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<* NOTE *> This documentation has NOT been updated to reflect changes introduced in RATS 2.10 Please read WHATSNEW.210 - RATS - RemoteAccess TimeBank System Version 2.00 Copyright 1990-1993 McSoft Corp. All Rights Reserved ----------------------------------------------------------------- Introduction ----------------------------------------------------------------- A Time Bank is a door program that allows BBS users to deposit, withdraw, borrow and repay online time and file transfer credits. The RemoteAccess TimeBank System (better known as RATS) for RemoteAccess and QuickBBS has many features for the user and is easy to set up and use for the sysop. Here are just a few of RATS' features: Interfaces with programs that automatically deposit minutes in user accounts via an external support file. Works with RemoteAccess versions 1.10 through 2.00 and QuickBBS 2.75 through 2.76. Includes a separate data file maintenance utility. Provides hot-key support. If the user is familiar with the commands, the current screen output can be interrupted when a command key is pressed. Uses a graphic transaction screen and Sysop-definable colors for most fields and prompts. The main transaction screen is fully configurable. You simply draw your own screen with any ANSI Editor. Automatically detects a logon by the sysop or a named co- sysop, allowing access to sysop functions. Allows the sysop to define values for maximum deposit, withdrawal, and balance for both time and file transfer credits. Allows users to purchase file transfer credits with online time, and to borrow time or transfer credits from the bank. Includes full multi-node support, and much much more. 1 ----------------------------------------------------------------- Table of Contents ----------------------------------------------------------------- Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Table of Contents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Licensing Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Distribution Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Getting Started -- Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 RATSCFG.EXE Global . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Limits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Hours . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Robbery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Lottery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Running The Door . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Performing Nightly Maintenance (RMU.EXE) . . . . . . . . . . 14 Loan Repayment System (RATPAY.EXE) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Creating Your Own ANSI Screens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 A Final Note . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 2 ----------------------------------------------------------------- Licensing Information ----------------------------------------------------------------- Motor City doors are commercial programs marketed under the "User Supported" or "Shareware" concept. You are allowed to install this program on Your system and evaluate it before deciding whether to purchase a license to continue using it. This program is not public domain or freeware. If you use this program for more than 30 days after successful installation, you are legally required to register it or remove all working copies from your system. The User Supported or Shareware concept works only if you and your fellow sysops support it. If you find this program useful, you can register it for only $15.00 in U.S. funds. This will help offset the development costs, and encourage us to write other programs that might be useful to you. After all, no one likes to work for nothing! A Registration Form is included in the RATS distribution archive. RATS is Copyrighted 1990,91,92 by Motor City Software, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. You may copy this program and documentation for backup purposes. You also may copy and share UNMODIFIED copies of the original program archive. The copyright notice must remain attached to all copies. You may not sell Motor City Software products for a fee, or distribute it along with other products without written permis- sion of Motor City Software, nor may you modify or remove the Copyright Notice from the program or the documentation. BBS operators who charge for access to their systems are exempt from this provision as long as no additional payment is required for access to Motor City Software products beyond basic file access. All Motor City Software products are extensively tested before being publicly released, but as with any software, bugs