| TGNEWS v3.01 Documentation
|
| Premium News Manager and Display Door, for Telegard
|
| Copyright 1991-1993 by Tim Strike and Forbidden Knights Systems.
| Released on November 6th, 1993.
____________
INTRODUCTION
____________
TGNEWS was originally written for hassle free news information
to replace cumbersome text files in Telegard. Since then, NEWS has
come full circle and is now one of the most advanced news management
utilities available for several BBS programs. It is no longer
restricted to the Telegard, as versions have been created for several
other popular BBS programs (with plans to bring more into the market
as soon as possible).
From here on in the term NEWS refers to the name of the product
for Telegard, TGNEWS. Since most of the documentation is very
generic, the term NEWS refers to this specific TGNEWS door.
This version you are now looking at is for use with Telegard
v2.70. Versions for different BBS systems are available from
Forbidden Knights Systems in flavours for RemoteAccess, SuperBBS and
Renegade and possibly others at the time of your reading.
When NEWS was first created, the only news utilities that were
available required SysOp maintenance, or displayed the news to the
user regardless of how old the news item was. There just weren't any
decent news programs that didn't also create extra work for both the
users and the SysOp. NEWS has grown far from it's original roots and
now has many great options which lead our product into the forefront.
_______________________
COMMAND LINE PARAMETERS
_______________________
Several of the NEWS online functions require information about
the user online and the connection. Many of the other functions also
require information, but in varying degrees. Some of the parameters
will be optional, others are not.
To list all of the news functions, just run "NEWS". A listing
of the functions and short descriptions will be given. If you want
help on any of these functions (or want the listings of optional
parameters), type "NEWS [function] HELP".
For the functions of news which REQUIRE the user/connection
information parameters of USER_REC, PORT and BAUD, the following MCI
codes can be used in the various BBS program's menus;
SOFTWARE USER_REC BAUD PORT
Telegard @R @B @P
RemoteAccess *R *B *P
SuperBBS *R *B *P
Renegade %# %A %P
To run NEWS in local mode from the DOS command line instead of
from a menu, you can specify the BAUD rate to be 0. The USER_REC
information should also be provided, and the port number doesn't
really matter in local mode.
To get a better understanding of each of the functions
available, each function will be given an entire section in the
documentation. Please read over each section. You will also find a
menu file in the file INSTALL.ZIP which contains all of the
functions, as installed for your BBS system. You may wish to look at
that sample menu.
_________________
MULTINODE SUPPORT
_________________
NEWS was designed with file sharing and seperate log files for
use in a multinode environment. If you intend of having NEWS using
running in concurrent sessions at any given time, you must use the
/#:[node] switch to ensure that NEWS does not use the data files
which are not loaded in sharing mode (such as log files, which are
sequential by user, not by time).
Since NEWS needs file sharing for multinode usage, you must
load SHARE. It is extremely important that you do this in
attempts to minimize errors and lockups.
SOFTWARE NODE
Telegard n/a
RemoteAccess *N
SuperBBS *N
Renegade %N
If you are running a single node in a multitasking environment
you may at some point need to have NEWS loaded on the BBS node, and a
local "node". If this is the case, setup the BBS version to use the
switch /#:1 so that the BBS defaults to node one, and then when you
run your local version, ensure that you include /#:2 as a runtime
parameter.
If there is a chance that NEWS will have concurrent sessions,
then you must ensure that each version has a different "node" number
-- if not, you may experience system lockups.
____________
ADD FUNCTION
____________
This function will add a new news item to your data files. This
function requires a minimum of three parameters; USER_REC, PORT and
BAUD. Therefore, for NEWS to operate in the addition mode, run "NEWS
ADD USER_REC PORT BAUD [options]".
The first thing the ADD function does is ask a few questions
about the news item; the title, ACS levels, deletion periods, display
toggles, etc. The answers to these questions can be FORCED to a
specific value by providing the information on the command line.
TITLE Title/subject of news bulletin
ACS LEVELS ACS String (Telegard Style)
DAYS Days till automatic deletion
READING PAUSE Forced reading pause (countdown at the end
of the display so that users have nothing
else to do but read)
ABORTABLE Whether user can hit SPACE/CRTL-X to abort
the display of the news item
DISPLAY Whether the news item is to be displayed on
every logon, or only once to each user.
After these items have been input, the internal editor will be
loaded, and you can write what you will. The maximum number of lines
available is 200 and should be ample for most news items. However,
this number may fluctuate depending on how much free memory you have
at the time -- the lesser amount of memory available to NEWS, the
lesser number of lines will be given.
