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RBBS Manager Ver 1.0 1 RBBS Manager Version 1.0 Copyright 1989,1990 by Charles Arden Brill For Management of Various RBBS Functions in an integrated menu-driven environment. RBBS Manager is released as Shareware. Information provided later in this document. RBBS Manager is easy to set up. It is a single executable file that will create several files on your hard disk as necessary. It will work from any drive or directory, however, it is suggested that RBBS Manager be put in the same directory as your FMS files. This is preferably a subdirectory of the main board eg; C:\RBBS\DIR. While the file size of RBBS-MGR is a hefty 200,000+ bytes it will NOT function after any exe compression utility is applied to the file, nor is it allowed to be renamed. With the proliferation of hard disks, and in view of the functions provided by RBBS-MGR, this should not be a concern. The RBBS-MGR program requires you have all the RBBS files on disk. These include: Messages Callers These files MUST be on disk. Users Whether you use them or not, you must Comments at least create a zero byte file for FMS directory RBBS-MGR to take a look at. Category Code file RBBS-MGR would also like all the memory you can give it. The amount above program size is dependent on the size of your FMS. It may be run (does run quite successfully) in a multitasking window. It is not as yet an 'aware' program. See future enhancements. RBBS Manager provides functions that will allow you: to view and delete messages view and search callers file view and search comments view, search and edit users view category code view any zip file view any text file add, delete, move any FMS entry insert or append in date or alpha order shunt new fms entry to any file for append RBBS Manager Ver 1.0 2 search for text in fms view zip from fms reformat fms check fms against disk directories make a downloadable text file correct date and size errors retain different configs for subboards and nodes As you can see RBBS Manager is rather fully functioned. It is intended as a tool for sysops to maintain their RBBS systems from a single program as much as possible. Now I know you don't need to be told how to use the program, however the following documentation is provided for reference. GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS RBBS Manager is heavily supportive of FMS functions because there are a few sysops out there that still feel they should have some knowledge of what files are being included on their board. It is true that RBBS allows almost complete automation of the File system, this can be both a great boon or it can create problems. RBBS-MGR allows an easy to use option, at the same time providing an alternative, as close to an automated way of maintaining an alphabetizing your FMS as possible. It is the feeling of the author that an alphabetized directory is much friendlier for the average user. Date ordered directories are great for sysops or 'power users' but the normal caller looking for a file has to wade through a lot of chaff. It also just appears more professional. The program is also designed be a monitor for board activity without having the sysop Log on. While running in a multitasking window or network environment or even as a standalone, the program services Callers, Comments, Messaging and Users. As an example, the program will announce any new comments that have been added since it was last run. It will also allow the sysop to view messages without flagging them as received. The ability to load different config files increases the function of RBBS_MGR dramatically. It is possible to apply all of RBBS-MGR's options to your different RBBS config files and paths. So if you choose to keep a separate subboard for games you can create a GAME-MGR.CFG file will all the appropriate paths and settings and use all of RBBS managers features. The TOOLS are provide to maintain your FMS directories. Most are available from other sources and the author freely admits these programs are perhaps faster. Some speed has been sacrificed for the user interface and because its just plain more enjoyable to watch what's going on. Also you will find the reporting more complete than is found in most standalone 'quick' utilities. RBBS Manager Ver 1.0 3 KEYING in RBBS Manager generally follows the common usage of pull down menuing systems. Menu selections are made with the cursor arrows and an <ENTER>; or the command letters (Highlighted Menu Letters) may be accessed by the <Alt>-<key> combination. An important key combination to remember is <ALT>-<C> which will clear any editing field. Keying for each section is explained specifically in each section description. Messages and Box prompts are removed by pressing the space bar or enter key. Prompts are accepted with <ENTER> or the appropriate keying, usually displayed. <ESC> is used to exit a function without change (cancel). Some Menu Selections are not available throughout the entire program. These selections are 'turned off' until you enter the appropriate section, then they magically appear and function, and function well we hope. MENU AND STATUS LINES: The Menu Line