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1993-07-20
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============================================================
===== Bug fixes and new features in QuickBBS ST 1.10c ======
============================================================
Hay guys, here we are again. Hope we can fix some bugs
and implement some of your ideas.
HOT NEWS: I have gained acces to Usenet/Internet. If you
have Usenet/Internet acces then you can mail to me, my
address is: theo@nextjk.wlink.nl
Just one thing about paying, this hasn't changed but I want
to mention it again:
Checks should be send to Theo Runia only.
My address is:
Theo Runia
P.O. Box 1183
NL-8900 CD Leeuwarden
The Netherlands.
The price is still 150 dutch guilders, please only send
eurocheques or international money orders. And make
cheques send to this address payable to Theo Runia.
Ask your bank for the best way to pay, that won't cost me
a lot of money! Banks tend to charge me up to 20 guilders
for foreign cheques.
Cash is fine to, but only in guilders, and send it registered
and/or insured. In general I would recommend sending things
registered, they tend to arrive faster and hardly ever get
lost.
If you have problems using qkey, then you can also send a
disc to the above address. Do include 2 international reply
coupons, and format the disk. On the disc you should put your
qkey.inf (so run qkey and fill in the info) and qconfig.bbs.
I need both to generate a key.
1.10 contains quite a lot of new things so a lot can go wrong,
according to Murphy they _will_ go wrong :-). Have a go at it
anyway..
Do take your time to read it all, the new menu options of mail
and file area lister and the markfiles menu are quite complex.
I also included a new qconfig, mconfig and useredit , you _must_
install these too.
The main manual is been rewritten too. Might be a good idea to
print this out. A printed version will be available too, it
won't be for free (123 pages). Just send me a netmail and ask
for it. Filename is Q_DOC110.ZIP for the firsword plus version
and Q_ASC110.ZIP for the ASCII version.
Version 1.10c is not in the main doc, you need to read the part of
1.10c in this manual too.
So that's enough from me for now, here we go:
QuickBBS ST 1.10c
Firstly the new or changed options:
* *NEW* Menu option 43, list new and unread messages. Shows how many
new/unread messages the user has in each area.
The optional data line can contain a group number, only
areas from that group are listed. If no number is given
all areas (to which the user has read acces) are shown.
* *NEW* Menu option 36, Search by filename implemented. You can use
wildcards when searching to. Only filenames are searched.
* *NEW* Menu option 87, Show number of files and Kb of every area and
calculate the total. You'd be surprised on the number of files
you have online :-)
* Maximum message size was 16 kb, it's 31 Kb now. That is the
absolute maximum anyway. I heard that some usenet messages
are bigger then 16 Kb.
* Browser, if you don't specify a filename but only a path then
the browser will ask the user for a filename.
* Write messages, you can now use /S=xxxx to set the subject of a
message to xxxx. You can mix /S=, /T= /L etc. on the optional
data when writing messages. BUT you can't attach a file to a
message if you predefine a subject, as the attached file
is stored in the subject field.
* Mailscan has been dramaticly improved, it should be 30-40% faster.
I have spend several days on it now! I also have found the problem
of strange messagenumbers that appeared at some systems.
When areas do not exist (no .HDR and .MSG file), or they are not
used then you should clear the name field of that area in mconfig.
This wil speed things up a bit as QuickBBS ST does't have to do any
testing in that case.
* Search in the browser has been changed a bit, if you search again
for the same word or if you type return the second time then the
browser jumps to the next page where the search string occurs.
I think this will make seeking a bit easier.
* New Files can be identified in the List files.bbs and the Mark
File menu by an asteriks * after the date of the file.
* Menuoption 86 file arealister, if the optional data contains
/NS (no sort) then the filelist will not be sorted.
* Added ARJ to the verbose.
* Jump to DOS now gives the used time back to the user.
It also sets the cursor on after returning.
* The file PRE-UPL and UP-DESC are not shown anymore when uploading
a messagetext or a file attached message.
And these are the bugfixes:
* When reading marked messages without pause the S didn't work,
and only headers were shown. Fixed, you can press both S and Q
to stop.
* Mark files menu didn't always display the file numbers after you
have done a newfiles scan. Is fixed now.
* If you had disabled the Full screen editor, so no filename in
qconfig, and the user still had it's full screen editor flag set,
then he couldn't write messages. Fixed.
* Both Mark file menu and the browser didn't display the ---- line
in ANSI mode. Fixed. Ansi even looks better :-)
* The Browers and Mark file menu had a problem if you pressed
Return on the last page, the page number was still incremented.
Fixed now.
* Messagetext uploading has been rewritten, the Bomb problems
are gone now.
* More prompt was toggled with option 24, Scan messages.
Removed now.
