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-
- ╒════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╕
- │ FRIDAY 3.00 - the quest for automation continues ... │
- └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
-
- Friday.Exe/Friday.Doc written by geoffrey booher; 1:2270/233.1@fidonet
-
- this release of software is dedicated to my good luck charm, njk. :-)
-
- ┌─────────────┐
- │ disclaimer: │
- └─────────────┘
- FRIDAY 3.00 is *ONLY* guaranteed to consume diskspace. It has been very
- extensively tested and found to be pretty reliable. In no way is the
- author of this program responsible for any damages, consequential, or
- otherwise from the neglect of FRIDAY 3.00's use or misuse. FRIDAY 3.00 is
- provided as is, without warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied.
-
- ┌──────────┐
- │ license: │
- └──────────┘
- FRIDAY is NOT Public Domain Software or FreeWare. It is Shareware and
- requires registration after a 30-day evaluation period. restrictions:
-
- 1. Any part of the FRIDAY 3.00 files are NOT to be modified in *any* way.
-
- 2. The FRIDAY Distribution Archive is NOT to be recompressed/reprocessed.
-
- 3. FRIDAY 3.00 may NOT be utilized in any unlawful or illegal manner.
-
- 4. No Fees may be charged for FRIDAY 3.00 - other than diskette cost.
- FRI_300.ZIP may be put up for download on pay/subscription systems,
- provided a fee is not charged for downloading FRI_300.ZIP itself.
-
- If after 30 days, you continue to use the FRIDAY program, it MUST be then
- registered. If you do not wish to register it, simply delete the FRIDAY
- program and all documentation from your computer. See the file FRIDAY.REG
- for details of how to register your copy of FRIDAY.
-
- ┌──────────┐
- │ support: │
- └──────────┘
- Send Netmail to geoffrey booher, 1:2270/233.0@fidonet. If you are expecting
- an immediate response, usually if you return POLL me within 24 hours (nay
- weekends) and I will respond with a Netmail msg on HOLD for you. Otherwise
- I will send you a host-routed netmail reply. This also assumes you are in a
- current *FIDONET* Nodelist.
-
- geoffrey booher - SysOp - The Gateway Net Bulletin Board System
- North American RemoteAccess Support
- RemoteAccess Beta/Development Site
- 1:2270/233.0@fidonet
- (815)233-5008 2400/9600/14400 HST/V32b/V42b
- Freeport, IL - USA
-
- You can contact me through the above Bulletin Board System. Feel free to
- send me your comments about FRIDAY 3.00. I have received *MANY* to date.
-
- If you aren't a BBS SysOp, you probably won't have a use for this program.
-
- :-)
-
- ┌────────────────────────┐
- │ overview and features: │
- └────────────────────────┘
- I *always* wanted a program to change my FILES.BBS on Fridays when I get
- the new Nodediff and make the new Nodelist. I used to go in and have to
- change NODEDIFF.A56 NODELIST.A56 to NODEDIFF.A63 and NODELIST.A63 for
- example in my FILES.BBS with a text editor on Fridays. (not what you call
- automation). I noticed that some BBS Software will work with NODEDIFF.A??
- (wildcards) in the FILES.BBS, but ONLY when listing the files, NOT on
- searches by filename or keyword, or New files since last call.
-
- FRIDAY 3.00 automates the process by searching the subdirectory specified
- for the NODEDIFF.A?? NODELIST.A?? and updates FILES.BBS with the new names.
-
- /Option Switches (/? displays FILES.BBS help, /h or /H displays FDB help)
-
- /A NODE????.A?? - ARC (default - no /option parameter entered)
- /D NODE????.D?? - DWC
- /J NODE????.J?? - ARJ
- /L NODE????.L?? - LZH
- /N NODE????.nnn - unarchived - julian date extension
- /P NODE????.P?? - PAK
- /S NODE????.S?? - SQZ
- /Z NODE????.Z?? - ZIP/ZOO
- /On use n days (0-6) offset from Friday
- /F FNEWS???.* (FidoNews option)
- /Faname ANAME???.* (Any List name!)
