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╔═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗ ║ ║ ║ ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓ ▓▓▓▓▓▓ ▓▓ ▓▓ ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓ ▓▓ ▓▓ ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓ ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓ ║ ║ ▓▓ ▓▓ ▓▓ ▓▓ ▓▓▓ ▓▓ ▓▓ ▓▓ ▓▓ ▓▓ ▓▓ ▓▓ ║ ║ ▓▓ ▓▓ ▓▓ ▓▓ ▓▓▓▓ ▓▓ ▓▓ ▓▓ ▓▓ ▓▓ ▓▓ ▓▓ ║ ║ ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓ ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓ ▓▓ ▓▓ ▓▓ ▓▓ ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓ ▓▓▓▓▓▓ ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓ ║ ║ ▓▓ ▓▓ ▓▓ ▓▓ ▓▓▓▓ ▓▓ ▓▓ ▓▓ ▓▓ ▓▓ ▓▓ ║ ║ ▓▓ ▓▓ ▓▓ ▓▓ ▓▓▓ ▓▓ ▓▓ ▓▓ ▓▓ ▓▓ ▓▓ ║ ║ ▓▓ ▓▓ ▓▓ ▓▓ ▓▓ ▓▓ ▓▓ ▓▓ ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓ ▓▓ ▓▓▓ ║ ║ ║ ╚═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝ PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 (c) Black Cat Software Factory 1992/3 TABLE OF CONTENTS ----------------- Copyright Notice and Disclaimer..............................page 3 Introduction.................................................page 4 Installing PANTHER...........................................page 8 Command Line Switches........................................page 14 Configuring PANTHER..........................................page 17 Running PANTHER..............................................page 35 The Dialling Directory.......................................page 37 File Transfer Protocols......................................page 54 Internal File Listing........................................page 58 Raw Logging..................................................page 61 Scrollback Buffer............................................page 63 Script Files.................................................page 64 Keystroke Macros.............................................page 84 Auto Dialler.................................................page 90 Terminal Mode................................................page 99 Ancillary Files..............................................page 102 About PANTHER................................................page 105 Appendix One - Troubleshooting...............................page 106 Appendix Two - Error Messages................................page 110 Appendix Three - Glossary....................................page 123 Appendix Four - Acknowledgements.............................page 127 Index........................................................page 129 PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 2 COPYRIGHT NOTICE AND DISCLAIMER PANTHER (formerly known as COSWORTH) is not "public domain" software. It is distributed as "freeware", whose meaning is that although no charge is made by The Black Cat Software Factory (formerly Opus Programs) for this present version, sole and exclusive copyright and ownership of PANTHER is retained by The Black Cat Software Factory. The Black Cat Software Factory grants you, without charge, the right to reproduce, distribute and use this version of PANTHER on the express condition that you do not receive any payment, commercial benefit or other consideration for any such act, and that the wording of this copyright notice and disclaimer is not changed in any way within the documentation, software or magnetic media. This product is licensed 'as is' without any warranty of fitness for a particular purpose, performance or otherwise. All warranties are expressly disclaimed. By using PANTHER you agree that neither The Black Cat Software Factory nor any related parties will be liable to you or any third party for any use of (or inability to use) or performance of this product, any damages whatsoever incurred by the use of this product OR ANY FINANCIAL LIABILITY INCURRED BY THE USE OF THIS PRODUCT, even if such possibilities are mentioned in advance. In particular, we wish to draw your attention to the Auto Dialler procedure found within PANTHER. This process allows the unattended dialling and connection by telephone line communication to a remote system or computer. This facility is employed entirely at the users own risk and The Black Cat Software Factory will neither incur nor bear nor sustain any financial damages or limitations of any nature as a result. The rights to modify PANTHER or employ its component parts in any other work are exclusively retained by The Black Cat Software Factory. You may not reverse-engineer, disassemble, modify, decompile or create derivative works of this product. You also acknowledge that PANTHER remains the intellectual property of The Black Cat Software Factory. By using PANTHER you give your express agreement to the above copyright and disclaimer notice. PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 3 INTRODUCTION ------------ Thank you for using PANTHER Communications Software. PANTHER is a multi-featured communications software package containing many features common to a number of other comms applications, together with a number of additional features which are, as far as we know, unique! It was really written because I couldn't find another comms package that had all the features in it I wanted. This being the case, it has been written by users FOR users. It is hoped that this fact comes through in the software. The main features of PANTHER are; - PANTHER is issued as FREEWARE. No payment is expected to be made by anyone using the software. As far as we are aware, this is a first for comms software of any substance. - It directly supports connections through Mercury Communications. - Has a full featured yet simple script language which is read from standard ASCII text files created on just about any text editor. In addition, script files can be automatically 'learned' by PANTHER itself. Even if your script file 'goes wrong', a 'smart script' feature will automatically attempt to correct the situation! The script language includes sounds control IF..THEN..ELSE..ENDIFF, WHILE..WEND and REPEAT..UNTIL conditional clauses, GOTO..LABEL structures, the ability to run *any* DOS command or program, unconditional script halting, warning boxes, message boxes, log file messages, printer control, macro control (which gives the script the ability to control any aspect of PANTHER the user wishes it to have), the ability to link from one script file to another automatically, assorted emulations of internal DOS commands and assorted functions to be used in conjunction with the conditional aspects of the language including question boxes, tests for time of day or day of the week, file presence/absence, screen contents and present macro execution. There is also a script 'tracing' facility allowing you to monitor script file activity and debug script files. - Internal protocols; Xmodem/XmodemCRC, Xmodem1K, Xmodem1KG, Ymodem, YmodemG and Zmodem. (including automatic downloads) - Internal protocols automatically rename incoming files where appropriate in order to avoid overwriting existing files. - Has an 'Auto Dialler' facility which allows unattended dialling using a built-in timer, together with a number of 'safety features' which ensure that you aren't on line any longer than you wish. PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 4 - Up to twenty user-defined keystroke macros featuring control, arrow, function and ALT+ key emulations, delays and the ability to run a specific macro from the command line. - Machine independent timing. - Scroll back buffer which automatically adjusts to the amount of memory available as well as the ability to automatically dump the buffer to disk after each session. - Internal file lists for automatic transmission - Complete IEMSI support including an internal IEMSI packet editor. (IEMSI is an automated logging on process supported by some BBS systems (like RemoteAccess) which allows you to log onto the system both automatically and very quickly. - Configurable serial ports with the ability to modify the address, IRQ line and interrupt number. - Colour screen snapshots and an internal snapshot viewer. - Intelligent timeslicing for running under any of Windows 3.x, DESQview 2.xx, DoubleDOS, VMiX 2.xx, MultiDos Plus 4.xx, DOS 5.0 Task Switcher, TaskView, TopView, OmniView, Windows NT (who?) and (of course) the one and only OS/2 2.x. - Support for the FIFO 16550A UART chip. - When executing an external program (either a DOS session or an external file transfer protocol program) then PANTHER will swap its code out to Expanded Memory, Extended Memory or Disk, allowing far more available memory for the child program. Typically, PANTHER leaves less that 5K of itself in conventional memory. - Configuration of up to nine external file transfer protocols, five dialling prefixes and up to one hundred entries in each dialling directory. - Full internal ANSI, Avatar and VT52 emulation. - A 'Raw logging' capture system which catches all characters received, together with four internal emulation viewers. - Automatic deletion of user-defined files once uploaded. - Automatic modem detection on serial port. - Supports a wide variety of baud rates from 300 up to 57600 baud. PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 5 - An easy to use installation program which creates all the necessary support files as well as specific Microsoft Windows 3 PIF files and icons. It also detects whether you are running JP Software's 4DOS and modifies the installation accordingly. It even writes out a batch file onto your PATH so you can run PANTHER from any directory! - Context-sensitive help. There are other features but you'll see them as you go along! HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS AND ADDITIONAL SET UP INFORMATION ------------------------------------------------------- In order to run PANTHER you will require an IBM PC, XT, AT, PS/2 or true compatible with a hard disk with at least 500K of free space. However, like other communications software systems, PANTHER gives you the ability to download files from remote systems and, as such, will almost certainly require more free storage space. When PANTHER executes an external program, either a DOS shell or an external protocol, it swaps itself out to EMS, XMS or disk (in that order) to allow more memory for the child process called. If there is no EMS or XMS then PANTHER will revert to dumping the memory contents of your PC out to disk and then reload it when the child process has been completed. If your PC only has floppy drives then you will almost certainly find that PANTHER will not be able to run external programs since there will be insufficient disk space to create the memory dump file. If PANTHER has to swap itself out to disk then it will attempt to place the swap file in the directory specified by the MSDOS environment variable TEMP. If this variable has not been declared then the swap file will be created in the root directory of the current disk. As a result, you *may* be able to get away with running PANTHER on a dual floppy drive with the TEMP variable pointing to the second disk drive, although any program executions will necessarily be very slow due to the greatly reduced access speeds on floppy drives. However, the authors do not regard this as a major drawback as disk space must already be available for a file download. For this reason, it is recommended that PANTHER is run from a hard disk. PANTHER also requires a machine with *at least* 525K RAM after DOS has been loaded. It is realised that this memory usage is on the high side but so much functionality is packed into the software that it uses all the memory it can get. To achieve this level of free memory it may be necessary to use a version of MS-DOS. PC-DOS or DR-DOS later than version 5.0. Alternatively, PANTHER can also be run under versions of OS/2 greater than 2.0 which can offer even more free memory than plain DOS. (In point of fact, PANTHER was developed under OS/2 2.0) PANTHER supports up to a maximum of four serial ports (COM1, COM2, COM3 and COM4), as many disk drives as you can fit to your machine and a parallel printer. PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 6 You will also require a modem with certain capabilities. The modem must not operate with a forced (high) Carrier Detect signal and must not override or ignore the Data Terminal Ready signal either. Baud rates between 300 baud to 57600 baud are supported. ASSISTANCE ---------- If you require any assistance in using PANTHER then contact ALMAC bulletin board in Scotland on 0324-665371 (Running PC Board BBS software, up to 14400 baud, 8-N-1, 24 hours a day) where I can be found regularly. I may also be contacted on the Ilink International Echomail system in the TECH or SHAREWARE conferences or through Usenet on mike.dickson@almac.co.uk Any suggestions for future versions of the software will be gratefully received. I hope you enjoy using PANTHER. Mike Dickson Black Cat Software Factory mike.dickson@almac.co.uk PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 7 INSTALLING PANTHER ------------------ ╔═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗ ║ NOTE - PANTHER is a revised version of an existing ║ ║ communications software package formerly called COSWORTH. If ║ ║ you are a COSWORTH user then to install PANTHER simply rename ║ ║ all your COSWORTH.* files to PANTHER.* and then follow the ║ ║ instructions for existing PANTHER users. ║ ╚═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝ When you receive PANTHER it is most likely that you have either obtained it from a friend or have downloaded it from a Bulletin Board (using inferior comms software, of course!) in a compressed archive format. It's assumed that you have unpacked this archive file by now (after all, how else would you be reading this?) and have the following files; PANTHER.EXE - The main program PANTHER.DOC - This file INSTALL.EXE - The PANTHER installation program READ.ME - Installation information NOTE FOR EXISTING USERS OF PANTHER ONLY --------------------------------------- All you have to do is copy the PANTHER.EXE file over your existing one and start up the program. PANTHER will handle all file format changes and so on, automatically. Default settings will be made for the additional features found in the configuration menus. You can change these settings as normal. As easy as that! NOTES FOR NEW USERS OF PANTHER ONLY ----------------------------------- You will not be able to run PANTHER without first running INSTALL.EXE. If you try this, be prepared to experience some interesting error messages! INSTALL asks you some simple questions about your telephone service, your modem and your computer and will detect a few things about your hardware. It will then write out all the files that PANTHER requires into the appropriate subdirectories. PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 8 Installation of PANTHER is entirely automated. To install, first create a subdirectory in which you wish to store PANTHER. (We use and recommend \PANTHER off the root directory but you could put it anywhere!) The DOS command to do this is MD \PANTHER Then, copy all the above files into that directory with COPY *.* \PANTHER and then change to that directory with CD \PANTHER. Now that you are 'in' the PANTHER directory, run INSTALL. THE INSTALLATION PROGRAM ------------------------ The first thing that appears is a text window telling you what is about to happen... ╔═════╣ PANTHER version 2.00 (c) Black Cat Software Factory 1992/3 ╠═════╗ ║ ║ ║ WELCOME TO THE PANTHER INSTALLATION SERVICE! ║ ║ ║ ║ This program will request you to enter the DOS directories that ║ ║ PANTHER will use, as well as some basic information regarding ║ ║ your telephone service. It will create any directories you ║ ║ specify that do not already exist and will create some example ║ ║ files in the process. It will also create a batch file called ║ ║ PANTHER.BTM which will be placed into a directory you specify ║ ║ on your DOS PATH and which will allow PANTHER to be run from any ║ ║ directory. This program will neither examine nor modify your ║ ║ CONFIG.SYS system file. ║ ║ ║ ║ It is assumed that you have unpacked the PANTHER archive file ║ ║ to the current directory in its entirety. If not, press ESC and ║ ║ rectify the situation now, otherwise press any other key to proceed. ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ ╚═══════════════════════╣ ESC ABORTS INSTALLATION ╠═══════════════════════╝ PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 9 Notice the bit about PANTHER 'neither examining nor modifying your CONFIG.SYS system file.' It's important to realise that this is a well-behaved installation program which doesn't go tampering with things it really ought to leave well alone. However, a recommendation is to include AT LEAST 20 file handles in your CONFIG.SYS file with the directive FILES=20 at some point within it. Any fewer than this and PANTHER may experience problems opening all file handles it requires. If you don't have this line (at least) in your CONFIG.SYS then it's a good idea to include it anyway. To proceed to the next screen, press any key. You will then find a box inviting you to input the target directories for the installation; the main directory where PANTHER will reside and a further directory where a DOS batch file to launch PANTHER will be placed. The former defaults to the current directory whereas the latter defaults to the first directory found in your DOS %PATH environment variable. ╔══════════════════════╣ PANTHER Installation ╠═══════════════════════╗ ║ ║ ║ Please specify the directories for this installation of PANTHER ║ ║ ║ ║ MAIN DIRECTORY C:\BORLAND\SOURCE\PANTHER\INSTALL......... ║ ║ BATCH FILE DIRECTORY C:\BATCH.................................. ║ ║ ║ ║ This is where the main PANTHER program will be stored ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ ╚══════════════╣ F10 TO SAVE, ESC ABORTS INSTALLATION ╠═══════════════╝ Alter or confirm the directories as appropriate. If they don't exist then PANTHER will create them for you. Pressing F10 to confirm takes you onto the next screen. This screen asks you to enter the names of all the DOS directories where PANTHER will store and look for files... ╔══════════════════════╣ PANTHER Installation ╠══════════════════════╗ ║ ║ ║ Please specify the directories for installation of PANTHER ║ ║ ║ ║ MAIN DIRECTORY C:\PANTHER ║ ║ BATCH DIRECTORY C:\BATCH ║ ║ UPLOAD DIRECTORY C:\PANTHER\UPLOAD.......................... ║ ║ DOWNLOAD DIRECTORY C:\PANTHER\DOWNLOAD........................ ║ ║ SCRIPT DIRECTORY C:\PANTHER\SCRIPTS......................... ║ ║ PROTOCOL DIRECTORY C:\PANTHER\PROTOCOL........................ ║ ║ ║ ║ This is where file uploads will be made from ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ ╚══════════════╣ F10 TO SAVE, ESC ABORTS INSTALLATION ╠══════════════╝ PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 10 You can move the highlight bar up and down using the arrow keys and can edit the names of the directories as you wish. The entries are already filled in with default values and we recommend you do not change them unless you have good reason to. The entries for the MAIN and BATCH DIRECTORY will reflect the previous choices and cannot be changed. Once you are happy with the directories, press F10 to continue. ESC aborts the installation process completely. If you press F10 then up comes the next screen... ╔════════════════════════╣ PANTHER Installation ╠════════════════════════╗ ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ What is the fastest baud rate your modem supports? ║ ║ 300 1200 2400 4800 9600 14400 19200 38400 57600 ║ ║ Does your exchange support tone or pulse dialling? Tone Pulse ║ ║ What serial port is your modem connected to? COM1 COM2 COM3 COM4 ║ ║ What's your name? JOE BLOGGS....................................... ║ ║ Are you a Mercury subscriber? YES NO ║ ║ Enter your Mercury code 131,1234567890...... ║ ║ (with prefix - eg 131,1234567890) ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ ╚═══════════════════════╣ ESC ABORTS INSTALLATION ╠══════════════════════╝ The questions will appear one at a time from the top of the screen, as you answer them. The first three are of a 'multiple choice' variety and require you to choose one of the responses on the screen by moving the highlight block along the screen with the left or right arrow keys. The fastest baud rate your modem supports will be given in your modem's manual. If you are unsure whether you have tone or pulse dialling, choose pulse. (Tone dialling plays 'notes' for every number you dial on your telephone) You'll need to enter your name in order to let PANTHER use it in its script files (more of which later!) If you subscribe to Mercury Communications then you can set up PANTHER to use the cheaper Mercury connections. In order to connect with Mercury, you'll have to let PANTHER know what your authorisation number is. Enter it in this box. You'll also have to enter the preceding code (which is 131 at the time of writing) and maybe a separating comma (,) to pause the modem prior to sending out your personal code. If you don't subscribe to Mercury then enter 'N' at the 'Are you a Mercury subscriber? (Y/N)' prompt. PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 11 Once you have completed all these questions, INSTALL will go ahead and create all the directories (if it has to) and files that you have specified and that it requires. If INSTALL encounters any problems then it will abort with an error message, telling you which action to take. Once INSTALL has run its course it will flash up a small message advising you as to what has happened. INSTALL will create the following files (following on from our sample default directory structure)... DOWNLOAD - The directory into which files will be received. UPLOAD - The directory from which files will be sent. PROTOCOL - The directory where you will put your external protocol programs. SCRIPTS - The directory where your script files are stored and read from. PANTHER.ICO - PANTHER icon for Microsoft Windows PANAUTO.ICO - PANTHER Auto Dialler icon for Microsoft Windows PANTHER.EA - OS/2 2.0 Extended attributes for PANTHER PANTHER.PIF - PANTHER Program Information File for Microsoft Windows PT-PIF.DVP - PANTHER Program Information File for DESQview PANTHER.CFG - PANTHER configuration file PANTHER.CAP - PANTHER capture file PANTHER.ERF - PANTHER error file PANTHER.LOG - PANTHER log file PANTHER.MAC - PANTHER macro file PANTHER.PHN - PANTHER dialling directory PANTHER.PTL - PANTHER protocol definition PANTHER.SNP - PANTHER snapshot file PANTHER.IEM - IEMSI session packet definitions The SCRIPT directory will contain the following files... ALMAC.SPT - PANTHER script for Almac BBS EAZIHOST.SPT - PANTHER script for Eazihost BBS's MISSPOSS.SPT - PANTHER script for Mission Impossible OPUS.SPT - PANTHER script for Opus BBS's PC-BOARD.SPT - PANTHER script for PC-Board BBS's REMOTEAC.SPT - PANTHER script for Remote Access BBS's PISTON.SPT - PANTHER script for Piston Poppers BBS BLUELBL.SPT - PANTHER script for Blue Label BBS INSTALL will also write out a DOS batch file into the specified BATCH directory called PANTHER.BAT which will allow you to run PANTHER from any directory on your disk. PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 12 One thing that INSTALL will *not* do is alter your DOS set up in any way. However, one way that you can ensure PATHER will run from any part of your computer is to do the following; - place the main PANTHER directory into your DOS search PATH - set up an environment variable %PANTHER to reflect the main program directory. These could be achieved by the following example statements - PATH=C:\DOS;C:\UTILS....;C:\PANTHER SET PANTHER=C:\PANTHER INSTALL will also detect whether you are running JP Software's excellent 4DOS and will DESCRIBE (a 4DOS command) all the files and directories it creates, as well as writing out PANTHER.BTM instead of PANTHER.BAT. The contents of the batch files are as follows... PANTHER.BAT (for MS-DOS) @Echo Off REM Batch file to launch PANTHER CD C:\PANTHER PANTHER.EXE /NOCHECKING %1 %2 %3 %4 %5 PANTHER.BTM (for 4DOS) @Echo Off REM Batch file to launch PANTHER PushD Cdd C:\PANTHER PANTHER.EXE /NOCHECKING %1 %2 %3 %4 %5 PopD And that's it! From now on, just run PANTHER followed by any command line arguments you need from the DOS command line and you're away! PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 13 COMMAND LINE SWITCHES FOR STARTING UP PANTHER --------------------------------------------- There are several command line switches which can be used in starting up PANTHER. These are; HELP or ? - Show a brief listing of the switches available. AUTO <=FileName> - Invoke Auto Dialling facility straight away without running through menus. You may wish to use this switch if you are planning on Auto Dialling more than 24 hours in advance and are using a time switch or other software to do so, or if you wish to Auto Dial over several control files. The argument <=FileName> is used to cause PANTHER to Auto Dial using whatever Auto Dialler Control File is specified. The '.AUT' extension is optional. If the file name is not specified then the file PANTHER.AUT is used. For example, to Auto Dial from the command line using the LONGDIST.PHN Dialling Directory you would use the command line PANTHER AUTO=LONGDIST DIR <=FileName> - Cause PANTHER to start up using an alternative dialling directory to the default PANTHER.PHN. The '.PHN' extension is optional. For example, to start up PANTHER to use the LOCAL.PHN Dialling Directory you would use the command line PANTHER DIR=LOCAL NOCHECKING - Disables checking for presence of modem on port prior to its use. When entering Auto Dialler, Terminal Mode or when commencing dialling from a directory, PANTHER checks to see if there is a working modem on the port in question. If it cannot detect one then an error is issued. The method PANTHER uses to detect the modem may not be compatible with older modems and is noticed not to be completely reliable when running PANTHER under Microsoft Windows. If you experience difficulties in this, try starting up PANTHER with PANTHER NOCHECKING PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 14 FILE=FileName - Automatically read in a file listing from the specified ASCII file. (See the section of this manual on using file lists for more details) For example, if your file listing is called MYFILES.DAT then start up PANTHER with PANTHER FILE=MYFILES.DAT MACRO=Number - Start up PANTHER with a macro, thereby allowing entire sessions to be automated without any need for other involvement. The number specified would refer to a defined macro in the macro editor and would be between 1 and 20. (See the section on macros for more information on this useful feature) For example, to start up PANTHER using the keystrokes featured in the fifth macro specified in the macro editor (ALT-F5, in this case) then start up PANTHER with PANTHER MACRO=5 KEYS=<Keys> Instead of using up a macro 'slot' for the sake of a start up macro, you can define the start up macro on the command line itself using this parameter. The <Keys> can be defined as could any macro, using any of the macro tokens like <DOWN> or <QUIT>, any of the control characters like ^[ or ^M and any other text you like. The only condition here is that you *cannot* use a space in the <Keys> since that would split the parameter itself. Note also that a macro defined in this way will override any previous KEYS or MACRO parameters. NOCARRIERCHECK - Prevents PANTHER from checking for a carrier signal on your selected port on starting up. We really don't advise you to use this switch unless you are absolutely certain that your modem works perfectly with PANTHER, even though it has a high carrier signal by default. DIAG - Create a diagnostic dump file called PANTHER.DIA for internal use by Black Cat Software Factory in sorting any problems you may have with PANTHER. If you wish to report any problems then it may be useful for you to include this file for the developer's information. Although these switches can be used in combination without a problem, it makes no sense to start up PANTHER with both the AUTO and DIR switches as PANTHER will immediately exit back to the operating system on completion of the command line Auto Dialler sequence. Any of the above parameters can be truncated to its first four or more initial characters. PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 15 EXIT CODES ---------- When exiting, PANTHER will leave a DOS ERRORLEVEL of 1 if a fatal error caused PANTHER to terminate, otherwise a nominal ERRORLEVEL of zero is left. PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 16 CONFIGURING PANTHER ------------------- PANTHER has been designed to allow the user to configure it in the way that best suits his or her needs. Configuration is completely automated and is controlled though the Configuration entry in the main menu. THE PANTHER CONFIGURATION FILE ------------------------------ The way in which you use and have set up PANTHER is saved into a configuration file called PANTHER.CFG which MUST reside in the main program directory. Obviously, this file is very important. If it gets lost or corrupted then PANTHER will have no way of knowing how you want it to work. To this end, certain protection measures have been built into PANTHER to ensure that a configuration file is always at hand. When PANTHER starts up, the first thing it does is read in the configuration file. If it cannot find PANTHER.CFG on the main program path, or if it is the wrong size (implying that it has become corrupted) then it generates an error message and creates a configuration file out of defaults. NOTE - these are NOT the defaults you specify in the configuration (obviously!) since they have been lost. PANTHER will then inform you of what it has done and will then launch you straight into the configuration menu to change the settings to those which you prefer. Quitting from the configuration menu will automatically save the PANTHER.CFG file (only under these circumstances) and will put you back into PANTHER as normal. If PANTHER finds that the configuration file is the right size, but that it cannot find PANTHER.EXE on the path defined as the 'program path' (see below) then it generates another error message and again launches you into the configuration menu. This time, since the file is the right length, it uses the settings it has found, thereby saving you from re-entering them all again. (The failure to detect PANTHER.EXE may be attributed to third party DOS software which allows you to rename directories. If you rename the main PANTHER program directory then you'll get this kind of error.) However, this kind of error is rare. You'll probably find that PANTHER reads the configuration file every time, but these safeguards are there 'just in case'! Now who says that programmers don't care? (Okay, okay, hands down...) PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 17 HOW TO CONFIGURE PANTHER ------------------------ PANTHER has been designed to allow the user to configure it in the way that best suits his or her needs. Configuration is completely automated and is controlled though the Configuration entry in the main menu. Selecting this brings up a further sub menu which looks like this; ┌────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ CONFIGURATION MENU │ │ Select Choice or ESC to Quit │ │ │ │ >F1 Select Serial Port │ │ F2 Modem Strings │ │ F3 Colours │ │ F4 Protocols │ │ F5 Paths │ │ F6 Program Settings │ │ F7 Directory Defaults │ │ F8 Edit IEMSI Session Packets │ │ F9 Save Configuration │ │ F10 EXIT │ │ │ └────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Each choice can be selected by either pressing the associated function key or by moving the scroll bar up and down using either the arrow keys, mouse or space bar and then pressing enter over the required choice. We'll examine each of these choices in turn. PORT ---- This brings up yet another scrolling menu which offers you the choice of which port to use. ┌──────────────────────────────────┐ │ Set Serial Port │ │ │ │ Use serial port COM1 │ │ Use serial port COM2 │ │ Use serial port COM3 │ │ Use serial port COM4 │ │ Set Up Serial Ports │ │ │ └──────────────────────────────────┘ Note that there is no need to run any program prior to PANTHER to locate the addresses of ports COM3 and COM4 in your machines memory - PANTHER does this for you automatically. PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 18 The final choice in this menu allows you to modify the way PANTHER interacts with your hardware by altering the addresses, IRQ lines and interrupt vector for each of your ports through the following table; ┌─────────────┤ F10 TO SAVE ENTRIES, ESC TO ABORT ├─────────────┐ │ COM1 Address 03F8 IRQ Line No 4. Interrupt No 12 │ │ COM2 Address 02F8 IRQ Line No 3. Interrupt No 11 │ │ COM3 Address 03E8 IRQ Line No 4. Interrupt No 12 │ │ COM4 Address 02E8 IRQ Line No 3. Interrupt No 11 │ └───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ We will *not* discuss what these settings do since we would not wish to encourage those who do not know what they are to tamper with these settings. Suffice to say that only those who know what they are doing should mess with these since we cannot guarantee PANTHER will work if you alter them and neither will we guarantee what will happen to your machine should you alter the addresses or IRQ's to some critical points. PANTHER ought to work on 99% of machines with the default settings and there ought to be no need to alter these numbers. MODEM STRINGS ------------- This brings up a larger screen which invites you to enter the strings which control the use of your modem. Some modem control strings will require the use of a terminating return character or other control characters. This is difficult to enter in a data entry format like that which PANTHER uses, so a '#' character is used in place of a return character. Once you save the modem strings then the character is interpreted and, if you re-examine the strings, you will see that the '#' characters are replaced by the 'musical note' character, being ASCII 13 - the return character. To insert control characters into your modem strings use the caret notation. For example, ^M is interpreted as CTRL-M, which would insert a return character. To insert a caret into your strings use two carets together, as in ^^. Some of the more familiar control characters are ^M CR Carriage Return ^J LF Line Feed ^L FF Form Feed ^[ ESC Escape PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 19 The illustration below gives some examples. ┌───────────────────┤ ENTER MODEM CONTROL STRINGS ├────────────────────┐ │ RESET ATZ^M............................................. │ │ INITIALISATION AT S7=60 S0=0 V1 X3^M............................. │ │ HANG UP ~~~+++~~~AT H0^M.................................. │ │ MODEM OK OK............. MODEM ERROR ERROR.......... │ │ PREFIX 1 ATDT.............................................. │ │ PREFIX 2 AT&M0DT........................................... │ │ PREFIX 3 ATB0DT............................................ │ │ PREFIX 4 AT&N3DT........................................... │ │ PREFIX 5 .................................................. │ │ BUSY STRINGS NO CARRIER, BUSY, RINGING......................... │ │ PORT LOCKED? N │ │ │ │ CONNECT 300 CONNECT^M...... CONNECT 1200 CONNECT 1200... │ │ CONNECT 2400 CONNECT 2400... CONNECT 4800 CONNECT 4800... │ │ CONNECT 7200 CONNECT 7200... CONNECT 9600 CONNECT 9600... │ │ CONNECT 12000 CONNECT 12000.. CONNECT 14400 CONNECT 14400.. │ │ CONNECT 19200 CONNECT 19200.. CONNECT 38400 CONNECT 38400.. │ │ CONNECT 57600 CONNECT 57600.. │ │ │ │ MERCURY PREFIX 131,1234567890.................................... │ └─────────────────┤ F1 HELP, F10 ACCEPTS, ESC ABORTS ├─────────────────┘ For the exact strings required by your particular modem, consult your modem manual. The installation program will fill this table out with default values, but they may not be suitable for your modem. Please check them prior to attempting to dial out using PANTHER! If you need further help then pressing F1 will bring up a help screen summarising the meanings of the individual strings. The modem control strings above are specified as; RESET - This string is sent to your modem when first starting to dial or when starting up in terminal mode, resetting your modem back to it's default settings. Notice that this string (in the above case) is terminated with the interpreted '#' for a return character. INITIALISATION - This is sent to your modem AFTER the RESET string has been received. It is generally used for initialising various 'S' registers in your modem, the verbal or numeric result codes and the result code options, although it can contain any other modem controls you wish. Notice that this string (in the above case) is terminated with the interpreted '^M' for a return character. PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 20 HANG UP - This is the string that PANTHER will fire at your modem to make it hang up and drop the carrier. However, before doing so, PANTHER will always attempt to hang up by a faster method; it will attempt to lower (that is, turn off) the DTR bit on the selected serial port. This usually drops the lines with most modems. If this fails, however, the HANG UP string will be sent (up to ten times, if necessary!) to drop the line. If this also fails then an error is produced. MODEM OK - This is the string that will be returned by your modem on successful completion of the last command sent. On most Hayes-compatible modems this string will simply be 'OK' but it is best to check with your manufacturer's manual first. Note that you *must* enter something in this field - you cannot just leave it blank. This is to ensure that all commands sent to your modem from the dialling directory are being processed properly. MODEM ERROR - This is the string that will be returned by your modem on UNSUCCESSFUL completion of the last command sent. On most Hayes-compatible modems this string will simply be 'ERROR' but it is best to check with your manufacturer's manual first. Note that you *must* enter something in this field - you cannot just leave it blank. This is to ensure that all commands sent to your modem from the dialling directory are being processed properly. PREFIX 1..5 - These are the dialling prefixes which are sent prior to the telephone number selected in the dialling directory. For instance, in the above example, PREFIX 1 is set to 'ATDT' which will enable tone dialling. Five prefixes are permitted in all, allowing you different configurations for connecting to systems with a wide variety of specifications, without having to reconfigure PANTHER each time. BUSY STRINGS - These are the strings returned by your modem should a connection fail to be made at all. They ought to be entered in the above table separated by commas. PORT LOCKED? - If you specify 'Y' to PORT LOCKED? then your modem will not renegotiate the baud rate returned by the incoming connect string. If you specify 'N' then your modem will be reinitialised to the actual connect speed. You ought to select 'Y' to this option if your modem is either working at high speed (ie, over or equal to 9600 baud), is error correcting or supports MNP error correction. Otherwise, select 'N'. PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 21 CONNECT 300 - These are the strings that your modem returns on CONNECT 1200 making a successful connection. They may vary from CONNECT 2400 modem to modem, but generally ought to be similar to CONNECT 4800 those entered by the installation program. Notice that CONNECT 7200 the 'standard' connect string for 300 baud is just CONNECT 9600 'CONNECT'. Since every connect string is likely to CONNECT 12000 contain this word, care should be taken to ensure that CONNECT 14400 the 300 baud string is terminated with a return CONNECT 19200 character (either # or ^M) in order to prevent all CONNECT 38400 connections from being recognised as being at 300 baud. CONNECT 57600 MERCURY PREFIX - If you are a subscriber to Mercury Communications then you can force a Mercury connection by preceding the telephone number entry in the dialling directory with an 'M'. In order to connect with Mercury, you'll have to let PANTHER know what your authorisation number is. Enter it in this box. You'll also have to enter the preceding code (which is 131 at the time of writing) and maybe a separating comma (,) to pause the modem prior to sending out your personal code. To edit an entry, move the highlight bar down to it and type in what you wish. If the first character you press is a letter or number key, then the entry will be erased and you can re-enter the whole string. If you don't wish to retain the entry then press the up or down arrow keys and the original string will reappear, otherwise, press [RETURN] to 'keep' your modifications to each string. Once you are satisfied with your entries, press F10 to keep them. Pressing ESCape aborts the editing procedure, although you will be asked to confirm that you want to abort. PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 22 COLOURS ------- You are free to change the colours in PANTHER to suit your tastes., After all, you might not like our choice! The colour configuration menu looks like this; ┌─This is a menu──────────────────────┐ SELECT ITEM TO ALTER │ This is the header colour │ ┌────────────────────────────────────┐ │ F1 This is an unselected choice │ │ A - Main Menu Foreground │ │ F2 This is a selected choice │ │ B - Main Menu Background │ │ F3 This is an unselected choice │ │ C - Main Menu Border │ │ F4 This is an unselected choice │ │ D - Main Menu Emphasised │ │ This is emphasised text │ │ E - Hot Key Menu Initial │ │ Hot Keys Menu │ │ F - Hot Key Menu Text │ │ Field Prompt Field Input......... │ │ G - Field Prompt Text │ └─────────────────────────────────────┘ │ H - Field Input Foreground │ ┌─This is a help screen───────────────┐ │ I - Field Input Background │ │ This is the help screen text │ │ J - Main Menu Header Message │ │ This is a help screen message │ │ K - Bar/Error Message Foreground │ │ This is a help screen instruction │ │ L - Bar/Error Message Background │ └─────────────────────────────────────┘ │ M - Advisory Message Foreground │ ┌─This is a directory─────────────────┐ │ N - Advisory Message Background │ │ SCRIPTS <DIR> 20:8:91 12:48p │ │ O - Help Screen Foreground │ │ PANTHER.EXE 73546 20:9:91 5:23a │ │ P - Help Screen Background │ │ PANTHER.CFG 1358 23:9:91 9:14p │ │ Q - Directory Border Foreground │ │ PANTHER.SNP 13776 24:9:91 2:34a │ │ R - Directory Border Background │ └─────────────────────────────────────┘ │ S - Style of Menu Borders │ This is an advisory message └────────────────────────────────────┘ This is an error message ESC Abort : F1 Help : F2 Restore : F3 Colour : F4 Mono : F10 Save The menu on the RIGHT controls which attributes to change. Selecting any but the last entry brings up a (coloured) list of colours for you to choose from. Select the colour you wish and the dummy menus on the LEFT will be updated to reflect that choice. The last 'Style of Menu Borders' menu selection will call up four different box styles for you to choose from. Pressing F2 will restore the altered colours to those which you started off with (just in case you get carried away!), F3 will reset the colours to the COLOUR default and F4 will reset them to the MONOCHROME defaults. F10 saves the colour set up and ESC aborts, with confirmation. PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 23 PROTOCOLS --------- Selecting this option brings up the main protocol menu. Move the scroll bar up and down the menu using the arrow keys, space bar or mouse and either select the required protocol to edit using the return key or abort the process by pressing ESC. Selecting the entry at the end of the menu will append a new protocol definition to the end of the menu. You can have up to 15 protocol definitions at any one time (including the internal protocols which for obvious reasons aren't shown in the protocol edit menu!) which ought to be more than enough for most people! ┌─────────────────────────┐ │ Protocol Edit Menu │ │ │ │ >X - Xmodem CheckSum │ │ C - Xmodem - CRC │ │ Y - Ymodem │ │ Z - Zmodem │ │ H - HyperProtocol │ │ G - GSZ Zmodem │ │ J - JModem │ │ M - MPT (Puma) │ │ NEW PROTOCOL ENTRY │ │ │ └─────────────────────────┘ In the above example, lets assume you have selected Xmodem Checksum and wish to edit the settings for that external protocol. You will then be presented with the protocol configuration menu which looks like this; ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │Hotkey : X │ │Protocol Name : Xmodem Checksum │ │Upload Command : xmod.com port *comport speed *baud sx *fname................│ │Download Command: xmod.com port *comport speed *baud rx *fname................│ └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ You can move about the fields using the arrow keys, mouse or return key. The meanings of each field are as follows; HotKey - This is the character which will appear on the left of the protocol menu when it is called up. (as in the example above) You can quickly select to use this protocol by simply pressing the hot key rather than moving the scroll bar about. Protocol Name - This is the name of the protocol (not necessarily the name of the protocol file - it can be anything you like) as it will appear in the dialling directory information box. PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 24 Upload/Download Command - These are the full DOS commands to start uploading or downloading files using this particular protocol. The command MUST start with the file's name (just as if starting it from DOS) and can then take any arguments it requires. Note that the file name must include the .EXE or .COM extension. The protocol menu will NOT allow you to save upload and download commands lines unless the actual protocol program exists within the protocol menu! In order to assist you in setting up the protocols menu, and to accommodate any configurational changes to PANTHER, there are four PANTHER system variables which you can include in the command line; *COMPORT - This returns the current serial port being used. For example, if you are set up to use COM1 then *COMPORT will return "1" *BAUD - This returns the current baud rate that the connection is at. If connected at 2400 baud then *BAUD will return "2400". *LINESPEED - This will return the actual speed of the connection, irrespective of the baud rate that the port is set at. This may be useful in circumstances where a protocol will return an accurate estimate of the transfer time but where the port is set to a higher rate than the connection speed. *FNAME - This is the name of the file(s) you are uploading or downloading. *PATH - This is the path from which either files are being uploaded from or downloaded into, depending upon which (uploading or downloading) you are currently doing. For further advice in setting up your protocols, refer to your protocol's documentation. One of the most popular file transfer protocol programs is Omen Technology's DSZ. As an example, here are the settings we recommend you use for Zmodem, Ymodem and Ymodem-g. (NB - your copy of DSZ may be called dsz.exe!) ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │Hotkey : Z │ │Protocol Name : Zmodem......... │ │Upload Command : dsz.com port *comport speed *baud p sz *fname...............│ │Download Command: dsz.com port *comport speed *baud p rz -mr *path............│ └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 25 ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │Hotkey : Y │ │Protocol Name : Ymodem......... │ │Upload Command : dsz.com port *comport speed *baud sb *fname.................│ │Download Command: dsz.com port *comport speed *baud rb *path..................│ └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │Hotkey : G │ │Protocol Name : Ymodem-g....... │ │Upload Command : dsz.com port *comport speed *baud sb -k *fname..............│ │Download Command: dsz.com port *comport speed *baud rb -g *path...............│ └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ PATHS ----- Select this option to set up the file paths to the various files which are required by PANTHER. A menu will appear in the centre of the screen showing your current file path settings. ┌─────────────────────┤ ENTER DIRECTORY PATHS ├─────────────────────┐ │ PROGRAM PATH C:\PANTHER\....................................... │ │ UPLOAD PATH C:\PANTHER\UPLOAD................................. │ │ DOWNLOAD PATH C:\PANTHER\DOWNLOAD............................... │ │ PROTOCOL PATH C:\PANTHER\PROTOCOL\.............................. │ │ SCRIPT PATH C:\PANTHER\SCRIPTS\............................... │ └───────────────────┤ F10 TO ACCEPT, ESC ABORTS ├───────────────────┘ Move between the fields using the arrow keys, return character or tab key. The paths ought to be as follows; PROGRAM PATH - This is where PANTHER.EXE resides, along with all its support files. UPLOAD PATH - This is where files will uploaded from, by default. DOWNLOAD PATH - This is where files will downloaded into, by default. PROTOCOL PATH - This is where your external protocol programs reside, along with any support files that they require. SCRIPT PATH - This is (guess what?) where your script files are. If you leave the program path blank then it is assumed that PANTHER.EXE is in the current directory. Leaving any other field blank assumes that the file path lives directly 'off' the program path, in its 'default' name. The upload directory defaults to 'UPLOAD', the download directory defaults to 'DOWNLOAD', the protocols directory defaults to 'PROTOCOL' and the script file directory defaults to 'SCRIPTS'. Once you have entered the names to your satisfaction, press F10 to keep them, otherwise press ESC to abort the process. (with confirmation) PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 26 If any of the directories that you specify does not exist then PANTHER will create them accordingly, however, in the case of the protocol directory, ensure that the protocol programs themselves are physically in the directory before attempting to make any connection. If, when you press F10 to keep the settings, you have specified a non-existent program path (that is, if PANTHER cannot find its own EXE file in it!) then you will receive an error message and will be prompted to re-enter the program path name again. PROGRAM SETTINGS ---------------- This menu sets up some of the 'miscellaneous' settings used by other aspects of the program, most notably your script files. Calling this option brings up the following menu; ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ PROGRAM SETTINGS │ │ Select Choice or ESC to Quit │ │ │ │ >F1 Sound is ON │ │ F2 Log file is ON │ │ F3 Raw logging is OFF │ │ F4 Buffer dumping is OFF │ │ F5 Automatic Zmodem transfer is ON │ │ F6 Users Name │ │ F7 Auto Dialler Time Out │ │ F8 Define Mail Files │ │ F9 Default Script Timeout │ │ F10 Exit │ │ │ └──────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Move the highlighted scroll bar with the arrow keys, mouse or space bar and select the option you wish by pressing return, pressing the associated function key or by clicking the mouse once. Each option has a slightly different usage. Sound Toggle - Selecting this option 'toggles' the usage of sound (on connection to remote systems or on errors). The sound can either be set permanently on or permanently off. It can also be set to 'varying' which means that sound depends upon the time of day. Specifically, this setting enables sounds only between 9.00am and 5.00pm and disables it at all other times. For example, in the above illustration, if you were to press F1 then the menu entry would change to 'Sound VARIES' and pressing it again would make it 'Sound is OFF'. Pressing it once again would change it back to 'Sound is ON', and so on. PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 27 Log File Toggle - Selecting this option 'toggles' the usage of a detailed running log file of all connections made. (PANTHER.LOG, found in the main program directory) For example, in the above illustration, if you were to press F2 then the menu entry would change to 'Log file is OFF'. Pressing it once again would change it back to 'Log file is ON', and so on. Raw Logging Toggle - Like the log file toggle, this just selects whether or not sessions are 'raw logged'. Raw logging simply captures *all* incoming data from the port and saves it off to a file called either RAWLOG.TXT (for Teletype), RAWLOG.ANS (for ANSI), RAWLOG.AVT (for Avatar), or RAWLOG.V52 (for VT52) and which can be viewed through the raw log viewer from the main menu. Auto Zmodem Transfer - This toggles whether or not Zmodem downloads are triggered as soon as PANTHER detects a valid Zmodem string being sent to it from the remote system. Doing so will save you having to hit the PageDn key. I mean, how lazy can you get! Users Name - This one will simply ask you for your name! This is needed in order to allow script files to use the script variables *NAME, *FIRST and *LAST properly. Auto Dialler Time Out - You will be prompted to enter the time (in minutes) that the Auto Dialler will time out after if no data is received from the remote system, usually a sign that your script file has gone awry or that the remote system has hung. The value entered must be between 1 and 99, though anyone selecting anything like 99 minutes for an Auto Dialler time out needs to have a good talking to! Define Mail Files - One of the problems facing users of all kinds of PC Communications is the use of electronic mail. Mail can be read offline (thereby saving your phone bills) by downloading 'mailbags', replying to them using an offline mail editor, then uploading your replies to the remote system the next time you log on. The theory is that you then delete your replies and then edit the replies to the mailbag you have just downloaded. Great, eh? PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 28 Unfortunately, there is a problem; what if you forget to delete the uploaded replies from your upload directory. You will probably at some time forget what you have done and upload the same replies twice. Not all host systems have intelligent enough mail routines to detect whether you've already uploaded replies and will gaily sort them as if they were brand new, thereby duplicating all your messages, making you look a complete fool and incurring the wrath of the System Operator whose hard disk has to hold all this duplicated stuff. Okay, so what if it's only one or two messages? But what if it were a dozen? Or six hundred? More problems...but PANTHER comes to the rescue! If you select this option you will be presented with the following line; Enter file masks : *.REP FORTH*.*...................... You can then enter up to TEN file 'masks' (that is, filenames using the DOS wildcards '*' and '?', if you wish) which specify the file names of all your mailbag replies. The installation program puts in the above entries, where for example '*.REP' is the name of the reply mailbag generated by QWK compatible offline mailers. If you upload a file which falls into any of the (maximum of) ten file masks you specify, then you will receive a prompt asking you if you wish to delete the mailbag. Simply tell PANTHER that you wish the file to be deleted, and wave bye bye to duplicated, mail uploads forever more! Well...almost forever more. You will only receive the file deletion request IF YOU RECEIVE BACK A ZERO DOS 'ERRORLEVEL' FROM THE PROTOCOL PROGRAM DOING THE UPLOAD! If the protocol program returns anything other that a zero ERRORLEVEL then it generally means something went wrong somewhere along the line and the upload never took place. Fair enough? Almost. However, some protocol programs return non-zero ERRORLEVELs even when everything went fine! So you will *probably* not ever have duplicated mailbags again! Default Script Timeout - This will prompt you for the time (in seconds) that PANTHER will wait after waiting for a script file prompt specified by a script RECEIVE command. That is, if PANTHER is has got to this point in a script file... RECEIVE "This is a prompt!" PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 29 ...then it will allow a certain length of time to receive this prompt before timing the script file out (and aborting it and, if you are using it, dropping the carrier in Auto Dialler Mode). That length of time is the default script timeout. You can enter anything you like between 1 (which is probably just a tad too fast!) and 9999 seconds. Selecting EXIT from the main menus presents you with confirmation as to whether you wish to keep any of the changes you have made. You will then be taken back to the main configuration menu. DIRECTORY DEFAULTS ------------------ This menu will ask you for the default settings for your dialling directory entries. When you add a new dialling directory entry, it will be pre-filled out with the settings read from the directory defaults, thereby saving you having to type them all in, although you can obviously change them if you wish to. These are also the default values used to initialise the port when in PANTHER's Terminal Mode, although they can be overridden by issuing other commands from the terminal itself. The default entry table looks like this; ┌───────┤ ENTER DEFAULT DIRECTORY SETTINGS ├────────┐ │ │ │ BAUD 38400 │ │ PARITY None │ │ DATA BITS 8 │ │ STOP BITS 1 │ │ HANDSHAKING RTS/CTS │ │ PREFIX 1 │ │ TERMINAL ANSI │ │ PROTOCOL (I) Zmodem │ │ DIAL TIME 99 │ │ LOCAL ECHO NO │ │ LINE FEEDS NO │ │ DEST BS YES │ │ IEMSI NONE │ │ │ └──────────────────┤ ESC TO QUIT ├──────────────────┘ Enter baud : 300 1200 2400 4800 7200 9600 12000 14400 19200 38400 57600 PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 30 The current position is highlighted and the valid choices are at the foot of the screen. To change each setting, use the home, end, left and right arrow keys to move the highlight block on the lower (strip) menu and press return on the entry you wish to select. If you want to move to another entry in the upper (vertical) menu then use the up and down arrow keys until you reach the point you are after. Most selections are presented as either multiple choice (as in the BAUD example above) or as Yes/No choices (for example, in the LOCAL ECHO) entry. If you wish to alter the default protocol to be used then select YES from the 'Change Protocol? (Y/N)' prompt and you will be presented with the protocol menu, allowing you to select the default protocol from all those installed into PANTHER. For explicit descriptions of the meanings of all these fields, please consult the documentation regarding the dialling directory itself. EDIT IEMSI SESSION PACKETS -------------------------- Couched in its simplest terms, IEMSI offers you the opportunity of logging onto some BBS systems (like RemoteAccess) without having to go through several initial screens. By logging on with an IEMSI session enabled for these systems your log-on will be *very* swift and will take you straight onto the system's 'front door' faster than a cat run from a vacuum cleaner. When you initially start the IEMSI editor you will initially be presented with a menu of ten possible IEMSI packets to edit. Select which packet you wish to edit by moving the highlit bar with the arrow keys and press return when you've highlighted the appropriate packet. If that entry corresponds to a new packet the menu title for that session packet will be 'UNDEFINED'. On opening a packet to edit you will be presented with PANTHER's internal IEMSI editor which looks like this; PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 31 ┌─────────────────────┤ EDIT IEMSI SETTINGS ├─────────────────────┐ │ │ │ TITLE .................... │ │ NAME .................................................. │ │ ALIAS .................................................. │ │ PASSWORD ............... │ │ LOCATION .................................................. │ │ DATA PHONE ............... │ │ VOICE PHONE ............... │ │ │ │ SHOW NEWS BULLETINS? N ENABLE SCREEN CLEARING? N │ │ CHECK FOR NEW MAIL? N ALLOW INTER-NODE CHAT? N │ │ CHECK FOR NEW FILES? N PAGE PAUSING? N │ │ USE HOT KEYS? N USE FULL SCREEN EDITOR? N │ │ │ │ This is the title of this IEMSI session │ │ │ └──────────────────┤ F10 TO SAVE, ESC TO QUIT ├───────────────────┘ The upper fields in the editor relate to your personal details for the remote system and the lower entries correspond to options which you can enable or disable according to your preference. Specifically, each of the fields mean the following; TITLE - This is the packet title as it will appear in the preceding menu and in the main dialling directory. This is only used internally by PANTHER and can be anything you like, really, although it may be better to make the title meaningful to assist in retrieving it in the future. NAME - This is your real name. NOTE: This must be *exactly* as you entered it originally on the remote system's configuration. You can enter the PANTHER internal variable *NAME here if it's appropriate. (ie, if it matches the name held by the remote system) ALIAS - If the system allows aliases enter an alias here if you like, otherwise leave it blank. PASSWORD - This is your log-in password. Again, you can use the internal PANTHER variable *PASSWORD here. LOCATION - This is your actual location, usually the name of your town. DATA PHONE - These are merely notes of your telephone numbers for VOICE PHONE voice and modem lines. The following are the 'options' selections and are selected only by entering Y or N in the box. Entering Y enables the option and N disables it. PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 32 SHOW NEWS BULLETINS? - Do you want to be shown the local news bulletins on logging on? (They can contain useful information which you might need to know for the current session) CHECK FOR NEW MAIL? - Do you want the system to run a quick check on logging on to see if you have any mail waiting for you? (If you are performing an automated mail run then you might not want to bother with this option) CHECK FOR NEW FILES? - Ditto as above except for files. (This can be a great one to disable if you are dealing with a large system that might take ages to search over all its files areas) USE HOT KEYS? - Do you want single keystrokes to be used in menus and so on or do you prefer to disable this and stick with pressing return after each keystroke? ENABLE SCREEN CLEARING? - Do you want the remote system to send screen clearing codes? (These are usually ASCII character 12 symbols which PANTHER is designed to handle) ALLOW INTER-NODE CHAT? - If this is a multi-node system then enabling this option allows other users on other nodes to page you and chat with you on line. (If you want this then fair enough...but don't say we didn't warn you) PAGE PAUSING? - When writing long lists of items to the screen, do you want the remote system to pause after each pageful? (Unless you are in possession of a lightning speed photographic memory its usually helpful to enable this option) USE FULL SCREEN EDITOR? - Do you want to use an editor that allows you to edit text anywhere on the screen and scroll to various parts of your document...or do you want something else like a line editor that makes EDLIN look like Wordperfect. (I'd enable this if I were you) Once you're happy with your set up then press F10 and your selections will be saved. If you wish to abandon your choices then press escape, answer 'Y' to confirm that you want to abandon the editor and you will be returned to the original IEMSI menu. Pressing escape from this menu takes you back to the main configuration menu again. PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 33 SAVE CONFIGURATION ------------------ Once you have made all the amendments you wish to PANTHER's configuration then you are free to carry on and use them. However, unless you explicitly SAVE the configuration then the changes you have made will be lost when you quit the program. To make the changes permanent, select Save Configuration from the menu and the configuration file PANTHER.CFG will be rewritten to reflect your changes. This way, all your changes will be preserved the next time you start up PANTHER. PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 34 RUNNING PANTHER --------------- When you initially start up PANTHER, two important checks are made. First, PANTHER checks to see whether or not it is already running. It does this by noting the presence or absence of a file called PANTHER.RUN in the main program directory. This file is written out when you start up PANTHER and is deleted when you quit from it. It's purpose is twofold; to stop you running PANTHER twice from within a multitasking system and to stop you from shelling out to DOS from within PANTHER and running it again. If PANTHER finds that the PANTHER.RUN file does not exist then it will write one out (to signify that PANTHER is now running) and proceed as normal. If however it finds that PANTHER.RUN already exists then it will flash an error message on the screen thus; ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ PANTHER IS ALREADY RUNNING! RUN IT AGAIN? (Y/N) │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ If you press 'N' then PANTHER will not start but will instead return you to the operating system. If, on the other hand you *do* wish to run PANTHER then press 'Y' and it will start up. There are a couple of instances where you may want to run PANTHER, even though you have received this message; you may have rebooted your machine whilst PANTHER was running, thereby not letting it clear up its files properly and leaving the PANTHER.RUN file where it was created. Similarly, if you are using a multitasking system then you may have closed down the particular session instead of quitting from PANTHER via its menus. The second check PANTHER makes is to see whether or not a carrier signal is detected on your selected serial port. If there is a carrier signal then it might mean that your modem is either wrongly configured for use with PANTHER or else it may also be that the modem has an artificial carrier signal set permanently high. If the former then it will simply be a matter of reconfiguring the modem. If the latter then it's unlikely you can use PANTHER at all with any degree of reliability. PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 35 If PANTHER finds a carrier on your selected port then the following error message will appear on the screen (the actual port number will vary, depending on your selected port) ┌──────────┤ WARNING - CARRIER DETECTED ON SERIAL PORT! ├───────────┐ │ │ │ PANTHER has detected a carrier signal on your selected serial │ │ port COM1. As this is the case, it is highly unlikely that this │ │ software will function as you expect since it relies on the │ │ changing state of a carrier signal to successfully detect a │ │ connection to a remote service. Furthermore, it may present │ │ serious problems when using PANTHER in terminal mode and may │ │ prevent you from quitting from it successfully. │ │ │ │ DO YOU WANT TO CONTINUE? (Y/N) │ └───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ If you elect to continue then be warned you may not be able to quit from terminal mode properly since that depends upon the your modem returning a low carrier signal. To remind you, a message saying WARNING - CARRIER SIGNAL DETECTED ON SERIAL PORT COM1! appears on your main PANTHER menu. If you elect *not* to continue then PANTHER will simply abort altogether. With regard to the last check, it is possible (although unlikely) that your modem will function correctly, even thought PANTHER reports the problem. To stop PANTHER from displaying this error message every time you start