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RACE Version 1.30
REMOTEACCESS CALLER EDITOR
Copyright 1989,1991 Michael F. Janke. All rights reserved.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
SECTION TITLE PAGE
1 CHAPTER 1 -- INTRODUCTION ........... 1
1.1 Features ....................... 1
1.2 Requirements ................... 2
1.3 Acknowledgements ............... 2
1.4 Special Characters ............. 3
2 CHAPTER 2 -- LICENSING .............. 4
2.1 ShareWare Notice ............... 4
2.2 License Fee .................... 4
2.3 License Agreement .............. 4
2.4 Disclaimer ..................... 5
2.5 How to register ................ 5
3 CHAPTER 3 -- CONFIGURATION .......... 6
3 General Information ............ 6
3.1 120to130.EXE ................... 7
3.2 RACECFG.EXE .................... 8
3.2 FILES .......................... 8
3.2(1) SYSTEM FILENAMES ............... 8
3.2(1a) Users.bbs ...................... 8
3.2(1b) AnswerFile ..................... 8
3.2(1c) StorageFile .................... 8
3.2(1d) SwapFile ....................... 8
3.2(2) EXTERNAL UTILITIES ............. 9
3.2(3) DOS SHELL ...................... 9
3.2(4) EXIT SETUP ..................... 9
3.3 VALIDATION .................... 10
3.3(1) Validation Templates .......... 10
3.3(2) Welcome Message Setup ......... 10
3.4 COLORS ........................ 12
3.5 MISCELLANEOUS ................. 12
3.5(a) Insert Mode ................... 12
3.5(b) Beep .......................... 12
3.5(c) Edit Delimiters ............... 12
3.5(d) Auto-Store Answers ............ 12
3.5(e) Auto-Search Answers ........... 12
3.5(f) Name field in reports ......... 13
3.5(g) Hidden Passwords .............. 13
3.6 Template Flag Configuration ... 14
3.7 User Flag Notes ............... 15
I
TABLE OF CONTENTS (CONTINUED)
SECTION TITLE PAGE
4 CHAPTER 4 -- GENERAL INFORMATION ... 16
4.1 Help system ................... 16
4.2 Remote Operation .............. 16
4.3 Main Screen ................... 17
5 CHAPTER 5 -- EDITING USERS ......... 18
5.1 Editing Restrictions .......... 18
5.2 Editing Individual Fields ..... 19
5.3 Changes without editing ....... 19
5.4 Moving through user file ...... 20
5.4(1) Goto command .................. 20
5.4(1) Viewing users via User list ... 20
6 CHAPTER 6 -- VALIDATION ROUTINES ... 21
6.1 General information ........... 21
6.2 Questionnaire Setup ........... 22
6.3 POSTINFO ...................... 22
6.4 Comment Import ................ 23
6.5 Templates ..................... 24
6.6 Welcome message ............... 25
6.7 Validate menu options ......... 26
7 CHAPTER 7 -- REPORTS ............... 28
7.1 User reports menu ............. 28
7.2 Report options ................ 29
7.3 Field selection ............... 30
7.4 Report searching .............. 30
8 CHAPTER 8 -- SEARCH ................ 31
8.1 The search menu ............... 31
8.2 Search operation .............. 31
8.4 Search Name/Alias ............. 32
8.5 Search City/phone/Pwd ......... 32
8.6 Search Security/group ......... 32
8.7 Search Uploads/downloads ...... 33
8.8 Search Flags .................. 33
9 CHAPTER 9 -- GLOBAL CHANGES ........ 34
9.1 General information ........... 34
9.2 Attribute flags ............... 34
9.3 Security flags ................ 35
9.4 Group changes ................. 35
9.5 Using Group/Sec levels ........ 35
9.6 Executing changes ............. 36
II
TABLE OF CONTENTS (CONTINUED)
SECTION TITLE PAGE
10 CHAPTER 10 -- ADD NEW USER ......... 37
11 CHAPTER 11 -- JUMP/UTILS ........... 38
11.1 General information ........... 38
11.2 Jump to dos ................... 38
11.3 Utilities ..................... 39
12 CHAPTER 12 -- PACK/SORT ............ 39
12.1 General information ........... 40
12.2 Pack/Sort menu ................ 40
12.3 Packing ....................... 41
12.3(a) Start packing ................. 41
12.3(b) Age parameter ................. 41
12.3(c) Security parameter ............ 41
12.3(d) Honor No-Kill ................. 42
12.4 Sorting ....................... 42
12.5 Whoops! - Restore users ...... 43
12.5(a) Restoring users ............... 44
12.5(b) Deleting Users.old ............ 44
APPENDIX A -- PROBLEMS? ........... 45
APPENDIX B -- EDITING KEYS ......... 48
III
INTRODUCTION RACE Page 1
CHAPTER 1
Introduction
RACE is a multi-function user editor for the RemoteAccess Bulletin
Board System. Besides its obvious duties as an editor for an
individual caller's data, it has many addition features.
1.1 Features
* Searches on specific user fields including flags.
* Globally change security flags.
* Globally change attributes.
* Custom reports.
* Swapping to EMS or disk during shells.
* New user validation routines.
* Send user a prepared message when validating.
* Attach reminder notes to user security flags.
* Pack user file.
* Sort user file.
* WHOOPS! function to restore users PACKed out.
* Much, much more!
INTRODUCTION RACE Page 2
1.2 Requirements
Ms-Dos 3.x (or its equivalent) is required for proper operation.
180k of free ram is recommended. Less is possible though some
items will be disabled. sorting and packing will require more
depending on the size of your user base.
1.3 Acknowledgements/Credits
Special thanks go out to the beta testers that helped to test RACE
and offered many feature requests. They are: Bruce Bodger, Fred
Horner, Ed Meloan, Peter Janssens and the rest of the RemoteAccess
beta test team. Thanks guys!
A special thanks to James Berry for his persistance during some
difficulties with EGA/VGA mode changes and for providing some
much needed code for this portion of RACE.
Thanks to Joaquim Homrighausen, author of the popular FrontDoor
mailer system, for unselfishly allowing me to create the RACE
configuration program in the image of the FrontDoor Setup program.
Thanks also go to Andrew Milner and Phil Mackay for providing a
great piece of bulletin board software.
And last but not least, thanks to TurboPower Software, Inc. for
their EXECSWAP code which provides the swapping routines in RACE.
* RemoteAccess (C) 1990 Andrew Milner & Continental Software.
* FrontDoor (C) Copyright Joaquim H. Homrighausen, 1986-1991.
INTRODUCTION RACE Page 3
1.4 Special characters used in this manual
<>
The <> character combination is used to surround characters that
you are required to press to activate a particular command. In
the case of the CTRL or ALT key, <Ctrl-P> would mean you are to
press the CTRL key and hold it, then press the letter "P" on your
keyboard. <Alt-D> would be similar, except of course the ALT key
is pressed in this case.
If this document shows a command such as <V>alidate, that means
you would press the letter "V" on your keyboard to activate the
validate command.
"" or ''
Double and single quotes are used for emphasis and to clarify
input that is expected from the user. One would not actually type
the quote characters unless specifically instructed to do so.
INTRODUCTION RACE Page 4
CHAPTER 2
Licensing
2.1 Shareware notice
Prior to version 1.30, RACE was freeware. There were few
restrictions and a user of RACE was not required to register in
any way, shape or form.
This has changed as of the release of RACE version 1.30. RACE is
now shareware. If after 21 days you find that RACE suits your
needs and you wish to continue using it, you must register RACE
and pay the license fee.
2.2 License fee
The fee for RACE is $10.00 in United States funds. This fee
applies to both private and commercial single site installations.
Information on licensing multiple copies may be obtained by
contacting the author at the address listed in section 2.5, "How
to register RACE".
2.3 License agreement
In consideration of payment of the license fee, I, Michael F.
