Black Box 4/BlackBox.cdr/bbs_door/dbill50.arj/HISTORY.TXT

Text File | 1992-04-20 | 21KB | 436 lines

                      VERSION/UPDATE HISTORY FOR DOORBILL
                      ===================================

Version 5.0
-----------
(04-20-92)
  Finally figured out how to make DoorBill switch back to it's home directory
 after a drop to DOS (F5 key)!  Previously, if you dropped to DOS and then
 switched directories or drives, then EXITed back to DoorBill, you would get
 a blank menu when you hit ENTER since it was trying to re-read the data files
 which weren't in the current directory anymore.

(04-12-92)
  Major upgrade time! Expanded the Command Lines in the Door screens from
 50 characters to 70 characters each. And you now have 15 lines to work with
 rather than 10.

  You may now configure what the menus will look like.  You have a choice of
 20 border styles displayed in any color you wish. The Category Menu and the
 Doors Menu are separately configurable.

  Another new addition is the ability to lock any door or DoorBill itself by
 time of day.  You may specify up to 2 different periods during the day.

  You may now specify whether a Door is multi-node compatible or not.  If
 you flag a Door with an N in this field, DoorBill will lock that Door
 while a caller is accessing it.  Other callers trying to open the Door
 will be notified that the Door is currently in use and to try again later.

  For non-PCBoard systems, when you choose P in the Conversion field,
 DoorBill now creates PCBOARD.SYS, USERS, and PCBOARD.DAT instead of just
 PCBOARD.SYS.  This parameter is ignored on PCBoard systems (you already
 have the files, why create them again?!).  Consequently, DUMMYPCB.ZIP
 (which contained USERS and PCBOARD.DAT) has been removed from the .ZIP file.

  Added a Time Limit field for each Door. If this field is non-zero, DoorBill
 will limit the callers time to the number of minutes in the Time Limit field
 or to the number of minutes left on the BBS, whichever is less.

  Added the Prolog and Epilog fields. The Prolog field is for sending an
 ANSI or ASCII screen before the Door runs. The Epilog field is the same
 except it sends the screen file after the Door finishes. The filename of
 the screen file must not contain an extension! If you have both ANSI
 and ASCII screens, enter the ASCII screen filename which must be no more
 than 7 letters as DoorBill will tack a G on the end for the ANSI file.
 For example, your ASCII screen is SCREEN1 so DoorBill will look for
 SCREEN1G as the ANSI filename. DoorBill would ignore a filename of
 SCREEN1.ANS, etc. Which screen gets sent is determined by the callers
 ANSI.SYS compatibility.

  Finally removed the COMLOCK parameter from the Categories Screen and the
 program has been deleted from the .ZIP file.  The program was a poor attempt
 at best.  If you need a port (un)locker, I recommend FORCE381.EXE.  You can
 download it from MicroNet as FORCE38.ZIP.

Version 4.3
-----------
(03-21-92)
  DoorBill can now use of the IRQ environment variable. For example, instead
 of DOORBILL DOORBILL.CFG /5 you can use DOORBILL DOORBILL.CFG /%IRQ%
 (provided you have used SET IRQ=x to set the environment variable).

  Have no idea how this one slipped by for so long but there was a slight
 problem reading the location of DORINFOx.DEF. Fixed and working.

(03-19-92)
  DoorBill will now recognize the PCBoard %PCBDRIVE% and %PCBDIR%
 environment variables. For example, if your path to PCBOARD.SYS is
 C:\PCB\PCBOARD.SYS, you can use %PCBDRIVE%%PCBDIR%\PCBOARD.SYS instead
 and DoorBill will substitute the drive and directory. This allows multi-
 node systems to use just one DOORBILL.CFG even if the paths are different
 for each node!

(03-18-92)
  Guess again! I used a routine from the PBClone library to test if the
 printer was online and ready. Seems it doesn't work to well since it
 always returned a zero indicating the printer is offline. So it's back to
 the drawing board with a routine of my own. This one seems to work as
 it should (where have I heard that before!).

