======== ====== ======= == == == === == == === === == == == === == ====== ======= ======================================= The DeAdZoNe Utilities for RemoteAccess ======================================= D-DooR Top-Door/Top-Door-User Statistics Generator for RemoteAccess Version 4.20 May 24, 1993 Copyright Victor Magdic 1991-93 All Rights Reserved Description ----------- D-DooR is a program for RemoteAccess which will automatically track your door usage, and *who* is using them. It will generate "Top Door" stats, as well as "Top Door User" stats. D-DooR 4.20 is designed for use with RemoteAccess 2.00. IMPORTANT: If you are upgrading from D-DooR version 4.00/4.10 be sure to follow these steps before using D-DooR for the first time: 1. Run DDOOR /C 2. Choose Configuration 3. Make any necessary changes to the configuration (there are several new options) and then save the configuration. 4. Quit Main Features ------------- * Creates two bulletins: A "Top Door" bulletin and a "Top Door User" bulletin. The number of doors/users displayed is fully configurable. And you can name the bulletins anything you want. * Built in configuration program makes setting up D-DooR a snap. * Supports an exclusion file, which allows you to specify up to 100 names or handles which you want excluded from the "Top-Door-User" bulletin. * The Top-Door data file can be easily edited and changed at any time using any text editor. * Old users can be purged based on the number of days since they last used a door or the total number of doors they have used. * The Top-Door-User and Top-Door counters can be quickly and easily reset. * Shows how many days the statistics cover (e.g. last 50 days). * Supports conditional compiling of the bulletins, so that they are only created if the door or user information has been updated. This can be a real time-saver for sysops who like to generate the bulletins "on-the- fly". * D-DooR will detect if a door is entered more than once in sequence by the same user, and will not count it. This is useful for doors that need to be entered more than once per call, and it also deters users from trying to build up their stats by entering and exiting doors repeatedly. This option can be temporarily disabled if necessary. * Supports Handles and Real Names. * Supports up to 250 doors. * Multi-node compatible. * D-DooR is completely free and requires no registration. How much does it cost? ---------------------- This utility is FREE! If you like it you can continue to use it for as long as you like free of charge! If you do decide to use it, I would be excited to hear from you !! I encourage you to send me a postcard at the address listed below (see the end of this text file), or a message via netmail. It will cost you practically nothing, and will let me know you're enjoying the program. It will also give me incentive to keep improving the program and make it even better! D-DooR Maintenance Menu ----------------------- By running DDOOR /C you can invoke the D-DooR maintenance Menu. From this menu you can configure D-DooR, as well as perform a number of other functions such as generating reports and resetting door counters. These specific features will be explained in more detail below. Configuration ------------- Choose "Configure D-DooR" from the menu and you will be presented with the configuration menu. Most of the options are self explanatory and only a few will be described below: Include Sysop in If you want the sysop to be included in the door bulletin statistics turn this option on. Sysop Name in bulletin If you want the sysop's name included at the top of the bulletin then turn this option. (Note: the name is use is whatever you have specified under "sysop name".) Use Handles Choose YES to use handles when generating the bulletins. Choose NO to use real names. Use Exclusion File If you want to use an exclusion file, turn this option on (see discussion on exclusion file later in the docs). Use Dupe detection If you want to enable dupe detection turn this option on. (For an explanation of dupe detection see later in the docs). Date Stamp -Door D-DooR will keep track of how many days the Door Bulletin statistics cover (e.g. the last 10 days or the last 50 days). If you want to change this value you can do so here. Note: when you reset the Door Counters using the maintenance menu, this value is automatically reset to 0. Date Stamp -Door User D-DooR will keep track of how many days the Door-User Bulletin statistics cover (e.g. the last 10 days or the last 50 days). If you want to change this value you can do so here. Note: when you reset the Door-User Counters using the maintenance menu, this value is automatically reset to 0. Colour Scheme Choose the colour scheme for generating the bulletins.1) Yellow/Red2) Cyan/Magenta3) 3-D shadow effect Paths and Filenames Choose this option and you will be presented with another menu where you can define: 1. The directory where you want the bulletins created (normally your RA textfiles directory) 2. The D-DooR directory (this is useful if you want to keep all the D-DooR data files in a separate directory - otherwise D-DooR will use the main RA directory) 3. The filenames of the bulletins which D-DooR will created (i.e. a top-door bulletin, and a top-door-user bulletin). Do not include an extension. Conditional Compile