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Text File | 1996-02-15 | 24.2 KB | 560 lines

USER PROFILES v1.5 by Al Lawrence Sunrise-80 BBS (404) 256-9525 (USR v.everything 33.6) (404) 705-9104 (USR v.everything 33.6) (404) 256-9518 (Voice, 9am-9:30pm EST) (EMAIL) al_lawre@ix.netcom.com OVERVIEW ________ This Door can be used to capture information about a user, for other users to review. The Sysop has complete control over the questions to ask, the way the anwers will be displayed and whether or not to force the user to fill out the questionaire. If your BBS software allows you to execute a Door when a caller logs in, then you can FORCE a user to enter the Door and ensure that they answer the questions. NOTE: Most errors will be logged to a file called DFRAME.ERR which is created in the directory you run the door from. NON-REGISTERED R E S T R I C T I O N S ---------------------------------------- ° Limited to 15 callers ° Keyboard timeout value limited to 2 minutes ° Time allowed in door can not be adjusted ° Can not use the command line entry that allows the caller to select a user, display the info and return to the BBS (all from the main menu) INSTALLATION ____________ Installation is fairly easy and straight-forward. The following steps and examples should have you up and running in a very short period of time. It is assumed that you are familiar with setting up DOORS on your system. To this end, only examples of the configuration file and Door batch file are described. 1) Create a directory to hold all PROFILE file 2) Unzip PROFILxx.ZIP into the the above directory 3) Create a configuration file, with a name of your choice, or modify the supplied PROFILE.CFG file. A description follows: ** Location of system file (See Below) SUNRISE-80 BBS Your BBS Name Al Sysop's First name Lawrence Sysop's Last Name |-----------------------------------------------------------------------------| | READ! 1 CommPort \ These 2 lines are required | | READ! 1 Node # / ONLY for GTUSER.BBS | |-----------------------------------------------------------------------------| 00000000 Registration Number 2 1 = DO NOT Display ADOPT-A-DOOR Message 2 = Display ADOPT-A-DOOR message # 2 Keyboard timeout value in Minutes # 0 Time Allowed in Door (Sysop = Time Remaining - REG. VERSION) N Y = Force a NEW user to answer questions. This would be used if you were to use the Door as part of an AutoLogin process. (Will also apply to anyone entering the door via your door menu). Once in the Door the user will HAVE to answer the questions with no way out until that is done. N = Participation in the Doors is voluntary and the user can exit, without answering the questions. If you make this an Auto-Login Door the caller will be presented with the menu. I would NOT recommend using the N option if you are making this an Auto-Logon door. 0 0 = Use caller's logon name 1 = Use Alias name (Must use DOOR.SYS) C:\PROFILE\ Drive:\Path where ALL Picture files will be kept. You MUST include a trailing \ or "Bad File Name' type errors will be encountered. ** = Replace with ONE of the following: C:\bbs\PCBOARD.SYS <- For PCBoard systems using PCBOARD.SYS only C:\BBS\CALLINFO.BBS <- For Wildcat! systems (prior to v3.0) C:\BBS\DOOR.SYS <- For ANY systems that support DOOR.SYS C:\BBS\DORINFOx.DEF <- For ANY systems that support DORINFOx.DEF C:\BBS\SFDOORS.DAT <- For Spitfire systems. c:\bbs\TRIBBS.SYS <- For TriBBS systems. C:\BBS\GTUSER.BBS <- For GT Power * if using this option you must put the ComPort # on line 5 and the Node # on line 6 of the configuration file # = Requires registration to change to a different value. NOTE: There are NO Blank Lines in the Config File!! 4) Create a batch file or modify the PROFILE file supplied. A description of this file follows: ECHO off cd\BBS\DOORS\Profile Location of PROFILE files Profile Profile.cfg EXE filename and CFG filename (Name used in creating file in #3 above) CD\BBS BOARD 5) When running in more than one node, be sure to supply a different configuration name for each node (your choice of name). 6) If running with Fossil-based multi-port boards add /FD to the line containing the CFG name as follows: PROFILE PROFILE.CFG /FD 7) You will be able to supply a user's name on the Command line, and the program will search for that user's record, display it and return to the BBS. The best way to use this option, which may not be adaptable to every BBS software system, is to have a an entry on the main menu (call it PROFILE) and using script type languages, ask the caller for a name to search for. You would then pass that name to the PROFILE command line. After displaying the profile, whether found or not, the caller will be taken back to the BBS. An example follows: PROFILE PROFILE.CFG \USER:user name here Please note that