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┌─────────┐┌───────┐ ┌────────────┐┌──────────┬───────────┬───────┐ │ ┌───┐ ││ ┌───┘ │ ┌─┐ ┌─┐ ││ ┌───┐ ├────┐ ┌───┤ ┌───┘ │ │ │ ││ └───┐ │ │ │ │ │ ││ │ │ │ │ │ │ └───┐ │ └───┘ └┤ ┌───┘ │ │ │ │ │ └┤ │ │ └┐ │ └┐ │ ┌───┘ │ ┌────┐ │ └─────┤ │ │ │ │ │ └───┘ │ │ │ │ └─────┐ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ └──┘ └──┴─────────┴──┘ └──┘ └───┴───────────┘ └───┘ └─────────┘ ┌──────────┬──────┐ ┌──────┐ ┌───────┐ ┌───────┐ ┌───────┐ │ ┌───┐ │ ┌──┘ │ ┌──┘ │ ┌───┘ │ ┌───┘ │ ┌───┘ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ └───┐ │ └─────┤ └─────┐ │ └───┘ │ │ │ │ │ ┌───┘ └─────┐ ├─────┐ │ │ ┌────┐ │ └────┤ └────┤ └─────┬─────┘ ├─────┘ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ └──┘ └──┴────────┴────────┴─────────┴─────────┴─────────┘ RemoteAccess v0.02 (C) 1989,90 Continental Software, All Rights Reserved 1 T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────── OVERVIEW AND FEATURES 3 LICENSING INFORMATION 5 PREAMBLE AND CREDITS 6 PRODUCT SUPPORT 8 INSTALLATION 9 CONFIGURATION Converting from QuickBBS 10 Configuration utility "RACONFIG" 10 Events 21 File areas 21 Message areas 22 SECURITY 24 MENUS List of Menu Functions 25 Automatic Command Execution 38 Menu Templates 39 Setting up your menus 40 Creating the menus with "RAMENU" 41 EXTERNAL SUPPORT FILES .ASC/.ANS text files 43 System control files 45 USERS Editing the User File 48 Packing and Sorting the User File 49 MAIL NETWORKING Overview - FidoNet 50 Required Software 50 Configuring RemoteAccess for FidoNet 51 Installing the nodelist files 53 MULTI-LINE OPERATION 55 REFERENCE SECTION Keys that the sysop can use while a user is online 57 Keys that are active while waiting for a call 58 Command line parameters 59 Errorlevels 60 .ASC/.ANS text file control codes 61 Modem string translation 64 Questionnaire Script Language 64 BATCH FILE EXAMPLES 69 2 The following products and names are the copyrighted material and or trademarks of their creators: QuickBBS, Echogen & QEcho The QuickBBS Group, Inc. DESQview Quarterdeck Systems DoubleDOS SoftLogic Systems TradeWars Chris Sherrick Opus Wynn Wagner III TosScan & FrontDoor Joaquim H. Homrighausen BinkleyTerm Bit Bucket Software ZmailQ Claude N. Warren FidoNet Tom Jennings IBM International Business Machines ParaNet ParaNet Information Systems O V E R V I E W A N D F E A T U R E S ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── RemoteAccess is a "fully-blown" remote bulletin board package. It may be used as a stand-alone system or with a front-end mailer if you wish to interface it to a mail network such as FidoNet. It offers fully definable menus with a unique template system which provides not only a massive degree of flexibility in making your BBS look different from any other, but also the lowest possible maintenance. Access to the 200 available message areas is controlled by your menu structure, along with a sophisticated security system which incorporates over 64,000 security levels with a set of user-definable flags. For each security level you can specify maximum download limits for different log-on speeds, daily time limits, and optionally activate the built-in file ratio system, limiting downloads by ratio to uploads by either number of files or kilobytes. Other security features include the disallowing of downloads during peak hours, disallowing low speed callers at certain times, and disallowing ANSI graphics at low speeds. You can disallow one-word "pseudonyms", and optionally configure the system to force a user to change passwords every x log- ons. Undesirable user names and passwords are also definable for maximum security. If you're unlikely to want to call your own system, remote sysop access can be disabled, making it virtually impossible for your account to be "hacked". Direct support for high-speed modems up to 38,400 baud is available, and RemoteAccess will optionally answer the phone automatically to ensure that the modem will answer if your BBS is "alive and well". 3 RemoteAccess supports as many as 99 lines simultaneously. Full system access to all file and message areas is available to each line (at your discretion), as are all doors. Several "multi-line specific" features are provided to augment multi-line operation. You can configure the system to disallow one person logging on to more than one line at a time. A "who else is on-line?" and "today's callers" function is available to you, along with separate system logs for each line. Logging is selectable between either Opus or FrontDoor styles to aid integrated log readability. Some basic user-to-user on-line messaging, to be expanded at a later date, is also available. RemoteAccess does NOT do its own internal multi-tasking. To this end, we have attempted to make it as well-behaved as possible. It has built-in time-slicing and screen-handling support for DESQview, TopView, MultiLink, DoubleDOS and PC-MOS/386. It is fully overlaid and occupies approximately 170k of memory when fired up. What do you do if you have say a 300k DESQview window and want to run TradeWars in a shell? No problem! Simply by specifying a control character on the command line, you can instruct RemoteAccess to swap itself lock, stock and barrel to EMS and/or disk leaving only 20k resident. A comprehensive file transfer system is also part of the package. Six of the most popular protocols, including Zmodem, Ymodem batch and Xmodem are built-in, and fifteen slots for external protocols are available for you to add any others. The protocol interface system is extremely flexible, and has been tested with DSZ, Kermit (an Opus compatible protocol), and BiModem. There are of course many others we haven't tested, but most should work. Extensive on-line facilities are available to the sysop. An optional set of status bars provide a wealth of information about both the person currently on-line and the system. Several "hot-keys" are also available to perform a wide range of functions. As an added bonus, we have decided to use the QuickBBS-style user and message database formats. This means that you can continue to use your favourite QuickBBS utilities with no need to convert to another format. Any incompatibilities in the configuration files is taken care of by an upgrade utility. We make no apology for the similarity between RemoteAccess and QuickBBS. QuickBBS had many features that we wanted, and compatibility gives the added bonus of offering the sysop ease of installation and a familiar environment. To cater for both Opus and QuickBBS users alike, each user has (at the discretion of the sysop) the option of using hot-keyed menus or command stacking. 4 L I C E N S I N G I N F O R M A T I O N ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── "RA" refers to the executable programs and documentation contained in RemoteAccess Bulletin Board Software distribution archives released by Continental Software. 1. RA is the copyrighted material of Continental Software. It may only be used in accordance with the conditions set out in this license agreement. 2. You may use RA for a period of three weeks on a trial basis in order to determine it's suitability for your particular application. After this period you MUST register each copy of RA that you run simultaneously. Multi-line installations that share a common file base need only register one copy. 3. To register RA, send your payment to: "Registration/RA" "Registration/RA" Continental Software Box 10 C/- International College 312b North Rocks Rd 195 Adelaide Terrace North Rocks 2151 Perth 6000 NSW AUSTRALIA WESTERN AUSTRALIA EUROPE : USA: "Registration/RA" "Registration/RA" PO Box 131 C/- Michael F. Janke 1170 AC Badhoevendorp 8261-B S.W. 107th Ave. NETHERLANDS Miami, FL 33173 Cheques and money orders should be made payable to Continental Software UNLESS you are registering in the USA. USA residents should make cheques payable to Michael Janke. Please include either a FidoNet address or a stamped, self- addressed envelope so that receipt of your payment can be acknowledged. Registration fee (per copy, in Australian dollars) is $40, unless you are a Government department, or registered business and you expect RA to generate revenue directly, in which case the fee is $100. Registration entitles you to use RA and any future versions of RA for as long as you wish, subject to any special licensing conditions attached to future versions. Continental Software is in no way obligated to provide future versions of, or support for, RA. 5 5. Site and Group registrations are available, and are dealt with on a case by case basis. 6. You may not modify or otherwise reverse-engineer RA. 7. You are encouraged to distribute RA provided that no fee is charged for its distribution. Pay Bulletin Board Systems may charge their normal fee provided that no additional charge for RA is levied. 8. RA may not be used in any unlawful or illegal manner. 9. Continental Software's liability resulting from your use or inability to use RemoteAccess is limited to the amount that the affected party has paid for it. P R E A M B L E A N D C R E D I T S ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Firstly, let me say that RemoteAccess was very much a team effort. I had been running my bulletin board for about a year, it was getting pretty busy so I put on a second line. The software I was using was QuickBBS, so I did a heap of work trying to get it running both lines. For the most part it worked, but it was very clumsy. I was complaining to Bob Fletcher, a sysop in Victoria, about it one night, and Bob said something like "Well, YOU could always have a go at something better!" So the basic concept was born. An "all- singing, all-dancing" BBS package that would run multiple lines and occupy as little memory as possible. "Piece of cake!" I thought. In my spare time I started playing around with a couple of file-displaying utilities written in Turbo Pascal 5 (which I had just bought, and was anxious to learn.) Enter Phil. Someone mentioned that "some bloke called Phil Mackay" was writing a toolbox of routines to manipulate the QuickBBS message and user database files so I dropped him a message. Phil was immediately taken by the idea and sent me the source to what he had written. I was impressed. As it happened, Bob was in Perth at this time and during a couple of brainstorming sessions helped to refine what I already had (which wasn't much). Gradually I started to spend more and more of my spare time working on it, and I started to realise the scale of the project (which still kinda frightens me). I realised there was no way I could do it all myself, so I enlisted the help of one or two other people to write utilities, and "farmed out" a fair bit of coding to Phil. All the following people deserve recognition for their contributions: 6 Phil Mackay - all the high and low-level message database routines, the menu editor and an infinite number of suggestions, not to mention invaluable advice on many occasions. David Nugent - Wrote the message-base maintenance utility "RAMSG", was ALWAYS ready to provide answers to any low- level communications problem, and wrote the multitasker- aware code. Adam Blake - Did the configuration utility "RACONFIG" and changed it twice a day when I made more mods to the main program, uncomplainingly. (Well, almost). Dave Hatch and Simon Blears - for allowing us to use their systems to forward several megabytes of files from one end of the country to the other. The beta test team - thanks guys! Couldn't have done it without ya. Too numerous to list here, all the current beta systems are listed in the accompanying document RA- BETAS.DOC. Andrew Milner. Perth, Western Australia. ───────────────────────── 7 P R O D U C T S U P P O R T ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── You can always get the latest version of RemoteAccess from the following systems: Andrew Milner, RemoteAccess HQ West +61 9 386 2405 V32/HST +61 9 389 8048 V22bis FidoNet@3:690/625 Phil Mackay, RemoteAccess HQ East +61 2 872 6159 V22bis FidoNet@3:711/801 Reinier De Groot, RemoteAccess Support Europe +31 1749 48422 HST FidoNet@2:2/100 There is also an echomail support conference available, called RA_SUPPORT to answer all of your questions. New releases and the RA_SUPPORT conference should also be available from any of the beta test sites, listed in the accompanying document RA-BETAS.DOC. 8 I N S T A L L A T I O N ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── RemoteAccess should run on any IBM 80x86 compatible computer. The only two programs you will need in addition to the release package are DOS 3.x and a FOSSIL driver. The FOSSIL is a memory-resident program that many communications packages use to communicate with the modem. Two FOSSILs that have been successfully tested with RemoteAccess are Ray Gwinn's X00, and David Nugent's BNU. Either of these should be readily available from any local bulletin board. You will also need a modem that is capable of accepting Hayes-type commands. The minimum memory requirement is approximately 170K, but 512K is recommended. 1. Ensure that your CONFIG.SYS file contains these statements: FILES=20 BUFFERS=25 The more buffers you allocate, the faster RemoteAccess will run. However, more buffers use more memory. 2. Create a directory to put the main program files in. The configuration example that follows later assumes that this directory (the SYSTEM directory) is C:\RA. 3. Ensure that your AUTOEXEC.BAT file contains a command to set the environment variable RA to your SYSTEM directory, so RemoteAccess can find its configuration files: SET RA=C:\RA 4. Copy all of the executable files from the RemoteAccess distribution package into this directory. 5. Create three more sub-directories: C:\RA\MSGBASE This will hold the message files the system creates. C:\RA\MENUS To put your menus in, C:\RA\TXTFILES To put files such as welcome and disconnect screens in. You are now ready to proceed to the next step, CONFIGURATION. 