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WWIVNEWS Volume 1, Issue 3 March 1991 Table of Contents ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SubEd099....................................................Filo 1@5252 ANSI Menu System Preliminary Proposal.................Intuition 39@6991 A Watchdog Council...............................Creator O'toole 3@2510 Space Dynasty v3.03 Review.......................Creator O'toole 3@2510 WOMR Preview............................................Darkster 1@3114 G-Files Once-And-For-All Fix.........................Agent Steel 1@6556 ...Form Letters and Macros.....................................Eric 1@7 TWIT.EXE - Delete Them Thar Dumb Messages..............John Wash 1@8403 The Pending File.........................................WWIVNEWS Staff Letters to the Editor...........................................Various The Editor's Corner.................................East Bay Ray 1@9964 Acknowledgements.........................................WWIVNEWS Staff ======================================================================= SubEd099 by Filo 1@5252 SubEd099 is the third and last beta version of a Sub Editor program which I wrote to help me keep up with some of the large subs which I host. It is written in QuickBASIC and comes with an installation program which I also wrote. The installation program combines both QuickBASIC and Norton's BE. SubEd may be invoked from DOS, from Shift-F10 or from CHAINS. It cannot run remotely because I did not build any modem handling routines into the program. Its strength, in my opinion, is its ability to run from the Shift-F10 function in WWIV, because that allows a sub host to read his mail and upon finding a request to add or delete a node from a sub, the SysOp can drop to dos, run subed, and make the changes. In my case, after finishing the changes, I return to the BBS and invoke the Form letter function to notify the node that it has been added/deleted from the requested sub. The list of subscribing nodes is maintained in sorted order from lowest to highest node number. In addition to having a HOST command mode, the program also has a SUBSCRIBE mode which creates the appropriate NNxxxx.NET file in DATA with the host's node number in it and which permits a crude form letter to be sent to the host node informing him/her that you wish to subscribe to the sub. The form letter must then be sent with the //UPLOAD function. Admittedly, this is quite crude, but it does alleviate the necessity of having to have my program interface with the message structure inherent in WWIV. A REVIEW function exists in the program which permits the user to obtain a listing of all subs subscribed to. The listing is merely a listing of the NNxxxx.NET files that exist in the DATA directory. It also permits a listing of all nodes contained in a specific Nxxxx.NET file. This listing is in 4 columns and does not (at present) contain provision to page up or page down through the subscribers. Thus, if the sub has more than 196 subscribers, the first page(s) fly by. Finally, the program contains a feature to allow you to page through SUBS.LST, SUBS.1 and SUBS.2. If the latter two files do not exist in DATA, you must create dummy files for them in order to prevent the program from aborting. Several people have asked why the program does not contain features similar to the SUBEDIT program written by Richard Ruffner. The reason is rather simple. I ran Mr. Ruffner's program when it first came out (almost 2 years ago) and did not particularly like it at that time. After a couple of uses it was discarded. Thus, due to my failing memory (hehe), I do not even remember what Richard's program looked like or what features it contained. I suppose I could look as I think I still have a copy, but by not looking at his program, I can honestly say that mine is not a clone of his program. In the near future, I hope to release SUBED100 which will correct the few remaining bugs in SUBED099 (mainly unexpected aborts due to poor programming on my part) and which may improve upon the crude form letter situation. I welcome any suggestions that you, the readers, may offer. ======================================================================= ANSI Menu System Preliminary Proposal by Intuition 39@6991 Designing a menu for a BBS has long been a problem for the developers of the BBS software and the SysOps of the BBS's that runs the software. Due to both size of the user's screen and modem speed restrictions, they are often time-consuming for the expert user who is looking for an obscure function, such as "//NET", and complicated for the beginning user. Embedded ANSI codes to change the color of certain portions of the menus (highlighting key commands) may solve the latter problem while compounding the former. Now, with WWIV commands constantly changing through the addition of modifications, users find themselves constantly checking the menus to find the command to use the off-line reader or to see what prefixes are local