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LightChat History File ====================== This file documents changes that have been made to LightChat over the various releases of the software. For the most recent changes, please refer to the WHATSNEW file. LightChat v0.23/beta (1st August 1994) -------------------------------------- + Macro command SWAP implemented. Switches caller's input to other chat window. + Added ability to include text in macros as well as macro commands. + Added optional files to display:- before the page; when the Sysop aborts the page; when the Sysop doesn't answer; when a user is blacklisted; when LightChat is running on another node. Included default text if these files don't exist. + Added multi-line semaphore support. LightChat can inform the user if the SysOp is chatting on another line, or try to page regardless (configurable). Configurable semaphore directory. + Implemented BEEP macro command. + Implemented 'local' mode. Rather than simply printing 'No carrier!' when running with no user online, LightChat now runs, but doesn't provide any carrier detection or modem I/O. + Made LightChat look for it's compiled configuration file in the directory containing the program, rather than the current directory. ! Fixed problem with BACK macro command. BACK was sometimes deleting the wrong user's text, because the cursor wasn't being repositioned. ! Fixed above problem also occuring with string-expansions. ! Fixed similar cursor positioning problem for text in macros. ! Fixed problem in macro parser that hung LightChat if an unimplemented macro command was called. Unimplemented commands are now skipped. ! Fixed potential problem with internal AUX_GOTO macro - ANSI 'goto' command contained a typo (that didn't appear to cause any problems). ! Fixed apparent colour-switching problem at user's end. Colours at user's end were erratic due to inconsistent implementations of ANSI 'save' and 'restore' commands. LightChat now uses 'goto' commands instead. ! Fixed problem where, if the user pressed a key other than Ctrl-K during the page, subsequent pressing of Ctrl-K had no effect. LightChat now looks out for Ctrl-K throughout the page. ! Fixed potential colour switching problem after displaying an ANSI screen. ! Fixed problem where LightChat was becoming so low on memory that it was unable to open any more files. When allocating memory to line buffers, LightChat now reserves a 4K safety margin. LightChat v0.24/beta (3rd August 1994) -------------------------------------- + You can now find out what options you have left unconfigured by typing 'LIGHTCNF UNUSED' when compiling your configuration. + LightChat should now be twice as fast and half as memory hungry, thanks to scrapping the 'four buffer' idea. Most of the code has changed considerably as a result. + Finished CRLF macro command. Now it inserts a line and redraws the window appropriately at the current cursor position, instead of only at the end of the text in a window. CRLF macro now performs the CR AND linefeed itself, so you no longer need to use the macro command HOME directly after it. ! Allocation of four buffers (one for each window) was scrapped. This was being done so that you could have completely different sized windows, but this also meant a lot more memory was needed, and all word-wrap etc. had to be done twice (because windows might have been different widths). After realising this would affect editing if the SysOp's window at the SysOp's end was a different width from the SysOp's window at the user's end (and vice versa), it was decided to make a restriction that each user's window must be the same WIDTH at both ends (height can still be different). That way, word-wrap and other functions only need to be done once (which they now are), which speeds up the program and requires half as much memory. You can still have one window a different width to the other, so long as you ensure that each user is in the same width window at either end. (e.g. Top window is 50 wide, bottom is 78 wide. SysOp goes in top window at BOTH ends, which means the width is the same.) ! Fixed problem where LightChat crashed under certain circumstances if a trigger word was used and there was not enough room on the line for the replacement string. Replacement string is now wrapped under all circumstances when there is insufficient room. ! Fixed slight bug where cursor could always be moved down to the next line after typing in the current line. You now have to have typed, or pressed Return to get onto a line. ! Fixed bug where part of the old date was left on the screen if the date changes whilst in LightChat (if the new date was shorter). ! LightChat no longer crashes if you quit with both users in the same window (after one has switched windows). At the moment though, you must still make sure both users are in separate windows before switching modes. LightChat v0.25/beta (4th August 1994) -------------------------------------- + Implemented 'Flat Chat' - aka Chat Mode 0. This mode will automatically be entered for ASCII users, but can be switched to when running in ANSI mode too. LightChat will not let you enter Modes 1, 2 or 3 if you are chatting to an ASCII user. 