it up (and it was designed to be irritating!) you can use the /NOCARRIERCHECK command line switch. See the section on command line switches for further details on this option. PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 36 THE DIALLING DIRECTORY ---------------------- The PANTHER dialling directory has been designed to be both easy to use and informative. Dialling directories are saved using the file extension PHN. By default, when starting up PANTHER the dialling directory PANTHER.PHN is loaded, although this can be over-ridden by using the DIR= command line directive to load another directory. Once you have installed PANTHER onto your system a sample dialling directory is created which contains the dialling details for four popular bulletin board systems. This is how the dialling directory may look, depending upon the choices you made in the installation program; ┌──────────────────────┤ Dialling Directory PANTHER ├──────────────────────────┐ │ Name of Remote System Telephone Number Baud Port Script │ ├────┬──────────────────────────────┬────────────────────┬──────┬─────┬────────┤ │ 1│ALMAC BBS │0324 665371 │2400 │8-N-1│ALMAC │ │ 2│FORTH VIEW BBS │031 660 6680 │2400 │8-N-1│PC-BOARD│ │ 3│BLUE LABEL BBS │0224 827166 │2400 │8-N-1│BLUELBL │ │ 4│PISTON POPPER BBS │0424 853361 │2400 │8-N-1│PISTON │ │ 5│MISSION IMPOSSIBLE │0602 654329 │2400 │8-N-1│MISSPOSS│ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ ├────┴──────────────────────────────┴────────────────────┴──────┴─────┴────────┤ │ System Name ALMAC BBS Number Of Calls 71 │ │ Last On 04:51 18/01/1993 Prefix # 3 Dialling Time 99 seconds │ │ Handshaking RTS/CTS Terminal ANSI Protocol HyperProtocol │ │ Total Time Spent On Line 00:57:43 IEMSI Session NONE │ ├──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤ │ ESC to quit F1 for help │ └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ The upper section of the directory display consists of a window with a highlighted entry, indicating the current selection. If there are more than ten entries in each directory then these can be shown by moving the highlight bar. The highlight bar can be moved using the PageUp, PageDn, Home, End and arrow keys as well as by using a mouse. The lower panel shows more detailed information about the settings for the currently selected entry. Several connections can be made in succession by selecting the current entry by using the space bar. Once selected in this manner a marker will appear on the right hand side of the dialling entry indicating that this entry has been selected. To deselect an entry, move the highlight bar back to it and press the space bar again. You can select any number of entries in this manner, causing a queue of entries to be connected at any one time. PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 37 The upper window shows the name and telephone number of each entry in the directory followed by the baud rate, summarised port settings and the name of any script file associated with that particular entry. The lower panel shows the number of calls made, the time and date you were last connected to this system, the required dialling prefix, the dialling time for each attempt to connect to the current entry, the handshaking protocol, the kind of display that is used, the default file transfer protocol, the total length of all successful connections made and whether or not an IEMSI session packet is to be used during connection. To quit from the dialling directory press escape. For a full list of commands press F1 and you will see all the possible commands that you can issue by pressing the bracketed letter of each. We will deal with these one at a time; Dial This causes PANTHER to start dialling (surprisingly enough!) the currently selected entry. On doing so, the dialling directory will be replaced with the dialling screen which will show all command strings being sent to the modem. A status line will appear at the bottom of the screen showing the remaining dial time for each connection at the lower right corner. More about dialling and being on line in a minute... You can also start dialling by pressing the return key when the scroll bar is over the entry for the remote system you wish to contact. Incidentally, if you attempt to dial a blank entry which has just been created with the Insert or New commands then you will be forced to edit that entry instead. But more about editing dialling directories in a minute as well.. Insert This will insert a blank entry into the dialling directory at the point currently highlighted by the scroll bar. You can also select this with the insert key. Create A new blank dialling directory will be created on your disk. Edit This will cause you to edit the dialling directory entry currently highlighted. We'll cover this in detail in a minute! Copy A new entry will be inserted immediately after the current entry and the current highlighted entry will be copied into the new entry. This may be useful where you wish to associate numerous script files with one remote system. PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 38 Manual If you select Manual dialling, a box will appear at the bottom of the screen asking you for a telephone number. Simply enter the telephone number into the box and press return. The number will then be dialled using the defaults as set up in the Directory Defaults section of the configuration section. Remove This will delete the entry currently highlighted by the scroll bar. You can also select this by pressing the delete key. Sort This will sort the dialling directory along one of three criteria; it can be sorted according to the names of the remote systems, the total time spent on line (with the longest first) or by the number of calls made to each system (again with the highest first). Alternatively, if you do not wish to sort the directory, select 'QUIT' or press escape. Print Unbelievable as it may seem, this option actually prints the dialling directory out onto paper. The print out will show each entry with all of its settings, together with a note of the total number of calls you have made and the total length of time you have been on line. Scary. Please ensure you have a printer attached to your computer first! If you don't, or if you have some other problem with the printer, then an error message will occur advising you that the printer is either out of paper, off line or busy, depending upon the circumstances. New This will append a blank entry to the end of the dialling directory. Load Selecting this option will bring up a scrolling directory box showing all the dialling directories on your disk. Simply move the highlight bar to the directory that you want to load and press return. The selected directory will then be loaded up. Zero This will reset the number of calls and total time on line back to zero. If you select this option you will be greeted a prompt saying; 'Zero the highlighted entry, all entries or none? (H/A/N)' Pressing 'H' will cause the entry currently highlighted to be zeroed. Pressing 'A' will zero all entries in the dialling directory. Pressing 'N' is effectively the same as pressing escape. PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 39 Tag This will 'tag' the currently highlighted entry. A small marker will appear in the left hand margin showing that the entry has been tagged. By tagging entries in this manner you can cause PANTHER to dial out to multiple systems in a queue, one after the other. You can also tag entries with the space bar. Untag Selecting this option will untag all tagged entries in the current directory. Move This allows you to manually sort your dialling directories by moving individual entries from one position to another. Highlight the entry you wish to move and then scroll the highlight bar to the target position and press enter to move the entry to that position. If you wish to abort the move process halfway through then (a) press escape and (b) make your bloody mind up next time. There are also a few other keystrokes available. These are; ALT-D Shell to DOS temporarily. The screen will clear and you will find yourself in a DOS session. To remind you that you are running PANTHER the DOS prompt will change from your normal prompt into '[PANTHER] $p$g'. To re-enter PANTHER, type EXIT <return> at the DOS prompt and you will find yourself at exactly the same position you were in before you shelled out. ALT-V Allows you to view the internal scrollback buffer. ALT-Y Allows you to edit the internal filelist ALT-0 Allows you to toggle the script overwrite mode. Basically, if this is activated then PANTHER will forcibly learn any script you tell it, even if it exists., therefore obliterating the existing script completely. Use with caution! To remind you that the script overwrite mode is active, a flashing warning appears in the dialling directory saying 'Script overwrite mode is active!'. See the section on script files for more information on this uniquely destructive..er..I mean highly useful feature. PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 40 EDITING THE DIALLING DIRECTORY ------------------------------ If you select 'Edit' from the main dialling directory, a window will pop up on the screen showing the settings for the current entry. The window looks like this; ┌───────────┤ EDIT CURRENT DIRECTORY ENTRY ├────────────┐ │ │ │ Name ALMAC BBS │ │ Number 0324 665371 │ │ Password *************** │ │ Script File ALMAC │ │ Dial Time 60 │ │ Baud 2400 │ │ Parity None │ │ Stop Bits 1 │ │ Data Bits 8 │ │ Handshaking XONXOFF │ │ Prefix 1 │ │ Terminal ANSI │ │ Protocol (I) Zmodem │ │ Local Echo NO │ │ Add Line Feed NO │ │ Dest. Backspace YES │ │ IEMSI NONE │ │ │ └────────────────────┤ ESC TO QUIT ├────────────────────┘ There will be a highlight bar over the 'NAME' field and a box on the bottom line inviting you to enter the name of the current entry. you can move the highlight bar up and down the window with the arrow keys. As you do so, the prompt at the foot of the screen will change according to what field you are currently highlighting. The fields are either edited using a text entry line, as in the 'NAME' field, or through a multiple choice selection menu. If you wish to record your amendment, press return, otherwise press an arrow key to move to a new field and leave the old field unaltered. We shall deal with each of the fields separately; Name All you have to enter here is the name of the remote system. You are allowed up to thirty characters for this field. PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 41 Number Here you have to enter here is the telephone number for the remote system. You are allowed up to twenty characters for this field. If you are a subscriber to Mercury Communications then prefixing the number with the letter 'M' will cause the connection to be made via Mercury, assuming that you have defined your Mercury code in the configuration, that is! Please note that it is *not* recommended you make local calls via Mercury. At the time of writing, routing local calls through Mercury costs about 2½ times as much as British Telecom. Password Enter the password you use on the remote system, if any. This will be used to replace the *PASSWORD variable in script files. You are allowed up to fifteen characters for this field. Note that the password won't actually show up in the edit panel. Script File Enter the name of the associated script file, if any, you wish run when calling the remote system. A couple of points to make here; although script files all have the file extension '.SPT' do NOT enter this, only the first portion of the file name. Also, if you enter the name of a script file which does not exist in the script file directory (as defined in the configuration menu) then PANTHER will assume that you wish to learn it and will create it for you the first time you connect to the remote system. See the section of this manual on script files for more information. You are allowed eight characters for the script file name. Dial Time This is the length of time in seconds that PANTHER will take between dialling the telephone number for the remote system and hanging up to try again. Enter a value between 1 and 255. Note that you can manually intervene when dialling out. If you find that your dial time is too short, pressing the up and down arrow keys will temporarily increase or decrease the dialling time respectively. But more about that later as well.....! Baud This is the speed at which the remote system operates. If you have elected to operate with a locked port (in the modem strings configuration section) then this should be set to the highest speed at which the RS232 port on your computer can operate reliably. You will be presented with a multiple choice menu along the foot of the screen. Move the highlighted box along the line with the left and right arrow keys until you reach the required baud rate and then press return to select it. PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 42 Parity Enter the required parity setting for the remote system. You will be presented again with a multiple choice menu like this; Enter parity : Space Odd Mark Even None Move the highlighted box along the line with the left and right arrow keys until you reach the required parity setting and then press return to select it. Stop Bits Enter the required number of stop bits for the incoming data from the remote system. Again, you will be presented with a multiple choice menu like this; Enter stop bits : 1 2 Move the highlighted box along the line with the left and right arrow keys until you reach the required number of stop bits and then press return to select it. Data Bits Enter the required number of data bits for the incoming data from the remote system. Again, you will be presented with a multiple choice menu like this; Enter data bits : 7 8 Move the highlighted box along the line with the left and right arrow keys until you reach the required number of data bits and then press return to select it. Handshaking Enter the handshaking (or flow control) you require. You can select from one either None, Rts/Cts (also known as hardware handshaking) or Xon/Xoff (also known as software handshaking). Hardware handshaking is generally reserved for high speed modems and locked RS232 ports. Prefix Select which dialling prefix is to be used with the remote system. These are the strings to be sent to your modem immediately prior to the telephone number. As a reminder of what prefixes you have set up, a further small window will appear on the screen containing each of your current prefixes. Your prefixes will normally (if you have a Hayes compatible modem) start with 'AT' and terminate with either 'DT' for tone dialling or 'DP' for pulse dialling. Between these characters you can place any further modem commands, such as those which activate or deactivate error correction, handshaking options, duplexing or whatever else you wish. There are five prefixes defined in order to allow maximum flexibility. PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 43 Terminal Select the method of terminal emulation you require from either TELETYPE, AVATAR, VT52 or ANSI. Teletype is just a case of sending everything that comes in through your serial port onto the screen. It's pretty basic. ANSI, on the other hand, gives full emulation of ANSI commands EXCEPT the ESC[=Psh command which sets the graphic mode, since this could play merry hell with PANTHER's output! Avatar is much like ANSI except that it uses shorter control strings to dictate output, therefore being slightly faster than ANSI, although there are few systems that actually support it as a standard. VT52 is a terminal emulation you may want to use if connecting to some forms of UNIX systems. Select whichever terminal emulation you have configured the remote system for. Also note that you can temporarily change the setting when on line as well, but more about that in a minute as well...! Protocol This defines the default file transfer protocol which will be used on this system. This is the protocol which will be first highlighted in the protocol menu (yes, that in a minute too!) when you start to download or upload a file. It will also be the protocol used when the script file encounters a DOWNLOAD or UPLOAD command whilst connected to this remote system. Choose YES if you wish to alter the default protocol. You will be presented with a menu listing all your installed protocols. Choose the new one using the scroll bar and the return key. Local Echo If you choose YES to this option then every character you type will be written to the screen and sent to the modem. This is only normally selected for terminal to terminal connections, since most bulletin boards will echo your characters back at you. Add Line Feed If you choose YES to this option then every return character you receive will cause a line feed to be added. Again, this is only normally selected for terminal to terminal connections, since most bulletin boards will automatically add line feeds for you. Dest. Backspace If you choose YES to this option then typing a backspace whilst on line will be 'destructive' in that it will delete the immediately preceding character and move the cursor back to that point, exactly like the DOS command line. If you select NO then a non-destructive backspace will be enabled which will only move the cursor back without overwriting the preceding characters. PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 44 IEMSI If you select YES to the prompt to change the IEMSI packet then you will be presented with a menu of the ten possible IEMSI session packets. Those that have not yet been entered by you will be shown as UNDEFINED. Select the IEMSI packet by highlighting the name and pressing return. If you already have an existing IEMSI session defined for this entry and no longer wish to use it, select NONE. If you select an UNDEFINED packet then no changes will be made. Once you are satisfied that you have made all the changes you wish, pressing escape will cause the prompt Save this directory entry? (Y/N) to appear at the foot of the screen. If you press 'Y' then the dialling directory will be updated with your changes. If you press 'N' then the editing session will abort and no changes will be made. DIALLING AND CONNECTING ----------------------- If you press 'D' for dial or return when in the dialling directory, you will start to dial the highlighted system. Here's what happens; First of all, you can hit either escape or the space bar during the dialling procedure. Hitting escape will abort the dialling process altogether and will return you to the dialling directory. Hitting the space bar will have one of two effects; if you have several numbers 'queued' by tagging them in the dialling directory then the current entry being dialled is aborted and goes to the back of the queue. The next number in the queue will then be dialled. On the other hand, if you are only dialling one number then the current attempt at connecting to it is aborted and the process will restart. PANTHER will first attempt to detect whether or not you have a live and working modem attached to your serial port. If you don't then an error (error #10, to be exact) will flash on the screen and you will be sent back to the dialling directory. If you DO have a working modem on the serial port in question (and you have specified the correct port, of course!) and this error occurs then try restarting PANTHER with the /NOCHECKING command line switch. Auto checking like this does not work with all modems. See the errors section of this manual for more advice on this situation. After this, PANTHER will attempt to detect and disable FIFO buffering found in 16550A UART chips, on the selected serial port. If the buffering is left active then PANTHER will not be able to initialise the port at all. After this, the port will be initialised using the required baud, parity, stop and data bits, following which FIFO buffering will be re-enabled. PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 45 Next the string you have specified as 'RESET' in the modem strings configuration is sent to your modem and a response is awaited. If the response is your defined 'MODEM ERROR' string then an error message will be displayed, all queued dialling will be aborted (since your modem is not going to be initialised by any successive call) and the dialling process is terminated. However, if you receive the defined 'MODEM OK' string then the 'INITIALISATION' string you have specified is sent to initialise the modem to the settings you require, which will again await either the 'MODEM OK' or 'MODEM ERROR' strings as before. After a response to this has been received, the dialling prefix you have specified will be sent to your modem, followed by the Mercury code (if required) followed by the number you wish to dial. The right hand side of the status line at the foot of the screen will show a decreasing counter showing the number of seconds of dialling time you have remaining. If you wish to temporarily alter this, pressing the up arrow key will increment the dialling time by five seconds and pressing the down arrow will decrement this value by five seconds. You cannot increment this value beyond 255 nor decrement it below zero. (obviously!) You ought to be able to hear your modem dialling the number (if you have a loudspeaker fitted to it) and then hear the appropriate telephone line signals of either ringing, engaged or, if you're just plain unlucky, disconnected! At this stage one of several things may occur. If the line is ringing and continues to do so beyond the dialling time then the words 'DIALLING TIMED OUT' will appear on your screen and the dialling process will recommence. If the line is busy then the appropriate string returned by your modem on receiving an engaged line will be returned ONLY IF IT IS DEFINED IN THE 'BUSY STRINGS' SECTION OF THE MODEM CONTROL STRINGS IN THE CONFIGURATION MENU! If you haven't defined it then PANTHER will not be able to recognise nor interpret the current situation. This string is usually 'BUSY'. Consult your modem documentation for this. (Note : if your modem supports higher 'X' result code commands then it will probably be able to detect the fact that the line is engaged prior to the dialling period timing out. Use these higher codes whenever possible - they will save you time) If the line is ringing but no answer is made then the dialling period will simply time out and recommence. If, however, the line is answered by the remote modem (and hopefully not some sleepy human being) then you ought to hear your modem 'talking' briefly to the other one. After this, you ought to receive what is known as the 'connect string'. For this to be received properly, PANTHER must know what the connect string looks like. If the connect strings are not set up properly in the modem control strings section of the configuration menu then PANTHER will assume that no connection was made and the dialling process will recommence after timing out. PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 46 Assuming, though, that all is well and the connection is made, you will see the connect string displayed on the screen followed by a brief tune announcing the connection. (if you have the sounds enabled) If you are contacting a system that you have never connected to before, then PANTHER will automatically ask you if you want to open a capture file. This may be useful since some systems show special information to new users and you may want to refer to it at a later date. After that you are connected to the remote system and you are communicating with the software being run by that system. A sample connection screen might look like this; ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- CONNECT 14400/ARQ/V32/MNP █▀▀▀▀▀▀▀█▀▀▀█████▀▀▀▀▀▀▀█▀▀▀▀▀▀▀█▀▀▀▀▀▀▀███▀▀▀▀▀▀██▀▀▀▀▀▀██▀▀▀▀▀▀▀█ ┌───╖█ █▀▀▀█ █ █ █████ █▀█▀█ █ █▀▀▀█ █ █▀▀▀▀ ███ █▀▀█ ▀█ █▀▀█ ▀█ █▀▀▀▀ █┌───╖ │ ╔═╝█ █▀▀▀█ █ █ ▀▀▀▀█ █ █ █ █ █▀▀▀█ █ █ ▀▀▀▀███ █▀▀▀█ █ █▀▀▀█ █ ▀▀▀▀█ █╘═╕ ║ │ ║ █ ▀ █ ▀ █ ▀▀▀▀▀ █ ▀ ▄ ▀ █ ▀ █ ▀ █ ▀▀▀▀▀ ███ ▀▀▀▀▀ █ ▀▀▀▀▀ █ ▀▀▀▀▀ █ │ ║ │ ║ ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ │ ║ │ ║ Voice: 0324 666336 Fax: 0324 665155 BBS: 0324 665371 (15 lines) │ ║ │ ║ ███▄▄ │ ║ │ ║ ┌──────────────────────────┐ █████ │ ║ │ ║ │ Access to: Ilink, Usenet │ █████ │ ║ │ ║ │ Basnet, Srcnet, Fido │ ████ ▄█████ │ ║ │ ║ │ More than 300,000 files │ █████ █▄ ▄▄████ │ ║ │ ║ │ 60Mbyte new files each │ ██████ ▄ ▄▄▄ ████████ │ ║ │ ║ │ week direct from USA │ █████ ▀█████████▌ │ ║ │ ║ │ Vendor Support Confs │ ▐████████ │ ║ │ ║ │ 2:259/17 │ ▄▄█████████████ │ ║ │ ║ └──────────────────────────┘ ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ │ ║ │ ║ ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╖ │ ║ │ ║ │ Sysop: Alastair McIntyre PC Board S/No: 0011123/250 ║ │ ║ │ ╙─╖│ ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── ║┌─┘ ║ ╘═══╝│ Almac BBS Ltd, Heathpark, 141 Bo'ness Road, Grangemouth FK3 9BS ║╘═══╝ ╘═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝ What is your first name? ALMAC BBS │CONNECT 14400│L19200 8-N-1│00:00:09│18:55:32│CS ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- In this example, the connect string received is shown at the top of the screen as CONNECT 14400/ARQ/V32/MNP which indicates the speed of the connection and the error correction method being employed. Your modem may not support many of these features so don't get worried if they don't appear! Beneath that comes the body of the text being received from the remote system, as text is received down the line it is shown on the screen using whatever terminal emulation you specified. As more text comes in, the existing text scrolls off the top of the screen. PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 47 The bottom line (line 25) of the screen does not come from the remote system. It is the status bar which tells you something about how PANTHER is operating and what the line connection rate is. The left hand portion of the status line shows the name of the system you are connected to. The next portion shows the connection speed as taken from the connect string. The next portion shows the port status - in the above case the user would have been operating with a serial port locked at 19200 baud, signified by the 'L' character preceding the baud rate. If the port was unlocked then the port baud rate setting ought to match that of the connection speed. The 8-N-1 portion summaries the bit settings of the incoming data,m in this case 8 bits, no parity and 1 stop bit. After this appear two clocks; the one on the left shows the length of time that you have been on line for and the one on the right shows the time of day. The last three character spaces (although only two characters are being shown in this example) tell you something about the way PANTHER is actually operating. The left character shows you the capture file status. This can be either 'C' indicating a capture file is active and operating, 'U' indicating that the capture file is active but has been suspended or nothing at all indicating that (go on, have a guess...) no capture file is being used. The second character tells you something about the status of the script file in use. This could be either 'S' if a script file is being used, 'L' if a script file is being learned, 'A' if you are in auto dialler mode (since you can't connect using the auto dialler facility without a script file!) or blank if no script file is being used at that time. The last character is a 'P' if a printer capture is activated or blank otherwise. Once you are on line and connected you are not entirely at the mercy of the remote system! There are various keystrokes which you can use to alter the way PANTHER is operating or change the manner in which the incoming data is being displayed. The keystrokes are mostly two key combinations such as ALT-A which mean you have to hold down the 'ALT' key and press the 'A' key whilst still holding the 'ALT' key down. We kind of hoped you would know that but God knows, you have to document everything these days. The keystrokes available to you are as follows; ALT-A Abandon the current script file if you are currently running one. The 'S' will disappear from the right hand corner of the status line and every keystroke will be up to you from that point. This may be useful if you wish to do more whilst on line than your script file normally allows. ALT-B Send a BREAK signal to the remote system. This is required by some host systems to do certain tasks like ending transmissions. PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 48 ALT-C Change the capture file status. If a capture file is not running then you will be asked if you want to start one. If you reply that you do then you will be prompted for the name of the capture file to create. If that file already exists then it will be appended to, if it doesn't exist then it will be created.This file name defaults to PANTHER.CAP. If a capture file is running then you will be asked whether you want to stop it or to suspend it temporarily. If a capture file has been suspended then you will be asked whether you want to reactivate it or not. In any event, the keys to press in response are shown in brackets in the information box that appears on pressing this keystroke. ALT-D Shell to DOS temporarily. The screen will clear and you will find yourself in a DOS session. To remind you that you are on line, the DOS prompt will change from your normal prompt into the rather alarming '[PANTHER ON-LINE!] $p$g'. To re-enter PANTHER, type EXIT <return> at the DOS prompt and you will find yourself at exactly the same position you were in before you shelled out. ALT-E Toggle local echo on or off. Local echo will cause every character you type to be sent to the modem and written to the screen. ALT-F Terminate script file learning mode. If you are learning a script file then you need not continue to do so until you log off. The script file will be closed and saved off to disk. ALT-G Grab a coloured screen 'snapshot'. The current screen will be saved to the PANTHER.BIN file for viewing later through the colour snapshot viewer on the main menu. If you are using 24 line mode then a dummy 25th line will be added to pad out the screen shot, therefore always retaining a consistent file size. There is no limit to the number of coloured snapshots you can save other than that of disk space. The PANTHER.BIN file is a straight binary save file, meaning that individual snapshots within it can be saved out (via the viewer) and loaded into other editors like TheDraw to do whatever you want with them. ALT-H Hang up. Pressing ALT-H will pop up a small box asking you to confirm that you wish to hang up. If you confirm that you wish to do so, the carrier will be dropped and the session terminated. NOTE: Do NOT do this whilst in the middle of a session with a bulletin board unless there is no other option. Most system operators (sysops) give more than a little irked at people 'hopping on' and 'hopping off' in this manner, since their software may not always stand up to this manner of dropping carrier. Unless the remote software has locked up or there is no other manner of logging off (which unlikely) always log off using the manner which the remote software gives you. PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 49 ALT-K Kill an auto dialler session. If you have connected using the Auto Dialler facility, then pressing ALT-K will cause the Auto Dialler session (for the current connection only) to be terminated. Note that the script file running will not be terminated and will continue until aborted with the ALT-A keystroke. The reason for the ALT-K keystroke is this; if it is obvious that a script file is going awry or if you simply want to interrupt the script then aborting it with ALT-A will, during an Auto Dialler session, cause PANTHER to think that the script terminated prematurely and will drop carrier, as part of the inbuilt protection against Auto Dialler sessions leaving you on line for lengthy periods. By pressing ALT-K, this problem can be circumvented by simply telling PANTHER that the current connection must not be considered as an Auto Dialler connection. ALT-L Toggle additional line feeds on or off. ALT-M Modify the display type. This will pop up a small box asking you which of Teletype, ANSI, Avatar or VT52 terminal emulations you require. Pressing the bracketed initial letter shown of the display type will invoke that particular terminal emulation type. Incidentally, if you mess about with this for no good reason then don't blame us if your system grinds to a halt. PANTHER has a number of safety checks built into it to safeguard again corrupted information but it can't protect itself against loonys. ALT-N Insert a note in the log file, if one is enabled. A small box will pop up inviting you to enter a line of text to be inserted in the log file. Once you have edited the line to your satisfaction, pressing enter will place that line into your log file. See the section on PANTHER's ancillary files for more details on the log file. ALT-P Toggles printer capture on or off. ALT-R Toggles the presence or absence of the status line. If a status line is enabled then pressing ALT-R will cause the whole screen to be used by the incoming data. Pressing ALT-R again will cause the status line to reappear. ALT-S Take a snapshot of the current screen. The entire contents of the screen (but not the status line) will be captured and stored in the PANTHER.SNP snapshot file. This differs from the coloured (ALT-G) snapshot in that it is saved as text only. ALT-T Toggles destructive backspace on and off. PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 50 ALT-U Upload a prepared text file. If you have to send messages over a bulletin board then preparing the text offline (ie, whilst not actually connected) can go some way to reducing your telephone costs. Instead of typing your messages into