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1992-03-27
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Documentation for Make FILES.BBS v2.6
Copyright 1992 M.J.Matts 25/01/92
This program is Public Domain
This software may be distributed freely as long as all associated
files are included and no changes are made to any of them.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Version changes
v1.0 - Initial release. Just waiting for problems to be found!
v1.1 - Two days after v1.0 was released John Carolin of Quest BBS discovered
the program did not work properly in High Rez. No longer a problem,
thanks John.
v2.0 - A very major upgrade hence the big jump in version numbers. Many new
features added including the use of FRONTEND, a block of source code I
that acts as a type of Graphical User Interface. A couple of bugs fixed.
v2.1 - Extra program included called CONVERT.PRG which reformats a FILES.BBS
file into a format used by Make FILES.BBS and QuickBBS. the Edit files
option now handles file names without descriptions. Searches for a
match in whole file name instead of a match from the left of it.
v2.2 - Format of MAKEFBBS.CTL changed. Number at the end of each line forces
the first ? lines to be ignored. This feature written in to allow the
use of headers. A blank line is added above and below the file
description list. File count no longer includes FILES.BBS.
v2.3 - Yet another change to the CTL format. Another number is added to the
end of each line which tells Make FILES.BBS whether to include that
file area in the total files list. You can now enter upto 5 full file
names that are NOT to be included in the FILES.BBS file. When an
ALLAREAS.LST file has been created you can archive it from the program
in one of the following formats, LZH, ARC & ZIP. (external archive
programs are needed for this function). BUG FIX - Any blank spaces at
the end of a line in the CTL file no longer cause it problems. (Thanks
go to Robert Darling for all the above changes)
v2.4 - Thanks again to Robert Darling for the following. New option added that
allows you to delete the FILES.BAK files. If a trailing backslash was
not added to the CTL file pathname the allfile list option and the add
a description options did not work, this is now fixed and it does not
matter if there is a backslash or not at the end of the path. You can
now run Make FILES.BBS from any drive and in any folder, just as long
as all the external programs/files it uses are with it.
v2.5 - Now works with a program called Hatch & Stick. H & S appends files to
the end of a FILES.BBS and MKFBBS was deleting the file descriptions
when you updated it. This is now fixed. A FRONTEND button can now be
cancelled by moving the mouse pointer away from it before letting go of
the mouse button. (Guess who suggested these changes?)
v2.6 - You can now copy files and transfer the FILES.BBS description if a
FILES.BBS exists in both source & destination areas. (Oh No - Not
Robert Darling again!)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you get an ERROR 26 (end of file) you must check your CTL file. Chances are
you have not got a comma inbetween one of the CTL fields. See the examples
later in this DOC and also the sample CTL file included in the LZH file for
the correct format to use.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
You should have 3 files in the MKFBBSxx.LZH file. These should be as follows:-
o MAKEFBBS.PRG - The main program.
o MKFBBSxx.DOC - This document.
o MAKEFBBS.CTL - An example CTL file.
MAKEFBBS.CTL is the control file and should be edited to suit your own
environment. This should be similar to the FLSEARCH.CTL file used by QuickBBS.
A small example of the possible varaitions follows:
*** IMPORTANT NOTE *** As of v2.3 the format of the CTL file has changed yet
again. If v2.3 tries to read an old type CTL file it will give you an alert
box informing you of an error. Simply return back to the desktop and check the
format of the CTL file. The new format now has two numbers at the end of each
line with a commer (,) seperating each field. The first number will force Make
FILES.BBS to ignore this number of lines at the beginning of the FILES.BBS
file in that particular area. This will allow you to have headers in your
files which will be left as they are when Make FILES.BBS is run. The second
number will allow you to exclude an area from the total files list. This is to
'hide' any areas you have that are only available to users with certain access
rights, for example, on my own BBS there is an area where I keep source code
for FRONTEND, used by this program, which can only be accessed by users who
have paid to register the code, therefore I do not want this file area to be
included on a list for the general users. The number in the CTL file should be
either 1 or 0. If it is 1 then the area will be included in the ALLAREAS list,
if it is 0 it will remain private.
o Example 1 - C:\QUICKBBS\DOWNLOAD\GAMES,10,1
o Example 2 - C:\QUICKBBS\DOWNLOAD\GAMES\,6,1
o Example 3 - \QUICKBBS\DOWNLOAD\GAMES,22,0
o Example 4 - \QUICKBBS\DOWNLOAD\GAMES\,7,0
The paths given can be in any of the above 4 formats. If a drive is specified
the program and CTL file can be on a different drive if needed. The last
backslash is not important as MAKEFBBS will add one if it is missing. The only
specific thing that must be done are the program and CTL file should be in
the same folder as each other and that FILES.BBS is not added to the end of
the path lines in MAKEFBBS.CTL.
