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The OffLine (Online-)Filetagger for Maximus-OS/2 2.01wb Version 1.0: Legalities : ------------ Author and Copyright: Michael Mrosowski Mühlenweg 1 2000 Wedel Germany 1. Liability This software and accompanying materials are distributed "AS IS" without warranty, express, implied or statutory, including but not limited to any implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. In no event shall anyone involved with the creation and production of this product be liable for indirect, special, or consequential damages, arising out of any use thereof or breach of any warranty. 2. Distribution This program is Public-Domain, that means that everyone can use and copy this program (name: OffLine Filetagger v1.0) as long and as often as he wants as long as he passes along all files included in this package completely and unchanged. This right is currently bound to the actual version 1.0. BUT! It is strictly forbidden to sell this program without an explicit permission from the Author. That means nobody is allowed to take money for the distri- bution of this program. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ CONTENTS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1.Hi there ! 2.Have a short look 3.What does it indeed ? 4.Under which configuration does it run ? 5.What is new ? 6.Quick installation 7.Tagger details 7.1 Commandline parameters 7.2 TAGGER.CFG 7.3 Performing the download 8.Using the Tagger 9.Additional hints for use 10.Hall of Fame ============================================================================== 1.Hi there ! ------------ This is the documentation of the OffLine Filetagger. Since English isn't my native language you will certainly remark plenty of errors throughout this text. Simply ignore them if possible (-8. Anyway i hope that this documentation will help you to install and use the Tagger. As this program is completely free for use i haven't spent that much time for this doc. So if you encounter unpleasant problems during the installation, please send me a netmail (address see "chapter" 9.) and i will try to help and answer if i can. ============================================================================== 2.Have a short look : --------------------- 1. Copy the files in a directory on your bbs computer and unpack them. 2. Change in a OS/2 session to this directory and start TAGGER.EXE 3. When (let's hope) the Tagger starts, press "H" for help or simply try around (in that demo only two dummy-fileareas are visible). 5. Fantastic ! (not ?, okok thats your personal opinion) ============================================================================== 3.What does it indeed ? ----------------------- With the Tagger your users can choose easily files of your fileareas for download. The selection takes place comparable to some popular filemanagers. If the user chooses finally "Download" the program executes a CMD-file that can be customized to your wishes. The CMD-file which is delivered in the package (DOWNMULT.CMD) actually creates a bbs-file which effects the download of the selected files when the program returns to Maximus. By the way, the selection is done online. The name OffLine stands for the name of the BBS where the Tagger has been created. ============================================================================== 4.Under which configuration does it run ? ------------------------------------------- The Tagger is a OS/2 32-Bit application that has been compiled with EMX GNU-C. It has been developed for the use with Maximus v2.01wb. It has been tested on HPFS- and FAT-partitions (as well as with CD-ROMS), but works usually only with DOS-filenames. The users of the Tagger must have an ANSI- emulation. ============================================================================== 5.What is new ? --------------- As this is the first version provided in English. I left out this section in the English-Doc. ============================================================================== 6.Quick installation : ---------------------- First copy all Tagger files in a new directory (if not already done). These files are: T.CMD cmd-file to start the Tagger (executed from TAGGER.MEC) DOWNMULT.CMD - " - for creation of the bbs file for download TAGGER.CFG Tagger configuration file. TAGGER.EXE the program TAGGER.HLP helpfile in English TAGGER.HLF helpfile in German ENGLISH.LNG English languagefile DEUTSCH.LNG German languagefile TAGGER.DOK the German documentation TAGGER.DOC the English documentation EMX.DLL is required for TAGGER.EXE STDCOLOR.SET another set of colors SAMPLES.ZIP