F L A S H S C R E E N S v2.00
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* The program to make your BBS screens flash on users monitor in ZERO time *
SysOp document
Authors:
Shaul & Harel Efraim
Background
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When we first entered world of communications a year and a half ago,
we used 1200 baud modem, what really frustrated us were the screens.
BBS's have a real nice screens with lots of ANSI graphics, so when
moving from screen to screen you had to wait and wait and wait till
the whole screen was transfered to your monitor and then you could
pick your choice. Of course, if you knew the BBS from previous logins
you remembered it's hot-keys and you could move real fast within it.
(The BBS's in Israel use the QuickBBS and the Remote Access which
allow the use of Hot keys, don't know what goes with others)
But, suppose you want to move within a BBS file base, of course you
don't remember all of it's hot-keys so you have to change area and
wait for the main file menu to show itself; Suppose you want to read
messages from different message areas, than same thing happens as with
the file base example I mentioned before.
What can you do to eliminate this waiting ?
Well, you could do nothing !!
Until now...
No more waiting for fancy screens to write themselves, no more waisting
time when moving around,exploring and testing the BBS. Real time saving
for users and SysOps too.
Installation
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SysOp side may look a bit bastard, but it's actual work of 10 minutes.
Part I
What you have to do is to make copies of up to 15 screens you want your
users to have in zero time. Add @# (A-O) at the BOTTOM RIGHT side of
each of these copied screens at LINE 24, COLUMNS 78,79.
Example of my 1st handshaked screen:
(My main menu)
┌─── Flash ctrl char
│┌── Z - clears users buffer
││ (only on 1st screen!)
@Z 1
2
3
▄▄ ▄▄ ▄▄▄▄▄ ▄▄▄ ▄ ▄ ▄▄ ▄▄ ▄▄▄▄▄ ▄ ▄ ▄ ▄ 4
▐ ▀▄▀ █ ▐ █ █ ▐▀▄ █ ▐ ▀▄▀ █ ▐▄▄ ▐▀▄ █ ▐ █ Time 5
▐ █ ▐▀▀▀█ ▄█▄ ▐ ▀█ ▐ █ ▐▄▄▄▄ ▐ ▀█ ▐▄▄▄█ left: 6
7
▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄ 8
█ ┌──────────────────┐ ┌──────────────────┐ █ 9
█ F] Files P] Page SysOp █ ░░ 10
█ N] New ones U] User utilities █ ░░ 1
█ ┌──────────────────┐ ┌──────────────────┐ █ ░░ 2
█ M] Mail box B] Bulletins █ ░░ 3
█ C] Check for mail O] On Line Games █ ░░ 4
█ ┌──────────────────┐ ┌──────────────────┐ █ ░░ 5
█ H] Handshake Flash T] Time statistics █ ░░ 6
█ ?] Flash Help K] Time Bank █ ░░ 7
█ D] DL Flash.com R] Time Roulette █ ░░ 8
█ S] System usage █ ░░ 9
▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ ░░░ 20
░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ 1
! Log off 2
3
@A
Flash ctrl char ──────┘│
Screen A (#1) ───────┘
^^^^
line: 7778
7890
Things to know before starting:
1. The screens should be prepared in hierarchial order, ie. main menu,
files menu, mail menu, etc... in order to let user who don't want
all the screens you defined (memory problems) to have the most
used screens.
2. All the control characters should be extracted from the handshaked
screens (The clock, user statistics etc...), they will appear on
the user's screen from the original screens.
3. @Z must be placed on the 1st screen of the handshake, on left top
side of it, this will clear the user's computer buffer (suppose
he called my BBS, logged off, than called yours, than he`ll see
my screens fast, and your screens will show on mine)
4. Line #01 on every handshaked screen should also be extracted,
otherwise the @X that call the screen will cause an offset (the
line will look garbled).
Assuming you prepared the screens for the handshake we'll continue to
next part.
Part II
Now add @# (A-O) at the UPPER LEFT side of the original screens (the
type 40 screens invoked by *.MNU), in the SAME ORDER you numbered the
COPIED set of screens.