*****************************************************************************
*** READ THIS SECTION CAREFULLY ***
Make FILES.BBS only recognises a certain format of FILES.BBS file so
for it to work correctly you must make sure it is set up as follows. Some file
area maintainence programs create a file with the following format which
CANNOT be used by Make FILES.BBS:-
FILENAME.LZH description
FIL.LZH description
LZHFIL.LZH description
One space character is placed between every file name and its
description. The earlier versions of Make FILES.BBS used this format but I
found it slowed down any routines that needed to seperate the file name from
the description. The correct format to use is as follows:
FILENAME.LZH description
FIL.LZH description
LZHFIL.LZH description
Using this format Make FILES.BBS was able to perform certain jobs at
upto twice the speed. When a BBS user selects a view files function both
formats will seem to be displayed the same, this is due to QuickBBS being able
to support both formats. You can change the format of the files using a text
editor or you can request from me, free of charge, a small program that will
convert them automatically.
*****************************************************************************
- Options available when using Make FILES.BBS -
Using the FRONTEND interface all options are selected by simply clicking on
the button. If you click the right mouse button from any screen created using
FRONTEND you will be able to change & save the colours and switch the hertz
rate in MED rez and in high the display will switch between black on white &
white on black.
o Delete .BAK files
When Make FILES.BBS writes to a FILES.BBS file it automatically creates a
backup copy of the original called FILES.BAK. Clicking on this button will
simply delete all the backup files.
o Copy/Move A File
You will be asked to select the file you want to copy/move using the
normal GEM file selector and then to select the folder where you want to
copy/move it to, again using the GEM file selector. If a FILES.BBS file is
found in both the source & destination folders you will be asked if you want
to transfer the file description aswell. If you select YES the description
will be added to the end of the FILES.BBS file in the destination folder so
when it is next updated it will be placed into it's correct alphabetical
slot. The description is NOT removed from the source folders FILES.BBS. To do
this select the 'Erase Missing Files' Button on the main screen. When the
copy/move has finished you will be asked whether you want to delete the
original file.
o Add descriptions to FILES.BBS.
This will allow you to add a description to any file without one. The program
will only prompt you to enter a description if there is not one available.
o Create or Update FILES.BBS
If there is not a FILES.BBS file in the specified path MAKEFBBS will create one
that includes all the file names for all files in that directory, except for
any names or extensions that are to be excluded. If a FILES.BBS does exist it
is simply updated with any new files in that directory. The list will also be
sorted into alphabetical order. No file descriptions can be added here.
o Edit a FILES.BBS description
You will be prompted to enter a file name. This does not need to be a full
file name as the text you enter will be used as a search mask. ie. You enter
DIVE and Make FILES.BBS will return anything like DIVErt.lzh or aDIVEr.lzh.
When a match has been found you can add to or change the description that
already exists.
o Erase missing files from list
This will check every directory against each FILES.BBS and if a file name in
the FILES.BBS does not exist on the disk it will be removed from the list.
This function is fairly slow as it physically checks the disk rather then the
FAT table. This is to lessen the chance of possible errors.
o Generate an all areas list
A file called ALLAREAS.LST will be created in the same directory that you ran
Make FILES.BBS from. Every area that the CTL file has been told to include in
this list will added, still keeping their headers (if any) to make it easier
to identify which area the particular set of files are from.
o Toggle the total files count
The status of this button is shown at the bottom of the screen. The default is
to include a total files count. When ever a FILES.BBS is written to a total of
the available files in that area is included if this option is set to do so.
Also when an all areas list is created a total of all the files on your BBS
will be written.
The main center of the screen has 2 sections where you can enter details of
full file names and file extensions that are not to be included in the
FILES.BBS list. When ever a FILES.BBS file is written to, the names and
extensions specified will not be added. The program will always exclude
FILES.BAK which is created by MAKEFBBS every time a FILES.BBS is created or
updated. You know also have the option of saving the names and extensions to
disk if you exclude them on a regular basis. They will automatically be
reloaded next time Make FILES.BBS is run. When the list has been finished you
will be given the option of whether you want to archive the file or not. You
have a choice of 3 types which are LZH, ARC & ZIP. You simply click on the
button that corresponds to the format you want. The external archiving
programs are needed to use this function. They are available from any BBS,
including my own, & any PD libraries. When you use the archiving feature the
external programs should be in the same directory as Make FILES.BBS.
*****************************************************************************
Mant thanks to the following:-
Stuart Coates - Technical help, information & verbal abuse! (Hows your BIG
harddisk?)
Keith Frisby - Distribution via Compuserve + my mono monitor! (Hows your
LITTLE harddisk?)
John Charles - Author of JCLABEL - Positive attitude and encouragement
regarding the development of the FRONTEND user interface.
Robert Darling - Sysop of The FolkeSTone BBS. He use's the program on his BBS
and has offered many good ideas + bug reports. If you want to
contact his BBS details are : The FolkeSTone BBS, speeds upto
2400 bps, online 9pm to 8am, 0303 245203). EVERY improvement
made in v2.3 to v2.6 was due to suggestions made by Robert.
If you do have a suggestion or idea that you think would improve the program
or if you would like to know more about the FRONTEND interface source code
which is available and costs only £10, this gives you full access to the
support section on my BBS where all the very latest changes/additions to the
code can be found, send a letter to my address shown in the info section of
the program. Alternativly you could leave me E-Mail on my own BBS:
The Confederation - 300\1200\2400 - 10pm to 7am - 0533 413443
The Author : Mark Matts, 66 Telford Way, Leicester, LE5 2LX.
Happy FILES.BBS making...
*****************************************************************************