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FLEXPAC - A Packet Terminal Program For Use With the PacketCluster(tm) Author: Bob Seidel ND2O Distribution Manager: Tom Lindtveit N2GQS Program Version: 2.6d (Document Revised 1/27/91) FLEXPAC User`s Guide PREFACE This is the User's Guide for FLEXPAC. FLEXPAC is a program for the IBM PC and compatibles which enhances use of the PacketCluster(tm)1 program. FLEXPAC also can be used as a general purpose packet terminal program and provides enhanced function in both situations. Note: FLEXPAC has no connection with Pavillion Software; FLEXPAC uses no Pavillion products, nor are Pavillion products used, modified, or distributed in any way. The FLEXPAC software merely interfaces with PacketCluster in the way a normal user would, except that it automates that process in some areas. DISCLAIMER: The FLEXPAC program and its ancillary support programs can be freely distributed and used for any noncommercial purpose. However, there are no warranties or guarantees of any kind implied or expressed. The user is responsible in full for all implications of the usage and installation of the program. The author and other persons associated with the development of the program shall not be liable for any damages directly or indirectly resulting from the installation and/or use of these programs. ---------------- 1 PacketCluster (c)opyright Pavillion Software FLEXPAC User`s Guide 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 List of Illustrations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 User Registration and Program Distribution . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Smart Operator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Main Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Buffered Terminal Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Screen Capture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 DX Spot Monitoring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Enhancements to Talk Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Connect Alarm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Function Key Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Scripts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Scroll Back Buffer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Pull Down Menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Installation and Usage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 System Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Cable Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Using A Monochrome Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Invocation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 What If It Doesn't Run . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Customizing Your Screen Colors, Windows, Other Options . . . . . . . 10 The Control File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Scripts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 How Scripts Are Processed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Aborting A WAIT or A Script . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Function Key and Bottom Line Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Alt and Ctrl F Key Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Telling FLEXPAC Who You Are . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 DX Spot Logging Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Comments In The FLEXPAC.CTL File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Flow Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Writing To The Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 The Clock and Timing Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Bells . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Miscellaneous Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Pull Down Menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Getting the Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Using The Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 The Primary Selection Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 FLEXPAC User`s Guide 3 The Secondary Menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Selecting Entries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Changing Entries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Ending The Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Menu Detail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 The Switches Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 The Identify Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 The Identify Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 About The Screen, Windows, Switching, and Screen Capture . . . . . . 24 The Screen and Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 The Scroll Back Buffers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Notes On Window and Stream Switching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Keying . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 The Retrieve Function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Entering Control Codes or other Non-ASCII Text . . . . . . . . . . 28 Switching Windows and Streams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Sending A File or Message . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Screen Capture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 COM Port Errors and Adjustments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 How To Determine Com Port Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 What To Do About Com Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Advanced Topics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 Parameter Substitution In Scripts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 Reference Material . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 @ Command Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 Commands Requiring Connection to the PacketCluster . . . . . . . . . 39 Listing of Enhancements Between Versions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 2.3 to 2.4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 2.4 to 2.5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 2.5 to 2.6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 FLEXPAC User`s Guide 4 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Figure 1. Example of F Key Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Figure 2. Example of Identifying Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Figure 3. Typical Menu Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 FLEXPAC User`s Guide 5 USER REGISTRATION AND PROGRAM DISTRIBUTION FLEXPAC is distributed as Shareware. Shareware is software that is freely distributed without charge. (Please note that although it is distributed in this manner, it is NOT in the public domain and the author retains his copyright rights.) As Shareware, you can get FLEXPAC from a friend, use it freely, and distribute it to others. If you like and use the program, and wish to support the development of good, inexpensive software, please send a small registration fee of $15 to Tom Lindtveit N2GQS RD 1 Box 392C West Hurley, NY 12491 USA In return, you will receive the latest copy of the program on diskette. You also will receive notice of fixes and enhancements. Be sure to include your CALL and whether you want 360K/5.25" or 720K/3.25" diskettes. If you are not a registered user of FLEXPAC, you may still use it but you will occasionally get a small reminder written on your screen reminding you about Shareware. When you register, you will be given a code based on your CALL; using the same procedure that is used to change colors and the screen window arrangement, you can then customize your version of FLEXPAC so that the reminder does not appear. Refer to section "Customizing Your Screen Colors, Windows, Other Options" on page 10 for more information on this customization process. User Registration and Program Distribution 1 SMART OPERATOR FLEXPAC can be described as a Smart Operator. Its basic function is as a normal TNC terminal program - it sends and receives RS-232 (com port) data to and from your TNC. It provides improved ease of use in things such as retrieving prior typed lines, screen window control, etc., but this user interface improvement was not the main reason for creating the program. FLEXPAC can automate many of the normally manual processes that you would do on the PacketCluster. Among its many "Smart Operator" functions are: o logging of DX spots to printer or