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Text File | 1996-03-02 | 19.2 KB | 464 lines

Doc Release 25th February 1996 GreenLights Software Bulletin Generator For RemoteAccess 2.00, 2.01, 2.02, 2.50 GLSBULL.EXE v1.01 Copyright(c) 1996, Jeffrey R Dougall - GreenLights Software Development FidoNET 3:640/280 BBS +61 7 3201 6576 (9600-28800) 1 1.1 License and disclaimer "GLSBULL" refers to the executable and documentation in the original distribution archive. GLSBULL is copyrighted material by Jeffrey R. Dougall. It may only be used in agreement with the conditions set out in this license agreement. GLSBULL may be freely distributed as long as no files are removed from the package and the files are not modified in any way, and as long as no money or any other compensation is asked or accepted for this package without prior written permission from the author. Although care has been taken to write and test a program that does what this document states, the program is provided as is, without warranty or guarantee of any kind, either expressed or implied, as to the quality or performance of this program, except that it will occupy disk space. The author, Jeffrey R. Dougall, will not be held liable to you or anyone for (but not limited to) any direct, indirect, incidental or consequential damages, including any lost profits, 2 lost savings which may result from the use or inability to use this program. Jeffrey R. Dougall is in no way obligated to provide future versions of, or support for this software. Your use of the program constitutes your agreement to this license and disclaimer and your release of the author from any form of liability or litigation. 1.2 Registration This release of GLSBULL may be used free of charge for individual hobby use in REGISTERED mode for a total period of 40 days after which GLSBULL will de-activate REGISTERED mode and some features will become in operate. GLSBULL may operate unpredictably if the file(s) used to calculate the length of operation in FREE registered mode are tampered with ... To register your copy of GLSBULL read the doc file GLSBULL.REG 3 FILES used and created by GLSBULL.EXE +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ GLSBULL.EXE The main executable file GLSBULL.DAT Display information GLSBULL.CFG Configuration file created by GLSBULL.EXE GLSBULL.REC Created after running GLSBULL.EXE for the first time. Used by GLSBULL so that dupe messages are not sent. GLSPOST.EXE Used by GLSBULL to send messages. GLSPOST.DAT Data file used by GLSPOST.EXE GLS??????.MSG files are explained below. GLS??????.ASC bulletin you display to callers GLSBULL creates a file GLSBULL.REC when first run. this file contains the names of the people a message was last sent to. This is used by GLSBULL to ensure the same message is not sent twice to a caller. The format is as follows GLSBULL.REC ----------- Joan Doe LINE 1 Top Uploader Tom Doe LINE 2 Top Caller John Doe LINE 3 Top Message writer END The program uses the following TEXT files as the base template for posting messages to your callers ... 4 GLSTHKF.MSG When a caller is NUMBER 1 in the top ten uploaders GLSBULL will post this message to him/her The message is sent once only. GLSTHKM.MSG When a caller is NUMBER 1 in the top ten Message writters GLSBULL will post this message to him/her The message is sent once only. GLSTHKC.MSG When a caller is NUMBER 1 in the top ten CALLERS the GLSBULL will post this message to him/her The message is sent once only. GLSOOPSF.MSG When a caller looses number 1 position this message will be sent. (Top uploader) GLSOOPSC.MSG When a caller looses number 1 position this message will be sent. (Best caller) GLSOOPSM.MSG When a caller looses number 1 position this message will be sent. (Best message writer) GLSBIRTH.MSG This message is sent to a caller on his/her birthday GLSSUB.MSG Created when a person subscription is due GLS1ST.MSG Sent to NEW callers 5 WHAT DOES GLSBULL.EXE DO? ------------------------- 1 Writes bulletins for the top 14 callers, uploaders, message writers and downloaders. 2 Sends a welcome message to new callers 3 Sends a birthday wish to your callers on their birthday 4 Sends a subscription reminder notice to your VIPS's 21 days prior to subscription expires. 5 When a caller makes number one position on the Best callers/Uploaders and message writers bulletins GLSBULL will send them a congratulations message to encourage further uploading etc. 6 When a person who held number one position looses it a Boo! Hisss message is sent to him/her to encourage, again, more uploads/message writing etc. Not really needed, just thrown in for fun. 7 GLSBULL is year 2000 aware but is limited until RemoteAccess fully supports 4 digit year entry and as soon as RA does the transition an immediate update release of GLSBULL will be made available. For those not aware, any program which does not support 4 digit year entry will fail to function correctly after the turn of the century! meaning a person born in the year 1964 for example will suddenly be 64 years old in the year 2000. 