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Text File | 1991-02-24 | 17.6 KB | 440 lines

┌── Thanks for considering DGBG! ──────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ DGBG is The Darn Good Bulletin Generator │ │ ^ ^ ^ ^ │ │ Copyright 1991, Brian McCormick │ │ │ │ │ │ │ └───────────────────────────────────────────────── DGBG 1.00 ──┘ Distribution and Liability Statement: This software is free, and may be distributed for free to other people. Charging a fee for this software is a violation of the author's copyright. As usual with software of this nature, no warranty either stated or implied is offered. By using this software, you agree that you assume all liability in connection with its use or misuse. What is DGBG? DGBG was designed for the purpose of compiling a visually appealing news bulletin for use on BBS's. DGBG is only one of many such programs, but it supports more useful features and is more visually appealing than any similar program this author has seen. Among the features that DGBG supports: * DGBG creates ANSI (.ANS), ASCII (.ASC), and AVATAR (.AVT) files. * Each news item is displayed in a window of its own. * Input text is automatically line wrapped for an optimal fit within display windows. * Each window can be independently positioned, and will overlap previously drawn windows. * The background color, text color, frame color, frame style, highlight color, and title can be set individually for each window. * Sequential display of windows with overlap is supported in ASCII, ANSI, and AVATAR output files. How to use DGBG DGBG works in much the same way as other news bulletin compilers. Like other news bulletin compilers, this program scans an input file containing message text and control parameters. The information contained within that file is used to produce up to three output files, one containing ANSI terminal control information, one a flat ASCII file, and the last an optional AVATAR output file. The ASCII file contains no terminal control information other than screen clearing codes. Both files are elaborately formatted and decorated to produce a visually appealing display. The default input file for DGBG is called DGBG.TXT, and it should be present within the directory that DGBG is invoked from. DGBG will look for that file when it starts up, and will abort with an error message if the file is not found. DGBG can be forced to process a file other than DGBG.TXT by providing the name of that file on the command line. If this option is used, all references to DGBG.TXT in this document can be considered to apply to the file specified. 2 Since DGBG.TXT contains both message text and formatting commands, there must be a way for DGBG to distinguish between the two. Formatting commands are therefore dis- tinguished from message text by the fact that all commands start with an asterisk ("*") and must begin in the first text column. Without going into any detail as yet into what the various commands mean, the following simple illustration should show how commands are distinguished from text: *Title Simple Illustration This is a line of text This is another line of text *Style 4 *Window All the lines beginning with an asterisk are formatting commands, and all the rest of the lines (including the blank one) are lines of message text. Text input into the DGBG control file is a fairly straight- forward task. Simply entering the text in paragraph format will work. Line length is not especially important since any input text will automatically be line wrapped to a length of 60 characters per line. Input lines should not exceed 110 characters though, for longer lines may be truncated. The line wrapping algorithm in DGBG keys on two things to determine when to end a paragraph of text and begin a new one. The first of these is a blank line. Any blank line will cause DGBG to finish the current paragraph, skip a line, and begin the next one. Vertical spacing with blank lines is thereby preserved in the output files. A line beginning with a space (such as a paragraph indention) will also trigger the end of the current paragraph and the beginning of a new one. In this case however, no lines are skipped between paragraphs. The indention is preserved however, and thus horizontal spacing is preserved in the output file. DGBG's line wrapping algorithm does NOT remove extra blanks between individual words unless a line break also occurs between those words. The real power of DGBG is not derived merely from simple text input, however. What makes DGBG special is the ability to configure multiple overlapping windows, each with its own individual characteristics. This is accomplished through the use of a set of formatting commands. DGBG's commands essentially fall into two categories: the Window command and all the rest. All the commands except the Window command are used to set various parameters which will be used when the window command is invoked to determine what characteristics (such as location, color, etc.) a window will have when it is displayed. Each time a command other than the 3 Window command (with some exceptions, as will be seen later) is invoked, the value of the setting controlled by that command is changed. The order of commands is not important, as long as all the desired characteristics of a command are established before the Window command is used. A command occurring twice before a Window command will not cause an error. The last value given will be the one used when the window is written to the output files. Text is processed in a manner similar to the way non-Window commands are processed. It is saved up until a Window command is reached, and then it is all put into the display window at once. DGBG Commands Following this section is an alphabetical listing of all the commands supported by DGBG. For each command, both a description and a syntax definition are given. This document describes the function of DGBG's commands in ordinary English, and therefore their purpose should be reasonably self evident. The syntax definitions may not be so obvious however, and so the following descriptions are given: *Command <1..10> This syntax means that the (purely hypothetical) command "Command" would accept an integer between 1 and 10 as its parameter. *Command <string> This syntax means that the command would accept a character string as a parameter. *Command [<string>] When the parameter is enclosed in square brackets, it is optional. In this case, the command "Command" would accept either a string parameter or no parameter at all. Many of the commands deal specifically with color. The specific color values available vary from command to command and are given in the syntax definition for each command. The following chart shows what colors are associated with each color value: 4 Non-Blinking 0 - Black 8 - Dark Gray 1 - Blue 9 - Bright Blue 2 - Green 10 - Bright Green 3 - Cyan 11 - Bright