OLVIEW - An On-Line GIF Viewer For Any BBS ====================================================================== v1.00 ====================================================================== SysOp Installation Guide ====================================================================== ====================================================================== (c)Copyright Dennis Dodd, 06 Jan 1992 OLVIEW Is Freeware From The Graphics WorkShop BBS Tech Support & Inquires: (901) 458-9456 - USR d.s. - FidoNet 1:123/57 Contents ====================================================================== Quick Start .............................................. 1 Introduction ............................................. 3 Disclaimer & Copyright Notice ............................ 3 Software Requirements & Limitations ...................... 4 Hardware Requirements .................................... 5 How OLVIEW Works ......................................... 6 Installation ............................................. 6 Command Line Parameters .................................. 7 The Directory List File .................................. 8 Testing OLVIEW In Local Mode ............................. 9 Setting Up DOORWAY ....................................... 9 Calling DOORWAY & OLVIEW From A Batch File ............... 10 Telling Your Callers About OLVIEW ........................ 12 Files Created By OLVIEW .................................. 12 Error Messages & The Error Log ........................... 13 Multi-Node BBS Operation ................................. 14 Credits .................................................. 14 If You Need Help ......................................... 15 A Final Word ............................................. 15 Appendix A - Quickstart For Various BBS types RBBS ...................................... 18 OPUS ...................................... 19 RA ........................................ 20 MAXIMUS ................................... 21 Appendix B - Release History ............................. 22 ====================================================================== OLVIEW SysOp Installation Guide - v1.00 Page 1 ====================================================================== QUICK START ---------------------------------------------------------------------- If you are one of those kinds who hates to read documentation, then hopefully this page will get you going. YOU MUST HAVE A FULLY FUNCTIONAL, REGISTERED, COPY OF DOORWAY OPERATIONAL ON YOUR BBS BEFORE YOU HAVE A GHOST OF A CHANCE TO GET THIS THING WORKING! If DOORWAY is not installed, then get a registered copy from DATA WORLD BBS (see software requirements), and install it before preceding. Add the following line to your AUTOEXEC.BAT file: SET GIFDESK=FILE and reboot your system. Create a directory off of your BBS run directory called OLVIEW and unpack the OLVIEW archive into the newly created directory. Move the file BEE.GIF in to one of your download directories that contains GIFs. Move the files SHWGIF52.EXE and OLUSER.DOC into a download directory that contains your graphics utilities and make an entry in the file listings shown to your callers indicating the presence of the new files. Unpack the GIFDSK40 archive into the OLVIEW directory as well. Using an ASCII editor, edit the file DIR.LST. The first line in the file contains text that will be displayed to your callers uniquely identifying your board. Edit this line as desired. THE LENGTH OF THIS LINE MUST BE 80 CHARACTERS, INCLUDING THE 2 DIGIT NUMBER AT THE END OF THE LINE. LEAVE THE NUMBER SET TO 15! IF THIS LINE IS NOT EXACTLY 80 CHARACTERS (TOTAL) IN LENGTH, YOUR GONNA GET INTO TROUBLE! Next, delete the second line in the file, as it is just an example of the syntax used to list your download directories. Enter the complete path to each directory that contains GIFs on the board download path(s). As shown in the example line deleted in the above step, you must provide the drive letter and colon, and the entry MUST have a trailing backslash (i.e. C:\DOWNLOAD\GIFBIG\). You must enter one line for each directory available for downloading GIFs from. If you have 5 directories that contain GIFs available for download, your DIR.LST file should have 6 lines. The first line with your BBS identifier string in it, and 5 more lines, each containing the complete path to each download directory. You may now run OLVIEW in local mode to test for proper operation by entering the following line at the DOS command prompt: OLVIEW /P0 /DDIR.LST (that's /P zero not Oh!) OLVIEW should fire right up and run. Follow your nose, and play around with it for a few minutes. If OLVIEW cannot find a filename that you know exists on your system, examine the contents of the DIR.LST file for improper and/or missing path name(s). Create a DOOR available to your callers called OLVIEW. This MUST be a door using DOORWAY. The calling batch file must change to the OLVIEW run directory before calling DOORWAY, and DSZ & DOORWAY must be on the OLVIEW SysOp Installation Guide - v1.00 Page 2 ====================================================================== DOS path. The line that fires off DOORWAY/OLVIEW should look something like this: DOORWAY xxxx /B: /O: /K:V /V:D /POLVIEW.EXE /Pn /DDIR.LST Where xxxx indicates the doorinfo file format/name or COM port, and n = the port number that the modem is on. Make the text file OLVBULL.TXT available as a bulletin on your board. The above instructions are very terse, but outline all the steps necessary to get OLVIEW airborne. If this doesn't work, well... then I guess you will have to