to them. Is there a solution to this frustrating problem? Fortunately, yes. This article explains a possible method of placing the menus on the remote user's hard drive or RAM that can be called up with a simple keystroke and scrolled up and down to view all of the commands. Such a menu would be invoked through an ANSI code of around 10 bytes, sent from the local (BBS) side of the connection. Naturally, such a system is not without its drawbacks. The first is a user who does not have ANSI menu capability. This can be easily eliminated by sending out an ANSI menu detect code (much like WWIV 4.12 sends out an ANSI detect code). If the remote system has ANSI menu capability, it will respond with another code containing the version number of the ANSI menu driver, so that the BBS can attempt to prevent sending codes intended for future releases of ANSI menus. Next comes the problem of users who have old versions of a certain BBS's menus. For example, a SysOp may add a new command to the main menu through a mod that he recently added. Again, this can be solved by the BBS sending a code requesting the version of the menus the remote side is running off of. If it is an older version, the user would receive the new menus through a file transfer that is initiated by the BBS, but can be terminated by the user--that is, the ANSI menu driver will alert the user that he is about to receive a new packet of ANSI menus, and can give the user the choice of receiving the packet or aborting the transfer. The question of "Where will the time remaining and current message sub number and title go?" comes up. The current solution to this problem is to place the time remaining along with other statistics in a status line on the very top of the screen that will include the BBS name, user and node number, time remaining, and editing function status (such as insert mode) or percentage into current menu and line number (since the menus would scroll up and down to display the entire menu). The message sub prompt would go into the bottom line of the menu. The menu itself would be between these two status lines or "bars." Just how much of the screen these menus take up would be left up to the user, unless the BBS needs a certain amount of lines to edit messages (which would necessitate a code to lock and unlock the size of the menu). This would permit an expert to quickly scan through the menu looking for a mod command, while permitting a beginner to gradually browse through the available commands. Since the size would affect the page pauser ("[PAUSE]"), yet another ANSI menu command would be sent by the remote system telling the BBS how many lines are available for the actual display. Clearly, this system is incomplete and very open-ended. Technicalities, such as the storage format of the menus, implementation into current terminal programs, and differing systems (Amiga, IBM, Macintosh, etc.) present problems unaddressed by this article. I encourage anyone with suggestions to e-mail me at 39@6991 on WWIVNet. A list of the current ANSI menu codes is available (due to space constraints, they were not included with this article). If you want a copy of these codes, just e-mail me at 39@6991 on WWIVNet. For your information, all but two of the codes start out with ^[ (the escape character, 0x1B hexadecimal, \033 octal), the "." character, a 1 letter command, ! or ? identifying it as the BBS or remote system, and finish off with a four-byte hexadecimal value (in ASCII format) or a string whose length is determined by another command. ======================================================================= A Watchdog Council by Creator O'toole 3@2510 In the 205 area code there was a recent uproar because of a single SysOp. There is no way to recount the details of the whole ordeal because each story is a little different from each SysOp. The end result is that a SysOp got the entire state of Alabama boycotted. The SysOp spread misinformation about his removal from WWIVNet and got support for a boycott. Something like this should not have been able to happen. When any group or organization is as large as WWIVNet, someone should be there to watch everything that is happening. When someone is not watching close enough, events like the 205 boycott take place. Some may say that the ACs, GCs, and Random are there to protect the net. The ACs and GCs already are there for the processing of the nets and they were a much needed addition, but they do not have the time to do something like this. Random already takes care of the WWIV software updates, network software updates, WWIV support, rules and regulations of WWIVNet and his own BBS. It is clear that an AC, GC or Random cannot handle the entire network to make sure wrongful things do not occur. To take care of this, I believe a Watchdog Council must be created. It would consist of members from each region in WWIVnet. Each member would have the power to suspend a BBS from the net, and possible expulsion based on what Random has to say. A group like