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- Sysop Information for
-
- SCANVERT.EXE
-
-
- Legal Stuff:
-
- I have no interest in making a buck for something that I did more to
- practice my Turbo Pascal programming (it's been years since I have done any
- TP programs), than anything else. So while I keep the source codes and the
- rights to this software, the executable file is released to the public
- domain. In no event shall I be held responsible for any loses or damages
- resulting from the use of this utility. It works at various test sites, and
- if you have doubts then you should not use it.
-
-
- History:
-
- This utility was done at the request of a few RA sysops that
- complained that there was not a decent archive converter for RA 2.00's Scan
- set up line. So I undertook the task of creating this little program.
- While RA can unarc and scan uploads on it's own and tell you if the archive
- is good, by checking the returned errorlevels, it can not convert the files
- to a different archive type, hence this utility comes in. Now, in version
- 2, I have invested some 30 programming and testing hours in the quest to
- make it solid, idiot proof, and versatile, while trying to accommodate
- the many requests for features.
-
-
- Setup:
-
- Make sure that the RA environmental variable is set. It must point
- to the main RA directory, ie.: SET RA=D:\RA. Scanvert will not run if the
- RA variable is not set.
-
- In RACONFIG, under OPTION|FILES|UPLOAD SCAN enter the following on the
- command line for the scan utility:
-
- c:\ra\scanvert.exe @ [C] [B1] [N*N] [Fc:\utils\BBSAD.TXT] *M
-
- []=Optional
-
- This is my actual command line:
-
- d:\ra\scanvert.exe @ C B3 N*N Fc:\banner.txt *M
-
- The path must be edited to reflect the actual location of your copy
- of SCANVERT.EXE, and it can reside anywhere you wish.
-
- The '@'is the first parameter and is translated by RA to the full
- path and filename of the file to process. That parameter MUST always be
- number one!. It is the only required parameter and scanvert will not run
- without it.
-
- All the other parameter can be in any order and you only need to supply those
- you wish to turn on.
-
- The 'C' parameter determines wether SCANVERT will convert the file being
- processed to the format specified in the FILES.RA set up for the upload
- location where the file resides. If omitted it will default to not convert
- the file. Scanvert will get all compression and decompression info from
- the OPTION|FILES|ARCHIVERS section in RACONFIG. Below is my setup. I
- recommend you use the same ones, as they have been tested here. However,
- should you find a better set up for any archiver, please let me know.
- Scanvert is limited by RA's maximum of 10 archivers. You must still set
- the decompression portion of all archivers in the RACONFIG, weather you
- convert them or not, otherwise, Scanvert will not find the info it needs to
- decompress and test the files.
-
- EXT Unpack Command Pack Command
-
- ARJ ARJ.EXE x -y @ ARJ.EXE a -r -jm @
- ZIP PKUNZIP.EXE -d -o @ PKZIP.EXE -rp -a -ex @
- LZH LHA.EXE e /x1m1 @ LHA.EXE a /r2x1 @
- PAK PAK.EXE e @ PAK.EXE a @
- SDN PAK.EXE e @ PAK.EXE a @
- ZOO ZOO.EXE e @ ZOO.EXE a @
- ARC PKUNPAK.EXE @ PKPAK.EXE @
- HYP HYPER.EXE -x @ HYPER.EXE -a @
- DWC DWC.EXE e @ DWC.EXE az @
- SQZ SQZ.EXE X @ SQZ.EXE A /SP1 @
-
- If found, the GIFTEST.EXE program will automatically be used to test
- GIF files. It is included in this archive as a courtesy. To register,
- contact Dave Navarro.
-
- Scan.exe from McAfee associates will be used for virus testing. If you
- run under a network, remove scan.exe from the path and place in the path
- Netscan.exe and SCANVERT will detect and use that instead.
-
- The 'B' is followed by a message board to post messages to you to let
- you know of any activity. Must have a valid message base number or 0 to
- disable. If omitted it will default to no message posting. If enabled,
- SCANVERT will write a message to the SYSOP informing him/her of any file
- uploaded, wether it passed testing and the original and final filesizes.
- In any case, wether message base logging is enabled or disabled, a log is
- kept by scanvert in the main RA directory so the sysop has a more durable
- means of keeping tack of transactions.
-
- The 'N' parameter indicates the node number, you *MUST* pass this if you
- run a multinode system!. If omitted (1 node) it will create a single log file.
- On multinode system, it is MANDATORY that this parameter be passed. Otherwise
- you will eventually be out of luck and start two copies on different nodes and
- the files will get scrambled because SCANVERT will default to a single work
- directory. Scanvert now creates one directory for each line to prevent such
- problems. The directory names are: \SCANVERT.NN, where NN is the current node
- number.
-
- The 'F' parameter is optional, and if present must point to the BBS Ad
- file a lot of sysops like to put in archives or could be a text file
- indicating the file has been virus scanned, etc.
-
- The *M is EXTREMELY IMPORTANT!, as SCAN.EXE and some archivers use
- lots of memory and problems including lost files could show up if you forget
- to swap RA out of memory.
-
- Extended description importing is enabled in raconfig's filebase setup
- portion. (MANAGER|FILEAREAS|[AREANAME]|LONGDESC) . If Long Descriptions are
- enabled, SCANVERT will detect this and import any such descriptions found in
- the archive to the RA filebase. Supported are FILE_ID.DIZ and DESC.SDN. If
- omitted, Scanvert will ignore this files. Since these files are in a 40
- column format and authors sometimes encase the text in a high ASCII box, I
- have tried to make this routine as smart as possible. It will remove all
- characters that do not fall in the 32-126 ASCII range. Also, duplicate spaces
- are removed. The goal is to make a description free of tabs, carriage returns,
- line feeds and high ASCII characters and let RA properly display the
- description at runtime. Any of those characters removed by scanvert will
- interfere with the way RA formats the description causing really ugly output.
-
- You must also set RA to take proper action if a file fails.
- SCANVERT will not move or delete any files that fail. RA must take care
- of that. If you set RA to move the files and neglect to make that area you
- set in there, RA will try to move them and delete them instead.
-
- As of version 2.2α the extended logging is enabled. So I don't have to
- clutter the command line anymore than what it already is, I have made this
- configurable thru the SCANVERT environmental variable. If the variable does
- not exist, or if it is set to NORMAL, normal logging is used. If set to
- DEBUG, all kinds of meaningless (to you, not to me) stuff is written to the
- log. If you have problems, this is the mode to use and then whenever you send
- me netmail about a problem, you can enclose the log and it should make it a
- lot easier for me to connect with it. The last option is NONE, in which case,
- only major errors will be logged to the SCANVERT.LOG
-
- To set the variable enter the following line in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file:
-
- Set SCANVERT=DEBUG (or whatever level of logging you prefer)
-
- My thanks to Ernie Jillson (1:135/58) and Ariel Vera (1:135/316) for
- their questions and encouragement and the all important testing.
-
- Serge Sozonoff for his help and code to handle the Novell networks.
-
- Turbo Power Software for their excellent swapping units.
-
- MC Soft, Inc and John C. Parlin for their excellent JPDOOR units.
-
- Questions and suggestions can be sent to:
-
- Paul Schencke
- 1:135/58.340@fidonet
- 72066,2443@Compuserve.com
-
-