6 INSTALLATION ------------ The GLSBULL archive comes with 5 files and after running the first time several more files are created so it is strongly advised give GLSBULL a directory of its own. Once creating the directory and unpacking the files start GLSBULL.EXE so that the required configuration file and other relevant files can be created. GLSBULL will look for your RemoteAccess configuration files to obtain information about you and your BBS so that you do not have to go through a lengthy setup operation. Once obtaining your details GLSBULL will ask you if you want messages to be sent to your callers. If you answer NO, GLSBULL will ask no more questions and return to dos after writing your CFG file to HDD. If you answer YES, GLSBULL will ask you for a HUDSON message board number which is required if you wish to have GLSBULL send messages to your callers. You are then given the option to have GLSBULL post your VIP's a reminder to renew their subscription to your BBS 21 days before the due date. GLSBULL will ask you to enter a security number between 0-65535. Enter 65535 if you don't wish reminders sent by GLSBULL. If you have a registered copy of GLSBULL and enter a security number of 1000, GLSBULL will treat all users with a security of 1000 and above as VIPS and send them a subscription reminder. In other words, GLBULL will send a reminder to all those equal to or greater than the security number you enter. Unregistered users will be restricted in that GLSBULL will only send a reminder to those users EQUAL to the security number you enter. GLSBULL will now create several files with the file extension MSG which are the templates used when posting messages to your callers. GLSBULL will place your name and the name of your BBS in these messages. You may edit these templates with a TXT editor if you wish. 7 CONFIGURING RemoteAccess ------------------------ GLSBULL generates 6 bulletin files these are:- GLSCALL.ASC Top 14 callers GLSMESS.ASC " " message writers GLSKUP.ASC " " uploaders by K/bytes GLSKDOWN.ASC " " downloaders by K/bytes GLSUP.ASC " " uploders by files GLSDOWN.ASC " " downloaders by files GLSBULL makes good use of RA's inbuilt colour codes so GLSBULL does not produce ANSI screens. Instead, ASC txt files are created and the colour codes are embedded into the bulletins. This way RA will send the ASC bulletins to all callers wether they be, ANSI, AVITAR, ASC or RIP in full colour or B/W if the caller is using a TTY terminal. This not only saves on HDD space but also speeds the process of producing the bulletins PLUS you only have 6 bulletins in your text file directory instead of 12! In other words GLSBULL does not waste time/space duplicating the bulletins ! When you start GLSBULL she will look for your CONFIG.RA file which contains information about you and the location of your MSGBASE files and TXTFILES directory. 8 In the sample RACONFIG below you will see Textfiles \ra\txtfiles so what-ever you have entered there, will be the location GLSBULL will create your bulletins. IMPORTANT if your running GLSBULL from a different DRIVE to you TXTFILES directory you MUST include the drive Letter in RACONFIG! File System Options Modem Manager ════════════════════╒═══════════╕═══════════════════════════════════════════════ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒│ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒│ Site info │▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒│ Addresses │▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒│ Security │▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒ ▒▒╒═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ Paths ╕▒▒ ▒▒│ │▒▒ ▒▒│ System \RA\ │▒▒ ▒▒│ Menus \RA\MENUS\ │▒▒ ▒▒│ Textfiles \RA\TXTFILES\ <<<<<< GLSBULL uses this directory to store │▒▒ ▒▒│ Msg base \RA\MSGBASE\ your bulletins │▒▒ ▒▒│ File base \RA\FILES\ │▒▒ ▒▒│ File attach \RA\ATTACH\ │▒▒ ▒▒│ Nodelist \FD\NODELIST\ │▒▒ ▒▒│ CD-ROM temp \RA\CDROM\ │▒▒ ▒▒│ Semaphore \RA\SEM\ │▒▒ ▒▒│ Rearchive │▒▒ ▒▒│ System log \RA\RA.LOG │▒▒ ▒▒│ │▒▒ ▒▒╘══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╛▒▒ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒ ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── 9 After the bulletins are created you have to setup a menu in your BBS to display the bulletins to your callers. You may create a special menu for this purpose or use any of your current menu's. Below you will see a sample menu which allows your callers to show the bulletins when they press the corresponding hot key. If they press A RA will display the bulletin "GLSCALL.ASC" etc etc. ╒══════════════════════════════════════════════════════ C:\RA\MENUS\BULL.MNU ╕ │ │***│ Display-H │ bulletin │ │ │'A'│ Disp CR │ GLSCALL │ │ │'B'│ Disp CR │ GLSDOWN │ │ │'C'│ Disp CR │ GLSUP │ │ │'D'│ Disp CR │ GLSMESS │ │ │'E'│ Disp CR │ GLSKDOWN │ │ │'F'│ Disp CR │ GLSKUP │ │ │'M'│ Return │ │ │ │ │ │ ╘══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╛ Enter-Edit Ins-Insert Del-Delete Esc-Exit ALT: L-Load S-Save P-Prompt D-Display N-Language Bellow is a more detailed layout on how to set RA up to display your bulletins. Make sure you use a TYPE 45 menu command so that RA will prompt the caller to press enter to continue at the end of the bulletin. ╒══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ Edit Menu Item ╕ │ │ │ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 │ │ 123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345 │ │ ; │ │ │ │ GLSCALL │ │ │ │ Action Display .ANS/.ASC with CR pause at end (Type 45) │ │ Display │ │ OptData │ │ HotKey A │ │ AutoExec No │ │ Colour Colour example │ │ │ │ MinSec 0 TimeUsed 0 FlatCost 0 │ │ MaxSec 0 TimeLeft 0 TimeCost 0 │ │ A flags -------- Age 0 Terminal Any │ │ B flags -------- MinSpeed 0 Nodes │ │ C flags -------- MaxSpeed 0 Groups │ │ D flags -------- Credit 0 DayTimes │ │ │ │ │ ╘══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╛ What will happen when item is selected 10 DAILY MAINTENANCE ----------------- GLSBULL should be included in your daily maintenance so that bulletins can be updated daily. DO NOT RUN GLSBULL more than once a day if you have the message posting active otherwise GLSBULL may post duplicate messages to your callers. You have been warned! From this point on it is assumed you have read the docs that came with your copy of RemoteAccess and you understand the terms used. A typical batch file that runs GLSBULL might look something like this When useing RA without a mailer you will have to setup an EVENT ERRORLEVEL EXIT in RACONFIG. In this sample we will have RA exit with an errorlevel of 100 to activate GLSBULL daily. :STARTBBS CD\RA\NODE1 RA -N1 -B%1%5 -D IF ERRORLEVEL 100 GOTO DAILYMAINT: GOTO STARTBBS :DAILYMAINT CD\RA\DOOR\GLSBULL GLSBULL.EXE GOTO STARTBBS: 11 When using RA with a front end mailer such as Frontdoor you will have to set your mailer up to do a forced event X exit which will ensure that GLSBULL is run daily which must be done if you have activated the message posting feature. A typical batch file used in conjunction with RA and Frontdoor might look something like this. @ECHO OFF :START CD\FD FD IF ERRORLEVEL 220 GOTO MAILRECIEVED IF ERRORLEVEL 210 GOTO DAILYMAINT IF ERRORLEVEL 100 GOTO BBS GOTO START :BBS DOBBS.BAT GOTO START :MAILRECIEVED CD\MAIL FMAIL3 TOSS FMAIL3 IMPORT GOTO START =========================================================================== REM -------- DAILY Maintenance :DAILYMAINT CD \RA\DOOR\GLSBULL GLSBULL.EXE (((GLSBULL requires no COMMAND LINES))) =========================================================================== CD \MAIL FMAIL3 PACK FTOOLS3 MAINT /D /N /P GOTO START 12 EXCLUDING USERS FROM BULLETINS ------------------------------ GLSBULL allows you to exclude up-to 10 users from the bulletins. This is done by editing the control file called GLSBULL.SKP" It is not necessary to place your name in the list as GLSBULL excludes the sysop by default. The names of the users MUST appear exactly how they do in RA's users base. in other words the names are CASE-SENSATIVE!!!!! PROBLEMS -------- Q. GLSBULL cannot find CONFIG.RA? A. Make sure RA is setup in your dos environment before running GLSBULL. Q. GLBSULL still can't find CONFIG.RA? A. Make sure CONFIG.RA is in your RA's System directory. Some silly billy's have been known to place CONFIG.RA in the directory that they start other nodes from. ie \ra\node1 etc. Q. GLSBULL Still can't locate CONFIG.RA. A. You are probably running GLSBULL from a differnt HDD to RA and have RA environment varable setup so as NOT to include the drive. ie if your have in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file RA=\RA than thats fine but eventually you'll have problems. Make a habbit of including a drive letter. so you would have something like this in you AUTOEXEC.BAT file SET RA=C:\RA etc Q. GLSBULL is screwing up bad? A. GLSBULL must be executed from the directory that contains all of the GLSBULL data and cfg files otherwise she cannot locate here files. or you have recieved a hacked copy and if so contacte the author stating were you got your copy from. Q. GLSBULL posted messages for a while than stoped all together. A. It's time you registered ... Don't you think! Q. GLSBULL will not let me define new user post a message delay or allow me to define the subscription reminder period. A. My Beta testers have be naughty! You must have a Beta version which should not have left the hands of the Beta testers. Q. GLSBULL has bugs. A. What program doesn't?, Next question! seriously, if you find what looks to be a bug contact the author. Q. I registered GLSBULL and my key does not work correctly! A. Contact the author immediatly as your version is either a hack or your details were recorded incorrectly in your key. Q. My whole message base has screwed up. A. Tampering with DATA files can cause undesirable results. Especially when it comes to GLSPOST. If you have been good and left the data files alone than obtain a new copy as it would appear you have a hacked or incomplete version of GLSBULL. Q. GLSPOST is configured to post messages, and post's the messages but they cannot be found on the BBS. A. Check your GLSBULL.CFG file and make sure you defined a HUDSON message board that exists in your MESSAGES.RA file. If in doubt, delete GLSBULL.CFG and re-install. If still not working, call the ghost busters. Q. What happens when my evaluation period expires? A. GLSBULL will dissable the message posting features and run in regular shareware mode, but will not tell your users you havn.t enough funds to register.