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Text File | 1991-11-26 | 20.5 KB | 471 lines

Scantoss Version 1.37 FTS-Productcode 82 Hex Scantoss is an echomail processor for Points with QBBS-compatible message base (also known as the Hudson message base). Functions that allow forwarding of mail to other systems are not included. Dupe checking is also not included, your boss is responsible for that. In comparison to QEcho and similar programs Scantoss has several advantages: - it doesn't cost anything (perhaps, you'll send me a smiley per netmail ?) - easy to use (I hope) - four dimensional addressing is available - password support - allows for Frontdoor editor bug - allows change of Tearline during scan - allows redirection of imported mail to another folder Installation: Scantoss should be placed on the same drive (partition) as the message base and the inbound directory so it can calculate the space remaining accurately. To install the program use the STSETUP.EXE installation program. The setup is very easy (as we don't use the SAA user interface :-) ). There are a total of four setup displays for differing parts of the configuration. You can use the following keys to navigate through the setup: - Return, Tab: jump to next input field - Cursor up/down: move to the previous/next line - Cursor left/right: jump to previous/next input field, or movement within the input field - Home/End: move to the beginning/end of an input field - Backspace/Del delete character to the left/under the cursor - Page up/down: switch between the four setup displays - F9: shell to DOS, to return enter 'exit' at the DOS prompt - Insert: Import data from another file (context sensitive) - Escape: Check data, save and exit. If an error is encountered then the program will not exit, instead it will display an error message indicating the problem encountered. - F1 through F8 Press F10 to find out more about these keys. STSETUP can be optionally be called with any of the following 5 parameters: /IF Import the folders from Folder.fd /IA Import the folders from AREAS.BBS /ES Export the complete setup to a text file ('Scantoss.txt') /EA Export the folder setup to a text file ('Areas.bbs'), usefull for other utilities such as MBUtil /MB Creates an empty message base, of course you must first configure the paths is STSETUP and actually have made the directories in that path. /EB Export the current setup to the file 'Scantoss.bin' /IB Import the current setup from the file 'Scantoss.bin' This will make the installation of new versions much easier. If an error occurs during /IA or /IF the STSETUP program will prompt you for corrective action. Following is a description of the information you must enter, together with examples. STSETUP will show you a short description of the presently highlighted field at the bottom of the screen. If you see the word '(optional)' in this line, then you do not need to enter anything and can skip to the next field. You should go through the four setup displays sequentially. Page 1: (Miscellaneous) Netmail-Path: C:\FD\NETMAIL ; This is where the mailer puts netmail messages. Qbbs/Ra-Path: C:\FD\QBBS ; The directory path where your message base resides. Inbound: C:\FD\FILES ; This is where your incoming mail packets are. Outbound: C:\FD\OUTBOUND ; This is where the outgoing mail packets should be put. Logfile: C:\FD\FD.LOG ; The name of the log file (see below). Packer: C:\PACK\LHA.EXE Options: a /m : Name an path of the program with which you wish to pack mail that ; is sent to your boss. Often LHArc or PkZip are used, but ARCA ; can be used just as well. Optional parameters may be needed ; (ARCA and PkZip don't need any extra parameters). Extractor: C:\FD\PAK\SPAZ.COM Options: ; Name and path with which incomming mail is unpacked. You should ; definately use a 'universal' unpacker (eg: GUS, NGUS or SPAZ). ; These automatically recognize the format of the incomming mail and ; call up the correct unpacker automatically. btw. i'm using the new ; gus 1.4 by Johan Zwiekhorst and it's great. Default-Area: 200 ; This is the area which in which echomail is put for which you ; have not setup a folder. You should also install this area into ; your editor program so that you can see if any mail is received ; for areas which you have not configured. Binkley: N ; Enter 'Y' if you use a Binkley Mailer. The mail packets and the ; *.dlo files will be put into the outbound directory; no netmail ; with file attaches will be produced. You must give absolute path names, this way you do not have to enter the paths into the DOS 'path' or set any environment variables. The packers that are called by the 'universal' unpacker must be in the DOS path however. Page 2: (Origin and Destination Addresses) You can enter up to 10 different addresses, normally one is enough. AKA_0: 2:243/44.103 ; 4d AKA_0: 24344.103 ; 2d ; You should enter your address here, either four dimensional or ; two dimensional. If you are not sure which, then ask you boss. Route: 2:243/44 ; 4d (3d) Route: 243/44 ; 2d ; This is the address of your boss, again 4d (3d) or 2d. 4d: Y ; You should enter 'Y' here if this line contains a 4d addresses. ; Note that not every boss-node can use 4d addressing. Ask him before ; you setup for 4d addressing. You can only enter 'Y' or 'N' here. TSnode: N ; Enter Y if you use 4D addressing and your boss uses the program ; Tosscan. You can only enter 'Y' or 'N' here. Pw: password ; Enter the password here that you and your boss agreed on, leave : it empty if you have not yet made out a password (see also Security). Frontdoor users should enter their addresses in the same order that they have in Frontdoor. Some of the data for setup screens 1 and 2 can be imported from Setup.fd. In screen one a few of the paths are set, on page 2 the AKAs are set. STSETUP trys to guess which address