INTRO.PPE Documentation Copyright 1995 Herbert Bushong Decscription ------------ This PPE stores all your INTRO screen information in 1 database file. No need to have them scattered all over the place anymore. It can handle Security, Graphics, and Language variations, displaying the appropriate one, the same as PCBoard. It can import all your existing intro screens into the database. Don't worry if you have %filespec or !filespec in your INTRO files, the PPE will handle them correctly. Copyright & Disclaimer ---------------------- This PPE is Freeware but is Copyrighted. You are granted license to use and distribute the PPE as much as you want as long as all files are included in the archive and it is not Tampered with, altered, decompiled, or in any other way hacked. I guarantee it to be free of backdoors and trojans, and to take up disk space only. It works here and should work for you too. Installation ------------ Installation may require a lot of work on your part, or may not, depending on your setup and number of conferences. 1: Extract the files into a directory. 2: Edit the SEC.LST, GRAPH.LST, and LANG.LST files. Each file follows a similar format. Line 1 - # of entries (Must be at least 1) Line 2+ - Actual entries SEC.LST entries - each line is a security level you have defined that might have sec. specific INTRO screens. GRAPH.LST entries - each line is a graphics type (there are 2 possible entries - G and R). LANG.LST entries - each line is a language extension defined in PCBML.DAT If you aren't running multi-lingual, enter 1 extension with a phony extension like ".$@X" the period MUST be included in the extension. The default of no extension is automatically included, do not include it in this file. 2: After editing these 3 files, run the PPE from the main prompt with the following command: PPE d:\path\INTRO.PPE CONVERT This will initialize the database, and import any intro screens you already have defined for your conferences into its database, including any security, graphics, and language variants. 3: Now for the long part. For each conference, path for every conference INTRO file to d:\path\INTRO (where the path is the directory the PPE is in). Do NOT include the PPE extension, PCBoard will execute the ppe automatically. This could be done automatically with PPL, and I may implement the option yet, but for now, this gives you more control (and you'll feel safer knowing I'm not altering your data files ) Now you're set! Changing/Adding an Intro screen entry ------------------------------------- There are two ways to Add or Change an INTRO screen in the database. Individual files: Create the new intro file *in the PPE directory*. You can name it anything you want *EXCEPT* INTRO-IN.TXT. Run the PPE with the IMPORT parameter, enter the filename, and follow the prompts. You should only have to change the default answers if it is a Sec, Graph, or Language specific file. Note: If the file has an extension, the extension will be the Language extension Default, which you'll need to correct if it's wrong. Individual/Multiple Conferences: The second method uses a specially formatted file, INPUT-IN.TXT, to import 1 or more screens at a time. To add or change an intro screen for a conference, simply create the intro screen, then on the first line, put: ~#####~ (where ##### is the conference number) For example, if this will be a screen for conference 9, you would put: ~9~ {the rest of the intro screen would follow} The INTRO screens have the following limits. 1. No more than 22 lines. 2. No more than 254 characters per line. You can combine as many intro screens as you want into 1 file for "mass import". Follow the rules above, placing the conference indicator (and optional command indicators - see next section) before each screen. For example, you're input file might look like this: ~9~ Conference 9 INTRO file contents ~9~ ~S:60 Conference 9 INTRO for level 60 users ~0~ ~L:FRE Conference 0 INTRO file contents for French language Once the screen is created, run the PPE with the IMPORT parameter: PPE d:\path\INTRO.PPE IMPORT This will ask you for the filename to import. Leave the default, INTRO-IN.TXT, and the PPE will read in each entry, updating existing entries if they exist, and adding new ones if they don't. SEC, Graphic, and Language variants in INTRO-IN.TXT --------------------------------------------------- The PPE can handle all combinations, but you must add additional information to tell it when the file is not the default. You do this with 3 additional "commands"* at the beginning of the entry, immediately AFTER the conference number. ~S:### For security specific displays, where ### is the security. valid range is 0-255, where 0 is non-security specific ~G:M For Graphics specific displays, where M is the mode (G,R,or N). valid entries are: N-None , G-Ansi Graphic, R-Rip ~L:XXX For Language specific displays, where XXX is the language (up to 3 chars). valid entries are up to 3 characters, any defined language extension default is blank So, if I wanted to add the file INTRO60G.FRE for conference 9 (Security level 60, Ansi Graphics file, French Language), the file would look like this: ~9~ ~S:60 ~G:G ~L:FRE The contents of INTRO start here.... *Any, all, or none of the additional identifiers can be used, in any order. In the case of duplicate identefiers in an entry, the last one will be used. For example: ~S:50 ~G:R ~L:SCR ~S:60 The last Security (60) would override the first one. Exporting definitions --------------------- You can export you current data by running the PPE with the EXPORT parameter (like the IMPORT option). This will create a file, INTRO-EX.TXT that will contain all the INTRO screens currently in the database. It will contain all the ~####~ conference indicators, and will be formatted so that it can be re-imported. It also places ALL the command definitions (~S: ~G: ~L:) for each entry. This is a great way to backup the file or do mass editing. Note: It will overwrite any existing INTRO-EX.TXT file. Clearing definitions -------------------- If you want to clear out your database and start fresh, use the CLEAR parameter. USE WITH CARE! When this option is used, it will give you the opportunity to export your current definitions while it clears the database, in case you change you mind afterwards and want to re-import. I'd heavily recommend doing the export. Support ------- Support can be received in any of the following ways: Herbert Bushong Blackbeard's BBS 318-468-3385 Fidonet 1:19/19 internet herbert.bushong@bbread.pecan.com (checked daily) internet hbush@ibm.net (checked weekly) I can also be found on Intelec, U'NI-net and Rebelnet. Feel free to contact me through any of the above methods.