EXPORTING MESSAGES FROM BBS X & IMPORTING THEM TO PCBOARD by James G. Stolich The purpose of this text file is to instruct those who wish to transfer the messages in their BBS' conferences to PCBOARD 15.1. PCBOARD is, in my opinion, simply the finest BBS System Software ever made and many sysops are converting their current systems to the PCBOARD standard. Usually the most difficult part of switching to a new BBS software is transferring all of the messages. What follows is a simple way for accomplishing that formidable task, easily and painlessly. I personally went from POWERBOARD to PCBOARD, but this will work for any BBS software on the market. First, you will need a copy of PCBOARD 15.1 (for obvious reasons!). This may work with older versions of PCBOARD, but I have not verified that. Secondly, you will need a copy of the most recent version of CAM-MAIL. The non- registered SHAREWARE version will work fine and is readily available on most bulletin boards. However, please register CAM-MAIL. It is a wonderful mail door and without it I could not have transferred all my messages to PCBOARD. From your old BBS software you will need to acquire a .QWK packet of ALL your messages in ALL of your conferences. The only problem is how do you tell the board software to download ALL of the messages, even though they have already been read and therefore not marked for download. Some BBS systems allow the user to set the number of the last message read in each available conference.. If this is the case, then all you need do is logon as SYSOP and set the last message read to 0 and then download the .QWK packet from your BBS' mail door. You will receive every message on the board as the system believes you have not read any of them. However, if this is not possible (as in my case with PowerBoard), then create a new user and give him the same level of access as the SYSOP. Then log in under the new account and download all messages. The BBS should send them all as this new user is a SYSOP and can read all mail and has never been on the system before, and hence has never read any of the messages. Install PCBOARD and configure it to your liking. Create each of your conferences and, if possible, number them the same as they were in the previous BBS software you were using. Create one message in each conference. This is very important so make sure you have at least one message (one word is fine; length is not the issue here) in each message base. Next, install the CAM-MAIL door and make sure it runs properly under PCBOARD from the DOORS menu. From DOS in the C:\CAM-MAIL directory (or wherever it happens to be on your system) run USERSM.EXE. Set each of the conferences to NET STATUS by choosing Option A, EDIT USER FLAGS. NET STATUS is the first field displayed. Type a Y over the N. Use the PGDN key to scroll through all the conferences and turn the NET STATUS flag to Y. Now exit back to DOS and run NETSM.EXE (also in the CAM-MAIL directory). Select Option E, DEFINE CONFERENCES. For each conference set the HOST CONFERENCE NUMBER to reflect the number of the corresponding conference in your old BBS software. If you were not able to keep the same numbers for the conferences in PCBOARD then you can assign a different number for the conference to be imported. For example, say Conference #10 in your old software was COMPUTER DISCUSSION, but in PCBOARD that same conference (COMPUTER DISCUSSION) is number 11 instead of 10. In this case you would set the HOST CONFERENCE NUMBER for Conference 11 to 10. In other words, the messages to be imported into Conference 11 (COMPUTER DISCUSSION) will be taken from Conference 10 (COMPUTER DISCUSSION) in the .QWK packet. Set the EXPORT/IMPORT field to Y for each message base or conference. This field is listed immediately after the HOST CONFERENCE NUMBER. NOTE: Your conference numbers will probably not match up. PCBOARD has a pre-defined conference called MAIN BOARD. It is configured as Conference #0. You may wish to import the general messages from your BBS software into this conference. With a little work you can make everything match up, but it really makes no difference as long as you follow the above procedure and match the numbers of the corresponding conferences. (i.e. PCBOARD to .QWK packet). If you have made it this far without any problems, congratulations! Take a moment to wipe the perspiration from that shiny brow! Now comes the easy part! Place a copy of your .QWK packet (containing all the messages from your previous BBS) into the CAM-MAIL subdirectory called QWK ( \CAM-MAIL\QWK\ ). Now execute the following line from the \CAM-MAIL\ directory: IMPORT BBS.QWK /DUPS /LOG The BBS.QWK of course is the name of your .QWK packet, whatever it may be called. The two switches on the end of the command simply instruct CAM-MAIL to create a log of what it did. In the chance any errors occurred you can go back and check the logs for details. This process should not take more than a few seconds, but the time will vary on the number of messages in your .QWK packet. I had about 500 messages and it took about three seconds to import all of them on a 486DX2-66. That's it! Call up PCBOARD and logon on! You should find all your messages there. Be forewarned that none of these messages will have been read, which means that when you logon you will be inundated with new messages. Just scroll through them quickly without reading them to satisfy PCBOARD. Some of these messages may be set to PRIVATE when they should be configured as PUBLIC. Whether or not this occurs depends on the type of .QWK packet your previous BBS created. With PowerBoard I had a number of messages that were flagged incorrectly as PRIVATE when they were in fact PUBLIC. The remedy was to spend a couple of hours going through them on PCBOARD and changing the status to PUBLIC. By experimenting with CAM-MAIL you may find a way to circumvent this glitch. By and large, though, the EXPORT/IMPORT process should be fairly trouble- free and smooth. Undoubtedly there are alternative methods for transferring files from one BBS system to PCBOARD, but the process described in this document WORKED well for me and it was swiftly accomplished. However, I could not have completed it without the help of CAM-MAIL's author, Cam DeBuck--my sincere thanks to Mr. DeBuck for his help. He can be reached on his BBS at 801-489-8905 (14.4 v.32bis) and 801- 489-3558 (HST DS 16.8K). VOICE: 801-489-4878 (1pm to 6pm Tuesday - Friday). The registration fee for CAM-MAIL is $28.00 U.S. dollars and I encourage everyone to register. Questions, corrections, criticisms? Letters of undying gratitude?? You can reach me in one of the following manners: INTERNET: 72440.3076@compuserve.com COMPUSERVE: 72440,3076 EL OBSERVADOR BBS: 408-372-9054 (2400-14.4 v.32bis) VOICE: 408-372-4321 James G. Stolich May 6, 1994 Monterey, California. This text Copyright (C) 1994 by James G. Stolich. All rights reserved. This text may be distributed freely in both electronic and written form so long as it (the text) is not modified in any way, shape or form and proper credit is given to its author, me! I also wish to be notified if this text is to be published in a written form in any sort of newsletter or other official journal.