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Text File | 1993-09-24 | 26.3 KB | 621 lines

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FrontDoor Cost Accounting, or FDCA for short, is a program to help users of FrontDoor to analyze their costs involved with their mail/file transfers from within the FrontDoor mailer. FDCA was first released in a public beta test on November 11, 1992. I received a pretty good response and have since improved, added to and at one point, completely re-wrote FDCA into another language. This has only been possible through the registrations that I have received. These have been few and far between but I hope by my continual work on this project that this will change. Features include : * Ability to run with FrontDoors' MultiLine version * You can now enter a start date, end date, or both. What ever you prefer. This allows you to keep extra long history files and still be able to pull out info about one month, or however many days, that you like. * You can now get info on all node numbers as before or, just one zone, just one net, just one node number, just one point, any zone but one net in particular, etc. This is one feature I know some people will love because of its' extreme flexibility. * You can now get a detailed report of your outbound calls made for easier reconciliation with your phone bill. * Automatic Task detection so the correct history files are read. 1.1 System Hardware and Software Requirements * An IBM PC, XT, AT or compatible with hard disk. * Microsoft MS-DOS or IBM PC-DOS version 3.00 or later. Version 3.30 or later is preferred. FDCA was successfully tested with DOS 5.0, QEMM 6.03, QEMM 6.02, DESQview 2.42, QEMM 7.01, DESQview 2.70 on a systems such as Intel 80386SX-16 and 80386DX-40. A disk cache (especially one that can buffer disk writes, such as Norton Cache or HyperDisk) can improve performance, but of course it is not required. If you are not using a disk cache, make sure that CONFIG.SYS contains a BUFFERS statement to improve performance. * FrontDoor's OutBound history file 1.2 License and Disclaimer "FDCA" refers to all executables and documentation as distributed in the compressed file in which the package was released. * FDCA is copyrighted material by Clayton Mattatall. It may only be used in agreement with the conditions set out in this license agreement. * This version of FDCA is released as shareware. - You may use the unregistered version of FDCA for an evaluation period of 30 days. After this period you MUST either register FDCA or stop using it. See registration information below. - Registration is REQUIRED for commercial usage (in a commercial environment, such as business, governmental organization, association, school, foundation, or any other form of juridical person, or any system where FDCA is directly or indirectly used to make profit). - Unregistered evaluation versions of FDCA may be distributed freely provided no money or any other compensation is asked or accepted without prior written permission from the author. * Although care has been taken to write and test a program that does what this document states, FDCA is provided as is, without warranty or guarantee of any kind, either expressed or implied, as to the fitness for a particular purpose or quality or performance of this program, except that FDCA will occupy disk space. * In no event shall Clayton Mattatall be liable to you or anyone else for any damages or cost, including, but not limited to, any lost profits, lost savings or lost income which may result from the use or inability to use FDCA. * In no way is Clayton Mattatall obligated to you or anyone else to provide future versions of, or support for FDCA. * Clayton Mattatall reserves the right not to release future shareware versions of FDCA, but switch to a commercial "buy before you try" marketing concept instead. * Your use of FDCA constitutes your agreement to this license and disclaimer and your release of the author from any form of liability or litigation. 2.0 Starting the program To run FDCA, place the executable program in any directory that you desire. No configuration file is required and the software is not directory or drive specific although it will use the FrontDoor environment variable of FD if it is set. If FDCA does find this variable set, it will look for your FrontDoor Outbound history file in the directory pointed to by this variable and will create it's output files in the same directory. 