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RACE Version 2.01 RemoteAccess Caller Editor Copyright (C) 1989-1993 Michael F. Janke. All Rights Reserved. RACE Version 2.01 User Documentation TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter 1 -- INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 1.1 Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 1.3 Acknowledgments/Credits . . . . . . . . . 2 1.4 Special Characters . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Chapter 2 -- LICENSING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 2.1 Shareware Notice . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 2.2 License Fee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 2.3 License Agreement . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 2.4 Disclaimer of Warranty . . . . . . . . . 5 2.5 How to Register RACE . . . . . . . . . . 5 Chapter 3 -- CONFIGURATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 3.1 General Information . . . . . . . . . . . 6 3.2 RACECFG Main Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 3.2.1 Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 3.2.2 Validation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 3.2.3 Colors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 3.2.4 Flags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 3.2.5 Reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 3.2.6 Miscellaneous . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 3.3 Template Security Flag Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Chapter 4 -- GENERAL INFORMATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 4.1 The RACE Help System . . . . . . . . . . 16 4.2 Remote Operation . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 4.3 RACE Main Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Chapter 5 -- EDITING A USER RECORD . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 5.1 Editing Restrictions . . . . . . . . . . 17 5.2 Editing Individual Fields . . . . . . . . 18 5.3 Editing without entering Edit Mode . . . 18 5.4 Moving through the User File . . . . . . 18 5.5 Other Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 6.1 General Information . . . . . . . . . . . 21 6.2 Questionnaire Setup . . . . . . . . . . . 22 6.3 POSTINFO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 6.4 Comment Import . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 6.5 Templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 6.6 Welcome Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 6.7 Validation Menu Options . . . . . . . . . 25 7.1 The User Report Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 7.2 Report Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 7.3 Field Selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 7.4 Report Searching . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 8.1 Search Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 8.2 Search Operation . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 8.3 Search Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 8.5 Location/Telephone . . . . . . . . . . . 31 8.6 Security/Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 I RACE Version 2.01 User Documentation 8.7 Uploads/Downloads . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 8.8 Flags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 9.1 General Information . . . . . . . . . . . 33 9.2 Attribute Flags . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 9.3 Security Flags . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 9.4 Group Changes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 9.5 Global Changes and Group/Security Levels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 9.6 Executing Global Changes . . . . . . . . 35 Chapter 10 -- ADD NEW USER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 Chapter 11 -- JUMP/UTILS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 11.1 General Information . . . . . . . . . . . 37 11.2 Jump . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 11.3 Utilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 Chapter 12 -- RACEEDIT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 12.1 General Information . . . . . . . . . . . 38 12.3 RACEDIT Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 Appendix A -- PROBLEMS? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 Appendix B -- FIELD EDITING & MOVEMENT KEYS . . . . . . . . . 43 B.1 Field Editing Keys . . . . . . . . . . . 43 B.2 Field Movement Commands . . . . . . . . . 43 II RACE Version 2.01 User Documentation Chapter 1 -- INTRODUCTION RACE is a multi-function user editor for the RemoteAccess Bulletin Board System. Besides its obvious duties as an editor for manipulating an individual caller's data, it has many additional features to make managing your user files easier. 1.1 Features * Searches on specific user fields, including flags. * Globally change security flags. * Globally change user attributes. * Custom reports. * Swapping to EMS or disk during shells. * Fully multinode aware. * New user validation routines. * Send users prepared messages when validating. * Attach reminder notes to user security flags. * Included eRACEm utility for packing/sorting the user file. * WHOOPS! function to restore users accidentally packed out. * Much, much more! 1 RACE Version 2.01 User Documentation 1.2 Requirements RACE requires MS-DOS v3.0 or later (or equivalent) for proper operation. 250 KB of free RAM is recommended. It may be possible to execute RACE with less, although some features will be disabled. 1.3 Acknowledgments/Credits Special thanks go out to the beta testers that helped to test RACE and offered many feature requests. They are: Bruce Bodger, Fred Horner (may he rest in peace), Ed Meloan, Peter Janssens and the rest of the RemoteAccess beta test team. Thanks guys! A special thanks goes out to James Berry for his persistence during some difficulties with EGA/VGA mode changes and for providing much needed code for this portion of RACE. Thanks also go to Joaquim Homrighausen, author of the popular FrontDoor mailer system, for unselfishly allowing me to create the RACE configuration program in the image of the FrontDoor setup program. Thanks also go to Andrew Milner and Phil Mackay, for providing a great piece of bulletin board software. A VERY special thanks to Andrew Leary for updating the RACE documentation for this release of RACE. And last but not least, thanks go to TurboPower Software, Inc. for their EXECSWAP code which provides the swapping routines in RACE. 2 RACE Version 2.01 User Documentation 1.4 Special Characters used in this manual <> The <> character combination is used to surround characters that you are required to press to activate a particular command. In the case of the <Ctrl> or <Alt> key, you would press and hold the <Ctrl> (or <Alt>) key, press the other key, and then release both keys. For example, <Ctrl-P> would mean to press and hold the <Ctrl> key, press the key, and then release both keys. <Alt-D> would be similar, except of course the <Alt> key is pressed in this case. If this document shows a command such as <V>alidate, that means you would press the <V> key on your keyboard to activate the validate command. "" or '' Double and single quotes are used for emphasis and to clarify input that is expected from the user. One would not actually type the quote characters unless specifically instructed to do so. 3 RACE Version 2.01 User Documentation Chapter 2 -- LICENSING 2.1 Shareware Notice RACE 2.01 has been released as Shareware. If after 21 days you find that RACE suits your needs and you wish to continue using it, you must register and pay the license fee. 2.2 License Fee The fee for RACE is $15.00 in United States funds. This fee applies to both private and commercial single site installations. Information on licensing multiple copies may be obtained by contacting the author at the address listed in section 2.5, "How to Register RACE." 2.3 License Agreement In consideration of payment of the license fee, I, Michael F. Janke (hereinafter referred to as "the author"), as licensor, grant to you, the licensee, a nonexclusive right to use RACE (hereinafter known as "the software") on a single computer at a single location. 4 RACE Version 2.01 User Documentation 2.4 Disclaimer of Warranty and Limited Warranty The software and the accompanying materials (including instructions for use) are provided "as is" without warranty of any kind. Further, the author does not warrant, guarantee, or make any representations regarding the use of, or the results of the use, of the software or written materials in terms of correctness, accuracy, reliability, currentness, or otherwise. The author shall not be liable for any direct, indirect, consequential, or incidental damages (including damages for loss of business profits, business interruption, loss of business information, and the like) arising out of the use or inability to use the software, even if the author has been advised of the possibility of such damages. 