Telegard's TopUsers Bulletins version 1.0n.
For use with Telegard BBS version 2.5n.
Copyright (C) 1991 by Kevin Wolf.
All rights reserved.
Table Of Contents
-----------------
Legal Stuff ................................ 3
Registering TopUsers ....................... 3
Distributing TopUsers ...................... 3
Quick Start ................................ 4
About TopUsers ............................. 4
List of Features ...................... 4
Command Line Parameters .................... 5
/? .................................... 5
/A(+/-) ............................... 5
/1-8(+/-) ............................. 5
/E(+/-) ............................... 5
/R .................................... 6
Report Names and Numbers ................... 6
Configuring TopUsers ....................... 6
General Options ....................... 6
Report Configurations ................. 8
Color Configurations .................. 10
Support for TopUsers ....................... 12
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Legal Stuff
-----------
TopUsers is provided as-is, without warranty of any
kind, either expressed or implied. In no event will
the author be liable to anyone in the event that this
program causes damages, including (but not limited to)
any lost profits, lost savings or other incidental or
consequential damages arising out of the use of, or
inability to use, this program.
Registering TopUsers
--------------------
You are allowed to use this program for an evaluation
period of thirty (30) days after you receive it. After
this evaluation period is up, and if you choose to
continue using TopUsers, you are required to send the
author (Kevin Wolf) a check or money order (U.S. funds
only, please) in the amount of $10.00. TopUsers is in
no way "crippleware". In other words, if you are using
the copy that came with this document, you have a fully
functional version. But your registration would be
greatly appreciated. This is only my second attempt at
releasing any software to the public, and you have no
idea how many hours of work this package represents.
If you would like to register TopUsers, please send a
$10.00 check or money order to:
Kevin Wolf
544 Anna Avenue
Bellevue, IL 61604
Please feel free to include any comments or suggestions
you may have about TopUsers.
Distributing TopUsers
---------------------
You may freely distribute TopUsers, provided that the
following conditions are met:
1. The archive MUST contain all of the files in the
list to follow:
TOPUSERS.EXE
TPCONFIG.EXE
TOPUSERS.DOC
IDI.TXT
2. None of the files contained in the this archive may
be modified in any way, shape or form.
3. This archive may not be modified except to change
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the archive format. For instance, you may have
received it in ZIP form, and you want to distribute it
in ARJ form. It is fine to convert it, as long as the
previously stated conditions are met.
Quick Start
-----------
This section is for people that don't like to read doc
files! If you just want to be able to run this program
with all default values, then come back and "tweak" it
later, all that you have to do is run TPCONFIG.EXE,
then exit. It will have generated the files that
TopUsers will be looking for. Then run TOPUSERS.EXE in
the same directory that you just ran TPCONFIG.EXE in.
---------*******>> !!W A R N I N G!! <<*******---------
If you do this as an experiment, and you have any files
in your AFILES directory named BULLET1.ANS or
BULLET1.MSG through BULLET8.ANS or BULLET8.MSG, THEY
WILL BE OVERWRITTEN!! So if you just want to play with
it for a while, I suggest that you change your AFILES
path in TPCONFIG under General Options (option B).
-------------------------------------------------------
About TopUsers
--------------
TopUsers was written to be one of the most powerful,
configurable, easy to run user statistic bulletin
generators for Telegard. Some of it's configurable
features include:
1. Ability to display from five to fifty users in
each of it's eight reports.
2. Complete color configurations for each report.
3. All reports are generated by one program
(TOPUSERS.EXE). Doing this saved a great deal
of space, and made the generation of the
reports much quicker.
4. All you have to do is give TPCONFIG.EXE the
path to your STATUS.DAT file and it will
obtain most of the information it needs from
within STATUS.DAT.
5. Exclusive "Top Users Report". When this
report is generated, TopUsers will take
everything into account. Kilobytes uploaded
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and downloaded, public posts and number of
calls made to your BBS.
6. Ability to add a Telegard "pause" MCI code to
the ANSI reports that are generated.
7. Ability to make each report NON-abortable by
the user viewing the reports (both ANSI and
non-ANSI reports).
8. Ability to clear the screen before the ANSI
reports are displayed.
9. Ability to exclude users according to Telegard
AR flags.
10. Ability to exclude the SysOp.
11. Ability to use handles or real names in all of
the reports.
12. Reports can be disabled via command or
TPCONFIG.EXE. This makes it easy to run
TopUsers and only generate one report if need
be.
Command Line Parameters
-----------------------
TopUsers has five command line parameters for even
easier operation. Each command line parameter is
discussed below:
/? Displays a help screen listing report
numbers and names, and brief help on
command line parameters.
/A(+/-) Enable (+) or disable (-) ALL eight
reports. This option is handy if you
just want update one report.
/1-8(+/-) Enable (+) or disable (-) individual
reports by report numbers. For example,
if you want to run TopUsers, but don't
want to update report 3, then you would
type "TOPUSERS /3-". Or if you only
want to update report 3, you would type
"TOPUSERS /A- /3+", where the "/A-"
would DISABLE all eight reports but the
"/3+" would ENABLE report 3.