9 C O N F I G U R A T I O N ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── If you are upgrading your system from a presently-existing QuickBBS system, then read the next paragraph. If you're installing RemoteAccess from scratch then skip the following paragraph "QuickBBS to RemoteAccess". Q u i c k B B S to R e m o t e A c c e s s ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── A utility, called QTORA.EXE has been provided to allow you to convert your existing QuickBBS configuration files to the RemoteAccess format. Note that it will not modify your existing configuration files in any way. Copy QTORA to your QuickBBS system directory and run it. It will prompt you through the whole conversion process, and when it has finished, copy all the files it has created to your RemoteAccess system directory: COPY *.RA C:\RA Now, copy all the *.CTL files to your RemoteAccess system directory: COPY *.CTL \RA The final step is to copy all of your BBS system files to the RemoteAccess directories. Copy all the message files (MSG*.BBS) and the user files (USERS.BBS and LASTREAD.BBS) to the message base directory, and all the other *.BBS files to the system directory. The conversion process is now complete, and you can delete QTORA.EXE, as it will not be needed for anything else. " R A C O N F I G " ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Return to the RemoteAccess system directory again, and fire up the configuration utility, RACONFIG.EXE. You will use this to choose the configuration options for your particular system. You will see that there are six options in the menu bar. Here is a walk-through of the various options. Select the MODEM option, and then SETUP. This window contains general configuration information for your modem. The first item is the COMPORT setting. Set this to the communications port you have your modem hooked up to. Valid ports are 1-4. MAXIMUM BAUD refers to the highest modem- 10 computer speed your modem supports. If you are using a high- speed modem you should lock the speed at the modem's maximum speed to ensure the highest possible throughput. Refer to your FOSSIL documentation on how to do this. The INITIALISATION RESPONSE is the string that the modem returns after RemoteAccess sends it the initialisation string. Most modems return "OK". Likewise for the BUSY RESPONSE, most modems also return "OK". The RING STRING is the string the modem displays when someone calls your system, to indicate that the call should be answered. Most modems return "RING", some use "RINGING". Check your modem manual and set this accordingly. CONNECT 300 - CONNECT 38k are the response strings the modem returns when a connection is made with another modem. Most modems return a "CONNECT <Baudrate>" string, or simply "CONNECT" for 300 baud. Note that if this is the case you should specify the vertical bar after the string to indicate the end of the string. (See MODEM STRING TRANSLATION in the reference guide at the end of this document). AUTOMATIC ANSWER. Setting this to "Yes" tells RemoteAccess to make the modem answer the phone whenever it receives the ring string by sending the answer command to the modem (see INITIALISATION). If it is set to "No" then it is assumed that the modem will answer the phone itself. "Yes" is the preferred setting, as it ensures that your BBS will only answer the phone if it is "alive and well". Otherwise, you are likely to upset your users when they waste their money on a BBS that answers the phone and then does nothing. MODEM DELAY refers to a delay, in tenths of a second that RemoteAccess waits between sending characters to the modem during initialisation. Usually you will only need to raise this above zero if you are using a high-speed modem that cannot handle commands at high speeds. A typical example of this is the Courier HST, which requires a delay of about 3. The OUTBOUND BUFFER SIZE field sets the size of RemoteAccess' internal communications send buffer for baud rates up to 2400. You can change it to fine-tune your system for maximum throughput. If you are using a slow machine (ie. a 4.77 MHz XT), set it to zero. This disables the internal buffering system and its associated overhead. For most systems, the default setting of 5 will not need to be changed. In a multi-tasking environment though, you will achieve much better performance by increasing the buffer size. Experimentation has shown values around 80-150 to be most effective. 11 Now select the MODEM INITIALISATION option. INITIALISATION TRIES is the number of times RemoteAccess will attempt to initialise the modem before aborting and returning an error condition. The INITIALISATION STRING is sent to the modem whenever RemoteAccess is fired up. This string should prepare the modem to take calls. See the reference section MODEM STRING TRANSLATION at the end of this document for more information. The BUSY STRING is sent to the modem whenever you either log-on locally or if you ESCape from the "wait for call" sequence. You could either tell the modem to go "off hook" with an "ATH1|", or simply not to answer the phone by dropping DTR. The ANSWER STRING is sent to the modem if you have set automatic answer on, and a call comes in. Most modems will answer a call upon receiving an "ATA|" from the computer. Next select MODEM ERRORLEVELS. These values are used if you have activated the "Shell to Mailer" feature. For full information on this option, read the reference section on COMMAND LINE PARAMETERS. Select the MODEM RESTRICTIONS option. MINIMUM BAUD FOR LOGON allows you to set the lowest baud rate for a user to log on to your system. Calls at 300 baud may be restricted by using the NO 300 START and NO 300 END options. To disable this option, set both start and end times to 00:00. You can also limit file downloads in the same way. However, this option differs slightly in that the MINIMUM BAUD FOR FILE TRANSFERS applies all the time. The DOWNLOAD START/END times specify times during which downloads may occur. Note that this time restriction may be cancelled for certain users by setting a flag in their user record. See the section on USERS for more on this. This completes the MODEM configuration option. Now select MISC from the menu bar, and then PATHS. Here you tell RemoteAccess where all its associated files are stored. The directories are the same as the ones discussed earlier in the installation example. Enter the full directory paths to your chosen directories. The trailing backslash is optional. See the section on MAIL NETWORKING for details on how to set up the NODELIST path. 12 Select the MISC ADDRESS option. If you do not intend to use your BBS in a mail network (eg. FidoNet, AlterNet) then skip this section. Select MAIN ADDRESS and enter your network address. If you have any alias addresses (AKAs), enter these in one or more of the nine slots provided. For extra information on network operation and an explanation of addresses, see the section on MAIL NETWORKING. Now select the MISC SECURITY option. NEW USER SECURITY is the security level (0 to 64,000) that will be granted to a new user who logs on for the first time. If you run a private system, and do not want to allow new users to log on, set this field to zero. In this case, the user is notified that the system is private and is disconnected. NEW USER FLAG SETTINGS is the security flag setting that will be granted to the new user. See the section on SECURITY for a full description of the RemoteAccess security system. CRASHMAIL and FILE ATTACH security is related to sending private messages to other systems if you are part of a mail network. See the section on MAIL NETWORKING for more information on this. Select MISC PROTOCOLS. This option allows you to interface up to fifteen external protocols for your users to use, in addition to the six that are built-in. When a user selects to upload or download a file, he/she is presented with a hard-coded menu that lists the available protocols, including your external ones. The NAME field is the protocol name that the user sees in this menu. The KEY is the keypress that should activate the protocol. Note that the KEY must be unique. In other words, since [Z]modem is an internal protocol, you can't use [Z] to activate an external protocol. Before RemoteAccess activates the external protocol, it creates a control file that tells the protocol which files to send or receive. This file consists of some general information and a list of files, one per line. You may define exactly what each line looks like. If you select EXTENDED CONTROL FILE, then RemoteAccess will write the information needed by Opus-compatible external protocols at the beginning of the file before the file list. If the protocol has the capability to send of receive more than one file at a time, set BATCH AVAILABLE to "Yes". You may temporarily disable the current protocol by setting its status to DISABLED, re-enabling it later by setting it to ENABLED. 13 The LOG FILE NAME is the full path and name of the log file that the external protocol writes. This file contains information about what files were actually sent or received. Without this information, RemoteAccess will not be able to update the user's record. The CONTROL FILE NAME is the full path and name of the control file that RemoteAccess creates before activating the protocol. In order to allow the use of as many different protocols as possible, you have full control over the format of this file. The DOWNLOAD CONTROL STRING determaines the format of each file entry. Inserting a "@" in the string substitutes that position with the file name. For example, if you wanted to download the file C:\FILES\IBM\FUN\CASINO.ZIP using an Opus type external protocol, you would set the control file string to: Send @ When the control file is created, this would be expanded to: Send C:\FILES\IBM\FUN\CASINO.ZIP If the user were to select a batch download, say RA*.ZIP, the wildcard/pattern match is expanded to a full list of fully qualified path and file names. The UPLOAD CONTROL STRING works in exactly the same way, except that for batch uploads, instead of specifying the full file name, it substitutes just the path to the upload directory, as the filenames are not known prior to the upload. UPLOAD/DOWNLOAD COMMAND LINE tells RemoteAccess what program name to execute in order to activate the external protocol. It is possible to insert variables into the command line using special control characters. For example, the string: PROTNAME.EXE Send *B would be expanded to: PROTNAME.EXE Send 2400 For a full list of special control codes, refer to the description of a Type 7 menu command in the MENU COMMANDS section. In addition to these codes, the # symbol can be used if the filename to send or receive needs to be specified on the command line. When the external protocol has finished and control is returned to RemoteAccess, the log file that was created is scanned to extract information about what files were sent or received. RemoteAccess scans the file for the UPLOAD or DOWNLOAD LOG KEYWORD. As soon as it finds that word, it will 14 scan forward x number of words to get the name of the file transferred and a description, if available. To illustrate how this works, look at this extract from a BiModem log: = 10 Sep 14:10:10 BMOD DL-B \GRAPHICS\FORMATS\LOCKLEAR.ZIP = 10 Sep 14:12:22 BMOD DL-B \GRAPHICS\FORMATS\AWESOME.ZIP The DOWNLOAD LOG KEYWORD can be any word in the log file that indicates the transfer of a single file. The keyword would be set to "DL-B", and the NAME WORD # set to 1. RemoteAccess scans the above entries until it hits "DL-B", and then counts forward 1 word to get the file name. Uploads work in the same way, but a description word number may also be specified, as some protocols get file descriptions from the user directly. If RemoteAccess finds a description it is appended to the end of the FILES.BBS file, otherwise the user is prompted for the description. Example : Installing Lynx as an external protocol ------------------------------------------------- Select an empty protocol slot, and enter the following information: Name : Lynx Key : L Extended control file : No Batch available : Yes Status : Enabled Log file name : C:\Ra\Dszlog.Txt Control file name : C:\Ra\Lynx.Ctl Download command line : Lynx.Exe S /*P /*B /S /H @Lynx.Ctl Upload command line : Lynx.Exe R /*P /*B /S /D /H # Download ctl string : @ Upload ctl string : Download log keyword : x Upload log keyword : X Log : Name word # : 10 Log : Desc word # : 0 (Note the case of the upload and download log keyword entries). The above example assumes that your system directory is C:\RA. To complete the installation, you'll need to set the DSZLOG environment variable to the full path and name of the log file that Lynx writes: SET DSZLOG=C:\Ra\Dszlog.Txt 15 Select the MISC COLOURS option. This menu allows you to choose the various colours that RemoteAccess uses. Use either the default settings, or select your own. Select the MISC GENERAL option, and then select USERS. The ANSI GRAPHICS setting will determine whether the user will be allowed to use or not use ANSI graphics. If this is set to "No", only plain ASCII files will be displayed. A "Yes" entry will force ANSI graphics on, and "Ask" will give the user the option of either ANSI or plain ASCII when he/she logs on. This format is the same for CLEAR SCREEN and MORE PROMPTING. If ASK FOR BUSINESS/DATA PHONE NUMBER is set to "Yes", new users will be asked for this number. RemoteAccess accepts a wide range of phone number formats, but attempts to disallow obvious "fakes". ASK FOR HOME/VOICE NUMBER operates in the same way. If you set ALLOW ONE WORD NAMES to "No" then RemoteAccess will "insist" on a full name of at least two words when each user logs on. Otherwise, no checking will be performed on user names. NUMBER OF TIMES TO TRY FOR PASSWORD sets the maximum number of invalid password attempts. After this is exceeded the user will be disconnected. LOGONS BEFORE FORCED PASSWORD CHANGE is another security feature. If this is set to any non-zero value, then all users (excluding the sysop) will be forced to change their password every number of logons as determined by its value. TIME LIMIT FOR LOG-ON PERIOD specifies how much time to grant to a user before the system knows how much time he/she is entitled to. You should make this long enough to enable a new user to complete the new user procedure and questionnaire, if you have one. MAXIMUM USER INACTIVITY PERIOD determines how long to wait during periods of inactivity before disconnecting. The inactive time period is measured from the last character sent to the modem. This feature is automatically disabled in local mode, or by a setting of zero. ALLOW USERS TO UPLOAD MESSAGES. This option is not yet implemented, but will enable a user to upload an already prepared message using any of the available file transfer protocols. 16 The KILL MESSAGES AFTER SENT option applies to NetMail sent through a mail network. When the message is entered, if set to "Ask", it will ask the user whether to delete his/her message after it has been exported from the message database. STRICT PASSWORD CHECKING is an invaluable security feature which if enabled, will check passwords that users enter. You can specify certain undesirable passwords in a control file (see the section on EXTERNAL FILES), such as "Secret" or "Test". It will also disallow the user's first or last name as a password, and checks the old and new passwords for phonetic similarity. You may also specify the minimum password length that users may select. Longer passwords mean better security, a value of 4 is recommended as an absolute minimum. RemoteAccess may be configured to behave either like QuickBBS with hot-keyed menus, or like Opus with command stacking facilities. If the USE HOT-KEYS option is set to "Yes", the system defaults to hot keys for each new user. If the option is set to "Ask" then each new user is asked to choose between hot keys or command stacking. The user may change his or her choice by selecting the toggle hotkey menu command (see the section on MENU FUNCTIONS). If a user logs on and is disconnected because he/she enters his or her password incorrectly, RemoteAccess can notify that user of a possible attempt at guessing the password, by way of a private message. In the SECURITY WATCHDOG MESSAGE AREA field, specify the message area number (as per your message area configuration) that the warning message should be placed in. A value of zero disables this feature. In addition, you will need to create an ASCII text file called WATCHDOG.MSG in the system directory that contains the text of the message that is sent to the user. Select GENERAL PAGING. PAGE LENGTH specifies the number of seconds to sound the bell at the local console when a user pages you for a chat. MAXIMUM PAGES allows you to limit the number of times a user may page you during one session. You may also specify paging "hours" using the PAGING START/END TIME option. If either field is set to a non-zero value, users will only be allowed to page you between these hours. Now go to GENERAL SCREEN. You can force the system to run in Monochrome Mode by setting MONOCHROME to "Yes". If you are not using RemoteAccess in a multi-tasking environment, then set DIRECT WRITE MODE to "Yes". This will cause all screen output to be written directly to Video RAM instead of using BIOS calls, and will result in a significant speed increase. If you use one of the older CGA cards that is prone to "snowing", set SNOW CHECK to "Yes". 