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This file is formatted to be printed out properly using TYPE CHATMAN.DOC >LPT1: on most printers ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │▓▒░ CHAT MANAGER V2.4 BETA2 (C) 1993 I. TOPS ░▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Features of Chat Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 CHat, Userdatafile explained . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1.A Files included in this package . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 Separate programs that can be used with Chat Manager.. .2.A Installation procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 Single-line BBS's without multitasking and networking. .3.A Chats from a Sysop's point of view . . . . . . . . . . . .4 Special sysopkeys. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4.A Local chatting for the Sysop . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4.B Macro's. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4.C SysopPaging & music files. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4.D Spy Mode, ultimate Sysop control . . . . . . . . . . . .4.E Fixed subject chats. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4.F Using /# or /% parameter to force user in chats. . . . .4.G Message writing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4.H Errorlevels. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4.I Downloading in a chat. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4.J CMP, Chat Manager Protocol for your users. . . . . . .4.J.1 Using the conversion tool for your BBS . . . . . . . .4.J.2 Paging/Forcing other users . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4.K Regenerating Chatfiles after corruption. . . . . . . . .4.L Using CMSETUP. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5 Optional parameters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5.A Statistics overview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5.B How Chat Manager determines User data. . . . . . . . . . .6 Command-line parameters for CHATMAN. . . . . . . . . . . .7 Configuration files description and lay-out. . . . . . . .8 CMNOPAGE.CTL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8.A CM24PAGE.CTL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8.B CMSPY .CTL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8.C CMFIXSUB.CTL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8.D CMACCESS.CTL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8.E CMNOCHAT.CTL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8.F CMFILES .CTL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8.G CHATMAN1.DEF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8.H DORINFO1.DEF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8.I DOOR .SYS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8.J Optimizing & Security. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9 Using a RAMDrive for speed purposes. . . . . . . . . . .9.A Internal CRC-Check for virusses, trojan horses etc . . .9.B 386 Version. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9.C High-Speed Modems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9.D BBS-Specific notes (includes installation extras) Remote Access. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.A Maximus. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.B QuickBBS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.C Opus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.D SuperBBS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.E Networks (no BBS). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.F Passing userdata . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.F.1 SYSOPTSR.COM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.F.2 Troubleshooting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Why can't I use my cursorkeys to move around . . . . . 11.A No warranty whatsoever . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Registration purposes and procedure. . . . . . . . . . . 13 International Support BBS's & Registration sites. . . . 13.A ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │▓▒░ 1 FEATURES ░▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ To get acquainted with Chat Manager, please read FEATURES.DOC!!! and CHATINFO.TXT if you haven't done that yet. Then follow the installation procedure. CMSETUP gives you some more info on Chat Manager and some of it's details. Installing it on your BBS and trying it is the best way to see if you like it. But as a Chat needs more than one to party, please try it at least with somebody else on-line (or run it twice in local mode, although chatting with yourself is a strong sign of mental decline). Once you are sure you like it, let all join the chats (and register it). Some functions are only available for a few BBS's or (more specifically) only for RA and SBBS. This is always mentioned in the text and is due to the fact dat at the moment the only registered user's I have are RA or SBBS-Users. As more users of other BBS's join I'll see to the implementation of some of those features for more BBStypes. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │▓▒░ 1.A CHAT & USERDATAFILE ░▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Chat has two meanings in this document. Somebody can chat (type) in a specific chat (sort of area). More chats can exist at the same time with different users chatting in each chat. A userdatafile, often referred to in this manual, is one of those files that passes userdata to Chat Manager. Examples are EXITINFO.BBS, DORINFO1.DEF, DOOR.SYS and LASTUSxx.DAT ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │▓▒░ 2 INCLUDED FILES ░▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ CHATMAN .EXE Program to run from BBS in a shell or from a network CMSETUP .EXE Program to configure Chat Manager with CHATMAN .DOC This Documentation UPGRADE .DOC How to upgrade to this version from a previous one FEATURES.DOC Verbose listing of Chat Managers features CHATMAN .NEW New additions, read this if you are upgrading Chat Manager CHATMAN .RAM Musicfile with sample paging tune CHATINFO.TXT Help file displayed to your users if they want info on Chat Manager CM386 .EXE 386 Version of Chat Manager [registered only] BBS2CM .ARJ Contains conversion utils for most systems CMPxxx .ARJ External protocol for your users (see 4.x) DMO .ARJ Several demo .CTL files FUTURE .NEW What's in store for the future REGISTER.FRM Registration form for Chat Manager BUG .FRM Used when you discover a bug. Please read troubleshooting section before sending it. BBSTERMS.MCD Sample file with macros (see macro section) ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │▓▒░ 2.A RELATED ARCHIVES ░▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ 2.A Separate programs that can be used with Chat Manager Archivename Magicname KB Contains ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── MRGMAC13.ARJ MERGEMAC 12 Util to merge macrofiles TUNES .ARJ TUNES 24 A set of 58 paging tunes ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── These can at all times be frequested at the Support BBS's listed in section 13 (bottom of docfile). ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │▓▒░ 3 INSTALLATION PROCEDURE ░▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ ■ Ensure you load SHARE or a comparable util to enable file-sharing and locking. DrDos and Netware are already network aware. For MSDos use share.exe ■ Make a directory for these files (used in examples is C:\CHATMAN) and put them in it. Make another directory called TEMP or something like that to hold the temporary files Chat Manager creates. ■ Place SET CHATMAN=C:\CHATMAN in your autoexec.bat (reboot to activate it now) ■ REGISTERED users that will use Chat Manager only on 386 or higher PC's should use COPY CM386.EXE CHATMAN.EXE and then DEL CM386.EXE in order to use the identical but a little faster 386 version ■ Please read section 10.x, this covers some installation details for RA, MAXIMUS, OPUS, QuickBBS, SuperBBS and NETWORKS (no BBS). It also describes the contents of the conversion/setup tools in BBS2CM.ARJ ■ Start CMSETUP.EXE in the Chatman directory and adjust the settings to your needs. For the CHT Files it generates you should use a small ramdisk or a quick & buffered harddisk. This disk has to be used by ALL lines, so it MUST be a shared drive in networks. ■ Install Chat Manager by adding three shells to dos to your BBS's menu file's. The shells should start CHATMAN.EXE and is described for most BBS's in the section in chapter 3 that is dedicated to the BBS toy're using. Single-line BBS's don't need Shell 1, Networks only need Shell 1 (and not 2 and 3). 1 The FIRST shell in a chat or multi-line menu, this one gives the user full access to all chats available. IF possible allow them to download CMPxx.ARJ from this menu too. 2 The SECOND shell should be where a user can page the sysop, call chatman with the parameter /Z added on the command-line so the user will go to an empty chat and the paging tune is played for your attention. (don't forget the usual parameters!) 3 The THIRD shell should be invoked when you want to start a chat with a user, placing the user in Chat Manager waiting for you to come chatting. Add the /Y parameters to the command-line. The user will be put in a chat with the message 'sysop is coming, wait a moment' and the tune will not be played because you started the chat and are already present. ■ If you run desqview, add an entry and modify it to start Chat Manager without parameters with direct writes on, no graphics displayed, run's in background and uses 175Kb of memory. Now you can start Chat Manager in a flash if a user is paging you. ■ Modify CHATINFO.TXT to your needs. This plain ascii-file is displayed to your users when they ask for help from the Chat selection-menu in Chat Manager. ■ If you have enabled downloading during chats, construct the CMFILES.CTL file. For most BBS's a conversion util named BBS2CM.EXE is included and can be found in BBS2CM.ARJ (otherwise see the sectuion on CMFILES.CTL). ■ Add CMSETUP.EXE /R and if you have turned downloading on also BBS2CM.EXE to your daily maintenance batch files. BBS2CM.EXE will for RA be RA2CM.EXE etc.. (see BBS2CM.ARJ). Both actions are explained later. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │▓▒░ 3.A SINGLE-LINE INSTALLATION ░▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Don't worry, Chat Manager will work fine for you too. But there are a few things you might keep in mind. Because choosing from multiple chats has no sense on a single-line BBS, you should add the /Z parameter to the command-line. This puts a user that selects Chat Manager into an empty chat without asking him to choose one and pages you when the user does so. If you encounter problems and have NOT loaded SHARE.EXE, please load SHARE.EXE and try again. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │▓▒░ 4 CHATS FROM THE SYSOPS POINT OF VIEW ░▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ As a user starts a chat he will receive a screen from which he can select a chat to join or start just by pressing it's key and start chatting. The local screen will state some info on the user when he starts but will not display the chat itself unless you press ALT-D, telling Chat Manager that you want to see it. Pressing ALT-D again returns to the 'status mode'. The Chat can NOT be watched if a user has (for example) 43 screenlines and your local screen has only 25. Chatman uses the available screen as-is, if you start it on a 43-lines screen, 43 lines will be used. If the user has the same amount of lines, no statusbar will be visible, but all ALT keys will work just fine and you can watch the chat. Pressing ALT-R will make the user return to the BBS as soon as possible with the message 'The Sysop forced you to leave'. After a few seconds, he will be returned to the BBS. ALT-J will give you a shell to dos. At the moment no memoryswap is performed. Transfers in progress will be interrupted and you are also 'unavailable' in your chat. Therefore this is NOT recommended for long periods and memory-hungry programs. Pressing Cursor UP and Cursor DOWN will Increase or Decrease the users time with a minute. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │▓▒░ 4.A SPECIAL SYSOPKEYS ░▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ ALT-I │ List the available keys (on-line mode only) ALT-D │ Display chat, toggle between 'status mode' and 'view │ chat mode' ALT-R │ Return user to the BBS with the message Sysop forced you │ to leave (if he can read fast)! Does not hangup. ALT-J │ Jump to Dos ALT-H │ Hangup, immediately throws a user off-line and exits CRSR-UP │ Increase users time with one minute CRSR-DW │ Decrease users time with one minute ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │▓▒░ 4.B LOCAL CHATS ░▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ There are FOUR ways for the Sysop to start a local chat. FIRST is to logon locally to your BBS and choose to chat in the same way your users have to. SECOND is to start CHATMAN from the directory you put it in. There should be no userdatafile there. Start it without any parameters. Chat Manager now assumes you are the sysop. Username is set to the sysop and you are granted the Sysop security level which will give you access to sending private one-liners and peeking into private chats. You also get two whole hours of time. THIRD is to start CHATMAN from the directory you put it in with a userdatafile present (CHATMAN1.DEF is easiest). DO NOT put this userdatafile in a line-directory or your users will be the person mentioned in that file. To use it, rename it to Chatman1.def, put it in your chatman directory and startup Chatman.exe. You will now be Ivo Tops, logging on locally with seclevel 100 and 120 min. Only the name, location, time and seclevel are used now, other data is ignored in local chats. This way you can use your own name if you logon locally instead of being The_Sysop. Use this if you are for example on a local terminal of a network and want to chat. (No BBS needed, Chat with other terminals through the network, check out novell.txt). FOURTH is to select the screen of a user. Press ALT-L to view his chat and then start typing. Your text will be white, his will be normal. This is useable but not preferrable, because other users cannot see you're present except for the one you are chatting with. This is also the only way to chat without a split-screen. Do not reset a local chat to quit, but leave it using ESC (for menu) and Q (for quit). Otherwise you will have to follow the regenerating chat-files procedure as described later, because Chat Manager will think you're still 'on the air' and available for chats with others. If you started a chat for the user through the BBS with the /Y option (see parameters) the user will be in the first empty chat with 'Requested chat with sysop' as subject and [PAGE] in his statusbar. You should then immediately join using one of the above described methods. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │▓▒░ 4.C MACROS ░▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Using the built-in macroeditor in CMSETUP you can enter/delete macros for use with Chat Manager. If you rename MACROS.DMO to CHATMAN.MCD, two simple macro's will be present (described later). DO NOT ASCII-EDIT this file. Use CMSETUP and the later mentioned tool mergemac only! A macro can be any key-sequence, including ENTER, F1 etc... If you enable macrochecking, all input is checked and if a sequence matches a macro, the text already displayed is quickly erased and the replacement text is put over it. Macro's are case insensitive, but the replacements are. If the macro has text in it and the user typed the first letter in UPCASE the first letter of the replacement text will also be upcase! Consider these examples; Macro : SYSOP Replacement: mister sysop If a user types sysop he'll see mister sysop, but if he types Sysop he'll see Mister sysop ^ ^ Macro : UPTIME Replacement: HiFive![CRSR-UP][CRSR-UP][CRSR-UP][CRSR-UP][CRSR-UP] If a user or you enter UPTIME, it will be replaced with HiFive! and time will be increased by 5 mins. There are almost no limits, you might define playtune to trigger ESC-P (page you and play a tune) or define ALLFILES to start sending your allfiles listing using CMP. All keys are valid and most are recognised and translated to readable english like the above example. You can watch your macro's by writing them to a file using CMSETUP. Ultimate flexibilty is great, but beware. You can even redefine the ALT-R, ALT-L keys etc. Consider the next macro; Macro : [CRSR-UP] Replacement: 5[SPC]minutes[SPC]extra[CRSR-UP][CRSR-UP][CRSR-UP] [CRSR-UP][CRSR-UP] This will give your user 5 mins. extra instead of one when you press cursor up (users cannot press cursor up). You could also enhance [ESC]P which stands for Page sysop to page and write a message. Do not forget that the last key of the macro is not executed, so it should be; Macro : [ESC]P Replacement : Pwhat a nice tune I hear Esc starts the menu, P enables the macro, the replacement text places the P in the buffers so Paging starts and displays the message what a nice tune in the users window. You could also use macro's to make things that should be in uppercase appear in uppercase. Consider this one; Macro : CHAT MANAGER Replacement: CHAT MANAGER It seems to do nothing, but in fact it changes every entered chat manager to uppercase. As the macro itself is case insensitive, chAt MaNager will also become CHAT MANAGER Macro : ALLFILES[ENTER] Replacement: [ESC]DALLFILES.ZIP[ENTER] This macro will start sending your ALLFILES.ZIP to every user that types ALLFILES and [ENTER] after it. If the user does not have CMP, Chat Manager will tell him it's an invalid menuchoice to download without CMP present. The keys in a macro-sequence are also used in their normal definition except for the last one in a macro. So if you defined (in the above example) that pressing [CRSR-UP] two times would be a macro the user would first get one extra minute and then the macro is executed. Entering macro's is easy, just run CMSETUP and choose for macros/macroedit. All keys except TAB and BACKSPACE will be put in your macro. TAB can be used to finish the macro, BACKSPACE works like usual. To examine your macro's have them written to a file. This will contain readable macro's with FKeys etc. written between brackets [F1]. Macro's within macro's are not allowed. You will be notified if you try this. The included BBSTERMS.MCD file contains some simle macro's like /FD for FrontDoor etc. If you are installing for the first time you can rename this one to CHATMAN.MCD to use ut. Examine the macro's by writing them to an asciifile using CMSETUP. If you already have your own macros, use Mergemac.exe to merge this file with your own. Macro's are fun, but don't forget the following; ■ Macro's take space. All macro's and replacement are kept in memory. Normally nothing to bother, but I you use a LOT of macro's please give Chat Manager some more memory ■ Macro's are checked for after every input. This ofcourse slows things down a little. I didn't really notice it, but try it for yourself. MERGEMAC.EXE (found in mergemac.arj) enables you to merge other macrofiles with your own. It comes with a small docfile and a macrofile that contains various macro's that shorten common BBS terms like /RA for Remote Access, /MX for Maximus, /CM for Chat Manager and lots more... ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │▓▒░ 4.D SYSOP PAGING & MUSIC FILES ░▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ If a user is paging you from a chat, (ESC-P for the user or /Y or /Z specified) the user will have [PAGE] in his statusbar and the screen will be attracting your attention. If it's between paging hours, the musicfile specified or a random one if a subdir was specified is played to get your attention (Not with /Y because you forced the chat and are already present). Paging hours defined in CMSETUP should run from 00:00 to 24:00 if you want your users to be able to page you 24 hours a day. 00:00 to 00:00 will give them no chance to page (except the users defined in CM24PAGE.CTL). You can use all music files that use only the simple TONE and WAIT commands, normally these files have the .RA or .RAM extension. Examine CHATMAN.RAM for more details or download some RA-Musicfiles. Put all of them in a single subdir and specify this subdir in CMSETUP. There are also two control files in which you can list people that may NEVER page you (CMNOPAGE.CTL) and people that may ALWAYS page you (CM24PAGE.CTL). For the layout of these file check the layout section. Sysops with a Souncard (e.g. SoundBlaster, Ad/Lib etc.) can use device to play the paging tune. This can be setup in the setup program. However there are a few considerations; ■ All computers (networks) should have the soundcard ■ A dosutil to play soundfiles should be available ■ A special directory with soundfiles should be present ■ No memoryswap is done. So CHECK if the tool has sufficient memory to play the song if Chat Manager shells to dos. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │▓▒░ 4.E SPY MODE ░▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓ REGISTERED ONLY ▓▓▓▓▓│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Spy mode enables you to log the entire chat of any user(s) you choose to a file. All it takes is editing the file named CHSPY.CTL in the Chat Manager directory. Put a users exact name on a line with underscores_ instead of spaces . On the line immediately after the name enter the name (and location) of the file that his chat should be written to. If you do not specify a full path the file will end up in your linedirectory. The sample file CMSPY.DMO (if renamed to CMSPY.CTL) will start logging local sysop chats to the file SYSOP.SPY in the directory the sysop started Chat Manager. If you want to use another filename or place it in another directoy, put /4PATH\FILENAME.EXT or /4FILENAME.EXT on the command-line. That file will be read INSTEAD of cmspy.ctl. (lay-out should be exactly the same). If you do not specify a pathname the file will only be searched for in the current (line) directory. This means you can put different cmspy.ctl's in each line's directory's if you use the /4 option. Otherwise CMSPY.CTL will only be searched for in the Chatman directory. To log a users chat to the printer enter LPT1: for printer 1. If your printer is off at start, spymode is not activated. But if it runs out of paper or something like that later on, chatman will exit with an error! The spyfile cannot be shared, so don't log different users chats to the same file. For those unregistered but curious, LOCAL SYSOP Chats can be spied upon in unregistered mode. So to see what this does just startup chatman without a chatman1.def or so and you will be The_Sysop. Also edit cmspy.ctl to include the_sysop for spymode (see layout section). As you start a chat, Chat Manager will check whether your name is in the CMSPY.CTL file. It's found so spymode is activated and all text is written to the file found on the next line for later printing/reviewing. Disk space is not checked for, but most people don't chat above 100Kb a week, so you need not worry too much. If the file cannot be opened for whatever reason (wrong path etc.) spymode is deactivated. To use this option effectivily, users shouldn't know, so do not to tell them about this feature of Chat Manager! It might annoy them a LOT. By the way, spying is YOUR responsibility, not mine. Angry users should address the Sysop that spied upon them, nobody else. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │▓▒░ 4.F FIXED SUBJECT CHATS ░▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ It is possible to give a chat a fixed subject using CMFIXSUB.CTL. This can be used to encourage chats about certain subjects. Users will not be able to change the subject of such a chat. For layout of CMFIXSUB.CTL look in the lay-out section or examine the CMFIXSUB.DMO file. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │▓▒░ 4.G USING /# or /% TO FORCE USERS IN CHAT MANAGER ░▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ If you want certain users excluded from the Chat-Selection menu, you might specify /#? on the command-line of the shell that starts Chat Manager for them. Use a the letter of a Chat in the place of the '?'. So if you add /#B to the command-line, the user will automaticallu be placed in Chat B and return to the BBS when he quits that chat. This way you might force new users in specific chats and use separate chats for different groups. Alternatevely, you can use /%? to put users in a chat from which they will return to the chat-selection menu and not immediately straigth back to the BBS. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │▓▒░ 4.H WRITING MESSAGES ░▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ If enabled, users from a certain level and up can save their window to others users of your BBS. Below that level they can only save messages to Sysop. Use CMSETUP to define the type, board, path of your Messagebase. Only the HUDSON message base is supported at the moment. For other types a similar function can be implemented using the errorlevel method described in the errorlevel section. This is a very handy fuction if e.g. someone wants to talk to you. After paging (you're not at home) Chat Manager will tell him he could write a message using ESC-S from within Chat Manager. Chat Manager does not check whether the addressee is a valid user of your system. Misaddressed messages will therefore not arrive and in time be discarded by your msgbase maintenance software. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │▓▒░ 4.I ERRORLEVELS ░▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ DOS-Errorlevel Meaning ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── 0 Everything Ok 1 User Paged sysop, but sysop didn't come 2 User downloaded something 3 both errorlevels 1 and 2 are valid 99 Chat manager exited with error, see logfile ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Using Errorlevel 1, you could start an on-line message-editor to let the caller write a msg to you using your own standard message-editor. Just call Chat Manager via a batchfile and trap the errorlevels like this; \CHATMAN\CHATMAN.EXE parameters if errorlevel 1 goto writeMSGtoSYSOP ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │▓▒░ 4.J DOWNLOADING DURING CHATS ░▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Using CMP (described later) your users can download file's while chatting in Chat manager. Your fileareasetup is read from a file named CMFILES.CTL. This is ascii-editable and described in the lay-out section. For most BBS's a simple conversion util is available that writes this file. You should also configure downloading in CMSETUP, details are explained when running CMSETUP. A download via Chat Manager will be just like a global download from your BBS. All fileareas the user has access to are searched for the wanted file's and after that transferred to him in a batch. Local downloads area also supported, although this is very slow. For most BBS's Chat Manager knows how to pass the new userdata to the BBS and the users downloadcouners etc. will be actualized. Chat Manager also supports the standard BBSTAGFL.n TAGFiles. If detected and the users starts CMP, downloading begins right away! For users with SYSOPlevel or higher the ratios and KB limits are IGNORED and ANY file can be downloaded if a correct path is specified. So make sure this is available you set the sysoplevel right in CMSETUP. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │▓▒░ 4.J.1 CHAT MANAGER PROTOCOL [CMP] ░▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ The included package CMPxx.ARJ should be made available to your users. This contains an external protocol and documentation for it. Using CMP, your users have three features extra when in Chat Manager. ■ Downloading during chats with statusbar at good speeds ■ Avatar, even if their commprogram does not support Avatar ■ Page-tunes, they hear your paging tunes via the modem :-) If they start the protocol, all these features become automagically available. Downloading is just selecting download from the regular Menu. Avatar is turned on if Ansi or Ascii was in effect and tunes will be played if the user pages you. The Xferprotocol resembles Zmodem in that it is Autostart and also resumes downloads that were interrupted (often called crash recovery). Files alreay present at the users location are skipped. Because Chat Manager is for Chatting, the protocol uses a very small blocksize (Baudrate divided by 20 to be precise) and a sixteen bit CRC method. Chats continue like usual besides a little slowdown in responsetime. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │▓▒░ 4.J.2 FILEAREA SETTINGS ░▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ To know where users can download from Chat Manager reads CMFILES.CTL for the chatman directory. This file (see lay-out section) can be generated using a conversion tool for multiple BBS's. Whether it's also available for your BBS can be checked in the special section for your BBS. If it is available, it will be in BBS2CM.ARJ, supplied with Chat Manager. Run this tool, e.g. RA2CM.EXE, everytime you change your file-area settings. For ease, you might add it to a batchfile that you run when changing your BBS-Configuration. It works very fast, so don't worry about that. If you have files in fileareas that are NOT for download, use the /F switch with the BBS2CM filearea-conversion. This will force Chat Manager to check whether a file in a filedirectory is in FILES.BBS If not it's not available for download. Without /F it would be downloadable. Most BBS's use a single directory per filearea and the /F is not necessary. Do not specify it then because it will degrade the searching speed when users request files for download. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │▓▒░ 4.K ASKING/FORCING OTHER USERS ░▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓ RA/SBBS ▓▓▓▓▓▓│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ From the main screen in which a user is able to select a chat he can also get a list of current on-line users with the [U]. If his level is high enough he can ask someone else to come to Chat Manager just by entering that user's nodenr. Chat Manager also detects messages sent from the BBS and shows these (quicker then RA ;-) to the user. Users are listed with their name, status (browsing, downloading etc.) and whether they can be disturbed or not. Hidden users are ofcourse not listed unless you have sysopsecurity. The Donotdosturb flag is '-' if not set, 'X' if set and '!' if the user is a hidden. If he's hidden you won't know if he doesn't want to be disturbed. But as you need sysoplevel to see him, disturbing him probably won't cost you. Users with an adequate level can also Force other users to enter Chat Manager. This powerful feature uses the shells from text- files option from RA which should be set to on for all lines using raconfig. Forced users will execute a shell that can be defined in CMSETUP under paging. Add the /# parameter to force them in a specific chat. Not adding this will simply put them in the main menu of Chat Manager. Due to some functions that SuperBBS does not (yet?) have, forcing is not possible, but asking is. Aki Antman has been asked to implement these functions quite some time ago..... Other BBS's could enhance their chat or multi-line menu with some of these options if they are provided by the BBS itself so users will still be able to ask other users to join etc.. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │▓▒░ 4.L REGENERATION .CHT FILES AFTER CRASHES ░▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ If a chat is interrupted by a system crash or reboot, the .CHT files will not be accurate. All chats will continue and new chats can be started as usual, only the chat that was interrupted will cause 'user is not responding' messages when someone wants to enter that chat or be on private until you join it. Running CMSETUP again will regenerate these files. But as you just might forget to run this after a crash; CMSETUP /R will regenerate them automatically and return to dos. This is done for easy use through batchfiles. Suggested is you do this once a day or just once a week automatically along with other maintenance. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │▓▒░ 5 USING CMSETUP, THE CONFIGURATION UTIL ░▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ CMSETUP gives you the possibility to change various settings and it also generates the .CHT files that are needed by Chat Manager. It should be run when nobody is chatting, otherwise it exits with a message. All parameters are FULLY explained in CMSETUP itself so you'd better run it and read the screens. Defineable are; ■ Macroeditor, on/off, define and list macro's ■ Security levels needed for various features of Chat Manager ■ Handles, on/off ■ Special Characters definitions (use umlauted chars etc.) ■ BBSName ■ Downloading on/off ■ Directories, Musicfiles/Tempfiles/MsgBase/.... ■ Chats & Users, limitations settings ■ Holiday message, on/off ■ Buffersize for Quicktype ■ Logfile/style ■ Inactive timer ■ Display options ■ Statistics Screen If you have changed your BBS-Drive from e.g. C: to L: you ofcourse want to be able to do this quickly. This trick is quick, but also dirty and at your own risk. HEX-Edit CHATMAN.DAT and replace all C:\ with L:\. Do NOT use a ascii editor for it is not an ascii-file. Make SURE you don't change anything else. Run cmsetup now and exit it. It will warn you if any configured directories were not found. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │▓▒░ 5.A CMSETUP PARAMETERS ░▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ /? Shows the current settings (most of them) in a single screen /R Regenerates the .CHT files, (see Regenerate....crashes). Put it in maintenance batches run only when nobody is chatting. And put it in your autoexec.bat. This will regenerate them after you reboot, which is obligatory if you kept them on a ramdrive! and not necessary if you kept them on a harddisk. /N Disables Share-check. If your system uses a different (but compatible) file sharing/locking system, cmsetup might not detect this and tell you share was not detected every time you run CMSETUP, /N surpresses the message. No parameters will just run CMSETUP giving you the opportunity to change all settings. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │▓▒░ 5.B CMSETUP STATISTICS ░▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ The statistics will show data about; Calls Number of times Chat Manager was used Time Time Chat Manager was used in minutes Msgs Messages posted using Chat Manager Kb's Kilobytes downloaded using CMP Files Number of files downloaded using CMP SysPag Number of times somebody paged the Sysop Macros Number of times a macro was matched and replaced All data is divided in three categories. On-line data, these are from users that called using a modem. Local data, these are from local users (e.g. via networks). Third category is Sysop. This category contains both on-line as local entries from all users with a sysop or higher securitylevel (and is not included in the other two categories). Data is shown per month, four months past, three months ahead. The column 'TOTAL' features totals from the first time Chat Manager was run. It IS NOT the total of the previous eight months. Data is not erased, so january 1993's data will be added to the january data of 1992 and so on. Kb's and files INCLUDE free files downloaded (if any). Each time a user uses Chat Manager, the file CMSTAT.DAT which is kept in the temporary directory is updated. If you erase this file the statistics will be reset to zero. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │▓▒░ 6 PASSING USERDATA TO CHAT MANAGER ░▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ All parameters specified on the Command-Line will be used if not found in any userdatafile. Chat Manager reads the BBS-Specific userdatafiles of RA, Opus, QuickBBS and SuperBBS. These are also rewritten if e.g. you change the users time. This way the BBS will know this change too. If these files were not found or you use another BBS, use one of the following files to pass userdata to Chat Manager. But remember that in this case changed userdata is not passed to your BBS (including downloaded KB's) CHATMAN1.DEF will be read in the current directory if available. If not DORINFO1.DEF is searched for and DOOR.SYS if dorinfo1.def was not found. Settings in one of these files will be used even if the corresponding parameter was already given on the command-line. With the underlying scheme you can find out what Chatman needs to know and how you can pass it to chatman.exe. A = CHATMAN1.DEF B = DORINFO1.DEF C = DOOR.SYS P = Parameter on the command-line Data NEEDED^ A B C P^^ ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Users First Name OL Y Y Y /F Users Last Name OL Y Y Y /L Comport O Y Y Y /P BBS Line Number OL Y ! Y /N Remaining time in min. OL Y Y Y /T Graphics mode O Y ! Y /G Screen length O Y ! Y /S Users baud rate O Y Y Y /R Users Security Level OL Y Y Y /C ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Figure 1 O = On-Line mode L = Local Mode ! = Needed and not in file ^ some data are not yet necessary, but might be used in future versions and can already be specified. ^^ there are more parameters, check the command-line parameters section for full details on all parameters. If the linenumber was not specified, TCNODE is used (if defined), if the comport was not specified, DSZPORT is used (if defined). A baudrate of 0 or a comport 0 makes Chat Manager run in local mode. This works exactly like the normal chat users on-line get, only the statusbar disappears. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │▓▒░ 7 COMMANDLINE PARAMETERS FOR CHATMAN ░▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ All parameters specified on the command-line should have a space before them, failing to do so will cause Chat Manager to misinterpret and/or ignore parameters. Use Figure 1 to determine what parameters you need. /F Users First Name /L Users Last Name /P Comport (0-4, 0 = local mode) /N BBS Line Number or unique number for a terminal in a network /T Users remaining time in minutes /G Graphics mode (0=Ascii, 1=Ansi, 2=Avatar) /S Screen length (should be 12 or higher) /R Users baud rate (0 = local mode) /C Users Security Level /7 Optional specification of the directory your BBS put's its userdatafile (EXITINFO.BBS, LASTUSxx.BBS etc.) This works for all BBS's that you can specify in CMSETUP /1 Optional specification of Chatman1.def alike file (see chatman1.def) /2 Optional specification of Dorinfo1.def alike file (see dorinfo1.def) /3 Optional specification of Door.sys alike file (see door.sys) /4 Optional specification of CMSPY.CTL alike file (see spymode) /5 Optional specification of CMNOPAGE.CTL alike file /6 Optional specification of CM24PAGE.CTL alike file /8 Optional specification of CMNOCHAT.CTL alike file /1 to /8 filenames without paths makes Chat Manager search for the mentioned file in the current directory Chat Manager was started from ONLY (normally the line-directory). This way you can use different CTL and userdatafiles with the same names for each line (read more about this below). /Y Place chatter in first empty chat and tell him to wait for the sysop, without playing the tune because sysop forced this and is present. (for RA 1.10+ use as extra parameter on the external chat utility line). /Z Same as /Y except Chat Manager starts paging you when the user is placed in the first empty chat. Use /Y if you want to force