Special TDBS software announcement : ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ INTRO TEXT ONLY - NO ADDITIONAL PROGRAMS OR DATABASES INCLUDED. A FILE CALLED SIGORDER.TXT IS INCLUDED FOR IMMEDIATE ORDER PLACEMENT. SEE PHONE NUMBER BELOW FOR ACCESS TO LIVE DEMO IF DESIRED. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ SigControl - PC-SIG Version #9 - TDBS Master Control Program v0691-22 ----------------------------------------------------------- For TBBS sysops using TDBS v1.1.x or GamePak TDBS Copyright (C) 1991, James E. Toro BBS Concepts --->>> Support bbs - 516-938-6722 - Leave message to the SYSOP <<<--- ----<<<<>>>>--- Call our system to run the program live !!! ---<<<<>>>>---- (Select system 1 from MicroNet Gateway(tm) Menu) >>>>>>>>>>>--- See the file ORDER.TXT for ordering info ---<<<<<<<<< $75.00 for program and all databases (7 megabytes of data) CAUTION: THIS PROGRAM REQUIRES USERS TO HAVE AN ANSI INTERFACE ON THEIR END. THIS PROGRAM USES ANSI CODES AND COLOR FOR SCREEN WRITES AND ASSUMES ALL USERS WILL HAVE THE SAME. THIS PROGRAM WILL NOT SUPPORT NON-ANSI USAGE. USERS ANSI SETTINGS MUST BE CORRECT IN BOTH THEIR USERLOG ACCOUNT AND IN THEIR COMM PROGRAM. 80 column width is mandatory for usage. 23 row screens should be used, but this program will override users TBBS setting. NOTICE!: PC-SIG OF CALIFORNIA SELLS THE PC-SIG ON CD-ROM DISK. JAMES E. TORO BBS CONCEPTS IS NOT AFFILIATED WITH THE PC-SIG COMPANY IN ANY WAY. THE PC-SIG COMPANY REQUIRES USERS OF THE PC-SIG CD-ROM TO FOLLOW LICENSING AGREEMENTS PRIOR TO USING THE ACTUAL CD-ROM ONLINE WITH A BBS. IT IS ASSUMED HERE THAT OWNERS OF THE PC-SIG CD-ROM ARE AWARE OF THIS REQUIREMENT AND 'JAMES E. TORO BBS CONCEPTS' IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR HOW A SYSTEM OPERATOR USES THE DATA AND PROGRAMS SOLD WITH THIS DOCUMENTATION. THE AUTHOR OF THIS PROGRAM WILL ASSUME NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANY FAILURE OF USER TO AGREE WITH AND FOLLOW ANY CD-ROM LICENSING POLICY SET FORTH BY THE PC-SIG COMPANY OF CALIFORNIA. Overview: Those of you sysops who are running the PC-SIG disk #9 that has the disks 1 through 2,485 , on your bbs, have probably witnessed the confusion of new users (or those slightly less than pro!) wandering around your PC-SIG disk areas not really sure of all the great software you have to offer. Some know exactly what is available but wish for an online search engine or a tag utility for disks that interest them. This program does that AND MORE !!! This program was designed so that a minimal amount of system, file or menu changes are needed to successfully install the PC-SIG disks on CD-ROM onto your computer. Presently their is no way for a sysop to install the PC-SIG CD-ROM, either on a CD-ROM or Hard drive and have the TBBS system access it via standard DIR directories or FAR files. Also no lookup or text display program or interface exists. Most sysops who have installed the PC-SIG themselves had to write programs to create DIR directories, FAR areas and possibly text display programs of the 2,485 disks available. This is a tedious and error prone process for the new sysop. This program was written to make the PC-SIG disk a more attractive addition to your bbs system, without the pain of doing all the startup programming and system work. !!! You DO NOT have to be running the ACTUAL CD-ROM online !!! !!! This program allows for PC-SIG disks to be either on the !!! !!! CD-ROM or on true magnetic disk drives. More info below. !!! Last month I got tired of seeing my users lost or struggling with the PC-SIG and I decided to create a master control program. This program allows users to scan disks by title, view the descriptive texts for any given disk and even mark them for download. An option to COPY the disk off the CD-ROM to another drive is built into the program. Users can even copy disks to a private download area for batch downloading, eliminating the need for moving around various ".FAR" directories. System requirements: * PC-SIG Version #9 (1 to 2,485) disk collection (on CD or on hard drive) * 7 megabytes free disk space (For programs and databases!!!) (If you cannot give up 7-meg of disk) (space for this program then you cannot) (use it!.) * TDBS v1.1m or higher (GamePak owners can also use this program !!) * TBBS v2.1 or higher (our program is currently limited to 16 lines.) (32 line versions will be released later this ) (summer. NO orders for 32 line programs are ) (being taken now. ) * ANY IBM COMPATIBLE COMPUTER - You do NOT need a high speed machine to use this program. Efficient coding provides quick access to all program features even with slow XT computers * CTL flags available for up to 16 different settings- Explained below Release note: This version v0691-22 is the third official release. It contains all updates and enhancements that are available so far. Improvements are ongoing and you will be notified via bbs or mail whenever new releases are available if you purchase the program. Among other things it contains: 1) Single disk view or immediate mark. See below for mark details. (Terms: Mark and Tag used interchangeably in this document.) 