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Text File | 1993-12-23 | 29KB | 581 lines

************************************************************************ * * * AUTO Validation CallBack Door - for MEBBSNet Bulletin Board Software * * * ************************************************************************ * * * Requirers Bill Bowling's mebbsutility.library v1.8 or higher (included)* * * ************************************************************************ * * * written by Al Saveriano - Fido 1:2606/205 Alche-miga BBS 201-398-6360 * * * * based on the original code by Bill Bowling - MEBBS Software * * * ************************************************************************ VERSION: 1.90 EuroAussieAmerican AutoValidator December 23, 1993 - 1 - WHAT THIS DOOR IS ALL AOUT If you have never used a CallBack feature on a bulletin board system you probably don't know what this thing is designed to do. Basically, it check to see if a new user is actually located at the phone number he says he is. If he is, you, the Sysop, have a definitive method to trace a user back to a real location. As we all know, verification of a user is a difficult and time consuming operation. Once the system verifies the new users phone number, it upgrades his system acccess to that of a 'regular' user. The level of upgrade is set by you. It also allows you to see if a user is attempting to open up a multiple account on your system. This, essentially, is the basic function of a CallBack door or utility. IMPORTANT: Please note - if setting this door up for standard N.American phone formats, it will NOT call long distance outside of the xxx-xxx-xxxx telephone format. Therefore, it can not be used to validate European callers when it is set up for N.American dialing. (This may come later in its developement). - 2 - SETUP This CallBack door has been designed to be configurably and to allow you the ability to customize its appearance and operation. Please follow all steps carefully. :NOTE: Just a reminder...this door is for MEBBSNet only. It will NOT run under any versions of Paragon or StarNet. Also, I've tested this under the Amiga 2.04 1.3 OS. It has run successfully under both systems. 1) Make sure you have DOORS: assigned to where ever you have you doors directory. (I have mine in MEBBSNet:doors) 2) Create a directory in your assigned DOORS: directory called, AutoValidate 3) Copy the following files into this newly created directory: a) AutoVal b) AutoValidate.cfg c) BadNumbers.txt d) BadNumberUse.txt e) BadNumberWarning.txt f) CallBackMsg.HangUp * g) CallBackMsg.StayOn h) Continue i) Duplicate j) DupNums.txt k) LocalAreaCode.txt * l) LocalExc.txt m) Manual n) MessageBody o) MessageBodyNoAttach p) NoLDCall.txt q) Notice r) Notify s) Start t) Warning u) AutoVal.docs v) PhonesConv w) SingleNameNotify.txt x) SingleNameWarn.txt y) Time.dat <----NEW as of v1.80 The mebbsutility.library should be in your libs: directory This library comes with your copy of the MEBBSNet software. It is NOT included in this archive. * These files are NOT used if you are setting this door up to run outside of North America. All these files are included in the archive and you may use them as is. They are also ALL just ascii files (execpt AutoVal) and can be edited as you see fit. *********************************************************************** * * * ATTENTION!! ATTENTION!! ATTENTION!! ATTENTION!! ATTENTION!! * * * *********************************************************************** AS YOU SET UP AND CREATE AND EDIT THE NEEDED FILES MAKE SURE THAT YOU --> D O N O T <-- PUT ANY BLANK LINES AT THE END OF ANY OF THE FOLLOWING FILES: BadNumbers.txt LocalAreaCode.txt LocalExc.txt Time.dat IN OTHER WORDS, JUST USE YOUR EDITOR TO CREATE THESE FILES, HIT RETURN AFTER THE LAST TYPED LINE AND SAVE THE FILE. NO BLANKS LINES ARE TO BE AT THE END OF THESE FILES OR THE CALLBACK SYSTEM WILL FAIL!! I'll explain what each file does later on in this document. Once you have this new directory setup and the files copied into place, just modify the menu that this door will appear on or your doors.dat file if you intend to go that route. See the MEBBSNet documemtation manual if you need general help setting up doors. The main door executable file is, AutoVal. No special stack requirement is needed but I'd recommend at least 10,000. - 3 - WHAT THIS BABY CAN DO Ok...you're all setup. This is what CallBack can do: a) A user with an areacode different then (or the same as) yours calls in: This door will either call him back or tell him that you are not taking LD calls, record his phone number and leave you a message reminding you that this user needs to be manually verified. If it is set to call him back, it will allow him to upgrade access but will then terminate the call. + b) A user with the same areacode