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THE NETWORK NEWS (Keeps Everyone on the Network Informed) USER'S GUIDE Version 2.6 of a shareware program produced February 15, 1993 by Rob Robinson Copyright 1991-92, Computing Specialties 523 Albany Avenue NE Orange City, IA 51041 712-737-3467 after 6:00 pm Central Time Compuserve Address: 75410,2067 Internet Address: robinson@nwciowa.edu THE NETWORK NEWS USER'S GUIDE TABLE OF CONTENTS I. Introduction...........................................1 II. Using the Network News.................................2 Accessing the Network News..............................2 Viewing announcements...................................3 Browsing through the titles.............................3 Adding Your own Announcements...........................3 Changing an Announcement................................5 Removing an Announcement................................5 III. Installing the Network News............................6 Check Requirements......................................6 Select a location.......................................6 Install the software....................................6 Set the initial parameters..............................7 Display Announcements as each User Logs in..............9 Let the Users Know about Network News..................10 IV. Managing the Network News.............................11 Exporting and Importing Announcements from a Text File.11 Approving New Announcements............................12 Publishing a Network News Sheet........................13 Removing Expired Announcements.........................14 Condensing the Announcement Files......................15 Changing Initial parameters............................15 V. Registering your copy of the Network News.............16 The Benefits of Shareware..............................16 User Supported Software................................16 Survey Form for Future Updates.........................17 Registration Form......................................18 Invoice Form...........................................19 List of Files on the Diskette..........................20 THE NETWORK NEWS THE NETWORK NEWS (Keeps Everyone on the Network Informed) I. IntroductionI. Introduction The Network News eases the process of keeping people aware of upcoming events and changes. It's a powerful network communication tool, giving users the ability to post announcements for others on the network to read. Network managers like it for announcing workshops, new hardware, software changes, scheduled downtimes, etc. and users like it for announcing meetings, car pools, schedule changes, picnics, parties, lost and found notices, etc. The Network News is similar to an online bulletin board, but it has some special features that make it even more valuable. User's can view messages on their screen, or they can browse through the titles and view the ones that interest them. An important message can be selected to automatically display as each user logs in or logs out - delivered right to their doorstep. The Network News also saves disk space. If a message is sent to each user on the network using an electronic mail package, the message will be replicated on the disk many times as it is stored in each person's mailbox. With the Network News, the message is stored in one spot until it expires, then it is erased. Each user is responsible to type in and proofread his or her own announcement. He or she also sets the starting date for the announcement and the expiration date. The announcement can be changed or removed at any time, but only by the user who typed it in, or by the administrator for the Network News. Routines are also available to generate and publish a weekly news sheet with a minimum of labor. On our network, we have the Network News publish a news file with all the current announcements. We then load the file into Microsoft WORD, where it is quickly formatted using a pre- defined macro and printed on a laser printer. In less than 15 minutes we have an impressive looking news sheet that is ready for sending to the printer to be posted and distributed. A management menu let's an administrator quickly clean up the files by removing all expired announcements. For companies and campuses that have multiple LANs, Announcements can be exported to an ASCII text file for use on other servers or imported from an ASCII text file for use on your own server. The network administrator also may set or change the following parameters. Publication day and time for the weekly news sheet. Cutoff day and time for submissions to the next news sheet. What will be displayed to each user at login time. Name of the weekly news sheet and company or network name. Security method used to protect messages (password or userid) User id's of the administrator(s) for the Network News. 1 II. Using the Network NewsII. Using the Network News Accessing the Network News Accessing the Network News __________________________ After the Network News has been installed on the network, it may be accessed with the following DOS command: NETNEWS On our network menu, we follow the steps below: Login to the main menu of the network or return to the main menu. Press I to select "Information and Databases". Press N to select "the Network News." If you have a menu program for your network, the network manager may make it accessible from the menu. Each menu system is different, so see your network manager for instructions for menu access. You can also access the program as you login by pressing the letter <L> after the initial message or list of titles is displayed. When the program is loaded a main menu will appear with the following selections available. +----------------------------------------------+ | Main Menu | | Press: V to View announcements | | B to Browse through the Titles | | A to Add an announcement | | C to Change an announcement | | R to Remove an announcement | | M to Manage the announcement file | | Q to Quit and return to DOS | | | +----------------------------------------------+ Notice that the bottom window of the screen contains instructions