home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
BBS Toolkit
/
BBS Toolkit.iso
/
remote
/
race140.zip
/
USERFIX.DOC
< prev
next >
Wrap
Text File
|
1991-05-15
|
6KB
|
201 lines
UserFix Version 1.00
USERFIX
Copyright 1991 Michael F. Janke All Rights Reserved
Running USERFIX USERFIX Page 1
Using USERFIX
1.1 General Information
USERFIX can perform the following functions:
1. Create/Rewrite LASTREAD.BBS
2. Create/Rewrite USERSXI.BBS
3. Reconstruct a trashed USERSXI.BBS
USERFIX is provided on an "as-is" basis. Since it's main purpose
is to attempt to recover trashed user files, under no cirumstances
will I accept any responsibility for anything that may happen to
your user files by using USERFIX.
Please be aware that USERFIX does NOT open the user files in a
shareable manner. There is no point in doing so because USERFIX
is not something one would want to use while the user base is in
use by another task.
The first two functions, Create/Rewrite LASTREAD and USERSXI can
be handled quite well with the utils supplied with RemoteAccess.
In fact, RemoteAccess itself will rewrite those files if it feels
they are invalid. These functions were placed in USERFIX during
beta testing when there was a need and I saw no reason to remove
them now that RA has been released.
The third function is something that RA or its utils can't do.
USERFIX will NOT correct a trashed USERS.BBS.
USERFIX finds your user files by getting the path info from
RACE.CFG. Since USERFIX is only meant to be distributed with
RACE, you should have the RACE.CFG file. If you don't, you can't
run USERFIX.
Running USERFIX USERFIX Page 2
1.2 - Create/Rewrite LASTREAD.BBS
Selecting this option will allow you to initialize RA's
LASTREAD.BBS file. This file contains the last read message
pointers for each of your users.
If your LASTREAD.BBS exists when this option is run, it WILL BE
ERASED! This option is only meant to be used if LASTREAD.BBS is
trashed and unusable.
USERFIX will go through your Users.bbs and get the high message
read for each user and use this figure to initialize the LASTREAD
record for that user.
1.3 - Create/Rewrite USERSXI.BBS
Like the create/rewrite LASTREAD option, this will ERASE this file
and create it anew.
When USERFIX creates this file it fills the COMBINED read marker
storage portion of it with hex FF. What this means is that all
your users will have all combined board settings initially set to
ON.
USERFIX will also go through your Users.bbs file and reset all
users pointers to the USERSXI.BBS file. Each user record will
point to a valid, though empty, USERSXI.BBS record when done.
1.4 - Reconstruct USERSXI.BBS
This option will allow you to recover as much data as possible
from a trashed USERSXI.BBS file. You may never need this option,
but if you do you will find that it may save data you consider
important.
Here's how it works. USERFIX starts at the beginning of the
USERS.BBS file and reads each user record one at a time. As it
reads a user record, USERFIX attempts to read the USERSXI.BBS
record to which the USERS.BBS record points.
Running USERFIX USERFIX Page 3
If USERFIX is able to read the user's USERSXI.BBS record without
error, the USERSXI.BBS record is copied to a temporary file. If
an error is generated while trying to read the USERSXI.BBS record,
as it might be if the user's pointer is invalid, USERFIX then
creates an initialized USERSXI record for that user and places it
in the temporary file.
Please note that USERFIX does not incorporate artificial
intelligence. There is no way to know if the USERSXI data that a
user record points to really belongs to that user. USERFIX only
knows whether or not it finds a valid, readable record.
Once USERFIX has gone through all users, the old USERSXI.BBS is
deleted and the temporary file is renamed to USERSXI.BBS. Each
user record now points to a valid record in USERSXI and except for
those users that had trashed USERSXI pointers, you should still
have all the data you had before your problems began.
1.5 Status Line
USERFIX displays some useful information on the bottom line of the
screen. This is updated any time USERFIX performs any type of
record rebuilding or initialization.
Assuming you have 100 users and all files are of the proper
length, the status line would look like this:
Records(0..99) USERS = 100 / LASTREAD = 100 / USERSXI = 100
If you were to fire up USERFIX and all three user files did not
have the same number next to them, you have a problem that USERFIX
may be able to correct.
Although an equal number of records in each file is not a 100%
assurance that all is ok, in most cases it is a good indication.
1.6 In Closing
USERFIX has been tested on trashed and incomplete files with
excellent success. This does not mean that USERFIX can cure all
the problems that may occur.
Here's hoping you never have to use USERFIX!