04/05/94 To install, drop the new files into your BoardMaster directory. 1. Run BRDBLDR.EXE and use option <3> 2. Enter the Sysop mode of BoardMaster and add the command key and prompt that will be used to allow the user to Change display modes 3. Enter the Sysop mode of BoardMaster and add the command key and prompt that will be used to allow the user to View the Category Listing 4. You will note that the Banners have changed. You may have to modify your banner color selections to take advantage of this new format. Added a new command that allows the user to select either a 3 column listing or a single column display with info. The SYSOP may still define a default display type. When building boards from TIMS/QSO.CTL files, the start number and spacing paramaters were not working correctly. Add the ability to export the board database into files formatted as AREAS.BBS, TIMS.CTL and QSO.CTL Added a disconnect sequence so that if a user got disconnected while an external menu was painting, their Expert level would not be reset. BoardMaster can now hold up to 10,000 Boards, as opposed to the previous limit of 1,000. Minor editing of Board Descriptions may be necessary if they fill up the entire field. The full field will always show up, however, in single column mode. You may now offer users a choice of Categories, under which you may group message boards. You may have up to 999 categories defined. Direct Category access is implemented by adding -CAT to the opt data line. Like: C:\TBBS\BRDMASTR\BRDMASTR /Q && -CAT If BoardMaster detects this switch it will not display the main menu. Instead it will display a list of Categories which you have defined. When a user selects a category, only the boards identified with that category will be displayed. The second mode of category operation allows you to jump to the boards in a specific category without the category listing. To use this mode, configure the opt data using -CAT and -B:. like: C:\TBBS\BRDMASTR\BRDMASTR /Q && -CAT -B: The actual Opt Data call might look like: C:\TBBS\BRDMASTR\BRDMASTR /Q && -CAT -B:Adult Category If you use the ALL keyword instead of a Category Name, then BoardMaster will jump immediately to a listing of all boards, regardless of category. Like: C:\TBBS\BRDMASTR\BRDMASTR /Q && -CAT -B:ALL Finally, you may tell BoardMaster to do a partial match on the category name. And only display the categories which begin with that name. So if you have categories named: Adult Chat Adult Couples Adult Swingers Only BoardMaster will let you use the -C parameter to only display those categories that begin with the word 'Adult'. Like: C:\TBBS\BRDMASTR\BRDMASTR /Q && -CAT -C:Adult If no switches are detected, BoardMaster will operate as it currently does. You may have multiple SDL entries operating concurrently, one which uses categories, one which uses BoardMaster's other capabilities and is not category sensitive, etc.. To implement this function, you must do several things: 1. Define a list of Categories from the Category Display by running BoardMaster with the -CAT switch or accessing the Category display from the main menu. 2. At the same time, you may protect categories from being accessed by assigning a flag to them. 3. Edit your Board Database and identify Boards with a Category. 4. On the main Sysop menu, determine if you want categories displayed alphabetically or in natural order. You may also decide to sort the database, which will permanently place all entries in alphabetic order. You may re-sort the database at any time as long as no users are accessing BoardMaster. 5. Customize your Main Menu and define the Main Menu Command key and prompt that will be used to send users to the category display from the main menu. Leave it blank for no access. BoardMaster III Update 12/02/93 By John Schachat Installation Instructions: To install changes, Replace your existing files with those in this package. Then run BRDBLDR.EXE and select option <3>. This will update your databases and enable the new TPG file(s). BRDBLDR.EXE MUST be run in your BoardMaster directory. Remember to always back up your files before performing an update. The first time BoardMaster is run afterwards, it will appear slow to start as it rebuilds the index files. Added RIP Support. You may now define 3 rip menus, as you would for the ANSI/ASCII external menus, as well as a flag which your system, and now BoardMaster, uses to determine a RIP user. Fixed a bug in BrdBldr that would cause a space to be placed in front of the default switches when boards were initially built. Added back the ability to jump to an external menu for Mail commands using the NOTES field. Added the ability to define a Fast Logoff Menu so that the fast logoff function takes the user to a menu instead of just logging