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Text File | 1994-10-01 | 24KB | 557 lines

Program: FAX-IT V3.0 CNet Version: FAX-IT V3.0 Author: Glenn J. Schworak Malcolm Anderson 1710 Lee Street SE --???-- Salem, Oregon 97302 USA Stocton, California USA BBS: (503) 581-6524 (209) 464-0219 Voice: (503) 399-7518 (???) ???-???? Fido: 1:3406/32 1:208/217 Date: 04/26/1994 Purpose: Allow Excelsior BBS to send FAX message through GPFax program Usage: Call FAX-IT as an ARexx door from Excelsior/CNet BBS NOTE: Read the CNet.Readme file for more information on setting up this program on your CNet system. This version is for CNet only! This program was written to make more use of the FAX front door I am running on my Excelsior BBS. I had another version that was never released for general use when I was running a Falcon BBS, but it didn't convert over so I totaly re-wrote the programs and support files to make them easy to use and Excelsior frendly. I spent a lot of time figuring this stuff out and making it as easy as I could to install and operate. If you like it, please make a donation as mentioned at the bottom of this DOC file. ** NOTE ** If you are upgrading from V1.0 you will need to replace all the files in the FAX-IT directory with the new ones and redo all your changes you made. Sorry! Special Note on GPFax ===================== GPFax has a little problem with reporting the true baud rate when it is locked at any given rate. Although you might use &W2 to get your modem to report the true connect rate, GPFax will not report that in any way to the outside world. It will display it when it connects but only to the screen if the GPFax screen is open. Here is what you MUST do if you want GPFax to give the true baud rate to Excelsior when it passes control. There is no way around this and still get the real connection baud rate from GPFax. Sorry, I didn't write that program. 1) You must start GPFax with the -B14400 option (assuming you are using a 14400 or higher modem) No other value will work accept maybe -B9600 for 9600 baud modems. IE: GPFax -B14400 -X600 -Y2 -Q 2) You must NEVER try to lock the baud rate. Not with the -L option or with the LOCKBAUD ARexx command. Once you lock the baud rate, you have lost the ability to get GPFax to tell the truth. 3) You must add the \N1 option to the modem INIT command. Best to be placed near the end of the string. This will tell the modem to follow the computer's baud rate. So if the user connects at 2400 baud, the modem will also talk to your computer at 2400 baud. This is what you want!!! If the modem was locked at 14400 or higher and GPFax tells Excelsior that the user is calling at 2400 baud, Excelsior will send trash to the modem at 2400 even though the modem is still at 14400. See? 4) If you attempt to set the -B option to anything other than 14400 or 9600, GPFax will assume you are locking the serial port and will not give the correct baud rate. Personaly, I lock my baud rate at 57600 and I get users of high speed modems hitting speeds of 1900cps when downloading .LZH files. I have had users hit 3950cps on strait text files. So for me, unlocking my serial port is not a good option. But at least the true baud rate will be given and users will get a fairly good estimate of the download time. Changes to FAX-IT ================= V1.0 No version number was given in the program or documents but the first version was 1.0 in case you didn't know. V1.2 I have added the ability to allow users to FORCE a FAX. This will give users the ability to try to send a FAX outside of the normal FAX hours and days that you have specified. You can turn this feature on or off to suit your needs/desires. A new file FAX-Times has been added. This is where you will make your changes to the days and hours that your system will dial out. If you are upgrading from an V1.0 you will need to replace the old FAX-IT and AutoFAX files with the new ones and update the FAX-Times files only. No other changes will need to be made to your existing system. I would suggest replacing the FAX-Stat program too, but there is only a little pause change so it doesn't make any functional differance. V2.0 Improved routines to allow FAX-IT to run on the same line as TrapDoor and not falsly attempt to send FAX Mail while GPFax is not running. Several new files and manu new user friendly features have been added to make this package more powerful and easier to work with. V2.1 Small bug fixed dealing with some systems not wanting to properly force FAX mail through outside the FAXing hours. V2.5 Small bug fixed that caused some FAX messages to get stuck in the out going directory. Added FAX number tracking.... Every time a FAX is successfully sent out, a new directory "NUMBERS" will be checked for the number dialed. If it exists, the message in the file is added to the status report other wise this new number is added to the list. V2.8 Added the ability to display the list of FAX numbers known to the system to any user who wants to see it. Cleaned up the HELP file to make it a bit more clear to the reader. Allowed the user to re-enter the phone number if it was entered incorrectly or was not local (on a local only/limited system) or if they used the HELP or LIST command. Several other little tweeks to make things work more smoothly. V3.0 Created a CONFIG file named FAX-IT.cfg to make setting this system up a bit easier. And reduce the chance of damaging the main program. This also opens the way for me to rewrite the entire program into C. Added the ability for a user to enter the NAME of the location they are faxing when asked for the number. If the NAME is known to the system, then the phone number will automaticaly be used. Future Trying to figure out a way to allow your system to automaticaly route in coming FAX mail to your users. This is going to be a really hard one so don't hold your breath... Setting Up GPFax ================ These things must be set in order for GPFax to work properly as a FrontDoor and interface with FAX-IT and Excelsior.... 