Club Amiga de Montreal - CAM/CAM_CD_1.iso/files/427.lha/VLT_select_v2.3/Select.doc

Text File | 1990-10-08 | 11.4 KB | 241 lines

Select.vlt 2.3-- An ARexx Autodialer For VLT

Copyright 1990
Warren Block
1921 Fifth, #3
Rapid City, SD  57701
[phone]


What Is Select?

Good question!  Select is an autodialer for VLT.  VLT is a great program, it's
incredibly reliable and solid, more so than most commercial efforts.  However,
it isn't built for calling multiple BBS systems, and as such has no phone book
or dialer.  Via the magic of ARexx, Select attempts to add those features to
VLT, without adding the unreliability or code bloat of those other terminal
programs.  When Select is run, it presents a list of BBS systems that you may
select with the mouse, then will dial through your selections until a
connection is made or you stop the process by pressing F1.  After you have
completed your online transactions with one system, re-running Select will
bring up the list of remaining systems and dial them, until finally you have
connected to each of them.  In other words, Select makes a potentially
exhausting and time-consuming series of BBS calls virtually effortless, and can
also be used to produce a delicious and healthy fruit drink!*

New For Version 2.3

This version should be more compatible with all the weird pseudo-Hayes modems
out there, since it doesn't watch the return codes from the modem to see what
the user did.  Instead, it now receives a message that the user wants to cancel
dialing when the F1 key is pressed.  Dialing can now be cancelled at any time,
not just when the modem is waiting for an answer.  Some code cleanup, too, and
ConMan is no longer necessary.  Still no ants...

New For Version 2.2

While I was digging around in some new code, version 2.5 of RexxArpLib arrived,
fixing a bug in PostMsg() that prevented me from using it with Select.  Now
Select does use it, so you can click the mouse or press a key in the VLT window
and Select's windows won't go away.  This version also tries to be smarter
about changing the system font back to whatever it should be on your system,
but it's still not an ideal solution.  The best thing would be a way to change
fonts just on the VLT screen, but I'm not sure I want it bad enough to try that
with ARexx just yet.

Status

This program is freely redistributable.  See the copyright notice in the
comments at the end of this document for the original copyright, and I've added
my own to it just in case.

Installation And Requirements

First off, you need a Hayes-compatible modem and an Amiga (that should be
fairly obvious, but you never know).  For software, there's a fair bit, but all
of it is readily available and well worth having.  Please note the version
numbers, since the right version of VLT and rexxarplib.library are required to
run Select correctly:

   VLT         (version 4.824 or later; without this you ain't going nowhere)
   ARexx       (version 1.10; fully installed, libraries, RexxMast, and such)
   Select.vlt  (must be installed in your REXX: directory)
   FF          (FastFonts; must be in C: as FastFonts or FF)
   rexxarplib.library  (must be version 2.5 or later; should be in LIBS: with the rest of the libraries)

Creating Your Phone File

Select's database of numbers is stored in a file in the S:  directory called
VLT.Phone.  The first line of this file is a format line that determines the
size of the fields.  Here is a sample:

|    BBS Name     |  Phone Number   |Baud|Font     |Script

Select reads this line and determines the field widths between the vertical
bars.  The following lines are then read according to those field widths.
Fields start under the leading vertical bar and extend to just before the next
vertical bar (except for the Script field which goes to the end of the line).
The font shouldn't have the .font extension, and the VLT script name should
have the full path.  The baud rate will be set before dialing.  If a connection
is made, FastFonts will be used to set the font, and finally, the VLT script
specified will be executed.  Note that only the BBS name, phone number, and
baud rate are required, and the rest can be blank.

Except for the first line, lines beginning with a vertical bar will be ignored.
This means you can use vertical bars to add comments about certain entries or
comment them out.  Here is a small sample:

|    BBS Name     |  Phone Number   |Baud|Font     |Script
A BBS System      [phone]    9600 Pearl
YABBS             [phone]    1200 Ansi      REXX:ConnectYABBS.scp
One More BBS      [phone]    2400 Topaz     REXX:OneMore.scp
| Comment: The following entry has no font or script settings.
The Last BBS      [phone]    1200

(Note:  changing back to Topaz after using another font can be a problem, since
FastFonts uses the actual .font file in the fonts:  directory, and Topaz 8
doesn't have an entry in that file--it's in system ROM.  I ran the FED font
editor and saved a copy of the Topaz 8 font.  This created the actual disk file
(fonts:topaz/8), and, although bruteforce, works fine.  If you normally use a
different system font like Pearl, you should have no trouble.)

Now it's time to create your own S:VLT.Phone file.  Don't rush, I'll wait right
here until you're done...

Using Select

The easiest way to use Select is to assign it to one of the function keys in
VLT.  To do this, turn on Program Mode, press whichever function key you wish
to use (I like F10 for this; since it's on the end, even a floundering typist
can fish around for it, making it ideal for this porpoise), and type
~@REXX:select.vlt into the requester.  Turn Program Mode off, and select Save
Configuration if you'd like this function key to always bring up Select (a wise
and tasteful choice).

