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Beta 8 WAVE for MAX DISCLAIMER: ----------- The author has taken every precaution to ensure that no harm or damage will occur on computer systems operating this package. Nevertheless, the author shall NOT be held liable for whatever may happen on your computer system or to any computer systems which connects to your own as a result of operating this package. The user assumes full responsibility for the correct operation of this software package, whether harm or damage results from any software error, hardware malfunction, or operator error. NO warranties are offered, expressly stated or implied, including without any limitation or restriction any warranties of operation for a particular purpose and / or merchantability. If you do not agree with this, then absolutely do NOT use this program! ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── LICENSE AGREEMENT: ------------------ The door program, support files, and documentation are copyrighted products of Frank McCormick. The author reserves all rights to these products. This is protected by Canadian, American and International Copyright Laws. In no way shall the components of the door software package be reproduced or modified in any form or method without prior written permission from the author. Tampering with or altering the contents or integrity of the door software package is prohibited. No fee may be charged by any agency other than the author beyond the cost of distributing unregistered copies without prior written permission from the author. ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── GUARANTEE: ---------- No guarantee is provided. ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── REQUIREMENTS: ------------- This door will run on any 80XXX system with at least CGA Video and 640K of memory. This door is 100 percent ANSI, ASCII, AVATAR, RIP and MAX aware. ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── INSTALLATION: ------------- 1. Create a directory for the door. 1a. Create a directory off that one, i.e. WORK. 2. Copy the contents of this archive into that directory. 3. Modify the ini file to fit conditions on your computer. 3a Double-check the INI file. 4. To insure proper multi-node use in a DOS based multi-tasking environment, SHARE.EXE must be installed. 5. In order to run the door program online, the following parameters may be used. For a list of all available command line parameters, simply execute the door program with no parameters on the command line.... DropFile Specifiers: -------------------- "/D={Node Work Path}\DOOR.SYS" - This tells the program to use the DOOR.SYS drop file and the {Node Work Path} points to the proper directory where the drop file is to be created or found. "/R={Node Work Path}\DORINFO#.DEF" - This tells the program to use the DORINFO#.DEF drop file and the {Node Work Path} points to the proper directory where the drop file is to be created or found. Optional Parameters: -------------------- "/P={MAXterm Home Directory}" - If this door supports MAX Graphics and MAX pseudo network spool operation, this parameter is used to start up the spool and point it to the directory where MAXterm is installed. You may only use this in conjunction with the /L parameter. "/S##### (Where ##### is the user's actual baud rate) - This specifies the online caller's actual baud rate. You use this parameter to force a new baud rate if you are running the door with the DOOR.SYS drop file and would like to force the door to use the actual baud rate rather than the locked port speed. "/N###" (Where ### is 1..?) - This specifies the current node number and tells the door which NODE###.CTL file to use. "/L" - This tells the door to load up in LOCAL mode. "/O" - This tells the door to load up in ONLINE mode. This is useful if you are running the door online without a drop file. Such is the case if you wanted to run the door between your BBS and a front end mailer or a waiting for caller program where no drop files are created in advance. "/X" - This tells the door to send a !|1K|*|#|#|# at exit time to either clear the remote screen in RIPterm or to flip MAXterm back to text mode. "/U#####" (Where ##### is the user's actual BBS record number) - This is used in the event the door needs to know the user's actual record number when it is not contained in the drop file, or if no drop file is in use. "/A#####" (Where ##### is the user's actual BBS access level) - This is used in the event the door needs to know the user's actual access level when it is not contained in the drop file, or if no drop file is in use. "/T#####" (Where ##### is the user's remaining time in minutes) - This is used in the event the door needs to know the user's actual remaining online time when it is not contained in the drop file, or if no drop file is in use. "/E#####" (Where ##### is the number of minutes until your next event) This is used in the event the door needs to know when the next event in your BBS is to take place when it is not contained in the drop file, or if no drop file is in use. "/Z[FirstName_LastName]" - This is used in the event that you have to force the user's name and alias in the door. If there is a first name and last name, they must be separated by an underscore, not a space.. ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── SAMPLE BATCH FILES FOR RUNNING THE DOOR: ---------------------------------------- CD\DOOR DOOR.EXE /D=C:\BBS\NODE1\DOOR.SYS CD\BBS EXIT or: CD\DOOR DOOR.EXE /N2 /S14400 /R=C:\BBS\NODE2\DORINFO2.DEF CD\BBS EXIT ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── OTHER GENERAL INFORMATION: -------------------------- Global System Variables Used By The Door: ───────────────────────────────────────── {TIME} = The Current Time {DATE} = The Current Date {NODE} = The Current Node Number {BAUD} = The Current Baud Rate {MINS} = Time Left Online In Minutes {EVENT} = Minutes Until Next Event {PORT} = The Current Comm Port In Use {SEC} = The User's Security Level {BBS} = Your BBS Name {USER} = User's Full Name {SYSOP} = SysOp's Full Name {UFIRST} = User's First Name {ULAST} = User's Last Name {SFIRST} = SysOp's First Name {SLAST} = SysOp's Last Name {PROG} = The Program Name and Version Number {ADDR} = The Port Address Stored In The .CTL File {IRQ} = The Port IRQ Stored In The .CTL File {SYSSEC} = SysOp Security Stored In The .CTL File {SERIAL} = The Serial Number Stored In The .CTL File {INSERT1} Through {INSERT5} = These are system variables that change from time to time through out the program. Check your screen files to see what their purpose is at the time. These variables can also be used in text files and