/E(+/-) Enable (+) or disable (-) event mode.
When you run TopUsers the default for
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event mode is Enabled. However, if you
disable this feature, TopUsers will give
you statistics on all eight reports when
it is complete. HOWEVER, it will prompt
you to press a key after each report's
statistics have been displayed.
Therefore, it wouldn't work well in a
batch file.
/R Displays a screen containing information
about registering TopUsers.
The command line parameters are NOT case sensitive, so
"/a-" is the same as "/A-".
Report Names and Numbers
------------------------
TopUsers is based on report names and report numbers.
There are eight different reports numbered 1 through 8.
The report names and numbers are listed below:
1) Top uploaders by number of file uploaded.
2) Top uploaders by number of kilobytes uploaded.
3) Top downloaders by number of files downloaded.
4) Top downloaders by number of kilobytes
downloaded.
5) Top callers by number of calls to your BBS.
6) Top posters by number of public posts.
7) Top time users in minutes spent on your board.
8) Top users by user rating.
Even though the report numbers are available in many
places, it may still simplify things for you to write
them down or print them out for future reference.
Configuring Topusers
--------------------
TopUsers has many, many configurable options. But all
in all, it is pretty simple to deal with. When you
want to configure TopUsers, always run TPCONFIG.EXE.
DO *NOT* TRY TO EDIT THE CONFIGURATION FILES!!!
TPCONFIG.EXE was created to make things a little easier
than editing a text file for every report that you want
to generate. I found that to be a major headache in
other bulletin generators that I have used. All of the
options offered in TopUsers are configured by selecting
the number or letter to the left of the parentheses.
General Options
---------------
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The following options are general options that pertain
to all of the reports or to directories or to things
that don't affect the individual reports at all. These
options are accessed by pressing "G" from the main menu
in TPCONFIG.EXE.
A) Main BBS Directory. This is the directory to
the main Telegard directory. The file that is
going to be used in this directory is
STATUS.DAT. STATUS.DAT will only be accessed
when you first run TPCONFIG.EXE, or if you
delete the configuration files (TOPUSERS.CF1
and TOPUSERS.CF2).
B) AFILES Path. This is the directory where all
of the output files generated by TOPUSERS.EXE
will be placed. So if you have report 1 use
the filename BULLET1, and your AFILES directory
is C:\BBS\AFILES, your output files for report
1 will be called C:\BBS\AFILES\BULLET1.ANS
(ANSI output file) and
C:\BBS\AFILES\BULLET1.MSG (non-ANSI output
file).
C) GFILES Path. The only file that is used in
this directory is your USER.LST file; which
is Telegard's list of all of the users on your
BBS.
D) BBS Name. Quite simply, this the name of your
BBS.
E) SysOp Name. This is the SysOp's handle on your
BBS.
F) BBS Phone Number. This is your BBS's phone
number. Once this is retrieved from
STATUS.DAT, it will never again be checked to
see if it is in the correct format. For
example, if your BBS's phone number comes up
the first time as 309-697-0020, and you change
it to 3096970020, the '-'s will never be
replaced (unless you replace them yourself).
G) Use Direct Screen Writes. This option is
primarily used for TPCONFIG.EXE, but is used a
couple of times in TOPUSERS.EXE. When this
option is enabled, Both TOPUSERS.EXE and
TPCONFIG.EXE will place text directly into
video memory. This greatly increases the speed
of the pop-up windows in TPCONFIG.EXE. The
only times that this should cause problems are
if: 1) if you have a CGA monitor, you will get
a bunch of snow on your screen, or 2) if your
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system is not 100% IBM compatible. If either
of these conditions are true, you would be much
better off to set this option to "Off".
H) Set All Reports To Match Colors Of First
Report. This option will set reports 2 through
8's colors equal to report 1's colors. If you
answer Yes to the "Are sure" on this one, your
old colors CANNOT be retrieved!
I) Set All Reports To Match Options of First
Report. This is similar to option "H",
however, this option deals with the main
options of the report, and does nothing to
change the colors. The options that will be
changed are: Active, Number of users to
include, Clear screen, Is pausing active, Make
report non-abortable, Use handles in report,
Exclude SysOp from report, Exclusion flag. The
rest of the options will remain unchanged.
All of the above options (except "A", "H" and "I") will
be obtained from STATUS.DAT upon start of TPCONFIG.EXE,
but can be changed anytime you wish.
Report Configurations
---------------------
When you select "R" from the main menu in TPCONFIG.EXE,
you will be shown the eight reports and their report
numbers.
The reports will be displayed as follows:
1) Top uploaders by files uploaded.
2) Top uploaders by kilobytes uploaded.
3) Top downloaders by files downloaded.
4) Top downloaders by kilobytes downloaded.
5) Top callers by number of calls.
6) Top posters by number of public posts.
7) Top time users by minutes spent logged on.
8) Top users by user rating.
To choose which report you wish to configure, just
select the number to the left of the parentheses. Once
you choose which report to configure, you will be shown
the following options:
A) Is report active. This option is used to
disable the reports that you do not want to
use. If a report is disabled when TOPUSERS.EXE
is ran, no output will be generated for that
report.