for using the menu. This window will change as you work your way through the program and it will always give you instructions for what to do next, so watch the bottom window for help. You may use the <UP> and <DOWN> arrow keys to highlight a menu selection, then press the <ENTER> key, or you may simply press the first letter of the line. To return back to this menu, press the <ESC> key. To exit from the main menu back to DOS, press <Q> or the <ESC> key. 2 Viewing announcements Viewing announcements _____________________ To read all current announcements, select the "View Announcements" option from the main menu. The first available announcement will be placed in the middle window, with the title at the top. If the announcement is longer than the window allows, you may scroll through it by pressing the <UP> and <DOWN> arrow keys or the <PAGE UP> and <PAGE DOWN> keys. When you've read the announcement, you may press function key <F10> to go to the next announcement, or function key <F9> to go back to the previous announcement, or you may press the <ESC> key to go back to the main menu. Browsing through the titles Browsing through the titles ___________________________ Most people prefer to read the headlines first on a newspaper and then read the article if the headlines attract their attention. You may use the same approach with the Network News by selecting "Browse through the Titles" from the main menu. The first nine titles will be displayed on the middle window of the screen. You may use the <UP> and <DOWN> arrow keys to highlight a title. Then Press the <ENTER> key to view the announcement. The <PAGE UP> and <PAGE DOWN> keys will quickly scroll through the titles if there are more than nine available. The arrow keys will scroll one title at a time. After reading an announcement, you may return to browsing the titles by pressing the <ESC> key. From the titles screen, you may return to the main menu by pressing the <ESC> key again. Adding Your Own Announcements Adding Your Own Announcements _____________________________ If you have an announcement to make, remember to gather the facts first. Avoid leaving out important information by answering the questions "Who? What? Where? When? How? and Why?" if they apply. Then select "Add an Announcement" from the main menu of the Network News. The following screen will be displayed for your entry of the message. +---------------------------------------------------------------+ | server/yourname | | Full name: | | Phone no: | | First Date to publish: | | Last date to publish: | | Title for the message: | +---------------------------------------------------------------+ +---------------------------------------------------------------+ | | | | | | | | +---------------------------------------------------------------+ The cursor will be next to "full name:", waiting for you to enter your name. Up to 30 characters may be entered. When you're finished, press the <ENTER> key or the <DOWN> arrow key to move to the next item. Then fill in your phone number in the same way. Your name and phone number are needed, if the network administrator has a question and needs to contact you. Normal viewers will only see the title and the message of 3 your announcement. They will not see your username, full name or phone number. The next two lines will ask you for the first date to publicize the announcement and the last date to publicize it. Instead of letting you type in the date, the program requires that you use the arrow keys to set the date. The <RIGHT> arrow increases the date shown by one week and the <LEFT> arrow decreases the date shown by one week. A <SPACE> will increase it by one day and a <BACKSPACE> will decrease it by a day. When the date displays properly, press the <ENTER> key or the <DOWN> arrow key to accept it. After the dates are entered, enter the title followed by the <ENTER> key or the <DOWN> arrow key. When editing any of the line items, you may use the <BACKSPACE> key to erase mistakes, and you may use the <UP> arrow key to go back to a previous line and make a correction. When you reach the announcement window, you may type up to 4000 characters for the announcement. We recommend that you only press return at the end of each paragraph, not at the end of each line. However, the appearance and the format are up to you, so do whatever you like. If a news sheet is prepared later, the formatting may be adjusted slightly to fit the paper, but all other information will remain exactly as you typed it. When you're typing in the announcement window, the following keys may be used. <UP>, <DOWN>, <LEFT> and <RIGHT> arrow keys to move the cursor. <PAGE UP>, <PAGE DOWN>, <HOME> and <END> keys for quick movement. <INS> to toggle between insert typing mode and overtype mode. <BACKSPACE> to erase the character preceding the cursor. <DEL> key to erase the character at the cursor. <F7> function key to import text from a disk file. <F8> function key to export the entire text to a disk file. <F9> function key for moving back to the title entry line. <F10> function key to quit and save the announcement. <ESC> key to quit without saving the announcement. <SHIFT-F7> if the screen appears to be snowy as you type. If you are a public user and do not have a private account on the network, you may be asked for a password for the announcement. Enter one that you will easily remember, but cannot be easily guessed by others. This password will be needed later if you want to change or remove the message. The network administrator may have set a policy of reviewing all announcements before they are displayed. This may be necessary to insure that offensive material does not get placed into the files. If this is the case, your message will not be available for viewing until the administrator reads and approves it. He or she will be notified that your announcement needs an approval the next time he logs in our out. 4 Changing an Announcement Changing an Announcement ________________________ Any announcement that you have typed in, may be changed by selecting "Change an announcement" from the main menu. The first