'Macro' words and word-wrap still work in this mode of course, but macro commands such as 'swap window', 'up cursor' etc. have no effect. If flat chat is used in ANSI mode, colours will be assigned to each user's input. These can be defined in LIGHTCHT.CFG. + Implemented a simple status bar. It will probably change quite a bit, but it's a start - at least you can now see who's paging you! + LightChat now adds extensions to certain filenames (such as those to be shown when the sysop is busy) depending on whether LightChat is in ASCII or ANSI mode. If the file cannot be opened, some default text will be used instead. + Changed numerical 'attribute' keywords previously used to define colours for chat windows etc. to easier mnemonic form. (e.g. 'M1ClockColour LightBlue') ! Fixed problem where LightChat would crash/become unstable if it could not load the screen file for a particular mode, and reverted to another mode instead - it wasn't adjusting the line buffers. ! Resolved some cursor positioning problems, mainly resulting from the implementation of 'flat' chat. LightChat v0.26/beta (9th August 1994) -------------------------------------- + Colours are now used in flat chat mode even if the LightChat is running in ASCII mode - colour codes will not be sent to the user, but will be sent to the local screen. + LightChat now takes notice of whether the page bell is active or not. If it is disabled (by using the Scroll Lock key), LightChat will page you 'quietly'. + LightChat can now (optionally) create a USERDOES.nnn file in your RA system directory, to tell compatible 'Who's online' programs that you are chatting to the user. If you don't use a USERDOES file (configured by keyword 'UserActionFile'), LightChat will set RAs system files to show 'Sysop Chat' when using a 'Who's online' command from RA. If a USERDOES file is used, LightChat will set it to show 'Is paging the Sysop' during a page, so that other users don't think they are in chat/still browsing the BBS. If for some reason LightChat can't create the USERDOES file, it will revert to setting RA to show 'Sysop Chat'. + Changed the LightChat semaphore filename from LC_BUSY.nnn (where nnn is a 3-digit 0-prefixed node number, e.g. 'LC_BUSY.001') to LC_BUSY.n (e.g. 'LC_BUSY.1') for no good reason other than other things seem to do it this way and it knocks 8 bytes off the program size(!). ! LightChat was changing the colour unnecessarily in flat chat when using ANSI mode - it now changes once per user when necessary. ! When attempting to switch to an ANSI chat mode from flat chat, with an ASCII user online (which fails) after the status bar displayed the error message, sometimes the cursor returned to the wrong place. The cursor now gets replaced properly. ! As well as the cursor being positioned in the wrong place, the status bar showed that you were in the mode you attempted to switch to, even though LightChat had not switched because it was an ASCII user. Now stays set to 'Mode: 0'. ! Fixed problem where some of the ANSI screen was being blanked out after switching modes, because the date string was being padded out too much. ! If the user's name was longer than 24 characters or their location was longer than 19 characters, the name/location was displayed incorrectly on the statusbar, and sometimes caused a crash. ! Fixed all (hopefully) of the cursor positioning problems, that were occasionally causing printing errors. ! Fixed word-wrap problem where text wrapped to next line but did not 'disappear' from current line. Instead it got 'squashed' off the end, or remained stuck in the window when scrolling. ! Added some code to prevent some unnecessary ANSI codes being sent when word-wrapping. ! LightChat used to crash if you switched modes with both users in the same window (after SWAPWINDOW macro had been used). You can now safely switch modes whilst swapped - LightChat will restore both users to their respective windows when entering a new mode. LightChat v0.27/beta (18th August 1994) --------------------------------------- + Added a configuration keyword 'USERDOESPath' to specify where the USERDOES.nnn file should be created/looked for, rather than forcing you to use the RA system directory as before. + You can now use 'data codes' in certain places in LightChat, such as .ANS/.ASC files, macro strings, automatic greeting strings, word-macros etc. See LIGHTCHT.CFG for a list of data codes currently supported by LightChat. + Added code to use automatic greetings and goodbyes, with simulated typing option. Several new configuration keywords added to take advantage of these new features - see LIGHTCHT.CFG for details. + Added 'excluded user' feature. You can configure whether you should be paged silently when such a user tries to page, or whether to show a file (filename configured in UserExcludedFile). This option is configurable with the keyword ActionIfExcluded. + Added a complete RA user editor. New macro command added (command '{'), to call this feature. Added two configurable strings to show to the user before and after calling the user editor (UserEditMsg and DoneUserEditMsg). You can shell to DOS from the user editor at any time with Ctrl-Z. You can use this temporarily in place of the DOS macro command until that gets implemented. Carrier checking is NOT performed whilst in the user editor, but will resume as soon as you leave it. + Made some functions 'registered-verson only', and added some restrictions in several places if LightChat is unregistered. This is to prepare for initial beta releases. + Added some code to (attempt to) detect an earlier LightChat crash, and if found, clear up redundant files to prevent LightChat from