T . A . G T o B l u e W a v e D o o r
I n t e r f a c e U t i l i t i e s
V e r s i o n 4 . 1
Acknowledgements
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
TAG is copyrighted by Victor Capton and Robert Numerick
None of this interface package would be possible without
the support the TAG team has give to third party utilities
authors in terms of structures and functional programming
aid. Special thanks go to Victor Capton, Paul Williams and
Randy Goebel.. the current main force behind the TAG BBS
systems.
Blue Wave is copyrighted by Cutting Edge Computing. The
author is George Hatchew. Thanks go to George as well for
providing insight into how the door interfaces with the
QBBS V7.5 BBS system thus eliminating a couple of major
brain busters.
XTRA special thanks go to the people who did the beta testing
for this utility package:
John Nash 1:374/10
Jason Brothers 1:101/352
David Beiger 1:374/5
Jonathan Blair 1:2605/630
Steven Sheeley 1:374/302
Cliff Morrison 1:163/412
Chris Howes 1:374/69
Justin Gould 1:231/272
Todd Punderson 1:321/309
Vince Worthington 1:3629/405
Jason Brothers 1:101/352
Guarantees/Warranties
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Simply Put, There are no guarantees that this software will do anything
but take up disk space. The author assumes no liability for any damages
caused by running the related programs.. This disclaimer includes, but
is not limited to loss of data, or destruction of files.
Blue Wave Files Needed
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BW101_QB.ZIP QBBS V2.75 Blue Wave Mail Door
BWAVE212.ZIP Latest Blue Wave Reader
Both Files are FREQable from Here (1:236/16)
Purpose
~~~~~~~
This utility set is designed to ease the interface of the Blue Wave mail
door and TAG BBS systems. The included programs create a QBBS V7.5
system for use by the Blue Wave mail Door.. and any other QBBS V7.5 type
door or utilities that need the resulting files.
-=[ TAG2BW Documentation Page 1 ]=- Main operation/use outline
Use
~~~
The use of these utilities is two step:
1. Unzip the file TAG2QBBS into the Blue Wave Directory and
execute. Upon execution you will be prompted for two
directories. The first is the path to your Status.Dat File..
the second the path to the HMS base you are setting up. Bear in
mind the STATUS.DAT path you enter will be based upon the node you
are setting up. (see the recommended Multi-node setup later in the
docs) -=[ If You Use The *Optional* Parameter NOFILES then
there are no List Files created ]=-
-=[ NOTE ]=-
To run as a nightly event and keep the message areas,
files areas, and List files up to date enter the two
paths on the command line as follows.
TAG2QBBS C:\BBS C:\HMSPATH [NoFiles]
It is recommended you perform this maintenance for each node
every night or after adding or deleting message or file areas.
This program also creates standard QBBS V2.75 FILES.BBS files
in each of your download directories.. if the directory is a
CDROM drive then the list file is generated in the same
directory as the *.DIR file and is named based on the
following convention:
F[File Area Number].BBS
So if a CDROM area is area #321 and the .DIR file was located
in the multi-node directory the list file name would be:
C:\MULTI\F321.BBS
These list files are essential to Blue Wave's ability to allow
users to request files via the door and should not be
disturbed. The optional "NoFiles" parameter will
override the list file creation thus eliminating the
redundancy of this action on nodes that share all file areas.
This program will create:
QUICKCFG.DAT QBBS system file similar to STATUS.DAT
MSGCFG .DAT Message Base Configuration/Definition
FILECFG .DAT File Base Configuration/Definition
LIMITS .CTL Download/Upload Ratio and Time Control
FILES .BBS List File For User File Requests.
F[DIR#] .BBS CDROM List File(s)
You can also, optionally run the program SETDLK.EXE to create a
data file that will allow you to set daily download K limits for
your users. The usage is simple... Just Type SETDLK (in the QBBS
directory for the message base or node you are setting up) and
follow the instructions. You will be asked to give a S/L range
and then the download K (1mg = 1000K) to assign that S/L. If you
have already executed the program once before you can use the
program to edit a give S/L range at any time. If the file
SLK.DAT exists in a given QBBS directory the information will be
used when creating the LIMITS.CTL file, and when writing
USERS.BBS and EXITINFO.BBS.
Now you can run the Blue Wave setup Program BWUTILS.EXE and
toggle the board specific options. (Multi Node Setup Is Later
In Documentation so read EVERYTHING before starting!)