The internal editor has several options available while you are
adding the news. To get a listing of these options, type /? on a
blank line. To access any of these commands, you simply type /cmd
(where cmd is the command letter) on a blank line. For instance, to
save a news item you would type /S on a blank line. FOR MORE
INFORMATION, SEE THE SECTION TITLED "INTERNAL EDITOR".
The following command line options are provided for the ADD
function (along with the global options). Using any of these
variables will override the default behaviour of the ADD function.
/Ayn Set abort setting (Y=on,N=off)
/D:## Set deletion days to ## days
/Eyn Toggle bulletin so it is always displayed (Y=on,N=off)
/P:## Set the reading pause to ##
/R Post with realname (not handle)
/S:acs Set the read access to ACS - because of the way
DOS handles | pipe characters, the pipe character is
not available. Use the * character instead.
/T"s" Set the title field to the string "s"
If you set ANY of these settings, then the question dealing with
this option will not be asked at the startup. You will also not be
able to modify the setting using the (M)odify option of the internal
editor.
_____________
EDIT FUNCTION
_____________
This function will edit old news items from your data files.
This function requires a minimum of three parameters; USER_REC, PORT
and BAUD. Therefore, for NEWS to operate in the addition mode, run
"NEWS ADD USER_REC PORT BAUD [options]".
The EDIT function will display a listing of all active news
items. You can select from that listing any of the bulletins that
you wish to edit. From the main selection menu, you can also use
the option (P)osition to change the order of the news bulletins.
If you edit a bulletin, a menu such as this one will be displayed:
*1. Title : "NEWS 3.01 Release" *5. Abortable : No
*2. Author : Tim Strike *6. Read Once : Yes
*3. ACS to read : s00 *7. Deletion Days : 7
*4. Date/Time : 11/06/93 at 00:00 *8. Reading Pause : None
D. Deleted : No
*E. Edit news * Requires Registered
X. Extract news to file Version
Hitting any of the options 1-8 will allow you to edit the
various options that were originally set when adding the news. If
you hit D for (D)elete, then the news item will be deleted (and will
be removed from the data files with the next PACK). If the news item
is already toggled for deletion, hitting D again will untoggle it.
Hitting E for (E)dit will load the internal editor and allow you
to edit the actual text of the news item. See the section titled
"INTERNAL EDITOR" for more information.
Hitting X for e(X)tract will allow you to extract this news item
to a text file. Perhaps you want to keep a copy of the news
bulletin, or use it somewhere else. You will have the option of the
filename to extract to. Using DOS devices will also work, such as
PRN for the Printer, CON for the screen (why?), etc...
This function should ONLY be given to CoSysOps or SysOps. It
could be a dangerous command if you give it to non-SysOps.
_______________
EXPORT FUNCTION
_______________
This function will export the news items to a textfile. There
are two purposes to this; to pack the news items into an offline mail
bundle or export to text files to display on the system. To operate
NEWS in the export mode, run "NEWS EXPORT USER FILENAME [options]".
The FILENAME is the full path and filename to which the news
will be extracted. The USER parameter is to gather the users
information, such as the lastread pointers, capabilities, etc.
If you want a generic export, the USER parameter can take three
optional parameters. -1 for a TTY user, -2 for an ANSI user and -3
for an Avatar user. If any of these values is selected, all the news
will be exported (since there is no user information to retrieve).
You may want to use this function to export the news to a file
for users to download in Bluewave or some other offline mail reader.
For instance, I have my batch file for Bluewave process news for this
user by passing the @R parameter to the batch file BWMAIL.BAT, with
the BWMAIL.BAT looking something like:
CD\BBS
NEWS EXPORT %1 C:\BWAVE\NEWS.BBS
CD\BWAVE
BWMAIL
CD\BBS
EXIT
The following command line options are provided for the ADD
function (along with the global options). Using any of these
variables will override the default behaviour of the ADD function.
/H Use custom headers in export file (registered versions
only). Export the custom headers used in online
display to the file instead of the generic header.
/N Display news statistics - displays one line of statistics
information about current bulletin, such as it's read
status and it's deletion timing.
/V Force the exporting of ALL bulletins, regardless of the
laston date of the user. This causes NEWS to export
all the news in it's data files (ACS level
permitting).
/X Append file extension based on output type. .ASC if
output is in ASCII mode, .ANS if output is in ANSI
mode, .AVT if output is in avatar mode. This
extension will be appended to the filename that is
provided -- do not include an extension, otherwise
a double extension will occur.
________________
LIBRARY FUNCTION
________________
This function will post a "list" of titles to the user, and the
user can then choose from the listed items of what to read. This
function requires a minimum of three parameters; USER_REC, PORT and
BAUD. Therefore, for NEWS to operate in the addition mode, run "NEWS
LIBRARY USER_REC PORT BAUD [options]".
