home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
BBS Toolkit
/
BBS Toolkit.iso
/
qbbs
/
autoxprs.zip
/
AUTOXPRS.DOC
< prev
next >
Wrap
Text File
|
1991-02-26
|
50KB
|
1,717 lines
AutoXpress V1.0
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CopyRight (C) 1991, R J & L Price
All rights reserved
Copyright
AutoXpress is NOT a public domain or free package, although the
software should be distributed freely.
The software must only be used under the terms of the licence
agreement.
Licence Agreement
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Users of AutoXpress are granted a licence period of 30 days to
evaluate the package. If after this period has expired the
customer decides that the software meets his/her requirements
then the software MUST be registered.
The software must not be modified in any way. It must not be
decompiled, disassembled or otherwise reverse engineered.
In consideration of the licence fee, the licensor grants to the
customer a personal and non-exclusive licence to use the licenced
software and documentation.
The licenced software and documentation is supplied solely for
the customer's own purposes for use on a single computer.
All rights, title and interest in and to the licenced software
and documentation, any copies thereof, and all copyright and
other intellectual property rights remain the property of the
licensor.
The liability of the licensor for the licenced software and
documentation is limited to the replacement of the floppy disc on
which the software is distributed.
SUCH WARRANTY IS IN LIEU OF ALL OTHER WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR
IMPLIED INCLUDING THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND
FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE LICENSOR
BE LIABLE FOR ANY INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL OR SPECIAL DAMAGES
INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, ANY LOSS OF BUSINESS, INCOME OR
PROFITS, EXPENSES INCURRED FOR TIME WHEN THE SYSTEM IS NOT
OPERATIONAL, ANY LABOUR COSTS RELATING TO ARISING OUT OF THE
PERFORMANCE, FUNCTIONING OR USE OF THIS SYSTEM.
THE LICENCED SOFTWARE AND DOCUMENTATION IS SUPPLIED ON A STRICTLY
'AS IS' BASIS.
AutoXpress (C) 1991, R J & L Price 1
Acknowledgements
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Many thanks to John Sangwin (Severn Side BBS 44-452-611342) and
Oliver Clarke (Pig Pen 44-706-821837) for their help and support
in beta-testing AutoXpress. Their ideas and suggestions have
proved invaluable and have been very much appreciated.
AutoXpress (C) 1991, R J & L Price 2
Program files
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The AutoXpress archive file should contain the following files
and ONLY these files:-
$README.1ST - Any notes specific to this release
AUTOXPRS.EXE - The main program
AUTOXPRS.DOC - This file
AUTOXPRS.MNU - Example menu
AUTOXPRS.ANS - ANSI screen for example menu
AUTOXPRS.ASC - ASCII screen for example menu
XPRESS.BAT - Example batch file for multi-line
operation under RA V0.04
AXPRESS.BAT - Example batch file for multi-line
operation under RA V1.00
EXIT04.EXE - EXITINFO converter for RA 1.00
LOGVIEW.EXE - The log view program (see below)
After installation you should also have
AUTOXPRS.CFG - The configuration file
AUTOXPRS.DAT - The users file
AUTOXPRS.IDX - Index to the users file
Please do not change ANY of these files before distributing the
archive, however, conversion to an alternative archive format is
permitted.
AutoXpress (C) 1991, R J & L Price 3
AutoXpress Registration
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The UK registration point for AutoXpress is The Sphinx BBS, tel:-
44-61-748-3855, FidoNet 2:250/125.
Registration gives you an unlimited licence to use AutoXpress as
described in the documentation, plus technical support. Technical
support can be obtained by calling The Sphinx Bulletin Board
(061-748-3855).
If you would like to register AutoXpress, please complete the
form below:-
*****************************************************************
Name ............................................................
Bulletin Board Name.......................Node No:-..............
Address .........................................................
.........................................................
.........................................................
.........................................................
Telephone No. ...................................................
I enclose cash/cheque/money order to the value of £7.00 as
registration fee for AutoXpress.
Signature .......................................................
*****************************************************************
We will accept payment by cash, cheque or money order made
payable to:-
R J Price
17 Wycliffe Road
Urmston
Manchester
M31 3AH
ENGLAND
Commercial and group discounts are negotiable.
****** PLEASE SUPPORT SHAREWARE - REGISTER NOW! ******
AutoXpress (C) 1991, R J & L Price 4
LOGVIEW
~~~~~~~
In addition to the AutoXpress files, you will also find a small
utility called Logview. We found keep changing directory to look
at a particular log was becoming too time consuming so I knocked
together a small utility called Logview which allows you to view
the various RA and front end mailer logs from one program.
