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BBS_PAK1 Copyright (c) 1992 By Mark G. Spivey BBSPlus Software Utilities All Rights Reserved Release Date : August 8th, 1992 PREAMBLE and CREDITS I would first of all like to thank Rachel, my fiancee, who put up with me hanging around in here at all hours of the night without complaining! I love you! Second, I would like to thank all of the users who inspired me to update this program after I had decided to drop out of FIDO net and give up, your letters got me going again. Third, I would like to thank Karen Maynor of The Dart Board for her help in getting this thing off the ground and my programming started up. I would also like to thank her for use of her board in letting me release my programs through it. Fourth I would like to thank my Beta Team: Norman Cox, Karen Maynor, Ken Givens, Steve Proctor, Jim Thompson, Robert Garbutt. There will be several other program names mentioned in my documentation or other areas that are the respective programs of their authors and are no way related to mine. LICENSING INFORMATION "BBS_PAK1" refers to the executable program(s) and documentation contained in the BBS_PAK1 archive released by BBSPlus Software (Shareware Version). 1. BBS_PAK1 is the copywritten material of BBSPlus Software. It may only be used in accordance with the conditions set out in this license agreement. 2. You may use BBS_PAK1 for a period of three weeks on a trial basis in order to determine it's suitability for your particular application. After this period you MUST register each copy of BBS_PAK1 that you run simultaneously. Multi-line installations that share a common message and file base AND have the same name need only register one copy. 3. Registration entitles you to use BBS_PAK1 and any future versions of BBS_PAK1 for as long as you wish, subject to any special licensing conditions attached to future versions. For details on the registration procedure, refer to the section in this document "HOW TO REGISTER". 4. BBSPlus Software is in no way obligated to provide future versions of, or support for, BBS_PAK1. 5. Site and Group registrations are available, and are dealt with on a case by case basis. 6. You may not modify or otherwise reverse-engineer BBS_PAK1. 7. You are encouraged to distribute BBS_PAK1 provided that no fee is charged for its distribution, and that the distribution archive is not modified in any way. Pay Bulletin Board Systems may however charge their normal fee provided that no additional charged for BBS_PAK1 is levied. 8. BBS_PAK1 may be included as part of ANY software library which is distributed on a commercial basis (commercial = "for money"). 9. BBS_PAK1 may not be used in any illegal or unlawful manner. 10. BBSPlus Software's liability resulting from your use or inability to use BBS_PAK1 is limited to the amount that the affected party has paid for it, or in the event that BBS_PAK1 was registered with a third party for payment to BBSPlus Software, liability is limited to the amount that was received by BBSPlus Software from that third party. HOW TO REGISTER Shareware version: Systems that qualify for this category must be physically run from a noncommercial OR commercial site. Print or reproduce the registration form at the end of this section and send it with your registration payment to the following address: Mark Spivey Cost: $15.00 for package Registration/BBS_PAK1 $ 5.00 for each program seperately 2900 Colerain Rd. #938 St. Mary's, GA 31558 USA * You MUST fill out the registration form correctly in order for your registration to be processed. * Check and money orders should be made payable to the person listed above. * Please include your FIDONET address or a self addressed stamped envelope so that receipt of your payment may be acknowledged. *** BBS_PAK1 REGISTRATION FORM *** Your Name ________________________________________________ Your BBS Name ____________________________________________ Network Address (net name too) ___________________________ Primary BBS # and Baud ___________________________________ Voice Telephone # ________________________________________ Hours of Operation _______________________________________ Postal Address : __________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ Version Registering __________. Registration Amount enclosed _____, for ____ copy(s). What do you like about BBS_PAK1? ___________________________ ___________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________ What suggestions would you have for BBS_PAK1? ______________ ___________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________ What BBS program do you use? ______________________________ What Mailer do you use? ___________________________________ PRODUCT SUPPORT You can always get the latest version of BBS_PAK1 from my BBS, Online Information Systems, 912-882-8667. I will support anyone 