Janke (hereinafter referred to as "the author"), as licensor,
grant to you, the licensee, a nonexclusive right to use RACE
(hereinafter known as "the software") on a single computer at a
single location.
INTRODUCTION RACE Page 5
2.4 Disclaimer of warranty and limited warranty
The software and accompanying materials (including instructions
for use) are provided "as is" without warranty of any kind.
Further, the author does not warrant, guarantee, or make any
representations regarding the use, or the results of the use, of
the software or written materials in terms of correctness,
accuracy, reliability, currentness or otherwise.
The author shall not be liable for any direct, indirect,
consequential, or incidental damages (including damages for loss
of business profits, business interruption, loss of business
information, and the like) arising out of the use or inability to
use the software even if the author has been advised of the
possibility of such damages.
2.5 How to register RACE
Why should you even bother to register you ask? First, it's a
legal requirement. Second, if you want to see RACE continue to be
developed and improved, registration will encourage me to do so.
Third, a few extra features are enabled by registering. Although
lack of these features in no way prevents full use of RACE, they
do provide that little extra touch.
Many months of hard work went into producing this product and I
believe you will find it is worth the small $10 fee that is
required. Your $10 registration will be good for the life of the
product and no matter what changes occur, you will never have to
pay another registration fee for RACE.
To register RACE, $10.00 in U.S. funds should be sent to:
Michael F. Janke
8261-B SW 107th Ave.
Miami, Florida 33173
Checks or money orders should be made payable to Michael F.
Janke, NOT "RACE Registration".
So that I may acknowledge your registration, please use the
REGISTER.FRM file that is included in the RACE distribution
archive. This file also contains information on RACE registration
sites located in Australia and Europe.
CONFIGURING RACE V1.30 RACE Page 6
CHAPTER 3
Configuration general information
RACE uses an external configuration file for information such as
paths to various files, colors, etc. This file is not ASCII text
and it can only be edited with RACECFG.EXE.
The configuration file name, RACE.CFG, must not be changed. Doing
so will cause RACE to abort when it cannot find RACE.CFG.
RACE does a pretty good job of tracking down its configuration
file. The configuration file will be found as long as it resides
in any of the following directories.
* The current directory
* The directory where RACE.EXE resides
* In one of the directories defined in your PATH
RACECFG is always in edit mode for the field you are currently
'in'. That is, as you use your cursor keys to move through the
fields you will notice that field is highlighted in reverse video
as you move to it. A highlighted field is the active field and
you may use any of the available edit keys to edit the field. See
Appendix B for a complete list of editing keys that may be used in
the fields.
Once you move out of a field, any changes made to that field are
saved within RACECFG. If you edit a field, then hit <enter> and
the cursor moves to another field, <Esc> may be pressed at that
point and the change made is not lost.
RACECFG knows if changes were made and when you select to exit
RACECFG, either by going into the main menu FILES submenu or by
pressing <ESC> at the main menu, RACECFG will ask "Save changes
(Y,N)" if any changes were made.
CONFIGURING RACE V1.30 RACE Page 7
3.1 120to130.EXE - Conversion program
If you're a user of RACE v1.20, this program will ease the
transition to RACE v1.30. A few items have been added to the
RACE.CFG file and your current v1.20 RACE.CFG is not usable by
RACE v1.30.
120to130.exe will read your current v1.20 configuration file and
write the new v1.30 configuration file using all of your current
settings. Default values are set for the new items. This will
reduce the time you will have to spend configuring RACE v1.30.
Run 120to130.exe in the directory that contains your current v1.20
configuration file. Make sure you are not attempting to convert
the default RACE.CFG that comes in the v1.30 distribution archive.
While no harm would be done in this case, it would be pointless to
perform the conversion on the new configuration file.
120to130.exe will read your current configuration file, renaming
it to RACECFG.OLD and will write out the new file, properly named
RACE.CFG. Once this is done you are ready to run RACECFG.EXE to
set up the new items to your preference. The items that are new
or changed and need to be set are in the VALIDATION and
MISCELLANEOUS selection on the RACECFG main menu. These new items
are:
1. VALIDATION CONFIGURATION - Two new fields have been add
to each template: Subscription expiration time and group
number.
2. NAME FIELD SIZE - This defines how large the name field
should be when included in reports.
3. HIDE PASSWORDS IN VIEW MODE - This defines the viewable
status of all user passwords in the main RACE screen.
These new items are explained in detail farther on in this
chapter.
CONFIGURING RACE V1.30 RACE Page 8
RACECFG.EXE - Main Menu options
3.2 FILES
Select this item in the RACECfg menu and a pulldown menu will
appear. Within this menu are two configuration items and two
items not related to configuring RACE. The first item in the
menu, "System Filenames", is the most important. Before you can
even give RACE a trial run you will have to define the path to
your user file. Select "System Filenames" and the following four
path\filenames may be defined.
(1) SYSTEM FILENAMES
a. USERS.BBS - This is a fully defined path AND filename of
your user file. Don't forget the filename because RACE
does not assume USERS.BBS.
b. ANSWERFILE - The fully defined path and filename of the
questionnaire answer file that will be acted upon when
you use the RACE <V>alidate function. The filename will
most likely be NEWUSER.ASW, but you can validate based on
the answers to any questionnaire you so desire.
c. STORAGEFILE - The fully defined path and filename of an
ascii text file that can be used for storing the answers
of users you have validated. This is an optional item
but is required if you wish to use the <S>ave
sub-function within <V>alidate or if AUTOSTORE is ON for
the validation function.
d. SWAP FILE - A fully defined path AND filename for RACE to
use when swapping itself out of ram and to disk. The
path can point to a ram disk.
If RACE finds EMS available, it will attempt to use that
for the swap image instead of the disk file. Note that
even though you may have EMS available for RACE to use
for the swap image, a path must be defined. Leaving the
path definition blank signals RACE that you do not wish
RACE to swap in any way.
CONFIGURING RACE V1.30 RACE Page 9
(2) EXTERNAL UTILITIES
The second item in the FILES pulldown menu is "External
Utilities". These are programs you would like to be able to run
from within RACE and they are optional. It is not necessary to
define any external utilities here if you have no use for them.
If you do wish to define utilities in this section, you need only
define the program exactly as you would run it from DOS. That is,
a full path name is not necessary if the utility resides in a
directory that is defined in your Dos PATH.
(3) DOS SHELL
The third item in the main menu FILES selection is DOS shell.
This, as the name implies, will allow you to jump to DOS from
within RACECFG.
(4) EXIT SETUP
This can be used to exit RACECFG once you are done configuring
RACE. It is not necessary to go to this option to exit RACECFG.
Simply press your <ESC> key. RACECFG knows if you've made any
changes and either exit method will ask "Save Changes? (Y,N)" if
you have made changes to the configuration. There is no default
key for this question. You must press the "Y" or "N" key.
CONFIGURING RACE V1.30 RACE Page 10
3.3 VALIDATION - Template and Welcome msg setup.
(1) TEMPLATES
a. Template Label - This allows you to give meaningful (to
you) labels to the 5 possible upgrade levels. These
labels will appear in the RACE validation menu.
b. Template Access - The security level that will be given
to a user when upgrading with the selected template.
c. Flags - There are three types of flags that are definable
in the template setup screen. They are: Security flags,
NO-KILL attribute flag and XFER PRIORITY attribute flag.
Security flag setup requires quite a bit of explaining
and this is done in detail at the end of this chapter
under the title "Template security flag configuration".
