Enhanced Flag v1.0 Written by Drew [PWA] Last Updated 8-4-94 I. Introduction II. Installation III. Configuration IV. Misc. Notes V. Last Words ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ I. Introduction ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Enhanced Flag (EFLAG) is a major enhancement of the good old FLAG.PPE written by David W. Terry. EFLAG is a highly modified version of FLAG so the original distribution of FLAG.PPE is also included here. The enhancements include: 1. Full lightbar support, including the up and down arrows as in the OBV/2 and Vision/2 style. You are no longer limited to using the silly space bar! 2. Ability to read from a config file (handy for those who do not have the PPL compiler, do not know how to program in PPL, or are just too darn lazy to make any serious changes to the source code ). 3. In addition to the standard "Flag", "View", and "Quit", EFLAG has the ability to spawn other commands, ppes, whatever! This can be done automatically by simply editing the config file. Other features: 1. All commands in the original FLAG.PPE are preserved. 2. Colors and text strings are fully configurable through the config file. 3. ...and the best feature which we do not see too often nowadays: SOURCE CODE IS INCLUDED! :) So 100% configurability means just that. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ II. Installation ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ There are two ways to install this: 1) run the INSTALL.BAT or 2) Install it by hand. Installation is 99% identical to the original FLAG.PPE. 1st method: running INSTALL.BAT Unzip this packaged to a temporary directory, and then type "INSTALL" (no quotes of course) to get the instructions on how to install. It will require you to specify the location of your PCBTEXT file as well as the destination directory. After installation, remove all the contents of this temporary directory. 2nd method: manual installation Unzip this its own directory. Run "MKPCBTXT" to edit your PCBTEXT file. Hit F3 and jump to record #549. Change it to something like: !C:\PCB\PPE\EFLAG\EFLAG.PPE The pathname should just be where ever you have unzipped everything into. If you want to use PWAFV, you can modify the source code. Refer to the last section in DETAILS.DOC on how to do this (it is actually relatively simple as I have included code for PWAFV already). Alternatively, you can just unzip the file "PWAFV_EF.ZIP", which includes the source again, and a pre-compiled version of the ppe. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ III. Configuration ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ You have two methods of configuring this ppe: 1. Run the CONFIG.EXE program. There is no error checking done in this program, so if it asks you for a number, don't be a wise-guy and enter "abcdefg". 2. Manual installation. The config file itself is well documented enough so that you can refer to that file for instructions. Note: The config file is totally optional, and you can delete it if you want to. Default values will be used in this case. The config file is meant for people who: a. Do not know how to program (or do not feel comfortable modifying source code) b. Do not own the PPL compiler c. Are too darn lazy to change anything in the source. If you have an existing EFLAG.CFG, the config file will read from it and use existing values as default values. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ IV. Miscellaneous notes ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ This ppe has the ability and flexibility to have up to EIGHT commands available to the user when in flag/mark mode. What happens is that the ppe will execute a "dispstr" statement to do one of the following: 1. Display a file (the text must begin with a "%") 2. Execute a ppe (text must begin with a "!") 3. Print the text to the screen When doing one of the above, it will append the filename to the end of it. If executing a ppe, then this is treated as a parameter, so if your ppe manipulates the file in any manner (ie: a file nuker), make sure it expects the first parameter to be the filename. Obviously, you can customize the source to exactly how you want it to work/behave in this case. A couple of things that this ppe does **NOT** do that the original FLAG.PPE does: 1. Foreign language support 2. RIPscript support If this is a big concern and I get a lot of requests for either of these two options, I'll add it in the next version. I just felt that the majority of users did not bother with either of these so have left it out. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ V. Last Words ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ You're probably wondering why I'm including source... there are a few good reasons: 1. The original FLAG.PPE included source, and since this is still based on that (it is not 100% original code), it's the right thing to do. 2. Why not? People should start doing it more often, so that we can reduce the amount of people decompiling, adding in some malicious backdoors, and then redistributing. Of course, it's always the author's prerogative to distribute their source. 3. If you have the PPL Decompiler (v1.01), try decompiling this ppe. It won't! I'm just curious as to what is stopping it from decompiling... Greets ------ Vigilante: Gawd, I hope you don't spend too much time examining/reviewing my ppe's such that you don't have time to work on your own! Defcon 4: How do you like California? Scimitar: How do you like New Mexico? Balrog: How do you like ... Hey! All other programmers for their excellent efforts in trying to improve the features and functionality of PCBoard. If you need to reach me for some reason you can reach me through internet email at drew@xinet.com or on Attitude Net. Peace --Drew