Cream of the Crop 12/Cream of the Crop 12 (Part II)/Cream of the Crop 12 (Part II).iso/BBS/TAG2MAX.ZIP/TAG2MAX.DOC

Text File | 1996-02-15 | 5.5 KB | 142 lines

      TAG2MAX - Conversion Utilities for TAG 2.7x to Maximus 3.01
               (C) Copyright 1996, TranStar Technologies
                              Version 1.0

1. Introduction

Included in this ZIP are two utilities which make conversion of a BBS
using TAG 2.7x to Maximus 3.01 somewhat easier. USERCNV will convert a
TAG USER.LST to a Maximus USER.BBS, while FILECNV will convert file
areas and generate files which facilitate installing a Maximus file
base.


2. USERCNV

USERCNV makes certain assumptions and approximations when converting the
TAG user base, since there are many fields contained in the TAG base
which are not contained in the Maximus base, and vice versa.

The following is a mapping of translated fields:

TAG Field                Maximus Field

Real Name                Real Name
Alias                    Alias
User Number                ---
Address                    ---
City, State                City, State
Zip Code                ---
Password                Password
Number Calls            Total number calls
                        Help Level set to 0
                        Group set to 0
Ansi/TTY                Video mode ANSI selected
                        Nulls set to 0
Hotkeys                    Hotkeys
Do not disturb flag        Not available for chat flag
Restrict from chatting    NERD flag
Date of birth            Date of birth
                        IBM characters set
                        More enabled
CLS character            Cls bit set
                        Used Maximus bit set
Feedback + Priv + Pub    = Number msgs posted
Screen width            Screen width
Screen lines            Screen lines
                        Messages read set to 0
                        No expiration fields are set
Gender                    Gender
AR Flags                Keys (A-Z)
                        Upload K's set to 0
                        Download K's set to 0
Number Uploads            Number Uploads
Number Downloads        Number Downloads
First On Date            Date of first logon
First On Date            Date of last password change
Points                    Point Credits
                        Point Debits = 0
SL                        Privilege Level
                        Last Message Base set to 1
                        Last File Base set to 1

To invoke the conversion 2 stages are required. First is the conversion
of the actual records:

    USERCNV path\USER.LST path\USER.BBS

Then, the Maximus cvtuser utility should be invoked to rebuild the user
index.

    CVTUSR -l

Note that I have included the source code if others have additional
requirements. For example, you may wish to map TAG's SL (or DSL) to a
different numerical value in Maximus. Or, you may wish uncomment the
Pascal Real to IEEE conversion routines in order to get the actual K's
uploaded and downloaded.


3. FILECNV

This utility is more complex than the conversion of the user base.
FILECNV is invoked by naming the path to TAG's fboards.dat, which is
similar to Maximus's filearea.dat (binary) file base.

    FILECNV path\fboards.dat path\fareas.ctl

FAREAS.CTL is a control file (in filearea.ctl) format for the existing
file bases. In addition, for each file areas which currently exists this
program will ask if you want to convert the file descriptions to .BBS
format. For example, you might have an area 1) General Files in TAG.
This area might have FILES.DIR in the path D:\FILES\GENERAL. If you
answer YES, then it will open the FILES.DIR and generate in the same
directory FILES.BBS.

Likewise, assume you have a CD with a TAG-defined area of 34) BBS, and
you are multinode, and you have FILES34.DIR in the Tag\Multi directory.
If you answer YES, then FILES34.BBS will be generated in the TAG\MULTI
directory. The directories thus generated for CD areas can then be moved
to whichever location you are using in Maximus for such .BBS files.

FILECNV will assign the AR and DSL of Tag as a Maximus Priv/Key for
individual file areas. It will also define CD areas as Type CD. The
source for FILECNV is included for those wishing to further customize
this utility for their purposes.


4. Hints

On my system, which had about 100 areas, multinode, some HD-based and
some CD-based it took me about an hour to generate the files, tweak the
filearea.ctl file, move the .BBS files and silt the results. You will
find it necessary to do some tweaking in order to achieve the desired
results.

What about Message Bases? Well, the differences between message bases
are substantial. If you use, Fido (*.msg) format, which is unlikely
these days, then nothing is required. Otherwise, you are faced with JAM
to Squish or Hudson to Squish conversion. I had previously used JAM
bases exclusively on my system. Here's what I did.

I use my tosser to generate an Areas.BBS file. I used this file to
generate my MSGAREA.CTL. That AREAS.BBS file can then also be used in
Squish for any echo areas you may have. I used the very excellent TIMED
1.10+ Program to block copy messages from JAM to Squish. Somewhat
time-consuming, but this is the only program I know of which will
actually move from JAM to Squish. If TIMED is properly configured this
is perfect, and you will move the Origin, Path's, and Seen-by's in echo
areas as well as any INTL and PID kludges in the netmail areas. See the
TIMED documentation for how to configure TIMED for Move/Copy without
prefixing the message with a header in the destination message base. And
REGISTER your copy of TIMED!


5. Restrictions

These utilities are free. The user is free to modify the source to suit
his/her purposes. The only restriction I make is that neither may be
used in a commercial environment. I would also request that if you
utilize this code in something you mention the original source.