TCEDIT - T.A.G. Configurable Editor version 1.1 beta version (l)
(Copyright (c) 1994-1995 by SmartSoft. All rights reserved.)
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Table of Contents.............................................. 1
Legal Information.............................................. 2
Disclaimer................................................... 2
Distribution................................................. 2
Introduction................................................... 2
Purpose...................................................... 2
Minimum Requirements......................................... 2
Thanks and kudos............................................. 3
Obtaining the latest version................................. 3
Support...................................................... 3
Quick Setup.................................................... 3
Single node................................................. 3
Multi-node.................................................. 4
Command-line Parameters........................................ 5
-TAG........................................................ 5
-M<Color Mode #>............................................ 5
-A<import/export SL>........................................ 5
-U<path>.................................................... 6
-I.......................................................... 6
-D.......................................................... 6
Parameters passed by T.A.G.................................. 6
Example..................................................... 6
TCOPTS......................................................... 7
[T]aglines: Set Path and Name of Taglines File.............. 7
[Q]uoting: Set Default for Editor Quoting................... 7
[A]utosave: Set Autosave Default............................ 7
[D]ebug: Toggle Editor Debugging............................ 7
[S]how Current Settings..................................... 7
[X] Exit.................................................... 7
Miscellany..................................................... 8
Taglines.................................................... 8
Using TCEDIT in a multi-node environment.................... 8
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LEGAL INFORMATION
TCEDIT is Freeware. There is no charge for its use and it is distributed
as a fully functional program.
This program is Copyright (c) 1994-1995 by SmartSoft. All rights reserved.
The T.A.G. Bulletin Board System (T.A.G.) is Copyright (c) 1986-1994 by
The T.A.G. Team.
DISCLAIMER
TCEDIT is distributed as is. TCEDIT is guaranteed to take up room
on your hard drive only. The author of TCEDIT makes no guarantees
as to the usefulness of this program, nor can the author be held
liable for damage to your system. Use at your own risk.
DISTRIBUTION
BBS SysOps: You may freely distribute this archive so long as no fees
are charged, over and above any normal system access fees, and do not
add or remove files from the original archive.
Shareware Distributors: Please contact the author for distribution
license information. (This includes the bundling of TCEDIT in a
software package.)
INTRODUCTION
PURPOSE
TCEDIT can be used as a standalone text editor or as a Full-Screen
Editor for the T.A.G. Bulletin Board System. Currently, no other BBS
software packages are supported. TCEDIT has been tested with T.A.G.
versions 2.6 and up.
This document covers the use of TCEDIT as a T.A.G. Full-Screen Editor.
For details on the use of TCEDIT as a standalone editor, please refer
to the document TCEUSER.DOC, also contained in this archive.
** NOTE ** NOTE ** NOTE ** NOTE ** NOTE ** NOTE ** NOTE ** NOTE **
This is a BETA test. Please help us provide the very best product to
the T.A.G. BBS community. Report bugs and other programming errors to
the FidoNet address below.
MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS
ANSI.SYS or a compatible ANSI driver must be loaded.
A comport FOSSIL driver must be present if the editor is used in T.A.G.
mode. (This is not required for standalone operation. TCEDIT has been
tested with X00 and BNU FOSSIL drivers.)
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THANKS AND KUDOS
Many thanks to Vickie Church, the SysOp of Vickie's Palace
(1:2330/200) and Hal Craig, the SysOp of Thirst BBS (1:374/65), as
well as the users of both systems for their help in beta testing
TCEDIT.
Thanks also go out to Rob Carlson for maintaining the TCEDIT FAQ.
And of course, many thanks to the users of The MindScape BBS
(1:2605/631) who endured more than one buggy beta test of TCEDIT.
OBTAINING THE LATEST VERSION
To receive the latest version of TCEDIT, you may FREQ "TCEDIT" from
FidoNet 1:2605/631. (Points welcome!) You may also call MindScape BBS
directly at (908)668-7377, where there is a GUEST account available
for downloading TCEDIT.
The MindScape BBS, 1:2605/631, is the only official "home" of
TCEDIT. Accept no substitutes.
SUPPORT
For bug reports and correspondence, please send FidoNet NetMail to
SmartSoft at 1:2605/631. There is also a support echo for TCEDIT
available. If you are interested in carrying this echo, please contact
the System Operator at 1:2605/631 for information. The TCEDIT design
team is also active in the TAG FidoNet echo.
QUICK SETUP
Single Node
1. Copy the files TCEDIT.EXE and TCOPTS.EXE to your main BBS directory.
2. Edit (or create) the file EXTEDIT.BAT in your main BBS directory. The
file should contain the following command:
TCEDIT -TAG -A255 -U<path> %1 %2 %3 %4 %5 %6 %7
(Where <path> is the path to your USER.LST file. If your USER.LST
file is in a directory directly below the main BBS directory, just use
the name of the directory, e.g. "-UGFILES" (without the quotes).
