³ The Silicon Frog, Inc. ³ ³ John Hancock 3.0 ³ ³ The JH3AUTO Program ³ ³ Version 1.0 ³ ³ (c) 1988-92 The Silicon Frog, Inc. All Rights Reserved Table of Contents Introduction...............................................1 How Duzzit Work?...........................................1 Installing the program.....................................2 Command-line Parameters....................................2 The /TAG= parameter....................................2 The /CF parameter......................................3 The /CY parameter......................................3 Conclusion and Best Wishes.................................4 JH3AUTO Page 1 Introduction JH3AUTO was released approximately two months after JH3 in response to a number of JH3 users who expressed the need for an automated tagline selector program. As the program name indicates, JH3AUTO is automatic. As with any good camera, however, the program's automatic features can be selectively defeated. But only up to a point. JH3AUTO assumes that JH3 has been installed on your system; it relies on the presence of JH3 configuration files. And, if you're not a registered user, JH3AUTO will issue reminders just like JH3, but with one major difference: you are not charged for uses of JH3AUTO. Reminders issued by JH3AUTO only reflect the level of use of JH3 itself. As a result, if JH3AUTO is the only tagline selection program you use, it will never issue reminder messages. Since JH3AUTO doesn't do a heck of a lot to begin with, I thought that a show of generosity might provide an even stronger incentive to register JH3. I want your money, but I ain't gonna bash you upside the head for it (although, with *some* folks, head-bashing is the only thing that works when it comes to registering shareware). How Duzzit Work? JH3AUTO is very easy to use. Unlike JH3, whose configuration is customized via the JH3CFG program, JH3AUTO is controlled entirely by command-line parameters. Some people do not like command-line parameters. Others do not like configuration programs. And there's a third group out there that doesn't like programs that can't read their minds. To make everybody happy, the next release of JH3AUTO will be controlled by A) very large electrodes screwed directly into your brain or B) very long probes you stick up your nose. Since I had to develop and test the system myself, you will have to be able to think backwards and in French. Program bugs, if any, will manifest themselves as massive electrical surges which may or may not result in permanent damage to your cerebral cortex. Such is the price of progress, folks. áeta testers are encouraged to apply. JH3AUTO's purpose is to select tagfiles and taglines automatically. You may restrict the program to a single tagfile, and you may also tell it program to *cycle* through tagfiles, rather than to select taglines at random -- the program's default M.O. Finally, you can tell the program that you want to confirm the choice, or merely see the tagline that was selected. In fully automatic mode, JH3AUTO JH3AUTO Page 2 requires absolutely NO command-line parameters and produces no displays whatsoever -- it picks a tagfile and a tagline completely at random. Installing the program JH3AUTO must be defined to your reader in much the same way as you defined JH3 itself -- of course, you must assign a different activation key for JH3AUTO. In addition, you may wish to use some of the program's command-line parameters if you do not want JH3AUTO to operate in totally automatic mode. These parameters are described next. *How* you install JH3AUTO in your mail reader depends entirely on your mail reader -- see the INSTALL.TXT file distributed with JH3; and use the same installation procedure for JH3AUTO as you would for JH3 itself. JH3AUTO provides no inherent advantages to a mail reader which already features a random or sequential tagline selection method. Of course, if your reader does not have this feature, then you need JH3AUTO. Command-line Parameters As with any other program, JH3AUTO's command-line parameters follow the program's name in the reader's configuration entry for the program: JH3AUTO [/TAG=tagfile] [/CF] [/CY] [/NS] Note that parameters can be specified in any order, but they must be separated by at least one space. JH3AUTO's command- line parameter are not case-sensitive (i.e., "/cf" is the same as "/CF"). The /TAG= parameter /TAG= lets you restrict JH3AUTO to a single tagfile. You need not specify the .TAG extension. For example, to restrict JH3AUTO to the JH.TAG file, you would use: JH3AUTO /TAG=JH If the /TAG= parameter is not used, JH3AUTO will pick a tagfile at random. JH3AUTO Page 3 The /CF parameter /CF tells JH3AUTO to display a summary and confirmation message before sending the tagfile to the reader program. When this option is used, JH3AUTO display a summary screen which includes the tagfile name, the tagline, its rank in the tagfile, and a the following prompt: =Accept =Cancel R=Try Again Pressing sends the tagline to the reader, while immediately terminates JH3AUTO without sending the tagline to the reader. Pressing R tells JH3AUTO to select a different tagline (the confirmation screen will be displayed again, of course). If you use the /CF parameter, you should also use the /NS parameter. If you have "questionable" taglines, or taglines which contain metastrings, use the /CF option so have an opportunity to reject the selected tagline and ask JH3AUTO to select a different one. For example, if you are messaging in the Feminism conference, you may wish to press R when JH3AUTO picks: "Until Eve arrived, this was a man's world" Similarly, you may wish to skip the following in the Macho Dudes conference: "Man are creatures with 2 legs and 8 hands." The /CY parameter /CY (CYcle) tells JH3AUTO to select taglines sequentially rather than at random (the default mode). When /CY is specified, JH3AUTO maintains small (2-byte) .PTR files for each tagfile it uses. If you let JH3AUTO select tagfiles at random (i.e., you do not use the /TAG= parameter), then you will see a number of .PTR files appearing in your tagfile directory. This is normal; JH3AUTO stores the "last used" tagline number in these files. The filename of the .PTR file is the same as that of the tagfile it is associated with. When /CY is in effect, JH3AUTO always selects the next sequential tagline, based on the value contained in the tagfile's .PTR file. When JH3AUTO reaches the end of a JH3AUTO Page 4 tagfile, the counter is reset which causes the first tagline to be selected next. If you use random tagfile selection and the /CY parameter, then all of your taglines will eventually be selected (although some may be sent more than once if a specific tagfile is randomly selected more times than it has taglines). The /NS parameter By default, JH3AUTO displays a summary message showing the tagline it has sent to the reader before it terminates -- and you must press a key to return to the reader. If you like suspense, or if you don't really care what tagline was selected, then use the /NS parameter to suppress the summary display. As mentioned earlier, you should use /NS whenever you use /CF, unless you REALLY WANT TO SEE THAT TAGLINE TWICE. The default summary display contains the same information as the confirmation display, and it is shown *after* the tagline has been sent to the reader. Not specifying /NS when /CF is in effect would yield a redundant display and would require an additional keystroke to terminate the program. Conclusion and Best Wishes If you are a True Gambler, then run JH3AUTO without command- line parameters. And do NOT peek at the taglines it selected. If you have a few risqu‚ taglines, the suspense is well worth it. On the other hand, if you are a chicken like me, definitely use the /CF parameter. I definitely don't want that sexist tagline sent to a feminist. I hope JH3AUTO brings you much tagline enjoyment. And if you like it and its companion JH3 programs, see REGISTER.TXT and please send me money. Thank you for your support.