NEWSFLSH.PPE is a small PPE to diplay a text file containing date headers and entries for a specified number of days. Compiled with PPLC v3.0. Requires PCBoard 15.2+ to run. To start, this PPE is FREEWARE. If you call my BBS: Blackbeard's BBS (901) -925-2503 Zoom 14.4 VFP and Join Conference #5, there is an on-line registration PPE which will create your free KEY file and Download it. There are no delays in the PPE, only an UNREGISTERED message in the banner. This method will also provide me with a way to see how many people actually decide to use the PPE (or at least test it). ----------- |NEW ITEMS| ----------- I've added a two command line options to allow for alternate news files and for maintenance. See the appropriate sections for details. Additional configuration line, now the color of the separator bar can be defined as well. ------------- |Intructions| ------------- Unzip this PPE and accompaning files to the subdirectory of your choice. NOTE: You may keep your original NEWSFLSH.CFG file, it will work correctly with this update. To install this PPE, Just place it in your NEWS file. You do so by adding the line: !d:\pcb\ppe\newsflsh\newsflsh.ppe in your NEWS file, replacing the appropriate drive and path information. ------------- |Config File| ------------- Next edit the config file. It must be named NEWSFLSH.CFG and must reside in the same directory as the PPE. The config file has 4 lines: -------------- Sample NEWSFLSH.CFG -------------------- NEWZ 120 4A 0F 0C ;NEWSFLSH.CFG file ;Line 1: NEWS file to display. Files must reside in the same directory as the NEWSFLSH.PPE ;Line 2: Max # of Days to show news entries in news file ;Line 3: Date Heading @X color attribute without @X ;Line 4: Text @X Color Attribute without @X ;Line 5: Separator Bar @X color attribute without @X ---------------End Sample ----------------------------- All blank lines and lines starting with a ';' are considered comments The only required entry is the name of the news file to display unless it is entered on the command line (see CMD Line Options) The rest of the entries will default to the above values if they are missing. ----------------- |News Entry File| ----------------- The News file entered in the CONFIG file is a plain text file with the following format ~~MM/DD/YY This is news entry #1 ~~MM/DD/YY This is text #2 All date headers must follow the 'MM/DD/YY' or 'MM-DD-YY' format and be preceded by '~~' without the quotes. The ~~ characters will not be displayed. Once an entry's date is older than the number of days specified in the config file, the rest of the news file will be ignored. Do not include @X codes in the date headers. After the date is printed, a separator bar is printed in the color defined in the config file, or the default if none is entered. Text entries can be any news description you wish, including @X color codes. The PPE will start each line with the color code in the config file so any changes you make must be done for each line. ---------------- |Optional Files| ---------------- If the File NEWSFLSH.HDR exists in the PPE directory, it will be displayed prior to the actual news entries. This file should not include a @cls@ macro as the PPE will clear the screen automatically. If the file NEWSFLSH.KEY exists in the PPE directory, the Registration information will replace the UNREGISTERED notice before the News is displayed IF it is a valid key file and contains the correct information. You shouldn't need to get a new one if it already exists. If you lose it, you can call my BBS and re-run the Registration PPE in Conference #5 to get another. No changes were made to the format so you shouldn't need a new one unless your old one isn't working. ------------------ |CMD Line Options| ------------------ The PPE now supports 2 Command line options- MAINT and a FileName Filename example: !C:\PCB\PPE\NEWSFLSH.PPE Filename If you include the filename (no paths) after the PPE, it will override the filename used in the config file. With this option you can "do away" with the config file completely, and use the default values instead! MAINT examples (used for event processing): PCBOARD "/PPE:c:\path\NEWSFLSH.PPE MAINT [Filename]" *Note* The Quotation Marks are REQUIRED for proper execution. This method is handy for keeping your News File trimmed. It can be added to your Nightly, Weekly, Monthly...event to keep the file size limited. What the MAINT option does is run through the NewsFile and remove entries older than the number of days in the config file or the default if no config file exists. It does not check every entry, but rather stops at the FIRST entry that is older; any entries after that are also removed. Also, during the event, the file is not displayed during processing, to keep things running faster. If a filename is also included after the MAINT option, maintenance will be performed on that file instead. The Filename MUST come after the MAINT option for this method to work, and it must reside in the same directory as the PPE. The Maintenance option creates a temporary file which holds all the entries that have been kept. Once the newsfile has been processed, it renames the temporary file to the original news filename and then deletes the temporary file. ------------- |Final Notes| ------------- This PPE works for me and should work for you. If you have any problems, I can can be reached at my BBS listed above, or on Intelec or U'NI-net. ---------------------- |Planned enhancements| ---------------------- An additional PPE or switch, to add new NEWS entries on-line. Any other enhancement you might want? Call and request your Reg. Key from my BBS and leave the request in your comment. If it's feasible I'll do it! The only guarantee is that this program will take up disk space. If it doesn't work for you, I'll try to fix it. It works for me, and it's free, so expecting too much isn't recommended. нн Herbert Bushong нн Team PCBoard