Beijing Paradise BBS Backup

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

/ Beijing Paradise BBS Backup / PARADISE.ISO / software / BBSDOORW / PB_215.ZIP / PB215.DOC < prev next >

Wrap

Text File | 1996-05-05 | 402.6 KB | 10,792 lines

▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▄ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▄ ▒▒█▀▀▀▒▒█ ▒▒█▀▀▀▒▒█ ▒▒█ ▒▒█ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▄ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▄ ▒▒█ ▒▒█ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▄ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▄ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▄ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▄ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒█ ▒▒█▀▒▒█ ▒▒█▀▒▒█ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒█▀ ▒▒█▀▒▒█ ▒▒█▀▒▒█ ▒▒█▀▒▒█ ▒▒█▀▒▒█ ▒▒█▀▀▀▀▀▀ ▒▒▒▒▒▒█ ▒▒█ ▒▒█ ▒▒█▀▀▀▒▒█ ▒▒█ ▒▒█ ▒▒▒▒▒▒█ ▒▒▒▒▒▒█ ▒▒█ ▒▒█ ▒▒█ ▒▒█▒▒█▀ ▒▒█ ▒▒█ ▒▒█ ▒▒█ ▒▒█ ▒▒█ ▒▒█▀▒▒█ ▒▒█▒▒█▀ ▒▒█ ▒▒█ ▒▒▒▒█ ▒▒█ ▒▒█ ▒▒▒▒▒▒█ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒█ ▒▒▒▒▒▒█ ▒▒█ ▒▒█ ▒▒█ ▒▒█ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒█ ▀▀▀▀ ▀▀ ▀▀ ▀▀▀▀▀▀ ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ ▀▀▀▀▀▀ ▀▀ ▀▀ ▀▀ ▀▀ ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ "The Choice of Professionals" Version 2.15 ++ May 5, 1996 ++ Copyright (c) 1990-1996 Philippe Leybaert All rights reserved. ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── The following names/products mentioned in this documentation are copyrighted material, trademarks or registered trademarks: Bimodem Erik Labs BNU David Nugent/Unique Computing Pty Ltd. Borland C++, Turbo C++ Borland International, Inc. DESQview Quarterdeck Office Systems DoorWay Marshall Dudley FastEcho Software Technik Burchhardt FidoNet Tom Jennings GEcho Gerard van der Land GChat/GEdit Chris Patterson IBM PC/XT/AT International Business Machines, Inc. LANtastic Artisoft Inc. MBUTIL Gerard van der Land Microsoft C Microsoft, Inc. Multi-Edit American Cybernetics, Inc. Novell Lite Novell Inc. Opus Wynn Wagner III QEMM Quarterdeck Office Systems QuickBBS The QuickBBS Group, Inc. QuickEd Tirosh Bros. RIPscrip TeleGrafix Communications, Inc. RemoteAccess (RA) Wantree Development and Andrew Milner Squish Scott J. Dudley TheBank Alain Schellinck TLIB Burton Systems Software FrontDoor Joaquim H. Homrighausen Turbo Assembler/Debugger Borland International, Inc. X00 Ray Gwinn ZmailH Claude N. Warren "JAM(mbp) - Copyright 1993 Joaquim Homrighausen, Andrew Milner, Mats Birch, Mats Wallin. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED." ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── - 1 - ╔═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗ ╟─── IMPORTANT INFORMATION - READ THIS FIRST ─────────────────────╢ ╚═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝ - ProBoard (to include all executables and documentation files) is copyrighted material of Philippe Leybaert. - You can use ProBoard for a period of 60 days, free of charge. If you use the software after the evaluation period of 60 days, you MUST register. (For registration information, see the appropriate section of this manual). - We reserve the right to quit giving support or releasing updates of the software. We also reserve the right to charge a nominal upgrade fee for future versions. - The software and other materials included in the distribution archive are provided "AS IS" without warranty of any kind. We do not guarantee the correct functioning and/or reliability of the software. The authors, or any agent of the authors will not be liable for any direct or indirect damages, resulting from the use of the software. - You may not reverse-engineer ProBoard in any way and you may not add, change or delete any files in the distribution archive. - You are free to distribute the original, unmodified ProBoard archive provided no fee is charged for its distribution. This excludes charges for online time on electronic bulletin boards or other communication services. - 2 - ╔═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗ ╟─── Contents ────────────────────────────────────────────────────╢ ╚═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝ INTRODUCTION .................................... 6 - Description .............................. 6 - Features ................................. 7 - Technical Info ........................... 10 - Credits .................................. 11 SUPPORT ......................................... 12 - Local support sites ...................... 12 - Support on internet ...................... 15 - The Global ProBoard Network .............. 16 REGISTRATION .................................... 19 INSTALLATION .................................... 27 - RemoteAccess to ProBoard conversion ...... 27 - RemoteAccess compatible files ............ 28 STARTING PROBOARD ............................... 30 CONFIGURATION ................................... 32 - Options (F1) ............................. 32 - Protocol Configuration (F2) .............. 47 - The Local Protocol PEX ............... 51 - Message Areas (F3) ....................... 53 - Message Area Groups (F4) ................. 59 - File Areas (F5) .......................... 60 - File Area Groups (F6) .................... 64 - Time/Download Limits (F7) ................ 65 - User Editor (F8) ......................... 67 - Menu Editor (F9) ......................... 76 - Matrix Addresses (F10) ................... 80 - Modem Parameters (Shift-F1) .............. 81 - SysOp Macros (Shift-F2) .................. 84 - Events (Shift-F3) ........................ 85 - Personal Files (Shift-F4) ................ 86 - Language Editor (Shift-F5) ............... 88 - Validate Template Editor (Shift-F6) ...... 93 - About ProCFG (Shift-F9) .................. 96 SECURITY ........................................ 97 - Levels & Flags ........................... 97 - Trashcan ................................. 97 - 3 - MENUS ........................................... 98 - Setting up menus ......................... 98 - Menu Security ............................ 99 - Creating menus ........................... 100 - Hints .................................... 103 - Menu Function Summary .................... 104 - Menu Function Overview ................... 106 RIPscrip GRAPHICS ............................... 151 FILE TAGGING .................................... 153 QWK ............................................. 154 USERS ........................................... 155 - Loglevels ................................ 155 ECHOMAIL & NETMAIL .............................. 156 - Echomail ................................. 156 - Netmail .................................. 156 PBUTIL (The ProBoard Utility Program) ........... 158 - Daily Maintenance ........................ 159 - Fix BINLOG.PB ............................ 159 - File Counters ............................ 159 - File Indexer ............................. 160 - Hatch Personal File ...................... 160 - Message Indexer .......................... 162 - Message Linker ........................... 162 - Message Packer ........................... 162 - Music Player ............................. 163 - Nodelist Compiler ........................ 164 - UserFile Fixer ........................... 165 - UserFile Indexer ......................... 165 - UserFile Killer .......................... 166 - UserFile Packer .......................... 167 - UserFile Sorter .......................... 167 - 4 - REFERENCE ....................................... 168 - Multi-user operation ..................... 168 - SysOp keys ............................... 169 - Command line options & errorlevels ....... 171 - AVATAR/0 and AVATAR/0+ ................... 173 - Hard-coded .A?? files .................... 174 - .A?? file control codes .................. 177 - Music Files .............................. 180 - Text Macros .............................. 181 - Example batch files ...................... 185 - Flag Cross-Reference Chart ............... 187 - FREE Files ............................... 188 - Semaphore files (shutting down ProBoard) . 189 TIPS & TRICKS ................................... 190 - Navigating through menus ................. 190 - The [S] & [P] keys ....................... 190 - Online help in every menu ................ 191 - Uploading to the current file area ....... 191 SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT KIT ........................ 192 - 5 - ╔═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗ ╟─── INTRODUCTION ────────────────────────────────────────────────╢ ╚═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝ ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Description │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ ProBoard is a computer program that allows you to run a BBS. A BBS is a computerized Bulletin Board System, where files, messages and other useful items may be exchanged between users. The operator of a BBS is called the System Operator, or SysOp. The SysOp is responsible for setting up and maintaining the BBS, therefore, this manual is primarily geared towards the SysOp, or people who are interested in becoming SysOps. ProBoard has everything you need to efficiently run a BBS, and more! It's state of the art technology allows you to run a BBS without consuming large amounts of your hard disk space. ProBoard provides the ability to run a multi-node BBS, allowing more than one user to be online at a time. It's small size and lightning fast speed make it ideal for running under a multi-tasker like DESQview, or on a network. ProBoard also fully supports the ability to interface with mail networks such as FidoNet, UseNet, EchoNet, and mail processors such as SQUISH, FastEcho, GEcho, Fmail, and others. The greatest asset of ProBoard, is it's ability to be enhanced by you the user, through the use of programs written in C/C++ using the provided ProBoard SDK (Software Development Kit). You can do virtually anything with your BBS using the SDK and a C/C++ compiler. Programs written with the ProBoard SDK are called PEX (ProBoard Executable) files. This built in "PEXability" assures you that there's nothing ProBoard can't do! You do not have to be a C/C++ programmer to enjoy the benefits of ProBoard's SDK or these PEX files. There are many 3rd party PEX files available for ProBoard right now with more being released every day. Through it's SDK, ProBoard offers the user with a desire to learn C/C++, the ability to do so with a more gentle learning curve. - 6 - ProBoard has the ability to run most, if not all doors programs and other utilities written for other BBS systems such as PCBoard, QuickBBS (QBBS), SuperBBS, RemoteAccess (RA), etc. When running an external program, ProBoard can swap itself to disk/EMS, and stay resident in approximately 2KB of memory!! ProBoard is highly configurable because it allows you to use either the SQUISH, Fido Compatible *.MSG, JAM or the HUDSON message base formats for the contents of your message base. In addition to supporting all four of these formats for the message base, ProBoard allows you to configure your BBS to use all four at the same time. Name one other BBS that allows you this flexibility! Not flexible enough yet? Consider then that ProBoard allows you to configure up to 10,000 message areas, and additionally 10,000 file areas. ProBoard also supports the use of CD-ROM drives. Flexibility!!! Most, if not all, known utilities for RemoteAccess (RA) v1.11 as well as RemoteAccess v2.x, will work with this version of ProBoard. ProBoard is remarkably easy to setup with the supplied PROCFG.EXE file. Most users are up and running within a few short painless (even enjoyable) hours. We hope you will have as much fun running ProBoard as we did developing it. Thank you for choosing ProBoard, "The Choice of Professionals". ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Features │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ This following is a list of the most important features found in ProBoard. - ProBoard is THE fastest QuickBBS-style BBS program around!! It's completely written in highly optimized C++ and assembly language. - Full multi-line/multi-user support. Up to 255 nodes can share the same user database, message base and file database. Each node can have its own modem configuration, welcome screens, menu structure, etc. - 7 - - Built-in fullscreen message editor. - Support for 4 message base types: Squish, Hudson JAM and *.MSG, all at the same time. - Support for up to 10,000 message areas and 10,000 file areas. - Compatible with most, if not all, doors written for other BBS software such as RemoteAccess, QuickBBS, PCBoard, etc. - A software development kit is included with ProBoard! You can write your own extensions to ProBoard using C or C++. Programs written with the SDK run "inside" ProBoard, for maximum flexibility and speed. The programmer doesn't have to worry about modem communications, user files, etc. THIS IS TOTALLY UNIQUE!! No other BBS software offers anything that even comes close. - Integrated, lightning-fast duplicate file checking on uploads. - Hooks for external upload checking programs. - Extremely fast indexed file system, while still using the standard FILES.BBS-based file system. - Full CD-ROM support. The CD-ROM drive is not accessed until a file is actually downloaded. It is only accessed to copy files to a local drive of your choice freeing up the CD-ROM for other requests. - Full alias (handle) support. - Flexible protocol configuration. You can install any protocol directly in ProBoard (even bi-directional protocols are supported). Protocols that can be installed in ProBoard include X/Y/Zmodem, MPT, Bimodem, HS/Link, etc. - Local up/downloads - Supports all types of modems. All known connect rates are directly supported, and you can specify up to 6 user-defined connect rates. - Very flexible security system with over 65,000 security levels and 32 security flags as well as "reverse" flags. - TTY, ANSI, Avatar (0 and 0+) terminal emulation. - Swaps itself to disk or EMS when shelling to an external program (door), leaving only 2 (two) Kb resident! - 8 - - REAL-TIME multi-line chat built in. No stupid line-per-line chat. - Direct support for all high speed modems (up to 115,200 bps). - Extremely user-friendly configuration/maintenance utilities. - Full RIP support, and unlike other BBS packages that leave the SysOp looking at cryptic RIP codes, we even display the menus your non-RIP callers see, on your end so you can see what's happening on your BBS. - Built in file tagging system. - Users (and the SysOp) can send "personal files" to other users. ProBoard automatically deletes the files after they have been downloaded. - Automatic validation of users using a sophisticated "template" system. - Powerful User Editor including filter function, allows you to easily find and work with only the users you specify. - Ability to specify an external message editor either as door or as a PEX file. - Ability to specify an external chat program, either as a door or as a PEX file. - Fully "data driven" system usage graphs, even in RIP mode. - Ability to limit menu selections by age, baud rate, gender of user, time online, or time of day. - Full Language support. Every prompt in the system can be changed (including color) and saved in a language file, as well as multi-language support for menus and textfiles. You can even replace any prompt with ANSI files or PEX files. - Internal QWK support, provided as a PEX file for seamless integration into your BBS. - User name can optionally be added to FILES.BBS when user uploads files. - Powerful "Free Files" functions, great if you're running a support BBS, or a BBS to promote your company. - Fully buffered I/O for optimum system performance. - 9 - - Fully definable paging hours for every day of the week. - Support for OS/2 2.x time-slicing. - "SysOp Next" function, with definable "alert" music, as well as semaphore file support. - Ability to call menu editor while user is online (or in local mode) and edit the current menu. Great for testing, or in case you see something that just HAS to be fixed while a user is online. - Built in file counters, shows which of your files are the most popular. - Built in "flag description" editor, helps you remember just what all of those flags you have are for. - Lots and lots more... ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Technical Info │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ ProBoard is entirely written in C++ and Assembler. No third-party libraries are used (except for the Squish MSGAPI), so we have TOTAL control over the code! For the development of ProBoard, we used the following tools: Compiler......... Borland C++ v3.1 Linker........... TLink, part of Borland C++ v3.1 Assembler........ Turbo Assembler v3.1 Debugger......... Turbo Debugger v3.1 Editor........... Multi-Edit Professional 6.1 Version Control.. TLIB v4.12f - 10 - ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Credits │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ ProBoard and all the included utilities are written by: ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Philippe Leybaert Portions of ProCFG are also written by: ─────────────────────────────────────── Alain Schellinck The ProBoard documentation is written by: ───────────────────────────────────────── Jim Biggs & Philippe Leybaert Note from Jim: ────────────── This version of the documentation is dedicated to my late Father, Richard Merle Biggs. Dad, you will never ever be forgotten. Beta-testing: ──────────── Not enough appreciation can be expressed to the following ProBoard SysOps who have helped to make ProBoard v2.15 what it is today. They risked their entire BBS systems to help test this version. Many of their suggestions are contained in this release of ProBoard and without them, this version would not be in your hands today. Thanks to the entire ProBoard v2.15 Beta Team!!! - 11 - ╔═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗ ╟─── SUPPORT ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────╢ ╚═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝ ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Local support sites │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ For problems, bug-reports, etc. please write to: ──────────────────────────────────────────────── ProBoard International ProBoard USA #1 ────────────────────── ─────────────── Philippe Leybaert Ken Givens Groenplein 15 2735 Stemmons Freeway B-9060 Zelzate Dallas, TX 75207 BELGIUM USA ProBoard USA #2 ProBoard Germany ─────────────── ──────────────── Chuck King Constantin Spiess 4810 Reginald Drive Orchideenweg 15 Wichita Falls, TX 76308-5105 D-70736 Fellbach USA Germany ProBoard UK ProBoard Australia ─────────── ────────────────── Sarah Pearson Brett Wilkinson 7 Stopford Road P.O. Box 1786 Plaistow E13 0LY Macquarie Centre United Kingdom North Ryde, NSW 2113 Australia Or you can fax to the following numbers: ──────────────────────────────────────── USA/Canada : (214) 905-3629 Germany : +49-(0)711-95182-76 Rest of the world: +32-9-343-0592 You can also reach the author and support team by sending E-mail: ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── - Philippe Leybaert : - FidoNet : 2:291/1905 - CompuServe : 70314,2021) - InterNet : philippe@proboard.be - 12 - - Ken Givens : - FidoNet : 1:124/2213 - Internet : kgivens@whytel.com - Chuck King : - FidoNet : 1:3805/3 - Internet : chuckking@cyberstation.net - Constantin Spiess : - FidoNet : 2:246/1013 - PB-NET : 246:6106/0 - Internet : cns@mars.gp.schwaben.de - Sarah Pearson : - FidoNet : 2:254/278 - Internet : sysops@fe-line.demon.co.uk - Brett Wilkinson : - FidoNet : 3:711/950 - Internet : brett@unsw.edu.au - Eddie van Loon : - FidoNet : 2:284/407 - DqP Net : 173:100/1 If you have any questions or comments, or you need utilities for ProBoard, call one of these support bulletin boards: - ProBoard Support/Registration USA SysOp : Ken Givens Hours : 24/24 BBS : (214) 641-1136 (V34) FAX : (214) 905-3629 Fido : 1:124/2213 Internet: kgivens@whytel.com - The Home of ProBoard - Worldwide ProBoard Support/Registration SysOp : Philippe Leybaert BBS # : +32-9-343-8886 (V34 & ISDN X.75) FidoNet : 2:291/1905 Internet: philippe@proboard.be (as of June 1st 1996) (note: to receive a reply to FidoNet netmail, poll back 48 ──── hours after you sent the message. I will only reply to crashmail, NOT to routed netmail) - Base 999 - ProBoard Support Luxembourg SysOp : Alain Fontaine BBS # : +352-95273 (V34) FidoNet : 2:270/24 - 13 - - The Dealer's BBS, ProBoard Support/Registration Germany SysOp : Constantin Spiess BBS # : +49-(0)711-95182-77 (ZyXEL) : +49-(0)711-95182-78 (V34/ISDN) FidoNet : 2:246/1013 - Fe-line BBS, ProBoard Support/Registration UK SysOp : Sarah Pearson BBS # : +44-181-471-6928 (V34) FidoNet : 2:254/278 DqP-Net : 173:902/107 Internet: sysops@fe-line.demon.co.uk - Demolition BBS, ProBoard Support/Registration The Netherlands SysOp : Eddie van Loon BBS # : +31-40-2573503 (VFC) +31-40-2550265 (VFC) FidoNet : 2:284/407 - Eternal Entropy BBS, ProBoard Support/Registration Australia SysOp : Brett Wilkinson BBS # : +61-2-878-4666 FidoNet : 3:711/950 Internet: brett@unsw.edu.au There is also an International FidoNet ProBoard Support echo conference available. Be sure to ask your Net Coordinator about it. The name of the support echo conference is "PROBOARD". We do try very hard, but due to the volume of support requests that we receive from registered users, we can only offer limited support to non-registered users. For the latest version of ProBoard and utilities, you can call one of the support boards (above). ProBoard is also available on CompuServe (IBMBBS forum). - 14 - ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Support on the internet │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ There are many WWW and FTP sites available on the internet. Many of them are maintained by independent ProBoard-gurus. The "official" ProBoard WWW home page is: http://www.proboard.be (note: this site will be active as of June 1st, 1996) The following is a list of some (not all) known ProBoard WWW sites: ftp://ftp.shsu.edu/pub/proboard Lots of ProBoard Files although none of the more recent files are there. Maintained by Alvin Brinson http://www.webstar.net/sci WWW site home of Silicon Creations Inc. Lots of ProBoard files from Silicon Creations Inc. Updated regularly. Maintained by Branislav Slantchev. http://www.whytel.com/users/kgivens/ Lots of information about Registering ProBoard in the USA. Maintained by Ken Givens. http://www.westvirginia.com/mjenkins List of BBSes that Support ProBoard. Ideal site for when you are looking for some support in your area. Maintained by Matt Jenkins (Doorway BBS). http://www.iaehv.nl/users/edvloon WWW site home of DqP. Lots of PEXs as well as information on how to register ProBoard in the Netherlands. Maintained by Eddie Van Loon. http://www.aye.net/~jamaddox/ John Maddox's ProBoard Home Page. - 15 - ftp://ftp.win.net/winnet/jamaddox/ John Maddox's ProBoard FTP Area. http://www.dma.be/p/bewoner/jmj/ JMJ Enterprises - Populare PEXes. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ The Global ProBoard Network │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ The Global ProBoard Network (TGPBN) is an amateur network built around the FidoNet-style mailing systems. If you are a member of FidoNet (or compatible network), you can easily set up your system to be a part of TGPBN. TGPBN exists to provide ProBoard sysops around the world access to the many PEXs and utilities that are available. Many sysops have been missing out due to the limitations of the existing ProBoard Networks and whether they can receive it in their Country. TGPBN utilises the Internet as a means of distribution for Zone Coordinators and it may be possible at a later date for everyone who has access to the Internet to download files and echomail packets from an FTP site using a fakenet address. TGPBN will try to hatch all the files that are written for ProBoard. If you have written a utility for ProBoard then just pass it on to your nearest Host or Regional coordinator for hatching. TGPBN is the only ProBoard network that has the full backing of the author, Philippe Leybaert, and also is the basis for the ProBoard FDN. TGPBN has already linked many countries together and some previously had no contact with other PB Sysops *at all*. TGPBN is not the work of one person, but is a combined effort between Faye and Sarah Pearson, Branislav Slantchev and by many helpful people worldwide. You can obtain the latest information about TGPBN from : - 16 - Fe-line : 44-181-548-9620 Sysop : Sarah Pearson Freq : GPB-INFO.RAR Networks : 2:254/278@fidonet, 311:21/0@psn, 173:902/300@dqp Internet : http://www.win-uk.net/~fe-line ftp://ftp.win-uk.net/pub/users/fe-line Silicon Creations : 1-915-949-4798 Sysop : Branislav Slantchev Freq : GPB-INFO.RAR Networks : 1:383/47@fidonet Internet : sci@webstar.net http://www.webstar.net/sci - 17 - ╔═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗ ╟─── ProBoard v2.15 Beta Sites ───────────────────────────────────╢ ╚═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝ ────────────────────── ──────────────────────────── ──────────── SysOp Name System Name Fido Address ────────────────────── ──────────────────────────── ──────────── Ken Givens The Chess Board 1:124/2213 Steve Quarrella Valencia 1:124/9005 Mark Hopkins Atlanta Information System 1:133/1 Kitt Brown <<(((KABOODLE)))>> 1:133/3003 Eddie Watson The Boll Weevils Hideaway 1:133/5 Brian Hertziger Mr. Homies' Neighborhood 1:154/645 Lucien Carrier Luca SBE! 1:167/820 John/Doris Bierrie Doc's Place BBS 1:232/39 John A. Maddox Mount Olympus 1:2320/340 Paula Pautler Candi Land BBS 1:2380/120 Perry Davis Kings Knights BBS 1:243/38 Brian McDermott Nightmare Cafe 1:247/103 Roland Clairvoyant Magog Online 1:257/90 Shawn Mazzuto The Prime Directive 1:259/136 Ron/Monica-Leeh Grayum The Abyss BBS 1:271/666 Brient Leslie The Dugout BBS 1:280/33 Jim Biggs The O-Zone BBS 1:282/30 Chris Ament Random Access BBS 1:282/3030 John Parlin City Terminal 1:282/4021 Robert Kemp The Wild West BBS 1:282/4058 Craig Peterson FlightLine BBS 1:282/47 Tom Krueger The Senate Chamber 1:282/56 Paul Tabara Rivendell BBS 1:282/90 Jeff Parr Lightning Heart BBS 1:291/8 Eric Chew The Kat's Den BBS 1:324/274 David Silver The Silverado 1:3618/11 Bill Wenzel Compu-Link 1:363/1571 James Padgett Logical Decisions BBS 1:363/308 Andy Smith The Business Connection 1:3645/10 Bob Pruett Penguin Lust BBS 1:3660/812 Mike Whatley Th' Swamp Ward BBS 1:3660/814 Greg Shaffer Route 66 BBS 1:370/510 John Struemph Kludger's Konnection BBS 1:383/22 Bill Brooks Come Consult with Us BBS 1:395/3 Hank Bragg The House of Golem 1:395/421 Steven Williams the River Styx 1:395/61 - 18 - Bert Rose Stonebridge BBS 2:241/1017 Peter Hampf Granny's Inn, O/T-HQ 2:241/1090 Bernd Rothbrust Bernds Box 2:241/555 Henning Roll Camelot 2:2448/116 Reiner Worm Emil 2:2448/2431 Ralf Friedrich Unknown BBS 2:2448/311 Dieter Schauf DOENE 2:2452/165 Christian Raatz AIRPORT 2:246/1001 Constantin Spiess The Dealer's BBS 2:246/1013 Heiko Raff BASIS 2:246/1015 Thomas Holzwarth microTalk IV 2:246/1517 Michael Folz creative.box 2:246/8704 Andreas Klein Alpha's Node 2:2480/47 Felix Mueller FRISCO BBS Munich 2:2480/903 Oliver Weindl Programmer's Inn 2:2494/17 Eddie Van Loon Demolition BBS 2:284/407 Steven Debruyn Magic BBS 2:291/1200 Dimitri v/d Ville Zyllex BBS 2:291/1301 Tim De Meyer MultiNet Home Base 2:291/1400 - 19 - ╔═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗ ╟─── REGISTRATION ────────────────────────────────────────────────╢ ╚═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝ ProBoard is SHAREWARE. This means that you are granted a 60-day evaluation period, after which you must register. After receiving your registration, you will receive a registration key file through netmail or you will be able to download it from the support BBS where you sent the registration to (please indicate your preference on the registration form). If none of this is possible, we will send you a disk with the key file. This will cost a little more (see below) and it will also take longer to receive your key (1-3 weeks). You can indicate what size diskette you need on the registration form. Registration fees for commercial and non-commercial use are as follows: ┌──────────┬──────────┬──────────┬──────────┐ │ Personal │ Personal │ Personal │Commercial│ │ │ w/manual │ (disk) │ w/manual │ ┌────────────────────┼──────────┼──────────┼──────────┼──────────┤ │ USA & Canada │ 60 US$ │ 80 US$ │ 70 US$ │ 299 US$ │ ├────────────────────┼──────────┼──────────┼──────────┼──────────┤ │ Belgium │ 2000 BF │ 2500 BF │ 2200 BF │10000 BEF │ ├────────────────────┼──────────┼──────────┼──────────┼──────────┤ │ The Netherlands │ 110 FL │ 140 FL │ 120 FL │ 599 FL │ ├────────────────────┼──────────┼──────────┼──────────┼──────────┤ │ Germany │ 110 DM │ 140 DM │ 120 DM │ 649 DM │ ├────────────────────┼──────────┼──────────┼──────────┼──────────┤ │ United Kingdom │ 40 £ │ 50 £ │ 45 £ │ 200 £ │ ├────────────────────┼──────────┼──────────┼──────────┼──────────┤ │ South Africa │ 200 R │ 280 R │ 220 R │ 1000 R │ ├────────────────────┼──────────┼──────────┼──────────┼──────────┤ │ R.O.C. (Taiwan) │ 2100 NT │ 2700 NT │ 2300 NT │11400 NT │ ├────────────────────┼──────────┼──────────┼──────────┼──────────┤ │ Australia │ 75 AU$ │ 100 AU$ │ 85 AU$ │ 349 AU$ │ └────────────────────┴──────────┴──────────┴──────────┴──────────┘ One note about the difference between the commercial and non-commercial (personal) registration: non-commercial (personal) registrations are ONLY for individuals who run a BBS as a HOBBY. Registrations for all other BBSs require a commercial registration. Commercial registration prices are EXCLUDING local taxes (VAT/TVA/BTW/...) - 20 - To register, print the registration form on the next page, fill it out, and send it together with your payment to one of the registration sites listed below. You can register directly in the following countries (for other countries, see "other countries"): - U.S.A. - Canada - Germany - Australia - The Netherlands - Belgium If you want to register by transferring money to any of the ProBoard accounts in Europe, be certain you don't forget to mail a registration form to the address listed along with the account number, or you can upload/FAX it to the registration site for your area. We can not and will not be responsible for any money received without a registration form. Starting with version 2.15, there will be several regional registrations sites in the U.S. They are all listed below. ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── For the U.S.A. and Canada (Registration Site #1) The Chess Board c/o Ken Givens 2735 Stemmons Freeway Dallas, TX 75207 USA Fax # : (214) 905-3629 BBS # : (214) 641-1136 FidoNet : 1:124/2213 Internet: kgivens@whytel.com We accept Visa, MasterCard, personal checks and money orders. U.S. currency only please. Do not send cash!! Please make checks and money orders payable to: Ken Givens ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── - 21 - ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── For the U.S.A. and Canada (Registration Site #2) Silverado Online c/o Chuck King 4810 Reginald Drive Wichita Falls, TX 76308-5105 USA Fax # : (817) 691-7315 BBS # : (817) 691-9251 (817) 691-8119 FidoNet : 1:3805/3 1:2805/17 Internet: chuckking@cyberstation.net We accept Visa, MasterCard, personal checks and money orders. U.S. currency only please. Do not send cash!! Texas residents MUST add an additional 6% sales tax. Please make checks and money orders payable to: Silverado Online ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── - 22 - ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── For Germany : ProBoard Germany c/o Constantin Spiess Orchideenweg 15 D-70736 Fellbach GERMANY Fax # : +49-(0)711-95182-76 BBS # : +49-(0)711-95182-77 (ZyXEL 19k2) +49-(0)711-95182-78 (V34/ISDN) FidoNet : 2:246/1013 (ZyXEL 19k2) 2:246/1033 (V34/ISDN) PB-Net : 246:6106/1001 Internet: cns@mars.gp.schwaben.de Bank Account Number: KSK Fellbach , KtoNr: 2076692 , BLZ: 602 500 10 Send money order or check in German currency (DM) only please! You can also transfer the money to our account number listed above. We also accept Visa and MasterCard. Note: The price for the commercial version is without VAT (Preis ohne MWSt.) ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── For The U.K.: ProBoard UK c/o Sarah Pearson 7 Stopford Road Plaistow E13 0LY United Kingdom BBS # : +44-181-471-6928 (V34) FidoNet : 2:254/278 Internet: sysops@fe-line.demon.co.uk Bank Account Number: 30-92-90 (Sort Code) 7207547 (Account Num.) Send cash, cheque or postal order in UK currency (£) only please! You can also transfer the money to our account number listed above. ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── - 23 - ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── For Australia: ProBoard Australia c/o Brett Wilkinson P.O. Box 1786 Macquarie Centre North Ryde, NSW 2113 Australia BBS # : +61-47-32-1417 FidoNet : 3:713/320 Internet: brett@unsw.edu.au Send money order or check in Australian Dollars only please! ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── For The Netherlands : DEMOLITION BBS c/o Eddie van Loon Postbus 8697 5605 KR Eindhoven THE NETHERLANDS BBS # : +31-40-2573503 +31-40-2550265 FidoNet : 2:284/407 Bank Account Number (SnS): 86.35.85.175 Giro account : 51.30.3.14 (transfer money to "E. van Loon", with description "PROBOARD") Send money order or check in Dutch (FL) currency only please! You can also transfer the money to our account numbers listed above. ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── - 24 - ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── For Belgium and all other countries: Philippe Leybaert Groenplein 15 B-9060 Zelzate BELGIUM Fax # : +32-9-343-0592 BBS # : +32-9-343-8886 FidoNet : 2:291/1905 Internet : philippe@proboard.be (as of June 1st 1996) CompuServe: 70314,2021 Bank Account Number (BF) : Kredietbank 449-2761441-25 Bank Account Number (US$): Kredietbank 449-2761440-24 Send international money order or check (EuroCheque preferred) in Belgian currency (BF) only please! (refer to the registration fee table above). International money orders are accepted in U.S. Dollars also. You can also transfer the money to our account number listed above. We also accept Visa and MasterCard/EuroCard. ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── - 25 - ------------------------------------------------------------------ ProBoard version 2.15 ---- Registration Form ------------------------------------------------------------------ Your Name : ______________________________________ (required!) Company : __________________________________________________ Sysop Name : ______________________________________ (required!) BBS name : ______________________________________ (required!) Address : __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ Voice Phone# : __________________________________________________ BBS Phone# : __________________________________________________ Your FidoNet addresss (if applicable): __________________________ Type of registration: ( ) Personal ( ) With printed manual ( ) Commercial ( ) On disk Payment method : ( ) Check/Cash ( ) VISA ( ) Bank Transfer ( ) Mastercard/Eurocard Amount : ______________ (in registration site's currency!!) Credit Card #: _______________________________ Expires: ___/___ Name on card : _______________________________ Signature : _______________________________ Your key file will be sent to you via FidoNet netmail or you can download it from the registration site's BBS. We can also send it to you on a diskette, but this will delay your registration considerably (and it will cost you extra). Please select how you would like to receive your key below: ( ) Netmail ( ) 3"1/2 Diskette (extra cost) ( ) Download from our BBS ( ) 5"1/4 Diskette (extra cost) - 26 - ╔═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗ ╟─── INSTALLATION ────────────────────────────────────────────────╢ ╚═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝ See the file INSTALL.TXT for installation instructions. If you currently operate a RemoteAccess bulletin board system, read the next paragraph for specific instructions on how to convert your existing system. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ RemoteAccess 2.02 to ProBoard Conversion │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ If you are operating a RemoteAccess 2.02 BBS system, you can convert your existing userfile, message files, message areas, file areas and menus to the format used by ProBoard. This is done by running your RAFILE EXPORT in your RA system directory, and then running CONVERT.EXE in the ProBoard system directory. But, before you do ANYTHING, we highly recommend that you back up at least your existing RA files, if not your entire system. Here's the procedure to follow: ─────────────────────────────── - Backup your existing files. - Install ProBoard as explained in the installation instructions. - Change to the RA system directory - Run RAFILE EXPORT (Note: for areas where the FILES.BBS cannot be created in the file area's directory, like for CD-ROM areas, you have to run "RAFILE EXPORT" for each area separately. See your RA documentation for details) - Change to the ProBoard system directory (usually C:\PB). - Copy the following files from your RA message base directory to the ProBoard message base directory: USERS.BBS, USERSXI.BBS, LASTREAD.BBS, MSGINFO.BBS, MSGHDR.BBS, MSGTXT.BBS, MSGIDX.BBS, MSGTOIDX.BBS. - Run CONVERT RA <ra-dir> eg. CONVERT RA C:\RA - Run PBUTIL with the UF parameter. eg. PBUTIL UF - Run PBUTIL with the UP parameter. eg. PBUTIL UP - 27 - Things you will have to do manually: - Enter all system parameters in ProCFG (like paths). - Enter the user levels & download limits in ProCFG - Enter any events you have in PROCFG. - Copy any .Q-A files to the ProBoard directory. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ RemoteAccess Compatible Files │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ ProBoard uses different files than RA to store the file area and message area configurations. Therefore, to run any of your RA utilities that use the files CONFIG.RA, FILES.RA or MESSAGES.RA you must first run a conversion program to create compatible versions of these files. Which conversion you need to run depends on which version of RA the utility you want to run was written for. Use the CONVERT utility (Supplied with PB_215.ZIP) to create the following files from your ProBoard system files. FILES.RA MESSAGES.RA CONFIG.RA If the utility you want to run was written for RA v1.1x then you need to run "CONVERT SIMUL1". If the utility you want to run was written for RA v2.xx then you need to run "CONVERT SIMUL2". The CONVERT SIMUL<x> routine will place these files in the directory where you run CONVERT SIMUL<x> from. We strongly suggest running it from your ProBoard system directory (usually C:\PB). You must run this conversion before you attempt to use your favorite RA utilities. Since it is possible for the wrong version of the files CONVERT SIMUL<x> creates to be present from an earlier conversion we suggest running CONVERT SIMUL<x> from a batch file each time you call a utility that needs these files. An example is as follows: CONVERT SIMUL2 run RA 2.xx utility here... later... CONVERT SIMUL1 run RA 1.1x utility here... - 28 - You should run the correct "CONVERT SIMUL<x>" each time before you run one of your RA utilities. Option: ─────── When running CONVERT SIMUL<x>, you can specify the "-U" parameter (CONVERT SIMUL<x> -U). This will allow CONVERT to create up to 10,000 file areas in FILES.RA instead of the first 200 only. - 29 - ╔═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗ ╟─── STARTING PROBOARD ───────────────────────────────────────────╢ ╚═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝ ProBoard looks for its data files in the directory where PROBOARD.EXE is located. You can, however, tell ProBoard to look for the data files in another directory by setting the environment variable PROBOARD (eg. SET PROBOARD=F:\PB). The environment variable DSZLOG used by most protocols is not needed. ProBoard will set this variable prior to starting the protocol. You should start ProBoard with a batch file. ProBoard should ALWAYS be run with a batch file, because it returns to DOS when a user logs off. Below is a basic batch file for stand-alone operation (without a mailer). It is called P.BAT and is included in PB_215.ZIP :again PROBOARD -S if errorlevel 99 goto out if errorlevel 1 goto fatal goto again :fatal echo A fatal error occurred. goto x :out echo Normal exit. :x Note that errorlevels 2-4 generate a fatal error. These error- levels are used for mail networking, and ProBoard should not return one of these errorlevels in a standalone environment. The PROBOARD.EXE command line options are discussed in the "Reference" chapter later in this manual. - 30 - ─────────────── ** IMPORTANT ** ─────────────── In order for PROBOARD.EXE to function properly, it's DOS file attribute MUST be set to "read-only". This is done using the DOS ATTRIB command. Example: ──────── ATTRIB +R PROBOARD.EXE (this marks PROBOARD.EXE as "read only") - 31 - ╔═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗ ╟─── CONFIGURATION ───────────────────────────────────────────────╢ ╚═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝ ProBoard is completely configured by PROCFG.EXE. This program can be executed from any directory as long as PROCFG.EXE is in your path. In most of the menus, just press <Ins> to add an item, press <Del> to remove an item, and press <Enter> to select an item. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Options (F1) │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ This is the first option to choose when running PROCFG.EXE. A second menu will be displayed with the following items: - Paths - New Users - Security - Yelling - System Options - File Transfer - Display Options - Site Info - QWK Options - File List Format A description of these fields follows. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Paths │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Text Files .................. Directory where ProBoard's textfiles are stored (drive included!). RIP Files ................... Directory where ProBoard's RIP files are stored (drive included!). RIP Icons ................... Directory where ProBoard's RIP icons are stored (drive included!). Menus ....................... Directory where ProBoard's menus are stored (drive included!). - 32 - Message Base ................ Directory where the message base will be stored (drive included!). Uploads ..................... Directory where the users' uploads will be stored (drive included!). Private Uploads ............. Directory where personal files are stored. (for file exchanges between users). Nodelist Directory .......... Directory where the nodelist is located. For use by the nodelist compiler. Leave this field blank if you do not have a nodelist. PEX Files ................... Directory where the PEX files will be stored. Editor Command .............. The external editor's filename and path (eg. C:\GEDIT\GEDIT.EXE). You can also specify a PEX file here by using a "@"as the first character. You can also use shell options here. It appears that if you are using GEdit v2.00 or v2.01 that you will need to write an RA 1.1x style EXITINFO.BBS file to make GEdit work with ProBoard 2.15. This is done with the Menu Function 7 "*E" parameter. Refer to Menu Function 7 for more info. Example: *SGEDIT\GEDIT.EXE -N*#*E Example: @MYEDIT (for a PEX file). If you are not using an external editor, leave this field blank and ProBoard will default to it's internal line editor (you can also use ProBoard's internal fullscreen editor by enabling the next option). NOTE: this command will be ignored if ProBoard's internal fullscreen editor is enabled with the next option. - 33 - Use internal fullscreen ..... Set this to "Yes" to enable the editor built-in fullscreen editor instead of the external editor defined in "Editor Command". When the internal fullscreen editor is enabled, the external editor will be ignored. External Chat ............... Path to your external chat program. If one is defined here it will be executed instead of ProBoard's internal chat routine. You can specify either a chat door (.EXE) or a chat PEX (.PEX) file here. If you want to specify an .EXE file, enter the full path to the program. (see example below). If you want to specify a PEX file, you must place a "@" character before the command line. (see example below). You can also use the "Shell" (Menu Function 7) parameters (like *X etc.) or the text macros (@<...>@). To use the built-in chat routine in ProBoard, leave this line blank. Examples: ───────── *E*SGCHAT.EXE D E (.EXE chat door) @TheChat (.PEX chat door) ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ New Users │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ New User Level .............. The level a user will have upon his or her first login. New User Flags .............. The flags a user will have upon his or her first login. - 34 - New User Loglevel ........... The loglevel a user will have upon his or her first login. This controls what information about the users session will be written to the system log (more info about this in the chapter titled USERS). Allow ANSI .................. Allows New Users to select ANSI terminal emulation. Allow AVATAR ................ Allow new users to select either AVATAR/0 or AVATAR/0+ terminal emulation. Ask Voice Phone ............. Determines whether ProBoard should ask for a user's voice phone number at the time of their first login. Ask Data Phone .............. Determines if ProBoard should ask for a users data phone number at the time of their first login. Ask FAX Phone ............... Determines if ProBoard should ask for a users FAX phone number at the time of their first login. Ask Birth Date .............. Determines if ProBoard should ask a new user for their birth date. If this is set to "Allow Blank" then users can decide whether they want to leave the birth date field empty or provide it for their user record. Ask State ................... Determines whether ProBoard should ask the user for the State that they live in. Ask Country ................. Determines if ProBoard should ask users for the Country they live in. Ask Address ................. Determines if ProBoard will ask users for their address. If this is set to "Yes" ProBoard will present the user with 3 lines to enter their address. Ask Sex ..................... If this is set to "Yes" ProBoard will ask the user if they are male or female. - 35 - Ask Date Format ............. If set to "Yes" ProBoard will allow the user to select the date format they prefer. Choices are: MM/DD/YY YY/MM/DD DD/MM/YY ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Security │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Allow Quick Login ........... If this is enabled, the SysOp can login locally by pressing [Enter] at the login prompt without entering a password. If you don't like this, just turn it off. Write Pwd-Failure Messages .. If a user fails to log in because he/she exceeded the maximum number of password retries, ProBoard can write a security message to that person and to the SysOp, telling him/her what happened. This can be turned on or off with this option. Allow Login With Alias ...... Determines if ProBoard will allow users to login with their alias (handle). Users can also select or change their alias using Menu Function 59. If this option is set to "No", ProBoard will not ask new users to select an alias. Log Local Calls ............. If this option is enabled, all local logins will be logged in the file PROBOARD.LOG (ProBoard's system log). Hide SysOp Activity ......... If enabled, ProBoard will hide all SysOp activity from the Last Callers list (Function 51), Show Users Online (Function 50), and from the display of the User List (Function 13). Max. Password Retries ....... Maximum number of incorrect password attempts ProBoard will allow, before logging the user off. - 36 - Min. Password Length ........ The minimum length of a password. Should you change this option at a later time to less than the length of any existing users passwords, ProBoard will not check for Minimum Password Length when an existing user logs on. ProBoard will however enforce this setting again when any existing users decide to change their password. Security Message Area ....... The message area number where ProBoard's Security Manager should write it's security related messages. Level For Crashmail ......... Level needed to send crash mail. Flags For Crashmail ......... Flags needed to send crash mail. Level For Fileattach ........ Level needed to do a file attach for Netmail. Flags For Fileattach ........ Flags needed to do a file attach for Netmail. Use System Password ......... (Yes/No). If set to "Yes", ProBoard will require all incoming callers to know and enter a 'System Password' before asking them for their user name and user password. Great for running a 'Private' BBS in a corporation, etc. If set to "No" users will not be prompted for a 'System Password'. System Password ............ If the above option 'Use System Password' is set to 'Yes', this is the password users are required to enter to gain access to the BBS. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Yelling │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Max. SysOp Pages ............ Number of times a user can page the SysOp during one session. - 37 - PageBell Length ............. Number of seconds the SysOp paging bell will ring. Paging Hours ................ Pressing <ENTER> on this option opens a window which allows you to specify during what hours a user can page you. Hours are selectable for each day of the week, in half hour increments. Message Area # .............. When a user pages you and you don't respond, they will be asked if they want to leave you a message. If they choose to do so, the message area number you define here will be where their message to you is placed. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ System Options │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Check Mail At Login ......... Determines whether ProBoard should check for new mail and files upon login. If set to "Ask", ProBoard will ask the user if they want to check for waiting mail/personal files. Allow One-Word Names ........ Determines whether a user's name can be a single word. Date Format ................. Determines if ProBoard should display all dates in European format (DD/MM/YY) or American format (MM/DD/YY). Use File Sharing ............ Set this option to "Yes", if you want to share the message base with FrontDoor or any other utility that uses the same locking scheme as RemoteAccess/FrontDoor Swap to Disk ................ Determines the default shelling mode. If this option is set to ON, ProBoard will be swapped to disk/EMS, leaving only 2000 bytes resident! - 38 - Fast Mode ................... When this option is enabled, ProBoard will use about 10Kb more memory (depending on the number of file-areas), but the system will run faster. Kill Netmail When Sent ...... Controls whether netmail will be killed after a message has been exported from the message base. Confirm Validate ............ If this is set to "Yes", ProBoard will prompt you to confirm any validation on a user record when applying a validation template. If set to "No", no confirmation will be required once a validation template is selected to be applied to a user record. Activity Log Size ........... ProBoard creates and maintains a file called BINLOG.PB in your ProBoard System Directory. This file contains information for generation of system graphs etc. Set the number of days worth of data the file BINLOG.PB should contain. Entering a 0 (zero) means the BINLOG.PB file will grow forever. Log Local Activity .......... If set to "Yes", ProBoard will add your local login activity to the BINLOG.PB file. I/O Buffer Size ............. Specifies the amount (in bytes) that ProBoard will use for it's internal serial communication buffering. Recommended buffer size is 32 for single line systems. If you are running a multi-node system under a multi-tasker such as DESQview, OS/2, or Windows, you probably will want to increase this value. To disable I/O buffering completely set this field to the value of 1. - 39 - Default language file ....... Name of the language file to be loaded when ProBoard starts. This language will also be loaded when a user logs in who's language could not be found. Inactivity Limit ............ Number of seconds a user is allowed to remain idle. If the user hasn't typed anything when this limit is exceeded, they will be logged off. Quote String ................ This string is used to when ProBoard quotes a message for a reply. A '@' character is replaced by the initials of the user who wrote the message quoted from. Password Display ............ Enter the character that you want ProBoard to display to users, as they enter their password. The character you enter here will also be used in place of displaying the password if you have "Hide Password" (below) set to "Yes". You may use any ASCII character (1-255) as a Password Display character. Hide Password ............... If this option is set to yes, when you bring up user records in the User Editor, the users password will not be displayed. Instead, the character you entered in "Password Display" (above) will be shown. If this option is set to "No" then you will see each users password when using the User Editor. Screen Blanking ............. Enter the number of seconds that should elapse before ProBoard's built-in screen saver should blank your screen. - 40 - Fuzzy Search Rate ........... Determines how extensive ProBoard's fuzzy search feature should work. The fuzzy search will help your users locate other users from your user file when posting messages and a misspelled name is encountered. It is also used in the User Editor when you perform searches. The higher the value you enter here, the closer a user record must match the search criteria before it is considered a find by the fuzzy search engine. RIP Graphics ................ Determines if ProBoard will display RIP Graphics (both internal and user created) to the user or not. If set to "Disabled" (use the space bar to toggle the setting) RIP Graphics will not be displayed to the user even if RIP is detected when the user logs in. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ File Transfer │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Minimum Upload Space ........ Space needed on the upload drive for uploads to be allowed (in Kb). Download Hours .............. Pressing <ENTER> on this option opens a window which allows you to specify during what hours a user can download files from your system. Hours are selectable for each day of the week, in half hour increments. The value of the "Ignore DL" flag in the user's record will override any hours you may have set here. - 41 - Check Duplicate Uploads ..... If this option is set to "Yes", ProBoard's Menu Function 33 (Upload a File) will check upon completion of any upload(s) for duplicate files. ProBoard can not check for duplicates prior to any upload(s) due to any batch protocols the user may choose to use. Use this option along with the next two options (below) to decide how you want your system to deal with any duplicate files your users may upload. Kill Duplicate Uploads ...... If set to "Yes", when a user uploads a file that already exists on your system (in the file index) then ProBoard will delete the file from your upload directory (as specified in the data line of your upload menu entry or in PROCFG). If you want to save the duplicate files rather than have them deleted, set this option to "No". When does ProBoard delete the file? Great question!! ProBoard will delete any duplicate files immediately after checking for dupes, even before the user is prompted to enter a file description, so think twice before you set this option to "Yes". You can also create a text file to be displayed to your users in the event that they do upload duplicate files. The file that ProBoard will display must be named DUPESFND.A?? and be placed in your "Textfiles" directory (usually C:\PB\TXTFILES). - 42 - Ignore File Extensions ...... If this option is set to "Yes", then ProBoard's duplicate checking will consider NEWFILE.ZIP and NEWFILE.ARJ to be the same file. So if you have NEWFILE.ZIP on your hard drive or CD-ROM drive and a user uploads NEWFILE.ARJ, ProBoard will consider this to be a duplicate upload. Be sure you understand this before setting this option to "Yes". Upload scanner .............. When uploads are received, ProBoard will run the command line specified here FOR EACH FILE. The macro @<FILE>@ will be replaced by the full name of the file to be scanned (including drive and directory). When the file is suspicious, the upload scanner should do one of 2 things: - Return with an errorlevel different from 0. - Create a semaphore file with a name specified in "Semaphore". If the file failed the virus scan (so if a semaphore file was created or an errorlevel was returned), ProBoard will perform an action on the file (defined in "action") - None : No action (but upload is not credited to the user's account) - Move : The file is moved to a different area (specified in "bad file area") - Delete: The file is deleted If you don't want to use the upload scanner, just leave the command line for the upload scanner blank. - 43 - Add Uploaders Name to FILES.BBS ................ If set to "Yes" the uploaders name will be added to the file name and description in FILES.BBS. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Display Options │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Use 43/50 Line Mode ......... Enable local display of ProBoard in 43 or 50 line mode. Show User Info Window ....... Should ProBoard display the User Info Window, when users are online. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Site Info │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ System Name ................. The name of your BBS. Will be written to EXITINFO.BBS. Be sure this matches any "keys" you might have for any door programs. This information is also used for your key file when you register, so be sure whatever you put here matches what you fill out on your registration form EXACTLY! Location .................... The City where your BBS is located. This is used for the QWK packets created by your BBS so it's a good idea not to leave it blank when you set up your BBS. Phone Number ................ The primary phone number of your BBS. Also used for QWK packets so be sure to not leave this field empty. - 44 - SysOp Name .................. The name of the SysOp. This also will be written to EXITINFO.BBS This information is also used for your key file when you register, so be sure whatever you put here matches what you fill out on your registration form EXACTLY! Default Origin Line ......... Default origin line, used for Echomail if none is specified when setting up your echomail areas. (more about this later). Number of Nodes ............. Used for multi-line systems. Enter the maximum number of users allowed to log in at the same time (max. 255) ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ QWK Options │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ QWK File Name ............... This is the name that QWK packets generated by ProBoard's QWK PEX will be given. - 45 - ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ File List Format │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ It is here in PROCFG that you define how you want your file listings displayed to your users. Pressing <ENTER> on any of the following options (except for Hide/Show file counters which is an on/off toggle) will invoke ProBoard's color editing window, which will allow you to customize the colors of the items displayed in your file listings. As you begin to define the colors for your file listings, and whether or not to display file counters, ProBoard shows you in the bottom window how your file listings will appear to your users. Hot Tip! ──────── Remember, you can change the colors, and then if you decide you don't like the colors you have selected, you can return to the previous color configuration by selecting "Cancel Changes" when exiting from PROCFG. Just be aware that any other changes you made while in PROCFG will also be lost if you select "Cancel Changes". A brief explanation of each field follows. ────────────────────────────────────────── File Tag .................... The letter to the left of the file name. This letter is what the user will press to tag the file for download. File Name ................... The name of the file. File Size ................... The size of the file. File Date ................... The date of the file File Counter ................ How many times the file has been downloaded from your system. (Refer to PBUTIL FC (File Counters) for more information on how the file counters are maintained). File Description ............ The description of the file. - 46 - Extended Descriptions and Separators .................. Any lines of text in your file listings beginning with a space, are considered to be extended descriptions (or comments). This is not to be confused with extended file descriptions which begin with a "+" character, and may actually span several lines in your file listings. Missing Files ............... A file name which is in your file listing but the file does not physically exist on the hard drive or CD-ROM where you told ProBoard to find it. Hide/Show File Counter ...... Toggles the display of file counters on/off by pressing <ENTER> on this selection. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Protocol Configuration - (F2) │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ The second option in PROCFG.EXE is "Protocols". You may want to skip this option when doing a first-time installation of ProBoard, as many protocol configurations are included in the file PROTOCOL.PRO (which can be found in the file EX_CFG.ZIP). You should select each protocol listed and set 'Enabled' to 'No' (you won't lose the protocol configuration) unless you have the actual protocol file itself physically on your hard drive. The protocols themselves are NOT included with ProBoard, but can be obtained from any ProBoard Support BBS, as well as many others. Downloading and uploading files has always been one of the most important activities of BBS's. Most BBS programs have file transfer protocols pre-installed and do not allow additional protocols to be configured. ProBoard's philosophy is entirely different: no protocols are actually embedded in the code, all protocols are external and are being called by ProBoard. As of yet, we don't know of any external protocol incompatible with ProBoard, Bimodem included! If you happen to find one that you think is an incompatible external file transfer protocol, please let us know! - 47 - Upon selection of the 'Protocols' option, a submenu is displayed containing the protocols already present. Add a protocol by pressing <Ins>, remove a protocol by pressing <Del>. A protocol is entirely defined by the following parameters: Protocol Name ............... Protocol's name, to be displayed in the down/upload menu. This can include a short description if you like. Hotkey ...................... Key to be pressed by the user to activate the protocol. Batch ....................... Determines whether the protocol can handle batch-mode (whether it can handle multiple files). Xmodem for example can handle only one file at a time, while Zmodem can handle multiple files. Enabled ..................... ProBoard comes with several pre- configured protocols for which you may not have the necessary files. It would be useless to have these protocols displayed in the menu. You can prevent this by setting Enable to 'No', without having to lose the configuration for this protocol. Both-Way .................... Determines whether the protocol is a full-duplex protocol, i.e.. whether it can send and receive files at the same time. (eg. Bimodem) Bimodem ..................... The Bimodem protocol uses an odd format for its control file. Setting Bimodem to 'Yes' causes the control file to be written to disk in Bimodem-format. - 48 - Log File .................... Name of the log file created by the protocol. After the file transfer, the information needed to update the user-records will be obtained from this file by ProBoard. Most protocols write a file specified in the environment variable DSZLOG. ProBoard will set this variable to the right filename for you. ProBoard checks for the logfile in the directory where it was started from, so if some external protocol writes a different logfile than the one specified in the DSZLOG-variable, make sure it writes the file in the startup-directory! Control File ................ Protocols that can handle batch-mode usually allow parameters to be passed not only on the command line, but also (should the command line grow too long) by means of a control file. ProBoard must know of this file, to be able to pass the file- names to the protocol. Download Command ............ Command needed to start the protocol in download-mode. You may want to use the shell options of menu function 7 here. If the first character of this command is a '@', the named pex-file will be run. Note that no shell parameters (*x) are supported when calling a pex-file. You can use string macros though. IMPORTANT: The command should be in- dependent of the path it is called from. Batch-mode protocols also require a control file to be specified. Should you, anywhere in this field, fill in a '#', then this character will at run-time be replaced by the filename of the file to be sent (only for non-batch protocols). - 49 - Upload Command .............. Command needed to start the protocol in upload-mode. Here also, the command should be independent of the directory it is called from and a '#' will be replaced by the filename of the file to be received (for non-batch protocols), or by the directory where files should be received into (for batch-protocols). A '@' as the first character will execute a pex-file (see DL Command). Download String ............. Determines what should be written in the control file when downloading. A '#' character is replaced by the path and filename of the file to be sent to the user. Most often, a single '#' is the only character in this field. This works for most of the protocols. Example: In case a user wants to download 3 files, entering 'Send #' in this field causes the following to be written in the control file: Send C:\PB\FILES\COMM\TM.ZIP Send C:\PB\FILES\COMM\TBILL.ZIP Send C:\PB\FILES\UTIL\SHEZ55.ZIP You can always take a look at the pre-configured protocols, to lighten things up for you. Upload String ............... <reserved for future use> Download Keyword ............ In order to allow ProBoard to update the user-records from the protocol's log file, a keyword must be specified to indicate a file has successfully been sent. If a protocol writes 'Sent <filename>' in the logfile, you should specify 'Sent' as the keyword. This keyword is CASE SENSITIVE! Upload Keyword .............. Same as the previous field, for uploads. - 50 - File Word Number............. This is the number of the sent file's filename, counting from the keyword, but NOT including the keyword. This is used for both uploads and downloads. Eg. Sent 12/05/90 12334 PB_215.ZIP In this case, you should enter '3' as the word number, because PB_215.ZIP is the third word counting from, but not including, the keyword ('Sent'). Efficiency .................. A percentage that gives the throughput efficiency for this protocol. This value is used to estimate the time needed to perform a file transfer. Local Only .................. If set to "Yes", this protocol will only be available when logging in locally. CONCLUSION: Correctly installing the protocols may seem somewhat difficult at first, but you will soon get used to it. And don't forget that the most commonly used protocols are already pre-configured in ProBoard! ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ The Local Protocol PEX │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Included with ProBoard is a PEX which allows you to perform local file transfer (to/from your own hard disk). This PEX is called LOC_PROT.PEX and should be located in your ProBoard PEX directory. - 51 - The protocol is already configured in the PROTOCOL.PRO file that comes with ProBoard. If you have upgraded from an earlier version of ProBoard, you can add the protocol manually. This is how you should set it up: ================================================================== Protocol Name: Local Download Protocol Hotkey : L Batch : Yes Efficiency: 100 % Enabled : Yes Both-way : No Local only: Yes Bimodem : No Log-file : DSZLOG.TXT Control-file : DSZCTL.TXT Download cmd : @LOC_PROT D @@<STARTDIR>@DSZCTL.TXT Upload cmd : @LOC_PROT U # Downl. string: # Upload string: Downl. keyw. : D Upload keyw. : U File word nr : 1 ================================================================== - 52 - ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Message Areas - (F3) │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ ProBoard is one of the only BBS packages that allows you to use more than one message base format to hold your messages. You can use Hudson, Squish, JAM, or Fido (.MSG) or a combination of these at the same time! ProBoard's message base limits are as follows: ────────────────────────────────────────────── Message Type Number of Message Areas Maximum File Size ──────────── ─────────────────────── ──────────────────────── Hudson 200 16 Mb / 15000 messages (all areas combined) Squish 10,000 5400 msgs. per area. Fido *.MSG 10,000 Unlimited (disk space available). JAM 10,000 Unlimited (disk space available). Each message area in ProBoard has its own name and properties. For example, you could have a message area for public messages only, several message areas for Echomail, or an area where you create "Announcement" messages for your users. Selecting "Message Areas" from the Main Menu, gives you a list of the available areas (which may initially be empty if you are setting up your BBS for the first time.) To edit a Message Area, press <Enter>. To add a Message Area, press <Insert>, or enter a number for the area you want to create. For example, entering the number 10000 will create message area 10000. Keep in mind that if you are using the HUDSON format for any of your message areas, that any areas specified to use the HUDSON format will have to be specified as areas 1 - 200. This is a limit of the existing HUDSON message base format and is not a limit of ProBoard. A message area has the following fields: ──────────────────────────────────────── Name ........................ Name of this message area. - 53 - Path ........................ The path where this Message Area is located. This is used for SQUISH, JAM, and *.MSG, but NOT for Hudson. Message Kind ................ The kind of message. You can have: - Local .......... Local messages - EchoMail ....... Echomail - NetMail ........ Netmail - Pvt EchoMail ... Private Echomail One word about the difference between the "Echo" type and the "Pvt Echo" type: In "Echo" areas, it is not allowed to delete messages that have been exported by an echomail processor (as specified by the FTSC, the FidoNet Technical Standards Committee). In a "Pvt Echo" area, this restriction is not imposed. - 54 - Message Type ................ One of the following: - Private only .. Only private messages allowed. - Pvt/Public .... Private or public messages allowed. - Public only ... Only public messages allowed. - To All ........ This message type should be used in a LOCAL message area only. The "To All" message type is intended for a SysOp to leave messages to all users. Any messages entered in this area will considered "To All" regardless of the whom the "To" is addressed to. Messages entered in this area will be shown when ProBoard checks for waiting mail. You may not want to allow users to reply to these messages since their replies will be sent to all users. A better idea is to set the "Reply Area" to a different message area number if you decide to let users reply to your announcement messages. - 55 - Name Options ................ Determines which names can be used to write messages in this area. This can be: - Real Names Only: Obvious I guess - Free Alias The user can choose any alias he likes, as long as it's not used by another user. - Fixed Alias (or real name) The user can choose between his real name and his alias - Fixed Alias (enforced) The user can only use his alias to write a message It is recommended that areas where aliases are allowed, are made "Public Only". Message Base ................ The type of message base to use for this message area. Valid choices are Hudson, Squish, JAM, and Fido (*.MSG). Use the <SpaceBar> to toggle between available choices. Remember, if you select Hudson that this message area's number (see top bar of the window) should be message area 200 or lower since Hudson only supports up to 200 message areas. Read Level .................. Security Level needed to read messages in this area. Read Flags .................. Flags needed to read messages in this area. You can now specify flags that a user MUST NOT have in order to READ from this message area. These flags are shown in reverse. To set a reverse flag, press the flag letter twice (it will appear reversed). To clear a reversed flag type the flag letter one more time. - 56 - Write Level ................. Security Level needed to write messages in this area. Write Flags ................. Flags needed to write messages in this area. You can now specify flags that a user MUST NOT have in order to WRITE to this message area. These flags are shown in reverse. To set a reverse flag, press the flag letter twice (it will appear reversed). To clear a reversed flag type the flag letter one more time. SysOp Level ................. Security Level needed to be allowed access to all functions in this message area. SysOp Flags ................. Flags needed to be allowed access to all functions in this message area. You can now specify flags that the SysOp MUST NOT have in order to be allowed access to all functions in this this message area. These flags are shown in reverse. To set a reverse flag, press the flag letter twice (it will appear reversed). To clear a reversed flag type the flag letter one more time. Origin Line ................. Only for Echomail: if you do not specify this, the default origin line will be used (refer to F1, Site Options, to specify your default origin line). Use AKA ..................... The network address for this area (for Echomail & Netmail only). - 57 - EchoMail Tag ................ This field is used by ProBoard to create a file called ECHOTOSS.LOG You should enter the Echomail Tag name for this message area (if this message area has the "Message Kind" field set to "EchoMail"). When a user enters a message into this area the tag name you specify here will be written to the file ECHOTOSS.LOG in the ProBoard system directory, causing your mail tosser to scan for outbound mail in this message area upon the callers logoff. QWK Area Name ............... (Optional) You can enter the name of this area for QWK mail packers. QWK only supports up to 12 characters for area names. Reply Area .................. The area where replies to messages in this area should be posted. Useful for allowing users to reply to "To-All" messages. Set this to "0" (zero) if you want replies to go to the current message area. SysOp ....................... The user name for an "Area SysOp". A user with this name will have full SysOp access to this message area. When users write messages to "SysOp" in this area, the messages will be sent to the user name specified here. Group #1 .................... The first group number this message area belongs to (1-255) if any. Group #2 .................... The second group number this message area belongs to (1-255) if any. Group #3 .................... The third group number this message area belongs to (1-255) if any. Group #4 .................... The fourth group number this message area belongs to (1-255) if any. All Groups .................. Does this message area belong to all message groups? Press the <SpaceBar> to toggle between Yes/No. - 58 - Kill after <xx> days ........ When running the PBUTIL message packer with the -D parameter, all messages that have been in the message base for <xx> days will be deleted. This is for both HUDSON and JAM message base formats. Kill rcvd after <xx> days ... When running the PBUTIL message packer with the -D parameter, all messages that have been received for <xx> days will be deleted. This is only for HUDSON or JAM message base formats. Max # messages .............. The maximum number of messages allowed in this area. When this number is exceeded, PBUTIL MP -D (message pack & delete) will delete the oldest messages from the message base (Hudson and Squish). ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Message Area Groups - (F4) │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ ProBoard allows you to configure up to 255 Message Area Groups for your system. Message groups can be used to place message areas of similar interest into a group users can select from. If you run a BBS that caters to programmers, and also to people who enjoy gardening, you may want to create two separate message area groups so programmers aren't reading about pruning roses, and gardeners aren't reading about array elements :-) When you select "Message Area Groups" a window is displayed showing any installed message groups (if any). To add a message area group press <Ins>. To delete a message area group, press <DEL>. To edit a message area group that already exists, press <Enter> with the highlight bar on the group you want to edit. When you press <Ins> to add a new message group, a dialog will be displayed asking for the group number. Press <ENTER> to accept the next available area, or type a number (between 1 and 255) for the message area group you want to create. - 59 - The fields that make up a message group are as follows: ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Area Name ................... The area name that will be displayed to users when selecting from your message area groups. Access Level ................ The minimum security level needed for a user to be able to see/select this message area group. Access Flags ................ The access flags needed (or not needed) to access this message area group. Once a message area group has been defined, refer to Menu Function 49 (Select Message Area) for the options needed to allow your users access to it. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ File Areas - (F5) │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ File areas are used to setup and categorize your downloadable files. You can prevent groups of users from accessing certain file areas with the use of Access Levels and/or Access Flags. ProBoard uses an advanced file index to locate files as defined here in your file areas. Once you have configured your file areas, you MUST run PBUTIL FI (file index) to create the index in order for ProBoard to find the files for users to download. A file area has the following fields: ───────────────────────────────────── Area Name ................... Name of this file area. Displayed to users on the BBS on the file selection list. - 60 - File Location ............... Directory where the files for this area are physically located. It is also possible to specify multiple directories per file area. To do this, enter the first file directory here, then create a file in your ProBoard system directory (usually C:\PB) called FA_<area>.CTL. Place each additional file directory (one directory per line) in this file to tell ProBoard where to find the additional directories for this file area. Example: for file area #10 (Games), which has a total of 4 directories, place the first directory in the "File Location" slot in PROCFG, then create a file called FA_10.CTL. In this file, place the additional directories one per line like this: D:\DLOAD\GAMES2 D:\DLOAD\GAMES3 D:\DLOAD\GAMES4 Use an ascii editor like QEDIT, or the DOS editor to create this file. Listing File ................ Full path & filename of the file in which the downloadable files are described. This files is often called FILES.BBS. Refer to Menu Function 31, in the chapter on Menus. Sample: C:\PB\DLOAD\FILES.BBS) Access Flags ................ Flags needed to download files in this area. You can now specify flags that a user MUST NOT have to access this file area. These flags are displayed in reverse. To set a reverse flag - type the flag letter twice until you see it display in reverse. To clear a reverse flag type the flag letter again. Access Level ................ Level needed to download files in this area. - 61 - Copy Local .................. Setting this option to "Yes" (use the <SPACEBAR> to toggle), tells ProBoard whether or not to use it's CD-ROM specific file listing formats. In addition, it tells ProBoard to copy the files in this file area to a different location, usually a local drive before a download of the file begins. This is ideal for CD-ROM or Network drives since it frees up these resources for other users to access them. It's important to understand that ProBoard now determines the format of "FILES.BBS" itself. This will assist you in using CD-ROM's on your BBS that have different "FILES.BBS" formats. The "FILES.BBS" can have any of the following formats: ────────────────────────────────────────────────────── <filename> <description> <filename> <size> <date> <description> <filename> <date> <size> <description> <filename> <size> <description> <filename> <date> <description> Any missing information ( <date> or <size> ) will be retrieved from the CD-ROM or Network drive by ProBoard. If only the <date> is specified in your "FILES.BBS", ProBoard will need to retrieve the <size> of the file from the disk in order to display your file listing for this area to your users. If both the <date> and <size> are specified, (the preferred format for your "FILES.BBS") ProBoard will not need to check the CD-ROM or Network drive for this information. - 62 - Hot Tip! ──────── Use "FILES.BBS" listings that include <date> -and- <size> whenever possible, to prevent ProBoard from accessing your CD-ROM or Network drives. This will give your BBS optimum performance when users choose to list your files. ProBoard will also copy files from CD-ROM or Network drives to a local drive when the "Copy Local" flag is set to "Yes". Files will be copied to a directory called "CD_TEMP", which will be created by ProBoard, off of the directory from which ProBoard was started from. You can specify your own directory by creating a DOS environment variable called CDTEMP containing the name of the drive -and- directory. How to create your own "Copy Local" directory: ────────────────────────────────────────────── 1.) Decide on and create the directory where you want the files from the CD-ROM or Network to be copied into. For example, C:\MYDIR\CDFILES 2.) Add the following line to your "AUTOEXEC.BAT" file: SET CDTEMP=C:\MYDIR\CDFILES If ProBoard can not find the directory as specified it will attempt to create it, and if it can't will revert to using the CD_TEMP directory off of the directory the ProBoard was started from. In TOPFILES.................. Determines whether or not this file area is included when TOPFILES.A?? is created. Refer to PBUTIL FC for more information. Free Area ................... Specifies whether or not ALL files in this file area are FREE files. If this is set to 'Yes', any files a user downloads from this area will not be deducted from their download limits. Group #1 .................... The first group number this file area belongs to (1-255) if any. Group #2 .................... The second group number this file area belongs to (1-255) if any. - 63 - Group #3 .................... The third group number this file area belongs to (1-255) if any. Group #4 .................... The fourth group number this file area belongs to (1-255) if any. All Groups .................. Does this file area belong to all file groups? Press the <SpaceBar> to toggle between Yes/No. Max. files................... Maximum number of files that can be downloaded from this area per user per day (0 means unlimited). Max. Kb...................... Maximum number of Kbytes that can be downloaded from this area per user per day (0 means unlimited). FILES.BBS Date Format ....... The date format that is used in this area's FILES.BBS file. You have to change this if FILES.BBS contains dates in a different format than "MM/DD/YY" of "MM-DD-YY" (CD-ROMs from Europe for example). If you don't set this so it matches the date format in FILES.BBS, ProBoard will not be able to correctly read the dates listed in your file list. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ File Area Groups - F6 │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ ProBoard allows you to configure up to 255 File Area Groups for your system. File groups can be used to place files of similar interest into a group users can select from. If you run a BBS that caters to programmers, and also to people who enjoy gardening, you may want to create two separate file area groups so programmers aren't downloading files about pruning roses, and gardeners aren't downloading files about array elements :-) - 64 - When you select "File Area Groups" a window is displayed showing any installed file groups (if any). To add a file area group press <Ins>. To delete a file area group, press <DEL>. To edit a file area group that already exists, press <Enter> with the highlight bar on the group you want to edit. When you press <Ins> to add a new file group, a dialog will be displayed asking for the group number. Press <ENTER> to accept the next available area, or type a number (between 1 and 255) for the file area group you want to create. The fields that make up a file group are as follows: ──────────────────────────────────────────────────── Area Name ................... The area name that will be displayed to users when selecting from your file area groups. Access Level ................ The minimum security level needed for a user to be able to see/select this file area group. Access Flags ................ The access flags needed (or not needed) to access this file area group. Once a file area group has been defined, refer to Menu Function 54 (Select New File Area) for the options needed to allow your users access to it. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Time/Download Limits - (F7) │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ In ProBoard you can grant different groups of users different rights concerning download limits and maximum online time per day. Additionally, you can limit downloading in a very powerful and flexible way. This is done by defining user levels. - 65 - Editing user levels is done in by pressing <Ins> to add a security level, <Del> to delete a security level, and <Enter> to edit an existing security level. These are the fields to be specified for each level: ──────────────────────────────────────────────────── Security Level .............. The user level you are editing. Time Per Day ................ Time a user with this level can spend on your system each day. Kb Download Per Day ......... Daily download-limit associated with this user level (in Kbytes/day). Download Delay .............. Time a user must spend online each call before a download can be made. (Great to calm down excessive downloaders). Usergroup ID ................ String of max. 5 characters that identifies this level, eg. NEW, REG, VIP, etc. This is optional. These ID's will be shown when the userlist is displayed (Refer to Menu Function 13). Free Download ............... The amount that can be downloaded by users with this level, without having to upload or write messages. Upload Needed ............... The percentage of total downloads the user has to upload. Eg. if the upload factor is 15%, and a user has downloaded 1000Kb, he will have to upload 150Kb. Setting this to 0 allows the users to download as much as they want, until the download limit (see below) is reached. Of course, it is impossible to download more than the daily maximum each day. - 66 - Free Download/Msg ........... The amount of Kilobytes that can be downloaded free for each message written. This rewards busy message- writers by increasing their download- limit. The amount of kilobytes is added to the free download number (see above) Maximum Download ............ When this limit is set to a positive non-zero value, and a user reaches this limit, his/her level will be changed to the "Fall To" level. Be careful when changing this to a value other than 0 (zero). Doing so may lock out a user if the "Fall To Level" (below) is set to zero. Your user may not be too happy with your BBS should this happen. Fall To Level ............... Security Level which user should be assigned when they reach the (above) "Maximum Download" setting. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ User Editor (F8) │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Working with your users records using the User Editor is easy. You can use the user editor to locate/view/change information in a users record. You can also edit a users record while they are on-line by pressing <Alt-E>. Both ways of editing a users record in ProBoard are virtually identical. ProBoard keeps a user's record in memory while they are online and then writes it back to the user file once they log off. If you want to make changes to a user's record who is online, it is important to use the <Alt-E> method since you will be editing their record in memory. If you use the user editor in PROCFG.EXE to edit the record of a user who is online, any changes you make will be written over by the user record in memory when they log off. - 67 - You can use the following keys in the user editor: ────────────────────────────────────────────────── <PgUp> ...................... Go to the previous user-record. <PgDn> ...................... Go to the next user-record. <Ctrl-PgUp> ................. Go to the first user-record. <Ctrl-PgDn> ................. Go to the last user-record. <ESC> ....................... Exits the User Editor. <Alt-A> ..................... Add a new user record. <Alt-D> ..................... Toggle the 'deleted' flag of the current user. <Alt-F> ..................... Shows flag descriptions for flags you have defined on your BBS. After pressing <Alt-F> another window will appear showing the flags and any descriptions you have defined for them. You can add/edit descriptions for your flags by pressing <Alt-E> in this window, then using the Up and Down arrows to position on the flag. Then simply type the description you want and press <ESC> to exit that field, and <ESC> once again to exit the flag description window. <Alt-L> ..................... Opens a secondary window listing your user records. Several powerful functions are available here to make finding and editing your users much easier. Press the <F1> key, and ProBoard will display a help screen containing information on the following items. <PgUp> ..... Moves to the previous screen page of user records. <PgDn> ..... Moves to the next screen page of user records. - 68 - <Home> ..... Moves to the first record in the user file. <End> ..... Moves to the last record in the user user file. <Esc> ..... Closes the user list window and returns to the user editor, positioned on the first record in the user file. <Enter> ..... Closes the user list window and returns to the user editor, positioned on the user record you were on in the user list window. <1...9> ..... Begin typing the record number you want to go to in the user file. A window will appear showing you the number as you type it. Press <ENTER> to jump to the record you have entered, or <ESC> to return to the user list. <A...Z> ..... Begin typing a name or part of a name to search for in the user file. This activates the search dialog window. Once you have entered the name you want to search for, press <ENTER> to begin the search. You can press <ESC> at any point during the search, to abort the search and return to the user list. If the search finds a record matching what you entered, you can press <ENTER> to edit that record, or press <Alt-N> to find the next occurrence of your search criteria. - 69 - <Alt-F> ..... Activates a window asking if you want to enable the user list filter. If you select "No", you are returned to the user list. If you select "Yes", the user list filter dialog window is activated. By filling in various items in the filter dialog, you can limit the scope of the user records displayed in the user list. Once a filter is in effect, only the user records matching the filter condition are displayed in the user list. You can then move thru the records displayed, editing them and using any other user list keys as you normally would. To disable a filter, press <Alt-F> and select "No" when asked "Enable filter?". Closing the user editor also cancels any filter in effect. <Alt-G> ..... Activates a window asking what user record you want to go to in the user list. Either enter a number and press <ENTER> to go to that user record, or press <ESC> to return to the user list. <Alt-S> ..... Activates the search dialog window. Once you have entered the name you want to search for press <ENTER> to begin the search. You can press <ESC> at any point during the search, to abort the search and return to the user list. If the search finds a record matching what you entered, you can press <ENTER> to edit that record or press <Alt-N> to find the next occurrence of your search criteria. <Alt-N> ..... Finds the next occurrence (if any) of search criteria specified with the <Alt-S> (search) option (above). <Alt-N> ..................... Searches for the next user-record matching the search criteria specified with <Alt-S>. - 70 - <Alt-P> ..................... Toggles the Password Hide/UnHide option when viewing user records. The character that is displayed when passwords are hidden is defined in PROCFG, [F1] Options, System Options, in the "Password Display" field. When viewing a user record where the password is hidden, simply press <ENTER> when positioned on the hidden password, and ProBoard will display the user's password in a window. <ALT-R> .................... Restore User Record. If you are editing a user's record and change your mind, you can use this option to restore the user record to it's original values. <Alt-S> .................... Searches for a user-record. You may optionally specify either part of, or the full name of the user you are searching for. The search uses "fuzzy" logic, meaning that it will find user names containing strings that are close to what you type. How accurate the fuzzy search is depends on the setting in PROCFG, [F1] Options, System Options, in the "FuzzySearch Rate" field. <ALT-V> ..................... Validate User. Opens a window containing any validation templates defined in the PROCFG, [Shift-F6] Validate Template Editor. (Refer to the "Configuration" section of this manual under "Validate Template Editor" for more information on setting up your templates.) Select one of the templates, and ProBoard will update the user record with the values defined in the template, asking you for confirmation first. Press <ESC> at any point during the validation to abort the validation. - 71 - <F10> ....................... Opens a secondary window containing additional information about the current user. Once this window is displayed, you may display/edit the following items. - Times Called. - Total Number of Downloads. - Total KB of Downloads. - Total Number of Uploads. - Total KB of Uploads. - Number of Messages User has posted. - Total Time user has spent online to date. - Amount of Time user has spent online today. If the user has not been online today, there may still be a value in this field. This field is cleared by ProBoard upon a users first call of each day. - Total KB downloaded today. - Time Balance in the users bank account. - Time Withdrawn from users bank account. - Time Deposited in users bank account. - Time user has borrowed from TheBank. - Payback date for time user borrowed from TheBank. - Kbyte Balance user has banked. - Kbytes user has withdrawn from TheBank. - Kbytes user has deposited. - Kbytes user has borrowed. - Payback date for Kbytes borrowed. - Date last used the time bank. When you have found the user-record you are looking for, move between the fields by using the arrow keys. To edit a field, just move the selector to that field and begin typing. A user record has the following fields: ─────────────────────────────────────── User Name ................... User's name. Alias ....................... Each user can have a unique 'alias' (nickname). In selected message areas, the user can use this alias to write messages or (if enabled) can login using this alias. Password .................... User's password. - 72 - City ........................ City the user lives in. State ....................... State the user lives in. Country ..................... Country the user lives in. Address 1 ................... Users address, line 1 of 3 Address 2 ................... Users address, line 2 of 3 Address 3 ................... Users address, line 3 of 3 Forward To .................. (not implemented yet) Level ....................... User's security level (ranging from 0 to 64000). A 0 (zero) means that the user has NO access to the BBS. Flags ....................... User's flags. Edit them by pressing <Enter>, and then pressing any character ranging from A thru Z and 1 thru 6 to toggle that flag. Press the <F1> key to view/edit any flag definitions for your BBS. Expiration Date ............. When this date is specified (non-zero), the user's security level will drop to the level specified in the "Expiration Level" field (below). Expiration Level ............ The new security level assigned to a user when the "Expiration Date" (if other than 0) is reached. Expiration Flags On ......... User flags to turn on when expiration date is reached. Expiration Flags Off ........ User flags to turn off when expiration date is reached. Comment ..................... This field allows you to enter comments about this particular user. Voice Phone ................. User's voice phone number (not restricted to a certain layout). Data Phone .................. User's data number (if any). FAX Phone ................... User's FAX number (if any). - 73 - Birth Date .................. The date of birth of this user. This will be recorded if you turn on the option to ask new users for their birth date upon initial login. Directly to the right of the birth date field is a number in brackets. This number is the users age, as calculated by ProBoard based on the date entered into the birth date field. If you change the users birth date, you must save the record in order for the calculation of the users age to take place. Sex ......................... User's sex. Toggle options with the space bar. Date Format ................. The date format this user prefers to use. Toggle through the allowable formats by pressing the right-arrow and left-arrow while positioned on this field. Screen Height ............... Number of screen lines for this user. Default Protocol ............ The default file transfer protocol this user has selected. Language .................... The language file the user selected from the list of available languages on your BBS. If no languages are available or the user pressed <ENTER> when asked to select a language then ENGLISH is used as the default. You can edit the users language selection but you must type the language name. Log Level ................... The way in which entries about this users calls will be written to PROBOARD.LOG Use the Space Bar to toggle between "Normal", "Suspicious","Extensive", and "Friend". Terminal .................... Users Terminal Setting. Press the <Spacebar> to toggle between "ANSI", "Avatar", "Avt/0+", and "TTY". - 74 - NetMail Credit .............. Number of credits the user has left to write Netmail messages. First Call .................. The date of the user's first call to your system. This field is display only. Last Call ................... The date of this users last call to your system. This field is display only. Deleted ..................... If this is set to "Yes", this users record will be removed from your user file the next time you run PBUTIL UP (User Packer) to pack the user file. More Prompt ................. Pause after each screen page? Clear Screen ................ Send screen clearing codes to the user? Hot Keys .................... Hot Keys enabled? If set to "Yes" user can hot key thru your menus. If set to "No" then command-stacking will be used instead. IBM ......................... If set to "Yes" all IBM-specific characters will be filtered out and converted to standard ASCII. If set to "No" then IBM characters will be sent. Full Screen Editor .......... If set to "Yes", then the fullscreen message editor (defined in PROCFG, F1, Paths, Editor Command) will be used when this user enters messages. If set to "No" then ProBoard will use it's internal line editor instead. NoKill ...................... If set to "Yes" the user's record CAN NOT be removed from the userfile when using PBUTIL UK (User Killer) or PBUTIL UP (User Packer). Ignore Download ............. Does this user have UNLIMITED downloadⁿaccess? If set to "Yes", ProBoard will ignore download limits for this user. - 75 - Attention ................... If set to "Yes", ProBoard will play the file "ATTEN.MUS" when this user logs on. The file "ATTEN.MUS" must be located in your ProBoard System Directory (usually C:\PB). No Tops ..................... If set to "Yes", then this user will be excluded from any of the "tops" lists that ProBoard creates. (Refer to Menu Function 48 for more info). Hidden ...................... If enabled, ProBoard will hide this users activity from the "Last Callers List" (Menu Function 51), "Show Users Online" (Menu Function 50), and from the "User List (Menu Function 13). Guest ....................... Allows this user to have "guest account" status. This means their daily totals for minutes online, files downloaded, etc., will be reset on each call of the day, and not just on their first call of each day. Free Chat ................... If set to "Yes", ProBoard will freeze the system timer when you and this user are chatting. This means no time will be deducted from a users online time when chatting. Local Only .................. If enabled, this user is not allowed to log in remotely, they can only use the local console to login. RIP ......................... If set to "Yes" then RIP graphics will be sent to this user. If set to "No" RIP graphics will not be sent to the user even if RIP is detected. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Menu Editor (F9) │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Creating menus for ProBoard is extremely easy using the built-in Menu Editor. - 76 - When you select the "Menu Editor" option in PROCFG's main menu, a new window is opened containing the defined languages. ProBoard allows you to have a language specific set of menus for each language you define. Refer to the "Language Editor" portion of the manual for more information on specifying paths for your language specific menus. If no path is given, the default menu path defined in PROCFG, (F1) Options, Paths, Menus is used. Once you have selected the language whose menus you want to edit, a second window is opened displaying the menu names that are available to edit. A menu must already exist to be displayed in this window. You can type the first few letters of a menu name to jump to that menu in the choice list, or use the cursor keys to position on the menu that you want to edit. Then press <ENTER> to invoke the menu editor. In this window, you can use the following keys: ─────────────────────────────────────────────── - Up/Down Scroll up/down through existing menus. - Enter Select an existing menu to edit. - Insert Add a new menu. Once you have selected a menu, you will notice the name of the menu you are editing is displayed on the top line of the Menu Editor and a line-by-line list of the items on the selected menu is displayed. To add a menu item, press <Ins>, to remove a menu item, press <Del>. Your menus can contain up to 255 menu items for each menu. To edit a menu item, move the selector to that item and press <Enter>. You can change the menu prompt and highlight colors, or specify a RIP menu to be displayed to your users by pressing <Alt-P>. If you want to see how a menu will look to your users (ASCII/ANSI), press <Alt-S>. You can also copy and paste menu items. To copy an item, move to the item you want to copy, and press <Alt-C>. To insert the copied item somewhere else, move to the place where you want the menu item, and press <Ctrl-P>. You can even copy and paste items across different menus. - 77 - Hot Tip! ──────── You can press <Alt-M> while logged on locally and a menu is displayed, or when a user is logged on and sitting on a menu. This launches the menu editor with the current menu loaded so you can edit it. You will need to tell ProBoard which language you want the menu loaded for. This makes it very easy to correct/add items to a menu you are viewing on the screen, while it is still fresh in your mind. Basically, each line of your menus that your users will see contains the following attributes. Text Line ................... Text line to be displayed to the user. Color ....................... Color of this menu item. Press <ENTER> to edit the color for this menu item. HotKey ...................... The key the user is to press to activate this menu option. Function .................... Menu Function to be executed. Press <ENTER> to display and select from a list of all ProBoard Menu Functions. Data ........................ Data associated with this menu item. Refer to the "Menu Functions" section of this chapter for more info on Data Items that you can use or that may be needed with some Menu Functions. Minimum Level ............... Minimum security level a user needs to access this menu item. Maximum Level ............... Maximum security level a user can have to access this menu item. - 78 - Flags ....................... The flags that the user needs in their user record to access this menu item. Press <Enter> when on this field to invoke the menu flag editor. Simply press the character (A-Z or 1-6) to toggle the flags. While you are in the menu flag editor you can press <F1> to view/modify notes about what your flags are used for. You can also specify flags that a user MUST NOT have in order to access this menu item. These flags are shown in reverse. To set a reverse flag, press the flag letter twice (it will appear reversed). To clear a reversed flag type the flag letter one more time. Minimum Age ................. The minimum age a user has to be in order to access this menu item. Set this to "0" to disable age checking. Maximum Age ................. The oldest age that a user can be to access this menu option. Sex ......................... The sex the user must be to access this menu function. Set this to "Don't Care" to allow users of either sex to use this menu option. Time Left ................... The minimum amount of time a user must have in order to use this menu function. Great for doors that don't check a users remaining time, etc. Time Online ................. The amount of time a user must be online before they are allowed to select this menu option. Time Frame .................. The hours during which users can select this menu item. Default is "fully enabled" meaning that this menu item is available at all times during a 24 hour period. Press <Enter> to bring froward a window that will allow you to select times for this menu item to be accessed. Times are in 1/2 hour increments, based on a 24 hour format. - 79 - Minimum Speed ............... Minimum baud rate at which user must be connected in order to see this menu item. Maximum Speed ............... Maximum baud rate at which this menu item will be displayed. Great for suggesting users with 300 baud modems buy a faster modem :-) Nodes ....................... Determines on what nodes this menu item will be available. Press [Enter] to change. Password required ........... If enabled, a password is required to execute this menu item (see next item) Password .................... Password required to executed this menu item (if enabled). The password is not case sensitive. RIP Options ─────────── Show Remote ................. If set to "Yes" then menu item or A?? file will be sent to remote. The default value for this setting is "No". Show Local .................. If set to "Yes", when the RIP sequence is sent to the user, the SysOp will see this as a normal ANSI menu-line or ANSI file. The default value for this setting is "Yes" Reset Screen ................ If set to "Yes", ProBoard will reset (clear) the RIP windows before executing this menu function. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Matrix Addresses (F10) │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ This is where you enter your net address. If you have more than one net address, enter them here also. - 80 - ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Modem Parameters - (Shift-F1) │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ When selecting "Modem Parameters", you get a choice between the default configuration or a node-specific configuration. The default configuration is used whenever there is no node-specific configuration defined. You do not need to change these parameters when using ProBoard with a front-end mailer, since it is in the mailer's setup where you would define your modem(s) parameters. Hardware Setup ────────────── COM port .................... Enter the port that your modem is configured to use. For example, enter a 1 here to specify COM1, etc. Locked Speed ................ Set to "Yes" if your modem's bps rate is fixed (see below) Max. Bps Rate ............... Maximum baud rate your modem can handle. If you are locking your COM port with the fossil driver, this setting is ignored. Modem Delay ................. Number of 1/10 seconds to pause between each character that is sent to the modem (some modems can't handle fast input). Answer Delay ................ Number of 1/10 seconds to wait before the answer command (see below) is sent to the modem after a ring is detected (only when "Manual Answer" is enabled) - 81 - Command Strings ─────────────── You can insert special codes in the modem command strings: ^ Set DTR high. ` or v Set DTR low. | Sends a <CR> to the modem. $ Sends a break to the modem. ~ Pauses for 1/2 second. Make sure you add a '|' to send a return for all modem commands. The modem result messages also need a '|' if the modem sends a CR/LF after the message. (i.e. "ATA|" or "RING|") Init Command 1-3 ............ Modem initialization commmands. These are strings that have to be sent to the modem to initialize it and to have it ready to answer the phone. It is possible to have up to 3 init commands. The second one won't be sent until the first one results in "OK", and the third one won't be sent until the second one returns "OK". Every 5 minutes, the modem will be re-initialized (some modems fall asleep after a while) Ok Message .................. What the modem sends back when a command was accepted ("OK") Off Hook Command ............ Command to be sent to the modem when the SysOp is logging in locally. Down Command ................ Command to be sent to the modem when the SysOp presses <Esc> Manual Answer ............... Set to "Yes" if ProBoard should send the answer command when a ring is received. Do NOT set your modem in auto-answer mode when using this option. Ring Message ................ What the modem sends when the phone rings. Answer Command .............. What ProBoard should send to answer the phone. - 82 - External/Fax Msg ............ ProBoard will exit immediately when this message is received from the modem. This can be used to receive faxes when running ProBoard in a standalone environment (for some modems this string should be set to "CONNECT FAX"). ProBoard will then IMMEDIATELY exit with the given errorlevel. External Errorlevel ......... The errorlevel ProBoard will exit with when the above message is received from the modem. Connect Strings ─────────────── <xxx> Bps Call .............. String returned by the modem upon an <xxx> bps call. This is a 'partial' string. So if the modem sends 'CONNECT 2400/ARQ', the string 'CONNECT 2400' will match. A '|' can be used to specify a CR/LF. It HAS to be used for the 300 bps connect string, because "CONNECT" without a '|' would match "CONNECT 2400" or "CONNECT 9600". So the correct string is: "CONNECT|". You can define up to 6 user-defined connect strings. For each one you can specify the bps rate and the connect message that goes with it. LOCKING BAUD RATES ────────────────── Note: If you use an error-correcting modem (MNP/V42), you may have to lock your serial port speed using the fossil driver. A "locked" baud rate refers to the transfer rate between the computer and modem. When locked, the baud rate will remain constant regardless of what the application program, such as ProBoard, requests the baud rate to be. The modem MUST support a constant computer to modem speed, otherwise any baud rate change requested by an application will be ignored, resulting in an incorrect setting between your system and your users. The result will be garbled input and output. - 83 - Most high speed modems do support a fixed baud rate, and by locking the baud rate you will obtain higher throughput. A fossil program like X00 or BNU will handle this for you and is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED (see the respective fossil doc file for command syntax). Note: Experience shows that a faster locking baud rate than actual phone line baud rate will yield the best results. Examples: X00 B,0,9600 BNU /L0=9600 See your FOSSIL documentation for details. If possible, install your fossil for "quiet" or "no commercial" mode so the screen display from the fossil does not bleed onto the ProBoard main screen (stand-alone systems with no mailers in particular). ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ SysOp Macros (Shift-F2) │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ There are 2 kinds of SysOp macros: - Key macros : With this type of macro, it is possible to assign many keystrokes to a single key. When the macro key is pressed, all keys specified will be passed to ProBoard, as if you typed them yourself. Special chars: '|' is replaced by <Enter> '^' is replaced by <Esc> - Shell macros : You can link any DOS command to a macro's hot- key. A shell-definition MUST start with a '@'. The string following the '@' should contain the DOS command to be executed. You can, of course, use the special shell options from menu function 7. Take this for an example: Suppose you have set 'Swapping' to 'No' in ProCFG. Should you, however, need ALL your system memory in the shell, you could define the following macro: @*C*N*Q*X (COMMAND.COM, NoLog, NoMsg, Swapping). - 84 - - String macros: You can display a line of text to the user with a hotkey. A string macro should start with a back quote (`) character. When the hotkey is pressed, the line of text will be sent to the user and displayed on your local screen. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Events - (Shift-F3) │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ It is possible to instruct ProBoard to perform some action at a set time and day (an "Event"). This action can be: exiting with a specific errorlevel (for a batch file) or executing a DOS command. This is useful for example, to pack the user file, or to pack the message base at a specified time each day. You can define up to 30 events. An event is described by the following fields: ────────────────────────────────────────────── Enabled...................... If this is set to 'No', the event will be ignored. Active Days.................. Determines on what days of the week this event will run. To edit this field, press <Enter> and toggle the 'Yes/No' fields displayed next to each day. Event Time................... The time at which the event has to run on the selected days (in 24h format). Duration..................... How long this event has to stay active. During the event, no users are allowed to log in on ANY node. - 85 - Event type................... 'Command' : A DOS-command will be executed when the event is activated. You can use any of the shell options from menu type 7. Remember to use the *Z option to run a batch file. 'Errlevel': When the event is activated, ProBoard will exit with an errorlevel, specified in the next field. Errorlevel................... The errorlevel to use for this event if the event type is set to 'Errorlevel'. DOS-command.................. The DOS-command to execute for this event if the event type is set to 'Command'. Node number.................. An event will run on ONE node. You can specify the node here. When using a frontend-mailer, you only have to specify the time, days and duration, because the events have to be executed by the mailer. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Personal Files - (Shift-F4) │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ ProBoard allows you and other users to send "Personal Files" to each other on the BBS. ProBoard keeps track of each uploaded file. You can add/edit/delete Personal Files with this option in ProCFG. In the list of files, a [+] means that the file physically exists. This assures you that a file you define as a Personal File for another user actually is in the directory waiting for them upon their next call to your BBS. When the file name is shown between parentheses, it means that the file is not located in the personal files directory (as setup in ProCFG), but in another directory. - 86 - To edit an entry, press <Enter>, to Delete an entry, press <Del>, and to add an entry, press <Ins>. Filename..................... Name of the uploaded file. Press <Alt-L> to select any file which is in your personal files directory. You can also enter a complete path and file name if the file you want to send is not located in the personal files directory. Keep in mind that when the "Delete" flag is set (see below), the file will be physically removed from your hard drive after the user has downloaded the file. From User.................... The user who sent this file. Press <Alt-L> to select a name from your user file, or type the name in yourself. To user...................... The destination user for this file. Press <Alt-L> to select a user from your user file, or type one in. Delete....................... If this flag is set to "Yes", the file will be physically deleted after the user has downloaded it. If set to "No", only the entry in the personal files list will be removed, not the file itself. It is possible to add files to this list. This way you can send a file to a specific user. ProBoard will handle deleting files after a user transfers "personal files" that are waiting for them (if the "Delete" flag is set). You can also manually delete files in the "personal file" editor by positioning the highlight bar on the filename and pressing the <DEL> key. You will be asked to confirm the deletion of the file before it is deleted from the "personal file" list as well as from your hard drive. For more information on how to implement this option on your BBS, refer to Menu Function(s) 22, 33, 32 explained in detail in the section on menus. - 87 - ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Language Editor - (Shift-F5) │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ ProBoard allows you to change the text and the color for every prompt in the system to create a custom "look and feel" for your BBS. ProBoard also allows you to display your system prompts to users in several different languages. Language files end with the file extension ".PBL" and are stored in your ProBoard system directory (usually C:\PB). You can create and install up to 30 different language files at any one time. To create a different language file, first you must select one to work with as a model. You then copy the model to a language file with a new name. Refer to the following example: COPY ENGLISH.PBL STARTREK.PBL This would create a new language file called "STARTREK.PBL" from the "ENGLISH.PBL" file (supplied with ProBoard). All of the system prompts in "STARTREK.PBL" would at this point be exactly the same as the ones in ENGLISH.PBL. You should then start up PROCFG.EXE and select "Language Editor" (Shift+F5). A window will be displayed showing the currently installed languages. Position the highlight on STARTREK (notice that the name in the right column still says "English") and press <ENTER> to begin working with it. You will now see a full screen window with all of the prompts for your new STARTREK language file. Note on the top line the following options: Alt-D ....................... Restores the default prompt for the system prompt you are currently positioned on. So if you change the "Please enter your first and last name" prompt to read "Enter your name", and then decide you liked the default prompt better, press Alt-D while positioned on the "Enter your name" prompt and the default prompt will be restored. The default prompt is always displayed on the bottom line of the Language Editor. - 88 - Alt-P ....................... Opens the "Language Properties" dialog. This is where you define the properties for this language file. You'll notice the description for the STARTREK language file still says ENGLISH in the description. This needs to be changed to STARTREK so your users can select the new language, otherwise they will have two ENGLISH languages to choose from. Alt-S ....................... Opens the "Search" dialog. Enter a text string to search for in the language and ProBoard will move to the first prompt in the language file that matches. To repeat the search, in the prompts for the next occurrence of the text string you entered, press <Alt-N>. This allows you to easily search your entire language file for specified text, making changes to the prompts as the text is found. A description of the fields in the "Language Properties" dialog is as follows: Description ................. This is the name your users will see when choosing from language files they have access to. Available ................... Whether this language is available to callers with the proper security level. Level ....................... The minimum security level required to select this language file. Flags ....................... The security flags needed in a users record to be able to select this language file. Menu Path ................... The full path to your language specific menus. If specified ProBoard will look for language specific menus in this path when users select this language. If left blank, ProBoard will display the menus in the path specified in PROCFG, Options, Paths, Menus. - 89 - Text Path ................... The full path to your language specific text files. If specified ProBoard will display language specific versions of your A?? text files if you create them. RIP files need to be in one common directory (in other words, ProBoard does not support RIP language specific text files at this time. If left blank, ProBoard will display the textfiles in the path specified in PROCFG, Options, Paths, Textfiles. Questionnaire Path .......... The full path to your language specific questionnaire files. If specified ProBoard will use language specific versions of your questionnaires if you create them. If left blank, ProBoard will look for questionnaire files (files with the .Q-A file extension) in the ProBoard System Directory. Once you are positioned on a prompt that you want to change, press <ENTER> to invoke the "Edit Language String" dialog. Each language string can be up to eight lines long. The color for each string is fully configurable (just like in the menu editor). You can insert the following control codes in your language string. @a<file>@ ................... Shows <file>.ANS/ASC/AVT (depending on the user's terminal setting). You can put this code anywhere in the prompt. (Example: "@aP_ENTER@" displays P_ENTER.A??) @p<file>@ ................... Runs <file>.PEX when this prompt is displayed. Parameters are allowed (seperated by spaces). You can put this control code anywhere in the prompt. (Example: "@pTEST 2@" will run TEST.PEX with the parameter 2) ^ ........................... Toggles the highlight color on/off. The actual highlight color can be changed by selecting the "Highlight" option in the Language String editor. - 90 - \\ .......................... Single Backspace. \^ .......................... Generates a caret (the ^ character). \<B><F> .................... Set background color to <B> and foreground color to <F>. The color has to be entered as one hex character (0-9,A-F). The colors are: ─────────────── 0 - Black 8 - Bright Black 1 - Blue 9 - Bright Blue 2 - Green A - Bright Green 3 - Cyan B - Bright Cyan 4 - Red C - Bright Red 5 - Magenta D - Bright Magenta 6 - Yellow E - Bright Yellow 7 - White (Grey) F - Bright White (Grey) For the background color, bright colors are not available. When you use 8-F for the background color, the color will have the blinking attribute. Other color codes you can use are: ────────────────────────────────── \HR -> Bright red \LR -> Dark red \HG -> Bright green \LG -> Dark green \HY -> Bright yellow \LY -> Dark yellow \HB -> Bright blue \LB -> Dark blue \HP -> Bright purple \LP -> Dark purple \HC -> Bright cyan \LC -> Dark cyan \HW -> Bright white \LW -> Dark white Some examples: ────────────── \0F Bright white on black \1B Bright cyan on blue \8E Bright yellow (blinking) \70 Reverse (black on grey) \LC Dark cyan on black - 91 - A description of the fields in the Language String dialog is as follows: String #1 - String #8 ...... The actual text that will be displayed to your users. Some prompts can be quite simple to understand (refer to Prompt #7) and some can seem quite difficult at first (refer to Prompt #207) with many options needing to be passed to the prompt, as well as hotkey values. A careful study of the default prompts, and how they display will help you to gain a better idea of how they work. Hotkeys ..................... The hotkeys needed for the prompt. If you study Prompt #207 you will see the hotkeys defined are "SCRDILAE". If you look at the text strings for this same prompt, you will see why these hotkeys are needed. Be sure to specify the correct number and order of hotkeys for each prompt (if applicable). Any prompt which does not use hotkeys will have "n/a" displayed in the hotkey field and you will not be able to enter anything into the hotkey field. Color ....................... Allows you to define a color for the prompt text displayed to your users. Press <ENTER> to select the color you want to use for your prompt text. Highlight ................... Allows you to define a color for the highlight. Remember, highlight is toggled on/off with the ^ character. Prompt Color ................ Allows you to select a color for the users reply to this prompt. For example, if your prompt reads "Enter your first AND last name" and this color is set to cyan, when a user types their name, what they type will be displayed in cyan (or whatever color you select here). - 92 - The Language Editor will allow you to see what your prompts will look like when a user sees them without showing you the control codes. Move the highlight thru the language editor until you are close to, but not on, Prompt #191. You will notice it displays "(DUPLICATE- DELETED") and the word "DELETED" is flashing. Now move the highlight selector to prompt #191 and press <ENTER>. You will now see the prompt with the control codes that make it flash, etc. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Validate Template Editor - (Shift-F6) │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ ProBoard allows you to easily validate users on your BBS using the values defined here in the Validate Template Editor. The Validate Template Editor makes validation of your new users with any desired security level, loglevel, or combination of flag settings, and complete subscription support very easy. Once your templates have been defined, all you need to do to validate a user using the templates, is to press <ALT-V> while positioned on their record in the User Editor. Then, simply select which validation template you want to apply. Before you can use your validation templates, you must first define them. This is done here, in the Validate Template Editor. To add a validation template, press <Alt-A>. You can also press <F1> for help at any time while in the Validate Template Editor. The following keys can be used while in the Validate Template Editor. Page Up ..................... Go to the previous record in the template editor. Page Down ................... Go to the next record in the template editor. CTRL+PgUp.................... Go to first template record. CTRL+PgDn.................... Go to last template record. ESC ......................... Leave the template editor. Alt-A ....................... Add a template record. - 93 - Alt-D ....................... Toggles the current template record for deletion. Alt-F ....................... Show/Edit your flag descriptions. Alt-L ....................... Shows a list of all currently defined templates. Alt-S ....................... Searches currently defined templates by descriptions. Alt-N ....................... Searches for next record containing matching description as in previous search. The following fields make up a template "record" in ProBoard's Validate Template Editor. Description ................. This is the description for this template. Be sure to describe your templates so you remember what security level they assign to a user at a later time when you validate them using the templates. Security Level .............. This is the security level you want assigned to a user when validating them using this template. Subscribe ................... How many days of "subscription" access a user will receive when validated using this template. ProBoard will use this value to calculate the Expiration Date in the users record. Expiration Level ............ The security level you want to assign when the users subscription level reaches the Expiration Date. Timebank Time ............... How many minutes of time you want to place into the users time bank account. Timebank Kbyte .............. How many KBytes of file credit you want to place into the users time bank account. - 94 - Netmail Credit .............. How many netmail credits the user should receive when validated. Validation Flags On ......... The flags to enable in a users record when validating them using this template. Validation Flags Off ........ The flags to disable in a users record when validating them using this template. Expiration Flags On ......... The flags to enable when a user reaches their expiration level. Expiration Flags Off ........ The flags to disable when a user reaches their expiration level. Comment ..................... A comment to place in the users record when validating them using this template. Loglevel .................... What loglevel to assign a user when validating them using this template. Use the <Space Bar> to cycle through the choices. Hidden ...................... If enabled, ProBoard will hide this users activity from the Last Callers list (Function 51), Show Users Online (Function 50), and from the display of the User List (Function 13). No Tops ..................... If set to "Yes", then this user will be excluded from any of the "Tops" lists that ProBoard creates. Refer to Menu Function 48 for more info. Attention ................... If set to "Yes", ProBoard will play the file ATTEN.MUS when this user logs on. The file ATTEN.MUS must be in your ProBoard System Directory (usually C:\PB). NoKill ...................... If set to "Yes" the user's record CAN NOT be removed from the userfile when using PBUTIL UK (User Killer) or PBUTIL UP (User Packer). - 95 - Ignore Download ............. Does this user have UNLIMITED download access? If set to "Yes", ProBoard will ignore download limits for this user. Deleted ..................... If this is set to "Yes", this means this Template Record is marked for deletion and will be cleared from your list of templates as soon as you leave the Validate Template Editor. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ About ProCFG - (Shift-F9) │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Displays a window which contains copyright information about ProCFG. - 96 - ╔═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗ ╟─── SECURITY ────────────────────────────────────────────────────╢ ╚═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝ ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Levels & Flags │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ All security procedures toward a user are being done through the user's LEVEL and FLAGS. ProBoard can have levels ranging from 0 to 64000, and provides 32 flags (A-Z, and 1-6) that can be ON or OFF. If a menu needs a certain level and flags, then only the users with a level equal to or higher than that level and with all the needed flags will be able to SEE and CHOOSE this menu option. It will remain invisible to all the other users. An example will be given in the next chapter. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Trashcan │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ It is possible to specify names that cannot be used to log on to your system. Often used fake names are: "SysOp", "BBS", etc... You can specify these names in a textfile called TRASHCAN.CTL. Each line in this file specifies an unwanted or illegal name. An example file is included. - 97 - ╔═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗ ╟─── MENUS ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────╢ ╚═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝ Menus are one of the most important parts of a BBS. Menus are the direct interface between a user and your BBS. They are used to execute all the BBS functions, and they can have their own submenus. They take care of security, by disabling or hiding certain functions from certain users or groups of users. ProBoard allows your BBS to have a very personal look, as your menus can be built and displayed in a VERY flexible way. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Setting Up Menus │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ A menu is basically line-oriented. Every line is linked to a function to be executed and to a textline to be shown to the user. Every line/function has its own level and flags, to make sure that not all of the menu items are available to every user. A menu line has the following fields: ───────────────────────────────────── Textline..................... Textline to be displayed to the user. Hotkey....................... Key to be pressed by the user to activate this menu item. Function..................... Function to be executed. Data......................... Data associated with this menu item. Level........................ Level needed to access this menu item. Flags........................ Flags needed to access this menu item. Color........................ Color of the menu line. - 98 - ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Menu Security │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ To clarify menu security, here's a simple example: Suppose we have 4 users with the following levels and flags: ┌──────────────────────┬───────┬─────────┐ │ Name │ Level │ Flags │ │----------------------│-------│---------│ │ Pete │ 10 │ Z │ │ Jerry │ 100 │ P │ │ Al │ 100 │ R │ │ Charlie │ 200 │ P & R │ └──────────────────────┴───────┴─────────┘ Let's define a menu with textlines only: ┌───────────────────────┬───────┬────────┐ │ Text │ Level │ Flags │ │-----------------------│-------│--------│ │ Good morning; │ 10 │ │ │ ,; │ 50 │ │ │ Jerry │ 100 │ P │ │ and; │ 150 │ │ │ Al; │ 100 │ R │ │ send their best wishes│ 200 │ P & R │ │ . │ 300 │ │ │ :-) │ 10 │ X │ └───────────────────────┴───────┴────────┘ This would give the following result when the menu is displayed: ┌─────────────────┬─────────────────────────────────┐ │ Pete │ Good morning │ ╞═════════════════╪═════════════════════════════════╡ │ Jerry │ Good morning,Jerry │ ╞═════════════════╪═════════════════════════════════╡ │ Al │ Good morning,Al │ ╞═════════════════╪═════════════════════════════════╡ │ Charlie │ Good morning, Jerry │ │ │ and Al send their best wishes │ └─────────────────┴─────────────────────────────────┘ The last 2 lines of the menu will NEVER be displayed, because none of the 4 users have the required level AND flags. - 99 - ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Creating Menus │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Your BBS's main menu MUST! be stored in a file called TOP.PBM. All the other menus can have any file name you want to give them. When you select the 'Menu Editor' option in PROCFG's main menu, a new window will be opened containing the menus already available (if any). In this window, you can use the following keys: - Up/Down Scroll up/down. - Enter Select a menu. - Ins Add a menu. When you have selected a menu, a list of all the menu items will be displayed. To add a menu item, just move past the last item and press <Enter>. To insert an item, press <Ins>, to remove one, press <Del>. To edit a menu item, move the selector to that item and press <Enter>. You can change the menu prompt and highlight colors by pressing <Alt-P>. If you want to see how a menu will look, press <Alt-S> to simulate what your users will see when they view this menu. You can also copy and paste menu items. To copy an item, move to the item you want to copy, and press <Alt-C>. To insert the copied item somewhere else, move to the place where you want the menu item inserted, and press <Ctrl-P>. You can even copy and paste items across different menus. - 100 - A menu item has the following fields: ───────────────────────────────────── Textline..................... This is the string to be displayed. Leaving this field blank causes a blank line to be displayed to the user. A CR/LF will be sent after the menu line. To avoid this, just enter a ';' as the last character. This will cause the next textline of the menu to be appended to this one. Special textline characters: ^ : Switches between normal and highlighted color. ~ : Replaced by the number of minutes the user has left in this session. ` : Replaced by the name of the current message area (more about this later). @ : Replaced by the name of the current file area (more about this later). This textline can also contain text macros like @<NAME>@ or @<NODE>@. More about this in the "Text macros" section. You are not limited to two colors in menu lines. You can use the codes \1 to \7 to change colors, or \0 to return to the original color. - 101 - Hotkey....................... Most of the menu functions must be chosen by the user, so ProBoard must react to certain key-presses from the user. Receiving the hotkey for a certain menu item will cause ProBoard to execute the function associated with this item. The hotkey can be any ASCII character or digit,but one character has a special meaning to ProBoard: <Ctrl-A> will make this function AUTOEXEC, which means that this function will be executed as soon as this menu item is displayed (without really selecting this option). Function..................... The function associated with this menu item. Pressing the <Enter> key will cause a complete list of all the menu functions to be displayed in a separate window. Data......................... This field is optional with some of the functions. Basically, in this field you enter the parameters of a menu function. Eg. function 40 (Display ASC/ANS file) needs a file- name as data (parameter). Function 1 (Goto menu) needs the name of the menu to be jumped to. Text macros can be inserted (see "Text macros" section). Level........................ Level needed to access this menu item. Flags........................ Flags needed to access this menu item. Color........................ Color for the menu's textline to be displayed in. - 102 - ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Hints │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ You can create a menu by using textlines, but you can also create menus that display a file to the user, in which all the options are shown. This technique works as follows: The first item in the menu should have ';' as textline and <Ctrl-A> (autoexec) as hotkey. The function to be executed should be function 40 (Display file with hotkeys). When the user accesses this menu, the specified file will immediately be sent. Setting all the remaining textlines of the menu to ';' will cause NOTHING BUT this file to be displayed. Combined with the use of text macros, this allows you to show different looking menus for each node you are running. For example, if you use function 40, and enter "MAIN@<NODE>@" in the data field, node 1 will see file MAIN1 , node 2 will see MAIN2, etc. This feature can be used to create a completely different set of menus for each node on your board! Another powerful feature is the ability to create a special menu called GLOBAL.PBM This is the same as any other ProBoard menu except that all items defined in this menu will be appended to the bottom of each and every menu on your BBS. This can help convey a standard look and feel for each of your menus to your users. The prompt from the original menu and not from the GLOBAL.PBM is the prompt that will be displayed to your users. Be careful when using GLOBAL.PBM that you do not append hot-keys that are already in use on existing menus. If you need more information about all the possibilities, take a look at the example menus supplied with ProBoard. - 103 - ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Menu Function Summary │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ The following is a summary list of the ProBoard Menu Functions. Each Menu Function is explained in detail in the following section titled "Menu Functions Overview". Function Action Performed Page ─────────── ────────────────────────────────────────── ──── Function 1 .... GOTO Menu ................................ 106 Function 2 .... GOSUB Menu ............................... 107 Function 3 .... GOTO Previous Menu ....................... 108 Function 4 .... GOTO Menu and Clear Menu Stack ........... 108 Function 5 .... Show ANS/ASC File......................... 109 Function 6 .... Change State ............................. 109 Function 7 .... Shell .................................... 110 Function 8 .... Show Version Information ................. 113 Function 9 .... Log Off .................................. 113 Function 10 ... Show System Usage Per Hour (Graph) ....... 113 Function 11 ... Chat Request ............................. 114 Function 12 ... Execute Questionnaire Script ............. 114 Function 13 ... Display User List ........................ 118 Function 14 ... Display Time Info ........................ 118 Function 15 ... Show A?? File and Wait ................... 118 Function 16 ... Change City .............................. 118 Function 17 ... Change Password .......................... 119 Function 18 ... Change Screen Length ..................... 119 Function 19 ... Toggle Screen Clearing Codes ............. 119 Function 20 ... Toggle More Prompt ....................... 120 Function 21 ... Toggle ANSI Codes ........................ 121 Function 22 ... Check for Personal Mail / Files .......... 122 Function 23 ... Read Messages ............................ 122 Function 24 ... Scan Messages ............................ 124 Function 25 ... Quick Scan Messages ...................... 124 Function 26 ... Show System Usage by Day (Graph) ......... 124 Function 27 ... Write a Message .......................... 124 Function 28 ... Combined Boards Select ................... 126 Function 29 ... Display System Usage Per Week (Graph)..... 126 Function 30 ... Show Directory ........................... 126 Function 31 ... List Files ............................... 127 Function 32 ... Download a File .......................... 129 Function 33 ... Upload a File ............................ 132 Function 34 ... View an Archive .......................... 133 Function 35 ... File Search by Keyword ................... 133 - 104 - Function Action Performed Page ─────────── ────────────────────────────────────────── ──── Function 36 ... File Search by File Name ................. 134 Function 37 ... Show New Files ........................... 134 Function 38 ... View a File .............................. 134 Function 39 ... Display Named File ....................... 135 Function 40 ... Display A?? File with Menu Hotkeys ....... 135 Function 41 ... Toggle the Full Screen Editor ............ 136 Function 42 ... Toggle Command Stacking/Hotkeys .......... 136 Function 43 ... Clear Marked Messages .................... 137 Function 44 ... Global Combined Boards Selection ......... 137 Function 45 ... Display Text File and Wait ............... 137 Function 46 ... Change User Level and/or Flags ........... 137 Function 47 ... Make a Log Entry ......................... 138 Function 48 ... Show Hit Parade .......................... 138 Function 49 ... Select Message Area ...................... 139 Function 50 ... Show Users Online ........................ 140 Function 51 ... List Last Callers ........................ 140 Function 52 ... Remote User Editor ....................... 141 Function 53 ... Multi-Line (Internode) Chat .............. 141 Function 54 ... Select File Area ......................... 142 Function 55 ... Show .GIF File Information ............... 142 Function 56 ... Toggle IBM Characters .................... 142 Function 57 ... Change Phone Number ...................... 143 Function 58 ... Change Data/Fax Phone Number ............. 143 Function 59 ... Change User Alias (Handle) ............... 143 Function 60 ... Run ProBoard SDK File .................... 144 Function 61 ... Bulletin Menu ............................ 144 Function 62 ... Toggle AVATAR/0 .......................... 145 Function 63 ... Toggle AVATAR/0+ ......................... 146 Function 64 ... Show Graph (General) ..................... 146 Function 65 ... Display A??/RIP file with Hotkeys ........ 147 Function 66 ... Change RIPscrip Font ..................... 147 Function 67 ... Toggle RIPscrip Graphics ................. 148 Function 68 ... Edit Tagged Files ........................ 148 Function 69 ... Select a new Language .................... 148 Function 70 ... Change Date Format ....................... 149 Function 71 ... Change Mailing Address ................... 149 Function 72 ... Change FAX Number ........................ 149 Function 73 ... Change Country ........................... 149 Function 74 ... Change Default Protocol .................. 150 Function 75 ... Select Message Area Group ................ 150 Function 76 ... Select File Area Group ................... 150 - 105 - ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Menu Functions Overview │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ In this function overview, parameters between <> are REQUIRED, and parameters between [] are optional. For example: <blank> is a required parameter. [/M] is an option you might specify in addition. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Function 1: GOTO MENU │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ DATA: <menu name> [/M=<nr msgarea>] [/F=<nr filearea>] [/P=<pwd>] This function makes ProBoard jump to menu <menu name>. Option /M can be used to define one single menu for several message areas. You could jump to a 'general' message area menu and pass option /M=3, to make message area 3 active for the selected menu. Please refer to function 23 (Read messages) for more information about this option. Option /F works exactly the same, but applies to file areas. It is possible to protect a menu with a password by using the /P= option. For example: "SysOp /P=Test" would protect menu "SysOp" with the password "Test". The user will have to enter this password to be allowed to move to the menu. It is also possible to select the next available message or file areas with the use of the following parameters. /M=+ (set next accessible Message Area) /M=- (set previous accessible Message Area) /F=+ (set next available File Area) /F=- (set previous accessible File Area) Data examples: MSG /M=5 ──────── This makes ProBoard GOTO the menu named "MSG" and sets the Message Area to Area #5. - 106 - FILE /F=10 ────────── This makes ProBoard display the menu named "FILE" and sets the File Area to Area #10 MSG /M=+ ──────── This makes ProBoard display the menu named "MSG" and selects the next Message Area that is available to this caller. FILE /F=- ───────── This makes ProBoard display the menu named "FILE" and selects the previous File Area that is available to this caller. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Function 2: GOSUB MENU │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ DATA: <menu name> [/M=<nr msgarea>] [/F=<nr filearea>] [/P=pwd] This function is largely the same as the Menu Function 1 (it even has the same parameters), but the menu this function is called from is pushed onto an internal stack. ProBoard will jump back to this menu when returning from menu <menu name> (by executing Menu Function 3). Data examples: (see Menu Function 1 for complete parameters) MSG /M=5 ──────── This makes ProBoard display the menu named "MSG" and sets the Message Area to Area #5. It also places the previous menu on a stack. The previous menu can be returned to by using Menu Function 3. FILE /F=10 ────────── This makes ProBoard display the menu named "FILE" and sets the File Area to Area #10. It also places the previous menu on a stack. The previous menu can be returned to by using Menu Function 3. - 107 - MSG /M=+ ──────── This makes ProBoard display the menu named "MSG" and selects the next Message Area that is available to this caller. It also places the previous menu on a stack. The previous menu can be returned to by using Menu Function 3. FILE /F=- ───────── This makes ProBoard display the menu named "FILE" and selects the previous File Area that is available to this caller. It also places the previous menu on a stack. The previous menu can be returned to by using Menu Function 3. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Function 3: GOTO PREVIOUS MENU │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ DATA: - This function makes ProBoard go back to the previous menu if you used Menu Function 2. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Function 4: GOTO MENU & CLEAR STACK │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ DATA: <menu name> [/M=<nr msgarea>] [/F=<nr filearea>] [/P=pwd] This function performs the same tasks as Menu Function 1, but will clear the existing menu stack, thus preventing the user from returning to the previous menu. Data examples: (see Menu Function 1 for complete parameters) MSG /M=5 ──────── This makes ProBoard display the menu named "MSG" and sets the Message Area to Area #5. The menu stack will be cleared preventing return to any previous menus already on the stack. - 108 - FILE /F=10 ────────── This makes ProBoard display the menu named "FILE" and sets the File Area to Area #10. The menu stack will be cleared preventing return to any previous menus already on the stack. MSG /M=+ ──────── This makes ProBoard display the menu named "MSG" and selects the next Message Area that is available to this caller. The menu stack will be cleared preventing return to any previous menus already on the stack. FILE /F=- ───────── This makes ProBoard display the menu named "FILE" and selects the previous File Area that is available to this caller. The stack will be cleared preventing return to any previous menus already on the stack. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Function 5: SHOW ANS/ASC FILE │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ DATA: <filename> This function displays a file to the user with the extension .ANS or .ASC, depending on the user's ANSI-setting. The file must be stored in ProBoard's textfiles directory; <filename> should NOT contain an extension (max. eight characters). If ProBoard doesn't find the .ANS file, it will look for the .ASC file. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Function 6: CHANGE STATE │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ DATA: - Allows a user to change the state in their user-record. - 109 - ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Function 7: SHELL │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ DATA: <command line> With this function, you can instruct ProBoard to execute an external program. This program has to do its own serial I/O, so ordinary programs will only work if run locally. Parameter <command line> needs full path and filename (.COM or .EXE extension included), and may contain some special codes. These codes will (at run-time) be replaced by a value or a string. Special codes: ** Replaced by an asterisk ('*') *# Replaced by the node number. *\ Sends the message "SysOp is shelling..." to the user before the shell is executed, and the message "SysOp has returned..." afterwards. *! Freezes ProBoard's system timer when shelling. *= Do not call any fossil functions when shelling. Great for use in INIT.PEX files. *A Writes a user's handle (alias) to DORINFOx.DEF instead of his/her real name. *B Current baud rate. *C Replaced by the full name & path of the command interpreter. It is the contents of the environment variable "COMSPEC". This usually is C:\COMMAND.COM. *D Writes a full 52-line DOOR.SYS drop file to the current directory before shelling. *E Writes an RA 1.1x EXITINFO.BBS to the current directory before shelling and reads it back afterwards. ProBoard creates an RA 2.xx by default so if you need the older EXITINFO.BBS format be sure to specify the *E parameter. *F User's first name. - 110 - *G Indicates whether user has ANSI (1) or ASCII (0) set. *H Tells ProBoard not to disable the fossil driver when shelling. *I Maximum user-inactivity (seconds). *L User's last name. *M ProBoard's start-up directory (including trailing '\') *N Shell will NOT be logged in PROBOARD.LOG. *O (not zero!) is replaced by the path of the current file area. *P Com-port used by ProBoard (1-8). *Q Don't let user know that ProBoard is shelling (!). *R User's record number in USERS.BBS. *S ProBoard's system directory (incl. trailing '\') *T Time left for the user today (minutes). *V Disables adding 2 to the graphics capability line in DORINFOx.DEF when the user has AVATAR enabled. *W Runs the shell in a window , so the status on the last line will not be cleared. This option only works with programs that send their output to the standard output device (no direct screen writes). *X ALWAYS SWAP to disk/EMS, even if swapping is disabled in ProCFG. *Y DO NOT SWAP to disk/EMS. *Z Execute the command as if you typed it from the command line. The main use for this option is to execute DOS batch files. It is exactly the same as entering "*C /C <command>". It can also be useful to execute programs that are located in your path, without having to specify the exact directory name. - 111 - *_ (asterisk underscore) Tells ProBoard not to write underscores instead of spaces when writing a user's last name in DORINFOx.DEF. For example, users name is Harvey Van Hooten. Without this parameter, users name will be written to DORINFOx.DEF as follows: HARVEY VAN_HOOTEN By using the *_ (asterisk underscore) the users name will be written to DORINFOx.DEF as follows: HARVEY VAN HOOTEN (with no underscore in last name) *0 (zero) ProBoard will write a DORINFO1.DEF instead of a DORINFO<node>.DEF - great for running doors which require a DORINFO1.DEF file on a multi node ProBoard system. *1 Installs a timer-function when shelling, which continuously redisplays the user's status line on the first screenline. This can be used with ALL programs. (Works great most full-screen protocols!) *2 Same as *1, but uses the bottom screenline (try this with QuickEd or GEdit!) Suppose ProBoard is in directory D:\PB. Data example: *Q*STEST.EXE *B ProBoard will execute D:\PB\TEST.EXE 2400 and the user won't see this happening. To execute a batch file, you have to use the following syntax: "*Z<filename>.BAT <parameters>". This is expanded to: "*C /C <filename>.BAT <parameters>". When shelling, ProBoard writes a standard DORINFOx.DEF file, where x stands for the node-number. An RA-compatible EXITINFO.BBS file and a DOORWAY-compatible DOOR.SYS can also be created by specifying the *E and/or *D options. All these files are created in the directory where ProBoard is started from. - 112 - ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Function 8: SHOW VERSION INFORMATION │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ DATA: - This function shows information about ProBoard's version number. If you have a registered copy of ProBoard, the SysOp's name and BBS-name will be shown. With this function, you can show off to your users that you're a nice SysOp: one that registered! ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Function 9: LOGOFF │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ DATA: - Shows the file GOODBYE.ANS/ASC and hangs up the phone. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Function 10: SHOW SYSTEM USAGE PER HOUR (GRAPH) │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ DATA: - Shows a bar graph of the average system usage per hour. From the day you install ProBoard, it will keep track of a usage rate per hour and per day. If you want to change the usage values, just edit the values using ProCFG. - 113 - ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Function 11: CHAT REQUEST │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ DATA: - This function allows the user to make a request to chat with the SysOp. The user will be prompted for a reason why he wants to chat. The minimal length of this reason must be 5 characters. ProBoard will not allow the user to enter 5 spaces as a reason for chatting. If the SysOp does not answer, the status line will start flashing, indicating that the users wants to chat. You can view the reason for the chat by pressing <F8>. You can define your own page-tune by creating a RemoteAccess- compatible description file. The format of this file is described in the reference section. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Function 12: EXECUTE QUESTIONNAIRE SCRIPT │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ DATA: <scriptname> This function executes a questionnaire. A questionnaire is a common ASCII-file containing several commands to be executed by ProBoard. A questionnaire scriptfile has an extension .Q-A, and the user's answers will be stored in a file with the same filename, but with extension .ASW. Starting from version 1.15, you can write very powerful questionnaires by using the ProBoard SDK. You can use the following commands in a scriptfile: ASK <length> <number of variable> eg: Ask 10 1 Asks the user something. The user has <length> characters to answer, and the answer will be stored in the variable <number of variable>. The maximum number of variables in ProBoard is 20. - 114 - CHANGECOLOR <color> eg: ChangeColor 3 Changes the color in which the following text will be displayed. The number <color> is the ANSI color code, which means that this function works only for users who use ANSI. CLEARSCREEN Well, what do you think? DISPLAY "<string>" eg: Display "Hi there!" Displays a string <string>. The string must be contained in double quotes; a '|' in a string will be replaced by CR/LF (new line). IF <number of variable> = "<string>" eg. If 1 = "Y" Directs the .Q-A file according to the user's answers. If the condition is met, all commands after the IF-statement will be executed, until an ENDIF is encountered. ENDIF Ends an IF-statement. eg: Display "Do you have a hard disk?" GetChoice YN 1 If 1 = "Y" Display "Storage space in Mb?" Ask 2 EndIf Display "..." - 115 - GETCHOICE <options> <number of variable> eg: GetChoice YN 1 Forces the user to give a proper answer, chosen from <options>. OUTPUTANSWER ["<description>"] <number of variable> eg: OutputAnswer "Name: " 1 Writes ["<description>"] and the value in <number of variable> to the .ASW-file. <description> is optional. POSTINFO Writes a header to the .ASW-file. The header contains some general information about the user ("Peter Piper answered on ..."). QUIT Ends execution of the questionnaire script. SETFLAG <flag> <ON/OFF> eg: SetFlag C ON Sets/clears user flag <flag>. For compatibility with RA, it is also possible to use the QuickBBS/RA flags (A1-D8) SETSECURITY <level> eg: SetSecurity 20 Changes the user's security level. - 116 - CAPITALISE [On|Off] eg: Capitalise On Changes the way input from the user is displayed. When ON, all characters typed will be converted to uppercase. DISPLAYFILE <filename> eg: DisplayFile TEST Displays <filename>.ANS/ASC. It is identical to menu function 5. EXEC <command> eg: Exec "*ZECHO TEST" Execute a shell. It is identical to function 7. Note that you MUST use quotes (") if the command contains any spaces. LISTANSWER <var-num> eg: ListAnswer 4 Displays variable <var-num>, with a CR/LF at the end. MENUCMND <num> [data] eg: MenuCmnd 11 "Yelling SysOp..." Execute any menu command. If the data field contains spaces, you MUST use quotes ("). WAITENTER eg: WaitEnter Waits for the <Enter> key. - 117 - ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Function 13: DISPLAY USERLIST │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ DATA: - Prompts the user for a name (or part of a name) and goes looking for it in the name fields of USERS.BBS. If the user doesn't specify a string (if he presses <Enter>), the entire userlist will be displayed. ProBoard uses a built-in "fuzzy search" algorithm, which will locate specific users even if you misspell their name. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Function 14: DISPLAY TIME INFO │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ DATA: - Displays information about the current time, time online, remaining time, etc. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Function 15: SHOW ANS/ASC FILE & WAIT │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ DATA: <filename> Displays an ANS/ASC-file (like function 5) and waits for the user to press <Enter>. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Function 16: CHANGE CITY │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ DATA: - Allows the user to change the city in his user-record. - 118 - ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Function 17: CHANGE PASSWORD │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ DATA: - Allows the user to change his password. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Function 18: CHANGE SCREEN LENGTH │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ DATA: - Allows the user to change his screen's length (# lines). ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Function 19: TOGGLE CLEAR SCREEN CODES │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ DATA: <blank> or <parameter> Allows the user to decide whether he wants clear screen-codes sent or not. In the data field, you can enter these parameters: Ask Will ask for new status On Toggles option on Off Toggles option off Toggle Toggles option (reverse of current condition) Save Save current status for this option Restore Restore status saved by "Save" /Q Quiet. Do not display "xxxx is now enabled/disabled" Example: "Ask /Q" This will ask the user if they want to enable or disable screen clearing and ProBoard will not display: "Screen Clearing is now enabled/disabled". "Toggle" parameter. - 119 - ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Function 20: TOGGLE MORE PROMPT │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ DATA: <blank> or <parameter> Allows the user to decide whether scrolling should pause when the screen is full. In the data field, you can enter these parameters: Ask Will ask for new status On Toggles option on Off Toggles option off Toggle Toggles option (reverse of current condition) Save Save current status for this option Restore Restore status saved by "Save" /Q Quiet. Do not display "xxxx is now enabled/disabled" Example: "Ask /Q" This will ask the user if they want to enable or disable the More? prompt, and ProBoard will not display: "Page Pausing is now enabled/disabled". "Toggle" parameter. - 120 - ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Function 21: TOGGLE ANSI CODES │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ DATA: <blank> or <parameter> Allows the user to choose ANSI graphics/colors or not. In the data field, you can enter these parameters: Ask Will ask for new status On Toggles option on Off Toggles option off Toggle Toggles option (reverse of current condition) Save Save current status for this option Restore Restore status saved by "Save" /Q Quiet. Do not display "xxxx is now enabled/disabled" Example: "Ask /Q" This will ask the user if they want to enable or disable ANSI, and ProBoard will not display: "ANSI codes enabled/disabled". "Toggle" parameter. - 121 - ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Function 22: CHECK FOR PERSONAL MAIL & FILES │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ DATA: <blank> or [/F] or [/M] or both. Searches all the message areas for messages addressed to the user that have not yet been received by him/her. If ProBoard finds an area with new mail, which the user does not have read access to, it will inform the user, and the SysOp. This function also checks for personal files addressed to the user. Specifying the [/F] option will force ProBoard to check only for new personal files. Specifying the [/M] option will force ProBoard to check only for new personal mail. ProBoard will also find mail addressed to a users alias. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Function 23: READ MESSAGES │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ DATA: <area> or <*> or <0> Allows the user to read a message. If <area> is specified (a number ranging from 1 to 10,00), then only messages from message area <area> can be read. If <*> is specified, only messages from the active area can be read (refer to the goto/gosub menu functions and to function 49). If <0> is specified, only messages from areas selected in the combined boards can be read. When reading messages in combined message areas, messages are read "per area", not in the order of the message number. The user has several options when reading messages: Forward : First to last. Reverse : Last to first. - 122 - New : New messages not read by the user. Messages are read per area. If you have new messages in Area 1 and 5, ProBoard will first show all new messages in Area 1, then all new messages in Area 5. Selected : Messages selected by name or subject. Marked : Marked messages only. When a message is read, the user has the following options: Next : Next message. Previous : Previous Message Again : Show this message again. Stop : Stop reading messages. Mark : Mark this message for later use. Reply : Reply to this message. The entire message will be passed to the external fullscreen editor, thus making it possible to quote text from the original message in your reply. Unread : Set this messages status to 'Not received'. Moves to the next message (if any). Delete : Delete this message from the message base. Forward : Copy the message and address it to somebody else. This will only work in a LOCAL message area. Move : Move this message to another message area. Private : Toggles the private/public status of the message. Export : Export this message to any file. + / - : Show the next/previous message in the reply-chain. Original : Go back to the message where you first used +/- to follow replies. - 123 - ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Function 24: SCAN MESSAGES │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ DATA: <area> or <*> or <0> Gives an overview of the messages. Only the message-header will be displayed, and the user has the possibility to mark messages for later retrieval. The options follow the same rules as in function 23 (Read messages). ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Function 25: QUICKSCAN MESSAGES │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ DATA: <area>/<*>/<0> Same as the previous function, but only an overview in short form is displayed. The user does not have the possibility to mark messages. The options follow the same rules as in function 23 (Read messages). ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Function 26: USAGE GRAPH BY DAY (GRAPH) │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ DATA: - Displays a graph of your system's use for the last <xx> days. The parameter <xx> is determined by the setting in PROCFG, under Options (F1), System Options, # Usage Graph Days. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Function 27: WRITE A MESSAGE │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ DATA: <area> or <*> [/L] [/N=Netmail address] [/T="Name"] [/S="Subject"] - 124 - Allows the user to write a message. The area <area> (a number ranging from 1 to 10,000) can be replaced by <*> (refer to function 23). ProBoard's "fuzzy search" will assist users who enter another users name improperly when they are writing messages in local areas. ProBoard will search the user file, and give the user a choice of all users whose names are close to what they typed. Optional parameters: ──────────────────── /L The user will be logged off after writing this message. /N Writes a netmail message to the destination address specified. This could also be used to send netmail to a UUCP gateway. /T The "To" (the addressee's name) is automatically specified. It is not necessary to use quotes (") when the username does not contain spaces. /S The subject of the message is automatically specified. It is not necessary to us quotes (") when the subject does not contain spaces. Examples: ───────── /N=1:282/30 This would address a netmail message to Fidonet node number 1:282/30 (ProBoard Support USA). /T=SysOp Writes a message to the SysOp. /T="Peter Piper" Writes a message to Peter Piper. /S="ProBoard" Writes a message with the subject line already filled in. The user will not be able to change the subject. - 125 - ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Function 28: COMBINED BOARDS SELECT │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ DATA: <blank> or [/M] Allows the user to select multiple message areas when using the 'combined boards read/scan' function. This is useful when a user is not interested in certain message areas. Also allows users to select which areas ProBoard will check [/M] for new mail. This is very useful for visiting SysOps who don't want to be forced to read echomail they already received on their own system. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Function 29: SYSTEM USAGE PER WEEK (GRAPH) │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ DATA: - Displays a graph of the system-usage in percent for the last 24 weeks. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Function 30: SHOW DIRECTORY │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ DATA: [directory name] Shows a list of all the files stored in the specified directory. If no directory is given, the user will be prompted for one. - 126 - ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Function 31: LIST FILES │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ DATA: <area> or <X> Lists the files in the specified file area. If <X> was specified, the files in the active file area will be shown. The list of these files must be stored in a textfile created by the SysOp (refer to file area configuration). This textfile should contain the names and descriptions of the files. The description can be of any form you like. A line in the textfile should look like this: a) <filename> <blanks> <description> Filename + date + size + description will be displayed in the appropriate colors. b) <+> <description> The <+> will cause the description to be placed at the same horizontal cursor position and in the same color as the description from (a). This line will be displayed when searching for files. c) <!> <description> The description will be placed at the left of the screen, in the same color as the descriptions above. This line will be displayed when searching for files. d) <;> <description> Same as in (c), but the color is white. e) <description> Same as in (d), but this line will NOT be displayed when searching for files. - 127 - Example: ============================================================= PB_215.ZIP ProBoard version 2.15 +Best BBS program in the world !Original Belgian Product ;(made possible by Burger King in the USA) ============================================================= This will be output as: ============================================================= [c2] PB_215.ZIP 07/08/93 600583 ProBoard version 2.15 [c1] Best BBS program in the world [c1] Original Belgian Product [c1] (made possible by Burger King in the USA) [c2] ============================================================= [c2] [c1] stands for color 1, [c2] stands for color 2. If a file area is configured as being CD-ROM, the file listing should look slightly different. Option (a) will become: a) <filename><blanks><date><blanks><filesize><blanks><description> There is one more thing you can do to make your file listings more colorful (previously undocumented) : Inserting Ctrl-A to Ctrl-G characters in your file listing will change the color to: Ctrl-A Red Ctrl-B Green Ctrl-C Yellow Ctrl-D Magenta Ctrl-E Blue Ctrl-F Cyan Ctrl-G White - 128 - ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Function 32: DOWNLOAD A FILE │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ DATA: <area selection> and/or </parameter> Allows the user to download a file. The file areas a user can download from are defined by the area selection. This is a list of area-specifications, separated by blanks. Each specification has the form: [+]<area> <-><area> '+' stands for 'Include this area in the area-list', and is optional. '-' stands for 'Exclude this area from the area-list'. The parameter <area> should be one of the following: * All areas. C CD-ROM areas only. X Currently active area. <n> Area number <n>. <n1-n2> Areas <n1> to <n2>. Examples: * All areas * -C All non-CD-ROM areas. * -3-9 +5 Areas 1,2,5,10,11,... X +2 Active area + area 2. C -2 All CD-ROM areas, except area 2 Of course, a user must have the necessary download security in an area to be allowed to download files from it. You can also specify several other parameters: ────────────────────────────────────────────── /A .......................... Allows the user to download ANY file accessible by DOS. When using this option, the full path and filename must be specified. This option is intended for remote SysOps. - 129 - /F=<file> ................... The user will not be prompted for a file, but the file <file> will immediately be sent to the user (useful for textfiles describing all the files on the BBS). Parameter <file> should contain the full path name. (eg. /F=C:\PB\PB.DOC). Can also be combined with the </T> option (see below). /F=[<area>]<file> ........... Download the <file> from [<area>] directly. The following example would download the file PB_215.ZIP directly from file area #13. e.g. /F=[13]PB_215.ZIP /F=@<filelist> .............. Download the files listed in the textfile <filelist>. e.g. /F=@C:\PB\ALLFILES.RSP /I .......................... Ignore DL kbytes. /K=<key> .................... Use the protocol key <key>. /L=<log> .................... Write to an additional log file <log>. The format for each line is: <D/U> <area> <file> <size> <free YES/NO>. /N .......................... No log. Don't log anything. /P .......................... Download all personal files for the user. /Q .......................... Start download right away without prompting the user. You must use the /F= and the /K= parameters so ProBoard knows what file to send, using what protocol when using this option. - 130 - /T .......................... Allow the user to download the specified file without checking the users remaining time left. Refer to "Free Files" for more details. Let's say you want to let users download the latest version of ProBoard and you don't care about the time it takes or how much time they have left. In the data line put the path and file name followed by the </T> parameter. An example of doing this is as follows: C:\FREEFILE\PB_215.ZIP /T A Small hint regarding free files: if you want one particular area to be completely free (time and Kb), you can make a menu choice like this: Function: 32 Data : 41 /T This will allow the user to download anything from area 41, regardless of their time remaining. ProBoard will now also copy files from CD-ROM to a local drive when the "Copy Local" flag is set to "Yes". It will copy files to a directory called CD_TEMP, created in the directory where ProBoard was started from. You can specify your own directory by creating an environment variable called CDTEMP containing the name of the directory (+drive!!) If ProBoard can not find the directory as specified it will attempt to create it. Refer to the chapter "CONFIGURATION" under File Areas, for more information on the "Copy Local" and CDTEMP environment variable options in ProBoard. ** Important ** ─────────────── ProBoard uses a highly optimized index to find your files when users want to download them. Be sure to run PBUTIL FI (File Index) at least once a day to create the index, or ProBoard will not be able to find the files. You may want to run it more often than once a day if you add new files to your system. - 131 - ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Function 33: UPLOAD A FILE │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ DATA: <uploadpath> or </parameter> Allows the user to upload a file to the BBS. If <uploadpath> is specified, the upload will be placed in that directory. If not, it will be placed in the default upload-directory specified in PROCFG. (Unregistered versions of ProBoard will always use the default upload directory). Upon successful reception of the file, the user will be prompted for a description of that file. The description can be several lines. If it begins with a '/', this description will be written to the file FILES.PVT in the upload-directory, else it will be written to the file FILES.BBS. All uploads are now logged to a file in the ProBoard System Directory called UPLOAD.LOG. The log file is in the following format: 01-Feb-94 14:52:38 Upload of PB_215.ZIP by Jim Biggs 01-Feb-94 14:56:01 Upload of PROCFG.EXE by Philippe Leybaert The parameters you can specify are: ─────────────────────────────────── /D .......................... Do not ask user for upload descriptions. /F=<file> ................... Upload <file> (for non-batch protocols). /K=<key> .................... Use protocol key <key>. /L=<log> .................... Write to an additional log file <log>. The format for each line is: U O <file> <size> NO. /N .......................... No log. Do not log anything. /P .......................... Upload private files. If the data field contains "/P", the user can upload a personal file to another user. In this case the upload will be placed in the private upload directory (specified in ProCFG). - 132 - /Q .......................... Start upload right away, without prompting the user. You must specify a /K=<key> for this to work. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Function 34: VIEW ARCHIVE │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ DATA: <area selection> View the contents of a ZIP/LZH/ZOO/ARC/ARJ/RAR-file. The file specification input by the user will be looked for in the areas specified in <area selection>. ProBoard's Archive Viewer looks at the contents or "header" of the file the user selects to view to determine it's archive type rather than the file's extension (.ZIP/.ARJ etc...) This function now uses the file index to locate the archive to view so it is much faster than in previous releases of ProBoard. Please refer to Menu Function 32 (Download) for more information. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Function 35: KEYWORD SEARCH │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ DATA: <area selection> [/FG] [/FG=group] Looks for a character string in the file descriptions. If the string is found, the related file and its description will be displayed. The character string will be looked for in the areas specified in <area selection>. ProBoard now supports keyword searches in lines starting with | (PCBoard CD-ROM lists) such as the popular Night Owl CD-ROM's. This means a keyword will be found in these extended descriptions as well. Please refer to Menu Function 32 (Download) for more information. Option /FG will search only in the areas in the currently selected file group. You can define a file group to search in by specifiying a group number in /FG=<group number>. - 133 - ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Function 36: FILENAME SEARCH │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ DATA: <area selection> [/FG] [/FG=group] Looks for a filename in the file listings (wildcards allowed). The filename will be looked for in the areas specified in <area selection>. Refer to function 32 (Download) for more information. Option /FG will search only in the areas in the currently selected file group. You can define a file group to search in by specifiying a group number in /FG=<group number>. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Function 37: SHOW NEW FILES │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ DATA: <area selection> [/FG] [/FG=group] Shows a list of files more recent than a date specified by the user. If the user does not specify a date, then that date will be the last time this user logged in. The files will be looked for in the areas specified in <area selection>. Please refer to function 32 (Download) for more information. Option /FG will search only in the areas in the currently selected file group. You can define a file group to search in by specifiying a group number in /FG=<group number>. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Function 38: VIEW A FILE │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ DATA: <directory> This functions asks for a filename, and then looks for (and shows) the file stored in <directory>. - 134 - ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Function 39: DISPLAY NAMED FILE │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ DATA: <full filename> Displays a file to the user. The data field <full filename> must contain path, name and extension. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Function 40: DISPLAY ANS/ASC FILE WITH MENU HOTKEYS │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ DATA: <filename without extension> This function is the same as function 5, but can only be used in 'autoexec-menus', because it shows an ANS/ASC-file AND checks for menu hotkeys at the same time. Please refer to the section about menus for more information about the autoexec-concept. - 135 - ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Function 41: TOGGLE FULLSCREEN EDITOR │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ DATA: <blank> or <parameter> Lets the user decide whether they want to use ProBoard's line editor or an (external) fullscreen editor. In the data field, you can enter these parameters: Ask Will ask for new status On Toggles option on Off Toggles option off Toggle Toggles option (reverse of current condition) Save Save current status for this option Restore Restore status saved by "Save" /Q Quiet. Do not display "xxxx is now enabled/disabled" Example: "Ask /Q" This will ask the user if they want to enable or disable the full screen (external) editor, and ProBoard will not display: "Full Screen editor is now enabled/disabled". "Toggle" parameter. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Function 42: TOGGLE COMMAND STACKING │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ DATA: - Lets the user decide whether he will work with hotkeys or with combinations of hotkeys and command stacking (à la Opus). The command stack execution is initiated by pressing <Enter>. A ';' in the command stack will be replaced by <Enter>. Eg. M1WSysOp;Subject;Y This would write a private message in message area 1 to the SysOp, with subject "Subject". - 136 - ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Function 43: CLEAR MARKED MESSAGES │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ DATA: - Clears all marked messages. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Function 44: GLOBAL COMBINED BOARDS SELECTION │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ DATA: - Allows the user to select or deselect all areas in his combined boards selection. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Function 45: DISPLAY TEXTFILE & WAIT │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ DATA: <full filename> Displays a textfile to the user, then waits for the user to press <Enter>. The filename requires full path, name and extension. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Function 46: CHANGE USER LEVEL AND/OR FLAGS │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ DATA: [level] [flag +/-] [flag +/-] ... Changes a user's level and/or flags. [level] can occur only once in the parameter array, flags can be toggled on/off by specifying the flag, followed by +/-. Data example: 10 A+ 3- This would set the user's level to 10, set flag A and clear flag 3. - 137 - ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Function 47: MAKE A LOG ENTRY │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ DATA: <log entry> Writes <log entry> to PROBOARD.LOG, thus allowing the SysOp to customize his log. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Function 48: SHOW HITPARADE │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ DATA: <Mn>/<Kn>/<Tn>/<Un>/<Fn>/<Cn>/<On> This functions returns an overview of the most active users in several fields. The 'n' with the parameters stands for the number of users to be displayed in the hitparade. (unregistered versions default to 5) M Best message-writers K Best downloaders (Kb) T Best downloaders (# downloads) U Best uploaders (Kb) F Best uploaders (# uploads) C Best callers (# times called) O Total time online Data example: U15 - 138 - ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Function 49: SELECT MESSAGE AREA │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ DATA: <area selection> or </parameter> Lets the user select a new message area. This function is to be used in cooperation with other message-related functions. Valid area selection parameters are: ──────────────────────────────────── X Current Area E All Echo Areas N All NetMail Areas L All Local Areas * All Areas <n> Area #<n> <n1>-<n2> Areas #<n1> to #<n2> Other valid parameters are: ─────────────────────────── /MG ......................... Makes the user select a message group if they haven't done so already. /MG=<num> ................... Only allows user to select from message areas belonging to message group <num>. /N .......................... ProBoard will run even faster since it will not check for waiting mail (no "*" will be displayed indicating new mail) if you specify this parameter. This can be useful if your BBS has many large message areas, in particular, Squish or JAM. Remember, ProBoard can be configured for 10,000 message areas so a full "new" mail check in each area can be time consuming. Examples: ───────── * -E All non-echomail areas 1-20 50-60 Areas 1..20 and 50..60 N 10-20 -15 All netmail areas, plus areas 10..20, except area #15 /N Do not have ProBoard perform the new mail check in each message area. Great for Squish and JAM. - 139 - Note: ───── Since ProBoard parses only the first letter of an alpha area selection, the keywords from prior versions, [Local / Net / Echo] can still be used and will still work. It is recommended however, that you change to the new parameter(s) since the keywords [Local / Net / Echo] may not be supported in upcoming versions. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Function 50: SHOW USERS ONLINE │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ DATA: <blank> or /H Displays users who are logged in on other nodes. Of course, this function is only useful on multi-user systems. To protect the SysOp's health, it is possible not to display the SysOp's name here (Refer to the ProCFG section). Valid parameters are: ───────────────────── /H .......................... Show the user's handle (alias) instead of their real name. <blank> ..................... Will display the user's real name. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Function 51: LIST LAST CALLERS │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ DATA: <number of users to be displayed> [/H] Gives an overview of the users that have most recently logged in (for ALL the nodes). In the non-registered version, the number of users shown is forced to 5. Specifying the parameter /H will show the user's aliases instead of their real names. - 140 - ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Function 52: REMOTE USER EDITOR │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ DATA: - Allows you to adjust a user's level (or even delete him), without you having to be at the computer (VERY handy for co-SysOps!). ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Function 53: MULTILINE CHAT (INTERNODE CHAT) │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ DATA: - <blank> or /H This is certainly one of the nicest Menu Functions in ProBoard! This function allows two users on different nodes to chat with each other IN REAL TIME!!! You will actually see the other user type (mistakes?), as if you were in chat-mode with the SysOp. This is UNlike other systems, where entire LINES are sent to the other node. User A on node X will have to specify the node he wants to chat with, then user B on node Y will be prompted if he wants to chat. It is VERY (!VERY!) important that your system supports full file & record locking to use this option. When you are not running a LAN, you MUST install SHARE.EXE! ProBoard will definitely lock up when SHARE.EXE is not installed on a stand-alone system. Valid parameters are: ───────────────────── /H .......................... Will show the users handle (alias) instead of their real name to the users on other nodes, when prompting them to engage in a chat. <blank> ..................... Will display the users real name instead of their alias when prompting users on other nodes to engage in a chat. - 141 - ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Function 54: SELECT FILE AREA │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ DATA: <area selection> or </parameter> Lets the user select a new file area. This function is to be used in cooperation with other file-related functions. Refer to functions 1 and 32 for more information. Valid parameters are: ───────────────────── /FG ......................... Makes a user select a file group if they haven't done so already. /FG=0 ....................... Makes the user always have to select a file group. /FG=<num> ................... Only display file areas belonging to file group number <num>. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Function 55: SHOW .GIF FILE INFO │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ DATA: <area selection> Prompts the user for a .GIF-filename (wildcards allowed) and displays resolution and number of colors for the file(s). The files will be looked for in <area selection>. Refer to function 32 (Download) for more information. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Function 56: TOGGLE IBM CHARACTERS │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ DATA: - Allows the user to disable/enable extended IBM characters. When disabled, all IBM-specific characters are converted to standard ASCII characters ("+-|") - 142 - ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Function 57: CHANGE PHONE NUMBER │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ DATA: - Allows the user to change his phone number stored in his user record. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Function 58: CHANGE DATA/FAX PHONE NUMBER │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ DATA: - Allows the user to change his data/fax phone number stored in his user record. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Function 59: CHANGE USER ALIAS │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ DATA: - Allows the user to change his alias. It is not allowed to use an alias that is being used by another user. - 143 - ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Function 60: RUN PROBOARD SDK FILE │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ DATA: <program> [data] Loads & executes a ProBoard Executable (PEX file) created using the ProBoard Software Development Kit (SDK). The PEX file can be run from any directory. It is the responsibility of the PEX programmer to search for the appropriate data files when their PEX is run. If you are not sure if the PEX you are running does this then it's a good idea to place the PEX file directory (Specified in PROCFG, F1-Options, Paths, PEX Files). Important ───────── Any PEX files that were written for versions of ProBoard prior to 2.00 will have to be recompiled with the new 2.1x SDK before they can run under ProBoard 2.15 ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Function 61: BULLETIN MENU │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ DATA: <filename> [prompt] Displays <filename>.ANS/ASC (like function 5), and prompts the user for a file suffix. This suffix is appended to <filename>, and the file with the resulting filename is displayed. Obviously, <filename> should not be longer than 7 characters. The optional [prompt] parameters defines a prompt to be shown to the user. For example: Enter a bulletin. Data example: BULLET Enter a bulletin: - 144 - ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Function 62: TOGGLE AVATAR/0 │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ DATA: <blank> or <parameter> Allows the user to toggle AVATAR/0 on/off in their user record. In the data field, you can enter these parameters: Ask Will ask for new status On Toggles option on Off Toggles option off Toggle Toggles option (reverse of current condition) Save Save current status for this option Restore Restore status saved by "Save" /Q Quiet. Do not display "xxxx is now enabled/disabled" Example: "Ask /Q" This will ask the user if they want to enable or disable AVATAR/0 screen display codes, and ProBoard will not display: "Avatar codes are now enabled/disabled". "Toggle" parameter. - 145 - ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Function 63: TOGGLE AVATAR/0+ │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ DATA: <blank> or <parameter> Allows the user to toggle AVATAR/0+ on/off in their user record. In the data field, you can enter these parameters: Ask Will ask for new status On Toggles option on Off Toggles option off Toggle Toggles option (reverse of current condition) Save Save current status for this option Restore Restore status saved by "Save" /Q Quiet. Do not display "xxxx is now enabled/disabled" Example: "Ask /Q" This will ask the user if they want to enable or disable AVATAR/0+ screen display codes, and ProBoard will not display: "AVT/0+ codes are now enabled/disabled". "Toggle" parameter. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Function 64: Show Graph (General) │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ DATA: <graph type> [/N=<days>] [/T="text"] This menu function is a direct system hook to the _GRAPH.PEX file supplied in PB_215.ZIP <graph type> "Hourly", "Weekly", "LastDays" or "Speed". /N=<days> Number of days to read from BINLOG.PB (Optional) /T="text" Text to display on the top bar of your graph. A "%d" (no quotes) is replaced by the number of days/weeks - 146 - Example: ──────── Hourly /N=14 /T="Usage graph for the last 2 weeks" Speed /N=60 /T="Cool baud rate statistics for the last %d days" The C++ source code for _GRAPH.PEX is included with ProBoard. You can add your own <graph type> by editing and compiling the _GRAPH.CPP file. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Function 65: Display A??/RIP File with Hotkeys │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ DATA: - Allows you to display an A??/RIP file to users. Very similar to Menu Function 40 except that RIP files are supported. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Function 66: Change RIPscrip Font │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ DATA: - Allows the user to select either the large RIP font (80x24) or the small RIP font (80x43) for displaying system prompts etc. - 147 - ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Function 67: Toggle RIPscrip Graphics │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ DATA: - <blank> or <parameter> Allows the user to toggle RIP graphics on/off. In the data field, you can enter these parameters: Ask Will ask for new status On Toggles option on Off Toggles option off Toggle Toggles option (reverse of current condition) Save Save current status for this option Restore Restore status saved by "Save" /Q Quiet. Do not display "xxxx is now enabled/disabled" Example: "Ask /Q" This will ask the user if they want to enable or disable RIP graphics, and ProBoard will not display: "RIPscrip graphics are now enabled/disabled". "Toggle" parameter. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Function 68: Edit Tagged Files │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ DATA: - Allows users to edit the list of tagged files. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Function 69: Select a New Language │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ DATA: - Allows users to select a new language file for the system prompts. - 148 - ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Function 70: Change Date Format │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ DATA: - Allows the user to select a new date format for system date displays. Valid choices are: MM/DD/YY, YY/MM/DD, and DD/MM/YY. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Function 71: Change Mailing Address │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ DATA: - Allows the user to change their mailing address. Displays users current mailing address (if any) and presents a new line for them to begin typing. If nothing is typed on this first line by the user, the change mailing address function is terminated. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Function 72: Change FAX Number │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ DATA: - Allows the user to change the FAX Number in their user record. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Function 73: Change Country │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ DATA: - Allows the user to change the country in their user record. - 149 - ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Function 74: Change Default Protocol │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ DATA: - Allows the user to change the default protocol for downloads and uploads. ProBoard will no longer ask for a protocol when a download or upload session is started. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Function 75: Select Message Area Group │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ DATA: - Selects a new message area group. See function 49 for more information. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Function 76: Select File Area Group │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ DATA: - Selects a new file area group. See function 54 for more information. - 150 - ╔═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗ ╟─── RIPscrip GRAPHICS (RIP) ─────────────────────────────────────╢ ╚═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝ ProBoard auto-detects and supports RIPscrip (referred to as RIP) Graphics. A flashing "R" on the right side of the status bar indicates the RIP was detected. ProBoard will display the file INTRO?.RIP (if it exists) instead of INTRO?.ANS/ASC (only if RIP is detected). Missing Icons are automatically sent to the caller. You must have a Zmodem protocol installed with a hotkey of "Z" for this to work. ProBoard's built in message reader is fully RIP capable as are the "More" prompt, the "Enter" prompt and several other internal ProBoard functions. Almost all of the internal ANS/ASC/AVT files can be replaced with RIP files. You need only create a RIP file with the proper name and copy it into your RIP directory. To add your own RIP menus to ProBoard, do the following: Once you have designed a RIP screen for your menu, you can add it to a menu by pressing Alt-P (Prompt) in the menu editor. You will be able to set "RIP menu" to "Yes", and enter a file name for a RIP screen. Enter the name of your RIP screen here. That's all there is to it! There are some additional settings you can change for each menu item, which makes the RIP support in ProBoard extremely flexible: - Show remote * Send menu-line/ANSI-file to remote when RIP enabled (Default No). - Show local * Send menu-line/ANSI-file to local screen when RIP enabled (Default Yes). - Reset screen * Reset RIP windows before executing this function. (Default Yes). - 151 - These options are very powerful. When the user has RIP enabled, the SysOp will still see the "normal" ANSI screens. Don't touch the defaults if you want it like that. You will see that the RIP support in ProBoard is a lot friendlier towards to SysOp than in other BBS software. On the local end, the SysOp will see everything as if the user had no RIP enabled. This allows the SysOp to follow what the user is doing. (Other software like RA and Wildcat show the RIP "bang" commands, which are totally unreadable for the SysOp). Two new menu functions have also been added to support RIP. ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Function 66: Change RIP text font (large or small) for non-RIP screens. Function 67: Enable/Disable RIP. Allows the user to disable RIP even it was detected. - 152 - ╔═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗ ╟─── FILE TAGGING ────────────────────────────────────────────────╢ ╚═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝ ProBoard supports file tagging when users are browsing the file list, performing a keyword or file search, or performing a new file search. File tagging allows your users to easily select files they want to download as they browse your available files. - 153 - ╔═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗ ╟─── QWK ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╢ ╚═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝ Internal ProBoard QWK support has been added! It is provided as a PEX file called QWK.PEX. The only things necessary to configure are the following: - The packet file name your BBS will create (ProCFG/Options/QWK). - The QWK area name in each message area configuration. Call the QWK PEX as any you would any other PEX file. No configuration files are necessary. One parameter can be given: "D" (ie "QWK D"). This will pack all mail and start the download right away. - 154 - ╔═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗ ╟─── USERS ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────╢ ╚═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝ The file USERS.BBS contains all the data about the users, such as level, number of times called, combined boards access, messages last read, etc. Use ProBoard's User Editor to add/edit/delete users in the USERS.BBS file. If you delete users you must run PBUTIL [UK]. More info on this in the section on PBUTIL. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Log Levels │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Each user has a certain loglevel, to determine how information about that user will be written to ProBoard's log (PROBOARD.LOG). This can be useful if you suspect a user of logging in using 2 different names. If you give those users a higher log level, you can track their behavior. The following levels are possible: ────────────────────────────────── Friend * NOTHING BUT login, logoff and errors will be logged. Normal * Login * Logoff * Errors * Writing SysOp messages * SysOp paging * Downloads * Uploads * Questionnaires Suspicious * Everything from 'Normal' * Reading messages * Hitparades * Last callers * Graphics Extensive * Everything from 'Suspicious' * ALL the movements between menus (this can make the logfile HUGE) - 155 - ╔═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗ ╟─── ECHOMAIL AND NETMAIL ────────────────────────────────────────╢ ╚═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝ ProBoard fully supports Echomail and Netmail, according to the FTSC (FidoNet Technical Standards Committee) specifications. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Echomail │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ When a user enters a message in a message area configured as an Echomail area, an origin line will be added to that message. This origin line is obtained from the message area's configuration. If there is no origin line specified for this message area, the default origin line will be used. The default origin line is specified in PROCFG under Options (F1) - Site Info, in the field "Default Origin Line". To import/export Echomail, you need an Echomail processor. No such program is included, but since ProBoard uses the .MSG (Fido), Squish, or Hudson message-base structures, a large number of Echomail processors are available that will work with ProBoard. Some of the echomail-processors compatible with ProBoard are: - Squish - FastEcho - IMail - GEcho - FMail - FreeMail ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Netmail │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ A Netmail message (in short: Netmail) is a message that has a fixed destination within the network. This destination is defined by a node-number of the form "Zone:Net/Node.Point". ProBoard will first find out whether this address exists, and will then (if it exists) tell you the name of the node where the Netmail is to be sent to. - 156 - When entering a node number in ProBoard, it is possible to look up the nodes you want by entering a '?'. eg: ? Shows a list of all zones. 2:? Shows a list of all nets and regions in zone 2. 2:292/? Shows a list of all nodes in net 2:292/ ProBoard needs a nodelist to use Netmail. This nodelist is usually available on every node in the network. ProBoard generates an index file for its own use (NODE_IDX.PRO) by running PBUTIL NC. For more information about PBUTIL's NC-option, please refer to the section on PBUTIL. To import and export Netmail, you need an external utility like MAILSCAN ,MBUTIL or ZmailH. - 157 - ╔═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗ ╟─── PBUTIL (The ProBoard Utility Program) ───────────────────────╢ ╚═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝ PBUTIL is an extra utility provided with the ProBoard package. It performs all of the maintenance your ProBoard BBS system needs. Some PBUTIL Operations have Options and/or Parameters that can be specified on the command line when running them. Operations which have command line Options and/or Parameters are identified in the list below with a "(+)" after their "Operation Identifier", (the two letters necessary to begin each PBUTIL operation). PBUTIL is called along with an "Operation Identifier" (a two letter sequence specifying the operation to be executed (along with any options): PBUTIL <operation> [option] PBUTIL Operation Description Options/Parameters ──────────────── ─────────────────────── ──────────────────────── DM (+) ......... Daily Maintenance -H FB ............. Fix BINLOG.PB FC (+) ......... File Counters -N<x> -F -R FI ............. FILES.BBS (re)-Indexer HF (+) ......... Hatch Personal File <files> -T= -F= -D -C MI ............. Message (re)-Indexer ML ............. Message Linker MP (+) ......... Message Packer -R -D -F -K -H -J MU ............. Music Player NC ............. Nodelist Compiler UF ............. Userfile Fixer UI ............. Userfile (re)-Indexer UK (+) ......... Userfile Killer -C<n> -D<n> -L<evel> UP (+) ......... Userfile Packer -R -K US ............. Userfile Sorter PBUTIL can be run from any directory provided that it (PBUTIL.EXE) is found in your DOS path. Refer to your DOS manual for more information on the PATH statement. - 158 - ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ [DM] Daily Maintenance │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ At this time, the DM function of PBUTIL has only one function: it (re)creates TOPS.PRO. You should run it as part of your daily maintenace. If you specify the -H option, the file TOPS.PRO will be created using the user's aliases instead of their real names. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ [FB] Fix BINLOG.PB │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ You should run PBUTIL FB if you ever receive the message that your BINLOG.PB file is corrupt. This "fix" routine will remove any and all unreadable data from the BINLOG.PB file. For more information on BINLOG.PB, refer to Menu Functions 10, 26, 29 and 64. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ [FC] File Counters │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ After each download, ProBoard adds a line to the file DOWNLOAD.LOG. This file's only purpose is to be used by the FC module of PBUtil. FC reads the file DOWNLOAD.LOG and updates file counters in every file listing, to keep up with the number of times every file has been downloaded. Specifying option -N<xx> instructs PBUtil to create a list of the top-xx downloaded files. This list is named TOPFILES.A?? and is stored in the textfiles-subdirectory. The number of files to be written in this list is <xx>, (eg. -N15). Specifying option -F instructs PBUtil to ALWAYS create TOPFILES.ASC/ANS/AVT/AVP, even if DOWNLOAD.LOG is empty or doesn't exist. Option -R rewrites all file listings with the appropriate file count added to each file. This is useful when you have added some new files. - 159 - The file counters will be placed before the description of the files. Eg. PB_215.ZIP [809] Superb BBS program from Belgium !!!! ^^^^^ File Counter - shows how many times file has been downloaded. You can create a file called NOTOPS.CTL to exclude files from being included when the TOPFILES.A?? is created. The format of this file is just <filename>.<extension> Example as follows: BLACK.ZIP NOWAY.EXE RA_111.ARJ ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ [FI] File Indexer │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ When you run PBUTIL FI, ProBoard reads each of your file listings defined in your file areas and creates an index (FILESIDX.PB). ProBoard now only supports indexed FILES.BBS. ProBoard will use the index to find files users specify they want to download. This dramatically speeds up locating files on systems with many different file areas, especially those on CD-ROM drives. Since files that are not in your file index will not be found for users to download, be sure to run PBUTIL FI at lease once each day. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ [HF] Hatch Personal File │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Personal files can be setup to be sent to users (hatched) from the command line (instead of using the PROCFG/Personal Files menu interface) using PBUTIL's "Hatch File" (HF) function. Any personal files you setup (hatch) using the PBUTIL HF method will appear in the PROCFG/Personal File menu interface for later review and administration. The syntax for PBUTIL HF is: ──────────────────────────── PBUTIL HF files [files...] /T=ToName /F=FromName /D /C - 160 - The following are valid options for PBUTIL HF: ────────────────────────────────────────────── <files> A list of the file(s) to be sent as personal file(s). Wildcards and paths are allowed. If the /C option is not used, the files will NOT be copied to the personal files directory specified in PROCFG Options/Paths. If no path is given, PBUTIL will search in the current directory first. If no files could be found in the current directory, the personal files directory will be searched. /T=ToName The name of the user to send the files to. Underscores must be used for spaces in names. ProBoard does not check the user file for valid user names to be entered here so be careful when typing user names that you spell them correctly. /F=FromName The name of the sender of the files. If not specified, the name of the SysOp is used. Again, underscores must be used for spaces. ProBoard does not check the user file for valid user names to be entered here so be careful when typing user names that you spell them correctly. /D Sets the "KILL" (delete) flag for the hatched file(s). This means that the files will be deleted after they have been downloaded by the user if this is specified on the command line. /C Copy the specified file(s) to the Personal Files Directory (specified in PROCFG/Options/Paths). Make sure if you use this option, that you also use the /D option in addition, otherwise the files won't be deleted after download from your Personal Files Directory. Examples: ───────── PBUTIL HF C:\PB\PB_215.ZIP /T=Philippe_Leybaert /C /D PBUTIL HF *.TXT /T=John_Doe /F=Joe_Sysop - 161 - ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ [MI] Message Indexer (Hudson and JAM Only) │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Recreates the message base index files (MSGIDX.BBS,MSGTOIDX.BBS and MSGINFO.BBS) for Hudson and (*.JDX) files for JAM areas. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ [ML] Message Linker (Hudson Only) │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Completely rebuilds reply chains in all areas. This operation has to be performed when echomail is imported into the message base and after using the message packer with the -D parameter. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ [MP] Message Packer (Hudson and JAM Only) │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Packs the message base. This means that the deleted messages are effectively removed from the message base. - 162 - The following are valid options for PBUTIL MP: ────────────────────────────────────────────── -D .......................... Removes old messages. Check the section of the manual about the message areas for more information. -F .......................... Forces the pack to be executed, even if there are no deleted messages (Hudson Only!) -H .......................... Instructs the message packer to pack the Hudson areas only. -J .......................... Instructs the message packer to pack the JAM areas only. -K .......................... Deletes the .BAK files created when packing the message base. (Hudson Only!) -R .......................... Instructs the message packer to renumber the message base. Renumbering the message base is done automatically when the highest message number exceeds 25000. Lastread-pointers in the userfile will be adjusted when renumbering. Do NOT pack the message base when a user is online!! ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ [MU] Music Player │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Use this to play/test any music files you create for ProBoard. Music files MUST have .MUS as the file extension. The file played when a user "Yells" for the SysOp (paging) is called PAGE.MUS and the "Attention" music file is called ATTEN.MUS Examples: PBUTIL MU PAGE (plays the paging music file) PBUTIL MU ATTEN (plays the attention music file) Note: It is not necessary to include the file extension when using PBUTIL MU to play a music file. - 163 - ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ [NC] Nodelist Compiler │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Reads a FidoNet-compatible nodelist and creates a ProBoard index- file (NODE_IDX.PRO) in the system directory. This file will be less than 10K in size, but your original nodelist has to stay in the nodelist directory. The compiler will look for the latest standard nodelist (NODELIST.xxx) in your nodelist directory. Specifying extra files as parameters instructs the nodelist compiler to compile extra nodelists. Several extra nodelists can be given as parameters. If you don't specify an extension, ProBoard will look for the latest file with extension .nnn (nnn=day number). If you want to compile a file without an extension, use <FILE>. Eg. PBUTIL NC MYNL MYLIST. FDNET.PVT This would compile the latest NODELIST.nnn, the latest MYNL.nnn, MYLIST and FDNET.PVT in the standard nodelist directory. To determine the costs of sending Netmail, a textfile will be read that you will have to create. This textfile is called COST.PRO and should be in ProBoard's system directory. The lines in this file have the following format: <Command> <Param1> [Param2] Commands: MYZONE <zone> All commands after this command act on zone <zone>. You need at least 1 MYZONE command. If not, ProBoard will assume you are in zone 2. This is used to specify your own zone. DEFAULT <cost> Defines the default Netmail cost. ZONE <zone> <cost> Defines the Netmail cost for zone <zone>. REGION <region> <cost> Defines the Netmail cost for region <region> within your own zone. NET <net> <cost> Defines the Netmail cost for net <net> within your own zone. - 164 - A simple example for a node in Belgium, where the BBS is part of only ONE network. MYZONE 2 I'm in zone 2 DEFAULT 100 Default = 100 credits ZONE 3 50 Zone 3 = 50 credits (Australia) ZONE 1 40 Zone 1 = 40 credits (North-America) REGION 28 10 Region 28 = 10 credits (Netherlands) REGION 29 0 Region 29 = FREE (Belgium) NET 512 5 Net 512 = 5 (HCC Netherlands) We give another example for a node which is part of 2 networks, so this node has nodenumbers 2:292/1900 and 89:120/40 DEFAULT 100 Default = 100 credits ZONE 1 50 Zone 1 = 50 credits ZONE 2 20 Zone 2 = 20 credits ZONE 3 70 Zone 4 = 70 credits ZONE 89 10 My private network = 10 credits MYZONE 2 Following definitions are for zone 2 REGION 29 1 Region 29 in zone 2 = 1 credit NET 292 0 Net 292 in zone 2 = 0 credits NET 512 5 Net 512 in zone 2 = 5 credits MYZONE 89 Following definitions are for zone 89 REGION 12 2 Region 12 in zone 89 = 2 credits NET 120 0 Net 120 in zone 89 = 0 credits ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ [UF] UserFile Fixer │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Run this after you use a user file packer/sorter from another source (like RAUSER or RACE). It assures that the extensions in ProBoard's user file are updated properly. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ [UI] UserFile Indexer │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Creates an index for the user file. ProBoard uses this index file to search in the user file. This greatly reduces the time needed to locate a user at login. - 165 - ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ [UK] UserFile Killer │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Deletes (kills) certain users from your user file. The criteria are: not having called for a certain number of days, less than a certain number of times called, a certain security level or a combination of these three. Parameters to use: ────────────────── -D<# of days> Removes all users that haven't called for <# of days>. -C<calls> Removes all users that have called less than <calls> times. -L<evel> Specifies a specific security level for the User Killer to work on. Combining these three parameters, will remove all users that have called less than <calls> times and haven't called for <# of days>, and that only have the specified <level>. This option comes in handy to remove all users that have called just once, but without removing your new users or users with another security level. Examples: ───────── PBUTIL UK -C3 Removes all users that have called only 1 or 2 times. PBUTIL UK -D365 Removes all users that haven't called for the last 365 days. PBUTIL UK -C2 -D100 Removes all users that have called less than 2 times, and removes users that haven't called in the last 100 days. "No-Kill" flags in User Records will be honored. PBUTIL UK -C3 -D5 -L40 Removes all users that have called less than 3 times, and users that have not called in 5 days, but only those with a security level of 40. - 166 - ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ [UP] UserFile Packer │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Removes all deleted users from USERS.BBS, except the users with the NoKill flag set. Corrupted user records are also removed. Specifying option -R instructs the user packer to reset all Last Read pointers to zero. Specifying option -K will delete the .BAK file created when packing the user file. Do NOT pack the userfile when a user is online!! ──────────────────────────────────────────────── ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ [US] UserFile Sorter │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Sorts the user file by security level and by first name. Also updates the lastread pointers for the new sorted user file as well as reindexing the user file. - 167 - ╔═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗ ╟─── REFERENCE ───────────────────────────────────────────────────╢ ╚═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝ ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Multi-user Operation │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Since ProBoard is a multi-line BBS package, it allows you the ability to have more than one user use the userfile and the message base at the same time. ProBoard doesn't do any internal multi-tasking to make the program act as flexible as possible. This makes sure that you can set up a multi-line BBS via a network and multiple computers, or by running ProBoard under a multitasking system. ProBoard is also DESQview aware. ProBoard can handle up to 255 nodes. Each node needs its own directory, because ProBoard supports the use of many different external message editors and most of these editors are designed to be used on single-node systems. One editor that does not need such a configuration is GEDIT. With GEDIT, you simply place one copy of it in your ProBoard startup directory (or any other directory of your choice) and then specify where the editor is located in PROCFG, [F1], Paths, under the "Editor Command" option. A few other newer style editors also support multi-line use without needing a copy in each nodes directory. To find out more, ask one of the support BBS's. Each node MUST be started from its own private directory. ──────────────────────────── No ProBoard-related files have to be placed in this directory but certain doors and certain message editors may need this directory for their own use. If you want to install 3 nodes in a network, you could create the following structure: C:\PB\MSGBASE Message base directory C:\PB\TXTFILES Textfiles directory C:\PB\MENUS Menus directory C:\PB\PEX PEX files directory C:\PB\NODE1 Start-up directory for node 1 C:\PB\NODE2 Start-up directory for node 2 C:\PB\NODE3 Start-up directory for node 3 - 168 - ProBoard should be started from C:\PB\NODE1 for node 1, from C:\PB\NODE2 for node 2, etc. These directories may require the files for the external editor. All the other files that ProBoard uses, should be stored in ProBoard's system directory (usually C:\PB). If you run ProBoard under a multitasker like DESQview, the different nodes MUST be run on different com-ports. It should be noted that the new DESQview v2.6 supports networks like Novell Lite and Lantastic directly, making it possible to run the BBS on a machine that is also a server. Refer to your DESQview v.26 manual/setup program for more details. ┌───────────┬─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ IMPORTANT │ If you are running ProBoard multi-line using a │ ├───────────┘ multitasker, the DOS program SHARE.EXE MUST! be │ │ installed. ──── │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ SysOp Keys │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ While the user is on-line, the SysOp can perform several actions, by using the SysOp keys: <Ctrl-Left-Arrow> Lower or Raise the security level of <Ctrl-Right-Arrow> the user who is currently online. Only the levels you previously configured in PROCFG can be selected. Up/Down Raise/Lower the current user's time left. The time subtracted/added is not restricted to this session! Alt-C [Chat] Start a chat with the user. The chat may be ended by pressing <Esc>. Alt-J [Jump] Jump to DOS. If 'Swapping' was set to 'Yes' in PROCFG, the ProBoard session will be swapped to disk or EMS, thus making all memory available to the DOS commands you want to execute. You can return from the shell by entering EXIT at the DOS prompt. - 169 - Alt-H [HangUp] Hangs up the phone, throwing the user off-line immediately (very unfriendly)! Alt-L [LockOut] Hangs up the phone AND sets the user's level to 0, thus making sure he/she cannot log in any more (very very unfriendly)! Alt-N [SysOp Next] Creates a semaphore file called SysOpNXT.SEM in the ProBoard system directory. Also will play the music file SysOpNXT.MUS when user logs off so you are aware your BBS is free. Alt-E [Edit] Allows you to edit the user online. The editor is similar to the editor in ProCFG. Alt-I [Image] Appends an image of the screen to the file IMAGE.TXT in the ProBoard system directory. Alt-R [Reset] Resets the chat request status. This will stop the flashing of the status line. Alt-S [Static] What can I say. Useful in combination with the ALT-H to help you, the friendly SysOp, free up your board when needed. (somewhat friendlier) ;-) Alt-Y [No Chat] Makes ProBoard not sound the page music if the user online when you press this, pages you. Comes in very handy when you see that user who ALWAYS wants to chat is logging on to your BBS. Shift-F1 Shows a help-screen with all the SysOp macros available. (registered version only) F1 Shows a help-screen with all the SysOp keys available. - 170 - PgUp/PgDn Shows additional information about the current user on the status line. You can also display a particular status by pressing F2-F10. Home Shows the normal status line after using PgUp/PgDn. F2 Shows the user's name, level, time left and time online. F3 Shows the user's handle and flags. F4 Shows the user's city and phone numbers. F5 Shows statistics about the current user. F6 Shows the user's comment line. F7 Shows system information. F8 Shows the chat reason if the user tried to page the SysOp earlier. F9 Shows the name and login time of the last caller. F10 Shows the time used and Kbytes downloaded today. It also displays the date of birth of the current user. Furthermore, there are 10 programmable hotkeys (SysOp macros). They can be configured in ProCFG using the F10 option. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Command line parameters & Errorlevels │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ PROBOARD.EXE accepts following command line parameters: PROBOARD [-B<baud>] [-P<port>] [-N<node>] [-L<level] [-T<time>] [-S] [-Q] [-X] [-V<mode>] - 171 - These parameters have the following meaning: -B<baud> Specifies the baud rate. You can specify the following baud rates: 300, 1200/75 2400, 4800, 7200, 9600, 12000, 14400, 16800, 19200, 21600, 24000, 26400, 28800, 38400, 57600, 64000, and 115200. -P<port> Specifies the com-port (1-8). -N<node> This node's node number (1-255). -L<level> Prevents people with a security level lower than this level to access this node. Great for only allowing subscribing user access to one or more nodes. -T<time> <time> is the time until the next event in minutes. Useful with FrontDoor's DOBBS batch file. -S Start ProBoard in stand alone mode. ProBoard will use as a default the PORT and the BAUD specified in your configuration, but you can override them by using the -P<port> and the -B<baud> command line parameters along with the -S parameter. -Q Quiet mode. Great if your BBS is in a location such as your bedroom etc. The only noise ProBoard will make is playing the ATTEN.MUS file (if a user who has this set in their user record logs on), and playing the PAGE tune when a user pages during valid paging hours. -X Tells ProBoard not to use EMS. -V<mode> Runs ProBoard in video mode <mode>. This can be useful if you have a monitor capable of displaying 132 columns, and you would like to run ProBoard in such a mode (you will see an extra information window on your screen if ProBoard is run in 132 cols mode). The <mode> parameter is a decimal number specifying the video mode, as it is used with INT 10H, function 00. (only programmers will understand this though :-). This is different for every video card. When no '-B<x>' and no '-S' parameter is given, ProBoard will be started in local mode. - 172 - ProBoard returns an errorlevel when a user has logged off. The errorlevels of PROBOARD.EXE are: ──────────────────────────────────── 0 Everything OK, normal logoff. 1 FATAL error, something 'terrible' happened, or the modem could not be initialized. 2 Not used. 3 Netmail entered by the user. 4 Echomail entered by the user. 5 Echomail AND Netmail entered by the user. 99 SysOp pressed <Esc> at the "Waiting for call" screen. 100 ProBoard was requested to go down by a semaphore file. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ AVATAR/0 and AVATAR/0+ Terminal Emulation │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ ProBoard now supports AVATAR terminal emulation. It allows users to select either AVATAR/0 or AVATAR/0+, providing that the terminal package they use to call your BBS is compatible with either AVATAR/0 and/or AVATAR/0+. Examples of terminal software packages that support AVATAR/0+ are, FrontDoor 2.02 and TinyTerm. QModem and Telix also support AVATAR, but only in the AVATAR/0 mode. AVATAR has the advantage over ANSI of being much faster. A word about the files extensions (.A??) that are used for AVATAR screens. There are two file extensions that are associated with AVATAR text files that you will display to your users. They are .AVT and .AVP. When displaying (.A??) textfiles to your users, ProBoard looks for them in the following order. 1.) .AVP 2.) .AVT 3.) .ANS 4.) .ASC Refer to the following section on "Hard Coded .A?? files" for more information on the default .A?? files that ProBoard will display to your users. - 173 - To create files with the .AVT and .AVP file extensions you will need a file utility called AVTCONV.EXE. This file was distributed with RemoteAccess, and is also available from most of the ProBoard beta sites, as well as any of the ProBoard Support BBS's. It is very simple to use this utility. Just copy it to your ProBoard TEXTFILE directory and run the following commands: AVTCONV *.ANS AVT -- this will create a copy of all of your ANSI (.ANS) screens with the extension .AVT These are the textfiles for displaying to users that have AVATAR/0 terminal emulation selected. AVTCONV /C+ *.ANS AVP -- this will create a copy of all of your ANSI (.ANS) screens with the extension .AVP These are the textfiles for displaying to users that have AVATAR/0+ terminal emulation selected. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Hard-coded .A?? files │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ In certain situations, ProBoard will display default .A?? files. Just what is an A?? file? All .A?? files are files that have the file extensions of .AVT, .AVP, .ANS, or .ASC. If the .ANS/AVT/AVP file cannot be found, the .ASC file will be displayed (if it exists). Note: You have to insert your own "Press [Enter] to continue" prompt if necessary! AFTERPW.A?? Displayed to a user after they have entered their password. BEFOREPW.A?? Displayed to a user right before ProBoard asks them for their password. BIRTHDAY.A?? If a user logs in on his/her birthday, this file will be shown after the news file. Note: you can run a pex-file to congratulate a user on his/her birthday. - 174 - DLDELAY.A?? Displayed to a user who has to wait <n> minutes before downloading. Refer to Configuration - Time/DownLoad Limits (F5) for more information on setting the number of minutes for the DownLoad Delay. DLHANGUP.A?? Displayed to a user who has selected [G]oodbye after download, after the 10 second timer to abort the hangup, has expired. DUPESFND.A?? Displayed to a user who uploads one or more duplicate files to your BBS if "Check Duplicate Uploads" is set to "Yes" in PROCFG's File Transfer Options. The file will be displayed to the user once the duplicate check is completed if any duplicate files are found. EVENTDUE.A?? Shown if a user can't login because of an event that has to run soon. EXPIRED.A?? When a user's level has expired, this file is shown. EXP_WARN.A?? Displayed when the user's level expires within less than 30 days. GOODBYE.A?? Displayed when the user is logging off, just before the carrier is dropped. INTRO.A?? Displayed when a user logs in, BEFORE asking a user's name and password. INTRO<n>.A?? This is the same as INTRO.ASC/ANS except that this file that can be displayed to the specified node number. For Example: to display it to node 2 you would create a file called INTRO2.A??. If no INTRO<n>.A?? exists, ProBoard will then show the file INTRO.A?? or LOGO.A?? MAXPAGE.A?? Displayed when the user has tried to page the SysOp too many times. MSGHELP.A?? Replaces the built-in message reading help if this file exists. NEWS.A?? Displayed AFTER the user has read his/her new mail. - 175 - NEWUSER.A?? Displayed to user before ProBoard asks "Are you a New User?". When the user enters their name and ProBoard does not find their name in the user file, ProBoard asks "Did you enter your name correctly?" If the user indicates they did, this file (if you create it) will display to the user. NEWUSER1.A?? Displayed when a new user is logging in, BEFORE he/she has started the questionnaire. NEWUSER2.A?? Displayed when a new user is logging in, AFTER he/she has completed the questionnaire. NOACCESS.A?? Displayed when user is not allowed to log onto one or more lines because their access level is lower than the one specified in the command line PROBOARD -L<level> (used to start ProBoard on that node). Read the "Reference Section" of this manual, under "Command Line Options & Errorlevels" for more information on this command line. NOTAVAIL.A?? Displayed when the user tries to page outside paging hours. PAGED.A?? Displayed when the SysOp does not respond when the user tries to page. PRIVATE.A?? Is displayed when your system is configured as a private system, and a new user tries to log in. SECxx.A?? 'xx' stands for a userlevel. If a user with level xx logs in, this file will be displayed (eg. SEC25.ANS). The file is shown after all WELCOME<x> files and before the mailcheck. TRASHCAN.A?? Shown when a user tries to use a name listed in TRASHCAN.CTL file. WELCOMEx.A?? Displayed at login, after the user entered his/her name. The 'x' stands for a digit ranging from 1 to 9; these files (if they exist) will be displayed in ascending order, 1-2-...-9, BEFORE a mailcheck is done. - 176 - ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ .A?? File Control Codes │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ You can use several codes in ProBoard's textfiles. These codes will be replaced by internal variables, or will perform special actions. In the code list, you will see a code's ASCII value, the control code and a description of the code. A '^' means Ctrl, so ^D means Ctrl-D. ┌───────┬──────┬──────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ ASCII │ CODE │ DESCRIPTION │ └───────┴──────┴──────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ 65 ^A 65 ^A Waits for the user to press <Enter>. 66 ^B Disables interruption by pressing <S>. 67 ^C Enables interruption by pressing <S>. 68 ^D Enables 'More'-prompt. 69 ^E Disables 'More'-prompt. 71 ^G Rings a bell on the user's computer. 76 ^L Clearscreen. 87 ^W Pauses for 1 second. - 177 - ┌───────┬──────┬──────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ ASCII │ CODE │ DESCRIPTION │ └───────┴──────┴──────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ 06-65 ^FA User's full name. 06-66 ^FB User's City. 06-67 ^FC User's password. 06-68 ^FD User's data/fax phone number. 06-69 ^FE User's phone number. 06-71 ^FG Time of last login. 06-76 ^FL Netmail credit left. 06-77 ^FM Number of messages written. 06-78 ^FN Message last read. 06-79 ^FO User's level. 06-80 ^FP Number of calls by user. 06-81 ^FQ Number of uploads by user. 06-82 ^FR Kbytes uploaded by user. 06-83 ^FS Number of downloads by user. 06-84 ^FT Kbytes downloaded by user. 06-85 ^FU Number of minutes online today. 06-86 ^FV User's screen length. 06-87 ^FW User's first name. 06-88 ^FX ANSI codes ON/OFF. 06-89 ^FY Screen pausing ON/OFF. 06-90 ^FZ Clearscreen codes ON/OFF. 06-48 ^F0 Fullscreen editor ON/OFF. 06-49 ^F1 User's Alias. 06-50 ^F2 Command stacking ON/OFF. 06-51 ^F3 IBM Characters ON/OFF. 06-52 ^F4 User's State. 06-53 ^F5 User's birth date. 06-54 ^F6 User's expiration date (if any) 06-55 ^F7 Day's until expiration date. 06-56 ^F8 AVATAR/0 - on/off. 06-57 ^F9 AVATAR/0+ - on/off. 06-40 ^F" User's Country. 06-58 ^F: User's first call (date). 06-36 ^F$ User's address (line 1). 06-37 ^F' User's address (line 2). 06-38 ^F& User's address (line 3). 06-60 ^F` User's sex. 06-91 ^F[ Download Kb left today. 06-126 ^F~ Download delay in minutes. 06-33 ^F! # Minutes remaining until allowed to download. 06-40 ^F( Current file group name. 06-41 ^F) Current message group name. 06-42 ^F* Current file group number. 06-43 ^F+ Current message group number. 06-61 ^F= User's fax number - 178 - ┌───────┬──────┬──────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ ASCII │ CODE │ DESCRIPTION │ └───────┴──────┴──────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ 11-65 ^KA Total number of calls to the BBS. 11-66 ^KB Name of the last user on the BBS. 11-67 ^KC Number of active Hudson message base messages. 11-68 ^KD Number of first message. 11-69 ^KE Number of last message. 11-70 ^KF Number of times user has paged the SysOp. 11-71 ^KG Day of the week (full). 11-72 ^KH Number of users on the BBS. 11-73 ^KI Current time. 11-74 ^KJ Today's date. 11-75 ^KK Minutes online during this session. 11-77 ^KM Minutes online today. 11-79 ^KO Minutes online left today. 11-80 ^KP Version number of ProBoard (x.xx) 11-81 ^KQ Daily online limit. 11-82 ^KR Baud rate. 11-83 ^KS Day of the week (short). 11-84 ^KT Daily download limit (Kbytes). 11-87 ^KW Node number. 11-88 ^KX Hang up phone. 11-89 ^KY Active message area name. 11-90 ^KZ Active file area name. 11-48 ^K0 # Messages in active message area 11-49 ^K1 Current message area # 11-50 ^K2 Current file area # You can also inform ProBoard about the length of a string to be placed in a textfile. This is done is the following way: Between the first and last code, you can place '@' or '#' or '%' codes. The field's length will be defined by the number of characters, first and last control code included. Use '@' to align (justify) a field to the left, use '#' to align to the right and use '%' to center a field. Eg. ^K@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@B ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 23 X '@' Thus, the total amount of characters equals 25, the user's name (^KB) will be placed in a 25-character field, left justified. You now can easily draw 'boxes' around this field, without having to worry about the actual length of the user's name. - 179 - An example of a textfile using the control codes: (the '^' stands for '^F') : ┌───────────┐ │ Some Info │ └───┬───────┴───────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Your full name..... ^@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@A │ │ Calling from....... ^@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@B │ │ Last called........ ^@@@@@@@@@F at ^@@@@@@G │ │ Level.............. ^####O │ │ Number of calls.... ^####P │ ├──────────────────────────────┬────────────────────────────┤ │ Kb downloaded...... ^@@@@TK │ Kb uploaded....... ^####RK │ │ # downloads........ ^####S │ # uploads......... ^####Q │ ├──────────────────────────────┴────────────────────────────┤ │ Messages posted.... ^####M │ │ Your flags......... ^@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@H │ ├─────────────────┐ │ │ ANSI ^#X ├─────────────────────────────────────────┘ │ Clearscreen ^#Z │ │ More prompt ^#Y │ │ Editor ^#O │ └─────────────────┘ Press <Enter> to continue.^A ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Music Files │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ You can make your paging-sound and attention-sound more attractive by defining your own music file. A music file is a text file in which you can use 2 keywords: TONE [hz] [1/100's sec] Sounds a tone of [hz] Hz during the specified period. WAIT [1/100's sec] Waits for the specified period. The format of this textfile is compatible with the RemoteAccess musicfiles. The paging-musicfile is named PAGE.MUS, and the attention-music- file is named ATTEN.MUS. - 180 - You can use this frequency-table to write your own masterpiece: ┌──────┬─────┬─────┬──────┬──────┬──────┐ │ O.1 │ O.2 │ O.3 │ O.4 │ O.5 │ O.6 │ ┌────┼──────┼─────┼─────┼──────┼──────┼──────┤ │ C │ 45 │ 134 │ 268 │ 536 │ 1071 │ 2145 │ │ C# │ 71 │ 142 │ 284 │ 568 │ 1136 │ 2273 │ │ D │ 75 │ 150 │ 301 │ 602 │ 1204 │ 2408 │ │ D# │ 80 │ 159 │ 319 │ 638 │ 1275 │ 2551 │ │ E │ 84 │ 169 │ 338 │ 676 │ 1351 │ 2703 │ │ F │ 90 │ 179 │ 358 │ 716 │ 1432 │ 2864 │ │ F# │ 95 │ 190 │ 379 │ 758 │ 1517 │ 3034 │ │ G │ 100 │ 201 │ 402 │ 804 │ 1607 │ 3215 │ │ G# │ 106 │ 213 │ 426 │ 851 │ 1703 │ 3406 │ │ A │ 113 │ 225 │ 451 │ 902 │ 1804 │ 3608 │ │ A# │ 119 │ 239 │ 478 │ 956 │ 1991 │ 3823 │ │ B │ 127 │ 253 │ 506 │ 1012 │ 2025 │ 4050 │ └────┴──────┴─────┴─────┴──────┴──────┴──────┘ ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Text Macros │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ You can enter text macros in any user-definable string. Text macros are defined as "@<NAME:n>@", and are replaced by internal ProBoard variables at runtime. You can insert these macros in the following strings: - Textlines in menu items - Data fields in menu items - Menu prompts - Modem initialization string 'NAME' is the name of the macro. A list of available macros will follow. You can also specify the field width for the resulting string. This is done by appending the macro name with a ':' and a number. A positive number will result in a left aligned string, while a negative number will result in a right aligned string. For example: @<NAME:30>@ will display the user's name in a left aligned field of 30 characters wide. Note that the field width specifier is optional. - 181 - Here is a list of the available macros: BAUD Current baud rate CITY The city of the current user COUNTRY User's country/state CURFILEAREA Current file area name CURFILEAREA# Current file area number CURFILEAREADIR Current file area path CURFILEGROUP Current file group name CURFILEGROUP# Current file group number CURMENU Current menu name CURMSGAREA Current message area name CURMSGAREA# Current message area number CURMSGGROUP Current message group name CURMSGGROUP# Current message group number DATAPHONE User's data phone number DATE Current date (xx-xxx-xx) FIRSTNAME The first name of the current user HANDLE The user's handle (fixed alias) HIGHMSG Highest message number in message base ID The user level ID for this user LANGUAGE The language of the user (base file name) - 182 - LASTDATE Date of user's last call LASTTIME Time of user's last call LEVEL The level of the current user LOWMSG Lowest message number in message base (Hudson) MNUDIR Menu directory MSGDIR Message base directory NAME The name of the current user NLDIR Nodelist directory NODE Current node number NUMMSG Number of messages in current area NUMUSERS Total number of users in userfile NUMYELLS The number of times the user yelled PASSWORD The user's password PEXDIR PEX-files directory PORT Current com-port nr (1-8) PVTDIR Private uploads directory STARTDIR Startup-directory SYSDIR ProBoard system directory SYSOPNAME Name of the SysOp TIME Current time (xx:xx) TMLEFT Number of minutes left TMONLINE Number of minutes online TOTALCALLS Total # of calls to the system TOTALMSG Total # of messages in message base (Hudson) TXTDIR Textfiles directory UPDIR Upload directory USERREC Record number of this user's user record VERSION ProBoard version number (eg. 2.15) VOICEPHONE User's voice phone number %NAME Will be replaced by the contents of DOS environment variable 'NAME'. Example: in DOS or a .BAT file you would put SET INITSTR=ATDT5551212. Then when you use a text macro like this: @<%INITSTR>@ it would be replaced with "ATDT5551212". Note the "%" symbol in the macro. - 183 - Other special characters are: #1 - #7 Change color (only valid for displayable #B1 - #B7 strings). If a 'B' is in front of the color number, the "blink" attribute will be turned on. 1 = Red 2 = Green 3 = Yellow 4 = Blue 5 = Magenta 6 = Cyan 7 = White Example: Hi @<#3>@@<FIRSTNAME>@@<#7>@, how is the weather in @<CITY>@? Other single examples: @<NAME:35>@ @<TMONLINE:-5>@ @<CITY>@ - 184 - ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Example Batch Files │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ This is an example for standalone-operation with 2 errorlevel events defined. Event 1 returns level 10, event 2 returns level 20. No echomail and netmail is used. ------------------------------------------------------------------ :Loop PROBOARD -S if errorlevel 100 goto End if errorlevel 99 goto End if errorlevel 20 goto Event2 if errorlevel 10 goto Event1 if errorlevel 1 goto FatalError goto Loop :Event1 echo Perform some actions echo -------------------- goto Loop :Event2 echo Perform some more actions echo ------------------------- goto Loop :FatalError echo FATAL ERROR - ProBoard Down :End ------------------------------------------------------------------ Using ProBoard with a frontend-mailer is a little more complicated. This is an example for use with FrontDoor. In this example FrontDoor uses the following errorlevels: 300 bps call : 50 1200 bps call : 51 2400 bps call : 52 Local call : 60 Mail received : 100 Exit : 150 - 185 - ------------------------------------------------------------------ SET FD=C:\FD :Loop cd \fd fd if errorlevel 150 goto End if errorlevel 100 goto MailRcv cd\pb if errorlevel 60 goto Local if errorlevel 52 goto Call2400 if errorlevel 51 goto Call1200 if errorlevel 50 goto Call300 :FatalErr echo FATAL ERROR goto End :Call300 proboard -b300 -p1 goto CheckPBErr :Call1200 proboard -b1200 -p1 goto CheckPBErr :Call2400 proboard -b2400 -p1 goto CheckPBErr :Local proboard :CheckPBErr if errorlevel 100 goto End if errorlevel 5 goto NetEcho if errorlevel 4 goto EchoEntered if errorlevel 3 goto NetEntered if errorlevel 1 goto FatalErr goto Loop :NetEcho REM ************************************ REM ** Export netmail & echomail here ** REM ************************************ Goto Loop - 186 - :NetEntered REM ************************************ REM ** Export netmail here ** REM ************************************ Goto Loop :EchoEntered REM ************************************ REM ** Export echomail here ** REM ************************************ Goto Loop :MailRcv REM ************************************ REM ** Unpack and Import mail here ** REM ************************************ Goto Loop :End ------------------------------------------------------------------ ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Flag Cross-Reference Chart │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ The following cross-reference chart will help you to easily determine which flags to use for your user records and menus using the ProBoard style (A-Z and 1-6) of flags. Note: The flag structures in ProBoard are actually no different than those in QuickBBS or RA, they are just expressed in a more "user friendly" format. ╔═══╦═══╤═══╤═══╤═══╤═══╤═══╤═══╤═══╕ ║ ║ 1 │ 2 │ 3 │ 4 │ 5 │ 6 │ 7 │ 8 │ ╠═══╬═══╧═══╧═══╧═══╧═══╧═══╧═══╧═══╛ ║ A ║ A B C D E F G H ╟───╢ ║ B ║ I J K L M N O P ╟───╢ ║ C ║ Q R S T U V W X ╟───╢ ║ D ║ Y Z 1 2 3 4 5 6 ╙───╜ - 187 - A few flag examples follow: QuickBBS/RA ProBoard ─────────── ──────── A1 A C3 S D7 5 C8 X well.... you get the idea. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ FREE Files │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Many SysOps have a master file list containing all the files available on their BBS for users to download, or perhaps some virus detection software that they would like to make available to their users without affecting their users download ratio. Other SysOps may run a support BBS and have certain files they want to make available to callers without regards to how long it takes to download. ProBoard's powerful "Free File" option(s) can easily accommodate both of these things. It is possible (in addition to marking entire file areas) to specify a list of files that users can download without ProBoard deducting the kilobyte amount of the download from their daily limit. This would allow you to make one or two (or several) files in a file area as "Free" without making the entire area "Free" to your users. To accomplish this, create a file called FREEFILE.CTL in the ProBoard system directory (usually C:\PB). Create this file with an ascii editor such as QEDIT or DOS editor. Each line in the file should contain the name (do not include the drive and path to the file) and extension of any files you want to make available for FREE. Wildcards are allowed. An example follows: ─────────────────── PB_215.ZIP FILELIST.ZIP *.TXT SCANV86.ZIP PB_STRUC.* LIST.LZH - 188 - It is also possible to specify individual files that you want to make available to your callers with no regard for the time it takes a user to download them. This means that if you have a file that is 1024k, and the user has 1 minute left, the user would still be able to download the file. This is a valuable feature for SysOps who run a support BBS and want to make individual files available to users without getting hate mail from those users who call long distance and then don't have enough time left or a high enough security level to download support files. Refer to Menu Function 32 for more details. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Semaphore files for shutting down ProBoard │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ It is possible to shut down ProBoard by creating a semaphore file in the ProBoard system directory. The file should be called DOWN.<node#> (node# is the node number) When ProBoard finds this file, it will hang up and immediately exit with errorlevel 100. It will then create a file called ISDOWN.<node#> in the same directory to indicate that ProBoard has been shut down successfully. - 189 - ╔═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗ ╟─── TIPS & TRICKS ───────────────────────────────────────────────╢ ╚═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝ ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Navigating Through Menus │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ ProBoard has been created for the novice and experienced user. It supports Opus-like commands and RA/QBBS style hotkeys. Using hotkeys is the easiest way to navigate through the menus. While a menu is being displayed, you can enter any menu command. The displaying of the menu will be stopped, and the corresponding menu function will be executed immediately. The other way to enter menu options is command stacking. This way you can enter several menu commands at a prompt, and execute them all at once by pressing [Enter]. You are not limited to menu commands only. You can enter any key that should be "stacked". A ';' stands for <Enter>. This asks for an example I guess. Suppose you are in a menu where option [E] selects the "Enter Message" function. Now, if you want to write a private message to the SysOp, using "Test" as a subject, you could enter: ESysOp;Test;Y E "Enter Message" SysOp "Write message to" prompt ; Enter Test "Subject" prompt ; Enter Y Answer to "Private [Y/N]" prompt If you don't like to use command stacking all the time, but want to use it occasionally, you can enter a ';' at any menu prompt, and you will be able to enter a "command stack". ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ The [S] & [P] key │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ You can stop almost any incoming text with the [S] key, and pause with [P] key. To resume a paused text, press [P] again or press the <Enter> key. The SysOp can disable this though. - 190 - ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Online help in each menu │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ You can create help files for each of your menus by doing the following: Create a menu item in your global menu (GLOBAL.PBM) with the hotkey '?', function 5 (Show ASC/ANS file), data "@<CurMenu>@". Now when a user hits '?' in any menu, the file <MENUNAME>.A?? will be displayed to the user. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Uploading files to the current file area │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Normally, uploads are sent to the predefined upload directory (set in ProCFG/Options/Paths). You can override this in the upload function by entering a path in the data field. You can use text macros to send uploads to the CURRENT file area by entering @<CurFileAreaDir>@ in the data field. - 191 - ╔═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗ ╟─── SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT KIT (SDK) ──────────────────────────────╢ ╚═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝ Included with ProBoard is the ProBoard Software Development Kit (SDK). It consists of the files PB_SDK.H, PB_SDK.OBJ and PB_SDK.LIB. The SDK allows C and C++ programmers to write extensions to ProBoard. The ProBoard Software Development Kit is bundled with ProBoard as free software. This means that you may use it to write extensions for ProBoard without having to register ProBoard. The only exception of course, is if you are using ProBoard to run a BBS on a regular basis. The extensions you can write for ProBoard are called "PEX" (ProBoard Executable) files. You may distribute any ProBoard PEX files you write royalty free. Any PEX files you create with the SDK are run from within ProBoard using Menu Function 60 (Run ProBoard SDK file). - 192 -