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Canine Express (K9X) The New Generation Communications Package For the IBM Family of Personal Computers and Compatibles (c) Copyright 1985, 1989 by Crater Rim Software. All Rights Reserved This Documentation Covers the Installation and Operation of BOTH ShareWare Version SW8x and Registered Version 8.xx February 15, 1989 Canine Express Professional v8.xx Page - 00 - Table of Contents ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Table of Contents ............................................. 00 ShareWare Version Licensing Agreement ......................... 06 ShareWare Version Disclaimer and Warranty ................. 07 Introduction .................................................. 07 K9X Features .................................................. 12 K9X Files ..................................................... 15 Other Files ............................................... 16 Files Created or Required ................................. 16 K9X Installation .............................................. 16 INSTALL.BAT ............................................... 17 K9X Directories ........................................... 17 K9X Environment ............................................... 19 K9X Menu Systems .............................................. 19 Starting K9X For The First Time ............................... 19 Using K9X Command GateWay Menu System ......................... 20 Command Gateway Menu System Map ............................... 21 K9X Expert System ............................................. 22 Command Summary Display Sample ............................ 22 Secondary Command Summary Display Sample .................. 23 K9X Expert System Commands .................................... 23 [Esc] : Escape Key ................................... 23 [Home] : Expert Command Summary ....................... 24 [Alt-3] : Use Internal SuperK Protocols ................ 24 [Alt-A] : Toggle ANSI Off............................... 24 [Alt-B] : Send Break ................................... 25 [Alt-C] : Clear Screen ................................. 25 [Alt-D] : Dialing Directory ............................ 25 [Alt-E] : Toggling Local Echo .......................... 25 [Alt-F] : File Manipulation ............................ 26 Files Manipulation Menu Sample ........................ 26 Bytes Free on Drive ................................... 26 Change Drive/Dir ...................................... 26 Display Directory ..................................... 27 Exit to DOS (Shell) ................................... 27 Help with File Select ................................. 27 List Marked Files (0) ................................. 27 Manipulate Marked (0) ................................. 27 Select Upload Files ................................... 28 [Alt-G] : Hang Up The Phone ............................ 28 [Alt-H] : Hook Multitasking ............................ 28 [Alt-I] : Insert Linefeeds ............................. 28 [Alt-J] : Jump to DOS .................................. 28 [Alt-K] : K9X Version .................................. 29 [Alt-L] : Log Session To Printer ....................... 29 [Alt-M] : Function Key Macros .......................... 29 Read Function Key Macros From File .................... 29 Edit/Modify Function Key Macros ....................... 29 Write Function Key Macros To File ..................... 29 Quit Alt-M Section .................................... 29 [Alt-N] : New Modem Settings ........................... 30 [Alt-O] : Open BBS Door - Dumb Terminal Mode ........... 30 Canine Express Professional v8.xx Page - 01 - Table of Contents ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ [Alt_P] : Set Paramters ................................ 30 [Alt-Q] : Toggle Quiet Mode ............................ 30 <ERROR> Line 25 Menu Error Message .................... 31 [Alt-R] : Redial Last Number Dialed .................... 31 Redial Immediately .................................... 31 Change Dial Delay ..................................... 31 [Alt-1]/[Esc] Abort Redial ............................ 31 [Alt-S] : Screen Dump to file .......................... 31 [Alt-T] : Time Fix - Elapsed Time ...................... 32 [Alt-U] : Use File Find ................................ 32 How it works .......................................... 32 [Alt-V] : View Capture Buffer .......................... 33 [Alt-W] : What's My Protocol ........................... 33 [Alt-X] : Toggle Expert mode ........................... 34 Getting there from the Command GateWay ................ 34 Setting Permanent Expert Mode ..................... 34 Setting Temporary Expert Mode ..................... 34 [Alt_Y] : Your K9X Editor .............................. 34 Macro/Message Editing Differences ..................... 34 [End] : Exit K9X to DOS .............................. 35 [Ins] : Log Session To Disk .......................... 35 [^Home] : Default DOS Command .......................... 35 [Alt-1] : Toggle Transfer Window ....................... 36 During File Transfers ................................. 36 Discard Dialing List .................................. 36 Cancel List Dialing ................................... 36 [Alt-8] : CIS/B Module ................................. 36 [Alt-9] : ICEX Pc-Pursuit Module ....................... 37 [->] : Text Message Upload .......................... 37 Sending PreFabricated Messages ........................ 37 [PgDn] : Download (Receive) a file .................... 37 Default Download Path ................................. 37 [ShiftTab] : Mark & Save .................................. 39 Up Arrow .............................................. 39 Down Arrow ............................................ 39 Right Arrow ........................................... 39 Left Arrow ............................................ 39 Home .................................................. 39 End ................................................... 39 Shift Tab ............................................. 39 D - Display Buffered Filenames ........................ 39 M - Mark Filename ..................................... 39 Parsing Format Spaces in File Lists ............... 40 E - Edit Buffered Filenames ........................... 41 A - Add Filename .................................. 41 C - Clear One/All ................................. 41 E - Edit Filename ................................. 41 L - Load File List................................. 41 File list entry format ........................ 41 S - Save Buffered Filenames to file ............... 42 [Enter] Quit Mark and Save/Edit modes ................. 42 Canine Express Professional v8.xx Page - 02 - Table of Contents ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Mark and Save Help Line ............................... 43 []/[Del] : Auto Download Mark and Save Filenames ........ 43 [Del] : Automated Downloads .......................... 43 [] : Quick Download ............................... 44 Special Notes ..................................... 45 [Alt_6] : Clear Filename ............................... 46 [PgUp] : Upload (Send) a File ......................... 46 Using K9X File Find ................................... 47 [] : Quick Upload ................................. 48 @drive:\path\filelist ................................. 48 [Alt_-] : Universal LookFor Toggle ..................... 49 [Alt_+] : Macro Toggle ................................. 49 Dialing Directory ............................................. 50 Queue Dialing Before Entering Dialing Directory ........... 50 List Dialer, Tag and Untag Mode ........................... 50 Dialing Directory Size .................................... 50 Monitoring Carrier Detect ................................. 50 Dialing Directory Format .................................. 50 Main Dialing Directory Display ............................ 51 Dialing Directory Display Sample .......................... 52 Extended Information Display .............................. 52 Extended Info Display Sample .............................. 53 Dialing Number Display .................................... 53 Dialing/ReDialing Number Display Samples .................. 54 Quick Entry Edit Display .................................. 54 Quick Entry Edit Display Sample ........................... 55 Navigating The Dialing Directory .......................... 55 Dialing a Specific Directory Entry ........................ 55 Command Keys .............................................. 56 Esc - Exiting Dialing Funtions ........................ 56 C - Clear Dialing Directory Entry ................... 56 D - Commence List Dial .............................. 56 [Enter] Exiting the various dialer options ............ 56 G - Go To Entry Number .............................. 57 H - Hang Up Phone ................................... 57 L - List Dialing Queue .............................. 57 T - Tag Entry to List Dialing Queue ................. 57 U - Untag Entry from List Dialing Queue ............. 57 M - Manual Dial a Number ............................ 57 N - Name Dialing .................................... 58 R - Redial a number ................................. 58 P - Prefix/Postfix Definitions ...................... 58 Q - Edit/Revise an entry ............................ 28 Dialing Prefixes .......................................... 59 K9X Secondary Modem Control prefixes .................. 60 Their setup and use ............................... 60 Macros .................................................... 62 Function Key Macros ................................... 62 Special Control Characters ........................ 62 Function Key Macro Example ........................ 63 Dialing Directory Macro Files ......................... 63 Canine Express Professional v8.xx Page - 03 - Table of Contents ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Line Format for Macros ............................ 64 Look For Portion .................................. 64 Send Portion ...................................... 64 Number of Execution Times ......................... 64 Using Standard Control Characters ................. 65 Macro Codes ....................................... 65 \ Universal LookFor ........................ 65 \\ What If LookFor .......................... 66 Auto Startup of IXEC PC-Pursuit .......... 66 <D> AutoDownload with AUTODOWN.K9X ........... 66 lookkfor`\\ Special What If .................. 67 AUTONET.K9X Automated Macro ................... 67 MININET.K9X Simple Log On Macro ............... 68 Sample Macros ................................. 69 For PCBoard ................................ 69 For RBBS .................................. 69 K9XCNF.COM - K9X Configuration Utility ........................ 70 Parameters Menu Map ....................................... 70 CTS and DTR Monitoring .................................... 71 Special Control Characters ................................ 72 K9X.CNF Format ............................................ 72 Configuration Parameters .................................. 73 PO= Comm Port ......................................... 73 BA= Baud Rate ......................................... 73 LF= Linefeed Toggle ................................... 73 Modem Setup Menu Item ................................. 73 MI= Modem Init String ............................. 73 MD= Modem Dialing Prefix .......................... 74 MC= Modem Connect Message ......................... 74 MN= Modem No Carrier Message ...................... 74 MB= Modem Line Busy ............................... 74 ME= Modem Escape Characters ....................... 74 MT= Modem Escape Sequence Delay ................... 75 MH= Modem HangUp String ........................... 75 MO= Modem Timeout Value ........................... 75 MR= Delay between Redials ......................... 75 MW= InterChar Delay ............................... 75 CH= Modem Carrier High Flag ....................... 76 MA= Host Mode Modem Init String ................... 76 NT= Modem No Dial Tone Message .................... 77 MV= Modem Voice Message ........................... 77 TM= Text Mode for display ............................. 77 Protocol Menu Item .................................... 77 TT= Default Transfer Protocol ..................... 77 SD= Screen Dump Filename .............................. 78 XL= SuperK/JBatch Log filename ........................ 78 SuperK Colors Menu Item ............................... 78 XT KT YT ST UT .................................... 78 Video Mode and Colors Menu Item ....................... 78 CF= Text Foreground Color ......................... 78 CM= Menu Frame Color .............................. 79 Canine Express Professional v8.xx Page - 04 - Table of Contents ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CT= Menu Text Color ............................... 79 VF= Menu Title Color .............................. 79 BC= Default Border Color .......................... 79 Miscellaneous Params Menu Item ........................ 79 XM= Exploding Menus Toggle ........................ 79 WS= Direct Screen Write Flag ...................... 80 XS= Check CTS Line Flag ........................... 80 XD= Check DTR Line Flag ........................... 80 XP= Expert Mode Toggle ............................ 81 SM= Silent Mode Toggle ............................ 81 PM= Play Music Toggle ........................ 81 RB= Reset Modem to Follow Connect Baud ........... 81 SL= Open Session Log upon startup ................ 82 ML= Maintain Call Log ............................ 82 UQ= Use Qmxfer/DSZQM Ymodem-G .................... 82 HO= Hook Multitasking ............................ 83 US= Use SuperK Protocols ......................... 83 OW= SuperK/JBatch Overwrite ...................... 83 SA= SuperK/JBatch Save Aborts .................... 83 BB= Lines in Review Buffer ........................ 84 XB= Number of Xmodem Buffers Value ................ 84 JD= Default DOS Command ........................... 84 DOS Command Format and Control Character ...... 84 NP= Number of Dialing Dir Pages ................... 85 Condense Dialing Directory Menu Item .................. 86 Quasi Hard Coded Parameters ........................... 86 CB= Text Background Color ......................... 86 BS= BackSpace Character ........................... 86 DE= Delete Character .............................. 86 LE= Local Echo Toggle ............................. 86 FC= Fn Key Carriage Return Character .............. 86 FD= Fn Key Delay Character ........................ 87 FW= Fn Key Wait For String Character .............. 87 FM= Fn Key Escape Character Marker ................ 87 Parameters Set Within K9X ............................. 87 DP= Default Dialing Prefix Character .............. 87 DT= Default Dialing Postfix Character ............ 88 Configure Drives Menu Item ............................ 88 FS= Use File Find ................................. 88 Do Full List Search ............................... 89 Display Transfer Times ............................ 89 Display 1200/2400/9600 Times .................. 89 Display on all files .......................... 89 Files Listings Colors ............................. 90 Adjust Number of Drive Table Entries .............. 90 DL= Default Download Path ......................... 90 Default Upload Path ............................... 90 List/Edit Drive List .................................. 91 K9XDRIVE.TBL Edit Display Sample .................. 91 [] Page ......................................... 91 [A]dd ............................................. 92 Canine Express Professional v8.xx Page - 05 - Table of Contents ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ [E]dit ............................................ 92 [S]wap ............................................ 92 [C]lear ........................................... 92 [Enter] ........................................... 92 Designated Search drive configuration ............. 92 Writing a New K9X.CNF ..................................... 93 K9X File Finder ............................................... 93 Introduction .............................................. 93 Designated and Sequential Search Explanation .......... 94 Drive Configurations in a nutshell .................... 95 Using K9X File Find ....................................... 96 Search parameter options .............................. 96 Using the drive table display ......................... 98 The "More" prompt and its options ..................... 99 The final prompt and doing all again .................. 100 Transferring Files ............................................ 101 Ascii protocol ............................................ 102 Xmodem Chk/CRC Protocol ................................... 102 WXmodem CRC Protocol ...................................... 102 K9Xmodem Protocol ......................................... 102 Zmodem (DSZ) Protocol ..................................... 103 Ymodem-G Protocol ......................................... 103 Ymodem (1K Xmodem) Protocol ............................... 103 Batch/Modem7 Protocol ..................................... 103 Telink CRC Protocol ....................................... 104 Jmodem Protocol ........................................... 104 Super8K Protocol .......................................... 104 PC-Kermit ................................................. 104 KERMIT.BAT ............................................ 105 Specifying Numbers To Dial From DOS ........................... 105 Automatic Session Logs ........................................ 106 CALL.LOG - Automatic call logg ................................ 107 Additional Call Log Information ........................... 107 K9TREE.COM - K9XDRIVE.TBL Generator ......................... 108 K9CLK.COM - Memory Resident Clock/Calendar ................. 108 CLKCOLOR.COM - K9CLK Color Setting Utility .................... 109 K9XEVENT.COM - Timed Event Scheduler .......................... 109 Acknowledgements .............................................. 110 Ordering Information .......................................... 111 Corporate And Quantity Purchases .............................. 111 Site Licensing ................................................ 112 Order Form .................................................... 113 Canine Express Professional v8.xx Page - 06 - K9X ShareWare Licensing Agreement ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ATTENTION REGISTERED USERS: This ShareWare Licensing Agreement Does Not apply to you! Your Licensing Agreement is included in the Registered Version Package. Read it carefully as you are bound by its terms when using K9X. LICENSING AGREEMENT VIOLATIONS WILL BE PROSECUTED. For the sake of clarity, all references and restrictions to the use of the K9X also apply to all of the associated support files INCLUDING the K9Xmodem, Super8K, SuperK and Jbatch protocols. K9X, its overlays and all of its associated support files are not public domain software, nor are they free software. K9X is copyright (C) 1985, 1989 - the K9Xmodem, Super8K, SuperK and JBatch protocols are copyright 1987, 1989 by Crater Rim Software. Non-registered users are granted a limited license to use K9X version SW85 on a trial basis for the purpose of determining whether these programs are suitable for their needs. The term of this limited license is 30 days. Use of K9X, except for this limited purpose, requires registration. Use of non-registered copies of K9X by any person, business, corporation, governmental agency or other entity institution is strictly forbidden. Registration permits you to use K9X on a regular basis on a single computer. A registered user may use the program on a different computer, but may not use the program on more than one computer at the same time. Registration also includes priority support on Underdog's MiniNet BBS. Users need register only one version of K9X. Registration includes licensed use of all upgrades. All corporate, business, government or other commercial uses of K9X must be registered. We offer quantity discounts and Corporate or site licensing is also available. No user may modify K9X in any way, including but not limited to decompiling, disassembling or otherwise reverse engineering the program. All users are granted a limited license to copy K9X version SW85 only for the trial use of others subject to the above limitations, and also the following: K9X version SW85 must be copied in unmodified form, complete with the file containing this license information. Any and all K9X documentation must be included with the copy. No fee, charge or other compensation may be accepted or requested by any licensee. K9X may not be distributed in conjunction with any other product without prior arrangements with Crater Rim Software. Operators of electronic bulletin board systems (Sysops) may post K9X version SW85 for downloading by their users only as long as the above conditions are met. Canine Express Professional v8.xx Page - 07 - Distributors of public domain or user supported software may distribute copies of K9X version SW85 subject to the above conditions only after obtaining written permission from Crater Rim Software. Such permission usually is granted. Please write or call for details. ShareWare Software Discalaimer and Warranty ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Crater Rim Software makes no warranty of any kind, express or implied, including without limitation, any warranties of merchantability and/or fitness for a particular purpose. Crater Rim Software shall not be liable for any damages, whether direct, indirect, special or consequential arising from a failure of this program to operate in the manner desired by the user. Crater Rim Software shall not be liable for any damage to data or property which may be caused directly or indirectly by use of the program. IN NO EVENT WILL Crater Rim Software BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR ANY DAMAGES, INCLUDING ANY LOST PROFITS, LOST SAVINGS OR OTHER INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF YOUR USE OR INABILITY TO USE THE PROGRAM, OR FOR ANY CLAIM BY ANY OTHER PARTY. See the Ordering section for more information on registration, corporate licensing and similar topics. WARNING: YOU MAY NOT USE EITHER VERSION OF K9X ON A REGULAR BASIS WITHOUT REGISTERING THE PACKAGE. INTRODUCTION ~~~~~~~~~~~~ Communications and ANSI Terminal Emulation for the IBM PC There are basically two general classes of communications programs. One class contains programs like SmartCom and CrossTalk which are designed with a separate command and terminal mode. You move from command mode to terminal mode with a command, and from emulation mode to command mode by a special key sequence. The other class contains programs like K9X, ProComm, PibTerm and Qmodem in which you are always in terminal mode. You enter commands by means of special key sequences, but you never really leave the terminal mode. I personally prefer programs which are always in terminal mode but also realize how difficult this type of communications package can be to a novice user. With this in mind, I have included both a novice menu system (Command Gateway) and Expert terminal mode within the K9X package. I have tried to emulate Qmodem, PibTerm and the other popular Comm packages so that most users will feel comfortable in making the switch. Canine Express Professional v8.xx Page - 08 - If you have used programs like ProComm, PibTerm, Qmodem and the like, then you will probably feel more at home in the K9X Expert mode as it will be quite familiar to you, and you can probably just fire up K9X and work through the menus to see how to use the program. The major difference is that in Expert mode ALL K9X commands are entered via direct ALT-key and number pad key sequences. As with earlier versions, K9X will accept full ANSI color graphics (via the use of the DOS ANSI.SYS driver) and music escape codes which I use extensively on Underdog's MiniNet. K9X does not however, afford any other type of terminal emulation. In an attempt to create a small (as small as possible), efficient, "no-nonsense" communications link that would make your online session time as efficient as possible, I specifically omitted many options in lieu of other, more attractive features such as the upload and download cut and paste buffers and the K9X file finder. To give you a little insight into the use of the cut and paste feature when downloading.... Use of any other communications program would require a pencil and paper and a scenario that goes something like this... Log onto a BBS Do a new files listing. Scribble down the filenames of the files you wish to download Back at the BBS menu, issue the D command. Type in the filename(s) When the BBS is ready to send the file, start the download within your comm program by selecting the protocol and re- typing the filename. If you are lucky, the comm program may contain a "smart" feature which is supposed to be able to "remember" the filename that you typed in when you requested the file. Unfortunately, this "smart" feature simply looks for a period on the last line that was displayed! Hopefully, the period is the one included in the filename you specified... but in reality, what the "smart" feature may assume is the filename may be anything at all and usually is something other than the filename! In any case, you will be confronted with mistyped filenames, and more than likely, will have to type in the filename twice in spite of the "smart" feature. Canine Express Professional v8.xx Page - 09 - With K9X cut and paste feature, your scenario would be... Log onto a BBS Do a new files listing. At each More prompt, select shift-tab, move the cursor around the screen placing it over the first character in the file you want to mark - up to 24 filenames may be stored Hit the M key. K9X will extract the filename from the screen and place it into the buffer updating the buffer count on line 25. Hit Enter to return to the BBS more prompt When you are finished marking your desired files, you can then feed them to both the bbs and K9X via the down arrow key. If you are using a single file mode (Xmodem, Super8K single, Zmodem single, etc,) K9X will feed BOTH the D and the filename to the bbs in the form D;Filename and send the closing carriage return. When the system says it is ready to send the file, simply hit the down arrow key again and K9X will use the same filename to open and write to! If you are using a batch mode, you will have to send the opening D command... K9X sends nothing more than the filename when a batch mode protocol has been selected within K9X. This is to facilitate the various means of specifying multiple filenames... Feeding of the filenames to the BBS would be down arrow, space, down arrow, space, down arrow space etc. When you have completed one or however many filenames you want to receive in that batch, and the system is ready to send, simply hit the PgDn key. K9X will take over the task of transferring the files and, upon completion, will verify what files have been received and update the Here: and Total: counts which it displays during transfer and within the secondary command summary menu. Your protocol is already pre-set via the dialing dierctory or Alt-W, no mess, no fuss, no scribbling, no typing, no mis-typing! K9X cut and paste has another very powerful feature which allows you to load in a premade list of filenames to download! You can make the most of your online time (and money) by the following... Log on to the BBS with your session log active Do a new files and then log off immediately Canine Express Professional v8.xx Page - 10 - Drop to dos via Alt-J and load the log file into a text editor. Isolate the files listings you wish to download and save them into a separate file (I use the name of the BBS + a .GET extension). Don't worry about the file size, date and description! K9X has the capability of reading the full line and extracting only the filename into the buffer and the buffer will hold upto 24 filenames! Log back onto the BBS and at the main menu prompt... Do a shift tab Then an E for the Edit option Then an L to load the .GET file K9X will read in the file list, purge everything but the filename from each line and load the buffer for you! Last step is simply a matter of feeding the filenames and performing the transfer(s)! The same effect can be accomplished by setting up a capture review buffer via K9XCNF. The capture buffer should be about 300 lines for the best efficiency. After logging off of the system (after the new files search), to an Alt-V. You may now move the cursor via the cursur control keys, page up, page down, browse the files listings and use the S command to save the desired file listing lines to a specified .get file! Of course, you may also mark the files via the Alt-V capture buffer review while online for immediate download. To give you a little insight into the use of the K9X file find feature when uploading... Use of any other communications program would require a pencil and paper and a scenario that goes something like this... If you are lucky, the program will support a default upload directory to hold the files you wish to upload. If this is the case, you will have to copy the files into this directory prior to logging onto the BBS or while online. If no default upload directory is supported, you will have to either specify the full drive and path along with the filename (if the comm program allows you to... and some do not) or change the logged drive/directory to where the desired upload file resides (this will require your writing the drive and path down on a piece of paper if you have a multiple drive system). Log on to a BBS At the BBS menu, select the Upload command Canine Express Professional v8.xx Page - 11 - Type in the filename When the BBS says it is ready to receive the file, start the upload within the comm program by specifying the protocol and then re-typing the filename (perhaps with the full path). Again, the "smart" filename feature (if it's supported) may or may not remember the filename. In any case, you will be confronted with mistyped filenames, and more than likely, will have to type in the filename twice wasting a lot of online time and money - not to mention your precious session time! With K9X file find, your scenario would be... While offline, select the K9X Alt-F command At the files manipulation menu, select the "Select Uploads" option Input your search criteria as /filespec When K9X lists the file matches, simply hit the Alt-Shift, move the cursor to the desired filename Press the M key to move the filename into the K9X buffer. Up to 24 filenames may be stored. You may search for files as often as necessary by using the A)gain option after the first search. Simply select A and input the new search criteria as /filespec When you have finished marking all of your upload filenames, press the E key, then S key and input a filename to save the filenames to. Log on to a BBS At the BBS menu select the K9X Alt-F command Type an M for the Manipulate Marked Type an E to Edit Mark Type an L to load a file Specify the list filename you created while offline. K9X will read the filenames into the buffer and display them to you. Type a Q, Enter, Enter Back at the BBS menu, select the Upload command. Canine Express Professional v8.xx Page - 12 - The rest is a simple matter of feeding the filenames to the BBS and K9X via the up arrow and PgUp keys! Don't worry about supplying a drive and/or path... K9X will use its file finding capabilities to automatically find the files for you! And don't worry about using a single or batch protocol! K9X file find works equally as well in single file or batch mode! In fact, K9X will accept a multiple file input specification when using a batch protocol. Simply separate each filename with a space! Your protocol is already pre-set via the dialing dierctory or Alt-W, no mess, no fuss, no scribbling, no typing, no mis- typing! Oh yes, K9X also supports both a default upload and default download directory which are searched automatically during uploads and/or downloads! Although K9X was written and tested on a 640K IBM PCAT, it has been successfully run on PCJRs and other compatible systems containing much less memory. Before actually starting