them off. Fixed a problem where a bounceback flag would change all the flags for a particular flag number. Found a problem with the bounceback flags where they would clear all the flags if any where in use. Added the ability to change the way your Individual Message Boards are displayed. You may now select either the 3-across format (the current mode) or a new format which displays each board on it's own line as well as it's description. Like: Current Way: 001 Message to Sysop 002 Lounge 003 Strange Brew or New Option: 001 Message to Sysop Send a Message to the Sysop 002 Lounge Relax and talk about Anything you want 003 Strange Brew Discuss topics relating to Beer and Ale Added the ability in BoardBuilder to define a Number at which to start numbering your Boards. For example, you could tell it to start the numbering sequence at 100 and then space by 10. This would give you board IDs of 100, 110, 120, etc. Added the ability to define the nfo key that is used in the Individual Message Board listing Command line. Previously, it was hard coded to I. BoardMaster III Update 8/14/93 By John Schachat Fixed a bug when scanning a topic. The topic would show as Undefined due to trailing blanks in the topic path. Changed the uit function in the BoardMaster Sysop menu to return you to the main menu instead of a complete exit from BoardMaster. BoardMaster III Update 7/14/93 By John Schachat Fixed a bug in BoardBuilder which caused the wrong default switches to be used when using topics and initially building the databases. Fixed a bug that would only show up if you were using EasyMail but not TIMS or QSO. This bug caused the BounceBack feature to Malfunction. Added a new feature where you can use the Fast Logoff function to transfer to a logoff menu instead of directly disconnecting. This allows final user accounting to be done prior to a logoff. It may still be configured to do an immediate disconnect as well. It is configured in the second screen of Global Commands from the Tailor Menu area. BoardMaster III Update 6/11 By John Schachat Package Contents: BRDMASTR.TPG - Updated TDBS program file. BRDBLDR.EXE - Updated BoardBuilder. CHANGES.TXT - This File. Be sure to read! BORD.HDR - Updated Header File for earch function. FIDONET.NA - Sample Info file. TIMS.CTL - Sample control file containing MSGAREA info. FIDO.TPG - New TDBS module invoked by BoardMaster Changes: BoardMaster now has the ability to automatically invoke EasyMail during the message creation process. EasyMail is seamlessly integrated and uses the BoardMaster color/bracket scheme as selected by the individual user as well as the message board that has been selected from within BoardMaster. EasyMail allows user name searching/mailing based on the sound of a user's name or by any characters contained within the name. It also has a 30 user personal phonebook for each user with automatic name entry, so there's no retyping. On the Sysop menu, combined Add/Edit/Delete functions into the Board list function . BoardBuilder is now able to build it's databases based on the MsgArea definitions in TIMS.CTL as well as QSO.CTL and CONFIG.CTL. Note: If you are creating your database from TIMS/QSO.CTL, the CEDIT Board name MUST be enclosed in double quotes. PMG Reconciliation has been taken out of the BoardMaster TPG and put into the BoardMaster .EXE program. This is due to the excessive amount of time and processing power this function takes in a TBBS environment. Reconciliation may now be run either manually from the BoardBuilder menu or without operator intervention as an external event by using the "-R" switch. Example: C:\TBBS\BRDBLDR.EXE -R. The ghost mode in BRDMASTR.TPG has also been removed. Reconciliation is done automatically when sorting boards Alphabetically. This is a much faster/efficient way of performing this function. BoardBuilder now allows you to build your Database in alphabetical order by board name either when creating a new database or to update an existing database. The reconcile function within BoardBuilder will be run automatically to insure that PMGS are kept in synch with the new board numbering scheme. Added the ability to capture and display board activity when boards are accessed either through PMGs or as Individual Boards. Board activity may be displayed by Reads, Writes, Total Activity, or Alphabetically by Board Name. This new function is available on the Sysop menu. Read and Write numbers may be edited through the Board Editor. This function is accessed through on the Sysop menu. Caveats: Board activity cannot be tracked if the boards are accessed through a TBBS Combined Read. Only boards accessed through BoardMaster are tracked. Replies are not tracked. Added a new feature where additional information about a board may be displayed from the