the \USER: parameter MUST be the last parameter on the command line. There MUST be an exact match for the profile to be displayed. TROUBLESHOOTING --------------- (1) If you are running this Door on a 486 system and encounter errors such as ERROR 6.... OVERFLOW Error ERROR 5.... ILLEGAL Function Call (may be associated with other problems) KEYBOARD Timeout after 5 minutes You may have to put the following line in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file: SET NO87=ON (2) If you encounter an Error 62 (Input Past End of File), BEFORE you see the opening screen of the Door, your problem will more than likely be associated with the CFG file. The error 62 means that you do not have enough entries in the CFG. Compare your CFG file with the CFG definition in the DOC file. (3) If you encounter an ERROR 70... Permission Denied, this will more than likely mean that you DO NOT have SHARE loaded. SHARE is a DOS file that comes with your version of DOS. To load it type the word SHARE at the DOS prompt. To load it permanently type the word SHARE on a line by itself in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file, any place prior to the loading of your BBS software. There have been numerous reports that loading SHARE high causes some problems, so to be on the safe side, do not load it high. Should you have any questions or problem, please do not hesitate to call voice for immediate help... 404-256-9518 (9am-9:30pm EST) any day! VALID INPUT CHARACTERS (CHAR.OK) -------------------------------- If you wish to restrict the type of characters a caller may enter, in response to any questions, be sure to either create or edit the CHAR.OK file. This file contains all the valid characters you will accept in reponse o a Profile question. You can delete CHAR.OK, if you do not wish to validate any input characters or you may edit it to add/change existing entries. A CHAR.OK file is supplied that contains only the alpha and numeric keys PROFILE MAINTENANCE Program --------------------------- A maintenance program is supplied that will allow you to View, Delete, Purge Profiles and update the PICTURE field. To execute the program type the following: PROFMANT PROFILE.CFG Unregisterd version will only allow viewing of the records! QUESTIONS/DISPLAY VERBAGE(PROFILE.DAT) ______________________________________ This file contains all the questions you will be asking the callers to complete, whether or not they must answer the question and the corresponding display verbage to be used when displaying the caller's answers to the questions. PROFILE.DAT an ASCII file created/edited with any ASCII editor. Each line will reference an individual question, with a maximum of 38 questions. The format of each line in the file, is as follows: aaaaaaaaaaaa,b,ccccccccccccc where a = the question to be asked (maximum of 50 characters) b = Y (question MUST be answered) N (question may be bypassed) c = verbage to be used when displaying answer (max of 18 char.) The program will perform checks on the PROFILE.DAT file and will report any errors it detects. A message will be displayed containing the offending PROFILE.DAT line number and an error number. The error numbers and their meaning follows: Error 1: Question length greater than 50 Error 2: 'Must answer' field contains other than Y or N Error 3: Display verbage length greater than 18 Error 4: File contains more than 38 questions PLEASE NOTE: When designing the questions, bear in mind that answers to the questions are limited to 18 characters. FORCE RE-ANSWERING of QUESTIONS ------------------------------- You can use the Profile Maintenance program to clear all answers for every user in the database. By doing this you will force the users to re-answer the questions the next time they enter the Door. If a text file named FORCE.TXT is found in the PROFILE directory, it will be displayed just prior to taking the caller to the questions. Thi file could be used to explain to the caller why they are being forced to re-answer the questions. PICTURE ATTACH/PICTURE DOWNLOADING __________________________________ PROFILE allows the Sysop to ATTACH a picture to a User's profile. The format of the picture files are left up to the Sysop (ie: GIF, PCX, etc). The caller uploads the picture file to the BBS (hopefully a private upload). If the Sysop, after reviewing the file, accepts it he/she uses the PROFILE Maintenance program (PROFMANT View Option) to view the caller's profile and add the FILENAME of the picture to the appropriate field in the caller's record. The Drive:\Path\ to the Picture Filename must be defined in the PROFILE.CFG file. Callers that choose to view another callers profile, will be informed that there is a picture available for Downloading/Viewing. The caller is given the option of downloading