stays at the top of your screen and includes all the choices available to you while in various sections of RBBS Manager. The Status line resides at the bottom of your screen and displays some useful information about what's going on. CurrFile:, is the currently loaded file you are working on, be it your FMS, Messages, etc. To the right is a little status block with the letters of the features you have turned on: eg; 43BZAN. 43 would be the length of description, B - backups are toggled on, Z is the first letter of your archive, A is the type of sort - either A for alpha or D for date, N is whether you are running in a shared environment - either Y or N. To the left of the status block the amount of free memory you have left is displayed. The middle of Line 25 displays several messages that aren't too cryptic. FmsL - means your FMS is loaded, Sht - indicates you have turned on the shunt file feature, etc. QUICK START For those allergic to Documentation there are a few points to be aware of before you explore RBBS-MGR. RBBS Manager checks itself first and determines the video setup, loads the default config, checks comments and then decides its ok to turn control over to you. If you have not created the config file you will be automatically taken to the setup. If the video determination doesn't meet your wishes you may force RBBS Manager to display in black and white by calling the program with the /B switch eg: RBBS-MGR /B RBBS Manager Ver 1.0 4 Setup first creates the default config. This should include all the path and setup information you need for the main RBBS. SubBoards and node info, if different, may have there own config files. ESC on any field aborts the setup program Default values for many fields are preloaded. You may clear any field with ALT-C. SETUP PROGRAM: Name of Configuration File: MUST be RBBS-MGR.CFG for the default and is saved in the current directory. Default extension for all Backup files: Default is .bak but if you are using a utility like SWEEP and wish to change this to .sav (or whatever) there is no problem. Make Automatic Backup: RBBS Manager will make an automatic backup file of your FMS before any action is performed, saved in the current directory. This allows you to turn this option off if you like living on the edge. The Default Archive extension: Your archive of choice .zip, .pak, .arc, etc. Default insertion mode: RBBS Manager's FMS support allows inserting files in the proper sorted order for your FMS directories. You let the program know what order your default directory will use. NOTE: RBBS Manager only supports sorting as per RBBS's default bottom up sort. If you have a /TOP sorted directory, it is supported by RBBS-MGR but not in this released version. Contact the author. Length of FMS Description field: RBBS-MGR supports only 43 or 44 columns in the description field. This is an arbitrary choice by the author. No one has presented a compelling enough reason for more or less columns. NOTE: The reformat option off the Tools menu will easily reformat your directory to the proper length. It creates a new FMS you can use in RBBS-MGR if you specify it in config. After you are assured that RBBS-MGR is for you you can rename it to your main board FMS directory after deleting or renaming the original. Running in a File sharing Environment: Option tells RBBS Manager to open files in a shared mode. Generally needed only for networks. NOTE: Not required for DesqView@ PATHNAMES: Config needs proper pathnames. Drive letter required if not on default drive so for consistency just use the Drive letter for all paths. NOTE: With just a path entry RBBS-MGR only requires Drive and path NO extra slashes eg: C:\RBBS\UPLOADS is acceptable while C:\RBBS\UPLOADS\ is NOT. RBBS Manager Ver 1.0 5 Default values for many fields are preloaded. You may clear any field with ALT-C. Path to FMS Directory: Your main FMS directory, it will be the default every time RBBS-MGR is started. Category Code Path: Path to the DIR.CAT file for the above FMS directory. Path to RBBS Messages: Path to your main Message base Path to Callers: Path to your main board Callers file Path to Comments: Path to main board comment file. NOTE: If you don't use a Comments file create one. It doesn't need to be used just on disk taking up space. Path to users: Path to main board users file Path to Upload SubDir: Drive and directory path to Upload directory. The DownLoad Directories (up to 22) are entered in the same fashion as all other pathnames. Esc on the next blank field will terminate the entries. NOTE: The list file support is not supported in this release, however, the registered RBBS Manager supports this feature and allows up to 99 different subdirectories. Provided you haven't made any glaring errors that the Setup program couldn't catch you should be ready to run RBBS Manager. Exit the program and restart to load the config or use the Config menu and use the Load Config prompt to enter the default - RBBS-MGR.CFG FILES MENU The files menu will be your launching pad to most of RBBS Managers functions. After the Setup has been properly completed the files menu allows you too choose a section of your RBBS to act upon. FMS