* Menu 86 file area lister had some bugs, large numbers are disgarded
now. You can have several security levels on the same list. And
the listing is oke too if the number of areas can be divide by 3
* Internal X-Modem, time-out on up- and downloading has been
increased. Some twit users couldn't start their X-Modem
transfer fast enough :-)
* Mconfig: Flags didn't work (again), fixed. Qconfig: Zmodem couldn't
be enabled in flags, fixed.
* The name of external protocols sometimes contained a null char as
last char. So some editors wouldn't load a system.log file as an
chr$ 0 could mean end of text, fixed.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The rest of the doc is only for people that update from version 1.08.
This is all in the main docs too.
QuickBBS ST 1.10 update information:
* Useredit 1.02, small bugfix. I changed the data/voice phone bug.
The usereditor thought the voice was data and data was voice
phone. We referred him to a 'specialst' to cure this 'problem'...
* BTNC Nodelist supported. The new binkley (from 3.10) will only
use this new format. You can compile nodelists with BTNC.
The advantage of this format is that it is 5D, so points and
domains can be added too.
QuickBBS ST doesn't use the domains (yet) but it's multizone.
If the files: DOMAINS.BNL, INDEX.BNL and NODEINFO.BNL are
present in the nodelist folder then QuickBBS ST will use
the BTNC format. The old Version 6 (parselist) and The Box
(xltlst) formats are still supported, so nothing to worry if
you don't want to change over.
I heard that from BTNC 2.0 the format will change. So be
carefull if you use that version, QuickBBS ST doesn't support
BTNC 2.0 as I haven't got the specs yet.
* File attached messages. In Mconfig you can configure each area
to make it a file attach area. If you do the user will be asked
if he wants to attach a file to the message. He can upload the file
at that moment then, it will be placed in the new dir PVT_FILE which
will be located in the QBBS main home directory.
The filename is stored in the subject field, hence you can't give
a subject for that message. The advantage is however that it's
compatible with Led and all the other fidonet mail utils.
The With File flag is also set.
Files can be recieved from all areas if the message is either
to the user or to ALL. This way a sysop/user can attach a little
file for people to download after reading the message.
Do take in mind that you should NOT make echomail areas file attach
as this is not possible nor allowed. You can make the netmail
area a fileattach area but bear in mind that your are generally
not allowed to route files via other systems, so you don't have to
pay for the transfer costs :-).
* 8 Bit characters in message areas are possible to, toggle
the 8 bit toggle in mconfig. Remember here also that in fidonet
echomail areas only ascii (7 bit) is allowed.
* Multitos. If you use multitos then the statusbar of qbbs can cause
havoc. You can disable this in the BBS with Alt-D (has been in all
versions already) but now you can put -N on the commandline so it
is never displayed. The mouse is also switched on again so you
can reach the menubar.
To run QuickBBS under MTos you need to drag Pcommand onto Mwin.app
and start QuickBBS with -l -n to start up locally.
I did found that you can't abort the mailscan but in the BBS keys
work oke. You could read mail this way, it works better then led :-)
* Menutype 86, File arealister. Works like the mailarea lister, see
below. The commandline looks like:
<searchstring> (up/download menuname)
atari updown
Now only file areas that have ATARI in the description are shown.
This discription is taken from the flsearch.ctl file.
This way you can make several list for different computers.
The searchstring is case sensitive!!
Mind you on the first 20 characters of the description are shown.
The word atari will be taken out of the list though!
The second parameter is the menu it will jump to. You can also
leave this out, it will return to the current menu, for excample
if you use a Change Area option in your up/download menu.
After the use made a choice the menu updown (in this example) will
be run. On the optional data line it will put:
<path> <description>
c:\atari\falcon\ Falcon,_atari
In the up/down menu you can then use &1 as path and &2 as the
description.
This means that new file areas only need to be entered in the
flsearch.ctl file, so this will make the live of the sysop again
easier, gee what will the future bring? infrared remote control? :-)
* Menutype 85, Mail arealister. This will make live MUCH easier for
sysops with a lot of mail areas. It can list the mail areas and
lets the user make a selection, the areanumber and name is then
relayed to the next menu.
To be able to limit acces to some areas I introduced a group
number (1-256). You can assing in mconfig for every area a group
number. Say 1 for the local areas, 2 for national, 3 for international
4 for atari etc. etc.
The Mail arealister will only show the group you want it to show.
The optional data line looks like:
<groupnr.> (readmail menu name)
1 readmail
1 is the groupnumber, readmail is the menu where a user reads the
mail. Normally options like read/write/scan etc. are made.
The second parameter is the menu it will jump to. You can also
leave this out, it will return to the current menu, for example
if you use a Change Area option in your read/write menu.
The Mail arealister will run this menu after the user has made a
succesfull choice. It will write an optional dataline for the menu
readmail that looks like this:
<areanr.> <areaname>
10 From_to_Sysop
10 is the normal areanumber, the name is the name for that area
you entered in mconfig. You can use both as &1 and &2 in the menu.