a text editor found on a bulletin board, enter the menu as per normal and press ALT-U. A small box will appear asking you for the name of the file containing your prepared text. Either type the name in and press enter, or press enter on the blank line and a scrolling directory listing will appear, allowing you to select the file you wish to upload. Once you have selected or entered the name of the file, PANTHER will read the contents of the file in a line at a time and send it to the remote system. This will continue until either then end of the file has been reached or you have aborted the process by pressing the escape key. ALT-V View the scrollback buffer. Press escape to get back to PANTHER again. ALT-X Send an XOFF character to the remote system. It is possible that spurious characters generated by line noise may send an XON character which may give you the impression that the connection has 'hung'. If you experience this, you may be able to resume the connection by sending an XOFF character. ALT-Y Summon the internal file list editor. PageUp Commence the file uploading process. This will invoke an protocol and will allow you to transfer files to the remote system. Initially, a scrolling menu will appear asking you to select the required transfer protocol. The highlighted entry in the menu will initially be the default protocol as entered in the dialling directory entry for the remote system, although any other protocol can be used, as long as the remote system knows which protocol you are using and is using it too. After you have selected the protocol, the next part is dependent on the upload command line you have defined for the protocol. If you have specified the PANTHER system variable '*FNAME' in the command line then a box will appear asking you for the name of the file to be uploaded. The box will be pre-filled with the last file name that appeared on the screen. (since the remote software has probably either asked you to type in the actual file name or knows it in advance, prompting you with something like 'ABOUT TO RECEIVE YOURFILE.ZIP') Either press return on the input line on the screen or retype the name of the file if it is wrong. You can also delete the name of the file in the box and press enter on the blank line to bring up a scrolling directory box which will show you the current contents of your upload directory, as defined in the paths section of the configuration menu. You can then select the file that you wish to upload - the menu will also allow you to move across directories, thereby allowing you to upload any file you have on your disk. Once you have selected or entered the name of the file, the protocol will execute. If a non-zero errorlevel is returned by the protocol then an error message will be PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 51 generated advising you of a possible problem with the transfer. After the transfer has completed AND ONLY IF YOU HAVE RECEIVED A ZERO ERRORLEVEL FROM THE PROTOCOL PROGRAM (usually meaning that all went well with the protocol transfer) then PANTHER will inspect the file masks you have specified in the Mail Files section of the configuration menu. If the file you have just uploaded matches any of these file masks then - if a script file is not running - a box will pop up asking you if you wish to delete the file just uploaded. If you press 'Y' then the file will be deleted, pressing 'N' will leave it alone. After this, the transfer section is over and you will be returned to the session where you left off. PageDN Commence the file downloading process. This will invoke an protocol and will allow you to transfer files from the remote system. Initially, a scrolling menu will appear asking you to select the required transfer protocol. The highlighted entry in the menu will initially be the default protocol as entered in the dialling directory entry for the remote system, although any other protocol can be used, as long as the remote system knows which protocol you are using and is using it too. After you have selected the protocol, the next part is dependent on the upload command line you have defined for the protocol. If you have specified the PANTHER system variable '*FNAME' in the command line then a box will appear asking you for the name of the file to be downloaded. The box will be pre-filled with the last file name that appeared on the screen. (since the remote software has probably either asked you to type in the actual file name or knows it in advance, prompting you with something like 'ABOUT TO SEND YOURFILE.ZIP') You must then enter the name of the file being downloaded and press return. Once you have entered the name of the file, the protocol will execute. If a non-zero errorlevel is returned by the protocol then an error message will be generated advising you of a possible problem with the transfer. After this, the transfer section is over and you will be returned to the session where you left off. F1 Shows a help screen summarising all the available keystrokes. It will also show you the password you have allocated for that connection - useful for those with short memories! F2 Shows a summary of all the keystroke macros you have defined. The macros are shown in their unexpanded format. F3 Show a scrolling list of files in the upload directory. F4 Show a scrolling list of files in the download directory. F5 Send the internal file list contents to the remote system. See the section on the internal file list for further details about this feature. PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 52 In addition to the above keystrokes, there is one other very important keystroke which may be useful under certain circumstances. ALT-= This keystroke disables ALL the above keystrokes. Why use this? Simply because it may occur that you will require one of these keystrokes for another purpose. it may also be that you have certain privileges on the system you are calling and have the ability to shell to DOS or run external programs such as text editors.This may require you to have keys such as F1 or any of the ALT key combinations available. By pressing ALT-= all the above PANTHER keys will be temporarily disabled allowing you to use them for other purposes. The only PANTHER keystroke which remains in force is ALT-= itself which will allow you to reset all the above keystrokes to their uses within PANTHER. Once you have completed your session, the carrier will be dropped and you will either be returned to the dialling directory if you were only dialling one number, or else the next number will be dialled if you have a series of connections queued for dialling. On exiting back to the dialling directory the figures for the number of calls and total time spent on line for each system you have been contacted will be incremented by the appropriate amount and the date and time of the last connection will be updated. PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 53 FILE TRANSFER PROTOCOLS ----------------------- A file transfer protocol (or protocol, for short) is best thought of as an agreed set of rules through which files can be transferred from one location to another over a communications link. In order to communicate and hence transfer information effectively, both the receiver (the 'downloader') and the sender (the 'uploader') must be using the same protocol, otherwise neither will understand what the other is doing. Numerous protocols exist, and the differences between them vary; some offer increased speed, some offer advanced error correction should transfers go wrong, some allow you to recommence transfers even if the link between the machines is severed and then reconnected. Others offer two-way transfers (allowing you to upload and download at the same time) and some even offer games to play whilst the transfer is in progress! PANTHER offers six internal protocols. These protocols are built into PANTHER itself and can be used with most remote systems who will offer at least one of these transfer systems, if not them all. When you wish to download or upload a file (or files - some protocols offer the ability to transfer several files at once) then you hit either the Page Down or Page Up keys respectively, depending on what sort of transfer you wish to make. In either case, all six protocols will be made available to you, along with any further external protocols you interface into PANTHER. (See the chapter on PANTHER's configuration to learn more about this.) Here's a sample download protocol menu, obtained by hitting Page Down key whilst on line, showing only the internal protocols. ╔═════════════════════════╗ ║ Protocol Download Menu ║ ║ ║ ║ X - (I) Xmodem/CRC ║ ║ K - (I) Xmodem-1K ║ ║ M - (I) Xmodem-1KG ║ ║ Y - (I) Ymodem ║ ║ G - (I) Ymodem-G ║ ║ Z - (I) Zmodem ║ ╚═════════════════════════╝ You can tell the internal protocols immediately - they will always be the first six on the menu, and just in case you get them confused with any others they are also prefixed by '(I)' to indicate that they are the (I)nternal protocols. PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 54 Remember, before running the protocol, you *must* ensure that both you and the remote system are using the same protocol. Failure to use identical protocols will almost certainly mean an aborted transfer. To implement the required protocol, more the highlit bar to the appropriate protocol entry and press return. The protocol will then start up. The choice of which protocol to use is, of course, limited by what the remote system has to offer. However, most services offer the above protocols as standard, so what follows is a summarised view of each of PANTHER's internal protocols and what they offer; XMODEM/CRC - At one time this was the most popular protocol around but it has since fallen into disuse due to other newer protocols being both faster and more reliable. Files are sent in 'blocks' of 128 characters, waiting each time for the receiver to signal an acknowledgement that the block was received intact. Error checking is performed by a Cyclic Redundancy Check on the block to ensure what was received is exactly what was sent. Although Xmodem is regarded as being 'old hat' it's almost guaranteed to be available on any remote system you care to mention. XMODEM-1K - This is almost identical to the above Xmodem except for the fact that blocks comprise of 1024 characters at a time. XMODEM-1KG - This is a faster version of the Xmodem-1k protocol. However, it achieves this speed by not waiting for the receiver to signal that each block was received intact. This is really only designed for use in error-free conditions such as cabled links between two computers. If the receiver detects any errors during the transfer then the whole transfer is simply aborted. YMODEM - This is effectively Xmodem-1k with batch facilities added to it - the ability to send multiple files during a single transfer. It can use either 128 or 1024 character blocks and also transfers in advance the name, size and date of the file(s). YMODEM-G - This is a faster version of the Ymodem protocol, much like Xmodem-1kG. It achieves its increased speed by not waiting for the receiver to signal that each block was received intact. It too is really only designed for use in error-free conditions such as cabled links between two computers. If the receiver detects any errors during the transfer then the whole transfer is simply aborted. PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 55 ZMODEM - Devised by Chuck Forsberg for Telenet, Zmodem is by far and away the most popular, reliable, fastest and powerful protocol there is, and the one we would definitely recommend you use if the remote system offers it. It can transfer multiple files in a single batch, retains the files sizes, dates and names, forwarding these to the receiver in advance of the file being transferred. Files are not sent in blocks in the same manner as the previous protocols, but are really sent in 'data subpackets' of 1024 bytes apiece, along with header information and block check bytes. Each data subpacket in turn is sent in a 'frame' which can contain any number of data subpackets at a time. The receiver will, in general, only stop the transfer if a bad data subpacket is received. It doesn't even require the receiver to acknowledge receipt of packets, meaning a faster throughput all round. More significantly, Zmodem also has an ability called 'crash recovery' which gives it the ability to start a failed transfer from the point at which it failed. If you have been downloading a 500K file and the transfer fails at the 490K mark, it would be frustrating (not to mention expensive!) to have to start again from scratch. Zmodem gets round this by picking up the transfer from where it left off before, leaving only a 10K transfer to finish the file off. PANTHER's implementation of Zmodem will *only* overwrite a file if the incoming file is newer than the existing file, otherwise it will crash recover the existing file. (Note that PANTHER's internal Zmodem does *not* support Forsberg's CRC check which will check the actual contents of the file in question. If this facility is important to you then we suggest you use an external Zmodem such as Forsberg's DSZ.) Since the sender sends the details of the files being transferred, it is not necessary for you to enter the names of the files before the transfer gets under way. Since this is the case, PANTHER offers an 'Auto Zmodem Download' facility (which you can set from the Configuration/Program Settings menu) which will automatically start up a Zmodem download as soon as the Zmodem download string is received by PANTHER. It's important to note that by definition, and with the exception of a crash-recovering Zmodem, all the internal protocols will overwrite any existing files in your download directory with the same name as the incoming file. Losing files in this manner might just get a little wearing, so PANTHER has added a small facility to all its internal programs whereby it will automatically rename the INCOMING file to avoid destroying the existing file. PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 56 For example, if you are downloading a file called BLACKCAT.ZIP and such a file already exists in your download directory, then PANTHER will cause the downloaded file to be called BLACKCAT.ZI0. It actually goes further than this - if *that* file exists then it will call the incoming file BLACKCAT.ZI1 and so on, incrementing the name of the incoming file's extension up to 999. Of course, if you actually *reach* BLACKCAT.999 then you really ought to be having a serious think about cleaning out your hard drive... PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 57 INTERNAL FILE LISTING --------------------- One of the novel features in PANTHER is that of an internal file listing that can hold the names of up to 20 files and send that list up to the remote system on it requesting a list of required files. This list can be edited when either offline or online and has a couple of associated script file commands to assist with its use. For example, if you are either in the dialling directory, terminal mode or if on line then pressing ALT-Y brings up the internal file list editor as follows; ┌─┤ EDIT FILE LIST ├─┐ │ │ │ 1 - ............ │ │ 2 - ............ │ │ 3 - ............ │ │ 4 - ............ │ │ 5 - ............ │ │ 6 - ............ │ │ 7 - ............ │ │ 8 - ............ │ │ 9 - ............ │ │ 10 - ............ │ │ 11 - ............ │ │ 12 - ............ │ │ 13 - ............ │ │ 14 - ............ │ │ 15 - ............ │ │ 16 - ............ │ │ 17 - ............ │ │ 18 - ............ │ │ 19 - ............ │ │ 20 - ............ │ └───┤ F10 QUITS ├────┘ The highlight bar will initially be on the next free entry - if you have already defined five files then the highlight will be over the sixth entry. Simply type in the name of the file that you wish to add to the list and press return. It's as simple as that. The editor will only accept valid DOS characters. If you want to delete a file from the list simply delete the name from the list with the DEL key. The file listing is intelligent enough to pack your file entries together without leaving blank spaces. For example, if you specified files in positions 1, 3, 5 and 8 then the editor would pack the names together into positions 1, 2, 3 and 4. That way you avoid sending any 'blank lines' to the remote system for reasons that ought to become clear shortly. PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 58 Once you have added all the files you want then press F10 and you will save the file listing and continue with whatever it was that you were doing before. If you do not wish to save the listing then pressing escape will discard any changes you have made. You may wish to delete the entire list - this is possible if you have acted on one file list and want to create another. Manually deleting each file name would be a rather cumbersome task but there is a faster way. If you enter DEL as the first file entry then all the file entries will be deleted and the file list editor will be back in its 'empty' state. There is also an alternative way to enter file names into the editor. If you invoke PANTHER with the command line PANTHER FILE=<FileList> then the first twenty lines of the ASCII file specified by <filelist> are read (or the whole of the file if there are less than twenty lines) and the file listing is 'filled out' with these lines. For example, if you have a file called MYFILES.DAT which looks like this FILE1.ZIP FILE2.ZIP FILE3.ZIP and you read in the file by running 'PANTHER FILE=MYFILES.DAT' then the file list will contain three entries, being the three files above. (It also means that your Sysop has a particularly boring way of naming his files but that's another matter altogether) Now we come to actually sending the files to the remote system; how do we do this? There are two methods. First however, let's have a look at how most systems actually ask for files from you. In 99% of cases we have come across, host systems generally ask you to file in the names of files in a line editor and then ask you to send a blank line to finish the list, something like this; Type '/q' on a blank line to abort download. Type '/e' to edit the download list. Type '/g' to start the download and log off afterwards. For a normal download, simply press <enter>. File(s) to download (#1): PANTHER.ZIP (1) PANTHER.ZIP (03:22, 343433 bytes) File(s) to download (#2): AVATAR.DOC (2) AVATAR.DOC (00:12, 6831 bytes) File(s) to download (#3): VGABLAST.ZIP (3) VGABLAST.ZIP (01:22, 131841 bytes) File(s) to download (#4): PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 59 Now imagine that you've entered the three file names you want and now want to terminate the list and start the download - what you do here is simply press enter on the blank prompt for file #4 and the download will commence. PANTHER's internal file system works like this. When sending the files it appends (that means 'sticks on the end' for all you Canadian people out there) each file name with a return character and then sends these sequentially up the line, (to mimic you typing each file name and then pressing return) after which it then sends a final return character (to mimic you pressing return on the blank line) to tell the host you've finished with the list. You can now probably see why PANTHER intelligently 'bunches' all your file names together as described before. If it didn't then you'd be sending a spurious blank line halfway through entering the file names and all kinds of things could go wrong. You see? We think of everything and yet it's still free! Amazing! Sending the list to the host is simplicity itself - simply press F5 and the list will be sent off up the line. Alternatively, you can do this through the script command SEND FILES. The other script command CLEAR FILELIST will erase all the files in the list for you. There is even a script function - FILELISTING - which you can use to determine if you have a file list set up or not. See the section on script file for more details on this. The big advantage to using a script like this is that it doesn't need to be changed for every new connection. If you simply edit an ASCII file to contain all the file names you want to appear in the file list then prudent use of the FILE= parameter, <QUIT> macro feature and SEND FILES and FILELISTING script directives can completely automate your file downloads with the minimum of intervention from you. PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 60 RAW LOGGING ----------- Raw logging is perfectly straightforward - it is activated by toggling the setting in the Programs Settings submenu within the configuration menu. When raw logging is active, every shred of data coming in through your serial port is captured to a raw log file. There are four terminal emulations within PANTHER; Teletype, ANSI, Avatar and VT52 and the raw log file names reflect the emulation used; RAWLOG.TXT for Teletype, RAWLOG.ANS for ANSI, RAWLOG.AVT for Avatar and RAWLOG.V52 for VT52. If you are using raw logs with one emulation and switch to another whilst on line with ALT-M then the former raw log file is closed and the raw log appropriate to the new emulation is opened and used. That's about it really. Unless you have mistakenly been using the Teletype emulation when the remote system has been sending ANSI codes or something, you ought to find that the RAWLOG.TXT file is just what its name suggests - plain ASCII, viewable through any file viewer, even the DOS TYPE command. However, if you view the ANSI, Avatar or VT52 raw logs then you will find then are a mixture of control codes and text, so you'll need some method to view them other than just TYPEing them to the screen. If you have the DOS device driver ANSI.SYS loaded then you could just TYPE the RAWLOG.ANS file to the screen, but the output might be rather fast and anyway, what about Avatar and VT52. Device drivers for these are very rare indeed, if not nonexistent. Luckily, PANTHER provides a viewer for all your RAWLOG.* files, accessible from the main menu. Once you select it from the main menu you get the following submenu; ┌──────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ RAW LOG FILE VIEWER MENU │ │ Select Choice or ESC to Quit │ │ │ │ F1 View ANSI Raw Log File │ │ F2 View Avatar Raw Log File │ │ F3 View Teletype Raw Log File │ │ F4 View VT52 Raw Log File │ │ F5 Return To Main Menu │ │ │ └──────────────────────────────────────────┘ Go on...have a mad, rash and wild guess at what you do next... Once you start up the raw log viewer the screen clears to reveal a status line at the bottom and the selected raw log file is displayed on the screen in a 'continuous' mode. PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 61 Whilst viewing the file you can speed the display up by (repeatedly) pressing the plus (+) key or slow it down by (repeatedly) pressing the minus (-) key. The delay between characters being processed is shown at the right of the status bar in milliseconds. You can pause the display by pressing 'P' and unpause it by pressing either 'P' or the space bar. Pressing escape takes you back to the raw log viewer menu again. PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 62 SCROLLBACK BUFFER ----------------- PANTHER features an internal scrollback buffer that allows you to view past data received. It can be accessed by either selecting the scrollback viewer from the main menu or by pressing ALT-V when on line, in terminal mode or from the dialling directory. As data enters the port, PANTHER interprets it according to the terminal emulation in force and filters out the control codes the terminal emulation uses. The remaining text is sent into the scrollback buffer. If the buffer fills up then data at the top of the buffer gets 'knocked off' to make room for the incoming data. The size of the scrollback buffer cannot be controlled by the user; PANTHER dynamically allocates memory to the scrollback buffer according to how much memory remains after the main program has loaded. When viewing the scrollback buffer, the text is displayed in monochrome. (yellow on black) Navigate through the buffer with the up and down arrow, home and end keys. To search for text in the buffer press 'F' and small box will appear on the screen asking you to fill in the text to be searched for. Pressing 'S' will allow you to save the entire buffer out to disk. If you do so, enter the buffer file name (without any extension) and it shall be saved out as plain text to the file specified. Alternatively, toggling the Buffer Dumping setting in the Program Settings menu to on will automatically dump the entire buffer out to a file called AUTOBUF.BUF on quitting PANTHER. PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 63 SCRIPT FILES ------------ PANTHER has a script language built into it which may take much of the effort out of repetitive tasks when on line, such as entering your name, password and so on. What is a script file? In its simplest format, it is somewhat similar to a DOS batch file, containing a list of prompts which your software will 'expect' to receive from the remote system, and a list of replies that it will send when it receives these prompts. Script files can automate the usage of PANTHER to the extent that little or no intervention may be needed from you when logging on. Obviously, this will require some knowledge of the system you are contacting and the prompts it uses. However, much of the work in creating script files can be avoided by using PANTHER's ability to learn and create script files as it goes along, without any intervention from you at all! Aside from 'learn' facility within PANTHER, script files can also be created by using any text editor or word processor capable of outputting plain ASCII text without any control characters or tabulations. If you haven't got a text editor then ensure your word processor is set to 'non-document' mode in order to save the script file out as ASCII. If you are unsure if your word processor can do this, edit a short (say, ten line) file in your word processor, save it out as TEST.DOC and exit to DOS. If, when you issue the DOS command 'TYPE TEST.DOC', you see your file jumbled up with odd characters that you didn't type then you can be fairly sure that either your word processor isn't set up properly or else it is incapable of saving plain ASCII text. Almost any text editor will fit the bill - personally, we use the excellent QEDIT by SemWare - but just about any one will do. When running script files you might find that the script halts unexpectedly or that the remote system sends you a prompt that neither you nor the script file expected. To get round this problem, PANTHER also offers a script tracing facility through the TRACE command, allowing you to see exactly at which position the script file has reached and was instruction it is processing. PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 64 SCRIPT FILE COMMANDS -------------------- Before explaining how script files actually work, let's list all the available PANTHER script file commands and their meanings; RECEIVE <string> PANTHER will wait until string specified is received. If the string is not received by PANTHER within the length of time specified by you in the 'Default script time out' entry in the Program Settings menu then the script will time out and abort, although you will still remain on line. The string you specify may be either in single quotes (RECEIVE 'What is your name?'), double quotes (RECEIVE "What is your name?") or in no quotation marks at all. (RECEIVE What is your name?) If you are unsure as to the exact case of the prompt then you can use the /I switch on the RECEIVE command to make the prompt case insensitive. For instance, RECEIVE /I "This Prompt" and RECEIVE /I "ThIs PrOmPt" are in effect identical statements. MAYGET <string1> .SEND. <string2> This is an extension of the above RECEIVE command. It's really designed for use in situations where you wish to get around prompts that only *might* appear, for example new mail flags, bulletins or other special messages. The command will *only* send string2 back to the remote system *if* it finds string1 in the script buffer of the last 255 characters received by you. If it cannot find string1 in the buffer then nothing happens, but if it does find the string in the buffer then it will send string 2 back to the remote system and clear out the script buffer at the same time so it won't find the prompt again, much as RECEIVE does. One other point to mention is that it is imperative the '.SEND.' word in the command is flanked by two full stops. This is because it is very possible that the word 'send' could appear in one or other of the strings and PANTHER would end up parsing the script command inaccurately. SEND <string> PANTHER will send the specified string to the remote system. The string you specify may be either in single quotes (SEND 'Joe Bloggs'), double quotes (SEND "Joe Bloggs") or in no quotation marks at all. (SEND Joe Bloggs) However, if you do not specify any string in the script, and instead use the key word INPUT (SEND INPUT) then a box will pop up on the screen allowing you to type in whatever it is you want sent to the remote system. PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 65 You can also issue the command SEND FILES at which point PANTHER will send the contents of your internal file list to the remote system. Specifically, what it does is this; takes each file name in the listing and appends a return (^M) character to them then send them up the line one after another, followed by a further return character. You'd normally issue this command at the point where the remote system is ready to accept a list of files from you, so the return characters are there to cause the remote system to accept each name, and the final character is there to stop the remote system from accepting any more as most systems ask you to enter file names one after another, plus a blank line (the final return) to proceed. WAIT <seconds> Your script file will wait for the number of seconds specified before timing out. Effectively, this is a way to increase the default script time out that you have set up in the Program Settings menu, on-the-fly. Of course, using this command within a script file will not permanently affect your set up. This command is generally used prior to a RECEIVE command in circumstances where your normal script time out would be too short. Once the script file encounters a WAIT it alters the time out period to the length of time you have passed it in the command, then goes on immediately to the next line. If PANTHER receives the RECEIVE string within the period set up by the WAIT command then the script time out period is reset back to the default, otherwise the whole script file will time out as per normal. If you pass NO parameters to the WAIT command then it will WAIT indefinitely for the next string to be received - handy if you are doing mail (or other) downloads where you don't know quite how long they will take. UPLOAD <filename> Causes the file specified to be uploaded to the remote system. The default protocol specified for the remote system is used. By default, the file will be taken from the directory you have specified as the upload directory in the Paths menu. However, if you specify a full qualified path name (for example, C:\FILES\GAME.ZIP) then the file will be uploaded as per the entire path name. If the file doesn't exist then an error message will be generated. DOWNLOAD filename Causes file specified to be downloaded from the remote system. The default protocol specified for the remote system is used. The file will be placed into the directory you have set up as the download directory in the Paths menu. PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 66 DELETE filename The file specified will be deleted, if it exists. If or the file doesn't exist then an error message will be ERASE filename generated, although the script file will continue to operate as normal. CAPTURE <on/off f> Turns a capture file on or off. An additional second parameter (shown here as 'f') can be used to specify the name of the capture file. If no name is given for the capture file then the file will default to the name PANTHER.CAP. If the capture file exists when turned on the it will be appended to, otherwise it will be created. It is probably easiest to specify a capture file name as 'MYCAP' since as part of its verification features, PANTHER will not let you path a script file directed capture file elsewhere and will not allow file extensions other than '.CAP'. If you specify a file name such as 'C:\CAPTURES\CAPFILE.1' then the script will delete all extraneous information from the file name and will create (or append to) a file called CAPFILE.CAP within the program path as defined in the configuration. A directive other than ON or OFF will result in the CAPTURE instruction being ignored. SOUND on/off Turns sounds on or off. This might be useful for late night work! TRACE on/off Opens a script tracing window. When the TRACE ON command is given then PANTHER will open a further small window on the screen containing the current script file command being processed. This way, you can debug script files that appear to be going astray by seeing at exactly which point the script 'breaks down' at. You will probably find that the script window flickers rather a lot when data is coming in through the serial port. This is unavoidable since the trace window has to disappear when data is coming in and reappear when data is coming out in order to avoid corrupting the screen display. The trace window is also intelligent enough to know that it ought not to place itself over the current cursor position, thereby obscuring your view of the prompt. There is one thing to watch out for, however - if you use the OnScreen internal function