announcement that matches your username will be placed on the screen. At this point you have four options, with the following keys: <C> to Change this announcement <F9> to go back to the previous announcement <F10> to go on to your next announcement. <ESC> to go back to the main menu. If you press the letter <C>, you may be asked for a password. Enter the password you gave when you initially entered the announcement. Passwords may be typed in lower or upper case. If the password is matched, you will be able to edit the announcement and make changes. To save the changes you have made, work your way through the line items to the message window and then at the message window, press function key <F10> to save the changes. When you've changed all of your announcements that you want to change, you may return to the main menu by pressing the <ESC> key. Removing an Announcement Removing an Announcement ________________________ Any announcement you have typed in, may also be removed by selecting "Remove an announcement" from the main menu. The first announcement that matches your username will be placed on the screen. At this point you have four options, with the following keys: <R> to Remove this announcement <F9> to go back to the previous announcement <F10> to go on to your next announcement. <ESC> to got back to the main menu. If you press the letter <R>, you may be asked for a password. Enter the password you gave when you initially entered the announcement. Passwords may be typed in lower or upper case. If the password is matched, the announcement will be removed. Notice that this only marks the announcement as being removed. It will no longer be viewable by normal users, but it still exists in the file. You may later use the "Change an announcement" procedure to reactivate it if desired. Periodically, the network administrator will condense and clean up the disk space by actually deleting all announcements which have been marked as removed. After this point the announcement will be completely gone and it can't be recalled or changed. When you've removed all of your announcements that you want to remove, you may return to the main menu by pressing the <ESC> key. 5 III. Installing the Network NewsIII. Installing the Network News Check Requirements Check Requirements __________________ The Network News requires workstations that have DOS 3.0 or higher and 256K of available free memory. This version is only certified for Novell networks. If you have a LAN Manager network, ask for version 3.0 or higher. The following disk space requirements are needed on the server: 200K bytes for the programs. 120 bytes per announcement for the master index. 0-4000 bytes per announcement for the announcement text. (If only 50 characters are typed in, only 50 bytes are used.) Select a Location Select a Location _________________ The Network News should be stored in its own subdirectory on one of the drives of the file server. The subdirectory must allow users to read and write and create files into the directory. For 3COM networks, that subdirectory needs to be shared with the parameter /RWC. The subdirectory may have it's own sharename, or it may be part of a share name for general applications. For example, the subdirectory could be F:\NETNEWS or H:\APPS\NETNEWS. In Novell networks, users need to have rights to create files, read from files and write to files in that subdirectory. In the commands below, we will refer to this subdirectory as "d:\subdir". You should substitute the drive and directory you selected for the letters "d:\subdir" in the commands below. If the subdirectory selected isn't linked or mapped to a logical drive you should do that now. For example, if you want to store the Network News on drive H:, you should link drive H: with a command like: MAP ROOT H:=SYS:\APPS for Novell Networks, or 3F LINK H: \\SERVER\APPS for 3COM Networks, or NET USE H: \\SERVER\APPS for LAN Manager Networks Install the Software Install the Software ____________________ This procedure will work for both installing the software the first time and updating it with a new version. When you have selected a proper location, place the Network News Diskette in drive A: and type: A:NETINST (If the diskette is in drive B: you can also type B:NETINST.) The program will start checking the files on the diskette to make sure they haven't been modified or infected by any viruses. If the files check out OK, you will be asked to enter the drive letter and then the subdirectory path. as shown below: Server Drive: d Subdirectory: d:\subdir If the Drive letter or the subdirectory suggested, isn't proper, use the <BACKSPACE> key to erase it and type a new value. The program will then 6 create the directory if necessary, copy the program files to it, copy the registration file to it, if available, and create the batch file NETNEWS.BAT. If you're updating an older version, you may be asked some more questions. Read the screen carefully and follow the instructions. You now have two options, to make this program accessible for all users on the network. Either add the directory "d:\subdir" to their path statement, or find a subdirectory that is on the path statement and copy the batch file "d:\subdir\NETNEWS.BAT" to it. If the program is installed properly, users will be able to access the program from any directory on the network by typing the command: NETNEWS For example, on our network, we chose to put the programs on H:\NETNEWS, and we have a special utility subdirectory on our path statement called F:\UTIL. So we used the following commands to install the software. A:\NETINST Server Drive: H Subdirectory: H:\NETNEWS COPY H:\NETNEWS\NETNEWS.BAT F:\UTIL If you use a menu program for access, you will want to tell the menu program to execute the program NETNEWS.EXE in the subdirectory you selected for d:\subdir. Set the Initial Parameters Set the Initial Parameters __________________________ After the program installed, you should start up the program and set the initial parameters. type NETNEWS to start the program press M to select "Manage the Announcement File" press S to select "Set Initial Parameters" The following initial parameter screen should be displayed: +---------------------------------------------------------------+ | Company: | | Title for Publication: | | Distribution Day: (0=Sunday 1=Monday ... 