2.5 How to Register RACE Why should you even bother to register, you ask? First, it's a legal requirement. Second, if you want to see RACE continue to be developed and improved, registration will encourage me to do so. Third, a few extra features are enabled by registering. These features are marked with {+} in this manual. Although lack of these features in no way prevents full use of RACE, they do provide that extra little touch. Many months of hard work went into producing this product, and I believe that you will find it is worth the small $15 registration fee that is required. Your $15 registration will be good for the life of the product, and no matter what changes occur, you will never have to pay another registration fee for RACE. To register RACE, send $15.00 in United States funds to: Michael F. Janke 8261-B SW 107th Ave. Miami, FL 33173 Checks or money orders should be made payable to Michael F. Janke. Do not make them payable to "RACE Registration." So that I may acknowledge your registration, please use the REGISTER.FRM file that is included in the RACE distribution archive. This file also contains information on RACE registration sites located in the U.K. and Europe. 5 RACE Version 2.01 User Documentation Chapter 3 -- CONFIGURATION 3.1 General Information RACE uses an external configuration file for information such as paths to various files, colors, etc. This file is in binary form, and it cannot be edited with an ASCII text editor. The included RACECFG program is supplied to create/edit the RACE configuration file. The RACE configuration file name (RACE.CFG) is hard coded into RACE. If you rename the file, RACE will abort because it cannot find RACE.CFG. RACE will look for the configuration file (RACE.CFG) in the following locations: * The current directory * The directory where RACE.EXE is located * Any directory on your DOS 'PATH' RACECFG is always in edit mode for the field that the cursor is located in. As you use the cursor keys to move through the fields, you will notice that the field where the cursor is located will be highlighted in reverse video. A highlighted field is the active field, and you may use any of the available edit keys to edit the field. For a listing of the available edit keys in RACECFG, see Appendix B. 6 RACE Version 2.01 User Documentation 3.2 RACECFG Main Menu The RACECFG Main Menu is a series of choices listed across the top of your screen. Move the highlight to your choice with the cursor keys and press <Enter> to activate that option. 3.2.1 Files Selecting the Files option on the RACECFG menu will bring down a pull down menu. This menu has 4 basic options. 1. System Filenames The System Filenames menu is the most important part of configuring RACE. In fact, you must define the path and filename for your user file here before you can even run RACE. A. System Directory - This is the fully qualified path to your RemoteAccess System directory. RACE uses this path to find USERON.BBS for the Users Online function, and LASTCALL.BBS for the Today's Callers function. B. USERS.BBS - This is the fully qualified path and filename for your RemoteAccess user file. Don't forget to include the filename here, because RACE will not assume that the filename is USERS.BBS. C. Answer File - This is the fully qualified path and filename of the questionnaire answer file that RACE will use in the <V>alidate function. The filename will most likely be NEWUSER.ASW, but you can validate based on the answers to any questionnaire you wish. D. Swap File - This is the fully qualified path and filename for RACE to use when swapping out of RAM to disk. This can point to a RAM disk. If RACE finds sufficient EMS memory available, it will use that memory for swapping, instead of the disk file defined here. However, you must define a path and filename here if you wish RACE to swap. Leaving this field blank will disable the RACE swapping function. 7 RACE Version 2.01 User Documentation 2. External Utilities The External Utilities menu allows you to define external programs that can be run within RACE. These are optional, and should only be defined if you have a use for them. To specify an external utility, simply enter the command line the same way you would run the program from DOS. You do not have to specify a directory if the program can be located on the DOS PATH. 3. DOS Shell This option allows you to shell to DOS within RACECFG. 4. Exit Setup This option allows you to exit RACECFG and return to DOS. If you have made any changes to RACE's configuration, RACECFG will ask you if you want to save your changes. You must press <Y> for Yes or <N> for No. There is no default for this question. Also note that it is not necessary to select this option to exit RACECFG. Pressing <Esc> will also allow you to exit RACECFG. This method will also ask whether changes should be saved, if you have made any. 8 RACE Version 2.01 User Documentation 3.2.2 Validation The Validation menu allows you to configure the validation templates and welcome message information for RACE's <V>alidate function. 1. Templates Validation templates allow you to configure the actions RACE will take when validating users with the RACE <V>alidate function. You can define up to 50 templates for validating users here. The <PgUp> and <PgDn> keys will move you between the available templates. A. Template Label - This field allows you to give meaningful (to you) names to your validation templates. These labels are displayed in the RACE validation menu. B. Template Access - This is the security level that will be given to users when validating them with the current template. C. Apply Security - This determines whether or not RACE will apply the security level shown above when validating with this template. Set this to 'Y' to enable the security change, or 'N' to disable it. D. Flags - There are three type of flags that can be defined in each template. You can define Security Flags, the No-Kill attribute flag, and the Transfer Priority attribute flag. Security flag templates are discussed in detail at the end of this chapter. E. Subscription - If you run a subscription system, this option will allow you to take advantage of the subscription features of RemoteAccess. Enter the number of months to give to a user validated with this template here. You may enter any number from 1 to 99 months. If you do not wish to use this feature, simply set this field to 0. This will cause RACE to ignore the subscription field when validating with the current template. F. Group - Enter the group number to assign users validated with this template to. If you do not wish to change the user's group number when validating with this template, just enter '-1' here. This tells RACE to ignore the group number when validating with this template. 9 RACE Version 2.01 User Documentation 2. Welcome Messages This option allows you to set up welcome messages that will automatically be sent to users when upgrading them with the RACE <V>alidate function. A. Send Welcome Message - This option allows you to enable or disable the sending of Welcome Messages. Set this option to 'N' if you do not want to send welcome messages when validating users. B. Path/FileName - This is the fully qualified path and filename of an ASCII text file containing the message you want to send to the user when validating. DO NOT supply an extension! RACE will automatically append the template number to this name to find the message to send. For example, if this field is set to "C:\RA\Validate", RACE will look for C:\RA\Validate.001 when validating a user with template 1. For a more complete explanation of the file naming convention used for welcome messages, see Chapter 6, Section 6.6. C. From - This is the name that RACE should place in the From field when sending validation messages. Normally, you will set this to your name or handle. D. Subject - This is the text that RACE should place in the Subject field when sending validation messages. For example, you might wish to set this field to "Welcome to the BBS!" E. Board Number - This is the message area number that RACE will post the validation messages in. Valid values are 1 - 200. Note that RACE does not check to see if this area is defined in your RemoteAccess configuration, or if the user has access to it. It is up to you to ensure that you set this to a valid area that the user has access to. F. Private - This option allows you to decide if the validation messages should have the Private attribute. Set this to 'Y' if you want the validation messages to be Private, or 'N' if you want them to be public. 