-
- FRIDAY will also search for ANYLIST, any valid filename that uses the above
- filename extension conventions, which most networks do. If your net does
- not, I don't know about it! By making the filename(s) available on the
- commandline, I have eliminated the need for any .CTL files and a need to
- know every netdiff/list. I think the methodology used is pretty effective.
-
- FRIDAY 3.00 replaces the last two digits of the filename(s) descriptions
- with the two rightmost digits of the Julian date of the past Friday as
- obtained from DOS and calculated. I guess I should mention that if the time
- and date on your computer are improperly set, expect unpredictable results!
-
- This program started out simple. Typing FRIDAY just looked for NODEDIFF.A??
- and NODELIST.A?? in the current directory only, and NEEDED to be executed
- on Fridays. It has now evolved to many commandline switches, and now
- automagically calculates and uses the current/past Nodediff day. It also
- accepts a pathname to the FILES.BBS - and many many more options.
-
- Portion of my FILES.BBS:
-
- -----------
- NODEDIFF.A06 Latest Fidonet Weekly Nodelist Update File
- NODELIST.A06 Latest Complete Fidonet Nodelist File
- -----------
-
- My FILES.BBS after I received and processed the NODEDIFF.A?? file and
- FRIDAY 3.00 was run on Friday 04/23/93 up to 12am 04/30/93:
-
- -----------
- NODEDIFF.A13 Latest Fidonet Weekly Nodelist Update File
- NODELIST.A13 Latest Complete Fidonet Nodelist File
- -----------
- Note the generic descriptions - I'll never edit those lines again! <smile>
- If you aren't familiar with FILES.BBS, you might not need this program.
-
- ┌────────────────────────────────┐
- │ overview and features (con't): │
- └────────────────────────────────┘
- FILES.BBS is a straight ASCII text file that is usually located in the
- subdirectory where you keep download files. It keeps a "list" of filenames
- and descriptions. The filename is the 1st 12 positions (counting the '.'
- character). Then, starting in position 15 is the description, usually
- 40-45 characters 'describing' the file. The description doesn't have to
- start in 15 (it can start in 14) - but lots of other file management
- utilities like it that way. See the sample FILES.BBS enclosed for the many
- examples of what FRIDAY 3.00 now supports.
-
-
- ┌─────────────────────────┐
- │ setting up FRIDAY 3.00: │ (FILES.BBS - Nodediff/Nodelist Flavor)
- └─────────────────────────┘
- Put Friday.Exe anywhere in your DOS PATH, along with any of your other BBS
- Program utilities. See your DOS manual about the PATH Statement if needed.
-
- Just change the batchfile that updates your nodelist and add FRIDAY at the
- end:
-
- my NODELIST.BAT:
- @Echo OFF
- If Not Exist C:\Fd\File\Nodediff.A?? GOTO END
- Move C:\Fd\File\Nodediff.A?? C:\Fd\Nodelist
- Ren C:\Ra\Bbsfiles\Node????.A?? Node????.Old
- Cd C:\Fd\Nodelist
- Copy C:\Fd\Nodelist\Nodediff.A?? C:\Ra\Bbsfiles
- Rem - the following Xlaxdiff command makes the new NODELIST.A?? file
- Xlaxdiff /A=C:\Ra\Bbsfiles\Nodelist /X=ARCE,ARC A /C
- If Errorlevel 1 Goto NDERROR
- Cd C:\Ra
- Ranode
- Cd C:\Fd
- Fdnc /f
- Del C:\Ra\Bbsfiles\Node????.Old
- Rem - FRIDAY 3.00 will update your FILES.BBS with the latest Nodelist files.
- Rem - I'm using A??, it is the default when no parameters are entered.
- rem - FRIDAY C:\Ra\Bbsfiles ; old FILES.BBS command
- FRIDAY /7
- Goto END
- :NDERROR
- Rem - if there was a problem applying the Nodediff - do NOTHING
- Echo ? An error occurred while processing the Nodediff! >>C:\Fd\Fd.Log
- :END
-
- FRIDAY 3.00 *expects* to find, open and search FILES.BBS. If it doesn't
- it will beep at you and tell you it can not be found. If the filename(s)
- are not found in the specified subdirectory and if the FILES.BBS doesn't
- contain NODEDIFF.A or NODELIST.A (or D,J,L,N,P,S,Z with correct parameter
- command) it won't do anything. If FILES.BBS and NODEDIFF.A and NODELIST.A
- are found, it will put the last 2 rightmost digits of the current Nodediff
- day into the proper spot and update FILES.BBS. ARC is still the Fidonet
- NODELIST Standard, and is the default (no parameters entered). If no
- pathname is entered, FRIDAY looks for the filename(s) and FILES.BBS in the
- current drive/directory. If your BBS Software uses another name besides
- FILES.BBS and follows it's file format as described above, you can use the
- FRIDAY environment variable to tell FRIDAY to search another filename.
