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STORYDOR.DOC
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1989-02-16
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Welcome to "The Story Door"
The First of Many "Cabinware Doors"
Brought to you by Alan Davenport
of Al's Cabin BBS!
(717) 686-3037 9600 HST
"What is a "Story Door"?"
This door will allow you and your users to write stories online. It works
like this; one person starts a story and writes a few lines. The next person
who logs on then adds a few. And so on. Each user builds on the work of the
previous one creating an ongoing story which is interesting reading and quite
entertaining for you and your users!
"Guarantee and Disclaimer"
There is no guarantee of any kind. Reasonable care has been taken to insure
there are no problems but with a door of this complexity, some may exist.
Anyone running or using this door MUST agree to accept any responsibility for
ANY problems that result from the use, or inability to use, this product. If
you do NOT agree to this, you MUST discontinue to use this product.
"Features in The Story Door"
The Story Door is an advanced story writing system for QuickBBS and RBBS
15.1C or later. It allows for great flexibility in security levels and
personalization. Up to 25 different stories can be running at one time and
The Story Door keeps track of the last line each user has read in each story
and informs your user of what stories have new lines. I darn near had to
write a complete BBS from scratch for The Story Door. It contains a complete
and full-features message editor with full word wrap and line editing
capabilities. Also included are "hot keys" type menus where appropriate and
regular multi-character entry prompts where needed. The Story Door keeps
track of loss of carrier and maintains a watch on the time your user has left
so they will not exceed their time limit on your system. Six security levels
exist in the door. They will be explained in detail in the section on the
data file "SD-SEC.DAT". Stories can be PASSWORD PROTECTED also. Only users
who know the story password or have sysop or high enough access will be able
to read/write to these stories. Using the included utility program,
"SD-UTIL.EXE", you can import/export stories to/from text files and LOCK OUT
problem users COMPLETELY from the door!
"Getting Started"
The Story door is VERY easy to set up. Even first time doors sysops should
have no problem setting this door up. For QuickBBS you can either use a type
7 or type 15 exit. There is only ONE command line parameter needed for the
door and that is the complete path and NAME to the DORINFO1.DEF file. (In
case you do not know what this is, DORINFO1.DEF is created by both RBBS and
QuickBBS whenever someone exits to a door. It contains all the information
needed for door programs to run, such as user name, security level, your BBS
name, etc. The reason you probably never saw this file before is because the
BBS's automatically ERASE this file when the user logs off.) Below is a
sample bach file for calling The Story Door from QuickBBS using a type 7 exit;
c:
cd \quickbbs\storydor
storydor.exe C:\quickbbs\dorinfo1.def
cd \quickbbs
exit
That is all there is to it! The only change you have to make to the sample
batch file batch file is to change the directories and drive letter to
reflect how your system is actually set up. If you are running RBBS and
running more than one node, you may use DORINFO2.DEF ..3.DEF, etc. Story Door
doesnt care, it takes FROM THE COMMAND LINE the full path and NAME of the
file to use as the user's information file.
I have included a file in the format of DORINFO1.DEF for local logons WITHOUT
using the BBS. It is called simply "LOCAL" and you can use any text editor to
edit it to add your name. To use it you change to the directory where you
have The Story Door and type; "STORYDOR.EXE LOCAL".
In case you are writing an interface for BBS programs other then QuickBBS or
RBBS 15.1C or later, here is a description of each line in a DORINFO1.DEF
file;
AL'S CABIN QUICKBBS Your BBS's name
ALAN Sysop's FIRST NAME
DAVENPORT Sysop's LAST name
COM1 COM port in use
9600 BAUD,N,8,1 Baud rate and connect data
0 Just a plain "0"
John User's FIRST name
Smith User's LAST name
Your Town, USA Users City & State
1 Graphics mode. 1=ON, 0=OFF
10 User's Security Level
45 User's Time left on System
"First Time Run"
The FIRST time you run The Story Door, it will initialize all stories with 2
records. The first record is story PASSWORD and the second record is the
story TITLE. Any time a story is found to be MISSING it will be automatically
re-initialized. This is useful if you have a story that someone enters
profanity in or if someone starts a lot of "garbage" stories. You can simply
erase the offending story with no worry of harm or problems running The Story
Door!
Also, when the Story Door is first run, it will initialize the SD-USERS.DAT
file in which the user's name and last-line-read in each story is maintained.
This file is self maintaining. If a user does not log into the door for 60
days and a NEW user logs in, the inactive user's record will be over written
and used for the new user.