The NO-KILL and XFER PRIORITY template settings can only
turn ON those attributes when upgrading a user. Setting
them to 'N' will NOT toggle those attributes OFF.
d. Subscription - If you run a subscription system, RACE
will help you to take full advantage of the new
subscription features built into RemoteAccess 1.00. This
particular field is meant to hold a number representing
the number of months you are giving a user when upgrading
with this template number. You may define up to 99
months in this field. Enter zero (0) if you do not want
RACE to automatically fill in the subscription expiration
date in the user record when you upgrade via the
<V>alidate option.
e. Group - If you want to automatically assign the user to a
specific group number when upgrading with a template,
supply the group number here. Entering -1 as the group
number tells RACE not to touch the user group number
during an upgrade.
CONFIGURING RACE V1.30 RACE Page 11
(2) WELCOME MSG
a. SEND WELCOME MESSAGE? - If you're not interested in
having RACE post a prepared message when upgrading a
user, set this to 'N'.
b. PATH\FILENAME - This is the full path and FILENAME of the
prepared messages that will be used when upgrading a
user. DO NOT supply an extension with the filename.
RACE automatically appends .00# where '#' is the number
of the template you use to upgrade a user.
Chapter 6, Section 6.6 provides a more complete
explanation of the filenaming convention used for these
files.
c. FROM - This would normally be your name but it could also
be 'Sysop' or any name you desire.
d. SUBJECT - What you want RACE to use as the subject of the
message.
e. BOARD NUMBER - This is the board number to which you want
the welcome message posted. This can be any board number
from 1 to 200. It is up to you to insure the user has
access to this board number.
f. PRIVATE? - Do you want the welcome message to be a
private message?
CONFIGURING RACE V1.30 RACE Page 12
3.4 COLORS
This will allow you to configure the colors that RACE will use.
You may also turn Snow checking ON in this section.
You will be able to customize the colors or select the default
colors that were supplied with the distribution package. A
representative sample of the window being configured is show on
the screen so you can see what the colors will look like as you
select new colors.
3.5 MISCELLANEOUS
a. START EDITOR IN INSERT MODE - The default configuration
for this item is NO, that is, the editing mode for a user
record is initially set to overtype. This may be toggled
within the editor while editing by pressing your INSert
key.
b. BEEP ON ERROR - RACE normally beeps at you if you attempt
to enter invalid data into a user field. For instance,
trying to enter alphabetical characters into the security
field would generate a beep. If you find beeps annoying,
set this item to NO.
c. EDIT MODE LEFT/RIGHT DELIMITERS - RACE defaults to using
no delimiter characters for edit fields. These
characters show the boundaries of the particular user
field you are editing. If you want delimiters, select
these items and enter the character of your choice. If
you want no delimiters the left and right delimiter
character must be set to zero, that is, the number 0.
d. AUTO-STORE ANSWERS - If you have defined a storage file
for upgraded user answers, this option will cause RACE to
automatically copy the user answers to this file as soon
as the user is upgraded with one of the templates.
e. AUTO-SEARCH ANSWERS - If set to 'Y', RACE will
automatically search the questionnaire answer file for
the user that is currently on-screen when you pressed
<V>alidate. If this option is set to 'N' you will have
to manually search for the answers by pressing <F>ind
answ in the RACE validation menu.
CONFIGURING RACE V1.30 RACE Page 13
f. NAME FIELD SIZE IN REPORTS - RACE has the capability of
generating reports of various types. One item that
limits the usefulness of these reports is the default
size of the user name field. If RACE always assumed it
should output the full name field, 35 characters, almost
half of the report line would be consumed by this field,
much of it blank.
It is quite likely that you will never have a user that
has a name that is anywhere near the length this field
allows. The "Name field size in reports" option allows
you to define how much of the name field you want RACE to
use for report purposes ONLY. This does NOT modify your
users.bbs in any way. The acceptable range for this
setting is 1 to 35.
A useful setting would be 15 or 20. Since RACE outputs
user names in a Lastname,Firstname fashion for reports,
it is likely that if any part of the name is truncated,
it will be the first name, not the last.
g. HIDE PASSWORD IN VIEW MODE - RACE provides a very small
measure of security with user passwords. Some users of
RACE have expressed a desire for the ability to hide
passwords because of the fact that when RACE is started,
the Sysop record is immediately displayed, password
included. This could be a problem if someone is looking
over your shoulder.
If you set this option to "Y", RACE will not display the
password in VIEW mode. RACE won't place asterisks in the
place of the password, the field will just appear to be
blank. Going into edit mode and moving to the password
field will display the password as will any of the custom
reports if that field is selected for inclusion in the
report.
Again, this is a very minimal amount of security but
enough to prevent the accidental display of your
password. Passwords may be temporarily toggled
hidden/viewable within RACE by pressing <Alt-F10>.
CONFIGURING RACE V1.30 RACE Page 14
3.6 TEMPLATE SECURITY FLAG CONFIGURATION
The template security flags require a special explanation because
they work a bit differently than what most RemoteAccess SysOps are
used to.
Unlike most flag routines, this particular section allows THREE
settings for flags. These settings are:
X = Turn this flag ON
O = Turn this flag OFF
- = Leave flag as is
As you probably noticed, the letter 'O' is used to turn a flag off
during validation upgrading instead of the usual hyphen character
used elsewhere in RACE and most other programs that can edit
flags.
For the sake of explaining how this all works, lets say that a
first time caller's A flag is initially set by RemoteAccess to:
XX----X-
When you upgrade a new user with Template 1, you want to turn flag
A2 OFF and turn flag A4 ON, but you want all others to remain as
is. In this case you would set up your template A flag to look
like this:
-O-X----
Then, when in RACE <V>alidate and using this template to upgrade a
user, the user flag would be set to this:
X--X--X-
Flags A1, A3, A5, A6, A7 and A8 were left as is because you did
not specifically set the template to turn them ON or OFF. Flag A2
was turned OFF because you specified a 'O' in position A2 during
Template setup and Flag A4 was turned ON during the upgrade
because you specified to do so with the 'X' in position A4 of the
template setup.
Try to keep in mind that the hyphen character does NOT turn a flag
off and that you should use the letter 'O' for that purpose.
CONFIGURING RACE V1.30 RACE Page 15
3.7 USER FLAG NOTES
RACE gives you the capability to have reminder notes displayed
when editing a users flags or when using the global flag change
function.
If you use a lot of flags you will soon find that it is sometimes
difficult to remember what purpose each flag serves. If you would
like to enable this feature, select FLAGS on the main menu and a
second menu will pull down. The first item in this menu will
either indicate "Flag notes enabled" or "Flag notes disabled".
Highlight this item and hit <enter> to toggle to the desired
setting.
After enabling flag notes (or disabling for that matter) you may
then enter your notes. Move the cursor down to one of the FLAG
NOTES (A Flag, B Flag, etc.) fields and hit ENTER. You will be
presented with a second window in which you can enter up to 48
characters of text for each of the individual flags. Repeat this
process for every flag you wish to have notated.
General Information RACE Page 16
CHAPTER 4
RACE
4.1 The RACE Help system
RACE has a general help system and in a few instances, a context
sensitive help system. Context sensitive help means that you may
request help for the specific field or set of fields you are
presently using. Help is accessed by pressing <F1>.
The main menu <K>eys command is also part of the help system and
will give you a quick refresher on what other keys may be used at
the main menu and the function they perform.
You may note that in some of the help screens one or more of the
words appear in a reverse video or a different colored background.
Pressing <enter> will take you to the portion of the help file
that describes the highlighted word. If there are two or more
words highlighted, use the arrow keys to move the emphasized
colored box to select that item before pressing enter. To step
back to the original help screen, use <ALT-F1>.
4.2 Remote Operation
RACE is not designed to be used from a remote location over the
modem and this option is not in any future plans.
A number of SysOps use RACE remotely by way of DoorWay. Fred
Horner, a RACE beta tester, is using RACE from a remote location
using this method. Fred has supplied the information necessary to
set up DoorWay so that you may take advantage of remote operations
too. Please see the DORWYHLP.ZIP archive that was included in the
RACE distribution archive for full information.
