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Intellicomm (TM) v2.01 Copyright (C) 1991-1994 Liberation Enterprises. All rights reserved. --------------------------------------------------------------------- INTELLICOMM AUTO-BIF INFORMATION --------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 What is an Auto-BIF? An auto-BIF is simply a working BIF for a BBS that has had some minor modifications made to it, been ZIPped up into an archive called ICOMAUTO.ZIP, then uploaded to a BBS. When fellow Intellicomm users call a BBS, they first try to download ICOMAUTO.ZIP. If the download is successful, Icom extracts the BIF, asks the user for his/her logon name (and perhaps date of birth and home phone number if necessary for logons), then configures itself for full automation on the BBS in seconds. When an ICOMAUTO.ZIP is available, no BIF Learn is necessary, no prompt tweaking is necessary, and no hassles of any sort stand in the way of automated calls. Just a simple download sets every Icom user on the BBS up for full automation. The idea is that there's no need for every Intellicomm user to repeat the exact same BIF setup work, on every single BBS ... the ICOMAUTO.ZIP concept eliminates unnecessary work. If you have a fully working BIF for a BBS, you might as well ZIP the BIF up and upload it as ICOMAUTO.ZIP. It'll only take you a couple of minutes, other Icom users will be doing it for you at *other* BBS's, thus allowing you to avoid the BIF setup elsewhere, and everyone wins. 2 HOW THEY'RE USED When Intellicomm users logon to a new BBS, they first always look for a file called ICOMAUTO.ZIP. If this file is found all the user need do is download it. Intellicomm keeps an eye out for files called ICOMAUTO.* (any extension) after downloads and if one or more are found, when the user disconnects, Icom will: o Automatically uncompress each ICOMAUTO.* to a temporary directory (handling each ICOMAUTO fully before moving on to the next, if multiple ICOMAUTO.ZIPs were downloaded from different BBS's). If *.BIF is found in the temporary directory after uncompressing, the original ICOMAUTO.* archive is renamed to ICOMAnnn.* (nnn being a number from 000 to 999) to avoid processiong the same file twice. o Installs *.BIF from the temporary directory to the user's BIF Directory. If the user already had a file of the same name, Icom opens the existing BIF and gets the user's existing password, # times connected and last date connected (these items are saved and copied to the new incoming BIFs). The existing file is then renamed to BIFNAME.OLD (if a previous .OLD exists, it's first deleted before the rename). o Appends *.NEW to the user's existing .NEW listing(s) (if any). The .NEW list would contain important files that new users of the BBS may be interested in. You needn't include a .NEW list in ICOMAUTO.ZIP, but it's a nice touch. Intellicomm v2.01 AUTOICOM.DOC 2 o Next, the 'Port Settings' in the BIF are adjusted to suit the user's default modem speed. Only the speed is adjusted, so you can, for example, set the BIF up to use 2400,E,7,1 (even parity, 7 data bits, 1 stop bit), and Intellicomm will leave the E,7,1 as is, and will replace the 2400 speed with the user's default port speed. Intellicomm's 'Auto Baud Adjust' will take care of the rest when the user connects. o Next the BIF Notes (if any) are displayed. Notes are entered by selecting "Notes" while in the BIF Editor, and they can be used to welcome new users to the BBS, outline BBS rules, point of special file areas or message conferences ... any information you might want a new Intellicomm user to know about a particular BBS. The notes remain on the screen so you can include special setup information for the next two steps below. o Next Intellicomm asks for the user's BBS PASSWORD, if s/he has no password defined for the BIF. (Since the password data is stored separately, it is possible that the user has already set a password up for the BBS/BIF, and has just recently found ICOMAUTO.ZIP). If a previous BIF of the same name existed before installation of this new BIF, the existing password is used and the user is not prompted for a password. o Next Intellicomm goes through the .BIF itself (we're talking about the .BIF that was included in the ICOMAUTO.ZIP here) looking for any 'replaceable parameters'. These parameters are surrounded by percent (%) signs, and when found they tell Intellicomm to ask the user for certain information, and then 'replace' the %PARM% with whatever the user entered. The parameters available are: %FIRST% Asks for the user's logon FIRST NAME for the BBS %LAST% Asks for the user's logon LAST NAME %BDATE% Asks for the user's BIRTH DATE (for logons) %HPHONE% Asks for the user's HOME PHONE NUMBER (for logons) %PNAME% Asks for a 'Message Type' PACKET FILENAME, where 'Message Type' is the type of message system (e.g. Qmail v4 PACKET FILENAME). %DOOR% Asks for a DOOR #/NAME to "do whatever". The "do whatever" is the