thinking you are still chatting to another user. It's doubtful that this function will be of any use because of the way RA works, but it's there just in case. Please contact us if it does activate itself on your system, otherwise it might be removed later. + An interactive registration and beta-test application program has been written and will be enclosed in the LightChat distribution as of this release. LightChat v0.28 (29th August 1994) ---------------------------------- + LightChat now sets the 'Wants chat' indicator in RA *on* if it exits for any reason without you having chatted to the user. If you HAVE chatted to the user, it sets the 'Wants chat' indicator *off*. + LightChat can now optionally ask the user for a reason for chat. In the registered version, you can also specify a .ANS/.ASC file to show before asking the user for their reason, so you can change the appearance of the prompt. A hard-coded prompt is used in the unregistered version. + LightChat can optionally show a .ANS/.ASC file if the reason for chat given by the user is too short (configured by MinReasonLength). + The position and colour of text to be used when the user enters their reason for chat can now be configured to match positioning/colours in your reason prompt file. + Added configurable 'maximum length of reason' so that the user's reason doesn't overwrite any right hand border in your reason prompt file. + You can now configure how many lines LightChat should scroll each window. This will be used when at the bottom of a window, or when using the cursor keys to scroll backwards/forwards through text in the window. + Added two new control codes - Ctrl-A (ASCII 1) waits until [Enter] is pressed. Ctrl-W (ASCII 23) waits for 1 second. (These control codes are the same as those used in RemoteAccess). + Added REDRAW macro command. This command will redraw the ANSI screen, the users' names, date, time, and text in both windows. + Added FREEZE macro command. This command will temporarily cause LightChat to ignore any input from the remote user. If the FREEZE macro command is recalled, LightChat will no longer ignore input. + Added page tune support. LightChat will now randomly select a file in your page tune directory (configured by PageTuneDirectory) and play it. 'PageCallType' must be set to 'Tune' for tunes to be played. + LightChat modes are now numbered 1 through 4, for clarity. + LightChat no longer complains if your specified excluded-user list does not exist. + LightChat will no longer exit if EXITINFO.BBS is not found. Instead, the user editor will be inaccessible. + LightChat will no longer exit if DOOR.SYS is not found. Instead, it will switch to local mode. ! The cursor was not being returned to the correct position after text contained in a macro string was inserted, which caused some display errors. Fixed. ! When jumping to DOS from the user editor, a message was printed on screen saying 'Type EXIT to return to the Test Program'! Now suggests you return to LightChat instead :) ! Fixed two display problems that made the cursor go below the bottom of a chat window. In word-wrap, this meant part of the text was being inserted on the wrong line. ! Fixed slight problem with DOS shell from the user editor. Now uses a little less memory. LightChat v0.29 (30th September 1994) ------------------------------------- + LightChat now uses paging hours (defined in LIGHTCHT.CFG). + LightChat can now 'backspace over lines'. + LightChat now logs its activity. The log-file and style are configurable with two new keywords ('LogFile' and 'LogType'). + LightChat now has a built-in Macro Manager. Macros and their associated keys can be changed whilst chatting by invoking the macro manager. Macro definitions have now been removed from the .CFG file. + New command-line parameter 'MACROS' added to LIGHTCHT.EXE to edit/ define macros without going into chat mode. + New macro command 'DEL' added, which deletes the character to the right of the cursor. + Added a page 'bar' that represents the time elapsed/remaining in the paging process. Works in ASCII and ANSI modes. Configurable colours, position, and length of bar. 'Dots' can still be printed instead if you prefer. + LightChat can now be configured to get paging hours from RemoteAccess, in which case, LightChat's paging hours are ignored, and you can override the paging hours using Alt-O in RA. + Added configuration option to set whether or not 'beeps' should be sent to the user's terminal or not during paging. + LightChat now allows ASCII characters 127 through 255 to be used in chat (allowing UK pound sign, European language characters etc.) + You can now define up to 3 alternative names that LightChat can use for the local operator - these could be used for pseudonym's, Co-SysOps, or other people who are likely to be answering pages on your system. Each alternative name has an associated configurable 'chat key' that can be used to answer a page. Additionally, when using the FORCE option (to bypass paging), a parameter can be passed to specify which user to use as the local operator. ! Improved word-wrap routines. ! Increased speed of screen update when word-wrapping. ! LightChat was not reporting a missing fossil driver when running in local mode like it should. ! CTRL-K was not being read from the local keyboard to abort the page. ! Chat mode 1 (ASCII) suddenly decided to stop word wrapping properly for no apparent reason. This *may* not be