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┌───────────┐ │ SFMGR.EXE │ └───────────┘ Manage SPITFIRE From DOS Tom Kellen ßETATech Computer Consulting ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ PURPOSE: To provide the Spitfire SysOp all the features available at the ready for caller screen, from DOS without having to load the BBS. SFMGR provides one umbrella program for managing most aspects of your Spitfire BBS system. FEATURES: * Total management of the message system, including modifying existing conferences, inserting, adding and deleting conferences. * Total management of the file system, including modifying existing file areas, adding, inserting and deleting file areas. * Total control over the main Spitfire system parameters. * Total control over the local node's parameters. * Total control of the event system. This includes displaying a comment about each event and an integrated text editor for modifying your SF.BAT file. * Management of your user base, including adding, modifying, deleting and locking out users. Also included is a quick search capability, and user list printing. * A directory window that allows copy, move, and delete files, plus viewing and editing text files, and viewing the contents of compressed files like ZIPs and ARCs. * Packing of the user base via Meta∙Sys' SFPACKU utility. * Jump to DOS from most menus within SFMGR. And all of this power is rolled into one package that you can operate from DOS in your node subdirectory. If you are familiar with using Spitfire's management screens you will have no problems with SFMGR. INTRODUCTION: A while back I decided that sometimes it is easier to do maintenance work on Spitfire from DOS instead of firing up Spitfire, waiting for it to load and then contend with people trying to call in. This is especially true when doing file maintenance that requires moving subdirectories around or changing conferences to accommodate new NetMail additions or deletions. To that end, I wrote two programs SFFA and SFCA to manage the file and conference areas respectively. The more I worked with those utilities the more I realized that perhaps an all encompassing management utility was needed. Hence the birth of SFMGR.EXE. SFMGR will allow you to do everything you can do at the ready for caller screen, plus a bit more. INSTALLATION: All you need to do is place SFMGR.EXE and SFMGR.OVR into the main Spitfire directory (i.e. C:\SF) on any node. That is all there is to it. SFMGR will look in the current directory for SFNODE.DAT. From this file it will be able to find all the other files it needs. If you have moved your node, or copied your node directory to another area so that the paths within SFNODE.DAT are incorrect, SFMGR will first query you for the correct paths before beginning. This is especially useful when you create a new node by copying an existing node and need to reconfigure the new node. OPERATION: SFMGR is a very simple program to operate, and I have tried to make the user interface as similar Spitfire's as possible. To get started just type SFMGR from the DOS prompt and you should be on your way. If you are using a monochrome monitor and find the displays hard to read, start the program SFMGR /M. This will provide prompts that are more easily read on mono screens. If you are running SFMGR at night or at the office and want to minimize the beeps and brapps, use the /S command line switch to run in quiet mode. SFMGR has help available at most screens by pressing the F1 key. At some menus this will give you context sensitive help, and at others it will provide you an overview of that menu's capabilities. Some SysOps have expressed interest in running SFMGR remotely through a door. You can do this using a Shareware program called DOORWAY which redirects screen output to the comm port. SFMGR has a special /R command line switch which will turn off the backgrounds and fancy growing windows. This will speed operation over the phone lines. The following is a sample command line for a registered DOORWAY system (you may need to edit this for your system): DOORWAY COM1 /O:T /G:ON /R:^R /V:D^V /B:Z /L: /M:99 /S:* /N: /P:C:\SF\SFMGR The above command line should of course be all on one line. SFMGR contains a very limited text editor and file viewer. This should be sufficient for most applications but you can hook your favorite text editor (the author recommends QEdit) or file viewer (LIST.COM is my favorite) into SFMGR. When you register SFMGR you will receive a code number that will embed your name into SFMGR and it will be displayed on the main screen. To configure SFMGR to use an external editor, file viewer or to install your registration number, use the /C command line switch. More details on this process are found in the CONFIGURATION & REGISTRATION section. NOTE: Anywhere the documentation mentions that you can use the + key to move forward one listing you can also use the Right or Down Arrow keys and anywhere you can use the - key to move back one listing you can also use the Left or Up Arrow keys. PgDn will advance you 10 records and PgUp will go