"The Story Door Log File"
When The Story Door runs, it keeps a log of all that happens in a file called
"STORYDOR.LOG". This log will show who logs on, and when, and will list what
stories they have read, created, or added to and if they write to a story, it
will list which one and what lines that they added. This is useful if you
have someone who is entering lines of questionable quality. You will KNOW who
it is and if they get too far out of hand, you can use "SD-UTIL.EXE" to LOCK
THEM OUT OF THE DOOR! The log file will grow forever so keep an eye on it.
You will want to periodically delete it after reading it.
"The Story Door Security Levels."
There are 6 security levels in The Story Door. They are contained in the data
file "SD-SEC.DAT" which can be edited with any text editor. A description of
each security level is listed below;
1 Level to READ Stories.
5 Level to WRITE to stories.
5 Level to Create NEW stories.
10 Level to PASSWORD PROTECT a new story.
50 Level to read password protected stories WITHOUT the password.
100 Level for SYSOP'S access to Story Door.
They are fairly self explanitory. One caution is that when you edit the
security levels with your editor, make darn sure you do NOT have a blank line
at the top of the file! This is because the door reads in only the first 6
lines. A blank line at the top of file would cause the door to assign the
door security levels incorrectly!
Users with access to start new stories normally can only start one NEW story
per DAY. This is kept track of in "SD-DAY.DAT"and is re-set the first run
after midnight. The exception to this rule is someone with SYSOP security
level. They can start as many new stories per day as they wish.
A user with SYSOP access will see TWO extra functions on the main menu. One is
to LIST to Story Door log and the other is to KILL the log. This will usually
be done after reading the log, to prevent it from getting too big!
Another thing visible to users with SYSOP access are the "Credits Lines" in
the stories. Whenever someone adds to a story a line is added that will look
something like this;
*** Addition by Alan Davenport at 04:59 on 11/15/88
These "credits lines" do NOT display to the normal users when they read the
stories. They are ONLY visible to users with SYSOP access. So, if you are
unfortunate enough to have a problem user, you will be immediately able to
tell who it was, while THEY will think that they are being "smart", they will
be marking themselves loud and clear to you, the sysop!
"The WELCOME File"
There is one more file used by the story door and it is a straight text file
called "SD-WELC.TXT". This file can be (and you are ENCOURAGED to!) edited to
personalize the welcome message that is displayed directly after the opening
screen. In it you can put most anything you like. Suggestions for use are
descriptions of certain stories, how to ask for the passwords to the
protected stories, etc. Note, you do not HAVE to use this door for letting
the users write stories. You can use it for on-going discussions on various
topics if you wish. The "welcome" file is an excellent place to describe how
you wish the door to be used.
"The "SD-DAY.DAT" File"
This file is created by The Story Door and keeps track of who creates a new
story each day. It is for the door's use itself and the purpose of this file
is to prevent non-sysop access users from starting more than one new story a
day. It is self maintaining and you can ignore it. If you want to let a
particular user make more than one new story per day, you can either delete
this file or edit their name out of it.
"Distribution of The Story Door"
Your are encouraged to upload this (and any of my other) door program(s) to
as many BBS's as you please.
"Support and Contributions for The Story Door"
To obtain help setting up The Story Door, give comments or suggestions, or
whatever you may call my BBS at 717-686-3037 at any baud rate up to 9600-HST.
Alternately, you may send a netmail message to "ALAN DAVENPORT" at fidonet
address 1:107/860. Any question with a REASONALBLE amount of description of
the problem you are having will be answered. (An UN-reasonable message would
say something like 'I can't get it to work, what's wrong?' I DO get messages
like that from time to time. How on EARTH could I respond to that?!)
If you and your users enjoy The Story Door you are encouraged to send a gift
of any amount ($10 recommended) to;
Alan Davenport
RD 3 Box 3106
Milford, Pa. 18337
Contributers will get preferential treatment for help and, if logged onto my
BBS, will get increased time/download limits and will be given access to my
"Cabinware" message area where discussion of ALL doors I have written takes
place. Your increased access will be PERMENANT and not a subscription period.
It will expire ONLY after you have been off my system for over 60 days, when
you will be purged from inactivity. (So, if you are a regular caller, your
increased access will NEVER expire!)
Please DO consider a gift, even if you do NOT call my system. I almost had to
write a complete BBS from scratch to get the menus and message entry/edit
section working! An occational gift will let me know all my hard work is
appreciated and will encourage me to write even MORE doors for you and your
users' enjoyment!
Take care now,
Alan Davenport
717-686-3037 BBS 9600 HST