2.1 Command line parameters They are as follows: ? -B -E -S -D -T Below is the screen displayed when you use the ? as a parameter ANYWHERE on the command line. -+- FDCA 1.10 ■ FrontDoor Cost Accounting ■ September 24, 1993 Copyright (C) 1993 Clayton Mattatall, All rights reserved Running under Desqview 2.60 Registered to Clayton Mattatall, of InfoTech Online Optional command line parameters: -Bdd/mm/yy dd/mm/yy is the date to start at -Edd/mm/yy dd/mm/yy is the date to end at -Szone:net/node.point System(s) to process (See docs) -D Creates a detailed report for system specified by the -S parameter. -T Task Number. Range = 0 to 255. All parameters are optional. See documentation for more detail. -+- As you can see, FDCA will detect DesqView when running and will not use direct screen writes if DesqView is detected. The command line parameters are explained below: -Bdd/mm/yy dd/mm/yy is the date to start at. This is the date that you want FDCA to "B"egin calculating entries at. -Edd/mm/yy dd/mm/yy is the date to end at. This is the date that you want FDCA to "E"nd calculating entries at. Here are some examples on how to use these two options: 1. FDCA110 -B01/02/93 FDCA will read through your history files and grab all entries dated February 1, 1993 to the current date and use those entries in it's calculations. 2. FDCA110 -E31/01/93 FDCA will read through your history files and grab all entries from the first one found up to and including any dated January 31, 1993 and use those entries in it's calculations. 3. FDCA110 -B01/01/93 -E31/01/93 FDCA will read through your history files and grab all entries dated between January 1, 1993 and January 31, 1993 and use those entries in it's calculations. As you can see, this can be a very powerful feature. It will enable you to match your costs in performing your mail/file transfers with your phone bill. To do this, you would set these date to match the billing period that your phone company uses when issuing your bill. If for some reason you should enter a beginning date that is after your ending date (we all make typo's sometime), FDCA will terminate with any error message to this effect. -Szone:net/node.point This parameter can get a little confusing so read carefully. There are many ways to use this and because of this I suggest reading this section twice. Here is a straight forward example it's use - FDCA110 -S1:247/124 (that's my node number) Issuing this will result in FDCA reading through ALL the entries found BUT only recording/calculating entries from/to node number 1:247/124. Simple right? (so far) Ok. Any of the four (4) numbers asked for with this parameter are optional. (Well, kind of. Now here's where it gets confusing.) You have the ability to "wildcard" any and all of the asked for numbers. To do this, replace the number with an asterisk. (*) (leave off the brackets). So, If you wanted to use only the entries for net 247, you would use 1:247/* or just simply 1:247 . Any numbers that you do not enter to the right of any you do will be replaced automatically with a *. Here are some examples to explain what I mean: -S1:247/124.* Will list all points off of node 124 This is functionally the same as entering 1:247/124 -S1:247/124.0 Will only grab the entries for that particular node. NO POINTS. Use this syntax if you are interested in ONE EXACT node. -S1:247/* Will list all nodes in net 247 along with all points off of those nodes. Functional equivalent -S1:247 -S1:* Will grab all entries for zone 1 including all nets, nodes, and points. Functional equivalent -S1 Now lets get fancy ! ! -S1:*/0 Will grab all entries for zone 1, all nets within zone 1 but only the 0 node systems. Using this would enable you to see how much you have transferred to all the Net Coordinators you have called. -S*:70/*.0 Will grab all entries in ALL zones, net 70, all nodes, but NO points. You may want to do this incase a network that you are in has a certain net that is used for a special interest group. Well, if you are confused by this parameter then just don't use it. OR (the BIG or), play around. You won't hurt anything by doing so other than your head trying to keep it straight how this option works. All I can say is have fun with it! I know I sure did. -D This parameter will cause FDCA to generate a file named 'FDCADETL.TXT' in the output directory. This file will contain a list of all calls gathered from your outbound history file that match the systems specified by the -S parameter. If the -S parameter is not used, this file will contain a list of ALL call information between the dates to be used for calculations. Be warned now that if your history files are large, this file can grow to enormous sizes. ? The dreaded ?. Yes, we all need it once in a while so don't be scared to use it. You may place it ANYWHERE on the commandline and it will bring up the help screen that you saw above. -T### where ### is replaced by the task number you wish FDCA to use. Valid ranges for ### are 0 to 255. Any other value will cause FDCA to exit with an error. Using this parameter will override the setting of the TASK environment variable. See the section below about running in a multiline setup for a more detailed explanation. 