Cyan 4 - Red 12 - Bright Red 5 - Magenta 13 - Bright Magenta 6 - Brown 14 - Yellow 7 - Light Gray 15 - White Blinking 16 - Black 24 - Dark Gray 17 - Blue 25 - Bright Blue 18 - Green 26 - Bright Green 19 - Cyan 27 - Bright Cyan 20 - Red 28 - Bright Red 21 - Magenta 29 - Bright Magenta 22 - Brown 30 - Yellow 23 - Light Gray 31 - White With that out of the way, here are the commands: AVATAR Syntax: *Avatar The Avatar command enables the output of a file ending in the extension .AVT containing AVATAR terminal control information. This option is for Sysops who are running BBS's that support the AVATAR terminal type as described in FSC-0025. AVATAR output is not produced unless this command is given. The AVATAR command must be issued before the Path command in order to have any effect. BACKGROUND Syntax: *Background <0..7> The Background command is used to set the color that will be used as the background of the next window to be drawn. The default value used if no Background command is issued is one (blue). FRAMECOLOR Syntax: *Framecolor <0..31> The Framecolor command is used to set the foreground color of the frame around the next window. The default value for this parameter if it is not given is five (magenta). 5 HIGHLIGHTS Syntax: *Highlights <0..31> The Highlights command sets the foreground color used for displaying the window title, prompt, and DGBG edition stamp. The default setting is 15 (white). MESSAGECOLOR Syntax: *Messagecolor <0..31> The Messagecolor command establishes the foreground color which will be used for actual news text within a window. The default setting is 10 (bright green). NORIMS Syntax: *Norims Without the benefit of color, the output of DGBG can be difficult to read because the lines separating windows do not always define the window well enough to separate it from other windows that it overlaps. Since ASCII files never have color, DGBG by default draws in a blank line above and below each window in the ASCII output that overlaps another window. These blank lines, or "rims" can be disabled by using the Norims command. All windows drawn after the Norims command is used will be rimless. The Norims command can not be reversed except by removing it from the configuration file altogether. PATH Syntax: *Path <string> This command establishes the path and name of the output files and causes those files to be opened. This command should only be used once. Do not provide an extension as part of the argument to the Path command. The extensions .ASC, .ANS, and .AVT will be automatically appended by DGBG. There is no default value, and this command must be issued before the first window command is issued. STYLE Syntax: *Style <1..12> The STYLE command is used to select the style of frame which will surround the text in the next window to be shown. There are twelve frame styles as shown at the top of the next page. 6 ┌─┤ Frame Style 1 ├────────┐ ┌── Frame Style 4 ─────────┐ │ Single line with serifs │ │ Single line w/o serifs │ └────────────┤ DGBG 1.00 ├─┘ └───────────── DGBG 1.00 ──┘ ╔═╡ Frame Style 2 ╞════════╗ ╔══ Frame Style 5 ═════════╗ ║ Double line with serifs ║ ║ Double line w/o serifs ║ ╚════════════╡ DGBG 1.00 ╞═╝ ╚═════════════ DGBG 1.00 ══╝ █▀█ Frame Style 3 █▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀█ █▀▀ Frame Style 6 ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀█ █ Thick border with serifs █ █ Thick border w/o serifs █ █▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄█ DGBG 1.00 █▄█ █▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄ DGBG 1.00 ▄▄█ ┌─[ Frame Style 7 ]────────┐ Frame Style 10 │ Single line w/ brackets │ No frame └────────────[ DGBG 1.00 ]─┘ DGBG 1.00 ╔═[ Frame Style 8 ]════════╗ *** Frame Style 11 ********* ║ Double line w/ brackets ║ * Asterisks * ╚════════════[ DGBG 1.00 ]═╝ ************** DGBG 1.00 *** █▀[ Frame Style 9 ]▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀█ +-| Frame Style 12 |-------+ █ Thick border w/ brackets █ | ASCII only | █▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄[ DGBG 1.00 ]▄█ +------------| DGBG 1.00 |-+ The default setting for the Style command is two (double line with serifs). TITLE Syntax: *Title [<string>] Sets the value for the title string that will be used when the next Window command is issued. If no parameter is provided, the next window will not have a title. The default setting is for no title, and the maximum title length is 50 characters. WINDOW Syntax: *Window When the window command is issued, all of the current color, title, etc. settings and the message text collected since the last Window command (or the beginning of the file if there was no previous window command) is used to create a window. That window is then written to the output file. If no Window command is found in the configuration file, DGBG does not produce any output. The last command in the configuration file should therefore be a Window command. 7 X Syntax: *X <1..16> Sets the X coordinate (column) at which the upper left hand corner of the next window to be drawn will reside. The default X value of nine produces a window which is approximately centered (horizontally) on the screen. The X and Y coordinates should be altered if an overlapping window effect is desired. If they are not, windows will simply overwrite one another. Y Syntax: *Y <1..10> Sets the Y coordinate (row) at which the upper left hand corner of the next window to be drawn will reside. The default setting of six produces a window which is approx- imately centered on the screen. The X and Y coordinates should be altered if an overlapping window effect is desired. If they are not, windows will simply overwrite one another. Final Words If you believe you have found a bug in this program, first go back and reread the documentation, make sure you have at least files=25 in your CONFIG.SYS, and perform all the other normal double checks. If you are still unable to get the program to work, and think you have found a bug, please attempt to send me netmail and I will see what I can do. I am currently accepting netmail at 1:391/21. I am a college student however, so this should not be considered a permanent arrangement. After 1 May 1990, just look for Brian_McCormick in the FidoNet nodelist. Regrettably, I am too poor to provide unlimited support for this program, but if you can contact me, I will be more than happy to look into any bug reports, and I will fix any real bugs that can be found. I would like to thank Bernard Johnson of DigiKing BBS (1:391/16) for assisting in testing this program and for his many valuable suggestions. Without his help, DGBG would not be what it is today. Also instrumental to the development of this program was Greg Langham of Ozark Connection BBS (1:391/7), who wrote a program that set the standard for this one. (Please don't bother Bernard or Greg about support for this program, because they do not have the source.) 8