The library function itself doesn't have many options inside --
but it is a very useful function for your "old" news menus where you
allow users to read old news. If they are only interested in one
article, they only have to read one article.
The following command line options are provided for the ADD
function (along with the global options). Using any of these
variables will override the default behaviour of the ADD function.
/I"s" Override the "info" prompt with the string "s".
The default is "Read Bulletin". This string is
displayed after the list of news items is shown.
_____________
PACK FUNCTION
_____________
This function will pack the news data files -- getting rid of
older news and all deleted news items. The pack function should be
run once a day, or at least once every two days so that expired and
deleted items are removed from the data files.
Also, if you edit any bulletins, to make it feasible, extra
space had to be "leased" in the data files so that the edited
bulletin could be properly saved. Packing the data files will get
rid of the "leased" space, but not the edited bulletin.
To operate NEWS in the pack mode, run "NEWS PACK [options]".
_____________
POST FUNCTION
_____________
This function will post a text file into the news data file.
This feature is handy for importing test files automatically on
specific periods, or for quickly posting a release article into your
news file. To operate NEWS in the post mode, run "NEWS POST FILENAME
[options]".
The FILENAME is the full path and filename of the file to post
to the data files. If you do not include any optional parameters,
the news will be posted with the following defaults:
Abortable OFF Read ACS
Deletion 0 Read Once ON
From SysOp Title News
Pause 0
The following command line options are provided for the POST
option (along with the global options). Using any of these variables
will override the default behaviour of the POST function.
/A Toggle abort to ON so that users can abort bulletin
/D:## Set deletion days to ## days
/E Toggle bulletin so it is always displayed
/F"s" Set the from field to the string "s"
/P:## Set the reading pause to ##
/S:acs Set the read access to ACS - because of the way
DOS handles | pipe characters, the pipe character is
not available. Use the * character instead.
/T"s" Set the title field to the string "s"
_____________
READ FUNCTION
_____________
This function will read new news items from your data files and
display the new items to the online user. This function requires a
minimum of three parameters; USER_REC, PORT and BAUD. Therefore, for
NEWS to operate in the read mode, run "NEWS READ USER_REC PORT BAUD
[options]".
The READ option will check to see if there are new bulletins to
be displayed. If there are none available, it will simply tell the
user no bulletins are available, otherwise it will continue.
While reading a bulletin, the user has the option of rereading
the bulletin by pressing the (R)eread, or can continue with the next
available bulletin with <CR>.
The following command line options are provided for the READ
option (along with the global options). Using any of these variables
will override the default behaviour of the READ function.
/Q Load in QUIKmode - if there are new bulletins, the
user will be informed, and then asked if they want to
read the new bulletins. If YES, NEWS will continue
as normal.
/N Display news statistics - displays one line of statistics
information about current bulletin, such as it's read
status and it's deletion timing.
/V Force the reading of ALL bulletins, regardless of the
laston date of the user. This causes NEWS to display
all the news in it's data files (ACS level
permitting).
______________
SETUP FUNCTION
______________
This function will configure the news defaults, protocols and
editors. If you are just running SETUP from the DOS command line,
run "NEWS SETUP". If you are running SETUP from a BBS menu or in an
online environment, this function requires a minimum of three
parameters; USER_REC, PORT and BAUD in the form of "NEWS SETUP
USER_REC PORT BAUD".
The setup screen looks something similar to the following
screen, although it may vary depending on what you have setup, and
what NEWS defaulted to in it's SMARTsetup.
A. Protocol Path : C:\PROTOCOL\
B. Zmodem Command : "GSZ.EXE port %P estimate 0 %B sz -m -s %F"
C. Ymodem Command : "GSZ.EXE port %P estimate 0 %B sb -k %F"
D. Xmodem Command : "GSZ.EXE port %P estimate 0 %b sx %F"
E. Other Protocol : User defined protocol.
Command : ""
F. Other Protocol : User defined protocol.
Command : ""
G. FSE Command : "C:\BBS\GEDIT.EXE"
FSE Dropfile : DORINFO1.DEF
H. Clear Screen : Yes
I. Use CR Prompt : Yes
J. Default Realname : No
K. Memory Swapping : None
L. New User fRead : No
M. Update DL Count : No
(A) sets the procotol path. It is suggested that all your
protocols be grouped in one directory. This could be your DOS
directory or any other directory that you wish to use.