fixed, please get in touch if it still occurs. ! USERON.BBS was being 'damaged' slightly when running LightChat in local mode (without dropfiles present). ! Major problems with chat mode 1 (ASCII) not word wrapping at the user's end were fixed. ! Semaphore file was being set before paging and before the SysOp answered, meaning that a user on another node received the 'SysOp Chatting' message when in fact they weren't. Semaphore is now only set once the SysOp has answered/forced the page. ! LIGHTCNF and LIGHTCHT programs now restore the screen to the mode they were in when loaded. ! User's sex was being displayed incorrectly in the user editor. If edited, it was also slightly corrupting user-file. ! The Macro Manager, User Editor and Registration Program were not allowing the '=' character to be entered. ! Fossil driver is no longer needed when running LightChat in local mode. ! User Editor and Macro Manager messages were being displayed in the wrong place locally, and subsequent typing overtyped text already on the screen. ! Page tune player was measuring seconds incorrectly - although tune sounded correct, dots and beeps sent to user were appearing at irregular intervals. As a result, local and remote keyboards weren't being checked as regularly as they should. ! Page tune player now checks local and remote keyboards constantly during the paging process, instead of once a second. ! Paging screen was being overwritten locally by program information and page progress, and cleared completely at the user's end. ! User's name was being looked up in exclude list (and the user was then chucked out) even when using LightChat in forced mode. ! LightChat now has it's own ANSI interpreter, and no longer requires ANSI.SYS to be loaded. ! The status bar is now cleared off the screen before LightChat exits. ! User's name is now displayed on status bar along with reason for chat, so that the SysOp can see who is paging. ! When line buffer was full, the Redraw macro was redrawing text in the window and filling up any unused lines with old text. LightChat v1.00/beta-1 (2nd February 1995) ------------------------------------------ + LightChat now has a menu-based setup utility. The old script configuration and compiler has been removed. + LightChat's registration program has been removed in favour of a simpler-to-use text-based form (REGISTER.FRM) + LightChat's documentation has been completely re-written. + LightChat now makes an entry in the log file if the SysOp is chatting to another user on another node. + LightChat can now optionally detect if the user has chatted to the SysOp before in the same call, and if so, not send another automatic greeting. + LightChat now has a 'message-to-SysOp' facility, with a built-in fully configurable message editor (see LIGHTCHT.DOC for more details). + LightChat now comes with an AutoInstall facility - you no longer even need to install and configure LightChat yourself to get it running! LCSETUP will read essential information from RA's configuration, alter its own paths according to where you have extracted LightChat, and install itself into your RA system. + Path-checking was added to LCSETUP, to ensure directories exist, and offer the option of creating them for you. + The *N option can now be used in log file paths for use with multi-node systems. + The LCHATxx tag in the LightChat log file was changed to LCxx. + The now redundant 'MACROS' parameter was removed from LightChat, as LCSETUP can be used instead. + LightChat can now optionally display a screen if the user has paged the SysOp a (configurable) number of times. + LightChat can now auto-add a user to the exclude list if they have paged a (configurable) number of times. In this case, the optional screen to display (see above) is used as a warning screen instead. + LCSETUP's path-creator could previously only create directories one- level deep. It can now create directories recursively. + Comments can now be used in the excluded user list (must be preceeded by a semicolon). + LCSETUP's AutoInstall feature can now create, as well as update, GLOBALRA.MNU. + Made various enhancements to AutoInstall's ability to add itself to GLOBALRA.MNU. + Internal macro editor was removed to make the program a little smaller - LCSETUP can be used to edit command macros instead. As a result, the macro command MACED (|) no longer exists. + New macro command 'DOS' (q) has been added. This command will shell to DOS from LightChat, which will be swapped out to EMS/XMS, or Disk. + LCSETUP now comes with an on-line help facility, providing context- sensitive help and search facilities. Press F1 to bring up the help screen at any time. ! LightChat could crash if the configuration file was invalid. Fixed. ! Sharing violations/crashes were occuring on LIGHTCHT.MAC when LightChat was operating in a multi-node system. ! If LightChat was run in local mode (without a DOOR.SYS file present), and was configured to use RA's paging hours, it would ALWAYS think the SysOp was not available. ! When LightChat was running on a multi-node system and a user paged whilst another was already chatting, data codes 'e', 'f', and 'g' (other user's details) were being set to the same as codes 'a', 'b' and 'c' (the first user's details). ! The paging hours in LCSETUP were displayed in the wrong order. ! Colour of chat text was being changed after a word-macro replacement, if something of a different colour had updated on the