may still occur. Motor City Software products are provided as is, and neither Motor City Software nor any BBS operator distributing this software is responsible for any damage incurred during the operation of the RATS program. You are advised to test all Motor City Software products thoroughly on a backup copy of your BBS before putting them online. Comments, suggestions and bug reports are welcome. If you have any, you may call one of the Motor City Software Support Systems listed in SUPPORT.DOC and leave a message to the Sysop. If you're reporting a bug, please give as much detail as possible about the problem you are having, your system configuration, and if you would be willing to test possible corrections to the problem. 3 ----------------------------------------------------------------- Distribution Files ----------------------------------------------------------------- The original program is distributed in archive format using the ARJ archiving format. Additions or deletions are prohibited. Make sure the Arj Security Envelope is intact. The distribution archive contains the following files: RATSCFG.EXE The RATS configuration program RATS.EXE The program executable RATS.DOC This documentation file RATPAY.EXE Loan Repayment Maintenance Utility RMU.EXE RATS maintenance utility RATS.HLP The program help file RATS.NEW Program revision history (read this!!) REGISTER.ARJ Registration forms SUPPORT.DOC Location of Support Systems ----------------------------------------------------------------- Getting Started -- Installation ----------------------------------------------------------------- Upgrades from prior versions The current version of RATS is compatible with the RATS.DAT file format introduced in version 1.20. Users of prior versions will have to install version 2.00 as though this were an initial installation. Initial Installations Unpack the distribution archive into the directory where you want to keep your RATS.DAT file. RATS can be run in any subdirec- tory as long as paths are setup properly in RATSCFG.EXE. We recommend creating a RATS subdirectory off your main BBS direc- tory, or where your other DOORS are kept. Run the RATSCFG.EXE program to create the RATS configuration file. After starting RATSCFG, you'll see a list of selections across the screen. As you make your selections, menus will drop down and present you with various choices. 4 RATSCFG.EXE INFORMATION About RATS : Copyright Notice For RATS. Registration: How to register RATS. GLOBAL Pick Specific Node : RATS by default, only keeps ONE configuration file called GLOBAL.CFG Some sysops like to set different limits etc on some nodes, so we have allowed you to create a Node Specific Config file as well. For Example, when node 4 loads RATS, it will first look for a GLOBAL04.CFG, and if not found, loads the default GLOBAL.CFG Normally you won't use this option. If this is an initial installation, or if you're setting up a new node, press <ESC> and then enter the node number you want to configure. Paths/Filenames: RATS needs to know where to look for certain files, as well as needing some general information. You may press F1 at any of the input fields on this screen for online help. THEBANK Path : Some other doors create a file called THEBANK.EXT to generate automatic deposits and withdrawals from RATS. This file is usually stored in your main BBS directory. See the documentation for the program that creates THEBANK.EXT for more information. Semaphore Dir: If you're running Remote Access, RATS will look for and read semaphore files in this directory. See the RA manual for more information. RATS will honor a forced exit via semaphore if running under RemoteAccess. RMU Log Name : This is the full path and filename you want RMU to log its activities to. Log Style : What style of log file would you like to use. Log UserStats?: If you choose Yes, RATS will write the users time and KBytes in the bank, and on hand, to the usage log each time the user enters or exits the bank. You might wish to ac- tivate this feature if you are having problems with RATS. RATS Log Name: RATS will log all user activity to the file you name here. If you wish, you may have it added to your BBS System Log. Putting a *N anywhere in the path or filename will be replaced with a 2 digit node number when the log file is opened. You can use this to write to d:\bbs\line*n\bbs.log or d:\bbs\rats\rats*n.log 5 Sysop Name: Enter the name of the BBS operator. This will most likely be your name. BBS Name: Enter the name of the BBS. BBS Type: This is used by RMU to be sure it uses the correct USERS.BBS structures when forcing loan payments. RATS is fully Compatable with RemoteAccess 2.00 Users.BBS: Path to the users.bbs file. Used by