(B) set the ZMODEM protocol command. If you wish use GSZ, DSZ or
any other ZMODEM protocol define it here. Please note that you
must enter a filename and extension for the protocol -- GSZ.EXE
for example has a filename (GSZ) and extension (.EXE). If you
wish to disable ZMODEM downloads, make the field blank.
(C) (same as option B, except for YMODEM)
(D) (same as option B, except for XMODEM)
(E) sets an alternate download protocol, such as HSLINK or
(F) SuperZMODEM, etc... You can define a description for the
protocol and a command line as well. Please note that you must
enter a filename and extension for the protocol -- HSLINK.EXE
for example has a filename (HSLINK) and extension (.EXE). If
you do not wish to add any other protocols, simply leave both
fields blank.
(G) sets the command line for the full screen editor. The command
line should contain a full path, filename and extension --
C:\BBS\GEDIT.EXE for example has a full path (C:\BBS\),
filename (GEDIT) and extension (.EXE). If you wish to disable
the full screen editor, make the field blank.
If the FSE requires a door drop file, you can selection which
drop file to create as well.
(H) sets the clear screen option between news items. If you do not
wish to clear the screen between news items, but want them to
simply run together, choose this option.
(I) sets the CR prompt at the end of the news item. If you do not
want the user to have to press <CR> at the end of every
bulletin, set this to NO. This will cause NEWS to just scroll
the news items together. If you turn this OFF, make sure that
the clear screen option is OFF otherwise you will not get any
results that are desirable.
(J) sets the default posting name to the users REAL name.
(K) sets the memory swapping. The choices are NONE, DISK and EMS.
If you are short on memory, try turning the swapping to disk or
to EMS. On a fast computer it shouldn't make too much of a
difference, and it may allow you to run your FSE/Protocols
without any problems.
(L) sets the new user read. Normally, a new user's last logon date
is the current date, meaning that all old news items will not
be displayed to the users. If you feel it's necessary to
display old news items to new users, toggle to to ON.
(M) sets the DL counter update. When a file is downloaded with the
;FILE attach command, then it's download counter can be
automatically updated if you turn this option to ON. NEWS only
supports this option if the file system is a database format
(and not FILES.BBS or any other text file format).
The following examples have been tested for the external programs. If
you have any other working setups, please drop me a netmail message
so I can explore the setup and provide them as samples in future
versions.
Editors
~~~~~~~
Gedit C:\BBS\GEDIT.EXE %F DORINFO1.DEF
QuickEd C:\BBS\QUICKED.EXE %P %B %T 300 None
(requires CTRL-K,Q to access old/entered
news items)
Protocols **
~~~~~~~~~
Zmodem GSZ.EXE port %P estimate 0 %B ha slow sz -m -s %F
Ymodem GSZ.EXE port %P estimate 0 %B sb -k %F
Xmodem GSZ.EXE port %P estimate 0 %b sx %F
GSZ.EXE = DSZ.EXE
** Note that protocols must exist in PROTOCOL directory!
____________
INSTALLATION
____________
There are several different methods to installed NEWS into
Telegard. The following installation is the most popular, but by all
means not the only way. This entire setup is included in the file
INSTALL.ZIP.
|-| PART 1 - LOGON.BAT Installation |------------------------------|
This following batch file is called LOGON.BAT -- if you are
already using the LOGON.BAT file and it doesn't look too much like
the following one, please use the following one and transfer your
information into the batch file.
Telegard has a few problems when passing parameters to this
LOGON.BAT file. In varying circumstances, the parameter placements
will vary because of the users real name. TGNEWS can't operate in
the LOGON.BAT environment with varying parameters. The batch file
that we need for the purposes of TGNEWS (and most other doors) is one
where the variables are ALWAYS in the same position. The following
batch file was designed to do that.
@ECHO OFF
:Top
REM This is where normal programs are run (dependant on the
REM user names or not needing any parameters).
REM Insert here
:Check
REM Will remove any extra parameters so that programs run in
REM this LOGON.BAT file will be run with the intended
REM parameters. If there are only 6 parameters, then it was
REM only a one word real name, and we can't shift those
REM parameters. If there are more then 7 parameters, it will
REM shift the parameters so there are only 7.
if %7!==! Goto Execute6
If %8!==! Goto Execute7
Shift
Goto Check
:Execute7
REM Executed when there are 7 parameters (as it should be):
REM NAME %1 LASTNAME %2 BAUD %3 ANSI %4
REM TIME %5 USER # %6 PORT %7
TGNEWS READ %6 %7 %3
Goto end
:Execute6
REM Executed when there are only 6 parameters (one word real name):
REM NAME %1 LASTNAME BAUD %2 ANSI %3
REM TIME %4 USER # %5 PORT %6
TGNEWS READ %5 %6 %2
Goto end
:End
REM You will notice that there are two sets of commands
REM based on the branching on how many parameters there are.