R.T.F.M. OLVIEW SysOp Installation Guide - v1.00 Page 3 ====================================================================== INTRODUCTION ---------------------------------------------------------------------- I run a medium size graphics oriented BBS (about 440mb of GIFs available for download). OLVIEW came about after having countless callers request a way to view GIFs while online with my board. With the release of version 4 of Jay Wherley's GIFDESK, this became possible. The OLVIEW door has become a very popular feature on my board, saving my callers countless hours spent downloading undesirable GIFs. After several months of use I began to get requests from other SysOps in my area for a copy of the door because my callers would ask them if a copy of OLVIEW could be installed on their boards. Never having written BBS software for use by anyone except myself, I decided to write some documentation for OLVIEW, and toss it out into the world and see what happens. The type of BBS software you run is purely a matter of personal preference. I purposely wrote OLVIEW to run under DOORWAY so that it may be installed and run on any BBS type supported by DOORWAY (as most popular BBS types are). My personal choice of BBS software is RBBS-PC, so in the spirit of RBBS-PC I have released OLVIEW as freeware. You are free to use and distribute OLVIEW as you wish as long as the distribution archive and documentation are not modified. DISCLAIMER & COPYRIGHT NOTICE ---------------------------------------------------------------------- OLVIEW IS DISTRIBUTED AS IS. NO WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, IS GIVEN. THE ONLY THING I GUARANTEE OLVIEW TO DO IS OCCUPY DISK SPACE, OTHER THAT THAT YOUR ON YOUR OWN!!!! OLVIEW is owned and copyrighted by Dennis Dodd. Needless to say, maintain backups of your hard drive(s)!! If a problem develops, and you lose files, well... I told ya so! OLVIEW is distributed as freeware. This means that you are free to use OLVIEW however you wish. You may copy it, give away, and post for download with wild abandon, or feed it to your cat, as long as the original distribution archive and the documentation are not altered in any way. You may not charge money for OLVIEW beyond a small charge to cover the cost of media and handling, ($3.00 max). If you choose to install and use OLVIEW, all that I ask of you is that you send me a postcard with a local landmark of some kind on it. Please write your name, and BBS name on it, and address it to: Dennis Dodd 566 Sharon Memphis TN 38122 OLVIEW SysOp Installation Guide - v1.00 Page 4 ====================================================================== SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS & LIMITATIONS ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Four external pieces of software are required for successful installation and use of OLVIEW by you and your callers. The most important program in the OLVIEW system is Jay Wherley's GIFDESK (included in the OLVIEW distribution archive). GIFDESK creates the preview GIFs that are downloaded by your callers. GIFDESK is an incredibly useful graphics utility that among other things will take one or more GIF(s) and display them simultaneous on a single screen. GIFDESK has an environmental variable that will cause it to direct it's output to a screen file instead of your video card (i.e. BBS mode, see the GIFDESK docs for more info). This capability is the key to providing the on-line view function. Many thanks to Jay Wherley for providing GIFDESK, and for making it freeware! OLVIEW was written to run under Marshall Dudley's DOORWAY program. In case you are not familiar with DOORWAY, it is a program that is called from DOS allowing you run almost any program as a door on a BBS. It also provides a superior drop to DOS function as well. I highly recommend DOORWAY. It is a mature piece of software, that is thoroughly debugged, and works quite well. No SysOp should be without it. When called, DOORWAY hooks it's self on to the appropriate DOS interrupts, and loads another program (specified on the calling command line), and allows the BBS caller to interact with the program in real time and in full screen mode. Watchdog carrier detect, remaining time available, ANSI graphics, and keyboard inactivity are all monitored and maintained by DOORWAY. DOORWAY is an incredible shareware value at $30.00 (current price at the time of this writing), considering that other commercial programs that provide this capability cost $100s of dollars. The oldest version of DOORWAY that OLVIEW has been tested with is 2.12 and is the minimum version required for proper operation. The current release (I believe) is version 2.20. Version 2.20 provides greater speed due to improved screen handling. Version 2.20 is highly recommended. OLVIEW also requires Chuck Forsburgs' DSZ to provide file transfer service. The current version of DSZ that I am running is JULY 91, but any recent version should work fine. The copy of DSZ I use is registered, I cannot guarantee results with unregistered copies. Please suppport shareware by registering your copy of DSZ. The last software requirement is Bill Parquet's SHOWGIF. SHOWGIF is a self-extracting .EXE file (included in the OLVIEW distribution archive) that is downloaded by your callers and installed on their systems to allow viewing of the preview GIFs created by OLVIEW. SHOWGIF is a TSR that is loaded before running a terminal program. The TSR examines the incoming data stream during a download, and if a GIF is detected, SHOWGIF drops into VGA graphics mode and decodes the incoming GIF directly to the screen as