B) Number of users to include. The number of
users that TopUsers will allow in each report
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can range from 5 up to 50 users.
C) Clear the screen before report. When this
option is active, the screen will be cleared
(using ANSI codes) before displaying the actual
report. This does not affect the non-ANSI
(.MSG) report.
D) Is "Pausing" active. By using this option, you
can have TopUsers insert a Telegard MCI code
for a "pause" in the ANSI reports. If this is
disabled, then the entire report will just
scroll by the user viewing it unless they hit
"P" in Telegard to force a "pause".
E) Make report NON-abortable. If you have this
option enabled, TopUsers will insert a Telegard
MCI code which will make both reports (ANSI and
non-ANSI) non-abortable to the user viewing the
reports.
F) Use handles in report. When this option is
enabled, HANDLES will be used in the report
that you are configuring. If you set it to
"No", REAL NAMES will be used in the report.
G) Exclude SysOp from report. This will allow you
to exclude the SysOp from one or all of the
reports that you wish to use. The report this
is most useful for is Top Callers. That report
is really not fair to a SysOp, since he HAS to
call a lot.
H) Exclusion flag (0 = none). If you wish to
exclude certain users from any of the reports,
then give them a Telegard AR flag that you are
not already using and place it in this field.
For instance, if you don't want long distance
callers to be included in the Top Posters
report, then give them the flag "E" and also
tell TopUsers to use exclusion flag "E" in
report number 6. If you don't want to exclude
anyone, then use a "0" for this option.
I) ANSI output filename. This is the name of the
report's ANSI file. DO NOT TRY ADDING THE
".ANS"! TopUsers will automatically append
this to the filename that you specify. So if
you want the ANSI file for this report to be
named BULLET1.ANS, just type "BULLET1" and
the .ANS will be added for you.
J) Non-ANSI output filename. This option is the
same as option "I", except that it deals with
the NON-ANSI output file instead of the ANSI
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file.
K) Color configuration . . . This will take you
in the color configuration menu for the report
that you are configuring. This will be
discussed in more detail in the next section.
Remember that you can set each option different for all
eight reports! For instance, if you wanted to use
eight exclusion flags, one for each report, no problem!
Or you can use real names in 5 reports and handles in
the other 3 reports (even though your users may not be
too happy).
Color Configurations
--------------------
When you get into the Color Configuration menu, by
pressing "K" from the report configuration menu, you
will be able to change almost every color in the
report. The colors that you can change are listed
below:
A) Back Ground. This is the background of the
report. This is the only color that the range
can be only 0 through 7. All other colors
range from 0 to 15.
B) Border. This is the color of the border of the
report, the lines separating each field, and
the headings of the report.
C) 1st Rank. The color that will be used to
display the first place user's rank.
D) 1st User Name. The color that will be used to
display the first place user's handle (or real
name depending on how the report is
configured).
E) 1st User Number. The color that will be used
to display the first place user's user number.
F) 1st Sort Field. The color that will be used to
display the first place user's sort field. The
contents of this field will vary depending on
the report you are currently configuring. For
example, in report number 1, it will be number
of files uploaded. But for report number 5, it
will be the number of calls that user has made
to your board.
G) 1st Ratio. The color used to display the first
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place user's ratio. Like option F, this field
will vary with each report. Some reports don't
even have a ratio. And for those that do, the
ratio is different for each report.
H) Rank. The color that will be used to display
the users' rank; excluding the first place
user.
I) User Name. The color used to display the
users' handle (or real name depending on how
this report is configured); excluding the
first place user.
J) User Number. Color used to display the users'
user number; excluding the first place user.
K) Sort Field. Color used to display the users'
sort field (excluding the first place user).
This field will vary for each report. For
instance, in report number 1 it will be the
number of files uploaded. But in report number
5, it will be the number of calls made to your
BBS.
L) Ratio. Color used to display the users' ratio
(excluding first place user). This will vary
from report to report. Some reports don't even
have a ratio. And for those that do, the ratio
is different on each report.
After you select a color that you want to configure, a
window will pop up to the right of the color
configuration menu. In this window will be a list of
all of the available colors. To select a color, just
enter that color's number. Remember that the colors
range from 0 to 15 except on the background color,
where it is only 0 - 7. The colors and their numbers
are as follows:
0 - Black
1 - Blue
2 - Green
3 - Cyan
4 - Red
5 - Magenta
6 - Yellow
7 - Gray
8 - Light Gray
9 - Light Blue
10 - Light Green
11 - Light Cyan
12 - Light Red
13 - Light Magenta
14 - Light Yellow
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15 - White
Support for TopUsers
--------------------
I can be reached at a number of BBS's in net 232,
including 1:232/23, or 1:232/25. Just leave E-mail for
"Wheels" (my handle). My board's address is 1:232/32
(all addresses are FidoNet), and the phone number is
(309)697-0020. If you have any questions, comments,
suggestions or complaints about TopUsers, please do not
hesitate to contact me via netmail, or however you see
fit. I would like some feedback about ideas for new
versions or anything that you would like to say about
this program.
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