-=[ TAG2BW Documentation Page 2 ]=- Setting Up The Blue Wave Door....
General Information:
Set packet name, Max Messages to download, Max
Files for FREQ, and the various display files.
Overrides
Any areas you wish to force or exclude. You can
force exclusion from users even if they normally
have access and can setup default areas which
the users will use depending upon their normal
access, or change the access requirements to be
different than those on the BBS. You will only
see the message area listing when you choose to
insert a new area.. rest assured ALL of your HMS
areas are known to Blue Wave.
Directories and paths
Check these but they should all be correct
except the local download, upload paths. The
swap path should default to the path you have
setup for TAG or none..
For multi-Node setups make sure your System
Path points to the specific QBBS path for that
Node Directory beneath Blue Wave.
Security level and flags
This simply setups up default flags and flag
override access for netmail. It defaults to the
QBBS sysop security level of 32000 and you will
need to make the appropriate changes. If you
wish to toggle flag access just remember the TAG
A/R flags are toggled as the first 27 flags so a
use that had flags of @A--DEF would translate to
XX--XXX in Blue Wave. (ALL Users have the @ flag)
You MUST repeat this for each node (call BWUTILS with the node's BW
parameter file as the argument example: BWUTILS NODE2.PRM). Pay
attention to the node specific directories and paths information..
wouldn't want two Blue Wave users crashing into each other in the
dark <grin>.
-=[ TAG2BW Documentation Page 3 ]=- Interfacing TAG to the Blue Wave Door
2. Edit the included BW.BAT file and place it in your TAG BBS
directory then place the TAG2BW.EXE file in your Blue Wave
directory. Add a menu option of
Pkey <
Pdata BW(??).BAT
(You will need a separate Menu and Batch file for each HMS
directory. The "??" refers to NODE/HMSBASE Numbers)
The files created by TAG2BW.EXE are:
EXITINFO.BBS User information file that can be
changed by door
ALIAS .BBS Alias file for users
USERS .BBS All user information (like USER.LST)
DORINFO?.DEF Door drop file
That should be about all I need tell you at this time other than read
the Blue Wave Docs and you should easily see how to use these programs
for setting up Multiple Nodes and HMS bases.
You will also note that Blue Wave will respect your user's handles and
will Force Handles to be used on any area you force handles and will not
allow handles in any area you have handles disabled... There is no such
thing as anonymous on QBBS boards so these areas have handles forced.
A Word about local File Requests:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As stated earlier, it is crucial that a correctly formatted FILES.BBS or
alternate list file exists for the file request options to work. Any files
that are downloaded will applied toward the user's File download count and
Download-K statistics. If the user is out of balance Blue Wave will not allow
the user to download. If you are using another program to create your BBS's
FILES.BBS please remember that it probably won't be placing the alternate list
files in the correct place for the CDROMs and may well inhibit the user
downloading ability. If there is a specific area you do NOT wish users to
access via Blue Wave, regardless of their BBS access rights simply include a
command in your maintenance batch file to delete that file area's FILES.BBS or
alternate list file (F(are#).BBS).. then Blue Wave will treat the file as non
existent even though it finds it in the appropriate directory.
