BBS.DOC
7/9/1988
Welcome to BBS.BAS a small but efficient GW-BASIC
program which will allow you to maintain a database of the
file directories of the bbs systems you normally check into.
It will also allow you make off-line searches of all or any
one of the bbs system's files.
History of BBS.BAS
Several months ago I became very frustrated trying to
find a file which I was looking for among the 20 or so bbs
systems in my local area. I only had two options, looking
through the paper listings or going on-line and looking with
the -where is- function of the bbs. Neither of these were
very efficient so I tried to set up a data base file using
one of the shareware data base programs. This did not work
very well either because of the many different formats used
by my local bbs systems. This left me only one option...
write my own program.
I decided to write the program in GW-BASIC because it
is a language easily understood by most programmers. This
will make it easy for anyone to modify the program to suit
their own needs. You are free to make any changes to the
program because I am releasing this program as PUBLIC
DOMAIN.
Using BBS.BAS
To use BBS.BAS place the program in a sub-directory of
it's own. The program will create several files with the
extension .BBS which are the data base files for the various
bbs systems. It will also create a file named BBSLIST.BBS
which is the master index of bbs system files. These files
must reside in the same directory as the main program.
The program is distributed in ASCII format to make
listing and modification easier but this makes the program
load much slower. To speed up the loading process I
recommend that you first rename the program to BBS.TXT and
then run GW-BASIC. After the GW-BASIC prompt type LOAD
"BBS.TXT", then when program is loaded type SAVE "BBS" to
save the program in tokenized format. Then for normal use
of the program type GW-BASIC BBS to start the program.
Program Options Menu
After starting the program the first screen you will
see is the title and Options Menu.
The options are:
(1) Search for String.
(2) Add new BBS file to the data base.
(3) Update existing BBS data base.
(4) Delete BBS data base from list.
(5) Send list of files to printer.
(6) Quit and exit to DOS.
Description of options
(1) Search for String: This option will search one or all
of the data bases for a user defined string. First BBS will
display a list of the available directory data bases and
will ask which one to search. Enter the number or [RETURN]
for a search of all. Then BBS will request a string to
search for. To see all records in a file enter "." . Then
BBS will ask if the output should be sent to the screen or
to the printer. If sent to the screen the listing will
pause when the screen is full and when all records of the
current data base have been searched. If sent to the
printer the matching records will be printed but the output
will not pause until all data bases have been searched.
Only data bases which have a matching record will be
displayed or printed.
(2) Add new BBS file to the data base: This is the option
which allows you to add new bbs systems to the data base.
In order for the program to process the catalog info
from the bbs system you must first capture the bbs system's
listing to an ASCII file. See you communications program
literature for details on how to capture text.
NOTE: This program will only work on systems using the one
line per file format E.g. -
DUMMY.ARC 12337 06-03-88 This program looks busy.
Then you need to strip the file of any text which is
not a file entry (See above.) The file must contain only
file info. I suggest that you use the name of the bbs system
as the file name and the extension of ".CAT" but this is not
mandatory.
When the file is ready, run BBS and select option (2).
The program will prompt you for the name of the file you
just prepared. Enter the filename and extension. Next BBS
will ask you for the name of the bbs system the file is
from. The default name is the filename used on the catalog
file. Press [RETURN] to accept that or enter a valid DOS
filename (no extension).
Next, BBS will display a "ruler" across the top of the
screen and will display the first five entries from the
file. The ruler looks like this. -
12345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789
DUMMY.ARC 12337 06-03-88 This program looks busy.
GAMES.ARC 231900 04-23-88 Collection of basic games.
MUSIC.ARC 56223 06-11-87 Plays several songs.
After displaying the "ruler", the program will ask you
to enter column, description.
What the program wants is a description of the various
fields of data in the ASCII file. E.g. - Filename,Bytes,Date
and Description. It also needs to know what column to start
these descriptions at.
NOTE: MAXIMUM number of fields allowed is four (4).
To enter the description of a field, use the ruler line
to determine the starting column. Column 1 is the left most
position and column 79 is the right most column. Enter the
column number then "," and a description of that field which
is not longer than the field itself. E.G.- 1,Filename. You
must enter the fields from lowest (Left) to highest (Right).
After entering the last description, enter "79," to tell the
program you are finished. This info will be stored and will
be displayed when you search through the file.
After the final entry BBS will read the ASCII file and
convert it to records. During the conversion, all lower case
letters will be changed to upper case. The reason for this
is Basic's search function is case sensitive. I decided to
do this at conversion time rather than at search time
because the conversion to upper case takes a long time and
really slows down the search.
NOTE: The conversion process will take several minutes for a
long file so be patient.
After conversion, BBS will ask you if you want to
delete the ASCII file. Normally you should delete the file
as it is no longer needed and takes up disk space.
(3) Update existing BBS data base: This option will allow
you to add new files to one of the databases. All of the
file preparation rules of option 2 apply to an update file.
I normally use the extension ".UPD" for update files.
When you select option 3, BBS will display a list of
all of the data bases and will ask you to select the number
of the one you wish to have updated. Then you will be asked
to enter the filename and extension of your update file. If
the file exists, it will be converted in the same way as
option 2. After conversion you will be asked if you wish to
delete the ASCII file.
(4) Delete BBS data base from list: This option normally
is used when the bbs service does not have a "what's new"
function to allow you to update the data base. The
procedure in this case is to delete the old data base and
then proceed to reinstall the updated file listing with
option 2.
This option is also useful for deleting data bases of
bbs systems you no longer use or that have shut down.
(5) Send list of files to printer: This option is included
to provide a way for you to have a hard copy list of the bbs
systems in the data base.
(6) Quit and exit to DOS: This option provides for an
orderly shut down of the program and insures that no data is
lost. If you use ^C to exit the program there is a chance
that you will lose some of the data in you data base files.
I provide no warranty, either express or implied, for
the use of this program. The only stipulation which I would
like you to follow is if you modify the program and then re-
release the archive is that you include a document describing
the changes you made so that others can follow your changes
too.
Good luck and enjoy!