I've included this program in the AutoXpress zip file as an
'added extra' so if you have any problems with it, don't blame
me!
AutoXpress (C) 1991, R J & L Price 5
What is AutoXpress?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AutoXpress is an application for use by Sysops of BBS's running
Remote Access and the Silver Xpress offline mail packer. In
conjunction with either RA's or your front end mailer's events it
allows Silver Xpress mail packets to be prepared automatically
for designated users.
Each AutoXpress user is given their own directory for storing
their mail/reply packets. Under the control of a system event
AutoXpress may be invoked to scan it's list of users and prepare
their mail by calling Silver Xpress. Mail packets are then moved
from the standard Silver Xpress download directory to the user's
private directory where they are given a time stamped name
optionally with a one or two character prefix. AutoXpress may be
invoked manually at any time to prepare mail for all users, a
named user or for the Sysop.
An AutoXpress user may either upload their replies in the normal
way, or they may upload them to their own directory. If they
choose the latter then when they log off AutoXpress will detect
the reply packet and process for them whilst they are offline.
AutoXpress may be invoked manually at any time to process the
replies of all users, a named user or the sysop.
AutoXpress can be invoked in either batch or interactive mode. In
interactive mode the Sysop can process replies and mail via menu
options. In batch mode all commands are supplied to the program
via the command line.
One particularly valuable use for AutoXpress by the Sysop is to
prepare a record of all a days mail for checking, see Appendix C
for more about this.
AutoXpress (C) 1991, R J & L Price 6
Installing AutoXpress
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If you are anything like us you don't want to be bothered reading
the documentation until your stuck! For this reason the
installation process has been kept as simple as possible. The
steps required are as follows:-
1. Unpack the archive file into the directory in which you
want AutoXpress to live. The chances are you've already
done this because you're reading this, if you haven't
just move the file AUTOXPRS.EXE to where you want it.
2. Change directories to the directory into which you
unpacked the archive. If that directory is in your path
you can omit this step.
3. Enter the command
AUTOXPRS I
This will run AutoXpress in interactive mode (that's what
the I is for, more about that later). Because this is the
first time you have run the program it will take you
straight into the configuration section of the program.
It is essential that you complete all the entries
correctly so please check that the default values are
valid for your system. If you don't understand an entry
check in the AutoXpress configuration section of this
document.
4. When you are happy with the configuration press <ESC> and
a menu will be displayed with the following options:-
Save To save the configuration to disc and return to
the main menu,
Edit To continue changing the configuration.
Equivalent to pressing <Esc>,
Abandon Abandon all changes made and return to the main
menu.
5. AutoXpress is now configured but before you can use
it to prepare mail or upload reply packets you must tell
it which users are to be AutoXpress Users. Refer to the
User maintenance section of this manual for more
information, or if you're brave just select option U from
the main menu.
AutoXpress (C) 1991, R J & L Price 7
Configuring AutoXpress
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Board Name:
This should be set to the name you have configured Silver
Xpress to use for it's mail packets. You are allowed a
name of up to 8 alphabetic characters.
D/load Cmd:
This is the command to be used by AutoXpress to invoke
Silver Xpress in automatic download mode.
For version 0.04 of Remote Access this will probably be
the same as that used within your remote access menu (or
from your Remote Access batch files f you do not shell
Xpress).
For version 1.00 of Remote Access you should use your old
0.04 batch file, or create a new version omitting all
calls to CONV100 or whatever utility you use for splitting
and recombining the EXITINFO.BBS
U/load Cmd:
This is the command to be used by AutoXpress to invoke
Silver Xpress in automatic upload mode.
For version 0.04 of Remote Access this will probably be
the same as that used within your remote access menu (or
from your Remote Access batch files f you do not shell
Xpress).
For version 1.00 of Remote Access you should use your old
0.04 batch file, or create a new version omitting all
calls to CONV100 or whatever utility you use for splitting
and recombining the EXITINFO.BBS
D/Load Path:
This is the directory where Silver Xpress normally puts
user's mail packets.
U/Load Path:
This is the path where Silver Xpress expects to find
user's reply packets.
RA Path:
This is the directory where you Remote Access system
files are located.