When you run Select, it presents a list of the BBS system names found in
S:VLT.Phone in a window on the right side of the VLT screen.  As you click on
the gadgets for these systems, their names are added to the dial list, which is
shown in a window on the left side of the screen.  When you have selected all
of the systems you'd like to call, click on the <<< Dial >>> gadget.  Select
will begin cycling through the dial list until a system connection is
accomplished or you stop the dialing process by pressing F1.

Select watches the text responses from the modem.  If it sees CONNECT, it will
remove the current number from the dial list.  It then sets the font and
executes the VLT script defined in S:VLT.Phone.  After you have finished and
logged off the current system, re-execute Select.  It will locate the
unfinished dial list (which was saved as a very small file in the T:
directory) and present that as the current dial list.  You can click <<< Dial
>>> at this point to continue cycling through the dial list you have already
defined, or select new numbers to dial, which will clear the current dial list
and let you create a new one.  The other way to clear the current dial list is
to click on Select's close gadget.

If you press F1 to stop dialing, the current number is not removed from the
dial list.  As described above, you can re-run Select at any time and continue
dialing from that list.

Potential Problems

Select assumes that you have assigned T:  to RAM:T.  This isn't necessary, but
you won't enjoy using Select unless you've done this assign or really like
waiting.

Those who use VLT in an industrial or academic setting should remember that
this version of the program sets the environment variable SystemPassWord to
AMIGA.  If you're not expecting it, you might find someone else sending
commands that are executed on your machine!  If you are using VLT in this kind
of setting, remove the setenv call near the start of the program and use
something like

    password = getenv(systempassword)

If you modify the contents of S:VLT.Phone, make sure you delete t:undialed,
since the names in the undialed list won't match what numbers are really
available to dial.  Or just run Select and click the close gadget to force it
to reset the dial list.

Other Stuff

Most of the comments have been removed from the program, to make for faster
loading and smaller size.  With the configuration constants at the beginning of
the program, this shouldn't be a major problem, but you can contact me if you
have trouble.  Consider it a learning experience (learning how not to program,
probably).

User-Customizable Variables

Here you will find cryptic explanations of some of the less-obvious
configuration variables located at the start of the program.

predial = 0

Length of time to wait (in ticks) before sending the dial string.  Select dials
by sending a Return ('0D'x) to the modem, then the dial string.  Some modems
can't accept a dial string immediately after a Return.  If you have one of
these, set this value to 15 or 25 and Select will wait that many ticks
(fiftieths of a second) before sending the dial string.  (This was discovered
on one of the older Commodore modems meant to fit under the A1000; the 1680, I
think it's called.)

numfile = 'S:VLT.Phone'

Name and path of the file containing the BBS phone numbers and descriptions.

dialfile = 't:undialed'

Name of the temporary file containing the remaining dial list.

password = 'AMIGA'

The value to use as the SystemPassWord environment variable.  See the section
called Potential Problems.

maxdialcnt = 8

Maximum number of entries in the to-be-dialed window; change this constant if
you need it bigger.  Note that this number only deals with the dialing window;
there are no limits (other than screen size) on how many entries you can have
in the S:VLT.Phone file, since that window is auto-sized.

pausetime = 2

Number of seconds to pause before dialing the next number.  Two seconds is a
reasonable time to let the phone company computers realize you've actually hung
up; some are probably not even that fast.

quitfont = 'Topaz'

Font to use as the system font on user abort of the dialer.  Even with this,
you'll still find your system occasionally using a nasty font as the system
font, since there's no way to set just VLT to a custom font with FastFonts.

Credits

This program has a bit of a history.  Here are the comment sections from the
original version that I found somewhere (the FAUG BBS or BIX, probably):

/* Dial_Select.vlt - display a list of numbers to dial for mouse selection    */
/*                 - written by Glenn M. Lewis - Caltech - 12/12/89           */
/*                 - based upon an ARexx script in Amazing Computing V4.12    */
/*                                                                            */
/* Do what you want with this code.                                           */
/* I shall not be held responsible for any use or misuse of this code.        */
/* Since parts of this code were derived from the Amazing Computing article,  */
/* here is the gratuitous notice:                                             */
/*                                                                            */
/* copyright 1989 Richard Lee Stockton and Gramma Software.                   */
/* This code is freely distributable as long as this copyright                */
/* notice remains, unchanged, at the start of the code.  Thank you.           */
/*                                                                            */
/* You are welcome.                                                           */
/*                  -- Glenn                                                  */

Again, this program has very extremely little in common with the original.  But
the idea came from it, and without that, this program would not exist.  My
thanks to Mr.  Lewis and Mr Stockton, and my incredulous gratitude to Mr.
Willem Langeveld for VLT.

   Warren Block
   August 27, 1990