Conference Menu Scanner v1.5 Copyright (C) 1995, by Cutting Edge Online All rights reserved. Programming and Documentation by John Marx Cutting Edge Online (318) 537-7089 Voice 6372-B Kucinski Street (318) 537-7746 BBS Fort Polk, LA 71459 Hayes Optima 28.8k U.S.A. FidoNet: 1:3817/9 Conference Menu Scanner v1.5 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- System Requirements The requirements for using this PPE are as follows: a. PCBoard 15.21+ (This program was created with PPLC v3.0 and will not work with any version less than 15.21.) b. Enough space on your hard drive for installation of the program. c. It's not needed but placing this PPE and all your PPE's into different subdirectories is helpful. This allows you to more easily update or remove a PPE with it's accompanying files. Plus if you place more than one PPE in a directory you may run into the program trying to use a file it shouldn't. This is all that is needed to run this program. Conference Menu Scanner v1.5 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Program Overview This program is the executable to make the appropriate information for use with the Conference Menu PPE for PCBoard. This program reads in a configuration file and does all of its work in a manner of seconds to minutes depending upon how many conferences you have. This program is very limited in its use currently as it does not sort conferences or excepts multiple start-stop points. This will be taken care of in future releases but as for now we feel the program is quite fast and feel that even though it's not full-featured as of yet that the program can still do the job it's intended to. If you feel the program is inadequate for your needs the PPE is backward compatible with the structure of the one in the CW ConfMenu. The executable in this program is well designed with the options currently lacking in our implementation. The main reason we want to get this out is the PPE in the CW ConfMenu contains a trojan horse which could severly hamper ones system and we feel that our programs current limitations great outway the chances of you losing your system over our competitions evil doings. This program is alot faster than the one in the CW ConfMenu program as we our currently using a simpler design with smaller code. This speed gain will help show that the JM series of PPE's are simply the best for your dollar today. Also, with this program you will be able to create the "true" data tables which will provide you with more data so that you can have complete control over every aspect of the program. There are command line parameters available as well. To get a complete listing of all the parameters use a /?. The structure of the file(s) created by this program are as follows: Odd number lines: Conference Name Even number lines: Data for Conference Above Just follow the step by step instructions below and you will be running in no time. Conference Menu Scanner v1.5 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Program Installation To install this program you will need to do the following: 1. First unZIP the archive into its new subdirectory. 2. Edit the SAMP-CMS.CNF file so that it meets your needs. The layout of this file is as below. When you save this file save it as CMS.CNF. Line 1: Path to your CNAMES file. This is usually in the C:\PCB\MAIN\ directory. You must add the trailing "\" for the program to work. Line 2: Filename to save your information to. This may also have a file path if you don't wish it to be saved in the current directory. Line 3: This is the starting range. May have the keyword STRING to allow you to do a specific string search. You may also designate the starting conference number if you want be immediately following the word STRING with the starting conference number, with or without a space. Line 4: This is the stopping range. If you use the keyword STRING above then this line will be the string which you want to search for. This may be of any length you desire. 3. Now exit your editor and type CMS at the DOS prompt and all of your data files will be created and the program will now be ready to use. That's if you already setup your Conference Menu first, otherwise you will need to go by the instructions in the CM.DOC. That's all there is to it! Enjoy your new Join conference replacement! Conference Menu Scanner v1.5 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Possible Error Codes There are several reasons for error codes. The main reason is something went wrong in the program. Even though all efforts have been made to remove any and all possible errors there still may be some configuration we haven't thought of. As such we've included extensive error checking in all of our programs to eliminate any and all possible errors. Errors will be shown to the caller on the screen explaining what went wrong and why if the program can determine without a doubt what it was. All errors will be logged to the callers log! This allows you to correct any problems that your users might not tell you. A lot of times when an error occurs the users like "that's nice." We feel that even as nice as it would be for the user to explain to the SysOp what they were doing when such errors occur, we know not to expect it so we've added this to the code as well. When it logs this information to the callers log it also logs the exact saying that it gave to the user. This gives you the most complete information we can. You may also wish to check out the "Frequently Asked Questions" at the end of this document for it may cover a question you are currently having about PCBoard and PPE's. Conference Menu Scanner v1.5 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Contacting the Author I can be reached on either my BBS or through my home phone number at any time. If I'm not home and you receive the answering machine just leave your name and number with a short explanation, if you can, of the problem. I WILL call you back as soon as I can and if you gave me a description of your problem will more than likely have an answer for you when I do call you back. When you do call us with information about a bug in the program please give us the following information. This information will help us determine what the problem is: 1. Program name and version number. 2. Type and brand of computer, hard disk, plus any peripherals. 3. Version of DOS plus any TSRs or device drivers in use. 4. Explanation of your AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS files. 5. Description of what is in memory from the MEM command (DOS 4 and above users only) or a similar utility. 6. The exact problem you are having. Please be as specific as possible. Having a printout of the screen and/or being at your computer will be helpful. The Cutting Edge Online BBS operates 24 hours a day, is using a Hayes Optima 28.8k modem, PCBoard 15.21/10 and the number is (318) 537-7746. You will be able to download if you wish on the first call. There are no callback doors. We do use CALLER-ID for just this purpose. I personally don't like callback doors and am sure many others feel the same. We've recently upgraded the system bringing the system to 13.2 Gigs online with 5 CD-ROMs. I'm available also on the PCBoard Support BBS, Salt Air. I only call once a week, normally on Saturday so the replies won't be as quick as you may like. I'm also in the FidoNet PCBoard, PCB-Net conferences. Our FidoNet address is 1:3817/9. If you have a problem, suggestion, comment, download or just wish to talk please call and we will be more than glad to serve you. We're not happy until YOU are happy so let us know if we're doing something wrong. If we're doing it right tell your fellow PCBoard SysOps, if not tell US!