2) Display all disk titles from 1 to 2,485, allow mark or view of disk description and then mark. 3) Display disks by category. Hundreds of disks, but not the complete catalog, are set up to help users quickly locate a disk of interest BY CATEGORY. Usefull for those users not familiar with PC-SIG who would like some direction in what disks to begin with. 4) Fast lookups. Typical search for disk text on AT class computer is under 2 seconds for any disk in database. Blinking "WAIT!!!" provided for user in case of extended delay. This is NOT a key word search, rather a DISK NUMBER lookup for text display. 5) Sysop configurable COPY option to move disks from CDROM or other media to temporary private download area for user. Additional option to create POINTER ONLY to PC-SIG disk, without actual moving. 6) Limit amount of time user can spend in this program by number of views/copies per use. 7) Limit access by priv level to do actual mark/copy. Excellant "tease" allows non-members to view entire system but not actually download/mark disks. Limitations are explained to user in a sysop fully-configurable help screen. 8) Built in general help for ALL menu functions. Overview of ZIP file and PC-SIG concepts included. 9) Multi-user access. Any number of users can run this program concurrently with no file locking conflicts. !!! Installation instructions provided here for reference ONLY !! Installation: Depending on what format of backup program you requested, you will have received several floppy disks. Approximatly 7 megabytes of data is on these disks in compressed, backup format. The majority of the data is converted PC-SIG catalog descriptions and other data files. These files are provided FREE to you when you purchase our program. We have undergone the lengthy process of transforming and importing the 70,000+ record main database and other smaller files for you so that you only need install the package. If you purchased the PC-SIG CD-ROM then you already have these files but in a raw, unusable format. We do NOT recommend attempting to process the raw data into the needed databases yourself, there are MANY unusual control characters and trouble spots in the raw PC-SIG catalog data, plus it contains no usable indexing structure. We have spent the time doing this for you and recommend you use the databases provided for you on the disks enclosed. Create a sub-directory, preferably called SIGCTRL on any drive you wish. I suggest you do not use a ram disk, unless it is battery backed up. YOU MUST HAVE 7 MEGS OF FREE SPACE AVAILABLE FOR THIS FEATURE. ADDIIONAL SPACE IS NEEDED FOR COPY OF DISKS IF 'COPY' OPTION IS USED RATHER THAN 'POINTER'. (See below). Future upgrades, for later PC-SIG disks may require increments of 500k additional space or so, per PC-SIG disk (CD-ROM) update. Standard program updates for same versions require NO additional storage considerations. Search times are VERY fast so disk speed is NOT a major concern for the sysop using slower hardware. Next create a TYPE 200 menu option. It should contain OPT DATA with the following: OPT DATA = C:\SIGCTRL\SIGCTRL /Q (Here we assume "C:\SIGCTRL" is the sub-dir. The program to call ) (is SIGCTRL. Use the "/Q" option to remove the TDBS loading screen.) Using your restore program (depending on one requested when placing order for this program) restore the backup floppies that you received. You should have 4 disks, ALL in the format of your chosen backup program. Restore them directly to the sub-directory that will be used for this program. Next do a "DIR" of the directory. You should see one file called SIGCTRL.TPG and many databases. Run 'CHKDSK *.*' on the disk you restored the files on, WHILE STILL IN THE DIRECTORY YOU RESTORED TO. Be sure no disk errors result. If fragmentation is noted then use any reliable program to COMPRESS or DEFRAG the disk. If disk errors, cross-linked files or lost clusters have been noted, then run "CHKDSK *.