special DX window, eliminating DX spots from the main window o eliminates the alarm on TO ALL messages o user defined scripts that can automatically process logon, logoff, and other complex functions; this includes a WAIT function so that you can synchronize your script to the system you are connected to o the ability to schedule an event at a future time o user function key definition o capture of received data to a disk file o calls you by an alarm when someone initiates TALK mode to you o separate B stream window allows multiple connects o enhanced editing of what you type, including automatic word wrap power typing Also to be noted are its small size, which makes it possible to run FLEXPAC in a multitasking environment such as DoubleDOS(tm) or DesqView(tm)2. ---------------- 2 DoubleDOS (c)opyright SoftLogic Solutions; DesqView (c)opyright Quarterdeck Systems Smart Operator 2 MAIN FUNCTIONS Before we get into details, let's just look at a high level description of how the program operates. This section will describe the main features, and will refer to commands described in detail in "The Control File" on page 12. BUFFERED TERMINAL PROGRAM FLEXPAC functions as a normal terminal program - that is, it interfaces between you and the TNC. You can type on the input line and your text will be sent to the TNC. Data received from the TNC will be displayed on the screen. OK, so what's so special? FLEXPAC provides both input and output line buffering. FLEXPAC does not send each keystroke that you type directly to the TNC. You type into a separate input area so that you can correct mistakes, retrieve previously entered text, use predefined function keys, and enter FLEXPAC commands that do NOT go to the TNC. Only when you press Enter is your input sent to the TNC (or processed, if it is a FLEXPAC command). Power typing with word wrap is available. This feature is useful if you are sending a note, or in Talk mode. When in this mode, you can type to the end of the input line and keep on typing - the line is automatically split at the last space and sent out just as if you had hit Enter. You then continue where you left off, with the remaining text now at the beginning of the text line. When data is received, it is not displayed character by character as received. It is buffered until a complete line is found; only then is the line written to the screen. The result of this buffering on both input and output is that the screen appears more stable - you aren't sitting there waiting for lines to scroll across the screen. You also can never mix input and output on the same screen line, and you can type ahead and compose your next message or response without screwing up the screen display. To make the input vs. output more noticeable, they appear as different colors on the screen. SCREEN CAPTURE You can specify that the data from a window be placed into a disk(ette) file - this is called Capture and is controlled by the @CAPTURE command. Each stream window can have its own capture to a separate file and are Main Functions 3 independent of each other. DX SPOT MONITORING Most users of the PacketCluster are probably interested in working DX and thus getting the DX and WWV spots and information. There may be times that you do NOT want that information (perhaps you are just monitoring the PacketCluster), or perhaps you want the DX spots logged to the printer, so you can easily look at them later. FLEXPAC monitors the data from the TNC for you - if it sees what it thinks is a DX spot or WWV announcement, it will route it where you have indicated (either the DX window, the printer or the bit bucket). See the @DX function in section "DX Spot Logging Commands" on page 15 for details. WINDOWS FLEXPAC allows you to have up to 3 receive windows on the screen. The windows appear and disappear dynamically, based on what you are doing. The main window is the standard A stream window, but also possible are a separate B stream window, and a DX window. Refer to "The Screen and Windows" on page 24 for more details on window usage. ENHANCEMENTS TO TALK MODE How often have you tried to TALK to someone and waited for a long time because that person was not there? FLEXPAC improves that situation by providing a service that summons you whenever someone enters talk mode to you. It works like this: 1. station W2XYZ enters the command TALK N1ABC (N1ABC is, of course, running FLEXPAC and has the Talk Monitor feature enabled) 2. FLEXPAC at N1ABC sees the talk message issued by PacketCluster and if N1ABC has @TALKMONITOR ON: a. automatically sends a message back to W2XYZ: "Hello W2XYZ, I will call <your-name> - please wait." b. sounds a double toned alarm using the PC speaker c. if N1ABC does not answer (answer meaning press any key on the keyboard), every 30 seconds an additional status message is sent to W2XYZ or, if N1ABC has @TALKMONITOR OFF: Main Functions 4 a. autoamtically sends a message back to W2XYZ: "Hello W2XYZ, <your-name> is not here - try again later." 3. If N1ABC never answers, all that W2XYZ has to do is to stop TALK by issuing the /EXIT command to PacketCluster - FLEXPAC detects that and stops sounding the alarm CONNECT ALARM How often have you missed someone connecting to you because you are temporarily away from your PC? The Connect Alarm function can help you here. The Connect Alarm will sound a special tone whenever a connection is made to your system (any stream). The alarm will continue to sound until you press any key, or until a DISCONNECT occurs. Use the @CONNECTALARM (or @CA) command to control this alarm - the default is ON. FUNCTION KEY DEFINITION FLEXPAC allows you to define your function ("F") keys. You can define them to be any text or data, or special control functions such as executing a script. You also can specify the content of the bottom line of the screen (usually used to display F key usage). In addition, you can specify whether the action is immediately taken, or just have the text put in the key line for further modification. Do this by ending the definition string with a slash (/) character. SCRIPTS FLEXPAC lets you define multiple line scripts - for logon, logoff, or whatever purpose you need. See the supplied SAMPLE.CTL file for examples. A unique component of this facility is the WAIT function, which pauses execution of the script until the TNC sends a specific phrase. SCROLL BACK BUFFER FLEXPAC incorporates a full scroll back buffer implementation for each window. See section "The Scroll Back Buffers" on page 25 for further details. Main Functions 5 PULL DOWN MENUS Many of the FLEXPAC functions can be controlled either through commands or by using a pull down menu system. Refer to section "Pull Down Menus" on page 20 for more information. Main Functions 6 INSTALLATION AND USAGE SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS o IBM PC, PC Jr, PC Convertible, PS/2 or compatible. o PC DOS 2.1 or later (PC DOS 3.0 or later required for DOS subset feature) o 256K RAM o architected serial port (COM1 or COM2) o color graphics adapter (CGA, EGA, VGA, PC Jr, or PC Convertible are OK; IBM MDA (original Monochrome Display Adapter NOT usable). o color display (preferred; monochrome display on color adapter can be used) o TNC-2 like TNC o TNC cable for hardware handshaking (see "Cable Requirements" on page 7) Cable Requirements FLEXPAC uses hardware handshaking between your computer's COM port and the TNC. This means that the program can signal to the TNC that it cannot accept any more data. When the program can accept new data, it signals the TNC to resume transmitting. In order to implement hardware handshaking, you must have the proper wires in the cable that you use. Specifically Request-To-Send and Clear-To-Send (pins 4 and 5) are used, in addition to Data-Set-Ready (pin 6). (Note: these pin numbers are for the normal DB-25 25 pin connector; other connectors may differ.) When buying a cable, you want an RS-232 cable that has at least 8 or 9 wires. To summarize, these are the pins used by FLEXPAC: DB-25 Pin Meaning ------------ ----------------- 1,7 Ground 2,3 Transmit,/Receive Data 4.5 Request-To-Send,Clear-To-Send 6 Data Set Ready In addition, your modem might require pin 20 (Data Terminal Ready), which FLEXPAC turns on. Installation and Usage 7 If you do not have the proper cable, you will notice errors on received data, and the error counters displayed at the end of the run will not be zero. This situation should be corrected if present. Using A Monochrome Display FLEXPAC uses many colors on the screen. If you are using a monochrome monitor and having