RMU.EXE BANK LIMITS This is the heart of RATS. The limits you set here will control the usefulness of RATS for your users. Name Of Bank: The name you enter here will be displayed on the top line of the screen whenever a user is in RATS. Be crea- tive! CoSysop Name: If you allow someone else to help you run your BBS (a CoSysop), enter his or her name here. Your cosysop will have access to RATS sysop functions while online within the door program. Minimum Security: The minimum security level needed to access RATS. If a user with a lower security level enters RATS, he/she will be told that he/she cannot use the TimeBank. You may assign any level from 1 through 64,000 Usage Before Deposit: This setting tells RATS how much time a user must spend on the BBS before being allowed to access the time bank. If this field is set to 0, a user can log onto the BBS, deposit all of his or her available time, and then log off. You can enter a figure from 0 to 30. Inactivity Timeout: If a user falls asleep, or otherwise becomes occupied, RATS will abort back to the BBS after this time, which can be set from 2 to 10 minutes. Time Remaining To Access: A user who is running out of time may want to frantically dash to the time bank, borrowing or withdrawing at the last minute. An entry here forces the user to use a little advance planning rather than make last minute decisions. Entries from 1 to 60 minutes are permitted. Maximum Time Deposit: This is the MAXIMUM time that a user can deposit into his/her account in one day. Entries from 0 to 1440 are permitted. An entry of 0 disables deposits; while 1440 minutes equals 24 hours, effectively negating this feature. 6 Maximum Time Withdraw: A user with a high enough balance could conceivably withdraw enough time to tie up your BBS for an entire day. An entry in this field regulates the amount that can be withdrawn in one day. Entries from 0 to 1440 are permitted, with 0 disabling withdrawals. Maximum Time Transfer: One of the more powerful features of RATS is the ability of one user to transfer time/bytes to another provided both have RATS accounts. This controls the MAXIMUM time a user may transfer to another user. Entries from 0 to 1440 minutes are permitted, with 0 disabling transfers. Maximum Time Balance: This sets the maximum a user can have on deposit in his/her account. Entries from 0 to 64000 are permitted, with 0 allowing a virtually unlimited balance. Maximum Time Loan: This setting determines how much time a user is allowed to borrow from the time bank. If set to 0, then Time loans are disabled. The maximum setting is 1440 minutes. Maximum K-Byte Loan: This setting determines how many KBytes of file transfer credits a user is allowed to borrow from the time bank. If set to 0, K-Byte loans are disabled. The maximum setting is 9000K. (If Both Time and K-Byte loans are set to 0, then the <C>redit Department will not show up on the users screen.) Maximum K-Byte Deposit: Sets the maximum KBytes of file transfer credits a user can deposit into his/her account in one day. A setting of 0 disables deposits; the maximum setting is 32,000K. Maximum K-Byte Withdraw: Sets the maximum KBytes of file transfer credits a user may withdraw from his/her account in one day. An entry of 0 disables withdrawals; the maximum is 32,000K. Maximum K-Byte Transfer: Users may transfer KBytes of file transfer credits to one another, as long as both users have accounts in RATS. This field determines the maximum that can be transferred. An entry of 0 disables transfers; the maximum setting is 30,000. Maximum K-Byte Balance: Sets the maximum KBytes of file transfer credits a user is allowed to have on deposit. An entry of 0 makes this field unlimited; the highest limit is 64,000. Maximum K-Byte Purchase: RATS allows users to spend online time from their balance to purchase KBytes of file transfer credits. A setting of 0 disables purchasing; the maximum is 5000. 7 K-Byte Cost in Minutes: If purchasing is allowed, this field sets the price in time for each 50 KBytes of file transfer credit purchased. Entries of 1 to 5000 minutes per 50 KBytes are permitted. NOTE : In Previous versions of RATS, this was minutes per 1K, it is now per 50K!!! Sysop Overrides Limits?: This will allow the sysop and the co-sysop to be exempt from the limits you impose on your users. This will NOT override system events. RatsCfg Password: This allows you to specify a password to protect access to RatsCfg. While its not meant to be a secure way to protect access, it will keep the casual browser (You have kids too?) out. BANK HOURS This section controls the hours during which sections of your bank are "open" to users. Deposit Time: Start and End times that deposits can be made. Withdraw Time: Start/End