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Text File | 1998-09-01 | 30KB | 500 lines

▀██▀▀██ ▄▄▄▄ ██▀██▀██ ▄ ██ ▄ ▀ ▄▄▄ ██ ██ ▀ ██ ▀ ▄▄▄▀ ██▀█ ▄██ ██ ▄█▀ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██▀▀▀▀ ▄█▀ ██ ▀█▄█▀ ▄██ ▀█▄▄▀ ██▀▀▀▄ ▄██▄ ▄▀██▄ ██ ██ FastEcho to Telegard v1.01 ▀██▄█▀ by Ken Reaverson For TG 3.09+ ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │▒▒ Introduction ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ FastEcho to Telegard (referred to as FE2TG throughout this document) is a relatively simple, thouugh useful, utility. It will read in a configuration from the popular mail tosser FastEcho, and import message bases into Telegard based on the information it finds there, as well as some defaults that you yourself can set. FE2TG is a fast and efficient way of adding new areas, usually in just seconds. The first time you run FE2TG, you will be prompted for the paths to your main Telegard directory, and your main FastEcho directory. You will then be dropped at the FE2TG Defaults screen, where you will be able to set most of the default options for the bases to be imported. I've done my best to retain the look and feel of the internal Telegard editor in FE2TG's configuration. FE2TG will save you a *lot* of tedious work. However, there are a couple things that the end user should know before running FE2TG: - Descriptions are taken directly from FastEcho. If the description is not defined, it will be blank upon importation. If it is longer than 40 characters, it will be truncated down to 40 characters. - In the configuration editor, only colors 1 through 15 are accepted as valid choices. It is possible to make FE2TG import messages with higher values (so that the background colors and/or blink codes are available), you simply can't set them via FE2TG's internal configuration. See the section on FE2TG defaults for more information. All in all, after importing the messages, some adjustments will probably be necessary, but it's a whole lot better than adding everything by hand. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │▒▒ License and Disclaimer ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ The author of FE2TG is not responsible for any damaged, corrupted, lost, or otherwise harmful occurences that may occur from use (or inability thereof) of this program. It has been tested, and the author runs it on his own system. To the best of my knowledge, FE2TG has no bugs and will not destroy anything on your system. However, I guarentee nothing, except that this program will take up hard drive space. If it breaks, you own both halves. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │▒▒ Requirements ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ FE2TG's requirements differ depending on which executable is being run: FE2TG/DOS: - Approximately 80-90kb of free RAM - Approximately 60-70kb of free disk space - MS-DOS (or compatible) 5.00 or higher - Telegard BBS v3.09g1 or higher - An 80286 processor or better - FastEcho v1.46 (may work on earlier versions, untested at this time) FE2TG/2: - Approximately 80-90kb of free RAM - Approximately 60-70kb of free disk space - OS/2 Warp 3 or higher - Telegard BBS v3.09g1 or higher - An 80486 processor or better - FastEcho v1.46 (may work on earlier versions, untested at this time) ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │▒▒ Installation ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Installation of FE2TG is pretty simple. First, decide which executable you're going to use, and rename either FE2TG.DOS or FE2TG.OS2 to FE2TG.EXE. After that, move it to whereever you want (Main TG directory, Main FastEcho directory, C:\STUFF\THAT\DONT\WORK, it don't matter. :)) and type: FE2TG.EXE If all goes well, you should be prompted for the paths to FASTECHO.CFG and CONFIG.TG. FE2TG *will* check to make sure both files exist. If you enter an invalid pathname, FE2TG will politely ask you until you get it right. ;) When both paths are determined to be valid, you will be dropped at the FE2TG Defaults Configuration Screen, which should look something like this: ╔════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗ ║ FastEcho to Telegard v1.01 (C) Blood Enterprises, 1998 ║ ╚════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝ A. Telegard Path : C:\TG\ B. FastEcho Path : C:\FECHO\ C. Posting ACS : ^ D. Reading ACS : s50 E. Sysop ACS : s255 F. Network ACS : % G. Colors : Text(7) Kludge(9) Quote(9) Tear(6) Origin(10) H. Message Flags : -------8-/A--D-FGHIJ I. Posting Type : Public J. Scan Type : Default ON K. Signatures : None L. Default AKA : AKA Matching M. Anonymous / Tracking : No anonymous allowed / None N. Max # of Messages : 1000 O. Max # of Days : 65535 P. Information File : None R. Origin Line : "That's one tough kobold" ╔════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗ ║ FE2TG Defaults - Change Which Option?: Q. Quit and Save ║ ╚════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝ (A) Path to CONFIG.TG - If you opt to change this, it