100% via this system or netmail whether you have registered or not. I carry an echo for support which may be placed on the backbone one day which will make it easier. The reason that I will support registered users AND unregistered users is that I have wanted to use a program and the author felt I should register it before he would help me. This made me delete the program and refuse to use it ever again. BUG REPORTS With all software, there are going to be a few bugs that were not found during the BETA testing period. This is normal and is much easier to fix with the help of the user of the software. If you notice anything weird happening and have found it to be my programs fault, I would appreciate it if you let me know. I will see if the bug exists and if you have in fact found a bug, (and are the first to report it) I will grant you a FREE version. Hopefully this will give more incentive to helping me find problems in my software. You may reach me via FIDO netmail at address 1:3640/13. This will allow a much faster response to the problem. If you prefer US MAIL you can reach me at: 2900 Colerain Rd. #938 St. Mary's, Ga 31558 FILES IN ARCHIVE: CALLER.ARJ - Last Caller Patching Utility for Mailer. ECH.ARJ - Command Level Printer/Log file Logger. LASTCALL.ARJ - Last Caller's Bulletin Generator. TOPCALL.ARJ - Top 10 Caller Utility. TOPDOOR.ARJ - Top 10 Door Utility. ----------------------[ CALLER.EXE ]----------------------- PURPOSE and DESCRIPTION This program will place the last caller to your BBS into your mailer. Why did I make this program? Well, the desire for a quick glance at my mailer screen to see who the last caller to my BBS was not satisfied when I tried other programs which claimed to do the job. CONFIGURATION Single Line Users: Edit the Configuration File with a normal text editor and place it the directory in which you intend to be in when you execute the program. Multi Line Users: Edit the Configuration File as mention above and place the configuration file located in the distribution archive into each node directory for your BBS. Configuration File Information: Line 1 - This is the path to your main BBS Directory where the last caller file will be located. Make sure that a trailing backslash follows the path. eg. C:\RA\ Line 2 - This is the path to your main MAILER Directory where the last caller file is located. Make sure that a trailing backslash follows the path. eg. C:\FD\ Line 3 - This is the Handles switch, if you place a Y here then the callers handles (if available) will be used, if you place a N here then the users real name will be used. Line 4 - This is the Time Switch, if you place a Y here then the connect and disconnect time will of the caller will be placed on the screen, if you place a N here then the last mail connect time will be left untouched. Line 5 - This is the extra information switch, if you place a Y here then the node number, baud rate and the total calls will be written in the address area of the mailer screen, if you place a N here then the last mail call address will be left alone. Line 6 - This is the printer logging option, if you place a Y here then the caller information will be logged to the printer for easy hard copy record keeping. If you place a N here then the printer logging will be skipped. If your printer is offline for any reason, the program will display a small reminder and exit normally allowing you save control in printer failures. Line 7 - This is the Mailer Inbound History switch, this will allow you to place the information into this file so you can see the weeks callers at a glance in contrast with the mail calls. Placing a N here will ignore this information. Line 8 - This is the BBS type switch, replace it with the number which corresponds to your BBS type. 1 - RemoteAccess 2 - SuperBBS Line 9 - This is the mailer type switch, replace it with the number which corresponds to your Mailer type. 1 - FrontDoor Line 10 - This is the node number of this config file. EXECUTION Execute the program just before you load up your BBS or MAILER and everything should work fine. Make sure you do not run this after your BBS or Mailer as the error levels will be lost and cause problems with your batch file execution. ------------------------[ ECH.EXE ]----------------------- PURPOSE The purpose of this program is to allow you to maintain either a hardcopy log of system activity or a file log on disk. It is simmilar to using the ECHO such and such >> file name or > PRN. The difference is the time and date are stored alond with a few other little command options available in the program. If you are using the printer option then you do not have to worry about system lockups due to an offline printer. The program will detect the failure or off condition and create the log file you specify with the ECH enviroment varible. If you want you can even have it append to