Fakebot is a replacement for the Tabby Robot which you can use with Tabby to Crashmail one or more nodes with a minimum amount of fuss. You can configure it with to remember as many as six node number(s) you want to crash, in contrast to Tabby Robot, which requires keyboard entry for every crash session. Fakebot lets you turn nodes on and off for crashing and keeps a directory of frequently called node addresses. And, unlike Tabby Robot, Fakebot can be launched as an external command from your BBS to do its work.
Put Fakebot at the same level as TabbyNet and run it while holding down the mouse key. You will be presented with a dialog box which allows you to configure the program.
Enter the nodes you want to crash in the six text fields. Empty boxes are ignored by Fakebot.
The Auto checkbox tells Fakebot whether or not to run automatically. This should be enabled if you use Fakebot in a Tabby event or as a Command 50. If you plan always to use Fakebot as a stand-alone utility, disable the Auto checkbox and Fakebot will await your bidding whenever you launch it.
Each node field has a check box. Enable it to crash a node. Turn it off to ignore that node. This feature allows you to keep your six most common calls always at the ready, easily selectable.
The Redial field tells TabbyNet how many minutes to keep trying to complete its calls.
The Next application to launch field contains the name of the application to launch when Fakebot is done. Normally this will be Gliders, which will generate a fake launch.next file of Tabby-style events. Notice the Find button on top of this field? Click it to select the Next Launch application from a standard file dialog. To set Gliders up correctly, use the same sequence of events as Tabby Robot.
The Fakebot configure dialog has four main buttons: Go, Set, Transfer and Cancel. Go keeps the current settings and runs Fakebot when you are through configuring it. Transfer keeps the current settings but lets you launch another application. Set keeps the current settings but exits to the Finder. Cancel leaves the settings as they were before you launched Fakebot. Cancel ignores changes made to the settings; all other buttons keep them.
The Address List is where you can a list of nodes you frequently want to crash. If you want to add a node in this list to one of the six text fields, click in the Text field then double click the entry. Voila! Its node address appears in the selected text field. Any text previously in that field is replaced.
To the left of the Address list are three buttons. The + button lets you add an entry after the currently selected address (if no address is selected, it’s added as the first item). The - button deletes the currently selected entry (be careful!). The ~ button lets you edit the currently selected entry. Because the - button removes information, you are warned before the first deletion. If you tell Fakebot to delete the item, you won’t be warned on subsequent uses of the - button.
(For the technical minded: Addresses are stored in STR# 5000, which is resized by Fakebot dynamically. Capacity of the address book is limited only by the scrolling list. You can store hundreds of addresses in Fakebot without a problem.)
Miscellany ----------
Fakebot contains some string resources which you can modify as required:
STR 502 is the location of The Priority file which TabbyNet uses for its calling sequence. This is normally
:Tabby:Priority
STR 503 & 504 contain the names of files you might wish to delete on a regular basis. If you leave them empty (or enter a nonexistent path:filename) nothing is deleted. If you were using Fakebot to run a point with Tabby software, you might use these to annihilate the Generic Echoes and Seenby.bbs files which TabbyNet reflexively builds during every session. You could also have them delete files such as LaunchRRH (or LaunchSS) or other artifacts of external BBS programs.
STR# 5000 contains addresses in the folowing form:
Name•NodeAddr
The name is separated from the address by a bullet. Addresses are entered in the form xxx/yyy with no zone ID.
In use, just launch Fakebot. It will write a Priority file to the Tabby folder and will then turn matters over to Gliders…
If you use Fakebot as a BBS external application, just launch it and hang up. It has no BBS-specific requirements and will work with any BBS program which coexists with Tabby and supports external applications.
New with version 1.43:
Fixed bug which prevented storing changes to the Next Launch setting.
New with version 1.41:
Added Auto button to allow Fakebot to be used more easily as a stand-alone (non-Tabby) utility.
Interface substantially redesigned. Clickable Address List takes place of Notes field. Addresses are stored in a STR# resource. Transfer button added, along with buttons to edit address list.
New with version 1.31:
Fixed action of switches so they govern Fakebot operation when Fakebot is launched normally.
New with version 1.3:
Added the “Go” button for immediate crashing.
Added switches for each of the six node number fields.
Added “Alias” information to remind you which version of Fakebot you’re configuring (its name appears at the top right of the configure dialog).
New with version 1.2:
The Configure dialog now has a notes field in which you can enter up to six lines of text with reminders of node numbers. It doesn’t support cut & paste and doesn’t scroll, but is big enough for common forget-me-nots. These notes are stored in STR 506 if you want to use ResEdit to copy & paste. Notes should not exceed 255 characters -- that’s way more than you can see in this display anyway. You cannot enter tabs or carriage returns from the Configure dialog, but you can make a carriage return by entering Option-R (®) -- Fakebot will translate it when it saves the settings.
If Fakebot finds a file called “Fakebot Script” (no quotes) at the Fakebot root level, it reads the text in this script for its list of calls instead of the numbers you’ve configured, then destroys the text file. This feature will be meaningful with a future edition of AreaTrix or perhaps Archie.
Format for Fakebot Script, if you want to play with it, is one line as follows:
If you like Fakebot, send mail to PETERJ on GEnie, or drop me a postcard. If I get good mail, I will continue to maintain Fakebot and to release free software. Otherwise I won’t.