REM Remember, if you add into the EXECUTE7 area, also add an
REM equivalent into the EXECUTE6 area.
To run the LOGON.BAT example you must make sure you have the
"Run System batch Files" toggled to on in your system setup and that
you have a batch file extension listed as well.
An alternative to the above method is to install a "logon" menu
which runs TGNEWS as "TGNEWS READ @R @P @B" and then you don't need
to worry about the above batch file.
|-| PART 2 - Menu Installation |-----------------------------------|
Then there is a menu for reviewing old news and posting new
news. There are several commands on this menu which give you access
to all the news functions:
Long Description .. : (R)ead News : Display new system news
Short Description . : (R)ead News
Command Letters ... : R
ACS ............... : s5
Command Keys ...... : D-
MString............ : TGNEWS READ @R @P @B
Long Description .. : (O)ld News : Display all system news
Short Description . : (O)ld News
Command Letters ... : O
ACS ............... : s5
Command Keys ...... : D-
MString............ : TGNEWS LIBRARY @R @P @B
** The following items are for SysOps only **
Long Description .. : (A)dd News : Add to system news
Short Description . : (A)dd News
Command Letters ... : A
ACS ............... : s255
Command Keys ...... : D-
Mstring ........... : TGNEWS ADD @R @P @B
Long Description .. : (E)dit News : Edit old system news
Short Description . : (E)dit News
Command Letters ... : E
ACS ............... : s255
Command Keys ...... : D-
Mstring ........... : TGNEWS EDIT @R @P @B
Long Description .. : (P)ack News : Pack news data files
Short Description . : (P)ack News
Command Letters ... : P
ACS ............... : s255
Command Keys ...... : D-
Mstring ........... : TGNEWS PACK
Long Description .. : (S)etup News : Define news setup
Short Description . : (S)etup News
Command Letters ... : S
ACS ............... : s255
Command Keys ...... : D-
Mstring ........... : TGNEWS SETUP @R @P @B
|-| PART 3 - Setup Defaults |--------------------------------------|
Now that NEWS is installed into the board, you can setup the
NEWS defaults. Run NEWS SETUP and configure whatever you want. Once
this has been done, you are ready to go.
When NEWS is first run, it will create a bulletin from myself,
the author of NEWS. I ask that you LEAVE this here, it will auto-
delete in 7 days, so please do NOT delete or remove this opening news
bulletin. It'll be gone soon enough.
_______________
INTERNAL EDITOR
_______________
The internal editor is basically a line editor that accepts
input from you and then saves the information into the data files.
There are various options available in the internal editor.
COMMANDS
To access any of these commands, you should start on a BLANK
line (no colour codes, nothing). Type /? to get a list of all
available commands.
(A)bort News (L)ist News
(B)ox (title) line (M)odify News Options
(C)enter Line (R)eplace Line
(D)elete Lines (S)ave News
(E)dit Line (T)ext Import
(F)ull Screen Editor (+)Ruler
(I)nsert Line (@)Clear/Restart News
To access execute any of these commands, you simple type /
followed by the command letter on a BlANK line.
(A)bort News will stop the input of the current news item. The news
item is not saved to the data file.
(B)ox (title) line will put the current line into "box" mode, which
means that if you type "NEWS 3.01 Released", when it displays the
line, it will be displayed as:
┌────────────────────┐
│ NEWS 3.01 Released │
└────────────────────┘
(C)enter line will center the current line.
(D)elete lines will give you the option of deleting a range of lines
from the news information. If you type something and later decide
you don't want that paragraph, you can use this to kill those lines.
(E)dit line will allow you to do a search and replace on any line. If
you mistype a word for instance, you can go back and change it to the
correct spelling with this option.
(F)ull Screen Editor will invoke the installed full screen editor.
The full screen editor has it's advantages and disadvantages over the
internal editor. You can use cursor keys etc to move around the
entire text, but no colour codes, boxing codes etc will be displayed
while in the FSE.
(I)nsert line will allow you to insert a line that you perhaps
missed, or to add spacing between paragraphs, or other such niceties.
You will be prompted for one line of input.
(L)ist news will display the news as it will be displayed to the user
or with line numbers. Either method can be used to review what you
have input.
(M)odify News Options will allow you to modify the various input
options when in ADD mode. You will be able to modify the input that
you were questioned about when first adding the bulletin.
(R)eplace line will allow you to replace a line of text with an
alternate line of text.
(S)ave news will end the current input session and save the news to
the data file.
