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1992-06-20
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129 lines
TOP 40 Downloads Bulletin Generator for Spitfire
Version 2.0
Release Date: June 20, 1992
(c) WidowWare, 1992
Written By Gary Goldstein
Disclaimer: Every effort has been made to debug this utility. However,
since this is my first utility effort one of those little
critters may exist. Should one of those little critters be
found, please contact this author so that we may exterminate it.
This program is considered Shareware. That is, try it before
you buy it. If you like it and want to contribute to the
author's starving family, then please send the $5.00
registration fee to the address on the registration form.
More on the registration later.
Program Description:
-------------------
This little program will generate a bulletin for you displaying the Top 40
downloads from your BBS. It's easy to set up and use and keep using as it
will run perpetually. It reads the CALLERS.LOG file or **ANY** file with a
similar structure such as backups of previous months' files.
I have updated this version from Version 1 to allow you the freedom of
allowing your summary file (TOP40SUM.DAT) to expand with the growth of the
downloaded files list which the program maintains. As you run this program
over a length of time, you will accumulate a long list of files which have
been downloaded from your system. You may continually increase the last
parameter when you run the program to accomodate this ever growing list.
However, you may restart your program from scratch whenever you like by
deleting both the TOP40DAT.DAT and TOP40SUM.DAT files which this program
generates and maintains.
For example, if you have only had 100 files downloaded from your system,
set the last parameter to 150. If you've had over 500 downloaded, set this
parameter to 650. And so on. I believe this program will handle over 25,000
different files but I haven't reached that number by a long shot on my own
system (I'm up to around 1750 different and I have my parameter set to 2000
so far). I'd be interested to hear from anyone who has run out of memory
using TOP40 and how many files they had when it happened.
Set Up:
------
You can place the program anywhere you like on your hard drive. The
command line will direct the program to the files it needs. Without
further adieu let's get on with it.
Command Line usage is:
---------------------
TOP40 <Callers.log file location>
<Name of bulletin to be generated (without extension name)>
<Maximum number of files to use>
Thus, as an example...
TOP40 d:\sf\work\callers.log bullet6 1000
will tell the program to use the Callers.log file found in the D:\sf\work
subdirectory and generate the files BULLET6.CLR and BULLET6.BBS using a
maximum of 1000 files. You can then move the bulletin files wherever you
want or you can even specifywhere to generate the bulletins directly. Do
not specify file extensions for the bulletin names as this utility will
generate an ANSI bulletin with the extension of.CLR and an ASCII bulletin
with an extension of .BBS. This will keep in line with the extensions
used by Spitfire for the display of bulletins.
So,
TOP40 d:\sf\work\callers.log d:\sf\display\bullet6 1000
will also work just fine (notice the bulletin path).
You MUST, however, specify the 3 required parameters otherwise the program
will not even ATTEMPT to run.
If you want to build a data file for past months so that the program can
produce a report based on past months' logs... simple. Specify a file such
as JAN92.LOG as your CALLERS.LOG file and TOP40 will do the rest. Then,
run it against FEB92.LOG and then MAR92.LOG, etc. You may run the program
daily as the program will keep track of the last date it read and pick up
only information from subsequent dates.
Note: If your version is unregistered, once the month changes, all your
current month's data will be wiped out and started from scratch.
Important Note!! Once you have run the program, do not attempt to run the
program using a prior month's backup file as, if you will remember, the
program keeps track of the last date it read. If you try to use a file
containing only records for dates earlier than the date it has saved, it
will return "No records found".
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Limitations:
-----------
The only limits here are the lengths of the parameters. As of now, they are
set to a 30 character maximum. However, when (and if) you register, I can
modify that to whatever you need.
That's all there is to it. If you have any questions about the program,
feel free to leave me a note on my board.
Registration:
------------
Oh, yes. One more thing. The registration. It's only $5 to register and
this will do 2 things. One, you will get a 'customized' version for use
strictly on your BBS and will eliminate that stuff at the beginning. And
more importantly, it will allow your program to accumulate totals for
succeeding months. For unregistered versions, it will simply erase the
current month's data and start from scratch when the month changes.
(Well, I had to do SOMETHING to entice you to part with $5.00 didn't I??).
You may send in your reg form to the address on the reg form. If you are
sending a check, please make it out to Gary Goldstein as the bank will
not accept those made out to The Spider's Web.
Feel free to contact me with any problems you are having at my BBS.
Thanks for trying it. Gary.
If you have any other ideas for Spitfire utilites, let me know. I may even
give you a free registration if I can develop it.
The Spider's Web
702-647-5989
USR HST Dual standard, 24hrs / 7 days