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Text File | 1990-06-27 | 18.0 KB | 448 lines

What's New In ProDoor 3.2? -------------------------- Important new features: * New extended conference system increases the conference limit to 2040, giving you up to 2000 extended conferences. * Added a new system of quick file location, drasticly speeding download file searches on large networks and CD-ROM systems. * Added new upload/download ratio system. This allows total sysop control over byte and file ratios, with instant and integrated ratio checks during uploads and downloads-- no more need for event based ratio systems. * New "Optional Features" screen in CONFIG program replaces environment variables for control of the following features: Insert "Uploaded by:" for all uploads? Insert blank line after all uploads? Expand macros in message texts? Display users CITY in message headers? * New "arrange conferences" function allows you to completely redefine the order of conferences, as well as totally delete CONFINFO entries. * Added an optional "upload duplication check" file, PRODUP. If present, it will be used as a list of all additional directories to check during uploading to prevent filename duplication. * Added new output message translation system. This can be used to change any prompt or message in ProDoor. * Added an option to force all messages to '(ECHO)' status without prompting the user. * Added an option to disables all PRIVATE messages, making the conference entirely PUBLIC. Detailed Listing of Changes --------------------------- New extended conference system increases the conference limit to 2040, giving you up to 2000 extended conferences. Your current EXTUSER and CONFINFO files are still good, but you will need a copy of EXTADJ11.ZIP to expand the EXTUSER file beyond 255 conferences. The file EXTADJ11.ZIP also contains notes for third-party developers on how to access extended conferences over #255. Added a check for SECURITY LEVEL specific display files and menus. All text file displays now check for the SECURITY LEVEL in the first three letters of the filename. For example: PROMENUG ;default graphics menu 015MENUG ;graphics menu for security level 15 100MENU.NOR ;non-graphic menu for security level 100 and ;.NOR language Added 'A' option to the 'Echomail in conference' prompt in PROSM. This option forces all messages to '(ECHO)' status without prompting the user. Added 'A' option to the 'Make all messages private' prompt in PROSM. This new option disables all PRIVATE messages, making the conference entirely PUBLIC. Added a new system of quick file location. See BLTLIST.DOC and BLDLIST.EXE for details. New "Optional Features" screen in CONFIG program replaces environment variables for control of the following features: Insert "Uploaded by:" for all uploads? Insert blank line after all uploads? Expand macros in message texts? Display users CITY in message headers? New "arrange conferences" function in PROSM. This function will allow you to completely redefine the order of conferences, as well as totally delete CONFINFO entries. It's not finished yet, but I'm interested in your feedback on how it addresses the problems with thousands of conferences. Added an optional "upload duplication check" file, PRODUP. If this file is present in the ProDoor directory, it will be used as a list of all additional directories to check during uploading to prevent filename duplication. The format is the same as your DLPATH.LST file (one directory per line). Added new PROTRNS(.LNG) output message translation file. This file can be used to change any prompt or message in prodoor. See PROTRNS.DOC for an explanation of the new "output translation" system in prodoor 3.2 betas. Added new upload/download ratio system. See the new data file PRORATIO for file format details. Two new messages are possible: Download file ratio exceeded! Please upload! Download byte ratio exceeded! Please upload! Changed "door # to open" prompt to allow door NAMES in addition to door numbers. Added "%1" to PROSM command line in CONFIG.BAT. This allows you to use the format CONFIG /PACK to perform an event-based EXTUSER pack function. Added /PACK option to PROSM to allow unattended packing of the EXTUSER file. Added SYSOP-only display of message sender userlevels. Added a caller log entry when a caller is auto-registered into a private conference via the "minimum security to auto-register" setting. The translation is: Auto Register: @INCONF@ Added a check for carrier loss immediately after a transfer to insure that the modem is placed off-hook without delay. Added a check in the INSTALL procedure to verify that the main board "doors listing" and "doors menu" filenames have been entered through PCBSETUP. Added a check to allow upload operation when a proper UPSEC file does not exist. Added a check to verify that the receiver of a new message is a member of the current conference. Added a new caller log entry when attempting to access a conference number higher than that allowed by current EXTUSER file allocation: Error: EXTUSER file not allocated for conferences over ($5W$)! If you get this message you need to run EXTADJ to increase the conference allocation in your EXTUSER file. Added a new environment to control data file access under large networks. When present the statement SET RETRY_COUNT=10 will cause the Pro* programs to retry failed file opens the specified number of times before signalling a fatal error. The default retry count is 5. Added a new prompt under (F)ind-user to allow conference memberships to be altered. Added additional COM port definitions: Channel I/O Port Interrupt COM1 $3F8 4 COM2 $2F8 3 COM3 $3E8 4 COM4 $2E8 3 COM5 