If you specified more data on the optionale data line of menutype
85 then the rest is also transfered to the next menu.
As a bonus the areanames are also sorted, reads a bit better. This
means that you don't have to do this in mconfig.
This menuoption will become very usefull when entering new areas.
You only need to enter them in mconfig, if you enter a groupnumber
then they are automaticly used in QuickBBS ST.
* Remember that both listers are menu options and not menu's
so you can't jump back directly. There is a way however:
Mainfilesmenu -> listmenu -> up/down menu
The main files menu will have an option like: [A] Atari ST
You then gosub to the list menu. In that list menu you will
have 2 options:
1: type 85 or 86 with ^A as key (autoexecuting)
2: type 3, return from gosub with also ^A as key
If you do a return from the up/down menu you will get the
area list again. If you don't enter a number you will be returned
to the mainfilesmenu.
The same applies to the mailarea lister of course.
This is all very complex and not for the novice sysop. If you
have problems just pop a message in the area QUICKBBS.ST in fidonet
or N.GATE.QBBS.ST in NeST.
* Uploading of messagetext. A user can upload a prepared message
via the normal upload protocols. The file must be an ascii file,
or weird things will happen :-)
You can en/disable this in the toggle section of qconfig.
* You can use the scandinavian chars {}[]|\ in the upload discription
and subject field and alias name now.
* Menutype 27, write message could take /T= to send a message
to a certain person. It can take /T=sysop too now, it translates
this to the your (the sysop) name.
* Usage graph. I still am not sure why it doesn't work. It's so
diffecult to understand :-). I have done some tweeking.
It would be best if you would delete the old TIMELOG.BBS file
It's filled with zero's now and that won't help much :-)
* Reading messages. Return is also hot now, so you can
also press Return during the sending of a messages. It
will display the next message then, like the N key.
* Browser and Filemenu also have the return key act as
the N of next page.
* Uploaded files with 0 bytes length are not logged in the
upload.log anymore. The user and sysop is however warned
that an empty file has been uploaded and deleted.
* After external chat the user is also asked to leave a
message for the sysop.
* If the sysop had a mono monitor and the user color then
the sysop would see certain info blank, .e.g. the date
and lenght of a file with files.bbs showing was missing.
This only happens on the local console, but I changed
it anyway.
* Added 2 new text files:
UP-DESC.* is displayed before an discription of the uploaded
file(s) is given
PRE-UPLD.* is displayed before an upload starts.
* If a user uploaded with a non-batch protocol (X-Modem X-Modem1K)
and he didn't send anything (aborted or so) Qbbs would report
error -33 file not found. Fixed now.
* QuickBBS will say it's QuickBBS STE on an STE or QuickBBS TT
on .. you guessed it.
Can anyone test this? I have neither a TT nor a STE.
I haven't found a flag for the falcon yet...
* Netmail, MSGID is written here too now.
Netmail credit cannot go below zero anymore.
* 2 new menutypes, number 57 and 58.
57 lets the user change the voice phonenumber and number 58
lets the user change the data phone. If you press return
nothing will change.
* Menu type 32 (download) can have a password on the optional data
line.:
c:\qbbsst\betas\ /P=password
If a user wants to download he needs to enter the password.
You can try as many times as you have set for the normal password
question when logging in.
You can also mix it with the /F (free) or /RF really free options.
You can also set a praticular filename on the optional data line:
c:\qbbsst\betas\qbbs109e.zip /P=password
So you can download that file with password protection.
* Menu type 24 Scan messages implemented
The optional data takes the board number.
You can scan forward and search. It will only list the header of
the messages. You can mark a message for later reading.
You can read the marked messages after quitting this option or
by using Marked in menutype 23 (read messages).
Marked messages can be mixed from all areas.
* File SECnn.* added. nn is the user level. So if a user has level
100 it will display SEC100.* if this file is available.
The file is shown after the WELCOME.* screen.
* ALT-I, Shows user info in the status bar. Just to get a glance
about what this users has been doing all by himself.
* ALT-O Edits the user Account.
* Reading marked messages without pause didn't work, it displayed
M's :-)
Couldn't find a bug, I added two VSYNC and that's it ! Mayby
someone knowns why??
* New users, if they dropped carrier too early or if a new user
listed the user list the new users date and time were wrong
this is fixed now.
* New text control code: Control-F7 FSE on/off
It shows ON when the Full Screen editor is on for the user.
* Uploadpath in external protocols should work now, finally :-)
* Oarc, added Quit in the first menu. Seemed to cause dropped
carrier with twit users...
* Chat, when asking to enter a message the Y is now default.
* Call count of a user was updated when exitting with an errorlevel
and at some other times. It's now only increased when the user
logs off
* I allowed |\{}[]#~@ in the user name and subject field now.