(03-05-92)
  Looks like an error in the printer routine finally surfaced! Hard to
 believe no one has stumbled on this one since it has been in place since
 the early days of DoorBill. If you run PCBoard and have the printer toggled
 on with no printer attached, you got a Device Fault error and the error
 routine didn't trap it. Anyway, all fixed and ready to go now.

Version 4.2
-----------
(02-27-92)
  For those of you running more than 1 node you may now run multiple .DAT
 and .CNF files from the same directory. Just pass the filename when
 calling DoorBill. For example, on a 2 node system you might call
 the files DBILL1.CNF, DBILL2.CNF, DBILL1.DAT, and DBILL2.DAT.
 For Node 1 your command line would be:

   DOORBILL DOORBILL.CFG CNF:DBILL1.CNF DAT:DBILL1.DAT

 and for Node 2:

   DOORBILL DOORBILL.CFG CNF:DBILL2.CNF DAT:DBILL2.DAT

 If you do not specify the CNF: or DAT: parameters, they will default
 to DOORBILL.CNF and DOORBILL.DAT.

Version 4.1
-----------
(02-24-92)
  Fixed a bug in the Categories screen. When creating a the screen from
 scratch it would go haywire on the Text and Border fields. I'm suprised
 no one has reported that since it has been like that for 6 months!

(02-09-92)
  Fixed a potential problem with the backspace locking the system in local
 mode. That and the new BBS number and address for MicroNet are the only
 changes so far for this version number.

Version 4.0
-----------
(10-19-91)
  Fixed a couple of problems in writing CALLINFO.BBS having to do with the
 time left and the total download bytes available.

(09-19-91)
  Added Node number parameter for GT BBS systems. If you are running under
 a network, such as Lantastic, put the node number on line 6 of the .CFG
 file (which means your registration number goes on line 7!).
 NOTE: This is for GT systems ONLY!

(09-02-91)
  Since I have had a few requests to make the menu colors configurable, I
 have added that feature. There are 2 new fields in DBUTIL. One for the
 border color of the menus and one for the text. The colors range from 1
 to 15 (see DOORBILL.DOC).

(08-25-91)
  As per recommendations from Mustang Software, DoorBill no longer writes
 USERINFO.DAT. It still updates the DOOR.SYS file, however.

(08-15-91)
  Seems when I made the changes for 3.6 and 3.7 (which necessitated some
 field changes), I neglected to also change the conversion routine for
 versions 2.6 and below. Shouldn't affect too many of you but if it did
 you would end up with a trashed .CNF file! Ouch!


Version 3.9 (07-15-91)
----------------------
  The folks at Mustang finally discovered the 52-line DOOR.SYS and have gone
 to that format. Disregard the instructions for v3.8! Just put the path to
 USERINFO.DAT on line 1 of the .CFG (forget about line 5 mentioned below).
  Fixed an obscure bug that would, in certain instances, not display the
 Categories above #9. And while I was at it, I installed a paging feature.
 If you have more than 14 Categories or Doors listed, DoorBill will display
 them in 2 pages. There will be an additional 'P] Page x' option on the menu.
  And just for fun I optimized the code a little more and shaved about 2.5K
 of the .EXE file!

Version 3.8 (06-17-91)
----------------------
  Added support for Wildcat! v3.0! This version of Wildcat! started using the
 DOOR.SYS format, however, it is the old 31 line version (as opposed to the
 PCBoard/GAP 52 line version). DoorBill will know the difference (I hope!).
 WildCat v3.0+ users must put the full pathname to the USERINFO.DAT on line
 5 of the .CFG file. If you have registered DoorBill, your registration number
 now goes on line 6.

