MO"); _ASSIGN(CITY,_CITY); _ASSIGN(CITY,INPUT_STRING); In the first assign statement, CITY was given the value of CAPE GIRARDEAU, MO In the 2nd assign statement, CITY was given the value of the SPL/I predefined variable _CITY. _CITY holds the current callers CITY. The 3rd assign statement assigns CITY the contents of the string variable INPUT_STRING. String Constants A STRING constant is defined by encasing the string in double quotes. Example "THIS IS A STRING" The constant would be seen by SPL/I as : THIS IS A STRING The double quotes are not considered as part of the string constant, they are used to define the constants CLASS. Example _Define_var(Caller, String(40)); _assign(caller,_NAME); _IF(caller = "JOHN DOE"); _ENDIF; The program declares that Caller is a string variable that can hold up to 40 characters. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 257 It then assigns the contents of _NAME, a predefined SPL/I variable that holds the current callers name, to the variable Caller. It then checks the variable caller to see if the contents caller is equal to JOHN DOE. The _IF statement uses a string constant to hold JOHN DOE. Although the last examples works just fine, the following would work better _IF(_NAME = "JOHN DOE"); _ENDIF; Instead of declaring a string variable, assign the contents of _NAME to it, we just referenced _NAME directly in the _IF statement. Maximum Number Of Active Variables SPL/I allows you to have a total of 100 active variables defined. Once you have finished with a variable and it isn't going to be used again, in the near future, the variable should be freed back to the variable pool. To free a variable, use the function _FREE_VAR. First comes the keyword _FREE_VAR, the half-moon opening bracket, the name of the variable, the half-moon closing bracket, and a semicolon. Examples _free_var(cow); _free_var(horse); _free_var(first_name); Warning: One thing the compiler cannot keep you from doing is declaring a variable, freeing it and then attempting to use the variable after you have freed it. Make sure you do not use this variable after you have freed it. Variable Names SPL/I is very flexible in respects to variable names. They can be any combination of letters or numbers as long as the first character of the name is a letter, A- Z. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 258 Variable names have a maximum length of 15 characters. SPL/I does reserve the use of INTEGER, UNSIGNED_INTEGER, LONG, UNSIGNED_LONG, CHARACTER, REAL, and FILE. Attempting to use any one of the reserved names as a variable name will fail. Also, avoid using reserved names as PARTS of a variable or procedure name. This can confuse the compiler and produce undefined results. E.g., BIG_INTEGER could cause problems because INTEGER is a reserved name. Predefined Variables SPL/I has a number of PREDEFINED variables, some are constants and may not be altered. Most of the predefined variables deal with the user record. The column marked as FIXED means that if YES appears in the column, you many not alter the value of the variable. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 259 Variable Name Variable Type What it is Fixed _Name STRING Callers Name Yes _City STRING City _Pwd STRING Password _Phone STRING Phone No. _Tcalls UNSIGNED_INTEGER Total Calls _Fdate UNSIGNED_INTEGER Original Logon Date PACKED DATE FIELD _Ldate UNSIGNED_INTEGER Last Date Called PACKED DATE FIELD _Nrestrict INTEGER Node Restrictor _Nldisplay INTEGER Nodelist Display 0 = No 1 = Yes _Alias STRING Callers Alias Yes _Scope STRING Scope SR# _Buploads LONG Total Uploads(Bytes) _Bdnloads LONG Total Dnloads(Bytes) _Sclear INTEGER Screen Clear TYPE 1 = ANSI 2 = FF 3 = CR/LF _Protocol_num INTEGER Protocol Record # Yes _Lmread INTEGER Last Msg Read in Message Center. _Lmboard INTEGER Last conference board visited. _Lfboard INTEGER Last file board visited. _Bday INTEGER Birth DAY _Bmonth INTEGER Birth MONTH _Byear INTEGER Birth Year, 2 Digits _Fdnloaded UNSIGNED_INTEGER Total Files Dnloaded _Fuploaded UNSIGNED_INTEGER Total Files Uploaded _Dntoday INTEGER Total Kilo-bytes Dnloaded Today. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 260 Variable Name Variable Type What it is Fixed _Timeon INTEGER Total time logged for today. Does not include time for current call. _Mcredit INTEGER Matrix Credit _Mposts INTEGER NO. of Conf. Msgs Entered _Ltime UNSIGNED_INTEGER Last TIME on-line. PACKED TIME FIELD _Access UNSIGNED_INTEGER Access Level _Ibm INTEGER IBM Graphics 1 = YES 0 = NO _Osage INTEGER Use OSAGE editor 1 = YES 0 = NO _Slength INTEGER Screen Length _Ansi INTEGER ANSI Graphics 1 = YES 0 = NO _More INTEGER More prompt ON 1 = Yes 0 = No _Help INTEGER Help Level 1 = Full Help 2 = Short Menu 3 = No Help _Nconf INTEGER Conf. Mail Check 1 = Yes During LOGON. 0 = No _Hotkey INTEGER Using HOTKEYS 0 = No 1 = Yes _Tagprompt INTEGER Prompt for Dnload 0 = NO during New Uploads 1 = YES search. _Rpwd UNSIGNED_INTEGER Rotate Password. 0 = No, Anything Else = NO. OF CALLS Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 261 Variable Name Variable Type What it is Fixed _Newuploads INTEGER New Uploads Search 1 = Yes during log-in. 0 = NO _Timeleft INTEGER Time left for call Yes in Mins. _Calltime INTEGER Time on-line for Yes CURRENT call _Brate INTEGER Current Baud Rate Yes _Totalcalls LONG Total Calls to Yes current node _Tusers LONG Total Users listed Yes in user.bbs _Port INTEGER Current Serial Port Yes _Node INTEGER Current Node Number Yes _Farea# INTEGER Current File Area No. Yes _Marea# INTEGER Current Msg Area No. Yes _Farea_n STRING(40) File Area Name Yes _Marea_n STRING(40) MSG Area Name Yes _Lmsg INTEGER Low Message No. Yes _Hmsg INTEGER High Message No. Yes _Cmsg INTEGER Current Message No. Yes _Gflag UNSIGNED_INTEGER General Purpose Flags Yes _Vendor STRING(45) Product Vendor Yes _Product STRING(45) Product Name Yes _Catnum STRING(15) Catalog Yes _Uprice REAL Product Unit Price Yes _Terms STRING(45) Sales Terms Yes _Lcname STRING(40) Last Callers Name Yes _Lccity STRING(30) Last Callers City Yes Restrictions There are a couple of restrictions placed on WHERE you can use a predefined variable. You may only use predefined variables in test expression (if, elseif, while, etc.). You may use a predefined variable in an assign statement. If you assign a value to the predefined variable, the value you assign MUST be contained in another variable. You may not assign a constant to a predefined variable. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 262 Those restrictions drastically speed up overall performance and greatly reduces the size of internal command processor. Spl/I Command Format SPL/I requires all commands start with the underscore character and all commands have to end with a semicolon and everything else is ignored. The reason is error trapping. The compiler has a much better chance of trapping bad commands, commands not used properly, and other items that a language compiler might otherwise miss. Any 'C' programmer will tell you, it generally the computer locking up that tells him that he did something wrong and not the compiler. We think this format will allow the COMPILER to do a much better job when it comes to trapping things that may lock up your computer. All arguments used within a specific command must be separated by at least one blank space. E.g., _if(rtcode > 10) ^ ^ Blank spaces. You may use UPPER case, LOWER case, or any combination that suits you, SPL/I with treat them the same, with the exception of strings constants and character constants. Language Syntax The SPL/I language syntax is a little different than 'C' syntax. 'C' is fairly free flowing and lets you do things almost any way you want. For example Y = starting_value(); for(x = y ; x < 10 ; x++); means the same as for(x=starting_value();x<10;x++); The second one LOOKS impressive, but.... the program code generated by the 'C' compiler would be the same for both. The first example is a bit easier to read. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 263 In SPL/I, you would do call starting_value(Y); for(x = Y : < 10 : 1); You could not do for(x = call starting_value(Y) : < 10 : 1); In 'C' you can do printf("This test #%d\n",get_test_number()); you could also do it. y = get_test_number(); printf("This is test #%d\n",y); The first LOOKS impressive, but again, the compiler will generate the same instructions for both. With SPL/I, we're not going to allow that type of free flow design for several reasons. Microsoft and other companies that sell compilers are not expected to help programmers when they have problems debugging their code or trying to figure out HOW to make a program do what they want. We, on the other hand, expect to do quite a bit of that. You are not programmers and we aren't going to treat you as programmers. Because we will be seeing a lot of SPL/I code, we want it to be easy to read so we don't have to spend to much time figuring out what it is you're attempt to do. The other reason is compiler error trapping. With the design more or less fixed, the compiler can do a lot MORE in the way of error trapping than a traditional 'C' compiler. See the section on ITLINK error codes, there are a BUNCH of them. Structure SPL/I is a STRUCTURED language. Structured basically means flow goes in one direction and there is generally only one way out. All SPL/I programs END with the word _MEND Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 264 Example _MEND When the SPL/I program starts, it will continue to run the program until it hits the instruction _MEND. Hitting _MEND is the ONLY way you may exit an SPL/I program. Example _DEFINE_VAR(NOT_DONE,INTEGER); _ASSIGN(NOT_DONE,1); _WHILE(NOT_DONE); _WEND; _MEND This would be a typical SPL/I program when you want the body of the program to execute more than once. The while statement keeps the program running until you signal it to stop by changing NOT_DONE to 0, the while conditional test returns FALSE and the while loop terminates. All SPL/I commands begin with the underscore character, _. So does most C commands, but the compiler will add the underscore for you. We'll require you to add it so we can trap unknown commands, or those spelled wrong, quicker. All SPL/I commands must end with a semicolon, so do all 'C' commands, in most cases. Any line that does not end with ; will be thrown out as a comment line. The only exception is the underscore. If the first character is an underscore, the line must end with a semicolon. If it doesn't, the compiler will stop with an error message. 'C' uses /* to start a comment and */ to end a comment. I've seen a lot of 'C' programmers pulling their hair out trying to find a misplaced /* or */ sequence. Hopefully, my method of commenting will not cause those types of problems. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 265 'C' uses the { and } brackets to show the body of if, while, if/else statements. Believe me, I've spent HOURS trying to find a misplaced or missing bracket. It can be very hard to spot a missing character when you're looking at several thousand of them. Other languages use BEGIN and END to show the bodies of if and while. It is easier to spot a missing word, but it has a drawback. IF() BEGIN WHILE BEGIN END END That's not to hard to follow, but since END/BEGIN is used for everything, it can be a tad difficult figuring out if a specific END goes with an IF, FOR, or WHILE since they all use the same BEGIN/END Symbols. SPL/I uses a different 'END' type symbol for each statement. IF uses ENDIF, ELSEIF uses EEND, WHILE uses WEND, FOR uses FEND, SWITCH uses SEND, CASE use BREAK. That should help when it comes to debugging a program. It also helps the compiler when it is doing nesting checks. Procedures, Variable Types, And Order Procedures An SPL/I program is a collection of commands grouped into procedures. A procedure as a SUBROUTINE, separated from the other groups by the keywords _PROCEDURE(the procedures chosen name); and _PEND "_PROCEDURE(the procedures chosen name);" marks the beginning of the sub-routine and "_PEND" marks the END of the sub-routine. The instructions between these two statements would belong TO this procedure and would only be executed when the procedure is called, see the section _CALL for an explanation on HOW to call a procedure. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 266 _PROCEDURE(the procedures chosen name); _PEND would be your typical procedure with one exception. The procedure known as MAIN. MAIN is defined FOR you and this procedure starts with the first line of code,line 1. Since all SPL/I programs will HAVE this procedure, you do not have to define it, you only have to mark the END of the procedure with the _MEND command. _define_var(name,string(80)); _assign(name,_name); _printf("%s\n",name); _mend; This would be your typical SPL/I program that does NOT use any procedures other than MAIN. Notice the last statement in the program, _MEND. _MEND is ONLY used to mark the end of MAIN. You MUST use this to signal where the MAIN procedure ends. _define_var(name,string(80)); _assign(name,_name); _call(printname); _mend; _procedure(printname); _printf("%s\n",name); _pend This program has TWO procedures, MAIN and PRINTNAME. You will notice that the 2nd procedure begins AFTER the _MEND. It will ONLY be executed IF it is CALLED. In this case, I did call it and the output would be The Sysop providing the variable "name" contained "The Sysop"); Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 267 Example _define_var(name,string(80)); _assign(name,_name); _mend; _procedure(printname); _printf("%s\n",name); _pend This program uses TWO procedures, MAIN and PRINTNAME. If you run it, the output would be blank, there was no output because PRINTNAME was never called! Data Types Not only does a variables have a CLASS, it also has a TYPE. The variables TYPE is determined by WHERE it was defined. SPL/I supports two TYPES of variables, global and automatic. Global A global variable is one who's _define_var() statement was placed in the MAIN procedure. A global variable can be accessed from the MAIN procedure and by other PROCEDURES, with one exception and I'll explain that later. Example _define_var(cow,integer); _define_var(goats,integer); _MEND Those were GLOBAL variables, they were defined in the MAIN procedure. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 268 Automatic An automatic variable is one you defined in a procedure OTHER THAN MAIN. An automatic variable is different from a GLOBAL variable in two ways: It can ONLY be accessed by the procedure it was defined in AND it will vanish as soon as you leave the procedure. Example _define_var(cow,integer); _define_var(goats,integer); _call(addition); _printf("The Total was : %d\n",total); _mend; _procedure(addition); _define_var(total,integer); _math(total = cow + goats); _Pend; In the example, "total" is an automatic variable because it was defined inside the procedure ADDITION. Goats and cows are both GLOBAL variables because they were defined in the MAIN procedure. As soon as you exit from the procedure ADDITION, total will disappear and the memory used to store it will be freed. The line "_printf("The Total was : %d\n",total);" is ILLEGAL because total does not exist! "total" was defined in the procedure ADDITION, it is an automatic variable and as far as MAIN is concerned, it never existed. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 269 Order In the case of _Define_var(COWS,INTEGER); _MEND _PROCEDURE(ADD); _define_var(COWS,INTEGER); _PEND; In this example, I've defined COWS in the MAIN procedure and I've also defined COWS in the ADD procedure. Yes, this is legal and no it will NOT destroy nor will it alter the contents of the COW variable in MAIN. What this WILL do is keep you from accessing the GLOBAL variable "COWS" because you defined an AUTOMATIC variable "COWS" inside this procedure. As long as you are IN this procedure, any reference to "COW" will reference the AUTOMATIC variable and not the GLOBAL variable. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 270 Summary _++(X); x : A user defined variable, INTEGER CLASS. Description The _++ function is a QUICK method of incrementing the value of x by 1 and has very little overhead. Example See _COPY_CH for example of the possible uses of the _++ function. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 271 Summary _--(X); x : A user defined variable, INTEGER CLASS. Description The _-- function is a QUICK method of decrement the value of x by 1 and has very little overhead. Example The string variable name has the contents of "The Sysop". The variable len is an INTEGER. _strlen(name,len); {Place the length of name in len, 9} _--(len); _while(len > 0 .OR. len = 0); _copy_ch(ch,name,len); _putc(ch,name,len); _--(len); _wend; Program terminates when the value in len reaches -1. the output posyS ehT Purpose: Prints the contents of name in reverse. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 272 Summary _Atol(destination,source); _Atoi(destination,source); _Atof(destination,source); destination : User defined variable source : User defined variable, STRING CLASS Description The three functions; atol, atoi, and atof translate the contents of STRING CLASS variables to either INTEGER, LONG, or REAL numbers and place the resulting number in the destination variable. atol translates the contents of the string to a number that will fit in a LONG CLASS variable. The variable 'destination' must be LONG CLASS. atoi translates the contents of the string to a number that will fit in an INTEGER CLASS variable. The variable 'destination' must be INTEGER CLASS. atof translates the contents of the string to a number that will fit in an REAL CLASS variable. The variable 'destination' must be REAL CLASS. You may need to translate a string answer, one obtained from the caller, into NUMBER format. You COULD use the CAST function, but CAST not only changes the CONTENTS of the variable, it also changes the variables CLASS and you may not want that, especially if you plan on reusing the string variable later on. If you CAST it, then it would no longer BE a string. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 273 Example _define_var(input,string(80)); _define_var(result,integer); _define_var(l1,long); _define_var(r1,real); _cls(); _printf("Enter a number between 1 and 32000 ? "); _gets(input,79); _atoi(result,input); _printf("\nYou entered %d (INTEGER CLASS) \n",result); _atol(l1,input); _printf("You entered %l (LONG CLASS)\n",l1); _atof(r1,input); _printf("You entered %r (REAL CLASS)\n",r1); The output, assuming the caller entered 512.24: You entered 512 (INTEGER CLASS) You entered 512 (LONG CLASS) You entered 512.24 (REAL CLASS) Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 274 Summary _Call(procedure_name); Description This command is used to access other procedures, replace PROCEDURE_NAME with the name of the procedure you want to call. As soon as you exit the procedure, you'll continue executing the instructions directly after the _CALL statement. Example _printf("This is the line before the call.\n"); _CALL(PRINT_THIS); _printf("This is the line after the call.\n"); If the procedure "PRINT_THIS" contained the command _printf("Inside the procedure.\n"); Then the output would look like This is the line before the call. Inside the procedure. This is the line after the call. Using CALL to invoke procedures is VERY fast. Example _printf("This is the line before the call.\n"); _CALL(PRINT_THIS); _printf("This is the line after the call.\n"); Then the output would look like This is the line before the call. Inside the procedure. This is the line after the call. Would be JUST as fast as _printf("This is the line before the call.\n"); _printf("Inside the procedure.\n"); _printf("This is the line after the call.\n"); Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 275 Summary _Cast(chickens, Class); chickens : user defined variable. CLASS : The variables NEW data CLASS. Description The function _CAST lets you quickly change a variables data CLASS and have the CURRENT contents placed in the new CLASS. You can safely CAST up to larger data CLASS because the next largest CLASS always includes the LOWER CLASSES. You should be careful when CASTING down to lower CLASSES. If the variable you're CASTING has a value that is larger than the upper range of the new data CLASS, the value will be altered to FIT into the new CLASS _DEFINE_VAR(X,INTEGER); _ASSIGN(X,10); x has the an INTEGER data CLASS and contains the value 10. _CAST(X,UNSIGNED_INTEGER); x now as an UNSIGNED_INTEGER data CLASS and contains the value 10. _CAST(X,LONG); x now has a LONG data CLASS and contains the value 10. Here is where you can get into trouble. _DEFINE_VAR(X,REAL); _ASSIGN_VAR(X,32769.55); x has a REAL data CLASS and contains the value 32769.55 _CAST(X,LONG); x now has a LONG data CLASS and contains the value 32769 Since a LONG is an extended integer, the .55 was lost during the casting operation. _CAST(X,UNSIGNED_INTEGER); Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 276 x now has an the data CLASS UNSIGNED_INTEGER and contains the value 32768 _CAST(X,INTEGER); x now has the data CLASS of an INTEGER and contains - 32768. The value when from positive to negative because the original value exceed the maximum range of an INTEGER. _CAST can be very useful, but it can also get you into trouble if you aren't careful. _CAST becomes even more confusing when you start switching in and out of CHARACTER and STRING classes. Suppose you have defined CH as a CHARACTER class variable. You use _GETC(CH,1) and the caller types in 'A'. If you cast ch to an integer, _CAST(CH,INTEGER), you will end up with ch containing 65, the ASCII value of 'A'. If you cast ch to a string, _CAST(CH,STRING), you'll end up with ch containing "A". Notice the double quotes, it is NOT the same as 'A'. CH is now a STRING CLASS variable capable of holding a string one character long. Suppose 'string' was declared as STRING(80) and had "67" in it. _CAST(string,integer); string would have the integer number 65 in it. _CAST(string,character); string would have 'C' in it, 67 is the ASCII value for an uppercase 'C'. When you start casting outside of the integer family, things can get hard to follow, real quick. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 277 Summary _Chdir(directory); directory : A user defined variable, STRING CLASS or a string constant. Description _CHDIR does the same works like the DOS CD command, but can also change DRIVES if a drive letter is used. This function does NOT remember where you were. It is up to you to restore the current drive and/or directory when you are done with what every it was you were doing in the other directory. Example _chdir("D:\game2"); _chdir("C:\osiris"); Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 278 Summary _Clear(variable); variable : User define variable Description A very FAST way to clear a variables contents. If it's an INTEGER, UNSIGNED_INTEGER, LONG, UNSIGNED_LONG, REAL, or CHARACTER the value will be set to zero. If it is a STRING CLASS variable, the contents will be set to NULL, empty string. Tip: An empty string has the string length of 0. Example _define_var(sum, integer); _assign(sum, 10); _printf("Sum = %d\n",sum); output : Sum = 10 _clear(sum); _printf("Sum = %d\n",sum); output : Sum = 0 Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 279 Summary _Cls(); Description CLS will clear the screen, using the screen clear method the caller has selected; ansi, FF, or CR/LF. Example None Required. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 280 Summary _Color(value); value : INTEGER constants. Description The color function uses ANSI to change the foreground color to the color pointed to by value, an INTEGER CONSTANT. Value can be any number between and including 1 - 31. Color # Color Produced 0 Black 1 Blue 2 Green 3 Cyan 4 Red 5 Magenta 6 Brown 7 White 8 Gray 9 Light Blue 10 Light Green 11 Light Cyan 12 Light Red 13 Light Magenta 14 Yellow 15 Bright White Add 16 to the above to generate Blinking colors. Example _color(9); _printf("Hello!"); "Hello!" would be printed in Light blue. _color(26); _printf("HELLO"); "HELLO" would be printed in blinking light green. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 281 Summary _Command_queue_status(rtcode); rtcode : User defined variable, INTEGER CLASS Description This function checks the Osiris command stacking queue and places a 0 in rtcode if there are pending commands. If no commands are pending, a 1 is placed in rtcode. Example _define_var(rtcode,integer); _command_queue_status(rtcode); _if(rtcode) _call(displaymenu); _endif; Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 282 Summary _Convert_to_bbs_case(s1); s1 : A user defined variable, STRING CLASS Description Converts the contents of s1 to BBS case (first letter of a word to upper case and the rest of the word to lower case). If you are altering one of the user record predefined variables and it is a string variable, you must call this function to convert the contents of to BBS case before placing it back into the predefined variable. Example _define_var(city,string(80)); _assign(city,_CITY); _printf("Edit City Field : %s",city); _gets(city,26); _convert_to_bbs_case(city); _assign(_CITY,city); Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 283 Summary _Copy_ch(ch,string,position); ch : user defined variable, CHARACTER CLASS string : user defined variable, STRING CLASS position: user defined variable, INTEGER CLASS, or an Integerconstant. Description _Copy_CH is a high speed function used to extract a COPY of a single character from a string. The character is placed in ch. This function does NOT alter the string. The character to extract is pointed to by position. Keep in mind that a STRING CLASS is actual made up of individual CHARACTERS. The string SYSOP is 5 CHARACTERS tied together by the STRING CLASS declare. But, each individual character can be extracted and worked with. SPL/I, even the C programming language, starts labeling individual characters in a string with 0. That can, at times, be confusing since we're use to starting things with a 1. SYSOP 01234 Y has a position of 1, O has a position of 3. To extract Y from this string and assuming the variable was named JOHN. _COPY_CH(ch,JOHN,1); The variable ch, CLASS CHARACTER, now has the contents of Y and _printf("The 2nd character in your name is %c\n",ch); would produce the output The 2nd character in your name is O Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 284 Example _define_var(ch,character); _define_var(name,String(50)); _define_var(x,INTEGER); _assign(name,_name); _assign(ch,0); _math(x = 0); _copy_ch(ch,name,x); _while(ch != ' ' .AND. ch); _putc(ch); _++(x); _copy_ch(ch,name,x); _Wend; This program segment will print the callers FIRST name. Program Explanation The first 3 defines set-up the variables that will be used. The first assign copies the callers name, from the predefined variable _name, into the variable called name. The second define makes sure the character variable, ch, contains something other than a space. The math statement is used to initialize the variable x to 0. The math statement has less overhead than the assign so it is quicker. Because the first character within a string has the position of 0, we want x to also be 0. The while segment of the program that will loop as long as CH does not have a space in it, but ch does have something in it. The "SOMETHING IN IT" is used is a safety catch that will keep us from exceeding the end of the string if a space isn't included in the variable name. In this case you really don't have to worry about that because Osiris does require two names and there is always a space between them. I wanted to include it so you'd KNOW that under most conditions you SHOULD use this type of safety catch when the contents of a string is totally unknown. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 285 _while(ch != ' ' .AND. ch); This is the glue that holds the thing together. As long as the variable ch does not have the value of ' ' or space .AND. it does have something in it, then execute the body of the while loop. That's why we used the assign statement to initialize ch. We want to make sure ch will pass the test so the body of the while statement will be executed as least once. _putc(ch); This uses the high speed, low overhead, character print routine to display the contents of ch. You could have used _printf("%c",ch), but _putc(ch) is much faster. _++(x); This is something you haven't seen yet, but it basically bumps the value in the variable x by 1. It has almost zero overhead and it is the fastest method of incrementing an Integer variable by 1. _copy_ch(ch,name,x); Here we copy a character from name, TYPE STRING, into ch, CHARACTER CLASS. The character to copy is pointed to by the variable x. Status table ( name = John Doe) Variable Contents Times Though The Loop. ---------------------------------------------------------------- x 0 0 ch J 0 x 1 1 ch o 1 x 2 2 ch h 2 x 3 3 ch n 3 x 4 4 ch SPACE 4 Loop terminates, ch has a space in it. Program output: John Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 286 Here is an example of why you should normally use the safety check: Status table ( name = JohnDoe) Variable Contents Times Though The Loop. ---------------------------------------------------------------- x 0 0 ch J 0 x 1 1 ch o 1 x 2 2 ch h 2 x 3 3 ch n 3 x 4 4 ch D 4 x 5 5 ch o 5 x 6 6 ch e 6 x 7 7 ch NULL 7 If you just looked for a space, you would not find one. You would continue to increment x and you would be in an infinite loop, until your program attempt to access a memory address that did not exist and then the computer would lock up. The contents of any STRING variable, will always end with a NULL, a zero, which will evaluate to FALSE. Again, always use a safety catch if you're not sure what you're testing for is going to be there. Since we know that a space is going to be there,in this case, the best way to do it _while(ch != ' '); _putc(ch); _++(x); _copy_ch(ch,name,x); _Wend; Doing away with the .AND. will create a faster routine. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 287 Summary _Continue; Description This statement can be used in a while loop to alter the normal flow of a program. When _continue is encountered, the rest of the iteration will be skipped and the next iteration to be stared. Example _while( count < 201); _if(count < 101); _continue; _endif; _printf("Count = %d\n",count); _wend The first 100 times through, the _IF(count < 101) will cause the continue statement to be executed and _printf("Count = %d\n",count); will be skipped. ----------------- v | _while( count < 201); | | _if(count < 101); | _continue;-------- _endif; _printf("Count = %d\n",count); _wend Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 288 Summary _Curget(row,col); Row, Col, : User defined variables, INTEGER CLASS. Description This function retrieves the current position of the cursor, and stores it in the variables ROW and COL. The curget function would be used in conjunction with the window functions to save the cursor, prior to opening a window, and then restore the cursor after the window has been closed. See Openwindow/Closewindow/Clearwindow for example. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 289 Summary _Dayofweek(day); day : User defined variable, INTEGER CLASS. Description _Dayofweek returns the current day of the week in the variable day. Days are numbered 1- 7 representing Monday to Sunday. Example _define_var(today,integer); _dayofweek(today); Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 290 The following commands pertain to Btree Database functions. See the section on Btree databases for a tutorial on database construction. Summary _Addrecord(); _Loadrecord(rtcode,key); _Copyfrom(dest,field#); _Opendatabase(fname); _Closedatabase(); _Getnextrecord(rtcode); _Settofirstrecord(); _Deleterecord(rtcode,key); _Rewriterecord(); _Copyto(field#,source); Description _Addrecord(), adds the current database record to the database. _Loadrecord(rtcode,key), loads the database record pointed to by KEY. 1 is placed in Rtcode, a INTEGER CLASS variable, if the record was loaded. 0 is placed in rtcode if the record could not be loaded, i.e., the key did not match anything. Key is a string variable or a string constant contain the KEY to search for. _Copyfrom(dest,field#), copies a database field to a destination variable so you can work with or display the field. The database field will be CAST to fit the variables CLASS, if possible. In other words, if field #3 contained 3456.99 and dest was a INTEGER CLASS variable, 3456 would be placed in dest. To successful CAST field 3, you would need to provide a REAL CLASS variable. If field 3 contained "THE SYSOP" and dest was a LONG CLASS variable, 0 would be placed in dest. Field 3 contains string data and you should have provided a STRING CLASS variable to hold it. _Opendatabase(fname), opens the database pointed to by fname, a STRING CONSTANT. Fname should contain the full drive, path, and name of the database (minus the file extension). E.g., OpenDataBase("C:\osiris\vetlink"); Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 291 Opens the vetlink database located in the directory "C:\osiris". The files vetlink.dat, vetlink.idx, and vetlink.dbs must be in that directory. _Closedatabase(), close the current database. Failure to close a database prior to exiting a command file or before opening another database can have undefined results. _Getnextrecord(rtcode), get the next available database record. If another record is available, 1 is placed in rtcode. If no records are available, 0 is placed in rtcode. Rtcode is a user defined variable, INTEGER CLASS. _Settofirstrecord(), positions the internal record pointer so the next call to GetNextRecord will retrieve the FIRST record in the database. _Deleterecord(rtcode,key), deletes the database record pointed to by Key. Key is a STRING CLASS variable or string constant. If the record was deleted, 1 is placed in Rtcode, an INTEGER CLASS variable. If no record matched the KEY, 0 is placed in Rtcode. _Rewriterecord(), saves the current record to the database. This function is generally used when you alter a non-key field in a record and want the new field saved to the database. _Copyto(field#,source), copies the contents of source to the database field pointed to by Field#. The data in source is CAST to fit the database field. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 292 Summary _Define_var(name,class); name : The name you have chosen to call this variable. class: A variable needs to have its CLASS announced when you define it. SPL/I uses eight keywords to set up data CLASSES: Integer Unsigned_Integer Long Unsigned_Long Real Character String(size) File Below is a chart showing the different CLASSES and the values they can hold. CLASS Range -------------------------------------------------------- nteger -32768 to 32768 Unsigned_Integer 0 to 65535 Real Number 3.4E-38 to 1.7E+308 Character ASCII 0 to ASCII 255 Long -2,147,483,648 to 2,147,483,647 Unsigned_Long 0 to 4,294,967,295 String (*1) ASCII 0 to ASCII 255 FILE (*2) Segment and offset address of file handle. *1 A string must have its size declared, the maximum number of characters it can hold. For all practical purposes, there is no limit on the size of a string. But, the bigger the string, the more memory it takes and you do have a limit on the memory SPL/I will allow you to use for variable storage. SPL/I will allow you to use up to 40,000 bytes of heap space. Heap is the memory, assigned to the program by DOS, left to the program after it has loaded and allocated its own variables. You COULD create a string that can hold up to 40,000 bytes, but that would use all of your variable HEAP space and there isn't a whole lot you can do with only one variable. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 293 Warning! SPL/I, in most cases, does NOT check the string variable to see if it has enough space to store what you're attempting to put in it. It is up to YOU to see that you don't put something into a string that's to big to fit. This isn't unique, all programming languages leave it up to the programmer to do that type of grunt work. Examples _define_var(name,string(20)) _assign(name,"This string is way to long to fit!"); The results, undefined. By that I mean anything can happen. Example _define_var(name,String(80)); Defines a variable called name of STRING CLASS with a maximum storage space is 80 characters. _define_var(sum,INTEGER); Defines a variable called sum with an INTEGER CLASS. _define_var(output,FILE); Defines a variable called output with a FILE CLASS. Tip This is way I do in all my 'C' programs and I'm also doing it in my SPL/I programs so read and learn: Its not a bad idea to setup a couple of GRUNT INTEGER variables and a couple of 80 character strings to handle repetitive tasks. I generally always set-up two INTEGER variable and I always call them x and y. I don't use them for any specific purpose. But I do use them in FOR loops, to hold return codes, loop counters (such as _++(x) and _--(x), and just general work integers. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 294 By predefining a couple of work variables, the program can run faster because it doesn't have to repeatedly allocate variables for repetitive tasks. By using static names, I know by looking at my code that those variables can be safely used for the purposes I've outlined. I will also setup two string variables, generally 80 characters, and I almost always use the names junk1 and junk2. I'll also setup a CHARACTER variable and I always call it CH. By predefining those 5 variables, I know I will always have something to work with and the program will run faster because it doesn't have to repeatedly allocate and deallocate work space. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 295 Summary _Display_memo_record(data_file,index_file,record_no.); data_file, index_file : String constant Record_no : Integer constant Description Data_file contains the full drive, path, and filename to the memo database. Index_file contains the full drive, path, and filename to the memo index file. Record_NO is the memo record number you want displayed to the caller. See section in SE400 on Memo databases for further details. Example _display_memo_record("c:\add.dat","c:\add.idx",3); Displays the 3rd memo record from the add database and uses the add.idx file to find the location of the 3rd record. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 296 Summary _Display_menu(cmds,fname); cmds : String CONSTANT fname : A user defined variable, STRING CLASS or a string constant Description A special TYPE of _display_text() function that allows HOTKEYS to interrupt the display. This works like the displaying of a menu from within Osiris and when a caller with HOTKEYS presses a valid menu option, the menu will stop and Osiris processes the character. CMS is a string of UPPERCASE characters or menu options. FNAME is the name of the menu to display. Example _display_menu("ABCDEFG?","MSGAREA"); Display the menu MSGAREA.MMU/ANS/ASC and if A,B,C,D,E,F,G, or ? is sent by the caller; abort the display and proceed with the next command, generally an input prompt. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 297 Summary _Display_text(filename); Filename : User defined, STRING CLASS, variable or a constant. Description This function calls the MMU system to display a text file. This would be the fastest method of display large volumes of text that does not need formatting. Using the MMU system would allow you to use the MMU color commands and would allow the caller to break out of the display. Warning Do NOT under any circumstances use the MMU script command [RUN_PROGRAM] in ANY file you display via the _display_text command. Your system will LOCKUP. Example _Define_Var(FILENAME,STRING(80)); _ASSIGN(FILENAME,"C:\OSIRIS\USER.LOG"); _DISPLAY_TEXT(FILENAME); or _DISPLAY_TEXT("C:\OSIRIS\USER.LOG"); Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 298 Summary _Dorinfo(path,prog); path : User defined variable, STRING CLASS or a string constant. prog : User defined variable, STRING CLASS or a string constant. Description This is used to create the RBBS/QuickBBS DORINFOx.DEF in the directory pointed to by the PATH. PROG is the name of the external program, generally a batch file used to change into the directory and run the program, to run. Example _dorinfo("c:\osiris\game2","runtw.bat"); In this example, dorinfox.def will be written in the sub-directory c:\osiris\game2 and the program runtw.bat will then be executed. The extension of .bat isn't required, but it guarantees that runtw.exe or runtw.com isn't called by mistake. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 299 Summary _Doorsys(path,prog); path : User defined variable, STRING CLASS or a string constant. prog : User defined variable, STRING CLASS or a string constant. Description This is used to create DOOR.SYS in the directory pointed to by the PATH. PROG is the name of the external program, generally a batch file used to change into the directory and run the program, to run. Example _doorsys("c:\osiris\game2","runtw.bat"); In this example, DOOR.SYS will be written in the sub- directory c:\osiris\game2 and the program runtw.bat will then be executed. The extension of .bat isn't required, but it guarantees that runtw.exe or runtw.com isn't called by mistake. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 300 Summary _Elseif(expression......); body1 _Else; body2 _Eend; Description The body of the _elseif statement is executed selectively, depending on the value of 'expression'. First, 'expression' is evaluated. If 'expression' is true, body1 is executed. If the 'expression' is false, body2 of the _ELSEIF is executed. 'expression' is a sequences of TESTS that can be evaluated to either TRUE or FALSE. The TESTS are identical to those available under the _IF function. See section on _IF for further details. BODY1 and BODY2 require the _ELSE declaration to separate the two bodies. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 301 Example The integer variable COW contains 10. First using _IF _IF(COW < 11); _sprint("You don't have many cows do you?\n"); _ENDIF; _IF(COW > 10); _sprint("You have a LOT of cows!\n"); _ENDIF; There isn't anything WRONG with this, it will work, but it does require TWO different evaluations, one for each if. That doesn't take a LOT of time, but this type of testing would benefit for _ELSEIF. The same program done with ELSEIF _ELSEIF(COW < 11); _sprint("You don't have many cows do you?\n"); _ELSE; _sprint("You have a LOT of cows!\n"); _EEND; Since you're going to print one or the other, you only need to test one of them. If it fails, then you're obviously going to print the other. Often life offers us more than two choices. You can extend the elseif structure by NESTING multiple ELSEIF statements. It can get a little difficult to read, so be careful you don't go too deep. We've tested the ELSEIF nested 12 levels without running into any problems. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 302 Example Of Nesting Elseif Statements. _define_var(result,integer); _define_var(input,string(5)); _cls(); _sprint("Beginning Test\n"); _sprint("Select a number (1 or 2) ? "); _gets(input,1); _sprint("\n"); _atoi(result,input); _elseif(result = 1); _sprint("You entered 1\n"); _sprint("Select a number (1 or 2) ? "); _gets(input,1); _sprint("\n"); _atoi(result,input); _elseif(result = 2); _sprint("This time you entered 2\n"); _sprint("Select a number (1 or 2) ? "); _gets(input,1); _sprint("\n"); _atoi(result,input); _elseif(result = 1); _sprint("This time you entered 1\n"); _else; _sprint("This time you entered 2\n"); _eend; _else; _sprint("This time you entered 1\n"); _eend; _else; _sprint("You entered 2\n"); _sprint("Select a number (1 or 2) ? "); _gets(input,1); _sprint("\n"); _atoi(result,input); _elseif(result = 2); _sprint("This time you entered 2\n"); _else; _sprint("This time you entered 1\n"); _eend; _eend; Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 303 Here is one nested 12 levels _define_var(ch,character); _cls(); _sprint("Enter your selection (A-Z) ? "); _getc(ch,1); _sprint("\n"); _elseif( ch = 'A'); _printf("CH = A\n"); _else; _elseif( ch = 'B'); _printf("CH = B\n"); _else; _elseif(ch = 'C'); _printf("CH = C\n"); _else; _elseif(ch = 'D'); _printf("CH = D\n"); _else; _elseif(ch = 'E'); _printf("CH = E\n"); _else; _elseif(ch = 'F'); _printf("CH = F\n"); _else; _elseif(ch = 'G'); _printf("CH = G\n"); _else; _elseif(ch = 'H'); _printf("CH = H\n"); _else; _elseif(ch = 'I'); _printf("CH = I\n"); _else; _elseif(ch = 'J'); _printf("CH = J\n"); _else; _elseif(ch = 'K'); _printf("CH = K\n"); _else; _elseif(ch = 'L'); _printf("CH = L\n"); _else; _sprint("Not a valid selection\n"); _Eend; _Eend; _Eend; _Eend; _Eend; _Eend; _Eend; Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 304 _Eend; _Eend; _Eend; _Eend; _Eend; It takes no more MEASURABLE time to reach the inner most sprint statement than to read the 3rd printf statement, 9 levels above. Many will select this method for menus, but there is a better or rather easier approach (Next Page) Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 305 _define_var(ch,character); _define_var(not_done,integer); _assign(not_done,1); _while(not_done); _cls(); /* Display your menu here */ _sprint("Please enter your selection ? "); _getc(ch,1); _sprint("\r \r"); _if(ch = 'Q'); _sprint("Quit Requested.\n"); _clear(not_done); _getc(ch,0); _continue; _endif; _if(ch = 'A'); _sprint("CH = A\n"); _getc(ch,0); _continue; _endif; _if(ch = 'B'); _sprint("CH = B\n"); _getc(ch,0); _continue; _endif; _if(ch = 'C'); _sprint("CH = C\n"); _getc(ch,0); _continue; _endif; _if(ch = 'C'); _sprint("CH = D\n"); _continue; _endif; _sprint("That is not a valid selection!\r"); _getc(ch,0); _sprint(" \r"); _wend; _sprint("\rLine after WEND\n"); Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 306 Here we've used the while's CONTINUE statement to skip the remaining lines in the body of the while statement once we've found a match. This isn't any faster or slower than the nested ELSEIF tests, but given the number of nest levels it bypasses, it is a lot easier to read, and debug. Some of you will no doubt worry that the a statement like: _if(access < 10); The body of this if statement contains 5000 lines of code. I'm not going to expand this document by 5000 lines. _endif; If the program is being executed from the disk, an instruction at a time, if the IF test fails . . . there would be a noticeable delay as the next 5000+ instructions were read from the disk and discarded. No, there is no delay. If the IF test fails, the instruction following _ENDIF will be executed within 3/100ths of a second. I can do this by using a principle known as base- displacement addressing or explicit addressing. The idea is that within a program the relative positions of any two statements are fixed, such that if the absolute address of any one statement in the program were known, then the address of other statements could be calculated. To do this, I would compute the distance between the statement whose absolute address is know and the one who's address is to be found. The distance, measured in bytes, is call a displacement. ITlink has one advantage that most compiler do not have. When a program, EXE or COM is compiled, the compiler does not know the base address for the starting instruction. It has to leave the base address as a variable and do something like JUMP BASE_REGISTER+5. ITlink, on the other hand, know exactly where the base address is going to be so I can calculate the displacement address during the compile and enter an implicit address instead of an explicit address. That will save the command processor a lot of computations when a JMP instruction is needed. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 307 Summary _Execute(memory,program,rtcode); memory : An integer constant program : A user defined variable, STRING CLASS or a string constant rtcode : A user defined variable, INTEGER CLASS. Description This function enables you to run a DOS command, batch file, or another program as a sub-task of your program. The size of the program you can run depends on the amount of memory you have allocated to the program. You may allocate from 90K to 634K to the program. Attempting to allocate LESS than 90K will generally lock the computer when the command processor attempts to load command.com. The amount of memory is specified in the memory argument, an integer constant. The memory argument REQUIRES an integer constant. The program, DOS command, or batch file to run, along with any command line arguments that program may need, must be in the program argument. This argument may be a string constant or it can be a string variable. After the program, batch file, or DOS command has been executed, the return code, if any, will be placed in the variable RTCODE. RTCODE MUST be an integer variable. Quickbasic Brun.exe Some QUICKBASIC Brun modules conflict with the overlay cache. If you request 600K or more memory, Osiris will flush the overlay cache, free the EMS or XMS memory allocated to the cache and then close the Osiris.ovl file before executing the application. When you return, the overlay cache will be reallocated and the Osiris.ovl file will be reopened. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 308 Example Lets suppose that you have just completed filling out a form of some type and you want to store that form in a pkzip archive, encrypted with a password. You also want the caller to pick-out the name of the finished zip file. _define_var(cmd_line,string(128)); _define_var(pwd,string(9)); _define_var(fname,string(13)); _define_var(len,integer); _define_var(rtcode,integer); _define_var(not_done,integer); _define_var(ch,character); _define_var(loop,integer); _clear(len); _while(len < 1); _cls(); _sprint("Please Enter a Password ? "); _gets(pwd,8); _strlen(pwd,len); _if(len < 1); _sprint("\n\nYou have to enter a Password.\n\n"); _sprint("Press RETURN to Try Again.\n"); _getc(ch,0); _endif; _wend; _cls(); _assign(not_done,1); _while(not_done); _clear(len); _while(len < 1); _cls(); _sprint("Please Enter a Filename ? "); _gets(fname,8); _strlen(fname,len); _if(len < 1); _sprint("\n\nYou have to enter a filename.\n\n"); _sprint("Press RETURN to Try Again.\n"); _getc(ch,0); Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 309 _endif; _for(rtcode = 0 : < len : 1 ); _copy_ch(ch,fname,rtcode); _if(ch = '.'); _cls(); _sprint("'.' is not legal. *I'll* add the extension!\n"); _clear(len); _sprint("Press RETURN to Try Again.\n"); _getc(ch,0); _endif; _Fend; _wend; _filexists(rtcode,fname); _if(rtcode); _cls(); _printf("I'm sorry, '%s' already exists.\n",fname); _sprint("Please select a new name.\n"); _sprint("\nPress RETURN to continue.\n"); _getc(ch,0); _endif; _if(rtcode = 0); _assign(not_done,0); _endif; _wend; _cls(); _sprint("Please stand by, archiving in progress . . . "); _sprintf(cmd_line,"pkzip -m -ex -s%s %s form1.txt",pwd,fname); _execute(256,cmd_line,rtcode); _if(rtcode); _sprint("\n\nArchive failure. Please notify Sysop.\n\n"); _unlink("form1.txt"); _endif; Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 310 Summary _Fclose(stream); stream : A user defined variable, FILE CLASS, the same variable used to open the file. Description The _fclose function closes the file pointed by stream. The file buffer is flushed prior to closing, provided the file was opened with "WRITE". Example _define_var(IN,FILE); _fopen("c:\osiris\cbis1.log",IN,"read"); _fclose(IN); Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 311 Summary _Fcloseall(value); value : A user defined variable, INTEGER CLASS. Description The _Fcloseall function closes ALL open files. All file buffers are flushed prior to closing, provided the file was opened with "WRITE". You should use this function as a DEBUGGING aid prior to exiting a command file to determine if you have failed to close any open files. If _fcloseall has to close any open file, the number of files closed will be assigned to value. Example _define_var(OpenFiles, INTEGER); _FcloseAll(OpenFiles); _IF(OpenFiles); _CLS; _printf("\aE\aR\aR\aO\aR\a!\a!\a!\a\n\n"); _printf("I screwed up and left %d Files Open.\n",OpenFiles); _printf("\nI'd better check this out ASAP!\n\n"); _ENDIF; _EXIT; Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 312 Summary _Fgets(string, N, Stream, Rtcode, Flag); string : A user defined variable, STRING CLASS. n : Number of characters to read. stream : A user defined variable, FILE CLASS, the same variable used to open the file. rtcode: A user defined variable, INTEGER CLASS flag : Integer CONSTANT Description The _fgets functions reads a string from the file and stores it in "string". Characters are read from the current file position up to and including the first new- line character, up to the end of the file, or until the number of characters read is equal to n-1, whichever comes first. The result is stored in "string". FLAG will determine whether or not the new line character, if read, will be place in the string. If flag is 0, the new line character will be placed in the string. If FLAG is 1, the new line character will be discarded. If an error or end-of-file condition occurs, 0 will be placed in RTCODE. If RTCODE contains 1, characters were successful read from the file and placed in the string. Example _define_var(IN,FILE); _define_var(input_string,string(80)); _define_var(rtcode,integer); _fopen("c:\osiris\cbis1.log",IN,"read"); _fgets(input_string,80,IN,rtcode,1); _ELSEIF(rtcode = 1); _printf("I just read ->%s<- from the file.\n",input_string); _ELSE; _printf("There was an error reading the file!\n"); _EEND; _fclose(IN); Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 313 Summary _Fildate(filename,y,m,d); Filename : A user defined variable, STRING CLASS, or a string constant. Y, M, D : User defined variables, INTEGER CLASS Description This function retrieves the a files DATE stamp in YEAR, MONTH, and DAY format and stores it in the user defined variables. The name of the file is retrieved from Filename. Example _DEFINE_VAR(Year,INTEGER); _DEFINE_VAR(Month,INTEGER); _DEFINE_VAR(Day,INTEGER); _PRINTF("The Files Date Stamp was : "); _FILTIME("C:\OSIRIS\TIME.LOG",Year,Month,Day); _PRINTF("%02d/%02d/%02d\n",Month,Day,Year); produces the output The Files Time Stamp was : 02:23:46 Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 314 Summary _File_command_access(cmd_number,rtcode); cmd_number : Integer constant rtcode : User defined variable, INTEGER CLASS Description This function checks for access to a specific primary menu command, pointed to by cmd_number, in the current file area. If you have access to the command, access level and access flags are checked, 1 is placed in rtcode. If you do not have access to the command, 0 is placed in rtcode. CMD_NUMBER is the number of the command: CMD_NUMBER Function 0 Change Area 1 Goodbye 2 Search 3 Upload 4 Download 6 View Archive Contents 8 Quick File List 9 Kill File 10 Full File List 11 Type a text file 12 Reset Protocol 13 Extract File From Archive 14 Search for new uploads 17 Your transfer stat's 18 Edit file queue Example _define_var(rtcode,integer); _file_command_access(9,rtcode); _elseif(rtcode); _kill_file(); _else; _printf("You can't kill a file!\n"); _eend; Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 315 Summary _Filexists(rtcode,filename); FILENAME : A user defined variable, STRING CLASS, or a string constant. RETCODE : A user defined variable, INTEGER CLASS. Description The function _FILEXISTS determines if the file, defined by FILENAME exists. If the file exists, 1 is placed in RETURN CODE. If File does NOT exist, 0 is placed in RETCODE. Example. _Define_Var(FileName,STRING(80)); _Define_Var(RetCode,INTEGER); _ASSIGN(Filename,"C:\OSIRIS\OUT1.QBS"); _FILEXISTS(RetCode,Filename); _ELSEIF(RetCode != 0); _PrintF("The File \"%s\" does exist.\n",Filename); _ELSE; _Printf("The file \"%s\" does NOT EXIST!\n",Filename); _EEND; Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 316 Summary _Filsize(filename,size); FILENAME : User defined variable, STRING CLASS, or a string constant. SIZE : User defined variable, LONG CLASS. Description This function, _FILSIZE, places the size of the file pointed to by Filename into the variable Size. This function does NOT verify that the file exists, it just assumes that you have taken care of that. Size MUST be a variable with a LONG CLASS. Example _Define_Var(FileName,STRING(80)); _Define_Var(RetCode,INTEGER); _Define_Var(FileSize,LONG); _ASSIGN(Filename,"C:\OSIRIS\OUT1.QBS"); _FILEXISTS(RetCode,Filename); _ELSEIF(RetCode != 0); _PrintF("The File \"%s\" does exist.