up K9X, there are a couple of areas that should be covered. Please print out and read this documentation in its entirety. If you run into difficulties, give me a hollar... I will try to help you out... but please understand that priority support goes to those users who have registered the package... Enjoy, Sal Manaro K9X FEATURES ~~~~~~~~~~~~ - Combined VT100 and ANSI BBS Terminal Emulation Including full ANSI and VT100 Cursor Positioning, Color and Music Support utilizing a combination of internal ANSI processing and the DOS ANSI.SYS or equivilant - Ring buffered, interrupt driven, serial I/O. - 24 file transfer methods Single file transfer protocols Xmodem Checksum (via K9X or internal SuperK) Xmodem CRC (via K9X or internal SuperK) Ymodem (1K Xmodem) CRC (via K9X or internal SuperK) WXmodem (Windowed Xmodem) CRC (via built in SuperK protocol) Underdog's ***FAST*** K9Xmodem (via built in SuperK protocol) Underdog's ***FASTER*** Super8K (via built in SuperK protocol) Canine Express Professional v8.xx Page - 13 - Jmodem (via special Jmodem module) Qmxfer Ymodem-G for RBBS systems (via QMXFER or DSZ) Zmodem Single file mode (via DSZ external module) PC-Kermit (Standard and Sliding Window via external module) Ascii with XON/XOFF Batch mode file transfer protocols Modem7 (Batch) Checksum Modem7 (Batch) CRC Telink CRC Xmodem Checksum (via built in SuperK protocol) Xmodem CRC (via built in SuperK protocol) Ymodem (1K Xmodem) CRC (via built in SuperK protocol) WXmodem (Windowed Xmodem) CRC (via built in SuperK protocol) Underdog's ***FAST*** K9Xmodem (via built in SuperK protocol) Underdog's ***FASTER*** Super8K (via built in SuperK protocol) Jmodem (via built in Jbatch protocol) DSZ Ymodem-G (via DSZ external module) Zmodem (via DSZ external module) CIS/B (via CIS external module) - Plus pre-programmed keys for Quick Download using any of the supported protocols - Plus Totally Automated Downloading using special macro codes - Full Function telephone dialing directory which permits list, manual, name, entry # dialing along with FULL edit capabilities including parity, data and stop bits, individual macro linking, last date/time number was called, default protocol. - Upto 9500 entries - user configureable, with full size expansion and compression support - User configureable menu and text colors, modem setup and buffer sizes - User configureable overwrite of duplicate files during download - User configureable save aborted downloads - Up to 32K memory buffer for FAST files transfers - Pre-programmed command key for ASCII auto uploading of PreFabricated Messages - Pre-programmed command key for linking to external CIS/B terminal emulator with CIS/B transfer protocol - Pre-programmed command key for linking to external IXEC PC-Pursuit Interface - Special dialing directory prefixes for specifying special pre-dial commands and settings to high speed modems. Canine Express Professional v8.xx Page - 14 - - Macro script language for automated logon supporting universal "look for/send" special "what if" look for/send auto link to ICEX External PC-Pursuit Interface ability to specify multiple execution of macro lines ability to use/send special control characters for carriage return, delay, etc. ability to load pre-fabricated filelists for automated download processing - Pre-programmed command key to disable universal macro "look for/send" - Pre-programmed command key to disable logon macro - Session logging/capture to printer and/or disk. - Full Novice Command Gateway Menu System or Expert Alt-Key command set support - Menu-driven commands - Full display of all K9X flag settings - Macro-key definition for constructing and holding often-used text sequences. - Full Access DOS Shell without loss of carrier - Default DOS Shell Command link to another application - Full file finding capabilites - Full file and directory display with transfer times - Screen dumps to a file or printer - Customizable modem support at 300/1200/2400/4800/9600/19200 bps for both COMM 1 and COMM 2 - Automatic change of baud rate with smart modems. - User configureable baud locking for high speed modems - Dialing session and total session elapsed time counters. - Call Log including number dialed, session start, session end, elapsed session time, total long distance elapsed times, total downloads - both files and total bytes Canine Express Professional v8.xx Page - 15 - - Upto 800 line internal capture buffer which may be viewed at any time and includes cut and paste feature with save to buffer or filelist. - Define up to 20 dialing directory entries for queue dialing upon startup with optional automatic session logging. - Linking with K9XEVENT for automated execution at specified times - Cut and Paste feature to save selected text to file - Mark and Save upto 24 filenames for automatic downloading with full editing, addition, deletetion, loading of pre-fabricated lists, saving of marked filenames to file - Mark and Save upto 24 filenames for automatic uploading with full editing, addition, deletetion, loading of pre-fabricated lists, saving of marked filenames to file - User defined default download path - User defined default upload path - Automatic upload file finding using internal system drive configuration table which accepts upto 99 fully configureable drive:\paths - User defined Multitasking Hook for Time Slicing while operating in a multitasking environment under TaskView, DesqView or TopView multitasking/windowing systems. The multitasking time slicing feature allows you to run K9X within a partition with a minimum of system slowdown. K9X monitors both the the comm port and local keyboard for input. If no input is present, K9X will relinquish the remainder of the cpu time slice back to the the multitasker. Note that this feature is only active during normal user and/or local keyboard input. It is NOT active during files transfers. - Compartmentalized setup to keep directory clutter to a minimum - Built in BBS type Macro/Message Editor - Memory requirements: a minimum of approximately 160K THE K9X FILES ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The executible files included in the K9X Shareware package: K9X.COM Main program K9X.000 - K9X.012 Overlay files required by K9X.COM K9XCNF.COM K9X Configuration Utility K9XCNF.000 Overlay file required by K9XCNF.COM KTREE.COM K9X Drive Table Configuration Utility Canine Express Professional v8.xx Page - 16 - JBA.COM Custom Jmodem Protocol driver DSZ.COM External Zmodem/Ymodem-G Protocol driver QMXFER.COM External Qmodem Ymodem-G Protocol driver PC-KERMIT.EXE External Kermit Protocol driver KERMIT.BAT Required for use of PC-KERMIT.EXE The other files included in the K9X package: B&W.CNF K9X Configuration file for Default Black & White COLOR.CNF K9X Configuration file for Default Color MININET.K9X Sample Logon Macro for Underdog's MiniNet BBS AUTONET.K9X Sample Automated Macro for Underdog's MiniNet BBS AUTODOWN.K9X Sample AUTODOWN files list RBBS.K9X Sample Logon Macro for RBBS PCBOARD.K9X Sample Logon Macro for PCBoard PCP.K9X Sample Logon Macro for PC-Pursuit INSTALL.BAT For easy first-time inetallation of K9X MOVE.COM Used by INSTALL.BAT to MOVE (not COPY) the K9X files into their correct directories. WAITKEY.EXE Used during INSTALL.BAT processing Files K9X/K9XCNF/KTREE will create (if not found): K9XDRIVE.TBL Drive Configuration Table K9X.CNF Standard System Configuration File K9X.P Phone Directory K9X.PRE Phone Prefix Definitions File CALL.LOG Log file for all numbers dialed K9X.KEY Function Key Macro File - this file will be created if any Macros are defined. If it exists when K9X is started, it will be read into memory. K9X documenation: K9X.DOC This File INSTALL.DOC Short read me file explaining how to install K9X MAILER.K9X Easy printout order form WHATS.NEW K9X Version History (optional) LICENSE.REG Seperate Registered version License and Ordering Information The DOC files are not required to operate the K9X package... B U T T H E Y S H O U L D B E R E A D T H O R O U G H L Y ! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ K9X INSTALLATION ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In an effort to clean up the K9X directory, I have assigned several subdirectories to hold the various K9X support files. K9X is set up to look for the support files (and place any work files) into their assigned subdirectory. Canine Express Professional v8.xx Page - 17 - Additionally, you do not have to specify the path of a filename if that filename is in its assigned subdirectory.... As is the case with most filename prompts, you may over-ride the K9X internal file finding capabilities by including the full drive:\path\ with the filename. K9X looks for a colon as the second character of your input string. If a colon is present, K9X assumes you have specified a full drive:\path\filename instead of just a filename and will not use its own file finding. Here's the K9X directory set up and file placement: Directory of C:\K9X SUPP <DIR>------------- Directory of C:\K9X\SUPP LOGS <DIR>-----+ MACROS K9X (all macros/.MES) K9X COM | K9X CNF K9X.000 - K9X.012 | K9XDRIVE TBL K9XCNF COM | K9X P K9XCNF 001 | K9X PRE JBA COM | K9X KEY KTREE COM | DSZ COM | KERMIT EXE +---- Directory of C:\K9X\LOGS QMXFER COM 0215 89 (session logs) CIS EXE CALL LOG ICEX EXE COLLECT TXT K9XNOTES Any "read in" files for K9X quick down/up/cut and paste PLEASE NOTE: The INSTALL.BAT file included in the K9X package will perform all of the installation (with the exception of steps 1, 2 and 7) for you. If you use INSTALL.BAT, simply unpack the K9X archive anyplace on the drive where it is to be installed. DO NOT unpack it into a premade K9X directory. INSTALL.BAT will create the necessary directories (if they do not alredy exist) and MOVE (not COPY) the files into the their correct locations for you. The following steps are simply a means of explaining what is going on and also provided for those users who would prefer to install K9X manually. In any case, all of the K9X files MUST reside in their designated directories for K9X to operate properly. Step 1 - Set the K9X Environmental Varable by issuing the DOS command: SET K9X=C:\K9X Step 2 - If you already have a DOS Path Environmental Statement, add C:\K9X to it... If not, issue the DOS command: PATH=C:\K9X Canine Express Professional v8.xx Page - 18 - Note: You should include items 1 and 2 above in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file so that these variables are automatically set each time you boot up your system. You will have to add the line DEVICE=ANSI.SYS to your CONFIG.SYS file also. Step 3 - Create a K9X directory on your hard drive (or diskette) by issuing the DOS commands: CD\ MD K9X Step 4 - Log into your new K9X directory and make 2 new subdirectories within the K9X directory. Issue the DOS commands: MD SUPP (with 2 P's) MD LOGS (plural - with an S) Step 5 - Copy all of the K9X files into it. Step 6 - I have included 2 K9X configuration files for your convenience. You may however, start up K9XCNF at the DOS prompt and create a totally new K9X configuration file. If this is done, K9XCNF will automatically place the new K9X.CNF in the SUPP subdircetory. If you are running an RGB/CGA system issue the DOS commands: REN COLOR.CNF K9X.CNF DEL B&W.CNF If you are running a Mono system issue the DOS commands: REN B&W.CNF K9X.CNF DEL COLOR.CNF Now issue the DOS commands: COPY K9X.CNF SUPP COPY *.K9X SUPP COPY K9X.PRE SUPP DEL K9X.CNF DEL *.K9X DEL K9X.PRE Step 7 - Run KTREE so that the Drive Configuration Table for your system can be created. Step 8 - Run K9XCNF and check all of the settings so that they conform with your particular setup. If you do not know what a setting should be for your particular setup, just leave the default setting intact. In most cases, the defaults will work just fine! In any case, the full list of the default settings and a description of each setting is contained this documenation. K9XCNF will automatically update the K9X.CNF when you exit that utility back to DOS. Canine Express Professional v8.xx Page - 19 - THE K9X ENVIRONMENT ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ When K9X starts up it looks for its overlay and support files in the current directory. However, you may want to invoke K9X from other directories as well. In that case you can set the DOS environment variable K9X to the name of the directory containing the K9X overlays, and use the DOS PATH statement to ensure that the selected directory is searched when you invoke K9X by name. You've named your K9X directory "K9X", located on drive C Add these statements to your AUTOEXEC.BAT PATH C:\K9X SET K9X=C:\K9X Since K9X uses the DOS ANSI.SYS driver to perform the translation of any ANSI color/cursor positioning, you must install the DOS ANSI.SYS (or equivilant) device driver via your CONFIG.SYS file. Add this statement to your CONFIG.SYS DEVICE=ANSI.SYS THE K9X MENU SYSTEMS ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Menu selections may be made in either of 2 ways: 1. Use the arrow keys to highlight your choice - then hit [ENTER] In cases where a Yes or No response is required, K9X will default to [ENTER] being the same as answering Yes. If you are not sure your natural choice should ALWAYS be what is displayed as the prior default or NO if no prior default is displayed! Any YES or NO prompts which are located within K9XCNF will require a positive input of either Y or N. All other input will be ignored. In all other cases, the highlighted selection is the current default setting and should not be changed unless you know for sure it needs to be changed. Simply hit [ENTER] for the highlighted, default setting. 2. Type the first letter of your choice I have attempted to modify as many of the menus as possible to accept the first character of the desired option (as opposed to the "a" thru "z" or "q" method) as the option select key. I think you will find this method a lot easier to use (and remember). STARTING K9X FOR THE FIRST TIME ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ You can begin execution of K9X by simply entering K9X at the DOS command prompt. Canine Express Professional v8.xx Page - 20 - K9X will attempt to locate and read in its configuration files. If its configuration file, K9X.CNF cannot be found, K9X will abort after displaying a message informing you that you must first run K9XCNF to create the required K9X.CNF file. All of the configuration information is covered in detail in the Alt-P and K9X.CNF sections. Please refer to those sections while configuring K9X for the first time. You will not have to go through the original configuation under subsequent use. After the configuration files are read, K9X initializes the modem if a modem initialization string appears in the configuration file. If you do have a modem attached, you should set it so that the carrier detect line accurately reflects the true carrier status (the carrier detect is NOT permanently set on) and also so that the data terminal ready (DTR) line is set to accurately reflect the status of DTR. Some modems have a tendency to disengage the phone when communication parameters like baud rate are changed if DTR is allowed to reflect reality. If this is the case, you may need to set your modem to always have DTR turned on (set high). It should be noted... If you have a mouse attached to your system and it occupies COMM1, you will have to configure the mouse to COMM2. There seems to be a problem with the mouse card/driver which allows it to grab both COMM1 and COMM2 if it is configured to use COMM1. K9X can also be used on a hard-wired line without a modem. Operation of K9X in a null modem environment requires that the modem initialization string be a null string (blank). There are display screen samples placed within this document so that you will be able to have a print out in easy view while utilizing the associated K9X feature. When starting up K9X for the first time, you should have a copy of the Command Gateway Menu Map in front of you to aid in navigating the K9X menus. When starting up K9XCNF for the first time, you should have a copy of the Configuration Menu System Map in front of you to aid in navigating the K9X menus and selecting the proper default configuration settings. USING K9X COMMAND GATEWAY ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ After initialization is complete, K9X enters Command Gateway Menu System. While using the Command Gateway Menu System, you will not be able to exit the menu system (and enter terminal mode) until a carrier is detected (or you select the Toggles option and toggle the Expert mode to On). The highlighted menu default choice while offline is Dial a Number as this is the normal course of events. K9X will automatically switch to terminal mode as soon as communications is established with another system. While online to another system, the [Home] key will give you access to the menu system. Your highlighted default will have switched to Download a File as that too, is the normal course of events! Canine Express Professional v8.xx Page - 21 - The following diagram maps out the Command Gateway Menu System. The corresponding Expert Command Key Sequence appears in brackets aside each menu command. Please refer to the Expert Command Definitions for details on each command. COMMAND GATEWAY MENU MAP ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Command Gateway ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Modem Commands ------------------- Modem Commands +------- Files Commands ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | +----- Utilities Dial a Number .... [Alt_D] | | +--- Toggles Try Number Again.. [Alt_R] | | | Do CIS/B ......... [Alt_8] Abandon Dial List. [Alt_1] | | | PC Pursuit ICEX .. [Alt_9] HangUp Phone ..... [Alt_G] | | | +- Information Change Baud ...... [Alt_N] | | | | Exit to DOS ...... [End] Send Break ....... [Alt_B] | | | | Quit to terminal Return to GateWay | | | | Quit to Terminal | | | | | | | +-------------------------------------+ | | +--- Toggles Information | | ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~ | | Xpert ............ [Alt_X] Expert Commands .. [Home] | | Echo ............. [Alt_E] Version .......... [Alt_K] | | LineFeeds ........ [Alt_I] Function Keys .... [Alt_M] | | Sound ............ [Alt_Q] Return to GateWay | | ANSI Off ......... [Alt_A] Quit to Terminal | | MultiTask Hook [Alt_H] | | Use Fetch ........ [Alt_U] | | Use SuperK ....... [Alt_3] | | Universal Logon .. [Alt_-] | | AutoLogon ........ [Alt_+] | | Return to GateWay | | Quit to Terminal | | | +-----------------------------------------+ +------- Files Commands Utilities ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~ Download ......... [PgDn] Parameters ....... [Alt_P] Wish List DL .... [] View Capture ..... [Alt_V] Auto Downlaod .... [Del] Shell to DOS ..... [Alt_J] Zip Scan/Mark .... [STab] Fix Time ......... [Alt_T] Upload ........... [PgUp] Clear Screen ..... [Alt_C] Gift List UpLd ... [] DOS Command ...... [^Home] Text Msg Upload .. [->] Macro Editor ..... [Alt_Y] Manipulate ....... [Alt_F] Return to GateWay Protocol Change .. [Alt_W] Quit to Terminal Kill FileName .... [Alt_6] Capture Session .. [Ins] Screen Dump ...... [Alt_S] Log Session ...... [Alt_L] Return to GateWay Quit to Terminal Canine Express Professional v8.xx Page - 22 - THE K9X EXPERT SYSTEM ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Along with the 'Command GateWay' menu system, K9X also allows the experienced user to toggle an expert mode in which all commands are entered via special command key sequences. When in expert mode, the [Home] key will display a command summary screen. All of your local commands are presented via windows which overlay whatever text is already on the screen. When you exit a window, the underlying text will re-appear without modification. I've positioned all/most of the windows in the upper right corner and have also tried to keep them as small as possible - first for conformity and second to allow you to see as much of the underlying data as possible when you are working within a window. COMMAND SUMMARY DISPLAY SAMPLE ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ While in Expert mode, this option will display a command summary screen which contains all of the available commands, the dialing directory entry info for the present call, the current date and a running digital clock. You exit this window by issuing the desired Alt_Key Command or by pressing any key (other than the Space Bar). +------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Canine Express (c) Copyright 1985,1989 by Crater Rim Software | | Licensed Material - Distribution is Prohibited | | --------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Use Alt_8 to access CIS/B module terminal mode - Alt_X returns to K9X | | Use Alt_9 to access ICEX module or include @` in your PCP macro | | Alt_B)reak Alt_N)ew Modem Settings Alt_1) Clear Dialer List | | Alt_C)lear Scrn Alt_O)pen BBS Door Alt_6) Clear DL FileName | | Alt_D)ial a Friend Alt_P)arameters [PgDn] Download a File | | Alt_F)iles Menu Alt_R)edial a Friend [PgUp] Upload a File | | Alt_G)oodbye Alt_S)creen Dump [Del] Download Marked | | Alt_J)ump to DOS Alt_T)ime Fix [][] Quick Up/Down | | Alt_K)9X Version Alt_V)iew Capture [-->] Upload a Message | | Alt_M)acros Alt_W)hat's My Protocol [^Home] DOS Command | | [I<-] Mark-Save 0 0 Alt_X)pert Toggle [Ins] Session Log | | Dialer List 0 Alt_Y)our K9X Editor [End] Quit to DOS | | --------------------------------------------------------------------- | | OnLine: No Carrier Present Phone : N/A | | LastOn: N/A FProt : Xmodem Chk | | Date : 00:00:00 02/15/1989 Press Space Bar to Display Other Settings | | Press Command Key Set or Hit any other key to exit | +------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ Canine Express Professional v8.xx Page - 23 - SECONDARY COMMAND SUMMARY DISPLAY SAMPLE ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Pressing the space bar while the Expert Command Summary Screen is being displayed will produce a secondary screen which contains the status of the various program toggles/flags and Carrier Detect indicator (displayed as Y or N in parentheses), your current Comm port parameters and the total number of files/bytes downloaded for both the last (or present) call and for the present session. +------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Canine Express (c) Copyright 1985,1989 by Crater Rim Software | | Licensed Material - Distribution is Prohibited | | --------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Use Alt_8 to access CIS/B module terminal mode - Alt_X returns to K9X | | Use Alt_9 to access ICEX module or include @` in your PCP macro | +------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Alt_A)nsi Off (N) Alt_U)se FileFind (Y) Save Aborted Files (Y) | | Alt_E)cho (N) Alt_3) Use SuperK (Y) Overwrite Downloads (N) | | Alt_Hook Multitask (Y) Alt_+) AutoLogon (N) Carrier Detect (N) | | Alt_I)nsert LF (N) Alt_-) UnivLogon (N) Params: Com1, 9600,N,8,1 | | Alt_L)og to Printer (N) Use QMXFER Ymodem-G (Y) Here : 0 / 0 | | Alt_Q)uiet Mode (Y) Connect resets Baud (Y) Total : 0 / 0 | +------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | [I<-] Mark-Save 0 0 Alt_X)pert Toggle [Ins] Session Log | | Dialer List 0 Alt_Y)our K9X Editor [End] Quit to DOS | | --------------------------------------------------------------------- | | OnLine: No Carrier Present Phone : N/A | | LastOn: N/A FProt : Xmodem Chk | | Date : 00:00:00 02/15/1989 Press Space Bar to Display Other Settings | | Press Command Key Set or Hit any other key to exit | +------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ THE K9X EXPERT SYSTEM COMMANDS ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Along with the 'Command GateWay' menu system, K9X also allows the experienced user to toggle an expert mode in which all commands are entered via special command key sequences. When in expert mode, the [Home] key will display a command summary screen. Please refer to the Expert Command Summary display sample and the Command Gateway Menu map for the associated Command Gateway commands. Here is a breakdown of each command and a brief summary of its use: [Esc] Escape Key ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Although the Escape key is not a command in itself, it is important that its use be noted. There are cases in which you may have to send the Actual Escape Key code to the host system you are logged onto. K9X is fully capable of sending an Escape character (ASCII 27) while operating in Expert mode. This function is part of the normal keyboard scanning operation of K9X and is activated via the standard Escape Key. Canine Express Professional v8.xx Page - 24 - [Home] Command Summary ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ While in Expert mode, this option will display a command summary screen which contains all of the available commands, the status of all of the toggles and Carrier Detect indicator (displayed as Y or N in parentheses), the current date and a running digital clock. When listing new files on a BBS, most ask for a start date with the default being the last time you logged on to that system. With this in mind, K9X displays the following dialing directory information when online: Name of system dialed (or "Manual Dial" if that's the case) System's phone number Last on date and time (or "N/A" if manual dialing) Default transfer protocol (changes if you manually change protocol) This information will be displayed within the Expert Command Summary Menu or directly on the screen when the Command GateWay Main Menu is activated. Pressing the Space bar will swap in a second help screen which contains the K9X toggle/flags settings. Once the "Toggles" screen has been displayed, you may enter any valid Expert Command Key Set or hit the Space bar once again (to remove the secondary Toggles screen). You exit either the primary or secondary command summary windows by one of two ways: 1) Selecting the desired Alt_Key command - in which case the command function will be executed 2) Pressing any key - in which case the command summary menu will be removed and you will be returned to the terminal mode It should be noted that all of the Expert Command key sets are available at any time while operating K9X in the Expert mode. You do not have to display the Expert Command Summary Screen before executing a K9X command. While using the Command Gateway Menu System, the Home key represents your "doorway" to the various K9X commands. You may press the Home key at any time... other than during file transfers. [Alt_3] Use SuperK Protocols ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ K9X contains two sets of Xmodem Checksum, Xmodem CRC and Ymodem (1K Xmodem) single file protocols. The standard internal K9X protocols are the built in protocols which were originally supported. The SuperK protocols were added when the external SuperK protocol driver was incorporated into K9X. The standard internal protocols support the Alt_1 - toggle display feature, additional error logging during transfers, direct transfer result logging to the session log and other features. The SuperK protocols support K9XFER transfer result logging, save aborts and overwrite flag support and other features. The prime difference is in the performance of the two sets, with the SuperK protocols being a bit faster. This option allows the toggling of the use of either the internal or SuperK protocols. Canine Express Professional v8.xx Page - 25 - [Alt_A] ANSI Off ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This option will toggle all ANSI escape codes off/on. K9X is default configured for color/color graphics and will accept all of the color graphics and music found many BBS' (incuding Underdog's MiniNet BBS)! In order to speed up character processing, I have removed the internal ANSI processing (except for music). You MUST include the line DEVICE=ANSI.SYS in your CONFIG.SYS as K9X now passes all ANSI escape sequences, except for any music, to the DOS ANSI.SYS driver. If you disable the ANSI Translate, K9X will do a totally unedited capture of your session. If you run into any ANSI escape code sequences when receiving BBS menu and sign on screens, you will NOT be able to read them as the ANSI Translate toggle prevents your system from performing ANY processing of any ANSI codes received. [Alt_B] Send Break ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This option sends a sustained break signal. This is the equivalent of hitting the attention key on many terminals, and is frequently necessary to gain the attention of a host system when using K9X on a hard-wired (null modem) line. [Alt_C] Clear Screen ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This option will erase the screen and place the cursor at position 1,1 (upper left corner). It also resets your default background and text colors. Hitting the [Home] key and then returning to terminal mode will perform a reset of your default foreground and background colors WITHOUT clearing the screen. [Alt_D] Dialing Directory ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This option will allow you to view/edit the dialing directory and select number(s) to dial. If there are any numbers in the List Dialer queue, K9X will go directly into dial mode, cycling through the list of numbers. If there aren't any numbers present within the List Dialer queue, K9X will display a window and prompt you for up to 20 directory numbers to dial. If you hit the [Enter] key here, K9X will close the List Dialer Window and display the dialing directory. See the Dialing Directory section for detailed information on its use. [Alt_E] Echo Toggle ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Some host systems do not echo characters you type back to you. If you can't see what you're typing when connected to a remote host, enter Alt_E to toggle local echo ON. You can later enter Alt_E to toggle local echo OFF again. A window will appear showing the new setting. Canine Express Professional v8.xx Page - 26 - [Alt_F] Files Manipulation ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This option is the gateway to a number of file manipulation features. Files Manipulation Menu Sample ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ +-< File Manipulation >-----+ | B)ytes Free on Drive | | C)hange Drive/Dir | | D)isplay Directory | | E)xit to DOS (Shell) | | H)elp with File Select | | L)ist Marked Files (0) | | M)anipulate Marked (0) | | S)elect Upload Files | | Q)uit | +---------------------------+ Bytes Free on Drive ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This option will prompt you for a drive letter and then display the amount of space (bytes free) available on that drive. Change Drive/Dir ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This is a two part option... K9X will first prompt for a drive letter and, once specified: K9X verifies if that drive actually exists. K9X changes its current directory to the root of your currently logged drive. K9X then logs into the root of the desired drive. If you only want to change directories on the same drive, simply hit the Enter key. K9X will then prompt you for a new directory. Your input here is the same as if you were changing directories at the DOS prompt. Upon specifying a new directory, K9X will ask for confirmation of the change before actually make the change. If you don't want to change directories, simply hit the Enter key. Canine Express Professional v8.xx Page - 27 - Display Directory ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ K9X preloads the File Find feature so that it will display a directory of your currently logged drive:\directory. All of the K9X file find prompts and features are available once one directory 'page' has been listed. Exit to DOS (Shell) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This option allows you to drop to DOS without exiting K9X. Upon selecting this option, K9X will open a window and prompt you for a command to be executed. You may copy/rename/delete files, start up another program (memory permitting) or simply drop to DOS. If you enter a commnd at the K9X prompt, K9X will automatically return without your having to type EXIT. While at the DOS level within the DOS Shell, your cursor will be a large block as opposed to the standard underline type cursor. NOTE: If you exit to DOS and change directories, be sure to log back