Choose whether you want D-DooR to use conditional compiles when generating the bulletins (see discussion of conditional compiling later in the docs). Door Name Data File ------------------- You must create a data file called DDOOR ID.DAT which contains formation about your doors. The file must be a plain ASCII textfile (Note: there is a sample DDOOR_ID.DAT file included which you can modify to suit your needs). Each door which you want to keep track of has three lines of information ssociated with it, up to 250 doors can be specified in this way: Line 1. Three letter code to identify the door Line 2. The door name (as you want it to appear in the bulletin). Line 3. The number of times the door has been accessed. When you are first creating this file, set this value to 0. Example of DDOOR_ID.DAT: TW2 <-- three letter code TradeWars 2002 <-- door name 0 <-- times used AC6 Alpha Colony 6 0 YTR Yankee Trader 0 Comments -------- * Do not put any blank lines in the data file, and be sure you maintain the proper order (id, doorname, times used). * You don't have to start the door counter at 0, you can start it at any number you want. For example, if you have been running tradewars for some time, you can make an estimate of how many times it has been used and put that number in instead. * Since the data file is a plain ASCII text file, you can modify it at any time and change the values. Resetting the Door Counters --------------------------- The Door Counters in DDOOR_ID.DAT can be quickly reset from the maintenance menu. This will change ALL the door counters to zero. (Note: if for some reason you only want to set *some* of the door counters to zero, you can do this manually by editing DDOOR_ID.DAT using a text editor.) To bring up the maintenance menu run DDOOR with the /C switch. You will be presented with a menu of choices. Choose "Reset Top Door Data File" to reset the door counters. USER Data-File -------------- D-DooR automatically maintains a file called DDOOR_NA.DAT which it uses to keep track of the Top-Door-Users. You should not attempt to edit this file yourself because the results may be unpredictable. If you want to "reset" the top-door- user statistics you can do so using the D-DooR Maintenance Menu -choose "Reset Door-User Data File". You can purge users from the User-Data-File based on the number of days since they last used a door or the total number of doors they have used. This is done from the Maintenance utility -choose "Purge User Data File" and then you will be asked if you want to purge by days or by total. Note: Door will automatically create a backup file called DDOOR_NA.BAK whenever you purge users from the data file. If you change your mind after purging users, just copy this file back over the DDOOR_NA.DAT file. Door User Report ---------------- You can have D-DooR generate a Top-Door-User report by selecting this option in the D-DooR maintenance menu. This report is simply a list of all the users in the D-DooR data file, as well as a information about how many doors they have used, and the how many days ago the last use was. The report is created in a file called DDRUSER.LST and the directory you have specified as the D-DooR directory (see configuration above). Updating Door Counters ---------------------- To update the counter for a particular door, run DDOOR in your batch file after you run the door and specify the three letter ID code that corresponds to that door on the command line. Example: DDOOR AC6 Would update the counter for the door which corresponds to the id code "AC6" (Alpha Colony 6 if you were using the example data file shown above) Comments -------- * If you enter an ID code that is not defined in the data file (DDOOR_ID.DAT) it will simply be ignored. * The ID codes are not case sensitive, so AC6, ac6, and Ac6 would all be treated the same. * You can run D-DooR before or after you run the door. If you are running under a multi-node set-up and your batch file changes directories to run the door, it is recommended that you run D-DooR *before* the door, so that it can find the exitinfo.bbs file for that node. Dupe Checking ------------- If you have configured D-DooR to do "Dupe Checking" then it will detect if a door is entered sequentially by the same user, and will not count it a second time. You can always temporarily override the global setting by specifying /N after the three letter door id (this will ignore the dupe checking for the current door only). example: DDOOR TW2 /N Will ignore global dupe checking for the current door update Generating Bulletins -------------------- Bulletins are NOT automatically generated every time you update the door counter. This is done in the interest of speed, since generating bulletins every time a user accesses a door can be time consuming, particularly if you have a slow hard drive. (Note: if you want to generate bulletins after every door a method is explained below.) In order to generate the bulletins you must use the /G parameter on the command line. Example: DDOOR /G This will create four files in the Textfiles directory (as specified in the configuration menu). Listed below are the default names, you can change them in the configuration program. DDOOR_ID.ANS Ansi version of Top Doors Bulletin DDOOR_ID.ASC Ascii " " " " " DDOOR_NA.ANS Ansi version of Top Door