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UEDit Version 2.01 Maximus-CBCS User Base Editor (C) Copyright 1990-1992 by CodeLand, All Rights Reserved Created March 17, 1992. Written by Colin Wheat of Fidonet 3:690/613 OS/2 Version ported by Graham J Stair of 3:711/409 LICENSE AGREEMENT 1. DISTRIBUTION. YOU MAY COPY AND DISTRIBUTE VERBATIM COPIES OF UEDIT EXECUTABLE CODE AS YOU RECEIVE IT, IN ANY MEDIUM, PROVIDED THAT YOU CONSPICUOUSLY AND APPROPRIATELY PUBLISH ON EACH COPY A VALID COPYRIGHT NOTICE; KEEP INTACT THE NOTICES ON ALL FILES THAT REFER TO THIS LICENSE AGREEMENT AND TO THE ABSENCE OF ANY WARRANTY; PROVIDE UNMODIFIED COPIES OF THE DOCUMENTATION AS PROVIDED WITH THE PROGRAM; AND GIVE ANY OTHER RECIPIENTS OF UEDIT A COPY OF THIS LICENSE AGREEMENT ALONG WITH THE PROGRAM. YOU MAY CHARGE A DISTRIBUTION FEE FOR THE PHYSICAL ACT OF TRANSFERING A COPY, BUT NO MORE THAN IS NECESSARY TO RECOVER YOUR ACTUAL COSTS INCURRED IN THE TRANSFER. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES IS UEDIT TO BE DISTRIBUTED IN SUCH A WAY AS TO BE CONSTRUED AS "VALUE ADDED" IN A SALES TRANSACTION, SUCH AS, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, SOFTWARE BUNDLED WITH A MODEM OR CD-ROM SOFTWARE COLLECTION. 2. COPYING. YOU MAY NOT COPY, SUBLICENSE, DISTRIBUTE OR TRANSFER UEDIT EXCEPT AS EXPRESSLY PROVIDED UNDER THIS LICENSE AGREEMENT. ANY ATTEMPT OTHERWISE TO COPY, SUBLICENSE, DISTRIBUTE OR TRANSFER UEDIT IS VOID AND YOUR RIGHTS TO USE THE PROGRAM UNDER THIS LICENSE AGREEMENT SHALL BE TERMINATED. 3. MODIFICATION. WITH THE EXCEPTION OF ARCHIVING METHOD, UEDIT SHOULD NOT BE DISTRIBUTED IN ANY MODIFIED FORM. THE COMPLETE ARCHIVE SHOULD BE DISTRIBUTED CONTAINING THE ORIGINAL FILES. IT MAY BE RE-PACKAGED USING A DIFFERENT ARCHIVAL METHOD AS LONG AS THE CONTENTS OF THE ARCHIVE ARE THE SAME AS THAT OF THE DISTRIBUTION KIT. ADDITIONAL FILES MAY NOT BE ADDED TO ARCHIVE. 4. PROGRAM STATUS. THIS PROGRAM IS NOT SHAREWARE, PUBLIC DOMAIN NOR FREEWARE. IT IS SIMPLY "FREE FOR NON-COMMERCIAL USE". THE INTENDED AUDIENCE IS THE EVER GROWING NUMBER OF NON-COMMERCIAL MAXIMUS-CBCS OPERATORS WORLD WIDE. COMMERCIAL SYSTEMS ARE ENCOURAGED TO USE THE PROGRAM HOWEVER, AND SHOULD REGISTER THE PRODUCT USING THE REGISTRATION FORM SUPPLIED WITH THE PACKAGE. 5. COMMERCIAL DEFINITION. FOR THE PURPOSES OF THIS DOCUMENT, "COMMERCIAL USE" IS DEFINED AS OPERATION OF THIS SOFTWARE ON SYSTEMS CONSISTING OF THREE OR MORE COMPUTERS OR DATA LINES; OR OPERATION OF THIS SOFTWARE ON SYSTEMS SPONSORED OR SUPPORTED IN ANY WAY BY COMMERCIAL COMPANIES OR ORGANISATIONS. 6. DISCLAIMER. USE THIS PROGRAM AT YOUR OWN RISK. NO WARRANTY IS STATED OR IMPLIED. THE AUTHOR SHALL NOT BE HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DAMAGES RESULTING FROM IT'S USE DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY. I ACKNOWLEDGMENTS AND CREDITS We would like to thank the following individuals for their continued support and assistance. Graham Stair kindly offered to port UEDit to the OS/2 operating system back in Dec 91. Without his efforts we'd likely not have been able to provide OS/2 support at this time. Graham has also helped with improvements to the code, both at problem or bug report levels and at the feature addition level. Thanks Graham. Special thanks go to the beta testers who provided both problem reports and feature requests. This includes the Australian beta test network, including Paul Marwick, David Nugent, Lincoln Dale, and Andrew Gulovsen; and the International Maximus Beta team, of which the Author is a member. Thanks to Scott Dudley for his ever timely responses, the Maximus User Structures, and for continuing to develop the Maximus-CBCS bulletin board package. Scott shows no apparent signs of easing up on development, such that there is much to look forward to with Maximus-CBCS in this 'electronic' frontier of the emerging 'information' age. Thanks also to those who aided in development of earlier versions of UEDit. These include Andrew Waite, who originally suggested a stand alone User editor and worked on the original documentation; Stewart Robertson who kindly updated the documentation with the updates and changes for v1.02; and Paul Marwick for both extensive testing on early beta versions and many useful suggestions, many of which have been implemented. The following companies hold the following trademarks or market the following products mentioned or referred to in this manual. IBM Corporation, Inc. OS/2 IBM Corporation, Inc. IBM PC Microsoft Corporation, Bellevue, WA MS-DOS Quarterdeck Office Systems, Santa Monica, CA DesqView SoftLogic Solutions, Inc., Manchester, NH Double Dos Borland International, Scotts Valley, CA Turbo C Borland International, Scotts Valley, CA Borland C++ SemWare Qedit Omniverse Software Corp. Galaxy Scott Dudley Maximus Scott Dudley Squish Scott Dudley SquishMail Scott Dudley MsgAPI Wynn Wagner Opus II TABLE OF CONTENTS SECTION TITLE PAGE LICENSE AGREEMENT I 1 Distribution ................... I 2 Copying ........................ I 3 Modification ................... I 4 Program Status ................. I 5 Commercial Definition .......... I 6 Disclaimer ..................... I ACKNOWLEDGMENTS AND CREDITS II TABLE OF CONTENTS III TABLE OF CONTENTS IV 1 CHAPTER 1 -- INTRODUCTION ........... 1 1.1 Requirements ................... 1 1.2 Features ....................... 1 1.3 Distribution Notice ............ 