ßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßß ÄÄÄÄĶĶĶĶĶĶĶĶĶķ PCB 15.1+ Dos/Lightbar Matrix PPE ķĶĶĶĶĶĶĶĶĶĶÄÄÄÄ ÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜ (C) BlackCat, FREEWARE Version 1.20 ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ Well here's yet another lightbar/dos ppe including infoform and misc things. I decided to make this matrix ppe because one day while I was looking at this other matrix ppe I was using I noticed a strange sentence which implied that there was some kind of backdoor. Since I'm not one to take chances I threw it away immediately and made my own matrix. I also promise that there isn't any sneeky backdoor in this matrix (well, not intentionally at least). You can consider this matrix freeware, although I will accept donations :-). The matrix is not crippled in any way. If I don't get enough feedback to be able to improve or fix bugs in this matrix I might add a message of some sort in later versions. I've tested the matrix and PPEs in a desqview environment and tried to code them in such a way as to prevent multinode access problems. If you find any problem related to multinode access please let me know as soon as possible as these problems are usually serious. ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄĶĶĶĶĶĶĶĶĶķ INSTALLATION ķĶĶĶĶĶĶĶĶĶĶÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ Here are some quick installation guidelines: ž Extract the zipfile using the -d option to a directory. (If you're using some other extraction make sure that empty directories are created) ž Edit the configuration file MX.CFG and change the setup information to suit your needs. If you don't plan on using the included NUV ppe make sure that token 1 of line 14 is set to NO so that the matrix does not try to display the voting status of my NUV. ž Run 'MKPCBTXT ' goto line 259 using F3 and change this line to '!\MX.PPE', where is the directory where you unzipped the matrix. You also have to change line 260 to '_', this is to remove the last name question which is optional when using handles. ž You may optionally replace PCBTEXT #148 (Password prompt) with 148.PPE using the same procedure as described above. This displays a suitable message instead of the password prompt. (Line displayed is line 10 of GRAPH\MXTEXT) ž If you want to use the NUV ppe included in this distribution add '!\NUV.PPE' to your logon script. The NUV ppe recognizes users with new user security and adds them to the NUV. The security used is the one you have setup in pcboard.dat for new registered users (see NUV.CFG and furhter for further information about the NUV) If you do not want to use the NUV.PPE don't worry, the matrix is fully functional without it, just make sure that NUV status displaying at the matrix is disabled (MX.CFG, line 14). ž That's it, you're ready to go... This ppe requires ANSI capability, so make sure everyone's using it. As of version 1.20 the matrix detects if ALIAS psa is installed and asks it on application (only if setup in PWRD and pcboard.dat of course). Also instead of skipping the default protocol selection query it now handles this with a nice protocol selection lightbar (DOPROT.PPE). You optionally may also want to change prompt 419 into something like "@X08P@X07res@X0Fs (Enter) to continue_", this will make the matrix look better IMHO (Or better yet use my Enter prompt replacement PPE :-). ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄĶĶĶĶĶĶĶĶĶķ CONFIGURATION ķĶĶĶĶĶĶĶĶĶĶÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ What follows is a global explanation of the matrix and components. The aim in this is to let you have a global understanding of how all the pieces fit together and provide some extra information where needed, more detailed setup information should be available in the configuration files (.CFG) themselves. MX.PPE This is the main matrix PPE. Use MX.CFG to configure global options. The following configuration files can be used to configure (parts) of the matrix. LIGHTBAR.CFG - Used to configure the lighbar menu part of the matrix. DOS.CFG - Used to configure the dos matrix part of the ppe. The prompt text resides in GRAPH\MXTEXT. CFG\LOGON.CFG - Configures the logon prompt files. CFG\APPLY.CFG - Configures the normal (ie standard question) matrix application files. CFG\ADDRESS.CFG - Configures the address PSA matrix application files. CFG\MAIDEN.CFG - Configures the verification PSA