into the directory in which you first dropped to DOS. Secondly, you MUST type EXIT at the DOS prompt in order to return to K9X. These two restrictions only apply if you drop directly to DOS. Help with File Select ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This option will display a brief command struture for using the file find feature. List Marked Files (0) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This option will simply list the filenames that are contained in the cut and paste buffer. No editing funtions are available here. As a means of quick reference, the number of filenames within the buffer is display alongside the menu command. Manipulate Marked (0) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This option simply enters the cut and paste mode without prompting for a search criteria. It is a simple means of entering the edit mode functions of the file find feature. K9X will simply freeze the screen and display the cut and paste help line on line 25. From this point, you may select the E option to enter the edit mode. Canine Express Professional v8.xx Page - 28 - Select Upload Files ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This is the gateway to the cut and paste file find mode. Please see the K9X File Finder section for detailed information on its operation. [Alt_G] Goodbye ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This option directs K9X to hang up the phone using the modem hang up command defined in the configuration file. If no Hangup command string is defined within your K9X.CNF, or the command fails to hang up the phone, then K9X drops DTR. This should hang up the phone if DTR is not permanently set high. K9X reports if the phone was successfully hung up or not. If not, you may have to manually hang up the phone line. [Alt_H] Hook Multitasking ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Alt_H command key (and its equivilent in the Command Gateway Menu system) have been assigned as a toggle to Hook into multitasking If Alt_H is set, K9X will release the clock ticks if no activity is found at either the comm port or the local keyboard. If Alt_H is not set, K9X will operate in single application mode, not acknowledging any multitasking. You may operate K9X in a mutiltasking environment regardless of the status of the Alt_H toggle. I have included this toggle to eliminate some of the sluggishness in K9X when it is run in a multitasking environment where another application is accessing another comm port. If you are running a BBS in the background, try it... you'll like it! This toggle status is also saved in your K9X.CNF file. [Alt_I] Insert Linefeeds ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Some systems may not send a carriage return/line feed sequence, but only a carriage return, assuming that a line feed will automatically be added by the remote terminal. This option toggles the addition of a linefeed character to each incoming carriage return. If you log into a system and all the lines from the remote system are being displayed on a single line, then you probably need to toggle linefeed on. [Alt_J] Jump to DOS ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This option will execute a DOS shell if you have enough memory. You may perform any type of DOS function including starting up other programs - memory permitting! When you are ready to return to K9X, simply type the word EXIT at the DOS prompt. Upon selecting this option, K9X will prompt you for a command to be executed. You may enter a command, in which case you will be automatically returned to K9X, or you may simply hit [Enter] which will drop you to the DOS prompt. Canine Express Professional v8.xx Page - 29 - If you plan on using this option while online to a host, it may be necessary to set DSR permanently high, so that the phone is NOT hung up when dropping to DOS. Note that invoking another program which manipulates the same port that K9X is using may cause your entire system to lock up. [Alt_K] K9X Version ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This option will display the K9X version number along with the program dedication. [Alt_L] Log Session to Printer ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This option will maintain a printed record of your session. Alt_L toggles the logging of your session to the printer. Initially printer logging is turned off. You may find that your sessions will proceed alot faster by opening up a session log file ([Ins] key) and then copy that file to your printer after your session has completed. [Alt_M] Function Key Macros ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This option will bring up another menu containing the following options: R)ead Macros allows you to read in a key definition file. When K9X is initially invoked, the file K9X.KEY, if it exists, is read in order to set the default function key values. You may enter key definitions at the keyboard as described in the next section and then write the resulting definitions to K9X.KEY so that those definitions will automatically exist when K9X is executed. E)dit/Modify allows you to program all of the Fn keys in four different modes; unshifted, shifted, alt, and control. The Fn keys can be programmed with upto 65 characters to hold your password or any multiple keystroke sequence you wish. W)rite will save your defined keys to file. You may name the file anything you like. However, if you name it K9X.KEY it will automatically be read in each time you start up the program. Q)uit takes you back to terminal or the 'Command Gateway'. If any macros are created or previous macros edited, K9X will go directly into the W)rite to file option. See the Macros section for detailed instructions on the use of this feature Canine Express Professional v8.xx Page - 30 - [Alt_N] New Modem Settings ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This option allows you to 'build' a new comm port parameter set (baud rate, parity, data and stop bits). The current modem setting is displayed at the bottom of the menu so you can also use Alt_N to see what the current settings are without changing them. The choices supplied give you full capability to set/reset one or more parts of your comm port parameters. As each parameter is selected, K9X will display the new settings at the bottom of the menu. K9X will reset the modem to the "New" settings upon exiting the New Modem Settings Menu. Your current modem settings are also displayed in the Expert Command Summary Menu. [Alt_O] Open BBS Door ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This option will toggle K9X for use as a pure dumb terminal. When this toggle is set, you may use K9X in conjunction with BBS doors applications which require the use of function and cursor keys. While in the Open BBS Door mode, if any extended code keys are pressed, K9X will send both the first Null and the extended key code. This is true for all extended keys (Function Keys, Cursor Keys, Alt-Keys, etc.) except for the Alt_O. This remains active as a K9X command so that you can get back into the full K9X Command set mode. Although you can set this toggle at any time, if you set it while online, K9X will turn off the Open_Door mode when carrier is dropped. Note that the Open_Door mode is only accessible when in Expert mode. [Alt_P] Parameters ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ K9X accesses the configuration program K9XCNF.COM via a DOS shell. K9XCNF automatically writes an updated K9X.CNF when you exit that program. The K9X.CNF file is re-read upon return to K9X. What this means is that any changes you have made within K9X prior to executing the Alt_P command will be lost unless these changes have been set permanently while in K9XCNF. If you make any modifications internal to K9X itself, the changes will only be active while you are using K9X that time. If you want to have the changes become your default startup settings, you must use K9XCNF to make the changes. If there is a setting you prefer, but is not saved in the K9X.CNF file, let me know and I will try to include the change in the next K9X version. See K9XCNF.COM section for detailed instructions on the use of the K9X configuration utility. [Alt_Q] Quiet Mode ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Alt_Q toggles noise production by K9X. If Quiet Mode is ON, then any bells, beeps, or music received from the host are ignored. The default is to have those sounds come through. Canine Express Professional v8.xx Page - 31 - Normally when K9X wants to alert you that you've made a mistake in typing your input to a K9X prompt (especially in the menus), K9X rings the terminal bell. When Quiet Mode is active (Y), K9X will flash the word "<ERROR>" on line 25 instead of using the bell. Upon initial startup, it will be set to OFF to allow sound/music mode. In order to set/reset the default Quiet Mode, follow the same procedure as outlined in the Expert toggle (Alt_X below). [Alt_R] Re-Dial ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This option will continuously redial the previous number until a connection is made, or a key has been pressed. During the wait between redial attempts, K9X will show the time remaining before another dial attempt. You have the options of: R)edial immediately This option will commence an immediate redial C)hange the redial delay (number of seconds) This option allows you to change the recycle delay time. Note that the new value entered here, is only in effect during the redial of the current number. [Esc] will discontinue any further redial attempts. Only one number at a time can be re-dialed using this option. When using the Redial Feature, if the entry you are dialing is linked to a Macro (the first character of the Macro field is something other than a backslash), K9X will bypass the "Connect - Hit any key" prompt and begin processing your logon macro. If no Macro has been designated, or you are redialing a number which was entered manually, K9X will sound an alarm and inform you that a connect has been established. Simply strike any key to exit this window and commence your session. The redial command has no effect on any dialing directory entry numbers which may be in the List Dialer Queue. If the number you wish to redial was originally dialed via the List Dialer, the redial will simply redial THAT number. Upon disconnect, the Alt_D command will continue cycling through the remainder of the entries within the List Dialer Queue. [Alt_S] Screen Dump ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This option will copy the current screen to a file. You are prompted for a file name to receive the text of the currently displayed screen image. Canine Express Professional v8.xx Page - 32 - Only the text on the screen is written to the file. If you want to make actual copies of a screen, you may use the DOS PrtScr command to dump the current screen, including any open menu screens, to your printer. [Alt_T] Time Fix ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ When K9X is started up, it records the starting time and date and then uses it to calculate the elapsed session time. The elapsed session time is reset each time K9X connects with a host system. This option calculates the time expended and will display this information for you. These figures are also logged to the CALL.LOG file K9X maintains. [Alt_U] Use File Find ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ K9X has the capability to automatically locate files you select for uploading. The file K9XDRIVE.TBL contains the list of available drives and paths which K9X is 'permitted' to search. This option gives you the opportunity to toggle this feature on/off. When Uploading a file: If this option is Enabled, K9X will first search your current logged drive:\directory for the file you requested. If it is not present there, K9X will then search your default upload path if specified within K9XDRIVE.TBL If it is not present there, then K9X will use the directory names held in K9XDRIVE.TBL to locate the file. There are two methods of search available when using the K9XDRIVE.TBL feature. If this option is Disabled, If no drive:\directory is specified with the filename K9X will search the current logged drive:\directory and then your default upload path (if specified within K9XDRIVE.TBL) or... K9X will ONLY search for the drive:\directory\filename as specified by your input. In either case, including a path (drive:\path\) along with the filename automatically forces K9X to bypass all search criteria and look in the specified path for the file. Canine Express Professional v8.xx Page - 33 - [Alt_V] View Capture Buffer ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This option requires that the capture buffer lines default in your configuration (K9X.CNF BB=n parameter) be set to a number greater than zero. If you have set this default, then the program will save the last (number you defined) lines displayed on the screen in a back scroll buffer. You can display the saved lines by hitting Alt_V. The cursor movement keys control the viewing of the buffer... and [Esc] exits the viewing. Use the up and down arrows to scroll up and down one line at a time through the saved lines. [PgUp] and [PgDn] take you up and down a page of 18 lines, respectively. [Home] takes you to the first page, and [End] takes you to the last page. [Esc] exits the view mode. The view buffer does NOT take account of escape sequences, so the resulting saved display for a full-screen session may not be very readable. All of the Cut and Paste functions, in addition to a special Save to File feature are available while in the [Alt_V] View Capture Buffer feature. When exiting this feature, K9X will automatically close any Cut and Paste file which may be open. Since the buffer contents are not lost upon disconnect from an online status, you may use this feature to browse the buffer, mark and save file names to a file list for later loading into the cut and paste buffer, or use this feature while online for an easy recall marking of any files that were missed on the first "pass" display of files listings. Note that the Cut and Paste functions are available ONLY it you have specified a capture buffer. See the [Shift Tab] Mark & Save Section for detailed instructions on the use of this feature. [Alt_W] What's My Protocol ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ When K9X starts up, it sets your protocol to that which is defined in K9X.CNF (the default is Xmodem checksum). Each dialing directory entry holds the default transfer protocol for that number. When you select a dialing directory entry to dial and K9X establishes communications with that number, K9X automatically resets your protocol. If you should dial a number manually, K9X will use the protocol setting which was in effect prior to the manual dial. You may use this command to reset your protocol at any time. The new setting will be in effect until it is reset upon connect to a new dialing directory entry or via this command. Any change made via this command is only temporary and is not saved to K9X.CNF Canine Express Professional v8.xx Page - 34 - [Alt_X] Expert toggle ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This option toggles you between the Alt_key keystroke type commands and the 'Command Gateway' menu system. Getting there from the Command GateWay ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To permanently set the default to ON (expert): 1) Type U 2) Type P 3) Type H 4) Type G 5) Press [Enter] 6) Type Q 7) Type Q To temporarily set the default to ON (expert): 1) Type T 2) Type X 3) A window will now open informing you that Expert mode is ENABLED [Alt_Y] Your K9X Editor ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ K9X provides a builtin macro/message editor for creating and/or re-editing logon macros, messages or any text file. The editor simulates the type of message entry system found on most BBS systems with the exception that full word wrap is only active while creating/editing a message. There isn't any word wrap when using the editor to create/edit a logon macro. Although a macro file may contain an unlimited number of lines, the macro editor in K9X is limited to a maximum of 200 lines. If you must go over the 200 line limit, you can use an ASCII text editor or create a number of individual macro files and then use the DOS COPY command to join them together. You may enter any ANSI Escape codes and/or extended graphics into your messages by using the Alt_keypad code number sequence. The differences between logon macro and message editing are: K9X will not save a macro line to file unless the line contains the LookFor/Send seperator ( ` ) somewhere between the 2nd and 41st characters. When editing a message, K9X will automatically add one blank trailing line after the last line of the message (the blank line at the end of a message is the normal way of ending message input on most BBS'). Word wrap is active during a message edit and inactive during macro edit. Canine Express Professional v8.xx Page - 35 - K9X will assign a .K9X extension to macro files and a .MES extension to messages. You may override these extensions by including an extension when loading or saving a file. K9X saves all marcos/messages created via the K9X editor in the K9X SUPP directory. Keep in mind that K9X expects the .K9X extension when looking for macro files during the dialing sequence. When loading or saving macro or message files, K9X will automatically look for the designated macro or message files in the K9X SUPP directory (wherever you started up K9X). You can override this by including the full path when specifying a filename. [End] Exit K9X ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This is the key for exiting K9X and returning to DOS. You will be asked to confirm the exit before any action is taken. If you have any session log files open, K9X will close them automatically. Please note that the phone line is NOT necessarily hung up when you exit K9X. It generally will be if you have the DTR line set normal. This allows you to re-enter the session at a later time if you so desire. If you set DTR permanently high, then the phone line is probably NOT hung up when you exit K9X. Hence, you should be sure to hang-up the phone using Alt_G before leaving K9X if you do not plan to re-enter a session. [Ins] Session to disk ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This option toggles the capture file on and off. When you hit the [Ins] key again the file will be saved for later viewing. The program will use whatever filename you specify and append all the present capture to the end of that file. If you have a session log active when exiting K9X, either by way of a DOS shell or permanently, K9X will automatically save and close the capture file for you. If you have exited via a DOS shell, K9X will re-open the log file upon re-entry to K9X. [^Home] DOS Command ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ K9X allows you to specify a default DOS command so that you may start up your favorite editor, file manager, external protocol driver or whatever. You may modify/change this to any 65 character command via K9XCNF and the Ctrl Home key combination will activate the DOS Command via a DOS shell. Canine Express Professional v8.xx Page - 36 - [Alt_1] Toggle Transfer Window ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This command key combination serves several purposes depending on when it is invoked. 1) When you are downloading or uploading a file using any of the internal K9X protocols (Xmodem, Ymodem, Modem7, Telink)... you can toggle the transfer window on/off with the Alt_1 command key combination. This will allow you to view the entire screen while a file transfer is in progress. DO NOT use this feature if you are using the built in SuperK protocols! K9X will read the Alt key set as an Escape and abort your transfer!!! 2) K9X has the ability to pre-load up to 20 dialing directory entries from the DOS prompt or from the List Dialer feature within the Dialing Directory. These numbers are held in a buffer and dialed consecutively until a connection is established. Upon completion of your online session, the Alt_D Dial command begins cycling through the list again. The Alt_1 command key combination while in the terminal mode allows you to discard the list of numbers, select new numbers to dial or simply access the dialing directory. Please note that K9X will not give you any indication that the list has been cleared other than sounding the system bell. The "Dialer List" line in the Expert Command Summary menu will display the number of entries remaining in the list dialer queue. 3) While in the process of dialing the List Dialer Queue numbers, an Alt_1 will abort the current dial and discard all of the remaining numbers within the queue. [Alt_8] CIS/B ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ K9X supports the CIS/B transfer protocol. The Alt_8 expert command key will activate the external OZBEXT.EXE (renamed to CIS.EXE) module in terminal mode. The parameters passed to CIS.EXE will be displayed prior to its execution. If you want to change these parameters, you may do so by renaming CIS.EXE to OZBEXT.EXE and create a CIS.BAT file that will call the module with whatever paramters you prefer (see the CIS.TXT file for additional parameters). Since K9X will automatically pass the required parameters (port, speed, etc.), the CIS.BAT file will simply have to discard the -v -x parameters and substitute your preferred parameters. Be sure to set your dialing directory parameters to dial up CIS with an 7 E 1 setting! The CIS/B docs state the the CIS module will automatically change the 7 E 1 to 8 N 1 during file transfers and change back to 7 E 1 upon transfer completion. The "Hit any key to continue" message within the CIS/B window has had a timing loop added to it. If no key is pressed within about a minute or so, K9X will time out and automatically invoke the CIS/B. Canine Express Professional v8.xx Page - 37 - [Alt_9] ICEX ~~~~~~~~~~~~ K9X supports the PC-Pursuit Dialer ICEX. The Alt_9 expert command key (and its equivilent in the Command Gateway Menu System) will activate the external ICEX.EXE module. A new script command parameter has been added giving K9X the capability of executing ICEX directly from a dialing directory macro. The command paramter is and it must appear in the "look for" portion of the macro line. Please refer to the ICEX doc files for use of the ICEX program. Note that any registration fees for the use of ICEX are not covered as part of the registration fee of K9X. If you plan on using ICEX on a regular basis, please support the author of that program and register your copy. ICEX expects the port to be reset when returning to the calling program. Although this is not done during a "normal" drop to DOS, I have included the code to reset the port upon return from either the ICEX or CIS/B modules. The "Hit any key to continue" message within the ICEX window has had a timing loop added to it. If no key is pressed within about a minute or so, K9X will time out and automatically invoke the ICEX module. [->] Text Message Upload ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This command option allows you to ASCII upload a prefabricated message to a BBS. This command executes a modified ASCII upload where all of the required timing, prompting characters, etc. are preset. All that is required from you is the name of the text message file. Sending prefabricated messages via the Ascii Send file ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Here are the steps to use this option in this manner: 1) Create a message using Your K9X Editor, a word processor or text editor. 2) Log on to the BBS and select the BBS command for entering a message or comment. 3) When the BBS tells you to start your message, press the right arrow key and enter the filename. 4) K9X will transmit the file to the BBS and the BBS will treat the input the same as though you had typed in on the spot. Canine Express Professional v8.xx Page - 38 - 5) Upon completion of the message transfer, your screen may be blank. If this is the case, simply hit the [Enter] key to display the BBS prompt line. 6) After finishing, L)ist your message and check it for errors, editing it as required. Note: K9X will look for the message file in your K9X SUPP directory. If the message resides elsewhere, simply include the full drive and path with the filename. [PgDn] Download a file ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This option opens the download window and works exactly the same as [PgUp] (see below) but in the other direction! Transfers are aborted by pressing the [PgDn] key when using the K9X internal protocols or [Esc]/[Ctrl-X] in bursts of three when using the Internal SuperK/JBatch protocols. When downloading a file the Default Download Path will be added to the filename in the form: You specify a download with a name: filename.ext Your download path is: C:\MININET\K9X\DOWNLOADS\FOO\BAR\YOU\ME\TODAY\NOW\ K9X opens the file as: C:\MININET\K9X\DOWNLOADS\FOO\BAR\YOU\ME\TODAY\NOW\filename.ext If you make a mistake, K9X will inform you that it cannot open the file. If this happens, recheck your Default Download Path. If you still receive the 'Can't Open File' message, recheck your input for the download filename. If no default download path has been specified in your K9X.CNF, downloads are written to you current logged drive and directory K9X will display the "Bytes Available" on either the drive which has been designated to hold the K9X Download Path, or the drive in which K9X was started. This display may be displayed manually via the Files Manipulation menu or automatically when performing downloads. Canine Express Professional v8.xx Page - 39 - [Shift Tab] Mark & Save ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ There is a powerful new feature in K9X... It deals primarily with the listing and downloading of files. The Shift-Tab, Down Arrow and Del keys work together to execute the feature in its entirety. K9X will store up to 24 filenames in a special Mark and Save buffer. When listing files, the Shift-Tab keys will freeze the screen and allow you to move the cursor around the screen using the Home, End and Arrow keys. After pressing the Shift-Tab keys, line 25 on your screen will display the available command options while in this section. They are: Up Arrow Move cursor up one line with no change in the column position. If cursor is line 1, cursor moves to line 24 Down Arrow Move cursor down one line with no change in the column position. If cursor is on line 24, cursor moves to line 1 Right Arrow Move cursor right one column. If cursor is on column 80, cursor moves to column 1 of the same line Left Arrow Move cursor left one column. If cursor is on column 1, cursor moves to column 80 of the same line Home Move cursor to line 1, column 1 End Move cursor to line 24, column 1 ShiftTab Pressing the ShiftTab key combination again places you into a Cut and Paste mode. The command help line 25 that appeared on the first ShiftTab will be removed and you will now be able to move your cursor around the screen. After positioning the cursor, pressing the M (mark) key will extract the line, from the cursor position to the end of that line, write the line to the file called K9XNOTES and advance the cursor down one line. The only difference between this Mark option and the one described below is that here, the remainder of the line is saved to disk. With the filename marking below, only the filename is marked and saved to the file buffer. D Pressing the D key (upper or lower case) will open yet another window displaying the filenames already in the buffer. M Pressing the M key (upper or lower case) marks the filename and moves it into a buffer position. The marked filename will be displayed on your screen in inverse (black on white) and the cursor will be moved down one line. K9X will not verify that a valid filename has been selected... You MUST position the cursor over the first character of a valid filename before pressing the M key. Canine Express Professional v8.xx Page - 40 - I've added some additional coding that will account for file listings that are formatted (with spaces) and lack the standard period between the file name and file extension. For uploading, this allows for the user to use the DOS redirection character > to create a list of files (please refer to your DOS manual for information on redirecting DOS output)... K9X will ignore any line in the upload file list that begins with a space or a period and will replace all formatting spaces with a single period. Example: this standard DOS directory output Volume in drive C is MININET_1 Directory of C:\K9X . <DIR> 12-18-88 2:18a .. <DIR> 12-18-88 2:18a K9X COM 40702 12-29-88 7:20p K9X 000 71680 12-29-88 7:20p K9X 001 2304 12-29-88 7:16p K9X 002 4352 12-29-88 7:16p K9X 003 7936 12-29-88 7:17p K9X 004 8448 12-29-88 7:17p K9X 005 3328 12-29-88 7:17p K9X 006 5888 12-29-88 7:17p K9X 007 3840 12-29-88 7:17p K9X 008 31744 12-29-88 7:18p K9X 009 14592 12-29-88 7:18p K9X 010 27648 12-29-88 7:19p K9X 011 13056 12-29-88 7:19p K9X 012 3840 12-29-88 7:20p 16 File(s) 126267840 bytes free Becomes... K9X.COM K9X.000 K9X.001 K9X.002 K9X.003 K9X.004 K9X.005 K9X.006 K9X.007 K9X.008 K9X.009 K9X.010 K9X.011 K9X.012 For downloading, this allows the loading of files lists that contain formatted filenames (such as the file listings found on some BBS'). Canine Express Professional v8.xx Page - 41 - Example: this BBS file listing K9X ZIP 321000 12-29-88 Canine Express v8.20 Becomes... K9X.ZIP K9X will extract the first character under the cursor and the next 11 characters. From this partial string, K9X will attempt to create a filename. If the filename as displayed is a standard filename in NAME.EXT format, K9X will store it into its buffer as is. If the filename is in a formatted form (ie: K9X ZIP), K9X will remove the format spaces and convert the filename into the standard format of K9X.ZIP before storing it in the buffer. E Pressing the E key (upper or lower case) opens up yet another window displaying the filenames already in the buffer and prompting you for a command. Your options through the Edit mode are: A Allows you to manually add a filename to the list. The filename may be entered in either upper or lower case and will be placed at the end of the buffered filename list. Pressing Enter by itself will abort this command with no action taken. C Will prompt if you wish to clear A)ll or O)ne filename. If only One file is to be cleared, K9X will ask for the entry number, clear the specified entry and move higher entries down one place to fill the void. Pressing Enter by itself will abort this command with no action taken. E Allows you to change (edit) one of the existing filenames that are listed. Pressing Enter by itself will abort this command with no action taken. L Allows you to load in a list of files from a text file. Although the file may contain any number of lines, only the first 24 lines will be read in. Each line of the file may contain simply a file name or it may contain the full data (ie: what is displayed when listing files on a BBS). Here is the process when K9X reads in a file list.... Example: K9X reads in a line from the file K9XHOST.ZIP 291456 09/24/87 Latest version of K9X Full Host Package Canine Express Professional v8.xx Page - 42 - K9X then extracts the first 12 characters of that line and ASSUMES that string is in fact a filename. +- 12 chars -+ | | K9XHOST.ZIP 291456 09/24/87 Latest version of K9X Full Host Package K9X then makes sure there are no trailing spaces at the end of the filename (in the case of a filename that is less than 12 characters), discarding any characters from the first space on. +- 12 chars -+ +- 11 chars + | | | | K9XHOST.ZIP equals K9XHOST.ZIP Finally, K9X saves the (assumed) filename to the next available buffer location. K9XHOST.ZIP Be aware that you must be connected to a host system (a carrier must be present) in order for the loaded list of files to remain in memory once you exit this Shift-Tab section. Each time you disconnect from a host system, K9X automatically clears all filenames in the buffer and resets the buffer counter/pointer. The backslash character \ may be used in your list to cease any further reading of a file. ie: the file you are reading contains 100 or so filenames and you only want to