10 RACE Version 2.01 User Documentation 3.2.3 Colors This menu allows you to configure the colors that RACE will use for its screens. This menu will also allow you to enable CGA Snow Checking for older CGA cards. You can select your own custom color combinations, or select the default colors that come in the distribution package. A representative sample of the window being edited will appear on the screen, so you can see what your colors will look like in RACE. 3.2.4 Flags If you use a lot of flags, you will soon find that it is difficult to remember what purpose each flag serves. RACE gives you the capability to display reminder notes when editing a user's flags or using the global flag change function. This menu gives you the ability to enable or disable the flag notes, and define what each flag note will say. The first item on the Flags menu will tell you if the flag notes are enabled or disabled. To change the setting, simply highlight this item and press <Enter> to toggle the notes on or off. The next four items on the menu will allow you to change the notes for the A, B, C, and D flags, respectively. Simply move to one these fields and press <Enter> to edit the notes for that bank of flags. A window will pop up, allowing you to enter up to 48 characters of text for each flag. 11 RACE Version 2.01 User Documentation 3.2.5 Reports This menu allows you to define up to 20 templates for the report function of RACE. It also allows you to define options for your printer, for use when printing reports from RACE. 1. Templates - This option will bring up the template edit screen. You can move between the available templates with the <PgUp> and <PgDn> keys. Each template has three items to configure: A. Description - Enter a short comment describing this template. B. Device - Use the <Space> key to toggle through the choices. C. Fields - Press <Enter> on this field to bring up a field selection window. {+} NOTE: The RACE report function will not use templates in the unregistered version. You may enter, edit and save templates in RACECFG, but RACE will not give you the option to use them. 12 RACE Version 2.01 User Documentation 2. Printer Port - This is the printer port that will be used when printing out user reports. Select '1' for LPT1: or '2' for LPT2:. 3. Page Length - This option allows you to select how many lines should be printed on each page. Values from 1 to 255 are valid. 4. Form Feed - This option allows you to select whether or not to output a form feed after each page of text. Set this option to 'Y' to enable the form feed, or 'N' to disable it. 5. Printer Initialization - This string will be sent to the printer before printing a report. To include a control character (such as <Esc>) in your string, press <Ctrl-P> to place the editor into literal mode (the cursor will change to a large, rapidly blinking block instead of the normal blinking underline), then press the control key. For example, pressing <Ctrl-P>, <Esc> would insert an <Esc> character into the string. To enter multiple control characters, you will need to press <Ctrl-P> before each character. Control characters will appear in high intensity yellow (high intensity only on monochrome systems), while normal characters will appear in low intensity cyan. You might want to use this feature to place your printer in compressed print mode, to allow more characters to fit on a line. 6. Printer De-Initialization - This string will be sent to the printer after a report is printed. Control characters can be entered in the same manner as above. This can be used to turn off compressed printing, if you put your printer in compressed mode before printing reports. 13 RACE Version 2.01 User Documentation 3.2.6 Miscellaneous This menu allows you to configure various miscellaneous options in RACE. 1. Start Editor in Insert Mode - This option defines whether or not RACE will start in insert or overtype mode. The default configuration for this option is No, which means that RACE will start in overtype mode. To switch between insert and overtype mode while in RACE, simply press your <Insert> key while you are editing a field. 2. Beep on Error - Normally, RACE will beep when you attempt to enter invalid data in a field. For example, attempting to enter alphabetical characters into the Security field would generate a beep. If you do not want RACE to beep on encountering an error, set this option to 'N' (No). 3. Edit Mode Left/Right Delimiters - By default, RACE does not use delimiter characters to show the ends of fields. If you wish to use delimiters, select a left and a right delimiter here. To use the default (no delimiters), simply enter '0' for both the left and right delimiters. 4. Name Field Size - RACE has the capability to generate reports of various types. One item that limits the usefulness of these reports is the default size of the user name field. If RACE always assumed it should output the full name field, 35 characters, almost half of the report line would be consumed by this field, much of it blank. It is quite likely that you will never have a user that has a name anywhere near the length this field allows. The Name Field Size option allows you to define how much of the name field will be used for REPORTS ONLY. This option will not modify your USERS.BBS file in any way. Valid values are 1 to 35. {+} 5. Shell Password - This option allows you to define a password that is needed to access the external utilities and the <J>ump to DOS function of RACE. This is only used in the registered version of RACE. {+} 6. Start in USERED Mode - This option defines whether or not RACE should start with a user list on screen, like the RAMGR User Manager. Set this option to 'Y' to enable the user listing on startup, or 'N' to start up directly in the edit screen. In unregistered copies of RACE, this option has no effect. Unregistered copies of RACE will always start directly in the edit screen. 14 RACE Version 2.01 User Documentation 7. Display Names in Lastname,Firstname Format - This option defines whether or not RACE should display names in Lastname,Firstname format in user lists and reports. Setting this option to 'Y' (Yes) will display the names in Lastname,Firstname format in reports and user lists. Setting this option to 'N' will display the names in traditional Firstname Lastname format. 3.3 Template Security Flag Configuration The template security flags require a special explanation, because they work a bit differently than what most RemoteAccess SysOps are used to. Unlike most flag routines, this particular section allows THREE settings for flags. These settings are: X = Turn this flag ON O = Turn this flag OFF - = Leave this flag alone As you probably noticed, the letter 'O' is used to turn a flag off during validation, instead of the usual hyphen character used elsewhere in RACE and other programs that can edit flags. For the sake of explaining exactly how it works, let's say that a first time caller's A flag is set initially set by RemoteAccess to: XX----X- When you upgrade a user with template 1, you want to turn flag A2 OFF and turn flag A4 ON, but you want all others to remain as is. In this case you would set up your template A flag to look like this: -O-X---- Then, when in RACE <V>alidate and using this template to upgrade a user, the user flag would be set to this: X--X--X- Flags A1, A3, A5, A6, A7, and A8 were left as is because you did not specifically set the template to turn them ON or OFF. Flag A2 was turned OFF because you specified an 'O' in position A2 of the template setup and flag A4 was turned ON because you specified an 'X' in position A4 of the template setup. Try to remember that the hyphen character does NOT turn a flag OFF. You should use the 'O' character for this purpose. 15 RACE Version 2.01 User Documentation Chapter 4 -- GENERAL INFORMATION 4.1 The RACE Help System RACE has a general help system, and in a few instances, a context sensitive help system. Context sensitive help means that you can request help for the particular command or field you are using. Help is accessed by pressing <F1>. You may note that in some of the help screens, words are highlighted in reverse video or with a colored background. Pressing <Enter> will display the part of the help file that describes the highlighted word. If more than one word is highlighted, you may move the highlight with the arrow keys to view help on the other topics. To return to the original help screen, press <Alt-F1>. 4.2 Remote Operation RACE is not designed to be used from a remote location over the modem. This option is not in any future plans. 