your RA log. DO NOT DO THIS UNLESS YOU USE THE ECHNOPRINT enviroment varible. I use this program on my BBS to keep track of the BBS activity and system reboots. It is very helpful in seeing the things the LOGS don't tell you. EXECUTION Execution of the program follows this format: ECH <paramater>TEXT TO BE PRINTED/LOGGED. / placed before the text will suppress the date, time and the spaces placed before your text. \ will supress the date and time before your text, but still space over just as if they were printed. $,# where $ is the chracter you want to use and # is a number. This will allow you to print a line of the defined character. This is nice when you want to separate information. You cannot use more than one of these paramaters at any given time. Doing so may cause strange results. ECH executed alone will display a small help screen. The enviroment varibles are as follows and are NOT needed, but using them will allow you to select better controll over the program. ECH=C:\SYSTEM.LOG will tell ECH.EXE that this is the path and filename of the log you wish it to use in the event of a printer failure or logging option. ECHNOPRINT=Y will tell ECH.EXE that you do not intend to use the printer at all. NOTE!: If you do not use this option and you do tell it to use the RA.LOG, when ECH.EXE detects the printer is available, it will print out the file you defined and DELETE IT! ----------------------[ LASTCALL.EXE ]------------------- PURPOSE This program will allow the SysOp to create a small text file which will display the last few callers to the BBS (the sysop specifies how many callers are written). You can place a "display a text file code" in your welcome1 or any other screen and it will display the SMALL file. Experiment with your location and then your callers can see if thier friends have just called! CONFIGURATION Single Line Users: Edit the configuration file and place it into the directory you will be calling the program from. Multi Line Users: Place the configuration file located in the distribution archive into each node directory for your BBS and edit it as above for each node. Configuration Information: Line 1 - Name of your BBS as you want it displayed in the bulletin. Line 2 - This is the path to your main BBS directory where the last caller file is located. Make sure the trailing backslash is there. eg. C:\RA\ Line 3 - This is the Handle switch, if Y then the users handle will be used if available, if N then the users name will be used. Line 4 - This is the BBS type switch, place the number which corresponds to your BBS package. 1 - Remote Access 2 - SuperBBS Line 5 - Path and filename WITHOUT an extension for bulletin file. Color Chart 1 - Red 9 - Light Red 2 - Green 10 - Light Green 3 - Brown 11 - Yellow 4 - Blue 12 - Light Blue 5 - Magenta 13 - Light Magenta 6 - Cyan 14 - Light Cyan 7 - White 15 - Bright White 8 - Grey The last # callers to BBS NAME ^ ^_______^_______^ Color 1_________| Color 2 \/ So and So of somewhere called node # at 12:00 ^_________________^_______^ Color 3 Line 6 - Color 1 Definition 15 Line 7 - Color 2 Definition 11 Line 8 - Color 3 Definition 14 EXECUTION Execute the program with the total number of callers you want to be written to the output file after it with a space in between. (eg. LASTCALL 10 <-will do the last ten callers) IF there are at least TEN in the file, otherwise, it will do all of them! If you omit the number, then 0 CALLERS will be searched. Execute the program just before you load up your BBS or MAILER (if applicable) and everything should work fine. Make sure you do not run this after as the error levels will be lost and cause problems with your batch file execution. ---------------------[ TOPCALL.EXE ]---------------------- PURPOSE This program will generate (on request only) a top ten caller list in ANSI and ASCII format for the best callers, posters, uploaders, downloaders, uploaders in megs, and downloaders in megs. Why another one? Well, I used another program and I did not like the way that did not allow me to choose which one to create and I had to delete them after running it and that it was quite slow. This program can be run after each caller and only takes about 2 seconds on my SLOW 286/6. Another fine feature is that you specify where the files go and their name in the configuration file and you can do this for each node. Colors are also definable by the SysOp via the Configuration file. CONFIGURATION Single Line Users: Edit the configuration file and place it in the directory you intend to execute it. Multi Line Users: Place the configuration file into each node directory for your BBS. Line 1 - Name of your BBS as you would like it to appear in the TOP CALL files. Cannot exceed 38 chars. Line 2 - The full path to your BBS's users file including a trailing backslash. (eg. C:\RA\MESSAGE\) Line 3 - Path and filename WITHOUT an extension of TOP 10 CALLERS. Line 4 - Path and filename of TOP 10 POSTERS. Line 5 - Path and filename of TOP 10 UPLOADERS IN FILES. Line 6 - Path and filename of TOP 10 DOWNLOADERS IN FILES. Line 7 - Path and filename of TOP 10 UPLOADERS IN MEGS. Line 8 - Path and filename of TOP 10 DOWNLOADERS IN MEGS. Color Chart 1 - Red 9 - Light Red 2 - Green 10 - Light Green 3 - Brown 11 - Yellow 4 - Blue 12 - Light Blue 5 - Magenta 13 - Light Magenta 6 - Cyan 14 - Light Cyan 7 - White 15 - Bright White 8 - Grey Color 1 -> Created by TOPCALL by Mark G. Spivey Color 2 -> Top Ten Callers to Color 3 -> ONLINE INFORMATION SYSTEMS Color 4 -> --------------------------------------- Color 6 \/ Color 5 -> MARK SPIVEY .............. 