back 10 records (except in Events Management where the increment is 5 records). HOME will take you to the first record and END will take you to the last record. The first selection on the menu is Help. Pressing enter over this item will give you an overview of all the Main Menu options. Conference Areas The second choice on the Main Menu is Conference Areas. You can either press F2 or place the cursor over this option and press return. This will take you into the Conference Management subsystem. Most of the options affect the area currently displayed on the screen. <N> Toggles whether this conference supports Net-Mail or not. <M> Lets you enter a new description for this conference area (up to 40 characters long). <S> Will prompt you for a new security level for that conference. You can enter any number from 0 to 999. <#> Toggles back and forth between "Equal To User Security" and "Equal To Or Greater Than User Security". <R> This option takes you directly to a conference. You are prompted for a conference number and then that area is dis- played. <A> Allows you to add a new conference to the end of the list of current conferences. You will be prompted for the description and the security level for this area. You can also toggle the last 6 items. Because this is a sensitive operation, SFMGR will NOT allow you to do this when someone is on the BBS. SFMGR will not create the 4 files associated with the newly created area as Spitfire will create them the first time a message is entered in that area. It is suggested that you go ahead and enter a message in the new areas after your SFMGR session so that all the files will be present. Toggles whether private messages are allowed. Toggles whether users can delete messages. Selecting this option allows you to insert a new conference into the current list. You are prompted to enter the number of the conference you want to insert it before, and then for the new area information. This option will also create a new SFMCONF.$$$ file (see more details on the .$$$ file under the Delete option). When you use this option, SFMGR will read SFNODE.DAT to determine where the related message files are. After updating the information in SFMCONF.DAT you will be prompted as to whether you would like SFMGR to rename all the associated message files. If you answer yes it will then go out and rename all the associated message files (SFMSG<x>.DAT, SFMSG<x>.IDX, SFMSG<x>.LMR and SFMSG<x>.PTR) so that they are in correspondence with the data in SFMCONF.DAT. If you are running a multi-node system, use this rename part of the Insert function ONLY ONCE, on the first node, and answer NO when using it on other nodes! If your nodes have the exact same conference configuration, just copy SFMCONF.DAT over to the other nodes. This is all that is required as the message files are shared. If you let SFMGR rename the files again on the second node they will now all be off by one as it will move them up one number again. You can run SFMGR on the second node and let it change SFMCONF.DAT but then say NO when prompted if you want the associated message files renamed. Remember, SFMGR will not create the 4 files associated with this inserted area. SFMGR will NOT allow you to use this option if someone is on the BBS. <D> This option allows you to delete a conference from your list. It will first prompt you for the conference number to delete, and then display the area to you. If this is the one you want to get rid of, answer Yes to the "DELETE THIS CONFERENCE?" question, and Poof!, it is gone. You will then be asked if you want the associated message files renamed. Make certain that this is what you really want to do because SFMGR will also go out and delete the files associated with this conference and then rename all the other message files to maintain their numerical order. On a multi-node system, only let SFMGR rename the message files ONCE, on the first node, and answer NO when using it on the other nodes! Any time you Delete or Insert a conference, SFMGR makes a backup copy of your SFMCONF.DAT file called SFMCONF.$$$. If something does not work out the way you wanted, you can always quit the program, delete the current SFMCONF.DAT and rename SFMCONF.$$$ to SFMCONF.DAT. Unfortunately the message files related to this conference will be gone and you will have to restore them from backup. You would then have to rename all the files that would have been renamed by SFMGR. Make sure you use this option with caution! NOTE: One thing to remember is that EVERY time you Delete or Insert an area this backup is made, so if you delete more than one conference in a session, SFMCONF.