17 GENERAL SYSTEM is the next option in the MISC menu. Enter the name of your BBS in the SYSTEM NAME field, and your own name in the SYSOPS NAME field. The LOADING MESSAGE field is displayed to a caller whenever RemoteAccess exits to a batch file or runs a door in a shell. Put something like "One moment please .." in here. LIST PROMPT is displayed at the bottom of a type 6 menu command. See the MENU COMMANDS section for more information. The QUOTE STRING is a highlight character that RemoteAccess will place in front of any message that is replied to. For example, a message quoted using " > " as the quoter would look like: > I have been using RemoteAccess for 2 months now and > love it! I have to agree with you there, Tom. Flexibility-wise you just can't beat it. A '@' character in the quote string will be translated into the initials of the person whose message is being quoted. The UPLOAD CREDIT FACTOR provides a way of rewarding your users for uploading files to you. If this value is set to a non-zero value, after each upload session, the user is granted that many seconds per minute of upload time. So, if you set the credit factor to 30 (seconds), and a user spends 10 minutes uploading, he/she would be granted an extra 5 minutes for that session. Note that during uploads the timer is "frozen" in addition to this bonus. If you set ALLOW FAST LOGONS to "Yes", then whenever RemoteAccess is activated in local mode, it will assume that it is the sysop who is logging on, and will prompt for password only. If you are running more than one line, you should set CHECK FOR MULTI-LOGON to "Yes". This will prevent a user from logging on to more than one line at the same time, and effectively using his/her entire daily time limit on EACH LINE. If you never (or rarely) call your own BBS remotely, you should disallow sysop remote access by setting ALLOW SYSOP REMOTELY to "No". This makes it almost impossible for an unknown "hacker" to gain access to your system via your own account. EXCLUDE SYSOP FROM LIST, if set to "Yes", will cause the sysops name to be ommitted from a User List, List of Today's Callers, Who Else Is Online, and the Last Caller functions. Useful if you don't want a user to know you're there! 18 CHECK FOR MAIL AT LOG-ON, when enabled, will force the system to scan the message-base for new mail addressed to the user (regardless of what area it is in, provided the user has access to that area) at log-on. The FULL MAIL CHECK option determines the type of mail check that is performed. A full check scans from the start to the end of the message-base for all mail addressed to the user that does not have the "Received" flag set. If you set the option to "Off", the message base is only checked from the last message that the user read. While this is much faster, there is the possibility that some mail may be skipped if the user elected not to read his/her mail during the last logon. When a user gets a list of files in a file area, the format of a file entry is the file name, length, date and description. It is possible to omit the date from each line, thus making it possible to have more verbose descriptions by setting SHOW FILE DATES to "No". Note that the asterisk normally displayed immediately after the date which indicates the file is new since the last log- on is still displayed. When a file is uploaded using a batch protocol such as Zmodem, or Ymodem, the original date of the file is normally preserved when the file is saved in the upload area. This is of little use if the file was originally created in 1987, so RemoteAccess will, if the RESET UPLOAD FILE DATES option is enabled, reset the date stamp of the file to the date on which it was uploaded. By inserting a special control code in a text file it is possible to automatically activate a program in a shell when the text file is displayed. As explained in the TEXT FILE CONTROL CODES section, there are important security considerations that must be looked into if you intend to use this feature. If you aren't going to use it, set SHELLS FROM TEXT FILES to "No". The next option in the SYSTEM menu is the SYSTEM LOG FILE NAME. RemoteAccess logs all user activity in detail to a human-readable text file. Set the name of the log file to point to your system directory, for example C:\RA\RA.LOG. Next, select the logging format that most suits you; Opus mode contains more information, including the line number in a multi-line system. The FrontDoor format is much more compact. It is possible to disable uploads when the amount of free space on your upload drive falls below a preset level. For example, to disable uploads if there is less than 1 megabyte free, set MINIMUM UPLOAD SPACE to 1000 (kilobytes). 19 If you are installing RemoteAccess on a multi-line site (ie. you are going to be running more than one line), you MUST set the MULTI LINE option to "Yes". This enables extra file/message checking routines to ensure that a conflict between two lines accessing the same data never arises. If you are running only one line, setting this option to "Off" will disable this checking and significantly increases the system's operating speed. The ENVIRONMENT option refers to the type of multi-tasking system that you will be running RemoteAccess under. If set to "Auto-detect", RemoteAccess will attempt to determine the multitasker in use when it fires up. On some hardware/software configurations it may not be able to correctly detect it's environment. To overcome this, you can force RemoteAccess to "assume" that it is running under a specific multitasker. Environments currently supported are DoubleDOS, DESQview, TopView, MultiLink, PC-MOS/386 and the "standard" AT BIOS. RemoteAccess will time-slice, or give up CPU time, to other tasks when it is waiting for a call or at a prompt. The result is a significant overall system performance improvement. The last option in the MISC menu is ALT-FKEYS. When one of the ten function keys on your keyboard is pressed in conjunction with the ALT key, RemoteAccess will do one of two things : If the command string that you have assigned to the function key that is pressed is a standard DOS command line, then that line will be executed in a shell while RemoteAccess remains in memory. If, on the other hand, the first character of the command string for the function key is the query symbol (?) followed by a number, RemoteAccess will exit to DOS with an errorlevel equal to the number. For example, suppose two entries looked like this: 5 : ?110 6 : C:\COMMAND.COM Pressing ALT-F5 would cause RemoteAccess to exit to DOS with an errorlevel of 110, and ALT-F6 would execute a copy of COMMAND.COM in a shell. 20 E v e n t s ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── The RemoteAccess Event Editor allows you to set pre- determined times during the week when RemoteAccess will automatically exit to your batch file and perform certain functions, usually some kind of system maintenance. Select EVENTS from the main menu bar. This window contains all event information. You may define up to 20 events to run at any time during the day. In addition to this, it is also possible to specify that an event only run on a particular day or days of the week. To modify an event, simply move the highlight bar to the event you wish to alter, and press [CR]. Use the cursor keys to move between entries in the event edit window, and enter the time you want the event to start at, in 24 hour format. Next, enter the errorlevel; when the event is activated, RemoteAccess will exit to the batch file from which it was called at this errorlevel. Your batch file should trap this errorlevel and act accordingly. In this window, you can also specify what days you would like the event to run on, and whether the event is enabled or disabled. More information on events is contained in the BATCH FILE EXAMPLES section. F i l e s ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Select FILES from the main menu bar. This is where you define your file areas. Note that this data is optional. It is only needed if you intend to either use any of the file scan menu functions, or activate the file area template system. Most of the entries here are fairly straightforward. The FILE AREA NAME is the name of the file area as the user will see it. The FILE PATH is a fully qualified directory path that points to where the files in this area are stored, for example C:\FILES\IBM\GAMES\. Note that the trailing backslash is optional. Access to each file area is controlled by raising the SECURITY LEVEL and FLAGS to the minimum combination required for a user to "see" the area. For example, if a user uses the "Search for new files" function, only file areas to which he/she has the required security/flags setting will be checked. 21 M e s s a g e a r e a s ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── The last configuration section is the message areas. From the MESSAGES menu, select MESSAGE BOARDS. You may define up to 200 different areas, each with it's own attributes and security requirements. Firstly, give the area a name. This should be a meaningful description of its content, for example "IBM Users", "Cooking", or "Entertainment". Avoid using names like "Message Area 1". If you wish to "delete" the message area, simply set the area name to nothing. Each area can be one of three TYPES. LOCAL, if the message area is available on your BBS only, or if you are in a mail network such as FidoNet, ECHOMAIL or NETMAIL. These latter two types are explained more fully in the MAIL NETWORKING section. If you are not part of a mail network, set the type to LOCAL. MESSAGE STATUS controls the types of messages that users are allowed to post in the area. You have the choice of PRIVATE ONLY, PUBLIC ONLY, PRIVATE/PUBLIC and READ ONLY. It may be desirable to allow only public messages in general discussion areas, or likewise private only in user-to-user message areas to ensure that all messages in that area may be read only by the sender or the recipient of the message. Message areas marked as READ ONLY may only have messages posted in them by the sysop. This is useful for, say a general announcement area. In certain areas you may wish to allow users to post messages using an alias, or "pseudonym". If so, set ALIASES ALLOWED to "Yes". Entering a message in one of these areas, the user is prompted for an alias with which to post the message. RemoteAccess will not allow the user to use either any other user's name or "Sysop" as an alias. The next three options are used by RAMSG, the message-base maintenance utility. In order to keep the size of your message-base files down to a reasonable level it is necessary to regularly delete "old" messages. You should set these options according to the requirements of each area. For example, if the area is high-traffic, by setting DAYS UNTIL OLD MESSAGES ARE KILLED to 7, RAMSG will delete any message in that area that is over a week old. You can use these options in combination. By setting DAYS UNTIL OLD MESSAGES ARE KILLED to 14 and MAXIMUM NUMBER OF MESSAGES to 200, RAMSG will delete any message in that area which is either over 14 days old as well as the oldest messages in the area until there are only 200 messages left. If the message area is important, say user-to-user private mail, you can instruct RAMSG to delete only messages which have already been received that are a certain number of days old by setting the DAYS AFTER RECEIVED MESSAGES ARE KILLED option. 22 The AKA ADDRESS and ORIGIN LINE options are used for EchoMail type areas. You can set different origin lines for each area, along with any one of your network addresses, to be appended to the end of messages that are posted in the area. If no origin line is specified, then RemoteAccess will use the origin line defined in the DEFAULT ORIGIN LINE option. Access to the message area is controlled by READ, WRITE and SYSOP security levels and access flags. Read Security is the minimum security level the user needs to be allowed to read messages in each message area. Likewise, message posting and replying is only permitted if the user's security level is equal to or higher than the Write Security setting. SYSOP security access permits reading of all messages in the area, even if they are private and addressed to another user. This is useful for message areas which are run by assistant sysops and the like, so they can check messages for suitable content and delete off-topic ones. A full discussion on security can be found in the SECURITY section. Going back to the MESSAGES main menu option, select EXTERNAL EDITOR. This is the DOS command line that will be used to activate a full screen message editor, if one is installed. This option is available only to users of ANSI graphics. The full screen editor is a third-party package that enables messages to be entered in a "word-processing" environment, with cursor movement and text formatting ability. QuickEd is one such package that interfaces directly to RemoteAccess. This command line may contain any of the metacommands listed in the description of the type 7 menu command, including *M to swap RemoteAccess out of memory before the editor is loaded. Go to the QUIT menu, and select "Yes" to save any changes that have been made. This completes the tutorial on RACONFIG. 