it and viewing it offline OR if they are using a terminal program with a GIF viewer TSR, viewing it as they download it. UPLOAD/DOWNLOAD FILE TRANSFER PROTOCOLS --------------------------------------- PROFILE externalizes all file transfer protocols used for Downloading of the PROFILE user pictures. This allows the Sysop to define the file transfer protocols they wish to support. A file called PROTOCOL.DAT is supplied with protocols already defined, which you may alter at any time. Each entry in the PROTOCOL.DAT file consists of the description that will be displayed to the caller on the Protocol Menu and the 'high level' name of the protocol's batch files. Example: ZModem Upload or Download, ZPROT The information to the left of the comma is the description (NOTE: Only ONE comma permitted per line and it can NOT be part of the description). PROFILE requires that you have 1 batch file in the PROFILE directory to handle the downloading. In the above example ZPROT is the 'high level' portion of the batch file name required for ZMODEM. Your PROFILE directory should contain ZPROTS.BAT. Each protocol batch file MUST contain 2 batch file variables as follows: %1 = PROFILE will use this variable to substitute the current ComPort %2 = PROFILE will use this variable to substitute the file name IMPORTANT! Place the variable (%1 and %2) ONLY in the EXACT location that your protocol requires them, in the protocol command line. Do NOT supply the ComPort or FileName, JUST the %1 and %2 variables themselves (%1 and %2)! See example batch files supplied with the PROFILE. They are the ones being used on the Sunrise-80 BBS. *** PLEASE NOTE *** There may come a time when you will need to supply information to the protocol you are using, based on the node it will be used on. You can accomplish this by supplying a node-specific PROTOCOL file. Everything described above stays the same except that you will name the file PROTOCOL.x (where x is the node number). For example, to use a special set of protocols (or batch files) on node number 5, modify a copy of PROTOCOL.DAT and name it PROTOCOL.5. PROFILE will use PROTOCOL.5 when someone logs on node 5 and will use PROTOCOL.DAT for ALL OTHERS. You do not have to create node-specific PROTOCOL files for all nodes.. just the node(s) that are different. TRASHCAN FILE _____________ This is a text file you must create (if you wish to use one), with a file name of PROFTCAN.DAT and it must reside in the Door directory. This file is used if you want to block the use of "offensive" words callers may choose to use. Each word must appear on a separate line within the text file with a maximum of 100 words. NOTE: The word must match EXACTLY !!! NON-STANDARD COM SUPPORT ________________________ Support for COM 1-4 on the standard IRQ's - COM1/COM3 = IRQ4 and COM2/COM4 = IRQ3. If you wish to use a non-standard IRQ, add the IRQ number after the configuration filename. Let's assume your Door is called FOOBAR and you want to use COM1 and IRQ5. The command line passed to your Door would be: FOOBAR FOOBAR.CFG /5 The /5 tells FOOBAR to use IRQ5 rather than the standard IRQ4 that is normally used with COM1. No /x parameter is needed for the standard IRQ's. As an alternative, you may use an environmental variable on the command line. To use the variable (following the example above), place a SET IRQ=5 in the batch file used to bring up your BBS (you would need a different IRQ number for each node). The command line would now look like this: FOOBAR FOOBAR.CFG /%IRQ% This, in combination with the use of the environmental variables described in the MULTI-NODE SETUP section will allow you to use one batch file and one config file to run this door on all nodes. MULTI-NODE SETUP ________________ All Sunrise Doors are Multi-Node capable. Each node must have the ability to access a configuration file which will have its own system file (DORINFOx.DEF, PCBOARD.SYS, DOOR.SYS, etc) defined on the first line. There are 2 ways to accomplish this: (1) Create a separate configuration file for each node. The only difference between each file would be the location of the system file for that particular node. For example, on my system there are 2 nodes and the first line of the config files would look like this: NODE1: H:\PCB1\DOOR.SYS NODE2: H:\PCB2\DOOR.SYS Thus, if you have a 4 node BBS, you will need 4 configuration files. (2) Use ONE configuration file for ALL nodes. This Door will recognize the following PCBoard/Wildcat environmental variables: PCBDIR (Directory containing the System file) PCBDRIVE (Drive containing the System file) WCNODEID (Active Node Number) Thus, the first line of the SINGLE configuration file, for this Door would look like this: %PCBDRIVE%%PCBDIR%\DOOR.SYS c:\wc30\wcwork\node%wcnodeid%\door.sys NOTE: This