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1992-03-08
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RANDO - RANDom Origin file maintenance
Written by: Don Dawson, 1:141/730 @FidoNet March, 1992
This program is distributed under the Dinnerware concept. You
might ask, what's Dinnerware? You might know of Shareware and
Freeware. The Dinnerware concept is this: You don't owe me or
anyone else a thing if you choose to use this program. However,
take your spouse, significant other, best friend or anyone
else you choose out to dinner. You'll enjoy it, they'll enjoy it.
or
Can't afford dinner? Send a Thank You note/message to the person
that helped you set up your bbs or sent this program to you. It'll
only take a minute.
THIS MATERIAL IS DISTRIBUTED "as is" WITHOUT ANY EXPRESSED OR
IMPLIED WARRANTY OR LIABILITY FOR DIRECT, (IN)DIRECT OR
(IN)CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES. If it breaks, you own ALL the parts.
(see SOCIAL COMMENTARY below)
OVERVIEW:
Why RANDO? Rando will create random ORIGIN files in each of your
echomail areas. Some message editors (MSGED for sure) and some FidoNet
BBS software (OPUS 1.70 and Maximus) will use this file to create a
'custom' origin line instead of the same one in every echo.
SOCIAL COMMENTARY:
Before going on, a word from your Sponsor. <g>
The * Origin line *does* serve a purpose. It's to identify the node #
from which an echomail message originated. Most sysops use something
appropriate for their bbs. Here's the one my BBS uses when an echomail
message originates from 1:141/730:
* Origin: Treasure Island =HST/DS= 203-791-8532 (1:141/730)
If you use RANDO, please use tasteful (humorous?) material. I don't
recommend letting your BBS use the RANDO origin lines. Why? Although
your material may be appropriate, there's no telling if it's appropriate
for the context of the message that a caller writes. I only use this
for messages that I write with my external message editor. If the Origin
isn't appropriate for the message context, I can use the editor to change
it. A BBS caller can't do this. Besides, how many of them read 'em
anyway?
Here's an example using an Origin from the enclosed file:
A caller writes in an echomail message:
I NEVER beat my wife!
Your BBS adds this as an Origin:
* Origin: To every exception there is a rule. (1:9999/9999)
Get the idea?
Enjoy!
HOW IT WORKS:
It will read a file (of up to 1400 lines) and randomly write an
ORIGIN (no extension) or <areaname>.sqo (for squish areas) file into
each echo area. Passthru echo areas are skipped (those with a # anywhere
on the AREAS.BBS line).
Note: See below if you don't have an AREAS.BBS file.
Of course, it reads the AREAS.BBS to find the path to each echomail
directory. For creative and "what's an AREAS.BBS?" users please see
below.
Because "high bit" characters (greater than ASCII 127) are frowned
upon in any Zone 1 echomail, if the input file contains any such
characters the characters will be replaced with a + or a -. Any lines
longer than 44 characters will be skipped and will be written to an
'error file' so you can either delete them or edit them to make the
lines shorter. Why 44 characters? Origin lines must be a single
line. Multiple lines are not appreciated. Allowing for the beginning
*Origin stuff and the ending (1:xxx/yyy@fidonet.org) 44 should do it.
USING RANDO:
You must provide two command line parameters, optionally five more,
seperated by a space (UPPER, lower or MiXeD case are ok). If you
run it without anything on the command line you'll get something
like this:
╒════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╕
│ RANDO v1.01 - Random Origin lines │
│ (C) Copyright 1991/2 by Don Dawson 1:141/730.0@Fidonet │
╘════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╛
Usage: [-a\path\filename] [-q\path\filename] [-e\path\filename]
[-x\path\filename] [-l] [-b] [-s]
-a [path and file name of AREAS.BBS]
ex:. -ac:\misc\areas.bbs
-q [path and file name of quotes file]
ex: -qc:\misc\quotes.lst
-e [path and file name of quotes error file] (optional)
ex: -ec:\misc\rando.err
-x [path and file name of areas to eXclude (optional)
ex: -xc:\misc\skipem.lst
-b BBS name from the AREAS.BBS file will be prefixed to the origin line.
ex: -b
-s Run silently.
ex: -s
-l Write rando.log containing \yourpath\ and each origin line.
ex: -l
. -A the name and path to your AREAS.BBS file (required).
. -Q the name and path to the file that contains the stuff
(famous quotes?) you want to use in your *Origin line.
(required)
. -E the name and path to a file into which you'd like all
"errors" in your quote file written. (optional)
. -X the name and path to a file containing areas you would
like eXcluded from processing. It must be in 'areas.bbs'
file format. As a matter of fact, you can make a copy
of your areas.bbs file and delete or comment out the areas
that you want included. Everything left in the file will
be excluded. (optional)
. -B This will prefix the contents of the origin file with your
BBS name. The BBS name is the same one that's in your
areas.bbs (probably on the first line). Everything up to
the '!' will be included. WARNING: Your BBS name must be
less than 44 characters. If your BBS name + a randomly
selected line from the origin file is greater than 44
characters, only your BBS name will be used for that origin
file. (optional)
. -S This will avoid displaying the paths to the origin line files
as the program runs. The program will run a little quicker if
you use this. (optional)
. -L Log into RANDO.LOG each path and origin file contents.