General Information RACE Page 17
4.3 The RACE Main Screen
RACE begins by displaying the user in record position zero and
starts out in what shall be referred to as VIEW MODE.
Unlike the USERED.EXE program that is supplied with RemoteAccess,
RACE is not automatically in edit mode whenever the entire user
record is on-screen.
RACE is written to be usable in multi-line systems. When the user
you are currently viewing is logged on to your BBS, editing of
that user record is disabled. In addition, while viewing the user
that is online, the RACE title on the main screen changes to:
"This user ONLINE, editing disabled"
Editing an online user would do no good since RA rewrites the user
record at log off, effectively overwriting any changes you may
have made during the edit session.
In addition, packing and sorting of the user base is disabled when
ANY user is online. Performing either of these actions at such a
time could cause catastrophic results such as a totally trashed
users.bbs.
Editing a User Record RACE Page 18
CHAPTER 5
Race
Editing a user's record is the basic purpose of RACE. Simply
press the 'E' key to change from view mode to edit mode. If this
is your first edit session since starting RACE, you will be placed
in the first field of the currently displayed user record.
If you leave the edit screen in a field other than the first, you
will be placed into that field on subsequent user record edits.
This will ease the chore of editing the same field in a number of
user records.
As you enter edit mode the main menu changes to an edit menu.
This shows you the keys used to move around the screen, save the
changes or abort changes.
5.1 Editing Restrictions
There are various restrictions in edit mode depending on which
field you are editing. The name, alias, location, password,
comment and phone fields will accept any type of data you can
enter from the keyboard.
All other fields have some type of restriction and RACE will not
allow you to enter invalid data. Listed below are the data
limitations allowed in those fields. Numeric fields not listed
here have a range of 0 to 64000.
1. FLAGS - 'X' or '-' only.
2. TODAYK and TIME TODAY - 0 to 32000
3. SCREEN LENGTH - 10 to 66
4. DATE FIELDS - numeric data in the form MM-DD-YY.
5. TIME FIELD - numeric data in the form HH:MM.
6. USER ATTRIBUTES - Y or N.
Editing a User Record RACE Page 19
5.2 Editing individual fields
RACE provides a number of editing functions within an individual
field. There are too many to mention here, and a complete listing
of edit keys is available in Appendix B of this document or in the
RACE online help system.
Some of the more commonly used edit keys are:
1. <Ctrl-End> Delete from cursor to end of field.
2. <Ctrl-Home> Delete from cursor to beginning of field.
3. <Ctrl-Y> Delete entire field.
4. <Ctrl-T> Delete word to right of cursor.
5. <Ctrl-R> Restore previous contents of field. This only
works if you have not yet moved out of the field you are
attempting to restore.
5.3 Editing without entering edit mode
There are a few functions that will allow you to make
modifications to a user record without actually entering into edit
mode.
For example, pressing the ALT key and the first letter of a user
attribute (ALT-D for deleted, ALT-C for clear screen, etc.) will
toggle that attribute.
There are three exceptions to the above rule. <ALT-V> will toggle
AVATAR, <ALT-I> will toggle the hidden attribute and <ALT-S>
toggles the full-Screen reader. These key combinations were
necessary due to the duplication of attributes that have the same
first letter.
The + and - keys will increment and decrement the security level
of the user currently on-screen by one. ALT + and ALT - will
increment and decrement the security level by 10. The ALT +/-
will most likely NOT work on your numeric keypad, only the +/- on
the main keyboard.
<Ctrl-C> will clear the TodayK and Time Today fields of the user
currently being viewed.
Editing a User Record RACE Page 20
5.4 - Moving through the user file
The main menu shows four commands for moving through the user
file: <F>irst, <L>ast, <N>ext and <P>revious. These commands
operate just as their name implies. <F>irst takes you to the
first user, <L>ast to the last user, etc.
In addition to the listed keys, some of the cursor movement keys
will allow you to move through the user file. Left/Right arrows
are the same as the <P>revious/<N>ext keys. HOME and END take you
to the first and last user respectively.
(1) GOTO
If you know the record number of a user you can use the Goto
command to jump directly to that record. Press "G" to bring up
the Goto window. This window will list the total number of users
on your system and prompt you for the record number to which you
wish to go.
Instead of pressing <G> at the RACE main menu you may begin typing
the record number of the user record you wish to go to. RACE will
see the numeric input and immediately open the Goto window where
you type the remainder of the number.
(2) Reports => User List
Selecting the main menu <R>eports command and then selecting User
list is yet another way to move to a specific user. This function
is described in detail in chapter 7, section 7.1(d).
Validation RACE Page 21
CHAPTER 6
Validation Routines
6.1 General Information
RACE takes full advantage of RemoteAccess 1.0's subscription
system support and will allow you to easily perform the following
tasks with one or two key presses:
* Send a welcome message to the user.
* Update the user security level.
* Update the user group number.
* Toggle any number of security flags on/off.
* Automatically set subscription expiration date.
* Turn on No-Kill and/or File Transfer Priority.
* Import designated answers into user comment field.
In addition, five templates are provided so that you may have five
different sets for the above items. This is so you may instantly
upgrade a user to regular user, special user, visiting sysop, etc.
There is also a manual edit provided for subscription date, group
number, security level and flags for those special cases where
none of the five templates quite fit the user. You may also
toggle user attributes by pressing the <Alt> key and the
capitalized letter of the attribute name shown in this screen.
For example, "hIdden" would require pressing <ALT-I> to toggle
that attribute.
Once you have properly set up and understand how the validation
routines work, you will find that they will save you considerable
time and effort when it comes to validating new users.
Validation RACE Page 22
Please note that throughout the remainder of this chapter the
apostrophe character (') is used to emphasize and clarify various
points of interest. These are not to be used in questionnaires or
input, they are only for clarity. In the case of OUTPUTANSWER
examples, the double quote character (") *IS* used in the
questionnaire language.
RACE offers two different methods of validating users. Both use a
questionnaire answer file, but the way the questionnaire is read
depends on the method. The first method is accessed by the main
menu <V>alidate command. The second method is access by pressing
<Ctrl-V>.
1. Main Menu Validate - This method is used when you want to
validate the user you are currently viewing. RACE can
scan the questionnaire answer file for this users answers
and display them if found.
2. <Ctrl-V> validation - This is used to sequentially read
the answer file and display the individual sets of
answers on a one by one basis. This method is somewhat
easier to use in that it is not necessary for you to
first find the new user to upgrade. This mode can be
initiated from dos by running RACE with a command line
switch of "/V".
6.2 Questionnaire Set up
In order to use the validation routines in RACE you may have to
make a few modifications to your current questionnaire file.
6.3 POSTINFO
"POSTINFO" is a RemoteAccess questionnaire language command. This
tells RemoteAccess to post the user's name to the answer file.
This *MUST* be the FIRST item posted to the user's answers.
RACE uses this POSTINFO information to find the user's name and to
determine where the user's answers begin and end. If this item is
not the first item that RemoteAccess posts to the answer file,
RACE will not find the user's answers or will find the wrong set
of answers.
Validation RACE Page 23
6.4 Comment Import
RACE has the ability to automatically import comments into the
user record comment field.
For instance, if you would like to have the user's Net/Node
address in the comment field of the user record, you could ask the
user this question and signify the answer as a comment import
answer.
This is done in your questionnaire by placing a '&:' anywhere
within the OUTPUTANSWER text string. For example if your tenth
question was 'Net/Node?:' you would put something like this into
your questionnaire file:
OUTPUTANSWER "&:Net/Node: " 10
If, for example, the user answered that question with '135/4',
RemoteAccess would place '&:Net/Node: 135/4' into the answer file.
When you upgrade this user, RACE will scan the answer file and if
'&:' is found in the answer file, everything AFTER those two
characters up to the end of the line is imported into the user's
comment field.