$$$ will only contain the data from before the LAST deletion. SFMGR will NOT allow you to use this option while someone is on the BBS. <O> This option allows you to set the number of days old messages should be kept before being purged in a Message Base Pack. This option toggles whether a Message Base Pack makes backup files for this conference area. <+> Will display the next area in the list. <-> Will display the previous area in the list. <T> This will toggle whether Old Message Threads are packed when the message base is packed. <Q> Quits the Conference subsystem and returns you to the Main Menu. NOTE: If you are running PCRelay, remember that Inserting or Deleting conferences between existing conferences means that you have to redo your PCRelay configuration for all affected conferences or your mail will end up in the wrong conference. File Areas The third option from the Main Menu will take you to the File Area Management subsystem. From here you have total control over your file area database. Making changes here will affect where Spitfire looks for files on your system. SFMGR will manage these changes for you. The only thing you will have to do is physically move files to different directories if you change where they are located on the disk. Most of the options affect the area currently displayed on the screen. <+> Will display the next area in the list. <-> Will display the previous area in the list. <D> Will allow you to change the download path for the current area. You will be prompted for the new download path and SFMGR will automatically put what you type in uppercase. SFMGR will then try to determine if this is a valid path. If the directory you specified does not exist, SFMGR will create it. If SFMGR is unable to verify or create the directory you specified it will give you a warning message and allow you to reenter the path. SFMGR will do this check on the upload path and any time you Insert or Add an area. Works just the same as option <D>, only changing the upload path specification. <F> Lets you enter a new description for this file area (up to 40 characters long). <S> Will prompt you for a new security level for the selected area. It will allow you to enter any number from 0 to 999. <&> Toggles back and forth between "Equal To User Security" and "Equal To Or Greater Than User Security". <T> Toggles whether the area is available for preview. <A> Allows you to add a new file area to the end of the list of current areas. You will be prompted for the new download and upload paths, the area description and the security level for this area. You can also toggle the last 2 items on the screen. This option allows you to purge an area from your list. It will first prompt you for the area number to delete, and then display the area to you. If this is the one you want to get rid of, answer Yes to the "DELETE THIS AREA?" question, and Poof!, it is gone. Any time you Purge or Insert an area, SFMGR makes a backup copy of your SFFAREA.DAT file called SFFAREA.$$$. If something does not work out the way you wanted, you can always quit the program, delete the current SFFAREA.DAT and rename SFFAREA.$$$ to SFFAREA.DAT. NOTE: One thing to remember is that EVERY time you Purge or Insert an area this back up is made, so if you purge more than one area in a session, SFFAREA.$$$ will only contain the data from before the LAST purge. <R> This option takes you directly to a file area. You are prompted for a file area number and then that area is displayed. Selecting this option allows you to insert a new file area into the current list. You are prompted to enter the number of the file area you want to insert it before, and then are asked for the new area information. Remember this option will also create a new SFFAREA.$$$ file, so only the most recent changes will be in this file. <C> Pressing "C" will toggle whether this file area is treated as a CD-Rom area. <Q> Quits and returns you to the Main Menu. System Management The fourth option allows you to configure the main system options for your BBS. Selecting this option takes you to the System Management subsystem. Here you will get another menu. The first option on this menu is Numeric Values. Select this option and you are presented with a screen showing your system's current numeric values and allows you to change them. Just press the letter of the value you wish to change and you will be prompted for a new value at the bottom of the window. <A> This is the number of callers to your BBS to date. This is the number of calls today. <C> Shows how many messages have been entered today. <D> Shows how many uploads there have been today. <E> Gives you the number of downloads today. <F> This is the daily maximum time limit for all users. <G> This is the number of times a user can log on in one day. <H> This is the maximum time allowed on each login. Set this to the security level you want new users to have. <J> This sets the number of minutes a new user will get on their first call. <K> This sets the maximum number of downloads per user per day. <L> This sets the number of downloads per upload before a user gets a warning message. <M> Set this to the maximum number of users for your BBS. <N> This represents the total number of nodes on your BBS. <O> Set this to the number of minutes with no activity before a user is logged off. Allows you to set the security level that violators of the Up/Download Ratios will be lowered to. The second selection on the System Management Menu allows you to configure the SysOp Data. <A> This is the SysOp's