ADD FILE: Loads the Current FMS (as per Setup) and displays the add file entry screen. You may enter a filename for addition to your FMS directory by using the fields provided. <TAB> moves to next field <Shift>-<Tab> returns to previous field. Formatting is provide for the size and date fields. Enter the size in the first position of the field and as you <Tab> out of the field it will be right justified. The date field also separates the month, day and year. The aim of the formatting is for you to just <Tab> into the field and begin entering data without worrying about the format. RBBS Manager Ver 1.0 6 The length of the Description field will match the 43 or 44 column choice from your Setup. The Category code is not required (nothing is required past the filename) so support for the old style directories hangs around. Extended descriptions of up to five lines are accepted. <ESC> on a blank description line accepts and exits the entry screen. <Enter> on the first line of the extended descriptions also exits if your entry has only a simple description. The file entry is now ready for your choice of append or insert off the Record Menu. FMS EDITOR: This menu selection will also load the current FMS (as per your Setup choice) or if it is previously loaded will move directly to display the FMS Editor. The Editor displays your chosen FMS between the Menu line and the Status line. The Cursor arrows are available to scroll a line at a time, PgUp, PgDn move accordingly and Home and End keys are available. The Status line displays the line currently highlighted by the cursor. From the editor the Edit, Search and View pull down menus are available, each will be dealt with in its own section. <Esc> removes the Editor. NEW FMS: Choosing New FMS will allow you to change FMS directories without leaving the RBBS-MGR. After an message explaining what your about to do you are asked to enter the new FMS. If the new FMS is NOT in the current directory you must enter the Full Pathname. eg: D:\DIR\NEWFMS.DIR. It will be loaded replacing the your current file. One note of caution, while this is a very handy feature, you must remember that just loading the FMS retains the Config settings. If you have both Alphabetical and Date directories and load an alphabetical directory with a config using the DATE option you will not be able to insert a new listing into the FMS. Editing and other features are not affected. <ESC> at the prompts will abort the load. MESSAGE EDIT: The default message file you have specified in the current Config is loaded. The Message section and sub menus are displayed. They are explained later in this manual. <ESC> returns to the main menus. USERS EDIT: Much like the Message prompt, this will load the Users file specified in the current Config. Users section and submenus are explained later in the manual. <ESC> returns to the main menu. RBBS DEF: is not available in this release CREATE FILE: This will create a zero byte file that you name. It has no particular purpose. Once in a while you may wish to create a RBBS Manager Ver 1.0 7 Configuration setup with special features. Since RBBS Manager's SetUp requires most files to be on disk you may want to use this as a placeholder. 'C' wasn't used on the menu anyway... WRITE FILE: This will write the current file(FMS) to disk, in effect a manual save of your work up to this point. Use this to save an FMS before loading another one if changes have been made. UNLOAD CURRENT FILE: Just the opposite of Write file. It will wipe the currently loaded file(FMS), leaving nothing in memory. For example, if you are just checking your directories or searching and want to load another FMS without any changes being made to the original, this will clear the memory. EXIT SAVE: Exits RBBS Manager and saves the current FMS to disk. EXIT: Exits program without writing FMS. RECORD MENU The records menu is one of the menu selections not available in all sections of RBBS Manager. It allows selection of record processing if you are in the FMS editor.It is activated only after you have made an entry in the Add file screens and have used <ESC> or the enter key on the first blank description line to indicate you are through entering data. APPEND: This choice will append the File Entry to the currently loaded FMS. In keeping with the RBBS default the filename will be appended to the bottom of the FMS. RBBS Manager in Insert Mode will only insert if the date is inclusive, that is it falls between the range of dates in the directory. It it is equal or greater than the last date it must be appended. INSERT: Inserts the File Entry in its proper location in the FMS directory, be it Date or Alphabetical ordering. The display will show the location of insertion by displaying several lines that come before the insert location. You are prompted to accept this location. You are notified if the date is not inclusive and asked to use append. Be aware also if you have chosen the Shunt option of the Config Menu your shunt file is not inserted. Shunt only appends. Your entry to the current FMS will be inserted regardless. RETURN WITH: Ok, so you messed up? Got the Date is not Inclusive message? Well RBBS Manager