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1989-01-12
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12KB
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236 lines
QWRITE V1.2
The Questionaire Writer for RBBS Sysops
------------------------------------------------
QWRITE is intended to be an aid to RBBS Sysops in writing questionaires. It
tries to reduce the hassle of writing a questionaire down to writing out the
text and letting QWRITE setup the logic and formatting.
Some limited editing functions are incorporated into the program but not to
the extent that it would duplicate what a word processor will do. Prompting
is given at the bottom of the screen so that it is known what to do at a given
part of the program without having to guess. Full color control is available
so that you can choose your own colors during the course of the program.
One exciting feature of QWRITE is that it creates a profile of the
questionaire as it is being written. This is intended to be used by a
companion program that will hopefully be out this fall under the name QREAD.
This will assist the program in reading the questionaire and know how to
interpret each question. A brief outline will be given at the end of this
documentation of the layout of the file.
The multiple choice question answer comparison line will go to the next line
on all answers. The next version of QWRITE will possibly have the option to
jump to different questions based on the answers. You still have the ability
to edit the comparison line from within QWRITE so long as the number of
answers to not go beyond 5. After that you will have to edit the questionaire
using your favorite word processor.
This program was developed on a pc compatible with a color display. With the
option being given to change your colors, this will hopefully help those users
with monochrome screens. I have no way of testing the program in this type of
environment, so I will help as best I can. This program will run under
Desqview.
If you are upgrading to V1.1, you will need to reconfigure the program because
of a change in the parameter file. Save a copy of your present QWRITE.PRM
file so that it can help you upgrade to the new version.
Main Menu -
-----------
Create - this option puts you into a another menu that will assist in the
creation of a questionaire.
Delete - lets you delete a questionaire that you no longer need. This deletes
only the questionaire but leaves the profile and answer file intact.
Display - a browse like function that lets you look at the questionaire in a
non-desctructive manner.
Edit - lets you do some MINOR editing of a questionaire. Will not let you
edit a line that is longer that can be displayed on the screen.
Print - will print out a questionaire to the designated printer device as
specified in the configuration file.
Configuration - this is where you get to change the colors used by the
program, the extension of the answer file, the drive and path to the files,
and the type of printer being used. The program defaults to LPT1:, to use
others - please consult your DOS manual (especially in the case of a serial
printer.
Quit -exits out of the program.
--------------------------------------
Construct Questionaire Option
------------------------------------
This is where you get to build the questionaire to use with RBBS. Naming
conventions and the logic used in the comparisons is as specified in the
Sysops manual for RBBS. The number comparison is not directly supported as an
option, although you could edit that in very easily. The abort question puts
in a predeterined text prompt of "Have you answered this questionaire before ?
This too can be edited with the edit feature of QWRITE. In a future version
of this program, hopfully this will be an option as well.
Opening Statement -
-------------------
After selecting this option, you are presented with a miniature 10
line word processor type environment. There is some limited editing available
here but not a lot. To leave this option, just press Return (Enter) on a
blank line.
Abort Question -
----------------
This option require no operator input. If you do not like the text
used by the question, edit it to your liking or use the edit option built in
to QWRITE. In a future release of the program, this may be an option.
Simple Question -
-----------------
The option is given here to have a line of text preceding the actual
question. I have seen several questionaire where the user is given
suggestions as to the formatting of the answer. This could be used here for
that or for further explanation.
Yes/No Question -
-----------------
This is the simple question with a (Y/N) tacked on to end and a
comparison line below the text of the question.
Multiple Choice -
-----------------
First you are presented with a 10 line window to setup the
introduction and lead statement to the multiple choice question. The number
of answers is next asked for and then the possible answers one by one.
Numeric Question -
------------------
This is a handy option for use in questionaires where you with the
user to attach a preference to a particular question or statement. This
question traps for number 0 - 9 and rejects any other input.
Closing Statement -
-------------------
This is basically a variation of the opening statement except that it
will bring to a close the creation of a questionaire.
Quit -
------
Closes the creation of the Questionaire script file and profile.