1) You MUST be running a version of GPFax between 2.00 and 2.30. The versions after 2.30 don't seem to work quite correctly as a FrontDoor to the BBS systems I have tried them on. 2) In the envoronment settings you need to have these settings... a. Shared must be checked (selected) b. The "Modem Init" must be "AAT &F2 +FAA=1 S2=27 &K3 E0 W2 L1 N1 SC8=16" (this is for SupraFAX modems only! Others are on their own) c. Retry SHOULD be set to 4 or 5 to give the FAX a fair chance. d. Redial Delay should be set to 1 to prevent callers from sneeking in NOTE: If you are using a version lower than 2.30 remove the SC8 from the "Modem Init" and make the redial delay larger (20 is good) 3) In the option settings you need to have these settings... a. AutoAnswer b. FAX/DATA c. ARexx DATA NOTE: Any other settings are just extra and have no effect on the FrontDoor as far as I can tell. So set them as you like. Installing The Program ====================== Installing this program is quite simple. (or maybe not) Simply place ALL the files in the archive into a directory named "FAX-IT" within your normal Doors directory. If you would like to make use of the help file from the help command on the BBS, place a COPY of the Help.FAX file in your Text/English directory. The FAX-IT program will look for this help file in the FAX-IT directory so don't delete it from there. But the BBS can access any file named HELP. if it is in the proper TEXT directory. You should also copy/move the RunBack program to your C: directory. It will allow most any program to run in background. It is required for proper operation of this program. NOTE: I did not write RunBack... I am not even sure where I got it from. I am sure it came off of one of the ShareWare collections, but it didn't have any docs with it. This is not the same as the DOS 1.3 version. This is for use with DOS 2.0 or higher only. You can either run this program from your normal DOORS area or make it a normal command or both. If you make it a normal command, I sugest you make it a Global command and make an entry in your EX.BBSMenus file like this... 675, FAX, 0, "1-32", "\#0Doors:FAX-IT/FAX-IT\" ...also, in your TEXT.WELCOME.USER file, add this... \#0Doors:FAX-IT/FAX-Stat\ ...of course, the paths listed here would depend on what you call your DOORS path. And the access levels would be up to you to determine as well. But this would give all users access to the FAX messaging program. If you are leaving the FAX modem just sit there and it is not a front door, you are done at this point. Well at least it will work. (Customize it!) If you are like me and use the FAX modem as a front door program, you need to add four (4) lines to your DataCall.gpf file in the GPFax: directory. They are as follows... 1. Shell Command 'C:Echo >T:FAXnode ""' 2. Shell Command 'delete t:FAXnode' 3. Shell Command 'Run RX Doors:Fax-It/AutoFAX.gpf' Line 1 MUST be placed just after the OPTIONS RESULTS line. Lines 2 and 3 must be the last two lines of the script. If you have placed the files in another directory, line 3 may need to be altered. DO NOT ALTER LINES 1 or 2! The program may malfunction if you do! These two lines keep the other modules of the FAX-IT program from accessing the GPFax while it is already in use. NOTE: I have included a complete and ready to use DataCall.gpf script in this archive. If you want to use it that is fine and it should not require any alterations. But double check it before using it. Customization ============= There are several files in the FAX-IT directory that you will need to alter to fit your BBS and your personal tastes. Here I will explain what files need to be changed and what to change. 1. FAX-IT (The main program interface with the BBS) AutoFAX.gpf (The program that converts & sends the FAX) ---- DO NOT CHANGE ANY PART OF THESE TWO FILES!!! ---- 2. FAX-Times a. Change the first line to reflect the actual hours you will be attempting to send the FAX messages out. This is not going to limit the times the users can enter their FAX messages, simply limit the hours your system will try to dial out to send the FAX. b. Change the second line to reflect the actual days of the week you will be attempting to send the FAX messages. This is the same idea as the HOURS variable. (Personaly, I only send FAX messages from 8am-5pm Mon-Fri) Your users will be able to write FAX mail any time of the day or night on any day of the week. The FAX-Times file only keeps the AutoFAX.gpf program from dialing out. The FAX mail will be sent at the first available FAX time. 3. FAX-IT.cfg (The configuration file for FAX-IT) a. Change the ForceFAX variable. This can