description of the BIF item as given in the BIF Editor (e.g. Enter DOOR #/NAME to 'Access Msg. Menu'). A default is offered wherever possible (the user's proper first or last name, birth date, and home phone is offered from the main setup, and the BIFNAME is offered as a default %PNAME%). The response given by the user is saved in memory and the next time Intellicomm runs across the same parameter in the same BIF, it doesn't ask the user for the information, it simply replaces it automatically (all except %DOOR% which is prompted for each time). This can be handy, for example, if you need to use the mail packet name or the user's name in a BBS prompt. Icom will ask the user for the info, get the proper response, then replace any further Intellicomm v2.01 AUTOICOM.DOC 3 occurrences of this variable automatically. The responses the user enters for each parameter are cleared between each BIF. Keep in mind that the BIF Notes are displayed on the screen while these replaceable parameters are being entered, so you can place any extra help there if needed. The Wildcat v3 template asks for the user's %HPHONE%, and Wildcat expects the phone number as AAAEEENNNN (area code, exchange, number). So the BIF Notes in the Wildcat template tell the user HOW to enter the information, when Intellicomm asks for it. Note that you may still use % in your BIF commands with no problems (and a single % is still used on the BIF "File" screen as a placeholder for various things). You could even define %PHONE% in a BIF (rather than %HPHONE%) and Intellicomm would ignore it/send it as a regular BBS command or watch for it, if defined as a prompt. Replaceable parameters must match EXACTLY to have any effect, and case IS significant (%hphone% won't work either). o After all replaceable parameters are processed, Intellicomm saves the BIF to disk, adds it to the user's BBS Dir (internal Icom menu), then, for the icing on the cake, asks the user whether to Create a standard set of Jobs for the BBS! The Jobs created are the usual fare: Logon/Switch to Manual - BIFNAME, Send/Get Mail - BIFNAME, and Send/Get Files - BIFNAME. o Once ALL Auto-BIFs have been installed, set up and saved to disk, and the temporary directory has been deleted, the Tagger will then be called to import *.NEW (new files lists from the ICOMAUTO.ZIP files) into the user's catalogs for his/her perusal. As mentioned above, all the user need do is download ICOMAUTO.* to set this chain of events into action. But instead of downloading the file, if you simply give the ICOMAUTO archive to a friend on-disk, the user can simply COPY ICOMAUTO.* into his/her global 'Download Dir', and Intellicomm will find and install the file on its next startup. The user could also extract ICOMAUTO.ZIP him/herself and just COPY *.BIF into the BIF directory... Intellicomm will find it there too (assuming a file of the same name didn't already exist; if it did Intellicomm won't notice anything new). Replaceable parameters are also processed when you "Create" or "Edit" a Job from the BIF Editor, when you select a new Message/Bank Type, and when you "Merge" a BIF Template into an existing BIF. Thus many replaceable parms are also used in the BIF Templates and Message/Bank Type Files (*.MTF, *.BTF). WHO CAN SET UP AN AUTO-BIF? The main purpose of the Auto-BIF is to allow many people to benefit from the achievement of one user, and only ONE person per BBS will set up an ICOMAUTO.ZIP. It might as well be you, if you have a working BIF for the BBS. If you upload one, you may be repaid the favour someday when you call a new BBS and find an ICOMAUTO.ZIP that someone *else* uploaded. Intellicomm v2.01 AUTOICOM.DOC 4 The idea is to eliminate work... there's no sense in everyone setting up a BIF. With ICOMAUTO, as soon as ONE person gets a BIF working, everyone else can benefit, and vice versa when you log onto new BBS's. Of course, the best person to set up an Auto-BIF is the System Operator of the BBS. The Sysop knows the BBS inside-out and will have little trouble filling in the various prompts/commands. Another advantage the Sysop has is direct access to the file ICOMAUTO.ZIP (where the Auto-BIF is stored on each BBS). S/he can modify this file whenever necessary, without having to worry about how to re-upload it and overwrite the old file if necessary. The Sysop also knows where and when changes will be made to the BBS that will affect the Auto-BIF. Finally, the Sysop can also include special 'notes' in the Auto-BIF, pointing out special features of the BBS and any important information about the BBS that all users need to know. Since the notes are automatically displayed when Intellicomm installs the BIF, it's a good place for a Sysop to communicate with new users. Intellicomm may even be for sale on the BBS, by the Sysop and the Notes are also a good place to mention this. In lieu of direct Sysop participation (i.e. if you don't find an ICOMAUTO.ZIP on a new BBS you call), anyone who uses