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The Pier Shareware 6
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The_Pier_Shareware_Number_6_(The_Pier_Exchange)_(1995).iso
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gap_pro.txt
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1995-01-10
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RoboSoft systems is pleased to offer several utilities for the GAP
sysop in our GAP-Pro line of programs. The GAP-Pro line currently
consists of:
GAP_LIST - The External File Lister for GAP
GAP_Verify - The External Filebase Verifier for GAP
Forum_Shuffle - The Forum Arranger for GAP
GAP_Merge - The Filebase Merger/Re-arranger for GAP
Demos of all of the GAP-Pro utilities are available for download
from The Cookie Jar at 714-997-0350. See the enclosed GAP-PRO.REG
file for pricing and order information.
Included with any order from the GAP-Pro utility line is a free
copy of our NEWMSGS program. NEWMSGS does essentially what the
GAP NEWMAIL utility does, update the counts of unread messages,
but does it in minutes instead of hours.
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GAP_LIST - The External File Lister for GAP
GAP_LIST is an external program used to generate file listings for
GAP BBSs. It will allow you to easily and quickly create file
listings while you wait or in an event.
Why do you need a program such as this when GAPFILE can already
produce file listings? Well, to start with, GAP_LIST was created
with just one purpose in mind -- to create file lists. It has been
highly optimized for this specific mission. GAP_LIST also
generates all of the requested listings with just a single pass
through the database. What this adds up to is speed and
flexibility. On my system I can generate condensed and enhanced
listings for all areas AND for each subject in those areas, in well
under half the time it takes to do just a condensed listing with
GAPFILE.
Here's a brief list of GAP_LIST's major features:
- Creates Master lists of all areas and subjects specified in the
configuration file.
- Creates Area (Forum) lists including all subjects or individual
subjects specified in the configuration file.
- Creates individual listings for each area/subject. (Registered
version only)
- Can create separate Condensed, Enhanced, Raw, and New (Registered
version only) File listings in each of the categories above.
- Creates a color summary bulletin listing the number of files and
total bytes in each area and subject.
- Allows files to be excluded from the listings according to
security level.
- Multi-user version can be run while users are still online.
- Configuration file is plain ASCII so it's easy to change and you
can have any number of different configurations.
GAP_LIST comes in two versions, one for single-node boards and one
for multi-node boards. (The multi-node version is available to
registered users only.) You can use the single-node version on
multi-node boards, but you must be sure that all nodes are inactive
before running GAP_LIST. The multi-node version allows you to
generate file listings while users are online and can be easily set
up to run from an event. (The multi-node version requires that you
have a multi-node version of GAP.)
-------------------------------------------------------------------
GAP_Verify - The External Filebase Verifier for GAP
GAP_Verify is a batch mode maintenance tool for the GAP filebase.
It's primary functions are:
1. Verify the size, date, and location of files in the
filebase.
2. Word-wrap the enhanced descriptions to fit the 72-character
line allowed by GAP.
3. Extract and use FILE_ID.DIZ descriptions if found in .ZIP
files.
4. Re-parse the keywords using a sysop-defined list of words
to be excluded from use as indexed keywords.
5. Look for "lost" files on the hard drive. These are files
that exist on the hard drive but aren't in the GAP filebase.
There are many options available to control exactly what gets done
and how it is accomplished, but these are the base functions.
To provide for extremely fast operation, GAP_Verify makes use of
advanced virtual memory techniques. If you have a couple megabytes
of EMS/XMS memory available, GAP_Verify should just about fly on
your machine. The verify process should run anywhere from twice as
fast to upwards of ten times as fast as the GAPFILE UPDATE
function, depending on exactly what is being updated.
GAP_Verify can word-wrap the enhanced descriptions to 72-character
lines, optionally filtering out the high-ASCII characters often used
to draw cute boxes around the descriptions.