be set to YES or NO. If you say YES, then the user can ellect to try to send the FAX outside of the normal FAX times. If you are actualy turning GPFax off at some time during the day, DO NOT set this to YES. A system crash could be encountered or at least no FAX will be sent. Only set this to YES if you leave GPFax running 24 hours a day. b. Change the LOCALONLY variable. This can be set to YES or NO. If you say YES, then only local numbers found in the LOCALPREFIX variable will be allowed to be entered. c. LOCALPREFIX needs to contain EVERY prefix that can be dialed from your location without requiring a 1 to be dialed first. This is used to keep people from calling long distance numbers and lets the program identify when and when not to place a 1 in front of the phone number. d. ALLOWLONG will hold the access group numbers for any access level you want to be able to over ride the local only setting. Each level must be seperated by the - character. e. TIMEMSG is a simple message that will notify the users of the actual times that you allow FAX messages to be sent out. This is just a message. It will not force any messages to be sent or not to be sent at any time. f. SAREA should hold the area code you are calling from. This will allow the program to remove this number from any number that is trying to be dialed. If you live in a location like Oregon where every long distance number even within the same area code must have the area code listed when dialing, make this SAREA = "###" to force the area code to be included with the phone number. g. SPICT should be the full file path and name of a 2 color IFF image you want attached to the top of EVERY cover page sent out. If you don't want any picture attached to the cover page, make this SPICT = "" and no image will be included. REMEMBER, the first two characters in this variable MUST BE \G or the path and file name will be added to the cover not the picture. h. SNUM, SNAME, and SLOCAL should reflect your BBS name, phone number, and location. You can add some extra text to these if you like too. i. SMESSAGE is a SHORT little message that is added to each cover page to give a little information about your BBS. KEEP IT SHORT! This must fit on one line in your text editor or it may not all get used. 4. FAX-IT.Welcome (A text file that is displayed to all users) a. You can totaly re-write this file. It will be displayed to every user that accesses the FAX-IT program. It is displayed at the start of the program. 5. GW.IFF (This is a 2 color IFF picture) a. This should be replaced totaly! Place your own 2 color INTERLACED IFF image in here. You should use something like DPAINT to create this image. It must be a BLACK image on a WHITE background for the best result. You should make your image no larger than 1/2 the screen height to keep from forcing your cover onto 2 pages. Also, if you save the image as a BRUSH not a full screen you will be much better off. The image will be automaticaly centered at the top of the cover page. You are free to rename the file to anything you like as long as it matches the name you selected for the SPICT variable in the FAX-IT script. 6. TryFAX (This is a DOS script to KICK the 1st FAX out) a. You should only need to alter the WAIT UNTIL command to match the time of your first available FAX message transmition. This file will sit in memory and every day at this time call the AutoFAX.gpf program to see if any FAX messages need to be sent. It is simply a way to kick start the process each morning. If it calls AutoFAX.gpf and it is not a day for FAXing, no harm is done. No FAX will be sent. 7. S:User-Startup or S:Startup-Sequence or S:BBS-Startup a. The file you change depends on what file you are calling Excelsior from each time you boot the system. Make this addition just after you make the call to Excelsior... RunBack Execute Doors:FAX-IT/TryFAX This will place the TryFAX in memory and let it do it's thing without you needing to mess with it any more. 8. This is something you may need to keep editing... Each time a new FAX number is dialed and a FAX is properly sent, a file will be created in the FAX-IT/Numbers directory. The file name will be the phone number dialed. You may edit the file that is created to hold any information you would like added to the user's status report the next time that number is successfully FAXed to. Once you edit any one you don't need to edit it again. Heck, you never really NEED to edit it at all, but that is up to you. This just turned out to be a great feature and I think you will like it too. It will help your users who the phone number belongs to and more importantly, it helps you track your calls out. NOTE: If you have decided to make the FAX-IT program a command and not a DOOR, you may want to go through some of your menu files and add information about the FAX command. This is up to you though. *** NO MORE FILES TO ALTER *** ---- I know it is a lot, but this is really a very complex task to pull off. Especialy if you are running a multi-node system. This program is tested and running on a 3 node BBS right now so there should be no problems. Sharing With TrapDoor ===================== Three things you should know about first... First: if you have two high speed lines, make life easy and use one for TrapDoor and one for GPFax. You will be much happier. Second: You MUST be using some type of CRON program to schedule events. Third: GPFax and TrapDoor MUST NOT be on at the exact same time!!! Now that that is said, there are two sample scripts included in this archive named Start.FAX and Start.TD and they actualy DOS scripts. You will need them to start the right program at the right time. There is also an ARexx script named FAX-Trap for starting the right program at the right time in the case of a reboot. Here is how you use these programs. 