EXITINFO:
AutoXpress (C) 1991, R J & L Price 8
This is the directory where you wish the EXITINFO.BBS
file to be created. For single line systems it will
probably be the same as your RA system directory. For
multi-line systems where you wish to be able to run
AutoXpress whilst other users are online more care is
required and you should consult the section on multi-line
operation.
AutoXpress (C) 1991, R J & L Price 9
Log Name:
This is the name of the AutoXpress log file. This is used
to record information about what AutoXpress has been
asked to do. I don't recommend making this the same as
any other log files, particularly if your intend to run a
multi-line system.
File Lister:
AutoXpress does not include an internal file view
facility so you should enter here the command required to
invoke your own file lister.
AutoXpress (C) 1991, R J & L Price 10
User Maintenance
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In order to prepare mail for users and process their replies you
must give AutoXpress some information about who packets are to be
prepared for. Note that this includes the sysop, no entry is
automatically created for the sysop.
The user maintenance menu consists of 5 options with the
following functions:-
Add:
Used to add new users to the list of AutoXpress users.
When selected you will be asked to enter the name of the
user to be added. No checking is done to validate that
the user is actually in the RA userbase, but you will not
be allowed to duplicate the name of a use already known
to AutoXpress. Once a name has been entered you are
presented with a screen into which you can enter the
details of the user. The entries on this screen are
described later in this section.
Edit:
Used to modify the details of an existing AutoXpress
user. Upon selection you will be presented with a list of
known users, which may be browsed using the up and down
arrow keys, PgUp and PgDown. Move the cursor to the user
you wish to modify and select with <RETURN> or press
<ESC> to cancel user selection. Once a user has been
selected you are presented with a screen into which you
can enter the details of the user. The entries on this
screen are described later in this section.
Delete:
Use this option to remove an existing AutoXpress user.
Upon selection you will be presented with a list of known
users, which may be browsed using the up and down arrow
keys, PgUp and PgDown. Move the cursor to the user you
wish to delete and select with <RETURN> or press <ESC> to
cancel user selection. Once a user has been selected you
will be asked to confirm that you wish to delete the
user. Select Yes to delete or No to cancel user deletion.
View:
Use this option to browse the list of AutoXpress Users.
Upon selection you will be presented with a list of known
users, which may be browsed using the up and down arrow
keys, PgUp and PgDown. Press <ESC> to finish viewing the
users.
AutoXpress (C) 1991, R J & L Price 11
Quit:
Returns to the main menu
User Details:
Prefix:
This is a one or two character prefix to be used for mail
packets generated by AutoXpress for the user. In general
the mail packets have a name with the format
P[P]DDMMYY.OP? where P[P] is the one or two character
prefix and DDMMYY the date of preparation. The ? is
normally an X, however where more than one packet is
generated for user in a day it will be replaced by 0 to 9
allowing up to 11 mail packets to be created for a user
in any day. Note that if the Use Prefix option is set to
N, the prefix is ignored.
Path:
This is the directory you wish AutoXpress to use for
storing mail and reply packets for that user. The
directory MUST be unique to that user. No checking is
done to ensure that the directory exists, but an error
will result if you attempt to prepare mail for a user and
the directory is invalid.
Use Prefix:
Set this to Y if you wish to use the prefix for name
generation, or N if not.
Save LastRead:
Some users may prefer the ability to read mail online
without affecting the last read pointer to be used for
subsequent AutoXpress packets. If this option is set to Y
then AUtoXpress will record the last message read pointer
after preparing a packet and use that for any subsequent
AutoXpress packets. If set to N the current RA last
message pointer will always be used.
LastRead:
This is the recorded last message read pointer for the
user. It should normally be left unchanged, but can be
modified to prepare a mail packet which starts from a
particular message without entering RA.
AutoXpress (C) 1991, R J & L Price 12
Days:
With this option you can inhibit the automatic
preparation of mail for users on specific days. The
option is only applicable where mail is packed for all
users. Enter Y against those days you wish AutoXpress to
prepare mail for the user and N against the others.
Either Y or N must be specified for all days.
When all information about a user has been entered press
<ESC>, a menu with the following options will be
displayed:-
Save To save the user to disc and return to the
main menu,
Edit To continue changing the user. Equivalent to
pressing <Esc>,
Abandon Abandon all changes made and return to the
main menu.
AutoXpress (C) 1991, R J & L Price 13
Preparing Mail Packets
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mail packets may be prepared for all users, a named user the last
RA user or for the sysop.
