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SEARCH - The BBS Message Searcher Version 1.32 Page -1-
Copyright (C) 1989 by Don Lewis. All rights reserved.
Documentation for
BBS message SEARCHer
Copyright (C) 1989
by
Don Lewis
5207 Mossgrey Ln.
Spring, Tx. 77373
AC 713-353-5295 (after 6:00 P.M.)
*** NOTE ***
This program is SHAREWARE, not FREEWARE! It is Copyrighted and
remains my property. If you try it, and find it useful, please
send $10.00 to me at the above address and I will send you the
latest version on disk. If you do not find SEARCH useful, please
pass the .ARC file on to someone who needs it.
*** Once a registered user, always a registered user. ***
I have a number of ideas to add to SEARCH, and I plan to continue
to release new versions of SEARCH (if enough people find it use-
ful and register). Registered users may update to the latest
version by sending me the original distribution disk and a
stamped, self-addressed floppy disk mailer.
I will gladly provide telephone support to registered users.
Unregistered users who are having problems can take their
chances. Anyone who suggests a useful modification which I use
in a later version receives the latest version on disk and
becomes a registered user.
SEARCH - The BBS Message Searcher Version 1.32 Page -2-
Copyright (C) 1989 by Don Lewis. All rights reserved.
******** NOTICE: ********
The following describes the legal basis under which SEARCH and
its associated files is distributed. If you disagree with these
terms, please destroy all copies of the files, all printed mate-
rial and forget you ever heard of this...
Thanks
/Don Lewis
Now for the legal-eagle detail...
SEARCH is provided on an "as is" basis without warranty of any
kind, express or implied. In no event will Don Lewis (hereafter
referred to as the Author), be liable to you for any damages,
including any lost profits, lost savings or other incidental or
consequential damages arising out of the use of or inability to
use SEARCH, even if the Author has been advised of the possibil-
ity of such damages, or for any claim by any other party.
Your use of SEARCH is at your own risk, and by your use of it,
you agree to indemnify and hold harmless the Author, his heirs
and assigns from any legal action arising from your use of SEARCH
for any purpose whatsoever.
The version of SEARCH referenced in this document supersedes all
previous versions. The Author advises that all previous versions
of SEARCH be destroyed.
Whew! I hope that deflects the hungry lawyers to a more helpless
target (or one with deeper pockets).
SEARCH - The BBS Message Searcher Version 1.32 Page -3-
Copyright (C) 1989 by Don Lewis. All rights reserved.
SEARCH was written to deal with a problem I had as I was doing
Genealogy research. There were so many messages posted on a
local Bulletin Board from the National Genealogy Conference, that
I used all my on-line time each day just reading. I decided to
capture all the new messages and read them offline. That took
much less online time, but then I had to read through
** HUNDREDS ** of messages looking for those few which referred
to something I needed.
SEARCH quickly reads all those messages for me now, compares each
one to a list of words I am looking for, and then makes a file
containing ** ONLY ** those messages which matched.
SEARCH should also be useful to CompuServe(c) users, GEnie(c)
users, members of The Source(c), or anyone who uses a BBS which
handles lots of messages.
Preparing to use SEARCH
-----------------------
Like everything designed to save time, a little effort must be
spent getting ready. To keep SEARCH relatively small and fast, I
have not used elaborate error-checking for files that you will
create. Please carefully follow the steps below, and your trou-
bles will be few...
1) Using your terminal program (I'll not attempt to
instruct on that, as there are a myriad of different
terminal programs), dial up your BBS. Select the BBS
command to read messages without stopping, and have
your terminal program capture the messages in a file
having the following name:
MMMDD.NNN
where:
MMM is the three-letter month name e.g. JAN
DD is the two-number day-of-the-month e.g. 10
NNN is the three-letter BBS name abbreviation
e.g. PST for PasTracks
TRS for TreeShare
Thus, the file I captured from PasTracks on January
10, 1989 is named JAN10.PST
*** Note ***
Avoid EXE, COM or BAT for abbreviations and be con-
sistent once an abbreviation is selected for a spe-
cific bulletin board.
SEARCH - The BBS Message Searcher Version 1.32 Page -4-
Copyright (C) 1989 by Don Lewis. All rights reserved.
2) Create a file named SRCHTITL.NNN, where the NNN is
the BBS name abbreviation used in step 1. This file
must contain three (and ONLY three) words. The first
word will be found at the very beginning of each mes-
sage on the bulletin board, the second begins the
line where message subject is shown and the third
word is found at the beginning of the last line of
each message (see procedure and example messages in
Appendix A).
These words are placed there by the BBS software, not
by the message sender, and ** MUST ** appear in
SRCHTITL.NNN exactly as they do in the downloaded
messages (uppercase, lowercase, and any punctuation).
3) Create a file of search words named SEARCH.LST. A
search word may contain letters, numbers, spaces or
punctuation. Words may be composed of UPPERCASE, low-
ercase or Mixed Case letters; SEARCH doesn't care and
will find the letter sequence without reference to
case.
A word may be any length, but the longer it is, the
slower SEARCH runs, and the less likely it is that a
matching word will be found. Words are searched at
full length, but are shortened to 8 characters for
the screen display.
Use only one word per line, 39 words maximum per
search (more are ignored). Don't get too fancy with
the punctuation and spaces in the word, because
SEARCH looks for an ** EXACT ** match, and it is hard
to predict how someone who sends a message w