trouble seeing all the fields, enter the DOS command 'MODE BW80' before starting the program. INSTALLATION Installation entails two steps. First, copy all files from the distribution diskette to a subdirectory on your hard drive (or to a working diskette if you have a diskette system). These files are: FLEXPAC.EXE the main program file FLEXPAC.BRW this documentation, in online browse format FLEXPAC.PRT this documentation, in printable format (has standard IBM printer control codes) SAMPLE.CTL a sample control file FLEXCUST.EXE the program that allows you to select your own screen color combinations and to specify window sizes FLEXCUST.PRO a data file used by FLEXCUST.EXE Secondly, you have to customize the control file to your system and requirements. START BY COPYING OR RENAMING THE SAMPLE FILE SAMPLE.CTL TO FLEXPAC.CTL. Go through the file, changing all occurrences of <yourcall> to your call, and <K5NA to your PacketCluster node call. This may be all that you have to do, but unfortunately due the diversity of TNCs, there is just no "quick start". You will have to read the following chapters to understand the program and then look through the FLEXPAC.CTL file for commands that are not correct for your TNC or PacketCluster node and change them. INVOCATION To start up FLEXPAC, use the command: FLEXPAC. [initial-procedure] [options] Installation and Usage 8 All parameters are optional. If you specify an initial procedure, that is the name of the script to be executed at start-up. See "Scripts" on page 12 for details. The default startup procedure is "INIT". There are some optional parameters you may need; they are: /TNC=COMx sets the COM port to COM1 (default) or COM2 - replace x with the proper number /baud=xxxx sets the PC to TNC baud rate - acceptable values for xxxx are 1200, 2400, 4800, 9600 /restart used when already connected; bypasses the default script (INIT) invocation /tncsetup enters a special TNC SETUP mode prior to starting the run; used for special TNC initialization or AUTOBAUD setup; see 3 on page 9 for more information /comdelay=n sets the delay used when temporarily disabling the communications port - see "COM Port Errors and Adjustments" on page 31 for more information WHAT IF IT DOESN'T RUN If the program does not come up at all (i.e., does not clear and format the screen as described) please report the problem. If the screen does come up, but you cannot communicate with your TNC, check the following things: 1. Check to see whether you have a valid control file (FLEXPAC.CTL) - you might have forgotten to copy or rename it from SAMPLE.CTL and might have forgotten to customize it - see "Installation" on page 8 for details. 2. Check to see whether your TNC is on COM1 or COM2 - if on COM2, make sure you use the invocation parameter /TNC=COM2. 3. If you cannot seem to communicate with your TNC, the most common source of problems is your TNC's baud rate, word length, or parity setting. You can choose your baud rate (see /BAUD= invocation parameter), but word length (usually the AWLEN parameter) must be 8 (for 8 bits in a word) and parity (usually the PARITY parameter) must be 0 (no parity). For some more information about COM port specifications, see "COM Port Errors and Adjustments" on page 31. You might also check to see if your TNC has an AUTOBAUD function, in which the TNC can automatically sense the baud rate. If an AUTOBAUD function is in effect, you will NOT be able to use normal FLEXPAC Installation and Usage 9 keying to set it. This is because FLEXPAC buffers your keystrokes and does not send them to the TNC until you press Enter. To get around this problem, FLEXPAC has a special TNC setup mode, which can be invoked by entering the /TNCSETUP invocation parameter. If you use this parameter, you will be placed in a special SETUP mode prior to starting normal FLEXPAC operation. In this special mode you can enter any keystroke and it will be sent immediately to the TNC, and any response immediately displayed. Use this mode to perform any special TNC setup or AUTOBAUD setup you may need. If you use /TNCSETUP, remember that the ECHO default for FLEXPAC is ECHO OFF - therefore you will NOT see your individual keystrokes echoed unless you issue the command ECHO ON to your TNC. 4. If none of the above, it is probably a TNC configuration problem; see the script called SETUP (look for :SETUP) which is in effect a list of the TNC parameters for a PacComm Tiny 2; find one or more in conflict and fix them. 5. If DOS SUBSET mode (the @DOS command) doesn't work, it is probably due to either a lack of sufficient storage to run another copy of COMMAND.COM (which is what subset is), or you did not have COMMAND.COM available on disk. CUSTOMIZING YOUR SCREEN COLORS, WINDOWS, OTHER OPTIONS Note: This section is placed here because it's the right place for it; however, you don't need to customize now - come back to this section later when you need or want to. There is a way for your to customize your version of FLEXPAC. to set these things: screen colors default COM port and baud window sizes In addition, you can also indicate that you have registered as an FLEXPAC user. Customization is done by using a separate program, FLEXCUST, which is supplied in the package. FLEXCUST reads a file called FLEXCUST.PRO, which you can modify (directions are right in the file) with your editor to specify your unique color and window size specifications. After FLEXCUST reads the FLEXCUST.PRO file, it modifies your working copy of the main FLEXPAC.EXE program. This modification is made directly TO THE PROGRAM FILE ITSELF (FLEXPAC.EXE) so that it is now different from the program file that you originally received. Of course, you need to run FLEXCUST only once to customize a copy of the program file. Installation and Usage 10 Since the program file itself is modified, the changes will move with the program file if you move or copy it. If you get another program file (such as when a new release comes out), you will have to run FLEXCUST again on the new program file. Note: The COM port and baud rate specifications can be overridden by options on the FLEXPAC invocation line. Installation and Usage 11 THE CONTROL FILE The key to understanding the smart functions is to understand the format and content of the control file (FLEXPAC.CTL). This file is a normal ASCII file that you can edit with any ASCII editor. The control file must be on the current disk or subdirectory. SCRIPTS Entries (lines) in the control file can contain TNC commands or text, or FLEXPAC special commands. All entries are organized into SCRIPTS. A SCRIPT is defined as all the lines between a starting label and the ending flag. A starting label consists of a colon (:) in column one, followed directly (no spaces) by the "name" of the script. The name also cannot contain any spaces. A colon (:) marks the end of a script - this can be a line with just a colon, or the beginning of the next script. The control file must contain at least two scripts; one with the special name INIT and one called SHUTDOWN. INIT is automatically executed by FLEXPAC on start-up (unless you have overridden the initial script name - see "Invocation" on page 8). SHUTDOWN is executed when you the issue the @SHUTDOWN command to stop the run. "Executed" means that FLEXPAC will look at each line and process it. The line could be just text to send to the TNC (such as CONNECT K5NA) or special FLEXPAC commands. Note that lines are processed identically whether they came from a script in the control file, or were entered manually by you in the key line. An example of a script is: * Script to turn on the talk monitor and tell the PacketCluster * that we are here :iamhere set/here @tm on : To execute this script type @do iamhere . HOW SCRIPTS ARE PROCESSED FLEXPAC makes one determination to see if the line is one of its own special commands, or just a line of text for the TNC. It does this by examining the first character. If it is a colon (:), then the script The Control File 12 processing stops and control is returned to you at the keyboard. An at-sign (@) in the first column indicates the start of a FLEXPAC command. The command identification must immediately follow the at-sign, with no spaces. Aborting A WAIT or A Script While script processing is in effect, data is being read from your control file rather than from the keyboard. Any keys pressed during script processing will be ignored, with the following exceptions: 1. if you are in a WAIT and you want to abort out of it, press the Esc key; the script will then continue to process 2. to abort