Ver 1.0 8 if so or if you just changed your mind this will bring back the File Add screen with your last Entry still waiting. You may then proceed as normal. This is also a useful function if you have a large number of similar files to add. You may keep returning with the file entry and just change the fields necessary. Saves some typing. CLEAR RETURN: Along the same lines, if you start to add a file into your FMS and change your mind for any reason this will clear the entry. This is actually a holdover from a previous version of Manager. In the Current version you shouldn't have to use this command often if ever. NOTE: RBBS Manager now uses the Clipboard as a buffer for the file additions, so if you get confused as to what file you are entering you may use the View Menu to view the clipboard. The file to be entered will remain on the clipboard until another entry is made or it is cleared with Clear Return. FORWARD: Forward is not used in this release. (Message Forwarding) EDIT MENU The editor menu is on of the workhorses of RBBS Manager. It is available when you have loaded the FMS Editor are are preparing to work on the FMS directory. Most functions available from the Editor menu key off the cursor line location. Some of the Main pull down menus are used in the Editor. Record, Edit, Search, and View all have functions available in the Editor. These are accessed the same way as if the Editor was not loaded with the exception that you may not use the cursor arrows to move between menus. You must <ESC> each menu and re-enter another by using the <ALT>-<letter> combination of that selection. LINE EDITOR: This will highlight the Cursor line and allow individual editing of that line. It is set to the line length you indicated in the Setup and will not allow more characters to be included. Insert or Overwrite mode is toggled by the insert key, however due to the just mentioned safety feature if you need to insert a character you must first delete or otherwise make sure the line is not full. <CTRL>-<right arrow> or <CTRL>-<left arrow> moves by words. The Line Editor starts in overwrite mode. <ESC> or <ENTER> accepts the changes and returns you to the cursor line. Since you are only working on one line, changes made are kept. If you wish to cancel or revise your changes you must use LineEdit and re-enter them. MARK BLOCK: Marking the Block you want to process is the first thing needed to take advantage of RBBS Managers moving, and deleting file entries. As other functions off this menu it keys off the cursor RBBS Manager Ver 1.0 9 line. Choosing Mark block will highlight the cursor line. The down arrow is available to highlight up to five more lines (coincidentally RBBS Manager supports up to five lines of extended descriptions). <Enter> accepts the highlighted lines for processing. INSERT: This selection allows putting lines saved on the Clipboard into the FMS directory. The lines are Inserted below the cursor line. Nothing is needed to accomplish this other than the proper use of RBBS-MGR, in other words you don't have to make any space for the additional lines it will be taken care of for you. DELETE: Delete will remove the lines highlighted by Mark Block. This is not reversible in this version so use judiciously. CLIPBOARD: This hold the lines Highlighted by Mark Block. It is an intermediate step while you position the cursor for insertion. FIELD CAPTURE: Not available in this release SEARCH MENU SEARCH: This is rather self explanatory. This release of the Manager only supports searching the FMS directory loaded in the FMS Editor section. It will search for any string. You will be prompted for attention to case. REPEAT LAST FIND: Continues search. <ESC> aborts VIEW MENU Another of the more frequently used functions of RBBS Manager. These menus are available at most times in RBBS Manager. COMMENTS: This will bring up a view window and display the contents of the Comments as per SetUp. Keys available are the cursor arrows, home and end keys. This allows scanning the file for a particular comment or skipping to the end to view the latest comments. You will be notified of new comments, if any, upon the start of RBBS-MGR. <ESC> returns to the main pop up menus. CALLERS: Choose this option and you are presented with a submenu. The RBBS Manager Ver 1.0 10 Callers file may be listed based on these selections. Some of the submenus require input, such as the search on callers name. The Callers file is read from disk and displayed in accordance with your choice. It is read as it is written, sequentially, and as such provides little more than a direct scroll of your boards activity. This has proved adequate but is a candidate for enhancement. Prompts should direct you through this section and in general <ESC> gets you out. CATEGORY CODE: Very nice feature if you have a tendency to forget the little things. Displays the DIR.CAT file, once again as per the SetUp. It has been formatted for easier viewing. <ALT>-<C> will perform a nifty maintenance function provided you have an FMS loaded. It will check the FMS directory against the category codes in DIR.CAT and report on any file entries with unrecognized codes. ZIPFILE: Zipfile