Intellicomm regularly on the BBS can set up and upload the Auto-BIF. You don't have to be an Intellicomm expert to set an Auto-BIF up, and in fact, the Auto- BIF might even be the first and only BIF you've ever set up. As long as your BIF works, you're fully qualified to create the ICOMAUTO.ZIP. HOW ARE THESE FILES SET UP? It's no different than setting up any other BIF, at the start. Use the BIF Learn mode to create the BIF, then use it for a few days doing mail runs, file uploads and downloads, new files list imports, and bank transactions if available. Once you know the BIF is working properly you then just replace your own name on the BIF "Logon" screen with %FIRST% and %LAST% (making sure to leave any special formatting intact... e.g. %FIRST%^M%LAST%). Then move to the 'External Extras' on Wildcat-oriented BIFs and enter %BDATE% and %HPHONE% before the ^M (make sure to leave the ^M after the parameter; %BDATE%^M). That's all there is to the setup. Save the BIF, compress it into an archive called ICOMAUTO.ZIP, then upload it to the BBS for others to use. *IMPORTANT*: Make sure to give the BIF a good looking over when adding the replaceable parameters so you don't miss any PROMPTS that should also use replaceable parms. I.e. if your Logon "Confirm" prompt is using "Lastname [Y/N]?" then you should define this as "%LAST% [Y/N]?" in for the ICOMAUTO. If you leave YOUR lastname in the BIF, the prompt will not match when someone with a different name uses the BIF. It is not recommended that you use "%FIRST% %LAST% [Y/N]?" as a confirm prompt, even though that's how many BBS's ask for it, because someone with a very long name would overflow the prompt! This would cause Icom to truncate the information. Twenty characters are the maximum per prompt, so "MYNAMEIS RATHERLONG" would end up as "MYNAMIS RATHE [Y/N]?", if you used Intellicomm v2.01 AUTOICOM.DOC 5 both %FIRST% and %LAST% in the prompt. This theorically could even happen with a longer %LAST% name only... so be careful when using name parameters in prompts and make sure to use as little 'extra' text as possible (e.g. "%LAST% [Y" instead of "%LAST% [Y/N]?"). DON'T GET OVER-ANXIOUS Save adding the replaceable paramters to your Auto-BIF until AFTER you have done all testing, and are ready to post it on the BBS. If you enter %FIRST% %LAST% in the BIF prematurely -- and then must later "Edit" the BIF for some reason (to change a prompt or command), Intellicomm will ask you for your first and last name each time you Edit the BIF... which will waste your time and force you to re-enter your replaceable parameters. TIP: Icom will NOT actually replace the %PARAMETER% if you PRESS THE ESC KEY when asked for the information. I.e. if you are asked for your FIRST NAME and you don't want the parameter replaced, press Esc and %FIRST% will be left in the BIF intact, and your name will not replace the parameter. ON NOT OVER-DOING IT Don't use replaceable parameters unless you have to. Some of the parameters are only of use/intended for new templates (for a new BBS type or Bank/Message Type File). In most cases Auto-BIFs will be set up with a specific BBS in mind, and the only replaceable parameters you'll need are %FIRST% and %LAST%, and possibly %BDATE% %HPHONE%. Usually every other item in the BIF can be set up ahead of time. If a packet name is used in the BBS's Mail Door, don't use %PNAME% and hope that the user will know the packet name ... simply specify (hardcode) the proper packet name(s) in the BIF. Instead of using %DOOR%, call the BBS and find out what the proper door name/number is. Many people won't know the proper door number, etc., so it's always much safer to define it yourself, wherever possible. ON NOT UNDER-DOING IT However, don't take this too far. If NO replaceable parameters are found in a BIF, Intellicomm doesn't consider it an Auto-BIF, and it won't ask the user for his/her BBS password nor ask whether to create a set of standard Jobs. So even if you know the person's name you're setting the BIF up for, you should still use at least the %FIRST% %LAST% parameters so that Intellicomm will treat the BIF as an Auto-BIF. Don't be fancy with these BIFs. If there's a fancy, less reliable way of doing something... and a clunkier but MORE reliable way to do something - - choose the clunky more reliable method. You can always place comments in the BIF Notes if you like, giving tips for future enhancements, but the objective of the Auto-BIF is to get a new user up and running quickly and RELIABLY, so always favor reliability even if it hampers performance slightly. Use Intellicomm's internal Zmodem as the Message/File Send and Receive protocols wherever possible (and make sure to check the BBS Letters on the protocol menu, in case the user doesn't have a default protocol set Intellicomm v2.01 AUTOICOM.DOC 6 up on the BBS). While other protocols may be more efficient (HS/Link, for example), you don't want to get into something this fancy in an