23 S E C U R I T Y ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── All user-security is controlled by a security level and set of access flags. The security level is any number from 1 to 64,000. Setting a user's security level to zero will lock him or her out of the BBS. There are thirty-two access flags arranged in four sets of eight individual flags, each of which can be either ON or OFF. An ON flag is represented by a "X", and an OFF flag by a "-". Firstly let's look at menu security. Each menu is made up of a number of lines, each of which may have a command associated with it. (The structure of menus is explained fully in the next section). In order for a menu line to be visible (and selectable) to a user, the user's security level must be equal to or greater than the security level assigned to that line. In addition to this, every flag that is set ON in the menu line must also be set ON in the user's flag setting. Read/Write and Sysop access to message areas is controlled in the same way. To be able to read messages in an area, the user must have not only a sufficient security level, but also at least the flags that are defined in RACONFIG for that area. Similarly, the file area access security/flag system works in the same way, BUT the settings only affect the three file search menu functions. To restrict up/download access to certain areas, you will have to use menu security. M E N U S ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── This is possibly the most important stage in configuring your BBS. The menus that you create will give the system it's own "feel", and will make your system look completely different from the one next door. The menu system gives you one hundred percent flexibility not only cosmetically, but in allowing and disallowing access to certain functions and parts of your BBS to groups of users. The menus are line-oriented. Using the menu editor supplied, you enter the lines one at a time. Each line has a line of text that is displayed to the user, a menu "type", a minimum security level and flag setting required to access that line, and some optional data that is used by some menu types. There are approximately sixty menu functions that may be activated by the user pressing the key you have linked to that function. These functions are explained fully in the following pages. 24 M e n u f u n c t i o n s ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Type : 1 Name : Goto another menu Optional Data : <Menu Name> [Password] [/F=<File Area>|+|-] [/M=<Message Area>|+|-] This function causes a jump to another menu, which has been created with the editor and saved as <Menu Name>. If [Password] is specified then the user will be asked to supply a non-case-sensitive password before proceeding. <File Area> and <Message Area> set the currently selected file and message areas respectively for the template system. See the section on MENU TEMPLATES for a full explanation on this. ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Type : 2 Name : Gosub another menu Optional Data : <Menu Name> [Password] [/F=<File Area>|+|-] [/M=<Message Area>|+|-] As for Function 1, but saves the path to the last menu on a "stack", making it possible to return to the calling menu with a type 3 function. Note that menus called in this way may be nested to a maximum of 50 levels. ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Type : 3 Name : Return from gosub Optional Data : None Use this function to return from a Gosub (type 2) to the previous menu. ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Type : 4 Name : Goto menu after clearing menu stack Optional Data : <Menu Name> [Password] [/F=<File Area>|+|-] [/M=<Message Area>|+|-] As for function 1, but before jumping to the new menu, the gosub menu stack is cleared. Obviously you can't use a type 3 return straight after this! ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── 25 Type : 5 Name : Display a *.ASC/*.ANS text file Optional Data : <1-8 character name> Displays a file in your textfile directory (as defined in RACONFIG). If the user has ANSI enabled, then <Filename.ANS> will be displayed. If the user does not have ANSI enabled, or <Filename.ANS> is missing then <Filename.ASC> will be displayed. It is possible to display comprehensive system and user details by inserting special control codes in the file. These codes are listed in the TEXT FILE CONTROL CODES section. ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Type : 6 Name : Bulletin menu Optional Data : <1-8 character name> Displays the <1-8 character name> file in your text file directory as does function type 5. The user is then prompted for a file suffix of length 8 - <length of file>. The suffix is appended to the original file name, and that text file is displayed as it would be in a type 5 function. For example, if the optional data field contained a file name of BULLET, the file BULLET.ASC/ANS would be displayed. Then the user is prompted for a 2 character input. If the user typed in "1B", then the file "BULLET1B.ASC/ANS" would be displayed. The original text file defined in the optional data should therefore contain a list of available bulletins. ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Type : 7 Name : Run an external program in a shell Optional Data : <Command Line> [Control Codes] This command will run an external program (a "door") in a shell while the user is on-line. Examples are on line games, mail-checking facilities and so on. (Refer also to type 15 - Exit to DOS for an alternative way of running external programs). The FULL name of the program must be specified if it is an .EXE or .COM file. To run one of these two simply put the name of the program in the optional data field. If you wish to call a batch file, this must be done via COMMAND.COM, the memory-resident command-line processor. So to run your TradeWars batch file, the command line could read: C:\COMMAND.COM /C \BBS\DOORS\TW2.BAT Many programs require extra information to be passed on the command line, so the following control codes may be used. In each case, the code is replaced by it's value: 26 *B : User's baud rate, or 0 if local *C : Full path and name to COMMAND.COM *F : User's first name *G : ANSI graphics, 0=Off/1=On *H : Normally the FOSSIL is de-initialised before running an external program to avoid any possible conflicts between the FOSSIL and the program. Specifying this parameter leaves the FOSSIL "hot" or active. *L : User's last name *M : Activate MemorySwap feature. RemoteAccess attempts to swap itself and all the memory it occupies to EMS (if installed) and disk, leaving only 20k resident. Great for running memory-hungry programs, but it takes a few seconds to do the swap. If it can't do the swap, it will try a normal shell. NOTE : Some programs are notorious for "fragmenting" memory, and will not work with MemorySwap. Programs compiled in QuickBASIC, such as TradeWars 1000 exhibit this problem. *N : Line number, as specified by the -N command line parameter *P : Communications port being used (1-4) *R : User's record number in the user file *T : Time remaining for current call *! : Freeze the system timer for the duration of the shell. Useful for running external utilities like full-screen chat programs etc. In addition to this command line information that can be passed, RemoteAccess also creates two data files before the shell. DORINFO1.DEF, which is a RBBS-compatible file, and EXITINFO.BBS, which contains an extremely comprehensive amount of system and user information. The structure of this file can be found in the RemoteAccess structures document, RASTRUCT. It should also be noted that ALL system files are written to and closed off before the shell is activated, then reopened and scanned upon return. This means that programs that modify system files (eg. USERS.BBS) can be safely run in a type 7 shell. Note that the external program must do it's own time limit and carrier watchdogging, in the event that the user does not exit from the program correctly. 27 Type : 8 Name : Product information Optional Data : None Displays product information including the version number and copyright information. If a user is on-line remotely, the name and version of the FOSSIL in use is also displayed. ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Type : 9 Name : Terminate the session Optional Data : None Displays the GOODBYE.ASC/ANS text file and hangs up on the user by dropping the DTR signal to the modem. To this end, make sure your modem's DTR line is not "forced high" continuously. ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Type : 10 Name : System usage Optional Data : None Displays a nicely formatted full-screen graph that depicts system usage in terms of percentage use per hour. ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Type : 11 Name : Page sysop to chat Optional Data : <Paging string> Displays the <paging string> to the user and pages the sysop for a chat. The sysop may select "C" to chat with the user, or "A" to abort the page. You may break in for a chat at any time by pressing ALT-C. All sysop keys are listed in the reference section of this manual. During a chat, the system timer is "frozen", and is re-started when the chat is terminated. The sysop terminates chat mode with the ESCape key. During chat, you may open a capture file to log the chat session by pressing CTRL-A, and again to close the capture. ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Type : 12 Name : Questionnaire Optional Data : <1-8 character file name> Initiates a questionnaire. The <file name> is the first part of the name of the questionnaire file. All questionnaire files are stored in the system directory, and have a name extension of .Q-A. User's responses are stored in an output 28 file named <file name>.ASW. There is a full tutorial on questionnaires, including the script language in the reference section of this manual. RemoteAccess has a hard-coded questionnaire. If present, it will initiate the questionnaire NEWUSER.Q-A for a new user after the hard-coded text file NEWUSER2.ASC/ANS is displayed. For information on hard-coded (external support) files, refer to the EXTERNAL SUPPORT FILES section. ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Type : 13 Name : User listing Optional Data : None Displays a list of users in the user file. Lists users name, location, file ratio, and the last time he/she called the system. This function has some basic pattern matching capabilities on the name field. ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Type : 14 Name : Time Optional Data : None Shows the current date and time, along with the user's daily time limit, time used and time remaining for the day. ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Type : 15 Name : Exit to DOS Optional Data : <Errorlevel> This function causes RemoteAccess exit to the batch file that executed it, with a specific errorlevel. Set the optional data to the errorlevel you wish to pass to the batch file. The batch file should trap the errorlevel and act accordingly. If you exit while the user is still on- line, to log the user back on invoke RemoteAccess with the - R command line parameter. This will force it to read the EXITINFO file that was written at the time of the previous exit and take the user directly to the top menu. Note that errorlevels 0 to 5 are reserved by RemoteAccess for system use (see the reference section on ERRORLEVELS for a complete list and description of these and how to use them), and should not be used. ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── 29 Type : 16 Name : Alter location Optional Data : None Allows the user to change the "location" field in his/her user record. ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Type : 17 Name : Alter password Optional Data : None Allows the user to change his/her password. Frequent password changes should be encouraged to ensure system security, and in fact there is an option to force a change of password every certain number logons (refer to "RACONFIG"). ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Type : 18 Name : Alter screen length Optional Data : None Allows the user to alter the length of his/her screen display. This affects the "Continue?" prompt. ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Type : 19 Name : Toggle screen clearing Optional Data : None Allows the user to specify whether he/she would like screen clearing codes sent. ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Type : 20 Name : Toggle page pausing Optional Data : None Allows the user to enable or disable the "Continue?" prompt at the end of each screen page. ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Type : 21 Name : Toggle ANSI graphics Optional Data : None Allows the user to select, or deselect ANSI graphics. If the user disables ANSI, use of the full screen message editor is also disabled. ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── 30 Type : 22 Name : Check the mailbox Optional Data : None Checks to see if there is any mail addressed to the user that he/she hasn't yet read. This can be done automatically at log-on by setting the appropriate option in RACONFIG. See the section on configuration for details of the two types of mail-check available. All new messages are marked for later retrieval with the "Read Marked" option. Note that the user will only be notified of mail in areas that he/she has read access to, as defined in RACONFIG. Although the system only prompts the user with a "Read mail now [Yes/no]" prompt, several options can be activated. Valid choices are [R]ead, [S]can, [Q]uickscan, [K]ill, or [M]ark as received. ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Type : 23 Name : Read messages Optional Data : <Message area #> or /M Initiates the message reading routines. Checks that the user has read access to the message area first. The user may select several different scan modes. These include forward, reverse, new messages, marked messages, individual message, or a selected scan according to the "To:", "From:" or "Subject" fields. Online help is also available from this hard-coded menu in the form of a text file. Put the message area number on the optional data field, or 0 to select "combined" mode (see function type 28 for more on this feature). If you put a "/M" in the optional data field in place of the area number, RemoteAccess will automatically substitute the currently selected template message area into the data field. See MENU TEMPLATES for more on this. The message area number refers to number assigned to the desired area in RACONFIG. ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Type : 24 Name : Scan messages Optional Data : <Message area #> or /M Same as the READ message function (type 23) but only displays the message header of each message. The user also has the option of marking messages for later retrieval. ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── 31 Type : 25 Name : QuickScan messages Optional Data : <Message area #> or /M Same as the READ message function (type 23) but each message is listed as a single-line entry containing message number, the poster of the message, who it is addressed to, and the subject line. ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Type : 26 Name : Delete message Optional Data : None Allows a user to delete a message provided that: - The message is "to" or "from" him/her OR - The user has sysop access to the area the message is in. ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Type : 27 Name : Post message Optional Data : <Message Area #> or /M [/L] [/T=<Name>] Post a message in the specified area (or the currently selected template area if the "/M" is used). The user must have either write or sysop access to the message area, as defined in RACONFIG. The /L option will log the user off immediately after the message is saved (useful for a "Leave message to sysop before disconnecting" option). The /T= option will force the message to be addressed to a specific user. Simply place the user's name in the optional data field after the /T= parameter to select this option. For example, on my "log-off" menu, I have the following entry: Menu Type 27 Optional Data: 60 /L /T=Andrew_Milner (Any messages to "Sysop" are redirected to the sysop's name as defined in RACONFIG). If you do use a full name, be sure to use underscores in place of spaces. ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Type : 28 Name : Select combined areas Optional Data : None Allows the user to select any combination of message areas for "combined" mode message reading/scanning/quickscanning. The user is shown a list of available areas and may toggle any of them "ON" or "OFF". This combination of areas is 32 saved as part of the user's permanent user record, and is restored at next log on. To read messages on the "combined" area, use a normal read/scan/quickscan menu function but set the message area number in the optional data field to zero. Area zero is hard-coded as this combined area and cannot be defined by the sysop. ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Type : 29 Name : Move a file Optional Data : <Full source path> Primarily intended as a sysop/assistant sysop function, this allows the user to move files from a pre-defined area <source-path> to any valid DOS directory without the need for remote access to DOS. ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Type : 30 Name : Directory Optional Data : <Full path> or /F Displays an MS-DOS style directory of the directory specified in the optional data field, showing name, length and date of each file. ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Type : 31 Name : List files Optional Data : <Full path> or /F This option displays a list of files available for download from the directory specified by the path name in the optional data field. The file names and descriptions are contained in a file called FILES.BBS. This file is automatically maintained by RemoteAccess when files are uploaded, but it may also be edited by the sysop. The file consists of a single word file-name per line with a description, up to 255 characters in length. Descriptions that exceed the width of the screen are automatically wrapped to the next line. The upload date and length of each file is also displayed (optionally), and an asterisk before the description signifies that the file is new since the user's last call. If, instead of the full path to the file area, you put a "/F", RemoteAccess will substitute the path name that corresponds to the currently selected template file area, as defined in RACONFIG. See the MENU TEMPLATE section for further information on this. ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── 33 Type : 32 Name : Download a file from area Optional Data : <Full path> or /F [Password] Enables the user to download any file that is contained in the specified directory. Note that the file need not be listed in that directory's FILES.BBS for the user to be able to download it. If a password is specified, the user will be asked for a non case-sensitive password before being allowed to proceed with the transfer. The /F option works in the same way as in function 31. ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Type : 33 Name : Upload a file Optional Data : <Full path> or /F Enables the user to upload (send) a file to your system. The file will be placed in the directory specified in the optional data path. FILES.BBS will be automatically updated to reflect the upload. The /F option works in the same way as in function 31 and 32. ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Type : 34 Name : View archive Optional Data : <Full path> or /F Allows the user to view the contents of an archived file in the specified directory. At present, only ZIP and LZH files are supported, but this will be expanded in the future. Menu templating is supported with the /F option. This explained more fully in MENU TEMPLATES. ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Type : 35 Name : File scan by keyword Optional Data : None This function uses the data specified in RACONFIG to search all file areas that the user has access to for a key-word that is supplied by the user. Any FILES.BBS entries that match are displayed with the name of the area the match was found in. ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Type : 36 Name : File scan by file name Optional Data : None Same as function 35, but scans for an exact file name match. 34 Type : 37 Name : Show new files Optional Data : None Scans all file areas that the user has access to for files that have a date more recent than the date of the user's last log-on. ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Type : 38 Name : Type (view) a text file Optional Data : <Full path> or /F Allows the user to type to the terminal the contents of a plain ASCII/ANSI text file in the specified directory. This is useful for on-line file lists or magazines. The /F option overrides the path name with the currently selected template file area path. ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Type : 39 Name : Display a fully named text file Optional Data : <Full path and name> Similar to the type 5 function, but allows you to specify the full path and name (including extension) of the file that will be displayed. Like the type 5 function, this also interprets the special control characters. ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Type : 40 Name : Display an ASC/ANS text file with hot keys Optional Data : <1-8 character name> Displays an ASC/ANS text file the same way as a type 5 would, but leaves the current menu hot keys active while the file is displayed. This allows the use of elaborate graphics in your menus that would be impossible to create with the line editor. See also AUTOMATIC COMMAND EXECUTION for details on how to integrate these files into your menus. ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Type : 41 Name : Toggle full screen editor Optional Data : None Allows the user to select or deselect the use of the full screen message editor. Use of the editor is only permitted if the user has ANSI graphics enabled. ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── 35 Type : 42 Name : Toggle hot-keys Optional Data : None Allows the user to choose between hot-keys or command stacking. In command stacking mode, several commands, or key-presses, can be specified on one command line by putting a semi-colon in between each command. ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Type : 44 Name : Reset combined areas setting Optional Data : None Allows the user turn ON or OFF all available message areas for his/her combined message area setting. ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Type : 45 Name : Display text file and wait Optional Data : <1-8 character name> This is the same as a type 5 function, but prompts the user to press [Return] before continuing. This is useful for displaying text files that are generated automatically by utilities that don't append a Control-A (wait character) at the end of the file. ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Type : 47 Name : Make a log entry Optional Data : <Log entry> When this command is executed, it simply takes the contents of the Optional Data field and writes it to the system log as if it were a normal hard-coded log entry. ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Type : 48 Name : Download a specific file Optional Data : <Full path and name> Enables the user to download a file or set of files that you have pre-defined, using a protocol of the user's choice. Note that you may specify wild-cards and pattern match characters in the file name, but if you do, the user will be forced to use a batch transfer protocol. For example, a type 48 command with the following optional data field: C:\FILES\RA\RELEASE\RA*.ZIP 36 Would send all files in the C:\FILES\RA\RELEASE directory that matched RA*.ZIP. ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Type : 51 Name : List today's callers Optional Data : None Lists every caller that has called your system since midnight along with log on/off times, baud rate and what line the call was taken on. ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Type : 52 Name : Show all users on-line Optional Data : None Lists all users currently on-line. This would only be useful in a multi-line installation. It shows where each caller is calling from, their baud rate and the line they are connected to. ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Type : 53 Name : Toggle "Do not disturb" Optional Data : None This another multi-line feature only. It allows the user turn on or off the ability of other users to send him/her messages whith the type 54 function, like - "Hey Joe, I noticed that you're on line 3. Wanna chat?" Note that the sysop has the ability to override this and send a message anyway. ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Type : 54 Name : Send an on-line message Optional Data : None Allows the user to send a message to another user who is logged on to another line at the same time. Provided that the other user has not set his/her "do not disturb" flag, the sender will be prompted for a one-liner to transmit. Depending on what the recipient is doing at the time, he/she will get the message ten to fifteen seconds later. ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── 37 Type : 55 Name : Download any file Optional Data : None This is an extremely powerful function that should be only accessible by the sysop. It allows the user to download a file from any valid drive or directory using any of the available file transfer protocols. Note that this the ONLY download function that takes no account of download limits, file ratios or transfer time, and does not update the users record to reflect the download. A u t o m a t i c C o m m a n d E x e c u t i o n ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Normally a menu function would be activated when a user presses the key that you have linked to that function. However, it is possible to cause a function to be executed automatically as soon as a menu is displayed by setting the "activate key" to [CONTROL-A]. As soon as that particular menu line is displayed the function is executed automatically, without the need for the user to select the option. This is a very powerful feature when used with the type 40 menu function, which displays an ASCII/ANSI text file while checking for menu hot-keys. By setting up the first line of a menu as a type 40 with automatic execution, as soon as the menu is called your text file is displayed instead of the normal menu lines. This allows you to design very elaborate graphical menu displays that contain extra information about the user by inserting the special text file control codes. What happens if a user "passes through" a menu by using a stacked menu command? In some cases you may want the automatic command to execute, for example to redirect the user to another menu by automatic execution of a type 1 or 2. On the other hand, if the command is only for cosmetic purposes (maybe a text file to display some user statistics) it would be better to skip the command and continue straight to the next menu. Here's how it works : An automatic command will only be executed as a user passes through a menu if it is the first entry in the menu. Conversely, to disable pass-through execution, put the command on any line BUT the first. This is a very powerful feature, as it gives you virtually unlimited control over your menu and command sequencing. 38 M e n u T e m p l a t e s ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── The biggest drawback of other BBS packages that allow the sysop the flexibility of designing his or her own menus is the amount of maintenance that is necessary in updating the menus. Until now it was necessary to have a separate menu for each file and message area. The RemoteAccess menu templating system alleviates this problem by allowing you to set up one menu that will act as a "skeleton" for all your message and file areas. Two "variables" are available to you; "M" for the currently selected message area and "F" for the currently selected file area. In your template menu(s), where you would normally put the message area number in the optional data field for say a "Read" command, put in "/M". When the read is selected by the user, RemoteAccess will substitute this for a message area number. Likewise, where you would specify a full path for a file function, put a "/F in the optional data field. RemoteAccess will replace this variable with the path to the currently selected file area. To put a value into one of these two variables, simply put a "/M=<Area Number>" or "/F=<Area Number>" in the optional data field of a type 1, 2 or 4 menu command. For example, say you set up a message area template menu called "MSGMENU", using the /M in the optional data fields. Another menu, which you have set up to list the available message areas, simply consists of type 1 or 2 menu commands to jump to MSGMENU. One menu line looks like this: <H>ard Disk Conference This is a type 2 command, which will "gosub" to the MSGMENU menu: Type : 2 On the optional data line, put the name of the menu to jump to, and also set the template variable. Optional Data : MSGMENU /M=45 45 corresponds to the hard disk conference area, as defined in RACONFIG. There are two other constructs that work with the template commands. /M=+ or /F=+ will increment the currently selected template area by one, and /M=- or /F=- will decrement the currently selected template area by one. RemoteAccess will automatically scan all file (or message) areas in the specified direction to determine the next area that the user has been given access to. NOTE: When RemoteAccess fires up, both the file and message template areas default to area 1, as defined in RACONFIG. No 39 checking is done to verify the user's access to this area at log-on, so you should set both file and message area 1 to either a blank entry, or an area that all users have access to. There are a number of special characters that you can put in the display line of a menu which will display certain system information: ~ : Displays time remaining today. ^ : Switches between the normal line colours and the overall menu highlight colours. @ : Displays the name (as defined in RACONFIG) of the currently selected file template area. ` : Displays the name (as defined in RACONFIG) of the currently selected message template area. S e t t i n g u p y o u r m e n u s ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Spend some time thinking about how your menus will be set up. Your BBS can be made to look as unique or as "uniform" as you like - you can choose a