script processing, also press Esc - this will result in the script being immediately terminated at that point Note that if you are in a WAIT and also with to cancel the script, you will have to press Esc twice. FUNCTION KEY AND BOTTOM LINE DEFINITION To define a function key, used the form: @DEF Fn <text>[/]. where n is the key number (1-12) and <text> is the text to be defined. After definition, whenever you press one of the F keys, FLEXPAC gets the <text> and processes it as if you had manually typed <text> in the key line. Thus, <text> can contain any text or FLEXPAC commands, including the @DEF command itself! The optional slash sign (/) at the end of the definition is used to specify what FLEXPAC does with the definition. If there is no slash, then the definition is immediately processed. If there is a slash at the end, the definition characters are just placed in the key area on the screen, just as if you had keyed them in yourself. The cursor is positioned at the end of the line. For example, if you talk to N2ABC a lot, you might want to define a key such as: @def F12 T N2ABC / and then when you pressed F12 the characters T N2ABC would appear in the command line area and then you could go ahead and just type your message and then press Enter to send it. The Control File 13 Many programs show the current F key definitions on the bottom line of the screen. Rather than attempt to do this automatically, FLEXPAC lets you define your own "message" to appear on the bottom line - you can put F key abbreviations, or just some text, like "F Keys for PacketCluster now active". Do this by the command: @KEYS <key identification> The entire <key identification> will appear on the bottom line. An example of function key definitions for use with K5NA might be: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ :dokeys @def f1 show/users @def f2 dir/own @def f3 dir @keys Logged On K5NA: F1=Users F2=My Messages F3=General Messages : Figure 1. Example of F Key Definitions ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Alt and Ctrl F Key Definitions Instead of just giving you the normal 12 F key definitions, FLEXPAC gives you 36! You can also define the Alt or Ctrl F key combinations. Just add the word Alt (or A) or Ctrl (or C) before the F number - examples: @def f1 show/users @def alt f1 show/con K5na @def c f2 /exit This would define 3 entirely separate key definitions. Pressing F1 would result in "show/users", holding the ALT key and pressing F1 would result in "show/con k5na" and holding the CTRL key and pressing F1 would result in "/exit". Similarly, you can define 3 separate function key definition lines. The normal line will appear when the ALT and CTRL keys are not pressed - when you press either of these, the definition line for that key will appear. To define these additional key definition lines, put ALT (or A) or CTRL (or C) in front of the definition in the @keys command. Examples: @keys f1=who f2=logoff f3=@DOS @keys a Alternate Key Definitions In Effect @keys ctrl **** NO CTRL F KEYS DEFINED NOW **** The Control File 14 TELLING FLEXPAC WHO YOU ARE FLEXPAC needs to know who you are (name, call) and the call of the PacketCluster that you are using. The @MYCALL and @CLUSTERCALL commands to this - examples: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ @mycall W2ABC @myname Bob @myname Bob Jones, W2ABC @clustercall K5NA Figure 2. Example of Identifying Commands ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Please be sure you set these; if not, certain functions of FLEXPAC will not work properly. DX SPOT LOGGING COMMANDS You can use FLEXPAC to handle DX spots for you. The command is @DX, and the operands are ON/OFF and SCREEN/PRINTER/WINDOW. Thus, to prevent spots from coming to the screen, but to log all spots to the printer, you would enter: @DX OFF SCREEN @DX ON PRINTER To open a DX window, enter @DX ON WINDOW and to close the window, enter @DX OFF WINDOW. At the current time, each command must be on a separate line - you CANNOT, for example, say @DX ON SCREEN OFF PRINTER. Note that all three modes are independent of each other and that the default is ON for SCREEN and OFF for PRINTER and WINDOW. If you want no spots at all, just turn everything off! (Note: some prior versions of FLEXPAC have all DX display modes off as the default - if you see no DX spots, this may be the problem.) COMMENTS IN THE FLEXPAC.CTL FILE Any line that begins with an asterisk (*) in the FLEXPAC.CTL file is considered a comment and will not be processed. The Control File 15 FLOW CONTROL This set of commands controls execution flow through the control file, and also controls ending the program. The commands are: @DO name will immediately execute script "name". You would normally have @DO in a F key definition, but it can be used anywhere, including manually from the input line, or within another script. If encountered within a script, the current script is ended immediately and the new script started. Optional parameters can be passed to the script - see "Parameter Substitution In Scripts" on page 34 for more information. If "name" is not found, an error message display. @WAIT <text> tells FLEXPAC to pause temporarily while executing a script; the pause continues until the <text> appears from the TNC. You can wait for any text or characters; for example, @wait Connected to CLV would wait until the text "Connected to CLV" appeared anywhere within a line received from the TNC. At that point, processing resumes in the current script. What happens if the text is not found? In that case, FLEXPAC will wait only for a certain period of time. You can specify that time with the @WAITTIME command, or use the default of 60 seconds. When that time is up, an error message is sent to the screen and the script will end. If you wish to have a different script executed when the timeout occurs, you can specify that with the @WAITNOTFOUND command. This is an example of waiting 1 minute for a connect, and then resetting the TNC if the connect does not occur: * Try to connect, time out in 1 minute if not :test @waittime 60 @waitnotfound noconnect c clv @wait Connected to CLV : :noconnect * got here if timeout on connect @cmd d : The Control File 16 The value specified in the @WAITTIME command must be an integer time in seconds - the minimum is 1 second, and the maximum is 3600 seconds (i.e 1 hour). The operand of the @WAITNOTFOUND command is the name of a script, similar to that in an @DO command. If you want to reset the @WAITNOTFOUND to no script, just leave that field blank. If the script specified is not found, this will only be discovered when the timeout occurs, and an additional error message will be displayed on the screen. Note: do NOT specify the colon as the first character of the script name - this will be detected as an error. @EXIT immediately stops the program. No shutdown process (see @SHUTDOWN command) is done. You probably would not do this, but @EXIT must appear at the end of the SHUTDOWN script to end the program. @SHUTDOWN is the normal way to end the program. You would normally define this to an F key. This command is equivalent to @DO SHUTDOWN, which starts execution of the script :SHUTDOWN. WRITING TO THE SCREEN When developing your scripts in FLEXPAC.CTL, you may sometime want to clear the screen and write to it. These commands allow you to do that: @CLEARSCREEN clears the current window - this command can be abbreviated @CLS and take no operands. @ERROR sends the text on the line to the screen using the error color and also sounds the alarm tone. @SAY works the same as @ERROR but does not sound the alarm and is written in the normal FLEXPAC output color. THE CLOCK AND TIMING COMMANDS FLEXPAC has a sense of time. The current time of day is displayed on the indicator line. Also, you can tell FLEXPAC to do something for you at a specific time of the day. The syntax of the AT command is @AT hh:mm action The Control File 17 where hh:mm is the TIME in the future to do the ACTION in hh:mm (hours, minutes format - 24 hour time). Thus, if you wanted to shutdown the program at 11:30 PM, you would issue the command @AT 23:30 @DO SHUTDOWN Note that the action can be any command or text, just as you would put into, for example, an F key definition. When the AT is ACTIVE, you will see the scheduled time displayed on the screen near the main clock. To turn off an active AT, just issue the command @AT without any parameters. BELLS You can use FLEXPAC to suppress the sound of the bell character (Ctrl-G) from received messages. To do this, use the @BELLS OFF command, and @BELLS ON to turn them on. The default is ON. MISCELLANEOUS COMMANDS @COMSTAT displays the current COM port statistics, in a display similar to that done at the normal end of FLEXPAC. See section "COM Port Errors and Adjustments" on page 31 for information on how to interpret this display. @CMD tells FLEXPAC to send to the TNC the character that switches from CONNECT mode to CMD mode, in effect simulating pressing of the Esc key. This command is here so that you can put TNC commands in your scripts, and ensure that the TNC is in CMD mode. @DELAY allows you to wait for a period of time (in seconds) during the execution of a script. Specify @DELAY nn, where 'nn' is the amount of time to delay in seconds. All processing will be halted during this period. You can delay between 1 and 3600 (i.e. one hour) seconds. @TALKMONITOR specifies if you should be called when someone initiates TALK mode to you - specify ON or OFF. @DOS issue a command to DOS or enter a DOS subset mode, if enough memory is available to save the current screen image. Memory available to DOS while in subset mode depends on how much memory your computer has. Note that the scroll back buffer is cleared out when you do an @DOS command. The Control File 18 The format is: @DOS ..or.. @DOS doscommand If you enter @DOS with no operands, you will be put in DOS subset mode. Type EXIT to return to FLEXPAC. If you enter @DOS DOSCOMMAND, the DOSCOMMAND will be sent to DOS. Note that FLEXPAC continues to process the next command in a script after @DOS without pause. This is so you can put multiple DOS commands in your scripts without human intervention. In order to use @DOS you MUST have the DOS command interpreter, COMMAND.COM available on disk. For hard drives, this is probably the case. However, for diskette only users, you should ensure that COMMAND.COM is on the same diskette you use to run FLEXPAC. @CAPTURE controls the capture of data from the active window into a disk(ette) file. Refer to section "Screen Capture" on page 30 for more detail. @SEND The @SEND command sends a file or note to the TNC. Refer to section "Sending A File or Message" on page 29 for more information. @WORDWRAP The @WORDWRAP controls whether word wrap with power typing is enabled or not. The default is OFF. Say @WORDWRAP ON or @WORDWRAP OFF. The Control File 19 PULL DOWN MENUS Now that you have read all about the FLEXPAC commands and functions, you may have come to the realization that there are a lot of different commands and options to pick from! The commands you just read about are needed for the script language, but if you just want to change or set functions manually, it would be nice if there were an easier way to do it - and, there is! FLEXPAC also has a pull down menu system, similar to ones you may have seen in other programs. The menu system allows you to change many of the FLEXPAC control functions and also to specify things such as your name or call easily. GETTING THE MENU You have two ways to get the menu function on the screen. The first is to press Alt-M, and the second is to execute the @menu command. The reason for the @menu command is so that you can assign the menu function to an F key if you wish. When you press Alt-M or execute the @menu command, all other program functions temporarily stop. (Don't worry, you will not lose data from the TNC because FLEXPAC temporarily shuts down the COM port link to the TNC.) At the top of the screen, you will then see the initial menu display at the top of the screen, which looks like this: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ╔══════════╤══════════╤══════════╗ ║ Switches │ Identify │ Cluster ║ ╚═╤════════╪══════════╧══════════╝ │ └────────┐ │ √ Bells │ │ √ Connect Alarm │ │ Word Wrap │ └─────────────────┘ Figure 3. Typical Menu Display: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ USING THE MENU Pull Down Menus 20 The Primary Selection Menu The top line of the menu, enclosed in a double line box, is the Primary Selection Menu. Each entry in the primary has a set of secondary selections that will appear below it. The "Switches" primary menu selection is automatically selected first, and thus its secondary selection box is already displayed below. There are currently three primary selections; refer to section "Menu Detail" on page 22 for details. The Secondary Menus Each secondary menu is in a single line box below its appropriate primary entry. You will see a list of items - these can be of two different types: 1. Some entries begin with the check-mark (√). This type of entry is for an on/off switch - if you see the check-mark at the beginning of that entry, than the switch is ON. If the entry is OFF, there will be a blank instead. 2. The second type of entry has an entry name followed by an equals sign (such as My Call=); there may or may not be text after the equals sign. The entries can be used to specify letter entries, such as your call, name, etc. Selecting Entries The primary entry that is currently active will be displayed in highlighted color, and its secondary box will show below. Use the left arrow and right arrow keys to move between primary menu selections. You can use these keys at any time, even when inside a secondary menu. When a secondary menu is first displayed, the top entry is highlighted. Use the up arrow and down arrow keys to move up and down to highlight a particular secondary entry. Changing Entries Changing entries is very simple. Just highlight the entry you wish to change and press ENTER. If it is an on/off type of entry, you will see the check-mark turn on or off. Pull Down Menus 21 If the entry is a text type, pressing ENTER will open up a field within the entry that you can key into. Normal editing keys can be used in this field. Note also that the INSERT key is active in this mode, and you should see a normal or insert cursor as appropriate. Type in the new text. When you are done, press ENTER again. If, however, you have made a mistake and DO NOT want the new text accepted, press ESC instead. Ending The Menu To end the menu at any time, just press ESC. (Note: if you are currently editing a letter type field, you MUST press ENTER first to end the edit. If you press ESC when editing a text entry, that will be interpreted as a mistake.) MENU DETAIL The Switches Menu "Switches" contains secondary entries for general switches (in other words, on/off selections). ╔══════════╤══════════╤══════════╗ ║ Switches │ Identify │ Cluster ║ ╚═╤════════╪══════════╧══════════╝ │ └────────┐ │ √ Bells │ │ √ Connect Alarm │ │ Word Wrap │ └─────────────────┘ The Identify Menu "Identify" contains secondary entries for your callsign and name. ╔══════════╤══════════╤══════════╗ ║ Switches │ Identify │ Cluster ║ ╚══════════╧═╤════════╪══════════╝ │ └────────────────────────┐ │ My Call= │ │ My Name= │ └─────────────────────────────────┘ Pull Down Menus 22 The Identify Menu "Cluster" contains secondary entries that are pertinent to PacketCluster operation. ╔══════════╤══════════╤══════════╗ ║ Switches │ Identify │ Cluster ║ ╚══════════╧══════════╧═╤════════╝ │ └────────────────────────┐ │ Cluster Call= │ │ √ DX On Screen │ │ DX On Printer │ │ DX On Window │ │ Talk Monitor │ └─────────────────────────────────┘ Pull Down Menus 23 ABOUT THE SCREEN, WINDOWS, SWITCHING, AND SCREEN CAPTURE THE SCREEN AND WINDOWS When FLEXPAC starts up, you will see the main screen, which has these main areas: o The top 22 lines hold either TNC output or messages from the program. This area scrolls upwards as you would normally expect it would. In this area there can be one, two, or three windows A window is a horizontal stripe of data on the screen; each window has a different color and a top header line. If you are only using the standard A stream from your TNC and you have not requested a DX window, then the main A stream window occupies lines 2-22 on the screen. Line 1 is the header line for the A stream window. The header line contains the current connect status of that window. If you request a B window by typing a |b command (where '|' is the broken vertical bar or whatever your TNC's STREAMSWITCH character is), then the B stream window will open. Lines 1-22 will be split between the two windows. Note that as much of the data as possible from the previous window size is copied to the new window - because of this (and the scroll back buffer), data is never lost. Each window has its own header line. The B stream window will stay in effect until you manually close it (see the Ctrl-PgUp key). The B stream window also can be opened whenever the TNC sends B stream information to the computer. For example, if somebody connects on the B stream to you, the B stream window will automatically open. In addition, you also can open a DX Window (see the @DX command). This window also will share lines 1-22 with the other windows if open. o Line 23 is the status line. It shows the version of the program, the current time, and the status of FLEXPAC options. The fields on the status line are: Position Used For 2 identifies the current program version number 17 shows the status of DX logging to screen, window, or printer. The format is "DX-swp"; if DX logging is ON, the appropriate character (s for screen, w for window, p for About The Screen, Windows, Switching, and Screen Capture 24 printer) is capitalized. If DX logging is off for that type of output, a lower case letter is displayed. Thus, if the status line reads DX-SwP, DX logging is ON for Screen and Printer, and OFF for Window. 