sample cmd-files ------ the following files are required only for the testrun of ----------- ------ of the Tagger and can be deleted after the test ----------- 106.BBS Files-bbs and Files.dat for the testrun 106.DAT 504.BBS 504.DAT FILEAREA.CTL area definition for the testrun 6.1 Including the Tagger in the Menus.ctl : ------------------------------------------- The Tagger should be included in the MENUS.CTL in a suitable menu. ------- Display_File c:\tagger\tagger Limited "3 OffLine Tagger" ------- ^here the directory of the Tagger + (tagger.mec) 6.2 Executing TAGGER.EXE : -------------------------- In the following files the directories have also to be adjusted : (Places marked with "^" and a comment) TAGGER.MEC: [colour goto start endcolour] Sorry, the Fullscreen-Tagger doesn't run with TTY. Choose ANSI in the user-menu, if your terminalprogram supports this. [Enter] [Exit] [/start moreoff xtern_run]cmd.exe /c c:\tagger\t.cmd %P %K ^here the tagger directory [link]c:\tagger\dl+K ^and again over here T.CMD: cd c:\tagger ^ change to the tagger dir if exist dl%2.bbs del dl%2.bbs tagger P=%1 NODE=%2 cd c:\box\max ^ and back to the maximus dir TAGGER.CFG: . (remove the semicolons in front of "lastuser" and "maxprm") . Filepaths logfile tagger.log arealist filearea.ctl ^ the path to filearea.ctl lastuser lastus%%.bbs ^ the path to maximus' lastuser-file e.g. c:\box\max\lastus%%.bbs maxprm max.prm ^ and the path to max.prm e.g. c:\box\max\max.prm ; filebase filebase ^ the filebase can at first stay excluded ; Use the filebase when a normal startup of the tagger is too slow End Filepaths . . . Yep, and the DateFormat is defined in an european manner. Change it, if you need to. (see 7.2 miscellaneous section) Do not forget to compile TAGGER.MEC after you changed it. That should be enough for using the Tagger with your BBS. Any remaining questions are (i hope) explained in the following section. ============================================================================== 7.Tagger details : ------------------ 7.1 Commandline parameters : ---------------------------- These parameters can either passed directly when executing TAGGER.EXE (e.g. in T.CMD) or they can be listed in the parameter-section of TAGGER.CFG (see 7.2). RESCAN updates the filebase (if used) an leaves the Tagger after this. More about the Filebase can be found in 7.2. (Filepath section). P= com-handle of Maximus or Binkley. If P= is not stated the Tagger runs only in local mode (P=0). NODE= passes the nodeno of the actual port. Is used to load the user- information out of the correct lastuser%%.bbs file and to avoid collisions when creating the download bbs-files. CFG= forces the Tagger to use a different cfg-file as tagger.cfg e.g. CFG=c:\tagger\nerd.cfg This parameter is only useful if you pass it directly to TAGGER.EXE. ECHO echoes the output of the Tagger to the local screen. (necessary if you want to use the Sysop-Chat or to snoop) QUIT leaves the Tagger immediately after the execution of the download cmd-file. This will be default if no "Quit" or "NoQuit" statement has been stated in the protocols section in TAGGER.CFG. DLCDEL="" allows customization of the char which marks the beginning of the downloadcounter in the file description (default : "["). MULTILINEDESC The Tagger will interprete any comment-lines following a file in the files.bbs file as extended description and will add them to the file-description if this parameter is passed. DESCID="" The char stated here must be the first char of the line holding the extended descriptions, when MULTILINEDESC is used. (Default:DESCID=" ") NOMISSING Files which are listed in the FILES.BBS but haven't been found by the Tagger, won't be listed as MISSING when this parameter is passed. So they remain selectable. NOFILESDAT The Tagger will then not read the date and size of a file of the "FILES.DAT" but query them from the filesystem. This is usually slower. NOPRIVCHECK supresses the check for the proper priv-level of the actual user before displaying an area. NOKEYCHECK supresses the check for the proper user-keys before displaying an area. INCBARRICADES Usually areas holding the statement "FileBarricade" are simply ignored. This parameter includes them, if keys and priv-level are ok or disabled. CARRIERCHECKOFF turns off the carrier-check. If not, the Tagger will be ended when the carrier is lost. WRAP displays word-wrapped descriptions (instead of one-line descriptions). C= C=0 for B&W and C=1 for colours (default:C=1) The following settings are usually read out of the lastuser.bbs file of Maximus. These parameters overwrite these values (only in