As with TAG, Blue Wave will not charge Users for downloading from file
areas marked as Free <no ratios>. It will, however, limit their ability to
download should they attempt to exceed the daily download K you setup with
the SETDLK program. (if you don't use this program then the default becomes
850K)
-=[ TAG2BW Documentation Page 4 ]=- Mulitnode Setup
For sake of example we will demonstrate the multi-node setup using a Two node
system with the following directory structure for the BBS:
Node 1:
BBS dir = C:\BBS
Gfiles = C:\BBS\GFILES
AFiles = C:\BBS\AFILES
MSG Dir = C:\MESSAGES
Node 2:
BBS DIr = C:\BBS2
Gfiles = C:\BBS2\GFILES
AFiles = C:\BBS2\AFILES
MSG DIR = C:\MESSAGES
Multinode
MULTI Dir = C:\MULTI
USERS .LST
CDROM .DIR FILES
MBOARDS .DAT
FBOARDS .DAT
Main Blue Wave Directory = C:\BW
In the above example the directory tree would look like:
ROOT--+
|
+----+ BBS <-------- NODE1 STATUS.DAT Directory
| |
| + AFILES
| |
| + GFILES
|
+----+ BBS2 <------- NODE2 STATUS.DAT Directory
| |
| + AFILES
| |
| + GFILES
|
+----+ BW <------- Main Blue Wave Directory (includes all *.PRM
| | Files)
| + NODE1 <----- NODE1 QBBS System Directory. Must Contain
| | | TAG2QBBS.EXE
| | + DOWN
| | |
| | + UP
| | |
| | + WORK
| |
| + NODE2 <----- NODE2 QBBS System Directory. Must Contain
| | TAG2QBBS.EXE
| + DOWN
| |
| + UP
| |
| + WORK
|
+----+ MESSAGES <----- HMS Files (Single HMS Base System)
|
+----+ MULTI
-=[ TAG2BW Documentation Page 5 ]=- Mulitnode Setup
Given the preceding directory structure the calling conventions for each
program would be:
BWUTILS.EXE - Called from main Blue Wave directory
~~~~~~~~~~~
NODE1
BWUTILS NODE1.PRM
NODE2
BWUTILS NODE2.PRM
TAG2QBBS - Called from Each C:\BW\NODE? Directory
~~~~~~~~
NODE1
TAG2QBBS C:\BBS C:\MESSAGES [NoFiles - optional]
NODE2
TAG2QBBS C:\BBS2 C:\MESSAGES [NoFiles - optional]
TAG2BW - Called from main Blue Wave Directory
~~~~~~
NODE1
TAG2BW %1 %2 %3 %4 %5 %6 %7 %8 C:\BW\NODE1 C:\BBS [NOOUT]
NODE2
TAG2BW %1 %2 %3 %4 %5 %6 %7 %8 C:\BW\NODE2 C:\BBS2 [NOOUT]
BWMAIL - Called from main Blue Wave Directory
NODE1
BWMAIL -CNODE1.PRM
NODE2
BWMAIL -CNODE2.PRM
TAGUDATE - Called From Main Blue Wave Directory
~~~~~~~~
NODE1
TAGUDATE C:\BW\NODE1 C:\BBS
NODE2
TAGUDATE C:\BW\NODE2 C:\BBS2
=============================[ Batch Files ]================================
NODE1
~~~~~
@Echo Off
C:
Cd\BW
TAG2BW %1 %2 %3 %4 %5 %6 %7 %8 C:\BW\NODE1 C:\BBS [NOOUT]
BWMAIL -CNODE1.PRM
TAGUDATE C:\BW\NODE1 C:\BBS
CD\BBS
-=[ TAG2BW Documentation Page 6 ]=- Multinode Setup
NODE2
~~~~~
@Echo Off
C:
Cd\BW
TAG2BW %1 %2 %3 %4 %5 %6 %7 %8 C:\BW\NODE2 C:\BBS2 [NOOUT]
:
: The Next Line is due to Blue Wave's lack of recognizing
: any DORINFO?.DEF file except DORINFO1.DEF
:
COPY C:\BW\NODE2\DORINFO2.DEF C:\BW\NODE2\DORINFO1.DEF
BWMAIL -CNODE2.PRM
TAGUDATE C:\BW\NODE2 C:\BBS2
CD\BBS2
As noted in the Batch file comments (any line preceded by a colon and not
referred to as a Label is ignored by dos and serves as a comment) Blue Wave
doesn't recognize node specific DORINFO?.DEF files.. I elected to create them
anyway and allow the sysop to make the appropriate copy so the utility can
serve to create the files for other QBBS V7.5 Doors and utilities that do
recognize the node specific DORINFO? naming convention.
Now for the multiple HMS systems. First off there is absolutely NO good
reason for creating multiple HMS areas under TAG unless you have in excess
of 200 messages areas (Lord) or your message base size has exceeded 16mg
(Double oh lord).. This only serves to break other fine utilities, editors,
etc, that would otherwise handle the message system flawlessly. As for data
integrity, well you can always go back to the FIDO *.MSG message format.
Really, the HMS system is pretty stable and shouldn't give you problems and
if you end up with bad sectors you are likely to have other problems anyway.