name, First and Last (i.e. Tom Kellen). This one is the SysOp user name (usually SYSOP). <C> This option sets the password required for a drop to DOS from the BBS. <D> Put the date you started your BBS here. <E> Enter the security level required for SysOp status. The third option on the System Management Menu Toggles System Switches. <A> Toggles the use of U.S. Phone format (ie. (XXX) XXX- XXXX). Setting this option on will convert the first letter of each word in an upload description to upper case. <C> This toggles whether you are running a Net Mail system. <D> This toggles whether you have a Multi-Node BBS. <E> Toggling this will change whether a new user is prompted to select their default protocol when they first log on. <F> This toggles whether new users are required to enter their birth date. (Remember, toggling this OFF will disable the Second Logon Password option). <G> This toggle determines whether ALL message conferences are scanned or just the user's queued ones. <H> Toggling this will set whether Spitfire does a comprehensive search on uploaded file names or not. Option <J> on the System Management Menu, jumps you to DOS swapping most of SFMGR's code to EMS or disk. This should allow you plenty of memory to do what you need. Just type EXIT to return to SFMGR from the DOS shell. <Q> takes you back to the Main Menu. Node Management The fifth item on the main menu, allows you to configure the local node. Selecting this option takes you to the Node Management subsystem. The first selection on the Node Management Menu allows you to Change this Node's Values. <M> Set the minimum required baud rate to log onto your BBS. <N> Is the number for this node. Is the security required to access this node if it is a private node. <T> Set this value to the amount of time given to each user for each minute they upload. The second option on the Node Management Menu, sets the Paths to all the associated Files. <A> Is the path to the directory holding all of the Work files. Is the path to the directory holding all of the Display files. <C> Is the path to the External Protocol files. <D> Is the path to the Message base files. The third selection on the Node Management Menu, handles Configuration of the Modem attached to this node. <S> Is the serial port number for this node. Is the maximum baud rate for this node. This sets the initialization string sent to the modem on startup. <M> This toggles whether there is an Error Correcting modem on this node. <E> Enter the modem's error correction message here (i.e. for a USR HST modem it would be ARQ). <H> This sets whether hardware data control is enabled. <A> Set this to the ring number you want Spitfire to answer on. <D> This toggles whether modem result messages are displayed. <C> Set this to the additional time you want the log off screen displayed before dropping carrier. This toggles the use of High Speed Asynchronous routines. <1> Sets the IRQ for COM1. <2> Sets the IRQ for COM2. <3> Sets the IRQ for COM3. <4> Sets the IRQ for COM4. The fourth item on the Node Management Menu Toggles the Switches for the local node. <A> Toggles printer on or off. Sets whether ANSI Graphics are available. <C> This toggles whether this is a private node or not. <D> This toggles the second password requirement on and off. <E> Toggles whether to enforce the Up/Download ratios. <F> Use this to toggle SysOp page on and off. <G> This selection toggles direct screen writes on and off. <H> This setting determines whether a user is prompted for new messages on logon. This will toggle the prompt to view new files on logon. <J> Toggling this will set whether external protocols are available. <K> Toggles Color Monitor to yes or no. <J> On the Node Management Menu, shells you temporarily to DOS <Q> Takes you back to the Main Menu. Events Management Item number six on the Main Menu is the Events Management subsystem. This will give you total control over your BBS events. If you have placed a descriptive REM statement in your SF.BAT file immediately following the event label, SFMGR will display this above the information about that particular event. For instance, if your SF.BAT file had the following: :EVENT_A REM This event does statistical bulletins SFMGR would show "This event does statistical bulletins" above the information about Event A. If you are using a file name other than SF.BAT, SFMGR will not be able to read the Event comments and will tell you to use option to let SFMGR know what the correct file name is. It will then read the comments from this file and display them as appropriate. <E> This toggles whether the current event is enabled or disabled. You will queried again before SFMGR actually disables an event. <C> This option toggles whether the event is considered completed for the day. <T> You can change the time that the event will run with this option. You will be prompted for the hour and minute of the event. If you enter the time in 12 hour format you will also be asked if this is AM or PM. If you enter military time SFMGR will make the adjustment. If you try to enter the time on a disabled event, SFMGR