your boss node has, please check this! The settings for whether your boss node has Tosscan and whether to use 2d or 4d addressing must be done by hand. If you use 2d addressing please remove all Zone numbers at the beginning of all addresses. Page 3: All entries on screen 3 are optional. (Retear-Function) T_1: Golded 4.01 = Golded 4.01 via Scantoss T_2: = FD 2.01 via Scantoss T_3: old Tearline = new Tearline You can enter up to three old Tearlines that are to be replaced by new tearlines. If you leave the field 'old tearline' empty, every tearline, will be changed (Including an empty tearline as in FD 2.01). When you use the retear option, you will not see any change in the your own message base, only the exported packets contain the new tearline (this is done out of performance reasons). Don't forget the /RE command line parameter! (User Copy-Function) ID_1: FU String: GURU Board: 160 ID_2: TU String: JOHN USER Board: 161 ID_3: RE String: TEST Board: 162 ; Up to three differing user copy definitions. Messages that have ; the 'String' in the 'ID' field are copied to 'Board'. Use the ; command line parameter /UC. Page 4: (Areas and Routing) Line Area Foldername Route 1 1 REGION13 0 2 3 PASCAL 0 3 7 LOCAL 4 160 The wise comments of the Guru 5 6 GAMES 0 ; Line is the number of the entry (no special meaning). ; Area is the number of the QBBS folder. You can also enter the ; folders that you have used for the default area, or the user copy ; function, but you don't have to. ; Foldername is the exact name, which is used to sort incomming echo ; mail into the appropriate folder. ; Route is the address pair that is used to decide where to send ; the mail. You can send the mail from differing folders to ; differing systems, if you wish. If you don't enter a route then ; the mail in that folder will not be sent. The data for this page can be imported from external files. Import from 'Folder.fd': STSETUP expects that Folder.fd is in the directory in which you called STSETUP. Areas that are marked as read-only in Folder.fd will be installed without an 'export flag' (Route). The export flag is the index for the default Aka of the area in Folder.fd. Normally the folder names don't have to be correct in Folder.fd. You could for example enter "Fido Network Technical Discussion" instead of "NETDEV". For importing the setup into STSETUP the names have to be correct! Comments in Folder.fd (starting with a ";" semi-colon) are allowed. Import From 'AREAS.BBS': Just like Folder.fd, AREAS.BBS must be in the directory in which you started STSETUP. It is used to configure the proper "Route" address, it trys to match the addresses with the addresses you entered into page 2. As you can see the import operation tries to ease the installation. You should definately double check (at least) the route information. For this purpose a window will pop up with all known boss nodes when you enter the Route field with the cursor. Page 5: (Netmail packing and routing) Scantoss now packs your netmail into the echomailbundle to your boss. This Function has some restrictions: You may pack netmail for only one Boss per zone. The flags Crash, File, FileRequest, UpdateRequest may not be set. If the flag 'direct' is set, then the netmail is only packed, if this netmail is adressed to the Boss, which receives the complete mailbundle. (or to one of his points). If you want to pack netmail, enter 'Y' at 'Route Netmail'; this will generally allow netmailpacking. Now enter the default- system (boss) to which the netmail should be routed. This system must be predefined on page 2. Don't forget to issue the parameter '/sn' on commandline. That's the whole setup for points, which didn't receive and send netmail from several net's as described below in 'special points'. If your point has more than one boss, than refer this chapter. Logfile: If you want you can log all Scantoss activities. The log file you enter in page 1 will be used, this may be a logfile in which other programs write information. If you leave the entry blank, no log is generated. Scantoss uses the Frontdoor style date and time log format. The abbreviations used are: tossing: arc = number of archives (*.mo? etc.) pkt = number of packets (*.pkt) echo = number of unpacked echo messages net = number of unpacked net messages user = number of user copies scanning: pkt = number of packets exp = number of exported messages ioe = number of messages that have an illegal export flag (Frodo-Bug) route? number of messages that have an legal export flag, but no route in the folder setup (page 4) area? number of messages that have an legal export flag, but no area entry in AREAS.BBS Further all packets that were not properly addressed as well as password errors and runtime errors are put into the log. If you ever see something other than "0" in route? or area?, please check your folder setup. User Copy-Function: With this function you can copy certain messages into specific folder. This is usefull for readers without much time or to archive important messages. You can define up to 3 areas like this. To access the folders you must also configure the message reader for these areas. You can not export messages out of these folders, as messages from several other folders may end up in them. You do not need to enter the folders on page 4 of the setup, however if you wish you may do so, just remember not to enter any route information! If you use Frontdoor, then you may enter them in Folder.fd if you set them to read-only, "STSETUP /IF" will then work properly. The configuration of a user copy definition must look like this: The 'ID' consists of 2 characters. It is used to determine which field is searched. The following IDs are allowed: FU: From User TU: To User RE: Subject The 'String' field contains the characters you wish to search for in the ID field (max. 36 