as you but with a phone exchange that is not a local call for you, calls in: This door will either call him back or tell him that you are not taking LD calls, record his phone number and leave you a message reminding you that this user needs to be manually verified. If it is set to call him back, it will allow him to upgrade access but will then terminate the call. + c) A user with the same areacode as you and with an exchange that is a local call to you, calls in: This door will call him back, upgrade his access and allow him to stay online for the rest of his time, since this is a local (free) call for you. + Applicable only when door is set up for North American format. Besides the return/no-return phone call options noted above, there are several message notifications (for Sysop and user) and configuration formats available. The next section will deal with the configuration file. - 4 - The AutoValidate.cfg File The AutoValidate.cfg file presently consists of thirteen (13) line options. Below is an example of the file I have set up. NOTE: Nothing but numbers must be put on the first five lines! AutoValidate.cfg file example: ATTENTION!! This has been changed since version 1.71 0 1 1 4 35 files.txt ram: 0 0 0 Al_Saveriano 0 0 ; 1 = yes/on 0 = no/off : applies to lines 1,2,8,9,10,12 & 13 ; line 1: Check to see if it is a weekend and,if so,bypass time.dat ; line 2: File attached/not attached to message for user ; line 3: Message base number of private Email base ; line 4: Level to upgrade user ; line 5: Minutes added to user ; line 6: Name of file you intend to attach to the users welcome ; message. Put a name here regardless of whether you use ; or don't use this feature. ; line 7: Directory name where general AutoVal log will appear ; line 8: Set for EuroAussie with a 1 or set for N.America with a 0. ; line 9: 0 = if line 10 is 1 or if you don't know what this is for! :) ; 1 = dial 1-AC-Exc when local AC & LD exchange exist ; line 10: 0 = normal LD/Local call format. 1 = dial 1-EXC when local AC & LD exc ; line 11: The name of the person you want all AutoVal messages to come from. ; line 12: Single named users allowed. 0=no don't allow them ; 1=yes allow them ; line 13: BlanketLocal local phone exchange Let's go through each line: Line 1: Check to see if it is a weekend (e.g. Saturday or Sunday). If it is, and this flag is set to 1,door will bypass the Time.Dat file and call LD users at any hour on Saturday and Sunday. If this flag is set to zero, the door will use the Time.Dat file to determine if it should call a user back. This applies to Saturdays and Sundays only! Monday thru Friday, this door will always follow the Time.Dat file instructions regardless of how this flag is set. Long distance is defined as an area code that is different from yours or an area code the same as yours BUT with an exchange that is NOT local to you. Line 2: Gives you the option of attaching a file to the welcome message the new users receives after a successful callback. More info on this later. Again, a 1 is YES and a zero is NO. REMEMBER: The actual file MUST be in your private Email message base number as noted in line 3. Line 3: Put the Message Base number that corresponds to your private Email message base. Mine is messsage base number one, so I put a 1. If yours is different, put the correct number here. Line 4: Put the level you wish to have your user raised to, once he/she successfully uses the CallBack door. Any value from 1 to 31 will work. Be careful if you put a 31 here, because you will be giving him full Sysop power. Line 5: Amount of time you wish to add to the user once his access level is increased. He will get his regular access time for his new level once the system is indexed. (e.g. re-boot, date change, etc.). Line 6: The name of the file that will be attached to the users Welcome message after he successfully uses the CallBack door. Put a name here whether you use this feature or not. REMEMBER: The actual file MUST be in your private Email message base number as noted in line 3. Line 7: This the directory name where the general AutoVal log will appear. It must either end with a colon : or end with a trailing slash / Examples> ram: BBS: dh0:bbs/ MEBBSNet: MEBBSNet:logs/ Line 8: Placing a zero here will set the door up to run ONLY using the North American xxx-xxx-xxxx phone format. Placing a 1 here sets the door up for EuroAussie phone formats only. Line 9: Place a ZERO here if line 10 is going to have a ONE or if you are totally confused about this setting! :) Place a ONE here if you want the door to dial the 1-AC-Exc-Num format when the incoming call has the same Area Code as you but a long distance exchange. (e.g. Washington state). Line 10: Place a ZERO here if you want the door to dial the Exc-Num format when the incoming call has the same