(T)ext Import will allow you to import a text file so that you
needn't type it all out yourself.
(+)Ruler will display a simple ruler so that you can judge spacing
and drawings and whatever else you intend on putting into the text of
a news item.
(@)Clear/Restart news will kill all of the input that you have typed
in, and restart the session with line 1, column 1.
COLOUR
There is also colour available. The foreground colours are |00-|15
and the background colours are |16-|23. So if you wanted yellow on
blue, then you would type |14|17. To change back to cyan on black,
you would put |03|16. The numbers for the colours follow standard
format, 0 = black, 1 = blue, 15 = bright white, etc...
MCI CODES
There are various MCI codes available which give you the option of
inputting personal user information into the bulletin without
actually making the bulletin personal.
%NAME% will be replaced with the users real name.
%FIRST% will be replaced with the users first name.
%LAST% will be replaced with the users last name.
%HANDLE% will be replaced with the users handle.
So if a line has "Hi %FIRST%," then for the user Tim Strike it would
say "Hi Tim," and for the user Joe Bob it would say "Hi Joe,".
LINE OPTIONS
There are a lot of other "line" options which can be used to do
various things. If the line begins with any of the following, the
command will be invoked.
;BATCH [file] will cause NEWS to execute the batch file
"file" if it exists. Can be used for various
different purposes.
;DELAY [num] will cause NEWS to pause at this line for [num]
seconds. It will count down, and then continue
with the rest of the news display.
;DISPLAY [file] will display the file [file]. No extension is
expected -- it will automatically choose .ANS .AVT
or .ASC/.MSG based on the users capabilities.
;FILE [path\file] will give the option to download the path\file to
the user. One filename only (no wildcard
support). The user can choose whether to download
and then choose from the available protocols.
;JUSTIFY [num] will cause the following lines of test to be
left-right justified at [num] columns. Specifying
a [num] of 0 will cause NEWS to stop left-right
justifying.
;KEYWORD [options] will cause a keyword input field to be
displayed, asking the user for a 15 character
keyword. The first part of options MUST be the
keyword. It can be up to 15 characters, and
ends at the first space, or at the end of the
line (if the other options are not used).
The other options are: BATCH:[file] which will
execute the batch file [file] if the user
inputs the wrong keyword, and HANGUP which will
hangup on the user if the input does not match
the keyword.
For the HANGUP command to work properly, you
must have DTR sensitive hangups set for your
modem. Meaning that if the DTR is dropped for a
period of time, that the modem also drops the
carrier. For most hayes compatible modems,
this is the command &D2 -- look into your modem
manual for more information.
;PAUSE send the pause string, and wait for the user to
hit a key before continuing with news item.
;STRING1 [string] will set the question asked by the ;VERIFY option.
The question defaults to "Have you read and agreed
to this news item?"
;STRING2 [string] will set the secondary question asked by the
;VERIFY option. The question defaults to "Are you
sure you choose NOT to agree?"
;STRING3 [string] will set the third string used by the ;VERIFY
option. The string defaults to "We are sorry to
say that this system is not for you... goodbye!"
;STRING4 [string] will set the hangup string used by the ;KEYWORD
option. The string defaults to "Incorrect
keyword. Please read the news upon your next
logon... goodbye!"
;VERIFY [options] will ask the user the questions regarding the news
bulletin they have just read. The options are:
BATCH:[file] which will execute the batch file
[file] if the user selects to NOT AGREE and HANGUP
which will hangup on the user if the user
selections to NOT AGREE.
For the HANGUP command to work properly, you must
have DTR sensitive hangups set for your modem.
Meaning that if the DTR is dropped for a period of
time, that the modem also drops the carrier. For
most hayes compatible modems, this is the command
&D2 -- look into your modem manual for more
information.
Any other line that starts with ; will be treated as a comment line,
so you can use them however you please.
_____________
DISPLAY FILES
_____________
NEWS will display several files if they are found at start up,
right after the product information in the EDIT and READ modes. These
display files will have the extension automatically selected by NEWS.
The various extensions are .ANS for ansi, .AVT for Avatar and
.MSG/ASC for TTY users.
TGNEWS Displayed after product information, always.
TGNEWS1 Displayed after the TGNEWS display file, ONLY if
: the file data is newer then the last logon time
TGNEWS9 of the user (or if the VIEW ALL mode is selected).
NEWSmmdd Displayed on the mm/dd of any year. So if you have a
file NEWS0101.* then it will be displayed on the
first new day of every year -- Happy New Year. ;)
You get the idea.