will show the files in any zipped archive. If called from the main menu section you must give a full path to the archived file. In the FMS Editor the function is quite a bit easier to use. The ZipViewer will use the file that the cursor line highlights and automatically search the directories you have entered in SetUp for the file. If found in your download or upload directories it will be displayed. ANYFILE: Allows viewing of various files (text preferably). Handy to view batch files or the reports on disk that RBBS Manager generates. You are prompted for a filename and path, and the cursor arrows, home and end key are available for moving around in the file. TOOLS MENU While at the main screen menus the only available selection of the tools menu is the Dos Shell. All of the selections become available once an FMS directory is loaded. RECONCILE FMS DSK/DIR: If you are plagued by 'File not Found' errors in callers this can help. Also if you keep wondering where all your disk space went and stumble across five copies of 'ListIt.now'. Reconcile will do just that, it compares the FMS file list to itself and to the actual disk directories listed in SetUp. It also checks those directories against themselves for multiple file copies. Most importantly it reports where the multiples are located. You are presented a prompt screen. If you want RBBS Manager to create an ASCII report (viewable by the View Menu's Anyfile command) indicate it here. Also if you have chained directories RBBS-MGR will search up to Three(3) chained FMS's. The first stage of Reconcile just checks for multiple filenames in your FMS and multiple filenames in the Disk directories. The RBBS Manager Ver 1.0 11 status line gives an indicator of activity. Running in a multitasking window with large directories this isn't the speediest procedure; while it is checking for multiple names RBBS-MGR also sets up for the next search. Upon completion you are prompted whether to cross check the FMS against the Directories. This provides the most useful report. You will also be able to keep track on your monitor and the status line indicator. The Report file generated is named FILECOMP.DAT. MAKE DOWNLOADABLE TEXT: This choice creates an ASCII file on disk of your FMS directory organized by category code and with the codes removed. Or it will create a single file for each code depending on how you answer the prompt. Once again RBBS Manager keeps you apprised of the progress by watching the codes count down. The ASCII file will include all extended descriptions. The header line is basically included to divide the categories, you will no doubt want to customize this with your board name and perhaps an explanation of the contents. The file created by RBBS Manager is DOWNLOAD.FMS, when multiple files are selected the category code is used as the filename but the first category retains the name DOWNLOAD.FMS. The Extension is always FMS. FORMAT/STRUCTURE FMS: The purpose of this section is twofold. A maintenance function to check the proper format of your FMS or initially it will reconstruct your FMS to the proper line length for RBBS Manager. Used to check your FMS it will check each field for proper location and size and check for line length. RBBS used to allow some flexibility in the Date/Size fields so the extra space option is present. Take the default 'Y' and you will have the two spaces between the fields, much better visually than a single space. It is a non-destructive check and it will write a file to disk called NEWFORM.FMS This file will have the character '!' in any location found to be in error. You search on the '!' character to find any errors with confidence that even if they are there the directory will have no display problems. The non-destructive nature of the reformat isn't entirely fool proof. During the reformat and check RBBS Manager transfers the REFORMATED lines into the FMS file stored in memory. This is handy in that it makes viewing any changes easier or for a first time reformat it will make using the other functions of the Manager possible. If everything checks out you can just Exit Save the FMS in memory and it will replace your old FMS still keeping the old FMS as the backup (That is if you aren't one of those living on the edge with the backup turned off). If you do not wish to save the reformated FMS just exit without writing the file and you will still have the new version in NEWFORM.FMS on disk. During the process the line length is truncated to the length assigned in SetUp. If your previous line length was shorter, no problem, as extra spaces are added to the description field. If it was longer you will lose spaces or text from the description RBBS Manager Ver 1.0 12 field. No help for that, but it will be worth the change. DATE SIZE CHECK: Checks the date and size listed in your FMS directory against the actual disk date and size of the file in the download directories from SetUp. The first prompt you are presented with after choosing Date/Size asks if you wish to be prompted for each file or to run automatically. If you are very conscientious you may want to try the prompt but if being run for the first time it is possible you