someone in chatmode. Use /Z on the command-line that is executed when users normally page you. /# Force user to enter the chat specified. For example to force the user in the first chat use /#A o the command-line. If you specify a chat that is private or that is not available, the user gets a message and is returned to the BBS. Handy for forcing novice users into a specific chat etc. If the user leaves the chat, he is returned to the BBS and does not get to select another chat. /% Same as /# only now the user returns to the chat-selection menu after leaving his chat. So /%A puts a user in Chat A and when he quits he gets the menu form which chats can be chosen, /( Freeze users time while in Chat Manager {Registered only} /) Disable downloading /! Check EXE for virusses and continue to run if the check doesn't detect a change /!! Check EXE for virusses and quit after the check /. Disables timecheck and inactivity timer. Works only in local (sysop) mode and can be used to start a task with Chat Manager in it so you don't need to start it all up if someone pages you. /O Turn display On. Normally display is off if a user starts Chat Manager. Only some configdata is displayed. By using /O on the command-line the screen will show immediately what the user sees, like if you pressed ALT-D. /W Specify Screen-width. This defaults to 80, but if you use a wider screen (e.g. 132 columns) specify /W132 and Chat Manager will use the screen properly. Make sure the screen is set to this width before you start Chat Manager. There are some special commands for problemsolving with High-speed modems. Check these out in section 9.E /1 to /7 without a path indicate the file is to be found in the current directory at startup. For example; normally CMSPY.CTL will be searched in the chatman directory only. If you use /4CMSPY.CTL, it will (only) be searched in the startup (= line) directory. Thus enabling you to differentiate configuration files per line, or make CMSPY.CTL only active on line x (use /4CMSPY.CTL and only put a cmspy.ctl in the directory line x starts chat manager from). You might also use /4C:\CMSPYS\LINExxx.SPY on the command-line to make CHat Manager search LINExxx.SPY in C:\CMSPYS and read this as a CMSPY.CTL alike file. For Remote Access the screen length cannot be passed on the command-line and therefore CHATMAN1.DEF should be used for best results, DORINFO1.DEF and DOOR.SYS do not show the screenlength. If the screen length was not found the default user-screenlength defined in CMSETUP is used. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │▓▒░ 8 CONFIGURATION FILES ░▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ All configuration files can be edited using a standard ascii-editor. For many of them a .DMO file was supplied in the archive that contains example entries. The lay-out of BBS-specific userdatafiles like EXITINFO.BBS and LASTUSxx.DAT is not given, there is no need for those to be changed as they are generated automatically by the BBS itself. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │▓▒░ 8.A CMNOPAGE.CTL ░▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓ OPTIONAL ▓▓▓▓▓│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ This file contains the names of people that are not allowed to page you anytime. Names should start at the first column and the first and last name sould be seperated with an underscore. Use /5 to specify another filename with optional path for another file with the same layout Example entry; Ivo_Tops ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │▓▒░ 8.B CM24PAGE.CTL ░▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓ OPTIONAL ▓▓▓▓│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ This file contains the names of people that can page you anytime, layout is the same as CMNOPAGE.CTL. Use /6 to specify another filename with the same layout. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │▓▒░ 8.C CMSPY.CTL ░▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓ OPTIONAL ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ This file contains the names of people spymode has to be activated for. Enter a username (underscore between first and last name) on a line and enter a valid filename on the NEXT line. Paths are allowed. Example entrys; The_Sysop C:\RA\MYSELF.LOG Ivo_Tops Tops.txt ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │▓▒░ 8.D CMFIXSUB.CTL ░▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓ OPTIONAL ▓▓▓▓│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ This file contains the subjects for chats that you want to have a fixed (unchangeable) subject. Layout is simple; D Chat Manager, what a thrill C Today's weather │ │ │ └───── The subject as shown in the selection screen └───────── The Chat to fix The subject can be up to 40 characters long. More characters are simply ignored. Lines that are empty or contain invalid characters in CMSETUP on the first position (valid chats are A through T) are also ignored. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │▓▒░ 8.E CMACCESS.CTL ░▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓ OPTIONAL ▓▓▓▓▓▓│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ This file contains securitylevels with which you can bar the entry of certain chats for users below that securitylevel. Format is strict but simple; D 32000 C 45 │ │ │ └───── The Securitylevel now needed to enter that chat └──────── The Chat to guard with a seclevel Nothing else should be present. No comments whatsoever and the letter of the chat should be the very FIRST character on the line. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │▓▒░ 8.F CMNOCHAT.CTL ░▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓ OPTIONAL ▓▓▓▓▓│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ This file contains the names of people that are not allowed to enter Chat Manager. Names should start at the first column and the first and last name sould be seperated with an underscore. Use /8 to specify another filename with optional path for another file with the same layout. Example entry; Ivo_Tops ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │▓▒░ 8.G CMFILES.CTL ░▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓ REQUIRED FOR DOWNLOADING ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ This file can for some BBS's be generated using the conversion tool BBS2CM.EXE (Like OPUS2CM.EXE for Opus etc..). It contains all info on the fileareas users can download from using CMP. The file should contain one or more of the following lines, one for each filearea. (A demofile CMFILES.DMO was included). DIR SEC NAME FILESBBS [<TOGGLE1 TOGGLE2 TOGGLE3> [A B C D]] All items should be seperated with one or more spaces and contain no spaces themselves. The first four items are required. If you want to specify the flags you will have to specify the toggles also (set them to NORMAL). DIR Directory (full path) where the files can be found SEC Securitylevel needed to DOWNLOAD files in this area NAME Name of the filearea, use _ instead of spaces in the name FILESBBS The name of a file with the filenames available for download from this directory. If no path is specified the file should be in the directory defined under DIR If in a filearea all files can be downloaded, set this item to ALL. This way Chat Manager will not check whether the files are in the defined file but only if they are present in the directory. This is much quicker and works perfectly if your filedirectories contain only the files of one filearea and nothing else. If your fileareas do NOT work this way, add the /F switch when running the conversion tool. It wil set this to FILES.BBS for all areas. [TOGGLE1] Either NO-KBL or NORMAL, NO-KBL makes Chat Manager ignore the download limit for files in this area. [TOGGLE2] Either NO-KBR or NORMAL, NO-KBR makes Chat Manager ignore the KB-ratios of the user for files in this area. [TOGGLE3] Either NO-FLR or NORMAL, NO-FLR makes Chat Manager ignore the file-ratios of the user for files in this area. [FLAGS_A] Users A Flags, only needed if flags are used to restrict downloads [FLAGS_B] Users B Flags, only needed if flags are used to restrict downloads [FLAGS_C] Users C Flags, only needed if flags are used to restrict downloads [FLAGS_D] Users D Flags, only needed if flags are used to restrict downloads No empty lines should be present. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │▓▒░ 8.H CHATMAN.DEF ░▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓ OPTIONAL ▓▓▓▓▓│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ CHATMAN1.DEF is searched for only in the current directory when a user starts a chat. It contains all data Chat Manager needs to know, so this should be the file to create when a user starts Chat Manager. If you use another please specify the remaining on the command-line. For RA a special .RAT file is included and this section can be skipped, but you do have to use the /P and /U parameters on the command-line. Maximus can generate Chatman1.def using the Mecca compiler as described in Maximus.doc. If you have a file with the same structure but with a different name, say CMLINE3.DEF specify it with /1 (e.g. /1CMLINE3.DEF) on the command-line. If you put it in a special directory specify the path also (e.g. /1C:\LINE2\CHATMAN2.DEF) Layout of chatman1.def, NO EMPTY LINES PLEASE! USERS FIRST AND LAST NAME SEPARATED BY a SPACE or UNDERSCORE USERS LOCATION BBSLINE USER IS ON COMPORT USER IS ON (0 = Local Mode) USERS BAUDRATE USERS NUMBER OF SCREENLINES USERS REMAINING TIME IN MINUTES USERS SECURITY LEVEL ON or OFF (ANSI) ON or OFF (AVATAR) USERS DAILY DOWNLOAD LIMIT (only needed if downloading enabled) KB DOWNLOADED TODAY (only needed if downloading enabled) UPLOADS (KB) (only needed if downloading enabled) UPLOADS (FILES) (only needed if downloading enabled) DOWNLOADS (KB) (only needed if downloading enabled) DOWNLOADS (FILES) (only needed if downloading enabled) KBRATIO (only needed if downloading enabled) FILESRATIO (only needed if downloading enabled) USERS A FLAGS (only needed if downloading enabled) USERS B FLAGS (only needed if downloading enabled) USERS C FLAGS (only needed if downloading enabled) USERS D FLAGS (only needed if downloading enabled) If your BBS can generate this file for Chat Manager in the line-directory when a user starts chat manager, this is all Chat Manager needs to know. You can safely forget about parameters and dorinfo1.def If you're not using a BBS, modify chatman1.def and insert your data in it, (name, location, line, time & level are used, all others are ignored). You can now start chatting via the network. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │▓▒░ 8.I DORINFO1.DEF ░▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓ OPTIONAL ▓▓▓▓▓│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ As DORINFO1.DEF does not contain the screenlength and bbs linenumber those two should be specified on the command-line! The line-number and comport-number can also be set using environment variables TCNODE & DSZPORT. If you use a DORINFO1.DEF alike file you can specify it using /2 ( e.g. /2DORINFO2.DEF or /2C:\CHATMAN\DORINFO4.DEF) If CHATMAN1.DEF was found, DORINFO1.DEF is ignored. Layout of DORINFO1.DEF NAME OF THE BBS (NOT USED BY CHAT MANAGER) USERS HANDLE FIRST NAME (NOT USED BY CHAT MANAGER) USERS HANDLE LAST NAME (NOT USED BY CHAT MANAGER) COM1 (COMPORT 0-4, 0 = local) BAUD RATE 0 (NETWORK TYPE, NOT USED BY CHAT MANAGER) USERS FIRST NAME USERS LAST NAME USERS LOCATION (CITY) GRAPHICS MODE (0=Ascii, 1=Ansi, 2=Avatar) SECURITY LEVEL REMAING TIME IN MINUTES No empty lines should be present. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │▓▒░ 8.J DOOR.SYS ░▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓ OPTIONAL ▓▓▓▓▓│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ The small DOOR.SYS is supported and used are the Name, Port and Baudrate specified in it. All other parameters should be passed through the command-line, these are; /N /S and /G if graphics is not 0, 1 or 2 in your DOOR.SYS If you use a small door.sys alike file with another name, you can specify it using the /3 parameter ( e.g. /3DOOR2.SYS or /3C:\CHATMAN\DOOR5.ASC) If CHATMAN1.DEF was found or DORINFO1.DEF is found, DOOR.SYS is ignored. Layout for DOOR.SYS (graphics and alarm are ignored); USERNAME PORTNR BAUDRATE TIME GRAPHICS (0=ascii,1=ansi,2=avatar otherwise use /G) ALARM ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │▓▒░ 9.A USING A RAMDRIVE FOR SPEED ░▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ All exchange of text between the chatters is routed via a few files. Total size between 2 and 40Kb, (the exact size depends on your configuration and is mentioned (on exit) in CMSETUP). For speed purposes, a small RAM-Drive is preferable to hold these files. Buffering your Harddisk will also help and work fast enough. A small RAM-Drive can easily be created with an extra line in your config.sys. For details, check your DOS-Documentation on RAMDRIVE.SYS . Use CMSETUP once to see how large the ramdrive should be. Create the ramdrive and run CMSETUP again to create the .CHT Files on it! Because all .CHT files will be erased after you reboot the computer, you MUST put CMSETUP /R in your autoexec.bat to regenerate these files at startup (insert CMSETUP /R after you have SET the CHATMAN environment variable) ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │▓▒░ 9.B INTERNAL CRC-CHECK /![!] ░▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ CHATMAN.EXE has an internal selfcheck routine. If a mismatch occurres, the EXE code has changed and Chat Manager WILL NOT START DO NOT COMPRESS the EXE files! At irregular intervals Chat Manager forces the check, so the EXE files should remain unchanged! Using /!! on the command-line (no other parameters needed) forces Chat Manager to check itself for virusses and then terminate whether a code-change was detected or not. I know this system isn't bulletproof, but it is quit reliable against most EXE changing virusses. Get a clean version from my address if the one you have is reporting changes. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │▓▒░ 9.C 386 VERSION [CM386.EXE] ░▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓ REGISTERED ONLY ▓▓▓▓│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ The 386 version of Chat Manager is identical to the normal version except that it is a little faster and ONLY RUNS ON A 386 or higher It will probably crash on XT's and 286 (didn't try). It will only work if you are a REGISTERED user of Chat Manager. Don't forget it has it's own CRC file for the internal viruscheck and that if you rename CM386 to CHATMAN, you should also rename the crc file. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │▓▒░ 9.D HIGH-SPEED MODEMS ░▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Chat Manager needs a FOSSIL to work reliably on High-Speed connections. If you encounter any problems, Chat Manager will accept four extra commands on the commandline that you could try. They are; SXON Turn Sending of XON/XOFF flow control on RXON Turn Receiving of XON/XOFF flow control on CTS Turn CTS/RTS flow control on FHOT Leave Fossil HOT at exit. Does not de-initialize Fossil Normally your fossil is already working correctly, but if you miss characters or think it's a flow problem, these commands might help. Put them on the Chat Manager command-line WITHOUT a /slash before them and WITH a Space before them. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │▓▒░ 10 BBS-SPECIFIC SECTIONS ░▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ If you use one of the BBS's mentioned in the index as 10.X, you should read that section thoroughly!! ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │▓▒░ 10.A REMOTE ACCESS ░▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ The startupshell (type 7) should read; *C /C C:\CHATMAN\CHATMAN.EXE /P*P /N*N *M The third place where you should install as mentioned in the installation procedure is where you can define the External Chat Command-line in RACONFIG. This is a {Registered} function of Remote Access. Adding the /O parameter will turn the screen on at default. Normally you get a sort of infoscreen and switch to the chat with ALT-D To be able to force users into Chat Manager you should set shells from textfiles on for EACH line in Raconfig and set the shell to start chatman in cmsetup. Adding the /#A parameter will force into chat A etc.. RA files supported Action/Use ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── EXITINFO.BBS │ Loading and changing users data RAXITn .e │ Quit on node n (RA will exit with errorlevel e) USERDOES.n │ Written & Read for lineactivity LIMITS .CTL │ Determining ratio's en DL-Limits FILES .CTL │ Determining FREE en PWD files NODEn .RA │ InterNode messages USERON .BBS │ Users on-line BBSTAGFL.n │ TAGFile for autostarting downloads ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── At the moment FREE files in FILES.CTL are supported, but Passworded files can not be downloaded via Chat Manager. Do you want that too? just let me know.... RA2CM.EXE [/F] BBS2CM.ARJ ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── This tool reads your fileareasettings and writes then to CMFILES.CTL in the chatman directory. Run this every time you change your file-area settings with RACONFIG. Easiest way to do this is to make a batchfile that run's your configutil and afterwards RA2CM. This program is fast so you won't have to wait very long. The /F switch is described in 4.I.2 ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │▓▒░ 10.B MAXIMUS ░▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Example of a meccadefinition for maximus to start Chat Manager. This assumes Chatman to be in F:\CHATTER and creates a chatman1.def alike file named chatman.xxx with the user's data in it and a chatxxx.bat file to start Chat Manager with the just generated userdatafile. (xxx is the unique! number of the line) The batch is put on D:\MAX and is fired up at the end of the definition. With some modifications, this should run on your system too. CHATMAN.MEC ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── [delete]F:\Chatter\chatman.%k <────── %k = Task (1,2,3,4,5,..) [open]F:\Chatter\chatman.%k [write]%n [write]%c [write]%k [write]%b [write]%E [write]%t [EQ Sysop][write]1100 <────── Levels, please [EQ AsstSysop][write]900 do adjust these to [EQ Clerk][write]800 match the ones you use [EQ Extra][write]700 [EQ Favored][write]600 [EQ Privil][write]500 [EQ Worthy][write]400 [EQ Normal][write]300 [EQ Limited][write]200 [EQ Disgrace][write]100 [EQ Twit][write]100 [colour write]ON [endcolour nocolour write]OFF [endcolour][write]OFF [write]0 [write]0 [write]0 [write]0 [write]0 [write]0 [write]0 [write]0 [write]%P [open]nul [delete]d:\max\chat%k.bat [open]d:\max\chat%k.bat [write]@echo off [write]f: [write]cd\ [write]cd chatter [write]chatman.exe /1F:\chatter\chatman.%k [write]d: [write]cd\ [write]cd max [open]nul [dos]d:\max\chat%k.bat <────── Start just created batchfile ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── ┌────────────┐ │CHATMAN.MEC │ <---- Sysop should modify above code and save └─────┬──────┘ as chatman.mec │ ┌┴┐ │ │ Mecca.Exe -> Mecca-Compiler, use MECCA CHATMAN └┬┘ to compile ┌─────┴──────┐ ┌─│CHATMAN.BBS │ <---- This is the result of the Compiler! │ └────────────┘ │ │ The Sysop should now edit the MENUS.CTL something like this; │ │ Menu Main │ Title Main │ MenuHeader None │ MenuFile D:\Max\Misc\Main │ Display_File D:\Max\Misc\Chatman │ ... ^^^^^^^ │ ... │ │ Menu End │ │ │ └───────────────────────────────────────┘ After this, the sysop should recompile the MAX.CTL (Menus update) Syntax: SILT MAX -M │ │ │ │ │ └───── -M stands for: Only create NEW MENUS │ └───────── MAX.CTL -> MAX-Control-File └────────────── SILT.EXE -> Compiler for the MAX.PRM File ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── With a lot of thanx to Peter Kaszanics MAXTUNCV.EXE BBS2CM.ARJ ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── This tool will convert your TUNES.BBS file to the paging tunes format Chat Manager reads. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │▓▒░ 10.C QUICKBBS ░▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ The Shell should be type: 7 *M \CHATMAN\CHATMAN.EXE /P*P /N*N Chat Manager reads and writes QuickBBS's EXITINFO.BBS QBBSfiles supported Action/Use ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── EXITINFO.BBS Loading and changing users data LIMITS.CTL Determining ratio's en DL-Limits ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── QBBS2CM.EXE [/F] BBS2CM.ARJ ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── This tool reads your fileareasettings and writes then to CMFILES.CTL in the chatman directory. Run this every time you change your file-area settings from QuickBBS. Easiest way to do this is to make a batchfile that run's your configutil and afterwards QBBS2CM. This program is fast so you won't have to wait very long. The /F switch is described in 4.I.2 ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │▓▒░ 10.D OPUS ░▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ The startupshell should be; C:\CHATMAN\CHATMAN.EXE /N%1 /7C:\OPUS\LASTUS\ ^^ %1 should be replaced with the tasknumber of the line starting the shell. /7 determines the directory where Chat Manager can find LASTUSxx.DAT, xx will equal the tasknumber given with /N, if they are in the current directory when Chat Manager is started /7 can be omitted. Opusfiles supported Action/Use ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── LASTUSxx.DAT Loading and changing users data ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── OPUS2CM.EXE BBS2CM.ARJ ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── This tool reads your fileareasettings and writes then to CMFILES.CTL in the chatman directory. Run this every time you change your file-area settings. Easiest way to do this is to make a batchfile that run's your configutil and afterwards OPUS2CM. This program is fast so you won't have to wait very long. ! Chat Manager ALWAYS assumes files in a filedirectory are ! available for download if the level/time etc. is oke. ! if this is not the case with your configuration, change it ! to use seperate directories per filearea with only downloadable ! files in them or disable downloading from within Chat Manager. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │▓▒░ 10.E SUPERBBS ░▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ The startupshell should be; C:\CHATMAN\CHATMAN.EXE /N*N /T*T *S *E Chat Manager reads and writes SuperBBS's EXITINFO.BBS, passing all userdata like changed time, downoad statistics etc. back to the BBS. Unfortunately the NORATIO flag is not in that file and is therefore not currently supported. (Aki, put it in there ;-) SBBSfiles supported Action/Use ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── EXITINFO.BBS │ Loading and changing users data LIMITS .BBS │ Determining downloadlimits/ratios NOYELL .CTL │ Who is not allowed to page NOCHAT .CTL │ Who is not allowed to chat SBBSDOWN.LOG │ Logging downloaded files FILES .CTL │ Free files support USERDOES.n │ Showing other user's you're in Chat Manager BBSTAGFL.n │ TAGfile to autostart downloads SUSERON .BBS │ WHo's online, paging etc.. ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── SBBS2CM.EXE [/F] BBS2CM.ARJ ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── This tool reads your fileareasettings and writes then to CMFILES.CTL in the chatman directory. Run this every time you change your file-area settings from SuperBBS. Easiest way to do this is to make a batchfile that run's your configutil and afterwards SBBS2CM. This program is fast! so you don't have to wait very long. The /F switch is described in 4.I.2 ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │▓▒░ 10.F NETWORKS WITHOUT A BBS ░▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ This section describes how to get Chat Manager to know the users data and how to use SYSOPTSR.COM, a TSR program for DOS that will BEEP if someone pages the sysop. ALL Chatters should have read and write access to both the TEMP directory (cmsetup) and the drive/directory you store the .CHT files (cmsetup). When a user runs Chat Manager the files in the Chatman directory will only be read, so they do not need to have write access to that directory. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │▓▒░ 10.F.1 PASSING USERDATA ░▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ This has not been thoroughly tested and should be modified to suit your needs. Idea is to construct a small file for each user at login that chatman can read as the user selects Chat Manager from a menu. The described procedure should generate a Chatman1.def alike file for each user in the directory (used here) G:\CHATMAN\USRDATA with the name CHATMAN1.xxx where xxx is the stationnumber of the terminal (from 0 upto 254). If your users always start Chat Manager from the same directory which is a different one for all of them, put the chatman1.def file in that directory and do not use the xxx extension, no special userdatafilesdirectory is needed. The userdatafile is generated using Dos-environment variables. You might have to increase the size of the environment. (COMMAND /E:xxxx). This way seems to be the easiest in a novell system. CHATMAN.EXE /1G:\CHATMAN\USRDATA\CHATMAN1.%NOD% should be used to start Chat Manager if you've put userdatafile's in a subdirectory as explained above. If the userdatafile is named CHATMAN1.DEF and present in the current directory no parameters are needed and chatman.exe suffices. The loginprocedure; include z:chat.scr CHAT.SCR [Puts Novell Userdata into dos environment] ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── drive g: dos set CHATMAN="G:\CHATMAN" dos set USR="%FULL_NAME" dos set LOC="%P_STATION" dos set NOD="%STATION" dos set SEC="100" if member of "SUPERVISOR" then dos set SEC="64000" #command /c chatdef.bat dos set USR= dos set LOC= dos set NOD= dos set SEC= ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── CHATDEF.BAT [Userdata from environment into G:\CHATMAN\USRDATA\CHATMAN1.xxx] ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── echo %USR% >G:\CHATMAN\USRDATA\CHATMAN1.%NOD% echo %LOC% >>G:\CHATMAN\USRDATA\CHATMAN1.%NOD% echo %NOD% >>G:\CHATMAN\USRDATA\CHATMAN1.%NOD% echo 0 >>G:\CHATMAN\USRDATA\CHATMAN1.%NOD% echo 0 >>G:\CHATMAN\USRDATA\CHATMAN1.%NOD% echo 120 >>G:\CHATMAN\USRDATA\CHATMAN1.%NOD% echo %SEC% >>G:\CHATMAN\USRDATA\CHATMAN1.%NOD% echo NO >>G:\CHATMAN\USRDATA\CHATMAN1.%NOD% echo NO >>G:\CHATMAN\USRDATA\CHATMAN1.%NOD% ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── I hope this is of any help. If you have suggestions, please let me know. With thanx to Onno Huijgen for the first version of this part of the network section. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │▓▒░ 10.F.2 SYSOPTSR.COM ░▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ This program will check wether someone is paging you and ring a bell if someone does. Memory use is around 4Kb and it does decrease your systems performance somewhat. This will be better in a next version, but hell, this was my first TSR. So TEST THIS TSR with your software before you use it regularly. I will improve on this one in the future. If you're do not like this TSR, you might construct a similar 'system'. Only need is to check for SYSOPTSR.YEL in the Chat Manager TEMP directory. If found someone is paging you (and you should delete the file sysoptsr.yel). To find out who, just start your own Chat Manager. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │▓▒░ 11 TROUBLESHOOTING ░▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Most errors will be detected and reported by either starting Chatman.exe or Cmsetup.exe But a few things will be stressed here to help you along the way. Use BUG.FRM to report bugs. Send it to the nearest Support BBS. But please first read this; This section is subdivided in SETTINGS, SPECIALS and MESSAGES SETTINGS gives hints about what could be wrong in yur setup SPECIALS gives tips with special configuration areas (switchbox etc.) MESSAGES describes the solution for some errormessages you might get after starting Chat Manager. ▓▒░ SETTINGS ■ CHATMAN environment variable should point to the right directory ■ If you don't see the user's screen (this is default) use ALT-D or specify /O on the command-line ■ Share should be loaded or something similar enabling filesharing under dos for multi-line/task systems ■ Files and sharelocks should be high enough (try more) ■ .CHT files should be on a drive every line or terminal can read from and write to ■ Chatman should get all parameters needed via a combination of a file like dorinfo1.def and parameters (see figure 1) ■ Chatman.exe should get enough memory, normally 200K suffices, try more if you really think that's it or use a hell of a lot of macro's. ■ Check whether the special charzone's (CMSETUP > Various) are either zero or somewhere between 127 and 255 ■ If some 'special' keys like umlauted ones that are on your keyboard are not accepted then use the CharZone definition in CMSETUP to implement them ■ Directory with musicfiles should contain ONLY musicfiles ■ Check whether all paths etc. are correctly entered in CMSETUP ■ Spy mode works only when registered (except for the_sysop) ■ If the selection-screen of Chat Manager shows people not present use CMSETUP /R to fix this. ■ If you specified an invalid logfile in CMSETUP, errors will be written to CHATMAN.ERR in the current directory. ■ If Graphicsmode is not set to ANSI/AVATAR but remains ascii, the dorinfo1.def entry might not be 0, 1 or 2 with your BBS system. Specify the /Gx parameter with x = 1 for ansi and x = 2 for Avatar. ■ Linenumbers should be unique and from 0 to 254 (gaps allowed) ■ Screenlength should be 12 or more ■ Single-line systems without SHARE.EXE, try with SHARE.EXE loaded. ▓▒░ SPECIALS ■ If Chat Manager hangs or crashes, make