will first ask you if you want to enable the event. <D> Allows you to set the day the event will run. You are presented with a list of the days of the week and also Every Day. <L> This will jump you directly to a certain event. <O> Toggles whether this event is an "On-Time" event. <J> Jumps you temporarily to DOS. Type EXIT to return to SFMGR. Selecting this option will prompt you for the file name of your Spitfire Startup file. This file will the be loaded into either the internal text editor or the alternate one you may have configured. Here you can make changes to your Spitfire Startup file after changing the properties for an event. More details on the internal editor can be found in the Directory Window section. <+> Advances to the next event. <-> Moves back to the previous event. <Q> This will quit back to the main menu. To assist in your Events Management, SFMGR displays a clock with the current system time in the lower right hand corner. User Management The seventh option on the Main Menu is the User Management subsystem. When you press enter on this menu item you are displayed a screen with information about each individual user. <+> Displays the information about the next user. <-> Displays the information about the previous user. <D> Selects the Downloads Menu. Sets the number of bytes downloaded by that user today. <D> Sets the number of downloads by that user today. <K> Sets the total number of bytes downloaded by that user. <N> Sets the total number of downloads that user has made. <N> Allows you to change the user name. <X> Toggles Expert mode on and off for this user. Selects the Uploads Menu. <K> Sets the total number of bytes this user has uploaded. <N> Sets the total number of uploads this user has made. <A> You can enter the user's City and State here. <&> Selecting this option marks or unmarks a user for deletion. <E> Sets the last Message Conference viewed by the user. Allows you to set the user's password. <L> Toggles whether the user is locked out of the BBS or not. <C> Sets the last File Area viewed by the user. <#> You can enter the user's phone number here. <T> This brings up the Time Menu. <M> Sets the number of minutes the user has left today. <T> Sets the total number of times this user has logged on. <O> Sets the number of times the user has logged on today. <L> Lets you enter the Date and Time the user last logged on. <!> Selects the Miscellaneous Stuff Menu. <C> Sets the number of Chat's today. <H> Toggles the use of Hot Key on or off. <M> Toggles the More prompt on or off. <S> Toggles the use of Scroll Back on or off. <R> This allows you to jump directly to a user's record by entering their user number. <M> This option brings up the Date Menu. Allows you to enter the user's Birth Date. <N> Sets the date of the user's last New File Scan. <O> Sets the user's Original Logon Date. <S> Sets the subscription date for this user. The Subscription Date can not be later than the current date. <$> This option brings up the User Pack Menu. User Pack Menu SFMGR provides an interface into Meta∙Sys' SFPACKU utility. This excellent utility will pack your user base based on the number of days since users have called. It will also allow you to perform this operation on just one security level or optionally exclude several security levels. Please read the SFPACKU documentation fully before using this utility. SFPACKU gains some of it's incredible speed by NOT creating any backup files. It is highly suggested that you make backups of SFUSERS.* and your *.LMR files. Be sure to read the section at the end of this documentation that details how you can register SFPACKU for half price with your SFMGR registration. While on the User Pack Menu the command line that will be passed to SFPACKU displays on the bottom of the screen. If this line is long than can be displayed, the displayed version will be truncated (the full commands will be passed to the program) and it will show ... on the end of the line. The first item on this menu allows you to set the number of days with out calls that the user pack is based on. You can enter a number from 0 to 999 days. The second item will allow you to have SFPACKU operate on one single security level. You can not use this option with the Security Levels option. If you have used this option and now wish to disable it enter negative 1 (-1) at the prompt. The third option sets the path to SPITFIRE.EXE. If SPITFIRE.EXE is not in the current directory you may need to use this option. Please see the SFPACKU documentation for details. The next item allows you to set security levels that will be excluded from processing during this pack. You can exclude up to 10 security levels. You will be prompted for all 10 one after another. When you have entered all that you wish to exclude, just press ESC to quit. If you have entered an excluded security level and wish to not include that level as excluded for the next run, enter negative 1 (-1) at the prompt. The fifth option executes the SFPACKU program. You will be prompted as to whether you are satisfied with the backup of the files SFPACKU will