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- PREUSR Version 4.0
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- Copyright 1991 - 1993 by Gary Glueckert
-
- State University of NY at Farmingdale:
- FIDONet 1:107/270
- RBBSNet 8:954/270
- BUSILINK 10:110/2
-
- The Small Time BBS:
- FIDONet 1:107/272
- RBBSNet 8:954/272
-
- ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
-
-
-
- Previous User Version 4.0 Documentation
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- Program Description
- Previous User creates screen displays of user logons. The displays
- contain the previous callers name and several SysOp configurable
- fields. The SysOp has the option to display the users city/state,
- date of logon, time of logon, and length of session (in mins.).
- Displays may be created in the three "flavors" typical of RBBS
- or you may output one file containing smartext.
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- The latest Version of Previous User is FREQABLE from
- The State University of NY with the magic name of PREUSR.
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- Page 2
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- Registration -
- This program is NOT public domain. Previous User (PREUSR) is
- copyrighted and all rights for this software are reserved by
- the author. You MUST register this software if you intend to
- use it on a continuing basis.
-
- SysOp's of hobby type BBS' may use this software free of charge but
- a donation of $5.00 is suggested. This donation is used to help
- offset costs and support the development of Previous User. Donators
- will receive free upgrades to minor revisions of the software (no
- major revisions are planned for the future) and will receive complete
- support via BBS or voice telephone. Donators also will have access to
- the latest beta versions of Previous User.
-
- ** PLEASE NOTE **
- If your system is in some way a commercial/institutional enterprise
- or somehow supports a commercial enterprise then a registration FEE
- IS REQUIRED.
-
- Non-Commercial Hobby Registration
- To obtain a registration use the order form provided in
- REGISTER.DOC and mail with your donation to the address
- provided on that form.
-
- No money (really)? Send the author a post card along with the
- registration form. Be sure one side contains a nice picture or
- photograph that reflects where you live. Make sure that the other
- side includes the following information:
- - Your name (First and Last names)
- - Your return address (where the reg is mailed to)
- - Your BBS Name (as you wish it to appear to your users)
- - Your BBS Phone number (in case I want to call you)
-
- Mail your registration forms and cards to:
- Gary E. Glueckert
- PO Box 961
- Levittown, NY 11756
-
-
- If you have included a donation your registration will be mailed back
- to you within a few days of receiving your registration. If you are
- requesting registration without a donation you will have to call one
- of the BBS' below to receive your registration.
-
- If you wish to receive your registration number ASAP you may leave a
- message on one of the following BBS' requesting that the registration
- number be left there for you to pick up after we receive your card.
-
- * The SUNY BBS 516-420-0818
- * The Small Time BBS 516-579-7929 - leave message to Gary Glueckert
-
- Why require registration? To get input from YOU. Previous User is
- what it is because of the suggestions I get from other SysOps.
- Registrations also give you full support and the option to beta
- test the very latest versions.
-
- Commercial registration
- Fill in the form found in the REGISTER.DOC file. Follow the directions
- and mail to the address indicated in the directions. Do not forget to
- enclose the registration fee.
-
-
- Page 3
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- Upgrading to Previous User 4.0 -
- Previous User Version 4.0 is NOT "plug compatible" with earlier
- versions of PREUSR. It is advised that you REINSTALL the new version
- from the begining to avoid the incompatibilities.
-
- Installation - A sample installation.
- - READ THE DOCUMENTATION FIRST!!! Save yourself some grief.
- - Create a directory off of your RBBS directory to hold the PREUSR
- files. In our example installation we will use C:\RBBS\PREUSR.
- From your RBBS directory type MKDIR PREUSR. Now change to that
- directory (CD PREUSR) making it your current directory and unzip
- the files in the PREUSR40.ZIP archive into this new directory.
- - Run PUCTL.EXE and choose "configuration filename" from the menu.
- Type in the filename of the sample configuration included in this
- archive (PREUSR.CFG). The information contained in this sample file
- should load into PreUsr Control. Change the filename if you wish.
- - Go through all of the menu items found in PUCTL and change them to
- reflect your system configuration (directory structure) and your
- personal preferences.
- - Set RBBS-PC Parameter 163 to SYSTEM recycle. This will allow you
- to run PreUsr after each caller logs off of the system.
