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-=( LiveSystems voting door )=-
What is it?
The voting door is a program which allows users to ask and
answer each others questions. A user can add questions to the
database and other users can vote on those questions.
I wrote the program as I didn't really like the usersurvey
program already available. It's colors are awful.. Besides,
I needed a dutch version so I wrote my own, with some extra
bells and whistles. So this is the english version of the dutch
version which is a clone of the already available program..;)
This program has the almost the same features as the original,
with a few exceptions which reflect my view on the ability of
the SysOp to censor questions...
Warning: This program only works under Remote Access! I needs
the Config.RA file.
Disclaimer.
Don't make me laugh...;) Use it at your own risk. It's reasonal
well tested, I use it myself (the dutch version) but that's it!
Oh well, I wouldn't release a program that's not up to my idea
of good software. (At the moment I release it, that is.. things
change and bug appear from nowhere....;) Anyhow, no guarantees
what so ever.
Money.
Well, what to say about money.. I still waiting for the first one
to donate some money for the purse-aid.. Maybe you will be the
first and rebuild my confidence in humanity... Let's say $5
when you keep on using this program..
Giro 1806776 (for the dutch ppl who like the english better. f10 is
ok with me too..)
Gerhard Hoogterp
Kremersmaten 108
7511 LC Enschede
Holland.
For burning questions or remarks you can reach me on fidonet as
Gerhard Hoogterp @ 2:283/1.2
or on BitNet as HOOGTERPG@HENUT5
Installation:
The installation of the program is quite easy. It gets most of the
necessary info from the config.ra and the exitinfo.bbs
(Which implies that you can only run it under RA, local or remote..)
* First make sure the environment variable RA is pointing to the
directory RA stores it's configuration files.
* Make a directory and dump all the votedoor files in it.
* Make a type 7 menu entry in one of the RA menus
(See next chapter for details on parameters)
* put VoteMain in your daily maintenance.
That's all to start with.
The programs and the parameters.
VoteDoor.Exe:
This is the voting program itself. It accepts two parameters, but if
you want to use the second, you have to use the first too...
The syntax is: VoteDoor -T:<Time left> -N:<node> [-P:<CommPort>]
[-SEC:<Min Sec Level>] [-S:OFF]
Time Left is the time the user has left for the current session.
Min Sec Lev is the minimal security level needed to add questions.
This way you can prevent unchecked new users to add questions, but
they can vote and see that your BBS offers them this wonderful
possibility ;) The -S:OFF turns the noise made when the use makes
a mistake off default and the -P:*P can be used in a multiline
environment to overrule the setting in the CONFIG.RA
An example of a menuentry could be:
Type 7
Key V
Optional data c:\vote\votedoor -T:*T -N:*N -P:*P -SEC:15
You may use the memory swapping parameter but it's not realy
nessecary. I did run votedoor in a 100kb DesqView partition with
no problems.
VoteMain.exe
This is the new maintain utility for VoteDoor. You cannot use it
on datafiles of version lower than 3.0!
VoteMain can be run remote and has all the options of the previouse
PackVote and MainVote together in one program. Here's the syntax:
VoteMain [DEL] <MaxDaysOld>
When you specify the DEL parameter, VoteMain will ask you if you want
to delete records. This is for interactieve use!
The MaxDaysOld parameter specifies after how many days a question
is deleted from the database and added to the history.txt file.
MaxDaysOld ISN'T optional!! if you omit a value, 0 days old is
used, and the whole questionbase is moved to the history file!
In your daily or weekly event batch file you should only use:
VoteMain <MaxDaysOld>
You can install VoteMain in the RA BBS with a normal MenuItem 7
and the parameters you want.
Last remarks:
Default all the three executables use the directory they are fired
up from as the default directory to store the data and text files.
If you want them somewhere else (Multitasker f.e.) you can set the
environment variable VOTEDOOR to point to the desired directory.
The vote door uses 3 data files:
Quest.dat questions and answers. the real database
Voted.dat the lists of ppl who already voted. One record for
every question
History.txt textfile with the results of the old and removed
question.
Within the votedoor a helpfile is available. See this file for
the details on how to use the vote door.
The door uses the user timeout value of RA. If the user is idle
for this time he gets 3 warnings. After that he's dropped back to
the BBS.
For those who want to have an intro screen and a goodbye screen
vote door looks for a PreVote.Asc/ans and a PostVote.Ans/Asc
When the file is found in the votedoor directory it is showed.
If there's no ANS file it looks for the asc file. If there's
no file it's skipped.