read in the first 10. The only criteria in using the backslash is that it appears on a line by itself and is located as the first character (no leading spaces). Pressing Enter by itself will abort this command with no action taken. S Allows you to save the current filenames in the buffer to a specified file. Be aware that as the filenames are "used up" via your requests to the host system, each used filename is discarded. If you wish to make a log of the filenames, do it before you begin your requests. Pressing Enter by itself will abort this command with no action taken. [Enter] If you are in the Cut and Paste mode, pressing the [Enter] key simply returns you to the FileName mark mode. If you are in the FileName mark mode, pressing the [Enter] key returns you to an online status, saving your marked filenames, restoring your screen and positioning the cursor where it was initially Canine Express Professional v8.xx Page - 43 - In addition to your command options, the help line 25 will display the number of buffers already used (this information is also displayed in both the) Expert command menu and the Gateway/Files Commands menu). You may exit and re-enter the Mark and Save feature at any time, add to, delete from or edit your marked filenames on as many screens as you like and you may perform any manual upload or download functions while there are filenames in the buffer. The saved buffered filenames will not be disturbed until they are "used" or you disconnect from that host system. [Del]/[] Auto Download Mark & Save Filenames ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Since the number of protocols which K9X supports is extensive, so are the number of ways in which filenames are handled and supplied to the BBS. Various PCBoard Batch Protocol Doors require different command structures to set up multiple files transfers. One variation requires the D command, then the specification of a protocol and then finally the filename(s) entered one at a time on separate lines... Another requires the D command, then the protocol specification, and then finally the filename(s) stacked on one command line and separated by a space or semi-colon. To this end, K9X will only send the filename to the Host system - without a carriage return - when using a batch mode protocol (as specified within K9X NOT the BBS). This allows you to use various Batch methods with the K9X cut and paste feature. If you have been using the K9X auto-down feature this new method will take a little getting used to but still saves alot of aggrevation! The sequence here is to manually enter the D command, then select the protocol, then simply hit the down-arrow key to have K9X feed the filenames to the host system. If you are using the one filename per line DOOR, simple hit Enter after each filename is sent... If you are using the stack on one line DOOR, enter the space separator and then send the next filename to the host. When you have setup the host for the transfers, simply hit the down-arrow key (expert mode) and K9X will go directly into Batch mode without prompting for any filenames. Note that this modification is only in effect when Batch protocols are used. The use of any of the "one file at a time" protocols is as noted below. Note also that K9X supports the logging of file transfers within its K9XFER.LOG file when using any of the built in SuperK/JBatch protocols. K9X will not be able to log any file transfer results to the K9XFER.LOG file when using external protocols. For this reason, you may want to set the environment variable for DSZ by including the line SET DSZLOG=C:\K9X\K9XFER.LOG in your AUTOEXEC.BAT There are two ways in which you can request the marked files from the host. After marking the desired filenames... The [Del] key (number pad) is used to commence a totally automated download procedure. K9X extracts the first filename from the buffer, appends the filename with a d; and sends it to the host system. Canine Express Professional v8.xx Page - 44 - After waiting a preset length of time (long enough for the host to set up the sending of the file), K9X then uses the filename to initiate the transfer on your system. Upon completion (or abort), K9X discards the filename, shifts all of the remaining filenames down one position in the buffer and repeats the process. Until all filenames in the buffer have been requested. In essence, the use of the Del key simulates a batch mode by cycling through each filename on at a time. The down arrow key performs the identical functions as the [Del] key except it only performs half of the sequence at a time. The process is as follows: Using single file mode - Press the down arrow key... K9X sends d;filename.ext to the host. Wait until the host informs you that it is ready to send the requested file. Press the down arrow key again... K9X initiates the transfer on your system. Using batch file mode where multiple filenames may be specified at one time on one line. Press the down arrow key... K9X sends filename.ext to the host. Press Space to insert the required separator between filenames. Press the down arrow key... K9X sends the next filename.ext Repeat until the maximum number of filenames have been specified or file buffers have been emptied. Press [Enter] to signal the Host that you are finished with your input. When the host informs you that it is ready to send the files requested, hit the Page Down key. Using batch file mode where multiple filenames may be specified at one time one filename per line Press the down arrow key... K9X sends filename.ext to the host. Press [Enter] to signal the Host that you are finished with that line. Press the down arrow key... K9X sends the next filename.ext Press [Enter] to signal the Host that you are finished with that line. Canine Express Professional v8.xx Page - 45 - Repeat until the maximum number of filenames have been specified or file buffers have been emptied. Press [Enter] one last time to signal the Host that you are finished with your input. When the host informs you that it is ready to send the files requested, hit the Page Down key. The advantage to your using the down arrow key over the Del key is that you replace the timing loop in determining when the file is ready to send, thus bypassing the timing loops built into k9X and speeding up the transfer request process. Study these notes carefully: No check is made to verify that you have indeed marked a filename... You MUST have the cursor positioned over the FIRST character of a valid filename. Remember that when using a batch mode protocol, K9X does not send the opening D command nor the closing carriage return. When using this option with a single file protocol, you must NOT initiate the download on the host system (by issuing the d command to the Host). K9X automatically adds the D; to the filename. Remember that use of the down arrow key option requires your hitting the down arrow key twice... once to send the filename to the host and again to initiate the transfer on your end. When you send a filename, K9X removes that filename from the buffer list regardless of whether the file is transferred or not. You do not have to "use up" the saved filenames all at once (or at all). K9X simply holds on to the names until they are indeed used or you disconnect from that host system. You may execute downloads via the other K9X download options regardless of the saved filename buffer status. The [Esc] key may be used at anytime during either the Del key or down arrow key transfer. Hitting the [Esc] key aborts the entire autodownload process. K9X will inform you of this before each filename is sent, and will also inform you that it is aware that you pressed the [Esc] key to abort the transfer. Be aware that you may have to hit Ctrl-X and/or [Enter] several times after a transfer has been aborted. This all depends on when you press the [Esc] key and when K9X acts upon the [Esc] abort. Some systems place minimum security levels on all files. Being this option is a two key - non-stop feature, be sure you are able to download the file before marking it. Under some of the external protocols, it may be very difficult to abort the transfer once it is initiated. Canine Express Professional v8.xx Page - 46 - Make sure your default protocol for the system you are logged on to is set correctly both on the system and in K9X. Once you start either download mode, you will not be able to change your protocol until k9X has finished its cycle. [Alt_6] Clear FileName ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ There will be times when the file you request is not available or you do not have enough time to complete the transfer. Being the down arrow and Del key transfer modes are performed in two stages, the non-availability notice will come after the first stage and before the second stage of a transfer... leaving you with the bad filename still sitting in the buffer and K9X expecting to initiate the transfer on your side! The Alt_6 command will discard the bad filename, move any other buffered filenames down one position and set up K9X to continue on to the next filename (if available). [PgUp] Upload a file ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This option opens up the upload window. You must first 'tell' the host system you are communicating with that you are about to upload a file. Once the host acknowledges and informs you that it is ready to receive the file, press the PgUp key and specify the name of the file you wish to send. Transfers are aborted by pressing the [PgUp] key when using the K9X internal protocols or [Esc]/[Ctrl-X] in bursts of three when using the Internal SuperK protocols. When uploading a file using any single file transmission method, when K9X asks you for a filename: If you have specified the use of K9X File Find, all you have to input is a filename. Entering a drive and path along with the filename will override the K9X File Finding capabilities. If you have not specified the use of File Find and: The file resides in the current logged directory, simply enter the full filename The file resides in an area other than the current logged directory, you will have to give the full path and filename. Don't worry if your path/filename input wraps around to the next line, K9X will read it properly. For the batch methods you may enter a wildcard specification, and all files matching the wildcard specification will be transmitted to the remote system. The same rules concerning where the file(s) reside apply. Canine Express Professional v8.xx Page - 47 - For example, if the current logged directory has three files A.COM B.COM C.COM Entering the file name as *.COM to say, Super8K Batch, results in all three files being transmitted to the remote system. Facility has been made to specify multiple filenames when sending (uploading) files using any of the Batch Protocols. Simply input your filenames with each seperated by a space... Full paths may be used for each filespec... Let's say you wish to send three files in one batch and the files reside in three different directories... FILE_1.ZIP resides in your C:\FOO directory FILE_2.ZIP resides in your C:\BAR directory FILE_3.ZIP resides in your C:\TODAY directory After setting up the upload on the BBS, select the K9X upload command (Expert or Command Gateway). Input the three filenames as: C:\FOO\FILE_1.ZIP C:\BAR\FILE_2.ZIP C:\TODAY\FILE_3.ZIP Again, use of wildcards are not allowed when specifying multiple filenames. Wildcards are supported only when the wildcard is used in a single filespec... valid: send AB1.ZIP, AB2.ZIP, AB3.ZIP and ABSOLUTE.ZIP all residing in C:\DLS filespec would be C:\DLS\AB*.ZIP or C:\DLS\AB*.* invalid: send same as above - where filespec is C:\DLS\AB?.ZIP C:\ABSOL*.ZIP If a single filespec is specified during Batch uploads and the filespec is in the "@drive:\path\filelist" form, K9X simply passes the filename to the protocol. In all other cases, if no path is supplied with the filename(s), K9X will first look for the specified files in the default upload directory. If the K9X file find feature is active, and the file(s) were not found in the default up/download directories, K9X will then use the K9XDRIVE.TBL to attempt to locate the file(s). K9X supports a 24 filename upload buffer (ala the cut and paste download buffer). It works identically to the cut and paste download buffer, but in the opposite direction and... where the download cut and paste is accessed directly from the main terminal mode or within the Alt-V (view capture buffer), the upload cut and paste is accessed through the file manipulation section. This operation will take a little explaining! Canine Express Professional v8.xx Page - 48 - To upload a group of files, let's assume you are online with a host system. 1) Access the File Manipulation Section via the Expert Alt-F (or Command Gateway Menu Files/Files Manipulation) command and select the files to be uploaded. Please see the K9X File Finder section for detailed instructions on the use of this feature. 2) After selecting the U)pload option, all that is required is to hit the Up arrow key. K9X will send the first filename to the host system! If you are using a batch protocol... If the host accepts multiple filenames on a single line, hit the space bar and send the next filename (via the up arrow key)... and so on... If the host does not accept multiple filenames on a single line, simply hit your Enter key, wait for the prompt for the next filename, hit the Up Arrow key, Hit Enter, wait for prompt... and so on. If you are using a Single File Protocol, simply hit your Enter key 3) When you have finished sending the filenames (all or part of the full marked list) to the host and the host has acknowledged that it is ready to receive the files, simply hit the PgUp key. If you are using a single file mode protocol, K9X will automatically begin the transfer. If you are using a batch mode protocol, enter 3 forward slashes (///) for a filename and hit your Enter key. K9X will then locate each file and append the full path to the buffer filename, writing the resultant to the file K9XBATCH.LST and the pass the K9XBATCH.LST filename to the protocol. When it has completed this task, K9X will automatically begin the transfer - either Batch or Single File mode. 4) Upon completion (or abort), K9X will remove the "used" filenames from the Upload Mark Buffer, thus readying any remaining filenames for processing, and erase the K9XBATCH.LST @drive:\path\filelist ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A word about the @drive:\path\filelist filespec Zmodem transfers allow the use of a prefabricated list of files as the input source in place of a filename. This allows you to create an ascii list of filenames - with or without associated paths - and then specify this filename to K9X in the form... @drive:\path\filelist (ie: @C:SEND.LST) Canine Express Professional v8.xx Page - 49 - It stands to reason that if the filenames that are listed within the list reside in different directories or all of the files in the list reside in an area OTHER than your currently logged drive:\directory, you will have to include a full path with EACH filename in the list. The SuperK and JBatch protocols built in to K9X take this feature one step further. If the filenames within the list are located in various directories, you will still have to specify a full path along with each filename in the list... However, if all of the files reside in the same directory, you may specify the path to the files along with the @drive:\path\filelist so that your input becomes @drive:\path\filelist@drive:\path where the second @drive:\path is the path in which the files within the list reside! Understand that this additional feature is only valid in cases where you are using one of the built in SuperK/JBatch protocols. [Alt_Minus] Universal LookFor Toggle ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Alt_Minus key combination will shut off the Universal Logon feature if it was in fact active. The status of the Universal LookFor is displayed in both the Expert Command Summary Screen and the Command Gateway/Toggles section in the form of (Y) or (N) [Alt_Plus] Macro Toggle ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Alt_Plus key combination will shut off the AutoLogon feature if it was in fact active. The status of the Macro Toggle is displayed in both the Expert Command Summary Screen and the Command Gateway/Toggles section in the form of (Y) or (N) NOTE: The Alt_Minus and Alt_Plus key combinations along with their novice menu counterparts will only turn OFF these features. Once either of these features is turned off, you will not be able to re-activate them again until you hang up and redial. Canine Express Professional v8.xx Page - 50 - DIALING DIRECTORY ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Queue Prompt Before Entering Dialing Directory ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ When using the Alt-D command in expert mode or the 'Dial a number' option from the Command Gateway Menu, K9X will first open the L)ist dialer window prior to displaying any portion of the dialing directory. This allows you to input the entries you wish to dial (If you already know them) or hit [Enter] to exit the L)ist dialer and proceed to a display of the dialing directory. Note: Please see the ESC command key comments for exiting the dialing mode and the L command comments for further information on the dialing queue. List Dialer, Tag and Untag Mode ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ While in any one of these modes, the Dialing Directory Command Menu is replaced with the list of numbers already selected. Although the command Menu is not visible, all (most) of the dialing directory commands are still available. You may use the cursor keys to scroll/page through the directory, use Goto to jump to a particular directory entry, Tag and Untag entries, display the extended or standard directory entry info, and even direct enter an entry number (in the form 123) - in which case the number is added to the list. Hitting the Enter key will remove the List dial list, replace the List Dialer window with the Dialing Directory Command Menu and return you to normal directory activity mode. Dialing Directory Size ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The dialing directory size is saved in K9X.CNF. The size in pages (where one page = 19 entries) can now be specifed by the user and has a range of 2 to 500 pages... that's 38 to 9500 entries! The default upon startup is 2 pages (38 entries) but that may be expanded at any time via K9XCNF. Monitoring Carrier Detect ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ K9X monitors the carrier detect line to see if a remote session is in progress. If K9X detects a carrier, it WILL NOT allow you to dial another number and initiate another session. If you experience problems with K9X when attempting to dial another system, please refer to the Alt_P command key section, specifically the K9X.CNF information dealing with the setting of the CTS, DSR and Carrier Line High flags. Dialing Directory Format ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The dialing directory file K9X.P is a random-access text file. Each line in the file corresponds to one dialing directory entry. The format of each entry is: Canine Express Professional v8.xx Page - 51 - Field Length Comments ------------- ------ ------------------------------------------ Name 25 Phone Number 15 In the form 1-206-725-9233 with or without the hyphen with or without a prefix and/or postfix Baud rate 5 In the form 2400 Parity 1 In the form N Data Bits 1 In the form 8 Stop Bits 1 In the form 1 LastOn Date/Time 20 In the form 19:54:32 05/01/1987 Macro Name 8 In the form MININET without .K9X extension Protocol 1 In the form ... A Ascii X Xmodem Chk B Batch Zmodem Y Ymodem CRC C Xmodem CRC Z Zmodem D DSZ Ymodem-G Batch 1 K9Xmodem Batch K K9Xmodem CRC 2 Ymodem Batch J Jmodem 3 WXmodem Batch M Modem 7 (Batch) Checksum 4 Xmodem CRC Batch P PC-Kermit 5 Xmodem Chk Batch Q Qmxfer Ymodem-G 6 Super8K Batch T Telink 7 Modem 7 (Batch) CRC W WXmodem CRC 8 Jmodem Batch All fields are plain ASCII text.... This means that you may sort your dialing directory with the DOS SORT utility or any text sorting utility. Although K9X.P can be loaded into an ASCII text editor and modified, care should be taken that the lengths and placement of the data fields are not corrupted. The file itself is an ASCII file, but the field sizes are fixed. Each time you dial up a directory entry number and connect with that number, K9X automatically updates the dialing directory entry LastOn field with the current time and date. K9X uses the associated communications parameters when dialing the selected phone number. Main Dialing Directory Display ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Main Dialing Directory Display is divided into 2 parts... The actual directory entries on the left and the command summary on the right. Commands are selected by pressing the corresponding first character of the desired command. The number of entries in the dialing queue is displayed within the dialing directory command menu. This figure is updated automatically when the Tag, Untag or Clear (within the List Dialer list display) command is specified. Canine Express Professional v8.xx Page - 52 - The menu title also displays the current size (2 pages) of the directory and the first entry is displayed in inverse video. The actual directory entries are scrollable. Dialing Directory Display Sample ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ +< Dialing Directory (2 pages) >--------------------------++< Commands >-------+ |<##> <Name>___________________ <Number>_______ <Bps> <W> || C Clear Entry | | || D Dial List (0) | | 1 UNDERDOGS MININET BBS 01A 1-206-725-9233 9600 N81 || G Go to Entry # | | 2 UNDERDOGS MININET BBS 01B 1-206-725-9233 9600 N81 || H Hang Up | | 3 ------------------------- - --- --- ---- 9600 N81 || L Input Dial List | | 4 ------------------------- - --- --- ---- 9600 N81 || M Manual Dial | | 5 ------------------------- - --- --- ---- 9600 N81 || N Name Dial | | 6 ------------------------- - --- --- ---- 9600 N81 || P Prefix Revision | | 7 ------------------------- - --- --- ---- 9600 N81 || Q Quick Edit | | 8 ------------------------- - --- --- ---- 9600 N81 || R Redial Number | | 9 ------------------------- - --- --- ---- 9600 N81 || T Tag Entry | | 10 ------------------------- - --- --- ---- 9600 N81 || U Untag Entry | | 11 ------------------------- - --- --- ---- 9600 N81 || [->] Extended | | 12 ------------------------- - --- --- ---- 9600 N81 || [Home] Page One | | 13 ------------------------- - --- --- ---- 9600 N81 || [End] Last Pg | | 14 ------------------------- - --- --- ---- 9600 N81 || [][] Up/Dn 1 | | 15 ------------------------- - --- --- ---- 9600 N81 || [Pg] Up/Dn 19 | | 16 ------------------------- - --- --- ---- 9600 N81 || [^Pg] Up/Dn 190 | | 17 ------------------------- - --- --- ---- 9600 N81 || [Esc] Exit Dialer | | 18 ------------------------- - --- --- ---- 9600 N81 || [ENTER] will dial | | 19 ------------------------- - --- --- ---- 9600 N81 || the highlighted # | | || -OR- | | At Your Command: || Enter an Entry No | +---------------------------------------------------------++-------------------+ Extended Info Display ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Extended info feature has been modified to display the extended info on ALL directory entries. Prior versions only displayed the full information for the entry which was positioned in the highlighted spot. By pressing the Right Arrow key, K9X will swap out the current info and display the Last On Date, Macro and Protocol for each of the entries in the displayed page. Pressing the Right Arrow key again will replace the extended info with the original info. Note that this new feature is merely a toggle flag. All of your dialing directory commands are available regardless of which "set" of information is being displayed. Canine Express Professional v8.xx Page - 53 - Extended Info Display Sample ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ +< Dialing Directory (2 pages) >--------------------------++< Commands >-------+ |<##> <Last On>_____________<Macro>_____ <Protocol______ || C Clear Entry | | || D Dial List (0) | | 1 00:00:00 02/15/1989 \ Super8K Batch || G Go to Entry # | | 2 00:00:00 02/15/1989 \ Super8K Batch || H Hang Up | | 3 00:00:00 02/15/1989 \ Super8K Batch || L Input Dial List | | 4 00:00:00 02/15/1989 \ Super8K Batch || M Manual Dial | | 5 00:00:00 02/15/1989 \ Super8K Batch || N Name Dial | | 6 00:00:00 02/15/1989 \ Super8K Batch || P Prefix Revision | | 7 00:00:00 02/15/1989 \ Super8K Batch || Q Quick Edit | | 8 00:00:00 02/15/1989 \ Super8K Batch || R Redial Number | | 9 00:00:00 02/15/1989 \ Super8K Batch || T Tag Entry | | 10 00:00:00 02/15/1989 \ Super8K Batch || U Untag Entry | | 11 00:00:00 02/15/1989 \ Super8K Batch || [->] Extended | | 12 00:00:00 02/15/1989 \ Super8K Batch || [Home] Page One | | 13 00:00:00 02/15/1989 \ Super8K Batch || [End] Last Pg | | 14 00:00:00 02/15/1989 \ Super8K Batch || [][] Up/Dn 1 | | 15 00:00:00 02/15/1989 \ Super8K Batch || [Pg] Up/Dn 19 | | 16 00:00:00 02/15/1989 \ Super8K Batch || [^Pg] Up/Dn 190 | | 17 00:00:00 02/15/1989 \ Super8K Batch || [Esc] Exit Dialer | | 18 00:00:00 02/15/1989 \ Super8K Batch || [ENTER] will dial | | 19 00:00:00 02/15/1989 \ Super8K Batch || the highlighted # | | || -OR- | | At Your Command: || Enter an Entry No | +---------------------------------------------------------++-------------------+ Dialing Number Display ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Dialing Number Display provides a visual monitor of K9X dialing. As dialing progresses, status messages are inserted within the "Dialing" window display. The directory entry info is quite a bit easier to read now with all of the fields placed in the left side window and the dialing times placed in the right side window. The redial, connect and dial progress messages are displayed within the right side window. A new command has been added here also.. In prior versions, in order to completely abandon the dialing queue, you had to press the Escape key once for each entry in the queue. This version adds the Alt-1 key command which will not only abort the current entry being dialed but abandon the entire queue (just like the terminal Alt-1 command key). Note that [Esc] works as before - [Esc] aborts the current entry dial and proceeds on the the next entry in the queue. Canine Express Professional v8.xx Page - 54 - Dialing Number Display Sample ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ +-< Entry Number: 1 >-----------------+ +-< Dialing >---------------------+ | Name : UNDERDOGS MININET BBS 01A | | Dialing Started at : 12:00:00 | | Number : 1-206-725-9233 | | Attempt started at : 12:00:04 | | Params : 9600,N,8,1 | | Number of Attempts : 2 | | Last On : 00:00:00 02/15/1989 | | Elapsed Dial Time : 00:00:02 | | Macro : \ | | | | Protocol: Super8K Batch | | Abort: [Alt_1]=list [Esc]=dial | +-------------------------------------+ +---------------------------------+ Redialing Number Display Sample ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ +-< Entry Number: 1 >-----------------+ +-< Redialing >-------------------+ | Name : UNDERDOGS MININET BBS 01A | | Dialing Started at : 12:00:00 | | Number : 1-206-725-9233 | | Attempt started at : 12:00:04 | | Params : 9600,N,8,1 | | Number of Attempts : 2 | | Last On : 00:00:00 02/15/1989 | | Elapsed Dial Time : 00:00:02 | | Macro : \ | | Busy - Patience is a Virtue! | | Protocol: Super8K Batch | | R)edial now, C)hange or [Esc] | +-------------------------------------+ +---------------------------------+ Quick Entry Edit Display ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Upon selecting the Q option, you are first prompted for the number of the entry you wish to revise. K9X will then find and read that record number from the dialing directory. The Quick Entry Edit Window is then displayed. As you can see, the current values for each field are displayed above each box. Those fields requiring certain specified input have the valid input display to the left of the applicable box (E,O,N or 5..8). 