subjective topology, where the menus are organised according to area of interest, or a functional topology, where menus are organised according to their function. For example, a functional topology would group all message areas together and all file areas together, whereas a subjective topology would perhaps group together several message and file areas that were related. The diagram below illustrates this by depicting the same systems using the two different topologies: FUNCTIONAL +----------Amiga messages +---------Messages menu | | +----------IBM messages Main menu | | +----------Amiga files +------------Files menu | +----------IBM files SUBJECTIVE +----------IBM files +--------------IBM menu | | +----------IBM messages Main menu | | +----------Amiga files +------------Amiga menu | +----------Amiga messages 40 Alternatively, you could even use a combination of the two topology types. The layout of your BBS is determined by how the menus are set up. In many cases a user will not realise that he or she is looking at a menu. The best technique for creating menus is to create all the "low-level" menus first, then the main menu, and then fill in between with the intermediate menus. C r e a t i n g y o u r m e n u s - " R A M E N U " ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Change to the system directory and fire up RAMENU.EXE; this is the utility which allows you to create and edit your menus. When run it will present you with a directory of menus that have already been created - select one with the cursor keys and press RETURN to edit, or simply press ESCAPE to create a new menu. A large window is opened that displays a line by line summary of the menu. You may select a menu item to work on by moving the hilight bar to the item with the cursor keys. The following keys are available: [RETURN] - Edit the currently selected menu item. [INSERT] - Insert a new menu item immediately before the current item. [DELETE] - Delete the currently selected menu item. [ALT-D] - Simulate what the menu would look like to a user. [ALT-P] - View or modify the menu prompt, its colour and the menu highlight colours. [ALT-S] - Save the current menu to disk. [ALT-L] - Discard the present menu and load another from disk. Let's create the LOGOFF menu. Hit RETURN on the first blank menu item to bring up the EDIT MENU ITEM window. The first line of this menu will just display a message to the user, so in the USER DISPLAY field, put "You have chosen to disconnect. You may -". Move to the ACTION field and set it to DISPLAY ONLY. Next select a suitable colour for the display line in the COLOUR field. Since this is only a 41 display line, leave SECURITY and FLAGS as they are. Press ESCAPE to return to the menu list, and note the entry you have just created. Now enter the user options for the menu. Move to the second menu entry (add one with the INSERT key if necessary) and press RETURN to edit. We'll give the user the option of leaving a message to the sysop, so in the USER DISPLAY field enter "<L>eave a message to the sysop". Set the ACTION to POST A NEW MESSAGE (this is under the heading of MESSAGE- BASE COMMANDS). This command requires a couple of parameters in the optional data field - the number of the message area to post the message in and the /T= parameter, to force the message to be addressed to the sysop. It might look like this: 80 /T=Andrew_Milner (Message area 80 is set up as a "Messages to the sysop" area that contains local private messages). Set the HOT-KEY to "L" - this is the key that will activate the function. We want all users to be able to leave a message, so set the security level to 1. The third line of the menu gives the user the option of returning to the previous menu, so set this to a type 3, with a suitable display line. The actual log-off command is last. This will be a type 9 (Terminate Call). Set the hot-key to "G" and the display line to something like "<G>oodbye (Logoff)". The final step is to set the highlight and prompt options. Press ALT-P from the menu list to bring up the EDIT MENU SETTINGS window. Here you can tailor the menu by selecting the menu prompt and its colour, along with the menu highlight colour. Each menu line, in addition to it's own colour, may contain an overall menu highlight colour. To switch between the two colours on a menu line, simply insert the ^ character; Note that this character isn't actually displayed to the user, it just toggles the colours. Experiment with this feature by inserting a few ^ characters on display lines and viewing the menu with the ALT-D key. Finally, save the menu by going back to the menu list and pressing ALT-S. Save the menu with the name LOGOFF. Now, whenever you need a "Goodbye" option in another menu, just use a gosub (type 2) function to the menu LOGOFF. There is one hard-coded menu called TOP. RemoteAccess searches for this menu when a user logs on and displays it first, so it MUST be present. The layout of the top menu is up to you of course; it is recommended that you look at the menus of other Bulletin Boards so you can incorporate their best features into your own. 42 E X T E R N A L S U P P O R T F I L E S ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── There is very little that is actually "hard-coded" into RemoteAccess. Below is a listing of text files you can place in the text file directory to give your system just the right "feel". See the section on TEXT FILE CONTROL CODES for a list of special characters that can be used to display system and user information from any of these files. Files marked with an asterisk (*) have a default prompt if the file is missing. All the files are plain ASCII which you can create with your favourite text editor/wordprocessor, or optionally ANSI which you will need a special ANSI editor to create. 1ATATIME.A?? : This file is displayed if a user tries to log * on to more than one line at once if multi- line check has been enabled in RACONFIG. DNLDHRS.A?? : This file is displayed if a user attempts a * download outside the allowed hours as defined in RACONFIG. EDITHELP.A?? : This file is displayed if the user asks for help while using the built-in message editor. EXPIRED.A?? : This file is displayed if the user's password * has just expired, just before the user is asked for a new password. GOODBYE.A?? : This file is displayed when the user elects to log off, just before the user is disconnected. LOCKOUT.A?? : This file is displayed if the sysop uses ALT- * L while a user is on-line to lock him/her out of the system. LOGO.ASC : This file is displayed as soon as a connection is made. This should contain the name of your system and perhaps some other general information. MAXPAGE.A?? : This file is displayed if a user tries to * page the sysop for a chat more times than you have specified in RACONFIG. NEWS.A?? : This file is a general news bulletin that is displayed after RemoteAccess checks for waiting mail (if the option is enabled), or straight after the WELCOME file. 43 NEWUSER1.ASC : This file is displayed to a new user as soon as he/she confirms that he/she entered his/her name correctly. NEWUSER2.A?? : This file is displayed after the user has confirmed that he/she entered all the standard logon questions correctly. NO300.ASC : This file is displayed if a 300 baud caller * attempts to log on during hours when 300 baud is not allowed, as defined in RACONFIG. NOCREDIT.A?? : This file is displayed if a caller attempts * to enter a netmail message for which he/she does not have sufficient credit. NOTAVAIL.A?? : This file is displayed if a user tries to * page the sysop for a chat outside paging hours, as defined in RACONFIG. NOTFOUND.ASC : This file is displayed if RemoteAccess * cannot locate the name of a user at logon, but before the user is asked to confirm that he/she entered the name correctly. NOTSYSOP.A?? : This file is displayed if a user attempts to * post a message to "Sysop" in an EchoMail message area. PAGEABRT.A?? : This file is displayed if the sysop chooses * to abort a page for chat by the user. PAGED.A?? : This file is displayed after the user has paged for a chat if the sysop does not answer the page. Something like "Okay, the sysop has been paged and will break in for a chat if he/she walks past." PASSWORD.A?? : This file is displayed before the user is asked to select a new password. This file should stress the importance of choosing a suitable password! PRIVATE.ASC : This file is displayed if a new user tries * to log on to your system and you have set it up as a private, pre-register BBS. RATIO.A?? : This file is displayed if the user tries to * do a download which would exceed his/her ratio of number of files. RATIOK.A?? : This file is displayed if the user tries to * do a download which would exceed his/her ratio of K of uploads to K of downloads. 44 READHELP.A?? : This file is displayed if the user asks for help while reading messages. SEC#.A?? : These files are displayed to users of a particular security level directly after the WELCOME file, but before the mail check (if enabled). For example, the file SEC10.ASC/ANS, if present, would be displayed to all users with security level 10. TIMEWARN.A?? : This file is displayed at log on if the * user's time limit has been adjusted to accomodate an upcoming event. TODAYK.A?? : This file is displayed if the user attempts * a download which would exceed his/her daily download limit. TOOSLOW.ASC : This file is displayed if a user tries to * log on at a speed lower than the minimum required to log on to your system as defined in RACONFIG. TRASHCAN.ASC : This file is displayed if a user enters an * unacceptable name at log on, as listed in the TRASHCAN.CTL file. WELCOME.A?? : This file is displayed after the user logged on, or in the case of a new user, after completing the new user procedure. This can be a fairly elaborate title screen that welcomes your users to the BBS. WELCOME1.A?? : This file is displayed directly after the WELCOME file, and could contain extra system information, maybe a "today in history" quote, or something similar. XFERTIME.A?? : This file is displayed if the user attempts * a download that would exceed his/her daily time limit. In addition to these ASC/ANS files, there are also four *.CTL files that define various security aspects of the system: LIMITS.CTL : This file allows you specify, for each security level, a daily time limit, file download limit for each baud rate, and optional file ratios, either in number of uploads to number of downloads, or in total kilobytes uploaded to total kilobytes downloaded. The format of the file is as follows: 45 <Sec Lvl> <Time> <300> [1200] [2400] [4800] [9600] or: <Sec Lvl> <Time> <300> <1200> <2400> <4800> <9600> <R#> [RK] Where <Sec Lvl> is the security level, <Time> is the daily time limit, <300> to <9600> are respective download limits depending on what baud rate the user calls at. <R#> is the ratio of uploads to downloads, and [RK] is the ratio of uploads in K to downloads in K. If you only specify a download limit for say 300, 1200 and 2400 baud, the download limits for the higher baud rates default to the highest baud rate specified, in this case the limit set for 2400 baud. If you specify a ratio by number (R#) value, then the user will be required to upload one file for every n they download. Similarly, setting the ratio by K will allow the user to download only the specified kilobytes of files per 1 kilobyte uploaded. This is fairly complicated, so look at this example LIMITS.CTL: 5 35 0 10 60 100 200 350 650 900 5 10 20 90 150 250 470 750 900 5 30 120 250 400 600 900 1200 50 300 900 Security level 5 entitles the user to 35 minutes per day, but no downloads. Security level 10 entitles the user to 60 minutes per day, 100k of downloads at 300 baud, 200k at 1200 baud, 350k at 2400 baud, 650k at 4800 baud, and 900k at 9600 baud or faster. In addition, the user must upload at least one file for every five downloaded, and may not download more than ten times the total size of files uploaded. Security level 20 entitles the user to 90 minutes per day, 150k of downloads at 300 baud, 250k at 1200 baud, 470k at 2400 baud, 750k at 4800 baud and 900k at 9600 baud or faster. In addition, the user may only download five times the number of files he/she uploaded. Security level 30 entitles the user to 120 46 minutes per day, 250k of downloads at 300 baud, 400k at 1200 baud, 600k at 2400 baud, 900k at 4800 baud and 1,200k at 9600 baud or faster. There are no ratio restrictions. Security level 50 entitles the user to 300 minutes per day, and 900k of downloads at all speeds without any ratio restrictions. PHONENUM.CTL : Use this file to specify phone numbers or segments of phone numbers that you know to be false. A PHONENUM.CTL that contains: 00- 000- -0000 Would disallow the numbers "00-123-4567", "000-123-4567", "009-0000-1234". The rule here is that none of the specified numbers is allowed to be imbedded anywhere in the user's phone number. PWDTRASH.CTL : Allows you to specify a list of passwords that users are not allowed to use. This could contain passwords like SECRET, or TEST. TRASHCAN.CTL : Allows you specify a list of names that users may not use to log on to your system. In this file, specify the undesirable names one per line. If for example you did not want the names "Sysop", "Jack Daniels" or "Superman" used, simply put the following lines in this file: Sysop Jack Daniels Superman The tests done on names is NOT case- sensitive, so the name "SYSOP" would also be invalid. Names that contain any part of the names in the list are not allowed either. 47 T H E U S E R F I L E ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── The user file is possibly the most important single file on your BBS. It contains all the information about each user's history, screen settings, and vital security data. Switch to your system directory and fire up USERED.EXE. This utility allows you to add, modify or delete any user's record. If there are already some users in the user-file, you will be presented with a list showing each user's name, location and security level. Select a user either by typing in the name, or moving the highlight bar to the entry on the screen and pressing RETURN. After the user is selected you will be presented with the Edit Screen. This lists the entire user's record which can be modified and saved if you wish. If there are no users already in the user-file, the Edit Screen will appear immediately for you to enter the details of the first user. Note that the only required piece of information (or "field") is the name, and you can't proceed any further until you enter one. You'll want to be included in the user file, so enter your own name in this field. Next, go through each of the other fields and enter the correct details. When finished, press [CONTROL-ENTER] to save the information and then ESCAPE to exit. If you don't want to save, just press ESCAPE by itself. To add a new user, simply press the INS key on the user list screen and a blank record will be created for you to edit. Deleting a user is accomplished by moving the highlight bar to the user you want to delete and pressing the DEL key. A marker will appear in the right hand column to signify that the user is marked for deletion. Note that the user isn't actually removed from the user file at this stage. Users that have been marked for deletion are removed by packing the user-file, which should be done regularly using the utility RAUSER. 