How to use the @ commands for PC-Board 14.5 File created April 7, 1991 by Gerald William Homeyer You can contact me through: Brigham Young University CCC-Info (Computer Consultation Center) (801)378-5035, type C CCCINFO at Call, Display, Modify prompt. I-Link Conferences The Existentialist BBS (801)226-8310 or Hackers Haven (801)224-4031 You may have seen messages where your name, address, or other information was automatically inserted. You may have also seen messages that had the colors changed from the normal colors the sysop of the particular BBS has set up. These are all commands that can also be done by you, the user, to make your messages more appealing or easier to understand.. It's also quite handy for just plain making your messages a little flashier, making messages to all a little more personal, or making interesting signatures for your messages. There are basically two different sets of codes to be concerned with.. One are the @ Variables. These are the codes that allow you to tailor the actual content of the message by adding the user name, etc. to the message you write. The second is the @X color codes. These are the codes that will allow you to change the default colors of the text in the message. As an added note, if you do not have a color monitor or do not have ANSI, and you have properly told PC Board this, the codes will not be sent to your end. Therefore, you do not have to worry about the codes interfering with people that do not have ANSI capable systems. As an added note however, there are off-line mail readers that do not recognize the PC Board codes and show them as the @ commands that they are. This problem is being dealt with by many of the various mail readers in newer versions, but it is a problem that does cause problems on occasion. There are also some additional codes, mostly escape sequences, that I will not cover in this document. The reason is twofold in that most of the changes that can be made with these escape codes can also be made with @ codes, and that the messages created with escape codes can, if not properly done, cause problems with some terminal programs that the caller reading the message may not know how to correct. I have found that for all but the most advanced power users, these codes are completely unnecessary. As an additional note, it is necessary to use capital letters when using these codes. As an example, @X8F would create blinking white text, where @x8f would do nothing except show in the message and confuse people. @ Variables To use these codes, they must be typed in capital letters, in the format of @COMMAND@.. @VARIABLE@ | Description ---------------|------------------------------------------------------------ ## | Messages are addressed to users of the security level | specified by ##. ##-## | Messages are addressed to users with a security level | between the numbers indicated by ##-##. AUTOMORE | All subsequent MORE? prompts are interpreted as @PAUSE@ BEEP | Sends an audible tone (same as Cntl. G) to the computers | speaker. BOARDNAME | Gives the name of the current BBS. BPS | Connect speed of caller. BYTELIMIT | Gives the daily download limit in bytes of the user. BYTERATIO | Gives a #:# formatted string for Dn:Up byte ratio. BYTESLEFT | Gives the number of bytes left for DL that day. CITY | Callers city. CLREOL | Clears from the cursor to the end of the line. CLS | Clears the screen. CONFNUM | Conference number that the caller currently is in. CURMSGNUM | The number of the message that the caller is reading. DATAPHONE | Gives the business/data phone number. DAYBYTES | Gives the number of bytes that have been currently | downloaded for the day. DLBYTES | Gives the number of bytes Downloaded. DLFILES | Gives the number of files Downloaded. EVENT | Gives the time specified for the event. EXPDATE | Gives the expiration date of a particular user. EXPDAYS | Gives the number of days until subscription expiration. FILERATIO | Gives a #:# formatted string for Dn:Up File Ratio. FIRST | First name of the user. HIGHMSGNUM | High message number of the current conference. HOMEPHONE | Gives the home/voice number. INCONF | Currently in conference (Name). KBLEFT | Gives the number of kilobytes left to download. KBLIMIT | Gives the number of kilobytes that may be downloaded. LASTCALLERNODE | Name of the last caller on this node. LASTCALLERSYSTEM | Name of the last system caller. LASTDATEON | Last date on. LASTTIMEON | Last time on. LOWMSGNUM | Last message number of the current conference. MINLEFT | Gives the number of minutes left. MORE | A MORE? prompt is displayed. MSGLEFT | Indicates the number of messages written. MSGREAD | Indicates the number of messages read. NODE | Node number. NUMBLT | Number of bulletins. NUMCALLS | Caller number. NUMDIR | Number of directories. NUMTIMESON | Number of times on. OFFHOURS | Hours during which slow speed modems are allowed. PAUSE | Displays a MORE? prompt with a 10 second auto return if | the caller doesn't answer it first. POFF | Disables the MORE? prompt. PON | Enables the MORE? prompt. PRODESC | Users default protocol description. PROLTR | Users default protocol letter. QOFF | Disables CNTL-X/CNTL-K checking. QON | Enables CNTL-X/CNTL-K checking. SECURITY | Security level. SYSDATE | Current date. SYSTIME | Current time. TIMELEFT | Time left on the system. TIMELIMIT | Time available on the system. TIMEUSED | Time used by a particular individual. UPBYTES | Gives number of bytes uploaded. UPFILES | Gives number of files uploaded. USER | Yields full user name in capital letters. WAIT | Displays the PRESS ENTER TO CONTINUE prompt. WHO | Displays the status of the current node. @X Color codes To modify the foreground and background screen colors, the following codes are applied. Remember to type the codes in all capital letters of they will not work. The format is @X##, with the two numbers representing the background and foreground colors respectively. As an example: @X09 would be bright blue on black. @X8C would be flashing bright red on black. @X4A would be green on a red background. The codes are: Background (1st digit) | Foreground (2nd digit) Color | Normal | Blinking | Normal | High Intensity -----------|-------------|-------------|-------------|---------------------- Black | 0 | 8 | 0 | 8 Blue | 1 | 9 | 1 | 9 Green | 2 | A | 2 | A Cyan | 3 | B | 3 | B Red | 4 | C | 4 | C Magenta | 5 | D | 5 | D Yellow | 6 | E | 6 | E White | 7 | F | 7 | F It is always a good idea to reset the color back to that which PC-Board was using before you changed them. This is so that when a message is quoted, the text after yours will be the proper color instead of staying the last color entered for the rest of the message if the person quoting the message does not change the colors him/herself. Also note that the color codes do take up room on the line you are typing on. If you fill the line up with codes, you will have very little room for text and vise versa. I hope that this text provides a valuable reference for users of PC- Board. The information contained here was taken mostly from the manual for PC-Board 14.5, copyright 1990 by the Clark Development Co.. I take no responsibility for the accurateness of the preceding information, and will not be help responsible for mis-use or damage caused by use of anything contained within this document. After all, not everybody can avoid typos. Lastly, I would like to thank the Clark Development Co. for a superior product, as well as making it as flexible and powerful as it is. Two cheers for PC-Board and a good future for the Clark Development Co.. Gerald Homeyer, Studio Yoroshii