46 <- Color 7 Line 9 - Color1 1 Line 10 - Color2 2 Line 11 - Color3 3 Line 12 - Color4 4 Line 13 - Color5 5 Line 14 - Color6 6 Line 15 - Color7 7 EXECUTION Execute the program just before you load up your BBS or MAILER and everything should work fine. Make sure you do not run this after your BBS as the error levels will be lost and cause problems with your batch file execution. Command line options are as follows, TOPCALL <number of file> where number of file is the screen to create. Here is the list: 1 - Top 10 Callers 2 - Top 10 Posters 3 - Top 10 Uploaders 4 - Top 10 Downloaders 5 - Top 10 Uploaders Megs 6 - Top 10 Downloaders Megs Only one can be created at once. Example given: TOPCALL 1 will create the files you specified in config for the Top 10 callers. ---------------------[ TOPDOOR.EXE ]---------------------- PURPOSE This program will generate a top ten doors list in ANSI and ASCII format. Having a top door list can make your users interested in the doors that get used the most. The file can be placed anywhere in your log in path. I recommend you place it as an autoexecute from your main menu so there will be a pause at the end for the user to read the bulletin in time. CONFIGURATION Place all of the files into a directory called TOPDOOR (you may change this at any time, but make sure you edit the batch file TDINC.BAT to the proper path.) Place the file TDINC in your path somewhere so it can be called from any directory in your system. Edit the batch files which execute your doors and after the completion of each door add this line. CALL TDINC (this is the name of the door as set up with TDMAINT excluding the parenthesis) Case is sensitive and you should write down on a piece of paper the name you used so the program will count correctly. Do this for all batch files which execute doors INCLUDING the ones contained in your EXEBBS batch file (if applicable). On my system I have all of the doors in one batch file and send a parameter to this file which will call the proper sub routine. This is merely preference. Next you need to enter the names into the database with TDMAINT.EXE. This is pretty simple, you can either ADD the names or DELETE an old door from the list. If you are done adding names, press ENTER and the program will close the file and exit. The next version (beta that is) will hopefully have a revamped editor available with an option to import the names automatically from all of your batch files on all of your drives, I will have to work HARD on that one. Once you have the name in the database you need to edit the configuration file as explained below. Line 1 - Name of your BBS as you would like it to appear in the TOP CALL files. Cannot exceed 38 chars. Line 2 - Path and filename WITHOUT an extension of TOP 10 DOORS Color Chart 1 - Red 9 - Light Red 2 - Green 10 - Light Green 3 - Brown 11 - Yellow 4 - Blue 12 - Light Blue 5 - Magenta 13 - Light Magenta 6 - Cyan 14 - Light Cyan 7 - White 15 - Bright White 8 - Grey Color 1 -> Created by TOPDOOR by Mark G. Spivey Color 2 -> Top Ten Doors Color 3 -> ONLINE INFORMATION SYSTEMS Color 4 -> --------------------------------------- Color 6 \/ Color 5 -> MARK SPIVEY .............. 46 <- Color 7 Line 3 - Color1 1 Line 4 - Color2 2 Line 5 - Color3 3 Line 6 - Color4 4 Line 7 - Color5 5 Line 8 - Color6 6 Line 9 - Color7 7 EXECUTION At night during your maintenance event, change to the TOPDOOR directory and execute TDCOUNT.EXE for the program to increase the counters. After this program is completed you will be able to run TDBULLET.EXE which will create the bulletin you defined in the configuration file. All other execution should be transparent and not even noticed. The reason TDCOUNT and TDBULLET are two files is this, if you have a VERY active system and there will be more than 500 lines in the doors.cnt file (the file with the names of the doors in it) then you need to run this program more than once a day as this is the limit per session. There also is a limit to the number of doors you can have: 200. If this is not enough for ANYONE, please contact me via my system 1:3640/13 and I will make you a special version which can handle as many as you like.