- SET FRIDAY=FILES.DIR causes FILES.DIR to be acted upon. You may ONLY
- specify a valid DOS Filename (no wildcards or path specifiers). If you do
- NOT use (need) this, the DEFAULT is FILES.BBS and no SET FRIDAY= is needed.
-
- ┌─────────────────────────┐
- │ setting up FRIDAY 3.00: │ (FILES.BBS - FidoNews, Newsletter Flavor)
- └─────────────────────────┘
- Make sure Friday.Exe is anywhere in your PATH, along with any of your other
- BBS/Program utilities. See your DOS manual about the PATH Statement if
- needed.
-
- change the batchfile that updates your fidonews and add FRIDAY /F to it.
-
- my FIDONEWS.BAT:
-
- @Echo OFF
- If Exist C:\Ra\Docos\Fnews???.* Del C:\Ra\Docos\Fnews???.*
- Move C:\Fd\File\Fnews???.* C:\Ra\Docos
- rem - FRIDAY 3.00 updates your FILES.BBS with the FNEWS file you received.
- rem - /F alone defaults to Fidonews, /Ffnews NOT needed.
- rem - FRIDAY /F C:\Ra\Docos ; just FILES.BBS command
- FRIDAY /6 /F
-
- That's all there is to it. When your Mailer receives the File, have in your
- inbound Mail statement in your main Runbbs.Bat file:
-
- :MAIL
- rem - Toss Incoming EchoMail and NetMail here
- If Exist C:\Fd\File\Nodediff.A?? Call Nodelist.Bat
- If Exist C:\Fd\File\Fnews???.* Call Fidonews.Bat
- Goto START
-
- FRIDAY /F expects to find an FNEWS???.* file in the current directory you
- are running from or pointing to with the pathname. If not, it will quit and
- tell you so. If it finds the FNEWS???.* file in the current directory or
- specified path, and cannot find a FILES.BBS also, it will quit and tell you
- so. If it finds FNEWS???.* in the current directory or specified path and
- finds a FILES.BBS, it then looks for FNEWS in the FILES.BBS. If FNEWS isn't
- found in FILES.BBS - it will again do nothing. If it finds FNEWS in the
- FILES.BBS, it replaces it with the filename found in the current directory
- or specified pathname (the one just moved there ideally).
-
- FRIDAY has the ability to accept a 2 to 7 character string immediately
- following the /F parameter. Note, there are NO SPACES between the /F and
- the string. This allows you to update most weekly/monthly listings with no
- intervention on your part.
-
- FRIDAY /Fusbbs C:\Ra\Docos (i.e: updates USBBS86.ZIP to USBBS87.ZIP)
- FRIDAY /Fbbs C:\Ra\Docos (i.e: updates BBS0891.ZIP to BBS0991.ZIP)
-
- WARNING!! Use of LESS than 4 matching characters (as in above /Fbbs
- example of Thelist BBS????.*) can get you into trouble
- FAST! If there's another file in that directory called
- BBS*.* FRIDAY MAY go after that, and produce undesirable
- results!
-
- ┌─────────────────────────┐
- │ setting up FRIDAY 3.00: │ (RemoteAccess File Database - all flavors)
- └─────────────────────────┘
- Make sure Friday.Exe is anywhere in your PATH, along with any of your other
- BBS/Program utilities. See your DOS manual about the PATH Statement if
- needed.
-
- Make sure the RA environment variable is set. This will point to where the
- RemoteAccess Configuration file, CONFIG.RA is located. THIS IS REQUIRED.
- FRIDAY will not work with or use the RemoteAccess FDB if the RA environment
- variable is NOT set. This is usually: SET RA=C:\RA in your Autoexec.Bat.
