

				Tri-HD's-Utility


  File Name      : THDUTL36.ZIP (as of writing)
  Author	 : Hal D. Holland
  Support BBS    : Radio Freaks/HD's Support BBS 404-941-1308
  Registration   : $25.00

      In the last three months, there have been allot of new utilities
 released for TriBBS. Of all these utilities, one of my favorites is
 Tri-HD's Utility. The reasons, well, its because it can and does take the
 place of several other utilities I was running. Instead of writing a
 program that does One thing, and one thing only, Hal has combined the
 functions of several into his. What can it do ? Just take a look at the
 following:

 1. Last 15 Callers Screen with programmable "watch" items. Provides the
    usual screen with a few added goodies that allows you and your callers
    to get a feel for the boards Activity.
 2. BBS Door/activity tally screen with programmable "tally" items.
    Activity in your doors as listed in the DOORS.MNU is tallied
    automatically, alternately; you may add additional items to be
    tallied.
 3. Welcome New users screen. List of names, City/State, date and baudrate
    of new callers
 4. Download tracking. The utility places the usual "# Downloads:" comment
    in your FILES.LST. Special interest downloads may be tracked with the
    name, city & state, and date/time of download being placed in a
    separate file.
 5. Upload Tracking. THDUTL builds a file named UPLOAD.DAT in the TriBBS
    directory. you may use it as you wish. The file simply contains the
    names of the files that were uploaded.
 6. Upload archive Integrity checking, conversion and Virus checking in
    the BETWEEN.BAT (after the user logs off), optional. Stripping and
    Addition of new archive comments, addition of DESC.SDI files to archives
    having none is also supported.
 7. Top 10 Tracking of Uploaders, Downloaders and popular Files. Screen
    displays your top 10 activity if desired.
 8. BBS hourly usage graph. A screen to appraise your users of when the
    BBS is busy and when it is most open for their call. Mail run hour may
    be flagged also.
 9. Trim your CALLERS.LOG to a specified length automatically. You set the
    maximum length in kilo-bytes. Trimmed portion may also be saved.
10. Dropped carrier notification. An exit code of 1 from THDUTL indicates
    that the user has dropped carrier before the "logged off" flag
    appeared in the CALLERS.LOG. You may use it as you deem fit with a
    third-party program or DOS batch ERRORLEVEL checking.

    As you can see, THDUTL has many features that make it tempting utility
 to use on your board.

    Setting up THDUTL is not that difficult, but it can take some time to
 sit down and figure out exactly what you want it to do. With the
 customization it is capable of, you will need to sit down and decide what
 features of your board you would like your users to be able to track.
 Lets take a quick look at my .CFG file and see how I've decided to set it
 up :

 Imagine		 - first line is easy, your BBS name
C:\TRIBBS                - Simple again, your BBS Home directory
CD=OK                    - OK to track CD-ROM downloads *
BULLET28		 - Name of last 15 caller screen
BULLET29		 - Name of BBS Activity tally screen
BULLET30		 - Name of New User Welcome Screen
BULLET31		 - Top 10 activity screen
BULLET32		 - BBS Hourly usage screen
QWK=MESST                - Variable #1 for Last 15 Caller Screen
VGA=VGA Planets          - Variable #2
CD =FILE1                - Variable #3
Downloaded file          - Variable #1 for BBS Activity tally
Uploaded file            - Variable #2 -
Entered message          - Variable #3  |
NEW USER added           - Variable #4  |
Read Bulletin            - Variable #5  | - I'm not sure how many are max,
Loss of carrier          - Variable #6  |   but as you can see, I have 13
1200 baud                - Variable #7  |   of them on my Screen. Of
2400 baud                - Variable #8  |   course, you need not have any
2400E baud               - Variable #9  | - if you wish to.
9600 baud                - Variable #10 |
9600E baud               - Variable #11 |
14400 baud               - Variable #12 |
14400E baud              - Variable #13-

    There are a few things that need to be explained in the .CFG file. The
 first few lines are easy. Where the questions might come in are on the
 Variable lines. On the last 15 callers screen, you are able to track up
 to three things that the users have down. The header will be a three
 letter abriviation. As in my case QWK, VGA and CD. After the header, you
 need to tell THDUTL what to look for in the callers log. Once again, in
 my case, if a user has entered Trimail, the log will show them executing
 MESST so that is how I put it in the .CFG line. The same goes for the
 other two, VGA planets is set up as a door, so just the name I've set the
 door at in the DOORS.MNU is all I need. But for my CD door, I have put it
 on the Files Menu so the batch file is called File1. The options are
 limitless. You could track chats, Callback doors, questioners, or any
 other special area of your board.
     The next set of variables are for your BBS Activity Screen. I'm
 really not sure of what the maximum number of lines are here, but as you
 can see, I have 13 of them. These lines MUST MATCH the entry in your
 CALLERS.LOG   EXACTLY. If they do not, they will not be tracked. It took
 me a while to get them write, as errors like capitalizing the wrong letter
 will make it miss the entry all together.