sure you do not use a patch or some fix for it. Also make sure CHATMAN /!! works. ■ If you are running on a network with a switchbox for the keyboard the keyboard gets jammed when it's not switched to a computer that wants to flesh the leds (in pagingmode). It does not lock up, users continue normally, only the keyboard no longer works when you switch it back to that computer. Solution is simple, disable flashing of the leds within CMSETUP ▓▒░ MESSAGES Read this if it's a Message within Chat Manager; Message : You are already in that chat Cause : You left not using ESC-Q last time or you are logged on twice Problem : Chat Manager can handle only one instance of you at a time Solution: CMSETUP /R to correct the .CHT files if you're not logged on twice. Otherwise log out on one line or use different names for each instance Message : Userflags format is different Cause : Formaterror in CMFILES.CTL causing Chat Manager to incorrectly read the flags for an area. Or different kind of flags in CMFILES.CTL and EXITINFO.BBS (very unlikely). Solution: Check your CMFILES.CTL for areas without a path or without a name, they should be corrected in your BBS software and afterwards regenerate cmfiles.ctl using the bbs2cm.exe tool. Also possible is to directly edit cmfiles.ctl, but the error will then reappear if you run bbs2cm.exe again. Message : Your BBSline is already in that chat Cause : The last time someone used the BBSline you're using now it was not released due to crash/reset etc. OR you have not defined the correct linenumber (/N) and are using line 0 (default) Problem : Chat Manager uses the linenumbers as ID, they should be unique Solution: Pass the correct linenumber for each line to chat manager using /N or chatman1.def. When chatting in local mode make sure you have a unique linenumber, set it to 0 or some high number Message : Private chat, not possible to join Cause : You tried to join a private chat, which is impossible except for people with sysoplevel Solution: Get a higher level (Sysoplevel can be set in CMSETUP) Message : Unable to pass changed userdata to the BBS Meaning : If the user downloaded something or you changed his time, this data is passed to the BBS. This is only possible with the BBS's you can specify in CMSETUP Cause : Unknown BBS types and starting Chat Manager directly from DOS or Chat Manager doesn't find the BBS's userdatafile Solution: For supported BBS's use /7 to tell where the userdatafile is. Normally this is not necessary for it is in the current directory. Otherwise contact me to support your BBS also. If you're still bugged, maybe it's not you but me who did something wrong, please sent your nearest Support BBS a bugreport (using bug.frm) with enough detail to let me regenerate the error. I will attent to it ASAP. (Thanx for the support). ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │▓▒░ 11.A WHY NO CURSORMOVEMENTS? ░▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ With Chat Manager people with different screen sizes can chat and use all their screenlines. Ofcourse the user with the largest amount of screenlines gets larger textwindows for each user. Problem is if you'd move with your cursorkeys up in your window, the line you'd edit might already have scrolled off in the smaller window a user with less screenlines has reserved for your text. So screen length is flexible and fully used, but makes it impossible to use cursor keys for textmovement. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │▓▒░ 12 NO WARRANTY! ░▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ This program is only guaranteed to occupy some diskspace...... Registration will not improve this, it will just activate some extra features and disable the non-registered limits, make sure you're being legal and help me in keeping Chat Manager up-to-date. In no event can I be liable to you or anyone else for any damages or costs, including, but not limited to, any lost profits, lost savings, lost income, lost information, loss of the right to use Chat Manager, or other incidental or consequential damages arising out of the use or inability to use Chat Manager. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │▓▒░ 13 REGISTRATION ░▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Registration is required if you continue to use Chat Manager after a period of 30 days. The non-registered version works alright, but has a few tweaks; Registration will have the following effects; ■ You will receive your personal keyfile through crashmail or regular post ■ Spy mode available (could only be tested in local mode) ■ No more ten minute time-limit for every chatter. ■ 386 Version works ■ Asking/Forcing users into a chat will work more then once per session ■ Messages posted using Chat Manager will no longer have the footnote 'Chat Manager [unregistered]' ■ No more 'UNREGISTERED' messages and no beeping when a chatter leaves Chat Manager ■ Updates are also automatically registered. ■ I will be induced to continue developing Chat Manager ■ You will be legally using Chat Manager Registration is required for every BBS/Network you install Chat Manager on. If you run multiple BBS's or install Chat Manager on a network too, you have to register for each BBS/Network seperately (and pay again!). This is independant of the number of lines/terminals the BBS/Network has. Normally you have only one BBS/Network with x lines so you just register that BBS and pay the fee only once. For non-commercial organizations and non-juridical persons the fee is; Dutch guilders f 50,- US-Dollars US$ 40,- Deutsche marken DM 55,- Australia AUS$ 55,- Swedish K 200,- Finland FIM 180,- France FF 180,- For commercial organisations and juridical persons the fee is; Dutch guilders f 89,- US-Dollars $ 70,- Deutsche marken DM 99,- Australia AUS$ 99,- Swedish K 350,- Finland FIM 320,- France FF 320,- Local currency's NOT listed are accepted if you're country has NO registration site. Use the DEUTSCHE MARK amount to calculate how much local currecy is needed and use my address to register. Registration sites will only accept THEIR OWN valuta. The prices may differ if you convert them, but international phone cost differ for me too! This should be sent via MAIL in CASH!! in local valuta to THE SUPPORT BBS in your country and only if there's none in your country it should be sent to me. Bank-Transfer ONLY to a support-bbs in your country, international bank-transfers cost about US$20 extra ($10 to your bank, $10 to my bank) so mailing is to be preferred. Please do fill in and sent me the registration form that is included in this archive as REGISTER.FRM. Even if you bank-transfer the money you should either sent it to the BBS you picked to register with or I won't know where to send your key.... Conclusive: ■ FILL IN REGISTER.FRM ■ SENT THE MONEY BY MAIL OR BANK TRANSFER ■ NETMAIL REGISTER.FRM or SENT IT BY MAIL ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │▓▒░ 13.A SUPPORT BBS'S/REGISTRATION SITES ░▒▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ NETHERLANDS Ivo Tops, FidoNet 2:280/305 V32bis/V42bis/MNP5 & COUNTRIES WITH NO BBS: 020-6342503 SUPPORT BBS Address: Spreeuwenpark 13-II 1021 GS Amsterdam The Netherlands Bank: 38.24.34.226 Account at RaboBank Amsterdam (Giro of the Bank is 37.42.59) ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── AMERICA Drew Roberts, FidoNet 1:216/510 V32bis BBS: 1-408-336-5325 Address: 8470 Glen Arbor Road Ben Lomond, Ca, USA 95005-9751 Bank: Peninsula Postal Credit Union 1040 Leigh Avenue San Jose, CA, USA, 95126-4152 Accountnumber 9674 ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── AUSTRALIA Terry Harvey, FidoNet 3:712/704 PEP/V32 BBS: 02-745-3231 Adress: The Eagles PO Box 593 Burwood NSW 2134 ■ Bankcard, Mastercard and Visacard facilities are available on the BBS. For mail order credit card transactions please include the name on the card, card number and expiry date. ■ Cheques to be made payable to Terry Harvey. ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── BELGIUM Carl Meynen, FidoNet 2:292/808 V32bis/V42bis BBS: 32-3-3264147 Bank: 733-1680551-56 MC-HOT-BBS o.v.v. CHATMAN ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── FINLAND Mikael Hjelt, FidoNet 2:220/293, VNet 46:9616/20 SuperNet 42:1201/601, HST V32bis V42bis BBS: +358-0-5051123 Bank: SYP/FBF: 242218-9205 ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── FRANCE Laurent Siraponian Fidonet 2:320/1 Virnet 9:331/103 Address: 12 avenue Joffre 92250 La Garenne Colombes Mailer/BBS Line1 33-1-47699261 V32 V42 V42b HST BBS Line2 33-1-47804001 V32 V32b V42 V42b BBS Line3 33-1-47804101 V32 V32b V42 V42b Bank: Credit Lyonnais Account Number: 57027P ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── GERMANY Wim Abels, FidoNet 2:242/20 ,VirNet 9:493/1050 INTLnet 57:4940/104, HST V32bis/V42bis Zyx 16k8 BBS: 49-211-5961291 oder 49-211-593439 Bank: Postgiroamt Essen Kto.Inh: Wim Abels Kto. : 45 66 59 435 Blz : 360 100 43 ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── ISRAEL Eyal Zach Fidonet 2:405/10 972-52-503683 V32B V42B MNP5 Virnet 9:9725/0 Technet 111:405/8 Adress: 47/5 Golomb St., Hertzeliya 46305 Bank: Israel Discount Bank, Aehad Haam 207 Account Number: 11-207-00101125 ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── SWEDEN Sune Olsson, FidoNet 2:203/127 V32bis/V42bis BBS: +46-31-291546 Address: c/o SEO Service AB Grimmeredsvägen 13 s-421 69 VÄSTRA FRÖLUNDA Bank: PERSONKONTO: 410807-4875 ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── I hope you like Chat Manager, and will be present for any questions or suggestions on the forementioned Fido-address. By mail is also possible, write to the above address. You will be answered as soon as possible. I. Tops Author of Chat Manager 2:280/305 FidoNet, normal address see above With thanks to all official, unofficial and involuntary betatesters for reporting all those little buggers to me AND for providing me with enough hints and tips to keep up the job for a year or so...