screen files used by your program. You will also want to look at your ANSI and RIP files with a text editor to make sure that any Global System Variables you have used have not been split as this will cause them to display incorrectly. There is a feature incorporated in the variables called Padding that is used to align text on your screen, or to ensure that variables will only take up X amount of characters on the screen. Any underscores "_" in a variable are translated into spaces at run time and can be used on either side of the variable. The way to look at it is a "Pad Left" and "Pad Right" sort of feature. Let's try an experiment with the {USER} variable, we'll just use some short strings of text to demonstrate the usage of variables and padding. Let's say that the user's real name is "Jimi Hendrix". (Just because...) Actual Text: Hello {USER}, how are you today? Translates To: Hello Jimi Hendrix, how are you today? Actual Text: Hello {USER________________________}, how are you today? Translates To: Hello Jimi Hendrix , how are you today? Actual Text: Hello {________________________USER}, how are you today? Translates To: Hello Jimi Hendrix, how are you today? Now, granted that these aren't really practical examples, but it shows you how padded and non-padded variables work. Padding would be especially handy if you were creating something like a user statistics screen. You could put the padded variables on an ANSI background, and since there is padding in there, the screen will always be displayed in a uniformed fashion. As you can see in the above example, the variable {USER} is padded so there is a total of 30 spaces on the screen. If you were to chop it down to 20, even if the user's name was longer than 20 characters, only 20 characters will be displayed on the screen at once. If you have ever noticed with other programs that use variables of any kind, to make sure that your screens always display perfectly aligned is to use ANSI animation to go to a specific X/Y coordinate and then plot the variable on whatever backdrop you are using. Guess what?....ASCII callers are out of luck in this case because there is no cursor control in ACSII/TTY emulation. Inline Color Tokens: ──────────────────── Inline Color Tokens are similar to Global System Variables with just one exception....They don't work in screen files. These are used for adding color to text files. Your ANSI colors range from 0 to 31, any number above 15 forces ANSI blink on. If you want to change the color anywhere in a text file, simply add a color code in a pair of fancy brackets before your text. An example would be, to change your text to yellow add the token: {14} just before it. You have as many color changes that you can fit into a 256 character line. Padding has no effect on inline color tokens. ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── MULTINODE USE: -------------- This door supports multinode use and provides automatic multi-tasker support (time slice releasing) for a wide variety of multi-taskers. Such as DesqView, OS/2, and Windows. You will need to run the program configuration to create all of the needed control files and node work directories. The only thing left to do after that is create batch files for each node. ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── TROUBLESHOOTING: ---------------- 1. This door REQUIRES a fossil driver to run correctly. 2. If you are running a high speed modem (9600 baud or above), then I suggest you run your BBS/Mailer/Doors at a locked baud rate. On high speed error correcting modems, locking the baud rate will have a noticeable increase on the speed of text that is sent. It's beyond the scope of this document to discuss configuring your BBS and mailer for a locked baud rate, you may wish to consult your BBS docs for information on that. Here are a couple things to keep in mind when setting up door with a locked baud rate: a. If you are using a fossil, then make sure to tell the fossil that the port is locked. For BNU, to lock com1: at 38,400, you would use something like "L0=38400,8N1" on BNU's command line. b. If you lock the baud for one program, it must be locked for everything. You can't lock the baud for just this door, but not your BBS/Mailer. 3. What follows is some information on possible strange situations that may occur on some systems: a. Low speed users can use the door, but high speed users get garbage. - If you are the DORINFOx.DEF drop file, then there is a chance your BBS is writing the locked port speed to the drop file rather than the actual caller baud rate. You should either change to the DOOR.SYS drop file, or use the /S parameter to pass the actual baud rate to the door. Several converter programs are readily available on most BBS systems. CallDoor is a good one if you can find it. b. The door hangs up when a user enters the door. - Sounds like the door is getting the wrong baud rate somehow. Try switching over to the DOOR.SYS drop file method if possible. - This can also be cause by using a fossil driver and locking the comport at a rate higher than 38400. If this is the case, then reduce your locked port speed and try again. c. Text and screens are getting cut off. - If you are running with a locked baud, then this could be caused by some sort of FLOW CONTROL problem. Make sure your fossil is loaded correctly and not locked faster than 38400 baud. - If you're using something other than the DOOR.SYS drop file, then I always suggest trying to use DOOR.SYS if possible. It is the most reliable method and has had the most testing. If that is not possible try DORINFOx.DEF as an alternative. d. The door locks up the BBS on every node. - This can happen with fossil driver or the internal communications routines because it uses the default comport of 1 when NONE or COM0: is found in the drop file. e. ANSI is reflected correctly on the local screen but the user is getting garbage when using DORINFOx.DEF. - Assuming the user has ANSI installed then most likely the problem is at your end. First make sure the dropfile is passing the actual baud rate INSTEAD of the locked port speed. If it is not passing correct baud rate then you may need to use DOOR.SYS instead. f. When a user enters the door or when you run it locally, the screen appears to cycle (flipping) over and over until the program shuts down with a "Runtime Error 202". - This is caused by people running hacked versions of their fossil driver. Even though most of these hacks are nothing more than a copy with a new version number, once it's tampered with, it's a defective copy. Programs to avoid are BNU 2.xx and X00 2.xx. If at all possible, get your fossil drivers author direct!