FLIPCAT! 3.0
Copyright (c) 1991,93 - Triad Solutions, Inc.


* What is FLIPCAT?

  Flipcat is a versitile screen rotation system for use with any
  Bulletin Board System (BBS).   It allows for a complex rotation
  definitions to be assigned to a given set of screens.  These
  options include Date/Time ranges, Days of Weeks, Every Year,
  Active Set, Rotation Type, and Set priorities.

* Why is FLIPCAT different from other rotation programs?

  Flipcat 3.0 allows for many options that other programs do not. It
  Allows a user to create a multitude of sets, each with up to 100
  screens in them, and store them in a database.  This is an advantage
  because it allows for Multiple nodes to access the same data.  With
  Multiple nodes, screen locking becomes a problem, so Flipcat checks
  a lock on a screen before attempting to copy it.  If the screen is
  locked, it will make several passes, as defined be the user, to try
  and rotate that screen.

  The complex definition options allow a sysop to customize any given
  set to rotate at given times, dates, and days of the week.  A set
  can be defined to rotate a file from 10:00 am to 10:00 pm on
  Monday, Thursday, and Friday, July 1st to July 21 of every year.
  With this range of definition, a sysop can plan a wide range of events
  to display over a long period of time.

* What makes FLIPCAT easy to use?

  Flipcat 3.0 contains a easy to use interface for creating and defining
  sets to rotate.  This interface contains File Pick/Tag options to point
  to files that you want to include in your sets, saving you hours of
  data entry to customize your sets.  Once your database is created,
  FLIPDATA can be used to make quick modifications to you database.  The
  Ansi/BBS Screen browse options make it easy for identifying screens to
  add to your sets.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

FLIPDATA! v1.0

  FLIPDATA is the backbone to FLIPCAT.  It creates the database which
  will hold all the sreen set defination information.  It will allow
  you to define up to 1000 sets, each holding up to 100 screen names.
  This will give you the ability to rotate up to 1,000 screens from a
  choice of 100,000.  It is the potion of FLIPCAT taht you, the sysop,
  will interface with.

  The screen :

   SCREEN SET ROTATION DEFINITION Ŀ
                                                                          
    Destination Screen Name :                            Set Number : 1   
    Destination Path  :                                                   
                                                Ŀ  
    Screens To Rotate   : NONE                   Active           : Y  
                                                 Theme Rotation   : N  
    Start Rotation Date : 01/31/94               Rotation Type    : 1  
    End Rotation Date   : 12/31/99               Priority         : 1  
    Start Rotation Time : 00:00:00               Rotate Yearly    : Y  
    End Rotation Time   : 23:59:59               
                                                  
    Days To RotateĿ  
      ALL[Y]  MON[Y]  TUE[Y]  WED[Y]  THU[Y]  FRI[Y]  SAT[Y]  SUN[Y]   
     
      
   <ESC> EXIT  <F10> ADD 

  From the top,

  DESTINATION SCREEN NAME : This is the name to where your selected files
  will be rotated to. Examples: HELLO1.BBS, FILE5.RIP, MSG10.ANS, etc.
  This field is required.  It is possible to have multiple sets with
  the same destination name.  These sets will be identified by the Set
  number in the upper right.  If two sets have the same name, Flipcat
  will check Dates/Times/Days/ and priorities to see which set will
  be rotated to the destination location.

  DESTINATION PATH : Basically, this is where the file is copied to.
  The <F2> key will prompt you for a drive letter, and the produce
  a directory tree for you to pick the destination path.  The path
  tree is not sorted, it is in the format in which dos stores it.
  It may be easier to enter the data manually in some cases.  If a
  path is invalid, FLIPDATA will let you know when you try to add or
  update the record.

  SCREENS TO ROTATE : This option is a PICK LIST option.  You must press
  <F2> to pick the screens that you wish to rotate.  It will then prompt
  you for a drive letter.  This is the drive where your screens reside.
  After entering a letter, you will be placed on that drive with a list
  of files and directories before you.  The spacebar serves as a method
  of tagging/untagging the files that that you wish to include in that
  set.  The ENTER key serves dual purposes.  First, it allows you to enter
  into and out of a directory.  This happens when you have a directory
  highlighted, and you press enter.  Second, it ends your selection
  process if you have a file highlighted.  It will then take all the
  selected files and store them in the selected set. This ENTER key
  concept is awkward, but easy to work with once the concept is grasped.
  The <F10> key will allow you to preview a screen.  It the screen ends
  with an extention of .BBS, the screen will be displayed as a COLOR
  @-Code screen.  Any other extension is treated as ANSI or TXT.  For
  Ansi colors, ansi.sys or similar ansi driver should be loaded.
  The entry field will display the total number of screens selected
  after the selection process is complete.

  START/END Dates and Times : These fields will allow you to specify
  a range of dates and times for a set to be active.  A range of
  01/01/94 to 01/31/94 and 13:00:00 to 18:00:00 would rotate a
  screen all of January from 1:00 pm to 6:00 pm.  Different sets
  can then be defined with the same destination name, but rotate on
  different dates or time or both.  The Year field could be any
  year if the YEARLY flag option is selected.  This will allow a set
  to rotate on the same date range every year.  This is handy for
  holidays and special occations. If a End Date is left as 12/31/99,
  it will be active every day until that stop date. This means that
  a general set can be defined to run until the year 2000 without the
  need of setting the yearly flag.

