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1992-11-26
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NETBULL
+ + + + + + +
Version 2.23 Compiled 11/26/92
by
Michael A. Conley
Another public domain Wildcat! 3.x SysOp utility
from the Charlatan's Cabin BBS.
(requires BRUN40.EXE in the path)
(requires Wildcat! 3.x)
WHAT IT DOES:
=============
NETBULL reads logs from TNET, POSTLINK, PCRELAY, and WILDMAIL, as well as
CONFDESC.DAT from Wildcat! 3.x, and builds a bulletin detailing the 4 most
recent network mail transfers, as well as a brief display screen listing
the date of the most recent transfer for each network, and the total
messages in-and-out on that date. It will also generate an opening screen
for Tomcat! version 3.x and above.
NEW IN THIS VERSION:
====================
Version 2.20 adds support for the new POSTLINK echo mail processing software
by Kip Compton. POSTLINK is expected to eventually replace PCRelay, but
NETBULL will continue to support BOTH for the time being until PCRelay is
no longer commonly used. Another new feature is the added switch "/@PAUSE"
which may be used with HELLO or BULLETIN files. This will cause NETBULL to
generate a Wildcat! compatible "@PAUSE@" line at the end of a display file,
to prevent it from scrolling offscreen if additional text files follow it.
There is now an added configuration option "EXCLUDE=" which may be used to
skip any conferences you don't want included. An intelligent parser will
let you specify them individually (1,2,5) or by ranges (1-15), or any
combination of the two formats.
UPDATING FROM PRIOR VERSIONS:
=============================
If you're already running version 2.x of NETBULL, your existing configuration
file will continue to work. You may with to add a new line. See "HIGHLIGHT="
in the sample file, which allows you to highlight specific conferences or
ranges of conferences with a different color. This might be used to point out
new conferences or to highlight those of special interest.
Version 2 is a major rewrite of NETBULL and it requires a new configuration
file. NETBULL now supports multiple TNET, PCRELAY, and WILDMAIL files, and
will report independent transfer counts and last successful transfer times
on a net-by-net basis. Note that you may direct ALL of your TNET transfers
to one log if desired, because the program matches the HUB NAME in the log.
With PCRELAY and WILDMAIL, separate logs should be used for each HUB in
order to distinguish the net name and transfer times individually.
WHAT IT DOES:
=============
NETBULL reads logs from TNET, POSTLINK, PCRELAY, and WILDMAIL, as well as
CONFDESC.DAT from Wildcat! 3.x, and builds a bulletin detailing the 4 most
recent network mail transfers, as well as a brief display screen listing
the date of the most recent transfer for each network, and the total
messages in-and-out on that date. It will also generate an opening
screen for Tomcat! version 3.x and above.
TNET SETUP:
===========
In order to use TNET with NETBULL, you must include the following lines in
each of your '.CFG' files used by TNET:
LOGFILE=TNET.LOG
VERBOSE=NO
You may choose another name for your logfile, but be sure it matches the
LOGFILE= entry in the NETBULL configuration file (see below.) It is
essential that verbose logging be turned off (that's the default ... the
line above isn't really needed, but it will remind you NOT to set VERBOSE
to 'YES' ... NETBULL doesn't read the logs in verbose format. You will
not need a REFERENCE= file with TNET, as it reports WC30 conference
numbers in its operations, and can be traced directly to CONFDESC.DAT.
WILDMAIL SETUP:
==============
If you're using WILDMAIL, you must specify the location of your AREAS.BBS
file so that NETBULL can cross-reference network conference names to local
conference numbers. See the REFERENCE= line in the configuration sample
below. If you have multiple WILDMAIL HUBS, create a separate log for each
one in case there are any overlapping conference names in the network
software. We also suggest that you create a separate AREAS.BBS for each
WILDMAIL HUB in case there are overlapping conference names on the various
networks.
POSTLINK SETUP:
===============
If you're running POSTLINK, you won't need to create any special files as
you previously did with PCRelay. Simply set the NETBULL configuration
file's "REFERENCE=" line to point at CONFLST.NET and it will parse the
cross-reference information from that file, which is maintained by your
TMANAGE (or MANAGE) program, using the UTIs.
PCRELAY SETUP:
==============
If you're using PCRelay, you must use your PCRelay software's CONFIG
program to prepare a cross-reference file for NETBULL.
You'll need to first log into your PCRELAY directory and run the CONFIG
program. Select Conference maintenance and PRINT a listing (TO DISK)
called RELAY.REF. This will let the program cross-reference the names
of the conferences used by PCRELAY with the matching conference numbers on
your system. While you're in CONFIG, check the output path and filename
of the relay log ... you'll need this in a moment. If you have multiple
PCRELAY HUBS, create a separate log for each one. We suggest that you
also create a separate RELAY.REF for each one in case there are any
overlapping conference names in the network software.