To use the multiple HMS message bases the same rules apply as in the
preceding example with the addition of a new QBBS system Dir for each extra
HMS base... and of course a corresponding Blue Wave .PRM file. The additional
directories would appear as :
BW
+
|
+ NODE1 <---- TAG2QBBS resides here with node1 HMS1 paths
| +
| |
| + HMS2 <---- TAG2QBBS resides here with NODE1 HMS2 paths
| |
| + HMS3 <---- TAG2QBBS resides here with NODE1 HMS3 Paths
| |
| + DOWN
| |
| + WORK
| |
| + UP
|
+ NODE2 <---- TAG2QBBS resides here with NODE2 HMS 1 paths. The rest is
| + is the same as above.
Naturally there would then be NODE11.PRM, NODE12.PRM, NODE13.PRM files for
Blue Wave and TAG2QBBS would have to be called from each directory with the
paths pointing to the appropriate BBS node dir and HMS message base. heh..
this is what you get for prostituting a *standard*.
-=[ TAG2BW Documentation Page 7 ]=- Postscript
If there are any questions or comments direct them to:
Rick Cooper
Just For the Heck Of It II
1:236/16
(219) 747-5871
- 11/13/92
Modified the File Sharing Scheme slightly, and added a couple more error
messages for missing files.
-11/14/92
-=[FIXED]=-
Problem with Runtime error 201 Fixed! A bit of sloppy programming..
Heh.. Probably not the last time. (Thanks Both John and Jason)
Fixed Sysop handle problem.. Seems QBBS doesn't use the first record
number for the Alias.bbs file thus all user handles functioned except
good 'ole Sysop User #1
Modified the way files are located.. Function will now search the Dos
path as well as the TAG file definitions.
Added creation of an error file TAG2BW.ERR in the Main BBS directory.
This file does slow down the program a bit but should help me find
exactly where in the program an error is occurring .. it also contains
several of the system variables needed by the program and looks like :
System Path = C:\BBS\
Blue Wave Path = C:\BW\
Share Installed
DesqView Not Active
Found C:\BBS\GFILES\Callers.Log
Converting User Information For ExitInfo.BBS
ExitInfo.BBS Definition Is Complete
Writing ExitInfo 1..C:\BW\EXITINFO.BBS
Writing ExitInfo 2..C:\BBS\MESSAGES\HUDSON\EXITINFO.BBS
Writing Alias.Bbs File... C:\BBS\MESSAGES\HUDSON\ALIAS.BBS
Writing Combine.Bbs File.. C:\BBS\MESSAGES\HUDSON\Combined.BBS
Reading USER.LST File C:\BBS\MULTI\USER.LST
Assigning USERS.BBS File.. C:\BBS\MESSAGES\HUDSON\USERS.BBS
Reading Scan Flag File C:\BBS\MULTI\MZSCAN.DAT
Creating USERS.BBS File.. Reading USER.LST
Finished Writing C:\BBS\MESSAGES\HUDSON\USERS.BBS
Writing C:\BW\DORINFO1.DEF
All Files Written and Read.. Conversion Complete
-11/18/92
Added communications routines so the user sees the Information Displayed
locally.. Also added a "Percent Done" line so the user knows something
is happening while the program writes the USERS.BBS file.
This adds a couple seconds to the creation routines but the user will
probably appreciate knowing that something is happening while they
wait... Let me know
-=[ TAG2BW Documentation Page 8 ]=- Postscript
-11/20/92
Changed the status display so it only updates every 10% done which speeds
things back up considerably.
-11/21/92
Increased the stack space.. there were a couple of reports of lockups
running under DesqView386 standard (not DV/X) and the problem has been
traced to the STACKS=0,0 statement in the CONFIG.SYS. Hopefully V1h will
correct these lockups.
-11/21/92
Further increased the Stack space available (some real dead iron out
there apparently) and fixed the problem with not locating File requested
for download. Users will now be able to FREQ any files they normally
have access to (and ratios/limits are enforced as is security access),
except in a CDROM directory.
If the current version still locks up under DV386 V2.4? rem out your
Stacks= statement in the config.sys file and try again.. that will
*probably* handle it now.
-11/25/92
Added the ability to create the proper style FILES.BBS to the TAG2QBBS
program. Also allows TAG2QBBS to accept command line parameters so it
can be run as a nightly event thus keeping your files and message setups
current as well as any List Files for Blue Wave.