operate on before SFPACKU is executed. The final option quits back to the User Information Menu. <F> If you know the name of a user or part of a name for a user, you can use SFMGR's search utility. Selecting <F> takes you to another screen that shows an abbreviated user information screen. You can page back and forth using the + and - keys. Press <S> and you will be presented with a box to enter the user's name in. Enter the user's name or as much of it as you can remember. SFMGR will do a "fuzzy" search and present user names that come close to matching what you entered. When you exit back to the User Management screen, the user you were viewing in the Find system will be dis- played on the screen. The option will print a listing of all the users on your BBS. This list can be sent to the printer or a file. User names will print 2 across and be sorted by last name. <S> Selects the Security Level Menu. <O> Allows you to set the user's original security level. This is used by the Enforce Up/Download Ratio option. <S> Sets the user's current security level. <V> Selects the Screen Attributes Menu. <L> Sets the length of each line displayed for this user. Sets the number of lines per page displayed for this user. <S> Sets the color of the text displayed to this user. </> This option brings up a menu where you can select the user's default file transfer protocol. The user's current selection will be displayed by the menu bar. <@> This option allows you to add a new user to the end of your user list. You will be prompted for the pertinent information and can then enter the rest later. <Z> Toggles whether this user can be purged if they have not logged on since the date specified by the purge. Directory Window The eighth option on the Main Menu is a directory window. This window will display all the files in the current directory. Pressing F1 will give you help on how you can change to other drives or directories and how you can change the information displayed in the window. Space Toggles between detailed and short description. ALT-D Sorts the files in native DOS order. ALT-N Sorts the files alphabetically by Name. ALT-E Sorts the files alphabetically by Extension. ALT-S Sorts the files by size. ALT-T Sorts the files by date/Time. ALT-O Toggles ascending or descending sort order. ALT-Z Toggles the window size. ALT-C Allows you to change to a new drive or directory. ALT-B Backs you up to the parent directory. Typing any alphanumeric character will bring up a window where you can type a particular file name. When you press <ENTER> over a file name you will be presented with a menu of actions that can be taken on that file. <C> Will copy the selected file to the destination you specify. <D> Will delete the selected file. You will be prompted again before the file is deleted to make sure that this is what you want to do. <E> Will load the selected file into SFMGR's editor or your external editor if you have configured SFMGR to use one. SFMGR's internal text editor is a very basic editor and is also limited as to the size of a file that it can work with. It will not handle lines over 125 characters wide and won't handle files larger than about 2000 lines no matter what the available memory. This is intended only for quick touch up jobs not for true text editing. For that you really should look into QEdit, the finest text editor available. See the Configuration section on how to install QEdit or another editor instead of using the internal one. NOTE: Be aware that the internal text editor does NOT make backup files. All work with the internal editor is done in memory. When you exit, if the file has been changed you are queried if you want to save the file. If you say no your original is intact. If you respond yes, it will ask you for a file name. Pressing return will save the file with the original name over writing the original file. You can however give a different name and the file will be saved under that name and the original will stay intact. The following commands are available in the editor: F1 Help F2 Set Margins F3 Search for text string F4 Search and Replace text string F5 Previous Word F6 Next Word F7 Page Up F8 Page Down F9 Clear Marks F10 Quit ^X Line Up ^E Line Down ^C Page Up ^R Page Down ^K Quit ^P Set Margins ^BkSp Delete Word ^V Toggle Insert/Overstrike ^W Window Down ^Z Window Up ^Home Erase to the beginning of the line ^End Erase to the end of the line ^F Next Word ^A Previous Word ^S Column Left ^D Column Right ^PgUp File Home ^PgDn File End ^N Insert Line ^Y Delete Line Alt-A Enter an ASCII character Alt-B Change the Background Color Alt-C Copy Block Alt-D Delete Block Alt-F Change the Foreground Color Alt-G Go to Block Alt-M Move Block Alt-N Clear Marks Alt-S Move to the Beginning of the Block Alt-T Move to the End of the Block BkSp Delete Character to the left of the cursor Ins Toggle Insert/Overstrike Del Delete Character Home Move to the Beginning of the line End Move to the End of the line Tab Next Tab Stop BTab Last Tab Stop <M> Will move the selected file to the destination you specify. Moving a file means