screen just before the word-macro trigger character was used. ! LCSETUP would produce a device error if you used it whilst LightChat was running. ! Major flaw with remote macro-key reading was fixed. ! LCSETUP was not backing up GLOBALRA.MNU if GLOBALRA.OLD already existed. ! LCSETUP's AutoInstall feature was not adding the 'FORCE' parameter to the 'External chat' command-line in RACONFIG. ! The 'Notes' field in LCSETUP's Macro Manger was slightly too long, which would cause the program to crash if completely filled. ! LCSETUP produced a Device Error if run whilst LightChat was running under Netware. This was due to a file-sharing problem with the macro file, LIGHTCHT.MAC. LightChat v1.00/beta-2 (12th February 1995) ------------------------------------------- + Support for the JAM message base format was added. This was achieved using the JAM API, although we had to amend it to fix some major problems with pointer addition in the original API code. + LCSETUP AutoInstall now attempts to locate your local To/From SysOp message area from your RA configuration, and configures itself appropriately. + Added new macro command, 'HANG' (y). This command will attempt to disconnect the user directly from LightChat. + Added new macro command, 'LOCK' (z). This command does the same as HANG, except it first sets the user's security to zero. + Added two new macro commands, 'STATL' and 'STATR' (} and ~ respectively). These commands 'rotate' the status bar to show different information about the user (only available if EXITINFO.BBS is present). + Changed default answer to 'Would you like to leave a message?' to 'No'. ! LCSETUP exited without any error message if the LightChat data files were corrupt. ! Word-macros were being triggered even if *parts* of words matched, rather than whole words. For example, if 'ra' was set to expand to 'RemoteAccess', typing the word 'extra' would cause LightChat to replace it with 'extRemoteAccess'. LightChat now requires that one of the configured trigger characters is before the current word, as well as after it. ! LightChat did not tell ASCII users of the message editor to press ESC for the menu, which caused some confusion! ! LCSETUP AutoInstall set the LightChat menu entry's flags to those of new users (taken from RACONFIG), but these flags are often unset after users have been 'validated'. For this reason, LCSETUP now sets NO flags as 'required' for paging the SysOp in the menu entry. LightChat v1.00 (9th April 1995) -------------------------------- + If LightChat is unable to shell to DOS when a DOS macro command is issued, an appropriate error message is now displayed. Swapping out to disk has now been removed for security reasons, but EMS/XMS are still used. Replaced EXEC 3.3a code with updated 3.3b version. + You can now configure word-macros to use SimuType, and can also include data codes in the replacement strings. + Major improvements made to remote key-reader - this should now accept cursor control/function keys from the majority of comms software including FrontDoor terminal. + Improved random selection of page-tunes, which previously wasn't very random! + Added new switch parameter '/M:[mode]' which enables you to load LightChat in a specific chat mode, or select a mode at random. Valid options are 1, 2, 3, 4, or RANDOM. An instruction to pick a mode at random is ignored if the user's terminal does not support ANSI graphics. + Changed alternative name parameter to '/N:[number]' form for consistency. + Big improvements made to ASCII message editor, which now behaves very similar to RemoteAcess' built-in message editor. + Added new macro command 'DELLN', (l). This command deletes the current line, pulling up any text beneath it. + AutoInstall now makes a backup of CONFIG.RA to CONFIG.OLD + AutoInstall now detects unregistered versions of RA and makes an intelligent choice of AltFn keys in which to install the LightChat command line. If then offers this to the user, who can select whether or not to install LightChat to the chosen AltFn key. + AutoInstall now detects incompatible (old and new) versions of RA and does not attempt to self-install itself. + Added two new macro commands, 'CLRW' and 'CLROW' (j and k respectively). CLRW clears the window you are currently in, and CLROW clears the window the other user is currently in. These commands move to the end of the text and add an extra line if necessary, to scroll the text off the window. + Added new macro command 'LOG', (|). This command opens/closes a chat capture file (configurable in LCSETUP), to enable logging of everything the user types. Lines are written out to the file as the window buffer becomes full and the lines are removed. Any lines not written are then flushed when the log file is closed (either by invoking the macro again, or when quitting chat or changing mode). + AutoInstall now has a progress indicator. + LightChat is now supplied with a complete set of sample screens and a better selection of page-tunes. + A professional printed User Guide is now available for a small charge. ! LightChat's built-in ANSI interpreter froze when presented with certain colour-change codes. ! Fixed a couple of problems with alternative SysOp names/co-SysOp. Firstly, if an alternative no. was passed on the command-line without the FORCE parameter, the SysOp name was reset to the main SysOp name unless the page was answered with one of the alternative keys. Secondly, the main SysOp name