-
- FRIDAY requires RemoteAccess 2.00 or higher. If upon reading CONFIG.RA it
- detects a versionID of less than 2.00 - it will abort with an error.
-
- FRIDAY reads CONFIG.RA and expects to be able to open FILES.RA, located in
- System Path as defined in RACONFIG. It also expects to find a valid path
- to the File Database in CONFIG.RA.
-
- Since FRIDAY gets its information from FILES.RA - supplying FRIDAY with a
- pathname on the commandline is not needed or supported. Commandline syntax
- is as follows:
-
- FRIDAY /nnn [/option] [/offset] [filname1] [filname2]
-
- /nnn = File Area Number as defined in FILES.RA. If the Nodediff.A?? and
- Nodelist.A?? are in File Area #2, then the command to update them
- is simply: FRIDAY /2
-
- All other options (except pathname) are valid as with the FILES.BBS option
- as described in the documentation above. FRIDAY will ALSO look for and
- update FILES.BBS if one is present and needs updated in the file area path.
-
- Other example commands to update the RemoteAccess File Database:
-
- FRIDAY /4 /f (update FNEWS*.* in File Area #4 - and FILES.BBS if present)
-
- FRIDAY /3 /fANY*.* (update ANY*.* in File Area #3 - and FILES.BBS)
-
- FRIDAY /6 /z SIGNODES (update SIGNODES.Z?? in File Area #6 and FILES.BBS)
-
- FRIDAY requires DOS 3.1 or higher and SHARE.EXE to be loaded to support the
- RemoteAccess File Database. The File Database is opened in SH_DENYNONE
- mode and FRIDAY implements the RemoteAccess File Database locking scheme to
- region lock the Database file when writing. If another process is updating
- the File Database (such as RAFILE), then FRIDAY will not perform an update.
- SHARE.EXE need not be loaded if you run Novell or under OS/2 DOS mode.
-
- FRIDAY will write a logfile called FDBINUSE.LOG in your RA File Database
- path if FRIDAY could not perform an update if the FDB was in use.
-
- FRIDAY updates the RA FDB with the File Name, File Date and File Size as
- obtained from DOS. FRIDAY does NOT require RAFILE to be run before or
- after it - and does not require any other external utilities to be run.
-
- FRIDAY also sets the 'Upload Date' field for the file(s) in the FDB to the
- current date/time that it runs, since this is when the file then becomes
- 'available' to the users and is what RemoteAccess considers a 'new' file.
-
- ┌───────────┐
- │ appendix: │
- └───────────┘
- FRIDAY Command Syntax: *NOTE* Commands MUST be entered in order given!
- Since FRIDAY is normally run from a batchfile, this shouldn't be a problem.
-
- FRIDAY [/nnn] [/options] [/On] [filname1] [filname2] [d:\path] (case ignored)
- [/nnn] only permitted in a VALID RemoteAccess environment.
- [filname1] [filname2] not valid with /f option switch.
- [/On] offset is not used with the /F option.
-
- [filname1] [filname2] only 1 required, use for other than NODEDIFF NODELIST
-
- FRIDAY Sample Commands (used in batchfiles):
-
- FRIDAY - looks for both NODEDIFF.A?? NODELIST.A?? in FILES.BBS in current
- directory (default with no parameters entered on the commandline)
-
- FRIDAY /f C:\Ra\Docos - looks for Fnews*.* in pathname and FILES.BBS
-
- Note: /f and pathname ONLY are valid. Runs FRIDAY in strictly FNEWS mode.
- Default (FRIDAY /f) is Fnews*.* and FILES.BBS in current directory.
- Use the d:\path to point to your FNEWS*.* subdirectory.
-
- FRIDAY C:\Ra\Bbsfiles - looks for both NODEDIFF.A?? and NODELIST.A?? in
- FILES.BBS and within C:\Ra\Bbsfiles subdirectory.
- (this is what I use)
-
- FRIDAY /l Anydiff Anylist D:\Archives - looks for both ANYDIFF.L?? and
- ANYLIST.L?? in the D:\Archives
- subdirectory and it's FILES.BBS.
-
- NOTES: Anydiff and Anylist can be any valid DOS filename. Only 1 filename
- is required, so that those not posting both files can use FRIDAY.