5..8 indicates any number from 5 to 8 is valid. In each instance, the cursor will be at the first character position of the field to be edited. You may input a new value for that field or simply hit ENTER... in which case, the current value is pulled down into the box. When you have finished editing each field (or hit ENTER to retain the current value), the "S)ave and quit" line will be displayed at the bottom of the window. In order to exit the edit mode, you MUST press the S key. If you hit ENTER at the S)ave and quit prompt, all of the boxes will be cleared and the cursor will be positioned in the "Name:" field box once again. Canine Express Professional v8.xx Page - 55 - Quick Entry Edit Display Sample ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ +< Revise Dialing Entry >---------------------------------------------+ | Name: UNDERDOGS MININET BBS Number: 1-206-725-9233 | | │ ┌─────────────────────────┐ │ ┌───────────────┐ | | └──┤ │ └────┤ │ | | └─────────────────────────┘ └───────────────┘ | | Baud Rate: 9600 Parity: N Data Bits: 8 Stop Bits: 1 | | │ ┌─────┐ ┌┴┐ ┌┴┐ ┌┴┐ | | └───────┤ │ E,O,N │ │ 5..8 │ │ 0..2 │ │ | | └─────┘ └─┘ └─┘ └─┘ | | Last On: 00:00:00 01/01/1980 Macro: \ Super8K | | │ │ │ | | │ ┌────────────────────┐ │ ┌────────┐┌─┴───────────────┐ | | └─────┤ │ └───┤ ││ │ | | └────────────────────┘ └────────┘└─────────────────┘ | | S)ave and quit | +---------------------------------------------------------------------+ Navigating the Dialing Directory ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ As stated earlier, the actual directory entries are scrollable. Whichever number is currently at the top of the display and displayed in inverse video is the default number. If you just hit [ENTER]... and there are no entry numbers in the List dialing queue, K9X will automatically dial this number. You can move through the directory using the following keys: [PgDn] - forward 1 page (19 entries). [PgUp] - back 1 page (19 entries). [^PgUp] - back 10 pages (190 entries) [^PgDn] - forward 10 pages (190 entries) [Down arrow] - down one line. [Up arrow] - up one line. [Home] - display the first 19 entries. [End] - display the last 19 entries. Dialing a Specific Directory Entry ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Type the entry number you wish to dial. The corresponding phone number for that dialing directory entry is dialed. You may prefix the number with one of the dialing prefix characters described below, in which case the corresponding prefix string is appended to the front of the phone number. The communications parameters are also set to those present in the dialing directory. You may hit the ESC (escape) key to cancel the dialing at any time during the progress of a call. Once a connection is established, however, hitting the escape key has no effect. Canine Express Professional v8.xx Page - 56 - If a successful connection to the remote system occurs, K9X checks the modem connect message returned by the modem (if any) for the string designated to be the modem connect message (MC= parameter). If it is found, then K9X assumes that any digits immediately following the modem message comprise the baud rate at which the modem connected. If that baud rate differs from the current baud rate, K9X adjusts the baud rate automatically to match that of the remote host as indicated by the modem. If the connection to the remote system is not successful and you are dialing a single number, then the dialing directory is displayed again so that you can choose another number to dial if you wish. You may also redial the selected number from within the dialing directory. Simply press the R key and K9X will go into the redial mode. If you are using the L)ist dialing option and no connection is made, K9X will cycle through to the next directory number in the queue. Command Keys ~~~~~~~~~~~~ [Esc] - If the dialing directory is displayed and no dialing is in progress, pressing the Escape key exits the dialing directory section. If K9X is performing a single number dial then pressing the Escape key takes you out of the dialing mode. In all cases where the L)ist dialer is being used, K9X will cycle through the list of entry numbers until a connection is made. Hitting ESC merely signals K9X that you wish to abort dialing that particular entry number and proceed on to the next entry number in the list. In order to exit the L)ist dialer completely, you will have to hit [Alt-1]. At that point, K9X will abort the current dial and abandon the list. C - When in the List/Tag/Untag menu, the C command clears all entries from the List dialer. When in the standard dialing directory mode, the C command allows you to clear a specified entry. In both cases, there isn't any confirmation of the clear command. D - Since the List dial feature no longer automatically commences the queue dial when exited, the D command will now start the queue dialing sequence. [Enter] - When in the List/Tag/Untag mode, Enter returns to to the standard dialing directory mode. When in the standard dialing directory mode, with no directory entries within the List Dialing queue, K9X will extract the highlighted directory entry and commence to dial. However, it should be noted that if there are directory entries within the dialing queue, K9X will automatically commence the List Dial option rather than dial the highlighted entry. Canine Express Professional v8.xx Page - 57 - G - The GoTo command allows you to specify a dialing directory entry to go to. K9X will shift its position within the dialing directory so that the specified entry number is placed into the highlighted position. H - Allows you to hang up the phone. This command is identical to the Alt-G Expert Command. L - Allows you to specify up to 20 dialing directory entry numbers to be dialed in a rotary queue. Rotational dialing will continue until a connect is made... When K9X connects with a number, the remaining numbers are retained. Upon disconnecting from the system, an expert mode Alt-D command or novice mode 'Modem Command/Dial a Friend' will take you back into the list dial mode and attempt to connect with another number. This process will continue until K9X has successfully connected with all the numbers in the list or each remaining number is 'Escaped Out', at which time the list is abandoned. This List dialing configuration also applies to all three entry points into the List Dialer - from the Alt-D, from within the dialing directory itself and the application of numbers on the DOS command line. Since the dial queue can be continually built (up to the 20 maximum entries), the C command within the list window will clear ALL entries from the queue. T - Allows you to "Tag" the highlighted directory entry and place that entry number into List Dialer Queue. The sequence here is to place the desired entry into the highlighted position and press the T key. K9X will check the entry number against any existing numbers in the queue. If that number does not already exist, K9X will automatically place the dialing directory entry number into the queue list. If the queue already holds other entry numbers, the new number will be placed at the end of the list. The command portion of the dialer will display the number of entries within the List Dialer and you may use the L command at any time to view the actual list of entry numbers. U - The UnTag command works against an already tagged entry number. The process is the same... place the desired entry into the highlighted position and press the U key. If the entry number is present within the queue, K9X will delete it and "fill in the hole" by moving any other numbers down one position. The command portion of the dialer is also updated to reflect the actual number of entries in the queue. M - Allows you manually enter a phone number to be dialed. Canine Express Professional v8.xx Page - 58 - N - Enter a name, or portion of a name, and K9X will retrieve the remaining information from its dialing directory, K9X.P. After making your input, K9X will search K9X.P for a string match in the name field. Since K9X will retrieve the first string match it encounters, you need to enter enough of the entry name to differentiate it from any other entry in the file. Example: Your directory contains an entry for Underdog and Underworld You wish to dial Underworld but Underdog is the the first entry. Your response would be... Underw If there is only one entry beginning with a U or you wish to dial Underdog (in the example above) then all you need to enter is U your response can be either upper or lower case. R - Redials the last number dialed. This feature works the same way as the expert Alt-R command. If your dialing directory entry is linked to a Macro (the first character of the Macro field is something other than a backslash), K9X will bypass the "Connect - Hit any key" prompt and begin processing your logon macro. P - Allows you to define or revise the seven dialing prefixes or set a default prefix character. These prefixes may be attached to a directory entry phone number to facilitate the use of special phone access passwords/codes. See the Dialing prefixes section for detailed instructions on the use of this featue. Q - Allows you to edit/revise a dialing directory entry. K9X holds a default protocol for each entry. When K9X is started up, it will set the default protocol to whatever was set within the configuration section. When you connect with a BBS, the default protocol is reset according to the value held within the dialing directory entry. The "Macro" field allows you to link each dialing directory entry to a Macro file. When entering the names of these Macro files, all that is required is the file name. The fixed macro file extension is .K9X and K9X will attach the .K9X extension to the macro filename. REPEAT... The dialing directory macro field will only accept upto an 8 character name. DO NOT include the an extension when entering macro file names. Canine Express Professional v8.xx Page - 59 - When K9X is started up for the first time, it creates a new K9X.P dialing directory... the first entries in the new directory contain the data for Underdog's MiniNet Systems. The fields are filled in as shown in the samples. The remaining entries are, for all intents and purposes, blank. This includes the Macro fields. If you position one of these blank entries so that you can display the extended info (as described above), you will see that there is a backslash \ in the Macro field. This is a special character which K9X uses here to disable the autologon feature. Since K9X will display all of the entry information when you are dialing, if the \ is used, you can use the remaining 7 characters to place a "comment" (or the password used on that system). Dialing Prefixes ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ K9X provides for dialing prefixes to be attached to the front of a phone number. You may define up to five such prefixes which are then stored in the text file K9X.PRE. Associated with each prefix number is a prefix character. The five available prefix characters are: '+', '-', '!', '@', '#'. You use these prefix characters to cause K9X to add the extra access codes you need for alternate long-distance services like MCI or SPRINT. For example, if you use SPRINT then you need to dial the local SPRINT access number, followed by your SPRINT access code, followed by the actual number. For clarity let's assume that the local SPRINT access number is, say, 999 9999, and our access code is 1234567. For a Hayes-like modem we could define the prefix string for '+' to be 9999999,,,,1234567 where each comma results in a one second pause to provide SPRINT enough time to answer the call and request the access code. To define a prefix, use the P command. Let's assume that you have used the P command to define that prefix for the '+' key. If you enter then enter +3 K9X prefixes the number for UNDERDOGS MININET BBS 01A from the dialing directory with the string associated with '+' and dials: 9999999,,,,1234567 1-206-725-9233 You can also set a default dialing prefix character. For example, assume that you hit the P key get to the prefix revision menu. Then hit the B key to define (or remove) a default dialing prefix. The default prefix character MUST be one of the prefix characters above or a blank. The corresponding prefix string is automatically appended to the front of a dialing directory number. The default prefix is NOT added to the front of a dialing directory number when you explicitly type that number. K9X Postfixes work identically to the K9X prefixes above with the exception that they are added to the end of the number to be dialed. Canine Express Professional v8.xx Page - 60 - K9X Secondary Modem Control Prefixes ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ K9X supports two additional prefixes which are used in conjunction with the K9X baud locking capabilities. These prefixes are the forward and back slash ( / \ ). Additionally, there are two special codes... the 0 and 1 which dictate the toggling of the auto-reset baud rate to follow the called system. This feature is a very powerful tool which allows you to have complete control of your modem settings for each call you make! The easiest way to explain all of this is to run you through the new setup for use with a USR Courier 9600 HST modem. 1) Run K9XCNF from the DOS prompt and reset your baud rate to 19200 2) Go into the Misc section and set the Reset Baud toggle to (N) Check also that the Check Clear to Send and Check Data Set Ready are set to (N) 3) Go into the modem init section of K9XCNF and set your modem init string to ATZ| 4) Exit K9XCNF (which will update K9X.CNF automatically). 5) Start up K9X and if you are not already using it, get into Expert mode by typing T, X at the K9X Command Gateway menu. 6) Type ATI5 and hit Enter. Verify your HST Nram settings to the following USRobotics Courier 9600 HST NRAM Settings.... DIAL=HUNT M=0 X=4 F=1 B=0 BAUD=19200 PARITY=N WORDLEN=8 &A1 &B1 &G0 &H3 &I0 &K0 &M4 &N0 &P0 &R2 &S1 &Y1 S02=043 S03=013 S04=010 S05=008 S06=002 S07=030 S08=002 S09=006 S10=007 S11=070 S12=050 S13=000 S15=000 S19=000 S21=010 S22=017 S23=019 7) Type ATI4 and hit Enter. Verify your HST Current settings to the following USRobotics Courier 9600 HST Settings.... C=1 E=1 F=1 M=0 Q=0 V=1 X=4 B=0 BAUD=19200 PARITY=N WORDLEN=8 DIAL=HUNT ON HOOK TIMER &A1 &B1 &G0 &H3 &I0 &K0 &M4 &N0 &P0 &R2 &S1 &Y1 Canine Express Professional v8.xx Page - 61 - S00=000 S01=000 S02=043 S03=013 S04=010 S05=008 S06=002 S07=030 S08=002 S09=006 S10=007 S11=070 S12=050 S13=000 S14=000 S15=000 S16=000 S17=000 S18=000 S19=000 S20=000 S21=010 S22=017 S23=019 8) The two new prefixes may be set up to include any standard Modem commands. As I stated earlier, there are two codes which can be used at the start of the prefix string which signals K9X as to the status of the Reset Baud Flag status. Starting the prefix with a one, sets the Reset Baud to true, thus enabling K9X to adjust its baud rate with that of the system it is calling. Starting the prefix with a 0 (zero) sets the Reset Baud Flag to false, thus instructing K9X to leave the baud rate set to whatever the DEFAULT baud rate was upon initial startup (19200). Here is a sample of my prefix string for the backslash \ 1AT&M&A&H&B&R1 As you can see, the 1 at the start of the prefix string enables K9X' Reset Baud Flag and the remainder of the string resets the modem to the proper settings to connect with a non MNP, non HST system. 9) The last step in the process, is the go into your K9X dialing directory and edit each non-HST/non-19200/non-MNP entry phone number to include a backslash as a prefix. For instance, your entry for calling my system would have the phone number as: \1-206-725-9233 When K9X prepares a number to be dialed, it looks for the two special prefix codes. If one is present, K9X sends the secondary modem init string, and then dials the number. Upon completing the call, and preparing the next number to dial, K9X once again looks for one of the special prefix codes. If one is present, it sends that string to the modem... If the new (second) number to dial does not have a special prefix code, K9X automatically resets the modem to the default startup settings... In other words, you do not need a separate modem init prefix to reset your modem after you have connected with a non HST system. K9X handles that automatically. Lastly, you may gang the prefixes with any of the standard prefix codes just as long as the special modem string prefix code is the first one to be encountered.... The only restriction here is the 15 character limit of the dialing directory entry which can be overcome be simply removing one (or all of the spaces/hyphens) from the phone number. Example... Canine Express Professional v8.xx Page - 62 - Let's say you already use the + prefix to dail my system. You can gang your present phone number prefix with the \ or / by simply including the \ or / as the first character... +1-206-725-9233 becomes \+1206-725-9233 MACROS ~~~~~~ A macro file is a set of instructions which K9X uses to assist you in communicating with another system. There are two type of macros supported... the Function Key type and the Dialing Directory type. Where the Function Key macros are simple strings which are assigned the the functions keys, the dialing directory macros may contain a simple BBS logon sequence or an intricate set of instructions for a totally automated session. Function Key Macros ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Special Control Characters ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ There are several special control characters available to aid in the creation of the function key macros: vertical bar | (not a colon) will send a carriage return. tilde ~ (not a double quote) will pause about 1 second caret ^ (shift 6) will send the Ctrl equivilant of the character immediately following it. example: entering '^G' in a string results in a single character (the control-G bell character) being entered in the string. When a key string containing control characters is written to a file, all the embedded control characters are converted to the marker character format. On the other side of the coin, when a key string containing control characters is read from a file, the characters are converted back to control characters. The character difinitions for each of the editing control characters are held in K9X.CNF under the titles: FC= vertical bar (|) character FD= tilde (~) character FM= caret (^) All of these characters may be used when defining modem control strings using the modem definition submenu of Alt_P. Canine Express Professional v8.xx Page - 63 - Function Key Macro Example ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Example: When logging onto a BBS for the first time, many require the user fill out a short questionaire containing the user's address, city, state, phone number, etc. Problem: Program the unshifted F1 key to hold your city, state and zip code 1) Press number 1 (not F1). 2) Type Seattle, Washington 98118| 3) Hit [Enter] 4) Hit [Enter] again 5) When you press the F1, your city, state and zip code will be transmitted to the host. Dialing Directory Macros ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Each line within a dialing directory macro file represents a specific instruction procedure which K9X acts upon. Most of the lines in a macro are "standard" - that is, consist of a string of text which K9X should look for and a string of text which K9X should send when it receives the look for portion. If the macro line is a standard Lookfor and Send line, K9X will examine all of the characters sent by the host system and search those characters for a match to the "Lookfor" portion of the macro line. If a match is found, K9X will then send the "Send" portion of the macro line to the host system. Since the macro file is used in a sequential manner, If a particular "Lookfor" string is not found, All subsequent macro lines cannot be read in and acted upon. For this reason, it is critical that the Lookfor portions of the standard macro lines are EXACTLY what will be sent by the host. The "Lookfor" portions of standard macro lines are case sensitive! There are other types of macro instructions which are discussed below. These special macro codes represent instructions which, depending on the code, may be acted upon immediately, or acted upon universally regardless of any outside variables. The macro file may contain a simple log on procedure which does nothing more that send your name and password to the host, or it may be an intricate set of instructions which will facilitate a totally automated session with the host. You can use the session log to "collect' the different logon prompt lines for each system you call. You will then have the required material to construct the LookFor and Send strings for each of the system's prompt lines. Canine Express Professional v8.xx Page - 64 - Line format for the Macros ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Each standard line within the file has a maximum length of 120 characters and is broken into eiter two or three major parts. The first part represents the "LookFor" field... the second, the "Send" field... the third (optional) portion contains the number of times that lookfor and send should be executed. The Lookfor can be up to 40 characters in length. The Send (and number of times) can be up to 80 characters. The dividing points are set with the right single quote ( ` ). lookfor`send`number of times Notice how the control character ` is used for defining the portions of the standard macro line above. LookFor Portion ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The LookFor is the text string that K9X will look for from the host. When defining the LookFor portion in your macro lines, it should be distinguishable from any other text that K9X may run into during the initial connect. For instance, most BBS have a question mark at the end of the 'Enter your name' prompt. However, the question mark alone may appear prior to that particular 'Enter your name' prompt. Be specific as to exactly which question mark K9X should wait for. The actual prompt line: What is your first name? The Look For portion: is your first name? MiniNet Prompt Line: Which type would you like, T,G,C or F MiniNet Look For portion: T,G,C or F You may use the session log to 'collect' the different logon prompt lines for each system you call. Send Portion ~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Send if the text string that K9X will send to the host once it has received the LookFor portion from the host. Number of execution times ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The default number of executions for a standard macro line is once. You may however, specify the number of times a particular lookfor and send should be executed by including a third field on the macro line. The format for using the Number of Execution Times specification is: lookfor`send`number of times Canine Express Professional v8.xx Page - 65 - Using the standard control characters ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ There are special control characters available to aid in the creation of your logon macros. These are the same control characters used in the Function Key macros and Modem strings with the EXCEPTION OF THE CARET (^) and the ADDITION OF THE SINGLE QUOTE (`). These are the characters defined in K9X.CNF in the FC, FD and FW parameters. The usage of the control characters are: vertical bar | (not a colon) will send a carriage return. tilde ~ (not a double quote) will pause about 1 second. single quote ` is used to define the LookFor, Send and optional Number of times portions within the Macro Line Macro Codes ~~~~~~~~~~~ There are a number of macro codes which may be used to direct K9X in the execution of a marco file. \ - The backslash ( \ ) has a function here also... let me cover this one first. When you have designated a macro file for a particular entry, K9X opens the macro file and reads the first line as soon as a connect is made. If the first character of the first line contains a backslash, the remainder of the line is used as a Universal LookFor and Send for that system. This allows you to set up a LookFor and Send sequence which K9X will respond to every time it appears even if the remainder of the autologon macro has completed. Example: MiniNet has two prompts... The first is the standard "More Y/n, [C]ontinuous" type of prompt. The second is a "Press [Enter] to continue" type of prompt. Where the "More" prompt is predictable, the "Press [Enter]" is not so predictable and will stop the progress of your session cold if you aren't around! This is where the Universal LookFor and Send comes into play. By setting the first line of your MiniNet macro to: \[Enter] to continue`| Every time the "Press [Enter] to continue" prompt is encountered, K9X will send a carraige return (the vertical bar represents the carriage return). If the first line does not contain a backslash, this feature will not be in effect and the LookFor and Send of the first line will be used for the first macro procedure. The single backslash is interpreted as a code only if it appears as the first character of the first line of your macro. Canine Express Professional v8.xx Page - 66 - \\ - The double backslash will load upto 2 "what if" lookfor / send combinations. In addition, this is a cycling type of function... if you already have 2 "what if" lookfors and designate another, the first "what if" is replaced with the new one. Yet another "what if" would then replace the second "what if"... and so on. The "what if" statements may be used any time and may be used as many times as desired. The only thing to remember here is that any "what if" should appear before a standard macro line in which the "what if" lookfor might occur. "What if" statements act in the same manner as the universal lookfor/send except that the "what if" lookfors are changeable! The "what if" lookfor/send format is: \\lookfor`send Lastly, you can cancel any active "what if" lookfors by entering the double backslash without a lookfor or send: \\ The use of this macro command signals K9X to shell out to the ICEX PC Pursuit Dialer. The format is: lookfor` Don't quote me as I've never used PCPursuit... but your PCP.K9X macro will look something like... CONNECT`~|| @`C PURSUIT,<your id>,<your password>| @` The initial CONNECT "look for" is the response from your modem upon connecting with the PCP host. The "send" portion of this line consists of a 1 second pause (~) followed by sending 2 carriage returns (||). As is the case with all K9X macros, the ` character represents the separator between the "look for" and "send" portions of each macro line. <D> The use of this macro command signals K9X to commence a mark and save buffered filename transfer. You may designate and optional filename for the files list to be loaded. If no filename is designated, K9X will look for the file AUTODOWN.K9X in your K9X home LOGS directory and load the filenames (upto 24) located in that file. If The files list file does not exist, no action is taken and K9X reads the next line in the macro file. The format is 1 of 2 lookfor`<D> (use AUTODOWN.K9X) lookfor`<D>filename (use filename designated) Canine Express Professional v8.xx Page - 67 - lookfor`\\ (as if you weren't confused....) there is a special "what if" which should be used here. The special "what if" acts identically to the the Alt_6 manual command above. Namely, it will abort the remainder of an autodownload and discard the bad filename IF the special lookfor is encountered. In order for this special "what if" to work, it must be resident in the first "what if" position This means that you should clear all "what if" statements prior to issuing this special "what if". The format is: \\ lookfor`\\ As stated earier, the "what if" should preceed the <D> lookfor so that it gets loaded into memory prior to commencing the autodownload mode. I know this is all confusing, but once you understand how it works, I know you will find it extremely easy to use. AUTONET.K9X Automated Macro ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Here's a step by step example setting up an TOTALLY AUTOMATED macro: Our objective: logon the MiniNet, work its way through any waiting messages, read new messages, do a dump of 6 screens of new files, load a file list called MININET.GET, download the files and log off. Conditions: First Name : John Menu Type : Text Last Name : Jones Files List filename : MININET.GET Password : HeresJohnny BBS User Mode : Novice Macro File: AUTONET.K9X Here's the macro --------+------------------------------------+ | | Universal LookFor/Send ---> \Press [<─┘Enter]`| "What If" #1 ---> \\or ? for help)`| "What If" #2 ---> \\message now? (y/N)`| Initial Logon Macro ---> T,G,C or F`TJohn Jones;HeresJohnny| New Messages ---> command, JOHN:`NM| New Files First Screen ---> command, JOHN:`NF| New Files Next 4 Screens ---> [C]ontinuous`|`4 New Files Last Screen ---> [C]ontinuous`N| Clear All "What If" ---> \\ Special "What If" ---> \\need a filename JOHN:`\\ Load MININET.GET ---> command, JOHN:`<D>MININET.GET Log Off ---> command, JOHN:`GN| Canine Express Professional v8.xx Page - 68 - Some notes: Be sure to use text menu type when using an automated macro The universal lookfor/send will send a carriage return for each occurance of the "Press [Enter] to continue" prompt "what if" #1 will send a carriage return if I encounter any messages which are addressed to me. "what if" #2 will send a carriage return to the "Kill this message now" prompt if any messages are indeed found Notice that both "what if" statements are loaded prior to a standard macro line and before the "what if" lookfor statements might appear Notice that I am in Novice mode. If I were in Expert mode, my lookfor's would change from "command, JOHN:" to "display the menu:" Notice that I send a solitary \\ clearing my previous "what if" statements before designating the special "what if" MiniNet asks for a new filename if a requested filename is not available for download. The special "what if" is used to send a carriage return for this prompt, returning me to the main menu prompt and insuring that the bad filename is discarded. Be sure to setup an additional dialing directory entry exactly like the UNDERDOGS MININET BBS entry. Be sure to designate your macro as AUTONET (no .K9X extension) You can now startup K9X from the DOS prompt and perform a totally automated session! Let's say that dialing directory entry 10 is your new autosession entry. Your DOS command should look like... K9X 10 open logfile, dial entry 10 and execute AUTONET.K9X MININET.K9X Macro ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Here's a step by step example setting up a simple Log On macro for the UNDERDOGS MININET BBS entry (number 1) of your dialing directory: Since we are using a color system with RGB attached, we'll want to take advantage of the Dog's great color graphics menus! So our menu choice will be Fancy Color Menus. We will also want to set the universal feature to override any stray "Press [Enter] to continue" prompts we may run into. Conditions: First Name : John Last Name : Jones Password : HeresJohnny Menu Type : Fancy Color BBS User Mode : Novice Canine Express Professional v8.xx Page - 69 - Our objective: logon the MiniNet. Start up Your K9X Editor (Alt_Y), select Create a Macro, and create the following macro (use your own first name, last name and password) Here's the macro --------+-----------------------------------+ | | Universal LookFor/Send ---> \Press [<─┘Enter]`| Initial Logon Macro ---> T,G,C or F`FJohn Jones;HeresJohnny| After editing the macro, choose the Save option and designate a name of MININET (K9X will save the file to MININET.K9X). Our next step is to quit the editor section and enter the dialing directory section (Alt_D, then [Enter] for the List Dialer). Choose the Quick edit option (Q) and enter a 1 for the entry number. Check the fields and make the required correcions, if any. When you get to the Macro portion, enter MININET. Move the cursor line down (by hitting ENTER) until the Save and Quit line appears. Key in S to save the changes. Let's exit the program (hit Escape to get out of the directory section) and test it out! Since we will be starting up K9X with a command line number to dial, K9X will create a collect file and save all of the session data to file. At the DOS prompt, type K9X 1 then sit back and watch the show! Sample Macros ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ PCBoard want graphics (Enter)=no?`| ~~~~~~~ is your first name?`John;Jones;HeresJohnny| (N), (NS)?`n| (Enter)=yes?`| (Enter) to continue?`| RBBS CONNECT`~~|~~| ~~~~ is your FIRST name?`John;Jones;HeresJohnny| MORE: [Y],N,NS?`n| (Press [ENTER] to quit)?