matrix application files. CFG\CHECK.CFG - Configures the check access prompt files. CFG\MXAPPLY.CFG - Configures the matrix application prompt files. CFG\PROT.CFG - Configures the protocol selection menu. Used by DOPROT.PPE. CFG\ALIAS.CFG - Configures the alias selection when applying. Alias selection when applying is only used if alias is setup (PSA and PWRD) and should be asked (Configuration options in PCBSETUP) I've had some comments about the large number of tokens in some lines in the .CFG. I've tried putting every single option on a different line when I started coding the matrix. But as I kept on adding options I noticed that this started to delay the matrix and others PPEs too much for my liking, so I started adding options as tokens wherever possible. Every option as an token prevents an extra line read and considering the large number of configurable options in some parts (eg. see NUV.CFG ;) this can cause quite a delay. FEEDBACK.PPE The sysop feedback is handled by this ppe. Use FEEDBACK.CFG to configure it and CFG\FBMENUS.CFG to configure the menus. MNUTXT\FBMNU holds the default feedback menu text. To create a different look for each (randomly chosen) feedback menu you can create extra MNUTXT\FBMNU# files (where # is the menu number) which overrides the default feedback menu text. If you only have one sysop defined the sysop selection menu will not be displayed. INFOFORM.PPE The infoforms are handled by this ppe. Use INFOFORM.CFG to configure it and CFG\FRMMENUS.CFG to configure the menus. MNUTXT\FRMMNU holds the default infoform menu text. To create a different look for each (randomly chosed) infoform menu you can create extra MNUTXT\FRMMNU# files (where # is the menu number) which overrides the default infoform menu text. The subdirectory FORM contains all the infoform specific files, have a look at the .CFG files in there to see how the infoforms are configured. If a user is not logged on the infoform checks if a file 'work\infotmp.' exist and if so uses the first line as the users name. This is used by the matrix. The filled out infoform are stored in the APPS subdirectory. The form output names are of the form '.
'. As of version 1.2 an ANSI stye is used by the infoforms to allow you to create infoforms more easily. You simply create your ANSI (has to be ansi, NO @ codes) infoform initially any way you want (animation mode allowed too) and do NOT put any '*' characters in the ansi. After creating your entire picture save it, enter animation mode (in thedraw you can select it from the pulldown menu) and start putting the '*' at the places where you want the questions to be asked. The order in which you place the '*'s is the order in which the questions will be asked. The first nonwhite character found to the right of the '*' is the end of the input field. If there's another character behind the '*' that character is considered white space too (you can also define some other characters to walk over, see infoform.cfg). NUV.PPE The new user voting is handled by this PPE. Use NUV.CFG to configure this ppe and CFG\NUVMENUS.CFG to configure the menus. Each menu defined in CFG\NUVMENUS.CFG has a file MNUTXT\NUVMNU# (where # is the menu number) associated with it which defines the text used in the menu. This way you can create a different look for each nuv menu. Several files in the APPS dir are created and used by the NUV ppe. '.VOT' contains the voting status for each user, please do not tamper with these files manually. If you do so voting for that user might go wrong. 'WAITING.NUV' contains the current users who are waiting for verification 'WAITING.CNT' contains the number of these users). Normally these files need no manual intervention, the nuv ppe creates and updates them. For the operation of this ppe have a look at NUV.CFG. If for some reason you need to remove a user from the nuv list before he has been voted in/out remove his name from 'WAITING.NUV' and decrease the number in 'WAITING.CNT' by one. As of version 1.10 of the matrix the NUV ppe has been recoded. The voting now uses a lightbar menu and there is a sysop voting option available which allows the sysop to vote someone in/out directly. NUV also reads the matrix APPLY.VIP is available, and if new users are found in there their security is automatically upgraded and they're not inserted in the NUV process. When a new user being voted on logs on again and reaches the NUV ppe he's shown