it comes off the wire. SHOWGIF OLVIEW SysOp Installation Guide - v1.00 Page 5 ====================================================================== then returns to the terminal program when viewing is complete. Be advised that SHOWGIF is a first-class shareware program. Please encourage your callers to support shareware by registering their copy of SHOWGIF! The above mentioned software is copyrighted by their respective authors and is available from the following sources: GIFDESK: (Included in the OLVIEW archive) Jay Wherley 1006 Hidden Harbour Dr. #E2 Melbourne, FL 32935 (407) 242-5296 9-5 M-F DOORWAY: The Data World BBS, Knoxville TN Data: (615) 675-3282 (v.32) Marshall Dudley 406 Monitor Lane Knoxville TN 37922 DSZ: Omen Technology Inc. 17505-V N.W. Sauvie Island Road Portland OR 97231 Data: (503) 621-3746 (HST) SHOWGIF: (Included in the OLVIEW archive) Bill Parquet 30231 Bates Road Perrysburg OH 43551-3827 DOS version 3.3 or better is required. OLVIEW has not been tested under DOS 5 as of this writing. (Anybody out there running DOS 5 with OLVIEW? Let me here from you!) If the caller is viewing 4 GIFs and the path names to your download directories are over 15 characters in length, a command line exceeding 128 characters in length can be passed during the shell to GIFDESK. Under this circumstance the fourth GIF will be omitted from the preview GIF. GIFDESK version 4 does not support the GIF89a format in BBS mode. HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS ---------------------------------------------------------------------- A VGA DISPLAY IS NOT REQUIRED FOR PROPER OPERATION OF OLVIEW ON YOUR BBS SYSTEM! A hard disk IS required, and the faster the better! Approximately 900k of disk space is required to hold the runtime software and build the screen file and preview GIF in. There is also a usage log maintained so that you may observe usage patterns and the GIF names that are viewed by your callers. OLVIEW SysOp Installation Guide - v1.00 Page 6 ====================================================================== The operational speed of OLVIEW is GREATLY enhanced when run on a RAM disk. I strongly recommend you do so if you have the RAM to spare. 286/386 class machines are recommended for obvious reasons. OLVIEW has not been tested on XT class machines, although I can think of no reason why it would not work on an XT, other that running slow... HOW OLVIEW WORKS ---------------------------------------------------------------------- OLVIEW is loaded and executed by DOORWAY when the door is entered by a caller. OLVIEW allows the caller to specify a maximum of 4 GIF file name(s) that s/he wishes to preview. OLVIEW verifies that the GIF(s) specified exist in a valid download directory, and then shells to GIFDESK, passing the caller's view format preferences and the name(s) of the GIF(s) to include in the preview GIF. GIFDESK then builds a screen file of the GIF(s) and creates a preview GIF containing an image of the caller's GIF(s) and returns to OLVIEW. OLVIEW then shells to DSZ and sends the preview GIF to the caller using the transfer protocol of his/her choice. The caller then uses Bill Parquet's SHOWGIF to view the preview GIF while it downloads. DSZ returns to OLVIEW and the preview is complete. The process may be repeted as many times as the caller's time remaining allows. The entire process requires just 3 to 4 minutes when running on 286/386 class machines and fast hard drives, even when very large GIFs are selected for preview. As you can see, OLVIEW requires other software to run. Actually, OLVIEW is just a stupid little program that does some screen handling, verifies the existence of a few files, and shells to other programs that do all of the hard work. It may seem complicated on the surface, but OLVIEW installs easily (if you have DOORWAY installed and figured out ), works very reliably, and your callers will love it after they learn to use SHOWGIF. INSTALLATION --------------------------------------------------------------------- The installation of OLVIEW is a fairly simple and straight forward task. Let's take the following directory structure as an installation example: C:ROOT -----+----- DOWNLOAD ----+---- GIFBIG | | | +---- GIFMED | | | +---- GIFSML | +----- BBS -------------- OLVIEW OLVIEW SysOp Installation Guide - v1.00 Page 7 ====================================================================== Create a new directory called OLVIEW off of the directory that your BBS software runs out of, as shown above. Move the distribution archive OLV100.ZIP into the new OLVIEW directory and unpack it. The archive should yield the following files: OLVSYSOP.TXT This document OLVIEW.EXE The OLVIEW program OLV_TEST.BAT Local mode test BAT file DIR.LST Starter DIR.LST file GIFDSK40.ZIP GIFDESK version 4 SHWGIF52.EXE SHOWGIF version 5.2 (self extracting!) OLVBULL.TXT Boiler plate bulletin text file BEE.GIF Test GIF file suggested in OLVIEW OLUSER.DOC Caller users guide to OLVIEW RBBS.ZIP RBBS specific installation files Begin by deleting the BBS specific files not needed, and unpack the one specific to your BBS type. Then unpack GIFDSK40.ZIP and cruise the .DOC file if your not familiar with GIFDESK. If you run a graphics board, you will find GIFDESK a great tool to have in your arsenal! As explained in the GIFDESK docs, GIFDESK has an environmental setting that will cause it to direct its video output to a 'screen file' instead of your video card. Enable this feature by adding the following line to your AUTOEXEC.BAT file: SET GIFDESK=FILE (no spaces around the equal sign, SET GIFDESK = FILE will not work!). Make sure that