SETTING UP:
===========
You may specify up to 19 output files in NETBULL.CFG, a simple ASCII text
file which contains filenames and optional flags for the program. Here's a
sample NETBULL.CFG, with a brief explanation. A copy of this configuration
file is enclosed in the ZIP file for your convenience:
BBSNAME=The Charlatan's Cabin BBS
BULLETIN=C:\WC30\BULL\BULL43.BBS /@CODE /@CLS
HELLO=C:\WC30\DISP\HELLO8.BBS /@CODE /@PAUSE
TOMCAT=C:\WC30\DISP\TOMCAT.BBS
BULLETIN=C:\WC30\NETMAIL.LST
HIGHLIGHT=30-33, 95-101
EXCLUDE=0-10,22,35-70
LOGFILE=C:\WC30\TNET.LOG
LOGTYPE=TNET
REFERENCE=NONE
HUBID=MOGUR
NETNAME=NorthAmeriNet
LOGFILE=C:\WC30\TNET.LOG
LOGTYPE=TNET
REFERENCE=NONE
HUBID=PANASIA
NETNAME=The Intelec(tm) Network
LOGFILE=C:\WC30\TNET.LOG
LOGTYPE=TNET
REFERENCE=NONE
HUBID=HOTLINE
NETNAME=The SmartNet Network
LOGFILE=C:\PCRELAY\RELAY.LOG
LOGTYPE=PCRELAY
REFERENCE=C:\PCRELAY\RELAY.REF
HUBID=NONE
NETNAME=RelayNet International Mail Exchange
LOGFILE=C:\WC30\WM.LOG
LOGTYPE=WILDMAIL
REFERENCE=C:\WC30\AREAS.BBS
HUBID=1:268/302
NETNAME=Fido Mail
LOGFILE=C:\WC30\WM.LOG
LOGTYPE=WILDMAIL
REFERENCE=C:\WC30\AREAS.BBS
HUBID=86:8012/3
NETNAME=ToadNet Mail
LOGFILE=C:\WC30\WM.LOG
LOGTYPE=WILDMAIL
REFERENCE=C:\WC30\AREAS.BBS
HUBID=1:282/85
NETNAME=Prowl Mail
LOGFILE=C:\WC30\WM.LOG
LOGTYPE=WILDMAIL
REFERENCE=C:\WC30\AREAS.BBS
HUBID=230:230/1
NETNAME=CRNet Mail
LOGFILE=D:\POSTLINK\POSTLINK.LOG
LOGTYPE=POSTLINK
REFERENCE=D:\POSTLINK\CONFLST.NET
HUBID=NONE
NETNAME=RelayNet International Mail Exchange
===============================================================================
|Explanation of the configuration options:
|
|The BBSNAME= is the name of your BBS as you'd like it to appear in the display
|files.
|
|You may specify up to 19 output files in any combination of the three
|available types: BULLETIN=, HELLO=, and TOMCAT= .
|
|Each file can take one of three forms: If the line begins with HELLO=,
|then the output will be a brief summary of transfer activity on the day
|the last successful transfers were run. If the line begins with BULLETIN=,
|then it will be a full listing of activity over the past 4 days, ending
|with the date of the last successful transfer. Finally, if the line begins
|with TOMCAT=, it will generate a Tomcat! opening screen with a brief summary
|of transfer activity. If you're using Tomcat! 3.01 or later, this screen will
|be displayed each time Tomcat! is started. It includes the official Tomcat!
|kitty character, used with Greg Hewgill's permission.
|
|Three SWITCHES may be added to each file line ... Inserting the /@CODE switch
|will produce Wildcat! 3.0 compatible color codes, which will automatically
|be filtered out by Wildcat! 3.0 if the caller is not color-capable. Thus,
|only ONE output file is needed for your COLOR and MONO callers.
|
|The /ANSI switch will insert standard ANSI color codes, and these display
|files should ONLY be used for color applications, such as earlier versions of
|Wildcat! BBS software, where .SCR files are COLOR and .BBS files are ASCII. In
|that case, you'd want to produce both a .BBS and a .SCR version of each file.
|
|DON'T use /ANSI and /@CODE on the same line. You'll confuse me.
|
|You may also add a /@CLS switch, which will add the appropriate clear screen
|code at the beginning of the file. If no color switch is indicated, the /CLS
|will generate a formfeed (ASCII 12), or if there is a color flag, then the
|clear screen code will be appropriate to the selected format.
|
|You may also place a /@PAUSE switch on the line, which will insert the Wildcat!
|@PAUSE@ code at the end of the file. This option will be ignored if a Tomcat!
|file is specified, but will be added to the end of a HELLO or BULLETIN file if
|requested.
|
|HIGHLIGHT= is an optional list of conference names you would like highlighted
|in the color display files. No highlighting will be performed in the ASCII
|(non-colorized) files. You may enter individual areas separated by commas,
|or ranges of areas separated by a hyphen, for example:
|HIGHLIGHT=0-3,35,38,101-110,124
|
|
|EXCLUDE= is an optional list of conference names you would like EXCLUDEed
|in the display files. You may enter individual areas separated by commas,
|or ranges of areas separated by a hyphen, for example:
|EXCLUDE=0-10,22,35-70
|
|
|LOG file specifications:
|========================
|
| LOGFILE= This is the complete drive and pathname to the LOG you
| wish to read. Any DOS filename is acceptable, but be
| sure to include the complete drive & path even if it's
| in the directory where NETBULL is started.