6=Saturday)| | Distribution Hour: (1=1:00 am ... 23=11:00 pm) | | Cutoff Day: (0=Sunday 1=Monday ... 6=Saturday)| | Cutoff Hour: (1=1:00 am ... 23=11:00 pm) | | Selected Message: | | Network Clearance Type: Home Directory Drive: | | Approval Flag: | |Power User id's | | 1: | | 2: | | 3: | | 4: | |Public User id's | | 1: | | 2: | +---------------------------------------------------------------+ 7 The cursor will be displayed by "Company: " indicating that the program is waiting for you to enter the name of your company. Notice that since a default value like "Computing Specialties" is displayed on the screen, you will need to erase that value using the <BACKSPACE> key before you can enter a new value. If you want to accept the value displayed, just press the <ENTER> key. This applies to each of the parameters on the top window of the screen. The Company Name is displayed on the top title window of the menu screens. It may be used to show your company name, your network name, or a longer description of the Title. Up to 50 characters are allowed. The title will be displayed on the heading of the menu screens and on the heading of the weekly news sheet. When the title is properly changed, press the <ENTER> key or the <DOWN> arrow key. Work your way through each parameter until you've changed or pressed <ENTER> to the last parameter. You will then be given a chance to press the <S> key to save the parameters, or press the <ESC> key to return to the menu without saving the parameters. The second parameter is for the Distribution day of the week. The Distribution day indicates the day on which the weekly news sheet will be printed and distributed. This lets users see when the printed copy of their announcement will be available to others. You should enter a value between 0 and 6, where 0=Sunday, 1=Monday, ... 6=Saturday. After you enter the value, press the <ENTER> key. If you won't be publishing a weekly news sheet on paper, you may ignore this value along with the other day and hour values. If you don't want to use the features for a weekly printed news sheet, then enter a 9 for the Distribution day of the week. The program will then skip past the remaining questions about distribution and cutoff. The Distribution Hour indicates the hour that the weekly news sheet is expected to be delivered. Enter a number between 1 and 23, where 1=1:00 am and 23=11:00 pm. The Cutoff Day and Hour indicates the day of the week and hour that announcements will be collected to prepare the weekly news sheet. This value gives users a deadline and lets them know that any announcement submitted after that time will not be published until the following week. The Selected Message provides a way for you to make sure that people are aware of the announcements. Enter a T to indicate that a list of the current titles should be displayed at login time. If it is important that all users see a specific message, enter the message number to indicate that message should be displayed at login time. Enter a zero to indicate that one randomly selected message should be displayed at login time. The Network Clearance Type is available because of differences in the various network operating systems. It provides a way of confirming that the proper user is trying to make changes to the announcement. If you have a netbios system such as 3COM or LAN Manager, use a value of 2, indicating that the user's home directory will be checked and used as a 8 user id. If you have a Novell system such as Netware or Advanced Netware 386, use a value of 3, indicating that the user's username will be checked and used. If neither option 2 or 3 work, then use a value of 1, to indicate that security will be maintained by asking for a password for each announcement entered. The User's Home Directory will only be asked for if a Network Clearance Type of 2 is given. Enter the drive letter that is used for linking or mapping the user's home directory. For example, if your users have a home drive linked to G: then enter G: here. The Approval Flag may be used for further security to avoid the possibility of having offensive messages displayed on other users screens. Enter Y to indicate that all new messages and all changed messages must be approved by the network administrator before they will be displayed to other users. Enter an N to indicate that all new messages may be displayed to other users immediately. Note that if you place a Y here, then all power users will be told at login time if messages are waiting for approval. The Power User Id's may be used to indicate the user id's for up to four users who have the power to change and remove any message in the file and use any of the management menu procedures. Since a new file was created when you first loaded this program, your own user id will be stored as Power User #1. You may add the user id's for up to three more users if desired. On a netbios network, the user id's have the format " \\server\directory ". On a Novell Netware network, the userid's have the format "server/username". Public User ID's are only used if the network clearance type is 2. The Public User ID's may be used to indicate the user id's for users who do not have a private home directory. For example, a lot of colleges will give students a network account but no private disk space. For these users, the home directory drive may be a public scratch drive that they all share. Enter the ID's for that public account. E.G. \\RED\TEMP or BLUE/SCRATCH. User's linked to the drives indicated will be asked to enter a password for each announcement to protect the announcement from being changed by other public users. Display Announcements as each User Logs in. Display Announcements as each User Logs in __________________________________________ One of the nice features of the Network News is that you can make announcements to people as they log in. This