In interactive mode, select the Mail option from the main menu
then select one of the options Named, All, Last or Sysop. In the
case of Named, you will be presented with a list of users; move
the cursor to the user you want to prepare mail for and press
<RETURN>. Once AutoXpress knows who mail is to be prepared for it
will proceed to call Silver Xpress to prepare the packet. Any
errors will be displayed on the screen as will all output from
Xpress (if snoop is enabled in the Xpress configuration). All
messages displayed by AutoXpress are also echoed to the log, so
if you miss something you can always look there.
To prepare mail in batch mode you must specify all the
interactive menu options on the command line. Thus to prepare
mail for all users use the command:-
AUTOXPRS MA
for the Sysop:-
AUTOXPRS MS
for the last caller:-
AUTOXPRS ML
for a named user:-
AUTOXPRS MN <Name>
where <Name> is the name of the user to prepare mail for.
Note that with the exception of the Named user option prefixing
the command parameters with an I will cause the options to be
executed automatically in interactive mode. Using the I option
with named user will always prompt for the name of the user and
you MUST NOT include <Name> on the command line.
Note
You should NOT use the Last user option for Sysop packets
if RA is configured not to record Sysop logons.
AutoXpress (C) 1991, R J & L Price 14
Processing Reply Packets
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Reply packets may be processed for all users, a named user the
last RA user or for the sysop.
In interactive mode, select the Replies option from the main menu
then select one of the options Named, All, Last or Sysop. In the
case of Named, you will be presented with a list of users; move
the cursor to the user whose replies you wish to process and
press <RETURN>. Once AutoXpress knows whose replies are to
processed for it will proceed to call Silver Xpress to upload the
reply packet. Any errors will be displayed on the screen as will
all output from Xpress (if snoop is enabled in the Xpress
configuration). All messages displayed by AutoXpress are also
echoed to the log, so if you miss something you can always look
there.
To process replies in batch mode you must specify all the
interactive menu options on the command line. Thus to process
replies for all users use the command:-
AUTOXPRS RA
for the Sysop:-
AUTOXPRS RS
for the last caller:-
AUTOXPRS RL
for a named user:-
AUTOXPRS RN <Name>
where <Name> is the name of the user whose replies are to be
processed.
Note
With the exception of the Named user option prefixing the
command parameters with an I will cause the options to be
executed automatically in interactive mode. Using the I
option with named user will always prompt for the name of
the user and you MUST NOT include <Name> on the command
line.
Note
You should NOT use the Last user option for Sysop packets
if RA is configured not to record Sysop logons.
AutoXpress (C) 1991, R J & L Price 15
Putting It All Together
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It is impossible to describe how to set about using AutoXpress on
your system because there is no way of knowing which of the
infinite variety of setups you have. However, there are some
pointers which can be given.
1. You should setup an event to be executed by either RA or your
front end mailer to call AutoXpress in batch mode to prepare mail
for all users. The command to be used is
<path>AUTOXPRS MA
where <path> is the directory containing AutoXpress.
2. You should include a line in your batch file which invokes RA
a line to call AutoXpress after a user has logged off. This line
should read
<path>AUTOXPRS RL
where <path> is the directory containing AutoXpress. Note
that if the user is not an AutoXpress user a message will
appear in the log file to this effect.
3. You should provide a menu in RA which allows users access to
their own AutoXpress directory AND NO-ONE ELSES! There are
probably hundreds of ways of doing this. The way we have
implemented this is described in Appendix A.
AutoXpress (C) 1991, R J & L Price 16
Message Base Renumbering
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Without some additional action the record held by AutoXpress of a
users last read message would become invalid whenever the message
base was renumbered. To overcome this two options are provided
Backup and Restore.
During Backup, the last read pointers as known to AutoXpress are
replaced in the RA users record. This should be done BEFORE any
utility (RAMSG, MBUTIL) is used to renumber the message base.
During Restore, the last read pointers as stored in the RA user
file are extracted and placed in the AutoXpress user file. This
should be done AFTER any utility is used to renumber the message
base.
The recommended action is to use a batch file to perform message
base renumbering containing something like:-
AUTOXPRS B
RAMSG -R
AUTOXPRS R
If you already have a batch file for these house keeping
operations just add the two lines as above.
AutoXpress (C) 1991, R J & L Price 17
Multi-Node Setup
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I've thought long and hard about this one, and tried to consider
all aspects of running Silver Xpress in a multi-node environment.