the Tagger), if required (the default-values are used, if no path to the lastuser.bbs has been stated in TAGGER.CFG) and the parameter is not passed. X= screenwidth (>=80, Default:80) Y= screenheight (>=12,Default:25) B= user bps-rate (Default:14400) T= today downloaded kb (Default:0) REMTIME= remaining user online-time. (in minutes) PRIV= privlevel of the user (use PRIV=TWIT,PRIV=DISGRACE etc.) KEYS= keys of the user (exmpl.: KEYS=123456789AFGH) This value is usually read out of max.prm L= downloadlimit of the user in kb (Default:2000) 7.2 TAGGER.CFG : ---------------- TAGGER.CFG should stand in the same directory as TAGGER.EXE (unless you specify its Name and Path by passing it with the CFG= parmeter). It is divided into several sections. The order of these sections should be kept up. The Parameters-Section : ------------------------ In this section you can place commandline-parameters. These parameters are treated exactly the same as if they were directly passed to the program (but directly passed parameters overwrite same parameters in cfg-file). Use only one parameter per line. Example: Parameters Echo Wrap Dlcdel="<" Quit End Parameters The Filepath-Section : ---------------------- Paths to the files used by the Tagger are defined in this section. See the example 1 page below for correct spelling. LogFile: -------- In this file the Tagger can keep a record of its activities, when and of whom the tagger has been used, downloaded files and any errors which occured. Arealist: --------- The Tagger uses the arealist as directory of fileareas and access rights. Usually this is the file FILEAREA.CTL. Include statements will be recog- nized. Lastuser: --------- User dependent data is read out of maximus' lastuser file. They are : priv-level, bps-rate, lastlogin, keys, screensize, dl-today. For multinode-systems you can mark with "%%" the position in the filename where the nodeno (passed with "NODE=nn") has to be inserted. Maxprm: ------- The file MAX.PRM delivers the downloadlimit dependent on the users priv-level to the Tagger. Filebase: --------- If you put a path in here, the Tagger creates on first startup a filebase holding all information about fileareas and their contents it needs. Especially if you have many fileareas this will help to speed up the startup of the tagger considerably. But you have to notice the Tagger if the contents of the Filebase have to be changed (uploads, file moves etc.). Practically this should be done AFTER the FBP utility of maximus has been run. Simply call the Tagger only with the Parameter RESCAN (TAGGER.EXE RESCAN). Then the filebase will be updated and the tagger leaves immediately back to the caller. Please do NOT put a fileextension at the end of the path because the Tagger will add the exetension .DAT and .DMP by himself. Downloadlist: ------------- After selecting "Download" the Tagger will create a list of the selected files and pass the name along with some other parameters (see protocols- section) to a cmd-file. If you leave out this parameter the selected files will be passed as parameters. Use the "%%" like in the lastuser parameter to specify the position of the nodeno. The downloadlist has one line per selected file which holds the filename, filesize filedate and filedescription. e:\100\xmas.zip 123456 12-31-93 Xmas-Demo, find Santa Claus Languagefile : -------------- Place the name of an alternative languagefile here. This file will change the programs texts and menus. See english.lng and deutsch.lng for examples. If you leave this parameter out, the program will default to english language. The language-file should have one identifier followed by a quoted c-type string. Be aware that if you change these texts you can occasionally can cause the program to abort with an error (if you state a wrong format-string or make a string too long to fit in place). So test the program before you release it for use in your mailbox. In some of the strings you find a "~" this is used to highlight the following letter. This works only in these strings. Some identifiers end with "menu". These hold the keys the user has to press to execute a function. Each position in such a menustring stands for a function. Example : English: askquitmsg " Quit (~Yes/~No) ? " quitmenu "YN" French: askquitmsg " Sortir (~Oui/~Non) ?" quitmenu "ON" German: askquitmsg " Ende (~Ja/~Nein) ? " quitmenu "JN" Helpfile : ---------- Here you can place the name of the help-file which will be displayed, when the user presses "H". The default is "tagger.hlp". Example of a Filepath-Section: Filepaths logfile c:\tagger\tagger.log arealist c:\box\max\filearea.ctl