guarantees that the announcement will at least be in front of their eyes. You can at least "Lead the horse to water" so to speak. To do this, place a command line into the login script or batch file that each user goes through as he or she logs in. On a 3COM system the HELLO.BAT file is such a file. The batch file should contain a line like one of the following examples: d:\subdir\NETNEWS TITLES d:\subdir\NETNEWS MESSAGE 4 d:\subdir\NETNEWS MESSAGE d:\subdir\NETNEWS SELECT The first example requests that the current titles be displayed on the screen. The second example requests that message number 4 be displayed on the screen. The third requests that a randomly selected message be 9 displayed on the screen. The last example indicates that the Network News Administrator will decide what is to be displayed. The Selected message may be easily set or changed in the "Setup Initial Parameters" procedure described in the previous section. THE LAST EXAMPLE IS RECOMMENDED because it's easier to change the "selected message" in the Network News program than it is to re-edit everybody's login script. Let the Users Know about Network News. Let the Users Know about Network News _____________________________________ Now that Network News is installed and ready for use, your first announcement can be to let people people know about it. Load the Network News program and select "Add an announcement" from the main menu. In the announcement, describe the program and tell them how to access it. Use the sample announcement below as a guideline: +---------------------------------------------------------------+ | server/yourname | | Full Name: John Doe | | Phone no: 110 | | First Date to publish: 7/6/91 | | Last date to publish: 8/6/91 | | Title for the message: ANNOUNCING THE NETWORK NEWS | +---------------------------------------------------------------+ +---------------------------------------------------------------+ |The Network News program will help us keep each other aware of | |upcoming events and changes. We will be using it to make | |announcements like this one and you can add announcements too. | | | |To try it out now, press the letter L to load the program | |You can access it later from the DOS prompt by typing: NETNEWS | |or you can load it from the menu by following the steps below. | | | | Press I at the main menu to select "Information" | | Press N at the next menu to select "Network News" | | | |The bottom window will tell you what to do from there. User | |Guides may also be obtained by contacting your network manager.| | | |Network News is a shareware program that we are evaluating for | |30 days on a "Try before you buy basis". Let us know if you | |think it will be useful. | +---------------------------------------------------------------+ When you're finished editing the announcement, save it by pressing the <F10> key. Then select "Manage the Announcement File" from the main menu and "Set Initial Parameters" from the management menu. Now change the parameter for "Selected Message" to 1 to specify that you want announcement number 1 displayed at login time. Isn't that an easy way to tell the entire network about something new? Each user will now be told about The Network News program as they log in and they will know how to access it. You also have permission from Computing Specialties to print copies of the file NEWSUSER.DOC for user guides. However, first you will want to use an editor to change the instructions on page 2 for accessing the program. Those instructions should match the procedure needed on your 10 network and your menu system. If you feel we have left important facts out of the user guide, please let us know when you register the Network News. We want it to be useful. IV. Managing the Network NewsIV. Managing the Network News If you're a power user or a Network News administrator, you will be able to select the "Manage the Announcement File" item on the main menu by pressing the letter <M>. When you do the following menu will be displayed: +--------------------------------------------------+ | Management Menu | | Press: E to Export or Import Announcements | | P to Publish a weekly news sheet | | A to Approve new announcements | | R to Remove all old announcements | | C to Condense the announcement file | | S to Set Initial Parameters | | Q to Quit and return to the Main Menu | | | +--------------------------------------------------+ Each of the items on the menu are described below. To select an item, use the <UP> and <DOWN> arrow keys to highlight your choice and then press the <ENTER> key, or press the first letter on the line. Exporting and Importing Announcements Exporting and Importing Announcements _____________________________________ Exporting and Importing may be used for organizations that have multiple networks but want to display announcements from each on all LANS. The Export function creates and writes a text file containing all current announcements and the Import function reads an existing text file of announcements. To export a file: Load the Network News Program press M to select "Manage the Announcements". Press E to select "Export or Import". Press E again to select "Export a file". Type the drive and name of the file to be created. Press <ENTER> to carry out the command. The program will then ask for a cutoff date to use in selecting messages to write. You must use the arrow keys to specify the date. The next distribution date will be used as a starting value. The following keys will modify the date: Press <RIGHT> arrow key to increase it by a week Press <LEFT> arrow key to decrease it by a week. Press <SPACE> to increase it by a day. Press <BACKSP> to decrease it by a day. The program will display the announcement title and username of each message it writes to the file. 11 To import a file of announcements: Load the Network News Program press M to select "Manage the Announcements". Press E to select "Export or Import". Press I to select "Import a file". Type the drive and name of the file to be created. Press <ENTER> to carry out the command. The announcements will be briefly displayed