and the script trace window is placed over the expected prompt then the script will *not* find the prompt. Again, this is somewhat unavoidable as PANTHER cannot tell in advance which prompts you will be looking for and hence where to place the trace window. PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 67 HANGUP Unconditionally drops the carrier and breaks the connection. It's bad practice to do this if you are in the middle of a session since it may hang the remote system indefinitely. It's usually better to break connection by logging off from the remote system MINIMUM SPEED <n> This is really only specified for the Auto Dialler, although you might want to use it within your 'normal' script files as well. It demands that the connection be made at _at_least_ the baud rate defined as 'n'. If not, then the connection will be broken. This is useful for systems that suffer badly from 'line noise' that causes the negotiated baud rate to drop, sometimes dramatically, causing the whole operation to slow up. If you pass anything other than a numeric argument 'n' to the command then it will be ignored. Note that, although this command (like any other) can be placed at any point in the script file, it only really 'makes sense' to have it as the first command in the script. Also, watch out for silly entries like MINIMUM SPEED 1000000! PAUSE <seconds> This will _unconditionally_ pause the processing of the script file for the length of time specified. This command is useful within script files for some systems that utilise some text file displaying utilities that pause themselves for a couple of seconds before accepting keystrokes. Whereas WAIT is used to delay the receipt of a string prompt, PAUSE should be used to delay the sending of a string once the prompt is received. If either a non-numeric argument or no argument at all is passed to the command then the command will be ignored. IF <condition> Optionally executes a series of statements THEN depending on the True/False value of the passed <statements> condition. If the condition is true then the first ELSE (THEN) set of statements are executed, otherwise <statements> the second (ELSE) statements are executed. An ELSE ENDIFF clause is optional, ie you can have IF...THEN...ENDIFF but there must be a terminating ENDIFF to indicate the end of the conditional section. IF...ENDIFF constructions cannot be nested at this stage, that is you cannot place another IF...ENDIFF in the conditional statements of another. More about conditions in a minute... PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 68 WHILE <condition> Optionally and continually executes a series of <statements> statements depending on the True/False value of the WEND passed condition. Literally, while the passed condition is true then the <statements> will be executed. If the condition is initially false then the <statements> will never be executed and the script process will jump straight over this construction to the statement beyond the WEND. For every WHILE statement there must be an associated and unique WEND. REPEAT Optionally and continually executes a series of <statements> statements depending on the True/False value of the UNTIL <condition> passed condition. Literally, the script will repeatedly execute the <statements> until the <condition> becomes true. If the condition is initially true then the <statements> will only be executed once and once only. For every REPEAT statement there must be an associated and unique UNTIL. CLRSCR Clears the screen and resets screen text colour to the default, ie light grey on black for all terminal emulations except Avatar which uses cyan on black. BEEP F D Issues a beep from the speaker at frequency F for D milliseconds. For example, BEEP 523 500 would give you a middle C beep (523 MHz) for half a second. (500 ms) DOS START Execute a series of DOS commands. PANTHER actually <DOS statements> takes the <DOS statements> and writes them out to a DOS STOP DOS batch file called COS_SCR.BAT which it then shells out to and executes, returning to PANTHER when it quits. The <statements> can be absolutely any DOS commands you like, either internal commands, external utility programs or even whole applications if you wish. When PANTHER shells to DOS it will swap itself either to XMS, EMS or disk to allow as much free memory for the child process as possible. However, this will effectively render PANTHER's interrupt driven system ineffective so ensure that this command is only issued when neither you nor the remote system are actually doing anything. That way you won't lose any data. Notice also that it is inadvisable to execute much in the way of complex DOS commands in this manner when using the Auto Dialler since a child program may hang (for whatever reason) and you may be left on line for a long period. If you must use the DOS START...DOS STOP commands during an Auto Dialler session then make sure the programs being called are reliable. PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 69 LABEL LabelName Marks a label point in the script to be used by GOTO commands. The LabelName can be anything you like, but make sure that labels in the same file all have unique names, otherwise your GOTO commands might just GOTO the wrong point! GOTO LabelName Jumps the script to the specified LABEL point. If the label doesn't exist then the script will terminate. STOPSCRIPT Simply stops the script file altogether and turns all scripting off for that session. WARNING <string> Displays the specified string in a neat little box on the screen and issues a loud beep to draw your attention. MESSAGE <string> Displays the specified string in a neat little box on the screen. LOGWRITE <string> Write the string to the log file if its active. PRINTER on/off Turn printer capture session on or off. MACRO <string> The macro <string> passed is expanded and activated. This is a simple and yet extremely powerful command, since it directly gives script files the ability to control any aspect of PANTHER's operation. For instance, the script command MACRO <ALT-C>YMYCAP.CAP^M would turn a capture file session on by the <ALT-C> keystroke, confirm the action with 'Y', enter the name (MYCAP.CAP) and return that name (^M) for you. Depending on circumstances, this may be a more convenient way to activate some of PANTHER's features through script files. IEMSI Suspends script file operation whilst IEMSI negotiations are under way. REN f1 f2 Renames a file from f1 to f2. Normal DOS rules apply. COPY f1 f2 Copies a file f1 to f2. The target f2 can either be a file name or a directory. Normal DOS rules apply. MKDIR d1 Makes a directory called d1. This command can be shortened to MD if preferred. Normal DOS rules apply. RMDIR d1 Removes the directory d1, if possible. This command can be shortened to RD if preferred. Normal DOS rules apply. PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 70 CHAIN Script This causes PANTHER to close up the current script file and 'chain' off to another one and start running it from the beginning. Once the target script file has been completed then script activities cease, unless of course you chain off to another script file. FUNCTIONS AND CONDITIONS ------------------------ The conditional aspect of the IF...ENDIFF, RETURN...UNTIL and WHILE...WEND statements depends upon the truth of a condition attached to the query. Look upon it this way; IF Some event has happened THEN Do these statements ELSE The event hasn't happened so do these statements instead ENDIFF WHILE Some event hasn't happened Do these statements WEND REPEAT These statements UNTIL an event happens The whole concept is tied down to an event 'happening'. But how can you express what these events are and how can PANTHER determine whether or not they have happened or not? The latter question is easy - PANTHER just takes your instructions and determines their values internally through its script processor. The way that *you* tell PANTHER which conditions you want it to observe is through FUNCTIONS. Functions are generally called by passing parameters (or 'arguments') to the function in brackets. Functions only return two values; TRUE or FALSE. Here is a listing of PANTHER's internal functions; ONSCREEN (String) Returns TRUE if the specified string is anywhere on the screen, otherwise it returns FALSE. eg OnScreen (What is your name?) PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 71 ONLINETIME (Seconds,Over/Under) Returns TRUE if the specified time (in seconds) is greater or less than the time you have been on line, depending on the second argument passed. For example, if you have been on line for three minutes the OnLineTime (100, Under) would be FALSE since you had been on line for over 100 seconds, whereas OnLineTime (120, Over) would be TRUE since you had been on line for more than 120 seconds. DAYOFTHEWEEK (Day) Returns TRUE if the specified day matches the actual day of the week. The specified day can be any of Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri, Sat, Sun or Wkd, which means 'weekend'. eg DayOfTheWeek (Wed) TIMEOFDAY (Morning/Afternoon/Evening/Night) Returns TRUE if the current time of day falls within the given period. The periods are defined as follows; Morning = 0600 - 1200, Afternoon = 1200-1800, Evening = 1800-0000 and Night = 0000-0600. eg TimeOfDay (Night) QUESTIONBOX (String) Displays a box on the screen and prompts you to answer (Y/N) to it. Returns TRUE if you reply 'Y' and FALSE if you reply 'N'. One thing - if you are using Auto Dialler then you wouldn't want scripts sitting with a pretty little box expecting you to enter a prompt when you are elsewhere partying the night away, would you? As this is the case it is assumed that the answer to your query is 'Y' if you are using Auto Dialler. eg QuestionBox (Are you sure you want to quit?) EXIST (Filename) Returns TRUE if the specified file exists, FALSE otherwise. eg EXIST (C:\CONFIG.SYS) FILELISTING Simply returns TRUE if you have an internal file listing specified, false otherwise. INBUFFER (String) Returns TRUE if the specified string can be found in the incoming script buffer. However, even if the function manages to find the string it will NOT reinitialise the buffer in the same manner that RECEIVE does, hence it will take a further RECEIVE command to clear the buffer out. One of the primary usages of the INBUFFER function would be as a loop control system such as REPEAT MAYGET "More (Y/N)" .SEND. "N^M" MAYGET "Read Mail Now?" .SEND. "N^M" UNTIL InBuffer ('Command?') RECEIVE ('Command') PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 72 Now how do you actually use these functions? It's really quite simple. Here are a few examples; (which is probably the best way to learn!) IF DayOfTheWeek(Tue) THEN <do some statements that apply to Tuesday only...> ELSE <do some statements that apply to any other day of the week...> ENDIFF REPEAT <do some things to download \DOWNLOAD\RECDFILE.ZIP> UNTIL Exist(\DOWNLOAD\RECDFILE.ZIP) WHILE OnScreen (Download file using Zmodem...) <while there are files to download...> DOWNLOAD WEND Functions can also be combined or even negated. For instance (I can't imagine why you would want to do this, but just suppose!) what if you only wanted to do something IF it's morning and IF you don't have a file called MORNING.LOG - how would you do this? The answer is to use PANTHER's functional operators .AND. .OR. and .NOT. which can combined the results of two (and only two) functions. For example, in the above instance you'd want to check the overall result of TWO functions, TIMEOFDAY (for the time of day being morning) and EXIST (for the presence of a file) How would you do this? Simple, negate the EXIST function with .NOT. to get its opposite result and then combine the results of the two functions with .AND. to get IF TimeOfDay(Morning) .AND. .NOT. Exist(MORNING.LOG) Note that the periods on either side of the .NOT., .AND. and .OR. operators are essential; PANTHER's internal script file parser requires them to be there for it to understand what you are talking about. INTERNAL VARIABLES ------------------ In additional to all the above, the script file also understands four internal PANTHER variables. When placed in the script file, they will be read and expanded to their actual meaning. These variables are; *NAME This is the full name as set up in the User's Name entry in the Program Settings menu. PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 73 *FIRST This will return the Christian name extracted from the User's Name entry in the Program Settings menu. Note that if your name uses more than three 'words' (like 'Billie Jean King') then *FIRST will only return the first word extracted from the name. This is only to avoid an ambiguity. *LAST This will return the surname extracted from the User's Name entry in the Program Settings menu. Note that if your name uses more than three 'words' (like 'Rip Van Winkle') then *LAST will only return the last word extracted from the name. This is only to avoid an ambiguity. *PASSWORD This will be expanded to give the password you have allocated to the remote system in the dialling directory. *UPLOADPATH This will be expanded to the full upload path. *DOWNLOADPATH Unless you're the victim of a cruel medical experiment you can probably work this one out for yourself. *PROGRAMPATH This will be expanded to the main PANTHER directory. However, unlike the 'Program Path' setting in your configuration/paths set up., it will NOT be terminated with a trailing '\' character. (It must be remembered here that the program path does *not* have a trailing backslash whereas the upload and download paths *do* have a training backslash. In short, they are expanded to exactly as they are shown in the paths settings in the configuration menu whereas the program path is *not*) *SCREENLINE[n] This one is slightly different; it will be expanded to the 'nth' line on your screen, where the top line is number one and so on down to twenty four or twenty five, depending on whether or not you are using a status line. This might be useful if you have to capture node information about the remote system on logging on, since you can divert the captured line to the log file by using the LOGWRITE command, as in LOGWRITE *ScreenLine[10] which will write out the tenth line on the screen to the PANTHER.LOG file. # (hash) This is interpreted as a 'return' character. PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 74 ^ (caret) To insert control characters into your script files, use the caret notation. For example, ^M is interpreted as CTRL-M, which would insert a return character into your script prompts or strings. To insert a caret into your prompts use two carets together, as in ^^. Some of the more familiar control characters are ^M CR Carriage Return ^J LF Line Feed ^L FF Form Feed ^[ ESC Escape NOTE: If you are using XON/XOFF handshaking then take care not to include either ^Q (XON) or ^S (XOFF) characters in your SEND strings as they will probably disturb transmission! Anything that PANTHER finds within a script file that it _doesn't_ understand, it ignores. Also, you may freely add comments to the script file as long as occupy a line by themselves and are preceded by a semi colon character (;). HOW TO USE SCRIPT FILES ----------------------- Script files MUST reside in the script directory as set up in the Paths menu. You cannot path a script file elsewhere. Using a script file you have created couldn't be easier. To cause a script file to be invoked merely enter the name of the script file into the SCRIPT entry in the dialling directory. NOTE THAT ALL SCRIPT FILES HAVE THE FILE EXTENSION '.SPT'. Don't enter this, just the file's name. So, for instance, if you have a script file by the name of ALMAC.SPT and you want to associate this with your entry for ALMAC BBS then edit the directory entry and include the name 'ALMAC' alongside the entry for 'Script File' and save it. Your dialling directory should then look something like this; ALMAC BBS │031 660 6680 │19200 │8-N-1│ALMAC Then just dial the number and the script file will start up. You can keep a check on the script file's 'status' by examining the bottom right corner of the status line. If a script file is currently in use then the centre character of the rightmost 'box' on the status line will be an 'S'. If the script is finished running or aborted (by pressing ALT-A when on line) then the character space will be blank. If, however, a script file is being learned by PANTHER then this character will appear on the status line as an 'L'. PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 75 LEARNING SCRIPT FILES --------------------- To force PANTHER to learn a script file, just specify a NON-EXISTENT script file name in the dialling directory. PANTHER will detect the fact that a script is being requested and will start creating the script file for you. You can abort the learning process at any time whilst on line by pressing ALT-F. Note that terminating the learning process like this will save the script file off to disk. As an alternative to specifying a non-existent script file, hit ALT-0 (alt-zero) on the dialling directory and you will toggle the script overwrite mode. Normally if PANTHER finds the script file specified in the dialling directory then it uses it, otherwise it learns it. The script overwrite method disables such intelligence and forces PANTHER to learn the script file whether it finds it or not. This will generally be more convenient than having to find unused script names, should you ever have to re-learn script files. However, be careful with this feature - if you have it set then it will overwrite any scripts you attempt to use. To this effect, a warning message flashes in the dialling directory alerting you to the fact that you have the script overwrite mode set. To unset it simply hit ALT-0 (alt-zero) again. There's one thing to remember when learning script file - don't learn scripts for systems you have never contacted before. You will generally find that most systems have a new set of procedures for new users and may take you through questionnaires and display 'first time' information to you. If you are learning a script file whilst doing this then you'll almost certainly find that it won't be right the second time! As a rule, don't specify scripts for new systems - leave them until the second time or after. Learned scripts will contain all the necessary commands required to emulate the 'learned' connection, with the notable exception of the PAUSE command, which cannot be learned. Since PANTHER would have difficulty in detecting whether a remote system is accepting keystrokes at that time, PAUSE commands will have to be manually entered into your script file (if necessary) using your text editor. Similarly, it would be presumptuous of PANTHER to add a MINIMUM SPEED directive to your scripts. If you require this command then it too will have to be manually edited into your script file. PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 76 EXAMPLE SCRIPT FILE ------------------- To demonstrate how to use PANTHER's script language, here's a example of what you might find in a script file. The following is a script file designed to log onto a PC-Board BBS system (I use ALMAC in this case but it could be any of them), download mail via the popular Qmail door, optionally download a filelisting every Thursday night and download any files mentioned in the internal file listing. ;==================================================================== ;SCRIPT FILE STARTS HERE! Comments can be placed anywhere in a script ;file as long as they are preceded by a semi-colon. ;==================================================================== MINIMUM SPEED 9600 ;--------------------------------------------------------------------- ;This command ensures that any connections made at speeds less than ;9600 are discontinued immediately. ;--------------------------------------------------------------------- ;==================================================================== ; L O G O N S E C T I O N ;==================================================================== ;The following commands simply get you logged on RECEIVE "Enter Language # to use (Enter)=no change?" LOGWRITE *SCREENLINE[7] ;--------------------------------------------------------------------- ;The seventh line on the screen on PC-Board systems shows node ;information and may be useful to you if you get connection problems! ;--------------------------------------------------------------------- SEND "2^M" RECEIVE "Do you want graphics" SEND "y^M" RECEIVE "What is your first name?" SEND "*NAME^M" RECEIVE "Is this correct?" SEND "^M" RECEIVE "Password (Dots will echo)? (" SEND "*PASSWORD^M" ;--------------------------------------------------------------------- ;The next portion shows four prompts that *might* appear on your ;screen. If they do then the MAYGET command intercepts them and ;returns the appropriate response. ;--------------------------------------------------------------------- REPEAT MAYGET 'More?' .SEND. 'N^M' MAYGET 'Read your personal mail now' .SEND. '^M' MAYGET 'Press (Enter) to continue?' .SEND. '^M' MAYGET 'Scan Message Base' .SEND. 'N^M' UNTIL InBuffer ('Main Board Command?') PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 77 RECEIVE "Main Board Command" SEND "open 7^M" WAIT ;--------------------------------------------------------------------- ;The WAIT command merely delays the script file from timing out. ;--------------------------------------------------------------------- ;==================================================================== ; Q M A I L S E C T I O N (DOWNLOADING) ;==================================================================== RECEIVE "Qmail Command?" SEND "d^M" WAIT ;--------------------------------------------------------------------- ;Again, another WAIT delay to allow the mail door to scan all the ;newsgroups and conferences... ;--------------------------------------------------------------------- RECEIVE 'Do you wish to receive these messages (Y/N)?' SEND "Y^M" WAIT 200 RECEIVE "Prepare to download ALMAC.QWK" DOWNLOAD ;--------------------------------------------------------------------- ;Since I have the default protocol for ALMAC set to Zmodem then I ;don't have to specify the name of the file I am downloading! ;--------------------------------------------------------------------- WAIT ;==================================================================== ; Q M A I L S E C T I O N (UPLOADING) ;==================================================================== RECEIVE "Qmail Command?" ;--------------------------------------------------------------------- ;The next bit will only upload messages *if* there are any in my ;upload directory, so the first thing to do is to check to see if ;there are any... ;--------------------------------------------------------------------- IF Exist ('*UPLOADPATH\almac.rep') THEN ;do nothing - the script will just continue on from here. ELSE ;--------------------------------------------------------------------- ;...and if there aren't, merely skip this section and go onto the ;next portion... ;--------------------------------------------------------------------- GOTO ExecNet_Tape ENDIFF SEND "u^M" RECEIVE "Prepare to upload" UPLOAD ALMAC.REP ;--------------------------------------------------------------------- ;Even with Zmodem you have to specify the name of the file to upload! ;--------------------------------------------------------------------- PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 78 ;--------------------------------------------------------------------- ;The next portion awaits the result of the upload. If the word ;'unsuccessful' appears on the screen then retain the replies because ;you'll have to re-upload them. Otherwise it's safe to delete them. Of ;course, if you have *.REP defined as file mask in the 'mail files' ;section of the Configuration/Program Settings set up then it will ;delete the file without even asking you. ;--------------------------------------------------------------------- IF OnScreen('unsuccessful') THEN ;do nothing ELSE DELETE "ALMAC.REP" WAIT RECEIVE "Qmail Command?" ;==================================================================== ; E X E C N E T T A P E ;==================================================================== LABEL ExecNet_Tape ;--------------------------------------------------------------------- ;The following gives you gives you an example of combining two ;functions. It checks to see that *both* the day of the week is ;Thursday AND that it's evening. ;--------------------------------------------------------------------- IF DayOfWeek(Thursday) .AND. TimeOfDay(Evening) THEN ;do nothing for the time being...question to follow ELSE GOTO DownloadFiles ENDIFF ;--------------------------------------------------------------------- ;If the conditions are suitable then ask to see if you want the file ;lists or not. ;--------------------------------------------------------------------- IF QuestionBox('Download the new file lists?') THEN SEND "q^M" RECEIVE "Main Board Command" SEND "j 5^M" ;--------------------------------------------------------------------- ;Again, the following part will skip a couple of prompts that you only ;*might* get. ;--------------------------------------------------------------------- REPEAT MAYGET "Scan Message' (Enter)=yes? " .SEND. "n^M" MAYGET "Press (Enter) to continue? " .SEND. "^M" UNTIL InBuffer ('Command') ;--------------------------------------------------------------------- ;Remember, InBuffer() only checks to see if the specified prompt is ;actually in the incoming script buffer - it doesn't act on it. You ;need a RECEIVE for that. ;--------------------------------------------------------------------- PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 79 RECEIVE "Command" SEND "db^M" RECEIVE "(1)" SEND "WEEK1.ZIP^M" RECEIVE "(2)" SEND "^M" RECEIVE "(G)oodbye" SEND "g^M" DOWNLOAD WAIT RECEIVE "seconds. (H)angup now or (Ctrl-K) to cancel.." SEND "h" RECEIVE "Thanks for calling" ;--------------------------------------------------------------------- ;The script has been designed to stop here and not go onto the file ;download sections - after all, a new file listing might change your ;file 'wants'! ;--------------------------------------------------------------------- HANGUP STOPSCRIPT ENDIFF ;==================================================================== ; D O W N L O A D F I L E S I N F I L E L I S T I N G ;==================================================================== LABEL DownloadFiles IF FileListing ;--------------------------------------------------------------------- ;Remember the FileListing only returns TRUE if there are any files ;specified in PANTHER's internal file list. ;--------------------------------------------------------------------- THEN SEND "q^M" RECEIVE "Main Board Command" SEND "j 5^M" ;--------------------------------------------------------------------- ;Again, the following part will skip a couple of prompts that you only ;*might* get. ;--------------------------------------------------------------------- REPEAT MAYGET "Scan Message' (Enter)=yes? " .SEND. "n^M" MAYGET "Press (Enter) to continue? " .SEND. "^M" UNTIL InBuffer ('Command') RECEIVE "Command" SEND "db^M" RECEIVE "(1)" SEND FILES ;--------------------------------------------------------------------- ;The above command will send all of your files in the file listing, ;each followed by a return character, plus a further return character ;after they've all been sent to tell the remote system that you've ;finished sending your list. ;--------------------------------------------------------------------- PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 80 RECEIVE "(G)oodbye" SEND "g^M" DOWNLOAD WAIT RECEIVE "seconds. (H)angup now or (Ctrl-K) to cancel.." SEND "h" RECEIVE "Thanks for calling" HANGUP ENDIFF ;==================================================================== ; L O G G I N G O F F ;==================================================================== ;--------------------------------------------------------------------- ;You'd only arrive at this point if all you had done was upload and ;download mail. You'd still be in the mail door itself so you now have ;to log off from it. ;--------------------------------------------------------------------- LABEL LogOff SEND "g^M" RECEIVE "Thanks for calling" HANGUP ;==================================================================== ; E N D O F S C R I P T F I L E ;==================================================================== HOW TO WRITE SCRIPT FILES ------------------------- Assuming you don't want to use PANTHER's ability to learn script files for you, you can always write your own using a text editor, as mentioned previously. In order to be able to write your own script files, though, you must be at least partly aware of how it is that PANTHER deals with script files and acts on the prompts you include in them. The only command to note in this respect is the RECEIVE command. You will not be able (at least, not all the time) to use RECEIVE prompts if they are a considerable 'distance' up the screen from the cursor. PANTHER keeps a constant check on the characters you are receiving and maintains a list of the last 255 of them. If you ask PANTHER to RECEIVE a prompt (or part of a prompt) that is more than appeared on the screen more than 255 characters ago, then PANTHER will never find it and the chances are that your script file will fail. In general, the best prompts to choose for this purpose are found in the last few lines received. For example, if you wish a script file to automatically enter a menu choice for you from a menu that fills the screen and displays the prompt 'What is your choice? :', then this prompt - being the latest received by you - would be the most sensible to choose. PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 81 Once PANTHER has recognised that it has indeed RECEIVEd the string you are asking for, then its blanks out the list of characters it is monitoring, in order that anything you receive after that will not be interfered with by past prompts. 