times that withdrawals can be made. Borrow Time: Beginning and ending time that a user can borrow time from the credit department. Transfer Time: Beginning and ending time that a user can transfer time to another user. Override Level: Restrictions set above will not apply to any user with a security level above this setting. Loan Flag: This flag setting is used by RATS and RATPAY to handle the checking and repayment of borrowed time/kbytes. Bank Loan Interest Rate: Just like a regular bank, you can charge interest when a user borrows time or file transfer cred- its. If you enter 10, a user who borrows 100 minutes will be charged a one-time 10 minute interest fee, and will have to repay 110 minutes. Interest rates of 0 to 100% are permitted. Min Payment K: Minimum payment that a user must make when paying back file transfer credits. This prevents a user from borrowing 50 megabytes, and paying back 1 K per day. Min Payment: Minimum payment that a user must make when paying back borrowed time. HangUp: Determines whether RATS will hang up on a user who does not want to make a mandatory payment. Auto Payments: No, it won't make your car payments for you but this will force RMU.EXE to deduct time from a users BBS account to make his daily minimum payment on Time and/or KBytes borrowed from the bank. 8 BANK COLORS Colors: Allows you to customize RATS display colors. Keep in mind that some color combinations are invisible to monochrome callers. Also if you design your own main screen, you must ensure that the colors you enter here are the same colors you used to draw your screen. ROBBERY INFORMATION NOTE : These Options Are Configurable. If you DON'T want to allow users to access them, just run them off. With RATS V2.0 we have added an Option to ROB the Bank. You may configure the COST in Minutes, and or KBytes that is withdrawn from the users account when he tries to ROB the Bank. You also configure the odds of success, and the amount the user receives if he/she is successful. We have also added an option to ROB another User. You may configure the COST in minutes, and or KBytes that is withdrawn from the users account when he tries to ROB another User. You also configure the odds of success. If the user is successful, then he will take 50% of the other users bank balance, both time and KBytes. If the user is NOT successful in robbing the other user, then the other user will have the COST of the robbery attempt added to his/her account. This way, you don't always get robbed and lose, now you can actually benifit from people trying to rob you. When a user enters RATS for the first time, or they have not yet been asked, RATS will ask them if they wish to be excluded from this feature. If a user elects to be excluded, then that user may NOT rob any other users, and no other users may rob him/her. The user cannot change this option, or they would simply turn it off, rob other players, then turn it on again. If a user changes their mind, they will have to ask YOU to change it in the user editor in RatsCfg.Exe Allow Users To Rob The Bank : If No, then this option will not be available to your users from RATS. Allow Users To Rob Other Users: If No, then this option will not be available to your users from RATS. Maximum Time Allowed To Rob From Bank: This is the amount of time a user will steal from the bank if they are successful. Maximum KBytes Allowed To Rob From Bank: This is the amount of time a user will steal from the bank if they are successful. 9 Odds Of Successfuly Robbing The Bank: You define the odds here. 1 out of every X attempts will be Successful. Odds Of Successfuly Robbing User: You define the odds here. 1 out of every X attempts will be Successful. Cost Of Robbing Bank In KBytes : How much will it COST the user in KBytes to attempt Robbing the Bank. Cost Of Robbing Bank In Minutes : How much will it COST the user in Minutes to attempt Robbing the Bank. Cost Of Robbing User In KBytes : How much will it COST the user in KBytes to attempt Robbing another user. Cost Of Robbing User In Minutes : How much will it COST the user in Minutes to attempt Robbing another user. LOTTERY INFORMATION This is another new feature added for RATS V2.00 You can allow, or disallow Time and KByte wagering. If this is disabled, then the Lotter Room option will not be visible on the menu. QuickPick Lottery You configure the COST of tickets. Tickets can be bought with Time Or KBytes. If the user buys a QuickPick ticket with Time then the prize will be time. You also configure the PRIZE amount. To win the quickpick, the user picks a 3 digit number, and the computer also picks a 3 digit number. 