- Again, it defaults to NODEDIFF.A?? NODELIST.A?? - but any filename
- combination with the .A?? .D?? .J?? .L?? .P?? .S?? .Z?? extension
- within FILES.BBS is valid.
-
- FRIDAY /z Signodes C:\Netlists -looks for SIGNODES.Z?? in the C:\Netlists
- subdirectory and in it's FILES.BBS.
-
- FRIDAY /o2 Rbbslist C:\Netlists - looks for RBBSLIST.A?? in the C:\Netlists
- subdirectory and in it's FILES.BBS. Uses
- Offset of 2 days from Friday (Sunday).
-
- FRIDAY /n Dbnet C:\Netlists - looks for DBNET.nnn (the unarchived julian date
- extension) in C:\Netlists and in it's FILES.BBS.
-
- FRIDAY will detect if the FILES.BBS is up-to-date and will not update the
- FILES.BBS if it doesn't need to. FRIDAY DOES check for DIFF/LIST files
- presence in the directory. It scans the directory for the names given (or
- defaults if none entered). Upon success, it then scans for a match in
- FILES.BBS, and updates on the latest nodediff day, if not equal (less than)
- the previous friday date.
-
- Note: If default is used or 2 filenames are entered on the commandline,
- FRIDAY expects to find BOTH files.
-
- [d:\path] is any valid DOS subdirectory pathname.
-
-
- ┌─────────────────────────────┐
- │ FRIDAY 3.00 technical info: │
- └─────────────────────────────┘
- Friday.Exe was compiled with Borland International's Borland(C++) 3.1
- using the Small Memory Module ( < 64kb heap ) and the C++ (Friday.Cpp)
- option. FRIDAY will run in less than 128kb RAM (64kb code - 64kb data).
-
- FRIDAY 3.00 requires DOS 3.10 or greater, and SHARE.EXE to be loaded for
- the FDB options, unless your environment is multi-user native like Novell
- Netware LAN or OS/2 DOS mode sessions.
-
- FRIDAY 3.00 exits with the following errorlevels for trapping in *.BAT
- files. Although not really needed, they are there for batchfile gurus.
-
- errorlevel 7 - Invalid /option switch parameter or /?, /H help
- errorlevel 6 - FILES.BBS or FDB already up-to-date, no action needed
- errorlevel 5 - filename(s) argument not found in FILES.BBS
- errorlevel 4 - filename(s) not found in subdirectory or pathname
- errorlevel 3 - FILES.BBS not found in subdirectory or pathname
- errorlevel 2 - File I/O error or invalid pathname
- errorlevel 1 - Error getting dostime or other FATAL error
- errorlevel 0 - successful completion FILES.BBS or FDB updated
-
- FRIDAY 3.00 usually runs on Fridays (hence it's name). But, realising not
- every SysOp gets the Nodediff Update on Fridays, it calculates the day
- of the week and figures out the last Nodediff day! If you run on Saturday,
- it subtracts 1 from the Julian day to arrive at the desired number. How
- this works is if you run the program on Friday or any day up until next
- Friday, it will always replace the previous Fridays Nodediff day number.
-
- Using the Offset day sets the number of days FROM the offset day. So, if
- the offset day is Sunday ( /O2 ) FRIDAY updates it with the prior Sunday's
- number.
-
- FRIDAY 3.00 looks for FNEWS???.* in FILES.BBS and for the filename mask in
- the current directory with the /F switch (defaults to FNEWS) parameter. If
- both are not found, it will not do anything. If it finds FNEWS*.* in both
- places, it takes the filename found in the current directory or pathname
- and replaces the name in the FILES.BBS with it. FRIDAY works in the same
- manner with the DIFF/LIST option, checking if those files exist in the
- subdirectory, and in FILES.BBS or the RemoteAccess File Database (FDB).
-
- Any user definable string from 2 to 7 positions can be used after the /F
- to check for and update a particular filemask. Less than 4 - BE CAREFUL!!
-
- FRIDAY 3.00 was tested on a 80386/16 system under DOS 4.01 thru DOS 6.00.
- It has been tested on a 80486/66 and works well under DESQview and OS/2.
