v3.10
v3.02 was never released.
v3.10 is a beta-release for Telegard 3.0 - please use at your own
discretion and report any bugs that are found.
Documentation has not been updated.
Installation is similar to TG2.7 - the installation that I use is
MENU D- C:\BBS\TGNEWS ~UN ~CP ~CB /#:~CN from the LOGON.SCR file.
The /#:~CN can be removed for single node systems.
v3.02
The v3.01 release turned out better then I had anticipated. There
were a number of new users to the product, and lots of compliments
and requests for NEWS to be ported to other BBS software.
Added 'D' marker (deleted) to the listing of news to be edited.
That gives you a little better idea on what is available and what
is no longer available.
Fixed the ? and Q commands in the protocols. This one, although I
couldn't figure out what caused it, was fixed with some playing
with the order of the operations (valid keypress -> valid command
line (not empty) -> log entry -> process protocol)
Added screen pause on all news listings (library, edit) and also
an abort (SPACE or CRTL-X) on all these listings.
Added "End of news items" string in non-CR mode, so that the users
know all the news items have been read.
Added forced pause in non-CR mode, so that the users can pause
before heading back to the BBS (and this way the buffer won't be
killed before the return either (in all hopes... ;)
v3.01
I had not expected the major run-time errors that 3.00 created.
Not only were they unexpected, I couldn't replicate them on my
system, even after I found out the causes on the other systems.
This made it extremely difficult to track down! This release
should technically have been made mid-September or early-October,
but because of those pesky little run time rascals, it was delayed
with continual testing.
For RGNEWS users; please note that the %B as recommended in for
setup has been changed to %A. %B returns the locked baudrate,
even on local connections -- so all references to %B have been
changed to %A.
Fixed (hopefully) the RT#5's and RT#100's related to SHARE. It
appears that somehow the variables (filemode) were being set even
if they weren't supposed to be. I'm honestly not sure that I
caught _all_ the problems, being unable to replicate them, local
testing was impossible.
Fixed a midnight bug related to the fossil driver routines.
Changed EDIT function around entirely. You can now select which
bulletin you wish to edit from a list. This will mean to edit the
news item at the END of 15 items you don't need to go through the
14 others first. The (P)osition command was moved to this menu as
well.
Added /X command to EXPORT function. If /X is included, then do
*not* include the file extension for the output file, as NEWS will
add it based on the users screen type -- adding .ANS for Ansi,
.AVT for Avatar and .ASC for Ascii.
Added /H command to EXPORT function. If /H is included, then the
custom headers (registered users only) will also be exported
instead of the standard news header.
Added tear line (--- NEWS [version]) to the export function. This
tear line is appended to the end of the file.
EXPORT function will now properly justify output text if the
;JUSTIFY command is used in the news bulletin, and will import
files if the ;DISPLAY command was used -- so the news items appear
more like the online counterpart in these exported files.
Added ;KEYWORD key [options] command -- parameters that follow
will be the KEYWORD "key" (ending at the first space or the end of
line), the optional BATCH:<file> parameter and the optional HANGUP
parameter. For instance:
;KEYWORD NEWS
;KEYWORD NEWS BATCH:TIM.BAT
;KEYWORD NEWS HANGUP
;KEYWORD NEWS BATCH:TIM.BAT HANGUP
The first example would just ask for the keyword, noting in the
logs if they did not input the correct keyword. The second
example would run the batch file TIM.BAT if the user did not enter
the correct keyword. The third example would hangup on the user
(if DTR is enabled - &D2). The fourth example is a combination of
the second and third. Don't forget to inform the users of the
keyword!
Added ;STRING4 [str] command - this will set the "hangup" string
to str for the ;KEYWORD option. Defaults to "Incorrect keyword.
Please read the news upon your next logon... goodbye!".
Added ;BATCH [file] command -- will run batch file [file] (if
existant).
Added ;PAUSE command -- will force a pause string to be sent,
waiting for a keypress.
After door commands (batch files, FSE's, protocols) are run, the
directory will be restored to the directory before the door was
run. This was done to fix problems (esp. with batch files that
switched directories).
v3.00
As promised, v3.00 turned out to be a major upgrade. The file
structures changed. The internal editor changed. The command
line parameters changed. The number of active functions doubled,
and the number of new features is far too comprehensive to list in
this text.