4.3 RACE Main Screen RACE begins by displaying the user in record number 0 and starts out in VIEW MODE. Unlike the RAMGR User Manager (and the earlier USERED.EXE), RACE is not always in edit mode when the user record is on-screen. RACE is written to be usable on a multi-node system. If the user you are currently viewing is online, RACE will automatically disable editing of their record. The screen will display a message: "This User ONLINE, Editing Disabled" and all editing functions will be disabled. This protection is necessary because RemoteAccess holds a caller's record in memory while they are online, and rewrites it completely when the caller logs off. This would cause any changes made by RACE to be lost. 16 RACE Version 2.01 User Documentation Chapter 5 -- EDITING A USER RECORD Editing a user's record is the basic purpose of RACE. Simply press the 'E' key to switch from View Mode to Edit Mode. If this is your first edit session since starting RACE, you will be placed in the first field of the current user record. If you leave the edit screen in any other field but the first, you will start out in that field on subsequent user record edits. This makes it easier to edit the same field of multiple user records. As you enter the Edit Mode, the Main Menu will change to an Edit Menu. This shows you the keys to move around the screen, and save or abort any changes to the user record. 5.1 Editing Restrictions There are various restrictions in edit mode, depending on which field you are editing. The name, alias, location, comment, company, address, password, and phone number fields will accept any characters that can be entered from the keyboard. All other fields in the user record have some type of restrictions. RACE will not allow you to enter invalid data in these fields. Listed below are the restrictions for these fields. 1. Flags - 'X' or '-' only 2. TodayK and Time Today - 0 to 32000 3. Screen Length - 10 to 66 4. Date Fields - numeric data in the form MM-DD-YY 5. Time Field - numeric data in the form HH:MM 6. User Attributes - 'Y' or 'N' 17 RACE Version 2.01 User Documentation 5.2 Editing Individual Fields RACE provides a number of editing functions within an individual field. There are too many to list here, but a complete listing of edit keys is available in Appendix B of this documentation or in the RACE online help system. Some of the more commonly used editing keys are: 1. <Ctrl-End> - Delete from the cursor to the end of the field. 2. <Ctrl-Home> - Delete from the cursor to the beginning of the field. 3. <Ctrl-Y> - Delete entire field. 4. <Ctrl-T> - Delete word to the right of the cursor. 5. <Ctrl-R> - Restore previous contents of field. This function will only work if you have not yet moved out of the field you are attempting to restore. 5.3 Editing without entering Edit Mode There are a few functions that will allow you to make changes to a user record without entering edit mode. <Alt-T> will bring up the user attributes window, allowing changes to any of the user attributes. <Ctrl-P> will allow you to change the current user's password. <+> and <-> will increment/decrement the user's security level by one. <Alt-+> and <Alt--> will increment/decrement the user's security level by ten. <Alt-+> and <Alt--> will most likely NOT work with the <+> and <-> keys on the numeric keypad, but only with the <+> and <-> keys on the main keyboard. <Ctrl-C> will clear the TodayK and Time Today fields of the current user. 5.4 Moving through the User File The Main Menu shows four commands for moving through the user file: <F>irst, <L>ast, <N>ext, and revious. These commands operate exactly as their names imply. <F>irst moves to the first user, <L>ast moves to the last user, and so on. In addition to the listed keys, some of the cursor movement keys will allow you to move through the user file. <Left> and <Right> will move to the previous and the next user, respectively. <Home> will move to the first user, and <End> will move to the last user. 18 RACE Version 2.01 User Documentation If you know the user's record number, you can go directly to that record by using the <G>oto command. When you press <G>, RACE will bring up the Goto Window. Type the record number for the user you wish to edit and press <Enter>. RACE will immediately go to that record. Selecting the <R>eports command from the Main Menu and then selecting User List will also allow you to move through the user file. For more information on the <R>eports function, see Chapter 7. 19 RACE Version 2.01 User Documentation 5.5 Other Commands 1. <Alt-E> - This command allows you to enter a message to the user currently displayed on screen. Most information for the message header (From name, Subject, Board number, and Private status) is taken from the Welcome Message setup in RACECFG. RACE will call RACEEDIT.EXE as the message editor. RACEEDIT is discussed in detail in Chapter 12. 2. <W>hoops! - This command is used to restore users who have been packed out of the user file with eRACEm. This is useful if you accidentally purge most of your user file. NOTE: This option will not function if eRACEm does not create the USERS.OLD file. When eRACEm packs the user file, it can create a USERS.OLD file containing the records of users who are packed out of the user file. RACE needs this file to restore the records back into the user file. For further information, see the eRACEm documentation. {+} 3. <Alt-L> - This command displays a listing of users who have called today, based upon the information in LASTCALL.BBS. You can move through the listing with the cursor keys and select a user record to view by pressing <Enter>. You can also search for a name by typing the first part of the name. RACE will move the highlight to the first match for the characters you have typed, if any. Once you have located the correct record, simply press <Enter> to view that user. NOTE: This is a registered only feature. {+} 4. <Alt-U> - This command displays a listing of Users who are online, based on the information in USERON.BBS. Any line which does not have a user online will display a "Line <number> unoccupied" message in the appropriate position on the screen. You can move through the listing with the cursor keys and select a user record to view by pressing <Enter>. You can also search for a name by typing the first part of the name. RACE will move the highlight to the first entry that matches the characters you have typed, if any. Once you have located the correct record, simply press <Enter> to view that user. NOTE: This is a registered only feature. 5. <Alt-M> - Allows you to switch to 43/50 line mode on EGA/VGA graphics cards with more than 128K of display memory. RACE does not use the extra lines on screen for anything, with two exceptions. User reports sent to the Screen and the User List option in the <R>eports menu will use the extra lines to display more information on screen. 20 RACE Version 2.01 User Documentation Chapter 6 -- VALIDATION 6.1 General Information RACE takes full advantage of the subscription system implemented in RemoteAccess 1.00 and later versions. With one or two simple keystrokes, you can easily perform the following tasks: * Send a welcome message to the user. * Update the user security level. * Update the user group number. * Toggle any number of security flags on or off. * Automatically set subscription expiration date. * Turn on or off the No-Kill and/or Transfer Priority flags. * Import designated answers into the user comment field. In addition, RACE provides fifty templates so that you may have fifty different sets for the above items. This allows you to easily validate callers as normal users, special users, visiting SysOps, etc. The RACE <V>alidate function also allows you to manually edit the user's subscription expiration date, group number, security level, and security flags for those occasions when none of your predefined templates quite fit the user. You may edit user attributes by pressing <Alt-T> ("Toggles"). Pressing <Alt-T> will bring up the user attributes window, allowing you to edit any of the user attributes. Once you have properly set up the <V>alidate templates in RACECFG, and understand how they work, you will find that they will save you considerable time and effort when it comes to validating new users. Please note that throughout the remainder of this chapter, the apostrophe (') character is used to emphasize and clarify various points of interest. These are not to be used in questionnaires or input. They are only used for clarity. In the case of the OUTPUTANSWER examples, the double quote character (") *IS* used in the RemoteAccess questionnaire language. 21 RACE Version 2.01 User Documentation RACE offers two different methods of validating users. Both methods use a questionnaire answer file, but the way that questionnaire is read depends on the method used. The first method is accessed by selecting the <V>alidate command from the RACE Main Menu. The second method is selected by pressing <Ctrl-V>. 