characters). The 'areanr' field is the number of the folder in which a copy of the message should be placed. Examples: FU: Betty Blue = 88 this would copy all the messages of your girl friend (Betty) into the folder 88. TO: Michael = 150 this would copy all the messages to Michael into the folder 150. RE: Scantoss = 151 this would copy all the messages with Scantoss in the subject into the folder 151 The search is not case sensitive, it also does not care at which position in the field it finds the search string. Of course the original message will also be in the (original) destination folder. The number of the original message is usually smaller by one than the copied message in the user copy folder. Don't forget that you need an additional command line parameter to activate the user copy function. Command line parameters: The program requires as its first parameter an 's' or a 't', for scanning=export or tossing=import. the other parameters are optional 1) Scanner (parameter 'S'): /re change the Tearline as defined in Scantoss.cfg, page 3. /vb verbose screen-output /sn scan netmail-folder 2) Tosser (parameter 'T'): /no don't toss invalidly addressed packets (default: every packet gets tossed) /cs cut (remove) the Seen-By line. /uc user copy as defined in Scantoss.cfg /vb verbose screen-output Error Levels: The program generates several error levels. You can use this to check diverse situations in a batch file. For instance to check if echomail was received, if not you could skip the reply link run. Errorlevel: 0: Nothing happened 1: Nothing there to be scanned (just parameter 'S' for export) 2: NBothing there to be tossed (just parameter 'T' for import) 77: Wrong runtime-parameter (usually happens when you use a new version with an old configuration) :-) 88: Run-time error (Scantoss got confused, or there is not enough space on the disk). 99: Error in the Setup 128: Checksum error; happens when Scantoss.exe has been modified: - because of a hardware failure - because of a software failure - because of a user failure :-) - because of software patches - because of a virus - because of a Exepacker, such as LZExe Security: (Note: you do not have to read this section as there is no echomail- processor that supports this feature on the boss side of things. However such a program is supposed to be available soon.) It is possible to enter an echomail password with your boss that insures that only authorized echomail is tossed. You must enter this password on page to of the setup displays. Please don't confuse this password with the session password for the mailer, that is something else. The password is used for correspondence with your boss as well as for the import and export of mail. The passwords are part of the packets that get exchanged. When Scantoss receives a packet for which a password exits then the packet is only tossed if the password is correct. If you want to protect your system from non authorized echomail, then please note the following: Scantoss will normally toss every packet upon import, if the receiving address is incorrect then the password check will not be performed as there is no password for that address. To insure full security please use the option '/no'. Special Points: There are Points which have more than one boss, for instance if he receives mail from several nets (Eggnet, Alternet, Signet...) or because he can't get a certain area from his normal boss. As of version 1.29 ScanToss can handle this situation. For every net you need to enter an address pair on setup page 2. The 'route' index on page 4 points to this address pair, and so every echo area ends up with the proper boss. The difference between this nets is the zone, i.e. Chatnet uses zone 44 through 49. To route NETMAIL to other bosses than the default (this is a must if you have more than one net), you may enter some exceptions on page 5 (Netmail routing). i.e. your default-netmail-boss is 2:243/44 (Fido) and you want to send netmail seperatly to 49:600/1 (Chatnet) in a arcmail-bundle. If you enter this exception on page 5, all netmail adressed else- where in zone 49 will added to the bundle directed to 49:600/1. Copyright: ---------- This software and anything enclosed with it are protected by both German and international copyright law and treaty provisions. This program is freeware. Use of this software is prohibited in a governmental or commercial site or situation. You can give this program with documentation to anybody you like. You are not allowed to charge for copying, the media which contains SCANTOSS or for 'making it available' via an electronic media (like a BBS or other online database). Its strictly prohibited to pass a modified copy, or a copy without this documentation, to somebody else. If you plan to use or distribute it in a way violating these restrictions or add it to something you charge for you need the prior written permission of the author. Disclaimer and Warranty : ------------------------- This software is provided AS IS without any warranty, expressed or implied, including but not limited to fitness for a particular purpose. The author will not be liable for any direct or consequential damages due to loss of data or any other reason, the person using the software bears all risk as to the quality and performance of the software. If your local laws do not permit any of the statements made above, or if you do not agree with any of them yourself, then you are not licensed to use this program! Names of products mentioned in this text are trademarks of their respective owners. Ok, this was the hard but necessary stuff. Probably you will never have any reason to think about the warranty, who knows ? If You have any questions just ask me, if you find a bug please notify me. Michael Matter, 2:243/44.103 @fidonet History: -------- see the German documentation