* /F" or any preferred program to fix errors or consult with your disk or system dealer for proper handling of errors. THIS PROCEDURE IS VERY IMPORTANT. YOU CANNOT HAVE ANY DISK ERRORS IN THIS SUB-DIRECTORY OR THE PROGRAM MAY FAIL. Defragmentation of the databases is not truly required, but is beneficial for faster disk/text searches. Although the main database is indexed, very large, non-contigous database files often cause minor head thrashing during multiple file processing. Defragmentation after initial installation will greatly improve drive head movement during seek processes. CTL flags- This program is restricted internally by priviledge level. You can further the restrictions by using A-Flags in the CTL to produce whatever results desired. Additional flags are needed for handling of downloading of PC-SIG disks AFTER SigCtrl is run. The program will create a files directory for EACH PHONE LINE that a user calls in under when running this program. Refer to the SDL text included called SIGC.SDL, this is the SDL text file we use to create the MENUSIGC.CTL which you would likely use to run this program. It is preset with certain A4 authorization flags. YOU MUST EITHER CHANGE YOUR CONFIG.CTL TO MATCH THESE FLAGS OR CHANGE THE SIGC.SDL TO MATCH YOUR CONFIG.CTL. All users will download the PC-SIG library from the same hard drive BUT they should only see the TBBS dir file that SigCtrl created for them. In using A4 flags that only allow them to see their dir they will be sure to download ONLY the files THEY selected during a SigCtrl program run. Example: If a caller on line #1 has A4=X------ as what is set from the CONFIG.CTL then the SIGC menu should have a DOWNLOAD option that points to your SIGCTRL sub-dir and to the files directory that is created by SigCtrl. A caller on line #1 would get a directory called "FILES1.DIR" a caller on line #10, or 0Ah as per TBBS convention would create a TBBS file directory called "FILESA.DIR". View the SIGC.SDL for a visual overview of how this looks. The MENUSIGC is also already compiled as MENUSIGC.CTL if you can use it as such and IS medit compatible if you are not familiar with SDL and wish to avoid using it. Remember: you only need as many CTL flags for the amount of lines you use. A 4 line system only needs to have a menu with 4 different ownload options, each with flags that reflect what the CONFIG.CTL will do to the A4 group during a users logon. MENUSIGC.CTL must be changed or updated with respect to how you use this program. 'COPY' mode will need to have the path and DIR name specified for EACH line, the 'POINT' option will only need the DIR name specified differently for each lines downloading prompt in the menu. Only one menu option is needed to run the SigControl (SIGCTRL.TPG) program for all users. Now bring up TBBS and run the new menu option. YOU MUST HAVE ANSI/GRAPHICS ENABLED IN YOUR SETUP FOR THIS PROGRAM TO WORK. ANSI IS AN ABSOLUTE MUST FOR THIS PROGRAM. SysOp setups: The program enables you to determine where the PC-SIG CD-ROM disks will be stored. Most users prefer to keep them on the CD-ROM itself. It is assumed here that the SysOp is following all licensing requirements or guidelines as specified by the PC-SIG company of California for running the CD-ROM online, should there be any. You can select to have the several options changed for setup as per main menu option #6. Below are simple details for these options. 1) Disable PC-SIG. Leaves the program unavailable for access to anyone below priv level 253, REGARDLESS of other priv levels set in the program. This allows the sysop to quickly disable run of program should their be a need without having to change any other setups. 2) Set min priv for tagging. This allows users (based on priv level below) to do anything else in the program, EXCEPT actually tag or copy disks. This is usefull if you want non-subscribers to be able to view your system but not cause any activity in the file/disk processing itself. Can be set from privs 1 to 254. 3) Set min priv for any use. If this number is set HIGHER than a users account priv level, then they get "polite rejection" when trying to use this program. It is recommended that you let users have access through this item, but lower the prior tagging priv level so that new users cannot actually manipulate the files. Non-subscribers get "teased" into trying the system without any major system impact due to CD-ROM I/O. 4) Is this library on a REAL CD-ROM. This option must be set correctly PRIOR to using the search/view/tag options. This will decide whether or not the CD-ROM is in use. Setting this item to Y for YES will force the program to use PC-SIG standard path naming schemes. Rev #9 and above of PC-SIG had ALL disks pre-zipped for easy downloading but put