\n",Filename); _FILSIZE(Filename,FileSize); _Printf("The size of the file was %l Bytes.\n",FileSize); _ELSE; _Printf("The file \"%s\" does NOT EXIST!\n",Filename); _EEND; Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 317 Summary _Filtime(filename,h,m,s); Filename : A user defined variable, STRING CLASS, or a string constant. H, M, S : User defined variables, INTEGER CLASS Description This function retrieves the a files TIME stamp in HOUR, MINUTE, and SECOND format and stores it in the user defined variables. The name of the file is retrieved from Filename. Example _DEFINE_VAR(HOUR,INTEGER); _DEFINE_VAR(MINUTE,INTEGER); _DEFINE_VAR(SECOND,INTEGER); _PRINTF("The Files Time Stamp was : "); _FILTIME("C:\OSIRIS\TIME.LOG",HOUR,MINUTE,SECOND); _PRINTF("%02d:%02d:%02d\n",HOUR,MINUTE,SECOND); produces the output The Files Time Stamp was : 02:23:46 NOTES: The seconds will always be an even number, including zero, due to the method that DOS uses to store the file's TIME parameter. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 318 Summary _Fopen(path,variable,type); Description The _fopen function opens the file specified by PATH. The VARIABLE is a user defined variable FILE CLASS that will be used to reference this file by other SPL/I file functions. The character string TYPE specifies the type of access requested for the file, as follows: Type Description ---------------------------------------------------------- READ Opens the file for reading. If the file does not exist or cannot be found, the _fopen call will fail. APPEND Opens the file for writing at the end of the file (appending). If the file does not exist, it will be created. WRITE Opens an empty file for writing. If the given file already exists, its contents will be destroyed. When a file is opened with APPEND, all write operations occur at the end of the file. Although the file pointer can be repositioned using _rewind, the file pointer will always move back to the end of the file before any write operation is carried out. Thus, existing data cannot be overwritten. Example _DEFINE_VAR(OUTPUT,FILE); _FOPEN("C:\TEMP\-TMP.$$$",OUTPUT,WRITE); _ELSEIF(OUTPUT); _fprintf(OUTPUT,"This is the first line.\n"); _ELSE; _printf("Could not open the file!\n"); _EEND; _FCLOSE(OUTPUT); Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 319 Explanation When a variable has been defined as having FILE CLASS, its value is set to NULL or ZERO. When that variable has been used to OPEN a file, its value contains the offset/segment address of the file handle, a NONE ZERO number. Although you may not alter a variable that has been defined as having a FILE CLASS, you can do conditional tests with it. The _ELSEIF(OUTPUT) is a classic example of conditional TRUE/FALSE testing. Anything with a value of 0 is considered to be false and would fail any conditional test. If the variable has any value other than 0, it is considered to be TRUE and would PASS any conditional test. Maximum Open Files Although SPL/I does not place any restrictions on the number of files you may have open at once, DOS does. The maximum number of open files will be determined by the FILES= statement in your CONFIG.SYS. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 320 Summary _For(start = Value : Condition End : Step); _Fend; start : User defined variable, INTEGER CLASS. value : User defined variable, INTEGER CLASS or INTEGER constant. condition : Greater than sign or Less than sign; > or <. end : User defined variable, INTEGER CLASS or INTEGER constant. step : User defined variable, INTEGER CLASS or INTEGER constant. Description This function is commonly referred to as FOR NEXT and it is the fastest method of doing a control loop between two fixed location. The for function requires a number of arguments. The first argument is the variable to store the starting value in. The second argument is the starting value itself, generally 1 or 0 but any value, within the INTEGER CLASS, is allow. The 3rd argument is the TYPE of conditional test that determines when to end the loop. You always use either the > or < symbols. The test symbols = and != do not make sense in a FOR/NEXT. The 4th argument is the value to compare the current value of start with. This can be a variable or an INTEGER constant. The final value is the step rate, generally 1 or -1. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 321 The way it works: _define_var(x,integer); _define_var(y,integer); _assign(y,20); _for(x = 1 : < y : 1); _printf("x now equals : %d\n",x); _FEND; When the program hits the _for statement, it will assign the value of 1 to the variable x, "x = 1". It will then test it to see if it is less than the y, " < y". We assigned y the value of 20, " _assign(y,20) ", so the test returns TRUE and the program enters the BODY of the FOR/NEXT loop, the items between _for and _fend. _printf is executed. The program hits the _FEND and adds 1 to x. 1 is the step rate ": 1)". x now contains the value 2. Since _FEND was encountered, the program will cycle back to the top and do the test "is x less than y". If it is, the body of the loop will be executed again. This will continue until x < y is no longer TRUE. In this case, the body of the function would be executed 19 times. The step value does not have to be 1, it can be; 2, 5, 25, 124, etc, it can also be a negative number; -1, -5, -10, etc. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 322 Example 1 _define_var(row,integer); _define_var(col,integer); _define_var(ch,character); _define_var(pattern,character); _assign(pattern,'*'); _cls(); _for(row = 1 : < 13 : 1); _locate(row,1); _for(col = 1 : < 40 : 1); _putc(pattern); _FEND; _FEND; _for(row = 12 : > 0 : -1); _for(col = 80 : > 39 : -1); _locate(row,col); _putc(pattern); _fend; _fend; _for(row = 1 : < 13 : 1); _locate(row,1); _for(col = 1 : < 40 : 1); _putc(' '); _FEND; _FEND; _for(row = 12 : > 0 : -1); _for(col = 80 : > 39 : -1); _locate(row,col); _putc(' '); _fend; _fend; _locate(14,1); I'm not going to tell you what the program does, type it in an run it. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 323 Here is another example, a prime number generator, that uses _FOR as well as WHILE and IF. It will display all the prime numbers between 1 and 251. _define_var(number,integer); _define_var(divisor,integer); _define_var(dummy,integer); _define_var(count,integer); _define_var(limit,integer); _assign(count,0); _assign(limit,251); _for(number = 2 : < limit : 1); _assign(divisor,2); _math(dummy = number % divisor); _while(dummy); _++(divisor); _math(dummy = number % divisor); _Wend; _if(divisor = number); _printf("%5d ",number); _++(count); _if(count > 9); _assign(count,0); _printf("\n"); _endif; _endif; _FEND; The approach is quite straightforward but is not the ultimate in efficiency. For example, if you are testing to see if 121 is prime, there is no need to check divisors pass 11. If any divisor bigger than 11 went in evenly, the result of the division would be a number smaller than 11, and that divisor would have been found earlier. Thus, we only need to check divisors up to the square root of the number, but the programming for that is a bit trickier. I'll leave that as an exercise for one of you clever readers to figure out. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 324 Summary _Fprintf(file,format{,variable 1, Variable 2, .....}); Description The _fprintf function formats and prints a series of characters and values to a disk file, pointed to by file, according to the corresponding format specifications. The format is the same form and functions as the format argument for the _printf function; see the _printf reference pages for description of format and variables. "file" is a user defined variable that has been declared as having FILE CLASS. Before you can write to a file, it must first be OPENED; see the _fopen references pages for information on opening files. Example: _fopen("TEST.OUT",OUTPUT,WRITE); _fprintf(OUTPUT,"Hello %s!\nHow's the weather in %s?\n\n",NAME,CITY); _fprintf(OutPut,"You're current access level is %u\n\n",ACCESS); _fclose(output); Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 325 Summary _Free_var(name); name : user defined variable. Description The function _free_var frees the memory used to store the variable back to the variable pool. Example _define_var(name,string(40)); _assign_var(name,_NAME); _printf("Your name is %s.\n",name); _free_var(name); Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 326 Summary _Fscanf(return_code,stream,format{variables....}); return_code : A use defined variable, INTEGER CLASS; stream : A user defined variable, FILE CLASS, the same variable that was used to OPEN the file. The _fscanf function reads data from the file and stores it in the variables. Each variable must be the same CLASS specified in format. Format is read left to right. When the first format specification is encountered, the value of the first input field is converted and stored in the first variable according to the format specifications. The second format specification causes the second input field to be converted and stored in the second variable, and so on. If there are more variables than format specifications, the extra variables will be ignored. The results are undefined if there are not enough variables for all the format specifications or the variable isn't the same as the CLASS defined in the format specification. If the format specification indicates a string field, it is your responsibility to insure the string is large enough to hold that value assigned to it. If it isn't, the results are undefined. The _fscanf function stores the number of fields successfully converted in return_code. If end-of-file, _fscanf stores -1 in return_code; A format specification has the following form: %CLASS CLASS Description Range ----------------------------------------------------------- d Integer -32768 to 32768 u Unsigned_Integer 0 to 65535 r Real Number (*1) 3.4E-38 to 1.7E+308 c Character ASCII 0 to ASCII 255 l Long -2,147,483,648 to 2,147,483,647 x Unsigned_Long 0 to 4,294,967,295 s String (*2) ASCII 0 to ASCII 255 .lm20 File Field Delimiters _FSCANF uses two types of FILE FIELD DELIMITERS, blank and new-line. A FILE FIELD DELIMITER separates the fields stored in the file. Example of FILE FIELD DELIMITING The Sysop is 21. ^ ^ ^ This string would have four fields, three would require string format specifiers and the forth could be integer, signed, long, unsigned long, or real, depending on what you were going to use it for because it is small enough to fit in any of the data CLASSES that contain numbers. v v v The Sysop is 21. Even thou this string has multiple blanks and spans two physical lines, it would be treated exactly like the prior string. Multiple blanks are ignored and the new-line character would be the forth field delimiter. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 327 Example _define_var(IN, FILE); _define_var(FNAME, STRING(36)); _define_var(LNAME, STRING(36)); _define_var(AGE, INTEGER); _define_var(Fields_Converted, INTEGER); _fopen("TEST.FILE,IN,"READ"); _fscanf(Fields_Converted,in,"%s %s %d",Fname,Lname,Age); _Elseif(Fields_Converted != -1); _printf("Total Number of Fields Successfully "); _printf("Converted : %d\n",Fields_Converted); _printf("The Twits First Name was : %s\n",fname); _printf("The Twits Last Name was : %s\n",lname); _printf("He was %d years Old.\n",age); _ELSE; _printf("Error, End-Of-File Was Reached.\n"); _EEND; _Fclose(in); Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 328 Summary _Get_ctrled_input(ch,cmds); ch : A user defined variable, CHARACTER CLASS cmds : A string constant Description This function duplicates the input prompts used by Osiris at the main, message, and file menus. CH is a character variable used to store the input obtained from the caller. This function will automatically force the response to UPPER CASE, i.e., a will become A before you get it. Cmds is a string constant containing a list of the command keys that are accepted at the current moment. Anything not in the cmds list will be ignored. Example _define_var(ch,character); _get_ctrled_input(ch,"ABCDEDF/"); Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 329 Summary _Getc(char,force_upper); char : A user defined variable, CHARACTER CLASS. force_upper : An INTEGER CONSTANT, 0 or 1. Description The function getc obtains a 1 character response from the caller or the local keyboard and stores it in char. If force_upper is turned on, 1, then the character will be stored in upper case format. The default is to store the character without altering it. In other words, 'a' is NOT the same as 'A'. If the caller types 'a' and you are looking for 'A', menu option, this lower case 'a' will NOT match during a conditional test. E.g., _getc(ch,0); ch has 'a' in it. _IF(ch = 'A'); will return FALSE. _getc(ch,1); FORCES the 'a' to 'A'. If it is already 'A', then it is left alone. This would allow you to use 'a-z' and 'A-Z' on the same menu, gives you twice as many options. It might be a tad confusing to NEW users, but they would get use to it. Example _DEFINE_VAR(ch,character); _printf("Press A) or B) : "); _getc(ch,0); _printf("\nYou entered %c\n",ch); Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 330 Summary _Gets(str,len); str : A user defined variable, STRING CLASS. len : An INTEGER CONSTANT. Description Gets is used to obtain STRING input from the caller or local keyboard. The number of characters the caller is allowed to enter will be governed by the value of len. If len is equal to 10, the caller may only enter up to 10 characters, numbers, or what have you. WHAT the caller entered will be placed in the variable str. Example _DEFINE_VAR(NAME,STRING(40)); _printf("Please enter your name ? "); _gets(name,36); _printf("\n\nYou entered : %s\n",name); Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 331 Summary _Global_download(); Description This gives you access to the download system within Osiris without going through the normal _download() function. The different between this function and the _download function; Global_download() requires that you place the name or names of the files to be sent in the command stacking Queue with the push_into_queue command (command covered in another section of this document). Global_download does NOT retain the current contents of the file queue. In other words, it is cleared before the new file names are inserted. All files pushed into the command stacking queue MUST be listed in one of your file areas AND the caller must have access TO that file area. Example _push_into_queue("I512?.ARJ"); _global_download(); Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 332 The next 39 commands are Highlevel Commands that allow you to access certain built in Osiris functions. The commands are fairly self explanatory, do not require additional arguments, nor do they return any error codes. If you are in doubt as to what a specific command does, throw it into a test.prg file and try it. You can't hurt anything <smile>. _Post_private_msg(); _Post_msg_to_sysop(); _Display_protocol_name(); _Goto_file_system(); _Goto_msg_system(); _Run_newmail_scan(); _Run_newuploads_scan(); _Goto_online_store(); _Show_who_is_online(); _Goto_log_off(); _Goto_display_version(); _Goto_status_system(); _Page_sysop(); _Goto_adjust_user_settings(); _Display_callers(); _Goto_msg_center(); _Edit_conf_boards(); _Change_file_area(); _Search_for_file(); _Upload(); _View_archive(); _Quick_file_list(); _Full_file_list(); _Kill_file(); _Type_text_file(); _Select_protocol(); _Extract_file(); _Transfer_stats(); _Edit_queue(); _Download(); _Internode_chat(); _Read_bulletins(); _Private_mail_scan(); _New_bulletin_scan(); _Change_msg_areas(); _Enter_message(); _Read_messages(); _Pack_messages(); _Drop_carrier(); Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 333 Do you want to create powerful, intelligent, versatile, and useful programs? Then you need a language that provides the three basic forms of program "flow" control. According to computer science (which is the science of computers and not science by computers --- yet), a good language should provide three forms of program flow: 1. Executing a series of statements. 2. Repeating a sequence of statements until some condition is met. 3. Using a test to decide between alternative actions. The first form we know, all SPL/I programs consists of a sequence of statements. The WHILE loop is one example of the second form. The final form, choosing between different possible courses of action, makes a program much more "intelligent". The _IF statement Summary _If(expression......); body _Endif; Description The body of the _if statement is executed selectively, depending on the value of 'expression'. First, 'expression' is evaluated. If 'expression' is true, the body is executed. If the 'expression' is false, the body of the _IF statement is ignored. Each _IF must have a corresponding _ENDIF to mark where the body of the _IF ends. 'expression' is a sequences of TESTS that can be evaluated to either TRUE or FALSE. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 334 TEST Symbol FORM Explanation ---------------------------------------------------- > x > y If the value or contents of x is greater than the value of y, the test would evaluate to TRUE, otherwise it would evaluate to FALSE. < x < y If the value or contents of x is less then the value or contents of y, the test would evaluate to TRUE, otherwise it would evaluate to FALSE. = x = y If the value or contents of x is equal to the value or contents of y, the test would evaluate to TRUE, otherwise it would evaluate to FALSE. != x != y If the value or contents of x is NOT equal to the value or contents of y, the test would evaluate to TRUE, otherwise it would evaluate to FALSE. (*) x and y would be two variables or constants. You'll notice there isn't a "greater than or equal to" or "less than or equal to" symbols, they aren't needed. For example: if( A >= 10) If contents of variable A is greater than or equal to 10 then do this. is EXACTLY the same as IF(A > 9) With one major difference, (A > 9) is executed faster because it is a SINGLE test while (A >= 10) would require TWO tests. When one of the four basic tests is used in expression, you may use either; a user defined variable, a predefined variable, or a constant on the left or right side of the test symbol. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 335 The two values being tested MUST be the same data CLASS. If the value on the left side of the test symbol is an INTEGER, the value on the right side of the test symbol must also be an INTEGER. If it isn't, the test will always produce FALSE. This is due to the way data is stored in the computer. The computer uses different storage formats for different data CLASSES. If one of the values is a constant and that constant is not a string or an integer, don't forget to include the CLASS indicator, see section constants for details on CLASS indicators. If the constant is a CHARACTER, the constant must be start with ' and end with ', no spaces. E.g., If the variable CH was defined as having a CHARACTER CLASS and you wanted to test using a CHARACTER CONSTANT _IF(CH = 'A'); or _IF('A' = CH); Both would produce the same results. _IF('A' = 'A'); or _IF(CH = CH); is valid, but doesn't make a lot of sense because the tests will always evaluate TRUE. Example _Define_Var(Mike,String(80)); _Define_Var(Bill,String(80)); _Assign(Mike,"The Sysop"); _Assign(Bill,"Sysop"); I've defined two string variables that may hold any string up to 80 characters long. I've assigned the value "The Sysop" to the variable Mike, and "Sysop" to the variable Bill. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 336 _IF(Mike = Bill); _ENDIF; The expression would evaluate to FALSE because Mike contains "The Sysop" and Bill contains "Sysop". Thus, the two variables are NOT equal. Since the expression evaluated to FALSE, the body of the _IF statement is ignored. _IF(_ACCESS > 10U); _ENDIF; The variable _ACCESS is an SPL/I predefined unsigned integer variable that contains the callers access level. 10U is a CONSTANT and the trailing U indicates that it is an unsigned integer. See section on Constants for details. Here I'm wanting to know if the callers access level is greater than 10. If the value of _ACCESS is 20, the expression would evaluate TRUE and the body of the _IF statement would be processed. If the value of _ACCESS was 5, the expression would evaluate to FALSE and the body of the _IF statement would be ignored. An _IF statement may contain more than one expression separated by either .AND. or .OR.. _IF(_ACCESS > 20 .AND. _ACCESS < 30 .OR. _ACCESS = 10U); _ENDIF; Multiple expressions are evaluated from left to right and the results of the current evaluation will be combined with the results of the prior evaluation. How they are combined depends on the type of conditional separator used. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 337 If .AND. is used as the separator, the evaluation will only be TRUE if BOTH tests were TRUE. Example: _ACCESS > 10 .AND. _ACCESS < 30 The first expression, _ACCESS > 10, is evaluated. The 2nd expression, _ACCESS < 30, is evaluated. The results are then compared and if BOTH evaluated to TRUE, the expression "_ACCESS > 10 .AND. _ACCESS < 30" would evaluate TRUE. If either or both evaluated to FALSE, the expression "_ACCESS > 10 .AND. _ACCESS < 30" would also evaluate FALSE. If .OR. is used as the separator, the evaluation will be TRUE if EITHER tests was TRUE. Example: _ACCESS > 10 .OR. _ACCESS < 30 The first expression, _ACCESS > 10, is evaluated. The 2nd expression, _ACCESS < 30, is evaluated. The results are then compared and if EITHER evaluated TRUE, the expression "_ACCESS > 10 .OR. _ACCESS < 30" would evaluate TRUE. _IF(_ACCESS > 20 .AND. _ACCESS < 30 .OR. _ACCESS = 10U); The first expression, "_ACCESS > 20" is evaluated. The 2nd expression, "_ACCESS < 30 is evaluated and the results are combined using the .AND. The 3rd expression, "_ACCESS = 10U" is evaluated and combined with the last evaluation. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 338 Status Table Representing of _IF(_ACCESS > 20 .AND. _ACCESS < 30 .OR. _ACCESS = 10U); and assuming _ACCESS contained the value 10. Expression Conditional Separator Current Evaluation Status ----------------------------------------------------------- _ACCESS > 20 ------------------------------> FALSE _ACCESS < 30 ------------------------------> FALSE _ACCESS = 10U -----------------------------> TRUE | The entire statement evaluates TRUE Status Table Representing of _IF(_ACCESS > 20 .AND. _ACCESS < 30 .OR. _ACCESS = 100U); and assuming _ACCESS contained the value 10. Expression Conditional Separator Current Evaluation Status ----------------------------------------------------------- _ACCESS > 20 ------------------------------> FALSE _ACCESS < 30 ------------------------------> FALSE _ACCESS = 100U ----------------------------> FALSE The entire statement evaluates FALSE Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 339 Status Table Representing of _IF(_ACCESS > 20 .AND. _ACCESS < 30 .OR. _ACCESS = 100U); and assuming _ACCESS contained the value 25. Expression Conditional Separator Current Evaluation Status ----------------------------------------------------------- _ACCESS > 20 ------------------------------> TRUE _ACCESS < 30 ------------------------------> TRUE _ACCESS = 100U ----------------------------> FALSE The entire statement evaluates TRUE Status Table Representing of _IF(_ACCESS > 20 .AND. _ACCESS = 30 .OR. _ACCESS = 100U); and assuming _ACCESS contained the value 25. Expression Conditional Separator Current Evaluation Status ---------------------------------------------------------- _ACCESS > 20 ------------------------------> TRUE _ACCESS = 30 ------------------------------> FALSE _ACCESS = 100U ----------------------------> FALSE The entire statement evaluates FALSE Although _ACCESS > 20 did produce a TRUE evaluation, _ACCESS = 30 produced a FALSE evaluation and when .AND. is used, BOTH have to evaluate TRUE for the expression to evaluate TRUE. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 340 Nesting SPL/I, unlike some programming Language, does offer a _ELSE IF statement, covered later, but SPL/I also supports multiple nested _IF statements. Example _IF(expression......); _IF(expression......); _IF(expression......); _IF(expression......); _ENDIF; _ENDIF; _ENDIF; _ENDIF; Using nested _if statements can make your program code harder to follow, and debug, and if a while loop or an else if can be used instead of nesting, do so. Trick! _IF(_ACCESS); What'll happen: Since I only have one item to work with and no test symbols to tell me how you want to test, I'll evaluate the variable itself. The variable _ACCESS will produce either a TRUE or FALSE evaluation depending on it's contents. If the contents is 0, then it will evaluate to FALSE. If _ACCESS has any value other than zero, it will evaluate TRUE. String variables will evaluate depending on their contents. If a String is empty, it evaluates FALSE. If the string contains ANYTHING, it evaluates TRUE. This can be used in a number of ways. Suppose you get string input from the caller and you want to know if he just pressed RETURN without entered anything. Assume that filename is a string variable and you just asked the caller to enter the name of the file to view. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 341 _ELSEIF(filename); _ELSE; _printf("Jerk, you have to enter something!\n\n"); _EEND; Suppose you open a file for read and you want to display the contents of the file to the caller. You also want to make sure you haven't mucked up and closed the file and forgotten about it so: _IF(INPUT); _ASSIGN(RTCODE,1); _WHILE(RTCODE); _fgets(string,128,INPUT,RTCODE,0); _if(RTCODE); _printf("%s\n",string); _ENDIF; _WEND; _ENDIF; You can do that because the variable FILE is set to NULL or zero when there is no OPEN file associated with it. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 342 Summary _Is_message_area_selected(area#, Rtcode); rtcode : A user defined variable, INTEGER CLASS Area# : A user defined variable, INTEGER CLASS or an integer constant Description This function places a 1 in rtcode if the caller has the conference area, pointed to by Area#. A 0 is placed in rtcode if the caller does NOT have the area selected. Example _define_var(returncode,Integer); _is_message_area_selected(2,returncode); _elseif(returncode); _else; _printf("You do not have that area selected!\n"); _eend; Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 343 Summary _Locate(row,col); row, col : User defined variable, INTEGER CLASS, or INTEGER constants. Description Positions the cursor on row and col. ANSI is used to move the cursor. ANSI uses screen rows 1 - 25 and columns 1 - 80. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 344 Summary _Main_command_access(cmd_number,rtcode); cmd_number : Integer constant rtcode : User defined variable, INTEGER CLASS Description Checks the callers access level and command flags against the main menu COMMANDS pointed to by the CMD_NUMBER. If the caller has access to the command, 1 is placed in rtcode. If the caller does not have access to the command, 0 is placed in rtcode. CMD_NUMBER Function 0 Conference Message Area 1 File Areas 2 Log off 3 Your Personal Stat's 4 Read Bulletins 5 Page Sysop 6 Change Settings 7 User List 8 Show Version 9 On-line Store 10 Internode Chat 11 Message Center 12 Who Else is On0line 13 System Download 14 System Stat's Example _define_var(rtcode,integer); _file_command_access(9,rtcode); _elseif(rtcode); _printf("Going to the On-line store, stand by . . ."); _else; _printf("You do not have access to the on-line store!.