48 P a c k i n g & s o r t i n g t h e u s e r - f i l e ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── RAUSER.EXE is the utility that is used to maintain the user- file. Not only will it remove users marked for deletion, it can also delete users that have not called your BBS for a certain number of days as well as sort the users in order of security level and surname. RAUSER may be run from any directory, will automatically locate system and user files, and will insert an activity summary in your system log. The following command-line parameters are valid: -P Pack the user-file, removing users marked for deletion. -S Sort users in order of security level and surname. -D[n] Delete users who have not called for [n] days. 49 M A I L N E T W O R K I N G ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── What is a mail network? Basically it is a set of bulletin board systems that are capable of exchanging messages and files with each other without the need for human intervention. All the discussion which follows relates to FidoNet, the world's largest amateur mail network. FidoNet consists of approximately 5,000 bulletin board systems, each of which is assigned a unique "address". A file called a nodelist stores all these addresses along with other information about each system. Think of it like an international "telephone book". Being part of a network has two basic attractions; NetMail and EchoMail. NetMail allows you to send a private message to any user of any one of the bulletins boards in the network at little or no cost to you. EchoMail is a method of creating a huge message area that many hundreds of systems can potentially participate in. Usually all EchoMail areas will contain only public messages, and are organised into either general discussion areas, or areas that deal with specific issues and or topics. The net is organised into several levels, which are usually based on geographical proximity. At the highest level there are five "zones"; zone 1 is the USA, zone 2 is Europe, zone 3 is the Pacific Rim, zone 4 is South America and zone 5 is Africa. Within each zone are a number of "regions" that span large geographical areas. Typically there will be between 5 and 18 regions per zone. Each region is further divided into "nets". Each net has a unique net number, and the distribution of these nets is also based on geographical and technical considerations. Finally, within the net are a number of nodes. A node refers to a single bulletin board system. To find out about obtaining a node number, or an "address", contact the nearest FidoNet bulletin board. The sysop will usually be more than happy to help you out. Before going any further, let's talk about the extra software you will need to set up as a node. Firstly you will need an echomail processor. This is the program which unpacks the mail you will receive, and imports it into your RemoteAccess message-base, as well as packing up outbound mail that needs to be sent out. RemoteAccess does NOT include such a beast. There are several other processors around that will do the job: Echogen and QEcho, both by Adam Hudson, ZMailQ, by Claude N. Warren, TosScan, by Joaquim Homrighausen. 50 The last two are commercial products, and require the payment of a small fee to purchase them. Echogen and QEcho are shareware, and as such require no initial payment, but they both have KNOWN bugs, although both are still fully functional. The other piece of software you'll need is a mailer. RemoteAccess will not directly communicate with other network bulletin boards, so a separate program fills the gap. The two recommended mailers are: FrontDoor, by Joaquim Homrighausen, BinkleyTerm, by Bit Bucket Software. Both of these products are shareware, and like the echomail processors, will usually be available on most FidoNet bulletin boards if you ask the sysop nicely enough. The node number you are assigned will be of the format Zone:Net/Node.Point. This initial node number should be put into your configuration file using the ADDRESS option of RACONFIG. Don't worry about the AKA addresses at this stage. The next step is to set up your EchoMail message areas. You will usually be given a list of areas that are available to you. Each area is identified by an uppercase alphanumeric name. As far as RemoteAccess is concerned, all you need is a description of each area you plan to "plug into". Fire up RACONFIG, and go to the MESSAGE AREAS window. Select an unused message area, and enter the area's name in the NAME field. Next, set the TYPE OF MAIL field to ECHOMAIL, and MESSAGE STATUS to PUBLIC. Most EchoMail areas don't allow the use of aliases, so set this to "No". The AKA ADDRESS line shows your assigned node number. If it doesn't, hit RETURN on this option and select the correct address. Each EchoMail message that is posted on your system could potentially be read by hundred of other sysops and users, so you can put a "one-liner" at the end of each message. In the ORIGIN LINE field enter a short message. This should contain at least the name of your system, and possibly where it is or the phone-number, so that other users know where to call. Your node number is also appended to the end of the message, so a typical origin line might read: * Origin : RemoteAccess HQ (3:690/625.0) (Don't put the "* Origin" part in - this is added by the software). If you don't specify an origin line for a particular area, RemoteAccess will use the DEFAULT ORIGIN LINE. 51 The next step is to configure RemoteAccess for NetMail. Select another unused message area, and call it "NetMail", or something similar. Next, set the TYPE OF MAIL to NETMAIL, and MESSAGE STATUS to PRIVATE. NetMail messages don't have origin lines appended to them so leave the origin line entry blank. RemoteAccess incorporates a comprehensive online nodelist browsing facility, which allows users to search for nodes in particular zones, regions or nets. The section INSTALLING NODELIST FILES explains how to enable this feature. That's it! RemoteAccess is now fully configured for network mail. Assuming that you have a suitable mailer and echomail processor, all that is required is to set them up correctly and you're in business. An explanation of setting these up is beyond the scope of this document, full instructions are available with each respective package. 52 I n s t a l l i n g n o d e l i s t f i l e s ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Most other BBS software requires you to maintain large and unwieldy custom nodelist files for NetMail operation. RemoteAccess uses the "raw" (St. Louis) nodelist that you already have for your front-end mailer, in addition to a small (around 5K) index file. The key to the system is the nodelist index compiler (RANODE.EXE). You should adjust your batch files so it is run every time any changes are made to your raw nodelist (when you receive a NODEDIFF update, for example). RANODE can be run from any directory, and locates your raw nodelist via the NODELIST PATH defined in RACONFIG. It scans the most recent nodelist present and produces the index file (NODEIDX.RA) in your RemoteAccess system directory. If you have multiple nodelists to process, you will need to follow a slightly different procedure. Set up the NODELIST PATH in RACONFIG as a fully qualified path and name of a "master" raw nodelist, as opposed to just the directory. Whenever your raw nodelists are updated, and before RANODE is run, concatenate your raw nodelists into the "master" nodelist mentioned above. Example : Compiling a FidoNet nodelist only. The raw nodelist is in the C:\NODELIST directory. Simply set your NODELIST PATH in RACONFIG to C:\NODELIST, and run RANODE whenever you process a nodediff. Example : Compiling a FidoNet and ParaNet combined nodelist. The FidoNet NODELIST.nnn and ParaNet PARALIST.PVT raw nodelist files are in C:\NODELIST. Insert an entry in your batch file which will concatenate the two into a new file: CD \NODELIST COPY PARALIST.PVT + NODELIST.??? RALIST.BBS Set the NODELIST PATH in RACONFIG to C:\NODELIST\RALIST.BBS. In order to control the volume of netmail your users send, each user has a "netmail credit" field in his or her record. RemoteAccess will give all new users a credit limit based on the NEW USER NETMAIL CREDIT setting in RACONFIG. You define the cost of sending a single message to a particular node in a control file called NODECOST.CTL which is located in the RemoteAccess system directory. Each time a user sends a netmail message, it's cost is deducted from his or her account. The cost structure for your entire nodelist is set up by one or more entries of four keywords: 53 DEFAULT <cost> Assigns <cost> to any nodes that are not assigned a specific cost later on in the control file. ZONE <zone> <cost> Assigns <cost> to all nodes in <zone>. This overrides the DEFAULT keyword. REGION <region> <cost> Assigns <cost> to all nodes in <region>. This overrides the DEFAULT and ZONE keywords. NET <net> <cost> Assigns <cost> to all nodes in <net>. This overrides the DEFAULT, ZONE and REGION keywords. Sample NODECOST.CTL: DEFAULT 200 ; A message to anywhere costs 200 cents, ZONE 3 60 ; except in zone 3, which costs 60 cents. ZONE 2 260 ; Messages to zone 2 cost a bit more, REGION 55 30 ; Within our own region only costs 30 cents. NET 690 0 ; Msgs within our net are free. The control file may contain a maximum of 150 entries of each keyword, and duplicate entries are obviously not permitted. 54 M U L T I - N O D E O P E R A T I O N ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── It is assumed that you have some knowledge of running RemoteAccess already, or have at least run a single line BBS for some time. If you haven't, it is strongly recommended that you run on one line for a little while to familiarise yourself with the terminology and operation of RemoteAccess. The idea of multi-node operation is that more than one user can be on-line at the same time to the same BBS. To do this safely, it is necessary for RemoteAccess to manage the configuration and data files it uses very carefully. Firstly, tell RemoteAccess that it's running in multi-node mode by setting the MULTI LINE option to "Yes" in RACONFIG. You should also set CHECK FOR MULTI LOGON to "Yes". Not doing this can cause unpredictable results when a user logs on to more than one line at once. Multi-node operation also requires that you create a separate directory for each line to accomodate any doors and external utilities (this includes the full screen ANSI editor, if you have one installed) that were only written for single-line operation. The idea is that each external program can function at the same time as others in a separate directory where they won't interfere with each other. A good example of this is the full-screen editor. If you are using QuickEd, you'll need to copy the QUICKED.CFG file to each of the separate directories you have created. Picture what would happen if RemoteAccess tried to fire up two copies of QuickEd at the same time in the same directory.. The temporary files that QuickEd uses would overwrite each other and cause horrific results. By isolating the files in separate directories these problems are avoided. It should be made clear that although each line must be run from separate directories, only one set of configuration (*.RA) files are required to be present, in the system directory. RemoteAccess locates these via the RA environment variable. RemoteAccess keeps a separate log and system usage graph for each line. In order not to have the logs written to the same file, you should set the log file name in RACONFIG to one which specifies only the file name of the log, rather than a full path and name. This will ensure that RemoteAccess will write to a log file in the default directory, which will be different for each line. The placement of the EXITINFO.BBS and DORINFO1.DEF door files is handled differently in a multi-node environment. In a single line installation these files are written to the RemoteAccess system directory. In multi-node mode they are written to the current (default) directory. 55 Beware of third party utilities that write to the system files! RemoteAccess is specifically written so that many users can read and post messages simultaneously to the same message-base, but other programs probably AREN'T. Check the documentation very carefully before you fire up your favourite off-line mail editor and start posting messages while someone else is on-line. Similarly, if your echomail processor does not lock the message-base files while working, you should set up your system to ensure that mail is never imported when there is a user on-line. Exporting messages however, IS permitted. It's quite likely that you'll need to increase the FILES setting in your CONFIG.SYS if RemoteAccess is running several lines under a multitasker. You'll also need a separate batch-file for each line to invoke RemoteAccess with the correct command-line parameters. See the reference section on command-line parameters for information on the -N parameter. NOTE to Novell users : Since RemoteAccess uses no Novell- specific calls, all system and configuration files must be marked as "sharable read write". Novell's default is "non- sharable", so to fix it like this: CHDIR to msgbase directory Execute "FLAG *.* /SRO" CHDIR to RA system directory Execute "FLAG *.* /SRO" 56 R E F E R E N C E S E C T I O N ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── S y s o p k e y s ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── The following keys work while a user is on-line: [F1] to [F3] : Comprehensive user statistics on an optional two-line status bar at the bottom of the screen. [F4] : System statistics. This is the default status bar that is displayed when RemoteAccess is waiting for a call. [F9] : Help! Hot-key summary. [F10] : Turn off the status bar, to show exactly what the user is seeing. [F1] to [F4] brings it back. [ALT-Fn] : Activate one of ten programs in a shell, or exit to DOS at a certain errorlevel. [ALT-C] : Break in for a chat if there is a user on remotely. ESC finishes chat mode and drops the user back to the BBS. [CTL-A] : Opens and closes a capture file during a chat session. [ALT-D] : Toggles "Snoop" mode, ie. whether the local screen shows what the user is doing. [ALT-F] : Alter the current user's flag settings. [ALT-H] : Hang up on the user immediately. [ALT-J] : Drop to a DOS shell while the user is still on-line. [ALT-L] : Lock the user out of the system by dropping his/her security level to zero and hanging up. [ALT-P] : Toggle printer logging. [ALT-S] : Alter the current user's security level. [ALT-T] : Alter the current user's remaining time limit. 