Areacode as you and a long distance exchange (e.g. New Jersey). Otherwise, place a ONE here if you want to the door to dial the 1-Exc-Num format when the incoming call has the same Areacode as you and a long distance exchange (e.g. Delaware). Line 11: Put the name of the person you want the AutoVal messages to originate from. In most cases the name that goes here will be the name of the Sysop, but the choice is yours. NOTE however, that if the name has a space in it, you MUST put an underscore where the space would have gone. (Example: Al Saveriano must be listed as Al_Saveriano). Line 12: Put a one here and all users will have to have 2 names seperated by a space. (e.g. Al Saveriano is ok .. but CrackerMan isn't). Put a zero here and any name format will be acceptable. Line 13: I believe I added this for systems whos exchanges are ALWAYS considered local, as long as the incoming caller has the same area code as the bbs. So, it dials out as exc-number, and never checks the LocalExc.txt file. This avoids the need to enter a lot of local exchanges into this file. A 1 turns it on and a 0 turns it off. HOWEVER!!!! You must STILL must have a file called LocalExc.txt in the directory even if it only has one bogus number in it!! Note...who ever asked me to add this feature, will you please give me a call and refresh my memory about it! - thanks). NOTE!! - Line 9 and line 10 can never BOTH have a ONE at the same time! - 5 - The Time.dat File The time.dat file is VERY important and must be set up correctly or you will have this door calling long distance numbers when you don't want it to. This file is just a plain vanilla ASCII text file that contains 24 lines of information. Each line must either contain the word YES or NO. Nothing, repeat, NOTHING, else is allowed to be entered on each line. Just a YES or a NO. Here is an example Time.dat file: YES YES YES YES YES YES YES NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO YES YES YES NO NO NO NO YES YES There it is: nothing to it really. Ok..what does it mean? The first line is the starting time and it represents 1am to 2am. The second line represents 2am to 3am. The third line, 3am to 4am. And so on and so on, etc. If, for example, you have the word NO on the fifth line, this would mean that the door will NOT call out to long distance users from 5am to 6am. If you had the word YES on the sixteenth line, that would mean that you DO want the door to call back long distance users from 4pm to 5pm. If you didn't want the door to call back any long distance callers at all, you would just put the word NO on all 24 lines. If you wanted the door to always call back long distance callers, at all times, you'd just put the word YES on all 24 lines. REMEMBER!! The FIRST line represents 1am to 2am. - 6 - FEATURES From the Sysop's side: a) If CallBack is successful the users name and data phone number is logged into the Numbers.txt file. b) If CallBack is successful a message addressed to the Sysop is left noting the name of the user who has used the door. c) If a long distance caller attempts to use the door and the system is NOT setup for LD CallBack, the callers name and phone number is logged into the Numbers.txt file with an added notation that this user requires manual validation. The Sysop is also left a message stating that this has occured. d) If, upon CallBack, a user is unable to correctly enter his password, his access is denied and a message is left to the Sysop stating that the user was unable to correctly re-enter his password. His phonenumber is NOT logged into the Numbers.txt file. e) If a user enters a phone number that already exists in the Numbers.txt file, he is told that his number is a duplicate, he is dumped back to the BBS and a message is left to the Sysop noting the users name and the fact that he has attempted to enter a duplicate number. His name and the phone number he tried to enter is logged into the DupNums.txt file for your inspection. f) A file called BadNumbers.txt, created by you, contains any complete phone number (e.g. areacode-exchange-number) or any partial phone number (e.g. areacode-exchange) that you wish it to contain. This is a very powerful feature since it will stop childish users who like to enter phone numbers like 911 or one of those $10-a-minute 900 numbers. See included examples for ideas. g) If a user attempts to enter a number that is contained in your BadNumbers.txt file, he is told that the number he has entered is deemed 'bad', and a message addressed to the Sysop is left showing the name of the user who made the bogus number entry. h) Most of the info noted above will be summarized in a log that is created by the door. This log, called, AutoValGeneral.LOG, will appear in whatever directory you have choosen as defined by line 7 of the .cfg file. i) If you have