Beijing Paradise BBS Backup

home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search

/ Beijing Paradise BBS Backup / PARADISE.ISO / software / BBSDOORW / LABTST32.ZIP / SYSOP.DOC < prev next >

Wrap

Text File | 1994-10-15 | 16.9 KB | 351 lines

The following instructions should be used to install Labtest into your bulletin board system. Currently supported platforms are: RemoteAccess 2.xx and above ProBoard 2.xx and above QuickBBS 2.80 (GoldBase and Classic) Any system supporting or using FILES.BBS The supported message bases are: GoldBase, Jam, Squish, Fido *.MSG, and Hudson. LTSetup will read your BBS configuration files (for those systems listed above) when you attempt to select a message area. This is very important to remember. If you make a change to your system, i.e. convert your message base, it is very important to reselect the message areas even though they may still be the same board numbers. Labtest does not read any BBS configuration files except for the file system (FILES.RA, FILECFG.PRO, or FILECFG.DAT). LTSetup, however, reads the configuration, message and file system files. Failure to pay attention to this detail will result in unpredictable results. 1. RemoteAccess 2.xx There are a number of configuration options you must set for Labtest to run efficiently with RemoteAccess. Don't be alarmed, you have probably configured most of them anyway. NOTE: You must have the RA environment variable set to point to the RA system files. For example: SET RA=C:\RA If you do not have this environment variable set, LTSetup will not locate your BBS system files. a. Upload Scan Menu You must define your Upload Scan Menu as follows: Scan online Yes Failed scan None Scan utility C:\LABTEST\LABTEST.EXE @ /O *M (Adjust the path to match your system) Labtest does not use the Failed Scan information above. It maintains its own information. Since Labtest is taking control of the failed scan action, RemoteAccess does not really need it anyway. It is very important to specify None for this option. If you have Labtest and RemoteAccess both trying to MOVE the file, RemoteAccess will not be able to move it because Labtest has already done so. This will result in a RemoteAccess "Cannot copy file" error. You must specify the *M option to force RemoteAccess to swap itself out of memory. You should also specify /O to force rechecking of previously processed files to prevent a possible bad file from being skipped. b. File Area Settings The following options should be set in each of your file areas: LongDesc Yes UL scan Yes ArcType ARJ The LongDesc must be set to Yes for Labtest to properly import the file description from a FILE_ID.DIZ. UL Scan must be set to Yes if you want files uploaded to this area checked by Labtest. RemoteAccess will not start Labtest for files uploaded to an area where UL Scan is set to No. ArcType can be left blank if you prefer to have all of your files converted to the same format. If this entry is blank, files sent to this area will be converted to the archive type defined in LTSetup. That's all you need to install Labtest into RemoteAccess! Labtest may also be run from the RAMGR program as a function key. Specify the exact same command line from the Upload Scanner menu above in your function key definition menu. Be sure to use the *M to cause RAMGR to swap out of memory. 2. Proboard 2.xx Note: You must have the PROBOARD environment variable set to point to the Proboard system files path. For example: SET PROBOARD=C:\PROBOARD If you do not have this environment variable set, LTSetup will not locate your BBS system files. To install Labtest for use with Proboard, you will need to create a special upload menu. This menu will have three commands, each of which are automatic execution commands: Hotkey : ^A Function : 33 - Upload a file Data : C:\UPLOADS Hotkey : ^A Function : 7 - Shell Data : C:\LABTEST\LABTEST.EXE C:\PB\FILES\UPLOADS\ *X Note: The trailing back slash on the upload directory is required! This informs Labtest that C:\UPLOADS is a directory and not a file. However it is not required on the Upload a File data field. Hotkey : ^A Function : 3 - Goto previous menu Data : You must specify the *X command to force ProBoard to swap out of memory. This menu will be called from your normal Files menu and will replace your existing upload command. Labtest will check any new files received in your upload directory. Labtest will update the FILES.BBS file named in ProCfg -> File Areas - > List File. Labtest also supports the extended FILES.BBS formatting used by ProBoard. 3. QuickBBS 2.80 "Classic" or "GoldBase" Labtest 3.2 now also directly supports QuickBBS 2.80 "Classic" and 2.80 "GoldBase". To install Labtest into QuickBBS 2.80, you will need to set up a special upload menu (ie: UPLOAD.MNU) that would be called from your regular Files Menu. This menu will have three commands, each of which are automatic execution commands: Optional Data : C:\UPLOADS\TEMP Menu Type : 33 (Upload a file) Key : (Ctrl A) Optional Data : *C /C C:\QUICKBBS\LABTEST.BAT *M Menu Type : 7 Shell Under Board and Run Program Key : (Ctrl A) Optional Data : FILES Menu Command : 2 Return to previous menu Key : (Ctrl A) Sample LABTEST.BAT for QuickBBS :UPLDSCAN CD\UPLOADS\TEMP IF NOT EXIST *.* GOTO DONE REM ** Caller uploaded something REM ** Run scanner on directory TEMP; if bad, move to BAD REM ** directory LABTEST.EXE C:\UPLOADS\TEMP\ IF NOT EXIST FILES.BBS GOTO SKIP REM ** Transfer description to the download directory TYPE FILES.BBS >> \UPLOADS\NEWUPLDS\FILES.BBS DEL FILES.BBS :SKIP REM ** Move good files to UPLOADS directory COPY *.* \UPLOADS\NEWUPLDS /V ECHO Y | DEL *.* > NUL :DONE C: CD\QBBS EXIT Note: The trailing back slash on the upload directory in line 7 is required! This informs Labtest that C:\UPLOADS\TEMP\ is a directory and not a file. Your Labtest Directory must also be in your PATH statement or Labtest must be setup in a Directory that is already in your PATH. You must specify the *M command to force QuickBBS to swap out of memory. This menu will be called from your normal Files menu and will replace your existing upload command. Labtest will check any new files received in your upload directory. 