DSZ.COM and DOORWAY.EXE are on the DOS path as well, and then reboot your system so that the changes will take effect. COMMAND LINE PARAMETERS ---------------------------------------------------------------------- OLVIEW has two command line parameters that must be passed: Port Number and Directory List File name. OLVIEW is called as shown below: OLVIEW /P /D Example: OLVIEW /P2 /DDIR.LST The /P parameter specifies the port number that the modem is connected to for the calling node. This number is passed to DSZ as the port number to open and transfer the preview GIF file on. It must agree with the port number that your BBS uses (or the port number that the calling node operates on in a multi-node configuration). Valid values are 0 (zero) through 8. If port number zero is specified, then OLVIEW will operate in local test mode, allowing execution from the DOS command prompt for testing. If port zero is specified, the shell to DSZ is by-passed. If a value less than zero or greater that 8 is passed, then an error message is issued and OLVIEW terminates. OLVIEW does not support non-standard serial I/O addresses at this time. Remaping of your I/O is possible with Ray Gwinn's X00 fossil driver. (a truly superior fossil, and FREE!) If there is a demand for it, this feature could be added to a future version of OLVIEW. OLVIEW SysOp Installation Guide - v1.00 Page 8 ====================================================================== The /D parameter specifies the file name containing the list of path(s) that will be searched each time a caller enters a GIF file name to preview. The file name specified here (DIR.LST) must be found in the OLVIEW run directory (you may specify a full path name pointing to another directory and/or file name, but why bother?). If the file specified is not found, OLVIEW issues an error message and terminates. THE DIRECTORY LIST FILE ---------------------------------------------------------------------- The Directory List File (specified in the /D command line parameter) conveys three pieces of information to OLVIEW: 1) The contents of the BBS identifer line (ID line) displayed below the header on the OLVIEW run screen. 2) The ANSI color that the the ID line is displayed in. 3) The directory(s) that will be searched for a GIF name specified by a caller. An example of the Directory List File (DIR.LST) is shown below: !!Really Cool BBS With All The HOT GIFs!! 15 C:\DOWNLOAD\GIFBIG\ C:\DOWNLOAD\GIFMED\ C:\DOWNLOAD\GIFSML\ This example will produce the following results: The string "!!Really Cool BBS With All The HOT GIFs!!" will be displayed below the header area on the OLVIEW run screen. The ID line will be displayed in bright white. The directories GIFBIG, GIFMED, and GIFSML will be searched (in that order) for the file names given by your callers. If a file name specified by a caller is not found in one of these directories, an error message will be issued to the caller telling him/her that the file name given cannot be found. The valid values for the 2 digit number in character positions 79-80 of the ID line are as follows: 01 - Blue 08 - Gray 02 - Green 09 - Bright Blue 03 - Cyan 10 - Bright Green 04 - Red 11 - Bright Cyan 05 - Magenta 12 - Bright Red 06 - Brown 13 - Bright Magenta 07 - Normal White 14 - Bright Yellow 15 - Bright White If any value other that the ones listed above are used, OLVIEW will display the ID line in color 15, Bright White. A few rules must be observed when editing this file. The first line MUST be 80 characters in length! The 2 digit code specifying the color OLVIEW SysOp Installation Guide - v1.00 Page 9 ====================================================================== must be in character positions 79 and 80. All lines must be terminated with a line feed/carrage return. The file MUST contain a minimum of 2 lines. The maximum number of lines is 101, (100 search directories). Using the ASCII editor of your choice, edit the DIR.LST file to make it conform to your system's configuration and directory structure. TESTING OLVIEW IN LOCAL MODE ---------------------------------------------------------------------- You are now ready to run OLVIEW in its local mode to test for proper operation. Make sure that an ANSI graphics driver is active on your system. Make the OLVIEW directory the current directory and type OLV_TEST at the DOS command prompt to test OLVIEW in local mode. The OLV_TEST.BAT file contains the following line: OLVIEW /P0 /DDIR.LST (that's /P zero not Oh!) OLVIEW should fire up and present you with the opening screen. Select the Z option for file transfer. OLVIEW will then present you the display format option screen. Select the SMALL format. OLVIEW will then request the name of the first GIF file to preview. Enter 'BEE.GIF' and press ENTER (you did move the BEE.GIF file included in the OLVIEW archive into one of your download directories didn't you?). OLVIEW should hit the hard drive briefly and then display the 1st GIF file name at the bottom of the screen indicating that it successfully located BEE.GIF. Now press ENTER to begin the view process. OLVIEW will then shell to GIFDESK and GIFDESK will begin creation of the preview GIF. GIFDESK reports its progress on screen while its "doing its thing". After GIFDESK builds the preview GIF, OLVIEW will display a message prompting you to begin your download and then will inform you that local mode operation is in effect. The shell to DSZ will be by-passed. OLVIEW will then ask you if you want to do it again. You have now successfully verified operation of OLVIEW. You should continue to play with OLVIEW and verify that it can successfully