this could have put a stop to the boycotting of the 205 area code before it took place. ======================================================================= Space Dynasty v3.03 Review by Creator O'toole 3@2510 Since the old Atari ST days of BBS'ing, space games have always reigned king among games. Hollie Satterfield has taken the space game to new heights with his release of Space Dynasty for the WWIV BBS. Many space games like Tradewars and Yankee Trader present the new gamer with a wealth of commands and choices, most that may take some time getting used to. Space Dynasty cuts through this to a simple, yet powerful multi-process menu. Each turn consists of various actions that can take place. These actions usually consist of domestic affairs, then foreign affairs. You start off having to worry about your armies and people and help pay to feed them. Then as the game progresses you test out your foreign diplomacy abilities. You are allowed to make treaties, spy, trade, and attack other dynasties. Sp ace Dynasty has made this easier than most space games with its simple straight-forward menus. The action in the game moves quickly and doesn't bog down at all. There are also other events that can befall you, that are sometimes beyond your control. To add an entirely new dimension to online games there is now a net option. Using the net option you can play against other BBS's which increases the enjoyment of the game twofold. The net option treats the other BBS sort of as another galaxy in which it may actually take a day or so for your orders to be carried through. The original version of Space Dynasty that had the networking ability unfortunately had a bug. However this version of the game has fixed that bug completely. Other than its networking ability is the way Space Dynasty will protect new dynasties. New players are protected for 20 turns which allows them to build themselves up to a decent respectable level. This particular protection clause is probably one of the n icest additions to a space game that I have seen. I have enjoyed playing Space Dynasty more than any other game available for WWIV. I wish that Space Dynasty would pay more attention to its roots in the Atari ST game Space Empire which has several options Space Dynasty does not have. Space Empire's Heavy Cruisers are something that the current version of Space Dynasty could really use. Also more spying options would be nice to see in Space Dynasty. However with the ease of use, ease of setting up, and enjoyment I must say that this is the most formidable game on the market. [I would like to reader to note that while Netted Space Dynasty works over WWIVnet, the net feature IS NOT RECOMMENDED to be used. It DOES work, but it uses an awkward method of distributing updates which may change at any time in a new release of the WWIVnet software by Wayne Bell. The author really should use main_type_external (6) for distribution of third-party software updates instead of using main_type_pre_post (5) and sub type 0. -Ed.] ======================================================================= WOMR Preview by Darkster 1@3114 Eclipse Software is currently developing an offline reader system for WWIV bulletin board systems. Below are some of the features that will eventually be built into WOMR: Packetizing of messages/mail/system news for download. Subs marked to be scanned with the "N" scan option will be included in the packet. The reader will eventually be capable of automatically retrieving message via the !-@REMOTE@-! hook built into WWIV. Early beta releases will only work via a door/chain. The reader will also be capable of manually adding packets downloaded via another communications package. The final production release will allow replys (public) and auto-replies (private) to messages. A support/beta test sub has been set up for contribution of ideas and bug reports. The sub-type is 3124 hosted at 3114. The final release of WOMR will be released as shareware. (Both the sysop module and the user module) ======================================================================= G-Files Once-And-For-All Fix by Agent Steel 1@6556 Wayne Bell sent mail to all Sysops warning them of this problem in WWIV v4.12 which would make their G-Files disappear. So... This could be a real pain! He said to move the GFILE.DAT file from the DATA directory to the GFILES directory. Jeff Garzik (East Bay Ray - 1@9964), the editor of WWIVnews, did come up with a source code fix for part of the problem in the January WWIVnews file. With both of these fixes, nothing would work after the GFILE.DAT file had been edited (with //GFILEEDIT or "G" from the WFC Menu). The following fix requires the source code, as well (which will only cost $50, so if you're reading this and don't have your BBS registered, then ask your users to donate to get it done). The fix? The following line can be found in TWO files... XINIT.C (in "void init"), and in GFLEDIT.C (in "void gfileedit"). Search for the following line: sprintf(s,"%sGFILE.DAT",syscfg.datadir); Now change the line to read: sprintf(s,"%sGFILE.DAT",syscfg.gfilesdir); Be absolutely sure that the line is changed both XINIT.C, and GFLEDIT.C, or else it won't work right at all. Upon completion, re- compile and everything will work perfectly. Try //GFILEEDIT find out! ======================================================================= One Step Validation for WWIV SysOps; A Tutorial on Form Letters and Macros by Eric 1@7 Copyright (C) 1991 by Eric Newhouse Introduction ------------ Most WWIV SysOps validate hundreds of new users per year. Unfortunately, the validation process takes an inordinate amount of time and effort. The simple process of responding to validation feedback requires an incredible amount of time, particularly on a busy system with a lot of new users. There is an easy solution to this problem, a solution which doesn't entail quitting your job or dropping out of school in order to find the time to validate new users. To solve our problem, we turn to the FORM LETTER and MACRO features of WWIV. Form Letters ------------ The first step of this process, and the step that will save you the most time, is to create a set of form letters that you will send to new users as you validate them. For example, on my board I only validate users who I think will contribute in one way or another. Therefore, if a new user tells me that he intends to post a great deal, I send them a form letter thanking him for agreeing to participate in the message bases. If the user agrees to upload new files to my board, then I send a form letter thanking him for that. All told, I have about half-a-dozen form letters for different types of new users. WWIV offers a lot of flexibility here. Create only the form letters that you think you'll use. You may want to start with only one form letters: one which says: "I've validated you." Or, you may decide to design form letters for specific user profiles, as I've done. The choice is yours. Many new WWIV SysOps aren't aware of how the form letter feature works in WWIV. Here are five easy steps to sending your own form letters: 1. Use an ASCII text editor or WWIV's own internal editor to write the form letter. 2. Save the form letter using the following naming convention: FORMxxxx.MSG, where xxxx is the name of the form letter. For example, the filename of the form letter that I send to all new users who agree to upload is FORMUL.MSG; the name of the form letter is "UL". 3. Place your form letter in your GFILES subdirectory (ie. C:\WWIV\GFILES). 4. To send the form letter, type "O" from the "Mail {?} :" prompt, and then type the name of the form letter. Notice that the form letter name can NOT be longer than four letters long (xxxx) due to constraints on DOS filename length; this is why the name of my aforementioned form letter is "UL" and not "UPLOAD". 5. Type in the title of your form letter! You do not need to limit yourself to sending form letters at the mail prompt. You may also //LOAD them into memory, referring to them using their path name (ie. "GFILES\FORMUL.MSG"). If you //LOAD a formletter into memory, you may not use the full path name since WWIV prefaces your input with C:\[BBSDIR]\. Macros ------ Once you have developed a set of form letters, you are ready to use macros to completely automate your validation process. As in the case of form letters, the macro function in WWIV is extremely flexible. Whatever keystrokes you use to validate new users, with the exception of Ctrl-Z, may be saved for use again and again. If you have created a macro before, you may create macros by entering D:efaults, typing "7" to Update Macros, and then "M" for M:ake macros. After selecting which macro to create (ie. "A" is <Ctrl-A>," type the exact same keystrokes that you would to validate a user. Thus, when entering a carriage return, hit [ENTER] instead of typing "^M" in directly. Let's look at my board again as an example. Here at @7, validated users receive security level 50. Thus, I have created the following <Ctrl-A> Macro: "v50^M50^M^M^M^MoUL" Let's take a close look at what each part of this macro does: v - Activates validate user routine from the "Mail {?} :" prompt 50^M - Sets new user's Security Level to 50. 50^M - Sets new user's Download Security Level to 50. ^M - Doesn't change any of default AR's. ^M - Doesn't change any of default DAR's. ^M - Doesn't change any of default Restrictions. O - Activates the form letter function. UL - Types "UL" as default form letter type. Clearly any part of this macro may be changed to suit your taste. At the end of the macro, WWIV will have just validated the user who sent you mail (validation feedback), and it will prompt you to enter the name of the form letter to send that user in response. A working macro gives you quick, easy, and efficient validation from the mail prompt, directly after reading the validation feedback. When I consider the thousands of users I have validated in my WWIV lifetime, I know that this simple combination of form letters and macros