2 2 CHAPTER 2 -- CONFIGURATION .......... 3 2.1 Command Line ................... 3 2.2 Configuration file ............. 5 2.2.1 UpGrade Profile .............. 5 2.2.2 Access Labels ................ 5 2.2.3 Key Labels ................... 5 2.2.4 Language Labels .............. 5 2.2.5 File Compression Labels ...... 5 2.2.6 Mouse Speed .................. 6 2.2.7 Date Format .................. 6 2.2.8 Sound Toggle ................. 6 2.2.9 Password Hide Toggle ......... 6 2.2.10 Pack Save Toggle ............. 6 2.2.11 Custom Renumber Toggle ....... 6 2.2.12 Descriptions Display Toggle .. 6 2.2.13 Global Delete by Days ........ 6 3 CHAPTER 3 -- OPERATION .............. 7 3.1 Record Addition ................ 7 3.2 Base Packing ................... 7 3.3 Statistics ..................... 8 3.4 Global Delete .................. 8 3.4.1 Set Days Old ................. 9 3.4.2 Calls ........................ 9 3.4.3 Key Mask ..................... 9 III TABLE OF CONTENTS (CONTINUED) SECTION TITLE PAGE 3.4.4 Privilege Levels ............. 9 3.4.5 Expiry Mask .................. 9 3.4.6 Credit Mask ................. 10 3.5 User Base Sort ................ 10 3.5.1 Multiple Keys ............... 10 3.5.2 Sort methods ................ 11 3.6 Field Edit Keys ............... 11 3.7 Program Hot Keys .............. 12 3.7.1 Edit Screen .................. 12 3.7.2 Browse Screen ................ 12 4 CHAPTER 4 -- RECORD DESCRIPTIONS .... 13 4.1 Display and Editing ........... 13 4.2 Indication .................... 13 4.3 Deletion ...................... 13 4.4 Technical ..................... 14 4.5 EXTPack ....................... 14 4.5.1 Operation ................... 14 4.5.2 Exporting ................... 14 4.5.3 Importing ................... 14 4.6 EXTAdd ........................ 15 4.6.1 Execution ................... 15 4.6.2 Imported Data ............... 15 5 CHAPTER 5 -- BATCH MODE ............. 17 5.1 Operation ......................17 5.1.1 Features ...................... 17 5.1.2 Deletion ...................... 17 5.1.3 Sorting ....................... 18 5.1.4 Deletion Logging .............. 18 6 CHAPTER 6 -- MISCELLANEOUS .......... 19 6.1 Problems and Bug Reports ...... 19 6.2 Latest Version ................ 19 6.3 About UEDit ................... 19 APPENDIX A -- Configuration File Structure .. 21 APPENDIX B -- Description File Structure .... 23 IV INTRODUCTION UEDit Page 1 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION UEDit is an external Maximus-CBCS User Base Editor, allowing rapid editing, searching and sorting of your user records. Although the Maximus inbuilt User Editor is full featured, UEDit allows quick and simple access to the User base. It is able to fully use system resources without the code and space limitations under which a remote editor usually must operate. 1.1 Requirements MS-DOS 3.x, its equivalent, or later version is required for DOS operation. Operation under OS/2 requires OS/2 version 1.3 or later. 300Kb of free RAM is recommended. Less is possible depending on the number of records in the user base. More may be required and sorting and packing will require more depending on the size of your user base. The author runs UEDit in a 300Kb DESQview window with approximately 500 records in the user base. 1.2 Features * Pop-up Menu system and full screen operation. * Full support for Maximus-CBCS v2.xx, and 8192 user records. * Optional text description or comment for every user record using the new to Maximus-CBCS v2.xx format. * Browse screen allows paging through the User Base. * User Base sorting with ten key choices in two directions. * User Base search with five key choices including Name/Alias. * Instant User upgrade system, with eight configuration profiles. * Global functions allowing; record deletion, and setting of the Expiry system, Keys, and the Credit and Debit fields. * Automated user base global sort and pack batch mode allowing batch file periodic maintenance. * Six user base statistics report screens. * Optional text descriptions of access levels, keys, and language, and file compression record fields. * Available for OS/2, and DOS with DesqView support. * MicroSoft mouse keyboard emulation support with sensitivity adjustment under MS-DOS. INTRODUCTION UEDit Page 2 1.3 Distribution Notice This package may be posted for download or file request by any Fidonet technology system in archived form, and in adherence to the terms of the software License. No profit may be realised from such distribution, although UEDit may be provided for download on commercial or pay for access systems. UEDit is distributed in two versions, for the MS-DOS and OS/2 operating systems. The archive names are UED201.LZH for MS-DOS and UEDP201.LZH for OS/2. The MS-DOS distribution archive contents (UED201.LZH) are listed below: UEDIT.EXE - The program executable. EXTPACK.EXE - Record descriptions maintenance utility EXTADD.EXE - Record descriptions online utility EXPRPT.EXE - Simple Expiry system report generator UEDIT.DOC - Main documentation WHATSNEW.201 - Changed since UEDit version 2.00 REGISTER.FRM - Commercial registration form The OS/2 distribution archive contents (UEDP201.LZH) are listed below: UEDITP.EXE - The program executable. EXTPACKP.EXE - Record descriptions maintenance utility EXTADDP.EXE - Record descriptions online utility EXPRPTP.EXE - Simple Expiry system report generator UEDIT.DOC - Main documentation