`| The RBBS autologon sequence begins with K9X sending 2 quick carriage returns immediately upon establishing a connection. The reason for the opening carriage returns is that, although most systems 'claim' to be able to determine and adjust their baud rates to meet that of the calling system, I have found that some are not capable of beginning the process without being 'nudged' by a couple of carriage returns! Even though the carriage returns will be sent in all instances where the autologon is used, they shouldn't have any effect when connecting with systems that are capable of adjusting their baud rate automatically. Canine Express Professional v8.xx Page - 70 - K9XCNF.COM - K9X Configuration Utility ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ K9XCNF.COM is a standalone program and may be started directly from the DOS prompt. It allows you to set/reset the K9X default parameters. The default parameters are saved in the file K9X.CNF which is automatically created/updated each time you exit K9XCNF. In all cases, the default value will be displayed to you either by the way of a highlighted (inverse video) menu selection or a bracketed value ([200]). You can enter either one of the letters to select a new setting, or use the arrow keys to move the highlighted cursor to a new setting and then hit the [Enter] key. If you are currently running an earlier registered version of K9X, be sure to run K9XCNF at the DOS prompt so that the new K9X.CNF paramters will be written to your current K9X.CNF PARAMETERS MENU MAP ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Please refer to the Paramters Menu Map while setting/resetting any default parameters. The following diagram displays a map of the K9XCNF Menu System. Please refer to it while setting/resetting any default parameters. Each of the menu entries in turn calls up a submenu which allows you to set the corresponding program parameters. Initially, you should step through all of the menus to be sure you have all of the default values set correctly. Defaults ~~~~~~~~ Comm Port -------------------------------------------- Comm Port +----- Baud Rate ~~~~~~~~~ | +--- Linefeeds Comm 1 | | Modem setup --------------------------------------+ Comm 2 | | +- Transfer protocol | | | | Screen dump FileName Modem Setup | | | SuperK/Jmodem Log ~~~~~~~~~~~ | | | SuperK Colors Init String | | | Video Mode/Colors ----------------------------+ Dialing prefix | | | Miscellaneous --------+ | Connect message | | | Configure Drives -+ | | No Carrier message | | | Quit Setup | | | Busy message | | | | Misc Params | Escape string | | +- Protocol | ~~~~~~~~~~~ | Escape Delay (ms) | | ~~~~~~~~ | Exploding menus | Hang Up string | | Xmodem Chk | Direct Screen Writes | Dialing Timeout | | Xmodem CRC | Check Clear to Send | Redial Time | | WXmodem CRC | Check Data Set Ready | Interchar delay (ms) | | Qmodem-G | Alt_Key Expert Mode | Carrier line high | | DSZ Ymodem-G | Silent Mode | Host Answer String | | K9Xmodem CRC | CONNECT Resets Baud | No Dialtone Message Canine Express Professional v8.xx Page - 71 - | | Ymodem CRC | Auto Session Logging | Modem Voice Message | | Zmodem | Maintain Call Log | Quit Modem Setup | | PCKermit | Use QM/DSZ Ymodem-G | | | Telink CRC | Use Multitasking Hook +-- Text Mode | | Modem 7 Chk | Use SuperK Protocols | ~~~~~~~~~ | | Modem 7 CRC | Overwrite Downloads | B&W 80 Char | | K9Xmodem Batch | Save Aborted Files | Color 80 Char | | Ymodem Batch | Review Buffer Size | | | WXmodem Batch | Xmodem Buffer Size +-- Set Colors for... | | XmodemCRC Batch | Default DOS Command +-- Text | | XmodemChk Batch | # Dialing Entries +-- Menu Frame | | Super8K Batch | Condense Dialing Dir +-- Menu Text | | Super8K | Quit +-- Menu Title | | Jmodem Batch | +-- Border Color | | Jmodem +-- Configure Drives ~~~~~~~~~~~~ | | Ascii ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Black | | Use K9X File Find Blue | +--- Linefeeds Do Full List Search Green | ~~~~~~~~~ Display Transfer Times Cyan | CR Only Display 1200b Times Red | CR + LF Display 2400b Times Magenta | Display 9600b Times Brown +---- Baud Rate Display On All Files LightGray ~~~~~~~~~ File Listing Colors LightBlue 300 Adjust Number of Drives LightGreen 1200 List/Edit Drive List LightCyan 2400 Defualt Download Path LightRed 4800 Default Upload Path LightMagenta 9600 Quit Yellow 19200 White Quit CTS and DTR Monitoring ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ As stated in the beginning of this manual, there are some cases, where the setting of one or both of these settings may render K9X totally inoperable! This is all dependant on your particular system configuration. If you are not sure if your system/modem is capable of supporting the CTS and/or DTR line, be SURE to leave these set as No. This will practically guarantee that K9X will at least get you to a menu! Once you have reached the menu you may then go in and try setting first the CTS line montioring and then the DSR line monitoring. Be sure to test the first setting before activating the other. If you find that activation of one or the other causes K9X to freeze up on you, you can startup K9XCNf at the DOS prompt and modify the appropriate. By having these lines monitored, your dial/redial cycle time will be cut drastically. If you find that your system can handle the monitoring of the CTS line but balks at monitoring the DSR line, the elimination of the modem hangup string (MH= below) will deliver the same results. Canine Express Professional v8.xx Page - 72 - Special Control Characters ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ When a modem string containing control characters is written to a file, all the embedded control characters are converted to the marker character format. On the other side of the coin, when a modem string containing control characters is read from a file, the characters are converted back to control characters. In any case, check your modem manual for the correct modem settings when defining any and all of the modem interface values. There are special control characters available to aid in the creation of your default modem strings: vertical bar | (not a colon) will send a carriage return. tilde ~ (not a double quote) will pause about 60 seconds caret ^ (shift 6) will send the Ctrl equivilant of the character immediately following it. example: entering '^G' in a string results in a single character (the control-G bell character) being entered in the string. \ Entering a single backslash will default your input to a null (empty) string. The character definitions for each of the editing control characters are held in K9X.CNF under the titles: FC= vertical bar (|) character FD= tilde (~) character FM= caret (^) K9X.CNF Format ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The format of the file K9X.CNF is as follows: In columns 1-2 of each record is a code to identify a parameter After the parameter is an '=' sign. Following the "=" the value of the parameter appears. All flag settings are set to a numerical value representing the logical 1 = yes (set) or 0 = no (not set) All color definitions are as follows: = 0: Black = 8: DarkGray = 1: Blue = 9: LightBlue = 2: Green = 10: LightGreen Canine Express Professional v8.xx Page - 73 - = 3: Cyan = 11: LightCyan = 4: Red = 12: LightRed = 5: Magenta = 13: LightMagenta = 6: Brown = 14: Yellow = 7: LightGray = 15: White Since K9X.CNF is an ordinary ASCII text file, you can create or edit it with a text editor that will produce an ordinary ASCII file. Since K9X presets default values for many of the entries in K9X.CNF before reading in K9X.CNF... If you modify an entry in K9X.CNF via a text editor, and you want that entry to be blank, be sure to leave the two code letters and equals sign in the file. (ie: BA= ). If you remove the entire line, K9X will have set that value to its hard coded default thus defeating your attempts to blank out the value. Configuration Paramters ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The following is a brief description and default value for each entry in K9X.CNF. In an effort to make things a little easier to follow, the parameters are laid out in the docs under the headings of the various K9XCNF menu options. Comm Port Default: PO=1 ~~~~~~~~~ K9X will open and initialize the serial (comm) port that corresponds to the value contained under this parameter. Both Comm 1 and Comm 2 are supported. Baud Rate Default: BA=1200 ~~~~~~~~~ K9X will set the baud rate to whatever value is contained under this parameter. Valid baud rates are 300, 1200, 2400, 4800, 9600 and 19200 Linefeeds Default: LF=0 ~~~~~~~~~ There are some cases where you will need to instruct K9X that you wish to have line feeds added automatically when a carriage return is received from remote system or when you hit your [ENTER] key. This parameter holds the flag that instructs K9X to insert linefeeds. Although the configuration section will prompt you for a Yes or No input, K9X actually reads the Yes or No settings in a decimal form... Modem setup ~~~~~~~~~~~ Modem Initialization String Default: MI=ATE0Q0X1V1M0S0=60S0=0| ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ K9X must have word responses sent to the console in order to know what is going on with the modem. The default modem strings are defined for Hayes and Hayes compatible (USR, CTS, etc) modems. Canine Express Professional v8.xx Page - 74 - If you have a 2400 or 9600 baud modem, you will want to change the values for the M and X settings to M3 and X6 in order to take advantage of K9X's advanced dial progress capabilities. The maximum Modem Init string length is 65 characters. The default modem init settings are: E0 - Echo Off Q0 - Send Modem Result Messages V1 - Word Messages Mode X1 - Advanced Result Codes (CONNECT, CONNECT 1200) M0 - Speaker Off S7=60 - Wait 60 seconds for carrier detection S0=0 - Do not autoanswer Modem Dialing Prefix Default: MD=ATDT ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This is the modem attention string K9X uses when dialing a number. K9X attaches the phone number to the end of this string when performing a dial. The maximum Modem Dial string length is 65 characters. Modem Connect Message Default: MC=CONNECT ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This is the message your modem sends back when it has established a connection with another system. Modem No Carrier Message Default: MN=NO CARRIER ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This is the message that your modem sends back when it has timed out during a dial or has lost carrier. Modem Line Busy Message Default: MB=BUSY ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The new smart modems have a call progress mode which sends directs the modem to send back additional messages as the dialing progresses. This parameter holds the message your modem sends back when it has encountered a busy signal. Modem Escape Characters Default: ME=+++ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This is the character (or set of characters) used to regain a modem command state. When your modem receives this character (or set of characters, it ceases whatever action it is doing and returns control to K9X. Canine Express Professional v8.xx Page - 75 - Modem Escape Sequence Delay Default: MT=1500 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In most cases, the modem requires a certain delay when the Modem escape character(s) are sent. This allows the modem to receive and interpret the characters as actually being the escape characters rather than a portion of the data being received or transmitted. This parameter holds the amount of delay required in milliseconds. Modem Hangup Command Default: MH=ATH0| ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This is the string used by K9X to command the modem to hang up. If your modem directly supports the modem CTS line, set this value to a null string. This will result in a much improved recycle time. The maximum Modem Hangup string length is 65 characters. In response to several inquiries about the length of time required to recycle when redialing or list dialing... this is due to the values set by the default "Escape string delay". If your modem cable supports all 25 pins (or you are using an internal modem), go into K9XCNF modem parameters and eliminate your Hang Up String. This is done by simply entering a backslash \ for the Hang Up String prompt. If no Hang Up string is specified, K9X will recycle by dropping the DTR line - thus speeding up the recycle time considerably. Modem Timeout Value (seconds) Default: MO=35 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This parameter holds the amount of time (in seconds) that the modem should wait for a connection to be made. This is the total time from initiation of the dial. If you find that your modem connects okay but hangs up before communications have been established, increase this value. Delay Between Redial (seconds) Default: MR=5 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This parameter contains the amount of time (in seconds) that the modem should wait before attempting a redial. Usually 5 to 30 seconds is sufficient... but in some cases, you may have to increase this value to about 60 seconds. Modem Command InterChar Delay Default: MW=0 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This is the amount of delay (in milliseconds) that K9X should delay between the sending of each character. In most cases, no delay is required... but you may find that your modem cannot absorb the characters as fast as K9X can send them. If that is the case, experiment with different settings here to find the right setting for your modem/computer setup. Canine Express Professional v8.xx Page - 76 - Modem Carrier High Flag Default: CH=1 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This flag is used in the dialing section to determine the presence of a carrier. If this flag is set to No, then K9X will not check for the presence of a carrier. If it is set to Yes, K9X will make the determination after actually checking for the existance of a carrier. It should be noted that this flag is defaulted to No only to insure your being able to check out your other default settings after initially configuring K9X. Once it has been established that everthing else seems to be working properly, you should set the flag to YES and attempt a dial out. If K9X is not able to perform the dial, then enter the utilities section and reset it to NO. The same is true of the other flag settings (those defaults that require a Yes or No response). You should set and test each flag ONE AT A TIME so that you can determine the best settings for your particular setup. Host Mode Autoanswer String Default: MA=ATE1Q0X1V1M0S0=1| ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ THIS STRING VALUE IS NOT USED IN CURRENT VERSION K9X must have word responses sent the the console in order to know what is going on with the modem. The default modem strings are defined for Hayes and Hayes compatible (USR, CTS, etc) modems. If you have a 2400baud modem, you will wnat to change the values for the M and X settings to M3 and X6 in order to take advantage of K9X's advanced dial progress capabilities. The default host mode autoanswer string settings are: The maximum Modem Host string length is 65 characters. E0 - Echo Off Q0 - Send Modem Result Messages X1 - Advanced Result Codes (CONNECT, CONNECT 1200) V1 - Verbal Messages Mode M0 - Modem speaker off S0=1 - Autoanswer phone on first ring It should be noted that the Function Key Control Characters (see Alt-M above) and the Wait For Following String Character (see Alt-D above may be used to format your modem strings. K9X will translate them in the same way here as in they are translated in the other commands. In any case, check your modem manual for the correct modem settings. Don't forget that you can use the controls (~ | ^) Canine Express Professional v8.xx Page - 77 - Modem No Dial Tone Message Default: NT=NO DIAL TONE ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The new smart modems have a call progress mode which sends directs the modem to send back additional messages as the dialing progresses. This parameter holds the message your modem sends back when it has encountered a dead phone (no dial tone present). Modem Voice Message Default: MV=VOICE ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The new smart modems have a call progress mode which sends directs the modem to send back additional messages as the dialing progresses. This parameter holds the message your modem sends back when it has encountered a voice on the calling phone. Text Mode For Display Default: TM=C ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ = M - monochrome display = C - color display When K9X starts up, it will automatically determine what type of display card is being used. If you are using a MonoChrome card and monitor, K9X will set this parameter to M. If K9X finds a CGA or EGA card installed, it will set this parameter to C. Due to the extensive windowing and screen overlaying in K9X, monochrome system users may find that the window borders will appear momentarily in the upper right side of their screen but the menu items will appear in the upper left side of the screen. Be aware that K9X still functions normally, it's just that the window displays are not positioned properly. I am presently working on a CGA emulator for monochrome system users which will correct this problem. Protocol ~~~~~~~~ Default Transfer Protocol Default: TT=XK ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Single File Protocols = XK - Xmodem Checksum = XC - Xmodem CRC = YM - Ymodem = WX - WXmodem CRC = KX - K9Xmodem CRC = SS - SuperK Super8K = JM - JBatch Jmodem = ZM - Zmodem = GM - Qmxfer/Dsz Qm Ymodem-G = PK - PCKermit = AS - Ascii Batch File Protocols = SX - SuperK Xmodem Checksum = SC - SuperK Xmodem CRC = SY - SuperK Ymodem = SW - SuperK WXmodem = SK - SuperK K9Xmodem = SB - SuperK Super8K = JB - JBatch Jmodem = ZB - Zmodem Batch = ZG - DSZ Ymodem-G = TE - Telink = MK - Modem 7 Canine Express Professional v8.xx Page - 78 - Although you may change the default protocol during your session... and the changed protocol becomes your new default... unless you change it via K9XCNF, the value held by this parameter will remain the default each time K9X is started. Name of Screen Dump File Default: SD=COLLECT.TXT ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This parameter holds the name of the filename you wish K9X to use when saving screen dumps created via the Alt-S command. If the file already exists from a previous screen dump, K9X will append (add to the end) the file with the new screen dump. SuperK/JBatch Log Default: XL=K9XFER.LOG ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This parameter contains the name of the logfile in which K9X is to log all file transactions to. Again, this parameter only pertains to the use of any one of the SuperK/Jmodem/JBatch protocols. K9X will only log file transactions if this parameter contains a filename. As is the case with all K9XCNF string inputs, the transfer results file name may be nulled out by inputting a backslash for its name. Without a logfile name, K9X will not write any results to a logfile. The Superk/JBatch Logfile is stored in the K9X LOGS directory. SuperK Colors Default: XT, KT, YT, ST, UT=7 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ With the inclusion of the SuperK protocols, K9X.CNF now includes the default colors for each of the ex-external protocols. Unlike the selection of the other K9X default colors, the SuperK color selection chart contains all of the possible foreground and background color combinations with an associated number for each. Note that the Jmodem/JBatch colors are not configureable and are defaulted to black foreground on a white background. The new K9X.CNF paramters are: SuperK Xmodem Colors Default: XT=7 SuperK K9Xmodem Colors Default: KT=7 SuperK Ymodem Colors Default: YT=7 SuperK SuperK Colors Default: ST=7 SuperK Universal Colors Default: UT=7 Video Mode/Colors ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Text Foreground Color Default: CF=7 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This parameter holds the default text color K9X will set when starting up and revert back to after receiving ANSI color escape sequences from a BBS. Canine Express Professional v8.xx Page - 79 - Menu Frame Color Default: CM=7 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This parameter holds the default menu frame color K9X will set when starting up. Again, the menu frame background color is hard coded to black. Menu Text Color Default: CT=7 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This parameter holds the default menu text color K9X will set when starting up. The menu background color is hard coded to black. Menu Title Color Default: VF=7 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This parameter holds the default menu title color K9X will set when starting up. Again, the menu frame background color is hard coded to black. Border Color Default: BC=0 ~~~~~~~~~~~~ If you are using K9X on a color system, the border color will be black upon starting K9X and as long as there is no carrier detected. The border will change to the color you specify here as soon as carrier is present and will remain set until carrier is lost. If you are using Mono, both the no carrier and carrier border colors will be black. I added this option so that you will have a 'quick glance' way of verifying that you have connected (or are still connected). If you start up a program, via the DOS shell, which resets the border color, K9X will set it back to the defined color upon re-entering K9X. Miscellaneous Params ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Exploding Menus Flag Default: XM=0 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ K9X can open its menu windows using two different methods. One method is to simply open the menu - displaying the border top to bottom. The second method is to create the illusion of an exploding menu - starting from a center point and expanding itself out to the full menu size. This parameter determines which method K9X is to use. If this paramter set to YES, then K9X will use the exploding method of menu display. Canine Express Professional v8.xx Page - 80 - Direct Screen Write Flag Default: WS=1 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ K9X has the ability to write directly to the system screen buffer. Direct screen writes most assuredly speed up the screen updates... however, you may find that you will have to specify NO here if you use K9X in a multitasking environment. With a little bit of practice, you will be able to set this parameter to YES and use K9X in a multitasking environment. I have been operating in a multitasking environment ever since I started working on a PC and my K9X.CNF is set to do direct screen writes. In the cases where I am online to another system, most if not all of my attention is focused on the session. I use K9X in my primary partition and switch to a background partition to do other 'jobs' while online. On rare occasions, K9X will restore a saved screen when I am working in the background - thus replacing that application's screen with the restored screen! When this does happen, it's usually a simple process of typing a character in the other application to have that application restore its screen. Conversely, simply hitting [ENTER] in the K9X partition usually triggers the host to send a prompt line, thus restoring my 'place' in the session. Check CTS Line Flag Default: XS=0 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ When using Zmodem, Zmodem Batch or Zmodem's Ymodem-G... the DSZ "handshake both" parameter is added to the command line ONLY IF you have set the Check Clear to Send parameter in your K9X.CNF. Be sure to set the Check Clear to Send to ON... Startup K9XCNF, select the M)iscellaneous option, then Check Clear to Send, and finally, back your way out to DOS by hitting the Enter key. On the other hand, if your system requires the "handshake slow" parameter, set the Check Clear to Send to OFF, rename DSZ.COM to ZMODEM.COM, and create DSZ.BAT as: echo off zmodem %1 %2 %3 %4 hanshake slow %5 %6 %7 %8 %9 ^Z If you are using an internal modem or an external modem with an all pin connected cable, and your modem has the capability of monitoring the CTS line, you should set this parameter to YES. A YES setting here (and on the next DSR flag) will definitely speed up K9X hang up, cycle and re-cycle procedures). If you are not sure if your modem supports CTS monitoring, be sure to enter N to the K9X prompt. Check DSR Line Flag Default: XD=0 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If you are using an internal modem or an external modem with an all pin connected cable, and your modem has the capability of monitoring the DTR line, you should set this parameter to YES. Canine Express Professional v8.xx Page - 81 - A YES setting here (and on the previous CTS flag) will definitely speed up K9X hang up, cycle and re-cycle procedures). If you are not sure if your modem supports DTR monitoring, be sure to enter N to the K9X prompt. Expert Mode Flag Default: XP=0 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This parameter holds the expert mode flag setting. Initially, K9X will ask which mode you wish to use unless use choose to use one of the pre- configured K9X.CNF files included in the K9X package. BOTH of these K9X.CNF files have this default set to EXPERT. Silent Mode Flag Default: SM=0 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This parameter holds the flag setting for the Quiet Mode. When it is set to Yes, all sounds from both K9X and the host computer are supressed. Play Music Flag Default: PM=1 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This parameter holds the flag setting which directs K9X whether or not it should interpret and play any music received via the ANSI escape sequences found in BBS menus. This setting is automatically determined by Silent Mode flag. If Silent Mode is on, this setting is off. If Silent Mode is off, this setting is on. Reset Modem to Follow Connect Baud Default: RB=1 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ K9X allows you to "lock" the baud rate to the default startup rate for use with MNP modems (like the USR Courier HST). There are two new prefix codes available, both deal with the sending of modem reset codes prior to dialing, so that you can mix and match 9600, 19200, 2400 and below, MNP and non-MNP systems. The \ and / codes are now valid prefixe codes. They only work in conjunction with the sending of modem commands just prior to dialing so that you can selectively call various systems using different modem settings. In prior versions of K9X, the only way to use a prefix (or postfix) was to enter the dialing directory and specify the prefix/postfix along with the dialing directory entry. With this version, K9X will allow you to include any of the prefixes and/or postfixes directly in the Dialing directory entry phone number OR specify them along with the dialing dircetory entry number on the DOS prompt, in the list dialer, or within the dialing directory itself. For the 9600 numbers, it is easiest to simply include the prefix code with the phone number... Canine Express Professional v8.xx Page - 82 - Additionally, there are two special prefixes and two special codes which work in conjuntion with the locking of the baud rate and the sending of secondary modem commands prior to performing a dial. Please see the section on Prefixes for detailed instructions on the use of these features. Open Session Log upon startup Default: SL=0 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ You may specify whether or not you want K9X to activate the automatic session logging upon startup... and save the setting to K9X.CNF via K9XCNF.COM. The command line L parameter serves the function of overriding the setting read in from K9X.CNF If the K9X.CNF setting is to activate session logging, an L on the DOS command line will de-activate session logging.. conversely, if the K9X.CNF setting is to NOT activate session logging, an L on the DOS command line will activate session logging. The L command line switch may be included at any time. K9X will accept the L switch and a full 20 dialing directory entries in any order on the command line. Upon opening a session log file, K9X writes a space character to the file, closes the file and then reopens it. Additionally, K9X will close, flush and reopen a session log after each session dis- connect. In the past, K9X did not flush the capture buffer until you exited the program to DOS. This is fine during "normal" sessions but if you had to exit the program abnormally (via "Red Switch" reboot or otherwise), all previously captured data would be lost. This new feature assures that a minimum of data is lost under adverse conditions. Maintain Call Log Default: CL=1 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ By default, K9X maintains a log file on all calls that are attempted and or completed. This flag setting allows you to define whether or not you want K9X to maintain this log. Use QMXFER Ymodem-G Flag Default: UQ=1 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ K9X is capable of using the external QMXFER.COM module (the one used on RBBS systems) for the use of the Qmodem type Ymodem-G transfer protocol. You may specify (via K9XCNF) which Ymodem-G you wish to use. Your choices are either DSZ's Qmodem type Ymodem-G or QMXFER. The default is QMXFER as I have found DSZ to be a little less compatible when talking to the QMXFER module used by RBBS and others. Note that the DSZ Qmodem type Ymodem-G is not to be confused with DSZ Ymodem-G. These are two different animals... and this option only effects the Qmodem Ymodem-G (Q) protocol. It should be noted that the QMXFER.COM does not support 19200bps. Canine Express Professional v8.xx Page - 83 - Hook Multitasking Default: HO=0 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Alt_H command key (and its equivilent in the Command Gateway Menu system) have been assigned as a toggle to Hook into multitasking If Alt_H is set, K9X will release the clock ticks if no activity is found at either the comm port or the local keyboard. If Alt_H is not set, K9X will operate single application mode, not acknowledging any multitasking. You may operate K9X in a mutiltasking environment regardless of the status of the Alt_H toggle. I have included this toggle to eliminate some of the sluggishness in K9X when it is run in a multitasking environment where another application is accessing another comm port. If you are running a BBS in the background, try it... you'll like it! This toggle status is also saved in your K9X.CNF file. Use SuperK Protocols Flag Default: US=1 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ All 14 of the SuperK and JBatch protocols have been written directly into K9X. You will no longer need SuperK.COM or JBatch.COM... The JBA.COM module is still required! The impact of this change is the substantial decrease in the overall memory requirements of K9X by eliminating the JBatch 105K DOS Shell requirement! Facility has been made to allow you to specify if K9X should use the internal Xmodem Checksum, Xmodem CRC and Ymodem (1K Xmodem) protocols or those supported within SuperK. The Alt_3 expert command key (and its equivilent in the Command Gateway Menu System) will toggle this option. The setting of this toggle is also stored in K9X.CNF so you can "set and forget it"! The Jmodem Batch and SuperK Batch protocols are handled in the same manner as Zmodem Batch transfer. SuperK/JBatch Overwrite Default: OW=0 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This flag deals totally with the overwriting of existing files by a download when using one of the built in SuperK, Jmodem or JBatch BATCH protocols. If this flag is set to Yes, K9X will allow an overwrite to occur while using a BATCH SuperK/JBatch protocol. While using a single file protocol, K9X will first verify the existance of a file containing the same filename within the default download path and ask for confirmation to over-write regardless of the status of this (or any other) flag. SuperK/JBatch Save Aborts Default: SA=1 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This flag deals totally with the saving of aborted downloads when using one of the built in SuperK, Jmodem or JBatch protocols. If this flag is set to Yes, K9X will erase any partial, aborted downloads. Canine Express Professional v8.xx Page - 84 - Lines in Review Buffer Default: BB=0 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ = 0: no backscroll buffer > 0: number of lines, maximum of 800. This parameter contains the number of scroll back lines K9X will allocate to the Alt-V scroll back buffer. If the BB= value is greater than 0, then K9X first checks the available system memory... then allocates up to the number of lines specified according to the amount of available system memory K9X finds. Note that this value must be larger than 0 in order to be able to utilize the Cut and Paste features within the Alt_V option. Number of Xmodem Buffers Default: XB=16384 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This value is input as a number from 1 to 255. K9X will convert the value into bytes to be used as a download buffer in file transfers. Each buffer represents 128 bytes. The default number of buffers is 128 which translates to 16384 At 255, K9X will write to disk every 32K. At 128, it will write to disk every 16K, etc. K9X will check the available system memory before attempting to allocate the Xmodem Buffers. Unlike the scroll back buffer, if K9X cannot set the entire specified Xmodem Buffers, it will default to setting 8 buffers (1024 bytes). When downloading using one of the internal, non SuperK/JBatch transfer protocols, K9X will display the actual size of the buffer it was able to allocate. It will be displayed as the "BuffLen=" entry in the download window. I've found that optimum performance is realized with this value set somewhere between 64 and 128. Default DOS Command Default: JD=| ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Along with the Alt-J DOS shell command, K9X has a default DOS Command which is executed via the ^Home key combination. This parameter holds the command string you want K9X to execute when the ^Home key combination is pressed. The format for entering this parameter is outlined under the ^Home definition. If no command string is specified here, the ^Home key combination will work identically to the Alt-J DOS Shell command. DOS Command Format and Control Character ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ There is a special character that you may use within this command.. It is the vertical bar | (not a colon : ) and it signals K9X that you wish to add additional information to the default DOS command before the default DOS command is executed... It goes something like this: You set you default DOS command to PKZIP| Canine Express Professional v8.xx Page - 85 - When you activate the default DOS Command via [^Home], K9X will prompt you for the remainder of the command. You may then enter /V or /T or whatever other command you wish to pass to PKZIP. You set you default DOS command to ED | (PC-Write) When you activate the default DOS Command via [^Home], K9X will prompt you for the filename to be edited. Your input would be: abc.doc Understand that K9X deletes the vertical bar and replaces it with the remainder of the command. So, if the initial command requires a space between it and the program name, and you haven't provided for it in your default DOS command, be sure to enter it. If you do not need to add to the default DOS command, do not include the vertical bar. If you have added the | to your default DOS command but do not require an additional input 'this time', just hit [ENTER]. Note: The program you call via this command does not have to reside in the same area (diskette or directory) as K9X Just be sure it is in the DOS path. Note that you save alot of the 65 character limit by placing the secondary program