Otherwise, use the full path information, e.g. "-UC:\TAG\MULTI"
(without the quotes). Note: Do NOT use a trailing backslash. An
explanation of these command-line switches is provided later in this
document.)
3. Run TCOPTS and set your default parameters. For a description of each
function, refer to the TCOPTS section later in this document.
TCEDIT.CFG will be created in your main BBS directory.
4. If you have not already done so, give your users access to use the
Full Screen Editor. See the T.A.G. BBS documentation for details.
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QUICK SETUP
Multi-node
1. Copy the files TCEDIT.EXE and TCOPTS.EXE to their own directory.
(e.g., C:\TCEDIT)
2. Edit (or create) the file EXTEDIT.BAT in each of your BBS node
directories. The batch file in each directory should be similar to
the following:
CD \TAG\NODE1
C:\TCEDIT\TCEDIT -TAG -A255 -U<path> %1 %2 %3 %4 %5 %6 %7
(Where \TAG\NODE1 is the location of the STATUS.DAT for that node
and <path> is the path to your USER.LST file. Use the full path
information, e.g. "-UC:\TAG\MULTI" (without the quotes). Note: Do
NOT use a trailing backslash. An explanation of these command-line
switches is provided later in this document.)
3. Run TCOPTS and set your default parameters. For a description of each
function, refer to the TCOPTS section later in this document.
TCEDIT.CFG will be created in your TCEDIT directory.
4. If you have not already done so, give your users access to use the
Full Screen Editor. See the T.A.G. BBS documentation for details.
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COMMAND-LINE PARAMETERS:
To use TCEDIT with T.A.G., the batch file command that calls the program
should be:
[C:\DIR\]TCEDIT -TAG [-A###] [-M#] -Upath [-I] [-D] %1 %2 %3 %4 %5 %6 %7
C:\DIR is the path to TCEDIT.EXE and TCEDIT.CFG. This is optional if
those files reside in the same directory as EXTEDIT.BAT and STATUS.DAT.
(This will most likely be true only for single node systems.)
Multi-node systems, or single node systems where the SysOp wishes to
have TCEDIT reside in it's own directory, should include the full path
to TCEDIT and its support files when called by EXTEDIT.BAT.
IMPORTANT: Do NOT change to the TCEDIT directory in EXTEDIT.BAT to run
the editor. TCEDIT looks for certain message files created by T.A.G. in
the directory it is called from. If you run TCEDIT from a directory
other than the one that contains the current node's STATUS.DAT file you
will have, at best, unpredictable results.
All six command-line switches can be upper or lower case (or any
combination), and can use either a '-' or '/' to mark the switch
(i.e., -TAG and /TAG are equivalent). These switches can be placed in
any order, but the variables that capture information from T.A.G.
(i.e., %1, %2, and so on) should be the last thing on the command-line
and in the order shown.
-TAG [required] This tells TCEDIT that it is being called from the
T.A.G. BBS system and configures it accordingly. With this flag
activated, seven other parameters are required on the command-
line along with four other optional switches and one required
switch. The seven parameters are supplied by T.A.G. itself and
can be read using %1 through %7 in the EXTEDIT.BAT file.
(see below)
-M# [optional] This tells the editor what color "Mode" to use. This
switch specifies the color and graphics codes to allow in the
editor. There are seven modes currently supported, as follows:
-M0 No color or graphics allowed
-M1 IBM Graphics, no color
-M2 ANSI/TCEDIT colors only
-M3 IBM Graphics & ANSI/TCEDIT colors
-M4 T.A.G. CTRL-P color codes only
-M5 IBM Graphics and T.A.G. color codes
-M6 ANSI/TCEDIT and T.A.G. colors
-M7 IBM Graphics, ANSI/TCEDIT & T.A.G. colors (default mode)
-A### [optional] This switch applies to T.A.G. mode only, and tells the
editor the minimum Security Level (SL) to allow to use the
CTRL-X,I and CTRL-X,W commands, which will read or write files
directly to any directory on any disk on your system. This
access should be restricted to trusted SysOps and Co-SysOps only
(e.g., SL greater than 200). When this switch is not supplied
the default minimum access is 256, which blocks ALL users from
the Write and Import functions.
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-Upath [required] This flag applies to T.A.G. mode only, and tells the
editor where to find the USER.LST file, normally contained in
your GFILES directory. DO NOT append a backslash to the end of
this switch. If this switch is omitted or points to an incorrect
directory, a warning will be issued to both you and the user, the
default color codes will be used instead of the user's codes, and
CTRL-X,I and CTRL-X,W access will not be given.
-I [optional] This switch can be used in both T.A.G. mode and in
standalone mode. This tells the editor to start up in
"Insert" mode, rather than in "Overstrike" mode.
SysOps, please note: At low baud rates, the amount of time
for the editor to refresh the screen when inserting characters
can become excessive. It is NOT recommended that this switch
be used if you have callers that connect at less than 9600bps.