     There are several other set-up items you may also choose to use. One
 is the THDUTL.XCL file, this is a list of users that are not to be
 included in your Last 15 callers screen. Once again, you must enter the
 name EXACTLY as it appears in the CALLERS.LOG. You may put one name per
 line, up to 20 names.
     You may also optionally select the colors used by THDUTL for the
 various screens. Just edit the provided THDUTL.CLR file as desired for
 each of the 5 screens.
     THDUTL.ACX file is used to exclude files from being repacked. Just
 enter the three letter file extensions you do not wish repacked...ie GIF.
     THDUTL.TTX is a list of file names you do not want included in your
 Top Ten files Screen. You may list up to 50 files.
     THDUTL.MSG is the archive comment text. Place the message you wish
 added to your archives in this file.

     Now that we have set things up, lets take a look at running it.
 THDUTL is run by using THDUTL /switches. Below are the switches you may
 use. Multiple switches may be used in any order.  :

     /F   = This is for the first time you run the utility. This will use
	    the entire CALLERS.LOG and initialize all your screens.
     /D   = This is another one time only switch. This is to force the
	    tracking of downloads. This will go through your CALLERS.LOG
	    and append the "# Downloads:" to any file show downloaded in
	    your current CALLERS.LOG
     /A   = Include all users (ignore the THDUTL.XCL file)
     /L   = Include local logons in the Last 15 Callers Screen.
     /T#  = Trim log length in Kilo bytes. /T50 will maintain your
	    CALLERS.LOG length at 50,000 bytes, trimming it back each time
	    it exceeds the desired setting by %20. The log is trimmed back
	    to the first logon occurring after the specified length.
     /ST  = Save Trimmed Log. Entries from the CALLERS.LOG trimmed with
	    the use of the /T# switch are appended to file CALLERS.TRM.
	    This file will continue to grow until trimmed/removed by you.
	    CALLERS.TRM + CALLERS.LOG = full log of events.
     /U   = Perform upload archive integrity checking and Virus checking
	    on any uploads found. Convert the archive to the default
	    (.ZIP) and (optionally) add archive comment from the
	    THDUTL.MSG file. Files failing the check are deleted and the
	    entry is removed from the FILES.LST
     /M   = If no "Uploaded By:" line is found in the FILES.LST, place one
	    in the file with the name of the Sysop as the Uploader.
     /R   = If he logon name is an alias, change it to the Real name of
	    the user.
     /H## = Mail run Hour. The hour indicated (00-23) will appear in the
	    BBS Hourly usage screen flagged as the Mail Hour.

     So, now that we know what it can do, lets see what it looks like.
     First, lets look at my Last 15 Callers Screen:















@cls@@moreoff@
ͻ
                        Imagine Last 15 Callers                            
͹
 CALLER		Date/Time On   Off  Baud  Up  Dn  Msg QWK VGA CD Nu 
͹
 David Archer         12/05/93 20:37-20:52 9600                            
 Robyn Liles          12/05/93 19:29-19:50 2400                            
 Daniel Rimar         12/05/93 18:06-18:07 14400E                          
 Daniel Rimar         12/05/93 18:08-18:42 7200E                           
 Patrick Jackson      12/05/93 16:56-18:05 2400       2		    
 David Archer         12/05/93 15:34-16:42 9600       4                    
 David Childress      12/05/93 15:23-15:26 2400	   5   	    
 Mark Rosen           12/05/93 14:59-15:11 2400       5                    
 Robyn Liles          12/05/93 13:29-14:09 2400           4                
 Jeff Binkley         12/05/93 13:09-13:28 1200E                           
 Robert Clark         12/05/93 12:32-12:44 2400E      1                   
 David Childress      12/05/93 12:03-12:09 2400	       	    
 Anthony Brown        12/05/93 11:04-11:36 14400E     4                   
 Anthony Brown        12/05/93 10:53-11:03 14400E                         
 Thom Howie           12/05/93 10:34-10:36 14400E                          
AsciibyHDͼ
@moreon@@more@


 Of course, it this is the ASCII version, but you get the idea, now on to
 my BBS activity tally screen:





















@cls@@moreoff@
		      Imagine - Tally 12-05 to 12-05
 Ŀ
        BBS Activity     Tally             BBS Activity      Tally     
 