PLEASE READ THE DOCUMENTATION THOROUGHLY -- WHETHER THIS IS AN
UPGRADE FROM A PREVIOUS VERSION OR A BRAND NEW INSTALLATION, IT IS
IMPERATIVE THAT YOU READ THE FULL DOCUMENTATION.
NEWS is now available in flavours for Telegard, RemoteAccess,
SuperBBS and Renegade. Other versions have been planned.
The entire command line structure has changed. Instead of using
parameter switches to toggle between modes, you now specify a
function and use the parameter switches to default those
functions.
Compiled with new FKFOSSIL fossil driver routines. NEWS will now
give up time slices in multitasking environments, properly keep
track of online time, support full AVATAR, internal ANSI, etc...
The old routines were poorly written, cumbersome and took far too
much time and space for what they did. The new routines are
extremely compact, and were released to the public in early July.
Registration phone numbers were expanded to handle overseas
numbers instead of the ###-###-#### format used for US/Canada.
Overall look and feel of NEWS was sharpened so that it operated a
little more professionally.
Added SETUP function which will default several of the new
features.
Added PACK function which replaces the old method of data file
packing. Add the PACK function to your nightly or weekly
maintenance routines.
Added EXPORT function to export the news into files compatible
with offline mail readers, among other things.
Added POST function to automatically post news from a text file
from the DOS command line.
Added LIBRARY function to display list of available news
bulletins, allowing the user to select the ones they want to read.
Added defaults to ADD function so that you can default values if
you want to have user posted news items (not suggested however),
or if you want to save yourself some input time.
Added log file support so that all activity is logged into the log
file. If any errors occur, a line that lists the error and the
address of the error is added to the logs.
Along with the error line in the log file, a screen capture will be
generated and placed in a .ERR file. If you encounter any errors,
please fill out the FKS-BUGS.RPT form and enclose the .ERR file.
Added extract feature to editor to extract single bulletins to
text files/printers.
Added ability to modify title/acs levels/settings when in ADD mode
so that you can change the various fields if the initial input was
wrong.
Colour codes do not reset at the end of every line, but once set,
remain set until changed again.
Boxing/Centering lines will now accept colour codes, as will
inserting and replacing lines.
Added function to reposition bulletins so that you can edit them
and then reposition into an order that you like.
Added function of re-editing the text of old bulletins that you
had previously posted -- no more text file editors that mess up
the .DAT file.
QUIKmode now asks the user if they wish to read the new
bulletins.
READ mode no longer displays product information screen unless
there is news to be read (shortening logon times when there is
nothing to read).
Added new bulletin MCI codes -- the @ codes which were used in the
last version are no longer active. The new MCI codes are %NAME%,
%HANDLE%, %FIRST% and %LAST%.
Completely rewrote the internal editor. The new editor uses
different colour codes to give 128 different colours combinations,
has new many new commands and options.
Added support for full screen editor. Hitting /F while in the
internal editor will boot the full screen editor.
Added new display commands. The various new commands can display
files, justify text, create pauses and create file attaches
allowing the user to download files from within NEWS.
Added BATCH file option to the verify questioning so that if a
user chooses not to agree to certain bulletins, a batch file can
be executed to perform sysop specified things (such as deleting a
user account, starting a special page, or whatnot).
Added title to news bulletin fields. The title field is now
displayed at the top of the news header. For custom headers, a
new MCI code, @8 was added to represent the title.
Added forced reading pause to news bulletin fields. If the
reading pause set greater then 0, the user will have to wait that
number of seconds before continuing.
Time field now correctly works with any BBS system that has the
laston time field in the user files.
Added MCI code for custom headers, @9 to represent the current
data file name.
Added support for NEWSmmdd files which will be displayed on the
mm/dd of any year to all users.
CR Prompt/Clear Screens can be turned off so that items are run
together in a scrolling fashion.
Added full support for .AVT avatar files, so that headers, etc can
have avatar screens designed for avatar users.
AGAIN, PLEASE REREAD THE DOCUMENTATION SO THAT YOU DO NOT FORGET
TO DO SOMETHING IMPORTANT. THE ENTIRE DOCUMENTATION WAS REWRITTEN
FROM GROUND UP, SO IT IS MORE COMPREHENSIVE, EASIER TO UNDERSTAND
AND WORTH READING.
If you are upgrading from previous versions of NEWS, especially
see the section titled "UPGRADING VERSIONS".