'SMART' SCRIPT FILES -------------------- 'What on Earth is a 'smart' script file?', I hear you ask. And well you may. This is a feature which is (we think!) unique to PANTHER and which might save a bit of time. Smart scripts are only used should a script file fail or start to fail. Huh? I'll try and explain... Picture the scene. You have set up a script file for your local BBS which will log you on, pick up your mail, upload your replies, grab the latest files listings and then log off. You've tested it and watched it doing its stuff and it works just fine. So you set up Auto Dialler to contact the BBS using your precious script file, whilst you are in your bed, dreaming of the day you'll own a better modem. Unknown to you, though, the BBS Sysop has stuck a temporary message on the board advising everyone of something - his holidays, Merry Christmas, the dog's not well or whatever. Say the message looks like this; ╔═══════════════════════════════════════╗ ║ Would all users fill in the ║ ║ questionnaire in mail area #2 please? ║ ║ Thanks. ║ ║ Bob - BBS Sysop ║ ╚═══════════════════════════════════════╝ Press [ENTER] to continue... What would happen? Well, your script file won't know about the 'Press [ENTER] to continue...' prompt sitting on your screen and will probably be sitting there, merrily waiting for a prompt which will never appear because it doesn't see what it is expecting. The final result will be that the script file will either time out (because it hasn't received the right prompt in time), if using the Auto Dialler then the maximum length of the Auto Dialler connection will be reached (eventually) or PANTHER will time out because it doesn't receive any data within the Auto Dialler Time Out period (as specified in the configuration menu) or else - if it's using smart enough software - the BBS itself will time you out. Either way, it means no carrier, no mail and no file listings. You get up the next morning to find that the connection has failed and mutter threats as you log on at a peak time to do the whole thing manually. Well, that WOULD be the case, except...it might not be. What happens is this; PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 82 PANTHER knows that your script file is about to time out. What it does, just on the point where the script is about to time out, is lift the prompt from the screen and examine it, making a best guess as to what is required by the BBS, then sends that guess (with a return character) up the line in an attempt to get things moving again. If PANTHER cannot make head nor tail of the prompt then it tries a return character by default just to see what would happen. If that fails then the script will time out as normal and the connection will be broken. How does it do this? The answer is simple - it follows logical tests to try and work out what the BBS software wants. These tests check to see whether the prompt contains 'Y/N', 'Press RETURN', 'MORE?' or numerous combinations thereof and returns a 'best guess' character. Smart scripts will only be used ONCE. If the one attempt fails to do anything then the script is allowed to time out. PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 83 KEYSTROKE MACROS WITHIN PANTHER ------------------------------- Macros are a handy way of saving you some time. With a macro, you can associate a line of text (or 'string' as it is more commonly known) with a particular keystroke. When that keystroke has been made, the line of text you have previously associated with that key will be sent to your modem. You can also run external programs from within macros. A macro is executed by pressing the associated keystroke. Macros can be executed from just about any part of PANTHER; menus, dialling directory, selection lists, terminal mode or on line. They also work from the command line, but more about that in a minute. EDITING MACROS -------------- In order to set up your macros, press F5 from the main menu. The macro string editor will appear, which looks like this; ┌─────────────────────────────┤ MACRO STRINGS ├──────────────────────────────┐ │ ALT-F1 JOE BLOGGS#...................................................... │ │ ALT-F2 *PASSWORD#....................................................... │ │ ALT-F3 ................................................................. │ │ ALT-F4 ................................................................. │ │ ALT-F5 ................................................................. │ │ ALT-F6 ................................................................. │ │ ALT-F7 ................................................................. │ │ ALT-F8 ................................................................. │ │ ALT-F9 ................................................................. │ │ ALT-F10 ................................................................. │ │ CTRL-F1 ................................................................. │ │ CTRL-F2 ................................................................. │ │ CTRL-F3 ................................................................. │ │ CTRL-F4 ................................................................. │ │ CTRL-F5 ................................................................. │ │ CTRL-F6 ................................................................. │ │ CTRL-F7 ................................................................. │ │ CTRL-F8 ................................................................. │ │ CTRL-F9 ................................................................. │ │ CTRL-F10 ................................................................. │ └─┤ # = RETURN CHAR, ~ = HALF SEC PAUSE, F1 HELP, F10 ACCEPTS, ESC ABORTS ├──┘ All the possible 20 macro keystrokes are listed together with whatever text (if any) is associated with them. The above example shows what macros are created by the PANTHER installation program. (Although obviously your name will appear for ALT-F1 and not that of the ubiquitous Mr Bloggs.) PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 84 On starting the macro editor the currently highlighted field will be that associated with ALT-F1. You can move to the field you wish by pressing the up and down arrow keys. When you reach the field you wish to edit, enter whatever text you wish, up to a limit of 200 characters. Once you are happy with whatever text you have entered, press return to store that text in the field. Once you have edited all the macros you wish, press F10 to quit the macro editor and automatically save the macros to the disk file PANTHER.MAC. On the other hand, if you do not wish to keep the macros you have just edited, pressing escape will exit you from the editor with confirmation. When you are entering the text of your macros, you may use the following variables which will be expanded to their full meaning on being sent to your modem; *NAME This is the full name as set up in the User's Name entry in the Program Settings menu. *FIRST This will return the Christian name extracted from the User's Name entry in the Program Settings menu. Note that if your name uses more than three 'words' (like 'Billie Jean King') then *FIRST will only return the first word extracted from the name. This is only to avoid an ambiguity. *LAST This will return the surname extracted from the User's Name entry in the Program Settings menu. Note that if your name uses more than three 'words' (like 'Rip Van Winkle') then *LAST will only return the last word extracted from the name. This is only to avoid any ambiguity. *PASSWORD This will be expanded to give the password you have allocated to the remote system in the dialling directory. # (hash) This is interpreted as a 'return' character. ~ (tilde) This will cause the macro to pause for half a second at that particular point. PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 85 ^ (caret) To insert control characters into your macro strings, use the caret notation. For example, ^M is interpreted as CTRL-M, which would insert a return character into your macro. To insert a caret into your strings use two carets together, as in ^^. Some of the more familiar control characters are ^M CR Carriage Return ^J LF Line Feed ^L FF Form Feed ^[ ESC Escape NOTE: If you are using XON/XOFF handshaking then take care not to include either ^Q (XON) or ^S (XOFF) characters in your macro strings as they will probably disturb transmission when connected to another system. The use of the tilde (~) character should be explained here. This can be useful for a number of things, mainly for sending often used strings to your modem from within terminal mode. For example, imagine you have the following macros set up for a keystroke; 'ATZ#~~~~ATS0=2#' What happens here is that when the keystroke is made, the macro is sent to the modem as usual. However, on reaching each tilde, the macro pauses for half a second. The reason this may be useful is to allow your modem two seconds (represented by the four tildes) to react to the initial 'ATZ' and then to send the following 'ATS0=2'. It may require a bit of experimenting to get the right delays between the commands and not have them 'overlap'. To allow PANTHER's macros to include the extended characters, it also understands the following symbols; [UP] [DOWN] [HOME] [END] [LEFT] [RIGHT] [PGUP] [PGDN] [TAB] [S-TAB] [DEL] [ESC] [F1] [F2] [F3] [F4] [F5] [F6] [F7] [F8] [F9] [F10] [ALT-A] [ALT-B] [ALT-C] [ALT-D] [ALT-E] [ALT-F] [ALT-G] [ALT-H] [ALT-I] [ALT-J] [ALT-K] [ALT-L] [ALT-M] [ALT-N] [ALT-O] [ALT-P] [ALT-Q] [ALT-R] [ALT-S] [ALT-T] [ALT-U] [ALT-V] [ALT-W] [ALT-X] [ALT-Y] [ALT-Z] It also understands the following internal strings from PANTHER's configuration; [RESET] [INIT] [MERCURY] [HANGUP] [PREFIX1] [PREFIX2] [PREFIX3] [PREFIX4] [PREFIX5] If you enter any of these exactly as above into a macro, then PANTHER will expand the symbol to the actual keystroke or string in question, which gives you a powerful means of controlling every aspect of PANTHER's operation. PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 86 For example, imagine that you want to change all your configured protocols in the dialling directory to PANTHER's internal Zmodem. If you have a lot of entries in the directory then this would be extremely tedious - you'd have to edit every entry manually, navigating the menus and changing the protocols for each. Not so! If you set up a keystroke macro to do the donkey work then you could modify each entry in the dialling directory with only one keypress. The macro you'd enter would be something like this; (all in one line, of course) E[UP][UP][UP][UP][UP][RIGHT]^M[HOME][DOWN][DOWN][DOWN][DOWN][DOWN]^M [ESC]Y[DOWN] What does all this mean? Let's take each command in sequence so we can follow what's happening. Imagine that your in the dialling directory and activate this macro. Each tokenised macro keystroke (like [UP]) gets expanded to its literal keystroke before being dealt with. So if you are sitting on an entry in your dialling directory, here's what happens when the macro starts; E - Calls the directory entry editor [UP][UP][UP][UP][UP] - Moves the highlit bar in the directory entry editor up to the entries default protocol. [RIGHT] - Moves the highlit YES/NO box at the foot of the screen to YES ^M - Selects the YES box and brings up the protocol menu. [HOME] - Sends the protocol menu bar to the top of the menu. This is worth emphasising; not all the entries in your dialling directory may have the same protocol set. If that's the case then if you were merely to move the scroll bar to the Zmodem entry then it wouldn't necessarily do the same for any other entries who used a different default protocol. By moving the highlit bar to the uppermost position with [HOME] you are making them all start from a common position. [DOWN][DOWN][DOWN] - Moves the protocol menu bar down five lines to [DOWN][DOWN] the Zmodem entry. ^M - Selects Zmodem and gets rid of the protocol menu. [ESC] - Quits from the dialling directory editor. Y - Confirms that you wish to save that entry and then gets rid of the editor menu. [DOWN] - Moves you onto the next entry in the dialling directory, ready to start again. With a bit of imagination you can set up macros to perform all kinds of tasks - set your modem to auto answer in terminal mode, make global changes to your dialling directory as described, navigate all menus, screens and editors - whatever you like! PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 87 Macros can also be used to run external programs! To do this, enter your program into a macro as [@C:\DIR\PROGNAME.EXE] If the program resides on your DOS PATH then there is no need to specify the directory; PANTHER will find it for you! When running the external program, PANTHER will swap out to XMS, EMS or disk, depending upon resources. As with shelling to DOS, this will disable all PANTHER's interrupts so if you are going to perform this kind of macro on line ensure you do so when there is no activity online. There is one further use for macros. They can also be invoked from the command line to allow you to set up entire tasks or operations without having to enter any keystrokes in PANTHER at all. To do this, have your macro emulate every keystroke you would normally press to get you to dial the desired entry. For example, the following macro would dial the first entry in the dialling directory ^M[F1]^M The initial ^M (return) character would get you past the initial PANTHER introductory screen, the F1 would take you into the dialling directory and the final return character would dial the highlit entry, which would be the first in the directory. If you were to save this macro to, say, ALT-F3 in the macro editor, then it would be the third macro specified. You can then auto start it by starting up PANTHER with PANTHER MACRO=3 and you would see your macro start up PANTHER, navigate its menus and start dialling for you! If you are running Windows, OS/2 or some other graphical environment then you could set up individual icons to perform individual connections. Alternatively, a DOS batch file could be written to start specific connections in this way. When using PANTHER macros in this way, you would find that the macro would be able to take you into the dialling process and get you on line - but what about when the connection is finished? Since the macro is only emulating keystrokes then you would find that PANTHER would still be running after the connection was made. This might be a real problem, particularly if you are running PANTHER under a multitasking system and find it continues to run in the back ground, stealing CPU time for no reason. But as usual we've come up with a solution. If you commence your command line invoked macro with the symbol [QUIT] then the macro will tell PANTHER to quit as soon as the connection is broken. To go back to our original example, if you started up PANTHER with the macro [QUIT]^M[F1]^M then PANTHER would start up, dial the first entry in the dialling directory and then shut down altogether as soon as you came off line. PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 88 If you have many dialling directory entries and wish to initiate them all from the command line like this, you'll soon find out you'll run out of macros - PANTHER only lets you define twenty, after all. Yet again, we have a solution. You can define a macro on the command line itself using the KEYS parameter. For example, rather than define the above macro in a macro 'slot', define it on the command line instead like this; PANTHER KEYS=[QUIT]^M[F1]^M That way you can run your macro without any problem and keep the slot free for something more useful. The only drawback to command line defined macros like this is that they (obviously) cannot contain space characters, since DOS would split a command line parameter with a space in it into two parameters. However, this ought not to be a drawback since, raw text aside, there are always other ways of using PANTHER than by the space bar. IMPORTANT NOTE FOR USERS OF JP SOFTWARE'S 4DOS! You'll find that if you run the above command, 4DOS will split it into three commands due to its ability to run multiple commands on one command line, separated by the caret (^) character! To circumvent this problem, you can use an asterisk (*) character instead of the caret character to indicate 'control' characters in this manner. However, not that this will ONLY happen if you are specifying a macro on the command line and ONLY if you are running 4DOS! So in summary, if you combine command line macros defined with either the KEYS or MACRO parameters, with PANTHER's powerful script language then you can set up individual jobs - be they batch files, Windows sessions or OS/2 objects - to start up PANTHER, dial a selected entry in your dialling directory, get on line, perform all the actions in the script file, log off and then quit PANTHER completely! PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 89 AUTO DIALLER ------------ PANTHER has the facility to allow you to specify up to five entries from any single dialling directory and connect to them on a timed basis. This facility is enabled through easy to use menus to create the Auto Dialler control files and is completely automated. Before you start getting nervous, PANTHER also has a number of built in safety checks to ensure that, should anything go wrong, your modem will not be left on line for any longer than you specify. Using the Auto Dialler command itself can either be made through PANTHER's own menu system, or through a command line switch. The former method allows you to set up an Auto Dialler session that can be set as far ahead as (almost) twenty four hours. The latter method may be used in conjunction with other mechanisms (such as a software timer or a timed power supply to your computer) to allow you to set up Auto Dialler sessions for whenever you wish. An Auto Dialler session can only be run on dialling directory entries that have an associated script file whose commands will take the session from the beginning right through to the end. If a script file terminates prematurely (for example, by forgetting to issue the command to log off) then the script file will close as normal but the Auto Dialler session will continue! It is most important to realise that it is the users sole responsibility to ensure that scripts are both complete and have been fully tested prior to their being used on an Auto Dialler session. In saying all the above, it must be borne in mind that PANTHER has been designed to cope with any unexpected problems whilst an unattended Auto Dialler session is in progress. These safeguards are as follows; - If a script file times out (ie, is waiting for a prompt that never arrives within the script file time out period) then the Auto Dialler session is aborted. - If you try to Auto Dial to a system which has no script file associated with it then Auto Dialler will refuse to allow you to include this entry in a control file during the set up process. - If your modem does not receive any incoming data within the Auto Dialler Time Out period specified in the configuration, then the connection will be aborted since it will be assumed the remote system has 'hung'. - The MINIMUM SPEED directive in the script language ensures that a minimum baud rate is required before the connection is made, thereby ensuring that you won't be on line any longer than you have to be because of a slow data transfer rate. PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 90 - As part of the Auto Dialler control file set up, you specify the maximum length of time the modem will stay on line for each connection. As a final (possible) precaution, it must also be remembered that most modern host systems will time YOU out if you don't send any data back to it within a specified time period. When an Auto Dialler session is running, all PANTHER's actions are controlled via the commands in the script language. That way, no menus or selection boxes occur on the screen. All your capture files, uploading, downloading and deleting are controlled by your scripts. Auto Dialler sessions also implement the 'smart scripts' ability to (possibly) get out of situations where your script file has gone astray. In short, this is the completely automatic ability for PANTHER to tell where a script is going wrong and to correct it by sending the appropriate keystrokes automatically! See the section of this manual on script files for more details about 'smart scripts'. Auto Dialler has many uses - some we probably haven't yet envisaged ourselves - but the main advantage in it the ability to log onto busy systems during the middle of the night when traffic is light, without having to stay awake for it! SETTING UP AN AUTO DIALLER CONTROL FILE --------------------------------------- This couldn't be made much easier if we tried. From the main menu, press F4 or scroll the highlight bar down to the 'Auto Dialling Facility' title to enter the Auto Dialler function. Once you have done so, you will see a menu something like this; ┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ AUTO DIALLER MENU │ │ Select Choice or ESC to Quit │ │ │ │ >F1 Set Up Auto Dialler Control File │ │ F2 Auto Dial Using PANTHER Directory │ │ F3 Auto Dial Using STR_BEAN Directory │ │ F4 Auto Dial Using EUROPE Directory │ │ F5 Auto Dial Using FIDONET Directory │ │ F6 Auto Dial Using SUPPORT Directory │ │ F7 EXIT │ │ │ └───────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ If you haven't already set up any Auto Dialler control files then you will only see the first and last lines. The others in the middle are for starting up an Auto Dialler session. For the time being, let's concentrate on getting the control file created. PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 91 Pressing F1 for the Set Up routine brings up a further scrolling menu of all the dialling directories you have on your disk, thus; ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ In order to create an Auto Dialler control file, PANTHER must │ │ know from which dialling directory your entries are to be made. │ │ Please select the directory from which the control file is to be │ │ constructed. │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ ┌─C:\PANTHER\*.PHN────────────────────────────────────┐ │>PANTHER.PHN 1692 Apr 19,1992 1:03a A<│ │ EUROPE.PHN 94 Apr 08,1992 5:57a A │ │ LONGDIST.PHN 658 Apr 16,1992 1:08a A │ │ FIDONET.PHN 188 Apr 08,1992 5:57a A │ │ SUPPORT.PHN 94 Apr 18,1992 7:48a A │ │ STR_BEAN.PHN 376 Apr 18,1992 6:47p A │ │ │ │ │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Move the scrolling highlight bar in the directory list window and select the dialling directory from which you wish the Auto Dialler control file to be made. Now, one of two things will happen. If you already have a control file for the dialling directory you will be taken straight into editing it. However if you don't then you will be invited to select which systems you wish to contact. We will assume the latter situation by selecting LONGDIST.PHN from the directory. (If a control file for this directory had existed then it would have appeared in the main Auto Dialler menu, after all.) If you choose a directory with no associated Auto Dialler control file then a similar menu to the following one will appear; ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ MICROSOFT USA │ M0101 206 637 9009 │ │ APOGEE BBS │ M0101 508 3659668 │ │ WITCHITA STATE UNIVERSITY │ M0101-316689-3779 │ │ CREATIVE LABS (SOUNDBLASTER) │ M0101 408 982-9226 │ │ UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA │ M0101 602 621 2283 v └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ ╔═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗ ║ You have selected a directory for which no auto dialler control ║ ║ file exists. Using the space bar, select up to five entries to ║ ║ be included in the control file. Press return when all ║ ║ selections are complete or press the escape key to abort this ║ ║ process. ║ ╚═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝ PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 92 As the directions in the box state, tag up to five entries you wish to be Auto Dialled from the scrolling list in the upper window. The small arrow in the right hand side of this window indicates that there are more entries below the last one you can see on the screen. If you tag more than five entries then (a) only the first five will be used and (b) you clearly have some advanced form of learning difficulty. Once you have tagged your entries, press return and you will be taken into the Auto Dialler control file editor. You will see something like this; AUTO DIALLER CONTROL FILE SET UP Remote System Start Stop Max. ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ >MICROSOFT USA 00:00 00:00 00:00< │ │ APOGEE BBS 00:00 00:00 00:00 │ │ WITCHITA STATE UNIVERSITY 00:00 00:00 00:00 │ │ CREATIVE LABS (SOUNDBLASTER) 00:00 00:00 00:00 │ │ UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA 00:00 00:00 00:00 │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Select which entry you wish to edit. DEL deletes an entry, RETURN selects an entry and ESC quits. Move the scroll bar down to the first entry you wish to edit and press return. The edit window will pop up in the lower half of the screen like this; ┌───────────────┤ EDIT ENTRY FOR MICROSOFT USA ├───────────────┐ │ │ │ HR MIN │ │ TIME TO START DIALLING 00:00 │ │ TIME TO FINISH DIALLING 00:00 │ │ DURATION OF THIS CALL 00:00 │ │ │ └─────────────────┤ CURRENT TIME IS 02:41:56 ├─────────────────┘ Input start time hours (24 hour format) F10 to accept entries, ESC to abort You will see six fields opposite the three titles on the screen. Into these fields enter the following information; Top left field - The hour at which the Auto Dialler will start dialling this system. (24 hour format) Top right field - The minute at which the Auto Dialler will start dialling this system. Centre left field - The hour at which the Auto Dialler will stop dialling this system if it couldn't get through. (24 hour format) Centre right field - The minute at which the Auto Dialler will stop dialling this system if it couldn't get through. PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 93 Bottom left Field - The number of hours of the maximum length of the call. (24 hour format) Bottom right Field - The number of minutes of the maximum length of the call. If you specify a maximum length of a call as being zero then PANTHER will revert to using its default call length of five minutes. So, for example, by filling in the fields with these numbers... ┌───────────────┤ EDIT ENTRY FOR MICROSOFT USA ├───────────────┐ │ │ │ HR MIN │ │ TIME TO START DIALLING 03:45 │ │ TIME TO FINISH DIALLING 04:00 │ │ DURATION OF THIS CALL ..:15 │ │ │ └─────────────────┤ CURRENT TIME IS 02:41:56 ├─────────────────┘ ...you are saying 'start dialling for Microsoft BBS at 3:45 this morning and keep trying to get through until 4:00. If you get through then make sure this call lasts no longer than 15 minutes maximum.' Once you are happy with your times then press F10 and the entry in the upper window will be updated to reflect the times you have just input, thus; Remote System Start Stop Max. ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ >MICROSOFT USA 03:45 04:00 00:15< │ │ APOGEE BBS 00:00 00:00 00:00 │ │ WITCHITA STATE UNIVERSITY 00:00 00:00 00:00 │ │ CREATIVE LABS (SOUNDBLASTER) 00:00 00:00 00:00 │ │ UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA 00:00 00:00 00:00 │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Now carry on and edit the times for all your entries. If you decide that you don't want an entry included in the Auto Dialler session then simply highlight it in the top menu and press DEL. You can them remove that entry from the Auto Dialler Control file altogether and its name will be replaced in the top menu with the words '<BLANK ENTRY>'. If you then wish to place another system into this blank space then simply move down to the blank entry and press return on it. The list of systems will appear in the lower half of the screen from which you can select the entry you want. to include. Note that (for obvious reasons) you cannot tag multiple files here since you are only after one name and not five! Don't worry if the entries are not ordered chronologically. PANTHER sorts the list before saving it. Don't even worry if the times overlap slightly. PANTHER will only start dialling on or slightly after the specified times, adjusting the other times accordingly to suit. PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 94 Once you have all the times as you wish, press escape and you will be asked if you want to save the entries to a control file. If you press 'N' then the process will be aborted. If you press 'Y' then the Auto Dialler control file will be saved out to disk under the name DIRNAME.AUT, where DIRNAME is the name of the dialling directory used. When you go back to the main Auto Dialler menu you will find that your new Auto Dialler control file is now in the menu, like this; ┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ AUTO DIALLER MENU │ │ Select Choice or ESC to Quit │ │ │ │ >F1 Set Up Auto Dialler Control File │ │ F2 Auto Dial Using PANTHER Directory │ │ F3 Auto Dial Using STR_BEAN Directory │ │ F4 Auto Dial Using EUROPE Directory │ │ F5 Auto Dial Using FIDONET Directory │ │ F6 Auto Dial Using SUPPORT Directory │ │ F7 Auto Dial Using LONGDIST Directory │ │ F8 EXIT │ │ │ └───────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ The menu will display up to the first twelve Auto Dialler control files it finds on the disk. STARTING AN AUTO DIALLER SESSION -------------------------------- To start the Auto Dialler session you can do one of two things; you can either select the control file to be used from the above menu, or you can cause PANTHER to start straight up into an Auto Dialler session by starting it up with the command line switch PANTHER AUTO=Autofile[.AUT] where 'Autofile' is replaced by the name of the control file you wish to use. The .AUT extension is not required but can be passed as appropriate. Whichever method you choose, the Auto Dialler session will commence. PANTHER will first attempt to detect whether or not you have a live and working modem attached to your serial port. If you don't then an error (error #10, to be exact) will flash on the screen and you will be sent back to the dialling directory. If you DO have a working modem on the serial port in question (and you have specified the correct port, of course!) and this error occurs then try restarting PANTHER with the /NOCHECKING command line switch. Auto checking like this does not work with all modems. See the errors section of this manual for more advice on this situation. PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 95 If the modem detection did not report any errors you then will see a moving box on the screen containing details of the next connection to be made, something like this; ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ THIS COMPUTER IS NOT IDLE! │ │ IT IS IN PANTHER AUTO DIAL MODE AND WILL CONNECT TO │ │ MICROSOFT USA │ │ AT 03:45 │ │ The current time is 02:42 │ │ PRESS ESC TO HALT, SPACE TO SKIP QUEUE TO NEXT ENTRY │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ As the warning box says, if you press escape then you will abandon the entire Auto Dialler session. If, however, you press the space bar then you will only abort the current connection attempt. The Auto Dialler will then move onto the next (chronological) entry to be contacted. When any of the systems are eventually dialled, Auto Dialler will persist in getting through until the either it has succeeded or else the 'stop time' (as defined in the centre fields of the edit box) has been reached. If the latter then the Auto Dialler will move onto the next entry, if any. If the former, then the connection is made and the script file will assume control of the session. Bear in mind that during any connection you may intervene and press ALT-K to kill the current auto dialler session FOR THAT CONNECTION ONLY. Other further connection attempts will be made as normal through the Auto Dialler. Note that once the session has been killed in this manner, the script file running will not be terminated and will continue until aborted with the ALT-A keystroke. The reason for the ALT-K keystroke is this; if it is obvious that a script file is going awry or if you simply want to interrupt the script then aborting it with ALT-A will, during an Auto Dialler session, cause PANTHER to think that the script terminated prematurely and will drop carrier, as part of the inbuilt protection against Auto Dialler sessions leaving you on line for lengthy periods. By pressing ALT-K, this problem can be circumvented by simply telling PANTHER that the current connection must not be considered as an Auto Dialler connection. Please also be aware that 'smart scripts' will not operate during a 'killed' session. Once all connections have been made or attempted, a report will be written to the screen stating just what happened during that session. The report will look something like this; ╒═════════════════╣ RESULTS OF AUTO DIALLER SESSION ╠═════════════════╕ │ MICROSOFT USA - Connected OK, directory updated │ │ APOGEE BBS - Connected OK, directory not updated │ │ WITCHITA STATE UNIVERSITY - Connected OK but script timed out │ │ CREATIVE LABS (SOUNDBLASTER) - Did not connect │ │ UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA - Did not connect, no script file │ ╘═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╛ PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 96 The results have the following meanings; 'No attempt made to connect' - You either pressed the escape key or the space bar while the Auto Dialler was waiting to dial this number, causing the number to be skipped. 'Connected OK, directory updated' - The session was OK and PANTHER managed to open the associated dialling directory and update the number of calls made to the system and the length of time spent on line. 'Connected OK, directory not updated' - The session was OK but PANTHER either could not find the associated dialling directory (you might have deleted it) or else it found the directory but could not locate an entry for the system in it. (It might have been deleted from the directory) 'Connected OK but script timed out' - The connection was made OK but the script file timed out when you were on line In addition, the 'smart script' feature could not identify how to fix the position with the script when it was timing out. The session was most likely left incomplete. Review the script file and make any changes to it that will prevent time out. 'Did not connect' - The connection could not be made. Either the line was constantly engaged, the other modem would not answer or the number has been disconnected. Check you were dialling the right number! 'Did not connect, no script file' - PANTHER didn't even attempt to Auto Dial this number since it found no script file associated with the dialling directory extract stored in the Auto Dialler control file. To remedy this, either learn or write the appropriate script file, associate it with the system in the dialling directory, test it and then edit the Auto Dialler control file. You must then delete the entry for this system and then reinstall it in the <BLANK ENTRY>. The reason for this is that the Auto Dialler editor stores the entire portion of the dialling directory when it is made, and any updates made to the dialling directory will not be made to the associated Auto Dialler control file. 