on the screen as they are read from the file. If you want to use some other method to prepare a file of announcements for input, the following format should be used. line# Description Size ----- ----------------------------------- -------------------- 1 full name of announcement originator (up to 30 characters) 2 username of announcement originator (up to 20 characters) 3 Phone number of originator (up to 12 characters) 4 First Date to publicize (in MM/DD/YYYY format) 5 Last Date to publicize (in MM/DD/YYYY format) 6 Title of announcement (up to 40 characters) 7-N Message (up to 4000 chars.) N+1 ------ (A line of dashes) ----- (at least 1 dash.) Each announcement must be followed by a line that has at least one dash starting in the first character of the line. The message can take as many lines as are necessary. It is recommended that the paragraphs have only one carriage return and line-feed character at the end of the paragraph. A paragraph can be any length up to the 4000 character maximum for the entire message. You can follow each line of a paragraph with a carriage return and line-feed as long as you keep the lines of the paragraph shorter than 70 characters in length. The Network News program will treat a line as a paragraph and move words to a new line if the line goes beyond 70 characters. Approving Announcements Approving Announcements _______________________ Hopefully, the users of the network will display respect for the system and for others. If this appears to be untrue, you may want to have someone review all messages before they are displayed to other users. If the Approval Flag parameter has been set to "Y", each new announcement and each changed announcement will be flagged for approval. It will be the same as a "removed" message until one of the power users or network administrators approves it. We have also set the program to notify all power users when they login or logout if announcements need to be approved. 12 To approve messages: Load the Network News Program press M to select "Manage the Announcements". press A to select "Approve new Announcements" The first unapproved announcement will be displayed on the screen. Press <PG DN> to scroll through and read the announcement. or <F10> to approve the announcement and go to the next. or <F9> to disapprove the announcement and go on. or <ESC> to return to the menu without approving. Each announcement will be displayed until all have been checked. Publishing a Network News Sheet Publishing a Network News Sheet _______________________________ We'll leave the debate up to the experts about whether an electronic news program is better or more efficient than a paper news sheet. We've decided that if we want to get the word out so people will notice it, we'll do both. And the Network News program takes much of the labor out of doing both. To generate a Network News news sheet, follow the steps below: Load the Network News Program press M for "Manage the Announcements". press P to select "Publish a News Sheet" change the file name and drive if desired press <ENTER> to use file name shown Pick a publishing date using the arrow keys. Press <ENTER> to select the date shown Press P for a plain and simple printable version. or W for a word processor editable version. Press <ENTER> to start the process. The program will then create a "news sheet file" with each active announcement that has a first date less than or equal to the publishing date and a last date greater than or equal to the publishing date. Removed announcements and unapproved announcements will not be included in the file. The file will be named NEWS.DOC and it will be in the subdirectory where the Network News program was installed. If you selected a plain and simple printable version, you can exit from the Network News and send the file NEWS.DOC directly to the printer. Your job is done, unless you need multiple copies or unless you are also the one to distribute them around the company or campus. If you selected the word processor editable version, you can exit from the Network News program and load the file "NEWS.DOC". We do the following things in Microsoft WORD (tm) to give the news sheet an impressive readable look. A macro actually does the work for us. Set the printer options type to postscript and 1 copy. Format the division layout for two columns per page. Format the division margins to 1" top .5" left, right & bottom. Select the entire document format all characters in our favorite text font-Times Roman 10 pt 13 Select the first carriage return character and delete it. Select line one format it as a running head at the top of each page format the characters in our Title font-Helvetica bold 18 pt remove extra blanks and underscores from line one. search for the characters &% delete them select the current line format the characters in our headline font-Times Roman bold 12 search for the next occurrence of the characters &% If they exist, repeat the previous four steps above. Our actual macro also puts box-type borders around each article, but it would make the instructions above very confusing if we tried to describe how it does it. The macro is stored on the installation disk in a file called NEWS.GLY if you have Microsoft WORD (tm) version 5.0 and want to use it. It's set for a postscript printer, but can be easily changed for a LaserJet III or II printer. It's set for a postscript printer, but can be easily changed for a LaserJet III or II printer. To start the macro, First use the "Transfer Glossary Load" command to load the NEWS.GLY glossary. Then place the cursor at the very top of the document NEWS.DOC. Then type the four letters: NEWS and press function key <F3>. When it's finished use the "Print preView" command to decide where the column breaks should be. You can make a forced column break by pressing <CTRL ENTER> with the cursor at the desired line. We have also included the file NEWS55.GLY which contains the same macro for Microsoft WORD version 5.5. Use the MACRO pop-down window to load and run the macro NEWS. It's also a good idea to use the spell checker and print out one test