the voting status. The file displayed is GRAPH\VOTSTAT. This voting status can also be displayed by the matrix (Line 14 of MX.CFG). There are a couple of replacement codes allowed in this file: %NO% - No votes so far. %YES% - Yes votes so far. %NON% - Total no votes needed for removal/deletion %YESN% - Total yes votes needed for validation NONUV.PPE This ppe can be used by sysops who don't want to use NUV on their board. All this PPE does is display GRAPH\NONUV to the user and disconnect the user. This should contain a message that the sysop will review his application and he should call back etc. Put this in your logon script (preferrably a new user specific logon script so it won't be run for every user each time and thus unnecessarily delay logon). DOPROT.PPE This little PPE handles the protocol selection for applying users. It is only used if protocol selection is setup in PCBSETUP. Use CFG\PROT.CFG to configure this. PAGE.PPE This ppe handles the sysop paging. Use PAGE.CFG to configure this ppe and CFG\PGMENUS.CFG to configure the prompts. The paging ppe checks the paging times in pcboard.dat. It also does not page if the page bell if off. For this purpose it needs the file pcboard.sys which is assumed to be in the directory where pcboard.dat resides (for each node). Through 'PAGE.CFG' you can adjust the page duration. If not logged on (matrix) the users name is asked and logged. The feedback and infoform PPEs are fully functional as seperate ppe's and can be used as doors if you want. The subdir GRAPH contains the display files used by the matrix and other ppe's. These files are hardcoded into the ppe's so if you move a ppe to another directory make sure to copy the necessary graph files to a subdirectory 'graph' where the ppe resides. For the external PPEs (infoform/feedback/nuv/page) it is only necessary to move some files which are used, which these are should be selfexplanatory. Here's a list of files in 'graph' that you can change to your liking, where appropriate I also mention which configuration file you can use to configure the menus/promptfiles: APPLY# : Menus displayed when entering standard pcboard new user registration information. To configure this use CFG\APPLY.CFG ADDR# : Menus displayed when entering non standard PSA (pcboard supported allocations) address information. If address psa is not installed this menu is not used. (note that verification psa is also detected when a user apply's). To configure this use CFG\ADDRESS.CFG ALIAS# : Prompt file when entering an applicationa alias. To configure use CFG\ALIAS.CFG. PROT# : Protocol ppe (DOPROT.PPE) display files. Used when asking a default protocol at application. MXTEXT : Contains most of the matrix prompts and display lines, change them to suit your needs. MXHLP : Matrix Lightbar menu helpfile (when pressing '?'). WEL# : Welcome files displayed after a successull logon. To configure use MX.CFG. OFF# : Logoff files displayed when the user selects logoff at the matrix. To configure use MX.CFG. MXS# : The main lightbar menu display files. The 'lightbar.cfg' file can be used to configure the coordinates of where to display the lightbar menu in these files. DISC : Disclaimer file shown (optionally) at the NUA. You can also use this file to welcome the user and/or show him some guidelines on how to fill out all the newuser info. DOSHLP : Help file displayed when help is typed at the dos matrix. DIR/DIRW : Dos matrix directory file displayed when dir is typed. The 'dos.cfg' file can be used to define all dos command. If you do so don't forget to change this 'dir' file accordingly. FEED# : Sysop feedback menus. To congifure use CFG\FBMENUS.CFG. FBINFO# : Sysop feedback information menu. (To, From, Subject). To configure use CFG\FBMENUS.CFG FBHDR# : Sysop feedback header files, shown when a user enters feedback. To configure use CFG\FBMENUS.CFG. FBMSG : File displayed before a user enters application feedback at the matrix. FBTXT : Contains the feedback ppe prompts and display lines. FBHLP : Feedback menu helpfile. FORM# : Infoform menus. To configure use CFG\FRMMENUS.CFG. FRMTEXT : Contains the infoform ppe prompts and display lines. FRMHLP : Infoform menu helpfile. PGTEXT : Contains the page ppe prompts and display lines. PAGE# : The page prompt files. (From, Page reason). To configure use CFG\PGMENUS.CFG. PGNO# : The 'sysop not availabe for page' display files. To configure use CFG\PGMENUS.CFG. EMER# : Display