1. Main Menu <V>alidate - This method allows you to validate the user currently displayed on-screen. RACE will scan the answer file for this user's answers, and display them if found. 2. <Ctrl-V> Validate - This method is used to sequentially read the answer file and display the individual answer sets on a one to one basis. This method is somewhat easier to use, as it does not require that you move to the record of the first user to upgrade before selecting the <V>alidate function. This mode can also be initiated from DOS by running RACE with a "/V" command line switch. 6.2 Questionnaire Setup In order to use the RACE validation routines, you may need to make some modifications to your questionnaire file. 6.3 POSTINFO "POSTINFO" is a RemoteAccess questionnaire language command. This command tells RemoteAccess to write the user's name to the answer file. This *MUST* be the FIRST item posted to the user's answers. RACE uses the POSTINFO information to find the user's answers within the answer file and to determine where the user's answers begin and end. If this item is not the first item written to the answer file, RACE may not be able to find the user's answers, or may find the wrong set of answers. 22 RACE Version 2.01 User Documentation 6.4 Comment Import RACE has the capability to automatically insert comments into the user record comment field. For example, if you would like to have the user's net/node address stored in the comment field of the user record, you can ask the user this question and signify the answer as a "comment import" answer. This is done by placing a '&:' anywhere within the OUTPUTANSWER text string. For example, if your tenth question was "Net/Node?:" you would put something like this in your questionnaire file: OUTPUTANSWER "&:Net/Node: " 10 If a user answered that question with '320/119', RemoteAccess would place '&:Net/Node: 320/119' into your answer file. When you upgrade this user, RACE will scan the answer file for the '&:' character combination. If it is found in the answer file, everything after those characters up to the end of the line will be imported into the user comment field. For the example shown above, the user comment field would contain 'Net/Node: 320/119'. The <W>rite Comments command in the <V>alidate screen will allow you to import the comment information from the answer file without upgrading the user with a template. If you don't want to waste space in the limited (80 characters) comment field, you can place the '&:' string after the OUTPUTANSWER text, like this: OUTPUTANSWER "Net/Node &:" 10 RACE would import everything after the '&:' characters to the comment field, therefore it would only import the user's answer, and not the OUTPUTANSWER text ('Net/Node '). Note that the user comment field is limited to 80 characters. If the comment imported from the answer file exceeds that limit, RACE will simply truncate the string to 80 characters, possibly leaving out information that you consider important. Use care in deciding which items to import, to avoid going over the 80 character limit. 23 RACE Version 2.01 User Documentation A sample questionnaire file (SAMPLE.Q-A) has been provided in the distribution package. This sample is only meant to give you an idea of the format of the required and optional items that go into a questionnaire. Although the sample questionnaire is fully functional, it is not as complete as most SysOps would like. 6.5 Templates The templates are the heart of the validation routines. Pressing the number of the template you wish to apply to a user will give the user all the settings you defined for that template during configuration. The automatic turning ON and OFF of security flags seems to have caused the most confusion in the past. Please re-read the description of template flag configuration found in Chapter 3, Section 3.3. If the template you apply has a subscription expiration associated with it, the number of months you specified in configuring RACE will be applied to the user, based on your current system date. If you system date is not set correctly, then RACE will not be able to set the expiration date properly. 6.6 Welcome Messages A welcome message is automatically sent to a user when you upgrade that user, if you have enabled this feature during configuration. If the message base is locked by another process when you attempt to send a welcome message to a validated user, RACE will pause and retry accessing the message base up to 10 times. If access continues to be denied, RACE will report this. No harm is done, and the user will still receive all of the template upgrade values, but they will not receive the welcome message. The RACE distribution archive includes five sample welcome messages, to give you an example. These may be edited to suit your system, or deleted if you do not wish to use the welcome message feature. Each welcome message file must have an extension that corresponds to the template number it is to be used with. For example, when using template number 1 to upgrade a user, RACE will look for WELCOME.001 in the path defined in the RACE configuration file. 24 RACE Version 2.01 User Documentation Note that the configuration option in RACECFG for the Welcome Message path is specified as the path and filename, without the extension. For example, if you specify 'C:\RA\WELCOME' in the Welcome Message setup of RACECFG, RACE will look for C:\RA\WELCOME.002 when you validate a user with template 2. If any welcome message file is not found, RACE will default to using the message for template 1 (In the above example, the filename would be C:\RA\WELCOME.001). RACE will not perform any formatting on your welcome message. It will be imported to the message base exactly as it is on your disk. As long as you keep lines just under 80 characters (or less) you should have no problems. RACE does not impose a size limit on your welcome message. If you create a 100KB welcome message file, RACE will import it with no problems. If the welcome message feature is enabled, each time you validate a user with one of the templates, RACE will ask 'Send prepared message?' <Y>es is the default, so hitting <Enter> will send the default welcome message. If you select <N>, RACE will prompt you for a filename to send as the welcome message. If you wish to send a welcome message, enter the filename here. If you do not want to send a welcome message, simply press <Enter> or <Esc> at the filename prompt. 6.7 Validation Menu Options 1. <E>dit - Allows you to manually edit the user information displayed in the lower left window on the screen. This is useful if you do not have a template defined for the access you which to give to the current user. 2. <F>ind More - Finds more answers (if any) for the current user in the answer file. 3. <V>IP - Adds the user name to the RemoteAccess VIP.CTL file. RemoteAccess will sound a bell when a user in VIP.CTL logs on. 4. <T>rash User - Adds the user name to the RemoteAccess TRASHCAN.CTL file. This will prevent this user from logging back on with the name in TRASHCAN.CTL. 5. <C>omment - Allows you to write a comment for the current user. 6. <G>oto Record - Allows you to go to another record in the user file. 25 RACE Version 2.01 User Documentation 7. <W>rite Cmt. - Forces RACE to write any lines defined as comment lines to the user record. Described earlier in Section 6.4. 8. ick ASW File - Allows you to choose another questionaire answer file to validate users with. 9. <S>earch - Allows you to search for another user. 10. <M>ark Deleted - Mark the user answers as deleted. eRACEm will allow you to purge deleted answers from the questionaire answer file. For further information, see the eRACEm documentation. 11. <Q>uit/<Esc> - Allows you to quit from the validate function and return to the main screen. {+} 12. <Alt-E> - Allows you to enter a message to the user on screen. Most information for the message header (From Name, Subject, Board Number, and Private Status) will be imported from RACECFG's Welcome Message Setup. This option will call RACEEDIT.EXE, included in the RACE distribution archive. For further information on RACEEDIT, see Chapter 12. NOTE: This is a registered only feature. {+} 13. <Alt-W> - Allows you to enter a message to the user on screen, as above, but quotes the user's answers. NOTE: This is a registered only feature. 26 RACE Version 2.01 User Documentation Chapter 7 -- REPORTS RACE offers an extremely flexible user reporting function. You can create reports on your users based upon almost any fields in the user record. 7.1 The User Report Menu There are five basic options on the user report menu. The Screen, Printer, and Disk File options allow you to select a wide range of parameters and included fields to create a custom report. The <T>emplates item allows you to use a report template that you have defined in RACECFG. {+} The last item, User List, is a predefined format, intended for a quick look at your users. 