-
- FRIDAY 3.00 reads and then writes only the change, writing in place. Since
- it's so fast, in the unlikely event the power fails (at the precise second
- that it is updating) it will truncate FILES.BBS to 0 bytes. FRIDAY has been
- tested on a 320kb FILES.BBS and doesn't really care HOW large FILES.BBS is.
-
- FRIDAY 3.00 will replace ALL matching strings in FILES.BBS. So if you have
- them in there more than once (i.e: keep old NodeDiffs/Nodelists/FidoNews
- hanging around) ... then this program is most likely not for you. This
- will also get you into trouble using FRIDAY /Fxx as the 2 character minimum
- can occur in a Filename and in FILES.BBS quite often (so I've found out!).
-
- Also, some SysOps don't keep the Nodelist/Nodediff/Fidonews files online.
- Again, this program is likely not for you.
-
- ┌─────────┐
- │ thanks: │
- └─────────┘
- Thanks to Eric Winter who helped me initially write FRIDAY 0.01. Without
- his help, I wouldn't have started learning the C language 4 years ago. :-)
-
- Thanks to Kevin Zimmerman, SysOp of The Boomtown BBS in McConnell, IL
- 1:2270/868@fidonet for relentlessly allowing me to bash the program, change
- the date on his system hundreds of times, and beat his hard disk to death
- with one compile after another. It was he who originally suggested the new
- offset for his RBBSLIST since he joined and has now quit that network.
-
- Thanks also to Bruce Bodger, SysOp of The Truckstop BBS in Tulsa, OK
- 1:170/400@fidonet for finding a few bugs, and for suggesting some excellent
- enhancements to FRIDAY 0.01 and 0.10. He also suggested that FRIDAY use
- the current date/time it runs as the 'Upload Date' in the RemoteAccess File
- Database. The latest version of FRIDAY can be found on his system as well.
-
- Thanks to Bob Glasser, SysOp of Utopia Technologies Ltd in Levittown, NY
- 1:107/203@fidonet for the excellent suggestions which were added into
- FRIDAY 2.00, the /N unarchived option, and the support for other weekly
- ragnames. Also, he provided some insight for FIXING that year rollover bug
- that was evading me for months!
-
- Thanks to the RemoteAccess Developers for help with the File Database code.
-
- Thanks to andrew milner for the RA File Database structures and advise.
-
- Thanks to Josh Edler for helping me convert the RA TP structures to C and
- hanging out and beating up a test file database with me. :-)
-
- ┌───────┐
- │ misc: │
- └───────┘
- I realize some of you use NODEDIFF.ARC or NODELIST.ARC in the FILES.BBS.
- IMHO, I feel the number description is a little bit better to have in
- there. This way, if I'm a Fidonet SysOp that grunged my nodelist <oops>,
- I'm sure about getting the latest version instead of an ARC or ZIP and
- trusting the system I'm obtaining it from to have current Nodediff/Nodelist
- files. It is also in a Standard name, ready to process by Nodelist update
- utilities. And you don't have to keep extra generic nodelist files hanging
- around to quote-unquote "automate" things and waste valuable diskspace!
-
- My hope is that you will *enjoy* my program and it helps you out. One thing
- is for sure, there are many of us FRIDAY Fans who love the program!
-
- The following products/examples are the Copyrighted materials of their
- respective named holders:
-
- Borland(C++) 3.1 Borland International
- DESQview QuarterDeck Office Systems
- Novell Netware Novell Inc.
- OS/2 International Business Machines Cororation
-
- FRIDAY 3.00 geoffrey booher - boo s/w development hq
-
- ARC System Enhancement Associates
- DWC Dean W. Cooper
- LZH Haruyasu Yoshizaki
- ARJ Robert K. Jung
- PAK NoGate Consulting
- SQZ Jonas I. Hammarberg
- ZIP Phil Katz - PKWARE
- ZOO Rahul Dhesi
-
- FrontDoor Joaquim H. Homrighausen - Advanced Engineering sarl
- RemoteAccess Andrew Milner - Continental Software
- Xlaxdiff Scott Samet
-
- Fidonet/Fidonews Tom Jennings
-
- DOS International Business Machines and Microsoft
- PC/AT International Business Machines
-
-
-