26 shows the current time, in the format TIME-hh:mm. 39 shows the current @AT time, if you have an @AT pending. 50 indicates TALKMONITOR status - a small letter "t" indicates that the talk monitor is off - a capital letter "T" indicates that it is on 54 indicates CONNECTALARM status - a small letter "c" indicates that the connect monitor is off - a capital letter "C" indicates that it is on 58 shows if CAPTURE is on, and to what window; for example, if the status line says CAP-Ab, then capture is on for the A window and not for B. 67 indicates whether bells are suppressed or not; if BELLS ON, you will see a music symbol in this column; if BELLS OFF, this column will show nothing. 71 indicates if word wrap is enabled; shows WW if word wrap is on, nothing if off. o The next to bottom line contains any keystrokes you type. For information on what keys can be used, see "Keying" on page 26. o The bottom line is programmable by you. Normally it contains the active function key definitions, but you can change to be anything you want. This line can be changed dynamically during script execution. The Scroll Back Buffers FLEXPAC incorporates a full scroll back buffer implementation for each window that is open. FLEXPAC uses up to 32K of RAM for buffering for the main stream windows, and 8K for the DX window - depending on how much RAM you have available in your system. You can invoke this function at any time on the ACTIVE WINDOW by pressing Alt-S; you can then scroll the main receive window by using the arrow or PgUp and PgDn keys. Press Esc to exit scrolling mode and return to normal operation. Note that during scroll FLEXPAC halts all other functions, and that communications with the TNC is stopped. With sufficient buffering in the TNC, this should not be a problem. You can back scroll the DX window by pressing Alt-D. About The Screen, Windows, Switching, and Screen Capture 25 Note that using the @DOS command also requires RAM memory. Because of this, the scroll back buffer is disabled during the @DOS function, and reallocated when you return to FLEXPAC. This has the effect of erasing all your previous scroll back data. This will be improved in a future release. Notes On Window and Stream Switching Although FLEXPAC attempts to make it very easy for you to use multiple windows and streams, there are some situations inherant in TNCs which tend to create confusing results on the screen. This is mostly because TNCs keep the Input (I) and Output (O) for each stream independant - in other words, you could be typing into stream A while the TNC is already writing to stream B. Just because you type into A does not automatically mean that any further output you see will go into A. The output only switches to A when some output appears from the TNC for the A stream. Thus, if you preceed a line with a stream switch, and that line causes some output from the TNC, then it will probably work the way you want - i.e. both your typing and the TNC output will go to the "new" stream. On the other hand, if you type a stream switch with no text or command following, then the Input (i.e. every thing else you type from then on) will go to the new stream, but the output from the tnc will continue in the old stream until some output from the new stream appears. Likewise, if you preceed an FLEXPAC command with a stream switch, this effect will also happend because FLEXPAC command do not go to the TNC and hence does not cause any TNC output. If this is confusing, play with it a bit. Remember that the highlighted stream header line indicates which stream FLEXPAC thinks you are typing into, not receiving from. KEYING You will always see the cursor in the key input line. You can type at any time, without effecting whatever else is going on (reading data from the TNC, etc.). You can only type up to 80 characters. If you need more text, press Enter to process the first line and then continue. (Wrapping around to a new line is a very bad habit, and really screws up the format of displayed notes and messages, and should be avoided - that is why FLEXPAC does not let you do it.) Key as you would normally. Press Enter when you want the line to be acted on by the program. You may notice that the keying mode is ALWAYS Insert Mode - the Ins key has no effect. FLEXPAC takes this default to make the program-to-user interface simpler. About The Screen, Windows, Switching, and Screen Capture 26 The following special keys are available: Enter signals the program that you are finished typing this line and that the program should process the line (may contain FLEXPAC commands, data, or whatever) Esc sends the character that causes the TNC to go from CONNECT mode to CMD mode - you should then see the CMD prompt on the screen. The character sent is $03 (hexadecimal 3). If you are in scroll back mode, Esc cancels this mode and returns you to normal control. Home moves the cursor to the beginning of the current input line End moves the cursor to the end of the current input line Ctrl-PgUp eliminates the current window from the screen. Note that this cannot be done to the A stream window (by definition, it is always active) and does not apply to the DX window (use the @DX OFF WINDOW command to close the DX window). Note also that the eliminated window may reappear if the TNC sends data to the window again. Ctrl-PgDn erases the current line you are typing in the key area, clears the line, and sets the cursor back to column one Ctrl-Home clears the active window Ctrl-End erases from the cursor to the end of the input line Ins has no effect - always in Insert mode Del deletes the character above the cursor Backspace deletes the character to the left of the cursor and moves the cursor to the left one character (rubout) Alt-d activates the scroll back buffer for the DX window Alt-s activates the scroll back buffer for the current window - see section "The Scroll Back Buffers" on page 25 for details The Retrieve Function FLEXPAC saves the last 8 typed lines. You may retrieve any of those by using the up arrow and down arrow keys. If you press an arrow key, you will see the prior text displayed in the input window. At that point you can type into it to change it or just press Enter. About The Screen, Windows, Switching, and Screen Capture 27 Entering Control Codes or other Non-ASCII Text If you wish to enter a control code or other nonstandard ASCII character, you can do so by using the special '^' character prefix. This can be done on the input line, or in your scripts. The format is ^hh, where hh are two hexadecimal digits. Note that there must always be two hexadecimal digits after the carat (^) or else it will be ignored and left as standard ASCII data. When the line is sent to the TNC, the 3 character sequence (^hh) will be changed to a single character of the value you specify. Examples: key: A in hex is ^41 sends: A in hex is A key: Send a bell ^07 here sends: Send a bell here <== and the bell sounds key: This is just a carat ^ here sends: This is just a carat ^ here <== no hex digits, ignored SWITCHING WINDOWS AND STREAMS The stream switch character (|) has significance to both your TNC and to FLEXPAC. You use it to change connect streams - for example, entering |B switches the TNC active stream to the B stream. FLEXPAC also looks for and processes the stream switch character as an indication of which screen window to activate (or if one is to be created). For example, if you type |B at the start of a line, FLEXPAC will create a B stream window if one is not already open, and then make that window the active window. The |B is then passed to your TNC as normal for its processing. For FLEXPAC to