1. Screen - This option directs that the report output be displayed on the screen. RACE will pause after each screen of data, waiting for you to press a key. Note that you cannot move back and forth through the report with this option. This option is handy for testing out custom report formats. 2. Printer - This option directs the report output to the printer you have defined in RACECFG. RACE will check to ensure that the printer is ready before starting to print and during the printout. NOTE: RACE assumes continuous feed paper. It will not pause between pages to allow you to insert another sheet of paper. If this limitation is a problem for your system, then you can direct your report to a disk file, and print it after formatting it as required. 3. Disk file - This option will write the report information to an ASCII text file on disk for processing and/or storage as you see fit. RACE will prompt you for the filename for the report output. If the destination file already exists, RACE will ask for permission to overwrite the existing file. RACE does not specifically support paths for the destination file. However, you may be able to use one if the combined path and filename do not exceed the 25 characters allotted for the filename input prompt. {+} 6. <T>emplates - This option allows you to choose one of the custom report templates you have defined in RACECFG. NOTE: Usage of report templates is a registered only feature. 5. User list - This option is designed for quick lookups of users. All fields are predefined, and there are no 27 RACE Version 2.01 User Documentation prompts/questions to answer. The cursor keys may be used to move around the user list screen. You may move the highlight bar to a user in the list screen and press <Enter> to go directly to that user's record. The <Del> key will also allow you to toggle the Deleted attribute for the user ON or OFF. Note that RACE will allow you to search for a user by typing the first portion of their name as displayed on screen. It is suggested that you display names in Lastname,Firstname format (See Chapter 3), so that searches can be made by last name. As you type a name, RACE will move the highlight bar to the first user who matches the characters you have typed. You can then press <Enter> to move to that user's record. 7.2 Report Options All report field and search options are identical, regardless of the destination for the report (Screen, Printer, or Disk File). 7.3 Field Selection Once you have decided whether you want a screen, printer, or disk file report, RACE will take you to the Field Selection Window. This window allows you to select which user fields will be included in the report. Fields will always be placed in the report based on the order they are displayed in the selection window, not the order in which they are selected. Move the highlight bar using the cursor keys, or by pressing the first letter of the desired field. For example, pressing <A> will move the cursor to the Alias field. Pressing <A> again will move the highlight to the next field starting with the letter 'A' (in this case, A1 Flag). Pressing <Enter> on a field will select it for the report if it is not selected, or deselect it if you have previously selected it. RACE will display a running total of the number of characters selected for the report on the screen. Note that RACE will not allow report lines to exceed 240 characters. If you need to place more information on a report line than will normally fit, you can shorten the length used for the name field as discussed in Section 3.2.6. 28 RACE Version 2.01 User Documentation When you have completed selecting the fields to include in your report, press <Esc> to exit the selection window. RACE will then display the search selection menu. 7.4 Report Searching After choosing the fields to be included in a report, you can optionally limit a report to only include certain users. If you wish a report to include all users, simply press <Esc> to exit the search selection menu. If you do wish to narrow the scope of a report, select the desired item to search by from the menu. A user will only be included in a report if the user record matches the search criteria you specify here. For further information on specifying search parameters, see Chapter 8. Report searching works exactly like the <S>earch command on the RACE Main Menu, with two exceptions. RACE will not pause at each record found, and you cannot abort the search by pressing <S>. 29 RACE Version 2.01 User Documentation Chapter 8 -- SEARCHING 8.1 Search Menu Upon selecting Search from the RACE Main Menu, a Search Menu will appear on-screen. This menu allows you to specify what field will be searched on. Depending on which field you select, you may be prompted for additional data before the search begins. 8.2 Search Operation RACE will always begin a search from the beginning of the user file. It does not begin at the user record currently displayed on-screen. You will not need to move to the beginning of the user file before beginning a search. Once you have started a search, RACE will remain in Search mode until: 1. The end of the user file is reached. 2. You abort the search by pressing <S> again. RACE stops at each match during a search. At that time, you may edit the user record that was just found, or you may move to the next match by selecting the <N>ext command or pressing the <Right Arrow> key. Once you have found the user you are looking for, it is recommended that you press the <S> key to exit Search mode. This is not absolutely necessary, as RACE will allow you to edit the user record while in search mode, but remember that RACE will remain in Search mode until you reach the end of the user file or abort the search with the <S> key. 8.3 Search Options RACE will allow searches to be made on almost any field in the user record. For numeric fields, you can select whether you wish to view records that are Greater Than, Less Than, or Equal To the number you provide. 30 RACE Version 2.01 User Documentation 8.4 Name/Handle When you select one of these items, RACE will prompt you for the Name or Handle to search for. Keep in mind that the search is not case sensitive. You may enter the search text in any combination of uppercase, lowercase, or both. RACE performs an INSTRING search. If the text you are searching for is found ANYWHERE within the field you are searching on, RACE will consider the record a match. For example, if you enter BERT as the search string, RACE would find users with the name BERT Simpson, Joe AlBERTson, or AlBERT Smith. 8.5 Location/Telephone Like the Name and Handle fields, the Location and Telephone Number fields are stored as string data in the user file. The search used is a case-insensitive, instring search, much like the search used for the Name and Handle fields. The search data may be specified in any combination of uppercase, lowercase, or both. Searching with only partial data also works well in these fields. For example, you could find all callers in your area code by entering it as the search data. For example, if you lived in area code 203 (CT), you could find all callers in your area by specifying 203- as the data to search for. Note that RACE will search both telephone number fields (Voice and Data) for anything that you enter here. 8.6 Security/Group When searching based on Security level or Group number, RACE will allow you to specify whether you want to search for matches that are Greater Than, Less Than, or Equal To the number you provide. This will allow you to search for very specific groups of users. 8.7 Uploads/Downloads When searching based on Uploads or Downloads, RACE will ask you whether you want records that are Greater Than or Less Than the amount you specify. Note that RACE does not offer Equal To as a choice for these fields, as it is unlikely that you will ever need to search for users with an exact number of Kilobytes. 31 RACE Version 2.01 User Documentation 8.8 Flags Searching for users with a specified flag on or off will require a little care on your part when you are entering the search data. RACE expects the search data to be in a specific format. RACE expects you to enter the flag to search for in this form: {Flag Letter}{Flag Number}{Space}{ON or OFF} For example, if you wanted to search for users with flag A1 set to ON, you would type the following at the "Flag: " prompt: Flag: A1 ON You may only search for one flag at a time. As with the rest of the search functions, RACE will accept uppercase, lowercase, or both during flag input. If you enter invalid data in the Flag search field, RACE will not report any errors. No harm will be done, except for the wasted time searching for data that doesn't exist. It is possible for RACE to display a match if you enter flag search data incorrectly. It is unlikely that RACE will be able to find anything, but if it does it will probably be an invalid match. In most cases of invalid flag input, RACE will simply reach the end of the user file and report "No matching users found." 