- - Edit your RBBS.BAT batch file and add the lines as illustrated
- by the sidebars (|) in the lines below:
-
-
- ECHO OFF
- CLS
- REM THE NEXT TWO COMMANDS SHOULD BE PLACED IN EACH AUTOEXEC.BAT FILE
- REM AND REMOVED FROM THE RBBS.BAT FILE
- IF %node%. == . SET node=1
- SET DSZLOG=XFER-%node%.DEF
- :START
- c:
- CD .\.
- IF EXIST NODE%node%\RBBS%node%TM.DEF DEL NODE%node%\RBBS%node%TM.DEF
- IF EXIST NODE%node%\RBBS%node%F1.DEF DEL NODE%node%\RBBS%node%F1.DEF
- IF EXIST NODE%node%\RCTTY.BAT DEL NODE%node%\RCTTY.BAT
- RBBS-PC.EXE %1
- IF EXIST NODE%node%\RBBS%node%F1.DEF GOTO EXIT
- IF EXIST NODE%node%\RBBS%node%TM.DEF RBBSTIME.BAT
- IF EXIST NODE%node%\RCTTY.BAT NODE%node%\RCTTY.BAT
- | IF EXIST NODE%node%\RCTTY.BAT GOTO START
- | CD\RBBS\PREUSR
- | PREUSR40 /C:PREUSR.CFG /G /R /L
- | CD\RBBS
- REM WHEN YOU WANT RBBS-PC TO AUTOMATICALLY RECYCLE,
- REM REMOVE THE "REM" FROM THE NEXT LINE
- | GOTO START
- :EXIT
-
- - These changes to your batch file will allow PREUSR to run after
- a user logs off of your system but will not allow PREUSR to run
- when RBBS comes back from a door. A sample RBBSPU.BAT file is
- included in this archive.
- - Be sure to tell RBBS where your output files are via config.
-
- Configuration file details
- If you prefer, the configuration file may be edited using your
- favorite ASCII text editor. You may place commented lines in the
- configuration file by begining those lines with a semi-colon ";".
- All of the parameters in the configuration file are "key-worded"
- and must appear as "keyword=paramater" (without the quotes). Where
- keyword is one of the keywords listed below. The "=" must be present.
-
- Page 4
-
-
- List of Configuration file Keywords:
- Reg= The registration number for your copy of PREUSR
- Name= Your BBS Name as you wish it to appear to your users
- OutPut= Output filename or if preceeded with "@", a LIST of filenames
- Title= The title as you wish it to appear in your displays
- CLS= The RBBS Clear-screen Smartext that you are using
- TitleColor= The color of your title in either ANSI or Smartext
- NameColor= The color of the names you want in your displays (style 4)
- CityColor= The color of the City/State field (style 4)
- DateColor= The color of the Date in the display
- TimeColor= The color of the Time in your displays
- BoxColor= The color the box will be in the display
- ColorOff= ANSI or Smartext to turn color off
- Pause= The RBBS Smartext for Page-Break
- Blanks= The number of trailing blank lines (CR/LF) at end of display
- Style= The display style 1 through 4
- City= Display City and State Field? 1=YES 0=NO
- TopLeft= Ascii code of the top left-hand corner of the box.
- TopRight= Ascii code of the top right-hand corner of the box.
- BottomLeft= Ascii code of the bottom left-hand corner of the box.
- BottomRight= Ascii code of the bottom right-hand corner of the box.
- Horizontal= Ascii code of the horizontal lines of the box.
- Vertical= Ascii code of the vertical lines of the box.
- Plain= Ascii code of the border of the box for plain vanilla files.
- Users= The number of users to display for style 4 output files.
-
-
- Be sure to take a look at PU_CFG.HLP. This is a PreUsr configuration
- file with added comments to help clarify the keywords. Keep this
- file handy as a reference. At the end of this file you will also
- find a list of ANSI codes to help you design your color output files.
-
-
- Command Line Options
-
- Usage: PREUSR40 [/C:x /A:x /P:x /S /R /G /N /?] </D /M /B /L>
-
- [optional parameters] - use in any combination
- /C:x - Drive:\Path\Filename of configuration file.
- /A:x - Drive:\Path\Filename of file to append as
- suffix file to output file(s).
- /P:x - Drive:\Path\Filename of file to append as
- prefix file to output file(s).
- /S:x - Drive:\Path\Filename of file containing list
- of users to exclude from display.
- /G - Use color screen output.
- /N - Minimal display for screen output.