board listing display by Pressing . The information is also displayed after a board has been selected and if the Internal menus are in use. This information may be added manually through the Board Editor. It may also be added automatically from a FIDONET.NA file. This requires the presence of a TBBS TIMS.CTL file or a text file resembling one. The presence of TIMS itself is not required. Changed the search function to provide access to individual board names, numbers and information instead of the 3 across display previously presented. Installation Instructions: To install changes, Replace your existing files with those in this package. Then run BRDBLDR.EXE and select option <3>. This will update your databases and enable the new TPG file(s). BRDBLDR.EXE MUST be run in your BoardMaster directory. Remember to always back up your files before performing an update. The first time BoardMaster is run afterwards, it will appear slow to start as it rebuilds the index files. Additional installation instructions for the Info Files. The information files provide your users with the ability to request additional information about a particular board. Incorporating this information may be accomplished in several ways. 1. It can be a completely manual process where you edit each board and add the new information. 2. You may use either a FIDONET.NA file or prepare a text file with the information offline and import it into the BoardMaster database. 3. You may use a combination of 1 and 2. About the FIDONET.NA file: This file is distributed through FidoNet on a regular basis and contains echo names and a brief description about each. You may use either this file or any text file which is formatted in the following manner: <64 char. max Description> Example: EMAIL Send and Receive Personal Electronic Mail AVIATION INTERNATIONAL AVIATION ECHO AVICULTURE Captive Propagation of Birds A_CAD International AutoCAD/CAD Conference A_THEIST A_Theism Education and Enlightenment Echo BAMA Odyssey Fringe Science Echo BASIC7 PDS and VB/DOS Discussions BATPOWER Batch Languages Programming This file must reside in the BoardMaster directory and must be named FIDONET.NA. This lets you create your own list of descriptive information for all your boards offline which may then be easily incorportated into BoardMaster while it is online. The second piece is that there must be a TIMS.CTL file, OR a file that contains MSGAREA information that BoardMaster can access. This is used by BoardMaster to translate FIDO echo information into CEDIT Board Names. It is formatted as follows: Example: MSGAREA EMAIL "EMAIL" MSGAREA CONNEX "Connex" MSGAREA TBBS_DEV "Developers Net" MSGAREA TBBS "TBBS SysOps Net MSGAREA TBBSTECH "TBBS Technical" MSGAREA TDBSTECH "TDBS Technical" MSGAREA PROMENU "ProMenu Support" MSGAREA GWSOFT "Software Support" MSGAREA HOME_REPAIR "Home Repair" MSGAREA INTCHNG "InterChange" MSGAREA PROBETA "ProMenu Beta" MSGAREA SNAPSUPP "SNAP Support" MSGAREA NAPLPS_GRAPHICS "NAPLPS Echo" If you are not using FIDONET or a message board does not appear in your TIMS.CTL file, simply create a text file with similar information and use that instead. An example of a board that might not appear in TIMS.CTL would be EMAIL. Note that the same name appears as both the FIDO name and the CEDIT name. The cedit name must be exactly the same as it appears in CEDIT. Adding Board Descriptions: OK, the hard part is over. Now, run BoardMaster and go into the Sysop functions. Press the uild key. You will be prompted for the ype 20 build or the idoNet Build. Select idoNet. You will now be prompted for the location of the TIMS.CTL file. Enter that path\name or, if you have made a hybrid file containing the MSGAREA information, enter the name of that file. Example: Enter Path\name of TIMS.CTL file: C:\TBBS\TIMS.CTL This will replace all existing Description Information in the BoardMaster database with that contained in the FIDONET.NA file. About the -U switch (Update) An optional switch may also be added which provides an Update only. This will only incorporate information for boards that are not already in the database. The first time you add information, do not use the -U switch. In other words, Let's say you've incorporated the FIDONET.NA file once without the switch. You've then gone in and modified some of the descriptions through the board editor. Later, you decide to receive a couple of new echoes. In order to preserve the changes that you made using the board editor, you would use the -U switch. This would only ADD new items that weren't already in the BoardMaster Database and would NOT change any existing items. Example: Enter Path\name of TIMS.CTL file: C:\TBBS\TIMS.CTL -U This will only add new information to the BoardMaster database from the FIDONET.NA file because