2.2 Running FDCA with FrontDoors' Multiline version FDCA determines which task it is currently being run under by using the following logic : 1. -T commandline parameter 2. TASK environment variable 3. FDOPT environment variable Using the -T### commandline parameter will force FDCA to run under a specific task. The actions forced by this parameter are as follows: - The outbound history file looked for must be named OUTB###.HIS. eg: if -T36 is specified then FDCA will attempt to open and read from OUTB036.HIS for its data. HOWEVER, if you are using the FDOPT environment variable and it contains SHH, the FDCA will open and read OUTBOUND.HIS. FDCA will then determine which entries apply by internal coding within the history file. If you have the TASK environment variable set, FDCA will use it to determine what task it is in. REMEMBER, the setting of the TASK environment variable is overridden by the -T parameter. FDCA will also check the FDOPT environment variable for the setting of SHH which tells FrontDoor as well as FDCA that the history files are shared between the various tasks. If TASK, -T### is set to 0 or SHH is contained in your FDOPT variable, then FDCA will look for OUTBOUND.HIS as its input file. 2.3 Program Output FDCA will generate up to three (3) output files. These files will be placed in the directory pointed to by your FD environment variable. If this variable is not set, then the files are created in the current directory. If you - are running in a single line setup - your TASK variable is set to 0 or - you specified -T0 on the commandline then your output files are named as follows: FDCATOTL.TXT - Actual connect time report FDCAROUN.TXT - Rounded time report FDCADETL.TXT - Detail call report * only generated if the -D parameter is specified on the command line. If - your TASK variable is set to 1 or more or - you specified -T### on the commandline where ### is equal to 1 and less than 255 then your output files are named as follows: FDCAT###.TXT - Actual connect time report FDCAR###.TXT - Rounded time report FDCAD###.TXT - Detail call report * only generated if the -D parameter is specified on the command line. When running, FDCA gathers the following information: - The nodes you've called, - dates you called them, - how many bytes you sent, - how many bytes you received, - the cost to make the call based on your FDNODE.CTL file, - and how long you were on-line for. With this information, the output is generated. Here is a sample snippet from one of my files: FrontDoor Cost Accounting Version 1.10 Copyright (C) 1993 Clayton Mattatall Registered to Clayton Mattatall Official ßeta Test Site Current as of : Friday September 24, 1993 Rounded Time Report ═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ * * Total Bytes below 3071.73 will show as 0.00% * * * * Percentages are +/- .001% * * This report covers 01/06/93 to 27/07/93 Node Number Rcvd Sent Total % Cost Time Conn --------------- ---------- ---------- ---------- -------- -------- ---------- 1:12/12.0 61177619 256881 61434500 100.00% 101.55 11:17:00 Grand Totals 61177619 256881 61434500 100.00% 101.55 11:17:00 ═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ Thank You for using FrontDoor Cost Accounting Here is a description of what these columns mean: Node Number - No explanation necessary (This should be obvious) Rcvd - This is the total number of bytes received from this system. Sent - This is the total number of bytes Sent to this system. Total - Rcvd bytes + Sent bytes % - Of all the systems that information was gathered for, this is how much this system accounted for based on the Total Bytes transferred. Cost - This is a total of all the cost figures gathered for this system. The cost figures placed in your history file by FrontDoor are based on the cost figures you placed in your FDNODE.CTL file. The closer you have these cost/minute figures, the closer you can come to estimating your phonebill. Time Conn - This column reflects the total time you have spent online with this system. The time figure here can have two values. In the FDCATOTL.TXT/FDCAT###.TXT file, this figure will be a total of the online time gathered from your history file without any adjustment. In the FDCAROUN.TXT/FDCAR###.TXT file, this figure will be a total of the online time gathered from your history file with each entry being rounded out to the nearest minute. This is done to better reflect a phonebill. Most phone companies charge you by the FULL minute and that is the reason for me rounding out each entry. If you compare the Time Conn figure from the TOTL file with the one from the ROUN filed, you will usually notice a large difference in these figures. 2.3 ErrorLevels When running FDCA, there is the possibility of it exiting with an errorlevel. They are as follows: 254 - Tells you that for some reason it has detected that your key file has been modified or has been corrupted in some way. You can contact me if you should encounter this error and I will try to help you determine what caused this and if necessary, will issue you a new keyfile. Note - this only applies to either Registered users or to Beta test sites. 