123 and 132 will match ONE number, the 1. Place is important! Daily Lottery. You configure the ticket price and the winner is picked when RMU is run. When a user buys a ticket, it puts his name in the DAILY.DAT data file and one of these names is drawn. The winner wins 50% of ALL ticket costs for that day. If tickets cost 10 minutes and 100Kbytes, and 5 users but tickets with time and 5 with KBytes, then the winner will win 50% of 50 min and 500K, which is 25 Min and 250K. The Monthly Lottery is similar to the daily lottery but the draw is held on a monthly basis. This uses the MONTHLY.DAT data file Allow Users to Buy Lottery Tickets : If you say NO then the Lottery option will not be present on the users menu. QuickPick Lottery Ticket Cost (Min) : The COST in minutes of a QuickPick Lottery Ticket. QuickPick Lottery Ticket Cost (KBytes) : The COST in minutes of a QuickPick Lottery Ticket. Note, the user may decide whether to wager Time or KBytes on the QuickPick Lottery. 10 With the Draws the user must wager whatever you define, in other word, if you define the cost as 10 Minutes, and 100 KBytes, then the user pays BOTH for a ticket. The following fields are pretty self-explanitory. Daily Draw Lottery Ticket Cost (Min): Daily Draw Lottery Ticket Cost (KBytes): Monthly Draw Lottery Ticket Cost (Min): Monthly Draw Lottery Ticket Cost (KBytes): Keep Bank Records For How Many Days? : This is used to determine how long to keep the BANKBOOK records, as well as the list of past lottery winners. CUSTOM LOTTERY COLORS This will allow you to change the colors of the lottery room Screen. DEFAULT LOTTERY COLORS Reset the lottery room colors to the default colors. MAINTENANCE View Users: List all users who have an account in RATS, showing their name, current Time/KByte balance, the last date they accessed RATS, and if the user is marked for deletion. Add User: Allows you to open a user account. You may specify the user's name, and the time and KByte balance etc. Edit Users: Allows you to search for, and edit any users account. Delete User: You'll be prompted for a search string, then asked if you want to delete matching names. If the user was already marked for deletion, you'll be asked if you want to reverse the deletion, providing the database has not been purged. Purge Users: This selection rewrites the data files, per- manently removing any users marked for deletion. (RMU also purges users during nightly maintenance.) 11 BankBook Records: Creates an ASCII file named BANKBOOK.RPT in the current directory, listing the transaction reports. RMU will trim this file to the last 7 days transactions. User Balances: Creates an ASCII file named USERS.RPT in the current directory, listing information about each user's account. EXIT Quit To DOS: Exits RATSCFG. 12 ----------------------------------------------------------------- Running RATS On Your BBS ----------------------------------------------------------------- Here's a sample type 7 optional data line that you might use to run RATS: C:\BBS\RATS\RATS.EXE /N*N The only parameter accepted on the command line is the node number. RATS no longer needs to run from a batch file. RATS will look for the ExitInfo.BBS and Dorinfo1.Def file in the current directory, and its own files in the directory where RATS.EXE is located. If you're running a single line system, leave off the /N parameter and it will default to Node 1 RATS no longer uses a seperate configuration file for each node, so you will find that adding another node to your system will NOT require ANY changes to RATS or its configuration files at all. 13 ----------------------------------------------------------------- Performing Nightly Maintenance (RMU.EXE) ----------------------------------------------------------------- RMU.EXE (RATS Maintenance Utility) is designed to be run nightly during your system's maintenance event to perform these functions: 1 - Deletes users whose account balances are zero minutes and zero kilobytes. To retain an account in RATS, a user must have at least one minute of time or one kilobyte on account. A User will NOT be removed if the have an outstanding loan. 2 - Removes users who no longer exist in the USERS.BBS file. 3 - Sorts all accounts in alphabetical order by last name. 4 - Trims the BANKBOOK.DAT file so that it contains transactions for the number of days you specify in RatsCfg 5 - Ensures that there are no duplicated records in the RATS database. 6 - Rebuilds the User Index Files. 7 - Draws Daily Lottery Ticket Winner from those who bought tickets on the previous day, then removes those entries from the active Ticket file. 8 - Draws Daily Lottery Ticket Winner from those who bought tickets during the previous month then removes those entries from the active Ticket file. This only draws from tickets bought the previous month, and will draw a name the first time its run in a new month. It then removes those names from the ticket list, and in effect, will not draw another winner until the month changes again. 