will be there all night if you have a large directory. The manual [P]rompt stops for each file found that the FMS listing doesn't correspond to the disk directory entry and lets you specify where to write date and size, to the file or the disk. While this sounds harmless enough if you have a date ordered directory you will have to reorganize every file to its proper location. After choosing automatic (did we successfully talk you out of [P]rompt?) RBBS Manager will proceed to check every file in the currently loaded FMS against the disk directories. As usual in RBBS Manager you will be kept appraised of what's going on by the display. IMPORT FORMATTED LINES: Not available in this release. Shell to DOS: Shells out to Dos if there is something you need to check. And as long as your checking remember that if you have RBBS-MGR loaded with an FMS you will not have much memory left to run anything other than some of the more sensibly written programs with smaller memory requirements. Unload your FMS if you need more memory. CONFIG MENU RUN SETUP: For a detail account of the SetUp screens refer to the Quick Start section of the Documents. This must be run at least once and you will probably run it several times because it creates the RBBS-MGR configuration files. The ability to have multiple configs is what gives RBBS Manager such versatility. All sorts of tricks are possible (and many tips are included in the registered manual). LOAD NEWCFG: This allows changing the config file that RBBS Manager relies upon for all its file path information. BACKUP: This is a toggle. Using <ENTER> while the prompt is highlighted toggles the RBBS_MGR Backup feature on and off. A check appears if the option is on and it is indicated on the status line. RBBS Manager Ver 1.0 13 INSERT MODE: Also a Toggle. Same procedure applies to toggle it on and off however, the check will always be present with an 'a' or 'd' behind it depending on whether you choose date or Alphabetical ordered directories. It is also indicated on the status line. SHUNT: The shunt is the only Config menu entry requiring input. If you select shunt you will need to provide a filename. This may be any filename, existing or not. All new entries added with the RBBS Managers insert or append features will be appended to the shunt file. A check will appear if active and you are notified on the status line. FUTURE ENHANCEMENTS RBBS Manager is so full featured it is going to take care of all your RBBS needs? .....Not yet, and quite possible never, but that doesn't mean we won't try. Some of the next steps have been alluded to in the documentation or for those of you who browsed the menus there are some prompts you noticed aren't active yet. RBBS Manager continues to evolve. The first major change major change under testing is a decrease in the memory requirements for the FMS. This will allow loading two separate FMS's in windows and allow entries to be moved, and copied between them. Programmers note: As RBBS Manager is written with MicroSoft PDS 7.0 the FMS has been loaded as an huge fixed string array which requires the fixed string to be 128 bytes long. Quite a bit of wasted memory there. So it was done quicker...Release 2 fixes this and with the increase in memory available allows windowed editing of more than one FMS. Message Editing and Forwarding will be added to RBBS-MGR. Only between RBBS Conferences and SubBoards. No NetMail support is planned (There's enough of those). RBBS Manager will be written to specifically interface with Desqview, using the Desqview API. A host of other changes and yes, perhaps a bug fix or two. Suggestions will be taken very seriously as there are as many different RBBS configurations as RBBS's out there and maybe a useful function to all has been totally overlooked. ANY feedback is appreciated. SHAREWARE There should be no need to explain the intricacies of ShareWare to a sysop. Also a plea is tiresome. There are some distinct advantages to registering RBBS Manager. Bug fix releases are free (distributed on 360K 5.25 inch floppies). Also the registration package includes a more extensive manual, and for the proliferation of processors (say that five times fast) versions of the program are available to take advantage of the RBBS Manager Ver 1.0 14 286 and 386 CPU's. Support is free via BBS or Voice (you receive a voice number with the registration package). 'Nuff said. Registration is 30.00. Registration Address and Checks payable to: Charles Arden Brill 4812 NE 103rd. Seattle, Wa 98125 No form is enclosed. Break down and write a note with your Name and Address. You might also give any impression or suggestion you wish to pass along. SUPPORT BBS: Support for RBBS Manager is available from the LETTERS RBBS (206) 524-4811. 24hrs 2400baud RELEASE HISTORY Version 1.0: Initial Release Version 1.1: Fixed bug in Message edit and User edit submenus. Varible was not declared static resulting in improper display of submenu after using certain functions off menu. Fixed interesting error where FIXALL in the Reformat menu actually messed things up. Result of a section of code remaining in the routine from a previous version thus varible values were corrupt.