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│ -*- POSTLOG -*- │
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Version: 3.00
by
Bob Ransom
(c) 1989
All Rights Reserved
Released: January 25, 1989
* * * IMPORTANT NOTE TO USERS OF PREVIOUS VERSIONS * * *
PLEASE! Read this doc or the UPDATE.DOC file contained in
the Postlog archive. V3.00 of Postlog represents an
entire rewrite of the program in Turbo Pascal 5.0
(previous versions were written in QuickBASIC v4.0b).
With this rewrite, changes were made to how Postlog stores
its "control" file, and the new format is NOT compatible
with the old. A converter program is included in the
archive to convert the old style control file to the new
style. Please take a moment to read the update for
complete information. By the way: if you wonder why I
rewrote the program in TP, consider that this new version
is 75% smaller in size, but slightly over 300% faster than
the QuickBASIC versions! Definitely worthwhile, I'd say.
OVERVIEW --
POSTLOG was conceived and created to help me track
activity on the message boards (mainly echoes) on my
QuickBBS system. I'm carrying about 35 echoes now, which
is not many by some standards. Nonetheless, I still found
it hard to keep track of how many messages were posted to
each board on *my* system. This problem was most
pronounced on the very busy echoes like TECH, DEBATE, and
everyone's favorite, QUICKBBS. Yes, I could scan the
SYSTEM.LOG by hand, but that's seriously boring. Besides,
I'm lazy. Enter POSTLOG.
GENERAL OPERATIONS --
POSTLOG is meant to be run from the directory that
contains your QuickBBS SYSTEM.LOG. If POSTLOG can't find
your log, it aborts immediately with a little message
telling you what's missing. POSTLOG is stupid and only
searches the current path for the file.
POSTLOG v2.00 DOC Page 2
When it finds the log, it reads and then scans each line
looking for:
"Message #xxxxx entered on board #y: BoardName"
(It's actually looking for the word "entered" which should
only occur when a message is written.) When it finds such
a line, it takes note of the BoardName then increments the
message counter for that board by one.
When scanning is complete, POSTLOG writes two files to
your disk:
POSTLOG.ASC -- A "pretty" ASCII file with the board
totals, overall totals, and
percentages. This file is meant to
be viewed from within QuickBBS.
POSTLOG.CTL -- An "ugly" ASCII file that stores pretty
much the same info as the .ASC file,
but in an abbreviated and easier-to-
work-with format. POSTLOG.CTL also
stores a "pointer" to help the program
tell how far it has processed on
any given SYSTEM.LOG. This file is
used by POSTLOG each time it's run.
Both of these files are small so they shouldn't cause you
any undue headaches in the disk space department.
In its original versions, POSTLOG was meant to be run only
once per day (actually, once per SYSTEM.LOG). In versions
1.10 and later, with the addition of the "pointer" file
(or now, with the pointer stored within the .CTL file),
POSTLOG may be run as often as you wish. Depending on
what you want, you may wish to run it only once per day
during regular maintenance then use a batch file to move
the POSTLOG.ASC file to your textfile directory. Or you
may wish to run it after each caller. It's entirely up to
you. (I run it after each caller so the list is always
up-to-date.)
CONVERTING FROM PREVIOUS VERSIONS --
As the format of the POSTLOG.CTL file has been changed,
v3.00 will puke (promptly) if you try to run it with a
v2.00 control file present. Rather than force you to lose
your old totals, I wrote a little program called
OLDTONEW.EXE to convert the file. Run OLDTONEW from the
directory that contains the POSTLOG.CTL file. When it's
finished (it'll only take a few seconds), you may delete
both the OLDTONEW.EXE file and the old POSTLOG.PTR file.
The old pointer data has been moved to the new .CTL file,
POSTLOG v2.00 DOC Page 3
so the .PTR file is no longer necessary (though leaving it
there won't hurt anything -- except disk space).
OTHER THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW --
As POSTLOG reads directly from the SYSTEM.LOG (not
AREAS.BBS or CONFIG.BBS), boards with no activity will NOT
show up. Remember, this means activity on YOUR BOARD.
POSTLOG has no way of knowing how many echo messages
arrive (the program ELVIS does a real nice job of this) --
it knows only how many messages were posted on your board.
There is no maximum size for the SYSTEM.LOG. In versions
prior to v2.00, the maximum size was billed as 1000 lines
(though, in reality, POSTLOG would choke long before
then). Your log can be 1 line long, 100, 1000, 5000,
whatever -- it no longer matters (longer logs do take
longer to process, though. However, the conversion to TP
5.0 makes this minimal.)
If Postlog should have any problems opening any of the
files it needs, it will exit with an errorlevel of 1.
Under normal operation (no problems), the exit errorlevel
is 0. I seriously doubt that this is useful, but it was
so easy to add that I couldn't resist.
The maximum number of message bases that POSTLOG will
handle is 200 -- the same as QuickBBS. If this changes
with QuickBBS (in version 3 or whatever), I'll change
POSTLOG to accommodate. The maximum number of messages
attributed to any given board is 32,767. The maximum
total number of messages entered is either 65,535 or
2,147,483,647 -- As I sit here and write this I can't
remember if I classified that variable as a "word" or a
"longint." Regardless, I don't think you'll need to worry
much about that.... :-)
To reset POSTLOG (and start the message count over again)
simply delete the control file, POSTLOG.CTL.
POSTLOG is pretty quick: On my 10 Mhz XT clone, it loads,
scans, and totals a 1392 line SYSTEM.LOG containing 180
entered messages in about 10 seconds. This is about a
300% increase in speed over the QuickBASIC version of the
program. (Processing the same log with version 2.00 took
41 seconds.) Your times may vary; see dealer for details.
:-) (See what happens when you live too long in Detroit?)
POSTLOG terminates the output file (POSTLOG.ASC) with a
"Press [RETURN] to continue:" and a CTRL-A. This allows
you to read the file online using a Type 39 menu command.
Or, if you use your batch file to move it to your Bulletin
section, you may read it with a Type 5 command. The Type
POSTLOG v2.00 DOC Page 4
39 is the easiest to use as it doesn't require moving or
renaming anything.
PROBLEMS --
If you have problems, I want to hear about them. Contact
me on the QuickBBS echo or by netmail (see below).
PRAISE --
Feel free to say nice things.
COPYRIGHT --
You may copy and use this program at will provided you
adhere to a few simple rules:
1- You can't change it in any way.
2- All of the original files must be distributed together
in one package. This means that you're welcome to change
the packing from PKARC-type archiving to PAK or ZOO should
you want.
3- You don't charge for it. This means disk vendors may
NOT include POSTLOG on disks of public domain software
that they "sell." This program ain't public domain.
Also, you may not distribute the program if you charge "by
the download." However, this program MAY be distributed
on Compuserve, Genie, the Source, or other subscription
services.
(It's a shame that all this crap has to be added so
somebody else doesn't try to make money off of my
program.)
Anyway, enough on that. Hope you find POSTLOG useful!
-Bob Ransom
The Creative Connection
Southfield, MI
(313)/559-9039
(1:120/96.0)