locate GIFs in all of your download directories. If OLVIEW informs you that a GIF file can not be found (that you know exists in a valid download directory), then go back and take a look at your DIR.LST file. Chances are that you omitted a directory or 'fat fingered' the entry. Also check the OLVERROR.LOG for information concerning invalid path names. You are now ready to set up a DOOR to provide your callers access to OLVIEW and turn them loose on it! SETTING UP DOORWAY ---------------------------------------------------------------------- If you have DOORWAY fully functional on your BBS and are familiar with its operation then skip to the next section. If not, then read on and I'll try to point you in the right direction and do what I can to make DOORWAY as painless as possible... OLVIEW SysOp Installation Guide - v1.00 Page 10 ====================================================================== Because OLVIEW was designed to run with DOORWAY, specific instructions for setting up DOORWAY on every BBS type in the world are beyond the scope of this document. I will do my best to describe some of the pitfalls you may find, and provide some general guidelines for configuring your door. (Please see Appendix A and the BBS specific archives for further info.) Begin by obtaining a registered copy of DOORWAY. The easiest way to accomplish this is a call to the DATA WORLD BBS as noted in the software requirements section. DATA WORLD takes visa/mc, and the whole thing takes about 15 minutes. You walk away with a 'key' that is used to activate the registered features in DOORWAY. Print the docs included in the DOORWAY archive and READ THEM! This is your best bet to get DOORWAY up and flying quickly. DOORWAY is a complicated program, having over 50 command line and doorinfo parameters that can be passed to it. The biggest problem in using DOORWAY is the doorinfo file that is passed to DOORWAY to tell it things like the port number the modem is on, the callers time remaining, whether or not a fossil driver is in use, etc. DOORWAY was originally written to run with PCBOARD. If you use PCBOARD you are home free! If not, well your screwed then... (no not really!). There are a lot of little utility programs floating around that will convert a doorinfo file for a given BBS type into the 'generic' format that is read by DOORWAY (a DOOR.SYS file). One such example of this can be found in the RBBS.ZIP archive (DOORCVT.BAS). This program will convert an RBBS doorinfo file into a DOORWAY DOOR.SYS generic file allowing DOORWAY to plug into RBBS and run with no problem. It is a stupid little program that I wrote in 15 minutes that converts one ASCII file format to another. If you fail in locating a conversion program for your BBS type, then please contact the me via FidoNet (1:123/57), or my board, and I'll do my best to write you one. I offer this because I want OLVIEW (and DOORWAY) to be able to run on every kind of BBS that wants it. Be prepared to provide me with detailed information about the doorinfo file format created by your BBS (complete with photocopied documentation and an example of your doorinfo file on diskette). Let me make on thing clear here: The onus is on YOU to provide me with ALL of the information I need to write the conversion program, NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND! CALLING DOORWAY & OLVIEW FROM A BATCH FILE ---------------------------------------------------------------------- If you run a BBS type that requires a door to be called from a batch file, I will try to provide an example of how this is done here. Consider the following batch file: OLVIEW SysOp Installation Guide - v1.00 Page 11 ====================================================================== ECHO ON if exist door.sys del door.sys doorcvt if exist door.sys goto ok goto end :ok COPY DOOR.SYS \RBBS\OLVIEW CD \RBBS\OLVIEW DOORWAY SYSF /B: /O: /K:V /V:D /POLVIEW.EXE /P2 /DDIR.LST :END CD \RBBS The file begins by running a conversion program (DOORCVT) that converts an RBBS type doorinfo file to the DOOR.SYS format. It then copies the DOOR.SYS file into the OLVIEW run directory, changes to that directory, and fires off DOORWAY/OLVIEW. The command line parameters passed to DOORWAY are as follows: SYSF The characters 'SYS' indicate that a generic doorinfo file is being used. The 'F' character indicates that a fossil driver is in use (if you don't use a fossil, omit the 'F'). This parameter is the toughest one to figure out, and will require some experimentation on your part... /B: This parameter deals with the screen handling on line 25. Through expermentation this was found to be the best setting. /O: Overrides the DOORWAY title screen. (registered version only). /K:V Prevents the DOORWAY dead man timer from kicking the caller out of OLVIEW during long downloads. /V:D Enables direct screen write mode and echos the run screen to the remote. Again, through experimentation this was found to be the best setting. /POLVIEW.EXE The program that DOORWAY is to load and run (OLVIEW). /P2 Passed as a command line parameter to OLVIEW, indicating that port two should be passed to DSZ as the com port to use for file transfer(s). /DDIR.LST Passed as a command line parameter to OLVIEW, indicating that the file DIR.LST contains the list of directories to be searched for caller requested GIFs. See the DOORWAY documentation for further details on this subject. On some systems it may be necessary to modify the /K: parameter on the DOORWAY calling command line. This will be necessary if you have a problem with the keyboard inactivity timer causing DOORWAY to bailout