that the file will no longer exist in it's current location. This is effectively like copying the file to a new location and then deleting the current version. <R> Will load the selected file into either the internal file viewer or the external one if you have configured one. The following commands are available in the internal file viewer. F Find text C Case-sensitive find N Find next occurrence of text A Auto-Scroll the text 0..9 Adjust scroll speed PgUp/PgDn Page up and down Home Top of file End Bottom of file Up arrow Move up one line Down arrow Move down one line Right arrow Scroll right one column Left arrow Scroll left one column Ctrl-Right Scroll 8 chars right Ctrl-Left Go to first column ESCape Exit back to the Directory Window NOTE: The size of a file that can be loaded into the reader is dependent on the available system memory. <V> Views the current file. If the selected file ends in ZIP, ARC, LZH, PAK, or ARJ, SFMGR will display the contents of that compressed file. While viewing the contents of a compressed file, you can press F8 to get a listing of the contents of the compressed file. Pressing F10 will allow you to extract the currently highlighted file. You will be prompted for the destination directory for that file. NOTE: The uncompression utility for that type of archive must be available on the PATH as SFMGR does no extraction but calls the appropriate program. If the file is any other type it will be loaded into either the internal file viewer or the external one you have configured. Jump to DOS This function swaps most of SFMGR out to EMS or to disk allowing you access to DOS. This should free up most of you memory except about a 6-9K kernel of SFMGR. To return to SFMGR just type EXIT from the DOS prompt. Quit This quits the SFMGR program returning you to DOS. CONFIGURATION & REGISTRATION: When you register SFMGR you will receive a registration number that will embed your name into the program, and the Main Menu will display that this program is registered to you. This number will remain valid for future versions so hang onto it. To register your copy of SFMGR, start the program with a /C on the command line. You will be prompted for the name the program is registered to. Type this in EXACTLY as you received it from ßETATech as capitalization and spaces are significant. Next you will be prompted for your registration number. Enter this and next you will be prompted for editor and file viewer names. If all you want to do is register press enter three times to skip these prompts. SFMGR should tell you that it is configured and then go to the main screen where you will now see your name. If there is a configuration problem SFMGR will let you know. First step is to check to make sure that you entered your registration information EXACTLY as you received it. If you are still having problems, contact ßETATech for help. Beginning with v1.2 of SFMGR, we are offering a third way to ease registration of SFMGR. If you order SFMGR on disk you will receive a file called SFMGR.SYS. Just place this file in the directory with SFMGR.EXE and SFMGR will read this file and display your registration name. Each time you get a new version of SFMGR all you need to do is place SFMGR.EXE and SFMGR.OVR into this directory and your registration name will be displayed. If SFMGR.SYS is found, SFMGR will display the name found in this file over any name configured with the /C switch. To configure SFMGR to use an external editor or file viewer follow the above steps. If you are still evaluating SFMGR and have not registered, just leave the registration name blank and the registration number as 0. To use an external editor (QEdit would be an excellent choice) when you are prompted for the name of the editor, enter the full file name for the one you want to use. If this program is on your system's PATH you can just enter the file name (i.e. Q.EXE). If it is not on the PATH you must enter the whole file specification (i.e. C:\UTIL\Q.EXE). If you wish to use the internal editor make sure that this field says INTERNAL. To configure and external file viewer, follow the above steps until prompted for the external viewer name. Remember if this program is on your PATH you can enter something like LIST.COM, if not, enter the whole path and file name. To configure an external compressed file viewer (like Raymond Kaya's RV.EXE or Vern Buerg's FV.COM) follow the instructions for configuring for an editor. One thing to keep in mind is that SFMGR's internal compressed file viewer offers limited file extraction options and the ability to print a listing of the compressed file. On the other hand, an external viewer may work with different types of compressed files that SFMGR can't handle When using external file viewers or editors, SFMGR will swap most of it's code to EMS or to disk allowing you the maximum amount of memory possible for working with your files. This will frequently be much more than is available when using the internal editor or viewer. You may want to consider this when working with larger files. In the past, SFMGR.EXE has been distributed