Version 3.7 (05-20-91)
----------------------
  Added an option to write a log file (DOORBILL.LOG). This option is available
 to all systems. If you are running PCBoard, DoorBill will write to both the
 CALLER log (automatic) and to DOORBILL.LOG (optional). This option defaults
 to Y so if you do not wish to create a log file, you must place an N in the
 second field in DBUTIL.
  Expanded the G] Goodbye command to include all systems (not just PCBoard).
  Fixed a problem with time remaining on GT systems. Also changed the Level
 calculations for GT so they should hopefully be straightened out now.

Version 3.6 (04-12-91)
----------------------
  Made the G]oodbye command for PCBoard systems configurable. This field
 replaces the BBS directory field in DBUTIL. The default is "Y" so if you
 wish to disable it, you must insert an "N" in this field. Otherwise, no
 action is required on your part.
  Fixed an overflow problem in one of the date routines.
  Completely reworked the offending date routine so we should be back on
 track now. I apologize for any problems the overflow error may have caused.

Version 3.5 (03-25-91)
----------------------
  Added PCBOARD.SYS conversion for non-PCBoard systems. This will create the
 PCBOARD.SYS file only. Dummy PCBOARD.DAT and USERS are included in the file
 DUMMYPCB.ZIP if your Door requires these files.
  Added support for non-standard COM port IRQ's (other than IRQ3 and IRQ4).
 See the docs on how to activate and use a non-standard IRQ.

Version 3.4 (02-25-91)
----------------------
  Added the conversion for DOOR.SYS doors so you can now run GAP doors
 without the need for an external converter. This means we have a new DBUTIL.
 The version number is 3.4 to match this version of DoorBill.
  Added the conversion for SFDOORS.DAT which gives you the ability to run
 Spitfire doors without a converter.
  Added support for WWIV so hopefully DoorBill will now run on those systems.
 Also added the WWIV Doors conversion so non-WWIV systems can run WWIV doors.
 This is untested - any of you WWIV Sysops care to report back to me on how it
 performs?
  Added support for GT Power systems. DoorBill will read GTUSER.BBS and that's
 it. It does not update any files on a GT system. This is untested so there
 may be some bugs in the routine.
  Fixed a problem in the DORINFO routine. It was writing COM1 for a Local
 logon instead of COM0.

Version 3.3 (02-11-91)
----------------------
  Added support for SFDOORS.DAT so Spitfire BBS systems can now run DoorBill.
  Changed the color switch to default to the BBS setting. Also added a
 generic menu border made up of keyboard characters rather than the IBM
 extended ASCII characters for those unfortunate souls who haven't discovered
 ANSI.SYS yet. What this means is you MUST have the Detect ANSI switch set
 in DBUTIL to "Y" to display color menus. If it is set to "N" then all you
 get is the generic menus. When set to "Y" you get the extended characters
 and the color defaults to the BBS setting.
  You can now run multiple nodes from the same DoorBill directory. Just make
 sure that the paths you enter in DBUTIL are exactly the same for each node
 that is to share the files. This will also apply to the Door's .CFG file.
 You will need to change the DOORBILL batch file (see the sample DOORBILL
 file for differences). For example, the BILLRUN.BAT file is now called
 DBRUNx.BAT where x is the Node number.
  Fixed an error in the CALLINFO.BBS routine where it would not write the
 file in some cases. Also updated it to write the 36 line CALLINFO instead
 of the old 30 line.
  Had a report that the DBRUNx.BAT and DBILLx.TIM files on single node
 systems were being written with 0 as the node number instead of node 1
 as they should be. Fixed!
  Tweaked the printer routine some more. Took the CR/LF out so that should
 eliminate the blank lines. I neglected to send the entry to the printer
 when the caller logged off from DoorBill so that has been added also.

Version 3.2 (12-13-90)
----------------------
  Added support for PCBoard 14.5's USERS.SYS file! The main advantage is
 that any changes in Time or Level are now passed back to PCBoard. Also,
 the Call Waiting screen is updated when the caller logs off from DoorBill.