WHATSNEW.201 - Changed since UEDit version 2.00 REGISTER.FRM - Commercial registration form CONFIGURATION UEDit Page 3 CHAPTER 2 CONFIGURATION 2.1 Command Line Program syntax: UEDit [-switch -switch ... ] All command line switches are case insensitive. Listed below are the command line controls: -U<path> Path to Maximus User files & Area.Dat -C<path> Configuration file path & name -B BIOS screen writing -R CGA snow reduction -M Force monochrome text attributes -N Don't display background screen -V Use Browse screen as default -F<name> User file name; default is USER.BBS -P Automatic Purge for batch files -S#[R] Automatic Sort method for -P -L<path> Optional log file name for -P -D Debug display of the lastread pointer -A Alternate colours for menu systems -G### Start at ### record, zero based -I Never set system mouse sensitivity -? Program help screen Let's have a look at each one in a little more detail: -U<path> Full path to Maximus-CBCS User files. Default is the current directory. e.g. -UC:\Max -C<path> UEDit Configuration file path and name. This switch allows operating with multiple configurations, especially useful with the -P batch mode operation. -B BIOS screen writing. -R CGA snow reduction. -M Force monochrome text attributes. -N Turns the background display screen off. -V Use Browse screen at power up. Default is the Edit screen. CONFIGURATION UEDit Page 4 -F<name> User file file name. Default is USER.BBS. This option is not normally required. It specifically allows easy UEDit operation on systems running multiple user files. -P Automatic Pack for automated batch file operation. This command tells UEDit to run the global delete, and user base pack options, then exit to the DOS prompt. Options include the -S and -L commands below, and global delete settings as set on the Global delete screen and saved with the save settings command. -S#[R] Specifies a sort type and direction for use with the -P batch mode command. e.g. -S2 - Sort by Second name, ascending. -S7R - Sort by Access, descending. For the sort types, see section 4.5.2 (Sort methods). -L<path> Specifies an optional log file name for logging of records deleted by the global delete function during a batch mode -P run. e.g. -LC:\Log\Pack.Log -D Optional debug display of lastread pointer on the Edit screen with the descriptions window in view. This also activates editing of the Lastread pointer, and sorting by Lastread pointer. WARNING: Changing the Lastread Pointers will cause problems unless you know exactly what you are doing. -A Alternate colour for the Edit, Browse, and Pop-up menu systems. -G### Start operation at user record number ###. If the number specified is greater then available records, UEDit seeks to the last record. Thus "UEDit /g9999" would provide a goto last record function. -I Never set system mouse sensitivity. Problems are possible with some mouse drivers, IMOUSE.COM for one. UEDit sets the mouse sensitivity at powerup when running from a configuration file. Thanks to Brian Hampson for his help in tracking this down. -? Program help screen. CONFIGURATION UEDit Page 5 2.2 Configuration File UEDit can optionally create and reload a configuration file. The default file name is UEDit.Cfg, see the -C command line switch for details of running multiple configuration files. Currently the following items can be saved and reloaded from the UEDit configuration file: Access Labels, Key Labels, Language Labels, File Compression Labels, Global Deletions settings, Global Expiry settings, Global Key settings, Global Credit/Debit settings, Upgrade Profile settings, Mouse Speed, Date Format, Sound toggle, Password Hide toggle, Pack Save toggle, Custom Renumber toggle, & Descriptions Display toggle. The configuration file is binary format, so cannot normally be accessed externally. See appendix A for C language structure of this file. Running the Configuration menu Save Setups command writes the configuration file so that UEDit will load all saved settings for future program runs. UEDit attempts to note changes made and will prompt for configuration save during program exit if you've made changes. 2.2.1 UpGrade Profile This configuration screen allows editing of eight user profiles for use by the Upgrade command on the Edit screen. The Upgrade command allows instant setting of Priviledge, Credit, Expiry, and Keys for the current user record. 2.2.2 Access Labels These are local to UEDit text descriptions of each of the Maximus privilege levels. Purely for local SysOp operation. 2.2.3 Key Labels These are local to UEDit text descriptions of each of the Maximus user Keys. Purely for local SysOp operation. 2.2.4 Language Labels These are local to UEDit text descriptions of each of the Maximus eight supported optional languages. Purely for local SysOp operation. Due to file name and pathing differences between systems UEDit does not attempt to find what languages are installed on your system. Set these labels to match your Maximus setup. 2.2.5 File Compression Labels These are local to UEDit text descriptions of up to fifteen of the Maximus file compression utilities. Purely for local SysOp operation. Due to file name and pathing differences between systems UEDit does not attempt to find which archivers are installed on your system. Match these labels to your setup. CONFIGURATION UEDit Page 6 2.2.6 Mouse Speed Allows adjustment of the MicroSoft compatible mouse sensitivity settings. If a configuration file is loaded at UEDit power up the saved settings are set on the system. See also the "-I" command line switch. 