was ALWAYS being used in the 'To:' field of messages to the SysOp. ! The message editor was previously allowing more lines to be inserted/added even when the text buffer was full. It was taking lines 'from the top', in the same way that the chat modes do, but obviously in the case of messages, message text was being lost. The message editor now prevents the user from adding more lines in such circumstances. ! The DOS macro command was causing systems to crash, due to LightChat's interrupt handlers being left active. This has now been fixed. ! Unregistered versions were not allowing users to exit the message editor! ! Word-macro replacement strings that contained more than one word were being treated as a single word when word-wrapping. ! Several major problems with remote display updates have been fixed. ! Removed requirement for CONFIG.RA to be located when DOOR.SYS not found - if neither file is found, LightChat will be unable to write to the HMB. ! The minimum baudrate required for the LightChat 'beam' prior to paging has been moved from 9600 and above to *above* 9600, due to reports of 9600 modems being unable to keep up. ! Fixed problem with clear-window macro that was causing remote display errors. ! Altered the way LightChat reads/writes EXITINFO.BBS files to avoid problems due to corrupt files being created by RemoteAccess (caused by invalid EMSI strings). LightChat v1.10/beta-1 (12th April 1995) ---------------------------------------- + The 'reason for chat' given by a user is now returned to RemoteAccess so that it can be viewed using F6. + AutoInstall now asks the user if they wish to use it or not, and informs them that GLOBALRA.MNU and CONFIG.RA will be backed up. + The users' 'Messages Posted' counter is now incremented if they leave a message. + If LightChat is not loaded in FORCE mode, the user's reason for chat is available in the status bar (by using the rotate macros) after answering the page, as well as during it. + A short demonstration/guided tour of LightChat is now activated if you run LightChat in local mode from DOS. ! Any trailing backslashes on the System and USERDOES paths were not being removed as they should have been. ! AutoInstall was occasionally detecting an existing chat utility in a redundant slot of GLOBALRA.MNU, and installing LightChat there (this slot is not accessible from RACONFIG's menu editor). ! When LightChat was loaded before a user had completed the logon procedure, it was using the previous user's details. This is due to RemoteAccess passing the previous user's details to LightChat, but has been resolved by matching the name supplied to that found in USERON.BBS. In this situation, LightChat now runs in ASCII mode, and supresses AutoGreets/Goodbyes, as the user's name is unknown. ! AutoInstall was reporting some RA installations as incompatible versions. This was due to the version number field in CONFIG.RA being totally inconsistent. ! When an error message was displayed on the status bar, the 'normal' status bar display was not returned to after the delay. LightChat v1.10/beta-2 (16th April 1995) ---------------------------------------- + Improved the appearance of the LightChat status bar, and allowed more room for username and location. + LightChat displays more information about what is happening during loading and exit. + The unregistered version is a little less annoying when a user is paging the SysOp, and gets to the paging process a little faster. + The following operating systems and multitaskers are automatically detected by LightChat: DOS, OS/2, Windows and DESQview. Under OS/2, Windows, and DESQview, LightChat gives up timeslices at appropriate points. + Made error messages more concise and informative. + Standardised a set of errorlevels returned by LightChat. + Improved the sound of the error signal(!). + Introduced 'logon' mode - a forced ASCII mode that is invoked if LightChat is called before a user has completed the logon procedure. + As RA does not supply any useful information in the above situation, it was necessary to add some new (optional) parameters, to specify the node number, port number and baud rate that LightChat should use. Command-line parameters override any information gathered from RA data files (which contain redundant information before a user has finished logging on). The old /N parameter has been renamed /A. + Changed the FORCE parameter to /F, and the /M:RANDOM parameter to /MR in order to fit more options on the command-line. + LightChat's timing routines were improved, making for smoother operation. + Made some cosmetic improvements by disabling the cursor at several points. + Added a '/L' parameter to force LightChat into local test mode from DOS. Some users' systems were locating old DOOR.SYS files and using the details from them. + We can now accept postal registrations in the USA, thanks to our new registration site run by Mike Ehlert. + Made the keyboard lights go crazy during the unregistered signal, and made them flash in time to page tunes(!). Pressing Scroll-Lock still has the effect of toggling sound on/off. ! A further problem with LightChat's ANSI processor was fixed. Switching from a bright to a dark foreground colour, both with the same background colour other than black, caused the background colour to be lost. ! The configurable message to be shown to the user after returning from the DOS shell was not always being shown in the correct colour. ! If, during