Shareware Grab Bag

home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search

/ Shareware Grab Bag / Shareware Grab Bag.iso / 083 / phnxdoc.arc / PHNXDOC.3 < prev next >

Wrap

Text File | 1987-12-04 | 19.4 KB | 462 lines

PHOENIX REMOTE COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEM DECEMBER 4, 1987 3.0 PHOENIX FILES There are two types of files that comprise Phoenix and allow it to function. The first type is SYSTEM FILES. System Files are mandatory for Phoenix's operation and MUST reside in your main Phoenix directory or on the RAM disk from which you run Phoenix. These files are accessed frequently by Phoenix during program operation. The second type is SUPPORT FILES. Though these files are not required to run Phoenix, we are sure you'll find them invaluable in your operation. 3.1 SYSTEM FILES These are NOT optional and are NOT created by Phoenix Phoenix.COM - Main System Program Phoenix.000 - 004 System Overlay Files MENU0.MNU - First menu user sees CONFIG.BBS - Created by running CONFIG DROP .BAT - Used with Alt-D command NOTE: Overlay files MUST be located in the Phoenix Root Directory along with other System files. Overlay files are used to store Functions and Procedures which Phoenix can call at any time. They are not held in memory all the time and therefore must be available for use. 3.2 HELP FILES optional and are not created by Phoenix You may edit these to fit your personal taste and to match whatever commands you place in the menus. These files need not remain named this way (see menu tutorial for further information) MAIN .HLP - Main Menu Help File MMS .HLP - Message Menu Help FIle FILES .HLP - Files Menu Help File SYSOP .HLP - Sysop Menu Help File You may edit the next two, but the file names cannot be changed. MSYSHELP.HLP - Message system configuration help FSYSHELP.HLP - Files system configuration help PHOENIX REMOTE COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEM DECEMBER 4, 1987 3.3 MENU FILES - Phoenix Menu System Plus (tm) NOT created by Phoenix Only MENU0.MNU must exist for Phoenix to run and is NOT optional. MENU1.MNU - MENU25.MNU are optional and are created by you. We supply 4 menus with this version of Phoenix to emulate the familiar v1.2 Collie system but with some enhancements. This way, you may get started with a minimum of effort and may re-configure your menu system later. This menu system is, without a doubt, the MOST POWERFUL system available! See MENU TUTORIAL. 3.4 MESSAGE/USERS/AREA FILES NOT optional The following files are used as system files by Phoenix. If they are not found, Phoenix will create them. MESSAGES.BBS - All messages are contained here. MESSAGES.PTR - Message pointers for scans, etc. USERS .BBS - Users profile & statistics MSGINFO .SYS - Message area configurations FILEINFO.SYS - Files area configurations 3.5 WELCOME FILES optional To create these files, you can use your favorite word processor, EDLIN, or any of several programs designed to make Graphic Welcome Screens. Even though these files are not mandatory, they give your board originality. if a .* is used as the extension here, it means that the file can have 2 extensions, .BBS or .CLR - the .bbs extension file is expected to be text or upper IBM character graphics. The .CLR extension tells Phoenix that this is an ANSI GRAPHICS file. If .BBS only, it is expected to be a text file. If a .CLR file is missing Phoenix will ALWAYS look for the .bbs file. PRELOG.BBS - This screen is displayed before welcome1 and may contain pre-login announcements. WELCOME1.* - The screen displayed when callers first connect before login. ALL.* - This file is displayed to all after login but before welcome2. WELCOME2.* - The second screen displayed after your caller logs-in. NEWUSERS.BBS - Displayed to new users on their first call. This is expected to be a text file. PHOENIX REMOTE COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEM DECEMBER 4, 1987 3.6 BULLETIN FILES optional Bulletin files are designed the same way the welcome files are created, using either EDLIN, a text editor or ansi editor. BULLETIN.* - Main Bulletin screen, lists the available bulletins. BULLxxxx.* - Where x = 1 - 9999. This number should correspond to your bulletin listed in BULLETIN.BBS. Note that all bulletins must have an extension of .bbs and optionally, .clr. COLLIE 1.2 sysops take note of this name change! NOTE: If you are using ansi grafix you must call the files BULLETIN.CLR and BULLxxxx.CLR. To fully support all users, you should offer both sets of files. If a user has chosen ansi, and a .clr file is missing, Phoenix will use the .bbs file instead. Choose whether you wish to send the bulletin menu to the user automatically at login or not within CONFIG. You may have optional user level sensitive bulletins using one of the optional menus. See menu tutorial. 3.7 USER INTERFACE FILES optional These files are used to help the sysop interface with users in an efficient manner. [seclevel].SEC - This special feature was added so the sysop could send a special notice to all users of a certain security level. This file is not automatically erased. [1..?] .BBS - This special feature was added so theè sysop could send a SPECIAL MESSAGE to an individual user. Example: John Doe is User Record number 128 on your system. If you have a file called "128.BBS", Phoenix will dump and erase this file right after 128.BBS is displayed the next time John Doe calls. Your callers log will have a notation that the special message was sent. This is a private file displayed to the intended user only. RESTRICT.BBS This file is sent to a person who attempts to log onto a restricted system. It expects to be a text file. PHOENIX REMOTE COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEM DECEMBER 4, 1987 FILEMSG.* This file is sent to a user only once per login when he enters a menu defined as a files menu (one which sends what files area a user is in). MSGMSG.