Example of my 1st screen (the one invoked by the TOP.MNU)
┌─── Flash ctrl char Time left─────┐
│┌── Twin char, will call screen 'A' from user's buffer Clock ───┐ │
││ │ │
││ │ │
││ ┌─This marked line must not be on the handshaked screen !!! │ │
││ └─────────────────────────────────┐ │ │
││ ┌───────────────────────────┴─────────────────────────┐ │ │
@A 22°°-7°° /><\ Comm House BBS /><\ 2:403/122 i│
│
│
▄▄ ▄▄ ▄▄▄▄▄ ▄▄▄ ▄ ▄ ▄▄ ▄▄ ▄▄▄▄▄ ▄ ▄ ▄ ▄ │
▐ ▀▄▀ █ ▐ █ █ ▐▀▄ █ ▐ ▀▄▀ █ ▐▄▄ ▐▀▄ █ ▐ █ Time │
▐ █ ▐▀▀▀█ ▄█▄ ▐ ▀█ ▐ █ ▐▄▄▄▄ ▐ ▀█ ▐▄▄▄█ left: o
▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄
█ ┌──────────────────┐ ┌──────────────────┐ █
█ F] Files P] Page SysOp █ ░░
█ N] New ones U] User utilities █ ░░
█ ┌──────────────────┐ ┌──────────────────┐ █ ░░
█ M] Mail box B] Bulletins █ ░░
█ C] Check for mail O] On Line Games █ ░░
█ ┌──────────────────┐ ┌──────────────────┐ █ ░░
█ H] Handshake Flash T] Time statistics █ ░░
█ ?] Flash Help K] Time Bank █ ░░
█ D] DL Flash.com R] Time Roulette █ ░░
█ S] System usage █ ░░
▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ ░░░
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! Log off
*** Automatic loading & saving of screens on users disk ***
The handshaked screens can be saved automatically just after the handshake,
this is available because the Flash reads chars from the screen and acts
accordingly.
How to save screens ??
Create one more screen with the following string:
┌───────────────── Flash ctrl char
│ ┌─────────────── Save
│ │ ┌───────────── Valid filename (no ext is needed)
│ │ │ ┌───── The point activates a Carriage return
│ │ │ │ on users computer and saves the file.
@\S Filename.
Add this screen as the last one to be handshaked, and user might not even
notice that the data file was saved on his disk.
How to load screens ??
Add the following string to one of your welcome screens:
┌─────────────── Load
│ ┌───────────── Same filename you saved !!!!!!!!
│ │ ┌───── The point will activate the Flash and
│ │ │ load the data file to his memory.
@\L Filename.
Assuming your user have the Flash installed in memory, and the data
file with the screens is in his current directory, then when he'll
reach the welcome screen (or other screen before the main menu) his
side of Flash will detect this string and load the data file to the
buffer created before by installing Flash to memory. Of course then
he'll see the Flash screens from the moment he'll reach the main menu.
How can user get the screens for his Flash ??
User can get the screens in two ways, first is to handshake them, then
save and use them on future logins, yet this method is not recommended
cause they can be handshaked with garbage and cause a nausea for user,
handshaking 15 screens in 1200 baud is s l o w.
Second way:
Using the SysOp utility, called FL_SYS (described later) is the best
way for preparing the screens and later allowing them for DL.
Handshake method:
Best way to set the handshake option is to create a new menu and put
all the screens modified for handshake one by one (the letters order)
using type 40.
FL_SYS
This program allows the SysOp three things:
1. Debugging the the system after Flash installation.
2. Preparing the screens data file.
3. And most important, it allows the SysOp to see the screens in
Flash mode too, no matter what, after installing the Flash you
will see the screens fast.
How to work with FL_SYS ??
FL_SYS should be loaded before entering the BBS, for example you
can see here a segment of the batch file that invokes my BBS:
┌────────── BNU Fossil
│ ┌──────── Video fossil
│ │ ┌────── Flash Screens (8 screens)
│ │ │ ┌──── 24,25 are valid also
@Echo off │ │ │ │
If "%BBS%" == "RUN" Goto Loaded │ │ │ │
\Qbbs\Pro\Bnu ─────────────────────┘ │ │ │
\Qbbs\Pro\Vfos_IBM ──────────────────┘ │ │
\Qbbs\Fl_Sys 1-23 8 ───────────────────┘ │
:Loaded └┴────────────────────────┘
Set BBS=RUN
:start
After doing so, enter your BBS, handshake the screens. Now you have
them saved (remember the save string on last handshaked screen ?)
Walk about in the BBS, you have to check that there is no offset, the
screens come ok, and that all looks naturl (except for the Flash of
course)
From now on, when user calls your BBS, he will encounter the load
string on the welcome screen, it will load the Flash screens to his
memory and your computer's memory too.
That's it, I described here all aspects of using and installing the Flash
(read the user doc also), if you reached here and understood small bit
of what is going on, don't be upset, reread the document, and all will
become alot clearer.
If you read this line for the 2nd time and still don't understand much,
feel free to call me voice and I'll help you as much as needed till it
will be installed on your BBS.
Copyrights
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"Boyan, Procomm, Procomm +, Qmodem, Telemate, Telix, BitCom,
MTE and FlashLink"
are all Copyrighted by their respective authors.
Support
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Authors can be reached in the following ways:
1.
Shaul Efraim
58, Melchett ST.
Tel-Aviv, Israel
Zip code 64287
2.
Comm House BBS
Tel : 03-296489 (972-3-296489)
Hours : 22:00-07:00 (local time)
FidoNet : 2:403/122
Baud : 2400
New versions can be Freq'ed under the name FLASH.ZIP
End