the DOS shell, a program returned an errorlevel, LightChat was displaying this errorlevel upon return, stating that it was an error from the swap-routines. ! LightChat was using a method of locking the Hudson Messagebase that was preventing it from writing messages whilst certain other programs were using it. LightChat's sharing method has now been made compatible with these other programs. ! Page tunes were being played erraticly and at the wrong speed. ! An error message was being displayed if USERON.BBS could not be found/opened - something that shouldn't happen seeing as LightChat is supposed to have support for non-RA systems! LightChat v1.10/beta-3 (12th May 1995) -------------------------------------- + The command macros for the message editor have now been separated from those for the chat modes. The message editor macros can now be configured in LCSETUP in Message editor->Command macros. This, among other things, allows you to prevent the user from exiting LightChat whilst in chat mode. + Added a LightBar selection menu to the message editor. Colours are configurable in Message editor->Screen. + The message menu can now be reached by pressing Escape while editing the subject field. + Reduced the time taken for the flashing UNREGISTERED nag. + Added a command-macro help window to LCSETUP. + Implemented a direct-save macro command (CTRL-Z/ALT-S by default). + Made keyboard-light flashing configurable. + Hangup/lockout/statusbar left & right macros can now be used: - When prompting user for a reason for chat. - During the paging process. - When a 'wait-for-enter' data code has been used in a screen. - When LightChat is asking the user if they wish to leave a message. + LightChat now aborts rather than complaining about the length, if the length of a reason for chat is 0. + Removed "Returning to BBS..." message. + Added an 'Auto chat capture' option in LCSETUP. + An audible and visual signal is now given when opening/closing the chat capture file. + High ASCII characters (127-255) can now be used in LCSETUP without the need to use CTRL-P first. + Removed the sounds during UNREGISTERED signs. ! Problems were occurring when a user used the QUIT command macro in the ASCII message editor (assigned to the Escape key by default). This was allowing users to exit LightChat without the message function menu being displayed, and also caused other errors. ! No logging is now performed if LightChat does not know the node number. This is to prevent sharing conflicts in multi-node systems. ! High ASCII characters (ASCII 127-255) were not being allowed in the reason for chat, or the message subject. ! There was a cosmetic problem with the chat capture file, and also the chat capture file was not flushed when a user dropped carrier/was hung up/locked out. ! When using an HMB message board, LightChat was not updating MSGINFO.BBS correctly, which meant the HMB had to be re-indexed. ! LightChat was not always detecting that a user was still in the logon procedure, and used the previous caller's name instead. This was due to a file-sharing problem with USERON.BBS ! LightChat was setting the "Wants Chat" indicator even when the reason given by the user was too short. ! Under systems other than RA, LightChat was reporting that DOOR.SYS was not found, despite reading and using the information from DOOR.SYS ! The BEEP macro was not silenced when Scroll-Lock was pressed. ! If an error occured while LightChat was exiting, the status bar was not cleared. LightChat v1.10 (23rd June 1995) -------------------------------- + Registrations are now accepted in Germany by our new registration site, run by Frank Schittek. + LightChat now consists of two programs in one; LightChat and LightEdit. The LightChat message editor has been expanded upon for use as an external message editor for RemoteAccess, appearing as an entirely separate program from the BBS user's point of view. + Implemented an insert/overwrite macro command, to switch between those insertion modes whilst in chat or editing a message. + Improved chat logging by additionally logging SysOp's chat, and distinguishing the two by prefixing each line with that person's initials. + Improved support for multitasking environments. + Added an animated ANSI prompt to the LightBar menus. + Added configurable random ANSI effects when loading. + Added a LightBar to the 'Leave message to SysOp' question. + Recognises more extended keys from different terminal programs than before. + Chat capture log is now reopened after switching modes. + Made page bar and reason prompt characters configurable. + "Logon" mode now uses user's name when available. + Added 'PGUP' and 'PGDN' macro commands, to move up and down the message/chat text a page at at time. + Made command macros available during LightBars. ! Fixed various cursor positioning problems ! Auto chat capture log was not being opened in "logon" mode. ! "Busy chatting" screen was shown even when LightChat loaded in 'forced' mode. LightChat v1.20/beta-1 (30th December 1995) ------------------------------------------- + Our UK registration site can now accept international credit card registrations. + Made registration key system more secure; old keys now need replacing. + Added a new Chat Mode Manager, which allows you to define up to 255 different chat modes. + Added a new Language Manager, which allows you to define up to 255 different languages, completely customising LightChat's