Version 3.1 (12-07-90)
----------------------
  Hooray! Finally fixed that pesky midnight time problem where the caller
 would get a time expired message if he logged on the BBS before midnight
 and entered DoorBill after midnight.
  Added the Help command. It's not much but will let callers know that
 command stacking is available.
  The Goodbye command didn't work anywhere but at the Category menu. Fixed.

Version 3.0 (11-26-90)
----------------------
  Fixed a problem with the display routines where no line feeds would be
 sent if the local display was toggled off.
  Added CALLINFO.BBS support so DoorBill can now run on Wildcat! systems!
  Added the Goodbye command so users can now log off from DoorBill however,
 this option is only available when running under PCBOARD.
  Fixed a problem when running under PCBoard where DoorBill was writing the
 callers elapsed time to the USER log. Thats' fine but it was inaccurate! It
 now only updates USERS if the caller logs off from DoorBill.

Version 2.9 (10-26-90)
-----------------------
  Since a couple of Sysops expressed concern about the automatic ANSI
 detection, I have made this configurable in DBUTIL. The default is
 ON (Y). If you want to turn it off just put an N in the Auto-ANSI field.
  Added the ability to stack commands from the PCBoard prompt! (Here ya
 are Chuck!) The format is:

 .... Command? OPEN 1 1;3 2;5 5;1 B Q

 This would OPEN Door #1 (DoorBill), select Category 1 - Door 3 and run the
 door. When that door is finished DoorBill reloads (so it can check carrier
 etc.) then selects Category 2 - Door 5, and so on. After all the doors have
 ran, DoorBill reloads and displays the Bulletin Menu then exits to PCBoard.
 If the caller enters either an invalid Category number or Door number, an
 error message is displayed and DoorBill goes on to the next parameter.
 NOTE: This option only works with PCBoard!

Version 2.8 (10-22-90)
----------------------
  DoorBill now provides a conversion for DORINFO1.DEF and CALLINFO.BBS!
 There is a new field at the bottom of the Door entry screens in DBUTIL.
 Just place a D for DORINFO1.DEF conversion or a C for CALLINFO.BBS in that
 field and DoorBill will write the appropriate conversion file in the door's
 directory.
  Fixed a problem with the chat routine and the backspace introduced in
 the conversion to BIOS screen writes.

Version 2.7 (10-20-90)
----------------------
  Added auto-ANSI detection! If the caller has ANSI capability, DoorBill
 will switch to Graphics mode regardless of his setting on the BBS. This
 does not change the BBS setting. Right now auto-ANSI detection is not
 configurable. Please let me know if you would like it to be.
  Added Up:Dn to the Status line which indicates uploads and downloads.
  Fiddled with the Sort routine in DBUTIL since it wasn't quite right.
 Hopefully it will sort ALL the doors now!
  Changed the local screen printing from Direct Screen Writes to BIOS
 screen writes which should solve the problems with bleed thru for those
 of you using DesqView (I hope!).
  Added 2 shortcuts to the menus:
   1. If you hit any key while any of the menus are printing, it will stop
      and prompt you with 'Yes? '. This way you do not have to sit thru
      the whole menu if you know which number you want.
   2. You are now able to bypass the second menu altogether! For instance
      if you want to enter Category 3 and Door 5 of that category, you
      can now type 3;5. The delimiter must be a semi-colon (;).

Version 2.6 (10-04-90)
----------------------
  DoorBill is now DOOR.SYS compatible! This entailed some changes in
 DBUTIL as well as DoorBill. The DOORBILL.CNF file has changed with this
 version and must be converted. Never fear, the conversion is automatic.
 Both DoorBill and DBUTIL will detect the older format and do it's thing.
 You won't even know it is happening!
  You no longer need to enter the path to PCBOARD.DAT in DBUTIL.
  The fields for the Doors BLT Menu and BLT.LST are now 25 characters
 instead of 20 and the BBS DIR field has shrunk from 30 characters to 25.
  The DOOR.SYS version is pretty much like the PCBoard one except you do
 not have the ALT-N (Sysop next on) and ALT-X (exit to DOS) options while
 in DoorBill.
  The Bulletin of your Categories and Doors that DBUTIL creates has been
 changed to make ASCII and ANSI files instead of the PCBoard @X files.

