FreeFile Version 1.20 Copyright (c)1994-1995 ------------------------ Gorgon Enterprises, Inc. P.O. Box 200 Avenel, NJ 07001 ---------------- Best Buy Online 908.634.5117 ------------ Internet admin@gorgon.com Copyrights herein are the property of their respective owners. INTRODUCTION Why FreeFile? Gorgon Enterprises, Inc. runs Best Buy Online a subscription Bulletin Board Service in Woodbridge, New Jersey at (908)634-5117. Although our service is for paid subscribers, there are certain files we make freely available to non-subscribing callers; file lists, RipTerm, subscription information, etc. In order for a non-subscriber to obtain these files, they would have to log on, find the free file directory, flag the file or files and download them. With FreeFile installed in a security specific command file (see INSTALL.TXT) they are automatically presented with these files as soon as they log in. This program was written with the idea of drastically increasing the number of times these selected files are downloaded. We felt this would increase our base of paying callers by making it easier for the callers to obtain our file lists and other system information. With this information in hand, the caller will be more likely to call again and end up registering. BACKROUNDER Gorgon Enterprises, Inc. is a New Jersey corporation that was founded in November, 1993. We provide consulting, networking and custom application services to small and medium size businesses throughout Northern New Jersey, Manhattan, Long Island and upstate New York. The company's founder and President, John P. Carroll, has been in the computer industry for over a decade. Besides hardware and networking, John has been working with X-Base languages for over six years. He started out with dBase III plus and worked through dBase IV, Foxpro 2.0 for DOS, Foxpro 2.5 & 2.6 for Windows and Microsoft Access 2.0. We currently develop custom applications for clients in Foxpro 2.6 for Windows and Lotus Notes 3.2. With our interest in the Online community, Shareware and PCBoard itself, we saw PPL 3.0 as being a natural extension of the services we currently offer. OVERVIEW FreeFile is a PPE for PCBoard 15.2+ that makes it very easy for unregistered callers to obtain files that you wish to make freely available. FreeFile is installed as a security specific command file and in the CMD.LST. As a command file, the program is started immediately after a caller enters their password. In the CMD.LST, FreeFile becomes a command available to the caller from the Main Board Command prompt. Although we already have ideas for the next version of FreeFile (see WHATNEXT.TXT), version 1.20 is a complete, debugged application. We have seen many BBS applications, whether they are doors or PPEs, that have bugs or functions that just don't work. This usually happens because the programmer just can't figure out a problem and releases the program with no concern for fixing the problem. Such programs are rarely supported and many of them are never updated to fix these problems. There are features of FreeFile that are disabled in unregistered versions of FreeFile. However, this program is not CrippleWare, BegWare or PauseWare. FreeFile is Shareware. It is FULLY functional - none of the main features or functions are disabled to encourage registration. For additional information on registration see REGISTER.TXT. For information on the Shareware concept, see SHAREWAR.TXT. MAJOR FEATURES OF FreeFile v1.20 - dBase Report File FreeFile generates and maintains a dBase file that reflects activity within the program. FreeFile.DBF Contains the date, the number of times per day that FreeFile is used, the number of times FreeFile is actually used to download files per day, and the number of files per day downloaded through FreeFile. - Custom Color Configuration All of the colors on the screen, including text, borders and file names can be configured to any color. This allows the Sysop to configure the color scheme of FreeFile to match their system. - File Existence Testing When displaying the files that you have configured, FreeFile tests for their existence. If the files do not exist, a red * is automatically inserted in front of the file name. A line similar to the following also appears below the list of files: *FILENAME = Unavailable File The * here is also red. This works nicely because if a caller flags all of the free files for download, they are not surprised when one is missing. - Immediate Download Part of the intent of this program was to get our free files into the hands of the new caller right away. When installed as described in INSTALL.TXT, FreeFile will activate for a New Caller immediately after Quick Registration and for a caller who is calling for the second or later time immediately after entering their password. When the caller has selected the files they wish to download, they are presented with the option of downloading the files right away. When the caller responds 'Yes' to the question, they end up downloading the free files before they even get to the Main Command Prompt! - Selection Errors If a caller makes an invalid file selection an error message is displayed. There are currently only 3 valid selections. * selects all files, #-# selects a range of consecutive files and #,# selects multiple, non-sequential files. If a caller makes a selection that does not fit these criteria or selects a file number higher than the number of files available, an error screen is displayed. This screen informs the caller of the error and shows the proper ways of selecting files. The FreeFile program is then restarted. TIPS AND IDEAS Best Buy Online is configured for FreeFile to run for Security Level 11 only. As such, in our GEN directory, we have a command file called 11. the contains the single line "!F:\PCB\PPL\FREEFILE.PPE" Configured in this way for Level 11, FreeFile will not run automatically for any other security level. However, it is still available as a command at the Main Prompt from being configured in the CMD.LST file. While we were setting up FreeFile, the Sysop (obviously not at Level 11) needed to be able to run it. What he did was to create a security specific command file called 110. in the GEN directory (110 is the Sysop security level on Best Buy Online) with the line "!F;\PCB\PPL\FREEFILE.PPE" in it. This, along with logging into the node he was working on using USER - BUSY instead of SYSOP - BUSY on the Call Waiting screen allowed him to test the full functionality of FreeFile. When finished configuring and testing FreeFile, the Sysop simply deleted the FREEFILE line from the 110. file. TROUBLESHOOTING Problem: You have the correct directory specified on Line 16 of FreeFile.cfg and the files are in the specified directory, but they all have the red 'Unavailable File' asterisk in front of them when you start the program. Answer: Make sure you have a \ at the end of your directory specification on Line 16 of FreeFile.cfg. If you have 'C:\PCB\FREEFILE' with out the \ and one of the file names is YOURBBS.ZIP, FreeFile will be looking for C:\PCB\FREEFILEYOURBBS.ZIP and this obviously won't exist!