Considering the OUTPUTANSWER example shown above, the user record
comment field would then contain 'Net/Node: 135/4'.
If you don't want to use one of the templates to upgrade the user
but do want the comments imported into the user record, press 'W'
to 'Write Cmts'. RACE will then import any comment lines into the
user record.
If you don't want to waste space in the limited (80 chars max)
comment line you could place the '&:' AFTER the OUTPUTANSWER text.
That is, something like this:
OUTPUTANSWER "Net/Node &:" 10
RACE would import everything after the '&:' and therefore would
only import the user's answer, not the OUTPUTANSWER text of
'Net/Node'.
Since the comment field is only 80 characters long, use care
choosing the items to import. RACE will import up to 80
characters and if the items you have chosen will exceed that
amount, RACE will merely chop off the excess, possibly leaving out
something you consider important.
Validation RACE Page 24
A sample questionnaire file (SAMPLE.Q-A) has been provided in the
distribution package. This sample is only meant to give you an
idea of the format of the required and optional items that go into
a questionnaire and though it is fully functional, it is not as
complete as most SysOps would like.
6.5 Templates
The templates are the heart of the validation routines. Pressing
the number of the template you wish to apply to a user will give
the user all the settings for that template as defined during
configuration.
The automatic turning ON and OFF of user security flags seems to
have caused the most confusion in the past. Please re-read the
description of this set up in Chapter 3, Section 3.6.
If the particular template you apply has a subscription expiration
associated with it, the number of months you have set during
configuration is applied based on your current system date. If
your system date is incorrect, the expiration date be incorrect.
Validation RACE Page 25
6.6 Welcome message
A welcome message is automatically sent to a user when you upgrade
that user if you have enabled this feature during configuration.
If the message base is locked by another process when you attempt
to send a welcome message to a validated user, RACE will pause and
retry accessing the message base up to 10 times. If access
continues to be denied, RACE will report this. No harm is done
and the user will get all the template upgrade values but won't
get the welcome message.
Included in the distribution package are five sample welcome
messages and the supplied RACE.CFG file contains the proper set up
to use all five messages with the possible exception being the
path.
Each welcome message file must have an extension that coincides
with the template that will use that message. For example, when
using template 1 to upgrade a user, RACE will look for WELCOME.001
in the path you have defined during configuration.
The confusion results from the fact that in the welcome message
setup, the path is defined like so: 'C:\RA\WELCOME'. Note the
absence of an extension on the filename. This is so RACE can take
that filename and apply the proper extension based on the template
used. If you use template 2 to upgrade the user, RACE will take
that path\filename and tack .002 onto the end, then go look for
'C:\RA\WELCOME.002'.
If you don't care to have five different welcome messages, delete
all but WELCOME.001. When RACE goes looking for the message it
will read in WELCOME.001 if no others are found.
RACE does NOT perform any formatting on the welcome message. It
will be imported exactly as you have saved it. Keep lines just
under 80 characters and all will come out fine. There is no limit
to the size of the message. If you create a 100k welcome message,
RACE will import it.
If the welcome message feature is enabled, each time you update a
user with one of the templates, RACE will ask: 'Send prepared
message?'. <Y> is the default and hitting <enter> is the same as
hitting <Y>.
If you say <N>, RACE will then provide a prompt and you may enter
ANY other text file for import as a welcome message. You must
provide the full path and filename of the file. If you do not
wish to send anything, press <enter> or <esc> at the filename
prompt and RACE will exit the filename prompt.
Validation RACE Page 26
6.7 Validation Menu Options
There are a number of items on the validation menu that you may or
may not want to use. Some options will not work at all times.
Which items are enabled/disabled all depend on what method of
Validation you are using at the time. For instance, it would make
no sense to attempt to 'Save' a users answers if you have not
defined the answer 'Save' file during configuration.
The menu items, in the order in which they are listed on the menu
are:
a. <W>rite Cmts - As explained early, this is used to force
RACE to import any comment lines into the user record.
This would only be used if you have comment lines and
have not used a template to upgrade the user.
b. <N>ext - Move on to the next set of answers and user.
This only works in the <Ctrl-V> validation method. If
you use the <V>alidate method, there is no next user
since the <V>alidate method is used to upgrade the user
you are currently viewing.
c. <E>dit - This allows you to manually edit the items in
the far left window of the validation screen. As
mentioned earlier, this might be used if none of the
templates quite fit the settings you wish to give this
particular user. A small window pops up reminding you to
press CTRL-ENTER to save the edit or press ESC to abort
any changes.
d. <F>ind Answers - This is only valid in the <Ctrl-V>
method of validation and only if AUTO-SEARCH for answers
has not been enabled during configuration.
Some SysOps use RACE Validation routines for general
upgrades without answers from those users. In that case
Auto-Search should be disabled to avoid the constant 'No
answers found for this user' prompt. <F>ind then becomes
necessary to display the answers for those users that are
new and did answer a questionnaire.
e. <S>ave Answers - If you have defined an answer storage
file during configuration and have Auto-Store disabled,
this command will write the users answers to the storage
file. This may be used if Auto-store is enabled, but it
wouldn't make much sense to do so. You would then have
two identical sets of answers for the same user in the
storage file.
Validation RACE Page 27
f. <C>omment - Allows you to manually enter your own comment
into the User comment field. Previous versions of RACE
put this comment into the answer file. Please keep in
mind that using this option does not automatically write
the comments to the user record. Using <W>rite Cmts or
using a template to update the user will write manually
entered comments to the user record.
g. <Q>uit/Esc - Quit the validation function and return to
the main menu. If you are using the <Ctrl-V> validation
method, RACE will ask if you wish to 'Erase the answer
file?'. You will find that RACE always starts at the
beginning of the answers each time you enter <Ctrl-V>
Validation. If you never delete the answer file you
spend increasingly more time going through users you have
previously validated.
User Reports RACE Page 28
CHAPTER 7
Reports
7.1 The user report menu
RACE v1.30 brings an expanded reporting feature. Previously there
was only a hard coded user list and custom reports were not
possible.
There are four reporting options available. The first three
options allow a wide range of parameters that will provide a
custom report. The forth item, User List, is a report that has
its fields pre-defined and unchangeable.
a. Screen - This option sends the output to the screen,
pausing with each screenful. You cannot page back and
forth through the report with this option. For
non-permanent, custom reports when you want a quick look.
b. Printer - Sends the report output to the printer instead
of the screen. This goes to LPT1 and cannot be changed.
Also, page size is predefined as 54 lines. When 54 lines
have been printed a form feed is sent to the printer to
advance to the next page.
RACE checks to make sure the printer is ok both before
starting and during the printout. Continuous feed paper
is assumed as RACE will not pause to allow you to insert
single sheets of paper.
If any of these printer limitations are a problem, you
may want to use the next report option (disk file) and
send the resulting ascii text file to your printer after
formatting the file as necessary.
User Reports RACE Page 29
c. Disk File - This option will allow you to send the report
to an ascii disk file for processing or storing as you
see fit.
RACE prompts for a disk filename for the report and if
the file already exists, you will be asked if it is ok to
overwrite the existing file.
Note that although RACE does not specifically support
paths for the disk report filename, you may use one if
the full path and filename will fit within the 25
character limitation of the filename prompt.
d. User list - This option is handy for quick lookups of
users. All fields are predefined and there are no
prompts/questions to answer. The cursor movement keys
will move you around the user list screen.
You may move the highlight bar to a user in the list
screen and press <enter> to go directly to that user's
record. Also, you may delete or undelete a user in this
screen. Simply highlight the user and press your <DEL>
key to toggle delete ON/OFF.
Users are listed in a Lastname,Firstname fashion in the
User List screen. This will facilitate easy searching
for a user. By simply typing a last name RACE will move
the highlight bar to each user as it finds a match for
the letters you type. If you're a speed typist, you may
want to slow down a bit for this function to work best.