2.2.7 Date Format Allows selection of the preferred date display format. Using the Save Settings command on the Configuration menu saves the selected display format in the configuration file. 2.2.8 Sound Toggle This toggles sound usage on and off. 2.2.9 Password Hide Toggle This toggles the Edit screen password hide feature. A quick access command 'W' also toggles this flag from the Edit screen. 2.2.10 Pack Save Toggle This turns on the optional user base Pack command's save deleted records to disk function. When turned on, records purged from the user file are written to a file in the Maximus directory called USER.PRG. 2.2.11 Custom Renumber Toggle The UEDit Pack command can also optionally renumber Opus style #.BBS custom welcome files. These files must exist in the Maximus directory. See the Maximus-CBCS documentation for details. Use this toggle to activate or disable the renumber function. 2.2.12 Descriptions Display Toggle This toggles the Edit screen User description display. The shortcut command from the Edit screen is the TAB key. 2.2.13 Global Delete by Days All settings from the global delete screen are also saved in the configuration file. To save your global settings use the Save Settings configuration menu option before exiting UEDit. OPERATION UEDit Page 7 CHAPTER 3 OPERATION The use of hotkeys, full screen menus, and simple user interface means that UEDit puts the power to manage your user base at your finger tips. All functions are controlled directly from easily accessible menu options. UEDit is rich in control keys, see both the field editing, and program hot keys listed in section 3.7. Features to look for are the TAB descriptions toggle on the Edit screen, and the TAB and Shift TAB PAN commands on the Browse screen. 3.1 Record Addition The Append New Record pop-up menu option adds a new blank user record to the user file. The new record is appended to the end of the file. UEDit makes the new record the current record, and adjusts the screen to display it. The string "Record created by UEDit" is entered in the name field to aid identification of newly added records. During the record addition process UEDit assigns the new record an unused message lastread pointer offset. UEDit uses the Maximus-CBCS method where the user base is scanned and the first unused offset is used. This fills the holes left by routine record purging where offsets vanish from the user file, aiding to avoid unnecessary growth in size of the message areas lastread files. UEDit needs only scan the user base once to load the offsets, later additions will seem instantaneous. During Index scans UEDit also loads these offsets, so that a record addition performed after an Index will not need to scan the base. 3.2 Base Packing The Pack User File pop-up menu option rewrites the User file, deleting all records marked with the Deleted flag. It writes the new User file using the last Index method, giving you the option of sorting the on disk user base. The pack option is generally used to remove old deleted records from the user base. Also as mentioned above, it writes using indexed order, so this option is used to sort your user base, in conjunction with the Index command. OPERATION UEDit Page 8 When records are removed from the user base there are several related items that should be taken care of. These are message lastread pointer cleansing, optional Opus style #.BBS custom welcome screen renumbering, and optional record save to a backup file. See the UEDit setup for flags that either turn on or off the welcome file renumbering and the record save feature. The message lastread clensing is required and cannot be disabled. For message lastread pointer clensing, UEDit attempts to read the file AREA.DAT in the Maximus directory. If this is successful, UEDit then scans the file for message areas and zeros out the lastread pointer for each area. 3.3 Statistics Included on the pop-up menu are six statistics screens, and a current memory available function under MS-DOS. UEDit does not scan the user base during power up so that base must be scanned to gather the needed statistics for display during the first execution of any of the statistics screens. Most of the statistics screens are self explanatory, with the exception of the Best Ten Users screen. This is a weighted display, sorted by the index figure displayed in the right hand column. The index figure is calculated from all of user calls to the system, the total uploads, and the total downloads. 3.4 Global Delete The function of this screen is to either set the delete flag depending on the set criteria, or to clear all delete flags, during scanning of the complete user base. Records are not removed. Assuming the record deleted flags are set as you would choose after a global delete run, the Pack command can then be used to remove or move deleted records from the user base. Note that all settings on the Global Delete screen are saved in the UEDit configuration file with the Save Settings command. OPERATION UEDit Page 9 There are six setting types that control how UEDit decides whether a record should be deleted. These are; days since last call, total calls made, keys to block deletion, privilege level to process, a flag for not deleting records with an expiry setting, and a flag for not deleting records containing a Credit value. These six control types are detailed below. 