lastuser c:\box\max\lastus%%.bbs maxprm c:\box\max\max.prm filebase c:\tagger\filebase downloadlist c:\tagger\dlfile%%.lst languagefile english.lng helpfile tagger.hlp End Filepaths The Colors-Section : -------------------- In this section you can adjust the Tagger to your favourite colors. Simply place the Avatar colorcode (just the same as an ibm-attribute) after the identifier. Have a look at your Maximus Docs for a color-table. The lower 4 bits (0-3) specify the foreground-color, and the higher 3 bits (4-6) specify the background color. Bit 7 the blink-bit is not supported. Values are specified in decimal. The Miscellaneous-Section : --------------------------- I put in the miscellaneous section any things that didn't really fit in the other sections. DateFormat : ------------ The dateformat is used when entering the newfiles date or displaying the filedates. DD stands for the day (01..31), MM for the month (01..12) and YY for the year (00..99). These letters should be divided by a seperator. Four digits for a year or months in words are not possible. Right : YY-MM-DD DD.MM.YY MM/DD/YY Wrong!: DD.MM.YYYY DD---MM---YY DMMDYY DMY etc.etc. Timeout : --------- Timeout sets the time in seconds after that the timeout-warning window will appear if the user hasn't pressed any keys during this time. This window will then perform a 60 seconds countdown and if the user hasn't still pressed any key the Tagger exits. Default are 120 seconds. MaxTagged : ----------- This limits the maximum number of files which can be tagged in one session with the tagger. Usually Maximus can tag a maximum of 30 files before starting the download. If this is not enough for your purposes, you must change the file downmult.cmd to repeat the [menu_cmd download] after each 30 files. Default are 30 files. Example : Miscellaneous Dateformat MM/DD/YY Timeout 240 MaxTagged 30 End Miscellaneous The Speedadapt-Section : ------------------------ In this section the Tagger tries to adapt to the bpsrate of the user. So it should be even bearable for 2400er users. First put in the bpsrate for which (and less) the following flags in that line are used. Please put the lines in rising bpsrate order. Possible flags : NoColor No color at all NoScroll : ---------- If the scrollbar leaves the screen a complete page-up/down is done instead of a single-line scroll. ShortBar : ---------- The scrollbar is displayed only by colored ">" and "<" not as a solid line. NoSelectColor : --------------- Tagged files aren't highlighted any more. So they can only be recognized by the "[]". NoColor : --------- No color at all (what a pity!). Example: Speedadapt 1200 NoScroll Nocolor 2400 NoScroll ShortBar NoSelectColor 4800 NoScroll ShortBar 12000 NoScroll End Speedadapt The Protocols-Section : ----------------------- In the protocols-section you can define a downloadmenu for different protocols. If you do not define any protocol simply download.cmd ist called (parameters see below). The menu appears, when you press 'D' for download in the Tagger. Per line you define one protocol. Quit/NoQuit : First word in the line. If you use Quit the Tagger will exit after executing the stated CMD-file. This is useful if the CMD-file creates a bbs-file which is executed after the return to Maximus. NoQuit can be used for extern protocols. After that place the letter which shall be pressed in the menu to choose this protocol. Then the description. Please replace all " " in the descrip- tion by "_". Then put in the name of the CMD-file which has to be executed and finally you can give a parameter which will then be passed as first parameter to the CMD-file. This is useful to distinguish protocols when using one CMD-file for different protocols. You can use a maximum of 15 lines. Example: Protocols Quit X XModem DOWNMULT.CMD X Quit 1 XModem-1K DOWNMULT.CMD 1 End Protocols 7.3 Performing the Download : ----------------------------- As stated above a CMD-file ist called to perform the download or whatever you want to do with the tagged files (creating gif-catalogues etc.). The Tagger does not update the users download statistics. So if you use an external protocol you (in the CMD-file) or the protocol have to do that. The following example shows in which order parameters are passed to the CMD-file : (in TAGGER.CFG) Protocols Quit Z Z-Modem ZMODEM.CMD Z End Protocols The user chooses "Z" in the download-menu. Then ZMODEM-CMD will be executed with the following parameters. ZMODEM.CMD Z 5 01 c:\tagger\dlfile01.lst │ │ │ │ │ │ │ Name of the downloadlist which holds the selected files │ │ nodeno (passed with NODE=nn to the Tagger) │ com-handle (passed