them in deep directories. An example is disk 900 would be pathed: c:\801_900\DISK0900\DISK0900.ZIP. Where the 'c:' is assumed the drive letter name. If you select Y or YES for the above option a DISK DRIVE LETTER option will appear. YOU MUST BE SURE TO SPECIFY THE CORRECT DISK LETTER FOR THE CD-ROM SO THAT ALL POINTERS OR COPY TASKS WILL EXECUTE PROPERLY. If you select N or No for the above item then the disk drive letter option will NOT even appear. If you move your PC-SIG disks to another drive you will need to create a PC-SIG DISK control DATABASE. Basically this is the paths to each group of disks in your library. **** If you place your PC-SIG disks on true magnetic disk drives **** **** and use some other grouping or pathing scheme than the one **** **** that PC-SIG uses you will have to create a database OFFLINE **** **** using our SIGMAKE control program. SIGMAKE is included here. **** **** Read the DOC file called SIGMAKE.DOC for info on how to use **** **** the offline program, its really quite simple, and it will act**** **** as the pointer database for your PC-SIG library. **** (SIGMAKE is not released with this introduction doc file) 5) Set limit on number of views/tags per use. Each time the program is run, the users prior tags or copies are cleared out. This helps to eliminate the idea of users piling up dozens of disks in the tagged or copied database for later downloading. By setting a number here the user is forced to back out of the program and use the download options to pick up the disks and then come back and re-run the process over again to select more disks. Setting this to 0 makes the program impose no limits to tags/copies. 6) COPY or POINTER logic for file tags. !! Very important: If you are using a CD-ROM, then you MIGHT NOT want your users to have regular DOWNLOAD access to that disk. Each time the CD-ROM disk has to seek to and settle on a spot on a CD-ROM, the system basically will halt all processing until the controller reports back status of the drive. While this only takes a few hundred milliseconds under most cases, it can sometimes take 1 or 2 FULL SECONDS. This is generally seen as a "freeze" in all system processing. I/O to other devices and com ports generally halts for that time and keyboard I/O FROM THE USERS on other lines will stop mometarily. If you use a REAL CD-ROM, rather than put your PC-SIG disks on a hard drive, you may prefer to have this program COPY, rather than POINT to the PC-SIG disk in question. By selecting the COPY option from this question, if your users request to select a PC-SIG disk, it will COPY the PC-SIG disk from the CD-ROM to a hard drive and path of your choice. Selecting COPY here will bring up another option and that is path. LEAVING THE PATH BLANK WHEN 'COPY' OPTION IS SELECTED WILL CAUSE THE PROGRAM TO DEFAULT TO THE 'POINT' OPTION . Specifying a directory HERE, or entering ANY DATA AT ALL in the path question, will cause the program to copy the files to to that path for all users BASED ON THE CALLING LINE THEY ARE ON. That is if you enter a path like "D:\CHOICE" for the area to copy the users disk to then when a user on line 5 calls and runs this program he will get any tagged/marked disks copied to the path called "D:\CHOICE5". This program will automatically create the directory for you if it does not exist. Please keep this in mind should you use this 'COPY' option rather than the 'POINT' option. This is also essential for "garbage removal" of old PC-SIG disks as explained below. The directory file will always be called by the line number. So if a caller picks disk #555 and your option is set to 'COPY' and the path specified is called "D:\CHOICE", the disk will be immediatly copied from the originating point to the sub-dir called "D:\CHOICE5", the directory name will be called "FILES5.DIR" and will contain ONLY the disks the user specified during that program run, in this case DISK0555.ZIP. Subsequent runs will delete any previous disks tagged by ANY user that are now in the "D:\CHOICE5" directory. Delete lookup info is found in the database file called COPYIT5.DBF which would have been made up by any previos runs. Remember: Every line gets references to its areas and directory names with the HEX value of the line concatenated to the end of the name. Hence, line 11 would use COPYITB.DBF as the delete file, all DBF's are kept in the SigControl program directory. The 'COPY' directory would be "D:\CHOICEB" AND the resulting files directory would be called "FILESB.DIR" If this still is foggy to you, feel free to call our bbs and leave the sysop a question or fax or voice call your questions. If