In particular I was concerned that a Sysop should be able, in a
multi-tasking environment, to run AutoXpress whilst another user
was online. This is the extent to which the software has been
tested, because we haven't a true multi-node system.
First and foremost is the configuration of Silver Xpress in the
multi-node RA environment. Once again possible variations of this
make it difficult to provide a single set of instructions on how
to set up AutoXpress.
It is assumed that the configuration will consist of one or more
'true' nodes (ie nodes via which external callers can access RA)
and a 'local' node used by the Sysop.
Given that the above is true, and that you have Silver Xpress
setup to run successfully from each node, without conflict
between nodes, then AutoXpress should be easy to add. Basically
it needs to be run as an *alternative* to the local node. Thus
the commands in the AutoXpress configuration need to behave
identically to those which RA would invoke from the local node.
On our own setup, this works as follows:-
The directory structure is
RA
+---------------+---------------+
| | |
NODE1 NODE2 XPRESS
| | |
+---+---+ +---+---+
| | | | | |
DOWN UP WORK DOWN UP WORK
In each NODE? directory there is an Xpress configuration file
(XPMAIL.PRM), which specifies for each node the directories it is
to use for upload, downloads and workfiles; in addition it tells
Xpress where to find the EXITINFO.BBS for each node. Thus for
NODE2 the relevant Xpress configuration screen looks like this
AutoXpress (C) 1991, R J & L Price 18
Xpress Error Log File : C:\RA\XPRESS\XPRESS.LOG·················
EXITINFO.BBS file : C:\RA\NODE2\EXITINFO.BBS················
Location of CONFIG.BBS : C:\RA\··································
Xpress Work Directory : C:\RA\NODE2\WORK························
DownLoad Directory : C:\RA\NODE2\DOWN························
UpLoad Directory : C:\RA\NODE2\UP··························
Dnld/Upld Statistics File : C:\RA\XPSTATS.DAT·······················
Bad Messages Dump Path : C:\RA\XPRESS\DUMP·······················
User Base File Path : C:\RA\XPRESS\···························
Transfer batch files dir : C:\RA\XPRESS\···························
Archiver batch files dir : C:\RA\XPRESS\···························
Xpress DUPE file Location : C:\RA\XPRESS\···························
BBS Node List Location : C:\RA\NODELIST··························
1 is identical, except that all references to NODE2 are replaced
by references to Node1.
The batch file required for invoking Xpress from RA and from
AutoXpress depends upon the version of RA in use. For RA V0.04
the same batch file can be used, and ours read (until our
upgrade to V1.0) :-
:*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
: Silver Xpress Mail System
: (c) copyright 1988-1990 by Santronic Software
:*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
C:
cd \RA\NODE%1
\RA\RACVT R2Q
C:
cd \RA\XPRESS
xpmail -QOLD -F -P1 -CC:\RA\NODE%1\XPMAIL.PRM %2 %3 %4 %5 %6
C:
cd \RA\NODE%1
\RA\RACVT Q2R
For RA V1.0, separate batch files are required to overcome the
change in structure of the EXITINFO.BBS file. Ours now read:-
AutoXpress (C) 1991, R J & L Price 19
For AutoXpress:-
:-------------------------------------------------------------------
: Batch file to execute Silver Xpress under AutoXpress For RA V1.00
: in a multi-line setup. See doc's for more information.
:
: **** REMEMBER TO CHECK PATHS ****
:-------------------------------------------------------------------
C:
CD \RA\NODE%1
\RA\RACVT R2Q
C:
cd \RA\XPRESS
xpmail -QOLD -F -P1 -CC:\RA\NODE%1\XPMAIL.PRM %2 %3 %4 %5 %6
C:
CD \RA\NODE%1
\RA\RACVT Q2R
and for Silver Xpress from RA :-
:-----------------------------------------------------------------
: Example batch file to run Silver Xpress under RA V1.00 in a
: multi-line setup. See doc's for more information.
:
: *** REMEMBER TO CHECK THE PATHS ***
:-----------------------------------------------------------------
C:
CD \RA\NODE%1
:
: If you are using CONVEXT then replace the line after this comment with
: \RA\UTIL\CONVEXT 1
\RA\UTIL\EXIT04 O
\RA\RACVT R2Q
C:
CD \RA\XPRESS
xpmail -QOLD -F -P1 -CC:\RA\NODE%1\XPMAIL.PRM %2 %3 %4 %5 %6
C:
CD \RA\NODE%1
\RA\RACVT Q2R
:
: If you are using CONVEXT then replace the line after this comment with
: \RA\UTIL\CONVEXT 2
\RA\UTIL\EXIT04 N
AutoXpress (C) 1991, R J & L Price 20
Note the lines which call the EXIT04 utility to split and then
rejoin the parts of the EXITINFO.BBS. If you are using a
different utility then replace these accordingly.