of the -U switch. Once this is done, you then need to rebuild the Type 20 index file to incorporate the new information. Press from the Sysop menu and select ype 20. Finally, you need to modify the User prompts for the Tailor Menu/Individual Board Selection screens to allow users to obtain info about a board. The command key is hard coded as 'I', so you should add nfo to the prompt lines (both of them). Example: Old: Enter a Board Number, Restart Listing, o To, earch, uit: New: Board Number, Restart Listing, o To, earch, info, uit: That's it. The info for any board will now appear on the individual board listing screen and any time an individual board is selected. This information will also now appear when the earch function is invoked. BoardMaster III Update 3/23 Package Contents: BRDMASTR.TPG - Updated TDBS program file. BRDBLDR.EXE - Updated BoardBuilder. INSTALL.TXT - Updated Install Doc. CHANGES.TXT - This File. BoardMaster: PMGs may now have up to 42 boards apiece. The Sysop, or anyone with a priv of 255 may now change any user's color selections, individually. This is accomplished by selecting the Color Selections menu pick from the main menu, typing in the user's name and modifying his/her selections. This may sometimes be necessary if a user has not put in the correct settings. 3/15/93 Package Contents: BRDMASTR.TPG - Updated TDBS program file. BRDBLDR.EXE - Updated BoardBuilder. INSTALL.TXT - Updated Install Doc. CHANGES.TXT - This File. Sample External Menus MAIN.ANS MAIN.ASC GROUP.ANS GROUP.ASC MAIL.ANS MAIL.ASC To install the updates run BRDBLDR and Select option <3> from the main menu. Changes: The Selections on the Main Menu will now appear single spaced instead of double space. This was necessary in order to maintain a neat appearance with the wide variety of menu items now being offered. BoardBuilder now has the ability to build your Message board database from QSO.Ctl OR Config.Ctl. The advantage to building the database from QSO.Ctl is that complete topic hierarchies may be specified in the QSO file, which BoardBuilder will import. In the Config.Ctl file, only topic roots are specified. Because Boardbuilder has this new ability, Additional default information may be specified when importing from A QSO file. This includes default Opt Data switches for Read, Write, Scan and Delete. There are now optional menu picks on the main menu to read messages or send messages generated by PostMaster. PostMaster allows complete control of Mass Mailings WITHOUT Adding to your TBBS message base. The three BoardMaster menus (Main menu, IMB menu and PMG menu) may now be replaced by Text files. You may select to use the internal BoardMaster menus or the external menus via a switch in the tailor menus screen as well as define the names of the txt files you will use for your menus. Each menu requires 2 files, one for ascii and one for ansi. All menu restrictions (leave blank to omit, priv levels, etc.) are still respected although BoardMaster will now have no control of what will be displayed in the Text File. On the Main Menu, the Combined Functions menu item may now be removed by leaving the prompt blank in the Tailor menus area. You may now 'clone' a board definition and use it as a template when doing an IMB add. To do this, edit the board you want to clone. Hit until you reach the prompy asking if you want to save the definition as a template. Type 'Y'. That definition is now saved and may be used as the template for any new Boards you add. You may now edit a deleted IMB. New User Default PMGs now have priv levels associated with them which are defined as >= the user's priv level. This allows the Sysop to determine which type of user gets which default PMGs. You can now assign passwords to the new user default PMGs or the keyword 'update'. When the user hits the key in their PMG screen they are prompted for either the password or the word 'update'. If they enter the password then any default PMGs which have that password attached to them are added to the user's PMG list. If they type the word 'update', then any Default PMGs which have been flagged as an update are added. Because of the way this is being done there is now the distinct possibility that a user can end up with more than 1 pmg with the same ID number. To allow the user to selectively delete a PMG I have modified the removal function. Before, you would enter the PMG Id and it would remove the FIRST PMG it found with that ID. Now it will cycle through the PMGS and ask which one you want to remove based on it's name. Lets' say you have 3 PMGs with ID 25. The first one is named PMG1, the second PMG2, the third PMG3. So, you say Remove. BoardMaster will comback and ask you for the ID number. You type in 25. BoardMaster will come back and ask if you want