process the stream switch character, it MUST be the first character on a line. You also can precede an @ command with a stream switch sequence. This would be most useful in scripts or key definitions. For example, if you wanted to start capture of the B stream by pressing F2, you would define it as: @def f2 |b@capture to myfile.cap FLEXPAC will process the |B first and switch to the B stream before starting capture. When the stream switch sequence precedes an @ About The Screen, Windows, Switching, and Screen Capture 28 command, the entire line is NOT sent to the TNC, as the @ command itself is not sent. Instead, just the stream switch sequence only (i.e., |b) is sent. SENDING A FILE OR MESSAGE There are cases where you want to send a file to the PacketCluster, to a BBS, or just to a friend. Currently, FLEXPAC does not support binary (i.e. program) file transfers. Normal ASCII data can be transmitted by using the @SEND command. @SEND really doesn't do any magic - all it does is to take a disk(ette) file that you specify and send it character by character to the TNC, just as if you had typed it in. If you are uploading to a BBS or the PacketCluster (for example), you would have to issue the commands to tell the BBS that you are uploading a file BEFORE using the @SEND command. Another use of the @SEND command is to make it easier to compose and send notes or mail. Rather than log on to a BBS and send the message character by character (taking a lot of time, perhaps that another ham could use to connect), you can put the note or message into a file and @SEND it. The @DOS command of FLEXPAC can also help. For example, to compose and send a note from within FLEXPAC you might do the following (example, for the PacketCluster): 1) @DOS COPY CON MY.MSG <== tell DOS to get key input to a file 2) <enter the topic> 3) <enter your message as many lines as necessary> 4) press Control-Z <== ends the DOS COPY command 5) s W1XYZ <== tell PacketCluster to start note 6) @SEND MY.MSG <== send the text of the message As an alternative to using the DOS COPY command to create the file, you could use your favorite editor. The format of the @SEND command is: @SEND filename where 'filename' is the name of the file to be send - you can use any valid DOS file name. If 'filename' cannot be found, you will see an error message. About The Screen, Windows, Switching, and Screen Capture 29 SCREEN CAPTURE You can specify that the data from a window be placed into a disk(ette) file - this is called Capture and is controlled by the @CAPTURE command. Each stream window can have its own capture to a separate file and are independent of each other. The @CAPTURE command when issued applies to the currently active window. To start capture in a window, issue the command @CAPTURE TO <filename> where <filename> is any valid DOS file name. If you wish to capture directly to the printer, use the word PRINTER instead of <filename>. If the file already exists, the new capture information will be added to the end of the already existing file. To turn off capture, issue the command @CAPTURE OFF which will stop capture for the current window. Error messages are issued if: o the file name is invalid or cannot be OPENed o you try to capture to the same file from both windows o you try to turn OFF capture when not on o you try to start capture when capture has already been started in that window To indicate that capture is active, the phrase CAP-ab will appear in the indicator line. If capture is active in either the A or B sessions, the letter 'a' and/or 'b' will be capitalized. About The Screen, Windows, Switching, and Screen Capture 30 COM PORT ERRORS AND ADJUSTMENTS One of the most critical factors in getting FLEXPAC up and running for you is to make sure that all of the communications port parameters are working correctly. We can't emphasize more that the vast majority of all startup problems are related to not having these communications parameters correctly set up: 1. COM1 or COM2 - default is COM1 2. baud rate - default is 4800 baud 3. word length - 8 bits is MANDATORY 4. parity - Parity OFF is MANDATORY 5. stop bits - should be 1 Refer to your TNC manual to understand how to set these parameters in your TNC. To change the COM port or baud rate for FLEXPAC, use the /TNC=COMx and /BAUD=xxxx invocation parameters. HOW TO DETERMINE COM PORT PROBLEMS To assist in debugging COM port problems, FLEXPAC displays a set of counters and indicators when you issue the @COMSTAT command. The screen will look like this: Performance Statistics: - Comm Errs - ------- Circular Buffer ------ Ovr Par Fra TX Ovr/Bak/Siz RX Ovr/Bak/Siz aaa bbb ccc ddd eee fff ggg hhh iii The fields "aaa" through "iii" represent the numbers that will appear to indicate the various values. There are 3 sections. Comm Errs This section displays error counters accumulated during the entire run. This set of errors are those reported from the com port hardware (i.e. they are hardware detected communications errors). There are 3 values - Ovr, Par, and Fra, which stand for Overruns, Parity Errors, and Framing Errors. These numbers should be zero. If you occasionally see a "1" value and you notice no problems running FLEXPAC, that can probably be ignored. Consistent errors probably indicate a mismatch in one or more of the 3 main com port parameters - baud rate, word length, or parity. Another possibility is that you may be running too high a baud rate for the capabilities of your hardware - try running at a lower baud rate. Circular Buffer COM Port Errors and Adjustments 31 FLEXPAC uses two circular (i.e. never ending) buffers, one for data being transmitted, and one for data being received. There are three numbers for the TX (transmit) buffer, and three numbers for the RX (receive) buffer. The "Siz" numbers indicate the size of each buffer. Currently, FLEXPAC uses a 200 byte buffer for each, so these numbers should always be "200". The "Bak" numbers indicate the backlog, or the largest amount of data ever backlogged in the buffer at any time. For transmit, the backlog indicates maximum amount of data ever pending to be transmitted. For receive, it indicates the largest number of characters waiting in the buffer to be processed by the program. These numbers should never be greater than the buffer size. If the backlog ever exceeds the size of the buffers, data will be lost. The Ovr fields tell you how many times that happened during this run. If either of these two Ovr numbers is greater than zero, it indicates major communications problems. WHAT TO DO ABOUT COM PROBLEMS If you are getting Com port errors (Par, Fra, Ovr), then the first place to look is the baud rate. If you are running a high rate (9600 baud), your PC may not be able to keep up with the high rate of incoming characters. Try using 4800 baud - if all works well at this speed, you should stay there. If you are getting RX circular buffer Ovr counts greater than zero, then your TNC is not handling hardware handshaking properly. Check to see that your cable has the appropriate wires and that the appropriate commands to your TNC have been set to invoke hardware handshaking (XFLOW on my TNC). When using hardware handshaking, sometimes a few characters can "sneak" by before the line is stopped. If you see occasional Com Ovr errors, this may be due to errors which happen when the program THINKS that the line is stopped but in fact a few more characters have slipped in. FLEXPAC uses hardware handshaking, which means it uses the CTS (Clear To Send) and RTS (Request To Send) lines in the RS-232 cable to control or pace data communications. The program stops communications often because doing some things (such as disk I/O or screen manipulations like scrolling) can potentially cause COM port errors. If you see Comm Errs or there are visible problems on the screen (such as missing characters, improperly formatted data, etc.), then you may need to increase the value in the /COMDELAY=n invocation parameter. The value 'n' indicates the amount of time the program should delay after COM Port Errors and Adjustments 32 attempting to quiesce the link before continuing. The amount of time is expressed in characters, at the baud rate you are using. Thus, /COMDELAY=2 says to delay 2 characters worth of time. In other words, if you delay two characters of time, this should allow the two characters "sneaking" in to be received without error. The number is approximate, however - you will have to experiment to find the right value for you. The use of /COMDELAY= is not free - there is a performance penalty to