Finally, AutoXpress is configured to invoke XPRESS.BAT as node 2
using the commands and directories as :-
D/load Cmd: C:\RA\XPRESS.BAT 2 -DA
U/load Cmd: C:\RA\XPRESS.BAT 2 -U
D/load Path: DOWN\ U/load Path: UP\
for RA 0.04, or for RA 1.00
D/load Cmd: C:\RA\AXPRESS.BAT 2 -DA
U/load Cmd: C:\RA\AXPRESS.BAT 2 -U
D/load Path: DOWN\ U/load Path: UP\
Note that AutoXpress executes with the current directory set as
\RA\NODE2, hence the form of the D/load and U/Load path (you can
of course specify a complete path if you prefer).
AutoXpress (C) 1991, R J & L Price 21
Appendix A - Giving Users Access to Their Packets
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Each AutoXpress user has their own directory in which their mail
packets are stored and into which their replies are uploaded. The
problem therefore is to offer a menu within RA which gives access
to their directory alone, preferably without them needing to
specify any paths.
The solution we chose for this may not be the simplest or the
best, but works! One block of 8 user flags is allocated to
AutoXpress, with the last of these indicating that the user is an
AutoXpress User. The remaining flags are treated as a binary
number effectively offering a range of values from 0 to 127.
The AutoXpress menu within RA offers options to download, upload
and list available reply/mail packets. The screen display is
built using a standard display ANS/ASC file with hotkeys (type
40). The upload (type 33), download (type 32) and list (type 30)
options are repeated within the option definitions for each user.
Treating the block of flags as a binary number, we allocate
values to each AutoXpress user as follows:-
Flags Value
First User XXXXXXXX 255
Second User XXXXXXX- 254
Third User XXXXXX-X 253
....
....
Last User X------- 128
The menu consists of a repetition of options for each user,
protected by flags which match the users own flags and which are
ordered in descending flag values. For each option (U,D,L) the
optional data for the menu item is the path of that users
AutoXpress directory.
When the menu is activated and the user selects an option, RA
locates the option for which all the flags match the users own
flags, thus restricting access to their directory alone.
An example menu is included in the Zip file.
(If anyone has a better way of doing this, let us know!)
AutoXpress (C) 1991, R J & L Price 22
Appendix B - A History of AutoXpress
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Before setting up our own board, we had been taking advantage of
a facility offered by a couple of local Opus BBSs (Roadrunner and
Time Tunnel) whereby Silver Xpress mail packets were prepared
automatically for us. The advantage of this was that we could
simply log onto the BBS and download the packet without having to
wait for the system to scan and pack the mail. This reduced our
online time freeing the BBS for more callers and lowering our
'phone bill.
When we were setting up our BBS we decided that we would like to
offer a similar facility, however the technique used by the Opus
boards was specific to the BBS software. Rather than abandon the
idea we decided to create our own method, thus AutoXpress was
born.
AutoXpress (C) 1991, R J & L Price 23
Appendix C - Using AutoXpress to Check Your Systems Mail
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Most Sysops are concerned that the mail leaving their system
adheres to Fido policy. AutoXpress provides an ideal mechanism
via which a Sysop can prepare a complete record of mail left
during a chosen period.
If mail is prepared at some time early in the day (say 06:00),
AutoXpress will record the last message it packed. If mail is
then prepared at the end of the day it will pack mail received
during the period since 06:00 and contain a record of any mail
entered on the board since 06:00. There isn't even a need to keep
the packet from 06:00, which can be readily deleted.
AutoXpress (C) 1991, R J & L Price 24
TRADE MARK & COPYRIGHT ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The following copyrights/trademarks are acknowledged:
Opus Xpress, Silver Xpress, Gold Xpress, Platinum Xpress, Xpress
Lite, Xpress Windows, Xpress mail, Xpmail, Xpread, Xpuser, Xpcfg,
XpEdt, Xpfiles, the file extensions .OPX and .REP are all
trademarks of Santronics Software.
Remote Access is the copyright of Andrew Milner & Continental
Software.
AutoXpress (C) 1991, R J & L Price 25