copy for final proofreading and review, before the final master is printed. Removing Expired Announcements Removing Expired Announcements ______________________________ Periodically you may want to remove all expired announcements. An expired announcement will have a last date that is less than today's date. To Remove expired announcements: Load the Network News Program press M for "Manage the Announcements". press R to select "Remove all old Announcements" The first expired announcement will be displayed on the screen. At this point you may: Press R to remove this announcement or <F10> to skip to the next without removing this one. or <F9> to go to the previous one without removing or <ESC> to return to the main menu. When all expired announcements have been checked, you may return to the main menu by pressing the <ESC> key. 14 Condensing the Announcement Files Condensing the Announcement Files _________________________________ Removed announcements are only flagged as being removed. They still exist in the file. The Condense procedure will actually delete the announcements and remove all evidence of them from the files, freeing up disk space for future use. Since information is being deleted and reorganized during this process, it is recommended that you make a backup copy of the message files before condensing. The following dos commands will backup the files to a diskette in drive A: COPY d:\subdir\NEWSMSG.* A: Substitute your actual drive and subdirectory name for d:\subdir in the command above. When a backup diskette has been made, you may condense the announcement files with the procedure below: Load the Network News Program press M to select "Manage the Announcements". press C to select "Condense the Announcement File" During the process, some files will be deleted and others will be renumbered as the number of files decreases. The title and username of each announcement that is deleted or renumbered will be briefly displayed on the screen as the files are being condensed. If you had a specific message selected for display, the Selected message parameter will also be changed to match the new number of the message. If the specific message was deleted, the "Selected Message" parameter will be reset to 0 to display a random message from the file. See the next section for changing parameter values. Removing expired announcements and condensing the announcement file may very likely become a dull repetitive task. If this is the case, you can use the following DOS command to quickly remove all old announcements and condense the files: NETNEWS CONDENSE The process will be performed, without asking you for any input or verification from the keyboard. The above command may also be placed in a batch file that is regularly scheduled to be run on a weekly or monthly basis. Changing Initial Parameters Changing Initial Parameters ___________________________ The Initial Parameters which were set when the Network News program was installed, can be revised at any time by following the procedure below: Load the Network News Program press M to select "Manage the Announcements". press S to select "Set Initial Parameters" The parameter screen will then be displayed and you will be able to change any value on the screen. To leave a value as it is, simply press the <ENTER> key or <DOWN> arrow key. The parameters are described in detail in the section on "Installing the Network News" on page 7. Work your way through each parameter until you've changed or pressed <ENTER> 15 to the last parameter. You will then be given a chance to press the <S> key to save the parameters, or press the <ESC> key to return to the menu without saving the parameters. V. Registering Your Copy of the Network NewsV. Registering Your Copy of the Network News The Benefits of Shareware The Benefits of Shareware _________________________ The Network News is a shareware program, you may receive a copy of it for free from a friend or associate, or you may order a copy from a shareware distributor for a small distribution fee of $6.00 or less. You may also be able to download it from many electronic bulletin boards around the world. When you receive it, give it a good thirty day evaluation on a try before you buy basis. At that point, if you decide to continue using it you may register your copy with the author, Rob Robinson at Computing Specialties in Orange City, Iowa for $75.00 for each server that the Network News program is stored on. Please complete and send in the registration form and the future update survey when you register. In appreciation, we will send you the latest version of the Network News program, personalized with your company name. The top window of the menu screens will show "Registered to Your Company Name" instead of "Shareware Evaluation Version". You will also be able to receive future updates at $10.00 for minor updates (2.0 to 2.1, etc.) or $20.00 for major updates (2.x to 3.0, etc.). The Network News is offered at a very inexpensive price, because it is marketed as shareware. Most world-wide marketing systems involve a hierarchy of manufacturer, distributors, wholesalers, and retailers, with each company involved adding a twenty percent to one hundred percent markup to the cost of the product. Shareware marketing avoids this system. Shareware distributors normally pay the author nothing for the right to copy and distribute the software. They simply charge potential users a distribution fee of $6.00 or less. The author of the software will only be paid if the software is good enough to use and the users are good enough to send in the registration fee when they decide to use it on their network. If you want to make sure you have the latest version to evaluate, you may order a shareware disk for $5.00 from Computing Specialties at 523 Albany Avenue NE, Orange City, IA 51041. You will receive the latest shareware disk and a discount coupon good for $5.00 off when you register the software. User Supported Software User Supported Software _______________________ All good software is user supported and directed. Most software developers give their best shot and publish what they think everyone will use and like. But only the best will intently listen to their users and respond with the enhancements and updates that are requested the most. And only the best take software problem reports seriously and respond with help or fixes if possible. We want the Network News to be the best and we want it to grow to be a program that is recommended by all who use it. Since it's shareware, we even want you to pass it on when you recommend it. We think that if the price is right and the program is good, people will pay for it. Please fill out the survey on the following page and return it when you register your version. A registration form follows the survey. 