____________
HEADER FILES {Registered Only}
____________
NEWS also has the option of letting the SysOp define the news
header which is sent to the user. The files are named TGNEWS-H and
TGNEWS-L (with the file extensions being .ANS, .AVT and .ASC/MSG). If
these files are found in the TEXT directory they will be displayed
instead of the normal headers.
You can find sample files in the SAMPLE.ZIP file which is
included with this archive.
TGNEWS-H will replace the "READ" header which is displayed at
the top of the news item when it is read. Because the header
contains information about the news item being read, there are MCI
codes which can be used to represent that data (which will be
replaced by NEWS when the header is displayed).
These MCI codes default to specific lengths. The reason is
because the files need to be "spaced" and without the specific
lengths being forced, you will need to do some extremely cumbersome
manipulations of the data files. It is obviously undesirable. If
the MCI code is followed by the pipe sign, the text will be centered
in the field. Ie, if you specify @8| then the title will be centered
in the 30 character field.
MCI Description Length Example
--- --------------------------- ------ --------------------------
@1 Date (Quick) 8 08/21/93
@2 Date (Long) 19 August 21st, 1993
@3 Date (Short Verbose) 14 Sat Aug 21, 1993
@4 Date (Verbose) 28 Saturday August 21st, 1993
@5 New Marker (Short):
If the bulletin is new 1 N
If the bulletin is old 1 O
@6 New Marker (Long):
If the bulletin is new 3 New
If the bulletin is old 3 Old
@7 Author of News Bulletin 30 Tim Strike
@8 Title of News Bulletin 30 Premium News Installation
@0 Data File of News Bulletin 6 TGNEWS
The TGNEWS-L file is a little different. It is displayed as the
header in the LIBRARY mode. The user usually just reads "# Title
Author Date" -- but in some circumstances you don't want it to read
as the default. The TGNEWS-L file replaces that header with
something that you customize. The MCI codes are not available for
this file.
If you do make any ANSI/Avatar/Ascii headers, please consider
attaching them to my system. I'm currently gathering samples from
many different sources to be released in a samples archive.
____________________
ALTERNATE DATA FILES {Registered Only}
____________________
You may want to use another data file to hold different news
items. For instance, if your main news is for an IBM conference, you
may also wish one for an AMIGA conference. You can use the /L:[file]
parameter to use different .IDX/.DAT files -- the [file] is a 6
character name for the file, like "AMIGA".
If you use the alternate header files then you will need to
create a set for this new data file. The header files for the above
example with be AMIGA-H.* and AMIGA-L.*. Only the "header" display
files will use the datafile name -- all the other display files
remain as they are. If you do not wish the TGNEWS, TGNEWS1-9 and
NEWSmmdd files displayed, add /U to the command line when using the
alternate data files.
A sample "alternate" setup is included in the archive SAMPLE.ZIP
-- you can view this by simply unZIPing into your NEWS directory and
running "NEWS LIBRARY 1 0 0 /L:FKS. This will load you into local
mode with the alternate data files.
________________
COMMON QUESTIONS
________________
Q. My installed full screen editor isn't working. NEWS appears to
try and run something, but it always returns to the internal
editor.
A. Make sure that you have specified a full path, filename and
extension for the full screen editor -- C:\BBS\QUICKED.EXE for
example includes the directory (C:\BBS\), filename (QUICKED) and
extension (.EXE).
Q. Specifically, I'm using GEDIT as my full screen editor, and it
doesn't seem to want to execute properly even with a full path,
filename and extension. Sometimes it even exits entirely out
of news.
A. It was found that GEDIT v2.00/2.01 is a big memory hog, and for
some unknown reason if there is not enough memory left, it not
only aborts, but the news session is also aborted (not by NEWS
programming since the exit/error functions aren't even executed).
Try turning your swapping on in the NEWS SETUP. If that still
doesn't work, make your BBS swap out when using the ADD or EDIT
modes (which is the only time the full screen editor will be
active).
If that still doesn't work, try a different full screen editor,
such as QUICKED or TOPED, which use less memory.
Q. I've setup an attached file, but the protocols won't execute
properly.
A. Make sure that the protocol you are trying to execute exists in
the protocol directory. For that matter, make sure that you have
defined a protocol directory. The protocol command should
contain the filename and extension of the file to execute --
GSZ.EXE [options] includes the filename (GSZ) and the extension
(.EXE). If you have correct filenames and paths, try turning
memory swapping for NEWS on. Also make sure that you are
passing the %F parameter somewhere -- the protocol needs to
know what file to download. If that still doesn't work, I'm
not sure what could be wrong. ;)
Q. I've created news header files, but I can't get them to display
at all to any user.