3.4.1 Days These setting are the heart of the Global Delete screen. A days old figure can be set for each of the twelve privilege levels. All entries default to 180 days, which is approx. six months. As an example, if you have a figure of 180 for the Normal privilege level, then all records of Normal privilege can only be marked as deleted if their last call date is earlier than 180 days from the current system date. See also the Calls entry below. 3.4.2 Calls The Calls entries are also considered when a priviledge level is flagged for processing, such that the Days since last call entry is checked. To enable the record to be deleted, as well as passing the Days check detailed above, the record much have make less calls to the system than the entered Calls value. To avoid a lockout problem, where after enough calls have been made the record would not be deleted no matter how long since the last call, there is also an "All Levels" Days setting with no Calls entry, used as a last check for each priviledge level flagged for processing. Note that the "All Levels" setting is ONLY applied to priviledge levels flagged for processing. 3.4.3 Key Mask This enables you to prevent deletion of records possessing one or any combination of user keys. If you don't want keys considered during the Global Delete, set all key flags to YES, meaning don't prevent deletion for any key. 3.4.4 Privilege Levels With this option, you can mask out whole privilege levels from the Global Delete process. Any level set to NO will never be marked as deleted. Normally you'd have the higher levels e.g. Sysop, AsstSysop, and Clerk masked out on the assumption these levels should never be removed during global maintenance. 3.4.5 Expiry Mask The expiry mask flag, when set to NO, prevents all records which have an Expiry setting other than None from being marked as deleted. Useful for systems actively using the Maximus-CBCS account expiry subsystem. The assumption is that if the account already has an automatic expiry setting active, global deletion by date would not be necessary nor desirable. To ignore Expiry settings during Global Deletion runs, set this flag to YES. OPERATION UEDit Page 10 3.4.6 Credit Mask The credit mask flag, when set to NO, prevents all records which have a Credit setting other than zero from being marked as deleted. To ignore Credit settings during Global Deletion runs, set this flag to YES. 3.5 User Base Sort UEDit supports ten sort methods, including the default index which is user file order. Sort direction for each type can be either Normal (ascending), or Reverse (descending). Maximus requires that the Sysop user record always be first record in the user file. For this reason UEDit never moves or sorts the first record. Sorting is accessed by the Index menu option off the pop-up menu. To choose a sort direction, simply hit <Enter> with the menu bar on the Normal/Reverse item. To sort the user base, choose the sort type with the menu bar, and press <Enter>. UEDit references all on disk data via an in memory index. This index is set to file order at program start up. Using the indexing or sorting commands is simply sorting the in memory index. This has several implications. Firstly, using the sort commands on the Index menu does NOT affect the user file on the system disk drive. To save a sort order permanently, you should execute the Pack command, which rewrites the user file to disk using the current sort index. Secondly, depending on system response time (speed) some of the UEDit functions will run at reduced speed when operating with other than the File Order index. The Browse screen is one such case. On the Author's 33mhz 386 with 17ms ESDI HD's the speed is quite acceptable. However testing shows increased delay times even on 286 machines. The problem is caused by the new program design, with all user records always referenced off disk. This was necessary to enable support for very large user bases. 3.5.1 Multiple Keys Multiple key sorting is supported, by executing consecutive sorts. UEDit does maintain existing index order during non-unique key indexing, making this possible. As an example, to sort the user base by privilege level, using last name as a secondary key (meaning each privilege level would have records in second name order), firstly sort by second name, then by privilege. The privilege sort will maintain the existing order for all privileges of the same value. OPERATION UEDit Page 11 3.5.2 Sort methods 1 File Order - Current User File order (the default) 2 2st Name - Last name 3 1nd Name - First name 4 Location - City field 5 Password - Password 6 Call Date - Date field 7 Privilege - User Privilege Level 8 No of Calls - Calls made to the system 9 Kb DownLoad - Total users downloads 10 Kb UpLoads - Total users uploads 11 Telephone - Telephone 3.6 Field Edit Keys General command keys which are active during field editing and data entry are listed below. Several of these key commands are not noted clearly within the program. ESC - Abort field editing, exit END - Goto end of current field HOME - Goto start of current field UP ARROW - Step up one edit field DOWN ARROW - Step down one edit field TAB - Step one field right Shift TAB - Step one field left DEL - Delete character at cursor BACKSPACE - Delete character left Ctl BACKSPACE - Delete word left Ctrl R - Restore field to original contents Ctrl T - Delete word right Ctrl U - Delete to end of field Ctrl Y - Delete to end of last field Ctrl-<Enter> - Save and exit field editing INS - Toggle insert mode OPERATION UEDit Page 12 3.7 Program Hot Keys Several command functions can be executed by hotkey, giving a quick 'shortcut' access to the function. These exist in various places including the Edit screen and the Browse screen. 