7.2 Report options
All report field and search options are identical for each of the
three types of custom reports, i.e. screen, printer or disk file.
User Reports RACE Page 30
7.3 Field Selection
Once you have decided on whether you want a screen, printer or
disk file report, RACE will take you to the window in which you'll
select the fields to include in the report.
Fields are not placed into the report in the order in which they
are chosen, instead, they go into the report based on their
position in the selection window.
Move the highlight bar using the cursor keys or by pressing the
first letter of the item you wish to choose. For example,
pressing <A> will first move the highlight bar to Alias. Pressing
<A> a second time will move the bar to the next item that begins
with the letter 'A', in this case, A1 Flag.
Pressing <enter> on a desired field will select that item or
deselect it if it was previously selected. As you select/deselect
items, the display on line 25 will dynamically change to show you
how the report will appear. You cannot have more than 79
characters per report line.
As mentioned in section 3.5(f) of the configuration information
you may shorten up the user name field to allow more fields in
each report line.
When you have selected all the items you wish to have included in
your report, press <ESC> to exit the selection window. Upon
exiting the field selection window you will be given the search
selection menu.
7.4 Report Searching
After choosing the fields to include in the custom report you have
the option of narrowing the report to include only certain users.
If you wish to include all users, merely hit <ESC> to exit the
search window, otherwise, select the desired search item from the
menu.
A user's data will be included in your report only if the user
record matches the search criteria you have provided.
Please see chapter 8 for particulars on search parameters. Report
searching works exactly like the main menu search function with
two exceptions. RACE does not pause at each user it finds and you
cannot abort the search by pressing <S>.
User Search RACE Page 31
CHAPTER 8
Searching
8.1 The Search Menu
Upon selecting search at the RACE main menu a second menu will pop
up in the middle of the screen. It is from this menu you'll
select the user record field to search on and depending on the
field, you will be prompted for additional data before the search
begins.
8.2 Search Operation
RACE always begins the search with the first user. It doesn't
matter which user you are viewing when you invoke a search and it
is not necessary for you to first move to the beginning of the
user file before starting a search.
Once RACE is in search mode, the search is considered to be in
force until one of two things happen:
1. The end of the user file is reached.
2. You abort the search by pressing 'S' a second time.
RACE stops at each match during a search. At that time you may
edit the user record just found or you may elect to continue to
the next match. To do so use the <N>ext command or the
<right-arrow> key.
Once you've found the record you're looking for, press 'S' a
second time to take RACE out of search mode. This is not
absolutely necessary, but remember that RACE will continue to
search with every forward movement through the user file until the
last user is reached or until you abort the search.
User Search RACE Page 32
8.3 Search options
RACE v1.30 has expanded the number of fields that may be searched.
In addition, numeric fields allow you to select whether to view
all matches only if they are greater than, lesser than or equal to
the number you provide.
8.4 Name/Alias
When selecting this item you will be prompted for the Name or
Alias to search for. Keep in mind that the search is not case
sensitive. You may enter the search text in upper or lowercase or
any combination of both.
RACE searches both the name and the alias field so there is no
prompting for which field you wish to search.
RACE performs what may be called an INSTRING search. That is, if
the text you enter is contain ANYWHERE within the name or alias
string, RACE will consider it a match.
For example, if you enter BERT as the search text, RACE would find
users with the name BERT Simpson, Joe AlBERTson or AlBERT Smith.
8.5 City/Phone/Password
Like the Name/Alias search, the city, phone and password fields
are all string data and will take search data in upper or
lowercase and will work well when provided with only partial data.
If, for instance, you wanted to find all users that lived in your
area code you may enter something like 305- when prompted for
phone data to search for. This would show you all users that had
a phone number with 305- anywhere within the two phone fields
provided in Users.bbs.
8.6 Security/Group
When selecting either Security or Group for a search you will be
asked if you wish to search for matches that are "Greater than",
"Less than" or "Equal to" a number you provide. This will allow
you to find very specific sets of users.
User Search RACE Page 33
8.7 Upload/Downloads
Like Security and Group, you will be prompted for additional data
before you input the amount to search for. Unlike security/group,
you do not have the "Equal to" option for a search. It is very
unlikely that anyone would want to find a user that down/uploaded
an exact amount of Kilobytes and so that option is not provided.
8.8 Flags
Searching for users with specific flags set on or off will require
a little care on your part during entry of the search data. RACE
parses the flag data you input and expects to find it in a very
specific format.
The form RACE looks for during Flag search input is:
{FLAGLETTER}{FLAGNUMBER}{SPACE}{ON/OFF}
For example, if you wanted to find all users that have flag A1 set
to ON, when selecting "Flags" on the search menu and then when
prompted for "Flag: " your input to the prompt should look like
this:
Flag: A1 ON
You may only search for one flag at a time. As with elsewhere in
the search function, upper or lowercase is ok during input.
If the flag search data is entered incorrectly, RACE will not
report an error. No harm is done except for the time wasted
searching for data that doesn't exist.
There is a chance RACE may present you with what it thinks is a
match if you input flag data incorrectly. This is unlikely but if
it does find something, that match is most likely invalid.
In most cases of invalid flag input, RACE will reach the end of
the user file and report "No matching data found".
User Flags RACE Page 34
CHAPTER 9
Global changes
9.1 General Information
RACE provides the means to change one or more flags or attributes
for every user of your bbs. The option to change Group numbers is
also provided.
When selecting <C>hanges at the RACE main menu you will be
required to select <A>ttribute flags, <S>ecurity flags or <G>roup
changes from a pop up menu.
9.2 Attribute Flags
Attribute flags are items such as: Clear Screen, Ansi Graphics,
Full Screen Editor, etc., etc. These settings are unique to each
user and the SysOp will rarely have a need to make global changes
to any of these settings. Nevertheless, the option is provided
for those rare instances.
When selecting Attributes from the pop up menu you will be placed
into a window listing all attributes. In addition, three fields
are provided to allow you to limit changes based on Security
levels and/or Group number. See section 9.5 for specific
information on using the security/group options.
Attributes have a box next to them that looks like this: [ ]. The
box initially contains nothing which means that attribute will be
unaffected during global changes.
Use the arrow keys to move up and down the list of attributes. If
you wish to globally toggle an attribute, enter a "Y" for ON or
"N" for OFF. use the <spacebar> to erase a "Y" or "N".
User Flags RACE Page 35
9.3 Security Flags
RACE provides the ability to toggle any number of user security
flags on or off with the greatest of ease.
Upon entering the global security flag change window you will note
that all four flags are initially filled with the numbers 1
through 8. This is to allow easy movement to the desired flag
without having to carefully count as you move to the flag number
you wish to change.
If you have "Flag notes" enabled (Chapter 3, Section 3.7), the
flag note window will appear just as it does when editing a user
record.
Move to the flag position you wish to globally change and type an
"X" to turn that flag ON or type a "-" to turn the flag OFF. Note
that if you change your mind you can merely type the original
number back in that position.
After selecting the flag(s) you wish changed you may limit the
changes by Group number or security level. Please see Section 9.5
below for information on these options.
9.4 Group Changes
Selecting Group changes from the pop-up <C>hanges menu opens yet
another window in which you may enter parameters to use for
performing global group changes.
The first item in the global group change window is 'New group'.
This is the group number you wish to assign to users that match
the parameters provided in the security level and group number
fields. These fields are explained in detail in the following
section.
9.5 Global Changes and Group/Security levels
Global changes may be limited to a select group of users based on
their security level and/or Group number. The default settings
upon entering the attribute, security or group global change
screen is to apply the changes to all users with a security level
less than 64000 and ignore group numbers.