- /R - Prevent repetitive display of user (style 4).
- /T - Generate only plain vanilla files containing smartext.
- /? - Display help.
- <replaceable parameters> - use only one of the following (style 4 only)
- /D - Display date field in Multi-user displays.
- /M - [Not yet available]
- /B - [Not yet available]
- /L - Display Length of user's session (duration).
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- Page 5
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- Append Files
- Other text or Ansi files may be appended to either the begining
- or the end of your display. In this way, you can make PreUsr
- display at the begining of your news file OR at the end of your
- welcome file. It's up to you! There are two ways to do this
- depending upon how much flexibilty you need.
-
-
- - Command-Line switches
- The easiest way is to use the command-line switches to append a
- file to the PreUsr output (display) file(s). The special command
- line switches
-
- /P: - Will attach (append) a file to the begining of the display.
- /A: - Will attach (append) a file to the end of the display.
-
- The ":" is mandatory and should be followed by the name of the file
- you want appended. Eg: /P:BBS.TXT will append whatever is in the file
- BBS.TXT to the begining of the PreUsr display and /A:LG5.DEF will
- append the file LG5.DEF to the end of the display.
-
-
- - OutPut File Lists and Append Files
- The most powerful and flexible way to use append files is by using
- a list of files for output which I will refer to as an OutPut
- FileList. The OutPut FileList is simply a LIST of files you wish
- PreUsr to create as the PreUsr display. You specify this list of
- filenames by preceeding the filename used with the configuration
- keyword "OutPut=" with the "at" sign (@).
-
- Eg: OutPut=@C:\RBBS\PREUSR\PREUSR.LST
-
- You may also specify unique appendfiles for each file in your list
- by using a + or - sign. Filenames preceeded with the + would be
- appended to the begining of the display. Filenames preceeded with a
- - would be attached to the end of the output file.
-
- Sample template for OutPut File Lists:
-
- LG1.DEF +Prefix1.txt -Suffix1.txt
- LG2.DEF +Prefix2.txt -Suffix2.txt
- LG3.DEF +Prefix3.txt -Suffix3.txt
- LG4.DEF +Prefix4.txt -Suffix4.txt
- LG5.DEF +Prefix5.txt -Suffix5.txt
- LG6.DEF +Prefix6.txt -Suffix6.txt
- LG7.DEF +Prefix7.txt -Suffix7.txt
- LG8.DEF +Prefix8.txt -Suffix8.txt
- LG9.DEF +Prefix9.txt -Suffix9.txt
- LG10.DEF +PrefixA.txt -SuffixA.txt
-
- In this example, the LGx.DEF files are used as the OutPut Files.
- The appropriate PREFIXx.TXT file is attached to the begining of
- the display and the appropriate SUFFIXx.TXT file is attached
- to the end of the display. PREUSR will also make the necessary
- LGxG.DEF and LGxC.DEF (graphics and color) displays and will
- use PREFIXxG.TXT, PREFIXxC.TXT, SUFFIXxG.TXT, and SUFFIXxC.TXT
- (graphics and colors) files if they are present.
-
- If you are still not sure about how this works, take a look at the
- PREUSR.LST file included in the PREUSR40 archive.
-
-
- Page 6
-
- - More on Append Files
- When you create your append files you may create color graphics,
- graphics, and plain vanilla versions. Just as in RBBS, PreUsr will
- use these files for the Color Graphics, Graphics, and "plain vanilla"
- versions of the PreUsr display. Remember to end the filename
- prefix in "C" for color and "G" for graphics. PreUsr uses the same
- conventions as RBBS for these filesnames.
-
-
- Exclusion Lists
- You may exclude certain users from being displayed by using the
- /S: command-line switch. When using this switch you must specify
- the filename of a file which contains a list of users you do not
- want included in the display.
- Eg: /S:PU_EXC.LST
- Each username should be followed by a carriage return / linefeed
- combination and should be in ALL CAPS. To stop the SysOp from
- being displayed specify SYSOP. A sample PU_EXC.LST file is
- included in the PREUSR40 archive.
-
-
-
-
- OutPut Styles ("Style=" Keyword)
- There are four different styles of displays which PreUsr can
- create. They are:
- 1 - Single User Single-Line Display
- 2 - Single User Multi-Line Display
- 3 - Single User Multi-Line Boxed Display
- 4 - Multi-User Boxed Display
- Style four is by far the most popular. For a sampling of each
- output style see the SAMPLER archive included with the PREUSR40
- archive.