OLVIEW SysOp Installation Guide - v1.00 Page 12 ====================================================================== during long preview GIF transfers. One final note: If you run your BBS in DESQview, make sure the the 'VERTULIZE TEXT' mode is enabled in the window that you run your BBS in. At this point you should set up a door on your board called OLVIEW and use whatever method you wish to test it for proper operation. TELLING YOUR CALLERS ABOUT OLVIEW ---------------------------------------------------------------------- The last step in installation is introducing your callers to OLVIEW. If your BBS has a news file that is displayed at logon, whip up a file introducing OLVIEW and explain that they should see the new bulletin (created in the next step) for further information and download the file OLUSER.DOC for instructions on using OLVIEW. Be sure to move the OLUSER.DOC file to a valid download directory and to post the new file in your file listings. A boilerplate file is provided for you to make a system bulletin from (OLVBULL.TXT). It basically explains what OLVIEW is, and how to to use it. Install this file in your bulletin system. Feel free to edit the file any way you wish, or trash it and write your own. It is merely provided to save you some time when installing OLVIEW. FILES CREATED BY OLVIEW ---------------------------------------------------------------------- During normal operation OLVIEW will create several files. These files are explained here. NEXT.NUM This file contains the next preview GIF number. OLVIEW will create the preview GIF file named as VIEWnnn.GIF, where nnn is a number between 1 and 999 (i.e. VIEW55.GIF). You may reset the number used to build the next preview GIF name by changing the number in this file with a standard ASCII text editor. OLVERROR.LOG This file is written into when OLVIEW experiences runtime errors. See the section on error messages for further information. OLVUSE.LOG Each time a caller uses OLVIEW, an entry is written into this file indicating the time/date and the GIF(s) viewed. You may look at the contents of this file to determine usage patterns and the GIFs being viewed by your callers. GIFDESK.CMD This file is spawned each time OLVIEW shells to GIFDESK and is used to tell GIFDESK the format the caller wishes the preview GIF to be built in (small or medium). NULL.DSZ This file is redirected screen output from DSZ. It is necessary to redirect DSZ's screen output to a null OLVIEW SysOp Installation Guide - v1.00 Page 13 ====================================================================== file because of DOORWAY. You may observe the contents of this file to see the results of the last file transfer. ERROR MESSAGES & THE ERROR LOG ---------------------------------------------------------------------- The errors detected by OLVIEW fall into two categories: FATAL ERRORS and NONFATAL ERRORS. FATAL ERRORS will cause OLVIEW to (usually!) write an entry into the OLVERROR.LOG file, inform the user that a problem has occurred, and terminate execution. NONFATAL errors, on the other hand, will not terminate execution. The user is informed of the situation (if necessary), and prompted for corrected input. At this time, only two major errors are trapped and written into the OLVERROR.LOG file: ------------------------------------------------------------------ 11-14-1991 14:57:16 c:\xxx\ PATH NOT FOUND! ------------------------------------------------------------------ 11-14-1991 14:57:22 c:\xxx\ PATH NOT FOUND! The above entries indicate that you have placed an line in the DIR.LST file that is pointing to a nonexistent path name (in this case, C:\XXX\). Remove the offending line from the DIR.LST file or change the entry to a valid path name to correct the problem. This is not a fatal error. ------------------------------------------------------------------ 11-14-1991 15:05:27 GIFFIND$: bee.gif ERROR CODE: 9 The OLVERROR.LOG entry show above is the worst thing that can happen. This is the 'catch all' error trap. It indicates that a serious error of some sort has occurred, and execution can no longer continue. When this happens the caller will see the following message: FATAL ERROR!! ERROR CODE = 9 THIS AIN'T SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN... PLEASE MESSAGE THE SYSOP! PROGRAM TERMINATED, PRESS RETURN TO EXIT > If you get any errors of this sort, please save the OLVUSE.LOG and the OLVERROR.LOG files, and I will attempt to help you fix your problem. Please contact me via FidoNet (1:123/57) or logon to my board and leave me a message, and I'll respond as soon as I'm able. Several runtime error messages may be generated by OLVIEW: OLVIEW COMMAND LINE ERROR: Invalid Directory List File Specified Usage: OLVIEW /P /D Example: OLVIEW /P1 /DDIR.LST > OLVIEW is Freeware from the Graphics Workshop BBS < > Inquires & Tech Support - DATA: 901-458-9456 < OLVIEW SysOp Installation Guide - v1.00 Page 14 ====================================================================== This runtime error is generated when the DIR.LST file name specified in the /D parameter is either non-existent or contains less that 2 lines (the minimum required for proper operation). Check the calling line and make sure the name being passed in the /D parameter is a valid file name in the OLVIEW directory. OLVIEW COMMAND LINE ERROR: Invalid Port Number Specified Usage: OLVIEW /P /D Example: OLVIEW /P1 /DDIR.LST > OLVIEW is Freeware from the Graphics Workshop BBS < > Inquires & Tech Support - DATA: 901-458-9456 < This runtime error is generated when the port number specified in the /P parameter is less that zero or