with P=nn to the Tagger) last parameter in the definition line (can be left out) Hint : If you want to now what parameters exactly the Tagger passes in your installation, have a look at the logfile. The whole parameterline is logged there after the download has been selected. If you do not put a path for the downloadlist in the filepath-section the Tagger will pass the selected files in quotes ("") directly on the command- line. ============================================================================== 8.Using the Tagger : -------------------- Using the Tagger is explained in the file TAGGER.HLP. For cursor control it is recommended to turn on NUM-LOCK because there are no ANSI-Codes for PgUp and PgDn. Anyway in localmode these keys also work. Local keys are always accepted, also if an external user accesses the Tagger. The sysop-chat can be activated with "C" or ALT-C (if more then 20 lines are displayed). You or the user can quit the chat with 2xESC. I recommend to use the Tagger with the parameter ECHO since if not you won't see anything while chatting. ============================================================================== 9.Additional hints for use : ---------------------------- - If you want to run the Tagger with different configurations, (e.g. different languagefiles, logfiles etc.) use the CFG= commandline parameter to switch. - As the tagger automatically adjusts to the users screensize (according to lastusxx.bbs) it can be useful if you issue a MODE co80,50 or MODE co132,50 in T.CMD, if your monitor supports that. So you can also see what users with more than 25 lines or 80 collumns do (after tagger.exe you can specify a MODE co80,25 again). - If the users do not get all areas listed in the Tagger they usually have access to and you have specified a key in the Fileaccess statement of your filearea.ctl. Make sure the user has those keys really set when he enters the Tagger. - If after you installed the Tagger you can't see anything when a user starts the tagger (that's the missing ECHO parameter) and the users get no help- screen when pressing "H", you might not have changed all paths correctly and tagger.cfg has not been found. So check the paths as shown in 6. - When the tagger displays with wrapped lines (see WRAP parameter) he will wrap the filedescription by words depending on the screenwidth. On an usual screenwidth of 80 columns the description has a maximum length of 42 chars per wrapped line (if WRAP is on). If you include descriptions which have another line-length than 42 columns they will be usually displayed different to their original layout. Some data and remarks : ----------------------- Again the name of the author: Michael Mrosowski Mühlenweg 1 2000 Wedel Germany Fidonet: 2:240/5022.1 I state again that nobody needs to pay anything for the use of this program. But if you like the program and you want keep up my motivation this program you can support the further developing of this program by donating some money (or chocolate, or beer, or coffee ...:) ). Anyway if you decide not to do this that won't affect my attitude to answer your questions (if i can) either. So for any who wants to send some money, here's my account : Michael Mrosowski Account#: 6256 66-205 BLZ : 200 100 20 Bank : Postgiroamt Hamburg concern : OffLine-Donation Amount : at will If this is to complicated the easiest way is to simply send your currency in an envelope to my address. Anyone who supported me in that way will officially appointed to be a sponsor of this program and will be listed in the following versions "Hall of Fame" at the end of this documentation. The newest version of the program will always be accessible in the following mailbox and is requestable with the magic OFFTAG Offline BBS Wedel (Sysop Jens Meske) Fido : 2:240/5022 and 2:240/5023 Telephone : +49/4103/17984 (>=2400) and +49/4103/17985 (>=9600) (both v32bis/Zyx16.8, and be aware that the menus are in german) Each form of questions, suggestions and criticism is appreciated. Until now i had always time to answer any netmail. Especially i am interested in any kind of language- and help-files for the tagger (as they are not very long you could send them also via netmail). Have fun with it ! Michael Mrosowski ******************************************************************************* 10. Hall of Fame : ------------------ This program has been supported in a heroic, unselfish and brave manner by the following honourable sponsors : Leonhard Scheiber Sascha Close Thorsten Grimme (hope i didn't forget anyone) *******************************************************************************