Parameters are:
TAG2QBBS C:\BBS C:\HMS
Where C:\BBS = Path To Status.Dat and C:\HMS = Message Base Path
If you are keeping your .DIR files the Gfiles, Afiles, Or Multi
directories, a file will be created within that directory with the
naming convention of F+BoardNumber.BBS (eg: F1.BBS).. Please Don't
remove those files or Blue Wave will Not be able to find the file your
user is attempting to request.
Removed all the error log code.. it would appear it's not needed.. well, I
didn't actually remove it I just commented it out so it can be restored if
needed.
-11/28/92
Added the utility TAGUDATE.EXE. This program reads the EXITINFO.BBS file
and updates the user's File Download-K and count, Post Count, and
Netmail credit/debits. All the user post counts have to go into their
public post count regardless of the type (private/public/echo, etc)
because QBBS doesn't differentiate between types when it comes to
counts.
-12/01/92
Public release of the Door and rewriting of the bloody doc files.. I hate
writing docs ..
-=[ TAG2BW Documentation Page 9 ]=- Postscript
-12/19/19
Installed support for the Next general release of TAG (26D)
Added:
No Longer writes entire USERS.BBS file unless current user is
a new user on the TAG board and Blue Wave.
TAG2QBBS will now convert all AKAs (up to 10, QBBS limit)
Added NOFILES switch to TAG2QBBS so you can disable creation of
file area list files.
TAG2BW will now erase an existing EXITINFO.BBS file if found
during initialization (Security measure)
TAG2QBBS now respects force private areas including echo/netmail
(Thanks to the new TAG structures)
All Programs are now Windows and OS/2 Aware.. Will pause other
applications while updating user information (TAGUDATE)
as a safety measure... Only takes a wink and other
nodes won't even be aware of the pause.
-12/20/92
Added option to turn off user information display.. if you add
the switch NOOUT to the normal command line the use information
is no longer displayed locally or remote.
No longer send operating system information to remote
(detection of share, desqView, OS/2, Windows, etc)
Still sends blurp about my BBS.. but the software is free
whadda expect ? |-)
-01/27/93
Well the 486 processor problem appears to be fixed.. Thanks go to Cliff
Morrison for jacking my brain about removing the Delay calls.. Boy talk about
lack of backward compatibility in architecture!
-01/28/93
During the process of keeping three copies of the bloody program (one for
update testing, one for TAG betas, and one for TAG standard) around I
inadvertently removed a small piece of code (QU.UserRecNum = (U.Unum - 1)) that
caused Blue Wave to update the wrong user's lastread pointers! If user one was
in the Door user two's pointers were updated... Lord is that embarrassing or
what <sheepish grin>.
Just for that... Everyone gets a free copy of TAG2BW31! <grin>
-=[ TAG2BW Documentation Page 10]=- Postscript
-02/03/93
Fixed a bug where the program would go into an infinite loop if it encountered
a ^P0 color code.
Fixed the last AKA bug. Now respects your AKAs up to the QBBS limit of 10..
after the 1st 10 AKAs found the remaining will be ignored and your main
address (the one entered in the system configuration) will be defaulted.
TAG2QBBS now checks the USERS.LST and USERS.BBS files and rebuilds the
USERS.BBS file if there is a difference in the user count.. this means it's
less likely for a user to have to wait for the rebuilding process if a new
user logged in sometime during the day (if you are running TAG2QBBS as a
nightly update event)
-03/07/93
Added a new program called SETDLK.EXE. This program will allow the sysop to
set daily download K restrictions by security level just like the true QBBS
program. If this program is used (it's optional and recommended) then the
resulting data file will be used when generating LIMITS.CTL, USERS.BBS, and
EXITINFO.BBS. With this additional program we are moving closer to releasing
the QBBSCVT utilities that will allow you to use program like ACFILES (the
best file door for any BBS program anywhere... No BBS handles files as
nicely as ACFILES) and GrayQWK (The fastest nicest QWK door I have ever
used.. I registered right away).
Added a couple things. First of all all the utilities will work together to
maintain user information in the USERS.BBS file and maintain the correct
Daily download K specifications in the EXITINFO.BBS and USERS.BBS Files.
The TAG2BW utility will catch the truncated connect rates (a *little* bug
in TAG right now) and correct them. This should end those frustrating 14
baud transfers heh? <grin>
-03/11/93
Got a report of an error code 203 from Mark McKay.. Hopefully it was the
file copy routine (since that was the only heap usage I could find)