in the DOS path! This DOS command option is in ADDITION to, and completly independant of, the optional DOS command you may enter when activating the Jump to DOS (Alt-J) feature. When using the DOS Shell and DOS Command options... Be sure you have enough memory to start up another application. The easiest way to do this is to start up K9X, issue the Drop to DOS command either through the Command Gateway Menu of the Expert Alt-J key combination, then run the DOS utility ChkDsk. It will report the amount of memory you have available to run other programs from within the DOS shell. If you do a direct exit to DOS via the DOS shell, be sure to type the word EXIT to get back to K9X. Number of Dialing Dir Pages Default: NP=2 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The K9X.P dialing directory is a varaible length random access file which has a maximum size of 2 to 500 pages with each page containing 19 entries. Initially, K9X creates a 2 page (38 entry) dialing directory which contains the numbers of the Dog's MiniNet nodes and the remaining entries are blank. Each consecutive time K9X is started up, it will use the value held here and make sure the dialing directory holds at least this number of pages. If the size of K9X.P is smaller than this parameter value, K9X will expand K9X.P to the proper number of entries... If the size of K9X.P is larger than this parameter value, K9X will ONLY RECOGNIZE the number of pages indicated by this parameter. WARNING: A full 9500 entry directory is about 1.5 megabytes in size! Canine Express Professional v8.xx Page - 86 - Condense Dialing Directory ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This option isn't a parameter... rather, it's the command to condense your current dialing directory (K9X.P) to remove any unused directory entries. This command will create a new K9X.P, reading each entry from the old K9X.P and, if it is an active entry, write it to the new K9X.P. Upon completion, the number of entries in the new K9X.P will be rounded up to the next consecutive page or 19 entries. Finally, the old K9X.P directory is erased and the new one renamed to K9X.P. Quasi Hard Coded Parameters ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The following parameters are quasi hard coded... that is, there isn't any ready way of changing them via K9X or K9XCNF. Since the K9X.CNF file is a pure ASCII file, you may however, load your K9X.CNF file into a pure ASCII text editor and change these settings manually. Text BackGround Color Default: CB=0 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This value is quasi-hardcoded to the black background setting as there isn't any way to change the setting from within K9X. You may however, use a text editor to change the setting in K9X.CNF. If you do change it in this manner, the background may not be reset after receiving ANSI color escape sequences from the host computer. Backspace Char Default: BS=8 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This parameter holds the equivilant decimal value for the ASCII backspace character K9X is to use. The value should be defined as 8 if wish K9X to simply move the cursor back one space (non- destructive) OR 127 if you wish K9X to backspace and delete the previous character (destructive). Delete Char Default: DE=127 ~~~~~~~~~~~ This parameter holds the equivilant decimal value for the ASCII delete character K9X is to use. The value should be defined as 8 if wish K9X to simply move the cursor back one space (non- destructive) OR 127 if you wish K9X to backspace and delete the previous character (destructive). Local Echo Flag Default: LE=0 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Most BBS' handle all of the character display for K9X. If you find that you are unable to see the characters being sent by the host system, this flag should be set On. Function Key Carriage Return Char Default: FC=| ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This parameter holds the character K9X is to interpret as a carriage return within the Function Key Macros, Modem Strings and Dialing Directory Macros. The default is the vertical bar (NOT the colon). Canine Express Professional v8.xx Page - 87 - When K9X encounters this character in any of the command strings, it automatically sends out a carriage return in place of this character. Function Key Delay Char Default: FD=~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This character works identically to the vertical bar except that it is interpreted by K9X as a delay. When K9X encounters this character in any of the command strings, it will pause approximately 60 seconds before sending the remainder of the command string. The default is the tilde (not a double quote). Function Key Wait For String Char Default: FW=` ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The single quote ` is another special control character used specifically in the dialing directory macros ("Send" field). It is used before and after a string of charcaters that K9X is to wait to receive before it continues sending the next portion of the command string. Function Key Esc Char Marker Default: FM=^ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Escape Character Marker is used to signal K9X that the next character in the command string is to be converted into a control character. For instance, the presence of a ^G in a command string will be interpreted and converted to ASCII code 007 (bell character). When K9X reads in the command strings from its support files (K9X.CNF, K9X.KEY, K9X.P, etc.), it converts all ^ characters to their actual ASCII code equivelents. When K9X writes out the command strings to its support files (K9X.CNF, K9X.KEY, K9X.P, etc.), it converts all control characters to the equivilant ^ character. In the ^G case above, when writing to file, K9X will write ^G when reading from file, K9X converts the ^G to Ascii 007. Parameters Set Within K9X ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The following parameters are set from within K9X Default Dialing Prefix Char Default: DP= (blank) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ = blank : no default prefix character = +,-,!,@,# : that is the default character, and the corresponding K9X.PRE entry if the default dialing prefix string. If DP is NOT blank, then hitting the return (enter) key at the dialing directory menu causes the highlighted number to be dialed as usual, but the prefix string corresponding to DP= is prefixed to the phone number ONLY IF the phone number is longer than seven digits (apparently a long-distance number). Canine Express Professional v8.xx Page - 88 - Default Dialing Postfix Char Default: DT= (blank) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ = blank : no default postfix character = +,-,!,@,#: that is the default character, and the corresponding K9X.PRE entry if the default dialing postfix string. If DT is not blank, then hitting the return (enter) key at the dialing directory menu causes the highlighted number to be dialed as usual, but the postfix string corresponding to DT= is attached to the end of the phone number ONLY IF the phone number is longer than seven digits (apparently a long-distance number). Configure Drives ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Use K9X FileFind Default: FS=1 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ K9X has the capability of automatically locating files you select for uploading. This parameter holds the flag setting instructing K9X whether or not it should use the K9XDRIVE.TBL. You may over-ride any drive search by simply including a full drive:\path along with the filename. If this option is Enabled... K9X will first search your current logged drive:\directory for the file you requested. If it is not present there, K9X will then check the default upload path, if one has been configured within K9X.CNF, and lastly, K9X will use the directory names held in K9XDRIVE.TBL to locate the file. K9X will use either a full drive table search or the modified, categorized search depending on the flag setting as defined by the "Full Search" parameter in K9XDRIVE.TBL (see below) If this option is Disabled... If a drive:\directory is specified with the filename: K9X will only look for the file in the specified drive:\directory If no drive:\directory is specified with the filename: K9X will search the current logged drive:\directory If a default upload path has been configured into K9XDRIVE.TBL, K9X will search the default upload path for the file. Canine Express Professional v8.xx Page - 89 - Do Full List Search Held in K9XDRIVE.TBL ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This flag setting tells K9X whether or not it is to do a full Sequential Search or a Designated Search of the K9XDRIVE.TBL. The Designated Search requires that your files are stored in the same fashion as I set up the BBS directories... (see the K9X File Find section for detailed information on the Designated Search setup and listing sequence). Most 'normal' users will not require this special Designated Search feature. The default setting is for a full Sequential Search. Display Transfer Times Held in K9XDRIVE.TBL ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Since there are numerous times when I am looking for a file so that I can upload it to another BBS or transfer it to a client, K9X will display approximate transfer times at 1200, 2400 and 9600 bps. This flag setting tells K9X whether or not it is to display these transfer times when listing files via the Alt-F "Display Directory" or "Select Upload Files" options. The default setting is for Transfer times to be displayed. If you set this flag to (N)o, none of the transfer times will be displayed. Display 1200b Times Held in K9XDRIVE.TBL Display 2400b Times Held in K9XDRIVE.TBL Display 9600b Times Held in K9XDRIVE.TBL ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ These three flags tell K9X which transfer times to display if you have opted for K9X to display transfer times. You may turn on (or off) any combination of the three baud rate times. Examples: If you only have a 300/1200 modem, you can disable the 2400b and 9600b times by setting the 1200b to (Y)es and setting the 2400b and 9600b to (N)o. If you have a 300/1200/2400 modem, you can disable the 9600b by setting the 1200b and 2400b to (Y)es and setting the 9600b to (N)o. If, after opting to display transfer times, you then set all the times to (N)o, the original display transfer times flag will also be set to (N)o. The default settings for all three flags is (Y)es Display On All Files Held in K9XDRIVE.TBL ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Since most files being transferred are (should be) archived, this flag setting tells K9X whether or not it is to display the transfer times on ALL files or just those containing an .ARC/.PAK/.PKA/.ZIP extension. The default setting is to Display times on ALL files. Canine Express Professional v8.xx Page - 90 - File Listing Colors Held in K9XDRIVE.TBL ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This option allows you to set up the colors for directory listing filename, filesize, filedate, filetime and transfer times display. A second window will open toward the bottom of the screen displaying a sample fileline. If you are satisfied with the default colors, type Q to exit the color setting menu. The defaults on all file listing components is set to (blah) black and white! Adjust Number of Drives Held in K9XDRIVE.TBL ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ K9XDRIVE.TBL has the capability of holding a total of 99 paths with each entry containing a maximum of 29 characters. This option allows you to set the total number of paths that K9X will recognize. Although the maximum number is automatically checked and set by K9XCNF and K9X according to the total number of table positions already occupied, this option allows you to decrease the total number to a value which is less than the total number of table positions already occupied without having to eliminate the excess positions. NOTE that this number DOES NOT include the the Default Upload or Default Download Paths. These two paths are held elsewhere within K9X.CNF or K9XDRIVE.TBL Default Download Path Default: DL= (blank) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If DL is blank or contains a single backslash (\), K9X will write downloaded files to the current logged drive and directory. If Download Path is specified, K9X will prefix the download filename with the string corresponding to DL= Download path conventions: Maximum path string length is 65 characters. Be sure to include all the normal DOS punctuation conventions (including the last backslash) in the form: C:\MININET\K9X\DOWNLOADS\FOO\BAR\YOU\ME\TODAY\NOW\ If you don't use directories/subdirectories, you may either enter a single backslash, which will disable the download path completely, or you may enter a single drive letter in the form B:\ which will direct all downloads to in this case, drive B. In any case, be sure to designate a default download path immediately. Default Upload Path Held in K9XDRIVE.TBL ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This option allows you to specify a Default Upload Path. The Default Upload Path is the first to be searched upon each and every search request. The Default Upload Path may also be edited from within the List/Edit Drive List option. Canine Express Professional v8.xx Page - 91 - A note here... The total allowable length is 29 characters. That includes the drive designator. List/Edit Drive List ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ K9XDRIVE.TBL will hold up to 99 Path Name Strings with each path name having a maximum length of 29 characters. This option allows you to edit/list the designated drive table entries. If you used KTREE, then your K9XDRIVE.TBL will already contain all of the available paths you wish K9X to use. If not, all of the drive table positions will be empty as shown in the example below. K9XDRIVE.TBL Edit Display ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dir[ 0]=C: FileFetcher Drive/Dir Names Page 1 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dir[ 1]= Dir[21]= Dir[ 2]= Dir[22]= Dir[ 3]= Dir[23]= Dir[ 4]= Dir[24]= Dir[ 5]= Dir[25]= Dir[ 6]= Dir[26]= Dir[ 7]= Dir[27]= Dir[ 8]= Dir[28]= Dir[ 9]= Dir[29]= Dir[10]= Dir[30]= Dir[11]= Dir[31]= Dir[12]= Dir[32]= Dir[13]= Dir[33]= Dir[14]= Dir[34]= Dir[15]= Dir[35]= Dir[16]= Dir[36]= Dir[17]= Dir[37]= Dir[18]= Dir[38]= Dir[19]= Dir[39]= Dir[20]= Dir[40]= ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Options: [] Page [A]dd [E]dit [S]wap or [C]lear There are 2 1/2 pages (40 per page) of drive\dir names in the table. You are presently viewing page 1 as noted in the upper right corner. Dir[ 0] is the Default Upload Path and will remain visible no matter which page you are viewing. If Dir[ 0] has not been designated, you should do that immediately. Your options here are: [] Page ~~~~~~~~~ The up and down arrow keys are your means to page through the table. The table is displayed in a rotary fashion where a continuous up or down arrow when page 3 is displayed will simply revert to displayiong page 1 again. Canine Express Professional v8.xx Page - 92 - [A]dd ~~~~~ This command will prompt you for a new drive and path and then install the new path in the next vacant table position. Although it isn't necessary that the drive paths be in any specific order (other than when using the deignated path search), you may reposition the new entry by means of the Swap command. Upon installing the new entry, the total number of drives will be updated to reflect the actual number of entries in use. [E]dit ~~~~~~ This command will prompt you for a table entry number that you wish to edit. You will then be prompted for a new drive and path for the specified entry. Upon making the change, K9XNF will install the new entry in the specified position. [S]wap ~~~~~~ This command will prompt you for the table entry number to be swapped and the table entry number you want it swapped with. Upon entering both numbers, K9XCNF will swap the two entries, placing the first drive entry in the second table entry position and vica versa. [C]lear ~~~~~~~ This command will prompt you for a table entry number that you wish to be cleared. Upon entering a number, K9XNF will first verify that the entry number is in fact occupied and if it is, remove it by moving all higher entries down one place and then finally clearing the last occupied entry. Upon clearing the entry, the total number of drives will be updated to reflect the actual number of entries in use. [Enter] ~~~~~~~ This command is not displayed. But as is the case with all of the K9X/K9XCNF prompts, hitting the Enter key will exit that prompt and either back you up one postion or allow you to continue. If you want to use the special designated search feature (see the K9X File Finder Section below), your drive\directory entries must be as follows: Drive 0 Default Upload Path Drive 1 The catch-all number drive\directory Drive 2 The catch-all miscellaneous drive\directory Drive 3 ... Drive 99 The Alphabetically named drive\directories. If you have one directory named P and need a second directory with the P letter, simply create a directory named P1. Canine Express Professional v8.xx Page - 93 - It does NOT matter that the P and P1 directory names are not next to eachother as K9X will ONLY search those two directories, along with the default drive 0 and possibly the catch_all miscellaneous directory. Writing a NEW K9X.CNF ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The K9X.CNF configuration file is written each time you exit K9XCNF. If you have accessed K9XCNF via the Alt_P command (or the Command Gateway Menu System equivilant) K9X will re-read and reset all paramters except the Comm Port. If you have changed the Comm Port, you will have to exit and restart K9X in order to access a different port. If you are currently running an earlier registered version of K9X, be sure to run K9XCNF at the DOS prompt so that the new K9X.CNF paramters will be written to your current K9X.CNF If there is a setting you would like to see as a default paramter, let me know and I will try to include the change in the next version. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- K9X FILE FINDER ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ INRODUCTION ~~~~~~~~~~~ The file finding fetures in K9X are in actuality, a subset of my FETCH FileFinder program and the file finding used within my MiniNet BBS software. The following is an excerpt from the Fetch documentation and is included here to give you some insight into the file finding functions, uses and capabilities. Please note that the Designated Search Pattern is here simply for those users who, like myself, have massive amounts of hard disk storage spanning multiple drives with dozens of directories. The Designated Search Pattern will in all likelyhood, REQUIRE a complete reorganization of your hard drive(s). Although the directory structures MUST be set up as described below with all files located in the appropriate directories, the Designated Search Pattern is by far the fastest and most efficient setup for mass storage users. If your system is like most, the Sequential Search Pattern will be sufficient. It requires no special organization and can be implemented with ease. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - I wrote FETCH to (attempt) to get a better hold on the files I have available on the BBS. What with 600 megs and some 10,000+ archives, I suddenly found myself lost in a sea of files! The original layout of the hard drives was some 20 or so categories (directories) but after a while, I got tired of having to read the doc file of each new upload, then make a determination of what category it fell into... and sometimes having to 'fudge' on that determination because the file content didn't quite fit into an appropriate 'niche'! Canine Express Professional v8.xx Page - 94 - I also found that the system was spending an extraordinary amount of time hunting for a file requested for download. So, I loaded up the BBS source code and modified the file request category (directory) search routine to do a DESIGNATED search as follows: My first step was to re-organize all of the hard drives creating 1 letter directories each beginning with a letter of the alphabet. That netted me 26 directories (A thru Z). I then loaded the directories according to the first character of the filename (ALBERT went into directory A... XYZ when into directory X). This was all well and good but I found that there were certain directories which were getting a lion's share of the files so I modified the code so that the search criteria was based solely on the first character of the directory name rather than the entire directory name. This allowed me to create 2600 directories (100 for each letter C:\A, C:\A1, C:\A2 ... C:\A99), thus allowing a limit to the number of files in each directory. This covered all the possible filenames except for three categories... Those filenames beginning with numbers (like 123UNP), those files starting with all of the other filename characters allowed by DOS (like !TROJAN!) and finally the uncataloged new uploads. Simple enough, create three catch-all directories... the number directory was named 00 the miscellaneous directory was named NA and the upload directory was named 0. Nice and easy now! Simply store each new file in the first character directory! Now I was in business, right? WRONG!!! Another trip to the BBS source code corrected the problems... The SEQUENTIAL file search process went something like this: 1) User requests a file. 2) System first checks the new upload directory 3) If it isn't there, it then steps through the other designated directories one at a time, searching all of the drives, all of the directories until the file is found or the system runs out of directory names. Not a whole lot of time consumed, but the hard drive lights look like a Christmas tree and Ma' Bell keeps that clock ticking! The DESIGNATED file search process goes something like this: 1) User requests a file. 2) System first checks the new upload directory 3) If it isn't there it then checks the first character of the filename A) If it's a number, it jumps directly to the catch_all number directory (the second directory in the list). B) Regardless of the filename, if the file has not been found, the miscellaneous directory (the first directory in the list) is then searched. Canine Express Professional v8.xx Page - 95 - C) If the first character is a letter and the file has not been found, the system loops through the designated directory names, checking only those directory names which begin with a matched letter. So from a potential 20+ category/10,000 file search under the old method, in most cases, the new method requires only a 3 or 4 category/600 file search. In brief: The Sequential Search Pattern requires no special organization of you hard drives. All that is required is to setup K9XDRIVE.TBL with the directories you wish K9X to recognize. With the only important factor being that an Default Upload directory is specified. The Designated Search Pattern requires a minimum of 2 directories with the first directory in the list being named 00 and containing all files whose names begin with a number. the second directory in the list being named NA and containing all files whose names begin with a character OTHER than a number of letter - plus any miscellaneous files you wish to keep within easy reach. If more than 2 directories are used, each subsequent directory must be have a distinct letter of the alphabet (A thru Z) as the first letter of the directory name and must only contain files whose filename begins with the corresponding directory first letter. your default upload directory may be any one of the above directories or another, separate directory... in my case, the default upload directory is a separate directory named 0. Ok, NOW I was in business, right? WRONG!!! Now that I got the BBS up to speed, I found that I was spending an extraordinary amount of time trying to locate files! Under the new method, the directories went from 21 to 36! I found I was constantly doing a directory of the hard drives just to see what directories were on what drives! Next step was to dig out, unpack and test all of the different FINDIT type programs I have online. Well, I've got to admit, there are some great FINDIT type programs out there! Some do a search of only one drive, others do a search across drives, others do a search inside archives... etc. etc. etc... BUT.... I found that they all operate the same way my old search method worked! I had two available options when executing any of these programs. 1) Blindly search each and every hard drive completely until the file is found. Canine Express Professional v8.xx Page - 96 - 2) Do a root directory of each hard drive to find the directory which may possibly contain the file I was looking for. Then call up the file finder to locate the file (I'm already there, why bother!) If I wanted to look for another file, I had to go through the ENTIRE process again! Now, since I had completed the routines for this efficient new way to search my drives for a file, the next logical step was to merge the routines and include them into FETCH (and into K9X)! N O W I A M I N B U S I N E S S !!! (You Too!) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - USING K9X FILE FIND ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This feature is almost a prerequisite when working with a hard drive! First a note about entering Search Specifications... Entering an asterik/period (*.) without the extension will cause K9X to display only the Directory Entries (all directory entries containing the <DIR> designation including the . <DIR> and .. <DIR> entries from within a directory). If no period or .extension is supplied, K9X will automatically add the .* to your search specification. Upon selecting the "Select Upload Files" option at the Alt-F Files Manipulation menu, a window will open and you will be prompted for a search criteria. K9X will clear the screen and display the prompt: Search Parameter (?=Help) You have 5 possible options available to you here: ? Entering a question mark will display a brief help screen detailing the general use of the K9X File Find. \ A backslash by itself will list all of the files contained within the root directory of the logged drive. This is equivilant to typing Dir C:\ at the DOS prompt. spec This may be any drive\path\search criteria. K9X will automatically perform a directory listing using the specified search specification. K9X will only search the current logged drive and path if no drive or path is included in your search criteria. As is the case with an Enter input, K9X will append a *.* if your input does not contain a period/extension. Canine Express Professional v8.xx Page - 97 - Valid entry examples: C:\DOS\ becomes C:\DOS\*.* or K9X becomes K9X*.* or D:\MYDIR\A*.T?T becomes D:\MYDIR\A*.T?T or A:\ becomes A:\*.* or C:\DIR1\DIR2\DIR3\*.COM becomes C:\DIR1\DIR2\DIR3\*.COM or C:\DOS\FET* becomes C:\DOS\FET*.* /spec This is the most powerful feature of the K9X file find as it allows you to find any file on your system without the need of changing drives or directories - or having to input a path! This option is the same as spec above except it forces K9X to use the K9XDRIVE.TBL so DO NOT include the drive\directory path here! K9X will ONLY search those drive\directory names contained within the K9XDRIVE.TBL and will search those directories according to the status of the "Search All Directories" flag (Designated of Sequential search) in K9X.CNF. Wildcards are fully supported. As is the case with an Enter input, K9X will append a *.* if just the / is supplied or if your input does not contain a .extension. Valid entry examples: / becomes /*.* or /K9 becomes /K9*.* or /A*.TXT becomes /A*.TXT or /*.COM becomes /*.COM [Enter] This option will clear the screen and display the prompt: Search Specification ([Enter]= *.*, [?]= Drive_List): Your options here are the same as the previous prompt except that: [Enter] This option simply inserts a *.* as a search criteria and forces K9X to list all of the files in the current logged directory. ? This option will display the entries in K9XDRIVE.TBL as: Canine Express Professional v8.xx Page - 98 - ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dir[ 0]=C: FileFetcher Drive/Dir Names Page 1 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dir[ 1]= Dir[21]= Dir[ 2]= Dir[22]= Dir[ 3]= Dir[23]= Dir[ 4]= Dir[24]= Dir[ 5]= Dir[25]= Dir[ 6]= Dir[26]= Dir[ 7]= Dir[27]= Dir[ 8]= Dir[28]= Dir[ 9]= Dir[29]= Dir[10]= Dir[30]= Dir[11]= Dir[31]= Dir[12]= Dir[32]= Dir[13]= Dir[33]= Dir[14]= Dir[34]= Dir[15]= Dir[35]= Dir[16]= Dir[36]= Dir[17]= Dir[37]= Dir[18]= Dir[38]= Dir[19]= Dir[39]= Dir[20]= Dir[40]= ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Which Dir number [0..2] or [] Page There are 2 1/2 pages (40 per page) of drive\dir names in the table. You are presently viewing page 1 as noted in the upper right corner. Dir[ 0] is the Default Upload Path and will remain visible no matter which page you are viewing. Your options here are: 0..2 ~~~~ These numbers are the maximum (as configured earlier) available directory names available. The 0 represents the default upload path name, the 2 designates the total number of directory names you have set. A choice of a number from 0 to 2 will allow you to view the directory listing for a specified drive\directory. Upon selecting a number, your prompt will change, displaying the actual drive designator (including the final backslash) and wait for you to input a search specification. Enter your search criteria and hit Enter. K9X will then proceed to diplay all matches found in that drive\directory. If you simply hit Enter for the search spec prompt, K9X will insert *.* as the search criteria. [] Page ~~~~~~~~~ The up and down arrow keys are your means to page through the table. The table is displayed in a rotary fashion where a continuous up or down arrow when page 3 is displayed will simply revert to displayiong page 1 again. Canine Express Professional v8.xx Page - 99 - [Enter] ~~~~~~~ Again, hitting Enter simply simply inserts a *.