32 RACE Version 2.01 User Documentation Chapter 9 -- GLOBAL CHANGES 9.1 General Information RACE provides the ability to globally change one or more flags or attributes for every user on your BBS. The ability to change Group numbers is also provided. 9.2 Attribute Flags Attribute flags are items such as: Clear Screen, ANSI Graphics, Full Screen Editor, etc. These settings are unique to each user, and the SysOp will rarely have a need to make global changes to these fields. However, the option is there if you need it. When you select Attributes from the pop up menu, you will be placed into a window listing all Attributes. In addition, fields are provided to limit the changes based upon security level and/or group number. See Section 9.5 for more information on using the Security/Group options. Attributes will have a box next to them that looks like this: [ ] The box initially contains nothing, which means that the attribute will not be affected by the global change. Use the arrow keys to move up and down through the list of attributes. If you wish to globally turn an attribute ON, simply enter a 'Y' in the box next to that attribute. If you wish to turn an attribute OFF, enter an 'N' in the box next to that attribute. If you mistakenly enter a 'Y' or 'N' for an attribute, simply erase it by pressing <Space Bar>. 33 RACE Version 2.01 User Documentation 9.3 Security Flags RACE provides the ability to toggle any number of user security flags on or off very easily. Upon entering the Global Security Flag Change Window, you will see that all four flags are initially filled with the numbers 1 through 8. This is to allow easy movement to the desired flag without having to count as you move to the flag number you wish to change. If you have Flag Notes enabled in RACECFG, RACE will display the Flag Notes window on screen exactly as it does while you are editing a user record. Move to the flag that you wish to globally change, and press <X> to turn that flag ON, or <-> to turn the flag OFF. If you change your mind about a particular flag, you can simply type the original number back into the position. After selecting the flags that you wish to change, you may limit the changes by group number or security level. See Section 9.5 for more information. 9.4 Group Changes Selecting Group Changes from the <C>hanges menu opens the Group Changes window, where you can specify the parameter for performing global group changes. The first item in the window is 'New group'. This is the group number that you wish to assign to user that match the parameters provided in the Security level and Group number fields. These fields are explained in detail in the next section. 34 RACE Version 2.01 User Documentation 9.5 Global Changes and Group/Security Levels Global changes may be limited to a select group of users based in their security level and/or group number. The default settings are to apply the changes to all users with a security level less than 65535 and to ignore group numbers. The <Space>, <+>, and <-> keys will allow you to select from the available choices: 1. ALL USERS - Applies the changes to all users, regardless of their security level. This option will ignore any number specified in the Security field. 2. EQUAL TO - Applies the changes to users who have a security level equal to the one you provide in the Security field. 3. GREATER THAN - Applies the changes to users who have a security level greater than the one you provide in the Security field. 4. LESS THAN - Applies the changes to users who have a security level less than the one you provide in the Security field. The Security field allows you to enter the security level that you wish to apply the changes to. This value is ignored if you have specified "ALL USERS" in the Apply To field. The Group field allows you to enter a group number to apply the changes to. If you wish to apply the changes to all groups, simply enter -1 here. If you place a group number here AND have set a security level limitation, both criteria must be met for the changes to apply. 9.6 Executing Global Changes Once you have made all of your selections, press <Ctrl- Enter> to continue. If you change your mind, you can simply press <Esc> to return to the main menu without making the changes. If you choose to continue, RACE will ask "Execute these changes?" Hit <Enter> or <Y> to make the changes, or press <N> to abort. It takes very little time to execute changes, even on large user files. 35 RACE Version 2.01 User Documentation Chapter 10 -- ADD NEW USER Adding a new user manually is basically the same as editing an existing user record. Simply select <A>dd or press your <Insert> key to add a user. RACE will display a new record on the screen, and allow you to edit it. A few of the fields are filled in automatically when you add a new user. The Name is initially set to "New User" and the Location is set to "Somewhere". You will probably want to edit these fields to insert more accurate information. The Screen length field will be initially set to 24, since this is the most common setting. The Last Date and First Date fields will be filled with he current date, as obtained from DOS. If your system date is not set correctly, you will probably want to edit these fields. Most numeric fields in the user record will be initialized to 0, and all user attributes will be set to OFF. Once you have finished editing the new user record, press <Ctrl-Enter> to save the record. If you press <Esc> instead, the record will be discarded and not appended to your user file. Upon exiting the Add New User screen, you will be returned to the user you were viewing before you selected <A>dd. 36 RACE Version 2.01 User Documentation Chapter 11 -- JUMP/UTILS 11.1 General Information Whether you are running a predefined command, or simply jumping to DOS, RACE can free up most of the memory it uses by swapping itself to disk, or EMS if enough is available. Note that if swapping is enabled, RACE will ALWAYS swap to EMS if enough is available. RACE will only swap if you have defined a swap file in RACECFG. If swap space is not available when RACE is run, either because of insufficient disk space or a bad path name, RACE will disable swapping. You may still use <J>ump or tils, but RACE will not be able to free up memory for those commands. RACE always uses the command processor for <J>ump and tilities. This allows you to run a batch file from a tilities selection. RACE gets the command processor name from the COMSPEC environment variable. This ensures proper operation if you use 4DOS or another command processor instead of COMMAND.COM. RACE will attempt to return to the current record number once the shell terminates. If the current record number no longer exists, RACE will return to record 0. If you pack or sort the user file while shelled out from RACE (either manually via <J>ump to DOS or by a tilities selection), RACE may not return to the same user. It will return to the same record number, if it still exists. 11.2 Jump <J>ump will allow you to shell to DOS from within RACE. RACE will close the user file while in the shell, so other programs that work with the user file will operate properly. 11.3 Utilities tilities will display a list of the external utilities you have defined in RACECFG. Simply select one and it will be executed. Like the <J>ump to DOS command, RACE will close the user file before the shell, to enable programs that work with the user file to function properly. 