-D [optional] This switch forces debugging mode on. Normally, this
is controlled via TCOPTS, but may be necessary if TCEDIT is
generating errors before it reads, or because it cannot read,
the TCEDIT.CFG file. This switch will override the setting
in TCOPTS.
Please see the TCOPTS section of this document for more
information on debugging mode.
PARAMETERS PASSED BY TAG
The other parameters, %1 through %7, are required in that order, and are
read straight from the T.A.G. BBS when it calls EXTEDIT.BAT. For further
details on the values passed by T.A.G., please refer to the Main T.A.G.
documentation.
EXAMPLE
TCEDIT -TAG -A200 -UGFILES %1 %2 %3 %4 %5 %6 %7
This tells TCEDIT that it is operating in T.A.G. mode, only people with
an SL of 200 or greater are allowed to use the CTRL-X,I or CTRL-X,W
commands, to start up in "Overstrike" mode, and that the file USER.LST
can be found in the directory named GFILES which is a subdirectory of
the current directory. (Since in this case the editor is loaded up
from the main T.A.G. directory, you do not need to supply a full path
and drive name to the -U option here. If you had your GFILES directory
somewhere else, you need to supply a full path, for example
"-UD:\MY\GFILES" would mean to find USER.LST in the directory
\MY\GFILES on drive D:.) Remember, don't put a backslash on the end
of this path, or it will not function correctly! Since the -M switch
was not supplied, the editor defaults to -M7.
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TCOPTS
TCEDIT comes with a special configuration program, TCOPTS. This program
sets a number of items which determine how the editor acts.
TCOPTS will create a file, TCEDIT.CFG, in the same directory as itself.
(TCOPTS should be in the same directory as TCEDIT, as well.) Do not
delete this file, or your settings will revert to the default. Use
TCOPTS to make changes to TCEDIT.CFG.
Following is an explanation of the options in TCOPTS:
[T]aglines: Set Path and Name of Taglines File
If you wish to allow users to use Taglines from your T.A.G. Taglines
file, you can enter the path and filename here. If you press <ENTER>,
TCOPTS will attempt to find a Taglines file on your current drive. If
it cannot find a tagline file or you enter an invalid filename, this
option will be disabled.
[Q]uoting: Set Default for Editor Quoting
There are two settings for this option, "SMART" and "REGULAR". When
quoting a message being replied to, T.A.G. often inserts odd line
breaks, making quoted text unwieldy. TCEDIT, through its SMART QUOTING
algorithm, attempts to minimize some of this. This determines the
default method TCEDIT uses. Both methods are always available to the
user via CTRL-Q and CTRL-Y.
[A]utosave: Set Autosave Default
There are two settings for this option, "AUTOMATIC" and "MANUAL". This
setting determines whether the user must confirm the saving of the
message when appending a Tagline to the message.
[D]ebug: Toggle Editor Debugging
This option may be toggled on or off. When ON, or when the -D switch
has been used in EXTEDIT.BAT, TCEDIT will log errors during runtime
to a special log file (TCEDIT.ERR). If you are having trouble with
the editor, a copy of this file sent to the TCEDIT design team will
go a long way in tracking down the source of the problem. TCEDIT
does not truncate this file, so if you've had a significant number of
errors, or haven't had any errors in a long time, you may wish to
delete TCEDIT.ERR.
[S]how Current Settings
This simply displays your current setup.
[X] Exit
Exit from TCOPTS.
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MISCELLANY
TAGLINES
TCEDIT has the ability to read your normal Taglines file that you have
set up for T.A.G.'s internal editor. Because you set the path and
filename of the Taglines file via TCOPTS, it is possible to have two
separate tagline files; one for TCEDIT and one for T.A.G.'s internal
editor. (Please see the T.A.G. documentation for specifics on the format
of the taglines file.) However, please be sure that all of your taglines
are no longer than 75 characters in length. Longer taglines can not only
play havoc with TCEDIT, but echomail as well. (TCEDIT will not process
taglines that are 80 characters in length or longer.)
USING TCEDIT IN A MULTI-NODE ENVIRONMENT
If you are interested, here is a little more insight in how TCEDIT
functions on a multi-node system.
When called, TCEDIT looks for two files: The TCEDIT.CFG file, which
TCEDIT expects in the same directory as TCEDIT.EXE, and MSGTMP, a
temporary file created by T.A.G., in the "current" directory. (MSGTMP
is used by T.A.G. to pass the data, such as quoting or the edited
message, to and from an external editor.) By "current" directory, I
am referring to the directory DOS is in. Unless you use a CD command
in EXTEDIT.BAT, this SHOULD be the same directory where the STATUS.DAT
for the current node is located. If you use other utilities in your
EXTEDIT.BAT (such as a utility to change the $WHO.DAT file) you must
ensure that you change back to the proper directory before running
TCEDIT.EXE.