you are running multi-line TBBS and expect to see more than 1 user at a time using this feature OR just downloading from the PC-SIG, then we suggest using the COPY option if you keep the disks on the actual CD-ROM to avoid system slowdowns during download. Only the copy process will slow down the system but this is temporary and will not cause the CD-ROM to recalibrate each time a user is serviced by the bbs. Each time a user runs this program from a given line on your bbs, this program will look into the COPYIT database for that TBBS line and kill any old disks that were put out there. This helps to reduce garbage left by previous callers. !! Choosing the POINT option will NOT do any copying, rather it will just build a FILESx.DIR file for the user and will point TO THE PC-SIG disk as per either the CD-ROM disk directory structure OR by the database created offline with SIGMAKE, as mentioned in previous items. It is recommended that the POINT option be used when disks are stored on hard drives as no system slow down occurs when users list or download their selected disks. YOU MUST HAVE SUFFICIENT DISK SPACE ON THE DISK YOU WILL DO YOUR 'COPY' DISKS TO SHOULD YOU USE THAT OPTION. ALLOCATE ROUGHLY ONE-MEGABYTE PER LINE FOR YOUR SYSTEM IF YOU USE THE 'COPY' OPTION RATHER THAN THE POINT OPTION. Using the limitation options above to allow only 2 or 3 tags per run should keep the average users 'COPY'd disks size to less than one-megabyte. If you have questions or bug complaints, call our bbs at 516-938-6722 and leave a private message to the SYSOP. Running: This program requires NO system operator intervention. The program will always know where to find the disks and will do all directory maintenance based on whether the 'COPY' or 'POINT' options are used. Occaisionally something may happen during a run of the program and garbage PC-SIG disks may be left in a directory IF you use the copy option. If you like you can create a batch file to auto- delete PC-SIG disks copied to the private download areas when you do your normal system maintenance processes (external events). Deleting the ZIP files from these private areas will ensure that at least once a day they are cleared out from any possible leftover disks that were copied. A sample batch file called CLEAROUT.BAT is provided, with internal comments to demonstrate how this can be done easily. The only time you may have to do any work with this program is when you wish to change the system setups, such as priv levels. Also if you move the disks to another drive letter or relocate or restructure disk directories holding the PC-SIG disks then you will have to run the SIGMAKE program, offline, to update that database. ALL databases are kept in the directory that holds the program SIGCTRL.TPG, which is the program that runs everything. If you selected the 'COPY' option for where tagged/marked disks are to go then the areas and disk directories are named and pathed as described in the above section on the Sysop setups. If you use the 'POINT' option then no copies are made and only a FILESx.DIR is created in the SIGCTRL.TPG directory. Final Notes: If you think that improvements can be made to this program or that you would like to see some process handled differently, then drop a line to use via the bbs, fax or voice numbers below. Anyone who purchases this program is entitled to future upgrades to new PC-SIG disks at a cost of $15. The price will include any new databases, which will be made from the raw PC-SIG data off the upcoming CD-ROM disks and the new program, mailed to the owner of the current version. Remember, this charge is ONLY for new releases of PC-SIG CD-ROMs, like #10 or #11, not for SigControl program revisions or bug fixes. Bug fixes and improvements to existing PC-SIG disk versions are free and will be made available to all owners of SigControl at NO COST. The End?- Since its obvious I don't write documentation for a living and don't intend to spend lengthy time writing an extensive manual for what is quite a simple program, it is possible I left out a few items that may be important to you. If you find bugs or problems in using this program or if you have any comments or criticisms, you can contact me via mail on the following systems: SYSTEM NAME - PHONE NUMBER - LEAVE MAIL TO: --------------------------------------------------- PDSLO NETWORK - 516-938-6722 - JIM TORO or SysOp (All numbers ) - 516-938-0675 - (FAX machine) (24-hours day) - 516-938-1729 - Voice (ans mach when no one avail.) TBBS SUPPORT BBS - 303-699-8222 - JAMES TORO (Only a user, not associated with) (E-soft or tech support there )