'Connected OK but max. time exceeded' - The connection was made OK but the maximum connection time allowed was exceeded. It may be that you did not allocate enough time for the call. Although unlikely, it may also be that you have a WAIT command (with no passed arguments) awaiting a string from the remote system and Auto Dialler and Script File time outs (set in the Program Settings section) set to longer than the allowed duration of the call. PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 97 If you started from the DOS command line then PANTHER will halt at this point. If, however, the Auto Dialler session was invoked from the command line then you are invited to press any key to clear the report from the screen and return to the menu system. PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 98 TERMINAL MODE ------------- Pressing F3 from the main menu will take you into PANTHER's terminal mode. This gives you the ability to send commands straight to your modem by typing them onto the screen and pressing return. This may be useful in running diagnostic checks on your modem or for temporarily setting PANTHER up to act as a host system by putting your modem into auto answer mode. When starting up terminal mode, PANTHER will first attempt to detect whether or not you have a live and working modem attached to your serial port. If you don't then an error (error #10, to be exact) will flash on the screen and you will be sent back to the main menu. If you DO have a working modem on the serial port in question (and you have specified the correct port, of course!) and this error occurs then try restarting PANTHER with the /NOCHECKING command line switch. Auto checking like this does not work with all modems. See the errors section of this manual for more advice on this situation. The next thing to happen is that PANTHER will check for the presence of a resident Fossil driver. If it finds that a Fossil driver has been loaded then an error stating that it is initialising the port, but that it has detected the driver and (hence) the port may not be initialised as you expect. Occasionally, a resident fossil will hold the baud rate of the port to that which it has been set and will not allow further initialisation of the port to proceed. However, this error will only flag the presence of the Fossil driver - it will not prevent the port initialisation from proceeding. After this, PANTHER will attempt to detect and disable FIFO buffering found in 16550A UART chips, on the selected serial port. If the buffering is left active then PANTHER will not be able to initialise the port at all. After this, the port will be initialised using the required baud, parity, stop and data bits, following which FIFO buffering will be re-enabled. Assuming that no problems arise with the modem detection, PANTHER then initialises your serial port with the default settings you have specified in the Directory Defaults section of the configuration menu. Once the serial port has been initialised then the screen is cleared and the cursor is positioned in the top left of the screen. From now on, any characters you type will be cumulatively added together until you press return, at which point all the characters will be set to the modem, together with a return character. PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 99 There are several special keystrokes which you can use in terminal mode when NOT on line (ie connected to another modem). These are; ALT-C Change the capture file status. If a capture file is not running then you will be asked if you want to start one. If you reply that you do then you will be prompted for the name of the capture file to create. If that file already exists then it will be appended to, if it doesn't exist then it will be created.This file name defaults to PANTHER.CAP. If a capture file is running then you will be asked whether you want to stop it or to suspend it temporarily. If a capture file has been suspended then you will be asked whether you want to reactivate it or not. In any event, the keys to press in response are shown in brackets in the information box that appears on pressing this keystroke. ALT-D Shell to DOS temporarily. The screen will clear and you will find yourself in a DOS session. To re-enter PANTHER, type EXIT <return> at the DOS prompt and you will find yourself at exactly the same position you were in before you shelled out. ALT-M Modify the display type. This will pop up a small box asking you which of Teletype or ANSI terminal emulation you require. Pressing the initial letter of the display type (either T or A) will invoke that particular terminal emulation type. ALT-P Toggles printer capture on or off. ALT-S Take a snapshot of the current screen. The entire contents of the screen (but not the status line) will be captured and stored in the PANTHER.SNP snapshot file. ALT-T Toggles destructive backspace on and off. ALT-V Allows you to view the internal scrollback buffer. ALT-Y Allows you to edit the internal filelist F1 Shows a summarised help screen. F2 Shows a summary of all the keystroke macros you have defined. F3 Recalls and sends the last string sent to your modem. F4 Sends your modem reset string (as defined in the modem strings section of the configuration menu) to the modem. F5 Sends your modem initialisation string (as defined in the modem strings section of the configuration menu) to the modem. F6 Sends your Mercury Personal Identification Number (as defined in the modem strings section of the configuration menu, if defined at all) to the modem. F7 Clears the screen. PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 100 When on-line within terminal mode, all these keystrokes (apart from those defined by F3, F4, F5, F6 and F7) are available as well as the following; ALT-B, ALT-E, ALT-G, ALT-H, ALT-L, ALT-M, ALT-N, ALT-R, ALT-X, ALT-=, PageUp and PageDn All these keystrokes have the same meaning as those when connected on line from the dialling directory. When going on line with PANTHER, your connect string (if any) is shown on the screen and the status bar changes to that similar to that when connected from the dialling directory. When a connection is terminated from the terminal mode then it will be returned to its off line mode again. To quit from the off line terminal mode, press escape. You will be returned to the main menu. AUTO ANSWERING -------------- PANTHER is not primarily intended to be used as a host system, but if necessary (and if your modem can support it) it can be set up to receive incoming calls. If you are using a Hayes-compatible modem, this is usually enabled by sending the command ATS0=[n]<return> to your modem, where [n] is a non-zero number representing the number of times your modem will allow the phone to ring before picking the line up. If you are not using a Hayes compatible modem then you will have to refer to your modem manual to obtain the correct string. When an incoming call is received, PANTHER checks to see whether the modem is in auto answer mode or not. If it is, and a carrier is obtained, the connect string is displayed on the screen with the connection melody. The name of the remote system on the status line becomes AUTO ANSWER MODE. Notice that you will have to enable local echo and line feeds before you can see what you are typing on the screen when connected, if they are not set up by default. To disconnect the link, press ALT-H to hang up the line and drop carrier. You will then be returned to the terminal mode off line. It might be a good idea to enter your modem's RESET string at this point to disable the auto answer facility, then press escape to return to the main menu. PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 101 ANCILLARY FILES --------------- PANTHER creates numerous files as and when (or if) it requires. This short section deals with these files and describes their structure. THE LOG FILE (PANTHER.LOG) -------------------------- The PANTHER log file holds details of every connection you make. Here is an example extract from it; 19:54:02 │ Saturday February 29, 1992 │ AUTO DIALLER SESSION │ Connected To MENTAL FRANKIE'S BBS (Using MERCURY) │ Baud 2400 │ Minimum connect speed of 9600 baud not reached. │ Capture file for new system : FRANKIE.CAP Opened. │ Learning Script file : FRANKIE.SPT │ NOTE: Password chosen as IWANNA16550 │ WARNING : Unexpected prompt received, at script line │ number 16. Smart script interpreter enabled. │ Extended keystrokes disabled. │ Extended keystrokes re-enabled. │ Shelled to DOS. │ Returned from DOS. │ Capture file suspended. │ - Download [MAILBAG.ZIP] │ + Upload [PANTHER.ZIP] │ PANTHER.ZIP deleted │ Capture file reactivated. │ Script file : FRANKIE.SPT closed by PANTHER. │ Capture file Closed by PANTHER. 19:56:22 │ Alt H used to terminate session. │ Time Connected 00:02:20 Obviously this is not intended to be a realistic example! There is no way that you could have managed to start up Auto Dialler without a script file, for instance, but this is only intended to give you an idea as to what to expect in a log file entry. Auto dialler or auto answer sessions are flagged as being such by heading the entry with a note in capital letters. The name of the remote system will then be shown together with the connect speed. The next line is what would appear in the log file should the MINIMUM SPEED directive of the script facility not be reached. Under normal circumstances, this would result in the call being terminated. Since the user has never called this system before, PANTHER is offering to automatically open a capture file for him, which he has accepted. We then get an indication that a script file is being automatically learned by PANTHER. After that, a (rather unlikely) note has been tacked into the log file by the user pressing ALT-N when on line. PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 102 The line starting with 'WARNING' is what will occur should the 'smart script' facility come into play. The offending line of the script file is also indicated. Note that the line mentioned contains the 'RECEIVE' prompt that was NOT received in time. The user then disabled all extended keystrokes with ALT-= and then re-enabled them with ALT-= again. He then shelled out to DOS and then returned, followed by him suspending the capture file from running. He then downloaded a mailbag and (sensible fellow) uploaded PANTHER.ZIP to the system. This file matched the file masks in the mail files configuration so it was deleted. He then reactivated the capture file from its suspended state. After this, he terminated the connection causing the script and capture files to be closed automatically by PANTHER. An indication as to how his call was terminated was given (ALT-H? Tsk, tsk, tsk...) and his log off time and total connection times are shown. THE ERROR FILE (PANTHER.ERF) ---------------------------- This file holds a record of all the errors that appear within PANTHER. This may be useful to you since you may miss any errors which occur, so a permanent record of them is held. This is a simple text file of the following format; <DATE> <TIME> ERROR #<NUMBER> - <ERROR MESSSAGE> THE CAPTURE FILE (USER-DEFINABLE NAMES) --------------------------------------- This contains a straight 'capture' of all text that has appeared on your screen between the times the capture file is invoked and either the time you close it or when you log off. One thing, though. If a system is using ANSI escape codes to draw fancy menus or logos and thereby move the cursor in a non-standard way (ie, not from left to right and from top to bottom) then there is a good chance the capture file will be jumbled at this point. Unavoidable, we are afraid! The points at which the capture file is either suspended, closed or appended are marked with a dashed line. THE TEXT SNAPSHOT FILE (PANTHER.SNP) ------------------------------------ This is almost exactly like the capture file except that all captures are made at the time across the screen so even fancy ANSI screens are captured properly. Each snapshot is separated with a dashed line. PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 103 THE RAW LOG FILE(S) (RAWLOG.*) ------------------------------ These are files comprising of every character received by your modem while raw logging is enabled, text, control codes, the lot. You can view the TTY raw log (RAWLOG.TXT) with any file viewer, text editor or ever the internal DOS TYPE command, as it only contains bare text. (Incidentally, if you find that it doesn't then you have probably inadvertently set PANTHER to use TTY emulation when the remote system was sending something else.) The ANSI (RAWLOG.ANS) and Avatar (RAWLOG.AVT) files can be viewed using the DOS TYPE command as long as the appropriate DOS device drivers (ANSI.SYS, AVATAR.SYS or some other derivatives) are loaded first. You'll probably find it easier to view these through the internal raw log file viewer, accessed from the main menu. The VT52 files (RAWLOG.V52) can only really be adequately viewed through the internal viewer as there is relatively little PC-based support for this terminal emulation. THE COLOUR SNAPSHOT FILE (PANTHER.BIN) -------------------------------------- This file contains your colour snapshots appended to one another, all stored using the standard binary format, saved from left to right and top to bottom as character/attribute. The file ought always to be an exact multiple of 4000 in size. (80 x 25 x 2 - even if you are in 24 line mode, PANTHER merely stores the 25th line as a series of 'blanks') If you save *.BIN files from the colour snapshot viewer then these will be in exactly the same standard format. This format is readable by most ANSI editors, such as TheDraw. THE 'RUNNING' FILE (PANTHER.RUN) -------------------------------- This file only signifies that PANTHER is running. It is deleted when you quit from PANTHER - in other words, don't touch it! PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 104 ABOUT THE DEVELOPMENT OF PANTHER -------------------------------- PANTHER was written simply because I never found a comms program that met all my needs. There are many on the market, but I found them either to cumbersome or too simplistic, hence PANTHER. Version 2.0 features some of the things that my users had specifically requested after having run version 1.42. PANTHER comprises of 48808 lines of code written in Borland Pascal using version 7.0 of the compiler. It was debugged under Borland Turbo Debugger and streamlined using Borland Turbo Profiler. Certain other portions of the work were written and compiled under Borland Turbo Assembler. All development work was made under OS/2 2.0. This manual was composed using Buttonware's PC-TYPE. PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 105 TROUBLESHOOTING --------------- As PC communications is an area of computing more liable to the vagaries of hardware and installed software, you may experience some problems in running PANTHER. Here are some of the more common problems and their remedies; - Immediately on entering terminal mode, the connect tone (if set) sounds and the status line shows a connection. You have probably enabled the carrier override on your modem. PANTHER requires the carrier detect to be false when not connected to another computer and on when it is. Since your modem has been set to automatically provide a carrier, PANTHER assumes it is connected as soon as it enters terminal mode. If your modem has DIP switches, check their setting to ensure the carrier detect switch is set to off. If the modem does not have such switches then it will probably require particular commands to be sent to it (within the initialisation string set up in the modem strings section) to disable the automatic carrier. - On entering terminal mode or on commencing dialling, you receive a message stating that PANTHER cannot initialise the COM port. In the Ports section of the configuration, PANTHER detects how many serial ports you have and only offers you the choice of the existing ports. However, it may be that you have a non-standard set up and that PANTHER has offered you the choice of more serial ports than your machine physically has. If you select one of these ports then PANTHER will not be able to initialise that port. - You can initialise the serial port but on checking the set baud rate (by an internal modem diagnostic command, for example) it has not been set in accordance with your command. It is possible that you have a resident Fossil driver installed which is set up to lock your serial port at a particular baud rate. Since Fossil drivers hook into DOS interrupt 14h (Serial Port Services), further 'conventional' attempts to access the port will be ignored. Either reinstall the Fossil with the settings you will be using or (more preferably, if possible) deinstall the Fossil driver altogether when running PANTHER. PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 106 - Your modem refuses to drop the carrier when you hang up the modem. When PANTHER disconnects your modem, it will first of all try to lower the DTR on your serial port in an effort to drop the carrier. This ought to work with most modems, but some will not respond to this. In order to overcome this, PANTHER will then, if a carrier signal remains, send the hang up string you have specified to the modem. If this fails then either you have specified the wrong hang up string for your modem (bear in mind that some hang up strings require pauses embedded in them to work) or you have probably enabled the carrier override on your modem. If this is enabled then any attempt to either lower the DTR or hang up the modem by a command string will fail since your modem is generating the carrier signal. If your modem has DIP switches, check their setting to ensure the carrier detect switch is set to off. If the modem does not have such switches then it will probably require particular commands to be sent to it (within the initialisation string set up in the modem strings section) to disable the automatic carrier. PANTHER will attempt to send the hang up string to your modem up to ten times before telling you that the hang up failed. If the error appears then it is most likely that the carrier override facility in your modem has been enabled. - When dialling through the dialling directory, PANTHER doesn't stop dialling on an engaged line until the dialling time on the status bar has reached zero. In order for PANTHER to know when a line is engaged or otherwise unavailable, you must specify the strings your modem returns in the busy strings section of the modem strings configuration. If you have not specified all the strings your modem returns on a failed connection, then do so. If you have then it may be that you have not specified a high enough 'X' code in your initialisation string in order to return all the strings. In general, set the 'X' code to be as high as the modem will accept. Consult your modem manual for information as to what strings it returns and what the maximum 'X' code it can take is. - Some capture files seem to contain the correct characters but in the wrong sequence. This is probably because the screen you were viewing at the time was an animated ANSI editor which positions the cursor and characters at non-sequential positions on the screen. There isn't much you can do with this, since PANTHER processes capture files directly from the serial port and not from the screen. - On starting up terminal mode, Auto Dialler or commencing dialling from the directory, you receive an error message informing you that there is no modem attached to your serial port. PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 107 When starting up in these modes, PANTHER will first attempt to detect whether or not you have a live and working modem attached to your serial port. If you don't then an error will flash on the screen and you will be sent back to the main menu. If you DO have a working modem on the serial port in question then try restarting PANTHER with the /NOCHECKING command line switch. Auto checking like this does not work with all modems and can sometimes fail under multitasking systems like Microsoft Windows. - Learned script files don't work as you'd expect. The problem here is probably that the script file is waiting for a prompt that will never arrive. The greatest possibility here is that the prompt is somehow 'animated' and that PANTHER is not interpreting it correctly. For example, in the following instance Is your name JOE BLOGGS? (Y) you may find that the cursor is sitting under the 'Y' character having been backtracked by ANSI escape sequences from the end of the line. At the moment, PANTHER cannot handle this kind of prompt properly. It doesn't occur very often, but when it does it will halt the script. Your best bet here is to reduce the above RECEIVE prompt down to a simple RECEIVE "Is your name JOE BLOGGS?" thereby getting around the 'animated' section of the prompt. - Pressing ESCAPE to halt dialling from the dialling directory quits back to the dialling directory but the dialling continues. When cancelling dialling in this manner, PANTHER will (among other things) send your 'reset modem' string to the serial port. Now some modems may also require to be put into 'command mode' prior to receiving this string. If you find that pressing escape whilst dialling leaves a dialling tone (or even leaves the modem dialling) then precede your 'reset modem' string with your modem's escape code sequence. In the case of Hayes compatible modems this will mean changing your 'reset modem' string from 'ATZ^M' to '+++ATZ^M' - When shelling to DOS and returning to PANTHER whilst on line, part or all of the text received in that interim period has been lost. This is because of the fact that PANTHER is both interrupt driven and swaps itself out to XMS, EMS or disk file whilst shelling out. As a result, hardly any active portion of PANTHER is left in RAM to operate. The trick here is not to shell out whilst there is text being received when on line! PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 108 - When running PANTHER under OS/2 2.0 you find that you lose occasional characters and that file transfers are error-prone. The trick here is to reduce the baud rate you set your serial port at in the dialling directory. If you are setting your serial port to a high speed of 38400 or 57600 baud then you will find problems as OS/2 cannot handle as many interrupts as PANTHER will be generating. Lowering the baud rate to 19200 will solve this problem, as will obtaining alternative COM drivers from IBM. Some third party COM drivers are also available. Worth a specific mention are SIO.SYS and VSIO.SYS written by Raymond L. Gwinn which have the ability (among other things) to emulate a 16550AFN UART even if you don't have the hardware for it. - You get the initial warning about PANTHER detecting a carrier signal, even although you are sure your modem isn't returning one. Have you selected the correct serial port? It could be that you've accidentally selected your mouse port instead, which will return a high carrier signal! Alternatively., it *might* be returning a carrier signal because your modem is designed to default to that but can be configured not to. The specified commands for setting the carrier detect operations vary from modem to modem, but set it to normal carrier detect operations rather than any setting which overrides the carrier detection. - When you issue a KEYS macro on the command line, PANTHER doesn't appear to use them. After running PANTHER I get one or more 'Bad Command of Filename' errors from DOS. This will only generally happen if you are running JP Software's (superb) replacement for COMMAND.COM called 4DOS. 4DOS allows you to stack multiple command commands on one command line, separated by a specific character. By default, this character is a caret (^) symbol, which of course PANTHER uses to show control characters. Hence, if you issue a command line macro of two return characters as in KEYS=^M^M then 4DOS will read as far as the first caret then assume the following characters are distinct commands, separated by a caret symbol. To get round this problem, you can (only if you use 4DOS) use the asterisk (*) character instead of the caret symbol, making the parameters KEYS=*M*M, which 4DOS will read correctly. - When dialling from the dialling directory you find that the dialling timer only starts when the modem signal is returned rather than when the dialling commences. You've almost certainly got your modem set up not to echo commands. To enable this (and it really ought to be) include the modem command E1 in your initialisation string. PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 109 PANTHER ERROR MESSAGES ---------------------- From time to time, things go wrong. <sigh> When they go wrong within PANTHER, you will get a nice big (and hopefully helpful) error box plastered over the screen which will carry on it a numbered error message telling you exactly WHAT has gone wrong and where. All errors are displayed on the screen and are also written out into the PANTHER.ERF error message file, in case you missed them. Incidentally, most of the file errors ought not to occur. PANTHER automatically sets the attributes of all its support files to Archive when starting up. INTERNAL PROTOCOL ERRORS ------------------------ PANTHER's internal protocols return error codes if things go astray during their execution. These errors are returned as four digit numbers of the form 99xx and mean the following; 9900 - Xmodem initialisation failed. 9901 - Xmodem initialisation was cancelled. 9902 - Transfer aborted. (You pressed escape during the transfer) 9903 - A duplicate block was received. 9904 - Wrong block number was received. 9905 - You specified a directory when sending a file but that directory doesn't exist. 9906 - Could not find file to send. 9907 - Long packet received during protocol. 9908 - End of transmitted file. 9909 - Initial protocol handshake in progress. 9910 - Incoming file was renamed. 9911 - Incoming file already exists. 9912 - Ymodem header has a bad (or incorrect) file size. 9913 - Ymodem header has a bad (or incorrect) date or time stamp. 9914 - Unexpected character during protocol transfer. (You might be using a different protocol from the remote system if you get this one) 9915 - Incorrect CRC or checksum received. 9916 - No files specified for transmission. 9917 - No file name specified during Xmodem download. 9918 - [Reserved] 9919 - Receiver rejected file. 9920-9924 - [Reserved] 9925 - Zmodem - got CcrE DataSubpacket. 9926 - Zmodem - got CcrW DataSubpacket. 9927 - Zmodem - got CcrQ DataSubpacket. 9928 - Zmodem - got CcrG DataSubpacket. 9929 - Zmodem - got garbage from remote. 9930 - Zmodem - skip file. 9931 - Zmodem - bad file position. PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 110 9932 - Zmodem - specified file doesn't exist. 9933 - Zmodem - not allowed to overwrite file. Not all of the above errors will ever be generated by PANTHER, but they are all reproduced here for completion. FATAL ERRORS ------------ Some errors are so bad that they force PANTHER to stop in its tracks! These errors are displayed as follows; Message : PANTHER.EXE HAS BEEN ILLEGALLY ALTERED - PROGRAM ABORTING Meaning : PANTHER isn't quite what it used to be. Remedy : When PANTHER starts up it examines itself to ensure that the PANTHER.EXE program has not been altered in any way. If it has then this error appears and everything stops. To remedy this, delete PANTHER.EXE and reinstall it from a back up. Oh yes, and stop messing about with it! Message : CONFIGURATION FILE CORRUPTED! RESTART PANTHER! Meaning : The file PANTHER.CFG has become seriously corrupted. Remedy : Restart PANTHER. This error should only ever occur if the configuration file becomes corrupted between PANTHER reading it when it starts up and some other point within the program's execution. By restarting PANTHER, the program will handle the corruption and will reconstruct the file with defaults which it will allow you to edit. Message : CANNOT READ DIRECTORY! ABORTING PROGRAM! Meaning : Whichever directory you are starting PANTHER up with, it has become unreadable. Remedy : Restart PANTHER with the /DIR switch, specifying another dialling directory. Delete the offending directory from your disk and restore it from a back up. You do have back ups, don't you? Message : CANNOT AUTO DIAL AS CONTROL FILE DOES NOT EXIST! Meaning : You've tried to start Auto Dialling on a non-existent control file! Remedy : You have started up PANTHER from the command line with the /AUTO switch and specified a-non existent control file name. Simply restart PANTHER with a file name that exists. This is identical to error #27 listed below but will only be displayed if your are Auto Dialling from the DOS command line with the /AUTO switch. PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 111 Message : AUTO DIALLING TERMINATED - DIRECTORY NOT FOUND! Meaning : You've tried to start Auto Dialling on a non-existent dialling directory, probably as a result of setting up the Auto Dialler control file and then either deleting or renaming its associated dialling directory. Remedy : If you've just renamed the directory then rename it back! If you've deleted it then undelete it (if you can) or delete the Auto Dialler control file and start again. The only other mega-scary fatal error you will ever get from PANTHER is an internal failure error which displays itself as 'SYSTEM ERROR AT <numbers> ERROR CODE = <number>'. We have hopefully ironed out all the bugs from PANTHER so that you will never see this error. However, if you do then note the numbers and contact the programmers on the BBS listed in the READ.ME file. NON-FATAL ERRORS ---------------- These are the other errors that PANTHER generates, together with their listed numbers (fatal errors are given the nominal error value of 1), their meanings and the remedy. Words in <angled brackets> signify that the error message will incorporate a some variable element. Message : SCRIPT FILE TIME OUT! - SCRIPT FILE ABORTED! Number : 2 Meaning : The script file you are running has not received the string it is expecting within the default time out period. Remedy : Examine the script file and make sure the prompts are still valid. If they aren't then you might consider relearning the script by deleting it and reconnecting to the remote system. If the prompt is correct than it's likely that you're needing a WAIT command preceding the RECEIVE. If the script is timing out immediately after a file transfer then try using a WAIT with no parameters, otherwise try increasing the time out by thirty seconds with WAIT 30. If you already have a WAIT command in your script at this point then try incrementing it by, say, thirty seconds until a suitable length of time is reached. Message : CANNOT WRITE TO PANTHER PHONE DIRECTORY! Number : 3 Meaning : Something is stopping the phone directory from updating. Remedy : This could be due to a full disk or to a disk error. It could also be caused by you shelling to DOS during PANTHER and setting the Read Only attribute on the file! Message : NO CONNECT STRING RECEIVED! Number : 4 Meaning : PANTHER has managed to get a signal carrier but has received no connect string that it recognises from the modem. Remedy : Check your modem string settings. It may be that you have set up a connect string which your modem will not generate. PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 112 Message : DIRECTORY <file> IS EMPTY, CANNOT AUTODIAL! Number : 5 Meaning : You've tried to create an Auto Dialler control file using a blank dialling directory. Remedy : In future, don't use blank dialling directories... Message : SCRIPT FILE TIMED OUT ON AUTO DIALLER! Number : 6 Meaning : The script file timed out during an Auto Dialler session. Remedy : If a script file times out and therefore closed during the Auto Dialler then the carrier is unceremoniously dropped. Why did the script file time out on you? Examine the script file and make sure the prompts are still valid. If they aren't then you might consider relearning the script by deleting it and reconnecting to the remote system. If the prompt is correct than it's likely that you're needing a WAIT command preceding the RECEIVE. If the script is timing out immediately after a file transfer then try using a WAIT with no parameters, other wise try increasing the time out by thirty seconds with WAIT 30. If you already have a WAIT command in your script at this point then try incrementing it by, say, thirty seconds until a suitable length of time is reached. Message : CANNOT AUTO DIAL, NO SCRIPT FILE FOR <Remote System> ! Number : 7 Meaning : You've tried to create an Auto Dialler control file for a remote system for which there is no associated script file in the copy of the dialling directory entry held in the Auto Dialler Control file. Remedy : Either choose an entry which *does* have an associated script file, or back out of the Auto Dialler menus and check the dialling directory entry. Remember, the Auto Dialler control file editor does *not* check for the physical presence of the script file, only that there is an entry for one in the dialling directory. (If there is no script file found at dialling time then the Auto Dialler won't even dial the number but will continue onto the next number in the queue.) Message : AUTO DIAL HALTED - NO DATA RECEIVED FROM <Remote System> ! Number : 8 Meaning : Auto Dialler has not received any data from the remote system within the past 'x' seconds where 'x' is the time after which the Auto Dialler will hang up if no data is received (the Auto Dialler Time Out set in the Configuration menu) Remedy : It's probable that your script file is either set up for the wrong prompts or else the remote system is sending different prompts from those in the script (which is possible). It could also be that the remote system has 'hung'. Try running the script file in real time (ie, without using the Auto Dialler) and see what happens. If the script still fails then try relearning the script by deleting it and calling again manually. PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 113 Message : CANNOT CREATE <File Name> ! Number : 9 Meaning : PANTHER has had difficulty in creating one of its support files. Remedy : This could be due to any one of a number of disk or physical Input/Output errors. This error is identical to that in error #19. Message : NO MODEM DETECTED ON COM PORT <Port Number> ! Number : 10 Meaning : PANTHER has entered the dialling procedure or has started up terminal mode or has started auto dialling and PANTHER cannot find a working modem attached to the serial port set up in the Configuration menu. Remedy : If the port number in the Configuration menu is wrong then change it. If the Port Number is correct then the problem may be one of a few things. Try restarting PANTHER with the /NOCHECKING parameter to disable checking for a modem in this manner. This can sometimes happen when all is otherwise well if PANTHER is running under Microsoft Windows. Message : COULD NOT UPLOAD <File Name> - DOS ERROR <Code> Number : 11 Meaning : The external protocol you were using to execute the upload returned a non-zero DOS ERRORLEVEL. Remedy : It may be that the file did not exist. It is also possible that the file transfer was flawless but that the protocol program returned a non-zero ERRORLEVEL anyway (maybe due to a number of time outs). Check the for existence of the file in the upload directory. Also, check through the protocol log file (if you have one set up - generated by the protocol program, not PANTHER!) for any errors. Message : COULD NOT DOWNLOAD <File Name> - DOS ERROR <Code> Number : 12 Meaning : The external protocol you were using to execute the download returned a non-zero DOS ERRORLEVEL. Remedy : It may be that the file did not exist. It is also possible that the file transfer was flawless but that the protocol program returned a non-zero ERRORLEVEL anyway (maybe due to a number of time outs). Check the for existence of the file in the download directory. Also, check through the protocol log file (if you have one set up - generated by the protocol program, not PANTHER!) for any errors. Message : SCRIPT FILE ERROR - COULD NOT DELETE <File Name> Number : 13 Meaning : You have attempted to delete an 'undeletable' file using the DELETE script file command. Remedy : Either the file did not exist in the first place, it is set to Read Only or there has been a disk read/write error. PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 114 Message : CANNOT CREATE - "PANTHER.MAC" MACRO FILE Number : 14 Meaning : PANTHER cannot recreate a 'lost' macro file. Remedy : When PANTHER starts up it checks for the presence of all its support files. If it cannot find the PANTHER.MAC macro file then it tries to recreate a blank one. If this fails then this error is shown. You may have a full disk, or you might have experienced a disk I/O error. Message : TEXT FILE <File Name> DOES NOT EXIST! Number : 15 Meaning : A text file you are trying to upload by ALT-U doesn't exist. Remedy : Try selecting the text file from the directory menu (called by pressing return on the blank input box) instead of typing the file name in. You've probably mis-spelled the name. Message : MINIMUM CONNECTION SPEED NOT REACHED! Number : 16 Meaning : The minimum speed compelled by the MINIMUM SPEED script file command was not reached on connection. Remedy : Try calling again. The speed may have been downwardly renegotiated due to line noise. Alternatively, you might be specifying a minimum connection rate higher than that which the remote service or your modem can operate at! Message : CANNOT INITIALISE PORT COM <PORT NUMBER> Number : 17 Meaning : An error occurred whilst initialising the selected port. Remedy : If your running PANTHER with the /NOCHECKING parameter then try running it without it and see if PANTHER reports the presence of a modem on the selected port. If it doesn't then ensure you're set up for the right serial port through the configuration menu. If you are then try changing the serial cable with which you connect to your modem. Message : CANNOT FIND READ FROM <File Name> Number : 18 Meaning : A file error happened during a disk read. Remedy : The file may be corrupted (wrong length) or may make 'no sense' to PANTHER. Alternatively, a disk hardware failure may have occurred. Try restoring the offending file from a back up. (Yes, those again!) Message : CANNOT CREATE <File Name> Number : 19 Meaning : PANTHER has had difficulty in creating one of its support files. Remedy : This could be due to any one of a number of disk or physical Input/Output errors. The disk may be full, there may be a disk read error, the file may have the Read Only attribute set. Try freeing up some disk space or setting all file attributes to Archive only. If the error persists then suspect the disk is faulty. PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 115 Message : CANNOT APPEND DATA TO <File Name> Number : 20 Meaning : PANTHER has had difficulty in appending (adding) data to one of its support files. Remedy : This could be due to any one of a number of disk or physical Input/Output errors. The disk may be full, there may be a disk read error, the file may have the Read Only attribute set. Try freeing up some disk space or setting all file attributes to Archive only. If the error persists then suspect the disk is faulty. Message : CANNOT CLOSE <File Name> UPDATES MAY BE LOST! Number : 21 Meaning : A file that PANTHER has previously opened cannot be closed and updated. Any changes made to the file (or even the file itself) may be permanently lost. Remedy : This could be due to any one of a number of disk or physical Input/Output errors. The disk may be full, there may be a disk read error, the file may have the Read Only attribute set. In future, try freeing up some disk space or setting all file attributes to Archive only. If this error occurs then it is unlikely to be recoverable. Message : CURRENT SCRIPT FILE LOST ON PATH! ABORTING SCRIPT! Number : 22 Meaning : A script file being currently used has been 'lost'! Remedy : One of two scenarios; either you're doing comms work in a multitasker and have deleted the script file whilst it was in use, or else you've got a problem with the logical structure of your disk. If the former then you probably deserve all you get...