   Downloaded file            11      Uploaded file              0
   Entered message             5      NEW USER added             0
   Read Bulletin               0      Loss of carrier            0
   1200 baud                   0      2400 baud                  4
   2400E baud                  0      9600 baud                  2
   9600E baud                  0      14400 baud                 0
   14400E baud                 1      TriBank                    0
   The Pit                     0      Global War                 0
   Scrabble                    1      Trivia Castle              1
   King Of The Board           1      Trade Wars                 0
   BBS lister Door             0      Chess                      0
   BBS Crash                   0      NetRunner                  0
   Reading Room                0      Icon Update Door           0
   RIPVersie RIP Graphics Door 0      RIP Vote                   0
   RIP Black Jack              0      RIP Turbo Guppies          0
   VGA Planets                 0      Galatic Overlord           0
   Quizard's Mountain Trivia   0      Call the North Pole        1
   Subscribers PIT             7      Forum                      0
 AsciibyHD
@moreon@@more@

 On to the New Users Welcome screen:

@cls@@moreoff@
ͻ
               Imagine Welcomes the following New Callers                  
͹
      Name                 From               Date        Baud             
͹
    Joe Venezia          Fort Myers, Fl     12/04/93      14400            
    Rod Evans            Ft.myers           12/02/93      14400E           
    Brian Zimmerman      Cape Coral, Fl     11/28/93       2400            
    Alfred Morin         Bradenton, Florida 11/28/93      14400E           
    Butch Nordstrom      Pinehurst, Ma      11/27/93      14400E           
    Tina Cuevas          Sarasota Fl        11/25/93       2400            
    Justin Smith         Bonita Springs Fl  11/25/93       2400            
    Jon Liles            Cape Coral Fl      11/23/93       2400            
    William Bailey       Bonita Springs, Fl 11/23/93       2400            
    Andrew Liles         Cape Coral Fl      11/23/93       2400            
AsciibyHDͼ
@moreon@@more@

    Next in line, is the Top 10 Activity Screen:

@cls@@moreoff@
ͻ
                          Imagine TOP 15 List                              
͹
      Uploads                 Downloads               Files                
͹
 Steve Sears        54    Mark Rosen         59       IMAGSUB.EXE     56   
 Mark Rosen          8    Paul Cook          34        #1HARRY.ARJ    6    
 Paul Cook           3    David Archer       31        TRI0993.ARJ    6    
 Geoff Garrett       2    Steve Sears        24        ARJ241A.EXE    6    
 Mike Vaughn         1    Robert Clark       24        TB50-1.ARJ     5    
 Nicholas Lesiecki   1    Vince Shank        22        TB50-2.ARJ     5    
 Hal Holland         1    Jim Kunert         20        BASKET1.ARJ    4    
 Mike Lott           1    Eugene Zoppo       19        DPRO3DOS.ARJ   4    
 Jack Todd           1    Wolfgang Daniel    19        MNUMAKE4.ARJ   3    
 Jim Kunert          1    Anthony Brown      18        GRUNT.ARJ      3    
 Tribbs News         1    John Osborne       17        VGA_PS.ARJ     3    
 Jeff Binkley        1    Gene Duncan        16        SSNUN11.ARJ    3    
                     0    Tony Garcia        16        BBSLST5.ARJ    3    
                     0    Matt Strickland    14        DSFC11.ARJ     3    
                     0    Joe Hebert         12        ALAINA11.GIF   3    
AsciibyHDͼ
@moreon@@more@

    Things are looking good, TriBBS is being downloaded nicely <G>. Ok,
 last but not least, the BBS Hourly Usage Screen:

@cls@@moreoff@
ͻ
                       Imagine Hourly Usage Graph                          
͹
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                 
                                               
                                 
                             
                             
                           
  00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23  
AsciibyHDͼ
@moreon@@more@

    Let it be noted that I put all the variable in lower case, they are
 correct in the screens.

     All in all, THDUTL is a very full featured utility. It offers much
 more than just one screen, and has usefull functions besides those
 screens. Hal has made a commitment to work with sysops to improve on
 it. Since it first came out, it has already added many new function. In
 fact, when I first wrote this article, I found a "bug". It really was not
 a bug per say. In my BBS activity screen, I was trying to track the baud
 rates of callers, and it was not working. When I noticed this, I put
 something in the article about it, uploaded it to Hal, and not more than
 an hour latter, had a new version that worked. That is commitment.
 THDUTL should be available on almost all TriBBS support boards,
 the Authors board, Imagine, and of course, The Lobster Bouy.
