and the Macnexus Macintosh User Group of Sacramento.
This archive provides an Installer add-on for use by Internet Service Providers, for their Mac clients. In order to use this add-on you must be licensed to use Aladdin's InstallerMaker program. The program was created with THINK C 7.x. and the Universal Headers.
Previous Users Should Note: This version contains serious changes over previous versions, which you will need to understand before using the updated 'IEnd' resource file. "See "What's New in 1.2" and "Configuring the Fields of the 'ISPc' resource" below for more details.
Create an Installer for new users to install all needed software for Internet access, then with this plug-in, before the Installer quits it will ask the user to enter the account name and password needed to log-on with their new PPP account. After confirming the name and password, the settings are then saved in the user's PPP Preferences for them.
This works in the context of an Installer which installs all of the needed software for Internet/Web access, including FreePPP or MacPPP and a pre-configured PPP Preferences file, set up properly for accessing that service. Be sure that the PPP Preferences file you use is created by the same extension included in your archive. Current versions of FreePPP create a preferences file which is not compatible with MacPPP. This code is unaffected by those changes, however.
This archive inludes:
• PPP_PrefSaver 1.2-IEnd.rsrc - Include this resource file in your Installer to save the account name and password settings into the current server's connect script or Authentication settings. Instructions further down below detail how to configure the 'IEnd' resource file for your needs. The default configuration is set to "Demo Only" so that it will not save anything into a PPP Preferences file until you decide.
• PPP_PrefSaver 1.2 - A standalone DEMO version of the code, which shows you how the code operates, in standalone application format, but does not actually write anything into the PPP Preferences file.
• Demo Install - A InstallerMaker Installer archive document, which you can open with InstallerMaker to create a demo Installer, just to see how it appears when executed in the context of an Installer.
• C Source - A folder containing the source code files and resource file used to generate the program.
System Requirements: PPP_PrefSaver uses System 7 dialog/alert auto-centering. If you need to create an installer for System 6 users, you can turn off auto-centering and place the dialog and alerts so their top, left corners are at 100,100. That should be suitable for most monitors. (You could add code to handle centering, if you like, but since this isn't something a user will be repeatedly using, I personally don't think it's worth putting in the extra code. The appearance will be little noticed.)
What's New in 1.2:
By popular demand, the PPP_PrefSaver code may now be configured with ResEdit, eliminating the need to recompile the code, unless you would like to incorporate more extensive changes than I have allowed configured through ResEdit.
In the 'IEnd' resource file, the standalone application, and in the source resource file you will find a new custom resource, with a template to make it easy to edit, called an 'ISPc' for "ISP configuration." Just open up the 'ISPc' resource, ID#3000, and change the settings as fits your needs.
Fixed/Changed in 1.2:
• The filter routine, which controls what characters are acceptable as input from the user, now correctly determines the resulting field length when characters are hilited and a key is pressed. Also, command keys and control keys are now disabled, preventing the user from using Edit commands to get around input filter controls and to prevent entering garbage characters that may be generated if the ctrl key is pressed.
Configuring the Fields of the 'ISPc' resource:
Demo only? - Set this to true if you want the code to execute without actually saving the settings into the PPP Preferences file. This also causes a message to appear on the screen that says, "(THIS IS A DEMO ONLY - NO SETTINGS WILL BE SAVED)"
Use connect script? - Set this to true if you want the settings saved in the connect script, false to save them in the Authentication settings.
Connect script: Which field (0-7) for account name? - If you are saving the settings into the connect script, enter the field number where the account name should be saved, here.
A PPP connect script allows you to use up to 8 fields. They are numbered 0 thru 7 (not 1 thru 8).
Connect script: Which field (0-7) for password? - If you are saving the settings into the connect script, enter the field number where the password should be saved, here.
CAPS OK in account name? - Set to true if it is ok to allow uppercase letters in the account name.