file shown when a user is asked for an emergency password when paging the sysop. Only used if the emergency password is setup in PAGE.CFG PGSYS : File displayed to the sysop when he's being paged. Use only ANSI in this one as pcboard codes don't seem to get through. LOGON# : Logon prompt files. (System password, user name, user password). To configure use CFG\LOGON.CFG MXAPP# : Matrix application prompt files. To configure use CFG\MXAPPLY.CFG FEED# : Feedback prompt files. To configure use CFG\FBMENUS.CFG. CHECK# : Access check prompt files. To configure use CFG\CHECK.CFG. NUV# : New user voting main menu files. To configure use CFG\NUVMENUS.CFG. VOTE# : New user voting menus. To configure use CFG\NUVMENUS.CFG. NUVDISC : File displayed when a new user is disconnected by the nuv PPE. NUVVOT : File displayed when asking users if they want to vote now. NUVHLP : New user voting menu helpfile. NUVSTAT : Voting status displayed to users who are still being voted on by the NUV. NUVOUT : File displayed by the nuv (or matrix if nuv status display is setup in line 14 of MX.CFG) when is user is voted out. NUVVIP : File displayed by the NUV.PPE if a new user is found in the APPLY.VIP file. The security is immediately upgraded and the user has access to the board, be carefull with this option. NONUV : File displayed by the NONUV.PPE. Files not explicitly mentioned: SYS* : Files used by the SYSOP.PPE *TEXT : Various other text files. Their naming should make it obvious for which PPE/part they contain the text. The directory MNUTXT contains all the text used in the various lightbar menus. These can be: NUVMNU# : NUV lightbar menu text for each (randomly displayed) menu defined through CFG\NUVMENUS.CFG. FBMNU, FBMNU# : Feedback lightbar menu text. FBMNU contains the default text. For each lighbar menu you can create FBMNU# (where # is the menu number) which will override the default FBMNU. The reason for this default text file is that adding and/or deleting sysops would mean updating all the FBMNU# files and I realize that some of you may find that annoying or too much trouble. By creating FBMNU# files you can have a totally different look for each random menu. FRMMNU FRMMNU# : Infoform lightbar menu text. FRMMNU contains the default text. For each lighbar menu you can create FRMMNU# (where # is the menu number) which will override the default FRMMNU. The reason for this default text file is that adding and/or deleting infoforms would mean updating all the FRMMNU# files and I realize that some of you may find that annoying or too much trouble. By creating FBMNU# files you can have a totally different look for each random menu. MXMNU : Default matrix lighbar menu text. Note that this is only used if the text is not taken directly from the display file (see LIGHTBAR.CFG). Again as above you can create MXMNU# files to have different text for each menu. Use the UNWANTED file in the matrix dir to exclude certain user names from applying. Just add unwanted names to this file. The APPLY.VIP holds names of users who should be exempt from entering the NUP when applying (also used by the NUV ppe). The subdir WORK contains temporary files and the matrix logs (if logs are enabled) The subdir APPS contains the filled out application forms for the users who applied and the nuv information files. The infoform names are of the form '.'. The ppe 'SYSOP.PPE' can be used to view/remove the logs and change/view some configuration options. The EXTERNAL.CFG file can be used to define as many external commands as you want. ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄĶĶĶĶĶĶĶĶĶķ AUTHOR ķĶĶĶĶĶĶĶĶĶĶÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ For fast response mail me on internet (an42144@anon.penet.fi). You can also contact me at The Godfather, MaFIA WHQ by mailing 'El GaTO'. I've been having problems with the anon server. Not only has it gotten too slow but it also doesn't allow reasonably big files (>40K) to be mailed through it. So if you want me to send you the newest version of this or any other of my PPEs send me your non anonymous address, and I will forward you the files. Alternatively you can also get the newest versions at wuarchive.wustl.edu in directory /pub/MSDOS_UPLOADS/ppe. If anyone knows of any better (internet) places to put these I'm open to suggestions. If you find any bugs or have any suggestions/comments don't hesitate to contact me. Enjoy, BlackCat