253 - Caused by your system date not being set properly for the program to work properly. 3.0 Registration I would hope that anyone who uses this program beyond the trial period will see it in themselves to send in the registration fees. They are not excessive and have been kept that way so that everyone should be able to afford it. Please fill in the ORDERFRM.DOC file enclosed within this archive and send it to the following address: Clayton Mattatall 207A - 82 Roehampton Ave. St. Catharines, Ontario CANADA L2M 7V2 along with enclosed payment. Upon receipt, I will in turn create a key file for you. This file will be sent to you in the way you specify on the registration form. 3.1 History Version 1.10 - Released to the public Version 1.03ß - Added support for FrontDoor's MultiLine version - Changed code so that only your OUTBOUND history file is read. Any calls coming in are on the other systems dime, not yours. - Fixed some bugs that crept in. - Added new output file that shows connect times rounded to the nearest minute. Most phone companies do this when calculating your bill. This should allow closer approximation of your costs - Changed the name of the output files to reflect new features. - changed the layout of the FDCATOTL.TXT file a little. - fixed alignment problems with columns under certain circumstances - changed sort routine to allow for NON FTS-0005 compliant networks - Sorting would hang when finding net numbers greater than 32767. FTS-0005 states Zone/Net/Node numbers are to be in the range of 0-32767. If you are reading this and are guilty of this, try to get your network to change the numbering used. I would like to get this program back to specs. - Added a detailed report allowing for better comparison to your actual phonebill. Version 1.02 - Released February 26, 1993 to the public. - Totally re-written in Turbo Pascal. - Removed bug where last entry was not being put in the output file. - Increased overall speed. - Added registration key routines. - Corrected some minor calculation problems. - Added my address to the documentation so people that are kind enough to send in the registration know where to send it. Version 1.01/ß-1 - Released as a public Beta test to see if this program was really of any use to anyone and if so, if there were any bugs reported. 4.0 Credits A very special "Thank You" and "Will you forgive me now?" goes out to my girl, Roxane Gardner, who stood by me while I wrote this little program and allowed me to still sleep in the house after ignoring her for hours on end at times. Thanks dear! I would personally like to thank each and everyone of the people that helped/inspired me in this project: Cal Gardner - This is the guy who had to sat and listened to me complain while I was re-writing this in Turbo Pascal. He told me I should learn it (you see it's what he writes in) so I put him though hell while I learned. I bet he'll be glad when I quit asking some of the stupid questions I did. (Well smart to me but stupid to him) Dan Pressnell - My first registered user! Thanks Dan! Also thanks for registering so many copies. I hope Gary is enjoying his copy and the others that you have sent your registered versions to. Thanks again! Les Lemke - One of the major forces in me continuing this project putting out version 1.02. Tell me something though, With a return address as a P.O. Box, How in the world did you get your PC in there? hehe Take Care Les and Thanks Guy! Jorge Mariano - How dare you think of going to Binkley :-) Hope you come back to FD if you do switch. If not, you won't be able to use my version 1.02. Cya! Keith Wineka - Well you wanted to be of assistance and you were just by sending me that netmail. It helped make me decide to put out another version. If you still want to help, spread the program around and talk people into registering. I need the cash to buy another system for my girl here since I spend so much time programming on this one. <g> Take Care! Richard Mcduffie - Like I said, terminal connections charges will have to wait for JoHo. If he does implement them into the history files, then who knows, I may just add another option. Catch Ya! Special thanks also go to Joaquim H. Homrighausen, for writing FrontDoor and making it such a great piece of software. 5.0 More legal stuff All brand and product names are Copyrighted (C) material, Trademarks (tm) or Registered (R) Trademarks of their respective holders: Fido, FidoNet Tom Jennings and Fido Software FrontDoor, FM Joaquim H. Homrighausen FDCA Clayton Mattatall QEMM, DESQview Quarterdeck Office Systems, Inc. Microsoft, MS-DOS Microsoft Corporation IBM, PC-DOS International Business Machines Corporation Turbo Pascal Borland International