-
-
- The Title ("Title=" Keyword)
- For Styles 1-3 this title will appear right before the users name.
- Keep it short if you are using styles 1-3. Eg: Last User:
-
- For style 4 the title will appear in the top of the box above the
- list of users. This title can be a bit longer but keep in mind
- that the width of the box is always changing to accomodate the
- longest record. If the length of the title does exceed the width of
- the box it will default to something generic.
-
- If you use a percent sign in your title (%) it will be replaced
- by the number of users in the display. This comes in handy after
- your callers file is deleted and you are only displaying 2 or 3
- users because that is all that have been on since. Most of the
- time this value matches that of the Keyword "Users=".
-
-
- The Alternate Color Display
- You can get an interesting 2 color display for the style 4 output
- by commenting out (not using) the CityColor=, DateColor=, and
- TimeColor= Keywords. This creates a display where the two remaining
- ANSI colors alternate with each users name. This is how PreUsr used
- to work way back when and I left this in because some SysOps
- prefer the way this looks to the new 5 color displays. Try it!
-
-
- Page 7
-
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- Using Smartext with PreUsr
- PreUsr has a command-line switch so that the SysOp can use
- RBBS-PC's Smartext exclusively. This is incorprated within PreUsr
- as a space-saving feature. Instead of creating 3 versions of
- each of your display files you can create one file using smartext
- to display both color and non-color screens.
- To use the /T command-line switch make sure that the colors you
- specified in your configuration file are smartext characters and
- NOT Ansi codes. This particular feature works very well with the
- STUNY Mods which support 8 colors of Smartext rather than the
- RBBS standard 4 color smartext support.
-
-
- Which text files?
- You can name your output files to be any of the text files that RBBS
- displays. Some good suggestions are the PRELOG file, a BULLETIN file,
- your WELCOME file, or your LGx.DEF files. You can easily use your
- LGx.DEF files by specifying that there is a list of output files to
- be created. This is done by adding a "@" (at) sign to the begining
- of the output filename. See the example file included.
-
-
-
- Multitasking & MultiNode Operation
- Previous User 4.0 is DESQView aware and will use the appropriate
- network and file sharing at all times. It is suggested that the
- DESQview window(s) in which you run RBBS and PreUsr is set to
- "Virtualize" text/graphics. This will prevent "bleed-through" from
- one window to another.
-
- PreUsr does not (yet) create an output file with the logons from
- all nodes in one file (future enhancment). The best way to make
- a multi-nodal display is to use different configuration files and
- naming them with the NODE environment variable in mind. You can then
- use a command line like the one below to invoke PREUSR from the
- RBBS batch file:
- PREUSR40 /C:PREUSR%node%.CFG /S:PU_EXC.LST /G /R /L
-
- You can then have multiple configuration files for different nodes.
- For instance you can name your config files PREUSR1.CFG, PREUSR2.CFG,
- PREUSRx.CFG (where x=node). You can also have different output filelists
- listed in your configuration files which will make it easy to append
- each nodes output files to each other... making one display for several
- nodes.
-
-
- Page 8
-
- Example multi-node istallation with configuration files:
-
- Node 1: Node 2:
-
- PREUSR1.CFG PREUSR2.CFG
- ~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~
- Reg=000000000 Reg=000000000
- Name=SUNY at Farmingdale Name=SUNY at Farmingdale
- Callers=C:\RBBS\NODE1\CALLERS1 Callers=C:\RBBS\NODE2\CALLERS2
- OutPut=@PREUSR1.LST OutPut=NODE2.TXT
- Title=The Last % Callers - Node 1 Title=The Last % Callers - Node 2
- CLS={CS CLS={CS
- TitleColor= TitleColor=
- NameColor= NameColor=
- CityColor= CityColor=
- DateColor= DateColor=
- TimeColor= TimeColor=
- BoxColor= BoxColor=
- ColorOff= ColorOff=
- Pause={PB Pause={PB
- Blanks=1 Blanks=1
- Style=4 Style=4
- City=1 City=1
- TopLeft=214 TopLeft=214
- TopRight=183 TopRight=183
- BottomLeft=211 BottomLeft=211
- BottomRight=189 BottomRight=189
- Horizontal=196 Horizontal=196
- Vertical=186 Vertical=186
- Plain=42 Plain=42
- Users=5 Users=5
-
-
- Note that in this installation for two nodes that node 2 only
- outputs one file that is appended to all of the output files
- each time node 1 recycles as shown below.
