NEWSFLSH.PPE is a PPE to diplay a text file containing date headers and entries for a specified number of days. Compiled with PPLC v3.2. Requires PCBoard 15.22+ to run. To start, this PPE is FREEWARE. If you call my BBS: Blackbeard's BBS: (318) 468-3385 USR D/S V.34+ and Join Conference #5, there is an on-line registration PPE which will create your free KEY file and Download it. There are no delays in the PPE, only an UNREGISTERED message in the banner. This method will also provide me with a way to see how many people actually decide to use the PPE (or at least test it). ------------- |Intructions| ------------- Unzip this PPE and accompaning files to the subdirectory of your choice. NOTE: You may keep your original NEWSFLSH.CFG file, it will work correctly with this update, but you might want to edit it to add the RANDOM option. To install this PPE, Just place it in your NEWS file. You do so by adding the line: !d:\pcb\ppe\newsflsh\newsflsh.ppe in your NEWS file, replacing the appropriate drive and path information. ------------- |Config File| ------------- Next edit the config file. It must be named NEWSFLSH.CFG and must reside in the same directory as the PPE. The config file is commented. Sample NEWSFLSH.CFG ========================== NEWZ 60 RANDOM RANDOM RANDOM ßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßß L R RANDOM 78 N =======End of File======== Line 1: NEWZ file to display. Base name only. You may have LANG specific files. Files must reside in the same directory as the NEWSFLSH.PPE The file name may be overridden via the command line. Line 2: Max # of Days to show newz entries If an entry is # days old, it (and all entries after) will not be displayed. Running the PPE with the MAINT option will remove them from the file. Line 3: Date Heading @X color attribute without @X This is the color you want the date to be shown in. Line 4: Text Color Attribute This is the color you want the Entry TEXT to be shown in. Line 5: Separator Bar Attribute This is the color you want the Separator bar to be shown in. Ignored of an %include file is used in line 6 *NOTE- For random color schemes enter RANDOM for line(s) 3,4,5. It will use random color schemes for each line with RANDOM entered. Line 6: Separator Bar This is the text of the separator bar. I suggest a length of 78. You can create an include display file to use as the separator and enter %d:\path\filename here to have it displayed instead. Line 7: Date Position [L,C,R,N] Left, Center, Right, None - Default Left To suppress actually showing the date of the entry enter N. Line 8: Subject Position [L,C,R] Left, Center, Right - Default - Center Conflicts between this and the Date position will use the date position and override this value. Line 9: Subject Color attribute (See *NOTE following Line 5 - Same applies) Line 10: Length of Date/Subject Line. Should be an even number. You should probably make this the same length as the Separator bar. It is used for justifying the Date and Subject on the Date Line and keeps the line length constant when using a colored background for the date/subject. Line 11: Disable Registration info display. (Reg. only option) Once you have your key file, setting this to "Y" (without quotes) will suppress the version and registration header, making the PPE look more seamless with PCBoard. All blank lines and lines starting with a ';' are considered comments The only required entry is the name of the news file to display, unless it is entered on the command line (see CMD Line Options) The rest of the entries have default values if they are missing. *Notes- When RANDOM is chosen, text will be be random forground on black background for the entries. Dates,subjects and separators have more combos. Also, with the lifting of the 78 character line limit for text entries, I recommend only using black background unless you make sure each line is EXACTLY the same length. The same colors will not be used for forground and background for any color attributes and I have removed the hardest color combinations to read too. ----------------- |News Entry File| ----------------- The News file entered in the CONFIG file is a plain text file with the following format ~~MM/DD/YYSubject of entry #1 This is news entry #1 ~~MM/DD/YYSubject of entry #2 This is text #2 All date headers must follow the 'MM/DD/YY' or 'MM-DD-YY' format and be preceded by '~~' without the quotes. The ~~ characters will not be displayed. Immediately after the Date should be the Subject. This doesn't need an entry, so your old NEWZ files will still work. Once an entry's date is older than the number of days specified in the config file, the rest of the news file will be ignored. Do not include @X codes in the date or subject headers. They will throw the justification off. Also, the date header must start in column 1. If you have chosen Center or Right justified, Newsflash with move it appropriately. The Subject must follow the date, it will also be justified automatically. After the date is printed,the separator bar is printed in the color defined in the config file, or the default if none is entered. Text entries can be any news description you wish, including @X color codes. The PPE will start each line with the color code in the config file so any changes you make must be done for each line. The Separator bar and the Text entries can use PCBoard's %FILESPEC for including other display files (see your PCBoard manual for details) ---------------- |Optional Files| ---------------- If the File NFHDR exists in the PPE directory, it will be displayed prior to the actual news entries. This file should NOT include a @cls@ macro as the PPE will clear the screen automatically before it is displayed. This file may have Security, Graphics, and Language versions as well (ie. NFHDR50R.FRE would be displayed to all level 50 Ripgraphics users using the FRE language. If notfound, the default file will be displayed) If the file NEWSFLSH.KEY exists in the PPE directory, the Registration information will replace the UNREGISTERED notice before the News is displayed IF it is a valid key file and contains the correct information. You can also remove the registration display once registered. You shouldn't need to get a new one if it already exists. If you lose it, you can call my BBS and re-run the Registration PPE (NKEY) in Conference #5 to get another. No changes were made to the format so you shouldn't need a new one unless your old one isn't working. ------------------ |CMD Line Options| ------------------ The PPE now supports 2 Command line options- MAINT and a FileName Filename example: !C:\PCB\PPE\NEWSFLSH.PPE Filename If you include the filename (no paths) after the PPE, it will override the filename used in the config file. With this option you can "do away" with the config file completely, and use the default values instead! Langauge specific files for the Filename will be displayed if they exist. MAINT examples (used for event processing): =========================================== PCBOARD "/PPE:c:\path\NEWSFLSH.PPE MAINT [Filename]" *Note* The Quotation Marks are REQUIRED for proper execution. This method is handy for keeping your News File trimmed. It can be added to your Nightly, Weekly, Monthly...event to keep the file size limited. What the MAINT option does is run through the NewsFile and remove entries older than the number of days in the config file or the default if no config file exists. It does not check every entry, but rather stops at the FIRST entry that is older; any entries after that are also removed. If a filename is also included after the MAINT option, maintenance will be performed on that file instead. The Filename MUST come after the MAINT option for this method to work, and it must reside in the same directory as the PPE. The Maintenance option creates a temporary file which holds all the entries that have been kept. Once the newsfile has been processed, it renames the temporary file to the original news filename and then deletes the temporary file. ------------- |Final Notes| ------------- This PPE works for me and should work for you. If you have any problems, I can can be reached at my BBS listed above, or on Intelec or U'NI-net. Also via Fidonet at 1:19/19 and internet at herbert.bushong@bbread.pecan.com ---------------------- |Planned enhancements| ---------------------- Any other enhancement you might want? Call and request your Reg. Key from my BBS and leave the request in your comment. If it's feasible I'll do it! The only guarantee is that this program will take up disk space. If it doesn't work for you, I'll try to fix it. It works for me, and it's free, so expecting too much isn't recommended, but I'll do whatever I can . ÝÝ Herbert Bushong ÝÝ Team PCBoard