You can have GAP_Verify look for a FILE_ID.DIZ in each .ZIP file it
verifies. If found, the DIZ description will be extracted and used
to replace the current description. Related to this function is the
ability to specify a list of words which should not be indexed as
keywords if found in the DIZ description. This can cut down
tremendously on the size of your FILEKEY files by eliminating
nonsense keywords.
GAP_Verify can re-parse the existing keywords using the keyword
exclusion list mentioned above. The parsing algorithm used by
GAP_Verify is slightly different than that used by GAP itself and
should result in a slight improvement in the resulting list of
keywords.
GAP_Verify can also print out a list of the files encountered in the
directories it searched during the verification process that did not
show up in the filebase. If used correctly, this can help find a
lot of dead wood on your hard drives (or locate files that fell
into the cracks).
One particularly handy use for GAP_Verify is to periodically scan
your upload area and extract the FILE_ID.DIZ descriptions from the
files uploaded in non-batch mode. It will also update the file
sizes to correct for comments added to the ZIP during UPCHECK
processing.
Because the whole idea behind GAP_Verify is speedy verification of
your filebase, it allows a great degree of control over which files
are verified and which directories are searched when looking for
files. You can tell GAP_Verify to ignore one or more partitions
during its scan of the filebase. Any files that reside on those
partitions, according to the location in the filebase, will be
completely skipped.
You can tell GAP_Verify to scan entire partitions, specific
directories, or any combination of the two. So if you want it to
scan all of drive D:, but only a couple directories on drive E:,
GAP_Verify can handle it.
You can provide a list of specific files that should be skipped.
This list gives you complete control over exactly which
characteristic of the file (size, date, location, description, DIZ,
keywords) should be skipped/ignored during the verification.
Because this list might be rather lengthy, GAP_Verify can even
generate one for you.
If you use the parameter file method to tell GAP_Verify which
partitions and/or directories to scan, it will automatically create
a file containing the names of the directories it scanned. If, on a
later run, you haven't modified the parameter file, GAP_Verify will
simply load the directory names from the file it previously created.
If your directory structure changes infrequently, this technique can
save quite a bit of startup time.
GAP_Verify will automatically create a log file listing information
about all the filebase entries it modified.
All the GAP_Verify parameters can be specified on the command line.
If you missed one or more required parameters, GAP_Verify will
prompt you for those parameters. Because there are so many control
parameters whose command-line versions are a bit cryptic, you can
set up an environment variable with a default set of parameters and
specify overrides or additions, if necessary, on the command line.
If you don't want to mess with the command line, just put GAP_Verify
in your GAP default directory and run it. It will prompt you for
each required parameter and give you a complete explanation of what
each is for. There are a few of the "fine tuning" features of
GAP_Verify that are only available from the command line, but
you'll probably never miss them if you really don't want to mess
with the command line.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Forum_Shuffle - The Forum Arranger for GAP
Forum_Shuffle will allow you to quickly and easily change the
arrangement of the forums on your GAP BBS. It will do everything
except update your menus. All you have to do is figure out what
order you want the forums in and Forum_Shuffle will do the rest,
including rearranging all the files required for GAPQWK and
MainMail.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
GAP_Merge - The Filebase Merger/Re-arranger for GAP
GAP_Merge is a GAP filebase maintenance utility that will allow you
to merge two GAP filebases together or to re-arrange the ordering of
subjects in an existing GAP filebase. The merge function is great
when adding a CD-ROM, such as one of the Pier Exchange CDs, that
comes with a GAP filebase.
GAP_Merge will allow you to specify the mapping of subjects from
source to destination filebase. If you want files from Area 0,
Subject 5 in the source to end up in Area 2, Subject 3 in the
destination, GAP_Merge can handle it. It will also do drive
translations so you can map drive E: from the source filebase to
drive X: in the destination filebase.
If the destination filebase does not exist, GAP_Merge will create
it. This allows you to use the subject mapping capabilities to
move your files around.
GAP_Merge comes in single-node and multi-node versions. The
multi-node version allows you to merge filebases while users are
still online. (This isn't really recommended due to the heavy load
the merge places on the system, but you can do it if you have to.)