NoSingleNamedUsers turned on and a guy tries to use a name like Mike or CrackerHead, he will be denied access to AutoValidation and you will be left a private message denoting this situation. From the users side: a) If the CallBack is successful, his access is raised. b) He receives a welcome message which may contain an attached file. I attach my FILES.TXT file to this welcome message so that the new user has a complete summary of all the files available on my system. The Sysop can attach any file he sees fit. He may also turn this file-attach feature off and just leave the message. c) See Sysop items above for things that occur if the user 'screws' up. :) - 7 - WHAT ALL THE FILES ARE FOR The following is a listing of the files and their function: a) AutoVal - The actual executable door program b) AutoValidate.cfg - The .cfg file as defined earlier c) BadNumbers.txt - Place you list of numbers you don't want callled d) BadNumberUse.txt - Message Sysop receives if user tries a bad number e) BadNumberWarning.txt - Notice user gets for trying a 'bad' number f) CallBackMsg.HangUp - User message after a successful LD CallBack + g) CallBackMsg.StayOn - User message after a successful local CallBack h) Continue - User instruction message after entering number i) Duplicate - Message Sysop receives if user enters duplicate # j) DupNums.txt - Log of user names/numbers of duplicate # attempts k) LocalAreaCode.txt - Contains YOUR area code and any other local ACs + l) LocalExc.txt - Listing of ALL local phone exchanges in your area. m) Manual - Message Sysop receives noting a manual validation n) MessageBody - Welcome message for user when fileattach is set o) MessageBodyNoAttach - Welcome message for user when fileattach isn't set p) NoLDCall.txt - User notice when he's LD and system not set for LD q) Notice - Message Sysop gets if user can't re-enter password r) Notify - Message Sysop receives upon successful Callback * s) Numbers.txt - Log of names/numbers of successful CallBack users t) Start - Opening user instructions for use of CallBack u) Warning - User notice when he attempts to enter duplicate # v) AutoVal.docs - This documentation file * w) PhonesConv - Generates a complete Numbers.txt file x) SingleNameNotify.txt - Message Sysops gets if single named users calls y) SingleUserWarn.txt - User notice when he uses a single name/handle z) Time.dat - Yes/No time dat file for CallLongDistance or Don't + Not used when set up in EuroAussie format. * TO USE PhonesConv: Simple type this from the CLI - PhonesConv > doors:autovalidate/Numbers.txt This will automatically generate the Numbers.txt file so that you don't have to do this by hand. You will most likely have to edit this newly created file so that all the phones numbers are in the xxx-xxx-xxxx format, but it ought to save you a good deal of time. Periodically, you should re-run this utility so that the phone numbers of old users who you have deleted from your system will also be deleted from the Numbers.txt file. Always remember to check that the final file format of the phone numbers is xxx-xxx-xxxx NOTE: If using this door for EuroAussie formats, you should be certain that the final phone format has NO hypens (-) in the number. - 8 - COMMENTS/SUGGESTIONS/HINTS/GUIDELINES/IMPORTANT STUFF (The following applies to doors configured for N.American phone formats) You don't have to concern yourself with the way the user types in his phone number. No matter what he types it will be re-formatted in the xxx-xxx-xxxx format. So, if he types (201) 3986360, it will be echoed back as 201-398-6360. If he types, 20-1-39863-60, it will still come back as: 201-398-6360 To get the numbers to put in the LocalExc.txt file, look in your local telephone book (usually somewhere near the front) to get a listing of all local phone exchanges (the exchange are the 3 numbers that sit between your area code and the rest of the phone number.) The format is xxx-xxx (e.g. 201-398). Entering this info will NOT be required if you have the BlanketLocal switch set in the .cfg file. IMPORTANT!!!!! You must still have a file named LocalExc.txt in the directory even if it only contains one bogus number. The BadNumbers.txt file is real handy. The format of the numbers you place here is VERY important. If you place an entire phone number, it must be in this format: 305-745-2389 If you place a partial number, it must be in this format: 900- or 203-777- You MUST include the trailing dash! No other possibilities are acceptable. However, these formats should cover every contingency. Lets explore that concept a little. Say you wish to stop users from entering numbers like 0, or 411. Well, since the door will accept ONLY a minimum of 7 digits (3 digit exchange + 4 digit number body = 7 digits), numbers such as 0 or 411 are deemed unacceptable and the