to remove PMG1, you say N, BoardMaster will come bcak and ask if you want to remove PMG2, you say N, BoardMaster will come back and ask about PMG3, You say Y and it gets removed. Boards within PMGS will now respect the priv level assigned in the board editor regardless of the setting of the security switches. So, if a user priv level has changed AFTER they added a board to their PMG, the Board will remain in the PMG but no functions may be performed on it. Bug Fix: You are now able to delete the last PMG a user has. BoardMaster III Update 2/17/93 Package Contents: BRDMASTR.TPG - Updated TDBS program file. BRDBLDR.EXE - Updated BoardBuilder. INSTALL.TXT - Updated Install Doc. CHANGES.TXT - This File. First backup your existing BoardMaster files. To install this update run BRDBLDR.EXE (the version enclosed in this package) in the same directory as your BoardMaster files. Select option 3. Quit BoardBuilder. Put the New TPG file in your existing BoardMaster directory. Run BoardMaster. Read the following changes/New Features and use the Sysop functions to set them up according to your preferences. New Features: BoardBuilder: All update and conversion features are now contained within BoardBuilder. There is no longer a separate conversion utility. Board Builder also contains a number of new initialization features which allow you to individually initialize your message board database and/or your user colors and user PMGs and/or your new user default PMGs. The Bord.Inx and Boards.Txt files are now built when BoardBuilder runs as well as from within BoardMaster, eliminating an installation step. BoardBuilder now has a new Purge function. When it is run, BoardBuilder compares the entries in the userlog.bbs with the contents of the user color preferences database and the user PMG database. If it finds entries in either database which have no corresponding entries in the userlog.bbs, those database entries are deleted and the databases are packed. This allows you to keep the size of your databases smaller by deleting users from them who are no longer active on your system. BoardMaster: Menu entries for ENTER a message and DELETE a message are now controlled by user privilege level. If the user's Priv level is not equal to or greater than the one set by the Sysop, the menu entries for those functions will not appear on any menu. This allows DELETE a Message, for example, to be restricted to Sigop use. In the same way, ENTER a Message could be reserved for registered users. These entries are defined in Sysop\Tailor Menus\Global Prompts menu. There is a new Command/Prompt available on all BoardMaster menus. A Fast Logoff/Quit. It will appear alongside your Quit command and is configurable in the Sysop Screen under Tailor Menus\Global Prompts. If the prompt is left blank, the function will not be available. If it is filled in you have the choice to configure the command to either log the user off the system immediately or return him to the exit menu you specified using the enu option on the main Sysop menu. If you choose the EXIT TO TBBS function, the prompt will not appear on the main menu, as that would duplicate the QUIT function. There is a new Prompt/Command available on the main menu. It allows you to display a text file. The anticipated use for this is to display a file containing echoconferences which you may, or may not, have on your board so that your users can request them. However, since the prompt and command keys are definable, it could be used to display any type of file at all. It may also be defeated by leaving the command prompt blank, in which case it will not appear at all. It is configured in the Sysop screen under Tailor Menus\Main Menu. Bug/Anomaly Fixes: Bounceback with TIMS would sometimes not work because an internal flag wasn't being set before the program invoked TIMS. (Fixed) Redisplay of the PMG Integrated mail screen was taking too long if a wrong key was hit on that menu. (Fixed) The Menu to Exit to function wasn't exiting to the specified menu, but to the last menu that called BoardMaster. (Fixed) Sometimes a topic wouldn't work in a PMG and you would get a message saying that the board hadn't been defined in CEDIT. It would work, however if it was accessed as an individual board. (Fixed) Changes: Since TDBS is only capable of passing up to 64 bytes to TBBS when it shells out, a 64 byte marker has been added to the message board name\path field in the Add/Edit a board screens. If you are adding a long topic hierarchy which exceeds this limit, this board will have to use an external mail menu to drive its mail commands and use the ADDR 1/2 fields from your Userlog. BoardMaster would only look in the TBBS directory if a file name, with no explicit path, was specified for a rules file when defining a