57 [ALT-O] : Override paging hours. This allows you to enable or disable sysop paging regardless of the time. Note that this is permanent, and affects all lines until reset. [Up-Arrow] : Increase the user's time by one minute. [Down-Arrow] : Decrease the user's time by one minute. When the system is waiting for a call, the only sysop key that is active is [ALT-O], however, pressing [L] will allow you to log-on locally, and [ESC] will terminate the program and return to DOS. Note that terminating in this way will always return an errorlevel of 0 to DOS regardless of whether the -E command-line parameter is invoked. 58 C o m m a n d - l i n e p a r a m e t e r s ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── RemoteAccess accepts the following command-line parameters: -NOEMS : Forces RemoteAccess to ignore any available EMS. -L : Run RemoteAccess in local mode. -S : Set "snoop" mode off; disable local screen. -D : Disable status bar by default. -R : Log user back on-line after a menu type 15 exit. -P : Log user activity to printer. -Nxx : Line (node) number in a multi-line system (1-99). -Cx : Communications port to use (1-4). -Bxxxxx : Log user on-line at baudrate xxxxx. -Exxx : Exit at errorlevel xxx after caller logs off. -Txxx : Time (in minutes) until next system event. -M<f> : Activate the "shell to mailer" feature. This causes RemoteAccess, upon loading, to execute your front-end mailer program in a DOS shell. When the mailer exits, RemoteAccess detects the errorlevel it would normally pass to the batch-file. If the errorlevel matches one defined in RACONFIG, the user is logged on to the BBS at the appropriate baud rate. If the errorlevel is not recognised as an incoming call, RemoteAccess exits to its batch-file at that errorlevel. See the BATCH FILE EXAMPLES section for more on this feature. NOTE: RemoteAccess does the swap by storing a "swap file" in EMS (if available) and on disk. Normally this file would be stored in the system directory, but it is possible to force RemoteAccess to put the file in a directory of your choice by setting the RATEMP environment variable. For example, if you executed the DOS command SET RATEMP=E:\TEMP\STORAGE, then the swap file would be placed in the E:\TEMP\STORAGE directory. In "shell to mailer" mode, it is possible for two errorlevels to conflict. For example, errorlevel 5 is used by RA to indicate that a user entered both net and echomail, and by FrontDoor to indicate modem initialise failure. If the front-end returns an errorlevel that conflicts in this way, RemoteAccess will pass to the batch file that errorlevel plus 10. So, if FrontDoor returned errorlevel 5 because the modem would not initialise, RemoteAccess would pass errorlevel 15 to the batch file. 59 E r r o r l e v e l s ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── When RemoteAccess exits to DOS either after a user logs off or because of a menu type 15 "Exit to DOS" function it returns an errorlevel that your batchfile should test for and act on accordingly: Errorlevel Meaning ---------- ------- 0 User logged off OK, default value. Note - this can be overridden with the -E command line parameter. 1 Initialisation error - couldn't find the FOSSIL driver, or the modem failed to initialise. 2 Special error condition; used for Beta versions only. 3 The user entered one or more NetMail messages during the session. The message base should be scanned for outgoing NetMail. 4 The user entered one or more EchoMail messages during the session. The message base should be scanned for outgoing EchoMail. 5 Both NetMail AND EchoMail messages were entered. 60 T e x t f i l e c o n t r o l c o d e s ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── There are a range of special control characters that can be inserted in any of your ASCII/ANSI files that cause certain system and user information to be displayed. There are three classes of codes. Each code is a two-character combination of a control-code followed by by a normal character: Character ASCII# Combination Purpose ------ ----------- -------------------------------------- 01 ^A Wait until the [Return] key is pressed 02 ^B Disable aborting with the "S" key 03 ^C Enable aborting with the "S" key 04 ^D Enable the "Continue?" prompt 05 ^E Disable the "Continue?" prompt 06 ^F * Insert a user parameter 07 ^G Produce a beep on the caller's console 08 ^H Backspace 09 ^I Tab (forward 8 characters) 10 ^J Linefeed 11 ^K * Insert a system parameter 12 ^L Clear screen 13 ^M Carriage return 17 ^Q RESERVED FOR XON/XOFF HANDSHAKING 19 ^S RESERVED FOR XON/XOFF HANDSHAKING 23 ^W Pause for one second 24 ^X * Execute a program in a DOS shell 26 ^Z END OF FILE MARKER. DON'T USE THIS! * EXECUTING A PROGRAM IN A DOS SHELL: This gives you the ability to run an external program in a DOS shell whenever RemoteAccess encounters a ^X embedded in a text file. The ^X is followed by the command line you want to execute, and terminated with the pipe symbol (|). For example, to run an external mail checking utility when a user logs on you could embed the following entry in the WELCOME.A?? file: ^X\RA\MAILCHEK.EXE *B *F *L| RemoteAccess would then execute the following DOS command: \RA\MAILCHEK.EXE 2400 FirstName LastName Note that you MUST terminate the command with the pipe symbol. All special DOS shell control codes may be used as per the type 7 menu function. BEWARE! Use this feature with caution. Imagine the damage that this embedded command could do: COPY \RA\USERS.BBS \RA\FILES\IBM\NEWFILES 61 If there is any possibility of a user being able to modify any of the text files that your system displays, then disable the shell feature by using the option in RACONFIG. "Note to next user" programs are notorious for this! If you don't think it ever happens, then maybe this will convince you. A local sysop was watching his board one afternoon and noticed that when a user logged off, he got the following message: "Hey, Joe! What sort of a password is ROCKET? Next time choose a harder one!! ... Fred" The sysop couldn't believe his eyes. How could this have happened? Well, the "note to next user" utility he had installed a few weeks earlier was to blame. It actually allowed a user upload a short text file that was appended to the GOODBYE disconnect file. "Fred" had simply inserted a few control characters into the file that would display the current user's first name and password, which of course would always be correct for whoever viewed it. Well, it shook that sysop up a bit, as well as teaching him a lesson. Luckily the ^X feature wasn't enabled, or anything could have happened... * User Parameter Codes ---------------------- Character ASCII# Combination Information displayed ------ ----------- --------------------------------------- 65 ^FA Users full name 66 ^FB Location 67 ^FC Password 68 ^FD Business/Data phone number 69 ^FE Voice/Home phone number 70 ^FF Date of last call 71 ^FG Time of last call 72 ^FH A Flags setting 73 ^FI B Flags setting 74 ^FJ C Flags setting 75 ^FK D Flags setting 76 ^FL NetMail credit remaining (cents) 77 ^FM Total messages posted 78 ^FN Last message read 79 ^FO Security level 80 ^FP Total calls to the BBS 81 ^FQ Number of uploads 82 ^FR Kilobytes of uploads 83 ^FS Number of downloads 84 ^FT Kilobytes of downloads 85 ^FU Minutes used today 86 ^FV Current screen length 62 87 ^FW First name only 88 ^FX ANSI setting (ON/OFF) 89 ^FY "Continue?" prompt setting (ON/OFF) 90 ^FZ Screen clearing (ON/OFF) 48 ^F0 Full screen editor (ON/OFF) 49 ^F1 Quiet/do not disturb mode (ON/OFF) 50 ^F2 Hot-Keys (ON/OFF) * System Parameter Codes ------------------------ Character ASCII# Combination Information displayed ------ ----------- --------------------------------------- 65 ^KA Total system calls 66 ^KB Last caller (any line) 67 ^KC Number of active messages 68 ^KD System starting message number 69 ^KE System ending message number 70 ^KF Number of times user has paged sysop 71 ^KG Day of the week (full form) 72 ^KH Number of users in the user file 73 ^KI Time in 24 hour format 74 ^KJ Today's date 75 ^KK Minutes connected this call 76 ^KL Seconds connected (always returns 0) 77 ^KM Minutes used today 78 ^KN Seconds used today (always returns 0) 79 ^KO Minutes remaining today 80 ^KP Seconds remaining today (always 0) 81 ^KQ Daily time limit 82 ^KR Current baud rate 83 ^KS Day of the week (abbreviated form) 84 ^KT Daily download limit (in K) 85 ^KU Minutes until next system event 86 ^KV 24 hour format time of the next event 87 ^KW Line number (as set on command line) 88 ^KX TERMINATES THE CALL 63 M o d e m s t r i n g t r a n s l a t i o n ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── RemoteAccess recognizes certain characters embedded in your modem initialise strings, and converts them to special functions. The supported characters are: ^ Raise DTR, modem will answer the phone. v Lower DTR, disconnect if connected. ~ Wait for 1/4 of a second before continuing | Send a carriage-return [CR] to the modem Q u e s t i o n n a i r e s c r i p t l a n g u a g e ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Questionnaire script files are stored in the system directory and have the extension .Q-A. Each file is plain ASCII, and contains one command per line. The available commands are listed below. Note that the command interpreter is case-insensitive, so the command "Ask" could be entered as "ASK" or "ask". 64 Ask <Len> <Var num> ------------------- Example : Ask 15 3 Waits for the user to input a string that is up to 15 characters long, and stores the string in the variable <Var num>. Valid values for <Len> are 1 to 255. <Var num> may be any number between 1 and 20. ChangeColor <Foreground> <Background> ------------------------------------- Example : ChangeColor 7 1 Changes the colour of the text if the user has ANSI graphics enabled. Valid colours are: <Foreground> <Background> ------------ ------------ 0 Black 0 Black 1 Blue 1 Blue 2 Green 2 Green 3 Cyan 3 Cyan 4 Red 4 Red 5 Magenta 5 Magenta 6 Brown 6 Brown 7 Light Grey 7 Light Grey 8 Dark Grey 9 Light Blue 10 Light Green 11 Light Cyan 12 Light Red 13 Light Magenta 14 Yellow 15 White ClearScreen ----------- Example : ClearScreen Clears the user's screen if he/she has enabled screen clearing. 65 Display "<Text>" ---------------- Example : Display "Please answer ALL questions|" Displays the specified text on the screen. The vertical bar is translated to a line-feed and carriage return. If this bar is ommitted, any following text starts at the next character on the same line. DisplayFile <1-8 character file name> ------------------------------------- Example : DisplayFile BBSRULES Causes a text file to be displayed in the same way as a menu type 5 would be displayed. The text file must be in the text file directory, and have the extension .ASC/.ANS. EndIf ----- Example : EndIf Signifies the end of an IF statement. If <Var num> = "<String>" ------------------------- Example : If 5 = "Perth" The IF command compares the contents of the specified variable number with <String>. If the two do not match, then all following lines are skipped until an ENDIF statement is encountered. GetChoice <Valid choices> <Var num> ----------------------------------- Example : GetChoice YN 2 Waits for the user to enter one of the characters in <Valid choices>, and stores the response in the variable <Var num>. 66 ListAnswer <Var num> -------------------- Example : ListAnswer 5 Displays (to the screen) the contents of the variable <Var num> followed by a CR/LF. OutputAnswer "<Descriptor>" <Var num> ------------------------------------- Example : OutputAnswer "Hobbies : " 6 Outputs <Descriptor> followed by the contents of the variable <Var num> to the questionnaire answer file. The answer file is given the same name as the questionnaire file but has an extension of .ASW. PostInfo -------- Example : PostInfo Outputs the user's name and some other information to the answer file. Quit ---- Example : Quit Terminates the questionnaire and returns to the BBS. SetFlag <Flag set><Flag number> <ON|OFF> ---------------------------------------- Example : SetFlag C3 OFF Turns on or off the specified user flag. <Flag set> is "A", "B", "C" or "D", and <Flag number> is a number between one and eight. 67 SetSecurity <Security level> ---------------------------- Example : SetSecurity 10 Simply sets the user's security level to the number specified. The level may be any number from 1 to 64,000. 68 B A T C H F I L E E X A M P L E S ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── These examples are not usable in their presented form. They are provided as a starting point for your own batch files: Using RemoteAccess stand-alone (ie. without a mailer) ----------------------------------------------------- :START Cd \RA REM Run the main program: RA -E20 REM User logged off, cycle back: if errorlevel 20 goto START REM RemoteAccess exits to the batchfile with errorlevel 7 REM once a night: if errorlevel 7 goto CLEAN if errorlevel 3 goto START REM Any errorlevel of 1 or 2 means a fatal error, an REM errorlevel of 0 means that ESCape was pressed while REM in "wait for call" mode - so we quit: goto END :CLEAN REM Do nightly message and user maintenance with RAUSER and RAMSG :END echo RemoteAccess HQ Line 1 Down. NOTE : Unlike some other BBS packages, RemoteAccess will ALWAYS exit back to DOS (or your batch file) after a caller logs off. This means that you can only run in stand-alone mode with a batch file that will recycle back to restart the main program. 69 Using RemoteAccess with a mailer (FrontDoor or BinkleyTerm) (using either TosScan or Echogen to process mail) ------------------------------------------------- :START cd \RA REM Run the main program and run the mailer in a "shell". REM The *M tells RemoteAccess to swap out of memory REM before running the mailer. REM Either FrontDoor : RA -m\FD\FD.EXE*M -E20 REM or BinkleyTerm : RA -m\BT\BT.EXE*M -E20 REM Any errorlevels that RemoteAccess does not understand REM it passes back to the batchfile: if errorlevel 150 goto CLEAN if errorlevel 99 goto UNPACK if errorlevel 20 goto START if errorlevel 10 goto END if errorlevel 5 goto NET&ECHO if errorlevel 4 goto ECHO if errorlevel 3 goto NET goto END :CLEAN REM Do your nightly maintenance here. In this example REM the mailer is set to exit at errorlevel 150 nightly. :UNPACK REM Toss incoming mail REM Either : TOSSCAN toss REM or : ECHOGEN -A -P -T -U goto START :NET&ECHO REM Net and EchoMail needs to be exported from the REM message base. REM Either : TSUTIL export REM or : MAILSCAN :ECHO REM Export EchoMail. REM Either : TOSSCAN scan REM or : ECHOGEN -A -E -P goto START :NET REM Only export NetMail REM Either : TSUTIL export REM or : MAILSCAN goto START 70 :END REM Some fatal error occurred. echo RemoteAccess HQ Line 2 Down. * The Echogen command-line switches shown assume a FrontDoor environment. Note that the particular command-line switches for any of these utilities (BinkleyTerm, FrontDoor, TosScan or Echogen) will vary according to your set up. All of these programs are supplied with documentation which will provide you with this information. It is stressed again that these examples are only intended to give you a starting point for creating your own batch files. 71