16 FUTURE UPDATE SURVEY FUTURE UPDATE SURVEY We've started out with some ideas of our own, for you to vote for, but please add your own ideas to the list. Please Rank your requests by using 1 for the highest, 2 for the next, etc. Then send it to us when you register. VOTE FOR IMPROVEMENTS TO THE PROGRAM IN FUTURE UPDATES VOTE FOR IMPROVEMENTS TO THE PROGRAM IN FUTURE UPDATES ______________________________________________________ ___ Add Mouse Support ___ Provide color choices for background and foregrounds. ___ Provide a Windows-like interface ___ Provide a Windows 3.0 or higher version ___ Provide better publishing options for the news sheet. (explain) ___ Provide the ability to change colors and highlight text in an announcement ___ Provide the ability to include graphics in the announcements ___ Fix the problem below or make the following improvement: ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ VOTE FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF FUTURE SOFTWARE VOTE FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF FUTURE SOFTWARE ___________________________________________ by ranking the options below using 1-4 with 1 for most important. by ranking the options below using 1-4 with 1 for most important. ___ Provide a similar Network Forum, Conferencing and Bulletin Board System that costs under $100 per server (no user limit.) ___ Provide a similar Resource Scheduling and Reservation Package. that costs under $100 per server (no user limit). ___ Provide a similar group project or task scheduler and tracking system for under $150 per server (no user limit). ___ Provide a similar Electronic Mail Package that costs under $200 per server (no user limit). 17 REGISTRATION FORM FOR THE NETWORK NEWS REGISTRATION FORM FOR THE NETWORK NEWS ______________________________________ For all registrations, we'll send a free update to the most recent version of Network News. We'll also personalize it to include your company or network name. Fill in the blanks below and send this page with your check. (Visa or MasterCard are also accepted.) Your Name:________________________________________________________ Company Name:_____________________________________________________ Address:__________________________________________________________ City________________________________ State ____ Zip __________ Network Name:_____________________________________________________ Network Type: ____ Novell ____ Lan Manager ____ 3COM ____ Other If other give name: _____________________________________________ Network Version: ______________________ e.g. Netware 386 v1.2A Protocol: ___ Token Ring ___ XNS ___ TCP/IP ___ ARCNET ___ Other If other explain: _____________________________________________ Diskette size: _________________________________________________ Amount: ($75.00 US or $5.00 US or $7.00 US or $___________ ) Visa or MasterCard #_________________________________________________ Visa or MasterCard Expiration Date: _________________________________ ___ Registration for unlimited users: $75.00 for each server the program is stored on. ___ Latest version shareware diskette: $5.00 for USA and Canada $7.00 for other countries (A $5.00 registration discount coupon will be included.) Please make check payable to: Rob Robinson and mail to: Computing Specialties 523 Albany Avenue NE Orange City, IA 51041 USA (version 2.6) 18 INVOICE INVOICE _______ Invoice Date _______________ From: Computing Specialties 523 Albany Avenue NE Orange City, IA 51041 To: ________________________________ ________________________________ ________________________________ ________________________________ Qty Description Cost +-------+--------------------------------------+-----------+ | | _The Network News Software Program__ | | _________________________________ | | | | | _____ | _Registered licenses at $75.00 each_ | _________ | __________________________________ | | | | | _____ | _Shareware diskettes at $5.00 each_ | _________ | __________________________________ | | | | | _____ | ____________________________________ | _________ | +-------+--------------------------------------|===========| | | Total Amount Due| _________ | +-----------+ 19 LIST OF FILES ON THE DISKETTE LIST OF FILES ON THE DISKETTE The shareware version of the diskette contains the following files for version 2.6 of The Network News.: Filename Description --------------- -------------------------------------- README .BAT Quick Start Command. Type: README README .1ST Quick Start instructions. NETNEWS .EXE Program for Network News NETINST .EXE Program for installing Network News NETINST .CHK Installation check file. NEWS .GLY Microsoft WORD 5.0 Macro NEWS55 .GLY Microsoft WORD 5.5 Macro NETNEWS .DOC Complete Documentation for Network News NEWSUSER.DOC Users Guide for Network News REGISTER.DOC Network News Registration form NEWVER .DOC Description of new features in this version If you want to pass on a shareware version of the program, please give them a disk with only the above files on it. The files from a registered version diskette can be used to make a shareware diskette. A Registered version diskette will also contain the following file. Do not copy it when you are making a shareware diskette for others to try. This file gives you the credit for registering your copy of The Network News. Filename Description -------------- ------------------------ NETNEWS.CFG registration credit file. 20