(!)...if the latter then disk recovery/diagnostic tools may be in order... Message : CANNOT READ FROM MACRO FILE! ASSUMING ALL MACROS ARE BLANK! Number : 23 Meaning : PANTHER has failed to read from the PANTHER.MAC macro definition file and is assuming that no macros are specified. Remedy : The macro file may be corrupted (ie, the wrong length). When PANTHER starts up it checks for the presence of all its support files. If it cannot find the PANTHER.MAC macro file then it tries to recreate a blank one. If you get this error after the macro file has been created (without error) then you may have a disk problem. Message : CANNOT DELETE <File Name> Number : 24 Meaning : PANTHER cannot delete the specified file. Remedy : The file attributes may be set to read only, or the file may not even exist! PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 116 Message : CANNOT READ FROM <File Name> Number : 25 Meaning : PANTHER cannot read from the specified file. Remedy : The file specified may not exist or you may be experiencing a disk problem. Alternatively, the file attributes may be set to System or Hidden. Message : CANNOT WRITE TO <File Name> Number : 26 Meaning : PANTHER cannot write to the specified file. Remedy : This could be due to any one of a number of disk or physical Input/Output errors. The disk may be full, there may be a disk read error, the file may have the Read Only attribute set. Try freeing up some disk space or setting all file attributes to Archive only. If the error persists then suspect the disk is faulty. Message : CANNOT AUTO DIAL AS CONTROL FILE <File Name> DOES NOT EXIST! Number : 27 Meaning : You've tried to start Auto Dialling on a non-existent control file! Remedy : The only way you could *possibly* manage this spectacular trick is by starting up the Auto Dialler menu (which detects and lists all the control files available) and then somehow deleting the control file in the interim period (maybe by doing it through a multitasking system like Windows or DESQview). This is identical to the fatal error listed above but will only be displayed if your are Auto Dialling from within PANTHER. This error will NOT abort the program. Message : CANNOT FIND PANTHER.EXE ON PROGRAM PATH! - PLEASE RE-ENTER! Number : 28 Meaning : You've entered a path in the configuration PATHS menu which does not contain PANTHER.EXE. Remedy : Either enter the correct path or, if you are unsure, quit the menu with ESC, don't save changes and check the directory contents from DOS. Message : FILE OR PATHNAME DOES NOT EXIST! - SELECT FROM MENU! Number : 29 Meaning : You've attempted to execute a file transfer by using an invalid (or non-existent) file or path to that file. Remedy : Check the paths set in your configuration set up. Ensure that you haven't deleted the directories that the upload or download paths refer to. Alternatively, it may be that the file you are attempting to upload does not exist. PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 117 Message : MAXIMUM AUTO DIALLER CONNECTION TIME EXCEEDED! Number : 30 Meaning : Your Auto Dialler session has been terminated by PANTHER detecting that you have reached the maximum time period you have allocated for that call. Remedy : Check to see you allocated enough time for the call. Although unlikely, it may also be that you have a WAIT command (with no passed arguments) awaiting a string from the remote system and Auto Dialler and Script File time outs (set in the Program Settings section) set to longer than the allowed duration of the call. Message : <File Name> NOT FOUND! Number : 31 Meaning : PANTHER cannot find the external protocol program file. Remedy : You have set up the protocols through PANTHER and have then deleted the protocol program. Either restore the program to the protocol directory or select a new protocol to use. Message : NO REPLY RECEIVED FROM MODEM! Number : 32 Meaning : PANTHER has sent either the RESET MODEM or INITIALISE MODEM strings to the port from the dialling directory and has failed to receive a response of any kind from your modem. Remedy : If you have started PANTHER with the /NOCHECKING switch then check your modem is switched on and plugged in. If this is not the case then ensure that your serial cable is intact. If this error persists and you are certain that your modem is working then contact the authors. Message : MODEM ERROR STRING RECEIVED ON SENDING <name> STRING! Number : 33 Meaning : PANTHER has sent either the RESET MODEM or INITIALISE MODEM strings to the port from the dialling directory and has received the specified 'MODEM ERROR' string back from your modem. Remedy : Check that the strings you're specifying are valid strings for the modem being used. Message : LABEL <label name> NOT FOUND IN SCRIPT! ABORTING! Number : 34 Meaning : You've issued a GOTO LABELNAME script command where a label by that name doesn't exist. Remedy : Edit the GOT statement or add an appropriate label to the script. Remember that labels must be marked as being such by prefixing the label name with the word LABEL. Message : LABEL <label name> NOT FOUND IN SCRIPT! ABORTING! Number : 34 Meaning : You've issued a GOTO LABELNAME script command where a label by that name doesn't exist. Remedy : Edit the GOT statement or add an appropriate label to the script. Remember that labels must be marked as being such by prefixing the label name with the word LABEL. PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 118 Message : PRINTER ERROR! OUT OF PAPER! Number : 35 Meaning : You've tried to print the dialling directory or start a printer capture session without there being any paper in your printer. Remedy : Load the printer with paper and try again. Message : PRINTER ERROR! PRINTER OFF LINE! Number : 36 Meaning : You've tried to print the dialling directory or start a printer capture session either without the printer being on line (ie ready) or without there being a printer attached to the computer at all. Remedy : Either turn the printer on line or go out and buy one! If all is apparently well with your printer and yet you still get the error you *may* have a problem with your parallel cable. Either try using another cable altogether, preferably one as short as you can manage. Message : PRINTER ERROR! PRINTER BUSY! Number : 37 Meaning : You've tried to print the dialling directory or start a printer capture session either with the printer already busy doing another task. Remedy : Wait until the printer is idle before retrying the operation. Message : UNKNOWN PRINTER ERROR! Number : 38 Meaning : You've tried to print the dialling directory or start a printer capture session and have experienced a hardware failure. Remedy : Refer to your printer manuals for doing diagnostic self-tests. It's possible that your printer is faulty. Message : CANNOT RENAME <file name> ! Number : 39 Meaning : You've issued a REN[AME] command in a PANTHER script file but have specified an invalid target name. Remedy : Make sure that the target and source names are different; make sure that the source file exists; make sure that the target file *doesn't* exist; make sure you've given a target file name in the first place; make sure that both your target and source file names are valid DOS file names. Message : CANNOT COPY <file name> ! Number : 40 Meaning : You've issued a COPY command in a PANTHER script file but have encountered some problem. Remedy : Make sure that the source file exists; make sure that the target file (if it exists, that is) hasn't got a read-only attribute set on it; if you are specifying a target directory as well as a file name in your target, make sure the directory exists; make sure you have specified a valid DOS target file name. PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 119 Message : CANNOT MAKE DIRECTORY <directory name> ! Number : 41 Meaning : You've issued a MD or MKDIR command in a PANTHER script file but have encountered some problem. Remedy : Make sure that the directory name doesn't already exist; make sure that the specified directory name is a valid DOS file name. Message : CANNOT REMOVE DIRECTORY <directory name> ! Number : 42 Meaning : You've issued an RD or RMDIR command in a PANTHER script file but have encountered some problem. Remedy : Make sure that the directory name actually exists; make sure that the specified directory is empty of other files and/or directories; make sure that the specified directory name is a valid DOS file name. Message : CANNOT CHAIN TO SCRIPT FILE <script name> ! Number : 43 Meaning : You've issued a CHAIN command in a script file but the target script file doesn't exist. Remedy : Ensure that the target script file exists within the script file path as specified in your configuration. Another common source of error is in using some file locking systems with multitasking software - make sure you don't have the target script file 'open' in a text editor while trying to chain to it - the file locking system (like the DOS SHARE program) will prevent the same file being opened in two different sessions and will bar PANTHER from reading the file, thereby preventing the CHAIN from working. Message : SPECIFIED FILE LISTING DOES NOT EXIST! Number : 44 Meaning : You've started up PANTHER with the FILE=<FileListName> command line switch to read in a file listing at start up but the specified file doesn't exist. Remedy : Ensure that the specified file listing actually exists. Another common source of error is in using some file locking systems with multitasking software - make sure you don't have the file listing file 'open' in a text editor while trying to start up PANTHER in this manner - the file locking system (like the DOS SHARE program) will prevent the same file being opened in two different sessions and will bar PANTHER from reading the file, thereby preventing the file list from being read in. Message : <File type> RAW LOG FILE DOES NOT EXIST! Number : 45 Meaning : You've tried to view a raw log file only to find that it doesn't actually exist. Remedy : Try another one? PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 120 Message : DOWNLOAD DIRECTORY MISSING! USING PROGRAM DIRECTORY! Number : 46 Meaning : PANTHER has started a file transfer download only to find that the download directory doesn't actually exist! Remedy : To effect a download, PANTHER checks to see if the download directory exists or not. If it doesn't then it will default to using the main program directory. If you get this error then simply recreate (or redefine) the download directory. Message : END OF SCRIPT REACHED WITHOUT LABEL FOUND! ABORTING SCRIPT! Number : 47 Meaning : PANTHER was acting on a GOTO script command but hasn't found the label referred to. The script will be aborted. Remedy : Rewrite the script file accordingly to include the label in the appropriate place. Message : END OF SCRIPT REACHED AND NO 'DOS STOP' FOUND! ABORTING SCRIPT! Number : 48 Meaning : PANTHER was acting on a DOS START script command but did not find the appropriate DOS STOP pair to end your series of DOS commands. This script will be aborted. Remedy : Rewrite the script file accordingly to include the DOS STOP command in the appropriate place, immediately after your series of DOS commands to be executed. Message : END OF SCRIPT REACHED WITHOUT 'WEND' FOUND! ABORTING SCRIPT! Number : 49 Meaning : PANTHER was acting on a WHILE script command but did not find the appropriate WEND command to terminate the conditional block of statements to be acted on under the 'while' condition. Remedy : Rewrite the script file accordingly to include the WEND command in the appropriate place. Message : END OF SCRIPT REACHED WITHOUT 'THEN' FOUND! ABORTING SCRIPT! Number : 50 Meaning : PANTHER was acting on an IF script command but did not find a THEN command to match it. Remedy : Rewrite the script file accordingly to include the THEN in the correct place. Bear in mind that THEN statements MUST occupy their own line in the script file and that conditional statements cannot be nested within each other. PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 121 Message : END OF SCRIPT AND NO 'ELSE/ENDIFF' FOUND! ABORTING SCRIPT! Number : 51 Meaning : PANTHER was acting on a THEN script command but did not find either an ELSE condition to match or an ENDIFF statement to terminate the conditional block of statements to be acted on under the 'if' condition. Remedy : Rewrite the script file accordingly to include the ELSE condition or ENDIFF statement in the correct place. Bear in mind that ELSE and ENDIFF statements MUST occupy their own line in the script file and that conditional statements cannot be nested within each other. Message : END OF SCRIPT REACHED WITHOUT 'ENDIFF' FOUND! ABORTING SCRIPT! Number : 52 Meaning : PANTHER was acting on an 'ELSE' script command but did not find the appropriate ENDIFF statement to terminate the conditional block of statements to be acted on under the 'else' condition. Remedy : Rewrite the script file accordingly to include the ENDIFF statement in the correct place. Bear in mind that ELSE and ENDIFF statements MUST occupy their own line in the script file and that conditional statements cannot be nested within each other. PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 122 GLOSSARY OF TERMS ----------------- Anything to do with computer communications is a minefield of jargon and esoteric terminology. What follows below is an attempt to consolidate some of the terms used in the field of comms. It's not meant to be completely exhaustive, nor it is supposed to be particularly detailed, but it's a start! ARQ - Automatic Repeat Request. This is a generalised term for error correction methods which have the ability to re-request corrupted data blocks. ASYNCHRONOUS TRANSMISSION - Probably the most common form of data transference where both the transmitting and receiving modems do not run in synchronisation with each other. Data is sent with 'start' and 'stop' bits allowing each modem to know when to start and when to stop. AUTO ANSWER MODE - When a modem is in auto answer mode it can answer incoming calls from other modems. BAUD - The baud rate signifies the modems speed and is roughly (at lower speeds anyway) analogous to the bits transferred per second. It is more accurately described as being the number of discrete signal events occurring on the channel. 1200 baud means that roughly 1200 bits are being transferred (in either direction) at any one time. As each byte is composed of two bits and there are usually two bits added for the asynchronous transfer, the transferred bits per second is roughly the baud rate divided by ten. Incidentally, the word 'baud' is a contraction of the name of the Frenchman (Baudot) who invented a very old communications code for teletype machines. CARRIER SIGNAL - A carrier the a continuous frequency which can be either modulated or embedded with the data being transmitted by another signal. Carriers are generated and maintained by the modem. CRC - Cyclic Redundancy Checking. An error correction method which consists of an algorithm enacted upon every block of data received or sent by a modem. The sending modem embeds it CRC calculations within each block and the receiving modem compares this figure with the one it independently reached. If the figures agree then the receiving modem sends an acknowledgement character (ACK) or of negative an acknowledgement character (NAK) if it disagrees. CTS - Clear To Send, an RS232 signal. PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 123 DATA COMPRESSION - As telephone communications are relatively expensive, particularly over longer distances, it helps to stores the information in your files in a compressed format which allows the data to be transmitted faster and hence cheaper. Compression is usually taken place prior to transmission by specific software, but it can also be done whilst the transmission is in progress using MNP 5. DCD - Data Carrier Detect, an RS232 signal. DOWNLOADING - Receiving data (usually in the form of a computer file) from a remote modem. DSR - Data set ready, an RS232 signal. DUPLEX - The direction of the data transfer. Half duplex means that only one modem can 'talk' at the one time, something like a two way radio. At full duplex, both modems can 'talk' at the same time, as in a telephone conversation. FALLBACK - When two modems talk for the first time they try to negotiate for the highest line speed possible. If they cannot do this then they fall back to the highest speed they can manage at. Fallback can also occur if the line conditions deteriorate and higher speed communications become impossible. Some modems have the capability of renegotiating the line speed once conditions become more favourable. HANDSHAKING - A method of compensating for the receiver having to break transfer briefly whilst it processes the data received. This can either be enabled by software (XON/XOFF) or by hardware (RTS/CTS). LAPM - Link Access Procedure for Modems, a sophisticated form of error correction for modems and built into V42. LEARN FACILITY - A capability of your comms software to monitor what you are typing at your keyboard and remember it, writing a script file for you in the process. LINE NOISE - Disturbances in the quality of the telephone line caused by adverse conditions, resulting in corruption of the data being transferred. If error checking modems or software is being used then the corrupted data will be rejected by the receiver and the transmitter will be forced to resend the data block. MODEM - A contraction of modulator/demodulator. Not all lines are constructed to convey digital signals, so the signals are converted into audio tones, a process known as modulation, which are passed over the telephone lines. The demodulation - converting sound to data - takes place at the receiving end. PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 124 MNP - Microcom Networking Protocol, a standard method of error correction and a method of eliminating line noise. This is mostly implemented in modems although some forms of MNP occur in software. For MNP to work, both modems must be using it. PARITY - If you are only sending text files across the line then the eighth bit of each byte isn't actually used by the data and can be used for a simple form of error checking called parity checking. Both the receiving and transmitting systems must be using the same parity checking system. As transferring binary files involves the use of all eight bits of each byte, parity checking is set to none. PROTOCOL - A protocol is a series of rules which define the communications between two or more devices. The external protocol transfer programs you run, send and receive data in preordained ways according to the rules which they adhere to, hence the importance of ensuring that both sender and receiver are observing the protocol. Standard file transfer protocol standards are the Xmodem, Ymodem and Zmodem. RD - Receive Data, An RS-232 signal, often found represented in a light on the front of your modem. When the light is illuminated your are receiving data. REN - Ringer Equivalence Number, the electronic 'weight' that each telecommunications items carries and places on the line. You can connect items up to a total of 4REN on household British Telecom lines. RS232 - The technical designation for the serial port structure of the IBM Personal Computer. It is also known as the serial port or the asynchronous communications port. RTS - Request To Send, an RS232 signal. SCRIPT - A script language is a form of (usually) simplistic language that allows you to automate most of your on line tasks without any intervention. SD - Send data, An RS-232 signal, often found represented in a light on the front of your modem. When the light is illuminated your are sending data. SYNCHRONOUS TRANSMISSION - This is a method of transfer more commonly used with mainframe computers where both receiving and transmitting modems run in synchronisation controlled by a clock timer. UPLOADING - Sending data (usually in the form of a computer file) to a remote modem. V21 - Full duplex modem transmission at 300 baud PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 125 V22 - Half duplex modem transmission at 600 and 1200 baud plus a spare reverse channel at 75 baud. V22bis - Full duplex transmission at 1200 baud and 2400 baud with fallback capabilities to V22. V23 - Full duplex transmission at 1200 baud and receive at 75 baud. V32 - Full duplex transmission at 4800 baud and 9600 baud. Modems following this standard can fall back to 4800 baud during adverse conditions and renegotiate to 9600 baud when conditions improve. V32bis - Full duplex transmission at 7200 baud, 1200 baud and 14400 baud. V42 - An error correcting protocol incorporating MNP levels 1, 2, 3 and 4. V42bis - An error correcting protocol incorporating MNP levels 2, 3 and 4 and LAPM. PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 126 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ---------------- I would like to thank the following people for their assistance in getting PANTHER version 2.00 off the ground; Derek Carroll for his co-authorship of COSWORTH, PANTHER's precursor, and for his assistance in designing some sections of PANTHER. Alastair McIntyre of Almac BBS. Gregory Smith for assistance and information on Avatar terminal emulation. Alan Barclay for assistance and information on VT terminal emulations. Roger Gregory, Sysop of FORTH VIEW bulletin board whose chance remark started the whole thing off. Phil, Eddie, Janet, Andrew, Martin, Frank, Ian, Sandy, Dave, Jeremy, Clive, Captain Flacks, Andy, Steven, Shakib, Douglas, Des, Peter, Corrie, Simon, Davie and all others who contributed their time in testing this software out. TRADEMARKS ---------- The following products and trademarks are mentioned in this documentation; OS/2 version 2.0 is copyright International Business Machines Corporation 1992. Microsoft MS-DOS Version 5.00 is copyright Microsoft Corp 1981-1991. Microsoft Windows is copyright Microsoft Corp 1991. DESQview is a trademark of Quarterdeck Office Systems. 4DOS is a registered trademark of and is copyright 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991 by JP Software Inc. Turbo Pascal, Turbo Debugger, Turbo Assembler and Turbo Profiler are all copyright and registered trademarks of Borland International Inc. TechnoJock's Turbo Toolkit (tm) is copyright 1989 TechnoJock Software, Inc. DSZ is copyright by Omen Technology INC TheDraw is copyright (c) 1986,1987,1988,1989 by TheSoft Programming Services and Ian E. Davis PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 127 QEdit Advanced Text Editor is copyright 1985-1991 by SemWare. SemWare and QEdit are reg. trademarks of Applied Systems Technologies. D'Bridge is copyright 1988/1989 by Chris Irwin. PC-Type is copyright 1986 by ButtonWare. PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 128 # (hash) 19, 74, 85 connecting 47 ^ (caret) 19, 74, 85 COPY script command 70 ~ (tilde) 85 Cosworth 3, 8 %PANTHER environment variable 13 data bits 43 *BAUD 25 DAYOFTHEWEEK script function 72 *COMPORT 25 DELETE script command 67 *DOWNLOADPATH 74 DIAG command line switch 15 *FIRST 74, 85 diagnostics file 15 *FNAME 25 dialling 45 *LAST 74, 85 Dialling Directory 37 *LINESPEED 25 commands 38 *NAME 32, 73, 85 default entry 30 *PASSWORD 32, 42, 74, 85 diaply 37 *PATH 25 editing by macro 87 *PROGRAMPATH 74 editing entries 41 *SCREENLINE 74, 77 entry fields 41 *UPLOADPATH 74 keystrokes 40 16550AFN (UART) 99 timer 109 4DOS 6, 13, 89, 109 dialling prefix 1..5 21, 43, 86 ALMAC BBS 7, 47 DIR command line switch 14 ANSI 44, 50, 61, 100 directories 26, 116 ASCII transfers 51 DOS script command 69 auto answer mode 100 DOS Shell 49, 100, 108 AUTO command line switch 14, 95, DOWNLOAD script command 66 98 downloading 52, 54 Auto Dialler 90 EMS (Expanded memory) 6 abandoning session 50, 96 ERASE script command 67 automatic halting 113 error file 103 description of 90 errorlevels 16 problems 117 errors 103, 110, 111 reporting 96 EXIST script function 72 safeguards 90 exit codes 16 setting up 91 fatal errors 111 smart scripts 96 FILE command line switch 15 starting session 14, 95, 98 File List 58 auto Zmodem downloads 28 command line read 59 AUTOBUF.BUF 63 deleting 58 Avatar 44, 50, 61, 100 editing 51, 58, 100 backspace 44, 50, 100 sending 52, 59, 60 batch file 13 FILELISTING script function 72 baud 42, 123 GOTO script command 70 BEEP script command 69 handshaking 43, 124 binary save file 49, 104 hang up string 21, 86 break signal 48 hanging up 49 busy strings 21, 46 HANGUP script command 68 capture file 49, 103, 107 hardware requirements 6 carrier signal 35, 36, 107, 109, HELP command line switch 14 123 IBM OS/2 5, 6, 109, 105 CHAIN script command 71 IEMSI 31 (et seq), 45 CLRSCR script command 69 IEMSI script command 70 colours 23 IF..THEN... script command 68, 71, command line switches 14 73 configuration 18 (et seq) INBUFFER script function 72 configuration file 17, 34 initialisation string 20, 46, 86, connect strings 22, 112, 47 100 PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 129 installation 8 (et seq) support 7 KEYS command line switch 15, 88, timeslicing 5 109 PANTHER.BAT 13 keystrokes and macro tokens 86 PANTHER.BIN 49, 104 keystrokes in directory 40 PANTHER.BTM 13 keystrokes in terminal mode 100 PANTHER.CAP 49, 107, 103 keystrokes when on line 48 PANTHER.CFG 17, 34 keystrokes, disabling 53 PANTHER.DIA 15 LABEL script command 70 PANTHER.ERF 103 line feeds 44, 50 PANTHER.EXE 17, 117 local echo 44, 49 PANTHER.LOG 50, 77, 102 log file 28, 50, 77, 102 PANTHER.MAC 85, 115 LOGWRITE script command 70 PANTHER.RUN 35, 104 MACRO command line switch 15, 88 PANTHER.SNP 50, 100, 103 macro file 85, 115 parity 43, 125 MACRO script command 70 paths 26, 116 Macros 84 PAUSE script command 68 'quit' feature 88 port locking 21 command line 15, 88, 109 prefix 1..5 21, 43, 86 editing 84 printer capture 50, 100 examples 87 PRINTER script command 70 inserting pauses 85 Protocols 54 keystroke tokens 86 ASCII transfers 51 keystrokes 86 auto Zmodem downloads 28 problems 116 configuration 24 running external programs 88 downloading 52, 114, 124 summary 52 DSZ 25, 26 mail files 28 errors 110, 114 MAYGET script command 65 external 25 MD script command 70 in dialling directory 44 memory requirements 6, 88 internal 54 Mercury Communications 22, 42, uploading 51, 114 86, 100 variables 25 MESSAGE script command 70 Xmodem-1K 55 Microsoft Windows 5 Xmodem-1Kg 55 MINIMUM script SPEED command 68 Xmodem/CRC 55 MKDIR script command 70 Ymodem-1K 55 modem error string 21, 46 Ymodem-g 55 modem OK string 21, 46 Zmodem 56 modem strings 19 Zmodem crash recovery 56 NOCARRIERCHECK command line Zmodem name incrementation switch 15 57 NOCHECKING command line switch QUESTIONBOX script function 72 14, 45, 95, 99, 114, 115 queued dialling 45 ONLINETIME script function 72 raw log viewer 61, 104, 120 ONSCREEN script function 71 Raw Logging 28 OS/2 5, 6, 109, 105 RAWLOG.ANS 61, 104, 120 Panther RAWLOG.AVT 61, 104, 120 copyright 3 RAWLOG.TXT 61, 104, 120 development of 105 RAWLOG.V52 61, 104, 120 directories 26, 116 RD script command 70 hardware requirements 6 RECEIVE script command 29, 65, main features 4 72, 81, 82, 108, 113 memory requirements 6, 88 REN(AME) script command 70 running 35 PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 130 REPEAT...UNTIL script command REN(AME) command 70 69, 71, 72, 73 REPEAT...UNTIL command 69, reset string 20, 46, 86, 100 71, 72, 73 RMDIR script command 70 RMDIR command 70 run-checking file 35, 104 SEND command 60, 65, 75 Script Files 64 SOUND command 67 'smart scripts' 82, 96 STOPSCRIPT command 70 *DOWNLOADPATH variable 74 TIMEOFDAY function 72 *FIRST variable 74 timeout 29 *LAST variable 74 TRACE command 67 *NAME variable 73 UPLOAD command 66 *PASSWORD variable 74 using 75 *PROGRAMPATH variable 74 WAIT command 66 *UPLOADPATH variable 74 WARNING command 70 aborting 48, 96, 112 WHILE...WEND command 69, 71, BEEP command 69 73 CHAIN command 71 writing CLRSCR command 69 Scrollback Buffer 63 COPY command 70 automatic dumping 63 DAYOFTHEWEEK function 72 saving 63 definition 64 viewing 51, 63, 100 DELETE command 67 SEND script command 60, 65, 75 DOS command 69 serial port configuration 19 DOWNLOAD command 66 serial port selection 18 editing 64, 81 shelling to DOS 49, 100, 108 ERASE command 67 Snapshots example 77 colour 49, 104 EXIST function 72 text 50, 100, 103 FILELISTING function 72 sound 27 GOTO command 70 SOUND script command 67 HANGUP command 68 status line 48 IEMSI command 70 stop bits 43 IF..THEN... command 68, 71, STOPSCRIPT script command 70 73 switches 14 in directories 42 teletype 44, 50, 61, 100 INBUFFER function 72 terminal emulation 44, 50, 61, LABEL command 70 100 learning 49, 76, 108 Terminal Mode 99 LOGWRITE command 70 auto answer mode 101, 123 MACRO command 70 offline keystrokes 100 MAYGET command 65 online keystrokes 48, 101 MD command 70 problems 106 MESSAGE command 70 TIMEOFDAY script function 72 MINIMUM SPEED command 68 timeslicing systems 5 MKDIR command 70 TRACE script command 67 ONLINETIME function 72 troubleshooting 106 (et seq) ONSCREEN function 71 UPLOAD script command 66 overwrite mode 76 uploading 51, 52, 54 PAUSE command 68 VT52 44, 50, 61, 100 PRINTER command 70 WAIT script command 66 problems 1155, 118, 120, 121 WARNING script command 70 QUESTIONBOX function 72 WHILE...WEND script command 69, RD command 70 71, 73 RECEIVE command 29, 65, 72, Windows 5 81, 82, 108, 113 XMS (Extended memory) 7 PANTHER COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE version 2.00 page 131