greater than 8. Check the value being passed in the /P parameter on the calling line and change it to the correct value (either zero, or your modem port number). MULTI-NODE BBS OPERATION ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Most multi-node BBS operations run in DESQview. I have not operated OLVIEW on a multi-node board myself, but one of the beta testers did, running OPUS in DESQview. The major requirement when running in DESQview is to make sure that the window that each node runs in has the 'Veritalize Text' option set to yes. This assures that DOORWAY will properly echo the screen to the caller. The other major point is that each node MUST have it's own, unique, run directory. This is necessary because GIFDESK cannot share the screen file with other copies of GIFDESK at the same time. If you have 2 callers in the OLVIEW door simultaneously, then each node must have it's own copy of the OLVIEW software to run and build it's work files in. This may be accomplished by creating 2 or more directories called OLVIEW1, OLVIEW2, etc... Have node1 change to the OLVIEW1 directory when it fires up, node2 change to OLVIEW2, and so on... This scheme seems to work fine. This is not a very efficient use of disk space (granted), but the run directory is relatively small, and multi copies of it will not burn that much disk space. Please let me here from you if you successfully run 2 or more copies of OLVIEW on your board, and I will describe your setup in the SYSOP documentation. I have no experience with OLVIEW running in a LAN environment either. If anyone successfully runs OLVIEW on a LAN, let me here from you! CREDITS ---------------------------------------------------------------------- First let me thank the beta testers for having the guts to turn code I wrote, loose on their systems. Namely: Mike Gordon at the Sherwood Forrest BBS. Mike was also instrumental in the design of the screen OLVIEW SysOp Installation Guide - v1.00 Page 15 ====================================================================== functions and appearance as well. Beta testers acknowledgments: RBBS Dennis Dodd (also the author), The Graphics WorkShop OPUS Mike Gordon A.K.A. Robin Hood, The Sherwood Forrest RA Karen Richmond, The Mermaid's Point MAXIMUS Pat Siglin, The Stars End SOFTWARE KUDOS: Jay Wherley for GIFDESK, Marshall Dudley for DOORWAY, Dave Sharpless & Bill Parquet for SHOWGIF, and Chuck Forzburg for DSZ. None of whom I've ever met, but THANKS GUYS!!! GIF is a trademark owned by CompuServe Inc. OLVIEW is written and compiled in MicroSoft Quick Basic v4.5. IF YOU NEED HELP ---------------------------------------------------------------------- If you need help with an installation in RBBS, please contact: Dennis Dodd The Graphics WorkShop BBS Data: (901) 458-9456 - USR d.s. FidoNet 1:123/57 I am also available in the Fido RBBS and GRAPHICS echos. If you have access to Fido echo mail, I can always be reached in those two echos. If you need help with an installation in OPUS, please contact: Mike Gordon, A.K.A. Robin Hood The Sherwood Forrest BBS Data: (901) 525-0018 - HST FidoNet 1:123/31 A FINAL WORD ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This is my first attempt at a public release of software that I wrote. I apologize if the documentation is to lengthy. I hate to download software like this and find out that a page and a half of poorly written instructions is all I've got to work with. I went out of may way to document everything that caused me to scratch my head while I was trying to get this thing running. I hope you find OLVIEW easy to install, dependable, and that your callers enjoy it! OLVIEW is constantly being updated and improved. You may always obtain OLVIEW SysOp Installation Guide - v1.00 Page 16 ====================================================================== the latest version by FREQing the file name OLVIEW.ZIP at Fido 1:123/57. If you find bugs in the software, have trouble installing it, or have questions, suggestions, or advice, please direct all messaging to: Dennis Dodd, SysOp The Graphics WorkShop BBS Memphis TN Data: (901) 458-9456 USRobotics d.s. - 24hrs. FidoNet 1:123/57 And Thanks For Choosing OLVIEW, The Worlds Fastest On-Line GIF Viewer!! OLVIEW SysOp Installation Guide - v1.00 Page 17 ====================================================================== Appendix A - Quickstart For Various BBS types If you don't see your BBS type listed here, please drop me a line describing your installation and I'll add it to the docs! OLVIEW SysOp Installation Guide - v1.00 Page 18 ====================================================================== QUICKSTART FOR RBBS ---------------------------------------------------------------------- A quick install guide for RBBS-PC. 1. Add the line: "SET GIFDESK=FILE" to your autoexec.bat and re-boot. (Note: no spaces around the equal sign, "SET GIFDESK = FILE" will not work!!!). Also, make sure that DOORWAY and DSZ are on the DOS path. 2. Create a directory off of your RBBS directory called OLVIEW. 3. Move the OLVIEW distribution archive into the new directory and unzip it. 4. Unzip the RBBS.ZIP and GIFDSK40.ZIP files spawned in the above step. Answer yes if RBBS.ZIP wants to overwrite OLVIEW.BAT. 5. Move the files OLVIEW.BAT and DOORCVT.EXE into you RBBS directory. 6. Install the file OLVBULL.TXT in your bulletin system and post a note in your news file about the new door. 7. Move the file BEE.GIF into a download directory containing GIFs and add it to your FMS file. 8. Move the files SHWGIF52.EXE and OLUSER.DOC into the download directory containing your graphics utilities and add them to your FMS file. 9. Add the line in the *\OLVIEW\DOORS.DEF file to your DOORS.DEF file. 10. Add a door called OLVIEW to your door menus. 