(optional)
EXAMPLES:
rando -ac:\bbs\areas.bbs -qc:\bbs\quotes.txt -s
Note: No trailing backslash following the file name(s).
rando -ac:\misc\myareas.bbs -qd:\stuff\myorigin.bbs -ec:\junk\errors.lst
This will write 'input file errors' to the ERRORS.LST file.
rando -ac:\bbs\areas.bbs -qc:\bbs\quotes.txt -b
Your BBS name will be prefixed to the contents of each origin
line in each ORIGIN file.
CREATIVE USERS or "What's an areas.bbs"?
An areas.bbs file looks like this:
Treasure Island ! Don Dawson
$f:\msg\141STUFF 141STUFF 141/740 701
f:\msg\141SYSOP 141SYSOP 141/740 701
f:\msg\4DOS 4DOS 141/740 701
f:\msg\80XXX 80XXX 141/740 775
f:\msg\ANEWS ANEWS # 141/565 740 123/45
#f:\msg\ANIME ANIME 141/740 701
The first line has: the BBS name, a 'space ! space', sysop name.
The following lines have \yourpath and the AREATAG.
The # indicates a 'passthru' area.
The $ indicates a 'squishmail' area. (Yes, you can mix and match sq/msg).
RANDO is really only interested in one thing, the path to the directory
into which to write the ORIGIN file. If an area is 'passthru' (#), an
ORIGIN file will not be created in that directory. Everything else is
ignored.
If you want to be creative, you can do this:
Make two or more "fake areas.bbs" files, name them anything you want. For
example: you might have a collection of origin lines that you want to use
only in your sysop echos, another set in other echoes. Run RANDO once for
each group. Like this:
For the sysop echoes:
rando -ac:\files\sysop.bbs -qc:\files\sysop.qte -s
rando -ac:\files\others.bbs -qc:\files\other.qte -s
Kudos to the Beta Testers:
My thanks to the fine folks that took the risk and tested RANDO:
Rob Schmaling, 141/765
Steve Plain, 141/980
Gary Snider, 141/740
Noel Smith, 141/945
Rudy Ramsey, 141/755
Paul Brazil, 141/710
Furlan Primus, 141/590
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Revision History:
Version .01 5/25/91, the original
.02 5/26/91, made the display different
.03 5/28/91, added -x and -b options
.04 never released
.05 7/31/91, improved command line processing and an origin line
will not be repeated as long as there are at least the same
number (or more) of origin lines as there are areas.
.06 7/31/91, removed test code (OOPS!). More 'error checking'
improvements.
.07 8/3/91, updated the docs. Thanks to Gary Snider for the
"creative users" idea.
. Documentation update.
. It will now process files that contain '-' in the file
name or path.
. The 'errorfil' is renamed to rando.err.
. Improved reporting of non-existent paths in the AREAS.BBS
file.
.08 8/7/91, minor fixes:
. The RANDO.ERR file will only be created when there are
errors instead of with every execution. (Thanks Furlan!)
. Fixed a minor mite that would result in writing an empty
ORIGIN file if there were fewer quote lines than when there
were areas to write to.
.09 8/8/91, minor enhancement (requested):
. added -l command line option
. minor documentation fixes
.091 8/12/91, 2 mites fixed
. if -b was selected some long origin lines were not detected.
. the "error.log" is erased each time.
.092 8/13/91, minor enhancements
. The rando.log is erased each run.
. The -s (silent) and -l (log) options are now independent
of each other.
. The -l option no longer lists to the screen.
. Minor doc updates.
.093 11/22/91
. Will now skip Squish areas. It looks for a $ in the path
to an echo area. Like this:
$f:\msg\AVIATION AVIATION 141/740
ORIGIN in not supported in Maximus 2.0 <sigh>
1.00 12/26/91
. Well....no bug reports from anyone and none noted here. Time
to make the plunge with a version 1.00!
. Good news! ORIGIN *is* supported in Maximus 2.0. It's an
un-documented feature. RANdO will now create an ?.sqo for
each squish area. I don't know how to get Maximus itself
to use ?.sqo, but stand alone message editors should.
. For each line in AREAS.BBS that begins with a $, the ?.sqo
will be created. For example, this area:
$f:\om\AVIATION AVIATION 141/740
will have an AVIATION.SQO file created in the same directory
as all of the other AVIATION.SQ? files.
. Minor DOC update.
1.01 3/8/92
. The 'randomness' is improved. Some kind soul uploaded a neat
randomizing algorithm to my BBS. It's much better.
. The # of lines in the ORIGIN.LST file increased from 1000 to
1400. This is for all of you running around the echoes with
your origin line butterfly net and adding them to your file.
. The number of areas that can be eXcluded is lowered from 1000
to 200. That should be enough, no?
. If a path to a message area can't be found or there's no
corresponding squish<areaname>.* files, the program will
complain by beeping but it will continue to run.
. There's only been one bug reported since RANDO was first
released. The sysop and I exchanged several netmail messages
trying to diagose it. His areas.bbs file had some 'strange
stuff' in it. He fixed it, problem went away.