-
- PREUSR1.LST
- ~~~~~~~~~~~
- C:\RBBS\TEXT\LG1.DEF -NODE2.TXT
- C:\RBBS\TEXT\LG2.DEF -NODE2.TXT
- C:\RBBS\TEXT\LG3.DEF -NODE2.TXT
- C:\RBBS\TEXT\LG4.DEF -NODE2.TXT
- C:\RBBS\TEXT\LG5.DEF -NODE2.TXT
- C:\RBBS\TEXT\LG6.DEF -NODE2.TXT
- C:\RBBS\TEXT\LG7.DEF -NODE2.TXT
- C:\RBBS\TEXT\LG8.DEF -NODE2.TXT
- C:\RBBS\TEXT\LG9.DEF -NODE2.TXT
- C:\RBBS\TEXT\LG10.DEF -NODE2.TXT
- C:\RBBS\BULLETIN\BULLET4 -NODE2.TXT
-
-
- This is only a very basic multinode installation. Using your
- imagination you may be able to come up with some very inventive
- ways to get multi-nodal displays from PREUSR40. Future enhancements
- will include the ability for Previous User to handle more than
- one CALLERS file per configuration.
-
-
-
-
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- Page 9
-
- Limited License
- You are free to use Previous User for a reasonable period of
- time to evaluate it's usefulness to you or your users. This
- "reasonable period of time" may depend on your particular set of
- circumstances. I would consider a period of three weeks to be in
- excess of a reasonable time frame for evaluation. After this time
- period you must either stop using Previous User or register it.
- You may NOT engage in, nor permit another party to engage in, any of
- the following:
-
- - Making alterations of any kind to this software,
- documentation, or file archive containing this software.
-
- - Attempting to disassemble, decompile, or reverse engineer
- all or part of this software; including the files it
- generates.
-
- - Grant a license or sub-license or any rights in the software
- to others.
-
-
- You may distribute Previous User and post it for download on Bulletin
- Boards given these restrictions:
-
- - The program shall be supplied in it's original and
- unmodified form, which includes this documentation.
-
- - No fee is charged.
-
- - For profit use is prohibited without registration after
- a reasonable period of evaluation.
-
- - The program may not be included with other goods or
- services.
-
- The author of this software grants you a license to use this software
- as long as the above conditions are met. Any violations of the above
- conditions will result in the termination of your license to use this
- software. Upon termination of this license, for any reason, you must
- stop using this software and destroy all copies of it in your
- posession. In addition the author reserves the right to cancel your
- license at any time for any reason that he sees fit.
-
- Page 10
-
- Disclaimer
- The author disclaims any warranties either expressed or implied,
- including, but not limited to, the applied warranties of
- mercantabilities or fitness for a particular purpose. All liability
- for all possible damages which may be incurred from the use, or
- mis-use, of this product is solely with the user.
-
-
- Problems
- If for some reason you have a problem getting PREUSR40 to run properly
- first check to see if the file PREUSR.ERR exists in the current
- directory. This file is created when the program encounters an error
- and it will contain information which may help you solve the problem.
-
- Most difficulties encountered involve the path and filenames listed
- in the configuration file and the filelist file. Check these first
- to be sure that the files and/or paths that you specified in these
- files actually exist.
-
- If you are still encountering problems feel free to contact me
- by calling:
- The SUNY BBS (516-420-0818)
- The Small Time BBS (516-579-7929)
- Be sure to include the information contained in the file PREUSR.ERR.
- Please report any bugs you find in the same manner.
-
-
- Previous User Version 4.0 Support
- Thanks to the following people / BBS':
- For Beta testing version 4.0, and for all of thier suggestions
- on how to make PREUSR a better utility for RBBS. Many of their
- suggestions are included in this version of PREUSR. Feel free
- to contact them if you need help with PreUsr.
-
- * Benny Carr -
- The New Woodstck RBBS
- (215)750-6670
-
- * Steven Greenfield -
- SMP Systems
- (516)785-1557
-
- * Richie Molinelli -
- The Small Time BBS
- (516)579-7929
-
- * The State University of New York
- (516)420-0818
-
-
- 00193
-