will prompt until a correct path is entered, just as when you first ran FE2TG (B) Path to FASTECHO.CFG - Same as (A), except the path is to FASTECHO.CFG (C) Posting ACS - The default ACS for a user to be able to post on the newly imported message bases. (D) Reading ACS - The default ACS for a user to be able to read the newly imported message bases. This also affects whether or not the message base will show up in an area listing. (E) Sysop ACS - The default ACS in order for a user to be able to use the Message Sysop commands in the newly imported message bases. (F) Network ACS - If a user meets this ACS level, then any replys uploaded through the internal QWK system will not be checked or forced to the proper user name. Be careful with this, only QWK Networking accounts should qualify for this ACS, all others should be forced to the proper username. (G) Colors - This option lets you set the default colors for Quoted Text, Regular Text, the Tearline, Originline, and the Kludge lines. As noted above, this option will only accept 1-15 as valid colors. If you wish to default to higher values, set them in Telegard's System Manager -> Message System -> B. Default Area Configuration *before* you run FE2TG the first time (or, just delete FE2TG.DAT, set the values, then run FE2TG.EXE again. If you do this, you will have to reset all of your defaults, however). The reason this is possible is because FE2TG pulls some of it's defaults from the defaults defined in Telegard. The color codes are one of these imported items, and as such, this is a kludgy way of getting around it. Future versions may allow the full range, I just didn't wish to hold the utility up any longer simply so I could go learn how to set the blink and background bits for color codes. ;) (H) Message Flags - There are two sets to define, one set is for EchoMail areas imported, the other set is for Netmail. The fields should be self-explanitory, but if the function of each option is not clear, refer to TELEGARD.DOC for more specific information. Setting the flags here basically does the same thing as setting them through TG's internale message base editor, I'm just using different letters/numbers (This was necessary, as Telegard doesn't allow the same flags for Netmail bases as it does for EchoMail bases, and vice versa. Since FE2TG will import both types, I had to seperate the default flag choices, and this is the result) (I) Posting Type - This toggle determines the default posting type of each imported message base. If Public, then all messages will be forced Public. If Private, then messages will be forced Private. If Public/Private, either type will be allowed. Refer to TELEGARD.DOC for more information. (J) Scan Type - This determines the default scan status of the newly imported message bases for any current (and subsequently, new) users. If On, then the message bases will automatically be turned On in a users newscan. If Off, they will automatically be turned off. If Mandatory, then they will be on the users newscan regardless of what they want. :) (K) Signatures - This toggles the default signature type to use on the newly Imported message bases. Use Long will use the 240 character signature, Use Short will use the 75 character signature, None will disable auto-signatures for all new imported message bases. (L) Default AKA - This will allow you to define which AKA all newly imported message bases will have set. You can choose one of the 20 defined AKA's defined in Telegard, or you can select AKA matching. If AKA Matching is enabled, FE2TG will extract the AKA from FastEcho, and compare the Zone number of that AKA to each of the AKA's defined in Telegard until it finds a match. NOTE: *Only* the Zone number is matched, and only the first occurance of that Zone. Say you're importing a Zone 1 AKA from FastEcho, but you have two Zone 1 AKA's defined in Telegard. FE2TG will use the first one it encounters. If FE2TG cannot match a Zone, it selects the first defined AKA in Telegard as the default. Moral of the story: Define your AKA's in Telegard before running FE2TG, or you'll find yourself correcting AKA's on a whole lot of message bases. (M) Anonymous / Tracking - This allows you to define whether anonymous messages will be allowed in the newly imported message bases (and if so, under what conditions), and the method of tracking anonymous messages. For more information on what each of these options does, refer to TELEGARD.DOC (for the anonymous types) and WHATSNEW.G1 for the tracking. WHATSNEW.G1 is available at the following URL, if you no longer have the gamma1 archive: http://www.interlog.com/~strike/docs/whatsnew.g1 (N) Max # of Messages - This sets the default number of messages allowed per message base, 0 = Unlimited. This is only really useful for Squish bases, which dynamically pack themselves. Some utilities (such as MSGPACK) will read this value to determine how to pack the base, but for the most part it's a pointless setting if you're using JAM bases. Valid ranges are from 1 to 65535. (O) Max # of Days - As for (N), except this is the Maximum age in days before a message is packed out. Again, 0 = Unlimited, otherwise, valid range is from 1 to 65535. (P) Information File - The default information file for the newly imported message bases. Do *not* specify an extension. Telegard will assume an extension of .MSG, .ANS, or .RIP. The file should exist in the TEXT\ directory, and have one of the above extensions. (Q) Quit and Save - Quits FE2TG's config, and saves the default values to FE2TG.DAT. (R) Origin Line - The default origin line for the newly imported message bases. Once all defaults are set to your liking, quit and save. ***IMPORTANT: Before running FE2TG, define the AKA's for the bases you're going to be importing if you're using AKA matching. I know it's mentioned above, but it's worth mentioning again. The simple act of defining your AKA's ahead of time, will save you the trouble of correcting them later, and that's the entire purpose of FE2TG; to save a sysop time. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │▒▒ Usage ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Once the defaults have been set, simply run FE2TG.EXE again. This time, there will be an initialization screen. FE2TG does the following: Reads the defaults from FE2TG.DAT. Gathers information from CONFIG.TG. Gathers information from FASTECHO.CFG. Copies MAREAS.DAT to MAREAS.BAK. Copies MSCAN.DAT to MSCAN.BAK. Determines the highest QWK Index number. Checks to see if any nodes are active. FE2TG will abort operation at this point if any of the following occur: It cannot find or read FE2TG.DAT, CONFIG.TG, and FASTECHO.CFG (which will result in a runtime error :)) It cannot find MAREAS.DAT or MSCAN.DAT (which it will inform you of, and abort without an RTE) If any nodes are to be found active. 'Active' is defined as not being either Offline/Unavailable or Waiting for Caller. If an active node is found, FE2TG will abort, and tell you which node is active. If all nodes are found to be clear, then FE2TG creates the TGLOCK.1 semaphore in the defined semaphore directory. This effectively stops all nodes from accessing critical data files while FE2TG writes to them. FE2TG should delete the sempahore when it's done running. However, if for some reasons it decides not to, simply delete the TGLOCK.1 from your sempahore path, and normal BBS operation will resume. ***NOTE: If you have to manually delete the TGLOCK.1, it means that FE2TG didn't finish running for one reason or another. You should check your message base configuration and make sure nothing is messed up. Even if the message bases did update properly, chances are the scan records did not. In this case, I recommend restoring the backups and trying again. Assuming all goes well up to this point, the group selection screen will appear, and it should look something like this: ╔════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗ ║ FastEcho to Telegard v1.01 (C) Blood Enterprises, 1998 ║ ╚════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝ A. Paranor Q. B. Sysop's TechNet R. C. S. D. T. E. U. F. FidoNet V. G. GuildeNet W. H. X. I. Y. J. Z. K. 1. L. 2. M. MirageNet 3. N. 4. O. ORCNet 5. P. AdventureNet 6. ╔════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗ ║ Which Group would you like to import? !. Import All ║ ╚════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝ The group letters/numbers that are shown here *should* correspond to their letter or number in FastEcho. Simply choose which group you wish to import, and FE2TG will go to town. If you want to import *all* EchoMail and NetMail bases, press ! (the Import All option). ***NOTE: If you select to Import All message bases, AKA matching is automatically toggled on. See the notes above about AKA matching. If you change your mind, and decide you don't want to import anything, simply press Enter at this screen, and FE2TG will exit without doing anything. (And yes, for you inquiring minds, it'll kill the TGLOCK.1 semaphore. Well, it should. ;)) Commandline Parameters - FE2TG will accept two commandline parameters: /C - Alter Default Configuration This will reload the FE2TG Defaults Editor. /V - Version Information Displays the Copyright and compilation information. After importation, you should run INDEX BUILD AREAS in order to update the MAREAS.IDX, and you should close out all nodes and reload them (Telegard doesn't immedietly reload the MAREAS.DAT, so your loaded nodes probably won't show the new areas until you shut them down and reload them). ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │▒▒ Notes ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ You may notice that FE2TG does not allow you to select either the base format (JAM, Squish) or the base type (EchoMail,Netmail). FE2TG extracts this information from FastEcho, and applies it to Telegard in the proper places. Since the areas are already defined in FE, it would not do to have a JAM base defined in FastEcho, but a Squish base in Telegard. :) The same holds true for the base type. At present, FE2TG will only import EchoMail and NetMail areas. DupeMail and BadMail message boards are skipped, even though they could very well be a JAM or Squish base. Passthru's are skipped for the obvious reasons. :) In order for a FastEcho area to qualify for importation into Telegard, it must be of either EchoMail or NetMail type *and* JAM or Squish format. If both of these requirements are not met, the base will be skipped (for example, an EchoMail area defined as a Fido/*.MSG base will not be imported. As mentioned above, a DupeMail or BadMail type will not be imported, even if it is a Squish or JAM base). If a FastEcho area qualifies for importation, FE2TG will then check to see if a message base with that filename is already defined. If it is, then that area will not be imported. FE2TG will specify whether it's skipping or importing an area. As mentioned above, descriptions are pulled from FastEcho. If you set them ahead of time (with BBS color codes if desired), you save yourself the work later on. If you don't define a description, or the descriptions look like crap, you've still got some work ahead of you. :) FE2TG/DOS has been compiled with Borland Pascal v7.0. FE2TG/2 has been compiled with Virtual Pascal v1.10 The source code to either version is not available to the public, and it is not for sale, so please don't ask. :) ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │▒▒ Registration ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ FE2TG is FreeWare. End of story. Live free or die, ladies and gentlemen. :) If you appreciate the work I've put into the software, and if it's been useful to you, drop me a line via one of the below contact methods. The experience of writing the program has been payment enough for me, but it's always nice to hear 'Thanks dude!' once in awhile. :) ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │▒▒ Distribution ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ FE2TG may be freely distributed in it's unmodified format. See PACKING.LST for a list of what should be included in the archive. The archive's original fornat is ZIP, and it has been stamped with my AV codes. If the archive you've received is not a ZIP, be wary. When unzipping this archive, at the very end, you should see the following: Authentic Files Verified! # CIS105 Blood Enterprises, Inc. If this message is not present, the archive may have been tampered with. The most current version of FE2TG will always be available for FREQ on Shadowdale with the magicname FE2TG. See below for my contact information. Any new versions will be hatched down the FidoNet TG_SUP filebone. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │▒▒ Copyrights ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ FastEcho to Telegard is Copyright Blood Enterprises, 1998. All Rights Reserved. FastEcho is Copyright 1991-1997 Software Technik Burchhardt. All Rights Reserved. Telegard is Copyright Tim Strike, 1994,1998. All Rights Reserved. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │▒▒ Special Thanks ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ The following individuals deserve Special Thanks for making this project a reality: Tim Strike - Above and beyond the usual thanks for Telegard and all his dedicated and hard work, Tim deserves extra special thanks this time, because without him, this util would have been alot longer in the coming. Tim pretty much wrote the procedure for updating the scan records for me, and while I now understand how and why it works, without Tim's help, it would have been awhile before I figured it out. If you've found this util useful, take a couple seconds and tell Tim that you appreciate him always being such a helpful guy. :) Doug Sorber - I'm not entirely sure as to whether I should thank or curse Doug. :) Mr. Sorber is the one who originally requested that I code the utility, and without that, it probably wouldn't exist. BTW, Doug; Here's your program, bitch. :) A special thank you as well to the members of the AdventureNet and Sysop's TechNet Programming echoes. Various individuals answered my questions which sometimes directly, or maybe indirectly contributed to the creation of this utility. Also, thanks to Todd Wardle, ZC of Paranor, for his help. Thanks also to Jeff Irvine, because I borrowed the basic template for this document from him. ;) ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │▒▒ Service & Support ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Contact Information - Author: Ken Reaverson Email: tremere@mindless.com WWW: http://adrianblood.home.mindspring.com BBS: Shadowdale - (770) 982-7859 Login: Guest Password: PRAISETIM Netmail: 1:133/1004 - FidoNet 111:4350/101 - Sysop's TechNet EchoMail: TG_SUPPORT (FidoNet) FASTECHO (FidoNet) ADV_TG (AdventureNet) If you have a question or a problem with the software, by all means, get into contact with me via one of the above methods. I welcome comments and suggestions, and if you find a bug in the software, I'll do my damndest to fix it with all speed.