user is instructed to try to enter his number again. If he tried to beat the system by putting in a number like this: 023-453-6745, the door will warn him that he can not start his phone number with a zero or a one and then will recycle back to the beginning. If he tries a number like this: 911-534-7612, as long as you have 911- in your BadNumbers.txt file, he will told he has attempted to enter a bad number, etc. If there is a particular exchange you don't want called, the use of the format: areacode-exchange- will handle this situation fine. As example, if you don't want any phone number in the 201-976 exchange called, simply put 201-976- in the BadNumbers.txt file. Don't forget to include the trailing dash! Basically, the system has the choice of calling or not calling long distance phone numbers as defined earlier. If you set it to call a long distance number it NEVER stays online after it has raised the users access level. This means that you are never subjected to any longer connect time then the time-out setting you have set in MEBBSNet. With most Sysops, this is 4 or 5 minutes. The average connect time for a 'normal' long distance callback is 2 minutes. At an average of 14 cents a minute, your LD callbacks should not run you more than 30 cents a call. Local callbacks (meaning: your area code with a local phone exchange) always stay online after raising access since the call is free anyway. If this troubles you for some reason (I don't see why it would) you can set .cfg item number five to a setting of zero and the user will then only have the time remaining from the new-user level you have set in MEBBSNet's config file. IMPORTANT: This door does NOT check the phone numbers already in the MEBBSNet user.dat file. It works exclusively out of the Numbers.txt file. You should use the included PhoneConv file to generate the Numbers.txt file. See the description of PhoneConv utility given earlier in this documentation file. (I've been asked WHY I just couldn't use the user.dat file info directly. The reason is that I needed to have all the phone numbers in some form of standard format so that I could do comparison work. Since MEBBSNet still allows users to enter their phone numbers in any format (e.g. 2013986360 or (201) 398-6360 etc.), I was forced to extract the phone numbers myself and reformat them into a single style.). You should periodically re-run PhoneConv since deleting accounts does NOT delete the phone numbers in the Numbers.txt file. (The following applies when door is configured for EuroAussie phone formats) The BadNumbers.txt file is real handy. The format of the numbers you place here is VERY important. If you place an entire phone number, it must be in this format: 03057452389 or 123456789 If you place a partial number, it must be in this format: 0 012 0123 01234 01234567 The actual numbers can be ANYTHING but the point is that the door will only check either the first digit, or the first, second and third digit, or the 1st,2ed,3ed and 4th digit, or the 1st,2ed,3ed,4th and 5th digit or the 1st,2ed,3ed,4th,5th,6th,7th and 8th digit. Sooooo...if you didn't want the phone number starting with 076 to be called, just put in 076 on one of the lines in this file. If you didn't want numbers starting with 03245, just type 03245 into this file. - 9 - KNOWN PROBLEMS/BUGS My success rate with incoming callers at 2400 baud or higher is well over 98%. However, due to problems assosciated with an old StarNet function, 1200 baud callers had failure rates of over 80%. This means that, on average, 8 out of 10 callers who use 1200 baud will get a failure when they try this door. I don't have enough information about 300 baud callers to give you any statistics. (Besides, I doubt that you have any volume coming in at 300 baud anymore these days.). Therefore, if you get messages from AutoVal like: "User could not re-enter his password upon callback", etc., check your MEBBSNet.log and see if he was trying the CallBack door at 1200 baud. If so, you may just have to validate his accont manually. Hopeful this problem will disappear with the release of the newly coded Bowling MEBBSNet. NOTICE: AS far as I can tell, the above problem has been fixed with version 1.8 of the mebbsutility.library - 10 - COMMENTS I've been getting pretty good reviews from the Sysops who are using this door. I've attempted to incorporate as many of the suggestions that I have received as possible. Keep 'em coming and please forward any bugs you feel you have uncovered with as much information as possible. - 11 - THANKS Thanks to Bill Bowling for his fantastic mebbsutility.library. - 12 - FINAL WORD This door is FreeWare. Enjoy it. If you are using my ShareWare door - ExtractIt, I ask that you support it and my efforts. Thanks. Enjoy the Amiga, MEBBSNet and your hobby! - al saveriano -