  DAYS TO ROTATE : This allows the set to be specific to a single or
  selected group of days with in a week.  ALL DAYS will allow rotation
  on every day of the week.  By selecting individual days, you can
  customize the set to rotate on week days, week ends, and any combination
  of days that you choose.  Note, These fields do not over ride the
  Start Date and End Date fields.  To achieve a WEEKEND SET for an entire
  year, you must define your date as 01/01/94 to 12/31/94 and select
  SAT and SUN in the DAYS area.  To do this every year, set the YEARLY
  option to YES.  This will allow the set to rotate every Saturday and
  Sunday of every week.

  SET TOGGLES

  ACTIVE SET : This toggle will allow you to disable a set and enable it
  without the need of removing it from the database and entering back in
  at a later date.

  THEME ROTATION : Sorry, this isn't active in this release.  Setting it
  to yes or no will have no effect.

  ROTATION TYPE : This will specify the method in which the screens are to
  be rotated.  The toggels are as follows :
  1 - Random Rotation     : This randomly picks a screen from the list and
                            rotates it.
  2 - Sequential Rotation : This read the last rotated screen from the
                            database and rotate the next screen in the set.


  PRIORITY : This field has the greatest effect on a set.  If two sets
  are defined with the same DESTINATION NAME and happen to be active
  at the same time on the same day, the priority will determine which
  set actually will be the one that is rotated.  Prioity ranges from
  1 ( the lowest ) to 9 ( the highest ).  This is great for events.
  If you define a general rotation, you can assign a priority of 1.
  Then you can create special event sets that rotate to the save screen,
  but have a higher priority.   When the specific time for the priority
  event arrives, the priority set will rotate in the place of the lower
  priority set.

  ROTATE YEARLY : This flag will allow a set to rotate in its same date
  range every year.  This allows for Holiday sets and special occations.
  It also makes seasonal sets easier to work with by saving you need for
  defining each set for each year.

  THE FUNCTION KEYS:

  <F1>      - HELP
  <F2>      - PICK Screen or Directory
  <F4>      - Edit your selected screens
  <F5>/<F6> - Previous/Next set in database.
  <F8>      - Update a record in the database.
  <F9>      - Create a NEW set.
  <F10>     - Add a set to the database.
  ALT-D     - Delete a record from the database.
  <ESC>     - Exit FLIPDATA


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  FLIPCAT

  This is the actual program that rotates the screens.  It reads the sets
  from the FLIPCAT.DAT database, and generates a list of the screens that
  will be rotated.

  By default, FLIPCAT runs in a SINGLE-LINE UNREGISTERED mode.  This means
  that it will simply copy files.  If a destination file is open or locked,
  it is simply skipped.  Also, FLIPCAT will lock the database so that no
  other node can access the database, log, or Config file at that time.
  This mode can only rotate 5 sets.

  The next mode is SINGLE-LINE Registered.  This mode will make several
  attempts to rotate a screen if it is locked or open.  The number of
  passes is defined in the FLIPCAT.CFG config file.  This mode has the
  ability to rotate up to 1000 sets.  Still, you cannot run multiple
  copies at the same time.

  Last, Multi-Line Registered Mode.  This mode allows multilpe copies
  of Flipcat to be run at the same time.  This is handy for systems
  where the sysop uses only one batch file for all nodes. In this mode,
  Flipcat supports Windows, OS/2, DesqView, Netware, and any MS-NET
  compatible network.  Multi-Line mode also allows the sysop to use
  FLIPDATA while Flipcat is running.  It also has the ability to rotate
  up to 1000 sets.

  These modes are activated by entering the REG KEY into the FLIPCAT.CFG.
  Keys are only available by registering Flipcat.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  FLIPCAT.CFG - The Config File

  This file is a text file containing all the configuration information.
  If this file is not present, the defaults will be assumed.

  The FLIPCAT.CFG file contains information on the Sysop, BBS, Logging
  options, statistics, and registration key.

  EXAMPLE FLIPAT.CFG

  SYSOP Chris Grossmeier
  BBS Freezing Point Systems BBS.
  ; Purge the log to 1000 lines after running.
  Log Purge 1000
  ; Make 3 attempts at copying a file.
  Passes 3
  ;Stat on
  ;
  ; Register to recieve a KEY
  ;REG KEY

  Simple..
  The Sysop and BBS are required for registered version.

  Log enables an activity log, the purge option afterwards is optional.
  when enabled, the log will be trimmed to 2000 lines.  Fewer lines can
  be assigned bay adding the number of lines to the end.

  PASSES # tells flipcat how many attempts it should make at a locked file.
  The default is 10 passes.  This option is only available in Registerd
  versions.

  STAT ON or STAT OFF is not active in this release. It will record run
  times, locked screens, number of passes, and date time stamp the data.

  REG KEY will be where registered users will add there key to enable
  Single-Line registered ot Multi-Line registered modes.

  Comments can be added or options can be disabled by adding a ; or : to
  the begining of a line.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  PACKFLIP - Database repair utility.

  This utility serve two purposes.  First, it will rebuild a database
  should it become damaged.  Second, it packs a database after adding
  and removing sets.  It is wise to run PACKFLIP after removing sets
  from your database.  This will aid in the performace of FLIPCAT when
  it hase to build a list of sets to rotate.

  To run, simply place it in the directory containing the database and
  type PACKFLIP.  It will rebuild the database in a matter of seconds.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

FLIPCAT3.EXE Copyright (c) 1994 by Triad Solutions, Inc. and
             Original program by Michael Wiltrout of TroutWare.

FLIPDATA.EXE Copyright (c) 1994 by Triad Solutions, Inc.
PACKFLIP.EXE Copyright (c) 1994 by Triad Solutions, Inc.