Version 2.5 (09-30-90)
----------------------
  Added Sort option to DBUTIL. This option will sort all Doors in all
 Categories and put them in alphabetical order. (Pretty quick too!)

Version 2.5 (09-21-90)
----------------------
  Fixed the CHAT MODE routines so the user gets credit for any time
 spent in CHAT with the Sysop.
  Changed the Status Line Help Menu key from ALT-H to HOME for reasons
 to complicated to go into here.
  The Bulletin option now displays both ASCII and ANSI bulletins.

Version 2.4 (09-14-90)
----------------------
  Fixed a bug in the time routines. If a caller logged on just before
 midnight and entered DoorBill after midnight, it wasn't calculating
 his time correctly and would kick him out with a 'time expired'.
  Added option for the Sysop to Shell to DBUTIL.
  Added Doors Bulletin viewing ability! If you enable this, the user
 can now list your Doors Bulletins from within DoorBill.
  Added the user's time left to the menu prompts.

Version 2.3 (09-02-90)
----------------------
  Think I finally solved the lock-up problems some Sysops were having. The
 problem stemmed from a sub-routine that checked for the existance of a
 file. Took that out and put another routine in it's place which should
 solve the problem. (later note: Nope, that didn't fix it!)

Version 2.2 (08-24-90)
----------------------
  Added the MOVE command to DBUTIL. Changed the DoorBill version number so
 we can keep the version numbers in sync.

Version 2.1g (08-22-90)
-----------------------
  Made some adjustments to the COM routines in COMLOCK and DoorBill. COMLOCK
 wasn't picking up the HST 38400 parameter correctly.
  Fixed a bug in the CHAT mode. If you stayed in CHAT longer than 5 minutes,
 when you came out DoorBill would kick the caller back to the BBS with a
 'Keyboard timeout' error.

Version 2.1f (08-20-90)
-----------------------
  Had some reports of 'Out of String Space' errors so I cleared out a bit
 more for this update.

Version 2.1e (08-16-90)
-----------------------
  Ok, I got it this time (I really do!). These time calculations are giving me
 a fit! Finally solved it by ignoring PCBOARD.SYS altogether and writing a
 file just for time keeping.

Version 2.1d (08-16-90)
-----------------------
  Thought I had the timing routines fixed but did not. Time calculations kept
 getting screwed up due to the fact that some doors update PCBOARD.SYS with
 the time remaining and some do not. I THINK it is fixed now.
  Fixed a bug in the CHAT routine. It would give a Keyboard Timeout error
 after 5 minutes even though keyboard input was going on the whole time.

Version 2.1c (08-14-90)
-----------------------
  Fixed a bug in the security routines where DoorBill would allow a caller
 with a level less than that specified would be allowed to see and enter
 categories he shouldn't have.

Version 2.1b (08-10-90)
-----------------------
 Added logic so DoorBill would know a little earlier when a caller had logged
 off while inside a door.

Version 2.1a (08-08-90)
-----------------------
  Fixed a bug in the timing routines. If a caller logged on close to the event
 and he had already been on previously that day, DoorBill would sometimes
 figure his time wrong and kick him out with a 'Time Expired' message even
 though he had plenty of time left.
  Added Bulletin creator to DBUTIL.

Version 2.1  (08-06-90)
-----------------------
 Quite a few improvements over v1.1!
 Added full screen editor in DBUTIL.
 Added security levels for the categories.
 Added locks based on callers baud rate.
 Expanded COMLOCK to include 9600, 19200 and 38400 baud.
 Added insert and delete options to category and door screens.

Version 2.0
-----------
 Development and Alpha test version. Not released.

Version 1.1
-----------
 First public release.

Version 1.0
-----------
 Development and Alpha test version. Not released.