undefined (anybody know what DSZ COM6 undefined does with these two?) COM7 $2E8 5 COM8 $3E8 5 These definitions should be compatible with recent versions of DSZ, eliminating the need for SET COMBASE and COMIRQ on systems using these common COM ports. Added additional error checking in download directory specifications. Added additional logic to bypass new bulliten scan when joining a new conference which uses the same bulletin list as the current conference. Added an error check for missing or invalid playpen/scratch directories. This prevents erroneous door operation under some networks which refuse to create scratch directories. Added dynamic allocation logic to further reduced memory needs during upload posting. Added logic in PROFREE file processing to allow pathname specifications. This allows entries like: FILE.ZIP ;this file is free, regardless of directory D:\UTIL\*.* ;all files in D:\UTIL are free Added logic in PROSM's PACK function to remove faulty EXTUSER pointers within the USERS file. This will prevent the "Attempting to recover ..." message once you PACK the EXTUSER file. Added logic to PgUp key to properly display conference registrations when more than 70 conferences are defined. Pressing PgUp multiple times will scroll through all available conferences. Added logic to allow command stacking at any "More:" prompt. For example, the response N J 60 at most any 'More' prompt will stop the current listing and then perform the 'J 60' command. Added logic to check for the command translation file PROXENTR[.lng] at the "message entry command" prompt. Added logic to consult PCBNDX files for [find user] function in PROSM's extended user editor, resulting is MUCH faster operation. Added logic to create the special ENDPCB file if a caller logs off inside prodoor with the ALT-X flag pending. See PROLON.NEW for details on how this makes the ALT-X function possible in spite of the use of PCBSETUP's "exit to dos after each call" option. Added logic to force conference NEWS display when the user's last-read pointer is 0. Added logic to force the name of conference 0 to be "Main Board". This is required because PCBOARD 14.x rejects anything else as an invalid CNAMES file format. Added logic to handle lower case conversion of some foreign language characters within user names. Added logic to help in writing new language translations. When you are running in an alternate language, AND you use ALT-F or have the environment SET PRODEBUG=ON active, any message that can be translated, but that is NOT matched by your translation file, will be output with "{....}" added so you can see exactly what still needs translation. Added logic to preserve original colors after a "more" prompt, provided those colors where generated with $...$ macros. Added logic to recognize the "disable disk free space check" option from PCBSETUP. When this option is active, ProDoor will assume that sufficient disk space is always available. Added logic to scan actual bulletin files for "bulletin updated since last call" message on joining a conference. Added new "Earned K bytes" edit prompt in (F)ind-user and F6(update) functions. Added new "Max. level to auto-register" in conference definitions. If non-0, this entry provides an upper limit on security levels that may automatically enter private conferences. NOTE: other third-party utilities (MegaMail, MarkMail, NetMail, etc.) will not automatically recognize this limit, so use it with caution until new versions are available to support it. Added new $ macro to display the contents of a text file. The format is: $DISP-d:\path\filename$ This can be used in output translations (via PROTRNS) and in other display files. For security reasons, it is ignored in the message bases. The FSEC file is also checked before any file is displayed. Added new $CONFNUM$ macro to return the current conference number. Added new $NOMACS$ macro. If this macro appears on a line by itself, all macro expansion is disabled for the remainder of the current display file. A second line with $NOMACS$ will toggle macros back on again. Added new $lastmsgno$ macro to return last message number in current conference. Added new (J L)ocate-conference command. This command allows a keyword search of the CNFN file to locate a particular conference name or topic. Added new (P)rotect command at Message Entry Command prompt. This function toggles the RECEIVER ONLY protection status off and on. Added new F8 [global] function in conference definitions editor. This function will copy the current field value to the corresponding field in ALL conferences. It can be used to globally assign a different upload directory, for example. Added new RESET command to directly reset the last-read pointer in the current conference. Format is RESET <n>; you will be prompted for the message number if none is stacked. Added new code to automatically detect and enable 16550AN chips when present. Added new logic to allow PROSM to access USERS records that do not have corresponding EXTUSER file entries. Previous versions were unable to access these records. Added new macro: $IFMEMBER-nnn$ which returns YES or NO if a user is a member of the specified conference number. Added new macro: $PLAY$ which returns the PLAYPEN directory name for the current node. This can be used with DSZ and other upload protocols to restrict received files to the playpen directory (re: telemate bug causing DSZ to access A: or B: during upload). Added new security code in PROSM and PRODOOR to control the minimum security level required to perform a "public" uploads. Users with lower levels who are allowed to upload will have all uploads posted as "private". Added the following new macros: $RED$ ;standard ANSI color codes - RED $GREEN$ ;GREEN text $YELLOW$ ;YELLOW text $BLUE$ ;BLUE text $MAGENTA$ ;MAGENTA text $CYAN$ ;CYAN text $WHITE$ ;WHITE text $GRAY$ ;GRAY text $DEFAULT$ ;the "default color" according to PCBOARD.DAT $YES$ ;the word "YES" aids in translation $NO$ ;the word "NO" $NONSTOP$ ;display in non-stop mode $PAUSE$ ;cancel non-stop and prompt 'press enter to continue' $CLS$ ;clear screen $CLREOL$ ;clear to end of line $LASTMSGNO$ ;high message number in current conference $MSGCOUNT$ ;active message count in current conference Brought back the PROUSER display file and associated logic. PLEASE ERASE YOUR 'PROUSER' FILE IF YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND OR DESIRE THIS OPTION IN YOUR SYSTEM! Changed "earned K bytes" logic to use up the "earned" bytes BEFORE dipping into the free daily limit supplied by pcboard. Changed "hotkey" prompt to use ANSI codes to reposition cursor instead of backspace codes, since some TERM programs erase while they backspace. Changed (E)nter, (C)omment and (Q)uick commands to return to main command prompt if they were not called from the read mail prompt. Changed (H)otkey command to (HO)tkey so (H) can be (H)ELP. Changed (J S)tatus command to NOT scan the actual message files. This again makes the function useful for quickly checking on which conferences are available, and what the last-read pointers are. The (J N)ew and (J Y)our functions continue to scan the actual message files for more correct information. Changed (RE)ply to act like (REPLY) when there is no "current message" available for a reply. Changed PROSM command line format to require the directory location of your PCBOARD.DAT file instead of the full pathname to the USERS file. This allows the utility to correctly identify the proper CNAMES and PCBNDX file locations. PLEASE UPDATE YOUR 'CONFIG.BAT' file with this change. Changed PROSM to automatically reduce number of INDEX blocks in a conference definition that has over 64K bytes allocated to the index file. Changed message taglines to use "■ Via" instead of "* Via". Changes on OPEN command logic to operate correctly when door scripts are not in the pcboard "system" directory. Corrected screen display when the ALT-I function is used in the visual edit function. Note: if you want to cancel an active ALT-I function, all you have to do is press ALT-I a second time! Deleted the "minimum/maximum security to auto-register" prompts from PROSM's conference definition screen on PUBLIC conferences, since these entries only apply to private conferences. This should reduce confusion over what these entries do. Eliminated automatic CNAMES update after renumbering conferences; please use the F10 [update CNAMES] menu selection under the "Edit Extended Conference Data" function. Found and removed a hardcoded limit of 8000 user records. Implemented @numcalls@ variable. Implemented F2 (lockout) sysop key to change the current user's security level to 0. Implemented F6 (update) sysop key to activate an online user record update. Internal changes to better handle large disk partitions. Introduced two new (optional) display files: The file PROULM is now displayed immediately before UPLOADS are processed. The file PRODLM is likewise displayed just beore DOWNLOADS are processed. Use these files to give your users and reminders or warnings that you see as appropriate. Made 'press ENTER to continue' logic a little bit smarter. NOTE: Command translation files have been renamed. Please verify that you have the proper file names. PROMAIN.XLT is renamed to PROXMAIN (.LNG optional) PROMAIL.XLT is renamed to PROXMAIL (.LNG optional) Note: Do not use semicolons ";" in your command translation files! Please use SPACES instead. This is required because recent betas allow COMMENTS on the end of all lines. Anything following a semicolon is ignored because it is taken as a comment. Re-enabled the (F)ind-user function for user records other than #1. Instead of limiting access to this function, it now refuses to work on users with security levels that are now less than the current users level. Of course, the function is also restricted to sysop records with security 100 and greater. Removed (U)ploads option from directory scanning when private uploads are in effect. Speeded hotkey response from 1 second to 3/4 second. The 'scan for personal mail' prompt is now bypassed if the user appends 'Q' or 'NS' to the join command. The (J)oin command now prompts the user for scanning of personal mail. If the user says YES, a (Q Y) scan is automatically performed. This prompt is turned off by PCBSETUP's "disable message scan prompt" option. The (J)oin command will now match a conference if the first few letters are given followed by a '*'. For example, J SU* will join the first conference starting with "SU". The ALT-F/PRODEBUG feature to aid in language translation was accidentally being activated even when an alternate language was not specified. The new bulletin scans are now disabled when the quick logon or quick join options are used. Updated PROSM utility in configuration editor to list "time factors" and "byte factors" ONLY on those functions that actually use the factors. Updated PROXZIP module to prevent a user from adding too many files to a scratch zipfile. Upload directory space reported to users is now reduced by the specified "minimum K bytes free to allow uploading" value from PCBSETUP. This gives users an idea of how much of the total space is actually allocated for uploads. When a user's time left is < 5 minutes, the DOWN ARROW function now subtracts by 1 instead of by 5. When attempting a duplicate upload, the message " - Ok" has been changed to " - Duplicate" for better clarity.