Auto- BIF since the user may not even have HSLINK.EXE let alone have plugged it into Icom's external protocol menu. Most people just want to get up and running as quickly and easily as possible on their first few tries with a new BBS/BIF, and many don't care about performance -- as long as the job gets done, and they don't have to do any extra work. So if you just do your best to ensure that the job does get done, with as little setup as possible, you'll have an Auto-BIF that will serve the majority well -- and will also serve as a very good starting point for the power users. ZIPPING IT UP Once your BIF is all ready to go with the proper % parameters, you're ready to compress it and test it out. To do so, change to your main Upload Directory (\ICOM\SND by default) from the DOS prompt, then enter: PKZIP ICOMAUTO \ICOM\BIF\BIFNAME.BIF where BIFNAME is the filename of the BIF. If you are going to include multiple BIFs for the same BBS (one could be advanced/one novice, one could be set up to use the NEWFILES catalog, another to use a GAMES catalog, etc), then you would repeat the above command with each BIF, of course, making sure that you also entered the replaceable parameters in each BIF. If you also wish to include BIFNAME.NEW list(s) (listings of important or interesting BBS files), you would then enter the command: PKZIP ICOMAUTO \ICOM\LST\BIFNAME.NEW assuming you had the list in your regular 'List Directory'; if not substitute with the proper path. .NEW lists are simply file listings captured from the BBS, though PLEASE don't included a massive .NEW list. People can do that on their own if they want to. The purpose of this feature is to include a few (no more than a couple of dozen) interesting or important BBS files. Again, you may also include multiple .NEW lists, using different BIFNAMEs if necessary (though you should also include a .BIF using the same base name of each .NEW list or they won't be of much use). PKZIP isn't 'mandatory', but it is recommended since Icom uses the Primary/Secondary unpacker commands, defined in each user's main setup, to unpack ICOMAUTO.* -- and 99% of the time, people will have PKUNZIP defined as their primary unpacker and PKUNPAK as their secondary (the Icom defaults). So if you compress ICOMAUTO using ARJ, in all likelihood the unpacking of the file will FAIL for most people, when Icom tries to install it. FINAL TESTING (UGH ... BUT IT'S WORTH IT!) By this point you're probably POSITIVE that your BIF is all set up properly and you just want to upload it. But to save yourself some possible embarrassment, it is recommended that you give it the final Intellicomm v2.01 AUTOICOM.DOC 7 once-over. I have been 'positive' that Auto-BIFs were all configured properly many times... only to have found major mistakes on the very last test. Once ICOMAUTO.ZIP has been created in your Upload Directory, and you think it's ready for upload, you should then copy it to your Download Directory to simulate that you had just downloaded it from the BBS. Then start Intellicomm and ensure that the file does install properly, display the BBS notes (if any) that you wanted, and ask the right questions. After you enter Intellicomm, change to the "BBS Dir" with [Alt-D] and give the newly installed BIF(s) a final going over with the "Edit" command, to ensure that everything ended up as you wanted it. If you included .NEW list(s) you might also check to ensure that it/they imported to the Tagger correctly. If all's well, then ICOMAUTO.ZIP is already in your Upload Directory and you're ready to upload it to the BBS! The recommended description you use for the file is "Intellicomm Auto-BIF for BBS Name"; BBS Name being the name of the BBS. Please note that Intellicomm has two l's and two m's (consistency in spelling is important when people do file searches on the BBS to locate the ICOMAUTO). FIXING MISTAKES If you did find one or more a mistakes in the final test, fix them up and don't forget to update ICOMAUTO.ZIP with the fix. If the mistake was in a .NEW list then you can simply edit the list with your editor and perform the PKZIP command again to replace the .NEW file in \ICOM\SND\ICOMAUTO.ZIP. If the problem was with a .BIF then you should exit Intellicomm, change to \ICOM\BIF then COPY BIFNAME.OLD BIFNAME.BIF (.OLD is the existing BIF as it was in your BIF directory [should have all the replaceable parms, etc.] before the ICOMAUTO.ZIP was installed). Then start Icom, enter the BIF Editor (making sure to press ESC when asked any questions) and fix up your errors, re-save the .BIF -- then go back up to "ZIPPING IT UP". It's a bigger job to fix up errors found in the final testing... which is why you should make absolutely sure that you've done everything properly BEFORE you think about adding the replaceable parameters and compressing up ICOMAUTO.ZIP. Thanks for participating, and may you find many an ICOMAUTO.ZIP created by OTHER Icom users on the new BBS's you call in the future!