37 RACE Version 2.01 User Documentation Chapter 12 -- RACEEDIT 12.1 General Information RACEEDIT is a simple full screen editor that will allow you to write a message to a user while with RACE. RACEEDIT does not have block commands, search and replace, or other advanced features. It is primarily intended to allow you to write a quick message to a user. If you would like to use your own editor, see Section 12.3. Place RACEEDIT.EXE in the same directory as RACE.EXE. RACE will automatically call RACEEDIT when you select to write a message to a user from the main screen, or from within the <V>alidate function if you are registered. RACEEDIT is executed directly from RACE. The command processor is NOT used. Whether or not RACE swaps out before loading RACEEDIT is determined by your settings for the Swap file in RACECFG. Most of the information for the message headers is taken from the Welcome Message setup in RACE.CFG. The To: field is filled in with the user currently being displayed on screen. The lack of ability to edit the message header was a design decision meant to prevent accidental posting of messages to non-existent users, in EchoMail areas, or in undefined boards. The primary purpose of RACEEDIT is to allow you to write a message to a user during validation, so the Welcome message configuration information was thought to be the safest way to go. RACEEDIT can handle a message up to 64KB in length, or available memory, whichever is less. 12.3 RACEDIT Commands The following commands are valid in RACEEDIT: <Ctrl-X>, <Ctrl-Enter>, <Ctrl-Z>, <Alt-S> - Save message and exit. <Alt-S> will also cause RACE to prompt for a new subject before importing the message. <Ctrl-K><S>, <F2> - Save message and continue editing. <Ctrl-K><Q>, <Alt-F2>, <Esc> - Abort message. <Alt-I> - Import a text file into the message. NOTE: This command will erase the buffer before importing the text file. <Left>, <Ctrl-S> - Move left one character. <Right>, <Ctrl-D> - Move right one character. 38 RACE Version 2.01 User Documentation <Ctrl-Left>, <Ctrl-A> - Move left one word. <Ctrl-Right>, <Ctrl-D> - Move right one word. <Backspace>, <Ctrl-H>, <Ctrl-Backspace> - Del character to the left of the cursor. <Ctrl-Y> - Delete Line. <Ctrl-End>, <Ctrl-Q><Y> - Delete from cursor to end of line. <PgUp>, <Ctrl-R> - Move up one screen. <PgDn>, <Ctrl-C> - Move down one screen. <Ctrl-Home>, <Ctrl-Q><E> - Move to the beginning of the edit window. <Ctrl-Q><X> - Move to the end of the edit window. <Ctrl-PgUp>, <Ctrl-Q><R> - Move to the beginning of the file. <Ctrl-PgDn>, <Ctrl-Q><C> - Move to the end of the file. <Ctrl-P> - Insert control character. To insert a control character, press <Ctrl-P>, then press the control character. <Ctrl-B> - Reformat paragraph. <Alt-R> - Reformat entire message. Use with caution! 39 RACE Version 2.01 User Documentation 12.3 Technical Information RACEEDIT is a Turbo Professional TpMemo editor written specifically to work with RACE. You cannot simply rename your favorite editor to RACEEDIT.EXE and use it in place of the supplied editor. This was not done intentionally to prevent using another editor. The main reason for this is the difficulty in determining what RACE should do next on return from the editor. The easiest method for doing this is to examine the errorlevel returned by the editor. Most editors don't return errorlevels, and those that do don't use the same values as RACEEDIT. RACEEDIT returns the following errorlevels: 0 - Normal termination, message text saved. 1 - Normal termination, message text NOT saved. 2 - Window error (probably insufficient heap space). 3 - Error writing message file. 4 - Error reading message file. 5 - Buffer allocation or memory error. The first two errorlevels are obviously the most important. If you have an editor that can drop those under the proper conditions, you may be able to use it in place of RACEEDIT. Note that most editors will return an errorlevel of 0 no matter what happens short of the editor crashing. If that is the case, RACE may attempt to import the text file even if you abort the save in your editor. RACEEDIT is hardcoded to use RACETMP.MSG as the message filename. However, RACE will pass this filename as a command line parameter to facilitate usage of other editors. If the editor returns an errorlevel of 0, RACE will attempt to import this file into a message. Once RACE successfully imports the file, it is deleted. RACEEDIT saves the current screen image upon startup and restores it on exit. If your editor does not do this, the display may be messed up once you return to RACE. When using an editor other than RACEEDIT, RACE *WILL* always import the message if RACETMP.MSG exists. Also, RACE will not do ANY formatting of the text, so set your margins in your editor to a reasonable value. If you set the right margin at 65 or 70 you should have no problem. 40 RACE Version 2.01 User Documentation Appendix A -- PROBLEMS? If you are having problems with RACE, or if a particular feature isn't working the way you think it should, please read this section first. The answer to your problem may be right here. If RACE ever ends with an error message, look for a file called RACE.ERR. This file will contain information about the type of error. If possible, include the contents of this file when reporting a bug. Q. When I run RACE, it beeps and says "RACE.CFG disk read error". A. This is usually caused by attempting to run RACE with an old configuration file. The many changes between this version of RACE and version prior to 2.00 make it necessary to delete RACE.CFG and reconfigure RACE when upgrading to 2.0x. Delete RACE.CFG, and then run RACECFG again. Answer <Y> when RACE asks "RACE.CFG not found, create it?" Then go through the configuration as described in Chapter 3. Q. RACE tells me a user is online and I cannot edit his record or perform any global changes, but noone is online! A. At some point RemoteAccess ended abnormally and was not able to update the USERON.BBS file. This can happen if your system reboots while a caller is online. Delete USERON.BBS from the RemoteAccess system directory and RACE will work fine. RemoteAccess will create a new USERON.BBS as soon as a caller logs on. Q. I've set up my new user templates to turn flags off, but when I upgrade users with the templates the flags are not turned off. A. Check your templates and make sure that you have specified the letter "O" in the flag positions that you want turned off. The hyphen "-" character does not turn off a flag in templates, as it does elsewhere in RACE. Q. When I run <R>eports, I can't seem to get the user name to appear in the reports. I select it but it never appears. A. Check to make sure that a valid value from 1 to 35 is defined in the "Name Field Size" under "Miscellaneous" in RACECFG. It is remotely possible for this field to be corrupted. Enter a valid value and the problem should disappear. 41 RACE Version 2.01 User Documentation Q. When I upgrade a user in <V>alidate, RACE asks if I want to send a predefined message. When I say <Y>es, RACE reports that it can't find the message file. A. You probably have not properly defined the welcome message path in RACECFG or named your welcome message files incorrectly. Reread Section 6.6 for a complete explanation of the filename convention for welcome messages. Q. RACE runs ok, but some options report insufficient memory. A. There is no way for RACE to know beforehand what items you may wish to use. The memory requirements for RACE will vary depending on what options you try to use, because RACE will only allocate more memory if it is needed. This is better than requiring 300KB of RAM free for all RACE options even if you just want to take a quick look at one user. 42 RACE Version 2.01 User Documentation Appendix B -- FIELD EDITING & MOVEMENT KEYS B.1 Field Editing Keys The following keys are valid at any input prompt within RACE. This includes all fields in the user editor, the search data prompt, etc. <Left>, <Ctrl-S> - Move cursor left one character. <Right>, <Ctrl-D> - Move cursor right one character. <Ctrl-Left>, <Ctrl-A> - Move cursor left one word. <Ctrl-Right>, <Ctrl-F> - Move cursor right one word. <Home>, <Ctrl-Q><S> - Move cursor to the beginning of the current field. <End>, <Ctrl-Q><Q> - Move cursor to the end of the current field. <Del>, <Ctrl-G> - Delete character at cursor. <Backspace>, <Ctrl-H>, <Ctrl-Backspace> - Delete character to the left of the cursor. <Ctrl-Y> - Clear entire field. <Ctrl-End>, <Ctrl-Q><Y> - Delete from cursor to end of subfield. <Ctrl-Home> - Delete from beginning of subfield to cursor. <Ctrl-T> - Delete word to the right of the cursor. <Ins> - Toggle Insert mode on or off. A fat cursor indicates insert mode; a blinking underline indicates overtype mode. <Ctrl-R>, <Ctrl-Q><L> - Restore original contents of the field and continue editing. <F1> - Help. If a help topic is available for the current field, it will be shown. B.2 Field Movement Commands The following commands are valid for moving between fields and saving or discarding changes: <Enter> - Accepts contents of field and moves to the next field. 43 RACE Version 2.01 User Documentation <Tab>, <Ctrl-I> - Moves cursor to the beginning of the next subfield. <Shift-Tab> - Moves cursor to the beginning of the previous subfield. <Up>, <Ctrl-E> - Moves cursor to the field above the current field. <Down>, <Ctrl-X> - Moves cursor to the field below the current field. <Ctrl-PgUp>, <Ctrl-Q><R> - Moves cursor to the first field on the screen. <Ctrl-PgDn>, <Ctrl-Q><R> - Moves cursor to the last field on the screen. <Ctrl-Enter>, <Ctrl-K><D>, <Ctrl-K><Q> - Quit editing. Save all changes made to the current user record. <Esc>, <Ctrl-Break> - Abort. Restores the original contents of the user record. Any changes not saved are lost. 44