This is for the scandanavian users.
* Downloadmenu. New menutype number 84
The optional data line takes the path of the area just like
the normal download option.
Marked files will stay marked for the current area only, and they
are cleared after succesfull download or after you leave the menu.
I will allow a global download but will have to rewrite a major
part of the download interface. So that's for a next version.
* Contents of an Archive now understands ZIP, ZOO and GIF files.
Thanx to erno for the example, which needed some serious rewriting
to be able to work in QBBS. Other archivers will be added if I
get some specs. Same goes for the online archiver. But don't expect
ZIP in there yet, ZIP archives or not that simple :-(
The View GIF interface was made by Folkert van Heusden.
* Qconfig. Little bug fix, external protocol 5, the last option couldn't
be changed.
* Upload, external uploads witk xmodem or Xmodem 1k, or better every
protocol that doesn't have batch went wrong. You couldn't upload.
Also files of 0 bytes lenght are killed now...
* Removed showing of A when running door files. This happend when
a menuoption was called.
* Added updating of download counters. Several external utils
already do this. So I used their system. In the files.bbs
it looks like:
ALLFILES.LZH [387] All files on this board
The number between brackets ([]) is the number of times a file
is downloaded.
Scandinavian sysops that set the "use <> in stead of []" flag should
known that QuickBBS ST takes this in account and expects <> in
stead of [].
You can enable this option in qconfig under toggles, use
downloadcounters.
* Netmail area: You can enter larger nodenumbers now, it was
a bit restrictive.
* Chat: When jumping to dos in the chat, the timeout for the chat
is now disabled.
* Mconfig. The flags were not saved the right way. This is
fixed now. People who knew how to fix this won't have a problem
it was mconfig who saved everything wrong. QuickBBS ST did it
the right way. Mconfig also runs on a TT now.
* Mailscan. I did some optimising, but it can hardly go faster then
this. Mayby we can implement some system that makes an index field
of all To: fields of the message base? Any idea's?
* Alias, if you send a message under an alias then also mail in
other (non alias) areas was send under this alias, fixed.
* Sometimes path/file not found is displayed. I couldn't find why
gemdos just returned an error code. Changed the code so lets
see if it still happens.
* Uploadpath in external protocols didn't work, at least the
download path was scanned. Should be fixed now.
* Up/download.log lost a space after the download protocol when you
used an external protocol. Fixed
* Quickscan messages, a > or < is put in front of a message addressed
to or from you, this was however case sensetive. It's not anymore.
* After relogin the welcome.dor isn't executed anymore.
* Implemented accounting system. This is very powerfull and lets
you program your own up/dowload limit door and much more.
Every user has an account, this is already available for editting
in the usereditor. Mind you it can be a negative or postitive number.
Have a look at the account part of qconfig 1.24, in here you can
determine how much points you want to give for an certain action
of the user. For example you could give a -10 for every downloaded
Kilobyte and 100 for every uploaded kilobyte. If you don't want to
use an option just leave it to zero. Except the last three you need
to define those. The values are added or subtracted
Downloaded Kilobytes ..... For each downloaded Kb
Downloaded Files ..... For each file downloaded
Uploaded Kilobytes ..... For each uploaded Kb
Uploaded Files ..... For each uploaded file
Times connected ..... For each time the user called
Read messages ..... For each message read
Posted messages ..... For each message written
The next values should always be entered:
Max points ..... Maximum number of points
Min points ..... Minimum number of point
New user points ..... Number of points that a new user gets
Oke, that's this. We need to be able to use these points of course.
QuickBBS ST will however not check them, it only adds them.
So if a user get's below a minimum he can still download if
his level/limit lets him. It's up to you to use these values
in a .dor file or/and external util. QuickBBS ST will however watch
the max and min level, the account cannot get above or below that.
In the .dor file we added:
ACCOUNT
You can use this exactly like the TIME or CTIME command.
ACCOUNT 100 will set the current account to 100
ACCOUNT -100 will subtract 100 points
ACCOUNT +100 will add 100 points
The account is also available as a variable, it can be used
inside a .dor file and on the commandline of a type 7 menu
option.
*O will be translated into the current account
The account can also be shown in textfiles. Use:
^F6 (Control-F 6) will show the current account status
The timestat menu option will also list the account.
Hope you can make use of this feature, please let us all know.
* PID: Implemented. In areas where QuickBBS ST doesn't put a
tearline a PID (Program Identification) is written. This looks
like : ^APID: QuickBBS ST 1.10
* REPLY: Implemented. In echo/netmail areas a ^AREPLY: is written
if the original message has a ^AMSGID.
* MSGID implemented. If you define an origin for an area then a
MSGID is written at the beginning of the message. If you have
several nodenumbers then don't define an origin in mconfig
for areas of the other nets.