pay. For example, if you are running at 1200 baud, a single character time is about 7 milliseconds (ms.). If you set /COMDELAY=2, then there is a 14 ms. delay each time you, for example, read a line from the control file. If your control file has 100 lines in it, the total accumulated delay would be about 14 times 100 milliseconds or about 1.4 seconds. COM Port Errors and Adjustments 33 ADVANCED TOPICS PARAMETER SUBSTITUTION IN SCRIPTS By using scripts in the control file and the @DO command, you can define some very complex functions. An additional function of the @DO can provide even more flexibility. For example, suppose you want to set up a script file to start TALK to another station, and set word wrap on at the same time. You could certainly write a script like: :talk @wordwrap t somebody but how do you get the "somebody" to be replaced with the person you want to talk to? The answer is that you can optionally place parameters (in other words, more words) on the @DO command - these words will be substituted for special symbols you put in the text. You can specify where each word would go inside your script by using the special symbol %n, where 'n' is the number (1-9 allowed) of the word on the @DO command line. For example, if you said "@do talk N2AB", then the special symbol %1 would be replaced by the word "N2AB" in your script. "@do talk N2AB Bob" would result in %1 being replaced by "N2AB" and %2 being replaced by "Bob". Thus, you would now write that script (with a little embellishment): :talk @wordwrap t %1 Hi %2 - how are you? If you then said @do talk N2AB turkey the resulting commands sent to the TNC would be: t N2AB Hi turkey - how are you? If you understand DOS BATCH language, this substitution is very similar to the way that DOS substitutes tokens. The rules are: 1. Any %1 through %9 will be replaced with the first to ninth extra words (tokens) on the @DO command line. Advanced Topics 34 2. No special characters or delimiters are required - AB%1%2CD is a valid target, in which both %1 and %2 will be replaced; since there are no spaces around %1 and %2 in this example, none will appear when resolved. 3. You do not have to enter all (or any) extra words on the @DO command line. If your script calls for more tokens than entered, they will be replaced with nothing. If you enter more words on @DO that you call for in the script, the rest of the words will be ignored. 4. % followed by any other character will be ignored - if you MUST have a % followed by a number that you do NOT want to be changed, use %% instead - the %% will become a single %. Advanced Topics 35 REFERENCE MATERIAL @ COMMAND SUMMARY In the following list, items within vertical bars represent a choice to be made, or an abbreviation. Items in upper case are commands or operands; if in lower case, you may substitute values (such as the hour and minute for hh:mm). Items inside <> brackets are optional. @AT specifies an event to be executed in the future at the hour (hh) and minuter (mm) you specify - the action can be any text, definition, or command - the command with no parameters resets any pending @AT @AT hh:mm action @AT @BELLS allows or suppresses the Ctrl-G (bell sound) on incoming messages @BELLS | ON | | OFF | @CAPTURE controls logging of all data written in a window to a disk file | @CAPTURE | | TO | <filename> | | | @CAP | | PRINTER | | P | | OFF | @CLEARSCREEN clears the current window | @CLEARSCREEN | | @CLS | @CLUSTERCALL identifies the callsign of the PacketCluster node to the program | @CLUSTERCALL | call-sign | @CLCALL | @CMD tell the TNC to enter CMD mode @CMD @COMSTAT displays COM port statistics @COMSTAT Reference Material 36 @CONNECTALARM turns ON or OFF the Connect Alarm facility | @CONNECTALARM | | ON | | @CA | | OFF | @DEF allows you to define your own function key definitions @DEF | | Fxx <key definition> | CTRL | | C | | ALT | | A | @DO causes the execution of the script labeled "name" @DO script-name | up to 9 tokens | @DOS execute a DOS command or enter DOS subset (DOS 3.0 or later required) @DOS <dos-command> @DX controls routine of DX spot information to the screen and/or printer, and also controls whether there is a DX window on the screen @DX | ON | | SCREEN or S | | OFF | | PRINTER or P | | WINDOW or W | @ERROR sends an error message to the current window - the message is in the error color, and the alarm tone also sounds @ERROR message @EXIT stops the program immediately; the SHUTDOWN process is NOT executed @EXIT @KEYS specifies the text that appears on the bottom line of the display @KEYS | | bottom-line-text | CTRL | | C | | ALT | | A | @MYCALL identifies your callsign to the system | @MYCALL | callsign | @MYC | Reference Material 37 @MYNAME identifies your name to the system; the name can be one or more words, but I recommend using only your first name. | @MYNAME | name-text | @MYN | @SAY send a line to the current window @SAY message @SEND causes the characters in the specified file to be transmitted. @SEND filename @SHUTDOWN causes execution of the SHUTDOWN script, which should end with @EXIT | @SHUTDOWN | | @SHUTD | @TALKMONITOR turns ON or OFF the Talk Monitor facility | @TALKMONITOR | | ON | | @TM | | OFF | @WAIT suspends execution of the script until the specified text appears in the TNC output, at which time execution will resume; pressing Esc on the keyboard aborts the WAIT, and the script will then continue; the text can appear anywhere within the received line to be detected properly; see also @WAITNOTFOUND and @WAITTIME @WAIT text-to-wait-for @WAITNOTFOUND identifies the script that should be executed when an @WAIT fails (i.e. the text is not found within the default time or the time specified by @WAITTIME | @WAITNOTFOUND | script-name | @WNF | @WAITTIME overrides the default time (in seconds) of how long to wait for the text in an @WAIT command to appear | @WAITTIME | n | @WT | @WORDWRAP enables or disables power typing and word wrap | @WORDWRAP | | ON | | @WW | | OFF | Reference Material 38 COMMANDS REQUIRING CONNECTION TO THE PACKETCLUSTER Some FLEXPAC functions or commands will not work unless the program knows that you are connected to the station you have defined as your PacketCluster node (via the @CLUSTERCALL command). These commands or functions are: o the TALKMONITOR function o the @DX command for DX spot manipulation (you can open a DX window when not connected to the PacketCluster node, but nothing will be displayed in it) Reference Material 39 LISTING OF ENHANCEMENTS BETWEEN VERSIONS 2.3 TO 2.4 1. Support added for Ctrl and Alt shifted Function keys; the key line contents (defined by the @KEYS command) can also be specified independently for Ctrl or Alt shift. 2. Word Wrap feature added; WW indicator added to the indicator line 3. Indicator line for BELLS changed from BELLS ON/BELLS OFF to a music symbol 4. Parameters for @DO can now be passed, similar to the way in which DOS BAT files work 5. Esc is now the only key that will terminate a WAIT or a script; all other keys typed during script processing will be ignored 6. Com port and baud can now be specified in the customization process 7. Ctrl-PgDn key erases the current line being keyed 8. The invocation parameter "/SPEED" has been changed to "/BAUD" 9. The XFLOW communications indicator has been eliminated. This was useful for some initial debugging and testing, but were causing additional problems (such as line overruns) due to the excess code in the com port interrupt handler. Also, communications indicators appear only when the @COMSTAT command is issued; they no longer appear automatically at the end of the run. 2.4 TO 2.5 1. Ability to turn off an @AT command by issuing @AT with no parameters. 2. @DELAY command added. 3. Fixes to multiple stream support. 4. Fixes to @CAPTURE were made to clean up the file format. 5. Connect Alarm and @CONNECTALARM command added. 6. Added @WAITNOTFOUND and @WAITTIME commands, allowing you to specify the amount of time in seconds to wait for an @WAIT to find the specified text, and an error script to be executed if the text is not found. 7. Added @CLEARSCREEN, @SAY and @ERROR commands. 2.5 TO 2.6 1. Added the Menu function. 2. Fixed a bug in which the wrong window would be cleared using @CLEARSCREEN or the ctrl-home key. 3. Fixed a bug in the @DELAY command. The failure was that @DELAY would delay ALL processes (i.e. the program would stop) rather than Listing of Enhancements Between Versions 40 just the script processing process. 4. Allowed a line containing a single '@' to be valid. Listing of Enhancements Between Versions 41