option, as described, assumes that you are running PCB or Wildcat software. The environmental variables are automatically created by the software for each node. HOWEVER, if you are running other BBS software you should be able to set the variables EXACTLY as described below, for EACH node (more than likely in each batch file you use to bring up EACH node): PCBDRIVE=C: ^^^^^^^^^ PCBDIR=\NODE2 ^^^^^^^^ Info with a carat (^) under it, MUST be typed as is. The rest depends on your naming conventions. This, in combination with the use of the optional environmental variable described in the NON-STANDARD COM SUPPORT section, will allow you to use one batch file and one config file to run this door on all nodes. ADOPT-A-DOOR ____________ Having been a Sysop for a number of years, I have had my share of problems and frustrations getting financial support for my board's upkeep. A fellow Sysop left a message on my board, not long ago, about a concept that was being used by several boards around the country. The concept, ADOPT-A-DOOR, allows a caller to register (ADOPT) a door. It would be the same as sending in a donation, only this way it is earmarked for registering a particular door. In a way, the user feels he/she is "getting something in return". As a Door author I have decided to build this concept into each of my Door programs. The concept replaces the usual message "tell the Sysop to register this Door" we find in most doors. If the Door is unregisterd then a message appears on the opening screen to that effect. After finishing or suspending a game, a message screen is displayed about the ADOPT-A-DOOR concept. The message also tells the caller to contact the Sysop to find out if there is any further details to the ADOPT-A-DOOR concept. Some Sysops give extra D/L time, online time, etc to callers that ADOPT-A-DOOR. If the Door has been registered, either by the Sysop or other callers, the names of those contributors will be displayed in the closing screen. NOTE: If you want to display the names of the callers that contributed to registering the Door, you must create an ASCII file called ADOPT.SYS. You create it with an Editor or Word Processor. Enter the name(s) of the contributors (one on each line, maximum of 5 entries, each a maximum of 30 characters long). This file must be saved, in ASCII format, and placed in the Door directory. LEGALITIES __________ THIS SOFTWARE AND ACCOMPANYING MATERIALS ARE DISTRIBUTED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY, EXPRESS, IMPLIED OR STATUTORY, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. IN NO EVENT SHALL ANYONE INVOLVED WITH THE CREATION AND PRODUCTION OF THIS PRODUCT BE LIABLE FOR INDIRECT, SPECIAL, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, ARISING OUT OF ANY USE THEREOF OR BREACH OF ANY WARRANTY. DISTRIBUTION ____________ You may make this file available for downloading from your BBS or you may upload it to any BBS of your choice, provided that you do not make any changes to the contents of the archive (ZIP file). The archive and its individual contents may not be used by any service that charges any money whatsoever, without the written permission of the author. REGISTRATION ____________ Registration and the subsequent insertion of the registration number into your configuation file, allows for the display of your BBS name on the opening and closing screen as well as the reduction of a delay built into the opening screen display along with the ability to change certain values in the configuration file. To register your copy of PROFILE, please fill out the registration form (REGISTER.FRM) and mail it along with the registration fee to the name and address on the form. Once a door is registered, any changes to registration information (Sysop name or BBS Name) will require the doors to be re-registered. Download or File Request a file named CHANGE.FRM from our BBS, complete the form and follow ALL instructions in the document! Registration fees are subject to change at any time. The most current registration form is always available on our BBS. You may download or File Request REGISTER.FRM at any time. Be sure to use the proper upper/lower case when filling in your name and BBS name, as they MUST match the way you entered them in the configuration file. ^^^^ Based upon information supplied on the registration form, I will pre- register you on my BBS. You will then be able to call SUNRISE-80 and pick up your registration number. MISC ____ The latest version of PROFILE and other fine SUNRISE DOOR programs are always available for download from SUNRISE-80 BBS. Remember, should you have any problems, questions or suggestions, be sure to drop me a message on Sunrise-80 or in the RIME network (BBS_Doors, PCBHints, SYSops), SMARTNET (SN_Sysops), FIDOnet 1:133/410