11. Edit the DIR.LST to reflect the correct path(s) to all vaild download directories containing GIFs. 12. Test local mode operation by running the OLV_TEST.BAT file. 13. Crack a beer, its Miller time! OLVIEW SysOp Installation Guide - v1.00 Page 19 ====================================================================== QUICKSTART FOR OPUS ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Quick installation guide for Opus V1.7x. 1. Add the statement, "SET GIFDESK=FILE" to your autoexec.bat 2. Create a directory called "OLVIEW". 3. Unpack the distribution archive into "OLVIEW". 4. Edit the file called DIR.LST to reflect your true paths to the gif directories you would like your users to be able to view. 5. Unpack the archive "GIFDSK40.ZIP" into the OLVIEW directory. 6. Edit the file "OLVIEW.BAT" to reflect your particular com port. 7. Modify your bbs.ctl menu as follows: _SHOW Normal "Olview" = [path][olview directory]olv.bbs Note: OLVIEW may be changed to reflect your particular setup. The Menu tag follows Opus V1.7x specifications. 8. Compile your bbs.ctl to incorporate the new menu option. 9. Re-boot your bbs computer to effect the change in your autoexec.bat. 10. Drop out of your bbs and run the file "OLV_TEST.BAT". Olview provides a test mode using the /P0 command line switch. Examine the OLV_TEST.BAT to see an example of its use. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This program has saved my users countless hours of dead download time. We hope it will do the same for your board. Mike Gordon, A.K.A. Robin Hood - The Sherwood Forrest BBS OLVIEW SysOp Installation Guide - v1.00 Page 20 ====================================================================== QUICKSTART FOR RA ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Quick installation guide for RA. Add the following to autoexec.bat: SET GIFDESK=FILE Unzip the olview archive into a door directory like: PKUNZIP OLVIEW.ZIP E:\RA\DOORS\OLVIEW Create the following batch file (create similiar one for other nodes) cd \ra\doors\olview doorway com1 /b: /o: /v:d /p:olview.exe /p1 /ddir.lst CD \ra\node1 Add a type 7 menu exit for On-line viewing: *c /c e:\ra\olview1.bat If using Type 40 menus - add new option to the ANSI/ASCII screens. OLVIEW SysOp Installation Guide - v1.00 Page 21 ====================================================================== QUICKSTART FOR MAXIMUS ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Quick installation guide for Maximus. To run Olview on Maximus you must have Doorway in a pathable directory. The procedure is very simple first create a mecca file like the one below : [link]C:\Max\Misc\doorSYS [xtern_dos]C:\Max\Doors\olview.bat [quit] After creating the mecca file go into you \max\misc dir or where ever you keep your mecca files and run mecca of the mecca file above. I named my mecca file olview.mec. when I do a mecca olview.mec Maximus creates a olview.bbs. After creating the mecca file you must create a .bat file similar to the one below. ECHO OFF CD \MAX COPY DOOR.SYS \MAX\OLVIEW CD \MAX\OLVIEW DOORWAY SYSF /O: /V:D /POLVIEW.EXE /P1 /DDIR.LST CD \MAX CLS The final step is to add Olview to your doors menu. I inserted an example of my doors menu below : Menu DOORS MenuFile Misc\DoorMenu Title DOORS Display_Menu MAIN Disgrace "Quit to Main Menu" Display_Menu Message Disgrace "Message Areas" Display_Menu File Disgrace "File Areas" Display_File Misc\Bulletin Disgrace "Bulletins" Goodbye Twit "Goodbye (log off)" Xtern_Erlvl 45_Mutt_%P_%B_%K Disgrace "Time_Tank" Display_File Misc/Chess Disgrace "1 Chess" Display_File Misc/SSlot Disgrace "2 Super Slots" Display_File Misc/Shutbox Disgrace "3 Shut The Box" Display_File Misc/Scrabble Disgrace "4 Scrabble!" Display_File Misc/Gwar Disgrace "5 Global War" Display_File Misc/OOII Disgrace "6 LOD" Display_File Misc/Arena Disgrace "7 Arena" Display_File Misc/Drag Disgrace "8 Drag_Race" Display_File Misc/KNK Disgrace "9 K&K" REM Note -> Display_File Misc/OLVIEW Disgrace "0 Olview" REM Maximus will search for olview.bbs in the \MISC dir and pass the REM caller info to doorway. OLVIEW SysOp Installation Guide - v1.00 Page 22 ====================================================================== Display_File Misc/FFS Disgrace "A FFS" Display_File Misc/BJ Disgrace "C BlackJack" Display_File Misc/EC Disgrace "D EC" Display_File Misc/Phant Disgrace "E Phantasia" End Menu OLVIEW SysOp Installation Guide - v1.00 Page 23 ====================================================================== APPENDIX B - RELEASE HISTORY ---------------------------------------------------------------------- v1.00 - 06 Jan 1992 First general release. Final versions of SysOp and Caller docs. Minor bug fix in file name search code. Major change in the way the screen areas are cleared. Works a lot better with DOORWAY. v0.93b - 23 Nov 1991 (BETA) Major bug fix of problem with calling DSZ line not telling DSZ to leave 16550 UARTs enabled on exit. This blew DOORWAY's mind when DSZ returned after a file transfer (when 16550 UARTs were in use). Minor changes to the BBSID$ color selection code. If no color was specified, the code was not detecting & handling this properly. Changes to SYSOP doc's, and total re-write of user doc's. v0.92b - 8 Nov 1991 (BETA) First distribited BETA version. Change & rewrite of screens the callers see. SYSOP Doc's written for release with this version. v0.90b - 15 Sept 1991 (KRAP) Orignial beta release, sorta' worked. Never released, in-house development only.