1) Modify the variables StartFAX and StartTD in the FAX-Trap script. These two variables will determine what program is launched at BOOT time. StartFAX is the first moment of the day that you want to allow FAX mail to come IN to your system from another location. StartTD is the time that the last FAX would be received and GPFax would be closed down to make room for TrapDoor. 2) User-Startup, Startup-Sequence, or BBS-Startup (same script used above to start Excelsior and TryFAX) RX Doors:FAX-IT/Start.FAX This should be one of the last commands in your script to allow the other programs a chance to get set up. Personaly, I recommend a small WAIT just before this command is executed. 3) In your CRON you will need to call each of the scripts Start.FAX and Start.TD at the proper time. You will need to refer to your CRON documents to determine the correct methode for setting it up. I am using DCRON since it came with Excelsior. My entries look like this... 0 4 * * * Execute Doors:FAX-IT/Start.FAX 0 20 * * * Execute Doors:FAX-IT/Start.TD This allows GPFax to be online to answer FAX calls and BBS calls from 4am to 8pm every day. You may if you like reduce these hours to match your FAX dial out hours. I like my system to be able to receive FAX mail longer than it can send. You MUST keep GPFax on line as long as you are allowing out going FAX mail to be sent off your system. The programs won't crash, but it is not a good idea to have the programs trying to access a program that isn't there. and your users won't like it either. 4) Modify Start.FAX if you need to. If you have instructed TrapDoor to use any port name other than "TrapDoor" you will need to modify Start.FAX so it knows the correct port name. The modification would be in the first. Replace TrapDoor with the correct port name. If you have not changed the port name in TrapDoor, don't worry about this step. 5) As usual, if your paths are not set up like mine are, you will need to modify the paths used in each of the three scripts Start.FAX, Start.TD, and FAX-Trap. They are quite easy to modify. 6) Enjoy your system! You are done! (fingers crossed) NOTE: As far as the FIDO node list is conserned, if you are running FAX-IT and TrapDoor on the same line you will need to be a Non-CrashMail system since TrapDoor is not going to be running 24 hours. So it is just as well to leave GPFax on line all the time accept for during the Zone Mail Hours. You might give TrapDoor and extra 1/2 hour on either side of this time if you like, but no systems will be sending CrashMail to you. So you can now see why a seperate line for TrapDoor would be the best way to go. Added Information on TrapDoor ============================= If you are having problems with your system hanging on you, you should set the "SLOWMODEM" setting in your TrapDoor.cfg file to 10 or 15. Maynbe even a little higher. This will slow down the information being sent to the modem and keep it from being over run. Added information on NetMail ============================ If you are confused about how to send NetMail to someone through Excelsior, don't worry, the manual doesn't tell you what you need to know. NetMail is a private message sent from one system to another. You and your users would send it as EMail on the BBS. The format is like so... {send to name} >{FIDO address} -demo- Glenn Schworak >1:3406/32 This will send a message directly to me. But remember, this is not an ECHO. It is sent as EMail. (usualy SM on a stock Excelsior system) ************************************************************************** Distribution ============ This program may be freely distributed as long as the files are not altered in any way other than the methode of archival. There must be no fees charged for this program other than the minimal copying fee normaly charged by user groups. This program may be added to any disk collections such as Fred Fish. --- NO WARRANTY EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED. USE THIS AT YOUR OWN RISK --- Distribution: ShareWare Fee: $20.00 Any of my programs will be accessable in their latest versions on your first call to my BBS. Send the fee and any other items to: Glenn J. Schworak 1710 Lee Street SE / US Funds prefered \ Salem, Oregon 97302 USA \ Canadian accepted / FAX/BBS (503) 581-6524 Voice (503) 399-7518 ************************************************************************** NOTE: If you are going to rewrite this set of scripts for another BBS program (such as CNet or DLG for example) DO NOT DO NOT DO NOT distribute it until you re-archive all the required files and send me a copy. You may take credit for any changes you make, but please make sure I get the original credit. Also, please document your changes clearly. I would like to see an addition to this file or a seperate text file with all the changes mentioned. Thanks!