3.7.1 Edit Screen W - Toggle Password hide X - Record expiry edit screen K - Record keys edit screen Alt-1 to Alt-X - Key toggle < - Privilege level downgrade > - Privilege level upgrade DEL - Toggle record deleted flag TAB - Description display toggle HOME - Goto first record END - Goto last record UP ARROW - Step back one record DOWN ARROW - Step forward one record Grey + - Steps forward one record Grey - - Step back one record ESC - Pop-up menu 3.7.2 Browse Screen < - Privilege level downgrade > - Privilege level upgrade DEL - Toggle record deleted flag TAB - PAN screen right Shift TAB - PAN screen left HOME - Goto first record END - Goto last record PAGE UP - Step back 15 records PAGE DOWN - Step forward 15 records UP ARROW - Step back one record DOWN ARROW - Step forward one record ESC - Pop-up menu RECORD DESCRIPTIONS UEDit Page 13 CHAPTER 4 RECORD DESCRIPTIONS UEDit now supports the Maximus-CBCS v2.xx external record description system. This allows optional text comments for each user record. The design allows for up to 4095 characters, though for screen space reasons UEDit currently limits it's creation and editing to 165 characters, which is 3 short lines. 4.1 Display and Editing Descriptions are displayed and edited from the Edit screen. A Descriptions flag exists on the Setup menu to toggle display on or off, with the TAB key being a quick shortcut hotkey for the same function. The Descriptions window overlays some of the fields on the Edit screen, TAB quickly toggles between the two alternate displays. This display flag is saved in the configuration file so that UEDit will default to your preferred display. With the descriptions window toggled on, using the Edit command allows editing or creation of the description for the current record. When toggled off normal editing is possible. 4.2 Indication On the Edit screen, a new three character field to the right of the City field shows blank for no description, and 'EXT' for records possessing an extended description. For the Browse screen, existence of an extended description is indicated by a small bullet character on the right hand edge of the screen. Note that these two indicators are displaying the status of the USER.BBS descriptions pointer. The descriptions text is stored in a file called USER.EXT in the Maximus directory. If this file had been deleted UEDit will not find the description, displaying a blank description field. To clear the descriptions pointer in this case, as with description deletion below, simply save a blank description. 4.3 Deletion External descriptions are deleted by simply saving a blank description field. Toggle the description display on, use the Edit command, <Enter> down to the descriptions window, press HOME (goto start of current field), press Ctrl-Y (erase current field), and press Ctrl-Enter (save and exit). RECORD DESCRIPTIONS UEDit Page 14 4.4 Technical UEDit attempts to reuse free space in the descriptions file when writing new descriptions or updating descriptions to a larger size. See also the section concerning the EXTPack utility and the EXTAdd utility. 4.5 EXTPack This utility performs a purge and pack on the USER.EXT external description file. This is not normally required, a manual run every few months would be suitable for most systems. 4.5.1 Operation EXTPack rewrites the USER.EXT file in the user base order, and removes unused space, adjusting the USER.BBS 'extra' fields as required. It makes no other change to the main user base. Program command line options are listed below. Syntax: EXTPack [-switch -switch ... ] -U<path> Path to Maximus-CBCS User files -E Export records to report file -I Import records from report file -A Ascii delimited format for Export/Import -F<name> Export/Import file path & name -? Program help screen EXTPack is also capable of exporting and importing the descriptions database, in both text format, and ascii delimited format. This is to enable quick and simple setup and maintenance of the user descriptions system. 4.5.2 Exporting Exporting is via the -E command line. e.g. "EXTPack -E" would export all user descriptions to the default text file EXTPACK.TXT. To use a defined filename, use the format -F<name> e.g. "EXTPack -E -Fc:\bbs\export.txt". The optional -A command would cause the exported data to be in ascii delimited format. 