9 - Trims the WINNERS.DAT file so it contains the name of winners for the number of days you specified in RatsCfg. 10 - If you have activated Auto Loan Payments then RMU will deduct any loan payments due right out of the users.bbs file. RMU.EXE requires NO commandline parameters. It reads the GLOBAL.CFG file from the directory containing RMU.EXE and gets all the info it needs from there. 14 ----------------------------------------------------------------- Loan Repayment System (RATPAY.EXE) ----------------------------------------------------------------- RATPAY is a separate door program that forces users to make payments on their account before they are allowed online. In other words, it's your "collection department"! If a User has borrowed time or file transfer credits, RATS will set a chosen flag, and then check to see if the user has a payment due. If the user has already made a payment that day, RATPAY will exit after checking the account. If a payment is due, the treatment of the user will be determined by the way you have set the "HangUp" parameter in RATSCFG. If set to "Yes", the user will be discon- nected if they do not make their minimum payment. Ratpay can be run from your TOP menu as a door. 15 ----------------------------------------------------------------- Creating Your Own ANSI Screens ----------------------------------------------------------------- ROBBERY.ANS These files are optional, and if present in the ROBBERY.ASC RATS directory will be displayed instead of the BUSTED.ANS internal hard coded screens. These files can be found in the ROBBERY.ARJ file. If you wish to create your own versions of these screens, make sure you test them as you work on them, as the BUSTED.ANS is drawn OVER the ROBBERY.ANS screen. RATSMENU.ANS This is the main transaction screen for RATS. RATSMENU.ASC This screen is FULLY configurable by you. This screen allows the following specific control codes. Control Codes begin with either a Control-B or a Control-L as the first character. This is then followed by one of the following 2 character identifiers: Control-B then bm Banked Minutes bk Banked KBytes dm deposited min today dk deposited k today wm withdrawn min today wk withdrawn k today tm transfered min today tk transfered k today kp k purchased today NB Name Of Bank NO Name Of System Operator NU Name Of User NS Name Of BBS System Control-L then md max time deposit mw max time withdraw mt max time transfer kd max k deposit kw max k withdraw kt max k transfer bt Max Banked Time bk Max Banked Kbytes pk Max Purchase K-Bytes 16 These three characters are followed by at least ONE character which is ignored. I have used an _ in the example screen. This is used to build up the correct field length. The FINAL character must be one of the following: C Center the value within the alloted length. R Right Justify the value within the alloted length. L Left Justify the value within the alloted length. Note the field length is the length taken up by ALL of the above characters. For example bm______r will right justify the 'Banked Minutes' in a field which is 10 characters wide. The ^bN? fields (Bank Name, BBS Name, Sysop Name, and User Name) will also accept the following: NU_t which will show the Users Name, the field length will be equal to the length of the users name. All trailing spaces are removed. These values are displayed in the color they are drawn in within the RATSMENU.ANS file. Some of these values do not change while RATS is running, (limits, bank name, user name etc) color is not a concern. Since some of these values are changed and rewritten during the use of RATS, you must make sure that you make all Changeable number fields the same color, and define this in RATSCFG Bank Colors as the numeric field colors. The RATSMENU file may ONLY use the top 18 lines of the screen, and the screen is cleared before displaying this file, and since the clearscreen character (control-l) is used to signify a Bank Limit Value, you can NOT use ClearScreens in the RATSMenu file unless it is part of the display variable codes. Make sure you blocksave the file to the disk so it does not scroll the screen up. 17 ----------------------------------------------------------------- A Final Note ----------------------------------------------------------------- RATS is just one of the many fine products marketed as Shareware. As a BBS operator, you will be setting a fine example for your users by registering Shareware BBS programs and doors that you run on your system. Please support the Shareware con- cept. Thank you for trying RATS! 18