has probably saved well over 24 hours of my life. Author's Note: All references to gender (ie. "she, his") are GENDER NEUTRAL references; they may refer to either sex. ======================================================================= TWIT.EXE - Delete Them Thar Dumb Messages by John Wash 1@8403 TWIT.EXE is a new utility that allows sysops to remove all network mail from certain users or certain systems. Credit for the TWIT concept goes to Charles Boyer @9962. I stayed with Charles during part of my visit to North Carolina last year, and he mentioned that he wished that WWIVnet provided some way to delete messages from idiot users before they hit the message bases. Charles had a few particularly annoying users on his Current Events sub. He didn't want the messages to even be posted on Current Events, and mentioned to me that I might consider writing a utility that, when given a list of users and systems, would delete any message from those users or systems. And that's what TWIT is. TWIT's name comes from a facility provided by the Hudson-style offline reader known as QMX/XRS. XRS allows you to give a list of names; when XRS collects the messages, it will ignore any messages posted by a person whose name is contained within the list. To do this, you specify TWIT <username> in an XRS configuration file. The term "TWIT" accurately described the authors of such messages, so I decided to adopt it. TWIT's usage is very simple. The sysop creates a TWIT.TXT file in his main BBS directory, and in it places a list of users and systems. The following might be an example TWIT.TXT file: ;Comment line 1@9000 ; Remove all messages from user 1 @9000 @8888 ; Remove all messages from system @8888 1501@1 ; Remove all messages from user 1501 @1 ;EOF TWIT works by modifying the P1.NET file before running NETWORK1. If it finds a message from a user/system that's specified in the TWIT.TXT file, it marks that message as deleted and continues through the file until it reaches the end. NETWORK1 will not analyze any message that has been marked as deleted; therefore, all of those messages are ignored and not placed in the message bases. TWIT is available on my system (Xanadu, @8403). My new BBS phone number is 804/330-5425. I am also fully SNARFable; SNARF TWIT.ZIP for the latest version of the TWIT utility. TWIT is (C) 1991 by Data Systems Engineers, Inc. ======================================================================= The Pending File (Tips, Tricks, and News) by WWIVNEWS Staff US Robotics has apparently lowered their sysop's deal price for the Dual Standard to $499 ($500 to most folks). No one has commented on whether or not this change is permanent, so get one while you can! ======================================================================= Letters to the Editor WWIVNEWS, Could we give each new newsletter an incremental number or something? Like: NEWS0191.NET or something like that? Make it like volumes or something, with the month/year as part of the filename. I'd like to keep back/new copies of the newsletter in my G-Files, but as it is now, a new one will overwrite last months (I'm lazy, i just want to copy NEWS*.NET to my gfiles section in my nightly event...). Darkster 1@3114 [John Wash had similar suggestions last month. However, it will stay the same way basically because Wayne already put it in the code that way, and he is reluctant to change it so quickly after its birth. I do, however, provide on my board back issues for anyone not collecting them. If you wish to contact Wayne Bell about changing the software, you have my blessings. It certainly would be a much better way of distribution. -Ed.] ======================================================================= The Editor's Corner by East Bay Ray 1@9964 The WWIVNews policy on submission acceptance has been vague up until this point, so I would like to clarify it. My policy is to accept ALL responsible submissions. I don't care whether I agree with their position or not. Some examples of articles I will NOT accept would be ones that contain many foul or abusive words, articles that contain information that is dated or no longer relevant, or articles that are clearly biased against a certain group (whether it be race, color, religion, creed, etc.). Finally, I will not accept articles not pertaining in some remote way to WWIV or WWIVnet. This will not become another FidoNews, with articles on the environment in a [supposedly] computer magazine. There is a contest going on. If someone can come up with a good, conservative and ASCII-ONLY (no extended IBM graphics either) drawing for the logo of this newsletter, I would like to put it at the top of every succeeding issue. Any ASCII artists out there? ======================================================================= Acknowledgements WWIV (c) 1988 by Wayne Bell. All other products mentioned are either registered trademarks or copyrighted by their respectives manufacturers. ======================================================================= The End