A. Are you running a registered version? If not, then that is the
problem as the header file is a registered only feature.
If you are running a registered version, ensure that the files
are in the correct directory -- your text files directory if your
BBS uses a standard, uniform directory, or the directory of the
NEWS executable if your BBS system uses several text directories
(different languages for example).
__________________
UPGRADING VERSIONS
__________________
This section will contain UPGRADE information pertinent to
future releases. The general summary of bug fixes and new features
of all older versions has been moved to the file HISTORY.FKS. For
information regarding the changes to this version, see the file
UPGRADE.301.
If you are upgrading from versions v2.10 and prior to v3.00, you
must first run C210_220.EXE and then run C220_300.EXE. If you are
just upgrading from v2.20 then you only need to run C220_300.EXE to
convert your old data files into the new format.
__________
LEGALITIES
__________
WARRANTY
NEWS is provided as-is, without a warranty of any kind, either
expressed or implied. It is only guaranteed to occupy disk space,
nothing more. Under no circumstances shall the author be liable to
you or anyone else for any damages, including (but not limited to)
any lost profits, lost savings or other incidental or consequential
damages arising out of the use or misuse of these programming
routines.
COPYRIGHT
The program, and all documents and files included in the
original NEWS release package are copyrighted by Tim Strike and
Forbidden Knights Systems. They are not to be modified in any way,
shape or form; The distribution archive may be changed from ARJ/ZIP
to another archive form, as long as no files are added or removed
from the release archive.
NEWS may be packaged on a distribution diskette or in a
special archive as long as no cost is incurred beyond the physical
costs of the hardware (disks, CD...) or transfer medium (phone,
mail). To include NEWS on a distribution diskette or in a special
archive, you must first have the express written consent of Tim
Strike and Forbidden Knights Systems.
CREDITS
All brand and product names referenced in this document are
trademarks, registered trademarks, or copyrighted works of their
respective holders.
____________
REGISTRATION
____________
The family of NEWS doors are shareware. This means that you are
granted a 30 day license to use the program. After this trial period
you are required to register NEWS so that you can continue using the
door, otherwise you are asked to stop using it.
For further information, please see the file REGISTER.FKS which
was enclosed in the original archive. Thank you.
______
THANKS
______
I would like to thank these people for their contributions to
this product; for their hard work at testing, for their ideas and for
everything else...
Rob Borek Kort Pearson
Eugene Chin Jonathan Rapoport
James FitzGibbon Fred Riley
Lars Hellsten John Tabler
Tom Klepl Michael Yadron
Norman Lo John Zielinski
There are probably many others that I have forgotten, but these
are members of the current beta team, or members of past beta teams
and they have contributed ideas and their systems to the testing of
NEWS family products.
Thanks go out to the BBS software developers for the hard work
in continuing their software products, for without them, NEWS
wouldn't even be a dream.
I would also like to thank SERIOUS CYBERNETICS and TURBO POWER
SOFTWARE for their Turbo Pascal routines which are used in this
program.
_____________________
CONTACTING THE AUTHOR
_____________________
I can be contacted in a number of different methods. When
sending netmail or posting in one of the conferences, direct mail to
"Tim Strike". Replies will be forthcoming as soon as I can get to
them.
NETMAIL:
Telenet Canada Fidonet Xnet ITCnet
20:22/101 1:259/423 40:41/108 85:896/521
ECHOMAIL CONFERENCES:
BBS_CARNIVAL BBS Software Discussions (FIDO)
ITC_RENEGADE Renegade Support (ITC)
RA_UTIL RemoteAccess Utilities (FIDO)
SUPERBBS SuperBBS Support (FIDO)
TELEGARD Telegard Support (ITC)
TG_SUPPORT Telegard Support (FIDO)
TNC_BBS BBS Software Conference (TNC)
TNC_FKNIGHTS Forbidden Knights Support (TNC)
TNC_RA RemoteAccess Support (TNC)
TNC_RG Renegade Support (TNC)
TNC_TG Telegard Support (TNC)
XNET_TELEGARD Telegard Support (XNET)
POSTAL MAIL:
Forbidden Knights Systems
Attn: Tim Strike
3360 Council Ring Rd, Unit 11
Mississauga, ON
L5L 2E4
BULLETIN BOARD:
Forbidden Knights Systems
(905)820-7273
2400-16,800 HST/v.32bis (dual)
Access denied between 4:00am and 5:00am
Restricted access between 9:00pm and 11:00pm
Any changes or upgrades that need to be made to NEWS v3.01 will
be made as time permits. Further suggestions, comments and/or bug
reports can be directed through one of the above methods.
Enjoy.