|
| LOGTYPE= This tells NETBULL how to read the log. At present, four
| log types are known to NETBULL: TNET, POSTLINK, PCRELAY
| and WILDMAIL. We may add others if there's enough interest.
|
| REFERENCE= If you specify a log type of POSTLINK, PCRELAY or WILDMAIL,
| NETBULL will need to read a REFERENCE FILE to translate the
| log file conference names and numbers into the conference
| names and numbers on your BBS. Check the NETBULL documen-
| tation and then enter the complete drive, path, and filename
| for the reference file here. If the LOGTYPE is TNET, you
| should specify "REFERENCE=NONE"
|
| HUBID= This is used by TNET and by WILDMAIL, but NOT by POSTLINK
| nor PCRELAY. Since TNET lists the name of the HUB in the log,
| you may choose to keep only ONE log file for your various
| TNET imports and exports. If the LOGTYPE is TNET, then you
| must enter the HUBID here. It must match exactly the
| name of the HUB as shown in your TNET log file.
|
| In the case of WILDMAIL, insert the FIDO ID number here,
| for example HUBID=86:8012/3. In this way, you can separate
| each HUB into a separate listing while using only one log.
|
| NETNAME= This is the name of the network as you want it to be shown
| in the display files. An entry may be up to 40 characters
| in length. Any excess will be truncated in order to fit
| the format of the display file.
|
| A total of 19 LOG FILE groups are supported by NETBULL.
Running the program:
====================
We suggest running the program at the end of your mail processing batch file
... that way it will always be current with any transfer activity. Note that
if you perform more than 1 transfer in a day, the numbers will be added up for
each day's totals.
OPTIONAL feature: You may change the default configuration file name for
the current run by specifying a configuration file on the command line.
ANOTHER SUGGESTION: The current version of my program LOGTRIM will allow
you to trim any ASCII log (ACTIVITY.LOG, RELAY.LOG, TNET.LOG, etc) to keep
the last NN days. It calculates backwards from the current day, so it can
be called from a batch file to keep a log at a fixed number of days.
LOGTRIM RELAY 7 <-- would keep the last 7 days in RELAY.LOG.
LOGTRIM is readily available ... feel free to call my board (see below)
if you have any trouble finding it.
PROBLEMS, SUGGESTIONS:
======================
This program is public domain. I don't seek or accept any donations for
this or any of my other Wildcat! utility programs, including TODAYBBS,
FLOP, MSTAT, USTAT, and others.
I welcome suggestions, and will try to help (no guarantees) if there are
problems.
You may contact me at The Charlatan's Cabin BBS (213) 654-7337. Mention
your Wildcat! registration number in the comment and you'll be upgraded to
visiting sysop level without the usually required registration by mail.
You may also leave a message via CompuServe EMail. My CompuServe account
number is 70250,220. I also regularly check the Mustang Software head-
quarters BBS, especially the "3rd Party Utilities Help" conference.
Please, NO VOICE CALLS. This isn't meant to be unfriendly, but with the
price of public domain software these days ... I just can't afford to be
"on call." I WILL respond to your questions via my BBS or CompuServe,
or via the Mustang Software registered SysOp BBS.
============================================================================
HISTORY:
========
1.00 Compiled 9/13/91 First release / replaced BETA TNETBULL with
this program which supports both TNET and
PCRelay.
2.00 Compiled 03/03/92 Significant update: Now supports multiple log
files for TNET, PCRELAY, and WILDMAIL. New
configuration file structure required. Reduced
maximum number of output files to 19 to save
memory for some other features.
2.01 Compiled 03/07/92 Minor bug fixes: shortened TOMCAT.BBS display by
one line because Tomcat! menu is now longer.
Also made adjustments to config file parsing to
allow for very short HUBID's.
2.02 Compiled 03/21/92 Minor enhancement: now accepts alternate config
file name from the command line. If none found,
defaults to NETBULL.CFG
2.03 Compiled 03/21/92 Bug fix: Wasn't removing color codes from the
header if a color file was written before an
ASCII file.
2.10 Compiled 03/28/92 Add HIGHLIGHT option to put a highlight color
on desired conferences, made some improvements
in configuration parsing.
2.11 Compiled 06/25/92 Update for Wildmail! version 2.03 to handle the
new logging structure.
2.12 Compiled 07/12/92 Minor changes in parsing of Wildmail! 2.03 files
to better handle format variations (AREAS.BBS).
2.20 Compiled 09/08/92 Added support for POSTLINK echomail software.
2.21 (unreleased test)
2.22 Compiled 10/10/92 Fixed bug which could produce a Traceback 62
error due to a minor format change in the
Postlink log.
2.23 Compiled 11/26/92 Added trapping for numbered, but un-named
conferences in Wildmail! AREAS.BBS file.