GAPQBDR (C) Copyright 1988,1989 The GAP Development Company SYSOP SETUP AND FUNCTIONS ------------------------- These sysop setup and function descriptions should be placed in the documentation of your door program. You should, of course change the setup information to fit your particular needs. Door programs written with the GAPQBDR Door Interface Module will run on GAP Communications version 4 and greater and on PCB version 14 and greater. To configure the door for a particular BBS setup, a configuration file must be used. At the very minimum, this file will contain three lines. It may contain more than three, depending upon a particular doors configuration requirements. The name of the file is usually the same as that of the door program but with a CNF extension. The minimum requirements for the file are as follows: c:\gap The Crow's Nest 0 The first line is the full path to your BBS default directory. For GAP, this is usually C:\GAP. For PCB, this is usually C:\PCB. The second line is the name of your BBS. The third line is a flag that tells GAPQBDR what BBS system it is running under. A 0 means GAP, and a 1 means PCB. GAPQBDR will obtain the sysop's name from the BBS configuration file. You must now create a batch file to invoke the door. This batch file is placed in your BBS default directory. Such a batch file might look like this: echo off cd \gap\doors\tl tl tl.cfg cd \gap gap As you can see, the door is invoked by passing the configuration file name as a parameter. Page 1 GAPQBDR (C) Copyright 1988,1989 The GAP Development Company You will also need to modify your doors menu files and the data file that tells the BBS what your doors are and the security level needed to access them. For GAP, these are respectively: DOORM DOORMG DOORS.DAT Please refer to your BBS documentation for details on setting these files up. If you are running multi-nodes, simply create a separate door configuration file for each node, and number them. For instance, for a 3 node system, you might have the following configuration files: TL1.CFG TL2.CFG TL3.CFG The only difference between the three would be the 1st line which points to the default directory for the particular node. Multi-user operation is automatic. For GAP, the presence of DUMMYLOK.DAT in the MAIN directory triggers multi-user operation. For PCB, this information is derived from the PCBOARD.DAT file. The following files are read during door initialization. They must be present or the door will not operate. GAP PCB ---------------- ---------------- DOOR.SYS PCBOARD.SYS GAPBBS.CNF PCBOARD.DAT USERS In addition, a particular door may access the GAP USERS.DAT and GAPDOS.DAT files. The following sysop functions are available while awaiting keyboard input : F5 - Shell to DOS. F8 - Twit user and return to BBS. F10 - Initiate chat with user. CF10 - Answer user page bell. Home - Main user stats. End - Displays sysop keys available. PgDn - Secondary user stats. Up Arrow - Increase user's time remaining. Dn Arrow - Decrease user's time remaining. Page 2 GAPQBDR (C) Copyright 1988,1989 The GAP Development Company One of the nicer features about using the TWIT key, is the user is not told that "the sysop wants them to return to the BBS". Instead, a very plain and simple message of "returning you to the BBS" is displayed. This way, the user is given no indication that the sysop is hovering about. When using the F5 shell to DOS key, to return to the door program, simply type EXIT at the DOS command prompt. It is not necessary to change directories back to the door directory. GAPQBDR is smart enough to know which drive and directory the door program is in and will reset the defaults upon return from DOS. The Up and Down Arrow keys increase and decrease the user's time respectively by 5 minutes for each press of the key. There is no indication of what is occurring (except by the fact the user's time remaining will change), so the sysop should try not to have a lead finger. The increase or decrease is effective only while the user is in the door. Since we are firm believers that the BBS system files belong to the BBS and should not be altered by any door program, updating the BBS system file is NOT automatic. If you wish that any decrease or increase in the user's time be made permanent, you may, after initializing the door, call the function that opens the system file. Keep track of any time credits during the door programs operation, then call the function that updates the BBS system file. Examples of how to do this are included in the sample program.