output. + Added facility to override default textfile path with language specific path, so that each language can have a different set of screens. + Added on-screen ANSI feature positioner, allowing you to view the appropriate screen and move objects around in it, saving you from having to remember coordinates. + Added support for soundcards (SB/SB Pro/SB16/GUS), and ability to play soundtracker modules as page tunes. + Added ability to switch all ANSI effects off, speeding up access to LightChat. + Added LightBar menu text to Language Manager. LightChat v1.20/beta-2 (6th May 1996) ------------------------------------- ! Special test release attempting to resolve major QEMM/EMM386 exception faults introduced in last beta. LightChat v1.20/beta-3 (17th May 1996) -------------------------------------- + Added support for RemoteAccess v2.50. ! Finally resolved problem with exception faults. LightChat v1.20/beta-4 (11th June 1996) --------------------------------------- + Added quote window facility to LightEdit. Quoted messages are no longer automatically inserted into message body. + Added new command macro to switch between main message editing window and quote window. ! Major problem with LightEdit fixed; when user/SysOp window numbers were set differently for LightChat, LightEdit's text editing behaved very erraticly. ! Another major bug with LightEdit, where garbage characters appeared and/or the machine locked up or reset, has been fixed. ! Problem with default screen path being overwritten by AutoInstall has been fixed. ! Problem with LightEdit not releasing timeslices to multitaskers has been fixed. ! Problem with corrupt "editing user's details" message has been fixed. ! Fixed bug where soundcard sampling rate could not be edited in LCSETUP properly. LightChat v1.20/beta-5 (24th June 1996) --------------------------------------- + Swapping routines used for DOS shell stopped working in beta-1 due to a major size increase in the LightChat executable. Old routines have been removed and replaced with new ones, which to swap to EMS/XMS, or disk. + Added configuration options for quote window to LCSETUP. + Added command macro to have LightChat prompt you for a chat mode number to switch to. + Completely redesigned command macro editor, moving to a more friendly menu-driven system. You no longer need to enter complicated codes to attach functions to keys. + Added new command macro to allow execution of external programs from within LightChat. Added ability to use RA-style codes in command-line, for user's name, baudrate, node number etc. ! Fixed problem where colours/cursor position were sometimes incorrect when shelling to DOS. ! Fixed problem of missing clear-screen code at top of EDITOR3D.ANS ! Fixed problem where "ASCII chat mode" was displayed instead of "Saving message". ! Fixed bug where LightEdit was returning the wrong errorlevel to RA after an aborted message. LightChat v1.20/beta-6 (20th July 1996) --------------------------------------- + Added ability to run DOS shell from LightEdit as well as LightChat. + Increased speed with which LightChat initialises. ! A problem with random chat mode selection and forced mode numbers has been fixed. ! A problem where the message quote buffer size (configured in LCSETUP) was being ignored, has been fixed. LightChat v1.20/beta-7 --------------------------------------- + Redesigned LightEdit command macro editor to same menu-driven system used by LightChat command macro editor. + Redesigned paging hours editor. + Added ability to define SysOp availability throughout week in half-hourly blocks. + Added feature to record users' paging activity over time, and display periods of high, medium, and low demand in LCSETUP. (registered version only). + Added ability to move chat modes within the Chat Mode Manager. + Changed all previous references to "command macros" to "key assignments" for clarity. + Added on-screen ANSI feature positioners to the message editor section of LCSETUP. + Added more bundled .MOD files and new chat modes. ! Fixed potential problem where the LIGHTCHT.UDB file (used for determining whether a user has been in chat already during a particular call) was being processed even if it was not opened correctly. ! Fixed bug in LCSETUP's Language Editor where [Return] had to be pressed twice when searching for a string whilst amending the language text. ! Fixed bug where the prompt for a chat mode number within LightChat was switching to modes one less than those specified. ! Fixed problem where AutoInstall would not always alter the textfile path in the Language Manager to reflect the installation path or the default textfile path. LightChat v1.20/beta-8 --------------------------------------- + Added new command-line switch /H, to force LightChat to leave the fossil driver 'hot' when exiting. + Added support for Ensoniq SoundScape soundcards. + Added support for ProBoard, including AutoInstall facility. + Added function to allow switch to next active chat mode. ! Changed on-screen ANSI positioner to display clocks correctly. ! Fixed bug where the page bar would flow off the screen when the page duration was set to greater than 127 seconds. ! Fixed bug where old chat text was appearing after chat buffer became full. ! Fixed bug that caused LightEdit to reject a user with a high time limit, and subsequently caused them to be thrown off the BBS. ! Fixed problem with time remaining display on status bar. [EOF]