\n"); _eend; Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 345 Summary _Make_mask(dest,source,mask); mask : String constant Source, Dest : A user defined variable, STRING CLASS Description This makes a copy of the source string and places it in the format specified by the MASK. The new string is placed in the variable dest. Dest, where you want the end results of to be placed. Source, contains the data to be converted. Mask, the PICTURE mask (See _masked_input for details on a mask field and PICTURE characters). The original SOURCE is NOT altered. If the source string contained 3143346359 and the mask "(999) 999 - 9999" were used, the dest variable would contain: (314) 334 - 6359 If there is no data for the PICTURE character, the mask is longer than the data in the SOURCE variable, a blank space will be added to pad the field. If the data does not match the PICTURE character, a blank space will be used. In other words, should SOURCE contain 31433A6359 and the MASK was (999) 999-9999 The display would be (314) 33 -6359. The "A" is not inserted because the PICTURE for that position REQUIRES a number. Example _define_var(dest,string(80)); _define_var(source,string(80)); _assign(source,"494753999"); _make_mask(dest,source,"999-99-9999"); _printf("%s\n",dest); output: 494-75-3999 _assign(source,"042767"); _make_mask(dest,source,"99/99/99"); _printf("%s\n",dest); output: 04/27/67 Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 346 Summary _Masked_input(flag,s1,mask); flag : An integer constant, 0 or 1 s1 : A use defined variable, STRING CLASS mask : A string constant Description Like the DBASE PICTURE command, this allows you to get input, from the caller, in a specific format. Flag, either 0 or 1, determines IF the caller MUST fill in the entire mask. If 0, the caller does NOT have to fill in the entire mask. If set to 1, the caller MUST fill the entire mask. S1 is the user defined string variable used to store the input. No LENGTH checking is done and the variable must be large enough to hold what the caller entered. Mask is a string constant used to store the mask. Valid PICTURE symbols are : A 9 X A = Allow any letter between and including A - Z. 9 = Allow any number between and including 0 - 9. X = Allow anything. All other character will be treated as part of the display mask and will simply be printed to the screen. The input is stored in the S1 variable, but the mask is NOT. In other words, _masked_input(1,s1,"(999) 999-9999" would force you to enter something like : (314) 334-6359. The value actually stored in S1 would be 3143346359. This saves space if the input is going to be placed in a Database Field. _masked_input will COUNT the number of PICTURE characters and limit input to that many characters. _masked_input(1,s1,"(999) 999-9999") would limit input to 10 digits. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 347 Providing the caller correctly implements the Backspace character, ASCII 8, the entire mask and the number of fields (shown as under score characters) will be displayed. In the case of the above mask, the caller would see (___) ___-____ and would be positioned here --| ^--------------------------------------------| If ASCII 8 is not correctly implemented then the caller will only see (_. The rest of the mask will then be displayed when needed. If the caller backspaces to erase a character, the original mask will be restored in place of the erased character. E.g., Original mask : (___) ___ - ____ Caller typed : (314) 334 - 34__ ^ Backspaces to | v Results : (31_) ___ - ____ Examples _masked_input(1,s1,"(999) 999 - 9999"); Used to obtain a phone number. _masked_input(1,s1,"999-99-9999"); Used to obtain a social security number. _masked_input(1,s1,"99/99/99"); Used to obtain a date in MMDDYY format. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 348 Summary _Math(results = Format); results : A user defined variable having a CLASS of REAL, INTEGER, UNSIGNED_INTEGER, LONG, or UNSIGNED_LONG format : containing the math formula. Description The function _math does arithmetic operations based on the contents of format. format contains the arithmetic operations and has the following format: <VALUE 1><SPACE><OPERATOR><SPACE><VALUE 2> VALUE 1 : A user defined variable or a constant. <SPACE> : A blank space to denote end of constant <OPERATOR>: The arithmetic operation to perform. SPL/I supports the following arithmetic operator: + {ADD} - {SUBTRACT} * {MULTIPLE} / {DIVIDE} >> {Right Shift} << {Left Shift} OR {Bitwise OR} AND {Bitwise AND} XOR {Bitwise Exclusive OR} % {MODULUS} VALUE 2 : A user defined variable or a constant. The ORDER of operation, which has top priority, is simple. First come, first serve. In 'C' you have to worry about the priority of the operators. I.e., In 'C' result = 10 + 5 * 2 would give you 20 because * has a higher priority than + and 5 * 2 + 10 = 20, it (C compiler) rearranged your formula! Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 349 If you were thinking 10 + 5 * 2 = 30, you would not end up with what you were expecting or wanted. SPL/I simplifies that a bit, by assigning priority in the order you've defined the operations. E.g., result = 10 + 5 * 2 would give you 30. Example _MATH(TOTAL = cows + pigs + chickens); _math(cows = 10 + 500 / 2 * 2); Restrictions All variables used within a math formula have to have the same DATA CLASS. Constants will be converted to the correct DATA CLASS. The correct DATA CLASS will be determined by the variable used to store the results. Only user defined variables can be used in a math formula. Predefined SPL/I variables may NOT be used in a math formula. If you NEED to switch the CLASS of a variable in order to use it, use the _CAST function prior to calling the _MATH function. Advanced Arithmetic Operations You'll notice that there are some arithmetric operators that you may not have seen before: >> : Right Shift << : Left Shift OR : Bitwise OR AND : Bitwise AND XOR : Bitwise Exclusive OR because they are generally used in computer based math. Bit Fiddling, Operators And Fields Some programs need (or, at least, benefit from) an ability to manipulate individual bits in a variable. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 350 Operators SPL/I offers bitwise logical operators and shift operators. In the following, I'll write values in binary notation so you can see the mechanics. In actual programs, you would use integer, unsigned integers, long, unsigned long, and constants written in the usual forms. For instances, instead of (00011001), you would use 25. In my examples, I'll use 8- bit numbers, with the bits numbered 7 to 0, left to right. Bitwise Logical Operators The three bitwise logical operators work on the INTEGER CLASS, and extended INTEGER CLASSES (Unsigned_Integer, Long, and Unsigned LONG). They are termed "bitwise" because they operate on each bit independently of the bit on the left or right. Bitwise And This binary operator makes a bit-by-bit comparison between two operands. For each bit position, the resulting bit is 1 only if both corresponding bits in the operands are 1. In terms of true-false, the result is true only if each of the two bit operands is true. Thus, 10010011 AND 00111101 would equal 00010001 since only bits 4 and 0 are 1 in both operands. 10010011 00111101 --------- 00010001 Bitwise Or This binary operator makes a bit-by-bit comparison between two operands. For each bit position, the resulting bit is 1 if either of the corresponding bits in the operands is 1. In terms of true-false, the result is true if one or the other bit operands are true or if both are true. Thus 10010011 OR 00111101 would equal 10111111 Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 351 Bitwise Exclusive Or: Xor This binary operator makes a bit-by-bit comparison between two operands. For each bit position, the resulting bit is 1 if one or the other, but NOT both, of the corresponding bits in the operands is 1. In terms of true-false, the result is true if one or the other bit operands, NOT BOTH, are true. Thus, 10010011 XOR 00111101 would equal 10101110 10010011<---------- 00111101<----------| -------- | 10101110 | | Since bit position 0 has the value of 1 in both operands, the resulting 0 bit has the value of 0. Case Sensitive The arithmetric operators; OR, AND, and XOR are CASE SENSITIVE, or is NOT the same as OR. Use only UPPER CASE with these three operators. Usage The bitwise logical operators often are used to set certain bits while leaving others unchanged. For example, suppose we have a variable (unsigned integer) called MASK and it has a value of 2, in binary that is 00000010 with only bit number 1 being nonzero. The unsigned integer variable flag has the value of 15 (0001111). The statement _math(flag = flag AND MASK); would cause all the bits in flag, except bit 1, to be set to 0, since any bit combined with 0 via the AND operator yields 0. Bit number 1 will be left unchanged. 00001111 00000010 -------- 00000010 Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 352 This is mostly commonly used to determine IF a bit is turned on. _math(Flag = Flag OR MASK); If mask contained 00000010 and flag contained 00001101 the results would be | 00000010 | 00001101 | --------- | 00001111 <----------------- Using the bitwise LOGICAL Operators does mean you have to be able to convert base 10 numbers to base 2 in order to determine which bits are on or off for any given value. Converting between number bases isn't that difficult, but if you don't want to learn . . binary and binary to base 10 conversions. It should also be able to convert to base 16, commonly called HEX notation. Bitwise Shift Operators The bitwise shift operators shift bits to the left or right. Again, I'll write binary numbers explicity to show the mechanics. Left Shift: << This operator shifts the bits of the left operand to the left by the number of places given by the right operand. The vacated positions are filled with 0s, and bits moved past the end of the left operand are lost. Thus, 10001010 << 2 would equal 00101000 where each bit is moved two places to the left. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 353 Right Shift: >> This operator shifts the bits of the left operand to the right by the number of places given by the right operand. Bits moved past the right end of the left operand are lost. For UNSIGNED_INTEGER and UNSIGNED_LONG, the places vacated at the left end are replaced by 0s. For INTEGER and LONG, the result is machine dependent. The vacated places may be filled with 0s, or they may be filled with copies of the sign bit. For an UNSIGNED INTEGER, we have 10001010 >> 2 equals 00100010 where each bit is moved two places to the right. Usage The bitwise shift operators provide swift, efficient multiplication and division by powers of 2. number << n multiplies number by 2 to the nth power. number >> n divides number by 2 to the nth power if number is not negative. Example Osiris stores a number of items in PACKED fields, to conserve space, the callers original log on date and the TIME of day he last called are two such items. If you were to simply PRINT those numbers, they would not APPEAR to be what they really represent. The DATE for instances, may print as 12456, which doesn't mean a whole lot. In order to UNPACK the date or time fields into hour, minute, second, year, month, and day format, you have to use the bitwise operators. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 354 E.g., _DEFINE_VAR(YEAR,UNSIGNED_INTEGER); _DEFINE_VAR(MONTH,UNSIGNED_INTEGER); _DEFINE_VAR(DAY,UNSIGNED_INTEGER); _DEFINE_VAR(HOUR,UNSIGNED_INTEGER); _DEFINE_VAR(MIN,UNSIGNED_INTEGER); _DEFINE_VAR(SEC,UNSIGNED_INTEGER); _DEFINE_VAR(TIME,UNSIGNED_INTEGER); _DEFINE_VAR(ODATE,UNSIGNED_INTEGER); _ASSIGN(ODATE,_FDATE); _ASSIGN(TIME,_LTIME); _MATH(DAY = ODATE << 11 >> 11); _MATH(MONTH = ODATE << 6 >> 11); _MATH(YEAR = ODATE >> 10 + 80); _PRINTF("%02u/%02u/%02u\n",MONTH,DAY,YEAR); _MATH(HOUR = TIME AND 63488 >> 11); _MATH(MIN = TIME AND 2016 >> 5); _MATH(SEC = TIME AND 31 * 2); _PRINTF("%02u:%02u:%02u\n",HOUR,MIN,SEC); Modulus Operator: % The modulus operator is used in integer arithmetic. It gives the remainder that results when the integer to the left is divided by the integer to its right. For example, 13 % 5 (read as "13 modulo 5") has the value of 3 since 5 goes into 13 twice, with a remainder of 3. Don't bother trying to use this operator with anything other than an INTEGER, it just won't work. At first glance, this operator may strike you as an esoteric tool for mathematicians, but actually it is rather practical. One common use is to help you control the flow of a program. Suppose, for example, you had a program that needed to do something extra every third month. Just have the program evaluate the month number modulo 3 (i.e., month % 3) and check to see if the result is 0. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 355 Summary _Msg_command_access(cmd_number,rtcode); cmd_number : Integer constant rtcode : User defined variable, INTEGER CLASS Description Checks to see if you have access to the message area command indicated by the CMD_NUMBER. If you do, 1 is placed in rtcode. If you do not have access to the command, 0 is placed in rtcode. CMD_NUMBER 0 Change Areas 1 Goodbye 2 New Conference Mail Check 4 Enter New Message 6 Read Messages 7 Conference Menu 17 Message Center 18 Pack Messages Example _define_var(rtcode,integer); _file_command_access(18,rtcode); _elseif(rtcode); _printf("Packing Messages, please stand by....); _else; _printf("You do not have access to pack messages!.\n"); _eend; Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 356 Summary _Printf(format{,variable 1, Variable 2, .....}); Description The _printf function formats and prints a series of characters and values to the serial port and the local display screen. The format, what you want to print, consists of ordinary characters, escape sequences, and (if variables follow the format) format specifications. The format MUST begin with double quotes and it must END with double quotes. Ordinary characters and escape sequences are simply copied to the serial port and the local display screen. For example, the line _printf("Line one\n\nLine two\n"); produces the output Line one Line two Escape Sequences Output ------------------------------------------------------------- \r Places cursor on First Column of Screen. \n Starts a New Line \a Rings the Bell Any character following the Escape Character, backslash, that is not one of the defined escape sequences will be copied to the local display screen and to the serial port. Examples _printf("LINE ONE"); _printf("LINE TWO"); Without the escape sequence \n, the output produced by the prior two print statements would look like: LINE ONELINE TWO Including the \n _printf("LINE ONE\n"); _printf("LINE TWO\n"); Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 357 produces the output LINE ONE LINE TWO Another example would be the percent sign. Since the percent sign is part of the format specifications, using _printf("Results were 100%\n"); would produce undefined results. The statement _printf("Results were 100\%\n"); would produce the correct results, 100%. If variables or constants follow format, then format must contain format specifications that determines where and how the variables or constants will be displayed. Format specifications, discussed below, always begin with a percent sign(%). Format is read left to right. When the first format specification (if any) is encountered, the value of the first variable or constant after format is converted and displayed according to the format specifications. The second format specification causes the second variable or constant to be converted and displayed, and so on. If there are more variables or constants than format specifications, the extra variables or constants will be ignored. The results are undefined if there are not enough variables or constants for all the format specifications. A format specification has the following form: %{flags}{width}CLASS Flags Meaning Default ---------------------------------------------------------- - Left justify the result Right justify within the given field width. This argument has no meaning unless the width argument is also used. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 358 The width argument is a non-negative decimal integer controlling the minimum number of characters printed. If the number of characters in the output value is less than the specified width, blanks are added to the right of the values (depending on whether the - flag is specified) until the minimum width is reached. If width is prefixed with a 0, zeros are added until the minimum width is reached (not useful, although allowed, for left-justified numbers). The width specification never causes a value to be truncated; if the number of characters in the output value is greater than the specified width, or width is not given, all characters of the value are printed. CLASS Description Range ----------------------------------------------------------- d Integer -32768 to 32768 u Unsigned_Integer 0 to 65535 r Real Number (*1) 3.4E-38 to 1.7E+308 c Character ASCII 0 to ASCII 255 l Long -2,147,483,648 to 2,147,483,647 x Unsigned_Long 0 to 4,294,967,295 s String (*2) ASCII 0 to ASCII 255 (*1) Internally, Real number have 8 decimal points of precision but only 2 decimal points will be used for display purposes. (*2) A String is a collection of one or more characters linked together and referenced with one variable. Example of a character : A Example of a string : This is a test. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 359 _printf Examples : _printf("This is a string : %s\n",string1); _printf("This is a integer : %d\n",integer1); _printf("This is a real : %r\n",real1); _printf("\n| %40s |\n",string2); _printf("| %40s |\n\n",string3); _printf("| %-40s |\n",string2); _printf("| %-40s |\n\n",string3); _printf("The time is %02d:%02d",hour,min); _printf("\a\n%s\n","Press Return To Continue!"); _printf("How's the weather in %s?\n",_CITY); _printf("%d\n",_ACCESS); _printf("Final Line of the output display.\n"); Output : This is a string : Nice way to print isn't it? This is a integer : 381 This is a real : 1283.21 | This is a test String | | Hi! | | This is a test String | | Hi! | The time is 02:44 Press Return To Continue! How's the weather in Cape Girardeau, Mo.? 12 Final Line of the output display. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 360 Summary _Push_into_queue(s1); s1 : A user defined variable, STRING CLASS or a string constant. Description push_into_queue takes the contents of s1 and places it in the Osiris command stacking queue. Example _push_into_queue("SE400?.ARJ"); _global_download(); Places the wild card file name SE400?.arj in the command queue and calls the global download function. Since there is a file name in the queue, global download will not ask for the name of the file to download, it will pull it from the command queue. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 361 Summary _Putc(ch); ch : A user defined variable, CHARACTER CLASS, or a CHARACTER constant. Description The _putc function is a high speed, low overhead, method of printing a single character to the screen or serial port. Example See _COPY_CH for example on the possible uses of _putc. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 362 Summary _Replace_ch(ch,string,position); ch : A user defined variable, CHARACTER CLASS, or a CHARACTER constant. string : A user defined variable, STRING CLASS. position : A user defined variable, INTEGER CLASS or an Integer constant. Description _Replace_CH is a high speed function used to replace an individual character in a string with the character in ch. The character to replace is pointed to by position. Keep in mind that a STRING CLASS is actual made up of individual CHARACTERS. The string SYSOP is 5 CHARACTERS tied together by the STRING CLASS declare. But, each individual character can be extracted and worked with. SPL/I, even the C programming language, starts labeling individual characters in a string with 0. That can, at times, be confusing since we're use to starting things with a 1. SYSOP 01234 Y has a position of 1, O has a position of 3. To replace Y with * and assuming the variable was named JOHN. _Replace_CH(*,JOHN,1); The variable ch, CLASS CHARACTER, now has the contents of * and _printf("The 2nd character in your name is now %c\n",ch); would produce the output The 2nd character in your name is now * Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 363 Summary _Rewind(file); file : A user defined variable, FILE CLASS Description This function repositions the file pointer to the first character in the file. If the file was opened with WRITE, the file pointer will AUTOMATICALLY go back to the end of file if you attempt to write to it. Example _define_var(in,file); _fopen("user.doc",in,read); _rewind(in); Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 364 Summary _Send_file(rtcode,file); Rtcode : A user defined variable, INTEGER CLASS file : A user defined variable, STRING CLASS or a string constant. Description This function utilizes the internal Osiris file transfer system to send the file pointed to by 'file' to the caller. Send_file is generally used to send special files that aren't normally found in one of your download directories. The file to send must be in the current directory. If it isn't, use the chdir command to place yourself in the same directory, don't forget to change back after the transfer. The status of the transfer, successful or failed, is placed in rtcode. A 0 indicates the transfer was successful. Any other value indicates failure. Example _define_var(rtcode,integer); _assign(rtcode,1); _while(rtcode); _send_file(rtcode,"c:\osiris\user.zip"); _if(rtcode); /* Do something if the file wasn't downloaded */ _endif; _wend; Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 365 Summary _Setdisplay(type); type : An integer constant, 0 or 1 Description The Osiris default display screen is 22x80 with the top line showing serial port information and the bottom two lines showing user information. When Osiris runs a SPL/I command file, the display is set to 25x80, in case WINDOWS are used. In some cases, autoexec.prg, you may want to switch the 22x80 information display back-on. _setdisplay(type) lets you decide which display you want to use. If type is 0, the display will switch to 22x80 information. If type is 1, the display will switch to 25x80 (the default for a SPL/I command file). E.g., _setdisplay(0); Set to 22x80. _setdisplay(1); Set to 25x80. If you are going to use windows, the display MUST be in 25x80 mode. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 366 Summary _Set_file_area(area); area : A user defined variable, INTEGER CLASS, or an integer constant. Description This allows you to force a change to a new file area. The area to change to is taken from the variable, or constant, area. This function does NOT check to see if the caller has access to the area. Example _set_file_area(10); Forces a file area change to area NO. 10. _set_file_area(newarea); Forces a file area change to the area NO. contained within the integer variable "newarea". Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 367 Summary _Set_node_status(status); status : An INTEGER constant Description Allows you to set the node status display (who's on- line) from within a command file. The following integer constants may be used to indicate the status of the caller. 1 = Transferring a File 2 = Unavailable for CHAT 3 = In External Program 4 = Available For CHAT If you change the status, be sure to change it back to its original state, generally 4. Example _set_node_status(3); Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 368 Summary _Set_msg_area(area); area : A user defined variable, INTEGER CLASS, or an integer constant. Description This allows you to force a change to a new conference area. The area to change to is taken from the variable, or constant, area. This function does NOT check to see if the caller has access to the area. Example _set_msg_area(10); Forces a conference area change to area NO. 10. _set_msg_area(newarea); Forces a conference area change to the area NO. contained within the integer variable "newarea". Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 369 Summary _Setcmdkey(string); string : A string CONSTANT Description _setcmdkey lets you switch to a new language cmds key file, the default is cmds.key. _setcmdkey requires a string constant containing the full drive, path, and file name of the new file. E.g., _setcmdkey("C:\osiris\German.key"); _setcmdkey("C:\osiris\FRENCH.key"); Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 370 Summary _Setlangname(string); string : A string CONSTANT Description _setlangname lets you switch to a new language database, the default database is cmds.dat. _setlangname requires a string constant containing the full drive, path, and file name of the new database. E.g., _setlangname("C:\osiris\German.Dat"); _setlangname("C:\osiris\FRENCH.DAT"); Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 371 Summary _Setmenupath(string); string : A string CONSTANT Description _setmenupath lets you change to a different MMU/ASC/PRG subdirectory. _setmenupath requires a string constant containing the full drive and path to the new subdirectory. The path MUST end with a backslash, \. E.g., _setmenupath("E:\MENU\"); _setmenupath("E:\menu\german\"); Notice that each of the paths ended with '\'. You might use this in conjunction with _setlangname to switch your menus to a new language whenever you switch the language database. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 372 Summary _Spawn(program); PROGRAM : A string variable or string constant. Description The _spawn function allows you to execute other SPL/I command files from the current command file. This function should be used sparingly and primarily IN command files that act as centralized menu system for multiple command files. Example _if(ch = 'A'); _spawn("C:\osiris\prgs\infomall.prg"); _endif; Warning To give you as much variable space as possible for the child program, the variable table's pushed onto the stack and then popped back off when you return. But, you WILL lose the contents of any string variable you may have defined. The variable itself will be restored but the contents cannot be. This ONLY applies to string variables. The contents of the other variables will be restored. If you have a string variable and you want to SAVE the contents, create a disk file and save the contents of the variable with fprintf and then restore it after you return from the child with fgets. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 373 Summary _Sprint(format); format : A user defined variable, STRING CLASS, or a string constant. Description The _sprint function is a fast method of printing text to the serial port and the local display screen. _sprint has lower overhead than the _printf function but does have some restrictions. Format cannot include format specifications but may include escape sequences. Even thou _sprint is fast, the fastest method of displaying large amounts of text that do not require variables is _display_text. See the section on _display_text for details. Example _sprint("This is a test\n"); _sprint(string); Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 374 Summary _Sprintf(variable,format{,variable1, Variable2, .....}); Description Sprintf functionally identical to the printf function, but the output is placed in a STRING CLASS variable instead of being sent to the serial port and local display. It is used to create strings using multiple variables of different CLASSES. Sprintf requires an additional argument, in respects to the printf function, the destination variable, STRING CLASS. See section on printf for a description on: format{,variable 1,variable 2, .....}. Example See sample program segment in the section dealing with the execute command. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 375 Summary _Storage(name,len); name : User defined variable, STRING CLASS. len : User defined variable, INTEGER CLASS. Description This function returns the maximum string size this variable can safely hold. Do not confuse it with strlen. Strlen returns the length of the CONTENTS of the variable, while storage returns the MAXIMUM length of what COULD go in there. Example _Define_var(name,string(80)); _define_var(max,integer); _storage(name,max); _printf("The variable can hold up to %d characters.\n",max); The output The variable can hold up to 80 characters. Notice the '80' is the same as the '80' in '_Define_var(name,string(80));'. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 376 Summary _Strcat(string1,string2); string1 : A user defined variable, STRING CLASS. string2 : A user defined variable, STRING CLASS, or string constant. Description The strcat function is used to CONCAT to string1 and string2 to form a new string. The new string is placed in the first variable, string1. WARNING SPL/I does not validate string1. It must be large enough to hold both strings. Example _define_var(s1,string(80)); _define_var(s2,string(40)); _assign(s1,"The"); _assign(s2,"Sysop"); _printf("%s %s\n",s1,s2); The Sysop _strcat(s1," "); _strcat(s1,s2); _printf("%s",s1); The Sysop Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 377 Summary _Strindex(rcode,string1,string2); rcode : User defined variable, INTEGER CLASS. string1: User defined variable, STRING CLASS, or a string constant. string2: User defined variable, STRING CLASS. Description Strindex is used to determine if string1 is in string2. Strindex returns the position, or -1 if string1 is not in string2, in the variable rcode. Example _DEFINE_VAR(NAME,STRING(80)); _DEFINE_VAR(X,INTEGER); _ASSIGN(NAME,_NAME); _printf("NAME : %s\n",name); _strindex(X,"SYS",NAME); _printf("%d\n",x); Produces the output: NAME : The Sysop 4 SYS is in name, and the starting position is 4. Keep in mind that individual positions in a STRING CLASS variable starts at 0 --------- v | The Sysop | 012345678 | ^---------+------ position 4 | Sys is -------- Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 378 Example 2 _DEFINE_VAR(NAME,STRING(80)); _DEFINE_VAR(X,INTEGER); _ASSIGN(NAME,_NAME); _printf("NAME : %s\n",name); _strindex(X,"JOHN",NAME); _elseif(x != -1); _printf("JOHN is NOT in the string '%s'\n",name); _else; _printf("JOHN starts at position %d\n",x); _EEnd; Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 379 Summary _Strlen(string,length); string : a user defined variable, STRING CLASS length : a user defined variable, INTEGER CLASS Description _Strlen is a function used to determine the length of the CONTENTS IN the string. The function returns the length in the variable length. Example _define_var(Mike,String(80)); _define_var(len,Integer); _assign(Mike,"The Sysop"); _strlen(Mike,len); _printf("The length of the string is %d.\n",len); Produces the output The length of the string is 9. E.g., _assign(Mike,"The Sysop"); 123456789 Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 380 Summary _Switch(ch); _Case(value); _Break; _Send; ch : User defined variable, CHARACTER CLASS or a user defined variable, INTEGER CLASS. value : An integer constant or a character constant. Description The conditional operator and the elseif construction make it easy to write programs that choose between two alternatives. Sometimes, however, a program needs to choose one of SEVERAL alternatives. We can do this using elseif, but in many cases it is more convenient to use the switch statement. Here is an example showing how it works. This program reads in a letter, then responds by printing an animal name that begins with that letter. _getc(ch,1); _switch(ch); _case('A'); _printf("argala, a wild sheep of Asia\n"); _break; _case('B'); _printf("babirusa, a wild pig of Malay\n"); _break; _case('C'); _printf("coati, racoon like mammal\n"); _break; _case('D'); _printf("desman, aquatic, molelike critter\n"); _break; _case('E'); _printf("echidna, the sphiny anteater\n"); _break; _default; _printf("That's a stumper!\n"); _send; Switch may also use an INTEGER variable. Here is the same program, but it uses an integer variable instead of character variable. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 381 _getc(ch,1); _cast(ch,integer); _switch(ch); _case(65); _printf("argala, a wild sheep of Asia\n"); _break; _case(66); _printf("babirusa, a wild pig of Malay\n"); _break; _case(67); _printf("coati, racoon like mammal\n"); _break; _case(68); _printf("desman, aquatic, molelike critter\n"); _break; _case(69); _printf("echidna, the sphiny anteater\n"); _break; _default; _printf("That's a stumper!\n"); _send; It might look a little strange and you may be wondering how in the world 'A' gets to be an integer 65. Well, an upper case 'A' has the ASCII value of 65. When you it casted to an integer, the ASCII 65 (uppercase A) becomes an integer 65. If you were to cast an integer 66 to character format, it would become an upper case 'B'. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 382 This is how the switch statement works. The express in the parentheses following word SWITCH is evaluated. In this case it has whatever value you entered for ch. Then the program scans the list of "labels" (case('A'), case('B'), case('C'), etc. in this instances) until it finds one that matches the value. The program then jumps to the next line following the label. What if there is not match? If there is a line labeled "default", it must be the last one, the program jumps there. The "break" signals the END of the body of statements associated with LABEL. If you are familiar with Pascal, you will recognize the switch statement as being similar to the Pascal CASE statement. The most important difference is that the SWITCH statement requires the use of a _BREAK if you want only the labeled statement(s) to be processed. The SWITCH labels must be a character or integer constant. You cannot use a variable for a label. When should you use a SWITCH and when should you use the elseif construction? Often you don't have a choice. You can't use a switch if your choice is based on evaluating a REAL, LONG variable or expression. Nor can you a SWITCH if the variable must fall into a certain range. It is simple to write _if(ch < 200 .AND. ch > 2) but covering this possibility with a switch would involve setting up case labels for each ch from 3 to 199. However if you can use SWITCH, your program will run more efficiently. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 383 Summary _Sysdate(year,month,day); Year, Month, Day : User defined, INTEGER CLASS, variables. Description The function _sysdate places the current system date in year,month, and day. Example _Define_VAR(Y,INTEGER); _DEFINE_VAR(M,INTEGER); _DEFINE_VAR(D,INTEGER); _SysDate(Y,M,D); _PRINTF("The current date is : %d/%d/%d\n",m,d,y); produces the output The current date is : 12/23/1991 If you want a two digit year _SysDate(Y,M,D); _MATH(Y = Y - 1900); _PRINTF("The current date is : %d/%d/%d\n",m,d,y); produces the output The current date is : 12/23/91 Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 384 Summary _Systime(h,m,s,hu); H, M, S, HU : User defined variables, INTEGER CLASS Description This function retrieves the current system time in HOUR, MINUTE, SECOND, HUNDRED SECOND format and stores it in the user defined variables. Example _DEFINE_VAR(HOUR,INTEGER); _DEFINE_VAR(MINUTE,INTEGER); _DEFINE_VAR(SECOND,INTEGER); _DEFINE_VAR(HUND,INTEGER); _SYSTIME(HOUR,MINUTE,SECOND,HUND); _PRINTF("The time is : %02d:%02d:%02d.%d\n",HOUR,MINUTE,SECOND,HUND); produces the output The time is : 02:23:45.77 Time is returned in 24 hour format. If you would rather display it in AM/PM format. . . _DEFINE_VAR(HOUR,INTEGER); _DEFINE_VAR(MINUTE,INTEGER); _DEFINE_VAR(SECOND,INTEGER); _DEFINE_VAR(HUND,INTEGER); _SYSTIME(HOUR,MINUTE,SECOND,HUND); _ELSEIF(HOUR > 12); _MATH(HOUR = HOUR - 12); _PRINTF("The time is : %02d:%02d:%02d PM\n",HOUR,MINUTE,SECOND); _ELSE; _PRINTF("The time is : %02d:%02d:%02d AM\n",HOUR,MINUTE,SECOND); _EEND; Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 385 Summary _Timerset(v1,1000); v1 : User defined variable, LONG CLASS. Description This function can be used to track elapse time and can be quite helpful when it comes to optimizing your code. You may also use this function to LIMIT time spent in a certain section of your program. _timerset requires two arguments, a long integer to store the current time in, and a long constant. If you are going to use timerset to track elapse time, the long constant should always be 0. If you are going to use timerset to limit the time spent in a certain section of your program, the long constant should be the amount of time you want to limit the caller to, in CLOCK TICS. There are 100 clock tics to a second; 200 would be 2 seconds, 500 would be 5 seconds, 30000 would be 30 seconds, etc. Examples To figure elapse time: _define_var(start,Long); _define_var(finish,long); _define_var(elapse,long); _timerset(start,0); _timerset(finish,0); _math(elapse = finish - start / 100); _printf("Elapse time : %l Seconds\n",elapse); Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 386 Summary _Timeup(v1,rtcode); v1 : User defined variable, LONG CLASS rtcode : User defined variable, INTEGER CLASS Description Timeup can be used in conjunction with timerset to limit the amount of time you can stay in a specific section of code. Timeup requires two variables; The first is a long (the one you used with timerset) and the second is an INTEGER. If the time has expired, timeup will place 1 in rtcode. If the time has not expired, timeup will place 0 in rtcode. Example _define_var(time,long); _define_var(rtcode,integer); _timerset(time,30000); _assign(rtcode,0); _while(rtcode = 0); _timeup(time,rtcode); _wend; This would hold you in the while loop for 30 seconds. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 387 Summary _Unlink(file); file : User defined variable, STRING CLASS, or a string constant. Description Deletes "file" from your disk. Identical to the dos DEL command so be careful. Wild cards are supported so don't let a caller loose with this command or you may not have a hard drive when you get up in the morning. Example unlink("-TMP.!!!"); Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 388 Summary _While(expression......); body _Wend; A while state has four distinct parts. First is the keyword _while. Then, in parentheses, comes a test condition (the expression) or multiple test conditions. The body, a series of commands, and finally the _WEND. Expression(s) work like the expressions for the _IF functions. See the section on _IF for further details. -------------<------------------<--- | | v TRUE | WHILE ---> [EXPRESSION(S)] -------> BODY ----> _WEND - | | False v First Statement following _WEND The while statement belongs to a class of statements sometimes called "structured statements" because they posses a structure more complex than a simple _IF statement. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 389 Windows Summary _Openwindow(win#,ur,uc,lr,lc,border_type,border_color); _Closewindow(win#); _Clearwindow(win#); win# : An INTEGER constant, 1 - 10. ur, uc, lr, lc, border_type, border_color : Integer CONSTANTS. Description The openwindow function utilizes ANSI to create a WINDOW on the screen. It saves the area under the window and a call to closewindow will restore the area. The parameter WIN# is an integer CONSTANT (not a variable) used to identify the window, you may use the values 1 through 10. If you make a call to clearwindow or to closewindow, you have to pass this WIN# so those functions will know WHICH window to close, if more than one is open. UR and UC points to the upper row and upper left column of the window. LR and LC point to the lower row and lower RIGHT column of the window, not including border. Valid rows values are : 2 - 24 Valid column values are : 2 - 79 The screen is actual 1-25 and 1 - 80, but space must be reserved for the border. You may specify the TYPE of border, single or double line, you want using "border_type". A 0 will generate a single line border and 1 will generate a double line border. Border_color tells me which foreground color to use for the border. Valid border colors range from 0 (black) to 31 (blinking bright white). See section on "color()" for a full list of values and their corresponding colors. Openwindow does NOT save the current cursor location, see section on _curget and _locate, nor does it validate the parameters passed to it. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 390 You have two possible problem areas when using windows. The first is monitor mismatching. If you do color, you must use a color monitor on the BBS or you have to select your colors carefully. When the closewindow function is called, it will restore the section under the window and then read that section so it can send the same colors/characters to the remote screen. A monographic screen does not use the same color codes that a color screen will and the screen may not restore to your INTENDED colors. The second problem area is placement. Doing a window without clearing the screen, a slash command for instances, will not restore the proper area on the remote screen because your BBS screen is smaller, by 3 lines, than the callers. This is due to the TOP and two BOTTOM status lines Osiris keeps on the screen all the time. _closewindow(WIN#) closes the window pointed to by WIN# and restores the screen area beneath the window to its original state. _clearwindow(WIN#) clears the window pointed to by WIN#. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 391 Example _define_var(s1,string(30)); _define_var(ch,character); _define_var(row,integer); _define_var(col,integer); _define_var(not_done,integer); _define_var(not_valid,integer); _assign(not_done,1); _while(not_done); _cls(); _display_text("d:\itp\m.ans"); _assign(not_valid,1); _while(not_valid); _sprint("Selection ? "); _gets(s1,1); _copy_ch(ch,s1,0); _sprint("\r \r"); _elseif(ch != 'L'); _curget(row,col); _call(errormsg); _locate(row,col); _else; _clear(not_valid); _clear(not_done); _eend; _wend; _wend; _mend; _procedure(errormsg); _openwindow(1,8,22,10,51,1,13); _locate(8,22); _sprint("That Is "); _color(30); _sprint("\aNOT "); _color(7); _sprint("a valid selection."); _locate(10,25); _sprint("Press RETURN to Continue"); _getc(ch,0); _closewindow(1); _sprint(""); _pend; Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 392 Spl/I Database System SPL/I supports user defined flat databases with a primary key field, using an eight level memory based high speed Btree indexing system. Number Of Fields SPL/I does not limit you to a specific number of fields. A database record can consist of 1 field or 999 fields. The only limit SPL/I places on a database record is overall size. The record can be no larger than 1000 bytes. You are however, limited to only one index field. The best way to teach you about database construction is to take you though the process of setting up a simple database so . . . Defining A Database The first step in setting up an SPL/I database is simple and one that can't be skipped. Set down at the table with a pencil and paper and decide on exactly WHAT you are going to put in a record. For this tutorial, we'll use the vetlink database found on VL3. The vetlink database is will list BBS' around the country that carry a specific echomail conference. We want to let people log on and find the closest system in their area so they don't have to call long distance. The first step is to list, on paper, exactly what we want to store in each record. We want: The BBS' name, Phone No., and The City and State the BBS is located in. The next step is to figure out what piece of information the caller WILL know that we can use for a KEY to find the correct record. If you are looking for something in your area, then you'll more than likely know the AREA CODE for that area. Ok, we got that in the phone number field. But, that means we can't put the WHOLE phone number in one field. If you knew the whole phone number, there wouldn't be any need for the database. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 393 So, we're going to have to split the phone number so the area code can have its own field and can act as our primary index field. The BBS' name Area Code Rest of the phone number. City and State. That'll work just fine, but...lets think things though a little more. It might be nice if you could enter a City or State and find the BBS that way, since those would be KNOWN factors. And what about breaking the search down into area code and dial prefix? The dial prefix would certainly be a KNOWN factor. Ok, now we have: The BBS' name Area Code Prefix Suffix City State There, now we've broken each piece of information down so that possible KNOWN factors can have their own fields and I think we're ready to go to the next step. Before we proceed, look back at the last paragraph. "KNOWN" is very important. ALL database systems must have at least ONE KNOWN factor. Without that, there is no way you can come up with a record. Now that we know what we what to put into each field and we know that the "Area Code" is going to be our primary index field, we need to decide just how BIG each field has to be. Knowing how large to make a field can sometimes be as tricky as deciding on what fields to use. Lets take "The BBS' name". We don't KNOW how large a field to make because we can't predict what someone else is going to do, name wise. So we have to decide how much space we're going to allow and we'll just have to truncate anything that exceeds that length. Lets say we'll allow upto 40 characters for the BBS name. That should be more than enough for most BBS'. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 394 Rule 1: Always add 1 to any field length as a safety cushion. Field 1, BBS name - 41 Characters. The next field is "AREA CODE" and that's an easy one. We know all area codes have 3 digits so field #2 will be 4 characters, remember Rule 1? Field 2, Area code - 4 Characters. The next field, prefix, is also has a known length, 3 digits. Field 3, Prefix - 4 Characters. We're in luck, the fourth field "Suffix" also has a known length (for the United States) 4 digits. Field 4, Suffix - 5 Characters. Field 5, City, is like the first field, BBS name, and like the BBS name, we'll just have to decide how much space we're going to allow. Generally, 26 characters will handle about any CITY name you're likely to encounter. Field 5, City - 27 Characters. Field 6 has a known length, 2 characters. Field 6, State - 3 Characters. NOTE: When you actual create the database, OSM will ask for field length and not characters. In this case, number of characters is the field length. Our final step is the name. Each database has to have a unique 8 character name, this does not include the extension. When creating database names, never include any type of file extension, those are automatically added for you. In this case, we'll call the database VETLINK Now that we have written ALL of this on our piece of paper, we're ready to create the actual database and we have to use OSM for that. Under the primary menu option "DBASE", you'll find a sub- option called "MAKE DB". Select this option to create the database. The first question will be "Number of fields". We go back to our piece of paper and count the fields and we come up with 6 so, enter that number. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 395 The next six questions will be "Enter Length Field #X" with X being the actual field number. Again, reference you're paper and enter the number characters you wrote down for that field. E.g., 41 4 4 5 27 3 The next question will be "Use which field as Index ?". We decided that AREA code would be the field we'd use as our primary index and AREA code is field #2. The final question, the name to use for the database. We decided on VETLINK so type that in. Ok, now that we have created the database how do we put information in it? Create a text file, name doesn't matter but we'll use DATA.TXT for this example. Each line of the text file will be a RECORD in our database. Each field will be separated by @. Since our database record contains six fields, a line in the text file would look something like this: The Cat's Lair@314@334@6359@CAPE GIRARDEAU@MO@ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ | | | | | | Field 1 | | | | | Field 2 | | | | Field 3 | | | Field 4 | | Field 5 | Field 6 After you add all the records to this text file, run OSM and under the DBASE option, you'll find a sub-option called "ADD DB". When you select this option, the first question will be the name of the database, VETLINK. Remember not to use any type of file extension. The next question will be the name of the text file, data.txt in this case. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 396 That's it. OSM will take the text records out of data.txt and import them into the database. This is not the only way to get records into a database, but 90 percent of all databases will use this method. Now we have our database and we have data in it so the final step will be to create an SPL/I command file that allows callers to access the data. Creating Vetlink.scr The first order of business is to OPEN the database so _OPENDATABASE("C:\OSIRIS\VETLINK"); Notice I did not use a file extension. Now we need some form of loop that will keep you in the vetlink program until YOU decide to quit. _DEFINE_VAR(NOT_DONE,INTEGER); _ASSIGN(NOT_DONE,1); _WHILE(NOT_DONE); _WEND; _MEND; I've used a while loop and a variable called not_done, which pretty much explains the entire loop. I've assigned not_done the value of 1 and when the while 'expression' is evaluated, it will evaluate TRUE because a value in a single variable that is not 0 (Zero) always evaluates TRUE. To kill the loop, all I have to do is change the value in NOT_DONE to 0. The 'expression' would evaluate FALSE and I'd drop out of the loop. Neat, clean, and simple. You'll also notice the FIRST thing I did after the _WEND was to close the database. ALWAYS close a database before leaving a command file. Failing to close a database can cause all kinds of problems. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 397 Put everything together and we have: _OPENDATABASE("C:\OSIRIS\VETLINK"); _DEFINE_VAR(NOT_DONE,INTEGER); _ASSIGN(NOT_DONE,1); _WHILE(NOT_DONE); _WEND; _closedatabase(); _MEND; The first thing I want to do in the loop is display the menu and get your selection. Since I'm going to get a selection, I need to also define a variable to hold it. I'll add that before the loop. If I put the define inside the loop, I'd be redefining the same variable every time the loop cycled and sooner or later the computer would crash with an out of memory error. Since I'm going for single character input, the variable only needs to hold 1 character. The CHARACTER CLASS variable fits that to a tee. The name, well I like CH for character class variables so I'll use that. _OPENDATABASE("C:\OSIRIS\VETLINK"); _DEFINE_VAR(NOT_DONE,INTEGER); _DEFINE_VAR(CH,CHARACTER); _ASSIGN(NOT_DONE,1); _WHILE(NOT_DONE); _WEND; _closedatabase(); _MEND; Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 398 Next step is to put the menu, the input prompt, and the input command inside the loop: _OPENDATABASE("C:\OSIRIS\VETLINK"); _DEFINE_VAR(NOT_DONE,INTEGER); _DEFINE_VAR(CH,CHARACTER); _ASSIGN(NOT_DONE,1); _WHILE(NOT_DONE); _CLS(); _sprint("A) Within A Specific Area Code\n"); _sprint("B) Within A Specific City\n"); _sprint("C) Within A Specific State\n\n"); _sprint("Q) Quit \n\n"); _sprint("Enter Selection ? "); _getc(ch,1); _WEND; _closedatabase(); _MEND; I've elected to use the _sprint function to print the menu. You could use any one of half a dozen methods, but this one is the simplest. Notice the _getc(ch,1) . . . To simplify processing, I'm only going to test for an UPPERCASE responses. The 1 forces anything you type to UPPERCASE. E.g., 'A' and 'a' are not the same. If I were to test for 'A' and you enter 'a', the test would fail. The 1 guarantees that your 'a' will be converted to 'A' before I get it. Ok, now that I have the database open, I've got you inside a loop that displays a menu and gets come type of single character response, I got to do something with it. Using ELSEIF may be the easiest way to handle this particular program, given the limited number of options, so let's put in some elseif statements to determine if you entered a valid selection; A, B, C, or Q. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 399 _OPENDATABASE("C:\OSIRIS\VETLINK"); _DEFINE_VAR(NOT_DONE,INTEGER); _DEFINE_VAR(CH,CHARACTER); _ASSIGN(NOT_DONE,1); _WHILE(NOT_DONE); _CLS(); _sprint("A) Within A Specific Area Code\n"); _sprint("B) Within A Specific City\n"); _sprint("C) Within A Specific State\n\n"); _sprint("Q) Quit \n\n"); _sprint("Enter Selection ? "); _getc(ch,1); _cls(); _elseif(ch = 'A'); _else; _elseif(ch = 'B'); _else; _elseif(ch = 'C'); _else; _elseif(ch = 'Q'); _else; _eend; _eend; _eend; _eend; _WEND; _closedatabase(); _MEND; Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 400 TIP: When you nest ELSEIF statements, always enter all three sections _ELSEIF(); _ELSE; _EEND; in a row before doing ANYTHING else. That way, you'll always have the correct number of matching ELSE's and EEND's to go with the ELSEIF's. Then you can go in-between and add the rest of the code. We'll add each option as a procedure rather than stick it between the correct ELSEIF and ELSE so things are easier to read. Lets take the most obvious one, ELSEIF(CH = 'Q'), first. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 401 _OPENDATABASE("C:\OSIRIS\VETLINK"); _DEFINE_VAR(NOT_DONE,INTEGER); _DEFINE_VAR(CH,CHARACTER); _ASSIGN(NOT_DONE,1); _WHILE(NOT_DONE); _CLS(); _sprint("A) Within A Specific Area Code\n"); _sprint("B) Within A Specific City\n"); _sprint("C) Within A Specific State\n\n"); _sprint("Q) Quit \n\n"); _sprint("Enter Selection ? "); _getc(ch,1); _cls(); _elseif(ch = 'A'); _else; _elseif(ch = 'B'); _else; _elseif(ch = 'C'); _else; _elseif(ch = 'Q'); _clear(not_done); _else; _eend; _eend; _eend; _eend; _WEND; _closedatabase(); _MEND; Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 402 If 'Q' is selected, all I have to do is clear NOT_DONE (set it to 0) and you'll drop out of the loop. The while 'expression' will evaluate FALSE ( 0 always evaluates false with single expression tests) , the database will be closed, and the command file will stop executing, _MEND. The next step, picking out the names of the procedures we will use for the remaining three option. Try to use something that reflects the procedures purpose, it'll be easier to read. I think we'll use: FINDAREA, FINDCITY, and FINDSTATE. Having decided on the names, lets add call statement to what we have in the appropriate ELSEIF spots: Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 403 _OPENDATABASE("C:\OSIRIS\VETLINK"); _DEFINE_VAR(NOT_DONE,INTEGER); _DEFINE_VAR(CH,CHARACTER); _ASSIGN(NOT_DONE,1); _WHILE(NOT_DONE); _CLS(); _sprint("A) Within A Specific Area Code\n"); _sprint("B) Within A Specific City\n"); _sprint("C) Within A Specific State\n\n"); _sprint("Q) Quit \n\n"); _sprint("Enter Selection ? "); _getc(ch,1); _cls(); _elseif(ch = 'A'); _CALL(FINEAREA); _else; _elseif(ch = 'B'); _CALL(FINDCITY); _else; _elseif(ch = 'C'); _CALL(FINDSTATE); _else; _elseif(ch = 'Q'); _clear(not_done); _else; _eend; _eend; _eend; _eend; _WEND; _closedatabase(); _MEND; Now that we have the MAIN section of the program done, we get to the tricky part, the procedures that actual access the database. The first procedure we'll do is FINDAREA and we start by declaring the procedure with _procedure(areacode); Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 404 We're also going to need some variables to work with so we'll declare those. I'll explain what each one is for as we use it. _define_var(acode,string(10)); _define_var(ocode,string(10)); _define_var(rtcode,integer); First step is to get the area code from the caller. Since the area code is a 3 character or digit field, we'll use the masked_input command to limit input to 3 characters. We'll also use a 999 mask to force the caller to enter numbers and not letters. _sprint("List systems in which area code ? "); _masked_input(1,acode,"(999)"); Ok, we've got the input now lets see if there is an INDEX KEY that matches the area code. The function _LoadRecord is used to load the first record that matches the key. If it successfully loads a record, it sets the RTCODE variable to 1. If it doesn't it sets the code to 0. The correct syntax for _loadrecord is: _LoadRecord(rtcode,acode); The key field, acode (what the caller typed in and the area code he is looking for) is the second variable. All KEY fields must be entered in a STRING CLASS variable. You can CAST the fields contents into any VARIABLE CLASS once the record has been loaded. NOTE: You don't have to use those exact variable names, you can use any name you want. We now have: _procedure(areacode); _define_var(acode,string(10)); _define_var(ocode,string(10)); _define_var(rtcode,integer); _sprint("List systems in which area code ? "); _masked_input(1,acode,"(999)"); _LoadRecord(rtcode,acode); Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 405 Because there may be more than one record that matches the key, we can't simply print the record and return. We have to setup a loop that repeatedly displays the current record and gets the next record. We also have to use something to determine when the next record no longer matches the key. Since _LoadRecord and GetNextRecord always place 1 in RTcode , if a record was loaded, that's a good variable to use for LOOP control. There are other methods, but this one is as good as any. _while(rtcode); _wend; The section of code inside the loop should display the current record and get the next record. It must also do the test to determine WHEN we need to exit the loop. You could put the display code inside the loop itself, but since all three of our procedures will be displaying a record, it would require less code if we put the display record in its own procedure and just call it from the other three, so we will and we'll call that procedure DISPLAY. Because we loaded the first record before entering the loop, the first thing we do INSIDE the loop is display the record. _while(rtcode); _call(display); _wend; The next step is to get the next record. We can't use the LOADRECORD call a second time because it would located the first record that matched and we'd just continue looping, displaying the same record over and over and over and over and ......... But, if there are multiple records with the SAME key, they will always be GROUPED together. After we find the first one with _LOADRECORD, a call to the function _GETNEXTRECORD will load the next available record. It may or it may not match the KEY and that's what we have to determine. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 406 So . . . _while(rtcode); _call(display); _GetNextRecord(rtcode); _if(rtcode); _endif; _wend; We need to CHECK rtcode after the call to GETNEXTRECORD just in case the first matching key was the LAST record in the database. If it was, then we don't need to do anything because RTcode will be 0 and the _while loop will terminate. If RTcode does contain 1, we have to determine if the key field matches what we want. It could be the first record of a NEW group of area codes. We can't directly work with a database field so we have to move it to a variable we can work with. That's why I defined ocode. Ocode is a duplicate, defined using the same type of define_var, as the original acode (string used to get the key, area code, from the caller). The function copyfrom is use to move the contents of the database field to the variable. E.g., Copyfrom(ocode,2); ^ | -------------- | Field 2 contains the area code. The variable ocode now contains the area code field from the current database record. Now we have to compare ocode with the original acode. If they match, then we have another record that matches the key. If they don't match, that means we've hit the next group of area codes and we need to terminate the search. We'll use the _IF function to evaluate the test expression. _if(ocode != acode); _clear(rtcode); _endif; Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 407 Put it all together and we have: _procedure(areacode); _define_var(acode,string(10)); _define_var(ocode,string(10)); _define_var(rtcode,integer); _sprint("List systems in which area code ? "); _masked_input(1,acode,"(999)"); _LoadRecord(rtcode,acode); _while(rtcode); _call(display); _GetNextRecord(rtcode); _if(rtcode); _Copyfrom(ocode,2); _if(ocode != acode); _clear(rtcode); _endif; _endif; _wend; _pend; A procedure that will get the key from the caller, load the first matching record and loops, display each record until we hit an area code that doesn't match what we're looking for. At that point, you return to the main menu. You might ask, what if _loadrecord() fails to find the first matching key? Nothing, RTCODE is set to 0 and the while loop is never entered. You'll simply return to the main menu. The next procedure we'll tackle is findcity. We start it the same way we did the findarea procedure. _procedure(findcity); _define_var(city,string(27)); _define_var(ocity,string(27)); _define_var(rtcode,integer); This is almost identical to the findarea procedure except I used slightly different names, more suited to what this procedure does. Like the findarea procedure, the first step is to get the name of the city the caller wants to search for. _sprint("What City ? "); _gets(city,26); Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 408 Instead of the masked_input command, I used gets. You could use masked_input, but I wanted to show you a different method. Since CITY is not the index field, we can't use the LOADRECORD command, it only works on the INDEX field. When you search on a non-indexed field, you have to start with the first record in the database and look at every single record. Non-indexed searching is not exactly the fastest method of locating a record, but your more complex searches generally have to use this method, even with database programs like Dbase IV or RBASE 5000. To load the first record in the database, we use the function _SetToFirstRecord. Unlike _loadrecord, settofirstrecord does NOT set RTCODE, there is no possible error because there will always be a first record, so you will have to set rtcode to 1 so the while loop will execute. _assign(rtcode,1); Ok, we now have _procedure(findcity); _define_var(city,string(27)); _define_var(ocity,string(27)); _define_var(rtcode,integer); _sprint("What City ? "); _gets(city,26); _assign(rtcode,1); _SetToFirstRecord(); The rest of the procedure is almost identical to FINDAREA, with a few small changes. The city is held in field 5 so _copyfrom(ocity,5); Since we're going to search from the first record to the very last record, we don't need the test _if(ocity != city); _clear(rtcode); _endif; We'll just let the getnextrecord terminate the while loop when it reaches the last record. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 409 Because we're loading and looking at each record, we do have to test the record to see if it matches what we're looking for so we need _if(ocity = city); _call(display); _endif; If it matches THEN display the record. The entire procedure: _procedure(findcity); _define_var(city,string(27)); _define_var(ocity,string(27)); _define_var(rtcode,integer); _sprint("What City ? "); _gets(city,26); _assign(rtcode,1); _SetToFirstRecord(); _while(rtcode); _copyfrom(ocity,5); _if(ocity = city); _call(display); _endif; _GetNextRecord(rtcode); _wend; _pend; Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 410 The last procedure we have to setup, for the menu, is FINDSTATE. FINDSTATE is almost IDENTICAL to FINDCITY, with a couple of obvious differences so I'm not going to explain it, but I will display it. _procedure(findstate); _define_var(state,string(3)); _define_var(ostate,string(3)); _define_var(rtcode,integer); _sprint("List systems in which State ? "); _masked_input(1,state,"AA."); _SetToFirstRecord(); _assign(rtcode,1); _while(rtcode); _copyfrom(ostate,4); _if(ostate = state); _call(display); _endif; _GetNextRecord(rtcode); _wend; _pend; The Last procedure our program needs is DISPLAY. The first steps, define the procedure and setup the variables we'll use in this procedure. The procedure isn't complicated and so there isn't any need for a detailed explanation. Look at it and then I'll touch on a few of things that might confuse you. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 411 _procedure(display); _define_var(s1,string(81)); _define_var(a1,integer); _define_var(b1,integer); _define_var(c1,integer); _define_var(mask,string(81)); _cls(); _copyfrom(s1,1); _printf("BBS : %s\n",s1); _copyfrom(a1,2); _copyfrom(b1,3); _copyfrom(c1,4); _sprintf(s1,"%d%d%d",a1,b1,c1); _make_mask(mask,s1,"(999) 999-9999"); _printf("%s",mask); _printf("PHONE : %s\n",mask); _copyfrom(s1,5); _printf("CITY : %s\n",s1); _copyfrom(s1,6); _sprint("STATE : %s\n\n",s1); _printf("Press any key to continue "); _getc(ch,0); _cls(); _pend; The section _copyfrom(a1,2); _copyfrom(b1,3); _copyfrom(c1,4); moves the contents of fields 2,3,4 to their respective variables which I defined as INTEGER CLASS variables. I did this to show you how field casting works. Since the numeric values of fields 2,3, and 4 will fit in an INTEGER class variable, I decided to CAST the fields into those types of variables and then use the make_mask to create a display string in the format of (314) 334-6359, assuming that phone number was in this record. You could have done: _copyfrom(s1,2); _printf("(%s) ",s1); _copyfrom(s1,3); _printf("%s",s1); _copyfrom(s1,4); _printf("-%s\n\n",s1); The results would be the same. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 412 Spl/I, A Functional Example Below is the Quick Service LOGON SPL/I command file used on Vetlink #3, one of our systems. This is a complete SPL/I command program. _define_var(s1,string(81)); _define_var(dirty,integer); _define_var(ch,character); _define_var(not_done,integer); _define_var(row,integer); _define_var(col,integer); _define_var(rtcode,integer); _define_var(baud,integer); _define_var(node,integer); _define_var(serial,integer); _define_var(first_time,integer); _assign(first_time,1); _assign(node,_NODE); _assign(serial,_PORT); _assign(not_done,1); _assign(baud,_BRATE); _assign(dirty,1); _cls(); _while(not_done); _if(_ANSI = 0 .OR. dirty = 1); _display_text("w4"); _endif; _assign(dirty,1); _elseif(_ANSI); _sprint(" "); _color(2); _sprint("What'll it be ( "); _color(30); _sprint("X = Main BBS Program "); _color(2); _sprint(") "); _color(15); _sprint("? "); _color(7); _if(first_time); _curget(row,col); _clear(first_time); _call(specialmsg); Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 413 _locate(row,col); _endif; _getc(ch,1); _sprint("\r \r"); _curget(row,col); _else; _sprint(" What'll it be ( X = Main BBS Program ) ? "); _getc(ch,1); _eend; _elseif(ch = 'X'); _clear(not_done); _else; _elseif(ch = 'I'); _push_into_queue("I512?.ARJ"); _cls(); _global_download(); _else; _elseif(ch = 'O'); _push_into_queue("SE302?.ARJ"); _cls(); _global_download(); _else; _elseif(ch = 'T'); _push_into_queue("Tmod???.ARJ"); _cls(); _global_download(); _else; _elseif(ch = 'D'); _display_text("help"); _else; _elseif(ch = 'A'); _push_into_queue("arcshell.ARJ"); _cls(); _global_download(); Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 414 _else; _elseif( ch = '?'); _display_text("c:\osiris\welcome4.scr"); _printf("\nPress any key to continue.\n"); _getc(ch,0); _cls(); _else; _elseif(ch = 'L'); _post_msg_to_sysop(); _drop_carrier(); _cls(); _else; _elseif(ch = 'G'); _send_file(rtcode,"user.zip"); _else; _elseif(ch = 'P'); _drop_carrier(); _else; _elseif(ch = 'C'); _cls(); _sprintf(s1,"tntbbs -B %d -P %d -N %d",baud,serial,node); _execute(640,s1,rtcode); _else; _elseif(ch == 'V'); _call(vetlink); _else; _call(errormsg); _if(_ANSI); _locate(row,col); _clear(dirty); _endif; _eend; _eend; _eend; _eend; Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 415 _eend; _eend; _eend; _eend; _eend; _eend; _eend; _eend; _wend; _cls(); _Mend; _procedure(errormsg); _if(_ANSI); _openwindow(1,8,22,10,51,1,13); _locate(8,22); _sprint("That Is "); _color(30); _sprint("\aNOT "); _color(7); _sprint("a valid selection."); _locate(10,25); _sprint("Press RETURN to Continue"); _getc(ch,0); _closewindow(1); _sprint(""); _Endif; _pend; _procedure(specialmsg); _openwindow(1,8,15,15,52,1,13); _locate(8,15); _color(15); _sprint("Some of our special services, mostly"); _locate(9,15); _sprint("slash commands located at the main"); _locate(10,15); _sprint("menu will be down for a few days while"); _locate(11,15); _sprint("we change them over to the new format."); _locate(13,15); _sprint("Thank you."); Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 416 _locate(15,21); _sprint("Press any key to continue."); _getc(ch,0); _closewindow(1); _sprint(""); _pend; _procedure(vetlink); _define_var(not_done,integer); _define_var(row,integer); _define_var(col,integer); _define_var(dirty,integer); _assign(dirty,1); _opendatabase("Vetlink"); _assign(not_done,1); _while(not_done); _if(dirty); _clear(dirty); _cls(); _sprint("CVETLINK III\n"); _sprint("CPresents\n"); _sprint("CVIETNAM_VET DISTRIBUTION DATABASE\n\n"); _sprint("CA. List BBS Systems In A Specific Area Code.\n"); _sprint("CS. List BBS Systems In A Specific State.\n"); _sprint("CC. List BBS Systems In A Specific City.\n\n"); _sprint("CQ. Quit VIETNAM_VET Echo Distribution System.\n\n"); _curget(row,col); _math(col = col + 11); _endif; _locate(row,col); _color(2); _sprint("Selection Please "); _color(15); _sprint("? "); _color(7); _getc(ch,1); _locate(row,col); _sprint(" "); _elseif(ch = 'A'); _call(areacode); _else; _elseif(ch = 'S'); _call(findstate); _else; _elseif(ch = 'C'); Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 417 _call(findcity); _else; _elseif(ch = 'Q'); _clear(not_done); _else; _call(errormsg); _eend; _eend; _eend; _eend; _wend; _cls(); _CloseDataBase(); _Pend; _procedure(areacode); _define_var(acode,string(10)); _define_var(ocode,string(10)); _define_var(total,integer); _define_var(rtcode,integer); _color(2); _clear(total); _openwindow(1,6,10,8,55,1,3); _locate(7,10); _sprint("List systems in which area code ? "); _masked_input(1,acode,"(999)"); _LoadRecord(rtcode,acode); _openwindow(2,9,19,15,60,1,13); _while(rtcode); _++(total); _call(display); _GetNextRecord(rtcode); _if(rtcode); _copyfrom(ocode,1); _if(ocode != acode); _clear(rtcode); _endif; Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 418 _endif; _wend; _color(7); _elseif(total > 0); _locate(12,31); _printf("Found %3d systems.",total); _else; _locate(12,25); _printf("I'm sorry, no systems listed!"); _eend; _locate(15,24); _printf("Press any key to continue . . ."); _getc(ch,0); _closewindow(2); _closewindow(1); _pend; _procedure(display); _define_var(s1,string(81)); _define_var(a1,integer); _define_var(b1,integer); _define_var(c1,integer); _define_var(mask,string(81)); _color(3); _locate(10,21); _sprint("BBS : "); _color(15); _copyfrom(s1,6); _printf("%s",s1); _locate(11,21); _color(3); _sprint("PHONE : "); _color(15); _copyfrom(a1,1); _copyfrom(b1,2); _copyfrom(c1,3); _sprintf(s1,"%d%d%d",a1,b1,c1); _make_mask(mask,s1,"(999) 999-9999"); _printf("%s",mask); _locate(12,21); _color(3); _sprint("CITY : "); _color(15); _copyfrom(s1,5); _printf("%s",s1); _locate(13,21); _color(3); Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 419 _sprint("STATE : "); _color(15); _copyfrom(s1,4); _printf("%s",s1); _locate(15,27); _printf("Press any key to continue "); _getc(ch,0); _clearwindow(2); _pend; _procedure(findstate); _define_var(state,string(10)); _define_var(ostate,string(10)); _define_var(total,integer); _define_var(rtcode,integer); _color(2); _clear(total); _openwindow(1,6,10,8,55,1,3); _locate(7,10); _sprint("List systems in which State ? "); _masked_input(1,state,"AA."); _SetToFirstRecord(); _assign(rtcode,1); _openwindow(2,9,19,15,60,1,13); _while(rtcode); _copyfrom(ostate,4); _if(ostate = state); _++(total); _call(display); _endif; _GetNextRecord(rtcode); _wend; _color(7); _elseif(total > 0); _locate(12,31); _printf("Found %3d systems.",total); _else; _locate(12,25); _printf("I'm sorry, no systems listed!"); _eend; _locate(15,24); _printf("Press any key to continue . . ."); _getc(ch,0); _closewindow(2); _closewindow(1); _pend; Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 420 _procedure(findcity); _define_var(city,string(20)); _define_var(ocity,string(20)); _define_var(total,integer); _define_var(rtcode,integer); _color(2); _clear(total); _openwindow(1,6,10,8,55,1,3); _locate(7,10); _sprint("What City ? "); _masked_input(0,city,"XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX"); _SetToFirstRecord(); _assign(rtcode,1); _openwindow(2,9,19,15,60,1,13); _while(rtcode); _copyfrom(ocity,5); _if(ocity = city); _++(total); _call(display); _endif; _GetNextRecord(rtcode); _wend; _color(7); _elseif(total > 0); _locate(12,31); _printf("Found %3d systems.",total); _else; _locate(12,25); _printf("I'm sorry, no systems listed!"); _eend; _locate(15,24); _printf("Press any key to continue . . ."); _getc(ch,0); _closewindow(2); _closewindow(1); _pend; Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 421 Itc, Itc2, And Itlink Itc.exe ITC.EXE is the main SPL/I compiler. It takes your source code and turns it into OBJECT code. ITC expects ALL SOURCE code files to have the file extension .SCR ITC requires one command line argument, the name of the source file MINUS the file extension, ITC will add that. Example ITC TEST This will compile the SPL/I source, TEST.SRC, into TEST.OBJ. This is not a RUNABLE SPL/I program file, it still has to be linked with ITlink. ITC can also accept an optional command line switch, /P or -P. This tells the compiler that this source file is NOT a full functional program. This allows you to break your SPL/I program into smaller modules and have the linker combine them for you. The benefit is: You can break a LARGE program into smaller individual modules. If you have to fix a problem in one of them, you only have to recompile that module instead of the whole thing. Itlink.exe ITlink takes your object file and turns it into an executable PRG file. Assuming the OBJECT file was TEST.OBJ ITLINK TEST Notice I did not use the .OBJ extension, ITlink adds that. The final output file: TEST.PRG Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 422 Linking Multiple Object Modules If you break the program into multiple files, you will have to create a LINK control file. Use the same first name, up to the extension that you used for the MAIN module ( the one with MEND in it), and the extension of .LNK Example Test.obj <= Main Program module Pro1.OBJ <= Contains a Procedure module PRO2.OBJ <= Contains a Procedure module To compile: -------------------- V | ITC test /P | ITC pro1 /P | ITC pro2 /P | | Then Create a TEST.LNK ---- containing: TEST PRO1 PRO2 The first file you list MUST be MAIN, the one with _MEND in it. Then list the other object files, in any order. Now call ITlink to produce the finished product: ITLINK TEST /P Test is the name of the MAIN object file, and also the name of the LNK file. The /P tells the linker that it needs to use the LNK file to combine the individual object files to produce the executable PRG file. The file ITLINK will produce is TEST.PRG, the executable SPL/I program. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 423 Say you found a bug in PRO1 and you have fixed it. To generate a NEW TEST.PRG: ITC PRO1 /P ITLINK TEST /P You did not have to recompile the other two modules. ITC2.EXE is a compiler SUBMODULE. Given the amount of memory a compiler can consume, it had to be split into two programs. You do NOT call ITC2, that's handled by the other programs. Compiler/Linker Limits You may not have more than 2000 _define_var() statements in any program (even if you break it into modules). The compiler has to TRACK every single variable name and the implicit address assigned to it, to make sure no two ACTIVE variables get the same address. Tracking that much information does require a lot of memory. I hope, in version 2, to increase that to 16000. You may not have more than 1500 procedures in any given program. The reasons are pretty much the same. The compiler has to track each procedure name and it's implicit address so no two procedures get assign the same address. Neither limit should pose any problem given that Osiris.exe doesn't even exceed those limits and I don't think you'll be writing anything as major as OSIRIS.EXE in SPL/I. Run.exe Run.exe is an external TEST program that can execute PRG's outside of Osiris. Run supports 99 percent of the SPL/I commands in one form or another. Some commands, mostly internal Osiris commands, are supported but do nothing but flash a message on the screen. Run.exe requires one command line argument, the name of the prg it is suppose to run. E.g., RUN TEST.PRG The first version of RUN does NOT trap for non-existing programs and just assumes that the program will exist. If you feed it a program name that does not exist, it may lock-up. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 424 Memo Databases A memo database is a collection of variable length records used to store large volumes of text in a single file. Unlike your traditional DATABASES, a memo database has no KEY field, it simply has a record number. Uses There are a number of possible uses for a memo database. Storing individual articles from a newletter or some other ASCII publication and allowing your callers to pull individual articles out of the database and view them on-line. If an SPL/I application has a LOT of text displays, you could store the text in a memo database and pull it out for display when you need it. This would make the SPL/I application smaller and easier to manage. How There is only one method of locating a memo record, by its record number. You can access it using an explicit record number like 1, 2, 0, 27. E.g., _IF(ch = 'B') display memo record 245 _ENDIF; You can store the record number in an indexed SPL/I database field and use the btree index system to locate the correct database record and use the 2nd database field to hold the memo database record number. That sounds complex, but it really isn't. All you have to do is create an SPL/I database with two fields. The first field would be the index field, something used to locate the record . . . like article name. The second field would be used to store the memo record number that contains that article. Making A Memo Database Making a memo database is fairly easy and only requires two steps. First, use a text file to hold all the records. Start each record with ASCII 1 and end each record with ASCII1. The first line should be a header field to identify what the record contains, this is for YOUR use. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 425 E.g., ^AExplanation of a memo field A memo database is a collection of variable length records used to store large columns of text in a single file. Unlike your traditional DATABASES, a memo database has no KEY field, it simply has a record number. ^A That would be a complete memo record. Notice how it is enclosed with ASCII 1's AND the first line is the header. The header is NOT kept in the database itself, only the text "A memo database is a collection of variable length records used to store large volumes of text in a single file. Unlike your traditional DATABASES, a memo database has no KEY field, it simply has a record number. " will be retained. It is very important that you never forget that the first line is suppose to be a header. Failing to use the first line as a header line will cause the text to be out of sync for that record. There is no practical limit on the number of memo field records you can store in one file. After you have constructed the text file containing your records, run the program MEMO.EXE. Memo.exe takes the text file and converts it into database format. Memo requires one command line argument, the name of the text file. Lets assume that we used the name "INFOMALL.TXT". Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 426 Memo Infomall.txt Memo will create THREE files; INFOMALL.DAT, INFOMALL.IDX, and INFOMALL.LOG. INFOMALL.DAT and INFOMALL.IDX contains the actual memo records and the index to the infomall.dat file. When you use the _display_memo_record(Datafile,indexfile,Record#) call you would use these two names in place of datafile and indexfile. E.g., _display_memo_record("infomall.dat","infomall.idx",245); The 3rd file, INFOMALL.LOG, contains the individual record HEADERS along with the memo record number. E.g. ^AExplanation of a memo field A memo database is a collection of variable length records used to store large volumes of text in a single file. Unlike your traditional DATABASES, a memo database has no KEY field, it simply has a record number. ^A One of the lines in the INFOMALL.LOG would be something like: Memo Record #245 - Explanation of a memo field This is what you use to figure out which memo record contains what! If I want to display the memo record containing the text for "explanation of a memo field", I would just call for MEMO record 245. E.g., _display_memo_record("infomall.dat","infomall.idx",245); Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 427 Mmu Multiple Menu Utility Osiris supports not only ASC (ASCII) and ANS (ANSI) files but it also supports MMU files. Normally you have two sets of files; ASC for non-ansi callers and ANS for those that support ANSI. There isn't anything wrong with this, but you do have TWO files for every menu or display screen and that eats up disk space. It would be a lot nicer to have only one file for BOTH types of callers and let the BBS filter out the COLOR commands if the caller doesn't support ANSI. Well, that's what MMU does. Mmu.exe MMU will take an ANSI file and convert it to MMU format using compressed color commands and then compress the file to speed up display. If the caller doesn't support ANSI, Osiris will simply skip over the color commands. MMU is fairly simply to use, just enter the name of the file to convert. If the file is in ANSI format, add /A. E.g., Suppose you want to convert your main menu file, main.ans to MMU format. MAIN.ANS is in ansi format so . MMU MAIN.ANS /A creates the file "MAIN.MMU". You can now delete MAIN.ANS and MAIN.ASC and Osiris will use MAIN.MMU for everyone. Suppose you have a display file, it does NOT contain ANSI characters, but you want to convert it to MMU format to save disk space and to speed up the display. Lets call the file "HELPFILE.ASC". MMU HELPFILE.ASC Since there are no ANSI commands, we don't use the /A switch and the output file will be HELPFILE.ASC. There is an optional switch, /F, that you MAY want to use. /F controls data compression. Normally, data compression is turned OFF. But, if the file contains NO BACKGROUND COLOR CHANGES, you would get a faster displaying file if you use /F. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 428 E.g., MMU MAIN.ANS /A /F Produces a smaller MAIN.MMU and it is even faster than the first main.mmu we created. Command Line Switches For more advanced users, there are several optional switches. /A Do conversion on <Infile>, when <Infile> is in ANSIformat /B Place [breakoff] at top of file. Only if '/A' is specified /C Place [Cls] at top of file. Only if '/A' is specified /N Do Color implants. Only if '/A' is specified /M Place [Moreoff] at top of file. Only if '/A' is specified /F Data Optimizing ON (default is OFF) /25 Allow FULL 25 Line(s) (/A Only) /O Do conversions from ANSI to MMU pre-compiler format ONLY. Only if '/A' is specified /B Place breakoff at the top of the file. Turning break off means the caller cannot break out of the file. He has to wait until the entire file has been displayed. /C Place clear screen at the top of the file. /N Do color implants. I've never ran across an ANSI file that required this, but if you compile an ANSI file and you flat can't get the colors to come out right, add this switch. /M Place MOREOFF at the top of the file. This disables the PAUSE/MORE prompt while this file is being displayed. It is generally used for OPENING welcome screens. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 429 /25 Do all 25 lines. MMU will optimize ANSI files created by THEDRAW and other programs that save a full 25 lines, even if you don't use them, by removing the trailing lines. If, for some reason, you want all 25 lines, add this switch. /O Do conversion from ANSI to pre-compiler code format and then stop. This is generally used to convert ANSI files into a format that you can edit. Precompile Format The pre-compiler format would consist of special KEY words encased in []. E.g., [YELLOW], [LTGREEN], etc. Keep in mind that the key words WOULD be enclosed in square brackets. You can, if you want, build a pre-compiled MMU file by hand and then compile it into a finished MMU file. Just leave OFF the /A. E.g., suppose you created WELCOME3.TXT containing pre- compiler commands. MMU WELCOME3.TXT /F Creates a compressed WELCOME3.MMU file. The next few pages will give you a break down of the pre-compiler MMU commands and what they do. Mmu Commands Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 430 Summary [Black] Description Changes the FOREGROUND color to Black. Background color is not changed. Example [BLACK]Hello world! Causes HELLO WORLD! to be printed in Black. NOTE: If Background is also Black, the message would be invisible. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 431 Summary [Red] Description Changes the FOREGROUND color to Red, Background color is not changed. Example [Red]Hello world! Causes HELLO WORLD! to be printed in Red. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 432 Summary [Green] Description Changes the FOREGROUND color to Green, Background color is not changed. Example [GREEN]Hello world! Causes HELLO WORLD! to be printed in Green. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 433 Summary [Blue] Description Changes the FOREGROUND color to Blue, Background color is not changed. Example [BLUE]Hello world! Causes HELLO WORLD! to be printed in Blue. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 434 Summary [Yellow] Description Changes the FOREGROUND color to Yellow, Background color is not changed. Example [Yellow]Hello world! Causes HELLO WORLD! to be printed in yellow. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 435 Summary [Magenta] Description Changes the FOREGROUND color to magenta, Background color is not changed. Example [MAGENTA]Hello world! Causes HELLO WORLD! to be printed in Magenta. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 436 Summary [Cyan] Description Changes the FOREGROUND color to cyan, Background color is not changed. Example [CYAN]Hello world! Causes HELLO WORLD! to be printed in cyan. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 437 Summary [White] Description Changes the FOREGROUND color to BRIGHT white, Background color is not changed. Example [WHITE]Hello world! Causes HELLO WORLD! to be printed in white. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 438 Summary [Brown] Description Changes the FOREGROUND color to Brown, Background color is not changed. Example [BROWN]Hello world! Causes HELLO WORLD! to be printed in brown. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 439 Summary [Gray] Description Changes the FOREGROUND color to gray, Background color is not changed. Example [GRAY]Hello world! Causes HELLO WORLD! to be printed in gray. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 440 Summary [Ltred] Description Changes the FOREGROUND color to light red, Background color is not changed. Example [LTRED]Hello world! Causes HELLO WORLD! to be printed in light red. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 441 Summary [Ltgreen] Description Changes the FOREGROUND color to light green, Background color is not changed. Example [LTGREEN]Hello world! Causes HELLO WORLD! to be printed in light green. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 442 Summary [Ltblue] Description Changes the FOREGROUND color to light blue, Background color is not changed. Example [LTBLUE]Hello world! Causes HELLO WORLD! to be printed in light blue. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 443 Summary [Ltmagenta] Description Changes the FOREGROUND color to light magenta, Background color is not changed. Example [LTMAGENTA]Hello world! Causes HELLO WORLD! to be printed in light magenta. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 444 Summary [Ltcyan] Description Changes the FOREGROUND color to light cyan, Background color is not changed. Example [LTCYAN]Hello world! Causes HELLO WORLD! to be printed in light cyan. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 445 Summary [Blink] Description Causes the FOREGROUND color to BLINK. Example [BLINK][YELLOW]Hello world! Causes HELLO WORLD! to be printed in Blinking YELLOW. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 446 Summary [Normal] Description Cause the FOREGROUND and BACKGROUND colors to revert to the default IBM screen colors, cyan on black. This call MUST be used to cancel the Blinking color attribute. Example [NORMAL]Hello world! Causes HELLO WORLD! to be printed in cyan on black. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 447 Summary [Bgblack] Description Changes the BACKGROUND color to BLACK. ForeGround color and BLINK attribute, if desired, MUST be Reset following a background color change. Example [BGBLACK][YELLOW]Hello world! Causes HELLO WORLD! to be printed in YELLOW on BLACK. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 448 Summary [Bgred] Description Changes the BACKGROUND color to RED. ForeGround color and BLINK attribute, if desired, MUST be Reset following a background color change. Example [BGRED][YELLOW]Hello world! Causes HELLO WORLD! to be printed in YELLOW on RED. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 449 Summary [Bggreen] Description Changes the BACKGROUND color to GREEN. ForeGround color and BLINK attribute, if desired, MUST be Reset following a background color change. Example [BGGREEN][YELLOW]Hello world! Causes HELLO WORLD! to be printed in YELLOW on GREEN. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 450 Summary [Bgblue] Description Changes the BACKGROUND color to BLUE. ForeGround color and BLINK attribute, if desired, MUST be Reset following a background color change. Example [BGBLUE][YELLOW]Hello world! Causes HELLO WORLD! to be printed in YELLOW on BLUE. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 451 Summary [Bgmagenta] Description Changes the BACKGROUND color to MAGENTA. ForeGround color and BLINK attribute, if desired, MUST be Reset following a background color change. Example [BGMAGENTA][YELLOW]Hello world! Causes HELLO WORLD! to be printed in YELLOW on MAGENTA. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 452 Summary [Bgcyan] Description Changes the BACKGROUND color to CYAN. ForeGround color and BLINK attribute, if desired, MUST be Reset following a background color change. Example [BGCYAN][YELLOW]Hello world! Causes HELLO WORLD! to be printed in YELLOW on CYAN. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 453 Summary [Bgwhite] Description Changes the BACKGROUND color to WHITE. ForeGround color and BLINK attribute, if desired, MUST be Reset following a background color change. Example [BGWHITE][BLUE]Hello world! Causes HELLO WORLD! to be printed in BLUE on WHITE. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 454 Summary [Enter] Description Causes the display to STOP until the caller presses RETURN. This is generally used To stop display files from scrolling off the screen Example It is time for all good men to step forward and be counted. Press RETURN to Continue [enter] Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 455 Summary [Breakoff] Description You have the option of BREAKING out of a menu display, etc. by pressing ctrl-K. If BREAKOFF is used, I'll ignore the Ctrl-K request. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 456 Summary [Breakon] Description This reenables Ctrl-K if it was shut off with BREAKOFF. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 457 Summary [Moreoff] Description Every time a complete line of text is displayed, one ending with a carriage return, a LINE counter is increased by 1. When the counter is greater than the number of lines the remote terminal can handle, without scrolling the top line off the screen, the -PAUSE- prompt is displayed. [MOREOFF] disables the -PAUSE- prompts until you turn it back on OR you exit the current file. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 458 Summary [Moreon] Description This reenables the line counter if it was shut off with [MOREOFF]. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 459 Summary [Cls] Description Clears the current display screen and positions the cursor at 0,0 on the screen. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 460 Summary [Run_program Prg_name] Description This lets you call SPL/I command files from within other text files. Replace PRG_NAME with the complete drive, path, and name of the command file you want to execute. Example [RUN_PROGRAM C:\OSIRIS\PRG\QSRV.PRG] Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 461 Osiris Language Database Osiris uses a language database to store the text and colors used within the main Osiris.exe program. This means you can alter any text display, change it to a different language, and the colors Osiris uses. The two areas that do not use the language database; statistics system and Osage. Neither use it because both are POSITION/LENGTH sensitive, graphs and windows, and modifying the text would throw the displays out of whack. The default language database is called "CMDS.DAT" and the uncompiled TEXT version is in a file called "CMDS.TXT". Each line of text in CMDS.TXT is a SINGLE database record. Osiris does, in a number of places, combine multiple database records to form a complete sentence or display, especially when the sentence contains variables. The text's POSITION in the cmds.txt file is very important and if you modify the text, or colors, you must NOT modify the texts position in this file. If you do, you'll throw the entire display system off. Each record, or line, has a maximum length of 254 characters, including color, formatting characters, etc. We've provided a pure TEXT version, ASCII.TXT, which is a clone of CMDS.TXT minus ANSI colors, easier to read. There is no EASY method of identifying exactly where each record is used. Actually there is, but it requires the Osiris source code but you don't have that and we're not going to give it to you. So the best way to tell is just to look, while in local mode, at the text being displayed and try to match it with text in the control file. In a lot of cases, it will be fairly obvious where the text is displayed and what it is used for. In other cases, you may have to use the old trial and error method. I am assuming that you aren't going to be tampering with this file until you are fairly familiar with the Software. And if all else fails, you can always ask the sysop of Vetlink 3, he can tell you exactly what lines are used for a particular display. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 462 CMDS.TXT not only contains the text and colors, it also contains a LOT of the formatting commands. Either in the form of \r, \n, _, or spaces. \r generates a carriage return. This does NOT generate a NEW line, it simply puts you on COLUMN 0, same line. \n generates a NEW LINE, i.e., it moves you down a line. _ is a BLANK SPACE indicator, most text editors do not allow you to end a line with a space, and they shouldn't. When you are required to RESERVE a blank and the blank is at the end of a line, use the underscore character. If you want to translate the text to another language, first do a DIRECT, if possible, translation line for line without regards to the combined use of multiple records. Do this a section at a time. By section, I mean a SET number of lines . . . 20 is a good number. Log-on locally and try out the areas that use the text. You many need to adjust the text alignment if the language conversion makes the text longer or shorter. Cmdmake.exe CMDMAKE.EXE is the language database compiler. It takes the raw text file, CMDS.TXT, and compiles it to CMDS.DAT. Ascii.txt This contains the text and formatting characters minus the ANSI color commands. Cmds.key CMDS.KEY contains the command keys associated with certain hardcoded items, like the y/N prompt, more prompt, more prompt in the a file listing, etc. If you change the language, then you would also want to change the command keys to go along with the language. In other words, YES in German is not spelled YES and using Y to indicate Yes in German would not make sense. Lankey.exe Lankey.exe can be used to redefine the keys used in the CMDS.KEY file. Just run the program and it will tell you what to do. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 463 Designing Your Own Bbs Even though this section deals with SPL/I, I decided to place it near the end of the documentation because it deals with an advanced concept and you do not have any business attempting to use it until you have quite a bit of Osiris SPL/I experience. SPL/I is very powerful, so powerful you can create your own unique BBS and I'm going to do one for you, to give you an idea how the logic should flow. The BBS we'll create will be a COPY of what you might normally find on an Osiris BBS. I'm not going to do a lot of fancy subsystems, windows, or multiple BBS' in one. I just want to show you the logic behind the setup so you can let your own imagination run wild. I'm not going to explain how each command works or that commands syntax. You should know that by now and if you don't, you aren't ready for this section. Autoexec.prg Osiris has a special command file, autoexec.prg, specifically for this purpose. If this file exists, in your OSIRIS= directory, it will be executed as soon as the caller enters his or her password. Getting Started If you'll log-on to your own system, you'll notice that everyone gets the same basic displays before reaching the main menu; New personal mail check, new conference mail check (if active), new bulletin check, and finally the new uploads search, if active. Because the new upload search always asks IF you want to do one, I'm going to have to do the same thing. If I ask, I need a variable to hold the answer so the first item is: _define_var(ch,character); To keep the screen nice and neat, I'm going to clear it _cls(); The next item is the new private mail search so, _private_mail_scan(); Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 464 The next step is the new conference mail check. But, unlike the new private mail search, this one is optional so I'm going to have to check to see IF the caller has turned that option on. There is a predefined variable, _NCONF that contains 1 if the caller has selected this option and 0 if he did not. There are a number of ways to check it, but the simplest is the _IF statement. _if(_NCONF = 1); _run_newmail_scan(); _Endif; Another way to check _NCONF _IF(_NCONF); _run_newmail_scan(); _Endif; If no operator is present, the expression is evaluated TRUE or FALSE. Since a non-zero number always evaluates TRUE, this will work. Ok, lets stop and put all this together. _define_var(ch,character); _cls(); _private_mail_scan(); _IF(_NCONF); _run_newmail_scan(); _Endif; The new bulletin search is next so _new_bulletin_scan(); The next step is "LAST CALLER" to the system and a number of other STATISTICAL displays. Like everything else in SPL/I, there is no limit to what you COULD do, but we'll limit it to just the last callers name, city, number of system users, node he or she is on, the connect rate, total calls that node has received TO DATE, and the amount of time left for the day. I said I wasn't going to do anything fancy, like windowing, but I think I will . . . just to help gear up your imagination. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 465 I'll use five different windows to display the information and I'll open them in staggered order, i.e., not one right after the other. I'll jump around on the screen to give it an animated look. Because of the ansi display is going to be a tad on the fancy side, we'll make this section a procedure and call it. To keep things as simple as possible, we'll use two procedures, ANSI_HELLO and PLAIN_HELLO. We'll use an _ELSEIF statement to test the predefined variable _ANSI to determine which procedure to call. _elseif(_ANSI); _CALL(ANSI_HELLO); _else; _CALL(PLAIN_HELLO); _eend; _procedure(ANSI_HELLO); Keep in mind that when you use windows, it is up to you to keep track of the cursor. You'll have to save the original location, move it to the new location (when you want to print something), and restore it after you close the windows. I've always like the variable names ROW and COL to store cursor information so _define_var(row,integer); _define_var(col,integer); Since we're going to pause at the end of the display and wait for the caller to press a key, _define_var(ch,character); The next step is to save the current cursor position and open the window. _curget(row,col); _openwindow(1,7,24,7,66,2,15); Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 466 Now we'll position the cursor in the window and print where the caller was from. _locate(8,38); _color(15); _putc(' '); _color(2); _sprint(" From "); _color(15); _putc(' '); _color(14); _locate(7,25); _printf("%s",_LCCITY); Notice I used the SPL/I color command instead of the embedded ANSI color commands. Actual, the embedded ANSI commands would be a little faster, but for some reason I just felt like using the color command. Our next window will display the callers name. _openwindow(2,4,18,4,60,2,15); _locate(3,32); _color(15); _putc(' '); _color(2); _sprint(" Last Caller "); _color(15); _putc(' '); _color(14); _locate(4,19); _printf("%s",_LCNAME); If you'll look at the last two window examples, you'll notice both have some rather out of place locate and putc calls. I decided to get a little fancy and add window headers to the windows by overwriting the border with headers explaining what the windows represented. Its an example of how you can add versatility to an existing SPL/I command with a little imagination. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 467 _openwindow(3,11,41,13,75,2,13); _color(14); _locate(11,56); _sprint(": "); _color(3); _sprint("No. of Users"); _color(14); _locate(12,56); _sprint(": "); _color(3); _sprint("Total Calls"); _locate(13,61); _sprint("To Date"); _color(15); _locate(11,48); _printf("%7l",_TUSERS); _locate(12,48); _printf("%7l",_TOTALCALLS); _openwindow(4,11,2,13,36,2,13); _locate(11,3); _color(3); _sprint("Current Node "); _color(14); _putc(':'); _color(15); _printf(" %-7d",_NODE); _locate(12,3); _color(3); _sprint("Connect Baud Rate "); _color(14); _putc(':'); _color(15); _printf(" %d",_BRATE); _color(3); _locate(13,3); _sprint("Time Left Today "); _color(14); _putc(':'); _color(15); _printf(" %d",_TIMELEFT); Both of these windows reverse JUSTIFY the text. In other words, instead of printing from the first column in the window, they reverse the way the text is print and start with the inner column and print out to the first column. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 468 You'll just have to type in this section and run it to really appreciate it. The last window is the press any key to continue window and it goes something like this _openwindow(5,17,24,17,56,0,12); _locate(17,25); _sprint("Press any key to continue . . ."); _getc(ch,0); The of the last thing we do in the procedure is, close the windows. Normally you'd want to close the windows in reverse order, i.e., last opened is first closed. But since none of our windows overlap, you get some free, no work involved, special effects by staggering the closing order. _closewindow(3); _closewindow(2); _closewindow(1); _closewindow(4); _closewindow(5); And finally, put the cursor back in its original position and end the procedure. _locate(row,col); _pend; Lets put the entire procedure together so you can block copy it to disk and try it out. _procedure(ANSI_HELLO); _define_var(row,integer); _define_var(col,integer); _define_var(ch,character); _curget(row,col); _openwindow(1,7,24,7,66,2,15); _locate(8,38); _color(15); _putc(' '); _color(2); _sprint(" From "); _color(15); Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 469 _putc(' '); _color(14); _locate(7,25); _printf("%s",_LCCITY); _openwindow(2,4,18,4,60,2,15); _locate(3,32); _color(15); _putc(' '); _color(2); _sprint(" Last Caller "); _color(15); _putc(' '); _color(14); _locate(4,19); _printf("%s",_LCNAME); _openwindow(3,11,41,13,75,2,13); _color(14); _locate(11,56); _sprint(": "); _color(3); _sprint("No. of Users"); _color(14); _locate(12,56); _sprint(": "); _color(3); _sprint("Total Calls"); _locate(13,61); _sprint("To Date"); _color(15); _locate(11,48); _printf("%7l",_TUSERS); _locate(12,48); _printf("%7l",_TOTALCALLS); _openwindow(4,11,2,13,36,2,13); _locate(11,3); _color(3); _sprint("Current Node "); _color(14); _putc(':'); _color(15); _printf(" %-7d",_NODE); _locate(12,3); _color(3); _sprint("Connect Baud Rate "); _color(14); _putc(':'); _color(15); _printf(" %d",_BRATE); _color(3); _locate(13,3); Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 470 _sprint("Time Left Today "); _color(14); _putc(':'); _color(15); _printf(" %d",_TIMELEFT); _openwindow(5,17,24,17,56,0,12); _locate(17,25); _sprint("Press any key to continue . . ."); _getc(ch,0); _closewindow(3); _closewindow(2); _closewindow(1); _closewindow(4); _closewindow(5); _locate(row,col); _pend; The procedure PLAIN_ANSI is your run of the mill, plain jane procedure and doesn't really have anything special that would need any type of detailed explanation so I'll just list it. _procedure(PLAIN_ANSI); _define_var(ch,character); _cls(); _printf("Last Caller %s From %s\n",_LCNAME, LCCITY); _printf("You are caller #%l on Node %l\n\n"_TOTALCALLS,_TUSERS); _printf("Connect Rate : %d\n",_BRATE); _printf("Time Left Today : %d Min(s)\n\n",_TIMELEFT); _printf("Press any key to continu . . ."); _getc(ch,1); _cls(); _pend; You COULD get a little fancier than that but this type of procedure just doesn't excite me. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 471 Now, the NEW UPLOADS search is also a user configuration option so I'm going to have to test to see if it is turned on. There is a predefined variable called _NEWUPLOADS that contains 1 if the caller has the option turned on and 0 if it is off. _IF(_NEWUPLOADS); _Endif; The body of the _IF statement will need to ASK if the caller wants to do the search. Now, we have to keep in mind that not everyone supports or wants ANSI colors so we can't just use one prompt for everyone. Like the newuploads search option, there is a predefined variable, _ANSI, that we can check. Since we're going to print one of two prompts, depending on the value of _ANSI, the ELSEIF statement would be the logical method. _ELSEIF(_ANSI); _ELSE; _EEND: We now have _IF(_NEWUPLOADS); _ELSEIF(_ANSI); _ELSE; _EEND; _Endif; Since ANSI characters are hard to get into a word processor, I'm not going to display them so use your imagination. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 472 There are several ways of printing the text, but we'll use the printf statement. It isn't the fastest method, but the amount of text is so small, it wouldn't make any noticeable difference no matter what method we used. My personal preference is the MEMO database. I could use only one prompt, the MEMO database record display function will filter the none-ansi characters if the caller does not support ansi. That would make my autoexec.prg much smaller and easier to read. _if(_NEWUPLOADS); _elseif(_ANSI); _printf("SEARCH FOR NEW UPLOADS [y/N] ? "); _else; _printf("Search For NEW Uploads [y/N] ? "); _eend; _endif; We're only interested in a single character answer, Y or N so the _getc command would be the method we'll use to get the input. Again, it isn't the only way but it is simple and gets the job done. Since we want to keep our testing to a minimum, we'll force what the caller types in to upper case using the command _getc(ch,1); If you get a lot of callers that have line that aren't exactly the cleanest in the world, you might want to use _get_ctrl_input(ch,"YN"); because of its ability to filter out the garbage characters. If you do use _get_ctrl_input, you'll need to change the "y/N" to "Y/N", entering nothing would not be allowed. You could also use get_masked_input or even _gets() and use the copy_ch function to extract the single character. Despite the answer, Y or N, we want to clear the screen to keep it nice and neat looking. _cls(); Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 473 You might think that because we have two possible answer, that we need to test two expression or use ELSEIF. Normally that might be the case and you certainly could do it that way if you wanted to. But since we indicated that the default was 'N', we only need to test to see if the other answer was given, the 'Y'. If it was, we need to run the new uploads search. _if(ch = 'Y'); _run_newuploads_scan(); _call(press_return); _endif; Since the new uploads scan does NOT pause after displaying its last message, we have to add a press return to continue prompt. Since this would be the kind of prompt we may use in other places, I've placed it in a procedure and I'll call it when I need it. I'll outline the procedure later on, but for now just take my word for it. That completes the log-in process down to the main menu. The next step might well be displaying the main menu and looping until the caller hangs up, but I want to leave myself some "EXPANSION" room so I'm going to place the main menu in its own procedure and just call it. This also gives my SPL/I command file a cleaner look. I'll call the main menu procedure "main_menu". That indicates, by looking, what the procedure does. _call(main_menu); _mend; Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 474 Before we get into the main procedure lets put everything together so you can review what we've done so far. _define_var(ch,character); _cls(); _private_mail_scan(); _if(_NCONF); _run_newmail_scan(); _Endif; _new_bulletin_scan(); _elseif(_ANSI); _CALL(ANSI_HELLO); _else; _CALL(PLAIN_HELLO); _eend; _if(_NEWUPLOADS); _elseif(_ANSI); _printf("Search For NEW Uploads [y/N] ? "); _else; _printf("Search For NEW Uploads [y/N] ? "); _eend; _getc(ch,1); _cls(); _if(ch = 'Y'); _run_newuploads_scan(); _call(press_return); _endif; _endif; _call(main_menu); _mend; Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 475 Main_menu The first thing we have to do is declare the procedure with _procedure(main_menu); We're going to want to HOLD the caller in the MAIN menu loop from now until he hangs up so we'll need a loop. The _WHILE is one method and it is easy to setup and control. We'll also need to setup some variables for the main_menu procedure. I'll declare them now and explain them as I use them. _define_var(not_done,integer); _define_var(ch,character); _define_var(empty_queue,integer); I'll use the not_done variable to drive the while loop. Now, there are two ways I could do this, by setting not_done to 1 and looping as long as it is one or by setting it to zero and looping as long as it is zero. Doesn't matter either way because I don't intend to every change it. To keep consistent with other examples in this document, lets assign it the value of 1. _assign(not_done,1); We now have: _procedure(main_menu); _define_var(not_done,integer); _define_var(ch,character); _define_var(empty_queue,integer); _assign(not_done,1); _while(not_done); _wend; _pend; The reason we want to HOLD the caller in this loop is because the main menu is the focal point of the system. Everything else is accessed FROM the main menu and everything returns TO the main menu. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 476 You might be wondering, "If I'm in the file area and select the Conference system option, how do I get there if I have to return to the main menu?". That is the sixty four dollar question and I'll answer it in short order, but first lets setup our menu display and input prompts. The first thing we want to do inside the while loop is to clear the screen, _cls(); Because Osiris allows command stacking, you wouldn't just jump in and display the menu and input prompt. We first have to see if there are in PENDING commands. Again, this is NOT a requirement but it would waste a lot of time displaying the menu when the caller has already made his selection. _command_queue_status(empty_queue); Empty_queue is an integer variable and the function "_command_queue_status" will set empty_queue to 1 if there is NO commands pending and 0 if there are. With the status of the command queue tucked into the empty_queue variable, we can test using the _IF statement. If empty_queue equals 1, go ahead and display the menu and the input prompt. _if(empty_queue); _endif; When it comes to displaying some sort of menu, there are about as many ways of doing it as there are ways to draw a menu. If my personal preference is to use a memo database, it saves diskspace and it is fast, but that is a little to advanced for most folks. The EASIEST method is the MMU system. That lets you use your old main.mmu/asc/ans files without making modifications. You have two ways of doing this, display_text and display_menu. Both are equal in speed but, the display_menu lets those with HOTKEYS break out of the display by pressing a valid key. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 477 Lets assume the following are valid keys for this main menu I = Internode chat F = File System P = Public Messages A = Ask the Sysop a Question S = Statistics System R = Read Bulletins W = Who's On-Line C = Change Menu V = Version M = Message Center L = User List G = Good Bye If those are the valid command keys and MAIN.ASC/ANS/MMU is the menu, _display_menu("IFPASRWCVDMLG","main"); The next step is the input prompt. We want to duplicate the one Osiris uses with the time on-line and the time left. And, since we have to consider those that support ansi and those that don't, we need two prompts inside an ELSEIF statement. We now have _procedure(main_menu); _define_var(not_done,integer); _define_var(ch,character); _define_var(empty_queue,integer); _assign(not_done,1); _while(not_done); _cls(); _command_queue_status(empty_queue); _if(empty_queue); _display_menu("IFPASRWCVDMLG","main"); _elseif(_ANSI); _printf("Time on: %d Time remaining %d Command ? ",_CALLTIME,_TIMELEFT); _else; _printf("Time on: %d Time remaining %d Command ? ",_CALLTIME,_TIMELEFT); _eend; _endif; _wend; _pend; Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 478 Since we only need a single character answer, we REALLY only need an input command that retrieves single character responses. To further narrow it down, we want the one that is the closest to the way Osiris normally gets the main menu prompt so we'll use _get_ctrled_input(ch,"WIFPASRCVYDMLGV/"); Notice that I put the _get_ctrled_input OUTSIDE of the _if(empty_queue) _endif Now we have to test "ch" to see what, if anything, the caller entered. We can do that any number of ways, but the method that is less likely to confuse you is the _switch statement. It also happens to be the fastest method. Rather than list each one separately, I'll list the entire switch statement and then touch on the ones that I feel need explaining. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 479 _switch(ch); _case('/'); _putc('/'); _call(process_slash); _break; _case('G'); _goto_log_off(); _break; _case('I'); _cls(); _internode_chat(); _break; _case('F'); _call(file_area); _break; _case('P'); _call(msg_area); _break; _case('A'); _post_msg_to_sysop(); _break; _case('S'); _Goto_Status_system(); _break; _case('R'); _read_bulletins(); _break; _case('C'); _Goto_Adjust_User_settings(); _break; _case('W'); _cls(); _show_who_is_online(); _break; Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 480 _case('D'); _global_download(); _break; _case('M'); _goto_msg_center(); _break; _case('L'); _cls(); _display_callers(); _break; _case('V'); _cls(); _goto_display_version(); _break; _default; _printf("\n\nThat is NOT a valid command.\n"); _printf("Press any key to continue . . ."); _getc(ch,0); _break; _send; You've no doubt noticed that I did not do any access level checking. I didn't because there are several methods of doing that type of check, depending on personal preferences. I also did not want to add additional weight to the documentation by doing repetitive tasks. Rather than add access level checking to each command, I'll show you several methods that can apply to not only this section, but the public messages (conference areas) and the file systems. Access level checking need not always be done. If everyone has access to a command, don't waste time checking. If you do not use command access flags for a particular command, most don't then I would recommend using the _IF(_ACCESS > VALUE); _ENDIF; Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 481 E.g., _case('V'); _if(_ACCESS > 5); _cls(); _goto_display_version(); _ENDIF; _break; If you use command access flags, then I'd recommend using the "_main_command_access" command. See the section on _main_command_access for syntax. There are also special commands to test the conference area commands and the file area commands. The only case label that needs explaining is _case('/'); This is how you would process SLASH commands. When a caller types /, to indicate a slash command, it causes the input routine in Osiris to return with / as the character. It does not PRINT the slash to the screen. You don't need to know why it isn't printed, its an internal Osiris thing but you do need to display the slash character to let the caller know his command key wasn't ignored _putc('/'); Because the a slash command can be entered from any one of our 3 primary menus, I'll make a special procedure to process the slash commands, to reduce redundant programming, and call that procedure when I need to process a slash command. E.g, the _call(process_slash); I'll hold off explaining the "process_slash" procedure until after we finish with the other two primary subsystems. Lets put the entire MAIN_MENU procedure together so you can example it _procedure(main_menu); _define_var(not_done,integer); _define_var(ch,character); _define_var(empty_queue,integer); Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 482 _assign(not_done,1); _while(not_done); _cls(); _command_queue_status(empty_queue); _if(empty_queue); _display_menu("IFPASRWCVDMLG","main"); _elseif(_ANSI); _printf("Time on: %d Time remaining %d Command ? ",_CALLTIME,_TIMELEFT); _else; _printf("Time on: %d Time remaining %d Command ? ",_CALLTIME,_TIMELEFT); _eend; _endif; _get_ctrled_input(ch,"WIFPASRCVYDMLGV/"); _switch(ch); _case('/'); _putc('/'); _call(process_slash); _break; _case('G'); _goto_log_off(); _break; _case('I'); _cls(); _internode_chat(); _break; _case('F'); _call(file_area); _break; _case('P'); _call(msg_area); _break; _case('A'); _post_msg_to_sysop(); _break; _case('S'); _Goto_Status_system(); _break; Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 483 _case('R'); _read_bulletins(); _break; _case('C'); _Goto_Adjust_User_settings(); _break; _case('W'); _cls(); _show_who_is_online(); _break; _case('D'); _global_download(); _break; _case('M'); _goto_msg_center(); _break; _case('L'); _cls(); _display_callers(); _break; _case('V'); _cls(); _goto_display_version(); _break; _default; _printf("\n\nThat is NOT a valid command.\n"); _printf("Press any key to continue . . ."); _getc(ch,0); _break; _send; _wend; _pend; Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 484 File Subsystem Assuming the caller selected 'F' from the main_menu procedure, indicating a desire to enter the file system. We used a procedure call to a procedure named "file_area", e.g., _case('F'); _call(file_area); _break; The file subsystem construction process is almost, to the letter, identical to the main_menu. Because it is nearly identical, except for commands, I'll list the entire procedure then touch on what is different. _procedure(file_area); _define_var(not_done,integer); _define_var(ch,character); _define_var(empty_queue,integer); _assign(not_done,1); _while(not_done); _cls(); _command_queue_status(empty_queue); _if(empty_queue); _elseif(_ANSI); _printf("File Area %d . . . %s\n",_FAREA#,_FAREA_N); _else; _printf("File Area %d . . . %s\n",_FAREA#,_FAREA_N); _eend; _display_menu("YFGKVAELQPTNSCD*M","filarea"); _elseif(_ANSI); _printf("Time on: %d Time remaining %d Command ? ",_CALLTIME,_TIMELEFT); _else; _printf("Time on: %d Time remaining %d Command ? ",_CALLTIME,_TIMELEFT); _eend; _endif; _get_ctrled_input(ch,"YAFGKV/ELQPTNSCD*M"); _switch(ch); _case('Y'); _cls(); _transfer_stats(); _break; _CASE('A'); _change_file_area(); _break; Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 485 _case('/'); _putc('/'); _call(process_slash); _break; _case('G'); _goto_log_off(); _break; _case('M'); _clear(not_done); _break; _case('*'); _goto_msg_center(); _break; _case('D'); _download(); _break; _case('C'); _push_into_queue("P"); _clear(not_done); _break; _case('S'); _search_for_file(); _break; _case('N'); _sprint("\n\n"); _run_newuploads_scan(); _break; _case('T'); _sprint("\n\n"); _type_text_file(); _break; _case('P'); _select_protocol(); _break; _case('Q'); _sprint("\n\n"); _quick_file_list(); _break; Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 486 _case('L'); _sprint("\n\n"); _full_file_list(); _break; _case('E'); _sprint("\n\n"); _extract_file(); _break; _case('V'); _sprint("\n\n"); _view_archive(); _break; _case('K'); _sprint("\n\n"); _Kill_file(); _break; _case('F'); _cls(); _edit_queue(); _break; _default; _printf("\n\nThat is NOT a valid command.\n"); _printf("Press any key to continue . . ."); _getc(ch,0); _break; _send; _wend; _pend; The only case label that is really different is _case('C'); _push_into_queue("P"); _clear(not_done); _break; C takes you directly to the Conference area, bypassing the main menu or at least everyone thinks it does. If the truth be known, and it is now, it does not bypass the main menu, it simply bypass' the main menu DISPLAY. By stuffing "P" into the Osiris command stacking queue, the main menu display screen will be skipped, the input command _get_ctrled_input will retrieve the 'P' from the queue and drop the caller into the conference system. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 487 Why can't you call it directly, after all it is a procedure. You could except for one thing. The conference system lets you jump back to the file area. E.g., You jump from the File Area to the Conference area _CALL(MSG_SYSTEM); You jump from the conference area to the file area _CALL(FILE_AREA); You jump back to the conference area _CALL(MSG_SYSTEM); Nothing wrong with that, BUT you have never returned from the FIRST call to the conference area and here you are calling it again and again and again .... you're also doing the same thing to the file_area procedure. In a round about way, you are using recursion. Recursion means having a procedure call itself. SPL/I does support recursive calls, but you have a limited amount of stack space and each recursive call can chew into that. When you run out, your program crashes. Just how many times can you make recursive calls? I really don't know, I've never tried to max it out. My guess would be enough times to get almost any job done that benefits from or needs recursion to work. The limited stack space is not a SPL/I restriction, it is the way PC's handle things. Main frames use an expandable stack, when the application needs more stack space, the operating system simply allocates more to the program. PC's allocate a fixed amount of stack space to the program. Exceed it and the program crashes. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 488 The other case label that is different _case('M'); _clear(not_done); _break; M, goto main menu, simply clears the not_done variable, sets it to 0, the while expression evaluates false, the loop terminates, end of procedure (Pend) is encountered and you return to the main_menu procedure. The last of our three primary menus is the conference system. It is accessed by the main menu command _case('P'); _call(msg_area); _break; And like the file_area procedure, it is identical in respects to how it should be setup. I'll display the entire procedure and point out what is different. _procedure(msg_area); _define_var(not_done,integer); _define_var(ch,character); _define_var(empty_queue,integer); _assign(not_done,1); _while(not_done); _cls(); _command_queue_status(empty_queue); _if(empty_queue); _display_menu("PEAGSRMFC!","msgarea"); _elseif(_ANSI); _printf("Time on: %d Time remaining %d Command ? ",_CALLTIME,_TIMELEFT); _else; _printf("Time on: %d Time remaining %d Command ? ",_CALLTIME,_TIMELEFT); _eend; _endif; _get_ctrled_input(ch,"PEAGSRMFC!/"); _switch(ch); _case('/'); _putc('/'); _call(process_slash); _break; Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 489 _case('G'); _goto_log_off(); _break; _case('M'); _clear(not_done); _break; _case('F'); _push_into_queue("F"); _clear(not_done); _break; _case('E'); _enter_message(); _break; _case('P'); _sprint("\n\n"); _pack_messages(); _break; _case('R'); _cls(); _read_messages(); _break; _case('A'); _change_msg_areas(); _break; _case('C'); _edit_conf_boards(); _break; _case('!'); _goto_msg_center(); _break; _case('S'); _cls(); _run_newmail_scan(); _break; _default; _printf("\n\nThat is NOT a valid command.\n"); _printf("Press any key to continue . . ."); _getc(ch,0); _break; _send; _wend; _pend; Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 490 The only thing here is _case('F'); _push_into_queue("F"); _clear(not_done); _break; It works like the 'C' command in the file_area procedure except it pushes 'F' into the command stacking queue. Press_return All of our primary procedures call the press_return procedure to print the text "Press [RETURN] to Continue" and then pauses until the caller presses return, or any other key. The procedure is fairly straight forward and really doesn't need any explanation so I'll just list it. _procedure(press_return); _define_var(ch,character); _elseif(_ANSI); _printf("\nPress [RETURN] to continue . . ."); _else; _printf("\nPress [RETURN] to continue . . ."); _eend; _getc(ch,1); _printf("\r \r"); _pend; Process_slash The last procedure we have to setup is process_slash. Let me show it to you and then explain why I did it this way. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 491 _procedure(process_slash); _define_var(s1,string(81)); _define_var(rtcode,integer); _define_var(str,string(9)); _gets(str,8); _elseif(str = "off"); _drop_carrier(); _else; _elseif(str = "TNT"); _cls(); _sprintf(s1,"tntbbs -B %d -P %d -N %d",_BRATE,_PORT,_NODE); _execute(640,s1,rtcode); _else; _elseif(str = "Osiris"); _push_into_queue("SE302?.ARJ"); _cls(); _global_download(); _else; _elseif(str = "Isis"); _push_into_queue("I600?.ARJ"); _cls(); _global_download(); _else; _printf("\n\a"); _eend; _eend; _eend; _eend; _pend; The actual slash commands, what they do, isn't that important, but the WAY you process them is. You COULD simply have done _gets(string,8); _spawn(string); But, that is very deadly. If the caller types in /AUX or /COM1, or /PRN, and several other DOS DEVICE names, your computer will lockup when those devices are opened. If you are going to use the spawn method, you will HAVE to check to the contents of string BEFORE you call spawn. You'll have more "OVERHEAD" and you'll use more diskspace. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 492 Wrap Up That wraps up our little "roll your own bbs" section. The program we wrote will emulate what you would normally get WITHOUT using the autoexec.prg file. It wouldn't make much sense to do an autoexec.prg if you were just going to EMULATE what is already there, but this should give you some idea as to what would be involved in setting up your own. Let you imagination run wild and I'm sure you could come up with a fairly unique system. It might be very complex with dozens of subsystems. You might want to combine all the features into one main menu. You can make dozens of different STYLE BBS' and let the caller pickout which style best suits his or her needs. Your imagination is the only limit. Tip Don't use one command file for both ANSI and NON- ANSI callers. It is much simpler to use a command file for ANSI and one for NON-ANSI. Not only is it simpler, but it is a lot faster because you can do away with all of those _IF(_ANSI) expressions. I'd use ANSI.PRG and ASCII.PRG as the command files and set-up autoexec.prg to do this; _IF(_ANSI); _SPAWN("E:\ANSI.PRG"); _ENDIF; _SPAWN("E:\ASCII.PRG"); _Mend; Since you'll never return to the original AUTOEXEC.PRG after you spawn to the correct command file, you don't have to use the ELSEIF. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 493 Spl/I Source Files The BBS, Vetlink III, has a special file area called "SPL/I SOURCE FILES". This directory contains varies SPL/I source archives that you can download and use, generally without modifications. The area contains simple command files to very complex information retrieval systems with hundreds of sub levels and hundreds of thousands of bytes in multiple cross indexed databases. Speed Tip The speed of a SPL/I command file is influenced by the speed of your harddrive. The faster the drive, the faster the command file will run. I suggest, strongly, that you create an extended memory or expanded memory RAM disk and run your ANSI.PRG and ASCII.PRG from the RAM disk. If you can't set-up a RAM disk, at least use a disk cache. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 494 File Structures The following file structures are copyrighted by International TeleCommunciations. You are granted a LIMITED license to use the following structures in OSIRIS related programs ONLY. Using the following structures, in part or whole, for non- Osiris related programs is forbidden under United States Copyright laws. Struct _Hdrxxxxx{/* first record in each HDRx.SYS file, Conference Headers only. */ char unused[36]; char unused1[36]; char unused2[40]; char unused3[20]; unsigned highmsg; /* Highest message number */ unsigned active_msgs; /* Number of NON-Deleted Msgs */ unsigned lowmsg; /* Low message number */ unsigned highwater; /* Can be used by Export programs to log last message exported */ unsigned max_msgs; /* Maximum messages allowed in area*/ unsigned min_msgs; /* Post Pack Level */ unsigned empty3; unsigned unused4; unsigned unused5; unsigned unused6; unsigned unused7; long unused8; long unused9; unsigned long unused10; unsigned long unused11; }; Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 495 NOTE: Actual Message Headers start with the second record. The first record is reserved for infoxxxxx. Struct _Message_header/* (Conference Header, HDRx.SYS ) */ { char from[36]; char to[36]; char subj[40]; char date[20]; int external1;/* For external Echomail Processors*/ int external2; /* For External Echomail Processors*/ int external3; /* For External Echomail Processors*/ int external4; /* For External Echomail Processors*/ int external5; /* For External Echomail Processors*/ unsigned date_received; /* Packed Date field, When Message Was Received */ unsigned time_received; /* Packed Time Field, When Message Was Received */ unsigned down_thread; /* Current msg is a reply to this msg number */ unsigned attr; /* Attribute (behavior) of the message */ unsigned up_thread; /* Next message in the thread*/ unsigned board; /* Message Board message is assigned to */ long offset; /* offset address in msgtxt.qbs pointing to start of the message text;*/ long byte; /* number of bytes in message */ unsigned crc; /* 16 byte CRC for Msg Header */ unsigned eid_date; /* Packed date field, when message was entered */ unsigned eid_time; /* Packed Time field, when message was entered */ unsigned extern6; /* For external Echomail Processors*/ }; Conference Message Attributes #define HAVE_READ 0x0001 /* Used by Sphinx * 0000 0000 0000 0001 */ #define MSGREAD 0x0004 /* read by addressee * 0000 0000 0000 0100 */ #define MSGDEL 0x0020 /* Msg has been deleted * 0000 0000 0010 0000 */ #define ORIGIN 0x0040 /* New Echo, Needs ORIGIN * 0000 0000 0100 0000 */ #define MSGECHO 0x0400 /* Unmoved Echomail * 0000 0100 0000 0000 */ #define DUPCHK 0x8000 /* Duplicate checked * 1000 0000 0000 0000 */ Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 496 Struct _Keydef { unsigned char key[256]; /* keys the caller is allowed to press */ }; NOTE: First Record in ACCESS.SYS is used as a place holder only. Access level 1 starts is actually 2nd record in ACCESS.SYS Struct _Access_sys{ int timelimit_per_call[4]; int timelimit_per_day[4]; int download_limit[4]; int file_ratio[4]; int byte_ratio[4]; int time_give_back_ratio[4]; int byte_give_back_ratio[4]; unsigned flags; /* 0x0001 = allow Passworded uploads 0x0002 = allow attach messages 0x0004 = allow KILL/Password uploads */ }; Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 497 Struct _User_record { char name[36]; char city[26]; char pwd[16]; char homephone[13]; unsigned original_log_on_date; /* packed date field */ unsigned last_date_online; /* packed date field */ unsigned total_calls; unsigned char node_restrictor; unsigned char allow_nodelist_display; unsigned msg_areas[50]; /* areas selected */ unsigned high_msg_area; /* highest area used */ unsigned highmsg[50]; /* high read in those areas.*/ char alias[36]; char mailer_serial_number[51]; long ups; /* total Kbytes uploaded */ long downs; /* total kbytes downloaded */ char screen_clear_type; /* 1 = ANSI 2 = FORM FEED 3 = CR/LF */ int protocol; /* callers default protocol */ unsigned last_matrix_read; /* Highest file slot used*/ int board; /*** Last Msg board accessed ***/ int fboard; /*** last File area access ***/ unsigned day; /*** birth day ***/ unsigned month; /*** birth month ***/ unsigned total_downloaded_files; /* NUMBER of files downloaded */ unsigned total_uploaded_files; /* NUMBER of files Uploaded */ int today; /*** downloads today...***/ int elapsed; /*** total time online today..minutes...***/ int matrix_credit; int times_posted; unsigned menu_flags; /* special access flags for command keys*/ unsigned last_time_online; /* packed time field */ unsigned access_level; unsigned unused1; unsigned unused2; Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 498 unsigned user_settings_flags; /* Special user_settings flags 0000 0000 0000 000X Ansi 0x0001 0000 0000 0000 00X0 More On or OFF 0x0002 0000 0000 0000 0X00 Screen Clear 0x0004 0000 0000 0000 X000 [hotkeys] 0x0008 0000 0000 000X 0000 Full Menu display 0x0010 0000 0000 00X0 0000 No Menus..short display 0x0020 0000 0000 0X00 0000 No nothing, only SELECT: 0x0040 0000 0000 X000 0000 Auto mail check at log on 0x0080 */ int use_ibm; /*** use IBM Graphic's *****/ int len; /***** Screen Length *****/ char unused3; /** resevered for system. **/ char osage_editor; unsigned year; /* birth year */ unsigned new_upload_search_date;/* packed date field */ unsigned download_prompt; /* 0 = off 1 = on */ unsigned rotate_password; /* 0 = 0ff other number is number of log-on's the password is good for */ unsigned gflag; /* generally purpose SPL/I flags */ }; NOTE: User.idx, Alias.idx are properatory indexing systems. Do not alter name field or alias field in user records. Struct _Mainpriv{ char command_key[26]; int access_level[26]; unsigned flags[26]; }; Struct _Lastcaller { char lastcaller[36]; char from[36]; }; Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 499 Struct _Filboard { char command_key[20];/* command keys */ char name[31]; /* area name */ char downpath[80]; /* path to physical dnloadable files in area*/ char down[80];/* path to files qbs for download area */ char uppath[80]; /* path to upload area */ unsigned access_level; /* area access level */ unsigned access_levels[20];/* access levels for command keys*/ unsigned access_flags[20]; /* flags for command keys */ unsigned flag; /* area access flags */ char menu[9]; /* full help menu for area */ char dl_files[8]; /* name of download files.qbs, minus extension */ char up_files[8]; /* name of upload files.qbs, minus extension */ char bypass_limits; /* don't count downloads on user record. 0 = count them. 1 = do not count them */ unsigned int app_flags; char unused2[7]; }; Programmers Notes The field app_flags consists of 16 bit flags. External applications may use any one of the flags, except bit flag 0, to indicate yes/no or on/off switches for their applications. Before using one of these flags, contact David Adams using our technical support voice number to ensure that the flag is not being used by another application. Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 500 Struct _Msgboard { char command_key[20]; /* holds actual command key ascII value */ unsigned access[20]; /* access levels for Command_key */ unsigned access_flags[20]; /* flags for command_key */ char name[31]; /* area name */ int type; /* area type */ int msg_type; /* message type */ int access_level; /* area access level */ unsigned flag; /* area access flags */ char origin[66]; /* optional origin line */ char menu[9]; /* name of menu minus extension */ char word_wrap; /* wordwrap on/off (1 = on, 0 = off) */ int upper_limit; /* maximum pre pack message level */ int lower_limit; /* post pack message level */ } ; Struct _Filesbbs { char name[13]; unsigned upload_date; /* packed date field */ char description[81]; /* NOTE: Description must end with ascii 10 and ascii 13 */ char upname[36]; /**** Person who uploaded the file ****/ unsigned times; /**** Number of times that files been downloaded ****/ unsigned dl_date; /**** The last date that program was downloaded ****/ }; Struct Protocol_rec{ char display_name[9]; char program_name[9]; char send_cmd[61]; char rcv_cmd[61]; long low_cps; long high_cps; long times_used; int is_batch; /* 0 = No 1 = Yes */ unsigned access_level; }; Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 501 Struct _Msg_center_msg /* HDRP.SYS Header */ { char from[36]; char to[36]; char subj[41]; unsigned date_posted; /* packed date field */ unsigned time_posted; /* packed time field */ unsigned date_received; /* packed date field */ unsigned time_received; /* packed time field */ unsigned attr; /* 0x0001 - Return Recite Requested */ /* 0x0002 - file attached */ long offset; /* offset in TXTP.SYS */ long bytes; /* No. bytes in Message */ char fname[13]; /* name of attached file */ int uplink; /* up link to next message in conversation */ int dnlink;/* down link to prior message in conversation */ }; Struct _History_log { unsigned date; /* packed date field */ char name[36], city[26]; int starting_hour, starting_min, ending_hour, ending_min, total_time; /* time online in minutes */ }; Packed Time Fields A time field is packed using the same method DOS uses for file dates. Packed Date Fields Packing A Date Field int year,month,day; <Get year,month, and day> if(year > 1980) year -= 1980; else if(year > 80) year -= 80; pack_field = (year << 10) +(month << 5) + day; Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 502 Unpacking A Date Field day = packed_date << 11 >> 11; month = packed_date << 6 >> 11; year = (packed_date >> 10) + 80; Outxx.qbs Outxx.Qbs is the external control file written by Osiris when a caller does a VMS SHELL. xx is the NODE number and should NOT be confused with the COM port being used. Filename for Node 1 - Out1.Qbs Filename for Node 2 - Out2.Qbs External applications can ALWAYS find the External Control file by using the environment variable OSIRIS=Drive:\path The OUTxx.QBS will always be written in this directory. e.g. OSIRIS=C:\Osiris OUTxx.Qbs is in the directory C:\Osiris Struct _Outctl /* outXX.qbs file */ { char name[36]; /* callers name */ int internal_field1; /* Internal Osiris Use ONLY */ int elapsed; /* minutes ALREADY online TODAY */ int cur_baud; /* baud rate: 1200, 2400, 9600 */ int port; /* com port: 0, 1, 2, etc.. */ long timeleft; /* Time left for call in TIC's */ long logon_time; /* Log on time in TIC's */ int minutes; /* Minutes left for call */ int ansi; /* ANSI supported */ int local; /* 1 if in local mode */ int internal_field2; /* internal Osiris Use Only */ char sysop_name[36]; char board_name[40]; int node; /* Node number, 1 - 256 */ int ibm;/* Supports IBM Character Set 1 = Yes, 0 = No */ int user_id;/* User's Record Number */ int osage;/* Supports Osage ANSI Editor */ char phone[15]; /* Callers Phone Number */ char pwd[16]; /* Callers Password */ unsigned access_level; /* Callers Access Level 1-32722 */ int internal_field3; /* Osiris Internal Use Only */ }; Osiris SE Technical Reference Manual Page 503 Programming Notes All String Fields are C NULL terminating strings. Their MAY be resident garbage behind the NULL. That garbage should be ignored. Node Number does NOT reference the COM port being used. Node 1 can be on COM port 2, 3, 4, 5, etc. COM port being used should be pulled from the "port" variable. Baud rate reflects the CONNECT rate, and may NOT always reference the serial rate, especially if the system is running a highspeed modem locked at a specific baud rate. Programmers SHOULD check for an environment variable COMx=BAUD_RATE with x being the COM port in question. This will always, if it exists, reflect the serial port baud rate, most generally locked at a high baud rate. e.g. COM2=19200 Indicates that COM port 2 is set to 19200 baud. e.g. COM1=9600 Indicates that COM port 1 is set to 9600 baud. Since Osiris Supports Ultra high Lock rates, up to 115,200 baud, a LONG integer should be used to store the setting. If programming in C : long serial_rate; serial_rate = (long) atol(env_string); Programmers should take care NOT to change ANY field within the OUTxx.QBS.