* as a search criteria and forces K9X to list all of the files in the current logged directory. As stated, after selecting a search criteria, K9X begins the search and list of all matches. If you have more than one page worth of files listings, you will encounter the prompt: More? ([STab], [Y]es/[Enter], [N]o, [C]ontinuous)... Briefly, your choices here are pretty straight forward. [Enter] or Y Hitting the Enter or the Y key will simply scroll up the next page of files listings. C The C response will scroll all of the remaining files listings for this directory non-stop. [STab] The STab response represents the Shift Tab key which is your gateway for marking any files you wish to store in the upload buffer. By pressing the Shift Tab key, K9X moves from the files listing mode to the cut and paste mode. A help line appears at the bottom of your screen and the cursor is placed on the first filename in the current listing. You may enter this mode as often as you like - marking and editing filenames as required. Note that both upload and download buffers will hold a maximum of 24 filenames and the help line for each will display the number of occupied buffers. Your options here are: [][][Home][End] You may use the cursor keys to move up and down on the screen. Since we are only interested in placing the cursor over the first character of a filename, there isn't any facility provided for moving the cursor left and right. M Mark When you have placed the cursor over the first character of the filename you wish to store in the upload buffer, simply press the M (Mark) key. K9X will extract the filename from the screen, place the filename into the buffer, redisplay the marked filename in inverse (black on white), increment the buffer count (on the far right of the help line) to reflect the total number of filenames in the buffer and finally, move the cursor down one line! Canine Express Professional v8.xx Page - 100 - D Display This option will simply display the filenames that are stored in the upload buffer. If you wish to modify/add/clear/etc. the filenames, you must use the Edit option below. E Edit As is the case with the download cut and paste buffer, the upload cut and paste buffer has full add/edit/load/clear/save capabilities. Please refer to the K9X Shift Tab command key section for details on the use of this feature. S Shell K9X has the ability to perform a DOS shell from within this section. Although the shell is a standard DOS shell which will support all of the features of the other DOS shells within K9X, it is included here as a means to obtain access to DOS without actually exiting K9X. Since you are pretty "deep" within the K9X program structure at this time, it is not recommended that this particular DOS shell be used for anything other than for the copying, moving, renaming, etc. of files. ┘Exit Mark This symbol represents the Enter key. When you have completed the marking/editing of the desired filenames, simply hit Enter to get back to the file find mode. Upon return to the file find mode, K9X will redisplay the More? ([STab], [Y]es/[Enter], [N]o, [C]ontinuous)... prompt. At which time you may hit Enter or Y and continue with the listing/marking/etc. of files or hit N to stop. N The N response here will stop any further listing and take you to one final prompt: 17 Files 343123 bytes - That's it! [STab] [A]gain or [Enter]=Quit This prompt signals the end of the directory listing and contains two parts. The first part of the prompt displays the total number of files and bytes K9X was able to locate... The second part of the prompt contains the available options. The [STab] is the same as described above whereby you may mark/edit filenames... The [Enter] option is your way out of the file finder back to K9X. The [A]gain option needs some explaining... the A key is the means in which you may continually cycle through the K9X file finder looking for, listing and marking files according to your search criteria. Hitting the A key changes your prompt line to: Canine Express Professional v8.xx Page - 101 - [\] [spec] [/spec] or [Enter] And these options are identical to the opening options when you first entered the Select Files option. By including these options here, you do not have to return to the Files Manipulation menu before attempting another search. TRANSFERRING FILES ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ When uploading and downloading, you do not have to input a protocol prior to starting the transfer. K9X will use the default transfer protocol as set via the dialing directory entry. If you are dialing manually, K9X will use the default from the previous call. Use Alt_W if you want to change your protocol from the defaulted value. If you change your protocol, the new setting will remain in effect until you dial another number or change it again manually. For single file transfers (WXmodem, K9Xmodem, Xmodem, Ymodem, etc.), you have to supply a filename. When uploading, if you have set the Use File Find flag, K9X will find the file for you. K9X supports a host of transfer protocols! You may have noticed that you may specify either a single file or batch mode on some of the protocols. The reason behind this is that K9X will check for over-writes when using any single file mode protocol and prompt you for confirmation for over-write prior to beginning the transfer. This is NOT ALWAYS the case when using a batch mode protocol! Although every precaution is taken to insure that an inadvertant over-write will not occur, there is a possibility of this happening. For batch transfers, wildcards are valid... and in most cases function the same as the DOS wildcard characters. In ALL cases, you may preceed your input with a full drive and path. Supplying a full drive and path along with the filename will override the K9X file finding capabilities if they are active. It should be noted that K9X has built in support for several external protocol drivers (DSZ, QMXFER, PCKERMIT, etc.), an external CIS/B terminal emulator and the ICEX PC-Pursuit dialer. Registration of K9X (or any other communications program) does not automatically give you registered rights to these external programs! As is the case with K9X, if you are using these external programs on a regular basis, you MUST register your copy with the author! Please refer to the documentation provided by these external programs for further information on their use and registration fees (if any). Canine Express Professional v8.xx Page - 102 - Ascii ~~~~~ Ascii file transfer receives a file without any kind of error checking. This is the fastest transmission method for text files and generally works well on hard-wired lines. It does NOT work for binary files, and it is NOT well-suited for use over phone lines or digital transmission units. This is because of the high probability of line noise introducing spurious characters... especially on long-distance calls. Ascii file transfers require the following information: Delay between characters Delay between lines Pacing character (any input prompt from the host) Add linefeeds to the end of each line Add ^Z to the end of the transfer Xmodem ~~~~~~ Xmodem Checksum and Xmodem CRC are the two commonest transfer methods for use with remote bulletin board systems and many mini- computer systems. These are single-file-at-a-time transfer methods. Files are transmitted in 128 character blocks along with the block number and checksum or cyclic redundancy check (CRC) information. This allows the receiving system to ensure that the transmission has occurred correctly to a very high degree of probability. The CRC error-checking method is superior to the Checksum method, so you should always use the CRC method if the remote system to which you are connected accepts it. With the inception of the new, faster protocols, the Xmodem type tansfers should only be necessary in cases where extreme phone line noise is present. WXmodem ~~~~~~~ WXmodem is a new, streaming type of transfer protocol. It too is a variant of Xmodem. The difference being that it does not perform the Xmodem 'send data then wait for verification' process. Instead, it continually sends data by means of a sliding window process. The sliding window process increases the rate of transfer significantly. The sliding window protocols perform at their best when using a packet-switching network such as PC- Pursuit. K9Xmodem ~~~~~~~~ K9Xmodem is an all new transfer protocol introduced February, 1987. It is by far one the faster error checking protocols available to date! In essence, it is a highly modified derivative of WXmodem. As is the case with WXmodem, this sliding window protocol performs at its best when using a packet-switching network such as PC- Pursuit. Canine Express Professional v8.xx Page - 103 - Zmodem ~~~~~~ Zmodem is perhaps the most 'bullet proof' transfer available. It's primary drawbacks are the long error recycle times and the use of a 16 character header which is sent with each block of data. In any case, I have found it to very reliable, especially when using PC- Pursuit or similar packet switching networks and on extremely noisy lines. Ymodem-G ~~~~~~~~ Ymodem-G is a protocol designed by the Forbin Project for use with MNP error correcting modems. K9X supports two different Ymodem-G protocols. The QMXFER type Ymodem-G is a single file mode protocol used primarily on RBBS-PC bulletin boards (and MiniNet). The DSZ Ymodem-G was developed by Omen Technology and is included as a protocol choice within the DSZ Zmodem module. It is also an MNP error checking protocol but differs from the QMXFER type in that it can perform in either single file or full batch mode. No matter which Ymodem-G you use, you must have a modem that supports MNP error correction as the protocol itself does not perform any error detection. Care should be taken when using this protocol. In the tests I have performed, I've found that noisy lines causing multiple errors tend to send this protocol, the modem and K9X into a non-recoverable state resulting in nothing less than a "red switch" reset of the entire system! Ymodem (1K Xmodem) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ymodem is another Xmodem variant which provides for long 1024 character blocks. It is more efficient for higher baud rates like 2400, 4800, and 9600 baud. The Ymodem protocol implemented in K9X is a single-file protocol. Most users do not like to use ymodem because transfers seem to take longer. In actuality, transfer times are decreased considerably with the use of Ymodem! Since users (me included) like to see something while a transfer progresses, I have modified the buffer pointer to increment as data is received. Hope this helps to break the monotony of the 1K ymodem blocks! Note: The Ymodem protocol used in K9X is actually 1K Xmodem CRC NOT Ymodem Batch Batch and Modem7 CRC ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Batch (Modem7) protocol is a variant of Xmodem which sends the file name before the file itself. This provides for sending a batch of files all at one time. Each file is preceded by the file name. Either checksum or CRC error-checking can be used with Modem7. The DOS wildcards (*,?) are acceptable here. Canine Express Professional v8.xx Page - 104 - Telink CRC ~~~~~~~~~~ Telink CRC is a variant of Batch that adds information on file size and file creation time to the file name. K9X will use the file size and creation time information from Telink if it appears. Telink is most useful with FIDO bulletin board systems. K9X always requests the CRC version of Telink, since there is no reason to use the Checksum version. Again, the DOS wildcards (*,?) are acceptable here. Jmodem ~~~~~~ This is another new protocol which uses a variable size data block during transfers. Jmodem starts out with a 512 byte packet and increases the packet size after each individual packet is sent until it reaches an 8K (8192 bytes) packet length. Although the Jmodem module will report a high transfer rate (cps) this is not a true picture of the actual transfer rate. The transfer rate calculations do not take into account the initial synch time or the time consumed by the built data encoding/decoding. It's drawbacks are a very long synchronization upon commencing a transfer, data encoding which is not really required when transferring already compressed archives and the fact that if a block has to be resent when the packet size is 8K, the transfer rate all but disappears. Although the protocol seems to be quite stable, I do not recommend its use on noisy lines. Super8K ~~~~~~~ This is another new protocol introduced by Crater Rim Software in 1988. It is without a doubt the fastest non MNP transfer protocol available to date. Super8K was designed for use on clean (minimum error) phone lines. It uses an 8K packet size with a 1K drop back in case of errors (Jmodem must retransmit an entire 8K packet). Because of its full streaming, minimum error checking nature, it should not be used on any packet-switching networks (PC-Pursuit) as it will probably not recover if multiple errors or timeouts occur during a transfer. The benefits are of course, its pure speed in performing a transfer and its ability to be used in either a single file or batch mode. It should be noted that the comm port should not be loccked at a higher speed than the actual connection. If you have your comm port locked and connect to a slower than the locked baud rate, Super8K will probably overrun the buffer causing transfer failures. I have toyed with the inception of hardware/software flow control for Super8K but do not like the idea of having the speed hindered by the time consumed in checking the modem status. Tests have shown that the protocol performs beautifully when the modem is set to follow the connection. PCKermit ~~~~~~~~ PCKermit is another external protocol module. Although there are a number of BBS systems which support this protocol (MiniNet included), I've included the Kermit protocol for those users who communicate with mainframe and mini computers. Canine Express Professional v8.xx Page - 105 - I strongly urge you to use a protocol other than Kermit if the system you are dialing supports them. Timing tests have shown that transfers using Kermit may consume upto twice as much time as other protocols supported by K9X. Although there are later versions of PCKermit available, my tests have revealed that the version I have included with the K9X package seems to be the most reliable. The PCKermit module supports both standard and windowed Kermit transfers. Note that the batch file, KERMIT.BAT is required when using PCKermit as KERMIT.BAT passes the filename and other parameters to PCKERMIT. KERMIT.BAT ~~~~~~~~~~ echo off rem Command line is KERMIT direction port speed filename rem where direction is R or S rem port is 1 or 2 rem speed is modem baud rate setting rem filename may include full path if %1 == R goto get pckermit -l com%2 -b %3 -m 31 -p n -w -s %4 -c goto done :get pckermit -l com%2 -b %3 -m 31 -p n -r -a %4 -c SPECIFYING NUMBERS TO DIAL FROM DOS ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ K9X has the ability to specify up to 20 dialing directory entries to dial when starting the program. Your command line to start up K9X using this option should look like: K9X # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # Where # is in the range of 1 to the total number of directory entries (9500 max) If any numbers are present: K9X will proceed to the L)ist dialer option using the numbers it found on the command line. Note: Please see the ESC command key comments in the Alt_D section for information on exiting the list dialing mode. The L command line parameter is used as a flag to tell K9X to override the default Session Logging flag as set in K9X.CNF. If you have session logging active, inclusion of the L command line parameter will de-activate session logging. Inversely, if no session logging is configured, the L parameter will activate the session logging. The L may be by itself or included anywhere within the command line parameters Canine Express Professional v8.xx Page - 106 - Start Up command parameters have also been expanded to include K9XEVENT support. This enhancement allows you to totally automate your K9X sessions. If K9XEVENT is used, K9X will startup, automatically open a session log file, dial the desiganted directory entry numbers, execute the assigned macros and exit back to DOS upon completion! Note: This feature will only work with the K9XEVENT utiliy. Examples: K9X L 2 42 66 - Opens up a session log (configured as closed) and loads directory entries 2, 42 and 66 into the dialing queue K9X 1 2 L 3 - Same as above but entries 1, 2 and 3 K9X - Starts K9X with no dialing queue. If Session Logging is active, a session log will be opened. If Session Logging has been configured to not active, you may Include an L on the command line so that a session log will be opened: K9X L K9X 1 2 3 - Loads directory entries 1, 2 and 3 into the dialing queue with session logging dependant on the Session Log flag within K9X.CNF AUTOMATIC SESSION LOGS ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A session capture file will be automatically opened if session logging is so configured via K9XCNF or the command line L parameter. The file name will be the two digit month and two digit day with the two digit year as the file extension (0415.88). If the log file already exists, K9X will append the additional capture to that file, if it does not exist, K9X will create a new capture file. With each number dialed and conneceted with, K9X will make an entry into the capture file containing: directory entry name - connect time/date last on time/date in the form: UNDERDOGS MININET BBS 01A - 16:21:30 03/23/1987 (LastOn: 00:00:00 01/01/1980) All data received - with the exception of any ANSI escape codes - is written out the the session log. In addition, K9X will log the transfer results and efficiency during files transfers using any of the K9X internal Xmodem, Ymodem, Telink, Modem7 and ASCII protocols. Since the transfer results and efficiency logging for any of the internal SuperK or JBatch protocols is logged to K9XFER.LOG, no entry is made in the session log when using these protocols. Upon any drop to DOS - be it via the DOS shell command, any shell to an external protocol or program, or final exit to DOS via the End command - Canine Express Professional v8.xx Page - 107 - K9X will flush the session logging buffer and close the session log. If the drop to DOS was via a DOS shell, K9X will reopen the session log automatically. Additionally, in an attempt to preserve as much data as possible within the session log, K9X will flush the session logging buffer, close and then reopen the session log file after each disconnect from an online status. The Expert Home Command Summary will display the log file name alongside the [Ins] command key. Additionally, the CALL.LOG entries will also denote the Session Log filename. CALL.LOG - Automatic Call Log ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ K9X maintains a seperate log file record of all dialing attempts. The following information is automatically logged into CALL.LOG: System Called : 1 - UNDERDOGS MININET BBS - 1-206-725-9233 Dial Attempts : 1 Dial Started : 08:36:24 on 03/12/1988 - Session Log File: 0312.88 Dial Ended : 08:36:57 on 03/12/1988 - Communications Established Session Ended : 08:55:00 on 03/12/1988 - 00:18:03 (hh:mm:ss) System Name : This line contains the Directory Entry Number, Name and Phone Number. If you perform a manual dial, K9X will log "Manual Dial" along with the phone number. Dial Attempts : The number of times K9X had to dial/redial before K9X established communications or dialing was cancelled. Dial Started : The time/date the dialing attempt first started along with the name of the session log filename (if one was open). If no session log was active, the session log status will denote "Closed". Dial Ended : The time/date the dialing attempt ended along with a reason it was terminated. Session Ended : If communications is established with another system, this line will be added when you disconnect from the other system. The line contains the time/date session ended and the elapsed time spent online in the format hh:mm:ss Additional CALL.LOG information: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Total number of files downloaded from system called Displayed during while downloading using an internal K9X protocol Canine Express Professional v8.xx Page - 108 - This total is logged to CALL.LOG after disconnect from remote system Total number of bytes for files downloaded from system called Displayed during while downloading using an internal K9X protocol This total is logged to CALL.LOG after disconnect from remote system Accumulated total number of files downloaded during session Displayed during while downloading using an internal K9X protocol This total is logged to CALL.LOG after disconnect from remote system Accumulated total number of bytes for files downloaded during session Displayed during while downloading using an internal K9X protocol This total is logged to CALL.LOG when K9X is exited back to DOS Total Elapsed Online Session time (actually connected to a remote system) Logged to CALL.LOG after disconnect from remote system This total is logged to CALL.LOG when K9X is exited back to DOS Total Elapsed Online Long Distance Session time K9X counts the number of digits in the phone number it just dialed. If the phone number contains more than 7 digits, K9X considers it a long distance call and tabulates the online session time. This total is logged to CALL.LOG when K9X is exited back to DOS It should be noted that K9X simply checks the existance of the downloaded file and its "saved" size. If the transfer was aborted, the partial file will exist and K9X will use its partial size in the totals. The first four lines are unconditionally logged. The "Session Ended" entry is logged only if a session was completed normally. The additional information lines may or may not be logged dependant on what type of calls were initiated and what transfers were performed. K9X allows you to designate whether or the CALL.LOG file should be maintained. For those users who are bound to a floppy based computer system, it is wise to set this feature to NO as the call log will quickly eat up precious diskette space! Canine Express Professional v8.xx Page - 108 - KTREE.COM - K9XDRIVE.TBL Creation Utility ~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ KTREE.COM is a rather dumb utility which does nothing more than create K9XDRIVE.TBL. There are several ways in which it can be invoked: 1) Typing KTREE without any parameters at the DOS prompt will open a window and begin the search of all drives/directories/subdirectories beginning with drive C: and ending with drive Z: The drive root directories will be displayed regardless of their presence (hence the term rather dumb)! It will display each drive and all subsequent directories/sub directories it finds and prompt you as to whether or not that entry should be included in your K9XDRIVE.TBL. 2) Typing KTREE * at the DOS prompt will open a window and automatically install all drives/directories/subdirectories beginning with drive C: and ending with drive Z: The drive root directories will be installed regardless of the presence of the drive. This is done automatically and without confirmation. 3) Typing KTREE with specific drive letters will open a window and automatically process only those drives specified. examples: KTREE C will process drive C KTREE CDE will process drives C,D and E KTREE CDEGHK will process drives C,D,E,G,H and K In any case, be sure to enter K9XCNF and edit out any non-existant or any other entries you do not want in your K9XCNF.TBL. A you will notice, K9XCNF has full editing capabilities to add, delete, change and swap any and all entries. KTREE.COM is supplied as a no-hassle tool to create a full table containing all of the drives\directories on your system (up to 99 of them, that is). I did not bother to make this utility "smarter" as it will only be used during initial installation (if at all)! K9CLK.COM - Memory Resident Clock/Calendar ~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ K9CLK.COM is a memory resident utility that displays it output on line 26 I have been using it for well over a 18 months now with absolutely no adverse effects. It should be installed upon system bootup via your AUTOEXEC.BAT and, once installed, it cannot be removed from memory except by a re-boot (be sure to remove the K9CLK line from your AUTOEXEC.BAT file!). The default color(s) for the K9CLK display is a blue background with bright white text. The file CLKCOLOR.COM (see below) allows you to change both the background and foreground colors of K9CLK.COM As is the case with any type of direct file modification, it is wise to do your modifications on a copy rather than the original. I have included an additional copy of K9CLK.COM in this archive just in case! Canine Express Professional v8.xx Page - 109 - CLKCOLOR.COM - K9CLK Color Changer ~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CLKCOLOR.COM is a little utility that allows you to change the default foreground and background colors of the memory resident K9CLK.COM program which is part of the K9X package. The only prerequisite to using CLKCOLOR is that K9CLK.COM must be present and must be named K9CLK.COM. If CLKCOLOR does not find K9CLK.COM, it will abort with an error message. Once started, CLKCOLOR retrieves the current color settings from K9CLK and displays a sample of the K9CLK display in the current colors. You simply use the number pad cursor keys to cycle through the color palette. The Up and Down arrow keys cycle the Foreground... the Left and Right arrow keys cycle the Background. Pressing the Q key will exit the color setting routine. If you have changed the colors, CLKCOLOR will ask if you wish to save your changes. If no changes were made, CLKCOLOR will simply exit to DOS. K9XEVENT - Timed Event Scheduler ~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ K9XEvent and the associated K9XEVENT file may be installed in your DOS path and executed from any part of your system. It will automatically search the system environment for: K9X= This environment varaible should be SET in your autoexec.bat file. K9XEvent will look there for the K9XEVENT file. K9XEVENT is a simple event list (see sample files). The total number of events is set for 48. The format of K9XEVENT is: hh:mm:ss,command When K9XEvent reads in the events, it will look for the colon (:) as the third and sixth character of each line. It will then verify that the comma (,) is the ninth character of each line. If this criteria is not met, K9XEVENT will notify you of a configuration error and abort. Each command can be up to 60 characters. The command portion may be either a direct command or a batch file (if more than one command is to be executed at that time). Each command line within the file TEST.BAT is a valid command example for either the BATch file or a direct K9XEVENT command. The display consists of: K9XEvent v1.04 - External Event Scheduler (C) Copyright 1989 by Crater Rim Software (206) 725-9233 1200/2400/9600bps 600megs Events Executed : 0 Last Event Time : 00:00:00 Last Event Name : TEST.BAT Next Event Time : 00:00:00 Next Event Name : TEST.BAT Canine Express Professional v8.xx Page - 110 - Date: 08/25/1987 00:00:00 Hit The [Esc] Key to Exit... As you can see, the Escape key aborts the program. Any other key pressed will be ignored. When K9XEvent starts up, it reads in all of the events from K9XEVENT. It then steps through them all to find the next event in comparison with the current time. That is where it enters the 'waiting' loop... always with the next scheduled event as the first one. From that point, it will continually cycle though events until Escape is hit. Makes no difference if your time goes past 12 midnight. when K9XEvent comes to the last scheduled event, it simply resets itself to the first sheduled event again. Additionally, each time an event is executed, K9XEvent will display the commencement and completion of that event on the console... it will also create and append to a file called K9XEVENT.LOG located in the 'home directory'. It will make an event commencement entry and an event completion entry into the log file. Both of the entries will contain the Date, Time and Event command. Acknowledgements ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Turbo Pascal is a trademark of Borland International Inc. IBM, PC-DOS, PC, XT, AT and PCjr are trademarks of International Business Machines Corp. MS-DOS is a trademark of MicroSoft Corp. Hayes is a trademark of Hayes Microcomputer Products Inc. USR is a tradmark of U.S. Robotics Inc. CTS is a tradmark of CTS Fabri-Tek/DataComm Products Inc. TaskView is copyright Sunny Hill Software DesqView is copyright QuarterDeck Office Systems TopView is copyright IBM I would like to thank those who have made suggestions for additional K9X features. I would also like to thank those other software authors who provided excellent programs to model K9X after. I think that covers most of it! If you have any questions or problems, help is but a phone call away! I am usually available for online help most of the day and night. If you can't reach me via the "P)age the Sysop" option on MiniNet, please leave me a message or comment. I will get a response to you as soon as possible. Enjoy, Sal Manaro Crater Rim Software Underdog's Mininet BBS "The Third Ring" Canine Express Professional v8.xx Page - 111 - ORDERING INFORMATION ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Registration of K9X entitles you to: Use the product on a regular basis. 1 year K9X priority support on Underdog's MiniNet BBS. Licensed use of all upgrades of K9X. ShareWare Evaluation Disk Package ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In addition, a ShareWare evaluation package containing the latest ShareWare version of K9X is available at any time for $15. This does not include registration. The fee covers diskette, postage and handling. Registration and Disk Package ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ For $49 dollars we offer a combination registration/diskette package. The diskette includes the latest Registered version of the communications program (K9X), complete documentation and 1 full year of K9X product support on the Underdog's MiniNet BBS Seattle Node. Your first registered package and any subsequent upgrades are always available for immediate download from the Underdog's MiniNet BBS Seattle Node. Please use the enclosed order form or the enclosed Mailer when placing an order. ORDERS OUTSIDE THE US: Please send checks drawn on US banks in US dollars. We cannot accept non-US currency. Corporate, Single Copy and Quantity Purchases ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ For single unit orders, use the enclosed order form. Crater Rim Software will accept purchase orders in amounts over $100 only. All other orders must be prepaid. Crater Rim Software offers quantity discounts starting at the eleventh copy. Orders in quantities of less than 75 units are handled as bulk purchases. Crater Rim Software can provide you with either registration/disk combo. Canine Express Professional v8.xx Page - 112 - Purchases of over 75 units may be handled as quantity purchases or as corporate licensing agreements. Licensing agreements allow duplication and distribution of specific numbers of copies within the licensed institution. Duplication of multiple copies is not allowed except through execution of a licensing agreement (See Site Licensing below). The quantity purchase discounts are as follows: 1 - 10 copies: no discount 11 - 25 copies: 15% discount 26 - 50 copies: 20% discount 51 - 100 copies: 25% discount 101 - 200 copies: 30% discount 201 - 300 copies: 35% discount 301+ copies: 40% discount ALL PRICES AND DISCOUNTS ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE. Discounts are not cumulative. They apply to single orders of like products only. WARNING: YOU MAY NOT USE EITHER VERSION OF K9X ON A REGULAR BASIS WITHOUT A PRIOR PURCHASE OR LICENSE ARRANGEMENT. Site Licensing ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ All corporate, business, government or other commercial uses of K9X must be registered. One MASTER copy of K9X along with its documentation and associated files will be supplied. The licensing site will be responsible for creating the licensed copies and printing the documentation. Backup copies of the MASTER are not considered licensed copies. The licensing site will designate one individual who will act as liaison between the licensing site and Crater Rim Software. All correspondence between the licensing site and Crater Rim Software will be chanelled through the liaison. Additionally, all updates, fixes, etc. will be forwarded to the licensing site liaison by Crater Rim Software. To this end, Crater Rim Software will assume the order form name entry to be the individual designated to act as liaison unless stipulated otherwise. Canine Express Professional v8.xx Page - 113 - Remit to: Sal Manaro dba Crater Rim Softare Order Form 4028 41st Ave South Seattle, Wa 98118 USA Please send the ShareWare Evaluation version SW80: ------------------------------------------------- ____ K9X Disk (current ShareWare version) ...... @ $ 15.00 ea $ _______ Please register and send the latest version: ------------------------------------------- ____ K9X Registration(s) and Disk Combination .. @ $ 49.00 ea $ _______ I am a registered K9X User. Please send the latest K9X Utilities (K9XEVENT, K9CLK, CLKCOLOR) ----------------------------------------- ____ K9X Utilities .......................... @ $ 10.00 ea $ _______ PO, Rush and COD orders add $5.00 ........................... $ _______ Subtotal _______ (Washington residents please add 8% sales tax) Tax _______ Total $ _______ 360K diskette(s) ( ) or 1.2meg diskette(s) ( ) Payment by: ( ) Check ( ) Money Order ( ) PO # ________________ Name: ____________________________________________________________ Company: ____________________________________________________________ Address: ____________________________________________________________ : ____________________________________________________________ : ____________________________________________________________ Day Phone: (______)_________________ Eve: (______)___________________ ORDERS OUTSIDE THE US: Use check or money order drawn on US bank in US dollars.