Automatic Poster v1.1 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 Automatic Poster v1.1 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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. Automatic Poster v1.1 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Program Overview This program came about do to a program I had registered and thought I would take a look inside of the code. Boy was I in for a shock. The program contained what seemed like a TROJAN HORSE, a time bomb if you will. This program, which I shall not disclose, would erase every possible system related file. Now this was probally do to the author knowing of people cracking his software, but totally unaceptable to me. Plus I found the support for the program lacking after I had paid $15 for it. Thus, I strike a blow to the PPE community again by releasing a cheaper, faster and better supported product. Now on with the good stuff. This program has been designed to quickly and efficiently send messages into any conference you want, to you want, from whomever you decide, and more. This may send it either monthly or weekly based on the day. Some of the features of this program include: þ Upto the size of your hard disk for maximum number of possible messages are allowed. The other program made you count the messages and tell it how many you have. This program will do everything for you. þ No nagging UnRegistered Info! There is a tagline on the bottom of every message. This may be turned off if you desire and the program is registered. The unregistered version will just say UnRegistered To YourBBSName. þ Logging support is built in so that if it bombs you will be notified for most of us will run this program during our logon or nightly event and would probally not notice anything. Just follow the step by step instructions below and you will be running in no time. Automatic Poster v1.1 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Program Installation To install this program you will need to do the following: 1. First unZIP the archive into its new subdirectory. 2. Goto the new subdirectory and create your configuration file. I've included a SAMPLE.CNF which is commented and gives an example of what the configuration file should look like. The configuration file must bee called POSTER.CNF 3. Now lets edit the SAMPLE.DAT file and we will save this file as POSTER.DAT. This is where all of the main information is found. The structure of the file is below with a description of each line provided: Line 1: Message To Send - This is the message you wish to send. This may or may not have a path to the file being sent. If the length of this line is less than 12 characters than the file is presued to be found in the same directory as this PPE. Line 2: How Often - This is how often the message should be sent out. This may be either MONTHLY or WEEKLY. Line 3: Day To Send - This is the date or day to send the message. If this is to be sent weekly then the valid numbers would be from 0 through 6 with 0 being Sunday and 6 being Saturday. If this is to be sent monthly then you would put the valid day of the month to send this messsage. Line 4: Conference Number - This is any valid PCBoard message number which you would like this message sent to. Only one conference is allowed. Line 5: To - This is who the message is to be addressed to. Line 6: From - This is who the message is to be addressed from. Line 7: Subject - This would be the subject of the message you wish to send. Line 8: Public Or Receiver Only - This determines whether this is a public or private message. IF this is a public message than you would put "N" here. If this is to be a receiver only message you would place an "R" here. Line 9: Days Until Packout - This is when you would like this message to be packed out of the message base. If you don't wish a packout date than place the number 0 on this line. Line 10: Return Receipt - Do you want to request a return receipt with this message? If you would like one you would place the number 1 here. If you would not like a return receipt then you would place a 0 here. Line 11: Echo Message - Should this message be echoed? If you would like this message echoed you would place the number 1 here. If you would not like this message echoed then you would place a 0 here. Line 12: Separator - This is a separator line to make reading this data file a little more easier to the human eye. 4. To run this program we have really two possible options. We may choose to run it in either a nightly event or during the logon procedure. To run this program in a nightly event we would add the following line to our nightly event: PCBOARD /PPE:D:\PCB\PPE\POSTER\POSTER.PPE To run this program in our logon process we would add the following line to our logon procedure: !D:\PCB\PPE\POSTER\POSTER.PPE Automatic Poster v1.1 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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. Automatic Poster v1.1 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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!