with the executable file compressed by the LZEXE utility. We no longer do this to allow configuration of SFMGR. After you have made your registration entries or configured for external programs, you can go ahead and compress SFMGR.EXE (with something like DIET, PKLite, LZEXE etc.). If you do decide to compress the .EXE file you may notice a short delay loading the program as it is uncompresses it. The other drawback of compressing the .EXE is that you cannot then reconfigure SFMGR (unless you are using a file compressor that will restore the file like DIET or PKLite). You can of course use a new version of SFMGR, reconfigure and recompress that one. EPILOGUE: This is a Shareware Spitfire utility. It is a useful tool for me and for some other Spitfire SysOps, and I hope that you will find it of use too. If you do find it to be a useful tool, please register the program. The registration fee is $10.00 U.S. funds. There is a form enclosed in the ZIP file with the program to make registering quick and easy. If there is no registration form, you can send the fee to the address below or the one you find in the exit screen from SFMGR. Please help make the Shareware System work by registering your Shareware programs. Through an agreement with Bob Zimmerman and Meta∙Sys software, you can register SFPACKU for one half of the regular price when you register SFMGR. Please see the registration form for further details. AUTHOR CONTACT: Problems, solutions, kudos and ideas are welcomed. I can be reached at: The Paradigm BBS ßETATech Computer Consulting (404) 671-1581 P. O. Box 566742 1200-19,200 Baud 24 Hrs/Day Atlanta, GA 30356-6013 DISCLAIMER: Use of this program acknowledges this disclaimer of warranty: "This program is supplied as is. ßETATech Computer Consulting disclaims all warranties, express or implied, including, without limitation, the warranties of merchantability and of fitness of this program for any purpose. ßETATech Computer Consulting assumes no liability for damages direct or consequential, which may result from the use of this program." ACKNOWLEDGMENTS: This program makes extensive use of Buffalo Creek's BCShare TPU to handle all file locking and sharing. Many thanks go to Mike Woltz, not only for his superb Spitfire BBS software, but also for much help in programming and for the sample Pascal code that really got me started. Thanks also to John Newlin (author of ArcMaster and SCOUT). He provided most of the file compression code in SFMGR. John has been a long time friend, mentor and inspiration to me. For the finest compressed file shell, check out ArcMaster. My favorite file shell is SCOUT, also by John Newlin. Bob Zimmerman has also been extremely helpful in helping me to develop as a programmer. The speed at which SFMGR loads the user names when searching for a user is due entirely to Bob's Z_IO unit. No Spitfire programmer should be without this unit. Not only does it make accessing Spitfire files simplicity it's self, but the speed of access is blinding! Thanks for everything Bob, and for all the superb Spitfire utilities you have produced. As with any program, this one needed lots of testing and this perilous task was undertaken by my two beta testers, Dave Uhley and Steve Newman. Thanks especially to Dave for keeping on top of the betas and keeping me in line. My thanks also to Ira Lichtenstein, Pete Tiffany and Bill Arlofski for their valuable input into version 1.1. I would be remiss in not thanking Bruce McMillan for his friendship, proof reading and encouragement during this program's development, and also to my sister Laura for getting me a job that enabled me to keep my computers running. This program was written entirely using the worlds finest text editor, QEdit. My thanks to Sammy Mitchell for this wonderful editor. How can any programmer do without it? The current version of QEdit can always be found on The Paradigm BBS. And finally, my undying gratitude to Tim Farley. I searched long and hard for the "fuzzy" search routine used in the Find User subsystem, but with no success. Tim came to my rescue and put together a fine Turbo Pascal TPU and the associated assembly code to make this search a reality. Thanks again Tim for all your help! "SFMGR" is Copyright by ßETATech Computer Consulting. "SFCA" is Copyright by ßETATech Computer Consulting. "SFFA" is Copyright by ßETATech Computer Consulting. "SPITFIRE" is Copyright by Mike Woltz. "SPITFIRE" is a registered trademark of Buffalo Creek Software. "BCSHARE" is Copyright by Mike Woltz. "SFPACKU" is Copyright by Meta∙Sys. "Z_IO" is Copyright by Meta∙Sys. "Turbo Pascal" is a registered trademark of Borland International Corp. "ArcMaster" is Copyright by New-Ware. "SCOUT" is Copyright by New-Ware. "LIST" is Copyright by Vernon D. Buerg. "FV" is Copyright by Vernon D. Buerg. "RV" is Copyright by Raymond T. Kaya. "QEdit" is Copyright by SemWare. "PKLite" is Copyright by PKWARE. "DIET" is Copyright by Teddy Matsumoto. "LZEXE" is Copyright by Fabrice Bellard. REVISION HISTORY: Revision information can now be found in the SFMGR.HIS file found in the distribution ZIP.