Users Bulletin DDOOR_NA.ASC Ascii " " " " " " Generating Stats after each Door -------------------------------- It is recommended that you generate bulletins at least once per day in your daily maintenance routine. If you don't mind the extra delay, and want to generate new bulletins after every door is used, just generate the bulletins separately after you update the door counter. For example, your batch file might look like this: REM batch file for TW2002 -game one @echo off cd \ra\doors\tw2002 tw2002 -qbbs cd \ra rem update door counter for Tradewars 2002 DDOOR TW2 rem generate bulletins DDOOR /G Conditional Compile ------------------- If you have configured D-DooR to do conditional compiles (see D-DooR configuration above) then D-DooR will only generate bulletins if the door or user stats have changed. This can be a real time-saver if you decide to generate bulletins "on-the-fly" -i.e. only when a user decides to view them. Exclusion List -------------- D-DooR supports an exclusion list which allows you to specify up to 100 users which you do not want included in the bulletins. This is useful if have users (or co-sysops) which you want to "hide" from the bulletins. In order to use this feature you must create a plain ASCII text file called DDOOR.CTL and simply list the name or handle of the user which you want excluded (one entry per line). You must also enable "Exclusion File Checking" in the configuration menu. Comments -------- * It is not necessary to specify both a user's real name and their handle as separate entries, one or the other will suffice. * The entries in DDOOR.CTL are *not* case sensitive, so if you have "John Smith" in your DDOOR.CTL file, and the user's name is actually spelt "JoHn SmItH", the name will still be properly excluded. * If you have more than 100 entries in DDOOR.CTL, D-DooR will tell you so and abort with an error message. Example of DDOOR.CTL: John Smith Jane Smith The Punisher Location of Files ----------------- In order for D-DooR to function properly, it is essential that you have the RA environment variable set (for more information on the RA environment variable see the RA docs). DDOOR.EXE can be placed either in the main RA directory, or anywhere in your path (if you are running multi-node see below). The DDOOR data files (DDOOR_ID.DAT,DDOOR_NA.DAT, and DDOOR.CTL) must go in the directory which you have specified as the 'D-DooR Directory' in the configuration (by default, this is the main RA directory -but you can change it to anything you like). D-DooR creates the following temporary files (in the 'D-DooR Directory'): DDOOR.DUP Used to detect duplicate door usage by same user. DDOOR_ID.TMP Stores temporary door info. This files is removed when you generate the bulletins. DDOOR_NA.TMP Stores temporary user info. This file is removed when you generate the bulletins. Multi-Node Considerations ------------------------- D-DooR uses information from EXITINFO.BBS to update the door-user counter, and it will look for EXITINFO in the current directory. This makes multi-node set- ups easy. All you have to do is run D-DooR from your node directory (where the exitinfo.bbs will be stored), and D-DooR will handle the rest. It's not necessary to have a copy of DDOOR.EXE in each node directory, provided that DDOOR.EXE is somewhere in your path. NOTE: Because D-DooR must be able to locate the exitinfo.bbs, if your door batch file changes directories in order to run the door, it is recommended that you run D-DooR before you execute the directory change (otherwise D-DooR may not be able to find the files it needs). example: rem Game Multi-node -run ddoor before the door DDOOR gam cd \ra\doors\game game.exe exit Legal Stuff and Disclaimer -------------------------- "D-DooR" refers to the executables and documentation in the original distribution archive. D-DooR is copyrighted material by the author, Victor Magdic. All rights are reserved. The author grants you a licence to use this software free of charge. The program is provided "as is", without warranty or guarantee of any kind, either expressed or implied, as to its quality or performance. The author will not be held liable to you or anyone for any direct, indirect, incidental or consequential damages, including but not limited to any lost profits, or lost savings which may result from the use or inability to use this program. The author is in no way obligated to provide future versions of this software. Your use of the program constitutes your agreement to these terms and to this disclaimer. All mentioned products are copyrighted by and/or trademarks of their respective holders. Credits ------- Thanks to James FitzGibbon for his numerous suggestions, and also for his invaluable help as a beta tester. Thanks also to Jonathan Rapoport for his suggestions and bug reports. Updates ------- Please see the enclosed file DEADZONE.TXT for information on how to obtain the latest version of D-DooR. Suggestions always welcome! --------------------------- If you have any suggestions for improvement or wish to report any bugs, you can reach me via netmail: The DeAdZoNe Victor Magdic FidoNet: 1:259/427 TeleNet Canada: 20:22/104 or by writing to: Victor Magdic 424 Camden Circle Mississauga, Ontario L4Z 2P4 CANADA ------------------------------------------------------------------ end