4. TIC Processing To set Labtest up to toss your .TIC files, you will need to load LTSetup and go to the Files/Paths menu. Two items in this menu control your .TIC processing. First is the Inbound directory. Specify the path where your mailer places the incoming .TIC files. Second, enter a path and filename of your TIC configuration file. A sample file is included in your distribution archive. Labtest uses its own configuration format, so it is probably not compatible with anything you are currently using. You may press the F10 key in LTSetup to edit the configuration file. There are several options available in this configuration file. The basic structure is: Area Path Uploader's Name The Area is the echo tagname which will be in the .TIC file. The Path is the destination DRIVE and DIRECTORY. You may specify an alternate Uploader Name to be inserted into the file descriptions and message text. There are four possibilities for this option: Macro Meaning # Use sysop's name as the Uploader Name * Use the area tagname as the Uploader Name - Do not add any uploader name. Same as /- on the command line. text Specify up to 35 characters to be used as the uploader name. This text cannot contain any spaces! Use the underscore character in place of spaces. It will be replaced by a space at run time. Area PCD Origin 1:3615/50 From 1:3615/50 File SFEMB025.ZIP Replaces SFEMB024.ZIP To Sysop, 1:3615/50 Desc Spitfire Enhanced Message Base, 0.25 Ldesc Spitfire Enhanced Message Base, 0.25 Ldesc Beta release of the hottest thing to Ldesc hit Spitfire! You too, can have an Ldesc alias message base in Spitfire! CRC EDFAAB49 Path 1:3615/50 778253395 Tue Aug 30 13:29:55 1994 GMT Seenby 1:3615/51 This is an actual .TIC file received by one of the Beta testers and forwarded to the author for review. Below I will discuss the sections of this TIC file that Labtest recognizes and how it deals with them. The Area command specifies the name of the file echo this .TIC was hatched in. The File command specifies the name of the file that accompanies this .TIC file. If the file does not exist in your inbound directory, this .TIC will be renamed to .BAD. The Replaces command specifies the file to be replaced by this new file. Labtest will remove the replaced file from the file base and delete it from disk. Labtest will only check the destination area for the file. It will not check your entire system. Labtest will ignore the file extension of the file to be replaced when actually removing the old file. For example, if the Replace command in the .TIC file indicated that LABTST29.ARJ was to be replaced, Labtest will replace all files named LABTST29 in the destination directory, regardless of the actual file extension. The Desc is used only when no Ldesc exists. This will be imported into the file base if there is no FILE_ID.DIZ in the archive. The Ldesc is used in place of the Desc when no .DIZ exists. When configuring Labtest for .TIC files, you have a few options regarding the uploader's name information and the auto-replace feature. In the configuration file, specifying an exclamation point immediately before the area name will disable auto-replacement for that area. For example, !SDS_RA will disable auto-replacement for the SDS_RA area. This remains in effect for only the area named. If the following area does not have ! before the name, auto-replacement is enabled for that area. You may disable auto-replacement for the entire system by specifying /NTR on the command line. After you have Labtest configured properly to handle your .TIC files, all you need to do is run LABTEST /TIC /O to process them. It is important to have the /O on the command line to force Labtest to process any files. Without the /O on the command line, Labtest will skip files that have been previously processed. Command line options affecting TIC operations /ND No delete. This prevents Labtest from removing the .TIC files and their associated file after it has processed them. Under normal circumstances, this would not be necessary. If, however, you wanted to leave the .TICs and the files in the inbound directory, use this command line switch. Labtest will only mark the files as having been processed, so it will not process them again. /TO Tic Override. This command line switch is designed for the rare occasion that you specified /ND (No Delete), but want to force Labtest to re-process the .TICs. /NTR No TIC Replace. This command line will prevent Labtest from replacing files named in the .TIC with the 'Replaces' command. When files are hatched, the author may wish to have older versions removed from circulation. This is achieved by using the Replaces command and naming the older version to be replaced. In the event that you do not want Labtest to replace an older version, specify /NTR on the command line. This command will remain in effect during the entire session, preventing Labtest from replacing any files. 5. Using Labtest without a BBS or on a BBS not mentioned above You may use Labtest even if you do not have a BBS by selecting FILES.BBS as your system type. By doing so, Labtest will not attempt to read the BBS configuration files and message writing will be disabled. Additionally, by specifying FILES.BBS Labtest will create and maintain a FILES.BBS file in any of the directories it is processing files in. This is a file which contains the filenames and descriptions of each file in the directory. For example, if you run Labtest on your C:\UPLOADS directory, Labtest will create or update a FILES.BBS description file in that directory. You may run Labtest directly from your BBS while the user is online by selecting FILES.BBS as your system type, and installing Labtest as described above for ProBoard 2.xx. The only features that are not available are the message writing (to the user and sysop), and the file/message area selection menus in LTSetup. All other features, where supported by the BBS software, are available. 6. Supporting Other BBS Software We have every desire to support as many bulletin board systems as feasible. If you would like to see direct support for your system, please send us the data file format structures and, if possible, the distribution archive of the software. We will analyze the system and determine if adding support is possible. You may forward the information to our address listed in the User's Guide. We appreciate and solicit your comments and requests for improvements!