-------------------------
Questionaire Profile file
-------------------------
I wont go into a lot of explanation here but to say that this file is created
for each questionaire to assist with the analysis of answers by a companion
program that I hope to release this fall called QREAD. Contained in this file
is the name of the answer file, question number and type and in the case of a
multiple choice question, the number of answers.
HISTORY OF QWRITE -
-------------------
1.0 - Initially released on June 3, 1988. Hoped to be an easier way to use
the questionaire function of RBBS.
1.1 - Adds the ability to edit the Abort Question text and adds the Numeric
Question. Released July 24, 1988.
1.2 - Included on-line context sensitive help screens. Released January 1989
Support -
---------
I have established a sysop conference on my board to help those using the
programs that I have written. All are welcome there whether you are using my
programs or not. A Donation of $10 would be appreciated if you find this
program useful. Please fill out the Sysop questionaire for access to the
conference. As time permits, I will be coming out with other programs
that will be helpful to the RBBS sysops. One of my goals now is to write
programs that will help automate the routine maintanence of the board and free
the sysop to pursue other parts of using RBBS or just to have some free time
away from the board. The most recent versions of my programs will be
available on my board (Bluegrass RBBS (606)-272-0499), on the IBMCOM forum on
Compuserve, RBBS Chicago, Ken Goosen's board and from Public Brand Software,
Indianapolis Indiana (1-800-426-DISK).
For those of you who would like copies of my programs but are not able to
find copies of them on the BBS's you use or dont want to spend a couple of
hours downloading them, I have come up with what I hope is an agreeable
solution. For $10 (U.S.), I will send you 2 diskettes which will contain the
most recent versions of the programs mentioned here and any new ones written
since that time. You can then decide which can help you the most and decide
which, if any, that you would like to register. The $10 covers the cost of
the diskettes, shipping and my time in copying the programs from my hard drive
to floppy disk. The programs will be sent to you on 5 1/4 diskettes.
Other programs for RBBS sysops -
--------------------------------
I have written the following programs that also follow the joblog spec -
FMSDIR - checks for a matching file to the entry in the master directory
FMSDUP - checks for a duplicate of a file on more than one drive and sub-
directory combination
JOBLOG - helps those programs that I have not written or that do not follow
the job log spec to make an entry into the joblog file so that you
know when they ran and how long they took.
CALPRN - automatically prunes the Callers file on RBBS to a specified number
of Days while retaining the extracted information to a named file for
later use or analysis.
SKED & - an automatic maintanence scheduling program that helps automate most
ROBOT if not all the maintanence required on an RBBS board now. Designed
run as part of the nightly maintanence time as specified in the RBBS
.DEF file.
NEWFILE - builds a list of files (name & description) that were uploaded in
the prior or current month. The list can be for that month only or
can be up to the current day. This program can be used to generate
a bulletin of new files or can create a file suitable for use in a
desktop publishing program.
FMSCK - basically duplicates the FMS file verifying functions found in the
CONFIG.EXE program for RBBS-PC with a few enhancements. A detailed
list of the errors found in the FMS file is generated. This program
can be run as part of the nightly maintanence procedure to check
your master directory every couple of days when used with SKED. If
no errors are found, a backup copy of the FMS directory can be
written to a safe place on the system.
LOGMGR - designed to be run on the first of the month as a housecleaning
function to free up as much drive space as possible. This keeps the
JOBLOG file pruned to the start of the current month. The
splintered files from CALPRN are also collected for placement into
the archive that is created by LOGMGR. You also have the option to
put up to 3 other files into the archive by either adding or moving
them into the arhive.
DIRMAKE - helps free you from having to change your dir.dir, dirg.dir &
upcat.hlp files every time that you add, change or delete a category
or your board. Extensive customizing is provided for in the program
including 3 different options for creating the dir*.dir screens.
Other programs that I have written to help with the maintanence of RBBS -
FMSED - helps with the maintanence of the Master Directory file
QWRITE - writes the questionaires used in the Askuser function of RBBS (You
put in the text and QWRITE writes the logic!)
This little gem is for you to give to your users -
FMSVIEW - lets users browse your master.dir file as though they were online
Ronald Nutter
Bluegrass RBBS (606)-272-0499
1132 Mt. Rushmore Way
Lexington,Ky 40502-5459