board. Now, if you just type in a file name, boardmaster will look in it's own directory. You may still type in an explicit file path\file name, if the file resides elsewhere on your system. BoardMaster III Update 2/8/93 Package Contents: BRDMASTR.TPG - Updated TDBS program file. CONVERT.EXE - Conversion Program. BRDBLDR.EXE - Updated Board Builder. INSTALL.TXT - Updated Install Doc. READ.NOW - This File. The conversion program will update your existing databases and add new files. All existing databases are preserved without change. The one exception to this is the New User Default PMG which will need to be re-defined and should be your first activity after running the conversion program. Please note, however, that you can have more than 1 default PMG now. How to Install Changes: 1. Backup your existing BoardMaster files as a safety precaution. 2. Unpack this package and put it in the BoardMaster Subdirectory. 3. Run the program CONVERT.EXE (requires no user intervention or switches) 4. That's it! ************* New Features/Fixes ******************************** Run BoardMaster. Go to Sysop Functions and Define your New User Default PMGs. You will notice that now you can define as many Default PMGs as you want. In the previous release you could only define 1 Default PMG. Now you may define up to 54. New user initialization is also much faster.(NEW FEATURE) In the Sysop Menu, specify if you want an Ordered/Sequential Combined Read/Scan/Delete. This is used for the main menu Combined Boards option. (NEW FEATURE) There is a new optional command line parameter [GHOST]. It allows you to run the Reconciliation function as a Ghost event. (NEW FEATURE) There is also a new menu pick on the Sysop menu called Reconcile PMGs. The reconciliation process within BoardMaster is an essential function used to maintain contsistency between the ID numbers that you assign to your boards and your users' Personal Message Group (PMG) selections. Reconciliation is only required if you have altered/deleted the ID number of an already-established board(s) or topic(s). Not if you are adding them. This function may also be run as a Ghost event (Recommended) By adding a Ghost event to CEDIT and using the keyword GHOST in the Ghost Event's OptData Line. More on Reconciliation Below. BoardMaster now allows blank spaces in PMGS. All boards before or after these empty entries will now be processed. These blank spaces can occur if a user has removed boards from the middle of a PMG or if the Sysop has renamed/deleted boards that the user had specified in their PMG. Example: 010 Board 1 000 030 Board 3 BoardBuilder has a couple of new clean-up options, which you don't have to use right now. In fact for your upgrade, you don't have to use BoardBuilder at all. Bug Fixes: 1. Switch Information wasn't being correctly passed during a PMG function. This was especially noticable with Topic-based boards. (Fixed). 2. When doing a PMG function with a FULL PMG, an error would occur after the last board was processed. (Fixed) 3. A TDBS bug was found and has been reported to eSoft. It would only show up when adding a lot of PMGs at the same time. The affected sections of the program have been re-written to avoid this problem. (fixed) File Changes: CONFIG.DBF - Updated Database. BRDMASTR.TPG - Updated TPG. COMBBRD.DBF - UpDated Database. DEFPMG.DBF - New File. Holds Sysop-defined New User PMGs. CHANGES.DBF - New File. Tracks any editing changes you make in your board IDs and is used to reconcile PMGs against the Main Database. What is Reconciliation Ghost Event Example: OptData = C:\TBBS\BoardMaster\BoardMaster /Q && GHOST How it Works: Whenever you change a board's ID number, that change is stored in a database. When you invoke the reconciliation feature, those changes are compared against your users' PMGs and your new user default PMGs. Any board that is found in a PMG which matches the ID number of a board which has been changed is updated to the new ID number you have assigned. If you have deleted boards which were in a PMG, they will be permanently removed from that PMG. Reconciliation will process all editing changes you have made since it's last run. However, it should be run as soon as possible after ID number changes to insure consistency between PMGs and the main database. Failure to run Reconciliation will NOT result in anything catastrophic and will NOT affect the actual PMG functions. BoardMaster is very forgiving in this way. When a user edits a PMG, however, he will still see the old ID number associated with the Board that you changed/deleted without that board's description. If you experience any problems with this release or have any ideas for new features, please Email Pete White or myself on the GWA system. Thanks for your support. John Schachat