4.5.3 Importing Importing is via the -I command line. e.g. "EXTPack -I" would import from the default text file EXTPACK.TXT. To use a defined filename, use the format -F<name> e.g. "EXTPack -I -Fc:\bbs\import.txt". The format of the import text file is exactly as generated by the -E Export command. Note that if the -A command format modifier was used during the export, it must also be used during the Import. The Imported text file does NOT need to include all records as the export report does. Use your text editor to edit descriptions, and to remove all unchanged records before using the Import function. RECORD DESCRIPTIONS UEDit Page 15 4.6 EXTAdd EXTAdd is a small utility for ONLINE use with the external record description system. It's function is to place the current system date into a new users description field, or optionally the contents of an external text file, possibly written with Maximus mecca commands during the newuser logon. Following is the EXTAdd command line options. Syntax: EXTADD [-switch -switch ... ] -U<path> Path to Maximus-CBCS User files -F<name> Optional import file path & name -N Task number, default is zero -R User record number; zero based -D Date format mm/dd/yy; default: dd/mm/yy -? Program help screen 4.6.1 Execution Execution should be from a mecca display file. Suggested usage is from the Maximus control file's NewUser2 defined welcome screen. This is the welcome screen shown once only to new callers on the system. An example command line for mecca display files is listed below. [xtern_run]@extadd.exe -n%k -r%u -uc:\bbs In the above example -n supplies the maximus task number, -r supplies the user record number zero based, and -u is the path to the Maximus user files. Both -n and -r ARE required. The Maximus path default is the current directory. During execution EXTAdd enters a line such as the following into the user description field. Note the '@' character in the above command line. It IS required, see the Maximus documentation for more details. * Record Created: Thu Dec 05 02:27:35 1991 4.6.2 Imported Data Addition of the -f<path> option to the above example would write the contents of the file specified by <path> into the record description field rather than the EXTAdd generated date string. The imported file could include other user specific data, baudrate as an example, using a little mecca magic before the EXTAdd execution command. EXTADD updates both the User.Bbs file, _and_ the lastuser file. The lastuser file update is necessary for use online so that Maximus can be told to reread it, so that the external description pointer in the user record is not lost at user logoff (Max updates the user record at that time). Because of this lastuser updating EXTADD is suitable for online use ONLY. RECORD DESCRIPTIONS UEDit Page 16 BATCH MODE UEDit Page 17 CHAPTER 5 BATCH MODE 5.1 Operation UEDit is now able to run in an unattended batch mode for automated record deletion by date, sorting, and packing. With the inbuilt functions already available to UEDit, the batch mode processing is probably the most powerful yet seen for Maximus-CBCS. Batch mode operation is invoked using the -P command line switch. It is IMPORTANT to realise that batch mode makes use of and requires several settings in the configuration file. These are the Global Delete screen settings, the #.BBS custom welcome flag, and the pack save flag. 5.1.1 Features 1) Delete by date with privilege masking, key masking, expiry masking, credit masking, and unique days setting per privilege. 2) Sorting by nine keys in forward or reverse direction. 3) Logging records deleted by date. 4) Opus #.BBS custom welcome screen renumbering. 5) Exportation of purged records to a save file. 5.1.2 Deletion The Global Delete screen settings are used during the batch process. To operate UEDit in this manner you should use the Global Delete screen to set the desired delete criteria and save them with the Configuration Save Settings command. To avoid possible mishaps should you later change any settings on the Global Delete screen it's recommended that you save your batch mode deletion settings to another configuration file. This is done using the -C command line option. Firstly run UEDit using -C<name> where <name> is the chosen configuration file name, set and save your deletion settings, and exit. Then for batch mode, use the -C and -P switches together. e.g. "UEDit -Cpack.cfg -P". BATCH MODE UEDit Page 18 5.1.3 Sorting Sorting is also possible during batch mode, using the -S#[R] switch. e.g. "UEDit -Cpack.cfg -P -S2" would run deletion by date and sort by lastname. The sort control numbers are listed below. 1 - File Order - Current User File order (the default) 2 - 2st Name - Last name 3 - 1nd Name - First name 4 - Location - City field 5 - Password - Password 6 - Call Date - Date field 7 - Privilege - User Privilege Level 8 - No of Calls - Calls made to the system 9 - Kb DownLoad - Total users downloads 10 - Kb UpLoads - Total users uploads 11 - Telephone - Telephone field Default sort direction is ascending, use the 'R' control to force an descending sort. e.g. "UEDit -Cpack.cfg -P -S7R" indicates sort by privilege level in descending order. Currently the batch mode sorting does not support multiple key sorting as is possible with UEDit in manual mode. 5.1.4 Deletion Logging Logging of deleted records is also possible during batch mode operation. Note that this is not functional in manual mode. The -L<path> command line switch activates this function. To clarify, records logged as deleted in the specified log file are ONLY those marked deleted during the automatic Global Delete run. If records already had the delete flag ON before batch mode was invoked they will be removed or moved during the run, though not logged in this case. e.g. "UEDit -Cpack.cfg -P -S7R -Lc:\log\pack.log". MISCELLANEOUS UEDit Page 19 CHAPTER 6 MISCELLANEOUS 6.1 Problems and Bug Reports If you have come across any 'features' or have any