Other acceptable chars in account name? - If you would like certain non-letter or non-numeric characters to be allowed in the account name, enter those characters in this field. Note: Make sure only those characters are entered, even spaces will count if you enter them here.
# chars allowed in account name? - Set this to the maximum number of characters you want the user limited to entering in the account name field.
CAPS OK in password? - Set to true if it is ok to allow uppercase letters in the password.
If both the account name and the password are limited to lowercase letters, the code will automatically convert uppercase characters to lowercase characters for the user. (No sense endlessly beeping at a user with CAPS LOCK on.)
Other acceptable chars in password? - If you would like certain non-letter or non-numeric characters to be allowed in the password, enter those characters in this field. Note: Make sure only those characters are entered, even spaces will count if you enter them here.
# chars allowed in password? - Set this to the maximum number of characters you want the user limited to entering in the password field.
The source code
The source code may be easily compiled as either a standalone application or as a code resource. The project and resource file are pre-set to compile as a standalone application which demos the code, but does not save the settings.
To compile as a code resource of type 'IEnd', with ResEdit's Creator code 'RSED' and the ResEdit file type 'rsrc', select "Set Project Type..." from the Project menu in the THINK Project Manager when the project is open, and set the fields to those as pictured below:
The only attribute set is "Purgeable".
If you have upgraded to InstallerMaker 3.0, you should set the ID to 256.
To return to compiling as a standalone app: Set the project type to application, give it 100K for a partition, set the 32bit compatible flag, and open the PPP_Pref.h file and change #define STANDALONE 0 to #define STANDALONE 1.
About the code:
If the PPP Preferences file is not found, or if the abort parameter is set by the Installer, the code does nothing.
It expects the Installer to have installed the pre-configured PPP Preferences file, so that it can finish the job by filling in the user's account name and password.
Once the OK button is pressed, the user is asked to confirm the settings entered. If needed the user can then cancel and go back to entering the settings again. The user may also choose to cancel entering the settings altogether and enter them on their own, later.
Final Comments:
The source code is pretty easy to follow. There are some helpful comments included along the way. See the InstallerMaker manual for specific information about including a custom 'IEnd' procedure in your Installer. (Not much to it, actually. Just click the mini ResEdit icon in the lower left-hand corner or the Installer archive window, then find and select the resource file you want to include.) Note: This code does nothing to evaluate the abort parameter for purposes of recovering from an abort, it just returns what it is sent.
Licensing Information:
This program is free for anyone to use, commercial or otherwise, no need to seek permission, providing: You send a letter to Aladdin and tell them of your appreciation of the availability of this source code and how it has increased your satisfaction with InstallerMaker. Please credit me, Eric Long, as the author. (-: If you do not wish to write a simple letter (geez...) you can pay for a license to use the code at $100 per 500 copies distributed, in increments of 500.
You will want to edit various elements of the text, which are specific to Macnexus, like the term "NetSurfer", to fit your needs. Note that the Copland style folder icon shown has the Macnexus trademarked logo on it. You should replace that icon with one of your own to avoid copyright infringement. The static text item that says, "(THIS IS A DEMO ONLY - NO SETTINGS WILL BE SAVED)" should not be changed. This message is hidden or displayed based on the "Demo Only" setting in the 'ISPc' configuration resource. You can edit the other text items, but you should be careful not to change item numbers or their order. Do not change item types of the controls or edit text items. If neccessary, you can safely add static text and other non-control items to the DITL.
Visit Macnexus at: http://www.macnexus.org/
Visit Aladdin at: http://www.aladdinsys.com/
Send email to: dev.sales@aladdinsys.com
Created by:
Eric Long - 72764.1072@compuserve.com
Visit my web site at: http://members.aol.com/XTimer4Mac
The most recent version of this program and any of my other publicly available programs may be downloaded from this site.
Addition of icons and other editing of the dialog appearance by Willie Raye.
Willie also contributed to this project various elements of documentation I needed and helped test to make sure things were running smoothly. Willie is the creator of the Installer Macnexus uses, for which this code was initially created.