* This file is sent to a user only once per login when he enters a menu defined as a message menu (one which sends what message board a user is in). > LIMITS .BBS - If you would like to set different DAILY time limits according to the user's security level, you want to use this file. The syntax is : Security Level, Daily Time <RET> Example: 5,10 { 5 Security, 10 Minutes/Day } 10,20 { 10 Security, 20 Minutes/Day } 25,30 { 25 Security, 30 Minutes/Day } See ADVANCED OPTIONS at the end of the Phoenix documentation for additional information on enhancements to this file. RATIO .BBS - It's seldom (if ever), a caller's uploads exceed his downloads. That's par for the course. However, some users get in the habit of take, take, take, and NEVER give a thought to uploading. This file works when the warning ratio is set in Config. It wil display your words of wisdom when this situation presents itself. The user will still be allowed to download. LOCK .BBS This file is sent to a user who exceeds the download/upload ratio set for ratio.bbs and matches or exceeds the ratio set to lock a caller's downloading ability. Once this happens, the user will be denied downloading ability. This is done automatically when enabled within Config. PHOENIX REMOTE COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEM DECEMBER 4, 1987 > ALIAS .BBS ALIAS.BBS contains a list of all names you don't want to allow on your board. Names like: The, Hacker, Dr., Mr., PC, Killer, All, Etc. See ADVANCED OPTIONS for other information about alias.bbs. Phoenix reads this file line-by-line and compares the names in the file against the caller's first and last name. ALIAS2 .* If a match is found, then ALIAS2.BBS or ALIAS2.CLR is dumped to the screen and the caller is logged off! 3.8 OTHER SYSTEM FILES You may also add the following files to your system: GOODBYE .* - This file is displayed when a caller logs off the system. > FILES .* - Used in the File Sub-Directory for listing files available for download in that area. If you want to use files.clr, you must create it otherwise, Phoenix will use the .bbs file. If files.bbs does not exist, Phoenix will create one. See advanced uses and options for other uses of files.*. QUOTES .BBS - Quote for the day for your callers during log-on. Phoenix indexes this file, searching for a blank line between each quote. ALT-A .BBS - ALT+A dumps this file to the screen, logs the caller off, and LOCKS him out on future calls. Works great on problem callers. NO300 .BBS - Dumps this file to 300 baud callers, when 300 baud callers are not allowed. Displayed only when enabled within CONFIG. P .BAT - Batch file used to invoke Phoenix. Also contains the necessary commands for sysop's remote drop to DOS and for executing events. REMOTE .BAT - Required if you want to drop to DOS from remote on SOME systems. This file is NOT required for most. F8 .BBS - This file is dumped to the screen when you terminate a call. Could say: "Sorry, the sysop needs the computer! Please call back later!" PHOENIX REMOTE COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEM DECEMBER 4, 1987 MAILER .LOG - Contains all your Net-Mail activity. The net mail system creates this file. MODMINIT.BBS - This file is sent to "initialize your modem" after each caller. See Section 2. PAGED .* - Displayed when a caller pages the sysop, who either has the page feature turned off, or simply doesn't answer the page. The file could contain your office hours, or suggest that the caller leave a message or comment. ABOUTCOM.* - Some sysops have special policies about Comments to the Sysop. They can be made known here. Even though comments are now saved as messages in the message base, some sysops may still prefer not to reply to comments. This file can be displayed when a caller selects the <C>omments command. DROP.DOS - This file should contain instructions for the user how to return to Phoenix when finished in DOS. If it does not exist, Phoenix will default to a standard message. 3.8a ABOUT DISPLAY FILES As you can see, Phoenix allows you complete flexibility when it comes to displaying files. The sysop has nearly total flexibility in making his board as unique as he wants. There are a couple of features built into the display file routines which give you even more control. They are: CTRL-B - Toggles More Prompt. CTRL-C - Toggles the callers' ability to interrupt the display of the file. CTRL-D - At the top of the file, tells Phoenix to display "press <ENTER> to continue..." at the END of file. This is handy for files.* or [#].bbs, or anytime the last screen of the file is too short to invoke the <more> prompt and a menu would immediately scroll the info. This is not a toggle. CTRL-A - Tells Phoenix that this is an ANSI file even if it does not have a .clr extension. This is normally put at the top of the file, but can be placed anywhere and Phoenix will switch into ansi mode from that point till the end of the file. This is not a toggle. Place these characters in your display file. Remember with toggles, when Phoenix sees the first one, it turns the function OFF and leaves it OFF until it sees another toggle. Phoenix defaults to Interrupt ON and Screen <M>ore Prompt ON. PHOENIX REMOTE COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEM DECEMBER 4, 1987 3.9 BACKUP FILES & CRITICAL LOGS When you perform sysop maintenance like Packing the Message Base Users file, or system configuration files, Phoenix will first make "Backup" copies for you. You don't need to have these files in your Phoenix root directory after they're made. If space is a problem on your board you could copy the backups to disk or discard them. They are: MESSAGE.PBK - Message Pointer Backup File MESSAGE.TBK - Message Base Backup File USERS .BAK - Users Backup File MSGINFO.BAK - Message base configuration backup FILEINFO.BAK - Files area configuration backup Phoenix also keeps track of critical errors incurred during program operation. These are stored in a file called "CRITICAL.LOG". If you're having problems running Phoenix, and you're sure you've tried everything, report your version number and all the information included in your CRITICAL.LOG file to any of the boards listed in the 800 net (The GeneSys Project). We'll do everything possible to correct the problem or explain to you why you're getting the errors!