User Flags RACE Page 36
There are four modifiers that may be entered to determine what
security levels you wish to apply the global changes on. These
are entered by you as a character. The four choices are:
1. "A" - Apply changes to ALL users regardless of their
security level.
2. "<" - Apply changes to users with a security level LESS
THAN the number you provided in the Access field.
3. ">" - Apply changes to users with a security level
GREATER THAN the number you provided in the Access field.
4. "=" - Apply changes to users only if their security level
EXACTLY matches that which you provided in the Access
field.
If you enter "A" as the modifier character, this means you wish to
apply the changes to ALL users regardless of their security level.
If you use the "A" modifier it does not matter what number appears
in the security level field in the global change screen.
The Group setting provides another means for limiting the users to
which the changes will be applied. A -1 (minus one) in this field
indicates you want RACE to ignore the user group number and apply
changes based only on the access level and modifier you have
provided.
If you place a group number in the field AND have set a security
level limitation, the user must be in that group number AND meet
the security parameters before changes will apply.
9.6 Executing global changes
Once you have made all your selections, press <Ctrl-Enter> to
continue. If you decide you really don't want to make the
changes, press <ESC> to abort back to the main menu.
If you do continue, RACE will ask "Execute these changes?" Hit
<enter> or "Y" to go on and RACE will make the necessary changes.
This takes very little time, even on large user files.
Adding New Users RACE Page 37
CHAPTER 10
Add New User
Adding a new user manually is the same as editing an existing user
record.
Press <A>dd or your INSert key and RACE will open a new record and
place you into edit mode on that record.
A few of the fields are filled and two of those, Name and
Location, are merely cosmetic filler. The name is initially set
to "New User" and the location is filled with "Somewhere". Of
course you'll want to edit these fields and insert more accurate
information.
Three of the other fields are filled with information you may wish
to leave as is, but of course you may edit these fields to contain
any value you desire.
The Screen length setting is set to 24 since this is the most
common setting. The Last Date and First Date fields are filled
with the current date as obtained from DOS. If your system date
is incorrect you will probably want to edit these fields.
Most numeric fields are initialized to zero and all attributes are
set to OFF.
Once you have edited the new user record to your satisfaction,
press <Ctrl-Enter> to save the record. If you press <ESC>
instead, the record will be discarded and will not be appended to
your user file.
Upon exiting this screen you will be returned to the user you were
viewing when you invoked the <A>dd command.
Running External Programs RACE Page 38
CHAPTER 11
Jump/Utils
11.1 General information
Whether running a predefined program or simply jumping to dos,
RACE can free up most of the memory it uses by swapping itself to
disk or EMS if available. Note that the decision to use the disk
or EMS is determined by RACE and is not user selectable. RACE
will swap to EMS if at all possible.
RACE will only swap if you have defined a swap file through
RACECFG. If swap space is not available when RACE is run, either
because of insufficient disk space or a bad path name, RACE will
disable swapping. You may still use <J>ump or <U>tils, RACE just
won't be able to free up memory for those commands.
RACE always uses the command processor for both the Jump and Utils
and it gets the information it needs from the COMSPEC
environmental variable. So, if you use 4DOS or some other command
processor instead of DOS Command.com, RACE will still operate
properly.
11.2 Jump
Jump, or shell to dos, puts you at the dos prompt where you may do
whatever dos work you need to do. The user file is closed when
you exit in this manner, and you can do anything you like with the
user file while in the dos shell.
Running External Programs RACE Page 39
11.3 Utilities
As you know from configuration, you have the capability of
predefining up to ten external programs to run from within RACE.
Like the Jump command, the user file is closed so that you may run
any program you like.
Pack/Sort RACE Page 40
CHAPTER 12
Packing and Sorting the User file
12.1 General Information
RACE has a built in packing and sorting option and while it is not
usable as a command line driven batch file type of utility, both
options have some features which you may find quite useful.
Both the Pack and Sort options will have to create temporary files
and so will need disk space relative to the current size of your
user files. RACE will attempt to calculate the current space
available and abort with the message "Insufficient disk space" if
not enough space is found. This space is calculated for the drive
on which your user files reside, not the drive from which RACE was
executed.
12.2 Pack/Sort Menu
The Pack/Sort menu is accessed from the main VIEW screen by
pressing <Ctrl-P>. If a user is currently online, RACE will not
allow this menu to pop-up. Instead RACE will report, "User
online, PACK disabled." Packing or sorting the user file with a
user online would most likely destroy your Users.bbs file.
After bringing up the pack menu, each of the four main items on
the menu may be accessed by pressing the first letter of the menu
option or by using your cursor keys to move the highlight to the
desired option and then pressing <enter>.
RACE does not provide the option of packing and sorting with one
operation. Each of these items must be selected individually.
Pack/Sort RACE Page 41
12.3 PACK
Selecting pack will pull down a second menu with four options.
These options, in the order in which they appear on the menu, are:
1. BEGIN PACK - This starts the packing procedure. If none
of the other 3 options are set, this is a straight pack
that will only remove users that are flagged [deleted].
Users that have the NO-KILL flag set to ON will not be
packed out unless the fourth menu option, HONOR NO-KILL,
is set to NO. More on that later.
2. AGE PARAMETER - This option will allow you to pack users
out of your users.bbs based on the amount of time since
their last call to your bbs.
Select this option BEFORE you begin the pack and enter
the number of days to use as a deciding factor. If you
use this option but do not manually enter a value for the
Security parameter, all security levels will be affected
because the default is to examine all users with security
levels from 0 to 64000.
An AGE parameter of zero (this is the default) disables
age checking and this is the number you should use if you
wish to disable the age parameter after making it a
non-zero number.
3. SECURITY PARAMETER - You will note that upon first
pulling down the Pack option menu the words "Security
Parameter" appear in a different color. Also, if you try
to move the highlight bar through the menu the "Security
Parameter" is skipped over. This indicates that this
item is disabled unless you first enter an AGE PARAMETER.
The security and age parameter were designed to work
together and you cannot pack based on security alone
although you can pack based on age alone.
Select this item if so desired and enter the MAXIMUM
security level that should be affected by the current AGE
parameter. If you enter the number 10, no user with a
security level of 11 or higher will be affected by the
pack unless they are flagged [deleted]. The default
setting for this item is 64000.
Pack/Sort RACE Page 42
4. HONOR NO-KILL - This menu item allows you to decide
whether or not a NO-KILL flag will protect a user. The
default is YES. If left set to YES, a user flagged
NO-KILL will NEVER be removed by the RACE pack function
even if that user is flagged [deleted]. If set to NO,
the NO-KILL flag is ignored though the age and security
parameters would still be in force if they are in use.
12.4 SORT
RACE can sort your users.bbs on any one of 6 different fields.
RACE will only sort on ONE field, not a combination of fields.
That means that, unlike the RemoteAccess RAUSER utility, RACE
cannot sort on last names within security levels.
Under no circumstances is the record in the first position of the
users.bbs ever included in a sort. This record should contain the
SysOp record and this must remain record zero.
RACE will sort the following fields in a user selectable ascending
or descending order:
* Last Name
* Security Level
* Upload K
* Download K
* Times Called
* Message posts
Select the field you wish to have the sort work with and you will
then select an ascending or descending sort. After this option is
chosen you are given the opportunity to cancel the sort.
Upon completion of the sort you may notice the user record you
were viewing change to another user's data. That's because you
remain within the same record number in the VIEW screen, but the
sort may have placed another user in that position. This is
normal.
Pack/Sort RACE Page 43
12.5 Whoops!
Whenever the RACE pack option is used and users are removed from
your users.bbs, RACE places those users in a file called
Users.old. This file has the exact same structure as Users.bbs
and this will allow you to retrieve users with the Whoops!
option.
You might find Whoops! useful if, for example, you forgot to set
a user's No-Kill flag and you watched as the user was removed
during a pack.