suggestions on how to improve UEDit, you can contact us through the net or via surface mail, at the addresses listed below. All feed back good AND bad is welcomed. Much of what has changed in UEDit since the last release is due to feedback offered over the past years. Post: CodeLand Australia P.O.Box 351 Kalamunda W.A. 6076 AUSTRALIA Fidonet: Perth's Library BBS, Fidonet (3:690/613.0) Colin Wheat, SysOp. EchoMail: The International Fidonet Maximus-CBCS support conference MUFFIN. Maximus programming discussions are best carried out using the International Maximus-CBCS development Conference MAXDEV. OS/2 related problems should be directed to Graham Stair at Fidonet 3:711/409. Graham will pass problems onto the Author if need be. 6.2 Latest Version The magic name UEDIT will always offer the latest MS-DOS beta version available, and UEDITP will always offer the latest OS/2 beta version available, on both the author's system (Fidonet 3:690/613) and on Graham's system (Fidonet 3:711/409). File requests are always welcome. As with all beta software, usage is at your own risk. The latest release archive is always available under it's own name. 6.3 About UEDit UEDit was written using the Borland range of C compilers. The current MS-DOS release is compiled using Borland C++ v2.0. The OS/2 version is compiled using MSC v6.0. Additional Libraries used included the CXL window Library. Documentation was written using Qedit and Galaxy. MISCELLANEOUS UEDit Page 20 APPENDIX A UEDit Page 21 UEDit Configuration File Structure #define CFG_VER 201 #define _PROFILES 8 #define DATE_OZ 0 #define DATE_US 1 #define DATE_JP 2 #define PRIV_NONE -9 #define XFLAG_EXPDATREL 0x0080 typedef struct _profile { /* UpGrade profile structure */ char title[34]; /* Profile title */ sword priv; /* Access level */ char cdtset; /* Set credit flag */ char expset; /* Set expiry flag */ word credit; /* Matrix credit, in cents */ byte xp_flag; /* Expiry set flags for expiry */ byte xp_rsvd; /* Reserved */ union stamp_combo xp_date; /* Expiry set Bit-mapped date */ word xpp_mths; /* Expiry set relative date in months */ dword xp_mins; /* Expiry set minutes */ word xp_priv; /* Expiry set demote priv */ char keys[32]; /* Key flags */ } PROFILE; typedef struct _uedit_cfg { /* CFG_VER = 201 */ char title[78]; /* Title string */ int ver; /* Version number */ char key[32][16]; /* Key strings */ char lang[8][9]; /* Language strings */ char comp[16][10]; /* Compression strings */ char priv[12][16]; /* Priviledge strings */ int use_sound; /* Sound setting */ int hide_pwd; /* Hide password */ int purge_export; /* Export purged records */ int wel_renum; /* Renumber Custom welcome files */ int ext_desc; /* External descriptions */ int mxratio; /* MS Mouse X ratio */ int myratio; /* MS Mouse Y ratio */ int date_display; /* Date display type */ /* Global delete */ char gdelpriv[12]; /* Global delete priv process flags */ unsigned int gdeldays[12]; /* Global delete days each priv */ unsigned int gdelcalls[12]; /* Global delete calls each priv */ char gallpriv; /* Global delete all priv process flag */ unsigned int galldays; /* Global delete all days flag */ char gdelkeys[32]; /* Global delete key flags */ int gdelexpiry; /* Global delete expiry set flag */ int gcrtexpiry; /* Global credit expiry set flag */ APPENDIX A UEDit Page 22 /* Global expiry */ char gexppriv[12]; /* Global expiry set priv process flags */ byte xp_flag; /* Global expiry set flags for expiry */ byte xp_rsvd; /* Reserved */ union stamp_combo xp_date; /* Global expiry set Bit-mapped date */ dword xp_mins; /* Global expiry set minutes */ word xp_priv; /* Global expiry set demote priv */ char gexpkeys[32]; /* Global expiry set key flags */ int gcdtexpset; /* Global expiry set credit flag */ int govrexpset; /* Global expiry set overwrite flag */ /* Global keys */ char gkeypriv[12]; /* Global keys set priv process flags */ char gkeykeys[32]; /* Global keys set key flags */ int gkeyexpset; /* Global keys set expiry flag */ int gkeycdtset; /* Global keys set credit flag */ /* Global credit/debit */ char gcdtpriv[12]; /* Global credit priv process flags */ unsigned int gcdtval[12]; /* Global credit value each priv */ char gdbtpriv[12]; /* Global debit priv process flags */ unsigned int gdbtval[12]; /* Global debit value each priv */ char gcdtkeys[32]; /* Global credit/debit key flags */ int gcdtexpiry; /* Global credit/debit expiry set flag */ /* UpGrade profiles */ int pfptr; /* Current profile */ PROFILE profile[_PROFILES]; /* UpGrade profiles */ char reserved[13]; /* Reserved */ } UEDIT_CFG; APPENDIX B UEDit Page 23 Maximus Descriptions File Structure (USER.EXT) 00 'M' "M!" is the file identification 01 '!' / 02 0x0005 usr.lastread_ptr==5 <-- usr.extra points here | 04 0x0003 Length of description including the NULL Record 1 | 06 'H' \ Active | 07 'i' |- Description text \ 08 '\0' / / 09 0x0006 usr.lastread_ptr==6 <-- usr.extra points here | 11 0x8009 Length of description including the NULL Record 2 | 13 'D' \ Deleted | 14 'e' | | 15 'l' | | 16 'e' | | 17 't' |- Description text | 18 'e' | | 19 'd' | | 20 '!' | \ 21 '\0' / / 22 0x0007 usr.lastread_ptr==7 <-- usr.extra points here | 24 0x0009 Length of description including the NULL | 26 'T' \ | 27 'h' | | 28 'e' | | 29 ' ' | Record 3 | 30 'B' |- Description text Active | 31 'O' | | 32 'S' | | 33 'S' | \ 34 '\0' / 35 EOF End of file Note that this structure is not stable.