System Operator Commentor v1.6 Copyright (C) 1994, 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 System Operator Commentor v1.6 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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. System Operator Commentor v1.6 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Program Overview This is a replacement to PCBoard's internal (C)omment to SysOp by allowing you to have upto 9 separate System Operators. This program may either be cursor key driven if the caller has ANSI, hot key driven if the user has ANSI or in a menu format where the user is asked which system operator they would like to leave a comment to. Online help is also provided for the callers in ANSI mode. Just follow the step by step instructions below and you will be running in no time. System Operator Commentor v1.6 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Program Installation If you need a more complete installation help see the GUIDE.ME file provided. This file was created to more easily guide new SysOps through the process of installing FileMenu. To install this program you will need to do the following: 1. First unZIP the archive into its new subdirectory. 2. Go to PCBSETUP.EXE and run this program. You will need to edit your CMD.LST file so that it says something similar to Letter Level PPE/MNU -------- ------- ------------------------------------------------ C 10 C:\PCB\PPE\COMMENT\COMMENT.PPE 3. If you would like to modify the display files for this program you will need to load PCBEDIT.EXE or similar utility and edit the following files: a. BACKGRND - This is the background file which is displayed to the caller if they're in the ANSI mode. b. HELP - This is the help file which explains to the user what to do while in the ANSI mode of operation. c. NOANSI - This is a HEADER file which gets displayed to the user if they do NOT have ANSI graphics capability. d. PROMPTS - This is the external PROMPTS file. Their currently is only one line available in this file which is the question prompt for the callers who do NOT have ANSI graphics capability. e. SYSOPS - This is a list of the available system operators or special "guru" users who seem to more than the System Operator in their related field. The file format is as follows: Description To whom the message is to be addressed The conference number for the message to be saved in Is this public (N) or private (R) ... This repeats for upto nine different SysOps/Gurus That's all there is to it! Enjoy! System Operator Commentor v1.6 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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. System Operator Commentor v1.6 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 15.2/10 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!