Users.old is placed in the same directory as Users.bbs. Keep in
mind that ONLY RACE creates and maintains this file. If you pack
your user file with any other utility, this option is not
available to you.
RACE appends packed users to Users.old and does not maintain this
file in any other way. If the same user keeps calling back and
you keep deleting him, that user's record could end up in
Users.Old multiple times. It's a good idea to keep an eye on this
file or it could grow quite large if you delete a lot of users.
Selecting Whoops! pulls down a menu with just two options. The
first option, "Restore Users" is the main function of Whoops!.
The second option, "Delete Users.Old" is a convenience function.
You could easily delete Users.old from dos, but the option is
there if you need it.
Pack/Sort RACE Page 44
1. RESTORE USERS - Select this option and yet another window
opens up in the middle of the screen. This window
contains the first 20 users that are contained within
Users.old. You may scroll through the list using all the
cursor keys. You may also type a user name and RACE will
search through the list. Note that the search begins on
the FIRST name, not the last.
Move the highlight bar to the user you wish to restore
and press <enter>. RACE will first check to make sure
that this user name isn't already in your Users.bbs.
Duplicate name records could be a problem. If the name
is a duplicate, you will be told so and RACE will not
restore that user.
When a user is restored, all the info that was in that
user's Users.bbs record is restored as it was when the
user was removed during the pack. This means that if the
user was marked [deleted] the restored record is still
marked [deleted]. New records for Lastread.bbs and
Usersxi.bbs are created for restored users.
2. DELETE USERS.OLD As the menu option name implies, this
will delete the Users.old file after confirmation from
you.
If Users.old does not exist, this menu option will appear
in a different color and you will not be able to select
it.
Appendix A RACE Page 45
PROBLEMS?
If you are having difficulties running RACE or if a particular
feature doesn't appear to work as you think it should, please read
this section first. The answer to your problem might be right
here.
If RACE ever ends with an error message, look for a file called
RACE.ERR. This file will contain info on the type of error.
While not too useful to the average user, this info will be needed
if you wish to make a bug report to me.
Q. When I run RACE it beeps and says "Race.cfg disk read error".
A. This occurs when RACE finds LESS data in the configuration
file than should be there. Make sure you have a RACE.CFG with a
file size of 2916 bytes. This will probably only occur with new
installations by users of RACE v1.20. You may have forgotten to
convert your RACE v1.20 configuration to v1.30 format with
120to130.exe. If the problem is persistent and you can't seem to
get around it, delete RACE.CFG. Then run RACECFG.EXE and when
this program says "Race.cfg not found, create it?" answer "Y".
You will then have to reconfigure the setup.
Q. RACE tells me a user is online and I cannot edit his record or
perform any global flag changes but no one is online!
A. At one time or another, RemoteAccess (your BBS) ended
abnormally and could not update the USERON.BBS file. This could
happen if your system rebooted for whatever reason while a user
was online. Delete the USERON.BBS file and RACE will work fine.
RemoteAccess will recreate the USERON.BBS file as soon as a user
logs on.
Appendix A RACE Page 46
Q. I've set up all the new user templates but when I use a
template to upgrade a user, flags I have set to turn off are not
turned off.
A. Check your templates and make sure that you have used the
letter "O" in the flag positions you want turned OFF. The
template setup is the only area that doesn't use the "-" (hyphen)
to signify you want a flag turned off.
Q. I can't get the template NO-KILL or XFER PRIORITY attributes
to turn OFF automatically when I'm in the Validate section and I
use a template to update a user.
A. This is normal. These template settings cannot be used to
turn these two attribute flags OFF. Since new users initially
start out with these attributes OFF, it was felt that these flags
would only be turned ON during upgrades. Use <Alt-X> or <Alt-N>
to toggle these items.
Q. When I run <R>eports, I can't seem to get the user name
included in the report. I select it but it never appears.
A. Run RACECFG.EXE then go to the "Miscellaneous" selection on
the main menu. Check the item labeled "Name field size in
reports". It should contain a number from 1 to 35. It is not
possible to enter a number less than 1 or greater than 35 but
there is a very remote chance the field is corrupt and contains a
number out of range. Set the value to a reasonable amount.
Obviously, if you set the name size to 1 you will only get one
letter of the user's name in reports and it would seem that the
name is not appearing.
Appendix A RACE Page 47
Q. When I update a user in <V>alidate, RACE asks me if I want to
send a predefined message. I say "Y", then RACE reports that it
can't find the message file.
A. The best suggestion for this problem is to go back and re-read
Chapter 6, Section 6.6. This gives a complete explanation of
the filenaming convention used for welcome messages. Improper set
up has proven to be the most common problem.
Q. All the user passwords have disappeared!
A. If you cannot see passwords within RACE then you should first
try pressing <Alt-F10> within RACE. This will toggle password
display ON if it is OFF and vice versa. If you can now see the
passwords you may want to make this permanent by configuring it
into RACE. Run RACECFG.EXE and go to the Miscellaneous section.
There you will find "Hide passwords in view mode". This should be
set to "N" if you want to have passwords displayed at all times.
Q. RACE runs ok, but some options report "Insufficient memory".
A. There is no way for RACE to know beforehand what items you may
wish to use. The memory requirements for RACE will vary depending
on what options you try to use because RACE will use more memory
only if it is needed. This method is much better than requiring
the maximum memory at all times. This would force you to have
250-300k of ram free for all RACE options even if you just wanted
to take a quick look at one user.
Appendix B RACE Page 48
Field editing and movement keystrokes
The following FIELD EDITING COMMANDS are available in all field
input prompts within RACE. This includes all of the user fields
in the user editor, prompts for search data, etc.
For movement among fields and to save edited data or abort
changes, see Field movement and Exit commands towards the end of
this section.
FIELD EDITING COMMANDS
<Left>, <CtrlS>
Cursor left one character.
<Right>, <CtrlD>
Cursor right one character.
<CtrlLeft>, <CtrlA>
Cursor left one word. A 'word' is a series of non-blank
characters followed by one or more blanks.
<CtrlRight>, <CtrlF>
Cursor right one word.
<Home>, <CtrlQ><S>
Cursor to beginning of field.
<End>, <CtrlQ><D>
Cursor to end of field.
<Del>, <CtrlG>
Delete character at cursor.
<Bksp>, <CtrlH>, <CtrlBksp>
Delete character to left of cursor.
<CtrlY>
Clear entire field.
<CtrlEnd>, <CtrlQ><Y>
Delete from cursor to end of subfield.
<CtrlHome>
Delete from beginning of subfield to cursor.
<CtrlT>
Delete word to right of cursor.
Appendix B RACE Page 49
<Ins>
Toggle insert mode on and off. Fat cursor indicates insert mode;
thin cursor indicates overtype mode.
<CtrlR>, <CtrlQ><L>
Restore original contents of the field and continue editing.
<F1>
Help. If a help routine has been established for the current
field, the specific help topic will be shown.
FIELD MOVEMENT COMMANDS
These commands allow you to move the cursor from one field (or
subfield) to another while editing a user record.
<Enter>, <CtrlM>
Accept contents of field and move to the next one.
<Tab>, <CtrlI>
Move cursor to the beginning of the next subfield.
<ShiftTab>
Move cursor to the beginning of the previous subfield.
<Up>, <CtrlE>
Move cursor to last field above the current one.
<Down>, <CtrlX>
Move cursor to last field below the current one.
<CtrlPgUp>, <CtrlQ><R>
Move cursor to first field on screen.
<CtrlPgDn>, <CtrlQ><C>
Move cursor to last field on screen.
EXIT COMMANDS
<CtrlEnter>, <CtrlK><D>, <CtrlK><Q>
Quit editing. Accepts all changes to the current user record.
<Esc>, <CtrlBreak>
Abort. Restores the original contents of the user's record. Any
changes not saved are lost.
#EOF#
